#<- that's my gen tag for them. question is who is truth and who is lies...

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

Apollo @ Hermes post-ToA

ty @yikesy for the textpost

[fawnme1]

THE SOFTEST THING — WILLNE

CHAPTER FOUR

previous part ,, next part

──★ ˙🧷 ̟ !!

You weren’t supposed to be in the video.

You’d tagged along with Joe and Alfie mostly for moral support and free snacks. The Sidemen were shooting some kind of chaotic, unscripted Truth or Dare special, and they were short one person after someone bailed last-minute. That’s when Tobi looked at you and went, “Wait, get her in. She’s funny.”

Joe, of course, lit up like a christmas tree. “Yes! Oh my god, yes. She’s perfect.”

“She’s also not wearing makeup from camera,” you protested weakly, already knowing resistance was futile.

“That’s the raw aesthetic Gen Z wants,” Alfie said, throwing an arm ariound you dramatically. “It’s cinema, babe.”

And just like that, you were mic’d up and seated between Joe and Will on one of those weird gamer-style couches that didn’t actually support your back. The camera crew was setting up, lights glaring, and you were running through the very real possibility that this was going to end in public humiliation.

Joe leaned over, voice low. “Promise to pick truth when it gets to you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ve been too mysterious lately,” he grinned.

“Joe.”

“I’m just saying. The people need to know.”

The shoot started.

Within minutes, it had descended into the usual nonsense: mini dares, oversharing, KSI doing a weird dance, and Vik being sneakily savage with his questions. You managed to stay off the radar for a while, mostly letting the chaos swirl around you.

Until it was your turn.

Tobi looked right at you. “Alright, you. Truth or dare?”

Joe didn’t even give you time to think. “Truth. She’s definitely picking truth.”

Will chuckled beside you, resting his arm on the back of the couch. “Safe choice.”

You narrowed your eyes at them both. “Fine. Truth.”

Tobi grinned like he’d just won the lottery. “Okay then. Is it true that—” He glanced at his phone like he was double checking the wording. “—you haven’t dated anyone in five years?”

The room erupted.

“OH MY GOD,” Joe wheezed, clapping his hands together.

Alfie fell sideways onto the floor with a dramatic gasp. “EXPOSED!”

Your mouth dropped open, equal parts horror and disbelief. “Who told you that?”

Will turned to look at you, fully now, brows raised. “Wait — for real?”

You blinked. “That’s… wow, okay. I thought we were doing like ‘what’s your favourite cereal’ type truths.”

But Tobi just laughed. “We go deep here.”

You took a breath, trying to will the blood out of your cheeks. “Yeah. It’s true.”

The room went quiet for a beat, only broken by Joe and Alfie’s combined gremlin giggles.

“She’s emotionally celibate,” Alfie added, wiping fake tears from his eyes.

“Full-on romantic nun,” Joe agreed, raising his bottle of water in a toast. “Five years strong.”

Will was still looking at you.

Not laughing. Just… surprised. Curious.

“Didn’t expect that,” he said under his breath, not loud enough for the camera to catch.

You shot him a sideways glance. “Why, because I seem so emotionally available?”

He smirked. “No, just… you sing like someone who’s been through it.”

Joe heard that and howled.

“Oh my god, this is killing me,” he wheezed. “The two of you sound like the start of an angsty music video.”

“You are the angsty music video,” Alfie added, still on the floor. “She’s giving heartbreak, and Will’s giving ‘guy who doesn’t realise he’s the problem’.”

Everyone laughed — including you — but you could feel Will still watching you out of the corner of his eye.

And later, when the cameras were off and the lights came down, he bumped your shoulder lightly and said, “Five years, huh?”

You nodded, trying to keep it breezy. “Life got busy.”

“Or maybe the right person never showed up.”

You didn’t say anything.

You didn’t need to.

Because for the first time in a long time, someone was starting to look at you like they might just want to be the exception.

The Sidemen vide blew up fast.

You woke up to hundreds of tags. Not dozens. Hundreds.

The comments had gone feral. TikToks were circulating, edits were made, and the clip where you admitted — on camera, no less — that you hadn’t dated in five whole years had gone ultra-viral.

“5 YEARS?? that’s not a dry spell, that’s a biblical drought”

“she’s so real for this. healing era icon.”

“joe and alfie’s reaction sent me to the moon”

“why does will look like he just found out she’s a disney princess with a tragic backstory??”

Someone even made a fan cam of your face, backlit in that Sidemen studio glow, overlayed with Lana Del Rey and the words “she deserves the world and also a midly sarcastic boyfriend.”

You laughed. You cringed. You considered moving to a remote forest.

But no one was letting it go — especially not Joe and Alfie.

And then came the ChrisMD pub crawl.

You hadn’t intended to be in that video either. But one “come on, it’ll be jokes” from Alfie turned into a full night of chaotic filming, multiple pubs, far too many pints, and an on-camera game of “Pub Truths” that immediately got out of hand.

You were two pints deep when Chris pointed a camera in your face with that smile that meant you should be worried.

“Right then,” he grinned. “Everyone wants to know — how long exactly has it been since your last date?”

Groans and cheers exploded around the table.

Joe physically clapped. “YESSSSS. Get in there!”

“Run it back!” Alfie yelled. “Five years and two months now, don’t lie!”

Will, sitting across from you with a half finished cider, looked up — smirking, but clearly listening.

You blinked. “Is this my punishment for having a career?”

Chris leaned closer. “So? Confirm the timeline. The people need to know.”

You sighed. Loudly. “Fine. Five years, three months, and…” You paused, checked your phone. “Seventeen days. Happy?”

The table screamed.

“No way you’re tracking it that precisely,” Chris said, wide eyed.

“She’s counting like it’s a prison sentence,” Joe said through tears.

“She’s like those girlboss wolves who wait for one mate their whole life,” Alfie added.

Will nearly choked on his drink.

You covered your face. “I hate you all.”

“You love us,” Alfie grinned. “And also you’re lying. You’ve definitely flirted.”

“I’ve flirted for sport. That’s not dating.”

“Iconic behaviour,” Joe muttered. “Tactical flirtation. Maximum power, no commitment.”

Chris was still cackling. “No but seriously, no dates? None?”

“Not one where I actually liked the guy back,” you said honestly.

That shut everyone up for a beat.

And then Will said — so casually it could’ve passed unnoticed: “Well, you’ve got high standards. That’s not a bad thing.”

Joe caught it. Alfie caught it. You definitely caught it.

The camera probably did, too.

And from the way Will didn’t even pretend to be embarrassed about saying it, you knew he meant it.

The next day, your mentions were in meltdown again.

This time, it wasn’t just “5 year dry spell girl.”

Now it was:

“she’s the heartbreak popstar and he’s the sarcastic youtuber… they share ONE drink on a pub crawl and i’m writing vows”

“this is the slowest of burns and i’m obsessed.”

“her saying ‘that’s not dating’ while will looks at her like THAT? yeah i screamed”

Your group chat was on fire.

Joe: ur a menace and ur fans want you to marry will

Alfie: i say u milk it. fake date him for views

Joe: or real date him for love

Alfie: LAME

Joe: grow up

And then —

You got a DM.

WillNE: just watched the chris video

you’re dangerously good at not getting flustered

next time i’m raising the stakes

(aka: i’m calling the next pub. don’t ghost me.)

You stared at the message for a good ten seconds, heart doing a thing it hadn’t done in — well, five years and seventeen days.

And maybe the streak wasn’t technically broken.

But something had definitely cracked.

[imjustanasshole]

Would You Fall in Love with Me Again? (Albus' Curse)

I've been working on a project for the HP, Marauders and Next Gen fandoms that I'm planning to post on ao3. Before I do so, I wanted to explain it a bit and post the prologue here, mostly to get some unbiased constructive feedback, but also to find other people who are interested on this subject as much as I am (and maybe become mutuals)!!

This project of sorts is a fanfic based on the 'a Potter falls for a Black in every generation' trope, with a touch of Slytherin-Gryffindor relationship angst and a slight 'In every other universe Gwen Stacy falls for Spider-Man and in every other universe, it doesn't end well' inspiration to it (because I love ITSV and ATSV), but in the HP universe, of course. The title is based on Would You Fall in Love with Me Again written by Jorge Rivera-Herrans for the Epic Musical, all the chapter titles are different lines from the song, and some scenes/dialogues will have similitudes with some lyrics as well.

As it is implied in the prologue (posted under the cut), Albus Severus Potter was born with the ability to gaze into people's past through their eyes, this way he finds the hard truths that surround his family and friends, and, most importantly, their ancestors, thus discovering that they've been doomed for decades (or even centuries). He carries this weight that threatens to either kill him or eventually make him go mad, mix that with an unimaginable power and a threat to the person he loves the most, and things are bound to blow up sooner or later.

The three main pairings are Jegulus, Drarry and Scorbus, but the 'main character', so to speak, is Albus Severus. In case there is any doubt, the two former couples don't have a happy ending (their outcome is canon-ish), therefore there is no inc*st of any kind (I've gotten this question asked when explaining this concept before, and... yeah, no). I plan to tell the story of these three couples from the P.O.V. of their respective Potter member, with a third-person omniscient narrator (but there might be some Black-Malfoy POVs, or even externals on certain occasions). There are background pairings such as Wolfstar, Dorlene, Rosekiller, Marylily (and perhaps some Pandalily as well), past casual Rosestarkiller, and others that I'd like to keep a surprise; in the Golden Trio Era I would include Romione, Linny, Deamus, past Dreo, and most probably other past/casual relationships; finally, I must say, I dislike a lot of the Next Gen ships that I've seen, and, honestly, Scorpius and Albus are going to be very much in their own bubble during their chapter, since is much heavier emotionally (and also more family-centered) than the two prior ones, which start in a slightly more light-hearted and innocent tone (even though their ending is quite dramatic), so, even though some background relationships will be present, they won't be as relevant as in the other parts of the story and, therefore, is not worth it for me to mention at the moment (they most probably will be tagged if this gets officially posted, though). I'd like to clarify that, even if the outcome for most of the couples is canon-compliant, the plot is not and the characters are more leaning toward their fandom characterizations as well (not completely OOC, though), most of them are queer and some of them are trans and/or gender non-conforming (including three out of six of the protagonists if I don't decide to make it even more of them). With this, I would like to take a stand against some attitudes that this fandom has had towards trans and queer people as of late, don't forget that we are the backbone of this community. Trans and queer people, along with POC, have created some of the most important and iconic parts of this fandom (and many others), don't erase us, don't dismiss us, don't forget us, and don't support new or old projects that JKR directly benefits from, please. Therefore, I'll be including some of my favorite headcanons/fanon interpretations in this fanfic, for example: Latino/Hispanic James, trans Regulus, ambulatory cane-user Remus, plus-size Lily, black Rosier twins, black and trans Hermione, queer Ron, mixed and trans Harry, gay Draco, trans Albus Severus, and many, many more (trust me, many more). All of this will be treated casually but it will be there because people who are not able-bodied, cisgender, white, straight, etc. also have a right to be present in stories without this being the only important part of their character. So fuck JKR, I don't owe her anything, we created this fandom, we made it what it is and it's ours, if you are not comfortable with any of this, I'm not interested in your feedback and I don't need you to keep reading any further, kindly go fuck yourself and get out of my blog.

And now, the prologue (I hope you enjoy it!):

Prologue: “Penelope”

(Albus Severus Potter and Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, Part I)

Albus is pretty sure it was written somewhere in the stars: every time, a Potter will fall for a Black and, every time, it will end disturbingly wrong. At first, he had thought that it was all in his head, it was not possible that they were bound to make the same error generation after generation, the forces of the universe wouldn't be so cruel. He surely had to be mistaken.

However, once he met his Scorpius, he understood. He knew he was doomed to tragedy, just like his father, his grandfather before him, and even his great-grandfather before them. He could see it in his father's eyes, so clear it pained him to foresee he would meet the same destiny, and so he had tried to avoid it. But what has been written can’t be averted, thus he fell for the Malfoy boy, and he was now paying the price.

Years ago, when they had discovered that Albus had this gift, he had anticipated nothing good could come of it. Seeing people’s pasts and even their ancestors' past was a disaster waiting to happen. Having such a connection with them that he felt as if he had been in the room for those memories haunted him, and made him troubled and closed off. Yet, his parents told him it was a gift, his healers said it was superior magic, his teachers called it an advantage. And, when Albus had confessed it to him in their third year, Scorpius assured him he would help him to be able to live with it. Then he had held him as he cried, after yet another horrifying vision of a life that wasn’t his own permeated his nightmares.

He deemed it a curse. It didn’t matter how many nights he spent in Scorpius’ arms, sobbing himself to sleep while the other boy whispered sweet nothings in his ear, Albus knew he was cursed. Cursed and powerful. He had to run away from Scorpius as soon as possible to not drag him down with him. Nevertheless, when Scorpius refused to give up on him, paying no mind to how many times he pushed him away, Albus accepted they were… Well, utterly fucked, simply put.

Regardless, Albus had never imagined they would end up like this.

He is barely standing, Dumbledor’s White Tomb behind him, the land around him destroyed, barely avoiding the Hogwarts castle itself but surely reaching most of its grounds. Scorpius stands about ten meters from him, his back to the castle doors from which terrified students have started to spill out. Harry won’t take too long to be there as well, he’s sure of it.

Albus doesn’t need the judgment in their eyes, he is aware of what he looks like, what this reminds them all of. His gaze focuses solely on Scorpius, though has it ever not done so?

“Albus,” He mutters, loud enough for only him to hear. He has scratches all over his face, but, for the way he feels hot liquid dripping down his head, Albus is certain his own condition is even worse. Scorpius drops his wand and tries to take a step forward. “Please…” He starts to beg but is swiftly interrupted. 

“Don’t!” Albus stops him immediately, taking a step back himself. “Stay back, Scorp!” He weeps, pleading. “Don’t make me do this…”

That's it for the prologue!! It's the shortest part out of the five of them, I'm currently writing chapter one (Jegulus' chapter), and after I finish I have to write chapter two (Drarry) and chapter three (Scorbus) that narrates the events before the prologue, there'll be an epilogue as well, but I'd like to keep its contents a secret... I can, however, reveal the chapter titles, which won't be shorter than 5k words but also won't be longer than 10k words (I'm anticipating):

How had they gotten here?

(first chapter post)

-Chapter One: “Is it really you, my love?” (James Fleamont Potter and Regulus Arcturus Black)

-Chapter Two: “I am not the man you knew” (Harry James Potter and Draco Lucius Malfoy)

-Chapter Three: “Don’t tell me you’re not the same person” (Albus Severus Potter and Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, Part II)

-[epilogue name: not revealed (but it exists)]

If even one person reads this and enjoys it, I'd be satisfied. Any constructive criticism is appreciated (and excuse me if there are any linguistic errors, english is not my first language), as well as some tips for posting on ao3 (it'd be my first time using the platform as a writer) and any other comments on the subjects that I spoke about in this post.

(also! playlist about the potter-black/gryffindor-slytherin love theory, still in progress)

[defire]

🌿Hello! Gen. question: I was wondering why do so many whumpers write about abuse on minors? Most of the content I see in the tag revolves around children being harmed by adults (i.e: slavery, kidnapping, inc*st stuff, etc.) I know you've mentioned before that it can be a form of exposure therapy to those who have experienced things like this in the past (exposure therapy is super helpful) but I see a lot of stories that just kinda come off as fetish content. (I hope this doesn't come across as a stupid question, I'm still new to the genre so I just wanna know what to look out for)

Ok so answering this question is going to call me out repeatedly so lets have fun😅

I was a minor when most of my abuse happened so it's relatable. I was also abused as a young adult, so I also write YA whumpees.

One important message that whump fiction sends is "you did not deserve it." And it's easier to see that with a younger character.

Younger characters have a shorter history to write and fewer physical problems. They can bounce back from injuries quicker with fewer complications.

Specifically with rape: adults that have been raped often hear "why did you stay in that relationship?" "Why didn't you call the police?" When it's a child it's easier to start drawing those lines. They trusted the rapist, they were afraid to call the police, etc. and it still wasn't their fault.

Fetish content--Romance has the same issue. Basically, if the ultimate meaning in the book isn't conveyed properly, it looks like it's just smut. The meaning needs to be a strong recurring chord throughout the whole work (I think most writers pull this meaning to the forefront as they work through their 2nd draft--it's not always apparent when you're writing it the first time.)

Speaking of fetish and romance --think of how many books and movies feature underage protagonists in romantic relationships. But as long as the meaning of the book supercedes that, it doesn't matter, because the story is leading us through these relationships to reach this ultimate, important goal--communicating an abstract truth that could only be spoken through 60,000 words of fiction.

The truths whump authors are searching for are so deep that they require the most powerful, intense narrative tools to reach them. Good luck to us.

[solarstranger]

BAKUGOU KATSUKI (爆豪勝己)

links. universal masterlist, writing tag: bakugou. sorting. arranged from latest to oldest per category!

⌞ONE-SHOTS⌝

⇀ desperate times (desperate measures) (18+)

you like taking care of your boyfriend—there’s no doubt about that—although something tells you he likes it more than he’s letting on. unusually determined to uncover the truth, you conjure up a plan to confirm it once and for all. (or: in which you try to prove if bakugou has a mommy kink)

⇀ too hot to handle (18+)

halloween has always been the time for you to unwind—have fun, even—as a reprieve from the stresses work and life brought you. but when your best friend bakugou katsuki somehow shows up to the party in a not-so forgiving costume, you suddenly find that the last thing you can do is relax. (or: in which you rope bakugou into wearing a costume set with you, and you get reminded of your...thing for men in uniform)

⇀ ward off (this loneliness)

love comes when you least expect it. or, in bakugou’s case, when he’s unceremoniously dumped into the psychiatric ward. (or: in which bakugou finds himself haunted by his war-torn past, rancid nightmares, and the pretty face of this girl he meets inside)

⇀ hold me close (hold me tight)

masaru has a stroke that nearly kills him. bakugou handles it well—until he doesn’t.

⌞SERIES / MULTI-CHAPTERED⌝

⇀ stars don't shine (they burn)

when you made a wish on one of those “shooting stars” (it was a meteor shower) to not be miserable anymore, the last thing you’d ever expected or wanted was to become tokyo university’s incredibly handsome and universally adored boy-next-door kirishima eijirou. like, literally become him. biceps and (apparently, true-to-the-rumors) monster cock and all. but now you’re stuck, with no way of returning to your own body, and the weird thing? you’re not sure if you want to go back anymore. but kirishima’s got mina, his adoring girlfriend, and bakugou, his too-(a)cute-for-comfort best friend, who also just happens to have hated your guts since you ended on the wrong foot after arguing on a project the entire semester of your first year. people who’ll miss him. people who have lives left to live, like kirishima.  people not like you. (or: in which you inadvertently wish yourself into becoming another person to escape your own misery, only to find it again in the form of one bakugou katsuki)

⇀ meet (not so) crazy

part 1 — bakugou unceremoniously stumbles upon you. where? in his therapist's building.

part 2 — bakugou's therapist poses a ground-breaking question.

⇀ all out of luck (18+)

you had the biggest, fattest crush on bakugou katsuki in high school, which granted you weird looks and judgment from those who found out, because why, when you could fawn over prince-like todoroki or manly kirishima instead? fast forward to 10 years later, though, and now the joke’s on them, because #2 pro-hero dynamight just got dubbed the hottest bachelor of the year. but that doesn’t matter, because you’re over him now. you’ve been over him, ever since that butchered attempt at confessing where he dismissed you as a gen ed extra before you could even get the words out. so why, all of a sudden—and an entire decade later—do you have to work with him on a top-secret mission? (or: in which you fall first, but bakugou falls harder)

⌞DRABBLES⌝

honeyed

graduation season

i'm so fucking horny (18+)

look in the mirror

ready or not

"i want to go home to my wife."

happy 4th anniversary

© solarstranger 2025. do not plagiarize, repost, or feed to ai any of my works.

[hirsuteandcute]

Sorry (and thank you)!!

Just a long post because if you know me, you know I love to yap (TLDR at the end)

First thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has interacted with this blog - thank you for your private messages, questions, tags people have added, and things I've been tagged in. I'm so glad to see people are still finding good stuff here, seeing 'old timers' in my activity feed who have followed this blog for years, tourists who find a couple of posts they like, new followers go on mass liking sprees, etc. It means a lot knowing you're all out there, feeling the same way I am and going through the same experiences (even if they're sometimes miserable).

Sorry I've been so absent, I'm going to try to get to new messages and stuff as soon as I can. This blood clot situation has turned into a bit of a nightmare. My left arm has very little blood flow in it anymore, even with blood thinners, and I'm going to have surgery soon.

I've come off the combined pill (i.e. with estrogen) which has been a bit devasting, to tell you the truth. My hormones and periods have just been an absolute mess. I've been told to give my body roughly a year(!) to adjust to readjust and see where my hormones are at. I'm tired, I'm scared, I'm frustrated, but it is what it is.

For a while, I even wondered if I'd need this blog anymore. Maybe I was naive, but things seemed to be going well re the body positivity/body neutrality movements. Endometriosis and PCOS were being spoken about more openly. There was a push to see women represented with body hair and other typically unseen (but extremely common) features like acne, cellulite, or stretch marks, more often. I was seeing articles on big website talking positivitely about women's choices not to shave or the challenges women with imbalances hormones might face.

But that seemed to be a very short window. As expected, whenever push in one way, the world pushes back. Adverts now might feature one model with hairy armpits, but all the other models will be shaven, the product will still be shaving product, and people will immediately express their disgust on social media or other places at having to see a woman's hairy armpit for like two seconds. I've even seen this amongst my own family members, sadly. Gen Z and Gen Alpha seem even more fixated on their looks with all new pressures from social media, celebrities, influencers etc exposed to them at even younger ages, with even more ridiculous 'flaws' to worry about. There seems to be a growing number of men who have no problem targeting and attacking women for daring to look or behave outside of very select and convential boundaries. Women in supposedly 'free' countries are having to worry about whether their access to birth control, hormonal treatments, gynecologists, and other women's health services will be threatened. Funding to research on conditions like endometriosis is seen as 'non essential'.

Idk what my point is, I'm just disappointed. In a way, I'm sad that a blog like this has to exist, even though maybe there's more than there once way, there still seems to be so few places or ways to explicitly discuss these issues or even just make statements like "Women have body hair and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with not removing your body hair as a woman. Endometriosis and PCOS are real illnesses, not just 'bad period cramps'. In fact, they can be debilitating. Periods are not shameful or disgusting. Women's bodies are not shameful or disgusting."

Anyway, thank you again and hope you are all managing as well as possible!! Love from your hairy buddy xxx

TLDR: Blood clot ruined everything, hormones are rubbish, beauty standards are evil. If you're reading this, thank you :)

[danthediamondminecart]

Hi! Back for another batch of questions!

1. In your RBB Superheroes AU, will there be a hero who will accidentally get their identity revealed?

2. If you can write an RBB Fanfic about a certain fandom (Aside Madoka Magica, Life SMP, and Pokemon) What will it be about and what will be the title?

3. Do you think there should be more RBB fanfics on Ao3?

4. How did the hosts found the sword in the first place?

5. What are the hosts reactions when they start having powers due to their swords?

6. I remember seeing a post on twitter from your account, that when Russo found his sword his hair changed to blue. Does that work for the other two hosts aswell?

7. What is the most hilarious thing that the hosts did when they start using their powers?

8. Is Russo overwhelmed by the amount of Truths he just discovered from people.

9. Do Angels exsist on Robloxia? If so do they have fluffy wings? :D Sorry, I'm in love with angels.

10. What is the status relationship between Angels and Demons In your AU?

That's all for now!

Sorry these took a while to get to! You got me thinking about pre-host hosts again, so thanks for that /gen

Alright, as always, answers under the cut!

Q1) None of the main heroes (that being Kreek, Devoun, Ashley, Leah, Denis and Calixo), but in my head, one of the side characters will have their identity revealed before the ‘main story’ starts, kicking off Calixo’s recruitment.

Q2) I mean…you didn’t mention The Magnus Archives in your list. So I’m going to answer with that because I’m very normal about my TMA/RBB au. For concepts that I’ve barely developed, probably The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals or Detroit: Become Human would be fun.)

Q3) YES. Please, we need more of us. I beg. Just be normal about tagging though, please.

Q4) The hosts were originally in a band, and one day, they were looking for a new concert location after losing access to their old one. Russo found a run-down version of the S2 lobby, decided to explore, and things went downhill from there.

Q5) Lots of confusion and concern, as well as being quite put out by the new abilities (Russo especially.) Luckily Mr B was there to help them get used to it, lol

Q6) Yep! In fact, here are their ‘pre-host’ designs:

Apparently, these designs creeped people out, because they look so normal. I guess it’s like…Not-Them vibes?

Sabrina originally had black hair, and DJ dark brown. They were all relatively normal looking people before the whole ‘gaining powers’ thing happened. (Though I think DJ and Sabrina are the type of people to have dyed their hair beforehand anyway. They just don’t get a choice anymore.)

Q7) DJ ran into a wall. Multiple times. It took him a long time to get used to sprinting at supersonic speeds. Russo kept accidentally mind reading his friends, which yknow, he didn’t really want to do. It did make for a lot of good jokes though. Sabrina didn’t really have anything ‘funny’ happen, aside from like, no longer being able to get a blood test. Healing didn’t do too much to affect her aside from removing her ability to feel pain and making her very lethargic at first.

Q8) Yes, perhaps even to a painful degree. Suddenly having so much information thrust on him at once was really overwhelming, and I like to believe he gets chronic migraines about it. He’s gotten used to it though, by virtue of ignoring half the things that appear in his head.

Q9) Yes, but I don’t have any specifically noted. Pink, as I’ve mentioned, is closer to a ghost in my headcanons, though I call him an angel because it’s easier, so him, I guess.

Q10) Devils and Angels have their typical rivalry, but Demons…don’t really care. Pink and Tanqr’s antagonistic relationship is not because they’re an angel and a devil, it’s because they’re both annoyed by / scared of each other.

[jazzmckay]

20 Questions for Fic Writers!

tagged by @broodwoof :> i think ive done this one before but my memory is bad enough that i dont remember my own answers and they might be different because ive posted a lot lately so. here we go

not sure who all has already done this... if you're a writer seeing this and you havent done it yet, do it and tag me 😂

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

116

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,010,049 babeyyy

3) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Truth in Melody (geralt/jaskier) - 1,534 - my contribution to the famous accidental warlord geralt au, with jaskier as a redanian spy in his midst

The World Upside Down (gen) - 1,367 - my first detroit: become human fic, the beginning of a found family saga

Variable Outcome (gen/connor & gavin) - 910 - one of the many, many d:bh Evidence Room Canon Divergence fics out there

left an impression on my heart (scott/stiles) - 869 - one of the teen wolf old guard fics still clinging to relevancy... 😂

Winter Chill and Summer Bloom (connor/gavin) - 732 - one of my dbh magnum opuses, as far as im concerned

4) What fandoms do you write for?

right now, dragon age. in the past? well.

the walking dead should have its own folder but for some reason during that era i wrote exclusively on gdocs idk. the "other" folder contains l4d2, shameless, shadowhunters, sense8, and borderlands.

5) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yep, comments mean a lot to me so i always take the time to reply. if i don't, it's probably because the person said something that made me uncomfortable which has unfortunately happened a couple times lol.... just "oversharing with a stranger" kind of things

6) What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i have 2 that are basically the same level of hurt/no comfort

Fair Compensation (rk900/perkins) - failed android revolution, perkins being a scumbag

Scoured (anders/hawke) - inquisitor anders is made tranquil

7) What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

im not really sure how to quantify this. im just gonna say this one thats all very light and happy and sweet all the way through. i give even my darkest whump a happy ending, generally, but this one seems like among the most overall fluffy?

Irresistible Gravity (connor/gavin) - 5+1 fic, they keep running into each other in unexpected places as connor figures himself out post-revolution

8) Do you get hate on fics?

i have gotten unsolicited crit before. just deleted it

9) Do you write smut?

yep and i wish i could write more. unfortunately, i struggle

10) Do you write crossovers?

depends on your definition of crossover. i don't think ive written any "the characters from both verses get smooshed into one" before, but ive written "characters from x verse transported into y verse".

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that im aware of

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

yea! one all the way back on fanfic.net lol.... it was a twilight fic. we dont need to talk about it. but more recently:

Wellspring (cole & vivienne) - based on the banter where cole tells vivienne that if templars come for her, he'll kill them. it was translated into russian!

13) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

yep, loooong time ago, when i was participating in homestuck shipping events where we got on teams for a ship. shout out to the catchat 🐈

since, ive talked about co-writing a couple times but we never made it anywhere lmao

14) What’s your all-time favorite ship?

this is the worst question in existence how very dare you. i wonder what i said last time. i wonder if it was corvo attano/daud from dishonored. i feel like i probably did say them

15) What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i still want to finish ALL my wips. if i had infinite time and spoons, id still finish everything unless ive changed too much since then, which basically just means stuff that goes all the way back to the teenage years, or if the source has been soured for me too much (hp, overwatch). im not sure which im least likely to finish tho... probably the longfic dbh au stuff

16) What are your writing strengths?

i don't know lol i often get comments on my characterization so probably that! i'd like to think i'm decent at pacing as well, particularly since i've spent a lot of time working on it

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

i struggle the most with fluff, smut and conclusions. i also don't have the spoons for long, complex plots anymore, if im honest, and that really sucks. i get easily overwhelmed when trying to piece it together. hopefully the energy comes back someday

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

there are times when its appropriate but i think it's something to be careful with. first of all: avoiding racist tropes. a character using other languages should have meaning or be realistic, imo, not be quirky or fetishizing. just need to make sure there's a real, grounded reason for it, that it makes sense. people who speak multiple languages irl have a lot to say about what its like.

and then you need to be careful about the clarity of the text. if there's too much and the readers don't understand, it's going to be confusing. don't lock important context behind a language barrier. don't risk frustrating a person into giving up on the story because they cant keep up. and no, putting translations in the notes is not always enough, if it means the reader has to constantly stop reading to check the notes, losing their place or the flow of the scene

19) First fandom you wrote for?

gonna be real with yall. if you count hand-written things that never made it into fandom spaces and werent even written with the understanding that it was fanfic......... angry beavers. yah, the cartoon about the beaver brothers. yes

if we're talking actual intentional fandom activity that made it to the internet, that would be harry potter.

20) Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

the previously mentioned winter chill and summer bloom is certainly up there. i think ill also say my dbh vampire au series:

Vampire AU (a.k.a. gay vampire/hunter shenanigans)

i'm also very fond of my two fics named after lyrics from blackbird by the beatles

into the light of the dark black night (gen) - dbh post-bomb ending fic

take these broken wings and learn to fly (kara/north) - whumpy soulmate au femslash lets go

[lucaniseyebrowlicker]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Got tagged by both @hightowerqueen and @nonagesimus. Thanks!! Not gonna tag anybody because it took me so long to get to this but if you see it, consider yourself tagged

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

6.

2. What's your total AO3 word Count?

23,636

3. What are you top 5 fics by kudos?

Pay the Piper, 58 kudos Explicit (2,088 words) Fem!Rook/Lucanis Lucanis Dellamorte exerts so much control as First Talon of the Antivan Crows. Daphne Ingellvar is all too happy to help him let loose.

One for Sorrow, 45 kudos Explicit (8,908 words) Fem!Rook/Lucanis Daphne and Lucanis attempt to navigate the stress of post-game

bend to break, 28 kudos Explicit (2,881 words) Davrin/Fem!Rook/Lucanis Lucanis and Daphne have one rule: nothing physical, not yet. Davrin offers a helping hand in easing the tension.

Beasts of Our Own Making, 24 kudos Explicit (eventually, not yet) (5,880 words) Fem!Rook/Lucanis A modern Mafia AU, in which Lucanis investigates a series of mysterious killings with the help of Occult Bookstore owner, Daphne Ingellvar.

when there's nothing but dark and sound (i will be beside you), 11 kudos (2,089 words) Fem!Rook & Illario gen fic A snippet from my Time Travel AU fic, Stepping Stones. Companion!Illario confronts Daphne, who reveals the truth behind why she knows so much about the inner workings of the Antivan Crows as a Mourn Watch mage.

4. What fandoms do you write for?

Pretty much exclusively Dragon Age: The Veilguard right now, but in the past I wrote an ungodly amount for Kingdom Hearts.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I would like to, but I am new to ao3 after taking a very long break from fic-writing, and so I often forget that I can respond to comments!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'm a big fan of angst with a happy ending, so generally I don't have angsty endings, although tbh these days it's looking more and more like One for Sorrow will end up being more bittersweet than happy. So, let's say that one.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'm pretty fond of the ending of bend to break. It's an idea I'm probably gonna end up chewing on a bit more and incorporating into the canon for Daphne

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not so far.

9. Do you write smut?

Oh yeah. Ya need a break from the angst, you know?

10. Do you write crossovers?

I haven't! I read them but I've never thought of one I'd write (yet)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes. Back in my KH days there was a LiveJournal that posted a few of my fics to different communities claiming them as their own.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Someone asked me once, back in the day, but I don't think they ever followed through (fair, that's a lot of work)

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Yes! Co-wrote a Rugby AU Riku/Leon KH fic like 15 years ago lol

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

It's gotta be Lucanis/Daphne. I just am so obsessed with them now.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

More of an idea than a WIP since I only have like a single paragraph so far, but a Daphne/Lucanis Regency AU that's loosely based on A Cinderella Story.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Oh god I have no idea? I think I'm good at emotive dialogue? Somebody tell me, I don't know how to compliment myself.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I second guess myself a lot and it bogs down my process. And I tend to lose steam towards the end of pieces or chapters and rush the ending. I'm working on that one.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

If it's a language I can speak well enough without having to Google translate it, I'll do it. (So, Italian and. That's it.)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Kingdom Hearts. A truly terrible Pirate AU that will never again see the light of day.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

Stepping Stones. A Rookanis Time Travel AU I've been working on in bits and pieces for months and posted the prologue to today. It's my most treasured, angstiest idea I've ever worked on and I'm obsessed with it and you'll never catch me not yapping about it from now on.

[gendervapor14]

two fights for freedom ~ teaser for chapter twenty-seven: a give and a take

plugging away at writing and organizing!! i've got drafts for chapter 27 and 28, so this week, i'll bring you a chonky teaser of chapter twenty-seven, with some cora & bell domesticity and backstory exploration :D

enjoy!! ♥

“Hey, hey, wait.” Bell-mère eyed over from the pot of rice she was preparing. “Don’t cut like that.” Before he could question her, she eased in and took the knife away from him. “That’s how you cut yourself. You have to tuck your fingers in.” She demonstrated after setting the blade down. “Like this, see? Hold the stems like that.”

“Doesn’t seem very comfortable…”

“Yeah, well, I’ve seen you. I have all reason to monitor your knife skills, or lack thereof.” She joked, keeping a watchful eye on him while he attempted her method. “Yeah, good. Just like that.”

“Where’d you learn this?” He asked, “Your parents?”

For half a second, Bell-mère froze photo-still. Then resumed tending to her rice. “My parents weren’t around when I was young. I learned on my own. Trial and error, baby.”

“Guess that makes two of us.” He mused, “I—I think I already mentioned that, though.”

“You did. Weirdly enough, it’s one of the reasons I figured you were somewhat dependable. At least you know what it’s like.” He watched her eyelashes flutter from where she stood over the steamy pot, stirring a rich, chicken broth. “I think it’s funny too, how…we almost seemed to compensate for that, don’t you think?” She grinned at him, but there was something inquisitive there. “You with Law? Me with the girls?”

“Compensating…?” He paused his slicing, “What, like…we’re standing in for the parents we didn’t have or something?”

“Yeah. Something like that. Ever feel that way?”

Rosinante scraped up a handful of chopped greens and carefully dumped them in the soup pot. “Not really, to tell you the truth. I’d really love to say I’m the image of my parents but…” He took his time returning to his post. “They were the sweetest, gentlest people I’ve ever met.” A little self-deprecating laugh. “Hell, they’d probably be disappointed by my temper. Tell me something like…you must appreciate the challenges in life or…something like that.”

Bell-mère watched him wave the knife around as he lost himself to his imagination. “You remember a lot about them?”

“My parents? Yeah, yeah. Er—well, I like to think I remember a lot about them, but…” A little sigh. Back to dicing. “They died when I was eight, so I don’t remember much. Enough to honor them, to think of them fondly, but not enough to really know who they were.”

“Can I ask what happened to them?”

His knife felt as if it gained a ton. He felt the kick to shut down or lie, something easy, something quick, but there was a gentleness to her request. There was consent. There was that conversation earlier in the day. They’d take things slow.

It was okay to take things slow. He didn’t have to overthink this.

“Another time, maybe.” He scratched the back of his head. “I don’t like to…to think about it, or discuss it. Sorry.”

“No, no, that’s alright. I get it, trust me.” She wiped her hand off on a dishtowel before passing him the actual carrots. “I understand the difference between something you don’t want to discuss due to unpleasant memories, and something you don’t want to discuss because you think you shouldn’t share it with me. Big difference.”

Rosinante decided this was somehow both.

title: two fights for freedom rating: M category: F/M, gen content warnings: graphic depictions of violence status: incomplete, twenty-six chapters, 77,420 words relationships: rosinante/bell-mere, cora & law, rosinante & hatchan, bell-mere & rosinante & law & nami & nojiko, rosinante & genzo, bell-mere & genzo characters: rosinante, bell-mere, law, nami, nojiko, genzo, nako, hatchan, arlong, arlong pirates additional tags: canon divergent, fix-it, everybody lives, pre-arlong park, angst with a happy ending, angst and feels, fluff and humor, hurt/comfort, suggestive themes, sexual tension, limes (yes i'm bringing limes back), eventual smut, romance, slow burn, financial issues, broken bones, references to depression, alcoholism, mental health issues, canon backstory, mentioned doflamingo, non-canon backstory (giving bell-mere a backstory), found family, medical inaccuracies, blood and injury, trafalgar d. water law is a little shit, developing friendships, past child abuse, nightmares, self-harm, fake marriage, selective mutism, PTSD, more tags to be added later summary: freedom for one means adventure. exploring all the world has to offer, while avoiding the occasional haunting. freedom for another almost costs an arm and two daughters. a home, a village. perhaps freedom is best sought back-to-back. {a cora and bell-mère lives au}

♥

[philosopherking1887]

First lines game

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern.

Thanks for the tag, @illwynd! I think I did one of these not that long ago, but it's always fun to see how my most recent fics have changed the pattern.

1. A Match Made in Hell (Gotham, Ed/Oswald, POV Barbara) After Reunification, the mood in Gotham was jubilant. Nowhere was this truer than at the celebration being held in City Hall for the city’s defenders. Champagne, newly imported from the mainland, flowed freely, and the buffet tables offered a greater variety of ingredients and flavors than most of the attendees had enjoyed in over a year.

2. Strange Bedfellows (Gotham, endgame Ed/Oswald, temporary but substantial Jim/Oswald) Oswald Cobblepot waltzed straight through the GCPD (almost literally, with his characteristic three-count step) as if he owned the place (which, in truth, he had before, and probably would again) and barged into the captain’s office without so much as knocking, then slammed it dramatically behind him.

3. A Question of Time (Gotham, Ed/Oswald) Mayor Oswald Cobblepot and his chief of staff, Edward Nygma (who could still hardly believe that those titles applied to them), had just finished dinner at the Van Dahl mansion, mainly spent discussing policy initiatives and how they interacted with Oswald’s interests in the underworld.

4. Introductions: Take Two (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Jake/Ziyal, drabble for prompt "New Beginnings," dialogue only) “Hey, Ziyal. Can I sit?”

5. A Penguin By Any Other Name (Gotham, pre-Nygmobblepot) “Oswald Cobblepot,” Ed said thoughtfully, rolling the syllables around his mouth as if he were tasting an unfamiliar wine.

6. The Honest Man's Lie (DS9, Garak/Bashir) When Garak approached the Replimat, Bashir was already standing outside it, looking toward Garak’s shop and bouncing on the balls of his feet—with excitement rather than anxiety, judging from the grin that spread across his face when he caught sight of his lunch companion.

7. A Simple Request (DS9, Garak/Bashir, dialogue only) “Oh, I think it’s safe to say Julian Bashir, secret agent, will return. Computer, end program. Now, we need to get you to the infirmary to treat that neck wound…”

8. Never Too Late (DS9, Garak/Bashir, drabble for prompt "Late") Garak’s eyes widened with shock, quickly masked. “Doctor Bashir! It’s late for social calls…”

9. Biting Commentary (DS9, Garak/Bashir, drabble for prompt "Fruity," dialogue only) “…then the kid grabbed Garak’s hand and bit it, so hard he was millimeters away from hitting bone.”

10. Contrapasso (DS9, gen, Garak POV, drabble for prompt "Curse") In his brief stint on Bajor, Garak learned to ignore Bajoran curses, spat at him by Resistance detainees, muttered by old codgers who thought he couldn’t hear, or painted on the walls of his lodgings.

Patterns... well, either it's a short-ish line of dialogue, or a longer scene-setting sentence. Though sometimes it describes a specific event (2, 3, 6), and sometimes it's a generalization about a relevant place and time (1, 10).

Tagging: @incredifishface, @kaelio, @cardassiangoodreads, @gottaread2, @thesoullessfuck (but only if you want to, of course!!)

[silverliing]

why is genderbending bad? /gen

This is kind of a loaded question and I will answer it to the best of my abilities and through my own understanding of genderbending and gender identity politics but if you don’t want to read all that i’ll just leave you with the short answer: It’s complicated. I don’t think “genderbending” is inherently a bad thing (i do it) what i do take an issue with is the actual name of this trend as well as some of the rhetoric and ideas about gender that run rampant along it that have largely been ignored or gone unchallenged.

I also do not think that the bulk of this work has been made with malicious intent, rather just out of ignorance in a cissexist society. so yeah, complicated. I would also like to point out that I am gender non-binary and identify as trans, so these are just my personal thoughts regarding this type of content in fandom spaces and the ways I think it (more often than i’d prefer) plays into the erasure of trans and intersex identities from the conversation and can perpetuate cissexist ideas of gender and gender identity.

Anyways, long answer is long so more after the cut -> -> ->

For starters I think the most egregious thing to me about this whole genderbend thing is the name. now, i absolutely hate the name because genderbending is never just about changing a characters gender is it? what we generally understand as genderbending in fandom is typically the changing or switching of a character’s sex from male to female or from female to male and assigning to them the gender that “matches” their sex. And if this is exactly what you’re trying to do then that’s fine! i don’t want to be the arbitrator of what people can or can’t do in fandom spaces so… just maybe call it what it is? maybe also understand how this trend feeds into the rhetoric that gender is a binary and how it conflates sex and gender as if they were interchangeable or one and the same as well as perpetuating some outdated and ill informed views on sex, gender and sexuality too!(since typically when a character gets genderbent their sexuality changes as well)

There’s a lot of discourse on this very topic and much of it might probably disagree with me on these points so i encourage everyone to seek alternative opinions on the matter, but from my own understanding of gender, gender identity and gender expression, i find that the idea of “genderbending” —in the ways it has been traditionally done by fandoms— can have some cissexist implications:

It implies that there are only two genders which are opposite from each other, and that those are (generally cis) “male” or (generally cis) “female”.

Gender is not a binary and gender is a social construct. this is something that psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, biologists, gender theorists and medical professionals have all agreed upon for decades. The thing that happens in genderbending where a character can only jump from fully mature phenotypical male “man” to a fully mature phenotypical female “woman” (or vice versa) without any wiggle room in between is ill-informed at best. And then there are people who will say “oh well that’s not true because i saw a non-binary intersex genderbend once!” and all i have to say to this is… okay. Yes this kind of NB “genderbend” does exist but it’s is not the norm. For the most part when looking up the genderbend tag will generally bring up a lot of stereotypically female petra parkers and harriet potters, and this is just the truth.

It implies that physical traits and gender are related.

Usually this type of work will have things like a tall, flat chested, muscly “masculine” character switch genders to become short, curvy, large breasted, “feminine” one (usually without any regard to how that character’s personality and lifestyle affect their physical attributes) typically the act of genderbending will come along with changes to a characters genitalia, gender markers, and phenotype, not just their gender. I trust you understand how this idea is inherently cissexist and reinforces the thought that things like the set of genitals you were born with ought to dictate the gender you identify as. This also gets into the territory of intersex erasure. Since our society has yet to come to a consensus of how intersex individuals ought to look like (and how could they!) it is less likely that you will find a genderbend that envisions a character as intersex given that genderbending isn’t just about changing someone’s gender but also making them look the part. Which is a whole other can of worms because what does a woman or a man look like? what does an intersex or a non-binary or an agender person look like? these nuances often get pushed to the side in genderbending. And if you have found genderbent art or fanfic that subverts all of these trends that’s awesome! But again, it’s still not the norm.

I know this one sounds bad, but there are some arguments against it that are very valid to me; namely that although not every trans person’s goal is to appear cis-passing, there are some trans folk whose goal is to look as cis as possible and their visions and fantasies of what their ideal gender presentation ought be reflected in this type of art is imo quite valid.

It implies that someone “changing genders” can be reduced to a thought experiment.

Maybe this isn’t the best wording but it’s when you see genderbend being done as a way to explore how a character would be different if they had just been born in a different body. This one doesn’t sound too bad, it’s just a little thought experiment right? and in a way it is but i still want to bring it up because again, it assumes that being born with a specific set of physical attributes will dictate a persons gender. This also could imply that anyone who identifies with a gender that is different to the one they were assigned at birth does not have an equally as meaningful relation to their own gender as someone who was born with the “right” set of genitals. It is also kind of funny to me that some of these genderbenders who just want to do a thought experiment with their blorbo would want to see said blorbo navigating the “opposite” gender from a cis perspective. Now i don’t have any sources to back me up on this but i’m just going to assume that between a trans person and a cis person, the individual who is most likely to be aware of gender identity politics is probably not going to be the cis person. just make the character trans just make them trans

Why I do it

Literally i had not thought about this topic in over a decade, and i had no genuine interest in seeing characters under this type of lens since i was like 12. However, the idea for lesbyler was born as a response to the critiques toward byler fans that said the ship would not be so popular if they had been two girls instead of two boys. I guess you could say it started as a joke or out of spite but in my personal case (which i know is true for many others in the fandom) it became a way to project my own sapphic youth into a ship that is so special to me. Of course i would love them more if those characters had been written as girls! Byler has such a soft spot in my heart because it’s the story of my first love —its the story of a lot of peoples first love— and so in that vein i thought it was permissible to make it all the more mine. I did not entertain the thought of “making” them girls because girls are the opposite of boys and i thought that was cool, or because i wanted to see lesbian rep instead of gay rep, i entertained the thought of two lesbian best friends navigating first love because it’s the story i would have liked to see in a show like stranger things.

Furthermore, i also do not see my lesbyler characters as inherently cis, I still see them as an offshoot or extension of the original characters, so in my head they’re just inherently trans. Of course that is just me and there is nothing wrong if you prefer to see them as cis as long as you understand the aforementioned discussions of gender at play.

Am I also perpetuating the harmful rhetoric by indulging in this type of trend regardless of my intent? Maybe. It’s so hard to put yourself on blast but I will for a second here. I think the vast majority of this type of content is ill-informed, but i don’t think the bulk of it was made with the intent of harming minorities, so i don’t think making it is inherently bad. I think what can be harmful is to have these ideas go unchallenged in this specific trend where they would have been more widely addressed if it were on any other more publicly available platform, and i think that talking about it and bringing this topic up when i make this type of work is a good opportunity to make others aware how cissexism can be perpetuated even in the ways we interact with fandom.

I don’t believe i am spreading hate or harm when i make this type of work, but maybe i’ll cringe at this and change my opinions for the better in the future who knows. All i’m saying is that i think the best way to approach this trend is through information and awareness and on that regard i do consider myself more well-read on this topic than your average joe 🤷🏻

There’s many people that will disagree with me who will say genderbending is more harmful than i claim it to be or that it is not wrong at all, so i would just like to reiterate that this is all based on my experience, understanding, and knowledge on the topic of both genderbending and gender identity politics.

One more time I don’t think imagining a character as a different gender is inherently bad but i do think that a lot of the ideas perpetuated by fandom genderbending are some of the same rhetoric and propaganda that has been used to erase and harm trans and intersex individuals.

Last thing and i am saying all of this in good faith, if you ever looked at my lesbyler (or any genderbent art really) art and thought “those characters are cis girls”, or that they had to have been “born” girls because the opposite of boy is girl, i would like you to consider and challenge why you had those thoughts. Maybe even question why little compulsory cissexist thoughts like those are part of our every day lives. I also just want to say that if you want to make genderbend art or fic go for it, but I do strongly urge you to first consider understanding and acknowledging the arguments i’ve made here. Just know what you’re getting into and know that there is more than meets the eye with this topic. aaaand just remember that these arguments feel hidden and compulsory for a reason, cissexism is everywhere, even in fandom spaces.

Also there’s a chance you’ll probably go your entire fandom career without ruffling anyones feathers about it but i would just advise to be careful, be respectful and know when to apologize and move on. And most importantly don’t forget that trans, non-binary, intersex, agender, gender fluid, etc. identities exist so there’s a lot more options and experiences for you to think about if you do decide to play with the gender and identity of a character.

[the-owl-tree]

if you mind me picking your brain for more new gen au stuff, i would love to learn more about the scourge x sasha x smoke poly! (triple s poly? lol) how did it become a thing? how long were they a thing before scourge died? were timber and pandora able to get to know their dad before he died? were hawkfrost, mothwing, tadpole, darktail, and darktail's littermates alive when the triple s poly was a thing? did scourge play an active father figure role in their lives? sorry if i'm bombarding you with questions i'm just very curious about lmaooooooooo

NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR QUESTION BOMBARDMENTS!!!!!! the only thing is….i’m definitely winging this one lol i got the pairings and thought oh that is adorable and smacked a canon sticker on them. This is all a hunch of half-baked ideas strung together so good god it might be Too Much (even for the Too Much AU this is lol)

My rough idea is that they all knew each other before the big darkest hour battle. Suburb and city cats, in my hc world, are VERY social and often have very elaborate social nets that they love collecting cats to add to. They have a trade and barter focused culture which adds to this (Princess and Smudge would exchange toys and treats when they’d visit one another). So the three knowing or at least catching wind of one another would be feasible, especially when Scourge starts getting a reputation.

Sasha’s a wanderer who came into the city. BloodClan, in this world, is not as over the top evil lol they’re not as bloodthirsty about borders as the Clans are. If you don’t make trouble, trouble won’t find you. I think she made a few friends before the whole Tigerstar and her thing went down. One of those friends is Scourge, the two hitting it off and becoming decent friends. Sasha is soft spoken but earnest and Scourge is quiet but does well to listen. Flirty banter ensues, what-if feelings start to bubble up, if they weren’t both held up on the possibility of losing their friendship, something more may have happened……BUT ANYWAY-

Another one of those friends being young mom Smoke struggling to raise her kiddo alone. Sasha intervenes because she’s not gonna leave her all by herself and takes her to BloodClan where she gets settled. Darktail would be a BloodClan cat in this, he’s already got punk makeup in most designs, he just needs a spiked collar.

Sasha eventually gets back to wandering and the whole Tigerstar thang happens. My general idea is Scourge survives because this is the indulgence AU actually, he’s cool and I like the idea of them being a cute trio lol ANYWAYS! I think Sasha would get it in her head that Scourge would hate the children because of their father and that leads to the RiverClan debacle. Cue that, she returns to BloodClan….and immediately gets embraced by her two old friends, demanding to know where she’s been and how dare she not visit for MOONS and how worried sick they were.

She sees Scourge’s wounds, the way Darktail is no longer the pudgy kit she’d carried…and she too realizes just how much she missed her friends. Cue an emotional reunion and eventual fall into confession. It’s a natural progression to them, just saying the words they’d all known they wanted to say for a long time. Eventually Sasha is able to tell the truth of what happened and cue more emotions. Scourge offers to retrieve the children but she quietly says they’re probably more at home in RC than they ever would be with her.

Timber is born first and then Pandora. Scourge is a pretty active father in their lives but can be gone for lengths at time settling disputes in the Clan, doing his town hall sessions where cats air out their grievances, and generally ‘taking care’ of troublemakers that don’t want to abide by the rules of the city (he’s not a total softie in, he still kills lol). I think Darktail would try and tag along with his dad and that’s where he starts to get some of his core ideas (that and his growing interest in “”real”” clan culture and his biodad. This one’s tough because vengeance isn’t motivating him anymore so I gotta work something out).

Darktail is the only one aware of his younger siblings, Moth and Hawk aren’t made aware of their existence until later on. I gotta figure that out though lol

This was a fun question!!! I think I’d consider this my very rough base of the trio and will be subject for change once I stop binging shows and do something more productive like work on my too many projects i have going

[wielsonf]

not just math anymore

hi, i am wielson from the internet.

for the longest time, since 2009, i've been studying mathematics for itself, mostly without numbers, just logic and reasoning. i'm a novice graph theorist who never had training in it inside any classroom. i chose this topic because i was able to understand it on my own.

every day, i live in this construction charateristic of any theoretical undertaking in mathematics called axiomatic system that consists of truths we assume to be true without question (axioms, thus the term axiomatic), from which all logical statements (theorems) come through deduction, characterized by consistency, independence, and completeness (which happens to be incompleteness, a story for another day). set theory, calculus (or, more formally, analysis), euclidean geometry - all these are such systems. these are all closed systems in the sense that nothing can bend truth within each of them; in the case of euclidean geomety, bending the parallel postulate did not affect the truth within; it just gave birth to new axiomatic systems. axiomatic systems do not need statistics (not talking about the theory), any experiments, or interviews.

to an extrovert who needs time to recharge sometimes, this realm of mathematics is a great escape from the world's, and mostly life's, problems, one captivating theorem or calculation at a time. as one can tell from the title of this post, my escape has been temporary; like a child in a game of tag running away from an it, sooner or later, they'd be caught.

and i was caught

caught by a system that's never consistent, always dependent, and never complete. my search for an axiomatic system to live by only led me astray, far from what i have been trained all along.

at school, my vocation has always been affected by factors not really my own doing:

a salary that my peers and i don't deserve (we deserve more),

students who are eager to learn but sometimes miss the mark (not really their fault if you think of where they came from - hometown, school, basic education [i said what i said]),

a structure that worked in the past that doesn't any longer,

and just millenial and gen z hopelessness, that's mostly it.

this is not to say that everything i did was to no avail; very far from it. my constant search for truth led me to what i am studying now (doctor of education at the ateneo de manila university); still related to my work and, just as i could, still relate to how we teach math. that feeling of being led astray only transported me to the edge and into the other side of the coin that's teaching whose faces are math, its theory and applications on one side, and education on the other. what made work difficult only made me want to collide with it, head on.

in order to tackle and try to solve any problem, understand it first.

what made us, educators, beg for salary increases when we are the foundation of any thriving society?

what made our students, uh, like this?

why are we keeping traditions when they don't serve us anymore?

why are we sad?

i don't have all the time in my seat at starbucks uplb so let me indulge you with a look at an attempt to understand these questions, at least one of them.

all these questions arise from society, with all its intricacies and faults. as such, following margaret archer's transformational model of social activity, these questions reside within the complex interplay of structures from which they arise, the human agents that act and affect everything everywhere all at once (un)wittingly, and the culture that these humans live by.

definitely, math cannot answer these questions; pen-and-paper is not enough anymore.

[pebblysand]

le beurre, l'argent du beurre, et le cul de la crémière

i had no idea i was going to wake up this morning and today would be the day i finally open my big mouth about this, but here we are. in case you haven't been following, there has been a diversity "protest" against AO3 as of late, following racist comments made by one of their directors against chinese users, which has led to yet another broader conversation about diversity on AO3.

this conversation has been going on for years. i'm not going to go through it all again - if you're curious, you can google it. and to clarify, i am not making this post to prove that racism exists and that lack of diversity (either through conscious or unconscious bias) is an issue in our society at large, and on AO3 in particular. i think we all have pretty much established this fact and if you're one of those people who believe in "alternative facts", i sadly cannot do anything for you.

what i will however say, looking at this post and at the comments underneath (it seems to be a mixed bag, in terms of reactions, some positive and some negative), is that i believe a lot of people who use the internet daily do not seem to understand how it functions. because, is the post partly bullshit? yes, of course. the response they drafted actually offers no new solutions. if you've been following AO3's board meetings for the past year, as well as their regular comms (which i have, and which i know most people do not), you already know about most of these "actions". this is a "response" without an actual "response". they're just reminding people of the steps they've taken in the past, and the steps they're currently taking, to remedy their diversity problem. they are telling you: we are trying.

and, truth be told, they are. they've tried to hire diversity consultants, implemented policies designed to reduce hate in comment sections, etc. this is progress. but, i understand that this is progress that is very unsatisfying for a lot of people, given this is a pretty major issue. hence, the protest. i agree.

however, the problem i have with this protest (and with the negative comments under this post), is that people seem to be holding AO3 to a standard that is completely unachievable given their "business model". trust me, there is a lot to criticise about AO3's board (and, i'm the first to criticise them) but you cannot decently expect them to remedy this diversity problem (and all their other issues) without accepting a thing that is despicable and yet totally essential to function in our society ... money.

if you've been spending any time at all on tumblr lately, you probably have seen all those people (mostly millennials) going on about how Money Ruins Everything. to a certain extent, that is true. i also agree. the older i get, the more of a raging socialist i become. and, in terms of AO3, it means that every time the question of monetisation (beyond their current donation drives) is brought up, most people go up in arms about how AO3 is an archive, not a social media site, how money would ruin people's hobbies, how some gen z writers are misguided and "harming" AO3 by putting up links to their ko-fis, etc. i am not going to tag these people because i don't want to start yet another conversation about this but if you have been on tumblr lately, i trust that you have seen these points being brought up. the consensus seems to be that generally speaking, people do not wish AO3 to become a "business". this is reinforced by the fact that AO3 itself wishes to remain a small non-profit.

the issue with this is that the idea that you could hold AO3 to high diversity standards while arguing in the same breath that it should only be funded by three donation drives a year is insane. diversity requires a lot of things: a willingness to have an open mind, a willingness to better things, etc. sure, but mostly? it requires MONEY. and, if you look at the standard for websites and internet platforms with comparable traffic, AO3 has no money.

they have - currently - about a million USD in the bank (IIRC, from what i saw from their 2021 public accounts, i believe). which, sure, they are managing very poorly (but that's a different discussion), but even if they were the best investors of all time, that is nothing by tech standards. that buys you, like, three engineers in SF. whereas, they require: a board, admin staff, legal, eng, trust and safety [1], translators, and So Much More. and they cannot hire these people, because They Don't Have Money. so, they run on volunteers (with all the issues this creates, in terms of lack of consistency, attrition, etc. which makes it very hard for them to implement any long-term vision). and, you know who can afford to volunteer ten hours a week to be a tag-wrangler for peanuts?

privileged white women from western countries.

now, of course, there are exceptions. feel free to come into my mentions telling me that you are a POC who has three jobs and two kids and still finds time to translate AO3's comms to yaoundé - to which i say, good for you. but, let's be honest, you are not the majority.

the issue with this debate is that we are looking at diversity (and the lack thereof) as a purely racial problem, whereas it is incredibly multifaceted. diversity is access. diversity is unconscious bias. diversity is power. diversity is money. and, divorcing the issue from one of its most important ramifications, which is financial, is doing a disservice to a) POCs and b) AO3. so much of the criticism that is currently being made at AO3 can be answered by: "because they have no money." for example, just looking at the comments below this post:

you said two years ago that you'd hire a diversity consultant, this hasn't been done yet, why? because they have no money.

why isn't the board moving to a more standard Trust & Safety organization, with an enforceable, shorter TOS, a Code of Conduct, and a separate user guide? because they have no money.

it is wild to me that so many people expect this website to remain free to access, never monetise, and remain this sweet little archive, while still expecting this much from it. AO3 isn't a tech company. AO3 doesn't want to be a tech company. and, generally, it seems that most of you don't want AO3 to be a tech company. that comes at a cost that people need to understand.

and, for the record, whilst we're at it, yes, AO3 could monetise. other fanfiction websites have done it. this situation is a choice. they could run ads. they could have a membership-based subscription with perks associated. they could have writers monetise and take a cut [2]. it is a risk, but it could be a calculated risk. there are a number of things they could consider and/or combine, and yes, ethical monetisation can be a thing. for proof: tumblr and @staff and @photomatt are trying to achieve it, right now. if you don't believe me, i advise you to listen to this podcast episode where matt mullenweg explains their strategy (and troubles). (which btw, tumblr, please hire me, i work in tech and i make great coffee 😆). it is not always easy. it requires ethics and sacrifices. and, in the case of AO3, i think this might be a conversation to be had with the community as a whole, because there will be trade-offs, and this might be something people at large, might not want.

we could say that, as a community, we are okay with "meh" performances on the diversity front, as long as AO3 remains free of corporate engagement. that is a very fair opinion. what isn't, is refusing to understand that in the world we live in, there are trade-offs that we need to account for, depending on the business models we choose for the things we love.

now, of course, i acknowledge money doesn't solve everything. money doesn't solve the discriminatory comments made by that board member. it doesn't solve unconscious bias. it doesn't solve issues of access to the tools you would need to become a volunteer, even. but, it is a pretty big factor, both in hiring, and in maintaining diversity standards.

and so yes, if AO3 is so bad at diversity, it's also because they don't have money. refusing to acknowledge that is like we say in france: wanting the butter, the money from the butter, and the cream-seller's butt. or, in english: wanting to have your cake and eat it too.

---

[1] "trust and safety" is the tech term for people who generally do content review and enforcement, including of policies around offensive content

[2] yes, i know, "monetising fanfiction is illegal". except: no, not really, it's a very complicated legal issue and it's more of a grey area than you think.

[thechaoticfanartist]

his hope

gen

fandom: star wars

characters: obi-wan kenobi, grim kennet (oc)

relationship: obi-wan kenobi & grim kennet (oc)

post order 66, obi-wan is called ben, grim is called rue, nightmares, mentioned anakin skywalker, hurt/comfort

summary:

obi-wan feels he has failed anakin skywalker, but he has another padawan who reminds him he did not.

 It had been nearly three years since the two Jedi had lost everything. Since Anakin had betrayed them. Since he had failed Anakin, and had been forced to murder him. Three years since he had stopped being Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, and had become Ben Kenobi instead. His padawan, well the one who still lived, hadn’t left his side through all of this. She had changed her name with him, becoming Rue Kenobi. Claiming the story that she was his daughter. And it wasn’t far from the truth.

 For the three years she had been a Jedi, and his padawan, he had seen her as a daughter much the same way she had looked to him as a father. So their story built on so many lies held some semblance of truth.

 Ben still felt like he had failed Anakin. As he did now. Another nightmare about Mustafar had woken him from his sleep. He had failed him that day. He walked to the main room of the cave, and found that Rue was up too. “Rue?” He inquired. “You should be sleeping.”

 Eyes that he had not noticed were closed fluttered open as she turned her head to face him. “So should you, dad,” she replied. “Did you have another nightmare?”

 It was then Ben realized his daughter had been meditating. The one thing they could still do to connect to who they had once been. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your meditation.”

 She gave him a gentle smile and stood up. “No need to apologize, Ben,” she said. “But you didn’t answer my question, did you have another nightmare?”  Her eyes shone of concern for him. She was still such a kind soul despite everything the two of them had suffered. 

 “I did,” Ben admitted at last. “It was about Anakin.”

 “Would you like to talk about it?” she asked him. 

“No, thank you for asking Rue, but I’d rather not.”

 “I understand.”

 “Would you mind if I joined you in your meditation?” Ben asked her.

 “Not at all.”

 Rue sat back down and Ben joined her. The two closed their eyes and reached out. Ben had closed himself away from the Force, but he still could not entirely block it out. And not around Rue, who shined so brightly in the Force. Like a star in the sky. Even despite the darkness. 

 He hadn’t failed Anakin then, because he had another padawan, and she had become a wonderful Jedi Knight even in the face of suffering. Even in the face of defeat. 

 And for just that moment, Ben and Rue Kenobi were Jedi again.

Tag List (let me know if you want to be added or removed) : @padme--amygdala @soclonely @mrfandomwars @jgvfhl @theleldaofzeldablog @milfspectre1 @togrutanduin @jedi-valjean @one-real-imonkey @traygaming @roseofalderaan @keoxus  @tranakin-thighhighwalker @veiled-in-stars @sentineljedi @spicysucculentz @purgetrooperfox @amelia-song-pond @kohtoyah @saturnsokas @thejediprincessqueenofnaboo