#And generally I’d like to have more canon characters in my fic even if they’re minor

[lieutenant-amuel]

Calculating characters’ ages so they fit into the timeline of the fic my beloathed.

[your-writer-beta-side-piece]

Looks like it’s time for me to pop back up again begging for fics about my new hyper fixation!

What’s in store for you in this post:

*An impassioned plea throughout the whole post to all of you amazing writers

*Gifs that will keep you up at night too

🎅 *My Gator Tillman fic Christmas wishlist 🎅

🏆*A (Smutty) Rec at the bottom for the best Gator x OC I’ve found so far🏆

*More gifs because goddamn I’m in a chokehold 

It is seriously criminal how there’s like, two Gator x OC’s (that I can find, if you have any don’t hold out on me please!! I feel like I’m going through withdrawals having to wait a week for another episode as it is) on here and AO3. 

I mean come on we all love ourselves a slutty, dominate, broken character that we all fantasize about fixing. 

Not a single thought I’ve had about this man has of the Christ like variety, and I don’t think I really need to explain why just look at these gifs/photos:

HE HAS HANDCUFFS ON THE BED THE FICS ARE WRITING THEMSELVES 

🎅My Gator Tillman Fanfic Christmas wishlist🎅:

I want a full story fleshing out our new favorite loser, but still somehow so damn attractive, Gator

I want an ofc that is too good for him but we all know we’d sink that low too girl

I’d LOVE it if it followed canon. Like how in the show he’s trying to get her/he's going after her like he is trying to get Dot 

(come on if he was stalking you and called out to you and said “mama it’s time to come home” YOU TOO WOULD FOLD)

I want him to use those handcuffs on our girl once he finally gets her

I want smut 

Y’all on AO3 come up with the best damn oc’s there’s a reason they’re binding yalls books and talking about them all over booktok like you guys are published authors 

(Im not saying it’s right/that I participate or that it is even legal, I’m saying Ive seen it and I know you guys have the caliber of writing to make some people not give a fuck and try the law for some of you guy's stories)

I want him to call her mama

I want the dominance, the stalking, the cat and mouse chase

I want a plot as wild as this season and those families are

I know some people hate fics that follow plots of books or shows but this season is AMAZING and so fucking wild. I love it and I’d love to read about it and be immersed further into Fargo. I don’t want to leave the season 5 Fargo world I want to stay longer... with Gator

I want more smut 

A plot that can only be contrived by fanfic authors who have been reading and writing since they were 15 or even younger

I want even more smut 

I want all of the angst, good writing, and humor you can think of

I have a feeling we’ll need some of you fic doctors to write us a fix it fic of some sort 

But I especially want smut. I want to drown in smut. 

I want it all and you guys have served it all before so I know it's possible

If I could outline a whole plot, along with side plots, new characters and character arcs, write, and edit as fast as some of you guys can I would do it myself. I would do it for us. I’ve considered it. I mean I’ve been really considering it these past few days since it’s dryer out here than the Lyon’s bed. I’ve got an idea, lust, Christmas candy, and the hyper-focus to keep me interested for at least three to four weeks!! (I might have started if it wasn't the week before finals for me right now)

But some of you guys who’ve written for Steve Harrington (let alone other fandoms) have the ability to be best selling authors, so I know these communities have both the talent, ability, and the horniness to do this. 

I believe in you guys, I believe in us. Let's do it for Christmas 🎄

REC I PROMISED:

Since it is the season of giving, I’m going to share my favorite fic so far. Let me know if there’s any fics we need to add, OR if there’s any books with love interests like Gator, for science 👀 

Again the general criteria I’m using is along the lines of:

Is there an actual story going on?

Is there an oc who has a purpose, goals, wants, needs, an actual arc of some sort?

Is Gator Tillman still sexy af?

Is it following canon or is it original?

Is the plot and characterization good?

Does Gator call her mama or is it at least probable that he will 👀 ?

Is the grammar/writing good?

Basically the same stuff we all want to check off 

MY FAVORITE FIC SO FAR REC: 

The best I’ve found so far has been: 

Every Little Thing

By BuckysGrace

Link:

Why I like love it:

1.) The writing is pretty damn good

Normally we have to wait a few weeks or months with new movies/shows/books for people to have time to write and publish their well written and plotted fics but we have been blessed early!!

I really like the sprinkle of tid bits to come here and there. The authors really laying the foundation down for this story leaving little comments and hints here and there in their writing and characters conversations. 

I can tell that the author is really working hard to create believable oc's and a world that could actually be a part of the Fargo TV show universe.

2.) Damn the little taste of smut we got just flamed the fire!

Tell me why I could actually visualize Gator during that scene?!?! It really felt like his characterization was perfect here! And damn I love me some dominant, possessive, jealous himbos who would kill for me or worse.

I PROMISE I'M TRYING SO HARD NOT TO SPOIL ANYTHING FOR YOU GUYS!!!

3.) I really like our girl Daphne (OC)

I feel like I can actually see her. Like I can hear her when she speaks. I can feel the awkwardness of her situation and her uncomfortableness radiating through me. 

I like that she's shaping up to be a character with wants and goals and not just a 2-d romantic partner

4.) GODDAMN THAT DINNER WAS AWKWARD AND SEXY 

I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE AFTERMATH ooooooo boy.  I’m not spoiling anything. You can suffer (and enjoy 😏) that part all for yourselves

5.) We have confirmation from the author that there is a whole ass plot and story in the works

I love to hear it almost as much as I love to read it! But I could tell that they had some stuff in mind from the way they were writing alone before the confirmation. 

6.) AND ITS GOING TO FOLLOW CANON EVENTUALLY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME US! 

I might just get to hear Gator call our girl mama before I die from fic starvation. Plus we just might get the stalker Gator on page like we have on screen!

7.) I like the dual time line

It’s done a good job of getting me hooked. I’m really interested in learning more about Daphne’s past and her relationship with Gator. I think as time goes on as we learn more about their relationship and her relationship with both her family and his things are really gonna kick off.

4.) Gators characterization seems to be pretty accurate 

He's selfish, possessive, dominante, kind of a jackass, but he is also sweet to those he cares about. Which, is something I've noticed when watching the show, and I've seen some posts talking along similar lines. I don't think he's mean deep down, I don't think he has it in him. I think the facade he puts on is the product of his father.

BUT I'm not excusing anything he's done of course

6.) The grammar is pretty good 

Good writing like punctuation and sentence structure along with good story telling is just so important to me. I'm one of those people who can't get into a story if it's not written well.

7.) GUYS IM SMELLING THE ANGST COMING

Some of us are like blood hounds for this stuff, you read hundreds or even thousands of fics and books and you can start to know what goodies are coming your way. And I can feel the pain train a comin down the tracks! 

8.) The smut is promising to be real real good 

I just want to circle back to this for a moment because I am so excited to read more

What I don’t like about it:

It’s not longer/finished already so I can't devour it in one sitting 😭

You might not have read it yet 

@buckysgrace

I think the only way through this is to fill our thirst for this man and if here and TikTok have shown me anything it’s that we’re DAMN thirsty! 

WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE!? GO WRITE MORE GATOR X OC SO WE CAN ALL DEVOUR IT ON A03 OR READ BUCKYSGRACE’S FIC AND CRY WITH ME THAT THERES NOT MORE OF IT OR MORE OF ANY OTHER GATOR X OFC FICS 😭😭😭

*Did I write all of this instead of doing homework and studying for next weeks finals? Yes. Am I eventually going to devolve into a fic rec/review only blog? Maybe maybe not.

More gifs/photos for research purposes

[winderlylandchime]

Fanfiction Year in Review 2023

I fell out of fandom in 2021-ish for mental health and other reasons (iykyk). I returned this past year and reunited with old friends and made new ones. I absolutely adore fandom and all that it brings with it. The passion, the love, the community, the complete bypassing of cringe. Please, more.

This year, I returned to fanfiction and published over 150k words. I know absolutely that word counts mean nothing but if we’re taking writing as a symptom of emotional and mental well-being for me (for me!), then I feel so very good about this. I also learned how many ways someone can write about the same theme (prom! arc!) without completely losing their audience. I wanted to do a little year-in-review by listing the fics I’ve published and my favorite line from each.

Thank you so much to every single person who encouraged me in DMs, servers, kudos, and comments. Writing brings me happiness but the community around writing brings me the most joy. I would not have returned to fandom without each of you.

And then there were three rating: T, word count: 727, ficlet, inspired by a prompt by @lostcol and a bit of a character study of Brian Kinney.

Favorite line: Oh, there are mothers in Brian’s life now. They’re surrounding him as he sits, head bowed, face covered in tears-streaked blood, scent of death and ammonia in his nose.

(and I’d do it again) rating: E, word count: 6,865, one-shot, canon divergence in S5, maybe something other than a bomb can bring them back together

Favorite line: It’s not like Justin is going to come back to the loft with him. Not after he up and left five weeks and three - no four days ago. He’s ready to wash his hands of this night. Ready to be done to the extent that he’ll ever be done with Justin. To the extent that he’ll ever be able to fully wash his hands of any of this. He feels like Lady Macbeth with her eternal spot, forever marked by blood on the cold cement floor of a parking garage.

carried me with you rating: E, word count: 36,405, after prom Jennifer asks Brian to stay away from Justin, and he does

Favorite line: ”But that’s not me taking care of you. That’s, that’s - ” I struggled to find the words to convey what was natural, what was something that didn’t require effort or thought or intention. “ - that’s like breathing.”

love is so short (forgetting is so long) rating: T, word count: 2,777, WARNING MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH, what the fuck was I thinking?

Favorite line: His mama, an artist, just said, “Gussy, some people, most people, have an infinite capacity to love. Other people have the capacity to love one person infinitely.” He never asked again.

clothes mean nothing until until somebody lives in them rating: M, word count: 3,007, 5+1 things and clothes sharing

Favorite line: That night, Justin lies in Michael’s old bed and holds the shirt over his face while he remembers the vibrations of Brian’s moans against his skin as he ate him out the night before. He jerks off to the memory. Not the first boy to jerk off to thoughts of Brian in this bed.

you’re like a tattoo (something i can’t undo) rating: E, word count: 87,170, my first QAF complete AU, sugar daddy AU. also kinneycutt!

favorite line: “Oh, darling,” Emmett’s voice is dripping with something cashmere soft. “Oh, oh, oh . Darling, you are fucked. Oh, you are beyond fucked.” He looks at Brian. “And you don’t even know it.”

beautiful like the darkness between the fireflies rating: E, word count: 18,611 (WIP), my first QAF post canon, exes-to-lovers, soft fluffity fluff

favorite line: “And, dad?” There’s a hopeful edge to Gus’ voice, something that hasn’t been killed by the spectacular failure of their moms’ marriage and generally having Brian as a third parent.

“Yeah?” He feels the word bubble up from deep in his chest. He wants this kid to hold onto hope for as long as they can.

“An anchor can be good, it can keep you grounded, you know?”

very low-key, no pressure, tagging to share your 2023 wins fanfic, gifs, or otherwise: @getmehighonmagic @magicandarchery @lostcol @kiranerysed @sophsun1 @bigassbowlingballhead @bartbarthelme @sheisraging @eusuntgratie @xoxoemynn

[love-kurdt]

How to Write a Good Fanfiction: A 5 Step Manual

Hello! My name is @love_kurdt, also known as Eva, and I’m a Wattpad Veteran of the early 2010s, where the genres of Slash Fics, Y/N, and Imagines ran rampant. I spent years of my life as a kid scrolling through my iPod touch, weeding through Wattpad’s plethora of profiles, on a quest to find quality fanfictions. I found a handful, which I added to a specific reading list to come back to when I needed a break from screaming into my pillow because of the sheer audacity of thought-criminals who called themselves writers.

When I’d reached the point of reading the same five works over and over in a never ending cycle, I decided to make the life-altering decision to start publishing my fanfictions online. Granted, I was only thirteen at this point, so my writing wasn’t spectacular by any means, but I came to discover that over time, the mere acts of reading and writing can light a spark of inspiration that can carry you to creative success.

I’ve been writing my own works for over ten years now, and can confidently say that I have cracked the code to writing a good fanfiction that will have your readers captivated instead of cringing. Please don’t get me wrong– if you want to just write fanfic on the internet for fun, and not to write a novel, that’s great, too! That’s what the internet is for; exercising your free will. But this manual is tailored towards those who want to hone in on their craft and gain a substantial following as strictly fanfiction authors. So without further ado, let’s jump into it. Godspeed!

Step 1: Choose Your Fandom

What show, movie, or book has drawn you in and left you feeling like there should be more to the story? When one of those media comes to mind, you’ve chosen your fandom!

Step 2: Do Your Research

When writing fanfiction, it’s kind of an unspoken rule that you need to know the canon of the fandom you’re writing about. The canon is also known as the source material. For example, if someone were to write a Draco Malfoy x OC fanfiction (*cough* a 200+ page Draco Malfoy self insert fic written at 11 years old in a series of notebooks bound together with multiple layers of Gorilla tape *cough*), the canon would be the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. It’s, in essence, what “really” happened. It’s totally fine if you want to write a non-canon compliant fic, too! In fact, they’re extremely popular, specifically within the “fix-it” genre, which usually involves characters that died in the canon but the author kept alive in their fanfiction. Either way, you should have a general idea of how the canon functions within the context of the fandom, so you can make creative choices that diverge from or stick to the canon.

With the canon comes the fanon, which is basically a compilation of fan theories and headcanons that are often common themes in both canon and non-canon compliant fanfics. A pretty niche example of this is the Byler fandom (the ship between Stranger Things characters Will Byers and Mike Wheeler), where there’s an official list of theories on Tumblr that are used in many, if not most Byler fanfictions. There’s FlickerGate, where the flickering of the garage light in Season 1 is actually Will and Mike in the Upside Down in Season 5. There’s BirthdayGate, where the antagonist, Vecna, manipulates the minds of everyone in Hawkins to forget Will’s birthday, which is a central plot point in a lot of Byler fics since no one seems to remember it, not even his best friend. There’s also LetterGate, where Will confronts Mike in the canon about not sending any letters after he’d moved away, but the theory reveals that Mike wrote plenty of letters– he just never sent them because they ended up turning into love letters, which in turn resulted in internalized homophobia. You get the picture. Most theories reach far into the land of delusion, but it doesn’t stop writers from creating incredible work that could easily be mistaken for a script.

But Eva, what if I just think the characters are hot and I don’t give a shit about the cannonball? I can’t tell you what to do, my friend, but I highly suggest you at least consider the canon so you can avoid all the petty, obnoxious gatekeepers in some fandoms who can be unhinged enough to send death threats if you leave out a significant canonical detail. But you do you!

Step 3: Choose Your Platform

There are three popular platforms to choose from: Archive of Our Own (ao3), Tumblr, and Wattpad. There are also a few other lesser known or dead pages such as fanfiction.net, but I honestly wouldn’t bother with those, since they’re more infiltrated with anons and bots nowadays.

This is where you want to think about 1) where most of the members in the fandom you chose reside, and 2) the demographic of readers you want to reach. For example, I observed a higher number of Nirvana fans on Wattpad than the other two platforms, which is why I chose to post my full length Kurt Cobain fanfiction, “You Know You’re Right,” on there. It also helped that my favorite author of another Kurt Cobain fanfiction on Wattpad, @/ugh-nirvana, had hits in the hundreds of thousands, so I was confident that my book would do well on that specific platform. On the other hand, the Stranger Things fandom is in full swing on Tumblr and ao3, so I chose to post those fanfictions on there rather than on Wattpad. It all just depends on who’s where.

You also have to consider how active you want to be on your platform(s). Tumblr is more of a blog situation, while ao3 and Wattpad are solely for publishing the work. If you want to have a life beyond the realms of the world wide web, choose Wattpad or ao3, as inconsistent updates are a bit more accepted than on Tumblr. But if you want to throw yourself headfirst into a fandom and put your whole author-ussy into your fanfic, then Tumblr is the platform for you.

You should be aware, however, that Tumblr involves a lot of upkeep, as well as constant, strategic, and active participation within your fandom. Visual aesthetic is vital to any functional Tumblr blog. Most profiles have directories, with color coded links to each work’s homepage, which is linked to each individual chapter, which are then distinguished by a unique GIF to capture a prospective reader’s attention while they’re scrolling through copious amounts of content. And there are always new ideas and theories in development in certain fandoms, so it’s crucial to keep up with recent updates in order to stay relevant.

After all is said and done, you don’t have to get married to one platform for the rest of your life. You can choose to be exclusive to one or two platforms, or publish everything on all of them! The decision is ultimately yours!

Step 4: Obey the Writer’s Trifecta of Consistency

Yes, I came up with this term, and yes, it should be a real thing. Because in every piece of writing, whether it be fanfiction, a short story, an actual book, a screenplay, what have you, it is critical to be consistent in your People, your POV, and your Plot. Let me explain.

People

Your people, or your ensemble of characters, consists of three hierarchical levels: your protagonist/antagonist, your side characters, and other background characters. I should emphasize the importance of building character profiles for everyone, including your pre-existing characters from the fandom, but specifically for your original character(s) if you have them. That way, you know who serves as a major plot device, who serves as someone who just helps time move faster, and those who are mentioned by name but have very little significance to the events of the story. I’m going to reference Harry Potter again, since most of the world is familiar with the characters. Harry and Voldemort are the protagonist and antagonist; Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Professor Dumbledore, Hagrid and company are side characters; and Peeves, Seamus Finnigan, and Blaise Zabini are background characters. Keep this hierarchy in check; don’t let your main characters fade away, and don’t let your background characters shift to the forefront for no reason. If you do plan to move a character up or down the ladder, make sure to have clear motive as to why you’re bringing this character into or out of play.

2. POV

Your POV is the point of view in which you’re writing from. Assuming you’ve been in a typical middle school English class, you’ve heard of the first, second, and third person points of view. I cannot tell you how many times I have read fanfictions that jump from one POV to another, sometimes within the same sentence. I open the door and see Kurt Cobain standing in the corner of the room. She walked across the floor to meet him there. See what I did there? I jumped from first person present tense to third person past tense. Do not attempt this at home.

The least common of the three points of view is the second person, or what I like to call the Y/N point of view. In fanfiction, second person POV is often used in self-insert fics, where instead of a character’s name, it’s replaced with “you.” That’s why a lot of romantic character x reader fics are so popular. You should feel free to use this one, especially if that’s the kind of vibe you’re going for, but I’m going to elaborate a little bit more on first and third person, as they’re a bit more “literary.”

The first person POV confines the narration to the mind of one character. It can also be done with multiple characters, but be sure to do it so it’s painstakingly obvious to the reader whose POV you’re writing from. Also note that if you plan to write multiple first person POVs, try to keep that number on the lower side, as a large number of POVs can get really complicated really quickly. Third person narration can be done from two angles: limited or omniscient. Limited is more similar to first person, in which you’re confined to one person’s viewpoint, but they aren’t the narrator; you’re just seeing the story through their eyes. Omniscient is my favorite, because you can narrate from a bird’s eye view with the freedom to travel from mind to mind and read their thoughts.

Building character profiles can be really helpful when developing both first or third person POV; if you connect with a particular character more strongly than the rest, that should tell you whose POV you should write in. If you choose to switch POVs, be sure to do it either on an alternating/rotating basis, or if you repeat, it should be apparent as to why that particular character is the “voice” of that scene.

3. Plot

Dare I say that Plot is the most important step of them all, so do not skip this one, whatever you do! The biggest mistake most fanfiction writers make is having a concept but lacking a plot. It’s like biting into an apple just to discover it’s a lemon. Many writers are capable of starting off strong, but once their initial story begins to meander, traveling into uncharted territory, their brainchild can become a monstrosity.

In order to write a solid plot, it’s pretty common knowledge that you need to have a beginning, middle, and end in place. It doesn’t need to be overly specific or down to the last detail, you just need to figure out how your characters make it from point A to point Z (the larger scale), and how points B through Y factor into the plot (the smaller scale). There are a few routes that you can take in order to do this: you can write the entire thing ahead of time without any input, you can write the entire thing with the feedback of a beta reader or proofreader to help you work out any kinks or mistakes before you publish it for the entire platform to see, or you can publish it gradually and take feedback from your readers as you go. Should you go with the last option, though, you should be made aware that if you aren’t already an established author, it may feel like you’re talking to a wall, and you will likely feel discouraged from writing the story altogether.

I find it helpful to outline the whole thing. I have a closet door in my house dedicated to a Dave Grohl true crime fanfiction I’m working on. I’ve written the entire story from beginning to end on index cards, split into four different parts with each card representing a chapter. What’s good about outlining is that I can edit my story as I go along. If I decide to change something, I can add or remove an index card, then replace or rearrange the other index cards to work around the change I made, and that way, I don’t have to start over from scratch. It’s helpful to see everything laid out in front of me, so I’m not left at the end of a completely improvised plot with a slew of loose ends that I’ll need to go back and edit. It’s also better than publishing each part individually then having to redo everything after your readers have already seen it. And I don’t know about you, but I enjoy it when I’m able to save some time, energy, and lengthy explanations to random people online. That is, unless you enjoy constant feedback from readers, in which case you can change the plot on a chapter by chapter basis based on their feedback.

Consistency in all of these respects is key. I cannot emphasize this enough. Keeping all of these elements in check will help you create a sort of cohesiveness that will neatly wrap the story up with a little bow on top. 

Step 5: Use Relevant Tags and Content Warnings

Repeat after me: tags matter! Again: tags matter! When you’re about to publish your fanfiction, you’re going to be given the option to add tags to your work. For my first few years spent on Wattpad, I had no idea what tags were, so I didn’t use them. Thankfully, the platform was still pretty small, so people still found my work pretty easily. Nowadays, though, it’s nearly impossible to find what you’re looking for without searching excessively specific tags and using a million filters. It’s unfortunate, but look at it this way: there are so many people contributing to so many fandoms that the content is seemingly endless!

What you’re going to want to do is add as many tags as you can but keep it as simple as possible. I know that sounds kind of oxymoronic, but I mean it in a way that all of your tags relate directly to your story, and not just to the fandom itself. A lot of readers feel misled when they’re scrolling through their filtered search page for, let’s just say, a Byler fanfic, and end up neck deep in a Mileven fanfic in disguise. That’s not a fun experience.

Lastly, please remember that you are publishing your work on the internet, and you don’t know who may encounter your work! Listen, we live in a world where everything needs to be overexplained, everything needs trigger warnings, and everything needs to be neutral or else someone is going to hate you. I get it. I’ve been writing fanfiction for a long time. It might be annoying to add content warnings, especially if one of those warnings spoils a major plotline, but if I’m being honest, I’d rather be safe and add the damn warning than not add the warning and be responsible for someone’s worsened emotional or mental state. Bottom line, it’s just fanfiction! Let’s do our due diligence to create a community full of love and understanding for everyone!

After that, you should be all set to publish! Let’s review one more time for the road:

Choose Your Fandom

Do Your Research

Choose Your Platform

Obey the Writer’s Trifecta of Consistency

Use Relevant Tags and Content Warnings

If you’ve stuck around for this long, thank you so much!

I hope this manual helps you along your fanfiction writing journey, wherever it takes you <3

[operationbigskye]

I don’t usually participate in 9-1-1 fandom discourse, like ever, but there’s a first time for everything. Read below the cut if you dare and care.

TLDR: The “Eddie alone gets the shovel talk” trope is tired and cringey. Let’s please be realistic and original

Good god. The amount of Shovel Talk fics and discourse in which somehow everyone is warning/threatening Eddie, even Christopher himself in a recent summary I saw on ao3?

First: There are only two characters that would be realistic and appropriate for this, and that’s Maddie for Buck and Chris for Eddie. Although there would be some seriousness (Maddie understandably doesn’t want her younger brother to get hurt, no matter who it is, and Chris sees how much his dad has been through, with Shannon and in general), I think both of these characters know Buck and Eddie well enough to not have any real concerns. If it were in canon, I see it having an undercurrent of playfulness.

Second: Bobby cares for both Buck and Eddie like surrogate sons, so I think they both would get a Serious Talk (more reminders than warnings), which Athena may or may not be present for. For anyone who cries “But Buck is Bobby’s only son”, I urge you to remember the heart-to-hearts Bobby and Eddie have had, and not just about them both losing a spouse. If it needs to happen at all (they are grown men, after all), there’s no way Bobby’s not going to look out for Eddie too and make sure Buck is seriously committed to this man and his child.

Third: As for for Hen, Chim and Ravi etc., I really can’t see any of them doing it! Buck and Eddie are adults fairly close in age to all of them, and as much as they’re like family, it just seems like overkill that any of them would worry enough to dispense threats. I think they’d only come into play if there was an actual incident in which they have to take sides. Purely circumstantial, not just because Buck is Buck and Eddie is Eddie.

In closing, I have to point out that there are just as many reasons for all of these characters to be stern with Buck and protective of Eddie. Eddie is a single father to a child with special needs, a widower who’s spouse died right in front of him of very unnatural causes after telling him she wanted a divorce (sorry for the run on, I just had to get it all in there), and a veteran with serious PTSD not just related to being in the army. Let’s face it, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Buck could hurt him just as easily. If I were Eddie’s family member or close friend who didn’t know Buck and learned that the guy used to sleep his way across both American continents, steal fire trucks to hook up with people he met on the job, AND cheated in at least one past relationship, my eyebrows would be raised and I’d want to see hard proof of maturity and stability. This is not to say that Eddie has not made his mistakes, he has, but they are not reason enough for him to be the only one of the two that would theoretically need a talking-to by EVERYONE. I say theoretically, because in actual reality, I don’t think Shovel Talk so much as Serious Reminders is necessary nor would I want to see it on my screen, unless, like mentioned earlier, it’s light-hearted and only from Maddie and Chris, for EACH of them.

I’m done. Idk how many people will read this, but thanks for letting me share. Gonna go play with my adorable nephews now

[hamartia-grander]

do you have any good DBH fic recommendation lists?

Oh my God YES (Mostly Reed900 and Simarkus :D)

The first fic I'll always recommend to everyone is Leading By Example by Kurana. It's hands down the best Simarkus fic I've ever read, and one of the best fics I've ever read in general. It's got fake relationship to lovers, mutual pining, sharing a bed, emotional intimacy, good North content, dad Carl, even some minor dad Hank in the background, and a cool plot with Kamski that interprets his character a bit differently than I would but is just as fascinating and intriguing. I love it so much and it makes me feel emotions I didn't know I had. I still cry everytime I read it.

White Lilac by WritingIsMyCoffee - This has LOTS of Dad Hank/Anderson Fam content, which is why I read it in the first place. It's kinda Chloe x Connor centric, which I don't ship but I didn't mind it, and it was cute for the story. There's background Simarkus and developing Reed900. Very angsty, but has a happy ending.

From now on forever by KaterinaSentByCyberLife, if you like wedding fluff (I usually don’t, but this one is so good). Reed900, background Simarkus, and Dad Hank, it’s beautiful I love it a lot

Interstellar Methods of Love and Murder by wordscavenger. It's Simarkus and Reed900, and an AU fic. idk what the AU is exactly but they're gay and in space, shit goes down, and they have to stop it. It's got a super cool plot and the pining is real. I love it. Also has funny RK bros shenanigans.

and the secret garden bloomed and bloomed by farouche. It's a beautiful modern AU Simarkus fic and also Simon works in a flower shop and Markus is an artist who's drawn to him. There's also some funny Daniel and Simon being brothers content.

Heavenly Bodies by raphae11e - Simarkus canon compliant AU, everything's the same except the revolution lasts several months rather than a week, and there's so much mutual pining.

welcome to hell by honeybvnches. It’s like a texting fic and it is hilarious, it’s Simarkus with background Chloenorth and Reed900

Turning the Tide by LupoLight and He's My Partner by LupoLight. They’re not related fics but I like them both a lot.

Nines is Nefarious by AndroidTrash800. It's a Reed900 Dexter AU (basically, serial killer with morals) and it's amazing. It's also funny and angsty but with a beautiful happy ending. Also Dad Hank <3

Time in a Tree and The Last Romance by SunshineHead. It's a two part series and it's so sad and sweet and ofc it has a happy ending bc I can't do angst without a happy ending but it def made me tear up. More Dad Hank <3 (Nines is called Conan in this series but I just downloaded it as an epub, opened it through the Calibre e-book editor, and used the find and replace feature to replace every instance of "Conan" with "Nines" bc I can't read him with a different name djfhsj)

GRIND ME DOWN by @texssins (texs_sins on ao3). I was expecting smut with casual plot and got blindsided by some excellent angst. There's also a twist that I SHOULD have seen coming but definitely didn't and it was awesome.

And of course, last but certainly not least, I have to recommend Adapt and Endure (the fic and the comic) by @aydaptic. It's a staple Reed900 fic. The second part - Liberosis - is great as well.

There’s probably more, but these are just the ones off the top of my head. If you have any fic recs too I’d LOVE to see them <333

[nashiriel]

I have to say both Consanguinity and Victory stand out for me as usually I can't stand reading A/B/O often all feelings seem...removed? Good or Bad and the hyper feminization of any "omega" often just...makes them nothing like the character they are supposed to be?

In Victory were Luke, for all almost every control is taken from him...he fights back (with help).

In Consanguinity sure Addam especially finds Luke very cute, but at least the (saner) members of houses Targaryen and Velaryon still respect that he is a living breathing person. He also still feels like Luke.

This is rambly but anyways, glad I took a chance of those two after reading Carrion. ^_^

I wrote such a long response to this and Tumblr ate it 😑 Thank you so much for such a lovely comment! I’m so happy that you took a chance on both of those fics and found it worth it. You’ll have to forgive the incoming recreated essay:

I have to admit, I’m not massively fond of some common tropes in A/B/O fic gender dynamics - at least, not when they’re played straight. Considering ASOIAF already features pretty strict gender roles with characters who struggle massively against them, there’s definitely a lot to explore when you introduce A/B/O into the mix!

When I was picking prior Targaryen omegas, Alysanne seemed an obvious choice - not just for the sheer number of children, but the fact that she was so focused on gender roles and improving rights, whilst being married/bonded to a guy who very much fell short in that regard. So the idea of her and Jaehaerys being held up as the Targaryen ideal pair as a bonded alpha/omega in that context was quite interesting.

I did think about Vaegon being an omega for the lol factor, but given Jaehaerys’ treatment of his daughters, I didn’t see him letting Vaegon off with a Citadel career if that had been the case.

And then I chose Visenya for the other, because I quite liked the idea of one of the fiercest, deadliest members of House Targaryen being an omega (you can bet Rhaenyra, Visenya fangirl that she is, helped hype Luke up with stories about how badass omegas could be after he presented), and also because that was quite an intriguing dynamic to me - an omega who could only produce the one child, the multiple bride aspects (I don’t think Aegon ever actually bonded with Visenya) and with Rhaenys being the more traditionally feminine one who Aegon preferred as a beta instead.

So for Luke in both fics, I definitely wanted to write him in a similar way to how I’d write in non-A/B/O fics. The fact that Jace is an alpha in Victory and yet is in a similar situation was quite important; he and Luke empathise with and empower each other, and Luke is very much the ringleader of their whole plan there (fun fact: his expression at the end is very much reminiscent of him smirking at Aemond over the roasted pig in canon).

Even with other characters, my rule of thumb is generally that their personalities should not really shift depending on what I’ve assigned them as but rather on the situations they find themselves in. Aegon III, who is obviously quite withdrawn and traumatised in canon, getting ready to dump wine on Aegon II’s head at the start of Victory because of the treatment of his family despite being a beta is probably a good example.

In Consanguinity, the power dynamics between Luke and Addam - Luke is younger and rides a smaller dragon, but he’s future Lord of the Tides and was massively higher on the social totem pole than Addam until a short time ago - and the fact that Addam is so laidback, makes writing them as a pair quite fun! The bit where Luke admits he’s not sorry for taking Aemond’s eye and Addam finding his feralness pretty appealing was in my mind from the start. You can see hints that here as well the Greens are far more traditionalist in their mindset, which is a definite cause of friction between both sides.

As Joffrey demonstrates, the Blacks very much consider Luke to be every much a fighter and future lord in his own right as his brothers, and if someone objects, they’re very happy to introduce them to their dragons. Which is going to be a pretty important factor for certain characters going forward.

[subdee]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @hxhhasmysoul, thanks munen for always thinking of me even though I haven't written anything for like... a year.

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

27

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

153,197

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Hunter x Hunter and Final Fantasy VII (original 1997 game) are the main ones, and then there are a few others that are either old or that time I wrote historical RPF for yuletide.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

(All five are T-rated  Hunter x Hunter fics.)

1)Freecs Adventure Travel Co.- I think this is because it’s tagged ‘slowburn’ and recced on a list with other slowburn fics…  I have this drafted out to the end, it has one more chapter left (and it’s not really a slowburn, aha).  A post canon Killugon reunion fic + Alluka. 

2) Paper Ties – This is a short oneshot about Killua/Alluka/Kalluto originally written for a secret santa exchange.  The writing’s just okay, but a lot of people have this bookmarked and I think it’s probably because they like my explanation for why Kalluto knows nen at the start of HxH, but Killua doesn’t.

3) On a Cold and Snowy Night- A Killugon There Was Only One Bed oneshot originally written for a valentine’s day exchange.  I think people just really like this trope. 

4) There's a Light That Never Goes Out  - It’s another post canon Killugon reunion fic, this time without Alluka (or she’s mentioned, but offscreen).  Listen, HxH fans love reunion fics! 

5) Dungeon x Hunter – a finished multichapter AU where Killua, Gon, Leorio and Kurapika are college friends who play Dungeons and Dragons together.  Inspired by something a friend said forever ago about how Kurapika is like the ultimate DnD rules lawyer min-maxing all his stats. 

...Actually except for On a Cold and Snowy Night, what these all have in common is that they’re among the first things I wrote after I rejoined the fandom.  So I think there’s just a network effect here where people are finding them via bookmarks. 

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

I always reply right away, I spend the day after I post anything refreshing my inbox basically. 

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Either my FFVI Barret backstory fic Corel Days or the one I wrote for FFVII Halloween with prompt: Annihilation.  Those both had the Major Character Death tag on them and like… no one clicks on them.  Haha.  They’re sad because of the character death but also sad because they’re about climate change and fans just aren’t generally here for that level of downer.      

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

Most of my fics end either happily or ambiguously besides those two, but I’d call Dungeon x Hunter my most “nothing bad happened” story where there’s not really much conflict, and when there is conflict it’s resolved quickly. 

8. Do you get hate on fic?

Never, and I don’t really get spam comments either… maybe once or twice I’ve gotten requests to write a particular pairing but like 99% of the comments I get are really lovely positive ones from other writers. 

9. Do you write smut?

 I haven’t because I’m lazy and smut is hard to write….There’s a fade to black sex scene in my Frederick the Great Space AU and actually, an implied sex scene in my forever ago Libertines AU where Carl Barat turns into a cat, but that’s the closest I’ve ever come.  Most of what I write is rated T. 

10. Do you write crossovers?

I have written crossovers!   It was a long time ago, and they were mostly short what-ifs, like, what if Arthur Dent met Light Yagami?   I think it’s more fun to imagine the crossovers in your head than to actually write them, they don’t usually have plots but it’s fun to imagine how the characters would interact.    

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don’t think so?  I’m not really that popular. 

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Actually yes, I think?   Someone translated a Death Note fic a long time ago.  It’s not on Ao3 though. 

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, actually!  My Libertines AU where Carl Barat turns into a cat was co-written by the lovely 0_clay_0 who was my favorite writer in the fandom at the time.   So that was pretty great.  She lives in Germany and I went to visit her once, any of you guys out there wondering what the appeal of writing RPF is, it’s that you can meet amazing people who live all around the world if you’re both really passionate about the same thing. 

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Probably Killugon, but I’m getting nostalgic for the Pete/Carl fic as I write this post, haha.  I think the writing in that fandom (Libertiens RPF) was the best of any fandom I’ve ever been in, by a long shot…  Ranma/Akane (Ranma ½) also has a strong nostalgic pull for me. 

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

I’m gonna finish Freecs Adventure Travel Co, I swear!!!!!   That’s my only posted (to AO3) WIP… most of what I post are oneshots because I know my own limits. 

16. What are your writing strengths?

Varying my sentence lengths.   Also filling in backstory and gaps in the canon, and writing 'densely' so there's multiple ideas per paragraph.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Anything that requires effort: plotting, dialog, action scenes, sex scenes… Most of what I write doesn’t require me to think that hard about what I’m doing.   

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

If it was in-character I would do it.  There’s a certain kind of reader that would enjoy the challenge of having to look up the translation, some people like it when you make them make an effort.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

It was Naruto... now THAT is a WIP I’m never going to finish LOL.  

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I’ve said this before, but it’s my Pariging Coffee Shop AU.   I like how Ging’s character came out, he’s not really the same Ging from canon but it works.  And it’s kinda funny?  I’m always writing close to canon but I like reading AUs more, so I'm happy I finally wrote one that's fun for me to re-read.

I'm supposed to tag 20 people for this... here goes! @fury-brand @rosemochi @cateringisalie @nautilusopus @voidcat-senket @recents @ladycrescentvenus @mysterypond @dimensionten @clood @cafeaulater @storybookprincess @dodici12 @cocoa-bop @rabbitprint @kiwizoom @autumnxsunflower @ishouldgetatumbler @fireolin @minimoonstar

[sporkberries]

I saw your post about Tim and Jason and I’ve never agreed about something more. We need more fics where them getting closer is at least canon adjacent instead of the stuff we get in fanon. A lot of their fanon content really grosses me out because it sort of reads like Tim developing Stockholm syndrome for Jason who repeatedly abuses him but can’t be blamed for it because of “pit madness” 🤢. That might just be because of my personal experiences but it really grosses me out a lot of the time

YEAH NO I 100% AGREE. I think portraying Tim as automatically forgiving Jason for the awful things he does(TO TIM) and ohh Jason wants to hurt him but its not his faulltt. Is so fucking UEGH. I think its not only a disservice to both of their characters but a really weird dynamic to tag as “fluff” and “hurt/comfort”.

I especially dislike the Titan’s Tower stories not just because they misrepresent the actual scene(which is very ridiculous imo) but because having Jason beat the shit out of Tim and then WRITE ON THE WALLS WITH HIS BLOOD and then being like ohh no he’s his care taker now is so 😨. Like imagine someone beating you so bad THEY CAN WRITE WITH YOUR BLOOD and then them kidnapping you and “taking care of you” thats so fucked…

I think the fandom in general can turn Tim into a bit of a punching bag which… fair. Im not going to pretend like i dont like angst BUT when portraying these traumatic events or his interactions with the people around him they kinda make him… spineless? Which IS a valid trauma response but its not Tim. Tim can be literally on the verge of death and he’ll still probably be shit talking you y’know? He can be self sacrificing yeah but… come on.

IDK. Jason pre reboot is kinda not a great person and i think the fandom WANTS him to be and they want to twist it into “pit madness”(which isnt a long lasting thing) or “he protects women and kids”(does he?) when it just… isn’t true?

Fanon Jason as a whole is just kinda an OC with bits of current Jason mixed into him, he doesn’t exist outside the fandom. This is why i sometimes joke about being a “jason todd hater” when i dont really have much against the character(other than most his comics being shit 😔) but because i dislike some aspects of the fandom he represents.

I do think Tim and Jason have the POTENTIAL to get along. They’re both snarky bastards and that dynamic is fun to write and mess around with but there is A LOT of baggage to unpack. Titans tower stuff aside Tim broke Jason out of prison which resulted in Jason donning a batman suit and killing a bunch if people which Tim feels EXTREME guilt for. So even if pre reboot jason wants something to do with Tim(which i think he does as he continually reaches out to him) there is a lot they would need to work on. Which i admit would be interesting to read but sadly a lot of fics dont really follow the comics that well.

Anyhow closing this off i also want to mention again how the fandom prioritizes Tim’s largely fanon(or lobdell written so shouldnt be acknowledged ) relationship with jason over his long lasting canonical relationships with female characters( Cass and Helena[HELENA IS SUCH A VICTIM OF THIS OH MY GOD AND FANON JASON STEALS SO MANY OF HER TRAITS AN-]) 😔

But yeah fanon jason and tim is weird and i’d be interested to see an actual brotherhood develop between the two but i think it would take a lot of work from the both of them(which DC will definitely not put in 😔)

[giggly-squiggily]

Helloo if req is open may you write a platonic tk fic between rin and sae if it is posible? Thank you so much!

Oh my god YES! :D These two need it, I swear! Okay so; general heads up: I'm exclusively an anime watcher when it comes to Blue Lock- meaning I don't really know how these two's relationship stands or what goes down during/post the whole U-20 arc; I just know they deserve to be happy. I hope you like it! :D

CW: Swearing, angst with a happy ending, sass, possible OOC-ness of the characters (I tried to keep it as close to their canon personalities as possible but yeah), Spoilers for Sae and Rin's backstory- kinda. Not full detailed ones but I'll tag accordingly anyway

Cloud 9 (Taglist):

@myreygn, @cupcake-spice13

“Hey, who allowed you to get so tall?” Sae narrowed his eyes at him.

“Genetics.” Rin shrugged, pushing down the toaster shelf.

If you told Rin Itoshi he’d have a relationship with his brother again in the near future, he would have told you to fuck off. Possibly throw shoes at you too.

Then he’d feel bad for throwing shoes because he was raised better than that, but still.

Things kinda happened in a blur since the U-20 match. A call had come; an invite to dinner. Then he was at Sae’s hotel room, splitting a pizza when the restaurant proved too crowded for either of them. Words were exchanged, a few tears were shed, and by the end of the night, Rin found he could finally breathe again in the presence of Sae.

They’re relationship was still fairly awkward at times; it was impossible to go back to where they were before Sae went to Spain. Still- when Rin called him and mentioned they’d gotten time off from Blue Lock, a room was made up for him at the apartment; clean and prepped with fresh bedding, as if it’d been waiting for him this entire time.

“No mint on the pillow?” He joked upon getting there.

“Please, we already have Shidou. We don’t need anymore pests.” Sae had rolled his eyes, the gesture lacking any real malice upon mentioning the demonic player.

That’s where they were now- getting comfortable in their newfound relationship.

“Tch.” Sae scoffed, shaking his head in mock disapproval as he turned from the coffee maker, mug in hand. “I remember when you barely came up to my elbow. You were so small- running after me on those stubby legs of yours, trying to kick the ball out from beneath my feet.” He shook his head, a rare smile tugging on his lips. “You’d get so worked up about it too. I’d have to buy you a popsicle so you’d stop crying.”

“Shut up, I was six.” Rin rolled his eyes, a blush burning his face at the memory. “Of course I was short. At least I grew since then.” He turned, raising a brow at his brother. “What’s your excuse?”

A look of shock passed his brother’s face, jaw dropped and brows raised. Rin felt a twinge of satisfaction. If the Press could see his usually stoic brother now, they’d probably faint. “I see you gained a mouth along with all that height in these past few years.” He sounded a touch impressed.

“More than you gained, it seems.” Rin couldn’t help himself. It wasn’t even that Sae could be called short; it was just so satisfying to sass him. He deserved it, probably. 

“Tall as you are, you’re still a little shit.” Sae put down his mug, rolling up his sleeves with a dangerous glint. “Seems like I’m gonna have to remind you just who you’re talking to.”

Rin ignored him- mainly due to the toaster popping, presenting his warmed Pop-tart. He should have known Sae didn’t make empty threats.

The moment his poptart touched the plate, hands were latching onto his sides, digging into his ribs with relentless pressure. Rin-much to his embarrassment- let out a loud squawk, the poptart nearly flying out of hand as he doubled over. “Gah! N-No! Dohon’t!”

“All this time later and you’re still ticklish?” Sae sounded deeply amused, a rare smile pulling on his lips as he carried on wiggling his fingers up and down the younger boy’s sides. “Maybe you should have considered that before you started sassing me.”

Rin went to retort with yet another remark, but Sae had found a terrible spot beneath his lower ribs, clogging his throat with growing giggles. “Ngh! N-No! S-Sae!”

“Hm? What, no retort?” The older boy asked, keeping one hand on Rin’s lower ribs while the other came around to his belly, clawing. “Come on- just laugh. You know you want to.”

That did it. Rin let out a wheeze before he doubled over, laughter bubbling over his lips as he tried sinking to the kitchen floor. “Fuuhuhuhuhuhuck! Fuhuuhhuhuck, gahhahahahahahha! Nohoohohoohooho, Sahahahahhahahe you ahahhahahahhahass!”

“Oi, show some respect, you brat.” Sae switched to digging into Rin’s armpits when his hips proved too far to reach, barely fighting down a chuckle at the harsh swear his brother let out, immediately followed by childlike giggles. “Look at you- you can barely say my name, let alone stand. Tell you what- take back what you said about me being short and I’ll let you live.”

“Nehehehhehver, shohoohohort stahhahahahck!” Rin declared without any hesitation. Ever the stubborn one.

Sae tsked, slowing down his tickles and giving the other a chance to breathe. “You really are determined to die today, are you? I’m starting to regret letting you stay here- how the hell am I going to hide your body?” He reached out, squeezing the back of Rin’s neck, earning a yelp as the boy scrunched up. “Maybe I’ll bury you in the backyard and plant a garden over you. Think Shidou would notice?”

“Prohoohbably not.” Rin groaned, and then- because he could. “He’s used to shitty things. That’s why he’s dating you.”

Sae, who was turning back to his coffee, froze, slowly looking back at Rin with scary eyes. Oh, he was DEAD. “And to think I was gonna be merciful this morning.”

Seconds later, Rin was kicked onto his back, Sae pinning him faster than he could react. He wasn’t much of a fighter- neither of the brother’s were- though Rin was faster to throw a punch. He went to do just that before a scream ripped from his throat, laughter returning stronger than ever. “GAHEHHAHAHAH! SHAHAHAHHAE!”

“I tried to be nice, but it’s clear to me that you’re still a little shit all this time later.” Sae scolded as he drilled his thumbs into Rin’s hips, going right for his worst spot. “Now- do you wanna repeat what you just said?”

“AHEHAHHAHA!” Rin was a mess, hands trying to shove off Sae’s vice grip as he thrashed and squirmed against the kitchen floor, feet kicking and scoffing the ground. His face felt like it was on fire, and his hair blinded him, hiding his scrunched up eyes. It was humiliating and stupid and he wanted to rip his skin off as a means of escape.

But also…it was fun. Really fun. He hadn’t felt like this since they were kids, when Sae would tickle him until he was squealing through tears caused by a scraped knee. He could almost see the fond smile his brother wore when he did so. The memory even during all this made his heart ache.

“Do you give up?” Sae asked, bringing him back to reality. Right- his death. A small part of him was tempted to shake his head, declare that he’d never give up just to see what would happen.

What came out of his mouth instead shocked both of them.

“NIHIIHIIHIHIIHI-SAHHAHAN PLEHAHAHAHHASE!” The squeal of mercy was the true end of it all. Sae’s hands stopped almost immediately, pulling away from Rin’s prone body. The younger boy scooted up the floor a few paces arms tossed loosely around his waist as he tried to catch his breath. Well, at least it was over-

Oh god.

Oh GOD.

“Shit…” He groaned, covering his face with his hands, mortified. He didn’t just say that outloud-he didn’t! Across from him, Sae was silent as stone, seeming to be frozen to the floor. Great- there goes any real progress they made at fixing their relationship. Rin readied the speech in his head. I’ll head back to our parent’s house. I’ll be fine. I’ll be gone in the morning-

“Heh, you haven’t called me that in years.” Sae spoke, his voice strangely soft. When Rin dared a peek, he saw it.

 It wasn’t as open as it was years before, but the same fond look was in his eyes, softening his carefully stoic expression immensely. A ghost of a smile was on his brother’s lips, not quite there yet, but it was something.

“Don’t remind me. God, that was- that…Fuck! You suck!” Rin growled, scooting back with a proper glare. Sure his face was still on fire, and his body was still tingling with a cross of tickly residue and nostalgia, but he was adamant on being angry. “What the hell? My Poptart-”

Sae then did the unexpected. He bursted into laughter.

“Pfft- Gehehhahahaa! Good god, aahhhafter all that, and you're worried about a POPTART?” He cackled, falling back on his ass as he held his gut, head thrown back and smile wide. “Good God, Rin! You haven’t changed at all.”

“....Tch, whatever.” Rin rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he fought down his own fit of laughter, the struggle increasing when Sae let out an ungodly pig snort. “Ugh, you’re so annoying.” He kicked his leg gently, too tired to stand. He felt light and breathless and exhausted and just…

“What’s up?” Sae shook his ankle, gaining his attention. “You look sad.”

“I’m not.” Rin ducked his head, hiding his expression. “I’m not. I just…I don’t know- I think part of me…misses this.” He waved between them. “I missed just…laughing with you, I guess. It all feels so far away, still.”

Sae hummed, considering. Then he stood, walking over and offering a hand. “It doesn’t have to be a distant memory anymore.” When Rin looked up, Sae’s face was back to its usual calm, but his eyes were kind. “I’m here. And I don’t plan on leaving again.”

“Promise?” Rin hated how small his voice sounded. He hated it more when he saw something break in Sae’s eyes, dark with remorse.

“I promise.” He sounded a tag hoarse as he ruffled Rin’s hair, breaking the tension. “Come on then, I’ll make breakfast.”

“Please don’t.” Rin cringed as he stood. “You can’t cook.”

“Do you want me to tickle you again?” Sae raised a brow. Rin couldn’t help but grin.

They ended up ordering breakfast instead.

Thanks for reading!

[strandnreyes]

2, 5, 17 and 23 💜💜💜💜 love you x

2. If you got something from the source material tattooed on you, what would it be?

I don’t have any tattoos because I’m so so indecisive, but if I got something it would be very subtle. My first thought was 3:18 but that looks like a Bible verse so scratch that lmao. it would probably be some kind of small symbol that holds significance to the show but doesn’t look like anything particular to an outsider

5. If you had to change a facet of any character's personality, what would it be and why?

I don’t hate Owen, but I would make him a little less self-centered so he’d be more bearable at times lol

15. If you had to marry one character from the source material, who would it be?

I don’t want to marry any of them, they are my blorbos I want them to marry each other. BUT if I had to marry someone like one of them I think it’d have to be Judd. fiercely loves his wife and daughter. what more could you want?

or I liked to marry someone who is a nice blend of everyone. just pluck all my favorite aspects of my favorite characters and put them into one human perfectly curated for me sjfhjsf

23. What kind of fic/fanart/GIFs would you like to see more of in the fandom?

hmm can I say all in general??? no? okay. for art, I’d love to see more of the things we don’t see in canon like cuddling or nsfw art because that’s always 🫠🫠. for gifs, I’m a sucker for a good parallel moment and there are already so many good ones that I can’t think of anything specific I want to see. for fic, I love seeing people come up with concepts that I’ve never even imagined. I love people’s creativity in making new and unique projects they’re clearly passionate about. fics that people write for themselves where you can tell how much it means to them. those are always so good

[crushedsweets]

Thoughts on the creator's update 4 clockwork where she has a vigilante arc??

[creator talking abt clockwork's update]

⬇️

Ok I rambled so under the cut is my little chat

Tbh I rarely look at what creators post cuz its all old(and on deviant art which I don’t use) BUT I LOVE THIS I HAD NO IDEA SHE WAS UPDATED AT ALL I THOUGHT SHE EAS DROPPED. . I love it. not that murder is ok for the most part … but this is affirming my brain…….

my entire creepypasta au thingy or whatever kinda just redirects most of them into like, vigilantes, trying to keep peace, some aren’t even killers, some have a body count of like 2 max +++ not even slender is trying to just go around killing everyone for funsies . Jeff totally still kills for funsies tho I can’t take that from him. But now clocky… VIGILANTEEEE 💪💪

I never liked everyone being sadistic and going on killing sprees. Makes no sense for half their backstories/motivations, So tbh being able to throw clockwork into the vigilante category when actually analyzing her backstory AND IT BE CANONNNNN so real and true. It helps make it easier to separate said motivations between each character too, so they’re all just a little more complicated and I have more to think about. And I esp think my girls need more complexity cuz ppl wanna sweep them all under the “Mary sue” rug and I am TIIIIREEEEDDD of my gf clocky getting shit on for the same shit jeff is loved for 💔 also I def love the little note of her trying to get past using killing as a coping mechanism cuz ykw? I don’t think a therapist would recommend . And it would make for real good fics/comics lol

Also it’s just nice to watch people reflect on old tropes and adjust them as time goes on. I’m obv super attached and nostalgic for most things 2015 tho LOL

But like most people here I don’t really actually focus on canon details, I just run with the rough concept and design of the character for the most part (but love people who completely revamp stories and designs for fun it’s super cool). But this is smth I will be indulging in……

I hope this wasn’t too much of a pointless ramble… half of this wasn’t even about clockwork it was just me talking about my thoughts on the general fandom and characterizations LMFAOAOOA

(I’m using vigilante very loosely here, Janes the only one I’d consider an actual vigilante in my au)

[whoredmode]

For the ask meme I'm like...

But I'm going to go with Dexteros bc they've been on my mind this particular week! 😅

Obviously for the fic questions it could be hypothetical and/or DexBoss in general 😊

Send me one of three prompts

made a whole meme and everything omg

When I started shipping it if I did:

honestly i’d say like. pretty much right away when i went through sr1? i thought they just made a perfect pair. dex complemented anteros so well imo, and eventually it snowballed into becoming a cornerstone of my canon. their dynamic is crucial to the foundation of my sr canon. kinda interesting how it started out w “i really love dex and i think he works well w my boss character and how he develops into srtt” to “my canon as we know it would literally not exist without the relationship between dex and anteros”

My thoughts:

where do i even start. what can i say that i haven’t said about them before. two halves. the sun and the moon. would find each other in any universe. trapped in an endless cycle. i love you i hate you no one can kill you but me no one will ever understand me but you. devoted until the end.

What makes me happy about them:

i love thinking about them in sr1. it’s so important to me that they goof off together; anteros showing dex all his fave clubs and going out drinking and anteros trying to get dex to dance w him but dex getting too self-conscious but they’re still laughing anyway and then coming to the church the next morning hungover but trying to not make it obvious. both showing more vulnerable sides of themselves to each other. just that whirlwind romance of sr1. then 10 years later having them start over and having this become a slowburning desire for each other. a yearning to return to what once was and eventually trying to create some semblance of a normal relationship. those little moments. the knowledge that despite it all they never stopped loving each other.

What makes me sad about them:

honestly what makes me happy abt them also makes me sad. the death of anteros at the end of sr1. dex feeling as if he’s lost everything at that point, w julius leaving and anteros dead. his anger at troy for lying, for not putting anteros out of his misery. and just the entirety of sr2 and srtt. similarly once they DO “start over” post-sriv, it’s overlayed w a sense of tragedy bc what does it mean to have a “normal” relationship when you’re them? does it mean hiding it all over again? when will it be their turn. for better or for worse things will never be like they once were. we can’t go back to stilwater 2006.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

never really ventured into dex/boss fic i’ll be real. ig in general i just don’t like when dex gets characterized as this irredeemable villain bc that’s just not him at all. i see so many old things that just give him no nuance or just forget he exists…..heartbreaking

Things I look for in fanfic:

again never really looked at dex/boss fic so not super applicable. the things i would look for are. um. do they kiss.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

anteros has either of his other partners which i’m happy with. i suppose kinzteros in a more canon sense and troyteros for more AU stuff. or at least that’s how it seems to usually end up. dex i think would be fine alone. unlike anteros who will explode if he doesn’t have a partner, dex is fine being single and on his own. he’s an independent person. tho if voli somehow came out tomorrow and said dex ended up w a nice husband i’d be happy w that too.

My happily ever after for them:

wouldn’t that be nice……ig just them making it work as best they can. unless anteros retires—which is something that wouldn’t happen for a very long time—i can’t imagine a real like. marriage and house and kids and all that. just not really in the cards for them. honestly that is one of the things i wanna explore post-sriv: what does the future of this relationship look like? both are committed to it, both still madly in love, but is this how it’s always gonna be? anteros missed the point for a normal life a long time ago.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon:

anteros is the big spoon. it’s like a inch height difference and anteros is using that. traps him w his arms and legs. clingy.

What is their favorite non-sexual activity:

talking and getting into arguments, and i mean that sincerely and not in a bad way. as in, getting into discussions about topics bc they’re both insanely academic. especially as they get older, talking about more mundane things like, as you and i have talked about before, arguing over shit like what colors to paint their bedroom walls and getting ultra specific about it. they love it. anteros’ favorite thing in the world is to disagree w dex. dex would be lying if he said he hated having their discussions too. sometimes anteros just plays an overexaggerated devil’s advocate just to get a smirk outta him. it’s fun. they genuinely love it.

also music! listening and singing along. both share a lot of favorite artists and even tho anteros’ taste can get a lil. eccentric. when it comes down to it, there’s nothing better than driving through stilwater at night together, blasting the radio and singing along. also i think dex just has a really nice singing voice so anteros is more than happy to let him take the lead. one of thew few things in this world that’ll make anteros happily be quiet.

[viperwhispered]

hiiii ner!! throwing you 💭🧪💡and💌 for the fanfic writer ask meme!! -diodellet

Ty for the asks @diodellet! (also good to see you around again, hope the exams and stuff went well!)

💭 What inspires you and your writing?

Tbf, for my reader inserts a lot of it is wish fulfillment - quite often, they’re more or less thinly veiled self-inserts in disguise. Things I’d like to see, things that I personally enjoy, stuff like that. Write what I want to see in the world, basically.

However, there’s also a big part of wanting to elicit emotional reactions in other people. I kinda alluded to this with my previous answers, but like, for me, the important thing is to tell a clear, impactful story - I’m not that interested in experimenting with language, for example, though of course some that comes with the territory, too.

I was an absolutely voracious reader of books as a kid / teenager (until I got my first laptop, oop), and I’d often just chew through books - which means I have forgotten a lot of what I’ve read. However, I still remember one book where the twist in the end hit me right in the feels, and I specifically took a moment to sit with those feelings in order to remember them.

So I just always love it when I can make my writing impactful enough for it to affect someone. I’ve gotten so many great things and highs and lows out of reading, and I want to give some of that back, if I can.

🧪 Do you research for your fics?

If I need to, certainly. I do typically prefer keeping canon-compliant if I can (unless it’s like an au or something we’re talking about), or true to life in general, so I’ll certainly be checking facts and stuff and trying not to get anything wrong. Plus, just refreshing myself on the tone or speaking patterns of a character feels like research, too.

And of course there’s been those times when I’ve been trying to find out when Japan got flip phones or other things like that. I'm totally that writer who goes down a research rabbit holes for like one or two lines of fic.

💡How many WIPs do you currently have?

Uhh… Depends? WIPs I’ve actually put some words in? Two that I’m actively aware of, probably others buried somewhere in the depths of my files. WIPs that I have ideas for… Well, on my list there’s six more or less vague concepts that might or might not become something.

I’m not really one to bounce between wips, so it’s pretty much one main wip at a time for me, rotating in the brain until it gets cooked (or left waylaid).

I suppose it helps that I kind of had a break from writing before Fixation happened so I don't have much of an idea backlog, so to speak.

💌 Is there a favorite trope you like to write?

Where do I even start… I mean, with the recent fics, pining sure is high on the list. Just, all the fluffy parts of a (pre-)relationship. For more specific tropes (like only one bed or fake dating or whatever), I don’t think I have strong preferences. Whatever works for the particular story, really.

For my smut I’ve been told I tend to play around with power dynamics a lot and yeah I can’t disagree with that.

(ask game here for anyone else curious)

[kitcatttt]

Hello and welcome to my blog! My name is Kitcat or Ayah!

Pronouns: Any/All, She/Her preferred

Sexuality: Panromantic, Asexual but not sex repulsed. No NSFW please.

Birthday: June 12

Fandoms!

Jsab/TPC

Project Arrhythmia

Splatoon

Undertale/Deltarune

Project Muse

Mario & Luigi games

FNAF

Before you interact

I need tone tags. I’m bad at picking up sarcasm irl, and there’s like, no way to tell if someone is being sarcastic over text.

Please tell me if I do make you uncomfortable. I’d like to know so I can stop doing so.

Continuing from the above, PLEASE ESTABLISH BOUNDARIES WHEN WE FIRST START INTERACTING. I’ve had too many instances where I’ve accidentally made someone uncomfortable because I didn’t know their boundaries. I feel guilt easily and it lasts for a long time, I basically never get over it. So it would be nice to not have to feel said guilt at all.

I do occasionally make dirty jokes, and I jokingly say smash to a lot of things, specifically characters. Tell me if this makes you uncomfortable and I won’t do it around you.

I am trying to teach myself how to draw! I had been scared away from drawing for a few years, but I’m finally trying again. They might not be that good as of now. Please don’t make fun of me.

DNI

Racist, homophobic, transphobic, or any other discriminatory people.

NSFW blogs and pro shippers.

Cintagonisupset and his supporters.

Please don’t mention around me (Ships)

TPC Cube x anyone other than Lythorus (Tied to a certain someone, but I’m kinda ok with it as long as it isn’t forced? Idk what would count as forced but Cube x Marcle feels hella forced- and just TPC versions of him. I ship HOPE Cubiris.)

Pyrare x anyone (canonically Aromantic)

Circubit x any female character/oc (canonically gay)

Blixer x Wave (don’t know much about the ship, but there’s apparently something wrong with it???? Idfk-)

Circumuscle x Cirtunda (Cirtunda adopts Circumuscle in my au, plus I don’t even think they’re close in age anymore. If you find past posts of me shipping them, it was BEFORE S2 Ep 1 of TPC came out, in which my au changed)

Marcle x Squadril, Marcle x Purpex, Squadril x Purpex (Purpex adopted Marcle and Squadril in my au)

Quintagon x Cubic (Literally just DNI. Why is this a ship.)

Friends list!

@comet--crusaders/@love--and--corruption - Best friend <333

@thatonepurpleshape -Silly ass goober, one of the first friends I made on this hellsite

@mfbees - Dumbass irl I dragged into the JSAB fandom /aff

@trash-jsab - Moderates my discord server, is da server parent :]

@anonymously-night - Also moderates my discord server, helps keep everything in check (THANK YOU 🙏🙏🙏)

@mugzymiik - cheese boy /j I’m fucking eating all your aus

@ebony-silly-zone - Hit it off with them when they first joined and now I blab to them about my aus :3

(if any of my mutuals wanna be added just ask :3 I know damn well I’ve forgotten some people)

Other blogs!

@jsab-pa - Art blog! (Run in character by Sen, one of my sonas)

@corrupted-chaoss, @corrupted-chaoss-fic An askblog and fic blog for my JSAB au, Corrupted Chaos

@lil-robo-idiot - Rp blog for my TPC oc, Penl

@coho-chat - Rp and ask blog for my ocs for the Bossfight album Caps On, Hats Off

@tpc-rp-blog - General rp blog so I’m not reblogging to my main

@sins-n-sinners - Ask blog co-run by Milo and Ebony

@uprises-on-your-grave - Askblog for Uprising, and band based on a Teminite album by the same name

Important links (to be updated)

Drama post. Don’t read if you don’t wanna get into it.

Addressing important allegations. More drama.

TPC headcanons

Sexual content and my ocs.

Pyrare and shipping.

My HOPE au vs my TPC au

My tags! (New as of this post)

#kit is on her shit again - rambling tag

#oh shit kit got a pencil - art posts

#why do you tolerate me - friend tag :3

#end me - vent tag, drama tag

#yay blood! :D - gore tag, art or writing

#focus on English class - fic tag and lore tag

My aus + their abbreviations

Magenta Decedance - My TPC au - MD

Mistakes Were Made - An au focused on Circumcannon, where he snapped and killed his family - MWM

School Love Chaos - A college au focused on Cintagon and Circumsphere, Cintagon being the yandere - SLC

Iris Insanity - An au where Iris cracked under the pressure and corrupted - II

Adler’s Experiments - An experiment au focused on my Flowers Of Antimony, Addicus or Adler, who is experimenting on shapes with the corruption - AE

The Contract - An au where Zinnia, Dub’s successor, made a deal with Rot (the tree), and everything went to shit - TC

Lovebug - Penl, a pink hero like Cyanide, got a virus! And now the corruption makes you a yandere???? - LB

Triple Star Shoppe - Cintagon, Purpex, and Pirene (oc) started a business together! Cinta is a dollmaker, Purp is a chef, and Pi is a blacksmith. Something feels… off, though. - TSS

Sins and Sinners - An au focusing on the 7 Deadly Sins’ kids, who took over after they died. (Co owned by Milo and Ebony) - SnS

House of Horror - Come on in! We don’t bite :) - HoH

Hope - My version of the scrapped Hope series by Brittney Robinson - Hope

Corrupted Chaos - My main jsab au - CC

Purity. - A tree cult was started after the corruption event in CC, and its just as bad. - Purity

Neutralized Nemesis - Another jsab au, where all of the bosses are dating a hero (includes the beta heroes) - NN

Failed Opposition - A bad end jsab au - FO

My ships (and the au’s they’re in)

Pentellow x Iris (both poly) - All except Hope

Cube x Lythorus - All

Cintagon x Circumsphere - All, one sided in SLC

Rincle x Circumuscle - All

Polyhedron x Cirtunda - All

Pentellow x Ajaceare (also poly) - All

Quintagon x Ajaceare - Not in any due to age differences

Dub x Barracuda - All

Iris x Circubit (Poly once more) - All

Hexagram x Circumsphere (exes) - All except Hope, dominant ship in SLC

Cube x Iris - Hope

Cubical x Iris (exes) - All, not together

Cubical x Circubit (also exes) - All, not together

That’s it (for now)! Hope you enjoy your time on my blog!

Dividers made by @irrelevaantidiot

[mannatea]

sings the tune without the words, a Tales of Symphonia ‘fic in the Our Aselia series (Chapter 1)

Current Word Count: 1,569 Summary: 4,000 years after the events of Tales of Symphonia, our heroes have been reborn. Chapter Summary: Lloyd and Colette star in the Church of Regeneration's play about the world regeneration! Pairing/Characters: Lloyd/Colette, eventually the main cast will arrive. Background ships that I won't tag in the story to avoid disappointing people are: Sheena/Zelos, Genis/Presea, and Regal/Raine. Extra Info: Done for @colloydweek 2023, prompt #1: wings! Every day will be a new chapter! Rating: T for the whole story, but this chapter is G. Genre: Friendship, eventual romance, and a lot of fun (I hope!).

--

There are a lot of notes from character ages to backstories, so I'll slap them all under this first chapter, just to get them out of the way.

--

Our Aselia is a reincarnation!lite* series.

It takes place in a “modern day” Aselia, roughly 4,000 years after the events of the game. It ignores DotNW and Phantasia. There is no longer a distinct division of race, as full-blooded dwarves and elves have long since disappeared along with the Katz. Almost everyone alive has some trace of elven or dwarvish blood, and due to this it’s not uncommon to see some variety in hair color, eye color, and even ear shapes.

A lot of other things have changed, too. The now-historical events of Tales of Symphonia have been altered over the course of thousands of years. Multiple religious branches have popped up, all of which believe something different or focus their study/belief/praise on one specific aspect of their understanding of the history of the world. There are no exspheres and very few records of them having ever existed. Sybak is just a regular university town, now, known for its elite college. Meltokio is a metropolis. Spellcasting is a lost art, and magical talent in general is so exceedingly rare that it’s been many years since anyone with a real measure of talent was seen—or at least exposed.

*Reincarnation!Lite means that the events of Tales of Symphonia took place, and the characters were eventually reborn; however, this fact is mostly lurking in the background and not the subject or main theme.

This story in the series, “sings the tune without the words,” was done for Colloyd Week 2023 and follows the lives of Lloyd and Colette. The title is from the Emily Dickinson poem, “Hope” is the thing with feathers. Though Lloyd and Colette’s story in the game has many wonderful themes to explore, I think at their root is always hope, so it felt fitting for them.

Random things:

I refuse to tag the other ships because they’re all kind of in the “background” but YES this fic reeks of “pair the spares” and NO I won’t apologize for it. It’s not that any character feels like a “spare” so much as…everyone gets paired up.

Every member of the main cast appears at least once, but some get way more attention than others.

I rewrote everyone’s backstory more than once because writing backstories for these characters was way harder than I anticipated (more on this later, though).

Regal’s family line has apparently gone unbroken for thousands of years. So sue me. I figure if it went on 800 years in the canon, what’s another 4,000 years? The Bryants fuck I guess.

Time passes exceedingly fast in this story. I tried to cover a lot of time in just seven chapters, so be warned that with each new chapter there will be a jump in age for the characters.

Character ages are NOT the same as in canon. I’d have loved to be able to keep them the same, or at least similar, but there were too many instances of it just not working. This ties into my struggle with writing backstories, so I’ll get into the specifics with that.

In Chapter 2, the benchmark for ages is as follows:

Lloyd: 17

Colette: 16

Genis: 15

Presea: 16

Zelos: 19

Sheena: 18

Raine: 28

Regal: 33

Alicia: 26

--

Character backstories were a whole can of worms, but not the kind you can go fishing with.

Because this is a reincarnation!lite story, I didn’t want to mimic the canon here. My first attempt at writing out backstories for everyone did have me trying to come up with similar situations as the canon, but it had this extremely offputting side effect of making most of the characters feel exceedingly tragic in nature—particularly Regal and Sheena.

My goal with the characters in Our Aselia was to give them backstories based on the core character concepts/traits that they possess. For example, you might think “guilt” is Regal’s primary character trait at a glance, but it’s not. It’s there, but it’s not primary. Rather, his capacity to feel guilt and grief to that degree is what I was looking for, and finding that leads me to the fact that he is a compassionate and empathetic character.

It was still difficult, especially with characters like Presea and Regal, whose connection via Alicia relies so much on heavy magical/fantasy-world tropes that I had already decided wouldn’t (or couldn’t) exist in this version of the world.

Like I discussed briefly in my post, The Fascinating & Frustrating Experience of Writing AUs for Tales of Symphonia, I wanted to avoid a portrayal of these characters that might make them feel as if they were on a tragic hamster wheel, doomed from the start of their lives to repeat mistakes of the past.

So in this story, Alicia gets to be alive and she is the older sister now. Raine was aged up to allow her to have a couple of years of teaching experience before she ends up teaching her brother/Lloyd/Colette in middle school. Genis was aged up to make his friendship with Lloyd feel more believable and so that he only had to skip one grade to catch up to him. Zelos and Sheena were aged slightly down to help their introduction to the story feel like a more natural/plausible situation.

Also for the sake of this story, Dirk’s last name is Irving.

--

Now let’s talk actual backstories, because a lot of these are only hinted at or briefly mentioned in the story (there just wasn’t room to say too much more) and I worked hard on them.

Lloyd: Adopted by Dirk. He never hides the truth from Lloyd but he also won’t tell him anything about his biological parents until he’s 18+. (This is to honor Kratos and Anna’s wishes. He was their friend/acquaintance.)

Colette: She is the only child of Frank and Calista Brunel. Her maternal grandmother, Phaidra, lives with the family, and Phaidra’s older sister Aithra visits often. Frank married into his wife’s family and took his wife’s last name; he claims it was for love but Colette has always suspected there was a bigger reason behind it.

Raine & Genis: Their father is an on-the-road trucker who isn’t home often (and when he does bother to come home, he mostly just makes their lives miserable). Virginia has to work to keep her children cared for and this leaves Raine to more or less raise Genis 50% of the time. At 18, Raine attends a local college on an academic scholarship and eventually gets a job and moves out to escape her father; her apartment becomes a safe haven for Genis. She settled on education as a practical degree because the only thing she was ever good at was school. Eventually she goes on to teach at the college level. She has a very complicated relationship with her mother.

Presea: Her mother left after Presea was born, leaving the girls’ father to raise them. Alicia teases Presea sometimes that she must secretly be the older sister because she’s so serious and bossy. Father works a hard labor job. Alicia was closer to mom (both of them more “free spirit” types) and Presea closer to her dad (both “hardworking down to earth” types) so most of the care as their dad gets older ends up falling to Presea. She’s quiet and studious and likes working with her hands. She meets Genis on the internet and they become friends.

Regal: Born to carry on his family’s legacy, he was sent away to school most of his younger years (boarding schools, then college). He sees his parents regularly due to work but does not have much of a relationship with them. He met Alicia when he was promoted into the main office of his father’s company; she was a member of the janitorial staff and saw him working late. They eventually struck up a relationship but his family did not approve and treated her poorly when they were introduced. She gave him an ultimatum (your toxic family or me), and he wasn’t strong enough to sever ties to his family and his work. They are both heartbroken but there's no hatred there. He meets Raine and Colette when Colette applies for a scholarship through the Lezareno Group—the scholarship fund is Regal’s pet project. He reads the essays and letters of recommendation himself to choose the winners. Raine’s letter of recommendation catches his eye because, while most educators brag up the student they’re trying to help win, Raine’s letter is unfailing honest in saying Colette is not the most academically successful student, but she always works exceptionally hard. He meets both of them at the scholarship acceptance banquet, and he and Raine strike up a friendship.

Zelos: Sheena’s on-again, off-again boyfriend. He’s the kinda guy that shows up at her apartment whether or not he’s currently dating her. He’s (not so secretly) the son of a famous politician, and has a large inheritance. His father committed suicide (or so they say) and his mother “managed” his finances/inheritance until he was of age, when he promptly cut her off. He pays for his younger half-sister’s private schooling and medical expenses almost as a fuck-you to his mother (but does not otherwise maintain a relationship with any of his family). He was the product of a one-night stand/entrapment scheme (he thinks) and is wary of them himself. Got snipped at 18 to keep it from happening to him. Very pro-choice safe-sex sex-positive and will go out with/have sex with anyone he finds attractive if he’s currently unattached. Commitment-phobic because he finds it hard to believe that people aren’t after him for his money. He generally likes and trusts Sheena because she wears her heart on her sleeve but his problems keep getting in the way of a long-term relationship working out between them.

Sheena: Colette’s roommate when Colette attends college. They rent an apartment together in Meltokio. Sheena found the wanted ad in the paper. She doesn’t attend college herself; she waitresses and thinks she’s too dumb for college. She was abandoned as a baby on the step of an elderly couple, and was eventually adopted by them. She had a simple but happy childhood, and has grown up to be hardworking. She’s an out bisexual and has a crush on Colette for a while but knows she doesn't stand a chance.