#But no really I think I've just been so busy IRL that combined with the dabbles my body's like STAP-

[giggly-squiggily]

Very small, very brief hiatus <3

Hey y'all, there's gonna be a small pause on Candy Hearts until Saturday, 24th-to make a long and kinda stupid story short I'm feeling not so great and don't have the energy to write or really do anything right now ~( TwT )~

I'm still gonna work on the ask game tonight, but tomorrow and Friday I'm gonna be offline and just be sick lols.

Thank you for your patience and talk to y'all soon! Have a cute Howl and Sophie gif <3

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

“The updates are making me like Idia more, but in the same way you'd like a character for being pathetic” I’m shocked you didn’t like Idia at least from what I remember? He’s basically the same as Rollo (a character you do like I think) and in more ways than one. They’re both gloomy looking guys and traumatized big bros that are self righteous and pathetic. What kept you from liking Idia before if you don’t mind me asking?

[Referencing something I said in this post!]

Okay, confession time: when I was a little kid (I’m talking like 7-10 years old), I was SUPER into Greek mythology and more specifically the story of Hades and Persephone. I ate up ALL the Hades and Persephone retellings/reinterpretations I could find and actively hunted for more 💀 so you’d think I’d like Idia, who is twisted from Hades, given how I gravitated to Octavinelle because of my attachment to The Little Mermaid in my childhood…

I think what puts me off of Idia in spite of his similarities to Rollo, a character I do really love, is a combination of Idia's appearance and his attitude.

To tackle the shallower aspect first, I actually don't like characters that look "too" gloomy. I would say Rollo is stoic-looking, but not gloomy? He has a pretty neutral face most of the time and the only gloomy thing about him at a glance is the dark circles under his eyes. With Idia... There's a LOT going on here. The hair is definitely unique, but I've never been into super long hair. The nature of it kind of overshadows his face and Idia usually looks miserable as a default. I've mentioned before that I'm unnerved by his coloration too; the super pale skin plus the blue lips is reminiscent of a corpse and, well... while I do see there being an audience that finds him beautiful, I don't think that's a cute look for him.

Now, his attitude. I'm not going to fault Idia for being passionate about his hobbies, as we all have our niches that we're super into. What irks me is how Idia expresses himself and acts out on behalf of those interests. He talks down to people who "don't get it" and takes other measures to defend the things he likes that I think is crossing a line. For example, he tracks down the IP addresses of Ignihyde mob students that defaced his favorite idol group's website. In the EN version, Idia threatens to doxx the mobs too (though he never does, this was just a localization decision). Yeah, you could do that I guess... but should you? 😭 The other characters also do questionable things (as a J word fan, I cannot deny this) but those actions are usually so outlandish no one irl would do it (like how Azul is a high school student that runs his own shady business). Idia's behavior, meanwhile, embodies some very real and very toxic aspects of fandom culture. I think part of why I disliked Idia at first is also his manner of speaking; it's riddled with so much internet lingo that it's hard to take him seriously sometimes. This is even more true of the EN version of the game, which has added even more slang than was in JP. Like... sorry, am I NOT supposed to be giggling when OB Idia is making threats while talking like an enraged gamer (both in EN and JP)? There is a ceiling on how much pathetic I can take in one sitting, and Idia far exceeds it every time he talks. Other characters (like Rollo making cheesy villain speeches, Azul being teased, Jamil's DOKKAN, etc.) have their moments of funny ha ha-cringe as well, but at least I can still see them in a serious light.

Books 6 and 7 are enhancing my opinion of Idia solely because they focus on the "traumatized big brother" part to his character. In Glorious Masquerade too... Idia gets the courage to call Rollo out because he knows their experiences are so similar. I think the storyline was done very well, and I loved seeing how Idia grows from an event that no doubt affected him deeply and still continues to influence him to this day. It's clear that he cares deeply about both Orthos and will step up to protect them. I LOVE THAT FOR HIM, it's not as though Idia is completely throwing aside one brother for the other, he's acknowledging them both as his "true" brothers. The way he goes from laughing to crying in his post-OB flashback... Idia getting so mad at us attacking Phantom Ortho with lightning... the willingness to "go" with OG!Ortho to the world beyond... apologizing to Robo!Ortho for falling for the dream's promises of eternal happiness... Aaaah, it's just too good 😭

DIHLBASOFYIAYVYEBfsWPYWPF WHAT CAN I SAY... I like me a reliable onii-san character 🤡 I'M NOTHING IF NOT PREDICTABLE

[nanaarchy]

Any ETA on when you'll post your Invisobang fic? (This isn't me trying to hurry you I am genuinely just curious so I know when to look for it)

HEY GUYS!!

first off I just wanted to say i am so so happy to see the excitement for this fic??? like its so crazy to me to see so so so many people hyped for it sbgkhskshgs i hope i deliver something good :") i think it's not gonna be what people expect it to be, it's a combination of factors that I haven't seen anywhere on ao3, so im excited to see reactions lol. im still happy so many of yall wanna read it,, soobbign... cyring....

during the IB months I wrote 6 out of 8 chapters, abt 3k words each? is that a solid amount of words per chapter? no clue tbh. plus I had to rewrite a bunch, oops. I really am Not a fast writer

and so much has been happening irl, ive been hella busy :( honestly i was very much hit with the ao3 author curse lmao

and thus, many delays. but I am currently finishing the last two chapters, and once I finish this one i'll start posting!!

soooo, ETA?

Sunday the 15th!!

or maybe monday the 16th. my posting deadline is this weekend so i wanna start sharing things already ^^ and i'll prooobably post a chapter every two days >:) yippee

shout out to @zillychu (here!) and @they-bite (here!) for making the art for this fic. theyre absolute angels, incredible jaw-dropping awe-inspiring breath-taking artists <3333 GO GO GO LOOK AT THEIR ART PIECES !!! thank you both for being so so patient with how long this fic is taking. YOU GUYS ARE ABSOLUTE SWEETHEARTS!! you were both so supportive with everything, your excitement really fueled me to keep going with this wild fic, and i am so so so grateful for having been paired with two of my absolute favorite phandom artists. the stars really aligned to put me on a team with the kindest most skilled more ingenious artists i've seen around these parts, two artists that chose to make art for my silly little goofy fic, and i am beyond thankful. yall are gems <3

thank you guys for being so patient as well!!! <3

[minluce]

Hello, I really liked your analysis of Wolf Keum, especially the parallels between Wolf and Gray. Do you think if circumstances were different, say if they went to the same school or if they had met before, they could have become friends? Maybe similar or to the same extent as Gray and Stephen were close? Sorry for my bad english, its not my first language :p

Hi Anon, sorry for not responding to this sooner! I've been super busy with irl and stuff. But tysm for sending me an ask, I love to ramble about my interests. Here's my thoughts:

Okay so. Honestly? I think it could depend on how you headcanon middle school Wolf. Based on the tiny snippets we see of him in canon, we kind of get this mixed image where he's still unhinged enough to be getting into fights and allegedly tormenting Grape, but as many have pointed out, he's also weirdly not on anyone's radar up until High school. He's introduced as a "Dark Horse"— someone who rose up the ranks quickly and unexpectedly.

Another thing worth pointing out is his appearance: but specifically how it reads to other characters in-universe. Phillip Kim (iirc) refers to him as a "Four-eyed normie" in the chapter where he's having a flashback to first meeting Wolf, so basically with his short purple hair and glasses he absolutely looked like a huge dork and probably attracted opportunistic bullies all the time. Which contributes to the idea that middle school Wolf was more of a "loser" than a "king".

He also gets very sensitive about people stealing and messing with his belongings (see: the whole Union Thief debacle) and if you go back to reread his whole monologue while he's beating up Rowan and Eugene, it sounds like something he's used to experiencing in the past. Getting his stuff stolen or messed with, and then the culprit lying about it and pretending to be innocent.

This made me think about Eugene's own experience with bullies: getting his math textbook stolen, his glasses smeared, etc. by that Eunjang student who wanted to buddy up with Gray. When Eugene tried to confront the guy about it, he just shrugged it off, or even just straight-up pretended he didn't do anything at all. You could clearly see how being on the receiving end of this kind of harassment could quickly become something of a pet peeve; combined with Wolf's unexpected rise to power, it ended up translating to spinning a misunderstanding completely out of proportion.

So this is all to say that I think "loser"-era Wolf could absolutely be friends with Gray, albeit I still get the impression that Wolf would have been the type to get angry and be prideful even before he had the strength to do anything about it. And I think both Wolf and Gray aren't the type to be outwardly social, so their friendship would probably start off with some kind of altercation, before smoothing out once they find somewhere to meet in the middle.

However, I think their relationship would be of a different nature than what Stephan was to Gray, because Wolf and Stephan are fundamentally different types of people. Stephan volunteers at the local soup kitchen after school, Wolf is chain smoking cigarettes under the bleachers. And I think Stephan's optimism and compassion was something that really resonated with Gray— who might have been the type to just stay in his little studying bubble if it weren't for Stephan inspiring him to stand up before injustices.

In contrast to that, I think Wolf would have brought out Gray's "mamba" side much earlier, had they met in middle school. They would have become "beating up bullies in the parking lot" kind of buddies. This may even result in a completely different High School era Gray— still studying-obsessed, but far less concerned with the ethics of beating other people up. But, I think as much as Wolf might draw out Gray's dormant "mamba", I think exposure to Gray might encourage Wolf to use his head more often— there's no way Gray could successfully turn Wolf Fucking Keum into a good student, but I do think there would be gentle nagging to "do your homework, Wolf, or I won't help you next time you start a fight with Sam Lee in public".

In conclusion: Wolf would make Gray slightly worse, and Gray would make Wolf slightly better, and they'd meet in the middle somewhere and become the most terrifying friendship in Yeongdeungpo.

[stevethehairington]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

i was tagged by @scimitar-and-longsword, ty Lolo for the tag!! 💕

How many works do you have on ao3? 118

What's your total ao3 word count? 667,938

What fandoms do you write for? the most recent fandom i've written for and posted for is stranger things, and i am still writing for it! i have also recently been dipping my toes into writing for both the terror and challengers (though i have not posted anything ~officially~ for either yet)

Top five fics by kudos:

good for my boy - steddie; wayne pov, the first time wayne meets steve! | 4,4,564 kudos

can't hide the way you make us glow - steddie; sequel to good for my boy, also wayne pov, this time how wayne finds out steve and eddie are together | 3,154 kudos

i want to hold your hand - steddie; steve has a crush on eddie and really reaaallly wants to hold his hand | 2,361 kudos

sloe gin fizzy, do it till you're dizzy - steddie; steve and eddie make a habit of getting high together... and also making out | 2,204 kudos

the world will follow after - steddie; steve accidentally kisses eddie on his way out the door | 2,000 kudos

Do you respond to comments? yes!!! i'll admit, i'm suuuper behind on this (a combination of being ridiculously busy and not having my laptop for a hot minute) but i absolutely do respond to every comment at some point! the way i see it is if you're kind enough to take the time to say something nice i'm gonna take the time to say thanks!

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? ooh angstiest ending? i fear i end all of my fics happy haha, but i suppose... well, i suppose keep you on a rope would fit the bill. this one is my tommy pov hs reunion fic, and tommy sees steve happy with eddie and then goes home drunk and upset soooo yeah that's a pretty unhappy ending for him lol.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? god, like everything else i've ever written?? lmfaoooo. i truly don't have one specific answer here because ALL my fics are happy endings if i can help it.

Do you get hate on fics? nah. i've gotten like a couple dumb comments before but they haven't been like mean outright hate or anything. i hope to keep it that way!

Do you write smut? hah, so, technically yes. but it's been a REAL hot minute, and every time i've tried to write smut recently i feel like i just get so stuck with it and then give up. soooooo.

Craziest crossover: i Do Not Like crossover fics so none! lol

Have you ever had a fic stolen? ummmm, i don't think so?

Have you ever had a fic translated? i've had a couple people ask before, but honestly idk if they ever actually did? so maybe lol

Have you ever co-written a fic before? i've tried! several times! but the, like, motivation/inspiration for those fics sort of fizzled out before they could be finished, so nothing has ever been posted.

All time favorite ship? oh man!!! this is a hard question!!!! because like, my favorite ship is obviously going to be the one i'm most invested in at the moment, but like i do still hold a very special place in my heart for the ships of the past i've fallen out of the fandoms for.

the current ships i'm coo coo for cocoa puffs over at the moment are steddie, fitzier, and tashi/art/patrick (honestly do not know what the "official" ship name for them is lol)

but if i had to pick my favorite out of all the ships ive ever written for... man i think i have to go with stucky!! there's just something about that ship that reaaaaally hits, and even though i don't really write for it anymore, just thinking about it makes me go bananas and feel so much, so yeah, stucky my beloveds.

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? HAH okay i have an answer for this one: my steddie two night stand au!!!!! it was going to be my fic for the steddie big bang but i had to drop out of that bc irl got in the way, but i have like. at least half of the fic written already and a solid plan for the rest and i was totally loving what i had for it, and ive been DYING to write a two night stand for literally any fandom i've ever been in so i REALLY want to finish this one at some point... i hope i will!!!

What are your writing strengths? i would probably say my characterization!!! i try really really hard with that and i've gotten lots of comments that have pointed this out specifically, which makes me extra proud!

What are your writing weaknesses? i feel like sometimes when i get too in my head about things i end up, like, getting kind of repetitive, like i'll start using "smile" or describing eyes too much lol. i always try to like fix this when i edit before posting, but it's definitely something i notice myself doing.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? i don't really have an opinion on this, like, whatever fits your fic best, so long as there's a translation somewhere that is easily accessible to the reader!

First fandom you wrote in? skam!!

Favorite fic you've written? oooh okay. i think i'm either going to go with keep me on a rope or under my umbrella!!

i'm going to tag: @withacapitalp @steddielations @henderdads @stevesbipanic @greenlikethesea @toburnup @thefreakandthehair @heybluechild @steddieasitgoes and anyone else that wants to do this!!

[illegiblewords]

Heavy stuff, venting.

I'm having a really, really awful time right now and it just sucks a lot. Things have been tough offline on a lot of levels lately. I don't share much of my creative stuff with people IRL, but it's one of the things that can give me a lot of joy through the day even when things are hard. Creative stuff can mean stories, or designs, or analysis. Even just poking around seeing what other people have done will cheer me up. I've been taking a break from FFXIV for a bit. I didn't play the most recent patch or holiday stuff. Some of the pacing and directions feel like missed opportunities. I might try again in Dawntrail but at this moment I'm taking a break to do BG3 for a bit. I've been interested in DnD for years, and I actually have a million ideas and things I find exciting tied to the Forgotten Realms. Haven't gotten to do more than the very beginning of a campaign because schedule hell but I'd really love to. BG3 has been a chance for me to actually interact with the world on my own terms a bit and it's been a big source of joy for me lately. And I love that Larian put as much thought and layering for the characters psychologically, overall. I love that they generally haven't shied away from stuff either. If I try to look at tags for say, Gale though? Mostly instead of other people making things, I've been getting people who are absolutely furious about how devs talked in a recent interview. I've dealt with characters I love to bits being treated in horrifying ways before. People who were with me when I did Spidey stuff will probably remember some of it. Shit was genuinely incredibly upsetting. I don't think the things people are mad at Larian about are intentional by Larian in the way they're being interpreted. I think this could probably be resolved just by explaining concerns assuming it was unintentional, without rage or accusation. They seem to really care about their fans and given the story told I think they care about their own characters too. Business bits aside. I haven't talked about any of this on tumblr or twitter because like... right now people seem to be a kind of angry where if you aren't angry the way they are, then fuck you you piece of shit basically. But if I'm just trying to make things, or find other people making things, or do analysis? I've just been wading through the anger from other people. It's more stress when I just don't need it. I've tried to find BG3 or DnD discords. I haven't found one for BG3. The DnD ones, I think there's a combination of them being kind of dead and... not really a place for what I do or how I talk. I have two homebrew monsters and a homebrew item I'd love to keep refining but I have no idea how stats work, and I can only really go so far on my own not having done a campaign in any way. Someone suggested I make my own discord community, and I could try, but idk if anyone else would be interested and being in-charge makes me anxious. Same time I'd be really nervous about whether discords run by other people are chill. I desperately, desperately want to avoid drama.

And stupidly I went to the official forums for lack of knowing where else to go. I was surprised that people were nice initially but one person came in and has been making weird personal attacks, backhanded compliments, talking like they're the authority on all things (lore, morality, storytelling as a whole). If you have a different opinion you are wrong and a bad person and stupid too. I genuinely think this person might be a narcissist and they are setting off every possible warning bell with me. Like I'm actually freaked out by how out of touch with reality they are. This person is making shit up that was never discussed, gaslighting like crazy, twisting words, and going into rages claiming I went nuclear when my whole point was 'why the fuck are you being mean to me and trying to boss me around???' I was very much not happy with the person but I was fucking careful not to insult them. And now I think this person doesn't want to leave me the hell alone. And like, I straight up said I don't want to talk to them further. When the user had a MASSIVE GODDAMN TANTRUM full of personal insults and accusations, I didn't reply. I thanked one other person in the forum for mentioning they read the message as hostile too, mentioned my 'leave me alone' message wasn't taken in its intended spirit, and touched briefly on why the accusations hit a particular sore spot. Then I apologized for derailing and switched to discuss character interpretations again.

Lunatic is like 'oh these replies to my message are so interesting, I'm going to answer you all once the website stops glitching'. And I swear to fuck I can hear the strings from Psycho going off.

I don't really trust that forum moderators will intervene. It's been a whole day since my first attempt to report, when the initial message happened. The second message was much worse. I generally don't trust people to take it seriously if harassment like that is happening. My assumption is if it's criminal I need to go to the police but otherwise like... no one is watching out for shit. And there is no block system on those forums.

I AM JUST TRYING TO MAKE CRAP MAN. I CARE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS. I CARE ABOUT AND INTERPRET CHARACTERS IN A WAY NOT EVERYONE ELSE DOES. I DON'T NEED PEOPLE TO AGREE BUT FOR FUCK'S SAKE LET ME MAKE AND TALK ABOUT SHIT IN PEACE. If I touch on a heavy topic, it's because I think it's warranted or adds a layer to the narrative that explains things or otherwise makes sense. I'm going to navigate heavy topics with care and empathy because I am very aware people get seriously hurt by that shit, a LOT of creators are actively cruel to victims, and! I love the characters! People are allowed to tell stories that cover the darker parts of human experience, not just the ones a single specific person approves of! And if you don't fucking like how someone else interprets or makes shit, DON'T READ IT AND MAKE YOUR OWN CRAP.

This was probably horrible interneting in the sense that I shouldn't have replied at all, but what the everloving fuck. How do you go up to random strangers and lead with condescension like that? How do you go through life just assuming everyone different from you has something wrong with them? EDIT: Person has escalated. Not sure what to do. Have reported a lot but no action yet. FURTHER EDIT: Mod showed up and said 'people are allowed to disagree, be nice, there's a hidden ignore button on a separate webpage'. The personal attacks are allowed to stand and TOS seem to be meaningless. Another user pointed out that the lunatic had been recognized as aggressive by two people and that my analysis wasn't unreasonable or uncommon even if they didn't subscribe themselves. Person private messaged with me and was pretty reassuring. I'm just on the page of 'fuck those forums I am never coming back' at this point, with the added understanding that if I tried to talk again at all the lunatic would 5000% continue trying to harass me. I just hope they get distracted and move on/forget basically. Fuck that shit.

[neonbutchery]

just a lil message of encouragement and support! i think you’re really cool alex and i love seeing you on my dash. you make such awesome mods and have great views and opinions ngl. you’re great. i hope you’re doing well!

thank you so much fray! i really appreciate reading this (i know that i'm a few days late with replying, apologies for this).

i'm generally doing well, i've just been very busy with a temporary job + holiday celebrations. besides the job itself, all of the irl socializing is making me very tired to the point that i don't really feel like coming back here that often since i have to mask 24/7 when around my family. i can't do the usual activities i do to get away from them since libraries are closed and it's too cold to spend a lot of time outside. i'm active on discord but i mostly talk to my lovely partner and stick to smaller servers unless i really need something.

once my job contract ends in around a week and i have more free time i might be more active, but i honestly can't say if that's for sure because as of late i feel like posting and engaging in here has become more of a chore than anything. waking up and feeling like i need to like and reblog everyone's posts and catch up with the entirety of my dash or else i'm a bad person who's ignoring my mutuals. for the last three weeks i haven't drawn, written and modded a lot of stuff for myself and i doubt i will even after my job ends because i'll have thesis work to catch up with. that combined with general feelings of not belonging to fandom, or my art and characters being bad, or being cringey, or bothering people whenever i post, or fearing that i'll be harassed for my taste in fictional characters or takes in discourse has sucked all the drive for creating or posting stuff related to bg3 out of me.

tldr: life has gotten busy and i'm tired in general, and even if i weren't tired fandom itself has kinda become draining for me. maybe i'll get back to playing bg3 after this hellish holiday season ends and rediscover my love for it but so far i'm just tired. four more days to go, my last shift is on the 5th and then i get paid, forget about it, and thankfully life can get back to normal and i can have much needed time alone.

[coldgoldlazarus]

.

Still not sure how to talk to the people from the d&d group about last week.

I wanna be mature and constructive about this, but the best I can really muster is "Yeah I kinda fucked up in some spots, not trying to downplay that, but on the whole I'm just frustrated with the situation, and how all of what went wrong is being put on me in a way I feel is unfair."

I felt like I was rushed into something I wasn't entirely ready for, right on the heels of several months of stress over making sure I'd have food stamps again. Yes I volunteered for this several months beforehand, but not as an immediate thing, and more with a broad vibe than a clear pre-planned... plan. I wanted to have the time to figure out the finer details and put maps and materials together before committing to doing this, but instead between being busy with IRL shit, executive dysfunction and heat exhaustion being an absolute bitch, and my own anal-retentiveness about getting everything just right combined with not being entirely sure where to start, that didn't happen.

I really should have just said no, but everyone NEEDED SO BADLY to play something during the break from the main campaign, (even though there is a minecraft server literally right there) and the whole "if you don't pilot the EVA, Rei will be made to do so again" thing was in play with the other multishot that could have filled the gap getting off to a false start and not being entirely ready either. Plus, I wanted to get this test run out of the way so I could work on the reboot of the big magical girl campaign again while the current main one was drawing to a close. Being told July was gonna be the last chance to do that before a long stretch without interruptions kinda made me panic. So I said yes instead.

I figured given my track record, having the deadline would be a good way to ensure I actually worked on it, but like, I think it really just did more harm than good, compared to if I had let it breathe. I also thought I was a bit readier than I was, with some stuff I hadn't even considered needing to figure out cropping up right on the day of, and having to scramble to get those hashed out at the last second. So yeah, while this was going on I spent the bulk of the weeks not working on this, and then having to do the rest day-of, causing the session start time delays. (I could give a detailed breakdown on exactly what those unforseen "invisible steps" were, so they have context for why the delays kept happening the way they did, but I've already been told to my face by at least one of the group that she doesn't give a shit, so whatever.) That was a mistake on my part, not gonna try to say otherwise. I just should have said no in the first place.

And I guess there's the communication issue. That I did mess up on too, the first few weeks. I tried to do better about it last tuesday, at least, after going radio silence the prior week. I felt I did a decent job of giving updates on my progress and saying "hey this is probably happening but don't assume it is for sure until I say I am Done and Ready." It's out of my control that people went ahead and assumed it was a sure thing anyway. I literally said at one point that I needed to take the bus back home from the library and that would be causing another delay in my prep, only for someone to say "okay this is happening definitely at exactly when she gets home" and I had to say, no, that's just when I'll be getting home, I still have more setup to do after that. And it's a hard fucking balancing act in giving ETAs because people get mad if you give too big a number, but then I also tend to take longer than I estimate...

I should have just called it off then and there tbh. Just didn't wanna let people down second week in a row. Not that that worked out anyway.

And of course the straw to break the camel's back was that A: There was another thing I needed to finish that I thought I had already done, but had in fact only half-completed, B: one of the other players dipped out on account of a migraine, and I hate leaving people out on principle but everyone else wanted to go ahead anyway, and C: on top of those, this was suddenly needing to be the last session before the main campaign resumes yesterday, so I'd have to rush to complete yet another session's worth of content while running one. And also I'd been up for 26 hours straight at this point. How the fuck was I supposed to react? I needed to remove myself from the situation and I needed sleep.

(I will readily admit that waking up still pissed the next morning and pouring all my complaints into a shitty meme format generator was not a mature course of action. Again, not pretending I'm blameless here.)

...

Anyway, my takeaway from where and how I did fuck up and why, is that I'm just not cut out for this.

After the first run of the magical girl campaign crashed and burned, I figured out a lot of the hows and whys, and found solutions to those problems to enact for next time. But none of that was even relevant to where this one went wrong, so that's a whole new set of problems to also find answers for, and Idk how to do that other than just having everything already ready to go beforehand. A luxury I just don't think this group would be willing to afford.

And furthermore, on sitting back and discussing both campaigns and my approach, I think the way I'm coming at this is fundamentally incompatible with what the rest of the group wants out of a campaign, and this would extend to trying to reboot the big one as well. I don't really enjoy TTRPGs as a medium in practice as much as in theory, because I just function better telling a planned story, not playing an improv game. It's a bit frustrating when it feels like the rest of the group doesn't care about my big grand narrative, but on having the time to reflect on it, I think that one's a Me Problem and a symptom of the incompatible approaches. There's nothing wrong with either, but the two don't exactly mesh well. And this is only one example of that clashing, same happened with me as a player. (The worst of which was when I tried changing my approach! It didn't work and backfired harder!)

(Literally the one exception where things did go well, was because that character I was playing was a super easygoing, down-for-whatever and in-the-moment type, and that campaign didn't last long enough for something to go wrong anyway.)

What happened on Tuesday was basically me ragequitting, but my decision to leave altogether is not. It's me recognizing that I'm the weak link here, and so it would just be better for both me and the group for me to stop trying to jam a square peg into a round hole.

But of course, it seems at least some of them are mad at me over that, too. There's no winning.

So in the end, I don't really know what to say. Yeah, I fucked up. But no, I don't feel I fucked up badly enough to warrant this level of vitriol. I tried to learn from what went wrong and communicate better instead of shutting down, but that only does so much when people just decide what I said differently like with the bus thing, or change plans on me at the last second. I'm frustrated as hell, but not mad at the people, I'm just upset and annoyed that they're so mad at me.

I tried to do my best in time, but the timing was all wrong, and my best just wasn't good enough. Sorry.

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 11/11/2022

Another week that felt very busy, although I feel like I was pretty accomplished, considering the circumstances.

The school district has been experimenting with replacing early dismissals with "asynchronous days", where the kids are given work to do from home. In principal, I am for this, because my kids both have long bus rides, and going to school for just a few hours is a big waste of their time. In practice, however, (1) both my kids need a lot of support to work from home and (2) for some reason, their teachers send home a ridiculous amount of work to be completed in that time frame. My third-grader was supposed to "complete" an essay she had started in class, comparing and contrasting two texts, except that she had no idea what she was doing, and her notes, which the teacher had told her "were good" didn't actually address the topic of the essay. So, anyway, two "half days" of work for my kids works out to a pretty tiring day for old Mommo (on Bleach Monday, no less!!). Tuesday, they had off for election day.

It was kind of a Big Emotions week for a couple of things going on in my personal life, some good, some bad. Also, Twitter is dying. It's not that it's that important of a platform for me, but it's the one place I still talk to the handful of IRL friends I have left, and I'm sad about it.

I did manage to post Ch 16 of the Tattoo AU. The end is firmly in sight for this one. I said last week that I had 6 chapters left to go. I had been going in order, but for some reason, I felt like I needed to write Ch 20 before I could write Ch 17. I finished Ch 20, and had some momentum, so I started Ch 21. I got about halfway through what I thought was going to be in Ch 21, and realized that didn't take nearly as much space as I thought it would, so it's possible that I may combine what I had thought would be Ch 21 and 22 into one, which means there are only 5 chapters left (1.5 already written). I might also add a lil epilogue, but I think it would be short. (Total written this week: 3352 words)

I drew a nice picture of Uryuu for his birthday! I'm really happy with the way it came out, and also, it didn't take me forever, for once!

I am honestly kind of panicking about Renruki week, but I told myself that November was for Gathering Ideas, and if I haven't finished up the Tattoo AU for December, I'll just put it aside, at least until I get some solid Renruki week progress under my belt. I only have two really solid ideas that I'm happy with, one of which is a half-finished art project that I think fits pretty well under one of the topics. I have two or three other ideas that are sort of half-formed or maybe won't work out at all. I keep telling myself it'll come together, except that the last two Decembers have very suddenly turned into nightmares for me. I am doing my best! 😭😭😭 It also feels like I've been working in the Renruki mines for the last three years, and it would be terribly pathetic of me (and yet also very in-character) to blow it when there is finally enough interest around to do a celebration week.

I am honestly kind of panicking about Renruki week, but I told myself that November was for Gathering Ideas, and if I haven't finished up the Tattoo AU for December, I'll just put it aside, at least until I get some solid Renruki week progress under my belt. I only have two really solid ideas that I'm happy with, one of which is a half-finished art project that I think fits pretty well under one of the topics. I have two or three other ideas that are sort of half-formed or maybe won't work out at all. I keep telling myself it'll come together, except that the last two Decembers have very suddenly turned into nightmares for me. I am doing my best! 😭😭😭 It also feels like I've been working in the Renruki mines for the last three years, and it would be terribly pathetic of me (and yet also very in-character) to blow it when there is finally enough interest around to do a celebration week.

[phoenixborn]

9, 10, 11, 12, and 14?

Spicy mun asks

9: What has been the biggest mistake you’ve made since you started RPing?

Maybe that on an another site before coming to Tumblr I wrote smut when I was a minor. Before the witch hunt begins along with callout posts: I learned 75% of my English through reading fanfictions then roleplaying. NOBODY during that time told me it was forbidden and I was like it's fiction, it's not even me who is having sex in the story so I didn't see any problems with this. I'm Hungarian. Here the age of consent is 14. Before Tumblr, I had no idea that people can get into legal trouble because of this and when I learned about it at first I thought it's a joke. Those who I written with also knew my age, I never made it a secret. Now I've grown up and realized long before this is indeed a mistake & I made all of my blogs +18 even to interact with due to my muses nature, backstories, topics.

And of course I have not and will not write smut with a minor.

I would like to add that I don't feel assaulted or exploited because of my inexperience and probably most of my past roleplay partners were minors too. The irl sexual harassment was much worse & impactful than writing stories with sex in them.

10: What’s something you really hate seeing on your dash that seems to be popular with almost everyone else?

I don't think there's a thing like this? If someone's writing doesn't entertain/excite/inspire me I simply don't follow. So my dash is perfect💖

11: What’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to RPing?

Tumblr's inconsistency with notifications hands down. I get notifications of being tagged in something literal months ago. Or that my ask got answered. So far I haven't noticed a delay with reblogs.

Oh and people who shit on female OCs because, idk think before even reading the info that they are self inserts and only want to fuck the canon characters. That's not why I slowly built up a historical noble house woven so deep into Hungarian history, not why I spent more research for my pirate blog than I did for my literal matura exams combined, not why I watched hours of singing explaining by vocal coaches, not why I studied Scott Adkins' borderline impossible movements which are not CGI.

12: What’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to the fandom you RP in?

As @winters-club has touched on the subject, those who are 'You MUST portray this character's CANON sexuality otherwise it's ERASURE and you're a terrible/homophobic person.'

Especially if those people actively harass writers instead of minding their own fucking business.

The most common victims of this are those who write Vaggie (also how come that I haven't seen many complaints that Alastor fucks when he's supposed to be asexual? This is NOT an attack on any Alastor muns, you write him however you want, I just noticed this.), Winter is not the only person I know who had a struggle with it. Curate your own dash if you don't want to see it, don't follow people who dare to defy canon, block tags and don't harass them. And as a bisexual who only felt romantic desire towards women irl, I find myself not giving a flying fuck. It's called creativity and so what if the writers want to explore other possible romantic plotlines? Let me tell you a secret: there's no erasure the slightest. Why? Because the sexuality of the character in question is CANON. A few independent writers on a site will not change that.

14: Without naming anyone specific, have you ever avoided someone simply because they RP with one of your RP partners? If so, why?

I didn't and don't avoid anyone just because they write with my rp partners. I actually don't even understand this question, everyone is free to interact, be friends with as much people as they want, it's not a choosing game and two people go to a separate corner to play.

[lushsynths]

This week has been so emotionally taxing for me.

I'm waiting for confirmation of graduation from my university and they're taking their sweet fucking time. I'm supposed to know by tomorrow, but I've been done with summer classes almost two weeks now.

And I feel nervous that I won't be cleared to graduate, but I'm also nervous to find a real job. I'm comfortable at my job and the pay is decent and I'm scared that my new job will suck, or I'll hate it. I don't like interviews, and I HATE talking about myself so I'd have to really up the bullshit in order to come off as someone who they should hire. I'm as hard ass worker and good one but it's hard for me to brag about myself. Plus, change is scary, but I really do want to get a new job at the same time.

An old high school acquaintance came to my workplace, and I wasn't in a particularly good mood to reminisce about life. I planned on playing it cool and just ignoring him, so I didn't have to make small talk. (I sound like a douche when I write this out oh my god, but I promise I'm pretty nice irl, we haven't seen each other in 10 years) Well he went out of his way to say hi and was really happy to see me and I was like surprised because it's not like we were great friends back in high school. We had mutual friends, so we ran into each other throughout the years. But I can't recall a time where we just talked to each other without any other people there. We had a little chat and as I was running around doing stuff we smiled at each other here and there. Anyways, I felt really bad because I could tell he wanted to talk to me, but it was genuinely busy at the time, and I was in charge, so I didn't' have time to chat. Later when I was off work, I messaged him on Instagram and said it was nice to see him and if we run into each other again we should catch up. Well since you can donate plasma twice a week, he came back two days later and then I felt awkward because I really wanted to show him that I appreciated his attention and time. I really did want to say hi, but I worry that I came of as ingenuine.

The next day at work I was working with one of my coworkers who's autistic and an acquired taste to talk to. I personally don't mind him now that I've figured out how to talk to him and keep things chill. But he found out I had cancer at one point in my life and kept bringing it up in front of the donors and I realllyyy don't like having a conversation about myself in front of strangers like whenever my coworkers try to do that I lowkey change the subject bc like...it's my business. Ofc when I can chat with them alone, I'm an open book but like not an open book for random people. So anyways I knew he wouldn't drop it, so I answered his questions about cancer and what not. And that made me uncomfortable to a degree, but what really sent me into a spiral was his comment about my appearance. I have a LOT of self-image issues like a LOOOOT. I haven't gotten on any apps to date or tried to put myself out there because of them. I also don't have any pictures of myself aside from a few my family has taken. My biggest insecurity is my hair loss and I'm not sure if it was genetics or the chemotherapy because my hair didn't grow back the same way as it was before. I think it's a combination of both but anyways it's a huge insecurity of mine and one of MANY. Well, this coworker looked at me dead in the eyes while we were working and was like 'can I make a bald joke?' And I was shocked because OBVIOUSLY I know people can tell I've lost hair for my age (29) but no one has ever mentioned it because I'm sure they're just being nice. And to hear it acknowledged by someone really really hurt my self-esteem and there's not a lot of that within me. Like I already feel ugly and unwanted it really hurt to hear. Plus that day one of my other coworkers came to me because she thought I was in charge and was like "Hey handsome can I go to break later rather than sooner?" and I was like "well I'm not in charge today but I'm sure it would be fine with X" and she was like "well I take back calling you handsome" and it was obviously joking but goddamn that hurt my feelings too.

I actually think I need to see a therapist about my self image issues. I just feel so fucking ugly all the time. I've started to workout semi consistently, but I'm so depressed the past couple of days. I take care of my appearance and practice self-care to like to try and keep my self-esteem normal but it's so fragile it's sad. This is delusion talking but when I went to message my old classmate, I saw he came out as bisexual a while back and thinking about how happy he was to see me and talk to me made me feel good like maybe a man can find me attractive the way I am now, but I just can't bring myself to believe that. Not fully, and I fear that if I ever get into a serious relationship that I won't ever be able to believe my partner actually likes me genuinely so that's another reason I don't pursue dating. God.

[void-botanist]

14-18a for the university asks? for maybe avis or sorian or dez (if any of them went to school/would do that 👀)

Dez's answers are so funny because they're like "yeah I've never been to school but now I'm being trained as an astronaut for an upcoming mission as one does" so actually most of this stuff doesn't apply to him. If he did go to college it would probably be at the University of the Second Akkanswl where Mizzat works, and he might manage to get money somehow because of being an android. But this is a good set of questions for Sorian and Avis since they actually met in college and I've been worldbuilding that part of their lives solely because of OTP questions and asks lol.

14. What sort of university did they apply to/get accepted into? (IE: Ivy League, State, Community College, etc.) A combined magic university, the only on on Imni, where Sorian was in the magician track and Avis was in the dupe witch track.

15. If your oc was accepted/invited through a scholarship program, what was the nature of that scholarship? Avis had a long string of scholarships, including one from the local goverment in exchange for some amount of magic work, and one from the art department because she was a real asset for their landscape artists (her specialty as a dupe witch is recording places, especially landscapes, from people's memories). Sorian had a merit scholarship from the carpentry department that covered about half his costs across his years there. He always suspected that it wasn't entirely based on merit, since a lot of his family members went through the same program, or else he had a leg up because the family business is carpentry, but he still took the money.

16. Overall, how was your oc's education funded? Did they apply for a grant, student loans, did someone else take care of the financing, did they attend a free university, etc.? What did this entail? Avis's parents made half an attempt to pay for her college but she would not let them. I don't think her schooling was nearly as expensive as it can get irl but she still filled out a million applications for funding, did work study, and always worked summers. Sorian also worked year round, but aside from taking the occasional commission through his family's carpentry business, he mostly just worked in the student bookstore (which is another reason bookstores make him think of Avis).

17. Do they have any plans for what they want to do after graduating? How long have they thought about this? Sorian pretty much always knew he wanted to go into magicarpentry. He considered other things, but none of them really caught his fancy in the same way. After graduating he essentially became an independent agent of his family's business. Avis, on the other hand, had a lot of vague ambitions but was never able to find a way to apply her magic to a job that interested her long term. At least until her job involved sailing to different islands (I'm not 100% sure what her job description is because in ToTS she used to help people figure out where to resettle in Faeryland as climate change worsened on Earth. That could still work on Rade since most planets don't have such clear seasonal areas but idk if that's what I want to go with).

18. If your oc participates in any extra-curricular activities or clubs, what are they? How much of their time and energy do these take up? Avis was in a film club that was like the anime club at my college, which mostly consisted of booking a lecture hall and just watching a bunch of anime episodes back to back. She also was definitely in a tennis club. She couldn't convince Sorian to try for the rowing team (yes she did just want to catch him rowing by shirtless with a boatful of his friends, is that so wrong) but she did get him into the tennis club, and occasionally the film club when he had time for it. Sorian was really more of a chess club kind of guy. He also ran one of the book clubs at the bookstore but that wasn't strictly an extracurricular for him.

18a. Do they actually enjoy these extra-curriculars, or are they just a means to an end? Avis is not normal about tennis. She's also not normal about Sorian. She was having the time of her life. It was sort of the same for Sorian, except he just ended up being haunted by the ghosts of chess games he could have won. Though he did enjoy the film nights he made it to, you could say those were more a means to an end - friendship.

[vorpalquickblade]

Soooo, I'm really bad about posting updates for MY writing, mostly because long periods between updates are a combination of me not being in a writing mood/not feeling Nephilim Witch (the only fic I'm currently posting) at the moment and then loosing track of how long its been and in those cases there's just... not a whole lot to say? I don't try to make excuses, the long periods between updates are almost always totally on me, and even when its something like me getting busy with IRL stuff it tends not to cross my mind to update here, and I honestly don't know if any of my fanfic readers will see this because of that, but who knows.

Anyway, mostly the long update wait on Nephilim Witch is due to the fact my brain lost interest in SAO completely for a while, so I really wasn't feeling Nephilim Witch or getting any inspiration for it. I'm posting THIS because while I intend to put the above part of this paragraph in my author's notes, when I was thinking about writing and updating recently I realized I was liable to mention that while the rest of it was totally on me, a bit over month of it wasn't, and then I'd want to explain and then I'd end up telling a summary of the story and rambling and end up with a long ass author's note that an unknown percentage of my readers wouldn't care about since it's about personal stuff and would just add a bunch in the author's note and bog it down.

Anyway! For a solid month of the time between the last time I updated and now, I was actually sick as fuck, admitted to the hospital, and then recovering at home. The short version is that I ended up with lesions in my brain, frontal lobe to be exact, and was in the hospital for 2 weeks then recovering at home. Never actually DID find out what was going on exactly since there was some errors and shit about lack of hearing back about test results after I got discharged and sending my reference to the wrong place for follow up appointments which never seemed to get cleared up. Buuut, my discharge papers called me "young woman with abnormal MRI suggesting ADEM" and I looked up ADEM as used in medical terminology and found that from my understanding it's basically when your body gets a viral or bacterial infection (or even rarely occurring when you get vacation shots) and the body flips the fuck out and overreacts like a drama queen, and since other then my recovery period I've been totally fine in the MONTHS since the hospital gave me treatment, while I'll be the first to tell you I'm NOT a doctor in any way shape or form, I'm gonna go out a limb and say they were right.

But MAN, was that a ride and a half in the hospital, of which me telling my dad that I think I needed to go to was a red flag all on its own since there's a long standing joke in my dads side of the family that if a member of his family is going to the hospital of their own volition that you KNOW shits serious. Case in point, no joke, my dad once tried to insist to his girlfriend that he was FINE and get up off the couch to go to work and literally passed out on his feet, and only didn't smash his head on the coffee table because she was strong enough to catch him and managed to get him to fall onto the couch instead of forward. When they got to the hospital, during check in they put one of those sensors on his finger to check oxygen levels, and the lady checking him in glanced over at the results after getting a few pieces of information, frowned and messed with it a moment, went back to getting information, checked again and changed it to another finger and just stared at the readout for a few moments before going "Nope! We can get you checked in later! You're going back NOW!" and unfortunately my family is stubborn enough in the "oh it's FINE its likely nothing serious, I'll get over it soon." way that it wasn't really... out of character for my family.

Anyway, when I went to the hospital, I was so out of it that when my sister visited my parents, who were almost glued to my bedside out of a worry big enough to get my mom to basically drop everything and come down from Washington (the state, not the capital, I live in Oregon, hence coming DOWN) to tell her that, no, the hospital had NOT given me any medication that was making me super loopy and out of it, that was just part of whatever was wrong with me at the time.

Not kidding about it being a RIDE at the hospital. No joke or exaggeration, I had 11 blood tests, a CT scan, 4 MRIs, and a SPINAL TAP, without even taking into account the normal stuff like an EKG or urine test. Hell, at one point they were seriously concerned I might have brain cancer and were telling me that while they were waiting for a few more test results, unless something changed, they were gonna drill into my head the next day so as to get a biopsy sample to see if it WAS cancer. The only reason it ended up NOT happening was because, as my dad put it, the neurologist I had came down the hall damn near skipping, and informed him that the results from my spinal tap had shown a certain kind of cell, that I'm absolutely spacing the name of right now, that's in the brain and spinal fluid and all of the ones in my spinal tap were healthy and doing their job and the chances of them being like that AND me having brain cancer while theoretically possible were astronomical enough that they'd canceled by brain biopsy, which is cool, since they didn't have to drill into my head.

So. Yeah. Anyway! I'm totally fine now, and that DID eat up over a month of my time, and it would be unreasonable as all hell to blame that month at least on me, though again, most of the period between updates is totally on me, either due to just not being in the mood to write, period, or my brain just not having any inspiration for Nephilim Witch in particular. Which is why even though it's the ONLY story I'm posting right now, I technically have 10 planned multi-chapter fics that range from having only part of the first chapter down so I have the premise on hand as well as a starting point if I feel up for that one in particular to.... um.... eight completed chapters and the beginning of the ninth making over 84,500 words in the fic proper... and another 16,000 of later scenes/notes...

But yeah, it took me WAY to long to get the most recent chapter out, I'm well aware of that, and mostly that was on me due to lack of writing inspiration, bring in the mood for it in general, or for Nephilim Witch in particular, but a solid month of that was NOT my fault.

[deecotan]

what brushes do u use ??? :D

Hello!!

Firstly I am terribly sorry for this super late reply. I got really busy with IRL stuff that I always forgot to answer the messages in my inbox :''D

Secondly, I currently use SAI to draw digital art and photoshop for edits/retouches. I'm not sure which version of SAI that I use, though, since I've been using it from first year of high school I think... so I can only guess it's a pretty old version. Therefore, I will mainly explain what sort of brushes that I use in SAI!

First there's this "pencil" brush that I mostly use for sketches and lineart. I remember that this brush is originally something I copied from another artist who uses a brush called mechanical pencil, and then I adjusted it to fit my own preferences. This brush more or less feels like a real pencil (at least to me haha), but I usually used this for both sketch and lineart whenever I want to go for softer look.

(more under the cut!)

This is a "thick line" brush (again...pls ignore the name on the screen) which I use mostly to make doodles and thick, flowy lineart. Like the pencil brush, I use this for both sketch and lineart, specifically when I want to go for a "bold" look.

This one is a "shading" brush, which just like its name is what I use to shade and fill colors. The characteristic is almost similar to the thick line brush though I adjusted the min size to be bigger so that it has a bigger and wider stroke. I usually combine it with the blur tool as well to create the shading.

This one can also be considered a shading brush, though this one is more watercolor-y. I used this occasionally whenever I want to go for a softer, more artistic look. The Sanji with the bamboo ornament art above is actually the first time I used it to make an art haha!

This one by far is the most experimental brushes that I have ever used. I'm not sure what to really call this thing so uh.. let's just call it the "echo" brush to match it with the name above (I seriously can't remember why I named it like that though 😭). This brush has a distinct square-shaped style and I often use it as shading/lighting to create a dramatic, artistic look. Idk why I love using this brush, it just feels "right" whenever I use it 😂

And that's pretty much all!

I always wanted to try clip studio paint though so hopefully once I'm able to afford it I will consider buying it -- I'm seriously enamored with its wide array of useful tools. Sometimes I sort of consider myself pretty outdated (?) for still using SAI since I've seen many people have been switching to CSP nowadays haha... but oh well, I suppose everyone has their own styles & preferences. I hope this can answer your question! 🙏

[greentrickster]

Hiiiii hope you’re doing wellll

Anyways I have a lot of Saturation brainrot thoughts but I have a few points I’d very much like to compliment you for, I’d love to hear your thought process if you have any regarding these

- it is so insanely cool to see a fic where the other character actually KNOWS their feelings are reciprocated, because like yeah oblivious to romantic feelings and all is cool to see, but it’s actually so RARE for a ship to be aware that their feelings are indeed mutual, and I think that’s one of the defining things that make your fic so unique in terms of being a Narumitsu story. Like it’s cool to see Edgeworth knowing this, and I love the funny scenes that come from him knowing this and sort of messing with Phoenix (playfully) with that knowledge

- Second, THANK YOU so much, for not doing that thing with like, getting other characters involved to “force these two to get together” Like yes there is a subtle push, mostly with Edgeworth being encouraged to acknowledge his feelings regarding Phoenix near the start of the fic, but after that it’s hands off for all other characters and Edgeworth and Phoenix figure out their feelings and admit to them on their own. This may be a personal thing of mine, but.. I don’t.. really like fics, that kind of like… have the AA side characters try really hard to get them together, like I get the intention is good nature, and yes I guess IRL it’d be hard watching two people who you think you’re certain are very much in love with each other, do nothing for years… but like.. I feel people forget ultimately that that isn’t THEIR decision to decide that, also like… there’s that line of consent too? Did these two character ever consent or ask to get pushed along by their friends?

It’s a tad difficult for me to put into words but like.. basically I’m just saying I appreciate you letting this be a story that very much centers around Edgeworth and Phoenix when it comes to their feelings. Yes other characters are there, but they aren’t there for the sole nature of pushing along a pairing. I like it a lot more when a pairing naturally comes to their own conclusion on their feelings, than supposedly others getting involved to give a “gentle push.” Encouragement is fine, in little amounts I don’t mind at all! But big grand actions is just kind of.. Not really something I enjoy seeing in pairing fics, I suppose.

Hi, I am doing quite well today, and I hope this finds you well, too!

In regards to the feelings being reciprocated, and how rare that is in fics and fiction, that's actually kind of why I did it this way. I adore stories, both original and fan-created, and I consume a vast quantity of them. They are my Special Interest. Combine this with my ADHD and being thirty-four, and I'm at the point in my reading career where I tend to notice certain patterns in storytelling and, if I've seen them done enough times, get inspired/motivated to try doing something different. Not saying I'm the first or only person to do this, obviously, but it is one of the key factors that drives my creativity - it gives me a chance to try new things and explore the characters and the world (and, as anyone who hangs around my blog or has looked through my AO3 works knows, I love me some world-building and character-building in interesting situations)! I'm really happy to hear that you've been enjoying the results of my exploration for this fic! ^U^

In regards to not having the characters try and force anyone together, you're welcome, and same, honestly. The only time I like characters plotting to get others together is if they're so busy making plans that they don't notice the two characters getting together on their own in the background, and then these two proceeding to mess with the plotters when they realize what's going on. That can be fun! But if it's played straight? Then it's not my cup of tea, either. Sometimes a character needs a little nudge to get the ball rolling, like Edgeworth did, but beyond that, yeah, I'd rather create a situation to allow the relationship to grow naturally than have characters within the fic manufacture the same situation.

It may have been difficult to put into words, but thank-you so much for making the effort, I'm pretty sure I know what you're talking about and also this was just a lovely ask to receive in general - I've been mooshing my face in it for a few days just to soak up all the positive vibes! ^U^ <3 <3 <3

Thanks for the ask!

[bitimdrake]

I think Damian is pretty competent with managing a multi national company like WE. After all he was the one who saved WE from Ruin from Hush and the one who worked with the board of Directors to get WE back in the black. I recall Bruce thanking him for saving the company when he came back in Batman

I think you are sending this as a reply to that post I reblogged (so I may not even be who this should be sent to), which cheerfully fell into the category of reinterpreting events with irl logic. And under that lens, it is extremely silly of Damian to think he can get the controlling shareholder ousted via a vote.

As far as saving WE from Hush--as I remember, that was (a) more Dick than Damian, and (b) far more about vigilante shenanigans than business acumen. Although TO BE FAIR it's been a minute since I've read it all. I don't really want to dig for the Bruce reference because it's likely a Morrison comic, but I believe it was specifically about Damian doing budget/finance magic.

Really, though, references aside, I'm just very compelled by the idea of Damian the hyper-specialized assassin child, who combines extreme levels of expertise in the subjects he's been trained in with a standards child's ignorance in everything else. So the idea of Damian having a far better understanding of business than any other 10-year-old, and being able to understand budgeting a giant multinational company, but also having huge blindspots about what a board of directors can do is. very enjoyable to me. It just sparks joy!