#I mean you don’t have to ship them to appreciate the concept

[seagull-scribbles]

what if they where T4T?! What then?

[ravenpureforever]

random question time! which wwx's relationship do you like the most and why? It could be platonic or romantic, all canons allowed

Thank you for the ask! Oh boy this question is hard, because I like I appreciate so many of his relationships for different reasons that picking just one feels kinda cruel 

I think the biggest tie for me is between JC and LWJ for WWX. 

Wangxian is the rare ship where I genuinely can only see them romantically with each other, like I’m multishipper, I’ll ship literally anything if you have an interesting concept, pretty words or beautiful art, like grab my attention I am yours, except these two, they live in my head rent free and they can only be together because like maybe you lost everything, maybe you can never go back to that blissful youth you once had, but that doesn’t mean you can’t build a new life for yourself and find happiness and all the grief and tragedy does not define you but you still want to help people and you will help people and maybe it isn’t the life you thought you wanted when you were fifteen but it is a wonderful one and you love and you are loved and you are happy and that is enough. Maybe you suffered, maybe you were cruel, maybe the world misread who you are and assigned you a role you did not ask for, but maybe that doesn’t matter because you know who you are, you are still kind, and you have someone who knows and understands you and trusts who you are. You are both also kind of insufferable in your love and get to be annoying too. 

But JC & WWX are my ultimate tragic doomed platonic relationship, my neurotic little freaks who can’t be normal about each other and have zero boundaries, bickering idiots, wanting to go back to your youth except you’ll never be 15 again and you the person who knew the most intimate parts of yourself is now a stranger except you still see the glimmers of the person they used to be, the most brutal variation of you’ll never recover from that kind of devotion, the ultimate capturing  lost youth and having to go down different paths and really depicting what growing up is like sometimes, the viciousness where I am able to hurt you unlike anyone else (regardless if I want to or not), the abusive household codependency of survival, literally carrying a piece of your soul in my chest and making the ultimate sacrifice you never asked for because I couldn’t bare to risk losing you, the hollowness is a symbol of my devotion and the fullness is an omen of our splintering, there is one brain cell being shared like a game of tennis, my pathetic meow meow and beloved blorbo, I genuinely can’t be normal about them. 

I think if I really have to pick between them though, I’ll have to say JC & WWX just by virtue of I don’t like Wangxian fics that mischaracterize or villainize JC, like if he’s featured and isn’t a well-written character (Shanastorytellers' and loosingletters’ fics my absolute beloveds), it really takes me out of the narrative. His depiction and relationship with WWX has a lot of impact on my Wangxian enjoyment, and even in canon my beloved Wangxian gets to develop because of all the Ls this poor guy takes, so congrats JC, you win here! It’s by a literal hair, but JC & WWX platonic relationship, get these boys a reconciliation so they can drink in Lotus Pier and gossip about their kids and people they think are stupid, WWX it will enrich your marriage so much I promise. It’s what *I* deserve.

[orange-demons]

we all love avatar/bosch, but i offer you avatar/ed as a concept, because i'm deep in the ship trenches

Ohh! Avatar/Ed is such an interesting ship. and srry for the wait! I didn't forget about you I swear! I honestly thought he would have more fics on tumblr because of how popular he is. And here I thought Bosch was the underappreciated one. Dude barely has 5 fics to his name. Also I didn’t know if this was a statement or a request, so I present you with some headcanons. Enjoy!

Ed doesn't want civilians getting caught in his fight to free people from Shadaloo's experiments. So he tells you that if you stay with him you may regret it.

He’s quite distant and cocky when he talks to people, so expect some push back when you try to get close to him.

That’s kind of expected when he tells you to get lost after you reached your full mastery with him.

He doesn't care about who you used to be or if you have regrets about the past, he only cares about the version of you in front of him. The You now.

His friends are important to him, they're like his family, so he would want you to be on good terms with them before he continues the relationship.

He hides most of his feelings behind a wall, but when he finds people he cares about Ed will develop a soft spot for them.

He's one of those people who can take a punch better than he can take a hug.

But that doesn't mean he'll push you away if you decide to be affectionate with him. He'll tense up at first, then he'll relax once he realizes you aren’t a threat.

Ed would want you to meet Balrog someday, and meet the man that shaped him to be who he is. Well...he'll bring you to him whenever Ed decides to reach out to him.

Every person who wields Physco Power uses it in a way to enhance their own individual skill. So he'll work with you to help you find your unique style to the best of his ability.

As your master and potentially your future bf, he wants to make sure you're not using Physco Power all willy-nilly. It's dangerous and he doesn't want you to get seriously hurt, despite you telling him you can handle yourself.

His observation skills are sharp so he can pick up small things about you that you probably haven't noticed about yourself. Like habits or certain mannerisms.

So he can tell when you really want something when your eyes linger on it for a split second longer. Which he ends up getting for you because he likes to see you smile.

Ed can also see when you want to be affectionate with him in public. He saw you catching glances at his hands when walking beside him. But you tucked your hands in your pockets after a while of contemplating. He reluctantly offered his hand to you, because as much as he hates PDA he likes you more.

He still has nightmares every so often that makes him wake up in a cold sweat, so please hug him and tell him everything's fine.

In SF6 there are hints of corruption in his KO win pose where he laughs manically. He snaps out of it fairly quickly when you point it out and gets ashamed for letting his emotions get the best of him.

As much as a hard ass he is, he appreciates it if you check up on him just like he does with you.

Like that fortune teller said, Ed is scared of losing himself and turning into something else. Would you even recognize him?

He does get concerned if he hasn’t heard from you in a while, which prompts him to go on a full-blown search. Even if you don’t think it isn’t a big deal, he does. So he wants to make sure you’re okay.

If you’re not feeling well mentally, he’ll lend his ear to you. He has his fair share of rough days, but if there’s anything he can do to relieve some of your stress he’ll do it.

On the flip side, he doesn’t want to pick fights with you but it sometimes happens when he gets frustrated. Ed has a lot of burden on his shoulders and it doesn’t help if you’re always sticking your nose in dangerous situations all the time.

He cares, he really does. It’s just that he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to you.

Falke would knock some sense into him if he ever goes too far and forces him to apologize to you. Makes him get on his knees and everything.

Balrog was his unofficial official father figure so Ed picked up on some of his habits later on in life. Good and bad. And his inability to show his emotions without it turning into frustration is one of them.

He’ll try to tone it down for you in the future, but it is something he’s going to have a hard time with, especially since he’s already having an internal conflict with himself on a daily basis.

There are 2 types of kisses I can see him giving: short and abrupt or long and passionate. It depends on his mood and if he’s in public. He would hate to be seen as that couple who can’t stop locking lips at the train station. He’ll get embarrassed.

He would also want to spar against you and help you fix your form when you’re off balance. As mean as it sounds, he’ll make you fall on your ass and tell you to do it again. In his head, he’s teaching you how to be a better fighter. But if it gets too much, tell him. And he’ll adjust his demeanor towards you.

Like those cheesy romcoms. Ed would give you his oversized jacket when it got too cold outside. But don’t tease him too much about it because he’ll threaten to take it back. He won’t.

Ed roams freely at night, so most of your dates will consist of street food and fighting. He also likes to go to the movies with you and watch those shitty horror movies whenever he has downtime.

But ultimately, he’s never in one place for too long. And if you want to keep in contact with him, you better like long-distance relationships.

Because of the distance, he’ll call you at least once a day no matter where he is, because he wants to hear your voice. How’s it been? Are you doing okay? Any assholes giving you shit? Etc.

But similar to his father, if things get too dangerous on his end, he’ll contemplate cutting you off from his life.

He's the type of lover who genuinely wants the best for you, with or without him.

[hazelnut-u-out]

Initially, my opinion on ‘Rick: A Mort Well Lived’ was… not a positive one. 

I felt like having the ‘I love you’ conversation between Rick and Morty without actually having our Rick and Morty on screen was a weak choice. Especially with it being so early in the season, I assumed it was a way of subverting the backlash of having Rick be ‘softer’ on screen by making both his and Morty’s progression more palatable to a wider audience. 

I recently got to this episode on my rewatch, and almost considered skipping it. After a bit of internal debate, I didn’t. 

The episode was never one of my favorites, since it embedded a deep anxiety within me about the state of Morty’s character. I know it sounds silly, but the concept of splitting Marta from Morty entirely (and maybe even permanently) triggered a thought loop about his character that I couldn’t shake for weeks. It even makes me nervous to think about it now! 

That being said, I was surprisingly glad that I made the decision I did, because my opinion on the episode as a whole has definitely shifted upon my most recent rewatch.

I see, now, what they were attempting to do. I think that the episode was meant to be an acknowledgement of Rick’s love and appreciation for Morty, but done in a way that doesn’t desaturate the emotional intensity of later conversations between the two in a ‘real’ setting. When Rick says that he loves Morty and values him as a grandson to Marta, the audience gets concrete confirmation that those feelings exist in canon. By removing Marta from Morty, Morty has no idea that Rick ever said those things. Narratively speaking, this staves off the satisfaction of having Morty both know and believe this, leaving room for more fulfilling and impactful admissions in the future (or highlighting a lack thereof). 

Do I think they did this well? …Somewhat. 

I think that there should have been more of a focus on exploring Morty’s feelings outside of Rick, and how those play into his predisposition to being a victim. At the same time, enough is there to get the point across. In my opinion, though, it still somehow leaves Morty as a whole feeling a bit neglected. 

That being said, I noticed some interesting (and arguably brilliant) details/foreshadowing that definitely shine through only on rewatch. 

The first of these details is the language hinting at the nature of the relationship between Rick and Marta, and how that compares to his relationship with Morty. 

Near the beginning, Marta refers to Rick explicitly and directly as ‘Grandpa.’ This is something that Morty isn’t shown to do after season one, opting to call him by his name instead. He only ever refers to Rick as ‘my grandpa’, and never the title directly. The closest instance to Morty using this title post season one (aside from ‘Solaricks’) that I can think of is when he and Summer use the term ‘Papa’ as a title for Rick in ‘Childrick of Mort.’ 

Later in the episode, as tension builds between Rick and Marta, she changes the way she refers to him, calling him ‘Rick’ rather than the title ‘Grandpa.’ This is a direct parallel to the evolution of the way Morty speaks to/about Rick himself. 

Marta seems to be a part of Morty that is very confident in her identity, intelligence, and capability. She’s so talented at converting other bits of Morty to their cause that Rick seems to rely nearly fully on her efforts while he focuses on building the ships. Most of the other pieces of Morty seem to trust Marta more than they trust Rick, as she can appeal to their identity. She can make them proud to be Morty in a way that Rick cannot. 

I don’t necessarily think that Marta and Morty abandoning the term ‘Grandpa’ means that they lose respect for Rick. In fact, I think that a huge part of Morty still respects Rick in a plethora of ways. Instead, I think this is a hint at a perceived loss of familial intimacy/connection on their behalf. 

Even though the two are very physically close and exist within a shared space a lot of the time, Morty doesn’t identify with familial titles or terms of endearment when it comes to Rick. He doesn’t feel safe or valued with Rick, so he doesn’t feel like Rick is his grandpa a lot of the time. 

It’s interesting to me that the piece of Morty Rick calls his ‘right hand Morty’ seems to be the piece of Morty that is also the most willing to rebel just to hear Rick’s love for him voiced. 

You could even view the ‘Holy Wars’ as the majority of Morty being willing to die just to know that Rick cares. 

Just to be valued. 

Secondly, there’s most definitely some MAJOR foreshadowing when it comes to the existence of Rickbot and the events of the last two episodes of the season infused into ‘Rick: A Mort Well Lived.’ 

The most obvious, to me, was the scene where the robot Rick made tells Marta that he ‘loves and respects’ her. When he malfunctions, Marta exclaims, ‘A robot! Of course!’ 

It really made me wonder if creating a robot that could make Morty feel like he was loved and respected in their dynamic when Rick himself was incapable was an idea Rick initially conceived while the two were in Roy, and later drew upon in ‘A Rick in King Mortur’s Mort.’ 

Another thing I found thought-provoking was Marta’s awareness that replacing himself with a robot is something that Rick was likely to do. After the airing of the next couple episodes, I chalked the line ‘I trust you implicitly.’ up to being a throw-away line that didn’t mean much, especially after the events of ‘Analyze Piss.’ I realized, though, that I was probably misinterpreting non-compliance as mistrust, which are not the same thing. When it came down to Morty actually suspecting Rick might be a robot, he trusted Rickbot’s coded answer (‘There are enough clones and robots in this family.’), in his own words, implicitly. 

There is more I could probably say about this episode, but this post is already a novel, so I’ll leave those for their own posts. I just thought sharing why my overall opinion about the writing of this episode has changed for the better would be interesting!

[chefkids]

Okay, but you have overstepped multiple times and it gets weird. Your thread about Claire reeks of misogyny because you’re aren’t placing any blame on Carmy, a grown man, acting as if he has zero agency. Also the sex thread? You need to have some boundaries. And connecting things that the actors do to Sydcarmy? It’s odd. Twitter Sydcarmies are starting to notice that you are the one causing this discourse, everything is about sydcarmy to you….and it gets weird. You need to relax. We love sydcarmy just as much as you, but you seek controversy as if we don’t deal with enough jobless incels on a day to day basis. There are things to appreciate about the show outside of the ship and everything the actors do isn’t connected to sydcarmy. We can talk about them, but dragging an irrelevant character like Claire through the mud and blaming her for things that have nothing to do with her? Or sexualizing innocent actions of the characters? I mean come on.

Because the thread wasn't about Carmy and what there is to dislike about him. It was about Claire. Hope that clears things up. If reading the table scene as a parallel to the sex scene in that same episode causes you this much discomfort and crosses your boundaries perhaps you should watch more G rated shows.

Connecting what to who? If I want to post about Sydcarmy every single hour of every single day, guess what? I can. You don't have to read it. The twitter sydcarmies do not need to follow me or keep looking through my tweets if they don't want to, the block button exists. It's up to them to click it, move on, and quit coming back every day to look at my tweets. You don't have to deal with incels or anyone. You can make your accounts private, block people who bother you and move on with your life. You can also scroll through my posts both here and there and see plenty of non ship related posts.

Pointing out Claire's character flaws and how she is not the cliche perfect girl Richie and Fak and everyone thinks she is, is not "dragging" it's actually looking at the show and understanding she is flawed character like everyone else. I made the thread precisely because people only talk about disliking her for being boring or one dimensional when there are plenty of reasons to criticize her as a character and as Carmy's girlfriend.

Sexualizing innocent actions? Bro have you never interacted with any other movie or tv show? Using innuendos and creating tension between characters out of things that are not overtly sexual is not a new concept and not singular to The Bear. Look up the Hays Code.

[laurelnose]

a disorganized pile of ninefox ttrpg thoughts

it is HERE! also it was late in shipping by like, a day? or two? so android press sent me the PDF version also, which was very very nice of them. For this I will forgive them the weird jank in the PDF version’s character encoding. (Maybe like 5% of characters consistently copy-paste as different characters. I think they fucked up the font subsetting somehow. It’s fine, it’s just weird. Makes quoting it a little bit of a hassle. Might be less fine if you use a screenreader.)

So pleased with several little random details which are not at all relevant to like, gameplay or the worldbuilding at large but which I just kind of wanted to know. The calendar months! The full set of Kel rank symbols! Signifiers for Kujen and Tseya! <3 Also, an additional set of symbolism for the factions per the calendar months? If I’m reading this correctly it's Rahal/Wood (!?), Andan/Bells, and Vidona/Knives. [We basically knew the other three, which are Shuos/Eyes, Kel/Pyres, and Nirai/Stars.] As a visual artist I am contractually obliged to be hype about all my little guys getting Symbols, they make my life easy and fun.

This is a slim little volume, so it’s light on lore details that you couldn’t find either a) in the actual series or b) on Lee's dreamwidth. That said, one new bit was that it was not previously clear to me that the nominal arrangement of power in the heptarchate was explicitly unequal between the Liozh and the others — I thought the extant six turned on the Liozh as one of their fellows, not that they deposed the ruling faction. Interesting.

Disappointing: there are no mechanics for the calendar besides the ability to tag the current festival/remembrance. :( I wanted to roll dice about calendrical rituals!! Funnily enough there's a whole little caveat section where he’s like, inevitably someone will want to have space battles, which can be accommodated by keeping them character-focused bc this system is not designed for battle sim crunch. No similar apology for those who might want magic system crunch, if anyone wanted any further evidence that Lee and Jedao are the same guy, lmao.

Other than that I’m not actually that much of a crunchy rules guy myself so I like the system itself fine. I enjoy the concept of every check involving not necessarily skills but character traits. And also the commitment to sixes. You need A LOT of d6s for this game.

If you’re really committed I think it would be fun to play with a set of these (normal d6s except instead of numbers or pips they have clock faces showing hours 1-6):

Jedao’s character sheet is so funny. “Complications: I have abysmal taste in lovers.” BE NICE TO HIM LMAO

It’s not entirely clear to me under which circumstances you wind up the Hexarchate Clock. Is it actually only if Kujen is in play? Does that mean he’s literally required if you want to run a long take-down-the-whole-hxx campaign?

The prewritten scenarios are neat! I don’t have a lot to say about them. They look like they would be fun. I like “The Field of Diplomacy” and the concept of the adjacent polity a lot. Oh also the note at the end of “A Heretical Sacrifice” that is just like “if the ‘human sacrifice’ bit is too vague for you and you want to add more torture, here are some ideas!” is 1) funny and 2) appreciably graphic and wince-inducing. HXX-typical gore: delivered on!

This is a petty note, but excluding servitor PCs on the grounds that this is a game about moral complicity and thus only human faction members can be PCs sure is a Statement. I know servitors are slaves and thus the moral calculus is certainly different, but like, the complicity is the entire point of Hemiola’s arc??? And faction servitors quite obviously often consider themselves to be legitimately part of that faction? The one Shuos servitor we meet is as interested in games as any fox, the assault on Shattered Needles is made possible because the Unspoken Law’s servitors consider themselves Kel, the Aerie interlude with sin 𝑥² is about a servitor who considers itself so deeply Kel it wants to go down with the hivemind. I understand they complicate things mechanically but excluding servitors for thematic reasons is silly.

That said, I feel like a servitor hack wouldn’t be too much more mechanically complex. None of the prewritten scenarios work with an all-servitor group, but I think they could all be run with one or maaybe two servitor PCs. You’d have to do some pregaming to figure out how you’d open communication between human/servitor PCs. Lore-wise, the faction traits are clearly not meant to represent the faction exotics or the Shuos wouldn’t have one; they read more like “specialized skills developed as a consequence of picking this faction” than calendrical stuff, so faction servitors could have standard faction abilities, with the caveat that a lot of interpersonal Edges may be hard for Andan servitors to hit on account of social interaction between servitors & humans being, well, you know. Alternatively, no faction abilities for servitors, but all servitors +2d6 to anything involving grid-diving and/or mechanics. Servitors can have ranks just like human PCs, though these ranks are only relevant to other servitors (and possibly moths). Servitors can probably tag calendar traits like humans, they just can’t participate in formations or affect calendrical gradients (neither of which have explicit mechanics in this system anyways). Heresies are the same for servitors as humans.

This really made me want to dig out that calendrical cryptocurrency heist concept I had to see if I can put together a scenario. And maybe also make some cardboard game spinners for a tactile clock experience...

[wallpaper-inside-my-heart]

💛Smoshblr December Asks Final Day💙

IMPORTANT NOTES (that I forgot to include in todays ask):

If you aren't done with answering all your questions yet, but want to; then don't feel any pressure to do this today 🤗 Just bc it says december on the tin, doesn't mean I will appreciate getting your answer any less, if it's in late january or smth 🫶

also: I promise I will get around to looking at & interacting with everyone's responses! I promise I did not forget about you, I have just been/still am incredibly busy irl 🙈

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alright, buckle in folks, this is a long one 😅✨

(Split into three parts like the other asks; No pressure to any of you to do the same tho, I just really like this format and it suited my thoughts/organizing needs)

My favourite smosh related memories of 2023 (chronologically):

Tldr:

1.) Joining the smoshblr community 💚

2.) Spommy nation 💜

3.) Smoshblr December Asks 💛💙

now for anyone who is interested in me rambling way too much:

Joining the Smoshblr community 💚

I got into smosh at the start of this year bc of the Reddit stories videos (I watched a couple smosh vids over the years before, but never consistently followed their releases). They became smth I looked forward to every week and lead me to check out more smosh videos in general! I also remember checking the tumblr tag for smosh back then and being a little disappointed, that the fandom was fairly inactive, barring a few exceptions <3

And then the reunion happened and it took me like 3 whole days or so to actually realizewhat went down 🙈. Bc I saw the thumbnails for the interview and the 2t1l vids and was just like “Aww, it’s so nice that they are friends again and doing a collab! 😊 (I’ll watch these later tho…)” Little did I know that finally watching them would turn my year around in a way that I could have never seen coming!

Suddenly the Smoshblr community exploded with activity and so so many lovely ppl joined and started sharing their thoughts and feelings about the reunion. And while I wasn’t an OG fan by any stretch, it really felt like there was magic in the air/ on this platform! 😹💕

I’ve been into fandom for more than half of my life by now. But I’ve never really gotten “personally” involved in any active communities. Just someone hovering on the sidelines and simply liking & reblogging stuff from time to time.

But with this community smth just started to click for me and made me to get “more out of my shell” or whatever idioms might apply here. And this allowed me to meet so many awesome people!! 💖 Special shoutout to @wiggog-y-hecox 💜, who was literally my first friend in this community! I still so fondly remember our talks about your cool smosh AU concepts! 🤗💙 And also to @swiftllama 🩵 for discussing so many taylor swift lyrics and ianthony with me (+occasionally good omens too 😹💕) And also @japhan2023! 💚 I know we’ve been chatting on and off since the beginning, but I am also so so happy that this month in particular allowed us to grow even closer!

2. Spommy nation 💜

So we’re moving into the middle/end of summer now on the timeline for this one. I was in the middle of writing my bachelor thesis and really going through it mentally bc of that. Getting deeper and deeper into the Smoshblr community also lead me to check out more smosh fanfics in general. Which is how I discovered the fic the right side of my neck (still smells like you) - jovenshires (imdeansgirl) - Smosh [Archive of Our Own] by our beloved @jovenshires 🩷.

Now I’ve told Katie <3 this story before so I’ll keep it brief here; but basically smth about this fic was incredibly comforting to my overworked brain. And I’ve reread it more times that I’ve ever read a fanfic in my life before that. And I truly think it has forever changed my brain chemistry, and also made me very attached to this ship (aside from the fact, that spommy is genuinely such an amazingly adorable ship with incredible amounts of potential, like!! I don’t wanna downplay that bc of the chemical reactions in my brain around that time 🙈) Some more stuff happened which eventually lead me to become friends with Katie, who is truly one of the ppl I treasure the most in the world at this point 💖

But I also wanted to mention Spommy nation as a whole, bc this subsection of the fandom is filled with so many kind, creative and just generally amazing people!And I also just love all of us freaking out whenever we get new crumbs for this ship lmao 😹💕

Special shoutouts to @soupy-girl 💛, Kit! @hoohoobeanie 🖤, Mer!!! @tommybowefuneralattendee 💜, @ancientvamp 🤍 & Snel @blondeforyou 💙 for being some of spommy’s nations strongest soldiers 🫡 and also absolutely lovely and incredible people in general, who I adore so so much🫶🥰

3. Smoshblr December asks 💛💙

I doubt anyone didn’t see this coming 🙈😹

So, I had been meaning to do smth inspired by the “Shayne guesses” series for a while now (also the fact that the official smosh compilation of those vids dropped this week, near the end of this challenge, is so funny to me for some reason). But I never quite figured out how to do it, since I knew guessing for eachother would be difficult. And if I just started randomly messaging all the blogs I’ve followed with an onslaught of these questions, it might get a bit weird or overwhelming 😅…

⚠️slight too personal ramblings ahead, that I don’t wanna force on anyone without warning⚠️

And then, towards the end of November, I gotta be honest, I was really not doing well, especially mentally. (First masters semester and I was still sorta dealing with the damage I caused to my brain while writing the thesis and barely getting two weeks between defending it and starting the new semester to truly recover from it all) And I knew december would get worse, bc I still hadn’t finished all the Christmas presents for my family, assignments were piling up & I kept on catching way too little sleep.

So all of these stressful thoughts made me think “You know, a lot of other ppl are probably struggling with similar stuff rn, especially during these dark & cold times of the year. So why not try to do smth that might bring some joy or fun into other ppl’s lives?” And that’s how I literally typed up that initial post, two days before December started without having planned it for more than a literal day or so 🙈😹 (I did already have a long list of questions, bc I started doing the top 3 stuff in my friendgroup, but rearranging everything to fit the sorta 3-day cycle I wanted to do, still happened up until last week lmao; tho I always knew that this would be the last question <3)

(end of rambling ⚠️)

And I was genuinely, positively overwhelmed by how many people wanted to join in for this silly little game!🥹 I love and appreciate all of you, whether you stuck around for the whole month, might still be catching up on some of the questions (which, no worries, I know there were a lot 🤗) or just answered a few of them! 🤗💖 And as I am currently fighting the urge to tag every single person who participated in this activity, I cannot help myself but atthe very least tag the ppl that I feel like I have grown closest to/gotten to know a hell of a lot better, over the course of this month (some of which I may have known/followed for a while now, but some I also got to know mainly bc of them joining in on this journey with me in the first place: @ceilidhasworld ❤️, @fantasticduckchaos 🩶, @notthatalex 🖤, @natashasbitxh 🧡, @shaynetopps 💜,  @only-frann 💛, @smoshmonker 💚, @smoshidiot 🩷, @craintheodora 🩵, and so so many more of you guys! I just don’t want this entire post to become a taglist or send this to too many ppls notifications 🙈🫶

Note:

I know that I am super behind on interacting with everyone's responses! 🙈 And I promise that I will get to each of them eventually! 🤗 I am just super busy with assignments and exam prep atm. And also get very easily overwhelmed by talking a lot to people, even if it's just online 😅 (I love and appreciate ppl reaching out, asking questions or otherwise trying to have a conversation with me tho! It might just take me a good while to respond in some cases, which I promise has nothing to do with how much I value any of you 🥹🫶💞)

PS: The month might be over, but I do have something special planned in honor of this event and everyone participating in it 👀🫶

💚 Smoshblr December Wrapped 💚

[writing-for-life]

Thank you for an amazing 2023!

About metas, fics and sparkly things…

This won’t be short, but you wouldn’t expect that from me, would you? 🤣

I’ve been on Tumblr for just a bit over a year because I needed to get off my family’s back after my three decades long Sandman brain-rot got worse again due to the Netflix series. I hovered around a handful of followers for months until things exploded (I still don’t know why tbh, I think it was one particular meta that kicked things off a bit), and I somehow ended up with hundreds of followers, which might not be much to some, but it’s a lot for me.

So to all of you I’d like to say: Thank you for being here. I don’t always manage to stay on top of things because my notifs are a mess and I lose track, plus I have a rather busy life and can often only write in batches and then queue, but each of you is appreciated, even if I accidentally forget to get back to you or if we aren’t mutuals.

I’ve made such lovely connections over the last year—my interest in The Sandman definitely does not align with the main focus that shan’t be named, and I’m glad that you folks are out there. You probably know who you are.

Now to the obligatory “your posts wrapped” thing—and I’m only doing it because I need to make a point (of course I do 🤣).

News and art

My by far most successful posts have been casting/shooting news and pretty pictures (two examples are linked). And I’m grateful for all the reblogs and likes of those, but apart from curating them, they’re not really me. They’re someone else’s work.

Meta analysis

Then you have my metas, which make up the bulk of the other posts that are doing quite well (you can find all of them in my pinned post).

Even if it wasn’t my most “successful” one (what does that even mean?), this one meant the most to me:

I love writing metas, whether they cover literary concepts, psychology, music or art because I’m a permanently brain-frazzled multi-hyphenate who has to talk about everything that won’t leave her alone.

I also love when you’re sending me asks btw. For the latter, I hope they pick up again in 2024 because they really nosedived since I switched off anonymous asks (which I won’t change, soz) after some people just thought it’s good sport to be an arse about my not being here to pray at the altar of the ship. I guess we have briefly covered the ugly side of Tumblr, too, then.

Writing

But what I'm most proud of when I think of all the things I've done in 2023 is my fiction and poetry. And that's both a happy and slightly sad thing to address.

My 31 Haikus for Sandtober started as a bit of fun, but they’ve developed a life of their own, and people seemingly liked them. The post also contains a bit of my fan-art:

I still intend to turn them into a hardcover at some point, but I won’t be able to create all the artwork myself, so if you’re a fan-artist and want to know what I’m thinking of, please get in touch (I’ll still talk about this in more detail at some point though).

The other thing I’m incredibly proud of is “The Light of Stars”.

I started it as a NaNoWriMo project in 2022 (I always use NaNo to do something that is less stressful than my professional writing projects), wrote it in a bit more than a month—and then did nothing with near 80,000 words until June 2023.

And then I thought “Fuck it,” and published it on Ao3. It’s a canon x OC fic, and this is where it gets a bit sad. Because for most of us writers, these are never the posts that get most engagement (the ratio is really something like 100 : 1 — 500 for a shitpost, 5 for an average writing post).

On Ao3, it gradually picked up because I published chapter after chapter, and I think I can say that it’s done fairly well over there in terms of engagement for an OC fic, and above all how people engage with it. Because it’s a bit deeper despite being romance, it deals with heavy topics like grief, and I’m so glad to have touched a few people’s hearts with it, and that it was meaningful to them. So much so that you all convinced me to write a sequel.

But here’s the thing: The general engagement with writing, especially non-explicit, non-ship, non-readerY/N on Tumblr is very, very low.

Writers who write canon x OC are still struggling to be heard through the noise (it’s not just me, I’ve had many conversations about this, so I’ll just say: I’ll speak for many of us). There are basically hardly any events for us to participate in (most of us only ever do so if we shift to canon one-shots, poetry or metas. If we don’t: Again, no one cares), and fandom often actively chooses to ignore us because “all OCs are self-inserts, ew.” Which is patently not true, and I could go on a long rant now why many canon x canon fics are very obvious self-inserts, which I won’t.

But even if all OCs were self-inserts, even if all characters were—so what? All writing is to a degree based on self-insertion because it comes from our brains—it’s not a bad thing. But apparently, it becomes a bad thing if the character is an OC, heaven knows why.

So if I had one wish (I’m allowed one, right?) for 2024, it would be that people engage more with OC fics and include them more in community events. That fandom, which prides itself in community, includes writers who don’t write for (the main) ship/s a bit more, especially if they don’t write smut (which I personally even do professionally, but I don’t want to have to do it in fanfic just to get engagement). I’m not holding my breath because I know that’s not where fandom’s oft single-minded focus lies, but a girl can dream, right?

And with that, I want to get to my proudest accomplishments of them all:

Being the curator queen of the sparkle realms:

Being one (arguably the main) instigator of the maddest crack ship that has ever graced (?) the face of the earth, spawned the most unhinged discussion (much truth in it though 🤣) and even NSFW fanart. I promise I’ll write that fic about Murphy and his Cool Hat:

Have a lovely 2024!

[akanothere]

About me

Part time fandom artist, full time clown.

20+, she/her.

DO NOT REPOST, EDIT, PRINT FOR COMMERCIAL USE OR BULK PRINTING

DO NOT FEED MY ART TO AI PLEASE

AI IMAGE GENERATOR USERS DO NOT INTERACT

TRACING& COPYING ARE FORBIDDEN AND BLOCKED. IF YOU ARE TOO AN ARTIST PLEASE RESPECT THIS UNIVERSAL RULE (UNLESS MEME/PARODY). “HIGHLY INSPIRED” WITHOUT CREDIT WILL BE BLOCKED AS WELL. MY HOURS OF HARDWORK AND BRAIN JUICE ARE NOT FOR YOU TO USE IN THIS WAY. I APPRECIATE THE LIKE BUT PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, DO NOT FOLLOW.

THIS IS A MATURE BLOG OFTEN ENGAGING WITH DARK CONTENT, HOWEVER I STILL HAVE DNIs.

THIS BLOG CONTAINS NSFW, BLOOD AND GORE DRAWINGS, TONS OF TOXIC RELATIONSHIP AND OTHER TW (ALL PROPERLY TAGGED UNLESS I FORGOT ONE OR TWO. IF I DO PLEASE TELL ME!!!)

FULL DNI, DOS AND DON’T, FANDOM CONTENT WARNINGS BELOW. I AM BAD AT EXPRESSING SO IT GETS LENGTHY BUT UM HOPE IT CLEARS UP EVERYTHING

THIS USER DOES NOT ACCEPT INSULTS, VIOLENCE, ABUSE, SLURS, AND DEATH THREATS TOWARDS HUMAN IN REAL LIFE.

What to expect or not here:

⚠️VERY IMPORTANT

I can tolerate/will create darker themed content when it comes to Danny Johnson or Tom Riddle, as well as some other slashers or mature fandoms and villains. I would say this is NOT a safe blog (I mean come on those are bad guys what do you expect! Don’t be too delulu to a point you gonna make them a good guy). However I do not tolerate any form of violence, abuse and discrimination in real life. Seriously, get help if you come across to any of these.

All my darker artworks are NOT for you to follow irl (can’t believe I still have to say this in 2020s do people use their brains nowadays)— It is for me to explore darker concepts, trying to figure out how, for example, how people attracted by psycho criminals, WITHOUT using an existing criminal and hurting anyone irl. Bc everyone is FAKE, they don’t exist, it’s FICTIONAL. Also, to explore my own/seen traumas. I turn personal issues into NSFW kinks or simply dark shit etc, and cope with it as a fictional content. Not exactly the best idea I know but this keeps me sane and overthinking about the past irl. I do not tolerate death/abuse threats and insults towards human in real life, it’s stupid. And all of you should also keep every dark shit fictional content in fictional world. We do not need anymore crime irl thank you very much. Think before you act or talk. Fandom is not that serious to a point you wish death and suggesting violence upon someone.

For my Haikyuu or Naruto art those are mostly safe as hell (my opinion) just loving caring and tons of smooch smooch!😭💖 OMFG I MEAN BOKUAKA HOW YOU GONNA LOOK AT THEM AND THINK OF ANYTHING DARK HELLO EXCUSE ME

Generally I’m open-minded to all ships and kinks (even with complicated relationships where abuse are mentioned for plot reasons, or larger age difference), but l0lic0ns and ped0s you can do us a favour go fk yourself🖕😘🖕While I’m in horror movies fandom, I do not support real life criminals. If you do or even a delulu fan of them please stay away from every living beings, also fk you too🫶💓 I don’t engage with inc3st contents, however will bear it for past trauma, but will not read purely inc3st stories. Pseudo/step c3st sometimes okay (depends on context really). Also I draw& read& reblog dead doves, which contains different TW like abuse/non-con/dub-con, you have been warned!!!! If it’s dark content with NSFW, please only recommend me with characters at least over age of consent but much more better if they are of age coz tbh I’m more into adult relationships really ahem. DO NOT SEND ME CREEPY PED0 (UNDER AGE OF CONSENT) SHIT THROUGH “ASK ME”. YOU WILL BE BLOCKED AND REPORTED. Also usual DNIs coz I’m traumatised by how stupid they are considering I am the most stupid people on this planet— c0mmies/ z!onists/ transphobes/ TERF/ homophobes/ biphobes/ typical fujoshis who complains about hetero but do same shit if it’s gay, do not interact.

ABOUT NSFW OR COMMISSION— In all circumstances, I cannot and will not create NSFW art piece regarding minors under the age of consent. PLEASE DO NOT EVEN ASK COME ON DUDE…

Also I DO NOT accept any NSFW commission, even it’s purely about adult characters. Adult characters with a bit of suggestive content, maybe um okay base on context. If it’s a pairing or character(s) that is at the age of consent (not an adult), and is from NSFW story/series, but you wish to make SFW art, please check with me before commissioning. Coz sometimes I read darker content but really do not have the heart to draw it if it’s too much for me…However let me be clear again— ANY NSFW OR SUGGESTIVE ART OF MINOR CHARACTERS UNDER THE AGE OF CONSENT IS NOT OKAY FOR ME. I’M NOT COMFORTABLE DOING IT. DON’T EVEN BOTHER ASKING. PLEASE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

I don’t post NSFW art directly (artistic nudes, maybe; explicit nudes? Nah). However, I talk nonsense/ adult jokes/ head canon on my socials, so please DNI if you are not comfortable with. I can’t check every single account before I reply, so minors and people who are not pleased with NSFW topics: if you see this post, do not engage with my posts even they are SFW. Sometimes posting slightly NSFW (aka suggestive) art or head canons directly, but will still tag it as NSFW.

I create art for my inner peace and needs. I cannot babysit and accommodate everyone, so, if you don’t like, don’t engage. The definition of “problematic ships” differs from person to person coz fk me people nowadays overuse this too much to a point idk what is & what is not…

-

Fandoms and ships

Dead by Daylight

Ghostface centric, Ghostface x OC/ x reader, sometimes GhostFrank, GhostMeg and GhostFrankMeg-the-daddy-issue-trio-poly

⚠️IMPORTANT: It’s totally okay to consume my version of Jed Olsen X OC content and imagining in your brain it’s you or whoever his S/O is, but I block people who draw my version of Jed with themselves/self-inserts/OCs, or generally drawing him. It’s a culture here: impolite to draw someone’s design without permission😭💦 So please don’t take it personally, it’s just me not comfortable with sharing my design of Jed with other people’s self insert/OC. Also I have many plans for him so when people draws him (even not a ship art), it might actually interfere with my WIP sketches and ideas which makes me so awkward like “should I continue when someone drew it already???” However I am glad many people like him! Thank you for giving him love he really doesn’t deserve it he belongs in the trash💥

PS. There are some designs out here alike which of course is fine, I do not own the character himself, but I‘ll stay away or block if it’s too alike/ overly referenced. I stay quiet about things I don’t like so unless shoving it in my face, I will just walk away🧍‍♀️💦Need not worry!

Haikyuu!!

BokuAka, sometimes Tsukishima centric and SunaKita

Harry Potter (Wizarding World)

Tom Riddle centric, Tomione. Casual: Tomarry, Drarry/Harco, Voldantonin, Antonmione, GGAD, SebOmi/OmiSeb, Sebastian Sallow x MC, Ominis Gaunt x MC, Seb+Omi+MC trio friendship.

⚠️I DO NOT SUPPORT JK ROWLING’S TRANSPHOBIC SPEECH. TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN. IF YOU CAN’T ACCEPT OTHERS HAPPINESS AND RIGHTS, THIS IS NOT A PLACE FOR YOU. FK OFF.

ALSO THAT ONE TOMIONE ANON WHO KEEPS ANNOYING WRITERS WHEN THEY WRITE FOR OTHER PAIR— DO NOT INTERACT.

Don’t follow me for ships. See me as a cheap ass £10 all you can eat cushion buffet please. No quality of art here. Just pure delulu and bad drawing skills.

Naruto

KakaSaku, ObiRin, ObiKaka and InoSaku.

⚠️Note that my main ship in this fandom is KakaSaku, but only when Sakura is of age and usually I ship them in same age AU. And I don’t ship them if they were very close as student and teacher before Sakura of age (it’s really weird). I also love them as platonically best friends, the way their personalities work together if they were born in the same generation, not the teenage-creepy-forbidden-love-in-classroom-gro0ming type of shit, in case you start wondering. If there’s no KakaSaku tag or it is described as “platonic”, it means that art is not a romantic ship art. There might be some head canon etc about teenage SKR having a crush on KKS or both of them feeling butterflies in stomach, but I will always prefer Kakashi not stepping over the boundaries in some close to canon AUs. He is a very nice person and would never take advantage of SKR, I think. It’s true crushing on older people like this happens irl, so I admire the storytelling, but OOC af if KKS lets himself be this low. If you are still concerned or feeling uncomfortable about this ship, please block me. ALSO DON’T RECOMMEND REAL FKED UP CONTENT TO ME that was the reason I stopped drawing coz mentally grossed out I had to stay away from the fandom for at least a while💀 I swear those KKSK doujins from like 15+years ago grossed me a lot if you know which ones you know… hell I don’t wanna spread those out no one should ever read that… would do anything to unsee the cover of those doujins MY FKING BRAIN WAS DAMAGED FK

Other games, films and anime

Who’s Lila?, Cube Escape & Rusty Lake series, Year Walk, Disco Elysiumc, Good Omens, Hotline Miami, Chainsaw Man, Golden Kamuy, Dorohedoro, any Kon Satoshi/ Ito Junji/ Wong Ka Wai’s creations, Horror and thrillers, Sci-fics

Fic recommendation lists

(Most of them are dark, dead doves and NSFW. Some are light and cracks! Read TW and tags. Read at your own risk.)

Danny x You/OC/SO

Tomione

[burnwater13]

Concept art of the Mandalorian looking out the canopy of the Razor Crest at another Mandalorian using a flight pack. Art by John Park and Doug Chiang, from StarWars.com

The Mandalorian looked at Grogu and shook his head. What had his youngling been thinking about? He was standing on the table in the cabin and waving his arms around and babbling. Din Djarin had listened to enough the babble to know that Grogu was speaking and not to himself. At least not completely to himself; it was like he was rehearsing a speech. Maybe he was…

Grogu looked up and noticed his dad standing right there staring at him. Staring at him just like a Mandalorian bounty hunter who was trying to save the galaxy from a return of the Empire. Wow. That couldn’t be good. 

“Grogu. What were you doing?”

Grogu looked up at his dad, he didn’t really have a choice because even on the table he still wasn’t anything like as tall as the Mandalorian, and shrugged. 

“Nothing? I don’t buy that, kid.”

Grogu looked affronted and frowned at his dad.

“No. That’s not gonna work either. Fess up now, or we won’t be going to visit the High Magistrate. You know what that means… no snacks from his office.”

Dank Farrik. His dad knew just how to trap him. Womp rats.

Grogu sighed. He began to explain, mostly using the sign language of the Sand people, what he’d been doing. He tried to be detailed without being boring. Din Djarin did not like boring stories.

“Let me see if I’ve got this right… you were thinking about when we met and that a Jedi would have done it better…a barefoot Jedi?”

The Mandalorian seemed miffed. Grogu wasn’t sure which detail bothered his dad more, that he thought a Jedi’s approach to problem solving might be superior to a Mandalorians, or that a barefoot Jedi might exist. Given that the Mandalorian had only ever met Master Luke and Ahsoka Tano, Grogu decided it must be the barefoot thing. 

Grogu began to explain to his dad again, just that one detail and why it seemed so important to him. Maybe that would make his dad feel better. He would have thought that a keen eyed, thoughtful, Mandalorian bounty hunter, best in the Outer Rim, would have noticed that Grogu was also a Jedi who was barefoot the vast majority of time. 

“Okay. I get it. This hooded Jedi with bare feet made an impression on you. Tell me. What color were their eyes?”

The Mandalorian’s tone was rather smug and Grogu didn’t entirely appreciate that sort of attitude. Like he thought Grogu made up details like that just to have a hero of the story who looked more like him. His dad had brown eyes. He had brown eyes. That was plenty in common.

Grogu took a deep breath and began to explain more about the whole thing, including the person’s eye color, because when Din Djarin had finally agreed to follow her back to his ship, she had pushed her hood back to get it out of her eyes while she pulled some pebble or stone off her right foot. 

“Green? She had green eyes. I see. Did you meet this person at the Jedi Temple?”

Grogu continued with the story. It was all hypothetical any way. He didn’t know why his dad was making such a big deal over it. 

They had just started heading to the ship, at a fairly fast pace when the Jedi handed Grogu to the Mandalorian. 

“Keep going. I’ll hold them off.”

She told them as she pulled her lightsaber off her belt. 

Grogu coo’d loudly when she powered it on. It had a strange iridescent rainbow of a blade that he’d never seen the like of. It was amazing.

“Buddy, Jedi don’t have iridescent lightsabers. No one does. At least not according to that holo-thing you found.”

Grogu gave his dad a look. A stern, if you want to hear the rest of the hypothesis you won’t interrupt me look.

“Fine. Fine. Say your piece.”

Din Djarin pulled out a chair and took a seat. 

Grogu picked up the threads of the story again.

“There’s too many of them. Take him to the ship…” The Mandalorian had called to their Jedi friend.

“No. You are responsible for him Din Djarin. Take him to Tatooine. He will be safe there. I can handle this. Now go.”

Grogu could sense that the Mandalorian absolutely didn’t want to do as she directed, but he had to make a choice. The Imps had noticed that Grogu was gone and it seemed like the other bounty hunters had as well. 

Combined, they were shooting at them with blasters as Grogu noticed streaks of red energy arcing in their direction. 

But this Jedi, with their bare feet, just stood their ground and parried every bolt that had a chance of threatening them. 

Then something strange had happened. A dust storm seemed to come out of no where and it filled the streets of Nevarro City with a torrent of sand and rocks and all manner of stuff. Grogu had heard of Jedi who were able to do that, but he’d never seen them in person. 

The next thing he knew, the Jedi was with them again, tugging at the Mandalorian’s arm and forcing him to run for the ship. She faltered once in her running, grumbled about Kyber crystals being everywhere, and then they were at the Mandalorian’s ship. It was a Razor Crest. 

“Dank Farrik. I hate stepping on these things.” The Jedi had pushed her hood back and Grogu noticed her green eyes and the delicate scars on her face. They looked like a star chart or constellation. 

“Go on. I have my own ship. I’ll be fine.” 

And they parted ways. Grogu with the Mandalorian and the Jedi by herself.

“Kyber crystals? Nevarro doesn’t have those things. And why would anyone just leave something as valuable as that lying around? And if she was a Jedi why didn’t she say something like ‘May the Force be with you’?”

Wow. His dad had come a long way from having to ask Master Luke if he was a Jedi, to knowing whether or not they had to declare their Creed every time they met someone new. Grogu laughed out loud at that.

“Okay. You’ve had your fun. You’re right about a couple of things. Luke would have handled that different from me. We can agree on that. But if he had met you first, you would have ended up on Ossus with him sooner and I probably would have gotten a new fob to go find the two of you. The covert wouldn’t have been dragged into anything and I would have never known that Moff Gideon was behind it all…”

The Mandalorian fell silent. Grogu wondered why. It wasn’t like his hypothetical story of the events was better than Grogu’s or even better than what had happened. It was different. Or maybe, Din Djarin had realized that his life was better with Grogu and there was nothing hypothetical about that. 

This is the Way.

[im-no-jedi]

Nothing To Worry About

an independent oneshot set during the time of TCW/TBB

rated: G warnings: none relationships: Echo & Fives, Fives & Jesse & Hardcase, Echo & Hunter word count: 1300+ words

notes: this was a request by @better-to-bee for a story about Fives and some of the other 501st watching Echo from “beyond”. I absolutely love this concept and had a lot of fun putting my own spin on it. hope you enjoy the feels! 😋💙

A/N: this story has not been proofread by anyone other than myself. so apologies for any uncaught errors 😬

______________________________________________________________

“You worry too much.”

The sound of Jesse’s voice shocked Fives out of his watchful gaze.

“Haven’t you seen enough?”

Fives sighed and gave a small shake of his head. “Not sure why you’re so concerned. Also, do ya blame me?”

Jesse’s hand came to rest on Fives’ shoulder. “Well, I could blame ya for a lot of things, but this one is understandable.” His lips curled up into a smug smirk, making Fives chuckle.

“Thanks for the support,” Fives sarcastically replied. His eyes turned back to the one he was watching before, and he gave another sigh. “I know you’re right, but... I can’t help but worry about him.”

Jesse joined Fives and looked over at the one he was watching. “I get what you’re saying. But also... if there’s anything I know about you two, it’s that you’ve always been resilient. For as stubborn as you are, Echo’s the only one who can even come close to matching that. Unsurprisingly.”

A pleased smile spread on Fives’ face. That wasn’t the first time he’d heard something like that about him and his brother, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last. From the time of their creation, he and Echo had been practically inseparable. The “twins”, the others called them. Wherever one of them went, the other was close behind. It was hard to even imagine what life would be like without the other. Ironic, all things considered.

“Are you guys watching Echo again?” Hardcase’s voice was the one to knock Fives out of his thoughts this time. He suddenly appeared next to Fives, on the side opposite to Jesse. “At least tell me he’s doing somethin’ interesting this time!”

“Depends on what you find interesting,” Jesse replied, tone laced with sarcasm. His hand gestured out ahead, towards the man in question.

Several yards away from them was Echo, datapad in one hand, doing a thorough walkaround of a starship. His head continually went from looking down at the datapad to looking up at the ship, face scrunched in concentration. It was a familiar sight to Fives, who knew all too well how much his brother liked doing inspections and running diagnostics. Quite different from what Fives found interesting. But at least it was better than having to endure his brother’s continual spouting of random rules and regulations at any given opportunity. A “human droid”, Echo had often been called. Again, it was ironic.

None of that affected Fives’ feelings towards him though. If anything, he loved his brother more for all of his quirks and tendencies. Just like Jesse’s weird sense of humor and Hardcase’s hyperactive personality. They were all unique and special to him. 

They were his family.

“I swear, you only like to watch over him when he’s doing somethin’ boring, Fives.” Hardcase elbowed Fives in the ribs playfully.

“Well, that’s the thing,” Fives responded, placing his hands on his hips. “I don’t need to watch him doing the soldier stuff. I already know what Echo is capable of. He’s just as much of a badass as the rest of us. I know he can take care of himself.” His eyes turned fondly towards Echo again, solemness hidden behind his gaze. “Doesn’t mean I don’t wanna keep an eye on him though. And... I dunno, I guess I just appreciate this kinda mundane stuff more than before, ya know?”

Hardcase squinted his eyes and shrugged. “Not really. But what do I know?”

“Not much,” Fives joked while giving Hardcase a playful shove.

“It’s alright, Fives,” Jesse said, giving Fives another pat on the shoulder. “I get it.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. I mean...” Jesse’s expression turned uncharacteristically solemn. “There’s a lot we’ve taken for granted in the past. Didn’t used to think much of it. But well, times change, I guess.”

The way Jesse kept his face away from Fives spoke more than his words did. Even Hardcase seemed to understand what he was trying to say, surprisingly. He wedged himself in-between Jesse and Fives, wrapping his arms across both their shoulders with his signature boisterous grin spread across his face.

“C’mon boys, don’t feel down. No regrets, remember? There’s still plenty of time for us to make the most of! We’ve still got each other, after all! And Echo’s got all the support he needs and more; isn’t that right, Fives?”

Hearing that, Fives couldn’t help but smile again. Although it was unusual to admit, Hardcase was right. They would always have each other, no matter what happened in the future. They were brothers for life; nothing or nobody could ever change that. And Echo... 

Fives turned his eyes to his brother again. His “twin”. He was so proud of him. Of course he had nothing to worry about. That wasn’t even the point. It wasn’t worry so much as longing. Longing for his brother to flourish and live the life they’d always wanted for each other. And Echo was well on his way to doing just that.

“Hey, guys!” Tup’s voice suddenly called out from behind them all. “Rex is about to head out on another mission! Let’s go!”

“Be right there!” Fives called back.

“I’m not waitin’!” Hardcase exclaimed before rushing off in Tup’s direction.

Jesse let out a laugh and began to follow behind Hardcase, but stopped just a few feet from Fives. “You don’t have’ta come, you know. You can stay here if you really want.”

Fives kept his eyes on Echo as he spoke. “Nah... it’s fine. He’ll be ok without me. He has been this long already. And besides...” He turned back to Jesse with a fond smile. “I won’t ever be that far from him anyway.”

After one last look back at Echo, Fives sighed through his nose and followed the rest of his brothers back into the night. His corporeal form faded into the shadows, but his spirit lingered. Just like it always had.

**************

“Alright, that should do it.” Echo tapped a few buttons on his datapad and let out a satisfied sigh. His eyes scanned over the folded-up wing of the Havoc Marauder thoroughly, and he nodded proudly. “Three times is enough. For now, at least.”

A familiar figure stepped out of the ship and walked over to Echo with arms crossed. “Everything lookin’ good, Echo?” Hunter asked.

“Yup!” Echo proudly replied. “Should be good to go for our next mission. We can go get the others now.”

A small smirk grew on Hunter’s face. “Ya sure you don’t wanna run the tests a fourth time?”

Echo rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Make fun all you want, but don’t come crying to me when something suddenly stops working mid hyperspace.”

“Just messin’ with ya.” Hunter patted Echo on the shoulder playfully. “And that could still happen regardless, you know.”

“Yeah, don’t remind me...”

Smirk still on his face, Hunter urged Echo to follow him out of the docking bay to where the rest of the squad was waiting for them. Echo gave one last look at the Marauder before beginning to follow his brother out.

A twinge on the back of Echo’s neck suddenly stopped him in his tracks.

“Ya alright?” Hunter asked, seeing that Echo had paused.

Echo said nothing at first. It was strange. A feeling he’d felt before, but still foreign to him. His eyes scanned the area for any anomalies, but found nothing. Something about the way the shadows lingered nearby was... curious. Like something was watching him that wasn’t even there. A presence of something both terrifying and welcoming. It wasn’t intimidating, it was... comforting.

Like an old friend coming back from a long trip away.

“Hey, Hunter...” A smile spread on Echo’s face. “Did I ever tell you about the time Fives and I helped Rex take out a whole battalion of clankers with a stolen Separatist tank we’d hijacked?”

Hunter seemed both surprised and intrigued by the question. “Uhh, don’t think so. Sounds interesting though. You wanna tell me about it while we walk?”

Echo’s smile grew immensely. “I would, actually.” His eyes gave a quick glance over at the shadows again, like he was silently thanking them. Then he happily stepped up next to Hunter as he began to recount one of his many memorable moments of the past with his “twin” brother. And the smile on his face never faded.

[frazzledsoul]

literati fics: a frazzled curated list

So there’s been a lot of talk on my feed about “fandom coming back” (it left?) and needing to create user-curated lists of fanfic instead of relying on authors to plug their fics.

Well, this is cheating, because I’m going to plug my own fics, too, but I’ve mostly been reading literati fics for the past few years. I don’t see a lot of Luke/Lorelai fics even being written anymore (also, while I enjoy the fics, my opinions on those two are out of line with a lot of other fans) and I got really into reading lit fics about two years ago, kind of fell out of it, and fell back into in over the past few weeks. So with that behind us, this is what I have enjoyed.

Appreciation by ksfd89 : This is a post revival fic about Rory reconciling with Jess and going through the pregnancy and birth. It’s long, but it’s complete, and I have a soft spot for it as it was the first fic in this fandom that I really latched onto. I don’t think it’s on AO3 but I may be wrong.

the weight we carry by @scoopsgf: This is basically a novel of Jess’s life story, from right before he shows up on the show to a few years past the revival. I love, love, love it and am rereading it right now. It does a great job of writing in canon and also filling in the gaps when Jess was offscreen.

wrapped up in books by @scoopsgf: This starts as a season 6 fix it where Rory reconcile with Jess after the meeting at Truncheon but then (spoiler alert) Rory winds up pregnant with twins right as she graduates from Yale. I got to the end of the first part and I was like wutttttttt but the concept actually works?!? So it’s basically Rory and Jess being adorable hipster parents in NYC.

A Society Affair by Ultra: Rory has been raised in her grandparents world when she hooks up with Jess, who is Hep Alien’s band manager. I don’t see this author talked about much here, but they’re responsible for a gazillion Lit fics. Anyway, this is very cute and features a lot of the Chilton/Yale crew as supporting characters without villainizing them.

Met You At The Right Time by @windowsandfeelings: So I really hadn’t read fic for over a year until I came across this one a little over a month ago and got super hyperfixated on this ship as a result of it. Rory becomes unstuck in time the day after her mother’s wedding and starts revisiting points in her past. Makes excellent (and I do mean excellent) use of the lack of info given to us about that eight year gap between the OS and AYITL.

Harvest Moon by @mrsmess: I had heard about this fic for years but never checked it out because well, I guess I’m a moron. Rory and Jess reunite at Luke’s cabin after her grandfather dies. I don’t know why I avoided it so long because I’m a hick and have spent half my weekends at a lakeside cabin since I was a teenager so you would think this would be right what I want in a fic and yeah, it absolutely is. So again, I’m a moron for not reading this sooner. The sequels are great, too.

Starstuck by @mrsmess: Rory and Jess get stuck in a Groundhogs Day time loop the day of the firelight festival in season 4 and have to get themselves out. I loved, loved, loved this concept and devoured the story in an hour or so.

The Long and Winding Road by @stellaluna33: Rory comes to some realizations about Jess as she becomes a mom. WIP, but I’ve very much enjoyed it so far.

If you didn’t see your fic on here, well, I probably didn’t read it yet. But these are my current favorites.

Onto my fics for this ship:

The Morning After: Jess and Rory hook up in Stars Hollow in the summer of 2012, and everyone finds out about it and talks the subject to death. I’m not sure if this qualifies as a Literati fic, honestly: I was less interested when I wrote it in the actual sex itself than the blended family dynamics and filling in some of the plot holes and unexplained stray comments from AYITL (and there were a lot of them). My thinking was that it would be interesting if Jess’s complaint that Luke didn’t give him the wifi password for six months “and I lived here!” was not a reference to the distant past, but an indication that his business failed and he had to come back to Stars Hollow for a while and hooked up with Rory when she was newly freelancing and starting to unravel. I was going to write a sequel where Jess wrote a mosaic novel in part based on Luke and Lorelai’s relationship and got his shit together professionally as a result, but I never did (oops).  Anyway, this exists, it’s complete, but it’s a got an unsatisfactory ending as it is canon compliant. Also, there are a lot of banjo jokes.

A Simple Twist of Fate:  Jess and Rory are reeling from recent breakups of long-term relationships when they reconcile on Emily Gilmore’s living room floor (niiiiice). How will their new relationship handle the pregnancy that ensues? I’ve gone round and round on this on this blog because I didn’t realize until I wrote it what an outlier it was to have Jess deeply involved with someone else (and oh, yeah, it’s written in Rory’s first person POV. Was I high when I decided to do that? Anyway). It’s twenty six chapters of angst and ponderous conversations about miscarriage, guilt, and depression, with some fluff mixed in. Currently unfinished.

Home: It’s a fast forward of A Simple Twist of Fate. Drabbles about Rory and Jess raising their daughter in Philadelphia. I’m currently working on a chapter about the I-95 bridge collapse (what a cheery subject!) 

Blueberry Pancakes: Okay, so a long time ago I started a story called Full Circle (it’s in my fic list, but I’m not linking it here because the Literati part so far is basically nonexistent). The idea was that Rory would have lots of romantic misadventures while on the campaign trail while Luke and Lorelai would go to therapy and get married and have babies and do all the conventional stuff. Rory would settle down with Jess and at some point Lorelai and Rory would be pregnant at the same time. This drabble takes place in the world of that story, which is why I’m including it here. The drabble French Fries also takes place in that universe, but Rory and Jess don’t actually appear (although their daughter does).

(Fair warning: the previous two drabbles are in a drabble list where I wrote stories about multiple ships, including Rory and Logan. So yeah, if you read the whole thing through you may get it from the other side. I’ve also re-ordered my canon compliant fics so they appear in a series, and there’s some Rory/Logan stuff in there as well, including the last fic I wrote. They are not endgame, but I haven’t written the stories where Jess wins the ship war. So it is what it is).

[peakdeer]

im sending this ask because i wanna share this concept I had and I'm too shy to post it on main but lowkey shipping wcsmp! cleo and prisamarina as rivals/enemies to lover T-T Idk I view wcsmp! pris as this deceptive seemingly sweet but manipulative person and cleos the only one who knows her true nature and is weary of her and hhhh idk cat and mouse game ensues and eventually pris catches on that cleo knows whats shes up and idk tension go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr and they're intrigued by each other and hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. anyways feel free to write something if you want. i just wanted to share this with someone

Cleo disliked the Water Witch.

The way she twisted her words until they had a totally different meaning, the way she thought herself as so much better than all the other witches, the way she dragged everyone under her spell with promises and lies.

Cleo didn’t see the point in lying. In her years of being a witch—she’d long lost count—she’d never known one to stay hidden. They were always revealed for what they were, ugly and hurtful and so much worse than they had begun.

The Water Witch was like that. Sweet in appearance but nasty in nature. Like a clear pool full of sickness and disease. It looks perfect and tastes syrupy sweet, but turns bitter in your throat and spreads plague through your city.

The Water Witch seemed to have fun poisoning others. Drawing them in on her words and lies, twisting the truth until it seemed false, making alliances and already planning to break them. So many were under her spell—so many thought she was exactly as she seemed—so many were foolish.

But Cleo was not. Cleo, in her lifetimes and lifetimes of experience, knew better.

She knew what the Water Witch—what Prismarina was.

“Water Witch. Hello. What brings you here?” Cleo’s tone was ice cold and suspicious. She didn’t know why the Water Wi—why Prismarina was here, and she didn’t trust it.

“I thought I’d offer you one of those spell tomes! I found one that fit you, and I thought you’d like it as a gift,” Prismarina explained with her sickeningly sweet tone, the one that sounded so deceitful it almost made Cleo throw up.

“Oh! Fantastic, lovely. That’s… helpful. I appreciate it. Let me get something to trade for it,” Cleo agreed loftily, trying hard to keep her voice neutral. She didn’t trust Pris, but it wasn’t wise to antagonize her.

“Oh, you don’t need to pay for it! It’s just a friendly gesture, one witch to another.” Pris used her extra-sweet and extra-innocent voice, the one that said I’m just a small little witch! You can trust me. I will won’t stab you in the back!

Cleo didn’t trust it one bit.

“No, I insist.” Cleo’s tone was sharp, leaving no room for argument. She didn’t trust the Water Witch to not come back and use the gift as a receipt to get something out of her—something to give her the higher ground. She didn’t trust the Water Witch to do something out of the goodness of her heart—she knew that the Water Witch could be cruel; she could be more bitter than she could be sweet.

A flash caught her eye, and she was the Water Witch’s expression twist into an angry snarl, something furious and ghastly and not quite right. Something totally different than the front she usually used.

She knew. And the Water Witch knew she knew.

She knew. And Pris knew she knew.

And Cleo wasn’t sure if they were the same, or if they were different, or if she cared, or why she cared.

It was dangerous, it was. They say time flows like a river—fast and deadly and disorienting. Cleo knew she was. Cleo also knew that Pris—the Water Witch—she—was the same. But it drew her in anyway, the sweet words alluring despite being false, and the hand soft despite ready to stab her in the back.

If she had to be honest, that made it more tempting.

The Water Witch showed up more often, now. She never left without a threat, of course, but Cleo could see her in the corner of her vision, watching her. Cleo wondered if she thought of Cleo the same way Cleo thought of her.

Cleo liked the Water Witch. She was intriguing. Perhaps one day this aspect would make her dislike the Water Witch, but for now, it was just that.

Intriguing.

[tiltingheartand]

twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by @perfectlysunny02 and @inell both; thank you!

how many works do you have on ao3?

28.

what's your total ao3 word count?

96,670.

what fandoms do you write for?

911 at the moment; sandman and stargate sg1 in the past. also repo! the genetic opera, which i had (somehow) forgotten until i looked at my fandoms page.

top five fics by kudos:

let me in before the rainy season starts again (sandman, dreamling)

i want to believe (sandman, dreamling, outsider POV my beloved)

clouds the size of oceans outside and above our heads (sandman, dreamling)

colliding with forever when you speak (sandman, dreamling, sequel to 1 and 2)

the symphony of what we are (sandman, dreamling)

do you respond to comments?

i try! but sometimes i don't get to them until there's a lot and then i get overwhelmed and just don't. this was @perfectlysunny02’s answer, and honestly it could have come directly from me.

what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

hmm! i think it’s a tie between thunder in our hearts, baby (a repo! band AU in which a zombie apocalypse happens) and we were warm until we went to hell (a star trek repo! au). they’re my only two works with the MCD tag, so.

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

gosh. i dunno. maybe last night i had a dream that you adored me, just because it’s a college AU where shilo is briefly aware of what happened in canon and really appreciates what she’s got.

do you get hate on fics?

no! thankfully. the closest i got was a comment recently telling me what i should do for the next installment of the series without even an “i liked this!” so. like i said. i’m thankful.

do you write smut?

i have just resigned myself to not being a person who writes smut, okay. some of us just can’t.

craziest crossover:

the sound of her wings, which is a crossover between m*a*s*h and the sandman comics.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

not as far as i know.

have you ever had a fic translated?

not as far as i know!

have you ever co-written a fic before?

not fully, but i like to think i have been Helpful with some of @wilddragonflying’s fics.

all time favourite ship?

OH GOD why are you asking me to choose. no. i refuse.

what's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

so i started a sandman/sg1 crossover like a year and a half ago and i do, in fact, have a decent chunk of it written! i am still in love with the concept! (hob gadling, the man who doesn’t die, and daniel jackson, the man who dies so much they make jokes about it in-universe; also, hob gadling, the man who doesn’t die, versus everyone’s favorite space vampire wasps.) but at this point idk if i’ll ever actually finish it.

what are your writing strengths?

i am being! kind! to myself! i am good at getting into characters’ heads.

what are your writing weaknesses?

sometimes i have trouble figuring out where to start something, and if i can’t figure that out i have real trouble just jumping ahead in the scene. i’m getting better on it though. (also, ends of scenes my beloathed.)

thoughts on dialogue in another language?

i … don’t know what this question means? positive?

first fandom you wrote in?

sailor moon. in 2001. it was on geocities. and honestly it’s best for everyone that it’s lost to time.

favourite fic you've written?

a tie, i think, between i want to believe, which i linked already, because i love outsider POV and ended up loving the students, and be careful what you say (or you’ll give yourself away) because a) i love barclay/agent stern and b) it still makes me laugh.

tagging people for fun and profit! (where “profit”, here, means “i get to get my grubby little hands on your answers”) @wilddragonflying @wakeupnew @bagheerita @half-bakedboy @landwriter

[spaceprincessleia]

For the mini-fic 12, please.

Send me a ship and one of these and I'll write a mini fic

Thank you for the ask!

The pairing was writer's choice, so I went for a Bo/Fennec pre-relationship, um, bonding moment. Bo is in her cringefail era in this one, and clearly the concept of 'mini' is lost on me.

Prompt: Things you said when you thought I was asleep

Bo loosens her arm around the smaller woman’s waist, and lowers her onto the bed; she looks slim, but her body is all cybernetics and muscle, and she’s not a lightweight. Well, unless it comes to alcohol, apparently.

Bo wipes the strands of hair that have come undone from her braids out of the woman’s face, and gently traces her fingertips from dark brows to fluttering eyelids. A gentle gesture, almost intimate, but Bo doesn’t mean it.

“I’m not here to kill you. Don’t worry,” she mutters under her breath, and carefully lifts one, then the other of the woman’s eyelids. No reaction. Good.

“I’m not here to hurt you, either,” she whispers. “You’re far too pretty. Just a look around, that’s all.” Bo allows herself a moment to appreciate the woman’s features, angular and sharp, the dark color of her lips and skin before, rather unceremoniously, slapping her lightly across the cheeks. Bo holds her breath. Nothing, just even, steady breaths. Good.

She takes one last look at the woman on the bed, but she’s fast asleep. Passed out. Unconscious. Whatever.

“Now, where’s that data? C’mon, where are you?” Bo mumbles, rummaging through the room, opening and turning anything and everything that moves.

She’s telling the truth: She’s not here because she’s tracking down a bounty. Not all Mandalorians are bounty hunters, and certainly not her. Bounty hunters kill, and that’s not what she’s here for. She brought a gun, of course, but she isn’t a gun for hire.

She’s here for a job, one that serves a higher purpose, like she does. That’s it. Step one: Get in. Step two: Find and retrieve the data, something about some hyperlanes in the Outer Rim that Jabba used to control back when he was in charge. Step three: Get out. Easy credits. Credits for resources.

When Bo accepted the job, she knew it meant crossing people she had previously worked with. She doesn’t think twice about Boba Fett, Daimyo to the people of Tatooine, a false Mandalorian and common beskar thief to her; she does think about Fennec Shand, though, whom she fought side by side with on Moff Gideon’s ship. They made a formidable fireteam, Bo, Koska Reeves, Fennec, Cara Dune, each woman just as deadly as the one next to her.

Well. It doesn’t make them friends, she tells herself, over and over again, until she can’t hear the gnawing voice in her head anymore.

Bo huffs. All she needs to find is a console, a datapad, dig through the files—given they were still intact and not wiped—and she could get some sleep, too.

She rubs the back of her head, unsure. She really doesn’t want to go sneaking around in Jabba’s—Boba’s—palace at night. Thinking, she looks at the empty bed in the room.

She looks.

At the bed.

The only bed in the room.

Empty.

The bed, which is the only one here, is empty.

Fuck. No. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Bo spins, eyes searching and head turning frantically, but once she spots the shadow darting towards her, it’s too late.

Her back slams against the nearest wall behind her. A knee in the stomach instantly knocks the wind out of her, and a strong arm against her throat just barely lets her gasp for air.

“No, Fennec, hold on, stop, I can explain—“ Bo shouts and writhes and wriggles, but all it does is earn her another painful kick.

“Oh, you explained plenty when you thought I was asleep, Kryze.” Fennec hisses, eyes narrow, lips tight, her face distorted in cold anger.

“How the fuck are you conscious and standing?!”

“C’mon. Do you really think any cantina patron from here to Mos Eisley will stand by idly while the Daimyo’s right hands gets poisoned with alcohol in front of their eyes?” Fennec laughs, but it’s cold and contemptuous.

Right. Watered down alcohol, because of course. Fuck.

Bo doesn’t reply, there’s really no need. Instead, she raises her hands and holds on to Fennec’s arm in an attempt to loosen her grip just a little.

“You’d make a lousy bounty hunter.” Fennec continues and instead of loosening her grip, she tightens it with every word she spits and hisses at Bo. Bo feels her feet lift off the ground, although she’s in full armor except for her helmet. “You’re barely a common, homeless thief, Kryze.”

Ouch. She holds Bo, suspended mid-air, and trapped between the wall and a body that is as much a weapon as Fennec’s sniper rifle. She can’t breathe, but she welcomes the pain of Fennec’s iron grip over the pain that her words bring.

A common, homeless thief.

She could get angry, put up a fight, struggle, but to what avail? Never wake a sleeping rancor, but here she is, here she has woken one, and now she’s facing the consequences of her actions. This is just one more bad decision she has made out of many, and she would make the next, and the next, and the next.

She can’t wallow in her self-pity for long, though. Fennec gives her a hard shove against the wall before taking a step back and finally releasing Bo from her grip. Bo lands on her knees and catches herself on her hands as she slumps forward, coughing and gasping and coughing and coughing as air floods her lungs again.

She can’t fully recover, either, and screams in shock and surprise when Fennec grabs her by her flaming red hair, and starts dragging her towards the door.

“Fuck! You—fuck!”

“Pretty will talk this out with you in the morning. Tonight, you sleep outside,” Fennec hisses through gritted teeth.

There’s no risk: she can’t run, and Bo knows Fennec knows this. Her ship is locked and out of reach in the palace’s hangar, she doesn’t have nearly enough credits on her to hitch a ride out of here-and she’d never trade even a piece of her beskar armor for one—, and besides, it wouldn’t take the Daimyo and Fennec long to find her.

Her face burns with rage and shame as Fennec drags her through the palace and all the way outside by her hair, while Bo, unable to walk upright, desperately tries not to stumble and fall over her own feet. Most of the palace’s inhabitants are asleep, safe for a few guards. They salute Fennec, politely, curious, but they’re smart enough not to ask.

“Don’t even think about crossing me again, Kryze,” Fennec spits as she drags her through the open palace doors, yanking Bo forward and through them. The sand is coarse on her skin when she hits it face first; her helmet comes flying seconds later and lands beside her.

By the time Bo stirs, Fennec is long gone, and the throbbing on her scalp and throat subsiding. It’s dark and cold outside, but her armor protects her from the worst.

What they don’t protect her from, though, is the heaviness in her chest, the knot in her stomach, and the utter emptiness in her heart.

[the-irken-pony]

Hey, I'm sorry to bother you, but I'd like to post my THSC art on Tumblr - but I always get too anxious to. I'm always scared I'm going to accidently copy someone or say something rude on accident (which is silly, I know, but I can't stop thing about it)... Do you have any suggestions?

(You don't have to answer this if it's too uncomfortable)

Hey, we’ve all been there. Sharing art online for the first time can be scary no matter your age or experience level. Can’t cure your anxiety, but I can offer a couple tips to keep in mind.

Google the “two cakes theory”. The idea of it goes that, while an artist may look at their own work with disdain and feel as though it’s inadequate in comparison to another artist’s work (or that it’s too similar and not as good), people other than the artist will generally receive it with high praise. Maybe the audience is just happy there’s multiple works of art, or someone appreciates something you do differently from other artists, or maybe another artist is thrilled to finally see someone else utilize the idea they’ve been working with. Think: when you have an idea that you really like to see from other people, do you get upset when more than one person is working with the same concept? Of course not! That’s more of the thing that you like!

Of all the fandoms I’ve been in, the THSC fandom is by far the most welcoming and friendly one I can remember being in. Maybe it’s something to do with how small it is, but I’ve rarely come across issues here. (Though another part of it is being on tumblr rather than twitter.)

The THSC fandom is also among the most receptive to ideas that are uncommon, or even ideas that they may disagree with at first glance (especially when it comes to shipping, if that’s a thing you’re into). I’ve been in bigger and smaller fandoms that are a lot less welcoming to alternative interpretations.

Continuing from the above, the fact that the characters are stick figures means that pretty much any interpretation of the characters is allowed.

If you have OCs, share them! The fandom loves OCs here.

I don’t know if I have tips on the whole “not saying the wrong thing” issue, but the best I can offer is that people make mistakes. If you misphrased smth or someone misunderstood what you meant, clarify it as best you can. If someone is saying that something you said is bad, take a moment to process and understand what the person is saying rather than doubling down on what you said or immediately crumbling into an apology, then act accordingly. If you don’t understand what they’re trying to say, ask for clarification or an explanation. Sometimes you fuck up and an apology is necessary, but sometimes someone holds shitty beliefs or opinions and is imposing them on you. In general though, assume best intentions unless said assumption is disproven to you. (Conflict resolution isn’t a strong suit of mine, sorry.)

For some tips on actually sharing your art:

I highly recommend making a side blog for your art, if you don’t have one already. You can reblog it to your main, but by having a separate blog you make it easier for people to find your art.

If you’re just making for you and not making money from your art or doing requests, don’t feel pressured to keep a schedule. While it is good to have goals to aim for (for example, mine is just posting twice a month), when it’s not your job it can be hard to adhere to a strict schedule and it’ll just put stress on you. If you’re trying to transition to professional work then building up a schedule is necessary, but if not? Just post when you feel like it.

This isn’t the type of ask I expect to get from people, but I’m happy to help you out! I love seeing people take their first step into art and seeing new people in the fandom. Remember that the first step is always the hardest.