#OH AND THE $80 IS WITH THE SHIPPING INCLUDED

[berenwrites]

A Small Thing - Stranger Things - Steddie

Rating: T | cw: none | tags: post season 4, eddie lives, steve has terrible parents

Prompt: Love is wanting to know everything about what makes up the person you're in love with, even the difficult stuff.

A/N: Written for @steddielovemonth day 4. Y’know how Stranger Things kind of has a different 80s movie feel for each season? Well I grew up in the 80s and I have some very fond memories of 80s sci-fi movies, and this was inspired by several of them. It started off as a silly fun idea in my head and then got way deeper than I expected once on paper. I hope you enjoy it.

Also on AO3 | All my other Stranger Things Fic

A Small Thing: The Truth Hurts

“Stevie, I didn’t know you had a tattoo,” were the words that killed any desire Steve happened to be feeling.

He’d forgotten, and now he was cursing himself. It was a tiny thing, right on the upper inside of his thigh. He had to spread his legs and someone had to be up really close to see it. Unfortunately for him, Eddie had been slowly taking him apart, bit by bit, which included kissing and nipping up his inner thigh.

“Is that a barcode?” Eddie asked, looking up at him and smiling.

His expression must have given him away, because the smile dropped off Eddie’s face almost instantly.

“Hey,” Eddie said, climbing up him until they were face to face, “you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. Looks like it comes with baggage. Did someone force that on you?”

Steve took a deep breath.

“Not exactly,” he said, looking down and away, but unable to lie to his boyfriend.

“Stevie, hey, sweetheart, can you look at me please?” Eddie asked, gently taking his hand.

Instinct told him to climb out of the bed and leave, to get as far from Eddie as possible, but he couldn’t. Slowly and oh so reluctantly, he lifted his eyes.

“I love you,” Eddie told him as soon as their eyes met, “and I want to know everything about you, but what you tell me is up to you, okay?”

It was so sincere that is made Steve’s heart thump in his chest. All the love he had been trying to keep locked away in case he frightened off his boyfriend ripped through him like a fire.

“I’m not the real Steve Harrington,” he confessed as the need to be really seen blew apart his defences. “Well, I am, but I’m not the original.”

Eddie said nothing. Not a usual state of affairs at all unless Eddie’s mouth was occupied.

“That’s not a joke, is it?” Eddie finally said after agonising silence.

Steve shook his head.

“I think you’re going to have to explain that, Stevie,” Eddie added, and he was tense against Steve’s side.

“I’m a replica,” he admitted quietly. “The real Steve died when he was two of a congenital heart defect. My parents paid to have me recreated in a lab, their baby, but perfect this time. I was grown in an artificial womb. The barcode identifies me as theirs.”

“You realise that sounds insane, right?” Eddie said, although his tone was not accusatory.

He nodded.

“I know exactly how it sounds,” he said, “but it’s true. Rich people live in a different world, Eds, and my grandfather is super rich.”

“So why didn’t he just pay to have his grandson’s heart fixed?” Eddie asked. “If they can grow clones, why couldn’t they do that?”

“They could have,” Steve replied, unable to keep the bitterness out of his tone. “But they didn’t want a child with issues, they wanted a perfect baby, so they grew one. If the original Steve had lived, he would have been shipped off to some special school and I would have been his twin.”

“And they told you all this?” Eddie sounded incredulous.

“My whole life,” he said, voice going quiet again. “And they let me know exactly how much of a disappointment I have been since 83 after all the money they spent to make me perfect. The only reason they haven’t thrown me out is because it would reflect badly on the family name.”

“Holy fuck,” was all Eddie said.

Steve went to pull away, grabbing the sheet to cover himself up.

“Look,” he said, “I’ll understand if you never want to see me again. I know I’m not quite a real human…”

Eddie knelt up and put a hand on either side of his face so he couldn’t get away.

“Stevie,” Eddie said, looking straight into his eyes, “you are as real as any of us. You think El’s not a real girl because she grew up in a lab?”

“No!”

“Then what makes you not a real boy?” Eddie challenged him. “You’re the only Steve Harrington I’ve known, and you’re the only Steve Harrington I love. The more I learn about you, the more I love you, and the more I am amazed what an amazing human being you’ve turned out to be. Does Robin know about this?”

Steve shook his head as well as he could with Eddie’s hands still on his cheeks.

“They said if anyone found out they’d have me recalled,” he said, feeling the tears burn at the back of his eyes.

Robin was his best friend, the other half of his soul, if he had one, but she didn’t know the truth. That Eddie did and still loved him, blew apart everything he had been brought up to believe.

“Jesus Christ,” Eddie whispered, still staring into his eyes. “And recalled means what I think it means?”

“Just like a malfunctioning washing machine,” he said.

“How long? How long have they been threatening to have you recycled like rubbish?” Eddie asked.

“Since they let me out of the house and told the world I was their little Steve,” he confessed.

“They don’t deserve you, Stevie,” Eddie told him firmly, “they never did. And now you’re mine and they never get to hurt you again.”

The first tear fell as Eddie leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead, so gentle and so loving that it broke him.

“We need a plan, Sweetheart,” Eddie told him as his boyfriend infolded him in a loving embrace, “just like the one we all have to keep El safe. No one gets to hold this over you ever again. No one.”

And Steve believed him.

All my other Stranger Things Fic

[maleficentmrsofallevil]

And now I'm pissed again

Oueneifs has decided to offer a "pre-order" for recast Imara and Kamara Impldoll BJDs.

And here's the kicker - the "pre-order" price for a full doll is about half the current cost, but the normal price is going to be $240 plus shipping. The head "pre-order" price is $70. The "normal" price is around $80. Also, the pictures Oueneifs posted aren't even the correct sculpts. Dumbasses don't even know what they're selling.

Impldoll Kamara and Imara are $330 with FREE shipping from ACBJD. For (less than) $90 more, you can have the gorgeous, consistently high-quality, legit version. Oh, and also - if you wait until the holidays, you can buy Impldoll heads direct from the company for $80 with free shipping. They frequently offer 20 percent off their dolls, too.

Recasts are so much cheaper? Bullshit. The heads are going to be priced identically, and Oueneifs charges a LOT for shipping. My singular legit Oueneifs doll cost $40 to ship to me. And yes, I now seriously regret buying her.

Recasters offer better customer service? Bullshit. ACBJD answers emails every day of the week, including holidays. I don't think they should, but they do.

I love this doll line so so so much. If Impldoll discontinues it because of that jackass, I'm going to be livid.

Now I'm panicking, wondering if I shouldn't put Kamara on layaway before she disappears.

The one silver lining in all this is that Impldoll is also a Chinese company. They have the best chance of getting Luo to take that shit down. OF COURSE I immediately jumped into Impldoll's DMs with links.

When I emailed Dream Valley, recast DV dolls disappeared from Luo's company pages lickety-split. To anyone struggling to buy a recast Dream Valley doll - YOU'RE WELCOME. I'm that bitch who runs to the company to let them know.

I also told Oueneifs that they're probably going to be sued.

I hope the listing gets pulled.

[caffeineandsociety]

Big problem with online trans discourse is that a lot of people - including other trans people - 100% believe that trans people are the gender we say we are, and that transitioning is not Just A Weird Sex Fetish Thing, in the abstract. Theoretically. But once confronted with actual trans people that dissolves away pretty quickly.

A lot of people out there who try to be trans-positive will gladly believe any accusation of sexual misconduct against a trans person - ESPECIALLY trans women because of the whole "deception" stereotype. "No, no, it's not because they're trans, I just like to Believe Victims," someone will say, despite the fact that any evidence is...flimsy at best - they liked a children's cartoon, they like erotic horror, they like a Bad Ship, they refused to dogpile someone for liking a Bad Ship, they made a joke about their genitals in a strictly adult space, they flirted with someone once (and stopped when it wasn't reciprocated but let's just ignore that clearly they still WANT to and THINKING is the SAME as HARASSING) - oh, they're obviously a predator, and saying that accusation is transphobic is trivializing transphobia!

A lot of people out there who try to be trans-positive will tell transmascs that they're "dominating the conversation" if they're doing ~10-25% of the speaking - which is...even less forgiving than where cishet men will usually see women as dominating the conversation (25-30%). Transmasc exclusionism hinges on this concept. We need to sit down and be quiet like good little girls responsible people aware of the dangers of male privilege because perfectly stealth trans men make 90% of what their cis male counterparts make rather than 80% so clearly there's no difference between us at all! We need to make ourselves small and ~remember it's okay to be feminine~.

It's, uh, how can I put this? Bad.

[broomsticks]

What was the HP fandom on AO3 writing in 2022?

some stats diving, ship- and femslash-focused.

default filters used for everything unless indicated otherwise: language: english, no crossovers. only on AO3 (obviously)

hmm someday i'll do a yearly breakdown maybe.

for reference, there were ~324,676 total works in the HP tag updated in 2022 and before, so the top ship Drarry makes up 16% of HP works.

ships in this list but not the former: jegulus, dorlene, and regulus & sirius.

ships in the former list but not this one: snarry, sevmione, tomarry.

harry the character is tagged in 42.7% of all HP works.

the list of "fastest-growing HP character tags in 2022" was almost identical to this. sirius, remus, james, and lily went up one place, severus and ginny down by one, and ron dropped by two. no change in the top 3.

i'm thinking of doing one for HP ships but am unsure which ships to do. you can get a rough estimation from graph #2 though!

A closer look at just the 2022 ships:

filters used: english, no crossovers, works updated between 2022-01-01 and 2022-12-31.

color = ship type by canonical gender. outlined = canon ship

Background vs main pairing ships:

most commonly tagged ships, with the otp:true filter:

very pretty spread of (canon gender, not AO3 category) F/M & M/M ships here.

notable: there is not a single snape ship in the first list, and two snape ships in the second (sevmione at #4 !! and snarry at #8). grindeldore is the other new entry, and

romione, dorlene and regulus & sirius fell out of the top 10

this is probably a better view though:

a mix of all ships in either of the top two graphs (excluding the platonic ship regulus & sirius by definition of the otp:true filter), plus remadora.

open to more ship suggestions, but at some point i need to think about a size cutoff

anyway: some interesting strata here:

snarry+sevmione at the >60-70% mark. (do all snape ships show this trend? just crossgen snape ships? what about other crossgen ships? to be investigated)

grindeldore is an expected outlier due to the different canonical time period

marauders era tends to have more fics-with-multiple-tagged-ships. unexpected - there are so many more named lightning gen characters! lightning gen fandom more splintered/fragmented?

clustering of canon couples at the 15-20% mark, surprisingly consistent across marauders vs lightning gen

oooooo i could soapbox about this dorlene outlier for days. (tldr: if you want to write OFCxOFC that's all well and good, but writing OFCxOFC as what's quite clearly a background ship and a background ship alone? i think we can do better.)

Multi-shipping & ship overlap

marauders era is dominated by one main fanon pairing. no other “/” pairing with either of these two characters makes the top 10 list. in contrast, wrt lightning gen, Draco, Harry, and Hermione are all shipped with each other, with all three combinations making the top 10 list.

there is one pair of marauders era ships with ship overlap, though. which means stats! also included remadora as an additional comparison point since that's another big overlapping ship

jegulus AND jily are tagged in 675 works, out of 3944 works (17%) where all three of james, lily, and regulus are tagged.

meanwhile drarry + dramione: 80 works tagging both ships, out of 8128 works tagging all 3 characters, with an overlap of <1% fics tagging both ships. these two do not mix.

actually ykw this all was very funny

---

✨ FEMSLASH! ✨

filters used: english, no crossovers, works updated between 2022-01-01 and 2022-12-31, and category:F/F.

ok so that's a complete nonstarter 😂

tried two ways of filtering down to just femslash ships without losing too much else in the process:

1) excluding works tagged M/M, F/M, and Gen (leaving 2765 fics)

dashed outline = cross-gen ship. solid = marauders gen. everything else = lightning gen.

oh, interesting, people are writing genderbend wolfstar? *checks fics* -- no they're not. 'nuff said.

2) instead, tried adding the otp:true filter (2402 fics)

very similar results -- both lists had the same 9 femslash ships. Bellamione (#1 on both), Fleurmione (#2), Pansmione (#3/#4), Dorlene (#3/#5), Linny (#4/#6), Cissamione (#5/#6), Ginmione (#7/#9), Marylily (#7/#9), Ginsy (#8/#10).

i don't see any obvious trends re. which ships are ranked higher on one list vs the other.

a real quick rating comparison between categories, using the otp:true filter:

"angst" and "fluff" were the top two tags used for most categories so i decided to try a bit of:

<1 = more angst works than fluff, >1 = more fluff works than angst.

the other top tags for each category:

F/F and F/M: both romance (#3)

M/M: established relationship (#3)

Multi: polyamory (#3)

Other: au canon divergence (#3). "other" was used to refer to a mix of NB/trans character, thingfic, and x reader.

Gen: au canon divergence (#1). i was worried about using the otp:true filter for gen fic but the top two tags were indeed & tags (harry & severus, regulus & sirius).

[sincerely-sofie]

Ahoy again Sofie… your work is amazing and your ability to interact with your captive audience is near magical at moments but I do have two questions for you if you maybe so kind as to answer my queries, from someone who has charted the ways of a creator for many to see and be amazed by.

The first is how does one start creating a series upon the sea known as the internet. No matter if the ship you’re creating is one of an already formed series(like PKMD for example) or a completely original hand crafted story.

And the second is, how does one go about finding an audience if you haven’t a soul how knows of you yet?

Thank you so much for your kind words! You're very sweet!

Oh man. Do I ever have no answers. I’ll try my best, but I’m really not qualified for this ;w;

For your first question: The first thing you've gotta do is let go of your ego and have fun. Forget your pride and revel in your favorite tropes and storytelling strategies. Cringe culture is dead— you don't have to resurrect it to bully yourself about having a highbrow, marketable story. I always thought that the advice to “Have fun and your audience will too” was a bit inaccurate, but then I decided to go ham with all the self-indulgent elements I included in TPiaG and I'm at over 400 followers in under 6 months (which is absolutely unprecedented I must say). That's the most important guiding principle, I think. Because then you'll have fun no matter what comes of your project!

As for question two: I have no idea. Apparently fanworks are the way to go? I will say that technically I had 1k-ish subscribers on YouTube and 100-ish followers on a previous Instagram account (~80% of which were friends and family in the Instagram account’s case), so I wasn't starting from absolutely nothing, but I didn't mention my Tumblr anywhere after I made it because it was supposed to be private. I made my main blog as a personal art archive, learned I couldn't keep it utterly hidden, and figured I'd just have a couple bots like a post here and there after I tagged my posts to make it easier for me to search them. That was very much NOT what happened, as you can guess. According to my sister who works as a professional illustrator, fanart is a great way to get more eyes on your art so that more people can be exposed to personal work (if that's your goal!)

But yeah. I seriously don’t know how so many lovely people decided to click on my blog and like what they saw. It’s a bit shocking bc I’ve never had such an involved community before and it’s so overwhelmingly encouraging :,>

[film-in-my-soul]

hurry up, we're dreaming | 1,148 | scissorghost

Summary: Steve and Bucky always meet up during their free third period so they can hang out (read: make out) behind the bleachers on the soccer field. They used to go to the football ones, but too many people had the same idea as them and they preferred the empty, if seriously worse-for-wear, soccer bleachers. But today, Bucky doesn’t greet Steve with his usual bruising kiss, instead sweeping him into a gentle hug and holding him there for a minute. Now, Steve’s never one to complain about hugs, but he would infinitely prefer to already be sucking on Bucky’s tongue by now (he’s got his inhaler ready and everything, just in case he needs it) so he stands on his tiptoes and tries to bring their mouths together, but Bucky just holds him away gently.

Cabin Fever | 1,750 | neversaydie

Summary: Captain's Log, stardate 2246.5  Our diplomatic mission to Nova ended smoothly. Nova Prime and the Antaran diplomatic envoy have begun to hash out a trade deal and no longer require Starfleet to act as a neutral third party. We're heading to the Galiway trade hub to restock the ship and release the crew on an extended ten-day shore leave. Some of the crew are starting to get cabin fever with leave being delayed by almost a month now. Such delays are unavoidable, but I can't blame them for feeling cooped up when I, myself—  "Steve, c'mon already. This synthale ain't gonna drink itself." Anyway, we should arrive at Galiway sometime within the next twenty-four hours. Hopefully everyone should be less antsy after they blow off a little steam, including the officers. That's all for now. Rogers out.

Go Fish | 2,653 | notlucy / @notlucy

Summary: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man stuck in an airport, in possession of an iPhone, must open Tinder.

Please see below for more recommendations!

You Will Meet a Stranger | 3,061 | spitandvinegar

Summary: When the mask falls off Steve recoils. He'll never forgive himself.

Dirty Pics | 3,117 | lillupon / @lillupon

Summary: There’s this one guy Bucky slept with three months ago who still sends pics of his ass whenever Bucky asks. What can he say? Grant’s got an ass that just won’t quit.

I Draw A Line (To Your Heart From Mine) | 3,728 | seapigeon

Summary: Bucky hates art therapy. Sure, he used to love art, but that was...before. So if this tiny, annoyingly insightful instructor could just let him coast, that would be great. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be Steve Rogers' style.

Follow Me Home | 4,599 | seapigeon

Summary: The Brooklyn SPCA has a running program for their high energy shelter dogs. Steve quickly becomes their #1 volunteer. Every time he's out with a dog, he thinks about stopping to talk to the cute guy in the park, and every time he chickens out. But today, someone else is making that decision for him. That someone is Engelbert the 80 pound boxer mix.

Prom Sucks! | 4,755 | VenusMonstrosa / @venusmonstrosa

Summary: “Is this a stupid end-of-year prank?” “Jesus, Steve, you think I’d do that?”

Gravity | 5,649 | lillupon / @lillupon

Summary: The Winter Soldier isn’t supposed to know what it means to want something.

We're a Couple of Misfits | 5,797 | notlucy / @notlucy

Summary: Working retail can be unforgiving, especially around the holidays. Luckily, Steve works in a store that has a view of Santa’s Village, the happiest spot in the mall - the place where dreams come true, children never cry, and parents never lose their tempers. Oh, and the place where there may or may not be a hot-ass elf assistant Steve can’t stop daydreaming about.

Nurse Rogers | 6,065 | Bellakitse / @bellakitse

Summary: He’s turning the corner headed back to the ambulance bay where Clint is waiting for him in the truck when he rams into this tiny figure in blue scrubs pants and a white undershirt, the kid is cute, blond and blue-eyed, barely reaching Bucky’s shoulder and so slim that if Bucky didn’t have amazing reflexes and reached for him in time the kid would be on the ground from their encounter. Where Bucky is a cocky paramedic and Steve is a tiny nurse.

We Have the Technology | 6,193 | zetsubonna / @zetsubonna

Summary: How Bucky Barnes's passion for mechanical engineering led him to create his own best friend.

what we are is unexpected | 6,597 | bitelikefire (theoleo) / @deimoslunaa

Summary: Bucky doesn’t know why people keep asking him for fucking favours. What’s even worse is how he doesn’t understand why he can’t say no and that’s how he ends up babysitting his nephew for his little sister and basically playing cool uncle for the next few weeks.

(760): I literally cut myself out of my pants. Waste. Of. Money. | 6,654 | relenafanel / @relenafanel

Summary: Hey friend of Sam’s can I get an opinion on this outfit? Bucky texted, attaching the selfie taken in Sam’s bathroom mirror. He received an answer almost immediately. Bucky was almost expecting a lecture, or at least a concerned question about who had stolen Sam’s phone. He got neither. New text from Steve: What do you want it to say?

If You Let Me | 6,900 | lillupon / @lillupon

Summary: Steve always thought it was silly how easily girls fell for Bucky, even though they must have known he would only break their hearts. Told himself that he would require more than a few sweet words and a cocky grin. But thinking that while watching Bucky charm his way into a girl’s bed for the night is completely different from being on the receiving end of it.

1023 | 6,982 | seapigeon

Summary: Steve has been blessed (or cursed) with a daughter who's just like him. On a crisp fall day, she befriends a man who sleeps under a park bench. Bucky doesn't say much about his past, but in no time at all, Steve is pretty sure he might be his future.

The Afterlife of The Party | 8,433 | neversaydie

Summary: "Oh no. Hell no." Bucky freezes with his hand halfway to the giant ornamental vase the new family have just unpacked. Smashing it would be the perfect way to announce himself on moving day: a big, stylish gesture that's ambiguous enough to leave them feeling only slightly unnerved until he decides things need to escalate. That is, it would be the perfect way to announce himself if a skinny blond kid hadn't just walked through the living room wall. "This house is taken, pal. What the fuck?" "Uh, this is my family." The kid is standing there awkwardly, like they're still corporeal and he might have to duck or deliver a punch in the near future. "This is my house." He narrows his eyes and slowly gets to his feet. The guy's eyes keep flicking to his missing arm and Bucky is starting to see red. "And I don't appreciate other people living in it."

Trains | 9,045 | misslucyjane

Summary: Bucky Barnes is the lead singer of Winter Soldier. Steve Rogers is their biggest fan.

Seawater | 9,330 | littleblackfox / @thelittleblackfox

Summary: He stops in front of a large glass tube; pale, translucent Jellyfish floating serenely within. “Look at these guys, Moon jellyfish. You’re an artist, tell me that’s not beautiful.” Brooklyn stares into the display, the soft blue light highlighting the cut of his cheekbones, the softness of his lips, and Bucky squeezes his hand a little harder. Brooklyn turns to him and smiles, small and crooked and painfully sweet. “Yeah, I guess they are.” Bucky can’t look away, something painful lodged in his throat. “Those horseshoe shapes on the caps are their gonads.” Oh, for fuck’s sake.

Nighthawks | 9,531 | mambo / @whtaft

Summary: Bucky's working the graveyard shift at the diner when some tiny guy in Doc Martens walks in and orders a strawberry milkshake.

Closing Time | 10,872 | RecoveringTheSatellites / @thisonesatellite

Summary: Steve works in a Brooklyn dive bar. A tall, guarded guy comes in to drink at regular intervals. He always sits in the back corner. Steve leaves him alone. He looks like a guy who deserves some peace and quiet. He does find out the stranger's name is Bucky. Finds out what he likes to drink. And little by little, conversation happens. Connection happens. Until one day a cock-flock of dudebros comes in (i made up cock-flock, but really, is that not their collective term) and the heckling goes up to eleven once they’re good and drunk. Bucky gets asked to take it outside. Steve will have none of that, thankyouverymuch.

Bucky Barnes Has His Shit Together (and Other Lies He Tells Himself) | 14,159 | betts / @bettsfic

Summary: You’d think a guy who owns one of the most successful bakeries in Brooklyn, has a million-dollar smile and that antiquated good ol’ boy charm, blond hair and blue eyes and biceps for days, would know what’s what. But don’t let that fool you: Steve Rogers is a mess.

Exhale | 15,676 | seapigeon

Summary: After the Chitauri invasion, Steve parts ways with SHIELD, unsure if he can trust an agency that tried to deceive him and built weapons from the Tesseract. He finds himself alone in an unfamiliar future, penniless, not even legally alive. Fortunately, he knows how to survive. Steve Rogers is used to getting by on his own. The thing is, he doesn't have to.

Dream a Little Dream | 16,458 | velleities

Summary: Steve's MO for living his 21st century life is: keep it simple, fight the good fight with SHIELD and the Avengers, sketch the world around him whenever possible, forget to think about love and all things romance. Steve's 21st Century Life has different plans: a certain charming waiter, a bistro that almost becomes Steve's second home, and an attraction that sends Steve swooning as he starts dreaming of a less lonely existence.

Roots Have Grown | 17,280 | AustinB / @cornerficus

Summary: Bucky is a mildly agoraphobic veteran with funds to spare, who becomes enamored with the cute blonde guy in his building. So when Steve mentions needing a roommate to cut down on rent costs, Bucky decides it would be a good idea to volunteer.

Where The Heart Is | 17,579 | attackofthezee (noxlunate) / @attackofthezee

Summary: When Steve gets home from work there’s someone in his apartment. A tall, foreboding, and goddamned metal armed someone.

Catalysis | 21,594 | follow_the_sun / @lasrina

Summary: Ex-soldier Bucky Barnes doesn't have time to think about that skinny blonde guy he met in the hospital. Especially not after the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. shows up on his doorstep and asks him to save the world.

if all my mistakes (led me to you) | 22,755 | bitelikefire (theoleo) / @deimoslunaa

Summary: Sam’s plans are always the worst plans. And now, Steve has to scramble to find a plus one for Peggy’s big day after being spontaneously dumped. Luckily, he doesn’t have to look very far.

Put Walk Among Us On and Turn it Up | 24,799 | essieincinci

Summary: When Bucky was sixteen and drunk for the first time (on schnapps, dear god, not that he ever admits that part) he let his friend’s greaseball older brother talk him into a homemade stab-n-stick that is just… awful. He walks into the shop from the business card late at night, and a little guy in a too-big hoodie and skinny jeans looks up from the counter.

Sweet Serendipity | 26,179 | velleities

Summary: A troubled city-style lumberjack. Sunshine personified in a man. An accidental phone swap. A serendipitous meet-up. Bucky lets out a small scoff. This isn’t the romcom that one looks for, not usually. It is, however, the one that found Steve and Bucky.

Rivers and Roads | 30,555 | AustinB / @cornerficus

Summary: Steve is working undercover for Hydra when he gets an unexpected promotion. To the Winter Soldier Project.

my heart tells me you are lonely, too | 43,212 | FanGirling

Summary: Bucky sinks into the chair. His ass is falling asleep. “So I just have to, what, learn to be more human?” Sam tries to hold back his sigh but Bucky notices it anyway.

It's Just Temporary | 52,615 | perfect_plan

Summary: Bucky Barnes has no idea what he wants to do with his life and is stumbling from one temp job to the next. Hopefully he can keep his new job at Stark Industries for longer than a week...

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[aq2003]

Different anon than before, but all the s3 ten and martha fics you recommended were amazing. Any other general doctor who fics you like?

ok i'm going to use this as an opportunity to make a general fic rec list for doctor who bc i haven't done something like this in a while and i think it'd be fun. (i'm going to include the s3 ten and martha fics i linked before bc they are some of my favorites and i won't shut up about them)

Sometimes There's Stars by Monarchetype. this is probably my favorite doctor who fic ever in that it appeals directly to my twelve feels and fourteen feels and makes me feel the entire spectrum of human emotion bc of it. the doctor is having neurodivergent floor time in this one. donna has some funny names for the constellations. i cry every single time i read this

History by NikaV. this fic is special to me it's actually the first one i read as i was warily perusing doctor who fics after watching series 3 (i had donna's tag blocked for spoilers LMAO) and god it's soooo. it's sooooo. tenmartha museum fic you'll always be famous. stories that worldbuild about the aftereffects of the timewar my beloved. early s3 martha pov my beloved.

The Ravelled Sleeve of Care by lavenderseaslug. this basically follows ten and donna after their various series 4 adventures. they share a bunk bed. theyre my little guys. the qpps ever

Lethologica by babybel. this is a fic of jenny meeting with donna post-series 4 and yes it's exactly as shrimp emotion inducing as it sounds

Ten Minutes Of Eternity by EldunariLiduen. technically you have to listen to the time reaver big finish audio (...:)) to get the full context for this but it is such a great missing scene and actually can i please have more fics about time reaver it makes me want to explode

Grounded by gawayne. AHHHHHHHHH time reaver hurt comfort. time reaver hurt comfort save me. save me time reaver hurt comfort (<- deranged about this singular big finish audio)

Aro/Ace Twelve by lloydsglasses (series). exactly what it says on the tin. i have not found a lot of twelve fics that appealed to my specific tastes but these ones are really sweet and as an aroace doctor truther i am legally obligated to recommend them <2

At the Edge of the Universe by IllusionOfDeath (series). this is a pair of canon compliant donna character studies in the 60th and ohhhhhh the fourteendonna huh. The fourteendonna broke into my house and left me for dead. AhhhhhHHHHHHH

The Last Act of the Time War is..., Three Months, Subjective Time, and Human-Shaped by versaphile. these three fics are great and i have many feelings about them that can all essentially be boiled down to "jesus christ ten is doing so bad. he's doing so so bad you guys. good lord"

doctor who oneshots by inckpot (series). i tried to pick out my favorites out of these to specifically recommend but it ended up being almost all of them and they are all organized into a beautiful list already so <3. also i don't rly ship ten w anybody but the tensimm and tenjack here fascinate me. they are like diseased bugs of some sort and i'm studying them in a lab. anyway i think op has my favorite general portrayal of timelords in fics ever like there's a line in respite about "carrying the stars" and this generally makes me want to eat drywall and explode into 80 million tiny pieces of glass. the way the doctor's pov gets written. oh yeah. i'm insane

[oceansprompts]

adjust pronouns, names, and details as needed… assorted quotes taken from marvel ultimate alliance 3: the black order. part 2 of ???

❝ Your pocket is not safe place, space-bro.❞

❝ Really?! Come on, man, I only to make speeches like that once, twice a year tops! ❞

❝  That may be true, but a war is won by fighting one battle at a time. ❞

❝ As long as we have each other's backs along the way, victory will stay without reach. ❞

❝ I have seen my fair share of dark futures. What I have learned is that no fate is sealed until we choose it to be. ❞

❝ If the ending you saw is not the one you desire, then we will fight for a better one together! ❞

❝ Took you long enough. Good thing I charge by the hour... ❞

❝ Just look for the ancient ninja temple of top of a skyscraper. You can't miss it. ❞

❝ Oh, you know me. I just love this superhero stuff… ❞

❝ Oh, did I mention that the ancient ninja temple is guarded by actual ninjas? If not, I probably should've… ❞

❝ Whatever it is, they're sneaky little jerks. So watch out! ❞

❝ Stick to the shadows or you'll never make it to the temple… at least not in one piece. ❞

❝ Way to go. You've been made. Why not just announce you're here? ❞

❝ You don't really seem like the "super-team" type... ❞

❝ Oh, I'm not. Spandex is my arch-nemesis. ❞

❝ Someone's gotta keep the streets safe for normal people while all the other heroes are busy fighting giant squids on the moon or whatever. ❞

❝ You gonna tell me how you got through all that without gettin' caught? ❞

❝ Nope. Gotta keep the mystery in our relationship alive somehow, babe. ❞

❝ The soul is eternal, but the flesh is weak. Allow me to show you, as I rend it from your bones! ❞

❝ After all, I make killing an art. ❞

❝ Do me a favor and die already. ❞

❝ I have a reputation to maintain! ❞

❝  Heh. You think you won, but you really missed the mark. ❞

❝ When the big man gets done with you... you're gonna wish you'd let me put outta your misery. ❞

❝ I'm no defender of the innocent. What use could you heroes possibly have for an assassin? ❞

❝ Why so glum, chum? ❞

❝ All of this is so much bigger than us. I mean, I can barely do my own laundry. Stopping cosmic annihilation is a bit outside my comfort zone. ❞

❝ Sure. At least for today. Go ahead. Say it. You know you want to. ❞

❝ Avengers Assemble, baby! ❞

❝ You are such a nerd. ❞

❝ Which leads me to an extremely important question... Can I keep 'em? ❞

❝ Suddenly less worried about external threats and more concerned about the ones in here. ❞

❝ You bet. Not even a ripped seam. Which is a good thing, because I just spent a fortune redesigning this costume!❞

❝ It's...complicated. But let's just say he's from the side of the family that isn't invited to be in holiday photos anymore... ❞

❝ There's no chance I'm jumping ship now, even with an evil robot army ripping up our home! ❞

❝ Would you mind if I include this conversation on my latest Avengers fanfic? ❞

❝ I'm scrapping it after this and putting in a Zen garden! ❞

❝ You are the wind beneath my wings. ❞

❝ Just hold back that oversized Iron Man knockoff and clear me a place to land! ❞

❝ Almost there, team... and I'm headed in hot! ❞

❝ How come giant robots always attack on my day off? ❞

❝ You gave it your best shot, bolts-for-brains... Now I'll take mine. ❞

❝ Oh, you know. Just grappling with a synthezoid the size of a skyscraper. Typical day at the office. ❞

❝ Seriously, who stores a giant killer robot in a warehouse in New Jersey? ❞

❝ Umm, Couldn't you have asked me that, like, twenty punches ago? I mean, REALLY! That totally would have made everything so much easier! ❞

❝ Were you guys having a party without me? ❞

❝ You know… I'm not so sure they meant that as a compliment… ❞

❝ Guess it wouldn't be Earth if New York wasn't under attack by giant robots… ❞

❝ I bet you've seen way stranger stuff in space, right? ❞

❝ Well, we're half way there… …ahem… Seriously? How do you not break into the chorus of an '80's rock anthem after that set-up? And you call yourself a hero… ❞

[thenationaltreasuregazette]

The 2003 Script, Act 1

Welcome! To the long-awaited deep dive on the 2003 script.

This will be the beginning of a series recapping the major differences, and similarities, between the 2003 script and the final film.

To refresh your memory, on ye olde internet you can find an earlier version of the National Treasure script from April 2003, and it is a wild ride. In a previous post, I looked at where it falls in the chain of development, who was involved, and how to understand this script as a production artifact.

The short version: it’s about 80% there.

The major beats are clear

All the characters exist in recognizable form

Nicolas Cage signed on as the lead one month later

All the major creative voices had gotten their fingers in the pie by this point

And yet as recognizable as this is as National Treasure, it’s a version of National Treasure from another dimension.

I’d like to go through it, summarize the major differences, and see what we can uncover.

→ I should also note that I basically agree with all of the changes that were made between this script and the final film. All of them serve to tighten and enhance the story, make the characters more nuanced, and make the story more subtle and rich. That’s not to say that this script shouldn’t have existed—just the opposite. I think this version needed to exist in order to get the creative team to the final film. I’m glad this isn’t the film that was shot, but I love this as a window into the process.

ACT 1

FADE IN:

No Baby Ben yet; we jump right into the legend of the treasure.

→ It’s longer and more detailed, including the fact that Andrew Jackson already knew Charles Carroll’s story about the treasure and didn’t believe it.

The story is being told by JOHN ADAMS GATES, who’s in a nursing home, not in his attic, to YOUNG BEN.

Ben shows his treasure hunting potential by suggesting that Charlotte could be an anagram, then promises more directly that he’ll find Charlotte. PATRICK is just as disgruntled as in the final.

CUT TO:

It’s just BEN and RILEY in the snowcat, named The Endeavor. Ben is in his

(late 20s, strong family resemblance.)

Riley is

(25, unkempt)

They’re searching with ground penetrating radar, get a hit, and discover the figurehead’s face in the ice. Then they radio base camp for Ian and the gang to join them.

We learn that Riley is the one who convinced Ian to fund the expedition.

→ My sense in the final film is that Ben and Ian brought Riley in together, and Riley was the last to join.

Shaw thinks the find is too small to be the ship they’re looking for, and Ben explains that it’s tilted, hence the smaller footprint.

But don’t worry, they won’t have to dig it out because...

...the Charlotte is trapped in an air pocket/ice cave.

The Ben, Ian, then Riley repel down into the cave.

Ben tricks Ian into searching the hold, and Riley into searching the berthing quarters while he searches the Captain’s Cabin.

→ Ben’s cleverness is emphasized a lot more early on in this version. He’s both able to think outside the box (as with the tilted ship) and able to manipulate people, including Ian, to get what he wants. Honestly I think he comes off as kind of a jackass. He's more like the Ben we see in Book of Secrets—a self-righteous know-it-all.

Under the Captain's desk, Ben finds a trap door that leads to the storeroom full of gunpowder. The Captain guarding one barrel, the meerschaum pipe, and the first riddle remain the same.

It’s different dialogue, but Ben works out the clue in a similar manner, minus the comedic stylings of Riley and Shaw found in the final.

Ian draws a gun with a literal, “Oh, you didn’t bring one of these?”

IAN Oh, you didn't bring one of these?

→ I'm not kidding he actually says this.

After the same stunt Ben pulls with the flare, only this time with a lighter, Ian opens fire on Ben and Riley.

→ In this version, Shaw is not in this scene to be Ian’s muscle. I think that was an important distinction the final film made, that Shaw does the dirty work and Ian stays one step removed. It differentiates their character functions and it helps Ian feel more intelligent and slick. He’s not just a wealthy thug, he’s the puppet master who pulls other people’s strings. I think that sets him up to be a more formidable antagonist, and a better foil for Ben.

Rather than riding out the explosion in the smugglers hold, Ben and Riley have to break down the hold door and use a harpoon gun to break out of the ice cave since Ian and Co pulled up the ropes.

All the while, Riley is complaining that he should have taken the job at Intel.

RILEY Intel offered me a job with my own cubicle. BEN Do we have to go over this every expedition? RILEY Until I get rich, yes. Ben wheels the harpoon around and aims it at Riley's head. BEN Fine. Now, duck!

They jump into the Endeavor just before the Charlotte blows…

…and go flying off a GLACIAL CLIFF.

Don’t worry, it floats.

→ This sequence gives you a taste of the level of action that will be present throughout the script (which is something a good opening should do.) By comparison, the final National Treasure feels fairly (and I recognize that this seems insane to say but...) mundane. I know that seems wild, cuz the premise of the movie is still ridiculous, but there was a significant toning-down of the action between versions, and I think that was the right choice. In this script, everything is so heightened that stealing the Declaration of Independence doesn’t seem like so big of a deal. Everything is a big deal. Everything is a daring, dangerous action scene. By toning down the action elsewhere, 1. we save budget, and that probably had a lot to do with these choices. But also 2. the story is able to put more contrast between both the life Ben normally lives and his decision to steal the Declaration, and between his belief in the treasure and everyone else’s reality. When everything is already James Bond levels of action for everyone, is a heist really that surprising?

Washington D.C.

Ben and Riley view the Declaration at the National Archives. They also see Ian and Shaw casing the place.

→ There's no "If Ian tries to steal it...." We know for certain that he's planning to. It sounds like that should add tension but it actually doesn't. More on that in part 2.

Back at Ben’s apartment, Ben gives a pocket watch he found on The Charlotte to his LANDLADY, who laments that he can’t keep a girlfriend.

→ While I like this moment showing that Ben is thoughtful (and also kind of pathetic if his landlady is the only one he as to give gifts like this to), I think the choice to isolate him further in the final film is the stronger one. He has literally no one he can turn to other than Riley and his dad.

For more about Ben as a loner and the changes to his character from the 2003 script to the film, see here.

At the Library of Congress, Ben lays out his plan of how he thinks Ian is going to steal the Declaration. They haven’t tried to tell anyone at the FBI, National Archives, or anywhere else yet.

In this version, it takes two minutes for the Declaration to be lowered into its vault, and that’s when its most vulnerable. Ben suspects Ian will create some external chaos that will force the Declaration to be lowered automatically when the guards aren’t there. No Preservation Room required (or mentioned.)

Riley is not trying to talk Ben out of anything, because Ben doesn’t reveal he’s thinking of stealing it himself until part way through this scene.

When he does, Riley is like “nuh-uh” and proposes an alternative.

That’s when the meeting with ABIGAIL happens and Riley does the talking because Ben will "make the whole thing sound crazy."

RILEY No, this is my idea. You’ll try to make it sound crazy.

SIDEBAR ON RILEY - He is by far the character who is most different here than in the final film. Let's do a separate article to unpack that.

ABIGAIL, by the way, is

bookishly beautiful, 26.

She and Riley go back and forth for a bit while Ben is distracted with Abigail’s GW button collection. Then Ben jumps in to spar with Abigail on historical knowledge (she doesn’t miss a beat). She makes the crack about Bigfoot, and realizes they’re treasure hunters.

Abigail is much more direct in telling the guys what she thinks of them:

ABIGAIL We have a very sophisticated security system designed to stop crazy people like yourselves from getting near it.

When they leave, Ben gives fake names for both him and Riley: Paul Brown and Tom Jeffries. In the hallway after the meeting, Ben explains that the fake names are to buy time when the feds start investigating the theft.

He’s also wiping his hands with a handkerchief, because he ALREADY HAD THE UV INK on his hands to shake Abigail’s hand at the meeting.

RILEY You knew we were going to do this all along, didn't you? BEN I was hoping she would believe us so we wouldn't have to.

→ Even if he thought it was a longshot, I like it so much better that in the final movie Ben is looking to Abigail as his last chance before making a desperate decision, not as a formality that he has to get through before he can do what he already wants to do (steal the Declaration.) And for their relationship, it’s important to me that they’re in that meeting on equal footing. He doesn’t already have UV ink on his hands because he’s already planning to screw her over. Like yikes. In that version, they should not end up together because none of the trust-building that’s so key to their relationship is actually real.

There’s also more emphasis placed on how the Declaration will always be in danger until the treasure is found. It's less about only stopping Ian and more about ensuring no one has a reason to ever think about stealing it again.

→ So let’s talk about dominoes. All the major dominoes that exist in the final film exist here, but in a slightly different order. And again, I think the changes made from this script to the final helped to strengthen the story considerably. In this script, Ian threatens to steal the Declaration, Ben reveals he’s already planning to steal it instead, and Riley attempts to make the theft unnecessary by talking to Abigail. Ben doesn’t believe this will work, and he’s already putting the pieces of his heist in motion. In the finished movie, Ian threatens to steal the Declaration, and Ben exhausts every avenue to stop him without getting involved himself. It’s his decision to talk to Abigail, and she’s his last hope. It’s only after she refuses that we see Ben make the decision to steal the Declaration himself. In the 2003 script, Ben seems like he was already ready and willing to steal the Declaration of Independence. He jumps right in. It’s not a hard choice for him to make, and in fact, he seems like he kind of wants to do it. Like he was just waiting for an excuse. He doesn’t try any other options first, and in the one alternative plan that Riley makes him try, he has so little faith that it will work that he’s already putting his heist in motion before that attempt is even done. Hell, we don't even see him make the decision on screen. That paints Ben as self-righteous and a little too gung-ho about this whole heist business. Here he doesn’t seem like a treasure protector; he seems a lot like Ian actually—someone willing to do anything for the quest with very little provocation. In the final film, Ben is pushed into stealing it by exhausting every other option first. We see the institutional walls he keeps running into, which are absent in the 2003 script. We understand that this was his last resort. It also makes his interaction with Abigail feel more genuine. He’s actually trying to connect with her, and taking the lead to defend his own theory rather than letting Riley do it. Then, once he’s decided to steal it, that’s when we go to the Library of Congress so Riley can try to talk him out of it. In the film, Ben is presented as someone who wanted any other option first, but then once he gets backed into a corner, his conviction is set and he won’t be deterred. That’s someone we can root for! That’s an underdog who nobody believes, and who is willing to put his freedom on the line for something he cares about! He and Riley also have multiple discussions about whether Ben should do this, and what it means if he does or doesn’t. In short, it feels like a momentous decision, because Ben has to be pushed repeatedly before he makes it, then spends multiple scenes digesting it and discussing if it’s even possible. In the script, he seems like a guy who decided to steal the Declaration almost as quickly as Ian did, and who will only half-heartedly consider other possibilities. He comes on screen already having a plan, and he doesn’t seem to think it will be that hard. In this version it does not feel like a momentous decision, and that’s a lot less sympathetic.

→ Next time, Act 2!

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

Happy 8 Years on Tumblr, my friend! I'm so glad we've gotten to know each other recently!! 💕

For my question from your sleepover Friday list, here goes: Who would you ship me with from SPN, The Boys, or Big Sky world?

A little bit about me:

You probably know by now that I'm Latina lol

I love to cook and try new recipes and restaurants

Love oldies music -- anywhere from the 40s to current stuff, especially rock, R&B, 70s, 80s, 90s

I'm also a movies and TV junkie lol. I love trivia and behind the scenes stuff! AKA: I'm a big nerd. 😂

Hobbies include nature walks, painting, yoga, reading of course

I'm a creative writer, but also a writer/editor professionally (with some teaching on the side)

I guess you could say I have a "cat-like" personality lol. I love being with my loved ones and friends, but I also value my alone time, when I can write and do my work in peace. I've also been told by friends that I'm a good listener...

I don't want to ramble too much, but I'm very interested to know who you would match me with. 😜 Again, happy Tumblrversary!! 💓

Hey Zep! Same! I've always been awful at making tumblr friends but I've been enjoying to get to know you too!

Oh good question! I knew some of these things but not all. Hm, I could definitely see you with a lot of people but I'm going to go with...

Ben (Soldier Boy)

Now while I think you'd handle any of our favs well, I think Ben is the one that needs you the most. We all know he's got his issues and is out of place in time. But I think you'd be the one to wrangle him in. I think he'd be leery at first but would bond over music, something not so foreign to him and start to drop his guard. You'd be a "light" for him, someone to show him new foods and places and good times but understand his need for solitude and space. He'd tease you about being a nerd but secretly adore that quality.

Your creative side would be something that confuses him at first, especially as he absently watches you fill a page with words as the day progresses. He'd be baffled that you can make something from nothing as his whole life has been about being what other people want from him, not fully being able to think for himself and his own aspirations. He'd scoff at your invitations to try your hobbies but eventually he'd relent, complaining the whole time while actually enjoying them. Especially yoga. Ben's not very good at it though, probably because he spends the whole time with his eyes glued on you.

Finally, after he feels like he can really trust you, he'd sit you down with a scotch in hand and tell you about his life. Down to the nitty gritty details. He hates it. Really fucking hates it. Hates how it makes him feel weak and vulnerable. But when he's finally finished, that feeling dissipates. He's never said those words out loud. Never allowed himself to think such things without hating himself for not being a real man. But with you? Yeah, maybe with you things will be alright.

So there you go! Ben's the winner but this was actually a really hard choice!

[effervescentdragon]

It took me ages to find the notif but I know I got tagged by my beloved @antimonyandthyme who is darling dearest dbest and I'm still in the ignoring life phase so here we go <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

80! I have 80 works and 500 msgs in my inbox and I am a bit insane about it.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

535,111. Fuck i didn't know. This is insane.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now, F1. I wrote Silm exclusively for a while, but who knows at this point I'll honestly take whatever gets the creativity going.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

piarles montreal date fic, piarles omegaverse porn, piarles doggystyle porn, sebchal where charles wins monaco 22, charlos engineer au. i'm seeing a bit of a pattern here.

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

I do, or I try to. I go in and I respond in bulk, or sometimes I respond as I see them because I get so many at once I get overwhelmed. If I don't respond it's because I'm overwhelmed but I love and cherish every single one and I go and reread them when I'm feeling down and sad. Just know that all the comments I get are absolutely the best part of writing. <3333

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

in f1, for me it was that one sebchal tumblr ficlet where they didnt have a happy ending and seb was a bastard, which i can't find bcs i write too much and i hate that one. i think if you go into the tag "another pacific rim au you will find a LOT of angsty endings. oh also, my mean prompts. and any makkinen, i think. they are particularly angsty for me.

in silm... damn. me and azh my beloved literally have an angst-off fic. every silm fic i've written is angsty as fuck. maybe the one where maedhros throws himself into the fiery chasm? or any one with lalwen, including the grief ficlets on tumblr? glorfindel/curufin? oooh. i know. silvergifting. my silvergifting.

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

For me? piarles star trek au , piarles pirate au, and sebchal old guard au.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not particularly, not traditional "I hate this". I get entitled comments that are like "will you write more" or "write more" or "i wish you'd do this and this" and i either ignore or block them bcs I do this shit for free and nobody is entitled to it.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. I am very good at tender-porn with feelings, or so I've been told.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

AU's. So many AU's. That's my bread and butter. I did do a silm/f1 crossover as I was grappling with my feelings about rpf, but once I crossed the line I never looked back.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! My Simi+ Welcome to Japan got translated wonderfully into Chinese HERE and I'm still soft thinking about it <33333

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

No, I don't think I can do that in the fic. I am playing in @wolfiemcwolferson and @duquesademiel's playground right now, and I do have that silm angst-off fic with my beloved @admirablemonster <3 but I can't write with-with someone.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Steve/Bucky or Kirk/Spock.

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

Pfffft a million in my drafts? there is so many of them that i started as a way of coping and i dont know really. I still live in hope i'll finish them all.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Emotions? I think I write good emotions. Also, building universes and adapting them in my AU's. Oh, and symbolism. I pack so much symbolism in everything my GODS.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Gahhh. Keeping it to the point. Finishing things. Show-don't-tell.

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

I like doing it tbh, because it gives me the opportunity to remind myself of the languages and I get distracted ith, for example, Russian grammar. However, these days I only do it for like, tearms of endearment and stuff like that, because I'm also very bad at incorporating translations (i forger), so I'm trying not to torture my readers. I love doing it in Silm for that reason exactly, pondering Quenya and Sindarin grammar aaaaa. Can you tell I'm a linguist at heart? xD

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter, and it was a self-insert OC my beloved.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Sebchal Old Guard AU and Galadriel character exploration fic.

gonna tag, well, those already tagged above and then @deathicus-sling @fingons-rad-harp @absynthe--minded @blorbocedes @ayceeofspades @saecookie @jean----ralphio @nikosheba @brazilgp @milflewis @jaz-the-bard @ruiniel @goddammitjim @colors-of-feeling

and tbh whoever wants to do it? love you all!

[blysse-and-blunder]

in lieu of a long weekend

10pm, sunday, oct 8, 2023

it's canadian turkey-day tomorrow ~ it's windy and grey outside ~ there is pumpkin pie in the fridge and i'm wearing an extremely pleasing wooly sweater my housemate was going to give away. we've turned the heat on for the first time this season. the cozy season of the year has arrived.

reading finished victoria goddard's whiskeyjack, book 3 in the greenwing & dart series! reading this series for me is an exercise in noticing the easter eggs that tell me it was written by a medievalist, and an academic, and a medievalist academic with a degree from the program i'm currently in. there's so much in this particular volume about poetry analysis. she came so close to using the word 'semiotic' and actually did use the phrase 'exoteric.' while i might have quibbled about things like pacing and plot and how i still don't always think first-person is a good fit in the hands of most authors, these books are like tailor-made for me. i can't not enjoy them.

and then on the other hand, i spent some extremely happy hours this past week with patrick o'brian's post captain. when i first read the aubrey books, i was probably in high school, fresh out of racing through the hornblower series. because the aubreyad is-- i'll be honest-- better writing, but also demands more of you as a reader, i fully didn't appreciate like 80% of this book. i knew the series, as much by osmosis as by actual time spent reading, and reading it now? felt like coming home. especially since i now have the attention, and the ability, to read between the lines. to pick up on the irony, the allusions, the humor, the misdirection! the women oh my god how did i not appreciate sophie, diana, or mrs. williams before now. i didn't mind before how little of the larger world and society made it into the movie, but i actually understand the griping now. but even more than that, i found the ship action and actual, like, battle extremely tense and interesting this time; i was up well into the night at one point just to see what would happen next, because i was nervous for my dear boys.

watching friday night double-feature with @hematiterings where we enjoyed the first three new episodes of Our Flag Means Death and finished with another two of netflix's Arcane: League of Legends, which we're probably going to finish fairly soon so i'll focus on that one. just quickly though, had a great time with the first new ofmd episode, just extremely good work from all involved, and then was weirdly not as into the second two-- though the end of ep 3 was back to grand. i think in general i like where the season is going, and i'm going to withhold further comment until we've seen some more.

i was not expecting to like arcane as much as i have been. didn't have a clue what it was when we started, but the art style has absolutely blown me away. here's a quick run-down of the animation, which is a mix of hand-painted digital, 2D, and absolutely gorgeous. it looks like a video game and a painting at the same time-- not in the same way spiderverse combines animation and illustration, but with some familiar elements. people's eyes have this amazing jewel-like depth and clarity? scenery that made us go 'oh, paris looks so nice!' and 'man i love cyberpunk' and other such witticisms. but seriously, if you like good animation and also art nouveau-inspired steam-punk aesthetics, there's a lot here. plus a good (dare I? could league of legends be good, actually?) tragic story-line, and enough twists that i haven't seen coming, to really get me curious about what comes next.

listening a long time ago, probably back in 2021 around the time of the most recent album, i think @mankillercalledbunny was sharing playlists or links that featured The Amazing Devil, and at roughly the same time i had a spotify playlist include a track or two for me, and now here we are. had their two albums "ruin" and "the horror and the wild" on all week, which made it a bit hard to read at times because i would get caught in the lyrics. this is exactly the kind of music two people who met at the RSC would make, it is dramatic, sort of gothic, sort of folky, sort of theater. the contrary motion, the interweaving voices, esp. in the chorus of "marbles", is where i've been living recently. i like knowing this about joey batey, i like that he has this extra dimension now when i see him as jaskier! i hope he can find a way to come back to it again, whenever.

playing i finally (after how long!) got the wizard's ink well - witch's pendant - goblins (??) quest in stardew! not a hard one at all, but so satisfying to be able to use that hint that had been hovering there in the library for the past, oh, real-world year or so. i'm like 50 pieces of hardwood away from getting the ferry up and running too, and i'm excited to move off of the plateau i've been on and open up the next level of the world.

making i mentioned the pumpkin pie up top, and it did turn out well this year despite a distracted me happening to leave out the butter when mixing the filling-- i noticed before it got into the oven, luckily, and was able to add it in! but...while it was in the pie crust, which was kind of sloppy. no nicely pinched or braided crust for me this year. and then, since the size of can of pumpkin you buy here is always a little too big for the recipe, i tried out the smitten kitchen pumpkin bread that many friends have recommended before, and that has been a delight. moist without being dense or heavy, but still very substantial? a little bit less sugar than the recipe called for, and no freshly ground nutmeg, but we did have fresh ginger and overall it is very nice. it also rose architecturally, which was maybe a function of it being on a higher rack? or of me miss-counting scoops of baking soda? anyway, hilarious.

working on working on consistency. working on momentum. working on not getting in my own way. draft of this conference paper due 10/26, slides and notes for this guest lecture due 10/25, and the chapter abides. the conference paper serves it directly, however, which i feel good about. i keep finding new things to read about, and keep being glad i've continued researching, since i'm coming up with excellent (it feels) material to work with, but i can't let that get in the way of actually. writing.

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

[just-antithings]

Oh, some bitches want problematic music recommendations? And we started at MSI? Alright, let’s go.

- Marilyn Manson: Multiple albums of music written by an abuser in denial from that perspective after his more famous anti-Christian, anti-morality police stuff. You making an abuse ship playlist? Manson will have material to work with. I could make an album length playlist for some ships just with him. You’re almost assured to find something to use.

- Shining: The DSBM band. The inventor of the DSBM subgenre. The DSBM band that disowned the DSBM subgenre because the other bands support recovery and they support self-destruction and suicide. I’d tease them about being a tad edgy but I’m scared Niklas would find me and kill me. And possibly defile my body. Got a character in love with someone more focused on being evil than them? “For The God Below”.

- Otep: Violent lesbian anti-capitalist music. One song is a very positive portrayal of an older woman denied healthcare going on a mass shooting at the insurance company (“Necessary Accessories”). Another is a rap metal song about beating up a man for calling her slurs and then fucking his wife (“Equal Rights, Equal Lefts)”. Also one track is a spoken word short story from the perspective of a serial killer watching a woman and killing her (“Baby’s Breath”). It’s brutal.

- Type O Negative: A band that was accused of being anti-white AND of being Nazis at different times. Songs include “Kill All The White People”, “Der Untermensch”, “I Know You’re Fucking Someone Else”, “My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend”, and “Red Water (Christmas Mourning)”.

- Rammstein: (Formerly East) German metal band, they really really love the subject of fucked up relationships, both real and fictional. “Mein Teil”, “Rosenrot” and “Puppe” are three suggestions on that theme.

- Nine Inch Nails: It’s Trent Reznor and their first few albums are when he was on heroin. You’ve probably heard “Closer”, but what if I told you there’s a bunch of other songs good for playlists? “Reptile”, “Only”, “The Day The World Went Away”, “Sanctified”, I can go on.

- Lordi: Finnish 80s metal revival band, won Eurovision, always wear monster costumes to the point where it’s an unofficial Finnish rule that all of Finland helps keep them unidentified and when one paper broke the rule on the singer once everyone went apeshit, has songs like “Would You Love A Monsterman?”, “Candy For The Cannibal”, “Schizo Doll”, “Discoevil”, and “Man Skin Boots”.

- Genitorturers: Look at that name. Songs like “Lecher Bitch” and “Cum Junkie” aren’t exactly more subtle.

.

[djsherriff-responses]

As someone whose not very familiar with the Rayman franchise, I was a little disappointed hearing his friends and others were around. They seem cool though.

TBH I agree as someone who is a Rayman fan I'm also a bit , not disappointed, but rather wary?

Don't get me wrong I am looking forward to seeing how the other Rayman characters will appear in this universe (especially Razerbeard like oh my god!? What does the robo pirates confirmed existence mean!?) And it's fun to theorisize

But you already seen the tags on various sites and what ship is popular, as much as I adore Rayman I do not want the second season of Captain Laserhawk to be primarily focused on Rayman and the characters from that franchise (especially if the second season is going to be as short as the first, I hope we get more than 6 episodes though). Not saying it'll be bad to include more Rayman elements and explore dimensions X more, just there's already so much going on as is that adding more to it would be difficult to juggle

I'm really, really hoping that the laserhawk version of Rayman doesn't actually know Globox and such, or at least he and Globox aren't as close as their video game counter parts

I think revealing that Globox has existed and is alive this entire time would undermine Ramon's tragedy. I do think it could work, just much like everyone else it'd have be "remixed" to fit the narrative, and that could either go swimmingly well or be as bad as how they did Pey'J and Jade

What makes Captain Laserhawk such a cool show too is how they use game properties (ubisoft games) that most people wouldn't think to make anime au cross overs with or even care for in general. I'm not against adding like Mario into a fanfic of this, but compared to Kingdom Hearts and Space Jam where even the most casual media consumer knows who at least 80% of the characters are, ubisoft games don't have that "iconic" standing with their own stuff. So you can just grab a Far Cry character and make him be a JoJo character and it'll work regardless

I'm not saying don't make Rayman focused fan art and fanfic (hell, I'm gonna be doing that) but it's been hilarious researching the original versions of these cyberpunk anime dweebs and I think we need to make laserhawk versions of characters that's not from Rayman or assassins creed

[ask-sibverse]

New tagline for the sibverse timelines should really be

"how many ships can we include in a single series"

(and like 80% of everyone is poly)

I swear to fuck the main reason I'm not tagging all of the ships is because I hate when fics have three paragraphs of tags but uh. Yeah....

Oh hey let's play a game! (I'll work on my other asks I swear, I'm recovering from a flu I hate how winter is nonstop sick)

Throw a ship at me, I'll state if it's in sibverse, what timeline/s or versions of those characters are involved, and what my favorite non-spoiler scene with them is

[baifengxis]

What are some of your fave cdramas that you would highly rec? I’m looking for something to watch and I would be grateful if you can share some. Thank you!!

Oh, thanks so much for this question, I love recommending cdramas haha!

LEGEND OF FEI [2020] Gotta start with the obvious, because I'll recommend this drama forever even to everyone who has started and can't get into it, I'll always be like, please try again lol It's feminist, fun, feel-good but with very nicely done heavy moments every few episodes, important messages about life and about becoming who you want to be, it has my, at this point, favorite cdrama ship ever, yunfei my beloved!! relationship goals! friendships, funny dynamics, siblings, AMAZING characters and...so much more, I won't continue because I'll never stop lmao

UNEXPECTED [2018] Such an underrated Drama! I don't know why it's so underrated, especially because it's made by the same writer as a very popular drama (The Romance of Tiger and Rose) and the stories are very similar, which I know can be boring but they also have differences that make each drama unique, there's just the same premise of a writer traveling into their own story.

I'VE FALLEN FOR YOU [2020] The perfect rom-com historical drama, with a very fun plot and with plot twists you don't expect, such good characters and two amazing ships! Comfort drama for sure!

THE LOVE BY HYPNOTIC [2019] If you love palace romance, arranged marriage turned true love, a few crazy (but very entertaining) villains and a love story for the ages! Even though it has some very heavy moments, it's one of my comfort dramas as well, because it also includes some VERY FUNNY moments, like I just love dramas that can somehow balance comedy, romance and serious moments so well!

THE QUEEN OF ATTACK [2021] There's so many short dramas nowadays and 80% of them have the same plot of someone traveling into a story lol and yes, this is one of them BUT it's such a good drama like it's insane, I'll wish forever it was a normal length one, but it's still so good, the episodes are 9-10 mins each but there are two seasons, and the episodes have been combined, so eventually it's like having a normal drama with 12 normal length episodes (6 for s1 and 6 for s2). It's so worth it and the two actors are so talented and have such good chemistry, plus the story is unique too, yes this premise has been done many times but I think they still made it so unique and different from others.

THE STARRY LOVE [2023] A recent drama and quite popular, but I'll still recommend it always. Other than the last episode that was a bit disappointing and rushed (still a happy-ish ending though), it's my favorite Xianxia and it was just so good, the story, the cinematography, THE OST, the actors, the ships, the friendships, the sisters, ALL THE WOMEN, youqin literally making all other MLs take notes from him on how to be the best ml out there, so many reasons to watch this drama, just ignore the last part and pretend we saw what they forgot to show us lol

LOVE LIKE THE GALAXY [2022] Where do I even begin??? (This is the first Zhao Lusi drama i recommend in this list, but I just wanna mention, I recommend almost all of them.) Anyway, LLTG is by far my favorite political drama, and non wuxia/xianxia historical cdrama. It's so different and unique, there's literally nothing like it. It's a slow paced drama, with very long scenes (you might only have 3-4 scenes in one episode for example) and it's the reason why It got me a while to get to it, but now I'M SO IN LOVE WITH IT!!! There is not an episode I don't enjoy, it's pure art. Cheng Shao Shang is one of my favorite girls ever and her and Ling Buyi???? I'D DIE FOR THEIR LOVE. Their chemistry is so so so good, now Zhao Lusi can have chemistry with a tree, it's true but still, one of the best cdrama ships out there. Even though I never truly watched classic cdramas like Nirvana on Fire and those "older" ones, I think LLTG somehow is the closest to those except it also loves its characters and focuses on romance more than any older political cdrama did but it works so so well.

LIGHTER AND PRINCESS [2022] Favorite modern drama! I gotta be honest I'm not verrrryyyy into modern cdramas, I like a few, even love some, but generally it's hard to find a modern cdrama I'll go crazy over...but L&P changed that. Or well, it's still hard, maybe even harder now, to find something that tops it, but L&P is just so so good. Again, a quite popular drama, maybe it doesn't need the recommendation, but I have to mention it anyway 'cause it's my baby and I just cannot make a favorite cdramas list without it! Some reasons to watch: One of the best love stories out there, with such good angst and just everything you need on a ship, two main characters so unique that you'll definitely relate to (at least in some aspects), one of the best OSTS ever, perfect cinematography, directing and writing and one of my favorite endings on any show ever!

Some more dramas I recommend but I won't dig deeper (I talked a lot already):

Couple of Mirrors [2021]

Who Rules The World [2022]

Love Between Fairy and Devil [2022]

Young Blood [2019 - S2 starts tomorrow!]

Wait, My Youth [2019]

Zhaoyao/The Legends [2019]

Arsenal Military Academy [2019]

There's probably more but I think that's good for now, I hope I helped you find something to watch and I'm always here for more recs if you want :P <3

[ecoamerica]

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!