#The main character is a writer (and we see their writing)

[maelancoli]

Writing Intimacy

i often see writers sharing a sentiment of struggling with writing kiss scenes which honestly bleeds into other portrayals of physical intimacy. i see it a lot in modernized styles of writing popularized by the recent trend in publishing to encourage short, choppy sentences and few adverbs, even less descriptive language. this makes intimacy come across awkward, like someone writing a script or clumsy recounting of events rather than a beautiful paragraph of human connection.

or just plane horniness. but hey, horny doesn't have to be mutually exclusive with poetic or sensual.

shallow example: they kissed desperately, tongues swirling and she moaned. it made her feel warm inside.

in depth example: she reached for the other woman slowly and with a small measure of uncertainty. the moment her fingers brushed the sharp, soft jaw of her companion, eliza's hesitance slid away. the first kiss was gentle when she finally closed the distance between them. she pressed her lips lightly to gabriella's in silent exploration. a tender question. gabriella answered by meeting her kiss with a firmer one of her own. eliza felt the woman's fingers curling into her umber hair, fingernails scraping along her scalp. everything inside eliza relaxed and the nervousness uncoiled from her gut. a warm buzz of energy sunk through her flesh down to the very core of her soul. this was right. this was always where she needed to be.

the first complaint i see regards discomfort in writing a kiss, feeling like one is intruding on the characters. the only way to get around this is to practice. anything that makes you uncomfortable in writing is something you should explore. writing is at its best when we are pushing the envelope of our own comfort zones. if it feels cringy, if it feels too intimate, too weird, too intrusive, good. do it anyway! try different styles, practice it, think about which parts of it make you balk the most and then explore that, dissect it and dive into getting comfortable with the portrayal of human connection.

of course the biggest part comes to not knowing what to say other than "they kissed" or, of course, the tried and true "their lips crashed and their tongues battled for dominance" 😐. so this is my best advice: think beyond the mouth. okay, we know their mouths are mashing. but what are their hands doing? are they touching one another's hair? are they scratching or gripping desperately at one another? are they gliding their hands along each other's body or are they wrapping their arms tightly to hold each other close? do they sigh? do they groan? do they relax? do they tense? are they comfortable with each other or giddy and uncertain? is it a relief, or is it bringing more questions? is it building tension or finally breaking it?

get descriptive with the emotions. how is it making the main character/pov holder feel? how are they carrying those emotions in their body? how do they feel the desire in their body? desire is not just felt below the belt. it's in the gut, it's in the chest, it's in the flushing of cheeks, the chills beneath the skin, the goosebumps over the surface of the flesh. everyone has different pleasure zones. a kiss might not always lead desire for overtly sexual touches. a kiss might lead to the desire for an embrace. a kiss might lead to the impulse to bite or lick at other areas. a kiss could awaken desire to be caressed or caress the neck, the shoulder, the back, the arms etc. describe that desire, show those impulses of pleasure and affection.

of course there is the tactile. what does the love interest taste like? what do they smell like? how do they kiss? rough and greedy? slow and sensual? explorative and hesitant? expertly or clumsily? how does it feel to be kissed by them? how does it feel to kiss them?

i.e. examine who these individuals are, what their motives and feelings are within that moment, who they are together, what it looks like when these two individuals come together. a kiss is not about the mouth. it's about opening the door to vulnerability and desire in one's entire body and soul.

[jesncin]

The Potential of Asian Lois Lane: An extra addition

A bonus addition to my Asian Lois essay. I know Lois Chaudhari isn't technically a Lois since the premise of the comic she's from is where the Superman mythos is fictional and the characters in it happen to be named Clark/Lois etc. But since she's a Lois stand in and romantic partner to the Clark Kent of that story, I figured she deserves an honorable mention at least.

Here's where I position her in my Spectrum of Asian Lois Lane chart. And I'd like to talk about her!

Compared to American Alien, this Lois is actually specific and textually Indian in Superman: Secret Identity. Unlike American Alien Lois (that never specified what kind of Asian Lois was), she can't be replaced as a white woman because the text acknowledges her Indian identity (her name, lines of dialogue like this, etc.) hence she's not interchangeable with whiteness. So this take has that going for it.

Where Lois Chaudhari still falls behind Girl Taking Over (and what it shares in common with American Alien) is yet again a sense of missed opportunities narratively.

In Superman: Secret Identity, a man named Clark Kent from Picketsville suddenly has Superman's powers. After years of being made fun of for his namesake, he suddenly is what everyone has been making fun of him for- and as he lives through life he slowly understands why fictional!Superman is the way he is. It's a great story but where it misses the mark for me is its failure to recognize Superman as an immigrant. Secret Identity's Clark isn't an alien immigrant, or a human immigrant, and is instead ostracized because of his name. Government baddies want to do experiments on him so he has to hide from them too. But then he meets city girl Lois Chaudhari, and they connect because people keep teasing them for their names and Lois knows what it's like to keep secrets because she,,, committed a crime as a teen once.

"I guess we're both dangerous felons, then. Public menaces."

Being hunted by the government and being experimented on isn't really the same as being caught shoplifting.

It works well enough as a connection but to me is a huge missed opportunity to have an Indian American relate to your Superman stand-in as an immigrant. To connect on a deeper level other than "people make fun of us for sharing names with fictional characters". Later in the story, Clark and Lois have twin daughters who are visibly Indian. They too, have Superman's powers. While we're treated extensively to the narrative showing us why Clark would hide his powers from the government wishing to seek harm on him, we never get to see what Clark's daughters have to deal with on top of being visibly non-white.

Superman as an alien immigrant is an anecdote in this story. Because after all, that's not what a white American man from Picketsville would find relatable about him, is it? I have the same thing to say about Secret Identity that I did with American Alien: "Clark isn’t the only American Alien in American Alien, if you catch my drift."

I think this story is the perfect encapsulation of the limits of a white writer. One of my hottest takes on Superman is that the best and most holistic take on his character doesn't exist in the white imagination. Take a look once more at the Spectrum of Asian Lois Lanes chart that I made. All save for Girl Taking Over were headed by white men (MAWS may have Asian directors and writers on their team but ultimately its pitch and main ideas are the brain child of Jake Wyatt, a white man).

People have taken issue with me saying this and assume that I mean white people can't write a good Superman story, and no. That's not what I'm saying. I like Superman: Secret Identity. I even like American Alien. But it's been 80 years of predominantly white writers of all backgrounds getting the chance to write Superman- and already multiple attempts at an Asian Lois- and yet it took until Gene Yang (and artists Gurihiru) with Smashes the Klan and Sarah Kuhn (and artist Arielle Jovellanos) with Girl Taking Over that I felt Superman's themes as an immigrant finally took center stage and weren't just a mention or anecdote.

In no way do I want to imply that getting writers of color or Asian writers specifically will mean you'll be guaranteed a great Superman story. I'm against promoting the idea that diverse talent is infallible or tokenizing and essentializing them in such a way. What I am saying is that the best and most holistic story on Superman as an alien immigrant isn't even a goal in the white imagination. Immigrant Superman doesn't live in that mind. He doesn't pay rent there. He doesn't stop by to visit. And no, Superman creators Shuster and Siegel wouldn't have written that story either. Superman may have been the "Champion of the Oppressed" from another planet under their pen, but he would never have related to or have had immigrant solidarity with America's perpetual foreigners the way Smashes the Klan portrayed him as having. Superman's creators were too busy writing Slam Bradley to be able to write that kind of Superman.

The appeal of these cape characters for me, is the process of adaptation. Seeing them be handed off to someone else with different life experience. Seeing them bring a whole new perspective that surpasses even the creator's intentions on their character. That's what makes these characters rich and worthy of constant revisits. I just think that people of different backgrounds should be able to get as many chances as white men have with writing Superman and his cast of characters.

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

i have a proposition to make to the fire emblem fandom in regards to ai bullshit: we makalov the face of the anti-ai movement depending on how different systems are set up, be it for those who write, those who draw, etc, there are likely ways to rig the system to overload the systems with specific things which is why i suggest we use makalov for this those who have played the tellius duology know he isnt exactly the greatest guy, and also know that mod goldmary seems to be the exception not the rule when it comes to how people view him as a character, so when people try to cheat by using stolen work feed to an ai to create some garbage about fire emblem? they can never escape that piece of shit no matter how hard they try, they'd be lucky if they even see marth no idea if it still applies but i know tumblr had it set up where each specific blog and side blog needed to go into settings to disable ai feeding, if that is still the case then it should be easy to just create a side blog just for the purposes of fucking with the systems when it comes to art just go nuts, don't have any specific things aside from putting so much makalov dna into the system that it thinks fire emblem lords have pink hair instead of blue, maybe purposefully fuck up the hands and other limbs and whatnot so they can never fully fix that issue meanwhile for writing, oh boy i got ideas, smut writers this is your time to shine! make the most nasty vile shit imaginable(while still being legal ofc just gross) and always include makalov in it, heck maybe mess the system up by ruining the lore on purpose and putting him in games he's not supposed to be in, want to have an ai write a fanfiction about awakening? too bad you lazy sack of shit you'll never escape this pink haired horse man no matter what timeline you try seeing as the purpose of these writings is to mess up any bot trying to create fanfiction this also means those who are horrible when it comes to writing can also join in! purposefully misspell and misuse words, throw proper grammar out of the window, and act like this is just how human language naturally works! also those who are good at writing can also purposefully not write good, though as a writer myself i know that is easier said then done at this point, it isn't meant to be posted to your main accounts but rather an extra expendable account just made for the purposes of ruining ai for fire emblem, or if we're lucky ai in general! tl;dr: it would be really fucking funny if this wretched bastard of a man named makalov became known for being the anti-ai symbol of the fandom

Terrible idea. There's already hundreds of thousands of fe images and fanfics in their database, a few pieces of makalov art and fics will not change much. Also making stuff specifically to ruin ai is just not a smart idea. Make something bc you enjoy it instead.

I know you mean well, but please do proper research before you suggest something like this :(

If you really wanna troll with makalov, then join the makasweep for cyl9 and vote for makalov!

[bellaireland1981]

Bradley Bradshaw Sunday

This Week's Feature..... ALL of my FAVORITE Bradley's in their ORIGINAL form from @roosterforme

If you have not yet read these AMAZING creations... YOU ARE MISSING OUT! If you have read.... "the knock offs".... YOU ARE MISSING OUT!!!! READ THEM ALL HERE!

The MAIN point of this post is to bring recognition to an amazing creator on this site. One I admire the hell out of and respect. Emily works her tail off to create incredible stories and turns out content for us all at incredibly impressive rates... (speaking as someone who has had writer's block for awhile now)... All of her stories are incredible and her ability create amazingly detailed universes within the TGM world is truly remarkable.

There are others on this site that think it's completely ok and acceptable to copy her storylines and characters (at times down to exact nicknames and plot details)... and that is sickening. No writer wants to get on here and see their work turned into a knockoff version with someone else's name slapped onto it. Don't be assholes people.... write your own stuff. Can you use the same Trope? YES! Absolutely... goes without saying. Same TGM characters in similar situations? Yes... sure... SAME EXACT ORIGINAL PLOTLINES WITH ORIGINAL CHARACTERS USED? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Use common sense.

NOW!!!! I give you... ALL of my favorite Bradley's! (below break)

Beer Boy and Sugar!

Old Habits Die Hard Right Girl Wrong Time (then read all the one shots that follow)

Roo and Baby Girl!

Is it Working For You? Always Ever Only You Aim For The Sky

(Then there are sooooo many one shots for them!)

Coach and Kitten!

Batting Practice (Followed by one shots... WE NEED MORE EMILY)

Daddy and Princess!

The Younger Kind

Bradley and Gorgeous!

Yours Truly

[starrysnowdrop]

Were there any barriers to you establishing your OCs relationship? Perhaps social or cultural stigma? Or a concern that "ships" with that character were already overdone? Or simply a fear of being seen as "cringe"? If so then how did you overcome this?

Ohhh now this is a good one, as this is something that I’ve been told, that I have inspired others to “overcome their fears” of shipping based on certain stigmas in the FFXIV fandom, so let’s get into it shall we? Oh and I will apologize in advance, as this WILL get long.

The Stigmas

Hali x Aymeric

So for Hali x Aymeric, the obvious stigma is that Hali is a lalafell, and Aymeric is not. Though I’ve seen lately that this stigma has waned a bit, especially here on Tumblr where people who infantilize lalas don’t seem to last long, but keep in mind that there is still plenty of lala infantilism on the bird app and other places like Reddit and in game.

For my main ship, that is really the only thing that I see that makes the ship “problematic” to some in the fandom; some people still see lalafells as “child-coded”, despite lalafells being a fantasy race of little people, no different to gnomes, hobbits, dwarves, etc. in other fantasy media, and despite the in game world treating lalafellin adults the same as any other race.

Yume x Zenos

(Yume’s blog: @firelightmuse)

So for Yume x Zenos, but also to a lesser extent Urania (Hali’s Azem) x Hermes, and my other secret ship that I haven’t revealed yet because it’s still in development, these ships fall into the category of being “problematic” because they are Hero x Villain ships at their core, and because Zenos, Hermes, and the secret ship partner are all major antagonists in the story, they have many haters.

Now there isn’t anything wrong with not liking certain characters, as I truly think we all have certain characters that we just don’t vibe with for one reason or another. But there is a problem, however, when people go after villain shippers just because they happen to not like those characters.

Just like with the Lala infantilism problem, villain ships get a lot of hate in the fandom, but for different reasons. I would guess that the main reason is the haters assume that villain shippers either don’t see that the villains have done bad things and/or try to minimize or excuse the villains’ bad behavior. Now I won’t say that there aren’t a few people out there who will truly excuse a villain’s bad behavior and try to make them out to not be as bad of a person as they are written in canon. But I really do think that there’s not as many of them as the haters are likely to believe.

Remember: just because someone is a fan of a villain doesn’t mean they agree with their actions, and a writer is NOT the same as their character. For example, Yume may minimize and/or downright ignore all of the pain and suffering Zenos has inflicted upon not only her, but innumerable others, doesn’t mean that I as Yume’s writer share the same views. I actually consider Yume to ride the thin line between anti-hero and villain herself, just so y’all know.

How to Overcome the Stigmas

So now that the individual stigmas of each of my ships have been outlined, how did I overcome the stigmas? And how difficult was it for me to do?

Well, if you’ve followed me for several years already, you might’ve seen that Hali, my lala WoL, is not the first WoL I have written. That honor goes to Yume, who is a Raen Au Ra and she doesn’t come with the same stigma that Hali does as a lalafell. So I had the privilege for several years of being able to write Yume without the infantilism that Hali would have to fight against in the fandom. But those years gave me enough courage in my own writing to create Hali and to fend off the stigma of lala x non-lala shipping and my own insecurities surrounding it.

Though it was difficult, and it took me a long time to do so, I eventually realized that I was happier and way more fulfilled when I wrote what I wanted to and not what I thought my followers or my friends or anyone else wanted. Trust me, I tried more “popular” and less “problematic” ships before, and even though they were nice at the time, I ultimately dropped them because I realized that I didn’t feel fulfilled, and that I was scared to write for more “problematic” ships because I feared the backlash.

One HUGE thing that I highly recommend is to find yourself a good support system to surround yourself with. Whether that be reaching out to your mutuals here on Tumblr or joining discord servers with like minded individuals, having people there who can help you through your journey in shipping will help greatly! Trust me, I wouldn’t be where I am today without my support system to be there for me when I’m having a bout of anxiety and/or insecurity with my writing.

Another thing that I highly recommend you do is to Unfollow, Hide, and/or Block haters liberally!! Please, it’s for your own mental health and wellbeing to do so! If you’re wanting to ship your lala oc for example, never hesitate to block the lala haters out there! No good will come from seeing the hate all over your feed, because it will just bring you down.

That’s about all I have for now. If you have any other questions on this subject, please do not hesitate to send me a message, DM, or ask!! I am always happy to help with any questions or advice when it comes to shipping! Thank you so much @mimble-sparklepudding for the ask, and thank you all for reading this very long winded answer!! 💖

[mortysmith]

In theory i like the idea that rick is growing and developing as a person. In practice it ends up falling short though, because no one balances him out. rick is getting better while no one else is getting worse, and it causes the whole thing to end up feeling a bit stale. The biggest draw, at least for me, has always been rick and morty's shitty dynamic, but it barely exists anymore because rick has been so watered down.

The ideal solution is literally just to make morty into a bigger asshole. Essentially flipping the main characters' personalities would offer a wide variety of conflict into the show, and would also help keep it "fresh".

Instead it feels the writers are pretending that they can't possibly do anything with morty's character, that they have to keep him the same anxious idiot he was in season one. I've said this before, but it's incredibly frustrating to watch the show have no problem with expanding rick's character while struggling with keeping morty's heavily stagnated characterization consistent. Where rick has space to develop between multiple seasons, morty is constantly forced into one of two boxes (smart/stupid) depending on the episode.

[paldogangsaan]

ngl if they end the season with the battle of the gullet after wasting harry collet's time and talent by completely cutting out jacaerys' storyline and having him do nothing the entire season i'm gonna lose my mind i think

[pjlotrkwt]

it would be amazing if there were more reader insert that have a storyline about being family from your confort characters

[aroace-number-eight]

Drawing Five according to his canonical UaO epilogue description is so messy and saddening because there's so much to account for that got him physically fucked up and you know the writers were hammering in this whole disfigurement as punishment thing with him

Because first you have the eye hole where Marina pierced him, and I'm not sure if he's still wearing that gauze eye patch on the island because eventually it'll get dirty and he'll have to toss it

Then you have the scar marks from when Setrákus Ra clawed right through his metal skin "like butter" and it's not mentioned whether those marks are still there or they disappeared when he returned to his flesh skin (and it's doubtful those were healed at all, we don't even know if Marina had a proper visit and talked to him and possibly healed those away)

Then you have the goop that created some patchy spots all over his skin and show up all web-like on him

And then how it's implied he starved on the island because he lost weight so fast and is described to have flaps of skin on his arms and torso and a body so skinny you could see an outline of his ribs and spine

Bro he has so much physical trauma on him, like they did the most on him and left it like that till the very end

[pyrriax]

ANYWHO goodnight tumblr i'll be back on the art grind tomorrow i think 🙏

[scrawnytreedemon]

How to write Main Character: Make them feel unique,make them feel different but also familiar. Like you can see them everywhere at the same time nowhere

Or we can go the easy road and make one with God complex

I feel like ppl don't really make good main characters anymore. They feel the same these days

Ehhh???

Honestly, people do make good main characters, you just have to look. Usually easier to find in non-YA novels, in my experience. They tend to feel more like fleshed-out *people* with their own life-experience than vessels for the reader to insert themselves into,

Which, ironically enough, makes it easier for me to relate to them, even if we are otherwise very different people. If you make your character a person, then inevitably, some of those experiences line up.

If anything, trying to walk that tightrope of having your character just "unique" enough to be interesting while still "relatable" enough as to appeal to as many people as possible is where things can get muddy and you end up failing either way.

I think it tends to affect some genres more than others, but at the end of the day... It really isn't as bad of an issue as people make it out to be. Like, yeah. Mediocre literature exists. Things tend to be mid more than they are especially good or bad.

And I think that's fine.

Plus, tastes vary. There's no doubt alot of stuff I love that people will look at and say is subpar. There is no objective way of looking at fiction-- We all come in with our own biases.

I'm going offtopic. Hope the first half of this reply made sense. Apologies if I've completely misunderstood your point.

I dunno, I just hear these complaints, and it makes me think of alot of those shitty writing guides that I used to eat up (often made by amateur writers themselves), which were very insistent on finding the "right" way to write and ruthlessly mocking anything "bad."

I don't think that's what you were going for, at all, but I still think it's very generalising, and I'm not sure what to make of it?

[waterberry-strawmelon]

i know a thousand other people have said this already, but im so tired of the fact that people just dont write good fanfiction about female characters or female relationships. all the 100k-word epics on ao3 are about m/m or m/f pairings, and i just mourn for all the life-changing stories we could have about female characters, the ones that fundamentally re-frame your way of thinking, the ones where the romance is slow burn that's hot and heavy and so, so achingly intimate that the page is bleeding with it.

where are those stories?

[mejomonster]

i think in my indulgent Demon immortal Fei Du au, I’m going to make him part fox spirit on his mom’s side. Just because priest made SO many references in Silent Reading to fox spirits being with humans, and to Tales from a Chinese Studio stories. It wouldn’t be right if my boy Fei Du wasn’t actually a sneaky fox too ToT

[magic-owl]

there is a CANON LESBIAN MAIN CHARACTER. has her storyline been totally perfect? no! it could be better! but she has a healthy and loving relationship that is fleshed out and explored and her identity is treated with respect and it matters so so much to the story and it would not be the same without her.

but here people go flinging around “queerbait” and “homophobia” like wet monkey poo because their fandom flagship ship isn’t canon come on you guys

[avocado-frog]

Forget-me-not. 21

Chapter rating: T Chapter warnings: None Chapter title: 3/6/2019 Chapter summary: Elliot-- Lily of the valley The lily of the valley represents purity, youth, sincerity, and happiness. It looks sweet, and the meaning is generally positive, the flower itself is highly poisonous, and can represent pain due to death. The plant could be used to help with eye infections. The plant flourishes in the spring, but dies soon after. When taking care of the flower, be cautious. The lily of the valley can be a great apology gift to someone you have hurt.

Elliot stepped on a piece of ice on the sidewalk, shattering it, scattering the remaining pieces with his foot. Logan glanced down at him, after hearing the satisfied hum.

Logan couldn't help but worry for him, he had woken up quite a bit earlier than usual, claiming to have had his third bad nightmare in a row that made him wake up early, but Dylan said that they fell asleep long before Elliot would even begin to look tired. He was starting to look a bit more tired than usual, too. Eye a bit darker, moves a little slower. He was jumpier, too.

Logan had gone to go on a walk, with not much else to do that morning. Elliot had scrambled to put shoes on and follow him when he found out. He mumbled something that Logan wasn't meant to hear, that he didn't want to be left alone again. Logan let him come.

Elliot didn't talk, he hadn't said a word, other than a quiet mumble or two, all of which had been Elliot talking to himself, to Logan's knowledge. Elliot, who held onto Logan's sleeve in a tight grip, flinched back suddenly, breath hitching audibly.

"Are you okay?" Logan found himself asking, and a small white cloud formed in the air from the cold when Elliot let out a slow exhale, nodding quietly.

Logan was worried about him. He was quieter, wasn't sleeping, a little more withdrawn. Logan, at first, thought it was because of his little one-sided fight with Leo when he overheard their conversation. After thinking about it, because he had been thinking about it the night before, he had come to realize it was an ongoing thing.

A little after Ryan almost drowned, he supposed is when it had started. Elliot, in the few months he'd known him, had never been all that expressive. After Ryan fell in the lake, there would be days when he would be almost animated, and then days where he would be completely unresponsive. Whether Ryan falling in the water- even if it had been harmless in the long run, despite the bit of stress it caused Jaxon and Ryan- had triggered something was unknown.

Another thing Logan had only noticed when Leo mentioned it the day before, was that the youngest clearly remembered more than he let on; Logan hoped to get some sort of answer out of him, hopefully with as little prying as possible.

"So," Logan thought that was a good place to start. "There's going to be a lot of storms this month."

Elliot paused, and stared at the sidewalk, briefly shaking his head, and kept walking.

"I figured I'd warn you, since I know you're afraid of them." That was part of the reason. Elliot nodded. "Ryan said it has something to do with your mother. Is that true?"

Another nod, a careful one. Elliot wouldn't talk, that was fine, Logan could work with that.

"Is that what you've been having nightmares about, too?"

Elliot sucked in a breath, and gave a short nod in response.

"You didn't want to wake up Dylan?" Logan tilted his head a little, and Elliot shook his head in the negative. "They won't care, promise."

Elliot shook his head firmly.

"Well, you can always talk to me or any of the others, if something's bothering you."

He didn't respond.

---

They didn't go too far, as it would be quite embarrassing to get lost and have to have one of the twins drive down to pick them up, so they were back home within thirty minutes. Elliot was the first one awake, and as the rule went, he got to pick breakfast. (Cinnamon and sugar on toast was enough for him, though he appreciated hashbrowns. Logan was reluctant to cook in Kai's kitchen, even though he was told that it was perfectly fine, unless Leo was doing the cooking, because they didn't trust her with it yet. That was fine, their loss.)

He sat on the kitchen counter, focusing solely on the motion of swinging his feet in the air, the sound of hashbrowns steaming on a pan next to him. It was still early, the others weren't awake yet, but Leo got up around seven, Cass would come down a few minutes later, then Dylan, Jaxon, Lily, Sam, Ryan. Elliot was always either the first one or the last one awake, and Logan was always the first.

His feet hung limp midair, he wasn't tall enough to reach the floor from where he was sitting. Sam would never shut up about being the tallest of the three, Elliot thought that was annoying. He wasn't even the shortest, Ryan was, and Elliot was taller than him by a couple inches, Sam was only taller than Elliot was by one or two.

He wondered what it would be like to be the oldest, like Logan was. People wouldn't treat him like he was glass anymore, he was sure, because no one treated Logan like that. He didn't like when people worried about him.

"Here, you want to cut up some fruit?" Logan asked, and handed him a knife. Elliot stared at the blade for a moment, looking at the wobbly version of his reflection, and nodded, willing to be of some use. Logan handed him a box of strawberries, said that ten would be enough for everyone.

Elliot had never cut up strawberries before, Leo said he had no business holding a knife, but he had watched the older kids before. He carefully plunged the knife through the stem part, flipping it upright, as he cut it in half.

The red of the berries stained the blade. Elliot stared for a moment or two.

He finished the task quicker than he had thought he would, blinking in surprise when he was done. He must have zoned out. That was okay.

He averted his gaze back to Logan. The hashbrowns hissed angrily in the pan. It always amazed him, watching one of the older three cook. Logan, most typically, made breakfast, and dinner, packed lunches if the triplets didn't want to go through the lunch line process at school. Elliot never wanted to, it was crowded, they had to eat off of trays, and it didn't sit right with him, eating off trays like he did in the lab. He'd rather have Logan's food anyways.

Leo, Elliot liked her cooking almost as much as Logan's. Leo was good at drinks, mostly. He thought of the hot chocolate she had made him that one morning, in particular. Hot chocolate, tea, and apple cider were her specialties. In terms of food, it was always spicier than it should be, only by a little bit. Spicy food always seemed to give him nosebleeds.

Cass didn't cook a lot, which didn't make much sense, as she did most of the other things around the house, despite the numerous times Logan told her that she didn't need to. When she did, it was dessert. Elliot liked the cake she made, as he decided that chocolate was his favorite. Ryan's was vanilla, and Sam's was red velvet.

Logan gave him his plate, a white ceramic one, with two slices of toast- with jelly and cinnamon and sugar- and some hashbrowns on the side. There was a bowl of fruit, too, but Logan advised him not to try to carry it out with the plate. It wobbled in his hands as he made his way to his cousin's dining table.

The plate clinked softly against the polished, wooden table, and he was left alone, in the dark. Comforted by the sounds in the kitchen a room away, he closed his eyes for a second. He jolted back to consciousness with a sharp gasp. He shook his head, hoping to keep himself from falling asleep again. Weird.

He moved to pick up a piece of toast with his hand, only to hesitate. ...He had gone on a walk earlier, he'd been outside, he probably had all sorts of poisonous things on his hands. He hesitated again, hand clenching over the plate, heart racing. He could... wash his hands, would that help? His shoulders tensed, no it wouldn't. That wouldn't be good enough. Was the fork okay? He looked it over, turning it in his hands. There was a watermark on the back, that wasn't good.

Abruptly, he stood up, nearly taking his chair down with him, as he ran into the kitchen again, ignoring the odd look Logan gave him, as he pulled a drawer open, sifting through the forks. It needed to be a small one, he didn't like the big forks, they were uncomfortable in his hand. He found a fork, no odd marks or anything. To be safe, he ran it under the sink. Once, twice, three times. He made a satisfied sound to himself, running back to the table.

He opted to use the fork to eat the toast. Stabbing straight through the bread, chewing on the corner. He wasn't all that hungry, but it would worry the others if he didn't eat anything, wouldn't it? He didn't like people to be worried about him.

He glanced up at the sound of clamoring noises, the sound of nine people coming down the staircase all at once. He hummed, and looked back down at the table. They'd join him soon enough, he hoped. (They wouldn't leave him alone, would they?)

His eye watered a little at the mere thought. He pulled his hood over his face, hunching over a bit when he heard someone sit down next to him, followed by a second, and a third. He glanced up, and Logan smiled, setting down a cup of juice and the bowl of fruit. Elliot nodded, not trusting his own voice. He wanted to cry. This was ridiculous.

His gaze snapped up when someone nudged his shoulder. Leo gave him a concerned look, mouthing something that vaguely looked like a you okay? Elliot nodded, and took a breath, and continued eating the toast with his fork.

It was easy to distract himself, once the other kids sat down and conversations swept over the previously-silent table. The twins shot each other glances from where they sat next to each other, and Jaxon looked... upset? He wasn't sure. His face was red, and so was Kai's, oddly enough.

"So," Someone asked, he believed her name was Macie, but that didn't sound right. "What are we going to do today?"

A shrug from Logan, and he looked at the twins. Leo shot her hands up in defense. "Hey, don't look at me. I'm not in charge. Cass?"

"There's not much to do around here," Cass said, picking at the hashbrowns. "We have a park, but it might be too cold for that today. There's the library, the movie theater- that Leo is banned from- the... arcade? Are you banned from that, Leo?"

"Yep," Leo said, drawing it out. "Sure am."

Jaxon sputtered from across the table. "Wh- How!?"

Leo shrugged. "Strength, determination, and minor accounts of assault."

"I genuinely hate to ask this, but I am curious. Leo, what did you do?" Logan sounded exasperated already. Elliot snickered.

Leo chuckled nervously. "So, you guys know mini golf?"

"Oh no."

"I had one of the mini golf clubs, I got bored, so I may have... accidentally... hit some guy in the knee. Five times."

Elliot snickered again, and Cass rubbed the bridge of her nose with her whole hand. "Leo..."

Leo raised her hands in defense again. "No, no. I get it, that was a thing I shouldn't have done. Luckily, I hopped the fence and ran off before the cops were called."

"Moving past Leo's criminal record, there's a bigger city about thirty minutes from here," Kai mentioned. "We could probably find something there, and Leo shouldn't be banned from there, since she hadn't stolen a car yet."

Leo coughed into her hand. Cass's whole head snapped over to hers.

"It was only one time before that, Cassie." Leo cringed a bit. "Did you really think I'd just immediately know how to drive when we took mo- Emily's car?"

"I was sure hoping so."

Elliot flinched at Emily's name. He remembered her, she looked like the twins, brown hair, brown eyes, but that was where the resemblance ended. In every other way, the twins were better. Absentmindedly, he traced a thin scar on his hand. He wondered if Emily ever knew they were related, if she cared. He doubted it.

Suddenly, a fork clattered against the plate, chair screeching back against the wood, and Elliot glanced up. Jaxon hid behind Kai's chair, staring at something. Elliot scanned the table, to find a small, black spider on the wall behind Dylan.

Dylan caught on, and stared at the spider for a long moment, then at their brother, staring from behind the chair with wide eyes. Dylan thought about it for a second or two, before letting the spider crawl onto their hand, eliciting a screech from Jaxon, and a louder scream as they ate it.

Leo watched with mild interest. Shrugging slightly, either unamused or unsurprised. Either way, she gave them a high five when they sat back down. Logan, with a deadpan expression, signed that he was going to evict them for that. He wouldn't.

"...Anyways," Logan cringed deeply. "I think we could probably find something to do in the city. I haven't done any sort of birthday present shopping for Dylan or you three."

He gestured vaguely in the triplet's general direction. Elliot squirmed uncomfortably from the sudden attention.

"Oh, right!" Cass grinned brightly, leaning behind Leo to nudge Elliot's shoulder a bit. "What do you want?"

Elliot shrugged loosely. He remembered Lily and Logan's birthdays, with Lily's having been in December, and Logan's in January. Lily was technically the same age as the twins now, though Logan was still the oldest.

He'd never really celebrated a birthday before, now that he thought about it. It'd never been a priority before. Being by himself for so long, he'd lost track of time fast. He hadn't even known that it had been more than a year before Ryan mentioned that he was ten, not five, like had been before.

He was... excited. He didn't think he would even get to live that long. "I kind of want to play an instrument, maybe."

Cass nodded, taking note of that fact. They had started to make it required to play something at school, and Ryan had taken the violin, and Sam the guitar. They were still in the stage of picking out the instruments, so Elliot had mainly been trying all of them, to see which he liked the most. So far, the drums were easiest, but they were loud, and he wasn't a fan. He liked the piano. It wasn't a strings instrument, it made him different from the other two.

They settled on going to the mall and continued eating in relative silence, other than a few side conversations that Elliot wasn't all that engaged in. Leo and Jaxon rambled about some movie they had been watching- Elliot could hear it from his room, it had been some Western movie from the dark ages- Cass was talking to her cousins, and Logan was talking with the twin's grandmother.

That intrigued him. He hadn't seen the woman since they got there and she introduced herself to him. She was a bit short, long hair braided behind her back. She sat beside Logan, thanking him for the food, and he smiled, politely nodding. He stared at her for a while. She was his grandmother too, wasn't she? That was weird. A year ago, if someone told him that he had so many family members, he wouldn't believe them.

It was all so strange. Five months ago, he was alone, now he wasn't. That was that, end of story. What had happened during the five years? It was a blur. He woke up, he had his stuffed rabbit; that was good. He was by himself, that was bad. Sam left him, that was bad.

Elliot glanced at Sam, smiling and laughing about whatever it was Lily had said. What had Sam done? He wanted to remember.

There was... a reason he didn't like Sam, wasn't there?

Ryan would know, wouldn't he? Sam and Ryan were always together, it was like that when they were younger, wasn't it? He couldn't remember- why couldn't he remember?- Ryan would be able to tell him.

There was a reason he didn't like Ryan either, wasn't there?

Why couldn't he remember?

Could Lily tell him? Lily was smart, and she figured out the disorder Ryan had, maybe she could tell him why he forgot everything. Maybe he could ask Ryan to tell him. Maybe he could ask Malia, Kai's grandmother, what happened to his mother.

He would ask them soon. He put his emptied plate in the sink. Today would be a good day.

---

"Okay, so-" Leo shuffled through a stack of money, splitting it into thirds. She handed some of it to Sam. "You three are going with Jaxon and Kai, Dylan's with Logan and Cass, and I'm with you and Marcy."

Sam bounced on his heels, giving his sister a thumbs up, fully ignoring the warning to be careful he got from her, as he skidded down the hallway of the mall, jumping as he grabbed his brother's shoulders from behind. Ryan shrieked in surprise, and Sam waved the money in front of his eyes. Ryan swatted his hand away.

"Here you go!" Sam handed Jaxon the money, walking a bit further ahead than the rest of them, with Kai, doing a small twirl as he went back to where his brothers were. Elliot had his arms crossed, staring at the ground. Sam shook his shoulder. "You look angry."

Ryan slapped the back of his head, and Sam glared at him. Elliot shot him a warning look.

Sam snickered at the response he got, brightening when Elliot's glare melted into a small smile, and a gentle punch to the arm. Whether that was his real attempt at a punch or not was up for debate.

Truthfully, he didn't get why Elliot was always so angry. From what Sam knew, Elliot couldn't even remember what happened, so there wasn't any reason for him to be mad. Everything was okay!

He didn't understand why Elliot was always so angry, or why Ryan always held a sort of melancholic look, no matter where he was, or what they were doing. Even now, he glanced to the side, to see his older brother looking down, wringing his hands, giving Sam a brief smile as they took a turn. Jaxon insisted on leading, even though he'd never been there, or had a single clue as to where they were going.

He resisted the urge to ask Ryan if he was okay. Of course he was! They had no reason not to be! They weren't at the lab anymore, they never would be again, they got real food, real books, toys without the lingering threat of them being taken away, a real family, finally. He could start over, refresh. Everything was going to be okay.

"Oh, Sam. You'll like this place." Jaxon nudged his shoulder, pointing at a green sign. A trampoline park. He had no clue what that was, but he liked parks.

Inside the area, the floor was black, carpeted, but had colorful streamers patterned into it. To the side were a few arcade games. He brightened. Leo would like that, wouldn't she? The lights above- he gasped- a disco ball.

Entranced by the spinning, colorful silver ball on the ceiling, strobing lights all over the room, for a long time, while Ryan pushed him forward, and Kai paid up front, Sam almost ran into three other people.

The girl at the cash register had him hold out his hand, and he hesitated, nearly giving her the hand with the tattoo on it- that wouldn't go over well- and chose to use his opposite hand. She wrapped a paper bracelet around it, neon orange. And handed him a pair of socks. Weird.

He admired the bracelet for a second or two, orange was his favorite color, until Jaxon led him to one of the folding chairs, and explained the socks. They were to prevent him from slipping, with gripper things on the bottom. They'd rent a locker for the rest of their stuff.

"Are you going to come, too?" Elliot asked, voice low, contrasting the music playing on the speakers. He watched Ryan struggle to adjust headphones over his ears at the noise. Elliot had his own headphones- black and purple, with stickers of spiders on them- around his neck. Sam didn't. He liked the feeling of music vibrating in his chest. His brothers thought it sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

Jaxon glanced at Kai, who shook his head. Jaxon was quick to shake his head, too. "We'll stay here. We'll get Gatorade, too. I know what flavors you guys like. We'll be here! Come back if you need a break, don't overdo it! Have fun, be safe!"

Sam waved at them, taking mental note of where they were. It didn't matter, Ryan would remember.

Ryan gasped sharply when the floor fell out from underneath them, and lightly bounced them back up. Elliot tripped and fell.

"What."

Sam shrugged limply at his brother, doing a test jump. The falling feeling briefly startled him, but his face still split into a grin, as he turned back to the other two. Elliot's arms waved in a small circle as he attempted to regain balance, but Ryan got the hang of it, bouncing lightly.

Small squares of the black trampoline filled up about a quarter of the place, in the middle was what looked like a game of dodgeball, surrounded by a mesh net. There was an area with a platform to jump off of, into a pit of foam cubes. Plenty of ramps to run up along the walls, as well as what appeared to be an obstacle course. Another area of foam cubes, a balance beam where two kids were trying to knock each other over with a foam log.

What caught his eye was a spot near the back, a small basketball course, with red, flashing lights as a scoreboard. He nudged Elliot's shoulder with his elbow, noticing the younger one staring off at it.

"Do you wanna come?" He asked in a sing-song tone, and Elliot shrugged. "C'mon! It'll be fun."

"I don't know how to play," Elliot mumbled, wringing his hands together like Ryan had been before. "Play with Ryan, or something."

Sam groaned. "Ryan's so bad at it though!"

Ryan hit him on the arm lightly. "Hey."

"Fine..." Elliot grumbled, crossing his arms. He glared at Sam. "But I won't like it."

"Woo! Victory!" Sam grabbed Elliot's hand. "Bye Ryan! I'll see you later!"

He dragged his brother down the lane of trampoline squares, dodging other kids and jumping over beams where the trampolines connected. It was faster than he'd ever gone in his life, objects blurring by in an exhilarating motion of colors and sounds, and he was sure he nearly lost Elliot at some point.

They made it to the end of the trampoline park eventually, and Sam wasn't even tired yet. More energized, if anything. Elliot had already sat down, breathing heavily.

"You... need t-to slow down," Elliot rasped out, and Sam laughed. "At some point in your life. ...I think... I need the whole vending machine."

He lifted his brother up by the hand. "Come on, let's go get in the line."

"There's a line?"

Sam hummed, tapping his chin in thought. "Yeah. Only two people in it, though. Left or right?"

"Left," Elliot answered, surprisingly fast.

The two basketball hoops were separated by a mesh screen, the hoops themselves covered in foam and orange duct tape. The red scoreboard on both sides showed that the girl on the right was winning.

The two kids playing their game together finished when they saw Elliot and Sam behind them. Sam waved cheerfully, the girl waved back, and offered to let them play. She looked older than them by a year or two, both red-haired and green eyed. They didn't look like twins, though.

"Okay, Elliot. It's really easy. You just have to throw that ball into the hoop more than me," Sam simplified. He couldn't remember what version of the game it was called, if it even had a special name. Lily taught him most of the information about the game that he knew. A lot of it had gone straight over his head at the time, but he had all sorts of books he had yet to read.

"Okay..." Elliot held the small, orange ball in his hand, and took a breath. "Okay. Ready."

Sam watched in the corner of his eye, after he hit start new game, as Elliot threw the ball half-heartedly. It hit the rim, barely, and earned him a point. Sam threw his ball, and it went straight in. Five points.

It went like that for a while, Elliot would get a point, and Sam would almost always make it, save for once or twice. Elliot got a bit better at the game after his first basket, having gained more confidence over time, so that the two were at a tie.

They were at a tie when their game was cut off, too. They had a five minute limit, after all. Sam high-fived his younger brother, who returned with a surprising amount of force.

"We should find Ryan," Elliot suggested, and Sam nodded. "He's probably bored by himself."

"Yeah!" Sam grabbed Elliot's hand again, and Elliot's eye narrowed.

"Walk."

"I will, I will," Sam complained, going at an agonizingly slow pace to annoy his brother, a success, as Elliot glowered at him the whole time.

To both of their surprises, they saw Ryan in the dodgeball court in the middle, ducking with his hands raised over his head, tense. Safe in the midst of chaos that was the other kids laughing and throwing dodgeballs at each other.

"Help," Ryan signed, yelping when a red ball came hurtling towards his head.

"I'm going to go play that. I'll go save Ryan," Elliot decided, and patted Sam on the shoulder. He wandered off, into the opening of the mesh wall.

With that, Sam was left to his own devices. Feeling satisfied with the day so far, and only a bit tired, he decided to go find Jaxon.

Running through the field of trampolines, now not stopped by his brother, he was not paying attention, too mesmerized by the swirl of bright colors as he jumped from each trampoline to the next, falling straight on his back when he ran into someone.

"Ah! Sam!" Sam blinked, sitting up. A hand reached out to him, helping him up. Jaxon patted him on the head. "Be careful."

Sam laughed breathlessly, shaking his head slightly. He grinned at the two in front of him. "Did you see how fast I was going?"

Kai chuckled a bit, and Jaxon returned the grin, nodding. "I know! It was so cool!"

Sam tilted his head to the side. "Thought you two were just going to sit on the chairs."

"Eh." Kai shrugged loosely. "It got boring waiting for you guys."

"-And then Kai challenged me to a race," Jaxon continued, glaring at the other boy, who had his hand in a loose grip.

"Where're your brothers?" Kai asked, glancing around worriedly. "I saw Ryan in the dodgeball section, looked like he was having a bad time."

"Oh, he hates dodgeball," Sam laughed again. "I have no clue what he was thinking. Elliot-"

As if on cue, the sound of a baby crying filled the air, immediately followed by loud laughter, and Sam turned around, deeply, deeply concerned.

"Elliot no!" Jaxon shouted suddenly, and Sam finally caught sight of Elliot aiming a dodgeball right at a toddler's face. "Hang on, I've gotta go get him."

Jaxon sped off, leaving Sam with his cousin. He looked at Kai for a moment, smiling when the older boy smiled down at him.

"Does that happen often?" Kai asked, vaguely gesturing in Elliot's direction.

Sam cringed a little. "I really want to say no."

"...Alright."

Jaxon came back, carrying Elliot by the arms, and holding Ryan's hand. "I've returned!" He declared, raising Ryan's arm in the air.

Jaxon used his free hand to grab Sam's, handing Ryan off to him, and eventually Elliot. He gave them each a pat on the head.

"I am going to go defeat your cousin," Jaxon decided, and Kai kicked him in the shin. "Have fun, don't let Elliot bully toddlers anymore. Ryan's in charge."

---

"Really, you two?"

Lily's arms were crossed in annoyance, as she stared at the store ahead of her. Leo gave a sheepish smile.

"...Listen-"

Lily raised an eyebrow, slightly amused. She gestured for Leo to continue.

"Hey, we saw you looking through the window," Marcy grew a bit defensive. "You wanted to come in here, too."

"Hey, yeah!" Leo agreed, glaring at Lily. "Besides, Lilith. You're the middle child right now, so we don't have to listen to you. We can go to Hot Topic if we want to."

"Woah, hey now," Lily defended. "Technically, Leo, I'm sixteen now, so we're the same age."

They walked into the store, despite Lily's protests. The music that had been muffled outside the door grew louder; Lily recognized the band.

"You're still younger than me," Leo said. "One year, two months, and six days."

"God, you're the worst."

"Yeah, sure." Leo waved a dismissive hand in the air. "Go find something to buy. I'll pay for it, if you aren't being an asshole."

Lily groaned. "Fine. We have to buy something for Dylan and your brothers. I doubt we could find anything for Ryan or Sam."

Leo shook her head in agreement. Marcy had wandered off to who-knew-where. "I'll look for Elliot, you look for Dylan?"

"And your cousin-"

"Can do whatever she wants." Leo shrugged. "She'll just offer a bunch of things that we are definitely not giving to any of the kids."

"Alright, fair enough." The two shook hands as if they were making a deal. "See you in a bit."

Lily hummed the song that was playing, sifting through a rack of hoodies. A group of kids her age stood in a circle nearby, talking about something she didn't understand. She wasn't exactly sure what to look for, Dylan refused to tell her anything they wanted, at any given time. It was sort of an issue, actually.

So, she just had to go off of basic knowledge of what Dylan liked, as well as what they did and didn't have. Jaxon was usually good for figuring out what they wanted, though it required a bit of extra attention. If there was a commercial on TV that they were particularly invested in, something they looked at in a store for a bit too long, those were usually clues.

And occasionally, Lily would close her eyes and pick something, because Dylan was always very grateful and would appreciate whatever she got them, without fail.

She decided on a cloak, a Cheetos beanie, and a stuffed frog for Dylan's collection. Dylan had a stuffed frog collection, and Jaxon had a stuffed penguin collection. Nobody knew how or why.

She dropped them on the cash register, where Leo and Marcy both were waiting. Leo, it seemed, had bought Elliot more Nightmare Before Christmas things than he would ever need in his life. She didn't really care what Marcy got. The total ended up being around seventy dollars, and Marcy almost looked surprised when Leo paid for all of it.

"Alright!" Lily cheered as they walked out of the store. "Birthday shopping mostly complete. High fives all around."

Leo distractedly gave her a high five, messing with something on her phone.

"Logan wants to meet up for lunch in a bit, Lily," Leo mumbled. "Food court is that way."

---

---

"I'll go grab us a table," Leo decided, pointing to an empty table nearby. Logan nodded, and thanked her, smiling. She left, speed-walking towards a table, where a man looked like he was ready to start getting up. It was a table with a convenient amount of four tables nearby, all empty, except for his. She needed to claim that, so that they would all have room. She watched the man finish his sandwich, looking stressed, he checked his watch, abruptly standing up, pulling a fedora over his bald head.

Leo also watched as a small, black wallet slipped out of his pocket as he sped off in the opposite direction.

Leo stared at the wallet, and then at the man, walking towards the candy shop. Guilt twisted in her stomach, as it took a- frankly embarrassing- amount of time to decide what to do. A few months ago, she would've stolen the wallet and everything inside. A part of her whispered to do just that, no one would find out. She could drop to the floor and pretend to tie her shoe as she slipped it in her pocket, pulled money out, and set it back on the floor. It would be so easy.

And yet-

She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Oh my fucking god, fine."

Groaning, she dropped to the floor, and picked the wallet up. In the distance, she saw the man digging through his pocket. She hesitated one last time, sighing deeply, as she set her bowl of food on the table, and sped off towards him.

"Hey-!" She tugged the sleeve of the man's gray jacket, and he turned around, looking surprised. She offered the wallet out to him. "...You dropped this."

His eyes widened, as he took it, and shook her hand, thanking her, about five times. He smiled, eyes crinkling.

"No problem," Leo lied, smiling. "Have a nice day!"

As she turned around, she was struck with the sudden mental image of herself literally, physically becoming Logan, just with that one action. Total Logan thing to do. She was becoming an old man, like Logan.

"Huh," Marcy chewed on a sandwich, in the spot Leo had put her food. She had stolen it the fiend. "I thought for sure you were going to take that."

In unison, Jaxon and Lily, both sitting next to Marcy, smacked her on the back of the head. Leo snickered at her cousins expense.

"Aw! You've developed morals!" Logan grinned, and messed up her perfectly-good hair. Leo stabbed into her food, angrily.

"Logan, I really think we should consider who's wearing the white shirt, and who has a cup of cherry soda in this situation. Because so far, I'm not wearing a white shirt."

Logan chuckled, raising his hands in defense. "Hey, this is new, don't stain it."

"Don't fucking test me, Lo." Leo aimed her cup at him, glaring. "I'll do it, you know I will."

"I know you will, yes."

Leo smiled, content, listening to the other kid's conversations. They'd go home soon, she could only hope. It'd be a good day.

[themirokai]

I got this comment on a story from my Other AO3 Account this morning.

(Info redacted because I prefer keeping these accounts separate but no one follows me on the side blog I have for that account.)

The story was posted almost a year ago and is relatively “popular” by my average statistics even though it has tropes and themes that are big turnoffs for a lot of people (hence separate accounts). This popularity is undoubtedly because it’s a Marvel Loki story and that fandom is massive.

So there is obviously an algorithm or a bot scrubbing ao3 statistics and leaving this comment on fics that meet a certain metric with the main character of the fic inserted into the comment.

I had a little time to kill this morning so I decided to investigate further. And y’all this is so predatory. Come on this journey with me. It made me mad. It may make you mad.

First, if you go to Webnovel’s website, you HAVE to choose between male lead or female lead stories before you can go any further. WTF?

And that’s weird, but this gets so much worse. This is basically a pay-to-read site that has different subscription models. Which… okay BUT! The authors don’t get paid! Look at that comment again. They’re promising a supportive and nurturing community, but zero monetary compensation. It’s basically, “post your stuff here so we can get paid and you can get… nice vibes?” I mean look at this Orwellian writing:

Using the phrase “pay-to-read model” in the same sentence as “qualitative changes in lifestyles for authors” deliberately makes you think that you can get paid and maybe even make a living on this website. But that’s not actually what it says and authors will not receive one red cent.

Oh but wait, the worst is still to come. In case this breaks containment (which I kind of hope it does) this is where I mention that I’m a lawyer in the US.

I don’t do intellectual property or copyright law but I do read and write contracts for a living. So I went to look at their terms of service. It was fun!

Highlights the first, in which Webnovel gets a license to do basically whatever they want with content you post on their site. This is how they get to be paid for people reading authors’ writing without paying them anything.

Highlights the second, in which Webnovel takes no responsibility for illegally profiting off of fan fic. This all says that the writer is 100% responsible for everything the writer posts (even though only Webnovel is making money from it).

Highlights the third which say that by posting, the author is representing that they have the legal right to use and to let Webnovel use the content according to these terms. So if a writer posts fan fiction and Webnovel makes money from people reading the fan fiction, and the House of the Mouse catches wise, these sections say that that’s ALL on the writer.

So that’s a little skeevy to start off with but the thing that is seriously shitty and made me make this post was that these assholes are coming to ao3. They are actively recruiting people in comments on their fan fiction. And they are saying they are big fans of the character you’re writing about and that they share your interests.

They are recruiting fan fiction writers and giving every impression that you can make money from posting fan fiction on their site and hiding the fact that you absolutely cannot but they can make money off of you while you try, deep in their terms of service which no one but a lawyer who writes fan fic and has some time to kill will read.

I see posts on here regularly from people who don’t understand how this stuff works, don’t understand that they (and others) can not legally make a financial profit from fan fiction. And there are tons of people who will not take the time to dig into the details.

Don’t deal with these bastards. Fuck Webnovel.