#There was some old post about that happening with a writer in like one rare scenario

[misc-obeyme]

would u consider obey me a dead fandom?

Um. Nope. I sure wouldn't.

If there's anybody out there who thinks Obey Me is a dead fandom, I would say they're probably confused about what a dead fandom actually is.

I think an argument could be made saying that there is no such thing as a dead fandom. But I'm going to assume you mean that fan content is at an all time low.

Friend, I have been in fandoms where the content was like... you get a fic or two every year if you're lucky. This for a media that hadn't put out any new content in decades.

Obey Me? I get an average of five asks per day about Obey Me. I can queue 10 posts per day about Obey Me. I still average over 800 notes a day on this here Obey Me blog. In the past few months, we've had new artists and writers joining the community and posting their Obey Me fan works. The game is still active and updating. There are two apps even.

So no, I personally would not consider the Obey Me fandom to be dead by any means.

It's certainly been more active in the past. I'll never forget the surge of activity that happened when Nightbringer first came out. My Solomon fics seemed to double their notes over night lol.

But we're also in a bit of a lull right now because we aren't getting new chapters. Every time an event happens, there's another burst of activity. And then things die down just a little before they surge again. That's the nature of fandom.

Another common fandom thing is people coming and going. I've been here for almost two years, but there are others who have been here for four. And then there are some people who've only been in the fandom for a couple months. And then there are the people who were here at the beginning, but have since moved on. Maybe they only stayed for a few months before moving on. Maybe they're only casually in the fandom, dipping in now and again. This is also just the nature of fandom. There's no right way to do it. And it doesn't reflect on whether a fandom is alive or dead.

Hell, we even have plenty of discourse and toxic stuff in this here fandom, too. More of that when there's nothing else to do, I think, which is unfortunate, but also kinda... just part of fandom.

And all of this is just how it is on Tumblr. I know there are active Obey Me communities on Twitter/X and Instagram, too. I'm just too old and tired to maintain that many socials. I actually have accounts on both of those apps but I rarely use them.

And lastly, I'm a big proponent of being involved in fandom no matter how active the community is. By this I mean, if I still have an Obey Me hyperfixation in ten years when the apps are closed down and nearly everybody else has moved on, I will still be here posting fic. Because I won't leave a fandom until I am ready to move on from it, dead or not. (Sometimes this can mean you are one of the few people still creating for said fandom, but you might be surprised at how many people will still enjoy what you create.)

[afamiliarsword]

Honestly kids who're being exposed to their first couple of art classes against their own will should just be given pinterest and then told to send nice messages to artists they like. I think that would be cool.

[olderthannetfic]

I think for me, one of the big stumbling blocks I had for a long time with understanding the problem with antis and how they act is that I came from the world of anime fandom, and I have seen all the time how the idea that you're expected to be tolerant and accepting to straight men who are really into lolicon or slavery isekai or whatever in the name of "sex positivity" does in fact lead into a lot of normalization of genuine creepy IRL behavior, and ignoring red flags for those. Because I've never met a man where doing a lot of apologetics for his interest in fictional 10-year-olds as a grown man or why you just need to understand that in this fictional culture sexual slavery is totally normal etc. didn't come along with some grosser attitudes about real women in girls - look at how a ton of the guys in the first group, for instance, are always trying to argue that "Japanese culture" is actually A-OK with relationships between young teens and grown adults and it's just your mean feminist American bias that's getting in your way. (None of that shit's true about Japan, btw.) Like if it were a purely fictional-preference thing, they wouldn't be saying that about real-world relationships as well.

But see, I have literally never seen those kinds of arguments from, say, women who write fanfiction about teen/adult relationships. To me the problem with a lot of anti behavior is not just that it's pro-censorship (which I oppose on principle, I don't think any of the stuff mentioned in the previous section should be censored, for instance, much as the prevalence of lolicon in anime squicks me out) and that it's puritanical and sex-negative, but also that it goes after the wrong people. There IS a huge creeper problem in fandom but it's largely not coming from the predominantly AFAB and queer world of fanfiction and shipping, most of whom are pretty good at separating fantasy from reality. Or their "fucked up" ship might not even be "their" fantasy but just thinking a particular character dynamic is really interesting and it happens to fit into some particular "problematic" broader dynamic. Sometimes it's specifically that it's fucked up that we like, that's what makes it interesting!

But I do get uncomfortable sometimes when people take the fact that censorship is wrong, harassing people for what they ship is wrong, what you like in fiction is not necessarily what you want in real relationships.... and take it to the extreme of "fiction has no impact on reality / there is never ANY connection between what gets you off in fiction vs. real life" (I do think it's rarely an exact 1:1, but for some people there is a connection), or feeling like you're never allowed to just privately judge people for what porn they're into or they talk about or post about when they go horny on main, or decide you don't particularly want to have, say, cis men who are super into loli as a part of your social circle.

Because I've seen cases where men use that, and other people being shamed for taking issue with how they talk about it because it's not "sex positive" or "you're just like an anti" etc., to raise the temperature on what kinds of creepy and red-flag behaviors are allowed. Or like, people start to get suspicious of things these guys are doing to real people, and question themselves because they worry they're just judging them for liking loli.

I mean, is it wrong to think that a guy who is really into underage girls AND talks a lot about how culture needs to "normalize" it AND makes people feel bad for being uncomfortable with that particular interest of his, is throwing up a lot of red flags for how he's likely to view real women and girls and IRL sexuality?

Once again, I've basically never seen cases where a fanfic writer (other than in some cis-man-heavy fandoms like MLP) who is into some "squicky" dynamic feels like they have to constantly talk about it even to people who are uncomfortable, or feels like they're not "accepted" in a space where they can't constantly bring it up. Maybe they exist. But then maybe it's fair to say that behavior is creepy in a way that just peacefully shipping [whatever "problematic" dynamic] and writing and reading fic for it is not.

But I've seen people be like "a lot of you act like 'well that behavior is only problematic when cis het white men do it' well no i think you're still sex-negative if you're against ANYBODY liking it" and like I'm sorry but power dynamics matter, and HOW you talk about this and to WHOM matters and I think it's just kind of ignorant to act like there isn't a huge difference between how a lot of cis men in anime fandom talk about this shit vs. other kinds of people in fanfic fandom, and that the former is very much informed by the fact that cis men and especially cis het men have cultural power that they are throwing around in the way they influence those spaces.

--

[lovemari]

IMPORTANT: Hello! My old account, Lovemari, got deleted. Therefore, I had to make a new one. I'm honestly pretty upset about this so I'll take some time to recover! Thankfully, all my posts are saved as I write them in google docs before posting. Please like and reblog so I can reach my old followers and potentially new ones!

Cat Date - Wanderer x Reader

Reminder: I'm not an experienced writer so construction criticism is always welcome! Also, I write for fun. I just wanted to share my work around the world!

Pairing: Wanderer x Reader

Synopsis: Wanderer asks you on a date in a strange way.

Notes: Let's be honest, in this fict, the cats were Wanderers wingcat lol. Also, not my proudest fict but I still like the scenario!

Recently, Dove, your cat has been acting odd. She's gone the entire day and comes back meowing at your door in the middle of the night, ruining your whole sleep schedule.

You believed it to be some kind of cat ritual or anything else that's crazy. Though, one day, or night to be exact, you found yourself quite curious. Dove hasn't been at your door for 2 days.

What do you do? You got up, at 12 in the night, and went to the neighbors house. He's quite the strange guy, if you were honest. Still, you always thought he was a cat himself. If not, then he certainly acted like one. So why not pay him a visit.

You knocked on his door, and out came the bowl cut dwarf, “Ugh..you? What is it?” He grumbled, clearly annoyed that you woke him up. At this point, you were panicking, “I can't find Dove! Can you help?” You rushed, with thoughts of Dove lingering in your mind. What if she was eaten by coyotes? Or even worse, stolen!

Your neighbor laughed, “I'm Wanderer, by the way.” He replied, as if nothing was happening. Before you could say anything Wanderer butted in, “Your cats with me. She's in love with my cat, Raven, for whatever reason. It's truly disgusting” He snickered, though, meaning no harm.

You blinked a couple of times before immediately rushing into his house. There, you saw Dove sleeping with Raven.

Swooping her up, you rushed out of the house. Wanderer stopped you before you could make your exit, unfortunately.

He gave you his number, “Tomorrow, 5:00, xxxx” He invited before smiling, “Let's have a cat date.” You gave him a weird look, was he drunk or something? Wanderer doesn't usually act like this.

You figured he wasn't right in the head so you rushed out, hoping he'll be sober in the morning.

You kissed Dove's head before turning off the night. Dove responded with an annoyed mew, clearly unhappy about you embarrassing her about her boyfriend. Unfortunately for her, you couldn't care less about a cat's love life.

You woke up early. You thought about it for a while but you decided you'd visit Scaramouche. Two reasons, actually. One, you wanted to make sure he wasn't drunk. Two, you didn't want to ditch him in case he wasn't drunk.

You got dressed and went to the place he mentioned. It was a cat cafe. You didn't know he was into that stuff but honestly, you weren't surprised.

You walked into the cafe, immediately being welcomed by some girl. You nodded, a little creeped out, before finding Scaramouche at a seat. You walked to him, “Hey.” You greeted. He looked at you, “About yesterday? I'm sorry.I was drunk.” He replied, quickly. He must be embarrassed.

You checked, “I figured.” your laughter stopped as you saw Wanderer blushing, playing with his hands, “I like you. That part was true” He confessed, his voice low and quiet.

You were surprised, to say the least. This man sure had a strange way of confessing but you found it cute.

You figured, it was too early for dating. Especially because you rarely talk to Wanderer. Still, there was something about him you enjoyed, “How about we have more cat dates before we decide what's best?” You teased, referring to when Wanderer was drunk. Wanderer nodded, acknowledging your tease and accepting it.

You could both see the sparks between you two.

[limetameta]

I don't know why more fic writers don't utilise the Wayne Gardens Halfway House for criminals and then the consequent Wayne Enterprises employment like Bruce Wayne is out here doing his darndest do give the Rogues a safer and easier transition into the real world post Arkham and yet I don't think I've ever come across a Halfway house fic once. (This is me begging for fic recs about this BTW feel free to gimme)

Like this concept is from the btas episode Double Talk where Arnold (Scarface's ventriloquist) is well enough to leave Arkham and he gets to the House, and he has a job in the Wayne Enterprises mail room. It's a very sad episode for other reasons but it's still so touching how much Bruce tried to make this difficult period of house finding and job searching all but done for them already.

So what I'm getting at here is what if more of the Rogues got to this point.

Ideas under the cut

Harley decorating her room however she wants and putting Ivy's plants in there because she doesn't have to worry about if doctors or guards will make a fuss about it. This is her space. She has a job now, too. A paper pushing job, but she's in a programme to get her licence back and everything is looking up for her! Thanks Bruce!

Edward making a dnd campaign group with his fellow Halfway House rogues because Harley commented that once curfew sets in she doesn't know what to do with herself. He shows up at work at Wayne Enterprises on the dot every morning, having set like 7 alarms so he doesn't sleep through because he isn't going to waste his one chance. He's the game developer in their suspiciously newly minted game department.

Plus, he has Temple Fugate to wake him up, who lives right next door and is up before everyone else. Man knows how to bake. He bakes and says that it's a calming activity with a set schedule that if he deviates from it will be catastrophic. Besides, it's nice to have hobbies.

At this point, Jonathan Crane, also in a programme to get his licence back, comments about how he'll probably be back in Arkham sooner than later. Harley laughs. "You can't SERIOUSLY be thinking of applying as a doctor there AGAIN?" And Jonathan, with the biggest shite-eating grin, just says: "Oh who's to say. Maybe just to see the reactions."

Gimme a fic where they break away from the cyclical status quo. Where you can feel the hope . Where they all treat this as seriously as they can because Bruce Wayne truly believes in them. And that's so rare. After everything that's happened.

Pamela who works in a botanical garden funded by Wayne Corp. Mr Fries who is allowed to research with scientists employed by Wayne Enterprises on how to cure his predicament. His wife Nora (Post movie) supporting him every step of the way (maybe she and Grace (Harvey's fiancee) are friends and helping each other as well as the men they love)

Harvey getting the operation finally and having a chance to recuperate. Though him, I think they might pull him quickly out of the Halfway House because he's a high profile man and some might think that being in a Halfway House would be beneath him. Maybe this works for him. He works as a lawyer in Wayne Enterprises and all he can say to Bruce, when he sees him is this: "Thank you for never giving up on me, old friend."

Though Harvey does get hooked on dnd and he does come by to play once a week. Edward is looking forward to a promotion to head of department.

They all know that sooner or later they'll need to leave the Halfway House and find different accommodation but they all tentatively agree that they won't push themselves before being fully, truly ready for it.

Harley points at Edward and tells him: "I'm gonna miss you guys so much! Why don't we all live together or get apartments in the same building like in a sitcom?"

And Jonathan is the only one who says he hates this idea, though it's very half-hearted and they know he isn't fighting the idea of that.

Waylon gets a job as a fisherman. Man is living out those A perfect Storm dreams of his. He gets paid the most from all of the Rogues because he's always been very materialistic and money means very little to Bruce Wayne.

Mary Dahl and Matt Hagen respectively get jobs working in a theatre group in Gotham. It isn't that visited, but they aren't ridiculed for being who they are. Romance because I ship them and I think this makes more sense than Waylon/Mary lmao. They're in counseling anyway so it's not like they can be that toxic to each other.

Speaking of romance~

The only one who's never gotten as far as the Wayne Gardens Halfway House is the Joker. But you see, that man can do whatever he puts his mind to. He's bored so he might as well speed run his way out of Arkham.

And everyone is worried about this. Because if there's one person who can undo all of their careful progress just by being his loathsome clown self, it's the Joker.

But he, just like all of them, winds up his alarm to get to his Wayne Enterprises job. He is nail bitingly saccharine to them. One time, he even washed the dishes that weren't his in the communal kitchen space. Something's off.

Once confronted, the Joker just smiles and says airily: "Oh pish-posh! I'm just in a good mood is all. I can finally see my boyfriend on a regular basis. Mon amour, Mon petit chou-fleur. Mon âme!"

Something is definitely off because Edward says that the Joker got a nicer job than all of them. He works CLOSELY to Bruce Wayne as his assistant. And that doesn't make sense. Why would Bruce Wayne let that happen? Surely he'd want to avoid someone like the Joker.

And it's Jonathan that sighs: "Do you think that his boyfriend IS Bruce Wayne?"

"No??? Why?? God??? God no???"

"Think about it. Bruce Wayne is the 1%, they're all very weird people with kinks that us in the psychology department would relish in untangling. What's some clown fuckery on the side? If anything, that's a lot tamer than what most of his contemporaries are doing behind closed doors."

Immediate horror from everyone. Harley is the first one to shout: "If that good for nothing clown fucks up this good gig we got by breaking Bruce's heart I'm going to kill him!!"

So they confront the Joker by knocking on his room in the middle of the night. And maybe they shouldn't have done that because he's supposed to be out cold, having been prescribed sleeping pills and all that. But they knock again, nonetheless.

They hear a bang. And a crash from the inside. And half of the Rogues just kind of take a step back. Harley and Pamela are the ones who stay closest to the door. Pamela shouts: "Open up, clown!"

Jonathan narrows his eyes as he cranes his way towards the door, trying to make out the sounds on the other end. He coughs to swallow down a laugh: "There's a lot of moaning in there."

"Hey, hey, you're going to get us all in trouble if you've brought folks over! It's past curfew!" Harley yells.

And it's at this moment that the moaning kind of stops. There aren't any crashes. Someone grips the door handle from the inside and turns it open.

The Rogues all take yet another step back, this time all of them.

It's Batman. The portion of his face visible from the cowl is covered in red lipstick. He sighs, and his voice doesn't quite manage to lose that post make out tinge: "Nobody's going to get in trouble. I'll talk to Bruce Wayne and clear anything up. Go ahead and play your dnd. Thank you, goodbye." And just as he closes the door, the Joker erupts in a fit of laughter on the other end.

"I'LL TALK TO BRUCE WAYNE, HE SAYS! HA! OH!! OH, THAT'S SO FUNNY!!"

[nickcarr-scoutstories]

Hi everyone, I hope you've had a good year. It's been quite a while since I was last posting here regularly - I think maybe February or March. A number of you have written to me over the past many months to ask if I was OK and if I’d be returning with daily updates about scouting, and I’m sorry I haven’t gotten back sooner.

The simple answer for why I haven’t been sharing stories and pictures from my life as a movie location scout is that, since March of this year, I haven’t been a movie location scout.

As you may have heard, the film industry had two major strikes this year. The first kicked off on May 1 when the Writers Guild decided strike; the second on July 14, when SAG joined them on the picket lines.

But if you look at the timeline, something’s off. If the strikes didn’t begin until May, why have I been out of work since March?

When you work in film and TV, you go from project to project, as opposed to working directly for a particular studio. In January, I was just wrapping up the final season of FX’s Snowfall, one my favorite shows I’ve ever scouted for (you really get to explore your dark side when you’re asked to find creative places to stage murders and drug deals on a weekly basis!).

Typically, there are always a number of new productions gearing up at the beginning of the year, and it rarely takes longer than a few weeks to hop on something. Except, as I started reaching out to see what was on the horizon, something became starkly clear: there was nothing.

It quickly became apparent that the studios, anticipating that the strikes were likely to happen, opted to simply halt all new productions. That meant that by the time you heard about the writers strike in May, thousands of below-the-line crew like myself had already been out of work for months, with many more months to go.

I know hindsight is 20/20 and all, but I still kick myself for not predicting what was likely to happen in advance. Ha, in fact, as proof of my ignorance, when my five-year-old camera finally broke toward the end of Snowfall, I decided it was the perfect time to treat myself to a brand-new Sony set-up. That new camera has sat unused on my shelf laughing at me ever since.

Once I realized the severity of the situation, two things became clear: one, the strikes were going to last for a long time. And two, there was absolutely nothing I could do about it, other than to find a way for my family and I to survive until everything resolved.

As part of this effort, I made the conscious decision to focus my attention only on things I could control, and that were positive influences in my life. For that reason, I had to turn away from anything industry-related (a good decision in hindsight, as roughly 95% of the media predictions and insider sources about the strikes turned out to be wrong).

And by extension, I also stepped back from posting here. It was just too sad to try to write with my normal enthusiasm about scouting and exploring when everything about my work was in such upheaval.

Both strikes have now come to an end, and despite all the pessimistic naysayers, both unions wound up with extremely good deals that the studios initially swore were simply not possible. Though I’m neither SAG nor WGA, all of the benefits and protections I have from being a Teamster only come from working in an industry with extremely strong unions. If there was any question, 2023 made it undeniably clear.

My family has made it through, our credit scores bruised but otherwise happy and healthy and looking forward to a much brighter 2024. I was able to accomplish several projects that would have literally never happened if not for the strikes, including one creative endeavor that may be the best thing I’ve ever written and I can’t wait to share with you.

Hollywood has been slow to re-open, and I’m still waiting to put that camera to use on the first post-strike feature or TV show. Thankfully though, some print advertising work in the past few weeks has given me an excuse to finally take it off the shelf and wipe the dust off. And there are growing rumblings that the TV/movie floodgates should burst soon.

Finally, I wanted to end the year on a positive note by putting out the delayed third issue of my Scout Stories publication. This one is for you Scouting NY fans, and focuses on my all-time favorite “hidden in plain sight” locations and finds on the streets of New York from my ten years of scouting there. I’ll have the big announcement with purchase links up either later today or tomorrow, and they will definitely come in time for Christmas, should you be looking for a unique stocking stuffer!

So that’s what’s happened, where I’ve been, what I’ve been up to, and what’s ahead. If you asked me to sum up 2023, I’d say that financially, it was terrible! But in all truth, it was a happy year, simply because I made it a point to focus on the things that brought happiness.

Sharing my work as a scout with you has always made me happy, and I’m very much looking forward to doing a lot more of it in the coming year.

Happy holidays!

Nick

[wolfofansbach]

Personal thoughts and meditations upon the occasion of the Riverdale series finale. 

Probably like four people are going to read this but I feel compelled to write it out anyway. This show has genuinely been a massive part of my life. I watched the first episode because some high school friends encouraged me to (IRONICALLY, BRO). I was in high school when I started this show. Those friends of course long ago fell away, unable to continue, unable to wacth anymore, but I have kept the faith. All seven seasons. Every. Single. Episode.

I’m not even entirely sure what captivated me so much about the show. I loved the atmosphere of season 1. I genuinely wanted to find out who killed Jason Blossom. Was genuinely fucked up by episode 1 x 12 and the first season finale.

I have such fond memories of watching the first season. I distinctly remember a road-trip I Tok with my friends the summer of 2017, and joking about  maple syrup drug empires and the “weirdo” line back when that was the wildest scene on the show. Joking about how sick of the song ‘Believer’ by Imagine Dragons (2017) we were. 

And then I decided to get involved in a fandom for the first time in a couple of years, and so I revived my old Tumblr, and I began Posting. And reading posts.  

That was my last summer after high school and I was so nervous about college but this show and this fandom helped me get through it. My freshman year I lived in a dorm, and if you wanted to watch TV you had to go down to this common room, so every Thursday I would go down there like an hour ahead of time and occupy the place to make sure the remote was in my hands by 7 PM. A few times I failed, and I missed an episode because of it. But rarely! 

I remember that slowly dawning feeling as season 2 progressed. Scrolling my Tumblr feed and slowly seeing people come to the realization: “wait…is it just me or does this show actually suck.” Was kind of frustrating at the time, realizing that the writers just like…were bad, but in retrospect? Beautiful. Incredible. Legendary. 

And you could even say that’s where the fun really began. Yes, there’s plenty to hate, but also Riverdale is brilliant. The show of all time. For real. No other show has done it like Riverdale. They just haven't, and they never will. The age of the cable television teen drama is ending, and what a hell of a last hurrah Riverdale has been.

The Red Circle. Jingle Jangle. The Gargoyle King. Edgar Evernever and his fantastic rocket. Bret Weston Wallis and Donna Sweett (genuinely cannot say their names without giggling). Jughead getting hit in the head with a rock and faking his death for like…some reason? I genuinely can’t remember, something to do with the Hardy Brothers idk. Tabitha sprinkling the devil with the tears of the Virgin Mary. The normies can laugh all they want about “epic highs and lows” but do they remember the even funnier lines like “if there’s no wedding, that means the gargoyle king has won” or “word of my exploits serving Nick his comeuppance…” THEY NEVER WILL. ONLY THE TRUE FAITHFUL UNDERSTAND. 

And is silly as it all was, I have genuine affection for these characters. Like Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Archie, Cheryl, Toni, actually mean a lot to me. YES they’re fake but I want the best for them (and for Beronica to be canon but you know we can’t win them all). I’m genuinely grateful that this show has existed and been a part of my life for the past six years. 

Moreover, I credit this show for seriously getting into writing. I’ve actually written almost a million words of Riverdale fanfiction. Much of it will never see the light of day, but it exists. Maybe I even have one or two left in me, I don’t know. At the very least I’d like to finish a few uncompleted fics. But I’ve also branched out. Since I started seriously writing in 2017, I’ve also finished several original manuscripts, and who knows, maybe one day I’ll get one published. Stranger things have happened. 

So, thanks Roberto.

And thanks to all of the very cool people I’ve run into in this fandom. I honestly wish I’d gotten to know most of you better, but them’s the breaks. Hopefully this isn’t weird but I’m going to tag a few people in particular. 

@village-skeptic. I know you’re not in the fandom anymore (lucky you), but thank you for, once upon a time, reading every one of the 200,000+ words of a 17-year-old kid’s turgid, indulgent, Riverdale Spanish Civil War fan fiction. I never, ever would have finished that story without you, and I credit it with giving me the confidence to keep writing, and in fact to write everything I’ve written since then. You’re brilliant and awesome. 

@satelliteinasupernova. Thank you for also reading Interbellum (are we noticing a pattern), and more importantly for all of your wonderful drawings. INCLUDING fanart of some of my fics. You have no idea how happy that Strange Death of Elizabeth Cooper piece made me. You rule. 

@sullypants. You were a perennial presence on my feed. Always wonderful to see. I love your taste in art, and I love those ‘penguin classics’ covers you made for a few of my fics. Thank you also for beta reading a few fics for me back in the glory days. And thank you for chatting with me a couple times over the years, including a few times when I was in quite unhappy places. 

@stillhidden. I’m not sure if we’ve ever actually talked, but you like or reblog everything I post and it makes me feel like I’m not just shouting into the void. Same goes for @frauleinfunf Thank God for dutiful mutuals. 

@sonyascomet. I can’t remember when I started following you but you have a really good sense of humor. And I’ll always remember when you kept posting about “Greg” for Succession and I, not knowing anything about Succession, kept imagining Greg Heffley. 

@stillhidden thank you for your world-weary Riverdale posts. You truly understand fandom like few others.

@halcooper. Your devotion to the neglected parents of Riverdale is truly admirable. Every time I see Lochlyn Munro in some weird low budget horror movie I’ll think of you.

I hope I didn’t forget anyone who would be offended by my forgetting, but I doubt it. 

All this to say this show has been a genuinely huge part of my life for six years. SIX YEARS. I graduated college, my God. I wish I could say I became a millionaire or a successful author in that time, but nah. Maybe one day, but for now I’m just kind of vibing. And unfortunately, I’ll have to vibe without Riverdale from now on. 

But as I sit myself down to watch the very last episode of this show, I remind myself that we’ll always have the memories. And I’ll always be an unapologetic Riverdale enjoyer. As a great man once said, snakes don’t shed their skins so easily. 

[picturejasper20]

Breakdown/analysis of the old Danny-Vlad body swap nickelodeon comic ¨Bring Back My Body to Me!¨

For those who don't know, Danny Phantom had some comics that got published in the early 2000's in the Nickelodeon magazine. One of them being a comic that involves Danny and Vlad switching bodies written by two writers of the show, Marty Isenberg and Sib Ventress + another writer.

You can find the full comic pages here in the DP Wikia: https://dannyphantom.fandom.com/wiki/Nickelodeon_Magazine

I'm writing this post to make some commentary of the comic since it haven't seen any post talking about it. It has some things i found funny and others interesting. The screencaps were taken from the DP Wikia.

Let's start:

Okay, so the first page introduces us to what Danny and Vlad are planning to do in the story. Danny is going to a dance and trying to ask Paulina while Vlad is stealing from the Fright Knight. For some reason Danny is still trying to get Paulina to pay him attention. I wonder when this comic was intended to take place since Danny's crush for Paulina was something from very early in the series and over time he got over it. Also why is Vlad in human form in the Ghost World? He later transforms but there isn't any reason for him to be as Masters in here.

Okay, but here is a thing that is inaccurate: Danny doesn't beat Vlad because he is more powerful than him, that rarely happens. Danny usually beats Vlad by either tricking him (Maternal Instincts) or with someone else helping him (Kindred Spirits). I think the only time he does this is in ¨Phantom Planet¨ by freezing Vlad, and that itself is for a minute.

Why Plasmius does have dark pupils in this comic. It's super cursed. It would have been less of a problem if they were something like white instead of black.

This is an interesting concept to me because i don't recall the series exploring the concept of what happens if a human-ghost hybrid uses powers or amulets that are intended for full ghosts use only. I feel like it is an idea i haven't seen much done in fanfics neither. It opens to the idea of the difference between full ghosts and halfas and how they react to the Ghost World.

I really like this narrator commentary about how ghosts are constanly showing up in Amity Park thanks to the Ghost Fenton Portal being open. The narration is funny in this comic.

I find it funny Danny using the mocking nickname ¨Plas¨ to refer to Plasmius in this panel. And Danny is so small. His head is the size Plasmius' hand. He is baby ghost size in comparison to others.

Okay, so when the two touch the spirit stealer at the same time their... spirits? get switched. This was a secondary effect that Vlad was warned about by the Fright Knight earlier. What i don't understand is what gets switched in here. Their consciousness/inner selfs? Their minds? It is interesting that these are represented in their ghosts forms and not in their human forms too.

From what i can guess is that the spirit stealer may have mixed their ghost halfs in some way since in the next panels their are both seen wearing each half of the amulet. Since it is intended to be a ¨glitch¨ that is how i think it works.

(Insert spiderman pointing meme here)

I kinda like this callback to ¨Splitting Images¨ episode. It is a nice detail that wasn't necessary for what it is a standalone comic but is still cool.

One thing i appreciate in this comic is how you can easily tell who is inside the body by the way they speak and their body language. You can see that Vlad is in Danny's body because of the detailed use of vocabulary that is so specific about Vlad. Or the way he refers to Dash after he pulls a prank on him. I also appreciate Sam pointing out why Vlad!Danny is wearing half of the amulet. It is weird that Vlad didn't pick up that he was wearing it until now. However, i think it does make sense in the context considering that he changed bodies with a 14 year old.

Okay, i don't know why there is suddenly a timer for this and how the Fright Knight knows about this, unless something like this happened before. I suppose is one of those ¨ghost amulet plot convinience logic¨ things. By the way, i do like Fright Knight's role in this comic. He is pretty cool in here.

It's weird that Vlad doesn't consider what Danny is telling him here. You would think that he would get suspicious after he saw how he only had half of the amulet and switched bodies with Danny but he doesn't question it too much. It does make sense to an extent though. Vlad probably believes that it just some trick to make him give his half of the amulet. He would be skeptical of what Danny is telling him.

They only had to put the pieces back together? That easy? Huh, well, okay then.

Go Fright Knight, kick his ass.

While Dash getting scared is fun, i'm not a fan how Danny usually gets in trouble or bad ending in some episodes just because. I kinda could make a a bit of exception in this one since Dash got thrown into baskball ring for something that it wasn't that serious. Still, it something that bothers me.

In all i do enjoy this comic. While it has plot holes from what you can expect from this plot, it has some funny interactions and interesting concepts like amulets having a different effect in halfas. Part of me wonders how interactions with other characters would play out in this scenario, like Vlad!Danny interacting with Jack or Danny!Vlad with Skulker. had the comic been longer.

[sitp-recs]

Happy happy birthday darling @wolfpants! I’m so excited to be finally doing a reclist with my Wolf faves. I still remember the sense of awe I felt reading the magnificent Hollow (my very first Remus/Draco, so brilliant and poignant it got me immediately sold on the ship and also obsessed with that verse). Whether it’s Drarry or rare pair goodness, Wolf always delivers top notch cottagecore porn romance with gorgeous settings, captivating characters and a perfect mix of angst, fluff and smut, what else could we ask for? I’ve had so much fun selecting my own favorites for this list. The Drarry section might look small but that’s because I wanted to give a massive shoutout to Wolf’s delicious catalogue of rare pair shorts, which seems to be carefully crafted to meet my personal tastes (you’ll find that I got a soft spot for age gap and Ron thirst but I’ve tried to include a bit of everything and there are quite a few treats from Wolf’s stellar Kinkuary23 collection 🔥).

Dear Wolf, thank you for sharing so many great stories with us. We’re so lucky to have you on this fandom! It’s been amazing to follow your work as you evolve as a writer and explore my most beloved characters and tropes in your unique, creative, fun and self-indulgent way. I hope you’ve had a lovely day and ami excited to see what this new year brings you next! 🎉💜

🐺 Drarry:

Edges (E, 1.5k)

Draco explores the limits of Harry's edges. Harry lets him.

The Farther I Fall, I'm Beside You (E, 2.3k)

What happens when you accidentally kill your friend during a birthday prank gone wrong? You ask your Master of Death boyfriend for help, of course. Check out @getawayfox’s gorgeous art here.

The Holly and the Ivy (E, 4.6k)

This year at the Annual Ministry Yule Auction, Magpies Seeker Draco Malfoy's time is up for sale. When Harry places the winning bid, will their contracturally-binding weekend together heal old wounds, or worsen them?

Look For Me In The Sun (M, 9k)

Harry and Draco are on the run in America after a mysterious string of werewolf-like attacks in the Muggle community causes the Ministry to impose new and harsh anti-werewolf legislation. Giant trees, crashing waves, seedy motel rooms, and the long and winding coastal road awaits them, but will they ever be able to go back home?

Under Giant Mountains (E, 33k)

Harry doesn't know where he's going. Everyone else has their life paths figured out; he doesn't even know where his map is. Who'd have thought Draco Malfoy bathing in a Norwegian forest would be the guidepost Harry needed?

Pages of You (E, 101k)

Summer, 1980. Harry is floating between university and becoming a Real Certified Adult. He's not ready. He really isn't. In a desperate attempt to have the Best Last Summer ever, he takes a casual job at his godfather's bookshop in London, starts an illicit pen pal affair with a wordy posh boy that he's catching feelings for, all while dealing with the son of Sirius's business rival, one Draco Malfoy, insufferable know-it-all extraordinaire. Check out @homoaesthetics ‘s fabulous rec post for this fic here.

👖 Rare pairs:

The Classics (E, 1.1k) - Draco/Sirius

Sirius gets more than he bargained for when he heads to bed after a long day and night in Grimmauld Place.

Viridian (E, 1.7k) - Draco/Blaise, implies future Harry/Draco/Blaise

There’s just something about Draco. Blaise can’t quite put his finger on it, but it’s—an impulse. To poke, to prod, to pick his delicate wings off. To teach him some humility.

Love is a Verb (E, 1.7k) - Harry/Teddy

These days, Teddy loves and hates being alone with Harry. He craves it, and he dreads it, and he thinks Harry’s starting to notice. He wants him to notice.

Hymn to Apollo (E, 2k) - Teddy/Scorpius

It's the night of Harry and Draco's wedding, and Teddy learns Scorpius has an enormous crush on him.

Seat You Higher than the Stars (E, 2k) - Rarry

When Harry tells Ron he's ready to reveal their relationship to their friends, he lets out another confession: that he wants to be completely vulnerable in bed.

Yours & Mine (E, 2.3k) - Dron

Just another Sunday lunch at The Burrow. Featuring French dessert, fond Molly Weasley, flirty Drarry, and Ron's incredulousness.

Like A Brother Would (E, 5k) - Rarry

Ron wants to tell him, again, that he’s not focused, that he’s not planning this whole thing through properly, that he keeps missing things. That they need more structure, that he wouldn’t have lost his temper like he had if only they had the safety of a strategy.

A Bigger Splash (E, 7k) - Dralbus

It's his dad's 45th birthday in rural Sicily, and all Albus wants is to be seen by Draco Malfoy.

The Hollow (E, 12k) - Remus/Draco

They both drink, and Remus wonders how much longer he can stay here. His eyes are already moving around slowly, looking for an escape. Anything to get away from the eerily familiar slope of Draco’s cheekbones, from the richness of the voice that sounds so much like the ghost inside his own head.

Trillium (E, 13k) - Dronarry

Harry and Draco are shagging. Ron’s got a hunch, and the only way to find out is to volunteer his services alongside Harry’s in the Big Malfoy Manor Cleanup of 2010. What could possibly go wrong?

Precious Metal (E, 28k) - Dronarry

Precious metal awaits in an abandoned, cursed cottage on the Isle of Jura. Ron’s illegal hunting ring is on it, but disaster strikes when he runs into a jumpy and suspicious Draco Malfoy, camped out where the treasure is hidden. What happens when they accidentally unleash a bond curse when both of them harbour feelings for the same man?

Tiny Home (E, 30k) - Dronarry

Harry and Ron left the Aurors years ago to travel the world and make up for lost time. When they finally decide to settle roots back in England, together, building a tiny home in the Lake District by hand seems like the perfect plan. What they don't realise is that Draco Malfoy already lives on the plot of land that they choose to build on. Check out @slytherco’s scorching art for this fic here.

[littlecactiguy]

Aziraphale, Crowley, Herschel of Ostropol, Chanukah, and a story...

Sooo there's no way I can think of (and I have been thinking on this a lot) that this post isn't going to be a little bit awkward, but it's going to exist anyway.

A year ago, in 2022, I saw this post from 2021 by @anonymousdandelion on Aziraphale and Crowley meeting Herschel of Ostropol (protagonist of Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins, a Jewish children's book, as well as a Jewish folkloric figure).

Then, a) being Jewish and Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins being a fondly remembered book from my childhood, b) someone who enjoys Good Omens, c) also a fic writer and, d) the idea being adoptable, I started to write a story.

(and okay, it's taken me roughly a year to give it a solid shape (long story short that's less to do with the story itself and more to do with me figuring some things out about what and who I want to write for, but I digress), but the fic itself very much exists now.)

I planned to have the full Chapter 1 done in time for Chanukah this year. Due to life in general being pretty chaotic, that hasn't happened. Instead, under the read more is a preview (the first scene of chapter 1), because I still wanted to post some part of it for the holiday.

Some Fic Notes:

-This story is, arguably, two stories intertwined. One that takes place in the 'present day' (though before the Apocalypse, etc.), and one that takes place during the Herschel story.

-It will largely follow the perspective of and by driven by OCs. Though, Aziraphale and Crowley will have a strong presence and influence, it didn't feel like it was their story to tell.

-It is written with two base structural rules in mind;

Aziraphale and Crowley had a hand in the stories of Herschel of Ostropol being remembered. The original kernel this fic was built around and expanded from was answering the question of how that happens.

There can be absolutely no interference in Herschel's story happening in the synagogue (i.e. the narrative of the children's book cannot be altered). Though, that doesn't necessarily mean Herschel is prevented from appearing in the story ;)

Story Preview Beneath The Cut

Generally speaking, the old bookshop is almost always closed.

If one, however, is in ownership of a decent set of lock picks, they may find it otherwise.

For what it’s worth, Tziporah (Tzi to her close friends, Nora to most everyone else at school, and young lady to almost all adults—including her parents, Bubbie, aunties and uncles, and the odd, inconvenient passerby—all who’ve caught her getting into trouble), most of the time, does her best to not use her lock picks. It’s just…it’s…

It’s like this, alright?

Tzi was born into a family with a long, long, long tradition of bookbinding. The kind that historians sometimes visit to ask stuffy questions about. The kind that causes librarians to visit requesting restorations of aging tomes. The kind that means their home has a dedicated workshop full of fairly ancient machinery that no one outside of the family knows how to use. Of course, there are other bookbinders in the world who would certainly recognize and understand the functionality of the more modern pieces of equipment Tzi’s family has. They just won’t recognize all of what they use. Not the Family bits.

The point being, when you grow up in such a setting, you tend to learn certain things. The store names and locations of almost every bookshop dealing in antique or rare books fairly close by, for instance. Also, a lot of the owners become familiar faces (or have been since before Tzi could remember). As the future of the Family Tradition, it’s only natural that she should accompany whomever is doing the deliveries or house calls regularly.

Thus, when you have this knowledge and you can be an Extremely Trustworthy Child (sure, Tzi may cause trouble regularly, but some things (like books, it’s books) are far too precious not to be Extremely Careful about), you’re, more often than naught, allowed to explore such bookshops, and read to your heart’s content.

And if you’re Tzi and you’re allowed to come along on a visit to The Bookshop That You’re Family Rarely Does Business With Because Their Books Are Almost Always In Unexplainable, Impeccable Condition, you’re going to want to read something (and you inevitably will).

The problem of course becomes, if you happen to be Tzi, and your mother, or father or whomever finishes up the Official Business rather quickly, you don’t have enough time to finish whatever it is you’re reading. And it being The Bookshop That You’re Family Rarely Does Business With Because Their Books Are Almost Always In Unexplainable, Impeccable Condition, you know you probably won’t have the opportunity to come back. At least not on an official bookbinding-related visit. Not for a Long While.

First, you’ll try coming back during regular business hours, as you have for many a bookshop previously.

Except, this bookshop doesn’t seem to have regular business hours.

So, given the story you were reading has been buzzing around your head for days, you come up with an alternate method.

Tzi isn’t going to take anything of course! She’s going to be extremely careful. She just wants to finish the story.

No one will ever know she was even there!

Except the giant snake waiting for her on the other side of the door.

If Tzi didn’t regularly inhabit spaces full of delicate books in need of repair or the equally delicate tools used to repair them, she would have jumped. As it stands, she finagles the lock open, slips in through the door quietly, turns around to the face the bookshop proper, and and a yelp almost escapes her lips. The snake, black as ink and with scales bigger than Tzi’s thumb, regards her coolly with brilliant golden eyes. She stares back, hyperventilating at first, but as the seconds pass and nothing happens, her breathing evens out.

“You aren’t going to eat me, are you?” Tzi asks the snake.

The snake’s tongue flicks out and back. It doesn’t say anything, or stop gazing at her for that matter.

Tzi studies the snake with more scrutiny. “I don’t suppose you could. I mean, of course I know snakes can unhinge their jaws and all, but even if you did, you look like you aren’t big enough to fit more than my arm in your mouth, and then what would you do? You’d be stuck hanging off my shoulder.”

There’s a long beat where it seems they’re both considering this possibility (in truth, only Tzi is, in a ‘walking into school with a giant snake hanging off my arm would be really cool’ kind of way. The giant snake, for what it’s worth, is feeling mildly insulted by the implication that he’d try to eat her).

“Well,” Tzi finally says. “I did plan for this.”

Technically speaking, she only sort of planned for this. Tzi had been skeptical of the rumored sightings of a (pet?) snake in this particular bookshop when she first heard them. More so after she visited for the first time and no such snake could be located. Regardless, when One Is Determined To Finish The Book She Was Reading, One Has To Prepare For As Many Possibilities As Possible. So, Tzi had hardboiled a few eggs (because an article she read once said snakes like to eat eggs) and put them in a tupperware and put that tupperware in her bag before she left home an hour ago.

Tzi takes the egg tupperware out of her bag now and shows it to the snake. “Would you like one? They’re tastier than me, I promise.”

The snake turns its head slightly down to look at the eggs in their unassuming plastic container, and then turns back to gaze at Tzi again.

It’s at this moment that Tzi remembers the article she’d read had been about foxes, not snakes, and that she may have just insulted this particular snake (since snakes lay eggs, right? Tzi is fairly certain of that fact, but all snake facts she knows seem to have taken her seeking them as an impromptu game of Hide and Seek in her mind and they are hiding Very Well).

Tzi gulps (and briefly considers pretending one of the eggs is a stone and crushing it as a show of strength to intimidate the snake, but he can clearly see they’re eggs so that probably won’t work).

In the end, Tzi’s desire to just find the book she wants to read already, reinforced by the snake not doing much beyond staring at the eggs, wins out.

(For what it’s worth, when the snake in question has confronted intruders into the bookstore in the past, the intruders have usually taken more aggressive approaches to him. Eggs in a plastic container gifted by a girl who clearly isn’t going to run screaming at the sight of him is certainly New, and he’s not going to be given enough time to fully figure out how to respond).

Tzi places the egg tupperware down on the floor in front of the snake and snaps off the lid. “Sooo…” She draws the word out. “I’m going to go read.” She tentatively sidesteps away from the snake. When he doesn’t react, she goes to hurry off, stops herself, turns back, takes a deep breath, and “You’rewelcometojoinmeifyoulike!” tumbles from her mouth.

Without waiting for a response, Tzi darts through the chaotically organized bookshelves of the shop until she finds the one holding the book she’s after. Gingerly she plucks it off its shelf and, after memorizing its place so she can return it to exactly there, sets off for a comfortable place to sit and read.

All the while, the snake slithers after her.

After a couple minutes of fruitlessly trying to find a seat, the snake bumps its snout into Tzi’s shoulder and, when she looks at it, points her in the direction of a comfy-looking armchair that, hidden in the shadows as it is, previously escaped her notice.

Once settled, Tzi gently opens the book, finds the place she left off, and begins to read.

It’s well into the evening, after the traveler who called himself Herschel had gone up to the old synagogue, that two more visitors arrived in our small town…

[star--anon]

Some Maze Runner Headcanons !

TW: There’s a mention of Newt’s attempted suicide (towards the end)

*This takes place in an AU where they remain in the Maze for about a year after Teresa comes up in the Box

**You might see some recycled headcanons from my old posts. That’s because you’re experiencing deja vu and not because I’m lazy and uncreative

Newt always felt a kinship towards salamanders and small snakes. It felt silly, but anytime he'd find a small critter roaming around the grass, he'd grin.

Thomas (guitarist) tried to start a band with Frypan (main writer/instrument maker) and Chuck (drummer). Teresa became the lead singer solely because she could hit high notes like a morning bird. Newt (harmonist) would later join. He wishes he could say he was dragged into it kicking and screaming, but he genuinely enjoyed it; it gave him a sense of home he rarely found elsewhere. The songs were awful, but also awfully catchy. The band, called Everchanging, eventually disbanded, though specific melodies and choruses are still hummed in Paradise.

Minho was, at a time, in love with Newt. Minho also found it nauseatingly soft and emotional to admit it, so instead repeatedly tried to woo him. Most notable of the myriad of flirting tactics he tried were: catching salamanders and putting them in Newt’s hammock, learning cool spinny moves with a machete (which led to many, many injuries) that he did while trying to seem casual, decorating his own hammock with shiny rocks (and glaring at any Glader who mentioned it), and bringing back cool-shaped ivy leaves from his run, which he presented to a very confused Newt. 

Minho eventually stopped and the two become close friends instead. His feelings for Newt slowly petered off. Months after accepting Newt as his friend, he would drunkenly admit he once harbored feelings for Newt... To Newt. He had no recollection of saying so in the morning, and Newt (who was never quite sure of his attraction to men) decided to not mention it.

Gally walks around the Glade scrutinizing each and every design, constantly wondering if there were ways to make it better or more efficient. More than once, he has torn down an entire building to rebuild it back up solely for one detail. Everyone complains at first, then begrudgingly admits the changes are genuinely helpful. Except for that one time he made a raccoon trap and Winston stumbled into it.

Teresa spoke Mandarin due to pre-Maze WCKD tests and experiments. She came up in the Box with this skill retained, and she later taught it to Chuck. It was common to find the two laughing and chatting away, completely unintelligible to the other Gladers. 

Teresa and Chuck convinced the Everchanging band to add Chinese lyrics. More than once, Chuck specifically recommended lines that he knew Newt (harmonist) would have trouble pronouncing. 

More than once, a few Gladers have started fights in Frypan’s kitchen over a few scraps of food. Frypan always let it happen outside, but anyone who was dumb enough to shout in his kitchen got smacked with a spatula. A few Gladers have tried him before and each one, without fail, ended up at the Medjack tent with a wok-smashed nose.

Alby lost many good friends in the early days of the Maze and eventually began purposefully isolating himself from the following Gladers. Minho was the first friend he made after months of solitude, mostly because his cocky attitude made Alby feel “safe” (as in, Minho's seeming detachment meant he thought he could avoid any feelings being developed). It softened him up a little and would eventually lead to his friendship with Newt.

Alby was heartbroken when Newt attempted suicide and fought hard to be a more openly emotional friend afterwards, deep down always blaming himself for Newt never feeling safe or loved.

One of the only few times Newt felt comfortable and at "home" was sitting around the campfire with Alby and Minho.

[writingmaidenwarrior]

Writblr Intro

I am Wynne, your queer 40 years old friendly neighborhood hag with a love for fantasy, sci-fi and romance. I am genderfluid, pansexual and probably aromantic, and you can just throw any pronoum my direction, I don't care.

I had been writing since I was little, same with drawing, but whenever life became stressful I stopped with both because I get overstimulated and overwhelmed easy. I took an almost seven-year-long break from any creative stuff after being diagnosed with inflammatory rheumatism at a young age, plus some other stuff that happened IRL. Before this, I had been on Tumblr for a while, mostly in fandoms and only on the sideline in writblr.

My writing process is pretty chaotic because I am a discovery writer, and it is not rare for me to jump between multiple WIPs at the same time depending on where I just got an idea.

List of my WIPS can be found here

Things you can expect from my writing in general:

I don't ignore the facts of life, therefore my characters will endure bad things which means there will be mentions of events like emotional abuse, physical abuse, toxic relationships, neglect, and violence. Don't worry, I will warn beforehand in a post if those things appear

Sex is part of life, and you can bet your phones on me writing NSFW scenes when I see them fit. I am also not fond of too many of them in stories, so you don't need to worry about my stuff being erotica in disguise. IF I write erotica, I mark it as such.

A wild mix of straight and queer couples, and heck, even if the couples might be physiological a male and a female doesn't mean it's straight. You know, what I am talking about.

Found families, family clans, out of the box relationships of all variations, if I feel fancy there might be a play on soulmates

There will always be cats in some shape or form. I love cats

The characters having a varying age from early twenties to mid-forties.

Besides writing, and drawing, I love videogames , my little balcony garden, crocheting and knitting even if knitting can be pretty hard in my hands because of the damn rheumatism. I have a thing for viking vibes (you could guess from my username), love Lord of the Rings and plan to turn my apartment into a little hobbit hole one day.

[archaiclumina]

@ahollowgrave kindly asked these questions in the tag of the post I made for yesterday's mayncient prompt, and I thought I would answer! (publicly for a change c':) It gets rambly tho because I am a rambler, so I have used a cut c':

The answer to the first question is, and always will be, no. One of the things that's absolutely necessarily required for Ren to figure out where one of her memory salads has come from is something tactile. This could be something that belonged to the owner of the memory which they had on them at the time of an event traumatic enough to leave the latent aetheric signature of their memory upon it. (This was the method which allowed her to recall the memory of her father's murder, which no one believes her about, of course! via his deck of sixty.)

Or it could be another item they've been in very recent contact with that has some relevance to a traumatic memory of theirs. This is how she came to know Callineaux broke his arm by jumping off a balcony because he wanted to be a Dragoon when he was a child. (They were cataloging Ishgardian reliquaries at work, and he was reminiscing about it while they were writing up the attributes of a broken lance.) Here's what Ren "remembered" after Cal handed over the lance.

It was two cups of coffee later when they got back to the broken polearm and its fragmented glaive. “I’ll write this one up just as a potential reliquary, yes?” she asked Cal, glancing up at him for just a moment as she took the haft. In the space of a breath, she remembered everything he had remembered. The grassy field, that bold yet naïve conviction. Looking over his shoulder to be sure none of the staff had seen. The way the dark silhouette had curved and cut the sunrise like a hunting hawk. The people swanning around in their summer finery. The lush gardens, all manicured. The coy smile of Seraphine, the wistful wish to impress her. The tempered argument of his young friend. The slap of his boots upon the iron railing of the balcony terrace. The swift and unavoidable rushing of the ground and the pretty picket fence, his eyes streaming water. And of course, the jolt of agony, the way it felt on impact, which she didn’t really feel, but remembered feeling all the same; like some phantom pain. All of this, and probably more, in an instant. She just knew it.

So, Ren's ability to uncover the truth about any of her past lives is limited to the off chance she encounters some rare and very old relic that belonged to one of them. As her writer, I don't intend for that to ever happen as a lot of the fun of writing her (and all the other OCs past incarnations) for me is that she doesn't understand any of it, so it all just makes her kind of weird!

However, Ren's memory salads or bad echo™ as I sometimes call it, isn't limited to items she's in contact with. The invasive memories are triggered by ambient latent aether from any source. Places, other people's presence, and also things she reads in books that she might have once experienced. These don't present themselves in the form of any visions like the WoL's echo. A big part of this is because I have aphantasia and so don't see visions in my head, and I wanted to have a go at trying to like, write what I "see" when I see things in my mind for fun. The in-character reason is because of the damage to her eye as a child. Like a person with aphantasia, Ren can only see in dreams. But she doesn't really have weird dreams! (That's Oli's domain c': ) So, her memory salads are just new words, phantom feelings and sensations in her head. They basically just become shit she knows now. This is why I make the running joke about her knowing a lot of recipes for Allagan Meatloaf and Gelmorran marinated mushrooms (against her will no less, because she can't cook them.) She has translated a lot of tomestones and old texts, and these can often trigger a memory from a person they once belonged to. Ren just has no way of ever encountering this person and figuring out "oh this is your memory!" by deductive reasoning.

In answer to the second question. Ren first "remembered" all her summons when her Mother made her look at the moon through her whacky aetherial star gazing device. But she was six, so she didn't really know what was going on. Full disclosure, she still doesn't know what's going on. However, she has recalled two of Galatea's concepts at different times since then, and these replace her fire and air egi. Cordenym she recalled again learning about the basic principles of summoning using arcanima — namely that a summon can look like whatever the summoner imagines it to look as, whereby carbuncles and fairies are simply the most commonly manifested form. So, she thinks her memory from Galatea is her own imagination! This is unlike Lunearch. She also recalled Lunearch as Dalamud was falling. This is because Galatea's past life during the time of Allag summoned Lunearch regularly. (Summoning the weird lightning lion with antlers was kinda her thing as a High Summoner.) She recently had to use Lunearch during some shenanigans with Callineaux and his gambling enemies in a RP my husband and I were doing. So, here's how she tries to explain Lunearch to people. (Credit to him for all Cal's portion of this conversation.)

She paused at his next question, setting aside the needle very slowly while she considered her reply. “Lunearch.” She said, referring to the summon by name. “Well, I…” It was such a bother to explain her summons to people, it’s why she so very rarely used them. “It’s sort of like… it’s someone else’s summon. Not mine. It uh… It was someone's who lived a long time ago… and I adapted my spell from theirs.” “Someone else's summon, then?" he mused, a hint of admiration in his voice as he adjusted the silk bottoms. They fit weirdly well considering how much shorter Zan was than him. "Impressive, to say the least. Whose summon is it then?"  “Well,” she said after swallowing her mouthful of sandwich, reaching for her glass of water again with her other free hand. “As I said, they’re not alive anymore.” She took a sip, washing down the last of the curried egg, “Unfortunately I don’t know their name, so I can’t give it to you. I only know about Lunearch's… But uh… they were Allagan.” She offered a shrug, biting into the remainder of the sandwich and polishing it off.  "Allagan…" he mused, nodding thoughtfully. "This sounds a little bit over my head.” He was unsure how she would have managed to even learn all this without knowing someone's name, but came to the conclusion it would be from a book. “Must have been an old book. You’ll have to show me some time.” Of course, he’d think she’d learned it from a book. Where else would she learn it?  She gave a pensive hum, fishing out a few of the blueberries from the near-empty cup, chewing slowly again before she answered. Pondering what her reply should be. “I can’t show it to you, I’m afraid.” Clearly amused he even wanted to see something he’d self-admittedly said was over his head. Her eyes settled on his for a long moment, lips twisting into a smirk of sorts before she eventually phrased her cryptic reply. “It’s kind of like, a secret knowledge, you see."

She is yet to recall her third summon yet, (it's name is Ignixotl, and if I am brave, I might post some excerpts of some scenes with them for some of the later prompts in mayncient! I hope to be able to do some RP around Dawntrail which will put her on the path to re/discovering her third summon x3)

I hope this lengthy explanation makes sense c': Thank you very much for asking a bit about Gal's concepts/Ren's summons! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

[lovemari]

IMPORTANT: Hello! My old account, Lovemari, got deleted. Therefore, I had to make a new one. I'm honestly pretty upset about this so I'll take some time to recover! Thankfully, all my posts are saved as I write them in google docs before posting. Please like and reblog so I can reach my old followers and potentially new ones!

Wanderer - His Mission

Reminder: I'm not an experienced writer so construction criticism is always welcome! Also, I write for fun. I just wanted to share my work around the world!

Wanderer was like a dog protecting his owner. Sitting high up in that tree, eavesdropping on your conversation with the students from the Sumeru Akademiya. He was almost like a hawk, about to pounce on his prey at any given moment.

That was the mission he offered to do. When Nahida mentioned that you're being hunted by someone anonymous, Wanderer immediately offered to watch over you. He also wanted to see you more, which, of course, he didn't admit to Nahida.

Wanderer groaned. He had the urge to talk to you. At the same time, he was somewhat uneasy about it. After all, if he was going to hit up a conversation with you, it would mean he's letting his guard down.

The students waved goodbye as they walked off, leaving you alone and vulnerable. Anything could happen and Wanderer was ready for the worst.

That was, until you looked at him, “Don't think I didn't notice you, silly.” You chuckled. Wanderer smirked, “At least you're aware.” You raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Wanderer flew down to your level and extended his arm to you, “C'mon, grab my hand. I'm taking you to dinner.” You were getting suspicious but it's not like you couldn't say no to food. Besides, Wanderer knows the best places to grab a bite.

Wanderer grinned, “We're here.” He announced. It was a place you didn't recognize. Though, judging by the clothes of the guests, it must've been a place for the more wealthy part of Sumeru. You backed away, “...Wanderer? I think this place is a little above me.” You fretted. You weren't really used to being in high end places.

Wanderer gave you a soft smile, something that was rare for him to do, “Don't be like this. If I were you, I'd take this opportunity.” He encouraged you. With those words, you went to the table you've been assigned to and grabbed the menu.

Meanwhile, Wanderer was looking everywhere. He knew this anonymous person would be here. He stopped his head when he saw someone staring at you.

Wanderer slowly got up and snuck behind them. Shocked, he saw this person using his Kamera to take photos of you?! Wanderer hissed, “I've found you.” He confronted. The man quickly jumped, too nervous to say anything.

Wanderer gives him his famous death state, “Why are you taking photos of them?” He snarled. The man backed away, “I-I love them!” He admitted. Wanderer was disgusted, for sure, “So you take photos of them?!” He snapped. The man nodded his head.

Meanwhile, on your side, you were looking at the menu. You bit your nail, trying to decide what was the cheapest option. You didn't want Wanderer to spend too much mora on you.

You looked around, hoping for Wanderer to show himself. He said he “had to do something” and that he needed “a few minutes”.

You heard a smug voice, “I'm back.” You let out a sigh of relief, it was Wanderer, “You’re here. I thought you ditched me.” Wanderer only gave you a chill look, “Me? Never. Now, let's get out food. You must be pretty hungry.”

Wanderer looked proud, “Nahida. I finished the task.” Nahida clapped her hands, “Thank you. I'm glad they're safe now.” Wanderer agreed, “Yeah. Me too.” Nahida gave him a little smirk, “So~ How did your date go?” Wanderer's calm demeanor went to a little shock, “Tch..It wasn't a date.” He assured Nahida. She didn't say anything. After all, she wanted Wanderer to take his time to realize when it's time to confess to you.

[therealvinelle]

Why do you think fanfic writers lie in their fic tags? Like, a fic itself contains several semi-graphic depictions of het sex, and yet the tag is Gen. What is the thought process behind doing shit like this?

They're sick fucks, that's why.

To be more serious: I think few people set out to intentionally deceive their readers, and the ones that do usually want readers so badly they forget themselves. Genuine bad actors are rare, or so I choose to believe.

As it is, I suspect I'm a misleading tagger myself, at least to some.

The way I treat tags is as warnings, so I will tag ships featured in my works even if they're one-sided, background, or in the past because that way people who don't want to see that ship know to avoid my story. Edward/Carlisle and Jacob/Renesmee getting tagged in my fic Bleach on the Brain is an example of this: sucks if you clicked on the fic because you're a shipper but the way I see it, sucks worse if you don't want to see those and now you're reading a fic with father/son incest and a guy in his mid-twenties grooming a child in it. If I hadn't done this, if I'd only kept the pairings which were depicted positively, then the negative tags in that fic (grooming, sexual assault, etc) would have been assumed to be related to those and someone else would have been upset with me.

I tag this way because @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin learned the hard way (i.e.: got hate) that tagging only for endgame will get a lot of people very mad at you, but now A/B shippers have fics depicting their ship negatively. It's a losing game.

So that's bringing me to a major reason why I think misleading tags happen (which gets a headline so I can tell myself this post is structured):

People have different ideas of how works should be tagged

Some people want to tag for everything that happens in the fic. Literally everything, if it's a smut you know exactly what goes where just from reading the tags.

This also means they might tag characters who appear only briefly in a scene in chapter 35 (the fic having 56 chapters so far and being 500k+ long), because hey, the character appears. Or maybe they're brought up a lot and are very important to the fic even if there's not much actual screentime, so a character like Voldemort gets tagged in a Harry Potter fic focused on the war without him actually appearing all that much.

On the opposing side you have the minimalists. They tag the main two characters and put three more in the additional tags so it won't go in the character tag, and add a ship tag some 30 chapters in. There are two additional tags, both are very vague. If that - I've seen people who don't tag at all, or who just tag with a single character, or just the ship - it really is up to the individual.

I've noticed the type of author (whether Ao3 was their first platform, how much time they spent elsewhere, whether it's an imported fic, and how old the author is) and the type of fic (how old it is, the author's background, and genre (oneshot, drabble, multi-chapter, 5+1, etc.)) influences tagging.

Common to all authors, though, is they try to tag as they feel is appropriate for their fic.

Which brings me to the next issue:

How do I tag?

A lot of people are confused about this.

They're confused about what tags mean - what's freeform (I honestly keep forgetting what this one is supposed to be too), when something should be tagged, what belongs in relationship or character tags vs. additional tags, what additional tags are supposed to be.

Do you, for that matter, try to explain your story in the tag ("this is a roommate AU with feelings") or do you tag succinctly ("roommate AU", "feelings", "fluff") or a combination? A lot of authors seem to prefer the first and last options, from what I can tell it's become the norm. Most authors seem to use the additional tags to connect with the reader in this way, and so you get people placing more emphasis on the additional tags than the succinct tags.

How do I tag? Sensibilities section

Then there's the question of sensibilities: what's triggering to reader A may be great stuff to reader B, with the author not realising it could be triggering to anybody and should have been in the tags, or the author thought knees brushing against each other warranted big red warnings that "they literally had sex, oh god this is so dirty. so dirty!! can't believe i wrote this. ENTER AT OWN RISK" which of course is very disappointing to the sick fucks who wanted porn.

Or the opposite happens: the author knows the subject is triggering, which means people might not click on the fic, and they want attention so badly they ah weasel out. Or option three: the author can't tag without spoiling the story, and so they either put "creator chose not to use warnings", don't rate it, and let the readers enter at their own risk or they use tags uh strategically (have a look at how I tagged Nebuchadnezzar's Dream to avoid spoiling the bloody coup d'état that happens at the end. Today I simply would have gone for no warnings and no rating, but those tags are also a solution which I think is... alright, I suppose "massacre" could have been added but it was entirely off screen so to me would have been an abuse of the tag).

In other words, everyone will be tagging differently and sometimes it's because they've no clue which tag is warranted, sometimes they're trying not to spoil their story, sometimes they didn't realise they should or shouldn't have tagged for something.

Anthologies (when someone posts their oneshots as chapters of a story)

These used to frustrate me endlessly, until I saw a "how to help readers find your fic!" post explaining that with anthologies, your readers get a notification every time you post a new oneshot and it's easy to find them all!

Which, in retrospect, is the most fanfiction.net statement I've ever seen (indeed, OP was an old ffnet dog).

Ao3 allows collections, and is unique in this: to older fandom people, putting your thematically connected oneshots together as chapters of a story used to be how it was done, having 54 connected drabbles on your fanfiction.net profile where readers couldn't filter them out nor select to view only the drabbles put together made perfect sense. And then they never adapted to Ao3's features, and other users seeing these anthologies copied the action because hey, stats.

I'm still frustrated with these people and wish they would just post their oneshots individually, but I think a lot of them are just... really really keen on the numbers on their fics going up, and not thinking about the purpose of the archive, utilising its features, nor that they're making their oneshots harder to find and annoying a lot of people.

The tag difficulty with anthologies, of course, being that if you have two oneshots in it, one with characters A and B and you tag it for X and Y happening, the other oneshot is with characters C and D and you tag it for Z and W happening, and continue like this for 30 chapters, then you have a wall of tags so everyone will see your story, good on you, but your readers have no way of knowing what's happening in your story or to which characters, and they're either patient enough to click their way through every goddamn chapter or they just scroll past your thing. Either way you're cloying a looot of tags and the readers who wanted Z and W happening to A and B are pissed because they clicked their way through god knows how many chapters only to not get what they wanted (and now they don't like anthologies either).

(Disclaimer: sometimes drabbles or oneshots are so interconnected that it doesn't make sense to separate even on Ao3, so to every rule there's an exception.)

In conclusion

Most authors are making tough choices when tagging, or they don't know how to tag, or they want readers very badly (and what you as a reader can do to ameliorate this is to comment and kudos frequently! Even give positive notes in the bookmarks when you make a new one because believe me we check!).

Or they're writing an anthology, in which case you should be very skeptical about those tags.

[greenhappyseed]

How the Quirk Singularity is like ChatGPT (or the AI of your choice)

I had this comment from @mhasuperfansblog a while ago, and I realized it’s worthwhile to talk about what “singularity” means, because yes, it IS a quirk controlling a user.

The literal meaning of “singularity” is “the state, fact, quality, or condition of being singular/unique/distinctive.” The word does NOT mean “many things converging into one.” Instead, a singularity marks a unique and rare point after which things are never the same and are wildly unpredictable. The old models must be thrown out and a new reality acknowledged. For example:

The Big Bang is theorized to be a singularity that created a universe — and space itself— from nothing

The infinitely dense and unstable material at the center of a black hole, which IMO is best explained via the movie Interstellar

The moment a butterfly flaps its wings to irreversibly change the weather on the other side of the world

What does this have to do with AI?

For many years, people with big brains have been predicting that the exponential growth of technology will inevitably come to a point when artificial intelligence surpasses the total of all human intelligence. We’ll reach a tech singularity point of no return, after which humans can’t reliably predict or control what happens. Once machines outsmart humans and replace all human jobs and human skills, humanity will become unnecessary; maybe even extinct. [Insert Terminator joke here about Skynet becoming self-aware.]

While the details are up for debate, the “tech singularity doomsday theory” has been around for a while and it isn’t exactly fringe. For example, Time Magazine published this article in 2014, tracing the theory back to a 1993 essay (which itself cites research papers from the 1950s-60s).

The graphic below is from 2005-07 and has been republished in various forms all over the internet. (I’m not going to debate accuracy, as the theory is the point.)

Which brings us back to MHA

When Horikoshi talks about quirk power growing exponentially with each generation, and quirks no longer being controllable by an individual, he’s not JUST talking about characters like Eri who have potentially destructive quirks. He’s talking about characters whose quirks take over them. Consume them.

The Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory is the point at which QUIRKS take over and drive human actions rather than the heart and soul that typically mark “humanity;” after this point people’s actions become unstable, irrational, and unpredictable. When quirks take over a body, the heart and soul slide towards extinction UNLESS people’s hearts evolve so their psychological makeup and emotional strength can rival —and control — their quirk power.

AFO became a demon lord by taking and giving quirks, eventually making his quirk into his name and personality. Naturally, he has an interest in controlling the singularity in some fashion. I’m not sure yet if he’s trying to stop the singularity to preserve his power over the world, or if he gave Tomura a singularity-proof body in order to survive and continue trading post-singularity quirks, but either way AFO is only looking at how quirks and physical bodies can control the problems presented by the singularity. Focusing only on the “hardware” is his limitation. Because heart is power and a threat to his eternal rule, he’s never “evolved his heart.” AFO is as hollow as he’s always been. Therefore, as his original body rewinds but his massive stolen quirk stockpile remains, AFO is becoming unstable. He doesn’t have sufficient heart, and is losing the physical body, to stop his quirk from taking over.

But how can the heroes win?

In the end, I suspect Horikoshi is going to give us a solution similar to those suggested by the tech singularity theorists and sci fi writers: We need to do more collectively, as a global society, to invest in the success of the next (human) generation, with an emphasis on cooperation, ethics & norms, increased communication, and carefully avoiding both the baggage of the past and the re-creation of the past’s elite class.

Of COURSE Horikoshi has given us a winking gag reference to both the Terminator and Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics along the way just to make his point of view crystal clear, and that’s why I ADORE his combination of artistic talent and science/tech nerdery.