#after actually participating in a fandom for the first time i felt like i needed to vent about how i was feeling

[inquebrar]

QSMP was one of the projects that had one of the biggest personal impacts on me. since i was younger, i have always been fascinated by getting to know different cultures and learning new languages ​​has always been something that captivated me. although for years i have "been part" of many fandoms and followed different projects, series, groups and things like that for years sometimes, but i just had my interests without having no one to talk with and share it. so this was the first time that i really participated actively and was so engaged in the "fandoms" i'm part of, to talk about it, share my theories and analyzes and stuff like that. so at the beginning (and tbh i still feel a little) i was always very nervous to talk about it or talk with other people in general (especially in a language that is not my mother tongue) because it was something so out of my comfort zone, but through qsmp i learned more about cultures and languages ​​that before i didn't even thought about learning, i felt the desire to continue learning languages ​​that i had left aside, i felt more proud of my nationality, i met very kind people from different countries, it brought me a lot of joy seeing many people starting to learn my language too and see so many people who like the same things as me who share opinions and interests and even people who speak my language who are also very engaging it's so cool to see and the whole feeling of unity, comfort and cultural mix between different people made me extremely passionate about this project and the things it provided.

but unfortunately, recently it has been very difficult to deal with the excess of negativity and heavy topics and serious matters that came to the surface and started to accumulate with disappointments and overwhelming things that i had been feeling for a while. having hyperfixation on qsmp stopped being something that motivated me and brought me happiness, it started to affect my mental health in a bad and unhealthy way, which already hasn't been so good in the last few days. so i thought i'd just vent a little so that maybe someone who is in a similar situation and having similar feelings to mine will feel less alone or a little more understood.

i heard Quackity's recent statement and i was relieved to see that he handled the situation responsibly and addressed the matters without taking away the importance also genuinely apologizing, it was a difficult and sad situation to witness in general but with the server closed on a temporary break, i really hope that he now stays informed and aware of how his team is working and how things are happening behind the scenes. i hope that this brings more organization, communication, correct and respectful treatment to all those who work to maintain the project with care and commitment, and i hope things get an extremely significant change and that everything improves from now on. i still have a lot of love for this project and i want to believe things will be more positive again, but in the meantime i hope that everyone who was affected by everything that has been happening takes care of themselves and always remember that you are important, your feelings are valid and you're not alone. speak up when you feel the need, when you feel disrespected, when you need help. also don't forget to be kind (to yourself too) and i'm waiting for better days.

[leportraitducadavre]

It's this article even real? I found it hard to believe someone would read the manga or watch the show and decide that Naruto "doesn't need the overdone Sasuke Arc".

First and most importantly, Sasuke singlehandedly moves the entirety of the plot forward, he doesn't have an entire arc dedicated to himself because he's relevant for every single arc the story possesses, and he's the reason key characters behave the way they do; taking away Sasuke's journey to make him a complying tool of the state wipes out the reasoning behind every villain's actions, therefore, it destroys them as well.

It's hilarious how this article exists to take away Sasuke's relevance within the story to give it completely to Naruto, something his fandom has wanted since the very beginning of the manga and that Kishimoto never complied.

In the Naruto series, Sasuke was Naruto's rival in the Hidden Leaf. However, he was training to kill his older brother, Itachi, for wiping out their clan. In time, Sasuke would learn Itachi did what he did to protect Konoha as their Uchiha kin wanted a coup. This enraged Sasuke, who nonetheless vowed to kill Itachi and exact revenge on Konoha.

Okay so, we start awfully, and no surprises there. Sasuke killed Itachi and later on, through Obito, learned about the reasoning behind his brother's actions. It's after this that he vows to bring down those who allowed and encouraged the construction of a system that pushed the Uchiha to rise up against this power dome and forced his brother to murder his entire family.

Regardless of the circumstances, Sasuke hated the fact he had to grow up alone. This is the reason he joined the Akatsuki, formed his own terrorist cell called Taka, and tried to murder Naruto after the wars against Obito and Madara.

No. You cannot use "regardless of the circumstances" when those circumstances are detrimental to his character's actions and the functioning of the system against which he, like other characters throughout the plot, stands. He not only hated having to grow up alone (a consequence of, once again, the genocide carried out BY THE STATE ITSELF through his brother), but also the indiscriminate murder of his relatives, both those who engineered the coup and those who were profiled based on biological conditions over which they had no control.

Also, there was one single war against Obito and Madara that stretched through a couple of days for which he participated in bringing down both of them as his idea of revolution didn't partake in their idea of absolute control of people's minds.

The Naruto movie (and obviously, the sequels) would be better served by doing something unpredictable. The Evil Sasuke arc is overdone, especially since it comes up in the Boruto era. In the latter case, a redeemed Sasuke keeps using it as a lesson to teach Boruto and Kawaki why they should not let rage guide them. Fans don't like being reminded how unnecessary this was in the source material.

Overdone? Did this guy actually watch the anime at least? The entirety of the plot focuses on the system flaws that even the protagonist is "set to change", Sasuke's arc is detrimental to the story as both Naruto and Sasuke observe the same issue from different standpoints, the former wants to keep the system and make gradual changes as not to "bring chaos" and the latter wants its complete destruction as a gradual change only guarantees greater injustices being committed over time until it is "changed".

Take Sasuke off of this equation and there's no reason for Naruto to even go on or have any introspection on the matter of Konoha's political and military system --and I'm being incredibly kind about this as even when Sasuke blatantly exposes it Naruto has a hard time grasping the most basic concepts to rebel against.

Additionally, Sasuke's villain arc would be a lot to condense into live-action, even if it's done over a trilogy. It could be done the way the MCU took 10 years to build the Thanos fight in Avengers: Endgame, but by that time, the story would be stale. Everyone would know what happened. The advantage the MCU had while adapting the source material is that it subverted the lore and crafted an original story. c

Does this author actually know what "adaptation" actually means? Or what it entails? What they seem to want is a reversion of the story as they desire to modify the entirety of the character that is the main plot device within the original product, not an adaptation. Also, what's with the last phrase? How can Sasuke be a loyal rogue? That's a contradiction in itself, is he a rogue of Konoha or is he loyal to Konoha? Pick one -you can't have both.

The advantage of Sasuke being a rebel without defecting from Konoha is that Naruto would have the help needed to fight the big villains of the franchise: the Ōtsutsuki. 

Sasuke fought alongside Naruto against Kaguya, bringing the union of former Team 7, without having to compromise his original ideals... did they just... forget?

Kaguya was the first alien who came to Earth, got sealed away, and then tried to return to enslave it. Naruto and Sasuke were reincarnations of her sons (Ashura and Indra, respectively), but the manga and anime didn't spend much time detailing how they would form their clans down the line and the emotional impact Kaguya had fighting her descendants.

Haha, come on, this is clickbait isn't it? Ashura and Indra are not Kaguya's sons, they're her grandchildren that reminded her of her sons, bet your ass this is a Boruto fan that just heard about the original series and wrote whatever this was without eyeing the og manga.

but the manga and anime didn't spend much time detailing how they would form their clans down the line and the emotional impact Kaguya had fighting her descendants.

That's because one of Kaguya's sons went to live on the moon and the other one, Hagoromo, had two sons on Earth (Indra and Ashura) who -as the manga establishes, founded their own clans (Uchiha and Senju respectively) that were at war until Konoha's foundation.

It focused heavily on Sasuke plotting in the shadows, and Naruto forming an army, realizing much later in the story of their link to Kaguya.

What? They learned about their connection to Kaguya through Hagoromo before fighting her, Sasuke also never plotted in the shadows, he blatantly tells them he wants a Revolution and later on decides to kill Naruto as he's his last connection to his past! That's the whole reason they fight!

By switching this up and making lineage a primary and not secondary arc, the movie can dial more into the emotional core: Sasuke and Naruto exploring their family tree and the overall theme of dynasty. Sasuke could learn more about how Indra developed a dark side, which passed down to the Uchiha, while Ashura's light gave way to the Senju and Uzumaki (Naruto's family) clans.

That's incredibly explored throughout the manga. The Senju are the only clan linked canonically to Ashura himself, the Uzumaki obtained Ashura's attention after the Senju disappeared as they were distant relatives.

Also, love the distinction of "Indra developed a dark side which passed down to the Uchiha" and "Ashura's light gave way to the Senju". Hagoromo favored this distinction by granting the totality of his power to one of his sons and expecting the other to be functional to his brother's decisions. If Hagoromo considered that Ashura's position was better than Indra's, why did he not teach his eldest son to make similar decisions? How is it that Indra decided to form a clan and a collective group of people if his idea was to move and gain power alone? How is it that Ashura, the being full of light, decided to fight his brother for power instead of seeking a peaceful solution to work together if what he wanted was power through union? Why did he not question the idea of a single person having the totality of command?

This would allow the movie to not hinge on Naruto and his fate with his Nine-Tailed Demon Fox (Kurama).

This just proves my initial point.

Instead, Sasuke would become a key player by garnering clues as to who Kaguya is. This would also unearth her plan to place everyone in a dream state (via the Infinite Tsukuyomi genjutsu technique) and drain their chakra. In other words, he would be the egotistical brains of the operation, while Naruto functions as the go-lucky muscle.

What's the point of doing all that if this exact thing ends up happening anyway without having to destroy any character's core? Are they serious?

This would not be different from what's been seen with Iron Man and Captain America, and Batman and Superman.

Brain minimized by the same comic story over and over again, what's the point of seeing a dynamic story repeated hundreds of times in different products? Is the main idea of this theme to make audiences like this guy believe that he possesses some kind of intellect because he can predict a plot he has seen thousands of times before?

Such an approach speaks to the legacy of both warriors, which makes them the yin and yang they were meant to be. 

Don't believe this fool. Sasuke and Naruto as characters explore the Yin and Yang implications very well as they are, he doesn't seem to understand what this metaphor actually entails.

Such a change fits Sasuke's destiny organically because this is the kind of sleuth he would become in the Boruto era, where he atoned and roamed the lands as a Ranger. This same development felt rushed and left-field in the manga, as he never did that kind of work before.

Making Sasuke a heroic anchor in the Naruto movie also works for the evolution of Team 7. To start with, Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura were all trained by Kakashi, but their story felt disjointed. Naruto was preoccupied with bringing Sasuke home, Sasuke was off seeking Itachi and an army, while Sakura tried to quell the anger in both of them. This took away time from her personal development and detracted from the bigger threat of the aliens. By making the plot so convoluted, fans found it odd the Boruto era would marry Sakura and Sasuke, despite them never being developed as an official romantic couple.

By not splintering the team, Naruto's director, Daniel Destin Cretton, can focus on what made Team 7 work in the first place. Sakura was known to stop arguments and function as the team's mature, responsible leader. Naruto also liked her while she liked Sasuke. Sakura eventually realized she needed to change the views of Konoha and have the village recognize female shinobi more. This worked in the love triangle that allowed Sasuke to develop feelings for Sakura that would pay off down the line. This would also allow Naruto to understand he was meant to lead the Hidden Leaf.

What is removing Sasuke's entire characterization gonna do for the rest of the characters? The author is not saying Sakura realized this canonically, by the way the paragraph goes, what he implies is that she could realize this in the movie. So he’s telling us that Sakura didn’t notice she needed to change Konoha’s views about females because Sasuke wasn’t there to help her or what? It's Sasuke staying that detrimental to her development?

He wants to change everything about the original Team 7 in order to make them fit their Boruto’s characterizations. Hell, I bet he’s a Boruto fan who barely watched the original series, I’ll go as far as to state he used AI to write this garbage.

That also was Tsunade’s ordeal as well. Shikamaru questioned her involvement and was proven wrong when she “consoled” him after Sasuke’s Retrieval Arc and proved herself to be a good Kage. He’s asking something of Sakura that Tsunade already did.

Does he know what character development is? Why should they change everything about the original series to fit better the spin-off? Is the spin-off that it's badly written as it couldn't follow the original's characterizations, not the other way around.

According to his page, Renaldo Matadeen, "author" of this abysmal take, focuses on: As a filmmaker and scriptwriter, Renaldo loves to dissect the nuances of stories, especially narratives involving people of colour, minorities, and the socially-displaced. He believes art is a medium to reflect and provoke, and loves engaging in content that evokes this energy. 

So you mean to tell me that Sasuke, a metaphor for the socially displaced people, a survivor of a state-sanctioned genocide, and a revolutionary is somehow better by being stripped of any value inside a story that focused on his struggles, to begin with? That somehow the story would be better if he, a minority, was more complacent with the State that represses him?

[icaruspendragon]

Please stop making spn posts just let it die please

here’s the thing- i will not be doing that.

you see, there’s so much shit in this world. the horrors. the terrors. all of it. they’re out there. and something that makes the horrors and the terrors and all the other shit a little easier for me to deal with is talking about a silly little fifteen year long collective fever dream. it’s one of the last vestiges of adolescence i have.

when i was being tossed about in the sea of my grief, it was spn that kept me from drowning. it was misha collins dubbing himself my nemesis and participating in the mishapocalypse 2.0 that gave me a distraction i needed so terribly in the early days of me trying to learn how to be an only child. he didn’t have to. he could have ignored the whole thing. but he didn’t. and that’s something so special to me i don’t think i’ll ever have the words to articulate the depths of my gratitude. because the first time i felt joy after my brother dying was at a supernatural convention. it was when i asked misha about the silly comment and he had a screenshot of it on his phone ready to show me to prove he had done it, that was the first time i realized that one day i wouldn’t feel so full of nothing i didn’t have room for anything else. it was the community i made there that showed up for me time and time and time again that made me realize i may be lonely, but i wasn’t alone. and that wasn’t the first time the community around that show had made me feel that. and I’m certain it won’t be the last.

the first time i ever encountered fandom in full force was in 2013. that’s a decade of my life. and it’s because i decided to watch supernatural. and it was in this fandom space that for the first time ever, i felt seen and heard and valued. for the first time in my life, i felt like i mattered. and my thoughts mattered. it wasn’t until i found fandom by way of spn that i realized i had value and worth. it was that show that gave me some of the best friends i could have ever asked for. it is because of the spn fandom that i have been given so many opportunities. that i have a way to make an actual difference.

and it has continued to do that for me. even ten years later. there are people who i didn’t know existed less than a year ago who i couldn’t imagine my life without now. people who have been to my home. people who have become my home. people i have flown across the country to see and people who have flown across the country to see me. people who are my family. and i met them because we share the same level of brain rot for a cw show that caused a great deal of damage to our psyches.

we get to curate our internet experience. we get to look at and talk about and post about what we want. and if someone posts something we don’t care for, we don’t have to look at it or engage with it or interact with it. we can scroll. we can block. we can ignore. we each get to carve out our own little space online. we get to build a little home. and my home is full of my love for a lot of things. for avatar: the last airbender and the hunger games and percy jackson and fandom and fanfic in general. my love for poetry and art and words. and yes, my love for a show that ended over two years ago that has haunted corners of the internet since 2005. i have a lot of love for a lot of things. so i talk about and post about the things that i love because i don’t ever want to look back and say, “my god, i should have loved more.” and i’m allowed to do that. because this is my space. i built it just for me.

this silly little show with it’s silly little characters is the one thing i have from Before that has remained unchanged. and even if that weren’t the case. even if i didn’t have all this sentimentality attached to it. even if it was never a lighthouse, a buoy for me. even if it was just something i casually enjoyed. i would still post about it. because it makes me happy. because i’m not hurting anyone by enjoying it. because it’s given me a little blip of light in a dark world. and you don’t have to consume it if you don’t want to. that’s the beauty of all of us living in different houses. we can visit who we want, when we want. and we don’t have to visit the houses we don’t to. how wonderful it is, that we are the gods of this small thing. we get to create and dismantle and create again. as many times as we want. because this is our space to do with what we want.

and i want to post about my love for all things, including hit cw show supernatural. and i can. so i will. because i’m the one living in this house. and no one is making you come visit.

[s-creations]

26 Ways to Feel Mortal - I: Illumine

26 Chapters based around experiences that newly arrived Geno experiences while trying to find the Star Pieces.

Fandom: Super Mario & Releated Fandoms, Super Mario RPG Rating: Teen and UP Audiences Relationship: Mario/Geno (Nintendo), Mario/Princess Peach (Nintendo) Additional Tags: Rating for Teen needed for later chapters, but shouldn't be to worrisome, I'll have warnings if I'm worried, Poly relations!, Main characters will always be named, Minor characters will arrive as needed, the chapters are not in a specific order, just meets the needs of the given word, please be aware of spoilers.

Warning: It's getting a little gay in here. XD

Illumine: (verb) Light up; Brighten.

Nimbus Land was still in full swing even as the sun started to sink below the horizon. All thrilled to know that their king had not been sick and that Mallow had finally returned home. Much like the celebration at Seaside Town, there was an array of food and music filled the slowly chilling air. 

However, there were a few stark differences this time. This celebration took place in a large, outdoor dance hall. Ornately decorated and lit with the largest golden chandeliers the party had ever seen. Garro demoed his creations, each party member getting their own golden statue. Finally, Geno was actually participating this time around. 

He joyfully partook in the food that lined the large table, mainly the sweets. Even after Peach asked that he eats something sustainable. The conversations, while few and far in between, were flattering with the citizens thanking Geno from saving them. Eventually he claimed a table and chair, feeling a little overwhelmed by everything. Deciding to just enjoy his pile of sweets while he watched everyone dance. Foot tapping to the beat of the music.

“Hey you,” Mario approached, “You doing okay over here?”

Geno nodded, swallowing his latest bite before answering with, “I’m not one for socializing, apparently.” 

“That’s fine, you don’t have to. Hope you don’t mind if I join you?”

“No, go ahead.” Geno smiled as he watched Mario pull up a chair so they sat next to each other.

“So, this is, what, the second party you’ve been to?” asked Mario.

“Well, technically I wasn’t very attentive during my first one.”

“Oh, right.”

“I will note that this one is far more enjoyable.”

Mario laughed at that, Geno holding back his laughter as he’d just taken a large bite.

“That’s good to hear.”

They fell silent for a while. Geno casually follows the dancers before him. Fascinated at how people could move in such a way and make it look effortless. Some even appeared to be gliding, floating across the floor as if not held down by gravity.

“Did you want to dance?”

Geno was pulled back to Mario, the human’s cheeks holding a soft pink. “What?”

“Dance, did you want to dance?”

“Oh, uh, probably not the best idea. You didn’t see my first few steps. Not exactly graceful.”

“It’s been awhile since then. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Geno shifted nervously, “...I’d rather not risk ruining everyone’s good time.”

Mario frowned at that, “You won’t.”

“I’ll be safe over here. I’m okay, trust me.”

The attempt to move away from the request fell on deaf ears. As the next second Geno was gently, but strongly, pulled from his chair. His soul shivering with nervousness as Mario led him further onto the floor.

“W-Wait, Mario!”

“You’ll be fine, I promise.”

Geno’s nerves were not helped when they stopped near the center of the floor. “Are you sure about this?”

“Everyone’s enjoying themselves, no one’s even looking at us. Here, put your hands on my shoulders. And I’ll place my hands here…”

The panicked fear Geno held fell away and replaced with absolute joy as Mario placed his hands on the puppet’s waist. “O-Okay, what do we do now?”

“We just say to the beat,” Mario said easily, already moving to the music. Geno felt a little jittery when he started to move as well. Eventually falling into the same rhythm as Mario. “There, see, you got it.”

“I still feel strange,” Geno mumbled weakly, “and we’re not moving like everyone else.”

“Dancing has a lot of different movements. We’re just taking it slow. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing.”

Letting out a slow breath, Geno lowered his shoulder to try and relax further. His eyes couldn’t remain still though. With Mario so close, Geno felt weird just staring at the human. But looking elsewhere resulted in watching everyone else dancing which would raise Geno’s worries once more.

“Have I told you that Peach attempted to teach me to ballroom dance?”

Geno’s eyes landed on Mario, who was smiling softly.

“No. I don’t think you have.”

“It was a disaster. Apparently, I can combo jumps like no one before me, But moving in an elegant formation is just not for me. Just can’t do it.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”

“Peach couldn’t walk for a week.”

Geno couldn’t help but laugh. The sound somehow rang louder than the music playing. But he didn’t seem to notice, slowly calming down “I thought you were supposed to keep her safe?”

“Hey, I do that just fine!”

“Uh huh, sure you do.”

“Well, just for that.”

Geno let out a rather unflattering shriek as he was suddenly lifted off the ground. It quickly turned into another round of laughter as he was easily swung around. Gently being put down on the ground with Mario wrapping his arms around Geno gently.

“Don’t do that!” Geno hissed, still giggling.

“You’re laughing, you liked it.”

“Shush, I can’t believe you did that.”

“You’re still giggling.”

“Shush! I’m trying to be mad at you.”

“Oh, guess it’s time to fix that.”

The joyous laughter rang out once more. This time joined by Mario’s. Both seemed to ignore the music as they continued to rather clumsily twirl around the dance floor. Others were enjoying the display with their own, far more quiet laughter. 

This interesting dance stopped when the song started to come to an end. Both breathless from the movement and laughter, which was dying down to heavy breathing. 

“You’re ridiculous,” Geno pointed out.

“You love me for it.” Mario easily argued back.

His already furiously thumping soul seemed to leap from his body. Geno gave a nervous but please smiled as he whispered back, “I do… I really do…”

The room suddenly started to grow dim. The previous song ending with a new, slower song now starting. Following with the quiet calm, Mario silently pulled Geno closer. Wrapping his arm around the puppet’s waist tighter, having Geno rest his head on the human’s shoulder. The other hand gently gripped onto one of Geno’s.

It felt as if he soul was singing. Geno closed his eyes as he relaxed further into Mario’s hold. He hadn’t felt this comfortable, this content, this happy before. It was a confusing feeling but something that Geno was more than willing to immerse himself in the feeling. For as long as he’d been alive, even with the lowest points he’d met, he’d never felt so alive before. 

He loved being here. He loved fighting for and defending those who couldn’t. And he absolutely love and adored- 

“Geno?”

Said puppet hummed softly.

“Are you…glowing?”

At that, Geno opened his eyes. The cracks where the joints connected had beams of lights emitting from them. The hollowed portions of his body seemed to shine from the same light. All of this was made more apparent by how dark the room had become. Geno hyper aware of how many eyes were on him. 

“T-This is new…” Geno said weakly, offering a little laugh. He looked back to Mario when he felt a hand placed on his cheek. The human looking absolutely star struck. 

“Mario?”

Face breaking into a warm smile, Mario gently pulled the other forward to press his lips to Geno’s cheeks. 

“You’re beautiful.”

Geno was certain his Star companions could see him from their home with how brightly he shined.

[rottenlaertes]

TC tag game

Tagged by @spudodell Thank you so much for tagging me!

Rules: Answer the questions and tag other TC fans!

1. "He would not fucking say that" only they did and it's canon. When/who?

"'Not so much bloody bitters this time, Boo.' Boo, thought Laurie."

This is so… out of character somehow, I was just as dumbfounded as Laurie was 😂 Considering their relationship (R & B’s) it feels extra cringe, too.

2. Did they kiss in the study? Yes/no + why you are 100% correct about this.

Oh hell yes, I never had doubts about it. Not least because Renault is the queen of ellipses. A lot of excellent analysis has been written by the fandom on this topic, so I’ll just repeat the main argument: The scene would have never had the kind of impact on Laurie if the kiss never happened. I wouldn’t agree there happened more than a kiss, though, I remember reading it somewhere.

3. Mandatory question about Ralph's alleged tattoos.

Hmm, as much as I like tattoos as art, Ralph just doesn't strike me as the type for it. I think, he cares too much about his neat appearances—spotless means spotless. I’m not sure if it was very common among officer ranks at that time, too.

4. 53 vs 59 edition: quote a line or paragraph that is better in the edition you like the least.

I can’t say that I dislike one or the other, but I tend to reread the 59 rather than the 53 edition, simple because that’s the one I read first. The 53 is more unpolished, but also more honest, I think. One of the passages I like:

“Don't insult my intelligence. […] After a moment he added, "What in hell is there to laugh at?"

"Please, Lanyon, I'm sorry, please."

"Used I to say that?"

"Of course you did. Benson used it as a gag in the House play and it brought down the roof.”

I think this is one of the very rare moments Ralph felt a little embarrassed and we were robbed of it!

5. Which TC character would feel right at home here on tumblr dot com?

Laurie, the nerd 😁 wouldn’t you agree? He’d be a fic writer, too. (Remember the passage about Baranova in the 53 edition? “While not committing himself to being actually in love, Laurie had a serial fantasy about her, thinly disguised as the plot of a novel he was some day going to write.”)

6. Tag yourself at Alec's birthday party.

As much as it pains me to admit: Laurie. I always feel out of place at parties.

7. Post a TC meme.

I can’t find a proper picture meme right now, but one of my fav posts about TC is this one https://www.tumblr.com/ralphlanyon/735073429427994624/the-charioteer-is-about-a-dog-person-learning-to 😂 thanks for this gem @ralphlanyon

8. Easy to talk about who deserved better. Who deserved worse?

I’d say Bunny, because he’s the only major character I can’t deal with. Oh, apart from maybe Hazell.

9. You can break the fourth wall (at any point in the novel) and say a single sentence to our protagonist, Laurie Odell. What do you say?

Laurie, darling, there is love and there is fiction, and it’s not the same.

10. What's a question you have about TC? One you haven't found an answer for yet.

What the hell happened to Ralph right after the sacking.

I didn’t spend much time here lately, so I missed who’s been tagged and who wasn’t yet, so I’m tagging everyone who didn’t participate yet 😁 please do, I’d love to read your answers and I need to finde those that I missed somehow 🥲

[bloominggiggles]

A Spoiled Prince’s Punishment.

Just a little something I felt inspired to write and share here as my first work! 

Fandom: Obey Me!

Pairing: Diavolo x GN!MC

Warnings: This is a tickle fic, if you don’t like this kind of content, don’t read it!

══════════════════ ⟮✿⟯ ═════════════════

He did it again.

Without any consideration for the seven brothers’s feelings, or anyone else’s really, Lord Diavolo had once again dragged everyone into one of his shenanigans that would get all of them either uncomfortable, pissed off, or even fearing for their lives, all for the sake of his own entertainment.

Sure, there were times when his ideas were actually fun and exciting to join in, but more times than not, they would only get on everyone’s nerves.

MC was tired, exhausted, in fact, of dealing with the demon prince’s little schemes and the consequences of it all, never bothering to ask anyone other than his loyal butler, who most of the time would agree to anything he suggests, for their opinion on the matter.

That’s why the exchange student decided to punish him.

Of course, they know they can’t hurt him, that would only end awfully for them, without a doubt. And they don’t have a pact with him, so they can’t have any influence on his actions if they so command.

Which means there’s only one option left.

Luckily for them, during a little after-party celebration between the two of them on his last birthday, Diavolo had revealed that he is ticklish.

And right now, with the prince sitting on a sofa in his office and the exchange student on his lap, they are taking advantage of that information to their heart’s content.

‘‘M-MC! W-Wait, let’s talk - pfft-! - a-about this!’‘

The demon exclaims as he bites down on his lip, trying to hold back the giggles that threatened to come out.

‘‘No way! You keep being a selfish demon! So accept your punishment!’‘

‘‘B-But I just wanted to h-have fun with everyoHOHOHONE!’‘

The giggles come bubbling out when the human’s fingers move from Diavolo’s sides to his ribs, making him squirm, but trying his best to not move too much and accidentaly hurt them.

‘‘And yet you never thought of asking us what we’d like to do to have fun for a change, hm~?’‘

They say, a small smirk forming on their lips at his reaction, eyes on his face.

Diavolo’s lips are curled up in a big smile, his amber eyes half-lidded, looking back at them.

‘‘W-Wehehell, I thought it w-wasn’t necessahahahary!’‘

He says, and MC frowns, increasing the intensity of their fingers poking between his ribs, making him jump with a squeal.

‘A future Demon King shouldn’t be this unfairly adorable...’

The human thinks while watching and listening to his reactions, feeling warmth rise to their cheeks.

Still, they don’t let their thoughts show as they glare at him.

‘‘You think it isn’t necessary to ask your friends if they want to participate in your ideas of fun things to do or not? how rude of you, Lord Diavolo.’‘

They say, fingers going up in order to reach his undearms, making him bring his arms down to his sides firmly.

The exchange student pouts, looking at him.

‘‘Aw, I wanted to try that spot...oh well.’‘

They shrug, before quickly starting to tickle the demon prince’s neck, making him yelp and press against the back of the sofa, bringing his shoulders up, which only made his attacker’s fingers get stuck against his neck.

‘‘Oh, you want me to stay here? okay~’‘

‘‘W-Wait, that’s not-! M-MC!’‘

Diavolo was about to protest, but gets cut off by his own booming laughter as it bursts out, his eyes closing tightly and warmth spreading on his cheeks.

‘‘S-Stohohohop! I understahahand!’‘

He exclaims through his laughter, making MC hum as if thinking about it.

‘‘Really? You understand you need to start asking us what we think and if we would like to join you instead of dragging us into your shenanigans?’‘

‘‘Y-Yehehes! I dohohoo!’‘

‘‘And you are going to start asking us and respecting our wishes from now on?’‘

‘‘I wihihihill!’‘

The demon prince says as he keeps laughing, trying to move away from their fingers, but only ending up leaving one side open.

‘‘Hmmm...I don’t think so.’‘

The human says with a malicious yet palyful smirk, and their fingers stop attacking Diavolo’s neck to start tickling his belly, making another burst of booming laughter leave his lips.

‘‘Maybe a few more minutes will help really root this lesson inside your head~’‘

‘‘NOHOHOHOH!’‘

MC can’t help but chuckle, and despite the demon’s protests, they both know he’s actually enjoying this.

Perhaps they’ll have to find another way to get him to understand what he’s doing wrong, but for now, they are going to make him laugh and squeal a little longer.

[hannahhook7744]

Hey Little Hope Fandom!

I'm trying to make a list of hobbies and info about The Clarkes (Plus Vince) and need a bit help.

If I missed anything let me know in the comments down below.

Here's what I got so far.

James:

Born on April 8, 1929.

Died on January 17, 1972.

Factory Worker at Ravenden Textiles Factory.

Worked with Vince.

Married Anne at 19.

He adopted all 4 of the kids.

He likes sports and darts.

May have had a bit of a drinking problem.

His middle name started with T.

42 when he died.

Has a temper.

Didn't approve of Tanya and Vince dating.

Worried about the factory closing alot and thought the kids would be fine, though he did tell Anthony to look out for Megan due to Anne's worrying.

Anne:

Born on February 12, 1931

Died on January 17, 1972.

Married James at 17.

40 when she died.

Was unable to have biological children.

Worried about the kids alot. Megan especially.

Didn't approve of Tanya and Vince dating.

Had a book on parenting.

Was frustrated with James.

Looked to the reverend for help after reaching her wit’s end with Megan. 

Tanya:

Born on August 22, 1949.

Died on January 17, 1972.

22  when she died.

Middle name started with A.

Hated Little Hope and wanted to get away.

Practiced Paganism. 

Dated Vince Barnes.

Yelled at Megan for playing with matches once.

Poured coffee on a handsy guy at work.

Was a waitress. 

Had coworkers named Murray and Jeannie.

Painted stars on a tire swing with her dad when she was ten. 

Liked Jewelry. 

Gets frustrated easily.

Owned a diary.

Was miserable at home.

Calls Megan M and a living hell.

Drunk whiskey before.

Likes bowling and burgers.

Might have shared a room with Megan.

Dennis:

Born on April 29th,1951.

Died on  January 17, 1972.

Was 20 when he died.

His middle name started with F. 

Didn’t trust Vince.

Was a band guitarist.

Had tons of records and was a big fan of music.

He might have been adopted first.

Also may have been a thief based on a one off joke but maybe not.

Calls Megan bigfoot.

His band had posters.

He participated in a concert. 

His band was a rock band.

Played rugby and maybe football.

He won several awards. 

Anthony:

Was born on either 1953 or 1954. Exact date is unknown.

18 at the time of the fire.

Became a bus driver after his family died.

Is depressed and suicidal. 

Tanya calls him ‘Mr. Knight in Shining Armor’.

Was annoyed with his parents’ fighting and his dad’s drinking as well as with how everyone treated Megan.

He resents Megan after their family’s deaths. 

Built a doll in jail to remember Megan by.

Got burnt in the fire.

Was the second youngest of the family.

May have a fear of being left behind and might feel left out by his family.

Is traumatized after the fire.

Was fond of the witch trials.

Has mental health issues.

Was blamed for the fire.

Was helpful to the family.

Got along great with Vince before the fire.

Shared a room with Dennis.

His middle name was not revealed.

Played darts and may have played baseball or basketball.



Megan:

Born on June 16th,1960.

Died on January 27th, 1972.

Was 11, almost 12, when she died.

Her middle name started with R.

She was a problem child.

She had a history of playing with matches.

Was called M and the little princess by Tanya,

She was resented by a lot of people in the family.

Was mentored by the reverend for months.

Was the youngest.

Had a doll.

Became rebellious and felt like her family didn’t care about her.

May have read Tanya’s diary.

Watches tv.

Is called Big foot by Dennis. 

Has mental health issues or may be able to talk to ghosts.

Was scared of the reverend.

Art was her best subject.

Had a C average and had an F in history, writing, science, and physical education.

Was resentful towards her parents.

Vince:

Factory Worker at Ravenden Textiles Factory.

Worked with James.

Has a temper.

Tanya’s boyfriend.

Has a nice car everyone is jealous of.

Likes whiskey, western movies, burgers, and bowling. 

Plays dumb but is actually really smart.

Practiced Paganism. 

Never got over Tanya and drank a lot after her death. 

Got in trouble at work because of it.

Visits little hope after it closed down in 1979.

Wasn’t that much older than Tanya based on his looks.

Became depressed after Tanya died.

Abandoned his car after carving a sun into it and rides a creaky bike.

Took care of Tanya’s grave.

Got along with Anthony before the fire.

He drinks the brand of beer ‘singing nickel’. 

Played pool/darts with Anthony before.

If you can think of any hobbies I missed let me know please. I'm trying to write some fics and want a better feel on the characters and would hate to miss something. Please and thank you. Even if it's just one off things the characters have said when Anthony was hallucinating them.

[cardiac-agreste]

How has the MLB fandom personally affected your day-to-day life, and what were the major things you used to do, in the fandom in your first year, that you no longer do.

I have way less free time thanks to the MLB fandom! And I wrote a novel! Yes, it's unpublishable as it is fanfiction, but I WROTE A NOVEL! Something I'd decided I wanted to do before I turned 40. And people like it?? SPLENDIFEROUS.

The big thing I used to do my first year that I (almost) no longer do is participate on the MLB subreddit, which is extremely toxic IMO. Just an absolute shit experience if you like the show. It often felt like I was one of the few people there who didn't hate it. It was not a happy time and place to be a fan!

I am there way less now. I'm so busy writing my fanfiction (like A Small but Stubborn Fire) that I can barely keep up with reading the fics I like (shout out @uptoolateart @wehadabondingmoment @nemaliwrites @raspberrycatapult @wackus-bonkus-maximus @monpetitchattriste @pisoprano @wield-the-mighty-pen @sing-in-me-oh-muse AND SO MANY MORE(seriously see attached screenshot how HUGE my backlog of subscribed fic chapters I have to catch up on!), let alone go get flamed on Reddit for daring to suggest that Marinette is fundamentally a good person.

For your reading "enjoyment," my autobiography

No one actually cares, but I'm on roll.

I was a huge anime fan in the 90s and early 00s. But then I moved to Japan and realized most anime is crap (just like most of any country's TV output is crap). But subtitles often make things sound more profound than the original. Fortunately yet unfortunately, I stopped needing them. (Plus the novelty of it that went away once I was in-country.)

So for about 10–15 years, I didn't watch any anime. Maybe a Ghibli or Satoshi Kon movie now and then.

Then sometime around the pandemic, maybe a bit before, I gave Naruto a go on Netflix after I'd seen a gazillion memes of geeks running strangely in parks. NFLX only had the first half, not Shippuden, so there was no closure for me. I decided to go to the fanfiction world after DECADES of not reading fanfiction. Like, I left the fanfiction world when I was reading Ranma 1/2, so the late 90s?

Anyway, there weren't websites for fanfiction back then. We used USENET. RAAC (rec.arts.anime.creative), specifically.

So I had to legit google to see where you went for fanfiction these days since, as you might have noticed, USENET is nigh on dead now, right? Gen Z out here asking "what is a usenet"

I discovered FFN and eventually Ao3. I kinda wore myself out of Naruto and decided to check out MLB fanfiction since I'd been watching it with my kids and I think we were waiting for the second half of S3 to show up on Netflix.

FUCKING HOOKED. CUE THE HYPERFIXATION.

So my first year deep in the fandom I was reading fanfiction constantly. Just a ridiculous amount. I think I might get the silver medal for amount consumed.

Anyway I'm getting tired of writing about myself (kind of a shocker actually), which means NO ONE is reading this far into what I've written. Point is, I got persuaded through some conversations to submit for the @mlbigbang and I wrote around 75K words and here I am.

FYI this is not reflective of the quality of my writing seriously go read my story, I will give you a refund if you don't like it

EDIT I FORGOT THE SCREENSHOT

[cobragardens]

In the first essay in this post Maya Gittelman articulates something that I think is really important: it's not just the gender(fuck) of the characters' coding that makes Good Omens a queer story, it's that the story is about queerness itself.

Gittelman's essay:

The thing is, this is the shit I’ve been waiting for my whole life.

Before I knew the words, I was impacted by how every epic romance, every classic adventure, every story I had access to and enjoyed was cishet. I needed to translate either the story or myself to find myself in it—every single time. I grew up in the oughts, in the days of the Tumblr fandoms you’re thinking of. I wrote about this a bit more in my essay on the first season of Our Flag Means Death last year, and that first line applies here—queer heartache has never felt this good.

I’ve been able to consume a lot of queer storytelling lately—mostly white cis m/m, but not exclusively and more than I’ve ever been able to in my life, because I’ve been searching for it for a long time. Yet as we know, there are a lot of mainstream stories with queer “rep” that at their core about what marginalized queer people have been cautioning around for generations—normalization. Assimilation. Respectability. See, we can be just like you. We too desire to marry, participate as cogs in the violent machine of imperialism. We too want the right to give you our service, our allegiance. We too want to join your armies. I certainly can enjoy plenty of that media, but I’m still desperate for queer storytelling that’s not sanitized, not flattened out to fit cishet beats, something that tells a good story that’s queer on every level. And that means we deserve to see queer characters who are messy, who hurt each other, because sometimes, love isn’t enough.

While Good Omens in some ways still white cis m/m, it’s also not entirely, and what works for me is that it actually delves into asking the damned question: What if this love is a threat, actually?

What if this love is something that does disrupt your norms, your ways of life? What if it’s an open danger to the systems you’re used to? What if this love could disrupt everything? What if it goes against God’s will and Satan’s too, what if it flies in the face of the ineffable plan?

What I’m saying is, I’ve wanted stories that let queer people be characters, with all the nuance and complexity that entails. Stories that are queer, intentionally, in both subtext and text, that aren’t asking an audience to justify their right to exist. Instead, they’re giving voice to the specifics of queer experience that don’t typically get mainstream care, multi-season tenderness. We deserve queer love stories that are wistful, epic, tragic not because they’re of the “same gender” but because the tangled truths of safety and trauma are inextricable from queer love. We deserve stories that are queer as subtext and text, metaphor and central plot and side plot too. We deserve queer stories that explore how queer love is infinite variety. We deserve genre stories that explore what immortality or something close to it does to pining, to longing, for wanting the one person in the universe you can’t have.

We deserve queer stories without homophobia that still explore the traumas of marginalized desire, in which neither party is truly the villain, just victims of the same system, at different stages of knowing it.

Show me what it looks like beyond the happily ever after, the will they/won’t they, the beats of a privileged cis white coming out. Breathe arcs of nuance and poetry and history into it. We deserve that epic romance, and we deserve to see how much it can hurt, because the depths of that wound evidence the ferocity of that love.

Growing up queer can feel monstrous, and I need to see that on screen. When you get preached at that people like you go to Hell for what you are and the ways you want, you start to relate to the demons. When you’re taught the truest, most joyful parts of you are unholy, it’s fair to ask—why should I respect the authority of a system that hates me for reasons I can’t control?

You learn to disguise your desire, and it changes you. It changes you to choke down your feelings, to deny them, to believe that they are sin. You learn to pour them into the hidden language of love that arises between you and whoever you’re lucky enough to share it with, so you don’t learn how to say them aloud. (Their arrangement, “little demonic miracle of my own,” the fourth alternative rendezvous. This is what queer love has looked like for millennia: something beautiful and true, despite, despite, despite.) Unlike those whose love has only ever been legal, permitted, “normal,” “holy”—your relationship is inescapably shaped by the threat behind it. You don’t get to see them as often as you like. You don’t get to talk, either to them or about them, because it might disturb the precious existence you have carved out together. You have to make up excuses, you can’t admit to anyone exactly why you can’t stop going back, and in this way you don’t always have to confront it yourself.

At the same time, that’s why queer love can be one of the most powerful forces in the universe—it saved the world last time, even if they didn’t call it that, yet. Aziraphale and Crowley don’t know so many details about each other’s lives and yet they know nearly everything important.

This is love—this natural state of slipping into the truth, until you awaken to it, inevitable and encompassing, all around you.

You might find yourself almost helpless to the magnetism. You can’t stop going back, finding your way to them, taking the risk, basking in the thrill of the comfort of their company.

And that’s why this finale, this story, this couple works so well for me—it’s queer in the telling, and while it always has been, this season literalized it on a new level and that matters.

[metalheadmickey]

New Year's Ask Game for Fic Writers 🤍

I was tagged by a couple of pals to do this a few days ago, and i'm finally getting to it! thank you @ardent-fox @suzy-queued @energievie 🖤

To close out 2023…

1) What fic did you have the most fun writing this year and why? Or, if you can’t decide, what was most fun about writing this year for you?

the most fun i had was while writing honeycomb, because julissa @heymrspatel and i got to play with our horny psychic link again and it was the BEST.

2) What’s a scene/story that you finished and felt “wow, I really accomplished that, that actually went so well”?

let them see. writing ian and mickey fucking with an audience and making it believable was HARD. i'm still not sure how well i accomplished that, but i'm proud of it.

3) What helped provide the most inspiration for stories, if anything? Was it poetry? A song on repeat? A gorgeous gifset? A walk outside? A book you read that made you want to change everything? Whatever it was! Tell all.

i listened to infinite granite by deafheaven on repeat. i just think it's beautiful, and it's good music for zoning out and imagining. lyrics from that album sometimes serve as working titles for my fics before they get real titles, and in fact i did name a fic after lyrics from that album. waiting in the light

4) What is something you want to share about what you’ve written this year? A particular line, a comment that made you feel really good, a scene that was difficult to write — you get to choose! What do you wish someone would ask you about when it comes to what you’ve written?

i just wanna talk about feels like a dream. setting the atmosphere for that was so fun. i wrote it so quickly, i could see it all so clearly in my head. i wanna talk about ian sucking on mickey's tongue. i wanna talk about the moment ian puts the collar on mickey and how he gets him to tell him why he wants it. i wanna talk about how ian talks to him and takes care of him and makes him feel owned. i wanna talk about how mickey sucks ian's dick like he needs it to live. i wanna talk about how important the atmosphere is in that moment, how even they felt like they didn't want to move too quickly and disturb what they had built up that night. i wanna talk about how mickey's so sleepy while ian's fucking him that he wonders if his orgasm is going to jerk him awake or make him even more sleepy and blissed out. oh god, and mickey calling ian daddy throughout. i just think it's sexy. i wrote it in september but i posted it at the very end of kinktober when people were likely just burnt out on it, but it's there and it's dreamy and it's kinky and i like it.

And to start off 2024…

1) Do you have any writing/creation goals for the year? What are they?

yes! i just want to post more fics. i still want to participate in kinktober and i want to format it differently this year. i want to write a multichapter au as well.

2) Is there a fic or idea that you’re really excited to be able to continue to work on in the new year (shout out to my fellow fic writing folks who take forever to finish wips, sometimes it’s nice to be able to continue working on something even if you wish you’d gotten it done! Now you get even MORE time with it!)

yeah, that multichapter au idea! i had written quite a bit for it and i HATED the direction it was going in and it made me want to scrap the whole thing. i had a helpful conversation about it with bee a few weeks ago and i've got new ideas for it, so really i want to tackle that. it just feels daunting because i've written thousands of words that i feel like i need to get rid of. i basically need to start over to make it work. but it'll happen!

3) What’s something new in your writing you want to try/are going to try? A different writing style? Different fandom? Darker works? Fluffier? Longer or shorter?

baby's first au! also i think i mentioned this before but i wanna try writing destiel smut. like deeply emotional, feral, inhuman, otherworldly reunion fucking. we'll see if i ever get to it though.

4) What’s something you love about your own writing that you will continue to appreciate in the new year?

i think i'm good at writing physical sensation. i find smut really fun and i think i'm pretty good at it. not just because i'm good at describing physical sensation, but for all kinds of reasons. i think i'm reasonably good at keeping ian and mickey in character while they're doing all kinds of things, and i like that. i think i'm good at setting a tone and atmosphere. i don't know man i just like it to be a sensory experience, and i think it often is.

i'm late but i'll tag a few people anyway! @whatwouldmickeydo @whatthebodygraspsnot @gallawitchxx @sisitrip @thisdivorce if you guys are interested in playing/haven't done this yet 💚

[themsource]

Five years of laughs and tears

Well as I am officially 30 now I have come to the realization I've been in this fandom for a staggering five years. As a small gift and a bit of a thank you to those I've met and have stood by me through thick and thin (the ones I haven't shared this with lol) I've decided to share a preview from the sequel to my fic 'Skeletons in Heat', called 'Skeletons in Love'.

I'll be honest idk if I'll actually get around to publishing the sequel. I fully intend to finish the first one but after seeing how it's still ongoing after all this time, and the sequel has been sitting half finished on my hard drive for the last three years, idk...

Anyways I've had both ups and downs; have lost loved ones and friends, gained a few here and there, Been tangled up in nonsense and drama, have participated in wonderful events, so on and so forth. I just felt I needed a pick me up looking back on all that, and this scene I'm sharing has always managed to bring a smile to my face and I hope it does yours.

For context, 'Skeletons in Love' was going to take place in Nightmare's castle and focus on MC and the boys trying to rescue her, Axe, and Dusty from Nightmare's clutches. Nightmare in this is able to manipulate and control monster's via their LV except for when he's asleep. That's all I'll say for now because that's all I think is needed at a minimum to understand what's happening. (Just on the of chance I ever do publish it you aren't completely spoiled lol)

This scene focuses on MC and Dusty. It was one of the first scenes I wrote and is called 'Dusty's Redemption'. Oh and because I'm a lover of song dropping in my fics, here's the one that goes with this scene. So have this uncut and unedited in all it's messy glory!

Thank you for five years. Here's hoping for five more <3

You jolted at the sudden influx of magic behind you, your heart racing as momentary panic blindsided you. Untill your eyes focused long enough to tell it was Dusty looking at you. You held your breath as you looked at his eyelights and let it out slowly. They were the same size.

“Guessing he’s asleep?” You whispered. Dusty grimaced and gave a nod. Relieved you turned back around and stared out over the expanse of rolling darkness again, your mind trying to detach again as your shoulders slumped.

“you shouldn’t stare at it. there’s things out there that aren’t safe to look upon.” Dusty murmured as he took sluggish steps to stand beside you. You chuckled lamely. You were tired, your hand cupped your bruised wrist, so tired. There was silence.

“you ok?” That question jarred you into looking over and up at him. It had been so long since one of the skeletons had asked you that, the bond between you usually telling each other instantly what the other’s mental state was. It made your chest ache to know that he couldn’t feel you, that you couldn’t feel him. It made you feel so alone.

But yet, him asking after you like that lit your chest up in familiar warmth and affection. Your being recognizing and longing for his as you’d discovered. It was nice. You didn’t think Dusty would’ve ever asked a question so close to concerned before the bonding, even after he’d always seemed distant even if his soul said otherwise…were you ever going to be able to feel him again? The others?

“Not really.” Dusty stared at you conflicted before letting out a sigh as he sat down next to you. He was thankful you didn’t jolt, still he didn’t know how to go about this. He’d learned a lot from you over the last two years but it had always been his brother to let him know when he’d messed up and how to apologize, how to comfort.

He had to push down the flare of hatred he had at nightmare for holding his ghostly sibling hostage.

Slowly Dusty looked at you and hesitantly touched your back. It hurt to feel how your body stiffened, prepared itself subconsciously for his abuse. It hurt even more at how his LV riled in want for that. He stilled and waited for the tension to go out of you and for his LV to die down before he slid his hand down to encircle your waist.

You had to swallow down your initial fear as he touched you, had to push the thought forward that Dusty would never willingly hurt you as he pulled gently at your waist to bring you closer to him. It was hard though and your body refused in contrast to how your heart and mind wanted to relent. He stopped and you took the second of respite to take a shuddering breath. When he spoke again it was near a whisper, a plea.

“c’mere.” The way your heart throbbed at the request made you screw your eyes shut. This was Dusty and even though he’d messed up countless times in your relationship, had hurt you in ways that forever stained your memories you did love him. And that love gave you the strength to scoot into him, your hand gripping onto his jacket as his body encompassed yours and slid you into his lap.

He simply held you, completely at a loss for what to do next. What would Paps say to do in this moment? He stared off into the pulsing void as he gently rested his cheek against the top of your head. You seemed to like that and nuzzled where he rested against him. He…he hadn’t done this in a long time and didn’t know how you’d take it but decided to give it a try. You always liked when the others did it anyhow.

A slow rumble, deep and cracked from disuse vibrated against you from Dusty’s chest. Your eyes widened. He was purring? In all the time you’d known him the murderer had never done this not even after your bouts of sex and the rare occasions that he held you, not really a cuddle but a hold nonetheless. His was oddly different, shook in a way that it was as if there was two going on side by side.

Dusty heard you make a surprised little noise and then felt as you pressed your ear to his chest. His face lit up in a purple blush that he tried to bury further into your hair as he tried to purr louder for you. He was rewarded with your genuine laughter, the sound like a bell in the silence around the both of you.

How long had it been since he heard you make it? He hadn’t realized it’d been so long that it almost sounded new to him. He’d missed it. All too soon you were silent again and he could tell you were once more looking out into the void. Dusty didn’t like you focusing your attention on it. It spoke volumes about where you were mentally.

Carefully he started humming, and the moment he felt your interest shift he gained confidence.

“When will you leave your cage?” You pulled back in disbelief and looked up to see Dusty staring off into the distance, his skull lightly flushed as he sang. “When will you turn the page?”

You couldn’t stop staring at him as his voice came out not as raw and passionate as Axe’s had but rather dulled and wispy, mellow and smooth. “When will you open the gate?” Your mind was utterly enthralled as he looked down at you, a hand coming up to brush some stray hair from your face gently.

“Ready to fly, ready to fly for me?” He rested his skull against your forehead, his mismatched eyelights locking on your hued orbs as his words came out full of weight and meaning. You couldn’t understand why he hadn’t wanted to sing before, it was beautiful. His hand slid down to your chest just over where your heart and soul rested.

“I can feel it now, you'll make it real somehow.”  The simple gesture was enough to convey his words meaning without explanation, and you couldn’t help but smile. His own grin became soft and reciprocated as he pulled you into a full embrace, his words tangling in your hair.

“When will you fight all your hate?” The way he sang it, that line sounded more for him than it did for you. But you knew it was insinuated towards the despair you were feeling, the hopelessness and how weak you thought of yourself. You couldn’t figure a way out for the three of you and it killed the brightness you knew inside of yourself.

The image of Saejun smiling in reassurance as he dusted still burned into your mind, still made you want to weep and beg for him to return. Did…Dusty feel just as bad over that? Guilty over what he was made to do? Both his hands cupped your face and tilted your gaze up to his.

“Ready to fly, ready to fly for me?” It took your breath away to see adoration in his eyelights, regret and…fear? He looked as if he was being careful with you.  He brought a hand away and you followed it to see a swirling orb of violent light twirl and form in the palm of his skeletal hand, the light twinging and shaping into a bird that stretched its wings from the pooled purple flames around its feet. You didn’t know the skeletons could make projections!

“When will you learn to fly?” Dusty smiled in amusement as you reached out to touch the solidified magic in his hand, coaxing it to turn its head towards you playfully and chuckling at the awed gasp you let out. If he’d known something so simple would please you he’d have done it long ago.

“When will you touch the sky?” You watched wide eyed as he lowered his hand and lifted it, sending the purple magical bird into liftoff where it buckled for only a moment before rightening itself and curving in an arch to circle around both your heads with a happy chirp.

“When will you kill your sorrow?” Dusty watched as you became invested in the bird even as he continued to sing. The words no longer just for you as he found nostalgia in how you giggled and reached out to prod at the bird that teased a distance between you. He could still smell your freshly made croquettes if he tried, hear the challenge in your voice at his antics, could still fall for you over again as he recalled the first time you’d passionately kissed him.

“The world is yours…” The words pulled at you and you looked over at Dusty whose sockets were lidded in his verbal declaration. “When will you reach the moon?” The bird lifted high, its form standing out against the false moon floating within Nightmare’s void.

“When will you drop the spoon?” The bird went into a freefall and you shot a panicked look over to it before it froze in its decent, it’s body still like a statue as it slowly twirled in place. It became engulfed in flame that slowly receded to show a small dancing figure, the flames remaining as its hair and at its feet like foot prints as it began to dance across the air. “When will you kill your sorrow?”

It was you. That little figure was in the shape of you as it spun and leapt; nothing but happiness in every bend of its arms and lift of its legs. Was that how Dusty saw you? So giddy with freedom and carefree?

He saw the sad understanding in your eyes and brought your gaze back to his with a tender hold of your chin. You weren’t supposed to look so sad and defeated. That wasn’t you, and that wasn’t what he wanted for you either.

“The world is yours.” You were so much stronger than you knew. Dusty could tell you saw the thought in his expression by how your eyes lit up in question. You had been through so much, at the hands of others and by his but yet still you had held your head up high. Had stood your ground against everyone that dared to try and break you. You had even laughed in the king of corruption’s face when he’d tried to convince you no one wanted nor loved you.

You’d shown how much stronger you’d been even compared to Dusty who’d broken under the manic glee of a mere child. You were everything he admired and feared. Saejun wasn’t the only skeleton that would’ve gladly given his soul for you, as tainted and vile as his was.

“When will you reach the stars?” The tiny magic girl jumped up into an arch, her fiery hair curling out into a circle around her that shaped into an inverted heart as Dusty held up his hand for her to land in where she morphed into a glowing and luminous ball of liquid fire that hovered as it shone purple light onto both of your faces. “When will you drop your scars?”

You nuzzled into his free hand as it ran through your locks, his phalanges tangling and smoothing it with each pass as his voice slowly grew lighter. You looked up at him with the strongest pulse of love you’d ever felt for him and reached for the hand holding his magic, the ball vanishing as his fingers laced with yours. “When will you kill your sorrow?”

You cupped his cheek and pulled his forehead to yours, a blush strong enough that it looked as if it was coming from you as well between you. His eyelights then did something you didn’t expect.

They changed.

Your breath caught as the color in them drained and faded out, the red and dark blue you’d grown used to changing to a startling sea shell white as they gazed lovingly at you. If you hadn’t known better you would’ve thought it was Sans looking at you, but his immense size in comparison to the shorter original and his scarred hands that tenderly held you kept his identity firmly in place for you.

“Dusty?” You questioned lowly. He shut his sockets as he softly brushed his nasal ridge to the tip of your nose, the way his grin twitched as if savoring it before opening his sockets again to still white eyelights. For some reason it brought tears to your eyes and you couldn’t stop them too beguiled by the monster in front of you. His tone had gone quiet.

“The world is yours.” Dusty leaned in, his soul at perfect peace as he kissed away the water trying to run down your flushed cheeks. He had forgotten how it’d felt to not have his magic constantly on guard, and he’d never felt safe enough to let it cool as he had now beside you. In a world of pain and suffering where only you two existed. He loved you, so purely and completely.

You flinched as you felt a hot quiver of affection in your chest, emotion that definitely wasn’t yours flooding into you like a wall had come down. You sobbed and pushed what you could through the link, all your love and desperation, all your longing and want as raw as the day you’d discovered it. Dusty’s sharp inhale soothed you and your tears became joyful as you felt the feelings returned to you in earnest.

“yours.” He whispered as he captured your lips with his, magical tears flowing into yours as your kiss turned heated and passionate. Too soon the link between you became muted and numb, but your souls continued to beat in tandem as the kiss continued. Your grip on the other scared to let go, and enduring. He let you break for air and you couldn’t help but let the words out, unable to send what used to be a passing reassurance through your link.

“I love you.” It was the first time you’d ever said it out loud to him that it shocked him. And then he chuckled, one so deep and rich it made your ears burn. Your voice joined his. Little did you know that that was exactly what he had needed to hear.

[cf56]

My thoughts on episode 4

SPOILERS for season 3, episode 4 of the Animaniacs reboot

This review will have less substance than the last one because I just don't have as much to say. You can skip the next paragraph if you just want to hear my thoughts on the episode.

It's only been four days, and I've already gone insane. It's killing me to be separated from the fandom. I see the snippets of discussions and the filtered posts I can't view and I just desperately want to be a part of it all. Participate in the discussion, share in the same emotions. If that wasn't a factor, I'd have absolutely no regrets about watching one episode a day. Especially after typing up my reviews, I find that one day is the perfect amount of time to thoroughly digest each episode and prepare myself to watch the next one. I don't feel myself chomping at the bit to watch two or three episodes a day. I don't even think I have the time to do that and also keep doing these reviews. The only reason I want to go faster is so that I can return to the fandom sooner. There's six more days and six more episodes. The emotions are super mixed, though, because while I desperately want to exit my self-imposed prison, every day that passes is also another day closer to the end of Animaniacs for me. Do I go faster and get back to the fandom, but risk less thoroughly enjoying the last season of Animaniacs? Or do I keep watching slowly but risk missing the most active period this fandom will likely ever have again? THIS is why shows need to be released weekly. It's a dilemma I can't solve, and it leaves me feeling anxious and detached all day, thinking about absolutely nothing else than all of this.

What? The episode? Oh, it was decent.

Here's a closer look at the three abominations:

Could these be the animals the Warners are based on? I think a gold earring suits Yakko well.

"Do they watch us when we go to the bathroom?"

Only once, Wakko.

I loved Yakko's expressions and animation here.

I found it cute to see Dot looking at her spider with such love. An underrated, consistent part of her character through the original and the reboot is her fascination with keeping creepy little horrors as pets.

POOR BABY! Can't you see he needs his chicken tendies?!

I just got this joke. There were actually three spiders, Dot already lost one, and Andrew Garfield was forgotten.

Sad to see how far seniority gets you in this field, because lord knows Dr. Scratchansniff has never helped a single patient.

Like I said about the previews, Yakko is super cute in this segment!

The ambulance driver said they were going to make another stop, and Wakko's daily activity was never followed up with like Yakko's and Dot's. Is this implying Wakko ate so much at the hot dog eating contest that he had to get an ambulance?

It was a pretty funny segment that felt like the classic Scratchansniff-Warner cartoons you'd see in the first half of the original series.

It still confuses me, though, how they said they were listening to fan feedback for season 3, but they still didn't bother to make Scratchy more fatherly like literally every single fan wanted. We went from Scratchansniff willingly taking the Warners in his car on trips to being upset that they happened to join him in an Uber because he chose the wrong option in the app. At least give us a few moments that show he has some care for the Warners- like when Wakko starts to cry, have him feel bad and willingly give in to going back to the restaurant instead of the Uber driver doing it. During the best parts of their relationships in the original series, he was considerate towards the Warners' feelings and asked about their hobbies. Have him show some interest in Dot's pets or Yakko's passion for yodeling. The segment doesn't have to go any differently overall. Just a few caring moments would make all the difference. The decision to revert Scratchansniff to being a typical cartoon antagonist for the Warners was universally panned in the original and it baffles me that they still carry it forward to this day. No one wants to see that.

The Pinky and the Brain segment was good but nothing special. I'm getting a little sick of the same old formula for the reboot. Why not start a couple episodes off with Pinky and the Brain and end with the Warners? Or any other combination of segment order you could do. The formula in the reboot has always been either Warners-PATB-Warners or Warners-(sometimes some other segment)-PATB.

I find it interesting that this is their normal cruising attire:

I thought this part was an interesting symbolism for the two conflicting human ideas on climate change. Do we stick around and try to salvage what's left of our original home, or do we just try to bail Earth and start over in the stars?

My favorite part of this segment was how it all instantly devolved into total nonsensical chaos in about one second.

Poor guy will never get his revenge :(

It was a decently funny segment. Not much more to say about it.

The episode was good. It didn't stand up to the last one, but I didn't have any major complaints that ruined the whole thing for me. There wasn't really a major musical number in the entire episode. I think they've been too light on the music so far this season. The Warners have only had two songs in six segments, and only one of them was super great in my opinion. Take advantage of these characters and legendary voices while you have them.

This episode was definitely worse than episode 3, but it's hard for me to decide between this one and episode 2. Episode 2 had a better PATB segment but a Warner segment that didn't do much for me like this one did. By virtue of me being a Warner fan first and this episode having some very cute moments with them, I think I have to put episode 4 above episode 2. Despite the lack at even an attempt at a song.

My current ranking of season 3 episodes:

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 2

Episode 1

I encourage you to participate in the discussion on this post if you have anything to say about episode 4 or those that came before it, but don't say anything about the episodes that come after. Pretend like you haven't even seen them. I have to thank my friends in the replies who humor me every day and discuss each episode without spoilers. You two are the only reason I'm still semi-sane. Without you, I'd feel completely isolated.

I don't know if I'll cave and start doing multiple episodes per day. This takes a lot of willpower, but for now I'm still tentatively planning to tough it out.

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[woomycritiques543]

My current thoughts on the Sallie Mae situation.

As someone who used to be mentally unwell for the past few years, I find that my past posts were written in a rush. I find that my past self wasn’t actually upset about the Sallie Mae situation, but rather how Erin Frost was being treated, the people that wronged her, and the fandom’s behavior towards the character and Ignis to be nothing short of disrespectful of the trans identity and not at all being done out of respect, but rather to have Sallie’s _____ define how they see her. Which is what concerned me and why I put that into the video in the first place. So to address the situation, I believe that it should be addresses according to the participants and what each of us should have done. So with that said:

Ignis.

1. Now that I am diagnosed, I believe that Ignis was actually someone both of good and bad faith, that she actually loved Sallie Mae and wanted to have good representation. But that after she said that “I did this for what the fans want.” I researched what those fans “wanted” and found nothing more than disrespectful presentations of the character that I ended up putting into my now deleted “Vivziepop Archive Extravaganza.” video. But that in itself just shows that the fandom was the one who wanted to be bad faith with Sallie Mae.

2. The reason why Ignis emphasized _____ now that I look back on it was because she wanted to make a point about transgender representation. Which now that I have space in my brain to better think things through, I think that this in itself is fine, it was just executed poorly due to the way that the other characters were drawn causing this to be emphasized in a way that was drawn differently from the other characters in a way that caused this to he executed as ___tishization. Even if the good intentions were there. So with Sallie Mae and both her and Sallie’s representation, Ignis was in good faith. I just wish that she was honest about Erin Frost’s posts, the merch that she was proud of instead of hiding behind non-__xual merchandising, and addressed the sitiation with Finn, Sallie’s brother, instead of ignoring the transgender community’s concerns and using the fact that she was a voice actress to avoid accountability for supporting Vivziepop despite what happened with Finn.

Erin Frost.

1. What I believe that Erin should have done differently is that she shouldn’t have just left her statement about Sallie Mae vague but instead should have made an explanation as to why she felt that what Vivziepop was doing with Sallie was _____tization. The issue being the difference between how Sallie was drawn compared to the other characters within the merchandising, and how that ended up causing the execution of a otherwise good faith decision to be done poorly.

Jayman.

1. Oh boy…. Jayman. What could I say about Jayman except that they purposely took Erin’s post out of context to make outlandish claims that used Erin’s vague wording to make her look “bad”, the dishonesty in how he presented his views on pretty much everything, what he ended up doing to other fans, how he treated me. Jayman was just an awful person overall, and im glad that he left the internet before he could have done what he had done to me to anyone else.

Myself.

1. For me, I feel like I should have further looked into the situation and explained myself better. But couldn’t have at the time due to my brain feeling cluttered because I didn’t have proper medical treatment. I should have kept the accountability for the fandom’s actions and Spindlehorse’s actions separate instead of grouping them together the way that I did.

I was too accusatory, I should’ve said that “Though Sallie’s brother situation isn’t your fault, that doesn’t mean that you should keep supporting someone you know wants to erase much needed representation of gnc.” but couldn’t say this at the time due to my past mental state being much less coherent.

2. I’ve realized why the past when it comes to this situation caused me so much pa^n. It was the fact that people kept taking Erin Frost’s word at face value instead of trying to dig into why she said what she said and trying to analyze the screenshots more than just face value. I was actually up^et about Erin Frost, not Sallie Mae. -and because of how I was at the time my thoughts were jumbled together so I took out my emotions about Erin out on Ignis, when I should have again, kept my thoughts about Sallie’s brother, Ignis, and Erin Frost separate.

The problem?

I couldn’t do it at the time. My brain functioned in a way that grouped things together into disorganized mush.

-and now that I know that I am mentally ill, it effects me even more that Jayman was such an able^st person and that Ignis let him get away with treating me the way that he did and let Vivziepop get away with everything else.

In all, I wish that I could do more.

I wish that I could make a proper video on Vivziepop like I had planned to, it’s just that due to personal and technical reasons such a video would be physically impossible to do.

So take this as a “My current thoughts” sort of thing since a proper video on either subject matter, or any more videos for that matter, wouldn’t be possible to do in my current state.

-and with that said, I wish you all a goodnight.

Take care. -RaySquid.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Ahoy Steph 🙌, I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about yourself and what kind of tropes and stories you enjoy? Wanna get to know a little more about who is behind the blog if you don't mind🤸

Hey Nonny!

Sorry for the delay in a reply... just haven't "felt it" the past couple months, and after a nice 2 week break (and now a slow day at work), I feel more up to answering a long-form ask today, LOL.

So, I won't reveal too much about myself that isn't already public, since I try to keep my online and personal lives separate (and I come from an age where people usually DID do this because no one needs to know every little bit about you). The basics are that I'm a 41-year-old Canadian dork who loves video games, animation, movies, drawing, writing, and making music. I'm a graphic designer by trade, and have been for nearly 20 years, and I love it (if you need something designed or laid out, hit me up, I freelance on the side for extra spending money). I love dragons and puppies and kitties. I've been in fandom spaces for as long as I can remember, even before the internet. First major fandom I was a part of was Sonic the Hedgehog in my teen years, used to be a pretty popular writer back then. I moved on to Darkwing Duck in my 20s, then TMNT and then Sherlock (I'm a fan of a TONNE more things, but these were the active fanbases I had a presence in). These days I'm more of a lurker than actively participating, though Sherlock has been the longest one I haven't really moved on from. I like the casualness of what I've built here, and I think that's been a huge benefit for my mental health.

Hmm... my fave food is mac and cheese, but had to cut back on it a lot, so these days it's mostly chicken, lol. Fave dessert is cheesecake. Again, not supposed to eat it because of the dairy and sugar, so if I make it, I use lactose-free cheese. I treat myself once-a-year on my birthday, usually.

My current dream is to own a home. I've been trying to make it happen for almost 10 years now, and every time I get close, the goal-post gets shifted as housing prices skyrocket. It makes me very sad.

My dream holiday is a Disney cruise OR somewhere tropical; wanted to do these since I was 20. Secondary dream WAS going back to Disney World for my 40th, but now it's for my 45th or 50th, hopefully with SOMEONE (no one wants to go with me, hence the back-burner on this one). Listen, I know how awful Disney is. I just... really loved being there. It's easy to forget a lot of things when you're there. Third dream is a cross-country LITERAL nostalgia road trip with my sister. We used to go on 2-week-long, cross-Canada road trips when we were kids, and I just... want to kind of relive those, y'know? Lots of fond memories. Again, something that's just a dream because while my sister wants to do it, she doesn't want to be an alternate driver, so. Yeah, I can't do the driving alone.

Uh... Hmm. Not sure what else I should talk about here, if there's something specific y'all want to know, just ask :)

As for fave tropes, I love fake relationship fics the most, I think, followed by pining and movie rewrites with characters... I'm actually pretty easy-going when it comes to tropes, really. Willing to read any trope at least once to see if I like it.

Oddly, though, I prefer stories that are SUPER in-character (to how I read them, anyway) AND focus a lot on character studies and relationships with other characters. Novel-length stories are usually the best for it, but shorter ones can be too. I prefer fanfics more these days because I don't have to think about how these characters SHOULD be and focus more on the world that the author created. When I do read published novels, though, they're usually fantasy books. One of my fave series ever is the Inkheart Trilogy. Just an easy read from book one.

Yeah, so that's a little bit about me, to start off 2023 AND for any newbies that have just recently found me.

Thanks again for your curiosity :) Again, if you have anything you want more elaboration on, I can at my discretion.

[queerwolfsstuff]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag @eyesofatragedy67

1. How many works do you have on A03?

121 so far, that number will increase within the next couple of months.

2. What's your total word count?

3,439,494

Holy shit, and that's not including the word count of unpublished works or the original novel I'm currently editing!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Actively: Supernatural; Good Omens; Our Flag Means Death; Red, White, and Royal Blue, (MAYBE DEAD BOY DETECTIVES BACK OFF)

Past: South Park; High School Musical; Beauty and the Beast; Harry Potter; Blades of Glory; and Glee.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos:

Top 5 in general (this includes co-written fics):

In a Mirror, Darkly (written with @anyreiart) - 3,068

Red, White, and Royal Blue Balls - 2,365

Playing with Fire (written with @anyreiart) - 1,748

That Wasn’t Supposed to Fucking Happen! (written with @anyrei) - 1,387

The Heart of Ophelia (written with @anyreiart) - 1,357

Top 5 Solo Fics:

Red, White, and Royal Blue Balls - 2,365

La Rose Cachée - 1,146

Twenty After Four - 390

You Know I’m No Good - 326

And Walk Yourself to the Laundromat - 318

5. Do you respond to comments?

UGH, not as much as I should, and I used to be really good about responding to all comments, but presently my inbox on Ao3 has 4402 “unread” comments and I just… I can’t, it’s too overwhelming at this point with working two jobs. But I read and genuinely appreciate every single comment, even if I can’t reply to every single one!

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

Ah. That’s a toss up between Nothing’s Gonna Change My World and Through the Rift Series. In my opinion, the former, but I’m sure Any would beg to differ.

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

Oooh, fun! Ummmm. Most of them have happy endings (both literally and figuratively). I guess the “happiest” ending goes to the crack fic I wrote for Any’s birthday seven years ago. Crack in the Fourth Wall

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Oh, you betcha. The first time we got a shitty comment on a joint fic, Any said, “We’ve made it!” Thankfully, when a certain newsletter was dismantled, the anti-destiel harassment died down. I/We still get the occasional “concrit” comment from readers who think it’s an okay thing to give unsolicited writing advice, and I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Constructive criticism cannot exist in already posted fanfiction world, you aren’t being constructive or critiquing, you’re literally filing a complaint, leaving a bad review. So either embrace the fact you’re a shitty 1-star Yelp review Karen, or stop leaving concrit.

9. Do you write smut?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

10. Craziest crossover?

I actually don’t write crossovers, but keep your eyes peeled! I recently participated in the CasDean Reverse Crossover Bang, and in a little over a week, I’ll be posting my Harry Potter crossover fic featuring art by the amazing @rezal-art!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not technically, or in a way that could be proven, but a very popular fic very much felt like a rip off of one of mine and Any’s fics, one that a well known author (a friend of the author of aforementioned rip off) made it a point to tell potential readers to not read the ending of because said author didn’t like the polyamory of it all.

Even funnier, that same author shortly after wrote their own poly fic. So, I guess personal preferences used to justify telling people to not read someone’s fic can sometimes beget a change of heart if it gets you more comments/readers.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Any and I have had a couple of our fics translated into Chinese, Russian, and Spanish! And we are here for anyone who wishes to translate any of our fics, just let us know and send us a link, and we will include it in the notes!

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

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. At this point, I prefer to not write alone. Any needs to stop allowing it to happen.

14. All-time favorite ship?

Okay, so… technically, it’s Destiel. It’s the only pairing that survived the end of its series. Dean Winchester and Castiel are my two favorite archetypes of characters and their specific dynamic transcends canon bad endings and any type of universe.

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

I don’t have any! The last time I posted a WIP, it took me a couple years to finish, so I promised myself I would only post completed fics from now on.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Comedic scenarios and dialogue. I like the funnies and the speakings.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

DESCRIPTIONS. I fucking hate it, okay? Why can’t you all just know what’s in my damn head? I also have a toxic, codependent relationship with commas and sentence fragments.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

A little mixed. So, barring it being like… Latin, or a more archaic language that you use an unreliable online translator for or a language you speak, I believe for believable dialogue, you should have a friend or someone who can confirm/verify that the language is written correctly, otherwise, I vote you write, “they spoke in x language,” and interpret in the narrative. And no writing an accent in dialogue for characters where English is a second language phonetically! Like, authentic structure of a sentence, rhythm, or word choice is fine, but let’s not be offensive folks.

19. First fandom you ever wrote in?

Harry Potter over twenty years ago now. I’m an old.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Oooh, that’s fun. Ummmm. For co-written, it’s a toss up between Five Dimensions, or Dean’s Crusade: A Dance with Self Discovery with @anyreiart or Heaven on htraE with @eyesofatragedy67 and for solo it’s a toss up between I Wish for This and La Rose Cachée

Tag time! @anyreiart @punk-is-notdead and whoever else wants to do this!

[satashiiwrites]

WIP Whenever

So. @quietborderline knows this but I’ve been debating a major re-write and finishing of An Andromeda Tale after the whole… taking of my words thing last month and it’s really been sticking with me. I’m currently working on my WIP Big Bang (yay for trying to write 50k in a month!) which I can’t share per the rules of the Bang… and I’ve been outlining my July Rough Trade project which is going to be quite the fandom departure for me as well.

I may have overcommitted to things is what i’m saying… but i’m also seriously going to try and edit AAT… and have a regular posting schedule (yeah I know i’m not great with deadlines). So. For WIP Wednesday/Whenever… have a partially rewritten prologue with some new chapter art (aka procrastination at its finest).

Tagged by @outtoshatter and no-pressure tagging @monsterrae1 @alyxmastershipper @tkwritesdumbassassins @missanniewhimsy @megasaurus-regina @westernlarch @kikiroo @whimsyswastry and whoever else wants to play along.

Banner by radio chatter.

Title: An Andromeda Tale: The Making of a Pathfinder and a King, Book 1, Prologue.

Fandom: Mass Effect Andromeda

Pairing: Endgame for everything is MReyder. There’s a bunch of other pairings that make an appearance in the course of the story including some OCs.

Summary:

Scott Ryder never saw his life going this way, not that anyone ever asked him his opinion. Now he's pathfinder with too many people depending on his young shoulders and trying to figure out what he actually wants for himself. Reyes Vidal, man of mystery, former pilot and now sometimes smuggler. Who knows where he came from or his motivations but he's come to Andromeda to change his destiny. What neither Scott nor Reyes could have predicted is what their lives would be once they came to Andromeda.

Tags/warnings: first revision (aka Grammerly committed manslaughter) version that needs more editing and re-writing, Alec Ryder’s A++ parenting. Aging the Ryder twins up slightly as well as Reyes because I can.

From the journal of S Ryder, 2185 CE December 3rd (2 days prior to launch of Ark Hyperion)

No one asked me what I wanted to do in life or if I wanted to do this. My life’s path has been chiefly decided by forces outside of my control, first my career path into the systems alliance as a marine, then my career determination of spec ops as a biotic, and on to N School for training. Nowhere for me to go but obtain the same designation as my father or else be seen as a failure. No one asked me if I liked my life in the Marines—had I been asked, I’d made do with my options and felt at times that someday I’d be happy with life as a marine and exploring the galaxy one boring posting at a time. 

Sure, my last posting made it clear I would go nowhere once The Arrest™️ happened. 

Thanks, Dad. My career really needed you to participate in and run illegal AI research. You could have at least tried not to get caught with your hand in the government funding cookie jar and make it extra licentious. 

The bottom line? When you’re the only son of a famous N7 Operative, options may seem open, but they really aren’t. 

My twin sister, Sara, somehow got herself out of the situation I found myself boxed into. I love Sara, but some days I hate that she got out. Then again, getting out isn’t what she seems to have wanted in the first place.  

My father, Alec Ryder—yeah, the disgraced N7 who has been in the press and got arrested for illegal AI research—has pulled off the ultimate guilt trip. Sara didn’t require any guilt. She’s joined of her own accord. I’m to report to processing tomorrow at 0730 for the Andromeda Initiative, and I’m going into cryo tomorrow evening. 

Dear old Dad is playing God with my life and has made it clear that Andromeda is the only option left for me. 

Since I’ve lost the few friends I can talk about anything with after signing the non-disclosure agreements this afternoon, I’ve decided to follow the suggestions of an old captain. When you can’t talk about it with anyone without destroying your security clearance, try processing through writing and then destroy the evidence or encrypt the hell out of it. 

I’m going to try writing down my feelings and covering them with enough encryption that Dad can’t get into—I’ve learned a lot more tech skills than the last time Dad decided I couldn’t have my own thoughts as a teenager. Hopefully, he’ll finally have learned to let me have my own thoughts and space (boundaries aren’t a new concept, Dad). And if no one ever reads this? Well, then, this journal is just for me and whoever manages to break into it--hopefully far in the future when I’m dead, and it doesn’t matter anyway. 

In the short time I’ve had to think about this, I’m worried about what we’ll find when we get to Andromeda. Then again, something is coming—something terrible. The rumors that Commander Shepard isn’t dead and that something bad is happening with the Collectors—I’m not sure how much I trust what I’ve heard and not heard. The rumors around the outpost weren’t reassuring before I left, but something has the vets spooked. I suppose running away to Andromeda might be less risky if the rumors are true. But why do I feel like I’m running away from my duty then? I don’t know how to process everything lately. I suppose I’ll just have to be a professional and take the role Dad’s giving me. Maybe I’ll figure things out on the way. 

I did see Sara before she went to final checks today—one last meal together in the Milky Way. She told me she was looking forward to a grand adventure as a family. She’s so optimistic about Andromeda—it’s hard to be concerned when she’s so happy. From my perspective, we’ve never done something as a family that’s ended well. Maybe this time, it’ll actually happen. I haven’t really been around or available for Sara since Mom died. I regret not doing what Mom wanted, but I thought maybe I could make my own choices and be a real, proper adult for once. Mom would be happy I’m going—I just wish I could have had the option to say no or yes. I don’t know if I’d be here if it were my choice. I’m ending things here for today. Hopefully, I’ll have time to write before the deep, frozen sleep of 600 years.