#also fun fact: fic writers are the most powerful people in the world!!

[chelshiart]

Sleep mode - ACTIVATED

[ID: An animated GIF featuring Murderbot 2.0 and ART. In the feed, MB 2.0 sleeps in a magenta cradle of it's own creation, and ART, depicted as a blue bubbling glitch effect, gently rocks the cradle back and forth. /end ID]

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dropped this into the mb discord a couple weeks back, and finally bringing it here!

OH and if ya'll want to see more ART and MB 2.0 feels, check out this fantastic fic by CompletelyDifferent on Ao3 -- it's so compelling and well-written!! Highly recomend!

[heliads]

Heyy can I get Four x fem!reader, where four can see sher struggling and offers some private lessons, you can take it from there xo

as a fic writer, i love taking it from there (xo)

masterlist

Four is not particularly suited to kindness. He never has been. That’s part of why he never fit in with the other Abnegation, after all; his inability to carve away pieces of himself to give to others stuck out like a sore thumb. That, and the fact that he hated their two-faced duplicity with a passion so burning that it left him choking on the smoke. 

He’s always figured that even if he was Divergent, even if he contained multitudes of other factions within him, he never once showed a shred of Amity, either. Kindness, generosity, none of these have ever described Four. He certainly shouldn’t be wishing for it now. 

Yet, when he looks across the Dauntless training room, which is strewn with the fighting figures of initiation’s latest round of transfers, he doesn’t feel that usual call to apathy. Not now, at least. Four had supposed it would come later, when the initial interest of new faces had worn off and he was left with irritation prickling under his skin, that fidgety sort of feeling he gets when people refuse to do what’s good for them.

Four has never been the most patient, even if he is forced to play the long game of waiting and hiding due to his status as a Divergent. It makes him insufferable, or so he’s been told. Usually, Four just assumes he’s better off alone and not reaching out to anyone. Fewer secrets are shared when no one knows about them in the first place.

That doesn’t explain why he’s ignoring that favored precept of his in favor of staring at one of the initiates yet again. Four tells himself that he doesn’t do favorites, that he treats all of the trainees with the same blunt criticism and harsh words. It makes it easier that way. He once knew a few instructors who would place bets on their favorites, but they always ended up losing more than their money when their chosen trainees didn’t make the cut.

Dauntless may not be a place that encourages its pupils to choose safety over fun, but Four always betrayed that particular principle while leading initiation. He’s only been at it for a year or two, he can’t afford any screw ups now. That’s why he would do well to ignore that one initiate in the corner. It would be his best choice, but for some reason, it’s the one path he refuses to travel.

As if Four has ever been known for his rational thought. There’s a reason he’s not in Erudite, after all, why he scorned every faction one after another until he could only ever end up here in Dauntless. Dauntless, where at last he’s the one in power, where he’ll risk his life again and again because at least in this faction people wear their hatred firmly on their sleeves instead of hiding it behind some ambiguous political game.

Perhaps Four isn’t one for politicking, then, but that’s no surprise. He does what he pleases, he likes who he likes, and when Y/N L/N happens to glance up at him when she finishes a round in the fighting ring, she doesn’t look remotely shocked to see him looking at her again. No one is, but then again, no one notices Four’s attention except Y/N herself.

Y/N is a transfer. Y/N is an initiate. Y/N is the one person that Four really should be avoiding, but can’t seem to manage it. He doesn’t know what it is about her that keeps calling his interest back to her again and again like the snap of a hypnotist’s fingers, but his heart refuses to explain. His head has tried to make amends, but his heart keeps on traitorously beating, still seeking her out after every time Four promises himself he won’t trust that magnetic pull to her again.

She never follows up on his attention, which makes her better than him, at least. She knows the rules. She’s also a little bit afraid of him, Four thinks, which hurts him more than it should. Y/N seems to be frightened of nothing in this world but him, and that is why he can’t bear to look away. Should he glance over at her once and find her willing to stand near him, maybe he would be able to guide his breathing back to a normal state, his heartbeat to return to rest once more.

It has yet to happen, however, and Four thinks he knows why. See, he knows what he thinks when he encounters Y/N, the curious storm of emotions all centrally positive that linger around his heart, but she has absolutely no idea of that. She wouldn’t, because whenever Y/N looks at Four or any other Dauntless training instructor, she thinks not of them as people but as physical manifestations of her initiation rank. Her rank, which happens to be pretty damn close to failing.

In all his time in this world, all his experience with heroes and cowards, fighters and thinkers, Four has no idea why Y/N’s rank should be that low. He knows what his eyes see, of course; fights lost, punches not thrown, but it makes no sense to him. Four is accustomed to the dropouts of Dauntless initiation, the ones who would rather go live with the factionless than stick through training. They’re nothing like Y/N, not in the slightest.

Those kids, those unwanted former initiates, they’re afraid. All of them, they’re afraid. Terrified to throw a punch for fear of bruising their knuckles, hesitant to step in a ring lest they take more hits than they dole out. They lose before they even try, but that’s not Y/N.

Y/N is brave, like he said. Braver than Four, probably. He would love to see her fear landscape if she could manage to make it past the first round of initiation. It would probably be pretty close to empty, what from the way she stares down even the most dangerous threats without a blink of an eye. Four has a brief terror that he might open her fear landscape just for it to hold him and nothing else, but he forces that thought away just as quickly. He doesn’t know that. Nobody does.

Y/N is brave, and that’s what makes this so hard. If she had half the spirit that she does, if she flinched away from every blow like the others, Four could brush her off like the other trainees. She would blend into the crowds, and he would go throughout his life without this trial of conscience that he’s undergoing now.

That’s not the case, however. Instead, Four looks at her and he sees the strength of Dauntless, the bravery, the need to get ahead. Y/N should be at the top of the rankings, but she isn’t. Four has a theory for that, though. Despite the fact that Dauntless loves to pride itself as the equalizer, that its initiation lets anyone from any background succeed, that simply isn’t the case. At the end of the day, trainees with more experience will pick up skills far faster, and that means they’ll always win.

That’s why cruel Candor and Erudite manage to make the transition so well. Y/N lacks that experience, and so although she’s learning things at an excellent rate, she can’t beat the prior knowledge of the others. Four remembers one time in which she’s been struggling with knife throwing. He had given her one hint and just like that, she was hitting the bullseye every time.

If Four wants to keep Y/N around a while longer, that’s what it’s going to take. More of that advice, more of that help. Y/N has the ability to change this faction just like him. Four just has to make sure that she makes it through initiation long enough to make that work.

Four isn’t supposed to have favorites. He does, it’s her. That’s why, despite days of him telling himself that he won’t get involved, he finds himself making up his mind. Still facing torment in his own head, Four drops by the training room later that evening, hoping some time alone with a punching bag and his own bruised knuckles will clear up his mind.

When he opens the door and sees Y/N there still, practicing her hits, he knows then and there that he has no choice. Four walks briskly through the training hall until he’s by her side. He watches her form for a few moments more; she knows he’s there, he can tell by the stiffness of her shoulders, her guard is already up.

He speaks at last, words echoing around the spacious room. “Punch more from your own strength. You’re pushing the bag, you don’t want to do that. Snap your fist forward instead.”

Four demonstrates with one quick hit. Y/N nods, mirroring him. Four has to bite back a smile. The change is immediate. A voice in the back of his head tells him that if he just stayed a little longer, helped a little more, she’d become a better fighter overnight. It’s not hard to convince himself to linger by her side.

“Good,” he murmurs, “now, try hitting with more combinations. Four hits instead of two. You’ll disorient your opponent.”

Once again, Y/N does as he says, and once again, she does it perfectly. That’s another problem with initiation, Four thinks, it’s impossible to help every student as much as they need, what with the incoming class of transfers growing so rapidly every year.

Y/N practices a while longer, then relents, taking a step back and giving Four a quizzical look. “Why are you doing this? I mean, I appreciate the tips, but I don’t think you do this for every initiate.”

“I don’t,” Four confirms, “maybe I just want to see you win tomorrow. Is that such a surprise?”

Judging by the expression on her face, the answer would be yes. “Last time I checked, you were supposed to make sure everyone had an even playing field. I didn’t think private punching lessons were included in that.”

Four has to try his utmost to smother a laugh. “They’re not. Still, I wanted to.”

“You wanted to,” Y/N repeats contemplatively, “what, you got tired of seeing me get my ass kicked all the time? I know you watch my rounds more than the others, that must be it.”

Four swats her gently on the shoulder. He’s just as surprised about it as she is; nothing they’ve done has brought them close enough for soft friendship. Still, it feels right. Maybe that means something.

“Self-pity doesn’t treat you right,” he says, “I like it better when you’re walking around like you own the place. Sometimes I think you do.”

Y/N laughs. “And melodrama has never been your strong suit. I think I like it, though.”

Four likes it too. He raises a brow, inviting her sarcastic remarks once more. “Does that mean you’ll allow the lessons to continue? You won’t keep pushing me away with your own disbelief?”

“I’m still debating,” Y/N retorts, but she’s grinning and that makes it much better.

Four leaves the punching bag, not her; he walks to the ring instead. Climbing easily up, he extends an arm for Y/N to join him. She takes his hand without a second’s hesitation, and Four has to fight all parts of himself to hide the swarm of warmth that cloaks his insides when he realizes her fear of him is gone, if it was ever truly there at all. Perhaps he was just looking for excuses to stay away, knowing nothing would work for long.

Y/N puts up her fists, interrupting his musing. “So? Are we fighting or not?”

“Of course we are,” Four says, getting into his own opening stance.

After that, he loses himself in the even rhythm of punches and kicks, blows and strikes. Sometimes he calls out tips and tricks, other times he lets Y/N learn from what works well and what doesn’t. Even after the night ends, when their strength gives out and they both walk away with new bruises and old grins, Four knows one thing for certain:  this is not the end of Y/N’s time in Dauntless, nor her time with him. No, their story is just starting. It is one that he looks forward to with all his heart.

divergent tag list: @rogueanschel, @with-inked-solace, @gods-fools-heroes, @23victoria, @manyfandomsfanvergent, @ilovexavierthrope

[dustdeepsea]

i am here to ask about performance review! :)

7. What inspired the idea for the plot?

20. What is something you wish more people noticed about this fic?

26. Wild Card! I'll tell you a fun fact about this fic!

Thank you for asking!! I have so many complicated feelings about this fic.

7. What inspired the idea for the plot?

I love writing for NPCs in this world. I've progressed to obsessing over ones that have roughly five lines total. This was a drabble, written on my phone over a few days, that got entirely out of hand.

Zarys is a fairly young woman in charge of a nasty group of smugglers and triad members. Rugan recruited her, but she quickly outpaced him through the ranks. During Act 1, he gives out the password to their hideout, and she threatens to cut his tongue out for it. I initially read it as mostly bluster.

However, there is also a possible outcome of the Missing Shipment quest where she offers the party a chance to align with the Zhentarim by killing a tied-up and tortured Rugan, if he gives up the chest. At this point, Olly has already been killed by her for forgetting the first rule of Fight Club the Zhentarim. Yikes.

I read her as a bright, ambitious person elevated too early to middle management to properly cope, grappling with their own insecurities. I was interested in exploring her motivations and how she navigates power dynamics (spoilers: poorly). I wanted her to read as fairly sympathetic but still awful.

20. What is something you wish more people noticed about this fic?

(I'm interpreting this as: what are you most proud of slipping into this fic as a writer?)

As Oscar Wilde said, “Everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power.”

What Zarys considers "sweet nothings" are Rugan simply stoking her ambition.

26. Wild Card! I'll tell you a fun fact about this fic!

This was never a story meant to titillate or get the reader off. (Probably why the positive reactions are so low a ha ha). Then again, neither are most of my fics. How do you write sex that isn't meant to be particularly sexy?

Kissing is taken off the table early. Rugan speaks fairly little during the act itself, and he has his hand over Zarys' mouth over most of it.

I considered putting in more dirty talk (size difference, etc), but I didn’t want him to praise her or compliment her physical appearance. But he isn't a complete asshole, so he is actually concerned about almost suffocating her. (Again, a very low bar, kids.) Removing it also makes the whole act read as more sloppy, quick, and desperate, and allows us to focus more on Zarys' inner thoughts.

She likes him, in her own twisted way. She won't ever sleep with him and let him get under her skin like that again. And when the time comes, it's kinder that she ends his life than someone from Darkhold.

[bewitched-forest]

10 First Lines Fanfiction Tag Game!

Rules: Share the first line of the last ten fics you wrote and tag some people. :)

I got tagged by @gremlin-bot, the loveable little bugger. I adore my platonic spouse, however, so I will oblige! I’m doing the first lines of the entire fics, not just whatever the last chapter is, so I don’t have to worry about spoilers for y’all. ;)

1. How to Fowl a Bat (Artemis Fowl x DC) [Link Here ;)] Ft. Tim Drake x Artemis Fowl - The Batfamily gets mindwiped, Faerie style, and Artemis Fowl deals with the consequences.

Three hours.

2. Formula for a Crime Scene (DP x DC x Artemis Fowl) [Link Also Here] Ft. Polyamous Damian Wayne x Danny Fenton x Artemis Fowl - The trio of unlikely lovebirds are going to become the terrors of Gotham.

Damian stalks into the school, eyes polished into a glare sharp enough to cut diamonds.

This one is actually also co-written by @half-dead-ham, my other adorable platonic spouse! We cowrote the world, but we will be doing our own separate fics!

3. The Rebirth of Tim Drake (DP x DC) [LINK] Ft. Halfa!Tim Drake - Tim Drake dies in this one before the first chapter even ends!

Red Robin panted back and knees aching as he crawled through the ventilation.

4. Return of the Ancients (DP x DC) [Linkity Link] Ft. Cold Currents (Danny x Kaldur’ahm) - Kaldur gets kindly screwed over by ghost shit.

Danny stepped into the zeta tube, taking a deep breath.

5. Close Contact (DP x DC) [Zooom. Link!] Ft. Triple Trouble (Danny x Dick x Wally) - The Young Justice team are sick of these gay ass motherfuckers not dating.

“Rob! Phantom!” Wally shouted as he zoomed straight to his friends' sides, wrapping his arms around their shoulders.

6. Phantom Feathers (DP x DC) [AchOo! Link!] Ft. Dead Tired (Tim x Danny) - Ghosts have wings! Danny has wings! Yay!

“Hey Tim?” Danny asked.

7.  Danny & Billy: Brothers in Too Much Power The Rehash (DP x DC) [Shazam!] Ft. Danny and Billy are Brothers. - Exactly as it says. Danny and Billy are adopted, homeless brothers with way too much power for people who aren’t or are barely of legal age to drive.

When Billy ducked into one of his usual hideouts, he was not expecting pressure.

8. A Day in the Life of Two Dead Men (DP x DC) [Whoop!] Ft. DeadonMain (Jason x Danny) & Trans!Danny - Just two dead guys. Living their life.

The Red Hood skidded over to the edge of the building, looking over the edge where he heard a scream

9. Slap-A-Soulmate (DP x DC) [SmaCk!] Ft. Anger Management (Jazz x Jason), Tall!Jazz, and Soulmate AU - While Jason might not like the idea of getting slapped, at least the one done by the crazy redheaded psychiatrist led to his soulmate!

Red Hood was frustrated.

10. Ancient Deals (DP x DC) [Last one!] Ft. Dead Serious (Damian x Danny) - Ra’s Al Ghul made a deal in his immortal youth, and now its Danny and Damian’s fucking problem.

“Why am I here, Grandfather!”

Technically speaking, the first three fics are WIPs! In fact, I post new chapters to all three of them once a week! (Yes I’m aware that makes most writers look at me like I’m insane, the BatPham server goes crazy every time I mention it. Especially my spouses. XD) Fowl a Bat posts every Monday, Formula every Thursday (so theres actually a new chapter today ;3), and Rebirth every Saturday!

Now, I don’t have anyone I’d like to tag, mainly because both my platonic spouses have already done this, and I’m sure most of the BatPham discord writers have already been spammed by like 7 people. I encourage you all to join in if you want to however! It found this really fun seeing the different ways I’ve started a fic!

(Plus for those of us that don’t have fic lists, this actually works pretty well instead XD)

[thedevilinmybrain]

Writing 2022

I was tagged by the lovely @starsweredible​ to do this little writing review on myself. 1. Number of stories posted to AO3: 6 2. Word count posted for the year: 272,972 3. Fandoms I wrote for: One Direction 4. Pairings: Harry/Louis 5. Story with the most: babydoll blues Kudos: 1182 Bookmarks: 527  Comment threads: 164 6. Work I’m most proud of (and why): into that goodnight : my peter pan au. I think it is my favorite for a number of reasons but mostly because it solidified my love of world building and fairy tales. So often times, we surround ourselves with fanfic that is based in the common world. We write these elaborate meet cutes and angsty longing and these concrete, real world issues. It’s necessary and important, but I sometimes like to have fun with my creativity. I don’t want to think about the world around me. I want to think about the world in my head. And I’ve loved Peter Pan for ages and surprisingly, there aren’t a lot of Peter Pan aus for this fandom. It really allowed me to stretch my fingers so to say and make a double fan fic. It is a fan fic about Peter Pan as much as it’s a fan fic about Larry. I got to write all my favorite things and then more, while sticking true to the characters of Harry and Louis. It might not be my most popular, but I think it’s my most genuine Jennifer fic. It’s like a glimpse inside of my mind. 7. Work I’m least proud of (and why): i want to be just as close as the holy ghost is – I know this might come as a shock to some, but I really feel like I started to write something important and then I dropped the ball a little. I think as a writer, I sometimes get too caught up in the details and forget to push the story along and then it’s too late. Thankfully, I think I get to take the basic concept of the fic and reapply it to a fic I’m working on for the spring. So, we shall see if I do any better. 8. Share or describe a favorite review you received: Every review. Every single one. When I was in college for Creative Writing, I was often ostracized from my classes. I was told that I’m a terrible writer, that I lack depth and imagination, and that my prose was flat. It was really a struggle for me to be constantly surrounded by these people who I thought were like minded but took every opportunity to belittle and put down my work. It was so bad that I nearly dropped out and pursued something else. So, when I thank someone for their comments or I tell them I’m so flattered, I don’t think people really grasp how much it means to me. How it means the whole world. Because for so long, I thought I had no talent at all and just wrote because I couldn’t not write. And to have someone tell me they liked it or they stayed up to read it or they’re obsessed over one detail I put in specifically for a clever reader to find – it’s like it heals one more bruise, one more cut, and I can finally feel like okay. Maybe I’ve got something here. Maybe I’m worthy of something. 9. A time when writing was really, really hard: The end of this year with my Oli Fic, it was cripplingly difficult for me to write. I think I second guessed myself so much with that fic. It had to be perfect. It had to be a careful look into the ideas of growing up and changing oneself and finding your place when your best friend suddenly isn’t only yours. I had to make sure that it was believable and heart wrenching and honest and raw. And I had to play homage to the fact that Oli really has been Louis’ shadow this whole time. That it means something to keep your Lancelot next to you. But I suffered for that fic and I’m proud that I got to publish it because I almost didn’t. 10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: I really fell in love with Oli in my Oli Fic but I also really, really loved Zayn in it. I think there is something so powerful about the Zouis friendship. And I think Zayn, even though he was younger, was very much a support system for Louis. Like there was more than just friendship there, more than brotherhood, and the way I got to write him being defensive of Louis but also Harry – Harry who it is clear that Zayn loved so much. It means a lot to me that I write Zayn as the person he is, not the villain so many people paint him out to be. 11. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

"You're a mermaid!" Harry scrambles forward, sinks his knees into the water to get a better look at her. "A real mermaid."

"I suppose that you might call me that." The mermaid grins, her teeth sharp in her mouth, pointed much like a shark's. "That's what you and your Lost Boys do."

"My Lost Boys?" Harry feels his face warm up, more delighted than he cares to admit about the phrasing. "You mean Louis' Lost Boys."

"Yes, but also yours. You're Louis' Harry, aren't you?" The mermaid gives a small shake of her tail, pushing herself forward toward the rocks again.

"I suppose." Shrugging a bit, Harry bites at his bottom lip, gaze turned toward the water. He doesn't know if he should agree with her or deny it. Sometimes it feels so much like Louis doesn't even see Harry and other times, it feels like Louis can’t see anything else. Especially at night when Harry wakes just a little from dreaming to see the vague shape of Louis swinging in a hammock in the top of the canopy. Like there is something unspoken between them, a secret, held under the moon.

"But you're not a Lost Boy." The mermaid shakes her head, drawing closer again to rest her arm on the rock, her cheek on top of her palm. "Are you?"

"I–" Harry can't help the way his grin seems frozen a bit in place, sliding just slightly into a grimace. He knows that to be true, too. Because even though Harry plays the games, does the make-believe, dances around the campfire with them – he's always felt a little separated, a little different. It's something he can't exactly explain and he loathes to bring it up. Would never want to seem ungrateful.

“Not a boy,” the mermaid clarifies thoughtfully, her fingers caressing along Harry’s calves, up to his knees. “Not a girl. Not either. But both.”

“Oh.”

Warmth spreads through Harry, sickly and unwell. He’s heard the same before, hurled slurs under breath, cruel names spit into his face. All for Harry who let his hair grow a little too long, has a soft face, soft hands, soft waist. Harry, who always played the princess in all of the orphanage games, who let older boys touch his cheek and whisper to him under the cover of darkness. He knows what people say about him.

“Furrowing again.” The mermaid shakes her head, fingertips tracing a slow circle over Harry’s knee. “Why are you so worried? I’m just like you.”

“Are you?” Harry hesitates, wants to tug down his nightshirt, wishes he was wearing trousers at least. There had been no time when Louis had come through the door, though. Harry hadn’t thought of anything practical, too entranced by the possibility that things might be better, that there was hope.

“I’m not a girl nor am I a fish.” Splashing her tail out of the water, the mermaid makes a gesture down the length of her body. “I’m both. And that is alright, isn’t it? Can’t be anything other than what I am.”

12. How did you grow as a writer this year: I am trying my hardest to trust myself and go with my gut when it comes to my writing. I don’t know where this creativity comes from. I don’t know how I do it. I don’t outline. I don’t follow any of the rules. I just write. And it works. So maybe I am learning to trust that more. 13. How do you hope to grow next year: I think I grew courage to take risks and write the things that I like. I love writing genre bent writing and I think in the next year, you’re going to see some really interesting concepts come out of me. 14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer, beta, cheerleader, etc): Oh god, none of this. Absolutely none would be possible without Aria @polaroidlouis​. She has been an absolute godsend in supporting me and talking me through plots and reassuring me when I want to throw my towel in and give up. I can honestly say you wouldn’t have gotten a single fic out of me this year without her. Also, Mari, @hlkings​ my darling. She is the captain of my fanclub for a reason. The support and devotion I feel from her is immeasurable. She always tells me to keep going, to keep doing it, that I’ve got it. I don’t know how to thank her but I try to every day. Also strong supports would be Gina @twopoppies​, Alex @momrryrights​, Nikki @lovingstheantidote​, Nikee @beelou​, Aaliyah @larrysballetslippers​ so many others. So many of you have been so fucking kind, so welcoming, so supportive. I couldn’t name all of you because if I do, then I’d never stop. Thank you thank you thank you. 15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: Oh lord, my writing is me. I can’t escape it. I think I just pour so much of myself into all of my fics and really show my hand. You probably all know me so well by the fics I write. 16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: Don’t give up. Even when it sucks. Even when the words aren’t right. Even when people don’t like it. Even when you feel like it’s pointless to keep going. I’m your fan. I’m here cheering you on. I’ve got your back and I’m in your corner. No matter what. Because the worst thing you can do for yourself is blow your own candle out. Let it burn. Be bright. Be bold and courageous and show your writing off. 17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: I’ve got so many. I’m starting my omega fic already, then I’ve got a momrry fic, then I think I’ll end the year with something new and exciting. Something I’ve been planning for a while. 18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read. @twopoppies @indiaalphawhiskey @allwaswell16 @momrryrights @lovingstheantidote @maggieisalarrie @alwaysxlarrie @non-binharry @larrysballetslippers anyone who would like to share!

[bardic-inspo]

💔🐗🦐!!!!!!!

Thank you!! 💜💜💜

[Writer Ask Game]

🐗: Which of your au’s is your current favorite?

Answering this one first for a reason 👀 Gonna ramble a bit.

Currently having a ton of fun with an ascended astarion/vampire bride Tav AU. It's an AU in the sense that, my "canonical" ending for these characters/my multichapter fic for them (Midnight Chimes) will follow the spawn Astarion ending (although there's some canon divergence to arrive there). And because it relies heavily on one interpretation of the vampire bride lore.

Basically, Tav (Naomi) in this case is Astarion's bride, not just his spawn. He could still compel her, but they have a very intense mental/emotional link, to the degree that Astarion's happiness is partially dependent on Tav's, and when she's happy, it hits him like the goodest drugs and he's all about doing more of whatever gets him that high (accidental service dom). Also, Naomi in this version had her own subplot during the course of BG3, and her own "evil" ending, too. She can still be compelled, but they have some interesting checks and balances against each other.

I am starting to plot out a multichapter fic where someone casts Modify Memory on Naomi, causing her memories to be re-set back to pre-tadpole. She is still linked to Astarion through their bride/sire bond, and still drawn to each other in some sense. He has to both re-romance his spouse who is maybe terrified of him (and has forgotten she's a vampire and used to be a scary person, too) and also figure out/hunt down whoever did that to her.

💔: Tell me a sad headcanon you have for (insert au and/or character/ship)

Sad headcanon for above AU: prior to the Modify Memory, ascended Astarion and Naomi were happily doing all their evil power couple things. Pre-tadpole Naomi and post-ascension Astarion are not...the best match. They're worlds apart. Astarion is terrible at bridging that gap because he still views his prior spawn self as pathetic, whereas that's the man that Naomi fell in love with in the first place. There's a lot of yearning for someone they both technically have right in front of them, but still can't reach, no matter how much they both want to.

🦐: What experience/thing surprised you the most on tumblr so far?

The fact that. People are so fucking nice 😭 And have been so incredibly supportive of me, and my writing. Most of all, making friends. I did not see that coming in the slightest. Such good friends, I got to meet one of them in person last summer. Just still floored and feeling blessed by the happenstance of it all.

[quickspinner]

What do you think of Adrien redemption fics, and would you ever write one?

Wow I kind of spun out on a tangent so here's the teal deer and you can read the full word vomit under the cut:

More power to the writers who enjoy such things, but personally I'm just not interested at this point, so unless it's a side plot of a Lukanette story, I wouldn't seek one out to read, nor would I write one myself. The closest I really have is Something Just Like This, where all three characters work things out not always amicably, which I tend to think of as a prequel to All in the Family, where Adrien becomes the most welcome third wheel in history. At this point in time though, I'm just tired of Adrien and all the drama, canon and fandom, that comes along with him, and I don't care enough to put the effort in.

Since I've said it in the discord I might as well say it here--if I ran the world, I would have had Adrien take all his sad about being left out in Season 4, and decide he's going to be such a good hero that LB won't need anyone else, and he'd go off to get Su Han to teach him Mirakung Fu or whatever it is and actually step up to help LB and prove he can be the partner she needs--and maybe learn along the way that it's okay not to be LB's everything and that relying on other people is actually a good thing, he doesn't have to be perfect to be important. (That plot is free to anyone who wants to use it, feel free, drop me a link so I can see what you do with it.)

Now that I've written the longest run on sentence ever, here's the actually wordy stuff under the cut. 😂

I don't think Adrien's irredeemable, in fact I don't even think he'd be all that hard to redeem, but...let me think how can I put this, because I don't want to be like love square/Adrien stans are evil because they are not. They're just people who like something different than I like and that's totally okay. Ship and let ship.

But there are a vocal number that are, shall we say, annoying. Because of that it becomes a bit of a pain to write anything because you're always going to get comments trying to argue with you (spoiler alert: I'm not looking to convince anybody nor do I care that people on the internet think I'm wrong, so I don't debate in the comments) or that sound snobby and judgey. In the past I did write Adrien into several fics and I always got weird comments on them, and the nicest ones were along the lines of, "I'm glad you don't make Adrien a complete jerk like a lot of Lukanette writers." That's not horrible, but it's also not super encouraging. Thanks, I guess? I stopped getting those comments nearer the end too so maybe people changed their mind as the story went on. 😂 (Which is fine! A very sincere thank you to anyone who quietly stopped reading and didn't leave me anything to let me know. Totally fair.)

Honestly I had similar problems with the one true salt fic I started, where a lot of the comments were just griping about the series without actually addressing my story at all, and that's kind of a bummer for me (if anyone reading this left a comment of this type please don't feel bad, I'm not saying this to guilt you, this is all about my personal preferences as a writer and none of you are mind readers).

There are a lot of things I don't like about the series, and some that occasionally make me confused or angry enough to rant about it a little bit here or on discord. At the same time, reading constant ragging and complaining about the series just depresses me. So many salt discussions spiral into this dead end of "it's such a waste what they've done and everything is awful," and there's no where to go from there. It's not going to change, and there's nothing we can do about it, and I don't like ending up at the bottom of the pit. I do this for fun and I'd rather focus on the things I like. I will be finishing Live With It, but clearly salt just doesn't make me happy, so it's not going to become my niche anytime soon.

So ultimately my reasoning boils down to, it wouldn't be fun for me, I don't think there's a huge audience out there desperately wishing I would write one, and life's too short to read or write fic that bores you. Adrien will be just fine without me.

[kakairu-rocks]

We are excited to introduce our next shining star for the Creator Spotlight... @akumu-jubokko​​!

This is a member’s only activity where we reach out to one of the talented people in our community each month to find out all about them and their kakairu creations, and then show them off to the world!

We hope you enjoy learning about Laz & their creations as much as we did. Please give them some love ❤️  

Pronouns: They/Them/Any

Type of Creator: Writer& Artist

Where to find them:

Tumblr

AO3

Read the exciting interview below the cut, or on the forum!

If you would like a chance to be in the spotlight too, the only thing you have to do is be a member of the kakairu rocks forum, and be a creator; and we will contact you, ourselves!

1. How long have you been creating KakaIru fanworks?

I have been doing kkir writing/arts for over two years now!

2. What are you working on right now?

Right now, I’m working on a long bodyguard AU!! It’s a lot of political shinobi drama and all that fun stuff! It’s a long fic, pushing at least 45-50k right now (at its halfway mark).

3. What is your favourite trope to create for?

ANGST! Hands down! Also I love monsters and creating horror art!

4. Which of your creations is your favourite, and why?

I really love the fic “Snowfall, Fairy Lights, and a Ring”. This fic came out of memories I had as a childhood of warm fireplaces and fairy lights, mixed with the romantic, comfortable spaces of a dance floor. It just makes me smile and feel all warm inside when I picture that space.

5. Do you have any WIPs you’re excited about?

Hmmm… I’d say the bodyguard AU, and that’s mainly because of how much behind the scenes drama and shinobi clan politics are going into it!

6. Do you have any original characters? If so, tell us about them!

As a matter of fact, I do! (Spoilers). I have a character called Lord Hiashi (still working on the name, may or may not change, haha) who is all up and involved in the dynamics of Konoha’s political leadership. He’s adopted a way of permanently sustaining a henge to hide the scars on his face from a horrid accident early in his life (battle). He’s a grumpy old man with a steel will and heart of gold. Lowkey was inspired by old Bruce Wayne from Batman Beyond.

7. What was your hardest piece to create, and why?

There’s an exchange fic that I did called “What is Love if Not a Distraction?” and it was extraordinarily difficult to fit the trope of soulmates into a timed fic exchange. The result was a huge amount of time thinking how to connect lines that needed to be said and then the most frantic keysmashing imaginable for a straight hour.

8. Do you have any favourite scenes from something you’ve created?

I do! The scene of Iruka talking down Danzo in “Power Play” just feels so good. I love the thought of Iruka standing his ground against clan leaders that are so much more powerful than him, and that’s one of those moments.

9. Where does your inspiration come from?

Mostly walking outdoors, I get a lot of creative vibes from walking through forests and fields.

10. Which of your creations is the most meaningful to you, and why?

I have a very violent, graphic historical AU kkir called “A Promise”, which was written at a very low point in my mental state. That fic, graphic as it may be, felt very cathartic to write and put together, and to have the absolutely wonderful RenGoneMad beta and encourage me through the process was inspiring. Plus, I’m a sucker for happy endings coming out of truly dark fics—and this is one of those.

[broken-clover]

now that im done with my live blog...you mentioned some ideas i gave you? care to share? :D And how was the rewatch for you in general? Anything that really sticks out for you in hindsight?

I really appreciate doing this rewatch, both because it was tons of fun, and because I think it helped loosen my writer's block! I ended up with a few concepts along the way, a couple I already scrapped because they were too rough or just wouldn't have been as interesting as I initially hoped, but there are a couple I'd at least like to try and flesh out proper

-Post-canon with the baby angels, with a mix of cute baby mischief and the angels reflecting on the past/their optimism for doing things better the second time around

-How the spirits originally ended up in the angels' possession, it was mentioned that the warriors 'disappeared' but also that the spirits were specifically given (this one is probably gonna get a little angsty and sad)

-Post-canon with the kids trying to re-adapt after being stuck in fight-or-flight for several months (this one is the most tenuous on whether or now I'll end up writing it, because it definitely would be pretty angsty and I don't know if that would be too much)

-Group hug fic. I don't care if it makes sense that it didn't happen in canon, or that I technically already did that with Acclimation, I'm giving Koichi a fucking hug

One of the really fun parts of going back to watch something again when you're older is that I've got a lot more knowledge and experience to analyze it critically. And I don't just mean spending the whole time going 'oh this sucks' because yes yes we all know the power scaling is stupid and parts of it were lowkey misogynistic and the pacing can be rough in spots, I mean it's fun to look at stuff on a technical level and in terms of its individual aspects.

For example, partly due to the dub changes and partly due to just being a dumb little kid, I hadn't realized there was a persistent theme of religion/mythology across the whole thing, and it was neat to notice! Considering that the Digital World's past and the mythos that sprung up around it and the legendary warriors themselves are a massive part of this world's backdrop, and the fact that the ultimate villain is based on Lucifer, the idea that a tyrannical fallen angel gets defeated by a group based on all different kinds of gods and creatures from all over the world is really very cool! I still maintain this series has one of the best portrayals of the Digital World

I'm not gonna say too much about the acting, mainly because I feel like having any serious complaints would be silly, I mean it was 2001 and I think anime in the US still had to have been a more niche thing, and even then I still hold a huge soft spot for early 2000's dubbing. Some of the things like dub-added accents were so gloriously stupid that I can't help still liking it. It still feels a little weird that EmperorGreymon was the only one with a sudden shift, but I can fully respect Reisz's concern about damaging his voice, gotta know your limits. (Apparently Wittenberg fully took over Takuya's part for the film, I'm gonna have to go back and see if it's obvious enough to notice. Also, fun fact that I would not have realized if I hadn't stumbled upon it, he voiced literally all of the Trailmon. Helluva range!)

(Also still a little surprised at Crispin Freeman's range, mainly because the others didn't seem to have as drastic a change between forms, but I love it! My only complaint in that looking up more of his voicework, the rougher voice seems to be the one he uses more often, and if I had to pick between the two I really do prefer the softer voice. Yes that's biased because I had a crush as a kid, and I'm not apologizing)

I think the pacing is still better than people tend to give it credit for, I could see the Knights arc being a couple of episode shorter, but I still stand by my belief that it really was good and did a good job in doing callbacks and hammering it home that yes, the literal world is being deleted in chunks and that is terrifying. If anything, I felt the only real part that was an 'oh god hurry the fuck up already' drag was getting to the castle and fighting Cherubimon, but at least that was just a couple of episodes and it gave us not-Christopher Walken.

Overall? Yep, I'm reaffirming my position as a Frontier apologist. Is it fine art? No, but who the fuck expects a shonen series to be fine art?? Sometimes you just need a ragtag group of kids making friends and saving the world, with plenty of fun stupid hijinks in between.

[star-scripts]

Hoping to finally write again, so hello there! 💖

Made this post at 2am initially, in hopes that I'll be more inclined to write something sooner if I have this out there, even if no one responds.

About me:

My name: On this account feel free to call me Star/Scribe/Oh Most Sparse Writer When Are You Gonna Actually Post™. Friends coming over might call me by my other blog too so if you see that feel free to check that side of my work too.

Age: I'm an adult, early 20s is all you're getting for numbers though. 🤣 That does mean I may delve into 18+ works, but I'll sort out if I'll make another blog or cap the age on this one when we get there.

Pronouns: I go by she/her preferably? Not super opposed to anything else though I think?

Background: Lifelong art student, went for creative writing in a specialized HS, and now attending an Art College with dreams of becoming a concept artist in the future.

How I got into Writing: Parents let me watch LoTR as soon as I was old enough and they regret it everyday/j (it's the reason I got obsessed with fantasy, mythology, etc.)

Other obsessions: Also obsessed with Star Wars, so uh... Expect a bit of a range and a bit of whiplash every few months when my interests change. 😅 (Particularly Clone Troopers, Mandalorians, and the SWTOR era).

Additional little Fun Fact™: I've never broken a bone!

Everything else is under a read-more for ease and length! Please enjoy reading if you're interested!!

Edit: Here's the link to my current Progress List!

Current genres I write in:

Fantasy (from general, to niches like urban fantasy and Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy)

Sci-Fi

LOTS of romance, I'm a starved lil hopeless romantic so forewarning.

Probably some Historical Fiction in there eventually?

Current fandoms I write for:

The Hobbit/LoTR/The Silmarillion

Star Wars (SWTOR/Prequels/TCW/Mando/BoBF)

Dragon Age (All games)

Might write for Elder Scrolls? But likely more to fill the void for Mer-centric fics than any of the usual figures?

Hopefully I'll get to Mass Effect again, so I can write for that too!

Tropes I love/Trope Warning:

Modern [Person] In [World]

Love this trope and always have, the culture clash plus the tragedy of knowing the future of each person you come to love? The danger of knowing all their secrets? How does the protag fix the story with this? What do the Powers That Be do in order to damper this?

The REVERSAL of "Modern [Person] In [World]"!

Literally so good and there is NOTHING out there. Gotta come up with a tag for it so people might use it some day. Similar reasons, the culture clashes and the Tragedy Of Knowing ™, but put on its head as the character(s) try and navigate a world so foreign to them, but so mundane to us?

Opposites Attract

This may be more of a warning, but I'm also a fan of this particular trope. So, as a short woman, this tends to lead to a lot of tol/smol dynamics with men leaning on the taller side of it? Unlikeky to change outside of specific requests and also because so many characters I love are like... Literally nearing 7ft. so no one is ever much taller. 🤣

Inhuman/Human Couples

I love this stuff a bunch, but also loath how modern media continues to put feminine people as the "ethereal beauty" in these sorts of couples. Is it truly too much to want a very handsome elf/fae/alien man to find a human such as myself to be attractive? Gonna probably write a bunch for this because I can't throttle the modern movie/TV industry.

Liminal Spaces

I grew up moving a LOT, so I grew very well aquatinted with the Target Parking At 2am feel, and the Driving Through Corn Through The Night vibe. Hopefully I'll be able to bring that original writing back to get to work with this again! In fact, there's a short story of mine I did for HS that I'd love to fix up to put here that deals with this.

"Slightly To The Left"

Similar to Liminal Spaces, though this trope more applies to objects, animals, and people. Waking up to your phone on your nightstand, but it's the wrong shade, and the ringtone sounds fuzzy. You want to believe that the person you met at the edge of your camp site is normal, human—but their eyes dont shine, their smiles never show teeth, and why does their voice sound like two at once?

Other tropes, and other info, to be added eventually as I realize or run into them!

[nyaoi-warrior]

feel free to talk about your little guys!💖 but also about the fic part. I suck with words so I was always like., I have so many ideas but I can't write the fic that I want because that's just how it is. But after billion years I finally sat down and started one and yeah it's bad and it's frustrating that i cant put the vibes into appropriate words BUT!! It doesn't have to be good! I'm putting my little guy into situations! Don't let your dreams be dreams (or, ig nevermind all this if the reason is time constraints or something lmaoo) ((damn I also just realized that maybe you are a writer but are only experiencing writers block this is embarrassing um whatever take this as an encouragement in some other way anyway hjdfhkdfgk))

Calling myself a writer is a strong word haha but yeah it's more of writer's block situation. I have a guy and list of situations I need to put him in but he just doesn't want to go there. Very rude of him honestly.

Also do not worry this was very sweet and great encouragement. I adore it a lot and will be holding it to my heart.

Anyway guys from my brain time.

So I picked randomly who I feel like talking about and it just so happened to be Moira, because I support women's rights and wrongs.

(Please excuse my very bad picture, this is the only one I have on my phone)

So Moira's an incredibly powerful witch. Her mother made a deal with a demon that she will have a child with him in exchange for becoming the most powerful witch alive, so naturally Moira inherited most of that power. Her mother also left her pretty much as soon as she could, since she was not interested in being a mother. And hey, the kid's 5 now and she can read amd talk, she'll figure it out on her own. And somehow she did.

Moira's father was also not very present, on the account of being a demon. Who is sealed in another realm. But despite that he can use magic or sometimes dreams to communicate with his daughter. She can also summon him to talk. She doesn't, because she in fact does not like him.

Moira's kind of just there. She's very into magic from the young age. As it was kind of the only thing she could do, and it has always felt very natural to her. She's mostly into potion making though. Something about mixing ingredients in a big cauldron is just so much fun. She has especialy very high affinity for all kinds of poisons.

She had to learn it all herself though. And as result she has experimented a lot. Mostly on herself, with later in life finding the joy of just trying new thing on other people. Usually without their permision. As result of her self-experimentation and search for knowledge she has build up near perfect immunity to all known poisons, but also lost a leg, with stories how never quite seeming to match up.

Her pursuit for power is, however, just driven by natural curiousity and her own entertainement. She doesn't care about anyone but herself, but seems to be very good at prettending otherwise. She travels the world and offers her goods and services to those who ask. Never taking money, as she has no use for it, but instead trading for what she needs or making a deal for a simple favour in the future. She's got your best interest in mind, of course. She's your friend after all. You can trust her. Also everything you have been offered in the past 5 minutes has been poisoned. Good luck!

[ramblingsofachristiannerd]

Ahh I love sending ask prompts!

For the writing ask game, as many as you’d like to answer: 1, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 23, 40, 51, 73.

and i love answering prompts, so i'll go with all of them XD thank you friend ily <3333

do you know how you want the story to end when you start, or are you just stumbling through the figurative wilderness hoping to find a road?

kind of both tbh XD for long fics, i usually have an ending in mind, but the middle...is stumbling through the figurative wilderness haha. i'll generally have a rough outline, but it's still a lot of filling in. i was about halfway through Crimson and Steel before i finally had an outline for each individual chapter, but i've had the ending planned from day one

7. tell us about the plot of the first fanfic you ever wrote

i literally don't even remember, it was so long ago haha. i've been writing since i was in seventh grade filling in my little cringe notebooks, and daydreaming scenarios in my head long before that XD i think the first time i put pen to paper was star wars fanfic? it might have just been an "anakin lives" scenario i think lol

9. in an ideal world where you’re already super successful and published, would you want to see a tv or movie adaptation of your work? why or why not?

Yes! my mind is super visually-oriented, so i usually write chapters like they're episodes in a tv series anyway. if Crimson and Steel were to be adapted somehow, i think i'd like it to be animated (and the format of it works better as a tv show)

11. what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

i learned a lot about the New York irrigation system writing the Lizard chapters of Crimson and Steel XD like where the city gets most of its water and stuff. and it depends; i don't want to make a glaring error, but if i'm getting too frustrated then i remind myself that i never fact check fanfics i read anyway, so most people probably don't care. if it stops being fun, that's when to stop

12. do you ever have trouble focusing on writing? how do you get around that? 

sometimes. in my view, unless you're a professional writer, you're not on a schedule and this should be fun, so don't force it. if i don't strain myself, i usually get around to thinking about my fic anyway haha

13. talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you.

i love hearing my readers' theories! it's always pleasantly surprising to hear what they think will happen, even if it's off, and i've even occasionally been inspired by them. i love when a reader will point something out that maybe even i missed

17. what is your favorite line you've ever written?

this one hasn't been published (but i do have a WIP with it), but i still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about it: "Never think you are worth any less than all I have to give you and everything I stand to lose."

23. how do you deal with writer's block?

don't sweat it. take care of your body and mind, primarily, and the ideas will start flowing again eventually. reading fic, even if it's not in the same fandom, can also spark an idea.

40. best piece of feedback you've ever gotten.

i get told my character interactions/dialogue are decent, so that's always nice. but someone told me my fic was a blessing, and i still think about that comment :')

51. share the synopsis of a story you're working on that you haven’t published yet

oohhh...i have so many WIPs lol but i'll share a little about the third part of the 'Here to Stay' trilogy since a lot of people have been asking me about it. it sees all the characters from across the universes reunited, but there's a cosmic threat (if you read the comics you might know who) that wants the power too. shenanigans ensue

73. how do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

kind of both? i visualize the scene like a movie in my head AS the words flow. it's hard to describe, i'm not that good of a writer haha

thank you again friend!

Send me more!

[c-is-for-circinate]

Like, is the gist "Real life pedophilia/incest/rape is bad, and stories saying these things are good are bad, but including these topics in a story isn't inherently bad, so the people being like 'hey, maybe Ao3 shouldn't have so much kiddie porn there's an entire category called "Underage"' are just overreacting and making things worse?" Because it feels like you're saying, "your negative reaction to this stuff is valid, but also you're annoying and prudish and bad and really you aren't valid."

So here’s the thing: it really does not sound like you're asking this question because you want my answer, it sounds like you want to be angry with me and have a fight. And fair enough! I'm not terribly interested in a fight, but apparently this is my day to dive into this topic as thoughtfully and honestly as I can be. Maybe I'll say something you haven't already heard from other people before. Maybe not! Only you, anonymous asker, know that.

To begin with, you got part of the gist right. Real life rape (including child abuse/child sexual abuse as well as incest) is bad. Stories about rape, about underage sex, and about incest, are stories.

They're stories. They're pixels on a screen. They're not real. Whether they claim that rape is good, or bad, or sexy, or melodramatic, or life-destroying, or a normal Tuesday afternoon. They're stories.

And having a negative reaction to them is valid. Stories can stir up powerful emotions in people. It is absolutely, 100%, fair and valid and even normal for there to be certain tropes, plot elements, events, and kinds of content that make you upset and that you never want to see in a story you read, ever. You don't have to want to read about sex. You don't have to want to read any of it. That doesn't make you bad.

There are tropes, plot elements, events, and kinds of content that upset me. There are stories I won't read. The same is true of literally everyone else I know. Even though I know the stories aren't real. Even though I know the things happening in them are happening to fictional characters, who do not exist, who I cannot protect and who also cannot be harmed because they're not real. Even then, I can be made sad and scared and upset and hurt by reading those stories. And that is okay and that is valid and I am not bad or wrong for being upset about the story I've read, and neither are you.

But that doesn't mean the story doesn't have value to somebody else. That doesn't mean the story isn't important to somebody else.

What I see most often coming from antis, possibly even including yourself, is an overwhelming desire to protect. They want to keep themselves and others--possibly people they know, possibly hypothetical people they may never meet--safe from being hurt by these stories. And that desire to protect, also, is normal. It's even admirable! The problem, though, the thing that does more harm than good, is when that desire to protect drives people to lash out against things that matter to other people.

There is a difference between actual rape and stories about rape. There is a difference between a story that could theoretically hurt somebody, someday (which is all stories, always), and a story that hurts you personally. And there is a difference between a story that hurts you personally, and a story that is inherently poisonous to everyone who touches it.

We know--absolutely, scientifically, incontrovertibly--that stories about rape do not make people rapists. Yes, even the stories where the rape is there to be sexy. Even stories where the person being raped is a child. Even then. Fiction is not the same thing as normalization; again, there are far smarter people who have written far more extensively on that topic than I, and next time I come across something that goes more into detail on this point I promise I will reblog it. If this really is the thing you're afraid of, I may not be the right person to convince you that this is an unfounded fear, but I know someone out there can elaborate on it.

(Unfounded, which is not the same thing as invalid. My mother's claustrophobia is unfounded; it flares up in many situations where there's no physical threat whatsoever, where she has plenty of space to move and air to breathe. It's still real. It still chokes her. It's still valid, she is not bad or broken to feel that way, and she still can't drive through certain tunnels. The fear is real. But the thing she's afraid of can't physically hurt her, and that is worth knowing in terms of how she deals with it.)

We know, absolutely, scientifically, and incontrovertibly, that stories about rape and many, many, many other things can hurt and even traumatize their readers. Even though the situation you're reacting to is not real and you receive no physical injury, you can still be hurt by it. The key word there, though, is readers. The fact that the horror genre is out there terrifying people who enjoy being terrified for fun does not damage me unless I do something stupid and try listening to the Magnus Archives again and end up tense and miserable and paranoid for the rest of the week. The fact that guacamole is apparently delicious to everybody else in the world does not hurt me unless I do something stupid and order the wrong thing at a restaurant, and end up itchy and miserable with a little trouble breathing for the rest of the night.

The fact that there are, yes, tens of thousands of fics on AO3 in which characters under the age of 18 have sex? It can't hurt you. Those fics do not hurt you by existing. They can only hurt you if you read them. They can only hurt anyone who reads them. That's why there is an 'Underage' tag--and it's worth noting, 'Underage' is a warning, not a category. Nobody wants you to get hurt reading the wrong fic, any more than the sushi chef wants my throat to swell up because I ordered something with avocado. Literally nobody wants that.

The flip side, of course, is that you hating each and every one of those fics individually and as a group doesn't actually hurt me, or anyone else who writes, reads, or enjoys them. By itself. You can hate anything you like, and fic writers can write anything they like, and it all comes out in the end, more or less. Except.

Except that reading fic is always, entirely, 100% opt-in, and online harassment isn't even opt-out. Some antis have a nasty habit of going after writers whose content they don't like; climbing into inboxes and comments sections, calling those writers nasty names, throwing around cruelties and aggression and insults. I know that's not the same thing as simply disliking a genre, or even passively disagreeing with its existence (although disliking a genre and disagreeing with its right to exist are also very different things). I know not all antis do that. I don't know you, anon, but based on the speed and aggressiveness of this response to my last post, I can't help but wonder if you would do that.

And that does hurt people. Just like it might hurt you if someone threw a bunch of content that makes you uncomfortable into your inbox. Including the harasser, actually--because getting into fights with strangers on the internet about things that make you angry, sad, defensive, and upset isn't good for anybody. Including both you and me.

Anyway, after yet another lengthy ramble, let's get the tl;dr response to your ask here: nobody is ever bad or wrong for disliking certain content in their stories, no matter what that content is. You and your emotions are valid. The "overreacting and making things worse" part isn't about what you feel, but what you do with it. Constantly engaging with places where the thing that upsets you will probably show up, even to argue and try to fight it, will make things worse in the sense that now you're spending way more time thinking about this thing that makes you upset and angry, thereby leaving you more upset and angry. Getting together with a bunch of your upset, angry friends to make your feelings everybody else's problem? Makes fandom a more toxic place for everyone else involved.

Don't read stuff that's going to hurt you. Don't make other people read stuff that's going to hurt them. That's the whole thing, really.

[potteresque-ire]

Commentary ~ Little Red Little Green Episode 18, “Fruits & Found Family”

Link to original post in Chinese, posted 2021/05/23. Link to official English translation.

(Disclaimer / Notes + Commentary under the cut!) (TW: possible eating disorder)

Disclaimer / Notes:

While the posts by Little Red Little Green (LRLG) are among my most favourite candies, I’d like to remind everyone that they are fake rumours, and should be read and enjoyed as such. ie, all CPN below!

The English translation linked above is the only one authorised by the Fake Rumour House; therefore, please treat all content below as a very casual, very *unofficial* convo between fellow turtle friends! ❤️💛💚

With Chinese being a highly region-specific language, my reactions to it is necessarily filtered through my background, which is, admittedly, somewhat removed from Gg’s, Dd’s and LRLG’s. However, it is not uncommon for even c-turtles (and several times, LRLG themselves) to be lost with what they read / heard due to regional differences ~ which reflects the reality of communicating in the Sinosphere. In fact, the regionality of the dialects used by different “characters” in LRLG’s dialogues is among the most critical elements that make these posts so authentic-sounding, and so difficult to replicate. A fun activity of following LRLG is to watch c-turtles patch their regional knowledge together, from local slangs to food choices, to make sense of what’s going on. 

Okay, with that all said *phew* ... onto the commentary! “p. X” refers to the panel number in the official English translation (there are 7 total in the Twitter post). 

p1. “Fairy”

Likely referring to the similarity between Gg’s current role for 玉骨遥 (The Longest Promise) and LWJ. Dd was praising Gg for being “fairy-like”; Chinese “fairies” (仙) have a certain style especially in visual media, similar to ... LWJ’s ~ otherworldly, white robes that billow in the wind, peaceful to the point of distant, scholarly, delicate. In between the lines, Gg likely said he was simply playing LWJ (hence, the ”act another me” in the translation), which Dd protested... and said Gg was simply playing himself. Whether that means DD IS NOT LWJ!!!!! 😡😡😡 or something else, we’ll know what we get to watch the show!

p1-p2. “Heat”

Yes about the Chang’e 嫦娥 reference!! Despite Houyi 后羿 shooting down 9/10 suns and saving the day, his wife is, indeed, more famous (and therefore the star, the more powerful one), because she’s frequently featured in Mid-Autumn festival art, along with her pet rabbit 玉兔 (”Jade Rabbit”),:

(Chang’e with her bunny, traditional Chinese painting. Source.)

Below is Gg’s rendition of Chang’e / Jade Bunny pair ~ Chang’e being the superman in the drawing while Jade Bunny is crouching on the planet!! 

Guess of the missing convo from Gg’s side: Gg had wanted to bring something to Hengdian (where the filming of The Longest Promise was taking place) to cool himself down, and Dd had said it wasn’t necessarily. Hence Dd’s “My bad my bad” and the promise to send that something to Gg.

The loveliest line in this segment for me—and for many c-turtles— is the one about white hair. Turning grey a common, but very old-fashioned way of expressing worry and poor Dd, who hasn’t even turned 24, is claiming he was turning white because he got so worried every time Gg complained about the heat (Aww). 

Turning grey with worry isn’t limited to romantic situations — it may happen to doting parents with wayward children, for example, or to ancient patriots over their crumbling kingdom. However, it’s also one of the more (very!) dramatic ways to communicate tragic love in Chinese fiction before Western influence allows “love”, as a term / word / character, to be used explicitly in writing romance. 

Here’s a little example, a little diversion that may be of interest. Those who are familiar with the Wuxia classic Return of the Condor Heroes 神雕俠侶 by Jin Yong 金庸, whether it’s the book or its numerous visual adaptations, may remember how the hero, Yang Guo 楊過, went white at his temples overnight after his Shifu and lover, Xiao Long Nv (小龍女), didn’t show up at the cliff at the end of his 16-year wait for her.  

Set photo from a TV adaption of Return of the Condor Heroes, 1995. Turtles may find the actress playing the perenially white-wearing, calm-to-the point-of-aloof Xiao Long Nv, Carmen Li 李若彤, familiar ~ she also played Lan Yi in The Untamed. 

The 16-year wait, the invitation to Carmen to play Lan Zhan’s ancestor (when the two shared similarities in aesthetics and personality), were two of the three references from Return of the Condor Heroes I picked up from The Untamed (the last one was more specific—WWX mentioned Yang Guo’s master 獨孤求敗). This tribute is unconfirmed, but MXTX did say before that Jin Yong’s works were her inspiration. I also read a (small) discussion on whether LWJ’s hair carried a few pieces of white in the final episode, or if the lighter strands in it were a trick of the sunlight. (Here’s a screenshot of the approximate place to look!!) 

While I lean towards the latter (the sunlight), turning white with worry, with love, is a tradition in Chinese storytelling. Here’s a little something I’ve noticed too, on this note ~ both in the actual interviews and in these fake rumours, Dd’s word choices, the way he conveys emotions are sometimes surprisingly traditional. It can be because of his background (which would require a study of how Luo Yang people and Koreans talk); it can be because the traditional way of talking allows for fewer words to be said, fewer things to have to be explicitly explained (example: LWJ), but the effect is that Dd has supplied the most romantic lines in LRLG’s posts because of that ~ romantic because it harks back to the rhythm, the themes of old poetry, of ancient stories that, as were true everywhere in the world, were about love. 

Okay, back to the rumour (and hoping Dd won’t look like Bad Wig Yang Guo in a few more summers!) ....

The line after the one about white hair ... the way I understand the original Chinese sentence is “Heat is The Reason”: ie, anything Dd wants Gg to do and Gg disagrees, Gg would use heat as The Reason (R) to not do it. This anything may be eating, for example, which also has a strong possibility as conventional Chinese wisdom says that heat causes people to lose appetite. Dd’s worry would therefore be: Gg refusing to eat because he claims it’s too hot to do so.

“Corny joke” ~ the Chinese for this is, literally, “cold 冷 joke 笑話”, which becomes a pun as the gzry (team members)’s joke was about the (cold) winter and black hair. So... Dd threw a corny joke to combat a corny joke :D .

p3. “Apple”

The first half I also had to rely on c-turtles to help me interpret what it meant! Regional dialects aside, LRLG has captured dls’s very quick wit, the way his ideas freely hop from one concept to the next and this hopping carries traditional + popular cultural references that I know only a fraction of, not being a local after all. 

I’ve read an additional interpretation of this segment: “big fruit” 大果兒 (as in dls: “Those are all big fruits, all big fruits”) is a Northern Chinese, traditional slang for women—dls might have connected that with the previous line in the convo about being Guowang, as explained in the translation, and “big and juicy” + “touch to feel” being suggestive phrases. Then, given the rare usage of the big fruit = women slang, dls expressed surprise that Dd understood what he meant, went on to say he expected Gg to know it (implying Gg could’ve taught Dd the meaning) ... 

Which led to the entertaining part of this segment. Dd was like “You guys (= Gg + dls) talked?” Dls appeared to have thought of the scenario customarily inviting this question (scenario: someone on the verge of catching their spouse cheating) and began playacting that scenario, started to stammer ... as if he had just been got caught trying to chat up someone’s spouse  ~  ”I-I-I....how to say it ...”. Dd caught on dls’s playacting and went along, continued with the “accusation”: “You’re stammering”. Dls then noted that Dd’s accusation was scary and Dd smiled, ending the playact ~ so, ah, readers, never mess with Dd’s spouse!! Dd gets scary!! 

(BTW: ”nijia na kouzi” 你家那口子 was explained in the translation for a reason ~ It’s a warm, friendly term for a dear friend’s spouse. 😊)

p4. Lychees

Lychees. Has everyone tried them? It’s important not to over-eat them though...

In which the “Feeding Gg” saga continues! This segment is one of those that are wonderful for fic writers who wish to capture Gg and Dd in words. Gg, like many brought up in traditional families, has trouble saying “no” outright, which is often considered rude. As such, he resorted to delay tactics, something he had also done with the fried noodles in The Makeup Room BTS. 

In the BTS, his delay tactics had been to argue that Dd hadn’t eaten his box of noodles and therefore, he couldn’t start (~2:35 mark)—as proper manners indeed dictated. In this dialogue, his delay tactics was to say he’d eat the lychees later, that the lychees would make him too full for the proper meal (rice). 

A cute thing about this convo is that rather than pouting and grumbling his only being LWJ’s replacement (as he had hilariously done in the BTS), Dd had, apparently over the last three years, become an expert on countering such delay tactics. He peeled the lychees, which not only removed a major obstacle for eating, but also set a timer as peeled lychees get dry quickly (and Gg, despite being a picky eater, didn’t seem to like to waste food). He said the fruit could make appetiser. He got the help of their team members, who assured Gg that two lychees would be all right.

Gg’s response to the assurance... takes a little time to explain. 

The original Chinese line for “Great, great, you’re so awesome” was 絕了絕了你們絕了。 “絕了”, a popular phrase used by Chinese netizens, was repeated three times.

絕, literally, means the extreme, the absolute, the end. 絕了 means pretty much the same ~ a thing that is 絕了 is standing en pointe at the edge of the cliff that is The Absolute End of a spectrum. It is the Ultimate. It can't be surpassed. It’s unbeatable. 

絕了 is usually used in a positive sense, as in the English translation, with the positive being implied. If I say the LWJ photo above is 絕了, for example, I don’t need to specify that the extreme in 絕 stands on the good end. It’s understood given the audience of this post are mostly turtles (HELLO *waves*). We’re all heart-eyes here. We agree, without saying, that this photo is The Top, The Pinnacle; it can’t be better. 絕了 is higher praise than Excellent; it’s so good that there are no adjectives for it. Its own presence defines How Good It Is. 

But 絕了 doesn’t have to be positive. If my audience is Su She ... he’s likely to take the same “This LWJ photo is 絕了” to mean the Mariana Trench kind of Absolute—the bottom of the bottom, the Unbeatable, Adjective-Defying Worst. 

絕了 allows for that understanding too.

In this scenario, I interpret Gg’s 絕了 as taking the meaning of both extremes (which make it a fantastic phrase choice!): that Gg thought Dd and the team members were being both the Absolute Best (for thinking of Gg, caring for him) AND the Absolute Worst (for going against his wish to not eat!) Gg’s 絕了 also signals defeat; if Dd and his team members were The Absolute ... Whatever, then poor Gg had no choice but to yield to their wishes. I can already imagine his “I can’t believe I lose this way” Look (see: every rock-paper-scissors he lost, which was ... pretty much all of them), mixed with, perhaps, a healthy amount of bunny tooth warning (how dare Dd et al banded up against him)...

Those bunny teeth had to be taken care of, right? And so Dd went on to say lychees being good omen that ensure things would go smoothly for the eater... targeting Gg’s being a, as c-turtles call it, 小迷信 (literally, “Little Superstitious”, a young + adorable + superstitious person). Dd said that to help Gg justify the choice to eat, to make Gg feel better about his defeat. 

(Of note: I had actually never heard of lychees being associated with good luck before, and a quick search online also didn’t yield any result. This could be a relatively rare association Google failed to catch ... or something Dd made up on the fly to make Gg happy.) 

(Lychees have, however, been associated with romance. If Emperor’s Smile 天子笑 was The Love Drink in The Untamed, then what is Concubine’s Smile 妃子笑? Answer: it’s the RL name of a type of lychees, lychees being the fruit very much adored by Yang Yuhuan 楊玉環, the consort of the Emperor Xuanzong (685-762 BCE) of the Tang Dynasty and one of the four most beautiful woman in Chinese history. Since lychees had only been grown in southern China, the emperor had had the fruit couriered, in express mode involving many horses, to the palace up north to please his favourite wife. Lychees had become a symbol of love from that historical tale.)

Did Gg get Dd’s message then, the love and care packaged in those peeled, sweet fruit awaiting his bite? Yes, but not without a little more fight! “Eat eat eat, (I’ll eat) until you go bankrupt” is a literal translation of his final line. Tonally, I can see the following as being an alternative translation: 

“Fine fine fine. I’ll eat, it’s not like I can bankrupt you by eating anyway!”

If it sounded a little sulky, that’s because it did ... a little sulky AND fiery. As expected from our favourite Chongqing Big Pepper 😂😂😂 (Poor Gg).

Dd smiled at that, needless to say. He won!!! He got Gg to eat!! The world shall rejoice!! 

p5. “Showtime”

There’s a show coming up for Dd (the YH concert maybe?), and Gg offered suggestions. 

The sweet point of this segment is about half-way down the conversation, in the piece of paper 📄 Gg gave to Dd (after “This is for you.”). Dd took the paper, noted the many words on it, and started saying 我把我整個靈魂, translated as “I bring my entire soul”.

c-Turtles have, based on these words, hypothesised that Dd was about to read out a quote that Gg had written on the paper, with the list of items Gg thought Dd should take, before Gg stopped him with a call of his name (“WYB”). The quote was included on the translation (”I give you my entire soul...only, a little good, love you.”) I have also talked about the same quote, in more detail, here.

I’m equally stumped on the final line of this segment. (Sorry!!)

p6. “Found Family”

It’s a heartwarming segment. While LRLG had previously noted that the TTXS bros had communicated with Gg, this segment made clear that they care for him like they do for Dd ~ as family.

* dls mailed Gg a lot of fruit for sharing with the film crew. “Family member needs to be impressive” is a rough translation, but this line does defy simple translation because 排面 a highly cultural concept that has much to do with the equally complex, Chinese concept of face (which this article explains... somewhat adequately). The message to take home is that dls cared enough about Gg that he wanted to make sure Gg wouldn’t lose face in front of the film crew; that, by having enough gifts (fruits) for everyone, Gg wouldn’t be viewed as cheap or inadequate or stingy, or whatever adjective that wouldn’t befit his top idol status. Because dls saw Gg as a member of his family. 

* The prescription from hg had been mentioned in a previous LRLG rumour. 方子 is a Chinese medicine prescription, which, unlike Western formulations, is individualised both to the discomfort / ailment and to the “body constitution” of the person who'll take it, the latter deciding the kind of ailments the person is susceptible to, and which ingredients are expected to be more effective. Chinese medicine also places a strong emphasises on long-term conditioning, whether it’s for recovery from a certain condition or for general good health. A good 方子 is therefore a far more complex and personal thing than, say, a scribble of “paracetamol” / “acetaminophen” on a piece of paper. :D

* fg’s gift for Gg (xx) is something for the waist. A brace support, maybe? For example?

My favourite line in this segment is when hg asked what will Gg and Dd do when they reach hg’s age. Given that the last two items (the prescription and xx) were health-related, I interpreted it as hg worrying about Gg and Dd’s health when they grow old... with all the health problems they already have. It’s the kind of thing a worried parent say to their children ~ my mom has said the same thing to me as well. 😢

p6. “The Cat Paw”

Not quite sure what’s happening here ... not sure what the cat paw is. (Sorry!!) But that é in the translation is Dd’s signature laugh (collection here), which is written as 鵝 (”Goose”) in Chinese 😂.

p7. “The Cat Toy”

Dd appeared to be shopping for a cat’s toy (something that can “hook the cat” in the translation, such that the cat can entertain itself and not rely on human companionship as much). Gg had already bought the toy though and sounded quite proud of it, told Dd to return the toy. The implied cat was, of course, Nut (堅果 Jianguo)... which had been repeatedly referred to in LRLG’s posts as Gg’s daughter.

p7. “Cool vs Cute”

Gg is often viewed as cute, and Dd as cool. Did Dd dislike Gg taking cute pictures for public consumption? Were they scheming an exchange of image? :D

And that’s it for this issue! Ooh, this took unexpectedly long ... I apologise for the ridiculous delay between the original post and this commentary! 

(I wrote half of it, then RL struck and I forgot about it.) (I’m hopeless.) (I need a 方子 for poor memory!!)

[kakairu-rocks]

We are excited to introduce our next shining star for the Creator Spotlight... @l1ldraws​!

This is a member’s only activity where we reach out to one of the talented people in our community each month to find out all about them and their kakairu creations, and then show them off to the world!

We hope you enjoy learning about Rad & their creations as much as we did. Please give them some love ❤️  

Pronouns: They/Them

Type of Creator: Artist

Where to find them:

Most active, fandom tumblr

Spooky art tumblr

Read the exciting interview below the cut, or on the forum!

If you would like a chance to be in the spotlight too, the only thing you have to do is be a member of the kakairu rocks forum, and be a creator; and we will contact you, ourselves!

1. How long have you been creating KakaIru fanworks?

I’ve been lurking in the Naruto fandom for about a decade at this point but only really started contributing fanart in 2020. Like many people I suddenly had a lot of free time and figured it was time to start drawing my silly little pictures.

2. What are you working on right now?

I’m in the middle of completing art for multiple naruto events and have a few wips that are staring me down. I also plan on creating more pieces featuring Iruka in some fun outfits!

3. What is your favourite trope to create for?

I personally describe it as idiots to lovers as I love anything that’s generally silly. If you have silly ideas please tell me I love to hear them.

4. Which of your creations is your favourite, and why?

My most recent recollection is this piece. Initially I had no plan. I was just doing some sketching to warm-up and ended up really liking the pose and it went from there. I am especially fond of how the colors came out as I was going for something more vibrant!

5. Do you have any WIPs you’re excited about?

I have a few. The one I can talk about is an old sketch page featuring Iruka featuring a flowy outfit I am fond of. Unfortunately I am cursed to be good at making pictures but not describing them.

6. Do you have any original characters? If so, tell us about them!

I’m working on a little elemental/angel person at the moment. But they’re fresh so there’s not much to say but stay tuned though.

7. What was your hardest piece to create, and why?

I love comics but they are very difficult for me to do so this little three panel featuring Iruka and Yamato is very simple but I’m still glad I powered through.

8. Do you have any favourite scenes from something you’ve created?

I did some collabs for KakaIru Big Bang and KakaIru Reverse Bang(https://archiveofourown.org/works/40075785 & https://archiveofourown.org/works/40030071) and it was fun working with writers to visualize a scene. Little ole me contributing! Wild! Also I highly suggest checking out the fics they’re great

9. Where does your inspiration come from?

I am haunted by images. But in (some) seriousness I am inspired by 90s and 2000s fashion as well as anything that I would describe as a fun outfit. I keep a folder of inspiration fashion on my phone and reference that whenever I work on a piece. I am also a fan of just putting these characters in generally silly scenarios. Give me the jokes! The laughs!

10. Which of your creations is the most meaningful to you, and why?

I really love my RBB and BB pieces so much and it’s due to the fact that they were collab pieces. I really do love working with other people and bouncing ideas back and forth. It’s what makes working on the piece so much fun!

[calltomuster]

(More) Star Wars Fic Recs

[first fic rec list]

Hello everyone, hope you've been having a lovely week! Here's another list of some fics I've really enjoyed reading or rereading recently. I try to have a mix of things I don't think got enough love, fics from a while ago that deserve to be reread, stuff from writers on Tumblr, and of course, just stuff I think is great.

atmosphere level by softredscrunchie (gen, one-shot, 1k words, Obi-Wan & Satine) Obi-Wan's hurt and sick and annoyed so Satine decides to distract him by arguing passionately that Mandalore is, in fact, flat. Obi-Wan, being the nerd he is, gets more and more wound up as she refuses to back down. This fic is one of the funniest things I've read in a long while, highly recommend if you're having a bad day.

a comedy in four acts by jesuisdeux (gen, one-shot, 4k words, Obi-Wan & Dooku & Yoda) Obi-Wan and Dooku both time-travel from the point of their deaths way back to when Obi-Wan was a young Padawan. Ft. Classic Dooku glowering at a 13 year-old, caring and empathetic Yoda, and Obi-Wan flat out telling a very confused Qui-Gon that he's gonna kill Dooku.

the day begins with burning by @kototyph (gen, one-shot, 6.3k words, Obi-Wan & Anakin) This fic takes place in a world where the Jedi Order finds out about the Tusken massacre and puts Anakin on trial (internally). We start off right as the Council is delivering their verdict, and it's a roller coaster of emotions from start to finish. I like it because it does not shy away from the fact that Anakin murdered a bunch of people and there really need to be consequences for that, but also isn't just Anakin bashing. The relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan really shines through here.

The Ghosts of Memory by @pandora15 (gen, one-shot, 2.1k words, Obi-Wan & Anakin & Ahsoka) Obi-Wan and Anakin are invited back to Naboo for the ten year anniversary of the battle. I mean, that sounds relatively benign but OOF. So many feelings. So many thoughts of what could have been. Go read this fic!

Anamorphosis by avocadomoon (Obi-Wan/Padmé, one-shot, 33.5k words) Obi-Wan and (a slightly older) Padmé keep in touch after the events on Naboo and keep their eventual marriage out of the public eye. Qui-Gon lives, but the Council still doesn't accept Anakin for training so he and Shmi are taken in by a wonderful benefactor -- Sheev Palpatine. Nothing can go wrong there, right? This is an absolutely fascinating re-imagining of the prequels era. I'm so sad it's only a one-shot, because there's so much to explore here.

on sith holocrons and misunderstandings by billowypants (gen, one-shot, 7.2k words, Obi-Wan & Anakin) As the summary says, "de-aged!Obi-Wan has the same Force bonds as adult Obi-Wan, and he does not react well." Bit of an understatement, that. This fic really makes me feel bad for both Obi-Wan and Anakin. Wrap them up in blankets and give them hugs, please.

In Control by @kckenobi (gen, one-shot, 3.5k words, Obi-Wan & Anakin) I don't normally seek out fics with young Anakin, but I love KCKenobi's stuff so I was like "I'm game" and that was most definitely not a mistake. What a cute fic this is! The basic premise is that Anakin is getting his license to drive/fly a speeder and poor Obi-Wan is dragged along for the ride, literally. Highly recommend.

always gold by @happygiraffe (gen, 4/4 chapters, 10k words, Obi-Wan & Anakin) Obi-Wan hasn't been Master to Anakin for that long before he finds out his cancer is back. Oh man. Let me tell you, I don't cry easily. Really, I don't. But the most recent time I read this fic, I had to set my phone down at the end and ugly-sob for literally ten minutes before I could properly compose myself. It affected me that much. This fic showed me the power of words. My only hope is that one day I will be able to accomplish what @happygiraffe has with this fic!

fill pages with scribbled ink by magneticwave (Obi-Wan/Padmé, one-shot, 9.8k words) If I haven't talked about this fic already on here (and I might have?) then I have committed a crime. It's another Obi-Wan/Padmé fic, which is a ship I've never had a problem with but don't normally seek out, but the ones on this list are so, so good. This fic is told entirely through comm messages, and it's such a brilliant way to tell this story. I cheered the whole way through.

having loved a little while by @giggles-and-freckles (Padmé/Anakin, 1.5k words, Padmé & Ahsoka, Ahsoka & Anakin) Okay genuinely I had a hard time deciding between the four(?) fics @giggles-and-freckles wrote for the Chaos Company Exchange because they all brought me such joy, but this one stands out. Padmé is teaching Ahsoka how to cook in her apartment and they're having a really lovely moment when Anakin bursts in and then has to try and explain his unexpected presence to Ahsoka. This story had me going "awww!" in the beginning and then dying of laughter by the end. So much fun, seriously. I laughed out loud multiple times.

If you like any of these fics, please consider reblogging so they can get more exposure! And if you noticed I missed someone's Tumblr account, or linked the wrong one, please let me know!