#another issue i'm having is that i don't think i can't write anything else involving h/w that i or others haven't said before

[radix-pedis-diaboli]

I've been writing the new chapter of Memento Mori, which now sits comfortably at 10k words, and while i think it had great potential, I can't say I'm completely satisfied with how the entire story has turned out. I think it has a very weak structure and that Holmes and Watson's relationship could have been developed further by expanding the investigation side of things a bit more. I've been thinking about going back over it once i'm done with it for good to polish it up and improve those weak points as best as i can.

[howlingday]

jaune is spiderman au) grandpa arc meets one of jaune's enemies, bullseye while on a date with grandma arc. grandpa arc: "what's with the get up pal? this a stick up or are ya just ugly?" grandpa arc: go ahead take my wallet chief ozpin hasn't paid me since my run in with mayor need, or as I like to call him..." granpa arc: **throws a rock at the villains head** "CHUCK!" **pulls out 500 magnum revolver** grandpa arc: "thanks for the cross hair looks both of us are getting blown tonight!" BLAM BLAM BLAM grandpa arc: "common dear I need a drink" **walks away with grandma arc** meanwhile with jaune jaune: "why the hell don't any of my villains stick around?"

Chapter 2 - Lethal Protection

Ren walked into the dorm to find newspapers spread all over the floor. Jaune lifted one, bringing it closer, before setting it down to write in his notebook nearby. He gave a hum before turning to another newspaper and repeating the process.

"I hope this isn't for an assignment."

"No, more of a... personal project." Jaune didn't look up, though his expression did show that Ren had broken his focus. "Snipe Hunt died this morning. Gunshot."

"Which one was he again?"

"Bullseye." Jaune answered quickly. "Was gonna assassinate the headmaster but I managed to stop him."

"By being late to Pyrrha's award ceremony."

"I sAID..." Jaune's voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "I said I was sorry, and she forgave me."

"She forgives everyone, Jaune." Ren shook his head. "But instead of giving you a lecture on being a good friend, I have to ask; why are you so interested in Bullseye's death if he was shot? Last I checked, he wasn't exactly the most popular guy in town."

"No, he wasn't." Jaune lifted another page. "But the fact that the news keeps calling it a murder makes me feel uncomfortable."

"Maybe we could call Lisa Lavender and ask her call it something else instead."

"I'm serious, Ren." Jaune set the pages down and gave his roommate a serious look. "Snipe was a killer. He was a bad guy, and that's something I've figured out BEFORE he tried to kill me. But if someone is going around, killing bad guys without the police or any huntsmen or huntresses involved, then it just means there's one more killer out there that I have to stop."

Ren was quiet for a moment. He'd been with Jaune in this vigilante business since catching him sneaking into the room late one night. Come next morning, he and Jaune agreed to keep quiet on both accounts, Ren about his criminal roommate and Jaune whenever he's sneaking back in for the night. Ever since, Ren had let Jaune go about his business as a crime-fighter. It was a very simple "quiet and neutral" agreement.

However, the way Jaune was speaking now was unlike anything Ren had seen before from him. Normally meek and mild, letting Cardin or Yang or even Nora pick on him while either sighing or laughing the issue off. You could step on his shoe and the worst he'd do is ask you to please get off. Here, though, Jaune had a look in his eyes that said, 'I'm doing this and you can't stop me'. Ren was actually impressed.

"Jaune?" The uncostumed hero looked to him. "What can I do to help?"

--------------------------------------------------

"Are you okay, honey?"

"Mm."

"I know you were only protecting Jaune. Your heart was in the right place."

"Mhm."

"Do you... Do you need anything?"

"...Need to talk to Jaune."

--------------------------------------------------

"So, what's the plan?" Nora chirped into Pyrrha's ear. "Break into the police station? Rough up some witnesses? Ooh~! Maybe send a message to all the goons to come forward~?"

Pyrrha tapped her earpiece. "I was thinking something less dramatic."

Jumping from the roof, she hopped from wall to windowsill to fire escape to dumpster until she landed on the ground. The same ground where the costumed criminal, "Bullseye," was murdered. Not two weeks ago, the Huntsman Spider had managed to thwart his attempt to murder her headmaster, and now he was dead by something so... simple. She scanned the crime-scene, noting where the police had left their markers for notable evidence locations.

She looked over to see Nora was still distracting the police officers by asking inane questions. Things of a range from 'How you become a police officer' to 'What if you break a law in another city and flee to Vale' nature. Pyrrha had to work fast if she wanted to avoid being caught, getting them both in trouble for different, yet connected reasons.

Pyrrha noted the chalk outline with the legs pointing to the entrance of the alley, meaning the assassin was either facing his opponent or was shot in the back while fleeing. The police reports on the news said that three gunshots were heard at the time of the murder. Loud gunshots, meaning it had to be a large gun. Closing her eyes, she twitched her fingers for her semblance to pick up anything.

Dumpsters. Fire escape. A few small things like paperclips and bolts, but nothing like a bullet. She frowned. Either the police already had the shells, which was possible, or whatever bullets were used didn't expel shells, which wouldn't make sense since only huntsmen were allowed to have weapons like that. This was a murder, though, so...

"Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Officers! I'll be sure to buy you a DONUT for your troubles~!" Pyrrha flinched. It was time to go. Carefully moving to the shadows where she could more easily escape, Pyrrha began her climb to the rooftops.

"So, how did it go?" Nora asked in Pyrrha's ear.

"Not good." Pyrrha replied. "Being a vigilante is a lot harder than it looks."

"Then maybe you should give up." Pyrrha whirled around and swung at the dark-cloaked figure behind her. Her attack was blocked, but that wouldn't stop her. She swung her other fist in, catching the thugs in their armored sided, making them grunt and let go. Pyrrha kept her fists up, only held back by the figure holding up their hand. "I'm not here to fight you."

"Pyrrha? Pyrrha, what's going on?"

Pyrrha thought for a moment about how best to respond. She could tell Nora that she was under attack right now, making the two jump into combative states and potentially make things worse. Otherwise...

"I tripped." Pyrrha said into her earpiece. The figure across from her rubbed their side where they were punched.

"Seriously?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'll meet you at rendezvous point."

"The what?"

"The place we're meeting up."

"Alright," Nora said, "I'm getting cocoa!"

"Thank you for not getting her involved." The figure said.

"I can easily change that with a phone call, now talk." Pyrrha glared through her goggles. Could she beat this opponent? The punch Pyrrha landed earlier told her yes, but she preferred to err on the side of caution when she could. "Who are you?"

"I'm... Black." The figure said. "I'm a vigilante."

"Why are you here?"

"To stop you from being one."

"What?"

"This isn't a game..." The air was left open as an introduction, which Pyrrha gladly gave with her fists to her hips.

"I'm the Red Huntress!"

"Right... The Red... Huntress..." It was clear Black didn't care for the simple name Pyrrha gave herself. "This isn't a game. People can get hurt out here. People DO get hurt out here."

"If it's so dangerous, then why are you doing it?" Pyrrha asked.

"Because I need to." Black said. "The White Fang are up to something in this city, and I need to be the one to stop it."

"Just you?" Pyrrha asked. "Seems a bit selfish, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you, and you are literally wearing just goggles and a cape." Black said with a groan. By contrast, the dark-cloaked figure was wearing bulletproof... everything over a black bodysuit. If Pyrrha didn't know any better, she'd assume Black was a special operations member separated from their team. They gave a sigh. "Look... What will it take for you to go home?"

Pyrrha thought for a moment. "What can you tell me about the murder that happened this morning?"

-------------------------------------------------

"Hey, Grandpa!"

"Hey, little hunter!" Jaune's grandfather chuckled. Since Jaune left for Beacon, this had become his go-to greeting for him. "How's the high life with your fancy edu-macation?"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Not bad." Jaune said. "How's the retired life?"

"Slow and boring." He groaned. "And, uh, what about..."

"I'm not alone, Grandpa, but..." Jaune didn't start this vigilante thing alone. He'd gotten the armor for the costume from his grandfather taking the old family shield and getting it cut down into smaller pieces to be sewn onto cloth. With it, Jaune looked like a superhero, someone who could do more good outside the law than he could do in. Grandpa, a retired huntsman and police officer, had friends on the force still who could help him out now and again with information. "I've got a friend wanting to help me."

"A friend, huh?"

"Hello, sir." Ren greeted. "My name is Lie Ren."

"Ren, huh?" Grandpa made a tapping sound on his end. "And how'd you get roped into this, Ren?"

"I caught Jaune when he was sneaking back into our dorm."

"Ugh... I shoulda known... Jaune was never good at keeping quiet."

"He can keep quiet," Ren defended, earning a grin from Jaune, "but only after you tell him to." Jaune's smile fell.

"Ha! That's true!" Jaune's smile fell harder.

"Anyways," Jaune tried to steer the conversation, "I was calling because I needed your help with something."

"Of course you do. It's never to check up on your grandma and me. You gotta need something!" Ren gave a worried look to Jaune.

"Because when I call you any other time you just go, 'uh-huh' and ''mhm'!"

"Mhm..." Grandpa replied, giving a chuckle. "So, what can I help ya with?"

"It's about a murder that happened." Jaune asked. "I was wondering if you could help me out?"

"What have ya got so far?"

"Just a victim and a CoD."

"Uh-huh? And those are?"

"Snipe Hunt, aka Bullseye, killed by a gunshot. He's the one I told you about before, remember?" The line went quiet. "Grandpa?"

"Mhm."

"Are you okay, Mr. Arc?" Ren asked.

"I'm fine." He yawned. "It's just getting late for me."

"Oh, well, I'll let you get your rest then, Grandpa."

"No, no, I can still talk. Or at least give you some advice."

"Okay..." Jaune could feel his legs twitch with excitement as he waited for the advice.

"Some cases need more time to be looked into. Eventually, everything will figure itself out. That's what I learned on the force."

"...That's it? Just sit around and wait?"

"I said I could give you some advice. Never said it was good advice. Maybe if you look for the good in the bad, you might learn something?"

"Good in the bad..." Ren cupped his chin. "You said you learned this lesson on the force, then maybe the police would know more."

"Huh... They would, wouldn't they?" Jaune gave a smirk. "And there's that police understudy program floating around, too. Maybe I could find my way into the police records and figure out from there!"

"Maybe." Jaune couldn't see, but he could tell when his grandpa was smiling. "It's getting late. I'll tell grandma you said hi."

"See ya, Grandpa!"

"Goodbye, Mr. Arc, sir. It was nice meeting you."

"G'night, boys."

--------------------------------------------------

Jack Arc hung up the phone. His smile fade and he let out a sigh. Looking by it, he saw the murder weapon seated on the other side. He shook his head, picking it up in his large, calloused hands. The cold metal helped him think.

"It's heavier today." His hand lowered. "So heavy."

[clarabowmp3]

hate brigade? I'm sorry but joe alwyn is directly responsible for a lot of the mental hurt that taylor will have to deal with for the rest of her life. I don't understand how people can hear sll, half the songs on midnights not to mention the anxiety ridden lover album and not see the emotional gaslighting joe was putting taylor through! Like that takes a toll and fans qnd the general public alike has a right to call that out. Now he's saying ish about tayvis when none of this concerns him?? Like if that's not manipulative, my name is Bennett cuz he's literally re inserting himself into the ex he resented' life. Unhinged if you ask me. So I don't think it's fair to characterize people as doing the most in this case. Alwyn could have just kept quiet and ate and ate food but now he deserves the dragging. Peace.

wowww wow okay so a couple of things:

we don't know much about their relationship. all we have is speculation based on taylor's lyrics, but we have to remember she is an unreliable narrator, so at best we can take them with a grain of salt. that is excluding how she might have modified certain things to present herself in a favourable light. I'm not saying she did or didn't, but it's a possibility. I say this because of how she's written music about her cheating. She very obviously focuses on how she was feeling and what led her to cheat, rather than her considerations of how it would affect her partner, which I think is yet another manifestation of how she perpetuates her victim narrative. I'm not saying all cheaters are villains, there's definitely some complex emotions involved, but she writes in such a way so as to encourage the reader to root for her by default.

This plays into her desire to be seen as the underdog or hero that everyone wants to support. She did this with Miss Americana too where she spun this whole standing up for women and other marginalised groups narrative, which I think contributed to being a swiftie becoming a trend, along with her whole 'relatable' schtick, fostering personal relationships etc.

There is nothing wrong with liking her music (I'm not gatekeeping), my issue is with people who treat becoming a swiftie as some girl scouts patch to earn by ripping into her 'enemies,' most popularly her exes. Naturally, he has been put through hell on social media since the break-up, up till ttpd dropped and the attention shifted to matty instead.

I agree that many of her love songs from as early as lover are anxiety-ridden, but I think that speaks more to her personality rather than his actions. Certain events may have transpired and he might have acted in a certain way which made her feel insecure etc but we have no reason to think he did it maliciously. What we do have is reason to think this is extremely unlikely. 2016 was rough man, no one knew if she would ever recover from #taylorswiftisoverparty, and yet he still stuck around. To me I think that shows he genuinely cared about her, something taylor has also thought.

Could you elaborate on the emotional gaslighting he has done, (and hence the "mental hurt" he has caused her) keeping in mind all those other reasons why her music is not an accurate source of info ^^?

getting more specific with sll, I don't see how he did anything wrong? I don't want to get too much into it but I know what it feels like to be burdened by someone else's mental health issues, and I do feel irritated by it at times, even though at the end of the day I know it's something they can't control. There's nothing wrong with creating art about difficult emotions, but I think she did not need to release it for the whole world to hear, knowing that they know who she is talking about. The song itself isn't too egregious, she just expresses her frustration with the whole situation ("you'll find someone," "I'm not the one" -> even she doesn't blame him for anything let alone the emotional gaslighting you're accusing him of anon what are you on 😭) the main problem is when people like you use it to villainise joe. like explain to me what part of it shows his gaslighting

For context here is what the whole deuxmoi thing is about, taken from this post:

You can clearly see that he was expressing an opinion on what he thought was a private enough setting. How could he have known he was going to be overheard and it was going to leak to the internet and eventually reach taylor (if any of this ie even true)? She is his ex of 6 years and it's only been a year since their breakup, I think it's fine that he's still somewhat emotionally occupied with her. We don't know if he obsesses about her every day and since the London travis thing is pretty recent, maybe it was just on his mind that day? Also why does he have to keep quiet? taylor can write whatever she wants in her songs, I think he is more than justified to have a conversation in public. We have no reason to think he meant for this to get out or to "[re-insert] himself into the ex he resented' life," as you put it.

to end off, anon I really think you should touch grass (and I'm not trying to be condescending here) because it feels like you're blowing up select details out of proportion to fit the narrative taylor has created through her music. We don't know how accurate that narrative is.

[teruthecreator]

(tw for racism, pedophilia, transphobia, child impregnation mention)

yeah idk why y'all read this

i was originally going to just post this and have some tags with my reasonings, but i realized that opens me up to too much bullshit from people who may think i'm being unnecessarily mean or whatever. so i'm going to explain exactly why the screenshots above are something i hold issue with.

firstly, and i just want to get this out of the way, this post is not intended to be a hit piece against the creator. i've seen how she reacts to any mild-mannered or slightly joking criticism, so i know this post is probably going to not land well. but it isn't my intention to make her mad or anything--she's writing a piece of content for the internet, which means she is just as open to criticism as any other poster. and what i intend to go into in this post is criticism. i'm allowed to do this, as that is the nature of the internet. people are allowed to critique whatever they please, and if you don't want critique then you shouldn't post. simple as!

i am also making no attempts to posit myself as better than the creator. i'm not doing this for clout or moral superiority or any of that dumb shit. i simply want to discuss something that's been bothering me for a bit, while simultaneously warning people who haven't read this yet (who may be sensitive to the issues above) to steer clear. if things like casual racism or transphobia aren't properly tagged, then readers who are affected by such things run a risk reading this! same goes with people who are triggered by lewd content involving minors. i wanna make sure people are getting a more critical scope of this work than what has been hoisted up by others.

okay, now that i've gotten that out of the way, i'm going to get into my points.

firstly, the subtle and not-so-subtle racism throughout this fic, especially in relation to serizawa. i'm white, so there is only so much i can speak on without trampling over the words of other fans of color, but some of this feels so blatant it's odd it hasn't been noted earlier. it's important to note before i go into it that serizawa is specifically written as half-black half-japanese for this fic, in case the screenshots don't make it abundantly clear. but there are just too many moments of casual racism in this fic. i'm not talking about the plot point of serizawa being bullied as a kid for being mixed; i'm not mixed, so i can't speak on the accuracy there but it is well-known that black people face a lot of racism in japan. i'm talking about how it seems everyone else has these racist moments that aren't acknowledged by serizawa or the narration as being bad.

reigen hypothesizing over serizawa's exact ethnic background is just strange. yes he's a fairly observant guy (he has to be, with his job), but there is no canonical evidence to suggest he would immediately jump to theorizing whether serizawa is american or not. and the way it's posed in that first quote--"he has darker skin and the kind of hair texture that would likely indicate African ancestry"--is not great. that's an extremely inappropriate way to bring up someone's race. i don't think most people would stare at someone and be like "hmmm well your nose shape and hair texture would suggest you're of this race". it's racial essentialization that is only slightly covered up by the excuse of "oh he tweets in english". there are some other smaller moments of questionable wording, like calling serizawa's afro "sloppy" when it isnt (which btw there's another issue with the creator only referring to an afro as a "fro". it's a hairstyle; you're allowed to use the actual name of it). even if reigen cuts his hair in canon, he never states it's because serizawa's afro looks sloppy. (also there's something to be said about the casual racism baked into making your employee cut his natural hairstyle for a job, as that is a very real issue many black people face when wearing their natural hair or even protective styles in the workplace.)

i'm especially bothered by toichiro's very casual racist remarks. toichiro in this fic is a general bother of mine (most of which can be boiled down to "he would not fucking say that"), but the way she chooses to characterize him in relation to serizawa feels gross. calling a black man a slave should be a very obvious red flag, but also saying serizawa (again, as a black man) has a "brutal masculine appeal" is also extremely stereotypical and racist. and really there is just no need for it; toichiro's actions in canon prove how shitty of a guy he is without the need for him to be racist (along with other things i'll get to in a bit). as my girlfriend put it: he doesn't need to be a member of the fucking kkk to show he's a bad guy.

there's also, again, the very casual racist remark of calling serizawa a "dog". i don't care if that isn't the intent; when you are writing a character of color you need to be aware of your wording, even in insults (unless she intended to make tsuchiya racist, which i don't think she did).

secondly, the eugenics/child pregnancy bit. it is surreal to even have to write this, but i seriously do not understand the purpose of either of these bits in the story. they are so minor yet so jarring you can't help but wonder why they're there. once again, i do not think you need to have toichiro doing esper eugenics just to prove he is an evil guy. he has nuance, and by making him casually reference child pregnancy (like that isn't an INSANE thing to say) reduces that nuance to nothing. that's the only reason i could see why that bit was included: to make toichiro look worse. but, even still, the author is running the risk of potentially triggering victims of csa or people who don't want to see that by not properly tagging the mention of it (or, at the very least, warning readers in the intro notes). the only other explanation for it would maybe be shock factor??? but that's a pretty shitty thing to use for shock factor, if i'm honest. also the fact that the esper eugenics was referenced again in a more recent chapter just has me very disturbed and confused. there isn't a canonical explanation for why we see less espers who are women than espers who are men, but that doesn't mean we need to jump to fucking Eugenics. it's weird!

thirdly (and this is probably one of my biggest problems and the main reason i wanted to make this post), the weirdly lewd/sexual language shou uses constantly, along with referring to reigen as a pedo or a creep at several points. frankly, i think it's pretty fucking gross for someone in their near-40's to be writing a 12-year-old talking so casually about sex like that's normal. which, i'm sorry, but it's not. yes, teens know about sex and like to joke about lewd shit. but a 12-year-old is not about to make references to a grown man's virginity. 12-year-olds draw dicks on their desk bc they think it's funny. 12-year-olds say the word "buttfuck" because it has the words "butt" and "fuck" in it, and those are the two funniest words on earth to a kid that age. i literally do not understand the purpose of having shou be so lewd all the time. for one, it doesn't make sense for his character. shou is shown time and time again to be extremely mature for his age, but that maturity extends to shit like assembling a counter-terrorism unit and extending a hand to his father to allow him to try again. and even then he's still just as naive as any other kid his age! the omake where he's telling his guys to go to the "far right corner" based on ritsu’s advice proves that he still has plenty of blindspots that are indicative of his age. leaning into this raunchy, lewd version of shou is just weird. and, again, i think it is made a bit weirder given the author's age!!! not ageshaming or whatever--i'm 23 and i write fanfic, clearly i cannot judge there--but it is just extremely inappropriate in my opinion. also having shou be more versed in sextalk than serizawa is odd too and speaks to a larger issue of serizawa's infantilzation throughout this fic, but that's something i can get into in another post if people want an explanation.

also, the way she constantly calls reigen a creep and even has him being accused of being a pedophile during the twitter cancellation is extremely inappropriate when, again, there is NO CANONICAL BASIS FOR THIS! everyone just calls him a fraud and a scammer during separation arc; there is never a reference to reigen being seen as a pedophile in that arc. and, yes, while there are versions of mob psycho where reigen is very clearly written as a creep (looking very specifically at the netflix adaptation), that doesn't mean it's good. honestly, the creep mentions all just feel like really poor jokes that do not land in the slightest.

finally, the transphobia (aka WHY IS SHIMAZAKI A CHASER). i literally do not know what else to say other than: why? why is this a thing? why is he a chaser? what is the purpose of this? is it a joke? i feel like it's supposed to be, but seeing as the author is cis i don't think that's a joke she should really be making. it not only comes out of left field, but it's just kind of a weird thing to ascribe to a character for no reason. not to mention, it's uncomfortable! trans women deal with enough creepy antics from cis men in real life--why must they be accosted by this guy too? it's just weird and uncomfortable.

i wanna round out this post by saying, once again, that i'm not trying to attack anyone with this post. but i do hope people come away from this with a new perspective on this work, and maybe think twice before recommending it uncritically to someone. to the author specifically, i hope you can read my post without rage or indignance blinding you. i might be a little blunt or rude in parts, but it's only because i'm passionate and i don't mince my words when it comes to things i'm passionate about. to the readers, understand i am not judging you for reading this fic without noticing these things. your own life experiences will give you certain blindspots and there's nothing wrong with that. i have plenty of blindspots of my own! it's what makes us human.

there is more i could say, but this post is long enough. i ask that if you come to me in my inbox or in dms about this that you treat me with respect, as i will do that for you. writing something like this took a lot out of me, as i'm usually not so open about my opinion on shit like this.

have a good day :-)

[emblemxeno]

I think another reason why I'm of the opinion that 3H's writing falls flat due to superfluous exposition, is that... it actually does what I think is great gameplay-story integration.

And that's the character paralogues!

Every character has a paralogue which ties their personalities and backstories into that mission's plot, without exception. Certain gameplay elements are also introduced to suit why the characters are doing what they're doing in those missions.

They're not flawless of course (map reusal is a bitch), but they are nonetheless stellar ways to tie in the characters to their world.

So what's the issue? The problem then becomes, why the hell is there so much else then?

I'm not advocating for everything else to be cut or for character backstory/development centered supports to be shelved, of course. But when you have paralogues-missions that are very well crafted to engage the player in the game flow and the writing simultaneously-why do the characters reveal the same things and go through similar developments in other places, like supports, the monastery, sometimes even in story as well?

Because you can miss out on paralogues? Well this game makes it so you can skip the monastery, supports can get locked if you don't do them in time, and those sparse story moments don't exist if the side character dies. There's no functional reason why you need multiple avenues to dive into the same few character plotlines, especially when one method does it consistently better and more involved than the others.

And logically or writing wise, there's even less of a reason other than they really wanna make sure you know these characters really well. Which is in no way bad of course, it's great to make a cast that you're proud of and want people to fall in love with every aspect of each of them. But there's nudging your audience to a position, and then there's outright making the line between player control/influence/preference and authorial intent too blurry.

Inevitably yeah, people did love this cast. That's why 3H is so popular and why their characters rank so highly in polls. But I reiterate from previous posts: 3H doesn't do anything special that previous FE games didn't as well. The cast isn't particularly deeper than most FE casts on average, nor is its world/story writing any more impressive. There's just more of it being delivered and put in your face than normal. And because many finer details unique to 3H's plot construction end up irrelevant (or outright contradictory to the main plot when thought about for too long), most of what's pushed is the character writing and backstories and Fodlan's primary backdrop... over and over and over again.

To me, that becomes tedious and ironically makes me care less for the world as I find incessant need to reiterate major aspects of the story near verbatim to be artificial and suffocating. But I'm not most people, and I can't fault others for finding great joy in it. I just thoroughly hope that the gameplay-story interaction is taken as priority like it was with Engage for future FE games, because these are still video games at the end of the day. When your game is being talked/argued about more than it's actually being played (for reasons that don't specifically have to do with archaic design elements as a result of its age)... shouldn't that be seen as a bad sign in the eyes of a video game designer?

[wordsifelt]

Hi....If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Hi! That was a hard question to answer lol, but after several hours of deliberation I have arrived at the following 10, in no particular order:

Mo Dao Zu Shi and Heaven Official's Blessing by MXTX: (danmei) So yes i cheated a little, these are two novels by the same author, but what I like about them are the same, the author writes relationships extremely well, and she writes very well rounded characters. The plot is very nuanced and makes you think.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett (Tv series): Truly is a gift to humanity, i love this series, I love how queer it is, how the love permeates everything, how very humane it is (also I'm a sucker for mythological fiction, Percy jackson was a favourite growing up)

Loveless by Alice Oseman (novel): This novel is brilliantly done, and perfectly explains being on the aroace spectrum. I read it recently and it's helped me so much with my own journey discovering my sexuality.

Not Me (Thai drama): Apart from having one of the sweetest romances I've ever seen in any media, this drama also focuses on a lot of political issues, revolution, anarchy etc. Also a great exploration into queer joy. I think it is the only drama i have 10/10 stars

Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo: well written characters, good motivation and plot, beautiful world building and most of all amazing representation, one of my all time fantasy favs.

The All For the Game trilogy by Nora Sakavic: I went into this series with actually zero expectations and it has consumed me for years until I can't find anything else even remotely close to the raw emotion this brings out in me. I don't think anything will ever surpass this. Definitely my comfort read.

Yuuri on Ice (Anime) : One of the first queer anime I ever watched. I love figure skating, the animation style was beautiful, and the love was there. It's a very comforting and fun anime to watch.

Given (Anime): Yet another amazing queer anime. Great exploration of grief and healing and love. Also amazing music.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak(novel) : It's such a bare look at the holocaust and at how it affected those persecuted and involved. Beautiful writing style. I can never read this without crying.

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman: Queer joy for everyone 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 (need I say more?)

Some honorary mentions:

Gideon the Ninth: This book drove me insane

I Wish You All the Best (novel): beautiful exploration of non-binary gender

Word of Honor (Chinese drama): I love the main couple, they've got great chemistry

Sasaki and Miyano(anime): most wholesome fluff anime ever

Hope this answers ur question. And I hope you find some good recs in this!

[nostalgia-tblr]

Okay actually I do have a proper thought on the "sylki is incest" wank. which is that the "anti" take seems to be that Loki/Sylvie is obviously, glaringly, an incestuous pairing but its shippers deliberately ignore that because they like the pairing otherwise (yet also the accusation involves them liking the incest element... honestly it's a bit of a muddle, but let's move on). But. Well, here's the thing that is obvious, at least to me...

Go to AO3 and have a look to find the most popular (in terms of number of works) Loki pairing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom as a whole. Actually, i'll save you the effort:

(These numbers are slightly out-of-date but the ratios remain accurate. I checked.)

Now, that. That is an incest pairing, isn't it? There is some fic which specifies an AU of some sort in which Thor and Loki are not related to each other but most of it is about brothers who are also lovers.

"But they're not really related," you say? Sorry, but in the important ways, they are. Every one of those films, and the Loki series, frames them as siblings-with-issues, and yes one of those issues is whether or not they agree that they are siblings, but I'd say the MCU comes down pretty firmly on the side of "they totally are."

And the point I'm making here is that the actual incest pairing is treated as such by its fans. If you don't feel up to reading any thorki fic I'll save you again and say that it overall leans into the "forbidden love" angle, and the shame and internal conflict of an incestuous attraction or relationship. So shippers of a given pairing do indeed know what incest is and they rarely try to avoid that aspect of such pairings.

Whereas. If you read the Loki/Sylvie stuff, that whole "thorki vibe" is entirely absent. Fans vary on variants, in terms of in what ways these two are or are not "the same person" but they agree on one thing: fucking some other version of yourself is not incest. This is pretty much a unanimous belief, and here I'll mention something else I think is relevant: there are a few sylki twincest AUs (many of which seem to have been written out of spite - LOL, fandom!) and in all of those the AU also features another crucial change - they are not both Loki variants in those fics.

Yeah, that's right! To make Loki and Sylvie siblings you have to remove the selfcest element entirely. Because - this may shock some of you, so sit down before you read this next part - you are not your own sibling. Even identical twins are obviously different people. A clone of yourself might get us into more philosophical territory but that's not what multiversal variants are either. Allow me to illustrate with another informative image:

You get me? Yeah, you get me.

So, to meander towards an actual conclusion here. The MCU!Loki fandom does not, in general, refuse to accept that romantic/sexual pairings that would be incestuous actually are incestuous. In fact if anything it embraces that element of such pairings. It is usually seen as the defining feature of them. If they think siblings are fucking then they will write about those siblings fucking, and they will not be shy about it!

And aside from that mentioned handful of AU fics, sylki is not written as incest. Because it just isn't incest. Look, if you personally see Loki and Sylvie as siblings to the point where the pairing squicks you out, then fair enough there's not much either of us can do about that. Do your best to avoid that content and don't be a wanker about it and I wish you well in your endeavours. But that isn't what most of the complaints stem from, is it? As usual in recent years fans who didn't like a pairing (which, btw, is allowed) wanted to have the moral high ground and some bright spark hit upon "this pairing is INCEST" via some slightly odd logic and it spread from there. Because we can't just not like something, can we? (Actually, that's also allowed!) No, we have to be better than those fans over there, who are all terrible people in some way. They are problematic.

And this is a lot of words for me to essentially say "no, the sylki fic and the thorki fic have very different vibes actually" but... well, they do. The sylki shippers are not denying the incest, because there is no incest there, and even if we for a moment pretend that "siblings" is a reasonable and indeed expected interpretation of the variants concept, it is clear from their content that the people who ship Loki/Sylvie do not see them that way. And that has nothing to do with DNA or otherwise, which I can prove with this very quick question: in one word (or less, if you can), what is the relationship between Loki and Thor?

You said "brothers" or "siblings," didn't you? No, you did. I know for a fact that you did, don't play coy with me on this. We all understand that these two characters who definitely share no DNA are, in every way that matters, brothers. This is not a difficult concept, it's not somehow confusing large numbers of fans either way.

tl;dr - Sylki isn't incest but if it was we'd all know that because the fans of it would not be constantly denying what would, almost certainly, be the main appeal of that pairing for them if that was the case. You can deny that all you want but 11,731 thorki fics (as of 10th December 2023) back me up on this one.

So there.

[zoobus]

I Shall Master this Family! is a rare princess story where the art is like, outrageously skilled, unique in its consistent level of detail, unreal historical fashion dedication, so much so that it successfully carries what's an overall mid story. You might notice that it's a mid story (I certainly have) but they throw you another sumptuous princess Guinevere sleeves and you're goaded into another chapter.

Normally this isn't enough. If anything I've found too good art highlights bad writing, thoughts wandering to how the artist(s) deserves better than the slog they're supporting.

But I'm stuck with this annoying isekai girl ignoring all the more emotionally intriguing subplots in favor of chapter upon chapter of isekai-based ego-stroking (can you believe this little kid came up with this brilliant business plan? Can you believe a 9yo identified the genius of a commoner? It's like she knows everything before it happens! Lay it on thicker!) because a) artist team that can conceptualize adults over 30??? b) artist team that draws old women??? Real ones???

b2) men too though it's more impressive that they drew a beard like they've actually seen a beard before. Old guys are common but distinguished and healthy looking ones less so

c) you can tell this is based on a historical fashion because nobody invents cultural male-garb unless they're meant to be eroticized. I can't think of another story where any real attention was put into what the guys are wearing unless cleavage was involved

I don't know if I even care for the fashion itself - that there's conspicuous effort into its portrayal puts it in a class of its own. Everyone else is satisfied with the certified male love interest paizuri shirts, cravats with medievallish suits, and generic npc peasantwear.

d) I don't know how many times I've given up on a comic because the artist had a fetish for blondes, making it nigh impossible to tell anyone apart. This story takes place in a Scots-inspired land, so a sizable chunk of the cast are redheads and the endless shades of red and curl textures never gets old. I like that blondes are still sort of gingery and shout out to the colorist for not being weak, blue-eyed apologist.

It came far too late but I finally understood why Shananet fell for this loser's act when he whipped out the brown/blonde puppy combo. Wish the writers were capable of juggling plots so we could have seen more of it.

I'll have to get into it in another post but the writing flaws are grating in a skill issue way, maybe too much ambition that should have been scaled back. For example writing men as being generally less substantial, more hysterical, while making women intelligent, well-rounded, characters with depth of various alliances only works if your story focuses on the latter. If you give me cold, calculating ice queen, I won't be satisfied with the plot spending more time on the dumbass loser 30-something eldest son throwing tantrums when his stupid plans fail. Likewise, how do you think it feels learning that the cool-headed, clever woman who gave up on potentially taking over the clan for a worldwind romance was played for a simp by her (quite obviously) less intelligent husband who doesn't even hide his seething hate for her family well? It makes everyone look like a clown. Writing structure crit imminent

It's a shame but unfortunately I like the way it looks too much to drop it😔

[remnantsofthepast-if]

Monthly Update - January 2024

​ Hello everyone once again! I hope you've had an amazing start to the year. Whether you celebrated it in a big way or with something much quieter, I hope there was no shortage of food! Now, that's definitely something Enid would say, hehe :D.

---

As for the project, after some unexpected complications, I finally published Chapter 8 a few weeks ago! In the end, it turned out longer than I had planned, but I'm getting used to that happening, hahaha! Now it's time to start writing Chapter 9, the last one of this first act! Initially, this chapter seems like it will flow much smoother than the previous one. I usually have a clear image of how each chapter will go and then create a brief summary. In this case, I've expanded the summary a bit more than I usually do, hoping it will help with the writing process. But of course, part of the beauty of creativity lies in the unexpected, both for the good and the bad, so we'll take it step by step each day.

Man, I can barely believe I've reached the end of Act 1. I'm very excited! For several reasons that I can't reveal yet, tempting as it may be, hahaha! I'll just say I have a surprise prepared that I hope you like :D. Besides that surprise, it will finally be time to implement all the changes I had in mind and fix certain things about the characters and the plot here and there, especially in Chapter 2, which I revisited a few days ago, and... let's just say, to all those who read and understood Rayco/Gara and Enid's explanation, congratulations, because I dumped a lot of unnecessary info there for no reason, lol! It's definitely something that needs fixing, and as I mentioned recently, all these changes and revisions will come out alongside Chapter 9.

Finally, there's something important I want to say about this story. Once Chapter 9 is published, a week later, this first act will be available to buy, and the playable demo will be reduced. I still don't know exactly when the demo will be cut, but I was thinking roughly halfway through the story. However, this has brought a small issue too, which is that I don't know how to export it for mobile. I've been experimenting with the Monaca platform, and it looks interesting, but there's something that doesn't quite convince me :/. I've also thought about switching from Twine to ChoiceScript, but it seems confusing and limiting in terms of customization, and no matter how comfortable it is that Hosted Games handles all distribution and such, it’s just a big no for me at first glance. The good thing would be that at least with ChoiceScript you can export your save files from one book to another, which is something you cannot do with Twine or Renpy. Well... you can, actually, but that involves a lot of programming and coding that I have no idea about and if something goes wrong I wouldn’t be able to solve the issues, so it’d be more of a disadvantage than anything else.

Going back to Renpy would be more viable and comfortable for exporting, as I could maintain a single itch.io page. With Twine, I would have to create one for each act to keep the demos separate, and I’m not sure how to feel about that, to be honest :/.

I don't know, I’m just rambling at this point. These are things I'll have to think about since I don't want it to be confusing when playing Remnants. Anyway, I'll do some tinkering and play around a bit with Renpy to see how it feels, and if I'm not convinced, I guess I'll stick with Twine and add an intro for the player to pick all the important choices from Act 1 before continuing with Act 2. I appreciate any suggestions if anyone has them, though :D.

---

Have a fantastic month and see you at the end of February ;)

By the way, I’m making a few gifts for all of you for February 14! Nothing huge, but a nice detail that I hope you like :D.

[porkcutletbowl44]

Took me a while to finish reading chapter 15 and 16 since I literally forgot I had tumblr or any social media this week, but I finally read them and I'm crying so much now-

The way you mix aganst with comfort in chapter 15 made me cry a whole sea. I'm currently on my period so whenever mama was upset I was sobbing even louder than her😭 and I fucking loved the chapter. I didn't think it was possible for me to hate even more Simon on this fic but you proved me wrong, AND HE MAKES ME FEEL SO CONFUSED TOO. I mean, dude why the fuck are you acting like that??? It makes me so mad when he's saying "Oh, I was just playing with you like we used to-" you divorced her without even giving an proper explanation to her and engaged with another woman. I'm really frustrated that he only notices he's making things worse when they're already bad💔 but Keegan's a sweetheart compared to him.

Honestly I love whenever he's in scene, he's just better than Simon in many ways and it makes me so emotional when there's comfort/agnst with him involved. A great thing about chapter 15 in my opinion it's when mama says she misses Simon, even when he's being a huge asshole, because it makes her seem even more relatable to. Had a very shitty partner in the past, and as someone who has attachment issues, it's hard to forget and move on even when they did some traumatizing stuff (I better now btw), and the fact that's noticeble that she's still struggling to move on makes her so more real than most of MC in fanfictions. I'm very excited to see her moving on from her past relationship and fully giving a chance to have a new one with Keegan, they deserve a happy ending😞💔. I also liked the fact that mama's slowly knowing a bit more about him, and I hope in the future we see a bit more of these "silly" and calm interactions between them.

About chapter 16, it make me feel so many mixed feelings. It made me sad, frustrated, happy and so many other things I can't quite tell. The first part(when mama and Keegan are with the Ghosts) made me so happy, mostly because Hesh is my favorite character in CoD Ghosts and I was itching to see more of mama's interactions with them since the last time they showed up in the fic. I was so mad when Ghost showed up after that, he only appears in the WORST moments😭. I was shocked when Simon implied that Keegan would do anything with her without her consent, I even had to reread it because I was in pure disbelief on what I had just read. It also made me even more confused and curious about his behaviour towards mama. He acts like they're still married sometimes, and in chaptee 15 he even showed that Collen makes him annoyed, like if he was going to replace his ex-wife with another woman, couldn't he at least pick a more tolerable one??? His behaviour makes me even more furious and confused, and I really wish we see some of his reassons to have a divorce soon because it's making me so gsjdhskshsihxs(idk what else can describe what this man makes me feel besides of that😞)

And talking about words, I'm fucking obssessed with your writing and the variety of words you use to portray feelings, places and EVERYTHING. Don't think I mentioned it before but it's amazing to see different words being used to talk about the same things, helps me a lot to increase my vocabulary. And btw I'm the annon who made you cry after sending a gigant text about chapter 14 and Far From Perfect as a whole, sent a annonymous ask first because I was lowkey worried I would get ignored because my ask was ridiculously big(already happened once with another writers💔) so I decided to send a annon ask first. But going back to the fanfic, the flashback we had with Price made me start to inquire if Simon had ever commented about anything related to the divorce, engaging with another woman to him or anything related to it, even if in a rhetorical manner. I think that's the first flashback that made me truly curious about Simon's past and what made him decide to have the divorce, before that mostly they only made me feel melancholy about it, and probably it's my favorite flashback so far.

Anyways, I hope you can continue with this wonderful fanfiction since it makes me insane(in a good way) to see whatever happens next, and I also hope you can fully recover from your ear infection soon💞💞💞

Okay first off, I love you. JUST TAKE IT, I DONT NEED IT 🤲🏻🩷🥹

I do promise there will be lots of interactions with Keegan and mama just chilling, hanging out and relaxing, the fluffy stuff, there will most definitely be more GHOSTS and 141 stuff.

And I feel as though I should say that I probably won't ever delete a ask, I haven't received any negative feedback in my inbox or double questions that I'd have to answer twice AND I ABSOLUTELY WILL NEVER DELETE A ANON RANT BECAUSE THEY MAKE MY WHOLE DAY 😍

I'm sorry for your sadness (there will be a lot of angst) BUT THERES COMFORT AND FLUFF TO EVEN IT OUT

I'm low-key just obsessed writing the interactions, Fawn and Keegan is TOO CUTE TO NOT WRITE, And soft Johnny EUGHHH💖 (I also can't help but write the confusing stuff for Simon just to hear the theories 👀)

Simon's just a little silly, don't mind him 🫢😅

PLEASE TAKE CARE! AND THANK YOU FOR THIS WONDERFUL SUBMISSION! 🫶🏻

[disappearinginq]

5, 7, 13, and 20 for fanfic asks?

5. Fic most proud of writing This is a toss up - because I am one of those people who likes their own stuff a lot. :-D But, one of the Big Three: Damnatio Memoriae from the Lucifer fandom, Running Up That Hill for Agenst of SHIELD, and Wrong Side of Heaven for Magnum 2018. Mostly for different reasons, but they all have the same vein of "I got mad at canon and I fixed it".

Lucifer was a roller coaster for me - I loved season 1, season 2 was okay, 3 made me want to throw something at the screen 90% of the time, season 4 WAS EPIC, and I gave up halfway through season 5 and never finished the series. Damnatio was written because I wanted much more involvement of the supernatural, not just a therapy/self discovery mixed in with crime of the week. Also, being raised adjacent to Catholicism, I was getting really irritated that they weren't even using the comic lore, and missing the basic fundamentals of the sources they were pulling from. This story had a lot of reader feedback, to the point of it being almost choose your own adventure. As it went on, I would ask readers to pick from two options that I had rolling around in my head, and it actually worked really well to keep the ball moving with my writing.

Running Up That Hill was again another one where I just got mad at canon, but because I don't like the narrative of "these people are exempt from moral standards while this person is Wrong No Matter What", and I probably would've let it slide except the issue I had was that the one that Wrong No Matter What had all of his life changing trauma as a child and then had it reinforced his entire adult life. Everyone else was an adult when Bad Things happened, and I don't like the hypocrisy of saying "get over it" to someone who legitimately doesn't have the toolset to do that.

Wrong Side I love because this actually was my first foray into something that had no supernatural elements to it whatsoever, and based firmly in reality, and a reality I knew pretty well. I wasn't a huge fan of how the TV show just glossed over the fact that these guys were POW's for a year and a half of a terrorist organization that tortures and kills people with such violence that they became a whole new subsect of terrorism. Like, no, these guys aren't just going to walk away without an issue. And the fact that they were sold out by someone who said to have loved them? AND THEY HAVE NO FALL OUT FROM THIS?! Get fucked, shitty narrative. Suicide in the veteran community is at a high not seen since post-WWII, and these fuckers have the audacity to suggest that you're just being a little bitch if you can't acclimate to civilian life.

7. Favorite ship to write Well, that's pretty easy - none. Romance is rarely done well, and I have never liked anyone enough to relate to the narrative of "Well, I'm throwing all of my friendships out the window because now I have a RomAnTic InTereSt" and it irritates me to no end. if anything, my favorite ship is between Captain Kirk and the Enterprise.

13. Latest fic written/last WIP? A fix it fic for Yellowstone that showcases the brothers Kayce and Jamie, and because I am on a western kick, research for a Magnificent Seven fic that will likely never see the light of day, but I still love the show and the characters, where Ezra (the gambler from Georgia) is a spy for the Union during the Civil War.

20. Hardest Character to write/get the characterization right for? The female characters written by men. And I realize that sounds really weird, but because I swear to god men don't understand being a woman, they're just shit at writing them, and they say/do the dumbest things because guys would do that shit, or, worse, the guys writing the character are using them as hyperboles for women they think did them wrong. And then because the writers don't understand them, I can't understand them, and they wind up being the people that in real life, I'd want to hit with my car. Beth Dutton is a great example of this - some of the things she says that I know are supposed to come off as "strong, powerful woman" make me physically recoil and hide my face with a pillow while watching because What the fuck nobody would ever say that and it's actually cringeworthy. Until women started getting involved in the writing process for Magnum and Lenkov was fired, I absolutely wanted to stab Higgins in 90% of her scenes. Post Lenkov - I actually found her really sweet sometimes, and actually relatable.

That being said, the other ones that I'm not good at because it is so far outside my sphere of comprehension are characters like Angie or Dani off of Will Trent and Prodigal Son. I love those characters, they are complex and unique and I love them, but I don't have relatable experience to them at all, and they are some of the hardest people I have tried to write (which is why I don't have fic in those fandoms even though I love them).

[sinofwriting]

then I get an idea/inspo and it's off to the races (get it? I think I'm so funny).

honestly very relatable, sometime one(!!) single thing sparks an idea, then the next thing you know it's on your mind 25/8 and suddenly you're writing a whole lot of something that you were absolutely not prepared for but you can't let it go bc they've latched on to your mind🐥. smiled at the joke/gen

The fic your talking about, Made For Each Other, would honestly work well for babytrapping if it wasn't for the fact that reader would happily have Max's kids with only like three months of dating under their belt, lol.

yes! i love that fic so much.(I've actually downloaded it so that i can read it no matter what even when i have no internet😊) i fear that they are too coo coo for cocoa puffs too see that as a problem (me 2🤞 but only fictionally). i could kinda see it for please oh please or maybe even private professor if they didn't immediately get married and live happily ever after(i love them so much, I'm actually tearing up). regardless, i would eat that eat up for them, they're both crazy enough that I could maybe see like a miscommunication issue and then both of them panicking about losing one another and then instantly secretly trying to 'trap' the other into being connected 4ever🤩[talking about made for each other]

idk what max fic ive written is crazier made for each other or causing problems

personally i think it's definitely made for each other!max. max was just being (kinda understandably) weirded out and then possessive + messy in causing problems. while in made for each other he literally saw that girl and said, "yeah that's the love of my life, I will do absolutely anything to make her my wife" and then rearranged everything in his life to make sure that they'd be together. also, he was just overall crazier and that was super hot {gets shot} he definitely takes the cake and there's a spot specially for him in my brain.

There will be more Ollie fics! I have a request for him and an idea of my own for him. Will probably work on one of those after this lestappen fic idea I got yesterday (the press conference was a gold mine)

yay! can't wait!!! {everyone loved that🙂‍↕️}

also, yeah! I would love a nickname💞

adding on to my previous ask, mfeo!max literally (and I quote) thought this about reader being involved with someone else b4 him "He knows that if she had been seeing someone his blood would be boiling everytime his name got brought up or even hinted at" while cproblems!max wasn't that jealous about leclerc!reader and pierre.

speaking of that quote, i would've actually loved to see what he would've done if reader had a boyfriend or was seeing someone(casually!!) while they met. (absolute deranged and unhinged behaviour no doubt) like tried to ruin the person's life or have them taken care of😊 I'm guessing.

I have so many wips (for F1) and my brain coming up with new ideas doesn't help with that. (putting the rest under read more, cause I yap)

Writing Made For Each Other was trip. I went into that and was like... I don't know how people are gonna feel about this. Very happy that you like it! You are not wrong, lol they both are crazy enough about each other that they would try and baby trap each other. Which would honestly I think read as both desperate and funny.

Rereading please, oh please, if I was to write that today, I think that the second part would include Max trying his damndest to get her pregnant, not baby trapping necessarily, but just lots of unprotected sex, hoping that it catches. Or at least him thinking about it.

And yeah you are right. Max in mfeo is crazy (it's okay though, he's cute) while Causing Problems Max is just messy. He's honestly just a guy who learned that his girlfriend/first crush/sexual awakening lost her virginity to her brother's best friend, her friend, and his former teammate... My brain makes some interesting ideas.

He's also not weirded out, just angry because he figured that whoever she lost her virginity too wasn't in her life anymore (y'know what they say about assumptions) and while he does bring up her only being 14 in Charles hotel room with everyone, he's really just using it as an excuse to be mad at Pierre. Pierre threw him a fucking lifeline unintentionally with the whole “Max, your issue with this is the age difference. And I imagine it’s worse because of Kika, yes?” Was he surprised by her being 14? Yeah, but it's established that it was because of Lorenzo and Charles being overprotective nightmares, lol.

Made For Each Other Max is a different breed, lol. I've talked about it before but I think Max in fics is the perfect candidate for love at first sight. He doesn't believe in it but then it happens and that is that. He will be getting that person.

Also this: "He knows that if she had been seeing someone his blood would be boiling every time his name got brought up or even hinted at" insane from me. That is insane behavior from me. But, yeah he is a jealous boy.

I briefly toyed when writing it with her having a boyfriend when they met, but I already had to deal with Kelly and I liked the idea of her being unattached.

But, since you brought it up, if she had... Max would have been fucking insane. She stops him from kissing her and then just a few seconds later stops him from calling Kelly to break up with her just so he can kiss her. If she been seeing someone... well she would have done the same thing but with the added,

"Max," and his name is near breathless and he doesn't know if he wants to feel her lips on his or her lips against his skin again more. "I have to break up with someone, we can't"

Green would have taken over, he'd be grabbing her hand, dragging her out of the party they were at to his hotel, the drunkness he had been feeling gone with her words, and he's texting Kelly that it's over, that he wants what little she has at his gone before he gets back in two days. And when they finally get to his hotel room, he's kissing her, slipping his fingers between her legs and then finally when he's got her on his bed, fully inside her, he'd be making her call who she's been seeing as has her break up with them while he makes her moan his name.

... so yeah it's confirmed that mfeo!Max is fucking insane. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Also, nicknaming you 💞 anon. I now have to find what asks are yours and go back and tag them, lol.

[sunset-meets-the-moon]

My Top 5 BLs

Some of my favorite BL series and some small details on why I enjoyed them. I'm gonna try and remake one of these every few months to see what's changed after I watch some new series and finish the ones that I'm currently watching. *may contain spoilers*

Until We Meet Again (2019)

This was the first bl I ever watched, I went in with zero expectations and didn't read the synopsis before I watched it. I honestly fell in love with the characters instantly, especially Korn and In, every aspect of their relationship was so detailed and crafted perfectly. If you ever feel like shedding a few tears, this should be your first choice, whether you want to cry or not with this series you definitely will. Even on my first time watching it I felt a sense of nostalgia and it felt very familiar, I felt very comfortable and at home with this series.

The Untamed (2019)

If you'd consider this a bl then it should definitely be in everyone's top 5. Everything about this series is perfect from the characters to the cinematography. While watching this series I felt drawn in and like I, myself was inside the series, every time a character cried, I cried with them, shared a connection with them, and felt their pain. I've always loved the theme of soulmates and that's a very obvious theme in The Untamed, Lan Wangji loses the one closest to him and longs for him for 16 years, and upon Wei Wuxian coming back to life Wangji is one of the first people he thinks about. They never left each other's side, they always fought for each other and always chose each other first, that's the definition of soulmates and I can't think of a better example other than them. On my first time watching this I was so into it that I watched all 50 episodes in four days, small note when watching this prepare tissues.

KinnPorsche (2022)

Let me start this off by saying the acting in this series is absolutely amazing, it feels almost real. By the time my friend told me about this series, there were already nine episodes out and I sat there and binged them all, KinnPorsche kept me on the edge of my seat and never made me bored. They also did a fantastic job with the casting everyone was very skilled and extremely good-looking. This was only Be On Cloud's first series and after seeing how good this was I'm looking forward to their releases in the future. I loved the theme of Kinn and Porsche being "Ride or Die" and never turning their backs on each other, the story was executed perfectly and all the actors really brought the characters to life.

Word of Honor (2021)

Finished this within less than three days, directly after I finished The Untamed. This is another series involving the theme of soulmates on this list as soulmates may or may not be my favorite troupe. Wen Kexing's willingness to give his life and anything else for Zhou Zishu, them willingly giving up living amongst other humans to spend eternity together, is more than enough to consider this a bl. Although there are many heart-shattering moments, there are many moments spent happily and some humorous moments to lighten the mood a bit. I'm not sure if there'll ever be a season two but I'm hoping.

Love In The Air (2022)

I'd consider LITA to be top-five material not because of the plot, but because of the characters and their depth to them. Specifically, Prapai and Sky as they have so many sides to them and we get to see more into their personalities than what's on the surface. I liked this series because I felt it was balanced between funny and serious, it didn't have too much or not enough of either element and that's something I really enjoyed. The writers made it realistic and showed the issues that people may face in life and in relationships instead of making it all sunshine and rainbows, I applaud them for that. I don't just want a season two I NEED a season two, most of my posts so far have been about LITA and that'll give me plenty more material to write about so hopefully we'll get it and my writing career doesn't end right here.

Honorable Mention

3 Will Be Free (2019)

This isn't a bl but I just have to talk about it. One of my favorite things to see in the series is strong friend groups and that's what we see in this one. Three young people on the fringe of society still trying to find their way in the world and bonding through shared faults and mistakes. They may feel upset with one another at times but they still will come to each other's aid no matter the situation, this is without a doubt the trio we needed.

[yooniesim]

honestly for your mental health you should probably not be so invested in every. single. bit of drama in this community. every time there’s drama you’re a big player in it. you’re usually not wrong haha, i’m just saying it seems exhausting for you.

Apologies for the book I'm about to inflict on you, nonny. No worries if you don't read it.

The thing is, I'm honestly not. And haven't been for a long time now.

If you'd said this to me six months ago, i would've actually agreed with you, nonny. I've said myself that that is a hole of negativity that is easy to fall into, and it is an exhausting one. I've done it before, I'm aware of that, and I'm sure as hell not going to do it again. So I can't quite agree with you now. There's so many things on my dash I just pass by & don't comment on. My drafts are full of text posts that I write that I purposefully save and delete rather than post. There's so many incidents and receipts of them I just try not to remember. And I've blocked so many people now to keep it all away, and thankfully for the most part it's clear now. Just scroll through my blog through the last few months- I've barely said anything. My first long post of the year was a few days ago and it wasn't even about "drama" lol. And you kinda sent this while I'm coming back from a break taking myself away from tumblr for the most part, for the sake of my mental health.

But if I ever say one thing... even if it's just one thing... somehow everybody and their mom is suddenly making a vague post about me, or lying about something I never said or did despite there being proof otherwise. I mean actual bold faced lying. I've even seen my own totally unrelated personal text posts (not about simblr or drama whatsoever) being commented on/manipulated/reposted. Even when I was on hiatus and posting 99% sims content. But I haven't been talking about it. I've been blocking the blank blogs and the anons that send me asks without replying (except the two from Thursday), I've been blocking people here that are clearly just trying to goad me into arguing, I've been ignoring the vague posts. Y'all don't get to see all of that, because I don't show it anymore, but it's been happening.

With this last shit that happened, I made only a few responses, and 1 of those was to immediately disengage with the person when they seemed upset, and I wasn't even the main person speaking with them- and yet my name was still the one in everyone's mouth, I was the one put on everyone's dashes, the one lied about and then subjected to white supremacist rhetoric. My childhood abuse was brought up like some quirky throwaway comment, for no justifiable reason. No one else was mentioned. Despite me barely being involved. Why? If you ever take a moment to notice, it's always the same people doing this. Because they constantly watch me/stalk my blog for some reason I can't comprehend. And analyze anything I've ever said, comment on my every move. In "private" and publicly. Even though I've blocked them, they continue to do this over and over again. One of the people that started this recent thing about me? I blocked them a while ago for trying to coax me into an argument and cursing at someone else in my replies. One of the others blocked me just for unfollowing them, and has been angry ever since. Another has been emotionally invested in my every move for about a year despite me barely knowing anything about them besides their username. They have an axe to grind, I suppose. I truly can't comprehend their motivations.

But sadly, whether I comment or not, whether I try to be positive or not, it honestly doesn't matter at this point. And I don't think it's right for me to just... never be able to comment anything of my own opinion on my own blog. So I'm still working out how I need to proceed with this. It isn't fair for me to have to be afraid of it something I said is going to be twisted and misconstrued- but going out of my way to comment on every issue we have here wouldn't be good either, just like you're saying now. Hell, that's never something I wanted to do- y'all didn't see any of the actual hundreds of asks in my inbox about drama and people here that I've just ignored or deleted, after all. My inbox is going on 500 deep because people still send me these things. I even still get criticism for not "using my platform" to address issues here. But like I said in November, I don't want to be that type of blog. I don't want to focus on negativity all the time. It's a freaking simblr and I wanna play sims! But I'm still a person, and this is my blog. I should be allowed to have emotions and to speak sometimes. The problem is balancing what should be posted and what shouldn't- that is something I'm working on.

As far as mental health goes, I don't think anyone here knows how absolutely crushing it is to not only be a target for the usual suspects (racists, transphobes, etc- I can deal with those, they're expected) but then also be attacked by people I considered reasonable, normal. For those people even to side with bigots just to attempt to "one up" me for some strange ego fueled reason. The people that have said I'm not even a bad person in their eyes, just annoying to them. Yet they throw such hatred and contempt my way, wish for my "downfall", and for what? A few more likes on their hateful text post? To feel better than me, better than people like me? To win some imaginary high school game they never could in real life? I know even this post you're reading now will be screenshotted and posted in a server or two, and someone will send me the proof within a day or so. Even if you do it in "private", I still see it- maybe especially if you think it won't get back to me, it will. Nothing on the internet is private. But I don't even share the proof, I just look at it and think, why? If you don't even think I'm that bad, then why? Why are you stalking my blog and making fun of me and calling me out of name? Do you honestly feel good about what you're doing? Does it make you feel satisfied somehow? How do you justify it? Is it just because I'm not your friend? Or is it really because I've simply disagreed with you in the past? Is that worth the resentment you're holding in your heart and then putting out into the world? It's not even hurtful to me, it's just confusing at this point. I don't understand it. I can't comprehend it. And that's one of the most influential reasons I don't comment on many things here anymore; I just don't understand simblr. Other than the fact that it's a social game parading as a moral one. And perhaps I'm bad at navigating it because of that.

But I guess what I'm saying ultimately is, no, I'm not invested in every drama here. And you're right in saying I shouldn't be, I agree wholeheartedly. But sometimes it feels like it doesn't matter, it'll come to me anyway. Like if maybe someone else said the exact same thing I did, they wouldn't get the same reaction, because they're not me. I'm aware of it now, and I'm honestly not sure if it'll ever stop, unless the people doing it move on. Until then... I suppose I've decided to just not care, to do and say what I want as long as it isn't harming my own mental health or happiness. I'll play the sims, I'll have my opinions, I'll post them. And just see how I feel, I guess.

[doomreed]

So in doomreed, where does sue fit in all this? What does she mean to reed in this ship? Does doom hate her or is it complicated? Has this already been answered? Is this a dumb question? :/

It's a good and reasonable question. There are people who prefer the ship as a poly triad for that reason, though I'm not one of them (I see it as a lavender marriage and usually have her with someone else in my fics, or focused on business bc romance isn't the answer to everything for all people, you know?)

For myself, I prefer to focus on Reed & Victor, because I've had a whole lifetime of people demanding I focus on the romantic concerns of cis women (I'm trans, I'm gay, I have a bit of a personal aversion to being pressed to consider the feminine in all things at this point in my life) -- but I have no animosity toward Sue or any of the FF and want them to all have happy lives too.

Can't speak for everyone, that's just my answer to it. There are a lot of ships that include one married or at least involved party, and each individual creator finds their own way of working with the existing canon (or ignoring it, if they prefer--AUs are great for that)

I think Reed will always have feelings for Sue, same as Ben, same as Johnny, they're part of his family and even the occasionally unhealthy obsession with Victor can never eclipse that completely, like that's part of what keeps Reed grounded and helps him not become the worst version of himself? But feelings don't always have to mean love, and sometimes because humans are messy little things anyway, sometimes we mix up a good, healthy connection with another person and a deep, gut-churning fascination with a different person, and choose to pursue the thing that is perhaps not best for us. I see this ship as a potential study in that, and in whether that can also become a good and healthy connection given enough time and proper care & feeding, you know?

edit to add: I do think Doom is extremely jealous of Sue, in the canon. Him cattily arranging his dry state "marriage" to fall on the reedsue wedding anniversary, him kidnapping her first in issue #5 (his first appearance!) to draw Reed out so he could measure his competition for Reed's affection more precisely?

I think Sue knows that she could end the entire problem with a single, well-placed forcefield, no bigger than the head of a pin. And I think it's a measure of her love & understanding of Reed (and frankly dazzling levels of self-restraint) that she doesn't do so. Victor causes harm, but I think the hope that he might become the hero Reed sees him having the potential to be is as integral to Reed overall as his feelings for the rest of his family.

The hope generated by Reed refusing to give up on Doom is worth whatever (usually small) harms Doom manages to inflict. I think Victor is, understandably, somewhat afraid of Sue. I think Sue primarily feels pity for Victor. I've never seen anything in canon to suggest they were attracted to each other though, including the brief period on Battleworld where God-Emperor Doom was technically married to her? I could write several essays on the queer coding of Secret Wars, definitely including that whole arrangement 😅

[fuegito-de-eeuu]

Another Rant, One Piece-Related This Time

I find it difficult to like some of the characters in One Piece, mostly the Straw Hats. It's just. A struggle and it feels hard to interact with the media sometimes. It feels like the characters have wildly different personalities inside of them sometimes.

(Note : This is not a hate post. I feel neutral about this characters but some of the writing involved with them troubles me sometimes and annoys me at others.)

Luffy

I just. Can't with him sometimes. I know he's popular and I know he's the face of the series but. Some of his behaviors man.

One of his main features(?) is that he eats A LOT. I understand this is from the training with Garp and Ace does this too, but it feels like Luffy does it just way too much. Almost to the point it was detrimental to his crew way early on in the East Blue saga.

He has literally ruined food because he does not know how to cook and has thoughtlessly ruined all of the food aboard the Sunny during the Zoa - Whole Cake Island arc. And I know wasting food is more of Sanji's thing, but for someone who got pissed off when he saw the Beast Pirates not eating the red bean soup because they thought it was garbage, it doesn't feel like the same person.

I understand for the Beast Pirates it was after he had discovered that O-Tama and many other people of Wano were literally starving to death among other things. But why does he not share the same concern for his own crew when he eats everything? I'd like to think Sanji lectured him about food waste because he throws hands if someone wastes it. They're different situations, I know, but it seems like Luffy only cares when the suffering is now and not a possibility because of his actions in the future.

Luffy has expressed he wants everyone to be able to eat as much as they want. And while it's a nice dream, I won't say anything bad about it, it feels like he both believes in it and disregards it.

There's been so many times where he's literally just stolen food off the plates of his crew and others. Like??? I'm sorry? I know they're supposed to be funny scenes and show how goofy Luffy is, but his crew seems to just accept it, scolding him in the moment whenever it happens. It feels disrespectful to his crew and just plain rude to others.

And then with the portions he eats, again, I know it's mostly because of the training with Garp that he follows but. Even outside of fighting or even before at least an expected fight, why is he eating the same amount every time? He doesn't really train and seems to come up with new moves on the fly in battle (not criticizing this), so why does he eat so damn much all the time. It feels like he's just wasting food at that point because you never know how far the next island in the Grandline is going to be. Not every island will have food or welcoming people, we've seen it.

Not to mention almost eating Chopper? I know it's a gag that was used on occasion, but no one else in the crew gets that same treatment. So it feels kinda weird to me.

Nami

Overall, Nami seems fine as a character. Temperamental? Sure, but some people just have their moments.

Not everyone beats up others until they're black, blue, purple and green when they're mad though.

I know it's a gag, I know other's have issues with this too. But why does Nami do this? Does she do this because the people she hits should "know better"? Because she knows they can take it and be fine? It just doesn't make sense to me.

"It's a gag, don't worry about it" - NO ONE ON THAT BOAT INJURES EASILY BESIDES USSOP AND NAMI. It just. Feels inherently abusive that if you fuck up too much to Nami that she just fucking beats you up. Doesn't matter if you have a fruit that makes you immune to damage and she doesn't have haki, she'll smack you until your face is nothing but literally WELTS.

I don't care how she is at other times, I would not feel fucking safe on that ship if I was working with her.

Sanji

5 words : timeskip, Fishman Island, & Whole Cake.

I just hate the pervert trope so much which doesn't help me.

But for Kama Land, you're telling me that Sanji was seemingly afraid of... drag queens, trans women, and other queers to the point he... learned to walk on the fucking air? Are their other reasons? I don't fucking know man, the timeskip isn't really elaborated on a whole lot besides "this person went here and learned this".

Ffs we see Sanji in a dress and makeup as if he's trying to fit in. How the fuck did he even learn the recipes that Ivankov advertised to him?

Let alone the simple idea that all of the inhabitants looked unattractive??? My brother in christ have you seen drag queens and trans women??? Also the fucking idea that everyone on the queer island was unattractive doesn't sit well with me. Feels insulting at the very least. Also the fact that they all seemed to act like perverts and tried touching Sanji??? wtf man

Fishman Island. Ho-ly-FUCK. Flashback to fucking Kama Land. And then his behavior around the other mermaids??? Not to mention Shirahoshi WHO IS ALSO SIXTEEN. It's gross- and the amount of times he got nosebleeds from gals just. Living their fucking day???

Whole Cake. Aside from the fact that Sanji was in love with another 16 year old- It felt like he didn't want to leave. Like he was perfectly fine never going back to the crew. Especially when Pudding was starting to fawn over him to, it was just. All around weird.

Usopp

I've just never liked Usopp after Water 7. I don't mind a good scaredy cat and lying character, I liked how he fought in Thriller Bark. Lies, trickery, and unusual attacks are amazing!

But the thing with Merry is gnawing at me. He was told by Luffy that the Merry was essentially done for. I know he was going through denial and grief, but they helped make money to get the Merry professionally REPAIRED because everyone knew they were struggling to fix the Merry.

The fight was just. There.

And then when he went to get another opinion from their future shipwright, Franky literally told him "Your keel is shit, your boat is gonna sink" that Usopp STILL DENIED IT.

I understand insecurities and that Merry and Usopp technically joined the crew at the same time, so if Merry can be replaced, so can Usopp. ...but Merry is a very small wooden ship and Usopp is a person. It's just. Dumb to me. I don't know.

And then also the stuff where Usopp portrays himself as a great captain, it feels like he's not truly loyal to Luffy cause he always has Luffy and the others as his underlings in his lies. I get the other members of the crew being his crew members. But why is Luffy always great because of only Usopp? It's just. It makes Usopp's promises feel empty.

Rant done, thanks for anyone who listened.

Again, not a hate post but some of the behaviors the characters show feel troubling or just weird to me and I wanted to give reasons for it.