#art thieves have no place in fandoms

[tavyliasin]

Villain-Fucker Angst Hours

Good timezone, darlings~ Are you ready to get all up in your feelings? No? Me neither, loves, but here we are regardless so the words are going to flow as they usually do... This is focused on Raphael from Baldur's Gate 3 and his fandom, but the latter section can easily apply to any villain fandom.

Self-Analysis of Devil-Fuckery, Or Why Do I Adore Raphael When He Is Very Obviously Evil: A Short Essay by TavyliaSin (Who Still Cannot Name Anything With Less Than A Full Paragraph) ((NSFW)) (((Game Spoilers)))

The following may discuss heavier topics, but without specifics, so whilst it should be safe for most to read without triggering any difficult memories please be aware of Raphael's entire vibes, the content and context of his story, and I'd also like to mention that this isn't a "woe be us for we are terrible people" piece, it's actually more about:

"There is an inherent kindness and warmth to much of the Raphael fandom, and I think there could be some common threads behind that, pulling us all in closer in a comforting blanket that we wrap around each other to keep out the cold of the world."

So, what in the nine hells am I on about? Well. Raphael-fandom is a wild and wonderful place to be. The rest is in sections, so feel free to skip through to what you feel is relevant to your interests. I am so prone to waffle I should open a restaurant~

Who Are Fans Of Raphael? What Do They Want?

We are feral, unhinged, all sheets to the wind "I want that devil man, carnally, and there is no force in all the planes that could stop me". There's the vanilla to the extreme and every level in between, tops, bottoms, versatiles, Doms, subs, and switches - there are a whole lot of people who would love to get their hands on either (or both) of Raphael's forms, for a simple smooch or something far more spicy~ [edited in] To add on to this, not all of us even desire him in a sexual way, for many it is romantic, soft, or even just the rather pleasant thought of spending an evening with drinks by the hellfire because he would be fascinating company. Aces, Aros, and AroAces may all find themselves well within the devilish corners of fandom too~ which is a whole other essay~ [end edit] So, I see you. I'm one of you. Extremely loud and utterly hingeless in my fan appreciation for Raphael. He's one of my favourites to write about, I seek art of him, and the same goes for his mirrored other half, Haarlep, who I arguably love more despite there being far less content of them in the game.

And the Fandom? The Vibe?

From my experience in the Raphael Fandom areas, we have a very deep and abiding understanding of consent, respect, and treating each other with an absolute and uncompromising kindness. We've had talks about keeping each other safe in fandom, exchanged details of people we have encountered who need to be avoided, even shared details between moderators of different fandom servers to pre-ban people proven to be creeps and/or art thieves. We've also discussed consent, including the issues with it in the game, and how areas of the story can only really be considered dubious at best and could easily be triggering for people. And these discussions have been open, honest, fair, and with the acknowledgement that most of us love these scenes anyway. So there's a sense of care that runs through everything, behind the horny-posting and fan content, behind the endless thirsting after our favourite fictional characters. We have a depth of kindness that warms my sinners soul every time I see it.

What Does This Have To Do With Self-Reflection, Raphael, or Villainy In General?

Well let's look at Raphael. He's a villain, obviously. He's manipulative, devious, and inherently evil by his very nature. He keeps Hope chained in his basement, constantly subjected to endless torture. There's also mention of how Gortash was sold into his service at a young age, clearly not an enjoyable experience given the other details and how things turn out (particularly as Raphael would need Gortash's own plans to fail entirely in order for him to succeed in his own and get that crown). And as fans, we accept that. We don't sit making excuses, or trying to say "well actually Gortash is a little shit and Hope probably deserve it", and we don't shy away from or conveniently ignore those darker sides of him with malicious intent to enable more evil to flourish. What I noticed, when I allowed the thoughts to continue, is that there is a theme here.

If Evil Can Be Loved Then So Can I

That's the core. Of course, darlings, I am not claiming to be a heinous monster. I certainly do not have a laundry list of crimes that would make the devil himself say "Uh, that's a bit much." But I sure as fuck treat myself like I do sometimes. You see, I think a lot of us have that tendency, to judge ourselves far more harshly than anyone else. Our patience, understanding, and forgiveness for others runs deeper than the Mariana Trench, but when it comes to our own flaws? One minor mistake and we think ourselves to be the worst beings ever to disgrace the earth. Thus, the villainy we see reflects how we are treating ourselves. So by loving and accepting all of those things that should be terrible, hated, we are actually learning that no matter how poorly we think of ourselves that we can be worthy of that same love and acceptance. We are extending the affection we are unable to show ourselves to someone we see the worst parts of ourselves amplified within. And that's why villains attract the people with the most kindness. The most forgiveness. Because it takes someone with a truly huge amount of empathy to find love for the embodiment of evil.

Or, IDK, maybe villains are just hot and we're too far down to care.

But wait, before you go!

THERE'S SOMETHING WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT.

All of this is about FICTION. We should never be accepting of the kinds of evil we see in the game irl. We do not owe anyone kindness if they do not show it to us.

What is hot in fiction is not always OK IRL.

Look after yourselves out there, remember that consent is key in all things, and please do try to learn to love yourselves, darlings, you are worthy of it and you should judge yourself by the same standard you judge others. If you are in doubt, if you are worried, if you feel afraid - reach out, talk to someone. There are many who will listen.

Treat yourself as you would treat a friend. You deserve that much.

Oh, and all Raphael fans who understand kindness are welcome around me, any hour of the day, I adore our little fandom circles and would gladly collect all of us together. I'm following a lot of you as soon as I find you, like hunting shiny pokemon~

See you in Avernus, my darling Little Mice, may we all find joy in the Cambion's Embrace~

[strange-destinations]

hi, I'm Kitty, she/her! I occasionally go by different names on the internet, but around here it's just Kitty. I'm an artist, musician, and writer with a fondness for weird worldbuilding and folklore. This is my pinned post where I briefly outline all of my creative work, for quick reference. I do a lot of creative things.

If you're here mainly for fandom things, I write fanfiction for a scattering of fandoms - often Doctor Who and adjacent, although occasionally I branch out. You can find me under TheBigCat on AO3. I also draw - a lot! - mostly fandom stuff. Here's my general art tag. I bind books and fanfiction in my spare time, and have an entire blog dedicated to that at @perfectlynormalbooks.

For non-fandom writing, my Medium blog has a few short pieces of original fiction. Whenever I write more short pieces, they'll most likely go up there!

I wrote the visual novel/interactive fiction game, Antigone Will Take The Stairs Today, an adaptation of the Sophocles tragedy. I'm hoping to do more games in the near future - both video games and TTRPG. You can find all of that sort of thing on my itch.io page.

I do a Doctor Who TTRPG campaign with my friends called Thieves and TARDISes, which kind of took on a life and mind of its own. I play a future Doctor incarnation, and occasionally GM! We have audio recordings and transcripts of that, among other things. You can find more about that over here.

I write music! Mostly instrumental tracks and soundtracks for various things I make. You can find completed albums over on my Bandcamp and less incomplete, experimental things over on my Soundcloud.

My music project about an apocalyptic techno-fantasy future featuring Weird FAE and monsterhunters is Child 306, and you should totally go check it out, there's milfs in there.

I also have a YouTube channel where I do even more music-y things when the fancy takes me, as well as some art and animation-type things, small goofy jokes of indeterminate format, and the occasional nerdy video essay.

I have a shop with some small bits and pieces of fandom-y merch, including keychains and custom washi tape. Check it out here!

Finally, if you want to support me and my projects, my ko-fi is a great place to do that. You can throw me a few dollars, or commission a doodle/bigger art piece from me. Commission details can be found here.

My askbox is always open, if you have any questions.

[flowers-for-em]

Get to know me post!

Hello!

This is a little bit about me!

My name is Emma I'm a minor (creeps and pedos will be blocked) I'm a capricorn - Birthday is January 12 I'm a Ferrari girl <3

My writing blog @the-ballad-of-us

Things I post about:

- Shatter me - The Inheritance Games - Once Upon a broken heart - Writing (cause what's better than actually writing? Reblogging memes about it!) - The Caraval series - Acotar - Folk of the Air - basically anything I find funny or want to rant about

The fandoms I follow:

- Shatter me - The Inheritance games - Ouabh trilogy - Caraval - The Dance of Thieves - Acotar - Swifties - Six of Crows - Powerless - Folk of the Air

Genres I like (books & Music):

- Romance - Fantasy - YA - Dystopian - Taylor Swift - Artic Monkeys - Chase Atlantic - A little of Lana Del Rey

Things I like:

Reading, writing, cooking, music, art, Christmas, daydreaming, coming up with new wips then abandoning them after two chapters, my dream is to open a bookstore/cafe/flower store in a city someday <3

Fave TV shows & Movies:

- Brooklyn Nine Nine - Friends - Alexa and Katie - Oceans 8, 11, 12, & 13 - Now you see me 1 & 2 - Knives out - Any chick flick really.

My Mood Board and things (mostly cause they're pretty):

My mood board <3

Fav Colours

Other pieces of info:

I will defend my babies Warnette and EvaJacks until I die.

I have a personal vendetta against Stephanie Garber until she releases information about what the apples were for.

I want to travel when I'm older - I have a list of places :)

I do have a wattpad account and a story.

My Wattpad

My Pinterest

I spend an unhealthy amount of time scrolling on Pinterest and Tumblr :)

Thats about all for now.

If you want to know anymore just ask! Seriously, I have like zero friends in real life, so you can spam me anytime. I love talking to new people.

Lots of Love

Emma <3

[stephthesorceress]

((Main Art Account @stephdragonness )) ((This is my Original Character / Main Sona is For Between Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon Fandom RP))

Hello there My Lovely's, i hope your all having a fine day. Welcome to my blog.💜 If you need ask me Something or just come by for tea, its all good.

My Occupation's-Homes

Leader of the thieves Den of Dragon realm.(First Home) im the current Chief/Queen of the place but im most just a figure head for the palace, the den mostly run by the Elder council, (Thief, Assassin and Merchant leaders*Egg Thieves leaders). i tend to some the Lesser decisions for the den so they leave me to deal with allies of dragon realm or our customers wish have den services. We Currently no longer doing or being called by "Egg Thieves" at moment, so just thieves since we now joined to be part of the dragon realms, it was decide to keep to stealing treasure and no longer dragon eggs to keep the peace.

Wumpa Islands - Cortex Castle.(Second Home) Current Situation Allied with a Human scientist from earth that came to my Thieves den awhile back, he was insistent to have my Service and my.. ahem.. personal Service to help him in his endeavours, Im not his Minion! im my own Faction party allied with this human even i have my own personal things with the human, he has charmed me but im my own individual in this partnership. Working on manipulation of power crystals, Studying the mojo thats natural to islands and keep check on any magical disruptions to the islands as the monkey temple is resource to my Portal gate back home to dragon realms, so i keep to maintain the temple Energy to keep portal active so im freely able come and go as i please. Some would say im The Doctors.. ahem.. Sweetheart, that's for us only in private to know. rest his team, enemy's or others can think what they like, but yes im very fond of the human male scientist.💜

My temporary Study in Cortex Castle (or current dr cortex lair)

My Skills if you acquire to ask for my services

Rouge- Thievery/Stealth skills

Arcane Arts ~ Alchemy, Rituals, Magic Expert-Studies Arcane Arts/Alchemy with science base to it.

Water / ice Magic Form Solid Ice Crystals into in Armor or weaponry needs. bend bit water mostly to ice. make a snow golem.

My Forms: I change my Body forms to suit me to the realms or homes im currently in. my "Alterations" and "Transformations" Arcane Skills are my Best Spell talent, Recently been trying a earth Japanese term called gijinka form thats new. i Used have a original form but.. im not really fond that old self of me and prefer my new Anthropomorphic form.

Yes if it wasn't Apparent im sweet on the Doctor, strange little human came into my life, well Shot through a old Portal into the borders of the Thieves den palace ruins... strange meeting that turn into life changing event for myself. ((Read the Current OCxCanon FanFic i Been Writing of there Meeting origin Here)) (in a time skip after 'mind over mutants' they have Fankids! ) ((More Info character here and HeadCanon/Fanon here )

[demonadelem]

I had a conversation with my buddy ol' pal @bludoby on how as former Instagram mains we both become disillusioned with instagram and it's treatment of artists.

Even with posts that "blow up" on every other platform, Instragram refuses to share my art outside of my followers, same for Blu who has seen a noticeable decline in followers for the site. This is no longer a viable platform for growing artists looking to form a community or get commissions.

It wasn't always bad, we mained it for a reason.

Pre-reels era before 2020 Instragram was a great place to find fandoms, I was all over for fancomics. You could really get a sense which fandom was active from how it invade your feed. The voltron era was intense even though I never got involved but the art was good. For a platform that's minimal on the words being an image based platform, it was easy to avoid the discourse you hear second hand. Instagram was the best place to enter "toxic" fandoms cuz it's just images and nobody cares about words. It was fun to build an individual community but it was always a bit too individual and insular. I really liked the asmr community although alot of ppl found it annoying, slimes and soaps and mukbang, delicious sounds that give me the tingles. It blew up and all the internet came to leer at it or make fun of it or enjoy it.

It's gone now.

Reels screwed it all up since the way that these were filmed. They just don't fit the format and all the videos were all forced into the format. It's also killed the edit community for the same reason, something that uniquely thrived on pre reels insta.

They saw the tiktok cashcow and wanted a bite.

It had it's problems, constant art thieves, you can't post something too detailed or Instragram blurs it togather. There was this thing were ppl would target tags and spam them with like pictures of poop or edgy memes mostly controversial ship tags and ppls personal sorting tags like #/Blankblankcomic.

I hate how reels are getting more and more invasive. I have how the normal pictures next to the reels are surprise more reels. I hate how you have to enter reels mode to see more the video or hear the sound and you get stuck back into the endless scroll.

We're trying to build up on other platforms but they have their problems, Tumblr is awesome but it doesn't have the largest fanbase, Twitter is... twitter, the others don't support pictures.

The way that these social media sites push young artist's inherit creativity and passion til they burnout and discard them from the algorithm and they think it's the audience losing interest in them and feel obligated to almost pay rent to fandom with content and apologize for not posting for a while BUT IT'S NOT THEM.

Mega tech companies are monopolizing our very attention and it frightens me.

[firstprince-ao3feed]

Once Upon A Time In Mexico

by MayQueen517 "A better surprise would have been for me to not have to plan a jailbreak and a get-away in the same breath," June says, offering an orange segment through the bars. Words: 888, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 1 of Setting Prompts Fandoms: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/F, Gen Characters: June Claremont-Diaz, Nora Holleran Relationships: June Claremont-Diaz/Nora Holleran Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, setting prompt, they're art thieves or something like that, set in Mexico, because why not, also because hot, both the place and Junora, Established Relationship, surprisingly G rated from me via https://ift.tt/rCgs1XF

[bright-and-burning]

thank you for the tag @albonoooo <333

star sign: leo (attention whore signs 4 the win)

favourite holiday: my neighborhood does neighbor day every year and that’s a solid percentage of my favorite childhood memories. my neighborhood is very very close (very much so an “it takes a village” mentality) so i grew up with essentially twenty aunts and uncles. and also like ten dogs and thirteen vaguely cousin-esque figures on my block. anyways it’s like a massive potluck barbecue thing, it goes from like noon to whenever the last person heads in (which can be quite late). think like. potluck barbecue to casual day drinking to big bonfire w smores as the day goes by. as a kid i spent the whole day roaming the neighborhood and coming back every so often to grab food from the tables before heading off again. as an adult i got to get drunk on seltzers with a bunch of 50 somethings and it was incredible

last meal: omg it was my last ohio meal… i got it from this really special like local version of sonic’s (like a drive up food place). they make their burgers w a little bit of brown sugar and mashed banana (they’re the best burgers i’ve ever had). so i had a double hamburger w fries and a mint shake w brownie spindled in. if you’re ever driving through ohio PLEASE hit me up to get this place’s name it’s GLORIOUS. 1980s pricing (admittedly 80s portions too lol). neon signs everywhere. what i will miss the most

current favourite musician: i tend to just hit play on my liked songs so whatever i liked most recently gets played wayyyy more. a lot of the backseat lovers rn

last music listened to: mama’s gun by glass animals (BANGER OF A SONG!!!)

last movie watched: the muppet christmas carol i think . yeah according to letterboxd that lmfao

last tv show watched: i just binged monarch: legacy of monsters w my parents (amazing godzilla tv show but godzilla’s only in it for like. 10 minutes total lol. gay people <3) and then we started lockwood & co tonight on a whim

last book/fic finished: the invisible library by genevieve cogman !!! so good. librarian spy thieves…

last book/fic abandoned: oh gosh. i am such a completionist that i don’t think i ever leave books unfinished. technically i won’t be able to finish the masked city (the sequel to the invisible library) bc it belongs to the library and i am moving. but i will be picking it back up as soon as i have a library card in my new area so? does that even count? yeah i don’t really dnf things

currently reading: the masked city by genevieve cogman technically. lol. i’m trying to read at least a page a day in january. some days that means literally reading a page other days it’s reading 300. since i started the masked city like four days ago ive only made it through 30 pages bc moving is a nightmare so.

last thing researched for writing/art/hyperfixation: hm. technically for the last thing i like posted that would be the drug testing guidelines for f1 (tldr fun fact party drugs are fine out of competition). i read like. 60 pages of legalese. and a bunch of medical stuff and then several wikipedia pages and guides for athletes. the last wikipedia article i opened was for NATO and i have no idea why LOL

favourite online fandom memory: i have the memory of a goldfish… i’m also pretty sure f1 is the first time i’ve been involved w a fandom like. as it’s happening. i’m usually a latecomer . i did enjoy whatever the fuck went down w supernatural and putin that was fun second hand (literally thru a groupchat bc i was in my significantly less terminally online era aka i was in college)

favourite old fandom you wish would drag you back in/have a resurgence: newsies (1992) my beloved… i plotted out a fic that would stretch over like. 40 years. i went INSANE on historical accuracy research. and then i got depressed… someday my magnum opus (slice of life polyamory through turn of the century nyc) will come to fruition

favourite thing you enjoy that never had an active or big fandom, but you wish it did: i feel like there’s been a million times i’ve walked out of a movie (or finished a book, or a tv show) and gone to ao3 and then it has like. 4 works. the rivers of london series by ben aaronovitch only has like . 1k fics on ao3. and not a lot of ppl posting on tumblr. so maybe that?

tempting project you're trying to rein in/don't have time for: all of them tbh… runners au really (it’s spawned into like three different fics of plot lines Plus an epistolary type companion…). i literally constantly come up w ideas (usually hyper specific aus) all the time ask dees it’s a PROBLEM for me. bc i have no time for any of them…

no pressure tags if u wld like <3 @userkritaaay @leclercenjoyer @drivestraight @oscarpiastriwdc @eyes-likepilotlights (i have not paid a ton of attention to who has done this/been tagged sorry)

[gorogues]

Fictober 2023

Prompt number #9 Fanfiction Fandom: Flash Rogues Rating: G – General audiences Warnings: None.

Day Nine: “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

The thieves crept through the building with wonder, astonished by everything around them.

“How can a place be filled with such old junk, and still have this kind of security?” one asked the others incredulously, and the question wasn’t rhetorical.  “I thought you said this was a museum!”

“It is,” the leader said calmly, eyes carefully scanning their surroundings.  Searching intently for something.  The crew passed by a large treadmill without stopping.

“Then why the hell did it take us so long to break in?  You have to tell us more, man!”

“You know everything you need to.  Ah, that’s what we’re looking for.”

There was an armoured door in front of them, protected by an intimidating electronic lock.  The leader of the group placed a tiny device on the keypad and the display began running through various numbers in search of the combination; it didn’t take long to find it.  Soon the lock chimed and the door swung open, revealing an entire museum wing inside.

“What the..?!” one of the thieves breathed as the trio beheld what lay in front of them.  “We came all this way to see another stupid room?”

The leader grinned widely.  “Welcome to the Rogues Gallery, gentlemen.  Full of genuine supervillain weaponry, and all in perfect working condition.  Get the bags.”

He reached for the nearby Mirror Master statue and plucked the mirror gun out of its hand, turning it around to admire the pistol from various angles.  He pointed it at a Flash statue and pulled the trigger, delighted to watch the entire figure disappear.  “Sweet.”

“This is so cool!” one of the thieves whooped, grabbing the heat gun from the Heat Wave display and pretending to aim it at his comrade, who looked at him with contempt.

Their leader was trying to wrench a trick boomerang out of a statue’s hand when he heard the whine of a device powering up behind his back.

“I would not do that if I were you, sirrah,” Dexter Myles said in an even voice, betraying no hint of fear.  The leader slowly turned around with his hands up.

“You’re an old geezer!” the thief exclaimed in surprise, starting to laugh.  He put his hands down, smirking at the man pointing a slender green ray gun at him.

“And yet I have Mister Element’s gun trained straight on you, my good fellow.  ‘As many arrows, loose'd several ways, come to one mark.’”

The thieves’ leader laughed again and returned to his task, so Dexter steeled himself and fired.  In an instant, the air around the young man had transformed into a graphite cube, trapping him safely within.  The other two thieves stared at this in horror and needed no further encouragement to flee.  They ran for it, not realizing there was a speedster waiting for them by the front door.

“Bloody thou art; bloody will be thy end.  That’s Richard III for you if you don’t change your ways, young man,” Dexter said with satisfaction over a job well done.  “Thieves stealing from Rogue thieves…what is this world coming to?”

“Ever thought about replacing all of these with props?” Wally asked with a grin, watching from the doorway with two hapless thieves tied up at his feet.

“Of course not!” Dexter said indignantly.  “The museum needs realism, ‘to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature’.”

“Right, I just figured the two of us could use a break now and then, but I’m not gonna argue with an actor who can wind me in circles with big words.  Plus you’ve got an element gun.”

Dexter smiled warmly at him.  “How else would I have gotten my way all these years?”

[thevagabondexpress]

cracks in the merry thieves, or, some issues a tsc fan sees in tsc, pt. iii

A nomad needs space to breathe in order to heal. A dismissed shadow fights for oft-denied recognition. And an exchange student outgrows his friends. Not the picture of the Merry Thieves we're used to, I know, but it's what I see when I see Matthew, Christopher, and Thomas in the context of that group.

I've seen lots of people analyze Matthew and his past actions far more deeply and intelligently than I ever could do, but I'm going to talk about his future actions instead, as he's reconciled with most of the other Thieves by the ending of Chain of Thorns—save Christopher, in worlds where he both a) lives and b) sticks around in London long enough to hear Matthew out—and thus what he's about to do now has more consequence here. He's going to travel the world. And not just a cross-cultural exchange like Thomas is going on. He's expatriating from England. It seems pretty clear to me that he's not coming back. London is a place that hurt him, badly, and it's a place in which he hurt other people badly. Alastair and Charlotte, people he'll likely never look at again without carrying grief and guilt, are in London. To truly heal he needs to leave this place that will always remind him of pain, and that means leaving the friends he loved and hurt behind. He's already moving on.

Christopher I've talked about before. I have a whole long vent-post about him. TL;DR direct quotation of that, "He's consistently dismissed, even by those closest to him, as the cinnamon roll, the mad scientist, the one who's bad at social interaction, the one who's definitely not interested in romance, with no input from Christopher himself whatsoever at all to confirm or deny any of these stereotypes.

"He's belittled, his friends and even his sister treat him like he's six, not sixteen (upon hearing of his death Charles calls him 'Little Kit' as if the person in question wasn't two years away from being a legal adult). They seem to think he can't take care of himself just because he's absentminded, nobody ever tells him anything important (Thomas only realizes he should've told Christopher about Alastair once Christopher's gone), and any time he tries to step out of the 'mad scientist' box his decisions are questioned and he's thrown right back in."

He spends the entire series with very little validation or recognition from the narrative and its characters (we really only get one scene in his point of view, in Chain of Iron) and this is epitomized in how he's barely mourned. You might be alive in my version of events, but even so, ave atque vale, you brilliantly adorable bastard, since nobody in CC's canon said it.

And then there's Thomas. He's going through something I've experienced more than once in my life, and that I've watched many other people experience. You change in some way, whether that's an obvious milestone growing-up like starting college or something more personalized; say, switching program tracks in school (honors, STEM, fine arts, general track, etc.) to pursue a goal, or leaving a fandom, or in my case, becoming a publishing internet author. You grow out of the friends who don't follow you in taking that step, or a similar one (I remained friends with the visual art kids I know, but lost the theatre crowd), and you make new friends that fit your new life.

This isn't about age maturity, really, it's not about the fact that Thomas is legally an adult now. We can see Christopher begin a similar process in Chain of Thorns as he discovers Grace (who shares his interests in a way most of the Thieves do not) and chooses spending time with her over attending the Institute's Christmas ball. Thomas has made major steps away from the worldview of the rest of the Thieves: he's done what's essentially the TSC version of a cross-cultural exchange program. He's exploring romance in a way far more complicated than what we see, say, James going through with Grace and then Cordelia: as not only falling in love but also as a process of reconciliation and deep understanding between two people who have fundamentally changed since they first met six years ago. He's spent time away from his friends, gaining new experiences they haven't gained, and while he is in some ways no more more or less mature than his other friends his lifestyle and worldview are very different. Think about how changed you would be after spending most of a year in a country your friends haven't visited.

I can see in the series that he's slowly starting to outgrow the friends with whom he does not connect. They still get along but they're starting to go in different directions. He's already losing his connection to Christopher by the start of Chain of Thorns (he doesn't think to bring up Alastair until after that door is closed). James has settled down with Daisy (for as long as that lasts) and will therefore likely never get a cross-cultural experience like the one Thomas had. Matthew is getting one (his Voyage) but, while his relationship with Thomas seems to be okay at the end of Chain of Thorns, I don't see him sending notes to anyone but James. And all of them are quickly approaching real, functioning adulthood.

Most "real adults" I know in this world (not just people who are legally adults but are at an age where they're done their schooling and have lives of their own beyond it) don't keep in touch with their childhood friends much after college or high school. Like in the real world, I can see that, while they're still close at the end of Chain of Thorns, the Thieves will inevitably change so much that their differences pull them apart and, like real adults do, they'll scatter to the four winds and find new friends who speak to their new experiences.

In worlds where Christopher lives, I struggle to see him continuing his relationship with the rest of the Thieves much past that final London battle anyway. To fully realize all that potential he has, he needs to break from these people who treat him more like a baby brother than an equal friend on equal footing and move on to people like Grace who not only share his interests but make attempts to connect with him as an intellectual and a mature adolescent, and not just as a beloved hobbit who lives in Henry Fairchild's laboratory.

Thomas needs more friends who share his broad horizons: people like perhaps Cordelia, who like her brother has traveled extensively in her life, or like his cousin Anna who has spent years observing people and developing an analytical skillset that would make her an excellent therapist should demon-hunting ever not work out for her.

And as much as I love James and Matthew's dynamic, and as much as the dream is that parabatai will remain close as brothers always and forever, Matthew needs to travel the world. It's clear that this is his path to fulfillment as chemistry is for Grace and moving out of the house is for Arati. And I struggle to see him, after a long time spent traveling the world, as someone still able to connect to a friend who's chosen to not go anywhere at all.

TL;DR: I love the Merry Thieves. But they're not destined to stay best friends forever.

"some issues a tsc fan sees in tsc" is an attempt to break down the unacknowledged things in tsc that i unearthed reading chain of thorns, rereading the rest of the series in preparation for it, and writing two longform fanfics (one of them a genderbent canon reworking) for the last hours. click on the "some issues..." tag to see more of these.

[sereia1313]

Daiyoukai Make Captivating Art

A little something for all the wonderful artists we have in this fandom. May your art never be stolen, and if it is, may the fluid inside the thieves' eyes boil bigger holes in their heads.

Read it on Ao3, Dokuga, and FFnet.

Summary: Shippou drags Kagome to a gallery in order to meet a local artist. She had no idea a trip down memory lane was a requirement beforehand.

Sneak Peek

"What are you wearing?"

Yuka placed her coffee on the table, then unzipped her jacket, showing off the rest of her shirt. "Isn't it awesome? I found it at a night market with Kenji."

Kagome frowned, tilting her head to the side. The picture was slightly distorted, like it was out of focus, but the colours were captivating, so she could understand why it had caught Yuka's eye. "Is it a fairy tale?"

Her friend nodded eagerly. "I think it's a take on Romeo and Juliet. Doesn't it give off the whole star-crossed lovers vibe?" She reached into her purse and pulled out some postcards with the same image so Kagome could get a better look.

A dark-haired woman stood on the edge of a cliff, face hidden as a man reached toward her. There was something oddly familiar about him, but his face was mostly hidden by silver hair. Kagome turned it over, looking for a name. "I don't see a signature."

Yuka shrugged. "Who cares? The art is gorgeous, and that's all that matters." The conversation shifted, and the postcard was slipped into Kagome's bag, mostly forgotten.

[neutronstarchild]

are you supported writers in ao3 against a.i. thieves ?

I did not realize my stance on this issue was super hard to figure out (hint: it's not. I'm against AI and have said so, so this ask seems to be about signaling rather than a sincere request).

Right now A.I. is not intelligent. It is ingesting the unprecedented amounts of data that human beings have created. This is the first time in history that statistics could be applied to such enormous language training sets (can you imagine trying to enter the data onto a computer back in the day when computers were terminals?)

That means that right now, it is taking as much human created data as it can to try to spit out things that are similar but not identical to what it ingested. It's why AI is extremely well-versed in the Omegaverse, because it's been scraping fanfic archives (and everything else, including a LOT of stealing intellectual property that could lead to lawsuits).

So someone coming to an unfinished story, copying it into some AI bot and then saying "give me an ending" even if they have no intention of publishing it is stealing, because it's giving new intellectual property to the A.I. language set to use to more efficiently parrot things back.

Don't buy into the hype that we are three steps away from self-awareness. A.I. can only give us a guessed model of things that it ate (kind of like when I fit a line through lots of datapoints!), often illegally. It's very good at plagiarizing and lying.

So please stop sending me asks about whether I will stand up and say (AGAIN) that of-fucking-course I support AO3 writers against thieves coming in and stealing their stories and feeding ever more into the plagiarism machine.

What else am I doing about it? Well, I reupped my membership to OTW, so that I can voice these serious concerns to the board as they sit with the reality of A.I. and what the unscrupulous are doing with that A.I. AO3 is an archive designed for people to look at things that they loved and closed their eyes and imagined what (and who) their favorite characters could be doing, then sat down at their computers or with their notebooks and actually put to words (or art) those things to share with the rest of us.

So... do you want to know what to do since your favorite story ever ended on a cliffhanger and it's driving you nuts because you want to "know the ending?" Here are some non-A.I. things you can do!

Comment on that fic, explaining why it is your favorite and how it makes you feel (though avoid "when is the next chapter?" comments, they can make the muse go back into its cave to hide).

Make some fandom friends. especially ones that love said story as much as you do, and roleplay an ending privately in a Discord server with those friends. The reason that putting a story into ChatGPT and then finishing it is ucky is because ChatGPT remembers and steals that input.

Ask yourself why you loved that thing so much. Is it because it is a clever trope perhaps? Or the premise is delicious? Well then, sit down and open a document (or notebook) and write your own version, then use AO3's Inspired By to credit the original story. Why is this different than A.I.? Because it's connections you yourself are making, instead of parroting out plagiarism.

Go onto your fandom social media account and say something about how much that unfinished story means to you and why, because you never know if there's a writer out there who just needs that tiny little push to finish.

And when can we think about all this generative A.I. stuff and use it? Well, once policies are in place for transparency in what is in the training set. Ways to opt out your creations (this includes retroactively). Right now the tech bros are running away as fast as they can with the stolen treasure chest and hoping they run far enough that governments throw up their hands and don't tell them to return what they stole. Don't let them do that.

So, there you have it.

I support writers against content thieves throwing their work into A.I., and now you even have a handy-dandy little list of things you can do if you are hungry for the end of the story that does not involve plagiarizing and stealing!

[gentlemanthiefshowdown]

So we thieves fans know that Kaitou KID and Lupin III have beef with each other but my question to the mods: which thieves would get along like a house on fire?

I often imagine Kaitou KID and P5 Joker being friends/would get along because of their "doing their own justice because authorities won't" MO and dramatic flair of stunts.

Ooogh! This is a good question! I don’t know a few of our contestants, but I semi-know about half so I’ll give it my best go!

I don’t know much about Persona 5, but for sure I do want to get into it and even more I love the many crossovers the DCMK fandom has with it. I won’t lie, I’m most partial to the potential team up battle with KID and Joker against Hakuba and Akechi, haha. Especially for the latter since I would love to see how ideals may contrast (I know a little of Akechi’s story, so it really does have me interested)

Despereaux was my first gentleman thief encounter, and I do love him to death. He’d get along pretty fine with anyone who lets him assume most charge, so I’d say he might work well alongside Phantom R as a fellow art thief. Especially what with Despereaux’s “real” identity (which I choose to ignore, but for context he works for Interpol), I feel he would empathize Raph’s motives and also think it’s hilarious as an art thief himself. It would work either that way or Despereaux would play along up until the end when he steals the paintings because he just does that. (Honestly, that second part could account for anyone who even tries to work with him. You think he's on your side, then the next thing you know your pockets are empty and you're stranded somewhere in Canada).

If we want to give Raph a person he may trust, then I vouch Parker who will not only be willing to help return what was stolen (because it is what the Leverage Team does), but it’s an opportunity to rob a place. A chance at a heist! Of course she’d do it. Also, since Raph is a kid with a bit of a troubled history what with his dad and all, I can’t help but imagine she’d get attached to him real quick (and then maybe lecture him on not getting involved with the crime life like she did in that one car-jacking heist).

I think KID and Parker would get along, also. Both love their jobs and also focus more on the people rather than the monetary gain (Kaito returns what he steals to the rightful owner, whether that be the legal owner. Parker does much the same with the Leverage crew). Though, honestly, I can’t help but imagine they try and one up each other in their thievery attempts.

I am so tempted to go on a long-winded rant about the characters I know and who/what they wouldn't get along with, but alas I fear I’ve gone long enough!

–Mod Silver

[maskednihilism]

ooc. As a jumping point from my prevs post, I also had a chat with a friend about Sampo and his actions. Mind you this person has nothing to do with hsr, they're a completly neutral party listening to me talk about my current blorbos as they play DMC.

(Altho if you want to commission someone I do highly recommend @oriworii . Their art is mwuah and they have good tastes sometimes)

Shilling out of the way, we discussed Sampo and his mask of being silly and playing this role of being what people seem to project onto him. Whether it's the game itself (when it encourages you to bully him) or the fandom (thinking he's going to pull a yandare girl simulator and kill for kawaii pointos)

Ori had this to say about it

And I can't help but agree with them. Sparkle even imprints on Sampo, believing he's the same old Fool from before.

She knows him from before. And is familiar enough to act him and is convinced she can even pretend to be him well enough to the Trailblazer whom has met him. And unfortunately, she did seem to succeed. It doesn't stop her from being wrong however.

Currently a theory I've seen floating around is that this is a conversation pre-Jarilo-VI disaster and pre-Penacony. As shown by here:

Personally I still bounce between yes and no but for this post I'll say I do agree. In which case it means they haven't met until this very moment (and the companion quest). So she would have no reason to believe Sampo had changed.

For all we know, he also could've lied to her too. No honor among thieves and all that. But that's speculation on my part I'll admit. Regardless this still proves something.

The mask was important enough for Sampo to go and get it back. Enough to possibly be involved in Jarilo-VI. Whether it's selfish reasons or not, I don't think it matters. Ultimately it was a good thing. By putting Broya in the middle of the Underworld she became aware of the corruption that the Overworld had. It was enough to change her mind and heart over her mother and to actually kick the events into place.

Similar to Aha helping in the Swarm diaster. But I still push for the idea that Sampo is a good man with gray moral values. He does lie and scheme and steal. But compared to other crimes and even other criminals like the Stellor Hunters or even the Annihilation Gang, Sampo's actions are mere child's play. (This doesn't detract that he does go against the law though).

You can be a terrible person and do good things. You can be a good person and do horrible things.

And you can be Sampo. Not exactly good, but not exactly evil.

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

To be extra clear....... Because this is the "listen to my opinion (unasked for)" website so I'm worried that if I keep to myself I'll be misconstrued........ Like I mentioned, I think the staff announcement about third party sharing is as transparent as it can be. And I hope staff communications continue to strive for more and more clarity like this. That is a positive.

However, it's not the end of the story. I have made peace with the fact that our data has already been scrapped. Because there's just no use getting too upset about it - I'm already out there Surviving. Because I'm also in a position wherein I don't have the type of skill and popularity that would lead my specific artstyle and work to be targeted, so as it currently stands, I'm bummed at worst.

I've posted my art to Twitter, pixiv, tumblr. I have very recently removed a bunch of my art from Fandom. When NFTs were all the rage, I removed all of my old art from deviantArt. You can find some of my art - OC or fanart! - from a Google search. I have no doubt that it's in one too many data dumps that I wouldn't have thought about twice a few years ago. This is why I'm not completely shocked that tumblr is one of those places.

I'm not happy about it. I think the current state of AI image generation is absurd, a misuse of the technology, and a small part of a larger story of disrespect towards artists. I've always fought hard against art theft. I miss the time when a well placed signature on your art would deter a good chunk of art thieves (even though it was never all of them).

I just don't have the time and resources to poison ALL of the art I've posted before, and it would likely be a waste of time because it's too late.

What I'm wondering is - if tumblr's transparency about the matter, as much as it's bringing this upsetting topic to our attention, isn't going to protect us in the long run. I genuinely don't know whether or not it can be the case, but just by looking at the toggle as it is, I don't think it's completely bad that companies are starting to give us an option to opt out. This one might be too late and imperfect, but I'm wondering if we can hope that this is the beginning of a better standard for the future. That a platform would let you opt out is, on paper, a positive draw to the contract.

[felixantares]

fic author interview

thank you for the tag @mirrorofliterature 🥰

How many works do you have on AO3?

technically 3, but one I'm listed as a co-author but I just did the art in it so I don't really feel comfortable counting it. so 2.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

37,317 words and counting!

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Well I only have two, so a sign in the midnight sky (297) and my floorplan for Grimmauld Place (24)

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes!! I try to respond to all the comments I get 💕 they always make my day

5. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

hahaha well it's not finished yet so I'll skip over this question!

6. What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

like the above, ASITMS isn't finished yet so I don't have an answer haha, but I'll at least say that when it does end it'll probably be more happy than angsty (the angst ends will be for the rest of the series)

7. Do you write a cross-overs?

I haven't but I want to!!!!! I've got a HP Founders fic/Narnia crossover AU thing that's been sitting in my brain for ages and I definitely want to poke at one of these days (but I am trapped by ASITMS for the foreseeable future (i am okay with this i like it here))

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

nope! Everyone has been really lovely so far!!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Not in ASITMS, it's very firmly in it's T rating (and if I do boost its rating later it'll be for some uh. violence. i've got planned 👀) but later in the Shrines series there might be some, if I feel like it. I've never written smut before though so I think I'd be worried about the quality of it haha

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope!

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

12. Have you co-written a fic before?

Co-written, no (though I want to! one day!). But @sandervansunshine wrote an absolutely stunning little Jegulus fic based off an art I did and put me down as a co-author on that one! You can read it here

13. What's your all time favourite ship?

oh gosh, I don't know. Like maybe a tie between Drarry and Wolfstar? I go back to drarry a lot, and I think a good chunk of my favourite fics to re-read are drarry

14. What's a WIP that you want to finish but think you never will?

ohhhh well I don't know that I'll never finish it, because I do intend to write it one day, but I've got a time travel tomarry sitting in my WIP folder gathering dust, and it'll probably stay there until ASITMS is done at the very least, if not the whole shrines series.

15. What are your writing strengths?

uhhh oh no... probably descriptions? I feel like I'm pretty good with atmospheric stuff and having characters interaction with their environment. Oh and worldbuilding, I do love worldbuilding. 😅

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogue. The absolute bane of my existence. I don't know how to talk in real life and I definitely don't know how to make a conversation sound normal. (Though I've been told I'm doing a decent job of it, so I guess hours of obsessive editing do pay off lmao)

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

I mean, I don't mind it in fics (I do appreciate having a translation in the notes though) and if it feels appropriate, I'd definitely put a few lines in my own fic, but I don't think I'd put like... a whole conversation in a different language. If someone's having a conversation in a different language and it's really long I'm more likely to either just say they're talking (if the POV character doesn't understand the language) or write it in English but in italics (if the POV does understand).

18. What's the first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter!

19. What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

I really really want to write a Dungeons & Dragon: Honor Among Thieves fic, for no other reason than I want to flex my forgotten realms knowledge somewhere other than my own campaigns 😂

20. What's your favourite fic that you've written?

Well it's a pretty easy answer when there's only one! a sign in the midnight sky. It's not only because it's my only one though, i'm really proud of the outline that I wrote (50k between two docs). The whole series is massive and honestly a bit of an insane project to take on, but there's so much time and research that went into it, and because it's 5 fics planned out from the very start there are threads I've already started laying down for the last fics and it's stupidly intricate, and I'm very excited to share the rest of it because I worked really hard on it!!!

tagging: @allalrightagain @girl-with-goats @gloivy

[iholli]

👑 Holli / Rat King || 24+ || Any pronouns || ocean loving ficto ace rat || completely on my gaming nonsense

heya! call me Holli or Rat! this is my home away from home, so welcome to my blog & I hope you enjoy your stay. I mostly post ocean views and selfship content. don't like, don't read! here's the rundown of the place 💖🐀

Main timeline:

not comfortable sharing but selfshippers can still interact!

#heart of mars || Rat King & J'onn J'onzz, DCAU

playlist 🌌🐀

Alternate timelines:

okay sharing with other selfshippers, canon depends!

#💜💖💙 || Rat King, Donatello Hamato, & Leonardo Hamato, ROTTMNT

playlist 🐢🐀

#ratstatic || Rat King & Vox, Hazbin Hotel

playlist 📺👑

#king of hearts || Rat King & Remy "Gambit" LeBeau, X-Men

#PREDATOR/PREY || Rat King & Megalo Don, Fortnite

playlist 🦈🐀 [cover photo]

Other tags:

#venne & squeaker || Rat King & Wally West platonic ficto posts

#ratio broadcast || Rat King & Alastor qpp / platonic ficto posts

#ficto tag || unspecific ficto posts

#ficto tag familial || Justice League / Hamato Clan / assorted Hazbin Hotel familial ficto posts

#ratkingdraws || personal art tag

#ratkingdiscourse || profic / anti anti & other discourse posts

#happy place 💙 / #oceancore || daily scheduled ocean aesthetic posts

Fandom check-in:

ROTTMNT || Donnie simp. Leo enjoyer. || make no mistake, found family is my all time troupe, that's why I'm here. but if you ask me about Leotello,,,

DC || Justice League: The Animated Series & Justice League Unlimited, and all affiliated series || My Adventures with Superman || Green Lantern: The Animated Series || I'm very much a DCAU fanatic, but I enjoy lots of other DC content as well!

Fortnite || Wastelander || Montague, Artemis, Hades, & Megalo Don supremacy || I still don't know all the lore, but man, I love this game || find me more actively about FN on Twitter or add me on Epic @ R47K1NGG4M3S

Marioverse / Luigi's Mansion || Luigi my beloved. normal about King Boo. || if it exists I probably ship it. Booigi. Bowuigi. all three. I'm there.

Invader Zim || ZaDr || RaPr || Almighty Tallest stan account

Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss || Moxxie & Millie enjoyer || RadioStatic || Alastor. Vox. Queen Bee. back in my original era now that Hazbin s1 is out 👏

MCU || Octogoblin my beloved || really not here anymore, however Loki is part of Rat King lore, so feel free to talk about him to me c:

More to know:

I'm very chill, I love notif spam, and it makes my day to get asks! feel free to throw anything to my inbox-- ask me about Rat King lore, talk to me about my f/os, whatever you wanna know or just wanna say bc I do enjoy chatting too c: it just takes me a while to answer stuff sometimes bc I'm very forgetful and overthink ✨ everything ✨👏

this is a pro fiction, anti censorship space. I'm not looking for a fight, I'm just here to yell about my favs, and personally I'm not much for problematic troupes, but I will always support the right for people to do what they want in fiction. tag your shit & be nice. my ship is not your ship and that's okay.

I'm not a big NSFW person, I will never reblog anything I feel is graphically explicit but I use safety tags just in case as I see the need. keep an eye out for #suggestive and / or #nsfw. minors are fine to hang around my blog-- I just expect you to be responsible and block the tags you need.

AI thieves will not be tolerated in any capacity. come within a mile of my blog and you will be reported and blocked on sight. if I ever accidentally reblog AI work please let me know so I can remove it.

thanks for stopping by! if you'd like some tunes for your Tumblr browsing, feel free to check out my Spotify. have a great day 💖🐀

banners courtesy of @lovelycureaestetic 💜💙 & @senseichaos-thedetention 💙❤️