#as you can see I'm a little punchy right now XD

[razzek]

Little accessibility rant 8

Just saw a news article calling dark mode on devices a trend and mother fuckers I dunno how to explain to you that a lot of humans have been breaking the internet for decades because black text on a white bg is pure god damn agony. And if you're going to force your shitty app or your dumb email to break my phone's dark mode settings so it can look nice, bitch I am going to absolutely fuck you with forced custom app rules in the accessibility settings. 8) Now your shit looks like total ass and it's nobody's fault but your own. 8D

Btw if you too want to fuck up a company's hard work so you don't projectile vomit all over your screen, on iOS go to settings - accessibility - per app settings, then plug in any app that's trying to get around dark mode and go into that app and turn on "smart invert". It will mostly leave images alone but everything else it will flip color schemes on. No more eye gouging white bg emails now ahahaha! I'm not sure how this works on Android but I think it's also doable with those devices. To do it on your laptop/pc it just depends on your browser and installing a good dark reader extension.

[kittlesandbugs]

Fanfic Writer Questions

Tagged by @sidestepping & @askweisswolf, ty for thinking of me!!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 62, but if you unstack the one shot compilations... 138ish? if I can math right.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 119,010, and the bulk is FHR lol

3. What fandoms do you write for? Currently Baldur's Gate 3 and Fallen Hero, previously TWC, Dragon Age, Mass Effect/Andromeda, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Gonna cheat a little and do one per fandom because this is heavily slated towards Mass Effect Andromeda just from age lol

Sleep it off - Mass Effect, Shepard/Aria T'Loak, Shep gets drunk at Purgatory and Aria babysits her

Little steps to the side - FHR, Chargestep/Argentstep/Chargentstep, currently 55? little one-shot fics, usually prompts, sometimes tiny ideas I get in my own head

Space snippets - Mass Effect Andromeda, Jaal/Ryder, a few prompt one-shots that picked up big steam when it finally went Explicit lol.

Bottles of Thedas - Dragon Age Inquisition, Solavellan, 20 short one-shots inspired by the collection of booze you can pick up off the ground throughout the game (minus the Warden mixes)

Business and Pleasure - Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2, Exile/Luxa, a re-write/better ending for Luxa gift fic for an exchange

5. Do you respond to comments? I am absolutely terrible at responding to comments because I see them in my inbox and I'm like oh yeah I'll reply to that later when I have time and then.... six months go by... the shame happens... I love every comment I get and I am so sorry alkdsfjoajsdfl

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Ehhhhhhhhhh most of my fics are in-between things, not really stand-alones on their own. Probably the one I milked the hardest for the ending of it specifically is Words not spoken (FHR, Chargestep, Ortega visits Riley's apartment post-Heartbreak)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Again.... in-between things... the Mass Effect Andromeda and TWC fics are largely feel good fluff, so most of them?

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not that I'm aware of, lol

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Typically fluffy and/or hurt/comfort character exploration, although sometimes I feel a need to go for a whump

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I haven't written a crossover since I was 13. I'm 37 now. I don't remember. It was pre-AO3 time for sure. XD

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I'm aware of.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, but I've written fanfics to fanfics by @ellstersmash and @sidestepping because they're both so talented and I Felt The Compulsion

14. What's your all time favorite ship? Whatever I'm currently writing for, in this case... any combo of Chargentstep aaaaaaaaaaand Durgetash lol

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Me, staring at my endless folder of WIPs, some of which having not been touched in five years

16. What are your writing strengths? Character explorations, snappy dialogue, short and sweet and punchy

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Writing long-haul, we're here for a good time, not a long time

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Love it when other people do it! Very rarely do it myself!

19. First fandom you wrote for? Megaman X back in.................. 2000-ish? Very bad self-insert script fic lol

20. Favorite fic you've written? I think Time doesn't heal (FHR, Chargestep, all the Rangers and Riley experiencing the 3rd Heartbreak anniversary) is one of my biggest brain moments for writing fic, but Bottles of Thedas (mentioned above) has a special place in my heart for being the first and perhaps only large project I've finished.

Gonna taaaaaaaaaaaag... @astarien, @the-rebel-archivist, @gingerbreton, @rab-bitly, @catastrofriend

[jaggededges123]

Writing Patterns

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there’s a pattern! Tagged by @ripeteeth, thank you teeth! <333 i do so love tag games 🥰

(i'm gonna only count fics that i wrote and posted directly to ao3, otherwise half of it would be archived tumblr fic and i don't wanna do that so i won't XD <3)

1. “Your eyes are different.” [my eye is wasted from grief (my soul and my body also), TLT, Colum Asht & Silas Octakiseron. given what this fic is, i think it sets up right from the start the lingering sense of grief and silas's general attention to detail both. i'm satisfied. it's punchy imo, if you have the context from canon.]

2. “When you asked Colum the Eighth to hang out with you, in a low husky voice and obviously implying that you’d let him bend you like a pretzel, you didn’t think it would be like… this.” [Naberius Tern: Incest Magnet, TLT, Colum Asht/Naberius Tern/Silas Octakiseron. i do think this one sets the tone quite well, right from the get go it reads very much to me like: hey. we are now entering babs's head. i feel like it's got a smidge of humor in it too, so i'm very happy with it.]

3. “You do not always wear a headband to sleep in.” [The Incorruptible Crown, TLT, Colum Asht/Silas Octakiseron. i guess the most i can say for this one is that it tells you right at the start that the star player of this fic is The Headband™️.]

4. “Silas Octakiseron was in a small room, in a small outpost, on a small moon orbiting their planet.” [it does not rejoice at wrongdoing (but rejoices with the truth), TLT, Colum Asht/Silas Octakiseron. i love the repetition ngl, repetition is a favorite of mine to the point where i probably overuse it. idk what else to say about it, i feel like the next line is a lot more, so to speak, but that one doesn't work without this one. that is pretty common with my opening lines i feel like, that they set up a much punchier and/or more beautiful sentiment a little further on in the same paragraph or the next one, which is almost a little bit of a shame, i think.]

5. “Silas Octakiseron was entering his fifth heat ever, and that heralded exquisite agony for Colum Asht.” [by day the heat consumed me (and the frost by night), TLT, Colum Asht/Silas Octakiseron. i like this one quite a lot, it very efficiently sets things up imo, including the emotional tone for the fic.]

6. “Silas Octakiseron can taste the sin on Capris Asht’s lips.” [Immorality, TLT, Capris Asht/Colum Asht/Ram Asht/Silas Octakiseron. i feel like this one is a bit different in that it starts right in the middle of it both in the sense of like, the act, but also the relationship. i like how this opener conveys that silas still is like. morally opposed to this, but also that he's doing it anyway which says a lot about the fic as a whole. it's v lovely to me tbh, i like this one a lot.]

7. “In the first month of the myriadic year of our Lord, Silas Octakiseron approached Colum Asht after the day’s duties had been performed.” [make no provision for the flesh, TLT, Colum Asht/Silas Octakiseron. i like the implication right off the bat that this is unusual, or it would not be remarked upon. idk, it's a sturdy sort of opener. very serviceable.]

8. “It was happening again.” [the bed undefiled, TLT, Colum Asht/Silas Octakiseron. i'm getting a vague sense of unease and dread with perhaps a splash of annoyance, which is a great place to start this fic imo.]

9. “Colum Asht had never told Silas Octikiseron no before, let alone in the presence of others.” [The Third Sin, TLT, Colum Asht/Silas Octakiseron. tbh i almost wish i could redo this one, i wish i has given a bit more context in the entire opening paragraph. it starts right off from canon which suits, but i wish i had added just a smidge more detail to just really settle the reader if they haven't read gtn recently.]

10. “The pews are empty, long, and wooden.” [enter not into temptation, TLT, Colum Asht/Silas Octakiseron. a short opener for a quadruple drabble! it has a particular cadence that i enjoy.]

what i'm getting out of this is i like using full names in my first sentences, i don't put the pov character's name first nearly as often as i thought i did in 3rd limited (or at least, not recently), and i have recently just gone completely off the deep end after reading htn and now like 60% of my fics will be in 2nd person lol. also i'm uh,, learning (being reminded) that i should perhaps go back around after i'm all done writing and editing and try to rework the opening sentence or two, because a few of these strike me as rather bland (because starting a fic usually requires me to not think about the opening line too much, otherwise i get stuck in blinking cursor hell) but i would like to improve my first sentence game.

<3 i'll tag: @neverhornyoneighth, @moscca, @octakiseronliker, @ilovelunatics, @monroeknoxwrites, @snarkivistfic, @theflirtmeister but only if you want!

[thehuntfortrencherlostmedia]

Random Trench Song Breakdown #1?: Sing Sing

So, I kinda promised I was going to do a song breakdown post and then NEVER DID XD. This is my apology as I opted I'd go more into detail regarding my feelings on certain Trencher songs, namely ones I feel don't get discussed enough. Today's victim: Sing Sing off Masterpiece Theatre, my personal pick for my most underrated song on the album. I too love Perfect and get why it got praise when I made my hot take post, but I feel Sing Sing edges it in regards to songs folks don't give praise to.

First things first, can we talk about the drums that kick off this song? They feel right in line with elements of Jazz or Swing music, something the band would pull from countless times over the next three albums (Stutter, Shut Up & Kiss Me and Wish You Were Here), but none do it quite like Sing Sing does, going from the drums to a punk rock progression that just instantly pumps me up after Josh asks if he can have my attention. Well, sir... you definitely have it. Let's see where you go from here.

The next line "I just opened my mouth, is it clear, is it loud for you"... obviously he's trying to get the attention of someone. Many have attached this to him taking about fame and how much the media was pushing him at the time, topics that get discussed easily on Celebrity Status and Perfect as well, but I feel this song has a double meaning, and refers to his time in rehab, connecting this track to Lover Dearest as well.

We already know it shares elements of the earlier Marianas Trench track Still Angry (That's right. Still Angry isn't a Ramsay Fiction song. It's the sister track to Shotgun, both "live tracks" the band was only ever supposed to perform live. Still Angry got recorded for a radio station, and that's both how they got the Marianas Trench name and how Steve Marshall gave us the recorded version after getting the a-okay with Josh alongside Hideous. Sadly, no known recordings of Shotgun have popped up, albeit lyrics are out there).

But then we get into the pre-chorus, which basically confirms the rehab double meaning for me: You just need me to be stable But I won't be able To keep it together again Now don't pretty please me You're not making it easy To slow me down And of course, then Josh goes into the rest of the chorus, which in my eyes I've always read as him being super stressed about the fame the band suddenly received after Shake Tramp blew up as well as him being back in rehab, using singing and songwriting as his coping mechanism.

Well, not his only coping mechanism, given the song's second chorus is kinda a repeat of the first, trying to get attention from whoever will listen to him.

It's the bridge that gets to me and has left me feeling very much feeling this song has a secret third meaning in it.

"All my indecision, all of my excess Don't you ever tell me I'm not lovin' you best I just need a minute, I just need a breath It gets very hard to drink to my continued success" It's obvious in hindsight that Masterpiece Theatre was a mix of Fix Me's scrapped ideas and a bit of a honeymoon phase album regarding Josh's relationship with his now wife, Amanda. This line feels like the first time Josh ever wrote about any hiccups they had in their relationship, a well he'd write THREE full albums about. It's the drinking line that gets to me the most, as it feels like it was (and still is) another coping mechanism for Josh, one that's not as healthy as others.

But yeah, I just think this song is fast-paced, punchy, the lyrics hit you hard, and had it been a little more radio friendly, a sure fire hit had they released it as a single IMO.