#but anyway yeah I write margins for stuff like that xD

[iamthepulta]

5, 9, 15 for the weird writer thing!

5: Any writing superstitions?

I don't actually, but one of my writing habits is always making a cup of tea before I sit down at the computer. Tea is super important even if I get caught up and realize it's half-empty and cold in the next thirty minutes. I should have a writing superstitions though, haha. Maybe I'd write more consistently.

9: Do you believe in ghosts?

Yeah! Insomuch I can with asterisks on Carbon Monoxide and other parameters. I think there are dimensions out there we simply aren't able to sense because unexplainable things definitely happen. This crosses over a bit with my feelings on religion. Absence of Proof is not reason to believe, but it's foolhardy to disbelieve too. Besides, I'm a scientist; I'm curious.

15: Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not?

I've done all these things lmfao. Reading in the bath I'd do as a kid, but I don't take baths anymore and it got to be a lot of work to keep the water off the pages and my hands dry. But I still write in the margins of my books, especially in researching non-fiction! And I ALWAYS dog-ear my pages. Drives E up the wall and he forbids me from doing it to books he lends me. xD I don't understand why dog-earing isn't common! It's easy and natural and straightforward? The ear is always pointing to which side of the book you were on too, so it's less work to remember where you left off!

[time-gear]

Goodbye 2022, Hello 2023

Helloooo!! I don't really write journals and blog posts anymore, but I’d like to try and change that! At least a yearly one for art stuff since it’s nice to be able to set some goals and they’re kinda fun to look back on. Also I’ve been overly mysterious and closed off online and I feel like I come off kind of cold because of it sometimes. I miss connecting with people over shared interests like I once did before adulthood happened. Giant post under the cut!

Before we get onto art stuff, I kinda wanna touch on some personal stuff. 2022 was so chaotic for me. I got to visit Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. (all very last second with the planning LOL) Those were the trips of a lifetime, my brain will never be the same. (in a “i found myself in europe” kind of way) I went to arizona to see my partner’s family again after 4 years of not seeing them because of covid and jobs and all that fun stuff. Yeah I’ve been on 14 airplanes in the past 6 months I’m done with traveling for a while I hope xD Also had a really amazing time with some long time friends that I never thought I’d meet in person, but here we are! I have anxiety issues, but I unknowingly did a lot to help myself this year and I didn’t realize that until I was looking back on everything recently. There were some other things earlier in the year too but those are boring/personal but were still a lot. I’m exhausted, but not for negative reasons.

Since covid restrictions lessened, my dayjob became much less busy. I was also able to go on actual vacation and It gave me some time to think about life and what it means to me. Do I care about money enough to grind like this? Can’t buy a house so, if I can pay my bills and save a little bit each month, that's enough for me. Maybe the antiwork reddit posts helped me on my way a little too LOL. Anyways the tl;dr is that the cost of owning and maintaining a second car was basically using up all the money I was making at work. I was able to quit, sell a car and take some commissions and the profit margin remained the same. It’s.. kinda sad. I’m mad at my old employer for dicking me around with small ass raises and stressing me out so much for no… reason…………….. Haha…………. He took good care of me (aside from the money thing) and taught me so many things that will be relevant for the rest of my life, but I’m glad I’m not managing 4 fast food stores anymore. I quit on super good terms and I got free pizza for life. Also I don’t have to listen to stupid ass customers yell at me over fucking pizzas anymore!! Yay!!

All that being said, I’m shifting my focus to art now. I’m in a way better mental state and I have a lot of support from my partner so I’m not worried about burning out again. I’m already pretty pleased with the fact that I’m actually improving again! I guess I just needed time to consistently work hard, instead of always being exhausted from a dead end dayjob. Also gotta shout out the people who pick me up and encourage me when it comes to art, you know who you are <3

Moving on from that, I want to talk about more art stuff! The first thing I wanted to say is that I’m DEFINITELY going to be streaming again. I got way too busy around the holidays so I haven’t streamed in a couple of months, but I’m gonna be doing that regularly again this week or next week. So many people have asked when I’ll stream again and that I helped get them through their work day????? Like DAMN you guys I’ll cry. I’m so glad y’all like my company, the feeling is definitely mutual. <3 Like I mentioned, I am a pretty anxious person so it’s gonna be hard for me to stick to a schedule. It’l be during weekdays around 1pm EST like it has been, just I’ll be doing it on random days to spare myself the worrying. Also sometimes I take NSFW work and that is not allowed on twitch, so yeah |D

Another thing I’ll definitely be sorting out this year is a discord server. I spent a lot of time thinking about this and talking to some of my friends who have one and I think it would be fun. My only worry is my inability to consistently check discord, so I’d need mods or to just pray nothing fucked up happens in there while I’m not looking :’D I’ve seen too much dark and questionable stuff happen in small, niche discord servers and public chatrooms. I’m terrified of fostering that kind of environment but I’m aware that isn’t likely to happen bc I think the people who follow me are pretty… normal? If anyone has any advice I am all ears! The point of the server would be to have a feed channel and some premium channels with extra goodies every month. (I’d connect it to my twitch subs. You guys deserve some extra snacks) Maybe some people wanna be pinged when I open for commissions I don’t know! It seems everyone has one these days and I want to try it. Any premium content will be hosted on my website PWYW style as well. This way if people wanna support me they can, but also you can download my silly little sketches for free if you don’t want to give anything. There would be other stuff but that’s the gist of it.

Lastly, I am officially open for commissions. You can find all that information on my website here: https://timegear.ink/commissions/ I have an empty slate right now so the turnaround should be pretty fast.

I guess that’s pretty much all I wanted to talk about? Thanks for reading my silly little rambles if you made it all the way through. <3 Here’s to a fun and productive 2023!

[ladytauria]

Multiples of 5 for the writing questions thing 👀

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?

I don’t know if it’s necessarily a superstition but—

If I don’t write it down / make some kind of note as soon as I think it, it will vanish from my mind forever.

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

Answered here <3

15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

Answered here <3

20. If a witch offered you the choice between eternal happiness with your one true love and the ability to finally finish, perfect, and publish your dearest, darlingest, most precious WIP in exactly the way you've always imagined it — which would you choose? You can’t have both sorry, life’s a bitch

Hm.

Leaning hard toward the second one, if it means getting to write & finish my fantasy series lmao

Although on the other hand, eternal happiness for me would involve copious amounts of writing anyway, so presumably I'd manage to finish and publish it at some point even if it wasn't perfect...

25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

Um.

This one is hard to answer for fanfic, so I hope you don’t mind me pulling from my original series / one of my OCs for this one, nonny <3

A LOT of the details I know about my characters are irrelevant to the story at large, lmao. Anyway, IDK how weird or hyper-specific it is, but I know that the one of the first advanced spells Talitha ever learned how to cast was invisibility, which she then used to sneak out of her lessons so she could spend all her time in the library, teaching herself <3

30. Talk to me about the role dreams play in your writing life. Have you ever used material from your dreams in your writing? Have you ever written in a dream? Did you remember it when you woke up?

I do not dream a lot! But I have written a thing or two based on the occasional dreams I do have. And then quite a few things based on stuff I dream/imagine in that state of like--half-awake half-asleep?

I don’t recall ever writing in a dream xD

35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?

Hmm. Style over grammar is one I saw someone else say and—yeah, agreed xD

40. Please share a poem with me, I need it.

Answered here <3

Decided to go through my poetry tag on my writing blog and re-discovered this one, which got me all in my feelings again <3

[ weird asks for writers ]

[tonya-the-chicken]

I’m not going to change your views but it does feel a bit dismissive when you say it wasn’t that bad because he had rich parents who neglected him but hey they got a maid for him and he probably wasn’t outcasted or bullied so hey it’s not that bad right 🤷‍♀️! I don’t know he definitely didn’t have the worse out of the villains but I don’t know it felt a bit dismissive is all. Although we need to all remember these are fictional characters so have no idea why the other anon needed to get so aggressive! Also the person in the notes I don’t know how to say it but uh the whole the Todoroki’s had a rich father they didn’t have to work a day in their life take is not a good look. Just because someone has parents with money it doesn’t derail the fact that neglect can cause trauma.

Anyways for the real reason I sent this, you wonder why Dabi is so insane. Well take into account the neglect alongside the fact that he burnt to near death up on that hill alone at the age of what 13? That’s got to be extra traumatising, especially for a child that was already not mentally ok. We also don’t know what his circumstances were like after that fire, like was he homeless? Or picked up by someone nefarious? Kind of like AFO(not him exactly but someone nasty) who maybe fed on his brewing anger and hate instead of positive healing. I’m sure we will find out at some point? I don’t think it was just what happened in the Todoroki household or the fire that broke his mind? There had to be other factors after the fire after his “death”!

[[WARNING!!! I love Dabi as a character but I am not a woobifier so if you are too much into him don't read!!!! No complaints taken, y'all will be blocked for being rude I am too old to deal with people unable to interact with me in good faith (anon it's not for you, you are good and I can't understand your point of view I am just not as good as a person and too old for that shit)]]

I don't think I will change my mind either but I feel like the belief that every trauma is equally bad is just... Simply wrong. Like, we can legit compare this stuff and how badly it affects our brain, what do y'all think psychologists research 🤷‍♀️ Like, your therapist won't tell you this because it's not their job to make you understand you not the centre of the Earth (and it won't help because it is a legit trauma response that is very valid but is annoying you're fucking 25 yo). And to say that, neglectful parenthood is probably the worst parenthood style, as far as I know XD I wrote coursework about this (neglectful bitches are having a lot of need to make us the biggest victims (the bitches is me))... It also feels really American to me? Like, are we going to pretend people who got to live in a nice house and were neglect somehow got it as bad as people living in poverty or warzones? Hello? Imagine telling some orphan "I know you have no parents but actually, my trauma of my father not spending enough time with me is just as severe as yours". Bruh couldn't be me sorry... Like, even taking into account the fact that we can have weaker or stronger nervous systems or be more prone to depressive episodes *looks in the mirror and cries* I simply wouldn't find the guts to say my trauma is as severe as idk people who had physically abusive parents or no parents at all or who were disowned for being gay

And like **again** I am not saying that neglect is not traumatic I WAS NEGLECTED THIS IS TRAUMATIZING AS FUCK. I just am living in a country at war and with lots of discrimination problems and I like... Can't say I am the biggest victim. Sorry I can't though there were times when I was a lot more bitchy especially before being in therapy so I understand where you are coming from and I know what I am saying won't resonate with everyone (it's ok go on your own healing journey I believe in you) but this doesn't mean it is garbage and won't help me or someone else... I've already talked once about it but as a person, I am very easily irritated and envious and really not your local Jesus and partially my trauma turned me like this so being more humble about my sufferings helps me not be a complete bitch (believe me or not but people with traumas and mental illnesses are often insufferable *looks in the mirror* not me though I am perfect... BUT IT IS OK TO BE INSUFFERABLE OK??? like, bitch, that's normal. That's normal to stink when you are depressed it's ok to be a bitch when you are hurting. Forgive yourself because I forgive you (when you are not being an abusive asshole but if you apologize and explain yourself I will forgive that too)

The reason why I talk about the fact he is rich is that I've got a disease called leftism and I am a person of several marginalized identities and since this fandom LOVES looking at characters like real humans, I looked at Dabi this way. And if Dabi was a real human, I wouldn't sympathize with him one bit. I would fucking hate him for being the biggest entitled asshole who commits crimes for the reason his Daddy didn't give him attention. Bitch, my Dad didn't give me attention either! But somehow I don't kill people! And I don't even have money!!!! But like... I am not denying that neglectful parents are not a problem. It is. But he is overreacting, bro. He needs to humble down and recognize the fact he is a fucking idiot (he is). He has inherently so much more resources to recover and heal himself than I had... Yes, I am just being jealous at this point but honestly. Making an entire country suffer for you is not a good thing and y'all need to stop using trauma and mental illness as an excuse for people. No! Being abusive to people because of neglect is not valid, is overreacting and you had no reason to do that. I am dismissing your trauma because you are exaggerating it to make me sympathize with your asshole behaviour. I won't judge people with different sets of standards as I judge myself

I bet it would be dismissive and bad if I said it in conversation with someone who is currently struggling with mental health and is not a murderer. But guess what! I don't talk with humans and my friends the same way I talk on my Tumblr about fictional characters 🤷‍♀️ Not to mention I don't have rich friends akabsksbxm

I think with Dabi there's this whole thing where we saw him at 14 (poor baby boy) and 24 (a grown-ass boy) and... Like, I am so sorry for 14 years old Touya not receiving the help he needs (bruh so relatable) but I am not gonna act like 24 years old bitch can't get his ass to a psychiatrist (extremely unrelatable and infuriating). We shouldn't apply the same standards to kids and adults. We can talk all day long about how society is bad and how our parents ruined us but at some points, you gotta take your life into your own hands and do something and be an adult. And it's fucking hard when you're born with a shitty brain that was fucked up by your parents even more in a society where no one gives a fuck but I sincerely don't know another way to live. You will feel bad and want to die but you either keep on recovering or keep on getting worse and at this point getting worse is Dabi's *choice* That's how I live, that's my framework and I am, of course, extremely fortunate in a lot of ways but I just don't know how are you supposed to survive without the notion that grown people are responsible for themselves and their mental health. We can't act like adults are babies

But as a character, Dabi is fucking hot ngl. Like, do I sometimes want to murder my entire family, make them suffer AND commit terrorist attacks? We all do. Dabi is the dark fantasy of us neglectful bitches craving some attention. Gotta kill the president and tell everyone that my Dad sucks. Imagine the entire country hearing your Dad sucks? That's the juice, that's the dream. Trauma makes you vicious. I get the sentiment. Imagine all those fuckers who made you feel like shit pissing their pants and crying? Imagine your Mom being afraid of you the way you used to be afraid of her? People do have the desire for some violent justice but like... Think of bullied kids committing school shootings. But instead of a kid, it's a grown man who graduated school and who also have a rich father

Ok too much about irl stuff and philosophy shit. I know my way of talking is kinda brute so just know the way I treat people is different from that I treat fictional characters, in particular, I don't call real-life humans submissive and breedable... And stuff...

Damn Dabi is kinda good to project your hatred of your parents in bruh, I should write a fanfic about that (would be cathartic)

To the plotline, I am also very interested in what the hell happened with him after burning because... How the hell he wasn't found? I kind of DON'T want him to be groomed at this point because I feel like it won't be as cool as him just more naturally evolving into what he became. Like, surely, he is an asshole but consider this: as a villain, he is morally obligated to be an asshole

I feel like someone hiding him and Touya overstating the gruesomeness of his living conditions to the dude so he feels *bad* for him and hides him and feels sympathy and Touya gets attention but also begins to reassure himself in the fact his Dad needs to be punished... Idk it's a lot of mystery but I feel like more suffering won't deliver the point the way I want it... I mean it CAN be handled this way and initially I thought a lot about Dabi being brainwashed a bit or having his memories altered so it seems worse to him or even him being groomed or lied too but nowadays I am not into it. I mean I believe in Horikoshi and that he will handle him well 🛐

I talk a lot so I will summarize

If we judge him as a real human

14 yo Touya - DID NOTHING WRONG IN HIS LIFE PROTECT HIM

24 yo Dabi - go fuck yourself bitch you older than me and act like a child and kill people, I couldn't care less about your trauma rich boy

If you want me to talk as his psychologist

Yeah, it is painful and sad, I understand him so much and surely, his trauma is valid as is his hatred but probably revenge won't bring him what he wants. And what he wants is love and attention. But he gotta make choices that will lead to his healing. He needs to *want* to heal. And we will step by step go to the healing because it is possible. He is loved and he is enough. AND YOU ALL MOTHERFUCKERS WILL HEAL I BELIEVE IN YOU BESTIES

Also his therapist (behind his back)

You won't believe it but my client is the most infantile attention whore I've ever met

But if we talk about him as a character... Very delicious soup

If you talk with your friends

Please, if your friends are being abusive to you or someone else don't even LET them say how their trauma made them this way. No. Nothing allows you to be an abuser. Call them out and stop them and make them talk to the therapist. Like, surely, there are extreme situations like severe mental illnesses or extreme neglect where we should be more forgiving but babying adults won't do you any good and won't make them recover

Yeah, I guess this is what I forgot to say. When I say "it wasn't that bad" what I mean is that I would be more forgiving to people who had it worse. It's more of a personal measure where I can tolerate stuff from people who had particular traumas or from those who suffered greatly (it's not my place to be a bitch here). I can forgive 14 years old or a poor person for stealing stuff but not the 25-year-old man who got no need for money and is not a kleptomaniac. I would be more forgiving to Shigaraki than to Dabi because Shigaraki was groomed a whole lot. Same for Toga, who is not even an adult or Twice who is a poor orphan. But that doesn't mean I would forgive them completely. All of them are shitty people. It's just that they had fewer resources and possibilities to not be what they became while Dabi had more but he acts like he is extremely hurt and the biggest victim which is like... There will be people like this in your life, please, don't make friends with them, they WILL abuse you

I talked a lot damn. It's adhd I can't shut up

[dredshirtroberts]

Tagged by @tumbleweedtech!!

What is your total word count on AO3?

Oh thank god you're asking me to look there where they calculate it for me so i don't have to try and figure it out across all eleventy-million of my fucking WIPs xD.

uhhhhh looks like...274,424 heh. that's lower than i thought but then again I post very little of what i actually write so...

How many fandoms have you written for?

On AO3? if I lump the related ones together (which i do) it's 4. If we're talking across the board in general? uh...f u c k. there's so much i haven't posted or thought about posting yet. just go ahead and like. add ten more on top of the four fandoms on AO3 i think that's about close if we're counting crossovers and inspired-bys

What were your top 5 fics by kudos?

Right Back to the Beginning

Constellations

Please, What?

Spearwort, Iris and Ash: Spearwort Yellow for Joy

Lia & Em's Adventure In Thedas Part I: The Wrath of Heaven

Do you respond to comments - why, why not?

I... want to? I try sometimes, if someone's comment touches me or came at a particularly bad time. It's overwhelming to respond to people - I'm a lurker by nature and never really grew out of the habit of teen-me knowing i wasn't supposed to be looking at the fics i was reading and so i wouldn't interact with them or the authors at all. So it can be hard to like. reconcile that I'm a fully grown adult person who is allowed to not only read and write what i enjoy but also that like. other adult people are reading and enjoying what i write? and that they'd want to tell me? I admit to also falling out of what little habit i'd started due to continued weirdly critical (yet not *negative*) comments that just. rub me the wrong way so I can't figure out how to respond? yeah.

What's your fic with the angsty-est ending?

Again I guess if we're going by what's actually posted, I'd probably have to say the Super Fucking Old fic I added from my FF.net days: A Late Summer Afternoon (hopefully that's the right link - sometimes copy and paste doesn't work the way i want). warnings for MCD. I...imagine you might be able to pick up on why that one's my angstiest ending xD I generally try to like. end my stories on a positive note? even if it's not all better yet - so the second angstiest would be Color of Your Eyes or Have This probably. Likely more Have This over Color of Your Eyes but they're both relatively tame as compared to my earliest writing xD

Do you write crossovers?

Uh...yes but i haven't posted any yet. Most of the reason nothing I write gets posted is because I am incapable of writing small projects and I get nervous about posting chapters before i know where i story is going yet because i feel like i can't edit if it's been posted? Anyway I'm going to try and get over that eventually. Not right now, though. I still have to edit some stuff.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Hate is a strong word. I...assume most people who have commented mean well, regardless of how their comments may come off to me on my end. Several have rubbed me the wrong way due to phrasing and an inability to read tone over text-based communication, but I refuse to believe they would have kept reading if they didn't like most of the story. Certainly it has been generally positive feedback across the board so I don't feel comfortable at all calling any negative comments i've received (intentional or not) "hate"

Have you ever had a story stolen?

As far as I'm aware, no. Thankfully I tend to write shit that people just don't care that much about so I'm pretty safe I think. Watch that come bite me in the ass xD

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nah. I hope one day to be proficient in my target language and will be able to translate my own fics myself but see aforementioned note about how no one really cares that much about what i write xD it won't happen unless i do it myself.

What is your all time favourite pairing?

You want me? to pick favorites? in THIS economy?

What is a fic you would like to finish but don't think you ever will?

currently none are looking like "never gonna finish"es which is good. RBttB sat unfinished for a long while and I probably won't polish the ending on that one, but it's technically done. I also don't want to finish that one either so. it wouldn't have fulfilled the requirements of the question.

Writing strengths?

You want me? to compliment myself? in THIS econo- alright alright i know, it's a terrible joke. Uh...I understand i'm pretty good at smut. and descriptions? i think? I feel like my humor is unparalleled but that's also because i'm pretty sure i'm the funniest person in my apartment (we'll just casually not mention i live alone...) Seamless integration of current and historical memes? Puns? i don't know. i am super confident about writing but i couldn't tell you for sure what i'm actually strong at.

Writing weaknesses?

uh. Getting anything finished. endings. d i a l o g u e. writing. flow. pacing. repetition. writing. see what i did there? i told you my humor was awesome. no but really i struggle with actually starting to write and then it ends up being a lot of me repeating myself a bunch until i find the sentence or four that work best. and like. my pacing is weird so it can be hard to...figure out what i'm trying to say? oh and commas. i use commas wrong.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages?

I enjoy the shit out of it. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I try really hard to get it right. if I'm not 100% positive it's correct I will change the whole sentence. mostly because i only know a handful of people who know languages other than English and I am bad at reaching out for help when I need it. mostly the second part though.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

YuYu Hakusho! A friend and I wrote this epic fucking self-insert not-quite-isekai style fanfic back and forth in notebooks back in the 6th grade (which was about...oh. nearly 20 years ago jesus i'm old). Only one of my notebooks survived when she decided anime was demons and the devil trying to tempt her away from Jesus so a lot of the story was lost. It was also in pencil so it's half worn out of the notebook as it is. then there was the phase i went through where i decided i could make my notebooks more interesting by cutting them into shapes which lost me a bit of text in the margins that i'd forgotten about... look we're mostly lucky i had it at all or that i've kept it all these years. Why do i still have it?...hm.

What's your favourite fic?

Of mine? So far it's probably a toss-up between Spearwort, Iris and Ash and Lia & Em's Adventure in Thedas. you know. My two biggest projects Oh...oh possibly also the Current-Reworking-The-Title fic I've started that I've not posted anything of yet in the Arcana fandom. Which is also a huge major project. I don't write small if I can help it, apparently.

of someone else's? You want me? to choose favorites? in THIS- yes i know that's the same joke three times. I think it changes based on what I need most out of my fic reading experience. I have an extensive bookmark collection on AO3. one of them in there's probably holding a spot as favorite, most likely.

Tagging: @concertconfetti, @daughterofdungeonbat, and anyone else who wants to do this! If you want a specific tag to do this, please LMK and i'll tag you <33

[stormyweaver]

Oh I'm so sorry!! I just reread your post and didn't realize you meant from that particular list!!! In that case maybe 💔 (Weak) + 💐 (Fit) ??? Maybe with some v bad allergies ???

Hi, hi! So, yeah, this took forever and wow, I’m honestly so sorry about that ;-; my muse is fickle as hell, and it’s like three am at the moment, which of course was when inspiration finally decided to strike. Go figure XD ANYWAY thank you so much for your ask, and hopefully you see this!! (Also just as a note for the drabble in particular, it’s from the show Living With Y/ourself which involves clones, so whenever there’s ‘N!Miles’ it basically refers to ‘New Mi/les’ or ‘Clone Mi/les’ because it’s easier for me to write okay? Okay~)

💔 (Weak) + 💐 (Fit)

Not again... Was all N!Miles could think as his expression once again went slack, shoulders shuddering as he huffed his way towards another fit of sneezes. He'd been going through the same motions of hitch, sneeze, sniffle and pause, then hitch over and over for the last hour. And it had taken him much longer than it rightfully should have to find the culprit of his misery, who was currently eyeing him through hooded lids as she sat curled up in the living room. He hadn't even intended to take the cat inside, only coming in from raking leaves as the clouds began their downpour. But she had been curled up beneath a bush outside, and looked so darned scared and... well, No Good Deed, yeah?

"hhHETSHh'uh! hh'HHESHh! h'EESHHh'huh! Ghh, this is impossible..." At least it should have been. He hadn't even given the possibility of allergies any thought, because wasn't the whole point of being a clone? To be completely similar to the person whose DNA you were created from - well, aside from being better at essentially everything, more physically, mentally and emotionally stable. Except he wasn't even ticking off those boxes, so how the hell could this process be touted as any kind of efficient or reliable? But all that aside, he was Miles clone, and Miles didn't have any allergies, especially not to... Wait, scratch that train of thought, he was going to-- "hHETSHh'huuh!" N!Miles bucked forward with another sudden sneeze, though this time he had enough decorum to dip into the crook of his elbow. A groan slipped out afterwards, fingers automatically pinching the bridge of his nose where a small ache had begun to settle. Which was pretty typical for sneezing about ten times in less than two minutes, he assumed. No matter how much his DNA could prove how human he was, there were still times where even acts like sneezing felt so foreign to him. Maybe it was because he'd been specifically designed to be somehow, oh, bigger than things like sneezing and allergies. He was supposed to be the better of the two Miles, which meant that stuff so miniscule shouldn't shake him as much as this currently was. Still, as he peered past his fingers at the tabby who was making herself at home on the living room floor, he couldn't help but sigh helplessly. He wasn't better by any margin - he was simply a copy of the original Miles, but, digging any deeper than that into the whole 'What is life?' aspect of his existence would have to wait for another time. Right now, he had to take one problem at a time. First and foremost: Where the hell was the Benadryl...? ---- After a bit of frantic searching through the bathroom cabinets, then with lower hopes scouring the kitchen drawers, he came to the unfortunate conclusion that they did not, in fact, have any antihistamines of any kind. And why would they need to? Nobody was supposed to be allergic to anything, not to the point where they would stock up on specific medication. N!Miles released a heavy sigh and brushed a knuckle underneath his nose which, upon a cringe-worthy glance in the hall mirror, had turned a similar pink to match his watering eyes. "Okay, this is fine. Right? Yeah, absolutely! Because... because it doesn't mean anything big. Everyone has allergies, right?" He glanced back towards the only other current occupant of the house, brow raised in expectation. Honestly, he shouldn't have been surprised when to find the cat grooming herself, otherwise uninterested in his outward musings. He began to roll his eyes, but instantly regretted the action as it somehow seemed to prompt a more desperate, involuntary fluttering of his lids. "hhH! Hehh!... Oh, God," A moan rose in his throat, bringing up a square of tissue he’d snatched from the toilet roll to scrub furiously beneath his quivering nose. Just as the thought of moving the cat somewhere else passed through his mind, a bolt of lightening struck outside, followed by a prompt yowl and the sound of quickly padding paws. By the time N!Miles had turned back to the living room, the cat was nowhere to be seen. Wonderful. "Where's my c-cell..." Sniffling pathetically, he began up the stairs. At the very least, he could ring Miles or Kate and ask them to pick up some kind of allergy meds on the way home from work.

[comicteaparty]

January 29th-February 4th, 2020 Reader Favorites Archive

The archive for the Reader Favorites chat that occurred from January 29th, 2020 to February 4th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

Which genre is your favorite for webcomics and which is your least favorite? Why is that?

carcarchu

Romance is without a doubt my favourite genre although i do have a particular soft spot for historical series too (and if it combines the 2 that's a dream come true ). as for my least favourite i guess sci-fi, i'm really not a fan of having to remember a ton of world building details and the backstories of some sci-fi series feel like reading a textbook sometimes. also comedy can be really hit or miss for me if the sense of humour used in the comic doesn't do it for me

Capitania do Azar

Honestly I'll read petty much anything if I'm having fun, not necessarily a genre-related issue. I think nice, interesting stories can be crafted in any genres. That being said, fantasy is usually not my jam and I really like Sci-fi

Kabocha

When it comes to webcomics, I'll read a lot of stuff! But I think Fantasy and Drama have a soft spot in my heart for some reason! I really enjoy it when a creator seems to be having fun (or is aware) of how hammy their drama can be -- and fantasy can be chock full of it! (And as an aside, I love the heck outta romance when done well! A lot of webcomics that classify themselves as romances tend to be more Drama than Romance, mostly bc they don't follow the genre conventions of romance, and instead stick to a more dramatic-oriented plot structure... it's intriguing.) Anyway! I think my least favorite these days is slice of life and gaming comics. A lot of it gets really weird and overwrought and I just... I dunno, there's gotta be a draw. Gaming comics just aren't very fun to read, esp as I've gotten older. A lot of it feels like "hey here's this pop culture reference this small-ish in group gets! how funny! hahaha" or punching down, and... I dunno, I don't have a lot of time to keep on top of memes for games I don't/can't play.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I love fantasy and sci-fi, mostly because I'm a world-building nut. I want to get lost in a new place when I read. This also extends towards historical comics, but those are pretty rare. I won't lie though, I definitely fact-check historical comics when I read them, because I want to know how much I can trust the accuracy of the setting. I also tend to enjoy romance if done well, and especially when blended with other genres. IMO, romances can be kinda samey by themselves, so there needs to be some other plot outside of the characters' relationship for me to stay invested. As for least favorite genres... Definitely comedy and slice-of-life. As someone who regularly watches stand-up, I don't typically find comedy comics very funny most of the time, especially relatable gag-a-day types. As for slice-of-life, it often seems... boring to me. I mean, I might just be mentally unable to process the nuances or something, but what actually happens in slice-of-lifes? That being said, there are always exceptions to these preferences, because I have been completely turned off from certain fantasy comics, for example, and there are definitely comedies that I have enjoyed thoroughly. In the end, all that really matters is if a specific comic suits my tastes/quality expectations, genre tossed aside

Ash🦀

When it comes to webcomics, animal stories and fantasy are definitely my favorites. I like getting lost in a world, I don’t want to stay in my own if I’m trying to escape. Oh, also, and actually being able to read emotions. On animals, because the style and emotion often have to be pushed so much, it’s way easier on me to be able to parse expressions on an animal than a human. Might just be my autistic brain tho /shrug Also, sci fi, heavy dose of “sci” in there. If I feel like I’m learning something it makes it so much more fun. My least favorite genres are romance and historical. To be honest, I find historical pieces rely so much on the politics and the talking and the human nuance I don’t much understand in the first place that I end up getting bored or confused or both. And romance is... well, my mom constantly had hallmark movies on, so I’ve kind of grown to hate the romance genre as a whole tbh. If it’s a side piece in a fantasy, fine, okay. Too often they’re unbelievable and the couple just doesn’t have any chemistry, and I just end up not buying it, so I’d like to yeet it to the side as much as possible in most cases. Now, there are some that are exceptions, here, but they are few and far between. Somehow, LGBTA+ romance just blows past this hangup, however. I dunno, it’s easier for me to care then, it feels newer, and... well, frankly, a good deal of the time they’re written better, I dunno. So, they’re the exception to the rule.

Kabocha

Hard agree on the LGBTA+ romance -- but also other marginalized groups tend to be more thoughtful in romance and tropes they use! While there's a general sort of... uh, set of expectations as far as plot and the happily-ever-after/happy-for-now ending, it's honestly really just sort of nice to see creators be mindful about what they're making, and write stuff that isn't just the same sort of nonsense that gets marketed in the mainstream. ...Now this is making me think about how much I would love to see Courtney Milan or Alyssa Cole's works translated into comics... If they could do Pride and Prejudice, someone pls give me A Princess in Theory (Sorry, I'm... a little bit of an aficionado for the genre, particularly in romance novels)

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I was never able to get into ANY romance until I started reading some LGBTQ+ ones. I never liked the genre before then, but I think it was just because I couldn’t identify with / care about all the cishet couple represented. Once I was reading a romance I actually could connect with, it was completely different. It’s still not a genre I like to read very often because it’s so trope-heavy, though.

keii4ii

I feel like romance gets pigeonholed into a specific (and admittedly prevalent/highly visible) type, kinda like how "fantasy" was pigeonholed as Tolkienish fantasy for years and years until recently.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

As for what genres I do like, definitely fantasy. I especially like dark stories with lots of nuance, twisty plots, and some surreality. I like both high and urban fantasy, though as I get older, I lean more towards the latter. There’s someone really fascinating to me about mixing modern tech with magic and the supernatural. My least favourite (apart from most romance) is probably newspaper-style webcomics. I’m just not into that into punchline-a-strip or art art that has a Saturday-morning-cartoon feel. Not that it’s bad in any way, and I actually do have a few exceptions of comics in that style that I DO like, but it’s just not really my thing. I also can’t really get into political comics or war stories.

@keii4ii Yeah, it definitely does! And it becomes frustrating to try and find Something Different within the genre when the vast majority of it is using the same tropes and set up. I think that’s also why I’ve started leaning more towards urban fantasy as I’ve aged because a lot of high fantasy was becoming ‘more of the same’.

(says someone who creates a Tolkein-esque high fantasy comic )

keii4ii

You can still tell great stories within those prevalent types. Just gotta be mindful about choosing tropes/archetypes because they work for the story, as opposed to just going with them mindlessly. But that's not really extra work; that mindfulness is important no matter what kind of a story you're writing, IMO!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I also say I don’t get into punchline-a-strip comedy and yet have TWO comics in that genre, so I’m kind of a hypocrite.

Oh yes, definitely! I do try to avoid or even subvert some of those very common tropes, though I’m sure I don’t always succeed! Some tropes can be very effective, just not when every story feels like you’ve read this a hundred times before with minor variation.

Kabocha

Honestly, that's one of the great things about self pub and webcomics -- you can get SO many more unique voices without the gatekeepers that traditionally held genres and markets back. Like, y'all might not have heard, but back years and years ago, Borders had someone working there at the corporate level that helped stock genre fiction -- but basically segregated POC authors from the genres that they were actually writing in. Which was a load of crap. (And that's not even getting into issues with queer media and fiction being stocked in stores or even published.) So basically in stores you'd see for a while, kind of the samey sort of stuff that you find in genre fiction -- and I think webcomics helps kind of... break out of those same sorts of expectations for various genres? It's kind of nice on the whole.

FeatheryJustice

Favourite genre of comics: Comedy and Action. If I could find Jackie Chan action and humour combo in a comic I would love the hell out of it. Least favourite: Slice of Life of the drama variety and romance variety. I dont mind if it is slice of life with action or slice of life informative because I am reading for more. If it is a romance between just two high schoolers doing nothing then I get bored. If it is two high schoolers in a slice of life but it focuses on them working on an animation together giving us animation information I would be okay with that.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Lol, as someone who makes a fantasy series that plays with the amnesia trope like it went out of style (spoilers, it did), I totally agree that fantasy and romance can be very tropey.

kzuich

I like comedy and slice-of-life. Occasionally I like drama, but only if it's mixed with comedy. Or black comedy. (Seeing a recurring theme here? xD)

Or drama. With comedy sprinkled in.

I don't know why but I've always felt webcomics were really great for comedy. Some of the funniest stuff I've read was a webcomic. Dunno why. Least favorite genre? I don't really have one. I'll read anything but those are the genres I actually -like-.

DanitheCarutor

I'll read just about anything. I love stuff with some kind of surrealistic or abstract quality to it, like Weaker Sides (https://www.weakersides.com/), Seluda (https://tapas.io/series/seluda) and Hookteeth (https://hookteethcomic.com/). I also really enjoy stuff that is sad, or deals with heavy themes due to the feeling of catharsis they give me. Sun Rising (https://tapas.io/series/Sun-Rising), Rescue Me (https://tapas.io/series/Rescue-Me) and The Dogs on the Railroad (https://tapas.io/series/The-Dogs-on-the-Railroad) come to mind. It's nice to experience difficult emotions in a controlled environment. If I had to be genre specific I would have to say my favorite is the very elusive horror genre. Love me some spoopy shit and pretty much everything else that comes with it, no matter how cheesy it gets! It sucks that horror is so hard to find in webcomics, at least for me.

Least favorite genres? Gag-a-day, slice of life and romance. I have a lot of trouble getting into comedy comics that aren't story driven, so I don't usually read gag-a-days or autobios. I will read the latter two since most of the time they're good things to read when you don't want to turn your brain off for a bit, but all three genres are honestly really boring for me. When it comes to character centric stuff I really want something like a deep character study, although I haven't had luck finding stuff like that. Romance specifically, I have a hate/I don't mind relationship with. Romantic intimacy has always been super gross to me, I hate seeing people kissing on each other in movies due to an issue with how nasty the human mouth is, and the sound makes me sick to my stomach. With comics it's easier to digest, the characters are just drawings so I don't mind seeing them get all buckwild, but it's still not my most favorite. There are occasions where I can't even read a comic due to genre vs. setting. For example (and I'm am not saying this comic is bad, I mean it has over 100k subs) A Matter of Life and Death (https://tapas.io/series/A-Matter-of-Life-and-Death). I really love the art in this comic, the setting, some of the characters and the little bits of lore I saw. But it's a slice of life-esque romantic type of comic, so the world building for this extremely creative looking setting is kinda put on the back burner for intimate scenes between the MCs. Again, this doesn't make it bad. I personally turned out not to be the target demographic because I wanted 'A' and the creator wanted 'B'. Maybe I'll give this one another glance someday to see where the story has gone, I admittedly haven't read it in a couple years so the story might have developed.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

My fave is anything that deals in heavy lore-- most that fit the bill are usually fictional like fantasy and sci-fi, but there are always exceptions that play with some good world building outside those genres! I love to read comics that i can get lost in and want to almost research the world created-- as long as that element is balanced in a story, im usually up for anything! That being said however, my least favourite is the gag strips and strictly comedy. I haven't yet found any that have really made me read page after page since my first looksee with comedy comics (sassy creed and that super smash bros one come to mind so quite a while ago) but I'm sure if i was more diligent in searching through the genre I could find something for myself!

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I love history and sci-fi. I have a hard time getting into fiction and I like stories with a firm connection to something real in the world

kayotics

I’m a fan of fantasy stories, and I like romance sometimes as well. I don’t mind gag-a-day strips but I don’t really follow any, mostly since I’m looking for a little more meat in my story. Despite how much crossover sci-fi and fantasy have, I’m not big into sci-fi. If a story engages me in that genre, I’ll still read it, but it’s not a genre I search through. I also don’t read war comics. I have a hard no on superheroes as well, I’m just tired of them.

renieplayerone

I love anything thats a mix of SciFi and history or some other genre (its why i love blade runner, scifi film noir). Weaving history into scifi is a challenge but man does it make for really cool aesthetics and moral questions

RebelVampire

My favorite genre for webcomics is probably a tie between fantasy and sci-fi. Not only do I just personally love world-building heavy material, but I also just think webcomics is a medium well-suited to them. I kind of don't feel things like live action do those genres justice. However, webcomics have a lot of artistic freedom so art style, differing art effects, etc. can all come into play to create awe, whimsy, and a bunch of other emotions that just capture a feeling of wonder that I expect from those generes. As for least favorite genre, definitely serialized comedy - which by this I mean comics that have a story along with the comedy. For me I just...don't find a lot of them funny. A lot of the humor is a bit too trope-y for my liking or imitating comedy without really understanding why the comedy worked in the original source. So for me the jokes just rarely land even if I can appreciate the effort that went into the comics. That being said, there's always exceptions. Like http://sgkdr.webcomic.ws/ is a comic I would've initially passed just based on genre, but when i read it the humor was/is actually really smart and really creative. Just the same, there's plenty of fantasy and sci-fi comics I don't like, though this usually comes down to story execution even if I think the art is pretty to look at.

BadSprite

My favorite genres for comics are action, comedy, drama and slice of life. I'm particularly a fan of slice of life stories that take place in some fantastical world, because the nuances of the setting makes the mundane so much more interesting. Also action comedies are my jam. One of my faves being: http://paranatural.net/. I personally love how comedy is integrated into action scenes to capture the frantic nature of the situations. My least favorite genre are probably romance, it's not that I have anything against it. I just feel like there's an oversaturation of them and there's very few that brings something new to the table. Most of them feel too same-y for me.

eli [a winged tale]

It really depends on my mood~ my bookmarks are all over the place. If I really enjoy the art and the characters, I usually stay for the story. My usual go-to is fantasy, sci-fi or slice of life! I recently got into romance but I’m a bit choosey about it. I definitely echo @Kabocha ‘s statement about exploring different voices and subversion of tropes. Always eager to read tighter storylines and those that take risks in diversity. Least favourite same as @FeatherNotes(Krispy) really! Sometimes it’s funny (love strange planet) but I won’t be binging it

MJ Massey

My favorite genres of comics are fantasy, action/adventure, and romance. Especially if all three are together in one delicious package. I'll read pretty much anything but it's gotta be well paced and well written to keep me coming back

Javi

My favorite genres are action, comedy, fantasy, sci-fi, slice of life and adventure. Also anything with animal characters in it I'm already invested in it but that's just my furry brain talking (edited)

AntiBunny

I would say a broad term of adventure. Be it scifi, fantasy, road trip, or superntural I love a good adventure comic full of interesting characters and locations.

[midnight-mismanagement]

⭐️ for director’s cut. Thanks!

Thank you for the ask, anon! You’ve made my inbox look less empty :)

I don’t know which fandom you’re into that I’ve written for, so I’m just going to say a blurb about the latest thing I wrote, which was a one-shot fic it doesn’t matter (I can’t feel it anyway) from Thor’s POV about Loki’s new reckless tendencies and strangely high pain tolerance levels. The idea came from a prompt by veliseraptor, a goddess in the Loki fandom, anyway, I decided to do my own take on it. Yeah I’m going the “Loki was tortured by Thanos” route cause are we really trying to tell ourselves he wasn’t? 

The fic takes place after Ragnarok and follows them reaching earth (ignoring IW because why wouldn’t I) and Loki making more sacrifices to stay with Thor and to prove himself so Thor won’t abandon him. For me writing it, I definitely think Loki has lots of self-esteem issues and “just wants to be loved” type of thing going on, while also firmly believing that it would be impossible for anyone to actually love him unconditionally. Don’t worry, he’s still his snarky self, but he’s trying. Especially from stuff in the first Thor movie, Loki doesn’t believe Odin or anyone will love him for who he is a monster without him having to prove himself. 

There’s this line: 

“But I am better now!” He declared, spreading his arms, “I’ve been trying to be more than just- than just my treacherous self, perhaps there is still hope for me yet!” And he let loose a cackle that made Thor’s ears ring and ring.

I do touch a bit on his internalized racism and self-hatred issues, and there is a part where he hurts himself, so if you read it, just be wary. In terms of Loki self-harming, I think it comes in violent bursts of too many feelings too much stuff that’s swirling inside him that he needs to expel. In this specific case, there’s also a third element that’s really bugging him due to his time with Thanos and some imprisonment issues.

As for his time with Thanos, yeah he gets kind of whumped in this story while also always trying to hide it or brush it off because it doesn’t matter, he’s been through worse. He’s got tolerance now. It’s fine Thor.

On a personal level, I wanted to explore Loki’s kind of disconnect between his mind and his body, how his internalized racism and his questionable vacation with Thanos have made him not really that concerned about his body that much? Like, it’s there, yes, but it doesn’t matter what happens to it. He’s been through so much, whatever happens to it, to him, he’ll just keep going. I was interested in writing this angle about him cause I kind of have this problem too, where after my experiences with spinal surgery, chronic pain, severe asthma issues, etc, I’ve just wanted to get out of my body, and don’t care about it much anymore? Like it’s there, but it shouldn’t matter, it’s an obstacle, yadayada, and yeah this isn’t a healthy mentally, but Loki is not the most…well-adjusted person, and exploring this was helpful I guess? Plus, the dude is like a tank, crazy resilient and just keeps getting up. That’s hugely admirable, but also pretty worrisome. And Thor feels the wrongness.

Anyway, this was long, sorry xD but thanks for the ask! This was fun, and I hope this was at least marginally interesting 

Fanfic: Director’s Cut ask

[tumblunni]

AWW C’MON FFXIV

one of the biggest barriers to me getting back into it is just how SLOW the beginning is when you don’t have any friends to help you out like it legit took me a whole week of constant grinding just to reach level 15! FIFTEEN! IUts really fuckin slow even by usual mmo standards! and like.. all that slow is supplimented by huge amounts of quests and story and being required to do that main story in order to access goddamn ANYTHING, such as (for example) the additional hairstyle customization options you get at level 15 which I KINDA GRINDED SIX DAYS FOR, ONLY TO FIND OUT I NEEDED TO FINISH 8 MAIN STORYLINE QUESTS FIRST.

Like normally i would be HAPPY for an MMO that has loads of well made story scenes and ties progression more to quests than to grinding. But its just.. so unappealing to me?? Its That One Style Of Storytelling That Turns Me Off Immediately. I fuckin hate pretentious fairytale stylings. like not even when its told in the nostalgic writing style of a kids’s story or has a fairytale art aesthetic, those are some of my FAVOURITE THINGS. Nah when its the nostalgic writing style of fuckin specifically shakespeare and the only aesthetic is fuckin tolkein AGAIN. Like its really fuckin noticeable that the entire FF series has a bazillion original species in every other game but as soon as they made an mmo its Now Only Elves And Dwarves And Giants. And like.. the one anime addition of catgirls, and also making orcs/demons fuckin boring bishounen people with ‘all men are dragony and all women are 12 year old lolis with hair decorations’ as a fuckin species trait.o r I guess maybe the roegadyn are both orcs and giants combined and the au’ra got all of the leftover terrible traits..? And that’s 80 times more obnoxious when everyone talks like YE OLDE FUCKIN LITERATURE CLASSE AYE MY BOY YONDER DAWN DOTH BREAK OVER BIGASS FUCKOFF MOUNTAIN, HERE TAKE A STICK AND KILL 5 SLIMES like they literally fuckin sub ‘nightsoil’ for ‘shit’. this is an actual thing that someone thought would sound clever and fantasy-ish, instead of like an internet parody... And as far as I know the japanese version doesn’t even do this?? And neither did japanese FF12?? I FEEL SO LIED TO! Like these two worlds are still the most simultaneously cliche and overdeveloped ever, but i would at least enjoy my experience marginally more if the wall of text didnt stretch out every word to its maximum syllable potential..

BUT YKNOW DESPITE THAT DESPITE THAT BEING MY PROBLEM I AM NOW SAD AT FFXIV MAKING EXACTLY THE FIX FOR ME

They added a REALLY interesting and Dear God Relief feature where you can literally buy your way to the start of the latest expansion, story-wise. Which is a really great idea tbh, it kinda sucks to see ‘level requirement 80 must have beaten main story’ on this entire separate thing that you just bought. Kid me was dumb and didnt read all the conditions on old FFXI stuff... And I mean, anyone who complains about this being pay to win is being a dumbass, since all it does is promote you to the base level required for that storyline. Like the maximum here is level 60 with the equivelant job quests finished, so like.. there’s at least One Thing that makes you less than horribly underprepared compared to everyone else, but you’re still just a newbie wearing big boy pants. You can never pay to win for any level anywhere near the cap, it’s just pay to skip the more boring beginner sections. And probably get your ass kicked after cos all u hav is base equipment and none of the optional sidequets content or learned experience from the actual story...

BUT STILL I’M MAD BECAUSE there’s no way to do this without skipping the story!! your 60 levels of beginner quests are flagged as complete and you can never even see what you missed unless you watch someone else’s lets play i guess

and I know I just said that the story is really cumbersome and slow and badly written and cliche and i have no investment in anything but like that’s only 99% true, I actually WAS interested in the job training plotlines! a smaller self-contained sidequest with a cast of mentor npcs and story directly tied to your combat strength, rather than having to mop up loads of way underlevelled quests arbitrarily just to unlock the ability to actually exceed that level. gahhh Also i have a soft spot for the thieves guild- umm i mean the ‘seamstresses’ (or what was the actual joke about it? i think that was the discworld version XD) Mostly because they don’t talk like overly fancy pricks but also dont have too much of an over the top fakey oliver twist poor person voice. have I mentioned how its double annoying playing this game as a brit and hearing EVERYONE as some american guy doing the most stereotypical accent? Its a japanese game, why did you even do this!! srsly, this and ff12 have so many of the same dub fail. Oh, but also i like the thieves guild cos their plot is actually somewhat interesting, with the secrecy and stuff, instead of just I Am Mentor Man I Am Good At Job But Probably Tsundere Or Something For Six Hours. Also nice that there’s a full cast of this piratey crew and you get to interact with bossman’s admin guys sometimes, and get a general sense that he’s the comedic bumbler that’s only kept alive by their competance. (I call it.. the Plumeria Principle..)

Oh and lol also even if i could skip the story bits I hated, i probably wouldnt cos this thing is so fuckin Lore that i’d be completely lost... T_T But aaaa its tempting!! Cos I picked a bad starting town that had a plot and mentor npc that I didnt really care for, and now i really wanna switch to (weirdly enough) the one for gridania the land of the most boring elves and none of the job classes I want to use. She was just a really cool character! I can’t remember the pirate town equivelant tho, I just think that was my fave town aesthetic and fave jobs and stuff but the npcs were boring. I want elf mom!!! But seriously after fuckin SO MUCH WORK getting to level 20 before i decided i wanted to restart AAAA and then i wasted a bunch of my money on appearance change coupons to try and sate the restart temptation but then i realised No It Was Elf Mom I Miss so now i have a bunch of that cash shop content on that character and its impossible to transfer or somethin?? i couldnt even figure out how to send money between your own characters, which sucks cos some really nice guy gave me 30000 gold for no reason when i first started up the game and i legit DID NOT KNOW HOW TO USE CHAT YET so i was like running after him all WAAAAIT LET ME FIND THE KEYBOARD TO SAY THANKS xD But then i was just using that character to check out some of the other intro towns, it wasnt my main so i never used the money :(

so yeah anyway now I’m stuck here grumpy and debating whether i should buy this aaaaa and i cant even remember the name of the clearly-a-thief-but-dont-call-it-that class so i can pick the right thing to buy... And also i dont know if this only skips job training quests and not main story quests? or if there’s any way to recap main story quests at least? so it might not be as bad as I think. And maybe i could just pick whatever class I hate most to get all the exp in, and then i can have the level requirement to use my damn expansion but still go back and restart another job questline. and it’d probably be easier lol with all the boosts of having some other job high levelled! wonder if there’s a job with a terrible plotline that jus coincidentally lines up as a great thief supporter...?

[little-lady-mimi]

Date Shigezane VS Fujibayashi Genya

From Official Twitter

Introduction 1st showdown 2nd showdown 3rd showdown

3rd Showdown

Oboro [ Oboro here! I’m sorry for the late.『 Who understands women’s feeling SHOWDOWN 』is to be held! 3rd round (final showdown) is here! ]

THEME

[ Best words to soothe/solve girls’ tension who are nervous for their first time date. ]

Genya [ Or rather, since Shigezane here would win without fail, how about not doing this anymore, right? I wanna go home and take a nap. ] Shige [ No, wait a minute. ] Genya [ What is it, with serious face? ] Shige [ Don’t you think this is frustrating/mortifying as it is!? ] Genya [ No, not particularly... ] Shige [ No~, you ought to think it is frustrating. ]

(kkkkkk, he gives up already xD)

Genya [ Like I said, I don’t really think about it. ] Shige [ Do you hide your true feeling? ] Genya [ ...... ] Shige [ Hey Genya, you are still seriously... ] Genya ( ...On the contrary, it’s troublesome actually. ) Shige [ Hey, so let’s join the last battle. ] Genya [ Yeah, yeah, then, pretty much I’ll do it? ] Shige [ Alright! I’m fired up! ]

Shige [ Anyway, this time let’s do this from Genya. ] Genya [ Don’t you just answer this quickly before? ] Shige [ Come on! Alright, from Genya then! ] Genya [ Yeah, yeah, I get it. ]

FUJIBAYASHI GENYA

[ Well, in order to not get nervous for first time date...don’t take anything to eat, then.... Oh, but perhaps you will not getting nervous by eating more? That’s the way it is for men and women (alike), don’t you agree? ]

DATE SHIGEZANE

[ I know I’m nervous at my first time date, so yeah, I could understand. I too would be absolutely nervous (especially) if I like my partner so much. But I wonder if I would convey to you that I’m nervous at such time. If you are nervous with two people (being together), isn’t there is nothing to worry about because (it means) you are the only one I care? ]

Oboro [ At the moment, Shigezane already wins 2 rounds... Genya defeat is decided but... whose words do you want to be told when you are feeling nervous? Come voting! ]

★Voting deadline: 2100 11 April (Jap. times)

Note: It passed already xD Sorry I’m quite full atm this convo showdown coming out, so I cannot manage to translate~ So I’ll just announce the winner~

INSERT

Shige [ Just now, during my appeal, Kojuro being meddlesome and told me to be more serious. Everyone is asking me what I am! ] 

#CHILDISH SHIGEZANE

Genya [ ...He got angry when I drop things/goods of Oshu. It seems Kojuro-san watching in details, one by one from his Twitter... ]

#KOJURO EYES ARE SHINING #JUST LIKE SURVEILLANCE CAMERA

(OMG Koju xD Leave these cheeky brothers alone kkkkk)

WINNER

Oboro [ The voting is closed! The result is, Shigezane is the winner! 3 battle complete victory! Congratulation! ]

Shige [ Fufufufu... I saw the merit of main story being delivered already! This is a secret, but I feel impatient/in rush with just a little narrow margin. But it is good...I’ve been worried and uneasy if I’ve been seen only as lively, but somehow that is not the case. Yeah, even after this I think I’ll do my best, so I’m really thankful everyone! ]

Genya [ That troublesome is too realistic. There are various things too since the main story is being delivered. I wonder if new problems will emerge from now on...It will be troublesome, but if I can meet you, I will do my best. ]

Shige [ Oooh, it’s unusual for Genya to be motivated! On top of that...are you really in regret for being defeated!? Though I did it all the time to develop good feeling, either way I also want to show you Genya’s strong points. You should take a look at all cool stuff in his main story later! ]

Oboro [ Bow-wow! ] Genya [ What is it, Oboro? ] Shige [ !? What !? An arrow letter !? ] Genya [『Chest-tightening situation story』title announcement.” ] Shige [ It’s here! Does it write in here, the title? ] Genya [ “The title is...” ]

Oboro [ The topic will be announced tomorrow! Please look forward to it! ]

YES! AT LAST! I need to do this to the end tho the voting period is passed already~ Hmm, hmm~ Like Oboro said, I’ll post the next part tomorrow, tho it already come out already in Twitter~ Have a great day, guys! ^^

[breeeliss]

[Femslash February]: Flowers

i feel like i’m just going to accept the fact that i’m going to be perpetually a day behind on these things. 

also this took forever to write im off my game today xD

Day 9: Flowers (Alyanette)

Words: 2200

Link to Archive of Our Own: [AO3]

[Previous: On Wheels] [Next: Sunlight]

One of the first things Alya learned about Marinette was that she doodled flowers when she was bored. 

They started off as small, blossoming roses in the corners of her notebooks that weren’t any larger than the tip of her pinky. If you left her to it for long enough, she’d wrap vines, leaves, ladybugs, caterpillars, bees, birds, clouds, and more flowers all around the margins of her book. Sometimes, she’d sneak her colored felt pens and highlighters to school and add in whorls of colors and outlandish patterns until her entire notebook page was covered with fields and gardens and windowsills dripping in plants. She’d always take a picture of it on her phone -- to turn it into an embroidery, or a screen print for a t-shirt, or a design for a book cover -- and pout pitifully for Alya to send her copies of her notes. 

It blended seamlessly into the normality that was Marinette -- the color pink, pigtails, the smell of bread, pinpricks on fingertips, different nail polish everyday, humming music under her breath, and doodling flowers in class. 

One day, Alya’s hand was right next to Marinette’s notebook, and Marinette continued the doodle from the edge of the page onto the back of Alya’s hand. Alya raised a brow when she started, but shrugged when Marinette asked if it bothered her. As far as idiosyncracies went, Marinette’s were all rather harmless. Besides, it was rather nice to take notes with one hand and feel the light brush of Marinette’s pen sketching away against her other. 

It always took three washes in the shower to get all the pen out, and her mother kept worrying her with folk knowledge about skin cancer and ink poisoning, but Alya didn’t like showing up to school the next day with the sketches still on her arm. It almost felt like her duty to give Marinette a blank canvas everyday, to encourage her darling little habits that were secretly the highlight of Alya’s day. 

“Why flowers?” she asked Marinette as she added yellows and oranges to the sunflowers she was drawing along the vein inside of her wrist. 

Marinette tapped the end of her pen against Alya’s nose. “Pretty flowers for a pretty lady.”

“How flattering,” Alya joked. “Do you sweet talk all of your notebooks like this too?”

“Of course,” Marinette chuckled, extending her horizon down Alya’s arm so she could add another row of flowers. “Nah, they’re just easy to draw. Mindless enough that I can half pay attention to the lesson.”

“You could just pay attention to the lesson and doodle later,” she teased. 

But Marinette gripped Alya’s arm and held it still as sketched. “Noooo, physics is so boring. Besides, you and Adrien are better at explaining it. And god forbid I want my art advertised.”

“To who? My family?”

“Yes. Their approval is very important to me.”

“I actually think my mom loves sunflowers, so that shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Look at that! I’m psychic too! Sometimes I surprise even myself.”

Marinette started taking pictures of Alya’s arms as well, and she’d send them to her at the end of every class. Alya just sort of kept them in their own little album in her phone and flipped through them when she was waiting for the bus or laying in bed at night trying to fall asleep. Sometimes, they were incredibly simple -- like a long chain of tulips wrapping around her wrist. Sometimes, during long periods, Marinette would manage to create abstract drawings filled with rings of daisies with hearts in the middle, swirling clouds that circled fields of violets, and shining suns with beams turning into longer vines of leaves and flower buds that left Alya reeling from the detail of it all. On the weekends, when she knew she wasn’t going to see Marinette the next day, she’d avoid washing it off just so she could trace all the lines and patterns with her fingertips and marvel at the talent. 

It almost seemed like something Alya could force meaning into if she really wanted to. Like those moments where you realize you’re the exception, and your heart wants to add sentimentality where it doesn’t necessarily belong. But it was such a mundane habit the two of them shared, that it seemed silly and self-indulgent to even hope for something like that. Even selfish to demand more of something that was already special and perfect. 

Adrien laughed when she moved to sit next to him in class one day to work on the literature project they partnered up to complete. “Daffodils today, huh?”

“Sometimes I have to look them up online,” Alya said. “She drew amaryllises the other day. I didn’t even know that’s what they were called.”

He gestured for her arm. “Can I see? I was watching while she was drawing on you today, she was concentrating so hard.”

“Yeah, she added butterflies to this one and started getting all crazy with the wings and the lines and stuff,” Alya mused. “It’s pretty with all the red and purple added in, but it’s going to take forever to wash off.”

“Well, that’s Marinette. Putting 110% into everything.” Adrien turned her wrist to the left and squinted at one of the designs. “Huh. I didn’t know she writes things, too.”

Alya frowned. “She doesn’t write anything. Not that I know of anyway...”

Adrien shrugged. “Then maybe I’m just seeing things. Thought for sure that looked like an ‘M’.”

“Where?”

“Right here. Above the bone in your wrist. Next to the tree with the red leaves.”

Alya checked where Adrien was pointing, and sure enough, there did look to be something that resembled an ‘M’ resting just underneath a flower petal that was lying right next to a great tree that took up half of Alya’s arm. “Huh. You’re right. Does look like a letter.”

“Could be just an accident.”

“I dunno,” Alya squinted. “Hard to accidentally draw an ‘M’. Plus, it’s just under the flower lying there out of nowhere.”

Adrien tapped his pen against his lips. “Maybe it’s just her signature, you know? Doesn’t she monogram ‘M’s on everything?”

Alya hummed. “Yeah, she does. But, what, she’s signing my arms now?”

“She did say she wanted you to show off her art,” Adrien chuckled. 

“Well, damn, good to know I’m her new canvas,” she said, pretending to sound annoyed. “I thought she was kidding about that.”

“Marinette doesn’t strike me as much of a kidder,” Adrien said. “I mean you definitely know her more than I do, but it always seems like she’s got a reason for doing something you know?”

Alya ran her thumb across the letter. “Yeah....that’s true.”

She pointed it out to Marinette as a joke the next morning. Marinette contained her smile by biting her lip, dipped her head so that her bangs covered her face, and muttered, “Yeah, that’s me. Signing everything...”

“Guess you’re serious about me advertising your art, huh?”

“Yeah...” Marinette said absently. “I never kid.”

Alya spent the entire walk back to her house from school looking for Marinette’s initial on her arm, wondering where she’d hidden it that day. Except, Alya never found an ‘M’. Instead, she found an ‘E’ written along the vine wrapping around her thumb. The day after that, it was what she was sure was a ‘J’. Then, another ‘E’. 

Was it a message? A word she was trying to spell out? MEJE hardly meant anything, unless she’d caught Marinette in the middle of a word or a sentence. Maybe it was a joke she was trying to spell out, or some silly message that she wanted to sneakily place into her art. Like that time Marinette sent her ten texts that were just pictures that was supposed to say “Please help me I am very hungry and very sad.”

“Maybe it’s in another language?” Nino offers when Alya shows him the ‘T’ on her sleeve of buttercups that Marinette drew on her arm during maths. “Doesn’t she know Chinese?”

“Barely,” Alya smirked. “Plus, wouldn’t she just use characters and not letters?”

“I guess so.” Nino laughed and twisted Alya’s arm around to stare at the design that was looping around all of her fingers today. “Must be something really important. She’s putting a lot of work into these doodles. You might as well get one of these tattooed.”

“Watch it be a meme she found on the Internet the other day. If it is, I’ll kill her.”

An ‘A’ and an ‘I’ came next, and then another ‘M’ before the letters started to repeat. Alya waited until she was home and typed in all the letters she’d gotten so far: MEJETAIMEJ. 

It seemed like nonsense to her at first, and Alya blamed the late hour for making her miss what was so obviously right in front of her face the entire time. But she blinked at the letters right in the middle of the jumble and felt her chest tighten a little. 

JETAIME. 

Je t’aime. 

She had to rewrite all the letters four times over to make sure she didn’t miss one, to make sure they were all in the right order, to make sure that she wasn’t just projecting her feelings onto something as innocuous as silly little messages left in the doodles that Marinette left on her arms. But Alya wasn’t wrong, and that may have been the most confusing and frustrating part of all of this. It didn’t make any sense. They told each other they loved each other all the time. They were best friends, of course they loved each other. Maybe it was just that. Maybe it was just a cute little message from a friend that she wasn’t meant to read into. Maybe. 

Or maybe there was a reason Marinette wasn’t just telling her. Because it was heavier than it had been before. So heavy that Marinette couldn’t bear to say it with a new meaning -- a meaning that could very well add a different filter to everything. 

Alya waited for more days -- waited for the ‘E,’ ‘T,’ ‘A,’ and ‘I’ -- until it was Saturday and they were lying down on Marinette’s bed, limbs tangled together, watching a movie on the laptop balanced on Alya’s stomach. Her right arm was held up while Marinette started drawing roses on her wrists again. 

Alya cleared her throat and lowered the volume on the movie. “It’s an ‘M’ today again. Isn’t it?”

Marinette’s pen stilled for only half a second before she continued shading in a petal. “So you figured it out?”

“Pretty sure,” Alya muttered. She was hyper aware of the feeling of Marinette’s head pressed up against her temple and Marinette’s nose that was tucked against her neck. She swallowed and tried to make her voice sound stronger than her resolve felt. “I...I love you too.”

“But do you?” Marinette muttered, keeping her eyes on her pen and on Alya’s arm. “I mean, really honestly. Do you? Because....i-if you don’t, it’s fine. I just...sometimes I feel like I have all these things I want to tell you and I don’t know how to say them. So I just...picked the best thing that fit. But if you don’t....I mean, I don’t have to -- ”

“You’re rambling, babe,” Alya interrupted gently. 

Marinette laughed against her skin. “Sorry. I’m not very good at this sort of thing. And I don’t want to freak you out.”

“Nothing you do could freak me out, Mari. You don’t have to worry about that” Alya assured. “I’m not freaked out.”

“So then....what are you?”

Things with Marinette always felt so natural, like one thing bled seamlessly into the next. Nothing felt jarring and nothing felt strange enough to need a period of time to settle and adjust. Things just were, and no matter what came up the two of them molded into it perfectly without ever needing to explain or defend. Alya wondered if this was exactly what was happening now. Because Alya had always loved Marinette, always loved her with all her heart. She traced back along the past year to see if that love turned into a love, if that comfort turned into a need, if those changes were even the sorts of things you could track and notice. But there was never a sharp jolt or jump to indicate a change. Alya wouldn’t be surprised if one morning she woke up, got dressed for school, saw Marinette stumbling into class with only seconds to spare before the bell and realized ah! There it was. There were all the small letters left behind like clues forming together into something beautiful that Alya could treasure deeply. 

It took no work. Smooth. Effortless. Everything always easy. 

What are you?

Alya shut her eyes and pressed a small, short kiss on Marinette’s lips, smiling at the gasp that jumped up from Marinette’s throat and past Alya’s lips. They pushed back against hers as Marinette kissed her back, and for such a brief moment the whole world stilled and everything felt perfect and righted. 

“I’m happy.”