#but otherwise I’m so undecided

[motherfuckingmaneater]

Do you think Bellatrix knew that Voldemort is halfblood?

Yes though I can never decide how I’d like for her to find out.

I can’t imagine she didn’t know, given how defensive of him she became when Harry was shouting “your beloved master is a half blood!” to her. Personally I saw that scene as her being entirely defensive of him because she knew but likely a majority of death eaters didn’t.

I think if she’d not have known she’d have been confused as opposed to angry.

I imagine despite it wasn’t common knowledge, given her own status and family standing as one of the sacred 28 she was taught about blood history and at some point when she found out his name was Tom Riddle it clicked that he had to be a half blood.

Also her parents knew him from school (at least, Cygnus certainly did) as did her Aunt Walburga. Though they themselves weren’t death eaters they knew him and his cause well enough to be agreeing with his mentality, thoughts and ideologies and were probably throwing gold at him too. They likely told her about him — either to warn her not to get wrapped up in him, to tell her because she’s curious — or my personal preference, to be yelled that he is a half blood by her aunt when Walburga finds out Bellatrix is having an affair with Voldemort.

I think there are too many ways for her to know than to not know. I also think she’s far too smart not to figure it out herself anyway.

[adnauseum11]

After Action Review (John Price x Reader)

You and John talk through your argument.

2.1k words

cw: none - light angst and fluff!

Feedback welcome!

This work is part of the S.N.A.F.U. series, the Masterlist is pinned to my blog.

The slow glide of John’s fingertips over your exposed lower back is what ultimately wakes you. Your consciousness is slowly swimming back to the surface when your attention is pulled towards the sensual drag of his skin against yours. It’s almost enough to make you forget the knife’s edge of tension that currently exists between you. You barely manage to restrain yourself from stretching along his side and purring, his fingers conjuring delicious hazy memories.

Instead, your hand lands on his ribs, using him as leverage to shimmy yourself back a few inches and create some distance between your bodies. John lets his arm drop away, offering no resistance.    

“What’s happened?”

You immediately ask, invoking the sort of short hand conversations you and John routinely have, bracing yourself on an elbow to groggily look at his face. His eyes are still closed, the sweep of his dark lashes sending shadows over his cheeks in the weak early morning light. Your eyes are slowly drawn to the bandage around his forearm, the white of the gauze a contrast against his skin. The reality of the past few days lands on your shoulders, urging you to wake.

“Going to have to narrow it down for me, love.”

His deep voice is sleep roughened; his tone still vaguely dreamy, not following your meaning.

“Your arm, John.”

John cracks an eye cautiously, finding you perched on your elbow staring at him with concern.

“Just a scratch, it’ll be fine in a few days, darling.”

“And your head? Any better?”

“Still behind my eyes but not as bad.”

You take him at his word, patting his ribs reassuringly as you shift further away from him.

“Alright, I’m going to make tea. I’ll bring you one?”

You’re rolling out of bed before he answers, knowing he won’t turn one down no matter what state he’s in. He hums in agreement but otherwise doesn’t move, tracking you with his heavy-lidded eyes through the room. In fact, he still hasn’t moved when you return, carefully setting the steaming mug down on his bedside table, eyeing his now dozing form. He’s sprawled his long limbs out in the bed, the indent of your body next to him in the sheets still partially visible.

A prone John is a true anomaly, the man almost always on the move in some respect. It speaks to how poorly he’s feeling that he’s still in bed, basically laid out. You wonder if it might be better to leave him alone to recuperate while you blow on your tea, assessing him. He cracks his eyes open again and finds you staring down at him, undecided.

“I’m alright”

He’s insisting, reading your face without you saying a word.

“You’re clearly still feeling rough, John. You should rest today.”

“No, I want to sort this out, I don’t like having you upset with me.”

He’s arguing, looking up at you from the pillows, his eyes looking less bloodshot and more alert. Still, he stays put in bed, watching for your reaction.

“Don’t give me reason to be upset with you then.”

“I’m not going to apologize for wanting you safe.”

And just like that, your heart rate kicks up and you are right back in the thick of it with him like the past few days were a bad dream. A surge of adrenaline makes your fingers automatically clench around your mug.

“John! I’m upset with you making unilateral decisions! How am I supposed to keep myself safe if I don’t have all the information at hand? And just deciding to take off? I’m lucky David made the spare room up for me last minute!”

“I only want to protect you, love, I didn’t think upsetting you with details was the right thing to do with so much going on.”

“Yes! Of course I want details! Jesus John – I don’t know. I don’t know if I can do this.”

That has his attention and he finally pushes himself into a sitting position with a grunt and a badly hidden grimace, pushing his fingers through his sleep rumpled hair slowly. You can feel a ball in the pit of your stomach and shift from foot to foot, feeling unsettled.  

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…it was one thing to be your friend when you were off doing this dangerous stuff but now – maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m not cut out for it. I don’t think I managed a full breath until I saw you yesterday, I was so worried. And I deserve to be a partner, not just someone to be managed.”

You have to pause to take a sip of your tea before your shaking hands spill the hot liquid, your emotions hammering through you. John pounces on the interruption, his face is drawn and serious.

��I’m not taking more contracts. This was a one-time thing, darling. The break-in, the mission, it’s over now. I’m done. Properly retired.”

You look at him, unconvinced and he scratches his jaw, his lips pressed together in a thin line before he continues.

“But you’re right. I’m used to making decisions for people and being in control of situations- “

You can’t stop the sarcastic laugh that bubbles out at that understatement. He pauses and then carries on, clearing his throat.

“I’m still adjusting to civilian life, darling. Patience.”

“John, you thinking you’re in charge of everything is nothing new. Get real. I just thought you would consider me before you made a decision like taking off for a mission with a few hours’ notice. I’m not worth the time it takes to have a conversation? You made me feel like an afterthought, what I wanted didn’t even matter to you.”

“Of course it matters to me what you want. Darling, you’re all I think about. When I got home and you weren’t here-”

“Doesn’t feel good, does it? To not be considered? Why should I tell you my plans when you don’t include me in yours?”

You can’t temper the petulant tone that bleeds through your voice even though you hate how it makes you sound like a whiny teenager. John groans, rubbing his palms over his face and the motion reminds you that despite holding his own he’s still not recovered. You sigh and take a step away from the bed, shaking your head in annoyance. You can feel your heart pounding against your breastbone, the effort of trying to make John understand your point of view making your entire body thrum in agitation. If you could pace without spilling your tea, you would.   

“Just…get some rest, John. Let’s try to figure this out later- “

This raises his alarm, and he leans forward, his eyebrows raised and face earnest. Suggesting more space to John seems to be akin to suggesting he cut his own hand off and he reacts strongly.

“No! No, you’re right. I should have looped you in on what was happening even if I thought it would upset you. I should have talked to you when I got the call about the mission. I thought I was doing the right thing by shielding you, but waiting for you to get back and not knowing what was going on…I’m not a fan of the shoe being on the other foot. Message received.”

John’s tone is pained, his hand reaching out for yours instinctively. You pause, considering for a moment. The stricken expression on his face is pulling on your heart strings, making your resolve bend. He’s genuinely contrite, your ill-fated last-minute jaunt to your brother’s home seemingly killing two birds with one stone after all. He takes another breath and pushes on, his voice softening and dropping into his lower register.

“I’m sorry darling. I should have been honest with you, and included you in the conversation. I thought I was protecting you. I’d do anything for you, love, you have to know that. It’s always about you. Please. Stay.”   

His hand slowly wraps around your free hand, the warmth of his touch radiating up your wrist. You let him; your barely touched tea cradled in your other hand. Your eyes find his and you lock gazes, the hesitancy in you melting slowly under his steady scrutiny. You let him reel you in, setting your mug down on the bedside table before he drags you over his lap and back in to bed. A muffled squeak forces itself out of your lungs as John twists over you, pressing you down into the pile of pillows and curling around you as if he’s afraid you’re going to make a break for it.

“John, you muppet, go easy.”

You’re gripping his bicep, your hair tousled and John’s half lidded eyes on your face. He ignores you and his chest rumbles against you as he speaks, brushing your hair back from your face gently with his fingers.

“I don’t scare easy love, but I nearly lost it when I got home and couldn’t find you.”

John’s words come more easily when he’s got his hands on you. You idly think how you’re the opposite, needing space to corral your thoughts. You can’t summon the heart to separate yourself from him at the moment though and try to stay focused.

“I was hurt John, I just wanted to get out of here as fast as possible. I haven’t been that upset with you in god knows how long. I thought you trusted me.”

“I do darling. I love you. I only ever want what’s best for you. You have to believe that.”

“I really don’t like how you went about it.”

“I know, it was poorly done, love. I’m going to do better if you’ll let me.”

You hum in agreement, finally giving in and stroking your palm over his wiry beard, smoothing the stray hairs back into place. John’s eyes drift closed again at your light touch. It feels fragile, the truce between you, like the slightest jostle will upend it. You need reassurance that he meant what he said earlier.

“No more contracts?”

“None. You’ll tell me when you go somewhere next?”

“Yes, but I think I’d prefer it if you come with me. It was hard being there with David’s family. I mean, they’re lovely and it was good to see them but... they were so happy together and I missed you so much. I was so worried John. I love you too.”

The tears come almost immediately, choking off your throat. John’s palm cradles the back of your head as you tuck your face into his shoulder, wiping your cheeks on his shirt. You force the rest of the thought out, your voice unsteady.

“I hate that we fought before you left, if anything happened to you, I couldn’t live with myself - “

“Shh, it’s alright. That part of my life is over now, love. We don’t need to worry about that, yeah?”

The slow stroke of his thumb over the base of your skull is soothing and you jerkily nod, dislodging the tears on your bottom lashes. John kisses your forehead, his bristly whiskers tickling your delicate skin.

“I’m sorry I derailed Christmas, darling. But I’m glad if you went anywhere, you went to see David. What did he say about you moving in?”

“I didn’t tell him; I didn’t want to get in to it.”

You admit, your voice wobbling slightly, the unspoken ‘on my own’ hanging over the end of your sentence. You busy yourself twisting your fingers in the sleeve of John’s shirt, his big palm stroking your side, following your curves. John waits a beat before he speaks.

“Are we going to be alright, love?”

“I-I think so, you’re going to talk to me, yeah? I want to be involved in decisions.”

John hums in agreement, his palm resting on your hip as he kisses your forehead again. You release his sleeve from your grip and press your palm against his chest, tilting your head back so you can see his face.

“Are you alright?”

“Just stay with me for a little while?”

“Of course.”

You stroke his beard again, leaning in to press a kiss against his lips. One easily turns into two, and your hand retraces its path into his hair. You can feel John droop against you, the tension bleeding out of his body as you massage his scalp again. The two of you share air for a few moments, foreheads pressed together, cocooned in the pillows. You give one last peck to his lips before cradling his head to your chest and stroking his hair slowly. John is seemingly content to let you pet him, nestled against the soft curves of your body. Eventually, you can tell when sleep starts to tug him under again, his breathing slowing and evening out. You stay curled around each other until late in the morning, when your stomach starts to cramp from hunger, forcing you to gingerly extract yourself and scavenge in the kitchen while John dozes on.

Next Chapter

Ao3

Taglist: @deadbranch @beebeechaos @cadotoast @syoddeye @writeforfandoms @itr-00 @chloepluto1306 @batw3nch @magsmagic @h0n3y-l3m0n05 @chickennn-soupp @fruitymoonbeams-blog @redwites @glitterypirateduck @tf141gloryhole

[shibaraki]

WHERE I WANNA BE ┊ REIGEN ARATAKA

tags: NSFT, GN reader, friends to lovers, resolved sexual tension, fluff and smut, dry humping, coming in pants, premature ejaculation, clothed sex, what is plot, don’t look at mekasksksks

wc: 1.6k

The invitation was made with only good intentions. Reigen’s apartment flooded after a pipe burst and he needed somewhere to stay. Serizawa offered, but your place was closer to the Spirits and Such Agency, and living alongside his own employee seemed inappropriate, temporary or otherwise.

The choice was easy. It was for the sake of convenience. And yet, you’re not sure exactly how it had come to this.

“You good?”

Reigen had sunken back into your couch cushions with an unnatural effort. You’d never seen someone try so hard to look relaxed. The corner of his eye twitches at random intervals, fingers wrung tightly into the fabric of your shorts.

At what point had the accumulated longing — built steadily over years of bizarre friendship — crested?

“Not sure what you mean. I’m fantastic,” he quips, flashing you a strained smile and giving a flippant wave of his hand. In the dark of your living room, illuminated only by the cool toned glow of your TV screen, he appears a little withered. Nervous. “Totally fine! Are you?”

Your legs are folded beneath your body, settled either side of his hips. The plot of the movie has been long forgotten. You take the opportunity to watch him squirm under your avid gaze. Reigen looks softer out of his typical work suit. Dirty blonde hair stuck in all directions and mussed. He’s wearing his muted purple pyjama set: a bear printed on the chest, crew neck loose around his collar but tight around the wrists. The bottoms are cuffed just above his ankles because his legs are a little too long. You laughed gleefully when you first saw them.

There was underlying meaning. He was comfortable. Maybe not in himself, but with you— in a way that makes you want to touch him. To keep him. You walk two fingers along his collar and feel each step echo through his body. Pelvis twitching helplessly under your weight, the stiff outline of his cock presses up against your ass.

“We can stop,” you intone gently. As exhilarating as it was to have him so reactive and malleable you knew he had a habit of overestimating himself; pushing his own boundaries for the sake of proving validity or worth. “I wouldn’t be upset. This is all moving pretty fast”.

Reigen worries his lip between his teeth. There is already a sore indentation left from earlier in the evening, after dealing with a particularly grueling call from his insurance company. Your knuckles brush across the new, uneven stubble on his jaw and he takes a sharp breath, grasping tight at your thighs.

In lieu of a response, he tentatively encourages you to grind into his lap again. You follow his lead and murmur leisurely at the whine that falls from his open mouth, arms snaking around his neck. Elbows rested against the back of the sofa, your fingers thread through his hair, playing with the fine strands at his nape.

Your name is whispered between heaving breaths, not quite knowing what he wants to ask for. Hands twitch at your hips with bruising pressure, undecided as to whether he wanted you to stop, slumping down into the cushions as sense gradually leaves him.

You hum appreciatively as his eyelids flutter, “Didn’t know you were this sensitive. Got me all wet and I’ve barely touched you”.

Reigen shudders and bites down a whine, head tipping back to bare his throat, breathing sharply out of his nose. Struggling to speak, his assertion falls flat, “I’m not—ah. Not usually”.

A sweet blush spreads warm across his cheeks and kisses the tips of his ears, dark in the dim lighting. You undulate your hips, chasing your own pleasure as well as his. “Don’t stop,” he pleads with a strangled noise, pawing at your waist and guiding you over his cock in dissonant rhythm. Pure desperation. “Please don’t”.

“Yeah?”

“Yeaaa—!” the vowels drag on his tongue, drawn out into a long moan when you push deliberately into the cradle of his pelvis, pleasure prickling under your skin. His arousal saturates the and eases the motions. Slack jawed, the bridge of his nose scrunches up as he clings to you. “Fuck. Wanted you like this for so long. Wanted… I wanted to do it the right…”

His interminable rambling comes to an abrupt halt. He realises his admission— you watch the panic trickle into his otherwise pink expression, his thighs quivering in the effort not to buck up again. To save face. Hot, blood rises to the surface and emanates against your palms. Slowing the rhythm to a stop, you gently take his face into your hands. “Arataka?”

“Sorry,” he blurts. Reigen pats awkwardly at your knees, eyes wide and darting along the length of the sofa as though seeking an escape route. “Sorry. My big mouth. Damn it, I’ll—”

Before he can formulate a clever excuse to leave, you squeeze the soft fat of his cheeks together, hard. It puckers his lips into an exaggerated pout and forcing him quiet. “You’re overthinking”.

“Overthinking? Me?” he tries, that well crafted, flippant mien fracturing under the movement between your bodies. “Never”.

You release, and his expression startles with the sharp flick of a finger. A faint pink mark blossoms at the point of impact, right between his brows, and they pinch tight into a petulant frown. Rubbing at the spot he complains, “Do you usually physically assault your guests?”

“Stop that,” you mutter.

Feigning ignorance, “Stop what?”

Reigen blinks, swallowing thickly as you gently grasp his wrist. Punctuating the words with a kiss to the palm of his hand, the heel, the quickening pulse, “You can’t bullshit here, Arataka. Not to me. Your body is a little too honest for that”.

He wheezes, “Could you be merciful for once in your life?”

You cradle the back of his head as it falls forward to rest against your shoulder and his hands slide up your back, clutching your shirt. He groans pitifully, “This is worse than the time I confessed in middle school with my fly open. I’m about to cum in my pants. I haven’t done that in years—!”

The way he holds you betrays him. Grip tight around you as he speaks, squeezing to settle the nerves and keep you close, afraid you’ll leave despite his own urge to flee. You coo as you feel his cock throb and the restraint falls away for a fleeting moment; he turns, open mouthed, and keens into the juncture of your throat.

“You know I want you too, right?” you rasp, repositioning your knees and building the pace, grinding down into his lap, spurred on by the wet hiss beneath your ear. “Feel that?”

Crossing his arms around the small of your back, as if to tether himself, Reigen tries to mirror your rhythm. Bending at an awkward angle, you hook your fingers beneath his chin and force him to look at you, never faltering. You take it in— Reigen isn’t conventionally attractive by any means but that somehow played to his charm. Now, with his pupils blown, lashes damp and clumped into little spikes, hair clinging to the thin sheen of sweat across his forehead, you have to admit the view is quite a good one.

His lips part for breath, tongue peeking between his canines. There’s something intense in his gaze and it looks like a plea that you want to instinctively chase, hyper aware of how simple it would be to kiss him. You keep him there a while longer, mouths brushing with each rise and fall of your hips, until a whine breaks the tension.

“Please”.

You meet in the middle in a free fall. Crude wet sounds reverberate throughout the room. You think you can taste the lingering flavour of peppermint as you pluck your name from his throat, mapping out the grooves of his teeth, directionless and sloppy.

With surprising strength he holds you tight to his front and anchors your hips to begin frantically rutting up into your heat. His eyes roll back and close, lashes casting a thin shadow over his red cheeks. You watch in awe, mumbling disjointed praises as he surrenders to it; his surroundings fall away until you’re the only thing left— trapped in his clutches, being humped like a pillow.

Reigen shudders. He moans unabashedly and the hair on your arms stands on end as it frissons through your body, throbbing between your thighs. You rock forward with the force of his hips, gasping at the sudden bang behind you where his feet kick out and hit the coffee table. Years of pent up arousal spills into his pyjama pants, saturating the thin fabric enough to feel it sticky through your shorts.

“Holy shit Arataka,” you mumble, brushing his damp hair away from his forehead as you lean back and look where your bodies align— where he’s still slowly grinding against you, hissing through the sensitivity. “Wait. You don’t need to—”

“I can keep going,” he insists breathily. While his voice is weak and unconvincing, his expression is set into familiar false confidence to bury what is likely embarrassment. You knew him well enough to guess what he was thinking. Probably suffocating in unfounded embarrassment and scorning himself for not following some self implemented rule of making his partner cum first.

His slow, purposeful friction is hard to ignore. “Okay,” petting his cheek with one hand, you concede. The other descends his torso, a finger slipping under his waistband, grazing the hair leading down his navel.

“Take these off first”.

The choice is easy.

[mcytsideblogsblog]

Gemcyt people!

I was listening to the SU ost out of happenstance (it’s all bangers) and I remembered that each gem has her own unique instrument/specific musical cue, probably so they can be incorporated into a fusions theme without using a leitmotif, which don’t stack together at the same time the way instruments do.

Garnet has her buzzing synths. Amethyst has her drumline and vocal “hey” callout (you’ll hear it if you relisten). Pearl and lapis both have piano, but with Pearl in major key and lapis in minor (I think, idk music stuff this is why I’m asking y’all). Even jasper exclusively has cymbal crashes in her themes.

So basically, everyone give me ya thoughts for the gemcyt character’s instruments/cues.

Edit: List of the answers so far.

Grian: Accordion

Scar: Saxophone

Ren: Bass guitar

Martyn: regular guitar

(Red king has electric guitar, it’s special like that)

Cleo: Undecided

Bdubs: undecided

Tango: whistle (could be convinced otherwise)

Impulse: Undecided

Skizz: Undecided

Scott: Cello/viola (with absolute certainty)

Jimmy: undecided (again, what works well with cello)

Bigb: undecided

Etho: undecided

Joel: undecided

Lizzie: Bells

[physalian]

What No One Tells You About Writing #6

This round we’re doing some recent discoveries on my writing journey. Some are less groundbreaking and more “I did not expect this to become an issue” things, which, hey no one told me about them, either.

Part 5

Part 4

Part 3

1. Switching tenses between your WIPs is not easy

Up until my upcoming book (Eternal Night of the Northern Sky, go check it out) I wrote exclusively in past-tense with very rare exception save for a fanfic here and there. I cannot remember what compelled me to write ENNS in present tense, but I’d committed and 10k words in, there was no going back to change it.

Committing in the first place made it very frustrating trying to actively remember my English verb tenses and sentence structures (and I am a native English speaker) that just have not come naturally to me in 8 years of writing, but once I got it, I got it.

So while waiting around during the editing process and trying to go back to past-tense for another project, past-tense started to look janky and awkward and my WIPs, too, are now written in present-tense. I am undecided on how to feel about this beyond annoyed that it is a problem.

2. Implied sex scenes have surprising pros and cons

I’m of the belief that sex scenes, like action scenes, should serve a purpose and do a lot of heavy lifting. It’s not just the actual progression of movement between the characters, it’s the exploration of trust and vulnerability, the consummation of a relationship, the growth of these two characters together with a new understanding (if this is meant to be a huge moment and not, like, an establishing one-night stand). Otherwise it becomes gratuitous fluff.

Enter the problem: I cannot write all the character development that occurs during a sex scene, if I cannot also write the sex. All of that newly broken ground on trust and gushy emotions has to come in the buildup before I decide to cut away and in skipping the rest of that scene, I have to essentially freeze the character development until I pick up the narrative again in the aftermath.

So if it’s a moment that’s meant to be the climax of two characters trusting each other, or anything that would require them talking through this important milestone in their relationship, I have to rework everything around the redacted narrative.

Sex scenes are just so unique that way. People can be very sensitive about them, they’re very tricky to get right, very revealing about what the author thinks is sexy and attractive, incredibly important relationship milestones for the characters, and, aside from torture or extremely graphic violence, the only scenes you ‘fade to black’ on and leave it up to wild imagination.

*OP why don’t you just bite the bullet and write the sex? Because I want to be an inclusive author and you’ll enjoy my book even without sex to go write your own, but you might not read it if it’s on the page because of personal taste or triggers or beliefs, okay?

3. Your crutch words will haunt you

Here is a list of 40 of them. I will never be the kind of author that struggles to make my stories longer. To everyone who does, I wish I had your problems—trying to trim the fat off a narrative already running at breakneck speed demands trimming individual words off sentences sometimes. Like crutch words.

These carry over from real-world conversation, words we don’t always realize we’re relying on. My big one is “just”. I had a 125k word manuscript and had over 600 instances of “just” and maybe only a dozen were warranted by the time the ax fell.

Good news is, once you see them and embarrass yourself finding, replacing and/or deleting them, you become very aware of them in your writing. Crutch words are a lot like cursing, which I talked about in Part 5—not including them doesn’t leave a big of a crater in the dialogue as you might think. I still use “just” and “so” but “so” is worked into my writing style as a syntactical element and I tend to leave my “so’s” in place. “Just,” on the other hand, can be cut 99% of the time.

*Disclaimer, those dozen “justs” I ended up keeping in that manuscript were all in dialogue, because while the narrative should be clean of crutch words, personally I think keeping them as your characters’ crutch words can make them feel more human.

4. Breaking up dialogue-heavy scenes with movement can get tedious

This is entirely dependent on writing style. Some books will have entire unbroken paragraphs of dialogue, make a new paragraph, and keep going with the same unbroken dialogue. Some will split a monologue up with character movement or reaction to whatever’s being said. Some authors are very frugal with dialogue tags (to varying levels of success) and some over-describe the movement of their characters or use way too many superfluous tags when “said” is not actually dead, your primary education lied.

Just keep in mind that writing is, well, written. The intonation of words might be completely lost in translation if you slap your reader with a wall of text, especially in an important character moment, and they have a critical misunderstanding in how they’re supposed to perceive the line being delivered.

This is why we use italics for emphasis. We’re still trying to legitimize the interobang (!?) because it’s very useful, and we’re very far from legitimizing Tumblr Speak to convey sarcasm and sincerity. How we convey tone is generally isolated to the generation we grew up in and the technology we had available (like how younger generations interpret ellipses compared to their parents).

There’s that Tumblr post out there that goes: “I never said she stole my money,” and claims that the meaning behind the denial changes wildly depending on which word you stress, seven different ways—and that person is absolutely right.

Every dialogue-heavy scene is a case-by-case basis, and best advice I can give is to have your betas pay extra attention to those scenes, making sure they interpret it right, or even having someone read the dialogue back to you with inflection to make sure you’re tagging and describing it properly.

Too many breaks for narrative and you risk clogging up the scene. Not enough and you lose a lot of the emotion behind their words when you aren’t describing how the speaker is visually reacting to what they’re saying.

5. Truth really is stranger than fiction

Maybe it’s the capitalist hellscape we all find ourselves in, but for example: If you told me someone wrote a book about a submersible, built for tours to the Titanic wreck, and was dubbed “Titan,” run by a company called OceanGate, failed via catastrophic implosion on its descent to the most infamous maritime disaster in history, infamous for its hubris as the “unsinkable ship,” only to find out that the company with “-Gate” in its name circumvented and ignored multiple regulations and expert opinions…. I’d call that the most contrived and lazy attempt at a criticism of human folly I’ve ever seen.

And that sh*t really happened. Titanic is already almost mythical for its hubris. The engineer of that ship stared God in the face and said bet, and lost. Then you have the same damn incident happen a century later, for the same damn reasons.

Truth might not be ‘stranger’ than fiction, perhaps as equally contrived, equally unbelievable, and can reach equal amounts of astounding stupidity. Anyone, anywhere, for the rest of literary history, can no longer say “that deus/diablo ex machina would never happen” because it can. It did.

6. You’ll find inspiration everywhere, but have nowhere to put it

Deciding what kind of story you want to tell takes so many layers, it deserves its own post that has been covered plenty else by other writers over the years but since I write fantasy and sci-fi, my inspiration usually starts with “I want to write a story about X fantasy element” and I go from there. Then the sub-genre, like if it’ll be an adventure, urban fantasy, high fantasy, what time period, etc. Then the theme.

If I’ve got my laptop close, I can polish off a whole first chapter in maybe two hours. And then… it gets dumped into my “stalled projects” folder, to be saved, but moved aside so it doesn’t clutter the workspace of WIPs I’m actually invested in.

Sometimes they’ll get revisited, sometimes my enthusiasm wanes as quickly as it came on. It can get disappointing and discouraging, but if anyone ever met your “I want to be a writer” with skepticism, or you yourself fear that you’ll be a one-trick pony in a creative slump forever: The inspiration probably isn’t the issue, it’s committing to the story you dreamt up.

7. Just because it never gets published, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value

My writing journey began with original works back in middle school, then I gravitated toward fanfic once I discovered it and got a huge confidence boost from all the positive feedback from my readers, then felt restricted by my fandoms and switched back to original works. The very first novel I started out with was my sci-fi WIP, eight years ago, that will likely never see the light of day as it was written. I have two completed books that could be self-published right now.

The problem: Book three, of a planned five, generated a “deleted scenes” pile that quickly outpaced the word count of the actual manuscript because I cannot seamlessly fit every arc of my ensemble cast when and how I want them to happen. And, as previously mentioned, those 8-year-old characters have suffered me using them as writing therapy, and some elements have gotten far darker and more convoluted than I intended, because the worldbuilding pool got way deeper than a book with an ensemble cast can support.

But even if it never gets published, it’s not worthless. Those two books sprinted so I could jog. They were so detailed and so complex and had so many layers that starting over in a different genre with something simpler like ENNS was a breeze. I’d cut my teeth on a narrative that demanded an insane amount of behind-the-scenes production that nothing else would ever be as hard.

Not everyone will have that experience, but if you’ve saved all your old and cringey works from your early days, go back and read them and compare them to where you are now, and hopefully you realize that you’re turning into the author you thought you would be, even if you’re not quite there yet.

Now go write your insane mega-hit waiting to happen.

—

Upcoming blog topics!

Tackling beginnings and endings

Why we should normalize content warnings

Crutch tropes #2 - "we're not so different"

[a-manicured-lawn]

So I know you like Spirit…what do you think his role would be if he is added to Jojo’s Lay boys? Any headcanons for his personality?

I DO LOVE SPIRIT HOWD YOU KNOW is it cause I won’t shut up about him?

Well! If he was added to Jojo’s cast, I’m honestly not sure. There was an old post mentioning a link with rivets in his tunic in the profile banner back when she was answering asks on tumblr, but she refused to say who exactly it was. There’s been a few suspicions that this rivet hero is in fact the riveting Hero of Spirits himself!

Much as I hate to say it, if spirit were to officially find himself on the LU roster, that is probably what he’d look like. An aged-up version of himself, probably with a few more years of service under his belt, although as a knight or as an engineer is the real question.

Ingame, there’s a dialogue option with Spirit’s Zelda (Phantom? Spooky?) where she’ll ask you what you want to do after the adventure. You’re given three options: be a knight, an engineer, or undecided. If you choose a knight you’ll get an endgame cutscene of Spirit fighting in the courtyard as a knight trainee, and if you choose an engineer you’ll get a cutscene of him driving past the castle and I don’t know what happens if you pick undecided someone please let me know I always pick engineer.

If Jojo goes the knight route I worry he may become a carbon copy of the other knights and knight adjacents in the Chain as a rough blend of Wars, Sky, pre-Calamity Wild and Legend.

Should he be an engineer, however, I believe he may find his place alongside Four servicing more magical items as Four handles swords and shields. He may also serve as an inventor, finding novel and more modern solutions to issues the Chain faces.

However, this speaks mostly to his physical place in the chain, rather than his personality. Unfortunately, with no manga and just his ingame personality, a glass of water has more life than him. The only time he shows any kind of interest outside the player is in response to his Zelda, and that’s to blush when he first sees her and to be delighted when she threatens violence. Thus, any personality has to be built ground up.

Now, I’m not Jojo (obviously), but with such a blank slate I can’t help but add my own ideas and model for an LU spirit (which has a WIP! It’s HUGE!) to add onto the Chain.

Ingame, Spirit and Wind actually have the exact same character models, only changing Wind’s clothes into engineer duds. Thus, I’d headcanon them as identical twins. Slightly different, just because they are still separate heroes, such as giving one or the other freckles or paler skin or different eye colors (blue vs green vs black?) to help tell them apart, but otherwise basing it off of clothes.

For personality, I’d honestly make a foil to Wind. He’s a bright, exuberant young kid, which would be paired beautifully to a shyer, more reserved twin. I’ve noticed that in canon all of the Links tend to have forceful personalities (yes, even Hyrule, shy Hyrule is fanon but if I’m wrong PLEASE tell me I love shy hyrule) which can lead to personality clashes. However, with a quieter personality in the mix, it can lead to Wind “stepping up”, so to speak. Making sure Spirit is heard over all the hubbub, sharing stories to keep Spirit out of the spotlight, etc etc.

However, if spirit were to become canon I doubt that’s how it would go. It’s a bit out there, especially considering the other Links’ personalities like I mentioned before. The fandom represents, though! There’s SO many Spirits out there by now and I am DELIGHTED each time I come across a new one!

[shayjay26]

big long rant

Okay okay so I love looking for and reading bad brackendra fics cause they’re fucking hilarious.

But some of them are good, like really good

It got me thinking, about the logistics of Bracken’s immortality and Kendra’s age again. About Ronodin’s immortality. About Lena’s

My first impression is ew, especially with Bracken, right? But Brandon wrote it so it’s ew, even if unintentional, he did.

Would it be wrong in every situation, no matter what?

We know that Brandon claims their minds are young, which does justify some things, except for the fact that their actions prove otherwise. If their actions proved Brandon’s words would it be okay? Would we believe it?

What if they genuinely felt like that? What if they were genuinely at the maturity of that age? A lot of the reason dating laws exist is because of the difference in maturity. And even though I don’t think 18 should be the cutoff, it’s why it’s there. 

I mean, I still find it weird when people think once a child is 18 it’s suddenly okay to like them. Because your brain stops maturing at around 25. For me, it’s all about maturity. If their maturity was genuinely at that level, would it be okay? Would it be separate enough from their wisdom and experiences from their long life?

Another thing that got me thinking was an essay I wrote for my English 1010 class. One of the sources provided mentioned the brain affected things like attraction. 

This source provided an example of how a tumor, pushing against where attraction is created, forms pedophilic thoughts and urges in someone. And while yes, this is bad, could it be the same in other scenarios? Could the way the brain is arranged cause different, uncontrollable, emotions and feelings?

If their brain was arranged in such a way, if the part that controlled their emotions was shaped in such a way, they wouldn’t have any control over it. It’s not some malicious or creepy feeling anymore, to them at least.

If they were genuinely at the same maturity, genuinely had no control over their attraction, because that’s just how they were made, how they were built, would it still be creepy? 

Could they be considered the same age if their maturity was at the same level?

It’s like, I’m attracted to people my age. Because that’s how it should be, that’s how I was made. That’s how the thing in my brain is shaped. I’m not attracted to little children, because it’s wrong, and it’s not how I was made. If all of those immortal beings were made to mature at a certain rate, and made to be attracted to certain people, are their feelings valid, or is their species as a whole just wrong?

Just some thoughts. Wondering how everyone else feels on the subject? Still undecided myself honestly. I want some opinions outside of my brain.

[bakubunny]

Congratulations on 2k! I found you through the little Drabble you wrote about Kats finding reader sleeping with a paci and immediately fell in love with your writing! I’ve been binge reading your blog-

I am so so genuinely hoping im not too late on submitting this- I was hoping I could have a match made for me for bnha-? If possible of course-!!

Three things about me:

- I absolutely adore Kirby and Mario!! They’re my favorite games and on top of that the items? The bad guys??? They’re so frickin cute!!!

- I always always have headphones in or am listening to music in some way, my library has over 4,000 songs and I have actually made over 100 playlists for every mood I have! Music is a huge passion of mine!

- Creating is something I love to do, OC’s, world building, lore, drawing, writing, I love to create!!

I have no idea if this is a proper aesthetic to submit- but I am indeed a hopeless romantic and a huge sucker for the soft girl and scary dog privileges boys!

I cant wait to read more of your content!! All love 🖤

hi dear! i’m glad you stopped by. i feel like fumi fits your vibe more than any of the submissions i’ve gotten, so i’m going with it. he’s not a grumpy gremlin like kats, but he definitely has scary dog privileges.

your match: fumikage

he thinks your obsession with kirby and mario is endearing. one of his favorite kinds of dates is staying home to play video games with you.

idk if it’s true in canon but i hc fumi as someone who picked up guitar as a teen and never really put it down. he likes to play for you every once in a while. he’s also really into music, though his tastes are pretty specific.

fumi is pretty quiet unless you really get him going on something, but he loves listening, so assuming you’re a talker, he’s more than okay with that.

he’s got a creative side and enjoys rich plot lines, so i feel like he’d vibe with you on the creativity aspect. he’s a writer, but more poetry and song writing than storytelling, but he’s done both.

he looks scary but he’s so sweet and actually pretty soft when he’s not in dom mode. 😭

i’m still undecided on daddy!fumi; i’m not sure the whole daddy dom bit is his vibe (but i could be convinced otherwise). dom!fumi, however, is basically canon in my book. there’s no way he’s not by the time he hits his late 20s/early 30s. i could see him being willing to try new things if you’re interested in ddlg though. he’s aware of it but probably hasn’t tried it.

[aemiron-main]

have you seen @chirpsythismorning ‘s thoughts about Hopper and Joyce being Will and El’s biological parents? and if you have what do you think about it

WillEl: Schrodinger’s Twins

Hello, anon! I had seen some of those thoughts previously, but now that I’ve gotten this ask, I’ve decided to take a deeper look onto it!

So, do I think Will and El are biological twins? Yes and no. Not that I’m undecided, but literally, yes AND no. They both are and aren't related, depending on the timeline.

Looking at this post, there’s something specific that I disagree with:

“El nor Will are related to Henry by blood,”  This is something I can agree with but ONLY when we consider Edward. IMO, one way or another, in at least one timeline, El is a Creel. There’s very little doubt about that in my mind. 

However, I think she’s most likely the daughter of Edward Creel, rather than Henry Creel, and Edward and Henry don’t seem to exist in the same timeline. And I agree that Will is never related to Henry or Edward/is never a Creel.

So,  Mike and El are both Creels/related in the Edward timeline but El is NOT related to Will in the Edward timeline.

AND

If Mike and El are NOT related in the Henry timeline, and El IS related to Will in the Henry timeline.

Then that’s how I can see the Creel-Wheeler and Willel twins stuff coexisting without Mike and Will being related, as even through timelines, they would not be related, as Will is never a Creel, and the timeline where El is a Creel is the one where she is not related to Will. This would also track with Will seemingly having two different birthdays (March 22nd and May 22nd)- one where he shares a birthday with El, and one where he does not. 

If I had to choose between El and Mike being Creels vs WillEl biological twins though, I think there’s more evidence to support the former, although like I said, they can coexist when we consider Edward and timelines.

So, if Edward is El’s father in one timeline (the timeline where she’s NOT biologically related to Will but IS biologically Mike’s cousin), then who is her father in the other timeline?

This is a difficult question because we don’t know how many timelines there are, but I think there’s these options: 

1.) Henry

Since Karen is only related to the Creels in the Edward timeline, Henry Creel could still be El’s father without Mike and El being related (and therefore without Mike and Will being related if Will and El are related). However, this would mean that Henry is also Will’s father if Willel biological twins is true, and it would also mean that Mike and Will ARE related through timelines, so I think we can write off Henry as being El’s father.

2.) Brenner 

He's an option I guess, but I don't really see him being El's biological father (setting aside henry/edward/brenner parallel weirdness)

3.) Hopper

There is a line that I noticed when it comes to the question of “could Joyce and Hopper have had kids?” 

Especially since right after that line about Joyce and Hopper screwing, somebody yells “WILL!” 

So, in one timeline Edward and Terry are likely El’s parents, and in another, Joyce and Hopper are likely El’s parents.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that El is a Creel in at least one timeline. The evidence is absolutely there for it. 

James has made some great posts about this resemblance here, here, here, here, and here.

And I think that anyone using the resemblance between El and Joyce as evidence for them being related also then needs to consider the very strong resemblance (and constant parallels) between El and Henry/Edward, because otherwise, it feels like cherrypicking evidence rather than looking at what the evidence actually is. I'm NOT saying that chirpsythismorning is cherrypicking evidence, I'm just saying this in a general sense, which also includes me needing to acknowledge that there is a resemblance between Joyce and El just like there is between El and Henry/Edward. Hell, we literally see El with the name "Eleanor," with a blonde wig (like Henry/Edward), wearing a dress VERY similar to Alice's style of dress, with roses on the wall, staring into a mirror (all of Henry/Edward's mirror imagery), and then she later gets referred to as Mike's cousin in that EXACT outift. El and Mike are absolutely Creels in one timeline.

However, I think that El is Edward’s daughter, not Henry’s and that in the timeline where El is Edward’s daughter, Will and El are not biological twins, and Mike and El are only related in the Edward timeline.

Summary

Timeline 1: 

Edward Creel is El’s biological father, fathering El in the lab as part of Brenner’s attempts to recreate him. 

Terry Ives is El’s biological mother. 

Joyce Byers is Will’s biological mother. 

Mike and El are blood cousins. 

This is because in the Edward timeline, Virginia Creel is Victor Creel’s daughter/Edward’s sister and Alice Creel is Victor Creel’s wife/Edward’s mother. 

Their roles are swapped from what they are in the Henry timeline. 

And this makes Mike and El cousins because Karen Wheeler is very, very likely Daughter Virginia/Edward’s sister in the Edward timeline (with Connie Frazier being Mother Alice), and so, if Edward and Karen are siblings, then their kids, Mike and El, are cousins in the Edward timeline. 

Karen Wheeler is a Creel (Daughter Virginia)

Hopper and El are not blood related. 

Will and El are not blood related. 

Joyce and El are not blood related. 

Timeline 2:

Edward Creel does not exist in this timeline. Henry Creel is not El’s biological father. El is not a Creel. Mike is not a Creel. 

Joyce Byers is El and Will’s biological mother. 

Will and El are twins/blood related. 

Mike and El are not cousins/not blood related 

Karen Wheeler is not a Creel 

Hopper and El are possibly blood related, as he is possibly her father and Will’s father 

Brenner and El are possibly blood related, as he is possibly her father and Will’s father. However, I think Hopper being the father is more likely, as he seems to be Will’s father in one timeline and if Will and El are twins, then he’s also El’s father.

I hope this makes sense. Narratively, do I love the idea right now of Hopper being El's biological father? No. But I'm confident that if that's what ST is doing, then they're going to do it well, and I also acknowledge that there does seem to be a fair bit of evidence pointing to it. Who cares what I do or don't like if the evidence is there for it! And again, I'm sure that if they're doing it, it'll be done well without undermining the found family themes in ST. And I absolutely, firmly believe that El is a Creel in one timeline, and that Mike is also very likely a Creel in that same timeline. Will is never a Creel, though.

This theory combines the Wheeler-Creel analysis with Jo’s “Willel twins,” analysis which, frankly, I think is the best way to approach this because it means we don’t have to ignore any evidence (such as all of the things that point to El being a Creel AND all of the things that point to Willel twins).

As well, I also think there’s a chance that Will and El aren’t related in any timeline and that El is Edward’s daughter in one timeline and Henry’s in another (and Will and El are never related so Mike and Will still are never be related) and that Hopper is simply Will’s biological father, not El’s, but right now I’m leaning towards what I laid out in this post with twins in one timeline vs not twins in another.

Also, if anyone is still confused about what the hell I’m talking about with Edward Creel, where he came from, how Karen and the Wheelers etc play into it, you can find a post explaining Edward here. And here is the initial post about Karen Wheeler being Daughter Virginia from the Edward timeline.

[philosophicalparadox]

Well I did something

Update! We are at chapter 14 going on 15 now. This is going to be So Much Longer than I thought. Bout to start phase 2 of the KakaIru relationship, dip into the NaruSaku and then spam like three chapters of KisaIta cause I have way more scenes for those two lol

Check it out if you’re into it. Takes place somewhere in the middle of Shippuden, after the Itachi Retrieval arc but in an alternate universe in which Hidan and Kakuzu don’t die (nor does Asuma) and Deidara doesn’t fight Sasuke, though Kisame eventually does. I’ll work out the kinks later (haha punny punny)

Very Naruto-fandom Summary updated:

For Shinobi, Love is tantamount to Sin. There are good reasons for that.

For each Shinobi harbors Scars, and hides Secrets. Scars that twist them; Secrets that scar them. Sometimes love can heal. Sometimes it can hurt. And sometimes it’s just inevitable.

A tale focusing on a few sets of Lovers whose stories drift together, and as they collide like galaxies, they create new, otherwise implausible worlds along the way.

Or, a tale in which Itachi doesn't quite get his way, and Sasuke has no choice but to return home to find his brother, with some...unexpected, company of his own; Kakashi becomes a savior and surrogate lover as well as a real one, and Kisame is hopelessly doomed by the narrative because love makes you do stupid things. Selfless, honest, terrible, very stupid things.

*smut officially begins in ch. 9* *Sasuke’s arc starts ch. 12* SLOW BURN with disjointed character chapters/arcs at the beginning. This will resolve as the arcs collide.

PAIRINGS: Kakashi/Iruka and Kisame/Itachi main, in that order more or less. Eventual Kakashi/Itachi and maaaaybe a three way. Maybe.

Others include Sasuke/Suigetsu (which isn’t exactly serious) and Sasuke/Karin (with consequences) cause we are goin with the repressed hyper sexual teenager trope again, Naruto/Sakura (no! Not like that! Don’t compare me to the incels that write that crap) and eventually a Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura polycule. They’re rare! And honestly I Love writing Sakura way more than I thought I would. Exploring the Naruto verse from Kunoichi perspective is Fun! (If a bit depressing)

Loads of BDSM stuff particularly where Sasuke and Kakashi are concerned. Are you surprised? lol.

Genre: Hurt/comfort (much ow. Lots of angst. Plenty of bittersweet.) some Whump-ish moments, especially in the Awkward Caretaker trope. no horror elements (gasp! No horror from me? Unheard of!) but some medical stuff that’s pretty accurate but not very gory. I tried to curb my itch to make it bloody but if you’ve read my stuff or been around on my blog you’ll know that’s hard.

WARNING: Explicit Rating Justified. A Dead Dove: Do Not Eat (pfffft like I write anything else) Some vague but critically important scenes of SA. Deals with heavy PTSD issues, SA recovery, and Cancer, because Itachi is Dying and I needed something more survivable than the alternatives. Some medical ickiness and Ew moments but nothing too graphic. (Eh…for me, that is. Take it with a pinch of salt.) among these are mentions of morphine use in hospice, euthanasia, The Death Rattle, vomiting, migraines, aforementioned cancer, and Awkward Caretaker moments.

There’s also some um…social commentary? About the Japanese-flavored society these characters live in embedded into the story, things like social homophobia and sexism that are similarly Japanese-flavored and kinda historically accurate. (Plus like, Kishimoto man. He built that crap into the manga and it feels weird not to notice it?)

Itachi LIVES but so does Sasuke. They do eventually make nice…The Hard Way. (Undecided how I’m handling their relationship. Might decideto go for a Brother Complex Sasuke. Right now the fic is writing itself and I’m just letting it. Will update if that happens.)

Also I know way too many things about sharks so my Kisame HC’s are working through lol Sharks Make Sounds and You Can’t Stop Me.

[overobsessedfanboy23]

Yugioh dubs ranked from most tolerable to most deserving of a punch in the face

(No Sevens cuz the dub isn’t finished)

Best: 5Ds

Yes, it’s incomplete. Yes, the censorship is absurdly bad and confusing. Yes, it’s stupid as shit sometimes. But you know what? The dub is the only way I will willingly watch 90% of 5Ds because the sub is so terribly boring and lifeless. The dub actors and script breathed life into the characters, giving them and the series a personality and making the story instantly more compelling than it was in sub.

2nd most tolerable: Arc V

Not my favourite series and I generally prefer the sub voices but it’s this high up for one simple reason: there are no major story changes. At all. The most major issue I noticed when watching this dub was a poor interpretation of a previously impactful scene. So overall, a solid dub.

3rd most tolerable: Zexal

Honestly? For the first two thirds, this is a very faithful and highly enjoyable dub with some good voice acting and an enjoyable sense of humour that didn’t clash with the tone of the show, since Zexal was goofy even in sub. There were definitely problems, and some stupid edits/censorships but apart from cutting Alito’s implied bi-ness, none of the censorship made me upset... until we got the barian backstories, which are so beyond butchered it muddles the story, weakens most of and even downright ruins one of the Barians’ characters, and are a worse dumber story overall. Apart from that though, I do admittedly enjoy this dub. Maybe it’s just my enjoyment of Zexal, and the fact that unlike my other two favourites, its dub actually gave a shit but I did enjoy watching this dub.

Mid: Duel Monsters

I’m torn. Because on the one hand, this is the show that introduced me to the concept that dubs could be lying censoring americanising pieces of shit that actively tarnish the show they’re adapting. But at the same time... there are things about the dub I genuinely prefer. The plotpoint that got me attached to Yugioh (Yugi not being able to trust Atem after his attempted murder on Kaiba) was dub exclusive. For every shitty terribly adapted scene this show has, it does one other thing right. So... I’m a little undecided. I don’t really want to go back and fully watch this show in sub, and I’m glad I saw it in dub as that allowed me to get sucked into it naturally, but at the same... some of those dub scenes are genuinely hard to watch. So overall, don’t hate this dub, but it’s not good.

Now, for the two dubs I do hate:

2nd most deserving of a punch in the face: VRAINS

*deep breath* Compliments first. 1) Ai and Spectre’s dub voices are legendary, and while I prefer the sub voices, the other voice actors generally do a good job. 2) The running joke about hot dogs is legitimately funny, I kept it going in my post VRAINS fic that otherwise follows sub continuity because I loved it that much. NEARLY EVERY OTHER ATTEMPT AT HUMOUR IN THIS JOKE OF A DUB FUCKING SUCKS. Most of it it shitty cringe inducing Internet references or stupid quips right of a shitty MCU movie, the kind from late phase three and all of phase four that kill whatever semblance of tension or atmosphere there was every five seconds for an attempt at comedy. And don’t even get me started on the final duel. Playmaker insulting a dying man he spent the entire show with isn’t funny, it’s fucking twisted and disgusting. And the gay erasure is actually blatant here. The dub actively created romantic hints between Yusaku and Aoi and actively took those hints that away from Yusaku and Ai, WHO HAD A CANON AT THE VERY LEAST ONE SIDED LOVE CONFESSION AT THE END OF THE SERIES THAT THE DUB ALSO CENSORED. This isn’t me overanalysing or pushing a ship, Ai having romantic feelings for Yusaku was very intentional in the narrative of the sub and the dub censoring that is something I can only see as malicious and disgusting.

Most deserving of a punch in the face: GX

Take everything I said about the VRAINS dub only subtract the good voice acting. The GX dub voice actors honestly sound bored. I don’t blame anyone who couldn’t get into this show through the dub because how can anyone be invested in the characters and their plights if the characters aren’t even invested? Or are constantly and very distractingly breaking the fourth wall, completely ruining the grounded down to earth feel of the original. The name changes? The worst of any series. Manjome is turned into a complete joke despite being well rounded character, Rei’s name change completely ruins her introduction episode by making the twist way too obvious to at least american audiences (which the dub was made with in mind), and the others are the most americanized schlock I’ve seen in my life. The third season, the best season in sub? The dub doesn’t resemble it in the slightest. It can’t take jackshit seriously. It can’t treat its characters, who were compelling in the sub, as anything more than stupid jokes, and the same goes for the narrative as a whole. Yubel went from a complex terrifying antagonist so twisted and traumatised the only way they knew how to show love was through torment to a whiny little baby with the more ear-piercing obnoxious voice in any of these dubs. Yes, that includes Z-Arc. Not to mention “censoring” their body to make them fully female because god forbid children be forced to witness a gender ambiguous person. And god forbid they see a romance involving that gender ambiguous person. How filthy and wrong to exist and not fit into the gender binary. Great fucking job 4Kids. Oh, and great job making an entire generation of kids think the loveable happy go lucky protagonist (who never developed past that baseline personality in your shitty ass dub because character depth, what’s that?!) of your shitty ass dub died in the end because he inexplicably wanted to save the villain who’d been torturing him for an entire season. GREAT FUCKING WORK.

[the1975attheirverybest]

oooooh fav lyrics??? fuck thats hard. i will not explain why because i want to seem somewhat cool still and not like a total fucking nerd (despite having incredibly in depth reasonings)

The 1975 - ok this is Album has some interesting lyrics because its before he had it all figured out and i fucking love it for that, theres so many fucking contenders for fav lyrics (including all of anobrain, antichrist or The city) the entire abum is just so mmmmm. but if i had to pick an absolute fav id say

"I put your mother through hell, don't you mind I hate your brother as well, don't you mind, don't you mind Oh I was thinking bout killing myself, don't you mind I love you, don't you mind, don't you mind"

and i know i know its a verse but it isnt complete otherwise. Plus i have it tattooed on me so i feel like i had to.

I Like it when you sleep for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it - once again mmm chefs kiss of an album no skips (theyve never made a bad album) and lyricaly very beautiful, i could absolutely nerd out about all of their catalogue tbh. but for this i am excluding Nana and She lays down because theyre...just perfect, and also i sob.

so it would have to be

"And if I believe you Will that make it stop? If I told you I need you Is that what you want?"

or

"Before you go (please don't go), turn the big light off"

its really easy and tempting to put ballad on here but i think thats because his performance style for it is so visceral and while lyrically its beautiful still i cant imagine myself enjoying them if they were sung by someone else because they need the guts behind it ya know.

A brief enquiry into online relationships - delicious as always matthew thank you this day for our daily bread.

so its either

"I can show you the photographs of you getting on with life I've had dreams where there's blood on you" thank you for referencing the bible matthew very cool.

or

"You build it to a high to say goodbye Because you're not the same as them" because it is like a fucking gut punch

notes on a conditional form - seasoned to perfection. difficult because Guys is on this album and its so sweet but i dont think its my fav lyrically, for no particular reason. same for roadkill although "i pissed myself on a texan intersection" always has a place in my heart.

"I'm in love, but I'm feeling low For I am just a footprint in the snow" did you need to fucking wreck me or is that just for funsies huh?

or

"Don't wanna bore you with my frail state of mind "Oh, winner, winner, that's your biggest lie I'm sure that you're fine" I haven't told a lie in quite some time (Quite some time) "You know we'll leave if you keep lying Don't lie behind your (Frail state of mind)"

Being funny in a foreign language - i take 0 slander for this album because its just as brilliant as the others. so first all of part of the band is fucking art and so im excluding it because it should be all of our favs.

"I've been suicidal, you've been gone for weeks If I'm undecided, will you decide for me?W

and

"'Cause, baby, I'll do anything that you wanna I'll try anything that you wanna I'll find myself in the moonlight 'Cause, baby, I want everything that you wanna And I've tried to just be me, like, a thousand times But you're on my mind"

sorry its so long and i couldnt pick just 1 (not a libra but still indecisive) in order to remain seeming somewhat cool and not a total nerd ive refrained from explaining each choice but yeah.

Welllllll……did you HAVE to bring up “Me” AND “Frail State of Mind”?!? Are you trying to make me cry? Cuz it’s almost working.

It’s weird I’ve always kinda thought of Oh Caroline as some of his simpler writing. Not in a bad way. Like “Me” is simple as well. Simplicity has its time and its place and can be wonderful. And it IS wonderful in Oh Caroline. But I’m a layers girlie, so maybe I haven’t been giving this one much attention *runs to listen to it*

[afterthefeast]

ok final terror thoughts below

firstly. emotionally it wrecked me and i am considering buying it on dvd so i do sort of think it might be the best show ever made. however my official view is - very good at dread and suspense, character writing was up and down and papered over by good acting

pros:

- goodsir, crozier & franklin standout characters in terms of writing

- ships are cool

cons:

- silna silna silna i think nive nielsen is an incredible actor who gave silna a huge amount of depth in part because of the fact that there really was very little there otherwise. the fact that she loses her tongue early on is pretty unfortunate in that regard but even so i think she was mostly relegated to magical indigenous woman/goodsir character development. and given that she was obviously the main netsilik character we actually get to talk with that was a major disappointment for me

- tbh not to be that guy but i do think the story would’ve been better without tunbaaq. like i get it in the sense that it is just fun to imagine a supernatural element to the franklin expedition, but it’s a good enough story without that and i kiiiind of think it did cheapen the otherwise pretty solid themes of civilisation, empire, and dignity in the face of suffering etc. i don’t see what “and there’s a weird bear” adds to this. but maybe im just being a hater here.

- pretty torn on hickey in the sense that. idk. i generally do like when antagonists are left ambiguous but i think…hmmm it just didn’t land for me i LOVED when he was being a funny little scamp but murdering farr felt like it came somewhat out of the blue mostly because he was so intense about it. hmm. idk. maybe i should put hickey in a middle ambivalent section because i’m so undecided but yeah. hmm.

- i think fitzjames was a pretty missed opportunity character wise frankly. the show positions him as stepping into secondary protagonist role after franklin dies but he’s then mostly static throughout eps 4 & 5, there’s some interesting stuff in 6, but most of his real character moments come in 8 which is obviously only right before he dies in 9 anyway. up to ep 3 he’s got a good thing going as franklin’s yes-man with better social skills but from there i just don’t think the show spends enough time with him on his own to really do much with him. similar to silna i think tobias menzies is a good enough actor to cover this and it’s more a problem with a big ensemble cast than anything but we got more depth for franklin three episodes than we did for fitzjames in 9 which i think was disappointing. mostly because what we do get would have been a pretty good vector for the broader themes of victorian sensibilities breaking down in the arctic for better or worse

[aidansplaguewind]

someone on twitter mentioned that persons post but i think they should delete any and all references to it before it goes anywhere else, they don’t have anon on so i’m not going to them to say it but they and anyone who talked about it should just delete what they’ve said so it’s scrubbed from social media otherwise people will question the origin of the rumour

I thought about deleting my reblog but I'm unsure as of yet because my reblog does at least clear it up if anyone has heard it. So I'm still undecided as of yet. But the original post by itself has been deleted. I'm not sure what person you're talking about on Twitter.

I'm not so much concerned with people knowing the origin. In fact, knowing the origin will probably make them less likely to believe it's validity. It's the whole accusation in itself I would rather people not see. But since apparently they already have I think I would rather them see me contradicting it.

[quinloki]

Quin

I have to work in an hour and you’ve killed me

X___x

Okay that’s a little dramatic but omg

I think this is what makes the host club idea the most fun though bc you can literally mix anyone. There’s probably a few people who don’t mesh well or prefer not to have a client together, but otherwise >>

GOD all the different combinations

Like Kid and Sabo??? They would play off eachother so well but it’d be weird to think about them in canon

I may have just thought of Marco and Kid and now I’m done my brain is gone goodbye

xD you're exactly right. Being able to mix'n'match like a madman is exactly what I'm looking forward to the most with the Host Club.

I'm undecided on any polycule endings for the multi-chapter stories, but I'm totally going to do shorts and one-shots for rarepairs and such. Just because I can, and the setting removes a lot of limitations that would make sense in canon. ^_^

I'm going to do my best to have really nice world building AND an interesting story, but let me be honest - it's just a good excuse to have everyone smooch everyone else one way or another.

... Marco and Kid.

I...

...

...

...

"Quin can't come to the tumblr right now, please be sure to leave your name and number after the beep."

[mxacegrey]

The Masked Part 4

Fandom: Fate the Winx Saga

Pairings: Sky x reader, Riven x reader, Saul Silva x reader (Platonic or otherwise undecided)

Warnings: SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2 FATE THE WINX SAGA UNDER THE CUT!! Descriptions of violence. swearing and hints of child abandonment.

Taglist: @v1naco | @instantplaiddream | @faithm120601 | @bluebear142077 | @holyhumorliteraturelight | @marianaa-mg | @isnt-itstrange​

Series Masterlist

The sound of your alarm blaring echoed around your room, your hand turning to snooze it as you burrowed your head into your pillow and pulled the duvet cover over your head. Suddenly, your door slammed open, Andreas walking in. 

“Up!” He scolded before he began pulling at your duvet cover. As you felt the tug, you yelled out in outrage.

“Hey!” Your hair was sticking out in all direction and your eyes were blurry with sleep. 

“Do you have formal clothes?”

“Somewhere. Why?”

“You are coming to the Alfea Alumni banquet. I have some people for you to meet.” With a groan, you walked to your bathroom, washing your face before heading to your wardrobe and picking out your outfit for the banquet. You placed it on your mostly made bed, Andreas humming in acceptance.

“Of course. I live for your approval of my choices.” You snarked before leading Andreas out and closing the door behind him.

Outfits: 1 ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4

“We need to talk. Over here. Come on.” Sebastian told Aisha and Flora as he nodded to the side.

“Yeah.” Aisha nodded in response. As they walked to the side, Aisha began checking her phone for a reply from Bloom. Flora looked up at the balcony to see if she could notice any distress. “I've sent her 20 texts. She's not responding.” 

“She hasn't left Rosalind's side.” Flora explained as she got back to the others.

“She isn't going to. She's seated next to Rosalind at the banquet.” Sebastian explained.

“She can't go to the East Wing.” Flora’s eyes widened in shock.

“No. But it's not the end of the world as long as somebody else does.” Sebastian urged, looking between the two fairies in front of him.

“Looks like we're up.” Aisha stated looking at Flora.

“Are you sure we shouldn't wait?” Flora asked, nervously.

“You have to move quickly. Bloom is powerful. If Rosalind accesses that power, she could vaporize the entire room or control minds...” Sebastian urged further.

“Got it. Rosalind plus Bloom equals bad news.” Aisha deadpanned, causing Sebastian to sigh.

“Yeah.” Sebastian turned, fixing his suit before stepping outside once more. As he walked down the corridor, he bumped into a figure. “Sorry... Little cousin? Is that you?”

“Sebastian. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” You smiled, somewhat coldly but Sebastian ignored it.

“I haven’t seen you for what was it... 10 years?” Sebastian asked.

“17.” You deadpanned, your face neutral.

“You know I’m surprised you even remember me.” Sebastian tilted his head to the side.

“I have a very good memory.” You smiled tightly, before turning to walk away towards the banquet. Andreas watched your interaction with Sebastian with intrigue before walking up to you, leading you to your seat next to him at the end of the head table.

“So... You’re Sebastian’s cousin?” Andreas asked, leaning closer towards you.

“Yes.” You answered, gritting your teeth. You sat next to Andreas for the entirety of the banquet, tense as you heard Arthur, Stella’s uncle, make unveiled insults.

“No, you were just being a royal dick.” Sky exclaimed.

“What did you say to me?” Arthur asked, offended.

“Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to say it louder?” Sky snarked, causing you and Andreas to burst out chuckling before attempting to compose yourselves.

 “You realize you are nothing. Yes? Less than nothing. I have household cleaning staff who are more important than you.” Arthur insulted, causing your eyes to become icy as you coldly responded.

“And you realise that you are nothing with that title of yours.” You stated, leaning back in your chair. Soon, Arthur left and sat on the banquet table, scrolling through your phone. Every so often, you felt eyes on you and when you looked up, Sebastian would be looking straight at you. All of a sudden, Stella burst back into the hall and began her tirade against Rosalind. However, her claims were disproven as Devin walked back inside and Rosalind began talking about the latest reappearance of Blood Witches. With a grimace, you headed back to your dorm before Sebastian quickly stopped before you.

“Do you know something?” He asked.

“Do you?” You retorted before pushing past him and heading to bed. Soon after, your door opened to reveal Silva standing in his specialist uniform.

“Hey, Y/L/N.” Silva nodded.

“Hey.” You replied, the two of you smiling widely at each other.

“So... You and Sebastian?” Silva asked, breaking the comfortable silence you sat in.

“Yeah. His dad was my dad’s brother.” You sighed as you knew it was coming.

“But your surnames? He’s Valtor...” Silva trailed off.

“I go by my mother’s maiden name. I like it better.” Silva nodded in reply before leaving. Meanwhile, Beatrix was attacked by several scrappers when one disappeared. It slid around, unwatched by passers-by before heading through the vents, heading towards your room. With a hiss, it fell from the vent onto your bed, biting into your back. A loud groan of pain you felt fairy magic coursing through your body before the scrapper was shocked dead off your back. Blood began to seep on your bedcovers. As you raised you arm to trying collect the bedcovers, something unexpected happened.