#but yeah same cuz of work and shiz

[dilutedconfusion]

okay listen so i've been thinking heavily on the yandere trope recently. but like with Kid as the yandere. and whenever i see yandere!Kid i feel like he's always the more sadistic version of yanderes.

basically used this post (hoping the link works for you🙏🙏) to look at the dif types bc i dont know all that😭 but i feel like he is always sadistic/possessive in fics. obvi all yandere!aus are gonna be at least a little ooc bc its a divergence of canon characteristics but hear me out girl...

delusional and overprotective yandere!Kid... like girl. or like basically a kinda soft yandere!Kid. but like still horrible and awful not GREAT at emotions. like he will still get mad and yell but otherwise? is strangely kind to you? (w you not really realizing any subtle manipulation tactics that him or Killer might be using cuz Killer is loyal asf to Kid🤞)

like being kidnapped by the Kid pirates, the worst of the worst generation, said to be cruel and sadistic. that's already bad, and you're terrified for your life. essentially having a meltdown because you had no idea what was going to happen to you, but you had a guess. you meet Kid and prepare to be tortured/killed. then he's like??? weirdly nice to you? like yeah he's gruff and kinda bitchy but that is a thousand times better than being killed.

thats as far as the thoughts go but see my vision?? figured you would appreciate the Kid thoughts🙏

OKAY OKAY I love this SOOO MUCH. Like I don’t think I can explain how much I love this but you SLAYED. GIVING ME LINKS AND DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS AND SHIZ 🤭💞 Okay so to get right to the point I will be of course writing a chapter on this (or maybe multiple on this because that’s how good of an idea it is pookie). BUT I don’t know when I’ll be able to churn out a full chapter. I mean probably soon but I sorta just want to get a better grasp of exactly the kind of character you want Kid to be before I start writing. So here’s a little traits list?? that I cooked up the minute I read over this just to get my creative juices flowing. Let me know if Im headed in the right direction and if there is any changes or additions you’d like to see. Other than that I’ll write up the chapter, tag and credit the hell out of you, and we can revel in softyandere!Kid together 🥰

Traits

Thinks that kidnapping you was the best choice for your life. That you will be the safest and happiest with him (even if you’re kidnapped and being held against your will)

Often uses manipulation tactics like love bombing, balant lying to keep you in the dark, and triangulation with Killer

Not only believes that everyone else in the world is a hazard to you (including most of his crew members) but you’re a hazard to yourself so he doesn’t allow you privacy??? This could be taken to the point where he feels like he needs to be in the same room with you at all times. Eyes on you whenever physically possible. Which is sorta intense so just let me know if that is too much for you (cause I could make it really gross or more mild lol)

Will do even the simplest task for you, not because he wants to do it to help, but because he doesn’t believe you can take care of yourself or MOREOVER he should be the only to take care of you because he is just that great. Which of course he will hang over y/n’s head in arguments and be like “BUT LOOK AT HOW MUCH I DO FOR YOU😡” type shit.

If you do constantly try to pull away from him he’ll think you’re just shy or playing hard to get and will therefore push your boundaries harder. But if you actually PHYSICALLY harm him or try to PERMANENTLY leave he’d rather tie you down until you apologize and say you weren’t in your right mind when you did that then listen to your plea seriously (HES SO DELULU) The punishment for this could also involve taking away material items or aspects of freedom because like you said he's not sadistic so he would never hurt you.

To put it simply y/n would feel like this “I like you Kid but I don’t like who you become when you're with me” WHICH WOULD CAUSE SOME SERIOUS TURBULENCE IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP AND SOME SWEET ANGST EVEN.

I would write more but I don’t want to give TO MUCH away plot wise. Sooo hopefully this gives you a good idea on how I’m thinking of portraying Kid. If you have any other questions of course ask me!! Any little tid bits will be much appreciated and thank you so much for requesting something from me Emma 🫶

[sharksa-shivers]

It is past midnight, time for Slash and Burn shiz lol

(Ooooooo, meeting times uwu. This'd be after Slash helps Burn out. She'd been caught stealing a bag of cookies but since they didn't find the bag on her (thanks to Slash) He ended up getting her another bag…)

Burn:(watches until the shopkeepers are a ways away, them leaving after giving her her free bag, out of earshot, stares a bit stunned and kinda intimated by the tiger shark man)…….Wha-What happened to the original bag of cookies though? I had em and I-

Slash:(grabbing the bag out from his jacket, smirks)Pretty much did a simple pickpocket. Pretty easy stuff honestly…

Burn:(her eye lighting up at the other bag, obviously hungry and still wanting it, trying to take it from him)…Thank you, i-

Slash:(anddddd asshole mode engaged, lifting the bag up high, smirks)Ahhhhh, yeah, nah…Consider this bag your payment to me…

Burn:(light fading, a bit pissy, tail puffing up some)Payment??? What???

Slash:(popping the bag open, hungry himself, smirking as he pops a cookie in his mouth)Yeah???? What? I look like a charity or something? Ain't no free work here from me sweetheart…

Burn:(pissy, upset)I stole those fair and square!!!! I haven't had stable food in days!!!! Give me my damn cookies!!!!

Slash:(munching cookies, amused)Yeah, and i got you your own bag so…You're welcome? And uhhhh, small world cuz same. Unstable food stability? Ha! Story of my fuckin life man…

Burn:(anger fading some, pleeding)Just…Please? I need the food, fuck…

Slash:(rasing an eyebrow, entertained though)Gotta lotta nerve trying to take food from a literal shark, yknow that right? I need food too, I haven't eaten in like 2 days but yet you're here, trying to wrestle this measly bag of cookies from me…

Burn:(upset)……Cuz im not good at this shit, fucking…Goddamnit…

Slash:(amused)You got a name cat? Ya got spunk and nerve, i like it. ------------------------ Part of the scene where they meet lol. These 2 are homeless and have to fight to get by but ngl, i adore tf outta these 2 gremlins lol (said gremlins pictured below lol) These 2 are like some of my fave side characters that pop up in Kidnapped, i adore them lol. Also for context, Slash has been homeless like his entire life where Burn hasn't and at this point in the writing, she's struggling to deal with that...But she copes better as she teams up with Slash and whatnot. These 2 are pretty much inseperable lol.

[cocoanmelaninsims]

Announcement

Beginning/Previous/Next

Xela told her friends about the last few weeks including her engagement and some struggles since her parents passed. The girl time was much needed and she found the support she was looking for. 

transcript below

Later that same day @ Britechester University

Belle: I'm jealous we couldn't go on your birthday trip. How was it?

Hazel: Yeah, I saw those photos, they had FUN. As for me, I aint been doing nothing but trying to keep Russell's ass away from me.

Xela: Well... there was a lot that happened. Sheldon is such a sweetheart. He really goes above and beyond for me. And I deserve it. I've never had anyone care for me the way he does. 

X: I heard about that. I heard it was Vanessa too? Honey I'm so sorry. Russell really aint worth shiz.

Hazel: I don't even care who she was. I heard her name was Nessa or something like that so it tracks but I'm done with him and his bull. Graduation is coming and apparently my BEST FRIEND's WEDDING! I'm busy over here.

X: I can't believe all of the shit that's happened in a month. I lost both of my parents y'all. And now I'm getting married. I'm graduating. I just turned 30. I feel like my parents died and now I gotta celebrate all these amazing things without them.

H: Don't you worry about that. Your parents will be there cheering you on. It'll be as if they were there. Because you were able to do all those amazing things because of them. There's no way they'd miss a second.

Belle: Shit, we are late.

X: Nah class got moved to 3pm. It's like 3 hours away.

Hazel: Good cuz we need to discuss graduation and our plans after.

X: I can't do anything after graduation. I got a new job and I start literally the next day.

H: Excuse me Sigress! Why would you do that? I know things have been hard and you got bills but let us help you. No one goes straight into working after graduation. Take a few days off or something!

B: Yeah boo that's a no. Come on, we got savings. What you need? If we can help it, you gotta at least have that weekend off.

X: Of course I have the weekend off but yeah I mean, property taxes are due. I'm trying to sell the house too. It's a lot and I am overwhelmed.

B: OK I see. Well give us a number sitch! I got like 5K saved right now from working, financial aid and graduation gifts.

H: OK yeah, I got like 3K. We can cover those taxes and we can talk about other stuff later. How m/uch you need? Be sure to include small shit like groceries. What you think belle? Like 1500 each

X: Y'all are too much. I could use around that much 3K. My fiance... that's weird to say. Wow. Sheldon is helping me out a lot too but yeah... I'm in a spot right now. I really appreciate your help though.

H: Well, Let's get together and get a care package. Ya know write the check and all.

B: I like it, I'm coming over tomorrow for our project anyway so how about then?

X: Come on care package is doing too much. You don't have to do-

Both: Shush chick, no one asked you. * both laugh*

[wifeofthebestbois]

I keep seeing a thing people be saying and its actually fine and ppl are allowed to have whatever headcannons they want but seeing as its about a BIG f/o of mine I would like to present my differing opinion (and also a solid cannon in my own little self-insert-verse )

Connor DOES have a pp!

However its able to be tucked away~

Mmkay so Cyberlife androids are supposed to be like exact copies of humans and also in that little interview with Kamski thing (part of the dbh shorts) he says they (and speaks as if its a blanketing thing for all androids) can have ‘intimate relationships’ 

So i feel like genitals come standard on androids. I feel like... sad and objectifying as it is (well they were just machines allegedly until they awakened and like got souls n shiz~) They were there as objects to be used to peoples satisfaction. If on a whim someone was thirsty the option to just pull aside their housekeeping android and be like ‘yo phck me’ should be there. So I imagine it is. Even for like construction and store clerk androids probably I think. I mean... they cute... if people wanna piece of that then I feel like its Cyberlife’s /thing/ to be like yes any android can do anything you want of it... whatever your hearts desire! they never say no! They are only here to serve! (This is also hugely the vibe that same Kamski interview gave off. In fact “they never say no” is a direct quote) 

And so that includes Connor too! They apparently chose /everything/ to facilitate his ‘integration with humans’  and hes also the most advanced android yet so I feel like they wouldn’t skip out on those bits for him

BUT since some ppl are offended by nudity or whatevs I think theres an option where like panels open up and stuff retracts back in and then the panels shut again and a layer of artificial skin covers over and tada theyre smooth like ken/barbie dolls. And I think the nips is like the hair... its actually not there til the artificial skin is on and then its like...created~ (but can still be sensitive cuz they have sensors all over there body n... yeah~) 

And to suit every persons personal desires and preference I feel like there is a default peen and a default vajeen but you can get them to customize however... like its high tech robot parts and artificial highly realistic skin so its not too much of a stretch that the parts could elongate/shrink/shift around to create whatever size and shape desired and also the head hair is artificial and just kinda bloops on so I imagine the same could go for the down-there hair making it however you like. 

Also artificial jizz is a thing because lots of ppl get off on that shiz and it takes away from realism if nothing... ~happens~  

I also think they retract their junk by default when they remove their artificial skin because when theyre like that theyre no longer really imitating a human appearance usually. And also if they be like that its because some maintenance or something (*cough* or android concentration camps :[ ) is happening and then they arent being of service to anyone so theres no need for those parts or to be in human-appearance mode.

But I feel like usually (unless told not to) the genitals are out and just existing there like humans would be because if someone got freaky-deaky and pulled down an androids trousers and there was nothing there it would be jarring and would ruin that whole ‘perfect imitation of life’ thing.

I think sex androids are there for ppl who cant afford their own android to get freaky with and dont really feel right about or know how to go about getting with like... other androids that they work with or whatever (plus even if the intent was for u to be able to do the do with ANY android that caught your fancy.. some workplaces probably started a no frick-fracking with the work androids rule despite Cyberlife’s intent) 

But yee I totes think the androids have junk

Connor included~ 

Thanks for coming to my TED talk

[roggling]

Kidge Bodyguard AU Part 5

Okay, so this is the end… this has been a wonderful ride, my friends. Hope you enjoy this extra long chapter!

okay so the team went on with the mission

Pidge didn’t go

I’m serious

Seriously joking

Bruh the hell you think Pidge is

She legit jumped into Lance’s duffle bag before he got on and he still doesn’t know even though he’s legit in his position and opened his bookbag to take out his dismantled sniper rifle

HE STILL DIDN’T SEE HER

Whatevs

So Pidge is there folded into Lance’s bag and she’s doing her whole hacking shiz and helping the Paladins out by turning off the Galra’s cameras and all that ish

But THEN she finds the camera footage of the dungeon (which was basically the engine room with little prison cells in some nooks and crannies) and she sees her bro and dad there and she immediately taps into the audio to hear what’s going on

Unfortunately, it was also time for Lance to start shooting and it was LOUD AS HELL AND SHE COULDN’T HEAR A THING

She thought she could just guess what was going on but then Zarkon, the leader of Galra Industries and all their human experiments, stepped into the camera feed and she got desperate

She legit even pressed her small laptop to her ear to see if she can hear what he was saying

all she heard was “Destroy”, “friends”, “daughter”, “death”

Then Zarkon LEGIT ATTACKED HER FAM

She wasn’t having any of that so she burst through the duffle bag zipper

Lance almost shot her cuz she scared him

After realizing that it was just a little Pidgeon in his bag he legit laughed and handed her one of his extra handguns 

“Go get ‘em, Pidgey.”

Pidge found her way to the prison cells real easy and she had to choke back a sob

There, fighting Zarkon, was a bloodied Keith.

Cowering behind him was her father.

Matt was laying against a wall, but it seemed like he was just recently thrown at it because he was slowly getting back up

No one noticed she walked in the room so Zarkon continued with his stupid monologue

“It is pointless, Keith. You may pretend to be one of them but remember that you are one of us. You’re like me. Why must you serve such useless people who can’t even defend themselves?”

He grabs 

“You are a Galra, soldier. You don’t need such an inferior race.”

*cue Katie silently gasping*

Keith is pissed off now.

“I may be a Galra, but I am not nor will I ever be like you!”

Keith roars and throws four knives at Zarkon. Zarkon raises up a hand to block the weapons aimed at his heart but when he puts his arm down, Keith is gone.

Suddenly, Zarkon feels a kick to his face and he falls on the floor with a loud thump. 

Cue angry fight between Keith and Zarkon

Pidge saw that Zarkon’s focus was no longer on torturing her brother and father and she took advantage

She ducked and ran to her father and her brother, who were both trying to stand up and help

They saw her and their eyes lit up and they were about to say something but she shushed them before they can bring attention to themselves. 

She freed them and began leading them through the halls when she heard an explosion coming from the prison cells

She spun on her heel and began worrying when she saw smoke coming from the hall.

She turned around again and saw her father doubled over and coughing.

She couldn’t decide whether she should guide her family to safety or go back to help Keith.

However, she didn’t need to choose because Shiro came to the rescue.

“Pidge! What are you doing here?” Shiro swung Sam onto his shoulders

“I thought you guys would need help.” Pidge helped her brother walk and they continued shuffling towards the exit.

Shiro rolled his eyes but he wasn’t angry to see Pidge, “Well, wait until Keith finds out. Come on, he should be finishing off the armory and then we’re out of here.”

Pidge then realized that Shiro didn’t know what was happening to his best friend, but she decided against telling him. As she continued helping Matt, she heard another explosion from the armory. She looked back and she could see thick, black smoke pouring from the prison doors.

Without hesitating, now that she knew her family was in safe hands with Shiro, she gently let her brother go and bolted for the prison doors.

Matt was woozy cuz of his blood loss and he didn’t really process what was going on and he leaned against Shiro.

*cue confuzzled Shiro*

“Pidge, help your broth- Pidge? Pidge! Come back!”

Pidge sprinted through the halls and shot any Galra that got in her way (none of them were lethal but it was enough to prevent them from following her). 

Then she heard a loud voice booming through the P.A.: “ATTENTION ALL GALRA SOLDIERS: WE ARE ON LOCKDOWN. WE HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED. REPEAT WE ARE ON LOCKDOWN.”

Just then, the doors started shutting down.

From a distance, Pidge can see the prison doors closing, but she couldn’t see anything inside.

Pidge huffed and puffed harder than ever before to get there. The wind has never whizzed so fast past her head. She has never felt such a rush of adrenaline until then.

Her thirst, her want, she need to make sure Keith was safe - that he was alive - consumed her whole body and guided her movements. She no longer had to think as she aimed to shoot. It was almost as if her body was an automatic weapon.

She had to squeeze in between the doors before they shut on her and she rolled on the floor when she made it inside.

She coughed as she lifted herself from the floor. Smoke was everywhere in the room. Fires were burning the prison cells’ bedsheets, it was melting the iron bars, it snuffed out the light.

It took a moment for Pidge’s eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room, but she managed to make out holes on the floor that revealed parts of the underground levels.

Her senses were being overrun. The smell of burning fabric, the stinging of the ashes in her eyes, the hot temperature, the red light surrounding the room, the low glow of a spreading fire, the crackling of nearby flames. However, only one sound was strong enough to catch her attention: Keith’s cough.

Pidge sprinted to the sound. It was a strong, throaty, almost choking cough. It was continuous and the labored breaths in between them told Pidge that Keith was struggling.

As she neared him, she could hear his raspy voice calling out, “Help!”

At last, she found him.

Dangling from one of the openings to the lower floors. He was there holding on to the end of a thick iron wire that is used for foundations and to layer cement. With one hand, he was holding on, with the other, he was covering his mouth in an attempt to keep the smoke out of his respiratory system.

Pidge had to choke back a tear and she bent down to offer a hand.

Keith looks up with a relieved look but then when he saw who it was, his eyes widened in fear and concern, “Pidge?!”

“Shut up and take my hand!”

Keith didn’t argue.

With A LOT of heavy lifting from Pidge, she was able to lift Keith out of his predicament and the two laid on the floor panting.

“You should lose a couple pounds.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll do that the next time I decide to dangle above a burning fire.”

Pidge laughed and got to her feet and helped Keith up while being aware of his injuries.

Keith chuckled and held on to his ribs and winced, “I thought … I told you to … not come.” He let go a sharp breath at the last two words and winced.

Pidge ignored him and felt his abdomen to feel his abs to feel his ribs.

“Keith-”

“I know.”

Pidge shook her head and wrapped Keith’s hand around her shoulders and took on most of his weight and she made their way towards the broken window at the back of a cell, “Come on, I’m getting you out of here.”

Keith coughed once more and asked, “Why’d you come back for me?”

In truth, Pidge didn’t know. At first, it was because he’s a part of the team who saved her missing family and she couldn’t let him die. Then she thought it was because he saved her life thrice already. Then she thought it was because of the butterflies and the red in her cheeks every time she takes a glance at him.

Eventually, she answered, “Why wouldn’t I?

Keith merely stayed quiet and let her help him but one their way out, a big figure materialized from behind them.

Pidge immediately dodged out of the way and rolled across the prison floor wrapped up in Keith’s arms.

When she regained her senses, she immediately got up to her feet and jumped out of the way of the incoming blast coming from Zarkon’s gun

“Do you think you got rid of me that easily, Keith? It takes more than a 30ft drop to kill me.”

Zarkon powered up his gun and aimed a shot at Keith, But when it fired, Pidge threw a chunk of fallen metal in Zarkon’s way and the blast ricocheted onto him.

Zarkon had to take a few steps back and then fixed his glare on to Pidge.

“So you’re the annoying Holt daughter that my two prisoners wouldn’t shut up about?”

“Yeah,” Pidge began and shot at Zarkon (which she missed), “I am.”

Zarkon laughed and taunted, “You missed.”

“Did I?”

Zarkon was confused before he heard a creak from up above. He turned around and was doused in thick black oil. Pidge shattered the fuel canisters.

Zarkon roared and wiped the oil from his eyes. When he opened his eyes and could finally see again, Pidge was nowhere to be found. 

Then he feels a powerful force fall on him.

They roll around and he finds Pidge on top of him working on some ropes. He slaps her off of him and she tumbles on the floor. She gets back up and finds that her cheek is bleeding.

She lifts a hand to it and then calls out, “Keith, now!”

Zarkon completely forgot about the half-dead Galra he left behind and looked up to where Pidge was looking.

Keith was up on a ledge holding a heavy tank full of God-knows-what.

Zarkon watched as Keith dropped it from his position and as the tank fell, Zarkon was pulled up. Zarkon didn’t notice that the tank tied up to the very same rope he was tied to.

Now, his only form of escape is a 60ft drop. He watched as Pidge through a burning chunk of wood into the pile of oil he was dripping and the whole floor beneath him lit on fire.

As Zarkon spit threats and insults at the pair, Pidge managed to call Shiro for help and she could hear their helicopter by the side of the building. She picked up Keith and she shuffled towards an open window where the helicopter was waiting.

She handed Lance an unconscious Keith and as she boarded the helicopter, she looked back into the dungeon and aimed her gun. She only had one bullet left so she only has one shot.

She closed an eye, aimed, and fired. 

The bullet whizzed past the open window, grazed Zarkon, and then embedded itself into an engine.

“Go, go, go, go, go!”

Shiro swerved away from the building and left the area immediately and behind them, the building blew up to smithereens along with anyone inside.

Now, they’re back and Keith has already recovered thanks to his Galra genetics.

Pidge and Colleen have already reunited with her father and her brother (it was a huge pile of crying Holts and it was endearing)

Shiro and Allura finally told the team that they were dating

Everyone already knew and had placed bets on when they were going to tell the team. Pidge got $20 from Lance and Hunk and made a note to remind Keith to pick up his winnings.

Now that everything is back to normal and she had her family back, the Holt clan is looking for a new house. The Galra trashed their old home.

With the prospect of her departure and the fact that she now knows his secret, Keith distanced himself from Pidge. The two barely spoke anymore and if they were asked, the team (and the Holts) would definitely say that the sexual tension is becoming unbearable.

Stealing glances, biting lips, longing looks, These two aren’t fooling anyone.

However, their stubbornness is what’s tearing them apart and it’s taking a toll on both of them

“She’s leaving?! Why should I try to start something that won’t work out?”

“He started avoiding me first! Why should I apologize?”

Allura then had enough and she talked with Keith (something along the lines of “If you don’t want to die alone you better go get her because no other person can deal with your quiznaking crap as well as she does.”)

Matt did the same with Katie (”I don’t know about you, Pidge, but he’s the only guy that has actually cared for you genuinely despite the fact that you’re a Holt. So you better pull yourself together and get you that hunk of muscle.” “Matt!”)

So now the two are awkwardly standing in front of the other and Keith hasn’t looked at her in the face yet.

Pidge rolls her eyes and became fed up with Keith’s shyness and walked up to him and lifted his head by his chin to make him look at her.

Pidge searched his violet eyes only to find them full of uncertainty. Pidge narrowed her eyes and asked, “What’s going on? We used to be so close, but now you can’t even look at me straight in the eyes.”

Keith hesitated before answering, “You’re leaving.”

Pidge paused and let him continue, “You’re leaving and then I won’t see you again.”

Pidge sighed, “Keith, I’m not leaving.”

Keith froze.

“Back home, I have nothing to do other than sit in a computer. With you guys, I get to work for a good cause and my work is needed here. I’m staying with you guys.”

Keith stood there for a minute before cracking a smile and chuckling, “So, you’re not going back with your family?”

Pidge shrugged, “Well, it’s not like I won’t see them. They’ve got their own lives, it’s about time I start mine.”

Keith stepped took the few steps that separated them and he wrapped his arms around Pidge’s petit one and whispered, “Am I in it?”

Pidge flushed a deep shade of red at Keith’s sudden flirts and opened and closed her mouth as she tried to find something to say. Once she finally did tho, she was just as smug, “It depends on you.”

“Oh, Jesus Christ! Just make out already!” The two laughed at Lance’s voice from the gym’s loudspeaker system and accepted the teasing.

The two leaned in until they met in the middle.

Keith, who had to bend down a bit, sighed as Pidge wrapped her arms around his neck and tip-toed to press in closer to him. Their lips moved in sync with the passion of the moment leading them to deepen the kiss more and more with every passing second.

“Ah! My eyes! I take it back!”

Keith led their kisses slower and slower until he pulled away to whisper a word, “Finally,” before reconnecting their lips.

Pidge did the same, “I,” kiss, “know.” Kiss, “Took,” kiss, “you,” kiss, “long enough.” Kissssss.

Keith chuckled and placed some more pecks on Pidge’s lips before they heard an unfamiliar voice over the loudspeaker.

“Hello, Paladins of Voltron and guests. I know we’ve had our differences in the past.”

Keith pulled away from Pidge and glared at the loudspeaker and growling, “Lotor.”

Pidge looked up at her ... lover? boyfriend? a really hot guy friend that will make out with her? ... with a questioning gaze before hearing “Lotor” continue, “But since you’ve killed my father and left the Galra under my control ... I think it’s time we have a discussion.”

[resbang-bookclub]

AMA Transcript: Pell Grant Matrimony

This weekend, @marshofsleep, @sojustifiable (known as Amanda on Discord), @adorabbey and @tilliquoi braved yesterday's Discordacolypse in order to chat about their 2016 Resbang, Pell Grant Matrimony! Here's some of what went down:

Q: Please, give us a rundown of how this was conceived.

sleepmarshes:

sleepmarshes: It's almost been an entire year. We've lived with this sin for 11 months. Right, so, like, there was that tumblr post going around about how a bro realized he could help another bro out since gay marriage became legal, and they could get a green card. So my thought was, of course, this is Soul and (somebody).

Amanda: I believe this was the tweet marsh referenced when she first described the initial idea to me before we were collabing on it:

sleepmarshes: So, the setup would be Maka meets Soul and of course they hit it off because this is why we came here. But it turns out Soul is married.

sleepmarshes: Then we decided B* would be the best choice. He would be ultra gung ho about PDA. THEN, Amanda started signing up for financial aid, and she was like hey, what if we do it like this instead of green card? And then BAM, COLLEGE AU. Then it became a game of how many tropes, cliches, and memes we could pile in.

Amanda: And then when I was signing up for financial aid I also saw this post and was like hey alternate motivation: http://zhuy-doodles.tumblr.com/post/144803762284. How we ended up collabing and doing it for real was that I was talking to marsh about how I wasn't sure if I was going to do resbang or not, and that if i was, I wanted to do something silly. And she was like, hey you should do that thing I told you about. And I was like I can't do that, it's your thing. And she was like oh we can collab and then we made a blood pact.

sleepmarshes: Now we are borg.

Adorabear: Amanda, marsh, and I did a minecraft FRAND ritual. Very legit.

Q: How did the collab work?

sleepmarshes: At the time, I was busy with house building stuff and other things, so I knew I wasn't going to be able to help a whole lot.

Amanda: I imagine it works differently for different people but ours was a Process. When we discussed collabing we pretty much decided I would do the bulk of the writing while marsh would act as helicopter mom with plotting and everything.

sleepmarshes: HELICOPTER MOM omg. It me.

Amanda: So we plotted together and marsh would be like hey I know this is a joke but we need actual character motivation and shiz and then I started cranking out words. And then marsh trailed behind me, editing and making parts funnier and more coherent and filling in the scenes I was really struggling with.

sleepmarshes: She trucked right on man, just huge chunks. Well, I also kept throwing stupid ideas at you.

Q: Who came up with my daughter snappy, and also, how do you feed an alligator on student budget?

sleepmarshes: We don't talk about the budget.

Amanda: So once upon a time, I sent marsh this meme:

sleepmarshes: How DID that happen? This is clearly America.

Amanda: Just as a joke, I was like haha look at this meme and she was like fake gay fic??

sleepmarshes: I don't remember this but I believe it 100%.

Amanda: And I was like, not my intention, but okay, I can roll with it, they have an alligator now. Gained through some vague but nefarious means.

sleepmarshes: Snappy*Star. I think we decided [she was] smuggled from Disney World? I regret not making the epilogue about [Black*Star's] TV show.

Amanda: Yeah there were some interesting epilogue plans for when Snappy got too big to keep in an apartment. Black*Star was gonna have a TV show with Snappy I think on exotic pet care or maybe like, exercising with your pet. Just picture like, 3 years from the end of the fic, Soul and Maka are hanging out and turn on the TV to see the two of them.

Q for the artists: What inspired your arting decisions?

Adorabear: So I knew I'd do drinks, and wanted to do nail art (after getting a lot of encouragment from the resbang discord). I did some trial runs of the nail art shortly after the Resbang matchmaking.

Q: What inspired Queen Wes?

Amanda: Queen Wes appeared out of nowhere when I was writing the last 15k in three days and was in a delirious state of confusion.

Q: How did you two like collabing? Did it work well?

Amanda: I had a blast and think the collabing probably went better than either of us could've expected.

sleepmarshes: Oh yeah def. I've been terrfied to collab for years.

Amanda: Like, it ended up being even more collaborative with merging our writing styles so we just got this monster of laughs out of it. Tbh I was surprised that marsh even suggested collabing cuz I didn't think she did collabs.

sleepmarshes: I DON'T do collabs, but I get along with you so well I figured well, if anything'll work, it'll probably be this. Actually, Amanda did a lot of work on the timeline.

Amanda: More like I did a lot of work harrassing Marsh about the timeline because I need things to be linear.

sleepmarshes: Yeah I'm definitely not that.

Amanda: Let me pull up some parts of the outline for posterity. These are the kinds of notes Marsh makes in the outline:

These are the kinds of notes I make which are about 5% more coherent:

Q: Why Harvar with Wes? I think it was hilarious.

sleepmarshes: Uhhh well we knew we wanted Wes to hit on DTK. Why DID we hook him up with Harv? Just because Harv has put up with his shit for so long and won't leave him?

Amanda: We hooked him up with Harv because you love Harv and love shipping everyone with everyone else.

sleepmarshes: Ok this is probably true.

Amanda: Other random add in about shipping cuz I forgot we had another pm chatlog and found where we were discussing possible ships and I have this quote from marsh's shipping habits:

sleepmarshes: Can confirm, this is my hobby.

Q: Was there a line or joke or meme that made either of you legit laugh out loud when you realized it fit/it ended up in there?

sleepmarshes: Probably every meme we came into contact with?

Adorabear: Amanda and Marsh are basically the people on the date shoving all the breadsticks in their purse, but the breadsticks are memes. And their purse is overflowing, and they're going into the Olive Garden kitchen to get more breadstick memes.

Amanda: I think there was a lot of coming up with ridiculous lines and then having the other be like "wtf is wrong with you that's hilarious."

sleepmarshes: Yes, exactly that. As for drummer DTK....

Amanda: That was another last minute thing. We knew he was a math metal head but then I was like lol what if he shows up as a guest in the music festival?

sleepmarshes: ROFL when you said that I thought well man, if you wanna write it go for it. And then when I caught up to it for edits even I was surprised. I was like FUCK YEA.

Q: Did you guys have a playlist?

sleepmarshes: I didn't have a fic-specific one, personally. I think I was mostly listening to the Macabre Records mix and maybe a Sufjan Stevens album.

Amanda: I also didn't have any specific writing music, being a musician also I find music pretty distracting so the only music I can write to is if it blends together well and is really cohesive and doesn't have any distracting vocals. Hey, I was listening to Sufjan too. Carrie and Lowell.

sleepmarshes: SAME HAT oh I had uhhh. A Sun Came.

Amanda: And maybe some Seven Swans and some old Bon Iver and Iron and Wine sometimes. But basically I need a specific ambient music to write to as opposed to anything relevant.

sleepmarshes: There was a lot of dialogue in this fic, so I needed some chill stuff towards the end.

Q: Did you guys find any characters really challenging to write?

Amanda: I can't write DTK at all so I needed a lot of Marsh intervention in that camp.

sleepmarshes: DTK is uhhh very polite 'I care nothing about what you just said, let me do what i came here to do.' How happy do you expect goth burberry to be? Despite all that, he's got squishy innards [and] four smile muscles. I had Wes issues so his flamboyancy got a lot of help from Amanda.

Amanda: I turned Wes into a monster. Marsh did most of the bbq scene cuz I was quite stuck in the middle of it and wanted to keep steamrollering ahead.

sleepmarshes: We always knew Wes would be obnoxious but I was watching a lot of beauty gurus on YouTube at the time and like... stuff... happened.

Q: Does Tsubaki continue to be a badass pilates instructor after the story ends? Does B* continue to go to her classes? Q: DO THEY BECOME PARTNERS EVENTUALLY?

sleepmarshes: Maybe they can have a workout show together with Snappy the mascot.

Amanda: B* continues to be a big fan of her workout stuff and they're swolebuds.

Q: How goes Patti's Etsy?

sleepmarshes: She's always in business the more Snappy grows.

Amanda: I think we had another potential future ending in which Patti adopts Snappy and cares for her at a wildlife refuge when she gets too big. There were quite a few potential futures for the different people, especially as we were still playing shipping roulette.

Q: Is it really that easy to get divorced in America?

Amanda: Yes, at least as far as I'm aware. If it's not, then we're going with suspension of disbelief.

sleepmarshes: I mean, as long as both sides want it and no one raises a fuss, yeah no one cares.

Q: Why continue to call Kid 'Morty' instead of Kid?

sleepmarshes: Oh, man, idk, college AU with a guy named Death? I couldn't do it.

Amanda: Like, Kid isn't a name and if it's his stage name people wouldn't probably call him that all the time.

sleepmarshes: Bonus: Shinidaddy calling him Junior.

Amanda: Even with B* it's definitely a nickname, we just decided to go off the walls with his actual name. Like, what if instead of being Blake we call him something ridiculous?

Q: Does Blair ever give up the panty thieving?

sleepmarshes: Actually I had wanted that last sock Blair stole to actually belong to DTK, and he was going to find out at the festival, but I totally forgot. Disgruntled DTK with only one sock... chance missed.

Amanda: Just one of those things that slipped through the cracks in the last three days of screaming.

Q: How did Stein and Spirit move the car?

sleepmarshes: I don't know, I always figured Spirit just annoyed the heckie out of everyone in between parking spaces.

Amanda: I wanted to leave it ambiguous just to leave it like... how the fuck did they do that? Cuz they had to get the people to switch spots with them anyway, but then also had to get everyone to move to let them through too.

[a tilliquoi appears, there is much joy]

Same Q: What inspired your arting decisions?

tilliquoi: Hmmm well for Soul and Maka at the mailboxes, I liked it bc shark slippers and bc that was when they first met. And I drew Snappy and Wes just bc they're both fabulous and I couldnt resist.

Amanda: Both the showstealers of the fic.

Q: How did you make those pieces? What programs/materials did you use?

tilliquoi: They're all digital and done in photoshop. It's the only program i really use anymore.

Q: What made you go: Yes. That. This is the fic I want in the first place?

sleepmarshes: YEAH, I WANNA KNOW, TOO.

Adorabear: For me, I was looking for things that I knew I could make drinks for and uh, yeah, it looked fun af, and I like silly af shit.

tilliquoi: Well, last year I was an artist for another Marsh fic, coincidentally, and that one was a lot more serious. It was amazing but this year I wanted to go for something fun and ridiculous as a change of pace. When I read the summary for Pell Grant I was just thinking that I'd probably end up laughing the whole time, so I was like "that one. thats the fic I gotta art for."

sleepmarshes: When your claim came in I laughed SO HARD.

tilliquoi: Yeah it was pretty funny finding out you were one of the authors.

sleepmarshes: She had no idea I was involved.

Amanda: Marsh messaged me like "lol guess who claimed us" but wouldn't tell me until it was official.

Adorabear: Amanda and I were talking about my list, and she was in my Google doc watching me make my pics, watching me eliminate stuff.

Amanda: I was screaming inside because I couldn't let her know it was me.

sleepmarshes: We were both dying.

Adorabear: The joys of anon claiming, I guess.

Q: What are you guys' next projects?

Amanda: Uhhhh I should probably finish Strangers... but I've been focusing more on writing music lately and taking a break from fic, and then I have a couple back burner fics that I won't go into cuz I haven't decided if they'll be for a Resbang or not. Potential original fantasy story also, but I think working on more music is really gonna be the focus while I'm finishing school.

sleepmarshes: Strangers hype. I'm working on Quantum Entanglement, and intend on finishing Lodestar. Probably no Resbang ficcing for me this year, because I want to finish some fics and work on an original novel.

Adorabear: I'm not going to Reverb this year, but I think I'll Resbang art next year.

Q: Did you all ever have to reign each other in? Like were there moments you had to go whoa whoa whoa too much, too far, time to say when?

sleepmarshes: Uhm I think we were just a cycle of enabling, tbh.

Amanda: Confirmed: no reigning in nonsense, only enabling more and more batshit insanity.

Q: Anything not make the cut?

sleepmarshes: I think stuff that didn't make the cut were things we ran out of time for, since a large part of it was written in the last three days. Like I wanted Wes to have an obsession with cinnabon. I think there was more bean warfare.

Q: How did everyone, writers and artists, feel like they grew/changed/learned during the resbang season?

sleepmarshes: I think overall I learned there are more ways of collaborating in writing than I had thought. Like, I thought there was only some way with magical hand holding sentence by sentence and somehow no one committed murder. But like, we just delegated roles, she did the bulk of it, I did invasive betaing, and we talked in discord a lot about junk.

Amanda: I think my growth was just it being the first time I ever wrote that much in a short period of time. Like the last three days were crazy, but I didn't have any problems micromanaging cuz I was fine with just being like "yolo just make this better", for a murder free experience.

sleepmarshes: I was so worried at first about hurting your writing feelings. But then you were like JUST EDIT IT DON'T SUGGEST 200 THINGS.

Amanda: I don't have any writing feelings. JUST FIX IT MARSH MAKE IT BETTER. I'M WRITING AS FAST AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT THINKING ABOUT ANYTHING I KNOW QUALITY IS SPOTTY.

sleepmarshes: After that it was just prancing through a field of yolo.

Amanda: I think both our collaboration and our friendship was helped severely by the fact that I don't have control issues or take anything personally, so invasive betaing was no sweat.

tilliquoi: I think if I learned anything or grew from this, it was in experimenting with coloring styles, particularly with that Wes drawing. That was pretty far out of my comfort zone in terms of how I usually color, but it made me a LOT less afraid to use excessive colors in places I wouldnt normally.

sleepmarshes: I had Wes open on all three monitors while I was editing. This is what it's like to have Wes on every channel:

Adorabear: I think for me, it was just a lot of confidence building in terms of my artwork, because I have been really nervous [about whether] my authors are going to like what I do, or [whether] they'll think I've done enough. I'm just a worrier.

sleepmarshes: Did you get ultra fast at cross stitch? Because that's certainly what it looked like.

Adorabear: I think I just motored through that one. I guess I have gotten faster. But I was like, in beast mode for that one. I am very pleased with it, though.

sleepmarshes: I love it.

Adorabear: Anyway, I think I feel more confident that the things I make are ~enough.~

sleepmarshes: THREE CHEERS FOR THE FAKE GAY FIC TEAM.

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Thanks to all of our creators for stoppin' by!! Stay tuned for more transcripts!