#for reasons that are absolutely a fundamental force in this fic

[rxttenfish]

as i'm writing this fic i'm a little worried how the first chapter will come off, since it's basically an argument between miranda and aaravi. they fully do end up with an understanding at the end, but it's just one of those things that i fret how it'll come off to people just coming into this.

mostly, this is just part of how their relationship works? as in, they'll have a disagreement about something, and both are vocal and intense about their requirements and wants, and in being aggressively upfront about it they manage to lay out all of their feelings and end up on each other's stride. they work well together because they argue with each other first, and the rest of the fic is just that, with this setup being leadup to them not having these issues since they already went over them.

in the same way, it introduces them to everyone else and explains how they work, just as much as its a setup and a foundation for all the more intense worldbuilding coming up. miranda walking things through with aaravi and explaining them is a good vehicle to explain the fundamental powers at work here, and are also what's keeping her alive through all of this.

[l0n3ly-gh0st205]

Heyo Stranger, if you are like doing request rn can We get more white beard pirate's with child!reader crumbs pls 😌

A/n: Oh my days; ABSOLUTELY ANON!!!! Crumbs are my favorite hehe

Sorry, I responded so late; getting into the vibe of my second quarter at college and dealing with some personal stuff on the side, but! im here to feed the found family enjoyers! (also, I still love my college. It's super fun but stressful! I may post some of my assignments, but we are still in fundamentals rn)

Enjoy! :D

Child!Reader with the WBP!!

[■□□□□□□□□□] 10%

☆꧁༒Ĺoading. . .༒꧂☆

[■■■■■■□□□□] 60%

☆꧁༒Ĺoading. . .༒꧂☆

[■■■■■■■■■■] 100%

☆꧁༒Complete༒꧂☆

So, in previous posts, I mentioned that Marco and Thatch found a baby in a storm… but don't get me wrong, they're stupid enough to adopt a kid off the streets accidentally.

Obviously, in the new world and on the grand line, there are some not-so-great families/ pirates, so I don't think it's out of the question if a female crew member gets pregnant on a ship for them to, perhaps, dump their unwanted child on a random island and expect them to die or smth

And if the island had a town, then they’d most likely be living on the streets since it’s just another mouth to feed, and no one wants to put a strain on their already delicately crafted lives

But moving on from the sad stuff

Imagine if a toddler reader, just hungry and wanting some clothes for the winter, notices a new ship in the port and tries to steal some food and clothes

And, of course, a lil bby can't really steal too well, either falling into a barrel or easily getting caught by the crew…

Lucky for you, the white beard pirates have a soft spot for kids :D

God, just imagining thatch holding up this scrappy little baby, probably crying big fat tears from getting in trouble, up to white beard being like, ‘So what are we doing with this?’

And white beards’ parental instincts immediately kick in.

So yeah new little sibling :D’

I headcanon Ace as being the previously youngest crew member… so when i tell you he was SO happy someone else was now the ‘baby’ of the family it's insane

Would absolutely pick on you for everything, your age? Lil bby. Your height? Short stack. Hell you could drop a fruit on the floor on accident and ace will make fun of it

But even if he’s a little mean at times he’ll absolutely adore a younger sibling.

Like i imagine that he’ll look at you as kind of away to make up for some of the mean things he did to Luffy when they were young, and to make up for Sabo’s absence, so he’ll be the most defensive on your behalf if someone other than him starts picking on you

but on a little angstier note, that doesn't mean that Ace warmed up to you in the beginning

you were found by the crew shortly after ace was forced joined, and he was still in his lil emo era of hating everything and everyone

So while you were blossoming with all the love and affection your new family was giving you, Ace refused to see you, or any other whitebeard pirates, as his family.

you were probably one of the only reasons why Ace warmed up to the whitebeard pirates, and became so fiercely loyal to them to begin with though

but it was a slow process, and you probably got hurt a bit trying to befriend ace (kinda like luffy in the beginning((i may make a fic of this)))

but once he did warm up to you, and accepted his role as white beard pirate, oh boy!!!!!

will absolutely take care of you and try to mend any damage he did while he was pushing you away, big warm cuddle pile with lots of soft apologize and pinky promises will always be the antidote

also, i dont really need to mention this but ace is warm!! so if reader is still a baby baby, then alot of times when ace was available he’d be incharge of calming you down, since his hold was basically like a big warm blanket that would put you right to sleep

A/n: sorry this is super short, my brain is running on fumes but im still trying to crank out my own artistic stuff inbetween college work, and also trying to get a business and help my room mates animation studio get off the ground

but if you enjoyed this feel free to reblog and comment! i love reading comments!

also my requests are open!

[legobiwan]

1-the character everyone gets wrong for Gravity Falls and 16-you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc) for Star Wars ??

The character everyone gets wrong (Gravity Falls)

I want to preface this answer by saying that I think there are a plethora of fantastic Gravity Falls fics, comics, and metas out there that address and explore Stanley's possible mental health issues in light of everything we've learned about his backstory, which is pretty damn bleak. And yes, I do enjoy reading this angst.

The fandom tends to focus on this particular side of Stanley and with good reason - it is absolutely fertile ground for analysis and there is no doubt he is a tortured individual.

But there is a tendency to "blorbo-ize" Stan and his sympathetic history. While he was absolutely forced into some horrendous situations and had to make decisions based solely on survival probability, this is also a man who has a rap sheet a mile long, has outstanding warrants throughout the majority of the country, and is heavily, heavily implied to have been dealing in cartel business.

You don't get that far in these circles without having a backbone of steel and the capacity to do some seriously shady - and bloody - shit. Sure, Stan eventually bailed from the more hardcore aspects of his existence. And this isn't to say he's fundamentally a bad person or even liked everything he was doing - but he is a dangerous man, whether that danger comes at the end of a gun barrel or a marked ace of spades.

And I think this aspect of his character gets underplayed in a lot of fandom. (Interestingly enough, Ford is the one who is generally allocated this role, due to his dimensional hobo life on the run. And Ford is a badass, but Stan is equal to his brother in this, albeit in a different context). Stan maybe wants to forget that part of his life (understandable), but he didn't get as far as he did being a criminal (you don't get to rack up that kind of sheet and stay mostly clear of the law without some considerable feats) without developing certain skills and he'd be dead five times over if he weren't some kind of threat. Yes, by the time we meet him in the show, those instincts may have been dulled, likely intentionally, but this is the same man who admits to having 10 firearms in his household, even if his reasoning is (seemingly) ludicrous.

Runners-up: Mabel and the Flanderization of her zaniness. (Let's not forget she put the majority of the puzzle pieces together in Not What He Seems). Ford's seemingly god-like combat skills (the man gets his ass handed to him on multiple occasions in the show and is in constant need of rescue after he comes back from the Portal. Don't get me wrong - I love a badass Ford - but he wasn't exactly batting 1.000 after returning to Gravity Falls).

16. You can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc) (Star Wars)

I fully expect to get pilloried by certain factions of the fandom for this opinion, and to be honest, it's been a long-standing thorn in my side.

The Jedi were not 100% without fault and yes, some of decisions they made fed into their ultimate demise.

Was it deserved? No. Were they evil? No.

Were they a stagnant organization led by a creature who had lived long enough to distance himself from the day-to-day concerns of the majority of mortal beings under his care? Yes. Did they have an effective strategy to combat their massive, massive PR problem - a problem which ended up with them characterized as a baby-snatching cult of superbeings that could easily usurp the will of a (corrupt) Republic government? Nooooo, not at all.

They refused to play politics. Until they had to play politics. And they lost on all sides.

There was so much emphasis on tradition and purity of said tradition in the organization - even if the highest members of the Council didn't necessarily 100% agree with this - the mythology of it was present enough in the Jedi Temple, that constant, subtle pressure to do things in a certain way, to avoid wholly the Dark Side (even if the individual teachings of the Masters went against this). The Jedi wanted to change, but at the same time, couldn't budge the 1,000 ton boulder of their past until it was too late to avoid Palpatine's machinations.

The ultimate tragedy is that the Jedi meant well, but couldn't collectively nudge their organization towards change.

And they did make some baffling decisions - Anakin being allowed to train at all being peak among them. (And then letting Obi-wan - a grieving 25-year old being held hostage by a deathbed promise - to train Anakin, as per the "will of the Force..." This was not well-thought out by anyone involed.)

Dooku had legitimate criticisms of the Order, even if he ultimately expressed his grievances by betraying everyone and everything he loved and aligning himself with an ultimate evil that not even he could overcome. Qui-gon, for all of his many fault, had some great ideas for the Order and should have been on the Council - if for not other reason, than to upset the status quo (and yes, I know he turned it down, and that's another story altogether).

It feels, that in a certain way, the Jedi were crushed by their own mythology, and by the time that leviathan breached the surface, it was far too late for change.

Discussions of the Jedi have a tendency to polarize quickly, and I'd love for there to be more space for exploration of where they did fail without consigning the whole organization to the out-of-touch and evil-by-incompetence box.

(And caveat lector: post this fully admitting I haven't meditated on Star Wars lore in quite some time, so excuse some of the broader strokes of this analysis).

Ask me a spicy fandom question

[saintsenara]

getting back into the swing of @hprecfest, because there's no better time to gas up the main wip i'm following and its lovely author.

day twelve: a work in progress

beasts by @whinlatter harry potter/ginny weasley teen

why i recommend it:

because it's doing several things which are very rare in fandom.

it's a look at complex and nebulous concepts - ones which don't fit neatly into narrative arcs, and yet are shaped perfectly here - such as justice, resistance, and grief, which manages to explore these things with both a real emotional heft and a lightness-of-touch. beasts can be devastating, absolutely, but where it really shines is in the fact that it's very, very funny - and funny in that extremely petty, teenage way which has you cringing - in how it approaches how ginny and her friends would start rebuilding their lives once voldemort was dead. [because of course teenagers dealing with the aftermath of horror would make stupid jokes and have ridiculous parties!]

it's also a ship fic - and not only that, but a canon ship fic - which examines its endgame couple critically and deeply. one of the reasons i don't otherwise read a lot - or, really, any - hinny is because i find the standard race towards all was well quite trite. beasts actually thinks about the tension which their massively divergent experiences of the war and its aftermath would cause in harry and ginny's relationship - and it does so by showing two fundamentally imperfect and human people doing their best to deal with that fact. ginny's characterisation is excellent - she's a flop and a star all at once.

it is also - and i think this is worth saying, because she's too humble to actually do so herself - written by somebody who goes under the radar when people are shouting out fandom icons. whinlatter is a sweetheart, whose intelligence is lightly worn, whose fandom presence is marked by being exceptionally kind and a refreshing absence of ego, who deserves every ounce of praise she receives, and who will one day be forced to admit that she, like her beloved ginny, is only pretending not to be fascinated by the other dark-haired orphan of her acquaintance.

[humorisstoredinthetits]

Chansaw.

So am I the only one who finds Chansaw kinda... boring? Not to say its a bad ship or its unhealthy or that there's a fundamental issue with the paring, I just feel like out of all the Heather x Veronica or Heather x Heather ships Chansaw is the least interesting.

Like for example;

(Also I will be talking only about canon, bc fanon opens up a whole new can of worms, plus fanon is based off the characters and their interactions from canon)

Chandlamara - My personal favorite, there's so little between them in the show, but what we do have lays foundations for so much. We know that Mac considered Chandler to be her best friend, she took her to school more often then not, and that her death threw a wrench into Mac's mental stability. And from what we can tell from their interactions, Mac was the only person Chandler didn't treat like shit, never telling her to shut up or demeaning her. There's so much that can be done with the how and why between them, like why does Chandler seem to respect Mac? Why does Mac consider her to be her best friend? With them, sometimes less is more.

McDuke - With McDuke, Duke hurt Mac badly over the course of the show, and for a relationship to EVER exist between them, Duke would have to undergo significant changes as a person, forcing her to confront her shitty actions. The struggle for her to change mixed together with the desire to change for Mac is the meat and potatoes of this ship. There's a lot for Mac too, because in all honesty she is under no obligation to forgive Duke, what she did was awful, but at the same time she sees the effort Duke puts in and the sincerity in her apologies and maybe, just maybe, she slowly starts to forgive her.

McNamayer - Veronica is Mac's Knight in Shining Armor during the show, rescuing her when she was at her lowest, so naturally Mac would start to develop admiration and a genuine friendship with her. And for Veronica, after the craziness with JD, Mac is a normal person for her to turn to, and proof that some people can change, which is Veronica's whole thing. They're the closest thing to healthy in Heathers, because they can both rely on each other to help during the darkest times.

Chanduke - Going from the most healthy to the least, Chanduke would be an absolute nightmare if it was canon. Chandler and Duke are horrible to each other, there's no doubt about it. That's part of the intrigue with them. How can two people who hate each other's guts also love each other? What keeps them together when they clearly can't stand the other? The other part is how they would make it work. Just like McDuke, they would both have to change drastically, and part of that would be confronting the other about how they've been treated and having to move past it. It would be a rocky road, but that's the fun in it.

Dukesaw - Duke and Veronica have a lot more common than they would like to admit. They're both rather intelligent, bookish people who have nasty tempers and tend to gravitate towards toxic people (Chandler and JD). Obviously they would have some chemistry, and it would be interesting to see them recognizing bad influence's in the other's life, but fail to see the exact same thing in their own. Like Duke calls out Veronica for hanging out with JD bc he's insane and brought a gun to school, while Veronica calls her out saying that she's one to talk, she is friends with Heather fucking Chandler, people call her the Demon Queen for a reason, only for them to both slowly realize that they are hypocrites.

Now to give Chansaw some credit, I can see the appeal. Enemies to lovers is very popular for a reason, hell I even mentioned it as why Chanduke is so intriguing to me. Plus, the aspect of taking someone under your wing is a good setup for a relationship story, but at least to me it's just so overdone, like there's only so much you can do between them before you get bored with it. Not to say all Chansaw fics and art are bad or boring, just that I myself am bored with how same-y it all feels.

Aaaand thats why I like PolyHeathers+Veronica so much, because who cares about which dynamic is better when you can just have all of them at the same time /j

[avelera]

Hi! Sorry for a long ask, but my head has been filled with Hob thoughts lately and I had to vent it somewhere

One of the reasons our fandom treats Hob as "just some guy" is because the rest of the characters in the series include: personifications of fundamental concepts governing a good chunk of the universe making sure the reality as we now it stays intact, the literal Satan, several angels, demons, gods and goddesses from different cultures and religions and many other ridiculously overpowered beings. After all that immortal being who has been alive for six centuries and who has lived through one of the biggest wars in humanities history pales in comparison.

Do you think Hob finds it refreshing to be the "normal one" in a relationship for once? Before Dream whenever he got on with someone he always had to be careful to keep his immortality a secret. He had to remember the details of his fake past, had to make sure he always talked age-appropriate or didnt mention some kind of historic fact no one else could now, keep his Intensity in check, stuff like that. But now he's dating Dream of the Endless and suddenly he's no longer the strangest person in the room. Do you think that after being with Dream for a very long time he forgets to put on his Absolutely-Normal-and-Ordinary Humansona and his mortal friends go "wtf, were you always this fucked up?"

(Absolutely adore your fics btw)

Thank you! And thank you for this ask!

One of my first bits of Hob meta was talking about how Hob is only "Just a Guy" when compared to the Endless. By any other measure, in any other story, he'd be the most powerful individual you'd ever encounter. True immortality that isn't a prison because you can die when you choose? I've said it before, but if Hob ever went full persistence hunter, he'd be one of the most unstoppably powerful forces in the world.

Now, to your question, I think the answer could be complex?

- I think on some level it could be strange in not a good way to be the normal one in the relationship for Hob. I only say this from a pride perspective. I do think that for the most part, Hob's reaction would be positive, but I want to first carve out a nod to how it might also be a bit... humbling or even irritating, for example if Dream or others discounted him as beneath notice because of it. 600 years is still a lot, Hob is by most standards the most supernatural thing anyone would ever meet. I could see him thinking he's chill with being the less interesting one in the relationship but having moments of like, "Whoa, hey, wait a minute, just because I'm only an indestructible human who has lived over 600 years doesn't mean I'm boring for fuck's sake."

- I think it would be a much bigger deal for Hob-with-Dream to not need to lie anymore all of the time. With each lifetime Hob lives, he has to remember to cut away or gloss over or alter more of his life and achievements. It must be second nature but still painful at times to have to switch over from, "I achieved this," to, "My "father" achieved this and I just inherited it."

- Suddenly with Dream, he doesn't have to do that all the time. He can just casually mention things like the late 1300s in the first person, or his marriage to Lady Eleanor, or the fact that Robyn died when he was 20 (most likely as someone who looks mid-30s, Hob can only talk about Robyn or his death by making it sound like he died as a child, given how young Hob looks, especially in modern times, he'd get odd looks appearing 35-ish and saying he had a son die at age 20). Not needing to filter his personal experiences through historical anecdotes he'd "read" or altering the details to fit would be I think, strange, refreshing, perhaps deeply emotional, and very rare for him. Not because he'd never been able to be candid with others (like other immortals, or perhaps people he was close to that he opened up with) but Dream was actually there. He actually walked the streets of Tudor England, he actually knew Hob in 1389. I think it would be an aspect of being with Dream Hob would, y'know, "know" would be an aspect he looked forward to, only to be truly blown away by the reality of being able to openly, without thinking, talk about himself in a way he hasn't been able to do... possibly ever, with anyone.

[addictedtostorytelling]

i’ve been rewatching csi from the beginning (because i’ve never been able to make it past season 9 without grissom) and i’m finally up to the end of season 7… i have like 3 episodes left and i’m SAD. this team dynamic is so special to me and i feel this slow crawl of devastation that i’m (again) witnessing the end of what has been for 7 seasons. soon sara won’t be her usually cute and passionate self (in love too) that we get see in season 7, and she’ll leave, and then warrick is going to die, and grissom will leave… and nothing will ever be the same on this show. i don’t know how to get over it. how did you do it? how do i move on? how do i mourn this team dynamic that i’ve loved for so long and get used to new variations of the team? god, i wish grissom came back for a proper full ep earlier than the freaking series finale and the new show. i’m just… not sure how to enjoy without them all 😭

hi, anon!

yours is a very heartfelt question, and, unfortunately, i am probably the wrong person to answer it, because i never really "got over" the changes to the show post-s7, either.

not gonna lie to you: i have only watched the s10-s15 era of the show once through in its entirety.

the s8 and s9 angst i can deal with in order to get to the happy gsr ending in episode 09x10 "one to go." however, i hate all later seasons of the show beyond that point with all the salt that is in me, not only because of the cast turnover but also because the writing and production values of the show changed so much as to make the series (and the remaining characters) unrecognizable.

most of the time, i just straight-up ignore the fact that those seasons exist, preferring to imagine my own canon-divergent au version of the show (starting from the end of s7) instead.

i really do not engage with them unless someone sends me an ask.

that so, i can't exactly tell you how to learn to accept the new team or get comfortable in that altered narrative landscape. i never did, on either count.

instead, my advice is this: keep in mind you're not obligated to finish watching csi if doing so isn't enjoyable to you. you fell in love with a particular group of characters, story universe, and cast dynamic, and if those things went away or ship of theseus'd themselves into a production that is fundamentally different from the one you fell in love with in every way save name, you don't have to stick around anymore.

remember: you're watching this show as a hobby, not a job.

the #1 rule of fandom is to follow your bliss, so if you're not naturally motivated to finish the series—and especially if the thought of doing so is actively causing you dread—then you don't have to force the issue.

give yourself permission to say, "for me, the series ends with episode 08x01 'dead doll' or episode 09x10 'one to go' (or wherever you want to draw your line in the sand)" and then walk away.

if you need closure, write your own au version of what happens after that point or else find some fanfic author whose vision aligns with your own. keep living blissfully in your s1-s7 happy place with the original team graveyard, where grissom is the boss and sara stays in vegas and warrick doesn't die and they all keep solving cases together until retirement.

and then don't sweat it.

you're not being a "bad fan" or letting anyone down, and there's still plenty of material in the early seasons for you to engage with.

now.

if you absolutely feel you must finish the show (for whatever reason), i guess one thing i might suggest is to engage with work from fans who genuinely enjoy the later seasons. i know there are some folks in this fandom who adore the new characters and team graveyard version 2.0. they write meta and fic and make gifsets about it, and they have a total blast doing so. hanging around their blogs might help you to find things to appreciate.

another thing you might do is give yourself permission to "cherry-pick." watch just to see what happens. if there's stuff you like, go ahead and incorporate it into your conception of the show. the rest, discard. as i said above, you're not obligated to enjoy the show in a certain way and especially not "across the board." so if you like the fact sara has mother-in-law drama but hate the fact she gets divorced? then keep the first thing and toss out the second. if canon makes a stupid-ass decision, you can elect to ignore it.

and regardless of whether you ultimately decide to finish out your watch-through or not, don't forget: the beginning of the story—i.e., those seven golden seasons you so love—will always be there, and you can return to them as often as you want. the beauty of a story is that it exists in perpetuity. grissom, catherine, warrick, nick, sara, and greg will all still be there waiting for you, and you can continue to enjoy their dynamics however you best prefer them.

good luck, anon! if you choose to continue your watch, i hope you enjoy yourself. if not, then i hope you have fun mentally setting up shop in the early seasons.

i certainly do!

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[subzeroparade]

My turn to add to the parade of Bloodborne asks

So, you've discussed the other Byrgenwerth scholars rather extensively to this point, but how exactly does Micolash factor into the founding of the Healing Church, if at all? I always read the School of Mensis as a sort of proto-Choir that steadily drifted off of the main institution. However, given the hints you have dropped (in Litanies and elsewhere) that Micolash and Laurence were not on the best terms, what exactly do you think happened? And if the School is unrelated to the Church in your opinion, what differences did Micolash have from Willem that forced him to leave?

Okay I had to think about this one for a minute, because I still don’t have a solid hc for how it went down - though I’d like to shape one just cause it would make great narrative material for a fic. I feel like I need to sit down with a School of Mensis lore video or something for a refresher - but for my own personal hc I absolutely maintain that:

Laurence and Micolash were contemporaries at Byrgenwerth, though a few years apart. I also truly think they would have hated each other (for all the pettiest, most inconsequential reasons. When shit went down in my graduate department it wasn’t cause folks fundamentally disagreed on questions of research or methodologies - it was just whining over resources and favouritism. Who was on what panel of what conference; and who was usurping too much of such-and-such prof’s time; and whose travel research got funded for all the wrong reasons etc etc. Unstoppably petty.) I love the idea of Micolash constantly snapping at Laurence’s heels, sabotaging his research and trying to undercut his credibility in the trolliest of ways. Essentially being one of those people who asks a question after a conference paper but it’s not really a question, it’s a seven-minute soliloquy on what they think about the subject. Ironically I think Micolash is that guy, and not Laurence. 

Since you’ve read Litanies you also know that I think the discovery of Kos was a kind of epiphany for Micolash, but I don’t think it’s something he acted on immediately (as a young scholar still tied too tightly to Byrgenwerth). But I like the idea that Micolash would have come, much later, to the Healing Church - only when it garnered enough resources and renown, or once the Choir was established as its own “division”.  (Before that, he’d have stayed at Byrgenwerth and published scathing reviews and salty journal articles criticising the Church’s research, haha). He could’ve come and stuck around long enough to 1) observe the Choir’s work and take anything of value, information or otherwise, and 2) foment resentment and undermine the Church’s goals/methods enough that a group of scholars would willingly align themselves with his ideas and, eventually, break off in a hostile manner from the Church. This could’ve happened over a decade, for example - maybe some of these scholars saw the writing on the wall when the side effects of blood ministration began to show, or with the repeated failures of the Choir to achieve ascension, and they were like, you know what, fuck it - maybe this singularly weird sleep-deprived grimy noodle of a man is right; give me a cage on my head and let's explore the cosmos via drug-induced lucid dreaming. Boom, Mensis becomes its own independent institution and inflames already-hostile relations with the Choir/Church.

This is very nebulous but feel free to slide into my DMs if you want to speculate further. Here’s another sullen eyebrow-toting Byrgenwerth-era Mico for your time. 

[lazaruspiss]

asking you as a resident Dick expert (ha) do you have any recs for Catalina “fix it” fics that you think do the subject justice or approach it in a way that you find compelling/unique

i wish i could. god. i really wish i could. i have a whole rant post about this from forever ago where i complain about how fics portray abusers- and especially female abusers- as props rather than fully fleshed out characters. when the author sees abusers as inhuman it fundamentally changes then nature of what's being portrayed.

I won't recap my entire post, but I will reiterate a point I made: when you treat the abuser like they are no longer human, you change the nature of what harm is being done. When someone dies to a storm or an animal is doesn't carry the weight that being killed by another human being does. When you refuse to see the abusive character you're writing as a person with agency, you remove accountability and diminish the actual impact of what's been done. It turns into a thing where you rely on the pure shock value of rape than utilizing the actual reasons why it's so harmful.

I actually watched a video about a zombie show recently and there's a point that overlaps surprisingly well with this subject. Zombies are never really the villain in zombie shows. They're brainless monsters. They kill and destroy as an instinct, not a choice. The most evil of villains are ones that are portrayed with human agency, because the cruel things they do are things that they actively choose to do.

(and I'll link that post I mentioned, it's a bit long and rambly but I mentioned it so I might as well: https://lazaruspiss.tumblr.com/post/738838389739094016)

anyways. the best Catalina "fix-it" fics i've read have been the ones purely focused on the aftermath rather than changing aspects of the original story. I think Ms.Grayson honestly did a good job with it, portraying PTSD and the way Dick's mental state fell to absolute shambles. It really just went to shit bc DC forced her to drop the storyline so that they could put Nightwing in a Batman event. I think it was War Games or something. the Catalina storyline only got like, 2-3 issues of what was supposed to be a full length plotline.

anyways a very long post to say no i haven't found any Catalina-Dick related fics that stuck out as being very compelling or doing anything i find interesting. and im very sad about it.

[eighthdoctor]

If Sylvanas primarily sees her position as Warchief as a means of accomplishing her goals, would she want to continue being Warchief if she actually managed to reach those goals (ie the Forsaken are no longer at risk of being wiped out and don’t get sent to superhell anymore)?

The honest answer is so straight forward that I'm going to spin it sideways a little, because the answer is "she absolutely would not but I can't talk more about it because spoilers". Which seems a little unfair to give you as an answer when you are spot on and I like people being right, and anyway there's still a problem here.

Ie, what the fuck is the Jailer's deal.

putting a cut in bc we're gonna talk about a suicide attempt

Some context to catch people up: About 15 years before Teldrassil, to condense a whole lot of plotting into one sentence, joint Alliance and Horde forces kill Arthas and replace him as Lich King with another person who hopefully will not quite so quickly become evil. Sylvanas is not part of this. Sylvanas is not consulted on this. Sylvanas is halfway around the world kicking demons out of the Undercity.

When she does find out that the person who killed her, raised her, used her as a puppet to defeat her homeland, and has generally been the worst thing in a life/unlife that's already pretty full of bad things was not only killed without her but REPLACED by someone who she's just supposed to TRUST isn't gonna try to do the same damn thing again--

She jumps off a cliff onto a field of saronite spikes and kills herself. Because why bother, why keep going, the revenge she held herself together for has been taken from her, so let's just. Finish it.

UNFORTUNATELY it turns out that after Sylvanas dies she's going to superhell for being gay for uh, reasons. Which reasons depends on what source you're looking at, but it's typically a combination of a) Sylvanas does bad things or WILL do bad things in future and so therefore is ALWAYS doomed to superhell and b) all Forsaken go to superhell bc they're fundamentally abominations.

Since this is Calvinism in a fantasy trenchcoat, Sylvanas hauls herself back together and makes a deal with 9 angels Val'kyr (Warcraft has never met a mythology it didn't want to plunder). The deal is to the effect of they'll resurrect Sylvanas* and in return she'll free them from working for the Jailer, who it turns out is the guy who runs superhell.

* Sylvanas is very complicated to resurrect. Every time she dies it's a sacrifice of 3 Val'kyr to bring her back. As of fic-start she has 3 left, which makes her a little nutty.

All of which is to provide context for one of Sylvanas's main motivators: Not going back to hell. Ideally also not letting the rest of the Forsaken wind up in hell for things they didn't do. It's important to preserve the Forsaken on Azeroth, because every one that dies goes to superhell (the Maw), but it's ALSO important to destabilize the Jailer and dismantle the whole system.

Which is all kinds of interestingly fucked up, so Blizzard just completely dropped the ball in the Shadowlands expansion and therefore I'm ignoring almost all of it.

Who is the Jailer? I recommend not opening the wiki page because it actively rots my brain cells; Blizzard has a thing about Categorizing that over the last 25 years has inevitably meant there's about forty different pantheons of various eldritch abominations and/or gods running around, except for when there's only six. Anyway. The Jailer is a very powerful eldritch thing that's been delegated to run the Maw as punishment for trying instead to take over the entire afterlife. Perhaps foreseeably, putting the guy who wanted to run the afterlife in charge of the portion of it filled exclusively with supervillains led IMMEDIATELY to a lot of plotting on how to take over successfully this time (this bit is, remarkably, canon).

In Shadowlands this then turns into a massive scheme that rewrites the actual plot of about four expansions and also is insane and also extremely bad.

So let's just leave it at that: The Jailer wants to run the afterlife (understandable) and is trying to get there by recruiting (or conscripting) various Maw-denizens to help. One of them is Sylvanas, who--because she's undead in the first place, because the demon experimentation that turned into the Helm was way more successful than the Legion realized, because she's only halfway supposed to be there at all, because she's that desperate--gets out. Who talks the Val'kyr into breaking their own chains and Raising her back to life.

Sylvanas scrambles back into Azeroth knowing that the afterlife is fucked beyond all reason, and that most Forsaken don't remember any of that at all, and that there are multiple gods (or entities on that power scale) behind this, and that the Forsaken are unspeakably doomed--and, from the events leading up to her suicide, nobody cares and nobody will help.

So with all of that in mind: What do you think it will take to fix the Forsaken's situation?

[nasuversekinkmeme]

Weekly Roundup: prompt reminders

It turns out Gray’s dislike being seen as a pretty girl and constant dysphoria ends up being a mundane gender thing just as much as a ‘my physical appearance and identity have been slowly and painfully overwritten by a long-dead woman’s by the hands of fundamentalists’ thing. Ideally, additionally include Waver and Reines being supportive and going out of their way to help find means to present more masculine even with the unique issues of a magically 'frozen’ body.

gudako becoming a ceo and joining the kengan association after retiring as master, not because they need money or have any interest in running a business/fight ring but because the kengan tournaments are the only place they can find dick from insane men who love to beat the shit out of each other close the level of what they had at chaldea

age gap, I come humbly asking for mash/morgan. specifically i want mashmorgan with an emphasize on the age gap. Mash is SO young and inexperienced compared to Morgan, barely even just reached adulthood by human standards. You get an extra kiss on the forehead if you play it as corruption, specifically as MASH corrupting Morgan, trying to get Morgan to fuck her good even if it can't be a good idea.

Guenivere falls for Lancelot because he's horribly vanilla and she just couldn't get into Artoria's huge raging knotted dragon dick no matter how much she tried.

smut, bestiality, Lobo and Hessian double-team Guda with lots of primal feral sex. Lobo keeps knotting Guda so they can't get away even if they want to. They don't want to.

smut, jing ke (accomplished hedonist who is "very popular with female servants for some reason") convinces qin shi huang (fundamentally cautious but also too curious for their own good and always gets complacent about their perceived superiority at the crucial moment) to allow her to "explore their body" and "show them some human experiences" which they believe is fine because its not like she can put the fear of death in them a THIRD time (incorrigible hubris) this obviously immediately turns into jing ke blowing their back out with a massive strapon and with qin shi huang's mind equally blown by the vast possibilities of human pleasure and ingenuity behind sex toy development that didn't exist in their lostbelt they're immediately absorbed into developing increasingly outlandish toys for jing ke to use on them and test the limits of pleasure this body can feel until they've looped right back around to a "human experience" that applies to zero normal mortal humans who would absolutely die from the violent fucknasty pervert sex they're having and/or don't even have the holes they're having things stuck into but jing ke's fine with it this time because they're not trying to govern other people about it this time and also she gets to fuck an extremely attractive person like she's trying to kill them on a daily basis. also you can do whatever you want for qin shi huang's genitals or swap equipment midway idc about that i care about shi huang di in their hubris willingly turning themselves into an incorrigible masochist with a crippling addiction to jing ke strap

smut, Caster Artoria is "forced" to go around town stark naked. It's definitely her decision and she totally isn't doing this because she wants to guys.

Gudao gets the most unique dysphoria moment of his life when he summons Jack on one of his ‘feeling like presenting as male’ days and is immediately greeted with ‘mom’ first thing in the morning. 

age gap, Future fic where Rin & Shirou keep getting weird looks from their neighbours because from a normie perspective they're a couple of 40yo fucking Saber, a teenage girl.

smut, castoria should fuck cu alter. it wouldn't fix either of them but I think Castoria can take him + she could use a man who doesn't care if she scratches back.

Xu Fu is forced to work alone with Xiang Yu, and accidentally ends up falling in love with him too

smut, Bedivere being really fucking awkward around Castoria, because she's an incarnation of Excalibur and he sure jerked off with his Excalibur arm back in the days.

AU where Akiha fully becomes Roa's latest reincarnation after killing SHIKI

smut, Guda free use anyone? There are so many servants with carnal desires going around, I think it'd be most efficient if Chaldea had a "anyone can fuck the master anywhere and we'll all turn a blind eye to it" system.

[wajjs]

This isn't judgment at all, but just genuine curiosity and I apologize if I missed this somewhere, but can I ask why you don't read fics for fandoms you're in? I'm just thinking about it from the POV of someone who teaches writing and how I tell my students that reading is a part of developing your writing so it was just surprising! Again, absolutely no judgment, I'd just love to hear your take on this! 😊

You're fine, don't worry! I don't think I ever explained it anywhere 🤔

I guess part of the reason is that I am mostly a self... contained? solitary? writer. I guess in a way you could say there's some degree of selfishness, which I do not think is bad, because I write for me first, for potential readers second.

As far as I recall, I have always been like this. I have always enjoyed my own writing and I do genuinely love my stories, so in a way I am self fulfilling any kind of need that may arise.

(I have been judged over this in the past as well, been told this is self centered etc or that I was too cocky, but it's genuine love that I feel for my writing and my stories. They are what I personally want, they're catered to my interests and needs. I am feeding myself, basically.)

But aside from that, and centering more on fandom, I am very peculiar (read as: picky) with characterization, grammar, and internal rhythm. I'm actually really sensitive to the latter, and I have found that a lot of fics out there do not have a "reading" rhythm I enjoy. They're either choppy, or dense, or going too fast, all over the place, etc.

I understand that a lot of people don't pay attention to that. While I think that maybe they should, I also can't force anyone to care, and I won't criticize anyone over it because it's not my place to do so.

Maybe that's their actual writing style, in which case it's a matter of it not being compatible with my tastes. Maybe they're learning. Maybe they didn't edit their work. Once again, it's not my place to say anything.

We are all writing fic for free, out of love, and as a hobby. It would be unreasonable for me to expect everyone to adjust to my preferences/standards for writing.

I do get annoyed easily, though, and when enough stories annoy me, my pettiness runs the opposite direction of taking direct action. Once I am annoyed, I drop everything about something and look for new pastures somewhere else. But I love to write for the fandom I'm currently part of, and I don't want to get annoyed at it, so it's just easier to not read other fics — except my own and the ones written by my friends/the ones they recommend because they already know my preferences.

I do read stuff for fandoms I'm not active in. Actually, in the past I read a lot of fics for the fandom I am now active in, and completely stopped once I started writing for it. I know a lot of writers do the same thing, out of fear of not wanting their writing to become influenced by fanon takes, etc.

I guess some of that applies to me, too. I have one characterization and consult back to canon to expand upon it. I don't really want fanon to affect my writing and go unchecked until the way I write a character is so detached from canon, the character becomes a new one with a known name (reason I stopped writing for the btfam fandom).

As a side note, I agree that reading is fundamental to writing, with the clarification that the one way it can be the most effective is to read everything and anything, from any genre and style. I think that only reading about the thing you're already writing for ends up creating a weird echo chamber that easily distorts the initial plot/characters/etc you once had into something that becomes irreconcilable with what it started as.

[sparklyslug]

steddie ask game: 1, 3, and 15!!

STEDDIE ASK GAME!

1. Why do you like this ship?

Hoooooooo boy. I’m trying to think how to distill this down in the best way, because I think there’s the sort of stuff that’s not necessarily unique to them as a ship like: their potential for great banter. Opposites attract. Roles within a found family. Etc.

But I think for Steve and Eddie particularly, I am so so so drawn to how they are people who have soft, soft soft soft tender gentle loving natures. And for reasons, have spent their lives wrapping that up under protective layers of bravado and sarcasm and cafeteria theatrics and hairspray. They have a lot of similar traits expressed in different ways, and it makes bringing them together absolutely lovely. They have to get out of their own way when it comes to getting to each other, and I loooove that.

Also, their moron4moron ways are just so FUCKING funny

3. I am SO GLAD SOMEONE ASKED FOR MORE FIC I was developing stress hives at leaving things out. Went for some of the “older” (aka from three months ago pffft) bookmarks this time, for a lil reminder of some of the first ones I fell in love with

A sign of the morning by @toedenandbackagain (the kind of slow burn longfic you literally MUST be constantly sending screenshots to buddies over, so you can scream together about it)

You are going to die in your best friends arms (but he won’t let you leave like that) by @oaseas-ao3 (Dustin is in a time loop pinned around Eddie’s death)

Some Things Cosmic by @stereobone (post-s4, Steve starting having dreams about Eddie)

I CANT find the fic where Steve pretends he doesn’t know what shotgunning is after fellating a popsicle fails in his seduction efforts. But that’s another fave. (EDIT: FOUND BY @hihereami! the affliction of the feeling by nondz!!!)

15. If you created a crossover AU, what would the source be and why?

THIS EXISTS ALREADY ACTUALLY! Does a Star Trek AU make sense on its face, as a natural fit for Stranger Things? Maybe not. But it’s also about a motley crew’s quest against unknown forces, many of them MUCH more powerful, and is fundamentally also about love and fellowship and morality and leadership, things that ST is I think much more Trek-like in its mindset about than a lot of other contemporary tv. Star Trek is also like a GREAT AU setup because it’s THE trope treasure trove and so full of Situations to twist and explore. I hope I’ll get to write more in this universe, it’s such fun.

[kemendin]

It’s SCOURGE THOUGHTS TIME because I came across the phrase ‘Scourge redemption arc’ and immediately recoiled in waves of NOPE and I feel like talking about why.

Obligatory disclaimer that this is my personal view and very much tied into the way Scourge’s story entwines with Caspian’s.

The short version is - no. Scourge does not need a redemption arc. Scourge does not need to be redeemed in any sense and frankly I think he’d be deeply offended by the notion.

One of the earliest things he can say to the Knight - still in the Emperor’s fortress - is this: “I will always be Sith. But that does not mean we can’t work together.” This is the absolute core of who he is - he. Is. Sith. That is never going to change, that SHOULD NOT change, because doing so would fundamentally alter his character to the point of being nonsensical.

I think something important to note in relation to this is also that while the concept of ‘Sith’ stereotypically implies ‘dark side Force user’ - Scourge makes it clear that this is not the black and white definition he ascribes to being a Sith. He instead says that “to be Sith is to break your own chains”. That’s it - no mention of light side, dark side, whatever.

So when it comes to ‘redemption’, particularly in the context of Jedi/Sith, one typically thinks of being ‘redeemed’ to the light, yes? Forsaking the dark side, becoming a good and compassionate person who works towards being selfless and helping others.

This is not for Scourge. He has no need to be ‘redeemed’ in this sense. One, because of his own views and convictions - he repeatedly expresses disdain for Jedi and their ways, and shows no interest in changing to be more like them. And two, because as his story progresses alongside the Knight, he admits, in multiple instances, that he is learning about the light side of the Force, about the Jedi, and eventually concedes that their ways are not necessarily lesser, just different. In this sense, he is already far and away one of the most open-minded Sith you encounter. And that’s one reason why I think a redemption aspect would do him a disservice - he’s already considered the other side, the light, the Jedi, all that, and made an informed decision to reject it FOR HIMSELF.

And then we get into the bigger picture, which delves more into my own personal viewpoints with a Knight who romances Scourge. Even playing a fairly light side Knight - I think it would grievously water down the story if, even partnered with a light side Jedi, Scourge then became more ‘light’ or ‘redeemed’. Specifically with Caspian and Scourge - their story has always been about being opposites, being so initially, fundamentally opposed to each others’ ways, and then gradually learning from each other and finding a place in the middle that’s adhering to the tenets of neither order. This relationship would not work if either man skewed to be more like the other - they need each other as the light and darkness, one unable to be truly known and exist without the other. The clearest expression of this, in my little headcanon corner, is that neither of them could have defeated Vitiate without the other. Darkness can’t defeat darkness - Scourge needed to use the light and conviction of this Jedi to oppose and strike down the Emperor. But by the same token, Cas would not have survived the darkness without Scourge’s deep knowledge and understanding of it, which enabled him to resist and eventually defeat it.

None of this is to say that this dichotomy doesn’t cause problems between them. Cas and Scourge can’t stand each other at first, and it takes a lot of time and arguing before they each begin to understand the other. And even their eventual relationship - they love each other deeply, passionately, for their differences as well as their common grounds - but Scourge’s past as the Emperor’s Wrath does come back to bite them. This is something I’m exploring in a fic right now - how do these two men in love reconcile with their differences? Scourge did terrible things to Cas when he was a prisoner of the Emperor - how does he reconcile the necessity of such acts with how much he’s changed, and what he feels now? I don’t believe that Scourge regrets everything he did as the Wrath, because he was looking towards a much larger goal and had spent three hundred years being patiently ruthless in pursuit of it. But once his emotions return, and he finds himself in love - he has to find a way to work that out with Cas. Cas, who in spite of hating many of the things that Scourge did, to him and to others, never at any point wants or encourages Scourge to be anything other than himself.

This, to me, is the ultimate theme of their story - they are CHOOSING to stay true to who they are, Jedi and Sith, or at least how they view themselves through those lenses, but also CHOOSING to stay together in spite of how difficult the first choice can make things. And I think taking away that struggle by ‘redeeming’ Scourge, by making him into something he’s not, would just make his character fall completely flat.

Okay that’s it, that’s my long ramble for the day. Not even gonna tag this because I’m not looking for a debate, just felt like spewing some thoughts.

[ratcandy]

Thinking about cogr Zote and his temporary adopted grub baby. Absolutely genius of you to think of that as a plot point!

Completely silly (not serious) idea: do it again. He suffered once and it’s time for him to suffer once more. Here are some possibilities:

- grimmchild post-radiance, Ghost isn’t there to take care of them anymore so they latch onto the most nonthreatening adult they can find (Zote). You have a phobia of water Zote? We’ll get ready for the opposite, everything’s on fire.

- Grub again, what can go wrong this time???

- vessel/Ghost. Funniest outcome of that rivalry. Local adult bug fights 8 year old, adopts them 2 weeks later. “I still hate them” Zote says.

- Baby weaver. I’m sure this won’t remind him of anyone from his past >:)

OOHOHHOHOOHOH I AM TAKING THIS AND DEVOURING IT READILY. YES YES YES. you're seeing my vision you're understanding me fundamentally. Forcing Zote to adopt children is what I live for

Grimmchild: This would Only end in disaster. I'm just imagining them latching on not only because he's the least threatening adult but also because he looks the most like Ghost/a vessel. Because I HAVE to keep up the funny joke of everyone mistaking Zote for Ghost I think that's the funniest thing ever. But that's insulting. How dare this tiny creature mistake me for that knave. And THEn have the audacity to get ATTACHED for that REASON. WHY is there FIRE EVERYWHERE

Another grub: Ohohoho. Hey hey come here. Come close lean in. You weren't here for this so I don't know if you know about it. Did you know I was going to write a Fiend dies fic and I never got around to writing it. Better yet it was going to play out where Zote finds them again and then it happens. like he JUST gets them back. and. well. Again unfortunately it was never written 😔 but still :)

A vessel: HAHAHASHDGKLJSH HE WOULD RATHER DIE BUT THAT'S A REALLY FUNNY THING TO IMAGINE . just keeps getting followed around by a vessel and going BEGONE, EMPTY-EYED BEAST

Baby weaver: UGH. AUGHHJ. OW. PUNCHES THE FLOOR. This one hurts me to imagine ooughhskdjh. Can you imagine if Zote had found the weaversong charm instead of Ghost. Can you imagine. Like not only would the scene in which he finds it be painful (nothing quite like walking among the corpses of a lot of people whom look exactly like someone you lost :,) even better/worse if this is post his return to the nosk den. this man loves to Walk Among Corpses huh) but then just imagine. He puts the charm on thinking nothing of it, as he doesn't know charms do anything special, and then suddenly Bam. Weaverlings. and he's just like what the fuck what the actual fuck what the and proceeds to explode. good lird.

[theskee]

This is weird. But I've read and written a lot of "Whirlwind Romance" fic in my time. Fics where people fall in love so fast and they struggle but it works out. And I used to be one of those people that harped on it because it's "unrealistic" or whatever. But I've only just really realized... I mean maybe that's not so unrealistic after all. My husband and I got married in 2019 in my living room in our pajamas before D&D with only our D&D friends and our 4 month old child in attendance.

And now that we've been together for almost 7 years, married for 5, it's really interesting to look back at all of the hallmarks of "This should not have worked" that came up when we first started dating. He was a heavy drinker, I'd just gotten sober. He had just come out of a messy divorce and I was recovering from one of the worst sexual assaults of my life. We were fundamentally broken people in stages of life where our friends would offer the advice that we ought to "Work on ourselves" first. Where we should have been like... Just incompatible. But somehow, despite the reasons it shouldn't have worked out, I think because we respected each other for where we each were at, it mattered so much less. We weren't in it to fix each other, but encouraging each other to fix ourselves at our own pace. "Yeah you drink a lot. That's fine. Just so long as you don't want me to drink with you or get super hammered when we hang out." "Nah. I totally understand that you're getting sober and I respect that. Just so long as you don't tell me to quit drinking. I don't really like getting drunk anyway. I just like beer." It was like that. For everything. And honestly, after two weeks of being basically inseparable, smoking cigarettes, showering together, talking music and politics and going on late night adventures, without ever once feeling the need to sleep together to progress the relationship, I knew I loved him. (This would be another one of those "you're an idiot! two weeks??? COME ON." kind of moments.) But I forced myself to wait an entire month to say it on some kind of weird principle about Not Rushing things. And when we'd been dating for four months, I got pregnant. And he asked me what I wanted. He said to me "I'm ready. With you, I absolutely am. But it's your body and ultimately, whatever you choose, I support you. I want you to do what you're ready for." And so. I kept the baby. And now I'm married and we're better than we were. Definitely not perfect, we're still learning and growing and healing. When we've hurt each other, we talk through it out of love and respect because making it work, learning, and getting a little better each day is important to both of us as individuals. And I really think that honestly, if we had let doubts or expectations from people around us to take it slow or take it easy or to be more cautious, neither of us would be where we are now. Having someone who understands you, supports you, and wants you to do better for yourself first and foremost, makes a hell of a difference. Whirlwind love can work out. It's not about being Healed Enough or Loving Yourself enough, but having someone who says "I mean you're worth loving, so maybe you should try it. Just a thought. But hey. We all have problems. You'll get there." Relationships can't fix you, but sometimes they can give you more reasons to fix yourself. And when both of you are in it, doing the same thing, working toward a common goal, that counts for so damn much.