#i don't like their ship name imma just tag them from now on with their band name

[ivalice-tifalucis]

I am so obsessed with this rendition of Again from From the Rehearsal Room: Tokyo that I decided to extract its audio, master it with my limited knowledge in audacity and little help from AI, put it on my music playlist, and even consider trying to extract everything from this particular stream, from what I found on bilibili. I think of all 3 livestream they did, this one is the best because of the song choices, the studio acoustic (I'm always obsessed with good sound acoustic in music recording), and the simple arrangement consists of grand piano (wonderfully played by the way, kudos to the pianist) and two guitars by Ramin and Hadley themselves. I notice this is the first one they did, isn't it? Because they were trapped in long quarantine and Sierra eventually couldn't come. I'm late to this so I only read how it went and I feel sad.

Also presenting some other songs that I have extracted:

Hadley sings Maria(??!!) and it's so good wtf. That high note, gosh.

Ramin's special, of course. I need this because I want Till I Hear You Sing without "ten long yeaars" part but there is no other more good recording on apple music/spotify except that one from Ramin's album which I really hate (the whole album basically). So thank god this exists.

I actually know this song for long because it was on some ad but I think that was Sinatra's version. I didn't know this song is from a musical until I fall down to this hole. Actually found out a lot of songs that actually are from musicals thanks to this hole. Gosh, I used to be so deep into musicals during Les Mis movie era but not THIS deep.

[elysiumxii]

GET TO KNOW THE MUN

NAME?: Kai

PRONOUNS?: she/her/they

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION?: I don't care as long as you talk to me tbh. IMs is a great place to start and then once we have a ship, i'll be in all your business on all platforms.

MOST ACTIVE MUSE(S)?: helios, giselle, antonio... and honestly, i wish i was writing more of them, more often. 🥺

EXPERIENCE / HOW MANY YEARS?: okay i have to really think and it's a bit fuzzy... because i think... well i was writing by the time i started university in 2009, on a forum for Super Junior. I wrote fanfiction before that in about 2008? i don't need a calculator i will not be looking at how many years that is...

BEST EXPERIENCE? oft hard to answer, i have both so many and the world's most appalling memory. the excitement of any budding new ship is truly what keeps me going, but i do remember one in particular with a bar tender muse of mine and a 'straight' firefighter that just... oh it was good. then more recently it would be meeting @okajibana and forming my whole existence around her, you're stuck with me now! plus every time i get a notification from @irrwicht or @temporalobjects my day is always improved.

RP PET PEEVES?: ohhh it's possibly going to get me some hate, and look, if it works for you? you go boo... but it's greeting starters. they're usually one liners and someone has maybe picked a muse of yours but then they fling it out there, and i'm like... what do i do with that? there's no setting, there's no context, it's maybe a bit of dialogue and i'm cut adrift to try and work out what to do with it? that for me is not fun. i have added it to my rules that i don't want them but i still get them and... i feel so bad ignoring them, but also am too awkward to be like, hey, have this back and maybe plot with me? i will plot with anyone and i will hype your ideas to the moon and back but, a throw away one liner... i can't do nothing with. (and listen, maybe i'm the problem! everyone else seems happy!) also small text is nice to look at and it's easy to add now! js...

FLUFF, ANGST, OR SMUT? i feel like if i said anything other than smut, online pals from the rafters would scream for me to be real. imma be real with you, this is a smut blog wrapped up in fancy wrapping that makes it seem like i'm here for the plot... i'm here for the d-! jk i'm happy to be here i will write anything... smut tho...

PLOTS OR MEMES?: plots i'm just good at memes. if we have a ship, use me for drabbles that's all i'm saying.

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES?: long. i have a rule about mutually agreed lengths because i can't with just one paragraph that doesn't go anywhere im sorry! i find short replies so unsatisfying and maybe i'm a demanding bitch idk.

TIME TO WRITE?: i try for an hour or two every week day evening GMT. i do my business, then i get into bed and work through my drafts. usually can't do weekends cuz the bf is all up here demanding my attention and shit. ugh men.

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S)?: yeah lol every bit of clown foolery, where they do or say dumb shit, is me. some of them are know it alls like me (looking at you alistair), some of them are dumb like me... giselle... some of them open their mouth and say shit and then go, oops, like me, heather, cory omg...

tagged by: @irrwicht and @temporalobjects (MY BABEESSSS)

tagging: @bvrningshq @okajibana @champagneandparacosm @svndri @sentimentalscientia @lellarps

[spaceshipkat]

Don't reveal the name of the authors obviously, but can you give an example of the sjm style affecting some of the stuff you've edited?

and the other ask i got about it!

Can you elaborate on the effect Sarah J. Maas has had on romance novels?

now, to be fair, i want to preface this by saying that sjm isn't the only author to do some of these things or utilize some of these habits in her writing, nor is she necessarily the first. however, given her sheer popularity and readership and the very obvious influence she has on many, many writers, i'm inclined to blame her for some of these habits i've picked up.

male/female everything, from voices, to laughter, to body parts, to expressions, to emotions. sure, it's the most obvious (and she's not the only one to do this, nor the first, but see my aforementioned reasoning for pinning this on her) but it is everywhere. i've edited my fair share of fantasy romance novels and, while not all of them have fallen prey to this, enough of them have that i've noticed the pattern. luckily, most of the authors i've edited have been willing to edit their books (i always explain why i advise editing that particular choice of words). i like to say that, if i can't edit sjm, i can at least edit her readers

an emphasis on the gender binary separate from gendering genderless things like the aforementioned voices or body parts. "men or women"/"male or female" is always used rather than "people". queens and kings exist rather than just royalty. etc. and sure this isn't exclusive to sjm bc it's a pervasive thing in society, too, but imma blame her anyway bc she's a huge culprit for enforcing the gender binary

epithets. goddamn epithets. if i have to read one more character refer to themselves in their own internal narration as "the prince" or "the fae" imma lose it

sex scenes relying far too much on metaphor and simile and grand but vague explanations of what's going on while the female character "shatters" when she climaxes and the male character roars way too often. i cringe. i've written and edited my fair share of sex scenes, so i do know what i'm about.

this next point could just be an author not quite understanding grammar, so i will allow a bit of leeway here, but given they have many of the habits sjm does, i'm more inclined to believe it's bc they pick it up from her: when questions do not end in question marks, as if they're meant to be some emphasized shittalk. if a character is asking "What's wrong?" there should be a question mark, not a period, even if the character is saying it in a way that doesn't end with the uptick of a question. proper grammar is important, and that's why dialogue tags exist. if you want to explain how a character is asking a question, do it like "What's wrong?" she asked, tone flat. OR "What's wrong?" she asked, though it sounded more like a statement than a question.

on that note, when every. single. statement. or every. single. movement. is aggrandized to the point where every. single. scene. and every. single. moment. carries the same weight and i can never feel like i can catch a breath.

women being super skinny and conventionally beautiful and sarcastic and badass while men are super muscular and handsome and broody and can't ever smile bc whoops that'd be gay or some such nonsense. or when a close friendship between two men is forcibly described as brotherly to avoid even the slightest inclination toward people shipping them. now don't get me wrong, i love a good bromance, i love when two characters are so close they're practically brothers. but there's a difference between writing a close brother-like friendship and two characters going overboard on calling one another "brother" so that people will feel squicky about shipping them. see, for instance, how sjm wrote Cassian and Azriel in acosf. she went above and beyond to emphasize their brotherly relationship, while also giving us backstory of the two of them having sex with women in the same room as one another (Rhysand was there, too). now idk about sjm, but i would absolutely not be having sex in the same room as any of my siblings, while Cassian, Azriel, and Rhysand do. sure, they call one another "brother" all the time, but then there's moments like that that leave me ఠ _ ఠ

fragments everywhere to the point i start to feel like i'm being electrocuted by how stilted dialogue and sentences are

assumed heterosexuality. this goes beyond just the "female" and "male" constancy but to men being assumed to have wives, for women to be assumed to want the Typical Marriage, etc

hhhhhhhhhh idk there's doubtless more but spring allergies are killing my brain, so i'll leave it there. i stuck it under a read more so i could add more as i think of them

[breitzbachbea]

i want to send a ship for the ask game but i can't really find one to send- so i'd love to hear about just your favorite ship from anything, or one you just have a lot of thoughts on!

YOU ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD IMMA TALK ABOUT OCS

You see. My main fandom is Hetalia and in 2013 I had the idea that for a little art trade fanfic, I needed some practical, one-off Human OCs. Just for this one AU story.

9 years later and nothing about this turned out to be one-off. 99% of my writer's output is for this AU monstrosity of its own, where the Hetalia characters now have been joined by over 200 named characters. It's basically Orig Fic with the occasional recognizeable name, cuz I do love the creative freedom, but I also love Fanfiction as an exercise of literary analysis, translating a character from one set of circumstances to another. If anyone wants to read pages upon pages of incoherent OC ramblings for this AU, the tag for it is #storie nostre.

And I AM most mentally unwell about SicIre, my true love, my one comfort ship to end all comfort ships. I will return to my Irishman and Sicilian until the end of time. But I don't want to talk about them.

Instead I keep thinking about Francetto these days, two OCs by the name of Francesco Belfari and Dolcetto Acerbi respectively. They're fixing each other. They're making each other worse. Both of these aspects are interlocked like a rusty set of gears. Dolcetto, who's himself a rather pragmatical bastard with a zest to right the wrongs done to him, isn't afraid of what lurks underneath Francesco's loud and cheerful persona. When Francesco needs to indulge his worst instincts, Dolcetto won't judge him for it and will even be in on the bullshit. They see eye to eye. But Francesco also appreciates that Dolcetto IS pragmatical. More pragmatical than him. More grounded, because he'll be able to pull him back from the abyss when he stared at it for a tad too long. Because Francesco makes Dolcetto want to be kinder, that in turn makes Francesco want to be kinder.

Because Dolcetto in turn doesn't feel inherently worthless and unloveable, someone everyone else would be better off without, as he grows closer to Franci. He feels kind of seen by the dirtbag that Francesco can be, he feels no judgement from the man who watches the entire world with boundless and morbid curiosity. The part of Francesco that IS cheery, that IS caring, that loves so deeply before it crosses the point of destruction makes him believe that there are good things out in the world and that he is worthy of them and wants to give them back.

Does this make any sense to anyone BUT me? No. But I am running on less than 6 hours of sleep, gotta be up at 7 tomorrow and can't sleep. So this is what we're getting. thank you for listening.

[sentanixiv]

AO3 & Fic Questionnaire

Tagged by @emmithar-blog

How many works do you have on AO3? There are 27 posted fics associated with me and two that were co-written with another fan that I've left in their credit/name. One remains in WIP status - Down On His Luck - because I'm still writing the draft. My rule (now) is that I don't start posting a fic until I've finished the draft and/or started typing it up, so the other "WIP" ones are unofficial. And numerous.

2. What is your AO3 wordcount? 576,399 words, of which 392,723 belong to a single work

3. What fandoms do you write for? Red Dead Redemption/Red Dead Redemption 2; I fixate on specific fandoms, but have written for many others over the years.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? A Sinful Mercy - 832 Patient Obsession - 197 Endearments - 158 Beauty and the Beholder - 155 Treasures Unseen - 140

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes! Eventually! When posting ASM, my rule was to catch up on comments prior to posting the next chapter. That rule sort of holds true to this date, but with regards to needing to clear out comments before posting a new fic. However, my job is mentally exhausting and I've fallen behind to the tune of 77 comments pending a response. Imma get there, I promise!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I don't really do angsty endings; as a Hurt/Comfort specialist, the comfort usually dominates the ending. However, being that it's an in-progress fic series, Cold Coffee & Empty Coffers counts for this one.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Presumption of Debt for shippy romantic endings; it's a very rough ending, but I wanted to outline a little bit of the good that came to the gents in it. Treasures Unseen for genfic (and the idea of Arthur sneaking two kittens into the gang).

8. Do you get hate on fics? No. I've been questioned on why I write certain themes, but no hate. Rumour is that I'm terrifying or have a terrifying reputation of punching people? C'mon, guys, it's been years since I last punched anyone's lights out.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind? Yeah. I'm one of them sex-positive asexuals and have my share of smut - though only a few have been posted. Vanilla ain't my thing; control, bondage themes, dom/sub undertones, and usually explicit. The Amoral Confessions stories rely more on vague references than explicit content.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written? Once upon a time, I crossed Weiß Kreuz with Yami no Matsuei? Generally don't do crossovers so much as AUs. I love AUs.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Uhhhhh, probably. I've had actual non-fandom writing stolen though and I went scorched earth on the perpetrator.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I'm amenable to it, but nothing since my current penname came into effect.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yeah! I find it fun to co-write because you get multiple perspectives and possible plotlines. When I wrote professionally, I worked with a co-author on 80%+ of my projects. They tended to provide foundations and world building, I found ways to carry the story forwards and add layers to the plot.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? Morston. The aggressive dynamic of sass and badass is my weakness; the fact that there's no damsel in distress and a lot of emotionally stunted stupidity makes it... /chef's kiss

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? My professional novel manuscripts. I lost my interest, intent, and motivation to make it professionally after a series of, well. Unfortunate events rofl.

16. What are your writing strengths? Character voices and natures that carry through the narrative, sounding like they could've been drawn from canon. Being able to write a long, convoluted plotline without dropping threads. Having an endless fountain of ideas (I have TWO boxes of just ideas on index cards and they are both full).

17. What are your writing weaknesses? What in the hell is an outline and why would I ever do one. I trust my instincts to guide me through a story. Invariably, I will end up with a tangled deadend if I try to pre-plan too much of the story. When I just let my mind and words flow, everything sorts itself out.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic Flavourful bits work out, but I think it's too onerous for the writer and reader to have to translate everything being said. Nicknames, curses, and common phrases that the character themselves used in canon are what I turn to.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Sailormoon, circa 1997. No, none of that has survived.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? A Sinful Mercy; this was the first long-form writing I'd done after the clusterfuck that saw me retire my authorial career. After years of nothing, being able to write and post that really helped my confidence. It also reminded me that writing can and should be a joy. I'm never happier than when I'm writing.

In The Moment; the first chapter highlights a lot of tension and expectation. It was my "John's back with the gang after a year away" contribution and I will never not love the way I wrote him encountering Arthur and the lead-up to the near execution.

[hgejfmw-hgejhsf]

Apple Music Predictions for 2024

Open Spotify (or Apple Music, or Google Music if you're a true heathen I guess) and set your On Repeat Playlist to shuffle. The first twelve songs will predict how 2024 goes for you.

A belated thank you to @sparklepocalypse, @thinkof-england, and @firenati0n for tagging me in this one! I'm super excited to see what my Apple Music predictions are, starting with February, since January is gone haha.

And also just for fun, Imma include my favorite lyric from each of these songs!

February - Perfect from The Cinderella Soundtrack

I don't deserve this Darlin' you look perfect

March - If You Only Knew by Shinedown

'Cause it's 4:03 and I can't sleep without you next to me I Toss and turn like the sea If I drown tonight, bring me back to life Breathe your breath in me The only thing that I still believe in is you If you only knew

April - Rapid Eye Movement by David Cook

But the oxygen is proving more than words could ever say

May - Crossing the Line from Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

There's a line between the winners and the losers There's a line between the chosen and the rest And I've done the best I could But I've always known just where we stood Me here with the luckless You there with the blessed

June - Don't Rain On My Parade (Glee Edition)

But whether I'm the rose of sheer perfection A freckle on the nose of life's complexion The cinder or the shiny apple of its eye I've gotta fly once I've gotta try once Only can die once, right sir Oooh, life is juicy, juicy and you see I've gotta have my bite, sir

July - Gimme Heartbreak by David Cook

You're death in a black dress I'm the puppet that's hanging from your thread You're the name of my madness I don't wanna get you out of my head

August - Circadian by David Cook

Mayday Somebody save me now I'm closing my eyes 'Cause once the sun rises It's out of my hands

September - Requiem from Dear Evan Hansen

'Cause when the villains fall, the kingdoms never weep No one lights a candle to remember No, no one mourns at all When they lay them down to sleep

October - Never Stop by SafetySuit

You still get my heart racing

November - I Can See You (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift

You won't believe half the things I see inside my head Wait 'til you see half the things that haven't happened yet

December - That Part by Lauren Spencer Smith

The only way this is gonna hurt Is if we got old, and you were the one to go first So I'm wishing on elevens that we both meet up in Heaven And fall in love again, just like the first time

I'm sure most of my friends have done this already, but I'm gonna tag @ships-to-sail, @whimsymanaged, and @lfg1986-2

[local-crime-aunt]

Edik is an artist who has adapted a hermit lifestyle in the woods in the Lonely Mountains. She is widely known as The Crime Aunt – she has no relation to any of the younger creatures but is close friends with the parents (Drabbles for which can be found on Wattpad and AO3). She’s amiable, gives really strange and obscure advice not usually related to your problem, will draw you, and play sea songs and shanties for you and your friends to dance to. Possesses a strange criminal skill set and is more willing to teach you these skills and join you in your shenanigans than you may at first think. Commonly introduced as “Joxter’s enabler” and she is proud to admit so.

She is a friend to forest creatures, especially birds. She adopted one particular robin after rescuing it from its downed nest. His name is Edgar and he is her son now. She communicates with the birds well, they will attack you for her, though she deems that quite unnecessary.

Of course, ship interactions are welcome so long as the muse is of age (She’s approximately Joxter and the other parents’ age). If the muse is younger than her, she will gladly adopt them as her niece/nephew and teach them crime (or play some songs for them; or both).

Her fic (it’s basically a fic now, so imma just call it that) can be found on Wattpad and AO3

I don't currently have any journal tags or anything like that for her, but when I do they will be added here.

[bcrtonarrcws]

1, 3, 7, 8, 11, 22

      Watch as I get banned from the RPC because I got some really unpopular opinions!! Lol, in all seriousness, please remember that these are MY OPINIONS and my opinions only and we don't have to agree on all - or even any - of these to still get along and be friendly!! Life is all about finding people who challenge your life views, and finding some who solidify some life views; growth is important!! 

 Anyway, onto the answers:

1. What would prevent you from following someone?: No rules, bio, alt fc if they're animated - if i don't see them cutting their posts, if i see too much vague blogging; the reblogging of chain mail, huge ooc posts (ie the 'do you love the sky' posts and things of that sort, not mun talking posts). If I don't see our characters interacting, if there's unnecessary amounts of hate on the blog - like I'm going to be honest, I am really picky about who I follow.

3. What current rp trend do you hate?: welp imma get kicked out!! the trend of google docs!! i'm sorry but like no thank you to this one ever!! i give no one permission into my google docs and i never will!! sorry not sorry! i'm terrified of hackers because we all know that that shit can get hacked - data is never safe and i will never risk my important stuff just to follow the current aesthetics of the rpc.

7. What’s your opinion on call out posts?: do you have unbiased proof?? then i'm okay with it, but given that that rarely happens, i hate call out posts. they're wrapped up in the purity culture that now surrounds fandom - where ship and let ship no longer matters; where everything has to be some kind of performative social action or else it doesn't matter!! i'm here to escape from rl problems, to let myself get lost in the mind numbing fanfic and gifsets and rp blogs, not be forced to focus on real life issues!!

8. Name any three things about the rpc that bother you.:

1) the trend of villains needing to be redeemable to be considered good characters - though this one has threads in the main fandom culture, you can still find it rampant in the rpc and i fucking hate it. gimme toxic shitty villains - hell just any toxic shiity people because those are so realistic!! - pls and thank you.

2) i have seen people lying about their ages to get around other's rules about rping with underage people and i'm not here for that. i'm 26 going on 27, i don't want to rp with anyone under 20, it's nothing against you it's just my blog is not a completely safe space - claire has skeletons in her past (so do i) and i ain't got the time or energy to waste trying to figure out how to censor it for younger people.

3) the basis that somehow aesthetics are important to the quality of a writer?? idk why but somehow writing quality is less important than how a blog/writer makes their blog look like, or put their texts, or like ??? idk i can't stand it. i mean, i don't like big giant gif icons or pictures si u do get it (i mean look at number 1 up there, so many things) but at the same time, i'm willing to sacrifice blog aesthetics if a rper is like really in tune with their character because i'm here for character development, not a popularity contest. i did high school and while it wasn't that shitty for me, i don't want to go back!!

11. What do you know now about rp that you wish you knew when you first started?: that not everybody is reasonable and kind!! some people take this rping thing a little too seriously and i'm just over here like please remember this is a hobby, okay!! i'm not getting paid to do anything - not the graphics, not the words, not the time spent, and yet some people act like it's a job and i'm not here for it!! i don't do jobs that i don't get paid for!! hustle culture is capitalist propaganda and it can fuck right off!!

22. What would make you block someone?: well what doesn't? lets see i block people who soft block me (i don't want to accidentally refollow), i block people who don't tag triggers, i block people who vague blog and post call out posts; i block people who don't rp with genderbends (i don't want to accidentally follow knowing they're not into that); i block people who make me feel uncomfortable, or who don't tag smut. honestly i learned in the fandom i was in prior to coming back here that the block button is my friend, it's how you cultivate a safe dash - it's how you can preemptively protect yourself from a lot of grief!! and i’mma use it liberally if i feel like it!

@murder-popsicle | this munday meme!!