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dragonologist-writings · 2 months

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Title: Her Tongue So Mean Fandom: Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Rating: E Status: One-Shot Main Characters: Knight-Commander Lilith, Wenduag Ships: Lilith/Wenduag Additional Notes: Smut, Short & Sweet, Teasing Word Count: 1.4k Summary: Lilith is busy. Wenduag is bored. A battle of wills ensues.

read below or here on ao3

The candle on Lilith’s desk burns low, casting flickering shadows across the neatly ordered stacks of letters that cover her desk. The hour is late, but the work never stops- not for the Knight-Commander. There are too many requisitions in need of categorization, too many council letters in need of response, too many field reports in need of tactical analysis. And despite the time-bending powers of the Aeon, there are somehow still too few hours in the day.

Truthfully, Lilith does not mind the work. The powers of the Aeon have sharpened her focus- which she must say was quite impressive to begin with- and having spent far too many nights trudging through the field herself, she can testify that by comparison this is a perfectly pleasant way to spend an evening.

The mongrel woman waiting in Lilith’s bed clearly begs to differ.

“Would you give it a rest already?” Wenduag groans. She’s splayed out in Lilith’s bedsheets, clothes already shed, picking at her nails with a bored frown. Ever since their fraternization began, Wenduag has taken to slithering into Lilith’s chambers whenever the mood strikes her. Most nights, Lilith is more than willing to entertain her lover.

This is not such a night, much to Wenduag’s outspoken disappointment.

“If I’d known you were going to be so dull tonight,” she says, “I’d have sought out more satisfying company.”

“Is that so?” Lilith asks without looking up from her reading. Sheets rustle behind her, and Lilith knows Wenduag is growing ever more irritated at the lack of attention.

“Why are you even doing this dredge work? You have underlings. Put them to work,” Wenduag grouses. Lilith can practically hear the smile curling across the woman’s face as she adds, “And then come put me to work.”

“And who would I trust with this?” Lilith poses. “Konomi? Please. I’d rather not all my correspondence be filtered through her.”

She anticipates another derisive remark in return, especially considering her lack of reaction to Wenduag’s increasingly transparent attempts at seduction. She’s even half looking forward to whatever scathing comment Wenduag comes up with. But when Wenduag does reply, her voice is honey-smooth and sickly sweet. “True. You’ve always been so sharp and shrewd, Mistress. So relentless in your pursuits.”

A pause, and Lilith senses Wenduag’s presence against the back of her chair. The woman has always moved with quiet grace; Lilith hadn’t even heard footsteps as she crossed the room. Even now, her touch is light as she leans low to Lilith’s ear and whispers, “But so am I. And it’s impossible that any of those scribbles are more enticing than what I have in mind tonight.”

Wenduag’s breath is warm against Lilith’s neck, and Lilith’s skin prickles in response to her teasing. But Lilith keeps her focus on the papers in her hands as she says, “How would you know? You can’t even read these scribbles.”

“Why would I want to? I’m not some weak old crone stuck inside sniffing parchment all day. I’m a warrior, and I don’t waste my time on words. I take action.” The light touch turns sharp as Wenduag traces her nails down Lilith’s collarbone, and Lilith bites her lip to keep from humming her approval.

“And you’re impatient,” she says instead.

“I just know what I want.”

“Impatient,” Lilith repeats, but that’s as far as she gets before Wenduag’s arms wrap around her shoulders. Her warmth presses in all around, and her fingers pluck tauntingly at the laces holding together the front of Lilith’s robe.

It is an impressive battle of wills: Wenduag’s persistent determination and cloying touches set against the Aeon’s innate disapproval of any mortal distraction from her duty. Lilith allows the battle to rage within her for a moment, then with some effort finds her voice again. “I’m busy. You’ll have to entertain yourself for once.”

But Wenduag would not be Wenduag if she gave in so easily.

“Oh, I intend to,” she purrs as she presses even closer. Her chin dips to rest on Lilith’s shoulder and her fingers pull more firmly at her laces. The silk comes loose completely, and Wenduag’s touch leaves traces of fire across Lilith’s skin.

A pointed smile flits across Lilith’s face. If it’s to be a war of attrition…well, two can play at the game, and Lilith is not yet ready to concede. If Wenduag wants the satisfaction of her acknowledgment, she’ll have to well and truly earn it. Lilith leans closer to her desk, fully ignoring the woman draped around her as she returns to the papers laid out in their neat and orderly rows.

Scouting parties from the northeast have returned with reports of increased activity-

Wenduag parts the top of Lilith’s robe, and she slides the fabric off her shoulders. The silk falls like water down her skin, gathering at her waist.

-increased activity of demonic movement, mainly focused on the mountain passes-

She brushes Lilith’s hair out of the way with surprising gentleness, her breath tickling over Lilith’s ear and down the back of her neck. Her hands roam lower, one pausing to rake her nails tauntingly over Lilith’s breast while the other skirts over her stomach.

-the mountain passes, which may provide the Crusade’s armies the advantage of surprise if scouts are authorized-

Her mouth finally presses into the crook of Lilith’s throat, her kisses grazing across sensitive skin as calloused hands at last slip downwards, teasing at Lilith’s thighs. And she does tease, with clever fingers that promise pleasure once Lilith’s disrobing is at last complete.

But it’s not until Wenduag’s kisses are punctuated by the bite of her teeth that Lilith’s resolve finally cracks.

The flickering candle on the desk flares to sudden, blazing life in response to the rushing of Lilith’s blood. She rises from her seat with such force that her chair topples over, and she kicks it out of the way as she turns to face Wenduag’s smug, hungry grin. Before Wenduag can say a word, Lilith pushes her backwards, and in a few strides the mongrel woman is back on the bed- this time with Lilith hovering over her.

Lilith’s discarded papers flutter to the floor behind them, falling in a cascade to pile on top of the robe laying forgotten on the floor. Wenduag’s eyes shine up at the Commander in ecstatic, golden victory. “There you are. I knew you couldn’t resist me.”

“Keep gloating, and I swear I’ll go right back to reading field reports. Now...what was that you said about being put to work?”

Her threat earns a snort of disbelief, but Wenduag doesn’t press her luck. She simply lifts herself up from the bed to press her lips again on Lilith’s neck, nipping at the same spot she marked before. She moves downward with wicked speed, her nails dragging paths along Lilith’s body until she once again finds the heat between Lilith’s legs.

This time, however, it’s not fingers teasing at her entrance. This time, a short huff of breath is all the warning she receives before Wenduag’s mouth presses against her clit.

And this time, Lilith does not restrain herself; she moans, and her hand grips at Wenduag’s hair, holding her close. Her veins are on fire now, scorching white-hot beneath her skin. It’s a wonder Wenduag doesn’t burn herself as she lets her tongue roam against Lilith’s folds.

Or maybe she does burn, and she simply doesn’t care.

Those musings are driven from Lilith’s mind as Wenduag continues with her work. Her nails dig into Lilith’s waist, and her tongue and teeth take their turns lapping at her clit and nibbling at her thighs. Throaty chuckles reverberate in her breath as Lilith arches under her attention, the fire building within her until finally-

Lilith does not cry out when she comes; even in these moments, she is not so untethered. But she moans loudly, the breath rushing from her lungs as a shiver runs through her body. Her grip on Wenduag tightens, then loosens, and when her climax has faded she sinks down into the bedsheets, pulling her lover along with her.

The look of victory has not left Wenduag’s eyes; if anything, it shines brighter now. She licks her lips and purrs, “Better than parchment and scribbles, aren’t I, Mistress?”

“Shut up,” Lilith murmurs, not unkindly. She takes Wenduag’s hand and lifts her knuckles to her lips- the closes thing to a real kiss Wenduag will tolerate. “But yes. You’re better than parchment and scribbles.”

#fanfic #pwotr #pathfinder wotr #pathfinder wrath of the righteous #wenduag #oc: lilith #ship: we are the flame #her tongue so mean

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gooses-trenchcoat · 1 year

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guide to ao3 tagging

by someone who has used ao3 enough to develop tagging pet peeves

ok so i'm going to kind of walk through a process for tagging your fic, aimed at anyone who feels confused or uncertain about tagging or has ever added "i'm bad at tagging" to their tags (because i presume if you have you would benefit from my little guide)

to start off with, what are the purposes of tagging? i think there are two: to tell a potential reader who has found your fic what to expect, and to help someone who wants to read your fic to find it easier

so. i'll breeze through characters and relationships just because i think additional tags are where people have the most issues? this based on zero concrete evidence

step 1: character tags

characters are probably the easiest part. who's in your fic. write them down. you don't have to add them in order of most significant to least significant, but it can be a nice touch if you feel like it. if you're thinking, "this character is briefly in my fic/is talked about a lot but not actually there, you probably shouldn't tag for that character. people filtering for or against that character will find or miss your fic when they don't want to, and it's not going to affect anyone else.

step 2: relationship tags

slightly more involved than characters, and very much a topic of debate. my advice: start by identifying your main relationship. the shorter your fic, the more likely it is to focus on one ship or relationship dynamic above others. tag that first. then any additional ships, if applicable. any ship tagged should receive a considerable amount of focus within the fic, eg the characters have to interact in some way. background ships should most likely not be tagged, as you can add an additional tag for background (that ship) instead, letting people who have found the fic know that it will feature minimal amounts of that ship. ao3 will filter anything in the relationships section as that ship's tag. just because you added "background" or "a tiny bit of" or something, your fic will still show up under searches for that ship, which most people consider annoying and/or misleading, to a degree.

moving on to the additional tags section: this is something that can be tricky to figure out. bear in mind that if you have a short fic, you probably won't need to use that many tags, which is fine. people will still find your fic if they would be interested in it. overtagging can make your work look suspicious, if the word count seems unreasonably small compared to the number of tags. similarly, undertagging a long fic can make it hard to know what will happen to make it worth the word count.

step 3: themes

once you've got all your characters and relationships sorted, consider the main theme or themes of your fic. it is a character study? focused on two characters getting together? a fix it? add probably one to three (ish) tags for themes, depending on length and complexity. this is for the general genre of your fic, and is going to be really crucial for helping people find your fic. if your fic is a relationship reveal but you don't tag it as such, someone reading only relationship reveal fics is not going to find your work.

step 4: vibes

what is the main mood of your fic? the longer the fic, again, the more moods you're likely to go through. so, an 800 word drabble is probably going to just have one vibe, but a 50k slowburn is going to go through several different phases with different moods. this category is for more abstract tags like fluff, angst, humor, crack, etc.

step 5: tropes

did you just write a fic utilising one or more tropes? add them as tags. people love tropes. people are going to filter for specific tropes. tag your tropes. tropes include: character in specific job role, character exhibiting specific personality trait, "peter parker's field trip to stark industries". often the tropes will be fandom specific, unlike themes and vibes. utilise ao3's tag search capabilities to check if your trope is an existing tag. still add it if it isn't, and it'll get wrangled appropriately. (shout out to the tag wranglers, who do god's work daily)

step 6: anything else important

look it's a catch all final step wow. is there anything else that features significantly in your fic that you think people should know about? add it. add anything that is significant and could be a trigger, a selling point, or a hard pass. a good way to think is if you were trying to find the fic you just wrote, what would you filter for to find it? add that.

hope this helped someone out, i am by no means an expert so add anything you feel is relevant. i know tagging is a bit of touchy subject sometimes but i think i've kept this general enough to do more help than harm.

#tags #ao3 #ao3 tags #fanfiction

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the-lonelybarricade · 2 years

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ok i have to know ur secrets. you always answer ur fic rec lists with how u just searched them on ao3 and babe HOW! every time i try to find a good fic i feel like i’m scrolling thru hundreds of things i don’t want! also bonus q if you have the time: any fic recs for feysand canon divergence fics?

Oh bestie I can totally help you out with this! Here are some tips for using the AO3 filter from your friendly neighborhood tech support!

If you have a specifc type of fic you have in mind, the first thing you need to do is think critically about how you can filter the results as closely to what you're looking for as possible.

Usually I start by using this dropdown to filter by Kudos, but this doesn't always mean that the top fics are going to be the best written. Sometimes fics have high kudos because they:

1) Have a high chapter count, and therefore had more exposure on the front page

2) Were written in a time when the fandom was more active and/or popular (see: any feysand fics written in 2016)

3) Have a crossover with a fandom that is more popular

Most of the time I can narrow the results so that the way I sort doesn't make too much of a difference, and it's also possible to filter in a way that removes these 3 variables. You might prefer to keep the sort by Date Updated if you're not also using the "Completion" filter, because this will mean the fics at the top are most likely to be continued.

These filters are pretty straightforward to narrow your search. Are you wanting F/M Feysand smut with oral sex? Filter by explicit, F/M, Rhysand/Feyre, and include the tag "Oral sex".

The Exclude option filters exactly the same. Don't want to see any smut? Exclude explicit fics. Don't like certain ships? Filter them out of the results. Can't stand Modern AUs? Add it to the additional tags to exclude.

This is the one that I feel likely gets overlooked. In order these filters help you choose whether you want to include or exclude crossovers, include or exclude incomplete fics, set a min/max word count, and search for fics published within a certain date range.

Sorting by incomplete fics updated in the last month, for example, would be a great way to both sort fics by kudos and see the ones that were updated most recently, so you can support fic authors that are still active in the fandom and avoiding reading fics that are less likely to get an update.

(I found this feature really helpful when I was searching for rewrites of acowar, because I was able to search for fics that were written before its release)

I also use the word count filter if I'm, say, looking for a sweet fluffy fic and but don't have a lot of time to invest in reading. I might only sort by fics that are less than 10k words, or alternatively maybe you only want to read longer fics and might set the word count to over 100k words.

Finally, the search within the results is the most valuable feature. This takes all the criteria you set above, and allows you to search for specific keywords within them. This is especially helpful if you're looking for something that might have several tag variations, e.g. "wedding". This way it will check the tags, summary, and content of the fics for that keyword or phrase.

There are also a ton of hidden search operators that you can use in this field to: search for oneshots, exclude certain creators, etc.

Otp: true is one of the most helpful ones. This filters out results where your pairing isn't the main focus of the fic. No more searching for Feysand fics and having to scroll through pages and pages of Nessian, Gwynriel, etc where Feysand are only supporting characters.

The main thing is you just have to think about how the fic you're looking for would be tagged, when it might have been written, how it would be rated, etc, and use the search within the results box to narrow it as much as you can! Go ahead and try searching for Feyre/Rhysand fics with the included tag: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence 😉

#I hope this is helpful and not me just explaining things you already know!#but this is pretty much my exact process for anytime you guys come asking for fic recs #I narrow with the filters as much as I can #and I use the keyword search for all the rest!#also if you genuinely want me to come up with some canon divergence fics I can do that for you!#AO3 tips

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dxringred · 2 years

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okay, before i continue, i should probably actually ask if anyone would even be interested in a version of the ronance ao3 tag with all the non-ronance centric fics filtered out?

they’re sorted into one of five folders -- multi-chapter, oneshot, au, ft. sm*t (any fic with any kind of sm*t tag but where it isn’t the main focus) and sm*t-centric -- from newest to oldest. it wouldn’t keep up with when new chapters are released just because, y’know, i have no real way of doing that lol and wouldn’t be as up to date as ao3 itself, because i’m only one person and would simply add any new fics every evening instead, so it’s probably not ideal for anyone who refreshes the ao3 tag religiously asdfghjkl.

each “entry” includes the link to the fic and its author, the summary, and slightly simplified tags. (by which i mean i didn’t bother with anything obvious like the main ship tag, “nancy wheeler” and “robin buckley”. it’s just additional ship tags, characters you might not usually see (i.e. vickie, chrissy etc.) and any other tags related to the content.) there aren’t any pages where i’m creating it, so it’ll be quite the scroll rip, but if you can remember which fic you left off on, you can easily use the find tool (ctl+F on windows) to take you all the way back down to it, and even use that same tool to look for more specific tags.

i think. that’s everything. it wouldn’t be posted here, but the site i’m using should be fully accessible, and you don’t need an account or anything afaik. so yeah, let me know if this is something you would actually use by voting here. because i don’t want to get all the way to page 90+ only to find out it’s just gonna collect dust asdfghjkl.

#ronance #okay to reblog #or you can just share the poll link with others #idm #i would just like to know other people's thoughts lol #before i sink more time into this

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cheesecakeblessings · 4 years

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Alright, kiddos, strap in, because you're gonna learn today.

I think we all noticed that recently there have been an influx of new people in many different fandoms, but right now I'm gonna be talking about DSMP/MCYT specifically (although it applies to everyone).

New people also mean so many new budding fic writers and is there a better place to post them than ao3? Each day we get hundreds of new works - long, short, hurt/comfort, fluff, some really heavy stuff. And it's all wonderful! I love seeing it!

But, unfortunately, I've noticed some problems. Well, one main problem.

A lot of those new people don't seem to know what exactly ao3 tags mean and are used for. I've seen fics with no tags and raitings, fics where the author rambles in the tags, fics not tagged properly...

So, this is a quick crash course on how to tag.

First, the ship tags. On ao3 there are two main options - / or & - and they mean very different things. / is used for romantic relationships and romantic relationships only. You want to find a dnf fic on ao3? Just search Dream/GeorgeNotFound. Searching dreamnotfound might yield some results, but not as many as a regular relationship tag.

On the other hand, & is a more general tag, used mainly for platonic relationships. That found family you're looking for between two specific characters? That's gonna be a &.

Don't tag platonic relationships as /. And also, don't tag romantic relationships as just &, because people either won't find them or will stumble upon something that shouldn't be in the platonic tag.

Second, tags are used for filtering the contents of the fics. They should be short and on point. Put at least one that will tell the reader what to expect. I know the need to talk about your work, it's your brain baby, but that's what the notes at the beggining and end of the fics are.

Third, I know you may have noticed tags labelled as raitings, warnings and categories. I would actually consider them more important than the regular tags, especially warnings, and recommend using them. Some people might be uncomfortable or just plain not feeling in the mood for certain types of content and those tags are helpful to get rid of that stuff quickly.

I don't think I need to explain most of them. Just know that Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings is not the same as No Archive Warnings Apply. Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings means that multiple warnings might apply to your fic and that the reader should carefully look through the tags for any content they don't want to see.

This post was written to help new people to understand the way ao3 works and I might add onto it later as I notice more. I would hate to see great fics get lost because of bad tagging. Actually, just today I saw three different SBI fics tagged with / and only realized they were supposed to be platonic when reading the tags.

This was a quick and rushed PSA and I hope people will find it helpful. Anyways, thank you for reading.

#fandom #dream smp #fanfiction #archive of our own #please for the love of god use proper tags #ao3 doesn't work like tumblr where you can write anything in the tags #like i just did

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elishareads · 2 years

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Ok, I said this in the tags on a post I just reblogged but I think it should be put in a post too.

I’m not fully caught up on the current issue in the fandom because I have negativity against any main character filtered out in my ao3 tags so I don’t see the fics or the rants. HOWEVER, from what I have garnered from tumblr and that fucking racism defending 10k essay (that was not appropriately tagged might I add, which is ironic considering their argument basically boils down to ‘don’t like, don’t read’), the quiet racism that has lived in this fandom and been directed at Hen, Chim and Eddie is now being said out loud.

Also, I want to preface this by saying that I am white and English so I have never faced bigotry in my life. I am not trying to overshadow the voices of the poc creators in this fandom who have already made fantastic points but I just had this thought and felt the need to articulate and share it.

First of all, racism is never ok! Which sounds like a silly point to make but it seems like it needs to be said. There is no justification for racist behaviour especially once it has been called out as racist.

Secondly, all actions in 911 have nuance which is what makes the show so compelling so if you find yourself ignoring the context and nuance behind the actions of poc characters but cling to them to defend your white faves…. you might be a little racist and you should definitely reflect on your actions.

Thirdly, the idea of ‘don’t like, don’t read’ is only applicable to content that someone may not want to consume eg. certain ships, kinks, AUs or types of angst. It does NOT apply to bigoted behaviour which creates actual harm.

And most importantly, bitching about how people can just ‘filter tags’ doesn’t work when the racist authors are unlikely to actually tag anything like ‘author is racist’. Tagging ‘racism’ or ‘homophobia’ suggests that, at some point within your fic, a character will experience racism or homophobia and that that behaviour will be called out and the character may stand up for themselves. It does NOT suggest that the author is writing the story through a racist lens and will use racist stereotypes and language within the actual text of the narrative. Having an asshole character, who is clearly painted as such, use a slur (as long as a warning tag is used) is fine because the audience is aware that that character is doing a bad thing. But if the author themselves has a biracial child with a Korean name say that she wants a ‘normal name’ then we have a clear problem. Furthermore, tagging fics with ‘Chimney Han bashing’ implies that Chimney is going to say something or do something that is wrong which is perfectly fine to write, you can write characters doing bad things. It does NOT imply that the author is going be racist in their depiction of Chimney’s actions.

So really, there is no tag that a racist author can use which would let the ‘don’t like, don’t read’ and ‘just filter the tags’ arguments work at all unless the straight up wrote ‘author is racist’ in the tags which we all know they wouldn’t do because no one wants to admit they are racist (as evidenced by the fact that that 10k essay was written to defend racist actions with no accountability to be seen for miles).

Ultimately, unless bigoted authors want to become self aware and admit they are bigoted within their tags (which will certainly alienate a large chunk of their potential audience), then their two most cherished arguments don’t hold any water because the tags are not accurate and if the tags are not accurate then no one can stick to the ‘don’t like, don’t read’ mantra because they won’t know what they are reading until the harm has already been done.

This kind of got away from me but I hope I got my point across and once again, I, as a white person, should not be the dominant voice in this discussion so please heed the words of the amazing poc creators that we are blessed to have in this fandom.

#911 fox #911 on fox #fandom discourse #I guess?#though really I feel like discourse is too weak a term to describe this situation

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wutheringmights · 3 years

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hello! i was wondering whether you had any advice for tagging on AO3?

Welcome to another episode of Frankie Pretends That She Knows What The Hell She's Doing

AO3 tags are interesting since you usually have two extremes: people who use use them for archival organization and people who who treat them like Tumblr tags.

I think a blend of the two works best since you want people to be able to filter for your story, but you also don't want to seem like a robot in doing so. But like everything else, you have to keep it clean and easy to read.

That being said, here are my quick tips:

Rate your fic appropriately, which can be hard to do since you have to judge the age levels of your work. The best trick is to think about who you want reading your fic. "G" is for kids while "T" is for teenagers (so content you can find in a YA novel). "M" is for adults will contain things you would not want a teenager to read. "E" is for porn only.

Anticipate what your fic's rating will be by the end of the story and tag it like that at the beginning. No "warnings may go up" here. If it's going to be explicit by chapter 5, rate it E on chapter 1.

Use the Archive Warning system. Seriously, use it. I've seen too many fics that contain fight scenes or general violence that do not have a "Graphic Depictions of Violence" warning.

Ideally, you want to have everything that's going to appear in your fic be tagged at the beginning. But as a long fic writer, I know how hard that can be to predict. So if you add new warnings to your fic, warn your audience in your author's notes BEFORE they read the new chapter.

Plus, for major warnings like "Major Character Death," I would recommend changing the warning a few chapters before the death if possible in order to give readers time to prepare.

Categories are your relationships. I've seen a few people say to not use the "General" tag for fics that contain any romantic relationships, but I disagree. If a platonic relationship is a major focus of the story and romantic relationships are only secondary, go ahead and add the general tag alongside M/M, F/F, etc.

For Linked Universe, make sure you tag "The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms" along with "Linked Universe - Fandom"

For relationships, only tag the main ships. So if you have a side character who's in a relationship, don't tag it. Use the "Minor/Background Relationships" tag

Same goes for characters. Tag the reoccurring characters only. If you're someone who has to fit every side character from the original source into a fic, you might find "Ensemble" a helpful tag

Okay, let's talk about the hard stuff: the Additional Tags

This is where you cover things like the genre of your fic, tropes used, and additional warnings not covered in the Archival Warnings (such as alcoholism). You want to get the vibe/flavor of your story across, and I don't think you need a lot of them to do so. A lot of people will read the additional tags before your summary, so your tags need to be easy to read.

Something I always see is that people fill these tags with too many fandom jokes ("X character needs a hug"), or they keep a running commentary on the story. I don't think it's the worst thing ever if someone does this, but I personally don't like it. It makes the tags hard to read, and many of the fandom jokes tags are there for the sake of the joke, not to help people find your fic and/or know it's contents.

My general rule for the Additional Tags is to cover the basics (genre, tropes, warnings) and add 2-3 free form tags that expand on or clarify something in the summary.

For example, for CTB I have two free form tags: "Warriors is a very complicated person" and "Warriors also does not know Time is Mask". The first tag tells potential readers what kind of characterization they can expect of my version of Warriors. The second tag introduces a twist that my summary didn't cover that can help lure people in.

(Basically, just keep it simple and make sure your tags do the job they're supposed to)

#guess i'm a fic consultant now or something lmao #me rambling #ask #anonymous #fanfic #fanfiction

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goldenzingy46butwriteblr · 4 years

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Relatively Decent Tips About Tagging On AO3

By a relatively unknown fanfic author...

1. In the relationships section, tag only the relationships relevant to the plot. Nobody wants to read a 300k Tomarry story if they were looking for Romione you tagged because it’s a minor relationship.

2. If you do want to tag your minor and/or past relationships, you can do this in the ‘Additional Tags’ section. You might’ve noticed that should you add ‘minor’ or ‘past’ in front of a relationship tag, AO3 will mark it as ‘freeform’. This is because the area for ‘minor’ or ‘past’ relationships is in the ‘Additional Tags’ section.

3. Don’t tag every character to appear in the entire fic. Please. All you’re doing is creating a wall of tags it takes ages to scroll past and nobody cares enough to read. Tag only the characters that you’d use the character tag filter to find the fic for. If in doubt, there is a ‘Minor Character(s)’ tag.

4. For that matter, don’t create walls of tags. Not every single thing that happens in the story is needed in the tagging. Tag ‘fluff’, ‘angst’, ‘crack’, etc., tag the triggers or the squicks, tag the minor relationships, then tag things that are important enough to be searched for. Your tags are a non-spoiling summary, not a plot. Personally, I’m unlikely to read a story with more than twenty ‘Additional Tags’.

5. This is not Wattpad, please put spaces in between your words. It makes my eyes bleed to read ThisCharacterIsAnIdiotILoveHimSoMuch. Please. Just add spaces, it won’t kill you.

6. Don’t be afraid to add personal tags! It gives the readers a taste of what you, the author, is like, and what the story could be like, too. Be careful not to add too many, or it becomes a tag wall. A tasteful joke or commentary is always welcome, though!

7. Don’t try and tag every single variant of that one tag. The chances are that AO3 merges the tags together anyway.

8. Ratings are important. General Audiences is what you would read to children twelve and under, or in film terms, a U. Teen And Up is what I’d call PG, Mature as a 15, and Explicit as 18. More simply: if you wouldn’t read your kissing scene to a nine year old and then look their parents in the eye, it’s not G. Any graphic sex scenes would go under E.

9. Don’t tag as a crossover if you’re writing a fusion. I cannot express my frustration at trying to find a crossover and actually getting what should be tagged as ‘Alternate Universe - [Fandom] Fusion’. If it’s a Hogwarts AU, but uses none of the characters from the Harry Potter ‘verse, tag it as a fusion, not a crossover. If it’s a Hunger Games AU, but uses none of the characters from the Hunger Games ‘verse, tag it as a fusion, not a crossover.

10. Your categories are best left to the relationship tags. For example, a M/M story would have a M/M ship in the relationship tags, not a minor relationship that goes in the ‘Additional Tags’ section.

11. Do not tag the ship name as a fandom. There is a relationship tag section for a reason. ‘Drarry’ is not a fandom, ‘Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling’ is.

12. ‘No Archive Warnings Apply’ and ‘Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings’ are NOT the same and should NOT be used interchangeably. If you don’t know how to use the warning system and aren’t sure if your fic classifies under one of the warnings, use ‘Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings’, not ‘No Archive Warnings Apply’. Without warnings, readers are told that they are going in blind, with no idea of what’s ahead - like being told ‘read at your own risk’. When told that no warnings apply, readers are told that the fic is perfectly safe for them. If this is not the case, they will be mad.

13. Don’t even bother adding more than one oneshot, drabble, or short fic in a single work. It will become a tag dump, it will have relationship tags or character tags that aren’t used for the entire thing, and I guarantee you that people will complain about it. If you’re that desperate to keep them all together, make a series. I can’t stop you from doing this, but I can damn well tell you not to, and I can ask that you at least tag with ‘drabble collection’, ‘fic collection’, or ‘oneshot collection’ so I can filter it out.

14. If there’s a character that you want to keep secret, use the ‘Undisclosed Character(s)’ tag. At least then the readers know, right?

15. Tag ‘Original Character(s)’ rather than their character name. The readers won’t be filtering in/out the character’s name, as they don’t know the character’s name.

16. Tag for reader- or self-inserts. People will be pissed if you don’t.

17. Use ‘&’ for platonic pairings and ‘/’ for romantic pairings. People know this system and how it works, using ‘/’ for platonic pairings will attract the wrong kind of reader, likewise with ‘&’ for romantic pairings. They also probably won’t finish reading once they realise.

18. Only tag for platonic relationships if they are the focus of the fic. Tagging them just because there is a frienship/sibling dynamic within the fic is ridiculous, because people are aware who are friends and who are siblings. Unless the relationship is significant to the story, ditch the tag. There are also additional tags for this sort of thing.

19. Yes, you need to tag for sex scenes, no, these are not the only tags you should have on your fic that is more than just a sex scene. I enjoy a nice sex scene just as much as the next, but if you mark it as explicit, tag for sex, tag the main points of the sex scene, then move on. You do not need to tag every tiny detail. Unless it is of major importance to the scene or fic, don’t bother. Large amounts of sex tags can turn people away from the fic. Your tags are a summary and a warning, not the plot.

20. “But how can I be sure I’m using the right tags, Trixie?” Tag your major tropes, tag the fic’s genre (ie: angst, crack, horror), tag your AU, tag the triggers/squicks, and add those selling point tags. Boom. Done. If there are similar fics out there, check their tags and see if yours look alike. You could even steal some of them.

This is my guide; it might not work for everyone. My thoughts are my own, and you are welcome to disagree or ignore me completely, but hey! I tried.

#ao3 tagging #advice #ao3 #archive of our own

188 notes · View notes

ruewrites · 3 years

Text

Thrones are Built on Lies Chapter 13: A New King

AO3

Ship: Solomon/Asmodeus, Diavolo/Lucifer

Word Count: 5026

Warnings: Injury, Body Horror

A/N: Comments are appreciated! My inbox is always open for y'all.

Solomon could feel both Simeon and Luke snickering as Asmodeus fussed over him. He straightened out his lapel, straightened his coat out, and double checked the cuffs of his jacket. He only stopped him when his hands went for his head.

"But I wanna see those pretty eyes of yours!" Asmo whined, trying to free himself from Solomon's hands around his wrists.

"Isn't it your brother's big day?" Solomon tutted, "You shouldn't be looking at me."

Asmo only responded with another whine and more squirming. With a roll of his eyes, Solomon twisted Asmo around and pulled his back flush against his chest. "I can push it back myself," he murmured against his ear, pressing kissing under his ear and down towards his neck. They were gentle and sweet and made Asmo close in on his neck and laughter escaped him. Solomon nuzzled in closer in an attempt to separate his shoulder from his cheek with a laugh of his own. The only thing stopping the pair was a gagging noise from Luke.

"Gross," Luke had his eyes covered with both hands, as he spoke, "Can't you do that some other time? Or maybe never?"

"You are in my room Luke," Solomon delivered one last loud kiss to Asmo's cheek, "But as you wish."

He nudged Asmo towards his door, "You need to finish getting ready too, I can take care of myself."

"I've already gotten ready! You think I would wake up late for my own brother's coronation? Please. I-"

"I know, I know," Solomon cut him off and repositioned the two of them so that they were face to face, "But I need to make sure I'm ready, and you are quite the distraction."

Asmo scoffed as Solomon tucked a piece of hair behind his ear, "As if. To me it would seem like you needed my touch!"

"Your touch is wonderful, but I'll relish in it later. For now," Solomon tilted his chin upwards so that they were making eye contact, "I must send you off. It's going to be a rather long day."

"Few days," Asmo corrected, "Normally it would be longer, but we have a celebration on our hands. Sure the whole kingdom wasn't allowed to come this time, but I suppose that the main sector will have to do."

It was almost like he forgot about the assasination attempts.

But Solomon didn't want to spoil his fun. Besides, the number of guards had been raised to keep an eye on things. Today was a day to celebrate, and next would be his own wedding. Time had slipped by them so fast.

Asmo leaned up to peck at his lips before pulling back and making his way down the hall. "I'll see you out there then!”

“I’ll be sitting with you,” Solomon called back, before returning into his room. He looked himself up and down in his mirror before pulling his bangs back slightly. It didn't look bad. It wasn't something he was used to, but he didn't mind it too much.

"So he liked it?" Simeon asked.

"I think I'm safe in saying that he did."

"It was quite a lovely dagger."

Solomon took a jar that Asmo had left behind and started to slick his bangs back in the mirror. He could see Simeon standing behind him ever so slightly in the mirror, Luke's head barely popped up on his other side.

"You've been glowing a bit yourself," Simeon continued, "Have you changed your opinions of him?"

"Yeah, you've gotten gross," Luke finished.

Oh Solomon would definitely be tucking things away for when Luke was older. "I suppose I have," he smiled, checking his hair over one more time. When he was satisfied, he stood up a little straighter, "I enjoy his company. He's a good man, and he has plenty of wonderful traits."

"See what happens when you put your work down for a few minutes?" Simeon moved closer and leaned over his shoulder, "You actually get to learn about people."

"Oh please spare me from having to tell you that you may have been right."

"I'll think about it."

Luke had gone about placing his things into Simeon's satchel and making sure he had everything in order. Solomon went over his checklist a few more times and made sure he was in order with Simeon before he prepared himself to leave.

"Are you ready?" Simeon asked, fastening Solomon's cloak into place.

"Ready to sit for hours on end to the point where my joints ache when I am allowed to move."

It was partially a joke, partially serious. Events like this aged him, or at least they made him feel old. Hopefully he got enough sleep the night before. Asmodeus had been insistent about spending time with him in the library. They talked about nothing really, but the moment was sweet. Asmodeus also still looked gorgeous in the light of a flame, especially with how it flickered in those beautiful amber eyes. If it hadn't been for Asmo's strictly scheduled routine, he probably would have stayed with him all night.

At least he could spend some sort of time with him today, even if that was just sitting in close proximity to him.

The main hall itself had been entirely transformed. Banquet tables stood in rows before him as servants rushed back and forth to finish any last minute touches under Barbatos' watchful eye. The curtains behind the throne were open for once revealing a grand staircase. Speaking of the throne, Solomon couldn't help but notice that it had been moved to an upper balcony along with two other seats. The others were still in their normal position, but spread out a little more. However, he didn't have time to question the change. Asmo had spotted him from the little crowd and immediately clung to his side once more. He scanned over Solomon’s appearance and his eyes lit up. He lingered on his slicked back hair for a moment before his fingers brushed against Solomon’s cheek.

“You look handsome,” Asmo purred, leaning into his side, “Too handsome, I thought you wanted me to focus on the coronation.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to cope,” Solomon replied, leaning over to press a light kiss on his forehead, “Where is the man of the hour anyways?

Asmo scoffed, as if he was offended by the question, “Well he has to make an entrance of course! What kingdom wants a boring king? If Lucifer had it his way this would be so much more straightforward. Luckily he could be convinced to add a little more flair.”

Solomon felt his smile grow a little wider as he listened to Asmo ramble on. He was like a small firecracker, bright and full of energy. Solomon could sit and watch him for hours. His passion was admirable, and every day Solomon felt more honored to be his fiance.

Hesitant citizens made their way inside, attempting to find a place to stand amongst the tables and decorations. The family members themselves had started to gather towards their positions to the front, Asmodeus dragged him towards the front and Solomon was aware of the eyes on him.

They didn’t know him.

The thought struck him once more. It made him squirm a bit. Solomon was the one with the power in his and Asmo’s relationship. It didn’t matter that his fiance had been born into the family, Solomon had a higher rank. In their eyes, Asmo was under his thumb and his word was law.

He dwelled on this for a moment until another thought struck him: how often did they get to see all of their royalty in a situation like this? Did they ever get to see the family together? How aware were they of the other siblings that weren’t the crown prince? Arcadia was secretive, but how secretive were they? Solomon himself hadn’t even been aware that Lucifer was married. For being such a large kingdom, it’s amazing how much they kept under wraps.

“Hey,” Asmo’s voice pulled him back to reality. When had he sat down? When did he get to his place on the platform? “Are you okay? You looked like you went away for a while.”

Solomon leaned into his comforting touch and let out a soft sigh, “I’m fine, just thinking.”

“You don’t have to think so much you know.”

“I wish I thought the same way.”

The other brothers had gathered closer, Mammon’s seat now sat closer to the center with Leviathan and Satan on either side of him. The twins sat on one end while Asmodeus and Solomon sat on the other. Solomon was close to Leviathan and Asmo was on the end. All eyes would be on them, well above them. Thinking of the staircase made Solomon realize how little of the palace he actually explored.

He was only a small pebble in the sea of Arcadia.

“I still can’t believe Lucifer was convinced to have an event this big,” Mammon leaned over towards Leviathan, “Like, we were all banned from visiting our own districts without guards, and now we’re having this big event.”

“I wouldn’t think you’d be one to complain about big events.”

“I ain’t complainin! I just think his mind changed a little quickly ya know?”

“It would be like him to move on from something quickly,” Belphie chimed in. The youngest prince looked like he was about to fall out of his seat, and his eyes were struggling to stay open. Beel moved ever so slightly to push his shoulders back in an attempt to keep him from toppling forward out of his seat.

“While I normally don’t hesitate to criticize our eldest brother, I would disagree,” Satan leaned forward, “Usually he’s rather steadfast in his decisions, I would say that someone has probably been chipping away at him for a while when it came to this, especially when the change was made so last minute.”

“Or it was made without him knowing.”

Solomon was almost startled from the way Asmo leaned over him to join in on the conversation.

Beel nodded along with Asmo’s words in silent agreement, but nothing more came from the conversation as they were abruptly interrupted by the sound of trumpets blaring. Solomon couldn’t help but turn around to look up towards the highest point. Azazel came into view first along with two servants, one carrying a scepter and the other a crown. Each of the items glittered in the lights filtering in from the stained glass windows. Diavolo followed through next, his smile shined better than the glinting gold that the servants had been carrying. He held out his hand taking Lucifer’s as he stepped out from the darkness, they shared a smile before Lucifer came forward. He stood tall next to his uncle, the very definition of a proud king in Solomon’s eyes.

The crowd quieted and looked up. All eyes were fixed on Lucifer.

"Citizens of the main court," Azazel's voice was amplified much louder than it should have been. Solomon was certain he used a spell, it was the only logical conclusion, "We gather here today for a momentous occasion. Today, your crown prince will be named king!"

He was certainly putting on a show. Azazel was acting a little more grandiose than what Solomon knew him to be. He was basking in the cheers and applause that erupted from the crowd, bathing in gratitude that was not meant for him. Azazel held up his hand, settling the crowd before continuing.

“Not too long ago now, we had to bury our great king, my own brother. But I know he’d be happy knowing that his son is his successor. Today is a day of celebration, and we will continue to celebrate as we finally pass on the crown,” Azazel gestured downwards, “Each of the sections of Arcadia have done their part in preparation for today. It serves as a symbol that even though we are many, Arcadia will always be one.”

He turned to Lucifer, who started to bow his head, “And now, without further ado, it is with great honor that I can finally place the crown atop Lucifer’s head.”

The entire hall held its breath as the crown rested on top of black locks. As soon as Lucifer raised his head, he took the scepter in his hands and turned to address the audience. "Arcadia, I stand before you today as your king. As such, I promise to uphold both you and your honor and that I will lead us into a prosperous and bright future. You have cared for me since the day I was born, and now it is my turn to care for you," he started. Solomon noted that his voice was not as amplified as Azazel's. Another figure stepped out behind Lucifer, a jar in hand. They wore long robes and their face was covered with a mask. They dipped their fingers into the jar and murmured a few words, moving towards Lucifer's forehead and then to each of his hands. Solomon could vaguely see the images being traced and for a moment he was taken back to his own coronation.

He could imagine all of the feelings running through Lucifer at the moment.

Solomon hadn't noticed the musicians gathering on the staircase until the remaining people on the platform had left and Lucifer took his seat with Diavolo and Azazel on either side of him. Asmodeus ascended to the center of them. He'd been so quiet, Solomon hadn't even heard his steps when he left his side.

Asmo looked up towards Lucifer who nodded and offered him a smile. It was the same reassuring one that he gave Asmo when Solomon first arrived in Arcadia. The musicians tuned their instruments and then the room went quiet. Then Asmo took his first breath.

Solomon had never been so captivated before. Each note that came out of Asmo's mouth was crisp and clean as they pierced the air. The song flew through the air like a dove and cradled him with the same warmth that Asmo held in his hands. Solomon couldn't pull his eyes away, he was almost completely turned around in his chair, craning his neck to catch a glance of his beautiful songbird.

He couldn't focus on the words. He couldn't understand the words, it sounded like another language to him but it didn't matter. His entire world narrowed down to Asmodeus. He was ethereal.

Was he still breathing?

He couldn't tell.

He started to come back to himself when the crowd started up again, clapping to celebrate the official crowning of their new king.

"You might wanna close your mouth there your highness," Mammon snickered, "You're gonna catch flies."

"Mammon! Don't be rude," Levi shoved at his shoulder.

Solomon quickly snapped his mouth shut. Had he been gawking? How long had he been in such a state?

***

Asmodeus hadn't been joking when he said the celebration would go on for days. This was an entirely different side of Arcadia that Solomon had never seen before. It was lively and bright. The streets were filled and decorated in beautiful colors. Canon fire from the navy marked the end of each day, and each time Leviathan nervously checked his watch counting down the second to when they were supposed to go off. Lucifer had also seemed to flip over a new leaf. He was all smiles and laughter. He was warmer than the man who had greeted him here in Arcadia.

He was open enough that Solomon felt comfortable enough to finally approach him.

"You're starting to resemble Diavolo."

Lucifer chuckled as he brought the wine glass down from his lips, "He has rubbed off on me I suppose. It's hard to not be infected by him."

"I suppose I know the feeling." Solomon adjusted his focus to the little group in the distance. Once again he found himself captivated by Asmodeus who was in a rather lively conversation with Diavolo.

"I look forward to ruling by his side, he makes me a better man," Lucifer said, "He's one of the best men I've ever met."

"Are you nervous at all about taking the throne?"

Lucifer hummed in contemplation, allowing his wine to roll in his chalice, "A little, I think, but I do have quite the group by my side. I know my uncle does not share my opinions, but I wouldn't want anyone else beside me when I already have my brothers and my husband."

He was a little envious. Solomon had been virtually alone when he took the throne. Lucifer was lucky to have the support he had, so incredibly lucky. Of course he'd had Simeon, but that was it. In comparison, Solomon's life was very lonely.

"I think that you are absolutely correct, you are an incredibly lucky king, Lucifer. Incredibly Lucky."

Solomon turned his head and met Lucifer's gaze. He nodded, and a silent understanding passed between them.

They were two kings with two very different backgrounds.

Two incredibly different lives.

Two different histories.

Yet, now they both held one mutual respect for each other.

Solomon understood so much more than when he had first come to Arcadia. He had been an invader to this family, someone who was coming in to take one of their own away.

Lucifer cared for his brothers, and Solomon was taking Asmodeus away.

Solomon wouldn't always be in Arcadia, and Asmodeus would be going with him.

"Arcadia is lucky to have you."

They're lucky to have you.

His eyes went over to scan the crowd once more. Luke was holding up a piece of cake excitedly towards Simeon, Barbatos standing not too much farther behind. He also caught the glances that Simeon threw towards Barbatos and it was something that he quietly tucked away in the back of his mind. Azazel was off to the side conversing with a few of the servants. Beel was loading his plate full of food from the table, standing in between Levi and Mammon who were lightly jabbing at each other, Satan seemed to be attempting to get Belphie to join their little group, and Solomon swore he caught the slightest of smiles on the younger's face.

Everything was perfect.

The minstrels struck up their instruments once more. Diavolo's ears perked up and his head immediately snapped towards Lucifer, his expression nothing short of elated as he strode his way across to close the distance. "It's our song," he grinned before bowing down and offering his hand.

"They are indeed," Lucifer then turned to address Solomon, "It seems I must bid you adieu for now." Then he allowed Diavolo to whisk him away without a second thought.

Solomon admired them for a moment. They glided like a singular being. Diavolo seemed to be nothing but adoring, and Lucifer's face was the fondest he'd ever seen it. When he first came here, he didn't think it was possible for royals to form deep romantic connections. Yet the bond between Diavolo and Lucifer was undeniable. Every touch between them held a secret meaning and every look held a deeper conversation. They were two halves of the same whole.

Maybe destiny did bring people together.

Perhaps there was such a thing as soulmates.

Solomon's gaze drifted back towards Asmodeus. He was also gazing at the couple longingly, and finally Solomon understood why. It wasn't until he had gotten close to him and held out his hand that Asmodeus noticed him.

"You mentioned you liked dancing once. Would you indulge me?" Solomon asked.

Asmo didn't even take a single second to think. He took Solomon’s hand and almost removed his arm in his rush to join some of the other dancing couples. Solomon swore he caught a glance of Levi approaching one of the knights. Once he composed himself, he let Asmo decide what position he wanted to take.

Nimble arms wrapped around his shoulders and held on tight. He hoped his steps were confident enough. It wasn't often that he danced for pleasure.

"You're stiff," Asmo noted as they twirled between other couples.

"I remember mentioning that I haven't danced much," Solomon was trying to keep the tone light despite how nervous he currently felt.

"Well you'll have to fix that before our wedding," Asmo giggled, pulling Solomon into a twirl. That earned his fiance a smile. Despite the position he took to dance in, he still wanted to have a little bit of the lead, and Solomon wasn't about to start complaining.

"I will certainly try to, for you," Solomon moved his thumbs over him, gently caressing the skin he could reach, "Will you sing at our wedding? You have a beautiful voice and I'd love to hear you sing for me again."

"Oh I would love to!" Asmo squealed, "Even if not at our wedding, I'd enjoy singing for just you. Although, I might pick a different song."

"And why do you say that?"

Asmo pondered the thought before he spoke again, "Well, the song we used at the coronation is an old Arcadian story about the first ruler of Arcadia. It talks about how ancient deities took pity on them after they lost everything. They gave them magic and still stay with the royal line to this day, or at least that's how the song goes."

Pity?

This version was different from the one that Solomon had read. He'd heard that it had been a gift, but one of pity?

"Does it include the Heart?"

They twirled again.

"Another section. It's my favorite part," Asmodeus sighed, "It's a love story. Well, a tragedy… A tragic love story. Two people fall in love. A love so wonderful that it transcends the very fabric of existence itself. They're destined to be together in this life and any one that comes after." He leaned closer against Solomon, head close to his chest. Solomon swore he could hear the soft thud of his own heart. "However, one of them dies. There's different variations on how, but in all their love is still distraught. So, the royal takes a dagger and cuts out their own heart and fuses it with their dead lover so that they may live on together forever. To this day the Heart of Arcadia still beats beneath the land, bringing life to all," he finished, "I think it's beautiful. Knowing that you're that dedicated to someone, knowing that someone loves you that much."

Solomon caught his faze wandering again and followed. He was looking at Diavolo and Lucifer again. Diavolo was laughing as Lucifer rolled his eyes, but the smile on his face betrayed his true feelings. Asmo clenched the back of Solomon's collar a little tighter.

After a few moments of silence, Solomon spoke up, "They're happy together."

"Incredibly so. They're perfect."

There was that edge of longing again.

Solomon cleared his throat, "Asmodeus, you are aware that I meant what I said in the woods, back when I gave you your gift?"

The skeptical look Asmo threw his way said otherwise, "You didn't just say it because I was kissing you? People say rash things in the heat of the moment."

He shook his head, "No. I'm sure I meant it. I do genuinely think I'm falling in love with you. I don't know how you charmed me but here I am."

"You promise?"

"On my honor."

He felt Asmodeus' muscles relax. Solomon hadn't even been aware that he was tense. They continued to dance together well into the next couple of songs. Every now and again the two

Would start up a new conversation, and the longer they danced, the more confident Solomon became in his footing. Dare he think it, but he was actually having a bit of fun dancing.

***

It happened as the celebration was ending.

Asmo was curled up on his arm, whispering quietly into his ear as they waited for Lucifer to make his final remarks to end the ceremony.

The family was gathered together, preparing to send everyone off back to what was considered normalcy. They'd go back to empty streets and quiet days. Back to staying inside palace walls.

He was just about to lament their return to normalcy when the glass above them shattered. It took his brain a while to catch up with him as the stained glass window rained down upon them. He vaguely felt himself go to cover Asmodeus as the shards hit the pavement.

“Lucifer!”

The voice drew Solomon’s attention. He turned his head just in time to watch Diavolo throwing himself in front of Lucifer, engulfing him in his arms. Screams were deft to his ears. They sounded so far away as the crowds scattered and the guards tried to calm them.

But the image that would stay ingrained in his mind for years to come was the arrow that pierced Diavolo’s back.

His mind tried to take in too much at once. The way Diavolo and Lucifer’s eyes met. The confusion and horror written on the king’s face.

Mammon was the first to jump into action. He bolted off, pushed past the crowds and out into the streets. Asmodeus, scrambled out of his arms and was quick to follow in pursuit, and Solomon found himself in hot pursuit.

His legs were moving without him, he was deaf to the voices of the others and the guards telling them to wait. He couldn’t stop. He wouldn’t stop. Confusion quickly turned to anger. How could they? How dare they? Mammon was pulling ahead, but Asmo was staying hot on his heels. The closer Solomon came to him, he saw hot angry tears brimming at his eyes.

Out of every person in the crowd, out of every one of them, Diavolo was the least deserving of death.

Diavolo was a kind man. He tried to make Arcadia feel like home. That arrow had been trained on Lucifer, and Diavolo wasn’t about to let his husband take the fall. The image of them dancing together crossed his mind again, then them sitting at breakfast. Images kept flashing in his mind.

Something blurred past his vision, hopping off one of the buildings and ducking back into an alley.

Mammon didn’t need to process, his heels turning sharp into the alley in pursuit of the invader. There was a crash, dust flew up from the ground as Mammon grappled with the assailant. The three of them didn’t say a word, not even as Mammon slammed the figure against the wall. His teeth were bared. “I should kill you myself. You low life piece of shit,” he growled, Solomon swore his eyes were glowing, and he had no intention on stopping Mammon from whatever he had planned “What gives you the right to-”

As quickly as the anger flared, the words died on his tongue as the hood fell to the side.

Something was incredibly wrong.

The mouth was a little too wide.

There were too many teeth.`

Too many rows of teeth.

The skin had a sickly greenish tint.

The texture looked too rubbery

The pupils and the irises were ovular.

This was wrong. It was incredibly wrong.

The creature tried to let out some attempt at a gurgle, eyes narrowing and coming into focus. Was Mammon too close or was the sun hurting it’s eyes? Was it human? Or was it something else entirely? Strength seemed to be a weak point in it. Or was it just confused?

“What the hell?”

They were the last words before the guards came rounding the corner after them. Solomon had to wonder if they had the same thoughts running through their heads. Finally one of them stepped forward. “My lords, we’ll take it from here,” he said, “Please step away from… from the suspect.” He was at a loss for words just as the rest of them were. Mammon, while in shock, struggled with the idea of letting someone else take them from him and the guard stepped closer.

“My lord, please step away,” the guard’s voice was more forceful this time.

Finally Mammon let go, but not before shoving his prisoner against the wall, “Make sure it suffers Henry.” His voice cracked. Asmodeus nodded in agreement, and Solomon found himself mirroring him.

Whatever the creature was, it did deserve to suffer for making Diavolo fall.

Solomon did not consider himself a vengeful man, but he craved bloodshed. He wanted to avenge his friend.

“I assure you that we will find a suitable punishment,” Henry motioned for his men to detain the creature, “But my job now is to also escort you three back to the palace.”

With adrenaline pumping through his blood, the three of them were guided back to the palace grounds. The crowds were completely dispersed. Decorations were scattered, broken, and dulled on the ground. Tables were overturned. Food laid wasted. Doors were locked tight.

Had they even had a celebration?

Lucifer was on the ground, stroking back Diavolo’s hair. His lips were moving, but Solomon couldn’t make out any words. Leviathan was close to his one side and Beel was on the other. Belphegor’s expression was unreadable, he seemed to be somewhere else far from where he was. Azazel stood behind Lucifer looking down at him as a healer and a stretcher came before them. Diavolo himself appeared to be teetering on the edge of consciousness as his eyes were fixed on Lucifer. A dark crimson puddle dripped from him and onto the ground below.

Lucifer seemed reluctant to give up his husband, but Solomon didn’t think he had a choice.

Slowly, Solomon let his gaze wander upwards. Lilith’s window was shattered. The first shotey had been so crude. Why had the second one hit? Why didn’t they move? They’d been taken completely off guard.

Slowly Solomon reached out to intertwine his fingers with Asmo’s. He wasn’t sure whether he was attempting to give comfort or looking to receive it. Whatever the case, Solomon felt Asmo squeeze his hand.

For the first time in a while, Solomon found himself being left with more questions than answers.

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evilvarric666-archive · 3 years

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This is gonna be long, so sorry in advance, but as someone who enjoys long fics here are my two cents:

I get why some ppl may not want 75 tags in fics, but this is gonna hurt long fic writers. On a long fic there are probably gonna be more relationships that are central to the plot that aren't the main ship. And side pairings that may be a squick to some ppl. Not to mention trigger warnings and tone tags.

For example: a long fic with the pairing Y x Z. Z had an abusive relationship, and that's gonna be explored. So the author tags abusive relationship, bc that's a trigger, but an explanation next tag saying "not current ship" or smth.

Then Y has very important friendships with some of the cast. These are central to the plot so they're tagged too.

Turns out, character W is controversial in the fandom, but they're central to the fic too. The author is gonna tag after the character tag W positive/negative; so ppl who don't wanna see positive/negative things about W can skip this.

And guess what? Ship A x B appears in this fic too. Maybe it's not that central, but this ship is also disliked by some people, so the author will tag it, so ppl can filter through.

Another problem is with media that has different mediums, like, the media Y, Z, etc are from has movies, and books, and games and a tv show. All these things actually have different stories, different enough at least that ppl may only want to see fics written for the movies! But the author wants to take plot from the movies and the books. So instead of just tagging the all media tag for that media, they also tag media (movies) and media (books)

These tags end up accumulating. And especially in long fics. The author could make the first chapter a list of tws and stuff that they keep updating, but that destroys the purpose of ao3 tags: you can't filter content like that, you can only filter tags.

I honestly think they should just find a way to delete the fics with the trolling tags, or make a readmore thing so it doesn't hurt the browsing. At the very least make the tag limit longer.

sorry in advance that this is going to be rambly and weird. I have a lot of thoughts.

I get where you're coming from but I also still disagree. Like it's definitely going to change the way longfic writers tag, but I really don't think it's going to hurt them. I think it's going to encourage more effective tagging and that that's going to be better for everybody in the long run. If anything, I think that overtagging is what's hurting longfic writers, it makes their works look unappealing, and actually important information gets buried in a wall of text.

i will admit though that I do understand better now why less room for trigger tagging is going to be an issue. My preferred tagging style is "General/umbrella warnings in the tags, with whatever elaboration/specifics the author deems necessary in an author's note/author's notes at the beginning of each chapter" (example: "animal death" in the tags, so that the filters catch it + people who can't handle the subject At All know to keep scrolling, and then the author's note specifying that its in the context of game hunting & not a pet death, so that people who were uncertain and needed more info could click in and get the specifics.) and I thought that preference was pretty universal? But apparently a lot of people use the tags as an exhaustive list of warnings, which I didn't know because when I see a work with more than, well with more than 75 tags, I just start scrolling until it's gone.

(this is a tangent and I get that my experiences are not universal. but I genuinely dislike full warning lists in the tags because, for me at least, it makes it harder for me to figure out if the story is something I can/want to read. The things I Really Do Not Want To Read about are rare, and rarely tagged the same way twice, so the exclusion filter isn't really helpful for me. I have to actually read the full list of warnings and if the things I'm looking for are sandwiched inbetween a bunch of trope/character tags in a big wall o text I am going to miss it. This has happened to me multiple times.)

I think that that's an ineffective tagging style, basically. Lots of tags is kind of the opposite of useful tags, imo. Short, to the point and consistently worded warnings are better and I think having less space will encourage people to do that. I understand why people do this other style, though, and also why it would frustrate them that they can no longer do that. I think it really sucks that ao3 let everyone wild west their website for so long that it managed to spawn like three distinct groups of people who all use the website in completely incompatible ways, and now it's at the point where any new rule implemented is going to screw a lot of people over no matter what. But I digress.

Anyways, as long as someone isn't putting Revolutionary Girl Utena levels of warnings in their tags (and if your fic needs that much... maybe you should just put yur top 10 biggest warnings on there and slap a Dead Dove Do Not Eat on the end there, yknow?), I think that 75 tags will fully accommodate them. I get that tags start adding up, but also I think a lot of people are underestimating how many tags 75 tags is.

Like to just add up how many tags are used in your example: three / pairing tags, lets go crazy and say three more & pairing tags, tag every character tag in those pairings that's twelve, #abusive relationship + #not main pairing tags, three fandom tags bc multiple source mediums, a #[controversial character] positive tag... that's 24 tags. Like all the necessary character & pairing tags are handled in less than a third of the space given (and personally I consider this slightly over tagged. I think the only character tags you should put on a fic are the very mainest/pov characters, but yknow) and honestly if you can't then figure out a way to communicate the rest of the necessary information about your fic in 51 tags and a 1250 character summary then I really don't know how to help you. I personally would have to really push myself to figure out how to put more than 75 tags on one fic, regardless of the length of the fic. And I can't help but notice that a lot of the fics I could find with over 75 tags while searching last night had a lot of... unnecessary duplicate tags, often for information that could've been easily otherwise intuited (tagging #mandolorian #mandolore #mandolorian character and #mandolorian culture on a Jango Fett pre-series fic, for example)

I do have some criticisms about the current change though. I think it would've been better to have individual tag number limits for each individual field (x number of fandom tags, x number of character tags, etc.) instead of a 75 tags over all limit (or make a "warning tags" field that's separate from "additional tags" but that's a separate essay and would... probably mean overhauling the whole site. so not very practical.) A readmore option would be good too, and I'm not sure why they didn't go for that? I also think that this change will be most effective if done in combination with other changes. Like posting very loosely or not at all enforced official tagging/style guides for the site. I really think that even a tepid attempt at standardization will increase the site's usability like, A Lot.

I'm not sure how cohesive that was. TL;DR I appreciate hearing your thoughts, mine are that I still think this is a step in the right direction. And that cutting back on overtagging will lead to more concise, effective tagging which will make browsing and filtering easier in the long run.

#ao3 tag

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palmett-hoes · 4 years

Text

this was originally meant to be a response/follow-up to @i-did 's post about race in the aftg fandom (that you should read). i ran it by him first and asked permission to add, but then we decided it was too long so i should make it its own post

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i want to talk about fandom's take on the twins' race because it's rather glaring in the fandom that andrew (and then aaron by necessity) are often portrayed as the only white characters on the team and i have to question why?

there's nothing in the backstories that would mean writing them as POC would fling them headlong into offensive stereotypes that the fandom hasn't bypassed over to make another fox a POC.

they have a history of addiction? but it's okay for matt and seth to be addicts and be brown.

they're violent? but it's okay for renee to be non-white and a former gang member.

they're blond and 'pale'¹? but allison can be a WOC and bleach her hair without saying it explicitly? renee can have white rainbow hair no matter the AU? neil can be a blue-eyed redhead and still be drawn darker skinned half the time?

'pale' in and of itself is a very vague word that's only brought up in the context of comparison to notably dark skinned nicky. it's completely relative, and multi-racial families where people look wildly different from each other exist (pretty commonly). or if you're prescriptivist how about the multiple ways a POC can still be a natural blond including but not limited to pigmentation conditions or being mixed race? similarly, i think less than a quarter of the FCs i've seen for andrew over the years have been natural blonds themselves.

so if our holdups aren't about racial stereotyping and they aren't about the incredibly vague character descriptions, then why are the twins always white when it's approached as a good thing that no one else is? when i've seen multiple different posts lauding the fandom for adding diversity where nora didn't write it, except for here?

to be completely, bluntly honest, it's because we as a majority-white fandom are uncomfortable when we are not the central characters. or maybe we are uncomfortable when people of color ARE the central characters. i don't think there's much of a difference.

we are comfortable writing and drawing nicky, the upperclassmen, then kevin (in that order) as poc because, simply, we use them as background characters. they are rarely the main characters of fics, or have their own storylines in them; it all revolves around andreil.

additionally, while i've used neil up to now as an example of the fandom being OKAY with writing POC, let's also admit that it's an,, imperfect representation, as he will often be racially ambiguous with no explicit ethnicity, he will be the lightest skinned of the foxes of color, and he will still have eurocentric features. also it's genuinely a toss up as to whether he's drawn brown or not, there are still plenty of white neils, much more than there are white dans and matts and renees (not an attack on anyone who draws white neils, simply a statement) and FCs and edits of him still tend to be white people.

he's a bit of a schrödinger's person of color, not really any one thing or another, very few people being willing to take a hard stance on him and do the work of taking that decision under consideration when writing and drawing him.

(quick shout-out here to @hi-raethia for making content about an explicitly chinese interpretation of neil).

(additionally, to be as clear about my intended message as possible, this isn't a statement on the politics of passing or undermining the ethnicities of lightskinned poc, this is about a lack of detail being put into making a character a character of color in any thoughtful, meaningful, or significant way)

so when i talk about the centralization of white people in fandom, neil gets to be included, perhaps with a footnote indicating that this is somewhat of a more complicated statement than it is with lily-white andrew minyard.

nevertheless, i feel comfortable saying that 75% of fandom content revolves around andrew and neil, major exceptions only being jerejean which are often stand-alone from the foxes, and the rising branch of kevaaron shippers. however both of those ships are actually subject to this exact same criticism, as ships between a a flat-out white character and a dubiously "non-white" character who can also be white sometimes. it varies.

conspicuously, content about the UPPERCLASSMEN tends to revolve around andrew and neil.

fics where the upperclassmen are the pov character are often outside-perspective fics on andreil.

HC posts about the upperclassmen, especially matt, will devote major portions to his time spent helping, hanging with, and thinking about andrew and/or neil.

secondary ships like danmatt or renison tend to be just that, secondary ships moving in the background of andreil-focused works. they get more of a,,, scenic shout-out than a storyline

it is only comfortable for us to write these characters as characters of color if they revolve entirely around white characters

so after all that? what should we do, as a white-majority fandom? what should YOU, specifically, as a white person, do?

i hate to talk about a problem without also talking about solutions, and i try not to carp on something i don't want to be an active part of fixing. public criticism without an action plan only leads to hurt feelings and guilt, and that's never my intention when bringing this up. my goal is to address a general problem, not anyone specific's personal failings.

in all honesty leaning completely into all of the foxes being people of color, though i think neat and i certainly support, is not the best solution, and would be more of a hollow action than anything else without addressing the underlying problems that lead to the development of this dynamic.

i think the best thing to do would be to 1. do some research on writing poc, usually by following some writing-specific blogs like @writingwithcolor or @pocinmymedia . look up the 'black best friend' trope and really spend some time tjinking about it. spend an hour seeking out a random assortment of blogs that interest you that are also run by people of color. checking through tags like drawingwhileblack or blacktober may be good kickoff points.

tumblr is great because with an hour of active work to find these blogs, you can then go months passively seeing content from them. try not to interact, actually, simply watch and listen and become familiar with general trends and concerns in different communities. remember that every blog is run by an individual person, not an elected representative of their race, and always keep this in mind.

you are teaching YOURSELF that people of color are individuals, they have interests and inner lives that don't revolve around whiteness, that don't revolve around YOU

at the same time, 2. challenge yourself as a creator to make more content about the upperclassmen, specifically. make art about them doing stuff as a group separate from neil and andrew's group. find a compilation of 'draw the squad' memes and draw/tag the upperclassmen only. make jokes where they talk to each other. write some meta about their character motivations. write a fic where andreil isn't even mentioned, it can be super short, you can even use a prompt generator.

as a reader, reread their backstories in the extra content. reread son nefes. use ao3's filtering system to read some fics about JUST the upperclassmen, few and far apart though they may be.

if we've decided that the upperclassmen are people of color then lean into that, and learn to CARE about them on their own merit, because they are the most underutilized characters in the fandom. we need to make content centralized around them to combat the fact that fandom centralizes whiteness

#txt #fandom #the foxes #dan wilds #matt boyd #renee walker #seth gordon #allison reynolds #my posts

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