#i like how kirby already looks so much like death that the only thing i really have to change is her hair

[lutheban]

Death: The Time of Your Life comic panel edits with Kirby

Original bellow:

[slasher-key]

All I Wanted (Charlie Walker)

I’m back bitches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pairing: Charlie Walker x GN!! Reader

Warnings: None a few curse words  

You and Charlie have been dating, well, fake dating for almost a month. At first it was just to make Kirby jealous. It worked for a while, but she got over it quickly. So why are you both still together?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Nothing beats the original Y/N, you cannot convince me that Friday the 13th 2009, is better than the original.” Charlie says, shoving a hand full of popcorn in his mouth. “I’m not trying to convince you, I’m just telling you that I prefer to watch that one because of Travis Van Winkle.” I reply, with a small laugh. Charlie and I have been doing horror movie nights since we were kids. Tonight we are watching the original Friday the 13th, and we have been arguing about the remake for half the movie already. “So you’re telling me you only like it for the guys?” Charlie asks “Well, no, but it is a plus, but I also like the Jason better, he’s scarier, faster, and he has better kills.” I reply. “Okay, fine I’ll give you that, but you can’t beat the original.” He says “whatever” I say, rolling my eyes at him. We go back to watching the movie and my mind drifts off.

I start to think about the past month, Charlie and I have been fake dating for about a month now. He asked me after a party where he found Kirby making out with some guy. It made him jealous, so he wanted to make her jealous. This lead him to buy all the snacks and pizza at our movie night, and ask me if I would help him make her jealous. We have been “together” for a month and Kirby hasn’t even blinked an eye toward him. But for some reason it feels very natural, it’s not awkward when he calls me pet names, or when he kisses me goodbye, even when he comes up behind me with his surprise hugs. It felt real sometimes, but then I have to remind myself that, it’s not. No matter how bad I want him.

“You okay love?” Charlie asks, I look over at him, and he has a concerned look on his face. “Yeah I’m fine, why do you ask?” I reply, trying my best to give off a weird vibe. “Well you didn’t do you usual rant about them killing off Kevin Bacon after his death scene, and you’ve barely touched any of the snacks I bought, I know how much you love your gummy worms,” He says. 

I didn’t reply. I couldn’t think of a lie fast enough. I can’t tell him I want to be his real girlfriend and not his fake one. Not only will it ruin what we have now, but he still likes Kirby. “Y/N just tell me what’s going on, I’m worried about you,” he says. whipping the few tears that fell from my eyes. I just want to yell at him and tell him “I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU STUPID”. Charlie��s eyes go wide “wait what?” he says, eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. “I didn’t mean to say that, Charlie I’m so sorry,” I say cutting him off. “No don’t be sorry, look at me and tell me what you meant, you don’t have to keep anything from me,” he says, lifting my chin with his finger to make me look at him. “Tell me Y/N” he says. here goes nothing.

“Well, I liked you for a long time when we were younger, but I didn’t want to mess up our friendship. Then we got to high school, and you had this huge crush on Kirby. So I wanted to help you so you could be happy, but now we’ve been doing this whole fake dating thing for almost a whole month, and I can’t take it anymore. It all feels so real, and I love it. But then I realize that it isn’t, and you’re not really mine. It’s all just for you to get with Kirby. So yeah my feeling are a little hurt, but it’s whatever as long as you get you happy ending with Kirby.” I ramble, I sound like a fucking idiot. But I needed to get that out. 

When I am done rambling, I look back at Charlie and he is smiling at me. “why are you smiling so hard?” I ask, confusion written on my face. “Okay, don’t kick my ass, but, the whole fake dating thing might or might not have been a way for me to get closer to you. yeah, at first I did have a small crush on Kirby. But the more we started hanging out and going on fake dates, and acting like a couple. The more I wanted it to be real, the more I wanted you to be mine. I will admit it was a dick move, but I didn’t know hot to tell you that I was madly in love with you, and I’m sorry.” Charlie rambles.

“So this whole time you were trying to get me to fall for you?” I ask “Pretty much, yes, I’m sorry I lied to you.” He replies. I could help myself, I grab Charlie’s face in my hands and pull him in for a kiss. A real one this time.

“So will you be my real girlfriend Y/N?” he says, when we pull away “Of course I will.” I say pulling him in for another kiss. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hope you enjoyed!!!!!!  

[huckleberrykai]

hueningkai - all mine

pairing: hueningkai x fem!reader summary: kai was never the jealous type until you came along. genre: toxic fic?? idk lil angsty i guess kinda?? warnings: toxic obsessive kai, possessiveness, he is um. not normal about you LOL notes: I HAVEN'T WRITTEN TOXIC KAI BEFORE EEE but i do love reading it and i've been meaning to write something like this for a while. thanku kirby for requesting this !! i hope i did it justice :3 word count: 1.8k click here for my masterlist!

kai had never considered himself to be the jealous type. not until he met you anyway.

he'd had girlfriends in the past, and while none of the relationships ended badly, he just never really figured out what was supposed to make them all that great. then suddenly you came along, taehyun's childhood best friend ~ so sweet and pure. then suddenly, he understood what love was all about.

love wasn't even the word to describe how kai felt about you. obsession was probably a better-fitting description of how you plagued his every waking thought from the second you were introduced.

you got added to their group chat not long after, and soon you were best friends with all of the members. having finally got your number, kai started texting you silly little things that made your heart flutter - he stalked all of your social media to learn every interest you had, and upon learning you loved so many of the same things as him, he fell even harder.

when he finally worked up the courage to tell you he had a crush on you, he almost cried when you reciprocated his feelings. he felt so strongly about you he didn't even know what to do with himself, and from your very first kiss he was already mentally planning ways to propose and keep you with him forever.

kai figured the intensity and 'puppy love' phase of his obsession would wear off after a couple of weeks - but every kiss, every touch, everything about you still drove him crazy, even two years down the line. you brought out a side in him no one had ever seen.

unfortunately for him, dating kai came as a package deal with 3 other golden retriever boys who loved you just as much as your childhood friend taehyun did - so it always seemed like a competition for your attention. in the beginning kai just brushed it off. in the end it was his shirt you were wearing, his bed you'd sleep in whenever you spent the night, and his lips you'd kiss before you left the next morning. but for kai, as time went on, this just wasn't enough anymore.

he knew it wasn't right to feel this way, after all none of you had done anything wrong! but sometimes he felt yeonjun's eyes on your midriff when your crop top rode up a little, or soobin laughing a little too loudly at your jokes. beomgyu was the worst, always joking about how funny you are and that you'd be better off dating him since he's such a prankster. he never meant it. kai knew that. all of his friends loved his relationship with you and knew you made each other happy, so why did he get a fire in his belly every time you so much as interacted with one of them? his least favourite was when he'd see them in your notifications. especially outside of the group chat.

he shouldn't be mad at you talking to your friends. he trusted you, but as his obsession only grew he found himself trusting his members less and less. in fact he wasn't very trusting of anyone around you.

any time you'd go out he'd always tag along, convincing you it was just to spend time with you since he loves you ~ and you, unsuspecting of your sweet boyfriend, never saw the stern look he'd give every barista, every cashier or even just person who so much as looked at you. when he looked at you you saw nothing but love, but anyone else he'd look at would get the death stare of negative kai - your own personal bodyguard with a grip like iron around your waist.

any time you'd get a call or text he'd look at your phone or ask who you were talking to. you took at as just curiosity, but kai was definitely planning on how to get you to stop talking to them as quickly as possible. he felt a little bad when he pulled you off the phone to your parents, but who cares? they were taking away your precious attention that should have been all his.

over your relationship he'd held back so much - not on loving you, but on obsessing over you. he knew you were lovely, that was plain for anyone to see - but that also meant competition. he wanted you to only ever think of him. to be half as obsessed with him as he was with you - but from your end it was all healthy. just two happy lovers <3

from the outside you just seemed like a couple in love, your parents adored him, your friends were rooting for you, everything was perfect!

after one incident in particular though, kai snapped a little.

it shouldn't really have been out of the ordinary. kai usually held back when he saw texts from other people on your phone, choosing to ignore his distaste for them - but when a message from soobin popped up starting with 'make sure you don't tell kai...' he felt his chest tighten. another one popped through seconds later, 'he'd kill me if he knew we...'

he couldn't stop himself. typing in your password, already breathing heavy and starting to cry. if it's what he thought it was he didn't know what he'd do to soobin, but he knew it wouldn't be pretty.

sooby 🐰 8:54pm

make sure you don't tell kai me and beomgyu broke the ps5

he'd kill me if he knew we threw the controllers at it to try make it work, the whole side fell off lol

oh.

"baby?" his head snapped up at the image of you towel drying your hair, only wearing his shirt and your underwear. he was still panic crying with your phone in his hand, and even though everything was fine he somehow felt angry.

"you'd never cheat on me right?" slipped past his lips before he could stop it.

you didn't even bat an eye. "no way. i don't like people to begin with, you barely made the cut yourself," you teased him and laughed. when you turned around though you saw he definitely was not joking with you - teary eyes and cheeks, red in the face, he looked like he'd just had his heart ripped out. the last comment stung him too - barely made the cut? what did you mean by that? did you not like him?

"hyuka baby what's wrong. i was just kidding, did something happen?"

he sat on the edge of his bed and you squeezed your way between his legs, standing in front of him and taking him into a big hug. you smelled like his shampoo and body wash, you were wearing his clothes. you're all his.

"no. just saw a weird text is all."

"oh? who was it? i'll block them."

"no don't. just soobin."

"oh? what'd he say?" you plucked the phone from his hands and checked through his texts, sitting on his lap. "oh kai i'm sorry, i'll help you get a new playstation." he shook his head. "no, no it's not that. just the way it was worded... the notification cut the end off and i.. i thought something was going on.."

"you're kidding right? hyuka i love you!" you punctuated your sentence with a kiss to his cheek, salty tears stinging your lips.

"'m sorry. i just don't like when they talk to you.." he admitted without much thought, playing with the hem of the fabric hanging off your body. "it's like i don't want anyone else near you. talking to you. i want all of your attention. and i dunno seeing soobin text you-"

"kai."

he looked up at you, big brown eyes wet with tears and fear. "you know that wouldn't be healthy. you have to trust me okay?"

"thats the thing. i do trust you, i just don't trust them."

"who?"

"anyone who looks at you."

"kai..."

"Y/N i've been in love with you since the second i saw you. other people have to have been the same, i just don't want other people to talk to you and you leave me. i wouldn't know what to do... Y/N please." his tears started flowing again but his face stayed still as he looked up into your eyes. you wiped his tears and pressed a kiss to his perfect nose.

"i'm not going anywhere. you're mine and i'm yours okay? no one else."

he nodded, eyes still boring into yours. he was mostly satisfied by this, and let you pull him down into bed. cuddling into his chest you opened your phone again to at least not leave soobin on read.

Y/N 🐧💗 9:12pm

he already knows lol

good luck getting your asses whooped <3

"why are you texting him again?" a permanent pout was etched onto his lips as he glared at your screen. "i'm not just gonna leave him on read, that's rude."

kai hummed distastefully. "you put a heart on there too... those are just for me."

"kai, it's sarcastic heart."

"are your hearts for me sarcastic?"

"okay that's it. what has gotten into you?" you try to sit up off his chest, but he pulls you right back down.

"answer me."

"no! of course not! i don't know what's making you act so weird right now but knock it off okay?"

he goes silent for a little bit and you settle back in against him, assuming the argument is over.

"i'm sorry. i'm just scared, you don't have to stop talking to them.. but not all the time okay? i want your time."

"and you have it. you have me hyuka... i love you. not anyone else."

you feel him press a few kisses into your hair and mumble an i love you back against your scalp. he hums to you softly and turns out the light - some sleep would calm you down.

his deep voice and soothing rubs to your back get you to settle down and cuddle with him properly, worried thoughts of kai's possessiveness melting away as you fall into dreamland.

almost as soon as you dropped off, kai's eyes were torn away from your sleeping face to your phone lighting up again.

soobin. again.

he was done with this. with the hand that wasn't wrapped around you he typed in your password, making quick work of deleting all of your contacts he didn't know, and deleting soobin, beomgyu and yeonjun. he trusted taehyun, you were childhood friends after all~ but everyone else... delete... delete...

"hmph...? baby what are you doing?" you mumbled sleepily, stirring from the phone light lighting up kai's face in the dark.

"nothing princess. it's all fine, just checking the time."

"okay. love you."

you knew this whole ordeal was a red flag, but you loved him. you thought you could change him, and so it was no biggie. this was just one bump in the road right?

and that's exactly how kai wanted you to think.

"you're all mine right?"

"mhm~ i'm all yours." you slurred back.

"all mine."

sfw taglist: @beoms-sugar @mazeinthemoon @n0-thisispatrick @strawberry-kirby @majestyjun @bibibinnie @beom-pyu @minholing @ohmahgods @txtistheloml

[icedragonlizard]

Headcanon: Kirby started vowing to prevent future tragedies from happening

Please note that like most of my other tumblr posts, everything here is purely my headcanons.

I'll also go ahead and post a 'Keep reading' tag pretty quickly. Because this may be a long post, as well as the fact that the things I will discuss here could end up making you really sad if you read it.

Feel free to click the Keep reading tag if you're willing to read it, tho!

Kirby has been very sad about the tragic deaths of Queen Sectonia and Max Profitt Haltmann, and feels awful for Taranza and Susie as they're both grieving over those losses. It disheartens him.

Kirby saw how tragic those incidents were, and so he vowed to prevent future tragedies from happening. At that point, he didn't want anymore incidents to be extremely sad over! Two tragedies was already more than enough, and he wishes they could've ended better.

During Star Allies, after Hyness and the Mage Sisters have been expelled from Void Termina's body, some of the dream friends watched the four sacrified Jambastion cultists get sucked into a rift that took them to Another Dimension.

After Void Termina has been defeated, the dream friends that witnessed those four being sent to Another Dimension then informed Kirby about it, and that's when he decided to have the group go to Another Dimension to save Hyness and the Mage Sisters. This is what led to the events of Heroes in Another Dimension.

The deaths of Sectonia and Haltmann were already incredibly tragic, and so Kirby didn't want Hyness and the Mage Sisters to die as well. He and the dream friends went out of their way to try to save them.

FYI, it was the wave 1 dream friends that watched the Jambastion cultists get sucked into the rift. Coo was the quickest to inform Kirby.

Heroes in Another Dimension happens, yadda yadda yadda, Kirby and the dream friends successfully save the Jambastion cultists.

Hyness survives, as do his three daughters. Kirby successfully prevent a third tragedy from occurring! Wonderful job.

The four Jambastion cultists are very grateful to Kirby and the dream friends. Things most likely would've ended very badly for them if they didn't get saved, and thus saving them made them so happy.

Kirby also successfully prevents another tragedy from happening later in time, during Forgotten Land.

After Fecto Elfilis has been defeated, the Beast Pack reconciled with Kirby and the waddle dees. Well, the Beast Pack, except for seemingly Leongar, who appears to be tragically gone.

But it looked like Leongar could be saved! His soul has been broken into pieces which could only be retrieved in going through the dream realm left behind by Fecto Forgo's memory. Clawroline asked for Kirby, Bandana Waddle Dee and Elfilin to go into that dream realm to save Leongar, and they agreed to her request into doing so.

Isolated Isles: Forgo Dreams happens, yadda yadda yadda. Ultimately, Leon survives and gets saved. Kirby prevents another tragedy, hooray! Thank Nova that he's managed to accomplish this.

Carol and the rest of the Beast Pack were very grateful to Kirby for saving Leon. Oh, how tragic could it have been if he didn't.

These incidents make Kirby even more of a hero than he previously was before. Of course, he's always been a hero, but these incidents of saving people from death just takes his hero status a step further.

The tragedies in Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot made him very sad. It's made him vow to go out of his way to prevent future tragedies after those, and so far he's been successful in preventing tragedies that could've happened in Star Allies and Forgotten Land.

Kirby is very happy for the Mage Sisters now that Hyness is still alive with them, and he's very happy for Carol and the rest of the Beast Pack now that Leon is still alive with them. He's so proud of himself.

It's really wonderful. Kirby really cares. He cares so much in making sure people can be happy and not lose the one they don't want to lose.

However...

That being said...

Even though he's happy about how the situations in Star Allies and Forgotten Land turned out, that doesn't stop him from continuing to be really sad about how the situations in Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot turned out. In fact, he's kind of even sadder about it now.

Kirby is a bleeding heart. He cares. He cares so much. He witnesses the grief that Taranza has over Sectonia, and the grief that Susie has over her father, and to him it's all just really heartbreaking.

Susie may not be quite as open about her grief to a lot of people as Taranza is, but she's absolutely been grieving too. Kirby knows about it. He's seen her cry about never being able to make up with her dad.

Kirby wishes he could've helped save Sectonia and Haltmann.

He wishes that he didn't have to put Sectonia down, and he wishes that Star Dream could've been destroyed without Haltmann being destroyed alongside with it. He didn't want for them to die.

His sorrow just added on even more when Taranza and Susie told him about what happened prior that led to those events: about how Sectonia became corrupted by that dimensional mirror, and about how Susie's relationship with her father was long ruined before he actually died as she was stuck in Another Dimension and then became forgotten about when she finally came back to him.

He learned about how Sectonia and Haltmann didn't start out as evil, and became evil due to outer influence. They didn't deserve to die....

When Kirby reconciled with Taranza and Susie after their respective games' events, he's been acting extra nice and sweet to both of them. Over the years of him being friends with these two, he's given them both a ton of hugs. He's felt like that they've been deserving tons of hugs after the things that happened to them.

He's also been going out of his way to visit them in their home places to give them company. He wants them to feel cared about and appreciated, and so he comes to see both from time to time.

Sometimes, it'll even be the three of them hanging out.

Taranza and Susie have both came to really appreciate Kirby as he's been so kind and sweet to them over the years after reconciling with him. In essence, he's been acting like emotional support for them.

Kirby isn't that good at words of encouragement, since he's young, but the hugs and just simply being there for them have gone a long way of being helpful and alleviating for these two tragic friends.

They both act like older siblings to Kirby to an extent. To be fair, all of Kirby's friends feel like some sort of family to him one way or another, but it's helpful for these two as they know that they're not alone.

Of course, they don't just have only Kirby. Taranza and Susie have each other, too. They also have Magolor, as well as other friends. But Kirby is just special. He's everyone's special little buddy, and Taranza and Susie aren't exceptions in having Kirby be their little buddy.

Thankfully, Taranza and Susie have been starting to heal as time goes on. It's been taking time for them to heal, but they're both working on it, and they've become grateful to Kirby as he's their little buddy.

The tragedies in Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot left a really sad mark on Kirby. He didn't want anymore of these tragedies to happen, and that's what motivated him to put in all the effort necessary to save people. He's proud of himself to have saved Hyness and Leon, and thus the Mage Sisters and the Beast Pack can be happy with the formerly corrupted people that they care about.

He'll also keep doing this in future incidents. He wants to keep saving people. Again, this has increased his status even more as a hero.

Kirby wants the best for everybody. He cares so much.

He'll try his very best to provide the best for everybody.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far. I made myself emotional when writing this... I'm sorry if it also made you emotional to read it.

[glassvines]

Now that it's been a little over a week since the finale was released, I'm going to give some of my final thoughts on Murder Drones.

While I'm going to miss this series a lot, I really do think it's for the best that it ended here on a high note, as all the mysteries being setup throughout the series concluded in ep 7/Mass Destruction.

Absolute End was twenty minutes worth of satisfying wrap-ups.

Thoughts/comments in order:

⋅ Nori and Uzi briefly interacting at the beginning of the episode was great. LOVE that there was a little semi-realism here: no sound can be heard in space. Nori and Uzi having to find ways to communicate was clever.

⋅ N finally getting to pilot a spaceship :').

⋅ The VERY CUTE convo between N and Uzi that they are, in fact, dating was perfection. While they're falling through the atmosphere. While on fire. This was so good you guys. They are such a great main couple. Have loved their slow burn throughout the show <3.

⋅ V IS BACK. Was already 100% positive Lizzy's "secret friend" was V, so this was not a surprise.

⋅ Now, while I was hoping for J to see the light in the final episode, I was happy with what we got instead. Confirmation that she knows what has happened to Tessa, and that she has ultimately taken the cowards way out. She won't fight the inevitable.

Love the brief hint that she has TRIED to make things right with V in the past; warn her about Cyn's plans.

"If I promised you anything, it tricked me too."

:(

Also props to Shara Kirby here. J didn't play a huge role in the series, but the few lines she did get in the finale were great.

⋅ Legit my favorite part of the episode is that corny bit N and Uzi do while they're still falling towards Copper 9. Uzi blasting Cyn with the solver (null-solver? blackhole-solver?), THE WINK, Uzi and N: The Drone Killers, and the final sunglasses pose.

ABSOLUTE DORKS ILTHEM SO MUCH.

⋅ I also love that they are IMMEDIATLEY completely fucked up beyond belief by Cyn moments after this. That was devastating holy shit.

⋅ CYN IS SO SCARY IN THIS EP. Cannot believe how good the "call back ping" scene is.

⋅ N has never had problems with panic attacks throughout the series, so I can only assume this is due to him having access to his own memories now? Cyn could keep his personality intact by, as Uzi put it in ep2 "turning his memories to soup".

Which gives me the impression that he could potentially go comatose without Uzi there to hold his hand.

JFC.

⋅ V's heartfelt confession that everything she did was to keep N safe was a fantastic scene too. I went into this episode assuming 99% of the cast would survive, but I was definitely panicking here.

Me: "Do something N. DO SOMETHING."

N: *does something and is immediately ko'd*

Me: "NO, NOT LIKE THAT!!!"

⋅ Khan was redeemed early on the series for me, given how much effort he immediately put into trying to be a bigger part of Uzi's life after the pilot episode.

That being said, it was nice that he managed to come through in a clutch and save N :).

⋅ "Weirdly hot robots" Uzi lmao. Further confirmation that this entire show really is YA/Twilight spoof.

⋅ "I think dumb things are figgin' cool and I. AM. FREE." Yeah no, I can understand why this is a very niche show. The humor is very. Um. Look, I love her so much, this was so funny to me. The final message of the series is literally "be your dopey, cringe self - get the guy" hahaha. Teenage-me would have made this series my entire personality. Or, I would have at the very least appreciated the message.

⋅ BOSS BATTLE!! It's insane how good this scene looks. This was an absolute joy to look at. Adored the addition of Nori's ipod nightcore mix as the main battle song.

⋅ Allanah Fitzgerald is a riot actually.

⋅ I was not fooled by the N fake-out death lol. Good setup to further prove the trio are absolutely in sync now though. Probably my favorite part of the fight scene.

⋅ The fight against Cyn ending in a very grounded way was...interesting? Literally just Uzi making an appropriate strategic decision in a split second.

⋅ Tessa's ribcage oh my God.

⋅ Nori still being infatuated with Khan is so funny.

⋅ Uzi not coming out of this scot-free makes sense. The setup for that reveal was great.

V: "Oh, she's still a cringelord it's her UGH".

⋅ N twirling her around and squeezing her and crying into her shoulder omfg why are they so cuuteee.

⋅ Uzi coming full circle from the pilot scene presentation, complete with an updated "protag/heroes journey" slide:

"Forget about all of this insanity. Get tunnel visioned on spooky corpse robot reveal. Work backwards from there."

LMAO

⋅ Khan excitedly cheering about the fact that Uzi essentially decided she should have never gone outside. Blink and you won't notice that Nori is with him, but she iiisss.

⋅ Final classroom scene and end credits were fun:

- "THAT'S MY GIRLFRIEND!" - N is learning to draw manga (from one of those awful Western "how to draw manga" books from the early 2000s) - V is very affectionate/proud about this - V and Lizzy are very close now - Doll's body is for some reason there too (??) - V is definitely drinking from a dead worker drone in this scene lmao - The group shots of Lizzy, V, Thad, Uzi and N together were cute - J is STILL ALIVE. Why is she obsessed with leaving via the ship...? - Gin Rummy game finally happened. Also Nori again. - "Pog in chat!!" Why. - Doll's funeral (or well - memorial presentation by Lizzy) at the prom. I love how pissed N and Uzi look lmao. - V playing chess against the sentinel

⋅ AAANND we get the final confirmation that Uzi is in fact, permanently stuck with Cyn/the Solver, as it can speak to her. I'm not buying the "everything's a hologram and everyone's actually dead" theory because the show is simply not that cynical. But I do love that this certainly leaves the audience with questions at the final moment.

Again, I'm gonna miss this show and these characters. Would love to see them explored more in the future *emoji eyes at Glitch*.

Cannot wait to see what Glitch has in store, in terms of new shows. I'm shocked at how high quality indie animation has gotten in the last half decade, and I'd like to see more of it.

[gregxb]

Gargoyles Doesn’t Need Marvel.

“Wouldn’t it be great to see Xanatos battle Tony Stark?” “How about Dr. Strange versus Oberon!” “I want to see Brooklyn join the Avengers!” “Magneto and Demona would make an awesome alliance!” “There’s no reason not to merge Gargoyles into the Marvel Universe!”

There’s a reason not to. There's a lot of reasons.

First of all, the two universes are pretty incompatible. Time travel works differently in both universe for one. In "Gargoyles" you cannot alter history, and that series is so much better for it. If it were a part of Marvel, it would be too easy for Goliath to, let's say, go back in time and prevent the massacre of his clan back in 994 Scotland.

I suppose you could retcon away those Marvel time travel stories like "Age of Apocalypse" and "Days of Future Past." While I would not mind that, it wouldn't be fair to the fans and creators of those stories.

Second, while I have no doubt the existence of gargoyles would be shocking to the people of the Marvel Universe, it wouldn't have the same impact it should. Not in a world where mutants, super-beings, Atlanteans, Inhumans, Eternals, Norse gods, and Fin Fang Foom are already known to exist with Galactus stopping by every other Tuesday.

Third, okay, Marvel's Odin is now a Child of Oberon, as are the Asgardians. Okay... how well do you think that's going to go over with the fans of Jack Kirby's Thor who have been reading it for nearly fifty years now? Hell, there are still some people who are uneasy about Odin being subject to Oberon in "Gargoyles." I'm not one of those people, but I understand where they're coming from.

Finally, and perhaps most important, the Marvel Universe is not really going anywhere. It is very cyclical. Things come, things go, status quos change and are restored. Spider-Man is married for twenty years, then he is single again. Magneto reforms, then is a villain again, then reforms, etc, etc.

For example, I respect a lot of what Joe Quesada has done for Marvel. However, the notion of him and his successors (I know he's gone now) having any kind of creative influence over "Gargoyles" scares me. "Goliath and Elisa were more interesting before they finally declared their love and got together. The core of it was always impossible love, so now we have to split them up." You know it would happen.

"The Gargoyles Universe" is going somewhere, as we're still seeing in the Dynamite comic, it was always evolving. Never going backwards, but moving forwards. It was an evolving tapestry, and change was constant. Marvel, on the other hand, lives and breathes on the illusion of change, while actual change is non-existent. Death is meaningless. Characters don't age, and the status quo may shake up on occasion, but it is always eventually restored.

The Marvel Universe was built by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko, and maintained by many very talented and creative people acting as custodians of that work. But, for better or worse, it is a soup with hundreds of cooks. Many great chefs, and more than a few fast food fry cooks.

"Gargoyles" was co-created by Greg Weisman, and while he had a lot of help, he was the only co-creator, and the one who never stopped working on it. He was the first author of "Gargoyles" and more than likely he will be the last author of "Gargoyles." For the better. We saw "Gargoyles" without Greg Weisman, and it was nothing good.

Both universes have their place, but you couldn't merge them without one of them being significantly altered in the process. Now, I will admit my bias again and say that I wish the "Marvel Universe" was more like the "Gargoyles Universe" but, there's no real point. It's been around for nearly six decades (over eight if you want to talk about Timely Comics), and it's not going to change. As I've made clear, I think that's kind of the problem, but an understandable one given the nature of Marvel Comics. DC too, for that matter.

Now, I realize a lot of the above makes it look like I'm saying "Gargoyles" is great and Marvel is awful, but I don't feel that way at all. I just don't think such a thing would work without one of the universes suffering for it.

[yumenotambourin]

Just sorta piling up all my AUs to count them

They're all Elfilis-centric because Elfilis

Regular:

Unnamed AU

Elfilis is saved by Neichel before they get captured and the two become besties. Shenanigans ensue.

Gatorade Flavored Ratatouille

Elfilis and the gemini stumble upon a human colony. Elfilis plans to slowly mentally torture the humans for revenge and tries to get the gemini to join them, but Elfilin opposes and Forgo doesn't want to interact with humans ever again. The three fight all the time but still hold onto eachother.

Super Mario Galaxy AU i guess?

Not realky Super Mario Galaxy, but basically the humans already had "planetary warp technology" and Elfilis and Neichel meet up during their intergalactic travels and also Lab Discovera wants to capture Elfilis anyways so they have to do a Mario Galaxy to stop them??? Idk

Unnamed Candy World AU

Mousies wake up in a candy world with no memories of how they got there. Elfilis feels like something is wrong, but they're too overconfident to act on their suspicions. Plus, the gemini have a thing for sweets (which they got from Elfilis themself of course) so they're overjoyed.

Backrooms AU

Morpho traps the rats in a dream that resembles the backrooms (that Lizzie knew of from reading children's minds) to trick them into dying.

Boxed Gemini

In which they are actual siblings. That's it.

Idol AU

There's a whole ass seraphim society now! After beating the living shit out of Boib, Elfilis becomes a super idol. Once again, Morpho wants them dead. Elfilis is fucking terrified and uses their music as a cry for help.

Also Neichel is there as Elfilis' fancy pet and best friend because this was originally gonna be an Elfilis-Neichel swap but there's so little that can be done with that.

elfilingamer87

Elfilis accidentally starts a livestream and everyone cheers. They become rather popular pretty quickly. Elfilin sees this and wants to be a steamer too, so he makes a YouTube channel named 'elfilingamer87' and streams his gameplay of Kirby's Dream Buffet. Unfortunately he ends up having only one subscriber, which makes him extremely sad because he thinks Elfilis will be disappointed in him if they find out. William Afton, a human, tricks him into being experimented on in exchange of fame and knowing who that one subscriber is. Turns out that one subscriber was Elfilis themself, who had been advertising his channel like crazy.

Gijinka:

Normal People AU

Void is actually a corporation where a huge accident took place, leading to the death of four important employees(?) and their partners. Their children (the heroes of yore) are childhood friends who got separated in their teenage years (Elfilis moved to London, the others idk) so with the death of their parents they're trying to find eachother and help eachother out.

Kirby is Meta Knight's adopted son and Meta Knight is Galacta's brother

Despite the setup, this one is also very Elfilis-centric and focuses on them raising their twin siblings on their own.

Miitopia:

The first one I kinda abbandoned

The only non-Elfilis-centric one because Forgotten Land wasn't out yet

Void (who I headcanon as the creator god of Kirby) is trappen inside a universe that is not their own, which leads them to dark curse out

The main hero is Kirby (miitopia), the Great Sage is Nova for some reason and the Dark Lord is Zero.

Great Sage Elfilis

Elfilis is basically Lucifer from Christianity, except that instead of falling down to hell they fall to the mortal world and are thought to be the child of god (who is actually Kirby). And they're also amnesiac.

Elfilin and Forgo are manifestations of their feelings. Forgo becomes the curse and Elfilin sets out to save the world, but Elfilis is intrigued to why this random ass child looks so much like them so he takes him under their wing.

Princet Elfilis

Mousies are very beautiful children who destroy the orphanage they were in to escape and are adopted by King Dream Minecraft. But King Dream Minecraft is a horrible person so Elfilis and Galacta (the head knight of Dreamhorne who became Elfilis' best friend) manage to get him exiled and Lizzie becomes the new monarch.

The first one again but Elfilis

In the first AU, Galacta plays the role of the town guide, and is an ex warrior who was exiled for being too violent and runs a bar now. He briefly takes care of Void.

In this AU, Elfilis there as well alongside Galacta, although they left willingly after a fight with William Afton.

They heavily dislike Void, which leads them and Galacta to get possessed.

[msookyspooky]

Out of ALL the Scream movies; Scream 4 could have been on par with Scream had they kept the deleted scenes

Here

- The fountain scene that paid homeage to '96 and ACTUALLY made this teen group seem like friends and a true remake

- The killer copying kills and Dewey talking about Tatum. We hardly hear him ever talk about his little sister AND it would make the 'remake' argument make sense because this feels like another sequel in the franchise; not a remake like they claim

- The Crime scene that was by far one of the eeriest and one of the most realistic scenes in any Scream movie to show how brutal the kills really were

- The original opening kill where Marnie thinks Jenny is pranking her and Ghostface is standing in the hallway while they talk

- The very short scene of Robbie and Charlie setting up the barn. It was goofy and made them feel like people instead of only red herrings (Which will obviously make a suspect list harder...Why do you think Scream is so good? Because every single suspect feels human instead of just a one dimensional red herring shoe in.)

- Kirby talking to Charlie and Robbie in the hall because once again it makes Charlie less suspicious because 'Oh he's doing it to be cool and get the girl' not 'this freak is having a secret party for an unknown reason during a killing? Yep another Stu def the killer' IT FELT SO IMPORTANT! We never got a motive for the party and in this scene we kind of did

Now, I agree with them getting rid of the hospital scene with Trevor and Jill bc even tho I liked seeing Trevor's character fleshed out it made Jill look like the killer and her being the killer was one of the most shocking reveals that I would not want ruined by something as heavy handed as her getting angry at Trevor for reading Sidney's book. The one with her missing her phone felt off too. Or Gale and Dewey in the morning because not only did Gale's "Has she ever been to one of mine?😒🙄" over Dewey asking her to go to Sid's book signing makes me hate her BUT it was also pretty much a pointless scene that would've taken too much time. I'm on the fence about the alternate scene of Dewey figuring out it was Jill before Gale did because it makes sense with Gale still under anesthesia not being on her A game and would be a nice change for Dewey to be the one to figure it out BUT it feels more in character for Gale to figure it out first.

But at least half of those scenes should've been kept in!

Controversial but some scenes have to be scraped to keep those deleted ones so:

Ditch the Trevor and Robbie exchange with that cringy 'Rawr' thing he does it gives me secondhand embarrassment everytime, get rid of some of the scenes of Judy and Gale pointlessly beefing with each other over oblivious Dewey who's already married to Gale and faithful what is the point of it?? Especially as much as we see it like we get it Judy likes Dewey and thinks Gale's evil stop wasting film, shorten the long ass opening kill that imo is one of the worst opening kills and the kill within a kill within a kill thinh I'm sorry but I skip it everytime ESPECIALLY seeing the deleted scene and how much better it could've been, shorten Rebecca Walter's death to what it was in the deleted scene. Anything to keep these scenes IN THE FINAL PRODUCT WHAT THE HELL

And don't even get me started on the alternate ending that should have happened and the 'new final girl' theme we'd get in 5 with a Ghostface versus a Ghostface instead of what we got...AND IT WOULD HAVE MADE IT POSSIBLE TO INCLUDE THESE SCENES BECAUSE THE HOSPITAL SCENE WOULDN'T HAVE EXISTED.

This movie could've been so great and here we are with one dimensional characters, plot holes that don't make sense, awkward scenes that weren't needed and a new cast that was 'meh' except for Kirby because of deleted scenes.

[rainb0w-b0y]

I’ve been trying more strenuous writing exercises lately, and one of them is to challenge myself by adapting some of my favourite characters to screen. By this I mean to practice balancing my admiration for what has already been done with what I think would genuinely prove new and engaging. I decided to tackle my own Spider-Man screenplay with a focus on Peter’s ego as a public figure being retained even after his celebrity days (which led to Ben’s death, yadayadayada).

This exercise was admittedly inspired by Spider-Man: Lotus, HOWEVER it was really only because I remembered how much I love the character dynamics of the era the film took inspiration from. This is absolutely not something done out of bitterness or to prove I’m better than Gavin.

I mean, look at the guy’s history. I don’t really think there’s a need regardless.

Anyway, I thought I was breaking new ground, but upon rewatching Spider-Man (2002) realized that I was retreading a lot of familiar beats the Raimi films had already done. This bolstered my already profound appreciation for how great that trilogy is, but also sent me back to the drawing board.

So, I went back to revisit the last few issues of Stan Lee’s original run for a bit of inspiration. Upon rereading Amazing Spider-Man #96, published in 1971, I was struck by these panels and how simple yet interesting the sentiment is.

My idea here is a year 2 or 3 story where Peter already realizes that he can’t let the fame get to his head. He’s learned that. Where do we go from there? How do we tackle an egotistical Peter Parker story that isn’t an origin or something that uses the symbiote for a cop out? Well, the answer is quite simple. If he can’t bask in the glory of being Spider-Man, then he must still do it because he gets a thrill out of it. Spider-Man is New York’s unbeatable champion, and as things continue getting more dangerous, Peter wants to see how long he can keep that going. Does he believe himself to be genuinely good in the face of new dangers, or that his heroism still a facade for selfish—or self destructive—tendencies?

However this premise pans out for this practice, it just goes to show how influential and essential Stan Lee’s 100 issue tenure was to the character. He got a lot of iconic concepts and characters off the ground with his collaborators obviously, but every issue of his long run on Spider-Man still defines what people love about him today. By the end of the 100 issues, you just GET him. It’s a full character arc that transcends all of Lee’s other work, except maybe Fantastic Four. But a lot of that still goes to Kirby.

By the time Lee passed off scripting duties, Spider-Man was already a fully formed and iconic character, which can’t be said for many of his other creations. I just love this run dearly and think everyone who remotely likes Spider-Man, or even just Marvel in general needs to read it in their lifetime.

‘Nuff said.

[ghostielj]

Nintendo Direct Thoughts! Part 4 The Best Part

Where do I even start with this? I am going to try my best to sound coherent in this post but just as a warning there may be a lot of screaming like this AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

This isn't in any particular order but it kinda is lol. Save the best for last.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

Okay so I am a horrible Kirby fan, but in my defense I am more of a casual player compared to others. I love me some Kirby, mmmmm. My favorite form is I guess the Link form with his Link hat and master sword just destroying enemies. And man talk about his sucking abilities and blowing too. Can I say that on here?? Eh it is tumblr after all lol. I think I am going to pick this up for sure, maybe not right away because you know I am broke and all but eventually I will. I still need to download the demo...I'll do that right now actually. It's downloading...alright good to go! My understanding is that this is a remake of the Wii game. It's not a remaster because there are additional things added. Overall the graphics look great and Kirby is always a good time so I don't think people will be disappointed.

Metroid Prime Remastered

I really wish I was more into the Metroid series. Alien monsters and space, what more could you want. I still haven’t made my way through Metroid Dread I am ashamed to say. It has been sitting on my shelf just staring at me, judging. Maybe some day, maybe some day. But this looks amazing and it’s been long awaited so I’m happy it’s finally come out and looking forward to seeing what lies ahead for this IP.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

I mean what’s there to say? It’s fucking Zelda!!! My mouth hung open the entire time and it felt like I was in a trance and when the teaser trailer ended I just wanted more. Now Breath of the Wild was incredible. I still remember playing for the first time. I was a little late to game, I bought my first switch two years after it had already come out and the first game I purchased with it was Breath of the Wild. I was so nervous to boot up the game because I had already seen plenty of game play and saw how so many of the enemies could be a little difficult to beat along with learning a whole other control system. Loved every minute of it and I’m sure this will be no different. This game is going to be on a whole other level and I can’t wait. Only a few more months to wait. Now I’ve heard a lot about people not too happy with the price. It’s going to be a $70 game. I am a little surprised it’s that much, but also not surprised at the same time. Like I said earlier “it’s fucking Zelda,” and you and I both know people are going to pay whatever Daddy Nintendo wants. I have yet to pre order it and I know I should soon. But overall this is my most anticipated game of the year, but obviously behind Pokémon. That is if a new game comes out holiday 2023. Maybe a let’s go johto perhaps?

Fantasy Life: The Girl Who Steals Time

I own a new 3DS (Pokémon Edition) and I love that thing to death. The 3DS catalog was fantastic, so many hidden gems. FANTASY LIFE was one of them. So much so I bought that game twice. The first time I bought it was a physical copy from Gamestop. Now I can’t remember if I bought it brand new or used, nonetheless I was able to find it after failing to find it anywhere else. I stumbled upon a random YouTube review video and knew I had to get it. Now how would I describe it? It’s an rpg but so much more than that. This is why I know the gaming company Level-5. It’s this tiny open world fantasy game filled with dragons and knights and magic. You can customize your own character and you chose what life you want to live. Anything from being a chef to being a paladin. You fight monsters and dragons and it’s just fantastic! There is so much to do and the best part is that you can master all 12 of the life paths available to you. So maybe you want to take a break from being a magician well how about trying your hands at being an angler. You can be known as a legend in each path and there is a dlc where you can basically become a god. Now the second time I bought it was me being foolish. I didn’t care for it the first time I played. And I ended up selling it back to GameStop. A few months later I saw another review about it and thought “I’m stupid, I need to really give this a chance.” And from that moment I couldn’t put it down and I completed every life and every task possible. I loved this game so much and when they announced that a fantasy life 2 was coming I was ecstatic. But it was too good to be true. It was going to be a mobile game and only being released in Japan. So almost 10 years later, they’re finally releasing a new game. Now I’m still trying to come to terms with this game being it’s own thing. From the direct trailer it looks a lot different from the original and maybe not being the open world game I was hoping for. I am still going to give it a chance and hopefully it’ll live up to his predecessor. *fingers crossed*

Game Boy and Game Boy Advance NS Online

I cried, I literally cried on my way to work and screamed in the car. So much was leading up to this and I’m so happy it’s finally true. Now I won’t go into each game announced for the launch, but I do want to talk about the games I’m excited for.

So first some honorable mentions

Super Mario Land 2- 6 Golden Coins

So I love its predecessor. Played it over 100 times. This game maybe once or twice, but looking forward to really sinking my teeth into it.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

I have played this maybe once but never got too far. I love the remake and if you haven’t already checked it out, you should.

Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare

Never heard of it, but looks interesting. Will have to check it out eventually.

Wario Land 3

This game pissed me off so much as a kid, so enough said.

Kirby’s Dream Land

We love a queen who loves food.

Tetris

The game that started it all for me. I am a Nintendo handheld fan boy through and through. I own the og Game boy, the game boy that my dad gifted me when I was like 6 or 7. And with that game boy came Tetris. I could entertain myself for hours, trying to get that top score. And the music, oh the music. Nothing like it now. I’m looking forward to wasting time away playing this like I’m 6 all over again.

Pokémon Trading Card Game

Yes! Only played it twice and failed hard so I want to give it another go. Too bad we have to wait some time.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

I lost my absolute shit when they announced it. This is by far my favorite Zelda game of all time. I don’t know, there’s just something about it. The art style, the vibrant colors, the story and just the overall creativity is AMAZING! I got emotional when I booted it up for the first time and I don't know I may just cry again as I go further along in my journey. I’ve never had the opportunity to own this game in physical form so this will have to do for now. The cartridge alone is going for like $100. But I will get it…grrrr.

So there we go, my thoughts on the last Nintendo Direct. Took 4 separate posts lol. Maybe next time I’ll just comment on the things I liked. Oh well. This was a nice little challenge for me because I’ve never really done anything like this. It feels good. Whether people read this or not, still enjoyable. Feel free to share your thoughts by messaging me.

[eiirisworkshop]

The Fanfic Author's Guide to Metatext

(As Used on Ao3) by Eiiri

Also available as a PDF here. This thing is 13,000 words.  The PDF is recommended.

Intro: What is Metatext?

Metatext is everything we fanfic authors post along with our story that is not the story itself: title, tags, summary, author's notes, even the rating.

It is how we communicate to potential readers what they're signing themselves up for if they choose to read our story, how we let them make informed decisions regarding which fics they want to read, how we get their interest and, frequently, how they find our story in the first place. A lot of metatext acts as a consent mechanism for readers, it's the informed part of informed consent.

Since most of us who write fanfic also read it, we understand how important this is! But, for the most part, no one ever teaches us how to use metatext; we have to pick it up by osmosis. That makes it hard to learn how to use it well, we all suck at it when we first start out, and some of us may go years without learning particular conventions that seem obvious to others in our community. This creates frustration for everybody.

Enter this guide!

This is meant to be a sort of handbook for fic writers, particularly those of us who post on Archive of Our Own, laying out and explaining the established metatext conventions already in use in our community so we (and our readers!) are all on the same page. It will also provide some best-practices tips.

The point is to give all of us the tools to communicate with our audience as clearly and effectively as possible, so the people who want to read a story like ours can find it and recognize it as what they're looking for, those who don't want to read a story like ours can easily tell it's not their cup of tea and avoid it, nobody gets hurt, and everybody has fun—including us!

Now that we know what we're talking about, let's get on with the guide! The following content sections appear in the order one is expected to provide each kind of metatext when posting a fic on Ao3, but first….

Warning!

This is a guide for all authors on Ao3. As such, it mentions subject matter and kinds of fic that you personally might hate or find disgusting, but which are allowed under the Archive's terms of use. There are no graphic descriptions or harsh language in the guide itself, but it does acknowledge the existence of fic you may find distasteful and explains how to approach metatext for such fics.

Some sexual terminology is used in an academic context.

A note from the author:

This guide reflects the conventions of the English-language fanfiction community circa 2021. Conventions may differ in other language communities, and although many of our conventions have been in place for decades (praise be to our Star Trek loving foremothers) fanfiction now exists primarily in the realm of internet fandom where things tend to change rather quickly, so some conventions in this guide may die out while other new conventions, not covered in this guide, arise.

This is not official or in any way produced by the Archive of Our Own (Ao3), and though some actual site rules are mentioned, it is not a rulebook. Primarily, it is a descriptivist take on how the userbase uses metatext to communicate amongst ourselves, provided in the interest of making that communication easier and more transparent for everyone, especially newer users.

Contents

How To Use This Guide Ratings Archive Warnings Fandom Tags Category Relationship Tags Character Tags Additional Tags Titles Summaries Author's Notes Series and Chapters Parting Thoughts

How To Use This Guide

Well, read it.  Or have it read to you.

This isn't a glossary, it's a handbook, and it's structured more like an academic paper or report, but there's lots and lots of examples in it!

Many of these examples are titles of real media and the names of characters from published media, or tags quoted directly from Ao3 complete with punctuation and formatting.

Some examples are more generic and use the names Alex, Max, Sam, Chris, Jamie, and Tori for demonstration purposes. In other generic examples, part of an example tag or phrase may be sectioned off with square brackets to show where in that tag or phrase you would put the appropriate information to complete it.  This will look something like “Top [Character A]” where you would fill in a character's name.

This guide presumes that you know the basics of how to use Ao3, at least from the perspective of reading fic. If you don't, much of this guide may be difficult to understand and will be much less helpful to you, though not entirely useless.

Ratings

Most fanfic hosting sites provide ratings systems that work a lot like the ratings on movies and videogames.

Ao3's system has four ratings:

General

Teen

Mature

Explicit

These seem like they should be pretty self-explanatory, and the site's own official info pop-up (accessible by clicking the question mark next to the section prompt) gives brief, straightforward descriptions for each of them.

Even so, many writers have found ourselves staring at that dropdown list, thinking about what we've written, and wondering what's the right freaking rating for this?  How do I know if it's appropriate for “general audiences” or if it needs to be teen and up? What's the difference between Mature and Explicit?

The best way to figure it out is often to think about your fic in comparison to mainstream media.

General is your average Disney or Dreamworks movie, Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon shows, video games like Mario, Kirby, and Pokemon.

There may be romance, but no sexual content or discussion. Scary things might happen and people might get hurt, but violence is non-graphic and usually mild. Adults may be shown drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco, and some degree of intoxication may be shown (usually played for laughs and not focused on), but hard drug use is generally not shown or discussed.  There is little to no foul language written out and what language there may be is mild, though harsher swears may be implied by narration. There are no explicit F-bombs or slurs.

Teen is more like a Marvel movie, most network television shows (things like The Office, Supernatural, or Grey's Anatomy), video games like Final Fantasy, Five Nights at Freddie's, and The Sims.

There might be some sex and sexual discussion, but nothing explicit is shown—things usually fade to black or are leftimplied. More intense danger, more severe injuries described in greater detail, and a higher level of violence may be present.  Substance use may be discussed and intoxication shown, but main characters are unlikely to be shown doing hard drugs. Some swearing and other harsh language may be present, possibly including an F-bomb or two.  In longer works, that might mean an F-bomb every few chapters.

Mature is, in American terms, an R-rated movie* like Deadpool, Fifty Shades of Grey, The Exorcist, and Schindler's List; certain shows from premium cable networks or streaming services like Game of Thrones, Shameless, Breaking Bad, and Black Sails; videogames like Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, Grand Theft Auto, and The Witcher.

Sex may be shown and it might be fairly explicit, but it's not as detailed or graphic or as much the focus of the work as it would be if it were porn. Violence, danger, and bodily harm may be significant and fairly graphic. Most drug use is fair game. Swearing and harsh language may be extensive.

Explicit is, well, extremely explicit. This is full on porn, the hardcore horror movies, and snuff films.

Sex is highly detailed and graphic. Violence and injury is highly detailed and graphic. Drug use and its effects may be highly detailed and graphic. Swearing and harsh language may be extreme, including extensive use of violent slurs.

Please note that both Mature and Explicit fics are intended for adult audiences only, but that does not mean a teenaged writer isn't going to produce fics that should be rated M or E.  Ratings should reflect the content of the fic, not the age of the author.

Strictly speaking, you don't have to choose any of these ratings; Ao3 has a “Not Rated” option, but for purposes of search results and some other functions, Not Rated fics are treated by the site as Explicit, just in case, which means they end up hidden from a significant portion of potential readers. It really is in your best interest as a writer who presumably wants people to see their stories, to select a rating. It helps readers judge if yours is the kind of story they want right now, too.

Rating a fic is a subjective decision, there is some grey area in between each level. If you're not quite sure where your fic falls, best practice is to go with the more restrictive rating.

*(Equivalent to an Australian M15+ or R18+, Canadian 14A, 18A or 18+, UK 15 or 18, German FSK 16 or FSK 18.)

Warnings

Ao3 uses a set of standard site-wide Archive Warnings to indicate that a work contains subject matter that falls into one or more of a few categories that some readers are likely to want to avoid.  Even when posting elsewhere, it's courteous to include warnings of this sort.

These warnings are:

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Major Character Death

Rape/Non-Con

Underage

Just like with the ratings, the site provides an info-pop up that explains what each warning is for. They're really exactly what it says on the tin: detailed descriptions of violence, injury, and gore; the death of a character central to canon or tothe story being told; non-consensual sex i.e. rape; and depictions of underage sex, which the site defines as under the age of 18 for humans—Ao3 doesn't care if your local age of consent or majority is lower than that.

In addition to the four standard warnings above, the warnings section has two other choices:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings

These do not mean the same thing and cannot be used interchangeably. “No Archive Warnings Apply” means that absolutely nothing in your fic falls into any of the four standard warning categories. “Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings” means that you the author are opting out of the warning system; your fic could potentially contain things that fall into any and all of the four standard warning categories.

There's nothing wrong with selecting Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings! It may mean that some readers will avoid your fic because they're not sure it's safe for them, and you might need to use more courtesy tags than you otherwise would (we'll talk about courtesy tags later), but that's okay! Opting out of the warning system can be a way to avoid spoilers,* and is also good for when you're just not sure if what you've written deserves one of the Archive warnings. In that case, the best practice is to select either the warning it might deserve or Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, then provide additional information in other tags, the summary, or an initial author's note.

Unless you're opting out of using the warning system, select all the warnings that apply to your fic, if any of them do. So if a sixteen year old main character has consensual sex then gets killed in an accident that you've written out in excruciating detail, that fic gets three out of the four standard warnings: Underage, Major Character Death, and Graphic Depictions Of Violence.

*(Fandom etiquette generally favors thorough tagging and warning over avoiding spoilers. It doesn't ruin the experience of a story to have a general sense of what's going to happen. If it did, we wouldn't all keep reading so many “there was only one bed” fics.)

Fandom Tags

What fandom or fandoms is your fic for?  You definitely know what you wrote it for, but that doesn't mean it's obvious what to tag it as.

Sometimes, it is obvious! You watched a movie that isn't based on anything, isn't part of a series, and doesn't have any spinoffs, tie-ins or anything else based on it. You wrote a fic set entirely within the world of this movie. You put this movie as the fandom for your fic. Or maybe you read a book and wrote a fic for it, and there is a movie based on the book, but the movie is really different and you definitely didn't use anything that's only in the movie. You put the book as the fandom for your fic.

All too often, though, it's not that clear.

What if you wrote a fic for something where there's a movie based on a book, but the movie's really different, and you've used both things that are only in the movie and things that are only in the book?  In that case you either tag your fic as both the movie and the book, or see if the fandom has an “all media types” tag and use that instead of the separate tags.  If the fandom doesn't have an “all media types” tag yet, you can make one! Just type it in.

“All media types” fandom tags are also useful for cases where there are lots of inter-related series, like Star Wars; there are several tellings of the story in different media but they're interchangeable or overlap significantly, like The Witcher; or the fandom has about a zillion different versions so it's very hard, even impossible, to say which ones your fic does and doesn't fit, like Batman. Use your best judgement as to whether you need to include a more specific fandom tag such as “Batman (Movies 1989-1997)” alongside the “all media types” fandom tag, but try to avoid including very many. The point of the “all media types” tag is to let you leave off the specific tags for every version.

In a situation where one piece of media has a spinoff, maybe several spinoffs, and you wrote a fic that includes things from more than one of them, you might want use the central work's “& related fandoms” tag. For example, the “Doctor Who & Related Fandoms” tag gets used for fics that include things from a combination of any era of Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

And don't worry, from the reader-side of the site the broadest fandom tags are prioritized. The results page for an “all media types” or “& related fandoms” search includes works tagged with the more specific sub-tags for that fandom, the browse-by-fandom pages show the broadest tag for each fandom included, and putting a fandom into the search bar presumes the broadest tag for that fandom.  A search for “Star Wars - All Media Types” will pull up work that only has a subtag for that fandom, like “The Mandalorian (TV).” You don't have to put every specific fandom subtag for people to find your fic.

If you wrote a fic for something that's an adaptation of an older work—especially an older work that's been adapted a lot, like Sherlock Holmes or The Three Musketeers—it can be hard to know how you should tag it. The best choice is to put the adaptation as the fandom, for instance “Sherlock (TV),” then, if you're also using aspects of the older source work that aren't in the adaptation, also put a broad fandom tag such as “Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms.” Do not tag it as being fic for the source work—in our Sherlock example that would be tagging it “Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle”—unless you are crossing over the source work and the adaptation. Otherwise, the specific fandom subtag for the source work ends up clogged with fic for the adaptation, which really is a different thing.

By the same token, fic for the source work shouldn't be tagged as being for the adaptation, or the adaptation's subtag will get clogged.

The same principle applies to fandoms that have been rebooted. Don't tag fic for the reboot as being for the original, or fic for the original as being for the reboot. Don't tag a fic as being for both unless the reboot and original are actually interacting. Use an “& related fandoms” tag for the original if your fic for the reboot includes some aspects of the original that weren't carried over but you haven't quite written a crossover between the two. Good examples of these situations can be seen with “Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)” vs. “Star Trek: The Original Series,” and “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)” vs. “She-Ra: Princess Of Power (1985).”

Usually, this kind of mistagging as a related fandom happens when someone writes a fic for something that is or has a reboot, spinoff, or adaptation, but they're only familiar with one of the related pieces of media, and they mistakenly presume the fandoms are the same or interchangeable because they just don't know the difference.  It's an honest mistake and it doesn't make you a bad or fake fan to not know, but it can be frustrating for readers who want fic for one thing and find the fandom tag full of fic for something else.

In order to avoid those kinds of issues, best practice is to assume fandoms are not interchangeable no matter how closely related they are, and to default to using a tag pair of the most-specific-possible sub-fandom tag + the broadest possible fandom tag when posting a fic you're not entirely sure about, for instance “Star Trek” and “Star Trek: Enterprise.”

The Marvel megafandom has its own particular tagging hell going on. Really digging into and trying to make sense of that entire situation would require its own guide, but we can go through some general tips.

There is a general “Marvel” fandom tag and tags for both “The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom” and “The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types.” Most of us who write Marvel fic are working with a cherry picked combination of canons from the MCU, various comics runs, both timelines of X-Men movies, and possibly several decades worth of cartoons. That's what these tags are for.

If your cherry picked Marvel fic is more X-Men than Avengers, go for the “X-Men - All Media Types” tag.

If you are primarily working with MCU canon, use the MCU specific tags rather than “all media types” and add specific tags for individual comics runs—like Earth 616 or the Fraction Hawkeye comics—if you know you're lifting particular details from the comics.  If you're just filling in gaps in MCU canon with things that are nebulously “from the comics” don't worry about tagging for that, it's accepted standard practice in the fandom at this point, use a broader tag along with your MCU-specific tag if you want to.

Same general idea for primarily movie-verse X-Men fics. Use the movie-specific tags.

If your fic mostly draws from the comics, use the comics tags. If you're focusing on an individual run, show, or movie series rather than an ensemble or large swath of the megafranchise, tag for that and leave off the broader fandom tags.

Try your best to minimize the number of fandom tags on your Marvel work. Ideally, you can get it down to two or three. Even paring it down as much as you can you might still end up with about five.  If you're in the double digits, take another look to see if all the fandom tags you've included are really necessary, or if some of them are redundant or only there to represent characters who are in the fic but that the fic doesn't focus on. Many readers tend to search Marvel fics by character or pairing tags, it's more important that you're thorough there. For the fandom tags it's more important that you're clear.

If you write real person fiction, you need to tag it as an RPF fandom. Fic about actors who are in a show together does not belong on the fandom tag for that show. There are separate RPF fandom tags for most shows and film franchises. Much like the adaptation/source and reboot/original situations discussed earlier, a fic should really only be tagged with both a franchise's RPF tag and its main tag if something happens like the actors—or director or writer!—falling into the fictional world or meeting their characters.

Of course, not all RPF is about actors. Most sports have RPF tags, there are RPF tags for politics from around the world and for various historical settings, the fandom tags for bands are generally presumed to be RPF tags, and there is a general Real Person Fiction tag.

In order to simplify things for readers, it's best practice to use the general Real Person Fiction tag in addition to your fandom-specific tag. You may even want to put “RPF” as a courtesy tag in the Additional Tags section, too. This is because Ao3 isn't currently set up to recognize RPF as the special flavor of fic that it is in the same way that the site recognizes crossovers as special, so it can be very difficult to either seek out or avoid RPF since it's scattered across hundreds of different fandom tags.

On the subject of crossovers—they can make fandom tagging even more daunting. Even for a crossover with lots of fandoms involved, though, you just have to follow the same guidelines as to tag a single-fandom work for each fandom in the crossover. The tricky part is figuring out if what you wrote is really a crossover, or just an AU informed by another fandom—we'll talk about that later.

There are some cases where it's really hard to figure out what fandom something belongs to, like if you wrote a fanfic of someone else's fanfic, theirs is an AU and yours is about their OC, not any of the characters from canon. What do you do?! Well, you do not tag it as being a fanfic for the same thing theirs was. Put the title of their fic (or name of their series) as the fandom for your fic, attributed to their Ao3 handle just like any other fandom is attributed to its author. Explain the situation in either the summary or the initial author's note. Also, ask the author's permission before posting something like this.

What if you wrote a story about your totally original D&D character? The fandom is still D&D, you want the “Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)” tag.

What if there's not a fandom tag on the Archive yet for what you wrote? Not a problem! You can type in a new one if you're the first person to post something for a particular fandom. Do make sure, though, that the fandom isn't just listed by a different name than you expect. Many works that aren't originally in English—including anime—are listed by their original language title or a direct translation first, and sometimes a franchise or series's official name might not be what you personally call it, for instance many people think of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series as The Golden Compass series, so it's best to double check.

What if you wrote an entirely new original story that's not based on anything?  Excellent job, that takes a lot of work, but that probably doesn't belong on Ao3!  The Archive is primarily meant as a repository for fannish content, but in a few particular circumstances things we'd consider Original Work may be appropriate content for the Archive as well. Double check the Archive's Terms of Service FAQ and gauge if what you wrote falls under the scope of what is allowed. If what you wrote really doesn't fit here, post it somewhere else or try to get it published if you feel like giving it a shot.

Category

What Ao3 means by category is “does this fic focus on sex or romance, and if so what combination of genders are involved in that sex or romance?”

The category options are:

F/F

F/M

Gen

M/M

Multi

Other

The F/F, F/M, and M/M categories are for stories focused on pairings of two women, a woman and a man, and two men, respectively.  These refer to sexual and/or romantic pairings.

The Other category is for stories focused on (sexual and/or romantic) pairings where one or both partners are not strictly male or female, such as nonbinary individuals, people from cultures with gender systems that don't match to the Western man-woman system, and nonhuman characters for whom biological sex works differently or is nonexistent, including aliens, robots, and inanimate objects or abstract concepts. There are some problems with treating nonbinary humans, eldritch tentacle monsters, sexless androids, and wayward container ships as all the same category, but it's the system we currently have to work with. Use Additional Tags to clarify the situation.

Multi is for stories in which several (sexual and/or romantic) relationships are focused on or which focus on relationships with multiple partners, including cases of polyamory, serial monogamy, strings of hookups with different people, and orgies.  A fic will also show as “Multi” if you, the author, have selected more than one category for the fic, even if none of those are the Multi category. Realistically, the Archive needs separate “Multiple Categories” and “Poly” options, but for now we have to work with this system in which the two are combined.  Use Additional Tags to clarify the situation.

Gen is for stories that do not contain or are not focused on sex or romance. Romance may be present in a gen fic but it's going to be in the background.  While rare, there is such a thing as a sexually explicit gen fic—solo masturbation which does not feature fantasizing about another character is explicit gen fic; a doctor character seeing a series of patients with sex-related medical needs following an orgy may qualify if the orgy is not shown and the doctor is being strictly professional—but such fic needs to be rated, otherwise tagged, and explained carefully in the summary and/or author's note.

Much like the warnings section, category is a “select all that apply” situation. Use your best judgement. For a fic about a polyamorous relationship among a group of women, it's entirely appropriate to tag it as both F/F and Multi.  A poly fic with a combination of men and women in the relationship could be shown as both M/M and F/M, Multi, or all three. A fic that focuses equally on one brother and his husband and the other brother and his wife should be tagged both M/M and F/M, and could be tagged as Multi but you might decided not to just to be clear that there's no polyamory going on. If you wrote a fic about two characters who are both men in canon, but you wrote one of them as nonbinary, you could tag it M/M, Other, or both depending on what you feel is representative and respectful.

When dealing with trans characters, whether they're trans in canon or you're writing them as such, the category selection should match the character's gender.  If there's a character who is a cis woman in canon, but who you're writing as a trans man, you categorize the fic based on his being a man. If there's a character who is a cis man in canon, but whom you're writing as a trans man, he is still a man and the fic should be categorized accordingly. When dealing with nonbinary characters the fic should really be classed as Other though, by convention, fics about characters who are not nonbinary in canon may be classed based on the character's canon gender as well or instead. When dealing with gender swapped characters—i.e. a canonically cis male superhero who you're writing as a cis woman—class the fic using the gender you wrote her with, not the gender he is in canon.

Most of the time, gen fics should not be categorized jointly with anything else because a fic should only be categorized based on the ships it focuses on, and a gen fic should not be focusing on a ship in the first place.*

*(One of the few circumstances in which it might make sense to class a fic as both gen and something else is when writing about Queerplatonic Relationships, but that is a judgement call and depends on the fic.)

Relationship Tags

The thing about relationship tagging that people most frequently misunderstand or just don't know is the difference between “Character A/Character B” and “Character A & Character B.”

Use a “/” for romantic or sexual relationships, such as spouses, people who are dating, hookups, and friends with benefits. Use “&” for platonic or familial relationships, such as friends, siblings, parents with their kids, coworkers, and deeply connected mortal enemies who are not tragically in love.

This is where we get the phrase “slash fic.” Originally, that meant any fic focused on a romantic paring, but since so much of the romantic fic being produced was about pairs of men, “slash fic” came to mean same-sex pairings, especially male same-sex pairings. Back in earlier days of fandom, pre-Ao3 and even pre-internet, there was a convention that when writing out a different-sex pairing, you did so in man/woman order, while same-sex pairings were done top/bottom. Some authors, especially those who have been in the fic community a long time, may still do this, but the convention has not been in consistent, active use for many years, so you don't have to worry about putting the names in the “correct” order. Part of why that died out is we, as a community, have gotten less strict and more nuanced in our understandings of sex and relationships, we're writing non-penetrative sex more than we used to, and we're writing multi-partner relationships and sex more than we used to, so strictly delineating “tops” and “bottoms” has gotten less important and less useful.

The convention currently in use on Ao3 is that the names go in alphabetical order for both “/” and “&” relationships. In most cases, the Archive uses the character's full name instead of a nickname or just a given name, like James "Bucky" Barnes instead of just Bucky or James. We'll talk more about conventions for how to input character names in the Characters section. The Archive will give you suggestions as you type—if one of them fits what you mean but is slightly different from how you were typing it, for instance it's in a different order, please use the tag suggested! Consistency in tags across users helps the site work more smoothly for everybody.

This is really not the place for ship nicknames like Puckleberry, Wolfstar, or Ineffable Wives. Use the characters' names.

Now that you know how to format the relationship tag to say what you mean, you have to figure out what relationships in your fic to tag for.

The answer is you tag the relationships that are important to the story you're telling, the ones you spend time and attention following, building up, and maybe even breaking down. Tagging for a ship is not a promise of a happy ending for that pair; you don't have to limit yourself to tagging only the end-game ships if you're telling a story that's more complicated than “they get together and live happily ever after.” That said, you should generally list the main ship—the one you focus on the most—first on the list, and that will usually be the end-game ship. You should also use Additional Tags, the summary, and author's notes to make it clear to readers if your fic does not end happily for a ship you've tagged. Otherwise readers will assume that a fic tagged as being about a ship will end well for that ship, because that's what usually happens, and they'll end up disappointed and hurt, possibly feeling tricked or lied to, when your fic doesn't end well for that ship

You don't have to, and honestly shouldn't, tag for every single relationship that shows up in your fic at all. A character's brief side fling mentioned in passing, or a relationship between two background characters should not be listed under the Relationship tag section. You can list them in the format “minor Character A/Character C” or “Character C/Character D – mentions of” in the Additional Tags section if you want to, or just tag “Minor or Background Relationship(s)” under either the Relationship tag section or in the Additional Tags section.

There are two main reasons to not tag all those minor relationships. The first is to streamline your tags, which makes them clearer and more readable, and therefore more useful. The second reason is because certain ships are far more common as minor or background relationships than as the focus of a work, so tagging all your non-focus focus ships leads to the tags for these less popular ships getting clogged with stories they appear in, but that are not about them. That is, of course, very frustrating for readers who really want to read stories that focus on these ships.

If your fic contains a major relationship between a canon character and an OC, reader-insert, or self-insert, tag it as such. The archive already has /Original Character, /Reader, /You, and /Me tags for most characters in most fandoms. If such a relationship tag isn't already in use, type it in yourself. There are OC/OC tags, too, some of which specify gender, some of which do not.  All the relationship tags that include OCs stack the gender-specific versions of the tags under the nongendered ones. Use these tags as appropriate.

For group relationships, both polycules and multi-person friendships, you “/” or “&” all the names involved in alphabetical order, so Alex/Max/Sam are dating while Chris & Jamie & Tori are best friends. For a poly situation where not everyone is dating each other you should tag it something like “Alex/Max, Alex/Sam” because Alex is dating both Max and Sam, but Max and Sam are not romantically or sexually involved with each other. Use your judgement as to whether you still want to include the Alex/Max/Sam trio tag, and whether you should also use a “Sam & Max” friendship tag.

Generally, romantic “/” type relationships are emphasized over “&” type relationships in fic. It is more important that you tag your “/”s thoroughly and accurately than that you tag your “&”s at all. This is because readers are far more likely to either be looking for or be squicked by particular “/” relationships than they are “&” relationships. You can tag the same pair of characters as both / and & if both their romance and their friendship is important to the story, but a lot of people see this as redundant. If you're writing incest fic, use the / tag for the pair not the & tag and put a courtesy tag for “incest” in the Additional Tags section; this is how readers who do not want to see incestuous relationships avoid that material.

Queerplatonic Relationships, Ambiguous Relationships, Pre-Slash, and “Slash If You Squint” are all frequently listed with both the “/” and “&” forms of the pairing; use your best judgement as to whether one or the other or both is most appropriate for what you've written and clarify the nature of the relationship in your Additional Tags.

Overall, list your “/” tags first, then your “&” tags.

Character Tags

Tagging your characters is a lot like tagging your relationships. Who is your fic about? That's who you put in your character tags.

You don't have to and really should not tag every single background character who shows up for just a moment in the story, for pretty much the same reasons you shouldn't tag background relationships.  We don't want to clog less commonly focused on characters' tags with stories they don't feature prominently in.

You do need to tag the characters included in your Relationship tags.

A character study type of fic might only have one character you need to tag for. Romantic one shots frequently only have two. Longfics and fics with big ensemble casts can easily end up with a dozen characters or more who really do deserve to be tagged for.

Put them in order of importance. This doesn't have to be strict hierarchal ranking, you can just arrange them into groups of “main characters,” “major supporting characters,” and “minor supporting characters.” Nobody less than a minor supporting character should be tagged. Even minor supporting characters show up for more than one line.

If everyone in the fic is genuinely at the same level of importance (which does happen, especially with small cast fics), then order doesn't really matter. You can arrange them by order of appearance or alphabetically by name if you want to be particularly neat about it.

Do tag your OCs! Some people love reading about OCs and want to be able to find them; some people can't stand OCs and want to avoid them at all costs; most people are fine with OCs sometimes, but might have to be in the mood for an OC-centric story or only be comfortable with OCs in certain contexts. Regardless, though, Character tags are here to tell readers who the story is about, and that includes new faces. Original Characters are characters and if they're important to the story, they deserve to be tagged for just like canon characters do.

There are tags for “Original Character(s),” “Original Male Character(s),” and “Original Female Character(s).” Use these tags!  If you have OCs you're going to be using frequently in different stories, type up a character tag in the form “[OC's Name] – Original Character” and use that in addition to the generic OC tags.

Also tag “Reader,” “You,” or “Me” as a character if you've written a reader- or self-insert.

You can use the “Minor Characters” tag to wrap up everybody, both OC and canon, who doesn't warrant their own character tag. Remember, though, that this tag is also used to refer to minor canon characters who may not have their own official names.

Just like when tagging for relationships, the convention when tagging for characters is to use their full name. The suggestions the Archive gives you as you type will help you use the established way of referring to a given character.

Characters who go by more than one name usually have their two most used names listed together as one tag with the two names separated by a vertical bar like “Andy | Andromache of Scythia.” This also gets used sometimes for characters who have different names in an adaptation than in the source text, or a different name in the English-language localization of a work than in the original language. For character names from both real-world and fictional languages and cultures that put family or surname before the given name—like the real Japanese name Takeuchi Naoko or the made up Bajoran name Kira Nerys—that order is used when tagging, even if you wrote your fic putting the given name first.

Some characters' tags include the fandom they're from in parentheses after their name like “Connor (Detroit: Become Human).” This is mostly characters with ordinary given names like Connor and no canon surname, characters who have the same full name as a character in another fandom, such as Billy Flynn the lawyer from the musical Chicago and Billy Flynn the serial killer played by Tim Curry in Criminal Minds, and characters based on mythological, religious, or historical figures or named for common concepts such as Lucifer, Loki, Amethyst, Death, and Zero that make appearances in multiple fandoms.

Additional Tags

Additional Tags is one of the most complicated, and often the longest, section of metatext we find ourselves providing when we post fic. It's also the one that gives our readers the greatest volume of information.

That, of course, is what makes it so hard for us to do well.

It can help to break down Additional Tags into three main functions of tag: courtesy tags, descriptive tags, and personal tags.

Courtesy tags serve as extensions of the rating and warning systems. They can help clarify the rating, provide more information about the Archive Warnings you've used or chosen not to use, and give additional warnings to tell readers there are things in this fic that may be distasteful, upsetting, or triggering but that the Archive doesn't have a standard warning for.

Descriptive tags give the reader information about who's in this fic, what kind of things happen, what tropes are in play, and what the vibe is, as well as practical information about things like format and tense.

Personal tags tell the readers things about us, the author, our process, our relationship to our fic, and our thoughts at the time of posting.

It doesn't really matter what order you put these tags in, but it is best practice to try to clump them: courtesy tags all together so it's harder for a reader to miss an important one, ship-related info tags together, character-related info tags together, etc.

There are tons and tons of established tags on Ao3, and while it's totally fine, fun, and often necessary to make up your own tags, it's also important to use established tags that fit your fic.  For one thing, using established tags makes life easier for the tag wranglers behind the scenes. Using a new tag you just made up that means the same thing as an established tag makes more work for the tag wranglers. We like the tag wranglers, they're all volunteers, and they're largely responsible for the search and sorting features being functional. Be kind to the tag wranglers.

For basically the same reasons, using established tags makes it easier for readers to find your fic. If a reader either searches by a tag or uses filters on another search to “Include” that tag, and you didn't use that tag, your fic will not show up for them even if what you wrote is exactly what they're looking for.  Established tags can be searched by exactly the same way as you search by fandom or pairing, your off the cuff tags cannot.

Let's talk about some well-known established tags and common tag types, divvied up by main function.

Courtesy

A lot of courtesy tags are specific warnings like “Dubious Consent,” “Incest,” “Drug Use,” “Extremely Underage,” “Toxic Relationship,” and “Abuse.” Many of these have even more specific versions such as “Recreational Drug Use” and “Nonconsensual Drug Use,” or “Mildly Dubious Consent” and “Extremely Dubious Consent.”

Giving details about what, if any, drugs are used or mentioned, specifying what kinds of violence or bodily harm are discussed or depicted, details about age differences or power-imbalanced relationships between characters who date or have sex, discussion or depictions of suicide, severe or terminal illness, or mental health struggles is useful. It helps give readers a clear sense of what they'll encounter in your fic and decide if they're up for it.

One the most useful courtesy warning tags is “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” which basically means “there are things in this fic which are really screwed up and may be disturbing, read at your own risk, steer clear if you're not sure.” This tag—like all courtesy warnings, really—is a show of good faith, by using it you are being a responsible, and thoughtful member of the fanfic community by giving readers the power and necessary information to make their own informed decisions about what they are and are not comfortable reading.

Saying to “Heed the tags” is quite self-explanatory and, if used, should be the last or second to last tag so it's easy to spot.  Remember, though, that “Heed the tags” isn't useful if your tags aren't thorough and clear.

“Additional Warnings In Author's Note” is one of only things that should ever go after “Heed the tags.”  If you use this, your additional warnings need to go in the author's note at the very beginning of the fic, not the one at the end of the first chapter.  If your additional warnings write up is going to be very long because it's highly detailed, then it can go at the bottom of the chapter with a note at the beginning indicating that the warnings are at the bottom. Some authors give an abbreviated or vague set of warnings in the initial note, then longer, highly detailed, spoilery warnings in the end note. It's best to make it as simple and straightforward as possible for readers to access warnings.

Tagging with “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat,” “Heed the tags,” or “Additional Warnings In Author's Note” is not a substitute for thorough and appropriate courtesy tagging. These are extra reminders to readers to look closely at the other warnings you've given.

While most courtesy tags are warnings, some are assurances like “No Lesbians Die” or “It's Not As Bad As It Sounds.”  A fic tagged for rape or dub-con may get a tag assuring that the consent issues are not between the characters in the main ship; or a fic with a premise that sounds likely to involve lack of consent but actually doesn't may get a tag that it's “NOT rape/non-con.” A tag like “Animal Death” may be immediately followed by a freeform tag assuring that the animal that dies is not the protagonist's beloved horse.

Descriptive

There are a few general kinds of descriptive tags including character-related, ship-related, temporal, relation-to-canon, trope-related, smut details, and technical specifications.

Many character- and ship-related tags simply expand on the Character and Relationship tags we've already talked about.  This is usually the place to specify details about OCs and inserts, such as how a reader-insert is gendered.

When it comes to character-related tags, one of the most common types in use on Ao3 and in fandom at large is the bang-path. This is things like werewolf!Alex, trans!Max, top!Sam, kid!Jamie, and captain!Tori. Basically, a bang-path is a way of specifying a version of a character. We've been using this format for decades; it comes from the very first email systems used by universities in the earliest days of internet before the World Wide Web existed. It's especially useful for quickly and concisely explaining the roles of characters in an AU. Nowadays this is also one of the primary conventions for indicating who's top and who's bottom in a ship if that's information you feel the need to establish.  The other current convention for indicating top/bottom is as non-bang-path character-related tags in the form “Top [Character A], Bottom [Character B].”

Other common sorts of character tags are things like “[Character A] Needs a Hug,” “Emotionally Constipated [Character B],” and “[Character C] is a Good Dad.”

Some character-related tags don't refer to a particular character by name, but tell readers something about what kinds of characters are in the fic. Usually, this indicates the minority status of characters and may indicate whether or not that minority status is canon, as in “Nonbinary Character,” “Canon Muslim Character,” “Deaf Character,” and “Canon Disabled Character.”

Down here in the tags is the place to put ship nicknames!  This is also where to say things like “They're idiots your honor” or indicate that they're “Idiots in Love,” maybe both since “Idiots in Love” is an established searchable tag but “They're idiots your honor” isn't yet. If your fandom has catchphrases related to your ship, put that here if you want to.

If relevant, specify some things about the nature of relationships in your fic such as “Ambiguous Relationship,” “Queerplatonic Relationships,” “Polyamory,” “Friends With Benefits,” “Teacher-Student Relationship,” and so on. Not all fics need tags like these. Use your best judgement whether your current fic does.

Temporal tags indicate when your fic takes place. That can be things like “Pre-Canon” and “Post-Canon,” “Pre-War,” “Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “1996-1997 NHL season,” “Future Fic,” and so on.  These tags may be in reference to temporal landmarks in canon, in the real world, or both depending on what's appropriate.

Some temporal tags do double duty by also being tags about the fic's relationship to canon. The Pre- and Post-Canon tags are like that.

Other relation-to-canon type tags are “Canon Compliant” for fics that fit completely inside the framework of canon without changing or contradicting anything, “Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence” for fics that are compliant up to a certain point in canon, then veer off (maybe because you started writing the fic when the show was on season two but now it's at season four and you're not incorporating everything from the newer seasons, maybe a character died and you refuse to acknowledge that, maybe you just want to explore what might have happened if a particular scene had gone differently), and the various other Alternate Universe tags for everything from coffee shop AUs and updates to modern settings, to realities where everyone is a dragon or no one has their canon superpowers.

The established format for these tags is “Alternate Universe – [type],” but a few have irregular names as well, such as “Wingfic” for AUs in which characters who don't ordinarily have wings are written as having wings.

If you have written an AU, please tag clearly what it is! Make things easy on both the readers who are in the mood to read twenty royalty AUs in a row, the readers who are in the middle of finals week and the thought of their favorite characters suffering through exams in a college AU would destroy the last shred of their sanity but would enjoy watching those characters teach high school, and the readers who really just want to stick to the world of canon right now.

Admittedly, it can get a little confusing what AU tag or tags you need to describe what you've written since most of us have never had a fandom elder sit us down and explain what the AU tags mean. One common mix up is tagging things “Alternate Universe - Modern Setting” when what's meant is “Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence.”  The misunderstanding here is usually reading “Alternate Universe - Modern Setting” and thinking it means an alternate version of the canon universe that is set at the same time as the canon universe, but is different in some way. That's not how the tag is meant to be used, though.

The Modern Setting AU tag is specifically for fic set now (at approximately the same time period it was written), for media that's canonically set somewhere that is very much not the present of the real world. This can mean things set in the past (like Jane Austen), the future (like Star Trek), or a fantasy world entirely different from our own (like Lord of the Rings or Avatar: the Last Airbender). Fic for a canon that's set more or less “now” doesn't need the Modern Setting AU tag, even if the world of canon is different from our own. If you're removing those differences by putting fantasy or superhero characters in a world without magic or supersoldier serum, you might want the “Alternate Universe - No Powers” tag instead.

Some of the most fun descriptive tags are trope tags. This includes things like “Mutual Pining,” “Bed Sharing” for when your OTP gets to their hotel room to find There Was Only One Bed, “Fake Dating,” “Angst,” Fluff,” “Hurt/Comfort” and all its variants.  Readers love tropes at least as much as we love writing them and want to be able to find their favorites. Everyone also has tropes they don't like and would rather avoid. Tagging them allows your fic to be filtered in and out by what major tropes you've used.

Explicit fics, and sometimes fics with less restrictive ratings, that contain sex usually have tags indicating details about the nature of the sexual encounter(s) portrayed and what sex acts are depicted. These are descriptive tags, but they also do double duty as courtesy tags. This is very much a situation in which tags are a consent mechanism; by thoroughly and clearly tagging your smut you are giving readers the chance to knowingly opt in or out of the experience you've written.

Most of the time, it's pretty easy to do basic tagging for sex acts—you know whether what you wrote shows Vaginal Sex, Anal Sex, or Non-penetrative Sex.  You probably know the names for different kinds of Oral Sex you may have included. You might not know what to call Frottage or Intercrural Sex, though, even if you understand the concept and included the act in your fic. Sometimes there are tags with rectangle-square type relationships (all Blow Jobs are Oral Sex, but not all Oral Sex is a Blow Job) and you're not sure if you should tag for both—you probably should. Sometimes there are tags for overlapping, closely related, or very similar acts or kinks and you're not sure which to tag—that one's more of judgement call; do your best to use the tags that most closely describe what you wrote.

Tag for the kinks at play, if any, so readers can find what they're into and avoid what they're not. Tag for what genitalia characters have if it's nonobvious, including if there's Non-Human Genitalia involved. Tag your A/B/O, your Pon Farr, and your Tentacles, including whether it's Consentacles or Tentacle Rape.

Technical specification tags give information about aspects of the fic other than its narrative content.  Most things on Ao3 are prose fiction so that's assumed to be the default, so anything else needs to be specified in tags. That includes Poetry, Podfics, things in Script Format, and Art. If it is a podfic, you should tag with the approximate length in minutes (or hours). If a fic is Illustrated (it has both words and visual art) tag for that.

Tag if your fic is a crossover or fusion.  The difference, if you're not sure, is that in a crossover, two (or more) entire worlds from different media meet, whereas in a fusion, some aspects of one world, like the cast of characters, are combined with aspects of another, like the setting or magic system.

If the team of paranormal investigators from one show get in contact with the cast of aliens from another show, that's a crossover and you need to have all the media you're drawing from up in the Fandom tags. If you've given the cast of Hamlet physical manifestations of their souls in the form of animal companions like the daemons from His Dark Materials but nothing else from His Dark Materials shows up, that's a fusion, the Fandom tag should be “Hamlet - Shakespeare,” and you need the “Alternate Universe - Daemons” tag. If you've given the members of a boy band elemental magic powers like in Avatar: the Last Airbender, that can be more of a judgement call depending how much from Avatar you've incorporated into your story. If absolutely no characters or specific settings from Avatar show up, it's probably a fusion.  Either way, if the boyband exists in real life, it needs to be tagged as RPF.

Tag if your fic is a Reader-Insert or Self-Insert.

You might want to tag for whether your fic is written with POV First, Second, or Third Person, and if it's Past Tense or Present Tense (or Future Tense, though that's extremely uncommon).  For POV First Person fics that are not self-inserts, or POV Third Person fics that are written in third person limited, you may want to tag which character's POV is being shown. Almost all POV Second Person fics are reader-insert, so if you've written one that isn't, you should tag for who the “you” is.

A fic is “POV Outsider” if the character through whom the story is being conveyed is outside the situation or not familiar with the characters and context a reader would generally know from canon. The waitress who doesn't know the guy who just sat down in her diner is a monster hunter, and the guy stuck in spaceport because some hotshot captain accidentally locked down the entire space station, are both potential narrators for POV Outsider stories.

Other technical specifications can be tags for things like OCtober and Kinktober or fic bingo games.  Tagging something as a Ficlet, One Shot, or Drabble is a technical specification (we're not going to argue right now over what counts as a drabble). Tagging for genre, like Horror or Fantasy, is too.

It's also good to tag accessibility considerations like “Sreenreader Friendly,” but make sure your fic definitely meets the needs of a given kind of accessibility before tagging it.

Personal

Even among personal tags there are established tags!  Things like “I'm Sorry,” “The Author Regrets Nothing,” “The Author Regrets Everything,” and “I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping” are common ones.  Tags about us and our relationship to the fic, such as “My First Work In This Fandom,” “Author is Not Religious,” and “Trans Porn By A Trans Author,” can help readers gauge what to expect from our fic. Of course, you are not at all obligated to disclose any personal information for any reason when posting your fic.

The “I'm Bad At Tagging” tag is common, but probably overused. Tagging is hard; very few of us have a natural feel for it even with lots of practice.  It's not a completely useless tag because it can indicate to readers that you've probably missed some things you should have tagged for, so they should be extra careful; but it can also turn into a crutch, an excuse to not try, and therefore a sign to readers they can't trust your tagging job. Just do your best, and leave off the self depreciation. If you're really concerned about the quality of your tagging, consider putting in an author's note asking readers to let you know if there are any tags you should add.

You might want to let readers know your fic is “Not Beta Read” or, if you're feeling a little cheekier than that, say “No Beta We Die Like Men” or its many fandom-specific variants like the “No Beta We Die Like Robins” frequently found among Batman fics and “No beta we die like Sunset Curve” among Julie and The Phantoms fic. Don't worry, the Archive recognizes all of these as meaning “Not Beta Read.”

The Archive can be inconsistent about whether it stacks specific variants of Additional Tags under the broadest version of the tag like it does with Fandom tags, so best practice is usually to use both.  You can double check by trying to search by a variant tag (or clicking on someone else's use of the variant); if the results page says the broader or more common form of the tag, those stack.

There's no such thing as the right number of tags. Some people prefer more tags and more detail, while other people prefer fewer more streamlined tags, and different fics have different things that need to be tagged for.  There is, however, such a thing as too many tags.  A tagblock that takes up the entire screen, or more, can be unreadable, at which point they are no longer useful. Focus on the main points and don't try to tag for absolutely everything.  Use the “Additional Warnings In Author's Note” strategy if your courtesy tags are what's getting out of hand.

Tag for as much as you feel is necessary for readers to find your fic and understand what they're getting into if they decide to open it up.

A little bit of redundancy in tags is not a sin.  In fact, slight redundancy is usually preferable to vagueness. Clear communication in tags is a cardinal virtue. Remember that tags serve a purpose, they're primarily a tool for sorting and filtering, and (unlike on some other sites like tumblr) they work, so it's best to keep them informative and try to limit rambling in the tags. Ramble at length in your author's notes instead!

Titles

Picking a title can be one of the most daunting and frustrating parts of posting a fic. Sometimes we just know what to call our fics and it's a beautiful moment. Other times we stare at that little input box for what feels like an eternity.

The good news is there's really no wrong way to select a title. Titles can be long or short, poetic or straight to the point. Song lyrics, idioms, quotes from literature or from the fic itself can be good ways to go.

Single words or phrases with meanings that are representative of the fic can be great. A lot of times these are well known terms or are easy enough to figure out like Midnight or Morning Glow, but if you find yourself using something that not a lot of people know what it means, like Chiaroscuro (an art style that uses heavy shadow and strong contrast between light and dark), Kintsukuroi (the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold), or Clusivity (the grammatical term for differences in who is or isn't included in a group pronoun), you should define the term in either a subtitle, i.e. “Chiaroscuro: A Study In Contrast,” or at the beginning of the summary.

As a courtesy to other writers, especially in small fandoms, you may want to check to make sure there's not already another fic with the same title in the same fandom, but this is not required. In large fandoms, there's no point in even trying. After all, there are only so many puns to be made about the full moon and only so many verses to Hallelujah.

It may be common practice on other platforms to include information such as fandom or ship in the title of a fic, but on Ao3 nothing that is specified by tags belongs in the title unless your title happens to be the same as a tag because, for instance, you've straightforwardly titled your character study of Dean Winchester “Dean Winchester Character Study” and also responsibly tagged it as such.

Summaries

Yes, you really do need to put something down for the summary. It might only need to be a single sentence, but give the readers something to go off of.

The summary is there to serve two purposes: one, to catch the interest of potential readers, give them a taste of what's inside, and make them want to know more; and two, to give you a space to provide information or make comments that don't really fit in the tags but that you want readers to see before they open the fic.

We've already talked some about that second function. When you put an explanation of the title or clarification about tags in the summary, that's the purpose it's serving. You can also put notes to “Heed the tags” or instruct readers that there are additional warnings in the author's note here in the summary, rather than doing so in the tags.

The first function, the actual summarizing, can be very hard for some of us.  It's basically the movie trailer for your fic, butwhat are you even supposed to say?

There are two main strategies as to how to approach this: the blurb, and the excerpt. Blurbs are like the synopses you at least used to see on the backs of published books, or the “Storyline” section on an IMDb page. Writing one is a matter of telling your readers who does what, under what circumstances.

Depending on the fic, one sentence can capture the whole thing: “Sam and Alex have sex on a train.” “Tori tries to rob a bank.” “If anybody had mentioned Max's new house was haunted, Jamie wouldn't have agreed to help with the move.”

Sometimes a blurb can be a question! “What happens when you lock a nuclear engineer in a closet with a sewing kit, a tennis ball, and half a bottle of Sprite?”

Of course, plenty of blurbs are more than one sentence. Their length can vary pretty significantly depending on the type and length of fic you're working with and how much detail you're trying to convey, but it shouldn't get to be more than a few short paragraphs. You're not retelling the entire fic here.

An excerpt is a portion of the fic copied out to serve as the summary. This, too, can vary in length from a line or two to several paragraphs, but shouldn't get too long. It should not be an entire scene unless that scene happens to be uncommonly short. It's important to select a portion of the fic that both indicates the who, what, and under what circumstances of the fic and is representative of the overall tone. Excerpts that are nothing but dialogue with no indication of who's talking are almost never a good choice. Portions that are sexually explicit or extremely violent are never ever a good choice—if it deserves content warnings, it belongs inside the fic, not on the results page.

Counterintuitively, some of the best excerpts won't even look like an excerpt to the reader if they don't contain dialogue. They seem like particularly literary blurbs until the reader reaches that part in the fic and realizes they recognize a section of narration.

Some of us have very strong preferences as to whether we write blurbs or use excerpts for our summaries. Some readers have very strong preferences as to which they find useful. Ultimately, there's no accounting for taste, but there are things we can do to limit the frustration for readers who prefer summaries of the opposite kind than we prefer to write, without increasing our own frustration or work load very much. Part of that is understanding what readers dislike about each type so we know what to mitigate.

Blurbs can seem dry, academic, and overly simplified. They don't automatically give the reader a sense of your writing style the way an excerpt does. They can also seem redundant, like they're just rehashing information already given in the tags, so the reader feels like they're being denied any more information without opening the fic.

Excerpts can seem lazy, like you, the author, don't care enough to bother writing a blurb, or pushy like you're telling the reader “just read the fic; I'm not going to give you the information you need to decide if you want to read or not, I'm shoving it in front of you and you just have to read it.” That effect gets worse if your tags aren't very informative or clear about what the plot is, if the excerpt is obviously just the first few lines or paragraphs of the fic, if the except is particularly long, or, worst of all, if all three are true at once.

A lot of the potential problems with blurbs can be minimized by having fun writing them! Make it punchy, give it some character, treat it like part of the story, not just a book report. A fic for a serialized show or podcast, for instance, could have a blurb written in the style of the show's “previously on” or the podcast's intro.  Make sure the blurb gives the reader something they can't just get from the tags—like the personality of your writing, important context or characterization, or a sense of the shape of the story—but don't try to skimp on the tags to do it!

Really, the only way to minimize the potential problems with excerpts is to be very mindful in selecting them. Make sure the portion you've chosen conveys the who, what, and under what circumstances and isn't too long.  You know the story; what seems clear and obvious from the excerpt to you might not be apparent to someone who doesn't already know what happens, so you might need to ask a friend to double check you.

The absolute best way to provide a summary that works for everybody is to combine both methods. It really isn't that hard to stick a brief excerpt before your blurb, or tack a couple lines of blurb after your excerpt, but it can make a world of difference for how useful and inviting your summary is to a particular reader. The convention for summaries that use both is excerpt first, then blurb.

If you're struggling to figure out a summary, or have been in the habit of not providing one, try not to stress over it. Anything is better than nothing.  As long as you've written something for a summary, you've given the reader a little more to help them make their decision. What really isn't helpful, though, is saying “I'm bad at summaries” in your summary. It's a lot like the “I'm Bad At Tagging” tag in that it's unnecessarily self depreciating, frequently comes across as an excuse not to try, and sometimes really is just an excuse. Unlike the “I'm Bad At Tagging” tag, which has the tiny saving grace of warning readers you've probably missed something, saying you're bad at summaries has no utility at all, and may drive away a reader who thought your summary was quite good, but is uncomfortable with the negative attitude reflected by that statement. Summaries are hard. It's okay if you don't like your summary, but it's important for it to be there, and it's important to be kind to yourself about it. You're trying, that's what matters.

Author's Notes

Author's notes are the one place where we, the writers, directly address and initiate contact with our readers. We may also talk to them in the comments section, but that's different because they initiate that interaction while we reply, and comments are mostly one-on-one while in author's notes we're addressing everyone who ever reads our fic.

The very first note on a fic should contain any information, such as warnings or explanations, that a reader needs to see before they get to the body of the story, as well as anything like thanks to your beta, birthday wishes to a character, or general hellos and announcements you want readers to see before they get to the body of the story. On multi-chapter fics, notes at the beginning of chapters serve the same function for that chapter as the initial note on the fic does for the whole story, so you can do things like warn for Self-Harm on the two chapters out of thirty where it comes up, let everyone know your update schedule will be changing, or wish your readers a merry Christmas, if they celebrate it, on the chapter you posted on December 23rd but is set in mid-March.

Notes at the end of a fic or chapter are for things that don't need to be said or are not useful to a reader until after they've read the preceding content, such as translations for that handful of dialogue that's in Vulcan or Portuguese, or any parting greetings or announcements you want to give, like a thanks for reading or a reminder school is starting back so you won't be able to write as much. End notes are the best place to plug your social media to readers if you're inclined to do so, but remember that cannot include payment platforms like Patreon or Ko-fi.

As previously mentioned, warnings can go in end notes but that really should only be done when the warnings are particularly long, such that the length might cause a problem for readers who are already confident in their comfort level and would just want to scroll past the warning description. In that case, the additional warnings need to go in the note at the end of the first chapter, rather than at the end of the fic, if it's a multi-chapter fic; and you need to include an initial note telling readers that warnings/explanations of tags are at the bottom so they know to follow where the Archive tells them to see the end of the chapter/work for “more notes.”

When posting a new work, where the Preface section gives you the option to add notes “at the beginning” or “at the end” or both, if you check both boxes, it means notes at the beginning and end of the entire fic, not the beginning and end of the first chapter. For single-chapter fics this difference doesn't really matter, but for multi-chapter fics it matters a lot. In order to add notes to the beginning or end of the first chapter of a multi-chapter fic you have to first go through the entire process to post the new fic, then go in to Edit, Edit Chapter, and add the notes there.

Series and Chapters

Dealing with Series and Chapters is actually two different issues, but they're closely related and cause some of us mixups, especially when we're new to the site and its systems, so we're going to cover them together.

Series on Ao3 are for collecting up different stories that you've written that are associated with each other in some way. Chapters are for dividing up one story into parts, usually for pacing and to give yourself and your readers a chance to take breaks and breathe, rather than trying to get through the entire thing in a single marathon sitting (not that we won't still do that voluntarily, but it's nice to have rest points built in if we need them).

If your story would be one book if it was officially published, then it should be posted as a single fic—with multiple chapters if it's long or has more than one distinct part, like separate vignettes that all go together. If you later write a sequel to that fic, post it as a new fic and put them together in a series. It's exactly like chapters in a book and books in a series. Another way to think of this structure is like a TV show: different fics in the series are like different seasons of the show, with individual chapters being like episodes.

If you have several fics that all take place in the same AU but really aren't the same story those should go together as a series.  If you wrote a story about a superhero team re-cast as school teachers, then wrote another story about different characters in the same school, that's this situation.

Series are also the best way to handle things like prompt games, bingos, or Kinktober, or collect up one shots and drabbles especially if your various fills, entries, and drabbles are for more than one fandom. If you put everything for a prompt game or bingo, or all your drabbles, together as one fic with a different chapter for each story, what ends up happening is that fic gets recognized by the Archive as a crossover when it isn't, so it gets excluded from the results pages for everyone who told the filters to Exclude Crossovers even though one of the stories you wrote is exactly what they're looking for; and that fic ends up with tons and tons of wildly varying and self-contradictory tags because it's actually carrying the tags for several entirely different, possibly unrelated stories, which also means it ends up getting excluded from results pages because, for instance, one out of your thirty-one Kinktober entries is about someone's NoTP.

Dividing these kinds of things up into multiple fic in a series makes it so much easier for readers to find what of your work they actually want to read.

If you've previously posted such things as a single fic, don't worry, it's a really common misunderstanding and there is absolutely nothing stopping you from reposting them separately. You may see traffic on them go up if you do!

Parting Thoughts

Metatext is ultimately all about communication, and in this context effective communication is a matter of responsibility and balance.

Ao3 is our archive. It's designed for us, the writers, to have the freedom to write and share whatever stories we want without having to worry that we'll wake up one day and find our writing has been deleted overnight without warning.  That has happened too many times to so many in our community as other fanfic sites have died, been shut down, or caved to threats of legal action. Ao3 is dedicated to defending our legal right to create and share our stories. Part of the deal is that, in exchange for that freedom and protection, we take up the responsibility to communicate to readers what we're writing and who it's appropriate for.

We are each other's readers, and readers who don't write are still part of our community. We have a responsibility as members of this community to be respectful of others in our shared spaces.  Ao3 is a shared space. The best way we have to show each other respect is to give one another the information needed to decide if a given fic is something we want to engage with or not, and then, in turn, to not engage with fic that isn't our cup of tea. As long as our fellow writer has been clear about what their fic is, they've done their part of the job. If we decided to look at the fic despite the information given and didn't like what we found, then that's on us.

Because metatext is how we put that vital information about our fics out in the community, it's important that our metatext is clear and easy to parse. The key to that is balance. Striking the balance between putting enough tags to give a complete picture and not putting too many tags that become an unreadable wall; the balance between the urge to be thorough and tag every character and the need to be restrained so those looking for fics actually about a certain character can find them; the balance between using established tags for clarity and ease and making up our own tags for specificity and fun.

Do your best, act in good faith, remember you're communicating with other people behind those usernames and kudos, and, most importantly, have fun with your writing!

[slasher-key]

Stay With Me (Charlie Walker)

Pairing: Charlie Walker x Fem!! Reader 

Warnings: The usual curse word here and there

This is a lil enemies to lover for you. I hope you enjoy thanks for reading ❤️❤️I really appreciate it.

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I never really liked Charlie Walker. When I first moved to Woodsboro he would tease and taunt me until I broke, all so he could impress his friends. He spread a rumor about how I gave it up to him at some party once, and everyone would call me these horrible names. That was my breaking point, that was the first time I stood up for myself for once, and the first time I ever punched someone in the face. Since that day we have been at each other’s throats.

Our hatred for each other was so bad I couldn’t even go to Cinema Club, and I fucking love movies. But I already have to see him in two of my classes and lunch, so why would I want to be around him after school as well. Kirby tried to convince me to come but I couldn’t stand it. So now I just go home and watch TV alone. Since my grandma is working at the hospital all the time. I’m home alone a lot.

I am sitting in my last class of the day impatiently waiting for the bell to ring. I zone out looking at the clock when I feel a tap on my arm. I already knew who it was because he does it every day. “You coming to Cinema Club today? you know it’s the anniversary.” He says “First off why are you talking to me like we are friends? And second why would I want to celebrate a bunch of teenagers getting murdered?” I reply, a disgusted look plastered on my face “You’re so fucking weird, you know that.” I continue, packing up my things and walking out of the room as the bell rings. But as you walk out of the room you can’t help but notice the slight frown on Charlie’s face. 

On my way to the cemetery I pick up some flowers to put on my mom’s grave it is the anniversary of her death after all. My grandma was gonna come but she got called into work at the last minute so It’s just me. My mom was apart of the original Woodsboro murders. She was killed in our house alone, while my grandma took me to my doctors appointment I was only four when she died. She had me her freshman year after a ‘drunken mistake’ (as my grandma calls it) at her first high school party. She didn’t really know how to raise a child so my grandma did most of it for her, but I don’t love her any less. My grandma tells me lots of stories about her, and how she tried her best for me. I never knew my dad, so I would try to get my grandma to talk about him. But she wouldn’t let up, so after a while I gave up.  

I made it to the cemetery, and found her grave. I sat and talked to her for a little, and cleaned up her grave as well. In the middle of my sentence I pause, as I hear someone walking toward me. I look back and it’s Sidney, I stand up quick and face her. We stand in silence for a while, just staring at each other. “You look just like her.” She says breaking the silence “Yeah I get that a lot.” I reply. I sit in the spot that I was in before, and she walks over and sits next to me. I met Sidney a couple time as a kid, her and my mom were friends all through high school until you know what. I didn’t see her much after my grandma moved us out of Woodsboro, she also moved as well, so it’s been a couple years. 

“I just wish I got more time with her.” I whisper, my voice breaks, and I break down in Sid’s arms. “I know, it’s going to be okay.” She replies holding me tightly in her arms. Sid and I stay at the cemetery and just talk. Everything is going well with our conversation until I bring up my dad. “Hey Sid, do you know who my dad is? My grandma has never told me, and my mom doesn’t seem to have any pictures or anything of him or with him.” I ask, maybe this was the only way I could finally know about my dad, so I was going to try. “I don’t think that’s my place to tell you, but I will say they kept him away from you for a reason sweetheart.” she replies. After she answers she quickly changes the subject to something else. we talk for about another 15 minutes then go our separate ways. The whole drive home I can’t stop thinking about what Sid said about my dad. 

I make it back to the house and walk up to the front door. “Hey y/n, wait.” I hear from across the street I look back to see Charlie getting out of his car, and start to jog towards me. “What do you want now, Charlie?” I ask, not in the mood for his shit at the moment. “I didn’t know she was your mom y/n I’m so sorry for today, Kirby told me after I told her what you said during our last class.” He says, and for once I actually believed him and wasn’t annoyed to be around him. “It’s fine Charlie, but how didn’t you know, we have the same last name? and don’t you know everything about these murders?” I ask “I mean yeah most of it, doesn’t everyone?” He asks “Nope, not me, my grandma kept me away from this town and my mom’s murder for as long as she could.” I reply “But, you could help me with learning about it. you wanna come in?” I ask. if Charlie was going to pity me for the rest of the week why not use it to my advantage. 

“Okay so you’re grandma has never mentioned anything that can give you hints about your dad?” Charlie asks, trying to help me find out what happened to my mom and dad. “Nope she did everything in her will power to keep me away from knowing the truth, but I’m sick of her hiding things from me.” I reply “Do you guys have anything that could hold lot’s of old storage? You know an attic, a little room in the basement, a separate bedroom that no one uses, anything like that?” he asks “Yeah why?” I ask furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. “So we can see if she has any picture or anything that can give us some hints, duh idiot.” he replies “Oh fuck off, but yeah we have an attic.” I say “Have you ever been up there?” he asks “No, I didn’t know about it until recently, and I got to scared to go up there.” I reply “scaredy cat” he coughs out “Anyway, what the hell are we waiting for let’s do this fucker you want my help or not.”

We grab some flashlights from the closet and make our way up the ladder to the attic. “Well it isn’t as dusty and scary as I thought.” I saw shining my flash light around. There is a lot up here, but Charlie and I start to dig our way through. About an hour later Charlie finds a box with my mom’s name on it. We take it and go back to my room. 

I am too nervous to open it, so I make Charlie do it for me. He starts to look through the box, most of it is picture of my mom with grandma, my mom and I, and her with her friends from school. Charlie keeps digging and finds a diary with my mom’s initials written on it. He flips through the diary, and abruptly stops, a large gasp escapes him, and he quickly closes the book. “Charlie what’s wrong?” I ask, he looks at me with sympathy in his eyes. “I don’t think you should be doing this y/n.” He says, he is frozen still. I snatch the book away and start to flip through the pages. I see his name ‘Stu Macher’ I froze, the book falls out of my hand. I don’t know what to do I don’t know what to think. My body goes weak all I can do is fall to the ground and cry. Charlie runs over to me and hugs me tightly. Whispering you’re okay, and it’s going to be okay, over and over again.

After a while of me crying in his arms. Charlie and I are sitting on my bed in silence. “It’s getting pretty late maybe you should go.” I say, my voice horse from all the crying “I’m not going anywhere, I’m staying at least until your grandma get’s home.” he says, moving my face so I can look at him. “Thanks for staying with me Charlie.” I say hugging him once again. Charlie stayed with me that whole night, even when I confronted my grandma about not telling me who my dad was. 

Out of all the people I could’ve had there with me tonight, I never thought I would want it to be Charlie, but her I am cuddled up with him in sweet soothing silence.

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Thank you for reading 💕💕💕 Love You All

[grigori77]

REASONS TO LOVE Netflix’ The Sandman series

WARNING!!!  If you haven’t watched it (particularly if you haven’t read the graphic novels, although it’s not essential for enjoying it) there are potentially some serious spoilers coming up here, so be warned ...

...

...

Neil Gaiman basically shepherded the whole thing in, so this is VERY MUCH EXACTLY what he always intended a Sandman series to be.  Long may he remain on the show, because this is about as perfect as a TV series can get, especially an adaptation of SUCH A BELOVED PROPERTY as this ...

Tom Sturridge is PEAK casting genius.  Not only is he spectacularly spot-on with Dream’s speech and mannerisms, but he just LOOKS like the character stepped right out of the comic pages.

But I also love how, while the series IS about the Dream King himself, he’s not necessarily the main, DOMINANT character here.  Sure, in the first half of the season (essentially adapting volume one, Preludes & Nocturnes) it’s very much about his imprisonment, escape and the subsequent battle for him to regain his powers and kingdom, but EVEN HERE there are times he’s more like a supporting player in his own story, letting other characters into the spotlight, especially in the second half when the show adapts volume two (The Doll’s House), when it becomes far more about Rose Walker ...

Speaking of which, Rose is FANTASTIC.  Kyo Ra is a sweetheart and her Rose is adorable and lovely and just the purest cinnamon roll and must be protected at all costs.

Matthew the Raven.  OMG Patton Oswalt.  I knew right away he was gonna be great in this but he surapassed all my expectations as one of my very favourite characters.

The relationship between Dream and Lucienne is PERFECT.  She respects her boss immensely but is not prepared to put up with his shit for a MICROSECOND, and if that means letting him dangle to prove a point she’s gonna do it.

So what if John Constantine is genderbent?  Jernna Coleman’s always AWESOME and she just GOT the character.

Episode 6, The Sound of Her Wings.  Sweet mercy that is a PERFECT HOUR of television right there, completely flawless.  In a season that’s already pretty legendary in its faithfulness, this note-perfect transplant of Gaimain’s flawless writing is a solid gold JOY to experience.

Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death ... OH MY GOD.  My girl was brought to life with flawless perfection, I’m a happy puppy after this.

The Corinthian.  Boyd Holbrook’s another example of perfect casting here, and the rogue nightmare is a PERFECT Big Bad for this first season ...

Lucifer ... yeah, I love Tom Ellis in the show as much as anybody, but Gwendoline Christie is GOLD.  She just GOT the role, clearly.

The duel in hell is AWESOME.  Perfectly done.

Merv Pumpkinhead!  Mark Hammil ladies and gentlemen!  The man can do no wrong.

The Diner Experiment in Episode 5 gave me CHILLS.  That was as close to the perfect nightmare that scenario could have gone, but thankfully without going QUITE as far as it did in the comic.  THAT might have been a bit TOO MUCH.

While we’re there, David Thewlis’ John Burgess is a fantastically complicated and enjoyably HUMAN supervillain, and you’re never quite sure if he’s ENTIRELY WRONG, which worries me greatly.  As it should ...

Also Charles Dance once again proves he’s incapable of delivering a bad performance.

Cain and Abel are a darkly comic delight.

Stephen Fry as Gilbert!  YAY!!  Love that man in everything, he was born to play Fiddler’s Green in human form.

I loved how they got the motley collection of misfits in the Cape Kennedy B&B absolutely right.  Hal, Barbie and Ken, Chantal and Zelda, I love you all, you’re adorable.

Yay!  Martin Tenbones!  Looking forward to seeing him again when they do A Game of You in one of the later seasons.

The “Cereal” Convention.  Haliariously funny in a jet black way guaranteed to get your skin crawling too ...

Desire and Despair.  Sure, they’re only in this a little bit, but like Death I’m looking forward to seeing more of them in the future, they’re both spot-on.

The Gault and the way she protects Jed despite being a nightmare, that’s so wonderful.  I love the idea that a constructed creature can try to be something other than it was intended to be, just like the rest of us.  Gaiman is so spectacularly deep.  And then we get that beautiful payoff at the end of the season where Dream’s learned his lesson and lets her change for the better ...

This whole season is just pitch-perfect in the visual effects and the sound and the music and the design and the wayit’s shot and cut.  It’s a feast for the eyes and I’m glad Netflix were willing to spend the money to let Neil realise his vision without restraint.

Netflix, this is PERFECT.  Give us a full series, let Neil do the entire story through to the end, no matter if it takes more than your holy three seasons to do it.  This is TOO GOOD for you to NOT let him do it ...

[theultimateultimateweapon]

Kirby: Meta Knight and the Knight of Hades (Chapter 4)

Meta Knight woke up in a strange place.

(Huh…? Where am I…?)

Flowers were blooming all over. However, all the flowers were faded and scentless. It was as dim as before dawn. The sky was gray without sun or clouds.

(Am I… on earth…?)

Meta Knight remembered.

He visited the planet Magnus to regain his treasured sword, the Galaxia. Then, the moment he swung his sword up against his enemy, Beryl…

His feet collapsed and he fell into a deep hole. He realized that it was a pitfall and tried to fly, but his limbs suddenly became numb and he couldn’t move.

As his consciousness left, he couldn’t remember what happened after.

(Then, is this the bottom of the hole…? No, it seems different…)

As he thought, a voice called out to him.

“Hello? New brother?”

“...What?” Meta Knight looked around.

He saw no figure, just a light blue butterfly perching on a flower.

“Who...?”

“It’s me, silly. You’re not going crazy, I’m on the flower.”

The butterfly fluttered its wings.

Meta Knight was stunned. “The butterfly, are you the one talking?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Meta Knight tried to bring his face closer to him.

The butterfly spoke with a kind voice. “My name is Papi. Brother, what’s your name?”

“...Meta Knight.”

“That’s difficult to say. Are you okay with Meta?”

“...That is fine. Tell me, what is this place?”

“Didn’t you notice? This is Hades, the underworld.”

“Ha...des…?”

“The world after death.”

Meta Knight was shocked by Papi’s words. “After death…!? Did I die?”

“You are dying, to be precise. Meta, you’re wandering between life and death. You have to get used to this world if you’re going to die properly.”

“This isn’t funny!” Meta Knight shouted. “I want to go back. Return me to the original world!”

“It’s not so easy. Once you’re here, it’s difficult to go back.”

“...But…!”

“Well, take your time. After a while, Meta, you’ll become familiar with this world and you won’t want to go back to the original world.”

“...Don’t be silly!” Meta Knight turned his back on Papi and started walking.

Papi fluttered and followed. “Where are you going?”

“To find a way back.”

“Eh? You won’t find one. You should just get used to Hades.”

“You’re too noisy!”

Meta Knight was confused. No way could he be wandering between life and death…

Papi seemed to have a friendly personality but he was constantly talking.

“Meta, your body took a heavy blow in the original world, so now your body is dying.”

“...”

“But you haven’t died yet, so your soul is still calling for your body. Over time, your body will die and you can’t go home.”

Papi’s voice was carefree, but Meta Knight was horrified.

“How much time do I have?”

“Eh?”

“How long until I won’t be able to go home? How much time is left?”

“Um… usually three days.”

“Three days…?”

“Yeah, but in the land of Hades there is no day or night because the sun doesn’t rise.”

“Then, how do you measure the length of the day?”

“That there…” Papi fluttered and stopped at a tree growing on the side of the road.

A gray bud was attached to the tip of a thin branch.

“This is a common flower found everywhere in the underworld. They all bloom together in the day and deflate in the night.”

At that time, the gray buds began to open slowly.

Papi said, “Wow, it just bloomed. That means it’s dawn in the underworld.”

“Then, I have three flower blooms left…”

Meta Knight started walking fast.

There was too little time left. If he couldn’t find a clue within three days, then it was over like he said.

“You have three days for the body to recover in the original world. Even if it’s less than three days, if you die, you’re stuck here.”

“...”

Is Meta Knight’s body still lying at the bottom of the deep hole?

He prayed that his subordinates and Kirby would help him.

Papi spoke with carefree cheer, “If you have any questions, ask me anything. When it comes to Hades, I’m much older than you, Meta. For example, in the underworld, you have to be careful for…”

Then.

Suddenly, a big shadow struck from the sky.

“Waaa!?” Papi screamed. “G-ghost bat! You have to be careful with those! Run away, Meta!”

Meta Knight quickly drew his sword. 

A big, bat-like monster attacked.

Meta Knight jumped high and slashed the monster.

The monster screeched and ran away.

“Wow… woow… wooow…!” Papi rested on Meta Knight’s head and fluttered.

Meta Knight took a closer look at the sword he had in his hand.

It was similar to the sword he had when he fell into the hole, but with a gray blade and no shine. Perhaps it was a sword of Hades, which had no substance.

It would be enough to fight with in the underworld.

Meta Knight held his sword and asked. “There are creatures that live here?”

“No, they’re not living things. They’re residents of the underworld so they’re not alive.”

“...Well, then what was that thing?”

“I’ve just been calling it a ghost bat. I don’t know the real name, but it’s a ferocious monster. No matter where you are, one will attack you.”

Papi finally settled down and began to flutter again.

“Well, the inhabitants of Hades won’t die no matter how badly injured, because they’re already dead.”

“...Really.”

“But if you get seriously injured, you may never be able to fly again. If you see a scary monster like that ghost bat, you just have to hurry and run away…”

Papi flew around Meta Knight.

“Meta Knight is strong! I’m super impressed you beat the ghost bat!”

“...”

“It’s rude to call you Meta, isn’t it? I’ll have to address you with more respect. Hmm… how about big brother Meta?”

“...Stop it. Just Meta Knight is fine.”

“Okay, Meta Knight can be my boss, then!”

Meta Knight thought.

In order to escape from the land of the dead, he would need to know where to go. He would need a guide.

Papi was a strange butterfly, but he didn’t look like a bad guy and might be a suitable guide for him.

“If you want to work for me, then help me get back to the original world, Papi.”

“Hmm, I don’t want you to go back. I want you to stay here in Hades forever.”

“I want to go back. No, I have to go back.”

“...I guess I can’t help it. If that’s what Meta Knight wants, I’ll cooperate.”

“Thank you.”

Meta Knight once again walked down the faded flower path.

He just kept on walking and walking.

In the land of Hades, the sun does not rise, so it never gets brighter or darker. It was just as dim as before.

Gray flowers that signal the passage of time were blooming all over. Meta Knight hurried ahead, careful about the appearance of the flowers.

How long had he been walking? Suddenly, the flowers were slowly deflating.

Meta Knight stopped involuntarily and took a deep sigh.

Papi spoke, “The first day is over! Thank you for letting me help, Meta Knight. I couldn’t find any clues.”

Meta Knight did not answer and started walking again.

“Eh, are you still walking? It’s already night time. Don’t you want to rest?”

“I can’t afford it. And… there’s something strange.”

“What?”

“I’ve been walking all day, but I don’t feel weak.”

It was a funny feeling. He didn’t feel hungry or thirsty, or tired. He didn’t feel drowsy.

“That’s not unusual.” Papi laughed. “This is the underworld. Meta Knight, you and I are just souls. Because we don’t have bodies, we don’t feel any of that anymore.”

Papi’s voice was bright, but Meta Knight’s heart was quiet.

“It’s very convenient, isn’t it? It’s such a mess to eat and drink. Hades is a good place. Don’t tell me you still want to go home…”

Meta Knight didn’t say anything and finally sped up.

“Oh, Meta Knight. Are you sure you don’t want to rest? Even if you’re not tired, you should rest at night.”

“I can’t take a rest.”

“But the night trip is dangerous…” Papi was worried.

A mysterious thing passed by in front of Meta Knight.

It was another butterfly.

A butterfly, slightly larger than Papi, slowly fluttering its wings.

What caught his eye was the shade. Even the light blue color, like Papi’s which was pale, was rare to see in Hades.

Meta Knight couldn’t look away.

The bright red butterfly disappeared as if a flame.

“What was that…?” Meta Knight’s voice murmured.

However, he got no reply from his noisy, chatty guide.

“Papi?” Meta Knight looked around.

Papi was hidden behind a gray flower bud. He appeared quietly in response to the call from Meta Knight. “Did you say something?”

“There’s a red butterfly. Oh, it’s gone.”

“Oh, good…”

Papi fluttered down and perched on Meta Knight’s head.

“What’s wrong? You seem strange.”

“Uh, yeah… I was just a bit frightened, he…”

“What, that red butterfly? What’s scary about it, it was just flying.”

“That’s right…” Papi moved his wings anxiously. “But, that butterfly has a creepy legend.”

“Legend? What?”

“I’ll explain. Let’s take a break.”

Meta Knight didn’t feel like taking a break, but he was worried about Papi’s story.

Reluctantly sitting at the base of the tree, Papi began to speak in a frightened manner.

“That red butterfly is said to react to the voice of a final agony.”

“A final agony?”

“Yeah. That’s the voice someone makes when they die. It’s not normal. Only someone who is incredibly strong reacts to the screams you make when you die.”

“That’s… such an eerie legend.”

“Right?”

Papi flew around in front of Meta Knight’s face.

“He hides somewhere during the day and starts wandering around at night, so night trips are dangerous.”

“It doesn’t seem that dangerous. How does an eerie legend attack you?”

“Yeah, I don’t know. I’ve never been attacked. He seems to be able to change his appearance.”

“Change appearance?”

“Suppose a very strong warrior loses a battle and releases an agonizing scream, that butterfly is called by the scream and flies to it. They become possessed and become a knight of butterflies.”

“Knight of butterflies?” Meta Knight smiled.

But Papi kept a serious tone. “It’s not a lie. It’s a famous legend in the butterfly world!”

“The butterfly world…”

“In the world of butterflies, everyone knows of a knight born from the red butterfly and a strong warrior called Morpho Knight. That’s how strong it is!”

“Incredibly… strong…?” Meta Knight was moved.

When he heard of the knight of butterflies he first smiled, but wasn’t anymore.

Red butterflies have an ominous power. When that power attaches to a strong warrior, an unimaginably terrifying knight may be born.

“If they’re truly such a strong knight… I definitely want to fight them.”

Finally, his true goal was found.

Papi was so surprised he turned over. “EEHHH!? Are you serious!? Meta Knight, you really want to fight such a strong opponent!? You’re weird!”

“...You think so?”

“It’s strange, that’s all. Usually I’m careful not to come across dangerous opponents. That’s why the butterfly world taught me not to travel in the middle of the night. Wait… Meta Knight!”

Meta Knight stood up and started walking.

Papi fluttered in a hurry.

“Let’s rest for now! Besides that red butterfly, there are many monsters that roam at night! There will be more and more terrifying things than ghost bats!”

“Wonderful! Let’s find them!”

“Why are you so excited!? Meta Knight!”

“If you’re scared, you don’t have to come. we can split up here.”

“No, no! I’m your subordinate now! Wait, wait~!”

Papi moved his wings together and chased Meta Knight.

(Chapter 3 - Table of Contents - Chapter 5)

[lokiondisneyplus]

A review of “Journey Into Mystery,” the penultimate Loki Season One episode on Disney+, coming up just as soon as I paper cut a giant cloud to death…

Journey Into Mystery was the title of the first Marvel comic to feature either Thor or Loki. It began as an anthology series featuring monsters and aliens, but Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Larry Lieber were so smitten with their adaptation of the characters of Norse myth that the Asgardians gradually took over the whole book, which was renamed after its hammer-wielding hero(*).

(*) The early Journey Into Mystery stories treated Thor’s alter ego, disabled Dr. Donald Blake, as the “real” character, while Thor was just someone Blake could magically transform into, while retaining his memories and personality. It wasn’t even clear whether Asgard itself was meant to exist at first, until Loki turned up on Earth in an early issue, caused trouble, and Blake/Thor somehow knew exactly how to get to Asgard to drop him off. Soon, the lines between Thor and Blake began to blur, and eventually Thor became the real guy, and Blake a fiction invented by Odin to humble his arrogant son. It’s a mark of just how instantly charismatic Loki was that the entire title quickly steered towards him and the other gods.

But once upon a time, anything was possible in Journey Into Mystery, which makes it an apt moniker for an absolutely wonderful episode of Loki where the same holds true. Our title characters are trapped in the Void, a place at the end of time where the TVA’s victims are banished to be devoured by a cloud monster named Alioth. And mostly they are surrounded by the wreckage of many dead timelines. Classic Loki insists that his group’s only goal is survival, and any kind of planning and scheming is doomed to kill the Loki who tries. But this ruined, hopeless world instead feels bursting with imagination and possibility.

There are the many Loki variants we see, with President Loki, among others, joining Classic, Kid, Boastful, and Alligator Loki. There are the metric ton of Easter Eggs just waiting to be screencapped by Marvel obsessives (I discuss a few of them down below), but which still suggest a much larger and weirder MCU even if you don’t immediately scream out “Is that… THROG?!?!?” at the appropriate moment. And all of that stuff is tons of fun, to be sure. But what makes this episode — and, increasingly, this series — feel so special is the way that it explores the untapped potential of Loki himself, in his many, many variations.

This is an episode that owes more than a small stylistic and thematic debt to Lost. It’s not just that Alioth looks and sounds so much like the Smoke Monster(*), that it makes a shared Wizard of Oz reference to “the man behind the curtain” (also the title of one of the very best Lost episodes), or even that the core group of Lokis are hiding in a bunker accessible via a hatch and a ladder that’s filled with recreational equipment (in this case, bowling alley lanes). It’s also that Loki, Sylvie, their counterparts, and Mobius have all been transported to a strange place that has disturbing echoes from their own lives, that operates according to strange new rules they have to learn while fleeing danger, and their presence there allows them to reflect on the many mistakes of their past and consider whether they want to, or can, transcend them.

(*) Yes, Alioth technically predates Smokey by a decade (see the notes below for more), but his look has been tweaked a bit here to seem more like smoke than a cloud, and the sounds he makes when he roars sound a lot like Smokey’s telltale taxi cab meter clicks. Given the other Lost hat tips in the episode, I have to believe Alioth was chosen specifically to evoke Smokey.

Classic Loki is aptly named. He wears the Sixties Jack Kirby costume, and he is a far more powerful magician than either Sylvie or our Loki have allowed themselves to be. He calls our Loki’s knives worthless compared to his sorcery, which feels like the show acknowledging that the movies depowered Loki a fair amount to make him seem cooler. But if Classic Loki can conjure up illusions bigger and more potent than his younger peers, he is a fundamentally weak and defeated man, convinced, like the others, that the only way to win the game into which he was born is not to play. “We cannot change,” he insists. “We’re broken. Every version of ourselves. Forever.” It is not only his sentiment — Kid Loki adds that any Loki who tries to improve inevitably winds up in the Void for their troubles — but it seems to have weighed on him longer and harder than most.

But Classic Loki takes inspiration from Loki and Sylvie to stand and fight rather than turn and run, magicking up a vision of their homeland to distract Alioth at a crucial moment in Sylvie’s plan, and getting eaten for his trouble. He was wrong: Lokis can change. (Though Kid Loki might once again argue that Classic Loki’s death is more evidence that the universe has no interest in any of them doing so.) And both Loki and Sylvie have been changing throughout their time together. Like most Lokis, they seem cursed to a life of loneliness. Sylvie learned as a child that a higher power believed she should not exist, and has spent a lifetime hiding out in places where any friends she might make will soon die in an apocalypse. Our Loki’s past isn’t quite so stark, but the knowledge that his birth father abandoned him, while his adoptive father never much liked him, have left permanent scars that govern a lot of his behavior. The defining element of Classic Loki’s backstory is that he spent a long time alone on a planet, and only got busted by the TVA when he attempted to reconnect with his brother and anyone else he once knew. This is a hard existence, for all of them. And while it does not forgive them their many sins(*), it helps contextualize them, and give them the knowledge to try to be better versions of themselves.

(*) Loki at one point even acknowledges that, for him, it’s probably only been a few days since he led an alien invasion of New York that left many dead, though due to TVA shenanigans, far more time may have passed.

For that matter, Mobius is not the stainless hero he once thought of himself as. While he and Sylvie are tooling around the Void in a pizza delivery car (because of course they are), he admits that he committed a lot of sins by believing that the ends justified the means, and was wrong. He doesn’t know who he is before the TVA stole and factory rebooted him, but he knows that he wants something better for himself and the universe, and takes the stolen TemPad to open up a portal to his own workplace in hopes of tearing down the TVA once and for all. Before he goes, though, he and Loki share a hug that feels a lot more poignant than it should, given that these characters have only spent parts of four episodes of TV together. It’s a testament to Hiddleston, Wilson, Waldron, and company (Tom Kauffman wrote this week’s script) that their friendship felt so alive and important in such a short amount of time.

The same can be said for Loki and Sylvie’s relationship, however we’re choosing to define it. Though they briefly cuddle together under a blanket that Loki conjures, they move no closer to romance than they were already. If anything, Mobius’ accusations of narcissism in last week’s episode seem to have made both of them pull back a bit from where they seemed to be heading back on Lamentis. But the connection between them is real, whatever exactly it is. And their ability to take down Alioth — to tap into the magic that Classic Loki always had, and to fulfill Loki’s belief that “I think we’re stronger than we realize” — by working together is inspiring and joyful. Without all this nuanced and engaging character work, Loki would still be an entertaining ride, but it’s the marriage of wild ideas with the human element that’s made it so great.

Of course, now comes the hard part. Endings have rarely been an MCU strength, give or take something like the climax of Endgame, and the finales of the two previous Disney+ shows were easily their weakest episodes. The strange, glorious, beautiful machine that Waldron and Herron have built doesn’t seem like it’s heading for another generic hero/villain slugfest, but then, neither did WandaVision before we got exactly that. This one feels different so far, though. The command of the story, the characters, and the tone are incredibly strong right now. There is a mystery to be solved about who is in the big castle beyond the Void (another Loki makes the most narrative and thematic sense to me, but we’ll see), and a lot to be resolved about what happens to the TVA and our heroes. And maybe there’s some heavy lifting that has to be done in service to the upcoming Dr. Strange or Ant-Man films.

It’s complicated, but on a show that has handled complexity well. Though even if the finale winds up keeping things simpler, that might work. As Loki notes while discussing his initial plan to take down Alioth, “Just because it’s not complicated doesn’t mean it’s bad.” Though as Kid Loki retorts, “It also doesn’t mean it’s good.”

Please be good, Loki finale. Everything up to this point deserves that.

Some other thoughts:

* Most of this week’s most interesting material happens in the Void. But the scenes back at the TVA clarify a few things. First, Ravonna is not the mastermind of all this, and she was very much suckered in by the Time-Keeper robots. But unlike Mobius or Hunter B-15, she’s so conditioned to the mission that even knowing it’s a lie hasn’t really swayed her from her mission. She has Miss Minutes (who herself is much craftier this week) looking into files about the creation of the TVA, but for the most part comes across as someone very happy with a status quo where she gets to be special and pass judgment on the rest of the multiverse.

* Alioth first appeared in 1993’s Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective, a miniseries (written by Mobius inspiration Mark Gruenwald, and with some extremely kewl Nineties art full of shoulder pads, studded collars, and the like) involving Ravonna, Kang, and the off-brand versions of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor (aka U.S. Agent, War Machine, and Thunderstrike, the latter of whom has yet to appear in the MCU). It’s a sequel to a Nineties crossover event called Citizen Kang. And no, I still don’t buy that Kang will be the one pulling the strings here, if only because it’s really bad storytelling for the big bad of the season to have never appeared or even been mentioned prior to the finale.

* Rather than try to identify every Easter egg visible in the Void’s terrain, I’ll instead highlight three of the most interesting. Right before the Lokis arrive at the hatch, we see a helicopter with Thanos’ name on it. This is a hat tip to an infamous — and often memed — out-of-continuity story where Thanos flies this chopper while trying to steal the Cosmic Cube (aka the Tesseract) from Hellcat. (A little kid gets his hands on it instead and, of course, uses the Cube to conjure up free ice cream.) James Gunn has been agitating for years for the Thanos Copter to be in the MCU. He finally got his wish.

* The other funny one: When the camera pans down the tunnel into Kid Loki’s headquarters, we see Mjolnir buried in the ground, and right below it is a jar containing a very annoyed frog in a Thor costume. This is either Thor himself — whom Loki cursed into amphibianhood in a memorable Walt Simonson storyline — or another character named Simon Walterston (note the backwards tribute to Walt) who later assumed the tiny mantle.

* Also, in one scene you can spot Yellowjacket’s helmet littering the landscape. This might support the theory that the TVA, the Void, etc., all exist in the Quantum Realm, since that’s where the MCU version of Yellowjacket probably went when his suit shorted out and he was crushed to subatomic size. Or it might be more trolling of the fanbase from the company that had WandaVision fans convinced that Mephisto, the X-Men, and/or Reed Richards would be appearing by the season finale.

* Honestly, I would have watched an entire episode that was just Loki, Mobius, and the others arguing about whether Alligator Loki was actually a Loki, or just a gator who ended up with the crown, presumably after eating a real Loki. The suggestion that the gator might be lying — and that this actually supports, rather than undermines, the case for him being a Loki — was just delightful. And hey, if Throg exists in the MCU now, why not Alligator Loki?

* Finally, the MCU films in general are not exactly known for their visual flair, though a few directors like Taika Waititi and Ryan Coogler have been able to craft distinctive images within the franchise’s usual template. Loki, though, is so often wonderful to look at, and particularly when our heroes are stuck in strange environments like Lamentis or the Void. Director Kate Herron and the VFX team work very well together to create dynamic and weird imagery like Sylvie running from Alioth, or the chaotic Loki battle in the bowling alley. Between this show and WandaVision, it appears the Disney+ corner of the MCU has a bit more room to expand its palette. (Falcon and the Winter Soldier, much less so.)

[ask-king-bandee-and-sir-kirby]

Butterflies Lay Upon Our Heirlooms Chapter 1

I thought uploading the chapters directly to tumblr as well would be a good idea, so more people can actually read them.. Full fic is under the cut because it is long

Dreamland hasn't been the same since the loss of its king and his loyal knight. Two years ago a terrible beast of a massive portion came to dreamland while its protector was watching over other worlds, a gruesome battle broke out because of its rage.

The knight was the first to meet his end, swiftly crushed to death as he tried in vain to protect his comrades. The king survived only to the end of the terrible fight, with nothing to heal him the injuries sustained was too much to come back from and soon died in the arms of his adopted son, his dying wishes for him to keep dreamland safe in his absence as its king. It was only after then, did Kirby return home from the stars, only to find two of his closest friends, whom he had seen as fathers each, had perished before he could even try to save them.

Bandee and Kirby hung clinged onto each other for a while after that day. Not talking, but having a mutual feeling of a pain that resided deep within their hearts and would not let up. Days, weeks, months had passed. It was a terrible time, it seemed as if the sun did not shine as brightly as before. But, life goes on and Dreamland needed a king, and the universe needed its best warrior. They could not forsake their duties to mourn forever.

Two years had passed since that day, yet Bandee still remembers it like yesterday. However there is no more time for painful memories. Today was the day the star allies would all be together in one place since before the deaths of Meta Knight and Dedede. He swore that it would be the best party anyone would have in years, something positive to remember in place of the grief that had consumed them.

So Bandee got out of their bed, and got dressed. Carefully putting on their king's robes, which were way too big for the small waddle dee, their kimono and their crown. They could never look in the mirror and think this was right, because it wasn't. But nothing was right anymore. They put their beloved blue bandana over their mouth and headed out to make preparations for the party.

He had already planned everything meticulously the weeks beforehand, so he really only needed to worry about checking in with the other waddle dee's to make sure everything was perfect.

The waddle dees working in the kitchen were now taking a well deserved break, as behind them mounds of food lay deliciously on the tables behind them ready to be wheeled out into the party room. Bandee themself was never quite as food crazy as Kirby or Dedede, they could still admire the sheer amount of it needed to sustain their friends' appetites.

They gave the chiefs praise and made their way to the room in which the party would be taking place. The band (called the 'rockle dees') were setting up a stage,, they were handed a good playlist filled with songs their friends had recommended (that was heavily edited by Bandee, they did not know how anyone could like some of those songs requested).

The room was wide, big enough to hold (probably) hundreds of guests at a time- it was more like a ball room though to their knowledge there has never been one held here. This meant there'd be enough room for games and things of the sort.

As Bandee was thinking about things they could do during the party today, a jolly finger would tap their shoulder making them jump. It's alright though, the owner of said finger was Kirby after all! Always early to show and late to leave, not usually this early but he's been anticipating today since Bandee announced it.

"Kirby! You startled me!" They laughed, Kirby lifted his mask to reveal a great big smile, to emphasize excitement.

"Sorry Bandee- I just can't wait until everyone gets here- it will be SO much fun- ahhh I can't wait to see everyone again!!" He rambles on about how much he's excited, Bandee simply nodded along happily in agreement.

"I'm really excited too but the party won't start for another two hours- no this doesn't mean you can get a headstart on the food." They smirked, to which Kirby made a pouty face.

"Fineee, I won't. So what do we do while we wait for everyone to come?" Kirby asks.

"I've been checking in on the Dee's, making sure everything's in order.. We don't want a big mess happening after all!" The waddle dee was under a lot of stress lately and today was supposed to help with that. The day is still young and the party hasn't even started yet, don't be so negative Bandana! "Say Kirby, do you want to walk around the castle with me?"

Of course, Kirby takes the offer and the two begin taking a walk around the castle, it’s a nice peaceful walk that takes stress off of Bandee. They make conversation about the last planet Kirby visited, what kinds of people he met, his climactic final battle that was just childs play at this point, he goes on and on until a butterfly passes a window. Kirby is oddly silent now. Bandee wants to ask what’s wrong, but he can’t help but shake the feeling that he already knows.

Two hours passed in silence as the Waddle Dee’s set everything up, taking out all of the food while Kirby was distracted with Bandee. But soon enough the gates open and good old friends flood the castle doors, it seems like everyone who was invited came! Marx came in flying chased by Magolor, Taranza was following close behind Susie and the Mage Sisters, even Highness managed to come, Adeleine and Ribbon came in trying to avoid the chaos couple (Bandee was really excited to catch up with the two specifically, seems like years since they actually- wait). The animal friends, gooey (who now had a blade form!!), Daroach and the Squeak Squad came, Elfilin, King Fluff made it to- Bandee was going to embarrass Kirby today defiantly- and even shadow Kirby managed to come!

What a good day today would be! Kirby who stood behind him turned his cape into sparkling yellow star wings and flew to the guests, he seemed in better spirits now that everyone was here! Today would be great!

…. Is what optimistic people said. Bandee could basically smell the coming chaos and probable disaster. Keep your cool Bandana, you are the king. You got this.