#i need to get better at drawing people again so I can accurately draw Link

[dragonfollies]

I haven’t posted my drawings to tumblr in a while, so here’s a couple of sketchbook doodles of Nintendo characters from the past week

[give-soup-please]

Hello there, Jay - been a bit I think. Honesty, not sure exactly HOW long it's been but I know it's certainly been a while.

I both have a lot to say and nothing at the same time. I had notes but I kind of lost them while moving, and then also just kind of.. lost them in my brain. What do you think about the idea of time being a soup? Because honestly I think it is. Very soup-ey indeed, slipping through the cracks and just washing away down the drain. Not that I would wash a way soup - not if it's good, and a lot of soups are good (like you!) Anyways: - I know a while ago you were in the ER, I'm glad to see you're doing a bit better, that makes me happy and less violently concerned for you like I had been. It was interesting to actually have a vague back and forth with you there, but I was pretty quiet. I usually am, anyways. - I wish I could throw a bunch of money at you to write something. As you know I absolutely adore your writing, it just soothes my soul with the way you weave your words together. Maybe I'll save up while doing some commissions of my own to do that. I hope you're getting a lot of commissions though, you deserve them. - I... have become violently obsessed with Good Omens. If I didn't have two commissions I needed to finish as well as an art project I had started I would just be drawing that. They are literally rotating around in my head constantly. I don't want to include any spoilers (I'm sure you already watched it all, but just in case anyone is scrolling through or something) I practically combusted when I saw the last ten or so minutes of that episode. Do you have any theories for that? I think you can do a ... spoiler like thing... I think. Anyways, everything is fine and it all ended well... right... RIGHT???? - The new Tumblr layout is absolute garbage and I had a mild breakdown over it while trying to figure out how everything worked. It's annoying as all get out, and I THINK there's a way to fix it? I got this link from someone when asking about it - but honestly I'm a bit lost when it comes to in depth stuff like this so I can't fix it personally: Link: https://www.tumblr.com/vellichorom/725846270328127488?source=share - I'm sure there's more I want to talk about. It's like my brain is full of a lot of things but nothing really wants to be written down... It's mostly because of Good Omens, but also other things. In any case, I hope you're doing well. And of course, as I always end these things, please take care of yourself. Do something for you, eat a little snack, DRINK WATER, and most of all continue to be you in the face of everything that goes against that. You are a wonderful person. You are important. You are amazing just the way you are. Your friend, ~ May

PS: If this comes through more than once, just ignore that... Tumblr was acting funny and I had to try it again... more than once... seriously I'm sorry if this comes through like ten times

may! great to hear from you/gen

(i was worried when i hadn't heard from you in a while, ngl. happy to hear you're doing okay.)

-the thing about time being soup is pretty funny. i've heard time being described as soupy, which is fairly accurate sometimes. and i'm glad you wouldn't wash a poor innocent soup away.

-yes, i am doing much better after my ER visit. i still have to get the labs done to work out what the heck went wrong, which i've been procrastinating. (i'll make an appointment tomorrow, i swear. or monday, if it's not open over the weekend. ugh)

-you are welcome to save up! commissions are going to be permanently open, because i'm a senior in college now and i need to make money so i can get housing after i graduate. so whenever you want, say the word. i am getting a decent amount of commissions in for the time being. a few people have said that when their next paycheck comes in, they'll talk to me, so i'm glad i'll have work in the future. but yeah anyone can come in at any time and talk to me about that, i don't mind taking on work. it fills up my days in a nice way.

-i love good omens 2, and that series finale was killer in so many ways dlkfsjdlf- i do have a few theories and thoughts, but i won't share them for the time being. i will say i don't agree with the coffee theory though. doesn't feel right given gaiman's usual style of writing.

-thank you for the link! i got it fixed ASAP so i'm not bothered anymore. i do have several thoughts on what tumblr is doing with the direction of this website though.

-i am doing well. tired, but well. my apartment is fully clean now and i can see floor again. it's been a year since it's been this good. (not an exaggeration. i have bad problems with depression nests, and i'm trying to get better.)

take care of yourself too, ok?

[taki118]

Debunking the Mori “fact”

I apparently have a trigger and that is people touting facts but never saying where they heard it from and I thought I could let it go but I just keep seeing it. This time its the “fact” that Mori was the original end game for Haruhi but the creator changed it to Tamaki due to popularity. This “fact” is often used in a kind of derogatory way towards other ships at worst and a justification (as though you need one) for the ship at best. I am a fiend for development history buttttttt I could never find this “fact” though I do think I found where it may have originated from. 

In volume 1 there are bonus character sheets in the official english translation it says this (sourced from  https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdX1xvsX/ )

Which if this IS the source then I can see why no shippers link back to it. Its not very flattering. Its basically the author saying she finds your favorite character kinda boring and thought of pawning him off on Haruhi to have something for him to do. BUT there is also a LOT of ambiguity here. 

“Couple” can have a few connotations  1: It did mean end game 2: It could mean just a date like the Twins and kinda Kyoua had.  One chapter where he does something vaguely romantic with Haruhi. 3: He could have been used as a red herring love interest, where Mori dates Haruhi for a few chapters or a volume leading to her better understanding her feelings towards Tamaki. Its a trope in romance series not a super common one but it happens.  With the vagueness of it all and how its in volume 1 though I’m leaning more towards 2 or 3 especially with some interviews I’ve seen. 

But there is also this the fan translated version of the same character sheet.

Now this could also be the origin its more kind to Mori but equally as vague. Like maybe the original Japanese has a different meaning but I can’t read japanese so I can’t tell which is more accurate to the creators intent. But either way its a foot note in volume 1 which as its never touched on again, from what I’ve seen, and leads me to think it was a passing thought.

I also found this “Fact” on an article here from 2021 (which is kinda when I saw a surge in this fact) 

But again its not sourced and we all know CBR is kinda trash. But this could also be the originator. My hypotheses being the author of the article looking to fill out the list saw the character sheet and ran with it, leading to a chain of misinformation. Leading to more misinformation as I often hear in combination with this “fact” that the only reason Tamaki was endgame was cause Japanese women love blondes.....which rubs me the wrong way. It should also be noted that this article mis-genders the creator and only talks about the anime which could mean someone on the anime staff wanted Mori endgame but the series creator had no control of the anime production. 

But also theres this

At first Mori was more popular than Tamaki but as time went on he raised in popularity. Which this may also have lead people to believe in the “fact” that Mori was pushed off for Tamaki. However in volume 4 or 5 there were these little character things where the creator talked about birth dates, names of the characters and such. I highlighted the important bits

(I didnt do the Twins, Haruhi or Kyoya ones cause theres no relevant info) She mentions that she gets a lot of letters from fans of Mori and the Twins. And that Twins fans really HATE Tamaki but the creator doesnt seem to care much. She also mentions how much things change over time. This leads me to disproving the “fact” further with the creators feelings on the series in actual good sources.

In this Viz media interview in 2019 she says - That Tamaki was made first - Her favorite characters are Haruhi, Tamaki and the Twins - Her favorite relationship is Haruhi and Tamaki both romantically and platonically - Tamaki was the easiest and most fun to draw

And in this Anime News Network interview also from 2019 she is asked point blank if Tamaki was always endgame for Haruhi. She responds with a story about how her publishers werent sure about a lead like Tamaki during the early part of the series, which she was surprised by, her editor went to bat for her defending the character assuring them that he would sell. 

All this leads me to think that Tamaki was the intent from go but she purposely kept things open ended over the years of the story being developed to keep fan interest and to allow more organic storytelling.

Now these were the only interviews I could find there was this old live journal which i cant fully source that talks of an interview where she states Tamaki was the second character to be developed after Haruhi and that Mori was second to last to be made. Which also adds to my thoughts. But again there MAY be more that I don’t have access to. 

So I say this to Mori x Haruhi shippers who push this “fact” as the be all end all please do tell me where you heard this, please do try to prove me wrong, I’d love to read it. But as it stands its not a fact its a misunderstanding of a foot note thought. I also say this you don’t “Need a reason” to justify why you like a ship, HaruMori isn’t really in my taste i feel Moris need to be a caretaker would clash with Haruhi’s independent nature too much but I’ve shipped crazier with less. Just don’t use this “Fact” cause you’re just spreading misinformation and we really on a whole need to be more discerning with facts we hear. Don’t just accept it cause you want it to be true.

[septembercfawkes]

Debunking 6 Myths about Steadfast, Flat-arc Characters

Steadfast/flat-arc characters are characters who don't drastically change their worldviews over the course of the story. In contrast, a change character will do largely a 180 flip in worldview from the beginning of the story to the end of the story.

For example, in the fable of the Little Red Hen, the Little Red Hen never changes her worldview about hard work. But in A Christmas Carol, Scrooge completely changes his worldview from the beginning of the story to the end of the story.

In the writing community, there are a lot of misconceptions of the steadfast/flat-arc character (at least from my experience), which I'm going to talk about, debunk, and clarify today in this article. This information will still be useful to writers who have no interest in writing a steadfast protagonist--because nearly every successful story features a key character who is steadfast.

irst, though, we need to visit our familiar pit stop on writing terminology. The most common term for this character is the "flat-arc" character. But it is not the only term. This character has also been called the "steadfast" character, which is what Dramatica Theory calls it. While "flat-arc" is more common, I prefer "steadfast" for a few reasons:

- It conveys that the character must struggle to hold onto something (after all, one is only "steadfast" when there is opposition)

- "Flat-arc" sorta sounds like there isn't really any growth or movement, which isn't exactly accurate.

- For much of my experience in the writing world, protagonists who don't have much of an arc have been frowned upon or treated as "lesser." The term "flat-arc" reminds me of that.

This is completely preference. You may use whichever term you want. Today, I'll be switching between the two.

Now, you can have positive and negative steadfast characters. A positive one will hold onto a true worldview throughout the story, while a negative one will hold onto an inaccurate worldview. For the sake of this article, I will be focusing on the positive one, which is more common, and may do a future article that focuses more on the negative version.

Now, let's talk about some of the misunderstandings and myths about the positive steadfast character.

My (Helpful) Personal History with Steadfast, Flat-arc Characters

Despite wanting to work in the writing industry since I was seven, I entered the writing world like anyone else: naive.

I had an idea for a story I wanted to write, with a protagonist that drew inspiration from some of my all-time favorite protagonists.

What I didn't know, and what no one could explain to me, was that all these protagonists were steadfast/flat-arc characters. And that's what I wanted to write.

I took writing classes, went to conferences, read books, and tried to soak up any piece of advice anyone could give me. But for some reason, some of the information didn't seem to work into my story or apply to the favorite stories I was drawing inspiration from.

This led to a lot of questioning and challenging of "writing rules" on my part (though that was mostly internal). I was told over and over again (if not in these words) that I needed to have a change arc protagonist. It was implied, over and over again, that protagonists who didn't have change arcs were static, simple, lacking depth and dimension, and were just boring. Of course, there was always the occasional acknowledgment that 007 or Indiana Jones were successful. But I didn't want to write 007 or Indiana Jones. I still wanted to go deep into character.

Well, over the years, I unwittingly switched my protagonist from a steadfast protagonist to a change protagonist. I've only fully realized this recently when reviewing some of those favorite protagonists from years ago.

Not to be dramatic, but I feel a little cheated and let down by the writing world because of that. Even recently I went looking for resources on steadfast/flat-arc protagonists, and frankly, found very little. And of what I did find, 95% pulled from the same source material. I mean, it's great, but we are obviously lacking with this.

I tell this story, not for therapeutic reasons (okay, let's be honest, some of it is totally therapeutic!), but because I know there is someone out there who is struggling like I was. Someone who can't get their story to work because they are trying to apply change-arc advice to a flat-arc protagonist. This doesn't work. But you can't see that, because the people you are learning from (who have sincere intentions), don't fully understand or acknowledge steadfast protagonists.

For example, a writing book that has been making waves (that I looove and definitely recommend) is Story Genius by Lisa Cron. This book is amazing! And so helpful!

If you are writing a positive change protagonist.

It will not help you nail down your steadfast protagonist. Because its principles are founded on the protagonist changing.

So if you are trying to apply it to the wrong type of protagonist, you are going to get frustrated. . . . or switch your protagonist's type.

Unfortunately, I myself have been guilty of perpetuating some inaccurate advice, but only because (like most people), I didn't know better. This also tends to happen because by far the most common protagonist type is the positive change protagonist. There are lots of resources on it. There are lots of people writing it.

But this doesn't mean that the steadfast protagonist is wrong. It actually doesn't even mean that he is boring, static, or one-dimensional, nor that he doesn't grow, struggle, doubt, or change at all. He just doesn't do a direct flip in worldview. Instead, he proves his worldview true (the thematic statement).

Let's debunk some myths I've heard in the decade or so of being in the writing world.

Myth #1: Flat-arc Characters Don't Grow

The most common myth you are likely to run into, is that steadfast characters don't grow. This is inaccurate. The steadfast character doesn't drastically change her worldview. The positive steadfast protagonist has a worldview that will be proven true by the end of the story, which creates the theme. (In contrast, a negative steadfast protagonist has a worldview that will be proven untrue.)

This doesn't mean the character doesn't grow in some way.

For example, you may have a flat-arc character who becomes more competent. Maybe he learns to become a great marksman. Or maybe she learns how to navigate law school (Legally Blonde). A steadfast protagonist can gain any kind of skill, even some that are less obvious, such as learning the art of manipulation. In Moana, Moana must learn how to sail.

You may have a steadfast character who learns to become more proactive/assertive. It's not exactly unusual for a flat-arc character to not want to get involved in the main conflict in the beginning. He may be a reluctant hero. He may need to learn to not stand by but to stand up for what he believes in, by confronting the antagonist directly. In Disney's live-action Cinderella, Ella must become more assertive to fully thwart her wicked stepmother.

A steadfast character may grow in experience and wisdom. In Wonder Woman, Diana must experience and understand the real world in order to fully wield her truth against the antagonist.

A steadfast character can grow in pretty much any way that doesn't totally flip his or her worldview.

Certainly, there are flat-arc characters who don't grow at all, like 007, and that is fine, and you can write successful characters like that. But that doesn't mean that none of them grow whatsoever.

Myth #2: Steadfast Characters' Worldviews Remain Completely Static

Explained most simply, a positive steadfast character has an accurate worldview--understands the true thematic statement--from the beginning. This doesn't necessarily mean she has a perfect understanding of it.

The character's worldview may need some refining. It may not be whole or complete. Or, as mentioned, above, it may need more wisdom (discernment) behind it.

These things can only be realized with real-world experience--in other words, the tests and trials of the middle of the story.

While this concept may overlap with the prior, it's slightly different, as not every way a steadfast character grows will be linked to his or her worldview. They may be two completely separate things. But they can also go hand in hand.

For example, while Cinderella knows kindness will help her through trials (the thematic statement), her worldview needs some refining. She must realize one shouldn't let others take advantage of that kindness. She needs to stand up and be assertive with her stepmother.

In Arrival, Louise Banks knows that communication can help us understand another perspective, which enables us to avoid confrontation. However, through the story, she gains a greater, deeper, more complete understanding of that, as she learns the heptapods' language--which has the power to unit humanity and species across time.

In Wonder Woman, Diana knows from the beginning that we should fight for the world that we believe in. However, she gains more wisdom in that regard, after experiencing the gray moral complexities of humanity--does humankind deserve a better world? Only after she comes to terms with this, is she able to embrace the true thematic statement with eyes wide open.

Sure, some steadfast characters have completely static worldviews, but many of them don't.

This concept can become all the more complex when we consider secondary themes.

First, as a quick recap, the positive steadfast character has an accurate worldview--the "truth," as some like to call it--this is also the primary thematic statement. This is the truth the story is arguing. The positive steadfast character starts the story with this.

In contrast, a positive change character will start with an inaccurate worldview--the "lie," as some like to call it--this is basically the "anti-theme"--the opposing argument to the "truth." The positive change character will change to the "truth," the accurate worldview, the true thematic statement at the end.

However, many stories have more than one theme. Many stories have secondary themes.

Because of this, it's possible for the positive steadfast character to be steadfast in the primary theme, but be a change character in the secondary theme.

For example, Diana is steadfast in the primary theme, which is the argument that we should fight for the world we believe in (as opposed to the argument that we should allow humans to suffer the world they "deserve.")

However, in the secondary theme, she is a change character. The secondary theme is about whether humankind is innately black and white or whether they are innately gray. Diana begins the story believing they are innately black and white (innately good, if not for the antagonist), but learns the truth: humankind is innately gray. This is an arc of disillusionment. This feeds into the primary arc and primary theme.

I have an article on secondary themes in the works, but it's not complete yet. For now, know this:

Many stories have multiple themes. A steadfast protagonist may or may not be steadfast for every theme (or "worldview" if you prefer). But by definition, they must be steadfast for the primary theme (obviously).

Again, more on that in the future. However, this is why you may see writers argue over whether a particular character has a change or flat arc, and why the same character may get categorized differently--it depends entirely on what thematic thread the person is pulling. One may, in fact, argue Diana is a change character, because she arcs in disillusionment, while another may argue she has a flat arc, because she believes the primary thematic statement from beginning to end.

No worries if it sounds a little confusing. In short, a positive steadfast character's view may grow or shift in some way, but it never does a 180 flip in the primary arc and theme.

Myth #3: Flat-arc Characters Always Stand Firm

Just because the steadfast character has an accurate worldview and belief system (knows the "truth"), doesn't mean she never wavers or has doubts about it.

In most flat-arc protagonist stories, the character will have her beliefs tested through the conflicts of the middle. As the antagonistic force gets stronger, the character may experience doubts and powerful temptations (which may include conflicting wants). At some point, it may even seem that her worldview might be wrong. This, along with the cost of adhering to the truth, is almost always the meat of her internal journey. If you want your steadfast character to have a rich inner journey, this is where it's at.

For other steadfast protagonists, the internal journey isn't a major plotline (like 007). This means we won't see many (if any) moments of him having a worldview struggle.

Ultimately, at the end of the story, the steadfast protagonist will hold onto her accurate belief system. This is what makes her steadfast. But that doesn't necessarily mean she never second guesses it.

Myth #4: Steadfast Characters are Simple and One-dimensional

While a steadfast character is probably more likely to be simple, they aren't necessarily. Complexity isn't strictly tied to character arc.

What makes something complex is dichotomy. It's boundaries. It's layers of identity. I talk about this in my free booklet "Core Principles of Crafting Protagonists." But I'll review briefly.

Complex characters are most easily created when we smash together seeming contradictions.

- An outlaw who is law-abiding

- A soldier who refuses to hurt anyone

- A vampire who doesn’t like drinking blood

. . . for example.

Once you’ve smashed together contrasting features within the character, the gray area can be explored to find complexity. Why would an outlaw be law-abiding? How can someone be a vampire and not like blood? (These are more obvious examples, but they prove the point.)

Complexity can also be created by considering the character's personal boundaries--what it takes for him to consider doing something he wouldn't ordinarily do. We all have thresholds when it comes to our values. For example, I may have a character who proclaims that he never lies. But when the pressure gets high, I may show him lying to save the life of a loved one. This will reveal that he cares more about his loved one's life than about always being honest. In other words, he's not as simple as he first appeared.

While within the character arc, a steadfast protagonist will largely adhere to the accurate worldview, even when the pressure kicks up, this doesn't necessarily mean she can't find herself being pressured into unusual behaviors outside of it. For example, just because Job will stick to his faith in God regardless of what is inflicted upon him, doesn't mean he won't be pushed to complaining when the trials get intense. Difficulties reveal deeper character.

Finally, a character can be made complex by differentiating layers of identity. Identity gets down to how someone is defined, and no one is defined the same way from all angles. For example, who the character thinks he is, and who he actually is, will likely be different in some way. Who he believes he is and who society believes he is may be, in fact, opposite concepts.

While these elements can feed into character arcs--or rather, The Character Arc--they don't necessarily have to. There is no reason a steadfast character can't have some complexity.

Myth #5: Flat-arc Characters don't have Ghosts/Wounds

This isn't a myth I've heard very much, but I do feel like there are some misconceptions when it comes to the positive steadfast character and ghosts/wounds.

A "ghost" is a past, significant, often traumatic event that motivates the character to adopt an inaccurate worldview (the "anti-theme" or the "lie" or the "misbelief"--depending on your preferred terminology). In the industry, this is also sometimes called a "wound." You can learn all about ghosts/wounds in my article, "Giving Your Protagonist a Ghost."

But in a positive steadfast protagonist, this is often flipped just a bit. The ghost is often a past, significant, sometimes traumatic event that motivates the character to adopt the accurate worldview (the "theme" or the "truth" if you prefer).

For example, Cinderella's mother, while on her deathbed, tells Cinderella to always be kind. This motivates Cinderella to do just that.

Of course, not every character will have a ghost addressed in the story.

For the positive steadfast protagonist, the ghost may be largely resolved.

But not always. They may not have complete closure and peace. And it's possible they are still traumatized by the event.

Sometimes adhering to what is true can be nearly as haunting as having regrets. It's just that the haunting will come from either the cost of the truth, or, a lack of power--a lack of control--during the ghost. Generally speaking anyway.

In The X-Files, Fox Mulder, in the overall story and theme, is a positive steadfast character. The ongoing theme is an argument of belief vs. disbelief. (The motifs, "I want to believe" and "The truth is out there" speak to that.) However, Mulder has an unresolved, traumatizing ghost: his little sister was abducted by aliens.

This event cements him to the thematic truth of belief and motivates him to investigate anything unnatural. But this happened at the cost of his sister.

Sometimes the trauma comes from not being able to do anything, just as Mulder was powerless to stop the abduction.

Other times it may come from not being able to stop a loved one from choosing the inaccurate worldview--the "lie," "anti-theme," or "misbelief." The steadfast character may be haunted by the outcome of someone else choosing the lie.

So, just because you are writing a steadfast character, doesn't mean she can't have a traumatizing past.

Myth #6: Steadfast Characters are Boring

I have sometimes heard writing instructors discourage students from creating steadfast characters because they are "static and uninteresting." By now, you probably can see for yourself that this doesn't check out.

In reality, any kind of character becomes boring when poorly written. Sure, steadfast characters may need to be handled a little differently (they can easily become annoying when mishandled, for example), but this doesn't mean audiences aren't invested in them. A steadfast character can be just as exciting, meaningful, inspiring, and complex as most change characters.

I mean, I don't think most of us would call Diana, Fox Mulder, Moana, or Louise Banks boring.

In the future, I'll be breaking down this largely misunderstood character type some more. I mean . . . some of us have got to do more about the lack of resources out there, right? I don't want another person who wants to write a steadfast protagonist to be "tricked" into switching it to a change one. If you want to write a steadfast protagonist, this is me giving you permission.

[rafeblogcabpa]

📢 Quick PSA on my art/reposting

═════════•°•  •°•═════════ Hey everyone, I didn’t think I would actually have to do this but here I am. I would like to just clear a few things up here and just move on because dealing with this again is rather bothersome as I personally have better things to do than this. 

First off, I would like to make it very clear that I do not mind my art being reposted on certain platforms (i.e. Instagram, Tumblr, Wattpad..) as long as there is PROPER CREDITING and NO changes to the actual art piece (i.e. distorting/removing my watermark/signature, editing/altering my art in any way, covering up parts of the art..) You also need to ask permission BEFORE POSTING. ALWAYS.

The issue I have come across lately and have in the past, is people screenshotting or saving my artwork and posting it anywhere they want without my permission or giving me credit. I do not like it when people do this and it is quite literally stealing my artwork. It is not appreciated by anyone in the art community.  Just last night I was informed about a user on Instagram that goes by “Cupheadofficial__” who has been doing just this and with other artist’s work as well as my own. If you want to check out the post providing screenshots of the stolen work go visit it here. 

»»---------------------►

“What is considered proper credit?”

✧ A clear mention of who the artist is, and a link to the artist’s profile/social media. Don’t claim the art as your own.

“What about comic translations?”

✧ I welcome translators! I actually love it that people are that invested in putting the time and effort to translate things I have made so others can enjoy it as well. Just as long as they ask permission and get the “Okay” from me beforehand. The translations must also be accurate as possible. All of this is alright.

“Can I repost your comic?”

✧ No you may not, unless you are translating it you may not take my comic/art and post it anywhere else unless I say otherwise. My comic is staying on Tumblr unless I decide to move it other places. This includes comic panels and frames from the comic. 

“Can I make your art as my profile picture?”

✧ Yeah go for it, you do not need permission from me if you want to make one of my pieces your pfp. Just give me proper credit somewhere on your profile where I and others can see it and don't change up the art.

”Can I use your art as a reference for my own drawing?”

✧ That is a no. I know some of you like using other peoples art as references but you cannot do that with mine. There have just been too many instances where my art gets traced or copied completely. 

“What if I see someone else stealing?”

✧ report them. Simple. Though you do not have to, I would appreciate it if you could also inform the artist about the situation. Its highly appreciated! 

Alright that's my spiel for now on the matter, stuff like this will not be tolerated here, so thanks for taking the time to read this.

[chibimyumi]

Lizzie’s Campania Dinner Dress REDESIGNED

After having redesigned the Notorious Robin Dress of O!Ciel (click here), I thought I’d try my hands on another well-known dress; Lizzie’s dress on the Campania!

As explained in the post linked above, Yana seemed to not have an inkling of historical fashion knowledge at the beginning of the series. As the series became bigger however, she employed a Victorian Era expert and the results are clear.

In this post I will examine to what extent Lizzie’s dinner dress is accurate and break this costume down from the top, and propose how to “correct” these while trying to keep as much of the original design as untouched as possible.

I. Dinner Dress

Hair

Just like I said in the Robin Dress™ REDESIGN post, needless to say, 19th century people would not have worn twin tails. Wearing the hair down was considered ungroomed for women in the 19th century, but young, unmarried girls were allowed to spare a few hairpins.

Unlike O!Ciel who would always try to strive for a more mature look, Lizzie would aim for the opposite.

In the late Victorian era it was normal to have bangs, but it was proper to have it cut well above the eyebrows. So Lizzie’s bangs only need to be trimmed a bit to be period accurate.

The long dangling fringe of Lizzie’s is a tribute to her mother, but alas, that one does need to go... I do not dare fully risk the WRATH of Frances the Formidable however, so in honour to her, I have kept that bang as much as possible. The sides of the bangs were allowed to be longer in order to frame the face better, but the point remains that the face should not be covered.

(I know, I know, two symmetrical half-arsed fringes would have been better, but I promised to try change as little as possible...)

Victorians hardly ever cut their hair, because the longer the hair, the more feminine and desirable a girl/woman was deemed to be. The aesthetic of hair in 1880s was more in the vertical direction instead of horizontal. Hence Lizzie would probably have worn her curls a bit smaller, therewith using up less hair into the width.

The period wherein people strongly favoured a horizontal aesthetic was approximately 200 to 70 years outdated. If we had to justify what type of hair Lizzie’s hairdo was supposed to be historically, I could only say it is probably the 1670s early baroque hairdo. (I mean... that portrait IS fairly similar to Lizzie’s hair, is it not?)

The hair ornament Lizzie wears is not entirely impossible, just very unlikely for the 1880s. I have kept the weird rosette that she wears, and used them to pin up both sides of her hair. I could not find any visual sources of people wearing rosettes in their hair instead of their chest after earning some type of prize, but since there were no regulations regarding how a ribbon must be tied into a bow, the rosettes can stay.

Neckline and Bodice

The design of the original bodice also requires a bit of work. Just like with the Robin Dress, the main problem lies with the silhouette.

In the height of the Victorian Era, the main endeavour was waist reducing, hence the chest area would be accentuated and “streamlined” towards the shoulder, while the seams would detract from the waist optically.

Instead of the straight design of the chest panel, I replaced it with a fan-shaped front piece, of which the lines would achieve this ‘streamline’ effect.

The halterneck-like neckline as in the original design would have been quite unlikely as it would have made the neck stand out, and make the much thinner neck compete with the desired small waist. The rule of thumb for what aesthetic bodices should have was generally open wide top, closed small bottom (V shaped, not O). Usually when there is a halterneck-line, something else that would redirect the eyes towards the larger shoulder-chest area would adorn the bodice too for compensation.

Thus, instead of the rounded halterneck-line, I replaced it with a straight square neckline. Though square-necks were not very popular in Lizzie’s time, they were not unheard of. Miraculously I happened to stumble upon this illustration from 1889 (exactly Kuro’s present day setting), and herein we can see both the short lantern sleeves and the square neckline.

Decoration wise there is nothing inconsistent with 1889 fashion, but as Lizzie is the daughter to an influential Marquis and the dress is supposed to be a dinner dress, it should be a tad gaudier. The elaborateness of Lizzie’s original dress was more alike that of a daytime walking dress. I did not deviate too much from the original manga’s design, I simply added some gold details that were not there yet.

(The anime’s dress had been simplified for animation’s sake, so my redesign is based on the manga’s slightly more elaborate triple panel decoration.)

This choker ribbon necklace is the same as for the Robin Dress. Like I said before, these were worn by people in the 1880s, but they were not standard for fancy night time events. However, as it is technically not historically ‘inaccurate’, it can stay.

Waistline

Just like the Robin Dress, Lizzie’s waistline is the most historically inaccurate part that renders the entire design a period amalgamation.

First of all, I gave the waistline a pointed end and swagged the inner skirt up towards the hips for a dramatic V-shape. The bow-sash worn around the waist was something that was in fashion during the 1780s and 1790s, and was part of the ‘Chemise de la Reine’ look that was named for and popularized by Marie Antoinette.

Fashion trends do always come back every now and then, so a ribbon bow is not necessarily taboo. But the height at which the bow sits on the original dress would guide the waistline towards the hips, which would have gone against the small-waist aesthetics of 1880s, which would have been taboo.

Hence, I removed the sash entirely, and shoved the bow itself to the back (more on this below.)

Skirt

Again, the same problem Yana had with the Robin Dress; the bell-shaped silhouette that would be at least 30 years outdated by 1889, so I simply reduced its volume.

The split panel front however, was common in the 1880s, as such it remains untouched.

The dress code for formal events would require a floor-length hem for dresses, but a dinner party such as the one on the Campania would be semi-formal, and Lizzie who strives for a very youthful look would have been able to get away with a shorter hem. Hence, the skirt length also remains unchanged.

Bustle

“Does this dress make my butt look small?” would have been the question women asked. Late Victorian fashion just LOVED a huge behind, and the bustle was the absolute star of any feminine outfit.

The design of the ornaments on the original dress is actually spot on, except that it would simply lie flat over the skirt, rather than help the skirt get a large bulge.

So for the redesign, I have decided to use the golden bow that sat at the front to draw the attention towards the maximised behind. Underneath I used the original triple row tails, and flanked this decoration with large pleats to produce a dramatic back. For completion’s sake, I have added golden embroideries to the pleats so that the large golden bow will not just sit there as a random piece of ornament.

Shoes

I could find relatively few sources on late 1880s shoe fashion, so my caveat here.

Lizzie’s d’Orsay type of shoes were not standard in the 19th century England, but they were definitely not impossible. 1880s d’Orsay pumps were a bit more closed around the lateral arch, but the technique to make completely open d’Orsays was already available in the 1600s, and wildly popular after the 1830s. As I could not find any sources on when they stopped being popular, I think Lizzie’s shoes would probably have been acceptable.

What I do propose to change is the point of the toe. Only very, very young girls (up to age 4 ish) would wear a rounded nose. Slightly older children and adults would wear pointed toes instead.

The only other thing I propose to change is only a “problem” if I were to be perfectly pedantic and nitpicky; namely the arch of the shoe. Arches of the shoe until the 1910s were mostly straight, and did not have the same arch as our natural feet have. So in order to create the perfect 1889 shoe silhouette, I straightened Lizzie’s shoes too.

Y’all still with me? Good. Now comes the trickiest part, THE UNDERWEAR, a.k.a. Lizzie’s Battle Suit.

II. Battle Suit

Lizzie’s dinner dress was actually fairly historically accurate, earning a personal Chibimyumi rating of 6.6/10 in total (as opposed to Robin Dress’ miserable total rating of 4.1/10). Her Battle Suit however, scores less well, reaching only a 5.4/10.

Chemise

Victorian undergarments were nothing like our contemporary ones. If you have no breasts then it is easy, but if you do... well, a bra is bad enough, right?

Well.... In the Victorian times women wore layers on top of layers, of which the first was the chemise. Contrary to popular belief, people did not wear corsets directly on their skin. Corsets were very hard to wash, thus the chemise served to both protect the corset from getting dirty, as well as absorb the sweat.

Yana did do pretty good research as attested by her not having fallen for this popular misconception. Lizzie does indeed wear a type of chemise underneath her corset, though I would say that the sleeves are too elaborate for the dress she has chosen to wear on top.

Such elaborate sleeves were worn to be combined with smaller sleeves so that the lace can protrude from underneath, giving the entire outfit a little icing on top (like the lace at the chest). Lizzie’s dinner dress has lantern sleeves that would not reveal any of the chemise’s sleeves.

Chemises were washed quite regularly, but lace is a very expensive and delicate material. Hence, in order to minimise wear-and-tear, people would probably have avoided wearing ultra fancy chemises if it cannot be seen anyway. But who knows. Lizzie is a rich kid, she probably has enough lacy chemises at her disposal. Still, just to be perfectly historically accurate, I gave her chemise simpler sleeves.

Corset

Unlike the chemise, corsets were not regularly washed, and thus elaborate lace was very desired.

The large ruffles on the chest of Yana’s design however, are probably a tad too elaborate, and judging from the thickness, they could easily disrupt the smoothness of the outerwear.

1880s corsets were generally not very decorated as their function was valued over anything else. This corset I found dating from 1887 is the most elaborate authentic one I could find, and it indeed strongly resembles the one Lizzie wears. However, as even this one does not have lace protruding as much as Lizzie’s, I have toned the corset down too for the redesign.

In the 1880s, both corsets with and without front closure were worn. However, the pieces as elaborately decorated in the front would not have front closures. Hence I removed the hook and eye closure in the redesign.

The thing that is the least accurate about Lizzie’s corset is the boning structure. What produced a well-shaped waist was not how tight you lace the corset, but the structure of the boning. An unlaced corset of that time would have looked much ‘curvier’ than any tight-laced straight-boned corset.

By the late 1880s, boning techniques were so advanced that they were very soft and flexible, and yet also provided the firmness necessary for the desired look. The straight paneled type of boning drawn by Yana was outdated and strongly advised against.

Finally, the mini-skirt at the bottom of the corset is cute, but I have yet to find one like that in the 1880s. I don’t think that tiny piece of fabric would disrupt the desirable silhouette, but there will be PLENTY layers on top, so I removed it just to be sure.

Skirt

The skirt - or rather, everything that happened UNDER the skirt is a stack of complexities.

The most bottom layer would have been the underwear with trouser-legs, layer 1. Layer 2 is the protruding hem of the chemise, that may either have been long or short. But the chemise and the underwear are the only things that were worn UNDER the corset, hence the frilly-frilly skirt we see Lizzie fight in should have been the chemise, and not the underskirt.

The chemise was never something as wide as the one drawn by Yana, and could therefore not achieve that flare effect. I know it is absolutely gorgeous, and from an artistic point of view I myself would not have done otherwise. But as I am doing historical fashion research and redesign, I shall compromise myself and settle with a narrow skirt. The skirt would probably have been so narrow Lizzie would have trouble fighting. So it would not have surprised me if she decided to make a large split in it, or rolled it up and tucked it under her corset.

The frilly underskirt we see Lizzie wear should be layer 4 rather than 2. If we study Lizzie’s dress, we can see that the frilly part is a separate piece of clothing, unlike what the anime-art suggests.

Underneath this layer, there would have been a bustle (layer 3) that was strapped around the waist, over the corset. Like I explained before, bustles were essential to any Victorian dress. They came in many shapes and sizes, but I have settled with the simplest one.

Should we wish to keep the frilly skirt, then we need to keep in mind that Lizzie would have worn FOUR layers, which would hardly have made it any easier for her to navigate through the water than before. So why bother remove the dress and expose herself at all then? Hence, all layers from layer 2 on will sink with the Campania.

From our 21st century point of view, the Battle Suit looks quite cute, and we would probably just wear it like that. But if we consider down to what layer a real 1889 girl would have to have stripped, and how many somewhat embarrassing contraptions had to be removed first before reaching some level of mobility, we can probably understand how embarrassing it truly must have been.

Well, I had tons of fun doing this research, and I learned a great lot about what corsets really were (and not the inhumane torture devices they are claimed to be). I hope you all also had fun reading this too.  (*´▽｀*)ノ

【Related post: Ciel’s notorious Robin Dress™ REDESIGNED】

【Related post: Redesign: O!Ciel and Sebastian in different eras】

MASTERPOST My Art  

MASTERPOST Furukawa Era Kuromyu

MASTERPOST Gender in Kuroshitsuji

MASTERPOST Analyses & Info

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (February/17/2021)

Foolish, Ponk and HBomb get involved in some “lore,” and Bad confronts Puffy about the omelette propaganda that’s been cropping up.

---

VOD LINKS:

Ponk

HBomb94

Foolish Gamers

Ranboo

Captain Puffy

---

- Foolish speaks with Ponk and HBomb as he walks through the Nether. Ponk decides to do some lore about the Egg taking their kneecaps.

- Foolish is very *angsty* with everything going on. The rain is falling heavily on his trench coat. HBomb loves lore-ing on people.

- Foolish mentions he has no parents, as he lost them. HBomb laughs and then says that’s not funny at all. Laughter is a coping mechanism. Foolish is Bruce Wayne.

- HBomb points out that Foolish has a father. Foolish clarifies that he has an adoptive father but he’s lost his biological parent. Killing two parents with one stone -- a terrible metaphor.

- H asks if Foolish is looking for a mother. Foolish says to stay the fuck away.

- H and Ponk can be Foolish’s cool uncle and aunt. Foolish says they can come up with something better -- the Justice People. 

“Together we are Batman.”

- To be clear, Ponk says, this is now the main storyline since Tommy doesn’t stream as often. 

Ponk: “The rain makes me feel...home again.”

- Ponk and HBomb greet Foolish at the portal. 

HBomb: “Hello, son.”

Foolish: “I’m Batman.”

- They go to check out the Egg. The red reminds Foolish of the blood of his parents as they lie on the ground.

- The Egg goes “wooOOOOoooOoo” to Ponk. The Egg is speaking.

- HBomb is both of their mothers now.

- Badboyhalo joins the game. Oh no.

Bad: “How hard do you think it would be to kill all three of you?”

Foolish: “Not a chance.”

HBomb: “I don’t have a weapon or armor.”

Foolish: “I have leather!”

Ponk: “WE’RE BATMANNNN.”

- Ponk tells Bad he needs to hurry. The Egg is in peril and it’s leaking milk.

- Bad arrives at the Egg Room and sets Ponk on fire. Ponk finds the one hole in the ceiling where the rain can come through. It’s very poetic.

- Bad asks if Ponk would like to break a piece of the Egg.

- Ponk breaks a piece and it hurts him. 

- H is curious and breaks a piece himself. It hurts him too.

- They ask Bad about his lore voice.

Bad: (in Yoda impression) “Mmmm, canon is this?”

- Ponk asks Bad to tell the jukebox story.

- Bad sings the campfire song.

- Back on the surface, just outside Eret’s museum, Bad builds a makeshift campfire and tells the jukebox story.

- Foolish leaves to continue work on his summer home.

- Ranboo works on the vault.

- Puffy decides to create a L’manburg memorial at L’manhole. 

- Puffy and Bad discuss heights.

- Bad confronts Puffy about the Omelette Propaganda 

Bad: “Why would he [Danny DeVito] be anti-Egg?”

Puffy: “Because he has class and style, and an enchanted sword.”

- Puffy explains how taking any of them down would be a hate crime against Danny DeVito, lizards, polar bears named Steve, the sun, or chickens, but she definitely didn’t put them up.

- Bad points out that Puffy is IN some of them. Puffy insists that this sheep person is definitely not her, maybe a relative.

Bad: “Who is that?!”

Captain Puffy: “Smokin’ hot, don’t know her.”

- Puffy insists that it was a party of chickens with clipboards who went around putting up propaganda against eggs. (She didn’t tell them she eats chicken nuggets because that would’ve broken their hearts) They want to replace chicken eggs in people’s diets with Skeppy eggs.

- If Bad takes down these posters, he’ll offend everyone! The chickens, Technoblade, the Green Party, nutritionalists, all of them!

- Puffy says that one of the chickens, Mr. Cluckington, informed her that the chickens might have dropped something off at Bad’s house.

- Bad insists that the poster on his mansion has Puffy and Technoblade in it.

- Puffy draws a very accurate portrait of Rat in MS Paint. Bad loves it!

- Foolish boats over to them on the lawn and asks if they have 489 blue concrete. He then boats away.

- They do more art!

- Bad explains Big Daddy Island.

- Bad tells Puffy that Sapnap is his son canonically, and he found him under a rock somewhere. Puffy asks if that would make Karl his son-in-law.

Puffy: “The family tree is really sort of questionable here.”

- Puffy asks if that would mean Sapnap was an accident. Bad says he’s a “happy little accident, also known as Sapnap.”

- Puffy also asks if Bad’s son’s roommate is Dream. 

- They continue with the MS Paint art.

- Bad talks to Mr. Cluckington, a chick, as played by Puffy.

- Next a cousin drops by, Cluckers. Bad threatens his life, but Cluckers says he’ll get another cousin out.

- Feathers comes out to speak with Badboyhalo. Feathers is a big Badboyhalo fan and asks for Bad’s autograph, in a voice so high-pitched that it cuts out the Discord mic.

- Feathers asks if Bad has a Snapchat and goes on Omegle.

- Puffy comes back out and asks how it went.

Bad: “I think I’m done with chickens, Puffy...”

- Bad says he’ll go investigate who put up those posters.

- Puffy departs to continue work on the L’manburg memorial.

---

Upcoming events remain the same.

[soul-dwelling]

Have you heard something about Ohkubo being racist? I saw some twitter links, which due to personal reasons I cant check for myself, but otherwise couldnt find anything on.

Shared September 18, 2021

I've sat on this question for a long time, and yet my answer will still be incomplete. As I am white, I want to be aware of the white privilege I have, and I anticipate I am going to give a response that fails to address certain topics and concerns--and is just going to be flat-out wrong in a lot of parts. I anticipate I will get things wrong below, I don't like that, but I want to be open to reading more and figuring out what I'm getting wrong so I can fix what I get wrong. And I want to learn from any responses I receive--so I encourage any responses, and I will read and consider them.

At the time when I received this question, I was not aware of any Twitter links regarding accusations of Ohkubo being racist. Despite being a huge fan of Soul Eater, this was something I was unaware of, and I was purposefully ignoring--because I was ignoring any discourse around Fire Force, not around Ohkubo or Soul Eater in general. While I have followed what Soul Eater stuff is out there, I have purposefully avoided a lot of Fire Force content since the anime was announced--including muting any Fire Force stuff on Twitter. While I do not regret avoiding Fire Force stuff (there is only so much annoyance I can take from that franchise), I do regret overlooking this discussion around racism in Ohkubo’s works, I regret that, and I apologize for overlooking it right now--and in the past.

Because I have overlooked racist elements in Ohkubo’s prior works, including in Soul Eater, including on this very blog. I don’t think apologizing is enough, and I am determining what steps I can take to handle this better--and that starts with acknowledging the racist elements in his works. I think some have unfortunate implications that need to be debated.

For example, one Twitter remark I read asked why the South American meister had to be Enrique instead of a human. (And, I anticipate, how that leads to its own set of unfortunate implications, associating being from South America to being a monkey, regardless Tezca, his visual conceit, and his powers being derived from, not South American cultures only or exactly, but from Aztec and indigenous Mexican cultures.) I don’t think adding Enrique as a meister is bad, when the joke works; I think adding Enrique, and not more South American human characters, is a problem, and when your one South American meister is a non-human animal, when no other meister in the series, especially of a Death Scythe, has been a non-human animal, this is going to stick out and be offensive. I have seen and written stories with animals as meisters to weapon partners; it is a great idea, having Enrique be that character is great, but it is a missed opportunity that erases a spot where a person of South American could have been. Having Tezca as one such South American person helps, but again, this is a missed opportunity.

As an aside, this also opens up unfortunate implications to having Black Star being mistaken by Liz as a monkey, given headcanon I’ve seen from fans about Black Star’s identity with regard to Japanese ethnicities and the fact that Black Star does have dark skin.

And another set of Twitter remarks focused on the stylized designs to the band playing at the DWMA Anniversary Party (and here). Regardless whether stylization was used on white characters in that scene, the stylization on the Black characters who were performing in the band is drawing upon a history of racist images (the lips on drummer and cellist) and is racist. I’ll get to this later, but I agree with this remark that it’s bizarre that Ohkubo did this despite what he has done well with inclusiveness amongst his cast. And like I’ll also say later, it’s like me sitting here thinking “How could he do so well at writing a girl lead like Maka in an action series, then fail so badly writing Tamaki in his follow-up series?” My pathetic answer is that no creator is perfect, they make mistakes--and it becomes infuriating when they screw up so badly and don’t seem to learn from that screw-up, don’t show regret, don’t fix what they broke, and don’t improve. I’ve ranted enough here on this blog that I don’t think Ohkubo has grown with his audience: I think he keeps making the same immature mistakes (immature in terms of his craft, immature as well in terms of his humor).

And since I did bring up the monkey remarks about Enrique and Black Star, there are the major sets of discourse around racism in Ohkubo’s works, that being Maka referring to Sid, who is Black, as a gorilla (not to mention “thuggish”), and Shinra in Fire Force referring to Charon, who has dark skin, as a gorilla.

Regardless the excuses made (“racism in Japan is not the same as racism elsewhere”--which, no, fuck that, people globally including in Japan know the racist associations made where being Black or brown is associated by racists with non-human primates), I don’t get why no one, from Ohkubo to his editors to distributors to audiences including me, do not say more about this racist detail.

And I don’t get why no editor or localization staff bothered to change it. I have not sat through the Fire Force dub, but I hope someone working at localization changed the line. (It’s one thing to change a subtitled line and avoid something offensive at the cost of accuracy in translation, including accurately translating content even when it’s awful, or else you’re just covering up for the awfulness in the original work. But it’s another thing to not revise the line for dubbing, when you should have more flexibility in that kind of adaptation.)

(And that’s not getting into casting white actors as Black characters in the Soul Eater dub, but I hope I can address that another time with more depth should Soul Eater ever get a continuation or a re-dub...which, given how enough of the original dub cast have fucked over their careers and revealed their abusiveness and toxic bullshit in their personal lives, either a new anime or a new dub sounds good right about now.)

The responses to this criticism have been to rightly point out that Ohkubo does include numerous varied portrayals of Black characters (also here and here and here), drawing upon Black identities from the United States and Africa, especially for characters like Kilik and Ogun. But, me personally, pointing out what is done well does not negate what is done badly. (And yes, just because I think Maka Albarn is a great representation of a girl character in shonen doesn’t negate how Ohkubo fucked up with Chapter 113 and all of Tamaki in Fire Force).

As a creator, you’re supposed to fix what you did wrong, you don’t distract from what you did wrong by doing something else well later. You fix the character in front of you, not only make new characters and let that distract the audience from what you did wrong. You fix Sid (which, for me, means some potential adjustments to character design and not calling him a freaking gorilla); you don’t distract by creating Kilik and Ogun. You fix Tamaki (give her more to do, don’t make every joke around fanservice, stop fucking sexualizing a 17-year-old); you don’t distract by pointing to Maka or Maki. That’d be like me excusing something I did wrong in one set of responsibilities by asking you to look at something good I did: that doesn’t fix what I did wrong by mistake. Asking people to “leave the medium” is not helping: this is a debate, you get to watch something, you get to decide for yourself whether you think something is racist or misread, I’m not up for gatekeeping people to block them from either criticizing something or enjoying something.

And while your enjoyment of something can reflect on your values (if you keep liking jokes calling Sid a gorilla, what does that say about you?), I said “can,” not “does,” it is by context and debate (you can enjoy slasher movies without being a serial killer, etc).

I wish I had something more meaningful to say, and I don’t like that I don’t. I want to be a better ally, but just being aware that there are racist elements to this series, and just stating awareness, is not sufficient for me. It’s one reason why my focus is on uplifting fan content that does far better at handling inclusiveness and representation in this series. But my focus has been on representations of gender in the series--and that is my fault for not doing more to focus on representations of race and ethnicity, and I wish my apology would be enough, and it’s not, so I’m trying to figure out what I can do that is better. I will read feedback to do better.

[thedeadflag]

I’m so confused! I know it’s not your responsibility to educate me but in your post bringing awareness to the negative aspects of g!p fanfic you say

“Why do these g!p characters rarely if ever involve experiences reflective of trans/intersex women? Why are they so utterly cis and perisex-washed? Why do nearly all writers have zero idea that tucking is a thing? “

Doesn’t that answer your original question? The reason they don’t reflect those groups of ppl is bc g!p isn’t trying to represent those groups of people or else it WOULD be transphobic to limit them to one specific fetish right? it just refers to a canonically female character with the addition of a penis (I don’t argue the name “g!p” should be changed bc that’s a no brainer why that could be offensive). But the fanfic in general, how could it be harmful? I’ve noticed in my time reading it as a non binary person it’s given me great gender euphoria reading a reader insert where reader has a penis while being a femme representing person just bc that’s a reflection of my personal experience. I don’t see anywhere where g!p fanfic ever references or tries to emulate the experiences of trans or intersex people so how could it be offensive?

Sorry this is way too long I’m just very confused

I'm going to try and lay this out as politely as I can. It's after 3:30 in the morning here, so this could be a bit disjointed and rambling. More under the cut:

In real life, ~99.999999% of women with penises are trans women. Which puts us in a tricky situation of (A) being the only women with penises around for media involving women with penises to reflect back on, and (B) being in the lovely position of precious few people actually having had meaningful real life exposure to trans women, meaning (C.) all those stigmas and all that misinformation are going to purely affect us and it’s going to be uncritically gobbled up by the masses, since they don’t have any meaningful information to fill in the blanks with instead.

When we peer into the depths of femslash fandoms and see all these folks who aren't trans women writing about women with penises, and using cis women’s bodies as platforms for these penises, it’s the simplest thing.

I mean, some of those folks might actually be struggling and confused about why they’re into it, what the real appeal is, why they get off on it, why they might have some feelings about wanting a penis of their own…

…but from our vantage point, it’s really easy to gauge 99.99% of the time. We can generally see valid, legitimate yearning to have a penis pretty damn easily in a piece of art/writing, and we can also see when people who create this media are just hung up on a boatload of baggage and fetishization.

And 99.9% of the time, the creators are just hung up on a boatload of baggage and fetishization, and see trans women’s bodies as a perfect vehicle to tap into that, generally due to deeply held cissexist views that link us and our bodies and genitals directly to cis men, to maleness. As if penises are rooted in maleness and masculinity (which is absolutely not true).

And I have sympathy for NB folks (certainly TME ones who have reached out to me in the past about this) who might be struggling with that, but just because they’re non-binary, it doesn’t mean they get to appropriate our bodies and reproduce transmisogyny and trans fetishization in their attempts at feeling better. Shit doesn't work like that.

Because again, the only women with penises in this world, essentially, are trans women. Meaning any woman with a penis in media is a trans woman, implicitly or explicitly. Meaning that when people who aren’t us want to write us, intent doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter if it’s just the writer’s fantasy, it’s still going to attach a variety of messages directly onto us.

And more often than not, due to cissexism, those messages are linking us to maleness, to toxic masculinity, etc..

While I do want to believe they're a fairly small minority, a lot of NB folks in fandom spaces like g!p characters in part because they see penises as male and the rest of the body as female and think that duality is interesting and would be comfortable, and is a nice balance of “both worlds” or a nice position “between male and female”, but that’s a wholly cissexist, transmisogynistic view to have, and it’s one that absolutely cannot be supported without directing sexual violence against trans women and invalidating our entire existence. Certainly not all NB folks into g!p like it for that reason, but holy shit a fair bit of them do and it’s weird and wrong and fetishistic.

g!p emerged from the idea that women can't have penises, and drew on the transmisogyny and cissexism of tr*nny porn to structure that frame of desire and the core patterns and trends within these works. It's always been trans women's bodies being used as a vehicle, whether or not the writers of these fics are explicitly aware of it, because the trope itself still holds true to its original patterns and cissexism. It's not the name that's the problem, it's the content; changing the name would be a surface level change that wouldn't affect anything.

g!p objectifies women with penises (trans women). A woman with a penis is more than just a woman with a penis, but the use of the term and trope is literally to (A) remind people that women don't have penises, otherwise the g!p term wouldn't be needed if people actually accepted women with penises as women, and that (B) this is a story centered on a scenario where there's a woman with a penis, with key focus on that genitalia specifically. it's the drawing point, it's the lure, it's what everything is centered on. It is a means for folks to write lesbian sex while also writing about penis in vagina and getting off to it. It's also no surprise that the penises so clearly emulate cis men's penises in these works, that is by design.

As I’ve said many times before, if you’re only writing trans women’s bodies to showcase cis men’s penises, you’re not respecting the womanhood of trans women, and this ultimately has nothing inherent to do with penis-owning women, it has to do with (cis) men and their penises, because trans women are just being used as a vehicle to emulate them. When NB folks do the same thing, and imagining themselves as those g!p characters, they are ultimately embodying cis men, their maleness, and often toxic masculinity, in a way that feels safe and distanced enough for them, a shell that they often code as cisnormative due to their own unprocessed cissexism.

And trans women don’t deserve that.

You seem caught in the idea that if something doesn't directly perfectly reflect trans women, that it can't be linked to us., which ignores the long long history of media being used to misrepresent marginalized peoples and cast us in insulting, dehumanizing lights. You show a lack of understanding of the g!p trope and the long history of its usage across a few other names, even if the content and patterns remained the same. It shows a lack of understanding of tr*nny porn and transmisogynistic stigmas, which the trope draws heavily from.

I think we can all recognize that most 'lesbian' prn that's made does not represent actual lesbians, it's overwhelmingly catered to the male gaze. We can also recognize that this category of porn has led to a lot of harassment towards lesbians from cis men who at the very least want to believe lesbians are just like they are in the porn he watches, that lesbians just need the right man. Lesbians are being used as a vehicle for a fantasy that was created externally to them, and doesn't represent their realities.

It's the same kind of situation here. The way g!p fics play out overwhelmingly doesn't reflect trans women's realities, but they are inherently linked to us regardless, as we're the vehicles for those fantasies, as unrealistic and harmful as they may be.

g!p characters are built in our fetishized image that’s based on a deeply cissexist misunderstanding of us, of the gender binary, and of bodies in general.

I mean, when 99% of cis folks don’t understand how trans women tend to be sexually intimate… when they don’t understand what dysphoria is and how it works and how it can affect us physically and emotionally…when they don’t understand almost any of our lived experiences…then they’re not going to be able to accurately portray us even if they wanted to.

And I’ve read enough g!p fics where authors wrote those as a means of trying to add trans rep, but because they didn’t understand us at all, it wasn’t remotely representative, and it was ultimately fetishistic, even if there was an undercurrent of sympathy and a lack of following certain common g!p patterns there that differentiated it from the norm.

If g!p fics were at all about reducing dysphoria or finding euphoria, then it wouldn’t be explicitly tied up in the performance of very specific sex acts, very specific forms of misogyny and toxic masculinity, very specific forms of sexual violence and exertion of sexual power, etc.

But it is.

So the notion that creating g!p fics helps NB folks? Nope. It CAN certainly prevent/delay those folks from facing a whole boatload of shit they’ve internalized, and coddle them at the expense of trans women.

Because if it was really about bodies and dysphoria/euphoria, there would be a considerable push (allying with out own) to end our fetishization and to represent us in and out of sexual contexts with accuracy, respect, and care. Because they wouldn’t care what sex acts were performed and what smut beats were hit, they’d just want to see someone with a body like their ideal being loved, being sexual, connecting, being authentic, etc. Which very much is not the case in the overwhelming majority of g!p fics. That's what we want, and it's not what g!p writers want, it's nothing they give a shit about.

Like, a ways back I started doing random pulls of g!p fics from various fandoms and assessing them for certain elements to provide some quantitative clarity. I started on The 100 here, and did OuaT here. Never finished the 100 one since the results leveled out and stayed pretty consistent as the sample size grew, so I didn't really see the point in continuing any further after about 140 fics when the data wasn't really changing much at all.

Lastly, media influences people. I've read countless posts and comments from people who use fanfiction as a sex ed guide, in essence. Which is ridiculous, but I also know sex ed curricula often isn't very accurate or extensive in a lot of areas, so people take what they can get. Representation in media can be powerful, and when it overwhelmingly misrepresents people, that's also powerful. Just because fandom is a bit smaller than televised media, it doesn't make that impact any lesser, certainly not for those whose primary media intake is within fandom.

Virtually all trans representation in f/f fanfiction is misrepresentative of us. That has a cost in how people understand us, how people react to us, and how people treat us. Not just online, but in physical spaces, and in intimate settings.

I invite you to read that post you referenced again, or perhaps this longer one which is a response to a trans guy who seemed to feel something similar to you with this trope.

All I can do is lay it out there and try to explain this. It's up to you how you handle this. All I know is whenever there's a big surge in g!p in a fandom, trans women generally leave it en masse, because it's a very clear and consistent message that we're not valued, respected, and that people value getting off on us over finding community with us.

[serpenteve]

Hot take 1: The age gap between Aleksander and Alina wouldn't have been an issue as so many people say it is if Aleksander was a good guy.

Hot take 2: If Mal isn't the asshole he is in the books then what the fuck is stopping him and Alina from dating?? Why is she more assertive and confident with Aleksander??? Why not with Mal?? Are the writers saying Alina having agency and making her own choices,no matter how bad or good,a bad thing? What else am I supposed to gather from it??

Hot take 3: It's so,,,,stupid,,,how common people don't say shit about Grishas dying or suffering but as soon as they die they're like "New Sankt/Sankta unlocked" I hate how people romanticize their tragic deaths yet don't do shit for them when they're alive haha.

Hot take 4(the last I promise): Where did LB say Aleksander is the exact embodiment of her abusive ex? Do you have an interview link or screenshot? Because from what I know she implied that she was in an abusive relationship but she NEVER said she based Aleksander off on her relationship. It could've been Mal lmao given how shitty he actually is. Thanks for doing this YOU ARE AMAZING I LOVE YOUR BLOG AAGHH I LOVE YOU!!!I KNOW THIS IS ALOT SORRY

I have to react to all of these haha 🙈

(mind the tags)

1. Personally, I think some of the antis just hate the Darkling/Ben Barnes first and foremost and then will pick whatever reasons to justify it. Like, if he wasn't an immortal shadow wizard, then they'd say he's a "sex trafficker" (an actual take I saw with my own two eyeballs) or that he """groomed""" Alina. Like, words have specific meanings. He 100% manipulated her. He lied to her. He preyed on her need for validation and acceptance. But that's not the same thing as "grooming" someone because, you know, words 🤦🏽‍♀️It's perfectly fine if you hate a fictional character or have a NOTP, but if you're harassing people, at least be accurate about what you're criticizing, especially when this character already has done enough canonical things to make them kind of a manipulative dick without pulling things out of your ass 💅🏽

(Sorry, that rant wasn't aimed at you ☠️I just got mad all over again lmao)

2. So true 🙌🏽I think the writers were so concerned with fanfic'ing the fuck out of book!Mal's character and praying that audiences would like him better that they didn't stop to think about how those changes would raise some questions about why Mal & Alina's relationship is where it's at. I don't think this is too terrible, considering most romance arcs immediately get boring once the couple officially gets together so they will have a lot to work out in season 2.

3. I know I shouldn't laugh about the "new sankta unlocked" BUT ITS LIKE SO TRUE??? Lmao each town has their resident claim to fame. I wished we got to see this discussion handled with a bit more nuance in the books, but it seems like the people simultaneously believe in the inherent holiness of the saints while deriding and despising the Grisha for being "witches" and see them as separate beings. Kind of weird, if you ask me.

4. So here's Leigh's Instagram post so people can read it in it's entirety and draw their own conclusions. Unless I'm mistaken and there's another social media post or podcast interview where she explicitly states the Darkling is based off of an abusive ex, I honestly fail to see the connection. I just see a writer who was in a difficult place in her life who found refuge and excitement in the fictional world she created.

[guzhuangheaven]

Which cdramas would you rate as having the best/most accurate costumes you have ever seen? And are also historically accurate in terms of culture and history?

We always dance around answering this question, because it is impossible (for us) to answer. For two reasons.

1) There is no such thing as historical accuracy in dramas

You can never know everything that is needed to know about how people lived, dressed, styled their hair etc. in ye olden times unless you are a time traveller who has actually lived in those times. Historical records, extant garments, paintings, drawings, statues etc. can give you an idea of what people dressed like/lived like at the time, but historical records are fickle. They do not necessarily reflect the lives of everyone in society and often can be imperfectly preserved, leading to gaps in the knowledge we can have today. Because of this, any dramas that claim to be 100% historically accurate in terms of their costume/make up/whatever is lying because that is impossible.

What dramas can do, however, is do extensive research on the cuts and materials of clothes/jewellery/make up people used at the time and try their best to recreate them with the materials available to us now. Even then, dramas, for the sake of aesthetics, will often take creative liberties, for example using chemical dyes that make clothes in colours that was probably very hard/impossible to get, or not available to that person in that social class, at that time.  

All this is to say, I personally don’t usually scrutinise dramas for “historical accuracy” in their costumes, unless the drama is so bad that I can’t concentrate on the story and that’s what I turn to nitpicking to give myself a reason to keep watching. At the same time, I will forgive A LOT of costuming sins if the drama keeps me engaged with its story. Examples of this include Oh My General with its OBNOXIOUS use of colours and The Mischievous Princess with I don’t even know what to call this travesty they call costuming Ming dynasty.

However, this does not mean that dramas can’t try to be historically accurate, of course. To me, dramas that succeed in this area makes it clear that they have done research and consulted extant garments/historical sources to make their costumes look like it could reasonably have existed in the time the story it is set in.

I guess I will talk about Ruyi and Yanxi because I just know someone will ask us about it again eventually, despite the fact that we have sort of tried to avoid answering the question of whether Ruyi or Yanxi is more historically accurate the last time we were asked.

Here’s our very inexpert, very limited opinion, based on extremely limited research, on this question: both Ruyi and Yanxi clearly consulted extant garments/accessories of the Qing dynasty, and tried to recreate them in different ways.

There is evidence that Ruyi based many of their costumes on extant garments. We have a post about it, even though we do strongly suspect these extant garments were from the wrong time, i.e. they are late Qing circa 19th century, purely because they still exist at all, rather than the early Qing period of Qianlong. Yanxi also based its costuming on extant historical artifacts, including the use of the yunjian collar and the velvet flower hair accessories, which can be seen in paintings of women from around that time.

And then there is this headdress which Er Qing wears to her wedding, which has photographic evidence that it existed, but then the time of photography is clearly not the time of Qianlong.

However, the point we’re trying to make is that, because the Qing dynasty stretched 300 years, it is highly likely that both of these dramas did their research, then cherry picked the aspects of clothes and hair from different times of the Qing dynasty that suited their drama’s aesthetics. Does that make them historically inaccurate? Well, that depends on what level of accuracy you are after. But realistically, to expect them all to dress like it was really Qianlong’s time is likely almost impossible, not to mention would require the costumes to change, as both dramas spanned like 30 years.

Also, even when you can tell the drama did consult extant garments and artifacts, they can still fail in the making of the costume. Case in point, Danshu’s pheasant robe is very polyester and has printed “embroidery”, even though it was set in the actual Song dynasty when they would have worn this garment. 

Compare that to Royal Nirvana, which was set in a fictional dynasty (based on Song), but managed to pull a pheasant robe that looked a thousand times better because it was actually embroidered.

Here’s a more important reason why we often don’t want to answer questions about what dramas are historically accurate:

2) We don’t know.  

Can I just stress again that we are not historians of Chinese period clothing, history, anything? We’re not even Chinese and can’t even read Chinese. Any random “knowledge” we put on here is result of years of accumulation from watching dramas (so take everything we say with a fistful of salt) and yes, sometimes research, but in the sense of we google things. We also have to translate things on google translate, which admittedly is a little better these days especially from Chinese to Vietnamese, but still highly inaccurate sometimes. Sometimes we have sources that has been translated into Vietnamese or English, but whether that’s accurate is dependent on whether the source is accurate and whether the translation is accurate. tl;dr: don’t believe everything we say and don’t look to us for…you know, authority.

And on that note, regarding your other asks, unfortunately we don’t think we can answer them, simply because if you haven’t found the answer you want by Googling, it’s very unlikely that we can do better. Our series of post on Qing dynasty costumes exists because the popularity of Legend of Ruyi meant that this information was available in Vietnamese, and we just did a couple of steps to make sure the information was reasonably believable by looking up the Chinese sources and putting them through translation bots. We would not have been able to do all of this research from scratch. 

ALL THAT BEING SAID, here’s some links of relevant posts on @ziseviolets tumblr, which maybe I should just have directed you there from the beginning:

Hanfu in television dramas

Recs for historically/stylistically accurate Chinese drama

- h

[doitwritenow]

IronStrange Starter Kit - Master Fic Rec List for all Y’all Because You’ve been Asking and I’ve been Avoiding

Hi! All you anons and askers, I made a list!!! Hopefully some of these are what you’ve been after. :D

(Please reblog this, lol, I spent too much time on it...) 

General rules: These are complete unless indicated otherwise, and end happily unless indicated otherwise. There’s a variety of ratings, as I have no qualms against smut, but I don’t usually read it outside of a larger plot. So I don’t think there’ll be many explicit stories on here. Word counts vary; I indicate general length but don’t go into specifics. What else, uh... Bold stuff is the headers and general subjects. I link the titles. Block quotes are author summaries. Enjoy!!

- 

Okay so first off, there are a couple of Fandom Staples who just have leagues worth of good short stories, and if you haven’t read them, then definitely treat yourself to the array:

A Thousand Futures of Me and You - VisionaryGalaxy (Vishanti, what a legend, ily so much). This is a series of unconnected one-shots, each their own and covering a variety of tropes and moments and themes and AUs. They’re so fun (and/or painful and/or thought-provoking and/or tense and/or sexy)! In-character and amazing, consistantly. 

Prompt Collection -  amethyst-noir (Arbonne). (Also a legendary human). This is exactly what it sounds like: a series of prompt fills in all sorts of tones. You’ll almost certainly find something here that feels like it was just made for you!

Alright, onto the individual stories and series!

Long fics/series:

The of overqualified hands and pi figures series - lantia4ever. (This was my first Ironstrange story, and it is no less magical now.)

A series of one-shots, all set in the same alternate verse in which Tony and Stephen first meet following the events of the first Avengers and then continue to meet after that throughout the canon up until Infinity War and eventually beyond it. Becoming friends - and more along the way.

Time After Time - fancylances. (I love love LOVE this one. Highly recommended.) 

Tony Stark is unstuck in time. Stephen Strange might just be the only person in the universe qualified enough to help.

Citizen Erased - Imagined. (This author. Just... such a wonderful, talented, stunning person who makes wonderful, talented, stunning works. This story is masterful.)

What do you do when no one in the world ever manages to remember you?

Anyone who sees Tony Stark promptly forgets he ever existed after mere seconds. When everyone he has ever cared about has lost their memories of him, he goes to Stephen Strange, possibly the only one who can help him lift the curse. But a terrifying danger is coming, and saving the world isn’t an easy job to do when no one can remember who you are.

if only the gods had mercy on us and it’s sequel a soul too deep - orphan_account. (Vishanti, this series...  It’s so beautiful and emotional and heart-breaking and heart-warming. And it has so few views for so many words! One of my absolute favorites, VERY highly recommended.) 

Tony Stark loved Stephen Strange. He loved him more than anyone could ever imagine. But then a terrorist group attacked the convoy. Then there was a car accident. In the middle of it all, there is tired, battered love. (And, maybe, a little bit of genius)

From the Top - lucifersfavoritechild. (Everyone reads this fic. Written by the blogger Monarch Of The Ironstrange Ship, it’s an MCU rewrite around the relationship. Very fun.) 

“Stephen, if you’re . . . there somewhere . . . when I drift off, I’ll be with you again. I can’t wait.”

|| Personally, I think the MCU would be much better as a love story between Stephen Strange and Tony Stark. Don't you?

Starting from Iron Man, and going all the way to Endgame, with all the appropriate stops in between. Let's take it from the top.

UNFINISHED: Skin Deep - Mystical_Magician. (Super cool premise, and super interesting to read! The dynamic here is very fun.)

A battle that should have finally killed Stephen instead launches him into a parallel universe. Exhausted from centuries as Sorcerer Supreme, he chooses instead to explore this new world in any animal form except human. Having hoped for peace at last, he can't stand to be looked up to, to be responsible for others, to have the world on his shoulders.

If he'd hoped to avoid excitement, however, he really should have stayed away when he noticed an enormous explosion and a falling metal suit of armor as he passed through Afghanistan.

UNFINISHED: The End of Infinity - FriendlyNeighborhoodFangirls. (Self rec. Very long, very slow-burn. Canon-compliant Endgame fix-it. I’m trying so hard, lol.)

In 2023, the battle for the universe has been won. At a cost no one can forget, the fight is over—for all but one. Stephen Strange has an idea. An impossible idea spanning dimensions and timelines, life and death, and the lines of good and evil. But he's played impossible odds before—perhaps he never stopped.

All that Loki wanted was to fight, one last time, for the fate of his universe. So when he finds himself fighting for another, crashing into the past, he has a few intended words for the wizard that forced him there. But not before he finds a boy. Or, more accurately, before the boy finds him.

Peter Parker had been waiting for the next mission. He just doesn't expect it to come from the future, armed with a ridiculous story demanding a ridiculous quest. And he doesn't expect not to be able to tell Mr. Stark.

Tony Stark is trying to rebuild from the Civil War, knowing that someday, something will come that he needs to be ready for. And he doesn't know it yet, but two universes are trying to rebuild around him, and that something is already here.

Seven Stones. Five dead. Two universes. And one impossible quest to tie it all back together.

UNFINISHED: Sunrise in Exile - Ragdoll (Keshka). (Another fandom favorite! And for good reason. This is really really good!) 

Tony does the math and realizes their best chance to save the universe is by... not confronting Thanos on his own turf.

So he steals a wizard and a spider and a space ship. And he runs.

(Three humans and an A.I in space, the alien friendships they make along the way, and discovering how science and magic might coexist in a universe where they can be one and the same.)

Shorter plotty ones: 

Out of Suffering - Mystical_Magician. (So this author??? THIS AUTHOR??? Very very good, much yes, very good.) 

Stephen Strange does not like people, but 14,000,605 lifetimes of fighting and dying alongside this small group have worn down his walls. He likes them, gods help him. He might even consider them friends. It’s really for the best that they all go their separate ways once Thanos has been defeated. In their eyes, he’s barely even an acquaintance.

Now if only Tony and Peter would stop surprising him.

moros - spookykingdomstarlight. (Almost got a spot in the angst section. Very good). 

There were fourteen million universes Stephen had birthed into existence and let die and, in far more than he cared to count, the visitor standing before him had become something… dear.

Shaking is Caring - mariadperiad20. (This is just STUNNING. Highly loved.)

5 times Stephen's hands would shake, +1 time they didn't.

It's Kinda Chalky - DestielsDestiny. (This one’s pretty short, but definitely worth it.) 

You can live an entire lifetime by looking into someone’s eyes. His sister used to say that all the time. Stephen never gave it much thought back then. These days, he can think of little else.

Something Magic - Imagined. (Beautiful!)

There is only ever one rule that matters:

do not fall in love with the enemy.

An Idiotic Theory - FriendlyNeighborhoodFangirls. (Self rec! I tried to be funny.)

His wizard has been cursed, again, and Tony's already used up his luck for the day.

(Stephen says it's not a curse. He says Tony's whole daily-allotted karma-based luck theory has minimal merit, citing the fact that Tony had come up with it while he was drunk.)

Tony really should have saved his miracle.

Love Through Time - babywarg (morphaileffect). (I love this one. It sticks with you.) 

Tony discovers an old drawing of, and finally remembers, his invisible friend Stephen from when he was a child.

Alternates - doobler. (Super cool!)

After being punked by a lowbrow magician, Stephen finds himself falling through doors to otherwordly dimensions. How will he ever get home?

132 - 28ghosts. (Soulmate AU! Very fun, incorporates Stephen’s time-loop with Dormammu.)

Ninety-nine point eight percent of humans have a soulmate mark that tells them the age their soulmate will be when they meet them. Tony Stark has a mark. It's just that his is...different than most people's.

(Or: six people who aren't Tony Stark's soulmate, and one who is.)

and when the world falls (I will fall with it) - HeavenChild. (Another multichap soulmate AU. Absolutely lovely.)

Tony will give anything to those he loves.

People will take everything he gives before leaving him in shambles.

Rhodhey, Pepper and Vision have had enough.

Or the five times Tony had his heart broken and the one time he didn't.

i saw the end of the world - JumpToConclusions. (Why has no one read this fic??? It’s so good!!! Stephen knows the future since he saw it on Titan, and things grow more complex from there.)

Tony and Strange are trying to make this work, this being remaking The Avengers. ...And maybe they'll stumble into something else along the way.

Tiresome heart, forever living and dying - Mystical_Magician. (R e a d  t h i s  p l e a s e. The mythology is so cool and the symbolism is so beautiful and the prose is so satisfying. One of my absolute faves.) 

As a fledgling crane, Stephen was too curious for his own good, and it was this curiosity that led to Eugene Strange finding and stealing away his feather robe. Trapped in human form, cruelly forged into the perfect son, not even his father's death freed him when his robe was so well hidden. He only managed to break his father's mold after breaking completely in the aftermath of his accident, and slowly gluing those broken pieces back together at Kamar-Taj, but not even magic could find what had been hidden. Enter Tony, after the defeat of Thanos.

Fluffy ones:

From The Outside - Live. (Hilarious.) 

Being a sentient life-form surrounded by humanity can be hard. Especially when said humans just can't admit their feelings for each other.

Sleeping Iron Man - Golden_Asp. (Another fun one. Perfect balance of ridiculousness with a touch of angst to make it interesting.) 

Stephen Strange stared at the Avengers on his doorstep, Tony Stark flung over Steve Rogers' shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "He touched something, didn't he?" "Yuup." or The one where Tony touches Sleeping Beauty's spindle, is put into an enchanted sleep, and everyone, even Rocket Raccoon, take their turn kissing him. But Tony only has one prince charming.

Doctor Ob(li)vious - lantia4ever. (One of my very favorites. So cute.) 

Stephen starts getting some weird looks from the Avengers, spanning across disturbed, confused and even scared all the way to curious. He dismisses it at first until weird turns into knowing.

And knowing turns into realizing...even if the scheming teenagers had to all but paint it on the walls for him to do so. Oh wait...

Applied Combinatorics in Two-Player Games - 28ghosts. (Short and fun and full of snark.)

After a battle, Tony Stark and Stephen Strange argue about games.

-

“Chess is not a solved problem.”

“Has been since ‘97, Kasparov versus Deep Blue. Kasparov, 1; Deep Blue, 2; three draws.”

“Chess is a game, not a problem.”

The Courtship of Peter Parker's Father (Figures) - flyingonfeatherlesswings. (Peter plays matchmaker! Adorable.)

Peter couldn't stand to sit by while Tony and Stephen danced around each other any longer. Something had to be done.

Speaking Eyes - Vrishchika. (Not Steve Friendly. Tony is amazing in this. And Stephen is so fantastically dramatic.)

Tony has always had expressive eyes.

The Signs of Sleep Deprivation - FriendlyNeighborhoodFangirls. (Another self-rec. <3)

"Tony said to put the potato in the dishwasher, so that's what I did."

Sometimes, Avengers just show up to say hi. Sometimes, they all show up at once, and Tony makes an party out of it. Sometimes, he invites the snarky, oblivious, somewhat insecure wizard because, and Peter quotes: "everyone else is coming".

Sometimes, something needs to be done.

Show Me Your Scars (And I'll Show You Mine) - Imagined. (Adorable. Lovely. Imagined does it again.)

The worst part is that Stephen keeps tucking his hands away, just as Tony wants to hold them. He keeps hiding them, surreptitiously, no matter what they’re doing. It’s only when Tony kisses Stephen, or hugs him, that he feels the hands settle on his back, uncertain, ready to pull back within seconds.

It only makes him want to cuddle up to Stephen even more, but he backs away, not sure if it’d be welcome.

Promise? Promise. - sharonscarters. (AU, kidfic, absolutely adorable.) 

A four year old Tony Stark runs away from home and finds his Guardian Angel.

What The Doctor Ordered - wakandan_wardog. (Post CW. Kind of not Rogues friendly? So fun, makes me smile. I re-read this one a lot.)

The Rogue Avengers are called back to New York because the heavy hitters are going to be needed against Thanos. Of course, there are some truths that Steve Rogers will need to accept sooner rather than later. Tony Stark has moved on and Stephen Strange will not suffer fools lightly.

Hurt/Comforty ones:

Among The Chaos of The Stars (You're My Safe Harbour) - ShootMeDead. (Oh my vishanti. OH MY VISHANTI. So so so so SO good.) 

Stephen has always been able to hear the stars. Tony is the only one who can silence them.

each night like a white noise frequency - Phierie. (I ADORE THIS FIC. OKAY. I LOVE IT. READ IT.)

Stephen is no stranger to making hard choices. He doesn’t regret his actions on Titan, but months later they weigh on his mind heavier than ever; the cracks begin to show.

Just An Accident - CucumbersInGold. (I really like fics with Stephen’s hands and the difficulties thereabout. Idk, just one of my favorite things. This is beautiful). 

Stephen's hands act up.

Learning, Unlearning - Caaaaaaas. (More character study than anything else. Really good.)

Whatever Stephen wanted with life, life just didn’t seem to know what to do with him.

In which Stephen learns and unlearns some very important lessons.

your eyes have their silence - doctortwelfth. (Oh look it’s another scars fic. I told you I liked them.) 

Tony is gentle with Stephen’s hands even when Stephen forgets to be.

Burning Lines Into The Snow - petroltogo. (Not very Steve friendly. Short and sweet.)

Post CW: It's not just the team that's so broken they are barely able to comprehend how many parts they're missing now, how many have been ripped and twisted and torn. It's Tony as well, right down to the core, the damage so far-reaching even he doesn't know how to fix it.

And then there's Strange, who has his own way of covering the cracks.

Old Bones - CJtheWeeb. (Owch. Dumb geniuses trying to be invulnerable.)

Sometimes Stephen Strange has great days, where he was nearly pain free and his hands still enough to where he could pick up a cup of water and barely spill a drop.

Today was not one of those days.

something taken, something new - meowrails. (So in-character. The premise was a little off to me, but I’m so glad I decided to read this one. I really really like this fic.)

The ChronicConnection implement and app allows a person that lives with chronic or illness-induced pain to transfer their burden temporarily to a willing loved one.

Tony and Stephen sign up as beta testers.

Angsty ones (happy ending unless otherwise mentioned):

day one - days4daisy. (THIS IS SO GOOD OKAY IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE ON THIS LIST READ THIS).

Three days in Stark Tower. Stephen must be in bad shape if he just agreed to this.

His Merlin - babywarg (morphaileffect). (This author keeps showing up on this list because they are A LEGEND. A LEGEND I TELL YOU.) 

As a child, Tony imagined himself a Knight of the Round Table. Little did he know he would grow up to be a king. And that he would have a wizard by his side to lead him to either glory or destruction.

there is no heart for me like yours - turtle_abyss. (Soulmate AU! Wonderful. <3)

Being able to feel your soulmate - a phantom touch, a bone-deep awareness - is a divine torture. To know, but not see. To seek, but not find. To feel someone holding your hand and not be able to hold theirs.

Grace - StrangeMischief. (*cries in beautiful fic* Happy ending!)

“Pain’s an old friend.” 

Us...Me - StrangeMischief. (This will hurt you. So melancholy. Pepper and Tony live their life, and Tony remembers. Not a happy ending.) 

“I don’t believe in happily ever after.” 

One-Thousand Cranes - FriendlyNeighborhoodFangirls. (Self rec, sorry. Hopeful ending.) 

After it all, a man with shaking hands makes a wish.

courtesy - deathofglitter. (Dealing with the fourteen-million futures. So good.) 

Stark looked at him like he looked at the amulet that rested on his chest like a steady promise - dutiful, a bit burdened, and trying to hold a profound lack of personal emotion whatsoever, still personal enough to protect as anyone would a precious object.

La Douleur Exquise - BananasofThorns, StrangeMischief. (More pain. Pepper and Tony, and Stephen watching and trying not to wish. Very good, no happy ending.)

The before was easy. There were fewer boxes in their minds and no chains around their hearts. There was no hurt. No tears. No dreams.

But those days were long gone.

Stigmata - babywarg (morphaileffect). (AU! Soulmates again. Very interesting, beautifully done.)

Since Stephen was little, mysterious wounds have appeared and disappeared on his body, leaving mysterious scars. His mother says it's because he's one of a Pair, and he's absorbing pain meant for someone else.

*wipes brow* PHEW! That gotta a little more in-depth than I first intended... Have fun, my MysticIron friends. Happy quarantine. 

[scripttorture]

Far Cry Ask

hello ! thank you so much for running this blog - i've learned a great deal about torture and how to handle it respectfully in writing! i wanted to ask about something a friend and i were wondering about - the 'classical conditioning' that happens to the deputy/pc in Far Cry 5. mostly whether its actually possible for something like that to occur and whether it was accurately represented!

-

I couldn’t find the ask itself in my box any more (thanks tumblr) and it’s only fair to state that I have not played the game so I’ll miss any nuance in the story.

 Generally speaking my knee jerk reaction to a game like this using the term ‘conditioning’ is ‘Oh joy, torture apologia bingo night again.’ And reading over the plot summary, yep that’s exactly what it is.

 I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times: Torture survivors are not broken.

 There is no abuse, no pain, no act of violence that can take away a person’s free will. Their personality, their capacity to make decisions, their judgement is always still there.

 Torture does change survivors. The mental illnesses it causes can drastically effect a person’s outlook, behaviour and beliefs. But this does not happen in a way that torturers can control.

 Torture does not make people agree with their torturer, in fact the evidence we have suggests that the opposite happens. Survivors typically come out of torture strongly, radically opposed to their torturers. And often knowing survivors, seeing survivors, has a radicalising effect on their family, friends and acquaintances, as well as by standers who witness torture.

 Drugs and sleep deprivation can make people delirious. They can make people hallucinate and they can make people paranoid. But none of those things are agreement and none of them lead to violent acts. Let alone violent acts that torturers intend.

 I’ve covered this kind of stuff a lot because it’s a very common trope. If you want more information I’d suggest looking through the tags on coercion, compliance, compliance under threat, compliance under torture and ICURE.

 The evidence we have on torture is far from complete. We need more, thorough studies on every aspect of it to get a clearer picture of how to help survivors and how to prevent this crime.

 But we do have some statistics on the rate of forced confessions under torture. This is something we know torture can do, whereas every piece of evidence we have says torture can’t change a person’s mind.

 Drawing from historical French cases the rate of false confession with torture alone is 10%.

 Under torture an average of 90% people will not comply long enough to sign their own name.

 So if torture is all that’s happening in a story, or if a story is telling you that torture was the ‘only reason’ a character acted the way they did: they’re full of shit.

 They’re parroting torture apologia. And they’re drawing directly from works of fiction written by torturers to justify their atrocities. (I’m referring to the novels that came out of the Franco-Algerian war and I don’t feel linking to colonialist hate speech adds anything here.)

 They might not realise that’s what they’re doing. Accurate information on torture is hard to find. It’s often behind paywalls, untranslated and poorly publicised. Whereas torture apologia has become a set of standard fictional tropes. And since that’s usually the only information people have on torture it’s what they assume to be true.

 That’s part of why I’m here.

 The people who wrote this story probably didn’t have any malicious intent. They might even genuinely believe that what they presented is realistically possible.

 They’re wrong. Like… fundamentally misunderstanding the basic workings of the human nervous system wrong.

 And I think a lot of the reason this particular set of tropes still exist is because writers get lazy.

 They want to have a character dramatically change sides! But without the effort of writing character development.

 They want to have a character do something terrible! Without having to be morally culpable for their actions.

 They want to have the character attack their friends, only to have the friends forgive them with no lasting relationship conflicts/effects.

 And if you want to write something simple, without much effort or thought, then torture and human rights abuses are never a good pick. War crimes, torture are not narrative short hand. They are real serious crimes that effect far too many people in our global society.

 When Rejali wrote his textbook on torture it took an average of 10 years for survivors to see a specialist and get the treatment they needed.

 When we spread and support the idea that torture survivors are dangerous to the rest of us, that they’re violent and controlled by their torturers, then we feed in to the barriers that stop them getting help. These lies are used to argue against letting torture survivors emigrate, access benefits and access medical care.

 They hurt the most vulnerable members of our global society.

 Frankly they deserve better. And we, as writers, as creators should be doing better.

Disclaimer

Available on Wordpress.

[comfy-whumpee]

Whumping Safely 101

Many people in this community have mental health problems, face various types of discrimination, and have complicated relationships with some parts or types of whump. In particular, I aim this at people who care about the experience of survivors and others with triggers – partially because I am an abuse survivor who often flirts with triggering content as part of my love of whump.

Keeping your blog safe is difficult, takes effort, and is never a perfect process. But as the community grows and grows, it’s really important that we hold ourselves to a high standard. I would argue that this is a responsibility of all content creators, but especially those of us in the messy playground of whump.

I’ve got three sections in here: content warnings, writing with care, and community interaction. I’ve tried to make it navigable. It’s about 1.8k words. Shorter than a lot of drabbles! I welcome good-faith criticism on this topic and further questions on my own views.

Content Warnings

The biggest responsibility, in my opinion, is empowering your reader to make their own decision on whether they want to expose themselves to your writing. This also happens to be by far the easiest way to help people whump safely.

What to warn

This is a big and ever-changing topic. Some things you should warn for as a rule of thumb are anything NSFW, pet whump and box boy whump, drugs and alcohol, medical and hospital content, graphic gore, intimate partner violence, and animal harm. It can be tricky to draw the line of what counts – what needs a warning? If you’re in doubt, just warn it anyway. It doesn’t hurt.

If someone requests a trigger be warned for, even if it’s something that feels obscure or tame, show compassion and agree to the request. This is someone who cares enough about being able to read your writing that they wrote in! They want to be able to read it and enjoy it. You’re being complimented.

Otherwise, look at what other blogs tag for. You’ll see some variation in styles and levels of detail, but it’s a good way to gauge what people think is warn-worthy, when we’re often writing stuff that would already be R-rated in mainstream media.

Read Mores

The easiest way to make sure people don’t see your triggering content is to use a cut. Tumblr is not a very functional website and likes to delete cuts, but a cursory check of your posted content will usually tell you whether it’s worked. With asks, cuts are very spotty, so don’t be afraid to post an ask response separately with a screengrab of the original question. People often then respond to the ask itself with a link to the post, especially if it’s a whole drabble. Tumblr is weird and bad so just do your best.

Content notices

I.e., a quick summary before the drabble, usually in bold, to state what will be coming. I like to distinguish between using content notes (CN) and trigger warnings (TW) to indicate severity. Others might use the old phrase ‘dead dove do not eat’ to indicate this is a heavy piece, and often you will see qualifiers like ‘intense’, ‘mild’, ‘mention’, ‘referenced’ (i.e. it is discussed but not actively happening), and ‘implied’ (as the opposite of ‘explicit’). I’ve also seen a couple of people use ‘vibes’, which is a really nice way of demonstrating that it’s there, but not the focus. A quick paragraph like this, or just a line, lets people make a quick risk assessment on their reading.

This is also important if you’re sending in asks or requests to people. If you want to ask about something triggering, send an inquiry first about whether the blog is okay to hear it.

Tagging

Tagging is a chore, but it’s your primary way of warning people about your content. The main benefit of tagging is that you can be as detailed as you want, because can be tagging for content in general, not just triggers.

In a best case scenario, you’d tag the kind of whump you’re doing, tag triggers, tag characters, and even your ‘verses, because tagging is your index for your blog. If you tag reliably, you help your future self and your readers find stuff, and you also make your blog really dang safe. People who have unusual triggers can blacklist tags, and will pick up on your content tags to help them.

Don’t just tag your own writing. Tag your reblogs, tag your prompts, tag your asks. Yes, edit your asks to add the tags. Tag your images and gifs. Tag your images as images and your gifs as gifs.

If you aren’t up for detailed tagging for whatever reason, just tag for triggering content, and add stuff to that list if you’re asked to. My usual technique is to make a mental note of tags while I’m formatting and editing before posting.

Be aware that your first five tags will be used in search results. If you’re using tags that are associated with kink too, such as ‘shibari’, you might want to rethink your tag order if you don’t want interaction from those blogs. Also think about what tags might come up in non-whump contexts, such as ‘collar’ or ‘PTSD’. Some tactics for getting around this I’ve seen are adding ‘whump’ after the content or writing the tags in past tense (i.e., ‘collared’).

It is also a good idea to watch out for when you might be reblogging something whumpy that is intended as kink / porn / fetish, especially in images. Tagging these as spicy / nsfw / kink is a sensible move.

Writing with Care

Okay, now for the harder stuff.

I mean here to lay out some guidelines for how to write in a way that helps your reader build good faith. This is a much more nuanced topic, and it’s different for everyone. There will always be differing opinions on what should and shouldn’t be written about, what a good depiction of a sensitive topic is, and how to discuss that topic. I tried to strip this back into absolute basics that I hope we can all agree on.

Maybe your whump involves abuse. Maybe it’s gaslighting. Maybe it’s severe mental health problems, or addiction, or slavery, or you write about or analogise real-world issues. Whump deals with the dark stuff, and that’s a big part of its appeal. But don’t ever forget you’re writing the dark stuff.

(Try to) Know what you’re doing

Some of us play fast and loose with plots, medical accuracy, worldbuilding, and other things that get in the way of the pain we crave. This is all well and good, but when we start using whump that speaks true to people’s lived experiences, we shouldn’t be careless with it. I’m particularly talking about things that get represented poorly in mainstream media, such as abusive relationships, issues around marginalisation, mental illness and disability.

Be critical of media that you’ve consumed. Think about how its depicted things that you want to depict in turn. Look for opinions on fictional representations of those issues. Be aware that you might be more ignorant of things than you realise.

Look at how others are writing these issues, particularly if they’re writing from a perspective different to yours. If you haven’t personally experienced what you’re writing about, e.g., if you don’t have PTSD and you want to depict a character who does, seek out stuff written from or with experience. Listen to the experts.

If you’re looking for stuff about representation specifically, I recommend this collection of posts about ‘Braving Diversity’ cultivated by Writing With Colour, who are in themselves a fantastic resource for this topic, and have recommendations for other blogs that deal with intersecting issues.

Listen to others

Missteps are inevitable. Nobody is perfect. If constructive criticism is offered, that’s also a compliment to your writing. Someone read your work and thought about it, and thought you’d care about improving it. They’re offering themselves as a resource for helping you see your work in a new light.

Criticism is hard and sometimes hurtful, but even if we don’t think it’s accurate, there’s often a grain of truth in it. If someone tells you that your writing is harmful, think about why they’ve said that, not whether or not they’re correct. This is an opinion! Opinions are subjective! But what drove someone to send that in?

You don’t have to respond to all your criticism and definitely don’t respond straight away. Being respectful to those who are trying to help you means taking the time to consider it properly. Sometimes, they don’t need a response. Others, you might want to learn more about what they think before deciding. You might have already discussed the topic, in which case, you might just want to reblog your previous posts.

If it’s sent in bad faith or is outright hateful, you’re well within your rights to just delete it and move on. You might get the same criticism over and over again, and that’s exhausting, and you don’t have to retrace your steps for everyone.

But if it’s new, even if it puts your hackles up, you can always stop and wonder why someone felt that strongly about your work.

Take a step back

One of my better-known characters is a pet whumper who conditioned his victim to adore and depend on him. It’s not always easy to represent how deeply messed up that is within the text – though I think that’s part of the challenge – but in meta-commentary, I am always describing him as a creeptastic bastard lacking compassion and self-reflection. I hope to always give the reader the confidence that I know just how wrong it is.

This is a really simple thing you can do just to give readers good faith in you. Show that you know what you’re writing is dark and messed up. Show your understanding for the issues you’re handling and that they’re complicated. It might seem self-evident, but when you’re writing the really dark stuff, or unhealthy relationships, or institutionalised whump, you can inadvertently create the impression that you just think it’s fun. The fact that it’s fiction does not automatically absolve you. Show that you care about doing it right.

Community Interaction

I’m going to keep this one short and sweet because I will almost entirely be preaching to the choir here.

Be polite to others. Imagine saying what you’re saying to their face.

Don’t send anon hate. Just don’t. If you can send criticism off anon, do so.

Nobody is obligated to interact with you.

Nobody is obligated to monitor their own reader base.

If someone says do not interact, do not interact.

If someone says do not interact, why they’ve said that is none of your business.

You don’t need to spread the word about someone’s bad politics.

Ask yourself if your input is needed, or if what you’ve said has already been said.

You don’t have to take a side.

Take care of yourself. Take breaks. Remind yourself that whump is a small part of the world.

That’s all from me, folks. Stay safe.

[fox-moblin]

May I request that while the Links were asleep, Wild accidentally grabbed Twilight’s demented looking pinecone in midst of a nightmare?

Literally have to split this into two part because I got carried away, as usual. So bear with me as I reblog this with Part 2. :>

***

Twilight opens his eyes to find himself face to face with a set of teeth that could rival his own in his more ‘wild’ moments.

A puff of warm air is the next thing he’s greeted with and then the entirety of the being before him comes into focus, his sleep-addled mind struggling to make sense of his situation as the form of a bear quite many times his own size is revealed.

He flinches, but its paw is on his chest, pinning him down with ease, and he gasps; whether it’s to scream or call to the others, he never finds out. Instead, a hand appears from nowhere, slapping itself across his mouth and holding him tight; somewhere above him, someone shushes him. He struggles, but then there’s another hand on his shoulder, holding him still, and he relaxes just enough to realize that the bear is just staring at him. It doesn’t growl, or make any move to maul him; it just watches him with what could only be called mild amusement. He blinks, staring back at it, and then the hand over his mouth retracts and he looks up to see Legend sitting over him, grimacing.

“Hi,” the other hero whispers and Twilight can only make a sort of aborted ‘groan.’ Legend nods, as if agreeing, and then turns to the bear. “I think you might be crushing him, Wild.”

“Wi-!” Twilight starts, but then the hand is back over his mouth again. Legend glares at him and leans in close.

“Quiet, idiot,” he hisses, casting a glance over his shoulder. “You wanna wake up the rest of camp and reveal your secret to the others.”

Twilight glares back, but remains quiet. Legend purses his lips and draws back, sitting back on his heels and Twilight smacks his lips.

“...Your hand tastes horrible.”

“Oh yeah? Well, I stuck it up my-”

There’s a low moan from the bear still laying on top of Twilight and Legend falls quiet again, scowling. Twilight lets his head fall back onto his bedroll, eyeing the bear.

“Wild?”

The bear moans again, its eyes large and pleading, and now Twilight can see it; the faint scarring on the left side of the animal’s face is enough to tell Twilight that this is indeed his poor protege. He groans again and closes his eyes, desperately wishing this was a dream, but the weight on his chest remains and he finally places a hand over the paw, fingers grazing over claws nearly the size of his forearm.

“Oh, Cub.”

“Ha,” Legend huffs, somewhere to his right. “More accurate than ever.”

Twilight opens his eyes again, eyeing Legend as the other hero rocks back and forth on his heels, then Wild, who is staring at him with the same intensity as always; his eyes are still the same brilliant blue, a sharp contrast to the dark brown of his fur, and Twilight smiles softly, patting his paw lightly.

“We’ll figure it out,” he whispers and then sits up, Wild drawing back just enough to allow it. Twilight sighs, pushing a hand through his bangs. “So,” he drawls. “How exactly did this happen?”

His necklace is gone from around his neck and he has a pretty good idea who has it. Legend finally plops down on the ground fully, glancing behind him to where the others are still sleeping.

“Watched the whole thing happen,” he starts, voice quiet. “I was on watch, y’know, and I was checking in on everyone. Turned around just in time to watch…”

He trails off and Twilight stiffens as Legend’s face twists, almost painfully, until he realizes that the grimace is from Legend trying not to smile, his cheeks puffing out as his shoulders begin to shake.

“Wild was all shaking and whimpering and then he just rolled over and, and,” he pauses, stifling a laugh into the crook of his elbow. Wild growls, low and rumbling, but Legend ignores him. “He rolled over and grabbed your necklace in his sleep and boom! Bear.” He dissolves into breathy chuckles, face red with the effort to stay quiet. Twilight watches him, annoyance building in his chest.

“You didn’t think to intervene?”

Legend looks up and rolls his eyes.

“You think I had the time? You think I was gonna stop him during a nightmare; I’ve seen how hard he punches. Besides,” he says and leans back on his hands. “It’s your fault for sleeping so close together.”

Twilight doesn’t dignify that with a response, choosing instead to push himself into a standing position and take full stock of the situation; the main problem isn’t hard to see: Wild is currently a 600 lb bear, all teeth and claws and scarred skin, who looks more than a little put off. The other problem also comes as a bit of a blessing; the others are asleep and are, thus, unaware of recent events.

Which is nice.

The more troublesome part is made apparent when Sky, snoring as loud as ever, rolls over to reveal the Master Sword held snugly in his arms. Legend curses under his breath.

“Things can never be easy,” he mutters. Twilight hums in agreement.

“Won’t be like last time; wakin’ up to find a strange rabbit in your camp is one thing. Wakin’ up to find a fully grown bear is another. We’ll have to be careful not to wake anyone else.”

Wild visibility perks up at the mention of a rabbit, but Twilight doesn’t elaborate for Legend’s sake; the other hero already looks uncomfortable enough at the memory, and he’s sure that Wild will ask a plethora of questions once this is all over.

“We’ll need a plan.”

“Of course.”

It’s a delicate affair, discussing their course of action while surrounded by a group of sleeping heroes who’ve been trained to wake at the slightest sense of danger. Twilight and Legend talk in hushed tones, drawing in the dirt and thanking Hylia that the light of the full moon is bright enough to see. Wild does his best to contribute, pawing at the ground, using his claws to make marks, and rumbling his disapproval when they finally reach a solution.

“I know it ain’t the best plan,” Twilight whispers, tugging gently at Wild’s ear. “But it’s all we got.”

“My watch doesn’t end for a while yet,” Legend says, already wrapping his own sword in Twilight’s blanket. “We should have enough time to switch the swords, get Wild out of here, change him back, return to camp, and then replace the swords again before Four wakes up for the next watch.”

Twilight nods, then pauses, glancing to where the smallest member of their group is curled up on his bedroll.

“Or... we could wake Four to help out.”

The look Legend gives him reminds him of Ilia’s face when he told her about his idea to go live alone in the woods.

“You want to get more people involved in this?”

“He already knows about me and the whole wolf-thing.” Twilight insists. “It ain’t like he could make the situation any worse.”

“How many other people know that the weird pinecone around your neck can turn people into animals?”

“It ain’t a pinecone,” Twilight hisses, more than a little offended, and Wild grumbles in agreement. “And only Four. And Time. Obviously.”

“Oh, obviously,” Legend scoffs and crosses his arms, before sighing. “Fine. We wake Four; he can help switch the swords out since he’s small, or whatever. But,” he says, and fixes Twilight with a stare. “We’re not waking Time. Hylia knows he’ll pitch a fit if he sees this mess.”

“Agreed,” Twilight says and Wild nods, nudging Legend’s shoulder with his nose.

“Yeah, yeah,” Legend huffs, swatting him away. “You two better get going; we passed by a clearing earlier that should be far enough away that no one will notice the change back.” He grimaces, looking at the others. “You’ll have to sneak past them.”

“We can make it,” Twilight assures him and stands. “We’ll wake up Four on the way and send him over to ya. Sure you can handle the sword switch?”

“I once stole a sword from Ravio’s shop while he was talking to me.” Legend mutters, rolling his eyes. “I think I can take the Master Sword from a sleeping Sky.”

Twilight doesn’t feel too convinced. The way Wild whimpers as he, too, gets to his feet, lets him know that his protege is also less than confident in Legend’s claim. He lets it go, though, in favor of patting Wild’s shoulder and motioning for him to follow; it’s a funny sight, watching a fully grown bear attempt to tiptoe around the sleeping forms of their companions, and Twilight sends Wild a small smile of encouragement as he leads him through the camp.

They stop by Four on their way, Twilight kneeling down beside him and shaking his shoulder lightly; Four jerks awake anyways and Twilight winces in sympathy, bringing a finger to his lips and nodding to where Wild is standing by, trying his best to look as small as possible despite his current form. Four blinks.

“Wild turned into a bear,” Twilight whispers, shrugging when Four looks at him, incredulous, before sighing and shaking his head.

“I knew this day would come.”

“What?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Four says, ignoring Twilight’s confusion and standing, yawning as he does. “I’m assuming you have a plan?”

“Legend-” Twilight starts, but Four just nods and then begins to walk to where Legend is edging his way over towards Sky.

“I’ll go help Legend,” he says quietly, and waves them off. Twilight glances at Wild, who only flicks his ears in response.

“Alright then,” Twilight whispers, still a little taken back, and then together he and Wild resume their mission to sneak away; they make it all the way to the edge of camp, slipping past Wind as he drools over his pillow, and Hyrule, who looks to be doing a wonderful impression of a starfish. Warriors almost gets them, turning over in his sleep with a grumble as they walk by; Twilight stutters to a halt, Wild nearly knocking him over as he bumps into him from behind, and together they watch as Warriors murmurs something about a fairy, before burying his face back into his pillow.

“That was close,” Twilight mutters and then turns only to find himself staring down at a very much awake Time. He freezes, shoulders seizing up. Beside him, Wild tenses as well.

Time’s gaze is piercing, his lips drawn into a tight line, and Twilight flinches involuntarily as his mentor slowly cocks his head to the side. Behind him, Wild shuffles, a low whine leaking from his mouth.

It’s the standoff of the century, the three of them motionless in the middle of camp, surrounded by their sleeping companions. Twilight swallows, the sound audible in the silence of the night, and Time raises an eyebrow, gaze slowly travelling to Wild, who visibly shrinks back as Time untucks his hands from his blanket and gives them each a pointed glare, before signing;

I don’t want to know.

Twilight nods and watches as Time narrows his eye, before turning back over and very obviously ignoring them.

A quick glance back at Wild is all Twilight does before sneaking the rest of the way out of camp and into the woods, his protege at his heels.

The clearing isn’t too far, but there’s enough distance between it and camp that the others won’t notice the glow of transformation magic. Wild plops down in the soft grass almost immediately, rolling over onto his back and sighing in obvious relief. Twilight joins him, smirking as he comes to stand beside his protege before throwing himself backwards over the other’s stomach, chuckling when Wild growls in surprise. A huge paw comes down to cover his face, but there’s nothing more than playfulness behind the action. Twilight pushes it away, laughing at the lack of resistance; he can tell Wild is holding back, a certain nervousness in his movements that comes with being in a strange form.

“You won’t hurt me, Cub,” Twilight reassures him. “I trust you enough not to crush me.”

There’s a rumbling below him as Wild responds, blinking up at him with wide eyes, and Twilight let’s his head fall back with a sigh. His protege is warm, his newly acquired fur thick and fluffy; it’s maybe not as soft as Twilight would have hoped, but it’s comfortable enough that he grumbles when Wild sits up, jostling him. His sounds of disappointment soon turn to surprise, however, when, instead of letting him back down to the ground, Wild catches him in his paws and sets him on his lap, a satisfied huff escaping him as he clumsily pats Twilight’s head. Twilight scowls.

“You’re messin’ up my hair.”

“Brrrrrrrrooooooaaaaaaaaam.”

“That better not have been a joke.”

“Hrrrrm.”

“Keep it up and I won’t help you change back when Legend and Four get here.”

They don’t have to wait long for the other two members of their group; Legend makes his presence known almost immediately upon entering the clearing, his barking laughter breaking their moment of calm so suddenly that Wild nearly squeezes Twilight to death in surprise. Four is chuckling beside him, the Master Sword cradled in his arms.

“You two look like you’re straight out of a child’s tale,” Legend guffaws, only to yelp when Four smacks him on the back of the head, scowling.

“You wanna wake the whole forest?”

Twilight only leans back against Wild, crossing his arms and nodding to the sword.

“I see your mission was a success.”

“Oh yeah,” Four says and hefts the sword, still sheathed. “Simple as pie.”

“I didn’t think Sky would be so easy to steal from, ‘specially when it comes to her. Figured he woulda been up the minute you laid a single finger on the sword.” He grins. “Can’t believe you managed to just take it from him all simple like that.”

“Oh no, we drugged him.” Legend says, stretching, and it takes a moment for Twilight to realize he’s serious.

“You what?”

“We drugged him,” Four repeats, bringing the sword over and handing it to a stunned Twilight. “Rummaged through Wild’s bag - sorry - and grabbed that sleeping potion he got from the last town.”

Wild groans at that, bringing a paw up to his face, and Twilight grimaces.

“That ain’t very nice.”

“Did you want the sword or not?”

“How’d you even get him to drink it?”

“Poured it right down his throat,” Legend says proudly, motioning with his hands. “Shloooop. Didn’t even choke.”

“Listen,” Four interrupts before Twilight can say anything. “We got the sword, so let’s just change Wild back and be done with it. I’m tired and it’s nearly daybreak - my shift started an hour ago and I’m not even there to keep watch.”

Legend shrugs.

“It’s my Hyrule - these woods are as safe as they come.”

Twilight doesn’t dignify that with a response, just rolling his eyes and getting to his feet, before turning to Wild and presenting the Master Sword, unsheathed.

“Here, Cub. All yours.”

Wild eyes him, suspicion clear on his face despite being… a bear… and then reaches a paw out. His claws barely touch the surface of the hilt before there’s a flash of blue light and then Twilight’s protege is standing there, whole and hearty, looking only a little more disheveled than usual.

“Ugh,” he says, bringing a hand to his forehead. “Head rush.”

Twilight places a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it once before bending down to collect his necklace where it had fallen. When he straightens back up, it’s to see Legend and Four snicker to each other as Wild holds a length of his own hair in his hands.

“Ah,” Twilight says and chuckles. “You look good as a brunette.”

“What the fuck,” Wild moans and then brings the hair closer to his face for inspection. Legend and Four are still laughing, watching as Wild reaches back for his ponytail, groaning as he sees that it, too, has turned a lovely shade of brown, the very tips of it a dark golden.

“It’ll fade, Cub,” Twilight says, laughing along with the others, but Wild only glares at him.

“How am I gonna explain this to the others?”

Legend comes forward, leaning in close and pursing his lips.

“How are you gonna explain your teeth? That’s the real question.”

“What do you mean ‘how am i gonna explain my- ah!” Wild reaches up, putting a finger to his mouth and whimpers. “Why are they sharp?”

“It’s just a side effect, Wild,” Twilight tries, placing his hand back on the other’s shoulder. “They’ll both fade away.” He motions to his forehead, finger trailing down his nose. “They’re only permanent if you stay a beast for too long.”

“Wait,” Wild exclaims, suddenly abandoning his worrying over his teeth and whipping around to face Legend. “That’s why you had pink hair for a week!”

“Uh,” Legend starts, but Wild is already grabbing his arm and squeezing.

“What do you turn into?”

“Um.”

“A rabbit,” Twilight supplies helpfully and he can see Wild processing the words, before a grin slowly stretches its way across his protege’s face; Legend frowns, cheeks reddening as WIld bites his lip and steps back, clearly trying not to laugh.

“Well that’s… cool…”

“Shut up.”

“What, what? I said that it’s cool.”

“I wonder what I would be.”

The last part is said by Four, quiet as the crickets singing in the woods, and Twilight turns to him, surprised. Wild and Legend pause in their argument as well, both donning equal looks of curiosity.

“We should totally try it out,” Legend proclaims, already stepping forward.

“Yes. Yes, we should,” Wild agreed, following.

“Oh no,” Twilight tries, but Wild is already yanks Four over, motioning for Twilight to give him the necklace.

“Does it hurt?” Four asks, wincing as Legend pushes him from behind.

“No,” Legend says, rolling his eyes.

“Yes, Twilight responds, grimacing.

“I was asleep,” Wild finished, taking Four’s hand and placing it over Twilight’s necklace before the other has the chance to stop him. There’s a yelp, a flash of light, and then the three of them are staring down at Wild’s palm, where a very small, and very disgruntled, mouse is staring back at them, its honey blonde fur seemingly split into four shades across its back.

Legend is the first to break the silence, letting out a whoosh of air as he reaches forward to tap the mouse on the head.

“Hylia… that’s hilarious…”

“I’m sorry, Four,” Wild murmurs, bringing the mouse up to his face. “But it seems you're still the smallest among us.”

There’s an indignant squeak from the mouse, it’s black whiskers twitching and Twilight finally sighs, taking pity of Four and bringing the Master Sword up.

“Here,” he says, feeling more than a little exhausted by the situation. The mouse reaches forward, there’s a flash, and then Four is once again standing before them, his hand still gripped in Wild’s. He shakes his head, like a dog ridding itself of water, and scowls.

(TBC)

[dizzydancingdreamer]

Hiii 🥺 if i could ask, how do you outline your works in general? books, short stories, one shots? What are the differences? 🥺🥺

Hey I love this-- here's a little walk through of what I do. Bear in mind I do really heavy outlines-- lets go through it all, okay? It's not as daunting as it may seem

Click keep reading to see an extensive guide to outlining stories!

Books!

So I'm going to use the Maze Runner re-write I'm working on (no one steal my shit I will be sad)

First off, I get all my templates from Evernote they have some really great templates and they range from when you want to plan a little bit and when you want to plan a lot, here is the link !!!! I recomend highly!

I start with the basics. Title, genre, series (yes or no), premise, setting. I add a box to keep my dates (if you see, I'm not good at filling them in, thank god docs keeps a history so I can later. This isn't necessary I just think its fun-- like a scrapbook of my progress!)

I then add a story premise template-- this one's important!!! It's like the shortest summary for when you need to go back while writing and remember things quickly. I add details like slang (ex: the maze runner uses terms that are made up so I need to remember to use them when writing), the main events (inciting and conflict will do), and my main goal!

After this you can choose to add which template will work best for planning the story. Some people choose to do the characters first but I, in this case, chose story because I am drawing off a series that already exists and plan to stick relatively close to that. In any other case I might have planned characters first but it's up to you!

The templates for planning your story range from very in depth to not at all-- I'll lay them out for you and you can choose the best for you!

The least in depth (derived from screenwriting, this method offers just a brief outline of what you want to write, leaves a lot of room for movement as you write) : Story Beats

More in depth but not crazy (goes through all the main parts of your book, lets you focus closer to the details singularly as opposed to part of a whole, a happy middle) : 3-Act Structure

The most in depth, full crazy (plan every chapter, the exact way you want things to plan, note: you may do this and then get thrown a curve ball while writing but that is OK!) : Chapter Outline

Here is an example of my chapter outlines (again, people, don't steal my shit please I beg do not)

As you can see-- I do all the outlines LOL but this is the only one worth showing and it's the only one I focus on when I write. These are about as detailed as I get-- it's important to leave room for your characters to breathe. This is as much their story as it is yours-- if they're trying to do something you should let them do it. Natural flow is always best.

Next I dive into characters (again, you can do this first-- this is like cooking, there's a recipe but season things how you prefer to make it your own!)

First I start with a simple breakdown : The Character Master List

This includes main characters, antagonists, additional characters

An example below :)

After this I get wild-- I only do this with my protagonist(s) (in this case Ellie and Gally) and I go as in depth as I can. Every little thing I can think of about my characters gets written down. To write a book is to know your characters better than you know yourself. Their likes, dislikes, motivations, nervous habits, sleep schedules, every freckle and mole-- all of it. If you know your characters, you know your story. If you love your characters, you love your story.

Here is the template I use, again I strongly recommend : Character Profile / things I added

(On the templates (it's a dousy): full name, age, occupation, situation, motivation, height, build, skin tone, hair, eyes, facial description, prominent features / distinguishing marks, style of dress, mannerisms / gestures, how they perceive themself, one word used to describe themself, one paragraph, self perceived best personality trait / worst trait, self perceived best physical trait / worst trait, how they think others see them, something they would change about themself, one of voice, language / accent, fave phrases, personality, habits, ambition, greatest fear, biggest secret, how does this character get along with other characters, where they were born / grew up, important past events, family, current home, finances, occupation, education, health, religion, interests / hobbies, opinion of people in general, does the character hide their emotions from others?, person they hate most, best friends, love interests, person they go to for advice, person they feel responsible for, person character feels awkward around, person character openly admires, person character secretly admires, most important to character at the beginning / end)

See example, do not steal example (I know, redundant, but necessary)

Finally after characters I move on to world building. This is important! You need to understand the location and time so that you can write an accurate (or not) story!

Again, here is the template : Worldbuilding Basics

(On the templates: story location, time period, climate, geography, borders / what's beyond, architecture style, how do people get around, distinctive sights / sounds / smells, how many people live there, where do they live, how do they make a living, is the economy healthy, what is family life like, history of the place, the political situation, who are the leaders, the languages spoken, how do the people dress, what role does religion / superstition play, what holidays are important, what's the food like, what are the forms of entertainment, how do the younger generations differ from the old)

From here the rest is up to you, these are the things I recommend. As you can see from my screenshots, I do a lot for my planning.

Some other things you can think to incorporate are:

- General ideas (a place to keep things you need to remember while writing: themes, reoccurring motifs and metaphors, notes, scene ideas)

- Things to remember while writing (like general ideas but also not, a place to add notes about your characters, I like to write their habits here and keep it open while writing so that my characters remain somewhat consistent)

- Movie Script (For fanfiction books; I usually write my own dialogue but sometimes the movie does a good job of summing the basics, Ex: Alby goes over the basics of the glade and it made more sense to give him those lines again, can save you heartache)

Annnnnd that's all I do for books-- the outline I shared is about forty pages LOL so it's a lot but in my experience it's worth it!! Again, do what suits you always but this is what I find works.

Short Stories!

Usually my short stories are a very summed up version of the books. I do the chapter outlines and a very basic outline of the characters. In this case what I usually do is put it all in one doc-- outline and work as one.

This is the best example I can use without outing important story details. On the left you can see the headings of each chapter-- I recommend using these so you aren't stuck scrolling helplessly through long fics (trust me, after 25k words it gets insane).

Each of these, as noted above, I flesh out the basic scene set up of the chapter. It helps me keep the goal of what I want to convey so I don't trail off (I have a habit of doing that).

The final thing I recommend is SideNote-- it's a life saver.

Once enabled it allows you to write notes that you can see while writing in order to keep your story consistent. It has and will continue to come in handy!

One Shots!

I don't plan these at all LMFAO

Okay, kidding a little bit? It isn't worth showing because all it is is the basic outline of what I want to write and then I just attack it head on. One shots I usually just write and write and write and let it flow. They serve a purpose at the moment and thus are best written in the moment. My best advice here is to just let go-- you'll thank yourself for it!

I hope this helps, nonnie, and I hope whatever you write is as wonderful as you are! Thanks for trusting me enough to come for advice!!