#i'm not gonna bother tagging all the characters or individual games.

[thatrandombystander]

Why do parts of the Dragon Age fandom always say that the mage love interests always betray you? I didn't understand this stance when I played the games initially, and I'm increasingly baffled by this stance. Like:

Morrigan offers to perform a blood magic ritual to save your life. If you refuse to go through with it, she leaves the party because she's frustrated you won't let her help you and she doesn't want to see her friend/lover die. If you go through with it, she literally tells you that she's going to leave after the final battle so she can responsibly raise the potentially dangerous child with the Old God soul away from societal influences that could harm the child/be hurt by the powerful child. There's no betrayal here. She's just a character with her own agency who chooses to leave your side, for perfectly good reasons.

Anders destroying the Kirkwall chantry and instigating a mage rebellion has nothing to do with Hawke. Personally, I'm miffed that he didn't ask me to help him (because fuck the Chantry), but even if you're playing a Hawke who opposed it, it's not a personal betrayal! If my friend murdered someone I wasn't close to tomorrow, that would be fucked up, but it wouldn't be a betrayal! Even after blowing up the Chantry he just sits down and let's you decide his fate. The only time he tries to harm Hawke and team is if you let him live and then side with the Templars to exterminate the mages (unless he's 100% Rival where you can convince him to join you). Of course he's going to do that! Your actions are antithetical to his entire worldview, and frankly it's a betrayal on your part because it shows that you never actually agreed or believed that he and other mages should be able to live free of persecution.

Merrill doesn't do anything to betray or harm you either, except in very specific circumstances she'll fight against a Hawke who sides with the Templars at the end of the game. Again, I'd consider this your betrayal, for the same as it's betraying Anders.

Dorian. What is there even to say about Dorian. He's a sweetheart who never lifts a finger against you. Even a low-approval Dorian will just try to work with an asshole Inquisitor as best he can.

Solas is the ONE exception. Three games in and we've finally got a mage love interest betrayal. Responsible for kicking off the plot of Inquisition and literally uses information from his time as your team member to install spies in the Inquisition and undermine you, and is planning to cause his own little apocalypse event.

And that's all our mage love interests! I refuse to listen to any more slander about "betrayal" against Anders or Morrigan! Solas is the only character who deserves to be shunned! Thank you for coming to my rant!

[sendpseuds]

1, 5 and 11 for the writer's ask? 😊

Goodmorning! Thank you for the ask 🖤

1. Describe yourself how you would describe a character you’re introducing

I'm gonna take some time and really think about this one... when I have the answer I'll make sure to tag you

5. How many words can you write if you sit down and concentrate intensely for an hour?

Short answer: I have no idea.

Long answer: I am about as fast a writer as I am a reader, which is to say, not at all — something to do with that pesky adhd filter in my brain I reckon — and for a while, it really bothered me [I won't lie, sometimes it still does] but I've started to realize why it takes me so long to write.

Basically, best I can describe it is, I hear the story as I'm writing it.

I hear the dialogue, each individual character in their own voice, even the prose, as if I'm listening to an audiobook in my mind. Obviously, this can be sort of awesome, I think it's part of the reason it's so easy for me to get into a character so quickly. HOWEVER, when I go to write it all down, I can't get ahead of the dialogue in my head or else the words get all jumbled up on their way from my brain to my fingers.

Basically, my brain doesn't have a 2x speed, so I'm stuck writing in real-time.

Then again, it's hard to complain when I just literally hear Obi-Wan talking in my brain all the time so...

11. Weirdest thing you’ve ever written/thought about writing/etc.?

I have so many weird ideas, man hahaha

To date, I think the weirdest thing I've written is A Very Strange Time in My Life, which is a strange short first-person slice of smut loosely inspired by Fight Club that I'm like, weirdly proud of.

I think the weirdest idea I have currently is definitely the fault of @yourfavoritefridge and involves Anakin somehow being the Mothman of Point Pleasent, West Virginia...

[from this ask game]

[redsixwing]

Trick or Treat 2024

Hello and thank you for participating in Trick or Treat! I'm excited to see what this year will bring. For general preferences: I am always down for LGBTQ headcanons, sweet things, spooky things, dark and scary things... My preferences are broad and if you enjoy creating it, odds are good I'll enjoy receiving it. Smut is welcome but never required. DNW: scat/vomit, omegaverse dynamics, pregnancy fic. Scroll down for individual fandom prompts and flailing :)

John Wick

If we matched on John Wick: I'm interested in the whole spectrum. Campy action? Superspy antics? For artists, intense color or character study? John and Charon both faked their deaths? Charon taking care of John's dog? Winston reminiscing about his favorites?

(Compilation of) FFVII

If we matched on Final Fantasy VII, you'll have already noticed that I like the Turks ;) There's a lot of quiet horror inherent in FFVII - we have technology that consumes the essence of reincarnating life. We have magic that is a stealable, loseable bauble. We have a massive corporation that uses its hired guns to do its ruthless will.

Reno bothering absolutely anybody. Elena receiving her first mission? The Turks as a whole being themselves; extra bonus if Rufus is also there. Rufus and the Turks being friends; Rufus and the Turks being intense together. Or on a sillier note, the Turks handing out candy to Midgar, in celebration of Spirits' Night (or whatever other Halloween analog you feel like?)

Elden Ring

If we matched on Elden Ring, you have found my current intense interest. /ahem I'd love fanwork about Mohg (I omitted Miquella from the tags because I would prefer him not to be the focus of the work, but of course it's fine if he is there! Feel free to use SotE material or not as you choose. My only fandom-specific DNW is that I'd rather nobody be portrayed as a wholly innocent victim here.) The Lord of Blood fascinates me, from his escape from the Shunning Grounds to his actions with the Formless Mother. Why did he choose to build under Caelid, of all places, and what was his reaction to its destruction? What if Ansbach and the Tarnished really DID restore him? Works about Marika and Radagon, Marika AS Radagon, how they bounce off one another, how he longs for perfection, how she embodies everything he can't have and must defend. Works about the Carians: I'm awfully fond of these moon ladies and their terrible Order boyfriends. Rennala/Radagon or Rennala/Marika is very welcome, as is Rellana/Messmer, sweet moments or spicy moments or character studies or random bits of plot. Extra points for weaving in references to in-game worldbuilding or your headcanons!

Art of absolutely any of them :)

Machineries of Empire

If we matched on Machineries of Empire, I'm open to all sorts of shenanigans, particularly those involving some form of A Jedao. Jedao One, Jedao Two, fox kit Jedao.. you name it!

I'm extremely fond of the Fox Kit Trio (Jedao/Yeren/Ruo). I'd be extremely gleeful about fanworks pairing Jedao (or Cheris? hoo hoo) with Kel Gized. That could be sweet, but we all know it's gonna be doomed in the end.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

If we matched on FMA:Brotherhood, I'm happy for any tone. On the treat side, they could give out candy for a celebration or enjoy a pleasant evening, alone or with friends; on the trick side, FMA has a strong core of horror. From the nightmares of the Ishbalan campaign to the grotesque results of alchemy, make 'em scream.

Thank you again - as you can see, I have broad tastes. I hope you enjoy creating whatever it is you're inspired to do!

[go-our-own-ways]

just unfollowed an artist who I didn't realize was super against the idea of shipping kaeluc and was writing really aggressive/antagonistic posts about it to force people to unfollow wow

I don't genshin at all and I don't care about the ships or characters either way but seeing the successive posts about it was p annoying so you bet I hit that unfollow

a shame bc their art was nice to look at, despite me not being a genshin fan or player... I assume I followed them for some other sort of art eons ago, and then they evolved into kaeluc-are-bros-not-gays artist

it puzzles me a little that an artist would get so upset over a pairing that they force fans away if they like the (romantic) ship tbh like...if a fan likes your work then they like your work? you can't control how people view or interpret it, man

but since it's kaeluc we're talking about ig I shouldn't be surprised, given the way the drama blew up in the past haha...

if they're not willing to understand that the original intent for those two characters was meant to be friends who are bros bc of the chn background of the game developers then what can I say

and in the first place, I don't even go here lmao!!

too old and tired to bother with it so naturally, I unfollowed lol

there is no art great enough to make me willingly subject myself to an individual's petulant whining

I'm glad they're setting their boundaries ig, but it's one that seems rather aggressive/antagonistic for me to want to bother having to witness being fought over all the time, so byeeeeeeeeeee

I'm not gonna bother tagging this as genshin or kaeluc since this is actually not about either but about shipping and individual interpretation discourse but ig I'll at least tag with discourse lol

[that-wildwolf]

I was tagged by @crescentbunny and I'm not tagging anyone in particular because I never really have a good grip on who's already done a tag game and who hasn't...

Anyway! Here goes :)

How many works do you have on AO3?

I write lots of one-shots, so this should be around thirty... Yep, twenty-seven.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

Where do you check that? You can check that???

*spends approximately 10 minutes going through AO3 settings they didn't know existed*

Cool! A lot of features I didn't know about. Anyway, um. Yes. My total word count is, for the moment, 471,674 words.

Wow. I. Um. Almost 500K words. But—and this is extremely important—I feel like this graph contains some vital information:

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Wow. Okay. I'll do this in chronological order because I never really counted.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Inheritance, Assassin's Creed, The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Attack on Titan, Fallout, Sarah Jane Adventures, Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, Steven Universe. I don't think I missed anything...?

That adds up to 13.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Of course I do! I thrive on feedback! Not implying that my entire self-esteem hinges on the approval of strangers on the internet, but comments are the best fucking thing ever! Instant serotonin for a whole day! Of course I'll reply! I love getting into little conversations with my readers, too!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Wow. I'm usually more of a happy ending kind of person, but A New Quest (which I wrote at the super proud age of 11) did end with half of the main characters dead and a memorial service for them as the last scene, so... You know. If you consider that angsty, then sure.

Fun fact: Crossing A Line was actually originally supposed to end with Shepard dying! The last chapter (which to me still feels a bit out of place) was rewritten completely. I'm glad I changed it, though. I'm having a lot of fun with the sequel!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

A month ago I'd have said Waiting Between Worlds without second thoughts—does it count as a happy ending when the whole fic is just a happy ending?—but it's just been going downhill the last three or four chapters. Pretty much every one of my one-shots in the When I Need You series. Also, Crossing A Line, I guess, now that it has a happy ending.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I... really don't. I'm wildly ace, all my sex knowledge comes from smut and porn and I'm pretty sure that if I were to actually write the adult stuff, I'd either go way overboard and make it too obscene to read or end up with something completely dry and clinical and unreadable too.

When there's sex scenes in my fic, I usually leave them implied. I say the characters had sex, but I never explicitly write the actual sex. I don't think I'd be good at it. (Actually, I've tried plenty of times and I know I'm not. It's the dirtiest, kinkiest filth you'd ever see and I'd really recommend against reading it.)

I do like writing the pre-chorus to sex, as it were, though. The sensual foreplay to the sexual foreplay. The soft or heated moments leading up to the act. I've even gotten comments about my lime being "extremely hot despite not being smut" and I'm more than happy with that description.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the strangest one you’ve written?

I used to write crossovers. Now I only sometimes write AUs based on a different fandom, like a Shakarian Kimi no Na wa!AU.

The strangest crossover I've ever written? Don't know if any of them were strange. I had The Wolf Among Us/The Walking Dead crossovers and Doctor Who/Sarah Jane Adventures crossovers, but both of those pretty much exist in the same universe already, so... No. No weird crossovers.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

God, I hope not. At least none that I know of.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. Plenty. A lot. I'd wager around 4 out of 5 comments on my Shepard Twins fanfic are negative. I haven't updated the fic in a while, but that doesn't mean I'm not writing anymore. I have around 50K words' worth of WIP of it. So no, the hate comments don't bother me. (A lie: they bother me a lot. They even make me cry, sometimes. But they're not gonna be the reason I stop writing a story I enjoy.)

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

My very first fanfiction writing experience, actually. In retrospect, I think that worked out great, because that kind of cooperation made it easier to carry the whole thing through, get it to the end, and was a very positive experience - which is probably why I've continued to write fanfic.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Ahhh. Royai or Shakarian? Royai or Shakarian? Stupid, since they're almost the same relationship dynamic, but they're both amazingly written. I'm edging a bit more towards Shakarian, because interspecies stuff is always a bonus. Still, it's a close competition.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I wish! I've translated other people's fics, but I've yet to have someone do that for me.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I plan to hope to finish all my WIPs.

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. This is going to come off as boastful, but I think I'm pretty good at replicating individual characters' speech patterns.

What are your writing weaknesses?

According to my beta, I use elispses too liberally. According to me, I have trouble with transition scenes. I never write in order, so I always end up with disconnected scenes I need to join into a chapter. And the join parts don't even come easy to me.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Not a fan. (When I write fanfics in Polish, I sometimes use English, but that's not the same because everyone in Poland knows English anyway.) If it's a made-up language in the fandom, I like to include some words every now and then in dialogue - especially when it doesn't translate exactly. I love spotlighting cultural differences. I actually learned a load of Jel words for my Murkmire fanfics.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Good times. Damn, that was a long time ago. *suddenly gets the overwhelming realization that they've been writing fanfic for the bigger part of their life* ...Wow.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Big Spoon/Little Spoon, a short Shakarian one-shot exploring the psychology of the Spacer background a bit. I also used lighting in a really cool way in this one! I'm really proud of it. Even when I call it "the Spooning As A Metaphor For Nationality Issues fanfic", I mean it in an affectionate way.

As far as non-one-shots go, I'm going with Crossing A Line. It's got it all: Enemies to Lovers, language barrier, interspecies awkwardness... Plus, writing from Garrus's POV is always a treat. I get to refer to humans as "aliens". What more could you want?

[raidenenthusiast]

you already know I'm gonna ask for genshin<3

GOD BLESS ILY 💖💕 i should mention that i accidentally closed tumblr halfway through answering this, so i am literally retyping all of it. this new phone has a very like, slippery screen n i'm not used to it so i was like OH SHIT HAGDJANHDBSN

my favorite female character: SUCROSE!!! i only have very minor complaints about her design (really i just wish she was wearing some pants) n the parts of it i do like (her hair n her ears n the COLORS) are so pleasing to look at. i fly around with her bc the mondstadt wings match her really nicely n she looks so cute. her little ears.......i adore her. she has a voiceline about how she wants to use alchemy to create a fairytale utopia n it's SO sweet n i love her so much.

honorable mention hu tao, bc she's actually the only female design i personally don't complain about at all (the bar is so low though) n i LOVED her story quest. i'm also a really big fan of how she's voiced in english (bc i play in english) n also she's hilarious. i'm obsessed with her dynamic with zhongli too.

my favorite male character: strap in kids. this is gonna be a long ride. i have a top three, although it's technically more of a top four.

tied for first are childe n xiao bc i cannot choose between them. i had a really fun journey with childe; when i first started playing, my friend told me they thought he would 100% be my type n i looked at a photo of him n went "ehhhh" so i wasn't really sure at first. i also knew the um. "reputation" fans of him had within fan content n such so i was ALSO wary of that being a very frequent fandom-goer. fast forward a little bit n his banner roles around. i actually decided to pull for him for GAMEPLAY reasons initially, bc the idea of a ranged user being able to use a melee stance was literally a gamechanger for me who wasn't n still isn't very good at archers. i did start liking him reluctantly at that point, but i didn't really want to admit it (very funny looking back) n i used to make fun of him a lot bc i was in denial. NOW i have him in my party (my incredible dps my beloved) n i have finally met him in story which made me fall REALLY hard REALLY fast bc believe it or not, canon childe is NOTHING LIKE fanon childe. n that's a good thing mind u. n the rest is history, he now means everything to me. i am soft for him daily. i also rescind my previous "ehhhh" about his appearance bc he is very sexy. i am ALSO very much an advocate for how griffin voices him n i could talk about the golden house scene for literal hours; it is THE best scene in the game so far.

xiao was sort of similar, my (same) friend n i both knew i would like him bc he is VERY much my type. we were right. i was hyped up to meet him n as SOON as i did i fell so hard i fell off a cliff. it breaks my heart every day i don't have him as i wait patiently for him to rerun. playstyle wise i honestly think he's really fun, but i would probably be saving for him even if i hated how he played, bc i just love him that much. i'm also obsessed with yaksha lore in general n i think about him a lot. xiao my beloved. he also has one of my favorite (if not my favorite) designs.

diluc n zhongli are the last two, bc i can't really choose which one of them i like more, only bc they're both important for different reasons?

diluc was my FIRST favorite character. i took a single look at him n i KNEW. first character i loved, first character i really wanted, as well as the character i tried to (n failed to) REROLL FOR. over fifty times, n nothing. i have him now, but goddamn. i have a thing for characters associated with fire, n as soon as i heard about the whole darknight hero thing i was like oh my.....marriage. i was heartbroken when i played through the chunk of the story quest where they let u trial him before i had him bc i wanted him so bad. he's literally been on my team since day one. i go idle with him to hear him say nice things to me. i love him so much.

n as for zhongli, he's. also special. the definition of comfort character. "he's more than daddy to me. he's.....he's like GRANDPA" HQGDNANHD no but seriously, he walks on sceen n i just feel safe. part of it is keith being so very good at voicing him, but regardless i love him very much. he tugs at my heartstrings a lot n i think he's probably the character the causes me the most physical heartache bc i feel so bad for him.

honorable mention dain, bc who would i be if i didn't mention dain. mwah.

my favorite book/season/episode etc: i'm gonna go with quest for this one! n i think we all know what i'm gonna say; OF COURSE IT'S ZHONGLI'S STORY QUEST!! i complain a lot about how this game doesn't treat tension properly, but i have absolutely nothing to complain about in either of his quests. particularly part two really held its own for me against the entire main story, in my opinion. i know part two just came out, but i am ECSTATIC about the possibility of future parts. also the only story quest i've shed tears over (although i came pretty close on childe's n xiao's). i even THINK about a scene from that quest n my heart breaks into pieces. emotionally, zhongli owns me.

my favorite cast member: in terms of acting performance, probably keith. in general, yuri. he is one of my all time favorite voice actors n i inhale everything that he has done like fucking kirby. i'm really attached to a lot of the english cast though; laila, griffin, khoi, erika, etc.

my favorite ship: this is hard, actually. what's hilarious is that all my favorite pairings involve zhongli. i honestly, at this point, think it's a tie between zhongluc n rezhong. bc rezhong there is just so much there n so much to THINK about, but zhongluc is very comforting to me, personally, n the whole dragon n the phoenix imagery stuff sucked me in like a VACUUM. i also really like guili though; basically, if zhongli is in it, i will at least think about it (sort of, see later).

a character i'd die defending: childe no uhh. in terms of characters who NEED defending, kaeya. i am so SICK of u people not knowing how to interpret him. i'd like to add in eula here too, bc i REALLY like her, n i think some of u went a little bit haywire. in terms of characters who don't really need defending, xiao. i would die for him, actually.

a character i just can't sympathize with: ironically i don't genuinely hate any of the playable characters yet. dottore is pretty fucked up so i guess him, but also i still find him interesting hagdbanhdnan.

a character i grew to love: besides childe? ganyu! i didn't NOT like her by any means, but i was mostly indifferent, n while i WISH her story quest had a little more to it...i adore her very much.

my anti otp: besides the obvious ones, zhongchi.....LET ME EXPLAIN!! i don't HATE it, exactly. but i got so irreparably BITTER about it clogging up both childe n zhongli's individual tags, to the point where i couldn't find enough content without it, i completely lost interest. i will accept nice art of it, but i also have a massive problem with how A LOT of fans tend to over/hyperfeminize childe in relation to the ship, which feels very disingenuous to me bc childe.....isn't a feminine character, really. he's just, i dunno, skinny?? if anything, his whole fight happy shit feels more masculine to me, lmao. it just very much feels like a lot of u can't accept a pairing between two men unless u put one of them in the role of the "woman" n it very much bothers me. like, listen, i know childe is canonically a malewife n i love that about him, but it's about the intent. n i feel HORRIBLE vibes from a lot of u people. i know active fandom genshin fans have bad vibes in general, but u know what i mean. i have been to this rodeo before, n i hate it every time. also, i see a lot of very mischaracterized childe in relation to the pairing too, n to a much lesser extent zhongli, but it still exists. basically, i don't hate it, but i am bitter. n it very much feels like a lot of u are turning them into ur token fandomwide homos which NEVER ends well.

please all i ask is if ur gonna ship two men can u at least treat them both like some semblance of men i am tired