#i'm sorry (and not sorry) that my main focus really isn't on ships >.<

[hoshiszora-archived]

[lordfreg]

Hello all,

TW for p3d0ph!l!a, z00ph!l!a

Today, I have gotten some allegations against myself for being a pedo + zoophile. This is not true.

As many of you know who are in the TMNT fandom and enjoy the spicy side of these turtles, you often get accused of this. It is unfortunate but true. I knew this was coming, but I feel like I must explain myself further.

As you know, I have a patron. This was actually made prematurely, and is sort of bad, so that will be closing shortly (I apologize). And on this patron, is the option to see "sexy turtles", but nobody has signed up for this and I have no patron exclusive content (yet).

Apparently, this is pedophilia and zoophilia.

(They have conveniently left out the "mutant" part)

This is not true. All the turtles are aged up, which I thought would be implied in the fact that I only (really) draw for the EPA au, and they are visibly, mentally and emotionally older than their cannon counterparts. I.e. wrinkles, more pronounced features, bulkier.

This may be my mistake for wording this poorly, or not taking the proper measures, but you would think the implication, and my two different art styles, would be a major difference.

Anyway, the zoophilia claim is also ridiculous because... seriously? My explanation for this is that they are not only canonically human, they also have been confirmed human DNA. Enough to make them stand on two legs, walk, talk, read, cry, enough human to make them, well.. human.

Another reason is that (rise) Donnie has autism; which is a brain malformation. This means his brain is big enough to not only be malformed, but still functioning. A real turtles brain isn't big enough to be deformed in that way, and if it was, the turtles would unfortunately die.

Continuing, I had the claim that I was "15" because I had put a 18+ only warning on my content. I am not.

AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT; I have put the 18+ warning not because of the sex, but because it contains extreme violence and triggering topics. Sex is NOT the main focus of this AU, or any of my works unless stated "this is for fun/this is because I wanted to/this is explicit" etc. My au is to delve into trauma, war, violence, sexual trauma (to both male and female), and generally bring awareness to things and help support people. It is NOT just smut.

This, again, could have been my sever lack of forethought and under-explaining my au, simply because I didn't actually know what my au would be about/contain. Again, I take responsibility for my poor wording and lack of (more) warnings.

Also, this person is actually just bullying me with my old self ship art (which i still love and adore), so... pity points?

More on myself; I'm coming to the realization (after years of being hypersexual), that sex is not a priority to me, nor is it something that I feel a strong compulsion to make/indulge in. I am not a sexual deviant, meaning I do NOT support harmful sexual behaviors. Zoophilia is actively taking advantage of animals, which I am not, and will never do.

It is unfortunate that some people genuinely cannot control themselves, but I am not one of those people.

I honestly have no idea what I've done to this person to make them put me on blast, and whatever it is, I'm sorry. I will, again, be taking down my patron page to start over, and I apologize to my patrons already, but it's sucky.

Again, sorry about this and for everyone who goes through this. I am sorry, dear friend, that you're writhing with jealousy. And I am sorry, patrons, that I have to close my patron. I love all my followers, and I try my best to send the "Thanks for the follow" to show my appreciation.

Myself and @lexiechr will continue to work on the EPA au, and that will be posted when ready.

(Also, my Instagram is now private because I don't want harassment nor people thinking I'm a bad person. I am just being bullied and bring a socially awkward idiot about it.)

Again, much love, Jorjie :3

[descendant-of-truth]

Y'know what maybe I'm not done talking about Journeys queercoding actually. maybe I do wanna work out my literary analysis muscles for the sake of Pokemon protagonists. why not

To clarify, this isn't about me personally enjoying the ship between Ash and Gou. I do enjoy it, but I'm making an argument for potentially deliberate queercoding in the writing, I'm not necessarily just here to gush (though that may be a side effect)

I'm also a firm believer that actions or behaviors that we typically think of as romantic are only made romantic if that's how the people involved feel about it. I don't think romance is the only possible way to interpret their relationship.

But when it comes to predicting where a story might be going next, or figuring out what the writers are intending to hint at us, I gotta pull out my textbook of Romantic Tropes first to see what fits the bill.

And I'm sorry, but even if it's not the intended interpretation, you can't include all of these scenes:

...and assume no one in your audience will think there's anything romantic happening here.

Of course, those are just the obvious visual interactions between them that can come off as romantic, to say nothing of the symbolic visual hints; the no less than four rainbows they've been under (one of which was reflected in Gou's eye), the two sets of heart-shaped pokemon that swam past them in a single episode which also had them falling under a rainbow, stuff like that.

But even all of that is pretty surface-level stuff. If the writing doesn't support a queer reading very strongly, then my argument for the queercoding being particularly intentional would fall flat.

Thankfully, the writing does support a queer interpretation, so I'm in the clear! Since breaking this part down will take a lot longer, I'm putting it under a cut.

So, right off the bat we've got the basic setup for the show. For the first time, the focus is primarily on Ash and one other person, as opposed to two or more people... despite having a third person in Chloe, who could easily make this into a trio dynamic, considering she's friends with Gou from the start. But they choose instead to make the core of the show about Ash and Gou.

This is even reflected in promotional material, where they'll often be placed closer to each other than Chloe:

Them being roommates is something I usually bring up as a joke, but it is worth noting anyway simply because it's another way the writers have decided they're going to spend almost all of their time together when they really didn't have to.

But now we gotta get into the real Writing Choices(TM) that are the meat and potatoes of this analysis, such as: making brief allusions to the idea that they might like other guys, too

One way to build up a character's orientation is to show them being attracted to people in shorter instances before giving them a main love interest. Think Luz from The Owl House; she had expressed attraction to both boys and girls before she got a girlfriend or started wearing a bi pin.

Likewise, this is Ash when he's thinking about Leon after seeing him battle for the first time:

I kid you not, he keeps up this blush and zoned-out expression for a solid minute, so caught up in thinking about how cool Leon is that he doesn't even think to eat the scones in front of him.

Now, Ash is a person frequently characterized by his love for food, and in previous episodes he had expressed a particular adoration for Galar scones, so this is pretty unusual behavior for him.

So unusual that it's. literally never happened before, to the best of my knowledge?? I don't think it takes much analyzing to realize that, even if it was brief, you could easily take this as Ash having a celebrity crush on Leon.

(There's even pink flowers in the background but that's probably less important)

Meanwhile with Gou, his "setup crush" in this scenario would be Horace. These two have a whole episode dedicated to their first meeting and the bond they forged, and how that turned bitter on Gou's end when he gets stood up right as he thought he was finally making a friend.

What sets this up for a romantic interpretation is largely the framing of things towards the end of the episode:

"Why do I keep thinking of him" is historically not the most platonic thing you could be bitterly thinking to yourself while you remember stargazing with someone, even if I do stand by my statement earlier of nothing being inherently romantic by itself

The end of the episode also implies that the feeling is mutual, if this shot is anything to go off of

(It's just a very shoujo manga-esque frame okay there's no way I wasn't going to point it out)

And the ending scene is two Celebies looking down happily at the two of them while the narrator talks about how pokemon form "many different kinds of bonds"

Many kinds of bonds, huh? Wonder what he could possibly be implying there

Okay so we've got orientation buildup, next in line is this. suspiciously consistent trend of characters who are close to Ash telling Gou to take care of him, or even going out of their way to test him to make sure he's good enough to be his rival or friend.

Gou himself even echoes the sentiment completely unprompted once, which says even more to me that they're trying to make a point out of this:

And here's the thing. None of the other companions have ever undergone this sort of treatment. Nobody questioned whether or not Ash's friends were good enough to hang out with him before, so why now? Why Gou? What makes him different?

Kiawe is relatively easy to explain because (from what I can tell) he's just Like That about rivalries, but why the addition of describing a rival as "the person closest to Ash"? Why does Gary suddenly care about the quality of Ash's buddies when that was never really a concern for him before?

Well gee I don't know about you guys but to me, this feels like the trope where someone's friends and family all start scouting out the guy they're interested in (or who is interested in them) to make sure they won't like, break their heart or something. And despite my best efforts, I'm struggling to see how this wasn't the writers' intention behind these plotlines.

Gou telling Ash's mom that he'll look after Ash on two separate occasions as opposed to the initial one also feels like an easy parallel to someone promising their love interest's parents that they'll be a good partner.

To my understanding, that isn't traditionally something friends also have to promise, even if there's more justification here as Ash and Gou are traveling around and getting into chaotic situations regularly.

So, with all this in mind, it kind of reframes the stuff I mentioned earlier, doesn't it? The blushing, the hand-holding, the spin hug that I'm never getting over, the frequent appearance of rainbows and the heart shaped Pokemon (Luvdisc if you were wondering)... it feels a lot more intentional once you take into account the bigger themes in the writing.

And once you start looking, it keeps piling up. The way Gou hurriedly says that he totally didn't want to help Ash out or anything after Scorbunny gives him a knowing look, like how most tsundere tropes tend to play out:

Or the specific way Gou is taken aback by one of Ash's compliments before trying to play it off by looking cool, only to be comically shocked when Ash gets distracted by something else:

I could go on but I'm running out of image space and I think you get the idea.

Ash's side of this whole thing is admittedly a lot more subtle than Gou's (*cough* because he's arospec) which is why I haven't gone over it much - my aim with this post was not to go too far into speculation territory - but we at least have marketing on our side for that

Gee Ash how come Animedia let you feed Gou two pastries

Anyway, in conclusion: I ran these two through the literary queerometer and the results were positive, thanks for coming to my TED talk

[stargirlie25]

This is the first and hopefully the last time i talk about the Elainweek drama.

Ima just cut straight to the point

People who ship Tamlain are not evil people! If they want to participate in Elainweek that means they generally love Elain.

Considering Elain Archeron´s character was not even created by you guys but you still get to decide on whom she can or can´t be shipped with?

got this image from @positivelyruined

Tamlains are fans of Elain! If we all just worked together to be more open minded we would realise it! This characters are not real so it is really about whether the pro elain community enjoys it.

Of course you can still do an Elainweek i'm saying you can't just create an event about a character that isn't yours and not include everyone. That is just messed up! Some Elain fans believe that this topic is unnecessary drama which is false!

A lot of people were looking forward to Elainweek only to be cast away because someone said so.

Im sorry @elainarcheronweek but you guys are basically casting away multiple people who love Elain.

Elain week should be about people who love and appreciate Elain.

Also to me it does not seem like your account is inclusive to everybody. I mean obviously but you even seem to lean into elriel more anyways. They literally have 8 elriel submissions and 1 elucien submission from 2022. It makes me feel that your account was not very welcoming to other shippers including Elucien. Maybe people did want to participate but did you promote elriel more often than other ships?

Even feycien was aloud in Feyreweek! It is really all about us as a community and what we do to make this fandom a fun loving space.

Bottom line: Elain Archeron does not even belong to you and still you guys somehow get to choose who is aloud and not. If you want to make a week be inclusive and diverse so that we all can have a great time. Many people (including me) were so excited for Elainweek only to be turned down. Keep in mind i am an Elucien and i have actually expressed my distaste for tamlain like i have for elriel. That does not mean i want those shippers to feel unwelcome in this event. It upsets me that you claim all fans are aloud to join but still divide us into sections. Even Eluciens (including me) are opting out because we believe in community.

Note-This is not an attack on Elriels or Elriel whatsoever! This post is not anti any ship just that we should all be included! When it comes to a character's week i am open to see all ships as long as the main focus is the character!

ANYWAYS if anybody is trying to make a real Elain Archeron week i will definitely participate and i hope that all elain stans and all the shippers participate to celebrate our Lovely bright Quiet dreamer.

[oh-no-its-bird]

hello dear author may i get ur opinion on genma. perhaps even genma/kakashi. perhaps. mayhaps. i just think they r neat and if u put them together that's double the neatness.

I love Genma so much actually, I think he's one of my favorite supporting characters to see in fics. Whenever I need a character to fill the roll of "random shinobi" I tend to default to him bc of biases (also his senbon is cool!! I love characters w a gimmick of just having like a toothpick in their mouth, and he has that but w a lethal presumably poisoned needle!! Love that for him)

I don't know how much canon actually provides for him character wise (never actually interacted with canon media lmao, I'm all fanfic) but I feel like there's honestly a lot of wiggle room with him

One of my personal favorite takes that (if I remember right) stems from a couple of @ blackkatmagic's fics is that he comes from a very small clan, distantly related to Orochimaru's own super small clan, the Orochi. Similar to how the Hyuuga and Uchiha are related

I lovee the mamma bear hc with him, I also love seeing him and Kakashi be any kind of friends. Currently I think one of my favorite takes on his and Kakashi's dynamic can be found in @vodkassassin's fic, Ear to the Wall.

Gemna only really shows up for a little bit, but the scenes he did get left a really big impact on me and how I see him (also the fic itself is amazing and is a very large inspiration for Orochimaru's involvement in Chasing Shadows, 10/10 read I HIGHLY recommend it, its a time travel fic but honestly even if time travel isnt your thing I'd still reccomend it bc its just one of those fics that fucks so hard you don't even care ab how you got here to start)

(<- spoken as someone obsessed with time travel fics)

Anyways, Genma/Kakashi!!

Actually thinking about it, I don't think I've seen any real fics about that pairing? I've run into it a few times as a past ship, like they hooked up once or twice or were fwb before the main pair gets together. But never one where they're the focus. That's tragic and needs to change immediatley

I love the idea of Genma being part of Kakashi's class when he graduated stupid young, never really interacting w him but like, existing. He wasn't Gai when it came to trying to hang out and around Kakashi, but he was certainly around.

No idea what he is in canon but I like to hc him as an information / infiltration specialist. So along with being around, he was also the kind of kid to really notice and keep tabs on stuff. (Konoha gossip king Gemna is THE hc to have sorry but I love it sm)

He didn't really approach Kakashi outside of any sort of casual nods or polite "hey"'s till after his whole team imploded.

I can kind of see him interacting with Kakashi in that in-between time where he was ANBU under Minato. But he was still mostly a very observant spectator, no real interaction

So then Minato dies and Kakashi goes off the deep end REAL hard, and Genma finally steps in. Maybe he joins Gai in trying to forcefully pry Kakashi out of his death spiral, maybe he approaches on his own, maybe he notices smthn or bumps into Kakashi alone while he's having a panic attack or smthn and there's a specific moment for that "final straw" where he finally decides to step in

Dunno!

But anyways that's when they start to get to be friends fr

I think Genma would be interesting and good for Kakashi at that point, bc he isn't a stranger, he knows what happened, he can make a lot of very good guesses at Kakashi's triggers and traumas and know what to avoid talking ab. But he's not Gai, who was sort of in the middle of it for a good portion of the drama, having a front row seat to it all. Which also comes with it's own emotional baggage.

Genma is a good middle ground, if that makes sense?

Also I think his calmer carefree energy would be good for Kakashi, especially at that point

They're pretty cute together!! If nothing else they make for very compelling friends when you really sit down to think ab it, and I can for sure get behind them as a real ship

Suddenly I need to go looking for fics with them as a pairing, I might come back and actually write something for them as a ship later

What's their ship name btw? I honestly don't know

[lyramundana]

today is five years since I started to follow stray kids ^^ have you even thought of a fan!reader and minsung in skz? how the things can grow between them? 👀

sorry I'm such a delulu -🌻🌻

Congrats for staying in this circus so long!!🥳 And yes. Fan!MC x idols is actually one of my favourite tropes, and I find it unsettling that there's not much content about it.

And don't ever apologise from being delulu, honey. My blog is pure delulu material and proudly, so don't hold back.

Anyway, here you go, my sunflower. Sorry for the waiting:

MINSUNG X STAY! READER

Reader has been a devoted Stay for a long time. However, as much as she loves all the members, Han and Minho hold a special place in her heart. Not only because of them individually, but mostly because of their relationship.

Because yeah, no one can convince her these two are just friends. She refuses to believe it. She sees the signs, the gestures, the body languages. You can't fake these kind of things. She feels it in her bones. She lives, breathes and moves for this ship. Plus, they look so fucking good together! You can say she's more in love with their chemistry than she is with them as people.

She's a Minsung supporter first, a Stay second. While most Stays dream of asking their bias questions about dating, their ideal types and trying to flirt with them, the only thing Reader wants to do if she sees the members is gossip with them about Minsung. She'll take any crumbs she can get from them about her favourite couple and feed into her fantasies. Of course, she'll also tell all of them how wonderful they are and thank them for bringing light to her life with their mere existence.

When the news of a fansign spread out, Reader fighst tooth and nail to get a spot there. She prepares consciously before going. She's so excited! She feels like she's buzzing in her skin from the emotions. She makes sure to dress prettily to make a good impression, but since she doesn't really have the intention of "catching their eyes", she's not too preoccupied. She's in for their music, their personalities and the hot homo couple. Sure, she admires how handsome they are and will most likely be ogling at them a bit, but she knows where she stands and where they do. She arrives just in time to see them coming and her eyes almost fall off her face when she catches a glimpse of Han and Minho coming off the van...together and exchanging sweet glances.

Yeah, she's going to take full advantage of this fansign.

She walks to the line and talks with each member while they sign her album. She asks them about their day, their projects, she compliments their songs and express how much she loves them and how grateful she is for all their work. She dares to throw a pick up line at Chan that ends up with both of them flustered and him giggling like a high school girl. But she never looses sight of her main objectives, and she almost faints right there when she realizes they're sitting next to each other, so while she speaks to one the other will hear.

Perfect. It's like they did it on purpose.

She gets to Han first, who receives her with that signature smile of his and the friendly behaviour he always displays. Even though he seems natural about it, she can notice he's a bit tired. Her heart aches for the boy, but it inmediatly dissapears when she comes back to her intentions. That's right. This might be the closest she'll be to the group, and she doesn't want to have any regrets later when she returns home. So she buries her growing nervousness at being in front of her bias and focus on the task at hand.

They have the typical converstation. He greets her, thanks her for coming, and exchange questions. She notices Jisung is a bit tired and isn't really in the mood to talk, so she decides to use the moment to catch him by surprise and make him ignore his exhaustion. Before he can sign another page, she stops him, making him look at her confused and even worried, only to tell him to sign somewhere else, an extra page she added. When he looks up to it, he sees this:

"You guys have my whole support. Please, invite me to the wedding" and a rainbow colored heart written in the entire page. He blinks at it and stares at her with a confused giggle.

She winks at him and throws a not so discreet glance at Minho. Han inmediatly stumbles through his words and almost falls of the chair. At least he seems to have energy again. The boy doesn't know if play along to pretend it's all fanservice or deny it all, but Reader whispers to him that "friends don't look at each other like that" and that she's incredibly enamoured of their bond, how happy she is for them for finding each other. Jisung listens to all in shocked silence, still feeling shy but also a certain warmness in his heart at the girl's words.

He expected the usual banter with a fan. Shyness from both parts, random questions about his life and hobbies, his ideal type and some flirting he'll usually play along with. At worst, some hater to spill hate at him. This, however, he couldn't have ever see it coming. When the time is out, he lets her go almost reluctantly but smiling at her so widely she knows it's not forced.

When she greets Minho, she notices the fidgeting of his fingers and his red ears, and guess he has heard some words. Enough to know what she was talking about. His english sounds so tiny and cute she can't help but say it out loud. He smiles shyly and thanks her, proceeding to sign until Reader stops him too, opening the album to the same page was before. He reads a bit slower than Han, taking in the words, and his ears are now completely red. He coughs and his grip on the pen is a bit unstable. He stares at Jisung's signature next to the heart and then smiles, signing right next to it. Reader wants to burst out of her body, and she lets out a tiny fangirl squeal at his gesture, at which he giggles shyly and returns at looking through the album. Much like with Jisung, she only asks a handful of questions for him before focusing on Minsung again. She talks completely sure that they're dating and she covers Minho on nice comments about it. He'll fight to not show a big reaction, but he's fucking melting inside. He starts to feel more relaxed and, unlike Jisung, he replies shamelessly to all her comments. She's overall really enthusiastic about their relationship more than she's with them and it amuses him for some reason. It's refreshing to have this kind of interaction with a fan, even more if she's respectful about it. Jisung is listening to everything not so discreetly and almost joins. When the time is up, Minho actually grabs her hand and asks the guard for some more minutes with a pout, but he isn't allowed. Reader is sad about it too but understands she has to go. She feels satisfied with herself for what she did and decides to keep it as a sweet memory.

When they wave goodbye at her, she winks at them and says that they look so cute together. They're flustered again but also happy.

Reader doesn't know yet, but whent he fansign is over and the boys meet in their dorms, her favourite couple talks about her and they both agree they wish they could see her again. It felt so good having someone so openly supportive of them, even if it was born out of a fan enthusiasm for her idols. They wish more people could be like that. They wonder if what she said was true and there are more Stays like her.

After that, the boys are already interested in having a closer bond with her, but it's not romantic yet. When Reader encounters again by accident during a date, she struggles between taking a photo for herself and run away to avoid the sasaeng charges or continue her way and pretend she doesn't see them. Before she can decide, she's spotted and they're surprisingly friendly with her. Reader expresses how honoured she feels for having see the Minsung on a date and basically have her beliefs confirmed and excuses herself for interrupting it, swearing she won't tell a soul (because she doesn't want anything to ruin her ship) and attempts to leave. However, she gets thrown back when Jisung, after exchanging a glance with Minho, invites her to stay with them and keep them company. "The more the merrier" he says. Reader feels tempted, the offer of staying to watch Minsung in their natural love bubble sounds too good, but she claims that she shouldn't be in the middle of a romantic date and they wouldn't be able to interact as openly as they would like with a third person there. But they insist so much she ends up complying. She's mostly in silence, watching with heart eyes every gesture they share, and squeals from time to time because they're so adorable together. It feels like a private fanservice show, except she knows it's not fanservice and has no idea why they brought her, but she's not complaining.

They actually include her in the converstation, but she makes most of it about them. She doesn't see the need to speak about herself when she's having this golden chance. In the end, they ask for her contact number (and her signature for a NDA contract) because the want to be friends. Reader doesn't even hesitate and agrees.

And that's how she becomes close to them. She makes sure to keep the distance at first and not get too into it because she sees them as idols, and so she feels them out of her league, while they try to make her more comfortable with them. Their dynamic is basically "gay couple x agressively supportive bestie". She lives off the romantic momens they have, encouraging them to be more expressive about their feelings when she's there and ready to fight any bitch that judges them for being specially affective towards each other. Minsung are golden in her eyes, they deserve to have love and they have something precious. She's not about to let anyone make them feel bad for it or, worse, make them stop having their interactions.

Meanwhile, the boys become addicted to all the love and adoration she shows for them, and get a warm feeling inside their chests when they see how much she supports them. It feels so good to have someone besides the members that knows about it and is completely accepting of it (maybe too much, but they like it). They won't ever admit but they low-key find it hot when she argues or fights homophobic jerks for them.

Eventually she gets to see them as friends rather than celebrities, and this comes with privilegues. Reader receives spoilers from new songs and projects, they buy her VIP tickets for concerts (they wanted to bring her backstage but she prefered to live the experience like a normal fan), they might show more fanservice than usual when they're in her zone. And of course, she gets the privilege to see the dorms. Reader wouldn't have ever believe she'll be friends with the guys she previously worshipped (and still does tbh) but turns out they make great company and she has so much fun with them. They find things in common beyond music and hang out often. Suddenly, she's in a group chat with both and there isn't a day where they don't talk.

As time passes, things start to...change.

Everyone but them can see it. They basically act like three way marriage without noticing. They include her in all their dates, to the point that they don't even go anywhere without her. She's at the dorms more often than Chan himself, usually locked in Han or Minho's rooms and barely seen by the other members. Minho becomes less of a tease with her and instead acts softer, treating her with the same gentleness than Jisung. The younger boy becomes more physically affectionate with Reader. Hugging her from behind, dragging her to sleep with him so they can cuddle, kissing her face and call her stuff like "baby". Minho forgives her everything and shows her a patience that the other members don't believe him capable of. Like, if she makes a mistake, he'll pat her head and encourage her to keep trying, but if the other members do, he'll scold them until tomorrow.

Now they don't feel comfortable seeing her show her admiration for the rest of the group. They're so used to be the center of attention that now they can't stand it when she praises the others or looks at them with the same adoration. If they catch her interacting with other members' fancams or videos, they "playfully" take the phone away and exit the app before return it to her. If another member (example Hyunjin) speaks to her longer than a few minutes, they're rigid. Oh, and god forgive they see her screaming someone's else name during a concert. After all, she's a Stay, so they're aware she can be attracted to the other guys. And they don't fucking like it. They're supposed to be her favourites!

Now come to think of it they may have a problem..

Reader doesn't notice the shift, or she does but her brain instantly processes it as "friendly" banter. There's just no way Han Jisung and Lee Minho themselves, being perfect as they are and happily in love, have a minimum of romantic/sexual interest for her. It doesn't sound right. They already have something great going on, how the hell could she be part of it? She doesn't fit. And so she tells herself all of this to ignore the butteflies on her stomach whenever she's between them, feeling the warm of their bodies covering her. When Jisung calls her sweet nicknames and kisses her cheeks, when Minho feeds her like she was a baby and rubs his head against her tummy to ask for massages. When they drag her to their bed to sleep in the middle and cuddle, each hugging her from the sides.

Yeah, that's all platonic. Nothing to worry about.

(Even the moments when she feels horny and burning with desire while she sees them being passionate with each other, kissing and grooping the other, and she can't help but hide her face in the pillows and make herself climax to that image)

But all these arguments she repeats in her head become dust when, during one of their dates, Minho wanted to drink and play games, and of course she agreed. Jisung hesitated because of his light weight thing, but he relented in the end to join the fun. The drank and asked each other private questions or dared them to do dumb things. The drunker they got, the more tense things grew in the room. The challenges became more suggestive. At some point, Reader dares them to make ou in front of her, for five minutes. The boys have no problem complying, gone as they are, and they specially put on a show for her eyes. Reader feels her skin melting and not because of the alcohol. Suddenly, when they stop with a thin string of saliva between their mouths, they look at her with darkened eyes and filled with an emotion she can't comprehend, but makes her cross her legs.

What happened next was blurry, but she remembers clearly the feeling of their warm breaths against her neck where their lips were hungrily biting her and the air hiting her skin when her clothes were tored off her. She remembers so vividly the way their hands roamed her, their husky voices, the delicious climax in the end and the darkness that came over her eyes when she fell asleep.

When she wakes up next morning unable to walk and with two familair bodies pressing against her, she knows there's no point in continue running away from the truth.

They have a loong talk after that, in which there are messy confessions thrown and some tears from all parties. It ended with a three way hug and a promise to try, to see wherever this lead.

In short, the relationship will be sweet (because that's how they are) but as Stay it'll add an interesting layer into it. I think there might be some power imbalance at first, because their dynamic is pretty much "celebrities x enthusiastic fan" and so they don't really treat each other as equals. I'll like to say that Minsung wouldn't be entirely comfortable with this, but I can't help but think some sick part of them would enjoy it. They would enjoy this power they have over Reader, the sheer devotion she shows to them, how she lightens up with their attention. Again, they're possessive and easily jealous assholes, so they like to know their partner utterly adores them.

THE END

[highlordofkrypton]

I am going to ask way to many of these

2, 3, 5, 7, 20, 31

I want to ask many more but I am restraining myself

PLEASE ASK AS MUCH AS YOU WANT, I'M IN A YAPPING MOOD!!

Linking to the ask game in question!

2. Anything you want to write but feel like you're unable to?

Porn. Straight up raunchy multiple thousand words for just filth. Feelings get in the way, we're all laughing or crying. I think it's an art to be able to focus on just the kinky stuff in a way that's engaging but not too anatomical. That's dirty but in a way that isn't gross, but just right, if you know what I mean?

I love smut, but the mental toll it takes on me to write pure smut is wild. I can usually shoot out 1k words in 15 minutes if I'm focused. It can take me three days to figure out like... where the character should kiss next 😭

3. How would you describe your writing style?

Oh gosh, are we supposed to use real writing terms? I don't know what styles there are out there, but my way of describing my writing would be: lived in.

I always say I'm a lazy writer, so I don't describe anything more than I have to. Usually, I will describe what matters to the character. I live in their shoes at that moment, and when I write, I embody their emotions as well. If the character is crying, my ass is sobbing over the keyboard. If they're angry, I'm rolling my eyes.

I do think that my style also means that the details I do include are a bit miscellaneous. It's natural to describe the setting, and clothes and items, but I feel like if you're really living in a universe, you get attached to the really random, if weird, shit.

5. What's a tag you never want to use for your works even when it applies?

THIS IS A TRICKY ONE!

Okay, let me start off by saying I am both pro and against tags. I think tags are a great way of searching up fics to make sure that you get exactly what you want, but I also think that for some fics it does a disservice to the fic. Disclaimer: I'm new to AO3 and I don't think I tag well enough.

So, on the point of disservice, I'll use my fic for example because I've been thinking about it for a while. So for Wildflowers, I consider it an ACOTAR prequel, first and foremost. While Tamsand is the main ship, I think by tagging the ship, it does the fic a disservice because the world is so rich, it doesn't just focus on the ship. There's so much more I want to gush about with people, and I find it answers so many complaints I see from ACOTAR fans who were disappointed by the rest of the books, but people will stop at the ship tag.

Also both characters are so polarizing in the fandom that if you hate one, you won't give this fic a shot which is FAIR but one of my goals was to convince readers to fall for the one they might not have thought they would, but yeah, I played myself with that idea.

I also tag to be safe than sorry so not to trigger anyone, but I'm very much a reader that is in for the ride no matter what, and I feel like tags can be spoilers, etc. Still, I do want to be respectful of others, but for me, I worry that if I tag 'SA' the fic might be misconstrued as it focuses on that topic whereas it's one scene that impacts later character development.

I wouldn't use the term never tag, but that's how I feel about tagging.

7. Your favourite AO3 tag.

Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne.

That's it. That's the whole tag LMAO.

20. Do you work on a single project or many at the same time? How does that work for you?

I've tried both and HOLY CRAP, I'm bad at multi-tasking. A SINGLE PROJECT. DO NOT LET ME START OTHER SHIT AT THE SAME TIME, I WLL FORGET TO UPDATE THE OTHER PROJECT.

Hyperfocus or bust, apparently.

31. What was the most difficult fic to write (but in the end you made it)?

Pick any of my smut oneshots, except Regrets and that is probably one of them.

I would say that my Lucien x Elain (Elucien) fic Warmth was difficult because I knew the setting and how I was gonna start it, but I don't know Elain very well (I haven't finished reading the series) and I don't write Lucien enough. It's one thing to know the character, but another thing to know how they are when they are being intimate. That was really tricky.

I always try not to re-use the same tropes, positions, expressions and wording in my smut, but since I don't write enough of it, to me, it reads like I'm writing more or less the same and... I hate that.

MY GOD I RAMBLED SO MUCH I'M SORRY

I STILL LIKED IT IT WAS FUN!!

[iamacolor]

my take on sweet mobster is different I like it but every post on twitter about the show since basically the start is a variation or more precisely not a variation of "SJH is a such a looser in love" and that's not a good sign for me if the entire thing the fans are taking away from the show is how down bad the guy and him being pathetic means the the drama is focusing on that to a very high degree and my idea or a romantic lead is a not a dude who spends his time blushing and kicking his feet over a girl I'm sorry if there's not a specific reason for it or if she's not matching his freak in every instance. In this case I don't feel like they are at all yeah she likes him but they're showing that he likes her a lot more in so many ways it's not even close you cannot tell me you think they've shown the same degree of caring for each other because it's not true.

hi anon! I think you're raising an important point by pointing out the fandom's reaction to the show (and I have to say I only caught up with it last week so I've not really been aware of what people have been saying about it until this week) but to me that's something that's observed in kdrama fandom no matter what the show is, it sometimes go so far as to direct criticism towards the female lead whenever she doesn't stick to her more passive traditional role (I remember seeing people criticise sol from lovely runner for trying to go back in time again to save the ml and for taking away their first meeting because it wasn't his choice when she was clearly doing things that no one would've criticised from a male lead and when she clearly had the main goal of saving him no matter what because she loved him sooo much) and in this previous ask I've talked more in details about the traditional gender roles in kdrama as a genre when it comes to how female and male leads are expected to show affection (where women are supposed to be more passive and men more active and more intense and be romantic and devoted etc which I don't think is good) if you're interested. so I do think this is often an issue in the writing but to me a fandom's reaction isn't necessarily representative of what's actually written especially when a kdrama's fandom is often composed of people more willing to fawn over a new man (although why is loser in love the new keyword like can't we find something else lol nothing about loving a woman is a loss of dignity and it feels very overused now) than to appreciate the nuance in a woman's personality. I've seen entire fandoms of many different types of shows or movies focus on a random secondary or imaginary ship or go as far as to turn a vilain into a simply misunderstood man while constantly criticising everything the female lead does so fandoms can be very volatile and irrational

as for the kind of romantic lead that jihwan is, I personally don't think the whole blushing and kicking his feet over a woman disqualify him as a romantic lead and it's fine if he isn't your cup of tea, there are plenty of heroes who don't do that and who are also very interesting and entertaining and intense in their own ways - I know I couldn't watch just these kinds of leads all the time I like to see different types of characters - but that's not an issue that's just a question of personal preferences

as for what I can or cannot tell you, I've never said that they've been shown to have the same degree of caring - I said that I think their dynamic is more "he falls first" (which necessarily implies we're going to see more of his feelings) than "he's the only devoted one" and that yes he's the one who gets flustered the most because it takes more time for her (and also they're different people who react differently to things). I agree that his feelings are definitely the ones pushed forward for entertainment purposes (especially for comedy purposes) but the narrative we're on right now balances that out. until ep10 (which I haven't watched yet so maybe that changes things) she's the first one who has admitted to someone else that she has feelings and who has approached those feelings with him by saying she doesn't want to be confused, that she's hurt and that she liked the time in his house and specifically the time spent with him, who's calling him out for his inconsistencies precisely because he's shown many times he cares and yet he says nothing about his feelings (and that's after many times where she shows she clearly cares for him, is curious about him, wants to defend him, wants him to take better care of himself - the hospital scene was a really big step in shifting their dynamic to me -, is attracted to him, finds him funny, enjoys teasing him, is willing to put herself at risk for him when he goes missing etc which isn't always the case with female leads). she's also clearly been shown to be jealous several times - and that was clear to him - and so has he. I'm not pretending the show doesn't rely a lot on him having no idea how to handle his feelings and making a mess of it (most of which she doesn't even see so it's mostly for us viewers) while also protecting her and caring for her and being a very romantic brooding hero but the writing also gives eunha a lot more agency than expected and an actual voice over her relationship with him and I feel like we're progressively getting to see different layers of her that makes this whole thing much more balanced than what is usual in kdrama and also more nuanced than how the show started out. I'm not just going "oh this is good because it's a little bit more than what we usually get" I also genuinely feel a progression in the show itself. I purposefully pointed out examples of her actively caring for him precisely because for a non viewer most of what the fandom highlights are jihwan's actions when many of eunha's actions don't get the same treatment

there's another imbalance that's caused by the fact that he already knows she's his childhood friend but she's still in the dark about hyunwoo - and so obviously that adds a depth to his feelings that she can't show even though it's there but that's obviously meant to change

[lillambtotheslaughter]

HI HI \(⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)/ and welcome to my blog! You may know me from my main blog @lelandmylove but here in this blog I mainly focus on posting about my Tcsm OCs ☀️Cindy Mayfield☀️ and 🪻Jolene Olight🪻!

There will be NO NSFW on this page but light flirting with the OCs here and there won't hurt! If you don't like my page and what I post simply block me or don't interact with my page! Tw for violence, murder, injuries, cannibalism, self harm, being force fed, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse and yeah while I'm not really that confident in my writing this is just a head ups of what will be shown on this page.

Rules for this blog

• Obviously no spreading hate

• Don't use my characters without asking me first or notifying me that you will be using them for something

• DON'T BE WEIRD AND SEXUALIZE MY OC'S

• And most importantly just have fun here!

•THIS IS NOT A SAFE PLACE FOR PEOPLE WHO SHIP ANY OF THE FAMILY MEMBERS TOGETHER GET THE FUCK OFF MY PAGE!

•Basic DNI

I will write (if I'm confident enough) and draw for my OCs here on this page and you are allowed to ask questions about any of them if you want! Now onto my OCs ✧⁠\⁠(⁠>⁠o⁠<⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠✧

☀️ Cynthia (Cindy) Mayfield☀️

🏵️Mood board🏵️

Lore: (I'm sorry the creator himself doesn't even know unfortunately he's just making stuff up as he goes.)

🪻Jolene Olight🪻 (she does not use the swayers last name.)

🍇Mood board🍇

(Sorry the creator doesn't have his shit together so it's still being made😒)

Lore: (surprisingly the creator does have her lore but he's too lazy to fix it up and make it make more sense because he wrote it months ago half asleep) While coming back from a trip into town Nancy stumbled across what she thought to be an empty box abandoned on the side of the road but upon further inspection was surprised when she laid eyes on a few week old baby with the name "Jolene Olight" written on a small piece of paper taped onto the worn out blanket she was wrapped in. Thinking it was another one of "gods blessings" she carefully reached into the box, gently picking up the fragile baby girl and cradling it in her arms with a bright smile on her face deciding that she would keep it and raise it as her own just as she did with her Johnny. Upon taking her home with her Johnny was the first person to find out about the newest addition to the family, and of course being ten years old at the time wasn't all that happy about having a sibling he'd have to help take care of. But all that changed after a few years of having her as a sister, the two grew close during Jolene's childhood and from the moment she could walk Johnny started taking her with him on little hunts, teaching her how to sneak up on prey and capture rabbits and field mice. Even being there when she caught her very first hare and her very first kill when she turned 13. Later on he'd go on to gift her a switch blade he'd found off one of the victims bodies which is the same exact one she uses now in present times. While growing up in the house Jolene would often be left at the house with bubba and nubbins whenever a hunt was going on however instead of staying with them she would sneak off and stay with Grandpa the whole time talking to him about bugs and sometimes even complaining about Nancy and Johnny. Even though he wouldn't respond to her that didn't stop her from continuing to talk his head off all the way until she was picked up by Johnny to go back home where she would give his legs a hug and then run off to go home. While she isn't the strongest family member there or even the smartest her small and lean frame helps with her stamina allowing her to keep up with victims making sure to always give them a good chase. It's like a game of tag to her.

Ability (Savior): SAVIOR CAN ONLY BE ACTIVATED ONCE BLOOD BOTTLE IS FULL AND IF GRANDPA IS STUNNED. ONCE SAVIOR IS ACTIVATED GRANDPA AROMATICALLY GETS OUT OF THE STUNNED STATE NO LONGER HAVING TO WAIT FOR THE COOL DOWN AND BACK TO HIS ORIGINAL LEVEL HE WAS AT BEFORE BEING STUNNED. THIS ABILITY SAVIOR CAN ONLY BE USED TWICE THROUGH THE WHOLE GAME AND MUST BE USED WISELY FOR THOSE STICKY SITUATIONS. WOULDN'T WANT A VICTIM TO GET OFF THIS PROPERTY NOW WOULD WE?

(please be nice to the creator he will cry.)

[innocentimouto]

Honestly if Jet joined the Gaang, the shipping wars would be between Jetara and Zutara.

I think Jet would shut down some of Aang's "antics" regarding his behavior and his relationship with Katara. He'd probably would have Aang keep a distance from Katara in order to feel focus ( such as when he had to choose to let Katara go or not in the Guru episode). He'd probably be in favor of Aang letting go if it meant the Fire Nation's war would be over.

I'm not sure Kataang would even be able to develop as it could with Jet being right there.

I'm not even sure Kataang would happen if Jet and Katara developed further romantically. Although I don't ship it - I prefer my crackship of Jet and Haru lol- I'd probably be in favor of them over K/A and even Z/K.

Also, if Jet joined earlier, it might've made Zuko's redemption more shallow as Jet would've already fulfilled that role.

Outside of Aang kissing Katara in the play episode, nothing about his behavior seemed wrong to me. He always supported Katara. When she stole the waterbending scroll, Sokka was lecturing her over it while Aang laughed at how she contextualized it. For the fandom claiming he's incapable of seeing her anything other than perfect, he didn't have a problem with her stealing.

That episode is a prime example of how kind Aang is to Katara. And it even shows how the narrative makes Katara apologize so many times for

stealing a waterbending scroll that's actually useful for her and Aang.

It helped her get better, which is possibly the only reason she even lasted against Pakku, meaning Aang probably would have had to stay at the North for longer if Katara hadn't got a chance to learn.

She was able to help Aang in fights after that.

reclaiming a part of her culture that was stolen from her

Zuko being at the island because Iroh wanted a game tile, yet Iroh blames her

Sokka has many lines of blaming her, her being obsessed with waterbending, endangering all of them, and yet when on Kiyoshi Island, when Katara told Aang they needed to leave soon because it wasn't safe and then was proven right, Aang admits he was wrong, Katara doesn't blame him, and they leave. End of story. Sokka isn't even in the equation here.

The writing is very different, but ironically the only one who actually judges Katara is Sokka. Aang has always been supportive, except when she was planning on killing someone in a clearly upset state.

The whole thing about Aang having to let go of Katara to activate the Avatar state doesn't make sense to me because this was never true for any of the previous avatars. And he activates it again later anyway.

I lean more toward Jetara than Kataang, but it's not impossible for Kataang to happen with Jet in the group.

Sorry when it comes to shipping culture and the like, I'm the worst because I'm that one person who will read a major shipping fic just to see good writing of my favorite character, and good friendships, and skip every romantic scene. I have a few ships I like yeah, but romance as a genre doesn't work for me, despite me trying to enjoy it. So if there would be a love triangle if Jet was there, or jealousy or drama, any of that doesn't appeal to me. The drama and messiness of romantic tropes can make for really entertaining stories but I am not the intended audience.

I don't think Jet having a redemption arc would make Zuko's shallow because Zuko was on the side of the oppressing nation and was desiring his "rightful place on the throne" for a long time. Jet was entirely different. Besides even if say Zuko actually had a redemption arc, it's not like they're all written the same way.

Not all of them have to end with befriending the main cast, or with complete forgiveness. I enjoy when characters rightfully dislike someone for some injustice, but have to work together for a common goal and still don't become friends. Just because someone has apologized, or has helped, doesn't mean the character deserves forgiveness. It's also a more interesting dynamic than all is forgiven, to me at least. Especially because then it truly emphasizes the person wants to change not for someone's forgiveness or good graces, but because they recognize they did wrong and want to change.

Besides Zuko joined right after a failed invasion. That is EXTREMELY suspicious. The kids just got separated from their people and fathers, and now the prince of the Fire Nation shows up. Zuko joined at the worst possible time. My first question, if I didn't attack immediately, would have been why didn't Zuko help during the invasion?

[tea-earl-grey]

Enterprise characters' dnd classes

a part of this series

Archer: fighter. not really a competition imo. Archer is the most "yeah let's just go fuck around" out of all the Captains we see. he has a pretty obvious violent streak (as we see in the season 3 hunt for the Xindi). he also really tries to act morally by fitting things into a black and white world view which slowly evolves as we get to season 4.

T'Pol: monk. i already said how Vulcans are very monk-like in my Voyager post and i think T'Pol fits that mold pretty well, especially in the season 4 arc on Vulcan where she's forced to confront Vulcan spirtualism and eventually accept it.

Trip: artificer. i've mostly been sticking to the player's handbook classes because that accounts for most of my dnd knowledge but Trip is undeniably an artificer to me. he isn't necessarily formally trained nor does he really have his skills through instinct or some other force. he's just a tinkerer who got very very good at what he does.

Malcolm: fighter. Malcolm is the most traditional fighter you can get in Star Trek. he comes from a military family, he follows orders, and he doesn't really have some grand moral framework. he shows up and defends his ship and his planet the best he can because he can never really be anything else.

Hoshi: wizard. indisputably a wizard. she's maxed out in intelligence and shows it given the fact that she literally invented the universal translator and is a capable enough engineer despite never really training as one.

Phlox: druid. just. just look at the amount of animals in his sickbay. i really don't know how Phlox keeping a zoo on board is efficient in the least but it's undoubtedly where his power comes from. also because he's the only alien crew member other than T'Pol and feels out of place the way a druid outside of their natural environment would.

Travis: ranger. oh. poor Travis. i'm so sorry you got like 3 episodes of focus despite being a main character. that said i think a ranger build works well given that he was raised in space without a lot of attachment for Earth and has a lot of ingenuity when it comes to exploring.

[backjustforberena]

I don't understand why they decided to give Corlys the trope of "I only realized my wife's true worth once I lost her" when this concept had already been addressed at the end of the first season. Honestly, I expected something different from their relationship's development in the second season. It seems like the writers didn't know what to do, so they recycled the same scenes from the first season: the discussion about the heir; Corlys pulling his hand away from Rhaenys because he doesn't want to name her preferred heir; the huge fracture that irreparably splits them, which last season was due to the death of their children and this season due to the appearance of Corlys's two bastards. Corlys avoids the issue as much as he can, regrets his actions, realizes his wife's worth, and decides to do something for her (i.e., return to fight again, as he did in episode 10).

I believe this season added absolutely nothing to Rhaenys and Corlys as a couple. Rhaenys grew as a character only because of the scenes at the council, while Corlys was truly wasted screen time. It seems like the writers don't know what to do with him.

If you expected something different from the relationship, which is allowed and I admit I was hoping for something a bit different (mainly I wish Corlys and Rhaenys had more moments at the Painted Table, but I understood the road the writers took and why), then of course you are doing to be disappointed.

I'm sorry if you feel that way. However, I do refute the idea that they didn't know what to do. The writers had a very strict idea of what they had to do, in this series, within a very small amount of screen time because of the requirements given by the book and the episodes in the second half, where Rhaenys isn't present. And in no episodes was the priority or focus on their marriage because other things were more important. They had to:

Re-introduce both characters to the audience.

Mourn Luke.

Introduce Alyn and Addam and the fact that Corlys was unfaithful at some point during the marriage.

Establish the roles that Corlys and Rhaenys have within the war effort. Including the Blockade, patrols and where they stand in attending council meetings. And have them react to the escalation of war.

Bring up the Driftmark succession and seed that in as a plot point of future worth.

Rhaenys needs to die and her story has to be concluded. Corlys needs a storyline to continue.

When you look at all of that, it's a big list. And it's a list that naturally keeps Rhaenys and Corlys separated, what with Corlys's scenes with Alyn and his concerns about his ship, vs Rhaenys's requirements at the council and at Rhaenyra's side. So, when they reunite, they have to be used very carefully and stick to topics that only they can speak about with one another, whilst still being relevant to what's going on as a whole.

And they have to do that in a very, very small window of time together (only three dedicated scenes of just the two of them): so it's Rhaenys admitting to her worries over Daemon for Corlys to offer his opinion and soothe, it's bringing up the Driftmark succession and fears over the war, it's meeting Alyn etc etc. After Rhaenys is gone, again Corlys's screentime is devoted to his grief, but also his position in relation to the war, and his relationship with his sons.

I'm not saying I wouldn't have done the scenes differently or used them more effectively or that changes couldn't or shouldn't have been made to really maximise their worth. I'm not saying that at all. But I am acknowledging the limits already there and I adjust my expectations accordingly. It's like Daemon and Rhaenyra and people complaining about a lack of screentime - well, whilst there are valid criticisms to levy, at the end of the day, he was always going to have to go to Harrenhal. And they're basically the main couple! For Corlys and Rhaenys, at the end of the day, we were always going to have to deal with losing Luke, introducing Corlys's bastards and the circumstances that lead up to and surround Rook's Rest.

I pull away from reverting anything down to a trope unless it's being used in a humorous or positive sense, as tongue-in-cheek, almost fanfic-y terms to find enjoyment. So I reject this idea of giving Corlys the trope of "I only realized my wife's true worth once I lost her" - mainly because, also, I don't think it's true. And I reject the opinion that this was a repetition of Series 1.

Corlys and Rhaenys were in emotional places at the end of Series 1. The headspace that they are in then continues on into Series 2. Nothing comes from nowhere (except maybe the Hull boys but that's different). It's not a repetition. It's a continuation. However, some things, when you simplify them (which you shouldn't) are labelled as repeated because beats are repeated.

Things such as loss (losing Laena vs losing Luke), and the same topics require revisiting such as succession, feelings, duties etc. That's what the show is built on. Interacting with the world they live in and the events that happen to them. Season 2 also happens straight on from where we left off in Season 1. We can't have 180 turns in our characters so the flaws that were present then are still there now, and now exacerbated by the positions they are in, emotionally and physically.

There is a difference between the discussion about the heir. I think you've misinterpreted. Rhaenys doesn't have a preferred heir. She doesn't tell him what to do. She's not pushing him in one direction or another. She comes to the discussion (which isn't a heavy one, they're literally having lunch and it comes up) and affectionately reminds Corlys that Joffrey is Corlys's heir. When he shows distaste for that, she offers another. But then she says that both are worth considering but that he just needs to pick one because they are at war and something could happen to Corlys. She has no agenda other than wanting to settle what is currently unsure.

This is very different to the argument they had in S1E07 even if both talks are about his succession. The reasons he pulls away from that conversation are different. And the reasons she feels compelled to want this serious chat are also different. As is his response. He doesn't pull away out of anger or hurt or anything so volatile. He takes her hand, kisses it, and merely puts the conversation off.

The huge fracture that irreparably splits them? I'm sorry... where? Genuinely. Where? They have one scene that vaguely addresses the issue of Alyn and Addam and, yes, as you say, Corlys avoids it. But he doesn't avoid her. He comes to back her up at the Painted Table, they are with each other for (presumably) days. Is Rhaenys hurt by all of this? Yes. But she doesn't show any signs of pulling away, of not loving him, of having it change the relationship.

What irreparably splits them is... she dies. That's it. That's what does it. That's what they "can't come back from". And, actually, "irreparably" is the wrong word to use because if they were "irreparably" split by the loss of Laenor and Laena... well, they wouldn't be together to then "irreparably" split again, would they?

And the idea that Corlys only regrets his actions after his wife dies is, frankly, nonsense. The whole point of him having been a crap dad and being so curt and all of that with Alyn and Addam is precisely because he regretted his actions - his betrayal of her. She doesn't die and then he goes: "oh my gosh, maybe I shouldn't have had those two kids". He's had that in his head a lot longer. Just as Rhaenys doesn't come face to face with Alyn and go: "welp, time to die, nothing to live for now".

There's so much more complexity to why they find themselves where they are and feeling as they do. They've been without each other for six years, there's a war going on, their grandson's just died, the Sea Snake is out of commission, Rhaenys is on her dragon fr goodness knows how many hours of the day, both of them are having to swallow some really painful feelings in order to support a woman they don't really like... and whilst Addam and Alyn are a part of Corlys's journey, they really aren't a part of Rhaenys's. They truly aren't because how can they be? There is the start of something there and a reaction to be had but it's parked. It never comes. Because she dies. You can't have them being weaker or stronger as a couple because she dies. You can't have a massive fallout or massive words of love because she dies. It's always going to be unfulfilled. It's always going to be unfinished and it can never be neat because it's not addressed. She dies before anything can happen.

I also wanted to ask, because I really didn't know how to take it and the phrasing confuses me: what is it, to "add" something to them as a couple? In what way? What would "adding" something to Corlys and Rhaenys, as a couple, have looked like to you?

[chromatic-lamina]

Hi! You seem quite knowledgeable in this, so I though you might be the right person to ask: I'm trying to find some nice heart pirates fics with them as family doing shenanigans/general stuff. Most of the fics I've found in the Heart Pirates tag in ao3 revolve around a ship involving law and the hearts are just background characters who barely do anything, which isn't what I'm looking for. Do you have any recommendations? (I've already read some of your works, but if you want to recommend those that's good too!)

Platonic Heart Pirates Fics Rec List

Wow! huge compliment.

Yeah, I wouldn't classify myself as a Hearts Pirates writer, but I do write them. I think my best characterisations of them are in my multi-chaptered works, but they're super dark, and the Hearts aren't the focus (but boy do they shine when they get the chance!).

You've probably come across my Bepo's one shots and drabble collection. There's a few shippy pieces in there, but they're clearly marked. Most are just the crew, although focus on the main four. This was also done for the Hearts' Pirates Week, so covers all named crew members (up to that point). This one shot is surprisingly popular: Dark like the North Blue Sea (aka The Sea-Hill you Die On), and you might have come across the Straw Hat and Heart Pirates crews intermingling in this fic featuring Bepo and Chopper. I'm also guessing that you probably saw the piece I wrote for the op summer festival zine: Sun Path Ozoni. An earlier version of that is in Bepo's collection! There's also Bepo's Beptober, which features everyone, but I wouldn't really say explores them in depth!

Okay, RECS!

Any of the fics with the Hearts Pirate tag by @op-sheepy Here's a link to their AO3 dash. There are quite a few Heart Pirate drabbles on their tumblr page too.

@itsxandy 's work, stormy weather, is criminally under-read. That's 22,2221 amazing words on Law's dynamic with the crew in the polar tang in close quarters. Not necessarily happy families, but, oof, it's good. Even a very plausible theory put forward for the recruitment of Clione, I think! Or maybe Uni.

Dragon_in_a_Cypress_swamp has 6 amazing Hearts & Trafalgar Law fics too. Really good (I haven't read all, but what I have read just blows me away).

This is not a place of honor by Hyperbolic Reverie (I'm not guaranteeing that all the fics are sweet). And you've probably come across

the devil knows how to row by fab_ia, is set in Law Novel land, but with flashbacks to Law's time with the Donquixote Family. It's a work in progress. But very good. The author is keats on twitter, and I think one of the guest writers for the up coming Hearts zine. Their AO3 actually has a few Hearts' fics I want to pick through.

Dunno if this counts, but the Scrubs AU with Penguin and Shachi as Law's interns, and Bepo as a trusty nurse is both hilarious and poignant. @thegrimshapeofyoursmile

Cal14's recently been uploading some of their tumblr pieces.

@slashseeker (not getting their blog come up) has some platonic stuff on their AO3 page (their slash is pretty good too though!).

And that's about all I know for now. I'm sure you've read / been pointed towards the big collection: Tales from the Heart.

Almost forgot! If you go through @purplehairedwonder 's page, towards the start of beginning to write OP (so second page), there are about 5 fics that I'd classify as Heart centric, or the Hearts seen through Law's eyes. Not necessarily shenanigans though.

It is a ship fic, and it started before a lot of the Heart Pirates were named, but razbliuto's Methyl Nitrate Pirates really builds character and crew (and it's funny). @fablecore

Hope it helps! Sorry to anyone I've forgotten. Thanks for the ask! Let me know how they go.

Remember all, drop a kudos and comment if the fics strike your fancy❤️ Makes a Heart Pirates Heart loving Heart beat heartier.

[imminent-danger-came]

Here comes the complaining about Mei's treatment in the fandom:

Mei gets basically zero fandom attention unless it's about shipping her with Red Son tbh, and even then it's barely ever discussion about her character. I've seen nearly everything she does in S4 be somehow attributed to Red Son, her temper, her impatience, even being concerned about Heaven(?). It's like she's a satellite character, like she doesn't matter until it relates to a man.

The thing about her temper especially gets to me because it's a trait she had since the pilot, and it feels just the teeniest bit like sexism to erase it in favor of making her into a Wholesome Softgirl.

(Also isn't her temper the main reason her dynamic with Red Son works? Like they play off of each other well because of how similar they are?)

Shipping is fun, I get it. I really like a lot of the popular ships, and Red Son is probably my favorite character but sometimes it feels like people don't actually care about Mei's canon character, they just care about giving him someone to blush or angst about.

Not to mention, for a fandom that loves angst I've seen nothing about her canonically tense relationship with her family or her fear of hurting others with the samadhi fire. That and her focus ep's almost never get talked about, except for the one with Ao Lie but even then, the discussion isn't about Mei, it's about Ao Lie.

Sorry if this isn't coherent I just have very strong feelings about this.

Anyways Mei deserves better

We are holding hands anon.

This was SUPER coherent, and I totally agree with all of your points—hope you don't mind if I write a kinda-sorta-meta about it! This is a long rant, and it's full of a ton of things that have been in my head for months.

Mei is rarely discussed as a character, and it's such a shame! Mei, MK, and LBD are my favorites, and I think I need to express my Mei love here more.

I think Mei being sidelined and ignored is far too common in the lmk fandom. I saw one person complain that Red Son should have gotten the Samadhi fire, and that it was "nothing against Mei", and it just kinda left me dumbfounded.

Like, there's nothing that giving Red Son the Samahdi fire would have added to the story that would trump what giving the Samahdi fire to Mei, our main female lead, added to the story:

"MK: “Mei! You have to stop. I know you’re upset, and that’s okay! I know what it’s like to have a power you don’t know how to control—to feel like the fate of the world is in your hands and you have no idea what to do! But you always have my back, and help me through it. We, will figure this out! Together!” (3x10 The Samadhi Fire)

This sentiment of "having no idea what to do", and that being okay, is something that MK is repeating back to Mei all the way from the Revenge of the Spider Queen special. They're truly friends—best friends who are always there for each other—and I don't think MK could have even gotten through to Red Son in this situation. He got through to Mei, because if "you're bonds of friendship are as strong as you say, you will always find your way back to one another", you can always reach one another.

To me, it just feels like they want to "give" this important place in the story to a popular male side character, rather than give it to the female lead they don't care about. And it just feels misogynistic. The particular post I'm thinking of mentioned how amazing it would have been for Red Son as a character to gain back and learn to control the Samadhi fire, completely ignoring what the Samadhi fire did for Mei as a character. This is not something that could be "handed" over to any one else, not without taking away everything thematically and narratively relevant about this part of the story.

As I've mentioned in my dear Hero and Warrior meta, MK and Mei fulfill the "roles" of the Hero and the Warrior to each other. MK's choice to not abandon Mei when she needs him is a CRUCIAL choice, and something that wouldn't have even close to the same amount of impact if it were replaced by anyone else.

There's also the matter of how Mei's trust impacts the story, for better or for worse. When she makes the decision to trust someone in the name of what she thinks is right (like how she trusted Sun Wukong's plan to defeat LBD, or Azure's plan to save their friends), it leads to her being tricked. To pain—which parallels her to both MK and Lady Bone Demon in such a significant way.

However, instead of MK's-

“No matter what I do, it’s going to lead to pain. It’s like the Lady Bone Demon said—it doesn’t matter if I want to help people or not! Everything I do just- it just makes things worse!”

-Mei instead takes on the position of "We have to try." Even if the odds are stacked against them, even if it doesn't work, even if it just makes things worse—she has to try. And that works with how Mei more often than not is the one supporting MK, always having his back. If I see one more person describe MK as the "optimist" of the group when Mei is so clearly the hopepunk girly we deserve, I may lose it.

All the way back in 1x10, MK is doubtful about their victory against Demon Bull King and Mei reassures him: "But we won...right?". Mei, AGAIN, in Revenge of the Spider Queen is the one to comfort MK that "They got this" and that they would "'Figure it out. Together". Mei assures MK in 2x10 that he's mastered so many powers and that Monkey King might not even need to come back, and when MK stares in his lemonade cup sadly, cocks an eyebrow insinuating that she knows something is wrong. In 3x04 when MK is wondering what use he is without his powers and how he's going to fight the Lady Bone Demon, Mei pokes his cheek and tells him that's why they're getting the Samadhi fire.

She has her own doubts, but she stubbornly works through them—anything to protect and support her friends.

Mei is her own character. And it's a good one at that.

(The rest of my thoughts are going under the cut, this is getting a bit long lol)

Now, this brings me to Mei and Red Son's dynamic.

"Also isn't her temper the main reason her dynamic with Red Son works? Like they play off of each other well because of how similar they are"

100% IT IS. Mei and Red Son's dynamic is lovely, and I think Red Son becoming Mei's teacher really expanded on that. Red Son giving Mei "some fire training" was a perfectly fine role for him to have in the Embrace Your Destiny Special, furthering their dynamic from Revenge of the Spider Queen.

Mei: "But...what if I fail everyone? What if I...lose control" Red Son: "My parents have succumbed to the Lady Bone Demon’s power—like countless others. You, and the Noodle Boy, will stop at nothing to free them. That’s how I know you won’t lose control. You can’t. Because you’re the only hope I- The only hope this world has left."

(3x11 This Imperfect World)

Red Son was so anti-hero originally, and yet here...he needs a hero. He needs Mei. Together they have to wrangle the wild emotions and energies around them to save everything. Mei is a feisty and angry character, rushing into things headfirst, and she couldn't do that or be that with the Samadhi fire, lest she destroy all she holds dear.

And, Red Son understands that. That's why he's there in the first place—to make sure Mei doesn't burn herself from the inside out. Red Son doesn't want to fail his parents and Mei doesn't want to fail the world. That's why I find them interesting.

So yeah, I really feel your "it's like she's a satellite character, like she doesn't matter until it relates to a man" sentiment. It's painfully true.

Honestly, I've been spinning around Mei's conversation with Ao Lie in 4x05 in my head for MONTHS, and not because of Ao Lie lol:

Mei: “What’s the point of having power if you won’t use it? Don’t you have people you want to protect?” Ao Lie: “Of course I do! But I can’t protect them with careless actions!” Mei: “Inaction is careless! If you’re not giving everything you have to protect the people you care about, you are nothing!"

Mei: I would watch my sword shatter into pieces a thousands times, so long as I used it to protect the ones I care about. If you're just going to sit here and screw around, then maybe, you don't deserve power." Ao Lie: "And perhaps with greater caution you would still have you're sword. I know a thing or two about disappointing people, about feeling powerless to protect them, but I do not sense you are a disappointment! Even now, locked away in imminent danger you're thoughts are to protect others!"

Mei: "But how am I supposed to protect everyone if I don't have my sword?" Ao Lie: "A sword is powerless without the hand that wields it."

(4x05 Court of the Yellow Robed Demon)

(omg hi hand motif) (Whenever characters (most often MK, followed up by Mei) look at their hands, it's typically as a sign of resolve or the character showing that they feel the weight of the world on their shoulders. I know I keep mentioning hand motif but god I love it so much and it's important to this convo about Mei.)

Here we see Mei all laid out: she doesn't want to be a disappointment and she's motivated by protecting her friends, which all tracks. Her first scene in the whole show is saving MK, and every damn day I think about her smile towards MK before she sacrifices herself to the Lady Bone Demon.

The dialogue "What’s the point of having power if you won’t use it?" is such a lovely paring with her "We have to try" mentality. If you have the power to do something, you should do it. You should try. In this sense Mei is bound by an incredible sense of duty to her friends and to the world.

And GOD, did we need a female character entirely motivated by helping the people she cares about, armed with a kick-ass sword and her temper. She's basically a female shonen protagonist, and I think most people don't realize that about her.

Mei's line “Inaction is careless! If you’re not giving everything you have to protect the people you care about, you are nothing!" in particular is interesting. Like I've said, she's a character whose whole motivation is protecting the people she cares about, and yet she hurt MK and everyone else at the end of s3.

There are certain things in s4 that lead me to believe she feels like "nothing" because of how she handled the Samadhi fire. Like, look at Mei's face when Subodhi mentions it for the first time in s4:

Subodhi: "As someone who once wielded the Samadhi fire, I thought that you would know that the flame that lights a candle is ALSO capable of lighting a forest fire."

(4x09 Roast of the Monkie Kids)

It reminds me of this scene from 3x09:

Macaque: "How do you still not see that he has no idea what he’s doing?"

(3x09 The King, the Prince, and the Shadow)

And, along with this parallel to MK—our poster boy of low self-esteem/belief—I just have to say I'm a little worried about our girl! I'm so excited to see where her character arc goes in the future, especially with how her own self-doubt is going to mesh with her duty to her friends.

I was thinking about it earlier—and as a fun little bonus theory at the end of this meta—I wonder if a Mei VS MK fight is in the cards for us. The line "They will destroy you, harbinger of chaos" doesn't fill me with much confidence, however I also doubt any of the main cast is going to fight MK with the intent of destroying him. So, that got me thinking that maybe they're going to fight MK to save MK, in a sense. I'm a "Mei is going to get a dragon form" truther (thank you Lego set), and Mei unlocking her dragon form while trying to save MK would be ONE hell of a way to debut it.

Anyways, I'm going to cut this off here, but tldr: Mei deserves better.

[frosted-plasma]

what’s your thoughts on the Futurama revival

Anon I'm so sorry you're going to be victim to the longest post you will ever see. I hate it I hate it I hate it

HUGE /neg rant incoming (this show is my special interest and has been for YEARS. This will all be rambling)

THEY FUCKING COMPLETELY DISREGARDED "MEANWHILE." It directly contradicts it. "I offered to reset time to the moment before time stopped!" Okay, but you didn't though. The entire tragedy of the ending was that they'd be doomed to relive their lives from the moment they met (s1 e1) on loop. "Want to go around again?" Okay so that line doesn't make sense anymore!!! I had theories upon theories before the season came out and I was beyond disappointed. This show has shown it can do deep thought-out themes, I was fully hoping for them to show them reliving the past again, maybe its their 1,000th time reliving it, maybe Fry or Leela notices for once that something is familiar about it. Hell maybe there's a 1 in a million chance that they DON'T break the button! Free will and all, maybe things aren't 100% the same each run and they get lucky once. This also could have been used to recap old seasons for people who didn't rewatch them

They don't know how much time has passed?? I understand that was an excuse to make it the year 3023, but why would you do that? What's the point??

Things such as the Scary Door reboot don't make sense, not to mention the overuse of "haha it's a reboot!! Get it?? It's a reboot!! We got cancelled!!!" jokes but I'll get to that later. Timeline things just don't make sense anymore because of the time freeze. It's an awful awful awful writing choice. They unfroze time right where it paused, canonically, they show them unfreezing exactly there, it makes zero sense. How is there new technology and new TV shows when no time has passed. I'm ignoring that it's "10 years later" because it isn't, you can't just say that without showing it, it literally isn't

Even the smaller jokes feel very dragged out? Like Bender laughing at Fry setting a goal in episode one. He laughs and Leela smacks him, his head spins around and it's funny, then his body does an extra spin for no reason other than to emphasize that it's a joke? I guess? And then not even a minute later she slaps his hand again and it dramatically flies back and hits Zoidberg. Do you get what I'm saying? It's just too much focus on every single bit

I do like the updated intro! The added details to the city in the background is super super cool!! I love the thought they put into it (Bender hanging out of the ship on the magnet is a bit much considering all of the other references they included, but I'll let it slide. Just doesn't feel necessary to me in the intro)

The animation is rigged now:/ it's bound to happen nowadays, it just feels sad to look at for me (in general, not just with this show) the characters (ESPECIALLY Fry) feel very off model sometimes:(

Fry's hardly in the first episode. Odd writing choice considering he's the main character

Oh my GOD. The Hulu/reboot references. It's EXHAUSTING to watch. The amount of 2023 references they crammed into this season is physically painful, they drag them out for SO LONG

(in the first ep) the non-binary robots joke was funny and the scenes with Calculon and the Robot Devil were the only scenes that felt like old Futurama! Their voice acting was great and it was funny! The rest of the voice acting feels very lackluster and most of the other jokes just didn't get me

Calculon and the Robot Devil were the funniest characters, that's how dumbed down they made Bender, he's not my favorite that season

The plots are just. Bad. I hate to say it I really do. Shut up with the reboot jokes, the covid19 jokes, the only decent one was the bit mining episode because it actually used the idea as a real jumping off point and that episode still wasn't revolutionary. The other half of the episodes are pure callbacks. The one with Amy and Kifs kids was cute because it had a reason to exist! It wasn't a very funny episode but it was cute!! The other ones like the worm parasites in nibblers litter box (OR GOD FORBID THE ONE WHERE THE TIME MACHINE SHOWS UP OUT OF NOWHERE AGAIN WITH NO DRIVER??) make me MAD with how lazy of an excuse they are to cram in a reference without matching the rest of the lore

I'm fully assuming the reboot came from a place of love from the writers and the VAs but personally I didn't think the new season was very funny nor did it add anything new to the series, and it felt very very bland and dumbed down and I didn't even pay attention to the last few episodes because of it (that is saying something coming from me)

I rewatched the first episode for this so this is mainly talking about that one. Tell me if you want me to talk about the others I have so many thoughts this is me summarizing like all hell I hate the plots so much and this is my all time favorite show I'm still going to watch the next season and I still have high hopes for it

[markersmadness]

OTP PROMPTS ೄྀ

If you're brainrotting, here are some situations & scenarios that can help with writer's block, or just are fun to imagine!

A = Typically the character struggling in angsty prompts, perhaps the stubborn person in the relationship. Usually the main focus in a 3rd person POV!

B = Typically a stoic character. May be better at hiding their feelings, or have a complex psyche especially. Usually the perspective in a 1st person POV!

[ Whatever characters you envision never have to fit these tropes, they're just a general outline as to what these prompts work best for! The roles reverse occasionally for ships with other dynamics or dynamics where both characters share the descriptors listed. You're more than welcome to use a prompt here without credit, but I'd love to see anything made based off these prompts! ]

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A comes out as [identity/sexuality]. This idea can be elaborated upon in many ways! Perhaps it makes B realize they actually have a chance, or that they don't know A as well as A knows them. Did A not have a choice? Perhaps B could be comforting A after being distraught that they had been outed. Was it a drunk confession? One that only happened after a series of very 🌈 things, and/or is very overdue? The possibilities are endless! If you're more of a hurt/no comfort person, consider if B didn't like them that way or was discriminative. Or A was murdered or hate crimed for it, bullied, etc. Think about how A would handle it, and how would B react to A's reaction?

The gold ol' sickfic in which A falls ill. A great fluff, angst, hurt/comfort or even a hurt/no comfort. Fuck it, a smut fic in some cases! Consider what reasons your character probably got sick; Overworking, laziness (not being hygienic), staying out in the rain too long, just getting sick during that time of the year, having a weak immune system, mental problems that had/have physical symptoms, was unlucky and got a chronic illness, eating habits, family genetics, perhaps even faking being sick for B's attention! Consider how B would react to this information- or if they'd even know this information about the other, and if A would tell them. Would B pick up on the clues, or be oblivious to the other's sickness? How would B care for them? Would B be more soft, or be angry with them for getting sick? What stage of their relationship are they in? If you struggle to write a sick character, I suggest scrolling through the sickfic tag!

Note: While most sickfics show a dynamic where B is a caretaker and only listening and tending to A, there are lots of other possibilities! B could get into an argument with A because A refuses to rest, or argue because B doesn't know how to explain that they're in love with A and that's why it's important to them that A is happy and healthy without confessing. A could feel burdensome and force themself to get better (which could backfire), or B could be absolute dogshit at caretaking (babe I made you soup but I burnt the everything) (shit this ice pack is warm as fuck) (I'm sorry dude I fucked up your assignments while you were resting), etc.

Jealousy. While it's a overused trope, it is still a good one! Typically portrayed as B being protective over A, I find it is more fun to write when both are jealous for each other. Or when the jealous character hasn't come to terms with their feelings ("I'm not in love but when my "friend" flirts with someone else I feel really mad for no reason at all hahaha what"). Did A make B jealous on purpose, or by mistake? Maybe A is the emotional hotheaded one, or the jokester, whilst B is more reclusive and gentle, making their uncharacteristic anger (read; jealous) that much more evident. Or it could be A whose jealous, as B is simply chilling and talking to someone, and now it isn't a joke when A comments that "don't get too friendly I might get jealous!" They could also be rivals if you like ETL, making their jealousy even more confusing for them because why would I ever feel jealous about them..?! That's so weird whattt...

Jealousy is used a lot in every aspect of fanfiction. I find it best enjoyed as angst, but wholesome reassurance fluff is also a huge fan favorite of a lot of people I know- ("I only like you, so don't worry", etc.) Smut, of course, plays on jealousy as well. But make sure to keep in mind jealousy isn't the same as possessiveness! Protective characters can be more prone to jealousy, using B as an example, who wants to protect their loved ones, but then why does it hurt when someone is protecting A, and it isn't them? Humor is also used in jealousy, as watching a character slowly get hotheaded or act stupidly or comedically from their jealousy is also fun to read. Do consider when writing (if you want to!) if B comes off as overbearing or jealous, or both? Write them the way you want them to come off, as readers can feel uncomfortable if possessiveness or other toxic traits are passed off as jealousy. And it's also interesting to read about a character who thinks it's just jealousy! However, make sure to properly tag your works if on ao3, or add TWs on other platforms so they know what they're reading :)

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That's all I have right now! If this gets a lot of likes or if anyone wants more tropes / ideas like this I'd be happy to make a part 2. I've been brainrotting so much I've run through these scenarios like 30 times over, so I'm making this guide for myself as well so I can stop repeating the same fanfic in my head (>_<)