#idk I'm hitting all the popular ones so people can find this post

[talas-starlight]

Scarred Spirits - Zuko x fem!reader (pt.7)

Summary: reactions from team avatar when they find out your ozais assassin

warning: mentions of scars, not very happy gaang, mean katara!, angst

masterlist: here!

most previous part: here! (all other parts can be found in my masterlist!)

authors note! hello!! idk if anyone will be reading this but if you are welcome!! i haven't posted to this series in YEARS so please forgive me as I'm very rusty at writing but please enjoy!

Unified screams erupted upon Appa. “YOU’RE WHAT!”

“Aang what have you done! You literally let a murderer on Appa! She’s going to kill all of us! Katara was right, and I can’t believe I ignored her.”

“I KNEW IT! Quickly Aang, land Appa and let’s get her off!”

Unable to take it anymore, Toph lost her cool. “Can you knuckle heads shut up! I highly doubt that she will kill us, why the hell would she listen to you guys fighting all the time when she could end her misery by taking you out.”

Reality hitting Sokka and Katara, they finally piped down, allowing Toph to continue.

“Look, what you said is highly questionable. I’m not saying that I trust you, but you’re going to have to give us more information than that or else I’ll throw you off myself. Got it?”

You sighed. At least someone in the group had more sense. “Yeah, of course. What would you like to know?”

“Well for starters a name would be great. Oh and maybe, I don’t know, how and why you’re the Fire Lords Assassin?!”

You almost wanted to pull Katara’s braid for the irritating look of satisfaction on her face. “Right okay… well my name is y/n. uhhh and I was forced to become his assassin when he caught me after I broke into the palace three years ago.”

“That’s it?! Nuh uh lady. I know he’s the Fire Lord and had done some awful things but why would he do that to a child?! You’re either lying or somethings still missing.”

There was a lot to weigh up. To suddenly reveal everything about you would be too much and would get you thrown off Appa anyway. Yet to reveal nothing wouldn’t let you gain enough trust to even last a day. Leaving you to share the one thing you knew so little about yourself that you didn’t care if they knew and hopefully enough of a miserable, pitying tale that they’d let you off the hook for the time being.

“My parents aren’t in my life, they never were. I don’t know who they were or why they did it. All I had was my trainer, Zemin. In his time, he was the most notorious Assassin in the entire Fire Nation and when he retired, he never took on any students to carry on his legacy - if you could even call it that. Every other trainer was ecstatic because this meant that their students would earn the most bounties. Until there was me. I don’t know why he took me in… he just said that he found me as in infant and regretfully took me from an islands rocky shore maybe to sell me off somewhere. I suppose he realised he could make even more money from me if he trained me until I could pay off debt for him raising me. I did the one thing assassins could do, kill. All the money I ever earned from each bounty went straight to him. Luckily enough, I learned quickly, and I got to my final payment when I was 13, then he would have set me free.”

Horrified, Aang couldn’t believe what he was hearing. There was nothing like this in the Air Temples growing up. “Luckily enough?! How in any universe is that lucky!”

“Most assassins in the Fire Nation, and others, are stuck paying off their guardians or trainers well into their adulthood. Because of… certain tactics and advantages, I became quite popular if you could put it that way and most of the people, I had to take care of were…” Halting, you knew that if you verbally said some lives are worth more than others, Aang would probably go into cardiac arrest.

“Well, some had more people wanting them gone so the bounty was higher.”

“How does this have anything to do with you working for the fire lord! I don’t see why Zemin would let you go if you were doing so much for him.”

Your strength was fading. You hated yourself for how much you scretly enjoyed having people around that weren’t as idealistic as those in the Fire Nation.  “He didn’t. I got an anonymous mission to take out a high general in the palace. So high, that it was going to be enough for me to finish my debt.” After not being met with screams you felt reassured to continue…. they seem to be taking this well…

You took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. “On my way out, I got caught in the middle of an Agni Kai. The fire lord wasn’t too pleased I killed one of his generals or interfered with punishing his son. Yet somehow in his psychopathic mind he saw it as an opportunity to pledge my allegiance to him.”

The silence amongst the group was short lived.

“YOU MEAN ZUKO?”

“YOU KILLED SOMEONE.”

“AND YOU ACCEPTED?”

You scrunched your face. Maybe this was a bad idea to tell them. But it was too late to go back. “Yes, it was Prince Zuko in the Agni Kai, that’s how he got his scar. Yes, Aang I did kill the general, but to be fair I haven’t killed anyone since then… And Katara if you were being tortured every day for 8 months, I’m sure you would wear down too.”

The waterbender was unsatisfied with your answer. “Unbelievable! Of course, you did! Everyone has a choice in this world, and you chose the fire lord. You’re nothing but a coward.”

“My life was on the line! You don’t know anything about me.”

“Oh please, y/n. I do. I know everything! Sure, you were raised to assassinate others, but you can’t expect me to believe you didn’t know what you were doing when you were standing before Ozai. I would have stayed in a life of suffering than go with him.” Shaking her head, she pierces you with a disgusted look, “You’re no better than Ozai. No better than Azula.”

As Appa continued to glide through the ever-ending expanse of the sky, it seemed nothing could break the suffocating tension that encompassed everyone upon his saddle.

Toph was the only one to speak up. “Didn’t you hear her Katara? She hasn’t killed anyone since then! She’s surviving. If you ask me… she’s braver than any of us, you never know what could have happened to her if she got caught not actually killing her targets!”

Irritated Katara only grumbled, turning away while leaving the two boys to think about how they felt about you. Despite giving them answers, they still had so many questions.

It was undeniably clear that Katara has made her mind up about you, and you were sure everyone else was the same despite the earth benders attempts at comforting you. Hence, as you sat there across from the four of them, you were the first to break eye contact, turning your head to the side as you searched for something to focus on out there in the sky. Bird, a cloud, anything. You didn’t have the heart, the courage, to argue against what she said.

Unknown to you, Aang shuffled closer to you scared that his angry friend might hear him going towards you. His words only just loud enough to hear above the wind he whispered to you… “Its okay y/n. I don’t really understand what you’ve done or what you’ve been through but when youre ready.. you can tell us.

That was the first time your heart ignited a comforting warmth.

As Appas soft paws skilfully landing on the hard earth, you felt your heart drop inside you. What do I do now? Mind racing through all the possibilities, Toph seemed to have decided what to do before you could even stand.

“Hey! Come with me.”

Jumping off Appas saddle you landed on your feet with such a skilled silence, Toph had to sense your heartbeat to even realise you were next to her. Setting off towards where she’d set up her sleeping area, it was best you stuck closely behind.

“Don’t think about what Katara said, she doesn’t get it.”

“How so?”

Stalling in her tracks, she turned her unseeing gaze towards you. “She doesn’t know what its like to be born into a life that you don’t want. And she definitely doesn’t know how hard it can be trying to escape it.”

Unsure with how to reply, humming in understanding was the best you could come up with.

“Just stick with me and you’ll be fine. I know you most certainly don’t need me, but I’ve got your back.”

The next day had gone by agonizingly slow. With Toph trying to teach Aang earth bending you were left to your own devices since Katara decided to tag along. Although you found yourself tailing Sokka as he went his own way looking for food unaware of your silent giggles seeing him get stuck in the ground.

“...big things eat smaller things. Nothing personal. But this time, it didn’t work out that way…I admit it, you’re cute…”

You decide to finally reveal yourself, tired of your lack of entertainment. “What are you doing down there Sokka?”

Letting out a girl like squeal, he’s horrified at getting caught in this position. “Nothing!”

“You look like you could use some help.”

“I don’t want help from you!” You dismiss it. Surely he has no other choice but to make himself acquainted with you.

“Yeah, right. It’s funny, you’re probably the third person that has ever said that to me. The second in about the span of 48 hours.” you cant help but divert your attention towards the cute animal annoying him. “Aweee look at this cutie!”

“Get away from it!”

“Why should I do that?”

“Because I don’t want you to hurt it!”

“Please, I actually quite like animals. They’re a lot better than humans anyway.”

“I- well… fine! Just go away?”

You scoff, “Why’s that?”

“I don’t like you!”

“Hmm… is that so.”

“Yes, of course it is!”

You’re done feeling sorry for yourself. “Are you sure you don’t like me, or do you feel that way because of your sister?”

“I- well… argh! Fine! I don’t know.”

“Well… why don’t you talk to me and work it out for yourself? If you still dislike me so much I’ll leave you be and get someone to come help.”

A  silence fills the distance between the two of you.

He sighs, caving in, “So.. this Zemin guy. Did he REALLY not give you a choice?”

Looking up, you stare at the clear sky. “I learnt early on in my training that I didn’t have a choice or options in life other than what he wanted. Any exercise I rushed through, half assed, or tried to skip through when he wasn’t looking came with consequences.”

“What kind of consequences?”

“The kind that keeps all of my clothing and bindings on so I don’t constantly get pitiful looks or too many questions.”

He scoffs, “prove it”

Staring at all your layers you sigh, “don’t say I never warned you.”

Peeling off all your layers one by one until your down to just your tank top and pants, you decide to take off your face mask last. Your eyes meeting Sokka’s, you notice him swallow thickly. But its you to break the ice first. “In all fairness, most of them are now from Ozai. The older they look… well I’m sure you can work it out for yourself.”

“b-but-“Fuck why did I have to make him uncomfortable.

Unable to take it any longer, you pull him out from the hole in the ground. “Its fine.”

You turn to walk away after helping him, but he grabs your scarred wrist, the feeling of the textured skin making him internally wince. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made you expose yourself like that. Its horrible that you had to experience that… hell we look the same age!”

“Everyone is on different paths. Look, lets just forget about it..”

Sokka feels like he could bust into tears “No! you don’t understand. I’ve seen the effects of the fire nation… hell they took away my mum. I still remember it, sometimes I have weeks where I keep reliving it in my nightmares, only finding peace when im awake. Its like im being haunted. But- but you?! You have to face it whether you’re awake or asleep”.

Squeezing your eyes shut, you can’t handle the intensity of his words. Theres nothing you can do. Nothing you can say. You hug him. You don’t remember the last time you held someone. It feels weird, almost wrong. But as he squeezes you back, tightening the embrace, you understand one thing. You have an understanding with the water tribe boy, despite how dark it may feel.

Hours pass by as you sit with sokka talking about useless topics until the other three join you once more. Feeling weariness in their gaze, you realise you forgot to put your layers back on. Now everyone can see your face and scars.

Only Aang has the courage to speak with you.

“Hey. Uhhh, y/n?”

“Yeah?”

“I just… I’m sorry for not speaking much with you since yesterday. I didn’t mean to, it was just a lot to process personally! Growing up with the Air Nomads, I was taught that killing is wrong and that under no circumstance should that be the answer. If I’m completely honest with you, I still stand by those teachings and to have someone who has… killed… so close to me and the people I care the most about is… unsettling.”

There it was. You knew despite how much he was trying; you knew he wouldn’t be able to see past what you did. What you are.

“I understand. I don’t blame you, or anyone for reacting the way they are, and I know what it feels like to want to protect those who mean something to you.” You glance at Sokka, remembering how he understood.

“Just… please understand that I’ve realised what I did was wrong and while I can’t change everything that I have done, I’m trying to move away from that way of life. I don’t want to be a killer anymore. I’m trying my best to fix it.”

“I know…. Its just-“

“You don’t trust me.”

“What?! NO! I mean…. I don’t know. You clearly have good inside of you but it’s hard to look past.”

“I get it. I’ll head off then, the world needs you Aang and I won’t be the one to stand it your way.”

“No! stop! Please! I know I said it’s hard for me to do, but I clearly see you trying your best. I know you won’t hurt me. I just… I suppose I need to open my eyes more. See you for who you are now, what you’re doing now.”

But what if you can’t? What if I’m still that person, no matter how much I try to shove it away. This is what I have been made to become?

“Okay.”

Letting out a nervous quiet laugh, he glances back to everyone. “okay well… lets eat!”

Zuko stares at the sky in the heavy downpour. “You always through everything you could at me. Well, I can take it. And now I can give it back!”

Lightning cacks in the sky before his eyes.

“Come on!”

“Strike me! You never held back before!”

Met with only the sound of the world around him, he feels helpless. Lost. Alone.

Screaming out, Zuko falls to his knees as the rain and guilt encompasses all of his senses.

His voice scratchy from screaming, he can hardly croak out… “You never held back from her."

taglist: ​​ @mangoberry43​​ @eridanuswave​​ @slythergirlimagines ​​​ @whiskeywinter89​​ @simplyfandomish @khaleesi-of-assassins​ ​ ​ @calciumcow @ilovespideyyy @callums-keith @nnon-it-up @blackhood5sos @chewymoustachio @tiffy119 @reclusive-chicken-nugget @lozzybowe​ @scarletemeterio​​ @simpinforsukka​ ​ ​ @sokkassuki​ @spearbatty @kaylove12

[osaemu]

extension of this post

please please reblog if you enjoyed whatever i posted. just liking the post essentially does nothing for me, and while i do appreciate the gesture it doesn't actually help me get more traffic into my blog or into the work itself. there's a reason i always add a "reblogs very appreciated" sentence at the end of everything i post, and it's really discouraging when something i write gets thousands of likes but just around 300 reblogs. again, i really do appreciate all the interactions nonetheless, but just liking the post doesn't actually help me as a creator. all you have to do to support me is hit the reblog button instead — this isn't instagram. there's no algorithm here.

so i started writing smut maybe a month or a month and a half ago, and it was kind of a shock when i saw the difference in notes between the genres. the highest amount of notes i've received on a sfw fic is almost 4000, which is still a lot but not nearly as impressive as over 13000 on a smut fic that i hardly put any effort into. i'm glad that people enjoy the smut i write, but it's just a little frustrating when something i put more effort into gets significantly less recognition than something i wrote on a whim. for example, my most popular work to date, the 'free to talk' one. i genuinely disliked it as i wrote it but didn't want to waste it, so i posted it just to satisfy the part of me that didn't want to scrap it. somehow, the drabble that i barely put any time into got the most notes i've ever received, and again while i really am grateful for the interactions, it just rubs me the wrong way that something like that can get more traffic than something i wrote and genuinely liked writing.

lately i've been receiving a lot of asks, definitely more than i used to get and i just wanted to say thank you to everyone, anon or not who sent me them! i actually really like receiving asks, and i've heard stories that creators used to get significantly more than they do now. i've made posts asking people to send me asks because some days my inbox is empty and others there's a couple asks in there, but overall i find it odd that i can have thousands of followers and still receive little to no interaction on a bad day. so yea just send me an ask anytime, even if it's just the most insignificant thing ever, like idk a tiktok edit you saw or something that happened in your day, i'd love to hear about it!

if anyone read all the way down here thank u sm i love u

[ashes-writing]

burnin for you | stranger things ; g.emerson

A/N ; So this little shit hijacked my brain around lunch today and I've been writing like a woman possessed since the idea presented itself. I know, I knowwww.. let's just ignore the million other x reader wips I have, alrighty? Like... Idk how popular Gareth Emerson is as a character but lowkey, I thought he was pretty bitchin. So.. here I go again, I guess.

What I'm posting is all I got.. for now. LMK if you wanna see more of this -or any of my x reader things, tbh. Feedback really does help. Some of y'all giving feedback are the very things that have actually inspired me to carry on with certain fics, jsyk. I love you all for it too.

[ writer firmly believes that Gareth Emerson enjoys bands like Blue Oyster Cult, hence the name of this one. ]

Pairing ; Gareth Emerson x Sweet!Girly!Fem reader

Timeline / Other Stuff to Note ; Set during season 4 but free from the Upside Down and all of it's assorted fuckery and nasties. Nobody dies, all we get are high school shenanigans and some pining slash angsttt... and hopefully some real cute filth at some point. So if you like that, stick around yeah?

Tag List ; @musichealsscars @aries-arcade @allelitesmut @hcloangcls are the only people on my Stranger Things taglist.. if you'd like to be added to my taglists for anything including Stranger Things, please let me know or add yourself -> here.

Warnings ; Jocks being assholes, reader may be cute+smol+sweet but she's got a very dry wit + razor sharp tongue, hints of reader having a lonely absentee parent homelife / rich girl probs, awkward fluffy flirting, mutual crushes. Eddie Munson being a covert lowkey matchmaking shit for his bestie cos I felt like it.

Other Stuff ; tag list doc || my rules - fandoms and some characters I write for || requests are open -> send me things. Headcanons or fluff/filth alphabet letters only. No wrestlers, please and thanks.

I do not consent to my work being reposted elsewhere or copied/reworked/rewritten and reposted here or elsewhere. You don't own this, I do. So like... don't steal my shit.

Gareth Emerson is on the verge of dozing off at his desk until the classroom door opens and you make your way inside quietly. You pause by the teachers desk and hold out a piece of paper and the teacher looks out at the classroom to address them. 

“We have a new student today.” the teacher nods to you and your only response is to fidget with the sleeve ends of the pale pink cardigan you’re wearing while shuffling your feet. Gareth’s eyes fix on you and he swallows hard, drums the pencil in his hand against his desk. The teacher finally seems to realize that you’re dead set against introducing yourself to the class so with a roll of her eyes, she nods in the direction of the vacant desk right across the aisle from the one Gareth sat in.

You make your way down the aisle and sit down, digging around beneath the desk to try and find a textbook. The teacher notices and gets Gareth’s attention. “Mr. Emerson, be a dear and share your textbook with ____ until I can slip down and pick up one to go in her desk?”

Gareth glances across the aisle at you just as you look up and lock eyes with him. For a second or two, you’re just staring at him with your head tilted. Gareth gets up and moves his desk closer, putting the book between the two of you.

The scent of cotton candy hits his nose and at first, he thinks somebody’s eating the stuff in class. But then you lean into him slightly to get a better view of the page in front of him and it’s in his nose and he realizes that the scent is coming off of you and it’s your hair.

You can feel the boy with bright blue eyes staring at you. When you finish reading the page in front of him and move on to the page in front of you, you glance up for just a second or two and you flash him a cute little smile as you suck in a bubble with the pink gum you’ve been chewing for the duration of class.

Gareth manages a smile in return and goes back to reading. When your hair softly grazes his arm, he feels like someone’s dragging a live wire across his skin and he tries not to tense up but he can’t help it, it’s not like girls -especially the really pretty ones like you, are going out of their way to touch him or smile at him and he doesn’t really… know how to handle it.

You gaze up at him with your brows knit together, twisting a strand of hair around your finger. “Sorry, uh..” you mumble, your words trail off softly before you’ve even finished the sentence. 

By now, he’s starting to realize that you’re just this shy little thing, all soft and pink and sweet like candy. Or this is the image he’s building of you in his own mind at the moment, either way.. One of you has to make things less awkward and for some reason, he doesn’t think two,three and four times about him being the one to do it this time.

He tears a strip of paper out of his notebook while nobody’s paying attention and picks up his favorite pen.

Hey. What’s your name?

He slips the paper over to you using the thick textbook as a cover. At first he doesn’t think you’ve seen him do it, but then, just as he goes to pull his hand back, you place your hand on what you think is the slip of paper, only to discover it’s his fingertips. You glance down at your hand on top of his fingers and you slowly pull your hand with the note in it closer to yourself.

You pick up your favorite pink pen and start to write back.

It’s ___. But I hate it, so you can call me literally anything else. What classes do you have? I can show you my schedule, if you want me to??

You slip the note back towards Gareth and he’s staring at the words on the page. When he feels the softness of your fingertips against his hand, he lowers his hand on the slip of paper. You pout a little because he doesn’t really look up, but you shrug it off. You’re probably annoying him already.

You’re doodling in your notebook, delicate little flowers and suns, stars and hearts and you really don’t expect him to answer because you’ve come to the conclusion that you were annoying somehow, and so when you feel him sort of awkwardly nudge you and nod down, you’re surprised. You slip the strip of paper towards you and your eyes scan it.

I’ll come up with something then. Yeah, if you want to show me, you can. You smell like cotton candy.

The last part is scratched out, almost like he didn’t mean for it to be seen. You giggle softly and reach out to the textbook to turn the page before picking up your pen to respond.

Yay! When the bell rings I’ll give it to you. Uh… can I walk with you? I promise I won’t annoy you or anything… Thanks. It’s my perfume, I think? You smell nice too. ;) 

You slip the paper back towards Gareth and quickly turn your attention back to the book in front of the two of you. As your eyes scan the page, you twirl hair around your fingertip and you can feel him when he stares at you. You glance over at him and you give him that cute little grin.

He wants to kick himself because the grin is yet another thing about you that he has the feeling will be what dooms him.

He nearly chokes on air when he reads the last part of the little note and before he can stop himself, his face is on fire. The more rational side of his brain keeps trying to tell him that the popular kids are gonna find a way to coax you over to their side so there’s no sense in getting all caught up in you, but no matter how hard he tries to keep that in mind, there’s this small part of him that knows it’s already way too late.

He’s thrown for a loop by you promising not to annoy him or anything and it actually makes him look up from the little strip of paper and stare at you as you doodle in your notebook and twist hair around your finger.

The bell finally rings and you gather your things. You’re pretty sure he’s not going to want to lead you around all damn day, so you start to walk out of the classroom. He catches up to you just as you reach the classroom door and taps your shoulder. 

Before you can stop it from happening, you can feel your face and body getting a little hot when you turn to look up and find him standing there, staring down at you with his brows knit.

“Sorry, I..” you stammer. He chuckles quietly. “It’s okay. You were gonna show me your schedule..?”

You dig around in your notebook as you two step into the hallway and you hold it out to him after you’ve found it. Gareth takes it and scans the classes you’re taking and as luck would have it, you have every one of his classes but one.

“We have everything together until our last one. I have shop. You have Home Ec, I think?” Gareth takes the paper back and nods. “Yeah, Home Ec.”

You giggle quietly. 

“C’mon. I don’t mind walking with you.” he knows it’s probably stupid as hell and in a few days, after you’ve been at Hawkins High long enough to learn the social system, you probably won’t even look at him in the hallway anymore, but he also feels this overwhelming urge to be around. To be protective. To just be near you.

They say this shit doesn’t happen at first sight. And maybe it doesn’t.

But Gareth would be lying if he didn’t own up to the fact that he feels… Something.

— ( lunchroom, same day )

“Okay, so where do you usually sit?” your eyes scan the crowded cafeteria and you somehow instinctively shift so that you’re standing closer to Gareth. You pull your eyes off of the room itself to tilt your head to the side slightly and look up at him. He nods to a table full of guys of varying ages who all happen to be wearing the same tee shirt that he’s wearing underneath his flannel vest.

“Over there.”

At the table, Dustin nudges Eddie. “Who’s she?”

“I have no idea. She’s cute though. Definitely not the kind of girl you picture with him, but cute.” Eddie muses thoughtfully as he takes a bite of his apple.

Jeff is gaping. Wiggling his brows and just being a teasing shithead as you and his best friend make your way over to the table. He notices how you seem to squish yourself into Gareth’s side just a little when you pass the noisy assholes on the basketball team sitting at the jocks table when one of them calls out.

“Hey! Sweetheart you are worlds better than that freak. C’mon, come sit with us. Let me show you around Hawkins High.”

Gareth stops in his tracks and so do you. You point to yourself. For at least fifteen seconds or so, Gareth is convinced that this is it, it has to be. That you’ll figure out you don’t belong with him or his friends and you’ll go to the better table.

But your response surprises him.

A lot, actually. Because you haven’t really acted like you possess any certain fire or sass until your mouth opens to respond to Mason Allen.

“I’d really rather not..” you bite your lip, gazing at the jock. “Don’t all of you like… carry unidentified airborne STD’s usually? Yeah, no thanks. I’d really rather not.” and you start to walk away. Gareth is still frozen in place and as soon as you realize it, you walk back over and gently grab his wrist. “C’mon. Don’t let those Stepford assholes get in your head.” you say it loud and with a smirk in the general direction of the popular table.

Still in shock, Gareth lets you lead him to the table he’s told you he usually sits at.

“Okay, where the hell did he find her? Asking for personal reasons…” Jeff mutters, making Eddie chuckle quietly beside him as he leans in to whisper, “I was thinking the same thing, man.”

“Guys, this is ___.”

Eyes fix on you and you bite your lip, giving a soft little smile and wave. “Hi?”

“What’d that jackass Mason say to you?”

“ Oh yeah… He called you guys freaks. He was trying to get me to sit with him I think? I unno.” you shrug and go quiet again, eating your lunch. 

“And you didn’t. Interesting.” Eddie muses, mostly to himself. Giving Gareth a smirk that has Gareth giving him a dirty look. And before he can stop himself, he’s sitting just a little closer to you. He knows that look and he knows that nine out of ten, his best friend is being a shithead, but he’s also still not willing to risk even losing you as a friend.

Because a friend is better than nothing at all.

You happen to overhear Eddie and you glance up, taking a bite of your chocolate pudding. “Yeah. I didn’t. I hate jocks.”

What you don’t explain is that at your old school, you were popular. But then a boy you thought cared about you went around spreading rumors about you and after that, nobody wanted anything to do with you.

So yeah, you’re not falling into that trap anytime soon.

Besides, there’s just something about Gareth. You feel just a little less ill at ease in your current situation with him around, even if you’re scared to death that he’s going to wind up being annoyed by you. Or sooner or later, being around you will be such a pain in the ass for him too that he won’t want to anymore.

After all, your own parents can’t be bothered to stick around very long. No sooner did they have the furniture unpacked and in place and everything settled in than they were leaving again. Another business trip, so they said.

This is the first time in days since your arrival in Hawkins that you’ve felt even a little secure at all. So maybe it’s needy, maybe it’s clingy as hell, but you just don’t want to lose the feeling. If being around Gareth Emerson is comforting for you, then that’s exactly what you’ll do. At least as much as you can get away with.

“You. I like you.” Jeff grins as he chuckles. “Since Gare is gonna be a bag of dicks and not introduce us to you, I’m Jeff.”

The boy with curly hair and a baseball cap speaks up next with a bright grin. “Dustin. Where’d you move here from?”

“Vegas.” you answer quietly, raising the straw in your milk carton to your lips as you take a noisy sip. 

“That’s cool.” Dustin smiles at you, hoping that maybe it’ll ease you a little. He can just kind of tell you’re wary of everyone right now and he wants to make you see that you don’t have a reason to be.

The boy with black hair goes next. A cocky sort of little smirk that kind of makes you think he’s probably all mouth. You discover this is true when he introduces himself. “Mike Wheeler. You know Gareth’s an idiot, right?”

You snort in laughter and shrug. “Yeah, I’ll uh… Keep that in mind, kid.” you reply, smiling at him.

The boy sitting next to him chuckles. “Ignore Mike, he’s an idiot. I’m Lucas. Probably the only nice jock you’re gonna meet here.” and you smile a little. “I think your mom asked me to babysit one of your little sisters this weekend, actually.” you nod, remembering seeing him in the store with his mother when she’d stopped you because you were posting an ad on a bulletin board nearby.

“Hey, yeah! I remember seein you now! Cool. My sister Erica’s gonna be a pain in your ass though. Just gonna tell you that now. Kids always annoying the hell out of me.”

“Dude, Erica’s not that bad. At least you have a sister. It’s just me, my ma and the new cat.” Dustin laments. You laugh softly. “I’m an only child too.”

The boy with long hair, tattoos and  fingers full of rings with almost black brown eyes is the next one to introduce himself. And he’s giving you this little smirk. You return the smirk. “And you are?” you question quietly.

“Eddie Munson.”

Gareth tenses up just a little at your side and you glance over at him while he’s not looking.

You can feel tension between the two but you don’t say anything about it. What you do instead is shift just a little closer to Gareth.

“Hey, Gareth is in the band with me, Grant and Jeff.. You should come hang while we practice.” Eddie is grinning. He’s at least seventy five percent sure that Gareth thinks he’s trying to flirt with you but that’s actually not what he’s doing.

He’s inviting you because he knows his friend too well. And he knows that grumpy dumb fuck won’t invite you himself. Or make any sort of first move. So he’s assuming that maybe if he hits on you just a little, it’ll do what it just did and make you kind of draw closer to Gare instead.

When he sees your reaction to his lingering gaze, he pumps his fist in victory under the table because he called it nail on the head. You immediately smushed yourself into Gareth just a little more. Not enough to really be noticed by anyone else, but Eddie gets one glance at Gareth’s flushed face and he knows damn well that Gareth has noticed it at least.

You mull over the question Eddie’s asked you as you drink your chocolate milk.

Gareth speaks up quietly. “We uh… practice in Jeff’s garage or Grant’s basement. Today it’s Jeff’s garage… If you wanted to come.. I mean you don’t.. Like you don’t have to.” he’s stammering and holy shit he’s making a mess of it because he really wants you there, but he doesn’t want Eddie to keep subtly hitting on you.

He’s gotta do something and he’s gotta do it fast.

[science-lings]

what’s some of your favorite loz/Lu fics of all time? :)

Most of my favorite LU fics are here

but what you guys may not know is that I'm also a big fan of botw and modern au Zelink fics, however, take heed, most of these get a little spicy

Like Real People Do by ScarlettStorm: one of the best post-botw fics out there, lots of pining, I absolutely adore how Link's experience with Gender is portrayed, how he and Zelda are both treated as equally traumatized, as sometimes it feels like there's always one troubled one and one caregiver and I can get that for shorter fics but this one is long and beautifully balanced in that aspect. It also gets real horny at the end and in my opinion, it's very tasteful.

Alone With You by @deiliamedlini: honestly this author has a bunch of bangers, I'm waiting for their pirate au to finish so I can binge it all and I reread their Zelink oneshot collection all the time, this one is their modern high school au where Link is kind of a bad boy who is secretly Fucked Up, and Zelda is a popular girl and surprise surprise, they both get along really well. Normally I hate anything that reminds me of high school but this is the only exception. I love how previous characters are included, like how Link knows ASL bc he's friends with Pipit who is deaf and how Revali is a bitch and I still want to strangle him. Also big sister Aryll is a treasure and this fic does such a good job portraying Link's mental struggles and PTSD and how Zelda is being neglected and I'm also a big fan of the overarching plot of medical issues and trauma.

The Calamity of Link's Cargo Shorts by @zeldaseyebrows: I don't understand how someone can make smut so funny and so focused on Zelda's own self-hatred. Seriously though, there's a lot to love with this fic and I adore Zelda's pov. Sometimes you have to have sex before opening up emotionally and that's okay. Also, it's a modern au too, I just realized how many of these are modern aus.

Strangers in the Night by @zeldaelmo: Another modern au, this time Zelda has a kid from a ons with Link and he doesn't know about it for a bit, I just love Link being a dad and how they both work for a museum and there's just something about the courtroom scene that makes me want to reread it over and over again. Sometimes it's hit or miss with family ocs but Tetra is my favorite zelink child ever. All the fics on this list are ones I reread a lot but this one is the one I'm currently rereading bc it's been a few months lol. I love the domestic but also a little dysfunctional vibes, it's definitely not the normal romcom type of thing but I think I like this more.

K.K. Love Song by @airplanned: Again, modern au, pandemic edition. This one in particular has a certain unexplainable soft vibe, like there's some long-distance, Animal Crossing online romance and idk why I like it so much, I guess I was one of the suckers that got pulled in by new horizons when it came out so there's some strange kind of covid nostalgia and it's nice to see how a functional government would deal with the pandemic. Also, Link's grandma is a treasure and there's something sweet about crown princess Zelda meeting some guy on animal crossing and accidentally making him a public figure by dating him. Honestly, this author has a lot of great fics that I reread a lot lmao.

Farore's Day and Windvane Lane by Jenseits_der_Sterne: modern thanksgiving au, Zelda is a quirky scientist single mom and Link is her neighbor. I love Link being a nerd and Zelda being a bit of a disaster. Like she accidentally almost blows up her kitchen and he's just looking on with heart-eyes, after helping her put out the fires of course.

tbh, I'm probably not the best person to go for fic recs as I just find a few really good ones and then reread them till the end of time and rely on other people to recommend me things to read lmao, I hope this was at least a little helpful anyway.

[vodkacheesefries]

Thought it would be fun to do an intro post for each of the three households I'll be rotating through in my historic sims file. Also told my buddy @schitzophrenicrainbows I would make one of these. It'll also help me keep things organized as I play the challenge since I'm committing details to writing.

Up first and beneath the cut, we have a little history dump and our Gladiators.

Gladiators initially started out as poorer people and slaves who were inscribed to fight and train in the gladiator schools, Ludus Magnus. Over time as people began to see the fame and honor that could be won in the arena, though it was more rare, people did start to voluntarily join these gladiator schools.

Due to the popularity of gladiator fights, and how pricey it got to train and house them, not every single gladiator fight was to the death for its contestants. (For the purpose of Finn's story/challenge rules, his fights will be.)

There's debate whether the infamous "thumbs down" actually meant the opponent HAD to die or not. It could have just meant they were disgraced and couldn't compete anymore, but I can't find definitive answers one way or the other, and the opinions I found on this often contradicted each other. (I could probably text my sister with three degrees all about ancient to medieval Italian/Roman history, but how do I explain to her I need to know for my Sims game lmaooo) All that said, gladiators often didn't live past their mid-twenties given the hazards of the job.

Gladiators were also sex symbols (do yourself a favor and look up ancient Roman graffiti. Humans are the same now as they were then lmao). Idk how much that'll play into my game but Finn does have to find a partner and have kids so the legacy continues but we'll get there when we get there.

Rana

Rana is the gladiator who has been at the Ludus Magna the longest. Her traits: Creative, Self Assured, Loyal.

She came from a wealthy merchant family, but the family business didn't interest her much. She left home when she was young to find herself and ended up finding the arena. She picked up sword fighting quickly and proved her aptitude for not only fighting, but teaching others to fight as well. These days she only competes occasionally, as she has proven herself invaluable in creating more gladiators.

She's hitting a point where the losses of her pupils, and more importantly friends, are starting to weigh on her. She likely isn't going to just be allowed to retire, though, so she has to figure something else out.

Apollo

Apollo named himself after a Greek God because he thinks he's hilarious. (This is debatable if you ask anyone who has spoken with him for more than five minutes.) He ended up at the Ludus Magnus due to his sense of humor; turns out a Senator doesn't like it when you make jokes about their philosophical ideas, even if they are stupid.

He doesn't enjoy the gladiator lifestyle much if he's being honest, and is counting down the days until his "voluntary" contract with the school is over so he can use what money he's won and travel the world like he's always wanted to. His self absorption is part him being young, and part it being a front for the fear he has of not living out his dreams and he wears it like a protective front. His friends know better, though.

(He also thinks Spartacus is cute, but he's certain Spartacus is going to stay a gladiator till he dies and that doesn't work with what he wants in the long run.)

His traits are: Loves the Outdoors, Self Absorbed, and Outgoing.

Spartacus

Disclaimer: I did not make Spartacus lmao. I was hitting create-a-sim burnout so I hit up the gallery to find someone else's Roman themed sim. Although I did make some minor changes to his wardrobe, added scars and swapped out a couple of his traits, which are: Athletic, Proper, Loner. I ended up keeping his name because while it's on the nose for a gladiator, it fits.

Spartacus is a former member of the Roman Legionnaires. He was released from his service due to an injury he sustained abroad. Once he had healed, he found civilian life to be difficult to adjust to, so he signed a contract with the Ludus Magnus. He's here for a good time, not a long time.

But lately, he's been spending more time with Apollo, and he's starting to change his mind. But surely someone as handsome as Apollo wouldn't be interested in someone who'd rather spend his time meditating than socializing at a party...

Finn

Finn's traits are: Athletic, Loyal, Ambitious

Finn knew the risks he was taking when he killed Antonius, but he doesn't regret it. He's now plotting his escape, and if his new found friends can survive, he'll bring them with him if they like. He really just wants to get back to Britain to what's left of his family and help them take back what is rightfully theirs and drive the Romans out.

By challenge rules, he has 10 fights to get through first. I also have to receive a silver medal or higher on at least 50 events, and I'll probably use his fights to accomplish at least 10 of those. (I've done six so far).

Will probably go over Laelius' household next along with the parts of the challenge they'll be completing, followed by his daughter's. Who I don't think I've posted so far.

[tavina-writes]

Have you any suggestions for someone who has started recently (few months ago) to publish fics on ao3 and doesn't get a lot of hits/kudos? I feel a little down and insecure, and I don't know if it's my writing the problem or the fact that the pair is not the main and not liked much

Hi Nonny!

This is a difficult conflict to have with yourself, and I'm sure that like, you've seen all the posts about how like "you should be self indulgent! you should write for yourself! who cares about engagement!" and this both is and isn't true. But also even if you think it is true and you'd like to get some of that energy it's very difficult and for that sending you so many hugs. It is very normal to feel insecure about sharing something you've made, and I think writers of all levels of experience and "engagement" feel down about themselves like this in cycles.

idk if I'm qualified to say a ton on this topic, but I've seen lots of "unhealthy relationship to stats page" and could tell real stories about horrible things that have happened so I guess here goes nothing?

A few things to keep in mind:

what do you consider "not a lot" ? 10? 100? 1000? One of the major problems of focusing overtly on hits/kudos/comments/and other things you can't change is that inevitably if you achieve the "number of your dreams" you will....get a new number that you want. It will be bigger. Chasing this type of external numbers based validation to the exclusion of other stuff is very difficult because it is one of those sliding slope black holes to never being satisfied with what is currently going on. This is my primary thought on why focusing on stats isn't very good: it's very easy to get into a never ending cycle of never being happy.

as someone who's written for several years: we're coming up on the winter holidays, end of the semester, winter break type time period in many parts of the world but esp for northern hemisphere english speaking fandom, so if you're seeing a decrease in hits/kudos/comments/the feeling that someone out there is reading your work in general, this could play a big role. If you've only been publishing for the last few months the first time this happens can be really jarring! But it has nothing to do with the quality of your writing or if people are interested in reading and everything to do with brickspace taking up a lot of time right now. (I imagine this might also be true for Chinese speaking fandom around New Years, but I can't say since I don't engage there very often to notice trends.)

Depending on the fandom, (which, unless you, like me, are into Naruto which seems to thrive on niche AUs from now until forever), main pairings/fandom popular juggernauts will always get more people reading than a rarepair. That doesn't mean the people who write for rarepairs are doing a bad job or that writing for a rarepair isn't rewarding to the writer in other ways, but that may mean modulating expectations on like "how many people will click on my work?" and "how much feedback will I get?"

So overall, I feel like there's a combination of factors here for why you might be feeling down, but there are ways to help with this!

For one: talking about your writing and your work and what you're doing! This, I've found, is a great way to make friends. (also to anyone who says that this is obnoxious and attention seeking, this is the attention seeking webbed site, if you don't want attention why are you here????)

For two: locate friends and yell your thoughts at them <- I have found this to be 100% a mood picker upper when it comes to "am I doing a good job at writing?"

For three: find what makes you really happy about your own writing! This doesn't mean that you have to seek to improve your writing, but just, stuff that you enjoy, a line you really like, a relationship you enjoyed, a fic you thought was nice, and be kind to yourself about it.

Again, sending you hugs nonny! I hope some of this helps!

[theinvisiblemuseum]

how about......people demanding wlw rep then never actually engaging with it because the only thing they care about is woke points☕

this really was the wrong day for me to rb this game because i'm seriously genuinely going to be a major cunt about it and i dgaf. that's your warning.

so. here's what i think. in very general terms.

if you don't want to read below the cut (valid) here's all i'll say: stop, actually. i don't want need or care about the megaviral wlw fanfictions of your dreams, because that's not how i choose to engage with fandoms. i already make and engage with the kind of content i want to see which (surprise!) includes a lot of wlw content, but i don't see the need to force moral superiority down people's throats over it. i don't give two shits if anyone other than me is making wlw content. this is fanfiction. fanart. etc. people are allowed to write or engage with whatever they want, HOWEVER if you're throwing a fit over not having enough wlw content and can't name a woman off the top of ur head, that seems like a you problem, idk. basically i choose to actively NOT engage with the type of people screaming crying and pissing themselves over content that already exists that they can't be bothered to look for because appearances and #feminism are all that matters.

if you're here, i'm going to get more cunty, not sorry, you were warned.

the demand for wlw rep is absolutely just dog whistling to seem holier than thou, and like, whatever, most of this shit originates on twitter and tiktok and i've never listened to a word a twitter or tiktok user has said and i won't start now so on the whole i can just put my metaphorical headphones on and tune it out and keep doing my thing, yk? but when it permeates my little den of horror and my brain starts scratching itself, well, i find that sometimes i need to be an asshole and sometimes is right now.

it's not actually a fandom sexism/misogyny issue it's an issue of wanting validation to enjoy certain things, because those things are only cool if the hivemind says so, right? i'm no political expert but i know enough to know that cultlike thought patterns don't lead anywhere good. i've seen zombie movies. i live in america. LOL.

i always joke about how i'd rather die than have my favorite ships become popular (i.e. pandalily, bartydora, lilycissa, etc) but the reason i say that is because a. it breeds discourse that i don't care about, and b. i don't want a bunch of people engaging with content they're not actually interested in just to seem woke or stay on top of trends. it just makes things worse for the people who actually enjoy it.

and while i have your attention, and while i'm being a bitch, wanna know one of the big reasons i think people are crying and whining about the 'lack of wlw rep'? they want other people to care so they don't have to. of course, they don't realize other people already dooooo care, because they're too terrified to sort by anything other than hits on ao3, but that's neither here nor there. no, what they want is for some big strong heavenly god to bite the bullet and characterize these women that, let's be frank, are names on a page and nothing more, so they don't have to. so they can keep on keeping on with the characters they DO care about and toss something around every once and a while about (insert megaviral wlw fic that doesn't exist) to avoid claims of sexism & lesbophobia. AND AS A DISCLAIMER! i don't think people should feel the need to care about a bunch of random characters if they don't want to. once again, this is fanfiction. do whatever the fuck you want. i promise it makes things so much more fun and chill. just because i wanna characterize the shit out of pandora fucking lovegood, i'd never demand anyone else does, and that's the crux of it, isn't it?

this is why it also bugs me when i see posts like 'omg i don't even care who the ship is, i just love sapphics!' or smth along those lines because like, yeah, i love women and i love when women fuck each other and love each other, but i'm not just gonna care about a ship because it's two women. if i did, i'd be more than happy with the pg spoonfed #girlcore sapphic representation in mass media, because half the time it's just two white girls named rachel and brookleighanna whose only defining character traits are that they're gay. nothing more. and sorry, but i'd rather have no wlw content than that. i can't enjoy a ship if i haven't rotated them to hell and back like a rotisserie chicken in my silly little head, often before i've even consumed any content about them. that's the fun of it! i sent like 12 voice messages about a ship i don't even care about that much one time just because i took a shower and had a lot of thoughts. does that mean i'm going to attempt to make them a cornerstone of the Fandom As A Whole and be treated like a celebrity over it? fuck no. i'm just here because i like to have fun and talk to people about characters we all enjoy and create so much lore in my head that only 2 people will ever know about simply because i'm passionate about it and that passion is really enjoyable to me. fandom is a community to me, not a hierarchy, like tiktok or twitter would have you believe, and i think that's what this whole conversation about wlw rep is missing right from the jump. (ta da! i circled back to the point at hand in the end. my tangent had a point!)

yeah so that's my two cents. lol.

[ladyluscinia]

I really cannot make it clear enough that the only people who think Izzy Hands has a massively outsized following in the OFMD fandom are people who aren't paying attention and probably get annoyed by every positive mention of Izzy Hands.

Those of us who do post about him / read fics about him / enthusiastically ship him / whatever are far more likely to quip about how there are whole dozens of us in our corner because that's a hell of lot closer to the reality. But if plain statistics on fics or repeatedly pointing out that tumblr notes are the same people hitting that same reasonable average of double digit reblogs... Idk. Maybe a more descriptive exercise would make this clear?

I'm sorting AO3 by most kudos, looking at OFMD fics with Izzy's character tag (aka the one place he really outstrips the other side characters in numbers). A few observations:

Izzy's name appears in a fic summary for the first time on Fic 6, with "...and Izzy getting disrespected several times." Not much of a mention.

First Izzy/OC ship is Fic 7 (Hell or High Water - a title I recognize but have never read)

First Izzy/Other Character is Fic 17, with Izzy/Lucius, which also appears to be the first Izzy focused fic

Fic 22 is the first appearance of BlackHands as part of a SteddyHands fic

46 Fics in we get the first one Not Technically Ship Tagged with BlackBonnet (a Lucius/Izzy with a "background blackbonnet" tag), and at Fic 63 we get the first Actually Not Ship Tagged with BlackBonnet (a Stizzy fic about bonding over hating Calico Jack).

I think Fic 215 is the first mention of Sam Bellamy? I'm trying to find something specific and it's taking a while...

Oh wait there it is! 216 Fics by Kudos into the "Israel Hands" character tag (out of 7785 total) we have the first BlackHands fic that doesn't have Stede involved. Prior to this there were a lot of BlackBonnet fics, and notable numbers of SteddyHands and Izzy/Lucius. Hell we even hit Izzy/Frenchie and Izzy/Captain Flint before getting to this point.

I'm just really trying to illustrate here that for all the snide accusations and defensive worrying I see about all the sinister Izzy fans trying to make the whole show and fandom about him, "Izzy" content (which this ought to demonstrate is hardly all about Izzy) is just not that overwhelming. Izzy content that excludes or ignores the Revenge crew even less so. Like, run this exercise with any side character and you'll get pretty similar results - seeing as the dominance of BlackBonnet above all else is still ridiculous by fandom standards - but that's kinda the point.

Izzy is a popular side character, which is a thing that tends to happen when side characters get speaking time, characterization, camera focus, exploration of their current and potential relationships (conflict counts), etc. You know, things that Izzy gets a bunch of as an antagonist? Izzy having more content than Oluwande is not really more weird than Oluwande having more content than Buttons or Wee John? I'm not going to pretend that fandom spaces don't drop the ball on content for characters of color pretty often, but the tagged content breakdown in this fandom is not far off from what you would expect by character descriptions alone.

Like the list goes Cool Protagonist / Love Interest -> POV Protagonist -> Live-In Primary Antagonist -> Side Fun Guy with a Death Cliffhanger / Fanfic Gap Ending -> Side Pirate Assassin with a Subplot -> Assassin's Side Love Interest... I mean, maybe Lucius is a bit higher than Jim even for what "Lucius in the walls" fics can account for, or Lucius / Izzy have a bit bigger of a lead than they would without white identifying bias, but that's like? Unprovable speculation at best???

Not remotely comparable to, like, "Star Wars Sequel Trilogy" where Kylo Ren is 46.3% of fics while the two non-white protagonists are only in 35.7% (Poe) or 29% (Finn). Like Poe is technically behind Hux's 35.9%, which is absurd for a secondary antagonist no matter how fun I found his blatant evil. It's like if Chauncey Badminton was neck and neck with Jim or even Edward. That is a content percentage you should question, and the numbers might be worse in "Star Wars - All Media Types" (though Kylo does at least lose to Obi Wan).

[loki-ioki]

(responding to the tag fave female characters post) weird to say, but it makes me feel better im not thr only one in "big fan of geeta but can never trust anyone else to not shit on her" club :')

As it is, we get a lot in subtext, more than most champions! Girlboss is flawed but gives her 100% to loving her region. The dlc social link confirmation that she trusts the PC and Nemona to carry her torch of inspiration and love hit me so hard in the feels

i mainly use twitter so i CONSTANTLY see people shitting on her and it's so annoying and disheartening. or always putting her in bait tweets with two SUPER popular champions (like leon & cynthia) and being like "pick the worst one 🤪" and it makes me so fucking mad. I love Cynthia but it's not fair to Geeta at all.

i don't like geeka at all (no hate tho, i just don't find it interesting/like it more one-sided on Rika's part) but i trust them to deal with her more than most other people lol.

but YES the dlc little convos with her that i've seen (haven't unlocked her yet in my game bc i'm lazy) are SOO CUTE OR SWEET. the little details they added to her are just. OUGHH GOD I LOVE HER SO MUCH. her being a little absent minded & having glimmets in her hair constantly are. so cute. AND HER PASSING HER TORCH TO THE MC OR NEMONA ONE DAY YES. my own personal hc for her (tho i think it's.. semi? popular? idk) is that Nemona is her sister and it just makes that interaction all the sweeter to me.

ANYWHO. sorry to ramble LOL but i just love her. her design, her personality, all of it. she's wonderful to me

[rockroselazuli]

TOA Anniversary Munday

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Tagging: myself

Name: rai

Pronouns: he/him

Birthday (no year): december 28th

Where are you from? What is your time zone?: colorado! mountain time zone

Roleplay experience: ooooohh my god um. like 15 years maybe?? most recently on twt. i used to rp on tumblr back in high school though and i'm SO glad to be back cause i missed it. rping on twt is awful i need to be able to write three thousand words in one post

Got any pets?: my kitty selkie :)

Favorite time of year: autumn.. i love pretty leaves and comfortable weather and halloween and pumpkin flavored things god bless

Some interests and things you like: drawing, audio drama podcasts, birds, sugar, cosplaying, horror

Some funfacts & trivia about you:

i collect plushies

i have 14 tattoos and my next one is gonna be grima

i write original stories and someday i'm gonna make a webcomic

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play?: pokemon, animal crossing, other miscellaneas things

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: type is flying & pokemon is absol. my absolute belovedoh my god that was not supposed to be a pun

How did you get into Fire Emblem?: my childhood friend was really into radiant dawn and told me all about it and then i mentioned it to my dad and he was like "oh yeah fire emebeleme i wanted to try out one of those games" so he bought radiant dawn bc it was the one i talked about and. we did not know it was a sequel for the longest time.

What Fire Emblem games have you played?: 7, 9 & 10, 11 & 12, 13, 14, 16, 17

First Fire Emblem game: radiant dawn

Favorite Fire Emblem game: awakening

Any Fire Emblem crushes? ��: g.. gregorgy. also sephiran and naesala. and rafal why is gregory the only human here

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays?

- Awakening: tharja. now i would gaius if i wasn't so attached to him being inigo's father always

- Fates: silas. now uhhh mmmm?? m. i don't know WAIT. keaton

- Three Houses: i don't remember?????? what the fuck. um. oh nevermind it was claude lmao of course it was claude. and i would do it again

- Engage: no one i uh. seem to have completely missed the chance somehow. anyway i'm going for alfred this time cause alfred/alear is everythign to me

Favorite Fire Emblem class: KINSHI KNIGHT but basically just archers in general. and DANCERS i love them

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class?: um.. idk but i'd like to think i'd be the donnel archetype cause aptitude is my only chance

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation?: golden deer!!

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with?: either micaiah bc i like her or um. yeah. i would go with claude also but not when the Other Two are in there can you imagine the bickering

How did you find TOA?: a couple of my mutuals on twt are here!! waves at them

Current TOA muses: yeehaw

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again?: not toa but my first fire emblem muse ever was volug. yeah i could write him again

Have you had any other TOA muses?: not yet but stay tuned

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards?: yeah lmao. i've got a couple archetypes that hit me like a train every time

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most?: characters with weird ass emotions

Favorite TOA-related memory: i haven't even been here a month yet but this event is really fun

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔: just the letters lol

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day that you’d like to share? 😉: back when i was on twtrp i kinda wanted to pick up ashe but then. i didn't. because ferp on twt is a nightmare and ashe was a popular character (i was cyril. safe in my little bubble)

[lemonhemlock]

i have to say, you guys are relentless, i only need to post one helaemond-related ask and it inevitably brings all the boys to the yard :))

don't get me wrong, i enjoyed reading your takes & i'm posting them under the cut for anyone who wants to read such rants, but, at this point, with so little content, i feel like there's not really a lot more i can personally add to fandom critique that i haven't already said (discourse and metas anyone can find if they go through my designated tag).

so i hope you won't feel offended & this is 100% a helaemond blog but i am going to pause the shipping wars topic for the time being unless something fresh hits our port or we get some kind of news / additional content (maybe like scripts? would love to see those!)

it's been more than a year since the season ended and we've made all the arguments we could possibly make, but we can't control if there are users who still rehash the same three talking points over and over

Anonymous asked: The kids theory was always a long shot and to be fair, their paternity doesn't really matter for the ship to happen. Helaemond can still have romantic feelings to each other without the kids being his, but like you said, if the ship doesn't get confirmed as canon antis and Aemondwives will all be like "We told you so!!! You were all delusional and you should've stopped shipping it!!!!"...okay? It still doesn't change the fact the writers most likely played with the possibility. Setting up potential storylines and not picking them up in a later season is something that has always been happening in TV especially when the team behind the show changes in between seasons like it happened with hotd this time (maybe those who speculated that Sapochnik came up with the idea of Helaemond were right?). Idk how many chances the ships still has if the leaks about B&C being at the end of episode 1 or in episode 2 are real (I doubt there can be a romance after the event), but whatever happens people won't stop shipping it. Non-canon pairings have always been a thing in fandoms and sometimes they may even be more popular than canon ones. It's still baffling to me how hated this ship has become in the fandom though.

Anonymous asked: it feels very obvious because a lot of these fans won’t bring the same “it’s non-canon/made up/etc” vibe to something like Aegond or Daemond, but they will to Helaemond bc they fear it might actually happen in canon. Which, if it does, has nothing to do with the shippers and comes from the writers 😭

Anonymous asked: Some antis are now making up crap about Helaemond shippers hating on Ewan. One of them even made a list and they were listed as his top haters (they also included TB stans and L*cemond shippers but...Alicent and Aegon stans for some reasons as well lmao) while another one claimed Helaemonds are currently bashing Ewan by generally making fun of him and of his looks because of the ship not happening???? I don't know whose comments made them angry but I've yet to see one Helaemond bullying and actually hating on him. Not saying nasty H shippers don't exist but why claim all of them are doing something like this when it clearly isn't the case? At most I've seen people making fun of some of the things he says in interviews but this is not hate. People are allowed to joke.

lmao, people lightheartedly joshing around and pointing out some cringe statements is not hate, dictionaries exist!

Anonymous asked: The funniest thing about the crowing reaction all of the Ewan-obsessed twitter fans had to this supposed leak is when it comes to what canonical "confirmation" Helaemond shippers as a whole most often discussed it was a type of courtly love; probably unconsummated feelings between the two. The kids theory was a niche fun fanon theory mainly used for fics and headcanons, and most people who are still participating in this fandom had little to no "expectation" that we would see that on the show. Funny to point out that expectation isn't even the correct word to use here, as Helaemonds by and large were completely fine with no type of canonical confirmation, and were mainly excited for any Aemond and Helaena interactions we may get in the new season. It's a non-canon ship, people are drawn to all of the potentials they personally see in this dynamic, and how it can be explored in fan content. Shippers like this very rarely care about canonicity - not to say they wouldn't welcome it of course on the off chance it happened, but that is not a priority of their engagement in fandom.

[ranger-kellyn]

One thing I haven't seen cross my dash is a "how to" tutorial for how to change your icon and header, and I mean. I've been here since 2011, so I'm well versed in this, but I have no clue how the website guides any new users. Maybe it's not nearly as intuitive as I think it is. Genuinely, no judgement here.

So have one I threw together while putting off an email. This is for DESKTOP. Maybe I'll make an app version as well, but I'm hoping that the app maybe guides you if you've just signed up on it.

First you go to the pencil icon in the top right corner of your dash.

It then gives you this drop down menu, and you want to hit Edit Appearance at the bottom.

From there, it takes you to this. You want to hit Edit appearance in the right corner of your blog. ( also recommend enabling custom theme, but that's a post for another day)

Once you've hit that, there's two pencils you can click. The one on the upper right, below Cancel and Save lets you edit the header.

Like this. You can play with the stretch header image toggle to see if it works better for whatever picture you choose. You can zoom in and reposition however you like.

The bottom pencil over your icon will bring up this. If you toggle Show avatar off, it just won't display your icon whenever someone clicks to preview your blog, it'll still be visible on the dash. You can change the shape to either circle or square. It's all personal preference.

Make sure you hit save and you're good!

I also recommend at least putting something in the header text. I obv have some Taylor Swift lyrics on the top, and then some very basic info about myself in the main body. You can put as much or as little as you like. You don't have to put your legal name. I know some people I follow have just a random quote or sentence there, and nothing else, and I personally don't think anything of it. But just put something to at least indicate you're a real person. Even something like "idk what i'm doing here". Yep. Sounds like the average tumblr user to me lmao (until the bots pick that up and well...if you have enough genuine posts on your blog you should still be safe)

And if I can give any other advice for newcomers: You're not here to be popular. You're not here for clout. You're here to be you. You don't have to give anyone you know IRL your url. Be free. Something something release your inhibitions, feel the rain on your skin and all that.

Also, get the XKit extension. It has a ton of handy features like the mass unliker, quick reblogs, some accessibility features, and my personal favorite: post blocker. (Goodbye color of the sky shitpost) Most of XKit, though, you'll have to play with on your own to find out what you do and don't like.

[itsohh]

Hello! I hope you are doing well! When you first started writing here on Tumblr, did you hesitate or were nervous and if so how did you deal with it? Or did you just power through it and fuck it I'm putting my writing out there and I don't care what people say?

Long story short I'm really wanting to write on here just to do something different but I'm hella nervous and just wanted an opinion. Because I really love R6 but I have a very hard time getting out of my shell. Obviously you don't have to answer if you are uncomfortable! Till then I can't wait for your next post! 😊

hmmm I think way back when I first started writing I was a lot more care free at the time back when I was like 13.

I don't think I was ever focused on like anyone hating it or anything like that. Like I've legit never got hate for writing in all the years I've done it. Either people will hit the like button or they wont. Back then I was writing for like supernatural and marvel then eventually overwatch and a bit of Sherlock. In the case of I guess it was 'whats the worst that will happen' in all reality most of the time people who don't like x reader have the tag blocked and so only people who like said thing will find it (so long as u tag correctly)

I've sorta just got to the stage where posting doesn't really phase me in nervousness or anything, like sure for somethings I lose interest or motivation at times but when I started posting I didn't really get any like feedback at all? Like it was very rare I would get anything that wasn't a like or a reblog and requests didn't happen much. I think the fact that Tumblr is so anonymous really helps, like its almost a mask. No one actually knows who I am, worst comes to worst I can legit just delete the blog and start anew.

I think also fandom size is a huge thing, is reconising your audience, there's no point comparing like notes to another fandom cause honestly it just reflects how popular said thing is. After I realised that I sorta don't worry anymore? I used to freak out a bit about people not liking my posts but now I'm just like 'eh R6S is tiny' and it is.

Honestly yeah so long as you tag correctly you should be alg. In the R6S fandom at leat people are pretty chill. (Idk there's some hate to oc's or something but as long as u don't tag as x reader u should be alg)

Anyway I'm rambling a lot but honestly yeah just go for it hun, upload. Nothing bad will happen, might feel a bit anxious or whatever but its like, yeah. You feel me? that being said if your going to write please remember capitals and new speaker new line theses are so important, as someone who breaks a lot of grammar rules those two shouldn't be broken in writing. I know a lot of people aren't a fan of first person so if you do write first person your audience would be smaller than per say second or first

Some people may have different ideas or interpretations of character but I feel as a tumblr collective (speshly this fandom) people won't like hate on you for it.

ANYWAY I went off again, yeah give it a go. eventually you will get used to it and it will become a second habit to upload, frankly so long as you ultimately always write for your enjoyment your always good. uploading writing is pretty much like the same as watching a movie with a friend id say, or like running a dnd campaign sorta vibes. kinda. but yeah just hit that post button and off u go. I guess yeah just power through it, hitting post the first time is def the hardest and you just gotta rip that bad boy off.

[parkquimin]

TF141 + Valeria and their relationship with kpop

Valeria:

Not a big fan but is smart enough to know that there's a shit ton of money in kpop.

She probably buys up like all the tickets ever for concerts and then charges 10x the original price. The original scalper.

I think if there's a group she likes, she'll save the best tickets for herself.

Also she definitely buys up all the merch and sells them at extremely high rates too.

I think she also uses them as bargaining chips. Like if she's talking to an important business person or whatever she's like "oh I heard your kid likes (insert group), I happen to have tickets to them I could give you a good discount on them"

She probably posted something negative about a big group just to stir up drama and quickly learned to never do that again because her location got leaked LMAOOO

She probably thought about hiring some of the stans because how tf did they even find her???

Gaz:

Idk why but I feel like he's an ultimate stan.

Knows some of the dances, but isn't super dedicated to learning them

He definitely has photocards, lightsticks, albums, etc.

Had a VISCERAL reaction when he was called in on an emergency during KCON and he had to sell his prized P1 ticket.

WHEN he's off duty OMGGG.

This man has like 4 different devices set up ready to get tickets (he's fighting Valeria for them).

If he's on base or on a mission and the time is right, he'll make the rest of the team open the ticket portals so he can have a higher chance at getting tickets.

Cried when he didn't get Stray Kids tickets and then screamed when they released more dates in his area.

Cries for like half of the concerts he attends and his voice is unusable the next day

Price:

I feel like he's not into it and MAYBE he knows like "Red" by Hyuna cause Gaz played it once and liked it.

MAYBE does a little research just to know what Gaz and Soap are screaming and giggling about

He hit Gaz with "I heard one of those kpop people you like on the radio" and Gaz just stared.

I feel like he set one foot into a kpop store because he got Gaz for secret santa and he grabbed the first thing he saw, paid, and never looked back (Gaz appreciated the effort)

Mixes up different groups' names (not even on purpose he just can't remember all of that info)

"Why are there so many people in NCT"

"Why are they called "Seventeen" if there are only 13 people in it"

Ghost:

I feel like he's heard it in passing, but doesn't really listen to it.

Maybe there's a couple songs where he bops his head to the beat but then nothing further than that.

Probably gives Soap and Gaz concerned looks when he catches them in a corner giggling over a piece of paper smaller than his hand.

I feel like he's been to ONE concert because he lost a bet to Soap. Soap would've gone, but it was a group he didn't know and he thought it would be funnier if Ghost accompanied Gaz. Ghost agreed mainly because he'd get to spend time with Gaz (he loves his teammates)

He watched all of the fans scream and cry and was lowkey scared

Soap:

He is more invested but not as dedicated as Gaz.

He probably learned a couple dances with Gaz and likes the more popular groups like Twice and EXO.

Would go to KCON if there were enough groups that he liked and just to bond with Gaz.

Gaz lends Soap his albums because he "needs to learn to appreciate art more"

Soap ends up getting a couple of albums of his own, and I KNOW him and Gaz trade photocards and do reveals for each other

Watches with concern as Gaz screeches at his computers when it's time to buy tickets.

Doesn't freak out when he sees other people with kpop merch in public, but he'll give them like a side eye LMAOOO

----------

I'm ngl I've never played COD and I recently just started getting into the characters, so please lmk if you think I've mischaracterized anyone in this post! I'm happy to make edits and do more research but I just though this would be a fun thing to write :). Also thank you so much for viewing my work, it means so much to me as a beginner writer <3

[azrielgreen]

Hello!! I was wondering if you’d be able to give some advice… I am a fellow writer, and I struggle a lot with confidence in my work. I find myself doubting what I write a lot and worrying over statistics and comments and people’s opinions. And it really sucks the joy out of writing, but I don’t want it to because I love it. You seem so confident and put together and wise, and idk, I just wanted to know how you do it. Do you ever doubt yourself? 🖤🖤🖤 Thank you in advance if you reply.

Hi! This is SUCH a great question and honestly, every writer - myself wholeheartedly included - struggles with confidence in their writing. Worrying about statistics, comments and people's opinions can really drain all the beauty out of what you're creating and leave you feeling quite empty, I absolutely agree.

I doubt myself a LOT. I go through periods where I'm convinced that a) everyone hates me and my writing b) no one wants to read anything i write c) i've lost my "spark" or that nothing I ever write will be as good as something I wrote before.

What I do now is look forward, not back. Tell myself I'll only get better with time, that good things are coming, always. I write everyday, give or take, and I don't EVER stop and think about what people "want" me to write or what would be the popular choice for hits/comments/kudos etc. I write exactly what I love and I put every droplet of myself into it that I can, as if no one but me will ever read it.

Lean into that passion, my lovely. Lean into where you're brightest and unique and utterly, authentically strange. Write what you want for YOURSELF and no one else.

Write it, post it and move on to the next. Keep moving, keeping learning and loving what you do without fear because you can ALWAYS write more. You are the creator of worlds, of magnificent visions and characters and entire realities, it all lives inside you, such possibilities. No one will love EVERYTHING you write, but, in my humble experience, when you write your heart out, people will resonate with it.

That said, I've written plenty of flops in other fandoms (I think around 44 now, I orphan them all right out the gate and check in occasionally, but it's just for fun) and that's OK. It's OK to flop sometimes, because you're never not going to be a writer and your next idea is JUST around the corner and I really do believe that.

So my advice is tap into your passion and lock out pretty much everything else. Run away with your ideas, go wild, change the font to Comic Sans (trust me) and try to write as often as you can. I'm always here if you need a boost.

all my love,

Az 💜💜💜

[lenasai]

hiiiii @burningcrab hi thanks for the tag, i am still awake so why not

i got tagged to do a thing: "recommend 3 of your fics: your most popular and 2 hidden gems"

i am down for shameless plugging :)

most popular: don't forget them when they're gone, to this day my longest fic (almost beaten by my garages exchange fic, but since they're about 100 words apart i think both of them can share the title of longest fic.) anyway, it's about short circuits, but it's also about beta blaseball players discovering the events that took place during gamma 1 and watching the events of gamma 2. let's just say finding out 14 guys exploded at the end of gamma 1 hits a little too close to home for one of those players. but really all three of the main characters are kinda going through it and they talk about their feelings and stuff. also i got attached to barry burkhard while writing it. he's just a guy. i love him. (also also flattery says fuck. this is a selling point.)

idk what exactly qualifies hidden gems but i'll post two more that weren't in my top three (i only have 12 works published so i don't have a lot to work with here)

-hold on, you'll live to play again is about the end of season 20 (you know, that season we thought max and ivy were gonna explode and then they didn't? yeah. except there was a small chance the steaks and tacos would play in the postseason and we had to worry about ivy and nan exploding for a hot second...but then they didn't.) anyway yeah i know it's technically not finished. it's a two-chapter fic but the first chapter works as a standalone story just fine. i know what's gonna happen in the second chapter, i just...haven't written it yet. my brain said "no more words" after i speedran the first chapter right after the garages fic exchange. life is pain, etc. anyway i'm still pretty happy with the first chapter and i will write the second chapter eventually, i promise.

-snippets from the immaterial plane is a collection of short free verse poems that i think best represents the larger splorts poetry series i've been writing. it's a bunch of poems about the expansion era. also it is the first work to include lil pitchy. i mention this only because i love lil pitchy. personal favorites from this set of poems includes on knives and how to use them, salmon, skipping, and save situation.

i gotta tag three people. as for tags, i'm always bad at them but i'll tag... @quantumducky @thehallstara @theshelledonespods hiiiiii