#idk if anyone reads the tags that i add down here for Spice. but if you do should i just cave and write a full a/b/o smut of this?

[vgilantee]

wait no he'd totally respect you saying no but literally mating with him is inevitable, so if you were the one that came to him, finally agreeing you'd mate with him bc it's unbearable that you haven't yet. god he'd be so cocky.

of course he'd respect you saying no, because he's in the same boat really, he doesn't want it to be you, he's just already hit acceptance whereas you're still in denial

maybe it takes an unbearable heat, one that is painful and has you lightheaded and your skin feeling as though it was on fire, only able to smell him, your body craving him and no matter how many times you cry yourself to sleep because it's painful but you don't want to have to ask, you know it's inevitable. so you steel yourself, wipe your eyes and stand as straight as you can, before finally going to his house.

honestly, he probably knows how much pain you're in because he's in it too, his own rut having somehow already synced up with your heat. he too has already done the trying not to sob, the praying that his own hand will fix the problem and ease the pain. but he won't go to you. he already made his case, telling you it was unavoidable, but when you told him to go fuck himself, he decided that you would have to be the one to make that first move. you would have to reach acceptance yourself

ethan smells you before he hears the urgent knock on the door, already racing toward it just to see you

"please. it hurts. i'm done fighting it, i need you, eth" and ethan is pulling you into his house the second the whine of his name has left your lips, already literally tearing off your clothes as you tear his, tumbling to the cool tiles to ease the heat from your skin that now doesn't just burn from inside, but also wherever your skin meets his

[ohdaim]

april fool's day oneshot

hi guys, i wrote this today in one sitting, and it's lazily edited:) i'm recovering from an oral surgery and on strong medication, so i hope this makes as much sense as i think it does.

Ship: Ignis Scientia/female reader Summary: You are a Citadel valet working the night shift, frequently attending to Ignis' car. You have no idea how to talk to him. He has no idea how to ask for your number. Words: 1849 idk if this is considered fluff or just mutual pining but with like,, idiots

__

Stir together bread crumbs, garlic, parsley…

You scanned the rest of the newest recipe on your favorite cooking blog, Feeding The Fussy. As always, it looked delicious. As always, you rated it five stars and typed out a comment.

I followed the recipe exactly, but I left out the bread crumbs and cheese. I used shrimp and bacon grease instead. Terrible recipe. Won’t make again.

Putting your phone away, you came to attention when someone stepped out of a Citadel elevator across the lobby. You worked night shift as a palace valet and hardly saw anyone but for a few regular night owls. One of them approached now, and gods, you were nervous all of a sudden.

Ignis was your favorite regular. He was polite, tipped well, and made small talk so you wouldn't have to. You didn’t know what he did in the Citadel or why he so often left at four in the morning. You just knew you had a big crush on him and, for that reason, could never carry a full conversation without getting sweaty palms.

“Good morning.” He greeted you first. “Quiet night?”

You nodded, entering the info you needed to check his vehicle out of the system. You wanted to say something, anything. Nerves got the best of you, and you excused yourself into the back room to get his car keys. On your way out, you held them up. “I’ll have your car here momentarily.”

Ignis didn’t respond. He wasn’t even looking at you. His attention was on his phone, a corner of his mouth curled upward.

You paused, taking in the smirk with shy curiosity. That was a new look. What was he smirking at? When he seemed to remember himself, he schooled the look and met your eyes. Startling, you repeated yourself quietly and went through the doors leading to the parking garage.

Ignis’ car consistently smelled like coffee wrapped in leather. Your phone vibrated in your pocket as you buckled in. Because you wanted to linger in the nice scent--was this extremely weird? Yes, of course--you checked to see what the buzzing was about.

An email. You’d gotten a reply from the Feeding The Fussy chef. They’d liked your comments in the past but hadn’t addressed your obvious jokes. You stared at the subject line for a beat, then opened the message.

Thank you for the review. Almost as insightful as last week’s eight hundred word description of your current diet and how my recipes conflict. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve this one?

Your nervousness grew so heavy, it burst in bright red over your face, a flame in your chest. The chef was talking to you. You’d chalked it up to luck that they understood your sense of humor and the intent of your comments. Never had you thought they’d give more than a like. You typed a response before getting back to work.

Pro tip: Using a microwave is faster than the oven. Also, I’ve begun a new diet (details to follow), so is there any way to make this recipe without the ingredients?

Ignis’ car was fancy but less so than most others in the garage. You always felt a pinch of regret when pulling it up to the lobby entrance. Driving a car like his just to see how fast it could go, it wasn’t something you’d ever get to do. You didn’t own one yourself, and truthfully, you'd only gotten a driving license to be qualified for this job. Getting out, you waved at Ignis and extended an arm toward the open driver’s seat.

Tip passing from his hand to your own, you bowed and tucked the money into a pocket. He thanked you, getting into his car. You waited for him to drive away, likely the last person you’d see this shift.

“Ah, pardon me,” Ignis startled you by climbing back out, the car door hanging open. He held something out to you. “I believe you dropped this.”

You looked at your phone in his hand, your eyes wide, nervousness becoming embarrassment. Quickly grabbing it, you bowed again. “Sorry.”

Ignis chuckled. “It’s quite alright. Good thing I noticed when I did.”

Nodding emphatically, you wished he’d just go before you humiliated yourself further.

Clearly not reading your mind, he lingered a moment longer. “In truth, I--”

“Have a good day, sir.” You didn’t mean to interrupt him and hadn’t expected him to say more.

He cleared his throat and smiled. “Same to you.” Thanking you again, by name this time, he left.

Back in the quiet lobby, you put his tip with the rest you’d made that night. You sat behind the desk and buried your face in your hands. The sting of feeling stupid in front of Ignis was abated by the underlying excitement that came from talking to the chef you admired.

They specialized in meals for picky eaters, which you were. They used clear directions, so they could be followed by an amateur chef, which you really were. They sometimes added personal anecdotes spiced with sarcasm and dry jokes to the recipe’s background, which made you feel safe to comment. You refrained from checking your inbox, content to wait until you were home to see if they’d replied yet.

Two attendants arrived for the day shift, and as you hitched the strap of your bag over a shoulder, readying to leave, one of them told you to wait.

“You should pick up a new nametag before your next shift.”

Glancing down at your uniform, you remembered you’d lost yours several days ago. “Oh, right. I will.”

You stepped into an elevator, pressing the button for the metro station level. New nametag. Dumb. You had your work badge but still required a tag. How else would the Citadel inhabitants know who to thank for fetching their expensive cars? You rolled your eyes at the thought, already annoyed. You’d have to come to work early to pick it up. Was it too soon to quit and attend culinary school? You needed to make a bit more money first. Ignis tipped large bills, but still, it’d take years of picking his car up every morning before you could afford tuition.

Grinning to yourself, you weaved through the incoming morning crowds and boarded a train home. It had felt nice, hearing Ignis say your name on his way out. He was the only person who ever addressed you, so maybe getting a new tag was worth it for that alone. Ignis was just-- He truly-- You really liked when he came down, that was all.

It didn’t strike you for another several hours, as you filled out the online request for a new Citadel employee nametag, that Ignis must’ve remembered your name. You supposed a great memory was probably just another part of his polite demeanor. That’s what you told yourself, at least, to keep your crush from growing. You didn’t even know the man.

You attempted the chef’s latest recipe, and as it cooled, you--very casually and not nervously at all--checked to see if they’d replied.

I’ll keep that tip in mind. As for your question, I recommend the following replacement recipe: brew a cup of coffee or tea, sit somewhere comfortable, and enjoy the beverage knowing your comments haunt me whenever I cook.

You read and reread the message, then laughed into a hand. Worth the wait. You ate a bite directly from the dish on your counter, huffing through the fresh heat with mild regret. They deserved a genuine review after such honesty, but it seemed you were doing little more than burning the roof of your mouth. So you took a picture of the food, offering a thumbs up with one hand in frame, and sent it as a reply.

The next night you worked, Ignis arrived much earlier than expected--before midnight, no less. He was coming in rather than going out. Another man was with him, someone blonde and unfamiliar. Ignis opened the back to retrieve something, turning you down when you offered to get it for him. The blonde man, his smile sincere but awkward, complimented your shoes.

“Thanks.” You didn’t really know what to say. People chatting with you was uncommon.

“They match your uniform’s tie… thing.” The blonde man was red in the face. Someone needed to tell him he didn’t have to make small talk. You were just a valet. He persisted, his smile broad. “It’s nice, y’know. You’re, like, coordinated and stuff.”

“Prompto.” Ignis closed the back and proffered a piece of luggage toward the other man. “Leave her be.” When the man took the bag from him, Ignis gave you the car keys. “I apologize for my friend. He can’t contain himself around beautiful women. Add inebriation, and he’s a lost cause.”

You gripped the keys tightly, taking in everything with a slow nod. Yes, of course, right. All of that made sense. Ignis was bringing a drunk friend into the palace. Normal Ignis stuff.

“Do you think Cor’s gonna be mad at me?” the blonde asked Ignis, walking backwards from the car toward the lobby doors. “Iggy, what if Cor gets mad at me?”

Ignis rolled his eyes, a hand checking his inner jacket. “A tad late to worry about that. Go directly to the barracks and try to sleep it off.”

“Where are the barracks again?”

Ignis’ chest broadened with a sigh, and he left the guy hanging. Withdrawing a money clip, he held it out to you. “For your trouble.”

You hesitated taking it. The outer bill appeared to be 1,000 yen, and it was several notes thick… More than the usual tip. You took it slowly, fingertips brushing his leather covered palm, and murmured a quiet thanks.

Ignis remained, his hand lifting to brush loose strands of hair out of his face. He wasn’t as put together as you were used to. Your eyes trailed downward, now noticing the unbuttoned collar of his shirt. Huh.

He cleared his throat and began, “There’s something I--”

“C’mon, Iggy!” The blonde man held one of the entrance doors wide open. “If I knew Cor was gonna be mad anyway, I would’ve stayed at Noct’s.”

Ignis gave you a hasty farewell, already walking away to push the blonde man through the door. They disappeared inside, leaving an awkward wake of silence. You settled into Ignis’ coffee-and-leather scented car, a realization hitting you late, as they tended to do. Had Ignis implied you were beautiful? You didn’t entertain the thought for long. Ignis was a professional, royal something-or-other. He would never. You were reading too much into it. Surely.

On the walk from Ignis’ parking spot back to the lobby, you checked for the latest message from the chef. You’d boldly given them your number in a DM when the comment thread became unbearably long. You hadn’t held out hope of receiving a message and read their initial text at least ten times in disbelief before responding and saving the number.

Was this a new friendship? You hoped so.

[o0o-chibaken-o0o]

heLLO there! So I have seen you do fic recs and I just wanted to know if you have any good recommendations for Veritaserum!Drarry?? Thank you sm and have a good summer!

heLLO anon once again I am a literal year late in answering- I hope you are still following me! Here are all the wonderful fics featuring veritaserum I could find in my bookmarks :)

Sex, Lies, and Veritaserum by lettered (18K)- This entire fic is one long conversation about sex.so idk if you had in mind very honest and extremely(!) kinky negotiations when you sent this ask, but for anyone in the mood to read something VERY sexy, there is quite possibly no other fic quite so dirty and heartwarming at the same time

Spoken Words, Broken Thoughts by alpha_exodus (4.5K)- Harry's already losing it, and the Veritaserum's loosened his tongue. It doesn't help that Malfoy is too attractive for his own good.lol I swear there will be some fics on this list that aren’t about revealing fantasies followed by amazing sex, but not yet! Also is there anything better than the idea of sexy auror draco malfoy interviewing bad boy harry potter???? NO, read this!!

Blue Sheets by @firethesound​ (4K)- It was just supposed to be a night out. Harry absolutely didn't plan on admitting his feelings for Malfoy.Okay, this fic!! Everyone should read it!! It’s so so so adorable, and has plenty of veritaserum-induced second-hand embarrassment, which, let’s be real, is what we are ALL here for. I’ve definitely read this one multiple times when I’m feeling sad, it’s so lovely!!

How to Handle an Enemy by who_la_hoop (7.5K)- Everyone knows that it's no fun playing truth or dare with a Slytherin. But add a little Veritaserum, a scheming duo of Slytherin girls and surprising things can be revealed. Particularly about the fine line between love and hate…This fic!!! Is one of my favorites of all time!!!! I still remember exactly where I was when I read it because I very much regretted choosing to do so in a public place hahaha. There is truth or dare! Wanking! Scheming Slytherins! Exhibitionism! And you absolutely must read the sequel as well, trust me!!! Both fics are just pure amazingness.

You and Me by @bixgirl1​ (30K)- When Harry sits down with Malfoy, he's really only looking for a reprieve from the constant stares and whispers. (Mostly.) What he gets instead are a series of strange events that lead to a friendship that is something else, questions that nobody knows how to answer, and the realisation that the person that Harry doesn't know how to hate, anymore, seems to be the person who knows exactly what he needs. A story in which everything is complicated. And yet, somehow, none of it is.Oooh how I love this this fic! Obviously all 30K of it does not revolve around Veritaserum, but the potion does play an important role and the whole piece is a beautiful reflection on trust and truth. Once again @bixgirl1 somehow managed to take a relatively simple trope and turn it into something utterly beautiful and moving (*cough* and super fucking sexy with RIMMING like daaaamn *cough*)

Rarely Pure and Never Simple by birdsofshore (28.5)- Harry never thought taking a job as Draco Malfoy's bodyguard was going to be easy. Add in a curse that makes Malfoy even more of an obnoxious git than usual, and Harry's got serious problems.This fic involves a truth-telling curse rather than veritaserum, but the appeal is still the same (if not greater because this way the truth-telling lasts much longer)!! I looove a bodyguard!harry fic, and Draco’s personality here is fabulous! Thrilling and funny and an all-around wonderful fic :)

Rather Than Love by birdsofshore (7.5K)- The first time we tried it, I gave him too much. The second time, I got the dosage right, but I was frustratingly unprepared for how it would affect me. This is the third time, and I have it all planned out. Everything is going to be perfect.Another wonderful birdsofshore fic, this one featuring fucking amazing dirty talk and all the best kinks and probably a bit of drool on the part of the reader ;). Definitely read the tags first to check for squicks, but if you don’t find any then you must proceed immediately to reading this fic and probably dying of all the sexiness!! It’ll be so worth it!!!!!

Veritaserum Truth or Dare by ElectricBlueLilies (2K)- The returning eighth years bond over a game of Truth or Dare.A lovely, pure eighth-year part games fic featuring veritaserum to spice things up a bit ;)

Say Anything by alovelycupoftea (6K)- When Draco loses his reserve and starts speaking his mind, Harry realises something is very wrong. I love this little fic! It’s another with a truth-telling cure rather than veritaserum, but the things Draco can’t stop himself from saying are just so blunt and hilarious and the fic was just such an enjoyable read!!

[jazzy-art-time]

Sorry if this is a bother but I’m really trying to get into the ask blog community but I don’t really know how to start off or do anything? You have a lot of blogs and seem popular so I was wondering if you could give a newbie some advice if it’s not too much trouble? o^o”

Oh it’s no trouble at all reallyalthough I would HARDLY consider myself as “””popular””” hhhhiknowlike8peopleI did something like this once before on one of my ask blogs but I’m just gonna trim it up and rewrite it.+*~ Below The Cut For Shitty Jazzy Advice ~*+Be warned it is long and wordy.This is my own personal blog process/blog beliefs.Don’t take all of these to heart fully because there are many ways to do/interpret things. I am simply sharing how i personally do things.If anyone feels the need to add more onto this, feel free to.

First lets get The Blog Theme down.Believe it or not this is actually important and can affect you and your blog a lot more than you think.-> THIS ACCOUNT IS WHERE I GET ALL OF MY THEMES -Please note there are other blogs like this one, I just use that one specifically.You can also use the default theme that tumblr gives you, there are ways to edit it but I do not know how to edit it you would have to ask someone else.Simple Theme Color rules that I use:- Do not add bright neon colors with black. I love black n neon as much as the next guy but it makes your theme eye burning.- Blog colors can determine a blogs theme as well. A bright colored theme suggests a happy upbeat blog. But this only applies if you care for that sort of thing.- Make the text easy to read. Please even your links in the sidebar make them a color that is different enough from the other colors on your blog so you can actually read them. Use a easy to read font as well.What I always make sure to add in a theme:- Ask Box. Obvious thing to add, never feel ashamed or hesitant to close your ask box if needed. Whether it be due to plot reasons or you have asks piling up. Feel free to close it for the time you need and open it up again when desired.- Submissions Box. Not REALLY needed, I just always add it for ease of access. You can get to someone’s submit box just by adding /submit to the end of their url but I prefer to have a tab for it.- Character page or reference tag. Seriously add a reference page or a reference tag that is easy to find. It’s kind of a turnoff if you don’t have a easy to access reference. Don’t be upset if you feel your reference isn’t good enough. As long as you have a color palette to it you will be golden. Never shade a reference without a normal color palette we are all begging you. If you draw art traditionally, you can always add a color palette in with MSpaint nobody will judge you for that.- Rules Page. Now this isn’t 100% needed. I just add them to avoid getting spammed with questions or like… nsfw questions or something. If you don’t care about that then don’t worry ‘bout it.These are the main things I add to a blog. I also add these things because I’m extra:- Lore/Plot page. This usually contains links n tags to follow all of my plot posts or specific lore posts.- Ask Hints page. This is a HUGE help to people who are shy like me!! I usually can’t think of good asks to send so Ask Hint pages are such a help. I always try to add them whenever I can! Also they can help people ask more plot relevant questions when needed.Other Important things to add to a theme of a blog:- Add warnings. If your blog isn’t going to be happy go lucky, please consider adding a warning somewhere. Whether it be in the blogs description or your rules page. You don’t HAVE to add a warning, but its best if you do. - Add a tagging system if needed. No again, don’t have to do this. Some don’t tag things at all which is fine! I prefer to have tags and tag everything so I don’t accidentally trigger someone or just have peeps upset at me in general. I always have trigger tags, sensitive content tags and OOC tags. I go overboard with my tagging, I am aware of this, but I would rather be safe than sorry.Lets talk about Blog Playlists:- It is perfectly fine to have a blog playlist. Most complain about blog playlists but that is generally only if AutoPlay is on. I’m neutral on blog playlists just as long as the autoplay is off I am good lol. AutoPlay tends to give me a spook. It’s a highly debated thing in the community, but from what i’ve seen people just don’t like AutoPlay lol-> IF YOU ARE GOING TO USE A STOCK PHOTO FOR YOUR BACKGROUND, TRY USING THIS METHOD FOR FAIR USE I know most don’t honestly care about fair use of stock photos like this, but try to be fair +*~ Onto the character’s themselves ~*+What do you choose as your main pokecharacter?Literally whatever you want. I know some try to challenge themselves by choosing a pokemon they dislike/is hard to draw as their main character, but please note there is a difference between challenging yourself and doing something that you dislike to impress others.Choose whatever you want. Whether it be a popular pokemon or not, as long as you enjoy it, go for it.Need Help designing the character themselves or their personality?Enjoy some links that I’ve used in the past when i was in a bind.- Master Post of Character Design/Story- Character Flaw List- Color Scheme website  - A big thing containing stuff for character design  - Here is a Palette Blog that I follow that I use for color palettes when I come up blank!- Need help portraying better speech bubbles for characters? here is some examples of some fun things you can do with them!- Are you a mainly text based blog or just want to word some of your things better? Enjoy this.I could link you so many more things, I also have a bunch of Art Tutorials saved/tagged!But I’m going to move on to avoid spamming~In the end. Have fun with your character design. If you aren’t enjoying what you are designing/drawing then maybe you should try something different! Again, there is a difference between challenging yourself and just forcing yourself to do something you dislike.+*~ ONTO BLOG THEMES ~*+What kind of plot should your blog have? Should it have a plot? What is better?Literally whatever you want!! Do what you want!! You want a big plot blog?? DO IT!! You want a silly nonsense blog?? DO IT!!  Want a mix of both?? DO IT!!Now. Lets discuss blogs that contain sensitive subjects:- Do research on sensitive subjects. I know you are doing blogs for fun! Why would you want to research something that sounds boring right? Yeah it can be boring. But DON’T TRY TO PORTRAY SOMETHING YOU LITERALLY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT. Because then that’s just being ignorant or offensive. If you want a blog starring a depressed character? Please at least just do some research on depression so you aren’t just doing one big stereotype splattered everywhere.- I know doing research sounds boring but there is a line that you have to do research on before portraying it unless you just straight up want to be offensive or ignorant. In which case if you would want to be offensive… why? just why? idk shoo bEGONE.- Doing research on the subjects you are portraying can actually teach you things and help you better your characters and plot. Believe it or not… studying something you don’t know that much about will…. help you LEARN??? wow shocking I know. I know I sound sarcastic and rather salty with this, but it happens more than you think.- Portraying a subject you know nothing about just requires some research. It’s honestly not that hard. You don’t always have to portray sensitive subjects 100% by the book. You can add your own twists or portray them differently if you wish! But there is a line between adding a twist and just being ignorant and offensive.+*~ Ask Time ~*+Alright, you got your blog all set up! You are ready to go! Now you need to get out there, get known! Get ASKS.How to go about it?- Get your blog signal boosted. The PokeAsk community loves signal boosting one another! A signal boost can go a long way to someone who is just starting out. If you don’t have a friend already in the community that can signal boost you, try asking a mod for a signal boost! Most mod’s love to signal boost others, go to one of them and ask for one POLITELY.- Make a Ask Call. One of the big ways to get asks is to simply make a ask call. Just make a post saying “Hey I need asks” or something.- Go onto other’s ask calls asking for one. Lots of Mod’s do Ask Calls in which they SEND OUT asks to others, go onto one of those! Ask for a ask! There is absolutely no shame in doing that.- Interact with others in the community. You can’t expect to get asks if literally no one knows who you are. Send asks to others! Get yourself out there! Make yourself known! If you are like me and have social anxiety or have issues sending asks, look for people’s ask hint pages! Send them a ask from the ask hint page!- Make a Ask Hints page of your own. Sometimes people just don’t know what to send you or are too shy to come up with something themselves. A Ask Hint page can help others send you asks.- There is no shame in asking a friend for a ask. There is literally no shame in asking your friends for asks if you really need them. Even if your friends just send them on anon. There is no shame in it.- Make sure your blog is clean. If your blog is filled with randomness that has nothing to do with your blog or is just random content from you, it will be hard for others to figure out what to ask about. If your askblog looks more like a personal blog, you probably wont get that many asks, its a harsh truth. Also again, having a easy to navigate blog can do wonders.- Make your content appealing. This sounds horribly harsh I know but you can’t expect to have others be instantly filling your inbox if you don’t have some sort of appeal. You can’t have around 4 posts of your character doing nothing interesting and expect others to go “oh I wonder this characters backstory is” or something. Spice it up! Make things interesting! You have to have a hook, make others want to question about your characters or your plot. Make them want to know more! Feel like you don’t know how to make things more appealing? Literally just ask others for advice. Even if the advice is criticism, USE THAT to become better. There is no shame in asking others for advice.- Don’t rely. On. Asks. Only. I understand it is a PokeASK community, but don’t rely on asks fully. Not getting any asks? Time to draw some character shenanigans! Do some plot to lure people in! Make us see your characters outside of asks! It can do wonders for character development and will also help lure others into wanting to learn more about the blog!You do not need a constant stream of asks to run a ask blog.If you just sit and do nothing because you have no asks, then guess what? You still aren’t gonna get asks. Sitting around doing nothing will get you nothing.Getting asks can be hard. For literally all of us it can be hard sometimes.Even that blog you think “omg they are so popular they must get so many asks” struggles because I bet you their inbox is full of nonsense that they can’t actually use.Don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t getting any asks, just keep moving forward with your blog and make the community get hooked on your stuff.+*~ Tips on things you should NOT do~*+- Do not force ships onto others. Most of us in the community love shipping characters, but don’t force it. If the other Mod expresses discomfort with the ship or doesn’t want to ship with you, don’t force it.- Don’t god mod others. Don’t waltz into someone elses inbox going “my character totally PUNCHES YOURS IN THE FACE AHAHA YOUR CHARACTER IS WEAK COMPARED TO MINE.”. Unless you and the mod planned that out beforehand, it is mostly unwanted. Don’t try to randomly attack or take over someone else’s plot. Discuss things like that with the mod, if they don’t want to do that sort of thing? Don’t send it. It’s extremely annoying. Also if you aren’t involved in someone’s plot or ask?? Don’t try to reply or force yourself in it. I’ve had people respond to my plot posts that had literally nothing to do with them. Its annoying and disrespectful. Always discuss things of that nature with the mod beforehand-.If you don’t like someone in the community, block them or ignore them. Do not make a huge deal out of it. It takes zero effort to block someone you dislike and move on. I know some go “Oh I don��t block others UwU” but then they go and constantly start crap with others? Just… If you dislike someone move the hell on with your life and leave them be.- Don’t do call out posts unless there is a clear threat to the community. Oh honey I’m so sorry you dislike someone in the community, but please spare me the time of scrolling past your huge call out post for a person who hurt your feelings a bit. Don’t cause the community unnecessary drama with call out posts for things that aren’t really community issues, this includes vague-ing about others publicly on your blog. Call out posts should only be for community threats or something. Is the person you are going to make a call out post on a pedophile/art scammer/submits porn or body horror to blogs/blatenly sends out hate to others openly/sends fetish asks or something of that nature? Then yes that is a community issue that needs to be addressed. Is the person you are going to make a call out post on someone who just hurt your feelings/you had a fight with about something that is only directed at the two of you or your friend group? Then don’t.A community issue is a issue that addresses the entire community, not just you and your issues with someone else. Move on don’t throw a temper tantrum like a child because someone blocked you or something. Nobody cares if you and someone else don’t get along, its private business so let it remain private.CALL OUT POSTS NEED TO REMAIN RARE AND WITHIN GOOD REASON.- Don’t reply to anon hate. Seriously don’t. Even if you have a witty comeback do you think everyone really needs to see anon hate spamming their dash? no. Ignore anon hate and move on. I know sometimes anon hate can hurt you, it can cut you to the core. But please try to ignore it and move on. Always remember that you can turn off anon or block anons. Granted sometimes anon hate can just be a misunderstanding in which case feel free to reply. I’ve had some “anon hate” which was actually just a misunderstanding. There is a difference between clearing up a misunderstanding and fueling anon hate.- Mind your business. If a drama is happening and it has literally nothing to do with you? Mind your business. Too many people try to get involved in drama that doesn’t even involve them and all that does is fuel more crap. Mind. ya. Business. It can save ya from unnecessary drama trust me. You can support others who are victims of drama or something, but don’t just try to insert yourself and make things worse. There is a difference between a supportive friend and a white knight. A white knight attacks without reason, they don’t know the full story nor care to know. Just…. seriously mind ya business.- Did I mention that if you dislike someone you should just block and or ignore them? Seriously. - Criticism is not automatically hate. Too many people take any negative criticism as hate. You can’t honestly expect everyone to only ever have GOOD things to say about your stuff? You aren’t perfect, nobody is perfect. If someone gives you criticism on your art or your writing or character development, listen. Listen to it. Take it in! Become a better artist/writer/blogger. I know sometimes criticism can be hard to take, especially if its something you worked hard on or something you care about deeply. But please know that criticism isn’t always hate. You never even have to accept criticism, granted its better if you try to learn from criticism, but you don’t have to accept all of it. It’s really up to you on whether or not you accept and listen to the criticism or ignore it. Just don’t automatically take any sort of criticism as “hate”. There is a clear difference.Criticism is to help you improve, hate is just to hurt.- Your mistakes do not define you,how you choose to act after the mistakes is what defines you. Have you done any of these things above? Are you worried about accidentally doing these things? I’m sure all of us in the community have accidentally or even purposefully done one of these things once or twice before. But the difference is, we realized what we were doing was wrong. We changed for the better. If you make a mistake, change for the better! Changing for the better can be hard sometimes, especially if you didn’t realize you were doing something wrong. But what it is important that you can get better, you can redeem your mistakes. A apology wont just fix a mistake, the best apology is changed behavior.  You can’t just apologize for sending someone hate and then continue to send hate. That is not how it works.Granted yes, sometimes mod will hold grudges, some mods wont want to forgive you for your mistakes. But don’t let that stop you from getting better.If you make a mistake, choose to become better and redeem the mistake. Do not become your mistake. It can be hard, but you can become a better person, a better mod, even a better storyteller.+*~ The Moral of the Story ~*+Have fun with your blog. Choose a pokemon you enjoy. Design a design that you enjoy. Choose a theme that you enjoy. Have fun and don’t be a dick.Most of us in the community are generally kind and welcoming, we would be happy to have a new person join the ranks of PokeBlogging.Have fun, don’t be afraid to ask for help if needed.This was really rather long, but I hope maybe it helped you.I’m not that great at giving advice or explaining my though process clearly.But I hope maybe you got something from this other than “Damn Jazzy talks too much” lol

[omgkatsudonplease]

Same anon. Agree with everything you said. I love mafia au but I think I can count on one hand the number of YOI fics I would really consider dark. I’d actually love to see your thoughts on angst at some point! It’s something I’ve been thinking about recently. My idea of it seems to be a lot heavier than what often gets labeled as angst now. I wonder if that’s partly influenced by how extensive tagging is now? Author’s tagging every bit of conflict/sadness in their fic as angst? Idk

Okay so this is a week or so late but @exile-wrath and I are here to talk about angst in YOI fandom (you didn’t ask for his opinion but he let himself into my house to Loudly Complain anyway):

(note: the following rant is all Wrath haha)

The quintessential angst fic has to not just be founded on something like a ‘misheard conversation’. It has to cause conflict, it has to drive people apart. It needs to have a meaningful impact on the characters in order for it to have a meaningful impact on the readers. Angst has to be tailored to the story, or it’ll be like you are just hitting checks on a list in an attempt to make the reader sad. That’s not how you make good angst – good angst comes about organically. It comes from characters’ motivations going against each other: character A wants something, character B wants another thing, but only one of them can have what they want. Like how some characters just wanna live, and others want them dead – or for a more real-life example, character A needs money to live, and so does character B, but character B’s job will negatively impact character A in some way. 

You can’t just slam things down, pull out classic “tropes” like sudden terminal illness, rape, homophobia/transphobia, racism, etc in order to make the reader sad. The problem with a lot of “angst” fics, especially in this fandom, is that they utilise those “tropes” as cheap angst tactics to shock and upset the readers. The reason why they elicit reactions is because they’re common in real life. It’s easy to make someone indignant because of real-life prejudices or tragedies intruding upon what we take to be an escapist, feel-good canon like YOI. After all, those are popular ideas that mainstream media feeds upon to add drama to their stories. 

But fanfiction cannot just rely on just on popular ideas, or they fall flat. People read fanfiction primarily out of an emotional attachment to the characters, so in order to write effective angst, you have to create a conflict that is borne out of those characters’ personalities or circumstances. We don’t want to read about things that we could also experience or hear on the news; we want to read about struggles that have been personalised to these characters and the setting they’ve been placed in.

The problem with YOI fanfiction specifically is that it is prone to cheap angst. And due to the content of the show, people do feel disproportionately affected by that. Because people are so ecstatic over the representation and the lack of homophobia in the show, they also do tend to place on a pedestal the sanctity of Viktor and Yuuri’s connection, and express (sometimes very shoddily) discomfort at the merest hint of dissatisfaction or conflict between them. 

This is definitely a result of the fact that the most serious conflict in the show is from Yuuri and Victor Just Not Communicating Well, so that’s the route that most of the angst takes. Hannibal fic angst goes along the lines of manipulation and murder and betrayal, Kingsman angst plays with the high-risk life that spies lead and classism, all of which are present in their canon stories.

So in comparison to those media, Yuri on Ice’s conflict is very low-key and can be solved fairly easily. Thus, the fanfiction reads the same, and it can come off as dissatisfying. Conflict makes the resolution feel more satisfying. When characters go through their lives getting everything they want with little conflict, it can get quite boring because it’s the journey that makes reaching the destination worthwhile. No one can mature as a person if their life is always smooth-sailing. A protagonist needs to struggle and experience difficulties in order to obtain a happy ending or it inherently feels cheap because their payoff was bigger than the price they paid. A problem with ham-handed angst is that they’re just there to make the reader sad, instead of letting characters grow. When it’s just angst for angst’s sake, the narrative suffers as a result. 

So many stories that I have read in Yuri on Ice (AND I HAVE READ MANY) cannot bear to hurt Victor and Yuuri and the rest of the cast in any way. So as a result, they barely have much conflict that can change their dynamic, as people are attached to their existing canon dynamic, and they don’t mature as people, much less as a pair. And simply, that grows tiring pretty fast. I want to see these characters change from what they are in canon, or change from who they were at the beginning of the fic.

That’s Wrath’s two cents, and my own views generally align with him, with some things that he is too pissed to articulate. I believe people have varying tolerances of angst, and that YOI fandom in particular is full of newcomers to fandom, who may not have had the same exposure to classic “tropes” of angst fics such as terminal illness, sexual assault + its fallout, dealing with prejudices, etc. Someone’s first exposure to those topics, especially in a fandom with a feel-good canon like YOI, can understandably be upsetting. But eventually the tropey stuff starts to get repetitive, and so readers can get densitised to them as a result.

This entire rant is not to say that fluff is inherently weaker or bad or any of that. It’s just a reaction to the fact that the fandom is actually 90% not-dark, if you take tags such as mafia au + rape/noncon + abuse + incest + underage + dark Viktor + dark Yuuri + darkfic and compile them together against the rest of the YOI tag on AO3. The amount of fluff in this fandom is astounding, and honestly, I applaud anyone who consistently consumes all of it, because I personally (we, actually) can get a bit burnt out after a lot of a good thing like fluff. For us, variety is the spice of life, and sometimes we look for that spice in darker themes, or in angst. For me, the hallmark of a good fic involves the writer deciding to take the initiative to give Yuuri and Viktor some conflict that they can resolve and come out stronger for it. That shouldn’t necessarily amount to angst, but the generally conflict-averse nature of YOI fandom (which is kind of a generalisation, but it is definitely a trend I’ve seen) means that even the slightest hint of trouble in paradise gets people scrambling for the tissues (case in point, my allusion to a breakup in RH au has people side-eying me for angst when I don’t fully intend on going into actual angst territory – or as Wrath puts it, mistaking water for vodka).

TL; DR: there is a difference between conflict and angst, though good angst originates naturally from conflict, and should not be forced in via ham-handed authorial intent trying to check off a list of Things That Upset Readers. 

[chibitorra]

I was tagged by @silencee-moon on that OP ask thing, but Tumblr is being a butt and not letting her send it to me so I’m making a new post.

🙅 - Least favorite Straw Hat? (This one just cause i want to see you rant about his 10,000 nosebleeds LOL) 

lmao brah you know me too well XD Yea, I’ll admit... Sanji ain’t my favorite. I don’t actively hate him or anything though. In fact, I do like Sanji most of the time, just sometimes his love for women is downright annoying. I feel like this “running gag” of his is way too forced and it ain’t even funny to me. Especially in instances like Enies Lobby, where his insistent refusal to hit Kalifa caused Nami to be put in danger in his stead. Not to mention that Robin was already on a time crunch. Is that really chivalry? Sanji, you’re chivalry went so far, it rounded back on itself. Sorry, I don’t really mean to harp on Sanji. I love him, I really do I just wish he would tone it down about 8 notches. 

🐼 - Fave side character?

Lord almighty don’t make me choose XDDD God all I ever love are side characters lmfaooooo and it changes a lot. At the moment it’s Kid and Killer for obvious reasons. They’re super interesting right now and I can’t wait to see more of them!

👂 - Favorite quote?

Once again, Lord almighty DON’T MAKE ME CHOOOOOOOOSEEEEE!!! D: There’s SO many great quotes in this series, it’s SO HARD to pick just one. If I had to settle for one, it’d be the one I try to live by day to day which is “Don’t think of what you’ve lost. What’s gone is gone forever. Think instead of what you still have.” -Jimbei to Luffy (in case anyone happened to forget lmao)

🎆 - Something you can’t wait for??!!

God, there’s so much to look forward to in this series??? In the immediate future, I hope we get to see A LOT more of Kid and Killer, most specifically their backstory. Can’t wait for that bastard Apoo-py head to get his cheeks clapped to next week. Can’t wait for this alliance to beat Kaido n Big Mom. But more than anything I can’t wait to find out about the void century and the will of D, what it all means. When it comes down to it, I just can’t wait for the next chapter bruhs XD 

  ☠ - Fave pirate symbol?

Law’s hands down. The fact that he modeled his entire pirate crew around Corazon and his smile will forever make me cry.

👾 - Fave villain?

The term “villain” in this show is sooooo loose bc so many people who were villains come back on our side. Idk if he’s still considered a “villain” but Kuzan is probably my favorite one. His whole role in Robin’s story was so cool, and you could absolutely see him questioning his morals a little bit. I’m a sucker for people on “the bad side” who have good morals, even if the society they live in sucks. 

🙇 - A headcanon about <Law> (yus you know which one i’m talking about, the one that gets me in the feels every goddam time u mention it ;-; and needs to be told again cause its just so good.

You got it buddy ol’ pal! I’ve probably shared it here before, I can’t remember, but she’s talking about my headcanon where Law develops insomnia after Corazon’s death bc he took his silence barrier for granted, and the outside world is just too damn noisy.

🔍 - What do you think the One Piece is?

Well, we know the one piece is both a physical treasure of sorta AND a tale of laughs. I think the One Piece is directly linked to the Will of D, both their story and the remnants of their fortune. (and I think this joyboy character is Luffy. I don’t think Joy Boy is a specific person, but rather a term used for a person, if that makes sense.) Maybe Laugh Tale used to be the heartland of the D’s kingdom, who knows. 

🥁 - Most hated character rn? (thought ill spice it up a bit n add that drumset =D)

LMAO I see what you did there. Of course my most hated character rn is fucking Apoo bruh. Traitorous bastard hurt Kid n Killer physically and mentally and tbh he’s just an annoyance. I can’t wait to see Kid tear off his skin and turn him into his own personal drumset he fucking beats to death whenever he gets angry. 

🌧 - Saddest backstory?

LAW. God, hands down fucking Law’s. I usually end up sobbing every time I read it. Like, legitimately sobbing. Corazon was such a good guy, and I still miss him terribly... Just seeing how Cora risked everything for this boy, his position as a spy... his job... his life... for no other reason than he loved him and wanted him to have a chance... god ya can’t write tragedy like Oda can, I tell ya. 

[dspre]

How do you create OCs without making them first on wizard101? I find it very hard to make new OCs besides the ONE on wizzy because I don't have them "made" on the game (or leveled up, for that matter). I find it really hard and I hate being a perfectionist about it o;

Short answer: idk lol

Long answer: I don’t know haha

Answer that gives actual information: Let’s see if I can make this shorter than a river, shall we? (Spoiler, I can’t. This answer is one thousand words long.) 

You may have seen me post an out-of-context metaphor a moment ago: characters are pearls. Pearls, as you probably know, are formed when an irritant, sometimes a grain of sand, gets into an oyster. The oyster coats it with layers of goop, the goop hardens, and then humans find it and go Ooh, shiny. Pearls don’t pop out of nowhere. Characters also don’t pop out of nowhere. You build them around something. 

In-game characters don’t work very well for me as that sand grain, because not many of the attributes apply to my universe or my story (for instance, levels aren’t a thing, non-human characters are, and many of my OCs are adults), and there’s no personality to them, they just go with the plot, and their backstory is “Ambrose plucked them out of thin air.” I don’t understand how people make OCs out of them, but obviously they do, and fabulously at that. 

I use other things. I have a janitor I named after a type of cell, because that type of cell acts like a janitor. I have a supergod I named after our galaxy supercluster. I’m in the middle of reblogging a lot of tag-your-OC posts to a sideblog to draw ideas from. Hat Lord started as a literal joke, then became an imaginary friend, and I don’t know how av got into AGP. The alternate universe Sabrina Greenstars also started as a joke. 

Sometimes I just need a character somewhere, so one shows up (have a library? Have a librarian). Sometimes I try to figure out who my background characters are, and they become people (your character has bumped into someone, who are they? Why were they there? Why weren’t they looking where they were going?). Speaking of background characters, try to make them recur (AGP has a scene where Eth is walking down a side street and sees a person, Feef, and later when Talon and Iridian are asking if anyone has seen Eth, Feef is who replies “yes”). 

As for personalities, I write. This may be why I’ve been having trouble lately. My characters lack depth, so I don’t write, so my characters lack depth. Do you see my problem? 

Anyway, I go into waaaaay too much detail in my story. I sometimes call it ‘scenery porn’ because I just have to describe every single tiny thing Eth sees. This means I add random actions to new characters, because otherwise you would hardly notice they were there in between the descriptions of the wallpaper, the scent of spices, and exactly which spices they might be, the creaking of the floorboards, etc., ad nauseam. And then I read way too much into them. Did they doodle something in their notebook? They’re an artist. Were they humming? Musician. Were they throwing shade? Ooh, there’s a lot you could do with that. And make sure to ask a ton of followup questions. 

I also find that there’s a fine balance between boredom and Mary Suedom. My main (and viewpoint) character has brown hair, brown eyes, and is only one inch away from the average height for her race and gender. She listens to popular music, doesn’t dress too outlandishly, and has pretty common career aspirations. That said, she’s mute, so not entirely the average template. But most importantly, you see her personality. She has thoughts and opinions and makes decisions on her own, she’s not just shunted around by the plot. She’s also not a perfect angel. Some of her decisions are stupid, or vindictive. 

I think having a relatively average main character is a good idea. I’m always wary of stories where the main character shows up already knowing loads of magic, or being old friends with the Drakes, or being Super Snarky and mouthing off at Cyrus, and of course having silver hair and purple eyes and never-before-seen powers. Tread carefully if you decide to do these. 

For side characters, I find average doesn’t work. I already have a story for my main, it’s this one, so I need something else interesting for the others. Don’t be afraid to give them weird backstories and reasons for doing things. For instance, I just saw a prompt (that I am going to use, so I say this at some risk) for a character who learned to draw photorealistically because they were the only witness to a major crime, and they couldn’t describe the perpetrator. 

Background characters are background characters, and you probably shouldn’t put too much thought into them unless you need more mains or sides, or you risk cluttering your story. (Pffhahaha look who’s talking.) 

Back to your original question, though, and getting it answered: You do need something to build on, but if you’re trying to build on something other than what you’re used to, you’ll have to make an effort at it. It won’t happen by itself. 

Other pointers: Try to figure out where there would be a person. Has your character been thrust into a new place with nobody they know (like Wysteria, perhaps)? They’ll likely try to make friends, or at least allies. Does your character go to a coffeeshop? If they’re the outgoing type, they might chat with the barista. Is there somewhere your character isn’t supposed to be? There’s probably a guard. 

One place to start other characters would be, as I said, tag-your-OC blogs. 

Here is Springhole. Read it. All of it. It also has good random generators, many of which are for the express purpose of being sand grains. 

Here are some other generators I like, but most are just for names. 

Here is a character prompt blog I like, and I’m sure you can find more with that handy little search bar on the top left of your screen.