#in the end i have more trust in fanfiction to get all these ships right than in sjm

[inkywhisp]

now that i'm almost through with acosf, i can finally give my opinion on the (non-canon) ships

elriel: could be cute, but is very boring at the moment. like, i can see the vision (aesthetically speaking) but nothing in canon would make me want to read that story (500 pages of rhys trying to keep them apart? no thank you)

elucien: so much potential for the story, and i can see an interesting dynamic between them. I also just hope Elain leaves the nightcourt and we finally get to see some other locations, its getting boring here.

gwynriel: probably the best one for Az and i really would like to see more of the them as a spy/fighting duo. And his shadows dance for her?? thats so cute

emorie: visually yes, but I don't like Mor. she is just a cardboard cutout and i didn't even realize she wasn't there for most of the time in the last book

azris: that would be the best story but sjm is too much of a coward to make them happen.

[stormxpadme]

There's a bit of fanfiction negativity in the tags :(. Looking for something to cheer me up, what's your personal scogan fanfic favorites?

Yeah, I saw that, both in the scogan and scogean tag, with posts even including the character name tags. Like. Not cool, people. Way to make authors feel shitty who have been guarding the ship lighthouse for the last 20 years. Claiming in the most popular tags, there's only like 1 good fic among more than 1500? Wow, okay. So I was very happy to receive your ask. Let's counter that negativity with some awesome scogan reads!

Damaged by scottxlogan

Can't do any scogan rec list without including the leading authority on the subject. @scottxlogan is the author who pulled me into this ship years ago, not to mention they're a great friend, unbelievably talented writer and artist, and they deserve all the love. Damaged is surely one of their most ambitious projects and deserves every single view, kudos and review out there. Set in the DOFP finale verse that is no doubt the author's specialty, the story comes with an alluring, intricated plot that leaves you on the edge of your seat along with all the feels.

Submission by scottxlogan

I'm also including a newer work by the same author in case you just want to get a feel for how wonderfully she writes these guys, not to mention the shameless steamy goodness that are the author's smut scenes. scottxlogan is an expert at reversing common fandom tropes believably, and this will leave you longing for more of these power exchanges easily.

he carries the reminders by Wolfsheart

@mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea is another great friend and author I would trust even with my biggest squicks (not that she writes those anyway :D). She's not only technically brillant and very well-versed in the lore which makes every pairing she writes a great read (check out her Tony/Emma, too!), but she'll also never fail to make you laugh or put those hearts in your eyes. And don't miss all those pop culture references that even put Peter Parker to shame! She also gives us scogan fans exactly what we need with stories like this one, combining our fav hurt/comfort tropes with a healthy dose of canon fix it.

I loved you since I knew you by strangenewwords

@strangenewwords is a fairly new and dearly beloved addition to our group at @scoganbingo events, but she's already made a huge impact with her delicious smut and angst stories that hit you right in the feels. Technically also brillant, the linked story is definitely one you don't want to get spoilered for beforehand because the ending will leave you in absolute awe and tears. The author doesn't shy away from including the darkest sides of Scott's past but handles every subject with the necessary care and respect, and as I said ... You don't want to miss out on all that delicious smut!

The Day Before the Soldiers Came by Cerylid

Cery is offering a much-needed fixit for the team dynamics between the X-Men and Logan before X2 with this story. It comes with a lot of humor but also far more feels than you expect. The texting is hilarious but it's the quiet tones that get to you.

*****

Speaking of fix-its, since that negativity in the tags kinda got to me, too, I might just throw in one of my own works here too since I also got lots of Scogan stuff out there.

My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold

is basically my go-to X3 fix-it. You look for something to make that movie right, you got it all right there. Along with a bit of horror (we are talking about resurrection, after all) comes a dramatic rescue mission in a mental limbo, and you get an Avenger and Emma Frost guest-starring. There's a couple of follow up chapters that explore both scogan and Tony/Emma a bit further, and we even get a Laura version in old movieverse along the line, and of course all the nasty nasty smut you guys are here for.

########

So, that's it from the top of my hat. All these accounts have even more great stories to check out, and there's lots of other scogan authors out there with great stories to enjoy. So don't let anyone tell you, there's no quality scogan stuff on AO3.

[karmavongrim]

Love Spell fanfic idea

DP x DC fanfiction idea named "Love Spell" that I have been mulling over the past couple of weeks.

Klarion x Danny shipping (Chaotic Spirits) story, because why not and it would be fun to write about the chaos these two could cause.

Took some inspiration from this, this, bit of this and this.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danny really didn’t know whatever he should laugh, cry or flip the nearest table he could get his hands on. He never really thought highly of the Justice League to begin with, hell, you would be hard-pressed to find anybody in Amity Park who did nowadays.

But this… this could just as well take the metaphorical cake of bullshit that has been piling up over the past three years.

He took a deep, measured breath before focusing back on his boyfriend. His sweet, lovable, very-much-chaotic-immortal-man-child of a boyfriend.

“...They think I’m what now?”

On the other side of this conversation sat Klarion, the witch boy extraordinaire, who was combing his slender fingers delicately through his precious familiar’s fur as he watches his beloved having a hard time grasping at the situation. And since he thought of himself to be a rather fantastic boyfriend, he repeated what he said.

“The League of Simpletons have somehow gotten in their heads that I must have enthralled you in one way or another in order to get my hands on some ultimate power, as part of my apparently evil master plan.”

Danny took another breath, this was just getting ridiculous. But then again what else was new, these people really knew how to make a mountains out of a molehills. Even Wes didn’t have this severe of an apophenia, he at least ended up being right more often than not.

“So they think you’ve put me under a love spell or something?”

Klarion merely shrugged in mock-helplessness. “Apparently you wouldn’t be dating me otherwise.” In all honesty he probably shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as he currently is, but he couldn’t help himself.

His ever present smirk widened when his beloved Starlight’s face twitched in irritation. “For Ancient’s sake… seriously?” A simple nod was enough for Danny to want to throw the next Justice Idiot who was stupid enough to come close to Amity Park’s boarders through the nearest window!

Calm down Danny, calm down. Just remember Jazz’s breathing exercise. One… two… three…

…

Wait a minute… would that mean- no way in hell way they’ve been…

“Wait a minute- Is that the fucking reason why they’ve constantly been ruining our dates these past few months!?”

Another nod.

Yeah, fuck being calm and shit, ya boy is absolutely livid! All this time they were doing it on fucking purpose!! He so is going to burn all of their ugly ass capes and dye all their ugly ass costumes pink! Better yet, he’ll paint their entire HQ with the most obnoxious and clashing colours possible.

Klarion let the halfa rage about for a good moment before interjecting. It wouldn’t do to have the lounge destroyed, especially when that energy could be used on something else he has in mind.

“We could have fun with this you know, at their expense.”

Danny stopped in his track and turned his inquiry gaze towards Klarion. He knows that smile and it could only mean trouble, trouble which he was more than willing to partake in. A smirk of his own began to grace his lips. “What do you have in mind exactly?”

Once again Klarion was reminded why he’s dating this gorgeous creature in the first place. Trust him to be able to match his chaotic nature despite his hero persona.

“Oh you are going to love it, my dear.”

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/751011464262860800?source=share

Seeing the numbers compared, I realized that you are right, anon. It's a privilege to be able to write long fics, regardless of them thinking they're unable to write short fics because short fics are mostly scenes so it's not that long fic writers are incapable of writing short stories, deep down, they don't want to. Maybe it feels wrong for them since they've made an impression they always write long fics, maybe they find short fics less impressive, or believe that people won't give the same feedback as when they post something longer.

But I would like to argue that longer doesn't mean it has a plot. I've read 80k words of a character getting tortured with no chance of figuring things out or getting out of that situation and ended quite the same as the start. I've read 25k fic of characters just hogging. These fics have no stakes, no crisis, no buildup, no development, nothing just series of the same scene over and over with different sets or different positions.

Fanfic is free and that is why you encounter things that are, in a way, out of the box and technically are not allowed in the publishing world. But that's the beauty of it. Is it really that big of a gap for people who can write long fics vs people who can only write short fics? Because of how free fanfiction is, most things are okay to do, including only being able to write plotless or short.

One reason why I get jealous of other authors who manage to write longer fics than me is because I was too busy at the time. I found a good system for myself (dedicating a certain time to finish a chapter and then uploading them as I edit and so on) and you can build your own. I think with the right system, anyone can do it.

Pantsers, plotters, and hybrids are equal to me and it's true because how do you know that a person didn't just recycle the same plot they use from their previous fics, thus being able to write different versions of that story? We've seen the viral meme abt fic writers recycling the same thing and a lot of people admit to doing it. Does this mean they're mediocre or bad writers? It's not like that's against the TOS or illegal. Nobody paid us to keep making fresh new ground-breaking stories. The quality of a fanfic is decided from how you treat it. Do you still like it even after five years? Do you think about it sometimes? Do you feel so ashamed you'd rather put it in an anon collection or close your acc completely and orphan it? Do you wish for it gone to the point you delete every trace of it?

It's not from the amount of kudos, hits, or comments, tho yes it is easier to find good ones if you filter by kudos but there are lots of underrated ones and I've DNF a lot of fics that are not to my liking but have high-kudos because people keep rec-ing it. I want underrated fics to be more popular but not because it needs to be popular but because I hope to be in a community with more like-minded people. Fanfic has no publisher, we can't earn from it so traffic is merely informative so it's the community that matters the most.

In fact, to tell you the truth, after 17 years of being in ao3, I've curated my tag very specifically and stopped using the fandom tag and went straight to the ship tag. I also mostly rely on bookmarks, private collections, word from mouth of people I trust or believe to have the same writing style and taste as me. So it was very niche and limited.

Lots of stories have plots but not all must be in your favor so you gotta figure what you like to start. Are you team canon divergence or AU? what trope do you like? Telling someone to stop comparing is ineffective. We always compare because that's how we communicate. But people feel inferior because they don't feel worthy of themselves. If you start to know what you want, it's easier for you to write more. Whether you're still stuck on making 1k-2k, etc, at least you don't waste your time feeling sad or down and you keep writing. That'll help stimulate your brain and you will improve.

(Also maybe just don't listen to authors who you think are humblebragging. Mute or block them if you need to because I know, to some people who are in the same fandom, these types of attitude have more context to it. Idk abt anon, but in some cases maybe they were moots or the account was owned by another fan they've encountered on tumblr or other social media often, a BNF maybe, or just a popular author that other fans praise or talk about often, and things could get personal. Shit can go south quickly in the community tbh)

--

There's definitely an art to condensing one's thoughts into only a few words.

[bsgpiece]

hi! i enjoyed reading your headcanon about SaNami and pregnancy in Thousand Sunny because we have almost same headcanon!

but in my headcanon Sanami's child is a boy who will act as same as Sanji when faced with a woman or Zoro, but with a less exaggerated version 😂 but it would be very cute if their child was a girl, she would be spoiled by her papa, right? I'm curious what you think about the relationship would be like between Sanji's daughter and her Uncle Marimo?

oh and about the birth, do you think Nami will give birth on the ship? I think so. and I think there will be a little drama when Nami gives birth, for example a storm hits when their navigator can't handle it. I can really imagine the chaos of the SHP crew and Sanji's dilemma in choosing to accompany Nami or be by the captain's side 😂 what do you think?

I LOVE HOW SIMILAR OUR HEADCANONS ARE!!!! I have so much to say about all that, but first things first:

SHE LOVES UNCLE MARIMO!!!

Sanji will never get over this, but he won't ever get the courage to tell her baby girl not to be around someone she loves. So basically I imagine he and Zoro calling each other "less offensive nicknames" when she is near them lol (any suggestions? Haha)

And about Sanji and Nami having a little boy, I do think they'll have a son a few years later (this time planned). I agree he'll act like his dad, specially being overprotective to his older sister and loving all the girls!

Ohh the labor, this deserves a whole post about it, but yes I think almost the same! I believe they'll be planning to stay near an island known for good hospitals or being peaceful... HOWEVER, maybe a week or two earlier Nami will go into labor.

I love the idea they be facing some kind of danger, mostly a huge storm, and Nami trying to hide her contractions so she can help them.

Eventually they'll realize it and Chopper will take her inside to help her, with Sanji facing this dilemma of staying with Nami or helping the rest of the crew.

I picture Luffy and the others, or even Zoro talking directly to Sanji trust them and go help Nami. Like, "she needs you more than we do, curlybrow. Just stop crying and go inside" and Sanji just nodding with a thankful smile 😭😭😭

He'll be able to find Nami still an hour or two from the baby being born. Even though she's in huge pain, Nami will still worry about the storm and Sanji will calm her, saying the same he heard from the others!

Of course, since this is a complete movie in my head: the baby girl is born safely and the storm suddenly stops. An overwhelming silence reigns until they can hear through all the ship the baby crying for the first time! 🥹

THE END 🤣🤣

Sorry it almost turned into a fanfiction lmao I got carried away. Maybe someday I actually write or draw it!!

Thank you again for your questions and sharing your opinions!!!

[friends-to-lovers-tournament]

Friends to Lovers Tournament: Round 3, Side A, Match 4

propaganda under the cut!

Junnana:

Oh they are so very silly and I adore them. They basically spent the anime being the most married couple there, the game amplifying that and the movie burning that all to the ground (or Nana did that) before vowing to start a new later. They're just a girl reaching for her dreams without a ton of natural talent and a girl who enjoys helping her friends shine instead of herself despite being super skilled but even though they have slightly different goals on the stage they both respect each other so very much to the point where things only go wrong in the movie because Nana lost a bit of the respect for Junna that was always so fundamental in their dynamic. The Overture manga gives a bit of insight into what their early interactions were like especially in their respective focus chapters (3 and 9), with 3 showing that Nana was planning on becoming their class president rather than Junna but stepped down just because she had so much trust in her abilities while still making it clear that Junna could rely on her while in 9 the mutual reliance came back in the form of Junna being the one to make Nana realize she wasn't alone. Carrying onwards to the anime, some time before the whole thing, Nana decided "hey time loops are pretty cool" because she was afraid of her and her friends growing up and separating. This was not a fact known by anybody but her and that one giraffe and did not affect the early plot, where for the most part Junna was more focused on due to her struggles being highlighted from the moment revues were introduced and Nana was just constantly around her. Then Junna ended up being the first person Nana actually told about them directly (and not in a very vague way in a revue because otherwise Hikari would be the first) because it was looking like said loops were about to end because the childhood friends to lovers dynamic as a whole decided to say nuh uh to her. Then she did in fact lose her next revue which made the idea of continuing her repetitions a little impossible but Junna ended up recovering from that whole shock pretty quickly, and went to comfort Nana and help her learn to start anew. 

Then there's the game which. yeah there's so much stuff in there that I can't even explain it all. In the main story we get the arc of Nana starting her overprotective bs once again, getting stopped and then being given more courage to move forward by Junna since she was realizing that she kind of messed up (since she decided to object to the concept of plays just having lead actors in general. as you do), but there's so much stuff outside of the main story. Highlights include: Junnana literally making up their own ship name, Nana deciding the best way to practice for a role centered around an observant character was to observe Junna specifically, Nana writing a self-indulgent Phantom of the Opera adaptation with herself as the Phantom and Junna as Christine in an event where it turned out she relates to the Phantom (red flag #1 as far as I'm concerned) and wrote Christine based on Junna (Junna was very okay with this but I find it hilarious that she made her adaption of a famous play basically self insert fanfiction), the actual Junnana kiss (stage kiss?? real kiss?? we'll never know), the Valentine's Day event where Junna kept saying things like "oh I'd go to any lengths for Nana" while talking about making chocolate of all things, the time Junna talked about how she wouldn't let anybody take her place of staying right by Nana's side if she had to because she loves being there completely out of the blue to Nana's ex of all people (not a canon ex but a lot of people who know about her whole deal with Nana at least agree that they had something going on. and let me tell you Junna telling the person who constantly regrets not having the strength to remain by Nana's side how much she loved being with Nana was not a smart choice, even though Hisame, the girl in question, took it very well), the Steins;Gate collab where a good chunk of the plot is just Junna being worried about Nana, a play where it turned out that the whole time Junna and Nana had both taken inspiration from each other for their roles, the time they had to actively stop themselves during separate interviews from just rambling about each other, etc. There's so much. Also I forgot to mention it during the main story part but there's also an alternate universe briefly discussed where one of their friends just does not exist so Nana is one of the two best actors in the class and gets the lead role in the play they perform every year, and there's a scene after their performance where Junna talks about how, in the play which is a tragedy involving two lesbians in love, Nana's performance made her think that, if she had stood as her co-star, she would have simply been built different and prevented the tragedy from happening. The plot ends with one character falling form a tower and another being imprisoned within it, and Junna is like "if I was this tragedy and I was with you I would have simply taken your character's hand and never let her go". They're just so married in the game and I can't believe them for it

And then there's the movie. We don't talk about the movie but I kind of have to. Okay so you remember those two friends I was talking about who act very married and ultimately have a lot of their relationship based around their mutual respect for each other? What if Nana stopped respecting Junna entirely one day? That's their movie arc. This movie covers the girls "dying" as stage girls (ie. losing what made them true stage girls/actors in the first place) and then being "reborn" as them, and unfortunately Nana is of the opinion that Junna could just simply have her symbolism death and not the other part. During their revue, Nana talks a lot about how beautiful and dazzling (using those exact words. she even called Junna heartbreakingly beautiful in the dub) Junna was when she was foolishly reaching for a role she wasn't likely to get, but put it all in past tense, and encouraged Junna to let herself die as a stage girl in a brilliant manor rather than trying and failing to grasp her brilliance and dying out like that. also she called her an ugly fruit which sure is something. Then Junna was like "???? no I won't do that actually???" and took one of Nana's swords from her to engage in a sword fight since Nana had destroyed her usual weapon. Which was not a great matchup briefly because Junna never used a sword in her life but after Nana realized that the Junna she was fighting was different from the Junna she knew, and didn't match the role she had assigned for her, Junna ended up telling Nana that her own role was something she'd define for herself and not something Nana could assign for her, and ended up winning against her. After the revue was over, Junna still wanted Nana in her life, and promised her that, one day, they'd reunite on a stage which belonged to both of them, even though they had to find their own stages before that could happen. Before they departed, Nana lamented that Junna was dazzling, contradicting her previous belief that she was only dazzling in the past, all while beginning to cry, and Junna nearly turned around to comfort her, but ultimately decided to continue onto her next stage as Nana carried onwards to her own, knowing that they would both need to grow before their reunion. I also want to mention that, during this scene, a picture of the two of them, one which Nana had stabbed through the middle as she was telling Junna how dazzling she thought she once was, had since been moved to a little pond in the background of the scene (and of the background of the start of the whole revue, so it was there the whole time) that was nearly identical to the one where Junna and Nana had had their moment of comfort at the end of episode 9 of the anime. With the middle of the picture being soaked in water, it ended up sinking just enough for the new cut in the middle of the picture to appear almost mended, showing that, while the damage Nana had done and the rift between them was still there, it was already starting to mend as they once again regarded each other as equals. This scene lives in my head constantly and haunts me daily. Congratulations to Junnana for having a divorce arc as high schoolers

Soriku:

Ultimate friends to lovers. They've been best friends since childhood but as they start to grow up, those feelings change into a more romantic nature but neither handles this well. Riku in particular has a whole villain arc about it bc his insecurities about the situation get the better of him, meanwhile Sora isn't self aware enough to recognize his feelings are romantic in nature but he spends all of his time desperately trying to get Riku back so they can be together again. Ultimately even after they come together, their love continues to be a main driving force of the narrative and it's so palpable

[rlyc00l]

Maybe Rhys is adjusting to his new life as an outlaw. Maybe he can make this work. He hasn't died yet, and he's even getting used to the place's smell. But, on second thought, he wants to go home and never set foot on Pandoran soil again. Getting rich in the process would be a nice bonus.

(Chapter also posted under cut)

— — —

Rhys didn’t move from Knuckle Dragger’s corpse until the Vault hunters finished dispatching the last few bullymong. It took as long for his heart rate to return to normal, and his left hand to stop trembling. 

When it was done, he had to step around dead bullymong, through blood-spattered snow, to reach the others. They’d all been wounded, except maybe for Zer0, who’d walked off as soon as the last bullymong fell. Salvador had been bitten in his forearm, Maya had a gash on one calf, Axton’s face was swelling up after being hit with a hurled chunk of ice, Gaige had a huge bruise on her right arm, and Krieg was so covered in blood it was hard to tell how much of it was his. They were taking a breather to rest and tend to their wounds. 

“Now where’d my eye get to?” The Claptrap had gone into panic mode again during the fighting. Now he’d reemerged and started ping-ponging a path through dead bullymong. 

“Just stay still for the moment, we’ll get it,” Maya called after it, impatiently. She’d taken a seat on a bullymong corpse as she bandaged her leg—wounds like this didn’t warrant wasting precious instahealths.  “Zer0 took it,” Rhys said. “Dunno where they went.” 

She sighed. “Of course they did. I guess they won’t go too far as long as we still have Claptrap… You’re missing a shoe, by the way.”

“Oh, yeah.” The star pattern on his right sock had darkened with melted snow and blood. His blood, he realized. He must have stepped on something as he’d run away, and it sliced through to the bottom of his foot. It was bleeding profusely, but it didn’t hurt yet. 

“Hold on.” Maya dug through her little first aid kid, producing a couple of square-wrapped antiseptic pads and a roll of bandages. “Krieg drank my saline wash, and I wouldn’t trust the snow here. You’ll probably want to clean it better when we get to Liar’s Berg.” 

Rhys knelt, setting the gun down close to him (he needed a better way of carrying that thing around). The snow melted into his pants as he cleaned the wound, he was getting accustomed to that discomfort. Once bandaged, he half-hopped back through the shipping container. He found his shoe half-buried on the other end, wiped it out, and put it on. The stun rod wasn’t far from that, sticking out of the ground, no worse for wear. 

After retrieving his belongings, he searched out Zer0. They’d gone further up the path on their own. An abandoned Hyperion drop barge blocked the way forward. On one side was a steep drop back to Knuckle Dragger’s lair, the other an impassable cliff. Zer0 was looking at the barge’s door, ellipses projected from their helm. 

“Hey, uh, Zer0,” he greeted. This was the part where he was the bigger person, the guy who inspired loyalty in his underlings, the workplace relations guy. 

They turned to him, the ellipses changing into a question mark. “I just wanted to thank you. For before?”

“I needed the space.” They produced another gun from their holster, a black and yellow Dahl pistol. “This one is superior. / And, it’s corrosive.”

“I mean, yeah, thanks for that too, It would have been nice to have that from the start, and all but.... I was trying to thank you for saving me back there.” 

“You disappointed,” they said. “Next time, aim for the beast’s throat. / A more certain kill.” He stared at them. “Have you ever talked to another person, like, ever?” 

“Yes.” They turned back to the barge. There was a door on it with a little digital-optical scanner on the side.   

Hyperion tech like this was easy to open with his ECHOeye, and he guessed he owed Zer0, but it was hard to want to repay that debt. He’d wait for the others to catch up first. 

That wasn’t a long wait. The Claptrap sped ahead of them, chattering. “The road to Liar’s Berg’s on the other side of this barge. What say we cut through it, chums?”

“You’re not gonna be–” The Claptrap rolled right past Rhys, to the scanner. “Aaand OPEN!” 

“Intruders detected. Locking door,” an automated voice replied, predictably. 

“You’re discontinued tech,” Rhys said, activating his ECHOeye. “I can-” 

“Let me get that for you.” An unfamiliar woman’s voice spoke in his head. Projecting from the barge’s scanner was a woman’s face. The same one he’d seen when he’d collapsed. “Executing phase shift.” 

The door opened. 

“Yes! I knew I’d get it eventually.” Claptrap rolled on ahead of them. 

“You’re welcome! Perks of being an artificial Intelligence. I’m networked into almost everything in this planet,” she said.

“Is um, is everyone hearing that?” Rhys asked, still half afraid he had a virus. 

“Yep,” confirmed Maya. “She spoke to us a little after Jack tried to blow us up. You hadn’t caught up by then.” “So… Uh…How exactly..?” “I think she’s eridium powered,” Gaige said. “You put enough eridium into anything and it’ll start breaking the laws of physics. Among other things.” 

“I guess that tracks.” He’d heard plenty of murmurings of “weird Eridium shit” back on Helios, and he’d seen a few E-tech demos. The best summation of eridium he could manage was “It’s basically magic”. Plus, he was standing five feet away from a siren, who was even more “basically magic”. 

It was a downhill trek after the barge. The small town, Liar’s Berg, lay at the bottom. “Town” might be a generous word for what it was. It was more a cluster of frozen little buildings surrounded by a wall made from blocks of ice and scrap. But it did somewhat resemble civilization, Rhys had to give it that much. 

Zer0 had gotten ahead of them again. By the time they reached the ridge overlooking the town,  Zer0 was already set up with a sniper rifle, picking off townsfolk. 

“Bandits,” they explained, before anyone could ask. Rhys decided that was credible enough.  Besides, by Jack’s most conservative estimates, Pandora was ninety-five percent bandits, between Dahl’s former prison labor force, abandoned Crimson Lance soldiers, and the lawless treasure hunters that swarmed the planet like flies. Decent people just didn’t come to this planet. 

The bandits that were foolish enough to peer out of cover to return fire fell quickly, and before long, the town looked lifeless. Zer0 stood, shouldering their gun. “I counted twelve more. / They took shelter in buildings. / I will kill them there.” 

“At this rate, I’m tempted to stand back and let you try that,” Maya said. 

Zer0 was already heading down the incline. And maybe the Vault hunters followed Maya’s leadership in some respects, but they didn’t wait for her orders to advance. Except for Krieg and Rhys. 

Krieg paced like he was barely restraining himself from running down the hill after them. “The shiny one’s innards aren’t suffering yet!” 

“Eh. It might be fun,” Maya allowed with a shrug. “Let’s go.” Rhys had hoped to hang back again, let the others do the fighting. The cut in his foot was starting to hurt. But there were more bullymong holes in the walls here, he didn’t want to get caught alone with another pack of them.

He limped after the two of them, allowing himself to fall behind. 

He walked into the town, holding the gun at his side. The ground here had been trampled by numerous footsteps, revealing the dark stone beneath the snow. He passed a burn barrel still flickering with fire. A dead bandit was slumped over it, his face and shoulders charred. More corpses lay in the street. Many of them had no marks but a single hole through their head, Zer0’s work, but there’d been more deaths since. A lone, dismembered leg. A body sliced open vertically. Another covered in bullet wounds. A huge hole blown out of one’s chest. 

The sounds of combat had moved further into town. Rhys followed the gunfire, not in any hurry. If he timed it right, he’d catch up as they were finishing, without making it obvious that he was intentionally sitting things out. Vaughn’s high school gym class strategy.  

A man stumbled out from behind one building. He wore a mask over a pair of goggles, obscuring his entire face. Acid had eaten away the side of his jacket, revealing the melted flesh underneath. He looked straight at Rhys. Worse, he pointed his shotgun straight at him.

“You also worth a million? Jack’s offering a million for Vault hunters.” 

“Do I look like a Vault hunter?” Could he lift his pistol to shoot the guy before getting shot himself? 

The bandit looked him up and down. 

Oh god, wait, would the pistol even shoot? Was it even loaded? It would be just like Zer0 to empty the gun before giving it to him. 

“You look Hyperion,” the bandit said. “Exactly. I’m important up there. You kill me, you and Handsome Jack are gonna be having a problem.” Wait, did this thing have a safety? Was the safety on? How did he tell? 

“Already have a problem with Jack.”  …Shit, he should’ve tested it earlier. 

The bandit shifted, barely an inch. Rhys lifted the gun and pulled the trigger, again and again until the gun stopped firing, and then some after that. 

The bandit fell, dead. 

Rhys stood, frozen, staring at the corpse. The holes the gun made looked tiny. There didn’t seem to be much blood, considering how many times he’d shot him.  

He’d made it far in Hyperion without ever killing anyone. It wasn’t a moral choice, it just didn’t seem like his style. Now that he had, he didn’t even feel bad about it. Hell, he felt great. He laughed, strangely giddy. And a little shaky. Somewhat nauseous. 

“You have surprised me. / I thought he’d blow your head off. / Congratulations.”  

Rhys turned around to see Zer0, sitting on a dumpster, legs crossed. They projected a smiley face. A bucket of sewer water on his victory. 

“...Were you there the whole time?” “I was after him.” Zer0 gestured to the body. “Coward. Ran when I shot him. / But you found him first.” “I could have used some help.” “He didn’t kill you. / And you proved entertaining. / Hyperion guy.” 

He felt his face heat up. “I had to try something! He was pointing a gun at me! I didn’t know if this thing would work!” 

They stood. “The first shot killed him. / You wasted all that ammo. / You should search the corpse.” They flashed him a “:D” and walked away. 

“Ugh.” At least they hadn’t taken the shotgun. A Jakobs double barrel, old and worn-looking. They probably already had something better. 

The bandit wore a belt with a few pouches slung across his chest. Rhys unbuckled it and checked the pouches. Those netted him a handful of loose bullets and a half-empty box of shells. He wasn’t sure how to reload the pistol–shameful, for a Hyperion employee–but a scan with his ECHOeye gave him the necessary instructions.  

Afterward, he attached the belt to the shotgun, turning it into a makeshift sling. If he was going to be stuck on Pandora for a while, he’d need to get one of those digi-holsters the others had. And if it was gonna be this cold… Nearby lay one of Zer0’s victims, a bandit, lying on his back with half of his brain blown out. He was shorter than Rhys but much broader, and his jacket was far from the most disgusting thing Rhys had seen on this planet. It had a few duct tape repairs, a seam on one shoulder had worn apart, and there were a number of questionable stains, but there was barely any blood on it, and Rhys was tired of being cold. 

He unzipped it, pulled the limp arms through the sleeves as far as he could, then flipped the body to yank it the rest of the way off. 

— — —

Liar’s Berg had one living, ostensibly non-bandit resident, Sir Hammerlock. Hammerlock was a fellow cyborg, and despite his esteemed prefix and general air of class, his robotic parts were even more shoddy than Gaige’s. Still, he gave them a warm enough welcome, offering up his home to the Vault hunters for the night. He even had real food, bullymong-meat-free. Granted, it was all canned stuff, but canned beans on thawed-out toast felt like a luxury.

“Hyperion, are you?” he asked, upon introductions. Rhys had made the mistake of taking off his newfound jacket in the heated house. Betrayed by his uniform again. “I hear it’s not easy to defect from a man like Handsome Jack. At least, not without dying horrifically. Well, good on you, I say.” 

Rhys, for his part, managed an awkward laugh and a, “Yeah… We’re definitely gonna…gonna show him.” He tried not to think too hard about Jack’s earlier ECHOcomm. None of the Vault hunters seemed afraid of Jack, but they all possessed some strange deficiency in the fear center of the brain. And they didn’t know the man. They’d never had their coworkers disappear, only to learn their last known location was Jack’s office. Jack was a fantastic leader, but he was not to be crossed. The best Rhys could hope for, as a “traitor”, was to keep his head down and somehow survive Jack’s scourge of Pandora. He could take it day by day. Now? He’d faced a bullymong and killed a man. That had to be something. 

That night was spent on a couch in Sir Hammerlock’s house. He fell asleep almost as soon as he lay down, his dreams of Helios. He’d shoved Vasquez in the airlock and shot him out into space, and was swiftly promoted to associate vice president of Security Propaganda. Zer0 was ther. Dream logic deemed them his secretary. They wore a pair of horn-rimmed glasses over their helmet and carried a clipboard.  

“Next time, I’d recommend not shooting him out the airlock,” they told him in much too long a sentence. “You’ll have more fun if you’re there with him. A knife, perhaps… By the way, you have a meeting at seven with–” 

“So, Rhys was it?” Handsome Jack said, entering his office. 

Rhys perked up. “Yes, sir! Is there something you need? Always glad to be of service, Handsome Jack, sir.” “Are you seriously asleep already?” 

“Wh-what? No, I was just preparing the report on the–” 

“Wake up dipshit!” Rhys jolted up, gasping. Jack had sounded so real, he had to look around the room to reassure himself he wasn’t there. “You up? Good.” Jack’s voice again.  

“J…Jack?” He lifted his right hand. Was it his built-in ECHOcomm? The screen wasn’t on… “I can imagine you’re freaking out, so I’ll spell it out: you’re hearing my voice in your head, dumbshit. Yeah, yeah. Relax. It’s a feature all Hyperion ECHOeyes come with. Fine print stuff. So, about earlier.” “I can explain—I—” “Shh. Don’t talk. You can text me through your ECHOeye, but for right now? Shut up for a second. Obviously, you’re a loyal Hyperion employee who got screwed over, right? I got the whole story out of ol’ Wallethead.” 

“W-wallet—?” he started, before remembering he wasn’t supposed to talk. 

“Anyway, here’s the deal: these idiots think you’re harmless, right? Maybe they even think you’re one of them? You’re gonna use that, help me out a bit here.” “What do I do?” he sent. Using the ECHOeye to send text was new to him, it was harder to control than just using his arm interface. 

“Nothing big. For now? You’re a Vault hunter. Fight alongside them, gain their trust. Once you get into Sanctuary, I have a few things I’ll need you to hack. A little spying, a little sabotage. That kind of thing. Easy, low-risk stuff.”

Rhys nodded, half terrified, realized Jack couldn’t see him nod, and sent him an “Ok.” 

“Don’t do anything stupid. I’ll contact you again when I need you.” “Yes, sir.”  “You let me down? I’ll be sure to personally strangle the life out of you—after reclaiming the Hyperion tech in your skull. Capeesh?” “Yes, sir.” 

“Attaboy. You do good, and I’ll send a shuttle to get you back up to Helios, where there’s a promotion with your name in it. How does President of Security Propaganda sound? Don’t bother answering. Hell, I’ll throw in a couple turbo mansions. Now, get some sleep.”

Sleep was impossible, after that. Part of him was exhilarated, just when he’d lost hope of ever going home, Jack had given him the chance of a lifetime. The kind of chance he could have worked on Helios for the rest of his life without ever getting. And it was the only chance he had at surviving, he knew that now. 

The other part of him was terrified. He didn’t know which would be worse: failing Jack or getting caught by the Vault hunters. The latter was a risk he’d have to take. They already trusted him, Jack had made sure of that by labeling him a traitor. He could be sneaky, he’d already stabbed plenty of backs on Helios. 

There was a third part, too. A small part that kept welling up as much as he tried to push it down. It wasn’t a part worth paying attention to. These people were doomed anyway.

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

Re: discussing fan works publicly.

As a writer, I imagine coming across a post on my dash at random, of people openly criticising a fic I’ve written and the thought makes me feel ill. I think it would genuinely stop me from posting my work, maybe not permanently but for a long time.

As a reader, I’m so grateful people post fics at all. I’d be mortified if I saw people shitting on a fic I love on social media.

I think if a work is problematic and you’ve already commented to ask the author to tag appropriately or make changes and it’s gotten you no where, and you’re posting a PSA to warn people in the fandom who will be affected by the work to tread carefully, then yeah I can see how that would be necessary.

But I personally think it’s unnecessary to make a post mentioning a fic or author with comments like “yeah this fic needed to be beta read” or “this author writes this character soooo OOC” or “this character would NOT do that” or “look at this fic why would anyone ship this lmao”.

Feels like this really could just be in the DMs or a group chat or discord server where the author won’t come across it. Obviously yeah, people can post whatever they want on their blogs, but do people want to be the reason a fanfic author decides to never write again?

I’m like you. If I don’t like a fic, I just tap out. I don’t even complain about it in DMs because what if the other person enjoys it? I’m not taking that away. Just because it’s not my cup of tea doesn’t give me the right to stop someone else drinking it. The most I’ll ever do is block or mute an author on AO3 so I don’t accidentally read their works again.

These aren’t published books people are writing where public criticism is expected and encouraged. This is fanfiction written completely unpaid, usually unedited, specifically to share with a very selective fandom space.

There’s a level of vulnerability to all writing, but fanfic writers in particular, I would say most (if not all of us) choose to share our fics online because we trust fandom to be kind.

If people wanna post about their “honest thoughts” of a fic on social media, writers can’t stop them, but, god I hope y’all are being kind.

Hey ship! Thanks for weighing in on this! I appreciate your point about people being afraid to post if they hear negative criticism. Sorry for my delay, it's been a busy week. Yeah I think it's definitely a hard balance. We don't want to discourage people from writing, for sure. Writing is a gift! No one's being paid to write fanfiction.

From what I've heard from other people this week after my question was that it seems like there's a balance in terms of criticism on a specific fic. If you have a pairing that is very common, then if you write vaguely about not liking a pairing/fic it doesn't usually cause stress because it's not clear who's it is and it could be anyone. In general, it sounds like if someone wants to talk about something in a fic that bothers them, it is fine as long as they're not tagging the author/fic-- but generally just don't be a dick about it. Where it sounds like some wrinkles come in is if a pairing doesn't have a lot of fics attached to it. Then if a pairing is mentioned, it's much easier to deduce which fic it is, and then the writers may feel bad and it may seem more like a passive aggressive move. I think where it gets even more hairy is if we're not even talking about fics, we're talking just about pairings. Like I really love discussing the implications of specific pairings because I find it very useful to understand why someone might find it endearing. I'll be hard pressed to ever be pulled from my OTP but sometimes discussing pairings can help me to like a pairing I didn't like before, or just understand where people are coming from. (That's how I feel basically about all conversation, I like listening and learning from people, even if I don't necessarily agree by the end of it, being able to understand other people's perspectives help me to grow as a person, so I do think it's important to talk about things). Again though, where it seems like some of the struggle with that is if you've got a pairing (I'm going to crack ship Jackie and Buttons for this example) that isn't very common, again, it could seem like you're coming off as criticizing a fic when you may just be criticizing a pairing in general. It seems like there's a delicate balance-- because yeah I absolutely never wanna make anyone feel bad about their writing-- and like you said, writers trust that their fellow fans are going to be kind (and I never wanna betray that trust!). If they ask for feedback/ constructive criticism I'm happy to dm about it if it will help, but I don't want to make someone feel bad about their writing in general. We are all just having fun here. It does also seem like there are a lot of different perspectives when it comes to what is allowed feedback wise in fandoms, and so it seems like airing on the side of caution is a good way to go. All that being said-- if anyone ever wants to talk about things and they arent sure if what they say will be hurtful please feel free to dm me! I might be slow to respond depending on my capacity at home at the moment but i"m happy to talk it through. Also-- if I ever commit a faux pax or make someone feel bad please let me know! I never want to make people feel bad (and I try my best not to!), but I understand I'm an imperfect being like the rest of us so feedback is something I appreciate too. We all come from different levels of trauma... experience...neurodiversity, sometimes we won't say the right things from a place of ignorance, and one of the things I've appreciated over the years is when people were kind enough to give me constructive feedback about that. Anyway, thank you so much again for weighing in ship! Hope you're hanging in and have a lovely long weekend coming up! (if you're in the US, idk if the rest of the weekend is getting a day off)

[naquey]

I love that you ship Drindy! On FF.net I was reading this incomplete fanfiction about them and it was so good and I really wish the author was able to finish it. I’m kind of new to fanfictions, but sometimes I see people requesting other authors to finish a piece of writing that was unfinished. I was wondering if you would consider finishing it, I love your writing so much and I think you would do such a great job (no pressure of course!) 🥺🥺this is the link to the fanfiction https://m.fanfiction.net/s/3378204/1/Gratified-Affair

I didn't read the entirety of the fic, but I did read the first and last chapter to gauge the progression of the characters from start to end. I can only assume that "finishing it" entails writing a 20th chapter. Because it is someone else's writing that is the only thing I can do, as I feel making more than a single chapter would be infringing or over-stepping. I know this fic has yet to be updated since 2009. It is excellent, and the characterization is phenomenal.

Admittedly, I will warn you this might get a bit angsty (as that is my specialty) because I was verbally throwing ideas out there and settled on something I liked that showed the vulnerability of the final scene in chapter 19 but also coincided with my thoughts. I hope this does the previous author some justice, as I've not quite adopted the show's dialogue yet, and the author on FF seemed to encapsulate that wonderfully.

Chapter 20

Drake's question was loaded, but there was one thing floating around in her mind that she couldn't just do away with. Mindy couldn't hurt Drake, not again. It might not have been apparent then that their breakup hurt him, but that was only because he was notorious for exchanging girls like trading cards.

So, Mindy hesitated.

Drake watched her curiously. He wanted to flinch away when her hand approached his face, but her movement was not malice. There was no ill intent in her eyes. He was safe with her. Mindy's thumb brushed over the skin under his eye where the bruising didn't touch, and her gaze softened slightly.

"Oh, Drake."

"This isn't your fault, I just had it coming." He laughed dryly, trying to ease the tension. For one, he didn't like seeing her so sad.

"I know you did." She cracked a smile, not yet moving her hand. "Have you been icing it? I can go get some- "He grabbed it gently when she moved her hand.

"It's fine. It doesn't hurt, trust me. I'm tougher than that."

"Even so, putting ice on it is smart." Mindy rolled her eyes.

"You of all people, should know I'm not that smart,"

"No, no. You are smart. You just don't know it yet."

Drake rose a brow, his smirk fading into a small smile. Perhaps that was another reason he liked her so much: she was always so nice to him. Mindy pulled away; she was most likely going to get him ice. He stood in front of her bedroom door, blocking her path.

"Ah, ah, ah. You never answered my question."

"I don't think I can,"

Drake blinked twice, staring at her incredulously. His brows shot up to his hairline. To him, it wasn't a thought-provoking question. Obviously, they liked each other, but Mindy had other ideas. He can see the conflict on her face, but the gears in his head have yet to turn. He doesn't know the problem.

"I'll be right back. Don't leave,"

And Mindy disappeared behind her bedroom door once he moved out of the way.

She returned shortly after, pressing the ice to his bruise. Drake winced, and she pulled the ice away hastily.

"I don't think there is anything we can do now,"

"What do you mean?"

"You broke up with me because you couldn't keep lying to Josh. I can't continue a relationship with you if all you're worried about is how your brother will feel."

"I had a code, Mindy." Drake took a step back. He wanted to avoid where this conversation was going.

"And what is that code, huh?"

"It- It's not important, okay!" Drake stammered. "I like you, hell, I think it's love-"

"You think?" Mindy furrowed her brows.

"Please, I don't want you to go away again."

"Drake, I like you." Mindy sighed. "I can't date you, not when you care so much about your brother. You don't want to hurt people. It's obvious."

"Mindy-"

"No," She held her hand up. "You can't convince yourself that you aren't best friends with your step-brother. I don't want to hurt you."

"But this is hurting me."

"Yeah, but only for a little while. You'll still be able to see me around; we can still hang out after school."

"It won't be the same,"

"No, it may not be the same, but you'll still have me. I'll always care about you."

"Mindy, think about this-"

He was startled when she hugged him. Her arms around his midsection were tight as if she was afraid he would disappear if she let go. Without another thought, Drake wrapped his arms around her. He wanted to remember this kindness for eternity. He also wanted to kick himself in the face, but deep down, he was upset and sad. She was right. He loved his brother too much to hurt him, and he loved her too much to hurt her.

Their situation may be convoluted, but as long as he still had her as a friend, that was all that mattered. Losing her over this wasn't something he could bear. It took them a couple of hours to finally part way. When Drake returned home, he found Josh asleep on the couch; the TV remote had fallen out of his hand. The blue light glowed softly over the room.

Emotionally exhausted, Drake shrugged off his leather jacket and kicked off his shoes on his way to his bed. Climbing the ladder, he face-planted into the pillows. One thing was for certain.

Drake was going to punch Eric.

[aenslem]

im watching episode 'light' and by this time i actually think they had a chance to be a great show if they kept everything like that and evolved from that point and not turn into who has the biggest dick on the ship contest

i like how despite the fact they all have different goals they still work together, i like how rush just accepts whatever eli came up with, cos 'math boy', he does have some doubts but maybe cos they don't have time to check it all or because he just believes in eli, rush just smiles and sends it to scott, and it's great

and rush and young? they do argue and fight and yet work together, agree in some things and ask each other for the trust and young just says rush was right, he should have listened to him, and rush asks young to trust him and he does and they get the shuttle back. like... where did it all go? why did they turn it into that mess of a fight for power instead of these different people trying to survive and working together despite being all different and hardly qualified for the work, like by the end of s2? okay, i don't remember everything cos 10 years passed since i watched it, but im in, i think i should have watched s2 before s1 back then to enjoy it more lmao

and also i forgot tHIS happened

helloo????

like, you see this man who irritates the fuck out of you 24\7, the walking disaster whose every word sounds as spitting venom, and yet, you go and ruffle his hair? i still have a hard time believing it happened? it's not from a fanfiction??? it was iN THE SHOW? my god thank you how did i forget about it

im like rush right on those screencaps wtf just happened here

we could have had these instead of everything else and we did not get it whyyyyyy

[aca-4]

You Gave Me Your Kindness - So I'm Giving It Back (MLP Fanfiction)

Summary: Something has been wrong with Fluttershy lately. Discord keeps brushing it off at first, but in the end he can’t ignore the alarming changes any longer. As he looks back on their relationship, he realizes there is only one thing left to do to save his most beloved.

A/N: I once woke up with what seemed like an amazing story concept and decided to trust my sleepy imagination. After putting it on and off for like one or two years, I finally sat down and finished it.

Not my very first time writing fanfiction, and for this fandom no less, but I’m still not used to this and highly doubt I’ll ever write something again (that I’ll publish, at least).

Again, English isn’t my native language - I have however spent many years learning it. So if I still made any mistakes, please do correct me so that I can learn even more!

Rated T Word Count: 3.464 Ship(s): Fluttercord Genres: Romance, Drama, Angst without Happy Ending Warnings: like one swear word lmao

It had all started on a warm late spring day.

Discord had visited Fluttershy for their scheduled afternoon tea. Since the weather had been so nice they’d decided to drink outside, surrounded by chirping birds and flowers in full bloom.

Fluttershy had talked about something that made her smile as she poured him another cup. He couldn’t remember what it was now because he had stopped listening.

Not in a rude way, of course - at least, he didn’t think it was rude to be so distracted by your best friend’s beauty you start zoning out. Could anyone really blame him for that?

“Discord, are you listening?“, he had eventually caught her saying.

“My apologies, I believe I have something stuck in my ears. One moment, let me just…“

To demonstrate he had pulled out a red handkerchief - which had been tied to a yellow one, which in turn had been tied to a purple one, a green one, and so on. This had continued for a short while before all of the handkerchieves were out of his head.

“There we go! Much better. Now, you were saying?“

It was a lame trick and an even lamer excuse, but Fluttershy had playfully rolled her eyes and giggled anyway.

That lovely sound had been enough for him to get his focus back on her words again. Although he was tempted to check if his chaotic magic had spontaneously created butterflies in his stomach or if that was the doing of Fluttershy’s own magic.

Either way, he couldn’t complain. Not when that strange feeling made him all soft and warm inside.

It was somewhere during their long conversations and the sun illuminating Fluttershy in an angelic glow that Discord realized he was, without a doubt, utterly and completely in love with her.

-

They had started dating sometime after that.

The love confession had actually been the hardest part. The usually loud and eccentric Discord somehow always found himself at a loss for words the second he wanted to tell Fluttershy how he truly felt about her.

Combined with her timidness, it could have taken them ages to ask each other out if Angel Bunny of all creatures hadn’t let the truth slip out in frustration at the two.

Everything was much easier afterwards. It had felt so right to be together like that.

No personal kingdom of entropy could ever begin to compare to the joy he had found thanks to and with Fluttershy. She had been the first to offer him her friendship, and then she’d shown him love, too.

Everything had been so blissful in their own little world, he’d grown ignorant to all the signs that reality was becoming anything but.

-

Pinkie Pie was the first one to notice, surprisingly enough.

She normally missed a lot of social cues, yet it was her who waved Discord over when he was out visiting Ponyville one day and whispered to him her cryptic message.

“I felt the weirdest energy shift around Fluttershy the other day. This might be a bad omen.“

Then, somehow, she managed to completely change the mood in the same breath as she casually continued with, “Or it was that spoiled milk I drank before. Made me all sick the rest of the day. You really gotta listen to those expiration dates!“

Immediately back to her usual cheerful self, she’d bounced back into Sugar Cube Corner.

Discord was left a little confused but ultimately decided to just laugh at the mare’s odd behavior. Just typical Pinkie Pie.

Must have been that odd „Pinkie Sense“ of hers, he figured. Much as he enjoyed her fun energetic company, he didn’t actually believe in her crazy nonsense. Not this time, at least. She admitted she might have just misinterpreted whatever she had felt, after all.

Looking back, he really shouldn’t have dismissed her words so easily. Especially since they involved his dearest Fluttershy.

-

Rarity was the next one, discreetly pulling Discord away from the group one day to give him a piece of her mind.

It had been during last year’s Hearths Warming Eve no less. Quite rude of her to judge him during the holiday celebrating ponies coming together despite their differences and finding peace, he had told her irritated.

At least that’s how he had felt then. Now he could only repeat Rarity’s words in his head over and over again.

“Listen here, I know you and Fluttershy are close - and Celestia knows how you even deserve her kindness after everything you’ve done - but I still don’t trust you. If she wants to be with you, then fine. Who am I to tell her how to live her life? But if you as much as harm a single hair on her head, I swear I will personally harness the power of the Elements of Harmony and banish your ugly patchwork behind all the way to Tartarus!“

He’d faked a sarcastic oath then, thinking the unicorn was only being melodramatic as always.

Rarity had scowled at him for that and returned to the group with a final: “I am only worried because she is a very dear friend of mine. If you truly care for her as much as you claim to do, you will not hurt her.“

Discord had watched her take a cider off the table, take one big unladylike gulp of it, and sit back down between Applejack and Fluttershy.

Now that he was replaying the uncomfortable memory in his head, Discord couldn’t deny that he’d long broken the promise he’d never made in the first place.

Despite being surrounded by the most loving friends in all of Equestria, Fluttershy had looked almost annoyed by the shared laughter of the other ponies. Out of all the blurry images in his mind’s eye, a single gray hair stood out on the pegasus.

-

He definitively should have known something was wrong when Applejack and Rainbow Dash tracked him down to interrogate him.

At the time, Discord didn’t understand where their sudden hatred had come from. He thought they’d actually gotten along better over the years. He never believed he’d even have this many friends, but it seems that was just the positive influence Fluttershy had on him.

So seeing them this furious at him hurt. Although not nearly as much as the accusation itself did.

“You’ve done something to Fluttershy!“, Rainbow Dash yelled, flying up to him and pointing one hoof right at his face.

“Now, we don’t know that yet for sure, Dash.“

At least Applejack seemed more civil, pulling the loud pegasus down by the tail. Despite her words, she was clearly just as upset.

“Fluttershy’s been acting mighty strange lately. Think today was the worst I’ve seen ‘er lash out in… well, ever.“

Discord already didn’t like where this was going.

„We just figured, since y’all have been together for a while now,-“

“And because you used to be a manipulative villain!“

“-ya might know what’s been going on.“

“So spill it! What are you hiding from us?“, Rainbow added impatiently before Discord could even ask them what had brought this suspicion on.

So they explained.

Apparently, during one of their group’s regular meetings, Fluttershy had seemed disinterested. Pretty unusual already, but nothing of concern yet. She often got stuck in her own head with all her worries, after all.

It wasn’t until one of the others had asked if she was feeling okay, and she’d glared and spit at them, that it became obvious something was very much not okay.

To cut a long story short, kind concern was met with harsh words, turned into tough love, but was all ultimately ignored and Fluttershy had left with her nuzzle held as high as those snobby high-society ponies from Canterlot.

“Ya got any idea what that could have been about?“ Discord ignored the accusing undertone in Applejack’s voice.

He knew they were all thinking the same thing. He just wasn’t sure how to reply to them. It’s not like he wanted Fluttershy to act like that ever again.

“So…?“, Rainbow urged him for an answer.

But his mouth only hung open uselessly.

Instead, Discord excused himself and teleported himself home so quickly and abruptly that it made even him dizzy.

-

He had missed the first warning, and he had certainly missed many more. He’d like to think it was because it happened so suddenly that none of them could have known what was to come. Except they did.

All of them but Discord.

But it’s not like he didn’t notice something was off at all!

After he’d moved into her cottage and saw her everyday, he truly began to see the change in her behavior for himself.

It was in the way she treated her animals; Food heedlessly spilled into bowls instead of lovingly prepared (if she didn’t forget completely and Discord had to remind her or do it in her stead.)

He’d assumed it was the stress finally getting to her. With all those animals in such a tight space, it was no wonder she looked more tired, and he couldn’t blame her for letting out her frustrations on others.

It did surprise him a little when she’d locked Angel out of her own house when the bunny (that at least half of the time didn’t deserve its name) refused to eat his dinner because the slices weren’t evenly cut, or something petty like that. He’d even laughed in mockery as the little devil was left scratching at the door.

He was more surprised when he’d looked out of the window the morning after to see Angel still waiting outside.

He had mentioned it to Fluttershy, confused that she hadn’t let him in as she normally would after giving the annoying brat a little time-out. She’d said he still had to learn his lesson if he wanted to live under her roof.

Discord had agreed with her at first, not very fond of the bunny’s picky eating habits and general rudeness, either.

He’d only grown concerned when another night came and rain began to fall. Angel had still been outside, curled up and shivering at the doorstep, when the guilt became too much and Discord let the little guy in.

As he was drying him off, Fluttershy had come into the room, looked the both of them up and down, and just turned back around with a scoff and the words „you pity him too much“ muttered under her breath.

Discord and Angel might never have seen eye to eye on things before, but in that moment, the bunny looked at him with such deep concern that Discord simply couldn’t deny Fluttershy’s worrying state any longer.

-

“So, the others have already talked to you, I’m assuming?“

Discord only nodded a remorseful yes.

They had done much more than that. Left him cryptic warnings, gave him a stern talking-to, even straight-up yelled some sense into him, and yet he had brushed his friends off every time.

He wasn’t all that close with the five ponies, not the way Fluttershy was, but he trusted Twilight the most. It’s why he had eventually decided to confide in her.

“I’ve noticed it, too. Much too late, I have to admit, but her outburst the other day and the way she’s been avoiding us ever since are really worrying me. Do you know when this drastic shift in behavior started?“

The fact that even Twilight Sparkle didn’t notice sooner was only slightly reassuring.

The Princess of Friendship always seemed to have her nuzzle stuck in paperwork or research for personal projects, whereas Discord was always right there, frequently visiting for an afternoon tea or whatever other excuse he came up with just to be with Fluttershy.

If anyone should have noticed right away that she wasn’t acting like herself, it should have been him.

In all honesty, he didn’t quite know when it started. So he told Twilight what the others had already said to him; including Pinkie’s odd comment from about a year ago, which suddenly didn’t seem so random anymore.

“Her Pinkie Sense… I’ve long given up on trying to understand it but it’s never been wrong even once…“, the alicorn had already started muttering to herself.

Discord was left to watch her sort through the books on the shelf behind her. Spike had been there, too, offering his help to search. Otherwise he kept himself out of the conversation.

Although, knowing him, he had probably noticed before anyone else that something was wrong. If the others hadn’t listened to him at first or he had kept it to himself for whatever reason, Discord didn’t know.

But just seeing the guilty look on the young dragon’s face now, he didn’t need to hear it to know how bad it was.

“Hey, Twi? What was with that book about balancing magic that Cadance gave you on your last birthday?“

“The Theory of Magical Balance“, she corrected while skimming over various book covers in deep concentration. „Yeah, you might be onto something.“

Twilight flew over to a different section of she shelf and pulled out the book Spike mentioned.

The contents were still rather speculative, as there weren’t many cases recorded to prove the theories. Personally, Discord never cared for any sort of magical science and laws of physics anyway, since he could defy and bend them to his will.

But just this once he looked over Twilight’s shoulder to read about the exact thing that was happening to his dear Fluttershy:

“… if such opposing magical auras were to meet, they might balance each other out; each taking a part of the other and thus intertwining. But that raises the question: What if they were imbalanced? If one such aura was too strong, or both exposed to each other for too long, the weaker one could be overtaken completely. Or, perhaps, one might give all of itself away and…“

Discord stopped reading right then and there.

He didn’t want to accept it. He never wanted from the beginning and it’s why he’d avoided acknowledging it for so long.

Twilight began to speak carefully, trying to piece together all this new information.

“I know it’s been a long time now — and I do trust you not to go back on your word to never cause harm ever again! — but you have to admit, she has been acting…“

Discordant.

She didn’t have to say it out loud for they both were thinking it.

Years ago, when Discord had initially been freed from his stone prison, he had hypnotized and tricked his former enemies into turning the complete opposite of themselves. Back then, it had been so fun to watch them like that; arguing and in disharmony.

Fluttershy had been different, though. He’d had to actively cast a spell on her in order to turn her mean-spirited.

(And even so, despite everything he’d done… it was her who had shown him the light of friendship in the end.)

But now… now, without even trying, without any intention, his chaos magic was affecting her once more.

“Are you sure this is it? Isn’t there any other explanation?“, Spike tried against all odds to hope.

“I’m not sure… I’d have to ask Celestia if she has any more books on the matter. Or, who knows, maybe it’s the same type of magic that turned Luna into Nightmare Moon centuries ago? We cannot leave out any possibilities! Spike, take a letter…“

Discord had teleported out of the castle once Twilight went fully into study-mode. 
He appreciated her help, and he’d tell her so the next time he saw her, but deep down he already knew what was going on and what he needed to do to stop it.

There was only one thing he could do to help Fluttershy now. No matter how much he dreaded it.

-

In the dim light of the room, one might not immediately notice the gray fur on what once was a brightly pastel colored pegasus. Discord, however, can’t help but stare the truth right in the face.

“What?“, she asks, annoyance clear in the way she practically spits out the word.

This monochrome impostor is still his beloved, he needs to remind himself. It’s his fault she is like this to begin with, so he has to make it right again.

“We need to talk“, Discord finally brings himself to say.

“Sure, whatever. But it better not be about those Celestia-damned ‘friends’ of yours. I’m not apologizing to those—“

„It’s not about that“, he cuts her off before she can finish the insult. He knows she doesn’t mean it. Not her true self, anyway.

“What is it then?“

She starts getting impatient. Her hoof taps against the floor, wordlessly telling him to go on already. He isn’t sure if he can.

“It’s about us“, he says quietly. He feels small, all of a sudden, wringing his paw and claw together and looking meek. Shy, even.

(He’d laugh at the irony, but she’s giving him that disinterested look again.)

“So?“

“I think it would be best if… we broke up.“

A heavy silence lies between them. He forces himself to not look away.

Slowly, Fluttershy’s emotions change. She raises her eyebrows, opens her eyes wide. She looks at him, through him, to the floor, to the wall. Then she snaps her head back, turns up her nose and glares at him with the same intensity she normally uses for her infamous ‚Stare’.

“What?“

Her words cut through the air and through him.

“We can’t go on like this“, he admits. „This close exposure to my magic — to me — has turned you evil. This isn’t you.“

“I’m fine!“, she huffs and stomps her hoof for emphasis. It only proofs his point further.

“I never meant to do this to you. I can’t control it. And now look what it’s… what I’ve done to you.“

For the first time in his life, Discord is painfully aware of just how much influence he really has on the world around him. How easily he could affect those close to him.

He is the only one to blame here, he is now certain. It’s all his fault for not stopping this sooner, for so selfishly wanting Fluttershy to be his, that he let her become a twisted and malicious version of herself.

“What kind of bullshit reason is that?!“ Cursing sounded so wrong coming out of her mouth. “You know, if you don’t love me anymore, you could have just said so!“

“I do love you. That’s why I have to do this.“

Fluttershy looks at him like he’d done the opposite of growing two heads. She probably isn’t used to him being this calm and reasonable. It’s like they switched places.

“Are you fff— ha! Are you serious right now?“, she half laughs in utter disbelief.

“I wish I wasn’t.“

Fluttershy makes a few faces as she wildly looks around the room again. She then settles on one emotion she’s grown way too accustomed to the past year.

“Fine! See if I care!“, she yells. “I never liked you anyway!“

She is lying through her teeth now and he knows it.

“I really wish it didn’t have to be like this.“ — She ignores him. — “Please know that I’m doing this for your own good.“

“Whatever. Just go.“

She refuses to look at him while Discord isn’t sure if he can bring himself to ever take his eyes off her. No matter her current state, somewhere in there is still the sweet, gentle Fluttershy he fell in love with.

Despite all her anger and harsh shouts that he should leave already, tears are forming in Fluttershy’s eyes. He wants to reach out and dry them, tell her everything was going to be okay and that he’d stay here with her forever. But he knows he can’t.

The damage had already been done and the only thing he can do now is return the kindness she had given him all those years ago.

So with a strained smile he says „Goodbye, my dearest. Thank you for everything.“

“Don’t you— Don’t you dare say that! You don’t get… get to say something like that!“

Discord has to tune out her cries as he opens the door and steps outside. He allows himself to look back at her only once, only briefly, to see her let her wings drop to the floor, ugly tears streaming down rosy cheeks.

Among the ashen gray hair is a single pink strand, encouraging him to close the door and open up a portal to his old home.

Only once he is back inside the cold walls with forgotten furniture floating past his head upside down, does he let himself cry, too.

––––

MLP:FiM and its characters belong to Hasbro

I only own the artwork and (I still can’t believe I’m saying this) the story

[haven-of-dusk]

for the ask game: headcanons for nico di angelo? (if you haven’t read the books, then ricky bowen 🤠)

Sorry this took me so long... I have indeed read the books, so I'll tackle both! Nico Di Angelo:

Sexuality - Gay

A ship - I actually do like Solangelo a fair bit, they're not my faves per se, but I don't have glaring issues with them (especially compared with say, Caleo).

However for the sake of fun, I also love Jasico (I hope I have that name right). Minor aside that I'm about 90% sure Jason is (he's fine, TBM didn't happen I promise) a closeted gay man based on a number of hints dropped in TBM, plus vibes plus he just screams internalized heteronormativity. So I really wish we could've explored more of Nico and Jason's dynamic. Plus they'd be incredibly adorable about one-upping each other's displays of "touch him and die" imo.

A BROTP - Percico, I totally get why shipping them romantically is a thing, but I also adore the dynamic idea that Nico completely got over Percy and Percy's a little salty about it, plus the level of trust they eventually displayed regardless of the definition of their relationship is very special to me. (End of MoA always gets me right in the feels).

A NOTP - I don't have any specific ones...so I guess I'll just say any ship that tries to get him involved romantically with a woman.

A random headcanon - Though he mostly put Mythomagic behind him, he has since become a massive D&D nerd, with multiple fully fleshed out characters and a couple campaign ideas that he badgers people to play with him. (Also the main cast of HoO playing D&D is a podcast I wish was real, Critical Role style...)

General Opinion - I love Nico, top 3 Percy Jackson Universe characters (I think, I haven't gone through and put together an exact ranking ever since I love almost all of them), not super happy when the writing leans too far into the 'edgy' side of him, but his dry wit is always a pleasure, and he's also capable of backing up the edge with badassery.

His original artwork will always give me nightmares though.

Richard 'Ricky' Bowen:

Sexuality - Bisexual

Gender - Cis Male, though he did experiment with they/them pronouns to see if they felt better to him. They didn't, but he's glad he tried.

A ship - Caswen. Obviously. I think my canon rewrite of half the show serves as adequate explanation of my love for them.

A BROTP - Redky. The friendship/brotherhood between Big Red and Ricky was something I really enjoyed in the first two seasons, it felt quite accurate to my high school experiences and I also find their interactions in fanfiction very endearing. Plus it provides more fuel to my fire that Caswen are NOT brotherly since we have a perfect brotherly relationship for Ricky right there and it looks nothing like his relationship to EJ imo.

Plus I'm still extra irritated that in addition to the rampant biphobia in how Big Red's storyline was handled, they also tried to shove him out of the picture and replace him with Jet in S4, with a scene in E3 especially feeling like the dialogue was written for BR and then they had Jet read it for...no discernable reason.

A NOTP - ...Rina /s.

In all seriousness the only answer I can readily come up with is Rily, because wtf was that subplot even supposed to be, but I struggle to think of NOTPs for Ricky since my brain is mostly Caswen or bust. I thought of the EJ alternatives purely because Tim is so militant about Rina, but I really don't know what Ricky would do outside of preferably Caswen or Tim's beloved 'canon' Rina. And while I do think Rini work better as friends, I also wouldn't call them a NOTP since I feel kind of bad for some Rini shippers (not the creepy ones, the normies for lack of a better term).

Idk, I guess I'll just say Rily and move on.

A random headcanon - Ricky loves the Spice Girls. Where did this HC come from you ask? I have no idea. But I feel like it fits.

The urge to write a mini-fic of Ricky and EJ dancing at their wedding to 'Spice up Your Life' is rising. (Totally not influenced by Doctor Who)

General Opinion - I love Ricky. Not quite as much as Elton, but that's a pretty high bar to clear since Elton rose to my top ten of all time list pretty easily. I have mixed feelings about S3 and S4 Ricky since I felt like they made him overly obsessed with Gina and lost a lot of the charm of his earlier plotlines centering on familial trauma and figuring out his own desires in life, but he's still high ranking for HSMTMTS characters, and I obviously love Caswen to death, so it's hard for me to say I don't also adore Ricky as a special little guy.

That spiraled into a bit of a ramble. Point is that I do really like Ricky, I just wish the writing for him later in the show was less...self-parodic...if that makes any sense.

[autumn-sundrop]

This might be incoherent rambling because it’s 1:30AM and I’m not thinking straight… but I just have to get this off my chest…

I wasn’t interested or invested in the idea of Ted and Rebecca as a ship or romantic pairing in the first place. I had wanted them to be platonic at the end because I loved the idea of the two leads not ending up in a romantic relationship just like every other TV show I’d ever seen.

But then I did get invested. I didn’t mean to at all. I jumped on the Tedbecca train. I fell for it hard. I watched Rebecca pull the little green matchbox army man out of the matchbook. I thought of all the clues and signs, that had to be it. It had to lead somewhere. It couldn’t be another misdirect? Because it would seem awful for the show to do that? Because it would make little sense to bring back such a significant item from Ted and Rebecca’s early relationship for a dumb misdirect? Because I felt like Ted and Rebecca made so much sense.

I didn’t want to care about the Tedbecca ship. Ever. But I did and got invested in a something I wasn’t even sure was going to happen., I let myself hope and trust the writers, trust the story (it knows what it’s doing…right?), trust the clues/hints/signs that everyone talked about, trust in “rom-communism”… It’s the hope that kills you.

I hate that I feel disappointed. I hate that I feel misled and sad right now. I feel stupid. It’s just a fictional show and these are fictional characters, it never should have mattered. This was supposed to be a show about football, mental health, and friendships. But I can’t even celebrate that because I’m too busy being sad about Tedbecca.

I can still read fanfiction. Tedbecca can continue to exist in my mind. Canon cannot take that away. But I just feel awful right now. And I hate that.

And I thought the HIMYM ending was terrible.

(Off to read Tedbecca fanfics now to try to cheer myself up… And now I have more motivation than ever to write my own…)

[bluedalahorse]

I took 24 hours off, did some writing for school (just revising a poem, but I’m going to do a second poem or more tonight if I can manage it) and have managed to mentally sort through what’s upsetting me.

And the conclusion I’ve come to is: I’m actually really, deeply sad that I can’t write fanfiction right now.

I mean, I’m also way off my routine, and having my period, and going back to work after a long, needed vacation away soon. But the fanfiction thing is part of it.

I used to assume that original writing and fanfiction writing scratched the same creative itch. I thought I would be okay switching over to original writing! To be fair this might have been true at another time, in another fandom. But I think for YR fandom it’s different, because I’m essentially writing the things in YR fandom that I have to write by myself if I want them to exist at all. And that’s the way I practice fandom for YR—by creating my own stuff, and by exploring the characters I’m most interested in exploring.

Having that personal sandbox of fanfic is so important, because it gives me a concrete thing to do instead of flailing and going “why isn’t there more fic for me??? why can’t I convince people that [random idea] would be such a cool direction to take [character]’s arc in?” For instance, I’ve been upset lately because I can’t find much in the way of fic that takes a more hopeful stance toward August’s future, or fic that proposes an AU or future where saraugust has a different outcome. (I like how things ended in canon, but their backstories are compelling and their faces are cute and I’d like to see them smashed together more.) A lot of the August fic right now is August/Vincent (which I don’t ship romantically, even if I have tried, just to have something to read) or it deals with August having suicidal ideation (which is personally triggering for me to read about.)

I’m also in a place where like… outside of canon and Heart and Homeland and conversations with a few trusted friends, I don’t actually think I’m interested in wilmon at all right now. I hesitate to post this, because I know it’s kind of annoying to point out that you don’t like a massively popular thing. I don’t mean it in a malicious way, and I’m trying to be truthful about why I feel isolated. And I guess what’s really going on here is, like, 50% overexposure to the pairing (which is my fault, and curable with filters and hiatuses) and 50% some of the culture that’s sprung up around them (which I guess is what I do wanna address, for whatever that’s worth.) For some fans, hating August and Kristina and only ever seeing/writing them as villains is an extension of the culture of shipping wilmon and part of the fun. For some fans, hating Sara for so long post-s2 (and some fans still do!) was an extension of shipping wilmon and part of the fun. For some fans, sorting characters into good and evil camps based on how they affect wilmon is an extension of shipping wilmon. And then there’s been the intense parasocial focus on Omar and Edvin (and to some extent Felicia?) that’s sprung up in some corners of the fandom, which bleeds into the wilmon shipping culture. I know a lot of individuals don’t ship wilmon in some or all of those ways. Unfortunately a lot of that “baggage” in the shipping culture has soured wilmon for me for the time being. I’ve got the pairing blocked and I feel like I’m still dealing with like, the way those things impact the broader YR fan culture and how people interpret the characters and such. It feels very hard to escape.

When I’m able to write fanfiction, I sort of have like… an outlet. Like I can write a fic where August or Kristina or Sara or Nils or Vincent is as complex as I want them to be. I can write a fic where Felice gets to be more than a “good friend” or a romance cheerleader. I can write a fic where Linda gets to be human and make mistakes and isn’t the perfect mom who ships her son. I did write some of those fics and I feel amazing about it! And even if I never finish or post a fic in full, it’s okay, because at least I’ve still gotten to play with the fictional toys I love, and have fun. It’s a bonus if I get to connect with people about it.

But right now… I feel like I’m watching everyone play with the YR Barbies and I’m behind a glass wall sitting on my hands and can’t play. And I feel like people keep dismembering the August Barbie and scribbling on him and putting him in the microwave (a wholly valid way to play with August Barbie I guess, but I have other plans for him that I can’t carry out right now, and that makes me sad.) And there’s some Barbies sitting in the corner untouched that I have excellent ideas for.

I guess the ultimate solution is that I need to do some more intentional stepping away from tumblr like I did in the spring. Not leaving completely, but like, having a set time of week I get on and a set way I engage. Talking to individual folks more on discord when I can. I’m going to take another 24-48 hours to think about it and then put my plan into motion.

Since I can’t play Barbies right now, I think it will just help to not see the Barbies being played with in front of me. If that makes sense.

For all that I unloaded a lot of messy venting here, I do hope everyone’s weekends are off to a good start.

[lovecolibri]

As a Buddie shipper the way some of these other shippers keep moving the goalposts is giving me flashbacks of Destiel and Stucky. This has. O thing to do with which ship is more valid (all ships are valid!) but with the way some people will believe to the bitter end that if they just hold on and stay loyal and trust the process, they’ll get what they want. When time and time again that has proven not to be the case. Sometimes you gotta look at the actual product, at the history behind you and the (lack of a) future ahead of you and say “oh, they’re gonna fuck us. Again. How boring.” :/ Honestly fans should make a bigger fuss about getting fucked! A TV show is not a fanfiction lovingly crafted by volunteers who do it for pure love. It’s meant to make money. We’re the consumers who make them money. We don’t get a say in what we’re served, but we sure can refuse to eat it and kick up a stink about getting bland undercooked chicken! As long as people keep quietly accepting it and refusing to criticize where criticism is due, things are gonna stay the same and they’re going to keep fucking us over!

I never watched either of those shows but I know what those ships are of course and can see what you mean. "We don’t get a say in what we’re served, but we sure can refuse to eat it and kick up a stink about getting bland undercooked chicken!" Yep yep yep!

And look, people can engage however they want and for some people they're having fun and pushing canon down the line isn't a big deal for them, if they're happy and having a good time, then great! But that also means it's okay if you're NOT having a good time and it's okay to say that too! And while I can't speak for other shows, this one certainly has made the choice to consistently show Buck and Eddie as the exact missing piece the other needs, paralleled them to the other canon couples CONSTANTLY, and every time a LI made a wrong step we got shown Buck or Eddie being the one to step up and make the RIGHT step for the other so like, it's not as simple as some fans saying "oh two hot guys? They should kiss!" Which, while a perfectly valid take for anyone to have watching anything they want, isn't always something they would expect to come to fruition, just a fun thing to write fic and make art about! This? This had every foundation and narrative pull towards actual cannon to the point that nothing else really makes sense because no side character will ever be as good a fit as partner than they already are for each other and now have been for 5 years! Shipbait is the term I'm using and I'm sticking with it.

[friends-to-lovers-tournament]

Friends to Lovers Tournament: Round 2, Side A, Match 7

propaganda under the cut!

Junnana:

Oh they are so very silly and I adore them. They basically spent the anime being the most married couple there, the game amplifying that and the movie burning that all to the ground (or Nana did that) before vowing to start a new later. They're just a girl reaching for her dreams without a ton of natural talent and a girl who enjoys helping her friends shine instead of herself despite being super skilled but even though they have slightly different goals on the stage they both respect each other so very much to the point where things only go wrong in the movie because Nana lost a bit of the respect for Junna that was always so fundamental in their dynamic. The Overture manga gives a bit of insight into what their early interactions were like especially in their respective focus chapters (3 and 9), with 3 showing that Nana was planning on becoming their class president rather than Junna but stepped down just because she had so much trust in her abilities while still making it clear that Junna could rely on her while in 9 the mutual reliance came back in the form of Junna being the one to make Nana realize she wasn't alone. Carrying onwards to the anime, some time before the whole thing, Nana decided "hey time loops are pretty cool" because she was afraid of her and her friends growing up and separating. This was not a fact known by anybody but her and that one giraffe and did not affect the early plot, where for the most part Junna was more focused on due to her struggles being highlighted from the moment revues were introduced and Nana was just constantly around her. Then Junna ended up being the first person Nana actually told about them directly (and not in a very vague way in a revue because otherwise Hikari would be the first) because it was looking like said loops were about to end because the childhood friends to lovers dynamic as a whole decided to say nuh uh to her. Then she did in fact lose her next revue which made the idea of continuing her repetitions a little impossible but Junna ended up recovering from that whole shock pretty quickly, and went to comfort Nana and help her learn to start anew. 

Then there's the game which. yeah there's so much stuff in there that I can't even explain it all. In the main story we get the arc of Nana starting her overprotective bs once again, getting stopped and then being given more courage to move forward by Junna since she was realizing that she kind of messed up (since she decided to object to the concept of plays just having lead actors in general. as you do), but there's so much stuff outside of the main story. Highlights include: Junnana literally making up their own ship name, Nana deciding the best way to practice for a role centered around an observant character was to observe Junna specifically, Nana writing a self-indulgent Phantom of the Opera adaptation with herself as the Phantom and Junna as Christine in an event where it turned out she relates to the Phantom (red flag #1 as far as I'm concerned) and wrote Christine based on Junna (Junna was very okay with this but I find it hilarious that she made her adaption of a famous play basically self insert fanfiction), the actual Junnana kiss (stage kiss?? real kiss?? we'll never know), the Valentine's Day event where Junna kept saying things like "oh I'd go to any lengths for Nana" while talking about making chocolate of all things, the time Junna talked about how she wouldn't let anybody take her place of staying right by Nana's side if she had to because she loves being there completely out of the blue to Nana's ex of all people (not a canon ex but a lot of people who know about her whole deal with Nana at least agree that they had something going on. and let me tell you Junna telling the person who constantly regrets not having the strength to remain by Nana's side how much she loved being with Nana was not a smart choice, even though Hisame, the girl in question, took it very well), the Steins;Gate collab where a good chunk of the plot is just Junna being worried about Nana, a play where it turned out that the whole time Junna and Nana had both taken inspiration from each other for their roles, the time they had to actively stop themselves during separate interviews from just rambling about each other, etc. There's so much. Also I forgot to mention it during the main story part but there's also an alternate universe briefly discussed where one of their friends just does not exist so Nana is one of the two best actors in the class and gets the lead role in the play they perform every year, and there's a scene after their performance where Junna talks about how, in the play which is a tragedy involving two lesbians in love, Nana's performance made her think that, if she had stood as her co-star, she would have simply been built different and prevented the tragedy from happening. The plot ends with one character falling form a tower and another being imprisoned within it, and Junna is like "if I was this tragedy and I was with you I would have simply taken your character's hand and never let her go". They're just so married in the game and I can't believe them for it

And then there's the movie. We don't talk about the movie but I kind of have to. Okay so you remember those two friends I was talking about who act very married and ultimately have a lot of their relationship based around their mutual respect for each other? What if Nana stopped respecting Junna entirely one day? That's their movie arc. This movie covers the girls "dying" as stage girls (ie. losing what made them true stage girls/actors in the first place) and then being "reborn" as them, and unfortunately Nana is of the opinion that Junna could just simply have her symbolism death and not the other part. During their revue, Nana talks a lot about how beautiful and dazzling (using those exact words. she even called Junna heartbreakingly beautiful in the dub) Junna was when she was foolishly reaching for a role she wasn't likely to get, but put it all in past tense, and encouraged Junna to let herself die as a stage girl in a brilliant manor rather than trying and failing to grasp her brilliance and dying out like that. also she called her an ugly fruit which sure is something. Then Junna was like "???? no I won't do that actually???" and took one of Nana's swords from her to engage in a sword fight since Nana had destroyed her usual weapon. Which was not a great matchup briefly because Junna never used a sword in her life but after Nana realized that the Junna she was fighting was different from the Junna she knew, and didn't match the role she had assigned for her, Junna ended up telling Nana that her own role was something she'd define for herself and not something Nana could assign for her, and ended up winning against her. After the revue was over, Junna still wanted Nana in her life, and promised her that, one day, they'd reunite on a stage which belonged to both of them, even though they had to find their own stages before that could happen. Before they departed, Nana lamented that Junna was dazzling, contradicting her previous belief that she was only dazzling in the past, all while beginning to cry, and Junna nearly turned around to comfort her, but ultimately decided to continue onto her next stage as Nana carried onwards to her own, knowing that they would both need to grow before their reunion. I also want to mention that, during this scene, a picture of the two of them, one which Nana had stabbed through the middle as she was telling Junna how dazzling she thought she once was, had since been moved to a little pond in the background of the scene (and of the background of the start of the whole revue, so it was there the whole time) that was nearly identical to the one where Junna and Nana had had their moment of comfort at the end of episode 9 of the anime. With the middle of the picture being soaked in water, it ended up sinking just enough for the new cut in the middle of the picture to appear almost mended, showing that, while the damage Nana had done and the rift between them was still there, it was already starting to mend as they once again regarded each other as equals. This scene lives in my head constantly and haunts me daily. Congratulations to Junnana for having a divorce arc as high schoolers

Kuroken:

childhood friends!!! admittedly i'm quite rusty on haikyuu so im sorry i can't provide better propaganda for the kuroken nation but i do remember that kuroo literally centered the entire nekoma high volleyball team around kenma and had this whole gay ass speech about how kenma is their brain and the rest of them are the blood like why are you as a man the blood to another man's brain??