#like my fanfic tastes are so specific that I literally will not read it UNLESS it has daddy kink😂

[evansbby]

not me going through the steve rogers x reader tag and i find a post that’s like “pov you find a fic with amazing smut but it has daddy kink 👎” LMFAOOOO

i wonder if anyone’s read my fics and just immediately exited out as soon as they see the word “daddy” bc it’s in like EVERY SINGLE ONE of my fics 😂😂

[valyrfia]

shipping and tumblr culture (for lack of a better word!) have also made people a lot more comfortable doing things that are just… mean. i’m not sure if you were part of the fandom when people were reading fanfic on podcasts/discord and mocking the authors; it was terrible. i don’t think anyone will be stealing my fic to sell on etsy but i am afraid someone will feel bold enough to mock it on tiktok!

Honestly, I miss when fandom and fanfiction weren’t things that were known mainstream. I’m old enough to remember the times where no one and I mean NO ONE you knew in real life had any idea if another person engaged in fandom culture and it was not something talked about nor asked (hence the context for “I like your shoelaces”/“thanks i stole them form the president”). I think fandom etiquette has gone down the drain with the movement of fandom into mainstream cultural consciousness. There’s been a complete loss of core rules like: don’t like don’t read, it’s rude to go on ao3 comments demanding a next chapter, don’t give criticism unless an author asks for it (and even then make it be constructive and nice!), don’t steal someone else’s fic/art for impressions (or profit!)

People have become more entitled and mean in fandom spaces (Karen-esque, one could say). Your favourite author publishes a Charlos fic when they usually write Lestappen? Okay, you can try it out and see whether you like it but no one is FORCING you to read it. You do not have the right to go into their askbox or ao3 comments with hate just because the author wanted to try something and didn’t tailor it just for your tastes. If you do not like something, you do NOT have to be mean about it! You can just click off!

I saw this comment on ao3 on a fic I really enjoy a few months ago, and I had to take a screenshot because it just rubbed me the wrong way so much and I think really sums up the current entitlement that’s been sadly growing within fic and fandom.

I think something so many people need to learn again is that not every piece of content is specifically written for you, and that’s okay. You can literally just click off, there’s zero reason to be mean or nasty about it to the author.

[suddencolds]

sending u a star!! ⭐️ sorry i wanted to go thru and pick a specific fic but im too sleepy lol but any yvescent piece u had thoughts on :D

[from Fanfic Writers - Director's Cut]

hello!!! THANK YOU N, IT MADE ME REALLY HAPPY TO RECEIVE THIS 🥹🥹🥹

I also realize am responding to this like 2 months late :') I thought for a long time on which fic to comment on, and now that I've posted Atypical Occurrence pt. 2, I thought I might as well write out my thoughts on it while they're still fresh and bc it's close to my heart (I hope that's okay hehe)

—

⚠️❗️ Warning that I will be attaching snippets from my deleted drafts below!! Please read the published installment before you proceed to read this post. This is a little embarrassing... all I can say is that those drafts were deleted for a reason 🥴

—

There’s a grocery store that’s a ten minute drive from Vincent’s apartment. 

I rewrote this scene... 3 or 4 times? It gave me sooo much trouble 😭 I think in the first draft Vincent actually tears up tasting Yves's cooking. (I know, Vincent, I want Yves to cook for me too 😭❗️)

Terrible (ugh 😭) first draft screenshot under the cut (screenshot = old draft, indented quote = current draft):

(Yves pulling up a chair at the end... you can tell he is totally at a loss on what to do 😭 and I, too, was at a loss on what to do)

I wrote this ^, and I was like... this moment just feels unearned? I personally despise outlining + I love going in (mostly) blind. Sometimes the first draft works out of the box, and in this case, the first draft (and the second draft, and the third draft) were all soooo bad that I literally had to take a month-long break to regain my confidence 😭

Anyways! I knew right away that Y was going to cook something for V (it's mentioned here and there throughout the series that he is a really good cook 😭 And in part 3 of Fool Me Twice, Yves promises to make Vincent something more ambitious than hot chocolate. He's finally kept his promise now, 12 installments later 🙇‍♀️ )

From draft 2, there was only one scene which I was sure I was going to include in the final draft, aka, spared from the recycling bin. (But I just checked the final draft and it's nowhere to be seen?? Interesting.)

I would have managed fine on my own.

On this (deleted) scene, and more broadly: I think it's important to me that Yves recognizes that Vincent is self-sufficient in many ways: when Vincent says he will be fine alone, he is telling the truth. Yves doesn't have to stay—he recognizes this too, when he heads for the door in the published draft.

Still, Yves stays, of course—initially, because he insists, and later, because Vincent asks :)

“…You won’t leave unless I eat, then,” Vincent says. He says it evenly enough that it barely registers as a question. Yves smiles at him. It’s not a wrong conclusion. “Exactly,” he says.

It was really, really fun writing the differences between caretaker!Vincent (in Fool Me Twice pt. 5) and caretaker!Yves 😊 I usually don't like to say too much on the end of character analysis, bc I like my work to be interpreted as it is: the text is canon, and everything I'm saying here is just me yapping on about my headcanons. (I have been roasted for saying this by a dear friend of mine, probably rightfully so:)

With that disclaimer: Vincent to me (I can only speculate, etc) is a very no-bullshit caretaker (he likes to enforce whatever will lead most directly to the person's recovery; he actually worries a lot, but his worry often manifests as frustration/snappishness), whereas Yves is a lot more permissive and, for the most part, manages his stress—he is the eldest sibling, after all! I think he does what he can to make it a more tolerable experience :)

“So this is just a Yves thing.” “What? Showing consideration for my friends?”  “Showing consideration is one thing,” Vincent answers. “You could have left after dropping off the files. You would still have been showing your consideration.” “I guess that’s true. But at that point, I was already here,” Yves says, with a shrug. “It seemed logical to check up on you.” “Well, now you’ve checked up on me,” Vincent says. “So you can go.” Yves supposes this is true.

Vincent takes things very literally (and I think he's actually quite aware of the social niceties around these kinds of things, which is in part why he is so skeptical to assume that Yves means anything more.)

There’s a hand on his sleeve, tugging. Yves goes very still. When Vincent notices what he’s done, alarm flashes through his expression, and he pulls his hand away as if he’s burned.  “Sorry,” he murmurs, again. And just like that, he’s back to how he always is—his expression perfectly, carefully neutral, in a way that can only be constructed. “I’m sorry.” But Yves doesn’t forget what he’s seen. “You can go.”

This scene means a lot to me!! It took a loooot of editing to hammer into place (the doc I wrote it on is titled "fixing this scene would FIX ME" haha). I think this is the first time Vincent has actively sought out Yves's comfort 😭 And he regrets it almost as soon as he's said it, because he does not do things without a good justification, and wanting something—even wanting it badly—does not feel like a sufficient justification to him. But give Yves an inch and he will take a mile!! He will take a hundred miles!! That is just the kind of person that Yves is.

I was talking with some friends previously about how I wanted to write Vincent reaching out for Yves. How I wanted Vincent to, through the haze of fever, cross a line that he'd previously not allowed himself to cross :') I think it is a time-old trope to have someone, in their feverish delirium, utter something embarrassing and utterly uncharacteristic of them, or divulge something that has been difficult for them to say.

This whole time drafting, I was thinking, how can I set up a moment like that and have it feel earned? How badly would he have to be feeling? What kind of setup would justify getting past his 590859 mental defenses? (I do not like to outline, but sometimes I do have an emotional beat that I have in mind, and then I have to work backwards to figure out the setup. This took SO much working back from, and I really thought about it for very long). I was almost sure that Vincent would regret it immediately after too 😭

Yves opens his arms out in offering, tries on a smile. “I’ve been told I give good hugs. Good enough to cure all ailments, obviously.”

Ahh, so Y offering V a hug is inspired by a fic I read 6 years ago, where a character offers another a hug as a joke and then the other character surprises them by taking it. Yves is really offering here, but I think he recognizes that joking about it will make it easier for Vincent to accept 😭

Yves has hugged a fair share of people in his life. He doesn’t think he’d be able to list them all if he were asked to. It’s different, though, being so close to Vincent—so close that Yves can reach out and let his hair fall through his fingertips. He can lift up his palm and feel the rigid line of his spine, the slope of his shoulders; he could reach out and trace the dip of his wrist, the form of his hand. Vincent’s chin digs slightly into his left shoulder. His nose is turned slightly into Yves’s neck—like this, he is almost perfectly still. Yves can feel the warm brush of air against his neck whenever Vincent exhales. He is so close that Yves is afraid, for a moment, that he might hear how badly his heart is racing.

I have nothing to say about this paragraph except that I edited it for like 40 minutes straight.

Last thing!!

“We had a habit of keeping the heat off, in the winters, and closing the windows.”

The scene near the end (where Vincent tells Yves about his childhood) is actually the scene which came the most easily to me. I also did not write it last; I jumped around. It took me around 1.5 hours. (By comparison, simply editing the scene before it took 11 😵‍💫)

I did always intend for Vincent to disclose... well, /something/ about himself. (You can tell that when I plan, that's really as far as I plan LOL)

Anyways, when Vincent wakes Yves up (after Yves falls asleep at his desk), I initially wrote it so that Yves wakes Vincent from a nightmare.

But (as direct a link to vulnerability as that might have been,) Vincent would not talk about his nightmare 😭 So I switched gears.

I also specifically wanted to write about Vincent's experience being cared for growing up. I think something that's culturally resonant with me (as an Asian American, and the eldest daughter to immigrant parents) is like, the ways families can and cannot say I love you—the quiet things that are done in place of a more direct expression of it. The way that while unspoken consideration can speak volumes, it can just as easily be invisible. But even now, writing this post, I feel like it's difficult for me to untangle the feelings and experiences I've had into something that feels sufficiently multifaceted.

Vincent has a different childhood from I do (it is probably worth noting that I do not project onto any of my characters, nor do I use them as a vessel to get my own experiences across). I think I'm just drawn to writing tricky/non-straightforward expressions of love, in general :) Sometimes that is the kind of love that resonates with me most.

[trialbystory]

<X> people you would like to get to know better

Tagged by @powertaco (new post instead of reblog due to unwieldy length, original train available through this link)

Three Ships: Well, FrosenSteel/Nuts & Dolts, since I've got that whole Spirit of Competition fic going, obviously.

Wenclair is still going strong for me all these months after I watched Wednesday, mostly because it gives me such strong Griddlehark vibes (it's not a twofer if I only do a picture for Wenclair, right?)

Sylvaina is a pretty evergreen ship for me at this point.

First-Ever Ship: Briar Moss and Tris Chandler from Tamora Pierce's comparatively lesser-known (but better, imo) Emelan books. I've liked these two together ever since my second read through of Circle of Magic, and I doubled down on that when Will of The Empress came out. It's a niche fandom, especially these days, but I revisit these books once every year or two and everytime I do I dream up a plot of Briar being brought in as a lecturer at Lightsbridge after Tris enrolls there and romance ensues. And since I'm actually writing fanfic these days, maybe I'll make it happen at some point...

(source)

Last Song: I have eclectic tastes and just set up the music player on my new phone, so it could be literally anything. But it was actually Grim Grinning Ghosts. Specifically the version by Voiceplay.

Last Movie: I don't actually watch movies super often, so it's been a second. But it was either the 2008 live-action Speed Racer or School of Rock. Unless it was my bootleg of Beetlejuice the Musical. (If the person who made 'BugDrink' is reading this. You're one of my favorite people)

Currently Reading: I'll give 3 answers; on a03 the current tab in my queue is the latest chapter of a Wenclair fic by @boojangs called To Dance With Wolves I'm also still working through Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, and when I go on walks I've been listening to the Locked Tomb audiobooks in the possibly vain hope that the last book is still coming out this year. I'm just coming to the end of Harrowhark The Ninth (I'm not really an audiobooks kind of guy, but the narrator for the TLT ones is PHENOMENAL)

Currently Watching: Season 2 of Heels, about to start Season 2 of Wheel of Time, and also about to start my semi-regular re-watch of Leverage and Leverage: Redemption Currently Consuming: Orange soda from a local-ish beverage company.

Currently Craving: When I was hanging out with friends a few weeks ago I ate at our town's crepe shop for the first time and I've been dying to go back since. Crepe topped with strawberries & lemon juice plus one of the best Mochas I've ever had.

Tagging, if they are ammenable: @misterdadguy, @infinitefern, @probably-riley, and literally anyone else who wants to do these modern-day chain letters.

[calikocat]

So.  Being a fanfic writer can be interesting sometimes.  Today I got an interesting ‘review’ (and I use the word review with humor).  Apparently this particular fic of mine, so offended someone’s sensibilities they had to tell me all about it.  I’m not kidding.  This person is also a fanfic writer and over a decade ago I read a Dawn-centered Buffy/Power Rangers fic of theirs that I adored.

Gonna have to rethink that opinion and I’ll probably never re-read it.  Still, their ‘review’ had me laughing.  Omigod ya’ll, I’m not even joking.  This person wants me to rewrite my fic, to suit their tastes and sensibilities.  They got their feelings hurt over a fic.  Its like they’ve forgotten what fanfiction is all about.  Fic writers write fics to their own specifications, unless its a gift fic.  

I know its hard to read in the screen shot so here’s the text:

I’m not sure how to react to this one, so I’m going to try and break this down.

I do like “Real Family” stories. It’s a touch cliche these days, but it gives a solid reason for the characters to interact and has some real dramatic potential. Your use of it with Diagnosis Murder of all things is brilliant. So points there.

But the motivation for getting Xander out of Sunnydale is… unpleasant, ugly and out of character. Now Xander’s parents getting murdered is one thing, but Spike assaulting Xander like that is… just wrong. Spike’s entire motivation at this point in the series is Drusilla, his only goal is to return her to full strength. Buffy, as the Slayer, is an obstacle to that. We’re she not he would not be interested in fighting her (at this point). Despite having control over the Vampires of Sunnydale he’s trying to keep a low profile (something he fails at, multiple times over the show).

Attacking Xander, especially in this way, is utterly pointless and against his goals. As he says later “…Leaving gag gifts in her friends beds is just going to result in one incredibly brassed off Slayer!” He wants Buffy out of the picture, Xander (and to an extent Willow) aren’t even on his radar. He doesn’t care about them. He does know, however, Buffy does and ticking her off will only cause massive problems later.

Next up is the method of his assault. Now I’m not going to get into semantics with you, but whatever else he is Spike is not homosexual. He’s not bi-sexual. He has no interest in boys (that way). While an attempted rape is horrible in its own right (regardless of genders involved) this is both out of character and utterly repulsive. We’re it possible I would heavily suggest not including this, instead look to another option.

Spike capturing Xander and giving him to Dru, only for her to torture Xander instead until he escapes. For example. You could hit many of the same beats with this, without going out of character and making this significant miss-step.

Next up Xander leaves Sunnydale. Great, fantastic, good move and I hope to see how it turns out… remembering that Demon troubles always seem to find Xander at the worst possible time. It’s going to be interesting to find when that’s going to be!

What I have a concern about is the shopping trip. I understand the principle behind it, but it feels like the Sloane’s (and by extension you as the writer) are trying to make Xander into something else. A feeling made all the more acute with the firm slamming of the door between Xander and the rest of the Scoobies. Another decision that may harm the story in the long run.

So this is certainly an odd story to review. You’re writing style is strong and I have found it a good read, but these problems are jarring me out. As a result I was driven to write this review.

Put simply; I should be enjoying this idea, but instead I keep finding a creepy undertone I can’t shake.

This person literally wants me to change the fic, because they think I wrote it wrong, according to them.  Its not written to their tastes, so its wrong.  XD  I’m rolling.  Best laugh I’ve had all day.  I’ll probably respond in a couple of days.

Bwhahaha!

The fic in question is New Song, Same Tune.  Its a Xander-centered fic that crosses over with Diagnosis Murder.  Its not for everyone, obviously, but I enjoyed writing it.  Its just the way I want it.  Its been finished for months, and nothing is gonna make me rewrite it because someone else thinks its WRONG.

My god.  I’m laughing.  Pfft.

[sharkboygirlish]

Messy.

ONE-SHOT

Word count: 2793

Disclaimer:  One piece and all it’s characters belong to Eiichiro Oda, I just like to write about them.

Warning: None

Rating: T (i guess?? there’s cursing)

Author’s Note: Whale, this is the first fanfic I’ve posted on the interwebs since high school so please keep that in mind, lol. I do plan to finish it sooner than later so check back in a few days if you want to read the rest, sorry I don’t have it all done right now.  At long last it it FINISHED.

Feel free to tell me what u think! Unless it’s mean, then I ask that u keep those thoughts in ur noggin because I’m just writing these for fun not for grades.

Without further ado, here ya go.

Author’s Note pt 2: So i didn’t end up going the smut route like I originally planned, but I think it worked out better bc this one got nice and Emotional.

Summary: Zoro really shouldn’t agree to be Nami’s drinking partner if he wanted to keep their friendship from getting... Complicated.

__________________________________________

The moon was floating high in the night sky when Nami wandered onto the deck, unable to sleep even after a few hours of sketching. 

She wanted company – specifically, she wanted the company of the crew’s resident alcoholic. It only took a few minutes to find him on the lawn deck with his back against a tree and his eye closed. ‘How typical.’

Nami smiled a small, excited smile as she strode over to him and squatted between his parted legs. An unconscious sigh left her nose as she swept her gaze up and down his face. She caught herself thinking, ‘He really is easy on the eyes isn’t he.’ ....again. 

Who was she kidding? She’d been thinking the same thing every time she looked his way lately. 

Two years ago she’d been able to keep the immature crush she had on him locked tightly away but somehow - it had gotten out and was slowly consuming her entire being. 

Nami hoped he hadn’t noticed how often she invited him to drink with her because she didn’t think she could handle being rejected. So she settled for spending time alone with him whenever and however she could. 

“Hey, moss-head,” the navigator said finally, leaning in to squint at him, “Are you asleep?”

He had literally just settled down for a nice cat nap when the navigator appeared suddenly to interrupt him. ‘Damn. What the hell did she want now?’ 

Instead of answering, Zoro chose to ignore her and pretend like he was deep asleep. ‘Why won’t she go bother someone else?’

Nami started prodding his cheek with one finger to rouse him if he really was sleeping, ”Zorooo wake up, I wanna drink,” she whined and his eyelid opened instantly.

‘Why’s she so damn pretty..’ was the first thought he had when he realized that she was a lot closer than he’d anticipated. 

He mentally chastised himself after, trying to remind his id that Nami had never once indicated that she wanted to be anything other than friends and he should respect that. 

But… There was no harm in looking from time to time was there? And she was pretty. She’d always been... ‘Oh for fuck’s sake, now he sounded like Sanji. He needed to get a grip.’

“Helloooooo,” Nami waved her hand in Zoro’s face until he snapped back to reality and snatched her wrist up, pulling it away. He scowled but it wasn’t deep, and now he was refusing to look her in the eye. “What was that about, huh Zoro?”

“Nothing.” The swordsman replied perhaps a little too quickly to avoid suspicion, “Thought I heard a noise, doesn’t matter – oi, didn’t you want to do something?” 

He couldn’t remember what exactly it was. He’d been so distracted by the way her bangs framed her face and sometimes got caught in her eyelashes—’Damnit! He was doing it again.’

Nami smirked again but didn’t press the subject anymore. She’d do that later once they started drinking. “Weren’t you listening to me? You’re so rude, maybe I should find someone else to share my booze with.”

Was it a good idea to go drink with Nami when he kept catching himself thinking about feelings that he’d been suppressing for the last two years? Probably not…

But he couldn’t just decline an opportunity to get buzzed. ‘And... Maybe he wanted to get buzzed with Nami, specifically.’  

Zoro scoffed, mostly at himself. “Quit playing games, damnit, do you want me to drink with you or not?”

“You’re so stubborn,” The navigator teased with a pleased smile that made his heart beat unevenly, “I could care less if you join me, but you’re not allowed to come unless you say you’ll be nice.”

“Nami. I am older than you, quit treating me like a fucking child or I swear-”

“That’s no way to talk to a lady who’s getting you drunk for free, Roronoa Zoro. If you can’t be nice then I’ll just add the cost of everything you drink to your debt and-”

Zoro didn’t have time to ruminate over the way hearing her say his full name made him shiver because he had to shut her up before she did charge him. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll be... nice.” He hissed through gritted teeth and her answering giggle made his pulse flutter. He had to fight to keep himself from smiling. ‘What the hell was going on with him tonight? Was he sick?’

“Good boy,” she turned and started walking towards the Sunny’s aquarium bar, glancing back over her shoulder to make sure he was coming.

“Don’t push your luck, woman.” Zoro snarled to mask his confusion over the sudden need to touch her that he felt scratching at the back of his head. He really shouldn’t agree to be Nami’s drinking partner if he wanted to keep their friendship from getting... Complicated.

He knew it, but he followed her up the stairs all the same.

                                                       * * *

“Why d’you always want to drink with me anyway, witch?” Skeptical of her intentions, his narrowed eye fixed itself on Nami as she approached him holding two maroon tinted bottles. She offered one to him and he accepted it – but he didn’t let his guard down yet.

Zoro lowered his gaze to check the label out, whistling long and low when he read 23% alcohol per volume. A couple puzzle pieces clicked together in his head ‘Oh, that’s why. Because if she tried to drink this with anyone else they’d pass out after two glasses.’

“Would you believe that I just like hanging out with you?” Though her tone was teasing she was actually being genuine, she had a lot of fun with him whenever they went out.

“No–“ He paused when Nami kicked him in the shin hard enough to make him swear. Reaching down with his free hand he rubbed the sore patch of skin and glared daggers at his crewmate. “What the fuck was that for?!”

“You said you’d be nice, Zoro! So be nice or I’ll charge you a hundred thousand beris for that bottle.” Nami uncorked hers but waited to hand the corkscrew over until he behaved himself. The look he was giving her would probably frighten a small child but she didn’t flinch.

‘This was his choice.’ He reminded himself. Of his own free will he chose to get drunk with Nami instead of napping, and that meant dealing with her bossiness no matter how much he loathed it. ‘Sometimes he just wanted to grab her by the shoulders and make her shut up, there were better things her mouth could be doing anyway-‘

“Why do you keep staring at me like that, do I have a zit or something?”

Zoro sat up so fast that he banged his shoulder on the underside of the countertop. ‘What the hell was that? What the hell was wrong with him?’ He hadn’t even opened the damn bottle and he was already making himself look like an idiot.

“No,” the swordsman grumbled, wracking his brain for a believable excuse, “Just thinking about how I’ll owe you money even after I’m dead if you keep charging me for bullshit.” That made her laugh and Zoro cursed himself for how much he liked hearing it. “Don’t see how it’s funny for me, witch.”

Nami let him take the corkscrew from her, eyes crinkled with amusement while he opened his bottle. “You’ll just have to stay alive until you pay me back in full, I guess!” She trilled before taking a long, heavy drink from hers.

“Yeah?” Zoro snorted before mimicking her and downing about half of the wine in the container. It tasted disgusting, which he’d expected, but that didn’t make the bitter aftertaste any less miserable. His nose wrinkled slightly as he set the bottle down. “I bet even if I did try to pay you off you’d find a way to charge me more.”

“You make me sound so heartless,” the navigator batted her eyelashes innocently, pretending to look hurt, “Why would I ever do such a thing?”

“Hah.” He scoffed before chugging some more wine and failing to keep track of how much he was drinking each time. “Because you want to keep me on a leash since I don’t throw myself at you like that dumbass cook.”

An impish smirk crawled it’s way onto Nami’s face that made him immediately regret what he’d just said. ‘Fuck. Damnit!’

“So…” She began slowly, savoring every second that the swordsman spent avoiding direct eye contact with her, “You admit that you are one of my lap dogs?”

A muscle in his jaw flexed and he stopped drinking for one second to grunt, “That’s not what I said.”

“That’s what I heard!” Chimed Nami as she rose from her seat, stepping over to Zoro and tracing a finger under his jaw while he drained the last few drops of liquid. “I should get you a collar, so people know who to bring you to when you get lost.”

Normally he would have snapped at her for poking fun at his sense, or lack thereof, direction but he wasn’t listening to her. She’d come close enough for him to pick up her scent and maybe it was the alcohol intensifying his feelings, but it was suffocating him in a good way.

He loved the way she smelled. Tangerines from her soaps mixed with salty seawater and traces of sunscreen. A hint of orange blossom, but only when she was close to him like this. 

Zoro inhaled deeply through his nose and, without realizing it, his expression melted into something affectionate and gentle. ‘In two years she’d changed in so many different ways… but she still smelled the same. She still smelled like home.’

                                                        * * *

“What are you thinking about, Zoro?” Her voice void of it’s usual teasing tone, Nami’s curiosity was piqued by his sudden shift in demeanor. He looked soft and peaceful, like he didn’t have anything to worry about. She wanted to know why.

‘Ah, fuck.’ What was he supposed to tell her? That he was thinking about how good she smelled? ‘Yeah right.’ Zoro was quiet for a while, mulling over his words until he came up with an explanation that didn’t sound as creepy – but also wasn’t a lie.

“I guess..” he finally murmured, his gaze shifting to meet hers, “It’s just been a while and… I was thinking about how nice it feels to be back here, with everyone…” a brief pause then he added, “I missed you guys.” ‘Look at him being all gushy and emotional, this wine really was something else.’ Zoro reached to brush his fingertips by her temple, catching a stray lock of hair and tucking it behind her ear, “I missed you.”

When had Zoro ever been this honest with her about the way he felt? Never was the answer, but now he seemed to trust her well enough to know she wouldn’t spill his secrets. Nami took his face in both of her hands, surprising him, and pulled his head down so she could kiss his forehead. “I missed you too, Zoro.”

Something about hearing her say that she’d missed him too broke a dam in his chest that he’d been trying to keep together for two years. Hormoness flooded through his bloodstream quicker than Zoro could even process them and before he knew it he was practically throwing his arms around Nami’s waist and crushing her against his chest.

“Nami—” he pressed his face into her neck to hide the tears that he couldn’t hold back anymore. Sober he might have cared about losing it like this around her but she was here and… ‘He just – needed to hold her.’ Hold her and smell her and feel how real she was because she had almost been taken from him.

‘He’d barely begun to process what he had been through on Thriller Bark when they were attacked in Sabaody. If he tried to think back on it his memories would get hazy and his bones would ache from their very cores. He knew what had happened but it’s like his brain was protecting him from understanding how close to death he’d come. Then – to be torn away from the people he loved with all of his heart? Who he had just nearly killed himself to protect?

It had ripped him apart and rubbed salt into every wound. And it fucking hurt. The same kind of pain he felt when he saw Kuina dead on the floor of their dojo. He was scared, he was furious, he was devastated – all over again but this time it was so much worse. So, so much worse.

That was why he had trained so hard over the last two years. Because he couldn’t bear the grief that came with loving them so deeply – so he got stronger. And stronger. And stronger. No matter the cost to his body, he would become powerful enough to defeat anyone who crossed them. Then… He would never have to feel the agony that he did when he first woke up on Kuraigana Island ever again.

Taking on all of Luffy’s suffering in Thriller Bark had been the most physically painful experience of his entire life – but that was nothing compared to how much it hurt to think that his friends were gone forever, that he hadn’t been able to protect them.

Training made it easy not to think about what had happened -- but now he was home, and they were safe - and he was realizing just how close he’d come to losing all of them. At once. And he could do nothing to stop it.’

Startled by him grabbing her, Nami was prepared to give the pirate a good smack if he was getting handsy but… He started trembling. ‘Was he not feeling well?’ Her mouth opened to form the question then stopped. His breathing hitched while his entire body jerked and she realized…

‘Zoro was crying.’

Roronoa Zoro, who prided himself on his strength, was sobbing wretchedly into her neck. ‘He must have been holding this in since Sabaody.’ Nami’s heart ached for him and his stupid pride that forced him to torture himself instead of letting him cry like he needed to. She’d been expecting him to crash at some point, how couldn’t he? Even someone as strong as Zoro was still a human being.

One of her arms cradled his head while the other wound round his shoulders, her fingers combing gently through his hair. “Oh you sweet, sweet boy…” she spoke in the tone that Bellemere used to use when Nami and Nojiko were frightened by a passing thunderstorm. It always calmed her, maybe it would calm Zoro, too.

‘Quit fucking crying you loser you’re supposed to be a man.’ But he couldn’t, he literally could not stop because he was trying to. “I wasn’t strong enough,” his voice quivered at the edges and he hated it. ‘He was definitely never going to drink this kind of wine again ever. Not if it turned him into a blubbering mess like this every time.’

“Shhh, no. No. Don’t you dare try to blame yourself for what happened. Hey, look at me.” Nami urged his head off her shoulder and cupped his face in both of her palms, “None of us were strong enough, okay? Not even Luffy.” Each tear that fell she tenderly swept away with the pad of her thumb. The corner of her mouth turned up as she assured him, “But we are strong enough now. We can take care of each other. Nothing is ever going to tear us apart again, Zoro.”

‘She was right. Of course, she was right. He needed to have faith in his crewmates and his captain. They could do anything as long as they had each other.’ His breathing slowly evened out as he focused on anchoring himself back to reality. He wasn’t in Sabaody or Kuraigana – he was on the Sunny. In the bar, with Nami who had grown so much since he last saw her. The look in his eye softened like it had before his breakdown.

“You’re staring at me again, Zoro.” The navigator teased, her hands falling to rest on his shoulders. He hadn’t let go of her yet but she didn’t mind, he could hold on to her for as long as he needed.

A ghost of his usual smirk passed across his face. “Sorry, Nami…” Zoro took a little risk by leaning in to press a chaste but lingering kiss to her cheek, then traced a path with the edge of his nose to her ear, murmuring, “Wine makes me a little… Messy.”

[emakenz]

SELF INDULGENT HANNIBAL X READER FANFICTION PROMPT

I do not know what this is, if it is a drabble or a prompt or short story, I have no clue. Just thoughts in my head. Storylines that are realistic within the canon of the show. I say self indulgent because it's sort of a self insert of myself, but whatever, I dunno. It's almost 7 AM. I would actually write this as a story or drabble or whatever but I don't have the drive, if I have a thought I gotta write it down right then or it disappears. If I wrote fanfics, they wouldn't make sense because my mind wanders so fucking much. I might still do this someday, I dunno, but if anyone wants a crack at it, be my guest. I encourage it, as I'd love to read this as an actual story rather than... what it is. But if you write it, ya gotta make sure you include the big details I write down. The small details like, the whole Jack thing, that's not too important unless you want to keep it for showing character and/or character development. And ya gotta credit and tag me because I'd love to read it, as it is my brain's own little bundle of ideas. Holy shit I'm writing so much here goddamn. Anyway.

. . .

Hannibal is reader's friend and he has an interest in reader. Reader is an artist, they work as a forensic artist for the bureau. They do what the usual forensic artist does, but they also like to draw the crime scenes. They have a fascination with recreating the work of a suspect, it can help them connect dots and understand the suspect's intentions and ideals of commiting the scene of the crime. Reader is kind of like Will, in a sense, as they are on the spectrum but, unlike Will, they are unaware of it. They are an empath, they view everything from different perspectives and try to understand each side, like Will. But you see, Will only looks into the suspects' minds, but reader looks into the suspects, the victims, and even the witnesses' views. Hannibal finds their insight to be valuable (for his own "hobbies", in his career, and just plain interest, of course).

Reader has trouble with Jack yelling at them for "talking back," though in reader's mind they didn't realize what they said could be considered rude, and this happens more often than not. They can't handle loud noises, and Jack's booming voice messes them up. They tend to avoid Jack because of this, as they usually have an internal meltdown and shut off when he blows up.

An example; reader was explaining how the victim of the killer in a specific scene wasn't really the victim, but that they were the actual killer. Will disagreed, as he views the suspected killer to be the actual killer. Because of Will's insistence that reader was wrong, Jack shut reader off mid sentence by interrupting their defense. Jack trusts Will's insight more than reader's because he's known him longer and Will's always been right, so far, and he didn't want to risk messing up. He didn't want to get the investigation incorrect so he didn't take the chance of listening to reader rather than Will.

(In this scenario, the killer is the victim in the scene, and the person that killed them was the killer's intended victim, but the victim they intended to kill was a serial killer as well -- the victim pulled the ol switcheroo on em. So both Will and reader are right. If this doesn't make sense, please let me know, I will try to elaborate more on this if you're actually interested.)

Jack and reader don't have a bad relationship or anything, it's just a lot of miscommunications and underlying issues (like the reader having undiagnosed autism, not being aware that they're socially impaired can, well, impair their work and relationships. Such as here.) Nobody really notices the odd behavior from reader, as Will is like that too, so they don't question it. They all assume it's already understood that reader is autistic.

Reader isn't like Will when it comes to being social, as they are more reserved (as odd as that is, MORE reserved than Will Graham himself?? It's more likely than you'd think.) and don't fidget around with stuff around them. They don't nose around, they keep to themselves, closed off from everyone and everything. Will likes to roam around Dr. Lecter's office and tinker with stuff in the room, but reader is too anxious and shy to do such. Reader hates it when people come into their space (like their room, even their property in general) and they especially don't like it when people nose around in their stuff. It feels rude to them, so they don't do it to others. They don't consider Will to be rude because he does it though, they only consider it rude when a person comes into their space and does it, as reader would make it clear that they don't feel comfortable with people doing such. They wouldn't want a person unknowingly seem rude to them, they would inform them beforehand, but if the person still does it, then that's rude to reader. Call it being territorial, reader is just cautious about their property.

If reader is in a conversation, and being asked questions about themself, they usually just give short and simple answers. They don't like to talk about theirself. And they especially don't like letting people know them well. They are very cautious about relationships. They don't want to get hurt. They have a major rejection sensitivity disorder. They hate that about themself.

It's not that reader is cut off from the world and dismissive of others, they do like to talk and joke around occasionally. They're sarcastic yet literal, depending on the topic of conversation. They just don't give more input than they believe necessary. They're more of a listener (by that I mean they space out when a person is excessively talking to them. They can only handle so much.).

Hannibal notices reader's quiet, timid behavior and wants them to find some release, therefore he engages in conversations with them, though it is hard for them to keep the conversation going, he still pushes. He wants them to let loose, to trust him, so he can bond with them. He is aware of reader's autism, but he will only bring it up when he deems it's important. He knows everyone else knows and that reader doesn't, but he wants to see if reader would eventually figure it out on their own (they don't, he brings it up to them eventually). He's also aware that reader has anxiety and ADHD, with the occasional depression and mood swings. Reader is somewhat self aware of those parts of themself though, it's not a big deal. Reader doesn't really care about their mental health until Hannibal comes in and becomes Dr. Lecter to reader. They're not actually his patient but he will treat them as such when he feels they need a therapy session. Reader doesn't like the idea of therapy at all, not for them. Hannibal has to be discreet when getting them to open up. It works sometimes. Other times, reader just changes the subject to avoid the topic of theirself. While Hannibal does still have an interest in Will, reader is more of a craving for Hannibal's appetite. Hannibal sees reader as a rare delicacy that suits his taste, but he never gets enough, and he always wants more. Will can satisfy him in his interest, but reader doesn't give in to him like Will does. Reader is more hesitant, even when they are comfortable. Eye contact never ceases making reader uneasy, they can't hold it more than a few seconds, though Will can hold it as time goes on, reader can't. Will and reader's relationship is close, as reader relates to Will a lot, and vice versa. They connect. Reader likes to help with the dogs and assist in fixing motors and even go fishing with him. They're pretty much best friends. They're more open with Will than anybody else, as much as Hannibal envies Will for that, he also likes to learn about reader from Will. Since reader doesn't really open up to Hannibal willingly and knowingly, he uses Will for information. Will gives him what he wants, it's not a secret that they talk about reader often, it's just that reader doesn't engage in their talks so they make do. Whether Will has a crush on reader is a mystery, reader is unaware and Hannibal wouldn't allow it if he did. Will knows that Hannibal likes reader, he knows that if he had a crush, it's more than likely going to hurt him more than anything. Hannibal often attempts to get reader's attention in different ways, but reader never understands the message is for them. Will knows he can't be honest with reader as he's afraid that reader would feel uncomfortable around him if he did. He doesn't let himself crave reader after seeing Hannibal attempt to ease his own cravings for them, and seeing how that panned out, he knows he doesn't have a chance with reader if Hannibal of all people doesn't. Reader doesn't really... understand romance. They are capable of feeling romantic, but they don't know how to identify their feelings, so emotions are never clear for them. They feel everything but they don't understand anything.

Hannibal does get reader to give in but it takes a lot of time and effort to pry them open. Once reader is bare, they become insecure and vulnerable. They panic and get scared, and shutdown. Hannibal is a therapist and he knows how to handle this, though, and helps reader. He becomes their guide. Reader thrives off of independence but Hannibal slowly takes their need of independence away, having reader rely on him more and more. It makes him feel powerful. His cravings are nourished at this point in time, he's more addicted than ever, and reader is the center of his world. I guess you could say Hannibal is yandere-esque, not my intention but that's the vibes I'm getting from this. He's overprotective and possessive of reader once he has them under his wing.

What attracts Hannibal to reader is the same reason he's interested in Will. He enjoys having someone clever enough to understand him, to climb over his tall walls. Reader doesn't mean to do this, reader just sees him, and unlike Will, accepts him immediately. Reader never disliked Hannibal, reader's just cautious, as I've stated time and time again. Something about reader's mix of strong empathy but lack of understanding compels Hannibal. Reader sees and infers well enough (guessing close enough to what others think) but they can't really grasp it and latch onto it for theirself. They can't understand the feelings, but they can guess on them, and they can sure as hell feel em. They have trouble explaining stuff to others, and they try to always compare something to something else. They see something as a different thing than what others see. (An example, reader sees the shape and color and texture of a giant hotpocket in the ground, while others see a patch of dirt where grass hasn't grown) (I don't mean they literally see a hot pocket but they make the connection that it looks like a hot pocket) (that example is specific, as it is personal experience LMFAO)

This being said, they can be wrong a lot of the time when they try to infer a killer's intentions, as they sometimes just can't see the intentions being anything else than what they see. They have to rely on others for reference, to mimic their thinking patterns and then make a final guess at the killer's intentions. That's why Will and them connect so easily, as Will usually thinks straight AND helps reader figure it out in their own view. They help the team with investigations for other perspectives while Will helps with the "finalized" guess on the case. If this doesn't make sense, I can give another example, as I don't really know how else to word this. I doubt anyone will actually read any of this and I'm fine with that, I'm just rambling about my ideas. I swear to god though, if someone takes this idea without credit (in general, like the big picture of it) I will cry so so hard you will drown in my tears. Deadass.

Enjoy my rambles ig :)

[liketolaugh-writes]

whats ur thoughts on ppl loving ur headcanons enough to write them into their own works? do u want credit for them? obsessed w links chronic pain & ur ptsd headcanons for him (but add in the fact ive had a rly similar sign name idea for botw link since botw came out and it makes me feel like im plucking directly from ur stuff. thievery of the highest order, even if the name came independently. stealing… preemptively. thats what it feels like) AND in love w the sheikah slate being a speaking aid and its like i want to write with all of that in mind but i overthink very hard n i dont wanna storm into a space not meant for me if ur protective over ur interpretation of botw link? listen i KNOW u dont own

CAT SENT THAT ASK BEFORE I WAS DONE (passes out) but listen. ik u dont Own LOZ or the Rights to Headcanons but i. dont like! running w other ppls ideas if theres potential that they wont like it. so i gotta check in. thank u have a good day

That’s wonderfully thoughtful of you, and I really appreciate your asking! <3 And I totally get it, you have no idea how many times I’ve sent asks a lot like this checking if it’s alright to write a derivative idea. (Hello, Circuit Breaker! Never did get an answer for that one.)

I’d say it depends on how direct the inspiration is, but I promise I won’t be annoyed either way! Honestly, I’d be delighted to see a lot of these hcs in other works - a lot of the reason I started writing for LOZ is because I was literally never, ever going to find a Link as specific as the one I wanted. I was having trouble finding h/c fic at all, frankly!

In general, though, trust your judgement! Something like using the sign name ‘Honey Nut’ or any of the Hallowell family I would want credit for, but Link with PTSD is pretty bog-standard even with the specific symptoms I give him. (A different but similar sign name is fine without credit, especially bc you specified it came independently!) Chronic pain falls somewhere in between - I’d appreciate a shout-out, but it is canon that he has scars, and it’s not that much of a stretch from scars to pain. Honest to God though I would be so thrilled just to see it written. And the Sheikah slate... I think it would be okay either way, and I wouldn’t actually ask for credit unless you used precisely the same system. (The system I write about is based on real-life AAC devices, by the way!)

So in conclusion, the only thing I think there’s absolutely no reason to credit me for is Link with PTSD, and the rest is really up to you. <3

(Just to throw it out there, I actually totally would be okay with anyone using the Hallowell family with credit, just because I fucking adore fics involving protagonists’ lost families, but I understand that creating a believable and lovable family for them is tricky. I have internal rules out my ass for how to create and present OCs in fanfic, lmao.)

I broke it down point-by-point because I know how reassuring it is to get specific, solid answers, but I do want to reiterate that you’re absolutely right - no one owns an idea, especially in the fanfic community. I usually just let people dictate whether or not I use the ‘inspired by’ AO3 function to link back to their fic. (Oh, goodness, and I reread your ask just now and I hope that this wasn’t too overboard - no, I’m not at all protective of my headcanons, and I live by the philosophy ‘write what you want to read.’ God, do I!)

Can you send me a link when it’s up? 👀 I haven’t read much LOZ fanfiction in a while, and I look for it even less - it’s just so rare for me to find one to my tastes. Sassy verbal (abled) Link is a gem of his own, but not really what I want out of a BOTW fanfic.

(Also, I apologize if I made you anxious with how long this took lmao - you might have noticed I never shut the fuck up, and everything got written all out of order too. Thanks, ADHD.)

[waka-chan-out]

hello! i was just wondering how you started out your page, like any tips? I love your work so much 😤✋💕

well, first of all thank you very much! i’m surprised and flattered that you would ask me!

in all honesty, i don’t know how i got here. i feel like i blacked out at 300 followers and now i’m at 1.2k. but i can try to offer some tips! i know i looked at some tip posts when i was first starting and didn’t follow most of them, so i’ll let you know what’s been useful to me. obviously remember this is what worked for me and it may not apply to everybody. i acquired this audience completely by accident, so those that are actively working to build a page might give you different tips.

((keep in mind this all applies to fanfic blogs because that’s all i have experience in.))

things to do:

first of all, and this is pretty obvious: tag everything you think applies. it seems excessive in the moment but it’s the only reason anyone ever saw my stuff lmao. like for any specific character in my posts will have a whole slew of tags (and this is for my nsfw posts) like:

ushijima smut ushijima x reader ushiwaka smut ushiwaka x reader haikyuu smut haikyuu x reader hq smut hq x reader

going along with that, oh my god, come up with a tagging system. even if you don’t think you need to tag something, you probably do. so many headcanons of mine are lost to time simply because i never tagged them and now i have over 600 posts. i’m never finding that shit again. tag it.

make a masterlist. it helps you and your followers stay sane and organized. i made mine because someone requested it, so that was cool. but if you make one early it’ll make your life easier.

find one uniform way to structure your posts. i know everyone feels differently about this, but it really does make life so much easier. i’ve been doing my “post timeskip, obviously, content warnings, etc” thing since my very first post, and it just makes me feel more organized and consistent. everyone’s posts will look different, so just look at what your favorite blogs do and mush all that together. you’ll find what you like eventually.

be clear what kind of audience you want. this can change and evolve, but try to start off with some idea of what you want. don’t want minors on your page? write minors dni EVERYWHERE and keep up with blocking pages. a rules list helps with this, but of course people like to just not check those, so be firm when your rules are bent or broken.

post a variety of content. it’s so much easier to rack up notes on a headcanon or thirst post then it is anything else, especially the type of fics i write where it has a lot of banter and build up before anything else.

it pays off to have a gimmick! i acquired the most followers from my 300 follower event and that’s been so nice.

this isn’t necessarily a “blog” tip, but oh my god, learn how to structure writing. i cannot tell you how off putting it is to try to read fics when paragraph breaks are used awkwardly or there are two people speaking in one paragraph. you don’t have to be a perfect writer to write fanfiction, but please at least learn the rules of writing. if you need help, ask. google things. i’m an english major that wants to write and edit for a living and i still look shit up all the time.

write what you like. you’ll find an audience. you don’t have to cater to anyone else’s tastes or preferences. one of my first few posts was a request, and that was only after i had posted one or two things. people will find you, and it will be people that also like what you like. don’t make yourself uncomfortable just to cater to someone else’s preferences.

be patient. you won’t get followers overnight. some blogs grow quickly and others don’t. that’s just how it is. also don’t be too demanding with your followers. don’t get pouty when people don’t interact, don’t be demanding about requests. just realize that you’re a person and so are they. they aren’t obligated to read just like you aren’t obligated to write. relax and realize it’s just a blog. you’ll be fine.

edit: I ALMOST FORGOT !! be inclusive. holy shit. so many people will read your writing and though you shouldn’t write anything you’re uncomfortable with, it’s so easy to be inclusive. there are tips all over the place, but all you need to do is focus on the personality of the reader rather than their appearance. easy. i’m lucky enough to have a pretty diverse audience and it makes me so happy i could cry. i love knowing that people feel safe and included here.

what i haven’t found necessary:

making a tag list. i only made one recently, and even then i only have nine people on it. it’s not that necessary, unless you have a series that people want to see.

having a theme. seriously, don’t stress. even now i barely have a theme. it’s never been hard on me.

plugging your blog?? i don’t know if people actually do this but i saw a suggestion about it and it confused me to no end. i’ve never found that necessary, though it is nice having mutuals that reblog your stuff. still not totally necessary though. my only mutual was @tanzaniiite for the longest time and that’s literally just because i saw her follow me, saw that she was a writer, stalked her posts, and decided i wanted to follow her back. she was my 34th follower (yes i counted) and she’s still here. very much appreciated.

doing collabs. i didn’t even consider doing one until recently. they’re really not necessary.

self reblogs. another one that i think might help but isn’t necessary. i didn’t start doing these until i had acquired a larger audience. figure out what works for you, but i’ve unfollowed more than one blog just because of the sheer amount of self reblogs they do. i understand that they’re proud of their work and want it out there, but i just think there’s no way reblogging a new post every hour is necessary. obviously if you want to reblog your own content you can. but having a masterlist had made that unnecessary for me. one of my first posts had like 100 notes after it was first posted, and now it’s up to 600 when it hasn’t been on people’s pages in months. people will find your work if they want to find it.

obviously all of this is just my opinion and you should take it with a grain of salt. i started this blog randomly to post one tsukishima fic i had written for someone that i was told was good enough to post. i haven’t changed my writing structure or process since then, and i still have no god damn clue how tumblr works. it’s a lot less intimidating than it seems. i know it’s a different experience for everyone, but it’s an overwhelmingly loving community that is kind to new writers. i was lucky enough to grow fast and receive a lot of kindness, but that’s also because i put a crazy amount of effort into being kind back and posting consistently (and no one needs to be going at the pace i set towards the beginning of this blog. holy shit i was posting like every other day for a while.)

if you do decide to commit to trying to build an audience, let me know and i’d love to follow you! and if you’ll be writing (which i hope so because most of these tips are for fanfic blogs lmao) i’m always here to help with structure, beta reading, editing, etc. that’s literally what i want to do as a career so it’s never a burden on me. either way, good luck! it’s frustrating sometimes but if you have solid ideas and basic writing abilities you’ll be fine!

again, thank you so much and i’m so flattered you asked me 💞 i hope you have a lovely day darling.

[ganymedesclock]

So... What do you think about revisiting Danny phantom in general? Revisiting the fandom I've noticed a lot of fanfic that have Danny's parents finding out his deal rather violently, or generally having more violence/angst than the original show..

I’m assuming you’re sending me this ask because of my recent burst of Danny Phantom art, so, it’s probably not a surprise to say I’m doing a certain amount of revisiting myself, and certainly not about to shame anyone else for it. It was a very dear cartoon to me in many ways and left some enduring hallmarks on my own writing, and I can absolutely understand people feeling the same way.

That said, as someone who’s been in this fandom for a while, albeit quietly- there certainly is a thread of macabre interest in fandom spaces, one I don’t always know that I agree with, especially when it comes to the Fentons.

My personal verdict on the Fenton parents specifically is I think they are not handled fairly by canon. This is a problem that Danny Phantom as a show shares with Fairly Odd Parents, though I would argue the Turner parents in FOP are quite a bit worse at this.

Roughly, I think how the Fenton parents are canonically depicted suffers from a phenomenon that affects many parts of the show: DP, as a series, has a bit of a sense of confused priorities between comedy and drama, and as a result, what’s 'real’ in-universe and what’s “just supposed to be a joke”. The kind of humor that DP tends to spring for is exaggerated or shocking behavior- it also tends to be a humor that hinges on the idea that other people are generally inconvenient to the main character. So humor-characterization is inconsistent here- Jack is negligent until it’s more inconvenient to depict him as overbearing (see: Girl’s Night Out and other cases he desperately wants to bond with Danny) he’s a recluse only loved by his wife until it’s more inconvenient to depict him as having an active social life (Masters Of All Time and that he and Maddie are going to a themed party so they’re dressed ‘weirdly’ in public)

A big victim of this is Jack’s sense that ghosts aren’t people and his desire to dissect them. Because here is the thing: it’s all talk, in the worst way. It hinges on the idea Jack- someone who knows enough of what he’s doing that along with Maddie and, in the past, Vlad- ripped two different holes in reality hard enough to permanently alter someone’s relation to undeath- has never seen a ghost before the series as he says in Mystery Meat.

The series has a big problem where it hinges on the Fentons’ inventions and expertise but also wants to treat them like idiots constantly. And if you notice how much I’m talking exclusively about Jack- that’s part of the problem. Maddie, in many ways, outside of episodes that throw her a bone, despite constantly being told by people she’s too good for Jack, is really treated as an extension of Jack. Masters Of All Time even suggests that her choosing Jack in the first place was just a path of least resistance between her two college friends, and she’d have married whichever one stuck around. 

The Fentons are not respected as experts, so Jack is given his ignorant line about dissecting a ghost. The Fentons need to remain exaggerated, ridiculous, an inconvenience to Danny- so they threaten his alter ego and point guns at him, but this is funny and not serious and not a reason to be worried about them as parents, because they are not on Danny’s level. Nobody is ever on Danny’s level. There is literally an episode called The Ultimate Enemy. The antagonist is an evil future Danny. The only person who could ever be Danny’s ultimate nemesis is Danny himself. 

And when the series stops milking the Fentons for jokes about how they’re so stupid and how Jack is an idiot and Maddie married that idiot but even she doesn’t respect him even though she loves him and dutifully follows him everywhere and god how can these people care about ghosts they’re so ignorant and out of their league- 

-then it kinda shuffles its feet awkwardly and goes, yeah. the Fentons love each other, and love their kids.

Yeah, Jack has framed photographs of Maddie, Jazz, and Danny on his personal workstation.

Yeah, in Mystery Meat Jack was seriously debating walking away from his lifework because it upset one of his kids. 

Yeah, every time in canon the Fentons find out Danny’s secret they’re immediately all in supporting him.

Yeah, even not knowing it’s Danny, Jack has an amiable conversation with him in Million Dollar Ghost and the ghost containment units designed by the Fentons get some jokes about that they’re a little cramped but they aren’t horrifying prisons of inhumanity- and as soon as Danny Phantom the ghost boy has a good point, Jack lets him go on purpose. 

Yeah, Jack is a competent ghost hunter who can take on Skulker and win as well as beat down the giant lake monster Skulker brought with him in Girls’ Night Out and would do this in a heartbeat, no jokes and no sidetracks, because that monster just chewed on his baby boy and nobody does that to his baby boy.

Yeah, Maternal Instinct is an entire episode of Maddie throwing hands with (or deceiving and manipulating) literally anything she thinks was responsible for getting Danny in this dangerous situation.

...And then the series says “but that’s not funny! Here, have jokes about the Fenton Stockades, that exist and have spikes and Jack wants to put his kids in them for time out, when the spikes apparently don’t hurt given Jack is not injured for being put in there. Here, have a joke about Jack attacking Jazz with a vacuum cleaner because he gets hellbent on the idea she’s possessed for no good reason. Here, have an uncomfortable joke about how badly Jack Fenton wants to vivisect a ghost while it screams. Funny funny funny. Why- why are you flinching?”

It basically creates a comedic situation where the show is constantly winding up like it’s gonna punch you- with the idea that the Fentons are bad parents and this has consequences for Danny and Jazz personally- and then laughs in your face if you flinch. It’ll never actually punch you- but it will sure keep swinging its hand really close to your face and laughing at your reactions.

This is, I’m just gonna say- one of the worst elements of the series, this weird relationship it has with “hahaha are we depicting an abusive family or not? ;)” where its actual point is that Jack Fenton is a person who should be shamed for being overzealous, for caring about this niche field, because nobody cares about ghosts! (unless the entire premise of the show does) Nobody wants to think about ghost science! That’s LAME! (unless Vlad does it)

So I think ultimately this creates a polarizing experience in the fandom. What part of this information do you take?

Do you take, say, my personal approach, which is: 

“Hey, so it’s pretty clear and consistent that the Fentons love their kids and wouldn’t hurt them. The Fentons are nice people. They can be obsessive or headstrong but there’s nuanced and salient ways to examine this in the basic framework that they care, both about their family specifically, and in general- and while I think they can have flaws or conflicts with their kids, and with ambient ghosts in the world, I really don’t think they’re in danger of torturing a sapient entity in their basement and it frustrates and annoys me that canon ‘makes a joke’ of them doing these things because it thinks they’re so incompetent that these things are not really malicious actions, when- whether or not you successfully shoot them, it takes a certain kind of person to point a weapon you know is dangerous at something that looks, and talks, like a fourteen-year-old, especially when you’re a parent who has probably at least once in your life worried about something happening to your kids, and the ghost of a teenager means something happened to someone’s kid, in a general sense.

So my end conclusion on the Fentons is I think they are being depicted in a kind of metatextual bad faith, that they are not cruel or malicious people, and in my personal take or understanding on the series, I’d massively dial down those elements, and if any remain, take them seriously as problems they have in their relationships with other people.”

Or do you take an approach more rooted in,

“If the Fentons are shown to be negligent parents they are negligent parents, I’m going to examine and depict them as that, and I find this very hard to forgive, so it’s going to have real and nasty consequences.”

Both are basically valid. The place where I tend to get a little uncomfortable is twofold:

First, I think sometimes people just really want some fictional tragedy to either create or consume, and to that end, you aren’t going to get much juicy drama out of the Fentons being reasonable people. This isn’t evil or unforgivable, but for me, it’s definitely my least favorite fannish content to create or consume. I’m no fan of angst for angst’s sake, and I feel like there’s enough misery and heartbreak in the world that I’m not interested in wallowing in it unless it’s got something interesting to say.

Second- and this is a point I’m gonna be saltier: A lot of abusive Fenton fics that refuse to forgive them for the poorer-taste jokes the series makes, simultaneously give Vlad a blank check, when he has done targetedly malicious things to Danny. 

Now- do I also have a more sympathetic read on Vlad, and feel like canon also gives him a bad rap? Yeah! But you can’t have it both ways. You can’t say, “I can’t forgive the Fentons for stuff that was tagged onto them because canon thought it was funny, but I’m gonna editorialize Vlad’s depiction to lionize him as the ideal parent figure for Danny to run into the arms of.”

And the main reason I get so worked up in this, is I feel like Jack in particular (when Maddie is characterized as subordinate to Jack, following his cues, etc., and that’s its own demon) is... characterized as kind of a mocking caricature of traits that I personally recognize as an autistic and ADHD person.

Because the reality is? In many practical ways, I am Jack Fenton.

I like a bunch of weird stuff people find unacceptable or gross, like bugs

I’m hyperlexic (that means I talk, a lot)

Scatterbrained, forget words or where I left something or, sometimes, to do something important

Passionate and excitable including and especially in situations where it’s not normal, or expected, to have this much energy

I absolutely can forget birthdays, even for people I love dearly that mean the world to me! It’s horrible! There’s almost nothing I can do about it! My brain refuses to hold onto this information reliably and no amount of caring fixes it.

And being this way, living like this? My worst nightmare has always been that people think I either don’t care or that I’m just too much of a stupid, flippant buffoon to get right.

The thing about Jack is he’s “a person like me” and he’s “a person like me” who was designed to be a joke. We’re clearly expected to view him as untrustworthy, stupid, just like a big dumb dog of a man who barks in the wrong directions, who sometimes, when it counts, fetches a stick like he’s supposed to. Good job, Lassie. You got little Timmy out of the well.

And I am going to say with certainty and confidence that feeling like this is how people see me is the most unbelievably crushing feeling I have ever experienced in my life. That my excitement and passion means I’m unprofessional, stupid, don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s nearly painful for me, as an adult, to watch Danny Phantom because the show can never get off Jack’s case. And the few times it does, he hauls overtime arduously to make a difference, to help, to build something that will protect others, to put his own life on the line to stop hostile ghosts.

And immediately, then he goes back to being stupid stupid dog man. ha ha. why does his wife love him? no wonder his kids don’t ever want to be seen with him. no wonder his best friend is trying to kill him and he doesn’t even know, the big idiot.

(never mind that we see a scenario where he does know. and admits he would’ve forgiven Vlad anyway. but he can’t forgive Vlad hurting Danny.)

So to rein in this wild tangent: I’m not saying all must love Jack Fenton and despair. I’m not even telling people to hide their angst. If I have a sincere request, it’s this:

If you’re inclined to thinking of Vlad as a cool, troubled, complex person (as I do!) and are haunted by the implications of The Ultimate Enemy specifically for Vlad, that when Danny lost everyone else in his life that Vlad really genuinely tried to help, and was not gloating and happy and victorious to have Danny as his protege, and when that went badly, he was haunted to the end of his days by not having been able to help-

-but immediately turn around and think Jack is just a rotten awful person who’d absolutely hurt his own kid in spite of canon to the contrary (when there’s just as much, if not more, canon of Vlad being willfully hostile)

It might be good to examine why you’re feeling this way, and if this might not come down to the fact that even when canon has people call Vlad a desperately lonely fruit loop, it has a lot more respect for him than it does for Jack, and this isn’t because it’s actually taking a stance against any of the qualities it gave Jack that someone might find disagreeable- it’s because Jack’s just “a big old fat idiot nobody likes, right?”

and that’s... not something comfy to buy into.

[themerriweathermage]

Author Interview

I was tagged by @sleepswithvillains . I’ve never been tagged much before so this is kind of new for me, but I love it! Tag me all the time! Also you did it again, where I got the Tumblr notification like right as I went to bed, but my sleep schedule is so wack right now.

Tagging: @guardianofrivendell @moriamithril @sunflower1000 and really whoever wants to do it. Drop me a tag if you decide to do it because I definitely want to see what you have to say!

I have a lot of unfinished fics and not a lot of published works in comparison. 

1. Name: The Merriweather Mage (Tumblr)/ RinzlersGhost (AO3)

2. Fandoms: LOTR/The Hobbit, The Witcher (TV), SWTOR/Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Twilight, Underworld (though I’m not active in most of them unless I’m hyper-fixating)

3. Where you post: AO3, Tumblr, and I have an inactive FF.NET account

4. Most popular oneshot: People seem to have a real affinity for Meleth-nin/My Love. I actually hated writing it, because I was in such a bad place after receiving news that my childhood dog had died, but I don’t hate the fic itself.

5. Most popular multichapter: Every Kitten Has Claws which is a Geralt X Druid Fem!Reader. 25 Kudos, 3 bookmarks, 517 hits. Followed by Turuhalme in the Greenwood which is Thranduil X Fem!Reader. 9 Kudos, 1 bookmark, 270 hits. Both contain 18+ Content.

6. Actual worst part of writing: I legitimately hate writing fight scenes. I’m horrible at them and most of my fics contain some sort of fight scene obnoxiously enough. Although the best advice I ever saw on here was to keep your fight scenes short because not very many people are interested in a long drawn out detailed fight scene. 

7. Favorite story you wrote: Bards & Beans Coffee Co. Elrond X Fem!Reader. Was the first time I’d ever written anything in the second person. I based it off of a dream I had about meeting Elrond in a coffee shop. I planned it, wrote it, and posted it in the span of four days. It’s basically as if Middle Earth exists on the other side of meridian locks, and it’s set during the War of the Ring but with some of the characters from the Hobbit so the timelines are pretty pushed together. Your side of the meridian locks has a Earth that is basically a continuous strip of land that varies from high-tech futuristic ports all the way down to medieval ports. Basically the farther North you go, the more high tech and futuristic the land becomes. Quite a shock for those who would have never been to the other side of the locks. 18+ Content.

8. Story you were nervous to post: Most likely all of them. Any of my Twilight work though, I always hesitate about publishing. Sometimes it’s because the stories are close to my heart, but I also know that the fandom can be rabid. Most of the interactions I’ve ever had with Twilight blogs are fine, but there’s a lot of discourse about Twilight right now, and while I appreciate that most people are in the right (the issue with the Quileute tribe, the Cullen’s as villains, Jasper and the Confederacy, the actual legitimacy of the Volturi as a ruling body, etc), this is actually one of the reasons I left the fandom from a writing/following POV. (There are many, many things that are wrong with Twilight and not from a literature point of view. For example, Meyers took a real life Native American tribe and treated them highly unfairly in the books, to the point of calling them dogs which isn’t very fair at all, and they have received no compensation for being used and they are risk in the place they live in now. If you have some time and money, I would recommend checking out the Quileute Move to Higher Ground project.)

9. How you choose your titles: For story titles, I like to choose the main theme or a main phrase that is used. For chapter titles, I either don’t title or I will chose something that is a main part of the chapter.

10. Complete works: Out of the 21 works I have on AO3, 18 of them are completed, although one is an open ended and may be reopened after I get some of the larger works out of my way. As for fics in general that I haven’t published or have published on other platforms, there is 2 of 5 complete works on FF.NET. Some of those stories I will be pulling and deleting. The two complete works will be migrating to AO3.

11. Incomplete works: Actively: Sadril-nin/My Loyal One, A Hunter’s Circlet, and Beauty in Brokenness (unpublished for now). I have a few other inactive LOTR/The Hobbit based fics that I might try to finish after the main two are finished. Inactive: Literally too many to count. I mean, when I wrote my goodbye to the Twilight fandom, I said that I had been writing for the fandom for nearly nine years. I have so many unfinished Twilight fics, well over 100.

12. Do you outline: Not usually. I’m at the point with Sadril-nin right now where I’m literally following a map of Middle Earth and cataloguing the journey across the map, so I guess that could be considered an outline. Mostly if I’m writing for LOTR/The Hobbit, I want to follow the timeline of progression for the story that’s already been written. I do have a little bit of leeway in that gap between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings though.

13. Coming soon ideas, maybe? I’ve been giving you a taste of Beauty in Brokenness. I do intend to publish it, but it’s a constant struggle to rework it. I have ideas that I want to cement in the story that don’t always come out the way I want them to, so I am consistently reworking parts of it all the time. I will also be rewriting (eventually) Crown of Thorns, which is Pirates of the Caribbean fanfic, Lord Beckett X Siren!OFC. I also appreciate the idea of Nestadion X Centaur Fem!Reader, but instead of being a centaur all the time, you’re actually a shifter who can turn into a centaur. Really confuses a warrior elf to see what amounts to a small human carrying this massive two handed sword around and calling him “princess” all the time.

14. Ask me anything: Is there anything you miss in fanfic? In comparison to the actual book/movie? Not really. I appreciate the original works, but I recognize that they can be flawed and so can their authors/writers. Which is why fanfic is so appealing-- everyone has a different spin on the original; everyone has a different take on the characters, everyone writes differently, and that’s the fascinating part to me. The only downside, of course with any fanfic, is the fandom and it can be hit or miss with people. It is what it is, and the liberty of fanfic is that not everyone is going to like or enjoy your works, and the same goes for your tastes. Are there right or wrong opinions? I don’t know; I’ve both read and written some morally ambiguous fics, and some I would like to forget that I very much haven’t.

15. Best writing traits: Same as the worst writing traits. I’m a sucker for detail. I love it. I want my readers to see it like I do. When I read books or play D&D or play video games, I see it like I’m in a movie. When I write, I want you to see it like you’re on set and the cameras are rolling and you are perfectly prepared. I want you to feel like you are in the story, which is why my oneshots turn into series, and my multi-chapter fics turn into novel length stories. I find it obnoxious at times, because I feel like I can’t ever turn it off, but by the feedback I get, some of y’all really enjoy it, so let’s get this show on the road.

16. Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write: Uhhhh, let me go browse my WIP folder. I’ve put quite a bit of research into rewriting Crown of Thorns and making it slightly more historically accurate. I know that there will be a Part 2 to Sadril-nin, because I’m not going to time skip a seventy/eighty year gap between the timelines of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. And I really don’t want to submit y’all to this absolutely massive story all jam-packed into one fic. Other than that, I’m also sitting on Through Hellfire and High Waters, which is another Elrond X Reader fic that follows the premise of a modern/medieval world all smashed into one. The Queen of Eryn Galen also needs a proper ending and to be published, a Thranduil X OFC fic; this one will also have a Part 2.

17. Spicy Tangential Opinion: I don’t care if my writing makes the characters out of character. I try to tag that if I can, but let’s be real here. Either I’m writing a character that originally has a limited backstory and a very real chance at an open-ended future, or I didn’t like the canon character and I’m rejecting that reality and replacing it with my own. Does it mean that I don’t or am refusing to recognize character flaws? No, and that’s the beauty of fanfic. You can do whatever you want. You might get hate for it or you might not. For example, I am a fan of Severus Snape (RIP Alan Rickman). Does his character have flaws? Yes. Do I like the way he was canonically written? No. Are his actions justifiable? Hell no. Is that going to stop me from being a fan? Again, no. He is arguably one of the most disagreed upon character of that series. I don’t see a need to defend why I write him the way I do. I don’t see a need to defend him in discourse, and I’m certainly not going to be hateful about it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about it. Yes, there was probably some underlying intent when the character was written. I’m not here (unless you’re specifically asking my opinion on it) I’m not here to read in between the lines with characters like Snape. I do not care enough to lose friends over opinions like that.

[nowis-scales]

Pre-Verdant Wind Endgame Update

An Update on the ol’ Three Houses Verdant Wind playthrough, since I’ve been neglecting documenting my journey properly for a bit:

• My current placement is Ch.20, so I’m only a few chapters away from the last one. It’s kind of a weird thought because I feel like I just hit the timeskip, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this will feel well-paced out. In terms of writing, I’m known for being a bit of a stickler for good flow. It’s why all of my fanfics take so long to update! I have to make sure my flow is perfect.

• The fact that they have been giving background information on characters has been so amazing. Learning that Raphael’s sister’s name was Maya and getting to hear about her has made me irrationally happy.

• Also, just generally, holy shit people sleep on Raphael and Leonie. Raphael often gets shoved to the side, and Leonie is treated like her only trait is liking Jeralt, and for me it all just culminates in the question of “so did you like... not do their support conversations, or...?” Seriously. I think Leonie might be one of my favourites in the game so far, and I adore Raph. He’s so sweet!

• The Flame Emperor reveal for some reason gave me “and I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids” vibes. I liked the venom Cherami Leigh had there as Rhea, too. I think I read from someone that in Japanese, Rhea’s actually super calm in that scene. I don’t think I have a preference towards the anger or the calmness, honestly. I think I just liked how smoothly the emotion came across. Plus, I’m a little biased, I’m fond of Cherami as an actress. I haven’t found a performance from her I haven’t enjoyed yet.

• I was really confused as to why Seteth showed up in my house after Chapter 12ish I think? I wasn’t expecting him to just be there after the paralogue, but I definitely wasn’t unhappy. I do like him! I just never use him, because I recruited Bernadetta and Sylvain, so I kinda have a full roster going... 

• I was also confused in the Gronder Field fight because I couldn’t see what people meant about Bernie getting set on fire. Then I remembered Bernie wasn’t on the hill because she was with me. I recruited her. Whatever this proves about me, I don’t know.

• I did end up beating Marianne’s paralogue! It actually wasn’t as hard once I levelled her up a bit and classed her to a Holy Knight. The big thing with her in that paralogue seems to be that she needs a decent amount of power and movement to really get by, so that’s what I’d recommend for anyone else playing it. Using rescue will also probably help you out, but I tried to avoid using Flayn there because it’s kinda easy to kill her. 

• Admittedly, I’m not 100% sure how I feel about the support system. In some ways, I think it’s better that not everybody has that forced S-Support. Oftentimes we were either squeezing a love confession out of two characters who were unlikely to have one, or characters with decent potential might get snubbed because their connection was less apparent to the writers (and unfortunately that still does happen in the case of same sex S-supports in 3H). Having the conversations only go to a certain point is helpful, but at the same time, the inherent romantic undertones of several of the A-supports do make things feel strange. If it weren’t for the fact that I know characters can have only one partner as their paired ending, I would think lots of them were in a polycule. Nothing wrong with that as long as everyone’s comfortable, but because I know they can only have one person in their ending, I find it pretty jarring.

• I think it was interesting that they went to do the fights for breaking into Enbarr and then taking down Edelgard back-to-back. I’m glad they did, honestly, because while I don’t usually like to do two fights next to each other unless I’m grinding, it doesn’t mess with the suspension of disbelief. It would be stupid to break into Enbarr and then just run right back to the Monastery.

• I have still not completed the randomized quest from just after the timeskip. You know, the one I was yelling about with the weeds? Still haven’t gotten any weeds. I think I might just have to give up on it. It’s hilarious that my luck is so good that it’s actually bad.

• The fact that Byleth is praised for having more of a personality than Corrin is the biggest slice of bullshit I have heard from this fanbase in a long time. Byleth is literally designed to be a silent protagonist with nothing going on with them – they even came up with a story reason for why Byleth is such a blank sack of meat! In the kindest way possible, I don’t think most people realize that they are implementing whatever personality they want onto Byleth. Personally, I don’t find anything relatable about being stoic, calm, and not inclined to anyone (until plot happens, of course). I’ve always been the overly enthusiastic and caring type, with a tendency towards nervousness. Trying to relate to Byleth was like trying to relate to the experiences of a cactus. While I definitely don’t think Corrin is the strongest of the modern FE avatars – that award goes to Robin – they still had some things I could understand and relate to. If you’re not the type of person who loves the cool, “I fight for my friends” types like Ike, though, you’re likely to have a hard time relating to Byleth. If you can manage that type of character, then you’re more likely to have present them with a personality of their own.

• Actually, while we’re on the topic of Byleth getting praised for things Corrin got dragged for, the fact that Corrin is still cited as the character who receives the most “player pandering” is ridiculous too. Do a lot of characters like Corrin? Yeah! But most of them who do are deeply traumatized in a way that inclines them specifically towards Corrin. The Nohr siblings cling to each other due to their abusive childhood, the Hoshido siblings all in some capacity seem to suffer from abandonment issues (oldest) and/or attachment issues (youngest), and the official foursome of retainers have also had some sort of abandonment struggle in their past (forced separation from parents, murdered loved ones). While the cast of Three Houses needs therapy and is traumatized too, there is no reason why the inclination moves towards Byleth. Bernadetta feels safe around them just because. Edelgard is obsessed with them just because. Marianne learns to feel better about herself just because. Why are there so many exceptions for Byleth, and so many just without explanation? I don’t hate Byleth by any means, but these two things make my opinion of them lower than it would be otherwise. It kinda sucks that my image of Byleth is tainted by the fanbase’s hypocrisy, but I know I can’t have everything.

• The gameplay overall for 3H has been pretty fun! I love the addition of the Demonic Beasts, as annoying as they are to fight. There’s a charm to having some of your stronger units working to take on the soldiers blocking the path, meanwhile your army’s more intermediate strikeforce works to keep them safe by bringing down the beast. Once you get the hang of it, gameplay with the new additions is fun. The only thing I don’t use is Divine Pulse, but that’s because I’m on Casual and usually when I want to rewind, I want to just plain start over. So I use the old “turn off and start again” trick.

• Edelgard’s death scene was actually pretty good. I must confess that I went out of my way to avoid Edelgard in the academy phase, as I knew how hard the game was going to hit me with the “she’s obessed with you” thing and I wanted to see how wonky it would feel if I didn’t speak to her much. I was right that it’s incredibly awkward in terms of writing when you haven’t spent the time with her, but surprisingly, her death scene still holds up. Good voice acting, animation, and music. My only beef with it is something they have done in FE before, and it’s something I wish they’d stop. If a character is dying, you either let them have a few last breaths after their last lines or you kill them mid-sentence. It’s probably just a personal nitpick, but hearing them get their last word out without struggle and then immediately die just makes me aware of how badly the directors wanted the whole line to be in there. I can totally understand it but I find it so troublesome in the grand scheme of things that I just can’t.

• I also like that in the fight against Edelgard, they tried to make it ambiguous who had the key. Immediately as it told me that, I decided it was Petra and ended up being right. I was kind of sad to kill her though, to be honest. I don’t know her well, but she’s probably one of the Eagles I like more.

• The fight against the Death Knight at Fort Merceus ended up being surprisingly pretty easy. In fact, while I paved the way for most of my army, Nader ended up making it to the Death Knight just as Claude did. He did most of the damage – I’m not kidding, the Death Knight was down to 1 HP – and then Claude took care of the rest. It was a weird fight. They said impregnable a lot leading up to it.

• I understand why they kill Dimitri off-screen at the Gronder Field fight, but I was admittedly a bit disappointed. Again, Salli Saffoti does a good job doing Hilda’s voice for it, but I would have liked to see it animated. It was also nice to have that little rapport with Dedue! If only we could have allied with the Lions a bit more. Everyone always says Claude and Edelgard have similar goals; however, it’s their methods that differ. Claude seems to align himself a bit closer to Dimitri, so I’m usually a bit confused by the idea that Edelgard and Claude would work together. I was spoiled on enough to know her background and story, and even so, I think that her methodology is just a bit too violent for his tastes. But that’s just my two cents.

 Alright. I think that’s about all I can drain out of my brain from the top of my head. With that, I am off to kill the slithers! We’ll see how this goes. Wish me luck!

[heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon]

Alright, so once again, this is the most recent post I could find vague blogging about me on her tumblr in regards to this specific issue so I don’t know where all the “Wow! heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon DID THAT?!” Anons are coming from here, or how those anons are aware that you even tried to submit me something, unless you’re just sending them to yourself to try and stir more trouble but just ....

Leanne, Leanne, Leanna Leanne.... I feel as though I must para-quote Gene Wilder’s character in Young Frankenstein here because just what is the matter with you? Like do you not understand the concept of hyperbole at all? Don’t you know a joke when you read one?

The entire reason I screenshot that ask this way was to show case the fact that color and formatting of the ‘t”,  on what I didn’t know happened to be goth day just happened to match both the obnoxious eye sore color palette and theme of your tacky little blog, Princess. 

The whole coincidence gave me the willies, so I was just making a funny, honey.

Although, apparently, you can’t comprehend my humor or my kindness because now isn’t that part of what got you into this mess in the first place?

“Luna” is for long time mutuals only. Don’t pretend like we’ve ever spoken more than twice, and don’t pretend like you ever gave a damn about my well being when you can’t even get my disability right. My correct name and minority status is written all over my blog.  And to think you’re the one who bitched and complained to me about being called “Honey”.

I only found this on your blog because I have no way of responding to your original Submission even if I wanted to now because Tumblr seems to have eaten it (which, to that I say good riddance) and the only reason I found your Twitter is because it’s exactly the same as your gmail address due to the fact that you’re that basic. There wasn’t anything “random” about it.

“I would never send hate for no fucking reason...” Ah, but by that logic you would dish back hate to someone if you had a reason. So why would you like, concern troll me and chastise me for hate trolling someone when they gave me a reason?!

“And then to say that you that I would hack into your account? WHY??????? Why would I do that? I dont even know HOW to do that! YOU ARE TEARING MY HEART EMOJI APART LUNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Again, honey, please calm down and teach yourself how to form a coherent sentence, learn the concept of what a hyperbolic joke is, leave your fandom(s) and get a freaking life.

I thought you were my friend too until the night you pulled that shit with me, respect that I blocked you and frick off.

And for the love of God, stop “joking” about writing smutty fanfics between you and Al and getting “married” to him and delete all of Angel’s pictures from your blog why don’t you!

Your obsession with all of us is beyond unhealthy.

“I know that you have reason to listen or believe me...” Honey, I know that when you were typing this your little crocodile tears were hitting the keyboard so hard that you couldn’t even form a coherent sentence and you need to shut the fuck up. (Also SIDE NOTE of how Cletus and Striker are like, the worst Helluva Boss characters to have “taste” in: Some sleazy little man baby and an ever only slightly cooler and more tolerable Wild West Reincarnation of Toffee, I should have known you were like this. Oh and that Vampire Chick from RE7 everyone including yourself is into right now is like if Eclipsa was a freaking Fairly Odd Parents Pixie and Meteora would have her daughters for a snack, both figuratively and literally. Die Angry About it.)   

I had two whole interactions with you and I wanted to beat that bunny fursona of yours down with a tree branch Lilo and Stitch style the second you hopped into my ask box that night and 4 days later you gave me an excuse to. I only found out about the shit that you were putting my friends through when Orn started vague blogging to me about what you were doing to them after I exposed you as a snake in the grass arse little bitch and they had no reason to try and White Knight you.

In starlatte27’s case she was just tagged to help attack me by the same stalker that you were going out of your way to defend and latte blocked me before I could even so much as figure out who she was, meaning we didn’t even have an “altercation”, her existence to me personally at that point was merely a blip that served to cause me more disorientation and stress, but I knew she was just as much of a bitch as you were before my friends did and now you’re both causing them immeasurable harm in comparison to what I was put through and you both need to delete your blogs after you apologize. NOBODY WANTS YOU TWO IN THIS FANDOM!

I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in reading you reiterate your excuses for your racism and gross mistreatment towards my friends to me, nor do I care for your off putting arse attempting to have some sort of petty, infantilizing, paternalistic, para-social relationship with me!

Angel and Al, may I add, haven’t been online in weeks because of you and starlatte27, and now you’re only trying to get to me because I’ve still been available online and you’ve been bored. And if I had the capability and privilege of doing anything other than sitting, I can tell you that I certainly wouldn’t be in front of a computer right now if I actually even had the option not to be ether.

And for your information, being able to meet Angel and Al, at least out of all this mess in the first place, has been the only good experience that I’ve had within in this fandom thus far and their presence on my dashboard only makes my day brighter, I willingly shared my experiences with them to let know they’re not alone in all this shit.  

Stop being a sleaze to Angel just because he’s more attractive than you and clearly not white passing, and delete all his photos from your blog.

Stop being a skeeve to Al and stop making “jokes” about marrying him and your jokes about smut because that’s actually beyond the conception of “cringe”.

Stop infantalizing me and acting as though you have some weird parental para-social relationship over me or some shit when I’m freaking three years older than you are, apologize to all three of us before deleting your accounts and dropping off the internet why don’t you and then leave all three of us the fuck alone!!! 

I can tell how the little twit whom said this to me the other day has certainly never met you.

[the-roadkill-cafe]

3. Are there any fics that inspired you to write what you do?

5. What are your fanfic pet peeves? Do they have a huge effect on whether or not you decide to read something?

16. Do you research for your fics? If so, how deep of a rabbit hole have you gone down by accident when researching?

3. Hmmm. I wouldn’t say that there are specific fics that are an inspiration, per se. There are fics that make me filled with spite and then I write. I won’t name the fics, because I won’t publicly criticize another person’s work. But yeah, there are several fics that I read that made me think, “no, I don’t like this/your headcanons/characterizations/etc rub me wrong, let me do this the way I envision it.” And then I proceed to try to write my own fics.

5. Oh yeah, I definitely have fanfic pet peeves. Whether or not that they make me back out of the fic depends on the prevalence of whatever it is and how much it annoys me. In general, I don’t care for no paragraph breaks and first person narration. Specific to Naruto, I *hate* the nickname “Sak” for Sakura. I dislike nicknames in general in Naruto fics. Let’s see...I dislike Naruto and Tobirama being medics, and I have actual reasons specific to them. I’ll still read a fic if the latter knows medical jutsu, though I huff and sigh when I do. If Naruto knows medical jutsu, I will back out 90% of the time.

I also hate when fic writers write the Uchiha as all “stoic assholes” or whatever, but Kagami/Shisui/Obito are the “cheerful black sheep” stereotype. I’ve been reading mostly Warring Clans Era fic recently, so on that note, I hate when writers don’t present nuanced takes on the Uchiha vs Senju conflict. Neither one is more morally right than the other, so if the narrative tries to convince me that the Uchiha or Senju are evil or morally bad or obtuse or backwards or lesser than the other, I will probably write off the fic. Also I hate the “Hashirama is an idiot” trope. Or any connection of Uchiha and the word “flail”, unless it means the weapon. I think the idea of Uchiha being lovestruck by skilled shinobi and “flailing helplessly” or whatever started out in crack fics (maybe? hopefully) but its spread and now I see it everywhere and I can’t stand it. If that were the case, they should have all been slaughtered generations ago for their incompetence in the field.

Last one for now - I’m not sure this counts as a pet peeve, but I’m a bit...put off when fic writers deliberately draw from Chinese culture for Naruto. Naruto as a concept is, more or less, a fantasy Japanese culture. While there are random elements of non-Japanese culture (Tenten is a Chinese stereotype, Rock Lee is modeled after Bruce Lee, who isn’t Japanese, the 4th Raikage’s design is clearly inspired by American wrestlers and Killer B does in fact reference Texas at some point, which, how?), the setting is very clearly Japanese. While definitely Japanese culture has been incredibly influenced by China at various points in history, the scope of which is beyond this tumblr ask and honestly my own expertise (I’m a linguist, not a cultural anthropologist, historian, or sociologist), Japanese culture is still very distinct from Chinese culture. I really don’t understand why an author would choose to draw from Chinese cultural elements to write and fill in the background of their story when Japan is literally *right there* and that’s what Naruto’s cultural setting already is. It strikes me as a little in poor taste to do that, almost as if the author is treating the cultures as interchangeable.

I have read fics that do this that are really good fics! And I have read fics that do this that are really bad. I don’t think this is necessarily a mark of the quality of writing or anything. As someone who is not Japanese or Chinese, I don’t think I’m qualified to make any detailed remarks on this phenomenon that I see from time to time, except that it personally makes me a little uncomfortable. I don’t necessarily back out of a fic that does this, but I do start strongly considering it.

16. I do a lot of research for my fics, to the point that it often keeps me from writing, lol. Unfortunately, I usually don’t need as much information as I looked up. It’s a struggle to not bog down my writing with random info dumps. When I was still a graduate student, I often abused my university library access to read scholarly articles on certain topics, usually related to Japanese history or culture or linguistics. Researching for fics could end up being a diversion that lasts for a few hours. Sometimes I’m lucky and it lasts for twenty or thirty minutes. How well I incorporate that information is entirely different. But chances are, a lot of choices made regarding the background of a given fic are very deliberate and are a reference of some kind.

Unless it’s porn :P

Thank you for the ask!

[creativeskullcreations]

Outside chapter 1: Freedom at Last

Stacy and Scout manage to find a different way out of Handeemen HQ. Now, free from the horror show they must learn how to live with their new normal as Stacy shows Scout what the world Outside is really like. Unfortunately for them, it won't be all sunshine and rainbows...

Behold! The first Hello Puppets fanfic ever posted! As far as I know anyways.

Please enjoy this happier ending(and beginning) for Scout and the player, now named Stacy Stein.

In spite of what Scout had said about the only way out being beyond the Sound Stage, Stacy managed to spot a window that was propped open. It was high up, too high for any of the Puppets whether they had Hosts or not. But, after observing it for a while, Stacy was sure she could manage it, even without the use of one hand

"Hey! Where are you going? The exit's that way. " Unfortunately, she couldn't tell Scout about her amazing plan. So she ignored the Puppet and climbed up on a couple of... crates? stacked underneath it.

"You're going to get us killed. Or caught." Scout told her. "Woah, wait. Are going for the window?! Are you fucking insane, Host! We can't reach that!" Stacy made it to the top of the stack, finding she was maybe two inches too short to reach the window without jumping. But if she jumped, the stack would fall over, so she'd have to make it in one, and with only one hand.

Unless...

"There you see? I told you we couldn't reach it. So let's climb back down and woahwoahWOAHWAIT! FUCK!"

Stacy had jumped, and managed to grab onto the sill with her right hand. Her left, the one with Scout attached, had gone through the open window and slammed against the wall outside. Hoping she hadn't just seriously hurt the Puppet, she quickly climbed through the window. A couple feet below was a dumpster, that she unfortunately landed headfirst on top of. It made a bang that echoed around the abandoned parking lot, and Stacy  knew it would have alerted the others.

So with a muffled groan she pushed herself off the dumpster. Somehow, she managed to land on her feet and made a desperate sprint for where she'd parked her truck. She didn't feel safe until she'd locked herself and Scout inside. She fumbled the key out of her bag sitting in the passenger seat, slamming it in the ignition and gunning it. Gripping the steering wheel with one hand she sped out of the lot at top speed, leaving skid marks behind as they fled.

Five minutes down the road she pulled over to the side, breathing heavily through the mask? bag? on her head. She let it fall against the wheel, and gave herself a minute to just sit and think.

"Hey." She winced slightly as Scout poked at her cheek. "Hey, are you dead?" A pause, followed by a couple of grunts. "Move your arm. Drive the car. Do something. Ugh, nope. Still can't do it."

Stacy turned her head just enough to give the Puppet a dead stare, debating if it would be worth it to just yank her off and toss her out the window. Deciding that doing such a thing would ultimately be a bad idea, she simply reach over and pulled some scissors out of her bag, then flipped the visor down to look in the mirror.

It took some work, but she eventually able to get the rope around her neck cut off, and pull the bag off her head. Now able to see better, she took a look at the stitches over her mouth, finding them crudely done and encrusted with blood. She traced over them, but flinched back at the flash of pain it caused.

'There's no way I can take these out myself.' Doing it wrong could literally cause her to die. But she couldn't go to a hospital with Scout. 'Screw it. Sammy's a doctor, and he still owes me big time. So he gets to help me with this.'

She pulled her notebook and pencil out of her bag, flipping it over to the next blank page.

We're going to my cousin's house. He's going to help us.

Scout read it as she scribbled it out. "That's your plan? Hope that another Host, like, just decides to help us?"

No. I'm going to blackmail him. And if he tells anybody then the whole family is going to find out exactly how he paid his way through med school.

"Woah. Hardcore." Was all the Puppet had to say on the matter. Taking that as acceptance of her plan, Stacy pulled out her phone and sent Sammy a quick text that she'd be at his house soon. Then she put her car back into drive and took off, going just below the speed limit.

It took half an hour to reach Sammy's apartment, and the whole drive was spent in tense silence. Stacy had to fight the urge to look behind her every few minutes for Rosco or Sock Puppets, while Scout had spent most of the time laying in her lap. Not by choice, of course, but because Stacy didn't want her to be seen. So she laid there, bored out of her mind as she watched her terrified Host try and get them to safety.

Still, neither had felt the kind of relief that came they finally entered the town Sammy lived in, Stacy even sighing when she saw the lights down the road. From there it was only a few more minutes before they reached his apartment complex.

Once they had parked, Stacy spent a minute shoving everything back into her bag. She then spent a good five minutes trying to pull on a hoodie she'd left in the truck. Once she had it on and settled properly, she was able to tuck Scout under it to keep her hidden. The Puppet hadn't been too happy about that, but Stacy figured it was a small price to pay for getting the stitches out.

Gripping her hoodie tightly she sprinted across the lot and to the door, making her way inside. Once there she ran up the stairs as quickly as she could without tripping until she reached the right floor.

'409, 411, 413! Sammy's place!' She banged on it as hard as she could, as though that would make him come out faster. 'Come on, com on!  Hurry up!' The second the door opened Stacy forced herself inside, closing the door behind her and locking it up as tight as she could.

"Woah, Stace! Calm down. Come on, just tell me what's going on." She just rolled her eyes before turning around and signing rapidly at him.

"<Whatever you do don't freak out. And you can't tell anyone or I will tell everyone in our family how you really paid for med school I swear to God!>"

"Oh my God! Is your mouth sewn closed?!" Stacy nodded, then took off her hoodie. Scout blinked at the sudden brightness, turning to face the other Human.

"Uh, hi?" She greeted.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Sammy screamed and stumbled back, falling over one of his kitchen chairs. Scout flinched back while Stacy just rolled her eyes again. "What the fuck is that?! Stacy what did you do?! Holy shit!" He picked himself up and ran around to the other side of the table, grabbing a large knife on the way.

"<Nothing you idiot!>" Stacy signed at him. "<It's a long story. And I'll tell you after you cut my mouth open.>"

"Nuh uh, no way am I getting near that thing!" He told her, brandishing the knife.

"Excuse you! I'm not a fucking "thing" asshole!" Scout honestly looked like she would try and strangle him if she wasn't attached to Stacy. So the Host decided to try and salvage things.

"<Sammy, please don't be rude. Scout's nice. Also, if you don't help us everyone will know everything. Everything, Sammy. Do you really want that?>"

A pause, then Sammy finally slammed the knife on the table. "Stop bringing that up!"

"<Then help us.>"

"FINE!" Sammy finally started towards the bathroom, where he kept an extensive medical kit. Stacy grabbed the knife and placed it up on the top shelf in one of his cabinets, then did the same with the rest of Sammy's knives. She then pulled out a chair and sat down, propping her left arm up on the table to give Scout a good view of the apartment.

Her cousin came back ten minutes later, medical kit in hand and stinking of weed. He hesitated briefly at the sight of Scout, then dropped the box on the table and opened it up. Then went to get a lamp so he could actually see what he was doing.

"Okay, tilt your head up and <i>don't move</i>. And don't let your little friend move either. I can't have any distractions while I'm doing this." Stacy nodded and did as he asked. He then prepped a needle with a numbing agent that was injected around her mouth.

Scout watched all of this, staying quiet. Not that she couldn't think of anything to say, of course. There was plenty of commentary running through her head at the moment. It was more fear that kept her quiet upon realizing that this Host was like Riley. He probably had a whole bunch of Host corpses and organs hidden in a room somewhere, and she had no desire to join them.

So she stayed silent, watching as Sammy carefully removed all the stitches one by one. When they were all out she stretched her mouth open wide enough that her jaw popped, reaching up to rub at it.

"Ow..." She moaned while Sammy got her a bottle of water. She practically snatched it out of his hands and chugged the whole thing while him and Scout watched. When she'd finished he pulled out a disinfectant cream to smear over the holes.

"I want you to stay here for the rest of your Break so I can watch for infections." He told her as he worked. "And after you head back I want you to tell me the second it starts to look or feel weird, or if food starts tasting bad when it shouldn't."

"Yeah." Stacy croaked out. Sammy accepted that and went to pack his things back up, but stopped and stared at Scout. Or, more specifically, the stitches that kept her attached to Stacy's arm. She followed his gaze, and decided to ask the important question.

"Hey. Scout." Her words were slurred a little thanks to the numbing agent. "Will you die if you come off my arm?"

"Uh." That was a loaded question. "No? I don't really need a Host to be alive."

The Host stared for a moment longer before turning to Sammy. "Go on ahead and cut her off. Just don't kill her." And then let her head fall onto the table with a loud thud, making him and Scout both jump.

The two shared a glance before Sammy set up another syringe of numbing fluid to inject into the arm. He then set up the tools needed to remove those stitches.

"So. Do I even want to know who or what sewed you to my cousin's arm?" He asked as he started removing the stitches. Scout stared resolutely at the ceiling while he did so, trying to distract herself.  She winched slightly with every bit of thread pulled out, but other than that forced herself not to react to what he was doing.

"Not unless you want some vicious fucking nightmares, dude." She told him. He just gave a small noise in acknowledgement as he worked. "Seriously. You won't sleep again."

"Sounds great." Oh, the sarcasm was thick with this one. It actually made Scout kind of like him a little bit.

Scout could feel it when the last stitch was pulled out and, while Sammy was hesitating on whether to pull her off or not, simply crawled away by herself. This was the wrong thing to do as Sammy immediately freaked out again.

"FUCK! Wow, nope! Nopenopenope! This is too much for me I'm going to bed goodnight!" He fled from the kitchen, and Stacy heard him slam his bedroom door. She lifted her head up and stared at it. She then stood to go wash the blood off her arm so she could bandage it properly. She then grabbed the disinfectant and applied a heavy layer over the wounds before wrapping it in gauze.

"So. What now?" Scout finally asked as Stacy finished up. The Human simply stood there for a moment, then scooped the Puppet up and went to the small loveseat in front of the TV, ignoring her protests. She flopped down on it and turned on Netflix, letting Scout drop onto her stomach.

"Now we lay here and do nothing." Stacy finally told her, dropping the remote on the floor. She had no idea what was playing, only that she needed a background noise to fall asleep to. When she felt Scout start moving around she covered her with a hand, pinning her in place.

Tomorrow she would have to make a plan, and even now there was a list forming in her mind. But for now she was content to sleep the night's events away.

After all, tomorrow would be better, for it was an unseen day.

[empyreandarkling]

20-ish reading questions

Tagged by @drowning-inthe-feels (All my hearts 🖤🖤🖤)

1. Hardcover or paperback?

I prefer hardcover. I just find them more tactile, and I worry less about cracking the spines so much because they feel much less fragile. That, and hardbacks make a good and solid weapon for beating up people who interrupt you when you’re reading.

2. Pay or rent?

Pay. If I love it, I keep it. If I don’t? I’ll pass it on to someone I know who might appreciate it. Everyone is a winner, right?

3. Read in silence, or with music?

Silence. I can’t concentrate if stuff is happening when I read. I try to deeply immerse myself, so anything outside of the material itself is a distraction. Maybe I’m a bit scatterbrained, but outside stuff makes it hard for me to concentrate. Likewise with music, I like to dedeicate my full attention to the music. I can’t do both at once.

4. Standalone or series?

Both. Both is good. So long as I can get into it, whether there’s one book or many, I can always look up fanfiction if I don’t have enough book to satisfy, or if I’m up for some canon divergence.

5. Annotations or pristine pages?

Pristine pages. If I wanted notes in my margins, I’d go to Uni. Guess what? Not gonna.

6. E-book or physical copy?

Physical copy for books, but I’m not gonna lie, like 90% of my literary enjoyment is fanfiction. I’m a filthy escapist who is allergic to reality, and lives to lurk on A03.

7. Dog ears or bookmarks?

Bookmarks. Bookmarks are pretty and unique and... why would you not want them? They don’t even have to be actual bookmarks? Dried flowers, bits of ribbon. Anything’s a bookmark until you get into the Hannibal fandom.

8. Mismatched series or complete set?

Complete sets. Always. I like to understand what’s happening. Life’s a confusing mess of bullshit and involuntary shenanigans as it is without setting yourself up for backtracking and unnecessary questions.

9. Cover matters, or you don’t judge?

Honestly, covers start the intrigue for me. Unless I’m working off a direct recommendation or looking for more from a particular author, it’s all about what draws the eye. I don’t spend enough time in bookshops to handle perusing everything on display.

10. Lend books, or keep them to yourself?

I keep them to myself if they’re personal favourites, but I literally give books away if I’m not more than ankle deep in it myself. Everyone has different tastes, so it’s best to move the story on in hopes someone else will enjoy it more.

11. Enjoys lit classes, or despises them?

I despise them. I don’t like being told what to read, or how fast to read it, or how long I should linger on it when I’m done. It all comes down to mood, and I find overall, it’s easier and much less pressure to read recreationally.

12. Browses shops, or orders online?

Browses shops. When I’m online, I’m not browsing books, I’m devouring fanfiction.

13. Reads reviews, or goes in blind?

If I’m drawn by the cover, I’m going to read the summary and reviews. Going purely off aesthetics is never wise unless you’re deliberately looking for surprises. I’m not a fan of lucky dip with books. There’s far too much variety out there to take chances with personal preferences.

14. Unreturned books, or clean library record?

Guilty of deliberately liberating three specific trilogy books from my school library before moving as a brat teen. The school chased me to my new house via letter and I had to send them back, but I managed to track down shiny new replacements when I was old enough to have my own money, and I still have them to this day. The Forbidden Game trilogy by L. J. Smith.

15. Rereads, or once was enough?

I’m a re-reader, through and through. It might take me time to re-read, but if the mood strikes, I do pick the same things up to enjoy. Sometimes, after enough time has passed, old loves seem new, and there are little secrets you find on the second or third passing, that maybe never seemed significant on the first.

16. Fanfic enthusiast, or a stickler for canon?

Oh baby, fanfic. So much fanfic. Pry it from my cold, dead hands.

17. Deep reader, or easily distracted?

Deep reader. I’m downright ignorant when I am fully absorbed into a fictional world. Anyone who pulls me out of a good immersive experience better brace for hell, because it is Not Safe to interrupt me mid-read.

18. Must read the book before seeing the movie, or order doesn’t matter?

I prefer to watch movies first for books I haven’t read yet, because movies drop so many things or have to change elements to excuse things that don’t require explanation in books. I like to see the movies first because they tend to be the less convoluted of the two. I can then use the books to flesh out the world building and the back history without the inconvenience of being irritated that the movie dropped something significant.

19. Neat bookshelves, or messy bookshelves?

Neat bookshelves. Clutter is... distracting.

20. Skips ahead, or resists temptation?

RESIST! RESIST LIKE GENERAL LEIA ORGANA JUST ORDERED YOU TO DO IT!

21. Reads aloud, or in your head?

In my head. Aloud is too much like communication, and let’s just say I suck at that. So in my head, where the words can rattle around with all the good shit I use to entertain myself.

22. Guesses plot twists, or never sees them coming?

I do enjoy trying to predict what will happen just off of what cues I can pick up from the work itself. I do the same with movies and tv shows. It can be quite annoying, especially if I’m watching it with my mother and I theorise out loud.

If you would like to do this, I tag @bonbon-bun, @linddzz and @cryingbilldenbrough