#no matter which fandom I get into I will always put too much effort into shitposts like it's a mission from God

[zzoupz]

how do they even kiss

[imaginariumwanderer]

Mkay last post before logging off. Featuring silly pixel art I made w/ my mouse.

This chart was actually made out of pure self-indulgent a while back with no intention of being posted, I ended up scribbling(?) all over the thing. Hopefully it's readable when zoomed in.

It's "my ship in 5 minutes" but I can make it 30 if you want. WARNING: Tons of sappy yapping+pixel art download under cut.

About "tropes": The trope is called Angel-Devil shipping, oh but I don't think PV is an angel. He's more like a God for SM (at least that's my preference)… Thinking at all the possible tropes that suits them make me really wonder why some people consider Shadowvanilla a crack/pro ship. Enemies to lovers or villain/hero ships have been pretty archetypal since the day of olds. Compared to all the ships I've encountered in the past… Shadowvanilla is more or less the "slightly out of the norm" on the "problematic ships scale" <- typing this out make me feel like an old fandom veteran haha

About "how it happens": I have no idea where to put PV on that chart. He's the one who approached first, but not out of romantic intents, him falling for SM is as unexpected as can be. SM fell first and slowly, and in 'slow' I meant decades upon decades. It's inevitable, painfully so, spending all those years watching over this cookie who's so perfect in his imperfections, how could one not feel something? Of course it's not so simple, that 'something' is a horrid mixture of disgust, envy, hatred, understanding, both the need to preserve and destroy… And maybeee the tiniest crumb of affection? SM realized something around the first couple hundredth years mark, he then spends the next thousands in denial of it. No matter. Whether it's PV or the Soul jam, his birth-given rights. SM knows what he wants and he WILL get what he wants. (He's wrong on both fronts. And somewhere in the back of his mind, SM knows that. But he'll never admit it. He'll never ever admit anything. Until it's too late. In a way, the same goes for PV)

About a certain someone who's not clingy, but would die for attention: I think PV gets lonely easily. As he's hyper-aware of himself and considerate of others, appearing clingy is the last thing PV wants. So PV would put extra efforts in taking care of those around him, be it cookies, animals or the greenery in his garden. A healer is always busy, always helpful. If he's always needed by others then he would never be afraid of being alone. Ironically enough, this ended up making PV come off as a little overbearing. As of late, the only ones able to see through the facade are Hollyberry cookie and you-know-who.

Other scattered thoughts: These two are completely different yet can't be more similar, on the various sliding scales they're either stuck to one another or are flung to both ends. On another note, honestly I can't see these two doing anything domestic together, the most I can see is cooking, which is basically the same as magic in the cookie world. Anyways, are they in "love"? Are they dating? Not really, no. It's more of a a parasitic-turned-symbiotic-soulbond, a will-they-won't-they-destroy-the-world situationship (iykyk) I do enjoy relationships that's hard to put into words. Their feelings are somehow romantic, somewhat deranged and something much, much deeper.

My desire to ship these two comes from the desire to see them grow beyound their archetypes. Being with PV does give SM the chance to be horrible as can be, yeah, but I'd like to think SM does have a personality outside of being a villainous tormentor. He spends so long observing others, and now for the first time he's being seen. Now SM have met someone who can see right through him, who can glimpse into those dammed vulnerabilities of his. Being with SM does let us see PV in his darkest moments, but it's at the same time the moments where PV can shine the most, to prove SM that his ideals isn't naïveté or simple platitudes. In canon, SM+PV works well as enemies, but it is the many contradictions born when romance is added into the mix that got me shipping. They simultaneously break down and bolster one another's greatest traits. Like binary stars, they orbit around the other, so close yet so far apart, lest they collide. They could've been so perfect for each other. But not in this life, or the next, or the next...

Pixel art time! I have way too much fun w/ Smilk's many faces, his and PV's combined came to around 22 expressions. These are quick to made due to their small size (25x25 px). Zip file includes both the og and 75x75 sizes. I don't mind if any Vanilla milkshakers might use these, just please remember to read the my art terms and conditions first! (which can be found in my About)

Some disclaimer: some images may have different names. This is the first time I'm using Getuploader so sorry if something broke.

Link

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

One of the things that still really frustrates me is how we know the crew of OFMD were so intentional with cutting off any "Ed is abusive!" allegations at the knees.

There are three things from Ed's kraken spiral that we know for a fact did not make it into the show. One of them (the scene of Ed throwing a knife at Izzy) even made it into the trailer before it was cut; the other two I'm thinking of are the bts footage we have of Ed drinking heavily the night he has his last fantasy of looking at the cake toppers and a still of Ed making the bride cake topper push around the groom.

I think all three of these things were very wise to cut and it's obvious why they did it. The drinking and throwing stuff ran the risk of making Ed look too much like his abusive dad (not to mention heavy drinking tied to abusive behavior runs into deeply uncomfortable stereotypes about indigenous men like Ed), and when all we see of Ed is him gently caressing the cake topper that reminds him of Stede, it reinforces a core aspect of Ed as a person, which is how he would never, ever hurt Stede and wants nothing but gentleness and tenderness for and from him.

And it's incredibly frustrating that these things weren't enough. We're shown over and over again that Ed during the kraken spiral, right up until his mutiny-as-a-suicide-attempt, is doing normal piracy (that's why Archie is here! The only characters who are emotionally affected are the ones who know what life was like on Stede's ship!), and the only person who is actually physically harmed is Izzy (for good reason in Ed's mind; he was the trigger for the whole thing and Ed lists him along with booze and drugs as destructive influences on his life). We even get other characters say things to Stede like "do you think Blackbeard is gonna murder you" and Stede, who explicitly knows Ed better than anyone, is always like "what the fuck are you talking about? Of course not," and he's obviously right.

It's just so disheartening that there can be this much intentionality in making sure it's next to impossible to read a man of color as abusive and it will still happen. White fandom has such a tendency to center itself and white characters that it doesn't even matter how much effort they put into taking the audience by the shoulders and saying "this guy isn't abusive, he's being an imperfect victim in response to being abused himself," up to and including having the white guy in question say on his deathbed "sorry for abusing you for years." And people still wonder why fans of color are sick and tired of this shit to the point where some of us just want to leave fandom altogether.

[anonymousbeefriendfanfics]

Dating Lyney

Day #1 of writing for my beloved in an attempt to coerce him into showing up early. Come home, my little magician, I need you!

Please feel free to send me requests for what you want to see next!

Fandom: Genshin Impact Character: Lyney Warnings: Fluff, magic. Some mild spoilers for the Fontaine archon quest. Note: Some people consider Lyney to be a minor, so keep in mind that he's 18+ in this, even though there's no NSFW.

So you wanna date the rizzler huh? You'd better be prepared, because he's the world's biggest flirt. It literally never stops, no matter if you've been together five weeks or five years. He's always going to have something suave to say, always going to keep surprising you with little magic tricks. It's just how he is, especially when he's passionate about something - or someone. You'd best be ready to hear him say he loves you twenty times a day, and you'd better say it back, too, or else he'll get that adorable pout on his face and hit you with the puppy dog eyes. Sometimes you wonder if the man has a serious bone in his entire body or if Lynette inherited them all, but you know him better than that.

Lyney is such a gentleman. He's ridiculously charismatic, but he's also so, so sweet. He'll do anything and everything for you. He pulls out chairs for you, holds your hand while walking - you'll definitely have to stop him from draping his cape across puddles for you like they do in the movies. It's a little cheesy, sure, but it's so endearing with that sweet, lovesick smile on his face, and you can't help but love him more for it.

He's a very observant person. It just comes with the territory. He's trained himself to pick up on the subtlest little details, and while this primarily applies to magic and his work, but it also applies very heavily to you. He notices everything about you, from what you order at restaurants you go to on dates to what color clothing you prefer to wear to the way your tone and expression naturally shift as you talk about different topics. He memorizes you, so much so that he'll surprise you with things you've mentioned once in his presence, or perhaps not at all - he's quite good at putting pieces together and figuring out things behind the scenes, after all. You once asked him if he had the ability to read your mind after he pulled a slice of your favorite cake out of his hat, and he merely laughed and replied, "a magician never reveals his secrets, my dear~"

Speaking of which, his laugh is one of your favorite sounds in the whole world. The little chuckles and laughs peppered throughout his speech are lovely, of course, but you know they're mostly part of the show he plays for the audience. Your true favorite is the way he laughs when you're alone with him, when you say or do something funny or catch him off guard. There's something so magical about it, like you're getting a private glimpse of his beautiful soul. One of your favorite memories is when you got him to laugh so hard he could barely breathe, a genuine smile stretched across his face and a delightful sparkle in his eyes.

During the early part of your relationship, he's very guarded and secretive, despite his open and outgoing persona. Depending on your thoughts about the organization, he might attempt to hide being a Fatuus from you, just because he's terrified of your reaction. He puts a lot of effort into appearing absolutely perfect, because he believes you deserve nothing less than perfection. Even if he is honest about his work, he holds back his innermost feelings and desires for quite some time, continuing to play the part that is required of him. He cares dearly about you, and he's not about to let you go because of a careless misstep on his part.

It takes him some time before he learns to be vulnerable with you. He's so convinced that he always has to be perfect, that he has to be strong for his siblings and for you, and he doesn't allow himself to show any of the negative emotions that haunt him day after day. Slowly but surely, however, you will break that wall down - brick by brick, if you must. He begins to lower his guard when you are alone, to let the mask slip and show his true feelings, even if they aren't glamorous, even if he hates them. Once he trusts you enough to show you the truth that he hides from even his siblings, your relationship grows even closer.

Writing Masterlist �� Requests Open! Tag List 🐝 @mossmosis

[zykamiliah]

Tell me about Shen Yuan's mental gymnastics

oh boy where do i start

there are various sides to sy's mental gymnastics:

-his sexuality, that directly correlates to his feelings for binghe; we know how he projects his desire for lbh into the Women/Wives characters, he is in complete denial and actively suppressing his own sexuality, for quite a while and even before he transmigrated, since he has some "skeletons in his closet" in regards to past crushes. he frames his feelings for lbh and his responses during sex as submitting to lbh's charm and "technique" as if to imply he doesn't really have a choice or is being convinced into loving and having sex with lbh, which is one of the biggest misunderstandings for readers in the whole novel. for him admitting that he likes gay sex is tremendously embarrassing, and a consequence from being raised in a homophobic/queerphobic culture.

-his self-image, not in the sense that insecure or lacks confidence, but in that he perceives himself as inconsequential-- he doesn't expect much to come from his good actions except maybe that people will spare his life (lbh, lqg) and instead weighs his bad actions as worse than they are. even if he doesn't think about it a lot, he expects lbh to hate him and kill him for pushing him into the endless abyss, yet doesn't take into the equation everything else he did as a shizun for lbh and the other qjp disciples. this probably comes from his fandom-agreed third child syndrome, in that as such he grew up thinking his actions don't have any impact in the people around him (not taking into account the impact of his death in hua yue city, for example, in lbh and his martial siblings and disciples); related to that, is the part where he doesn't ever talk about his own accomplishments because he thinks that's too cringe or something, so he's always downplaying himself and the stuff he does, like being a good damn teacher, and liking it! he describes himself as a lazy guy who just wants to lead a no-effort life but that's what he actually wants or does; he's always doing something post-transmigration and if fact gets antsy and restless when he's forced to stay inside doing nothing

also related to him downplaying his good actions, is that he sketches himself as a selfish person when his actions completely contradict that characterization.

he also downplays or completely hides from the narration how much being cool matters to him lol he wants to distract the reader and himself from the fact that he's not an easygoing person, who will take anything life gives him; no, no, that man taught his disciples about payback; he gets reeaally pissed off when mbj dismisses his cultivation at the immortal alliance conference. i've talked about how he projects on shen jiu here to go around those feelings .

overall he's unreliable when talking about himself and you have to look at everything he says really carefully and contrast it with his actual actions to understand what's real and what's a lie.

and one of my favorites: he tells us he's pretending at being a lofty immortal cultivator, when in truth the transmigration has allowed him to become the best version of himself (ok there's still room for improvement but he's getting there!) the moment the OOC was off, and later when he's in the mushroom body, he thinks of himself as shen qingqiu all the time, going so far as to put finding a folding fan as a top priority, saving people just because he was around, and being unable to let cqm disciples be in danger to the detriment of his own survival. he tries to sell you a picture of himself where he's pragmatic and selfish and self-serving, but in truth, despite having a bad temper and sometimes resorting to anger as a coping mechanism (the tsundere allegations are true), he's a big softie and unconditional when it comes to the people he cares about.

[blakbonnet]

curious about your favorite underrated artists/fic writers/creatives on here?? and maybe your specific favourite underrated fanwork??

Ooh. I love this question so much, anon ❤️

Underrated gif maker, and I say this with no bias, is definitely Ida @bizarrelittlemew because she just puts in so much effort in all her gifs. Ida looks through tutorials and then also does so much on their own, but mainly: if you look at all the recent gifs, they have such a unique Ida ™️ vibe to them. From rotoscoping (still don't know what that is) to playing with blending, Ida deserves to be right up there with one of the most creative gifmakers this fandom has produced recently.

Unfortunately I just very very rarely hang out reading ofmd fics T-T (I'm mostly in the hobbit and sandman fandom side of ao3) and there are a few writers I love and I tend to stick to them (xoxoemynn, forpiratereasons being the main ones) Most of what I read and like in the fandom is when a mutual ends up writing something that isn't modern au.

Having said that, underrated writer to me 100% is @palavapeite because their writing just never fails to transport me to whatever setting they're talking about. Listen, I just don't read modern AUs, they don't do it for me (def a me issue, I'm sure there are brilliant modern au writers in this fandom but it's something I filter out) but I would absolutely recommend this fic as something that brought me so so much joy, is fast becoming my more reread fic, because it did a perfect job with getting Stede's voice right. I can hear every single thing he says in my mind, it's SO good. Also their fic with priest!stede lives rent free in my head and I would soon find the time to read their non blackbonnet fics.

Another one is adamarks who, again, has such a good grasp on Ed and Stede's character that it doesn't matter which AU Jay has picked, it just always always works somehow. My favourite is this fic tho which is just so them that I might as well weep.

For artists, my recent faves (and I think they're underrated) are Lilo @harrylovesspaezle who's so so talented and I still can't get over that sketchbook tour - the growth and love for this show ough, @ofmderapolag whose pieces are just so so dreamy, and also @spookynadja whose style just floors me every single time.

I'd also like to shout out one underrated category, people who write such amazing text posts like @ourfag who obviously has the s3 scripts and is only sharing them with us in small increments due to the nda and @tulipseason for the currently unpublished book of "1 million ways I will articulate how much I love hit television show our flag means death"

and then there's my favourite most beloved cheerleaders who are always lifting up new writers and artists too like @marbledwings and @insteading ❤️ I especially love that everyone has a beautiful story with these two, you could ask any small or big writer in the fandom if they've been made to cry by wings or insteading and yeah, they're just lovely.

[queerofthedagger]

I'm really curious about the Uther things you mentioned?

Ahh hey! Yeah I can talk on that a bit (for context, I think I said that I do find his character intriguing and that my opinion on him has evolved quite a bit, influenced by mostly disagreeing with what a lot of people tend to say?)

So the thing about Uther is that I feel people tend to either go "He's evil, everything he does at any given time is evil, I hate him and there is nothing more to it," or they go "Oh but he loved his children!!!" in a kind of, redeeming-quality-kind of sense. I'm somewhat hyperbolizing, of course, but I do think fandom tends to a very black and white view.

Don't get me wrong, I hate Uther. I hate Uther with a burning passion, and I love to hate him. He's terrible. But I do think the show actually did go to quite an effort to make him complex beyond a simple "tyrannical son of a bitch" (that he was) or "Oh okay but he loved Ygraine and his kids 🥺" (which he did!).

Of course he is terrible. He murdered hundreds if not thousands of people over the guilt he could not bear to live with, that was, in the first place, the consequence of his own actions. I do believe he didn't know that the price would be Ygraine's life; he was still willing to sacrifice someone's life. Which is very Uther. Yes, at the root of that lies grief, and at the root of grief lies love, but the thing (and also imo the crux of Uther's character) is that being capable of loving people doesn't somehow, magically (ha. sorry) make you less of a bad person.

Terrible people can love other people. In fact, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find people no matter how atrocious their actions, who don't have people they love. And most people don't set out to "do something evil;" Uther, in all his atrocities, always had justifications to himself.

I think it says a lot that despite the brutal war he wrought, he was by and large not considered a bad king, per se, by his people and allies. We could dismiss all those instances where the show makes a point to reiterate this as fear of speaking up - and I'm not saying that didn't play a part - but I think that's making it too easy. There is a whole other essay on propaganda and how the war on magic worked, but I'll get to that another time. My main point is that, as uncomfortable as the thought may be considering just what horrors he wrought, he wasn't a frothing, mad bag full of cartoonish evil.

That doesn't mean that he "wasn't that bad, really." Which kind of brings me to the other side of things, the way people like to throw "Well, but he loved his kids," into the mix as a kind of. I don't know, counterpoint to the "tyrannical son of a bitch" side. And like, the thing is, he did. The thing is, that doesn't change a thing.

Yeah, Uther loved both Arthur and Morgana. We see enough proof of that through the seasons, whether it's in the Excalibur Episode where he fights in Arthur's stead at any cost, or in Le Morte d'Arthur where he openly weeps, or with Morgana in various instances to a degree where some people think he loved her more (and again, yet another essay on how his love for Arthur is tangled up so much in his guilt and the hatred that caused, but I digresss), not least in how her 'betrayal' broke him.

Ultimately, though, he also put Arthur in harm's way again and again. He certainly rarely ever told him he loved him, to the point where Arthur is shocked to hear it. He puts his children in chains and locks them away and drugs them and threatens them in all manners, he lies to them and hides the truth from them (Ygraine/Morgana's parentage in the first place) to the detriment of their well-being, and so on. His love is conditional. His love demands obedience and submission. We could argue until we're blue if that's really love in the first place, but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter all that much.

People can love other people, and it can be entirely inconsequential, because frankly, most parents love/"love" their kids. That doesn't mean they're automatically good parents, or even good people. In Uther's case it really isn't a redeeming quality at all. It just makes him complex and interesting and multi-dimensional as the villain/antagonist. Because it makes us grapple with the really very unfortunate but inevitable fact that even terrible people are still people. They aren't some removed monster that no one can ever relate to. They love and they laugh and grieve, and they can still turn around and burn people in their frontyard on the daily without missing a beat. They can be willing to die for their children and threaten violence and exile in the next breath.

I think with Uther, at the end of the day, for me it's really both. His atrocities started out of love, and his love is steeped, inevitably, in the violence and twisted moral framework of his character; it's not an either/or thing at all, it depends on each other. And he is a goddamn son of a bitch, of course, even if every once in a bluemoon he still sheds honest tears for his unfortunate children.

[jaelaxies]

𝟕:𝟎𝟕 𝐚𝐦

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･

fluff; wc.: 476.

Kim Jiwoong x fem reader!; fluff fluff; established relationship and skinship; tw: none.

Song recommendation: You’re Beautiful — The Rose (Dual)

Nobody expected this. It was, indeed, a sight to see.

Kim Jiwoong, the tall gorgeous “mysterious” man who every girl in this faculty would drop everything for, was standing like a giant puppy with an enormous lovesick grin while you buttoned his coat, which he had unbuttoned on purpose on the way here, just to see your focused expression: the way you pursued your lips together and bit your tongue a little bit, the soft lines on your forehead and the lovely smile you gifted him when you were done. Your height difference made everything just so much funnier and cuter at the same time, because to thank you with a soft kiss on the forehead, he had to lean down a bit but that gave him the perfect excuse to whisper something only the two of you could hear; making your cheeks go dusty rose and his eyes crinkle with pure joy, his ears matching your colored cheeks.

—I really won the lottery in my past life, babe — As you recovered yourself from the cheesy remark, your hand immediately pinched his cheek, even though softly, he laughed at your weak attempt to get revenge.

—You did, indeed. — Carefully you draped your own scarf around his neck, finishing it in a bow. Red really suited Jiwoong but it was your soft strawberry scent emanating from the fabric and the sweet but firm tone of your words what made his heart race a mile per minute. — But I must admit I am a pretty lucky girl too… I have the cutest boyfriend ever. 

You tiptoed and pecked him on the lips, rushing him to enter the classroom for his final; but Jiwoong stood there smiling like an idiot and wondering what on earth did he do to deserve your pure and honest love; to him, you were too much of a woman and sometimes he just seemed like an idiot beside you; but it was never the case for you, who carefully grabbed his hand, brought it to your lips and kissed it softly; proudly showing him his new “good luck charm” the stain from your lipstick, which was one of his favorites. — Whatever the result is, I’m already proud of you, ok? No worries, you’ll do great. I believe in you!

When he was finally about to enter, he rushed to your position and softly cupped your cheeks pecking your lips so quickly, you barely felt the contact; before disappearing again through the door with a wide grin showing his pearly white teeth. You reached for your lips and smiled too, some way and somehow, he always needed to kiss you last, but it didn’t matter too much, because right now, the lavender haze that was your head was filled with thoughts of your boyfriend and how happy you were to have him by your side.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･

૮꒰ྀི⸝⸝> . <⸝⸝꒱ྀིა finally i can write about my bias!! The way i blush everytime i think about this man... take me to delulu station right now.

tmi: If you're a fellow zerose, who is your bias? im very curious, also i like to know more friends in this fandom because it's a blast ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

Because it's also my first time writing for him i thought something sweet and fluffy was perfect for the ocassion i think i managed to do it, but still feedback is always appreciated ♡

Btw, I'm currently working on a project involving fantasy... it's for a member of enhypen... can you guess who?

Anyways, thank you all so much for all the love and support!

I promise to put even more effort in creating joyful projects for you guys to read, love yall ૮꒰ྀི∩´ ᵕ `∩꒱ྀིა

With all the love in the world,

ੈ✩‧˚✧˖°࿐Stella!

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･

[eriochromatic]

Your impel down modern au is absolutely amazing is it okay to ask more about it ?

Like is Jinbei the legal guardian or is Garp around ? Is the Sabo situation like in canon?

What about the warden is he like the landlord ?

(If I ever get inspiration/time would you be down for this to be a fic ?)

Thank u for liking my AU! To be completely honest I intentionally didn’t add other one piece characters since I wanted to explore a different dynamic, so in this AU, Garp (or Shanks or Whitebeard for that matter) wouldn’t be around too much, Sabo also probably wouldn't be too present. 

For this AU specifically, the influential parental figures around Luffy and Ace are Jinbei (legal guardian), and then Crocodile (takes care of them when Jinbei is busy), and then the rest of the apartment residents when both Jinbei and Croc are occupied. The only other one piece chara I might consider adding in is Magellan as the landlord, but he’d be pretty hands off and not really part of the main dynamic anyways.

And of course, feel free to turn this into a fic if you’re feeling inspired! To be completely honest this AU in itself was inspired by a fic from a completely different fandom where they took a bunch of characters who never interacted w/ each other and put them all in an apartment together for a modern AU; Oda already did the job of getting random characters to work together so I just wanted to do the modern AU part!

Certain headcanons that I wasn’t able to add in the post itself:

Jinbei is a highschool teacher! The area they live in isn’t well funded so he probably doubles up as their guidance counselor as well,, he’s super busy which is why the rest of the apartment complex all collectively helps out watching the kids

Crocodile’s income bracket is technically a few steps above the others but because he’s paying 3 apartments worth of rent his quality of life ends up around the same LOL technically he could always move out but he’s too attached to everyone (would never admit it)

Drag race is still rupaul’s show in this universe and not Ivankov’s HAHAHA Ivankov is definitely more of an underground queen, almost urban legend like… But yeah they’re never home much so Inazuma has been using Ivankov’s apartment as a glorified storage unit for fabrics and outfits

Ace is still the grumpy kid like in canon, but having Crocodile around as a vaguely bad influence (“I am not going to stop you from committing violence” type) makes them strangely close… Croc is trans in this AU and if u wanted Ace to also be trans that can be another bonding point

Since Crocodile manages a casino (with a nightclub), Bentham has been pestering Croc to let him put on a drag show, so far Croc has been saying said no. Croc’s frame of reference is Ivankov (aka someone who’s waaaay to good) so unfortunately anyone who’s not at Ivankov’s level isn’t worth the effort of changing schedules and reorganizing things. Bentham has seen Crocodile proposition Daz constantly for that bouncer job so now there’s this weird one sided rivalry between Bentham and Daz lol

that’s about all the ideas I have for now! hope that was fun and interesting to read!

[princeescaluswords]

Hello, sorry to bother. I just wanted to thank you for your continuous passion for TW and especially Scott. I've recently rewatched the show for the first time in 10 years, and he's always been my favourite, but I kept my distance from the fandom because of how bad it was towards him – and ended up pulling away entirely for a while. It's sad to see it's still not much better, but your blog is a delight to me because I finally see someone who gets it. Have a good day 🐺

Your words are very kind. While I find the effort rewarding, I am most certainly tilting at windmills. The fandom will only be able to change through attrition; the appreciation of Scott McCall as a character as he deserves will only fully happen when there's no one left to notice.

I'm sorry for being a bit of a downer, but there was a very interesting post by @liplessthomas14 where they mourned the lack of "Bad Friend Scott" stories that actually address the problems in Scott and Stiles's friendship. They're absolutely correct. While I would never see the need for that tag, there could have been an entire genre of Teen Wolf fanfiction and fandom content which analyzed the flaws in a powerful friendship. But there isn't, and there won't be now. It's too late. The damage is done. We have 2218 works on AO3 labelled as such, and I would generously estimate ten times that many which simply taken the idea that Scott was a bad friend to Stiles for granted. That's one out of seven stories published and very, very few of them aren't simplistic one-dimensional hit jobs.

Instead of understanding the role of Scott and Allison's relationship in the story, 95% of the fandom believes that Scott was obsessed with her and in doing so, left Stiles behind. Of course, they have to ignore the more-than-half-dozen times that Scott risked his relationship with Allison for Derek or Stiles, including the fact that Season 2 was entirely about Scott putting saving lives of people who didn't like him above his relationship with Allison. They have to ignore that there was never a scene where Scott left Stiles behind for Allison or popularity, for that matter. They have to ignore that Allison was Scott's anchor and that this was important, including ignoring this blatantly lampshading scene from Party Guessed (2x09):

Isaac: Then how do you control it? Derek: Find an anchor. Something meaningful to you. Bind yourself to it. Keep the human side in control.

The show came out and said "In order for Scott to exert control over his lycanthropy so he can save others rather than be a danger to them, he needed to bind himself to Allison, a girl with which he fell in love." and the fandom has spent the last 13 years pretending that the show didn't have repeated scenes demonstrating this very need. We can all accuse Jeff Davis of being unsubtle, but he seemed to have known that he simply could not be unsubtle enough.

Instead of understanding the purpose of Stiles (and Derek) as a foil(s) for Scott, I would estimate that 95% of the fandom believes that the show, as one person put it, undermined Stiles or Derek's story for Scott's benefit, an idea put forward again and again with no basis in storytelling. Stiles had two whole seasons dedicated to his story and the only time he wasn't an important character in the other seasons was when the actor didn't want to be there. Scott, on the other hand, spent the first 36 episodes of the show cleaning up the Hale family mess on their behalf and then accepted being given their role of protecting the town. Of course, the fandom has taught itself that, contrary to the actual writing, it was Derek and Stiles's right to be the focus of the show.

Think of it this way, after all the emotionally resonant "Stilinski family feels" which the fandom loves so much (and they were meant to) and then couple that with the fact that Stiles had more scenes, more screen time, and received more on-screen comfort from Scott's parents than Scott did. I'll never get over the fact that we had an entire season of everyone talking about how much they love Stiles and how important Stiles was to them, and it wasn't until the final season (when Stiles was gone) that someone told Scott she was worried about him. As I like to point out, imagine Stiles being kidnapped and taken to a foreign country or badly injured and the Sheriff not being involved. His parents being absent during crises happened to Scott three times, and the majority of the fandom never noticed.

Instead of taking the time to explore the motivations of every character and not just their favorites, 95% of the fandom indulge in racist tropes that allow them to ignore huge plot points and then complain about plot holes. Deaton is sinister, cryptic and/or unhelpful, when scene after scene depicts Deaton offering good advice and help for which he receives no reward. Scott is stubborn, angry, and simplistically moral (black-and-white thinking) towards white male characters who should be in charge, when there are repeated scenes showing him willing to work with Derek and Chris Argent, Theo and even Peter for pity's sake.

That's why the fight in Lies of Omission (5x09) is one of the most fundamentally misconstrued scenes in television history. Instead of seeing that Theo cleverly used the flaws in Scott's and Stiles's relationship to drive them apart so he can isolate and neutralize Scott, the fandom reduces it to Scott casually and immediately tossing Stiles out of the pack for killing someone in self-defense on the word of an utter stranger. Gone is the knowledge that Stiles has a history of lies and deception so deep it's become a running gag and a history of extreme violence in defense of his father; gone is the awareness that Theo had carefully cultivated Scott's overwhelming sense of responsibility as well as saved every single member of the pack, thus earning Scott's trust (the way Derek saving Scott's life in Season 2 was supposed to earn Scott's immediate obedience). Stiles, as a white male character, is entitled to hurt and deceive other people and receive understanding; Scott, as a non-white character, is expected to ask the right questions and get to the bottom of things even as Stiles yells in his face.

In conclusion, the fandom is poisonous because of the established core belief that Scott is unworthy to be lead protagonist and that Stiles (or Derek or Theo or even Peter) would have been a better one. This belief is so widespread and so strong and so in conflict with the story itself that it's hard to participate in the fandom unless you adopt it, and it's why there is always a struggle to think about the characters in nuanced terms. I'll keep trying, though.

[littlecharmingenvy]

Belphie Headcannons

This is the first thing I've written for a fandom in literal YEARS so forgive me if I'm a little rusty- but anyways belphie headcannons!

warnings: nsfw (MDNI), mentions of lesson 16, belphie being a little shit

~SFW~

<3- Steals your clothes to put them on his pillows to sleep with. Doesn't matter if you're in a relationship or not, as soon as he gets comfortable with you, say goodbye to your comfy sweatshirts

<3- Very clingy. Thinks he's being slick ab it (he's not) always finding excuses as to why he ended up right where you are, totallyyy a coincidence. Brushing your teeth? That's crazy, so is he. Getting up for a midnight snack? Suddenly he's wide awake. For a yandere, he's got an awful lot of tsundere habits

<3- If he knows you'll be busy with plans with someone else -especially one of his brothers- he just so happens to fall asleep directly on your lap and just won't wake up. Oh, you weren't able to make it? That's ok, you can just nap with him instead :)

<3- ^^^ only gets away with this because he's the youngest. He knows his siblings can't bring themselves to be as mad at him as they should when he brings out the puppy eyes and he uses that to his full advantage

<3- Speaking of the puppy eyes, no one's safe except for MC. Bonus points if they're an oldest sibling who's used to it from their own siblings, or are a youngest sibling themselves so they know what tf is up. The others don't know how they don't fall for it, and it frustrates Belphie as much as it entertains him

<3- Even tho he's fairly small for a demon, he still stands at about 6'2. He's the second shortest of his brothers, Asmo being the shortest.

<3- Still gets nightmares from when he killed MC. He always goes to them for comfort, but the guilt of it all eats him alive. He never tells them why he's upset, but MC has an idea

<3- This man wouldn't know a coping mechanism if it hit him in the face. Relies on Beel to process things and to comfort him, which Beel is happy to do. Belphie tries to return the favor when he can. He's awful at comforting people, but Beel finds his awkwardness with it strangely comforting

<3- overall this man is just a pisces (bitch) who is too tired to process things. but, he is sweet when he wants to be

~NSFW ~

<3- brat. Doesn't matter if hes domming or subbing, full fledged brat. Anything you want from him, you'll have to (figuratively) beat it out of him

<3- He's torn between preferring to dom or sub. On one hand, he loves the control domming gives him, as well as any chance he can get to break you. On the other hand, he doesn't have the energy to a lot of the time. Plus, it's nice to let himself get taken care of sometimes. doesn't mean you won't have to fight him to get him to sub tho

<3- Prefers receiving versus giving head. He doesn't mind giving, in fact he enjoys it, but boys just lazy :(

<3- Does enjoy when you sit on his face, especially since it's less work for him. Likes teasing you by making you keep eye contact, and will stop if you do.

<3- I've seen a lot of people say he would fall asleep during it, and as hilarious as that image is, I'm not sure if he would. Idk, I just feel like he'd be too into it to fall asleep. Might fall asleep while you give him head tho-

<3- in theory, he'd have some pretty out there kinks, but they normally stay confined to his fantasies, as he doesn't feel like putting the effort in to test them out and totally not because he's scared you'll think they're weird

<3- Overstim him!!! please!!! He'll stop his bratting real quick once he realizes you still aren't stopping after he's cum for the 3rd time-

<3- On the opposite end, if you want to see him cry, edge him. He can take being overstimulated like a champ, but with edging he'll break after 15 minutes if you're lucky

&lt;3- adores cockwarming, and will often fall asleep while inside of you despite your protest. He just wants to be as close to you as he can get, especially after a hard day. How could you say no when he asks so nicely? :(

<3- not much aftercare from him. If you ask, he'll help you clean up, but otherwise he tells himself he'll deal with it when he wakes up. always regrets it when he wakes up tho

anyways hope y'all enjoy!!! live, laugh, lethargic-

[daddecember]

DadDecember 2023 Event Announcement

Welcome to DadDecember 2023!

While this is technically our second year running, we’ve changed purposes a little bit from last year. Last year we were very centric on MHA with DFODecember but this year we are instead multifandom to welcome in everyone!

So, with no further ado, everyone who participated last year, welcome back! To everyone joining this year, welcome in! We cannot wait to see what you create.

Please make sure to read this post carefully, as many questions have been answered here already. We have also answered all the questions that were submitted through our anon voting form already. If you don’t find what you are looking for there, you are welcome to come to our ask box or ask questions in our Discord server here. The mod team will get back to you as soon as possible.

This year’s AO3 Collection → HERE

Before we get more into the rules, I’d like to give a special thanks to everyone who submitted a prompt through our discord server back in September and all 85 of you who voted on the prompts these past few weeks. Event Info & Rules

DadDecember is an annual prompt month featuring platonic father and child relationships. We have a collection of prompts for each day meant to inspire works to be created.

*Due to the nature of this event being platonic, do not submit father/child incestual content. That is not the point of this event. This event is strictly platonic. Thank you for understanding.

There are 62 prompts this year with 10 alternative prompts. Each day has two prompts, one situational/trope prompt and one dialogue prompt. You do not need to use both. While we do encourage you to mix and match prompts with different days to fit your specific WIP, we do ask that you tag the prompt you used, not just the day.

This is a prompt month meant to inspire works, so please don’t take any of the prompts too seriously! If you want to get silly with it or really angsty, that’s up to you! How much of the prompt you use and how you use it is all up to you! If you think it fits the prompt, then it does. There is no gatekeeping in DadDecember.

It’s up to the creator how much they want to produce or what media form they want to create in! Anything and everything counts (and if you’re really unsure, you can always ask!). The idea of the event is to create, no matter in the manner you do so. 

As far as “how much do I need to do in order for it to count?” – Well, that’s up to you! All participants, regardless of how many works they put out, will be recognized for their efforts! A google form will be sent out after December ends in which you will be able to say how many works you completed. Works do not need to be published in any way shape or form to count. Participants will be ranked by completion in a tumblr post after the form closes and a custom role will be available for completionists in our discord server.

Should you wish to upload some of your DadDec content to Tumblr, use these tags:

Required tags:

#daddecember 

#daddecember2023

#sfw or #nsfw

Optional Tags (but appreciated if used)

#DadDec No.1, #DadDec No.2, #DadDec No.3, ect.

#fandom or #OC, … (ironman, originalcontent, oc …)

#teeth, #gore tw, #etc …..(trigger warnings and content warnings. Add “tw” or “cw” AFTER the trigger/content warning )

For the sfw/nsfw tag, please use your best judgment. A Mature or Explicit rating (for anything except gore) should be marked as nsfw.

Reblogging Policies:

Due to the nature of the blog and for the safety of all fellow participants, nsfw posts will not be reblogged. - These works are still very much welcome in the AO3 collection.

You MUST tag @daddecember if you wish for your work to be reblogged

If you notice your work has not been reblogged (+ you tagged us) and it has been 2+ days, please send us an ask! It is likely that tumblr ate the notification.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Do I have to do all 31 days?

Participate as much as you would like! Whether you can get out one piece between now and the end of December or 45, we are here to encourage you all along the way!

Q. Can I post early/late?

Yes, you can post whenever you want. Due to time constraints, we may not reblog posts outside of December (pinging @Mod Addri via discord will always get you reblogged, though, so you can always try that ;) ).

Q. Can I combine DadDecember with other creation challenges?

Yes, as long as the other challenges allow it as well. Please reference their rules.

Q. Can I use prompts to write a new chapter for an existing fic?

Yes.

Q. Can I use a prompt multiple times?

Yes, but it only will count once for your total completion number (unless combined with a different unused prompt).

Q. Do I have to finish a fic I started/can I post WIP’s?

Yes, you can post WIPs. Snippets or other forms of WIPs are completely fine and will still count for completion! As long as you started it, feel free to count it!

Q. Is collaborating allowed?

Absolutely, we even encourage it! Collaborations can be an amazing way to get full completion status (especially if you’re competitive) without as much work! It would count towards being a completionist for both/all of you.

Q. Can I combine prompts? Is there a limit on how many?

No limit and combine as many as you’d like.

Q. Can I start working on the prompts before December?

Absolutely! That’s why we post the prompts a little over a month in advance. We recognise how difficult it can be creating for 31 days in “real time” so feel free to start creating early!

Q. Do I have to use your required tags?

If you want your work reblogged, yes.

Q. Does combining prompts count towards completion?

Yes

Note: This is a creation challenge, please don’t repost your old work under our tags (unless it’s been changed or edited for the event).

Best of luck,

Mod Addri

Also: A special thanks to @eliserael for creating the prompt images!

Written out Prompt List:

Day 1: Reverse Adoption | "I trusted you." Day 2: Snowed In | "I thought I would never see you again" Day 3: Snuggling | "Midnight fast food run?" Day 4: Forehead Kiss | "I'm going to kill you" Day 5: Little Things | "And what about rocks in snowballs?" Day 6: Prison Visit | "There's no gift better than revenge" Day 7: Blizzard | "I won--- WOAH!" Day 8: Holiday Reunion | "Is it supposed to tilt?" Day 9: Abandonment | "You've never wrapped a present before, have you?" Day 10: Emergency Room Trip | "Say goodbye now." Day 11: Patricide | "It's alright to be afraid" Day 12: Hero & Villain | "Oh, I thought presents weren't a thing." Day 13: Vault | "Close your eyes" Day 14: Tucking Into Bed | "Would you hold my hand?" Day 15: Late Nights | "Why didn't you tell me?" Day 16: Decorating Gone Wrong | "You remembered?" Day 17: Secret Santa | "I swear if you fail---" Day 18: Meet the Parents | "Don't do that again" Day 19: Parent-Teacher Conference | "Who are you?" Day 20: Warm Drink | "Is Santa actually real?" Day 21: Home Alone | "Breath in an--- breath out" Day 22: Overseas | "I don't think that's how snow angels work." Day 23: Adoption | "Did you put in sugar or salt?" Day 24: Glitter Overload | "You made bricks, not gingerbread" Day 25: Holidays | "My snow castle is bigger than yours!" Day 26: Disappearance | "Do you have any idea how much paper this thing took?" Day 27: Snow Angels | "Let me sing you a lullaby" Day 28: Burnout | "You hurt me, you know?" Day 29: Injury | "Maybe we shouldn't be doing this?" Day 30: Parentage Reveal | "I love you" Day 31: A New Year | "Would you rather…"

Alternative Prompts:

"I'm not a fan of pain"

Early Mornings

"It wasn't my fault"

In My Time of Need

"This is what I call a surprise!"

A Scooby-Doo Worthy Mystery

"Could I have some flowers?"

A League of Their Own

"Liar, liar, LIAR"

Family Murder

Discord Server + AO3 links for previewing:

[i-want-my-iwtv]

(Cont'd from here)

Anon asked:

5. Is a possible interpretation of the ending that Louis&Lestat are working together again? Lestat said he could go out again if he had Louis but Louis said he had to go. Lestat then somehow ends up going after the guy that Louis was just talking to? Obvi not a coincidence so maybe he's just following Louis…but what if he's doing what he said? He's going out again bc he has Louis. Louis set up Malloy; or at least did so only after his reaction to his story? Maybe a stupid theory lol. ^2/3 anyway, sorry to come at you with all these questions, I just can't find answers anywhere else. Loved the movie and would just like to understand it better. I also think Louis&Lestat could be working together again because if Louis has resigned to killing people to survive, which is all Lestat ever really wanted him to be, is there any real reason they can't be in eachother's lives anymore? Thank you so much for any time you can give me and my questions lol! ^3/3

No worries, these are interesting questions!

I mean, that's an interesting thought, that Louis set Daniel up for Lestat to feed on... 👀 Could be true, but based on the script and the books, and the fact that Louis never hunted with Claudia... (Louis does hunt with Lestat or other vampires on occasion later in canon) but I don't think Louis would send an innocent victim out for Lestat to kill*.

I think in the movie version of the story, my interpretation was that:

Lestat had been following Louis for a while.

When Louis and Daniel went indoors, Lestat crawled into the open backseat of Daniel's car, conveniently parked nearby. This way, he could listen to them talk (the window was open!) and it put Lestat in place for acquiring the tapes of the interview afterward (and the car! And some human blood!).

In the movie's timeline, Louis had visited Lestat in NOLA (we don't know when, but based on Louis's clothing, it looks like late '80's or early '90's) and then left him there...

We don't know how much time passed until he met with Daniel, San Francisco looks like the late '80's or early '90's, too.

So maybe Lestat went to great effort to track Louis down to San Francisco and followed him, still wounded but desperate to reconnect with Louis when he had revived with more strength.

I also think Louis&Lestat could be working together again because if Louis has resigned to killing people to survive,

Yes, Louis seemed to get over his issues with killing ppl when Claudia entered the picture, she never saw him eating rats.

Maybe he wanted to set a good example for her, or maybe he just finally agreed, having tried to kill her, that human blood is more nutritious for vampires... we don't know! Lestat makes some snip at Louis about eating rats in front of Claudia and he tells her it was a long time ago, before she was born, and "I don't recommend them," with this little slurp to amuse her:

because if Louis has resigned to killing people to survive, which is all Lestat ever really wanted him to be, is there any real reason they can't be in eachother's lives anymore?

But no, Louis & Lestat aren't clearly back together again at the end of the '94 movie, but at least Lestat is mostly revived by the very end, there's hope that he's going to be his old vibrant self in a new age, and maybe even turn Daniel! I don't know what the plan was for the next movie, but there was a sequel planned for a long time, the movie rights eventually expired. The more book-focused fans might say that Louis enjoys his space and doesn't need a constant lover, and that Lestat is somewhat of a manwhore who struggles with monogamy (maybe partly BECAUSE he can't get Louis to commit to him, so he goes out looking for love surrogates), but he always pines for Louis. Now matter how hard you ship Louis and Lestat you will never ship Louis and Lestat as hard as Lestat does. [X][X @high-fructose-lesbianism]

The more book-focused fans in VC fandom generally agree that Louis gave the interview in order to get his story out, and if Lestat was still alive, it could provoke him enough to come out of hiding** bc maybe Louis still has feelings for Lestat, but killing people was not the only reason they couldn't be in each other's lives. Louis suffered in the dynamic they were in during the 65 years together in IWTV. There's been a lot of writing on it over the years but most book-focused fans agree there was some level of abuse from Lestat to Louis (and Claudia), whether emotional, verbal, and/or physical. Lestat threatened them both with harm at different times, and he had been very secretive, which created frustration for Louis and Claudia about their nature as vampires, and even if Lestat did all this out of fear for their safety, or worry that they might leave him, or any other reasons, it was still Not Great, not something Louis would want to throw himself back into so easily!

If you read the books, Louis/Lestat has a tension as a ship that continues throughout, and Anne Rice basically tried to have them finally together in the last book. She had teased us about a L/L wedding over the years, and that never went through in canon. 😭💗

**And in the Vampire Lestat, Lestat does rise and he wants to join a rock band, when he tells them his name, they thought it was marvelous that he was pretending to be the vampire Lestat:

*In canon, Louis kills random people, so that he's not responsible for judging them as deserving of death, even murderers can serve their time and return to society! If Louis gets to know a victim at all, he has too much empathy for them to kill them. However, canonically and in the '94 movie, Lestat kills evildoers, it stems from him saving his village from wolves when he was alive, when he was praised for protecting the villagers and the livestock from those terrorizing wolves. It justifies his need as a vampire to kill, while also making him a kind of hero bc he's protecting the innocent ppl from the evildoers.

Killing evildoers takes more effort in some ways, bc Lestat has to read their minds first or see them be criminals in order to be sure they're really evil, but he enjoys it! Sometimes he spends weeks, months, years pursuing a victim.

Anyway, since Daniel's not shown in the '94 movie or canon to be an evildoer, I don't think Louis would feed him to Lestat.

[dyradoodles]

Hiiiiii! 💕 I was just wondering….. what are your preferences for Zack & Seph? Do you ship ‘em, is it up to circumstance, does the age matter to you/do you consider their age and their gap? Why not even throw in how you fell in love with Zack & Seph to begin with? Do you have sources?? MLA format for Zack’s fandom page???

*plops down on floor*

Details plz! ❤️

Ah yes hello person that I definitely do not know, who definitely didn't see me say I could write an essay about this very subject on discord LMFAO

I'll put the actual essay under a cut for people who don't want to scroll through my Many Feelings about these two lol As a TLDR to your questions:

Yes I ship them, but also Yes it's up to circumstance! Yes I consider their canon ages/the age gap (which most visibly manifests in me only drawing them platonically if I'm drawing Zack as a Second/with the puppy hair, or writing a fic taking place during CC)! I was actually into Aeriseph first and stumbled into ZackSeph fics, and realized it was a similar dynamic, but with someone who spent time with Seph canonically before he went bananas! All of this was before CC came out and I've been loving these characters for 20+ years!

To borrow a phrase (from crylin iirc), honestly, I like just seeing them standing next to each other, romantic or no LMAO <3

NOW, FOR THE ESSAY.

So to expand on what I said earlier, I think it's obvious from my blog and ZS server that I ship these two LMAO That said, the way I ship them is based heavily on the era of fandom before CC was a thing. I got into FF7 around 2002 (possibly earlier, I just don't have the dates on drawings that old), five years before CC came out. At the time, we knew next to nothing about Zack beyond the very short clips of him in OG. So, fandom did what fandom does best, and tried to fill in the blanks!

Some of the efforts to figure out who Zack was went all the way down to his name, because it's Zakkusu in Japanese. So you'll see him as Zax, too - There were heated debates on whether to use Zack or Zax. And no last name! Fandom had to come up with surnames themselves. We also didn't have much of a reference beyond his polygon model, which seemed to have darker skin and, (as many fics described it) violet eyes. It was also assumed that, since he was a First who worked closely with Sephiroth, he was probably around Sephiroth's age. You likely already see where I'm going with this, laying all that out lol The Zack I draw and write is very much based on that time period, and if I'm honest, that's the character I really ship with Seph. I still joke in my fics sometimes that Zack's last name might be Donovan or Darklighter, etc., which are old fandom surnames!

Now, obviously CC came out and threw all this on its head, because we finally got a whole GAME about this (important!) minor character. I have many beefs with CC's writing and Square's insistence that so many of their characters need to be child prodigies (they can't ALL be prodigies, Square!!!). With Zack going from an assumed early 20s to suddenly being 16, and all the craziness of CC's plot, the way I approached the ship changed as well.

This is where I would firmly say my stance is: I don't think Seph had any interest in Zack romantically, in CC. Because that's a kid lmao If I'm engaging with the Compilation as a whole, I definitely lean way more into the mentor/mentee relationship for the two of them. As a personal rule, I only draw them platonically if Zack's got the puppy hair, because that was the most obvious visual cue I could think of that could draw that line between Zack's teen years vs. adult. If Seph managed to not go insane, then yeah, later in life I could still see them getting together! But clearly that's already AU territory lmfao

Ultimately, what I like best about Zack & Seph is how they treat each other (while Seph is still sane lol). That goes for platonically and romantically. Zack is so genuine and kind, and treats Seph the way he always wanted to be treated - like he's human. He can joke around with Seph in a way most people simply can't. Meanwhile, Seph treats Zack's feelings with respect, even during the times he's laughing at Zack for being ridiculous. He's also honest with Zack. He answers truthfully when Zack asks what's wrong, and it's clear that it's because he knows Zack is not a threat; Zack will take Seph's feelings seriously, too. I can enjoy the drama of the trauma and heartbreak that comes with Sephiroth's descent into villainy, but my favorite stuff definitely involves a lot of Nibelheim fix-it fics lol

Despite all the changes CC made to Zack and his relationship to Sephiroth (RIP Second in Command Zax Donovan/Darklighter/Knightblade, my beloved), their actual dynamic with regard to how they treat each other stayed, miraculously, intact. That's the real reason they're still my favorite characters, and how my enjoyment of FF7 has remained as strong as it is after literal decades. Square can retcon as many things as they want in the Compilation, but they'll never stop me from making art and fic of the characters I grew up with. Unless I get a C&D for some reason LMFAO Until then, I'll keep enjoying my AUs (and if anything, I have even more reason to enjoy them now that AUs themselves are canon - you bet your ass I'll be in the AUs where ONLY OG happened and I can ignore everything else LOL)

Thank you for the questions!! It was fun to get all my thoughts written down in one huge chunk, as opposed to my typical disjointed ramblings to my friends. Hopefully it was an interesting read!

Sources:

Fanlore. “Zack Fair.” The Organization for Transformative Works, 2 Jan. 2023, fanlore.org/wiki/Zack_Fair.

Doodles, Dyra. "Way Too Much Fandom Lurking." Dyra's Childhood to Adulthood, Copious Amounts of Fanfiction, 3 Apr. 2024

[lightgriffinsect]

OH MY GOD FINALLY SOMEONE ELSE WHO HATES COUGAR’S CONTENT

before he started making those weird shipping videos I actually liked his fnf comic dub but then he started making content farm shipping videos at first I didn’t mind until the thumbnails for the videos started becoming really suggestive

and yes I know fnf is not a kid friendly game but it got really annoying and gross that every tabi video is just him being harassed by that tall girl (I forgot her name) and most of the videos were giving toxic couples vibes like seriously why is tabi always getting paired with a bunch of female characters like what is this a love triangle anime????😭😭😭

it doesn’t help the fact that cougar's voice B3 boyfriend from the B3 remixed mod so with this shit going on it can cause the dev team to kick him off (I hope they does because honestly his voice doesn’t fit B3 boyfriend) and find a new va 

and now he’s making farm content videos of the smiling critters from poppy playtime by making them hot furry characters LIKE DUDE THOSE ARE CHILDREN TOYS WHY ARE YOU SEXUALIZING!???!?!?!?!?!

So yeah I hope someone can tabi away from this man

the tall girl you're referring to is Nikusa, the kinda-sorta villain(?) of FNF Entity. she's an awesome character who also doesn't deserve the crap Cougar put her through.

speaking of which, EXACTLY???? I never liked cougar's dubs at all tbh; even comics that I personally had read beforehand, which had no hints of romance or shipping whatsoever, became so uncomfortably sexual and harem-y the moment Cougar got permission to dub them. i imagine there were artists who didn't want their work cast in this light at all, and I just feel horrible for them. it's really gross.

and honestly??? FNF being a mature game has NOTHING to do with the overly sexual thumbnails and blatant disrespect of Homskiy's and other creators' wishes for their characters. that doesn't make it okay at all. it doesn't matter how family friendly an IP is, if it's popular, people who only value views WILL come up with the most disgusting clickbait garbage as long as it gets them attention. content farms will oversexualize the most innocent of child-friendly characters in order to get views. FNF being for older audiences doesn't make it better.

cougar's channel has become nothing more than one of these farms. he just happens to be using a former friend's beloved character as a mascot, which only makes it worse.

it reminds me of the downfall of Gametoons and EnchantedMob, ngl. they used to make awesome videos with genuine effort and well-thought out plotlines. now their content is in a similar state. it's disgusting. the fact that cougar has let his standards devolve to this is abhorrent.

every artist has boundaries when it comes to fanart of their work. for such a renowned person in the FNF fandom, with such a large platform, to NOT make sure he isn't crossing those boundaries, and in fact actively disrespect them, sets a terrible precedent for future "big" mod devs to follow.

cougar absolutely cannot get away with this. too many other people in this fandom have, but this is something everyone has borne witness to. it is 2024, and we're sick of seeing this. we want every scrap of what we have left.

i honestly hope the remaining mod devs are doing alright. i haven't talked about them much but their experience working on Vs. Ex is no less valid. it's sickening that cougar took advantage of minors to finish all the work on their own so he could slack off. again, an ADULT could not be bothered to handle anything of the mod development, so he left it all to the rest of the team that he was leading, most of whom were MINORS.

cougar must be held accountable for his blatant disregard for Homskiy's boundaries, breaking his trust and using his beloved character against him. no one should forget how he exploited his underage co-devs to dump all the stress of finishing the mod on them.

Tabi's character is beloved to not only Homskiy and the other devs who actually worked on the mod, not only the Entity creators, but to all of us. everyone in the FNF fandom who has gone out of their way to make art for Tabi, everyone who has cared enough to even praise this art, to seek it out, we know this character's worth. we are the ones who value him.

the same goes for Nikusa, and Ayana, and every other character that he's reduced to shipping fodder and suggestive thumbnail art. I just hope outsiders and people who only know them through cougar's "dubs" will understand the same.

[hongherbac]

[Serizawa centric] The Humanity of S&S - Chapter 3

Read it on AO3

Chapter: 3/6

Fandom: モブサイコ100 | Mob Psycho 100 Rating: General Audiences

Non-Romantic Relationships: Seirizawa Katsuya & Reigen Arataka & Dimple

Summary: Serizawa got a frustrating phone call, and his power didn't like that.

CW: emotional blackmail

Chapter 3

"Hey, Serizawa, don't you think that's a little bit too much?"

Reigen's voice brought him back to reality. The evil spirits had long since been destroyed to ashes under his power, leaving only the original possessed wardrobe, which was gradually burning black from the center, and even began to smoke due to the psychic powers.

Serizawa quickly withdrew his hand, "Right, right, sorry! I was distracted!"

The client came back from outside, "Why are you apologizing? How's the exorcism going? Is everything okay?"

"Oh, no problem at all! The evil spirits have been completely eliminated." Reigen greeted the client with a big smile, "It's just that, after all, the evil spirits are the embodiments of the dead with lingering grudges. Even though they need to be purified and eliminated for the sake of the living, we still have to pay them some respect. You see, this scorch mark is evidence of the spirit's ascension."

"I see. Thank you very much."

Reigen and Serizawa were on their way back to the city. As usual, Reigen had asked the client for travel expenses, but in the end, they either walked or took the bus. They had a lot of time anyway, but their income was inversely proportional to it. In addition, Reigen had always complained that his physical fitness couldn't keep up with Mob. He said that he should exercise more during the day, while going straight to the ramen store after work. As a result, only these little bits of stingy transportation time could dig this  lazy, pre-middle-aged guy out of his chair.

"Serizawa, what's troubling you?" Reigen said casually with his hands in his pockets.

Serizawa was startled. But it's Reigen-san after all. Of course Reigen can see right through him. Serizawa had barely slept last night and had nightmares after he finally fell asleep. Now, there were still dark circles under his eyes.

"Reigen-san… what should I do when I start to doubt myself?"

"Why are you suddenly thinking of such a heavy question?"

"Um, for example," Serizawa struggled, "when answering multiple choice questions, there are always two options left, right? Say, I've already chosen the answer B, but when I go back and check, I start to feel uncertain, and I can't help thinking that I should have chosen the other one."

"Huh?"

Reigen was expecting some kind of bigger problem, not something as trivial as a pop quiz. Being so concerned about exams and grades, surely Serizawa was still just a junior high school student inside. It might seem trivial from an adult's perspective, but it was indeed the main focus of student life, and also an important source of confidence.

"Ah… I understand. That happens sometimes. And if I later realize that I made the wrong choice, I would feel so regretful and think that I should have chosen the other one."

"Yes! Besides, if I keep hesitating, time will just keep passing. I've already wasted a lot of time. It's scary to think that I might spend it on the wrong options again."

"Uh-huh. Time constraints can be very stressful."

"What would you do if it were you, Reigen-san?"

"Well, I've never really cared much about such things." Reigen scratched his head, "It doesn't really matter. It's just a small part of life. Even if you get it wrong this time, you'll learn from it next time, right? Your diligence, and the effort you've put in, won't be shaken by this. In any case, I won't look down on you for that."

"That's very wise, Reigen-san."

"No big deal." Reigen tried to play it cool, "Let's stop by a convenience store before we get back to the office. I'll buy you a snack. No more than 200 yen."

They passed by one. Reigen told Serizawa to go in first, as he needed to withdraw some money across the street because ATMs in convenience stores charged a service fee.

A cool breeze came from the refrigerated shelves. Serizawa relaxed. Every time he talked to Reigen-san, even if it was just for a few words, he felt relieved and his thoughts became much clearer. He felt a little guilty for his doubts and thoughts of quitting his job, as if the wavering had not only affected him, but also offended Reigen.

He browsed the shelves, each product beautifully packaged, all designed to attract customers. To others, they looked ordinary, but Serizawa liked them. It was amazing how many colors there were in the world.

Bzzz… Bzzz…

The cell phone in his pocket vibrated, and he took it out. It's Mom.

"Hi, Mom?"

"Katsuya, I heard you turned down the job offered by President Ito?"

Serizawa was so shocked that he almost dropped the phone. He felt as if his stomach had suddenly been hollowed out. He quickly asked, "How did you know about this?"

"Ito-san just called the house. His voice sounds so young, but he acts very mature. I wish you'd learn more from him."

"How did he get our house number?… No, forget it. What did he say?"

"You should be grateful. He said a lot of nice things about you, and he wanted to invite you to his company. But you didn't accept it! What were you thinking? It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet such an outstanding person who appreciates you so much."

"But, Mom, I'm really happy with my current job…"

"Katsuya, you are still such a stubborn child, just like always." A heavy sigh came from the other end of the line, "Mommy had never understood what you're doing… You say exorcism? How am I going to tell people about this? I can't even hold my head up outside. You should grow up. Stop thinking only of your own feelings. You have to look at the bigger picture."

"No, it's not just about the feeling! I'm not losing control of my abilities now. I can use my power to help others, and I'm doing something meaningful. My boss and co-workers were very kind, and they care about me."

"… You mean, that scary ability?"

Serizawa felt dizzy.

"Since you can control it, it's better to hide that dangerous thing."

"Mom, stop."

Clatter. Clatter.

"What do you mean, 'stop'? I'm saying it for your own good. Do you know how hard it is for Mommy? After your father left, and you became like that, I've had to handle everything at home alone. I've even thought of taking you with me."

"…"

"Then we met Suzuki-san. What a wonderful man, who took you out of your room, and taught you how to return to society. But just a few years later, you said, ‘I've made a mistake, I'm quitting,’ and started doing those strange things instead. It's all because your father was away, and I was too busy making money to teach you well. How else could I have raised such an ungrateful child?"

"It's not like that! You got it all wrong… Please leave me alone."

Clatter. Clatter.

"Why are you so mean to me?" The woman's voice sobbed slightly, "How could I possibly leave you alone? You're my son. Of course I want you to be happy. But you're always like this. Other people's children are taking responsibility for their parents. I don't want you to be like a normal person, but at least don't let me worry about you all the time, okay?

Serizawa was about to retort, but he swallowed his words when he heard his mother sobbing.

"Just go work for President Ito, alright? Mommy won't hurt you." Bzzz. "Let's quit your job today. It's work time. Your boss should be around. Give him your cell phone, and let Mommy talk for you-" Bzzz. “Katsuya, are you interfering with the signal? Mommy I…home…can you hear me…ahh…emd…“

Snapped. Serizawa closed the phone, his heart pounding wildly as he felt the blood rushing to his head.

-Bang!

The muffled sound of something falling made him look up, only to realize that all the items in the store were shrouded in a faint purple light, trembling uneasily and violently on the shelves, almost being shaken off the ground. It was the overflowing emotions that unconsciously activated his psychic power.

Serizawa hastily reached out his hand, trying to retrieve the energy. However, his hand was shaking. The energy is turbulent.

Don't shake. Control it, before you get everyone into trouble. He gripped the wrist with his right hand. Clatter, clatter, clatter. Things shook even more violently. Packages of potato chips fell to the ground, then floated back up. Other items also floated up slowly, and the rebar groaned as it was dented by a powerful force. Please, stop. Widening his eyes, almost panicked, he tried even harder to contain the whirlwind of energy, but it felt as if the power had a mind of its own, slipping through his fingers like a flood, hissing to be released. He knew what would happen next. A familiar sight that had long been absent. It was going to be bad. People would get hurt. They would scream, cry out in fear. So,he can't let that happen. He MUST control it.

He couldn't. Serizawa was almost exhausted, but  it seemed as if he had forgotten how to use his powers, like he was falling into a deep, black hole. On the contrary, the purple energy kept pouring out, on the verge of exploding. He was desperate, screaming helplessly inside. Please, stop.

Please, somebody stop me.

Whoosh-bang. With the sound of the umbrella opening, he felt a shadow rise above him, blocking out the blinding pale daylight and most of his vision. The world suddenly became a small place. The umbrella wrapped around him. It felt small, dark, bare, but simple.

Suddenly he could see nothing but the smooth, grayish-white fabric of the umbrella, and the expressionless face of Reigen.

Things fell back to the floor. Shelves creaked with relief, and lights wobbled. In the distance, there were some rapid footsteps and frightened gasps from the clerk. But under the protection of the umbrella, those sounds felt very far away.

"Are you all right, Serizawa?"

Reigen held an umbrella for both of them which he had taken from a bucket a few seconds before. His voice showed no emotion.

"Reigen-san, I…"

"I know. No need to explain now. Did you get hurt?"

"No."

"Good. Everyone is fine. It's just a few things falling off. Don't worry."

"Okay. I'm really, really sorry…"

"As I said, no need to explain now." Reigen gestured for them to head outside. As they passed the counter, Reigen put some bills and coins on the table, covering the cost of the umbrella.

They stepped out of the convenience store. The sun was shining, but it was cool under the umbrella. Cars were rumbling, and the crowds were milling. Muffled conversations blended into an indistinguishable white noise. Nothing was affected by the commotion in the store. Serizawa had always concentrated with a furrowed brow, giving his all. He must be facing some very difficult problems that even his psychic powers couldn't handle… No, at times like this, his strong power might be a burden instead.

Reigen had never seen him look so miserable. Even when he encountered the most powerful evil spirits, even when he was confronted with the uncontrollable and simply unbeatable Mob, Serizawa had always concentrated with furrowed brows, and gave his all. He must be encountering some very difficult trouble that even couldn't be handled with psychic powers… No, at times like these, his strong power might be a burden instead.

People couldn't hear when they were overwhelmed by emotions. Reigen patted Serizawa on the shoulder, told him to leave work early and get some rest. Serizawa replied in a low voice, took the umbrella from Reigen and walked away in a daze.

"We should have a chat tomorrow." Reigen muttered to himself.

Serizawa returned to his humble apartment. He inserted the gray umbrella into the bucket, right next to the old transparent umbrella he had been using for years.

He didn't turn on the light, and the curtains had been drawn for years. Though it was not yet night, the room was dim. Instead, he turned on the game console and picked up the well-worn controller. The screen lit up, with rough pixelated graphics flashing intermittently.

Game after game. Virtual characters never grew tired, but the person playing in reality did. Barely sleeping last night, Serizawa hunched over in front of the TV, feeling his body getting heavier and heavier, his eyes sore, his concentration breaking sporadically, and the mistakes becoming more and more frequent. The clock seemed to be moving very slowly, but when he looked back, it suddenly jumped a long way forward. He unwrapped a carton of drinks he had bought earlier, absentmindedly realized that he had forgotten to buy the snack. He also forgot to buy dinner. Even forgot to go to night school.

Serizawa rubbed his eyes, trying to refocus. It was not that he cared so much about the score of the game, but it filled his mind with those sound and light effects.

The night was getting late. The already unlit room did not seem to get any darker. The clock showed two-thirty. He really should go to bed - especially if he wanted to be able to go to work tomorrow. But a resistance overcame his reasoning. He started the next game again. And then the next. And then the next. It seemed that if he stopped to sleep, tomorrow would come right away.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow he would have to get out of his room, head to the office, and explain to Reigen-san about his loss of control and the early departure. He would have to call his mother and apologize for hanging up so rudely in the heat of the moment. He would also run into Ito-san at the night school, who would surely ask him about his considered decision.

Took a deep breath. He could do it. He had been helped by so many people, and he had come so far. He couldn't go back anymore.

He should leave his umbrella in his room, and walk out the door with just his briefcase. He could no longer rely on others, but had to face the world on his own, maturely and independently. A world that is so wide, so sprawling, without any boundaries.

He could do it.

He HAD to do it.

… Just one more game.