#not putting this in the general tag because I don't want to get assassinated :)

[starry-bi-sky]

DPxDC Masterpost

Almost all of my DPDC posts have the #Danny Fenton is Not the Ghost King tags, barring perhaps my earliest aus like my Thomas Wayne Au (which will be included in the post). This tag includes art i've made, asks i've answered, and non-fic au posts I've created. This is my main tag!

DPxDC posts under the main tag that don't have their own tag: Danny's Life-Changing Cross-Dimensional Roadtrip with A De-Aged Batman Danny is also Bruce Wayne (Starry goes back to their middle school roots) Danny being the first batkid (if i can get the creative juices flowing I will expand on this. mark my words) There is a Damian clone LOOSE in Amity Park. Oh wait, Danny's got him.

My Biggest DPxDC Aus #Danny Fenton is a Clone: all my posts talking about clone!Danny.

Clone Danny Masterpost: previously my pinned post. A no-powers au where Danny is also a clone of Bruce Wayne, also includes some clone^2

#Clone^2: Clone Damian + Clone Danny au combined, explores themes like identity, found family, and growing into your own as a person. Starting post Here.

#Childhood Friends Au or #Cfau: A childhood friends dead on main au that explores grief, how it may change a person, and how growing up in Crime Alley changed Danny. Contains heavier themes like smoking and mild violence.

#Danyal Al Ghul Au: Mostly contains my au where Danny is not Damian's twin, but his older brother! An excuse for me to delve into the psychological effects that growing up in the League would have on Danny that I don't really see in other DAG aus. Putting the 'assassin' in 'raised by assassins'.

My Minor DPxDC Aus Danny Fenton is Thomas Wayne: an oldie but a goodie! An reveal gone wrong au where Danny decides to go by his middle name 'Thomas' shortly after the events of TUE, and leaves Amity Park two years later. He finds out that Vlad cloned him again and finds an infant in the lab. Danny takes the baby, names him Bruce, and ends up adopted by the Waynes.

#Danny Fenton is Jason Todd au: An au where Danny is Jason Todd! He was adopted by the Fentons shortly after the events of the carjacking.

#Older Brother Danny: contains all of my aus where Danny is an Older Brother. This currently includes only my DAG posts but it's not limited to Danyal Al Ghul.

#Changeling Danny: a half-ghost? oh, wait, no. that's a changeling. even worse! Danny's got latent fey blood from a Fenton getting freaky with a faerie some dozen generations ago, and it reactivated with a fervor when he had his accident! Instead of a halfa, he became one of the Fair Folk.

#Blood blossom au: currently the name for the time being. A Nightingale/First Batkid au where Vlad poisons Danny with blood blossom extract, and it results in Danny running to Batman! Currently only one post, but it has a lot of branching pathways in the reblogs. Batdad centered!

#tales of the passerine: the official au name for my "Danny being the first batkid" post! This au is what inspired changeling Danny. It's the idea that Danny was the first to be adopted by Bruce, and features me favoring batdad over "lmfao Danny goes fuck you bruce and adopts the other kids" au. Because I want batdad.

(Nightingale is, so far, the official vigilante name for the Eldest Batkid Danny concept on my blog.)

#mother of monsters danny: specifically its mother of monsters dan but i digress. I was messing around with my fem!Danyal au and boom! Her evil timeline self is Layal, the terrifying Mother of Monsters who raises any manner of monstrous beasts. I love her <3

Bonus Excerpt: a ficlet I made in response to a DPxDC Dead on Main prompt! It's not under the main tag as I didn't make the post, however it can be found if you search #fem danny fenton on my blog. I actually really love this idea so I may make it its own tag in the future.

[magnusbae]

13 books

What’s up readers?! How about a little show and tell? Answer these 13 questions, tag 13 lucky readers and if you’re feeling extra bookish add a shelfie! Let’s Go!

Tagged by @cuubism Thank you!! 💖 Heads up: if you're tagged, you don't need to read it alllll even if you do want to participate 😌

1) The Last book I read:

I'm pretty sure it was Tress of the Emerald Sea, what a delight!

2) A book I recommend:

.... The Way of Kings... (The Stormlight Archive)

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

The second book of The Stormlight Archive, Words of Radiance had me by my throat like nothing else. wow. 👏🏻

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

Listen. I'll list something other than The Stormlight Archive just because this is getting embarrassing. The books I used to regularly reread were: HP, Eragon and Assassin's Apprentice. (full series rereads, crossing the 10 each) 😌

5) A book on my TBR:

I have a hefty amount of books I bought and never read. Ranging from classics to cheap fantasy-- but alas, my brain is fixated on the other author who doesn't disappoint me and so I just stick to his books XD

Some of the books sitting on my ineffective 'shame you into reading' shelf are: Captive Prince, the rest of the Wolfsong series, the.... shadowhunters books... the new trilogy about Fitz which I have in hardcovers yet never read. And some... others...

6) A book I’ve put down:

One of the reasons I am avoidant of taking on new books at all is because I have a very hard time putting down books I started. I'll suffer through entire series just for the few grains of gratification in the end. Or to... spitefullfy and confidently say it sucked balls.

However... three series managed to break me.

First being GoT, I just didn't manage to get through, not even 10 chapters. A true oddedity for me, but I just couldn't.

Second being The Witcher. I managed to power through like 4-5 books? And then I just couldn't do this to myself anymore. It was so, so, so not my vibe. (even while the pc game is about my most favorite game ever.) 🤷🏻‍♀️

And lastly, although I think I did finish the entire series before deciding that if ever a new book came out, I'll never read it, was the-- god what's the name of it... the First Law Trilogy – The Blade Itself etc from joe abercrombie. What a bleak series! Oh my god!

7) A book on my wish list:

My honest wishlist is just to keep on reading Brando Sando in my slow and enjoying-it phase... Although I admit that there's a large amount of those new spicy fantasy books apparently being released that shorts recommend and older folk rant about, so I naturally do want to check it out to see what's up with that but.... in truth... I just want to keep on enjoying Brando Sando XD

8) A favorite book from childhood:

I genuinely really loved Eragon. Oh and Artemis Fowl was all fun. I also really loved Tunnel in the Sky, like really.

9) A book you would give to a friend:

ngl it'll be an unapologetic The Way of Kings with big and passionate begging session of 'please give it a try' like for real.

In case any one of you is actually interested--- (you don't have to read this part) -inhales deeply-

The Way of Kings is a truly misleading book, that might leave you with the impression that the book is all about wars and kings but that is the furthest from the truth a description and a cover and a name can go.

It has fantasy, it has deep and rich world building, elaborate magic system that is deeply embedded into the story, culture and literal every single stone of the world. There's politics, culture, introspection, deep and varied characters, each reading like the main character of the story, having unique and vibrant personality and motivations.

It is not just a book, it is a work of true and deep love for the genre and writing in general. Beautifully done, enriching and enticing.

And what's most important for people who read too many books?

Hard to predict. It managed to pull the rug from underneath my feet in the most surprising and pleasing ways. Brandon writes in a way that is not 'shock just to shock' nor 'drama just for drama'. Every single scene is true, and forward. You always have everything right in front of you, the key is that you do not know how to put it all together just yet.

That can finally give that refreshing 'I don't know where it's heading but I'm enjoying the experience" I feel I had lost over the years, being able to recognize patterns too easily and predict writing intentions.

God, what a book! It does however have a rough learning curve, being such a massive world, it takes time to ease you in. Say about at least 5 chapters in at the minimum. On a personal note, I recommend the audiobooks read by kate reading and michael kramer, literally the best experience I've ever had, listening to those two bring to life every character and accent and scene, wow!

10) A book of poetry or lyrics that you own:

Come to think of it, I don't actually own any. Ha.

11) A nonfiction book you own:

I don't haha! Looking back, it's a lie, I have a few phycology books gathering dust in various hiding spots.

12) What are you currently reading:

........The Way of Kings....

13) What are you planning on reading next?

.....Words of Radiance.... haha. 😋

Y'all don't need to read all them answers in case you just want to answer it for yourself, or you can skip, too 😊😊😊

@mayhemspreadingguy, @pollyp, @nonbinary-nicolo, @msmongoose, @hardly-an-escape,

@ladymatt, @underacalicosky, @grapenehifics, @your-lordsherlockholmes-posts

@acedragontype, @palfriendpatine66, @heretolurkandnothingmore , @virahaus, @wallsinmyhead

@kittttycakes, @elcaballerodragon, @justsuffilike, @pumpkinkingsalem, @handahbear

@willameena

I am certain this is 13, I am certain. Cheers 💖💖💖

[freyjas-musings]

I think its come to a point where I have to clarify a few things.

To start with , to everyone who reached out , thank you I am doing ok, I am just busy, I have a lot of work related travel in the next two weeks and I am preparing for my deadlines and dealing with real life . I promise I am fine.

As far as people who have doxxed me and have put my username on display subjecting me to bullying and harassment, the irony of the entire thing is not lost to me .

The fact that Elriels accused me of threatening to subject someone to harassment, when I specifically did not mention any username or individual .... while simultaneously displaying my username not only on several public FB groups which I have SS of, but also in several posts on both Tumblr and Twitter is baffling . Don't they see that they literally did what they accused me of "wanting" to do?

Who is the only one who is being subject to harassment and bullying ? Me and somehow I am the person who is in the wrong here ?

Now , coming to the part of character assassination, this isn't about fictional characters or books anymore , these people have written horrible things about me as a person ... twisted something I said on a post which most certainly wasn't said in a serious manner its dumb to think it was ( How would someone force someone to write an English exam ? The entire thing was exaggerated and ridiculous) and have called me different things varying from a Psychotic bitch to a creepy person aka defamation thereby posing a threat to my emotional and mental well-being.

I have been in this fandom long enough and I have interacted with enough people that it should atleast give most people that I have interacted with a general idea of what I really am like.

I have mostly kept well away from Elriels , I don't engage with them in any manner if I can avoid it and I have gone ahead and blocked as many of them and their tags. So , I clearly have no intention of interacting with them irrespective of whether they are decent people or not , I simply don't see the necessity and its not my preference. This is the reason most of my interactions usually revolve around Gwynriels and they are the only ones I usually address even in my posts.

I am a part of this fandom for myself and I commission art because I like the creative aspect of it and I love interacting and supporting artists. This much everybody knows about me.

The locus of my identity is internal to me and my circle of validation is a total sum of 2 people - My husband and my child.

So for anyone who thinks they can bully me into going away from the fandom by twisting things and saying mean things about me... you are really wrong.

I honestly wasn't feeling right about BB milking the ship war and preying on vulnerable people while also not lending their support to artists who are integral to the fandom... which is why , I literally stated 2 days back that I would be stepping back from the SJM fandom till we have news on the next book.

But .....

If this is the sort of shit people try to pull with me then it's not about BB anymore, My priority now is bullies in the fandom. My priority is people who thought they could manipulate my people against me.....

I HAVE A FEW WEEKS OF WORK THAT NEEDS MY FOCUS BUT COME APRIL 21ST .... I AM COMING BACK ... WITH MORE CONTENT , MORE COLLABS , MORE GWYNRIEL INITIATIVES AND BETTER STRATEGIES AND YES I WILL BE BOOSTING SEVERAL GWYNRIEL ART PIECES ....CRY ME A RIVER

This is to Gywnriels, I will totally respect it if you guys would like to unfollow me based on the propaganda that's been in action by the Elriels. But seeing I have gained 15 followers in the last 2 days I am going to assume you guys truly understand what I am as a person and for that I am thankful and incredibly grateful 🙏. If you guys see posts of people displaying my username please report both the post and the blogger.

Now , I would like to go back to work because irrespective of who Azriel gets to fuck in the next book ... my work is what is important... its what feeds me and pays my bills.

[linkspooky]

oh mannn that cycle meta got me thinking (I love your metas btw) since the story is slowly wrapping up do you think that the story is going to end on a “the cycle is broken” note or more like… “the cycle is destroyed” note? I mean the whole jujutsu system is not only made up of the higher ups, it also consists of the big three jujutsu families, the zen’ins, the Kamos and the Gojos as Megumi mentioned in the goodwill event arc and they all desperately try to uphold the current system and keep the toxic cycle going, but I’ve been wondering… cause I don’t think killing kenny and sukuna is going to solve the entire problem (like at least to me these two are just using and toying with the current system. they don’t really seem to care about it, since they have their own plans) and now… well since maki annihilated the entire Zen’in clan, and THEN gojo (at least it was implied it was gojo, but who knows) killed the higher ups maybe there’s a pattern forming lolol so that only leaves the Kamos and the Gojos, so assuming once they’re gone (along with the heian boomers)… would that break/end the cycle? I mean I don’t think playing safe politics would ever work or really change anything, because the system only cares about upholding itself, so the only way to end is to completely destroy it..?.. but I don’t know

I'm not actually sure about whether or not the system is going to be truly broken by the time the manga is over, because you yourself said that both the higher ups and the Zen'in Clan have been purged now by someone slaughtering them, but... that's the exact kind of slaughter that Gojo was speaking out against and said would not work in the first ten chapters. For Gojo to suddenly approve of slaughter and the story to take that route in the end game is just odd.

We have not seen the fallout of Maki killing the Zen'in Clan and if there is actually going to be any consequences from that in-story, or if Gojo's even heard the news of that happening so it's hard to comment on that event.

However, we have witnessed the immediate result of the slaughter of the higher ups. ALl that ends up happening is Gojo places Gakuganji in charge instead, someone corrupt enough to organize an assassination of Yuji, and who killed Yaga under orders with no consequences.

Which is what Gojo warned of earlier in the first ten chapters, that if someone did bother to slaughter the higher ups, then the people who replaced them would not be much better. I'm going to borrow from some tags @hxhhasmysoul put on a post of mine.

Gojo wanted to raise strong and intelligent allies who would replace him as the next generation and a better alternative to the previous generation that's still currently in charge and holding onto power by sacrificing the youth.

However, he didn't raise them to do political reform of think for themselves about how things could be better, he raised them to be Mini-Gojos. Gojo's students for the most part do not look at Jujutsu Society as a whole, and use might makes right as justification for their actions. Gojo's students have declared on multiple occasions that they don't care whether or not what they're doing is right or wrong.

Gojo's students all call themselves cogs in a machine. He hasn't raised a set of political reformists, he's raised a set of kids who are all individually very strong, and also loyal to him. Which is like the underyling motivation of Gojo's goals all along of going with education to raise up pupils, he was always going to do this, just replace whoever was in charge with people he handpicked. Gojo's students not really caring that much about reforming the system isn't really a flaw in Gojo's plan, it's a feature.

Which is why when Gojo is sealed in the box, his students don't even try to defeat Kenjaku or Sukuna, their only goal is to get him out and let him take care of everything. Gojo's students are all ultimately loyal to Gojo's agenda because he raised them to be that way.

If Gojo dies against Sukuna however, it will show that Gojo's methods have failed and the main characters will have to scramble to find some other way of dealing with the problem. They'll no longer have "Just get Gojo out of the box" as the magical key to their problems. If there is going to be a big change in the story, it's probably going to be pushing things away from Gojo's individualist mindset. When Hakari is convinced to come with Yuji, Kirara mentions that despite hating the higher ups Hakari's always felt a strong connection to the people at Jujutsu High.

THe only reason that Gojo came out of the box in the first place, is a weak person who Gojo would write off as a random extra, saved Kurusu when she was falling off a building when all of his super strong students absolutely failed in that situation.

The most toxic attitude of sorcerer society is that individual strength means everything. Gojo hates the collectivism and tradition that requires people to continually sacrifice themselves for the collective good that keeps the higher ups in power, but collectivism isn't always a bad philosophy the same way that individualism isn't always good, they can both be taken to toxic extremes. The higher ups maintain their power through toxic ideas of collectivism requiring the sacrifice of others. Whereas Gojo's faction is the toxic extreme of individualism, which is why Maki, and then either Gojo or Yuta went on a murder spree with the elders. The true advancement from the toxic ideas of sorcerer society would be finding a balance between those two.

Which is probably where the real challenge in the manga is going to come, where Gojo's individual philosophy fails him and he gets either defeated, or just eaten by Sukuna and the kids finally have to learn how to function as a group instead of a loose collection of individuals. If Jujutsu Society is destroyed effectively by the end, then it's likely Gojo their biggest and most useful cog in that machine will perish alongside of it to make room for all of his students.

[graphx]

VOLTRON HIRAETH AU!!

(link to my page here :D) https://archiveofourown.org/users/GraphX

Basically a rundown of the plot I have planned so far! I will be writing and posting in order on AO3!

But there are some specific scenes I wanted to write because I don't have the patience or time to write everything in order(I'll be posting them here under the Hiraeth AU tag) THIS ENTIRE THING IS GEN BTW!!!

Hiraeth

(n.) a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for lost places of your past

• Allura from another reality goes quintessence crazy after defeating Haggar at the cost of the lives of the other Paladins

• She goes from universe to universe trying to gather enough quintessence to bring back her reality that she accidentally tore apart but only gets worse and worse the more quintessence she is exposed to

• In the current universe she experiments with quintessence and accidentally kills her parents along with Zarkon and Honerva. Villian!Allura turns the blame to the Galra, causing the Allura of this universe to wage war on them as the only successor to the Altean throne.

• Lotor tries to convince Allura that her other self is lying to her but she doesn't believe it, leaving Lotor to flee from the Galran commanders trying to kill him to gain the throne(he goes into hiding before organizing a resistance after meeting the other generals)

• Villian!Allura is concerned that the Paladins of this universe will try to stop her so she destroys Earth

• However prior to the Altean invasion the Kerberos mission took place with Sam and his crew consisting of Matt, Adam and Shiro(who are all 16/17 for plot reasons they were interns or something IT MAKES SENSE DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!!!)

• Sam, Matt and Shiro are kidnapped and sent to the arenas while Adam manages to steal a ship to get back to Earth, only to find it destroyed

• The Galran Empire remnants (who were already planning on attacking Earth and communicating with Sanda(who sent Sam away on Kerberos because she thought he would get in the way of her failed "negotiations" and hoped he was kidnapped) fight with the Alteans, leaving Earth in the crossfire

• The Blade of Marmora attempt a relief effort and get one billion people off Earth before it explodes, finding Adam and establishing a planet they can live on before leaving them to their own devices

• In this AU all the Paladins are kids when Earth got destroyed (around 6 to 8) and Keith's dad dies during the evacuation helping defend the transports from Alteans but Kolivan saw that Keith's dad had a Marmoran knife(that he didn't give to Keith at 8 years old)

• Kolivan takes in Keith as a Blade agent since he has no human to provide for him but he keeps his identity as a human secret from the rest of the Blades to ensure none of them snitch since the Alteans have offered a lot for humans

• Kolivan knows the knife was Krolia's but doesn't tell her since she already jeopardized the Blade of Marmora once by leaving for Earth and without the temptation of her son she won't leave again

• Keith(as you can expect) did not have a very happy childhood growing up in an organization of trained killer assassin ninjas which resulted in more ~trauma~

• On one of his missions he is captured by Galra and put in the areans with Champion!Shiro and Keith meets another human for the first time who shows him kindness and starts to question if the Blades are right

• Keith escapes from the Arena with the Blades but convinces Ulaz to go back for Shiro and he meets up with Adam in the human colony

• On another mission Keith runs into Lance, Hunk and Pidge who are searching for a supposed superweapon in an attempt to defend themselves from Alteans and Galrans that prevent them from leaving their hiding spot at the edge of the universe

• he thinks to himself "wow these guys are annoying and weird I sure do hope I never see them again" before the Blades immediately order him to find the superweapon to keep it out of human, Altean and Galran hands because they are unreliable

• Krolia helps track down information it and Keith notices that whenever she is bored she recites star charts (kinda like his dad used to do) and the constellations look eerily familar

• Keith gets hurt, Krolia finds out his identity and takes him to the human colony so he doesn't have to stay in the abusive Blade environment anymore

• When she tries to get Keith to colony they are tracked by Alteans and Krolia manages to trick the Alteans and Keith crash lands on the surface only to see the ship leaving

• now that all the paladins are in one place they protect the colony after going on a couple of missions to find the lions while Keith tries to track down the very elusive Blade of Marmora

Theres more to it than that, BUT that's all for now!

[onomatopiya]

writer tag game!

hiiii thank you @avi-why for tagging me this game seems so fun :D

1. is there a common piece of writing advice that you disagree with? alternatively, is there one you think (generally) most people should follow?

oooooh okay! generally i dislike any hard absolutes like "don't use adverbs ever" because i mean. no piece of advice like that will ever be universal and it's important to consider what Your Piece of writing needs rather than trying to fit a set of ~arbitrary guidelines~

as for advice i think works, i think consistency in writing will always be key to improvement. i like. very heavily stagnated in actual writing after covid (i was like. good lord i was 15 then. wild) because i got bogged down trying to make my book Perfect. and i think if i had actually written more during that time i would be a much better writer now! more writing = more improvement and practice makes pretty damn close to perfect etc etc

2. you can have dinner with any author, living or dead. but the catch is that after the dinner, you and that author will team up against a third writer in a no holds barred cage match throwdown. which 2 authors do you pick?

OOOOH ok. i'm currently very enamored with andrew joseph white and lee mandelo's writing because they both write GORGEOUS prose so maybe one of them? OOO or r.f. kuang . i think tolstoy should get got in the cage match. cry old man

3. have you ever experimented with poetry, plays, or screenwriting? what was the result?

YES i have and now i have a web series. help girl this was not supposed to be longer than a short fiction piece and yet. also shameless self plug you can read my web series about a dead girl haunting her own narrative HERE: https://gloryburning.substack.com/

i do want to experiment more with poetry though!!! that's one medium i haven't really dipped my toes into so to speak

4. what type of rancid twitter discourse would your current wip generate?

oh god what discourse WOULDN'T rr spark. i definitely think having an aroace mc weaponize someone else's attraction to him is probably um. discourse worthy. my top fear is that someone unironically ships lahar (romance and sex repulsed aroace) with anthony (horrible white savior who has no semblance of self) some other notable things that happen in the book:

diversity loss the capitalist kendall roy ass character (anthony) is gay

people of color get to KILL

ruh roh! tragedy :(

horrible horrible body augmentations with dangerous and ableist implications

so much murder. so much assassination. god bless

5. what author would you love to be compared to? what author would you hate to be compared to?

OOOOOOH . uhhhh i love so many authors oh god. i do love neil gaiman i would be so floored if someone compared me to that guy. OH and terry pratchett . probably would not want to be compared to like. jkr. booooo

6. design the ideal piece of merch/swag for your wip.

oh this one is so me bait. i have serious merch and then deeply unserious merch

7. free space: what's one thing you really want to talk about in your writing that no one ever asks about?

I LOVE soulmate horror and just. idk taking different concepts and hitting them with my aroace beam. i love aroace horror i love aroace people. and i think there should be more weird aspec fiction

and question time. putting them below the cut along with tags

what's the first story you can remember writing? how does it compare to the way your writing has evolved? where do you see your writing going in the future?

what parts of yourself (if any) have gone into your current wip? alternatively, how would you fare if you were suddenly dropped into your own wip?

what's one quality of your writing that feels completely unique? what's one thing you want to improve upon in the future?

make or share a meme that you feel captures the essence of your wip.

what are your goals as a writer? do you want to publish? is your writing for your eyes only?

which of your characters is your favorite to write and why?

free space: feel free to be self indulgent--do you have any aus or your wips? if so, what, and if not, what aus/fanfic would you write of your work?

tagging: @macywrites, @cream-and-tea, @saltwaterbells, @coffeeandcalligraphy, @wren-is-writing, @encrucijada, @snowinks, @chayscribbles, @cuntylittlesalmon, and anyone else who wants to do this

[the-promise-has-been-made]

Okay it was in my tags before but now I think about it more Rebel Moon could actually have been a really great first season of a TV Show?? So please consider, with all the spoilers: Rebel Moon Mini Series season one, A Child of Fire:

Episode 1 - We are introduced to Kora, a mysterious woman who recently arrived in a small farming community on Veldt. We are given exposition on the community, learn of her tentative bonds with the community, with the village father, with Ven the hunter, with Gunnar, and there are always hints of something off about her, but it is not spelled out just yet. Then the Dreadnought arrives, and she is like 'well fuck I am out of here' but the village father convinces her that they will make this work, and that she should stay - stay low, but stay - and she does, because she likes these people. Of course things go tits up IMMEDIATELY and now she's killed a whole platoon of soldiers, the village father is dead, and in 10 weeks, the Empire will return, take all their food and probably slaughter everyone. Kora wants to leave, but Gunnar begs and pleads with her that he has contacts within the resistance, and can find them help, but can't get there alone and needs her help and once that's done she can leave and will never have to look back. So she does, because that guy is so innocent and he wouldn't survive half a day out there on his own. They set out together. We also get the Sam and Jimmy scene in this episode, and Jimmy's exposition about the assassination of the royal family.

Episode 2 - This episode opens with the resistance of the Bloodaxe twins (were they twins, I honesty don't remember) taking out some empire freighters or whatever, some way to get food for their people and also weapons. It's a victory, it's a cool space scene, where the tactical skill of the twins is highlighted. There are no losses, it's a clean victory, and it has Noble in FITS. This is where we are first introduced to the twins. Cut to Kora and Gunnar who reach Providence, and it's like a cheesy western movie. On the way there, we had just a brief conversation about Kora's past - she was a soldier, had quite a high rank - nothing specific yet. We are introduced to the bounty hunters and their prisoner (Gunnar's contact) as a 'remeber this, it'll be important later' kind of drop, we don't see Kai exchange money with them, but see them buy him a drink or something, or vice versa, just a 'harmless' interaction. Saloon fight breaks out, Kai gets involved, they make their escape in his ship, he offers to take them off world. With Gunnar's contact to the twins lost, it is revealed he actually doesn't know them at all, so they go with their second best choice, the disgraced General Titus. Kai has to make a few stops along the way, for business - nothing about picking up people on the way, just 'business' - it's implied he's a smuggler and picking up contraband, but Gunnar and Kora don't care bout his activities because they are like 'if he does illegal shit he'll likely not want to get caught, and we don't want to be caught either'. Meanwhile, we also have a look back at the village, where Jimmy is undergoing some kind of awakening after the scene with Sam. Also there, that young soldier kid who was the only decent one is becoming a bit of a figure - he helps prepare the town for the inevitable horror that is to come, he teaches them to defend themselves (just because you can't wield a sword laser gun, doesn't mean they won't make you die by it, might as well put up a fight). Sam is the first to come to him about this, because she never wants to feel so helpless and scared again. And if yall wanna be horny, sure, we can include some tentacle porn with Noble, cause why make the show any less horny than the movie was? Its while he learns of the attack by the Bloodaxe twins or something.

Episode 3 - Starts off somewhere else entirely, and we get the backstory of Tarrak I can't speak to because we don't goddamn know it! He's a prince of somewhere? Guess his people were subjugated by the Empire, his family killed, he was sold into slavery, something like that, and ends up chained to that forge place. We see some scenes of his life there, and the arrival of the griffin (Bennu?). Basically the plot of Spirit, we see these two secretly connect, whenever he can get close enough. It's a very quiet episode, not much speaking, just gentle bonding between man and animal, because he's the only one who treats Bennu like a being with feelings and not some wild beast. Enter Kora and the boys. Kai is having dealings with the guy whose name I forgot, but Kora notices Tarrak and asks why he's chained up. They are about to leave when she gets into betting with the guy about Tarrak's freedom, but we already know Tarrak and Bennu have bonded. Still, it is tense, because there's a difference between giving pets in quiet moments, and actually riding a giant winged creature with a beak and claws like swords. But of course he does it, because he's awesome. They are about to leave when Bennu breaks free, kills the guy and catches up with them because she is bonded to Tarrak now (logistic wise, I know she probably can't go on the ship but I just want them together, the shirtless man needs his flying horse bird! And also you got a goddamn GRIFFIN and don't use her for the rest of the movie?? WHY?!!!). Meanwhile, Noble is investigating the twins, and has footage of them making trade with Gunnar, so he's like 'this fucking guy?! Lied to my face?!' and he checks in on Veldt and learns that his men on the ground there were all killed. No one he saw in that barn could do that, but he remembers seeing Kora and he's like 'wait where have I seen her before?' and he goes through records, and lo and behold, he finds her file in the most wanted database and we see her real name (including something that identifies her as Balisarius' ward) and we're like '??? What does it mean?!'

Episode 4 - Again, we start with some backstory on a new character, a nameless woman who's children are killed - by the empire? We dont knwo because the fuckn movie didn't tell us shit about her other than that she lost a kid??? Then we cut to the ship, and some lighthearted banter between the current crew, Kora, Gunnar, Kai, and Tarrak, and Bennu tearing up the cargo bay and being adorable. Gotta establish some friendships! Tarrak and Kora teasing Gunnar about being too sweet, Kai and Gunnar swapping recipes, Kai and Kora being slightly flirty, Tarrack singing songs from his homeworld to Bennu and the others listening in while they work, that sort of stuff. They make a stop on another world for businesss Kai has to do, but find the city is in disarray, talk of a monster. The group goes to investigate, and learn a child has been taken. Kora - flashing back to another child dying on her watch - can't look away, and goes to find out more, against the advice of the others. They arrive just in time as Nemesis goes to confront the creature. Hers is a name only whispered in fear and reverence, the greatest assassin of the known universe, that sort of stuff, and we see her in action - but she isn't violent, she talks with the monster, tries to sympathize with it, as she, too, has lost children, and knows revenge and justice are often only separated by a thin and blurry line. Still, it comes to combat, and Gunnar swoops in to save the child while Nemesis fights and Kora runs distraction. The creature is killed, but it is not celebrated. Nemesis is heartbroken over it, because she understands this creature - because she WAS this creature, in the time when she was fuelled by her greatest rage and grief. When she learns that the party is looking for help to protect a town full of innocent people (including children) from the empire's indiscriminate slaughter, she wordlessly joins them as they leave. She's just there now, making herself comfortable without a fuss. Meanwhile, Noble finds out from his prisoner where the Bloodaxe twins were hiding last and he's like 'guess we're paying a visit to King Levitica'. We see the bountyhunters he dealt with leave, and they go through their newest contracts and we see there is a message from *gasp* Kai.

Episode 5 - Starts with Veldt, and we see what the hell is going on with Jimmy right now. He's experienceing nature. He's going on a full on druidic pilgrimage. He builds idols to the Princess out of leafs and twigs and we see flashbacks in his meditations, of the Princess bringing the bird back to life. And we hear the King say that iconic line about her bringing a kinder future for the universe, and him entrusting her safety to the one spoken to and we think it's Jimmy but then it's revealed to be Kora! And we see Kora being like this big sister figure to the Princess and then a harsh cut to Kora standing in shock over the dead bodies of the royal family, with blood on her hands and like did SHE do it or?! and then she wakes up back on the ship to the crew bickering while Nemesis is somewhere in the vents, eating an apple and watching them like it's reality TV and the most entertaining thing she's seen in half a century or however old she is cause honestly, she's probably a cyborg? we arrive on Pollux and go to the arena to speak with Titus and he's asleep/drunk in a ditch and has no interest in going with them because he is disillusioned and disgraced and all that, so how do we get him back on his feet? we appeal to his honour and his glory and somehow we end up in the arena fighting him and showing of his skills, and he has a particular grudge against Kora and they beat each other bloody and he accuses her of killing the Princess and she's like 'If I had done that I would have killed myself, if you think I could have done that then kill me right now!' and it's honestly emotional and they bond over both having believed in the future she would have meant for the universe and being betrayed by what the believed in, what they fought and killed for. And once they got it out of their system, Titus agrees to join them to protect Veldt. Back on the ship, Gunnar is like 'what the hell??' and THIS is when Kora reveals to him, and only to him, who she really is, but then we cut to Kai who's been listening in because it's his ship and there's no privacy, but also Nemesis was in the vents listening in on HIM listening in on them so she is like what is that guy up to?

Episode 6: The group meets with the Bloodaxe twins and their army. Negotiation begins and they're like 'we got our own food supply line now (as established in an earlier episode), we don't need your grain, why should we help you?' But Gunnar is convincing, and then Kora and Titus chime in and Darrian is like 'shit these guys are exactly what we were not so long ago, just little people tired of being target practice for the Empire, if we don't support them then what even is our cause??' So yeah, just as in the movie, he and his volunteers join them and now we got him and a bunch of resistance fighters with their ships ready to go. He joins our crew, his sister takes the remainder of their army and leaves to find a new hideout because they are certain it's just a matter of time before they're found by someone who has less than good intentions. As if on cue, we see Noble standing over King Levitica, surrounded by his dead people, but he's not even interested in finding them anymore, he's just like 'you were hiding them from our benevolent regent, and for that you gotta die' and beats him to death with his big stick. Back on the ship, the crew sits down for a shared meal, swapping battle stories, comparing scars, bonding (think, the cheese heist lasagna dinner on the Rocinante in season 2 of the Expanse). It's genuinely lighthearted, people are optimistic, they are a strong team, Veldt will be fine! Throughout the entire episode, we see Nemesis trying to get a moment with Kora, but somehow Kai is ALWAYS there. Kai explains he has to make one more business stop before returning to Veldt. As in the movie, they are unloading some cargo in the rain, but something seems off. Nemesis also moves to Kora, slips her a message that just says 'he knows', and she looks up at Kai, she sees him with the bounty hunters, meets his eye and his 'nothing personal' and the trap springs, too late for them to react. Several of Darrian's soldiers are killed immediately, Kora, Nemesis, Tarrak, Titus and Darrian are all shackled and disabled. Kai reveals that originally he had no intention of selling them out but then they kept collecting high profile outlaws and he thought 'actually might as well??' but then came the cherry on top when he realized who Kora really was and how could he NOT? A man's gotta survive, right? The whole spiel about 'I was just like you but there is no justice in the universe and you should have learned that by now'. He offers Gunnar to join him, promises it'll work out better for him. Gunnar refuses, cause he's honorable that way, and Kai calls him naive. From then it plays out pretty much like in the movie: Darrian dies taking down the Dreadnought, Kora has her big fight with Noble, Gunnar kills Kai for betraying them and almost getting Kora killed, the crew fights as a team because they have forged bonds while travelling together. Bennu also comes out and Tarrak is now a mounted combatant, picking off soldiers like fish in a barrel. When the dust settles, the nameless resistance soldier that is now apparently on the team is mourning their fallen comrades and Darrian (this is their origin story?), and Nemesis, Titus and Tarrak comfort them, telling them their sacrifice means nothing if they stop the fight now. They take the ship, tossing Kai's body overboard with the obligatory 'knew that guy was shady from the start!' and they return to Veldt. Jimmy sees them return, the village has started to fortify, and they approach through the fields on their horse-aliens - except Tarrak, who rides Bennu. The final scene is the imperials retrieving Nobles body and hooking him up to that whatever machine, but we don't see him interact with Balisarius at all, we just see him pop back to life and his first new gasp of breath cuts away to the end credits.

[sophieinwonderland]

Dang did you know the system behind KipAndKandiCore had been traumatized due to people spreading rumors about them in the past? I follow their multiplicity account and it looks like they were badly triggered and ultimately hospitalized due to the false accusations you made about them.

Will you apologize? Looks like they never reported EeveeCraft at all (they said as much on their blog), but you said they did? Also is it true that you block evaded to view their blog?

It’s really scary to see that a blog I follow had the owner of another blog I follow sent to a crisis unit. I really hope the system that runs KipAndKandiCore (and Multiplicity-Positivity) are okay! It’s not good to make assumptions about other people. You never know what they’ve been through and how they’ll handle being lied about!

I wish that systems weren’t so quick to judge other systems. And I especially wish that systems wouldn’t say things about other systems that they aren’t even sure are true. Looks like you really hurt that system with your words… Yipes!

I’d like to know if you plan on apologizing. Because if you’re not, I don’t want to follow you anymore. What you did was really hurtful and I’m so scared that something like that could happen to me too!

I'm sorry that things got to this point. And I sincerely wish them them a speedy and healthy recovery.

I used to enjoy seeing their posts. We weren't friends exactly. Never really interacted outside of public reblogs. But their posts always put a smile on my face.

Then around December they started reblogging posts attacking me. In May, they @'d me, calling me transphobic and bigoted. They've accused me of supporting zoophilia. Actually, in the same exact post where they tagged Eeveecraft while having Eeveecraft blocked and accused Eeveecraft of being racist, they attacked me and Cambrian Crew, calling them a longtime ableist, and repeated the zoophilia line and called me a "proud racist." (I don't think classifying me as a "promoter of transX" is accurate either, just because I've listened to the transX community and am generally neutral on the subject. But I'm also not too offended by that one. 🤷‍♀️)

I would hope someone with trauma relating to people spreading false rumors about them would be more careful doing the same to others.

For the record, I didn't do that.

I said they attacked Eeveecraft, because yes, their post is attacking them. They may not see their character assassinations and accusations as personal attacks, but I certainly do. And I think many others reading that post would as well.

I also never said they reported Eeveecraft. Someone asked me if I knew falsely reported them, and I said the following:

Sorry, I have no clue who was responsible for falsely reporting them. 🤷‍♀️ The problem is that it really could have been anyone. When I said “attacking,” I’m referring to the fact that this happened shortly after an argument with Kipandkandi hurling accusations of racism at them. Could they have falsely reported @/eeveecraft? Maybe. Not long ago, they reblogged a post I made that called out SAS’s hypocrisy on posting screenshots of Tumblr posts, and tagged it with “#sophie get banned challenge.” So would they be willing to report someone who said something they didn’t like, even if it didn’t violate any rules? I think so. But just because it’s something they’d be willing to do doesn’t mean it’s something they did.

I then went on to list other possibilities.

My belief is that Eeveecraft wouldn't have been banned were it not for them instigating anti-tulpa rhetoric and tagging Eeveecraft in a post accusing them of being racist that made it easy for potential harassers to reach them, despite knowing Eeveecraft had them blocked.

If you look at Kipandkandi's blog though, you will find months and months of attacks against me. Some made directly by them. Some reblogs of attacks against me. Reblogs of reblog of my own posts. And that's not to mention the callout post on their positivity blog.

I'm not sorry that I mentioned them twice after months of enduring constant damaging personal attacks and character assassinations from them in silence.

I'm sorry things escalated to this point. I'm sorry I ignored a problem and let it fester until now. Maybe addressing things earlier would have been better. Maybe I should have talked to them a long time ago. Maybe I ignored things too long and that's how we got here.

But as for what I posted now...

I would ask anyone out there how they would feel and react to an account that is constantly spreading rumors about them, attacking them, reblogging posting attacking them, calling for them to get banned, etc.

How would that make you feel? How would you respond?

Because personally, I think I've shown a great deal of restraint through this. More than most people would in the same situation.

It hurt, but I bottled everything up and let all of the constant personal attacks slide off for months, only actually acknowledging them when they switched their focus to attacking other members of the tulpamancy community like Eeveecraft and Cambrian.

I never want to hurt anyone. But I'm also not going to remain silent while they hurt the community and people I care about.

If you don't want to follow me because of that, then that's your right.

But I wanted to give you the context and let you make your own decisions.

Having said all of that, I really do wish them the best. I'm angry and frustrated with them. I've been confused why they seemed to develop such a deep, personal hatred of me over the past months. But I don't hate them. I genuinely still care about them and want them to be happy, healthy and safe.

[kassandras-one-braincell]

hi!! i was wondering if you have any general advice for someone who wants to start posting their work on ao3? or i guess if you would advice me to do that at all lol! i saw your recent post about it in relation to the ai stuff and found it so useful since i don't usually see people talk about that, thank you for sharing <33

Hi love! Please don't let the current AI situation on AO3 dissuade you from joining the platform. In all honesty, I think the scrape was a cheap attempt at obtaining credentials for identity theft using the illegitimate DMCA forms, rather than something done for software training purposes. I'm pretty sure Cloudflare, its hosting platform, has taken action against it.

My humble advice is contained below the cut, because it's quite long, but there's a bit of a learning curve with the posting page and a couple of unspoken customs:

The bulk of everything you need to know about posting on AO3 is contained in the ToS, which hopefully will help you navigate the "post" menu. If you're unsure whether a warning applies, select "Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings" just in case.

There's no algorithm, so all that readers have to go by is the (excellent) tagging system and the summary you provide.

If you struggle with summaries - most of us do - then a snippet of the work is perfectly sufficient. Ultimately, the summary is a preview of your writing, and if you opt for the excerpt approach, your style, which is your only chance to attract readers.

Tagging is a little bit intimidating the first few times as a writer, but you'll get the hang of it soon enough! Asides from central characters and pairings, this is the place to disclose the genre of the work, any key/polarising themes and/or triggers. You're not obligated by ToS to disclose these, but it's a gesture of goodwill if you know it might upset someone. If there is a disturbing theme present, include the tag "Dead Dove Do Not Eat" - this is the colloquial indicator for the reader to very carefully reread the tags, because they're to be taken literally.

When you begin to type a tag, you'll be given suggestions of the most widely used tags that match what you've typed. If the shoe fits, use these. It makes the site easier to navigate for readers. If you're spawning a tag into existence though, it will begin to appear in that little drop down after there are three works on the archive containing the tag. I know this because I was the first (and second, third and fourth lmao send help) person to upload "Soma (Assassin's Creed)/Reader" to AO3 :)

You have the option of uploading your work in the designated editor as Rich Text or HTML. The only significant difference between them is how page and paragraph breaks are formatted. If you're copy-pasting from a word processor, slap it in Rich Text, and then if you want to do anything fancy after that outside of the scope of the Rich Text editor, you'll be able to make adjustments in HTML.

While you can save a draft, the text editor is not designed to be a substitute for word processing software. There is no editing history or backup feature, so it's ill-advised to develop your work directly on the platform.

Finally, with all the technical stuff put to one side, try not to fret over metrics like hits and kudos. It's lovely to receive kudos and comments, but smaller numbers aren't indicative of your work in any way, shape or form. There are so many factors at play there, and sometimes just the time of publication can have a huge impact on reader engagement, precisely because there's no algorithm to bolster or suppress.

Take pride in your work, and keep the dopamine as isolated as possible from the thought of big numbers. I promise you, it will keep the passion alive for longer :)

join us

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[dirty-bosmer]

Hello! Random question that floated to my mind... Early in The Illusionist part 2 Nim is just going about her life, generally avoiding Lucien, but he is completely obsessed with her anyway. Do you think there is anything she could have done to put him off?😆 Is there any way he could have got bored and moved his attention to someone else?

Eeeeeheeeheee, thank you for asking 😈 I don't often talk about their relationship dynamics publicly beyond the occasional shit-post I add to their Lucien/Nim tag because they embarrass me LMAO I used to fear I would be shunned for how gross-nasty and unredeemable they are, so what a pleasant surprise that I have found a handful of like-minded individuals who are willing to indulge in this awful, messy disaster-ship with me 💕

Now to get to your question: you're very right, even before the Sheogorath madness kicks Lucien in the rump, he is a very foul flavor of unhinged. I can't really see it having gone another way for Nim because she's a try-hard lol but probably the most obvious way she could have avoided becoming the object of his obsession would be if she had been a worse assassin.

Lucien doesn't strike me as the type to suffer fools, and despite her indifference toward their covenant, he quite admires her skill. At some point in the fic, Vicente mentions that Nim is not at all Lucien's type primarily because she doesn't give a shit about Sithis and finds the DB lame, and I think if she sucked at her job, he would have written her off completely as a waste of his time.

So maybe if she had shirked her contracts and said, "the Night Mother sucks and Sithis smells," earlier on, he would have been incredibly put off. Also she could have, you know... stopped killing people after the first few times 😅 I wonder if the DB is open to their newbies being like, "hmm you know what, not for me." Maybe they could have parted ways amicably.

Anything else she could have done... hmmm. As I've written Lucien, he is not a man capable of Love™️ beyond his very twisted definition of it. He gets very bored when his affections are actually returned, and if Nim had pined after him the way his previous Silencer and Antoinetta did, he would have lost interest extremely quickly. Man is a predator through and through; he lives for the hunt. No challenge, no fun.

But even after they first sleep together, he has to try so damn hard to get her attention, and despite his best efforts, she really can't care less about his nasty dungeon-dwelling ass 😭 Nim is always pining after someone else, and Lucien is not used to being rejected. If anything, it only further fueled his desire to win her over, and he was super into the novelty of Nim disregarding him as an insufferable sex-pest. I guess they both share a streak of masochism in that sense (also he really leaned into the role, huh. I guess he got what he wanted, but at what cost 👀)

So if their first fuck hadn't been fueled by bloodlust and hatred, maybe he would have been like, "eh."

This reminds me though— I have a bunch of scraps written about Lucien and Elianna that never fit into the fic. It basically documented Lucien getting sick of what his life with Nim had devolved into. The toxic cycle of him abusing his power over his Silencer's repeats, but it doesn't even bring him the old satisfaction because he's too busy being mad that Nim isn't even jealous 😠

Oh my god, just typing that out makes me feel absolutely INSANE. These two are RANCID. Unfortunately, I love it and will be playing my part in adding to the toxic murder relationship pool.

Thank you again my friend for this opportunity to rant about my most beloathed couple <3

[krankittoeleven]

Fanfic Tag Game

Thank you thank you for the tag @brasideios! I think some things have changed since last time I did this and there's some new peeps around so here we go!

1. How many fics do you have on AO3? 18

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 226,152

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently JJK, Trigun, Assassin's Creed and Final Fantasy 12 (LMAO) are fandoms I have fics in progress for that will likely see the light of day. That's generally what I consider a fandom I "write for".

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. But Like a Refugee (Trigun 98, Vashwood, E) 2. Because the Night (Trigun Stampede, Kniveswood, E) 3. we were hungry before (JJK, Nanago, E) 4. Sweets for the Sweet (Trigun 98, Vashwood, T) 5. a prelude to infinity (JJK, Nanago, M, WIP)

Jeez, Trigun and JJK really just told all my other fandoms to move over lol

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yep 99% of the time. If I miss something it's not intentional.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't really think I have one posted at the moment. I usually resolve my angst or give a fic at least a hopeful ending. Some things coming down the pipeline might fit in future iterations of this post, though. lol

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Sweets for the Sweet, probably. It's pure, unadulterated Vashwood fluff.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not specifically on AO3, but I've gotten anon hate here (that seems fic related) and I just snort, delete and move on.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, these days I tend to write fairly explicit but still vanilla sex. Haven't felt like writing anything particularly wild lately, but not against it.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I wrote a GO/Cosmic Horror fic ages ago that is lost to time and space (fried hard drive and purges). Other than that I have started a ton of crossovers but never finished any. I am however nearing the completion of a Trigun/JJK crossover (Midvalley the Hornfreak/Nanami Kento for the 2 people in the world this might interest LOL) It was supposed to be crack for cracks sake but it became crack treated seriously. LMAO

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No I don't think so.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not yet, but maybe soon?! Got asked for permission in regards to we were hungry before, so we'll see if that happens! :D

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

No but wouldn't be adverse to it. I've done writer/Artist collabs before, though.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I refuse to pick only one, deal with it. :D Kenren/Tenpou (Saiyuki Gaiden), Ineffable Husbands (GO), Vashwood (Trigun), Kakairu (Naruto), Shaytham (AC Rogue), Ubba/Vili (AC Valhalla), Nanago (JJK), Balthier/Basch (FF12), Ignoct (FF15). Throughout every fandom I will apparently fall face first into the ground for any variation of the stoic introvert/excitable extrovert pair.

15. What’s a fic you’d like to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I will not doom any of my WIPS to that fate. I remain optimistic that I'll finished them all.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Writing dialogue, banter & humor.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I know I have plenty of technical weaknesses with writing, but my true weaknesses are just not executing the idea I started with and terrible follow through/commitment to finishing.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

Whatever someone wants to do with their fic is fine by me. I do what I need to do to get certain points across.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Saiyuki

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

We were hungry before (JJK, Nanago, E) and Water of Life (AC Valhalla, Ubba/Vili, E, WIP) because I've put my blood sweat and tears into both of them (lots of tears, for real). Also, they both take me home (JJK, GetoNanaGo, M) because, for once, a fic turned out EXACTLY like I wanted it to.

I will tag @madnessmadness, @beelzebby666, @lifewtr, @akashadarkblade, @troublemakingrebel, @vault-heck. I think most of my other writing mutuals have been tagged. If I missed you feel free to join in, I've truly lost track of who does and doesn't write these days.

[protagonistheavy]

Worst episode of X-Files so far: First Person Shooter. An episode about a "first person shooter" which is in fact a pseudo-VR PvE laser tag. This has every writing element you could imagine from a late 90s-early 2000s drama that wants to make a plot out of video games but doesn't know anything about them. So many parts of this episode are so outright cringe that it can't even be forgiven for simply being a product of its time, it's too lazy to be given that excuse.

Some cringe parts of this episode:

In general the special effects are cringe. X-Files normally makes due with high quality SFX, but since it's a video game world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they decided it was okay for every SFX to look terrible. Flat explosions, overdone CGI, the works.

They hire a Japanese gaming "guru" to playtest the game, exhibiting the usual tropes of "guy who's really good at All video games because the writers think all video game skills are translatable between games."

The plot itself is Scully and Mulder get trapped in the video game but despite constantly being monitored in the physical space, no one knows or is fully aware that they go missing somehow.

The villain is a hypersexualized assassin dominatrix woman, which is cringe on its own, but it turns out she got into the game because the female developer was developing her as a female power fantasy to counteract the "testosterone culture" she was surrounded by. Cringe on several levels, but its disappointing that the writers had a chance to explore women looking to explore power fantasies in video games but instead just made it sort of a joke without seriously exploring it.

At least five minutes of the episode is just Mulder and Scully shooting at clones of the villain, the villain shooting at them, and the other characters having the most pointless and uneventful argument. Five minutes of cutting back and forth between people shooting guns, interspliced with people repeating themselves over and over. Holy shit.

Nothing gets even a vague explanation. Nothing is haunted, nothing is alien, we're just supposed to go through this episode believing a video game became possessed by a 3D model of a stripper and is now killing people IRL through means that never get explained -- not even a mystical explanation, "oh the VR is so real that they imagine getting shot for real and die," that doesn't work because someone's hands literally get cut off. It's so fucking stupid, it's just stuff happening for the sake of a very stupid plot about a technology and culture the writers don't understand.

But they understand the culture well enough to want to make these big comments on it, "oooh humans are just so violent and impulsive, especially men, men just need outlets for violence in a civilized society."

We only see two levels of this game. The first level is a open alley in a city where you shoot people on motorcycles. The second level -- said by the developer to be so challenging that no one has ever beat it, great job dev, you made the game impossible to beat by the second level and you ship the game this week -- is just cowboy themed. You go from shooting up "cyber-thugs" to playing Mad Dog McCree in VR. (No wonder the second level was impossible to beat.)

The name of the development team is First Person Shooter. I legitimately think the writers didn't understand that First Person Shooter is the name of the genre, and just assumed it could be the name of a company that makes VR arcade games.

It was cool for 2 seconds when Scully enters the game and she has a huge gun but that's the bingo free space, any episode is better with Scully holding a huge gun. Other than that I have nothing to enjoy about this episode lol. According to the trivia, they were working on this episode hours before it aired, yeah maybe they shouldve just put on a rerun.

[cassynite]

OC Tag Game

I was tagged by @dujour13 and @spyridonya for this, thank you both for thinking of me!!

Favorite

PWOTR

This one is so hard...like choosing your favorite child...and also it just tends to be who I'm thinking of the most at that particular moment.

I guess the one I love the most is always going to be my Knight-Commander, Sparrow--captured and sold into slavery at a young age, she became a body double and guard for a Cheliaxian family and goes to Kenabres to try and find escape and freedom.

She is a deeply reserved and quiet individual, keeping her feelings and thoughts close to her chest, and cautious to a fault. But underneath that is someone with deep feeling and passion, an incredibly warm and loving person who is desperately lonely and just wants to find someone who won't leave her, as every person who she has loved has done in the past. She romances Daeran Arendae and they both work through their shit together <3

Newest

The Wayhaven Chronicles

The newest OC is technically still cooking, but he's my latest detective in the IF The Wayhaven Chronicles! His name is Bastian Roche, a nervy little man who would just like everyone to get along, please, and who has a tendency to fail upwards, much to his chagrin. He loves his little town and loves his mama, and is very upset at the recent murders going on and then the supernatural bullshit that ends up crawling out of the woodwork as a consequence.

He's gonna romance Felix and I'm pretty sure is going to be the only detective I've played who doesn't become friends with Adam or Mason by the end of book 2 because he has a spine made of wet tissue paper.

Oldest

Dragon Age: Origins

I might have had older OCs but I don't remember them--the one that still exists in any form would be Dannia Tabris, my canon warden in DAO. She's a daggers rogue, duelist and assassin specialties.

She's the first real Specialist Little Snowflake I ever made, but like in the worst way--I made her as I played the game and headcanoned that while not a mage, she was born a little "closer" to the Fade than others, and because of that she can see the future. This was to accommodate the fact that I always had a game guide open because I hadn't learned that you can't really play an RPG wrong by that point.

Dannia puts up a good front and tends to present herself as funny, warm, and cavalier in front of friends and family, but inside she's a melancholic, vicious, calculating person who is desperate to ensure the safety of people she loves by relying on her frequent visions for guidance.

She lost her mother by ignoring her visions and she refuses to lose anyone else, so of course in the process she does lose everyone--she becomes a Warden and is permanently separated from her family, a vision showing Alistair's execution makes her put him on the throne which he does not want and which ultimately causes the end of their relationship, and she sabotages basically all of her friendships and relationships in general because she sees visions of herself dying to slay the Archdemon.

Then Morrigan comes along, offers the Dark Ritual, and she takes it out of blind hope...and survives. And has to try and live on past her own self-imposed expiration date, now knowing her visions can be false and that her sacrifices up to this point might have been for nothing.

Meanest

PWOTR

I don't really do mean OCs honestly lol. But I'd have to say that the one who is most willing to say mean shit is going to be Kallesto "Vonzi" Voness, my mercenary OC for PWOTR!

Vonzi is an oracle whose patron has given her powers over extreme cold--and, more significantly, powers over time. Vonzi has the ability to time travel, but with a major caveat: jumping back in time forces her to "hold on" to the timeline she creates by changing things, something that takes her very life force. She can either let go, undoing the changes she has made, or die in that time, cementing it as the new reality.

In-game, her main quests revolve around the fact that she is suffering from going back in time to save her family. The KC must either let her die, convince her to let go of the timeline and allow her family to die again, or a Secret Third Thing.

Despite all the shit she goes through, Vonzi is a very confident, very cavalier person. She does not suffer fools lightly and isn't afraid to speak her mind even if it means rocking the boat, and she will tell people what she thinks of them regardless of how unflattering it is. If she likes you, she might be more circumspect, but especially in game she doesn't have the time or energy to be nice. Despite her being a genuinely good person and good friend she puts a lot of people off wit her abrasive attitude.

Softest

Dragon Age Inquisition

Softest OC would have to be Phaedre Lavellan, my canon inquisitor from DAI! Phi is a mage, though not a very well-trained one; when she tells people she was the clan's first, she's lying.

Phaedre like so many other OCs suffered tragedy when she was younger, with her childhood friend and intended--the clan's First at the time--dying to maleficar when Phi, desperate to prove she was grown up enough for vallaslin, goes out on the honorary hunt to earn it and gets in way over her head. The event deeply traumatized her, as it was her fault Ghandriel was out there to begin with. It causes her to retreat from any and all responsibility. Her clan enables this, as she's always been seen as a bit of a baby, and the tragedy causes them to close ranks in an effort to protect her. By 9:40 Dragon, Phaedre is 25 years old and has still not gotten her vallaslin.

News of the Conclave and the spies clan Lavellan plans to send is the last jolt needed from a long-growing feeling of guilt and stasis Phaedre has been in. Sneaking away ahead of the actual spies, Phaedre gets sloppy fake vallaslin from a city elf and joins the Conclave in an effort to prove to herself that she can be useful to her clan and an adult in her own right. And then the Conclave explodes and suddenly she needs to grow up real fast.

Phaedre tends to try to be bubbly and optimistic. She's a little naive but tends to appear even more so because her conflict-averse nature makes her avoid giving out her opinions on anything, which makes it seem like she just doesn't know a whole lot. She's deeply empathetic and emotional, laughs when she's nervous, and wants everyone to be her friend--and it's hard not to be, even when she starts gaining confidence and making decisions that cause disapproval. Phaedre romances Sera.

Most aloof/standoffish

PWOTR

Another non-KC OC, Ophenia Thwait, is going to fit this bill! She's a dhampir that's going to enter her second century soon, and she lost everyone she ever cared about already, including her entire family and her first wife, who she loved more than anything. She wrote books with them as characters to deal with her grief, those books took off, and she spent the next several decades establishing herself as a varied and talented author in several genres. She's currently made a name for herself writing pulp novels of the romance and adventure variety, earning her wild fame and derision in equal measure.

Ophenia keeps all of life at arm's length, looking at it with the clinical mind of a writer that's trying to put together a plot for her next story--because she is. Any character read in an Ophenia Thwait book is based on someone she has met. She considers it the greatest compliment to write using another person, immortalizing them in a story while they age and wither and die. They will at least live forever in her books and the minds of those who read them, but it gives her a tendency to think of people as little more than props for a story that's brewing in her mind, and she will do awful things on purpose just to see what the reaction ends up being or what the consequences are. Gotta get more inspiration, and keep her stories interesting.

Dumbest

PWOTR

Dumbest OC award has to go to Evaethi Arvanxi, Sparrow's "original copy"--the young woman she acted as a body double for! Evaethi means well, mostly, but has learned through a painful childhood that the only real thing she's good at is horses and, later, fighting on them. She fled her noble life of luxury and duty the first real chance she gets, leaving the far more impressive and competent (in her eyes) Sparrow to deal with the aftermath, and joins the Pathfinders, where she will hopefully get some wakeup calls about the way she lives her life. No matter what though, she will never gain the common sense that god gave a goldfish.

Smartest

PWOTR

Isore "Crow" Cygnarus, Sparrow's biological brother who maybe-probably dies in her canon when she was young. I can't even describe how smart he is because "waaaay smarter than me" is about as good as I can get, but he was a savant, a child genius who excelled in mathematics and engineering, who rose to prominence at an astonishingly young age in Alkenstar as an architect and artificer.

He had a lot of ideas, many of which he hoped to spread and see implemented throughout the world--ideas about how society should be run to ensure as little waste, pain, and chaos would be generated, ways that he felt the ills of the world could truly be solved. But before he could do any of that, he had his younger sister with him, who needed to be raised, and he recognized that wandering the world and focusing on your own ambitions was insufficient for rearing a young child. So he settled in the idyllic country of Dehrukani, helping them improve their crystal towers and develop new and interesting ways to store magical energy, and waited for her to grow up right to the point where he is murdered by slavers.

Crow's personality was whatever he needed it to be to get the most out of the people around him--Sparrow remembers him as a kind, patient, perfect older brother, because that's the mask he put on around her. In reality, he was an extremely distant, cold, and ambitious individual. His brilliance came from his natural ability to see things broken down into parts working together as systems, and ultimately that's how he saw people--as parts within the system of society. The closest he ever came to love was the mix of responsibility and interest he had in his little sister.

OC you’d be best friends with IRL

I feel like I would be intimidated by most of my OCs lol. I think I'd get along with Evaethi but would find her self-absorbed nature incredibly grating and honestly she'd be tiring to be around.

The person I'd be best friends with is Vonzi! I'd find her funny and her confidence inspiring.

[rwdestuffs]

So some WB animation & CN staffers are trying to unionize now. No clue whether this means anything for Chicken Dentures, but at this point I'm waaay more hopeful about that & other Texan 'pay us already' animation developments than this hashtagnewvolumelaborwhatlabor? sewage. Lately fndm/rwde wank seems to get very lost in the weeds of in-show character crit, but the former clique's nonresponse to so many disclosures remains fucking awful.

I'm hoping it means that the animators, writers, voice actors, and everyone involved in the show gets decent pay. I get why fans want to see the show continue. For a lot of people, this is how they met online friends, made connections with other artists or writers, and found a community where they belong. But I think that that community can survive even if the show gets delayed like hell.

If fans can keep shouting at Sony to delay Beyond the Spider-Verse so that the animators, writers, VAs, etc. can be paid properly and have the time they need to make a good movie, then so can the fans of RWBY. The main issue is that greenlighting the show is very much out of their hands, so while Spider-Verse is pretty much greenlit, RWBY isn't, so fans need to show enough support to prove that there is enough demand for the show in order for it to continue.

Fans can wait a few years for RWBY so that the animation is good, the writing is good, and so that the people working on it aren't worked to death. And while I'm somewhat curious as to what the show will bring us (good and bad), there needs to be an understanding that a good story is one that takes time.

Legend of Korra once had a filler episode just so they could keep their animators and other such personal on the show, I don't see why RT can't have some delays to make sure their show would be of both quality, and of humane production.

I admittedly, haven't been around the rwde/crtq tag as much lately, so I don't know what's going on. And that's mainly because I've come to the conclusion that any flaw in RWBY is also a flaw in other shows. Say what you want about Emerald, at least they didn't take a doll off the corpse of a girl and send it as a halfhearted idea of a gift to a family member while giving another family member something that was actually had thought put into it, like Iroh. Say what you want about Ilia, at least she didn't hire an assassin to go after the main heroes because she was unsure of her place in the place that rejected her, like Zuko. Say what you want about Ruby, at least she didn't claim to be a non-killing pacifist while also burying people in an avalanche, like Aang did.- Basically, any flaw within RWBY is also a flaw within other shows that are also critically acclaimed, like AtLA.

The main point I'm trying to make here is that the story does deserve to be told. It does deserve to have its ending. But that shouldn't come at the expense of animators, writers, voice actors, or anyone really. If RT can't make the show in a humane way, then they should hand it off to a company that will. If that means they go down, well… They brought that on themselves. And maybe if these guys can get unionized, the show can be made without the expense of people around them. And I'd like to think that the show itself would improve if it were made humanely.

So while I have no idea what the future will hold, I'm hoping that it'll be at least somewhat better than what we have right now. If we fail to make the world better for the next generation, then we've failed as a generation. And the same can be said about previous generations. And future generations too.

[dollfacevn]

BEFORE YOU CONTINUE

Doll face contains sensitive subjects like bullying, stalking, murdering, occult stuff, mental illnesses(Depression, anxiety, more to be added), gore, derealization, suicide/self harm, and creepy imagery in general. If these topics trigger you then please do NOT interact. More trigger warnings will be added as I progress the story.

Doll Face is a visual novel

Everyone gets magic when they are 16, not you though. Because of that you have been outcasted by society. Yearning for friends, you make them through dolls. However, it isn't enough for you. You turn to other ways in order to make them come alive. At first it doesn't work but when you wake up all of them are alive!

Note: years have passed since you were supposed to get magic and when you first made the dolls, you're at LEAST 18 now

FAQ

If I make "Doll Face" content, can I tag you in it?- Yup! I would LOVE to be tagged in any fan content! It makes me so happy and overjoyed to see people making stuff for Doll Face. I'm happy that others are interested in my stories and characters.

Are we allowed to send asks interacting with the Li's? - Yeah! I think it would also help me write the characters better for when I write their routes.

Characters

Jondi: Jondi is the first doll you ever made. She's a joyful, loyal and sincere doll. She cares a lot about you and her other doll friends. Her hobby is making her friends smile and laugh.

Aiden: The second doll you made. He's a sweet and gentle plant lover. It's rare to see him without his dearest plant. Often checks up on you. You're one of the people he can speak to without getting super nervous.

Bao: The timid astrologist. Quiet and shy in front of others, talkative in front of the stars. Want to get them to speak, ask about anything space related.

Bartholomew: A mystery. They're quiet and don't talk a lot and the others are kind of scared of them. Ehren's older brother.

Eevi: A clown! They LOOVE making people laugh. Her and Jondi have a playful rivalry. Gets upset when it doesn't make people laugh but it will NEVER give up.

Ehren: An assassin. They aren't bad at their job but at first glance you would think they are. They space out a lot and they're kind of clumsy. Bartholomew's younger sibling.

Bix: A total flirt. They turn everything they can into an innuendo. Gets on everyone's nerves and enjoys it.

Charon: The headstrong knight. Comes across as rude but is very protective. He means the best for you and his friends.

TAGS

#💗-Jondi

#🌻-Aiden

#🔭-Bao

#🕯️-Bartholomew

#🤡-Eevi

#🔪- Ehren

#🏩-Bix

#🗡️-Charon

#💌-fan content

#🔞-minors dni

#🪡-Doll Face

#🎤-Asks

#🥀-Angst

#☁️-Fluff

#🌟-abt star

DNI/RULES

Proship

Ageless in bio(either put your age/birthday in your bio, or you can send me a message telling me your age, if none of those I’ll block you)

I won’t be writing any gross out kink or anything like that.

If you’re a minor please don’t interact with my content that is 18+, especially since the base content won’t be 18+ so you can still get content.

Please be patient with me

I’d prefer it if younger kids(14-) didn’t interact with this blog because there will be swearing and triggering topics, thank you.

I’m happy to take criticism on anything and will take it into consideration. What I won’t listen to is any hate comments without criticism, I’ll just block you.

If you're going to send in an NSFW ask, please turn off anon, otherwise I'm not gonna respond to it or I'll make it SFW, thank you!

More might be added/changed to most sections as I develop this blog

[spectrearia]

double-tag time lol

got tagged in two different question things by @galactictides52 and @gonturan0 xD gonna fill both of 'em out at the same time I guess haha! thanks for the tags!!

going under a cut because there's quite a lot here haha

tagged by @galactictides52:

Last song I listened to: Follow by Survive Said the Prophet

Favorite content to watch: uhhh.. hm. depends on my mood. I usually gravitate towards let's plays or documentaries on a whole variety of topics? speedrunning, electronics, abandoned places, and critiques on a wide variety of media are some of my go-tos for documentary/commentary-style content. there's a lot more tho that I can't think of off the top of my head. I just like listening to people discuss random stuff haha.

Favorite games: Oooh, quite a few. Minecraft, Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi's Mansion, Professor Layton, Ace Attorney, Hitman (World of Assassination), and recently Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Mega Mix are some that immediately come to mind. There are so many more games I could add but I gotta keep this kinda simple xD

Favorite colors: I love all colors for various reasons but any shade of purple is my absolute fave <3

Favorite animal: CATS!!! though I'm sure that's pretty obvious, haha xD I can't help but relate to them so much lol

Favorite food: mmmm. maybe my mom's beef and potato hash? it's the ultimate comfort food to me and she doesn't make it often, but it always Hits Just Right whenever I do get to have it.

Sweet, spicy, or savory: savory all the way, baby. don't mind a bit of spice alongside the savory sometimes but it depends on what it is.

Current obsession: my own OCs (and some friends' OCs as well). I literally talk about them all the time and I could say I'm sorry but I'm really not. xD if we're talking media in general tho? I guess the Hatsune Miku game I mentioned earlier counts, lol

Last book I read: oof. I can't even remember. for published books, I want to say it was Mayday at Two Thousand Five Hundred by Frank E. Peretti? but if not, then it was probably my friend's original story draft. I hardly ever read anymore, honestly. I just write what I want to read instead.

Last thing I googled: don't use google, per se. but I think the last thing I searched online was the lyrics to King by Kanaria because I want to learn how to sing along lol

Fun facts: I always suck at these haha. can't really think of anything so I might just have to leave this as-is, rip ><;;

---

tagged by @gonturan0:

3 ships: lol I don't do ships so I don't have much to put here xD I guess I kinda "shipped" some characters when I was younger (like Mario and Peach or whatever), but not? to an extreme degree or anything? was never my focus. still isn't. Honorable mention does go out to Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, though. I felt their relationship was handled really well, even though I typically really don't like romance in kids' media at all.

first ever ship: idk probably Mickey and Minnie when I was like 5??? haha

last song: (see #1 in previous list)

Last movie: oof, memory is bad. it's been a while. the Mario movie???? in theaters??? i think. I can't remember. I don't watch movies as often as I used to tbh

currently reading: nothing right now, unless you count this list ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

currently watching: not "currently" but I'll probably watch the newest update of a Voices of the Void let's play that I'm keeping up with sometime later tonight :0

currently consuming: waterrr. stay hydrated, my dudes~

currently craving: sushi;;; specifically my Fave Big Roll with shrimp tempura, crab, cucumber, and a bunch of other good stuff (also SPICY MAYO, my beloved) <33

ayyyy, that's all, folks! I don't really know who to tag with this so i guess if anyone sees it and wants to fill it out, u can just say I tagged you xD I don't mind, haha!