#once i'm doing writing i think is actually good i'll probably start posting or linking it more directly from here

[moonlit-tulip]

I have started an experimental writing-practice tumblr! @ten-thousand-clay-pots, for anyone interested in following it.

(Although be warned that, since it's for experimental practice writing, its content is likely to be of dubious coherence and quality; thus my keeping it contained in a sideblog rather than posting it here.)

Currently I'm attempting an experiment involving posting one short thing (of arbitrary length and quality) per day, there. Activity in the long run is likely to be a lot more intermittent, though, unless the current experiment goes substantially better than I'm expecting it to.

[pomefioredove]

now I'm actually invested in this idea. maybe I'll write a full length fic someday idk... for now I have short hcs

parts 1 | 2 | 3 | kalim | bad ending

summary: crowley decides to "give away" yuu to the highest "donation" for financial reasons type of post: headcanons characters: all nrc students additional info: can be read as platonic or romantic, except malleus is pretty romantic, second person pov, yuu is gender neutral, maybe a little ooc I wrote this as soon as I got up

crowley has had his fair share of "what the fuck" moments from you but this was really taking the cake

he acts so... casual about it?

swaggers into ramshackle one morning and says times are tough and your personal expenses are straining the budget so he's decided to "put you in someone else's care"

"The screening process will be vigorous to make sure you end up in good hands!" like you're a cat or something "Your expenses will be covered and you'll have somewhere to go during break!"

okay great. pretty obvious you have no say in this, so you don't even argue. what's the worst that could happen?

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Ace, Deuce, Jack, and Epel find you the next day to say they're pooling their money to buy you

"To what?"

Epel shrugs. "Oh, well Crowley said we need to offer a donation to prove we're capable of supporting you..."

(you think that if not for the laws of this land you would have slaughtered that old fart)

Jack goes on a really long tirade about how shady and underhanded this is, making sure to reaffirm that he believes you should be free to make your own choices

"So you'll let me go once you get me?"

"Uhhh..."

Ace thinks once they buy you you'll have no choice but to do all of his homework for him

Deuce says that's not really how it works- and even if he tried, Riddle would kill him

(they've already gone over this twice before finding you)

Epel happily volunteers to take you home with him over breaks, probably the only positive in this mess

even if he thinks the whole thing is kind of funny

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

incapable of keeping his mouth shut, Ace accidentally spills the plan to Riddle, who is understandably aghast

you can't just give away a person under your care like a toy!

of all the irresponsible things...

of course, he'll have to put up his offer, too

purely for your sake! with a nicer room and a brand new copy of the dorm rules, maybe you'll stop getting yourself into trouble

he's got some family money (doctors, naturally) and considers this a worthwhile purchase, for his sanity and yours

of course, Trey and Cater overhear and may or may not be pooling their own cash for a chance, too

going behind Riddle's back on this is a risky venture, but hey, someone's gotta be on your side, here, right?

I mean, between a bunch of sixteen year old boys, the housewarden, and them, who would you choose?

actually don't answer that

...not that it's much of a secret, anyway. Cater's already got their gofundme equivalent link in bio

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Leona initially plans to have you become a live-in lackey like Ruggie

but then he really starts thinking- and, hey, the possibilities are endless, right?

for one, you'd make a really good pillow

he might have to kick Grim out for your full attention, but you could learn to live with that

and malleus would hate it

...that's reason enough for him

plus, he's got money to burn, so why not?

either way, he sets his bid at a reasonable (maybe too confident) price and sits back to watch the chaos unfold as everyone scrambles for a piece of the pie

news travels fast around school, after all

then Ruggie finds out that you could dethrone him as Leona's #2 and is understandably a little annoyed

that's his cushy post-grad job gig, thank you! he's worked hard for that!

besides, why should Leona get to hoard you? the guy can barely take care of himself!

so, Ruggie ends up outsourcing to a few dozen classmates for the necessary funds at a steep I-owe-you price

he's gonna be eating nothing but dandelions for a while...

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

now, Azul is annoyed

once the news goes school-wide, it's all anyone can talk about

talk about good marketing...

why didn't he think of such a brilliant scam? he could have negotiated with Crowley to have a café brand deal tie-in!

of course, he's already set his bid, with Jade and Floyd offering to pitch in as necessary

it's a risky investment, sure, but a worthwhile one

Azul tells everyone that with the prefect's "obvious" popularity, having them at the café a few nights a week would drive sales through the roof

though that's really just what he says to shirk suspicion

a likely excuse coming from him, though, really, it would just be nice having you around

and if not for his own affections, Floyd's incessant begging and Jade's subtly manipulative comments about "how nice" it would be having a new face around would be enough for him to cave eventually

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

"Kalim, no," is the first thing that Jamil says

"I strongly advise against this. It's another one of Crowley's silly scams and you could end up a target bec- are you even listening?"

hint: he is not

the second Kalim found out that he could get to take in his favorite magicless student like one of his treasures, he was all over it

(AKA infinite sleepovers)

and for what? a little optional donation to prove he's got the funds? he's got cash to spare!

he's already got your new room in Scarabia set up before he even puts his bid in

right next to his of course :)

and despite what Jamil insists, he himself might be working behind the curtain just a little to ensure he's the one who ends up with you

after all, why should Kalim get everything? this might be a valuable learning opportunity for him

You don't always get what you want

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

as much as Epel tries to keep the rest of his dorm from finding out, it's inevitable

he's actually a little surprised that the news didn't get to Vil sooner

with Rook around campus, surely he must have said something...

when Vil does find out, though, he just sighs

oh, of course. what next, will everyone meet each other in the arena and fight to the death over the prefect?

of all the silly, immature things...

oh? what's that? he's bidding anyway? of course he is, silly potato. he can't have some unwashed miscreant making you sleep on polyester bedding

(really, he's the only person on campus worthy of your time)

Rook has also been mysteriously absent from the dorm lately, though his initials on a poem and a strangely large sum of money end up in the donation pile

but really, that could be anyone... Rook would never dare betray Vil again, right?

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Ortho finds out directly from the other first years and sends Idia the details immediately

with a little note of encouragement, of course: "could be excellent for improving your social skills!"

Idia understandably freaks out

"WTF!!!! nooo way! this is a person, not a chatbot we're talking about here! I can barely keep virtual pets alive!!!!"

(liar)

(...but this is still different)

the conversation ends there, but semi-anonymous bid from someone named "gloomurai" gets cashapp'd directly to crowley

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

everyone in the room immediately turns to Malleus

"For the record, I think it's wrong to be bargaining over a human being," Silver says first. "But if anyone could handle it with grace, it's you."

Lilia laughs. "Oh, you're just saying that because you like the prefect so much!"

"Father, you're the one who likes the prefect so much,"

"Oh, right! carry on then. After all, I'm sure we could share,"

Sebek is the only one relatively against the idea, though Lilia luckily manages to get him to lower his voice after his third speech about how you aren't good enough for his liege

Malleus is rather quiet through the whole evening, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with any of the points made

he disappears for a short while, and when he comes back he seems a little more confident

though, of course, he goes to you first

seeing him at Ramshackle in the middle of the night is a familiar and welcoming sight after all of the chaos of your week

and he's in a great mood!

"Child of man! I've come with news," he says. "I have heard of your predicament and have come up with a solution!"

you immediately sulk. "Oh, no. You know I think this whole thing is terrible, right?"

"Yes, Silver mentioned you might not like the idea of being bought and sold like a trinket. But worry not, I do not plan on paying for you in money,"

you pause, at a loss for words, and then tentatively continue. "You're not...?"

"Of course not. What a primitive idea, I was baffled to hear it myself. My proposal will be more traditional: a modest sum of treasure, and a generous amount of livestock and the finest crop Briar Valley can offer,"

certainly he's not this naive, you think

"You really think Crowley is going to accept that over money? I'm pretty sure Kalim just bid away an entire country's worth,"

he laughs. "You speak as if this is some kind of business deal! I'm quite confident that my dowry will be best,"

huh. that was a strange way of putting it

but then again, you still didn't really understand how things work here, so you go along with it

and you allow yourself to relax. he seems confident in his offer, and he doesn't even see you as some kind of prize to win!

"Oh, well, alright. Thanks! I'm glad you're on it,"

he smiles. "Rest assured, child of man, you're in good hands. My dowry will far outshine the others, and the wedding will be even better,"

"I was honestly getting a little nervous for a momen- wait- wedding!?"

[tomurawr44]

would you mind writing headcanons of tomura and my oc? she’s a tall goth so i wonder what you’d think about their relationship 🫰🖤

(i’m okay with both sfw and nsfw :3)

TOMURA/OC HEADCANONS!

A/N: your oc is gorg omg! I remember seeing your posts when i first started getting back into my Tomura obsession and it forced me to lock in and actually cook up a coherent oc with lore 😭 I'm so honored I appeared on your radar🖤 maybe I'll man up and finally make my oc into a drawing to post here.... sorry if the nsfw section is short!

WARNINGS: nsfw under the cut, ooc, just assumptions based on her looks so sorry :( I DONT WANNA BUTCHER OR MISCHARACTERIZE HER SOS.....

I know you said her and tomura but toga loves her and tries to get her to hangout with her whenever Tomura has you around him.

they place their beds together in minecraft.

she has beat him in all the games he plays atleast once and he still sulks about it to this day.

they have been to the mall together and she came with him to the mall scene w/ deku to pick him up and to tell him to knock it off.

she's his collar lol she keeps him in place and to stay rational.

i would like to think she's in the league of villains.

they have painted/written on eachother's controllers, mouses, switches, and even on their clothes.

Tomura thinks her hair is really nice and just likes to carefully run his fingers through it, when i say careful i mean he individually holds locs of hair to put them between his fingers so he can run his hands through it.

Tomura thinks she's emo.

she's kind of assertive over him, but not infront of the league because she knows it'll piss him off.

one time she got so happy drunk with Tomura he had to hold her hair back while she throws up in the toilet. she's done that for him too. holding his fringe up while he vomits is such a couple thing.

twice likes to refer/compare her hair to his mask, he thinks it's cool.

dabi also thinks she's pretty chill, and wonders why she's with Tomura when obviously there's better options. (Not him, he's pretty innocent if u have read the bnha smash manga with the villains!)

he likes it when she ties her hair up.

he texts like a dad, a thumbs up or replies with some outrageously stupid image he found online.

Mr.Compress also thinks she's cool, spinner is somewhat jealous of Tomura though, but he understands why you're with him.

Magne and Toga LOVE her. as in, when the league becomes closer they've had girls sleep overs, twice was invited of course, he's the exception.

Tomura, Dabi and Spinner have eavesdropped in these conversations, mostly Tomura and Spinner while Dabi only does it if he's really bored and all he has to do is kick rocks.

Toga wears her clothes sometimes, actually, all the girls in the LoV have done a fashion show with twice.

Twice is her girls girl.

Tomura gets jealous when he walks into the sleepover room only to see you and toga cuddled up, while magne is unknowingly cuddling against twice.

he has taken a photo of it before though.

he's tried to put on height extenders inside his shoes whenever he's with the league, but after the shoe fell off because it was so loose he's never done it again.

NSFW AHEAD!

Remember when i said he likes her hair? he'll put on his gloves master gave him as a kid during sex just to grab a fistful of it and pull her by it.

he loves her chest, so much, he's constantly grabbing at it no matter what and if she tries to push him off he'll pout.

hickeys, hickeys hickeys hickeys. he loves leaving red to purple marks on her pale skin, he feels so good whenever he does that.

he likes to cum on her chest, or get a titjob while he plays some game on his computer.

they have fucked infront of AFO accidentally befor because Tomura assured her he was on mute and probably wasn't paying attention because he called out to his master several times and he got no reply. AFO just wanted to see what would happen if Tomura thought there wasn't eyes on him all the time.

he's sent her links to goth/emo pornos and says 'can we recreate this' (they always do)

he loves the height difference, he loves to nuzzle up against her chest.

he likes to fuck her with some clothes on because in his opinion it's way hotter. (ref to the 2nd pic and her top)

he likes it when she wears heels and lets him hump against her foot, especially with the height difference? he's cumming in his pants that's for sure.

he eats her pussy like a starved man, she has to pull him by the hair to get him to give her a break.

he likes choking her and seeing the red mark formed from his grip, it turns him on so much.

[mx-piggy]

I really missed writing Hulurama reviews. I had no idea that a new episode was out until Wednesday, and I was too sick to want to watch and review it until today. I'm really looking forward to writing these reviews again, and I'm hoping to start working on my Hulurama review and ranking that I'll post to my website at some point. For now, here's my review for The One Amigo. Spoilers ahead!

I think it worked well enough as a season premier. I definitely preferred The Impossible Stream as an episode and as a season premier, because I found Impossible Stream a lot funnier overall. But, I think I preferred this episode's social commentary a lot more just because I found it funny, whilst with Impossible Stream it was the same old tired commentary about streaming services, from what I can remember. I'm not overly knowledgeable about NFTs, but I did find most of the episode's jokes about them to be quite funny

I think my enjoyment of this episode exceeded its objective quality.

I found it to be quite sweet, with Bender getting to spend time with his family and with the Planet Express crew caring enough about him to do a museum heist to steal back his NFT and hopefully make him feel better.

The solid humour elevated this episode enough for me to make me like it.

That said, I do think that narratively it was kind of a mess. As far as Bender has a crisis episodes go, this one is probably one of the weakest. The set-up of Bender's crisis felt quite poorly justified, and overall the Bender's family plotline and NFT plotline, for me at least, didn't link very well together. I understood what they were going for. That said, I think a 'Bender finds his family' story should have been set up with a more explicit 'Bender wishes he has a family' set up. I'm glad they didn't just abandon the NFT thing once Bender went to Mexico and that they actually did more with it throughout the episode, but, again, I think that there must have been a better way to set up this Bender story. At the very least, I think that having the NFT story actually carry on throughout the episode was better than doing the Family Guy thing where there'll be 7 minutes of Peter having a falcon or something, and it sets up the rest of the episode but has no actual significance to the story.

Additionally, I didn't think the story was given the weight it warranted. Bender finding his family is so significant, but it never felt like that the episode understood that. I was fully expecting the reveal that this wasn't Bender's actual family with how little weight this was treated with, but nope. It struck me as odd that Bender was so emotionally unaffected by his cousin's betrayal. I think that the only way they can salvage this is to do a follow-up episode, but, at the same time, I think it'd be a bit weird for them to follow up this episode when a lot of us are expecting follow ups to episodes earlier in the show (like how Children of a Lesser Bog followed up Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch).

I think that this had the opportunity to be a good Bender crisis episode, but it missed the mark for me. Fry's family stories and Leela's family stories are typically really emotionally effective (Luck of the Fryrish, Leela's Homeworld), but this one just wasn't, when I think it really should have been. For what it is, though, I think it's alright, a solid 6 or 6.5/10 episode.

There were things about this episode I appreciated. The setting was interesting, and I like that Hulurama is giving us new and unique settings for episodes. Despite thinking that the NFT story and the Bender's family story didn't connect well, I did enjoy the museum heist as a fun little subplot. Seeing more of Amy's kids was really fun, and I hope to see more of them this season. I loved that Fry was at the table drawing with the kids. Leela's line 'thanks for springing us from the joint, kids' was so fucking funny to me. The return of the Fing-Longer was fun. I loved that we saw iterations of Bender from episodes past in the gallery of NFTs, like the gold version of him we see in the Farnsworth Parabox, or the knight version we see of him in Bender's Game.

I wouldn't say I was disappointed by this episode. I enjoyed it for what it was (i.e. a fun little Bender episode with a fun little subplot with the other guys), but I am a little frustrated about how it wasn't what it could have been (i.e. an emotionally resonant character episode). With this episode falling flat in that respect, I'm hoping that we end up getting some emotionally resonant episodes this season like we did last season, and that we get some good character episodes like we did last season. Honestly, though, this is a pretty mid episode and I still had a good time with it overall, so suffice it to say it takes a lot for me to dislike a Futurama episode. I just like seeing more of my little guys, I guess. But, I'm also prepared to find out that I'm the one person who liked this episode (it's a familiar experience for me lmao).

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts about the episode, so feel free to comment or reblog with your opinion!

[cherryfennec]

Hey I been thinking how would a au of Mr l joining the heroes would look like?

Hiya! There actually have already been some posts and even a fic considering this topic, which I'll link below! As for my perspective, we'll have to start at the obvious stuff.

When could Mr.L join the heroes?

We have 2 glorious encounters with The Green Thunder, one in the Whoa Zone and the other in the Sammers Kindgdom. These are really the only times he'd have a chance of changing sides. If we go with the Whoa Zone, Mr.L gets to go on around two adventures, if we go with the second option he'd only get join the heroes for one trip to Flipside.

Would Mr.L join the heroes willingly?

Well yes, and no. So Nastasias brainwashing isn't really explained but we as a community have agreed that she basically has to ability to sort through and remove whatever memories she sees as unimportant. She can also add behaviours and forge events as she sees fit so they remain utmost dazed. During the cutscene before Chapter 6 we see that Mr.L, despite being 'disciplined', is able to rebel which means there is potential.

With these two questions answered we have the possibilities of:

The heroes decide to take Mr.L by force back to the Flipside in Chapter 4. Basically they fight, catch him by the scruff and drag him away. Once back they could try to convince him to switch sides. My favourite continuation of this would probably be that he declines, and since they can't just leave him at Merlons they just tie him around the waist to Mario so he doesn't run. In shorter terms: they drag the chihuahua around on a leash. I just think the picture would be funny. He'd have to learn to cooperate with Mario in battle so they don't die. He could slowly question his current beliefs and change his mind over the span of the small adventures but by the time he'd be ready to fully switch he meets his and the heroes canon demise.

If you'd want to see a more detailed scenario where he does actually agree to join Mario, Peach and Bowser I can recommend you:

The Mr.L Hero AU made by brendathedoodler that takes place after the battle in the Whoa Zone and is based on that specific idea. They've made some art posts, writing work and even a short comic for it. Here's one:

https://www.tumblr.com/brendathedoodler/702687904346030080/hi-about-your-mrl-au-thing-what-would-tippis

The second possibility is they get to the next battle with Mr.L in the ruined kingdom and do a similiar thing from there. Maybe they didn't know it was Luigi during the first battle but by the time they realised he had already ran off, so they want to use this second chance. Now again it's either take back by force or convince with a good argument.

I'm going to be honest though, I think there is one great, already existing portrayal of this scenario. And it's all written in:

'Grey Lies', a fic by SnowyFrostShadow that takes place after the battle in the destroyed Sammers Kindom.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43425892/chapters/109168240

I think it went with the best route when it comes to getting Mr.L to join the good side at that point in the story. It could use some small tweaking but I think it's a good read, at least I enjoy it!

I hope I managed to answer your question. I maybe could try to go into more detail with the first one but I think this about covers the general idea.

[ghostsandmirrors]

Questions for the mun - all Basics please? Don't hate me lol

Questions for the mun.

pfft, I could never. I am going to miss one question because someone else sent it, too.

(under read more because that's 12 questions)

When did you first start writing? 2008. I was on Mibba (writing site) and someone's journal post was an advert for a Proboards Potter forum.

In what language did you start writing? English. It was only like 2019 that I started trying to learn another language och jag är så dålig på talar svenska x.x (and I'm so bad at talking Swedish)

If your mother tongue is not the language you write now, what caused you to switch languages? N/A - one day I'll get good enough at Swedish to RP in it but that ain't today.

What was the first muse that you’ve written? Her name was Judy Lewis on that Proboards site in 2008. I also wrote her twin brother (Jesse Lewis). She was a Slytherin half-blood, he was a Hufflepuff half-blood.

I once answered an ask about her on the Bringer's blog so here's the link.

Do you still write your first muse? Nope. I consider remaking her sometimes--especially when memes ask about first muses--but I think she belongs in 2008 and in the fanfic I was writing at the time.

What is the muse that you write for the longest? This is answered here. The answer is Bam (first made 2009 on a Potter site I made); 2009 Gerard Way had that vibe and then they dyed their hair red and Danger Days came out and I was like 👀👀👀

Also because of Bam, and me being so specific when it came to making graphics (avatars and signatures), I can tell you which year a Gerard Way picture came from between the years of 2003 and 2013 based entirely on their hair.

I used to think I was neurotypical btw. Teenage me making a Notepad document of Gerard Way GIFs organised by hair style and year ('long black, 2005') like, 'yeah, this is a normal level of interest in a subject.' It is not, but it is a fun fact I get to whip out now.

In what style did you start to write (First person, third person, *-style or novel-style?) I have always written in third person, past tense, I guess novel-style? Used to do a lot of one-liners but--and I actually mentioned this to someone the other day--I ended up on a lot of sites with minimum word counts (usually only like 100 words, which sounds like a lot but is surprisingly small).

My longest post pre-Tumblr was like 2k words because me and a thread partner were just seeing how long we could make our posts in that specific thread. We also tried to go back to one-liners only for a thread (for fun) and we were struggling.

What caused you to start writing? What was your key point? General writing was probably this one book series about a man who lived with a family that made clay dragon statues and the dragon statues came to life. I looked it up; The Last Dragon Chronicles. I did not read all of them.

RP specifically was the site advert coming when I had like just started writing a Potter fanfic of Goblet of Fire from the point of view of Random OC (Judy Lewis, who was a Gryffindor in the fic).

Do you regret starting writing? No. It taught me how to spell, for starters. I was dogshit at spelling and grammar back in the day and I've gotten so much better just through practice and actually learning what things are used for. Also like... you get the best reactions. Even if I ever managed to quit RP--which I don't think I will--I would never be able to fully stop writing because of those reactions. One way or another, I will inflict fictional suffering on people.

As a kid, I wanted to be an author. Making characters and worlds is way too fun.

Is there anything you would have changed when you started writing now that you have more experience? RP specific; no. Writing in general; I'd have started writing proper English from the beginning and not spent years deciding that full stops are only used for the end of a paragraph, actually.

Also some of the older characters don't have their apps saved at all and I'm still mad about it. I struggled making Arnulf because his old app and all his old information is gone. I'm gonna die mad at past me about like 17 different things and it's fine because they deserve it.

How do you describe writing / rp to others? Generally I don't, but if I had to, I would describe it as 'y'know writing a story? It's like that but you only control one character.' It's not accurate--NPCs exist--but like it's the closest I can get considering I'm genuinely trash at describing anything lmao

On what platform did you start to write? Accidentally answered this in the first answer. Oops. Proboards. I actually refused to go to other forum sites for the longest time because I didn't understand the coding for posts. On Proboards it was like [b]bold[/b], on InvisionFree it was <b>bold</b>, I think Jcink was [b]bold[/b]?

I did eventually also go on InvisionFree (one site, a Buffy/The Vampire Diaries crossover site) and Jcink (multiple sites, mostly Marvel/DC crossover sites, a couple of panfandom sites, a town site?, and at least one Potter site). Jcink might be my favourite of the three.

There was also 'Boards' which was to Proboards what Jcink was to InvisionFree (Jcink sites have 'powered by InvisionFree' at the bottom, Boards sites had 'powered by Proboards').

[studies-in-the-art-of-deduction]

Don't know if you have before, but could you talk a bit about body language and deductions? Thank you

Hello! I think i've mentioned the subject before, but i've never talked about it in depth, mostly because i'm not particularly well versed in body language. I used to know people who also had blogs who were very knowledgeable in it, so if they become active again i'll make a post about it. That being said, as i've been writing this response i've had to be very careful to not get into any details i'm not sure about or give any advice that may be wrong. So i've decided to keep my response fairly vague while still giving as much advice as i can.

So body language falls into the non verbal communication side of deduction, along with microexpressions, and both should be treated similarly. Body language and facial expressions (and their corresponding microexpressions) are ways that our body has of relaying what we feel or think in any given moment, a lot of the time involuntarily, this means that like with every other language, we need to learn to not just read it, write it, and speak it, we also have to learn to interpret it. There's a plethora of books and resources out there that teach you how to read body language, what certain movements, poses, and reactions indicate about a person's state of mind, so i'm not gonna go into that here, actually it's probably the easiest part of deduction to find information on. What i am gonna touch on is what to then do with that raw information

Similar to all the other parts of deduction, once you interpret body language, get all the information you can about someone's reactions, state of mind, emotions, ideas, feelings, etc. you have to start asking yourself what this information means. Knowing that someone's uncomfortable is only useful if you know why, and that's where deduction comes in, sometimes it's as easy as noticing that the body language shifts once a certain person comes into the room, or a certain topic is mentioned, other times you have to do a bit more digging, after all that person who triggers body language that indicates discomfort may do so because they're someone's boss, or because they're their partner and they had a big fight recently, or because they've harassed the person in some way, or a plethora of other reasons.

Now how to do that is the hard part, i can't give any advice that's specific to body language, but i have talked about how to go deeper than the raw information you can observe about someone before, so i'll link those posts here. While i'm not well versed in body language it's not a big leap to assume that due to the nature of the advice i give in these posts, they could be applied to information gained through reading body language:

Deduction: Passive or Active

Changes and Deductions

Chess and Deduction

Binaries

I also recommend the book What EveryBODY is Saying by Joe Navarro, it's a very good resource to learn body language.

Hopefully this was useful! I encourage you to look more into body language and study it in tandem with deduction, maybe you can make your own posts explaining these topics!

[dreamingquinn]

This whole thing is in regards to the Moira/Mercy fanfiction I wrote ages ago (but never finished) called Zero Sum Game: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16938996/chapters/39802293

I've gotten a lot of comments on ZSG over the last several years and every single one of them has been kind, supportive, and understanding of what I was going through at the time. I was struggling badly but so many people took time to say something nice anyway. I didn't reply to everyone but I cannot overstate how much the random drops of kindness helped buoy me through some bad times.

I started writing it during my first marriage, through our divorce, and continued it into a disastrous new relationship after that, both of which informed my writing heavily. I put a LOT into this story (detail-wise) that was me simultaneously trying to appease the tastes of these two women I handed over way too much power to, but also trying to write how I thought a realistically positive relationship 'should' be. (Read; How I wished it could be for me).

I'm happy to say that I now have a very real grasp on what a positive relationship is like, both with myself and with someone you love. Struggles and all.

So what to do with ZSG? There's still a lot of good there, but to save the beast I have to rip out a lot of it's guts and replace them with new ones. It's a lot to do creatively, it's even more so emotionally. Rereading it has been an exorcise in reliving associated memories with each chapter, sometimes even paragraph to paragraph.

I don't think it's unreasonable how long it's taken me to fully come back to it. But I am glad to be back to it, if just to put it to bed.

So again, for anyone who's an old fan, a new one, just vaguely interested; thank you for your time and your kind words. I actually have a real grudge against deleting things so the new ZSG will be getting a whole new upload that will be linked to from the old one once it's up. It is getting rewritten top to bottom though most of the plot points will remain the same.

This is going to take some time so I'll probably post it in chunks rather then wait till the very end.

If you read this whole thing, thanks!

[sarandipitywrites]

saran's year of writing (2023)

hey y'all! saw a couple posts like this floating around and thought i'd hop on the train, because this year has been WILD for my writing (in a really good way). let's start with the bullet points version and i'll put the details under the cut. here we go:

I JOINED WRITEBLR

shared snippets of my work with other, actual humans!

made friends?!

started (and finished!) draft 2 of Dead Roots, Dark Water

wrote 1 short story for every week in october (that's 5 stories in a month! that's great for me!)

first NaNoWriMo in 10 years (and i finished it!)

drafted and re-drafted The Art of Empty Space

started draft 3 of Dead Roots, Dark Water

details, links to projects, me getting maybe a tad too personal, and those all-important wordcounts under the cut:

I JOINED WRITEBLR

i just realized i only started participating at the beginning of october, but it feels like i've been hanging out with you all the whole year 😅 maybe that means i should cut back a bit? nah...

really though, this year was the year i started taking my writing more seriously (not in a 'gotta get published' kind of way, but in a 'writing makes me happier than anything else and that's enough reason to set aside time and energy for it without feeling hella guilty' kind of way) and seeing you all posting your work and being so positive and encouraging to each other was what helped me get up the nerve to join in. and i can say without a doubt that it's the best choice i've made all year. y'all are such a supportive community and i've never once felt like i was encroaching or didn't belong here (and for me, that's really saying something)

so i guess what i'm getting at is: THANK YOU! i've loved reading your snippets and projects this year, and i'm way more confident in my own than i've ever been 💜 y'all are good peeps

Dead Roots, Dark Water

word count (edited and written): 187,789

that's a lotta words! DRDW is both my longest work wordcount-wise, and the work i've dedicated the most time to... probably ever. and i'm SO happy with it, it's a little concerning (/positive)

DRDW is now on its THIRD draft, and (assuming i don't do a massive re-edit) should be ready to start posting in 2024! *excited screaming* i've never released anything i've written in its entirety (the snippets i've been posting are actually a lot more than i've ever shared before), so this is MASSIVE for me and i'm both excited and terrified! overall, though, it's a very, very good thing

Short Stories

this october, i decided to challenge myself to do several things i don't ever do: write short stories; write them on a timeline; and share them. and i did! i wrote one short story for each week in october, and posted them here. they're far from my best work, and due to the timeline, they never could have been my best, which oddly i think helped make it easier to post them? they were also the first pieces i shared here (or anywhere)! they're not awesome, but i'm proud of them and i'm proud of myself for sharing them

NaNoWriMo and The Art of Empty Space

i've done nano once before, ten years ago. i was in college and had a lot more time then (and a job where i could spend the entire day just writing - i didn't know how good i had it), and even so i remember struggling to reach my word goal. but by the power of writing everything in wingdings so i can't second-guess my word choices, i made it this year! and even though i decided to challenge myself by writing a romance-heavy project (something i've historically avoided because IT'S HARD FOR ME, DAMNIT), i love AES and its characters and that feels fucking awesome.

even though my brain decided to spring a surprise plot restructure on me and now i have to rewrite like half of it. it'll be better for it, though, so it's all good 🥲

What's Next?

my plan for early 2024 is, of course, going to be to work on draft 3 of DRDW with the hope of getting some chapters posted (they are LONG, so i'll probably post to tumblr in chunks and the full, unbroken chapters on Ao3 due to formatting). once that's ready, i'll be able to return my attention to AES and getting draft 1.5 all written up. i've mostly figured out where the plot's going there, so it'll just be writing it up to figure out the gaps. if i'm able to write something for november again next year (which i really hope i will; nano did some great things for AES), it'll probably be one of the other Jak & Daxter fics i have kicking around in my head, because i am Obsessed (and switching it up between working on fanfic and original fic seems to work well for my brain).

i've been not super active here for the last month or so because Real Life Work is kicking my ass, but hopefully that will calm down and i'll be able to do more of what i want: writing wild shit, reading your wild shit, and screaming about it together 💜

good vibes and best wishes to everybody in the new year 🥂

[thaliatimsh]

hiiii can i get 5, 10, 11, 16, 17, 19, 25 for the fic writer asks :>

HOHOHOOHO thamk you for asking sorry it took me a hot minute to get back on my laptop:

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

LOL i love how everyone has asked me this do i come off as so bitter? i sure do lol. anyway another peeve of mine is really naff ~foriegn language~ bits esp. as like. rubbish sexy talk. people making a character go oooh ma petite chou-fleur in the heat of the moment shfgdjshds fuck off

10. What’s your favorite fandom, pairing, or character to read fic for?

this is a tough one! when i go hunting for fics i normally start w my Fave Character Tags (... treavor pendleton, george hodgson ao3 pages saved to my phone bookmarks smhhhh). probably dishonored fic is my fave to read actually? bc people do so much fun stuff with The World :^)

11. How do you come up with your fic titles?

normally they come from a spoken line in the text of the fic! or sometimes a bit of description... or something from the canon. like the working title for a different kind of man was "stained glass". the fics in the takes two to quarrel series were all named for lines in the fics, except for imperfect life which i lifted directly from canon text (and the series was named for a line in imperfect life)

nlwib's name comes from that one line of wallace's in game thats like - "I must prepare the mourning garments. His lordship has never looked well in black.". i often think that if i was gonna do a cleanup re-write i would just call it in black, but i did start posting it nearly eleven years ago and my Style has evolved since then lol

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

HFJSDKFHKS SEE MYSTERY MAN PART 2 in which I accidentally uncovered the history of one of the rl officers of the franklin expedition and have since seen real life Scholars talk abt things that were literally lost to history until i connected a bunch of dots on accident while trying to find out what early 19thc. eton was like. for a fanned fiction. me @ franklin scholars: get on my level wankers lol

17. How obsessively do you sit and stare at your fic after you’ve just posted and wait for feedback?

TOO OBSESSIVELY and it never ends well. i am trying to hold back on this bc. drac your fics are too niche your majesty they'll kill your self-esteem your majesty. never 4 get that the only comment i got on nlwib chapter 15 was "shame it wasnt gay" :/

19. Do you edit your fics after you write them, or do you prefer to just hit post and run (because it’s someone else’s problem now)?

i don't really Edit edit? things come and go as i write, then i'll get a version i like and probably give it a once-over in the ao3 preview to look for typos.

25. Do you listen to music as you write? If possible, link your writing playlist.

i don't really listen to music while i'm writing bc i get too distracted! either by lyrics or A Good Bit in instrumental music lol. but sometimes I'll play a single song on repeat through the entire thing like a deranged animal. i think the last nlwib chapter was written to Paris 1919 by John Cale on repeat for abt 40 hours lmao

this is the questions btw

[thatswhatsushesaid]

So I'm ngl I followed you because my partner really likes jiggy and I am trying desperately to like. Care more about him and enjoy him because of this. I didn't read through the whole post about life debts and nmj (who for the record I think is an asshole, but an interesting one, given his complete inability to see in shades of grey morality), but I did read the reblog you added comparing some of jiggy's actions to wwx's, which I actually found really interesting. Since wwx is my poor little meow meow, I'm wondering if approaching jiggy through the lens of their similarities etc might help nudge my brain more into liking him, so I was curious if you had any recommendations for like, good meta posts or gifsets or fics that get into this more?

I suspect that part of my problem is the novel is just my least favorite adaptation even though I dislike a lot of the plot changes that cql and the donghua did, because it's hard for me to read through, but I can overcome that. Probably.

hi hello!! I know we have chatted a bit already via messages, but I am so, so, so happy any time someone expresses any interest in developing a more comprehensive understanding of jgy's character.

user meta

in terms of linking you to specific bits of meta about parallels between jgy and wwx, it might be easier for me to just direct you to specific users who have written extensively on narrative parallels in mdzs in general: @xiyao-feels has written meta based on several close readings of the text and often highlights the importance of where jgy-specific events are situated, and this often includes callbacks to things that wwx has done, too. if you're keen on deep dives into what makes jgy tick and text-based explanations for why he does the things he does (and why his options are extremely limited), you should also check out @fincalinde's meta. fincalinde and xiyao-feels both ground their analysis of jgy (and xiyao lol but you don't have to read the xiyao meta if you aren't keen on it) in what we're presented in the text, so if you're worried about reading analysis that relies too much upon 'fanon,' that won't be a concern here. @confusion-and-more is another user who writes similar text-based meta along similar lines.

fan media

I tend not to look for good parallels in gifsets, but this one by @henshengs probably draws the most powerful, bittersweet parallels between wangxian, xiyao, and the relationship between lan wangji and lan xichen's parents. it's from the donghua rather than the drama, idk if you have a preference on that front.

the fic series it's worth it every time by @fincalinde (roquen on AO3) is by far the best series imo for digging into jgy's core motivations for doing the things that he does, and it also has the benefit of hewing extremely close to events as they unfold in canon. again, it's xiyao, which may not be your thing, but imo understanding the xiyao dynamic is pretty crucial to understanding jgy, too.

...okay!! I think this is a good place to get started? I will see what else I can dig up for you, and like I said, I have a few other bits of meta in my drafts atm that are focused specifically on wwx-jgy parallels and comparisons, so once I finish and publish those, I'll ping you about it. 👍

edit: ooh, editing my post to add a link to these two pieces of wangxian and xiyao fanart by @hawberries which are intended to be viewed side by side for maximum heartbreak.

[celaestis1]

20 Questions for fic writers

Thank you for the tag @three-drink-amy @inexplicablymine @myheartalivewrites and @cha-melodius

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

27, which seems somewhat meagre compared to many others!

2. What’s your AO3 total word count?

679,928

3. What fandoms do you write for?

RWRB and Star Wars

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

RWRB Screw Your Courage to the Sticking Place (and forget macbeth is a fucking tragedy)

Star Wars Smoking Hot

Star Wars Stars and Oceans

RWRB Blooming Lovely

Star Wars The Set-Up

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! I never delete comments from my inbox as it always perks up my self-esteem if I'm flagging. So often though I literally don't have words to reply so it's just 'thank you for reading and commenting!' or ❤❤❤

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

Stars and Oceans. Classic post-Order 66 Star Wars featuring a Codywan (fem!Obi) storyline so it's ... pretty bleak. BUT it is also part 1, so part 2 is much less angsty.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Blooming Lovely. Link below.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No? I've had one where someone commented ''I wish you hadn't done xyz" which threw me a bit bc ... dude. The back button's right there.

Oh, tell a lie, I once had someone tell me my female OC was too much of a feminist and they didn't like that. It didn't feel particularly insulting though.

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

I love writing smut, and I feel like I have improved so much in recent years. I like most kinds, but not hate-sex or cheating. Don't like reading it and don't think I could write it.

10. Do you write crossovers? If so, what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Hmm, yes and no. I like taking characters out of one universe and transplanting them into another. I have two of these on the go at the moment; a Firstprince Discovery of Witches AU and a Codywan His Dark Materials. But I don't cross the characters over, so Henry and Alex won't be running into Matthew and Diana.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Once, had a fic cross-posted without my permission and I wasn't happy. Thankfully it was taken down immediately once I contacted the person who'd done it. I think they thought they were being nice?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

@inexplicablymine baby, current WIP, Firstprince, and y'all are NOT ready.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I have regular obsessions with ships! I love, and always will, Firstprince and Codywan. But I'm currently eyeball deep in a Buddie rabbit-hole and absolutely head-over-heels for some Wheel of Time ships too so I don't know if I could ever choose one favourite.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Probably one of my Star Wars ones - there's a Sithywan fic that I have the bare bones of a plot for but so far it feels flimsy to me.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and inner monologues of characters. I like to think I'm good at landing characterisations.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Ad-libbing or ad-hoc writing I struggle with but also conversely plotting? I can have these amazing ideas that usually start with dialogue between two characters and then can't always follow through in creating a narrative around that scene.

Also sometimes I think I rely on a Deus Ex Machina too often.

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

I'll normally try to just add in the odd word if canon, 'mijo', etc. I try to avoid long sentences unless it's a fictional language anyway (Mando'a) or it can't be avoided. Then I very guiltily use Google translate. For slang I do try and research multiple sources rather than Google though.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Justice League, the DC Animated version which was a very good cartoon actually.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

It probably has to be Blooming Lovely. It's not often I write something totally joyful and angst-free so it felt like an achievement!

tagging @tintagel-or-cockleshells @dumbpeachjuice @cricketnationrise @happiness-of-the-pursuit

[still-a-morosexual-help]

@🌹anon asked about my ocs sometime back and as I was answering it rn I accidentally deleted the entire thing😭😭😭😭😭

I'm gonna try and write whatever I remember again✌️:

Yes I did it again (shut up);

I'm such a fucking idiot, I found the "deleted ask" hidden deep in my drafts - apparently it went there when I lost my internet connection but instead of getting saved at the top of my drafts it got saved on the day anon first sent me the ask so somewhere in the middle between other drafts??? Anyway:

!!!You asked for it!!

They were all created for some game or another (characters I'll be able to toss away once I'm done playing the games) But I ended up falling in love with all of them🤡

I can't draw people for shit & I don't wanna describe appearances so I'm gonna use picrews (with links added for anyone who wants to use 'em too)

Starting from first created to last & answering it like I'm making them character profiles for a dating sim (but leaving out the three from Choices 'cause I don't know if they can be considered proper ocs rather than just characters the game handed us? Also leaving out the others from fictif because they're not as well developed)

1. "Lex" Alexandra Lane

(Lex after Lex Luthor and Lane after Lois Lane because I think I'm funny)

[1] , [2]

Origin: Love Island the Game S2

25 at beginning now 26 years (Birthday: November 16th)

5'5"

She/Her

Bisexual

Professional Cellist

English/British because the game didn't give me a choice

Married at 26 (because the game gives you no option), will definitely have a couple kids at some point

No gross out factor - probably ate bugs as a kid. Probably will still eat a bug off the ground if dared to. Biggest point of pride is that she can do a backflip in heels. Loves fashion/beautiful clothes that are usually stupidly expensive. Biting her lip and making bedroom eyes at every single person but really just wants to fall in love and settle down. Hates confrontation/any sort of fight but also really wants to know everything about everyone's business. Good at being the mediator. Always the big spoon. Actually pretty buff - can absolutely bench you.

2. Eliza Ramskin

(Eliza after the official name of the porcelain apple doll sitting in a box on my cupboard but then I decided I didn't want it to stand for Elizabeth so now it stands for "A Lizard" after the rubber gecko pasted on my bedroom wall. Ramskin: a bad pun because of the game)

[1] , [2] (yes the little frog is supposed to be me)

Origin: Obey Me!

23 at beginning now 26 years (Birthday: April 21st)

5'10"

They/Them

Queer

Wildlife Photographer

Has chronic pain

Has a scar over one eyebrow - will smugly tell you a cool story for it. In reality dropped a jar of peanut butter on their face. + top surgery scars

-> Essentially just om! gen MC with a background and name. Have you read my post about gen MC's canon facts? Have you read any of my gen MC theory posts, where I take individual canon facts & connect them to see what happens? Have you read any of my obey me! fics? Can you remember what general MC was like in them? Then you know exactly what Eliza is like. But still, here are some of my favourite parts:

Ambiguously human. Would fight God at 2am in a Denny's parking lot and WIN. They're very lowkey an asshole but underneath that they're kinda nice but underneath that they're a bigger asshole but underneath that they're even nicer and so on and so forth. Surprisingly down for murder. 0 self preservation + 0 shame + 0 fear + max drive & determination + max stubborness + max can do attitude + unconsciously charming + actually pretty strong + danger kink + horny = the world's greatest monster fucker.

3. Len

(Len's short for Lenora which she no longer goes by but irl named after my Lenova laptop, No surname.)

[1] , [2]

Origin: The Arcana

31 years (Birthday: June 7th)

5'11"

She/They

Bisexual

Same occupation as the game's MC

The only one who has a defined body shape in my mind and that body shape is plank of wood

Pitch black eyes that reflects no light. Vague cryptid energy. Stoic, cold yet thin polite smile that seems very surface level. Posture's so good just looking at her makes your back hurt. Warms up once you get to know her; is caring and gentle and understanding and soothing but also stuborn and tough/harsh/strict. Responsible but also has no problem breaking the law if needed. Dreams of travelling the world. Gives off black cat energy but is a dog person. Sadistic in both the sexy and unsexy way. Bad puns. So much untapped potential to be a super villain. I think I accidentally just created a female version of om!'s Lucifer...

4. Vale Knight

(Vale after welcome to night vale which I hadn't watched at the time, Knight from the same place but it's also a pun because of what happens to them in the game)

[1] , [2]

Origin: Last Legacy

28 years (July 10th)

6'0"

They/Them

Queer Polyamorous

Same occupation as the game's MC

Not only are they a weeb they're an ASSHOLE. The kind of person to get stabbed because their first instinct was to mock the mugger. Decided to dye their hair for cosplay once and then went "wait a minute -" A shameless flirt until someone flirts back and then they're a flustered annoyed mess. Had a lot of jobs over the years, currently a barista - doesn't want to be a barista forever but doesn't know what they want to do (other than gaming, watching movies/shows/anime, reading books/comics/manga) until they accidentally discover a passion for medicine and go to nursing school

5. River Bouwmeester

(River after Lake from Infinity Train which I've never watched, Bouwmeester because it's a Dutch surname meaning "master builder" because they work as a home renovater)

[1]

Origin: Monster Manor

27 years

5'1"

He/They

Queer

Same occupation as the game's MC

American (because the game gave me no choice) with probably Dutch origins from their father's side

Couple of big scars here and there

BIG "I can fix him energy". Moves around a lot = not much possibility for a long term stable relationship = oblivious and shy when it comes to romantic attraction. Strong, patient, practical. Very little can rattle them. Came from a long family line of home renovaters/builders (of the magic, strange & weird) but no close living family. Unironically loves bob the builder. Trying very hard to forget about the fact that they're extremely lonely by keeping up a very positive optimistic attitude. Their truck is their pride & joy. Absolutely loves their job even though it's what causes them to move about so much and so makes it hard to form close connections. Very friendly from the first moment but isn't tolerant of anyone's bullshit.

6. Roo Kidd

(Roo after the baby kangaroo from Winnie the Pooh, Kidd because the baby kangaroo was a kid. Surprisingly the actual meanings behind both names fit with their character/circumstances)

[1] , [2]

Origin: Twisted Wonderland

16 years (Birthday January 10th)

5'7"

He/They

Gay Demiromantic Asexual

Wears reading glasses

Lots of small scars from scrapes and scratches all along body

Always cold + loves cute clothes = wearing summer dresses and instantly regretting it. Head in the clouds 7 outta 10 times. Has never felt romantic attraction before - believed they never would and was 100% okay with that - so the one time they did start feeling it went "wow I'm really into this friendship" and stayed oblivious for an annoyingly long time. Also similarly oblivious to romantic attraction directed at them. Kinda klutzy. Big wet eyes. Big bright smile. A ball of sunshine but also really snarky. "This might as well happen" energy. Fast with quick reflexes and a sharp eye for detail. A cunning edge that comes out only during emergencies. Strength of a wet noodle though. Gets a shitty impromptu/accidental haircut that leads to him buzzing it all off and having to grow it back.

[wysteir]

Wisteria's FG Journal

S1 In Review

Around the start of this year I decided to try and get into fighting games! This post will have notes about my journey and learning experiences in the first 3 months

My first* fighting game was Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising! Asterisk because it was the first game I actually wanted to try to learn all the ins and outs of fighting games seriously.

Before this year the bulk of my experience was whatever odd fighting games we had lying around, including Samsho V, One Of The Mortal Kombats, and One Of The Dead Or Alives. Later got Skullgirls and Street Fighter 4 but never got deeply into either, and I'll include any time I played playing Whichever Versions of smash.

Either way, having fun with them casually, but never really thinking about actual strats. I wanted to fling specials at people and hit then with heavy buttons hahaheeheehoohoo

Granblue stood out to me because

1) A bunch of folks I knew were playing it

2) It touted a relatively low skill floor

3) Fox gal with huge fluffy tail

So I steeled myself for losses, and dove in, except - where do I even start?

Well thankfully my friends had my back on that one. I got linked copious amounts of resources, and of them the most important ones for me personally were the ones related to keeping a healthy mental game.

Fighting games are hard to learn because it's a skill like any other. Learning an art is hard- music, visual arts, writing, dance: all of these are skills that take time and have difficult aspects to learning them.

They should also bring joy when engaging in them, both through the fun of doing, but also the satisfaction of honing a skill. This is where healthy mental comes in. I didn't want to be stuck in a bad mental state learning fighting games. That would cascade into my attempts to learn and would spoil my fun- and at that point why bother?

Staying realistic while taking as much pride as I could in my progress contributed a huge amount in how smoothly I ramped up. In many ways I benefitted from being almost entirely new, and starting with upholding mental first. Note that it was also important to me to not dismiss my feelings or bottle them up. These things linger in the subconscious, they are mind killers and they need to be treated with care.

Immense damage was dealt to me by the North American Education System and Familial Expectations. Part of my journey in fighting games involved a continuation of dismantling the shame in perceived failures. I would let nothing stop me from finding joy in learning, and being silly with it. A key thing for fighting games is that for better or for worse, there's a common perception that the failure state is getting KO'd. After much deliberation, I personally refuse to view it as such.

Winning is merely a side effect of good play.

Losing is an opportunity to hone my skills.

Success to me is the 50/50. I'm a performer by heart, I love the drama, the thrill, the narration. And over and over again, I see my goal in others' replays and tournament footage- it's the 50/50. Being evenly matched with my opponent became an immense source of positive vibes, and as I improved, and got closer to it, the joy I got grew more and more. Most notably, I hit a point where even fighting players who could 10-0 me wasn't even daunting anymore, because every round we played I got just a little bit better, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I could turn it into a 10-1.

Mental is the most important thing because it determines how efficient you are in terms of learning, performance, and inspiration. Once mental tanks or ges overwhelmed, it's time for a break!!!

The next important thing for me was defense and taking back my turn.

I thought about it, and realized that at my skill level, I would probably be on the losing side of the fight more often than not. What I needed wasn't the most damaging combo, what I needed were the skills to get myself out of an inevitable scenario.

A dependency comes about from this then:

1) If I'm knocked down or in the corner, my priority needs to be taking my turn back. I can't do anything else if I'm under attack with whatever mix tape my opponent is blasting on loop.

2) If we're in neutral, I need to find the best way to get into a position to establish offence (or just establish it outright)

3) If they're blocking, I need to mix them and watch out for when they want to take their turn back

4) If I'm hitting them I either won or I'm about to get sent back to 3

Combos ain't shit actually!! They kinda fucking suck for a new player!!!! Combos and Complicated Hornswogglery won't save the new player from the situation they'll be in most of the time, ie- blocking in the corner

Second most important is playing neutral to try and prevent getting hit and cornered in the first place.

When I first started playing Granblue the most I could do was a basic baby auto combo into 236L and easy input super for offense, but I learned how to jab out of pressure, I learned how valuable reversals were, as I spent less and less time in the corner I learned how to approach and counter in neutral, and everything else was the fun fancy stuff that most resources list in great detail.

So! Behold, my power 9!

0) Preliminary research on game specifics

1) Learn how to maintain good mental

2) Learn how to block/evade/tech

3) Learn how to escape pressure

4) Learn how to skip/hold neutral

5) Learn a basic midscreen combo

6) Learn Okizeme/counter reversals

7) Learn a basic corner combo

8) Learn the advanced mechanics

Throughout the discord server I'm in I have lists and lists of things I felt I wanted to learn and some little victories and eureka moments

The 9 things above basically cover the gist of things

As I learned more and more granblue basics I also ended up playing guilty gear strive more often, and applied the same principles. Strive has more mechanics/resources than granblue so some of them came hand and hand with the 9, but I'm sure you'll find they slot in easy

By the end of March I was at a relatively low Mental and was taking it easier, but by then I was also playing in a way I didn't see myself being able to do for at least 6 months.

And now, even only 2.5 weeks since then? I could deck the halls with my March self

And if you've ever been interested in fighting games, you could learn them well too!!!

[bisexualamy]

Transition Update #63: 7 years on T & hysto retrospective

Hi everyone!! The title says it all. I wanted to include all of my phallo consults in this as well, but a few items are last-minute up in the air, so I'll write a separate post for the phallo consults omnibus.

As always, please don't reblog or screenshot and repost. Links are fine. Writing transition updates over the years has been really good for me and I always hope someone finds them helpful. But at the same time, the larger public is awful about bottom surgeries and I'd rather not subject myself to that ire.

This post has a general content warning for discussions of sex, genitals, body image and body/gender dysphoria.

7 years on T

I stopped doing annual T updates a while ago, because after the first 2-3 years most of the bodily changes are basically the same bodily changes cis men go through as they age. This year I made a point to celebrate 7 years, because that's an absolutely wild number, and I think it's important to acknowledge my T anniversary when it comes around. Testosterone has fundamentally changed my life. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be here without it. I'm so grateful to be in a place mentally, physically, financially, and temporally that I can continue to access it.

I started taking Finasteride this year bc my hairline is getting a little thin. This is, again, more a factor of being in my later 20s than anything else. I didn't expect it to affect me as much as it did. It was one of the first times I experienced and male body image issue that had nothing to do with being trans. Normally, I'm so grateful to live as a man that most male body image issues don't affect me. I don't care that I'm short or a little round or I have wider hips. I'm so grateful to pass and live full-time as a man that it doesn't register. This one was different, and I'm not quite sure why, but I'm going to try and not obsess over it.

Off and on the last four years, but seriously the last two years, I started working out and lifting. At first, I mostly ran, especially during the height of the lockdown when it was the only safe way to work out. I love running but I always wanted to be strong and see what my body could do. The past two years I've been working with an online trainer and my strength has really improved!! I'm hitting personal bests in the gym and it's stopped feeling like a tedious chore. I'm actually excited to go now. That's an amazing feeling and I'm always really happy when my friends or family call me strong.

Hysto retrospective

It's been 7 months since my hysto back in January. The recovery for that was longer and more difficult than I expected. Being cooped up in the house and feeling really weak and gross, on top of the bottom dysphoria I kept experiencing having to constantly discuss lots of parts I hate having, was really hard on me. I feel like, over the last two months, I've shaken off a lot of the lingering depression from that. All that being said, I've healed very well, and I'm so happy I got my hysto.

One of the worst, dysphoria-inducing nightmares for me was getting pregnant. It was so bad, it prevented me from seriously dating cis men for years. T is not birth control, and even with protection and respectful partners, the fear and anxiety were just too much for me to handle. I knew that once I got my hysto, I'd probably feel more confident dating men, but I didn't realize the extent to which that would be true.

I've felt way more confident to date around and hook up since I got my hysto. I've gone on more dates with cis gay men than I ever have before, and even though they ultimately fizzled out, I have never had that level of dating confidence in my life. It's so, so gender affirming when cis gay men are attracted to me. I always felt like I lost something, being a bisexual man who was too anxious about being trans to participate in any kind of gay male culture in NYC. This is by far the biggest gift my hysto gave me and I'm so happy for it.

[partnersincrimesuau]

Another Few Updates ☆ﾟ･:*:･｡★

Yes I am aware it's Sunday. Yes I am aware I haven't posted Chapter 2 Page 43 yet. Yes I am aware my Information Centre says "Pages posted every Friday at 8pm Central Australian Time". Yes I am aware I haven't posted a page on a Friday since, like, January.

I'm getting off track LOL

UPDATE NUMBER ONE - Where's Page 43?

I have one week left of school before a two-week holidays, and I'm SWAMPED with homework for now. For clarity; I have three assignments due on Monday, two more I finished today, and one I finished last week. I hope this clears some things up... and explains why I'm so behind on Partners In Crime.

Page 43 IS finished, and IS ready to upload. However, I am still working on Page 48; and for those who don't know, I like to always be ten pages ahead of my posting page. Therefore I SHOULD be working on Page 53. Once the holidays start and my assignments are finished, I can catch up on these pages. Some of them shouldn't be as long as others so hopefully it won't take ages to finish them.

I plan on posting Page 43 next week. So sorry for the delays, I know there's been a few this chapter. I'm not doing this on purpose.

UPDATE NUMBER TWO - A brief solution

It's currently 12:03am as I'm writing this sentence and I'm about to jump into bed, so yes I won't be posting anything after this post tonight. HOWEVER! I've decided that tomorrow, instead of posting Page 43, I'll post some concept art!!! I feel like that'll be a good placeholder for now. There are plenty of concepts for earlier pages that I plan on posting, and I might throw some early drawings of Condor in as well!!! ^^

UPDATE NUMBER THREE - Maintenance

I finally went through every "infected" page and fixed the 'next' and 'previous' links. For anyone who didn't know, there were a ton of early Chapter 2 pages that were "infected" somehow, by something I can hardly begin to explain. The "Chapter Start" links, as well as the "FAQ" and Discord links were completely untouched. They worked fine. But EVERY SINGLE 'NEXT' OR 'PREVIOUS' LINK, FOR SOME REASON, JUMPED TO THE MOST RECENT PAGE!!! There were pages from December that sent you to the page I posted eight days ago - it made NO sense.

Thankfully, I've gone back and fixed every one of them. HOPEFULLY, it won't happen again. (If it persists, PLEASE tell me. Don't hesitate to comment saying "Jinxy this page has a disease, it's doing the link thing again" - that's actually really helpful. Shoutout to the readers who did tell me btw, you guys are legends!)

UPDATE NUMBER FOUR - IT'S THE BEST MONTH OF THE YEAR!!!

IT'S JULY!!! That means... NINETEEN DAYS UNTIL MY BIRTHDAY!!! (It's on the 21st of July for those in other timezones, lolll). I'll probably be partying with my besties then so you won't find me online, but I'll probably do a little picture of myself like I did last year. Just thought I'd mention it here, haha.

Anyways I think that's about it... it's now 12:14am and I might go to bed. Or I might catch up on Miraculous Ladybug because I heard the finale for Season 5 is out...? We'll see ^^

Thanks for your patience everyone!!!! See you tomorrow ^^