#or for people who have no interest in making content to contribute to the fandom space by commissioning art of their little guys

[tippenfunkaport]

When I first started in fandom, for whatever reason I decided making fankids was like… too cringe for me. Like that was the arbitrary line I drew of what was too deep into fandom for me.

Anyway, think of this when I post my fankid drawings later because they represent me surrendering what is left of my dignity and fully surrendering to the cringe.

[ouchmyghostskin]

Season 2 predictions regarding payneland:

I've been having thoughts since seeing the cameo where George said that there was a deleted scene post confession/ pre Crystal saying goodbye, where Edwin encouraged Charles to be honest with her about how he feels (which is kinda insane character development compared to episode one??? But good for him). Granted , they deleted it and we don't know why, but I'm going to assume it was for space/time etc. Originally I wasn't really sure if Edwin had picked up on the open-endedness of Charles saying that they had forever to figure it out, though I suspected he hadn't, but I thought that if he *had* that he would most likely wait. But now I think that Edwin probably saw that as "I don't reciprocate but don't worry we'll figure everything out". So I think the likelihood that Edwin might pursue something with someone else in season 2 is a definite possibility. Fully accepting Charles "rejection" and consciously deciding to address his loneliness and desire for romantic/sexual connection, despite his feelings for Charles. And....I suspect it's going to be the cat king. And I suspect that Charles is going to be caught between his interest in Crystal and insane jealousy about Edwin, and it's going to be the catalyst for him realizing that his jealousy is romantic in nature.

There is always the possibility payneland isn't endgame but I'm an optimist 👌

Now for some personal thoughts about the above that has some mildly negative feelings about catwin so if you would rather not read you can scroll now. 👍. Yay for curating your fandom experience!

So I'll be honest, there isn't even a small part of me that ships catwin. I thought the plot line was interesting, and I think the cat king is an interesting character that functions very well as a catalyst. I don't *hate* it and I have absolutely zero negative thoughts about people who enjoy it, just to be clear about that. Ship whatever you want, it's all paper dolls in a sandbox to me. For me personally though, I found the dynamic coercive enough to put me off it entirely as a ship. (For some people that's fun to explore, or ignore, in ships for a wide variety of reasons that I have zero desire to police, so again, I'm not criticizing catwin shippers). Secondarily , I actually don't ship characters all that often, but when I do Im pretty OTP about it, so that's contributing. But if that's the direction they're going in , it makes sense for them to continue with the cat king since it's established that Edwin is attracted to him, and has appeared to forgive him for manipulating him in season 1. So....I'll not be thrilled to see catwin content in season 2? But I can grimace through it if it's not endgame. Also...I've seen whispers that indicate some parts of fandom don't enjoy the jealousy plotline specifically bc they feel jealousy is harmful? I get it if it just doesn't interest you or brings up bad memories, but emotions don't harm others. Being angry or jealous is an almost unavoidable part of the human experience. Only your behavior motivated by those emotions can harm people. So ...I'm ALL for Charles continuing to grapple with emotions like jealousy and anger and coming to terms with realizing they don't make him an abusive person. Even if he handles it imperfectly that's still an interesting flaw, and there's an extremely large sliding scale of behavior between "that's something to work on but you are a great person" and actually harmful/abusive. Yay nuance!

[gasolinerainbowpuddles]

I'm here to share another brave yet controversial take.

(This is strictly about smut in fics - not plot points, characterizations, etc.)

I think there is a fundamental difference in how different ages interact with smut in fics. In my personal experience and preference, the hottest smut I've read has come from writers whose bios say 30+ or from writers who are close to that age. I think there are factors that contribute to this:

LIFE EXPERIENCE — This doesn't strictly mean number of partners (although I do believe that helps). The older you are, the more people you've come across, and this builds a bigger worldview that allows for nuance and a more understanding of how things move and interplay. It exposes you to more interpersonal dynamics, which are a huge part of sexuality imo.

SCIENCE — Our brains aren't done cooking until around 25. This means logic, decision making, patience, thinking things through, not letting emotions be the driving force behind our actions, etc. don't really solidify until we're well into our formative adult years. This ties into my first point in regards to how a person navigates their world, and there is a different level of understanding that comes with a fully developed brain.

SEXUAL PRIME — Late 20s to mid 40s is considered to be the sexual peak for women (I'm focusing on women because fic writing is mostly women). Heightened sexual fantasies and experiences align with women in that age range, and I think that is an essential factor in creating fantasies that are more erotic and visceral through writing. There is also a confidence that comes with knowing what you want, what you like, how to get those things, comfortability in expressing your sexuality and actively utilizing it, etc.

CRAFT EXPERTISE — Many of the 30ish year old writers I have seen have written for numerous other fandoms over the span of at least a decade, sometimes more. When you've been doing something for that long, it makes sense that their works would be more finely tuned in content and prose.

INTEREST — Writing fic takes a lot of time and effort - emotional and mental. If someone is around the age of 30, chances are they've got more on their plate than someone younger. Maybe they've got more job responsibilities because they've moved up to a managerial position. Maybe they've had a kid or two. Maybe they have dogs and a partner they live with and have to tend to those things in addition to whatever else going on. My point is, somebody who has a lot going on in their life and still makes the effort to write and share fic HAS TO have a strong desire to do it because it is very time consuming.

I'm sure there are more points that I've left out, but this is just what came to mind immediately. I've seen a lot of weird ageist takes on who "should be" writing smut, as if you suddenly stop being horny when you hit 24 or something.

In all honesty, maybe readers who don't enjoy smut written by 30ish year old writers just aren't ready for it? Maybe if you're 19, you're not going to resonate with someone who is in a later point in their life because you haven't come to that maturity yet? And, no, that's not me saying you can't enjoy it because you're "immature." I'm saying you're not there in your life yet, so it's perfectly fine to prefer works from someone who is more of a peer to you.

So perhaps if you find yourself age shaming, applying morality to sexuality, and denigrating fic writers who are 30ish+, maybe just stick with reading fic and smut by people who are where you're currently at in life?

[tonycries]

omg ur blog is being called out in the comments of averageanimangaenjoyer tiktok video :(( (by commenters, not the creator) titled “people don’t make fanfics anymore they don’t make full length stories, they just try to post $mut fics” and they’re talking about how they burn out and put out a new one

REPORTED THEM FOR HATE SPEECH

PLSSS WHY DID THIS MAKE ME GIGGLE 😭 And honestly, I was going to respond with a silly werewolf meme like usual, but I genuinely want to take the time out to say that some people treat fanfic writers like content farms and it's disgusting.

Like this is not directed or hate towards the creator or ANYONE really, because everyone has their own opinion - but you have to understand that you're NOT obligated to content.

Feeling burnt out? Valid and I feel you, I really do. Dislike my content and want a 200k+ slow burn angst instead? That's great! Block me and write your own then.

Just stop hating on fic writers who spend hours upon hours of time and effort to write, edit, and share something they love for FREE.

You don't have to like every fic, but I saw some of the comments on that video and they were fr disheartening talking trash about not just me, but writers in general that just want to contribute something they love towards a fandom - be it smut or one-shots or SMAU. Again, content for FREE - no one is entitled to anything. Write your own if you want something so bad.

And once more, this is NOT shade so don't send hate to anyone. Quite frankly I'm not even upset (gen), this is just my perspective.

In the end, we're all just silly people with our silly interests so can we all just get along?

But yeah, sorry for rambling, and thanks for standing up for me lovely MWAH <33 💗💗

[iammeiamwe]

At first I wanted to colour it using a more dull/cold colour pallette, but then I remembered how much I love the vibrant and colourful sunrise/sunset kind of lighting scenario so I just went for it. Killer's presence is still making it creepy enough anyway😅 (click for better quality)

This is actually a small gift for @signanothername , because, well, they are kind of one of the reasons I even started the blog:)

For the ones who want to read me rambling about them (and probably my whole life story as well because I literally couldn't stop writing haha), go ahead:

I mean I used to be more of a reserved and even shy kind of person, I didn't use social media too often (if YouTube and a couple other apps can even count). And even when I used it I mostly only watched and I didn't interact with people/content creators much. (I didn't even comment on YouTube like at all).

I've actually been drawing digitally (both my characters and fanart for different fandoms) since 2018 and I've never posted my art online anywhere, only showed it to my friends. And I thought I would actually never do it.

But then I randomly stumbled upon tumblr a couple weeks ago, and then I stumbled upon signanothername. I was like so heartwarmed and amazed and blown away by how they interact with their followers and community - like seriously I just couldn't stop reading their answers to all the asks they got they were all so cool and cute and I probably was glued to the blog for nearly 2 hours after I first saw it. This blog (and a couple of others) actually made me realise what a nice and welcoming community and people you all have here on tumblr (and how many cool features tumblr has for communication both between creators and their followers) and I immediately went: "I want to be a part of it!"

And yeah, they've also (almost) singlehandedly brought me back into the utmv fandom. I've actually been out of it for a while, and even when I was a part of it I didn't actually really contribute anything to it, I was kinda scared to draw something new I had never drawn before (skeletons) and I also didn't really see the point in it since none of my friends were interested in the fandom so no one would actually see my art.

But something about their beautiful art made me think: "Yeah, I can make and post cool stuff too!"

And don't get me wrong, there are also other people and blogs that have motivated me. I'm actually planning on making small gifts for them too, just a bit later. It just so happened that signanothername goes first.

So. Get my first ever drawing of Killer, of my three first ever drawings for utmv, on my first blog on tumblr, which is actually my first ever social media account where I actually create and post stuff.

Yeah. And take a small heart🩷

[directdogman]

Hey dogman, idk if you answered this

Who, out of both DSAF and Dialtown, was your favourite to write and/or create?

It's very hard for me to pick favourites with my characters because I don't tend to give characters a lot of screen-time unless I find a character interesting or fun to write. You've caught me in a talkative mood, so warning, there's an onslaught of text coming!

DSaF: Dave was the most fun to write for, as I remember it. I mean, the guy is the walking personification of chaos and even when he's being constructive (eg, rigging robots to do insane stuff), it's usually in a destructive capacity. Dave will do LITERALLY ANYTHING but contribute to society in meaningful/valuable ways.

In terms of what character-writing I was most 'proud' of, I was also pretty happy with Dr Henry Miller, as a villain. Namely the research he embarked on, described in his logs in DSaF 3 (which the fandom evidently agreed with, as I got really strong feedback on those logs.)

One issue a lot of people (including myself) have with canon William Afton is that he's this kind of mad scientist character but his research doesn't really seem to be... idk, going anywhere? Other than using remnant (soul nectar?) to make kids possess robots, it's kind of a mystery how he got to this point he did from running a bad fast food restaurant. William gets fleshed out motivations in TSE and even then, it mainly revolves around his relationship with Henry Emily, iirc. It's actually pretty accurate to how real serial killers think, imo, but there's a pretty wide berth between this kind of serial killer and becoming a sci-fi fast-food mad scientist... So, I decided to try to bridge that gap.

DSaF Henry's logs actually mention where the idea for his research came from, namely the fact that he existed in a world with normal scientific rules just like ours and seemingly discovered something supernatural, and he approaches it like an amoral scientist would - trying to figure out how to figure out more about the fabric of reality using the newly discovered phenomenon of possession. The 'joy of creation' phrase people pulled from Golden Freddy's phone call in FNaF 1 is given context - Henry is trying to find out what's on the other side (and eventually, how existence itself formed.)

There's other aspects to his character that make him more interesting too, like the implication that his research is partially an excuse for him to act on an underlying sadism (with scenes implying that he inflicts damage on others than can't be justified as assisting with his research.) His background as a dissident/quack laughing-stock scientist (thanks to pushing his soul theory in a best-selling book, which is considered pseudoscience) BEFORE he embarked on his journey to become a fast food tycoon also makes it less farfetch'd that he'd be capable of y'know, harvesting human souls intentionally to continue his research?

I had more for the character on paper that people haven't seen but some of it wasn't revealed due to it feeling a bit too disturbing to publish. None of the contents would've been all that controversial, more just too tonally disturbing when written about in detail (like a omitted part from his backstory/lore post where he managed to pick up a hazy audio of his wife + son's crying from the radio of the car his wife/son drowned in and reacted with genuine elation upon realizing he'd discovered a new scientific phenomenon (as this was the first time Henry witnessed soul-possession.)) Yeah.

I don't feel much of a need to revisit Henry as a character because as a series villain, he was pretty thoroughly-written and he did his job effectively... And his fate was well earned! (He even got an epilogue short-story a few years back, further cementing his fate!)

Dialtown: From the characters/writing that the fandom has seen? Tough to say. I genuinely really like every DT character. Gingi and Mayor Mingus are two of my favourite characters to write for because they're both really insistent and react to adversity in a really comically indignant way. Mingus is more like Gingi than she cares to admit in very specific ways, which is the core hypocrisy of her character - she's one of the most abnormal things IN Dialtown, and spends the game on a quest opposing abnormality that she, herself, can't stand.

Many absolute rulers have debilitating physical and/or mental cruxes and despite that, usually have the final say on what is/isn't okay, often guided by arbitrary preferences. It's funny to remember all of the ancient kings and emperors who dictated how others should act, talk and even think, when very many of them themselves were anything except a good reflection of their own subjects! It's an irony I quite enjoy and leads to a fun character to write for!

My favourite DT writing is probably some of my Callum Crown speech drafts. I have a definite bias here since Crown's character is based on many figures I've encountered in my own reading (and his story relates to topics I enjoy reading about.) A lot of that is real nerd shit that wouldn't be interesting to 99.9% of DT fans (like a long conversation where Crown + Milt discuss a campaign speech Milt wrote for Crown and they bicker about if the wording/arguments used are truly honest.) Again, not super relevant to Dialtown-proper, but it explains a lot about why the world of DT ended up the way it did.

Realistically, the story of Dialtown itself is basically a weird little epilogue to a story that ended decades upon decades ago, centered around a bunch of small-town nobodies circling around the carcass of the last surviving main character of the old story.

I'm also very happy with Gingi's character partially because I know more about Gingi's past/future than you guys do. Gingi has such rotten memory that Gingi's backstory before DT's story begins is basically a complete mystery. Thanks to Gingi never getting close enough to any humans before laying its eggs, there's nobody in Gingi's life that can fill in the gaps. Companionship means so much to Gingi because prior to meeting The Gang, Gingi is aware of a massive and unknown block of time that's a complete mystery precisely because Gingi had nobody in its life. To Gingi, this time was basically akin to being non-sentient or dead, and Gingi would never go back.

While I was making DSaF, I drafted a ton of other stories on paper. I considered making most of them, but decided not to for various reasons, despite getting some solid feedback from collaborators. Bits of almost all of those project ideas made it into DT, with Gingi having traits from several other main characters I prototyped years and years ago. This includes where Gingi came from and what exactly Gingi is. I don't want to mislead people into thinking Gingi is more important than it is, like Gingi is the key to unlocking DT lore (I promise there's a LOT of aimless scuttling/devouring in Gingi's past and relatively little else!) BUT: Of everything from those old scrapped projects, Gingi is what I decided deserved to survive the most. And that has to count for something.

One day I'd love to make sequels to DT and perhaps explore some of the stuff I've described above, like why the hell the world of DT is the way it is or maybe where the hell Gingi spawned from. Thanks

[ae-neon]

I have a theory about the discourse. Not any specific discourse but about the canon-obsessed side and how they react to things.

When you're happy with canon and you come to participate in online fandom, there's not much to talk about. There's only so many times you can come online and look at fanart or post a quote you like before you get bored. If you're happy with the way it is, you have nothing to add. Look at Star Wars or Harry Potter, they're passionate about the world and want to get into the details and theorize, expand... they're not being negative (well sometimes they are) but they're also not in canon's clutches. That creativity, when you have something to add to the canon as a fan, determines your participation in fandom. That's what separates fandom from a casual fan, who is happy to put down the book at the end and move onto the next one.

And since ACOTAR is a book fandom, it's not like there are gif makers or other neutral, canon compliant activities to occupy your time, especially if you refuse to learn art or start writing fic.

So what do they do? Get online and start drama. Go after people who have any criticism about media they like, or even go after the people who are making their own, positive content (and aren't posting criticism) simply because it isn't canon compliant or they don't like it. That's how you get people calling all Tamlin stans "antis" even if they don't post anti content. And on that topic, it's not even enough for something to be canon-compliant, it also needs to be canon-compliant in the right way. You have to like x characters and dislike y characters and if you do draw/write fic about something based in canon it needs to be portrayed with the same narrative that exists in canon. So no positive Tamlin content allowed, even if there were positive moments of him in canon. Everything Nesta did is wrong because SJM said it's wrong. And if you disagree you misread the books. It's even in the ship war! The only explanation for that much animosity over three ships that are that boring is that they're all obsessed with canon/what will be canon. Every side of the ship war refuses to entertain the idea of simply shipping something because they like it, that's why they're on here three years after ACOSF still arguing over whether or not Elain looks good in black.

TL;DR canon obsessed people have zero creativity and the only thing they have to contribute to fandom is being a self appointed cop

I think you're absolutely correct, the three sides ship war being rooted in who is right rather than what they like really hits

The funny thing is that canon is so threadbare it adds to the sense of it being almost impossible to write non-canon without doing so much more work

Like the Archeron parents and the KoH don't even have names and across her courts there are no language groups to signify a general trend for naming conventions, geographically we know as much about the continent as Prythian etc etc. but we know Velaris, the CoN and Illyria, and the IC all have juuuuust enough background and fridged associations to play with so that's the safezone

Canon even has a perfect built in oc placement for IC fans in the completely empty space that is Rhysand's sister

And the threat of harassment as well as the weird puritan standards breeds this hyper sanitized facade where "non-canon in the right way" fans and antis alike are, funnily enough, all forced to tread lightly and stick to similarly approved non-canon content

The Nyxlin backlash is proof enough of that. A sudden wave of disingenuous moral grandstanding when the creators went out of their way to make it clear the acceptable parameters for content submission fell well within general and platform specific guidelines. And no one was being forced to participate or view content anyways

Like I mentioned in the post about people threatening to "redeem" Tomas Mandray, I have no interest in policing fandom (but I guess they see criticism of canon as exactly that) and if I didn't want to see that content I would simply scroll away or rant about it on my own blog if it really got to me. It would never cross my mind to harass a real person over a fictional character, especially anything as half-baked as an sjm character

But again, just like you said, a lot the fandom genuinely has nothing to do besides reblogging art and purity checking

My biggest gripe is the sense of authority it gives to SJM, we are almost forced to play along according to her rules when they don't just depict but validate racism, misogyny, homophobia, ableism, segregation and a general neo-liberal colonial mindset - a Zionist salad of fuckery

[lostcauses-noregrets]

Hey, Lost hope u doing good, I'm just a like a half-year-old eruri and I love them so much with all my heart canon or not but there has been a thing lately I've come across many people saying eruri is dead even among eruri fandom. Since the end of Aot' final ofc it' not same but as someone who reads eruri a lot, and wants to write too, it's making me lose my enthusiasm. I really would want to keep it going but it weighs on my mind heavily. Would want ur expert opinion, is it really dead?

Hey Anon, welcome to the fandom! Please don’t be put off by people proclaiming that Eruri is dead, people have been saying this ever since Midnight Sun was published in 2016, and yet the fandom is still thriving. We’re still getting official art, we have an astonishing number of amazing artists and the number of Eruri fics on AO3 is increasing every day.  Having said that, all fandoms have peaks and troughs that follow canon media cycles and the Eruri fandom is no different from any other fandom in that respect. It’s to be expected that some people will move on when a beloved character dies, or a series ends, but that doesn’t mean the fandom will die out altogether. Far from it!  It can actually be quite freeing for a fandom when the canon media comes to an end as it gives you free rein with the characters. (Not that transformative works ever have to be bound by canon of course.) 

In terms of the Eruri fandom, many fans did leave when Erwin died, others drifted off during the Marley Arc, and when the manga or the anime ended.  One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that a lot of new fans are coming to the fandom via fanworks rather than the canon media which I think bodes well for the longevity of the fandom, though it can lead to some "interesting" characterisation.

It’s also understandable that fans get attached to “their” fandom; the chapters that were published, the episodes that were airing, the popular artists and writers who were active when they first joined the fandom.  It can be really sad when those people move on, and it can feel a bit as if “your” fandom is dying, even if new fans are discovering the ship all the time.  I’m no different in that respect, I still get nostalgic for the Eruri fandom c. 2016, the intense highs and lows, the outpouring of creativity, the amazing friends I made at that time.  However it really bugs me when I hear people saying things like “the fandom died when X artist or Y writer left” because that does a massive disservice to all other artists and writers who are still active in the fandom. 

I think there’s also something to be said about some fans increasingly treating fandom as content to be consumed, rather than a community to contribute to.  Once they’ve consumed all the “popular” content, they declare the fandom is dead and move on, rather than actually contributing something creative themselves.  Fandoms thrive on collective creativity and their longevity depends on having an active community rather than one or two big name fans, writers and artists. 

Anyway, all this is to say, just ignore the killjoys and enjoy this amazing fandom. Enjoy all the gorgeous fic and art by the incredibly talented writers and artists that have come and gone over the last ten years, and support the new writers and artists who are creating equally amazing work. 

[crimsoncold]

AEMONDSA: A crack ship with unexpected depth and appeal

A treatise (in four parts) on the intriguing parallels and complementary contrasting of Aemond and Sansa and the subsequent allure of them as a romantic pairing in Fanfic

- from the perspective of a sansa-stan, jonsa + sansa-centric multishipper, and someone who is generally Targ critical

Now while my general stance of "ship and let ship/don't worry so much about what other people in fandom focus on or ship/etc" still stands i wanted to do a little write up on what I've found so appealing about this particular crack ship.

Not to justify it (again fandom and shipping in general is just about enjoying/thinking about fictional characters and scenarios... no one needs to justify why their imagination likes to think about two characters interacting romantically) but because there isn't a ton of metas addressing the interesting parallels between these characters and the appeal of them as a ship so I wanted to make one so the handful of people who do ship it get to see some more positive engagement/responses to this pairing.

I just unexpectedly ended up loving this pairing so much and I always have a particularly strong urge to contribute to fandom content on the rare pairs/crack ships that I like....So here have a deep dive into the parallels, and contrasting but complimentary aspects of Aemond and Sansa, and the unexpected appeal of Aemond x Sansa as a pairing in fanfiction...

PART 1: MY EXPERIENCE WITH ASOIAF/GOT & HOTD FANDOM AND WHY AEMONDSA IS A PLEASANT SURPRISE

So I'm going to be drawing from both book and show elements when I consider and compare Sansa and Aemond's characterization and plot arcs (particularly since this tends to be how they are handled in fanfic- which all have differing combinations of book or show canon for both characters)

(this is a HOTD S2-free zone though... HOTD's writing has certainly not improved and it's inconsistencies even compared to their past writing and characterization of many characters including Aemond has made such an absolute mess so for this post I'm ignoring the worst part of HBO's attempt at making hotd fanfiction i.e. S2- and I am basing my understanding of Aemond on a combination of what can be gleaned from book canon and s1 because that was what initially interested me AND because that is what the aemondsa fanfic I've read has also been based on)

Now Just to set the scene for my journey as a stark fan, jonsa shipper, and generally targ critical person to become an appreciator of aemondsa...

GOT had a steep decline in quality in the later seasons and HOTD despite the incredible effort of the actors/sfx people was not particularly good to start with in terms of writing/storytelling...yet disappointing or poorly written shows are not without their appeal for participating in fandom and reading/writing related fanfiction, particularly when there is a handful of interesting characters-looking at you stark kids who suffered through the writing of GOT's later seasons and HOTD's team green-that fans want to rescue from the terrible writing/butchering by the showrunners and to explore alternative stories/endings for them... sometimes it is even one of the most appealing sort of set up for fandom/fanfiction to take over and fix things.

I was already a huge Sansa fan, and she was the original draw for me towards asoiaf/got fandom and fanfiction, and while jonsa has been and remains my favorite pairing for her I've always been open to dabbling in various other sansa pairings/crack ships.

(While the parallels don't take the exact form as the ones between Sansa and Jon- and obviously aemondsa isn't accompanied with the incredible foreshadowing and potential that jonsa is- this pairing still feels similarly compelling due to the sheer amount of parallels between the two characters and for the fact that its a ship that is appealing and seems quite fitting without fanfic writers having to stray too far from canon personalities/back stories to make them work as a romantic pairing- beyond you know the obvious aspect of them being alive at the same time)

When HOTD first came out and before i discovered Ameondsa was a thing I was staying away from HOTD fanfic for the most part despite my interest in a few of the characters

HOTD's most predominant focus in both it's fandom and fanfiction seemed to be Rhaenyra/Team black/ Daemyra centric- all of which I was at just personally not drawn. Aemond (hot dramatic anime antagonist transported into hbo's HOTD and personal favorite of mine) centric fics unfortunately tended towards shipping him with various TB characters or TB OCs but both as a concept and due to the handling/set up these fics were generally not appealing to me (more on this later).

Furthermore hotd fandom itself seemed to be shaping up into a new edition of targ stan centric fandom- specifically a new "team black only" brand of stanning... which is definitely not something I am interested in.

Being someone admittedly anti targ/targ critical in general who just happened to be more intrigued (and sympathetic) to the greens in HOTD it did seem that the bulk of hotd fandom was probably going to a similar if even more extreme form of what I encountered with targ-stan segments of the GOT fandom as a sansa-stan/jonsa shipper (ie. Less posts/fanfic that i would personally agree with or be interested in from these fans and potentially hostile and unpleasant responses or takes from the majority of these fans)

As a result of my general avoidance of hotd (i.e. the very pro targ/pro TB fanfiction that hotd fandom offered) Aemondsa, already an extremely rare pair and crack ship, wasn't even a pairing on my radar until one of the authors i was subscribed to started a hotd time travel fix it aemondsa fic...I have an appreciation for well written crack ships, and I am willing to give most pairings or fandoms a chance when I'm already a fan of either the story's main characters or of the author specifically ...but I was actually incredibly suprised how compeling Aemondsa was as a pairing in this story..as well as how much I enjoyed the other Aemondsa fics that I checked out afterwards..it seemed this was a niche segment of hotd fandom that i was going to absolutely obsessing over.

There was a lot of depth to them for a crack ship, which was achievable without altering their personalities and backstories very much from canon (dont get me wrong I love crack ships even ones where people and the plot are altered significantly to make a ship feel possible but there is something uniquely compelling when characters fit together without having to be too ooc) so I just wanted to write a bit about what is so fascinating about this ship since it's such a new rare pair that hasn't accumulated a massive audience or a ton of discussions or write ups yet.

PART 2/4. THE SURPRISING AMOUNT OF PARALLELS BETWEEN SANSA AND AEMOND (FANDOM, PLOT-WISE, but most of all regarding FAMILY)

(Uh ....Brace yourself? this section ended up way longer than expected)

For me the initial appeal comes down to intriguing Character parallels between Sansa and Aemond which fanfic at least offers the opportunity to explore in a story format ....

On a surface level they are (in the shows particularly) both intelligent and underdog figures with fantastic little sassy moments - true queens of dealing out backhanded and cutting compliments, or being unapolegetic critical towards some of the flawed and extremely privileged individual's they encounter who are used to receiving only coddling and fawning worship.

Both characters seem to get shit treatment, sometimes from the fandom other times due to the terrible choices/handling by the writers/showrunners.

Both were characters I personally found interesting and sympathetic despite how fandom- some of it for aemond and a significant amount of it for sansa- had deemed these essentially young and still innocent characters worthy of being reviled and harmed for the ways the adults in their lives had set them up for failure or abuse. Forever dismayed by the way they (unlike certain fan favorites) were somehow never deemed by fandom as deserving of sympathy for the horrible things that happened to them, and how notably they never recieve the same feverent forgiveness/understanding/support for their more dangerous or dark actions the way other characters did

Looking at the difference in fan responses to show!Arya or Dany compared to Sansa- though when it comes to the sheer amount of violence, destruction, and murder or the act of threatening their kin obviously despite what Sansa-antis say Sansa is the only one who should not even be part of the discussion, and how Dany or Arya always recieves excuses, sympathy, forgiveness, or outright praise from the core audience for their more questionable actions while somehow Sansa is deemed as the unforgivable, dangerous, evil, traitorous, and foolishly reckless character

How Aemond (and all of TG really) are set up and considered by TB stans to be unworthy of their house/rightful inheritance and the ones most at fault for the onset and destruction caused by a civil war... never victims mistreated or endangered by the more privileged and powerful members of their family... just the people who only ever deserved what was inflicted on them by TB for the crime of being forced to wed a disgusting and neglectful King or for being threats to Rhaenyra's family or throne simply by existing? How the morally questionable or violent actions of Rhaenyra, her sons, or more particularly her uncle-husband will always be seen as either justifiable, in the right, excusable, or literally worthy of praise the way Aemond's and his family's actions will never be viewed by this core audience

I think about how much like segments of asoiaf fandom bash Sansa by deeming her too southern/too Tully/Too Catelyn-like to be a real Stark (unlike her "truly northern" siblings) their are also segments of hotd fandom that have chosen to see Aemond and his full siblings as only Hightowers who are wrongfully stealing from TB/the "true Targaryens"

But there were even more striking parallels when it came to their characterization and plot.

Both younger (non heir) children, presented as being intelligent, incredibley dutiful and studious, with a very close relationship to their mother, in a sort of intense people pleaser manner - trying their best to excel at all the skills/duties that their parents/society deems necessary for their position and sex because that is the way they receive acceptance, attention, or praise from their family/the adults in their life

Aemond and his studies, his apparently dedication and success in training with the sword despite his own disability, his determination and recklessness to finally become a dragon rider like the rest of his Targaryen family- as it is what is expected and what he has long been mocked over by some of his targ kin, how despite his own ambitions and the way he thought himself particularly suitable for rulership he remained the dutiful and loyal younger brother who served as regent for his gravely injured older brother but did not attempt to stylize himself as King and steal Aegon's throne.

the way that Alicent seems to be the only family member he allows himself to be vulnerable with, the one with whom he turns to for consolation and comfort, Alicent being absolutely devastated and incensed over the loss of Aemond's eye and the lack of punishment for the assault on his person, the only one to demand recompense, the only one to raise a knife to the blacks when she is denied, how Aemond is the one person who tries to console his mother in the aftermath, how despite having just lost an eye he is the one who actually tries to sooth his mother to bring a stop to the increasing and dangerous level of tension and conflict that had erupted between the blacks and greens at driftmark, Aemond's own longstanding protectiveness of and devotion to his family- most especially his mother- that lasts until his own demise.

Sansa and the way she thrives and enjoys the type of world and training that is more of a noble woman's or specifically her mother Catelyn's domain- unlike her wilder other siblings she is generally a steadfastly proper and gentle girl- no doubt a comfort to her mother not just because she is generally so well behaved but in the fact that unlike her siblings she is not shown to be obviously or very publically close with Ned's illegitimate child- who for Catelyn would be the literal personification of Ned's infidelity, the disrespect and humiliation he puts her through by raising him in their house along side their children, and her deep seated fear that he loved and will prioritize another woman and her child more than his own wife and family.

Sansa is the child who seemed to love all things "southern" the most (though undeniably despite how Sansa is looked down upon for her love of romantic stories and song her other siblings also certainly enjoy legends and tales of Knighthood or Southern Princes and warrior Princesses) and to be fascinated by the environment her mother is from, the one who is drawn to and practice her mother's faith in addition to keeping to the old gods,

How Catelyn though she truly grieves letting her daughter go seems to accept it not just because her belief that Sansa would excel as a princess and future queen but because she thinks Sansa would thrive simply through getting to experience the south...Catelyn seems to grasp the things Sansa dreams about and unlike many other family members she does not view Sansa and her interests with the same condescension, dismissal, or disdain.

Catelyn loves all her children immensely but there is something so tragic and beautiful in her love for her daughters, the desperate lengths she is willing to go to to ensure the saftey of both of them while the lords/males in her family have already given them up as a lost cause and inevitable and necessary casualties in their war for vengeance and northern independence

Despite this affection though there is a lot of pressure on both of them... almost to the point that their treatment by the adults in their lives has a bit of a "parentification" dynamic- a manner that sometimes puts the onus on them to be a support and a comfort to their mother amid any tension in the family/marriage (Aemond) or to be the perfectly behaved role model or minder for their less dutiful siblings (Sansa)

Sansa, in everyone's eyes a lady at three and a queen destined to be, the determined effort she puts into excelling at being studious, accomplished, proper, and ladylike, how much she tries to exemplify the behavior praised and exemplified by her mother and her septa

set up by the adults in her life as a go between for the stark sisters...used as the benchmark for their demands and expectations of Arya, being held up as the bar for perfect, proper, and praise worthy behaviour that Arya is presssured to also attain, the daughter who gets censured on the few occasions she acts out while her younger sister typically gets away with her poor behaviour (at least when it comes to their parents)... Sansa isn't just under the pressure of the exacting expectations for a lord's daughter she also experiences the stress of being put in the position of exemplar for her wild untractable younger sister.

Aemond, apparent dutiful student in many areas expected as a child of nobility, who is expected to support Aegon in his rulership and war and (in the show) even takes responsibility for trying to keep his older brother in line, the one who after losing an eye takes the effort to comfort and console his mother's grief and rage when their father does nothing in response to an attack on Aemond other than threaten and intimate his wife and his children with Alicent in order to support his firstborn daughter, who becomes the human equivalent of not just a wrecking ball but a literal weapon of mass destruction sent out on behalf of the advancement of his family or later to enact terrible bloody vengeance on his family's behalf, his life his purpose and his death is all for his family's sake more than his own.

They put so much effort into being well behaved, to reach the exacting standards for a child in their position, setting an example for the less obedient/well behaved sibling(s) all of which in turn adds to significant strain or conflict between said sibling.

Sansa and Aemond are the sibling expected to and determidly striving to live up to the high expectations that the adults in their life put on them and to survive the extremely dangerous and high stakes scenarios they are put in (as a lord's daughter, prince's betrothed and future queen, a hostage and target for the machinations and ambitions of others, the older sibling, a ruling lady, and elected queen; a prince, dutiful son and brother, ruthless and dutiful defender of his family, and regent)

Meanwhile they have other siblings who struggled to meet said expectations or have given up attempting to all together (Arya, Rhaenyra, or to some degree Aegon)

Siblings who must from the perspective of Sansa and Aemond (who are still young, inexperienced, and have had a great deal of conflict with said siblings) seem to flaunt all expectations free to rebell, flaunt the rules, and generally ignore the high pressure expectations that children from their class face.

Undoubtedly frustrating since, much like their more rebellious siblings have failed to sympathize with the more responsible ones, Ameond and Sansa too have not (yet) been able to recognize the ways their less successful/dutiful siblings also suffer under the highly restrictive expectations of their class and position even if they do not choose or succeed in conforming to them.

They see that despite how they may excel in studying, striving and succeeding in their roles, and ultimatley exemplifying the high standards they were raised to it is these other siblings who seem to get rewarded (experiencing in their eyes at least what appears to be more freedom, less pressure, minimal censure or punishment for their misbehavior... while simultaneously receiving the bulk of the reward in terms of their inheritance, the attention they recieve, or even with regards to the amount of affection given by some of the authority figures in their lives, i.e. their fathers)...

To them it must seem that these siblings get to be not just easily forgiven for their mistakes and misbehaviour, but accepted as or outright adored simply the way they naturally are, whereas dutiful and non problematic children like themselves tend to be overlooked or underappreciated, and quickly criticized on the rare cases they misbehave... the acceptance and affection they recieve appears far more conditional on them behaving well according to the expectations of their family or various instructors/minders... whereas the affection their siblings receive, from say a certain parent, is show to be rather unconditional

Seriously they both give me such severe "easy" (i.e. overlooked) and "gifted" child trauma vibes... how much of their behavior is simply in their nature and how much is what they conform themselves to to make the adults around them proud... because as the quieter child or apparent outsider amindst their family/siblings this is the only action that comes natural to them and gets them some (hard earned) attention/praise in a rather large and loud family they otherwise seem a bit lost in... how much of their striving to succeed is dependent on the sincere belief/understanding that their saftey and potentially the future, saftey, and wellbeing of their family depends on it.

They both have a far more distant relationship with their fathers who favoured another sibling- a sister over them... father's who either didn't seem to know how to connect with them - Ned- or never really bothered to try- Viserys...

while i do believe Ned loves his children and they adored him in return i feel its obvious that he neglected in preparing any of them for the true dangers and realities of the world away from the satey and protection of winterfell and their Stark family, and he absolutely dropped the ball on keeping either of his daughters safe and supervised when he took them along into a very dangerous situation in kingslanding

Furthermore Ned never quite seemed to connected with or pay attention to Sansa they way he did with Arya... just something about the fact that when he follows the orders of his king/supposed best friend to kill Sansa's direwolf (the very symbol of their house) it is in replacement for Arya's Direwolf who was allowed to escape the cruel wrath of the Queen and Prince...and how he continues to fail Sansa in the aftermath

It's something about the gifts he gives his very angry and traumatized daughters to comfort them after- in lieu of truly trying to actually connect with and console both of them or to even properly mediate their increased fighting.

Arya (in the show and book) is given lessons with a "dancing" master who teaches her swordplay/water dancing, she was so excited and she always wanted to be outside learning to fight like her brothers got to, in this moment to her understanding she is not just seen by her father she is accepted and supported (a careful reader may see that Ned's attitude appears to be slightly condescendingly indulgent on the matter of her learning swordplay... but Arya gets the chance to do something she loves all the same)

Meanwhile (in the show) to try to console Sansa Ned gives her... a doll? (Honestly I can't recall any equivalent gift from Ned to Sansa in the books? the mention of her possibly getting harp lessons in Kingslanding was actually a promise Catelyn made to her on Ned's behalf rather than his own effort... and was something that Ned didn't actually ever arrange in the books)

But is this doll meant to be an appropriate gift to make up for the death of her direwolf? Is this gesture enough to comfort her and make amends after Ned killed her direwolf (notice its not exactly as spectacular, meaningful, or comforting a gift as arya's "dancing lessons"... certainly there is no indication that he has any particular understanding of Sansa or has given much thought into her talents, interests, or personality beyond the most shallow perusal)

In the aftermath of Lady's death Ned does nothing to truly protect Sansa or keep her away from the obviously dysfunctional and dangerous family he has promised her away to.

Yet he can take the time to comfort and have a frank conversation with Arya about how important staying together and supporting eachother as family is- especially when they are amongst dangerous people who mean to harm or separate them- and the specific importance her and Sansa will have to one another as sisters who share the same blood... further explaining how just as they will need eachother Ned needs them as well

Ned has no such comforting or distinctly meaningful exchange with Sansa... he doesn't explain the reality of the Lannisters/Joffrey/Robert (i.e. the truth of the people he has agreed to give his young daughter away to despite the fact that he either personally has no respect for most of them or has not been around them long enough to know anything about their true nature)

Yes it is the risk to his daughter that makes him willing to falsely confess to treason, yes eventually he decides its best to send his daughters back to winterfell, yes he finally wants to break the betrothal and he makes a beautiful promises to make her a match with "a high lord who's worthy of [her], someone brave and gentle and strong" ... but he is much too late to get both of his daughters away from the lannisters/kingslanding, way too late in his attempt to keep them safe, and he fails to handle Sansa with age appropriate respect and frankness and to actually tell her how dangerous things are in kingslanding and why joffrey (false prince -bastard born of incest) is such an ill suited match.

Maybe if he had put any effort into explaining things to her...or simply spending time with her, speaking to her, trying to understand her, comforting her amidst the loss of lady and the increased fighting with Arya, or doing literally anything other than just neglecting her and her saftey Sansa would have actually trusted his decision and seen it as him wanting what was best for her.

Maybe if he had been more proactive and focused on his daughters well being he wouldn't have brought both of them south after the altercation over their direwolves... or maybe he could have been successful at getting both his daughters out of kingslanding before everything went to hell.

Its almost like the whole point of the Ned/Arya/Sansa and the Ned/Cersei/Sansa dynamic isn't to show that Sansa is a naive girl who betrays her family for the lannisters but is instead to show that when you neglect your child emotionally they will turn elsewhere for comfort and will be particularly vulnerable to being manipulated or abused by other adults... its almost like this part of A Game of Thrones is more about the way even someone like Ned- a man who does strives to do what he thinks is right and a parent who does loves his children- can still fail.

Ned's treatment of Sansa is specifically intriguing, though i don't know if it will be addressed specifically since her relationship and dynamic with Ned is one that much like Robb ended with his tragic and unjust murder (leaving behind a grief stricken Sansa helplessly longing for the return of her family and home, grieving with a near devotional regard for her lost father and brother)... Sansa will never get to confront or reconcile with them over the many ways she was let down and left unprotected by her male relatives- and who knows if a traumatized and grieving Sansa will ever even recognize and admitt to herself the ways the people who she loved the most failed to live up to her expectations of them... how clearly that despite their love for her she was rarely their first priority ... how they both seemed to fail to follow their family mottos ... the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.... family before duty or honor... she was family yet duty and honor came before her in Robb's eyes... she was part of a pack but through Ned promising her to a marriage in the south, in him taking her and Arya away to kingslanding, in him failing to prioritize her saftey until they all were practically already on the chopping block, and in Robb abandoning any hope or plan of rescuing her she truly was abandoned by them ...to be a lone wolf without a pack to help her survive

Then there is Viserys who at the very least had a much stronger regard for Rhaenyra than all the kids by his second wife ...but can also quiet easily be accused of outright neglecting and mistreating them

The lack of guidance holds true for all his children really but with Rheanyra at least it is accompanied by an (ultimatley harmful) spoiled indulgence that he offers only to his eldest daughter- covering up her obvious blunders and threatening anyone who would speak the truth of her questionable actions and her children's legitimacy including his own wife and sons ... going against traditional succession not because he wants to promote first born succession/succession by "merit"/or treating daughter equal to sons in terms of inheritance or anything like that but because of guilt and unashamed favoritism.

Viserys refuses to give to his son what westeros society at least would deem as Aegon's birthright, while also failing to make arrangements for any his non-Rhaenyra children to have a future and saftey separate from the throne.

He doesn't arrange matches with other kingdoms and give them allies, protection, family, independence, or a power base independent of the crown/hightowers instead leaving them dependent only on the crown, vulnerable targets to be handled (i.e. no doubt killed on the orders of Rhaenyra and/or her uncle husband Daemon) as living they would remain the most significant threat to the legitimacy of their rulership.

Viserys looks the other way when Aemond specifically is permanently maimed by Rhaenyra's son...his only action after his son loses his eye is to threaten his second family, to intimidate them into staying quite on the topic of the legitimacy of Rhaenyra's children before he deems the matter concluded... as if the worst part of that altercation was Aemond calling them bastards rather than say four children ganging up against one and how one of these children attacked using a knife and cost the other their fucking eye?

That for Aemond more than anything must cement his understanding of his father's feelings about Aemond and his full siblings and mother. To Viserys they simply matter less than Rhaenyra and her children.

In fact their well being or saftey matters less than even an offense made to Rhaenyra's reputation... which shows Alicent and her children without question that they are in danger from the blacks and the King will do nothing to prevent the blacks from trying to severely physically harm Aemond or his siblings, and in fact that there will be no punishment for the blacks when they succeed in doing so.

A civil war between the blacks and the greens was inevitable... Viserys actions of protecting and favoring Rhaenyra while also not ensuring she is instructed on and practices/proves her ability to rule, willfully ignoring that she violates her own vows and that she passes off her obviously illegitimate children as trueborn heirs, of permitting her not just to inherit (and position her illegitimate son as the next heir to) what most considered the birthright of her brother but also for her to steal the birthright of her own cousins by supplanting them with her other bastard and demoting them to being simply their brides/consorts, him keeping her as heir not just after he has multiple trueborn sons but also after Rhaenyra gets remarried to the exact violent bloodthirsty man that so many feared and Viserys himself had previously removed as his own heir in favour for Rhaenyra.

Viserys doing all of this while still choosing to remarry and have MULTIPLE children with his new wife... the neglectful and disrespectful way he treats his second family... all of this ensured that the death of some (if not all) of his children, via either assassination or in outright civil war, would always have been inevitable.

There is so much hatred, fear, distrust, and tension between Viserys' family members... and not only did he fail to intervene or improve things he was the one most responsible for it ....so much of the environment Alicent lived in and Aemond and his full siblings were raised was permeated by not just a sense of deep injustice (particularly in Aemond's case with his treatment by not just the blacks but his own father) but also an undercurrent of desperate fear over what will happen to them and their family in the wake of a brewing succession crisis

The mommy, daddy, and sibling issues are so strong with these two and I'm so obsessed with how the complicated family dynamics and tragic family losses that Ameond and Sansa experience echoe one another in so many ways...there is just so much love, grief, rage, unpacked trauma, and hurt in them and I am always obsessed with stories that allow the narrative or characters to address such trauma.

PART 3/4. THE CONTRASTING AND COMPLIMEMTARY ASPECTS OF THEIR STORIES (SUFFERING AND GRIEF)

They were both were so young when they became targets of the wrath and dislike of powerful and corrupt "Queens"

Sansa who loses her direwolf at the demand of Queen Cersei, a queen who after long being abused by her own husband sees a perhaps more extreme form of that sort of violence in her own mad son being directed at Sansa, who rather than expressing or experiencing compassion or sympathy instead takes the chance to revel in the destruction of Sansa's innocence, to mock and emotionally abuse Sansa when she has lost her father and her only protection in Kingslanding, leaving her a hostage of war at the mercy of a violent and corrupt royal family

Aemond who after losing his eye to an attack instigated by Rhaenyra's children receives no apology or recompense...instead his own sister asks for her mutilated little brother to be tortured sharply questioned due to the offense he caused by accusing her sons -accurately mind you- of being bastards... Aemond and his siblings who were never truly ever treated by Rhaenyra as her siblings only ever the offspring of Alicent and thus obstacles and threats for her (and her uncle's) right to the throne.

Both were physically harmed or tormented by (or with the approval of) young members of royalty, with very little being done to intervene, stop, or punish those involved despite their own highborn status- which would generally deem them unacceptable targets for such abuse.

Young Sansa a hostage but still a high born daughter descended from two of the seven ruling houses in westeros, The Warden of the North and the Lord Paramount of the Trident, and niece/cousin to the rulers of a third kingdom, the Lord Paramount of the Vale. Who while under the "care" of the crown is tormented, stripped, and beaten in open court at the behest of a mad boy king... forced to look upon the severed heads of her father and household, forced into being an unwilling child bride to the house of her family's enemies, who is molested and threatened with sexual assault on multiple occasions

Prince Aemond son of the King who is mocked by his brother and nephews (or his king and father in the books) over the fact that he hasnt yet claimed a dragon, and when this makes him reckless enough to approach and claim the largest dragon in existence the torment doesn't stop it gets dangerously worse as the tension between the children of the blacks and greens escalate to the point of a violent confrontation between Aemond and his nephews and cousins... and the resulting loss of of his eye when one of his attackers brings out a knife. None of the children who banded together to attack Aemond would face any consequences, only Aemond himself and his mother and older brother would censure and outright threats from their King Father and Older sister. Whose earliest sexual experience- done at the behest of his older brother- was implied to be at the very least coerced, traumatizing, and humiliating- if not outright non consensual on his part.

Both Sansa and Aemond face a terrible sort of loss when they begin losing their family members to mass civil war ...often in a manner that is distinctly horrific or against all laws of decency in the 7 kingdoms

her father Ned unjustly executed for treason and whose decapitated head is displayed and used to torment her, her younger sister Arya gone missing for years and long thought dead, her home sacked and younger brothers Bran and Rickon supposedly murdered by her family's ward- a boy who grew up alongside the stark children- the burned/mutilated heads and bodies of two young boys being being put on display at winterfell, her older Brother and Mother slaughtered when their traitorous allies and bannermen men break sacred guest rights at a wedding, both their bodies desecrated in a mockery of their houses... Robb decapitated his direwolves own head placed ontop of his body while his enemies parade his remains around, her mother Catelyn's throat slit and her body dumped naked in a river and left to rot.

(In the show) Rickon being cut down before his siblings eyes by a madman who betrayed their house and had tortured Sansa herself, her "half brother" Jon betrayed and murdered by his men and later sent off into a lonley exile away from his family and home for the "crime" of taking out an invader who had just committed mass murder... Sansa being left to rule the north all alone with many of her family members long dead and the surviving ones being set on a path away from the north/winterfell while she is left to handle rulership in isolation

Aemond who after commiting the first Kinslaying of the "war of dragons" by attacking his own assailant and nephew Lucerys proceeds to lose all of the family that he loved.

Starting with the tragic murder of his innocent young nephew at the behest of his elder sister/uncle- who arranged for his mother Alicent to be attacked tied up and forced to bear witness to the gruesome murder of her grandchild,

His sister Helaena -who plead for her life to be taken to spare her son- forced under the threat of the rape of her young daughter to choose which of her young sons will be murdered. Only for all of them to be traumatize further when they kill Jaehaerys and leaving Maelor the son she "chose" to die to survive with the message that his own mother wanted him dead... the emotional torment this caused the whole family but most of all his sister who refused to eat, bathe, or look upon her remaining son due to her immense feelings of guilt

his older brother Aegon who has lost his son and heir, and whose sister/wife is in a grief so deep she cannot care for their remaining children, who is attacked and maimed but survives to live on in total agony,

the murder of Maelor, Aemond's remaining nephew at the hands of a mob

Aemond's last stand, sacrificing his dragon and his own life to take out his Uncle (the biggest threat to his family and the orchestrator of Jaehaerys' brutal murder)

The many tragedies that continued after Aemond's own death- his sister's eventual suicide, the death of his younger brother Daeron, his oldest brother outlasting all of his siblings and his own two sons only to be taken out by poison once the war is over, his mother spending the last of her years in confinement until she passes from sickness,

His niece Jaehaera, after the loss of her entire family, married off as a child in the name of "peace" and dying young and alone- of suicide or murder

There is just such fascinating potential when two characters would have so much mirroring grief and trauma ...there is such an undercurrent of helpess rage, guilt, and grief to them in their youth and a undoubtedly a feverent desire for either vengeance or justice against the many people who harmed them or slaughtered their family...

And here is where things begin to differ between the two in interesting ways

with Sansa who has these violent wishes/impulses but is not in a position to see them fulfilled herself- her desire to push Joffrey to his death even at the cost of her own life, her wish that someone will throw Ser Meryn Trant down and cut off his head, her hope that various people will fall/be unhorsed...

Sansa who recieves a direwolf, Lady, the very symbol of her house and potentially a companion that would have offered a connection that was an extension of her own soul only for Lady to be cut down so quickly and unjustly... Sansa who loses not just the connection/companionship she recieved from Lady but also the protection such a bond would offer her ... she is left vulnerable in so many ways and has no promise of reuniting with her own direwolf later on... that will never be a comfort or form of security offered to her after all the danger and trauma she experiences

While Aemond, who spent much of his young life similarly helpless to act or respond to insults and assaults on his own person or immediate family, (that his father/king either never deemed worthy of interference or punishment... that is when it wasn't the King himself who was the perpetrator of such offenses) unlike Sansa experiences a change of fortune in the form getting to bond with the symbol of his house

He gains (and gets to keep until his own death) a bond with a different sort of mythical beast companion... a dragon and as a result recieves all the potential for power and destruction that comes with being a dragon rider

By claiming Vhagar Ameond is the closest he will ever be to untouchable, not just from the harassment he personally experienced from his family but with regards to how grave and dangerous a threat/target he had now become for the blacks during the dance of dragons

Aemond now a dragonrider of the largest living dragon, a child and later teenager who is in control of the narrative equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction, and he is no longer held back from acting on his anger once the rule and interference of his neglectful father king is over,

he is in control of the most massive beast of pure destruction and unlike Sansa, who for now in the books- or for much of her story in the show- remained an unprotected hostage or pawn in the hands of those who mean to harm or use her... who handles her trauma very internally as she is not in a position to fight back, and must rely on her words, intelligence, and ability to read and strategically interact with people as a way of defending and keeping herself safe, Aemond is now in the position to enact every bloodthirsty impulse of revenge he ever experienced

He was held back from enacting vengeance only through his own will, which ultimately proves not enough- he commits the first kin slaying and soon the actions of each side escalated into a horrific bloodbath where nobility and small folk alike suffered or die en masse

While Aemond's story may be one of family devotion and loyalty, mistreatment, injustice, and suffering that ends by showing the terrible outcomes of revenge and uncontrolled cruel brutality Sansa's story feels like one where grief, rage, and mistreatment exist but where family, love, compassion, kindness, justice, and integrity will win out in the end.

Sansa was certainly developed into a more discerning strategic and ruthless figure in the show but justice, duty, and forgiveness were still very prevalent in her storyline

she does have ramsay killed in a fittingly horrific manner, but she later holds a public trial for littlefinger- who was responsible for much of her familys suffering, the death of her father, and her own torment and rape- before she has him executed,

She feels compassion and forgiveness for theon the man who had betrayed her family and drove her young brothers out of their home, who only after experiencing significant torture himself became devoted to protecting the remaining starks and was able to find the courage to disobey his own torturers in order to help Sansa escape,

She possessed a concern for other people that few ruler do in asoiaf/got... speaking up against Joffrey's cruelty even as a powerless hostage, being the person concerned with the more practical matters of caring for and feeding their people during a harsh winter- a notable development in comparison to say everyone else just focusing on battle tactics and the upcoming battles (as though feeding an army is not an essential part of warfare), and the invader who just burned westeros' food stores en masse and now expects others to feed not just her armies but also demands that her dragons be fed "whatever they want"

I think in the books however that despite Sansa's internal grief and rage and her burgeoning political acuity there will be a gentler end to her arc where her own innate sense of duty and her (now more discerning) sense of compassion will win out in the end when she takes back her name, identity, and birthright ... that she along with her surviving family will have justice administered in the name of their lost family and people... efficiently bringing down righteous and necessary judgement on those that harmed and betrayed them rather than simply dealing out some form of mass, bloody, cruel revenge on her enemies (I'll leave that for lady stoneheart) ... and that a satisfying ending for her and the other starks will balance them realistically addressing the dangers and betrayal they faced with their own personal resolve to hold true to the values imparted to them by their parents.

... yet after all her suffering (and the frustrating lack of trust, consideration, or support she was given by her own family in the later GOT seasons) there is something darkly appealing to the idea of her getting (not a hero precisely) but a ruthless and devoted sort of monster to support her and bring down unholy vengeance on her various tormentors

PART 4/4: THE RESULTING DRAMATIC AND EMOTIONAL APPEAL OF AEMONDSA FICS

This after their many parallels and complementary contrasts is what intrigues me the most...the interplay of a potentially wary, cautious, traumatized but still duty and justice oriented person and a companion or lover who is comparatively more ruthless, unhinged, capable of atrocities, and who is more equipped to dole out violence en masse... (guys the pipeline from dark jon/dark jonsa to aemondsa just makes so much sense)

the question in Aemondsa fics of what will win out in the end- the shared grief and rage or them both controlling/channeling such impulses into strategic righteous fury and justice is always fascinating... and most of all the idea of Sansa (after all the trauma mistreatment and grief she has experienced) attaining the interest and eventual devotion of someone who despite being capable of monstrous actions is also incredibly loyal, devoted, and ruthless in the pursuit of their loved ones interests ("I want you to put out your eye ... plan to make it a gift if it to my mother" indeed) is just as appealing as the idea where an isolated, lonely, traumatized, grieving, and dangerously angry young man like Aemond gets to find acceptance, affection, companionship, and belonging with an intelligent strategic but more importantly an exceptionally compassionate person like Sansa.

Its just a dynamic far too intriguing to ignore especially for someome who already loved Time Travel/Reincarnation Fix IT AUs in fanfiction

While emotional catharsis and Sansa returning home and having the dreams she had wrote off as impossible be fulfilled (i.e. building a loving partnership and marriage, having children with someone who loves and wants her more than her claim itself, reuniting with her family) is something I love- and what I want to happen in canon (hence my otp being Jonsa)- there is always an interesting/guilty pleasure aspect of fanfic where Sansa (or the Starks in general) get to wreck terrible bloody victory and vengeance on those who betrayed and butchered their family and people (not really the ultimate message or point of the book but definitely emotionally satisfying in fanfic)

Just like there is a sort of appeal that exists in hotd fanfic that is sort of the opposite ...ones that alter the violent senseless and tragic trajectory of the dance of dragons... to either change the course of a brutal civil war or prevent it all together

and the Aemondsa pairing's time travel or reincarnation fics provide an opportunity to explore both of these diverse dynamics.

Sansa will always deserve the world... in canon and in fanfic i want to see all her dream and hopes come true whether it is with a truly good and just partner with whom she gets to build the life and home she always dreamed of or through her getting her very own devoted monster who would do anything to keep her safe from the scores of people who wish to misuse or harm her

and I always wish that hotd fanfiction offered more Aemond centric fics with a love interest that you know actually likes, sympathizes with, or understand him? He feels too tragic a character for me to want him to experience the typical hate and love (enemies AND lovers) treatment he tends to get in fanfic... its not really satisfying for me seeing his typical pairing up with whatever team black character (or really TB character rewrite) or some Daemon's or Rhaenyra's daughter OC that is the frequent choice for aemond centric fics...him being portrayed as some impusive awful and villainous love interest who changes sides and abandons his family just to be with his lover/obsession feels so out of character in a way that erases the best, most compelling, and sympathetic parts of his canon personality, motives, and actions.

Luckily Aemondsa fics seems to be a pairing that offers everything I like in Ameond or Sansa centric fics....

In conclusion Aemondsa is surprisingly compelling and versatile dynamic in fanfic and I think that is why I've become such a fan of Firesteel/Aemondsa fanfiction (in a way I'm NOT at all a fan of the actual HOTD show writing lol)

I'm a proud support of crack ships/rarepairs and I'm always willing to add to the fandom appreciation of pairings that gets less attention or fandom related works... so expect to see the occasional Aemondsa fanart/fic recommendation post from me amongst my typical jonsa content (in fact expect one in the next in a day or so)

Otherwise I just hope established Ameondsa fans (or people who haven't ready any aemondsa fics but are fans of either character/curious about this pairing in general) have enjoyed seeing me fangirl about these two characters/this crack ship and feel inspired to check out or even make their own Aemondsa content!

-Crimsom Cold

[thewillowtree3]

Korrasami Secret Santa 2023!! ;DD!!

Hi, Korrasami fam!! We're back!! ;D!!

We're doing Korrasami Secret Santa for 2023!! (Sike, I did not copy this part from Korrasami Secret Secret 2022, but the rest I will LOOL). 6 years and kicking, babey, let's go ;DD!!

The rules are the same:

Korrasami creators will be able to gift one another with Secret Santa gifts. Whether it be fics, art, videos, animations…the fun’s all there! (It doesn’t have to be holiday-themed! It can be whatever you want :)

The Process:

This Secret Santa exchange will be done through drawnames.com, which is a Secret Santa Name Generator. You’ll need your email for this, and you can message me it directly on Tumblr (I’ll gather everyone’s names up, and put them into the generator when it’s time to draw names.)

The due date to sign up is 11:59 PM Nov 30, 2023 PDT (I’d like everyone to have ample time to do their Secret Santa gifts). :)

Most likely, you’ll need to make an account on drawnames.com (you don’t need to, but it’s recommended.  When you get to writing your Wish List on there, under ‘Hobbies and Interests’, make two different lists: One for ‘Fic Requests’, the other for ‘Art Requests’. If a writer draws your name, you’ll have a suggestion for what you want them to write. If an artist draws your name, they’ll have an idea of what to create! (Also, originally, this project only had fanfic and fanart- but if anyone can contribute any other talents, that’d be swell!)

Example: Fic Request- I want Korra and Asami cuddling at home with a fireplace!

Art Request: I want Korrasami going otter-penguin sledding!

The fic and art requests can be the same, or they can be different. Please limit it to one, or if you can’t choose, then two options. You can also note things that you don’t want (i.e. No smut or NSFW work!). You can be as specific as you wish.

Also, everyone else! We recognize that there may be people in the fandom who don’t create content, but still want to contribute! @lamftw​ came up with these great ideas four years ago, if you’d still like to participate in the Secret Santa. You can:

Create Korrasami memes! The more memes, the better :)

Share your favorite Korrasami headcanons! We’d love to hear them.

Share your favorite artwork/fanfic!

Share your favorite moment from LoK or share how much Korrasami means to you.

Create Korrasami memes, write a sweet holiday message/ note of appreciation :)

Also, we can all show some love to our favorite creators, to Bryke, Janet Varney, and Seychelle Gabriel (the voice of Korra and Asami, respectively). :)

When everyone has signed up, I’ll put all the names into the Secret Santa Name Generator. You should get an email, asking you to join the Secret Santa exchange. Just click ‘Join Group’, and you’re good! Once everyone has joined, the names will then be drawn, and you’ll get your chosen individual (you’ll get an email for this too). Please remember to check your email on Dec 1; we cannot draw names unless everyone has joined the Secret Santa group!

The reveal will be on Dec 19, 2023 (the 9th Korrasami Anniversary ;DD). Post your work on Tumblr, and tag the person you got, so they’ll know what lovely work they got! Also, please tag ‘Korrasami Secret Santa’ so we can save these posts for the future :).

Please note that if you sign up, you HAVE to commit to making something. This is open to all creators, of any skill level, but please please make something if you sign up. You don’t wanna leave anyone hanging!

Last note- remember to message me on Tumblr and give me your email. That’s the way to sign up! :)

Let's freaking go, y'all! LET'S MAKE THIS A GOOD ONE!! ;DDDD!!

Spread this to all your creator friends! LET'S GO FAM!! ;DD!!

6 YEARS IN A ROW!! LEGGO!! ;DDDD!!

Note- 11/27: Hey y’all, I’ve been shadowbanned recently LOL. Idk when Tumblr will unban me and give me my account back so ;__;. Because I’ve been shadowbanned, I cannot see any messages about the Korrasami Secret Santa :((. If I don’t get my account back before Nov 30th, I’ll just have to postpone the event and make a new date for it/prolong the posting date. I’ll keep y’all updated ;__;.

Note-11/28: Y’all, I just found out- Y’ALL CAN SEND IN ASKS!! I can still see them!! ;DDDD!! So if you still wanna join, please send me an ask with your email. I’ll still be prolonging the join/posting date if I don’t get my account back before Nov 30th, but this is a solution in the meantime!! :33

[onlyancunin]

I think I need a break from Tumblr.

Maybe even a long one.

The debacle around sexualization of Astarion and the content I still see on my dash triggers a very, very unpleasant emotional reaction in me. I feel very unsafe on Tumblr right now.

Despite blocking explicit blogs & creators and patiently clicking "not interested" on any "hot" images, I still get a slew of new "hot" content on my dash. I blocked the "fanfiction" tag among shipnames and nsfw-adjacent tags, but it's still unavoidable.

This and the last reaction to my post regarding the cursed explicit Astarion figurine + people sexualizing him in general + replies to this post + losing over 20 followers over this issue made me rethink the point of me even being part of this fandom. I don't like catching heartbreaks & feeling attacked with content that's straight out disturbing to me, and this has been my exact (though of course not exclusive) experience on Tumblr for the past few months. But in the past few days it reached the boiling point.

I'll have to grow thicker skin, if I really decide to ditch my sensitivity around this topic in favor of protecting myself in the fandom. Which I'd prefer not to do honestly, as contrary to what's been implied to me, I DO support SA victims, talking with them, offering patience, understanding & resources if I can. I don't want to make myself more deaf and blind to the topic just so I can scroll an app.

I still have a few works in progress in regards to Astarion. Perhaps I'll upload then some time in the future. Maybe I should just skip the dash, idk. I want to contribute and see people reaction to my works.

Thank you everyone who offered me understanding in this all and/or understand my pov 🖤 it makes me feel all the less lonely.

[neolxzr]

i really do believe that using character.ai isn't really any different from getting chatgpt to write fanfic for you or using midjourney to make fanart for you its all the same sort of thing, and not just because they're all working off of stolen internet content. its because theyre definitely contributing to a greater shift in fandom being more about "consuming content" rather than about engaging with other people and making art

when you can get an algorithm to generate new stuff for you its really demotivating as a creator since so many people would rather just do that and use the stolen shit than like. find a community and make friends and make their own works. and i can imagine it is also discouraging new artists and writers from even trying to start making fanworks, since its easier to get a computer to do it for you and it might even make you feel like shit because the program can draw and write better than you, much faster.

calling fanworks "content" and calling engaging with art "consuming media" is so unbelievably reductive of what fandom is and the communities that people create and i hate that that's become the pervasive language used to describe it recently. fandom is so, so much more than that.

i know that a lot of people who want to engage with fanbases are young and socially anxious and i know its hard but fandom is COMMUNITY and talking to other people is like. the biggest part of the experience. and i promise you its really cool when you actually try. i promise you other people who like the same stuff as you have more interesting things to say than an algorithm does.

[tbspiritssalt]

So after a comment I got from the lovely @dangara2610 I wanted to ask a question to the tangled fandom.

If I were to start a group where people were to cover various songs as the TTS characters, would you want to be a part of it?

If yes, what roles would you be interested in taking on, be it singing, making AMVs, or anything else?

This would be a passion project rather than a paid gig, since whether we were to stick with covers or branch out to originals, we would still technically be using copyrighted content unless we stopped associating our work with TTS

Also, would you prefer a casting call for every song, or to have set characters you play/roles you take on? It also wouldn't matter if there were a few duplicate roles, as different people could take on different songs. You could also voice multiple characters if you wanted, though only one per song.

As long as they are a tangled character, there would be no limits to who you could sing as, and the future may hold branching out into different fandoms

(Please note that though you could audition for anyone, characters would be offered based on who's voice you can imitate the best, rather than your favourites)

If you're interested in being a part of this if it were to take off, please DM me! I'd love to hear your ideas! Anyone from any background and with any level of ability in what they'd like to contribute can join, this is for fun after all!

EDIT: please contact @tbspiritss if you're interested in joining. Since I posted this, my main account's shadow ban was undone, so I've moved back to it 🩵

[utterlyrandomperson]

Weapon

Fandom: Dead Boy Detectives

Summary: Edwin walks in on Charles putting up with Niko and Crystal's antics. Niko and Crystal make a list to convince Edwin to join in on the fun.

Content warnings: swearing, tickling.

A/N: I read all the Dead Boy Detectives tickle content I could find about ten times, then I decided it was my time to contribute something. So here you go :)

"What on earth are you doing?"

For a second, Charles feels relief when Edwin wanders into the room and poses that question, mainly because it causes Crystal and Niko to pause. But then his brain catches on and he realises that Edwin has just wandered into the room and posed that question. A question that demands an answer.

"We're tickling Charles!", Niko, who is kneeling next to him on the floor, blurts out enthusiastically. Said dead boy detective flinches and shakes his head wildy.

"NO! Are you crazy?! You can't just hand Edwin a weapon like that!"

Crystal laughs. "Oh, so it's a weapon now? Is that seriously how bad it is? We must've only scratched the surface, then."

When she reaches for his sides, Charles winces and immediately bats away her hands. Before she can start another attempt, Edwin clears his throat and takes some more steps into the room.

"I'm sorry but... what is happening?", he asks, still looking bewildered.

"We were doing research for the case, and then we kind of found out that Charles is ticklish! And I mean like reeeeally ticklish", Niko says, her eyes wide with excitement. When Edwin doesn't give any reaction, Crystal continues: "And now we are tickling him. That's what's happening. You do know what tickling is, don't you, Edwin? That's not like a thing that didn't exist back in the 1910s, right?"

Edwin tilts his head. "Yes, in fact I do know what tickling is. But I don't think I quite understand your excitement about it."

Charles lets out a nervous chuckle and attempts to sit up. "Exactly, mate! It's absolutely nothing of interest. Now, we have more important stuff to talk abAAH- noho, piss ohoff!"

He collapses right back onto the floor when Crystal pinches his upper ribs and tries to shield himself by crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"You don't understand the excitement about it?" Crystal glances at Edwin with a mischievous smile before leveling her focus on Charles again.

"Alright, let me list some things for you. One: you can get him to admit stuff. For example that he is an annoying bastard who keeps distracting other people from doing their work. Right, Charles?"

The latter wheezes when she pokes his belly and arches away of the touch.

"Shut uhup!"

Crystal sighs. "Yeah, still working on that... but there's more on the list! Two: even if he doesn't want to admit he's an annoying bastard, you can still punish him for being one. I haven't really figured out his worst spots yet, but his waist seems to be pretty bad."

As soon as she's said that, Charles' eyes widen and he protectively wraps his arms around his abdomen. When her hands suddenly dart forwards, he lets out a noise that is most definitely not a shriek and instinctively curls up.

"Nonono, Crystal plehease."

This finally gets a reaction out of Edwin. He chuckles softly and takes a few more steps towards them. Niko takes that as her hint to add more to the list. "Three: you can make him laugh! I like it when Charles laughs. He sounds so joyful and carefree, don't you think?"

When she wriggles her fingers under Charles' arms, the latter cries out before bursting into loud laughter. He tries to grab her wrists and drag her hands away, but Crystal uses the opening and tickles his sides with so much vigour that it immediately forces him to bring his arms down again. He writhes until he manages to turn onto his side and curl up, but Niko simply draws her hands back before reaching out again to claw at the back of his ribs and gently trace her fingernails over his nape. Charles' laugh goes up in pitch and volume and he frantically shakes his head.

"Oh my Gohod, Niko please don't do thahat!"

"But it's so much fun!", Niko exclaims and tickles a spot below his ear that makes him bubble over with giggles.

"Aww, Charles! I didn't know you could produce such adorable noises", Crystal teases with a playful smirk. Charles gasps for air and curls up even more, desperately trying to prevent Crystal's hands from reaching his stomach and waist.

"I do nohot! I- no, wahait! Dohon't, Crystal let go!"

The latter has a firm grip on both of Charles' wrists, which she has pinned down to the left and right of his body. Where she has got the strength to do that from, Charles has no idea. Or maybe he has simply become very weak due to all the squirming and laughing. Niko is still scribbling over his neck and placing some pokes arcoss his chest and ribcage, but it's not enough to have him laughing full-on. Which means he has nothing to distract him from the words that leave Crystal's mouth a second later.

"Would you like to give me a hand here, Edwin?"

Charles chokes on his spit and has to cough a few time before he manages to protest.

"WHAT?! No, nononono, don't even think about it! Edwin. Mate, come on, you can't do this to me!"

The last part of the sentence comes out as a giggly plea because while he's been talking, Edwin has approached them and is now kneeling on the floor next to Niko.

"Charles. Weren't you the one who said that I should consider Crystal's suggestions more often? Well, this is me considering her suggestion. You're welcome."

"Oh, you’re all just a bunch of dirty bastards!", Charles exclaims, but there is no real heat behind his words.

Crystal narrows her eyes. "Careful. In case you've forgotten, we literally have you pinned to the floor and you're about to get the life tickled out of you."

Totally against his will, his breath hitches and he feels goosebumps rise on his skin. Crystal smirks when she sees it. "Well, Edwin. Where do you want to start? I have a feeling that pretty much everywhere will be effective."

"Maybe you should try his knees!", Niko says full of eagerness.

Edwin raises an eyebrow. "His knees? Is it even possible for a person to be ticklish on their knees?"

"Well, only one way to find out", Crystal says with a crooked grin. She's pretty positive that this will get a good reaction because she felt how Charles tensed up the second Niko mentioned his knees.

Edwin tentatively reaches out and places his hand on one of Charles' knees. After a second of contemplation, he curls and un-curls his fingers, letting his nails gently graze against the fabric of the other's jeans. The reaction comes instantly. Charles throws his head back with a narrowly suppressed laugh as his entire leg jerks.

"Edwin, stop it! Mate come on, plehease."

An amazed smile spreads on Edwin's lips and he eyes Charles.

"Charles, you must be really ticklish if this is already affecting you so much."

He didn't say it in a teasing way but rather as an observational statement. It causes Charles to blush nevertheless. He quickly rolls his eyes and huffs to cover it up.

"Fine, I am! But that doesn't mean you-"

He cuts himself off with a muffled squeal and instinctively tries to grab Edwin's wrist, but Crystal still manages to keep him pinned (no, seriously, how the fuck does she manage that?). So he has no choice but to endure the slow but firm squeezes Edwin is giving to his knee and lower thigh. It doesn't get better when the other decides to let his hand wander upwards until it reaches his hip.

"You said this was a bad spot, right?", Edwin asks with a glance at Crystal. The latter smirks and nods.

"I will probably have a hard time holding him down. He was very adamant at stopping me when I tried to tickle him there."

"I will help you!", Niko suddenly chips in and grabs one of Charles' wrists with both of her hands, allowing Crystal to do the same with the other.

Charles slowly starts to panic. Crystal alone has managed to pin him down for quite a while - there is no way he stands a chance of freeing himself with two people holding him down. He fights to keep the anticipatory giggles at bay, but he is already fidgeting nervously and his breathing has accelerated.

"Oh come on, you can't be serious! Three against one is so unfair", he protests, his eyes darting from Niko to Crystal to Edwin. The latter tilts his head and grins mischievously.

"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad, can it?"

All of Charles' warning bells go off. Edwin is teasing him. And for some reason, he is so susceptible to it. Because for the second time that day, he feels his cheeks heating up. For a second, he finds himself at a loss for words. That is until Edwin decides to start pinching his hips, which drags him back to reality very quickly.

"Dohon't!"

It's all he manages to splutter before dissolving into a fit of gasps and giggles. He cries out when Edwin moves to his waist and starts drawing little patterns with his nails. The gentle touch is sending ticklish shocks through his body and he frantically tries to free his hands. His eyes are tightly shut and his body is shaking with laughter.

"No, please not there, please-"

Niko snickers.

"Oh, I think this really is a bad spot."

Edwin's eyes sparkle playfully as he watches the squirming boy beneath him.

"You know Crystal, I don't think he was exaggerating when he called this a weapon."

Charles makes a noise somewhere between a groan and a whine.

"Yehes, and you are killing me with it!"

"Well, then I guess it's fortunate that you are already dead", Edwin responds and tickles his belly with both hands.

"Go for his ribs. I want to see what happens", Crystal instructs with a grin.

Charles gasps for air and writhes.

"NO! For Fuck's sake, don't you dare- noho! Oh, I bloodly hahate you all!"

But the bubbly laughter that's bursting out of him makes that statement hard to believe. Edwin is carefully working his way up the other's ribcage, dragging his nails over every rib and wiggling his fingers into all the interspaces. By the time he reaches the upper part of his ribcage, Charles is a laughing mess. His chest is rising and falling with every gasp for breath and he feels tears sparkling in the corners of his eyes. He can't remember the last time he has laughed this hard, if ever.

Edwin reaches his uppermost ribs, right beneath the underarms, the spot where Niko was tickling him earlier. A few seconds of this is enough to break him. He arches his back, then tries to curl up as much as he can and weakly shakes his head.

"I cahan't! Edwin please, please stop tickling me, I cahan't take it anymore!"

Edwin laughs fondly and slows his hands.

"Alright, alright. Despite the fact that you are dead already, I'm not actually trying to kill you again."

He strokes the lengths of the other's sides with his palms a few times to help him calm down, then he pulls his hands back. Crystal and Niko also release their grips on Charles' wrists, allowing him to wrap his arms around his torso and curl up. He is breathing heavily and some residual giggles are still tumbling from his lips. Niko soothingly runs her hand over the back of his head.

"I hope we didn't go too far, Charles", she says after a while.

Charles groans and rolls onto his back, but still gives her the hint of a smile.

"It's fine, Niko. Edwin is right, after all. I'm already dead, so it's not like the lack of breath will have any consequences. But still, you three are absolutely ruthless. I won't be quick to froget about this."

Crystal laughs. "You definitely won't, but neither will we. Don't make the mistake of thinking that this was a one-time occurence. You're too much of a cocky bastard for that."

Charles raises his eyebrows at her.

"Don't you make the mistake of thinking I won't get you back for this."

"Ha! Hate to disappoint you Charles, but I'm not ticklish. You're free to give it a shot, but don't be surprised when it ends with you in the same position you've been in a minute ago."

Charles rolls his eyes and turns his head to look at Niko. "Fine. Then I will find myself an easier target. After all, it was you who started this whole mess in the first place."

A light blush spreads on Niko's cheeks, but she smiles nevertheless.

"Good luck with him, Niko. He can be quite persistent once he's got something into his head", Edwin says. Niko looks at him and tilts her head.

"What about you, Edwin? Are you ticklish as well?", she asks.

Edwin startles and his eyes widen.

"What? Me? Er, I..."

"Oooh!", Niko exclaims before he has a chance to say more.

Edwin scowls.

"Don't even think about it, Niko."

He turns his head when he hears the amazed chuckle and freezes when he sees the mischievous grin that is spreading on Charles' face.

"Oh my God. You are in such deep shit, Edwin. Because I will get you back for this. And I will most definitely tell you that 'it can't be that bad' while you are squirming beneath me and screaming with laughter."

Crystal cackles at the face Edwin makes.

"This is too good. I don't know what exactly we started here, Niko, but I feel like all hell will break loose. And I'm definitely here for it."

Masterpost

[riddles-n-games]

So, I wanted to make this as an appreciation post for the fandom. Looking at all the reveals we've gotten in the last few days and seeing how much the world of TIG has expanded so quickly, I've been getting a bit nostalgic.

When I joined this fandom, it was August of 2022, barely a month out from the release date of The Final Gambit, the finale of The Inheritance Games. I found out about TIG at a random bookstore on a road trip and I had immediate interest (the hot tub scene sold me so quick). I was also still somewhat new to Tumblr back then but I wanted to see what the hype was here.

Back then, we were still in the Averyjameson vs Averygrayson era even though I'd say things were cooling down a bit. But, that's not my point. The community was getting ready for this; there were chapter reveals, theories, and oh, it was awesome. I was so happy to be part of it. And some of the people who made it a lively place back then are still here, but unfortunately, some have gone quiet. @averysjameson, @guppyclato, @lesbianator3000, @margolovescoffeeandbooks, and @cherryschaos, thank you for making my days back then. I know you may have moved on, but I thank you for the contribution you made at the time.

The only thing I will not miss is the toxicity that Averyjameson and Averygrayson fans plagued this fandom with and divided us so much. We had a lot back then to still savor, why did we have to do that to sour the tag when this series had so much more to offer than just the romantic subplot? There was a mystery at large and so many other characters to love. We only seemed to agree on hating Emily and the old man. Moving on, let's never do that again and if there is another love triangle, let's try being more mature about it. I know we can. If Gray, Avery, and Jamie moved on, so can we.

When we were told of The Brothers Hawthorne back in October 2022 and given those first chapters for the new book, I was over the moon. We were going to finally see the POVs of two favorites; Grayson and Jameson. I was so excited to see from Jamie's perspective, to get a mystery set in London and for him to solve it with Avery; it was an Averyjameson dream. However, come the actual release of the book and I was honestly so disappointed. I'm not sure why it didn't hit the levels it should have but I already said my piece on that and while I still have some disdain for that story, I look fondly at the parts I did love. And funny enough, I told myself Grayson's story will just have to do only because I was feeling sour over Jameson's plot. But low and behold, I loved it! It was deep, funny, interesting, and held my attention as if I was in TIG all over again and it hit more high notes than Jameson's. I may attribute that to the familial connections we see displayed there but it felt more rewarding and even if JLB still had more for Grayson's development, that didn't mean Jameson had to suffer for it. However, I'm hoping that this story here was a fluke and I'm putting my best foot forward in believing that maybe reading Averyjameson through Avery's POV again in Games Untold will give back that familiar feeling I've been missing for two years. I never said I wouldn't try again.

Now, we've entered a new era and this is a third for me; The Grandest Game and Games Untold. During this period, I met @hathorneheiress, my fanfic bestie, and a lot of my current supporters have been with me since TBH. I thank you very much for sticking with me by liking, reblogging, and commenting on my posts. You make my day in the same way I assume my content makes yours. I haven't said that enough and I don't think it will ever be. I'm happy that we're all still here now and going into this new unknown with our theories, headcanons, new characters, and plots. I'm sure it will be a blast. Thank you for giving me that feeling again these last few days; it felt like being with Avery and the gang, running through the House, finding another clue, waiting in anticipation what it reveals.

I hope that this next series is everything we hope for it to be, a new start for Gray, a chance to bond with the new characters we met in The Brothers Hawthorne, and an opportunity to make it feel like the hay days of the first book. I hope that Games Untold lets us relish that feeling with the original cast, to relive the good old days, to meet up with some old friends we haven't seen in a while, and to have that final hurrah that leaves us on the highest of highs in the best way possible. Maybe it'll make it easier to say goodbye to the ways it used to be and embrace the new storytellers but of course, with the way JLB leaves us hanging with every story she gives, who is to say that'll be it?

Thank you to everyone who makes theories, headcanons, fanfics, fanart, and so many other things that leave us wanting more. Thank you to everyone who showers that content with support in the form of likes, comments, and reblogs. Thank you to everyone who has been here from the beginning, in the middle, and now. You all made this a special place. Thank you to everyone who made this community that way and continue to do so every day. I'm happy to be a small part of that. See you in the next post.

-Mystery Girl's Red String

[transcendence-au]

TAU Wiki 2.0!

TL;DR The TAU wiki has moved!

Hey everyone! Mod F here to talk about a project we're working on regarding the Transcendence AU wiki. As many of you may know, the TAU Wiki is hosted on Wikia/FANDOM, an extremely popular free wiki farm. They've hosted us for years, and using them has been an easy and convenient way to get information about TAU out to people who are looking for it.

However, especially as time has gone on, we (and FANDOM users at large) have had more and more issues with the way the site is run. FANDOM is a for-profit company, and they profit off of the free labor of its editors through advertising. Advertising that is generally very large and obnoxious on every page on the wiki. That's the biggest of our concerns, although there are others: they control the platform, so they can control the content if they want, and they give limited options for wiki customizability.

Because of this, we have decided to start our own wiki, off of FANDOM. This way, we can be in control of the presentation, and we can own our own work. The new wiki has already been set up, and pages from the old wiki have already been moved over (although images need to be migrated manually). There's a little migration guide I've been working on, for anyone interested in helping. Of note: the new wiki is hosted on my own web server, and it is guaranteed to be ad-free forever.

FANDOM does not like it when communities move away. They don't allow deleting the old wiki, because they want to continue to make advertising revenue from it, and they ban administrators if they promote the new wiki. On top of that, they will usually appear much higher in search results than wikis on any other platform. These things make this project difficult, but not, I believe, impossible.

Despite all of that, we still want to do whatever we can to make our new wiki the best it can be. We'd love it if you could sign up and contribute information about your favourite TAU topics! If you have any questions, you can send us an ask, or join the TAU discord to talk about it.