#so it could be considered self ship or a crackship I don’t think either of us mind LOL

[spockandawe]

I doubt this is something I’ll ever even try to write, because I rarely have the energy these days to devote my energy to a ‘lol but what if’ ship. But never say never, and I legit wrote the emilonni and tlj/sqq fics, after all, so I’m going to write this down and maybe, possibly, someday come back to it.

Now, hear me out

Wei Wuxian/Jin Zixun

Yes, yes, I know, but give me a second. It’s the sort of ship where I kind of want to do it just to see if it can be done, and where the idea of ‘textual support’ is kind of laughable, and it’s not like I’m smashing together two super-popular characters who just never happened to speak, and it’s the kind of ship where I think I could only shake one fic out of it before I was repeating myself, BUT.

First, a quote:

The person at the head of the group was Jin Zixun. He said, “Zixuan, is that Wei making trouble for you again?!”

Jin Zixuan said, “None of your business, don’t worry about it for now!” Seeing that Wei Wuxian grabbed Jiang Yanli and was about to take her away, he added, “Stop!”

Wei Wuxian said, “Oh, you want to fight? That’s fine with me!”

Jin Zixun said, “You Wei, just what do you mean by going against Zixuan so many times?”

Wei Wuxian looked at him. “Who are you?”

Jin Zixun paused in shock, and fumed, “You don’t know who I am?!”

“Why should I know who you are?”

When the Sunshot Campaign had first broken out, Jin Zixun had insisted on defending the back lines, due to an injury. He hadn’t had the chance to see what Wei Wuxian was like on the front lines, and most of his knowledge had come from rumors. He hadn’t care much for him, thinking that the rumors were simply exaggerations. However, a while ago, Wei Wuxian had summoned all of the dark creatures in the forest with a whistle, calling away the fierce corpses Jin Zixun’s group had been about to capture, causing their efforts to be wasted. He was already displeased.

Now, in front of his face, Wei Wuxian was asking who he was, stirring up a strange sense of indignation within him— He knew Wei Wuxian, yet Wei Wuxian didn’t know him, and even dared ask who he was in front of everyone. It was as if this had caused him to lose too much face. The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became.

Now, there’s a thoughtful meta I hopefully reblogged to my sideblog, which I would have to dig up or recreate on my own, about the most sympathetic possible reading of Jin Zixun. If memory serves, it has a lot to do about the precarious nature of his social position, where he’s part of the Jin clan, and kind of the closest thing Jin Zixuan has to a brother, but also, everyone knows that Jin Zixuan has half-siblings coming out of the woodwork, and many of them would be stoked to get Jin Guangshan to accept them into the family. At this stage in the story, Jin Guangyao is already a major player and a hero of the war and part of the venerated triad, where Jin Zixun spent a lot of time... not in the thick of things, like most other peers of his generation.

Is he an asshole? Yes! Is... Wei Wuxian an asshole? Also yes! One of them may be a more likeable asshole than the other, but that’s part of the excitement of a story like this, trying to coax people into holding a fannish position that they’d never considered before, and aren’t particularly eager to be convinced of. I don’t think I’m bad at that uphill climb, it just takes a lot of energy that I don’t often have to begin that journey in the first place. Also, one of these assholes is a certified grade-A torturer, and it’s probably not the one you dislike. Jin Zixun isn’t starting from an insurmountable disadvantage here. 

And see, the thing that got my attention is this: Earlier in this chapter, Wei Wuxian is a little melancholy, thinking about how since the Sunshot Campaign, lots of people are scared of him, hardly anyone is willing to be alone with him, and almost nobody would ever be willing to approach him alone. And here, we get the information that because Jin Zixun was injured early and wasn’t on the front lines of the Sunshot Campaign, he doesn’t know to be afraid. He tried to provoke Wei Wuxian before the hunt, he’s about to keep provoking Wei Wuxian, he’s Jin Zixun and he doesn’t afraid of anything. Yes, he’s about to say some very hurtful things, but I look at that, and I think ‘okay, now how do we recover from this?’ Giving Wei Wuxian someone who just... plain isn’t afraid of him (but is also derailed by me, your author, from taking that to unrecoverable places) would be good for him. Jiang Cheng will antagonize him and isn’t afraid of him, but they also share years of history and are dealing with a lot of other stresses in this situation, and Jiang Cheng is asking things from Wei Wuxian that Wei Wuxian is struggling to provide, and the golden core thing is still hanging between them. Lan Wangji isn’t afraid of Wei Wuxian, but Wei Wuxian parses his concern and worries as antagonism and criticism, and those stress him out in a whole different way. This dynamic, as much as I would have to work to make it happen, would bring something new to the table.

One of my favorite activities is crackshipping with sincerity, and when I poke at this, it genuinely feels like richer territory than it looks at first glance. A lot of the antagonists share some fascinating character notes with our lead, and what’s most interesting to me here is an elevated-but-precarious social position and the various stresses that puts upon our characters. Jin Guangyao is the most obvious example, and Su She echoes it more quietly, with how he struggled within the Lan Sect and eventually left (honestly, kudos to him for him and mianmian to be two of the only characters to realize that their home was hurting them and to leave). Jin Zixun is in a family position that’s close to being brothers with his sect’s heir, but isn’t quite brothers, and is close to the seat of power, but also in a precarious social position if someone acts against him. Jin Guangshan and Madam Jin create a dysfunctional family dynamic to grow up in, where Jin Guangshan’s heart attention strays from his wife, and his wife has beat at least one kid who wasn’t biologically hers in the household.

There’s some common ground, is all I’m saying

I don’t even know what would happen, necessarily, I’m talking this all out here right now, and the interesting part of ships like this is digging in extra deep, and seeing what unexpected thing shakes out. It isn’t quite in the style of the other notable rarepair fics I have managed to write, which tend to follow a paradigm of ‘[person] is floating unmoored from the world, and [love interest] gets them engaged with life again’, but it’s not totally out of line with my interests. Svsss won’t give us more detail about Tianlang-jun? Okay, what happens if I make him hopelessly fond, what happens then? What happens if I properly re-engage his sense of humor? I hardly had anything of substance to go on with Horuss, and that fic is old, but I managed to pull interesting things out of him with Roxy. And I mean... what does happen when Jin Zixun stops self-destructively antagonizing the people around him and starts acting in more neutral ways? Not even positive, I think this relationship is going to have a strong antagonistic component, but what happens if he stops basing his interactions purely on who gets the higher rung on the social ladder?

Now, I do have a problem, which is that plot is something that happens to other people. See also: the reason there has not been a tianlang-jun sequel. I think that it would almost definitely have to do with repairing the situation between Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli and both of them managing to dial it back a LITTLE so as not to completely sabotage their family member’s happiness, and that leading things forward. And in a ridiculous pipe dream that will never be realized, because either possible pov will be completely oblivious, I would also want to include Jin Zixuan’s confused bisexual awakening and his resentful (also confused) attraction towards Wei Wuxian, even if he still ends up with Jiang Yanli, but... wei wuxian isn’t going to notice, and neither is jin zixun, SO. That’s probably right out. And the plot implications would have to be... significant. Setting it post-Sunshot campaign means that the Wen situation is simmering, and any plot that involves me untangling that mess... terrifying! I wouldn’t know where to begin! But like, also. What if I could write this ship in a compelling way. I bet I could do it. Nothing feels as good as the sensation of ‘I have scored points on my own darling readers by convincing them to like something they didn’t want to like’, and usually, I only get that from the second person pov. It would be so hard to write this ship. But also, what if I did it.

[degenerate-perturbation]

Magnus Archives retrospective review

Found this review in my drafts that I wrote after just-evo-now reminded me that I had written a Magnus Archives finale & retrospective review and never posted it so here it is.

Season 5 sucked. It was 70% bad episodes, directly as a result of being filler. All the torture porn and lame whinging about ethics is Quite Clearly Filler.  Apparently Jonny wanted a short season that was half office romance and half brief apocalypse. I think this version of the season would have been awesome, and I can kind of see the shape of that story

But, I really liked the finale. It works really well as a conclusion to the overall story of the Magnus Archives. The vast majority of even stories I like do not really stick the landing, so this is a welcome change. Here are some of my assorted thoughts on it:

I like the fact that there was a real moral choice about what to do with the fears, and some acknowledgement of the associated epistemic uncertainty. I think Jon was right and the correct choice was for him to become the pupil of the eye, while containing the fears to that world. The other characters were clearly either being selfish (Melanie) or engaging in motivated reasoning (Martin) and the fact that Jon's guilt was distorting his own reasoning doesn't make him Wrong. However I would have liked way more time to be spent on this! This could have been several episodes worth of drama. For instance, the question of whether or not the fears ended up in the TMA reality in the same way they ultimately escaped it is important! And they just...didn’t spend nearly long enough thinking about it. They didn’t spend nearly enough time thinking about this at all.

I'm pretty sure we are Supposed to think that the choice to loose the fears on the other realities was wrong. Basira's final "good luck" was so chilling and a consistent theme of the show has been Systems and how they rope you in and make you part of them and get you to inflict horrors on others just to make sure you suffer a little less--and the only way out of such a system is to not participate, end the cycle, take the L and don't perpetuate it. Which Jon was 100% right about. So, downer ending for sure, but a hopeful ending would have felt inapt.

I liked Jon&Martin's final apocalyptic goodbye. Very mysterious very dramatic very romantic. I have no idea what was going on in that scene but I don't really care because it got the emotional point across, which means that the scene worked on the level it was supposed to work.

On the subject of Jon&Martin, I really liked the explicit acknowledgement that theirs is a relationship only possible through traumatic bonding, and that absent all the horrible stuff happening they just wouldn't be compatible. That might have been Martin being self-deprecating--but I dislike it when fans treat ships like "soulmates,” because man, love is contingent on so many things. All my favorite fictional relationships are really context-dependent, which is why I really vibe with rarepairs and “crackships,” because the basic writing challenge of something like that is to answer the question of “What would it take for these two people to love each other?”

So honestly a world where Martin crushes on Jon because he has Only Likes Unattainable Men disease and Jon never really warms up to him in their regular context and eventually Martin picks a different Unattainable Jerk Who Will Never Like Him Back to crush on...makes a lot of sense to me. And this of course makes their actual canonical relationship much more special, because it could easily have never happened.

So, like, bad final season notwithstanding, when I consider The Magnus Archives as a story overall, I feel it holds up. The worst thing about it is a far-too-stringent commitment to formal structure, which completely cripples the late seasons. A better version of this story would have ditched the statements, and condensed seasons 4 and 5 into one. It might also have had less plot and more pre-relationship Jon&Martin development in season 3 - such that it actually feels like something is being prematurely arrested when Jon goes into the coma at the end of season 3. Season 4 and especially 5 had a lot of mediocre episodes that absolutely tank the average episode quality of the podcast. But largely it stayed on-theme, had an emotionally resonant central relationship, nothing seriously undercut anything else. And given how many bad stories that disappoint and enrage me fail on this, I give credit for that! 

My final rating for this podcast is “worth your time,” but somebody should definitely make a listening-guide for the late seasons that tell you which ones can be safely skipped, like Naruto filler.

[myaekingheart]

20 [Fanfic Writer] Questions Game

Thank you so much for tagging me, @lemony-snickers! This is tons of fun, I love answering these kinds of big questionnaires 😂💕 Also putting mine under a cut because there’s a lot of questions and I like to ramble. 

Also gonna go ahead and just tag whoever wants to do this! 😅💕

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

As of August 27, 2021, I have a total of 77 works on my AO3! 

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

Funny enough, I was just looking at this, specifically, earlier today and kind of laughing about it. Right now, my total word count across all my works is 1,148,941 😬 

3. How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

Apparently 12, but some of them I don’t really consider “big” in my fandom repertoire. Naruto is my greatest fandom with a total of 60 fics so far, followed by The Chronicles of Narnia and Rise of the Guardians. The rest are ones I either did crossover fics with or just did one-off little pieces with--The Incredibles, Tangled, Brave, How to Train Your Dragon, Arthurian Mythology, Disney Princesses, Fairy Tales and Related Fandoms, Back to the Future, and Frozen. 

4. What are your Top Five fics by kudos?

The Scarecrow and The Bell (Naruto) - 470 kudos The Day Kakashi’s Mask Slipped (Naruto) - 139 kudos Sunflowers (Naruto) - 92 kudos Sakumo the House Husband (Naruto) - 81 kudos Someone to Lean On (Naruto) - 67 kudos

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

I always try to respond to comments, because I like to acknowledge when people respond to my work. I cherish comments like nobody’s business, especially when they’re kind and reactionary. I just really love seeing/hearing what people think of the way a story is progressing, or what they thought of a one-shot. Comments keep me going especially when it comes to longfic so I want to be able to let readers know that I do in fact see their comments, that I’m acknowledging what they’re saying, and that I appreciate them. Plus, it can be kind of fun to tease upcoming events in a fic through responses to people’s comments, too. Because I’m mean. 

6. What fic have you written with the angstiest ending?

Definitely Hothouse (Rise of the Guardians/The Incredibles; Jack Frost x Violet Parr; American Horror Story AU). This was the first multi-chaptered fic I ever wrote to completion and I honestly cringe when I remember it exists both because it’s so poorly organized (and full of nasty plot holes) and because I just went ham on the gore factor. It definitely has a really bittersweet and heartbreaking ending to it, too. 

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

I think I’ll definitely have to say Temptation. The story itself was kind of a ride, and it’s only the first installment in a series, but it follows the plot of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe but remixed due to the presence of an original character, but the ending is still roughly the same as the original: they defeat the evil, the Pevensies are all crowned kings and queens, happy days. Reading the last few paragraphs of the last chapter honestly still gets me all up in my feelings. 

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

I used to be more of a crossover writer due to one of my main ships being a crossover ship. They weren’t super crazy, though, because they were both CGI-animated films. The craziest crossover I’ve ever written is an in-progress/unfinished multichapter piece, Kakashi, Enchanted, that sees our favorite Copy Ninja get kamui’d into the Disney princess dimension and has to help the likes of Snow White, Cinderella, and Rapunzel on his journey to find a way back to his own world. It’s a super weird premise but definitely one of my more lighthearted works and fun to revisit when I need to decompress. 

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I don’t think I’ve ever received hate so much as I’ve received criticism. The closest I ever got to hate on a fic, I think, was someone left an overly personal and mentally disturbed comment on a chapter of my main fic that made me convinced they needed to seek therapy and deal with their own personal issues rather than take it out on a fanfic about animated ninjas. 

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

Maybe 👀 I’m super vanilla when it comes to smut, though. I think the wildest thing I’ve ever written in smut is breeding kink. 

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of, and I hope I never will. 

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet! I had someone ask to translate a one-shot of mine in Russian but I never got a response back when I laid out my terms and conditions. 

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

I have not! I used to do paragraph-style roleplay which was kind of like cowriting fanfiction but writing is so personal and sacred to me that I don’t know if I could ever actually cowrite a fic with someone. I like brainstorming with other people, but writing for me is more of a deeply personal and independent endeavour. 

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Oh god, this is a tricky question because it depends on fandom. I absolutely love New Dream (Rapunzel x Eugene, Tangled) and have for the past ten years, and my love for them as only grown since watching Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. I don’t write or even really read a ton of fanfiction for them, though. I’m also still highly dedicated to my favorite crossover crackship, Frostfield (Jack Frost x Violet Parr, Rise of the Guardians/The Incredibles) and to this day, if you search for that ship on AO3, I am the sole provider of every single fic about them so far. I’m not as active with them as I used to be, but they got me through some really rough times back in the day and still mean so much to me. A lot of my favorite ships across fandoms, though, are honestly canon x OC ships of mine because I am a self-indulgent bitch who needs to project. So Peter Pevensie x Eilonwy (The Chronicles of Narnia) and Kakashi Hatake x Rei Natsuki (Naruto) are really important to me and I’ve poured so much of myself specifically into their stories. I think it’s safe to say Kakashi and Rei is my all-time favorite ship across all fandoms, though, just because of how much their story means to me. The Scarecrow and The Bell is my magnum opus, my pride and joy, and I’m sure it will be my biggest fandom footprint of my entire life. I’ve dedicated the past three years to this story and these characters and I intend to continue doing it until it no longer brings me joy (which I hope it always will). There’s just so much I could say about this story and Kakashi and Rei’s relationship but I don’t think we have enough time or space in this post for that 😅 Just know that they mean the world to me and I will always hold them in the highest regard as a beautifully messy, flawed, passionate, soulmate-y ship that I love with all of my heart 🥺

EDIT: I also feel obligated to tack on some of my absolute favorite Naruto ships because I may not have written for all of them (yet) but they still make me unbelievably happy or I find them really compelling and enjoy the idea of exploring them: 

Naruhina is precious happy sunshine and The Last honestly felt like a wonderful Disney princess movie to me, it was so cute and the romance was so on-point, Naruhina just makes me so incredibly happy and I love them with all my heart. 

MinaKushi also gets me all up in my feels and I adore them with every fiber of my being. Their romance also gave me Disney princess movie vibes which I love, their story is just so damn sweet as is their character dynamic and I am still so heartbroken that they never got to be a happy family with Naruto because you know what? It’s what they deserved!

SasuSaku is so compelling to me and I really feel like we were cheated out of seeing their relationship develop and evolve postwar in the same way The Last did for Naruhina. They’re my favorite angst ship and while I don’t think they were written that well in canon, I love the possibility and potential of them together and am excited to explore them more in-depth in my own writing. 

NejiTen is just too cute, I really love the way Neji and Tenten’s personalities compliment each other? I don’t have much else to say about them except that I really love them together and think they have so much untapped potential that I also can’t wait to explore in more depth in my own writing. 

15. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Paper Hearts and Impromptu Bookmarks, probably. I love the premise of this story a lot and I have so many interesting ideas for it but at the same time, it also feels kind of cheap and cringey to me, in a way? It takes all of these ideas I probably would have had if I had been into Naruto when I was a kid and kind of compiles them all into one big story. Kakashi and Aiko’s relationship and story is still really important to me and I want to continue it someday but for right now, I just haven’t had the motivation or desire to write any more of it. I think I’m just so overwhelmingly preoccupied with writing Kakashi and Rei’s story that I can’t imagine writing any other Kakashi x OC fics right now. 

16. What are your writing strengths?

I want to say that I’m really good at capturing complex emotion? I don’t know, I write a lot of angst and mental upheaval in my fics which can be really difficult to try and capture, but I think I do a decent enough job of it? And just writing difficult subjects in general. I think it’s really important to address difficult topics such as mental illness and relationship difficulties and everything but I also want to try and write those topics in a way that is both authentic to the experience while also still tasteful. I don’t want to drive readers away with heavy subject matter but rather present a situation that feels real and authentic while also still being digestible. I may not be doing a very good job of that during the current arc of my fic that I’m working on, but I’m trying haha

EDIT 2: I also want to add onto this to say that I’m really proud of my organizational techniques for writing longfic. It’s not necessarily a strength in terms of the prose itself but it’s something that’s taken me years to really get a grasp on and find a method that works perfectly for me and so far, it’s been extremely helpful and beneficial to me. I don’t know where I would be now as a writer without these essential tools in my pocket. 

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I feel like I do a really bad job of the “show, don’t tell” thing. It can be really hard to balance descriptive prose with straightforward writing that moves things along. I don’t want to dwell on mental dialogue to the point where you lose track of what’s going on, but I also don’t want my stuff to read like “Character A did xyz. Character B said abc. They went to 123″, whatever. Another thing I struggle with is sentence variation. I always fall into the same patterns when I’m writing prose and I get really self-conscious about it because I don’t want to sound repetitive or disrupt the flow of the writing. One of my favorite things about prose is focusing on the cadence of the words, I think it’s one of the most beautiful things about writing in general, but it can just be really difficult to get a good grip on that. I’ve been told in the past that I apparently have a really good grasp/control of the language or whatever but sometimes I just find that really hard to believe when I look at my work with such scrutiny. I think one of my biggest pet peeves with my own writing, too, is feeling like I start all of my sentences the same five different ways. I’ll read other people’s works and they’ll write sentences like “Glass-blue water lapped against the shores of a deserted beach as a lonely woman gazed off into the distance” and I can just never figure out how to realistically write sentences that start like that in the context of my prose and it drives me fucking crazy, like I’m definitely jealous  😅

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I’ve never really thought much about it before, but I think there are pros and cons! For bilingual/multilingual readers, I think it can be a really enriching reading experience because they know what’s being said in both languages. For people who only know one language, however, unless a translation is provided, I feel like it can be really alienating. I think the best use of that for both worlds is using it as a means for miscommunication humor. Other than that, I think it can be a slippery slope that depends on what kind of reader you are and how it’s written. 

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The Chronicles of Narnia! My very first fanfiction was a Narnia fanfic that I barely remember except that it laid the basis for Temptation and my Narnia fanfic series as a whole. I never posted this first iteration anyway, but I remember it was 2008/2009 and I wrote a solid 80 pages (which was wild for me at the time) and had gotten halfway through remixing the events of Prince Caspian when my computer crashed and I lost absolutely everything. I’m still heartbroken that it’s gone forever, not because I’d want to go back and read it necessarily (since I’m sure it was actually hot garbage) but at least for nostalgia’s sake. Either way, like I said, this long-lost fic laid the basis for the very first fanfiction I ever posted, the first published (and never finished) iteration of Temptation back in 2011 on deviantART and the since-defunct Figment. I fell out of the fandom around 2012/2013 and left the story alone for a while before ultimately deciding to completely redux and rewrite the story when the fixation swung back around again between 2016 and 2018. 

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Despite the fact that it’s still in-progress, definitely The Scarecrow and The Bell. This fic just genuinely means so damn much to me and I will cherish it for the rest of my life because of how much it’s given me, how much love and passion and time and even parts of myself that I have poured into this, and also just how expansive of a story this is. Not only does it touch on some very dark and heavy topics, but I’ve also created so much of my own characters and meta for this story that it’s almost an entire universe in and of itself. I’ve just contributed so much additional world-building and created so many new OCs to fill important roles in this story and in Rei’s life, and they’ve all become so deeply important to me as they’ve developed further over the years. I’ve come up with so many interesting ideas for everyone and their lives, which are all slowly becoming so rich and varied. Not to mention that it’s my most popular fic to date as well as my longest fic at 632k and counting. I’ve really just genuinely poured so much of my heart and soul into this story, it’s my absolute favorite thing I’ve ever done and I really mean it when I say that I will cherish it for the rest of my life. 

[goldenworldsabound]

Wendy!!! What would a crossover between your main faves (Viren, Kunikida, Fitzgerald, and Zhongli) be like?? Like if they all switched up their source material?? :Oc I imagine it would be very chaotic

I've been thinking about this all day, Day (...day day uwu).

(because I'm a little compulsive I have to correct main to currently fixated on faves BUT YES!!!)

I've thought about faves interacting before and it's one of my BIG FAVORITE INDULGENT THINGS to think about

Viren and Fitzgerald are an interesting pair - I think that Viren, while he appears fairly confident and powerful, is actually full of self doubt and insecurities, and someone as truly self confident and cocky as Fitzgerald would absolutely rub him the wrong way and appear as a Threat to him. So he hates Fitzgerald almost immediately fkdjahfkjdsa

Fitzgerald, on the other hand, is like. I feel like generally he's ambivalent about most folks unless they're his employees, get in his way, or do something of note. People are generally a means to an end. So he's mostly ambivalent to Viren and doesn't really see him as a threat so fdskjahfdjsa

You have Viren trying to one up Fitzgerald repeatedly while Fitzgerald is just like that's nice old sport. fkjdahfkjdahs

Kunikida wants nothing to do with either of them most likely BUT I feel like he'd get along well with Zhongli and Xiao (who I had to add into this even though you didn't mention him fkjdsahfk I just had to!). I don't think Kunikida would be much bothered by Xiao's stand offish nature, and I think he and Zhongli would get along pretty well and could chat about things for a while. I think that Xiao would find Kunikida agreeable ("as far as humans go" he clarifies) since he's generally pretty rational. Zhongli is interested in the concept of Kunikida's ideals as a kind of contract with the self in particular I think.

Throwing this under a cut as it continues to grow fkjdsha

You've triggered my trap card which is my slowly developing crackship between Kunikida and Zhongli. I call it a crackship BUT I was thinking about how I decided my bsd si plays videogames, so why not have her show them to Kunikida, and why not have one be Genshin? I think it's kind of fun to imagine Kunikida wanting to self ship into Genshin and even having his own faves.

Immediately I think Kunikida would be a geo polearm user. It just fits. I also just like. I JUST REALLY THINK HE WOULD HAVE A CRUSH ON ZHONGLI OKAY LIKE??? This man is BI and Zhongli is really pretty and I think he's just like. 😳 about him. Okay!!! And contracts and ideals are somewhat similar in ways, and I just feel like they'd really deeply respect the way the other views things and I just...I ship it okay. I said crackship but actually I think it's really cute fjdksahfkjdsahfd and of course they can both date me as well uwu

SO yeah Kunikida the geo polearm user who left Inazuma prior to it getting locked down, because he was curious about the teachings and ideals of Rex Lapis, as he felt them as aligned to his own. He runs into a man named Zhongli who becomes his sparring partner and tea buddy, and he's also taking on commissions as part of the Adventurer's Guild, and ends up with a partner named Wendy who he's frankly worried is going to get herself killed one day if he doesn't help her. He then has a bi panic because BOTH OF THEM??? ARE LOVELY??? and then later he gets to date them both the end fdjsafkdsah thinks about this AU more than I meant to

I also considered a few others in Genshin recently

Fitzgerald is an electro claymore user. He's a very rich man in Fontaine who lost his daughter. It was at that time he received his electro vision, because his entire goals and hopes and dreams revolve around bringing her back to life, ie maintaining things as they had been, or in fewer words eternity. Given the Inazuma has contracted Fontaine for mechanical works even under the lockdown decree, he wants to get himself over there to get an audience with the Raiden Shogun to figure out if she can help him in his pursuit of eternity. He's bold. Very bold.

As for Viren. I think that Viren would fit most involved in Khaenri'ah somehow. For those not super familiar with Genshin, Khaenri'ah was a human civilization that had no god, but made incredible technology some of which still tries to kill you today, even though they were destroyed 500 years ago by "the gods" (not like Zhongli and Venti, like the gods ABOVE them). They seem to also have some magic of their own, if Dainsleif is any indication. Most of them got turned to Abyss Mages and other monsters 500 years ago...it just kinda feels like this lines up well with dark magic in my brain. So Viren might be one who didn't get turned into an Abyss Mage, and he's pissed at the gods, and probably helping run the Abyss' plots and plans while fronting as a human somewhere else. Maybe Mondstadt.

ANYWAY YEAH that's a lot of me rambling. Not entirely on focus either so apologies KFHWJFWKJE but I had a lot of fun thinking about this!!!

[darkpoisonouslove]

1, 6, 10, 17, 21?

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

Hmm, that’s hard. I ship practically everything in OUAT. I think Drizella x Alice is something that I just can’t see working even if Alice did think she was pretty. I can see why people think Driz was the girlfriend Alice was talking about in HH and it makes sense but I just can’t imagine what a relationship between them might look like. Also, Hook x Pan but I don’t really remember much of Pan. He did seem to get under everyone’s skin so, again, I could understand why people see things (like tension) there but I just can’t see it. Regina x August is also a fucking mystery to me even though I have seen it as a ship, though it was more of a rare pair.

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

Fandom fucked up Captain Swan for me and then fandom made me like it again so that was certainly an experience. I don’t think I had considered Emma x Lily before fandom put the thought in my head but I am extremely happy that I did because I love Star Swan so much. Hard question again since, like I said, I shipped practically everything without needing convincing for it. XD

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Can I say all of season 6? I really, really don’t like it. But if I have to pick one single arc, it would be the bullshit they did with the “Savior” title. It was not supposed to be a title that has existed outside of Emma’s life. She was only the Savior because Rumple put Snow and David’s true love in the Curse. And then they went and made it an actual thing that has history and is passed down from a person to another. That didn’t make sense. If Aladdin is still alive, why are there other Saviors? And the fact that they blamed Rumple’s cowardice on having his string of fate cut off is just abysmal. It basically absolved him of responsibility for everything he did and I hate that so much. Especially since the main theme (or one of the main themes) was that redemption is always a road you can take no matter how far you’ve strayed from the path. (Which is also my beef with Regina’s arc in season 6 but I said I will pick one.)

17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

TW: Infertility and suicide mention

Instead of Robin in the Wish Realm, I would have had Regina find her father. He would have to be ninety at that point but I don’t care. It would have been so much better for her arc. Basically, after Daniel died, Regina “erased” the good part of herself and her father couldn’t help her so she killed him. But after Robin died, she wanted to erase the bad part of herself. However, that is not the way either and her father can help her see that because he loves both Regina and the Queen and it would pain him to see one of them die (especially since I think Wish Regina would have done before him; maybe if Cora tried to find her and manipulate her again something could have gone wrong (we already saw Regina take away her own fertility just to spite her mother so she might have taken her life as well)). Plus, Regina already saw for herself in the Underworld arc that her father could and did love even her evil parts. So that would have been better for her self-acceptance arc and I would have ended it with her and the Queen merging again because that would have been true acceptance. The two of them just coming to a point where they are so in sync that they are practically one person even as they are separated so there is no point to them being split.

21. What are your thoughts on crack ships?

My thoughts are that I usually don’t look at them as crack ships. If you come with a pairing to me I will consider it realistically and will find some way to have it happen plausibly or I will discard it. So personally, I can’t have crack ships if I wanted to. My ships are only canon or fanon but I am serious about everything that I ship and have some idea how to have it happen realistically or at least I have some idea what will draw them to each other. I don’t have an issue with people having crackships but if I can’t see it, I will not read it/watch it.

Send me salty asks

[nyahuaisang]

Sangcheng Analysis

I'm gonna talk about why sangcheng is a great ship that, if written right, would be just as perfect as wangxian. To do this I've come up with a system to determine whether a ship is good or not.

Chemistry: This is whether their relationship has potential or not. Would these two be able to grow to like each other? Could a connection be made? Basically, is something there?

ex. jin ling and jiang cheng would never have chemistry because they see one another as family

Circumstance: This is whether the lives they live and how they exist in the world of the story they're in affects their relationship or not. Would their actions cause a ripple in their relationship? Would their responsibilities cause them to fall out? Are there people that they care for more that unless explained away, would override ship person a's love for ship person b?

e.x. jiang cheng would never fall in love with jin guangyao because he put jin ling in danger; it's highly unlikely for mingjue to start something with wen qing if his relationship with xichen is still stable because he clearly cares for xichen in canon.

Dynamic: This is whether their roles and position in the story compliments each other or not. Are they foils to one another? Do they work well together? Do they have differing opinions and beliefs?

e.x. while definitely having chemistry of some sort and the circumstances do make them a compelling ship, their extremely differing beliefs and priorities make jfm/yzy a very toxic pairing

Of course these often overlaps one another but I think this is the best way to organize everything and there definitely are exceptions to them, like rarepairs, crackships, aus, ships purely for angst, etc..etc...and people enjoy them because they lack one or more of these points but I brought these points up in particular because sangcheng has high levels of all of them.

Chemistry

Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang has been friends since their time at Gusu at age 15 and possibly even before that as they're already good friends by the time they're at Gusu and Huaisang knows that JC and WWX are as close as brothers, something the normal Nie sect disciples didn't seem to know. In fact, Huaisang is the only one to be as close as he is to the Jiang bros. This could be chalked off as he's the only other sect heir their age who isn't an ass to their sister but I don't see either wwx or jc as someone who would reject someone's friendship because of their status(JC only does this when it actually jeopardizes his sect/status).

Huaisang also fits quite well into JC's list of marriage partner requirements.

Gentle Beauty: Self explanatory

Obedient: Huaisang's very passive and tends to listen to what people tells him unless he absolutely doesn't want to or can't accept it. He's obedient but he's not conforming nor a slave to people's orders. E.x. him running into the demon eating cave(or whatever) when WWX told everyone told to; he follows the Gusu Lan rules to an extent, etc etc..

Economical: Despite seemingly being spoiled and loves trinkets, Huaisang most likely would try to get things for a good price if he were to handle the finances himself. Despite it falling in reputation somewhat, he still kept the Nie Sect as one of the top 4 even after 13 years and if he sometimes spend a lot that's only because he's....

From a good family: The Nie Sect is one of the 4 most prominent sects so Huaisang grew up being spoiled often(Xichen and JGY tells Mingjue to stop spoiling him) and while he's not to the point of spending money on expensive items all the times, he'd probably still aware that he has a big budget and can afford to spend a lot sometimes.

Cultivation should not be too high: Self explanatory

Personality not too strong: Huaisang is not as aggressive as his brother nor as loud/outspoken as WWX. He's quite mellow and down-to earth most of the time

Doesn't talk too much: Huaisang prefers letting others talk and chiming in when he sees fit, such as during Gusu arc and 2nd siege.

Isn't too loud: pretty much self explanatory

Doesn't spend too much money: look at Economical. While Huaisang does spend a lit on trinkets, his net worth and family status should be taken into consideration.

Good to Jin Ling: This is the most controversial part but I will explain why this is not a problem in the next part.

They both know exactly what the other has been through as they've gone through the same lost and experience. They both lost a sibling to a person they also considered a sibling and was left behind all by themselves in the position of their sect's throne at a young age. Understanding the pain the other person went through plays a great part in how much chemistry a relationship will have because the pairing knows each other better and knows exactly what the other needs in their time of grief.

Circumstance

The biggest circumstantial problem is undoubtedly how much danger Jin Ling got into. However, I believe none of those instances were due to Huaisang. Jin Ling got into the 2nd siege and Guanyin Temple himself, outside of Huaisang's control. JGY took Jin Ling hostage of his own volition. It makes absolutely no sense story wise for Huaisang to have led Jin Ling to the Man Eating Castle or Yi City because Wangxian were already heading there. Huaisang knows that the arm would led them to these locations, that's why he planted it for wangxian to find. And if he didn't know the other parts would be in these locations, he wouldn't have known to lead Jin Ling there in the first place.

And in all these instances, having Jin Ling being in these places doesn't benefit Huaisang in anyway. Wangxian was already heading to these places and all Jin Ling and the Juniors did was add more lives for Wangxian to worry about. If the kids hadn't been well behaved and listened to WWX, it might've led to WWX slipping up and dying to Xue Yang or Song Lan to protect them and pushing Huaisang back to square 1. There's also no proof other then WWX's suspicions. Thr hunter that led the kids to Yi City was nondescript. WWX may be smart but he is not god. He doesn't know everything and is an unreliable narrator at times.

On the other hand, there are a lot of circumstantial positives for SangCheng. They're both sect heirs and they both did just as terrible actions as the other. Huaisang indirectly caused the death of the Mo family(not mxy though, we have no proof of that either and I have my reasons as to why I believe he didnt push him into it) and caused Xichen some trauma and Jiang Cheng led a siege on what he knows is not just farmers and elders but also a TODDLER. One's actions would not cause the other to reject them because that would be pure hypocriticism.

Dynamic

Sangcheng has one of the best dynamics I've ever seen. They're a perfect example of the Power Couple. Their way of life compliments each other and one's flaws are made up for by the other. Jiang Cheng's leadership-ness and domineering characteristic gives Huaisang a voice to speak out with. He may have hid more then he showed but Huaisang is not someone who takes center stage to speak his thoughts, he's very much an introvert who prefers to talk when other people starts the conversation. In turn, Huaisang's mellow, calm and collectedness would reign Jiang Cheng in should he get too hot headed. Huaisang would know when and how to calm Jiang Cheng since he had Mingjue as a brother and especially after his qi deviation, Huaisang would know when to put his foot down.

Them knowing what each other went through also does wonders for ther dynamic because they're the two characters in the series who knows each other the most at their deepest, darkest, most vulnerable cores. Jiang Cheng would know why Huaisang did all he did as he knows the pain of losing a sibling and vice versa.

Conclusion

As childhood friends and fellow sect leaders, Sangcheng would have plenty of chances to grow closer and it's heighten by how much Huaisang fits Jiang Cheng's ideals. They both did just as terrible shit as each other so they wouldn't judge each other and it's highly unlikely Huaisang had anything to do with the bs Jin Ling got into. Their strengths make up for each other's flaws and they know firsthand what the other went through and how they feel. Sangcheng is honestly one of the best ships, on par with Wangxian and I hope this meta gives a better insight and open some people's eyes to it (*´ω｀)

[creepercraftguy]

Ship meme for Komamura

I think this ship, while a slight crackship for me, is a bit underrated. I understand not wanting to pair these two, Nagito and Seiko in case you didn’t know who I was talking about, but this is purely my opinion. I never really ship Komaeda with anyone usually, but this ship is a fun one to talk about because of how obscure it is. Anyway, let’s get into it. Just so you know, I picture them as a couple that are basically a pair of self-deprecating dimwits who work together to love themselves as well as each other.

Who confessed first?

Nagito did, but it was mainly because he was complimenting Seiko on her talent and stuff and Seiko took it the wrong way. Neither of them regret that misunderstanding though.

Who initiated the first kiss?

Nagito probably. It’d sort of be on instinct I think, and they’d both be really embarrassed afterwards. It would probably be cute if Seiko took off her mask for him.

Who asks the other out on dates?

Hard to say, but maybe Nagito, since Seiko would be a bit too skittish.

Who is the bigger cuddler?

Nagito likes cuddles, but is a little too nervous to do them. Seiko is also nervous, but whenever she suddenly holds Nagito close, he returns the love.

Who initiates holding hands more often?

Similarly to Mikan, Seiko will do it naturally. Nagito is filled with warmth whenever she does and sometimes refuses to let go.

Who remembers anniversaries?

Nagito for sure remembers them. He remembers any important date so long as it’s about her.

Who is more possessive?

Nagito is pretty willing to spend time with Seiko. Seiko also needs to keep an eye on Nagito to stop him doing anything weird when someone, usually Ruruka, says something about Seiko that he doesn’t agree with.

Who gets more jealous?

Definitely Nagito, but that’s the normal Nagito style “I’m envious of your talent, you’re such a great ultimate” jealousy. 

Who is the most protective?

While not really showing much care usually, he often stands up to Seiko’s haters/bullies whenever he finds them talking shit. Seiko is usually there to stop him doing something he’d regret though. 

Who initiates sexy time the most?

“Sexy time” is a bit much. Usually Seiko’s the one who initiates it though.

Who dislikes PDA (Public Display of Affection)?

Nagito can get a bit carried away at times, but neither he nor Seiko really care for it that much.

Who kills the spider?

Seiko isn’t scared of spiders, so she’ll take them outside. Nagito accidentally steps on it, or squishes it.

Who asks the other to marry them?

Honestly, I think Seiko would be the one to ask. Nagito would probably never have even considered getting married to Seiko, let alone dating her. I think it would take a bit of prompting from her friends to actually do it though. I see Ruruka, Sonosuke and maybe Yukizome being wingmen for her. Similarly, if the roles were reversed, I see Chiaki, Hajime and maybe Mikan trying to convince Nagito to do it first.

Who buys the other gifts?

I don’t think either of them are casual gift givers, but I picture Nagito going all out with gifts when it’s Seiko’s birthday. Even after it’s all over, he still gives her gifts, and Seiko’s like “My birthday was a few days ago though...” and Nagito’s like “I don’t care! I love you!”

Who would first bring up the idea of having kids?

This is a challenging one. I honestly don’t think either of them would plan to have a kid, and Seiko would just get pregnant naturally, you know? By that I mean they made a child without even realising it. However, I see Nagito welling up with tears of joy at the reveal, like, he’s not upset or disappointed at all, which Seiko wouldn’t really expect. I think they’d be good parents and the child would be born very healthy. Maybe this whole thing was a result of Ultimate Luck?

Who is more nervous to meet the others parents?

It’s hard to say what kind of people either of their parents are. I think Nagito’s parents passed away though, due to an accident that happened on a plane, but assuming their not gone in this non-despair AU of sorts, I’m gonna say that Seiko would be nervous to meet Nagito’s parents, because they’re apparently very wealthy and high-class people, and she’d be worried about meeting their standards.

Who sleeps on the sofa/couch when the other is angry?

I don’t think Seiko or Nagito would usually get angry at each other, but I think most arguments stem from Nagito’s unnecessary actions for the sake of hope. Seiko would get pretty mad and storm into the bedroom, and Nagito would probably stay on the couch, but not actually sleep.

Who tries to make up first after arguments?

It could go two ways. Nagito would apologise to Seiko whenever they get a moment together in privacy, and he’d pour his heart into his apology. He’s not the type of person who changes that easily, and most of his actions are instinctive, but he knows that’s no excuse and tells Seiko that he loves her and cares about her, not wanting to make any problems, and Seiko would usually forgive him. The other way, which relates to the first question, is that after realising Nagito isn’t getting any sleep on the couch, Seiko would go and lay with him, and they’d make up from there.

Who tells the other they love them more often?

I obviously think Nagito would.

Who accidentally pushes a door instead of pulling it or vice versa?

Nagito never knows when to push or pull a door, but whatever he does, it always works. Seiko does this.

Who doodles little hearts over the desk with their initials inside?

Nagito does it, but never remembers doing it. Someone will eventually call him out on it and show him, and he’ll be surprisingly embarrassed. 

Who starts the tickle fights?

Nagito will randomly find where Seiko is ticklish and things will escalate from their.

Who starts the pillow fights?

Similarly to what I said about Sayaka and Leon, Seiko usually pillow fights with Ruruka, and then Sonosuke and Nagito both get dragged in and involved.

Who is the last to fall asleep while watching the other with a warm smile?

Nagito.

Who kisses the other awake in the morning?

Seiko.

Who mistakes salt for sugar?

Seiko is naturally a bit more noticeable of this, since baking isn’t too dissimilar to when she adds things to her medicines. Nagito wouldn’t make the mistake, but would more than Seiko, that’s all I’m saying.

Who let’s the microwave play the loud beeping sound at 1am in the morning?

Nagito. Seiko usually turns it off.

Who comes up with the cheesy pickup lines?

Seiko. She tries a little too hard to be flirty sometimes. 

Who rearranges the books in Alphabetical Order?

Both of them.

Who licks the spoon when baking?

Seiko. Nagito sometimes does the same after, making an indirect kiss.

Who buys candles for dinner, even when there’s no special occasion?

Nagito, but neither of them really.

Who draws little tattoos on one another with a pen?

Seiko draws funny things on Nagito.

Who comes home with a souvenir/fridge magnet whenever they go on holiday?

Seiko probably.

Who convinces the other to fill out those couple surveys that you usually find on the back of magazines?

Seiko would probably ask, but read them herself first.

Who has the other as their phone background?

Nagito, amazingly enough.

Who leaves notes written in fog on the bathroom mirror?

I see Nagito doing this for a bit of a joke.

Who asks if they can join the other in the shower?

I picture something pretty funny with this. With hus Ultimate Bullshit Luck power, I think Nagito would accidentally walk in on Seiko while she’s in the shower. I think she’d invite him in, or ask him to wash her back her. 

Who loudly proclaims their love while drunk?

Nagito has pretty high alcohol tolerance. Seiko isn’t loud drunk, but is grumpy drunk, so she’d proclaim their love furiously while drunk.

[alemanriq]

Same anon here I'm not a hater or trying to be rude, That's just what i felt from your posts and that was just my opinion about what a shipper means and I'm not into veteran ships at all and i don't consider my self a shipper either. Personally I think if i like a relationship between two characters, that doesn't make me a shipper. I have to clarify that bc ppl assumed that I'm attacking you.

I’m sorry that happened. I personally didn’t feel it as an attack, so I remained neutral (I commented that they shouldn’t assume you were an angry shipper or something but just someone who didn’t say things right). But I still think your perception of shipping was (is?) wrong or at least the way you worded the conclusion you came to after reading a short urban dictionary definition, anon. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t rub me the wrong way (I did feel misjudged…again) but I explained why as decently as I could.

You did say “1.from what you said, you are not a shipper, 2.you see LH as a brotp in canon, 3.you don’t want them to get together in a romantic way” and that sequence of assumptions is wrong because these three statements are not consequent. I probs wasn’t clear enough but I will make an extension of my former explanation here:

- You can admit two characters have a brotp bond in canon, while still wanting or wishing they’re together, or just imagining that there’s a remote chance they could develop a relationship, or even just acknowledging a relationship is not possible in any way and still liking to imagine them together. Do you see what I mean? that is what makes you a shipper; not the fact that you think a couple has, how do they call it, “canon proof” or the highest of possibilities; if that was the case, how would you even call people who ships crackships? crackshippers? is that a term? haha.

- Just like no one should assume that you ship two characters just because you enjoy their canon interactions (really people, don’t do this), no one should assume that I don’t want two characters to end up together just because I don’t see all their interactions as romantic. I repeat, there’s non-romantic ways to perceive love between two characters. Is not that the latter applies to me anyway because I’ve always made my ships have tints of romance from time to time in fan content as far as I remember 😅 (since 2013-ish), is just that, from experience, I know that the term “shipping” has become an umbrella term for some, given that they do have an emotional attachment to a relationship between two characters, but just don’t feel the need to see them doing conventional romantic things (I think that’s why the last part of the wiki article adds that it can also be used as a friendship term)

Now everyone can be certain that you didn’t mean to label someone, but you were rather…analyzing? based on your knowledge from personal experience…or formulating a question? maybe? xD; I’m not sure but it was definitely not the first thing it was just a logically wrong thing to say. The one thing I know is that I cannot undo other people’s reaction to your words, and again, I’m sorry about that. Also, this is up to you, but I’d like to know who you are (to apologize once again lmao orz) and talk more in private too; just because we don’t like the same things is not reason to be scared of each other (not saying you are, but just in case hjdhads).

I’m not saying people jumping at your words was right, but I wasn’t surprised at that reaction either. I didn’t tag my ask bc I knew backlash would still come for both of us, one way or another. I’m not tagging this one either.

You probably didn’t know this, but believe it or not, that wrong perception of shipping is exactly what extremist fans use as an argument to invalidate people like me; people who doesn’t want to engage with one side of the fandom, and tries to get the best of every thing they enjoy, even if, to said extremist people, one “cancels” the other. (i.e. shipping two ships that share one character)

I know I’m about to be redundant, but no one has the right to define what we ship or not / to assume what we will defend or not, based on our likings or a bunch of comments/interactions with other fans without looking at the whole picture first (unless I constantly and actively show an obsessed and openly biased attitude, that is). I say this because it’s been relevant to me for the time I’ve been around. Others that “sTay iN thEir LaNe” (can you hear how dumb this term sounds to me) think everything is fun and games for people that stays in middle ground, when in fact it is a nightmare 😂 it doesn’t matter if you do 100 arts or reblog 100 posts of ship A, foolish fans will always see only the last time you gave an opinion of something you don’t like about A or an A shipper that makes all of other As look bad, or see that you’re not enabling all of As attitude as bad as they might get, or they will only look for the times you talked with someone that is known for hating A (yes, people who likes different things can have thoughts in common too, go figure), or the last time you gave a like to a person they don’t like, or how you didn’t defend an A person when they got into a fight with a B person, or look for the last time you shared something in favor of ship B or C, lots of other reasons to start jumping at you and labelling you as a hater, hypocrite and biased person, because that’s obviously way easier than looking at everything else before judging someone. I think this is what just happened with you and your ask too, not to mention this ask came in a bad timing, you were misjudged too and I apologize…I will just stop talking and keep apologizing lmao.

[spockandawe]

For the fandom/ships meme: B, D, I, J, K, Q, T, U, V, W, X, Y. (I mean, I like everything you say on fandoms, so you knew this would be fairly comprehensive.)

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

Oh man, there are lots for sure!! I’m a sucker for a well-written crackship, and I know I have fun writing them too :P From the last ask, starscream/optimus and jazz/soundwave were both things I’d never considered until I read a really amazing fic, and now I adore them both. Or ratchet/skywarp. That fic didn’t even GO there, but now I have a wip of my own and have already been experimenting with drift/ratchet/skywarp because why make any sense at all when i could so easily make LESS sense :P

I do it to myself too, I tossed off the idea of cyclonus/starscream as a joke, my “friends” encouraged me, and oh god suddenly I’m two fics deep in a series with at least four separate fics planned for the future. Oooh, or in a different fandom for a change, @veliseraptor threw me RIGHT down the steve/loki pit, and I’m never leaving, this is where I live now. 

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

HMMM. I think... I don’t dislike many ships in the franchises like homestuck or transformers, where there’s a giant cast to mush up against each other. I guess I wish I had a bit more natural enthusiasm for brainstorm/perceptor. It’s really cute and I definitely do like it, I just can’t muster up much enthusiasm for perceptor in general, which puts some damper on it. I do like it a decent amount, I just wish I liked it more.

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

It’s made me... wary of some fandoms. Or fandom in general, in some ways. Steven Universe, if I get involved with that again, it’s going to be art and no words, because the moral policing atmosphere is just getting to be Too Much. If I wasn’t rolling around in a universe populated by nigh-immortal space robots, I’m sure there would be other stuff too, but I’ve been pretty sheltered.

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have to care about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made you aware of.)

Boku no hero academia is the most recent one, I think. I don’t know if I’ll ever participate in things, but I finally read the manga and loved it a lot! I caught the edges of the buzz about the Imperial Radch books, and I don’t know if I would have ever read them if I hadn’t had prior awareness when my friend brought them up, and these are some of my favorite books EVER, so I’m glad tumblr clued me in XD

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Oh no, this is HARD :c The trouble with casts of thousands is that nobody can dominate the focus too hard. But when a story is super-focused on a character and how they Develop, I tend to drift away. Umm. Cyclonus and Whirl both hold a special, special, special place in my heart. Megatron probably has one of the more dramatic development arcs, even though Cyclonus and Whirl both own my heart.

Or. I know it’s not the real question. But I love characters where the story WRECKS them, even if it doesn’t quite follow through on putting them back together again. Whirl is a long ways from where he used to be, but still definitely has issues. But oh man. Prowl. STARSCREAM. The transformers comics took two proud, cold, capable assholes and broke them DOWN. And it was GLORIOUS. It’s not really the same as a development arc, because they’re both still... not in good shape. But I wouldn’t care so much if I hadn’t seen where they started and what happened to do this to them. It’s negative development, but it’s so tragic and tasty and gives me such interesting material to think about!!

Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.

Ahh...  Avatar, probably. Of all the fandoms I’ve participated in on here, that’s the one I’m least likely to return to. I think the problem is that after I did Avatar, I rolled around in Homestuck. I moved from there to Transformers. I dabbled in Marvel. The Avatar universe is very interesting, but the cast is much more limited, the universe is more constrained, and there’s One Canon.

Canon doesn’t necessarily mean that much to me, I’ll cheerfully multiship no matter what. But it’s different thinking ‘well this is canon, but what if... Other Thing’ versus ‘lmao does anyone even know how many separate continuities there are at this point’. It breaks my brain wide open. I don’t start from canon and branch out. I think that ‘well, optimus and megatron have classically had characters and shippy dynamics shaped like X, Y, and Z, so I can pick and choose bits and pieces of settings, scenarios, backstory, supporting cast, the possibilities are ENDLESS--’ Homestuck plays a lot with the idea of continuity and comics universes are one of the closest parallels I can think of to the mess that is transformers. I just don’t know how I’m supposed to go back to playing in smaller sandboxes at this point XD

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? 

Autistic Cyclonus. Fite me.

Or, Starscream with his history and current mental health reflected in disordered eating and sleeping, with a persistent food-hoarding habit. I would say fite me, but actually, read my stories where I stick it right in the text and see how nicely it works.

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

Different fandoms? DIFFERENT fandoms?????? D:

1. Transformers: Starscream - he’s just... the complete disaster package. He’s vain and egotistical, competent and dangerous, but never manages to succeed and make it LAST. In IDW, he beat out massive odds to get where he is, and survived by the skin of his teeth, and has struggled and STRUGGLED and is prone to being his own worst enemy, and has sabotaged himself enough that he’s barely staying afloat despite sincerely wanting to try his best. I’m weak against all of these things.

2. oh god how am I supposed to pick a favorite homestuck character this is CYBERBULLYING. Okay. Um. I’m going to say Equius. There’s something about the Zahhaks being so stiff and cold and rigid and distant, but also somehow way too close, and swinging between antagonistic and desperate to please. I’ve done better words about Zahhaks in the past, and I’m starting to get sleepy right now, but I am ALWAYS a sucker for the characters who are a mess of contradictions and prone to sabotaging themselves :P

3. Steven Universe: Jasper - Ahahaha, one last self-sabotaging love of my life. She’s different from those others, because she’s been pretty much at the top of her game until very recently. But her issues!!! Everything to do with being the Perfect quartz (from a failed colony, belonging to a dead diamond). The pride and self-doubt are a delicious combination, especially once she gets a taste of fusion and the sense of belonging that comes with it. If I ever did write steven universe, it would have to be about here. Those contradictions and the way they pull you apart, that’s the same thing that draws me hardest to starscream, but it’s hard to do justice to the emotions when you’re writing about them, it’s got so much more impact when you show them directly instead.

V - Which character do you relate to most?

Ooooooh. This. Is tough. Ironfist is the melancholy answer, Nautica is the upbeat one. They’re both spergy engineer types with interests all over the place, who get so ENTHUSIASTIC and excited, and I’m not nearly as outgoing as either of them, but god do they ring familiar to me XD Or, Cyclonus is also a very valid candidate. Internet spock is an uncommunicative recluse, but that’s still a lot more outgoing than irl spock, and Cyclonus is many emotions turned RIGHT inward, even when it would be really, really useful to express them just a LITTLE. And all the plot that goes down between 47-55 with Cyclonus, god, it’s not like I’ve ever done anything like that, but it hits me right in the weak spot.

[jamesnovakwinchester]

Psst this is your sblw anon I am so, so glad you liked the ficlet! I really do not write fic often. What is winny? 👀 Is that sam/dean/benny?? BECAUSE GURL SAME I LOVE THAT. Sambenny for me often has undertones of wincest anyway b/c Sam and Dean are so abnormally close and I don't see that changing just bc Sam got a bf. And Dean and Benny already have a solid friendship to build on so I can see them finding their way to a poly relationship, and I'm not even much of a poly shipper.

Omg I was so excited when I saw you liked the fic that I messaged you without reading the convo between you and samanddeaninpanties. You guys are so on the money. I need a close relationship between Sam & Dean even in sambenny and you can definitely interpret that jealousy as not entirely platonic. I think Dean would be jealous whether it's platonic or romantic but I didn't intentionally imply wincest b/c I wasn't sure what your feelings would be about that. So glad to see we have similar taste☺

And thank you so much about it fitting well in canon. I love some AUs, but I think there is actually a lot of potential for them in canon. I think their personalities would mesh well and that their backstories are pretty relatable to each other (similar to Sam & Amy). I think Sam's s8 pov is a bit misunderstood, too. So I love reading/writing fic that taps into that. I get why ppl consider it a crackship bc they didn't have much screentime together but I don't doubt they could have been friends.

Yup. Winny is Sam/Dean/Benny. I’m definitely all for it, tbh. Honestly, I’m a huge multishipper. There’s only a handful of things I don’t ship and those are like parent/child stuff or stuff with the really icky creepy demons from the first few season like Azazel and Alistair. Wincest is fine in my book. 

But yeah, I totally agree with you. I can see either Sam or Dean really getting a little jealous (regardless of wincest undertones) of the other having a partner. I mean, how could they not, right? They’ve been in each other’s pockets for years and adjusting would be a little hard. (Which is why putting everyone in a poly relationship is so easy lol) 

Oh, yeah, I totally agree. I have no doubt Sam and Benny could have been great friends in canon. You’re totally right, they have such similar backstories, so they could have really bonded over that. Sam’s POV is definitely not well understood in season 8, which is freaking tragic because he’s got a lot going on in his head and with his self-esteem and just... season 8 Sam makes me a little sad. But yeah, SamBenny is great because the two of them have so much in common and it could have been such a great friendship/relationship. 

I have a feeling that you and I are gonna get along really well, anon. :) 

[itsafoolmoon]

celestiyale here~ all of the oc questions because I'm an ass like that

I can’t believe you’ve done this to me 

1. Your first OC ever?

Technically my sonic oc I made when I was like what, 8?  

In all seriousness, I think it’s Kara. She’s can shapeshift into a wolf. 

2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs?

I’d gotta say it’s probably Chase. He’s pretty upbeat and I think about what stupid things he’d get into. 

3. Have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else?

Nah

4. A character you rarely talk about?

I barley talk about most of my OCs, you’ll just have to ask to see them 

(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

5. If you could make only one of your OCs popular/known, who would it be?

Kara. She’s apart of a story i’m trying to make and therefore if she’s popular than my other characters would be by association. 

6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related?

Chase and Mike. When I first did their designs freshman year of highschool they looked almost the same, thankfully I’ve fixed that a bit. Just in case though it gave me an excuse to pretend they’re brothers of sorts.

7. Are your OCs part of any story or stories?

Kara, Jasper, Bellona, and a couple others i’ve yet to name. They’re the ones that actually have a kind of story going on. still working on the others

8. Do you RP as any of your OCs? If you do, introduce one of your RP OCs here!

I haven’t RP’ed since elementary school @whimsicalsnail can vouch for me

9. Would you ever be willing to give any of your OCs to someone else?

No, they’re all my children and I love them.

10. Introduce an OC with a complicated design?

None of them are very complicated actually...a bit too simple if you ask me...

11. Is there any OC of yours you could describe as a “sunshine”?

Chase or Kara

12. Name an OC that isn’t yours but who you like a lot

There are too many webcomics I’ve read for me to pick one

13. Do you have any troublemaker OCs?

Elliot, he’s in college and he’s a punk

14. Introduce an OC with a tragic backstory

Kara and Jasper. Their family and possibly clan were wiped out by a witch and wizard. Jasper takes care of Kara like a little sister and feels responsible for both their families fallen because he could have given a better warning. Since the attack, Kara has nightmares and if she get’s too emotional (anger, fear, sadness) something else takes over.... talk about cliche 

15. Do you like to talk about your OCs with other people?

Only ones that promise not to judge how terrible they all are 

16. Which one of your OCs would be the best at biology (school subject)?

Mia

17. Any OC OTPs?

I don’t really ship any of my OCs together. I’ve tried making someone for Chase and Mike but...relationships are complicated and so is OC making

18. Any OC crackships?

Nah

19. Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why)

I can’t say there’s one that “means a lot” to me...guess I don’t bond with them enough hehe

20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)?

Chase is a singer. He’s the lead singer of a little rock band he make called Rising Phoenixes (It’s a work in progress people). I made him when I first heard the song The Phoenix by Fall Out Boy. So his voice would be something like Patrick Stump with maybe a bit of Chester Bennington from Linkin Park and Michael Barnes from Red.  Obviously he’s really into rock music and he likes rap as well as some pop. 

21. Your most artistic OC

Technically Chase. The rest of em are goons. Elliot doodles somewhat but that’d when he’s not paying attention in class or procrastinating

22. Is there any OC of yours people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how?

I wouldn’t know since not many people know about them 

23. Introduce OC that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like?

With complete honesty, none of my OCs have really changes much since I’ve made them. Design, yeah, but they have the same personality and goals and stuff. 

24. If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why?

Elliot or Chase. They’re both dumb and I love them. 

25. The OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?)

Kara. When I made her in elementary I was basically trying to make myself seem more interesting...

26. Have you ever had to change your OC’s design or something else about them against your will?

Nope. All the changes I’ve done are my own choices.

27. Any OCs that were inspired by a certain song?

Buddy, a lot of my OCs are based on songs. My problem is that I don’t remember most of them...

Mike - Basketcase by Green Day

Chase - The Phoenix by Fall Out Boy

Mia - Titanium by David Guetta ft. Sia

Bonnie - Cake by Melanie Martinez

28. Your most dangerous OC?

Realistically, Mia. She’s a spy and analyzes all situations with caution. 

Fantasy wise, Bellona and her brother. They use their magic with little to no regard for other life. 

29. Which one of your OCs would go investigate an abandoned house at night without telling anyone they’re going?

I would say Elliot but he’s a little turd so he’d tell everyone just to act like a tough guy.

30. Which one of your OCs would most likely have a secret stuffed animal collection?

Mia. The semi stoic ones always have a soft side.

31. Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really)

Chase would have a social blog that probably promotes his band and there’s a bunch of selfies with him and his bandmates along with audio posts of their songs. Some grumpy Mike pictures are included.

32. Which one of your OCs would be the most suitable horror game protagonist and why?

Mia. Since she’s a spy she’s got all the training to survive and she’s been trained mentally to adapt to situations. There’s a chance she’ll scream at some point though. 

33. Your shyest OC?

Elliot. He’s very socially awkward.

34. Do you have any twin characters?

Debating wether to give Kara a twin brother. I dabbled in wether I wanted a girl or boy and I can have both if they’re siblings. Still indecisive about it though. 

Might be repetitive though since Bellona and her brother are twins as well.

35. Any sibling characters?

Mike and Chase aren’t related by blood, but they have a sort of bond like siblings.

36. Do you have OC pairs where the other part belongs to someone else (siblings, lovers, friends etc)?

I’m not sure I understand the question. 

37. Introduce an OC who is not quite human

Kara and Jasper are both shapeshifters. Kara originally turned into a black wolf but after the attack on her family, her fur is black and white. Jasper can turn into a red wolf. Bellona and her brother know magic and are able to turn into dragons. 

38. Which one of your OCs would be the best dancer?

I’m thinking that Mike was sent to ballet or some sort of fancy dance classes. Meanwhile I have another OC that GETS DOWN AT THE CLUB. 

39. Introduce any character you want

Jasper isn’t talked about much so uh. Yeah he’s a shapeshifter and acts much like a protective older brother towards Kara. He’s got a hint of Jakob from Fire Emblem Fates to his personality when it comes to Kara. He’s a typically polite young man and he tried to hide his emotions a lot of the time. He can be very caring and kind depending on the person though. 

40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share!

When I first drew Mike, my friend said he was hot. It was during theatre my freshman year. 

41. Has anyone drawn fanart of your OCs? If yes, maybe show a picture or two here (remember sources & permissions!)

@whimsicalsnail has, but they’re buried deep in our tumblr convo

42. Which one of your OCs would be the most interested in Greek gods?

hmm probably Chase

43. Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? It’s time to confess

I’m gonna be honest, I consider all of my OCs attractive and I would probably date the dudes. I’m guily of same face syndrome too probably. 

44. Something you like about your OCs in general

I like that i’m able to make them and that I don’t always have to draw fanart to feel satisfied

45. A character you no longer use?

I use all of them...in due time...some more than others...

46. Has anyone ever told you that you treat your OCs badly?

I DON’T TELL PEOPLE ABOUT MY OCS SO NO....

47. Has anyone ever (friendly) claimed any of your OCs as their child?

I don’t tell people enough...@whimsicalsnail probably has

48. OC who is a perfect cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure

Either Chase or Kara

49. Which one of your OCs would most likely enjoy memes

Elliot. He’s a college student, of course he’d be too into memes.

50. Give me the good ol’ OC talk here. Talk about anything you want

I usually create OCs based on songs, even if I can’t remember them all. There are a few songs that i’d relate to my OCs and think of them when listening to them. Kara is basically my self insert into the fiction world and I am ashamed but it’s too late now. I hope they all don’t have the same kind of personality too....

If you’re interested in any of my OCs, I’ll gladly do some doodles of them to show you what they look like!

@axioms-sassiest this took me almost an hour to do....why.....

[icegoddessrukia]

Ship ask for Bleach, digimon 1,2,3,4,7,12,10,13,14,18,19,24,27 and 29.

Your favourite non-canon ship?

Well I consider IR and Taiora virtually canon. So aside from those two...IshiHime and Mimato

2.Is there a ship you didn’t like at first but ultimately started shipping?

I was kind of iffy about UlquiHime at first but ultimately really started liking that ship. Particularly after the oneshot chapter. 

As for Digimon...I wouldn’t say I disliked them but I just never thought about some ships like Izzy/Yolei or TK/Yolei until a friend introduced me to them. They’re both really cute crack ships

3. What is the rarest rare pair (that you ship)?

Bleach- Probably Ashido/Rukia or RenTats

Digimon- Mimi/TK, Matt/Jun, Yolei/Izzy, take your pick

4. Name a popular ship you don’t get the appeal of.

Bleach- Gr*mmRuki and Gr*mmIchi. I really hate both of them with a burning passion. I also never saw the appeal of Gr*mmNel. Hich*Ruki creeps me out. I remember once upon a time Ulqu*Ruki and H*tsuRuki were really popular- both seem really weird to me and random. I also never really liked H*tsuRan or HitsuH*na, despite both being super popular ships 

7. A non-canon ship that should be canon?

Well you all know my views on IchiRuki and Taiora. Aside from those two, I really do think IshiHime and Joe/Mimi should have been canon

10. Is there a ship that makes your skin crawl?

Basically I don’t really like Gr*mmRuki...at all. For Digimon...not sure. 

12. What is your favourite canon ship?

Honestly? None in either series, I hated all the canon pairings except most of the parents’ relationships

13. Name a ship that deserved more content.

This is purely self-indulgent but I would have loved to see more Mimato stuff and more interactions between DaiKari and TK/Yolei. With Bleach, we really really needed more IR moments and more IshiHime, HitsuKarin in the manga would have been cute 

14. Is there a ship you feel gets undeserved hate in fandom?

Digimon- DaiKari. Bleach...not entirely sure. Maybe IshiHime? People seem to bash Ishida and that ship, even going as far as to label Uryuu as a misogynist or some ridiculous notion. 

18. Is there a ship the writers have ruined for you?

Digimon- none that I can think of. I still like my original ships. Bleach- in the later arcs Kubo’s writing of Ichigo and Rukia as characters was so OOC that it has made me not as interested in the ship as I once was. I feel like he forgot how to write them

19. Is there a ship the fandom has ruined for you?

Digimon- T*kari. I mean I would probably have never loved T*kari because it’s boring and predictable but the fandom became so obnoxious that it made me dislike the ship. Bleach- can’t think of any, although the way IR is characterized by some shippers turns me off of it

24. What is one scene you want to see happen for all your ships?

A kiss scene

27. Name a ship that deserved better in the end

My feelings on this are obvious and I feel like I’ve said it a million times before for both series. Yoruichi/Urahara also deserved way better than it got 

29. What is the ship you ignore 98% of canon for?

Digimon- Not sure about 98% but for some of my crackships like Yolei/Izzy or Mimato. Bleach- some of my crackships like Yoruichi/Ichigo and Tatsuki/Ichigo could only really happen in another universe. 

[manggaetteokkie]

Honesty hour? WHY ARENT YOU UPDATING YOUR FICS!!! That aside, just for giggles, if you had to ship BTS members with SVT members, who would you ship each of them with? AND REASONS WHY. GO. I'm curious.

SHAKDHSK I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE ACTUALLY ASKING ME THIS O M G

Okay this might be for shits and giggles but I WILL DO THIS FKN SERIOUSLY. Also, this took way too long because bangtan could be svt’s dads so shipping them proved harder than expected.

First off, I ship Jin with Mingyu.

Reason:

These two would be like, aesthetic couple. Their looks are killer and they would be the couple every other couple wants to look like. Also, although Mingyu has the looks of a man, he’s actually pretty awkward and sometimes lacks confidence. Jin would definitely help him overcome that (Jin LITERALLY has unlimited confidence). That doesn’t mean Mingyu’s a child tho. Once he’s in his element, he can be a pretty solid presence that can take care of Jin well. Plus, considering Jin’s living habit and love for food, Mingyu would compliment him well because his nickname is actually Min-Housewife (A+ cook in SVT and the one who cleans the dorm).

Next off, Yoongi is shipped with, prepare yourselves, either Wonwoo or Seokmin/Dk.

Reason:

Wonwoo loves to read books and his singing voice is actually so amazing. Considering that, he meets Yoongi’s intellectual (like his producer side) demands. They would be a very relaxed couple, afternoons spent reading or producing in silence together with the occasional ask for help/advice from the other. As for Seokmin, he’s literally the sunshine of SVT. He would keep Yoongi on his toes constantly and the latter would always be huffing and puffing behind him but the hypeness is endearing. Seokmin’s a real hardworker and I think that’s something Yoongi puts on high regard.

Continuing on, I’m gonna go out on a limb and ship my precious lil bun, Woozi, with our residence bangtan sunshine, Hoseok.

Reason:

Their dynamics are somewhat similar to that of Yoonseok and Soonhoon pairings. Woozi is someone who often likes to shoulder the burden all by himself so he needs someone who can remind him that he’s not alone and make sure he is taking care of himself properly. A super over-the-top person like Hoseok would probably have a calming effect on Woozi because anything compared to dealing with Hobi is a piece of cake. Also, Woozi would probably be the only one who can keep Hoseok in check since he’s the most vocal member in svt when it comes to voicing his displeasures. Also, dance couple, Douggie+Popping WOW

Okay this is weird but I somehow see Namjoon with Jeonghan really well??? Like this was the one ship I didn’t have to wrack my brain dry trying to come up with something which is lowkey dangerous (like what if i actually get into this crackship omfg nO).

Reason:

Okay the inner writer in me is already coming up with headcanons with these two which is RED FLAG!!! DANGEROUS!!! Like, I can’t really explain it but their dynamics just seem to fit in my mind? They give off this power couple feeling in my opinion. Jeonghan was voted best personality by svt but he also has this playful, swindler side, which takes away the danger of him being too flat and boring for Nams. He also takes care of people emotionally extremely well which is the kind of support Namjoon craves. Namjoon, on the other hand, exudes the authority needed to keep Jeonghan in check when he gets a lil too playful. His awkardness is perfect for Jeonghan to tease (god knows how much Jeonghan likes to tease people). I would liken these two as Namjoon the powerful CEO and Jeonghan as the playful secretary who knows the boss’ weaknesses and seems koi and manipulative most of the time but is actually extremely caring and protective. (ohmygod did i really just???)

MOVING ON. I’m gonna be weird and ship Taehyung with Seungkwan. HA! Bet you never thought of that eh. Well that makes the both of us because me neither.

Reason:

I’m sorry I literally don’t know who to ship Tae with. I was thinking about Joshua but finally decided to go with Seungkwan because I think Tae’s endless positivity would do wonders for Seungkwan who struggles a lot with his looks and self-image. Seungkwan, on the other hand, has been shown time and time again to be very very caring of the people he loves a lot (eg: his mom) so I think he would be able to give Tae the love and attention this puppy deserves.

Now, onto my bias Park Jimin who ahdkshsks I’m gonna ship with Choi Seungcheol/S.coups (what kind of weird cross shipping of my two biggest ship am i doing???)

Reason:

I basically gave the daddiest member of svt to Jimin. Okay but jokes aside, I feel like Jimin needs a very solid figure by his side and Cheol can give him that. The latter can be a total puppy sometimes and just ooze love for everyone which I think Jimin deserves to have (someone who doesn’t play hard to get and just makes him feel loved and happy). Jimin on the other hand, is such a caring person who notices every small details. Being a leader is hard business so Jimin’s ability to care for others would help lessen the burden on Scoups. These two would basically take care of each other, with Cheol helping Jimin through his insecurities and Jimin helping Cheol through his self-doubt as a leader.

And finally, Jungkook and Joshua will be my final ship.

Reason:

So you all know how extra Jungkook can be right? Well, I think he needs a person who can take care of him (COUGHlikejimindoesCOUGH) and I don’t think someone as extra as him would be fitting which leads to the reason behind my choice. Joshua’s part of the hyung-line so he takes care of people well. Also, he has to deal with his members bullshit all the time. That’s why he would be able to stomach the shit Kookie does on a daily basis while taking care of him. Jungkook has the ability to bring out a person’s ‘other side’ which would allow Joshua to be more ‘out there’ rather than always in a corner, silent. Basically, Joshua’s more gentle nature would fit well with Kookie’s extra-ness and Kookie can bring out Joshua’s 4D side to let him loosen up more.

FINALLY DONE, IT ONLY TOOK ME TWO HOURSTell me what you think and if you agree or not with my ships @ragific xD

[flyswhumpcenter]

Crackled Marble [Whumptober 2019 - Days 23 & 24: Bleeding Out & Secret Injury]

Summary: Someone knocks on Norika's door at an hour where nobody does. What awaits her isn't a pleasing sight.

Fandom: Inazuma Eleven (Coffeeshop AU) Ship: Pre-rel SeiNori

Wordcount: 1.530 words

Content Warnings: Some blud.

Notes: I kind of snapped and put two prompts together because 1. I'm late 2. both didn't inspire me enough to write a separate story for each of them. I feel like they belong together and it could have felt samey to fill them separately. Also it's self-indulgent café AU SeiNori because I need to provide good sir, nobody is gonna satisfy my needs in this world, for my crackship has too much concurrence that makes much more sense. 

Event hosted by @whumptober2019

AO3 version available here.

-----

Hearing someone knock on her door so late was an unusual occurrence to say the least. Despite living in an university’s dorm, she hadn’t had any issue with partying comrades asking her if she wanted some booze or had fire for a cigarette, or even people ordering pizzas late and giving the wrong address to an unfortunate delivery man or woman not knowing where to go next. It wasn’t the calmest dorm, but she enjoyed its liveliness that, in a way, reminded her of the dorms she’d share with her teammates during nation-wide tournaments and bus trips when nobody really slept because excitement and anticipation ran down their veins. Still, her flat was spared the troubles of her comrades, both to her luck and misfortune, depending on what parts of herself she asked.

As such, when around midnight someone knocked on Norika’s door on a Thursday evening, she was very much intrigued.

 The eyelet on her door was broken, due to some sort of incident that had happened before she had gotten here, so she couldn’t see who was calling for her attention on the other side of the wall. She was about to go to bed, already dressed in her pyjamas and hair wet in wrapped towel, but a second knock, weaker, called out to her. She wasn’t the happiest about the sudden disturbance, especially when she had worked so late and had work on the next day but went to open the door anyway. This person didn’t seem like they were about to leave her alone. Moreover, what if they needed help? What if they had lost their phone or key and couldn’t enter their place? Opening the door wouldn’t kill her, would it?

Oh had she not expected to see what came before her eyes as soon as the door creaked open.

 Of all people she knew were living nearby and shared a dorm with her, she didn’t expect a regular at the coffeeshop to turn up. And, of those people, she didn’t expect the silent (and considered menacing, even if she didn’t find him all that scary) Nishikage to be there, right in front of her, a hand lying against his flank and harrow eyes. She wasn’t a people-reader, this much was clear; but she could tell when someone wasn’t presenting the usual way and, well, when things were wrong.

He wasn’t saying anything that made the situation any less tense. Rather, he seemed busy trying to even stay up, his usual coolness nowhere to be seen, and she felt panic rise in her mind. What was she supposed to do? It was late and she still didn’t know where the clinic was. She didn’t even have a car or a license to drive one either! W-well, at least, maybe she could… If he was still conscious, it meant that he wasn’t doing too horribly bad, was he?

 “C’mon in!” She urged him, pointing to the inside of her flat, locking the door behind her weight so it didn’t close on its own.

He looked aside, not looking like he intended on entering. Why had he knocked on her door then? It didn’t seem like he was able to tell her with words anyway, considering how much he was panting. He needed help, she was sure of it. If he wasn’t going to help himself on his own…

“I mean it, c’mon in!” She repeated, moving from her door to behind him, gently pushing him inside with barely any resistance. Considering how strong he seemed usually, how easily he could bear with Nosaka’s antics and carrying anything the latter’s group could have needed (be it soccer balls, a tray of drinks or heavy luggage), this was more than eerie.

 Once they both were inside, the door closed and locked behind her, she noticed his hesitance about where to go or where to stand. If the situation wasn’t so weird, she’d have found it funny and giggled along. Instead, she was getting all the wrong vibes about it.

“Sit wherever you want, I don’t mind! Did you need something from me?”

He chose to stand against the wall, leaning on it with his shoulder. Even for someone as stiff as he usually was, this may have been overly much so.

“I mean it, when I say you can sit down. You look like you’re gonna collapse if you don’t have a wall!”

In the end, he listened and sat on one of her chairs, to her relief.

 Still, Norika wasn’t in the mood to play guessing games. She wasn’t a good people reader and this was a context where she should have been as sharp as Haruna or Nosaka, how was she supposed to do that? It didn’t look like she’d get an answer out of him either… Quick, think something out, Norika, you can do it!

As she tried to find a way out of this, she noticed some red spewing under his hand, seeping through his fingers. This was all kinds of wrong and messed up, her legs rushing with her thoughts.

 “Wait, are you okay?! Are you injured?!”

“I’m fine,” a bold-face lie.

“You’re bleeding, right?!”

He did look pale and his eyes weren’t as focused as usual. Where was the stare that scared some of her customers away? He looked like a child trying to play pretend. That wasn’t the guy she knew and enjoyed talking to so much at the café!

“I’m fine,” he repeated, tone-deaf.

 Not liking any second of it, Norika yanked his hand away, prompting him to wince, until she saw the red puddle by herself. “Fine”, huh. That wasn’t quite the definition she had of the word; but again, was she supposed to be surprised when she tended to be like that herself, when her entire former team was composed of people like that, and when even her workmates had this mindset? That only made it easier to spot.

“Stay here, I’m gonna get something in my bathroom!”

 Her flat was thankfully small, so she reached her destination in mere seconds. Calling an ambulance would have been a better idea, but he seemed determined not to go that way, and she supposed she was meant to respect that. Instead, she picked her first-aid kit and went back to her living room where, sure enough, he hadn’t bulged. May have been stubborn, but he wasn’t disobeying orders. How was someone her age so close to being a professional bodyguard?

Once she was done gathering the supplies, she kneeled to him, putting the kit right next to her, making sure to disinfect her hands beforehand (biology classes do teach you things that are useful later on). He was absent-mindedly there, unresponsive, this much she guessed from how easy it was to do her thing. The issue at hand: a gash in his side, not deep enough to make her want to call an emergency number, but still grievous enough not to be qualifiable as a scratch.

 And so started a one-sided, tired midnight conversation.

“It’s gonna sting, please hang in there!”

“Hey, if you need anything else, like a glass of water or something, tell me.”

“You only have that one injury, right?” (He nodded).

“I’m not hurting you, do I?”

“H-hey, are you still here? Don’t fall asleep on me, please!” (He’d pat her shoulder when she asked).

“Okay, I’m soon finished with it! Good job for hanging in there!”

 Once she was done with it, she noticed something peculiar: her shoulder was blooded, fingerprints on the green of her pyjama top. It was fainted than her hands that had just finished patching up a gash, sure thing, but it was still… suspicious looking. She went to wash them anyway, until a thought flashed in her mind.

“Wait, Nishikage, show me your hand.”

He seemed dully surprised, before giving her his left. The palm wasn’t covered in dried haemoglobin like his right’s had been, but it didn’t make it any better: there was another wound there, less deep, but still important. She sighed.

“You could’ve told me about this one.”

“It’s nothing.”

“A wound’s a wound. Lemme patch it up too, now that I’ve got everything out.”

It took less time to disinfect and bandage his hand too, so why be picky about that? Oh well, didn’t make sense in getting angry at him. She’d try to get an explanation as to how the hell he got himself in that position once he’d be better.

There were quite a lot of things that’d have to wait for daylight to arrive, though, she realized.

 “You think you can go back to your place on your own?”

“I’ll manage,” he replied as he got up from the chair. “Thank you, Umihara.”

“You’re welcome! I’m just glad I could be of some help.”

If she wasn’t wrong, she could see some pink creep up on his face, but that must have been blood reaching back to it after the loss. Without thinking much of it, she opened the door for him, following along.

“See you soon at the café! Goodnight!”

“Goodnight.”

 With a sigh of relief, Norika could finally go to sleep.

[freespeechfandom-blog]

Chanceverse questions

Rules: Answer these ten questions and then tag 5 people!

- If you could ask Karen Chance to write a novella/short based on one character or ship, what would it be?

I'd be happy with just more Dory, lol. But hm, Cleopatra and Antony perhaps, KC’s historicals are always really good!

- What is your favorite time traveling scene?

In HtM when Cassie works together with her parents, without either of them knowing about each other really. An awesome scene from the best book in the series imo.

- If you lived in the Chanceverse, what would you rather be: vampire, were, clairvoyant, or mage?

Mage, because they have the most diversity – mercenary jinx, coven witch, necromancer working incognito, warmage in the Corps, black circle if that's your thing, or just an opportunistic magic worker running a shop somewhere, … so many awesome sides to it!

- If you could change anything from any storyline, what would it be?

I’d change the speed of the storylines mostly, not the storylines per se.

- Which character would you most want to spend a day with, and what would you do?

Dory, I'd have her take out her paints, and do some art therapy with her – she always struck me as an excellent candidate for this counseling/healing approach. Or spend a work day with Marlowe; his job is fascinating and linguistics has a professional application in espionage which I find interesting.

- What are your: OTPs, BROTPs, NOTPs?

OTPs: Dory and LC I guess? Though I’m not really a shipper type.

BROTPs: Dory and Marlowe, I'd love a crime genre spinoff with these two competing against each other and the clock to solve magical crimes lol.

NOTPs: I'm not really against any pairing categorically.

- Do you have any crackships? If so, what are they?

None really, but I'd love to see some more LGBTQA+ representation – maybe Efridis and Cleopatra? Radu and Augustine? Marco and a nice genderfluid incubus/succubus? 

- What scene from either series made you laugh the hardest?

It's rather from a short, Zombie's Bite, when Marlowe discovers who Dory is, after being ODed on hearing-enhancing drugs and he raptures his own eardrums with his own voice lol after being left to cool his heels in jail, so good!

- What scene from either series made you cry the hardest?

None because I'm not really that emotionally invested in books – but I found many scenes very moving, like Rhea's sacrifice in RtS, Dory having that Mircea-memory in FK, and the very cavalier mention of the torture and rape that Louis-Cesare endured; that latter probably caught me most off guard.

- What are your unpopular opinions?

Heh, there’s probably a long list. For starters that Cassie didn't have a dubcon or coerced sex with Mircea – since KC confirmed that too, I don't really feel bad about having 'unpopular opinions' like this, lol. I'm also one of the few readers who still read the series, but aren't in love with Pritkin. I'm not in love with Mircea or against Pritkin either (this seems to be a presumed divide based on the 'shipping war' mindset), I'd just simply like to see more to his Merlin-interpretation mage character than no fleshed out goals of his own other than to love and follow the MC unconditionally. The same way I'd like Cassie developed with more self-awareness, less denial, and perhaps a step back from hypocrisy and helplessness (comparing the first few and last few books). I consider them all characters with areas of improvement, the difference being that every fault Mircea has is framed as such and is called out as a source of complaint or conflict over and over again, while others’ faults or mistakes never get addressed; and I like to make the grand narrative a bit more balanced and less exclusionist, for fairness' sake. I also don't find Cassie a particularly good feminist heroine. Mainly because I think at one point in our life we've all been that woman who was smarter/ more driven/ always prepared/ contributing more constructively, etc, but still got less recognition than a rando guy around. It's sexism when we're being demonstrably equal or better and still being judged less than a man, and it’s real. It's not sexism if we're underprepared and less experienced and trip constantly and are being mistrusted as a conseqence of that, especially not when a series shows plenty of other women in respected leadership positions. So I’m probably the embodiment of a minority report, lol, but amongst others these three main ones I guess?

Tags: I was tagged by @emberfaye but sadly I don't know if there's anybody left to tag, perhaps @redorblue @thegirlwithtoomanybooks and @bestbooklover???