#which honestly I'm glad about because it needed a little more editing

[curio-queries]

I saw Jungkook's documentary this weekend and have just a few thoughts. If you're avoiding spoilers, don't click the cut!

The Hybe Documentary Format

So...as a reminder to you all, I do not have professional expertise in the film industry. I'm just a very discerning consumer. I also haven't seen Hobi's documentary and I watched Road to D-Day while I was quite ill last year so I only vaguely remember some bits. (I'll definitely be getting back to those sooner rather than later though as research for a series of posts I'm developing.) That being said, I think we have enough data points to state that Hybe has absolutely no interest in filmmaking techniques outside of music videos.

I did mostly enjoy my experience seeing this film yesterday and I'm always grateful for any amount of footage the members are willing to share with us but this 'documentary ' was worse than Jimin's Production Diary. Any of you that managed to make it through my rambling review will know how dissatisfied I was with that.

I Am Still is not a documentary, it's a mixture of showcase footage and behind-the-scenes clips, most of which has already been divulged in the various episodes and shooting sketches on YouTube. Honestly, if you're not able to see the film, just go rewatch all of the bangtantv content for JKs solo period and the showcase and you'll be up to speed with 85% of what was in the documentary.

There are definitely some expansions to the storylines featured in the bangtantv content; mostly being anything that wasn't overtly optimistic. For example, we learn a little bit more about just how sick JK was during the Seven/3D promotions. That content likely was pulled from the bangtantv edit because it would have put a damper on the promotions and given certain 'fans' a focus to fixate their vitriol. But overall, it feels more like an extended version of existing content rather than a new work. At least JPD didn't continually feed us footage we'd seen before.

I'm someone who gets completely bothered by previews spoiling content so I didn't watch any of the promos until after I saw it and I am so glad I skipped them because most of the 'original' scenes of the film were featured in least one of them. Alas, that's a separate issue of which I'm definitely in the minority.

Was There No Structure?

Kinda. Like JPD, there is a semblance of a structure: Attempting to follow the chronology of release activities for JKs GOLDEN album through the lens of JKs staement trying to prove that he is still worthy of everything he was being hailed as during the BTS group activities but I don't feel this was successfully executed. It jumps round enough and isn't very successful in explaining the events if you didn't already know about them. The film starts with the SEVEN performance at GMA and footage that we've already seen of JK recording SEVEN, not mentioning anything about the music video or really how JK got involved with the song in the first place. The rest of the story beats have similar missing points.

They have a vague narrative with the 'I Am Still' points but that's mostly carried by subs and a couple of moments that JK mentions himself. I'm not saying it's not true or wasn't top-of-mind for JK during this process but it's not the main point of many of the moment/messages he shared with us during this time period so it feels a little disingenuous since everything else jn this film really only makes sense if you've already seen quite a lot of behind-the-scenes content.

Honestly, it makes me question the intended audience. Obviously, they know that ARMY will shell out whatever we need to when there's new content from our members but most of us will have already seen all of the bangtantv content so we are already familiar with the most of the footage in this film. I genuinely don't think this was produced in such a way to be palatable for audiences not familiar with BTS so who does that leave? Our friends and family that are peripherally aware of the content but haven't learned the basics of JKs album? ARMY with short term memories only?

But again, it seems this film was compiled by an editing team and not lead by a director with experience in crafting a documentary. The only new footage that Ican guarantee was captured with the express purpose of being included in this film was the few clips of JK talking in the practice room with the albums displayed by him. But we all know that's where all of the promo clips were gathered as well. I have issues with that approach as well but I'll leave this point alone for now unless anyone is interested.

Suffice it to say, all of these suppositions over the past year about how JKs documentary was getting special treatment or even questioning about investment in a project up front are dead. This was a product assembled with bits of what they already had completely in-house which was sold for distribution.

So, Did We Learn NOTHING?

No, there are a few Golden nuggets (see what I did there?). I can't recall everything having only seen it once (and having a rather disruptive audience - I swear there were only dozen or so ppl in my theater but I forget how obnoxious teenagers can be. I'm glad they're enjoying and supporting but we really didn't need light sticks flashing during a film and how many times does one person need to get up to answer their phone during this runtime? Three according to the row in front of mine.)

Anyway, something I thought was interesting to learn was that Standing Next To You was initially recorded the day after JK heard it for the first time. And hearing a little more about how JK yearned to perform that song definitelygot me thinking a little more about it. We can't reach any conclusions just with this little nugget but it does open the door to some theories. Like perhaps they were initially planning to have JK record two separate albums? SEVEN and 3D would be the singles of the first and JK would perform them as we saw but perhaps STNY was originally planned to be the single of the 2nd album that would release while he was in the military and thus be unable to perform it? Maybe JK loved STNY so much that everything was grouped into one album and Never Let Go was the only track held back for ms? Definitely some theorizing space to be had now.

Final thoughts?

Similar to my thoughts on the GCF: Budapest (which I feel would have had a much better reception if it had been labeled as a bangtan episode rather than a GCF), I AM Still should not have purported to be a documentary. It was much more similar to the annual Memories compilations. But the general public would not have shelled out the $25 to go to a theater to watch a Memories DVD so alas, we have our content packaged as a ~documentary~...

Did my view on the music change at all? Not because of the documentary. We're coming up on the year anniversary of GOLDEN and it's still definitely not my favorite. I completely understand why some people like it but it's just not to my taste. The overall impact falls a little flat for me. Too much breadth and not enough depth. I came into my musical soul during the 00s emo phase and will always be a sucker for music that absolutely drips in an emotional way rather than catchy songs vaguely referencing heartache and love. Again, just a matter of viewpoint.

I do think most of these songs stand much better being shuffled amongst other artists in a Playlist and several of them are significantly better when JK sang them live but I still won't be listening to them regularly. I wholeheartedly believe JK completed his task of proving himself as an extremely dedicated and versatile singer and performer. He's definitely got some solid points added to his resume after this project.

[jmflowers]

If you're still working on the prompt party- Liam gets sick or hurt for the first time. (I love a little angst) Please and thank you!

Well, I accidentally veered away from a little angst and stumbled into patented Mom Panic instead. I hope that's alright! This comfort writing brain of mine likes to subvert the guidelines.

~~~

Carina’s brow furrows as she swipes a hand across Liam’s tiny forehead.

He’d woken up fussy, whimpering all the way through a diaper change. It’s out of character for him – especially when she’d been singing. Especially when she’d rocked him and held him.

But then he’d been disinterested in a bottle, choosing instead to bury his face in her shirt, screaming bloody murder because she’d dared to sit down on the couch.

And now his skin is warm to the touch; warmer than is usual.

Carina sighs, swaying side to side with their little boy cradled in her arms as she dials Maya’s phone. Her shift won’t be over for another few hours, but it’s too early to go to the pharmacy and she’s not sure Maya’s unpacked whatever box her stash of infant first aid supplies ended up in.

Maya answers on the first ring, her bright smile shining through the phone on the other end. She’s seated in the beanery, the shoulders of other firefighters visible behind her. “You’re up early,” she greets.

The smile falls instantly when she hears Liam’s wail.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, rising from her seat. The beanery disappears behind her, quickly replaced by the hallway outside the gym. “Is everything okay?”

Carina nods, trying to quell Maya’s fear despite the racing of her own heart inside her chest. “Liam has a fever,” she explains, swinging her body a little more forcefully to help him quiet a bit again, “And I don’t know where that box is.”

“Okay,” Maya nods, looking around herself. Almost immediately, she’s moving again, pounding down the stairs with the station walls bouncing behind her. There’s a sharp flash of morning light and then a rush of red as she passes the engine. “What do we need?” she asks, apparently arrived at the aid car supply cabinets.

“No, no,” Carina sighs, entranced by this version of her wife who’d raid the fire department’s stock for their baby boy. “He is okay. Just stop at the pharmacy on the way home.”

“Okay,” Maya nods, slamming the cabinet doors, “I just have to let Andy know I’m leaving, then.”

Despite herself, Carina laughs. “Bambina,” she says, drawing Maya to a halt, “Take a breath.”

Shakily, Maya does as she’s told.

“We are okay,” Carina reminds her, tilting the phone so Maya can see that Liam’s tears have momentarily dried, his eyes fallen closed with his own exhaustion. “Finish your shift and then come home with some acetaminophen.”

“Okay,” Maya repeats, staring lovingly through the phone at Liam’s little face. “You promise he’s alright?”

Carina nods, leaning down to kiss his tiny cheek. It’s difficult, with the phone clutched in her other hand, but she manages. Maya’s smiling even wider when she surfaces again.

“He’ll be even better once you’re home to cuddle him.”

Maya blows a kiss, setting her hand against the screen to deliver it safely. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

[weast-of-eden]

I've been thinking about how I could contribute to the ACD/Granada Sherlock Holmes fandom for a while, seeing as I'm neither an artist, a writer, or anything actually useful lol. But then I realized something I myself always treasure are curated fic recs, which I could actually do! I've read probably like 25% of all the h/w ACD and Granada fics on ao3, so I compiled a short list for anyone who is just starting out with the fandom. Without further ado, may I present

Eden’s Top Picks for Beginning ACD/Granada Fics:

(edit: i made a second list here!!)

The Adventure of the Doctor's Heart by mistyzeo 12k | Rated E Summary: Holmes has observed much of Watson's habits and tastes over time, which is why it surprises him when his friend objects strangely to a folk song sung at the conclusion of a case. Disturbed by the Doctor's unexpected display of emotion, Holmes becomes determined to lift his spirits by any means necessary, with mixed results. Notes: obviously if you're going to read canonverse h/w, you are going to read mistyzeo. this one is just so good and angsty and features music (!!). it's got some steaminess but it also has wooing. basically it has everything you ever need. this is my odyssey, my iliad, my hamlet, etc.

Cameo by what_alchemy 8k | Rated M | For Archive Users Only Summary: Holmes and Watson become embroiled in a case Scotland Yard refuses to acknowledge. A soulmate AU. Notes: i honestly skipped over this fic for a while, since i'm not the biggest fan of soulmate aus. do not make the same mistake i did, because this shit HITS. this fic has hit after hit: soulmate-mark based case for our main duo, angst, hiatus feels, MORE ANGST, and ofc a happy ending. ugh. read this fic if you enjoy being happy.

A Tide That Does Not Turn by tweedisgood 3k | Rated T Summary: Holmes is a very bad patient with a devoted doctor who adores him. Watson wishes it was safe to speak up, but his friend is a tide that does not turn. Notes: do NOT read this if you don't like angst... ok now i'm sensing a pattern. anyways this is the first hurt/no comfort fic i read for this tag and i literally have cried more than enough tears over it. poor, poor watson :( iconic author though, read everything they write!

The Adventure of the Glad Outlaw by radondoran 7k | Rated T Summary: While Sherlock Holmes solves the mystery of a student's disappearance, Dr. Watson is more puzzled by the changing dynamic between his flatmate and himself. Notes: cute pastiche! a nice little mystery and a nice little get-together. ahhhhhh.... this fic is like cotton candy to me, so sweet and fluffy. defo recommend

Hands by MinorObsessions (draculard) 1.4k | Rated T Summary: Naturally, there are some things Watson thinks about Holmes that don't make it into the books. Notes: i'm also in the star trek fandom, so if you know anything about that then you know that hands are kind of A Thing in both circles and ergo i now Have A Thing about hands. so this is a nice little ode to holmes' hands, featuring some doctoring by watson AND a nice reverse appraisal at the end. it's so sweet :)

Conductor of Light by ColebaltBlue  1.4k | Rated T Summary: A Victorian stiff upper lip won't prevent you from falling in love, but it might prevent you from realizing it. Notes: they finally get their shit together! honestly i would recommend this fic to anyone just starting out with h/w fics in any medium. the characterization and dialogue is A1, and their argument is really realistic to me, idk. also features the iconic HOUN quote for its title so props to that!

A (Mis)fortunate Man by sans_patronymic 1.5k | Rated T Summary: December, 1880. Watson writes a note which may be his last. December, 1899. Watson writes back. Notes: READ THE TAGS BEFORE READING. this was a gut-wrenching read but god i cried at the end for watson. don't worry, this one has a happy ending. ugh now i wish there was a second chapter where watson lets holmes read the letters. to sum up: oof, my heart

The Second Smartest Man in London by FairSinner 73k | Rated E Summary: Dr John Watson returns from Afghanistan to Victorian London, wounded, traumatised and alone. When he meets Sherlock Holmes, his life begins to seem worth living again. But Holmes is a man who despises sentiment and Watson cannot seem to expunge it from his heart. Notes: congrats, you've made it to the end!! so now i must confess that it's been a loooong time since i've read this fic, but the private note i left on my bookmark was just "holy shit", so i'm sure it's a banger. i'm also sure it has angst because i love angst and i love bookmarking angst so i can read it again and again and suffer infinitely. enjoy :)

anyways, now that i've put these all here i realized how much i enjoy angst and hurt/no comfort fics. if any of you guys have a favorite fic you want to link or want to plug your own writing, feel free to!

[coffee-and-tea-time]

Hi! The overly happy coffee speaking! I noticed one of my fav yandere accounts like one post of Tea and I'm screaming like a fangirl. I'm fully in a delulu mood so I needed to write this. Editing this I find out more accounts I follow like some posts, I'm feeling shy now.

☁ the sweetest reality nightmare ☁

TW: yandere behavior, delusions, the agony of self-preservation, stalking, obssesion, reader with sleep problems, willing reader, flirty reader x opportunist yandere lol

➤ first part

➤ here to see the other option

He's already at your house, in your room, it's not like you're gonna make it less crazy if you talk to him now, right? And if he is about to kill you, he would do it even if you keep acting.

A smile start creeping in your face, seems like you really can't act like sleeping beauty anymore, huh? 

“Oh, I'm really glad, you seem like you're finally having a good dream… will it be too greedy if I want to be inside that little dream of yours? Well, if you find that greedy, you won't be able to handle me later”

“Oh, I would love to test that, mind showing me a little more of that ‘greedy’ side of you?”

As you open your eyes, you're met with quite the sight, a man with amber hair and golden eyes looking perplexed, his palpable nervousness makes you grow a little soft spot for him already.

“What happened, Love? Cat got your tongue?  What a shame I really wished to hear more from you… oh, now that I recall, I do know you, you're Pin, aren’t you?”

You manage to remember his face, he is a classmate which you never spoke to but caught him staring one or two times which you dismissed as a coincidence.

“I can't believe you didn't scream when you saw me here and you actually remember my name, even calling me by a nickname… did I fall asleep without noticing?”

You can't help but giggle as his antics when he pinched his hand, once he felt the sting his gaze returns to meet yours, you can almost see his eyes shining as he quickly approaches you, literally sitting next to you in the bed as he began to talk, amazed.

“Yes! That's my name, Cherry, oh, you don't mind me calling you Cherry? Ah, me visiting you like this should be more of a problem than that, shouldn't it?”

“If it bothered me, I would’ve screamed and called the police already, and no, I don't mind the little petname but I do have one issue”

You hold a smile as you catch him gulping hard, probably more worried that he has ever been.

“I’m sorry Dear, did I mean any troubles for you? I can fix my mistake, I promise! I just can’t help it but want to see you more”

Even if his words express lament, the lovefool look in his face and the firm grip on your hand betrays his lack of regret for his actions.

“Surely you know by now that I have problems falling asleep, and just now you offered me the ‘perfect medicine’, I hope you are the type to stick to your word”

You watch his face turn into a puzzled expression and then open his mouth to ask until realization hits him… He almost literally jumps into the bed, as if he had done it before.. honestly, probably he did gently pulling you into a warm but tight embrace.

“oh, Dear, you are the one that can't take your words back now”

“I wasn’t planning on it”

“I’m glad to hear that because now I'm going to visit you freely, everytime I want. We can cuddle every night, will you let me cook for you? I swear I already know all your eating habits, although we could improve that eating schedule of yours, I swear I won’t be pushy about it; Can I kiss you good night and good morning? Oh, first we should go on dates to work more on your trust in me! But I will assume hugs are fine since you directly asked me for them. Wait, I can cling to you when we are outside too, right? Right?”

“Pin, you’re speaking way too fast, calm down a little, Dear, but yeah, you can be clingy, this is already comfy enough to forget my annoying insomnia so I can totally get used to this”

He shuffles closer just to snuggle further, you swear you can almost hear him purring as he holds you like you two are a newlywed couple.

“and we can make an agreement on the kiss thing, I’m open for a debate on that”

“I don’t like to repeat myself but now you really can’t take any of your words back, Darling”

sorry for any misspellings or weird sentence structure ❣

images from pinterest

[sarahjtv]

My Hero Academia: Chapter 424 Spoiler Thoughts:

MHA is finally back from break and we have a calm after the storm chapter. Let me put my thought on Tumblr for a bit:

So, let's get this out of the way: Tomura Shigaraki/Tenko Shimura is dead. Like, DEAD, dead. Unless Kohei Horikoshi pulls the rug under us, I think he's made it clear that Tenko's not coming back. Those last 2 pages were it for his conclusion. He did add one more panel of Shiggy and some dialogue from Deku to say that maybe Deku really did "save" Tenko, but that's all we got. I'm still unsure how to feel about this, but I appreciate Horikoshi giving Tenko a bit more of a conclusion after the last chapter. But, the story isn't over yet, so we'll see if he's mentioned again.

Bakugo's parts were the best parts of this chapter. I'm glad to see him alive and well after everything (I highly doubt Horikoshi would keep him dead again anyway) and that his parents are there for him (Mitsuki yelling at him was funny ngl). Sucks that his right arm will never fully recover, but maybe that rehab will help him get to a good enough place. Also, his moments with Deku and All Might were incredibly sweet and a great conclusion to their little storyline. Seeing Bakugo genuinely tear up and look back on his and Deku's relationship throughout the years honestly moved me because it shows how far this young man has come (the artwork on his face is so good btw; Horikoshi has always been great at expressions in particular). Katsuki Bakugo's character development is one of my favorites in the series and he deserves #1 in every character poll he gets.

EDIT: OH, BAKUGO'S CRYING OVER DEKU BEING QUIRKLESS AGAIN AFTER THE EMBERS BURN OUT ONE DAY I'M GOING TO FUCKING CRY WHAT THE FUCK 😭

Deku continues to be Deku till the very end. I loved Izuku nerding out about how he gets to share a hospital room with All Might because of course he would. It's also nice to hear that A.) All Might reassures Deku that even though he doesn't feel like he saved Tenko because Tenko died, he still might have in the end and B.) Deku still has the embers of One For All which doesn't make him Quirkless. I assume this means that Deku is basically back at the start when he first got OFA. I'm sure his strength is still there at least, but it's probably not nearly as powerful as it was in the final battle.

Also, Deku's haircut 😭! I know they had to do it because it got messed up in the final battle and surgery, but please let his hair grow again before the manga ends, Horikoshi! I want his cute, bushy green hair back! There's also a scar on his right cheek covering his cute freckles I can't. His eyeball popping out of his socket when he sees Kacchan cry was hilarious, though 😂

All Might also telling Deku and Bakugo that they're the greatest heroes to him and everyone else is a really nice full circle on their initial dreams when the story started.

And then there are the two panels we get of Shoto and Ochako. I assume we'll touch on their epilogues next chapter, but I'm curious how they're doing because Ochako looks solemn and we don't even see Shoto's face because his back is turned to us in a dark light. I bet they're reflecting on what happened to Toga and Dabi respectively. We're still not sure if either of them really died, so it's a coin flip as to whether they did or not. There's also Shoto's whole family situation that needs tying up which is a whole other can of worms. I really hope this gets covered in the next chapter.

Finally, we see Deku and the others returning to UA which is currently being rebuilt. I'm guessing we'll see how everyone else is doing post-war too either in the next chapter or later. While we need to cover the main 4 (Izuku, Bakugo, Shoto, and Ochako), we also need to see how everyone else is doing because they weren't the only ones affected by the war. Everyone has battle scars of some kind.

And while the chapter is called "Epilogue", it's not over yet. We clearly have more story to cover and bows to tie as neatly as possible. Horikoshi can't please everyone (no one can, really), but I can tell that he's doing his best and that he still genuinely cares about his story after nearly 10 years. I'd say we have the rest of June at least and the end of summer at most until MHA finally ends. This was a really nice "wrap-up" chapter and we have more to go until the end. Despite its flaws, My Hero Academia is still peak fiction to me and some of the parts in this chapter cement that. It will always have a special place in my heart. I will be sad to see this series go, but I will be there until the end.

EDIT: I just saw Horikoshi's comment this week and it basically confirms that we have more story to come. He doesn't say how many chapter but he says "I'll keep going for a little while" and that we're returning to school life; the "Academia" part of the story. I'm really glad he's not rushing the conclusion because there's a lot of stories and characters to give finales to. I'm also really curious to see how school life is post-war, so I'm glad that'll be explored.

[neko-loogi]

Heeeyy, I'm back with a new Helluva Boss opinion post thingy

Okay so, the Mammon episode- it was alright I guess? Tbh it didn't strike me as super awesome or anything, it's just kinda there?

Anyway, let's talk about it a little bit!

So I wanted to start off with Mammon himself, I'm gonna be honest I don't hate him but I don't like him either. I'll admit I do actually like his voice, I'm sure y'all might find it annoying but I dunno, I like his accent and the way he talks is kinda funny. His design tho? Eh, it could use some work.

For instance, his eyes are weird, like every time he was on screen my first thought was always: "Wow, he looks like Robin from TTG". I also hate how he's shaped like your typical "fat" character from cartoons. But for some reason they decided to give him skinny arms but a round body. He's weirdly disproportionate, which is disappointing because they definitely could make a better plus sized character design. But oh well, knowing Viv, she wouldn't even try.

I will admit his true demon form is kinda cool, except that I actually thought he was going to be a caterpillar or something but he's a spider? I swear, Viv has some weird design choices.

Moving on, the episode was cluttered as hell. It had way too much stuff in it, which made the episode feel eternal. Not only that but the episode has 4 songs.. FOUR FUCKING SONGS- When will Viv realize that not every HB episode needs a song? Like is this shit an animated series or a fucking musical? Make up your mind Viv-

Anyway, I'm glad this episode focuses on Fizz, but his character did feel a bit off in certain scenes, but aside from that everything else was fine. (I found that scene of Fizz talking to the deaf imp child while using sign language to be very endearing).

Alright, I'mma point out a few other things real quick:

Ozzie's relationship with Fizz is absolutely adorable and I love them so much. However I don't understand why they portray their relationship as a bad thing? Like, fucking Queen Bee is dating Vortex (who's a hellhound, and they are a lower class than imps) and nobody says anything and she's a sin- so why can't Ozzie do the same??

I also happen to noticed that Fizz and Mammon's relationship is similar to Angel Dust and Valentino's- I just hope they don't completely butcher my boy Fizz, because he's the ONLY character I genuinely like from this god awful series.

Edit: I find it outrageous that Fizz apologized to Blitzo in the previous episode for the accident and claims that yes, he was affected by it but he's gotten over it. Yet here, he's super insecure about it and seeks approval from Mammon. It doesn't make sense- I swear it's like the characters are evolving backwards (as in the character development just resets and they act like nothing happened).

I also just wanted to say that this character made me feel super uncomfortable throughout the episode (which I guess is the point, but honestly they didn't need to add him.) Like, was it really necessary to include this Reddit mod, Discord user incel with an obsessive personality to the episode? He doesn't really contribute much other than to probably trigger people who have dealt with some form of harassment like this, and to make Fizz look super helpless so that Blitzo can defend him.

Blitzo didn't contribute anything to the episode, they didn't need to add him either. Like we get it he's the main character but that doesn't mean he has to be in every fucking episode doing absolutely nothing other than saying a bunch of curse words or shooting someone.

In conclusion, I didn't like this episode that much. I was expecting more to be completely honest.

Sorry if this post was a little long- I wanted to write more stuff but I don't want to burden y'all with reading a lot of shit lmao. Anyway, that's all, love ya <3

[bellaxgiornata]

Do you have any tips for fast and efficient writing? I’m always impressed with how quickly and consistently you seem to churn out good quality chapters. Occasionally, I get “in the zone” and manage to really stay on top of my updates, but other times, it feels like pulling teeth. I worry that I sometimes sacrifice quality just to be able to put out an update. I want to stay consist for my readers, but that requires about 4000 to 5000 words a week, which is tough for me on top of a full time job! Any suggestions?

Oh, this is a good question! And thank you, I'm glad to hear you think my stories are consistent and of good quality! I will say that what works for me probably isn't always going to work for others, and I'm also aware that I'm in a unique position of being a stay at home mom. So when kids nap, I get free time to write. When my toddler starts preschool next week and the baby naps, if I've finished my adulting chores for the day, I get to write. Usually y'all don't have those opportunities at work--especially not daily. I'll also sometimes write in the evening before bed if I'm really feeling it (though while pregnant I had been too tired to do that for months). Honestly a lot of it depends on how much time you are able to write, and for me, I do actually spend quite a few hours a week writing and editing. Probably a lot more than people realize...

I'll put the rest of my response below the cut though because I know this is going to be long!

The first thing I did that really helped me keep churning out updates was to stop requiring myself to reach a minimum word count for them. I don't write with the pressure of needing to reach a specific amount per chapter, rather I focus on what needs to happen in an update. If the draft seemed a bit short, I'd come back later and edit in more detail or dialogue or another scene or something that fit and it usually filled things a little more without seeming unnecessary. Removing that pressure of reaching a specific word count really helps I think. And 4,000-5,000 words a week with a full time job is honestly a lot to plan out, write, and then edit consistently!

Secondly, I have multiple stories to work on. Now I definitely don't recommend this because then you'll get overwhelmed, but I do often hit a block in a fic sometimes and instead of just writing something I don't like and posting it or completely stepping away and not writing, I write something else. It keeps me in the habit of doing it so that I don't just suddenly stop. But obviously, I can't consistently update the same fics over and over, I tend to jump around. I think what might be better is maybe taking a step away and working on a one shot or something if you're struggling with a scene or a chapter. For me, sometimes what I need to write in a story is not what I'm feeling at the moment--angst, fluff, smut, whatever--and so I go write something I am feeling instead. Usually that helps unblock what's in my head, especially if I want to write smut for example, but the characters in the story I'm writing cannot realistically have me throw that in at that point.

Lastly, I think taking the pressure off of yourself to update on a schedule might be helpful. I know, it's hard to not update regularly and you might feel like you're disappointing readers, but we aren't getting paid for this. If you start pressuring yourself, you're going to burn yourself out and fanfic won't be fun anymore. It'll feel like work. And who wants to spend their free time working with no pay? So if you can get a nice long chapter up every week for a bit, but then suddenly you're struggling and it takes a few weeks for an update? That's okay. Your readers will still be here. And new ones will always appear if some have moved on.

Honestly I think as writers we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to consistently post, but it's not realistic. Like I said, I'm in a unique position of often finding moments to write because of what I do for work. That's not the norm for everyone. I struggle to update fics sometimes myself, which is why you might see some stories go months without an update, but I just update other things in the meantime. But if I only had one story, you'd definitely see me having weeks where nothing comes out because the words for that just aren't coming or they're not coming out right.

Hopefully some of this helped at all! But really, I think removing the pressure of writing is the biggest issue to tackle. Whether its your posting schedule or your word count, the pressure really gets to you. Especially if you're reaching the day you might usually post and you don't have something you feel is ready, then maybe you start to stress or panic and are rushing to get something done. That's just not fun though! Fanfic should be fun!

[laugtherhyena]

What are some of you're favourite Sprite edits you've made Whether that be this year, or any over years you've been in the sprite editing business

Ok so I've made A LOT of edits over the years so it took a lil while for me to sort out the favorites and why exactly, but here it is so get ready for some rambling!

First things first i gotta say this isn't really organized from the one i like the most and least, i like all of these edits a whole lot and i really don't think i can pick one or two to be the favorite.

So let's start from the start (sorta) i have to give a spot to my Fantasy Au twins edits, it would be illegal to not put them in this list

The Sdra2 Fantasy Au was one of the first things i made in the fandom and i was attached to it for a long while. These are actually the 4th version of their sprites, out of all them only the 3rd had a full gallery of sprites and trust me they were complex since on top of posting i even made different tails and ears to move around depending on the emotion of the sprite.

Even tho i never finished this 4th take on them I'm pretty happy with the redesign (since as i grew older i realized some of my choices were questionable and i really should have thought more before just going with it, just keep in mind i was a dumb 14-15 year old then) and the improvement on graphical quality because not only does it show how much i improved in editing but also because editing the fantasy twins were my first really hard edits and i was always happy with how well i was able to translate their weird little designs to sprite form.

The Fantasy Au as a whole had a lot of edits with a bunch of complicated details that i never finshed and although I don't like them as much as the twins i do feel like they deserve to be shown somehere so have this pile of lizards, undead firemen and two human girls.

(fun fact; i didn't know how to add textures back then so see those scales on the dragons? I made them all by hand-)

Next one on the list has gotta be the Nijiue siblings! Crazy to think these guys are only 2-3 years old like it feels like they've been with me for ao much longer!

These guys where my first try at making Oc sprites since before all i did were Au stuff and they're very very dear to me, as you can probably guess by the amount of spites an different iterations i made of them over the years. While there are a few things i could improve upon them if i were to remake their edits nowadays, i never felt a strong need to do so because as it is their sprites hold up well imo so remaking them feels unnecessary to me.

And you know I can't really talk about them without mentioning the Voidswap Au and a couple tumblr blogs owned by friends of mine. After Voidswap's cancelation i didn't thought I'd ever use these guys for anything so to think that nowadays there's so many people who not only know these characters but care for them a lot out of seeing them in Asoot and Dfta more recently really fills me with joy! I'm glad y'all enjoy my silly siblings so much and obviously huge thanks to the mods for wanting to include them in their stories, I really couldn't be more thankful for that!

And since we're talking about the fam, let me add Mako to the list as an honorable mention of sorts, a i'm still very happy with how i made her adult designs especially the whole closed trenchcoat and open trenchcoat thing she has going on and how i was able to cary out the heart motif on both of them :]

This next one is one of my newer edits + a pretty simple one which is this Irl Sora design i made for mod Bubbles around early this year.

Honestly, I don't even know how to explain why i like it this much? Maybe it's because Sora is one of the characters from Sdra2 i still decently enjoy or because i had a fun time coming up with her design. I had in mind that i wanted something plain and simple just like her in-game one, just adapted to a more adult look. Rolled up sleeves to resemble her uniform's ones and a scarf to bring back the spark of red her old design had, i also gave her the short hair that post game Yuki has because it's still her body at the end of the day + i think butch-ish Sora looks pretty good :]

From simplicity we jump back into weirdness with these last ones because obviously i wouldn't leave my girls out of this list, what did you guys even expect?

Favoritism? Absolutely, by now I'm sure all of you know how much i like these two but focusing on the graphical side for once, I'm super proud of their designs, i think they fit with the weirdness of some of Linuj's design choices pretty well which in turn makes them look kinda legit? In my head at least. I also had a lot of fun working on their sprites, especially Beni's since it had been a long while since i last tried to really exaggerate expressions on sprites of my characters so that was really fun! + I'm super proud of the baby sprites i made of them too, almost as much as i like their standard/adult designs really.

[hezuart]

I’m Glad to hear your Opinions and that you Agreed about Blitz and Striker could have been interesting Dynamic!^^ There’s One More thing I want to Ask, have you ever thought about Re-Designing The Helluva Boss Characters? seen your Designs before and they are Amazing!>w<

I kinda tried a while back as just mere edits but I'm not really happy with them because they're not very original (Angel's was designed by someone else and I think Niffty's was too but i couldnt find the original artist)

Actually would straight up remove Husk's wings. He has no need for those. He's a bull in a china shop. He'd knock over so many alcohol bottles with those things in his tiny cramped bar... Would probably remove his top hat too, he's not the type to wear one of those. I'd also change his body shape. He'd be chubbier? Not too much, but definitely not lengthy. Alastor would be less red. Niffty would look more like a housewife. Angel's fingerless black gloves are definitely more "sexy" than the mismatched bright pink and white he has in his redesign. Vaggie I'd like to keep her pastel gothic look, but she needs antennae instead of a bow, and her hair should look more like moth wings. I think its okay for them all to share a little bit of red, but you gotta be careful about the shades and the amount you use. I'll probably revisit a potential redesign someday.

Striker probably just wouldn't be the same character as an antihero. Theoretically, he could be, if Viv didn't paint the top baddies of hell as good people. (Stolas, Asmodeus, Lucifer, Beezle, technically Alastor) If we had actual complex sins or actual, well... demons. That held evil values instead of basically just being abused party people, then Striker absolutely would be an anti hero for killing the rich overlords that suppress imp kind and cater towards human sinners.

I think that already appears to be the case in Hazbin Hotel, as shown with Alastor, Niffty, Angel, and Husker. They turned into animalistic demons with sharp teeth and powers. Which, again, I really need to look into religious texts more, but it was my understanding that in actual bible lore humans didn't turn into demons or angels when they are sent to heaven or hell. They're just as they are, allowed to live amongst beings better than them. You don't get a halo or wings, or a tail or horn. Those were reserved for angels, fallen angels, demons, and hellborns. Regardless, that's not the case for Vivziepop's Hell. Honestly from the pilot it looks like you immediately turn into a demon as soon as you die and teleport to Hell.

[problematicfactive]

New intro Post

New intro post! How exciting! This is my celebration for reaching 25 followers so fast! Thank you all for your overwhelming support in this journey, it really has been a lot.

If you're new here, my boyfriend and I are both introjected from extremely problematic medias revolving around a very bad person that lived in real life. We are both from fictional medias, bit the person of which we introjected is very much real, and We've gotten a LOT of shit for it.

Spaces that claim to be safe spaces for systems-- or God forbid, safe spaces for *problematic* introjects and alters, tend to be rude or spiteful towards individuals who are factives from problematic sources.

I firmly believe this hateful stance comes from a place of not understanding, so I've created this blog to give people who don't understand a chance to talk and speak to us without losing their cool as we also stay anonymous on this blog. They're always nice until they find out who you are /hj . Since it's creation, the blog has since turned into a big place for problematic factives to just feel safe and seen. I'm beyond happy about this, and glad my blog can serve both purposes. More under the cut!

We post a lot of everything!

We answer asks from people who have questions about us or about being problematic factives, we make positivity posts for problematic factives, problematic factive culture is... posts, and lots of other things you could think of. Feel free to vent in our askbox or message us for a chat! We'd love to have a friend.

Some things off the top of my head that I can't do on this blog (but if you end up making a blog for these things and need a mod, totally hmu!)

Stimboards/Moodboards etc. - I would literally love to do these but the problem is I know like nothing about anyone. Of you were to ask me for a Donald Trump moodboard I honestly do not know what I would do my mind would just blank. That being said, in decently good at making them so if there were a person I knew well enough to do a stimboard on, I definitely could

Icon edits - This is somthing I'm capable of doing, but it isn't something where I would want this entire blog to just turn into requests. If you're making a blog specifically for these creative requests things totally hmu

Art - I cannot draw but my hope is that that changes in the future.

-

Meet us!

My last intro post didn't really have any information on us as people let's try and fix that.

I can't tell you my name, but you can call me Anxiety. I'm the main mod and significantly less source connected/more source ashamed. I go by he/Anxiety with Anxiety being able to work in place of either a name or a pronoun. Unless the host is helping out with something, anything that isn't labeled comes from me. I'm the only one out of the two of us with the physical ability to type so when he posts something, it's a little special occasion and deserves a label.

My boyfriend doesn't have a name option other than a source one. On the blog he has only been referred to as my boyfriend, but if you need a name for him, call him NPC. He uses he/him pronouns and will sign off any post that he thinks up all on his own with -NPC and tagged with # npc posts

Tagging

Here is some of the tagging we use on this blog

# problematic factive culture = Problematic factive culture is.. posts

# kindness and positivity = Kind and Positive asks we've received

# good thoughtful questions = Good questions we received as asks

# positivity post = Positivity posts

# problematicfactive blog things = things that ate moreso related to one of the mods or running the blog than they are about problematic factives

# rainy day drafts = drafts that could be super old because I made them and them left them in the drafts so I could post when I don't have anything else to post

# queued because I am asleep 😊 / queued because hopefully I'm sleeping = posts that I queue to be 5-ish hours away from the last post. I often post somthing at 12 am Eastern Time regardless of the last something was posted, so those early morning positivity posts tend to also be queued with the tag

If you come across us and like what we do, consider boosting or realigning this post! I'd love for as many people to find out we exist as possible

# askers experience = Asks sent in where an asker tells me about their life

# npc posts = posts my npc wrote as a mod on this blog (does not apply to posts where "my boyfriend's answer" is me paraphrasing or trying to speak for him)

[thousand-winters]

Hello pal!! I hope you're doing well after that rough morning 💖

For the writing fic ask, 1, 4, 25, 26, and 27!

Hello!!! 💖 Thank you!!! I'm awake at unholy hours of the morning when I really shouldn't be, but much better in that regard ahaha

The last sentence you wrote

I'm so glad I started lazily working on one of my wips because it would have been mortifying to put in a sentence from like 3 months ago or something ahahaha:

“How rude, I was just trying to look out for you,” Tome sniffs, fully aware that by now Reigen doesn’t buy her little act –as if he ever had anyway–, but hoping it buys her some sympathy points. “So, are you gonna open or what?”

Really hoping I can update this one soon.

4. A story idea you haven’t written yet

I have a list where I just dump all of my upcoming wip ideas with no regard for how polished they sound right away and this one is still so funny to me:

"Dimple being like one of those overprotective dads who don't want boys to date their daughters but with Mob and Teru Just in general him being kinda mean to Teru while Mob is first oblivious and then like ???"

I think this was came to be because Dimple in the fanbook is mean for no reason about Teru ahaha. When he gets asked about who he would like to possess and he goes "I bet I could tank Hanazawa's reputation so fast", like, Dimple, what do you have against him, he's living his best reformed life now ahahaha. So this silly idea came to me.

25. Besides writing, what are your other hobbies?

Tough question because I feel like sometimes I'm busy enough I don't really do too much in general ahaha.

I like playing videogames and reading if that counts, though I haven't have the time to do either of those in ages, I need to make some time for those soon or else I'm gonna go crazy haha. I enjoy doing crafts though I don't have a chance to do them often either.

I think my primary hobby activity is having deranged conversations about my fandoms ahaha. AUs, headcanons, random scenarios, analysis... the amount of back and forths I currently have going with friends is... alarming. Once you start being babbly about those things, turns out the convos just keep being generated like spores lmao

26. Are you able to write with other people around?

Oh, absolutely not 😭 Especially not my family but to be fair, I don't tend to do anything personal in front of them because my sister is noisy and can be quite mean sometimes haha, so I just... don't.

Now, put me to write on a google document or something with other people there and I start second guessing every single word I'm putting down or just going "aaaaahhhh, whatever, whatever!" while writing the first thing that comes to mind, which doesn't feel like an optimal writing decision. It's fine when it comes to just outlining or such, but not the actual writing.

27. Your favorite part of the writing process

I'm quite messy when it comes to writing so I feel like the process for me is more like chaos and screaming and panic and tears sometimes ahahaha. But honestly, I enjoy the writing in itself. Once I have a clear direction of what I'm doing in this one scene, for example, I can just rush through it while writing to my heart's content, and short of having writer's block, that feels really fun and rewarding to me.

I'm not much one for editing, frankly, because I get embarrassed once I do the final read through my work, but I enjoy the minor edits through the way. I know it's not recommended, but I tend to do that a lot, writing a sentence and then going back to look at it because it was too plain or badly phrased and modifying it until it works better for what follows or for what I want. I like that feeling of "yes, this is it".

Thank you so much for the questions!!!

From this ask game

[aprillikesthings]

I am still a little obsessed with this

I had an idea for a Catradora fic like a year ago and ugggh I'd need to rewatch the whole show to do it any justice and I dunno if I have the patience

Anyway have some barely-edited info-dumping I did last March in a tiny discord server for a completely different cartoon ship*:

The other night when I couldn't sleep it occurred to me that there could/should be a very realistic fic out there of catra and adora, after the events of the last season, having a very passionate but over-dramatic relationship for a couple of years, then breaking up and getting back together multiple times before one or both of them decides Actually, we have to break up, for real, we are slowly killing each other over this; and one of them moves away and they both get therapy of some kind and both try dating other people but it just isn't working out (I can absolutely see Adora in a relationship that's perfectly fine and healthy but also boring as fuck, and her just thinking: huh, I guess normal people are supposed to feel like this? but it just feels like it's missing something, but the thing it's missing might just be a lot of arguing and crying and make-up sex, so like, I should just. stop missing that. probably. And Catra ending up in a bunch of short-term things where all of them end with either the other person going dude you are in love with someone else and I can tell or her feeling guilty and breaking it off bc the other person is obviously more into her than vice-versa)

And anyway after like ten years or something they see each other but one or both is still dating someone else and it's like ha ha our younger days were SOMETHING ELSE weren't they, oh did you get therapy oh good me too, I'm glad you're doing well, nice to bump into you :) but they're both internally screaming because yeah those feelings are Still There, fuck fuck fuck

The current partner of whichever of them dumps them bc "you're still in love with your ex" but neither of them say why the dump happened and the dumped one doesn't say anything to the other, which means they hear about it through the grapevine, and their heart goes YOOOOO and their brain goes "I thought we were actually done with this and being Good about it fuck fuck fuck" and theyre both :) still normal to each other :) all the time :)

PINING I love pining hhh lol

But yeah there's, I dunno. A party? with a lot of people? maybe they each have one (1) drink, not even enough to impair them, and the next thing you know they're making out in a closet or something somewhere, and then one or both of them is crying hysterically, and after a lot of talking they're like, I want to try again. But as actual adults who've had time to grow up and have a lot of therapy. So they do, and it's good, and all their friends are like Oh thank god you two are both the stupidest motherfuckers on earth.

Halfway through the first post I realized I am half re-writing one of my fave Sherlock fics but putting it on top of She-Ra characters and adapting it to spop's plot but it'S JUST A GOOD STORy and honestly how it would actually happen

Because they were SO YOUNG in the show and neither of them had ever seen a healthy relationship modeled, ever, by anyone; and they're both heavily traumatized on top of it. And love isn't always be enough to deal with all of that. It's just not.

Me: this would make a good romance novel if we could file off the serial numbers

Also me: it's only interesting to me because it's THESE CHARACTERS like how the fuck would you include the backstory lolol

My dumb brain is like, "look I know spop ended three years ago and also, this is obviously the kind of story that AN ACTUAL ADULT writes, generally speaking; so nobody would read it, but what if you spent a year writing this"

But also half the plot feels like it's lifted from The Speed of Objects in Motion by holyfant (linked above) which is still, easily, one of my top-two Sherlock fics of all time, bc it's just so painfully realistic--they do end up together again at the end, but there's a lot off off-again/on-again and arguing and then a few years they're not together in the meantime

Anyway, re: spop: Fate and destiny are great but real happily ever afters would be so hard with everything that lead up to the end of the series

------------

>:( at myself for being like "oh it would take a year to write this" bc if I had actually done it I would be done by now pfffffft

(*Amedot)

[theia-eos]

Hi!

I read your Prince Daein Soren AU a while ago and I loved it! I was curious on whether you were planning or not to continue it in RD

Hi! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Yes, I am. I had the direction planned out before I posted The Prince of Shadowed Winds.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out if I'm happy with it and that's what I want to go with. I also want to get a substantial way through writing it before I start posting, and that requires figuring out what I want to keep and what I don't feel is necessary to have in the written story and what I need to add that isn't there already. That requires figuring out what I want to do with the narrative (who should be the main POV characters, what genre do I want to style it after, if any [probably not doing it inspired by a romance trope again]) and if I want all of RD to be one story or a few different ones.

I know I had promised to start posting some stuff happening after Prince of Shadowed Winds this month when I posted the final chapter back in September, but I overestimated myself, honestly.

I'm very glad you enjoyed the first story enough to inquire about the rest of it. Thank you for asking, earnestly.

To pull back the curtain a little bit as I know I alluded to it previously, I've been dealing with a phase of something like depression since like August of last year, but it really got bad in October. My therapist and I have a few ideas but none of them really fit. Trying to write for the past several months has been downright impossible. There was nothing in my mind about what I wanted to do, and trying to force myself to write or even edit just made me experience something I can only describe as pins and needles in my brain.

I've dealt with this happening before, and it always goes away in time (and always comes back, which is the main reason why I usually wait to finish an entire story before posting it because I don't know when it will strike). I was just hoping it would go away faster than it has. I'm just now able to write here and there without any issues.

With that in mind, I'm hoping I'll be able to start sharing some of the one shots I have for what happens in the three years I between the AU POR story and AU RD story in the next couple of months. They were nearly done before I posted the last chapter of Prince of Shadowed Winds, so it shouldn't take too much more work to finish those up and get them posted.

[ramzawrites]

Dream World - A Sibling!Mutant!Reader Story - Part 7

GEN

Part 1 | Prev Next

Pairings: None

Characters included: Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, Splinter

Warnings: n/a

Series: Part 7

Summary: The second part of the training part

Word count: 4809

Authors Note: I haven't gotten a proper chance to look over it yet but I really needed to release this since this was supposed to be in the last update but everything just got too much. Now that this is out of the way I can concentrate on the next parts of this.

I'll edit the typos more tomorrow. My adhd is getting a bit in the way I'm sorry.

Weapons.

That made sense and yet Y/N was somehow taken aback. It made sense that vigilante ninja’s would use weapons but they haven’t even considered that if that is the case that their counterpart probably also used some and were proficient in them.

It was already weird enough to realize that while fighting they possessed apparently some innate instincts which have shown themselves as Y/N’s pretty good ability to dodge. There was still this pleasant and proud feeling deep inside their chest as they thought back on it.

Raph seemed so happy and proud with how they threw their punches and even while weaving between Leo’s jabs and punches they clearly remembered how the red eared slider smiled. The compliment Splinter gave them at their first real dodge still rung inside their head and bounced around happily. They couldn’t help but almost feel exhilarated at all the positive feedback they have gotten.

Plus, as it stands, due to their apparently still intact muscle memory, it probably will take less time for the others to deem Y/N ready enough to go out of the lair.

With these thoughts twirling around in their mind Y/N turned towards Leo “Weapon training? What kind of weapon did I use?”

Honestly, they couldn’t help but be excited. Not often do you get the chance to hold a ninja weapon in hand and even get to use it.

But before Leo could even attempt to reply, Donnie suddenly perked up “Oh! It is still laying in my lab. I will go grab it.” And with that he speedwalked out of the dojo, Y/N only took their eyes off him once they couldn’t see him anymore. Instead, their curious gaze flitted back towards the blue banded brother of the bunch.

Said brother was currently stroking his chin in thought “I’m not sure if I should tell you or if I just want to make you wait for you to see for yourself.”

This earned him an honest eyeroll from Y/N. They could tell that he mostly said this, so they were plagued by their own curiosity. If they felt more confident, they would have maybe flicked his arm in revenge for that.

Confidence was something that slowly seemed to return to Y/N. While they didn’t feel completely comfortable in this situation, somehow the feeling of anxiety and panic inside their gut has subsided a lot. There was still a lot of confusion and even partial annoyance but compared to their time in the infirmary and now, it has gotten substantially better.

The little bit of training, or rather the small tests, might have helped more with this than they realized. Maybe Splinter was right and doing something more athletic does help a bit with the storm inside their mind. Or seeing that they held some sort of ability just boosted their confidence enough for them to extend some more trust towards the family.

Whatever it was they felt glad about it. Even if they felt guilty for seemingly settling into this situation while they were still confused, worried about May, sad about their apparently missing memories and even more confused about the little flashbacks they sometimes get assaulted with.

Y/N pulled themself back out of these thoughts. Nothing they can do about it now. No, instead they should concentrate on this little training session because then the chances of them actually finding out more is higher.

It was then that they realized they were deep inside their thoughts and only caught the tail end of what Leo was telling them.

“-so really, I am the most skilled here.”

They blinked and Leo searched their face for a certain reaction. One he didn’t seem to receive from them.

“Sorry, I kind of spaced out.” They apologized awkwardly.

Leo’s brows immediately fell down into an annoyed but still lighthearted expression “Wow, okay. Thank you. I was just telling you about all the weapons we all use."

“Oh. Sorry. Can you repeat that?”

“I’m back! Sorry, it took a moment because I saw some of the metal came loose and I fastened it real fast and anyway here, Y/N.”

Donatello came back into the room with wide steps. His goggles were now perched on his snout with a self-satisfied smile. The weapon he held in his hand made Y/N’s eyes widen. This was not what they expected to see.

They expected a dagger, nunchucks or even a katana. But not this.

He had his hands outstretched and, on his palms, laid a bow. A bow made of wood, but the ends were reinforced with metal that ended into almost spikes. The string looked sturdy and thicker than they would have thought.

They couldn’t help but think that you required some strength to pull the string back on a metal reinforced bow. Strength they weren’t entirely sure they possessed.

Carefully Y/N snaked their hand around the middle part of the bow and lifted the weapon off Donnie’s hands. They softly gasped as they felt the weight of it. It was heavier than they anticipated but it made sense.

Green cloth was wrapped around the grip. Almost as if this was Y/N Hamato’s way to mark the weapon as their own.

The others just seemed to watch Y/N, gauging their reaction.

Y/N held the bow up. Their left hand held the grip tightly while the right hand went to the string of the bow. Now they understood why the wrappings on their left arm was longer than on their right. It was in order to protect their skin when they pulled and let go of the bowstring.

They gave the string an experimental tug. As they figured, it did require some more strength to fully pull it back.

With a deep breath Y/N squared their shoulders. One foot stood in front of the other in a wider stance for stability. Then they pulled again, this time using more of their strength. The string moved along their face. The wood of the bow seemingly caved in under the pressure and begun to bend.

Just as they wanted to release, Splinter spoke up.

“Put your elbow down, Green.”

It took them a second to understand what he meant but realized that he probably meant their right elbow. They pulled it down and tried to hold it on the same level as their shoulders. Their muscles begun to strain as they held on to the string, but it didn’t feel unbearable. They probably could hold on for a long time. This was courtesy of Y/N Hamato’s body, they figured.

Splinter then walked around their body. With his tail he begun nudging their feet and legs. Spacing them properly for proper form. After a few nudges and pushes he seemed satisfied and nodded.

“Yes, exactly like this. Remember that.”

Then Y/N released the string. Of course, nothing happened since they didn’t notch and arrow, but they could feel by the speed that there would have been a lot of strength behind the arrow if they did indeed let one fly. This bow probably had some serious reach.

“Wow, okay. A bow? Not what I expected if I’m honest.” They finally spoke up, moving their arms back down. Once again inspecting the weapon and in particular the metal that reinforced the ends of the bow. The spikes were blunt.

“Don put the metal on the bow because sometimes you gotta fight people off in close combat.” Mikey explained as they saw them tracing along the metal.

That did make sense.

“Wait, yeah, so like, I’m always in the back?” they asked.

Leo nodded “As I told you, you are incredibly stealthy. You are the master at surprise attacks, but you can dish out with this bow just as well. You also usually carry kunai with you for defense though. Heh, you also love to lay traps. That was something we had to work on in our teamwork because we tended to walk into your traps more than our enemies.”

Y/N scrunched their face together, trying to imagine themself laying down traps in the middle of battle “What… kind of traps?” They couldn’t help but imagine them putting down a tripwire only for Leo to faceplant because of it. Why Leo? He just seemed more likely to fall for something like that.

Mikey was about to answer but Raph laid his hand on his back “One thing after the other, Angelo. Let’s scrounge up a few arrows and let them try their bow out.”

It was still a bit frustrating to see all of them hold back when it came to delivering information, but this time Y/N didn’t mind it too much. Frankly they were a bit excited to get to shoot a bow.

The brothers looked inside a small tool cabinet and came back with four arrows. It was a bit weird that apparently they for one didn’t know where they stashed the arrows and to that they only found four? Was this enough for missions? Maybe Y/N had a special place where they stashed them, and the others weren’t sure where?

With the bow and an arrow in hand they walked towards one of the targets at the back of the dojo, right next to the training dummies.

Remembering how Splinter positioned their body before, they tried their best to emulate that again. With the arrow notched against the string they moved their arms up and pulled. Without a word Splinter walked over again and nudged their feet a bit more. At least they remembered to apparently hold their arms in the correct position.

Aiming seemed tricker than they imagined. Should they go along the arrow tip? But also gravity would do its job and pull said arrow down. Then again this bow seemed to have some serious strength to it and they were only standing like 30 feet away.

“Before releasing the arrow, hold in your breath. That way you have a little bit better control over your weapon and hold it steadier.” Splinter’s voice was firm as he instructed them.

Y/N breathed in and held the air inside their lungs.

Their lungs were probably more inside them towards their shell because of their turtle DNA. Okay, yeah that was weird to think about that because they were stuck in a different body that also meant that their organs were literally rearranged.

Instead they concentrated on the target in front of them. On it was a picture of a hippo mutant. Oh, they need to ask the others why that was.

That’s when they just released their fingers but kept their pose intact. The arrow flew through the air with a swishing sound. The string of the bow relaxed. And with a clink it collided.

With the wall.

A good few feet above the target.

Y/N pursed their lips as they let their arms fall back down again. Well, this wasn’t what they aimed at.

“Good job?” April tried but when Y/N looked at her with a deadpanned expression she broke out into giggles that she tried to hide behind her hand.

“Hey you at least actually reached the back of the wall!” Raph argued.

Before anyone else could respond, Mikey jumped in “It’s technically the first time they used that bow. Kind of. Right, Y/N?”

They just nodded in response, their lips still pursed staring at the arrow that now laid pathetically on the ground. Mocking them.

“So, try it again! I’m sure you just need to get a feel for it.”

Raph handed them another arrow. With new vigor due to the confidence from the youngest towards their abilities, they notched the arrow. This time when they got into position Splinter didn’t feel the need to correct them. If anything this was a win in their book.

Okay, somehow the arrow landed a few feet above the target even if they were sure they held the arrow straight on to the target. They shifted the arrow around until they were absolutely sure it was straight and pointing at the target. Probably.

Once again, they held their breath and a second later, they let go. The string flew back down, once colliding with their arm. This time there was a thunk sound as the arrow collided. It collided with the target. Not in the middle but also not at the very edge as well!

Y/N couldn’t help themself as they threw their arms into the air “Yes!” They cheered.

“See! I told you so! High three!” Mikey yelled out, holding out his hand and Y/N immediately clapped their free hand down onto his.

“So, you definitely need practice with your bow. Good to know.” Donnie suddenly noted.

It was Mikey who whirled around, pointing at his older brother “Come on, Dee. You are such a killjoy!”

This seemed to bug Donnie, his eyebrow shot up in slight disbelief “Killjoy? Me? Excuse you, Mikey. You are talking to the bootyyyshaker9000. Also, it is just a fact. They also need more training in hand to hand combat, or do you want them to be caught off guard outside?”

He made a solid point and yet Mikey still crossed his arms “No. I don’t want them to get hurt.”

Suddenly Leo jumped into Y/N’s field of vision. He grabbed their hand and placed something heavy and cold into it. It was a knife? A kunai.

“Throw it at the target. Throw the knife!”

He seemed way too excited at this but Y/N shrugged and handed him their bow for the time being. Throwing a knife was way different than when they shot the arrow, but it should work similar? Kind of? Not really.

With one eye closed they turned to the target and begun gauging their throw. This time they aimed a bit higher on purpose since gravity will probably pull stronger on the heavier kunai than the fast arrow.

Clenching the metal in their hand they threw the kunai. It sailed through the air and connected with the target! It was a bit on the lower side of the target but they hit it at their first try! It probably looked a bit pathetic as they proudly placed their arms at their side as Leo gave them a pat on their shell.

“Nice one!”

It was a compliment and yet Y/N couldn’t help but stare at Leo with furrowed eyebrows. They couldn’t help but think there was a slight sarcastic undertone. Which was kind of warranted to be fair, they supposed, but still.

He immediately held up his palms in defeat “I meant it! You’ll get better over time. I’m sure it won’t take long for you to return to being able to hit bullseyes from like hundreds of feet away.”

“Hah, I hope so. I think.” Y/N just answered. They would be happy if they just could hit their intended targets consistently. That would be their first goal once they started their actual training so they were allowed to go out of the lair.

How scary was the outside that they needed to make sure that Y/N could defend themself, anyway? Then again from what they gathered they seemed to have collected enough enemies over the time as vigilantes. After all they fought of god damn alien that tried to take over the world.

“Hey, can we talk about our ninpo now?” Mikey suddenly piped up. Ignoring the fact that Y/N had no idea what he meant by that, he seemed pretty eager to talk about it.

Whatever it was it seemed to be something special.

His brothers looked at Splinter who gave Mikey an encouraging nod. Mikey immediately clapped his hands together “Okay, okay! Lemme tell you all about ninpo, Y/N! After all I am a powerful mystic warrior! Or I will be.”

Mystic? Y/N’s eyes widened “Wait, is it something like magic?”

To their surprise Mikey just shrugged “Well. Not really? Kind of? It’s more like a thing of all pies are pastries but not all pastries are pies.”

When Y/N just scrunched their face together in confusion Mikey started to explain again.

“There is magic. Draxum uses it for example but our ninpo is something different. It gives us special abilities like mystic spells can give but it’s a thing that only our family can use. You can only use it if you show complete trust towards your family.”

“You can use spells to do things like teleport and things but ninpo mainly enhances our abilities we already have. It makes us stronger and faster and each of us has one special ability. I can extend my nunchaku chain for example and can make them burn.”

This now made slowly more sense. It seemed like ninpo seemed somewhat related to mystic arts but was in this case something strictly related to the Hamato family. Not something anyone can just learn and use.

But that begged the question. Would Y/N be even able to use this ninpo? For once Mikey said that it required utter trust towards their family and as much as Y/N wanted to extend this trust towards everyone, it was difficult to do so. They trusted them that they wanted to help and don’t mean any harm but utter and complete trust? That was something different.

Besides it was something only the Hamato family could use. But Y/N was Y/N L/N. Technically they shouldn’t be able to use it. Because they aren’t the person they all think they are.

But what if against all odds they did get access to this specific power? What would that mean? Maybe it would just be because this body is still a Hamato body? Did that make sense? Would it mean they were part of this family after all for some reason? Would it mean that the brothers were correct, and they were wrong? Somehow the memories of their human life were the wrong ones?

Their heart beat hard in their chest. Suddenly they were hyperaware of their own breathing. They took in more breath than they should, didn’t they? No, no, they couldn’t panic right now! Not while everyone was here and watching them! They had to prove that they were alright and ready to go outside. They had to hold on!

This sucked.

Suddenly there was a pull. Green arms with orange flecks flew around their neck. Slightly pulling them down towards the smaller turtle. Even if he was only smaller by a few inches.

Y/N immediately snaked their own arms around his shell. While this was embarrassing, they were happy for this sudden sign of affection. The hug grounded them again. It pulled them back into reality.

They thought themself into a panic when nothing has even happened yet. At least they haven’t started bawling.

After a few moments Y/N let go and Mikey took a few steps back again. Instead of a worried expression that they fully expected, they were met by a soft smile from Mikey.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

They nodded “I am now. Thank you. Uh, sorry. My thoughts kind of took over.”

“That’s alright. Do you want to talk about it? Or do you want to be distracted for now?”

Y/N couldn’t help but smile at this. It was nice to just straight up ask them this “I think I would prefer a distraction for now.” Their eyes flew along everyone in the room. Too many people were in here and while they knew they all would help them try to work through this, they felt way too exposed to suddenly bring up this panic inducing thought.

Mikey nodded, he seemed to understand what the issue was “Um, did you catch what I said at the end? Do you want to avoid this topic for now?”

“Oh, um, I remember you telling me what the difference between ninpo and mystic spells are. I think I understood it. You can tell me again what you said after that. Sorry again.” While it might not have been the smartest idea to stay on this topic, Y/N felt the need to prove that this wouldn’t be a problem in the future. Maybe it was stupid and even childish since they were sure the others wouldn’t hesitate to find solutions but they also didn’t want to give them another reason to coddle them even more.

Mikey’s smile widened “Don’t worry about it!” His semiserious expression and tone seemed to disappear and his usual cheery persona returned “I just said that since our ninpo is family related we can usually kinda extend it to feel each other? At least enough to tell that the others are nearby or not. During battle we are usually more in sync. And we all just noticed that it’s kind of difficult for us to get a sense of you. Which makes sense. You are in a weird situation, and you are kind of getting to know your own family again which will take time. Hence why we think you can’t reliably use your ninpo at the moment.”

Ah.

That somehow helped calm them down again. So, the others wouldn’t expect them to suddenly use these ninpo powers because they could already tell that they can’t.

“But, we came up with a solution!” Mikey exclaimed happily. His finger up in the air.

“What- What kind of solution?” Y/N cursed the stutter that gave too much away of their actual nervousness when they tried to at least appear calm now.

Mikey nodded “Yep! Draxum will help!”

Y/N squinted “The… yokai dude?”

“Yeah before we learned to use our ninpo and stuff we stole some of his weapons which gave us the ability to use our mystic powers. These weapons kind of got destroyed but with our ninpo upgrades we can make new ones that share the same powers. You however don’t have that option so we asked Draxy to remake your old bow.”

Donnie scoffed at that “Even though I made you a perfectly fine bow myself.”

“Well you wouldn’t give him the bow to imbue the correct magic into it.” Mikey reminded him.

Donnie looked towards the ground, crossing his arms over his plastron. He almost looked sheepish or embarrassed “This… This is my bow for Y/N. It just- It just wouldn’t be right to change it up if it’s perfectly fine and only if Y/N and I together have a proper say in it.”

Y/N didn’t need to fully understand what was going on to know that this bow meant something to Donnie. Even if it only was because he probably slaved some good amount of time on it for his sibling.

“Yeah, don’t worry, Donald. We understand.” Mikey then turned back to Y/N “But that means that it will take a bit of time before we get to test your reaction at your mystic powers.”

Their reaction at their own powers? That was weirdly worded.

Y/N cleared their throat “So, what does that mean now?”

Leo suddenly laid his arm around their shoulder “We just wanted to make sure you understand what ninpo and mystic magic is. Now it’s time we return to proper training. We will first get your hand-to-hand combat better up to speed and train your use in your weapons.”

“Alright but now I’m curious. What kind of special powers do you all have? Mikey has long chains and fire, I know that now.” While they didn’t want to linger too long on this topic if they had the choice, they had to admit. Curiosity won the fight once again.

Leo grinned “I can make portals and teleport around. I know, I know. I’m the coolest.”

“Oh nah, I can make a projection of myself and turn into huge Raph and smash the enemies even better! Hell, I can even use it as a shield to protect us from huge falls and impacts! If that isn’t cool then I don’t know what is!” Raph suddenly interjected.

“Oh, gentlemen. Clearly it is I with the superior powers.” Donnie spoke theatrically “For I can create any type of technical weapon. I basically have the whole US weapon arsenal at my side. Try to top that!”

Y/N turned towards April who just shrugged “I can make a glowing bat that I can throw around like a boomerang.”

So they then pointed at themself and looked at the group with a questioning gaze.

Mikey’s eyes widened “Oh! Right we never did tell you what you can do, huh?”

They nodded.

“Well, my dear sibling. You might not reach the same amazingness as portals but yours isn’t too bad either.” Leo let go of them to stand in front of Y/N “Just as how Mikey can like control and create mystic fire you have electricity powers! You usually use it to make arrows out of electricity and shoot them. You can also use them to place electric traps on the ground for example to shock unsuspecting enemies. When fighting Meatsweats it always ends with the smell of bacon.”

Y/N’s mouth opened a bit to show their surprise. Not going to lie that kind of sounded really cool. That also might explain why they had to look for the arrows and there were only a few ones left. Why use normal arrows if you can just make some out of electricity! Also, they could make electric traps with it? That sounded really cool.

Actually there was a ton of ways they could see how to use it in battle and combined with the fact that they are supposed to be the stealthiest one? Oh yeah, there was definitely potential.

Finally they closed their mouth again only to speak “That sounds so cool!”

“But guys you know what all of this means right?” April suddenly asked.

When no one responded April was gracious enough to answer “You all had to properly learn to work with Y/N’s traps and now they have kind of forgotten all about them so I think you need to go through this whole teamworking business again.”

There was an immediate reaction of groaning. Leo immediately turned to Raph, pointing his finger up into his red themed brother’s face “We do not do the ball thing again! You hear me! We do not!”

Raph grimaced and looked away from his suddenly fuming brother “Ah, no. Didn’t even think about it. Besides now are you the boss so have fun coming up with a training plan… Not that Raph won’t help ya.”

Leo sighed and seemed to relax again “You’re right. Besides we are older now. We are smarter. We can find a non-embarrassing way to train our teamwork.”

It felt a bit much to call for teamwork training when the Y/N was the only problem. Technically. But they weren’t going to bring that up.

“Kids as much as I like to listen to you all but I think it’s time for you to train properly, yeah? I think I can trust you all to do a good job. I’ll be retreating into my room.” Splinter spoke.

Donnie sighed “Your soaps are about to start, right?”

Splinter froze “No. No, I just think that I should show you all some trust by letting you train on your own. You usually train on your own. We solved this problem, so I think everything is in your capable hands.”

“Not that I don’t appreciate you showing trust for our abilities, dad.” Donnie stared his father down “I know when your shows start. You can’t lie to me.”

With an impressive amount of speed Splinter suddenly basically fled out of the dojo with a quick “You all got this! Especially you, Green! Love you all! Don’t kill each other!” And then he was gone.

Y/N pointed to the entrance “So, I assume this is usual behavior for him?”

Leo nodded “There are a few constants in life. Splinter and his obsession with his favorite TV shows is one of them. As far as I know it’s always been like this though lately he has gotten better with it.”

Raph nodded “Yeah. I actually really think he was honest about him believing in us and all.”

Donnie massaged the space in between his eyes “Let’s just start proper training.”

“Alright. Mikey against Raph. Apes against Don and me against Y/N. This time I want you to do more than dodging!” Leo issued out, ending with a sort of sing song voice.

They barely survived last time against Leo and even then he said he was going easy on them! Now they were also supposed to punch him besides trying their best to not get hit? It took all their braincells to evade him last time!

Seems like Leo really was a believer in the sink and swim method.

[cedarboots]

Fic Writer Meme

Tagged by @sanguinarysanguinity, thank you!

AO3 Name: cedarboots

Fandoms: Currently, Persuasion and The Flight of the Heron. In the past I have written fic for Pride and Prejudice, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, Downton Abbey, Turn, and Anne with an E.

Number of works: 8! I have not written a ton of fic, and the things I do write tend to skew long.

Work I spent the most time on: An Officer and a Gentleman, my Persuasion fic which is really, honestly, almost finished. I published the first chapter last summer, and it had been in the works for several months before that, so I have been working on it for around a year and a half.

Work I spent the least time on: Probably Vile Antithesis (Gentleman's Guide), which I think I wrote in about a week.

Longest fic: Also An Officer and a Gentleman.

Shortest fic: The War is Over (Downton Abbey)

Most hits: Return Flight (Pride and Prejudice)

Most kudos: Return Flight as well! This is the most popular story I've written.

Total word count: 63,277

Favorite work of my own: This is unfair, but I'm very pleased with the Flight of the Heron fic I am working on right now; I think it will need some editing, but I really like what I have so far.

Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: Reading Return Flight again particularly makes me aware that I have gotten better at writing over the last two years, which makes me a little itchy because it is my most popular work. Still, I would rather let it lie! I don't think rewriting it would be more satisfying than writing new things, and I'm glad people like it as is.

Share a bit of a WIP:

Without the hut’s single window he heard a soft susurration, like wind through rushes. Other sounds, on the edge of hearing– Ewen sat up, casting off his plaid. 

The strange rustlings resolved into footsteps at the door. Captain Windham stepped through into the dark. He wore only his shirt and woolen breeches; when his eye fell upon Ewen, staring up at him, he paused and tilted his head.

“You look like a wraith,” Ewen said, exhaustion telling on his manners.

He smiled at that. “Go to sleep.”

Against perhaps the better part of wisdom, Ewen did.

tagging @rowzien, @acrossthewavesoftime, @spacesapphist, @wellpresseddaisy, and @cat-hesarose!

[bellaxgiornata]

hi!! i really hope i don’t stress you out AT ALL with this (i know you have a lot of fics and new ones coming out) but i was just wondering if your older matt fics have been discontinued? i know you are still actively working on ATY and FFTD so i am truly just curious as to whether or not to look out for new updates on any others! i love your work and i hope you have an amazing day!!

Hi friend! You're not stressing me out at all! Thank you for the question!

Are you meaning the Matt Murdock x OFC fics I have? If so, those are not discontinued, they're just on a very long hiatus 😅 And there's more chapters for both than what I have posted on tumblr at the moment. Caught in the Undertow was about finished when I sort of hit a really difficult situation that made it hard for me to continue that story (it's the only long fic I have that's a bit close to home for me) and Life Worth Living has two chapters written that I need to edit, but honestly that one is SO in depth with little hints and details hidden in there that I need to sort of reread some of that story myself to be able to properly edit and share those other chapters and to continue working on it. Which I keep meaning to do, but I'll be honest, I go where the obvious interest is for fics. When y'all get excited about updates, I get excited to keep working on that fic. That's probably true for most if not all writers. So if it feels like the interest is on other things (usually Reader fics and not OCs), then that's what I'll be working on. Without the feedback I just assume y'all just aren't as interested so I focus my time elsewhere unfortunately.

As for Keep Coming Back to You, I, ironically enough, keep intending to come back to it 🤣 The next chapter for that was almost written but I started ATY shortly after and that one got way more interest so I focused my attention on that series. The feedback truly does let me know what y'all want to read--though sometimes I'm just feeling a particular story and can't stop writing it 😅

Hopefully that answered your question! I always intend to come back to those others, LWL and KCBTY for sure. Especially KCBTY when I hit the angst because I'm craving angst lately 🤣But I'm so glad you enjoy my writing so much!! Honestly, I've been in my head about my writing this week and reading that definitely gave me the warm fuzzies, so thank you! And I hope you have an amazing day as well! ❤