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[abcowardly]

⚠️⚠️Another Mimi Rant Incoming (ik, not again) ⚠️⚠️

Love and Deepspace.

I love the game. I've met so many kind and wonderful people within this fandom. But no fandom is without its problems.

If you know me, you know what my page is all about and how I advocate for the inclusion of more Black women in different fandom spaces and consumable media. We are often either forgotten about, used as comedic relief, stereotypes, or as an antagonist who is loud, bitter, has an attitude, etc.

Cool, fine, whatever, over it.

But one thing I will address is the fact that some people in the LADS fandom seem to have forgotten one major thing about the game. Pertaining to the MC.

SHE IS FULLY CUSTOMIZABLE AND DOES NOT HAVE A CANON APPEARANCE.

Yes, I'm aware the devs use a 'base' look for her on some of the cards and in the previews of new battle mechanics/ five-star kindled scenes. But they're not how she canonically looks. She looks that way because Infold is an eastern based company with certain beauty standards, cool, not asking you to suddenly change her. I'm cool with that.

But people in the FANDOM seem to be forgetting that you can customize her yourself. Into an OC or a self insert, it doesn't matter.

So if you know this, why is it that people with a tan or dark MC receive hate and harassment for making fanart of their self-insert MCs who look like the real them with the MLs?

Why is it that as non pale/fair skinned women, we are expected to always sit back and relate to a pale MC who has a personality that usually doesn't match some of us, either? If we can bear it for our entire lives, why is it a problem when we get a *small crumb* of inclusiveness in making the MC customizable to shape her how we want, it's not a problem until someone actually makes fanart of their MC with an ML and that MC is not the same pale/fair-skinned one?

How is that fair? It's like some people deliberately ignore it or are part of the problem. Especially those who make excuses like

"Oh, but they're not a western based company." I know that. Which is why I'm not aiming this rant at Infold themselves.

"Oh, don't bring politics into the game". First of all, how is the existence of dark or tan people politics? It's not "politics" when it involves someone who is part of the usual beauty standard, is it? Second of all, Infold themselves practically brought those said "politics" in by having tan/dark skinned options into the game in the first place.

Do you all see what I'm getting at, here?

This all came about because I'm part of (both) LADS subs on Reddit, and someone recently made a post about how they were attacked on Tiktok by LADS "fans" for her MC being dark in some *FANART* she made of her MC (based on herself) with her favourite ML.

Why can't we just have peace as women who don't conform to the outdated beauty standards? Why does it matter so much if MC is customizable?

What, do people think that as dark or Black women, we're not allowed to have certain interests? We're not allowed to like certain characters, games, movies, shows, etc? Why?

Wake UP and start calling it out when you see it!! You can't claim not to be a part of the "bad part" when you sit back and let it happen which makes those people get comfortable doing it.

Rant over. Have a nice day girls.

[abcowardly]

Already Over

Summary: [College AU] She's still committed to the bit, despite all the risks. And he keeps coming back anyway. Despite all her best efforts, she lets him. Like a song on repeat.

TW: mild drug use (marijuana) AND THERE'S A PLAYLIST, LET'S BE STUPID BITCHES TOGETHER: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/39xtqJwlA3y7JJXs8V1YP6?si=K1j4sGOtRmmEBO3nU1QafA Scenes I wanted to get out of my head but had no business anywhere else in my other stories. Initially started as drabbles, then it became a portrait of young love.

LINK: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59368972

[abcowardly]

TITLE: Toro, or: doin' it like rabbits do

(On Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58993783)

Summary: [COLLEGE AU] "Did you know that in 1518, there was a village that suffered from something called the Dancing Plague? A bunch of people just walked out of their homes and kept dancing until they died." Marina dancing snatches his better senses away and smashes them on the ground with each step. It later becomes an addiction of sorts, Marina teaching Xavier the steps to a new dance just like this, high in the clouds.  RELEVANT TRIGGER WARNINGS: drug use (marijuana)

The vibe is supposed to be a college couple, but in the early stages. To paint a picture: Marina (MC's name) and Xavier met at a frat party and have been seeing each casually since. Xavier's a literature major, and Marina's a history major.

This was partially inspired by a nice post I read about how a lot of erotic writing these days generally dive into sex super fast, so I'm focusing on the teasing in this one. I'm trying to practice how to play with anticipation & building up chemistry, so leave a comment and a review if you can! I wanna be artsier with this but this is a first attempt at more explicit writing so please bear with me.

What's what? Playlist you say? Absolutely, here you are, let's be stupid bitches together: (Story ambiance) https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdei7yHv6AADtMjjkrt9bsPDsHRJrqSOM&si=zgUnhrAaIJkku7U5 | (Xavier playlist) https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdei7yHv6AACQyZQ4mcQ3HfBBDEJeijJa&si=yS6poyr0Gm0ecch8

[abcowardly]

Wrote & rewrote & edited this story, inspired by a post I read on Reddit. It's ZayneXMCXCaleb, for those of us who want to suffer and love a good childhood-friends-to-lovers-but-its-a-trio storyline. There's even a few PLAYLISTS, and you may wanna listen to this one first when reading.

The Bright Side

TW: Major Character Death, mature content, casual dr*g use implied (see AO3 post)

Summary: An exploration of a trio across life-changing points in time, from youth to adulthood. Guilt comes and, unlike the seasons, doesn't pass. It settles into their young minds and takes root in the fertile ground of their memories, bringing them back at the most inopportune times. Eating ice-cream on bleachers, when they see beautiful sunsets, and whenever they think of better days. Part 1 of a series.

Credit & love to Raven, Kat, u/http_mismatch & u/nilight for beta-reading for me! There'll be another part of this eventually. This was partially inspired from several post from the subreddit, but one that stuck out to me was from the brilliant u/WildishWolf's post on the about Caleb being Bucky'd and it gave me IDEAS because I go feral for complex situationships, especially involving trios of childhood friends. It's a VERY specific thing that I hold dear to my heart. Thanks WW.

[abcowardly]

Even after Caleb apologizes and chases after him, Zayne doesn't pause or turn around. What does eventually get him to stop in his tracks is something that cuts deeper every time Zayne thinks about it, many years later.

"You know, she doesn't like you like that. Right?" It makes sense. Caleb would know the girl he lived with better than Zayne would.

Years later, they meet again, still the same yet entirely new people. The weight of all these memories, all this resentment, and years of knowing heavy on their shoulders.

TW: casual dr*g use (marijuana) implied

A/N: Any feedback would be lovely! :)