#;; and overall focusing on other games/fandoms to really... put as much as i did before

[navxry]

🐹

because i mean. i saw that exemplary ebg documentary™️ so immediately i knew you were gonna be a supportive and kind soul right off the bat???

genuinely, ty for coming into my life 🙏🏻

HELPAHUIHFDRUIR IM NOT INTIMIDATING??

Damn, thank God for that EBG thread cause that. that took ages to do (/exag cause it took days BAHAHAHA)

People say that I am thought but yk how it be fr, Im a menace but not that big of a menace

(not to bedo though BAHAHAHAHAHA sorry sir but I am your biggest menace that will always go "this u?" when you do smth suspicious in EBG era. smfh /exag)

Honestly Im surprised you got supportive + kind vibes from the documentary cause I. lost sleep over it and esp when I was waiting for updates BAHAHAHAHA ITS LIKE "Oh I didnt plan this out" (ends up doing it to fuck with others online)

I swear sometimes I go "I shouldn't invest this much in a mystery online"

And I still do anyway smfh /j

but all jokes aside, ty to YOU as well for coming to my life in the means of a calm before the storm (storm being EBG) and for feeding into my hyperfixation of Genshin <3 (/p)

(Although my interest + hyperfixation on it has been waning, I still think abt the ideas for AUs we had in threads and I STILL need to reply to one of them... probably when I'm not going "...????" @ Genshin)

(sorry Genshin but I am too invested on IDV to uh. give a shit. oops.)

[thefaiao]

Do you remember what hooked you on the LISA series? It's a decently impactful set of games so I'm curious as to why you've created so many drawings from it

A great question. I don't think I can answer this with absolute precision, but I'll try. I'll begin explaining how exactly I first got into drawing LISA, and we'll work from there to the reason I believe I am still compelled to draw more of it.

I first played and finished LISA at the end of 2016. I was decently active at that point, but hadn't garnered much attention to my drawings. I had made a Hotline Miami post that had gotten decently popular, and a few Yogscast(1)(2)(3) drawings that also did decently well, but overall nothing super noteworthy. Most Yog fans at the time weren't into what I liked mainly, which was Shadow of Israphel.

I was immature at the time, so had a hard time connecting with people in fandoms. Not to mention, I was a Brasilian in a sea of Americans and Europeans. You'd be surprised how hard it was to relate with people in that setting, but I tried here and there.

I felt pretty strongly about the HM post though, since it felt like a great personal achievement. I felt a drawing I had a clear vision for had achieved what I set out to do with it. Seeing how much people liked it, it was pretty magical when you've never had a post "do well".

Anyway, people were hopping out of tumblr and onto twitter, and I did as well. Twitter, despite everything, sort of puts you way closer to other people. Your reply to someone important is very visible and hard to ignore. It was a type of equalizer. There I had gotten to get my drawings actually seen and shared by Austin, the guy who made the LISA games.

Having had my drawings shared and recognized that way had a strong impact on me, and I even got to talk with an artist I really looked up to at the time, Maren, who had also gotten into LISA. She had done art for SBFP and TF2, so it felt surreal to me to be acknowledged by someone like that. Up to that point I really felt like more of a passive observer to everything.

In 2014 I finished high-school, and 2015 I spent the whole year learning how to draw better. I tried so hard that I ended up dissociating, a very scary emotion, that I didn't even know was a thing at the time. It felt like all that time and effort was starting to pay off, and that there was a way forward here.

First I posted sketches, and the passion I had for the game and motivation from the recognition led me to put a lot more effort than usual into my drawings. I ended up making these, which got really popular, it was very validating.

So because of all that I kept drawing. I'll be honest, a lot of the time I just wanted to get even more of the attention of these weird new cool popular friends that were paying attention to me for some reason. I was very lonely at the time. I think I stayed lonely for a long time after too.

But eventually people move on, as is normal with fandoms. I didn't really feel my passion for drawing and LISA die out though. I had started a massive LISA art project at the time, that took me 5 long years, and also was more focused in college, where I did Game Design.

Drawing wise, eventually I branched out to other RPGmaker games, but LISA was very easy to draw. It was sort of a home-base for me. Something I could come back to when I was uncertain.

I think Urasawa put it quite well, with Billy Bat:

Drawing the same characters over and over is extremely rewarding, and a great way to reflect on your progress so far. I suppose it's meditative, but that's not quite the right word. It's very fun and constructive, and people can also keep track of your progress through that. I did the same with OFF characters, a game I had drawn way before all this.

Of course, I had a lot of issues because of how things developed. I related a lot of my self-worth with the validation I received from people online, and I still do, to an extent...

When I started taking the game I'm making, Meanderer, more seriously, and started living alone, posting anything felt awful. I didn't have the energy for bombastic posts, or the time spent developing the way I draw the characters like I did for LISA, that is, with ease and style. It felt very humiliating, but I understand it was a warped view of things.

It was a long and depressing time in my life, but it taught me a few important lessons, and made me sort of re-evaluate how I engage with "online" overall. But I still liked drawing LISA throughout all of this, I almost felt ashamed of it to a certain point.

All of this isn't to say I didn't love the game itself. It wasn't all just context. I really, really love LISA. It drove me to sobbing tears, which I don't think another game has gotten out of me. It's a fantastic game, that really showed what fresh things you could do with the medium. When I played it I'm not sure I fully understood how much I loved games.

I just grew up with the characters of LISA. Maybe not in my adolescence, but definitely in my adulthood, and with my art. These characters help me orient myself, understand my limits. And it's damn fun to get better at drawing them. Even just a character on an empty blank canvas, with only black and white lines. It's the most fun in the whole world.

To finish it off, I have a general philosophy of not republishing drawings. So whenever I want to do a LISA post I have to draw a LISA post. Just keep drawing and drawing. Don't get hung up on one drawing or idolize one thing you did. Keep making things. It doesn't have to make sense. Just keep drawing.

(There was a power outage while writing this and I had to retype this whole damn post by the way. Appreciate it!)

[evelynpr]

bakugou for the character ask game?

Truly the teenage boy, shonen deuteragonist, love interest coded, gay asshole, of all time.

My first impression - Woah I did not understand why people were so into this guy. Like I get it, he's a flawed and loud pretty boy, he gets character development, and probably gay, but seriously him??? His mouth is so fucking foul and he is so up his ass. - I was meh with this character, enjoyed him in fan content, but just did not get why people were sooo into this guy.

My impression now - I cried in "Light Fades To Rain". Twice. - My god his growth...his will, his persistence, and by god his love for Izuku is so ridiculous and powerful I just cannot help but admire the little shithead. - He is also a lot more to me than I expected, with the whole "foul mouth shit", "high expectations bullshit", "violent urges", and "dedicating your whole life and love to someone you love and admire" and that...that makes me feel quite conflicted.

Favorite thing about that character - The thing about Bakugou is that...you just cannot help but wish you had the same kind of persistence, strength, will, and power that he does. I love how all this is initially so shallow and selfish, then grows to wanting to be a better and truer hero. He really learns and changes and is just an unstoppable force of nature, it's genuinely incredible and beautiful to watch.

Least favorite thing - I wished that the overall writing did go harder in making him stop bad-mouthing people and...everything so much. You can tell he did grow to respect and care for people around him more, but by gods he is sooo bad at communicating his feelings right now. (tbf, he is so fucking young and traumatized) - Also, really please stop hitting people. I get a knee-jerk reaction to that kind of physical violence sometimes ngl.

Favorite line/scene - There are so many. I already mentioned his death in "Light Fades to Rain" so I'll mention a different one - Team Bakugou in Class A vs B was so goddamn good, for being a monumental milestone of his character. How much he trusted his teammates and put himself in danger to save others, winning in the end. No injuries, no failures, truly a perfect beautiful victory. How he also pushes Deku to keep getting better afterwards in his usual constipated-ass language too. Man I just love that battle to death.

Favorite interaction that character has with another - (me pulling out scenes that aren't bkdk centered here hahaha) - I fucking LOVED the Bakugou vs Ochako fight. It made me love Ochako so so much as a kid. I really wished we had a follow-up to that battle, and it genuinely changed my life. - I love how it really shows just how focused and rational he is in battle. How he truly respects his opponents, Ochako in this case, and the sports festival really establishes so much about him.

A character that I wish that character would interact with more - Speaking of which...OCHAKO VS BAKUGO 2 COME ONNNN - There is SO MUCH these two need to talk about. How to save people, who they want to save, who saved them, never underestimating each other, how they changed and grew. I just love these two characters to bits, that's why I need them to FIGHT AND TALK SO BADDDD - Additional: Also Toga (see my post on Toga right before this one lmao), Shoto (because I still don't really get their friendship but its hilarious, and I love Shoto)

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character - I legit cannot think of anything here...like for Toga...I am so sorry my brain is blanking T__T - It's hard to be a massive anger-issue filled, victory-focused, die for their lover (twice), amazing chef, all at once, kinda guy...you know?

A headcanon about that character - I am a believer in trans!fem Bakugo in the future. He's so ridiculously angry for some reason, voice always cracking, and just on-edge for some reason. Idk I just think its hilarious and satisfying if he transed his gender in the future and became happier and more comfortable.

A song that reminds of that character - I also have a Bkdk playlist in the making! Here's some bkg focused songs in character development order: - Boys will be Bugs, President Perfect, Top of my School, Oh No!, I'm Gonna Win, The Last of the Real Ones, Skyfall, Die For You, Set Fire to the Rain

An unpopular opinion about that character - Like Toga, he actually isn't possessive. I think he quite well understands and accepts that Izuku is a very loving person that many people are easily drawn to (I mean, he'd be a hypocrite if he didn't understand that). - He is protective instead of possessive. He keeps an eye out for anything and anyone who could possibly actually hurt Izuku, but he doesn't hold him back at all in hanging around with others, and when other people fall for Izuku either. - He is actually quite skinny, and doesn't have the big thick buff guy build. Those go to Izuku and Iida more imo.

Favorite picture - I never really thought of this much??? I love art of him being softer, more solemn, quiet and contemplative even. I guess I'll go pick out some favs right now...

Here they are! Hope you enjoy the post lmao

[carpenoctem-tharea]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks to @the-reading-lemon for tagging me here. It took me a few days to answer, but better late than never :)

How many works do you have on Ao3? 3

What's your total Ao3 word count? 161,814 words

What fandoms do you write for? So far, only Captain America (Stucky)

What are your top five fics by kudos? Since there are only 3 of them, here’s the top three: 3) Mission Protocol, 2) Press Pause To Halt The Game, 1) Press X To Jump. 2 and 1 both being part of my We Could Be Heroes Series (unofficially called "MCUJumanji")

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yep. I’m always super happy about comments. When I posted my first fic, I had to get a handle on constantly checking my mails for comments, but I think I’m getting better at not obsessing over my writing and the comments too much.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Well, to be honest I think I’m a sucker for non-happy endings. That being said, I do not plan on writing a not-happy ending for We Could Be Heroes - mostly because my friend and fic enabler will appear to smother me with a pillow (after writing a happy ending). But I planned a happy ending for that series anyway ;) So far, the angstiest ending is Press X To Jump. Not that Press Pause to Halt The Game does not have its fair share of angst, but I wanted to end that on a hopeful note (with at least one character’s pov).

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Considering that We Could Be Heroes is planned to be about 4 parts (and we’re finally moving to the happier endings with part 3!), it would be Mission Protocol.

Do you get hate on fics? So far, no.

Do you write smut? Yes, but none of it in those published fics ;)

Do you write crossovers? I have a WIP that has a crossover setting (kind of), as there is a quick blink-and-you-will-miss-it moment @the-reading-lemon's characters from Destruction of Ice appear (Sally Donovan, John Watson and Sherlock). Overall, however, it’s mostly focused on something else in the PsyChangeling world (with some mentions of the original characters by Nalini Sing). Other than that, no. I haven’t written any crossovers. I'm all for AUs apparently. Looking at my WIP folder/ideas there are definitely a few more AUs I'd love to do ... or just daydram about :D

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I’m aware of. Then again, I have only three published works (and only started publishing my writing on AO3 recently-ish).

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope, but if you want to go for it, please do. It would be an honor if someone read my work and thought "you know what, I want to translate it". Funny story though I did translate two (and a half) fics for fun when I needed a distraction from writing my dissertation (on translation). And what better way to do that than translate 100k of fanfic on the side? :D I never published those though and it was more out of personal curiosity of how I would handle that in German. If I were to translate other fics I’d put just as much research and care into it as I do with my translations at work - and that is currently something I don't have the time or energy for. But maybe I'll re-translate those fics and check with the author if it's okay do add them to their work on AO3.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Technically, no. I only got to the plotting part after a friend told me about her story idea and we snowballed from there, agreed to never inflict our combined writing evilness on people and continued plotting. We didn’t really get to the writing part. For We Could Be Heroes, I had immense help from two friends who helped with bringing the plot into shape and navigating some roadblocks and character questions in general.

What's your all-time favourite ship? Tough question – I’d say any combination of Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson.

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Oh god. I used to be so good at finishing things I was writing. Mostly because I hate jumping between different stories, so I made myself finish my current WIP before I could move on. Now, however, I have a few WIPs on my drive that have been there … a while. @the-reading-lemon will hate to hear it, but I fear it might be my pirate story (but one never knows, maybe I’ll finish it one day – all parts of it^^)

What are your writing strengths? Honestly, I’m not sure.

What are your writing weaknesses? Definitely one of my weaknesses is that I cannot keep things short (which can also help sometimes). When I re-read the first part of the We Could Be Heroes series, I noticed that some things were quite repetitive and I would cut them now. But when I moved on to part 2, I noticed that the repetition was not as bad anymore.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Being a German native, I love to see it! Other languages make things interesting in stories and I always love to see how it is handled (by characters in the story, and the author).

First fandom you wrote for? Don’t hate me, but thinking back I think it was Twilight. Although I have to say I didn’t know it that I was writing fanfic at the time – I just wanted Seth to have a nice story too :D After @the-reading-lemon had kindly dragged me into the fandom world and I willingly jumped down the rabbit hole of Captain America, it was Stucky.

Favourite fic you've ever written? From the three published ones, Press Pause To Halt The Game.

Tagging: Whoever feels like answering those questions.

[jukebox-arts]

I was an OG FNAF fan and watched content of SB when it first dropped; I cycled out of the fandom briefly due to IRL things and then looped back to watch mods and glitch runs. It made me appreciate how absolutely broken the game is. I ended up watching Ask Sun and Moon by Shandzii a few times, and got exposed to DCA content on Tiktok through SatogaCrank and a few others. I've been stuck in the glue trap since.

TBH I didn't care for the DCAs at first because their designs freaked me out, but as good fandom does, I warmed up to them via the above creators and started my own AU interpretations thereafter. I've always loved sun-moon(-stars) motifs and in my current situation having never had comfort characters before, the slew of wholesome DCA content really stapled me to the glue trap.

Technically from the beginning if it's SB, but DCA was Nov or Dec 2022? Ish?

I haven't but my bestie did, partially. We bought the game to take screenshots for references and currently have a very persistent Moon running rampant in the daycare trying to get us so we didn't get far.

To date? ASL Sun for the holidays, the "New Mother" comic, and my AU images, "Tidal Lock" and "Kilonova"

I really love the new-genre-style art that they keep coming up with, making D&D characters, wizards, mermaids, etc. The wholesome stuff makes me happy, especially when its a little new or well done.

I really like 8um8le's "Stellar City", I'm in the fringes of Fairy, Overshadowed and GITM, plus my own Free Runner and Legacy AUs.

The Jens (Jennifer, Jenny and Jenn). I've put so much work into them compared to my usual amount, they're my darlings and I adore them all.

Used to dislike it but Biblically Accurate has become amusing and very interesting to see interpreted because it's so rare now, it feels like.

The pure creativity and amazing DCA variants. I really like robots.

Canon? Sun. From an AU that isn't mine? Probably 8um8le's Sun. From mine? Moon, hands down (sorry Sun). Overall if it's not just Sun or Moon? 8um8le's Cat or Eclipse, or Satoga's Nova.

Canon Eclipse is baby, but pre-canon fandom Eclipse was wild to see evolve.

That guy needed a vacation long before the glitch set in, but I think he enjoyed himself.

He definitely had the theater kid vibe, switching on a dime from nap time to goblin mode faster than the light could flip.

Personally, they're two AI, but I enjoy the rare takes where they're a split persona or Jekyll-Hyde situation if done well. Generally it doesn't matter to me as long as it's... tasteful, we'll say.

More AUs that aren't focused on the pizzaplex. I'm biased.

DCA-cest I guess? But I filter my tags so it's not a big deal, I mostly just don't like it when they're written as brothers AND lovers at the same time. Also, fucking shipping drama. Oh my god. Leave each other alone.

Turning my Free Runner AU into a legit comic/story that's only mildly DCA-adjacent.

I'd like to hope so, I consider myself a safe person so I shouldn't set off any danger signs.

Seriously, keep cranking out other DCA variants, they're tasty and I'm looking with as much respect as I can muster.

Additional nitpick/vent thing: I love me some saucy bots but I can't reconcile canon-adjacent, active daycare attendants having genitals. Do whatever, genuinely, but I just do not comprehend them having any simply because of what they are and are made to do. It's the one thing I can't suspend my disbelief on for some reason.

Non-canon-compliant scenarios or later modified outside of fazbear? Abso-fucking-lutely. Love to see it.

But currently-working-in-the-daycare-they-were-built-to-be-in? Too confusing. Brain error.

That's all.

alright dca fandom, here's some questions bc i'm curious. the funky jesters make our brains go brr, but why? treat it as an ask game or answer in the tags if you feel like it! :)

how did you get here?

why these characters in particular? what was the hook for you?

how long have you been here?

have you actually played fnaf sb?

if you make content, what's your favorite piece you've contributed?

what's your favorite sort of art or fic? what genre/flavor/style?

what's your favorite au?

do you have any ocs, or have any ocs you're fond of?

what do you think of the dca's canon appearance? Scary? Cute? Something else?

what keeps you in this fandom despite the very small amount of canon content the dca had?

be honest: if you had to pick only one, sun or moon?

thoughts on eclipse?

thoughts on pre-glitch sun?

thoughts on pre-glitch moon?

do you interpret sun and moon as two sides of the same person, or truly two separate beings in one body? does it matter?

what's something in the fandom you'd like to see more of?

what's something in the fandom you'd like to see less of?

anything you're looking forward to?

do you think you'd actually get along with the dca if you met them irl?

free space! talk about whatever's on your mind!

[sergeanthopeless]

female Byleth S-supports ranked best to worst

(keeping my personal feelings about the pairings themselves to a minimum)

(Gilbert and Alois omitted, since those are platonic S-supports)

(warning: long post)

1. Seteth 

This S-support is about as romantic as it can get. This thing just makes my heart flutter every. dang. time. and it’s easily the best S-support in the whole game for female Byleth. There’s a REASON why a lot of people hop aboard the Setleth train after witnessing this masterpiece.

Sure, Seteth lectures his way in and out of the proposal, but let’s be real, if it was any different it would be out of character, and acting the responsible advisor is just part of his charm. Plus, he pledges utter devotion to Byleth for the rest of his existence, and we essentially get wedding vows out of this one. It doesn’t get better than that!

He’s so self-assured during this S-support, and that’s sexy. But he is patient and affectionate with her, and takes the time to make sure there’s no room for confusion. He clarifies that his feelings are not those of duty (which is a problem with some other S-supports), or an interest in perpetuating a Nabatean or Crest-rich bloodline. It’s very clear that he just wants her, and that’s it. But where others put Byleth on a pedestal, this S-support feels like an exchange between equals.

Byleth’s reaction to this one is particularly noteworthy — there’s an unusual amount of emotional expression from Byleth during this S-support, INCLUDING A FRIGGIN BLUSH! Byleth does NOT blush often during these supports. Plus, Byleth asks Seteth to promise that he’ll follow wherever she goes. Unlike some of the other S-supports, it’s very clear that she’s invested in him and wants him.

Favorite quotes:

“I cannot conceive of a world without you in it.”

“I love you, deeply. Will you marry me?”

“From this day forward, I will always be at your side. Through good or ill fortune. Through the greatest of joys and the worst of woes. No matter how daunting the task, I will be there.”

“Courage, my love. Let us go forth and face the world - together.”

2. Hubert 

I was genuinely caught off-guard with Hubert, especially since I haven’t played Crimson Flower yet and have gotten all of my impressions of Hubert from the fandom. A pleasant surprise, though, and pleasant enough to snag the #2 best S-support!

He starts with advisor nagging, which is no surprise since that’s his character. However, he doesn’t take too long to get to the point of the conversation, and everything is straightforward yet sweet. It’s very cute how he flustered he gets in the beginning, and his self-consciousness about his suitability as a husband is really sweet. But what really clinched this for me was the privilege of seeing a BLUSHY HUBERT! This surprisingly lovable psychopath gets so dang worked up and excited over Byleth giving him a ring and proposing to him right back.

Favorite quotes:

“[I’d] rather you be with me rather than some dubious individual.” (Yes, I altered the quote, but let’s be real, he wasn’t talking about Edelgard there.)

“I once thought killing you would be a great challenge, but the real difficulty was declaring my love.”

3. Ignatz 

This S-support starts with an angry Ignatz, which had me worried. Ignatz is one of those characters where I expected his apparent youthfulness to cause a problem in his S-support (it definitely causes problems in other S-supports), even though he’s actually 17 at the start of game like Felix, Dimitri, Claude, Raphael, Ferdinand, and Edelgard. So I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer maturity of his proposal!

While he’s definitely self-conscious and doesn’t even expect Byleth to accept his proposal, it says a lot that Ignatz still had the guts to do the proposing. While he expresses surpassing admiration toward Byleth as someone who supported him through troubled times, he’s not dependent or subservient. Yes, there is a prominent fixation on Byleth’s beauty, but he’s an artist, so I think that adds more meaning to what would otherwise be an extremely shallow point to make during an S-support.

Favorite quotes:

“You are my goddess.”

 “You soothed my troubled soul.”

“My beloved goddess.”

“I want to love you for all eternity.”

“I love you with all my soul.”

Hoo boy, this boy’s got a serious SILVER TONGUE on him! *fans self*

4. Lorenz 

Regardless of how you feel about Lorenz, you’ve gotta admit this is a pretty flawless proposal. He reminisces about and apologizes for the trouble he used to cause as a youth, has a smooth transition into the presentation of the ring, and then his composure falls apart when Byleth reveals she’s been wise to him all along. He’s such a perfectionist, and his determination to propose perfectly is very consistent with his character. But I also appreciate that he made sure of Byleth’s feelings before actually asking her to marry him (ring presentation aside).

This S-support makes it very clear just how much Lorenz admires Byleth, which I feel is extremely important in context of his character. He can be incredibly self-centered to the point of being downright irritating, so the fact that he’s now talking about her and is focused entirely on her shows the sincerity of his feelings and how much Lorenz has grown as a person.

The bit at the end where he gets overexcited and uses his full name is hilarious, but I’m glad the S-support doesn’t end there, which would have taken away from it. Instead, it ends with Lorenz swearing to make Byleth happy and work with her in making the world a better place. Equal partners!

The last thing that really made this S-support for me was the voice acting. The broken voice, trembling, and stammering really added emotional depth to Lorenz’s character in this critical moment, and really brought everything to the next level in terms of overall impact.

Favorite quote: “Pedigree and status are no longer priorities for me. I now know that what matters most is the worth of an individual’s soul.”

5. Felix

The moment I noticed that this S-support was taking place at the training grounds, I knew it was going to be good. And it goes exactly as you would expect with our favorite tsundere, flustered and deflecting and all, but the sheer effort that he ends up putting into it is so endearing. And I adore how Byleth messes with him the whole time.

It starts rough, let’s be real. He just hands the ring to Byleth and tells her to “take this.” Oh, Felix. This poor boy is so. friggin. hopeless. You can practically hear his thought process leading up to this point. “How do I make sure Byleth never leaves?... Ah, marriage — yes, that’ll lock her in!” *facepalm*

But Felix’s body language is what really makes this S-support, starting with the finger point and then ending with the kabedon. Plus, we get a glimpse of something very rare: blushy Felix!

Favorite quotes:

“Fight me for the rest of my life.”

“I want you to be my wife. Please say yes. Let’s get married and stay together until we die. I love you.”

6. Balthus

I really didn’t know what to expect with this one, although to be honest, what expectations I did have were fairly low. Yet despite his faults, Balthus managed to scrape together a rather charming S-support! His nervousness and stuttering is adorable for such a big, tough-talking guy, and I love that we actually get an impatient “Just say it already,” from Byleth.

It was nice to see Byleth’s good influence on Balthus, although I’m not a fan of the woman-redeems-man trope. And considering that Balthus asks for up to 5 years to get his act together…that wasn’t exactly a point in his favor.

What made this S-support for me was all of the classic lines. Balthus isn’t necessarily a smooth talker, but it would be wrong to say that he doesn’t know how to talk to a woman. The proposal itself had me ROLLING: “Marry me, pal!” The voice acting was flawless, particularly when he said, “my love.” Balthus, I’ll say this on Byleth’s behalf: please stop trying so hard. And never say that again.

Favorite quotes:

“It’s time to take the biggest gamble of my life.”

“Comfort be damned! I need you by my side. Always.”

“Let’s get hitched right away! I know a guy.”

“To look after you...and be brave enough to let you look after me. that’s what marriage is all about, right?”

S-support portraits shouldn’t really matter here, but I’m going out on a limb here and saying that Balthus’ portrait is the best one of all Byleth’s S-supports.

7. Dorothea

I have a lot of Dorothea feels, okay? She’s my baby girl. And by this point in the game, she’s so jaded and used to disappointment that it just breaks my heart. So when Byleth proposes to her, you can hear the genuine emotion in her voice. She’s so in love with Byleth, but clearly talked herself out of it long before this moment. “You won the war. You could pick anyone in the world. Why would you…?”

And then she’s so happy. It’s not fancy, but her pure happiness really makes this for me. The hopeless romantic finally getting her happy ending is just really lovely.

Favorite quote: “I starred in so many operas where I captured the heart of my beloved. But I never dreamed that it would feel this wonderful when it actually happened.”

8. Ferdinand

Oh boy, Ferdie. There wasn’t much of a preamble, and the presentation of the ring wasn’t anything special. He’s still full of himself: “You hear noble Ferdinand von Aegir declare his love for you, and all you say is, ‘I understand’?” and this S-support is more focused on him than it is on Byleth, which is exactly the opposite of what happened with Lorenz’s S-support, even though they’re similar characters.

That being said, this S-support has its moments. We get a good reaction out of him (even though it’s over the top), and we get a sign of his personal growth when he reins himself in. The trembling and feeling faint is very cute (10/10), and considering his ambitious nature, him saying that he considers winning Byleth’s heart to be one of his greatest accomplishments is sweet, as is the way he dreams about their future.

In other words, this one starts rough, but ends sweet.

Favorite quote: “I need you as much as I need my next breath — more, even.”

9. Dedue

Can we just appreciate that Dedue chose to leave Dimitri for Byleth? That is so meaningful. Dedue spends the entire game unhealthily attached to Dimitri, and finally he finds something that he chooses for himself. Of course, there is the concern that he will become unhealthily attached to Byleth, but I don’t get that impression from his S-support.

There are so many wonderful little details in this S-support. The tiny, modest ring. The straightforward proposal. Both of them gazing at each other in loving, comfortable silence afterward. Byleth’s blush. And DEDUE’S LAUGH. Just. the laugh. It’s important.

Finally, Dedue invites Byleth to come with him to visit Duscur. TAKE NOTES, CLAUDE!! Anyway…

10. Edelgard

*takes a deep breath and sets aside my feelings about Edelgard’s stance on the Children of the Goddess*

Alright, so this S-support is significant because it’s one of the few where you can tell that there is genuine affection on Byleth’s end. She really takes charge of the proposal, going so far as to use Edelgard’s nickname, “El,” to convey affection and intimacy.

At first I was concerned when I heard Edelgard say, “This ring…thank you, my dearest friend,” and I was like HOLD UP – did Byleth just get friendzoned?? But Edelgard clarifies by expressing that she has romantic feelings too, which saves the scene. But while sweet, the rest of the S-support focuses on Edelgard’s ambitions and generally lacks romance. Fitting for her character? Yes. A satisfying S-support? Not really.

11. Dimitri 

It’s clear from the beginning of this S-support that Dimitri and Byleth have become close friends. I appreciate the way they talk about their wounds, and although talking about Dimitri’s nightmares is far darker than I expected from an S-support, it shows just how much Dimitri has improved.

What disappointed me about this S-support is the lack of emotion on both sides. Sure, the “my beloved” pet name is wonderful. And sure, Byleth isn’t very emotional as a rule. But Byleth shows more emotional in other S-supports. And there is not nearly enough of a reaction on Dimitri’s side. Come on, dude. You’ve been aggressively simping over Byleth since Day 1, and you’re just taking this proposal in stride?? You should be unconscious right now.

12. Mercedes

I’m so proud of how far Mercedes has come at this point. She’s determined to live in a way that makes her happy, outside of her Crest or anyone else’s expectations. That being said, a lot of this S-support feels more like it could have been an A+ support.

Major points to Mercedes to being the one to do the proposing. A lot of people mistake her kind nature for being demure, which is not the case. She is bold, speaks her mind, and knows what she wants. And in this case, that’s Byleth. Her proposal is gentle and respectful, if a bit bland, and her reaction to Byleth’s acceptance is absolutely adorable. She’s so happy yet insecure, and I wish there was more communication from Byleth to reassure her.

13. Hanneman

Hanneman is an academic through and through, and his nature as a scholar comes through strongly in his S-support. He tries to approach things pragmatically, almost ruins things by talking about Byleth’s role in his research, but fortunately realizes that’s the wrong way to do it and takes a new approach with more feeling. It’s very similar to Linhardt’s S-support, but less self-centered and overall better. Hanneman treats Byleth as an equal, and shows enthusiasm in his own way.

Overall, this is an extremely pragmatic S-support, but it’s not without its charms. That being said, it definitely requires an interpretation of Byleth’s character where she has developed a taste for academia.

Favorite quotes:

“I suppose there’s no reason to hold ourselves back any longer.”

“I don’t want the power of your Crest - I want you.”

“I can’t wait to see the results of this undertaking.”

14. Yuri

This S-support is very consistent with Yuri’s character. The scene opens with Yuri trying to repay his “debt” to Byleth, which definitely lacks in romantic vibes, but works in context. It’s nice to see Yuri nervous and out of composure, but I admit I had been expecting…more…from him with how charming he’s supposed to be. Then again, like Sylvain, maybe the fact that he’s dropped the façade is supposed to make it meaningful. At least he blushes! Blushy Yuri is something I didn’t know I needed. The bit at the end where he whispers his true name in her ear is very nice, too.

But yikes…Yuri talks about his death. And considering that in most of the routes, Byleth ends up being most likely essentially immortal, this hits HARD. She is definitely facing the death of her lover in a few decades at most, and that is not something she wants to think about during a proposal.

Favorite quote: “In return for this ring, I ask for you.”

15. Raphael 

Raphael is a pretty clueless, non-romantic kind of guy. But the sudden proposal is very cute. Considering how awful he is at expressing himself, it works really well with his character to simply have him jump right in and get it over with.

That being said, I couldn’t help but feel that his reasoning for getting married was just a little loose. He always wants to be with Byleth and expresses that he wants to serve as her knight. Uh, you realize you can do that without marrying her right, bud? Byleth didn’t seem to be very into this proposal either, although she does have a wonderful little smile in the S-support portrait, which makes up for that. I love how the portrait emphasizes Raph’s size and strength by having him lift her up bridal style. It’s an actually flattering portrayal of him, too.

Favorite quote: “And…I’ll love you. Forever and ever. And ever!”

16. Sylvain 

Ah yes, Sylvain. Our favorite train wreck. The good news is that he’s finally taking charge of his life, and I like that he’s straightforward in this S-support rather than flirtatious, which means that you know he’s being sincere. It’s cute to see him genuinely happy, and his statement that “I’m going to spend the rest of our lives together trying to make you happy,” is very good.

However, the “If you told me you never wanted me to look at another woman, I’d go blind for you” is going too far. I know it addresses his skirt-chasing character, but I just don’t know if they could have a healthy relationship. I know this is rating the support scene, not the ship itself, but I don’t think that’s a positive indicator for the future.

17. Claude 

This S-support gives me so many bad vibes. Yes, he expresses his love for Byleth as well as his utmost confidence in her, but dude, actions matter more than words, and your actions speak VOLUMES. He’s the only one to just run off at the end of the S-support, and while I understand his reasoning — I really do — it’s clear that his own agenda and ambitions will always come before Byleth.

This is what I heard: “Right now, Fodlan is like a newborn... so that’s why I’m leaving, so you have to do all the hard stuff yourself. See ya, sucker!!” Ah yes. Prime husband and father material there. Obviously.

“I’m sorry that I won’t be by your side at such an important event...” Uh huh, yeah right. You’re obviously itching to get out of there.

I’m sorry, Claude stans, but giving Byleth an engagement ring and then running away for who knows how long is LAME.

18. Jeritza

The first thing that struck me about this S-support is the fact that it takes place in the Agarthan HQ, Shambhala. This is super meaningful because it means that Byleth and Jeritza go there together to use their killing prowess to take out Those Who Slither in the Dark post-Crimson Flower. It’s a nice way to tie up the route. The portrait is super dynamic and unique, too. That being said…

He’s still fixated on killing Byleth. If that’s your thing, then hey, I can’t judge. At least we all know that if he hasn’t killed her by now, it’s never going to happen. It’s such an empty threat it’s probably an inside joke by now. But Jeritza’s clearly still figuring out his feelings, which means I’m not sure it really counts as an S-support (it would have made a better A+ support imho). There are also things about this pairing and S-support that have some serious implications for who Byleth has become by this point and what the future is likely to look like. Good storytelling, yes, but as an S-support…not my favorite.

Favorite quotes:

“It is you alone who can slay the demon inside me.”

“To the very depths of hell, I will tumble down with you.”

19. Linhardt

This S-support falls flat for me. It’s like Hanneman’s, but worse because it’s super self-centered. I feel like it’s a really bad summary of Linhardt’s character because so much more could have been done with it. Linhardt has lots of good traits, and this S-support ignores all of them. Instead, we have a one-dimensional S-support that focuses on Linhardt’s laziness and penchant for napping. He’s so self-centered and consumed by his own interests, so saying that he wants to study Byleth for the rest of his life makes her more like an accessory to his life plans rather than a central component. At least when Hanneman says he wants to study Byleth, he makes it very clear that he loves her and wants her as a person.

And the line where he says "I didn’t honestly think you’d reject me” is just…wow. Much disappoint. If I were Byleth I would turn him down on the spot just for saying that.

20. Ashe 

Ashe’s S-support comes off to me like he’s pledging himself to her as a vassal more than actually proposing. Yes, he does take initiative and does the proposing, which is consistent with the fact that Ashe is a gutsy little guy. But he’s so stuck on being helpful that the S-support ends up feeling immature. Plus, Byleth doesn’t seem very enthusiastic about the proposal compared to other S-supports, and overall Ashe’s worship of Byleth comes off as more dependent than romantic.

21. Caspar

We’ve reached the bottom four S-supports, starting with this disaster. Caspar is juvenile, reckless, and oblivious. (Don’t get me wrong — I adore his character and see him like a little brother.) Byleth has to take charge of the proposal, which is not a problem in itself, but then Caspar confesses that he hasn’t even thought about marrying Byleth — or anyone at all! asaslkjasdflk FAIL

At least the victory shout is kind of cute…if painfully cheesy.

And they get worse from here…

22. Rhea

I don’t have a lot to say here. I know I said that I would keep my personal feelings about the pairings themselves out of this, but I feel like there are certain things about this particular pairing that need to be addressed along with this S support.

Age gap aside (because frankly with immortals, age doesn’t really matter anymore), Rhea CREATED Byleth’s mother, essentially making herself Byleth’s grandmother. Incest vibes, yo. Plus, she fully intended to sacrifice Byleth’s life in order to bring back Sothis — which, granted, is a sentiment that wears off, and Jeritza is just as bad in terms of original intent to kill Byleth. This makes any kind of romantic revelation on Rhea’s side just…weird.

There are some good quotes in this S-support, and we get a ton of reveals about Rhea’s character development in a short amount of time. She’s self-conscious of her other form as a dragon, she acknowledges the wrongs she did in the past, and she expresses a desire to repent. She acknowledges the pivotal role that Byleth has played through her choices and accomplishments, rather than attributing them to fate and the “flow of time.” But honestly this would be more appropriate as a final scene at the end of the game, not a romantic S-support.

23. Cyril

Oh boy. Where do I start with this one? It’s so bad...

This boy is BABY. 19 years old after the war? Sure. Attractive design? Yes. But still, he. is. BABY. And the S-support portrait makes it so much worse by making him look freaking TEN.

And he’s so, so oblivious. Even worse than Caspar. He barely has a personality as a character outside of being committed to the servant mentality, and he has had no opportunity to discover himself as a freaking person outside of his obsession with Rhea. It should be illegal to even consider this kid for S-support. One thing would be if it was platonic, like Alois or Gilbert, but Byleth gives him the ring, and that means it’s supposed to be romantic.

Plus, Cyril says that he loves Byleth, but it’s super casual and comes off more like familial or friendship love rather than romantic love. Unless I missed something, I don’t think Byleth ever says that she loves Cyril in their S-support. And the end is just the worst: “Love ya, see ya in the morning.” That’s IT???? There is absolutely no indication of a mature relationship, and that’s just scary and gross.

I just…really hate this S-support. There’s only one S-support that’s worse…

24. Sothis

Forget everything that I said about keeping my feelings about particular pairings out of this ranking. This is a TRULY CURSED S-SUPPORT.

I don’t care that Sothis is technically a goddess whose age is beyond counting or mortal comprehension. All that matters is she looks like a child. She is lolibait. And to top it all off, she doesn’t even have physical form (thank goodness) — she’s just an apparition in Byleth’s head!

And this quote? “I love you deeply! Overwhelmingly! passionately! Ours is a love without an end!” I only have two words: PEAK CRINGE.

It would be one thing if Sothis came back in her adult form. Or better yet, if she had always been in her adult form as portrayed in the fresco in the reception hall. You can do something with that. But that’s not the case, Sothis is portrayed as a pre-pubescent child in both appearance and personality, and that’s just pedophilia vibes, y’all. I can’t believe this is a sincere S-support option.

[classysassy9791]

An art piece and a work of fanfiction for @ftguildevents​ Rare Pair Week Day 7: Promise

Fandom: Fairy Tail Genre: Hurt/Comfort Pairing: Gajeel x Lucy if you squint Rating: K Words: 1400

Pinky Promise

The frigid concrete of her prison’s floor refused to let Lucy rest. Clothed in barely enough fabric to keep her decency intact, the bitter cold coupled with the hard surface kept her mind focused on the present. She wasn’t sure how exactly she kept finding herself in these situations. Regardless of how strong she became or the extent her abilities grew, she somehow always fell victim to some deranged wizard’s attempt at world domination - or something to that effect. It was thoroughly exhausting. 

Her brown eyes rested on the iron bars that kept her isolated from the outside world. Although her captors didn’t chain her to the wall or bind her wrists, she was still utterly powerless. They had been smart enough to confiscate her celestial keys and fleuve d’etoiles. She really did need to figure out a way to either summon her spirits without the use of their keys, or learn a new type of magic, because regardless of how strong she became, without her celestial keys she was useless. But, even if her detainers had been idiotic enough to leave her keys with her, it wouldn’t have helped much. Apparently the jail was spelled against magic attacks, so her spirits wouldn’t have been able to assist her anyways. 

“Just great,” Lucy huffed as she folded her arms around her knees and dropped her head. Here she was again, a damsel in distress, waiting for her guild to find a way to save her. Becoming a part of Fairy Tail meant a promise to go on adventures and to grow into an exceptional wizard - not become some pawn in a game. She knew her guildmates would find her eventually, but waiting around to be saved wasn’t exactly enjoyable. 

Suddenly, the sounds of heavy footsteps sprinting down the long corridor that housed the prison cells caught Lucy’s attention. She snapped her head up, a familiar hope blooming in her chest. “N-Natsu?” she dared to call out, praying that the footsteps belonged to the dragon slayer who always seemed to arrive in the nick of time. She wasn’t sure what kind of carnage lay in his wake, but being reliable had always been an unwavering truth about him. “Natsu?”

When the person finally came to her cell, the eyes that met her were a far cry from those she was expecting. “Hey there, bunny girl,” Gajeel greeted with a cocky grin. “Not who you were expecting?” 

No, the iron dragon slayer was the last person Lucy had expected to come to her rescue. After all, he had been her tormentor once upon a time, and they had never truly been close since he joined Fairy Tail. She had forgiven him a long time ago, but that didn’t mean she had forgotten. “Gajeel?” she murmured, climbing to her feet. “Where’s Natsu?” 

He shrugged, crimson eyes studying the cell door. “Somewhere causing a ruckus, I’m sure.” 

The blonde chewed on the inside of her cheek and wrapped her arms around herself. “How did you know where I was?” 

“Tch. Please, you get kidnapped so much you should come with your own ransom note.” 

Lucy narrowed her eyes, a vein throbbing in her forehead. “It’s not my fault I have all the crazy fans!” 

The dragon slayer chuckled. “Yeah, well, we can deal with your crazy fans once I break you out of here.” 

“Be careful. They used an anti-magic spell on the doors,” she said. If Natsu had been the one to rescue her, he would’ve tried to blast the doors wide open with a fire-dragon iron fist before listening to Lucy’s warning. He always had been an act-first-think-later kind of person. Natsu lived his life based on pure instinct. 

Gajeel, on the other hand, had more finesse to him. Lucy hated to admit it, but the iron dragon slayer actually put thought behind his attacks, fighting style, and overall character - something that Natsu sorely lacked. Which was perhaps exactly what she needed right now. 

“That won’t stop me,” Gajeel replied with a smirk, just before Lucy watched him sink his sharp teeth into one of the bars keeping her prisoner. 

Watching Natsu eat fire was one thing. Gajeel chomped away at the iron as if he was eating a five-course meal, grumbles of, “this ain’t half bad” being heard over the crunch of splintering metal. Before long, he had eaten away enough of her cell door to allow her to slip through, and she took a deep breath of freedom. 

“Here.” Gajeel took off his dark blue trench coat and threw it around Lucy’s shivering frame. “You’ll catch your death if you’re not careful.” 

“Thanks,” she mumbled, slipping her arms into the too-big jacket and folding it around herself. She ignored the blush that had worked its way into her cheeks. “Any idea of how to get out of here?” 

He grinned. “Follow me.”

Gajeel took off running down the corridor he had appeared from, keeping an ear focused on Lucy’s light footsteps behind him. They turned down several passageways, leaving the celestial mage to wonder if Gajeel really knew his sense of direction - dragon slayer or no dragon slayer. The nearly pitch black and damp atmosphere of the maze would be enough to make anyone question their awareness. 

Suddenly, Gajeel halted in his tracks, almost causing Lucy to bump into him. She peered around his towering frame to only see darkness beyond. “What is it?”

He knitted his brows and frowned. “We got company, and I don’t think they’re friendly.” 

That was the last thing they needed right now. Without her keys, Lucy wouldn’t be able to help in a fight, which didn’t give her a good feeling about their odds. “Is there another way out?” 

Gajeel glanced at her and hooked a thumb over his shoulder to where they had just come from. “There was a passageway we passed a little while back. Go that way. Should lead you out of here.” 

She pouted. “Why didn’t we just go that way in the first place?”

He shrugged. “Thought I’d take a short cut.” 

“Oh, come on,” she growled out in annoyance. “Let’s get out of here before they show up then!”

“Nah.” The iron dragon slayer grinned and started rotating his shoulder to loosen it. “I haven’t had nearly enough fun as Salamander. I’m staying put.”

“Gajeel-” Lucy tried to argue with him, but was cut off when he tossed her something. She nearly didn’t catch it in the dark, a slight squeal escaping her lips as she haphazardly grabbed onto it. When she looked down, she found herself holding the small pouch that housed her celestial keys. “My-My keys.” 

“Figured you might need ‘em.” She looked up to find Gajeel giving her a thumbs up - which made her cringe - before he turned back in the direction of their approaching enemy. “Now get out of here.” 

She wanted to protest. The dark guild they had found themselves up against were playing for keeps, and she didn’t doubt that whoever Gajeel faced was unbelievably strong. It pained her to think about leaving him behind. “But-”

“I ain’t one to repeat myself, bunny girl.” 

Lucy studied the back of the dragon slayer, his arms clenched tight, his feet planted, a fighting stance she had seen countless times before. She knew the power behind those fists and the spirit of iron within his heart. If anyone could stand up against this enemy, it was Gajeel. In all honesty, if Lucy stayed, she’d probably only get in his way. 

“Promise me you’ll come back to us,” she demanded. 

Gajeel looked back at her and chuckled. “Aw, you actually care.” 

Lucy ignored his blatant teasing and raised her hand. “Pinky promise.” 

He gazed down at the celestial wizard, her blonde hair a mess from being cooped up in her jail cell, her brows drawn tight with concern, and her lips set in a determined line. Despite the childishness of it, he couldn’t help but wrap his pinky around her’s. Anything that would ease her worry and ensure her they would meet again. “Yeah, I promise.” 

She smiled then - not the cheerful grin she always wore at the guildhall, but a smile that told him she believed in him. Releasing his pinky, she took a step back. “I’ll see you soon.” With a final glance, she turned away and began heading down the hall they had just come from. 

Gajeel grinned as he watched her go, waiting until she disappeared from his sight before turning around to face his enemy head-on. 

[i-am-the-entertainer]

History on Stage: or, A Preamble to the Inevitable Criticisms of Suffs

Edit (4/7/22): Well I’ll be honest, when I originally wrote and queued this post for Thursday morning I thought that 1) Suffs would have opened last night and 2) all or most of the reviews would have been positive. But as it turns out, Suffs not only didn’t have an opening night but cancelled the rest of the performances this week, and the reviews that have been coming out are decidedly mixed, and they’re making the exact same criticisms I make in this post. Still, the sentiments I express in this post still apply, so I’m leaving this largely unedited.

Speaking as one of the OG Hamilton fans (I was part of the early fandom in the 2015-16 era, and yes, I saw the original cast while it was at the Public) who has gone through the various stages of both loving and hating the show, to settling on overall liking the show as a standalone piece of art but disliking its handling of history and also how its fandom receives it...

Point is, I’ve been through and seen a lot pertaining to Hamilton. Which is why I’ve been awaiting with a bit of trepidation for how people will react to Suffs.

It goes without saying that a lot of people are referring to Suffs as “the next Hamilton,” a description I find abhorrent. But the similarities are pretty obvious: both shows are history musicals that are mostly sung-through, they were developed at the Public, they’re selling out very quickly, with resale prices on tickets reaching the thousands, the hype is high, celebrities are attending regularly, the cast is racially diverse... hell, they even have some folks who have been in Hamilton, namely Phillipa Soo and Hannah Cruz.

It also, like Hamilton, centers characters who we know engaged in racist practices: namely, most of the "hero” characters in Suffs, who were historically white, willfully omitted black women and other racial minorities from their activism for the 19th Amendment. It also sacrifices historical accuracy at times in the name of telling a good story, the implications of which have yet to manifest but if Hamilton is anything to go by may not turn out great. Overall, it is a decent piece of art but an undeniably flawed view of history – and it has some of the same flaws as Hamilton, which people are going to notice.

Much as I did enjoy the overall experience – the music was good and the performers were on their A-game – I remember thinking as I left the theater, “Oh boy. I’m not looking forward to the backlash.”

Minor spoilers for Suffs follow (nothing to do with staging or design, just some specific characters and how the show is structured). Do keep in mind, before clicking the Read More: this post and its critiques reflect Suffs only in its Off-Broadway state. Although the show is locked for the Off-Broadway run, it is technically still in development, and it’s very possible most of these criticisms will prove moot should another run occur.

A word in Suffs’ defense:

The choice to depict the characters with a racially diverse cast dramaturgically meshes well with the fact that the cast is almost entirely made up of women, with all of the male roles played by female-identifying actors. Where Hamilton plays its color-conscious casting straight, Suffs has it so the actors are essentially portraying caricatures: caricatures of white men, and white people in general, which allows for some mockery (particularly Grace McLean as Woodrow Wilson, my god). Ergo, rather than using different races in casting to “absolve the white people of their racism” (as some argue Hamilton does), Suffs often highlights the whiteness of its characters in the dialogue, though I think it could go further.

Suffs is also very aware of the racism of its white characters, another thing that puts it a step above Hamilton, which does not really grapple with that. As a matter of fact, the suffrage movement’s treatment of black women voters is frequently criticized in the narrative, and a considerable amount of time is spent focused on black suffragists Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell, particularly their struggles in being heard in the movement and the pushback they got.

However, I do have a problem with this, though my problem has nothing to do with what they’re saying: more, how they’re saying it and how that affects the overall experience of seeing Suffs. It’s glaringly obvious that this element is a relatively recent addition to the show – this plot thread was apparently expanded on in a major way after the June 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in America – and it’s clear it has had less development in its execution, namely in how well it fits with the rest of the show. As a matter of fact, despite sharing some common themes with the rest of the show that make me understand how they justified adding it, it honestly feels like an entirely different storyline has been haphazardly stitched into a pre-existing work rather than something that was with the show from the start, and that makes for a rather disjointed viewing experience. For me, even as a viewer who wanted to see these white suffragists’ racism addressed, it was difficult to follow the main characters’ story when the story kept stopping every few minutes to remind us “Oh by the way, they were racist!”

Really, the storylines almost feel incompatible: the main through-line of Suffs is the story of Alice Paul and co., focused on venerating them for their brave, often dangerous actions in the name of getting support for the 19th Amendment. But when the criticism for their treatment of black women is first introduced, not even halfway through the first act, it almost taints one’s enjoyment of the rest of the musical: a friend of mine who managed to snag tickets remarked that she didn’t feel entirely comfortable supporting the main characters for the rest of the show.

Still, I give the show credit for intentionally grappling with this fact. The result is pretty messy and removing it would make for a more cohesive story (not to mention trim down its way too long runtime), but it’s better than just pretending that issue isn’t relevant to the women’s suffrage movement. This is definitely something the show will need to work on should it move to Broadway.

But then again... I’m not entirely convinced there’s anything they could do to fix that. Because...

Backlash to the Show

Suffs is very much a girlboss musical. It is fundamentally a show by white women (the collaboration between writer Shaina Taub and director Leigh Silverman) written about white women whom they admire. It is very much centered more on the white women of NAWSA and the NWP than the black women they mistreated. And I sincerely doubt there’s much stitching two white women can make that’ll change that. Already I’ve been seeing criticisms both on Twitter and from my interactions with other people who’ve seen the show at how Suffs‘ attempt at addressing the racism of its characters largely just highlights the white perspectives of its main characters and its creatives. There’s not much fixing the creative team can do without bringing on another collaborator... which from a purely financial standpoint they have no incentive to do because Suffs’ popularity at this point supersedes any losses from that criticism (though who knows? Hamilton was a shoe-in for a Broadway transfer immediately after its Public run but Miranda and Kail wanted to develop it more).

Suffs, also like Hamilton, sacrifices some actual history in the name of telling a cohesive story. This has been a source of some ire in critiques of Hamilton, that by misrepresenting history it serves to perpetuate inaccuracies. I saw a tweet a few weeks ago basically complaining that Suffs was presenting its history as fact but is actually lying, because it didn’t say the separation between the black rights’ movement and the women’s suffrage movement occurred because of Frederick Douglass: apparently he at first advocated for women’s suffrage in the 1840s but backtracked in the 1860s. I’m not giving this particular criticism too much weight though, at least pertaining to Suffs itself, partly because the person who made it hasn’t indicated they’ve actually seen the show or even really knows what it’s about beyond what is described in newspaper articles (this was pretty early on in previews, too). Suffs is focused on key figures in the women’s suffrage in the decade leading up to the passing of the 19th Amendment, from 1913-1920, so it’s a bit absurd to expect it to directly deal with history from the 1840s: I’m not sure, having seen the show, if this is even something the characters themselves would have been aware of.

Still, Suffs is probably going to trigger the same urge to examine the actual history of these characters that Hamilton did, and people will inevitably find inaccuracies and omissions to real history that Suffs made in the name of a good story. And some of these omissions will seem so glaring once more people know about them that they may be mistaken for bad faith omissions or misrepresentations (something Hamilton is frequently accused of), rather than a removal for ease of viewing or simply being something the creators missed. In my experience, most of the history-based criticisms of Hamilton, particularly on Twitter, are made by people who didn’t know that history until after they saw it, yet in the constant internet need to be right about everything, it is presented as if this is common knowledge and thus an intentional omission by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Of course it’s not common knowledge! How much common knowledge did you have about Alexander Hamilton before you saw the musical?! That’s why the musical got big: most people didn’t know anything!

That’s the thing: neither Suffs nor Hamilton are meant to be comprehensive, completely accurate histories of their subjects. They’re art inspired by history that are trying to say their own thing, and so they will futz with accuracy a bit in the name of telling a cohesive story, or perhaps they will reflect the misconceptions about history that the writers have. There’s plenty of work out there like that to which no one bats an eye. But when that work becomes mainstream, it stands to perpetuate the inaccuracies, which could lead to trouble. This happened with Hamilton, and based on Suffs as it stands now, I can very easily see it happening with this show as well.

Truth is, though, it’s not the criticisms of the show that I’m particularly concerned about. It’s the fandom, and how that will affect the intensity of the backlash.

Backlash to the fandom

A friend of mine put it best: “Fandom is a curse enacted on decent-to-good media by capitalism.”

Fandom can be annoying. This isn’t a new concept: fandom culture often leads to wildly inappropriate and problematic behavior. I’ll spare you stories of problematic Hamilton fandom behavior I’ve personally witnessed, but as far as Suffs goes, the show hasn’t even had a cast album or bootleg emerge yet and there are already superfans on Twitter who are basically harassing the actors for attention.

(These people are doing their jobs as actors. You are attached to their performances because they’re doing a good job, but you do not know these people. You are not entitled to their attention just because you like the show.)

I’m not saying Hamilton and Suffs have invalid criticisms, but in my experience backlash to a particular pop culture artifact has more to do with being annoyed with the fandom than anything the artifact itself is doing (just look at Undertale). And I don’t think the backlash to Hamilton would be nearly as strong as it was without the existence of an incredibly toxic fandom that hyped it up and in retrospect may have overstated its value. The fandom treated Hamilton, its characters, and even its actors as something they could make headcanons for and write fanfiction and make fanart about. It’s true that Hamilton was, like any television show, movie, book, musical, etc., a pop culture artifact that could be used by fan culture. But it was also a historical musical about historical figures, whose actions were being ignored in favor of the perceptions and behaviors of fandom culture. The show itself wasn’t encouraging it, but because it wasn’t discouraging it either, that led to some concerning behaviors. Like headcanons about slave owners (*shudder*).

Counterpoint: Why should it discourage it, though? No one writes media knowing what people will criticize it for or how people will receive it and thus preempts the critiques. At least, no one who writes good media – they’re just trying to write something. And if people like what they wrote, great!

Counter-counterpoint: Even if Hamilton is a piece of media meant to be consumed, it is also an introduction to history for many of its viewers, thus it carries an expectation to not teach bad history. And if it teaches bad history... people aren’t going to be happy when it is taken as the gospel truth by its followers.

These optics are why the Hamilton pushback came on as strongly as it did. I suspect, given its growing popularity, Suffs is going to be viewed as the same kind of pop culture artifact, and thus will get the same kind of backlash.

So, How Should We View Suffs?

Neither I nor you can or should make a definitive call on Suffs and how the mainstream pop culture will react to it, because it’s technically still in development. A cast recording will certainly put it on the pop culture map, but that is unlikely to come out while it’s in this state. If it goes to Broadway, we’ll more likely see one then, and who knows? By that time there may be some changes that’ll alter my view on it, or what people will ultimately complain about.

But for now: even with my quibbles, I kind of like Suffs. And I still like the version of Hamilton I remember from when I saw it all those years ago, before it became a pop culture phenomenon and the general public’s awareness of Hamilton’s life was raised: amazing performances, good music, and an introduction to history I’m not too familiar with. Suffs, like Hamilton, is undeniably flawed in its portrayal of history, yes, but I’m not going into this expecting to get a 100% accurate representation of history. Rather, I’m watching art that is inspired by history. So long as I understand that the real history is more complicated, and in some cases much more frustrating than in the musical, I can conceivably still enjoy the show.

I think it is helpful to view Suffs right now the same way I’ve ultimately come to view Hamilton: a show that is designed to provide a baseline education to its viewers on a piece of history that isn’t that well known, and thus reflects that “first glance at this” view on the subject. This will in turn contribute to it becoming a pop culture phenomenon as people are intrigued by this history. But once the phenomenon occurs, people will also learn more about that history and start to push back at what it gets wrong. But that does not mean intentional malice on the creators’ part, it just means they got something wrong. And the creators aren’t trying to make something that will attract a toxic fandom. They’re just trying to make their art.

[chaoswrites]

hiya darling! can i request hcs for akaashi, osamu, and kuroo (separately) with an s/o that has like an opposite personality from them? like, kuroo with a shy s/o that he enjoys making flustered, and akaashi and osamu with a more extroverted s/o that's always bright and bubbly. thank you so much!

Akaashi, Osamu, and Kuroo Having an S/o with the Opposite Personality

word count: 1687

gn!reader

a/n: hopefully this is meets your expectations. kuroo’s isn't as long as i wanted it to be but i wanted to get it posted. i actually had a lot of fun writing this so thank you for requesting :) feel free to send in requests, i love writing them and using them as an excuse to not do homework. enjoy and thank you for reading~

Akaashi

when akaashi first met you, he was having a bad day

the usual calm and collected setter was on the verge of cracking under the stress from a little thing called life

he was barely on time for class meaning he wasn't able to grab anything to eat before the bell; he had to deal with a mopey bokuto, and not knowing the cause, he was unable to fix his mood which resulted in bokuto following him around everywhere, whining and refusing to go to his own class most of the time; and he had to forfeit half of his lunch when someone (read: bokuto) somehow set it on fire (don't ask how, nobody knows, it wasn't even heated up or anything)

needless to say, he was hungry and exhausted from dealing with an even wore bokuto who wouldn't stop apologizing for “almost killing him”

when you walked in to practice following his two managers, it could have gone one of two ways:

one, your upbeat personality would be able to lift his spirits and be the bright beacon on his gloomy day, or

two, it could've caused him a greater headache knowing he would have to converse with someone so extroverted and expressive on the one day he wanted to hide away from the world when you made everything seemed so positive and all he wanted to do was tear his hair out from frustration on the unlucky hand he was dealt for the day

luckily for you and everyone in the vicinity, it was the former

your smiles and encouraging comments turned bokuto’s mood around, wanting to show off his skills rather than looking lame in front of this new person who has yet to see what he could do

solving one of his problems so easily drew him towards you, he wanted to know your secrets and also wanted you around all the time

after your introduction to each other that day, you both began to talk more and more

he found out you're a newfound friend of yukie and kaori even though you're a second year and that you're a food enthusiast like yukie and that you tend to talk a lot, not that its something he isn't accustomed to dealing with due to bokuto, it actually makes it easier to hang out when you tend to take charge of the conversations

the closer you guys got, the more it confused everyone else

no one expected the introverted and reserved akaashi to willingly subject himself to someone so talkative, especially since he deals with bokuto on the daily

but as more time went passed everyone accepted it as the new normal so when you two finally started dating, it surprised no one

you two were eventually known as the iconic pair of opposite personalities that seemed to just fit together, along with your third wheel that you couldn't seem to ever shake, not that akaashi expected bokuto to leave him alone once he started dating, he resigned himself to forever being his babysitter

you both complimented each other nicely, you being the open, bubbly conversationalist and akaashi there to reign you back whenever needed

nobody could see you two with anyone else

Osamu

when the volleyball team, including his twin, finally found out about you two, you were already dating for two months

the ever reserved man he is, he refused to let you meet anyone on the team in hopes to lessen the teasing (how wrong he was)

you didn't particularly mind, just happy to be dating him

although you did wish to be able to be more open about your relationship at school, you respected his wishes and left the more coupley aspects to when you're not around those who know you two

spending time and studying at your house and going out on days without practice became rituals between you two

the day you met the rest of the team was memorable, to say the least

you were over at osamu’s house, a rare occurrence that only happened when he knew atsumu was going to be gone the whole night

this particular day he was supposed to be working on a project with Ginjima and was planning to spend the night 

so there you were, osamu making you another one of his delicious creations in the kitchen while you were watching and telling him stories about your day at school

neither of you noticed when the front door of the miya household opened, in walk two boys that had realized they forgot vital materials at atsumu’s and walked over to get the work

as soon as the boys cross the threshold they freeze, surprised to hear an unfamiliar voice filling the usually quiet walls that occupy the house when the more expressive twin is absent 

let’s just say, when they walked into the kitchen and saw you, talking cheerfully and excitedly, and osamu, smiling and acknowledging the stranger at the various pauses you have during your storytelling, they were a little confused 

who was this person and why didn't they no about them?

atsumu, ever the antagonist, sat down next to you at the table and decided to throw his arm over your shoulders and leaning in, startling you and effectively ending your speech

at the sudden silence, osamu turns around confused to ask you what's wrong only to see his brother hanging off of you with the biggest smirk he could muster

before he could say a word, atsumu pulls out his phone and sends the message to end this man’s whole career into the volleyball group chat

in an instant, the whole volleyball team arrived at the miya house, filling the empty space of the kitchen, trying to get a look at “the friend” atsumu announced that a certain closed-off wing spiker had as company

having already pulled you away from his annoying brother, the numerous eyes in the room focused on you two standing awfully close to be just “friends”

the conversation wasn't as exciting as one might think

it pretty much went

osamu: “yes we’re dating. leave us alone”

then he grabbed your hand and dragged you over to your house instead

the rest of the team were left in various states of shock, not expecting him to be so blunt or to even admit it

the next day, you followed your boyfriend to his morning practice, ready to officially introduce yourself to everyone

when they saw you both come in, hands intertwined, the snarky remarks died on their tongues with your bubbly introduction

the contrast between their laidback hitter and the talkative newcomer that rivaled even atsumu’s vibrant personality surprised even the most conservative of the bunch

the rest of the practice consisted of many of the team members (mostly atsumu) asking you questions while attempting to avoid punishments from kita for not paying attention to practice and glares from osamu for invading his privacy

the initial shock of such an unlikely pair quickly dwindled after realizing how much osamu adores you, through all the quick glances and fond smiles when you continued to rant about your first date or some of your favorite things

not to say there wasn't any teasing, atsumu and the rest of the team gave him hell for the rest of his life for attempting to hide your relationship

Kuroo

dating this man is something else

luckily for you, even though he is more extroverted now, he was very introverted as a child, and is very used to dealing with introverts since he's best friends with kenma

so he'd be very understanding if you were shy and not very big on interacting with people

that doesn't mean he wouldn't push you out of your comfort zone every once in a while or tease the hell out of you

he knows your limits and when to pull back if it’s too much

when you first start dating, he’ll make sure that he's always checking up on you to make sure comfortable

he’ll drop everything to make sure you're ok and not being pressured into anything

but once you get comfortable around him and he knows you trust him he’ll make it his personal mission to fluster you

while he is nowhere near the confident fuck boy that most of the fandom makes him out to be, he won't back down on the chance to tease you

most of this came from flirting

bringing you with to volleyball practice (after he is 100 percent sure you are comfortable with the team, he doesn't want to put you in a gym full a people you can't relax around), he will use every opportunity to embarrass you

he’ll show off constantly to turn you into a stuttering mess

leaning over you on the bench to reach his water bottle that just so happened to have been forgotten beside you

wiping his face off with his shirt when he knows you're watching him play just to see you avoid his eyes when he catches you staring

most of the time, kenma takes pity on you

he’ll sneak you out of the gym when kuroo is distracted and let you watch him play video games while avoiding practice

both of you being introverts started a strong friendship between you two

the number of times kuroo went on the hunt for you only to find you guys shoulder to shoulder, kenma showing you something new on his psp, quiet mumbles being passed from one to the other

kuroo was very happy that you two found comfort in each other, glad that kenma put an effort into making sure you were comfortable just as much as him

no one was really surprised on the relationship that bloomed between you and kuroo

at this point, most of team believed he was just taking in introverts under his wing

some were kinda concerned before they realized that wasn't the case

overall, the best person for someone more on the shy side is kuroo because he would be the perfect combination of pushing your limits and understanding your reluctance to be so open

everything (minus smaus) taglist: open

@woodygirl127 @remuswriting @cleopatera 

[tlbodine]

The Horror Genius of Five Nights At Freddy’s

I’ve been playing FNAF: Help Wanted VR on my Oculus Quest lately (a birthday present to myself -- I know I’m late to that party!) and it’s reignited in me my old love of this series. I know Scott Cawthon’s politics aren’t great, but I don’t think there’s any malice in his heart beyond usual Christian conservative nonsense -- and I think he stepped down as graciously and magnanimously as possible when confronted about it. Time will judge Scott Cawthon’s politics, and that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I want to talk about what makes these games so damn special, from a horror, design, and marketing perspective. I think there’s really SO MUCH to be learned from studying these games and the wider influence they’ve had as intellectual property. 

What Is FNAF? 

In case you’ve somehow been living under a rock for the last seven years, Five Nights At Freddy’s (hereafter, FNAF) is a horror franchise spanning 17 games (10 main games + some spinoffs and troll games, we’ll get to that), 27 books, a movie deal, and a couple live-action attractions. 

But before it exploded into that kind of tremendous IP, it started out as a single indie pont-and-click game created entirely by one dude, Scott Cawthon. Cawthon had developed other games in the past without much fame or success, including some Christian children’s entertainment. He was working as a cashier at Dollar General and making games in his spare time -- and most of those games got panned. 

So he tried making something different. 

After being criticized that the characters in one of his children’s games looked like soulless, creepy animatronics, Cawthon had his lightbulb moment and created a horror game centered on....creepy animatronics! 

The rest, as they say, is history. 

The Genius of FNAF’s Horror Elements

In the first FNAF game, you play as a night security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a sort of ersatz Chuck-E-Cheese establishment. The animatronics are on free-roaming mode at night, but you don’t want to let them find you in your security room so you have to watch them move through the building on security camera monitors. If they get too close, you can slam your security room doors closed. But be careful, because this restaurant operates on a shoestring budget, and the power will go off if you keep the doors closed too long or flicker the lights too often. And once the lights go out, you’re helpless against the animatronics in the dark. 

Guiding you through your gameplay is a fellow employee, Phone Guy, who calls you each night with some helpful advice. Phone Guy is voiced by Cawthon himself, and listening to his tapes gives you some hints of the game’s underlying story as well as telling you how to play. A few newspaper clippings and other bits of scrap material help to fill in more details of the story. 

Over the next set of games, the story would be further developed, with each new game introducing new mechanics and variations on the theme -- in one, you don a mask to slip past the notice of animatronics; in another, you have to play sound cues to lure an animatronic away from you. By the fourth game, the setup was changed completely, now featuring a child with a flashlight hiding from the monsters outside his door -- nightmarish versions of the beloved child-friendly mascots. The mechanics change just enough between variations to keep things fresh while maintaining a consistent brand. 

There are so many things these games do well from a storytelling and horror perspective: 

Jump Scares: It’s easy to shrug these games off for relying heavily on jump scares, and they absolutely do have a lot of them. But they’re used strategically. In most games, the jump scares are a punishment (a controlled shock, if you will) -- if you play the game perfectly, you’ll never be jump-scared. This is an important design choice that a lot of other horror games don’t follow. 

Atmospheric Dread: These games absolutely deliver horror and tension through every element of design -- some more than others, admittedly. But a combination of sound cues, the overall texture and aesthetic of the world, the “things move when you’re not looking at them” mechanic, all of it works together to create a feeling of unease and paranoia. 

Paranoia: As in most survival horror games, you’re at a disadvantage. You can’t move or defend yourself, really -- all you can do is watch. And so watch you do. Except it’s a false sense of security, because flicking lights and checking cameras uses up precious resources, putting you at greater risk. So you have to balance your compulsive need to check, double-check, and make sure...with methodical resource conservation. The best way to survive these games is to remain calm and focused. It’s a brilliant design choice. 

Visceral Horror: The monster design of the animatronics is absolutely delightful, and there’s a whole range of them to choose from. The sheer size and weight of the creatures, the way they move and position themselves, their grunginess, the deadness of their eyes, the quantity and prominence of their teeth. They are simultaneously adorable and horrifying. 

Implicit Horror: One of the greatest strengths to FNAF as a franchise is that it never wears its story on its sleeve. Instead of outright telling you what’s going on, the story is delivered in bits and pieces that you have to put together yourself -- creating a puzzle for an engaged player to think about and theorize over and consider long after the game is done. But more than that, the nature of the horror itself is such that it becomes increasingly upsetting the more you think on it. The implications of what’s going on in the game world -- that there are decaying bodies tucked away inside mascots that continue to perform for children, that a man dressed in a costume is luring kids away into a private room to kill them, and so forth -- are the epitome of fridge horror. 

The FNAF lore does admittedly start to become fairly ridiculous and convoluted as the franchise wears on. But even ret-conned material manages to be pretty interesting in its own right (and there is nothing in the world keeping you from playing the first four games, or even the first six, and pretending none of the rest exist). 

Another thing I really appreciate about the FNAF franchise is that it’s quite funny, in a way that complements and underscores the horror rather than detracting from it. It’s something a lot of other properties utterly fail to do. 

The Genius of Scott Cawthon’s Marketing 

OK, so FNAF utilizes a multi-prong attack for creating horror and implements it well -- big deal. Why did it explode into a massive IP sensation when other indie horror games that are just as well-made barely made a blip on the radar? 

Well! That’s where the real genius comes in. This game was built and marketed in a way to maximize its franchisability. 

First, the story utilizes instantly identifiable, simple but effective character designs, and then generates more and more instantly identifiable unique characters with each iteration. Having a wealth of characters and clever, unique designs basically paves the way for merchandise and fan-works. (That they’re anthropomorphic animal designs also probably helped -- because that taps into the furry fandom as well without completely alienating non-furries). 

Speaking of fan-work, Scott Cawthon has always been very supportive of fandom, only taking action when people would try to profit off knock-off games and that sort of thing -- basically bad-faith copies. But as far as I know he’s always been super chill with fan-created content, even going so far as to engage directly with the fandom. Which brings me to....

These games were practically designed for streaming, and he took care to deliver them into the hands of influential streamers. Because the games are heavy on jump-scares and scale in difficulty (even including extra-challenging modes after the core game is beaten) they are extremely fun to watch people play. They’re short enough to be easily finished over the duration of a long stream, and they’re episodic -- lending themselves perfectly to a YouTube Lets Play format. One Night = One Video, and now the streamer has weeks of content from your game (but viewers can jump in at any time without really missing much). 

The games are kid-friendly but also genuinely frightening. Because the most disturbing parts of the game’s lore are hinted at rather than made explicit, younger players can easily engage with the game on a more basic surface level, and others can go as deep into the lore as they feel comfortable. There is no blood and gore and violence or even any explicitly stated death in the main game; all of the murder and death is portrayed obliquely by way of 8-bit mini games and tangential references. Making this game terrifying but accessible to youngsters, and then marketing it directly to younger viewers through popular streamers (and later, merchandising deals) is genius -- because it creates a very broad potential audience, and kids tend to spend 100% of their money (birthdays, allowances, etc.) and are most likely to tell their friends about this super scary game, etc. etc.

By creating a puzzle box of lore, and then interacting directly with the fandom -- dropping hints, trolling, essentially creating an ARG of his own lore through his website, in-game easter eggs, and tie-in materials -- Cawthon created a mystery for fandom to solve. And fans LOVE endlessly speculating over convoluted theories. 

Cawthon released these games FAST. He dropped FNAF 2 within months of the first game’s release, and kept up a pace of 1-2 games a year ever since. This steady output ensured the games never dropped out of public consciousness -- and introducing new puzzle pieces for the lore-hungry fans to pore over helped keep the discussion going. 

I think MatPat and The Game Theorists owe a tremendous amount of their own huge success to this game. I think Markiplier does, too, and other big streamers and YouTubers. It’s been fascinating watching the symbiotic relationship between these games and the people who make content about these games. Obviously that’s true for a lot of fandom -- but FNAF feels so special because it really did start so small. It’s a true rags-to-riches sleeper hit and luck absolutely played a role in its growth, but skill is a big part too. 

Take-Aways For Creatives 

I want to be very clear here: I do not think that every piece of media needs to be “IP,” franchisable, an extended universe, or a multimedia sensation. I think there is plenty to be said for creating art of all types, and sometimes that means a standalone story with a small audience. 

But if you do want a chance at real break-out, run-away success and forging a media empire of your own, I think there are some take-aways to be learned from the success of FNAF: 

Persistence. Scott Cawthon studied animation and game-design in the 1990s and released his first game in 2002. He released a bunch of stuff afterward. None of it stuck. It took 12 years to hit on the winning formula, and then another several years of incredibly hard work to push out more titles and stoke the fires before it really became a sensation. Wherever you’re at on your creative journey, don’t give up. You never know when your next thing will be The Thing that breaks you out. 

If you want to sell a lot of something, you have to make it widely appealing to a bunch of people. This means keeping your concept simple to understand (”security guard wards off creepy killer animatronics at a pizza parlor”) and appealing to as wide a segment of the market as you can (ie, a horror story that appeals to both kids and adults). The more hyper-specific your audience, the harder it’s gonna be to find them and the fewer copies of your thing you’ll be selling. 

Know your shit and put your best work out there. I think there’s an impulse to feel like “well, nobody reads this anyway, so why does it matter if it’s no good” (I certainly have fallen into that on multiple occasions) but that’s the wrong way to think about it. You never know when and where your break will come. Put your best work out there and keep on polishing your craft with better and better stuff because eventually one of those things you chuck out there is going to be The Thing. 

Figure out where your target audience hangs out, and who influences them, and then get your thing in the hands of those influencers. Streaming and YouTube were the secret to FNAF’s success. Maybe yours will be BookTube, or Instagram, or a secret cabal of free librarians. I don’t know. But you should try your best to figure out who would like the thing that you’re making, and then figure out how to reach those people, and put all of your energy into that instead of shotgun-blasting your marketing all willy nilly. 

You don’t have to put the whole story on the page. Audiences love puzzles. Fans love mysteries. You can actually leave a lot more unanswered than you think. There’s some value in keeping secrets and leaving things for others to fill in. Remember -- your art is only partly yours. The sandbox belongs to others to play in, too, and you have to let them do that. 

If in doubt, appealing to furries never hurts. 

Do I take all of this advice myself? Not by a long shot. But it’s definitely a lot to think about. 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go beat The Curse of Dreadbear. 

[unforth]

A Non-Definitive and Certainly Incomplete List of the Differences Between the Qianqiu/Thousand Autumns Danmei Novel and the Donghua

@blacktigersprings commented on one of my Thousand Autumn Liveblog posts, asking about the differences between the donghua thus far, compared to the book - they'd seen the 16 episodes, but hadn't read it yet. After I wrote down what I could remember I was like...ya know what, I should just make all this into a post.

This is non-exhaustive. I am a tired person with a bad memory and a lot going on, so I am sure I forgot things. I'm gonna ping @baoshan-sanren since they're the main person I know who is in Thousand Autumns fandom also, and I'm willing to guarantee they will think of things I didn't, and also probably be able to correct me if I mixed anything up. I'll try to edit this based on new info, if I have the time, and I might post it as meta on AO3? I did that with my list of differences between CQL and MDZS and people found it helpful so...yeah. I'll add a link if a do.

Note that all posts like this rely to some extent on interpretation; what I write reflects my interpretation and understanding of events (...to the extent I remember them...) and others may have read/watched the same sequences and reached different conclusions. I've made specific notes where I think I'm raising a point that's more subjective than others.

This contains spoilers for all 16 episodes of the donghua, and for the equivalent parts of the novel. I did my best not to put in novel spoilers for past when the donghua ends, but there are allusions to subsequent events.

Anyway - vaguely in chronological order of when they happen?

(read more)

Overall, the basic premises of the donghua and the novel are pretty different. In the donghua, there are several primary conflicts - the intrusion of the Beimi/Tujue, the competition over access to the Solarity, the competition between different sects' top masters, and the search for that ring that Yan Wushi has. In the novel, these are all things that exist, but they're not the primary plot, and they're all at least somewhat difference. While the novel has multiple plotlines that focus on different things, looking at it as a whole, the main plot is a political one about control of the Empire, and how different sects are pulled into that conflict as a result of how the Emperor relates to Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist sects. Which tradition each sect follows is much more important and relevant in the novel. The Beimi/Tujue plot is still relevant and involved, but it's just one thread in the political milieu. The Solarity, which has different and long name in the novel that I never remember - it's like, "the complete works of (some master who's name isn't in my brain" - is in six volumes, and it's definitely still important, but it's importance kinda fades as the novel progresses (though it's still a main piece at the point where the donghua leaves off). The ring is basically non-existent in the novel - instead of it being in Yan Wushi's possession, it's in the possession of the woman who's birthday party Shen Qiao goes to (...Madam Su? Might be her name? I'm sorry, I'm not great with names, and I usually rely on fandom wikis but this one is sparse) - in the novel, she was a disciple of Hulugu, and then she stole the ring and returned to the Empire. That other Beimi/Tujue disciple (...Dong something??) takes it back and returns with it to his clan, if I recall correctly, so it can be used to unify those clans to make war against the Empire.

In the donghua, Yan Wushi is just...generally portrayed as pretty nice, and the YanShen vibes start pretty early - there's an early sign of playful flirting from Yan Wushi that actually seems sincere? At least it did to me. As a result, the YanShen vibes feel a lot stronger than they do in the novel at a similar point in the narrative. In the novel...I'd personally say Yan Wushi has zero interest, romantically or sexually, until well after where the donghua left off, and their relationship isn't canon until nearly the very end, and is always left more implied than...outright. I would personally say that in the novel, Shen Qiao has some feels for Yan Wushi pre-Sang Jingxing, but Yan Wushi doesn't reciprocate (except maybe at a deep level he refuses to acknowledge). It's not until he's healing post-almost-dying (as in, during the time immediately after when the donghua leaves off - I'm trying to be vague to avoid giving spoilers to people who haven't read it) that there start to be some real clear signs that Yan Wushi may have caught some feels, and even then it's complicated. They're complicated. They're also complicated. It's part of what I love about them, lol.

In the donghua, the fight between Shen Qiao and Kunye is shown "on screen" instead of only being described afterwards, and it's revealed almost right away that Shen Qiao was poisoned. Also, a lot of people help Kunye and they all fight Shen Qiao together. In the novel, this fight is off-screen. It's strictly a one-on-one battle between Shen Qiao and Kunye, and the reader doesn't learn that Shen Qiao lost due to poisoning until Shen Qiao goes to Mount Xuandu to confront Yu Ai.

In both the donghua and the novel, when Yan Wushi is trying to turn Shen Qiao evil, he sets up a mission for Shen Qiao and Yu Shengyan, The object of this mission is to kill a family that serves the Hehuan Sect. Shen Qiao refuses to participate, and helps them escape. In the donghua, they don't actually escape, and the "they serve Hehuan" thing turns out to be a ruse; they actually serve Yan Wushi. In the novel, they're actually Hehuan spies, and Shen Qiao still helps them, and they actually escape.

(RAPE MENTION TRIGGER WARNING) In the donghua, Chen Gong betrays Shen Qiao when that jerk noble whose name I can't remember right now (and it's not in the wiki, god the wiki is so slim, I wish I had time to help with that) hunts him for sport, and he doesn't want to die. In the novel, Chen Gong betrays Shen Qiao when that same jerk noble, who as a reputation for using pretty boys as sex slaves, tries to kidnap Chen Gong as a sex slave, and Chen Gong is like, "no no you don't want to fuck me, I know someone WAY prettier for you to rape." (The fall out remains the same in both - Shen Qiao beats up the guy, nothing bad happens to him, and he and Chen Gong part ways).

In the donghua, Shen Qiao goes to confront Yu Ai at Mount Xuandu by like. Literally walking up to the front gate. And then all the disciples for some reason get mad that Yan Wushi comes, even though he...also walked up to their front gate. Why do they even have a gate??? In the novel, Shen Qiao uses a super sneaky back way, only known to disciples, and so it actually makes some kind of sense when Yu Ai et al are like SHEN QIAO WHY ARE YOU SHOWING THE EVIL GUY OUR BACK DOOR?

(NOTE this one relies more on subtext and thus is very open to interpretation. What's written here reflects my personal interpretation, and others may disagree). In the donghua, when Yan Wushi hands Shen Qiao over to Sang Jingxing, they have a chat that heavily implies that Yan Wushi is kinda-sorta-not-so-secretly thinking that Shen Qiao could win a fight (and is probably expecting Shen Qiao to do so by using the demonic core that has been implanted in him). Sang Jingxing also says things that indicate that he thinks that Yan Wushi is setting a trap for him. In the novel, while it's never all that clear what Yan Wushi's motivations are, it becomes pretty clear by the point of the Sang Jingxing fight that Yan Wushi was serious when he said he didn't care about Shen Qiao, didn't consider him worthy, and doesn't care what happens to him. He definitely handed over Shen Qiao with every intention of Shen Qiao getting tortured and raped, and had no interest in saving him. Shen Qiao only becomes interesting to Yan Wushi afterwards. Yan Wushi is never only playing one game, so he may have thought that being pushed into a corner would force Shen Qiao to use the demonic core, but it also seemed to me like he genuinely didn't care - he'd gotten bored, and was done playing with the "new toy" that was Shen Qiao.

In the donghua, there is a shot of someone - the clothing is pretty unmistakably Yan Wushi's purple robe of ultimate purpleness - pulling Shen Qiao out of a river after he plunges to his almost-demise in the fight with Sang Jingxing. In the novel, Yan Wushi doesn't pull Shen Qiao out of the water, after Shen Qiao destroys his meridians in the fight against Sang Jingxing. Instead, Shen Qiao collapses in the mountains, where he is found by Shiwu and brought back to the monastery for treatment.

In the donghua, Yan Wushi is fighting the four masters who have it in for him, and before the end of the fight, Shen Qiao arrives and tries to help him; he fights the four masters solo to try to keep Yan Wushi from using his powers and harming himself, and when he's about to lose, Yan Wushi...uses his powers and harms himself. In the novel, Shen Qiao doesn't arrive until after Yan Wushi has been defeated; he finds Yan Wushi almost dead and brings him to a small village nearby, where he stays with a nice girl and her...grandfather, iirc...and tries to keep them safe while nursing Yan Wushi back to health.

In the donghua, it's kinda implied that Shen Qiao goes to rescue Yan Wushi because, like...he likes him? There's not really a reason given, just that he wants to, or maybe to keep the ring from going to the Beimi/Tujue? In the novel it's pretty explicit that Shen Qiao goes to save Yan Wushi because he believes Yan Wushi's position in the Empire is critical to the stability of the world - and he wants the world stable, so that there won't be more refugees, starvation, etc. That he also may like Yan Wushi is the case but is almost incidental; Shen Qiao is focused on doing the most good for the most people, and that means saving Yan Wushi, because Yan Wushi is critical to the Empire, and the Empire is critical to the common people. (this is a major part of the political themes that are more prominent in the book than in the donghua).

I can't actually remember when Bian Yanmei was introduced in the novel? But I was pretty sure it was around when Yan Wushi sends Shen Qiao to that birthday banquet? Anyway, Bian Yanmei isn't in the donghua at all thus far; in the donghua, Yan Wushi's only apparent disciple is Yu Shengyan.

[s-creations]

In Sickness, In Health Chapter 6 - Getting Shots

Fandom: DuckTales 2017 / The Three Caballeros             Rating: General Audience             Relationships/Pairings:  José Carioca/Donald Duck/Panchito Pistoles       Additional Tags: getting sick, being cared for, mental health, injury, sore throat, common cold, chicken pox, broken bones, whooping cough, taking care of others.

Part of a Series Called: We’re the Three- Sorry, Six Caballeros!

If there was one thing that Louie absolutely hated, it was the doctors. Not just the professional person alone, not just the freezing cold office, everything associated with the medical field was just terrible. Sure, this wasn’t too much of a new revelation for any child to have this stance. But for Louie, it was a living nightmare. 

 It had been drilled into him how terrible his immune system was. How to never get messy, how the cold/flu season was almost a death sentence for him, and the slightest hint of a cough had Louie sent to the doctor’s office.  It was often teased in the family that Louie had seen the doctor more than any adult, ever. One that the green cladded duckling grew tired of quickly. 

 But if asked what part he truly hated about every experience, it was the shots. Louie was sure he could recall every prick to the skin. No matter what Huey’s ‘research’ says about forming memories at a certain age. 

 It was the same thing when the dreaded time arrived. When he was younger, Louie would cry the entire time. Leading up to, getting it, and hours afterwards, he wailed so loudly. No one was able to calm him down. As if to ensure everyone was as absolutely miserable as he was. Rising in age, Louie would attempt to pull any stunt he could to get out of the appointment. Lying, bribing, even hiding away in hopes to miss the appointment. But nothing worked. 

 The days after were just as bad as getting the darn thing. Because the ‘entry point’ would always become bruised. Black, blue, yellow and absolutely nasty looking. The arm would also become sore, almost painful to move. Eventually getting so bad that the shot would have to be injected into the duckling’s non-dominant arm. Just so he could still do something while he was recovering. 

 Nothing made the experience better. His favorite meal didn’t help. Being pampered while he was recovering didn’t help. Bribes of his favorite treats, snacks, whatever could be offered didn’t help. All were at wit’s end on how they were supposed to reach a workable solution.

 That was until José brought the situation up to his co-workers. Namely, the mother’s.

 “Have you tried distracting him?” Amanda asked over breakfast. 

 “He is already in a negative mood to really pull his attention away. Even then, he already knows where we are going. I do not know what to do.”

 “...What about video games?”

 José raised a brow. “They are a bit young…”

 “I gave my little girl a handheld video game. She loves it! And there are so many kid friendly games. I know you said Louie has a clever little mind. Very strategic. There’s a really famous game that involves battling with these little creatures.”

 José scooted closer to look at Amanda’s phone. “It is very...colorful. And a lot of little creatures.”

 “If you could, get him really involved with the game before you even put him in the car. He’ll be so focused on that game that he won’t even feel the prick.”

 José wasn’t fully sold on it. He knew it was hard to pull Louie’s attention away from items he knew to keep it on. But the parrot knew better than to toss aside help. He ran it past his partners first. Donald was a little apprehensive, but had the same thought process as José. If it was a way to help Louie, what did they have to lose? 

 It was the night before the next appointment that the present was presented. The triplets were each given their own handheld game system and a single game. Each were so thrilled to receive new toys. Discussing what each game had to offer and what they had found in the version they were playing. They went to bed a few hours later. Excitedly whispering about what they would discover the next day. 

 “Not one mention of the appointment tomorrow.” Panchito whispered cheerfully once they were safely away from the room. 

 “The big hurdle will be getting him in the car tomorrow.” Donald argued.

 The parrot gave a gentle nip to both of their necks. “Do not fret. I have an idea.”

 The morning was filled with sugary cereal and more video games. Talk and overall atmosphere dropped quickly when José walked in, keys in hand. “Alright Louie, we need to get going.”

 Louie was instantly pulled away from his game. “Going? Where are we going?”

 “You have your appointment this morning.” Huey offered helpfully.

 That caused Louie to turn a little pale, eyes widening. “...I don’t feel well.”

 José gave a smile, gently placing a hand on the duckling’s shoulders. “They it is a good thing we are going to the doctor’s office.” 

 It was the easiest time to get Louie into the car. Possibly because he knows there’s no way to break from freedom. He stares out the window, strapped into the car and heading towards his doom. 

 “So, how has your game been?” José asked.

 Louie twitched slightly at the question, looking at the electric device still in his hands. “Um...it’s fine.”

 “Can you tell me about it? It looks complicated.”

 The duckling started speaking softly at first. But eventually picked up volume and speed. José added his own questions to keep Louie going. When they arrived at the office, the nerves entered in Louie’s voice again. The parrot quickly caught this, easily picking the duckling up, continuing the conversation easily.

 Louie was caught between fear and wanting to show his skills at his new game. He realized that he felt better and far less stressed when he was talking. So he pressed on. Happily jumping onto each question that José offered him. He gripped onto the parrot’s shirt as they checked in and waited to be called back. José easily understood that Louie didn’t want to be let go. The parrot kept the conversation going. That quickly came to the halt again when Louie’s name was called out. José easily moved them back towards the room. 

 They were in the final stretch now. Louie had instantly become quiet, staring ahead as they waited for the doctor to arrive. José did what he could to pull Louie back towards the conversation, only for the silence to stretch on. Which only became worse when the doctor walked in. 

 “Good morning Louie,” The doctor said with a smile. The duckling didn’t reply. “Don’t worry, we’ll make this quick.”

 Still nothing.

 José gave a sideways glance to the doctor. Who smiled and nodded. “So Louie, your uncle here told me you got a new game! Have to say, that series is my favorite as well.” 

 “Series? It’s a series?” That pulled Louie back out. 

 “Oh yeah, the first one came out when I was 10. That version was a lot different from where it is now. Did you know that the Ghost-Type moves actually counted as physical?”

 “Wait, really, how? They’re ghosts!”

 José said nothing, just watching as Louie and the doctor interacted. It was as Louie was discussing the craziness of how the original game play was done when he was given the shot. The duckling more focused on the extreme eye roll as the craziness than what the doctor was doing. Completely ignored by the duckling. Who had now turned the talk towards his favorite type.

 “Alright, you’re good to go!” The doctor happily announced, placing a bandaid over the point. 

 “Wait, what?” Louie raised his arm before looking at José.

 “Just remember to move your arms around. It will help!” the doctor continued on, “Make sure to set up your next appointment before you leave.”

 Louie was still quietly looking up at José with awe as they left. Making no noise until they were on the road. “How did you do that?”

 The parrot smiled. “Painful things become less so when you are not focused on it. And you tend to overly focus on things you do not like. We thought talking about something you really like will help you not panic. How does your arm feel?”

 Louie instantly beamed. “It feels great!”

[subjecta5newtella]

thoughts on newtmas :) go on :) i’m listening :)

sami rly said ok time for violence. this is going to be so long sorry everyone.

if we’re talking newtmas itself as a ship in itself, outside of any other influence (and specifically in the movie version, which is generally what people are talking about), I think it’s a good ship. I would have to be the most unobservant motherfucker alive to not see what people see in it, and I am not, in fact, the most unobservant motherfucker alive. it’s a good dynamic with good chemistry and realistically I think if I’d started with the movies rather than the books, I would’ve gone all in for it.

however. I personally am incapable about talking about it in isolation.

I realize from that segue it sounds like I’m about to lead into some grand moral point, but mostly I just liked how dramatic it sounded. anyway. I feel like I need to start with a disclaimer that the easiest, simplest part of this is that you tend to get attached to your first ships in a fandom, as well as your initial feelings about the characters. obviously you can change your mind about any of those things, but it does stick with you. if we’re going to be kind and skip my internalized homophobia era (please be kind), I shipped thominho and nalby because that’s what was big at the time. I also just... did not like book thomas very much, so I wasn’t about to ship him with my favorite character.

(complete and utter tangent: it’s interesting to me that people read the books now and overwhelmingly see newtmas. I recognize that every time I start a sentence with “it’s interesting that” it automatically sounds shady, but i genuinely just love Analyzing. anyway some of it’s definitely people seeing the movie first or having fandom content as a first exposure even in passing, all of which are valid ways to engage, but I do kind of find it fascinating when people talk about book!newtmas as some massive presence because then... theoretically we all should’ve seen it pre-movies? the ship existed, usually among people who hardcore multishipped, but it wasn’t anything like it is today. not at all to say that reading it like that is invalid, it’s just interesting to me the way some people talk about that interpretation, rather than the interpretation itself)

anyway. with that all out of the way, i do have some actual issues with newtmas, although it really doesn’t have anything to do with the characters or the ship itself. these are things that surround the ship and affect my feelings about it, meaning that I never bought in despite, like I said, Seeing It. my main issue with it is how much the roles of other characters have been reduced to create the ship in its current form. I’ve talked at far too much length about the way minho was adapted and honestly will probably talk about it more, because that’s the big one to me (that post can be found here, for those who don’t keep up with every rant I’ve ever gone on for some reason). I will not go so far as to say that’s required reading to fully understand this post, but I would recommend it since I don’t want to just repeat myself. so much of newtmas being the major ship feels like it’s predicated on minho not being there and not having anywhere near as strong a relationship with thomas and newt as he did in the books, and that will never sit right with me.

newt’s relationship with alby is his other most significant dynamic outside thomas and minho, and i feel like it might be surprising to hear me say this, but i get why that one was reduced for the movie. there’s only so much time in the film, so you want to focus on the characters who are going to make it past the first one. I do have a problem here, but it has more to do with dashner and with some fandom bullshit. with dashner, i think the crank palace is the worst of it (I could’ve just stopped that sentence at “I think the crank palace is the worst” but whatever). since all my rants lead back to each other, I’ll link the relevant one here, but the general gist is that my biggest problem was that newt does not seem to have any more of a post-swipe past than thomas does despite theoretically having two more years of memories. given that fact, I don’t know about you, but I would kind of expect alby to be more of a presence in his consciousness. that’s true of pretty much any of the original gladers, but newt and alby are clearly very close in the first book, and again, alby saved his fucking life. he’s literally mentioned once. dashner prioritized the newt/thomas dynamic so much that newt seemingly had no meaningful relationships with anyone else. tcp isn’t immune to treating minho badly either; like I said in that post, it sounds like newt read the wikipedia page on minho. is any of this the fault of the ship itself? does this change anything that came before it? no, but the whole thing feels massively disingenuous, and also kind of disrespectful to people who actually, like, gave a shit about the other characters. also, the way he’s retconning makes me real nervous.

the other part, like I mentioned, is the fandom more than any of the actual content. I’m aware that part of this is just a statistics game and also that’s it’s not representative of all newtmas shippers, but most of the alby bashing I’ve seen comes from newtmas people. it’s... baffling to me, honestly. what’s the point in putting down a ship being kept alive by me and like 3 other people? what do you gain by misrepresenting a character to the point of maliciousness when you could easily just not engage with them? again, I know it’s not everyone and it doesn’t have anything to do with the ship, but I’d be lying if I said things like this don’t color my perception. if someone goes out of their way to put down a ship I like, I’m not really gonna want to associate myself with their ship. I’m gonna cling to my own harder out of spite, actually.

also.... okay. so I peaced out to go do other shit between earlyish 2015 and mid 2019. and it was very weird to temporarily leave the fandom while the two main (in my recollection at least, which could be biased by who i was friends with) mlm ships each included one of the explicitly non-white characters, and come back to find it almost entirely dominated by white boy/white boy... like. I don’t wanna make a statement as simple as “the fandom is racist” because a) it’s not my place to say that, b) if we want to go into that, there are other examples of fandom racism where it’s Blatant and there really is no excuse, whereas this is a bit more complicated imo because c) like. that’s the dynamic the movies gave us. the movies focused very heavily on the newt and thomas dynamic, so of course that’s what the fandom is going to focus on. there’s a lot to say there, but that’s a different issue. it does.... still contribute to the bad taste in my mouth, though, and also contributes to me feeling like I need to keep those ships alive. it’s not about who has the Most Progressive Ship, I just feel weird about the particular shift I’ve seen here.

on a note that sounds less like I’m leveling accusations, New Relationships just aren’t my vibe. you look at my ao3 and it’s like. friends of many years to lovers. established relationship. friends to lovers to exes and back again. just from a dynamics perspective, there are other ships that are more interesting for me to explore. there. this is a lighter reason.

idk overall I don’t wanna sound like I’m on some Moral Crusade here, even though i know some of my points made it sound like that. this is really just me putting all of my thoughts that I can currently round up in one place in order to... idk, explain myself? and like it’s stupid that i feel the need to explain myself, but I know it’s weird not to ship it at this point, and I know if I did I would have so much more content to choose from and a much wider audience for my own content. there’s just baggage there thats entirely separate from the ship itself, having seen the shift and knowing what had to change in order to center newtmas. I’m not trying to sound like I’m better than anyone; I just think maybe I have a different perspective on things having been here for long enough to qualify it as a new mental illness, and that’s ultimately why I feel the way I do.

[flowerbloom-arts]

Hodgkins for the character ask game?

Ahhhhh my second favorite of the moomin franchise! The Hodgepodge! The big blue boat dad! The royal inventor!! Samuel F. Hodgkins!!!

How I feel about this character: HODGKINS IS GREAT! AMAZING! UNDERRATED! Ok let me get serious for a bit- Hodgkins is a great character to whom a relate to a little too much, I suppose. I never felt very... Strongly, about "Samuel Fredrickson" from the 90s anime, but reading the books, there was so much that really changed his character and I don't think they really did him alot of justice, especially the uh... You know, the onesie, with the butt patches. I WILL NOT LET THE BUTT PATCH THING REST, THEY ARE A BLIGHT TO HIS ARLEADY GOOFY-LOOKING CHARACTER. Anyway, Hodgkins gave me alot of intrigue in the book, he struck me as someone who had a bit of something going on outside of what we saw in the book. I love how the entire fandom (myself included) agreed that he was the no-nonsense dad figure who took care of 3 idiots, but let's be real he seems like a pretty caring guardian for a guy who mainly focused on his inventing.

Hodgkins just seemed like someone who was set on running against... An idea? Something from his past, I suppose. His dismissive refusal to talk about his parents in Exploits and his whole "I'm an inventor, I do what I like!" in Memoirs with the hemulen aunt really got me thinking. And for that I project alot of my insecurities and misery I had growing up as a "gifted" child, he gave me gifted child vibes and that's how I choose to see him. His request to honor his lost brother by naming his boat after his book and that the name should be painted in ultramarine, he also seemed a little sentimental about his brother, which leads me to believe that the Hodgkins brothers had a sort of implied solidarity, and that sort of solidarity would come up from parents who weren't super amazing, given what I've said before.

He's what I wish I would turn out to be like in the circumstances I was in when I was younger. That despite expectation, despite loss, despite the thoughts of everyone around you, I would turn out a pretty cool person overall.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Hodgkins is aroace in my canon, though he was in a play-date relationship with a girl in his childhood. It was one of those "parents joking about their kids getting together and marrying when they grow up" type situation.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Hodgkins and the Oshun Oxtra (boat)

But nah seriously I enjoy Hodgkins with any of the crew members, especially the Muddler. I wish there was more wholesome content of the crew but I suppose the meme-ish content is always great!

My unpopular opinion about this character: Uh... What are the popular opinions on this character, amiright? I'm not sure what they are so imma just put in a random opinion here; Hodgkins looks really weird in any color other than the light blue of the 90s anime. Like, that's the one design choice in terms of Hodgkins I agree on with the 90s anime.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish He and Moomin(pappa) had a bit more of a relationship, and I mean a guardian/child relationship. MP thinks REALLY highly of Hodgkins and I might just be a sad child who also wants Hodgkins to adopt me but I just want Moominpappa's thoughts about him to be a bit more validated.

And that's that!

OG ask post

[im-gettingby]

30 Days of Carry On

posted (and written by?) @captain-aralias

(I’m doing most of these at once because I said so. it’s long so under the cut)

1. Favourite major character

I literally thought — Simon no Baz no Penny no, Agatha!

I guess I will pick Simon, since I relate to him the most — or at least, my connection to him led me into the fandom.

2. Favourite minor character

I think we all know this one 🐑🐑🐑

I have written many a treatise on Lamb Rights. I’ll spare everyone now

3. Character you relate to the most

Oops— I already answered this, kinda. I relate to them in different ways: I relate a lot to WS Simon because he has abandonment issues and “kid who was told he was extraordinary and then grew up to be ordinary” issues. We also both have a “fix all the things for everyone” complex, too.

Baz — It took me a while to get into Baz’s head, but I would say, I relate to him because of his intense emotional world and tendency to see the world through an intensely romantic/tragic lens. But also he’s a Pisces. and I’d never do that like a Pisces does. (Sorry, not sorry.)

4. Which character would you like to go to lunch with?

SHEPARD obviously. I don’t feel the need to elaborate.

5. Favourite non-Snowbaz ship

Ooh! Probably Lamb/Baz or Simon/Shep or just...literally anything. Like, I will read anything as long as it’s well written. The weirder the better. (Within...legal and moral limits.) in my other fandoms I’ve been a big multishipper and there’s not a lot of options for that in CO - which is fine - but wholeheartedly support rarepairs :D

6. Favourite non-romantic OTP

So, obviously Simon/Penny and Baz/Penny are great ones, but I think the nearest & dearest to my heart is Simon/Agatha. The kind of siblings/unwillingly dating/weird exes dynamic and the way they both shaped each other’s lives is just so interesting. And while Simon & Penny are closer, Agatha and Simon represent their aspirational selves to one another. And the way that they were both tied to one another along with their gender roles/places in society and both broke away at the same time is just...mwah

7. Favourite Baz outfit

I honestly dress kinda like Baz. Anything involving a printed silk shirt or a floral brocade suit, so like, all of them? I love WS Baz, his fashion sense is so thoughtful yet fun. He’s so expressive with it — in the sense of both being guarded, being sexy, and playing with masculinity/femininity.

8. How do you feel about Wayward Son?

In case it wasn’t obvious, I absolutely love it. I mean, from a writing/narrative standpoint, I don’t think it’s the most elegant or engaging book ever written, but it’s just so raw and fresh. I don’t see many examples of an author trying to do what Rainbow did, which is build a complex emotional AND plot-driven story with so many characters and so much lore. I’m very excited for AWTWB.

9. Favourite scene from Carry On, besides Chapter 61

I like what the book does/sets up overall. Honestly probably the first scene, where Simon walks to the bus stop & takes the train and just thinks about his life and makes lists -- I love Simon. I know Rainbow said she thinks that bit is boring, but it honestly says so much about his character in a short time. (and he’s an extremely complex character!) Also, Baz’s dramatic entrance. Also, the chapter where Baz says “and I’m hopelessly in love with him” because it’s just so dramatic, and it comes out of nowhere

10. Favourite scene from Wayward Son, besides Chapter 41

Baz and Lamb’s journey across the Strip - vampire lore, jealous Simon, Baz getting to be his own character— it’s beautiful.

11. Remind us about something in canon readers might have forgotten about

Ahahaha um. Simon says he thinks Baz’s cousin Marcus is fit. That’s pretty funny.

12. What are your hopes and fears for Any Way the Wind Blows?

I don’t have any hopes because I don’t want to be disappointed - and that’s not a cynical thing, I just want to go into it with an open mind. (I’ll take a break from fandom and reread the books beforehand so I’m (more of) a blank slate) I guess just...interesting emotional journeys, whatever that ends up being. There’s a lot that Rainbow has to do in the book and I don’t think any one person could get through all of it -- that’s why we have fanfiction.

Fears? I don’t know. I think just...the series ending. Even though I’ve been in fandom for less than a year I just really love this fandom & the thought of that kind of eroding away is sad. But also I don’t think that will happen immediately, and change is a part of life. I’ve never related as much to Cath as I do now :’)

13. An unpopular/cracky opinion you hold

unpopular: Lamb is the best character; I don’t want Simon to get his magic back; both Simon and Baz should have other romantic options.

14. Something from your head fanon

Hmmmmmmm well. Just mean things about Baz really. Like that he’s weird looking, not that great at football, and actually has kind of garish fashion sense. (which is a self-roast as well - see above.) I just feel like Simon/fandom put him on a pedestal, and Simon’s an unreliable narrator re: Baz anyway. So I like the idea that Baz is this average looking kinda strange nerdy guy who is everything Simon has ever wanted in life.

And before you tell me that Baz was hot at Watford and Agatha was into him, have you ever been to a tiny boarding school? Standards get weird 😂😂😂 and Terry being into him — come on. The guy’s a violent pervert.

also - back to Watford being a tiny school. Baz doesn’t have much competition to be the star of the football team. (also, does anyone except Simon even think that he is?)

16. Favourite location other than Watford

Vegas!

17, Favourite location in Watford

I’m pretty bad at Watford lore/geography bc again, I’m way more into WS. Probably the floor in the Cloisters where everything happens the same way, just a day later. There’s a fic there, but I can’t wrap my head around all the time travel implications enough to write it.

18. What would be your favourite subject at Watford?

Any potions-esque subject because I loved chemistry lab. Latin because I loved Latin in school. Uhhhh I don’t like history class, so not that — maybe a literature course focused on the derivation of spells.

19. What would your magical implement be?

Ooh! This is a good one. I’d like to think it would be a weird body piercing. Or a belt a la Gareth. Maybe some kind of traditional south Asian jewelry, like a nose chain or mang-tikka or something. maybe a hat. like, imagine your magical instrument being a fedora and you just have to...wear a fedora all the time.

21. Favourite canon spell

Hm. Kiss it better? Candle in the wind?I should try to think of a non-horny one. honestly they’re all so cool and clever - I love the magic system in CO/WS.

22. What would your eighth year spell at Watford be or do?

Maybe something from a poem I love. That would probably be pretty but not very functional. Or a healing spell.

23. Who would you want as your roommate?

Agatha is uptight, Penny is passive aggressive, Simon is a slob, Baz is both uptight and passive aggressive.

Definitely Shepard.

24. Favourite item of merchandise, official or unofficial

My @subparselkie sticker

25. Favourite book cover design

WS. Oh, another unpopular opinion - I don’t like the kevin wada cover of carry on. their faces look so weird and the colors don’t work for me. I own the version with the blue and yellow cover art instead

26. Do you want a movie? If yes - any fan casts for the movie?

Probably wouldn’t want a movie! Because I am way too possessive of these books/this version of the story. And I am historically extremely disappointed by adaptations — I get upset with the smallest of changes 😂

27. If they made a movie, what scenes do you think they’d cut that you’d be furious were missing?

See above. A LOT haha

28. If you could ask Rainbow Rowell one question, what would it be? (If you have already, you can share if you like)

What is Lamb’s full name????? Is it actually Lamb Lambert Lamborghini the third???

What is Rainbow’s relationship with sheep and goats. Why are there so many references to them

29. Have you read any of Rainbow’s other books?

Only Fangirl

30. How did you get into Carry On and/or Carry On fandom?

I read fangirl & the pages at the end mentioned carry on, so I read that, and enjoyed it but I wasn’t obsessed. Then I read WS spring 2020, reread it a bunch of times, reread CO, freaked out about the cliffhanger/cool vampire stuff/unresolved sexual tension, had pandemic cabin fever, got on AO3, and the rest is history.

As @annabellelux knows, I wrote my first (published) fanfic after reading her amazing fic Drop The Game. and the first fanfic I read was @captain-aralias’ Greener Grass. I was so obsessed that about a month later, I searched through the AO3 tags for it, because I couldn’t remember the title or author but kept thinking about it.

[river-bottom-nightmare]

If you’d like to, I’d love a fic rec. I like all the fandoms in your bio so I’d be interested in whatever you want to talk about. Thanks!!

Someone actually sent me the ask I’ve been waiting for oh my god. Anon. You are an incredible person and I love you. Okay so. If we were doing spn recs, this list would be over 300 fics long. If we did Marvel, I’d have to explain my stance on the current comics, and say why I like some parts of the MCU and why I dislike others. For Shadowhunters, and I say this sheepishly, I just posted a fic on my ao3. If you’re interested, please check it out! And I have been on a DC binge lately...so let’s do DC!

Now keep in mind I have so so many fics, so these are just my top favourites. They’re also pretty general and all over the place, so if you want a rec list for a specific ship or gen relationship or fandom, just let me know! I’d be more than happy to write one.

1. Yesterday’s Voices by @lemonadegarden

While trying to take down a drug cartel that deals with memory altering drugs, things go awry, and Batman wakes up with no recollection of the last five years. As a result, his family must now race against time to find the antidote, while also having to deal with a Bruce who still thinks Jason is Robin. A Bruce who doesn't recognise most of them. A Bruce far less jaded and cynical than the one they're used to. A Bruce who still cares.

Gen. 49,000 words. This fic was incredibly sweet with just the right touch of angst. Featuring a lot of Bruce being a dad, Jason and the rest of the batfam making amends. The author has impeccable dialogue and conveys the emotions of the characters beautifully. The pacing is a bit off, though, and the beginning seems rushed while the heavy emotional parts seem long and drawn out. Overall, a pretty satisfying read with a happy ending.

2. The Mystery of the Superboy Shirts by Aviatricks

The thing is, Tim is a detective, first and foremost. And like most detectives, sometimes he just can’t let things go. (Or, how Tim acquires several hundred Superboy t-shirts)

Tim/Kon. 4,000 words. I’m sure this fic has been recced a thousand times in a thousand different lists, but there is no way I can leave it out. Good old fashioned fluff and humor. It’s light and happy and leaves you with a laugh at the end. If you’re in the mood for a oneshot full of smiles and core four fluff (and really, who isnt?) then this fic is a go-to!

3. Every Fiber of My Being by @lanestreets (I am so sorry if this is the wrong url. The one on ao3 didn’t work so I had to do some digging.)

As much as Dick and his siblings have argued, Bruce has never budged on his "Keeping Secrets Policy". There's not a person alive outside of the family that knows the secret identity of any of the Bats. Not even Dick's boyfriend. Dick understands the need for some secrets, knows that keeping their identities safe keeps them and their loved ones safe, but when he takes up the cowl, team dynamics aren't the only things that begin to change.

Birdflash. 21,000 words. This has got to be my most favourite birdflash fic of all time. Partly because it’s based off Dick and Wally from the comics (their personalities are particularly Titans-esque, but I’m not 100% sure) rather than from Young Justice. It’s mainly Dick-centered, showcasing his relationships with Wally but also with the rest of his family. If you’re not sure of what exactly happened with Bruce being lost in time and Dick becoming Batman, I would brush up on that first, because this fic won’t make much sense without it. It takes you on a whirlwind of feels, and the frantic, gradually quickening pace of the prose matches the plot of the fic, and I just - ah! I would definitely give this fic a read!

4. Declensions by @dustorange

“My father,” Dick says, “worked the rope. It cut him. His hands were never clean.”

Gen. 13,500 words. Dick-centric. This fic is absolutely gorgeous and it needs more love. The reason I think it’s so incredible is because it takes a deep dive into Dick’s Romani heritage which is something that I adore DC did but hate the way the executed it. But still, representation is representation, and when you have fics like these to show what Dick being Romani would actually reflect, it’s hard to complain. Beautifully written, and the overt racism and difficulty fitting in really hits home, even for someone who’s experienced it firsthand. A little bit of the prose is jumbled and hard to follow, but that may be an artistic choice reflecting Dick’s state of mind during the fic. Read this if you want to realize some things you’ve never thought of before.

5. Those Who Wait by @last01standing

The best way to socialize an angry assassin boy: Set up a playdate with someone functionally invulnerable. [Jon and Damian through the years. Reverse!Robins universe. Stands alone.]

Damijon. 11,000 words. I’m not usually a fan of reverse robins, but I liked this one because it focused on the way Damian and Jon’s relationship grew through the years. It also doesn’t just switch Damian and Dick’s names while keeping their personalities the same, or have Damian become a harsh, uncaring person who can barely be classified as an older brother, both of which I’ve seen in these types of fics and I hate. Damian’s character development is extremely well done and actually realistic, so kudos for that. Jon is written as an actual character with feelings and motivation, rather than a “smol little bean” whose entire personality is “uwu.” While it can be funny in incorrect quotes and humor, it doesn’t do well for depth, and I like how this fic explored Jon’s human side. All in all, an interesting read, almost to the point of a character study. Also the shipping stuff with the eventual happy ending is cute too.

6. In The Game by WithTheKeyIsKing

Everyone knows that if you want Don Bruce Wayne to hear you out, there are a few people you have to talk to first. (And frankly, his sons can be just as terrifying.)

Gen. 4,000 words. Part 1 of a series. Once again, I love this for the way the characters are explored. Each member of the family’s individual personalities are examined, then taken and twisted just slightly to the left, leaving you breathless reading a fic that actually seems 100% plausible. The second person in the first fic is a bit off-putting at first, until you reach the end and realize what the author was setting up for. While not a fic I like to read as an alternate way of imagining canon, this is a cool idea worth a visit.

7. Safe and Sound by @kingburu

Post-Endgame, Nightwing finds Kid Flash at Mount Justice.

Birdflash. 12,000 words. I have literally created a moodboard for this fic, that’s how much I loved it. Now, I’ll be the first person to say I’m not a fan of Young Justice. While it set up a good premise, the characters are introduced and gone too fast for us to actually care, and the show is just different enough from canon comics to seriously bother me. But, if there’s one thing I truly loved, it was Dick and Wally’s easy friendship in Season 1. It was like the ultimate best friends to lovers. However, apparently DC can’t ever let me or Wally be happy because Endgame happens and I die a little inside. This fic is a self indulgent little oneshot of Wally accidentally time travelling to the future, after he died, and coming to terms with the fact that he loves his best friend and he left him all alone. Heartbreakingly sad, this takes you on a journey through Wally’s emotional mindset. It does not have a happy ending, and leaves you feeling bittersweet in all the right ways.

All right, those are seven of the best DC fics there are, at least in my book. Once again, these are just general. If you want a specific pairing or fandom, just let me know. Ask and ye shall receive. Also, if you want to scream one of the fics from the list you read, or any other fic or headcanon, just message me. I’m literally always down to talk.

Hope you like the list, anon. Happy reading!