#;; lmao the fact that we've never written them.............

[stellylee]

WHO: Stelly & @chetang

WHERE: The Sydney & Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden

WHEN: February, 2024

Hanging out with their step-brother, of all people, hadn't exactly been on Stelly's agenda. But family dinner before the big trip had of course brought up the question of whether or not Stelly planned on showing Chetan around the city, and they had made a promise to his dad that they would at least show him some of their favorite spots. So he wasn't a total nerd on his own. Or whatever. Having walked through the NOMA, Stelly took a small breath, before gesturing for Chetan to follow them. "C'mon. I want to show you the sculpture garden. It opened right before I left New Orleans, like a year or two, I think? But it's one of the things I was saddest to leave behind."

[filipinoizukuu]

what comes next though? (MHA ch. 413)

// major spoilers for mha ch. 413 since its leaks, so please stop reading if you arent quite caught up. i havent written one of these in a LONGGG while lmao.

ANYWAY, with all that being said.... this week's leaks huh?

We saw it coming a long time ago, we speculated it to hell and back, we made aus and fics, and now it's finally here. The conclusion we've reached and the one that's been hinted at since the release of Heroes Rising in 2019:

bnha is going to end with deku giving up one for all and becoming quirkless.

(LOTS of words under the cut -- youve been warned.)

For those who are a little lost; the basic premise of the ending we are hurtling towards is that Kudou (the 2nd user of ofa) has a plan to take down Shigaraki. With AfO dead and gone + Shigaraki becoming so powerful he is essentially invincible -- theres no other choice for the heroes other than destroying him inside out; the plan being the equivalent of charging a battery so much it explodes.

the way they're going to go about this is by essentially, feeding Shigaraki bits of One for All until he's given all of it -- then allowing the vestiges of the previous wielders to create a massive revolt similar to what SnS did until they can successfully tear him apart from inside the "quirk realm" and shut him out. Kudou volunteers to go next since danger sense has already been taken, and if Shigaraki uses gearshift again after Deku already used it twice, Tomura's body will likely shutdown and receive twice the backlash Deku does when he uses kudou's quirk.

(sidenote: funny as fuck that deku only understood once kudou equated the strategy to bkg throwing papers at him. bro stupid af.)

its a sensible(ish) idea. one that seems plausible given the context of the last hundred or so chapters with heroes like Hawks and SnS having their quirks revolt against both AfO and Shigaraki in a way that makes it clear that its not uniquely OfA that animates the souls of peoples quirks. Its inherent. Quote, Nana Shimura, "romantic" even.

(let it be known though that i think hori absolutely did not plan on delving into this plot point as much as he is now. ill explain in a bit, but heroes rising was 100% a major factor of why he moved in this direction.)

That being said, the conclusion of the plan (and subsequently, the major plot of bnha) is as follows: Deku gives up One for All to Shigaraki. One for All unites with All for One within Shigaraki and destroys it in one final clash between Yoichi and his brother. The break in the barrier of Shigaraki's hatred will part, letting him find the consciousness of Shimura Tenko behind it after years.

Shigaraki dies, taking OfA and AfO down with him,

and then Deku is quirkless once more.

Sad conclusion aside for now, I firmly believe that no matter what way you look at it; Deku was always meant to end the story without a quirk. Given some of the original drafts of bnha where Deku was never supposed to be given a quirk in the first place, this is clearly unsurprising. What's more is my favorite piece of information relative to katsuki and deku's character development:

the fact that heroes rising was (one of the) ideas for the original ending of bnha.

a refresher for some of you: heroes rising is about class 1a going to the isolated village of nabu island and defending it against an upcoming big bad villain named "nine" with a quirk that is essentially a scaled down version of all for one. katsuki and deku eventually resolve the conflict together via brute force by deku giving katsuki ofa, them rushing in while the quirk is transferring and both of them have it, and then ultimately defeating nine at the end. the movie then of course circles back on deku losing one for all, undoing that consequence by saying the transfer never completed bc ofa chose him over katsuki and they all move on to the endeavor agency arc with katsuki remembering absolutely nothing of the final battle.

many fans often misunderstand one of horikoshi's quotes about the movie in that it was, without a doubt, the original ending of bnha. for the sake of accuracy, that is not what horikoshi really said; what he ACTUALLY said was something closer and to the tune of of how it was "one OF the endings" he planned on using for bnha, but his original idea for how the story ends "has not changed one bit."

obviously disregarding the cop out where ofa sticks back to izuku in order for the series to continue as normal; this can only confirm that bnha was going to end with midoriya izuku quirkless whether katsuki was involved or not.

so what's different this time?

its hard to figure out how far horikoshi had planned the ending of bnha with heroes rising's prototype conclusion in mind. if heroes rising never pulled through and horikoshi had planned on bnha ending with the shared ofa transfer and katsuki continuing deku's legacy -- then that means katsuki wouldve died an early death because of all might's confirmation that only quirkless people can hold on to one for all without dying young, meaning he either intended on katsuki dying soon after the story ends or only planned that plot point after heroes rising was released.

the plot as well of heroes rising's conclusion cannot have been thought of all that early on because of ANOTHER tidbit of information that changes perspective of the entire series: in that,

bakugou katsuki was never supposed to be a major character to begin with. (keep an eye on this link; i reference this interview a LOT)

he was not supposed to have an arc. he was not supposed to become a major focal point of the series. he was not meant to be the hero he is in the story today. bakugou katsuki was not written with the intention of being a major narrative this late into the story -- instead originally only existing as a character that deku would surpass within the first few arcs.

but then katsuki cried, and deku apologized, and then opened his big fat mouth, and then told him a secret he didnt even tell his own mother -- and suddenly bakugou katsuki was not just another footnote in deku's story, but a legitimate character that grew and created one of the most loved (and hated) character turnarounds in shonen history. he started of as a literal EXTRA before snowballing into the very same character horikoshi decided would defeat all for one, the original scariest antagonist of the entire series. someone not even ALL MIGHT could defeat.

but circling back, yeah. heroes rising was definitely not the ending horikoshi thought of first, nor was it the ending he thought of last. ultimately, it was simply another route he couldve taken into wrapping up deku's fate into what it was (probably) always meant to be:

deku was gonna lose one for all no matter what.

it's kind of fitting, honestly -- for this to be the ultimate conclusion to the series. it makes the most sense, since what sent deku down this path so many years ago was his mother apologizing to deku for being quirkless; as if being quirkless meant he was born inferior to those who had quirks. people, after all according to deku's famous beginning monologue, are not born equal.

Even still, i thought to note: deku never stopped wanting to be a hero. we all know this, obviously. this was his driving force -- but then when you REALLY think about the implications, you have to ask. what the heck was deku even planning to do?!

he had ideas. he had hope. he wrote notebooks for the future and thought of his costume for being a hero -- but not once do i remember him writing about his hero experience as if he was suddenly going to develop a quirk. he was planning on saving people quirkless -- an extremely interesting motivation especially when he couldve so easily chosen to walk the path of being a doctor or engineer instead if he wanted to save people so badly. its a story about conviction, about doing the things you wanna do in the way you wanna do it no matter what ANYONE else says and hey wait a minute that sounds familiar

it doesnt quite read that way at first, especially because of how izuku almost listened to all might about "being realistic" when the first met and nearly gave up on becoming a hero entirely, but izuku is a lot similar to katsuki in the sense that no matter what gets in his way -- he is determined to achieve his dreams in the way HE CHOOSES, and not the way that is more "convenient".

even when you look at just his name, "deku" in the way that uraraka had interpreted it (dekiru -- "you can do it!") and the way deku reexplains it to katsuki in deku vs kacchan 1 ("the deku that doesn't give up!") you can so easily tell that deku from the very beginning has only ever needed the slightest push to pursue being a hero, quirk-or-not-be-damned. hell, we even see a glimpse of this possibility in the sports festival race when deku absolutely DECIMATES not just bakugou but also TODOROKI (as well as every single other damn student participating in the festival) with nothing but robot scraps and his balls of steel. it just so happens that until the promise of one for all, no such encouragement or push was ever given to deku in his pursuit of heroicism, most especially in comparison to katsuki who had been receiving praise and validation for his goals his whole life.

i'd argue that deku's conviction is even stronger than katsuki in a way no other person seems to recognize (except maybe katsuki himself). katsuki had received only positive feedback and zero competition for his goals growing up while deku received nothing but discouragement. both of them kept the conviction of being a hero for TEN YEARS; neither wavering til the day of the sludge incident.

that aside; what comes next?

we know the story after that. deku gets his quirk, he goes to school, he fights, he drops out, he fights some more, and now he's standing before shigaraki tomura with every quirk of one for all unlocked and over twice the power that all might had in his prime -- fully knowing he's about to lose EVERYTHING in order to defeat shigaraki.

this is deku we're talking about. he doesn't care. he knows the implications and what that will mean for his dream -- but his goal right now is in front of him. his goal is shigaraki, consumed by hatred, threatening to take down the world izuku loves most into a pit of misery and decay because society failed people like them. does he care? probably. will he refuse to give up his power if it means not saving the world and fulfilling one for all's purpose? absolutely not.

deku has made all might's quirk his own, but one for all does not belong to him. it belongs to yoichi. and kudou. and bruce and nana and all of the other users who built that quirk for generations in hopes that one day, someday, someone would be able to yield it all and bring down the monstrosity that created it in the first place. deku will not hesitate, but also deku knows what he will lose.

i have... a few things i dislike about this.

Admittedly, i do think that this is a better resolution than the simple brute strength approach of Heroes Rising. For one, while i do love heroes rising with my entire heart and soul, i firmly believe it would not have been a satisfying conclusion to the core lessons and teachings bnha tries to impart throughout the story. simply outnumbering and outpowering afo/shigaraki would not be enough to close yoichi's story and one for all -- much less the story of shigaraki himself as tenko, the boy consumed by hatred.

Still, this new ending that horikoshi has laid out leaves me with more questions; as well as large expectations for how izuku's character will close out. its complicated, because deku's evolution and development is subtle and intricate in a way i havent seen from other shonen protagonists and i worry about doing it justice.

but most of my problems have to do with bakugou katsuki.

(aint that the truth)

i know i mentioned that bakugou was never intended to be a major character, but i want it to be known that that was only in the beginning. season 1, maybe even season 2 -- but horikoshi had said it best himself in that bakugou katsuki, against his permission, had gained a life of his own and inserted himself into the very grain of mha's story. you cannot deny this.

he is the series deuteroganist inarguably. one of the most beloved characters and one of the most attentively-written development arcs in the whole series. katsuki in and of himself embodies major themes in bnha that make it so that ditching his development and impact last minute after defeating all for one would reflect poorly upon the conclusion of the story itself. he and deku are intertwined in arcs -- even if they do have separate paths at the end of the day. katsuki is the one izuku told about the quirk. the one who followed izuku during the paranormal liberation arc. the one who understands one for all and is determined to learn about it more than anyone else barring all might and deku himself. the one who is closer to izuku than anyone else.

it can't be over for their arc, no matter what way you see it. friends? rivals? hero partners? what comes next, when the smoke clears? what comes next when izuku gives shigaraki hell, like katsuki told him to?

katsuki's atoned. we accept that, have known it since chapter 285 and have continued to know it until the iconic apology in the rain. that's not where katsuki stops however, because we know that its not all about begging for izuku's forgiveness nor atoning for himself. its about catching up to izuku -- the last words he uttered before shigaraki crushed his heard say it all.

"can i still catch up to you, izuku?"

since the moment katsuki died, we've been given a metric ton of material to read through what he and izuku have become in the story. firstly, the point of katsuki being the person closest to izuku. what does this mean? what does that say about katsuki? is he supposedly the person izuku loves the most? the person izuku believes in the most? i'd argue these two criterion would easily fit his mother or all might a lot better -- not his childhood friend turned bully turned rival turned barely-friend. katsuki sure as hell didn't believe he was the person closest to izuku before shigaraki brought it up as evidenced by the fact that he let IIDA bring deku back to UA -- and neither does izuku as far as i bet. what was shigaraki's intention?

katsuki heard that statement. he hasnt said anything, but he definitely heard it. its an open end that is left entirely unanswered PRECISELY because katsuki fought afo on his own and izuku is about to tackle shigaraki without katsuki by his side. if it was heroes rising's ending wherein they would both fight shigaraki and take him down together -- then that statement would easily be answered by how their strength and bond is the one thing that gave them an upper hand in the final battle. other than that... i'm not entirely sure how they're going to have katsuki and izuku acknowledge katsuki's brief "death" and Tomura's reasons thereof.

But fine, lets ignore that for the time being and move on to what happened when Katsuki came back.

katsuki answered izuku's cry for help. he came back to life in the last moment to save all might when izuku was too busy fighting tooth and nail to win. they are the penultimate example of two sides of a hero; the win and save. not one without the other. every single parallel thus far between izuku and katsuki have always been to draw attention over and over to each of their stubborn convictions to win and save under all might's tutelage.

katsuki has chosen to prioritize winning and fighting over saving and rescuing over. and over. and over. and over again. at every single opportunity from the very beginning of the series. in usj, in sports festival, in the final exam, every choice he's made up until --

chapter 285 - bakugou katsuki: rising.

he chooses to save izuku in this instant. as he says, his body moved on its own -- or in other words, he felt like how izuku has always did since the sludge villain incident. this is bakugou katsuki catching up to midoriya izuku. its katsuki realizing that he needs to save so deku can win, and actually being okay with that for once. it's a major turning point in his character that clearly tells even horikoshi that there's absolutely no way katsuki can go back to being a side character within the plot of bnha after a development like this.

and then, after this instance, we notice it happen again and again. katsuki choosing to save to win instead of winning to save. katsuki protecting best jeanist against the nomu. katsuki coming to chase after izuku when he runs away from UA. katsuki (in a way) saving aoyama when its revealed he's the traitor. hell, katsuki saving ALL MIGHT as soon as izuku -- the savior -- begs someone to save his idol when he can't because he's too focused on trying to win.

so what changed?

what changed since the moment of chapter 285 was katsuki accepting his fears and anxieties. katsuki letting go of his aversity to working with deku. the reason katsuki started accepting the path of saving to win was because he TRUSTED deku to win where he couldnt.

this is katsuki accepting that him and izuku already surpassed all might together.

but katsuki said it himself. it's not over. he accepts that him and izuku are finally on equal footing -- hell, he admits he's the one who needs to play catch up. it's not about katsuki conceding to weakness, but katsuki being able to trust in izuku to finish the job. the point is that they both will break and break until they win the way they choose to, and the other will be there to win while they save and save while they win. moreso, katsuki still wants to be number 1. he still wants to catch up and surpass deku. he wants to fight by deku's side. but ... as we've established:

deku will be quirkless soon.

my problem (or, i guess, curiosity?) with the path horikoshi seems to be going down for the end of this story is what happens to this end? what happens to the wonder duo? i believe in a quirkless deku plot as much as the next person -- but any reader would find it easy to see that once deku loses one for all, he will not be nearly as efficient nor quick nor capable of a hero as he once was. especially not against a developed katsuki with mastery over cluster explosions.

he will lose one for all and he won't ever be the pro-hero he was going to be before the final war arc. katsuki will get number 1 surely, but will he be happy about this resolution? i don't think so. All Might himself had said it when Katsuki spoke to him about his relationship to Izuku; that the twin stars reminded All Might very much of his own rivalry with Endeavor and the bitter feelings it created.

endeavor expressed regret and a bitter end to their rivalry; the acknowledgement of the bitter truth that the only reason he was the number one hero is because all might lost his own quirk. he knew he didn't deserve the mantle all might had held for a long time before him. he knew that he was still only just playing catch up with the wisdom and understanding of heroicism that all might had in his heart from the beginning. endeavor will likely retire from being a pro-hero unsatisfied with this truth and his own victory at becoming the no.1 at the very end -- never feeling like he truly surpassed all might of his own accord. both enji and toshinori -- victims of their destiny.

is this the fate that will befall katsuki once izuku is quirkless for good?

There are many questions I have in wake of the recent chapter. The end of the series is here, and that's a whole can of worms i haven't touched in and of itself. We all saw this coming; some of us know that this was always going to be Izuku's fate since the beginning of the series. But now that it's more than just izuku's character involved in his dreams of being a hero -- i dont know how this series is going to conclude and if it will be satisfying to any means. there's a lot of questions i still have; bakugous arc feeling incomplete ever since he came back to life, the conclusion of all might and one for all's dreams now that they will disappear altogether. where does deku go after this? where does bakugou go? where do any of them?

i guess i gotta wait and see lol

[archer-kacey]

Shawn Flynn (Analysis)

Let's talk about my favorite JDS weirdo!

We first hear Shawn's voice in Bendy and the Ink Machine, but Joey also mentions him in Illusion of Living in passing.

Joey mentions two things here, firstly that Shawn does "an excellent job." I know Joey lies more than a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar, but considering the fact that JDS is held together with duct tape and rubber bands, I'm inclined to believe him here. After all, how the hell could they keep up with demands (so much so that the Alice dolls were overstocked) if the foreman fucked off constantly.

Joey also says that Shawn's "creativity knows no bounds." Makes sense for his position, but also helps confirm that Joey does think highly of him in terms of his work. On a personal level, though, maybe not so much.

Based on Joey's insistence for perfection, we can infer that Shawn, like many, was just trying to do his damn job, and Joey blew his lid when things weren't exactly to his liking.

Shawn also mentions that the Alice merchandise wasn't selling well, and offhandedly proposes that they may have to melt the remaining stock down in order to get rid of it. Pretty self-explanatory tape, all things considered.

(The Bendy Wiki also mentions that he has a Dublin accent. I am not at all an expert on ANYTHING Irish but I did find out that Jacksepticeye is from Offaly, Ireland (Midland/East Ireland) and Dublin is also part of East Ireland, so...I'm assuming this is correct.)

There is also an easter egg with the Seeing Tool in BATIM written over Shawn's audio log, though this is mostly a nod to his voice actor.

Anyway, onto Boris and the Dark Survival.

In BATDS, Shawn mentions that he bought a new belt, (a one-of-a-kind toolbelt apparently,) and it was stolen immediately the next day. The perpetrator was a Gent employee, and they very brazenly wore it around right after stealing it. We aren't sure who this employee is, that's mostly speculation. But I don't think that's the point- this odd anecdote represents some of the first seeds of distrust being sown between JDS and Gent employees.

This brings us to Dark Revival.

Funnily enough, I find Shawn's departure from the studio much more interesting than his actual time employed there.

Firstly, Shawn mentions that Joey took it well when he decided to leave. Between the shift towards Gent's experiments and new technology, the funding from Gent, and the sudden irrelevance of having Bendy merch going out in droves, it's possible that Joey just didn't care.

Shawn also seems to give zero fucks about Joey's opinion, based on his Dark Revival and Bendy audio logs, which I find fucking hilarious. Not the first disgruntled employee, but certainly the most confident when faced with Joey himself.

He mentions wanting to find a cabin upstate, see some open sky, and start anew with his family. Overall it seems like leaving JDS gave him a more hopeful lens on life.

But the MOST headscratching thing about his parting audio log is the last few lines;

"But before I go, I've made one last toy. A little parting present for the factory lads. Let's see how long it takes them to find it."

We never hear from Shawn again, so we have NO IDEA WHAT THIS MEANS LMAO. Leave it to Shawn to be mysterious for no apparent reason.

However, there is a possible connection to be made. In the Heavenly Toys area, there's a factory output sheet slapped on one of the walls.

The last column mentions a "Bendy Starface Stuffed Toy", which we've never seen presently. There was only one ever made, and after that it was immediately discontinued.

I don't know why it would be listed at all if Shawn did leave the Starface Bendy as a gift, so this may all be a dead end. (I'm also aware that this might be a "Scarface" reference, although I really don't know what that has to do with anything.) Regardless, I find it a weird coincidence that Shawn left a single toy behind, and Starface also seems to be a completely unique Bendy toy.

TL;DR Shawn Flynn is cool and might have left an Among Us plushie at the studio for his co-workers

[tehrevving]

Long responses are such a gift, honestly. What's this about a Golden Saucer analysis? 👀👀

The Gold Saucer Date!!

I love that chapter. Honestly one of my favourite things I've ever written. There's so much symbolism in it and I put so much thought into trying to have each part of it address a different part of Vincent's issues, trauma and his relationship with Reader. I wonder how much of this my readers picked up (probably none. I overthink everything.)

Anyway let's go!

Before we go into the chapter itself, let's talk about what the previous chapter (coming in his pants lmao) represents to Vincent.

Vincent has been in hibernation for a long time and hates his body, current appearance and everything. He thought that he would be happy with just making Reader come and not needing anything in return, because that's generally how he's approached many of his previous casual sexual encounters, and because Lucrecia would never get him off. Anyway. I digress.

But, he's caught feelings and is struggling. In his head, as long as he can keep feelings out of it and everything separate, then he can continue being friends with Reader while also pleasuring her occasionally. This then gets muddled by his own feelings and the way that she tries to reciprocate and shows care and affection towards him.

After she gets him off, sticking within his boundaries and being enthusiastic about it. He decides that he is going to try and see if he can act normal enough to have a normal date/relationship and tests this at the Gold Saucer.

At this point there are a few main points that are causing Vincent grief about having a relationship.

His appearance, body, scarring, monster bits etc

His own self loathing and hatred

The fact that he is not normal, not human and will never be

The way that Reader looks at him with fucking stars in her eyes

He is 95% sure that he is going to reject her after the date, but holds out hope for that tiny 5%.

He also feels selfish because as he states later. He wants the memories of her having a good time because they will be all he has. This dictates quite a lot of his behaviour during the date too.

Now that we've outlined what makes him angsty and thought process going into the date. Let's start the analysis.

The Skywheel

This is right at the beginning, so Vincent is in full 'date mode'. Everything here is showing him being kind, thoughtful and a good partner. A hand on her back to help her on the pod when she hesitates, reassuring her during the light show, pointing out the towns and then having her on his lap and cuddling at the end. This is who he wants to be (and who he is lol but anyway).

Reader brings up that they need to have a talk, which previously has made him shut down, or try get sexual lmao. This time though he does commit to having a discussion later, which is a huge deal.

The Travelator

Vincent knows that going on the travelator is going to fuck him up. Technically this has nothing to do with any of his issues, he could just dress less fucking extra. But it still sort of kind of relates to his body and how it can't be changed. Anyway, he tries to lead her to the stairs. She specifically asks him if he's nervous and reassures him that she's here for him and will help him through it. If she had said anything else, then he wouldn't have gone on it. But because she said it from a place of genuine care, he decides to just do it. Personally, he doesn't mind being the butt of the joke, for people he cares about anyway and knows it would make her laugh. He wants to have that memory of her laughing and caring about him, so decides to go through with it.

Cid

Cid's section is where the night starts to go wrong for Vincent lol.

This section reminds him that his body cannot be changed. He will always be bony, lanky and awkward, and has the monstery bits too. Everyone will always look at the two of them and wonder if she's bruised from his body, or what she sees in him. It's something inescapable that she will always have to deal with being with him.

This part also addresses the fact that he can't eat normally. He can't have a normal date and go out for a meal, share a picnic, all of that shit lol.

Vincent Playing Games

This has 2 parts that tell a story together lol. Anyway, Vincent is good at games, that's fine lol. We expect it. Reader tells him that he could atleast just let her win one. He plays it cool, but when compared with the next scene, where he plays Tifa and lets her win. It means something.

My highschool english teacher would be so proud of me lmao.

Basically, him not letting Reader win represents that he's decided that he's not going to lie to her in the context of the relationship. He will hide himself or lie to Tifa, or any other member of the gang, but he's not going to lie or hide himself from Reader.

G-Bike

At this point from Vincent's perspective, the night hasn't gone that great. Almost all of his concerns have occurred, and even though Reader doesn't seem to care, they're still weighing heavily on him.

She is very eager to play G-bike, because she's actually good at it (like me lmao). Vincent knows the VR will likely glitch out on him, but isn't quite sure how. He figures he can play all of it off like he did on the travelator, and he'll get a good 'memory' out of it. But, we're at the end of the night now and his patience is wearing thin. Keep in mind that the closer we get to the end of the night, the closer the inevitable conversation where he has to reject her grows.

What happens to him on the G-Bike is basically the worst case scenario. The entire game glitches out because he's not human and then he can't even take the damn thing off at the end. This sends him past his breaking point.

The Ending

Reader obviously recognises that he's having a panic attack or something, and go pulls him out somewhere quiet. This fucks him up more because he needs to be in control of himself, and he's losing it. She tries to reassure him multiple times, which just makes him feel worse because they all feed into those insecurities. We're back to those main points again. He's not human and can't do human things, the normal world does not work for him. And that she is trying to reassure him with care and understanding (the best that she can anyway).

This takes Vincent to a breaking point and he needs to remove himself from the situation immediately, lest he risk losing control and transforming. So he's very abrupt and mean so that she stops trying to reassure him and lets him go.

--

So there we go, that's my Gold Saucer analysis. I bet no one realised how much symbolism I put in here while you were reading it lol. Anyway, did any of you pick any of this up? Please let me know, I'm so curious.

[sseanettles]

okay so spinning off some thoughts that came up while I was word vomiting my other arthur/lucy appreciation post was to rant a bit about van helsing and some rancid takes I saw about how the way he treated lucy on her deathbed was "creepy" with the hair brushing and stuff bc hoooooOOOO BOY

"van helsing infantilizes lucy"--okay setting aside the fact that this is a victorian novel written by a victorian man and gee water is wet, please expect some of this it's tragically a feature and not a bug, van helsing specifically infantilizes and underestimates...everyone to varying degrees???? it's a function of the plot lmao, it takes us so long to talk about vampires straight-up because he constantly looks down on others/doubts their capacity, that's not a women-talk-only problem he has. it's just a central character flaw. like. my deranged professor of a man is a master of personal and intellectual negging. everyone is "my child" and "my boy" and "my girl" and "good boy/good girl" all the time (and he calls himself an old man repeatedly). when he beckons arthur to come say goodbye to lucy he calls him "my child" and anyway now that we've established that van helsing is just like this with everyone it's just more jarring when it's a woman because we're understandably sensitized to that today....can we talk about the deathbed behavior???

van helsing brushing lucy's hair is not fuckin' creepy, jesus. tell me you've never tended to a dying person before without telling me, bc as a nurse who has tended many dying folks, tidying a patient???? giving them back their dignity???? at the end of all things???? giving them that tenderness, that act of service, for both the patient and their family???????? calling them my child, my boy, my girl????? my god, it's all one of the easiest and biggest gestures of humanity you can give someone. one of the attendings I love working with described hospice once as "we move through life in symmetry." as we near death, we become childlike again, just as we emerged into life.

to be cared for like a child is one of the greatest comforts I have seen given, time and time again. every time I hear seward say that when they entered the room to say goodbye, they found that van helsing had even brushed lucy's hair so that it lay like sunshine upon her pillow and had made her comfortable, my heart fucking aches and I start sobbing. that is not treating her like a doll. that is one of the most basic acts of compassion and decency you can do for someone departing us all forever, especially after prolonged suffering and pain and fear like she endured. treat them as a human who deserves comfort, who deserves dignity, who deserves decency. return them back to days when (if you had good parents) you always knew you were safe, you always knew you were cared for, and the world was gentle and kind and soft.

ALSO SHE IS FUCKING NINETEEN, SHE IS A FUCKING TEENAGER, THAT IS A FUCKING BABE ON THE COSMIC SCALE OF THINGS, she is nineteen, she is nineteen and her mom died on top of her and she doesn't understand what is happening to her, just that she is dying, no one can save her, they tried, they tried so hard and she is still dying, she is alone and she is dying, she is dying, she is nineteen goddamn years old and she is dying.

let someone be gentle with her. let someone brush her hair.

[micechicken]

Christmas is nearly here. So, how would the Sunshine characters (and any others) celebrate Christmas? If they do at all. Do your characters from other universes have celebrations similar in tradition?

Omg so Christmas is actually an entire plot point in the game lmao.

The kids like decorating for Christmas and in the main times we've written it out they tend to do something like a Secret Santa for the gifts. They tend to decorate with random things they have found or made, sometimes even buying things.

Mary really likes putting up the garlands and stuff cause she is small and able to run around bars and rails to put them up lol. Marcy tends to sew people things as gifts, especially plushies. And Sable just loves parties and hanging out so she joins in despite being Jewish (same with Falin but he's kind more like "why are we messing around when we need to find our parents" lol). Falin and Sable kinda just quietly celebrate in their own ways.

Also since the kids love baking or making food out of the limited resources they have they like to take time to make things together.

As for Fantastic it's also relevant.

After Fritz and Jer adopted Alestair and Mara they wanted to help them feel welcome in their home (they were adopted in the fall a few months before).

So with Christmas coming up they decided that they should allow the kids to decide some kind of tradition they could have to make it feel like it was theirs.

Alestair chose snow globes as he thought were pretty and fascinating. So for every year they would go to a specific shop and get the newest one and display it somewhere before moving it to the cabinet where they live. Even as he got older they kept doing it and he'd visit to get it and admire it. Even after Alestair began cutting contact with them and not showing up, Fritz and Jer still kept buying them every year but never took them from their boxes, just leaving them to be opened if he ever showed up.

Mara picked making cookies, so they would go all out every time and make a bunch. As they got older and less of a sweet tooth they made less cookies each time but it was still a thing. Even as an adult she would still come and make them, being maybe a little too smug about the fact she showed up and he didn't. Though she had a bit of a phase as a teen where she "didn't care".

In Arcadia, specifically Monster Girls there is the Fire Festival. Now MG is something that happens a long time after the events of Adventure Team and Legacy (which are the stories that follow Seth and co) during the war led by Emperor Topaz.

A group of fish humanoid creatures known as Orlan came onto the land near a beach and started to build on land. From it they created a village and later a kingdom that was led by the leader of the original settlers, known as the Honula kingdom. They still had to return to the water from time to time especially in the winter when it was too cold to stay.

Often the land would have issues with being taken over or attacked as it was vacant in the winter so they longed to be able to stay in the winter. One day a Renpy (basically magic bird person) gifted them a magical flame that burned for an eternity and would make the land more warm and habitable during the winter. It was sealed in a magic staff the king carried.

From there they celebrated for a week and enjoyed this new ability to stay during the winter. And it was from then on celebrated every year, which starts big ceremony that starts casting the spell for the winter that causes an Aurora to appear in the sky above the kingdom. Lots come from all over just to see it and enjoy the fun.

As time goes on though the war makes it harder to celebrate. And with the current ruling Queen not doing the ceremony anymore they tend to stay inside in the winter and celebrate in small ways.

There's a legend that if the sky ever lights up with the Aurora again then the war will soon end after. As it's a sign the kingdom is doing better and the lights can be seen from far away.

In Awaken Tranquil Rudor the winter time is very significant to the people, but they kind of forgot why.

Ayesha's favorite elements are water and wind, and together they make snow and ice. So the winter time is often symbolic of the bond between Humans and Maltens as Humans are said to be the Water and the Maltens the Wind. This is because of the flight capabilities of the Maltern and the fact that Humans are strongly connected to water (it's also the easiest magic for them to use).

In the winter there are many different celebrations that can even vary by village but they all were to celebrate the bond and allow others to share their stories and show off their Maltern friends.

With the departure of the Maltern and the fact that it's forbidden to speak about them, people kinda just view the winter time as the favorite of Ayesha and celebrate it for that reason. And it's true that it is Ayesha's favorite, but it was because her children celebrated it together.

As for Light of the Faceless, Charlie and Barle didn't even know that Christmas existed until Barle's fascination with Christianity brought it to their attention. The Tolliver family while taking care of Charlie celebrated it with him and Charlie later after being reunited with Barle, makes an effort to celebrate it with him.

A Small Ray is complicated on this. As the outside world celebrates specific Faie in the winter time who are seen as important figures, or just for their connection to the winter. Draowal doesn't allow magic or anything related to it, so they don't do anything related to that.

In fact there's no real weather in Draowal as it's enclosed in a mountain, so the people aren't even aware of the seasons or weather. So naturally any of this stuff is a surprise to Flick. Even the media that is made there doesn't really depict anything outside of what Draowal is like so it's not even something anyone considers.

[hex-blogs]

So we're doing this now, huh?

I don't recommend following the listed individuals because they fill me with so much joy and love that I cannot handle it. Just kidding! This is an appreciation post a-la @thefreelanceangel Buckle up, buttercups! Feels are happening below:

@sihdiel:

My person, my sister, my friend, my life-partner of whom I know I'll grow old with outside of our husbands! You've been my rock for 9 years. You've been my shoulder, you've been the words I needed to hear when the actions of others sought only to tear me down. Nine years of working together as a team, as companions, to ensure that we're both always seen, heard, and felt. I can't begin to express what you mean to me. What your influence as done for me, but more importantly, it's what your kindness has afforded me. I really am so fortunate to call you my best and closest friend. You know me more than anyone, and I trust you implicitly. I love you! ♥ --- @thefreelanceangel:

I don't have a photo of us, but I DO have a throwback to 2012 when Lux got married and made the unfortunate decision to have Othello as a bridesmaid! Let me tell you, girl. You're an amazingly bright person who treats everyone they meet with kindness and respect. Throughout the years we've been in the same RP circles, same games, and always, ALWAYS, you've greeted me like an old friend. I'm so fortunate to have someone like you in my circle. Someone who encourages, is helpful, and brings a light to my life I'm forever grateful for! I love writing with you, taking screenies, and chatting it up at all hours! You, my friend, are a keeper, and I'm thankful for you, your influence, and the delight you bring me! I love you! ♥ --- @sigridderioslainn

(tumblr compressed this image but you'll know what it is when you click it! LOL) The one and only Short King! Haaah! A fantastic companion with a mind-blowing talent for the written word! For years we've delved into amazing stories together filled with anguish, tribulations, and character development! Our character's weren't the only ones going through those developments. You and I, together and separately, have grown into stellar people. I'm so thankful that I have you in my life. Truly. Since, gosh, 2013? You've been someone I've spoken of in high regard even through ups and downs that life seemed to toss our way. The ways of which you've grown are awe-inspiring! I love reading your messages after a long day. I know it's going to be a good time when I have 20 unread messages from you detailing shenanigans your characters are getting into! From GW2, WoW, AU's, and now FFXIV---I can confidently say I've had a solid friend throughout them all! You're the best. You're amazing You're talented You're beautiful I love you, Linds! Can't wait to continue having O cause chaos just to have her justice driven inquisitor/justiciar tailing right behind!

--- @iarecereal:

Oh look, a picture with you, me, and @sihdiel! The fact that we met on Xbox360 in a Call of Duty lobby back in 2010 is WILD. What made it even more wild was you being gone for who knows who long, only to log on and say: "Hey! I moved to WA!" (Also, I'll never forget being in that 1V1 lobby, where I'm dominating and suddenly I die, out of nowhere and I see in the top left corner: 'Donovan killed Lady Lunacy'. Then your laughter when I yell: OH, YOU BITCH!' into the mic!) You've been there for me through many facets of my life. You were a key player in early House Cress lore with Caelnon, you were my 'pew-pew' pal for a while, and even were a part of my baby shower. I think of you fondly ALL THE TIME and I know life broadened the distance between us, but we always pick up where we life off. As if time and distance are just words and not facts. I love you, man. I really do, and I appreciate everything you've been a part of and will continue to be a part of in the future! ♥ --- @adoraphlox

Girl, you know I had to drop this pic of us from back in the day LMAO! Your gentleness is something I've always admired, but that doesn't discredit that fiery spirit of yours! Through the years and the 'life has a way' moments, you've been a friend, a counselor who guided me through some pretty rough times, and someone I know I can message at anytime and get a ♥ back! Writing characters not only in House Cress but other AU's with you has been a highlight of my writing 'career ' that I look back on fondly! You're a real one, through and through! I will always consider you a friend no matter how much time passes.

I love everything about you --- @lilac-memorials I wanted to post a screenshot of our Warcraft babs but I'm on my work PC so just know, that image is in my mind! Remember when we were in voice chat and we thought we were complete strangers till we discovered we were 'One Kevin Bacon Away' from one another for over a decade? "Omg I remember that!" "Omg! I remember YOU!" It was like a friendship that had always been there finally had the doors opened and we were waiting on either side to embrace one another! You, my friend, are one of the strongest individuals I know to date. You have a POWER to you that is wielded by a kind hand. Nothing can stop you, and I mean nothing. Our time together has been amazing and I can't wait for more! Writing with you, laughing with you, going through the motions with you--I'm here for all of it! You're a welcoming person. A wholesome person. You're someone who vehemently believes in right over wrong and that's exactly the type of person I want to surround myself with. Keep being you. Keep being amazing. I look up to you in more ways than one! I love you, through and through! --- @v-xv Dude--I was going to post that pic of us we took when I visited in 2013 but decided not to do us that sort of disservice! Lmaoooo I know we rarely engage in mushy feelsy things, but I think you know the positive impact you've had on me since our humble beginnings. Your talent for art and prose is widely known, but the thing I admire the most about you is your attitude. You're real. Like, you tell it how it is. You set your boundaries but that doesn't take away from your ability to be a kind person. Writing with you is an absolute joy and I love when we get the time/chance to. I know our lives have a choke-hold on us but you know I'm there for you whenever you need it, however you need it. You're hilarious! You make me laugh so fucking much, it's insane! I love the time we spend together and look forward to more of it! Thank you for being authentically you and thank you for being my friend through all these years. You're another one who, no matter what time passes, we pick up like nothing happened. I appreciate you in more ways than I could ever express! Much love, bitch! ♥ --- That's all the time I have for today! Thank you to everyone in my circle! Thank you for shaping me into the version of myself you see today. You all had a hand and I am so, SO thankful for each and every one of you. I love you all! All the love-- H E X

[halojalex]

Lets hear that essay

oh man i kind of wasn’t expecting to get any replies to this LMAO bUt here we go. strap urselves in this is gonna be a long one

i won’t share the whole document i wrote bc it’s really long and i go off on a lot of tangents but here’s the general idea

for starters, i believe g&c is absolutely about jalex. we already know it's about a gay couple, so with this in mind, alex telling jack that it's about him is enough to at least consider what that means. granted, i know many believe that he was joking, but i've always thought his tone and general demeanour seemed far too sincere for him to be joking; we've seen how alex acts when he jokes around with jack, and this was different.

furthermore, it's also worth pointing out that jack and alex specifically wrote this one song on their own in a cabin (?) away from everyone else; i know this may not seem important on its own, but it's always worth keeping in mind. ie why would two friends go off to write a song about a queer relationship on their own?

adding onto this, there was that interview with kerrang where alex talked about wake up sunshine as a whole and how it’s about discovering yourself and coming to terms with who you are (i’m paraphrasing but that’s the general idea), so to have a song about a gay couple on an album that’s all about alex discovering who he is seems to me like he wrote it from personal experience.

secondly, i feel like it's important to note that, while jack and alex have always been closer than the average friendship, always bordering on acting like a couple, this closeness was especially apparent during the time that alex was separated from lisa and was living with/near jack. people have commented before on how 'dependent' they were on each other back then, so it's clear that the bond between them was especially strong at that time. of course, i'm sure many will say that it could've been bc alex needed jack's support/bc he was living close by so spent more time with him/whatever, however i feel like there's more to it than that, given all the other reasons. i think they were more than friends.

i'd also like to bring people's attention to one particular incident - that photo of them spooning on a beach. frankly, i've always been a little surprised that so many people have skipped over this without blinking, bc that photo to me has always seemed so intimate and domestic, i find it really hard to believe that many friends would casually sit like that.

and of course how can i forget to mention alex's bday post for jack in 2021? that caption haunts me. "what's there to say that isn't already tremendously obvious? you're a bright light in this weird world my dude. love you times a million" how does that not scream a bday post for a partner? "love you times a million"??? bye they ruin me. all of it just seems so,,, romantic?? idk but i feel like if my closest friend wrote something like that about me i'd find it just a little too much. but maybe that's just me. but also i've seen/heard people say that that caption sounded a lot like something they would write/have written for their partner so,,,,,,, make of that what you will.

ofc honourable mention of the time they went to a gay bar together and karaoke. i realise it’s only from word of mouth that we know that it was a gay bar, but it seems a well-enough-known fact that i feel like i should include it.

i’m sure there’s more i could say, it’s just hard to keep track of everything, especially without making this ten pages long. but another thing i believe is that jack has always had feelings for alex, long before they ever got together. granted, that on its own doesn’t necessarily mean that he and alex dated, however it’s important to note. one thing that sticks out to me with regard to this is how andie once made a post commenting on how jack never looked at her the way he looked at alex. this is interesting to me bc it just seemed like she was implying that she was competing with alex in a way. maybe it’s just me, but i can’t really see that post any other way than that tbh. i mean why else would she have said it? if jack didn’t have feelings for alex, then why would it matter how he looked at him?

furthermore the fact that jack wasn’t alex’s best man at his wedding fr keeps me up at night (i mean not literally but u get the idea). like everyone knows how close they are, alex has literally called jack his “best friend in the whole world” (brb while i cry over that), so why wouldn’t he choose jack, his closest friend, to be his best man at his wedding? i always feel like he did that intentionally to spare jack’s feelings. as if he’s always known that jack has feelings for him, and as such he knew he couldn’t put jack through that, as presumably the best man would have had to give a speech etc. just something else i think about a lot.

anyway, all of this was probably very confused, i hope it makes sense as i have a tendency to waffle sksjsksj but yeah, this is my general idea! lmk if anything doesn’t make sense djskdjsk

[fictionfolk-safehaven]

We prefer your Techno and Ranboo to not read this ask, as it could cause discomfort ^^' /very-lh

So we found this blog all love that there's some beings who are more open-minded about sensitive stuff, so we wanted to share our experiences!

We usually pretty strict (in the best words) about forming fictives because of 1) online bias around them and their sources and 2) we're anxious about source-trauma as we don't know how to deal with them nicely yet.

But when we read a fanfic about Technoblade and Ranboo, who are turned out to be romantic, and even more, partners in that fic and made us make the "surprised pikachu" face because we never learned to read AO3 tags lmao. But the fic was so fire, it was so well-written we instantly got both of them into our system.

In one hand it's worrying because if anyone hears about them, we're toast. We are aware of this and so they are. But in other hand it's nice because they're happy to be together in our system where none of us judge them from who they are or the fact that they're mates. They already experienced a lot from the beginning and ending up here with us was the best outcome for them.

At first we thought of separate them from their sources, but it wouldn't be the best for their sake so instead we leave them to ourselves, let them live their happily-ever-after in our system without judgement.

-enderlin couple

Post Author: Kokichi

CW's: implicit mention of death if you have context for it.

So... I'm fucking giggling at this, actually, anon. I appreciate your concern for our Techno and Ranboo very much! However! Guess who's in a relationship in-source in our canon too? Yup. Techno and Ranboo. Actually, they're part of a pretty big polycule in-source. They haven't worked out how that translates to our system yet, as our Techno struggles with that sort of thing because of the content creator sharing a name and voice with his source character, and that whole situation.

Techno and Phil are.... Well, technically they're in an "undefined" relationship right now. But I bring it up because that's less because it's not romantic, and more because "dating" or "married" doesn't describe whatever the hell they are well enough and they feel like the labels they've seen just don't cut it. I have permission to use them as an example of our own system having a romantic relationship that'd be considered problematic for similar reasons. And frankly, while our Techno and Ranboo would never fucking say it, they might as well be together. /half-joke (I got permission to say that dw lol. I only bully them when it's fun for everyone involved.)

We totally feel you on the "oh fuck, if anyone hears about this we're toast." Ranboo is a frequent fronter, it seems, so he's very relevant to us. Neither of them separated from their source at all- none of our fictives have, really. We have a blog that's a lot more serious than our plural blogs, and we hide our sources there for a reason. We hope, someday, to be a genuine voice within the plural community- though we're not sure what form that will really take. This blog- this post even- is the sort of thing that people put in callout posts. We're sort of just waiting for the day someone tells us we got put in the system cringe reddit. A lot of people internalize this idea that it's all secretly voluntary (with the layer underneath it being "you're all secretly one person, therefore you choose who forms and how they feel about each other") and... lol no. Voluntary formation is valid, it's just not how our collective works. I think that, ultimately, is where the hatred of problematic fictives comes from. The idea that somehow, it's a identity (or relationship) we've chosen.

Oh, also, we don't know how to deal with source trauma either. Our current solution has been "uhhhHHHHH maybe it'll go away if I don't look at it too much" dw. Sometimes that shit's hard to navigate, and we have yet to find exactly how that will work for our system. You're definitely not alone in that!

And, as a final note: You calling them "mates" had our Techno suddenly having an existential crisis (/silly /j) in the background because "Oh. OH. Oh no that term feels right. Huh. Maybe that's why I don't like the idea of having a boyfriend/husband/wife/whatever. Alterhumanity go brrrrr-" so thanks for that! /silly /gen This post is a huge ramble, but I thought it was very fun and silly that we happen to have such a similar situation with even fictives from the same source. That's fucking wild, I'm convinced there's no such thing as a unique experience. I wish you and your system well!

[dryeyed]

SHIPPING INFO.   answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog.

     What’s your OTP for your Muse(s)?

erasermic... sobs

whatever's going on with orion and shouta (lovingly)

     What are you willing to RP when it comes to shipping?

anything within the realm of possibility with shouta. i need the ship to be grounded in his reality, including what he could be swayed / influenced like with another muse. it has to feel real to me, there has to be something deeper than a shallow and surface-level dynamic. i'm really not all that picky once we've made it there LOL, there is a full range of shit that i'm not thinking about off the top of my head atm

     How large does the age gap have to be to make it uncomfortable?

no one younger than him by 4-5 years. ages above him are a hit or miss.

     Are you selective when shipping?

i definitely think so. i'm reserved with it, i don't just go giving out my muses' hearts because honestly. i'm tired of having ships with people and then for whatever the reason was, having the entire friendship fizzle out with a mun and then having gap where their muse once was. i've lost muse for a few characters that way and it's been shittier and shittier every single time, so i try to 'pick' / vibe it out with a little bit more... idk. scrutiny isn't the word for it but something along the like. tldr i need to be able to see an actual future between the muses + have a strong connection with the person on the other end. i'd like to be good friends, rather than someone to occasionally pass notes to.

there's also the fact that shouta is not a romance-centric muse whatsoever. bro is fighting for his life against the man in the mirror, he is in the trenches, life is slowly killing him. he's very walled up and difficult to get through to, and this could prove pretty difficult to build meaningful and lasting connections with him on.

     How far do steamy moments have to go before they’re considered NSFW?

i'll be honest i haven't written smut in a loooong time, and even then i was never really confident in my abilities to effectively write a sex scene. i think anything past suggestive talk and wandering hands will fade to black on blog. but i'd probably be open to discussion with current ship partners on like. discord or smth. i don't need to write nsfw for a ship to feel whole to me, sometimes plotting it's fun too, but. lmao. idk. could be fun to fuck around and find out at the same time

     Who are other muses you ship your muse with?

god do i ship shouta with mic sooo much. so much. their dynamic can be explored in soo many different ways, and they're just all so fun and exciting to me i just hfgkldfghfl i want to gnaw on my toes i love them.

i've thought about shouta with toshinori. i think they could work, i think it'd be cute, but also remains to be seen. they're cute in every sense tbh

counting ocs, i definitely ship shouta with @gravesung's orion aisa. a flavor of erasermic but to the right and folded and crumpled yet shaped to be something even better. he is a delight to read and learn about, both as mun and shouta himself, and there's just something so enticing about the unknown. someone you once knew coming back into your life for possibly better or for possibly worse, for possibly fruity reasons. mwah mwah mwah i love them

     Does one have to ask to ship with you?

i'd love to be asked tbh. if we've hardly interacted, i'd like to wait a little until we've talked/written more. but at the same time if it's possibly heading that way, it'd be fun to find out. i do turn into a massive gremlin with ships, though, and if that's not something that can be handled or matched then that's a pass from me

     How often do you like to ship?

i do like to write romance. i really, really like to write romance. i think a lot of it is personal yearning / maladaptive daydreaming / general love for love lmfaoooo. but at the same time... it's not ever something i want to just jump right into, or write it right off the bat in a dynamic. this may be the demi in me but i tend not to just dive right into pre-established romance. i need to both have plotting and written interaction happen for me to get a sense of how they mesh, what they'd look like in the mindspace so that writing the scenes don't feel forced in the slightest bit. i also would like to consider myself to be friends with the muns of the muses i'm shipping with, and i will admit i tend to be pickier on that front. mayb it's the neurodivergence. mayb it's the trust issues and inherent cynicism

     Are you multiship?

yuh. i've done singleship before and i think i'd only do it again under very specific circumstances, but i'd also rather not close myself off to a possible dynamic that could occur out of nowhere. things happen, and that's the exciting part of it.

     Are you ship obsessed or ship more-or-less?

i feel like i'm overthinking this question. i definitely think i tend to favor or have more muse/motivation to write some romantic threads and dynamics, but at the same time it's not a necessity. i wasn't actively seeking out my ships across blogs, they just came into fruition with plotting. a lot of other dynamics can also give me the same amount of feelings and motivation, though, i guess it just depends on where i've been mentally at that point in time, and what's getting me the most.

     What is your favorite ship in your current fandom?

i fell in love with erasermic and i fell in love with them hard. easily my comfort ship throughout the summer and i'm excited to keep taking them with me into the future, to grow with them because honestly. i don't see myself leaving shouta or hizashi behind anytime soon, nor bnha as a whole (even if i fucking hate it sooo much sometimes lmao). i go back and forth on if i like erasermight or mightmic, i think i like them. i think i could be convinced. but i'm also eh. i also took one look at izuku, katsuki, and shouto, saw my kanto pokedex trainers and immediately saw them as Something. tbh i don't really have a lot of ships for bnha? atleast at this point in time lmao.

     Finally, how does one ship with you?

LMAO be gay with me lets scream and be absolutely unhinged

tagged by :   @implde thank you <3 <3

tagging :   steal and tag me!

[snowdeong]

Jujutsu Kaisen is ending in 5 chapters and Idk I'm super disappointed.

I don't think that'll make it bad now or anything but there's so much it could have been that it will never be because it's ending and that's very weird to like process lmao. I think Gege has told the story they want to tell and as a writer myself I think that's wonderful especially considering the conditions mangaka in weekly serialisations go through.

But like as a fan of this world and these characters and this story I really can't help but think of what could have been and what we've missed out on because either Gege didn't want to do it or because there were certain constraints from editorial or time or whatever. People will say "that's the point" as if it's a catch all deflection from criticism and while I agree that Gege doesn't just do shit for the sake of it I don't think it's weird that so many people expected so many things from this manga and need to go through the process of mourning the fact that there was never any intention for elaboration for shit that we were looking forward too or liked. Enjoying media should not only end at liking every single thing and justifying it. Sometimes loving a story is also about being critical of it, not even from a place of hate or anything, just cause you want the best for it and your opinion on what that could be is different from what's on paper.

I don't think I have anything definitive to say about JJK rn cause I need to do a reread but I will say, I really wish that Gege had written a lot of their female characters differently. Maki's the best of them yeah but like the Toji wank kind of ruined that for me. Yuki and Nobara.... sigh. I understand the "point" like it's about the fact that being a sorcerer will never give you a happy ending and all that stuff to do with the self vs the group and what it means to be part of something and blah blah but it's unfortunate that in this cast of majority male characters I'm supposed to accept that 2 really cool women had to die to "prove a point" as if we didn't get it already when Nanami and Junpei died. They could have been more than a reminder that shit sucks the same way the male characters were and I personally don't think Gege did a good job with that pfff.

Ig we'll see how the story ends and if my ranking of it will drop or rise cause we know how Gege is they might make all this worth it in some way and I'm excited to see what ending they have cooking. I think hjskahd

[zalrb]

idk if this is an umcomfortable ask, i'm sorry if is but with steferine coming up a bit recently i was wondering which are some of the steferine sex scenes your most proud of from your stelena+steferine fic? cause i know you said writing sex scenes is super tricky with finding natural dialogue that doesn't just seem corny and unnatural. (i think you nailed it by the way! it all seemed very sincere and in character for the story. just like what they would say and do in those scenarios.)

Oh, with the amount of things we've talked about on this blog, trust me, this is not an uncomfortable ask so dw 😉

Steferine sex scenes, hmm ... I will choose three.

Their scene in "Kill" because I'd already written them doing quite a bit in the previous parts and so I was like, how am I going to keep this fresh and dark but still in character for Stefan specifically with it continuing a cycle without it being too repetitive of what's been done/said in the parts before and also for Katherine figuring out a way to, in her mind, beat Elena and beat Rebekah, which is through the intensity of their dysfunction and the intensity with which Stefan fights the urge to take things too far because with Elena he'd never do that and with Rebekah (specifically in the 20s) he was already off the deep end so it's that struggle between both that Katherine's like, oh yeah, this is mine, and I think I found a really fun way to do it that also didn't undercut Stelena:

“Fine,” she said, opening her eyes to look at him. “So then fight for me. Keep me from walking out that door. Make me stay here.” 

            Katherine’s eyes glinted with a primal kind of malice.

[...]

She walked out of his room but then found herself backing into it again. Stefan had intercepted her in the hallway, blocking her path, and started walking, guiding her back to where they were a moment ago. His expression was dangerous. Katherine’s skin tingled. He was doing what she told him to. Keeping her from leaving. But she needed the words. She needed his surrender. 

“You want me to stay here,” she said. “Say it.” 

He took a hold of her, his grasp tight enough to break the bones of a human, and kissed her violently, bruising her lips, thrusting his tongue in her mouth, making her knees buckle and head swim.

There was no affection, just an angry passion. She pulled her mouth away and slapped him hard across the face, splitting his lip, her fingernails clawing his skin with one sharp rake that left scratches on his cheek. His eyes reddened and veins darkened his face, his upper lip curled as fangs descended. Katherine grabbed him by the back of his head and forced him to her, kissing him again, pushing him to a wall. She bit his tongue, making him wrench away. Reacting instinctively, he grasped her throat and lowered her to her knees. She looked up at him with excitement, her eyes daring him.  

He blinked rapidly and his irises were back to their normal green, the veins disappeared from his face, his fangs were gone. Now that his senses had returned, he let go of Katherine but his hand, trembling, still hovered around her neck, as if itching to continue. This, Katherine thought triumphantly, he’d never do, never have to do, never feel with his precious Elena. Or that wench Rebekah. This battle within himself, that belonged to her.

2. One of their first scenes in "Toxic" when they're starting to get into their rhythm and Stefan threatens to break the door if she doesn't let him in, just because I think it's a hot scenario, lmao, and I could absolutely see Stefan just being very matter-of-fact about it, like it's happening

Stefan immediately went to open the door but it was locked. He waited for her to open it but she stayed where she was, her body bowing off the bed, delighted at seeing his taut expression, his stillness. She knew that his quietness, his lack of reaction only proved how aroused he really was. She started to pant and then –

“Let me in.” 

Katherine grinned and continued, turning her head even further to the side so he could see the agonized pleasure contorting her face. He flexed his jaw and looked her in the eye.

“Katherine, I will break this door.” 

That elicited an urgent noise from her, which only inflamed Stefan further. He exhaled, frustrated. She smirked and when Stefan saw her eyes cloud as she edged closer, he broke off the door handle, banging the door open with a force that made the glass shatter.

3. Their scene in "Blood" because I didn't expect the reaction it got from readers of the series, I didn't realize they'd find it to be so hot and so heartbreaking for Elena lmao

Could he do it? And then, like the week before, the belt was around her neck and he held onto it like a leash. She waited, still looking up at him, and he tugged her forward, into him, and then she surprised him as she sank her teeth into his inner thigh, making him curse. She moaned as she drank and he panted, smashing his fist against the brick, making a hole in the wall, instinctively pulling on the belt, tightening it around her, making her groan and feed, making him dizzy with the carnality of it all.

Did this make Katherine his or did it make him hers? She’d had him in 1864, she’d had him drunk on her, blinded to her, infatuated with her, yearning for her, and then she’d killed him. Condemned him. How to make up for that? How to get her back. For that. The confusion made him want to conquer her, possess her, for good. No blurred lines.

Somewhere, he knew he should resist. Stop this game. Stopping would be what proved something. But it was a distant caution in comparison to the immediate, overwhelming pleasure radiating throughout him from the source of her bite. She started massaging him as she fed and his free hand was twisted in her hair and he licked his lips, tasting her blood, as she drank his, pulling on the belt, and he hated himself as much as he relished the pleasure and he wanted to leave and he wanted to stay and —

“Oh my God, Stefan!”

[elevenelvenswords]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @curufiin- thankies <3

How many works do you have on AO3?

Only 8 so far.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

20,718 apparently

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The Silmarillion- it's been an ongoing obsession for approximately 7 years now lol.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Fretting, which is my first ever published fic, is at the top. I'm not super proud of it if I'm being honest but I'm glad others enjoyed it :P Then we've got Inside Out, Unbridled sword and passion, Take a chance and Stutter.

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

I do try to reply to every comment! The fact that someone made time to tell me something nice about my works means the world to me.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably this one? None of my fics are fluffy so...

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

My recent Curufinrod fic, I think? It's less... gnarly and angst-driven?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Fortunately no.

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

Considering that 6 out of those 8 fics are tagged as explicit, you can draw your own conclusions :P I write various flavours of kink :)

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Nope!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

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

No, but certain fics that I wrote were inspired by conversations I had with other fandom members :3

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

I'll go with the good ol' Angbang. I've recently become deeply invested in Curufinrod though, and I'll (hopefully) write for more pairings over the Christmas break.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There's a very old draft of a multi-chaptered Angbang fic that's been gathering dust on my laptop for a year xD I might polish it up and post it at some point IF I find the motivation for it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I guess I'm fairly good at descriptions and metaphors?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Good pacing and finding the right balance between dialogue and narration are both pretty tricky for me.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've never tried this but I find it exquisite in other people's fics :D

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Probably The Hobbit? But what I wrote is between me and god lmao.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I tend to be very critical of my own works, especially after I post them. I don't really re-read them so it's difficult for me to choose a favourite one when I can't recall half the things I wrote lol. But I was pretty proud of Beyond the pale back when I wrote it! My writing style changed over the years, I believe, so I'm pleased to see the improvement :)

Tagging @polutrope, @crackinthecup, @gardensofthemoon, @havenotwillnotreadthebooks, @i-did-not-mean-to and whoever wants to give this a go!

[seriousbrat]

If you were to modernise the dynamics of the marauders versus Snape to today’s landscape, how would it be? I think ideas and representations of bullies, popular kids, oddball kids, have all changed a lot - but they still find insidious ways to be mean to each other. Politics have also become more polarised and complex to navigate. Where would they fit?

This is an interesting question! I'm not sure if you mean if they were muggles, or just how I think the dynamics would be represented differently if the books were written today. I do think a lot of the themes are still very relevant today, and in some cases, even more relevant-- for instance the way Snape is a great parallel to the way modern day teenage boys fall down the alt-right pipeline online and become incels. Obviously young boys being radicalised isnt a new thing, but the reason the incel movement fits so well with Snape's story is because of how it's tied to his unrequited feelings for Lily, which seem to mirror the stereotypical narrative of the average sad loner incel who is eternally overlooked by the girl he likes. "Friendzoned" if you will, in favour of the "chad" "alpha male" James, which causes him to join a hate group in rage over the unfairness of life lmao. It fits so well that it's almost prophetic.

You can probably chart the changes in people's attitude towards Snape as time has passed. When DH came out, most people's (including myself) reaction to the Snape reveal was "aww, how sad, poor Snape" and he was viewed as romantic and heroic and tragic for loving Lily. At the time, if you think about it, the story of the shy loser nerd who is in love with and eventually gets the pretty girl was allllll over film and television, and people by and large sympathised with those characters and rooted for them and cursed the girl for not giving this nice guy who loved her soooo much a chance.

In a post-gamergate world, however, we've seen the consequences of male entitlement, because the incel movement is based on the belief that all men inherently deserve access to women. Very often, these consequences are violent. We're incredibly jaded by this and nowadays those sorts of characters are viewed as creepy, entitled, and given little sympathy. as it should be, imo, but you can definitely see how this has altered fan perception of Snape who is generally reviled, particularly by younger fans.

Personally, though, I think this modern lens can make his story more powerful, because it's not about whether Lily should have given him a chance (she shouldn't have) it's about the fact that his actions in the end were truly selfless, the opposite of entitlement. Lily's death was the catalyst, but if it was just about Snape's selfish desire then what is the motivation? She can never love him if she's dead, and there are moments that prove his change of heart, such as his yelling at Phineas for saying "Mudblood" when he previously used the word freely. If it was written today (i mean who knows, it is jkr after all) I think there would probably be more focus on that aspect of Snape than the fact that he loved Lily, which simply doesn't have the impact it once did. people are unimpressed by that narrative, but I think the story of a sincerely reformed incel could still be powerful. Maybe. I think people are also less forgiving nowadays haha, but I still think that teen incels growing up and seeing the error of their ways is a good thing. They may not deserve medals for it, but it's still what we should want for them.

As for the bullying, obviously if they were modern day muggles the internet would be a huge factor, as social media is hugely important for kids nowadays and a lot of bullying takes the form of cyberbullying. I honestly think the themes of class differences and bullying in general are still just as relevant today as they ever were-- although I think we've seen how modern interpretations of SWM have changed. "James SA'd him" was not even remotely a discussion back in the day, I've talked about this before so I don't want to get into it, but it's a good example of something that might be different if it was written today. At the time, that would have just been a typical example of schoolyard bullying, but modern day sensibilities view it differently. The same goes for Snape's mistreatment of his students-- at the time he would have been an average 'mean teacher,' now we view it as abusive. Which is a good thing, don't get me wrong, both offences are incredibly serious and should be viewed as such. I think particularly in the case of SWM it would be written differently today-- in the case of Snape's behaviour as a teacher there's a certain suspension of disbelief just because Hogwarts is a magical school and things there are less realistic. On the other hand, James was a minor and Snape was an adult, so irl different standards would apply.

Anyway, sorry that got so long, it's an interesting topic!

[alphabetboyluvr]

hiii holly! i hope november's treating you kindly so far!

i wanted to ask whether you have any advice for writers that are just starting to publish. literally any modicum would be greatly appreciated.

it's really hard to assess whether one's writing is any good when literally no one ever reads it :( at the same time, I know I should write for myself first and foremost. can't help but want to be held accountable by the possibility of an audience, tho (maybe that's just my brain chemistry??) I fall into the pit of thinking "if no one's reading it, why am I even writing? I can daydream indefinitely and be satisfied. Why write?" Yet I always come back to writing; it's something magnetic.

it's not the same to ask close friends to read ur stuff bc they are ur friends, and may not give you the sincerity ur looking for so as to not discomfort u. conversely, they might not be interested enough so as to pick up on the fine details.

f/u question: how do you deal with publishing your work on the internet for free? does it ever scare you that strangers could copy and republish ur work without your knowing?

I guess that's one of my main apprehensions about posting loyally on writing platforms. I'm scared I'll write something I'm very proud of and have it plagiarized and not be able to track it back as my original property??

anyways, enough of my self-exposing on your q and a's feeling v vulnerable sharing my doubts so openly lol

thank youuuu :) ly <3

hiyaaa!! it's getting chilly, i won't lie, but other than that November has been pretty typical. likewise, i hope it's treating you well too!

honestly the fact you casually drop words like modicum probably suggests you're a paygrade above me in terms of writing hahaha

my answer is a long (srsly i just kept on going lmao) ramble, so I'll put a read more here haha

i've many lovely friends who i absolutely adore that I've met through writing that are now irls, but none of my friends that i know independently outside of writing have ever read my stuff - I've even got irl friends who are deep in the ao3 trenches, who are paying for other tannie writers' patreons, but we have an unspoken rule that my work is not to be read by them. i just don't let my friends read my work, full stop, so i get that sentiment.

the thing is, humans are naturally inclined to be storytellers - it's been that way for thousands of years. our tales are meant to be told. sharing is just a very human thing for us to do.

I've been publishing on wattpad (within the tannie space) for 4 years, now. readers didn't appear overnight - i actually recently found a screenshot of you up? from march 2021. it had 28 parts, 2.03k reads and 313 votes.

it now sits at 62 parts, 1.45million reads and 55k votes.

that's a little bit perspective for you, i guess - i'd written half of an entire novel that was averaging around 70 reads per chapter, but i loved that world, and i had story to tell, so i told it. some people viscerally hated it, some loved it. i was writing for me, and the numbers prove that. if you worry about the numbers, you'll never satisfied.

similarly, comparison is the thief of joy, or so they say.

comparing yourself to other writers is never healthy. there are far more 'successful' authors on wp in terms of reads, but i genuinely mean it when i say i think i have the most fulfilling and rewarding space on tannie wp because my readers are so unbelievably lovely. i wouldn't trade my current readership for bigger numbers, not a chance.

in terms of plagarism, there are 170,000 words in current use within the english language, and 36 plot types. we've exhausted a lot of them, already. overlap and similarities are bound to occur, so i try not get fixated on it.

take cv for example - i was so gassed up with myself when coining the terms mono and multi, only to find out after i'd finished writing the story that there was a drama with a similar concept that also used the term mono for a similar condition that aired after i'd already started writing cv. overlap happens.

similarly, we're a product of the media we consume. endeavour is my favourite word, because it was in a song i liked when i was a teenager and it stuck with me. i use it all the time, and we can trace it back to the pen of alex gaskarth lmao.

I've seen readers of mine publish work that's been heavily inspired by my work - with and without 'permission' - and i just sort of shrug my shoulders whenever i notice it.

the way i see it, we'll never tell the exact same story. likewise, no two readers will ever read identical texts the same way. i encourage creativity, and know how important it is for me to empty my brain, so I'll never go for someone's throat for doing the same. that's how myths were born, right? people telling and retelling the same stories over and over again? how am i gonna write a romeo & juliet x greek mythology inspired fic and then get annoyed for someone taking inspo from me?

just like the way hair will always grow back after a terrible cut, new words can always be written after a disappointing discovery. idk, i just don't take it very seriously, i guess.

as for whether or not your writing is any good - it's totally subjective. there are people who have explicitly, publicly stated their disdain for my writing. I've had cruel opinions about my writing projected and amplified to large followings. and it sucks.

but there are people who have been exceptionally kind about my writing, too. i get some of the loveliest messages in the world. there are tiktoks with hundreds of comments of just unadulterated loveliness directed towards my work. I'm afforded so much grace and love that it can be overwhelming at times.

not everything is for everyone, and that's okay. you can't let yourself get hung up on pleasing everyone.

the one thing i will say, is that if you're seriously concerned about your IP, write original characters, and use wattpad as your platform. i know they have a reputation, but they give a shit about copyright infringement and the second someone gets reported for plagiarism, they'll investigate it, and take down the story.

no reward without risk - you gotta decide if the risk of plagiarism is worth the reward of sharing your work.

and plus, ai is taking over anyways. may aswell write while we still can lol.

so i guess tl;dr - don't let outside influence impact your internal need to create. the right readers will find your work eventually, but it's not an overnight miracle kinda thing. if i stopped writing just because i didn't see results in my stats, then i would have stopped after kumiho, and we'd have never gotten throttle, or bd, or anything else of mine you might have read.

do it because you love it, and it fulfils you. i love the communities built around my stories, and that's why i share them. writing without sharing doesn't fulfil me in the same way.

okay i've really rambled too much so i'll leave it here, but i hope that helps a little!!! or at least has given you insight into my brain!!!!!!

luv u byeeeeeee

[darthnell]

20 Questions for Writers

Oh This looks fun.. ty for the tag @wordspin-shares !!

How many works do you have on AO3? As of right now, 19 !

What is your total AO3 word count? Well.. you see.. 501,371. ..Huh I the chap I just posted cracked the 500k count ! Congrats to me ig !

What fandoms do you write for? The Hunger Games ! I have some Star Wars fics on my AO3 from years ago, but 96.2% of those words are THG so. hjvbdhvhbddfbh

What are your top five fics by kudos? Sighs really heavily. So I pretty much only write OC stuff for THG, which means that the 3.8% of Star Wars fics are taking 3/5 spots on the top 5 kudos ranking. F in the chat. So starting at the most, we've got: Lessons Unlearned (SW), Is That Really Me? (SW), True Vengeance (THG), Widow's Bite (THG), and Take My Hand (SW). None of those SW fics are over 2k while True Vengeance is probably going to hit 300k by the time it's over... Really interesting to see the statistics of what it looks like to write in a larger fandom vs a smaller fandom tbh :0

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Absolutely !! I love reading what people think about my writing. It's neat to see what sticks out to them and how they feel about my characters or plots or everything really ! :D It makes my day to see them <3 Also I love chatting about my writing and the thought processes behind it, so if you every get an essay in response to a comment u left on my fic, uh.. sorrie... bdjfvbhdb

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hm.. Maybe Reparation Clause or True Vengeance? Granted, I haven't written the ending of TrV yet but given that I've killed off all of Ven's arena friends uhh.. yeah. The Bridges We Burn could also possibly fall under this category... Turns out there is no shortage of angst when you write for the child death pageant fandom jdvvbhdf

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Now that's a harder question, rip. I do generally try to end my Victor Exchange fics on happier notes (Destined to Fall, Desiderium, The Bridges We Burn). I think Widow's Bite and No Sleep for the Wicked also end on more positive notes..? I wouldn't exactly call it Happy though.. (maybe some of my Star Wars fics would qualify, but I do not feel like talking about them LMAO)

Do you get hate on your fic? No, I'm perfect (insert sunglasses emoji here) /j I don't think I've ever gotten straight-up hate comments on my fics before though. I've gotten some criticisms (one person wasn't happy about the fact that the Games continue after the events of True Vengeance, according to the other fics on my profile hvfhvbf), but nothing that's ever put me down about my writing. ...Do affectionate death threats count as hate? (my friends are Goofy bhjdfbvhd)

Do you write smut? If I do, you'll never know BHVF. Ok for real though, it's not really my jam as a writer. Worth trying probably to step out of my comfort zone, but definitely not something I'd ever post. Sorry guys.

Do you write crossovers? Nah.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Afaik, no. Not in terms of straight-up ripping the text. I think I've had some ideas borrowed, but like. Who give a fuck LOL. As my one friend likes to say often, there are no new ideas in THG (in terms of things like arenas, quell twists, tribute concepts). What makes something unique is having different authors writing and interpreting said concepts !

Have you ever had a fic translated? No, but I've thought about translating one of mine into French myself as a way of practice.. Never got around to it though, alas.

Have you ever co-written a fic? Ooh, so Technically, no... BUT. I do create tribute characters for SYOT (Submit Your Own Tribute) fics, which is more of a collaboration than co-writing. I also have three fics I've written for the Victor Exchange event in the SYOT Verses discord server where the pov victor characters were created by another author and I wrote their stories (and I received a fic for the victor character I created!) So again, not Reeeally co-writing, but. Collaboration !!! Uhh I was really into Barriss/Ahsoka in high school. FinnRey starwar is also<3

What's your all-time favorite ship? Scratches head uhhhhh.. all time favorite..? If my ocs count, I will say Maritrix (Venatrix and Mariposa) and also Oberon and Dagmara. Otherwise, uhhhhh..... I will be real, it has been a Long time since I've cared about any specific ships to the level where I need to read or write fanfiction about them LOL. I was really into Barriss/Ahsoka back in high school. Also FinnRey starwar<3

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

What are your writing strengths? Ooh I love writing dialogue, and also fight scenes!! Description is fun too c: But yeah, I have been called the fight scene queen by a friend once so I think that counts as a strength LOL.

What are your writing weaknesses? I have no weaknesses I'm perfect (sunglasses emoji). /J bvhjfvfbh.. I'm Slow. I get hung up sometimes on structure/style things while writing and it makes the process take a bit longer. I think also sometimes I tend to meander a bit... I could use a lesson in conciseness jvhhbfv.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? It seems like good practice !! Like I said, I had wanted to translate one of my fics into French as practice.. Not sure if that's what this question is asking, or more of like. A bilingual character or something..? Idk ! I think if it's something that you want to get better at, it would also be wise to get concrit from a native speaker on how natural it sounds.

First fandom you wrote for? Warriorcats ! :3c

Favorite fic you've ever written? I /gen enjoy most of my writing.. I know not all people do and I'm not trying to brag or anything, I just. I pander to myself LMAO. But my Favorite TM has gotta be True Vengeance ;-; It's the longest thing I've ever written (and probably will be for a while), and I've spent every day for the past ~3 years thinking about it, so. That is telling hbvdhbf.

Tagging: @illegalcryptid @emeraldflower25 @rivalhughs @ladyqueerfoot @justafunctionalmess @conschintz and general tag for anyone who wants to answer !!