#< I've decided that's my ship tag for them since there doesn't seem to be a consistent ship name

[lilacs-stash]

Man I love when throuples in ii2 are disasters. Great stuff

[blacktofade]

I am quite new to Tumblr and while I know that this isn't what you usually post you are one of the only rpf writers that I actively know of and you seem to know the community so I thought I would just ask you

But no pressure to answer if you don't want to

I am writing a nsfw fanfic of rpf Arizona Dads but it is reader insert and I have no clue how to tag these types of things on Tumblr. (Ex Twitter-User here 😬) especially since that recent discourse I am just afraid of tagging stuff incorrectly but since my blog is entirely new I don't think anyone would see this, if I don't tag it, right?

I'm just a little confused and thought I would ask, really hope you don't mind

Hello darling anon!!!! Welcome to Tumblr! I'm actually thrilled you reached out to me with this question cause I'm like a broody chicken where I want to tuck everyone under my feathers and keep them safe!

Tagging for MCYT fandoms has been a learning curve for me, so you're definitely not alone in your confusion. The advice I give is just from personal experience, so I welcome anyone reading this to offer corrections if need be!

Also, when I say maintag, I mean it's a tag on a new post you've created. Adding tags on something you reblog doesn't put that post in the tags for others to see, it's just for personal organization on your blog. (I've had people get mad at me for reblogging something with a "maintag" and honestly they can suck my dick to the base. That's not how Tumblr works.)

So, from what I can tell, if it's NSFW content, don't maintag "hermitcraft" or any CCs/characters. For example, if you're posting a fic about giving Tango the big time sloppy head he deserves, don't tag it with "tangotek". You should instead use a tagging system for your own blog. In this case, you could use the tag "t.angotek". It will stop the post appearing in Tango's maintag, but would be easy to navigate on your own blog.

RPF is a whole other can of worms, cause people don't like if you tag that with "hermitshipping". I tend to use "hermitshipping rpf", and I haven't been yelled at so far LOL

Ship tags are much harder when you get into multiple pairing territory. I think in your case, I might just be tempted to use an "arizona dad" tag. Maybe run a search and check what kind of content is in that tag first and decide if you want your post to show up there.

Then because it's reader insert fic, I'd use "reader fic" and/or "reader insert fic" tags.

Basically, sharing NSFW RPF content in this fandom is impossible in the maintags, so basically no one will see it, like you said. It really sucks. If you want it to be found, the trick is to make friends with The Perverts of the fandom, cause we all just reblog posts amongst ourselves lmfao

Start following RPF friendly blogs, cause we're a pretty small community but everyone is VERY friendly and willing to boost content.

[bringthekaos]

are you gonna keep writing jayvik now that viktor is confirmed straight?

Gunna answer this one diplomatically, even though this ask was clearly sent with malice. Warning for Act 2 spoilers (and possible Act 3 spoilers, since the footage used in the "The Line" music video is most likely from Act 3).

First, when I continue to write Jayvik, it will probably have to be an AU anyway, because I have about 2% confidence that both of them make it out of this show alive.

Second: he is still not confirmed straight. He was depicted taking Sky's hands as she fades away for a second time. This means nothing, romantically. It means he regrets this is happening, he knows it's his fault, and he wishes to bring comfort to her in her last moments.

And that's if it even is her, and not a manifestation of his guilt, given that she doesn't look like herself at all in his hallucinations, or whatever it is. Her eyebrows are thinner in the hallucination, and her hair is wholly different: not as high on her head nor as tightly bundled or curly. This points to a suggestion that this manifestation is his best effort of representing her in his mind, and it is wrong because he didn't know her well at all.

Not to mention, in the very few interactions that they had (before Jayce's Progress Day Speech and when she asked him to walk home together), he was shown just... not receptive. It could have been read as disinterest because he is gay (which obviously many people did), or just that he has a very one-track mind on his research at the time, and isn't even cognizant of the missed social interaction. But either way, there was no foundation for connection, intimate or otherwise, between them. Certainly not enough for the heavy-handed and forced connection depicted in season 2.

THAT SAID, I am a very ship and let ship person. I have certainly fabricated ships from less. Hell, I've shipped characters that never even interacted in canon. And I have no problem with the SkyVik ship, given that his sexuality was never confirmed one way or the other. Honestly, if it had been built up better in the writing, there is potential there! Both of them being from Zaun, and clawing their way into the Academy, which as Jayce said has a success rate of 3%. But it is not groundbreaking or even remotely incorrect to say that this ship is fabricated (and not in a negative sense. It's just fact). There wasn't enough to support it. He brushed her off multiple times. And he only seems to give her the attention after she is dead, which again points to a motivation of guilt: he wishes he'd gotten to know her and her aspirations and dreams before her life was cut short by him. But it's too late.

And lastly, the thing everyone needs to understand is this: Jayce and Viktor were released in League in 2012, and Jayce was specifically built as the mirror to Viktor. It was honestly quite a poetic "formed from the rib" kind of release for Jayce, who came 7 months after Viktor. These two had no canon romantic involvements in that time beyond mere speculation, so naturally they had very queer undertones for almost ten years before Arcane came out. And I don't think it's much of a leap to be disappointed when the producers and distributors of the show decided that they couldn't make their show "too gay" for mainstream audiences. Especially when the pre-established League fanbase consisted of 87% men (source), and a lot of cishet men are threatened/disgusted by/afraid of gay men, yet fetishize lesbian sex. So yeah. The Jayvik shippers get understandably disappointed when their 10-year old ship gets no-homo'd at the finish line.

So to answer your original question. Yeah. I am probably gunna continue to write Jayvik. Yes, even if they're both "confirmed" straight. I will hit them both with the bi hammer. And I will tag my stuff accordingly, and "stay in my lane" so to speak, and everyone is welcome to block me if they don't wanna see it. I'm not gunna go around harassing SkyVik shippers, just as I have never harassed MelJayce shippers. And I'm sure this will be called "misogyny" by many who'd like to assign a moral high ground to their attempts at eradicating the JayVik ship. Trust me, if I could have my ship without disregarding two amazing women, I would do it. But I can't, because someone at the decision making table decided to give two characters who never had any romantic involvements in League the no homo treatment.

And of course, as always, the season is not over. Some of this could change. But my love of the JayVik ship won't. Block me if you don't like it.

For obvious reasons, anon is now off ✌️

[enrychan]

just some gender confusion under the tag. long post.

I think I might be an egg. and I feel definitely, 100% too old and too tired to do this. so. whatever.

in any case, just to put in order my thoughts somewhat.

I've always had gender difficulties, in the sense that I wrestled with my identity as a woman, but I've always thought (and in part I still think) it was/is because of a mix of biological hassles and societal pressures that men don't have

like, ok. ever since I was a girl I knew I wasn't going to have children, I never wanted them, not even once. actually the idea of myself as a "mother" makes me shudder, like it's almost creepy to me. is that normal for a woman? I think it might be. I think some women don't want to have kids and that "innate motherly instinct" is just gender bullshit created by society. so I never actually questioned this point. I'm just a woman who doesn't want to have children. easy.

I don't like that I have to suffer pains and bleeding every month, but show me a woman who does. in my case it's actually a little more than that, like if I could just get rid of my uterus I would do it in a heartbeat. is that normal for a woman? I think it is. I'm sure many women feel the same. It's just a little strange to say it publicly. maybe?

I've never felt comfortable wearing make-up and pretty dresses and stuff like that, but again, I don't think that's indicative of anything actually gender-related. make up and pretty dresses are, again, societal inventions. We as a society decided that those are "feminine things", but it doesn't have anything to do with your "actual" gender identity. plus I'm not even saying that I don't wear or appreciate traditionally "feminine stuff", I like wearing pink and purple and shirts with cute designs and shoes with glitter on them... it's all just personal taste, right? nothing actually to do with gender identity.

recently though I started examining myself more closely on stuff that doesn't seem as shallow as fashion and personal taste.

for example, is it normal that I always hated my breasts? they are so big and unconvenient. I've always covered them as much as possible, and I try to squish them against my chest when possible, to make them look less prominent, although I've never used a binder. I'm giving it some thought though, maybe it would solve this problem at least in part? recently I realized that, just as I said for my uterus, I would also get rid of my breasts in a heartbeat if I could. but while I could argue that my uterus is an actual annoiance, my breasts... well they are kind of in the way sometimes (when I sleep on my stomach, which is like 90% of the time), but for the most part it's just that... I feel like they don't belong there. they are like an extraneous part of my body that I don't like, but I have to live with. is that a normal thought for a woman? I don't think so, but I'm not sure.

I'm an older millennial. when I grew up, nobody talked about this kind of stuff. "trans" was a bad word, basically an insult. actual trans people were invisible, at least in my personal experience. I never even thought to question my gender. only now that people started talking about it, I started questioning my own identity. the problem is that for now I haven't unloked Gender+, I just unlocked Confusion(TM).

but the actual Big Thing for me is. well it's kind of silly, but it's the fact that I'm a "fujoshi", as the kids say. actually it's about both the kind of characters I like/ship together, and those I create.

ok so. I've always created little blorbos and their stories in my head - and for a long time, also on paper - until I became disillusioned with the publishing industry, but that's another story altogether. anyway, ever since like... my first "serious" (for the time) story - about pirates lol - I always created male blorbos and shipped them together, at first only in my head, because at the time there was still a lot of prejudice about gay people and little me was kind of ashamed of her own thoughts. In that first pirates story I even put a girl in the group and in theory she was at the top of a very obvious triangle. but I secretly wanted the two male heroes to smooch! it sound very silly now, but you must understand, I was like 15, and also it was a very different time.

growing up and interacting with the communities of aspiring comic artists and writers (especially those that were heavily influenced by manga, like I was), I learned that I wasn't alone and there were actually a lot of girls that liked yaoi stuff, so I just set aside my worries and embraced being one of them. I just like yaoi, it didn't mean anything more than that, right? granted, I felt a sharp disconnect whenever I tried to interact with the kind of content in which one of the two male characters was clearly written and/or drawn to be the "woman" in the relationship. I liked only content where the characterization of both characters was very, let's say "masculine", I guess. But that was just a matter of taste, right?

I even punished myself in my head many times for not creating enough women characters, for not being as interested in those as I was (am) in the male ones. I attributed that to internalized misogyny. although I do love many female characters. it was (still is) very, very confusing lol.

even now, when I think to write something, it's always about gay or bisexual men. My "eternal project" (seriously, you don't want to know how many years I've thought about it and worked on it for some time before putting it aside again), which is Vehrkana (definitive title??? I hope???), has seen so many overhauls that at this point it barely has anything to do with its first version. but you know what hasn't changed? you guessed, the two main gay characters (actually one is gay, the other bisexual). Well they have changed, of course, but they are still going to smooch. At least that's the plan.

anyway, all this to say that for a long time I just thought of myself as a regular "woman who likes men who like each other", I didn't even have a name for it until "fujoshi" came around (which isn't even a good word in japanese, but I'm glad we have reclaimed it).

this didn't even concern me because I'm very much attracted to men, which in our society just means you're a regular straight woman. Now I know that thats also a load of bullshit. First, because gender and sexual orientation are two different things. And second, because "men" and "masculinity" are also two different things. in fact I can be attracted also by masculine women and/or women that perform masculinity. That's something I learned about myself only later in life. Actually I started questioning thanks to Commander Shepard first and Furiosa later, which is also very silly when you think about it. But again... when I was a girl, it was a different time. Female characters with very masculine traits were rare. I remember being kind of confused when I was old enough to watch Alien and suddenly I felt some attraction towards Ripley, but I thought I just admired her determination and courage, and then forgot about it. Much later, I realized I didn't feel even a hint of attraction to feminine/soft looking men, even when they were objectively very handsome, and I connected the dots. It took a long time, though. I guess I'm just dumb lol

which brings me back to the characters that I create and/or ship together. There's a dynamic that keeps repeating itself, which is: tall, strong, masculine male character (the kind to which I'm attracted to) + shorter, smaller, often bitchy male character (the kind I'm NOT attracted to). Why the second one? Why not two big men together? Shouldn't this be more enticing for me? But nope. It's almost always big/small.

And then I realized. The small one is me. Or rather, how I project. How I'd like to be, if I could. But if he is me, why don't I just project myself, as a woman, as I am, in those stories? Why the second character must be a man?

That's why for the first time I started actually questioning myself from a "gender" perspective and not a "sexual orientation" one. I think, subconsciously, I've always wanted to be a man? or maybe just present masculine? I don't know, I'm still very - and mean very - confused about this.

and then, just as a thought exercise, or a confirmation of some kind, I tried something completely new for me. In my fantasies I've always been an invisible third party, just the eye of an imaginary "camera" if you like. Others talk about the "fujoshi cuck chair", which is hilarious, but true. Basically I was always absent from my own fantasies which featured the gay couple of the moment - currently it's almost always Burakh/Dankovsky, in case you're curious lol - and no one else. Sometimes I tried to fantasize about poly with a woman in there, but it just isn't my cup of tea. Well, recently I tried a couple of times of, let's say, "inhabit" the second male character, like a ghost. So I can have and control his body, to be clear. oh my god, it sounds so fucking weird. but. It worked. It worked like a charm. For the first time in my life, I was actually present in my own fantasy, although in a different body, and it worked.

On one hand I'm happy to finally learn something about myself, but on the other hand, thats. well that's very weird, for one thing. and much more importantly, that's something that I should maybe address in some way? I'm not sure, I'm not even sure if it actually means something, or if it's just part of the course for a woman in our society/culture. I'd ask every woman in the world if I could. Am I a bisexual trans man? genderfluid? just plain confused?

I have no idea. What I know for sure is that I'm too old for this "discovering oneself" shit and also I have a job and also I'm tired. So all this stuff has to wait for. Idk. better days?

[theunholybastard]

Requested by @thecrepegremlin !!!

Secrets (Frater Imperator) Part III

- Part I - Part II -

Tags: No Ship, Mentions Of Murder, Copia Is Too Anxious For This Shit, Ambiguous Ending

Copia tried to keep himself busy these past few days. It had been less than a week since the... incident, but at this rate, it felt like months. Between countless futile attempts of calming the concerned Siblings and Ghouls of the ministry, to working tirelessly on preparing for the upcoming tour, he was exhausted. He didn't sleep most nights, he couldn't. Instead, he would stay up online, refreshing the page every five minutes to see if the secret got out. He knew realistically, once it ended up on the Internet, there would be nothing he could do about it, but he just had to know.

But the wait was over. He was called into Psaltarians office once more, and was told the culprit was finally tracked down. The days of anticipation were through at last; now it was time for the most dreaded part.

"Do I have to?" Copia complained meekly, his voice wavering. "I've been keeping an eye on things; they haven't spoken out the entire time. They've kept our secret to themselves. It just... It seems unnecessary, no?"

"It is completely necessary! It doesn't matter if they haven't told yet. They could decide to at any time, and the moment they do, there's no fixing it, no turning back. The secrets that we have kept secure for decades, centuries even, will be exposed, and our ministry will crumble. They have the upper hand against us! And there's only one way we can be sure..."

Copia sighed. He knew he had to, but how could he? This was way beyond his ability, and far beyond his pay grade. Being a hitman was not a part of the job description, but alas, it was his mess to clean up. He felt sick. The objective was simple enough; find, kill, and provide proof of death to the Clergy. Simple, but so impossibly difficult at the same time.

He was there. Waiting. This didn't feel right, but it's not like the Clergy he was a part of was known for its strong sense of morality. That was something he had to abandon a long time ago, but it was different than just standing idly by while a Ghoul does your bidding for you. Being the one doing the killing was a whole other story. He sat in his car contemplating his next move for hours, wiping the sweat from his forehead. His hands were too unsteady and slippery to even get a proper hold on the blade.

A knock on his window startled him out of his near panic attack. Oh no. Stood outside his car, looking slightly peeved, was them. The person who broke in weeks ago, his target. They hadn't yet noticed the knife held tightly in his glove hand, thinking he was just some weird stranger parked in their driveway.

"Hey! What are you doing outside my house, dude?!" They questioned angrily. Copia gulped. This would be the perfect time to do it. Theyre so close. His fingers twitched anxiously around the handle. "Hellooo? Can you not hear me? You're in my driveway!" The person pauses for a moment, squinting at him, a moment of recognition washing over them. "Hey, aren't you that one guy from that one band?"

Copia chuckles nervously. "Um, y-yeah. I was, anyway." Their eyes widen in realization as they start to piece things together.

"Shit. Am I... am I in trouble? Is that why you're here?" They ask. "Look man, I went in there on a dare! I didn't want to go in to your spooky ass building, I just thought it would be cool to see! Get a couple of exclusive pictures for my friends, y'know? B-but I'll delete everything now, just don't sue me or anything!"

"No, no, don't worry! I'm not... gonna sue you..." Copia dragged. Technically, he wasn't lying, although the reality was far worse. The other person sighed in relief, the worry in their eyes briefly dissipating.

"Oh, good! Then... Then why are you here?" Copia clenched his jaw. His grip on the weapon tightened. C'mon, Copia. Do it for the Ministry.

-

"Gotta say, Frater, I didn't think you had it in you." Psaltarian said, almost sounding proud. He was looking at the photos Copia handed him in pleasant shock. In the pictures, there lay the culprit, dead. Copias blade was stained with blood, sitting on Psaltarians desk for further evidence of the crime. Copia looked ashamedly at the ground beneath him, trembling.

"But you did it. That's one less lose end to clear up, hm?" Psaltarian rose from his seat, patting Copia on the back. "Now, have you learned your lesson about leaving the door unlocked?" Copias mouth was too dry to speak, all he could do was nod.

"Good. You wouldn't want to have to do this again now, would you? Too much of a hassle to deal with anyways." Psaltarian waved his hand at a few Ghouls who stood at his side, watching them scurry at his gesture. "I'll be sending a few Ghouls to the scene to... clean up the mess. You're free to go now, Frater."

Copia left swiftly, gnawing on his bottom lip till it bled. Well, that was it, the hard part is over. But now he had something else tormenting his mind, probably for the rest of his life; what if, one day, Psaltarian looks a little too close at those pictures, and is able to tell that they were faked?

-

[acourtofthought]

 Hi. I just needed to rant but I don’t know if you’re comfortable responding to this if not it’s fine. I find it extremely weird that I went to the elainweek tag in preparation for elain week and imagine my shock when I saw a separate elain week event created by elriels(which is fine honestly love that for them and honestly enjoy your ship however you want) but the premise of why the week was created was what bugged me. And I have just been so uncomfortable with it since then that I had to tell someone.

They were like; the current elain week was created out of spite to the elriels and to support abuser x elain ships so we elriels will not stand for it.

And I just… 

Do what you want and all. But ??? I don’t even know I am just speechless….

Even during ferye week people still show love to the feylin ship and that ship is an established abusive relationship in canon.

Feysand as well has some elements inwhich I side eye but like it’s one of the most popular ships in the fantasy world.

And listen I don’t even enjoy the tamlain ship or any other ship like that for that matter but is it ever that deep??

Like I said do what you want to do. But to create a separate week instead of just enjoying the actual week with other shippers and Elain lovers?? And claiming that the actual week promotes abuse and is anti elriel and that’s why you don’t want to join in is just so ?? Idk this fandom can be so weird and exhausting sometimes.

I hope they are other elriels that would participate though because even though I am an elucien I enjoy elriel art.

Also there are people actually dying daily because of war crimes committed against their states and your main goal now is to protest the current elain week? A week that various Elain lovers put in so much hardwork and strength to make safe and enjoyable for others. Even to the point of gifting out free discount codes for scented candles

like idk I think SJM just needs to end the shipwars as soon as possible at this point.

Ahhhh, the sordid history of Elain Week. From what I understand, there was an original Elain Week that seemed to be have a pretty open door policy to whoever felt like participating. I think the original moderator / host of that decided to no longer take up the mantel the following year so an E/riel created their own Elain Week but E/riel content was primarily promoted / reblogged to their page while very little Elucien content made it through. In the months leading up to Elain Week, a few bloggers also doubled down on their posts that said things like, "Eluciens should create their own Elain week because they're misogynists who don't really like Elain" or "Elucien's are abuse apologists". Then last year, Eluciens were apparently welcome to participate in that Elain week but certain other "toxic" ships were not welcome. Which, I get it, some people are bothered by certain ships but one persons "trigger" should not be used to demonize others creativity. I mean, imagine if the person who wrote the fanfiction Manacled was bullied out of the fandom by those who couldn't handle the idea of Draco / Hermione together just because in canon he was written to be her enemy / bully? But look at her now, she's got a book deal. That spawned an entire new wave of fandom arguments with one side once again saying how awful anyone is who supports the idea of Tamlain / Beronlain and the other saying that it doesn't really matter who supports the idea of (insert possibly toxic ship here) or not, nobody should be excluded from a fandom wide event. It also felt performative outrage from the other side (performative outrage is literally my new favorite phrase and I've used it to describe quite a few people in the last few weeks), where now ELUCIEN'S were fine that week but it was the other ships that were the problem even though every single day Elucien's were also told how they were misogynistic, didn't really like Elain, approved of a toxic ship etc. How we should create our own Elain Week if we all had such a problem with respecting the Elain Week Hosts decisions while hosting. There were also many arguments that Elain Week should be about canon (once again, a clear attempt at excluding certain people in the fandom) while also simultaneously creating content on how Elain and Az will have a winged child, she will rule dusk, she will have a dagger tattoo, etc. People can headcanon all they want but the performative outrage (my phrase!!!!) at wanting others to create based off canon while submitting those sorts of posts is a bit outrageous. Then when Elucien's took over the OG Elain Week account to host an event where ALL ships were welcome to participate, some E/riels got mad at that because now Elucien's were being so petty as to host our own Elain Week. So really, damned if you do, damned if you don't. At this point I do think it's better if there are two separate events so that there's something for everyone.

[philistiniphagottini]

Update, block rant and vent tag if you don't want to see

Not gonna lie, i haven't been feeling good on here lately. I debated on whether or not to say anything, but I decided to just let everyone know my feelings.

I don't like doing requests anymore, unless it's for a mutual. I don't like uploading any of my writing to Tumblr anymore. I've had these feelings in the past, I go in and out of phases. But I think I've reached my breaking point.

And part of the big reason is because of the genshin, honkai star rail, wuwa and zzz communities. I feel the majority of you have been very unwelcoming to me. You take and take and take and give nothing in return. I do your requests and you can't be bothered to say anything nice in return or even reblog. I have tried to befriend many other writers in this space. I mostly get ignored.

I can't keep up with how fast everything seems to move in these gacha games. You move onto the next character that has been announced so quick, it is ridiculous to me. As soon as a character is announced, headcannons and fanfiction is immediately made about them and is pushed so hard that as soon as they appear in game, they are forgotten about. I don't like this. It has never sat right with me. And by the time the character is properly released and I get around to writing for them, not very many are interested. It gets me pretty depressed.

Last year I noticed that the fics I wrote for the community would get more likes and very little reblogs. And if i did get praise it was in the form of:

“I liked this. Now write this other request.”

After a while, these kind of messages didnt make me feel great. I have noticed a drop in viewer ship over all ever since I started to exclusively write for a chubby reader. Not gonna lie, yeah it hurt, but I tried to push through.

But I'm tired of it. I cant create in a vacuum. Yes, I post my writing because i want interaction. I want to talk about my favourite characters and the games. But now, I don't really enjoy these games anymore. I don't feel accepted in these communities here on Tumblr. The memes and writing tips I reblog get more interactions than my actual writing. I think I'm at my breaking point. I'm only here now for my mutuals. They are the only reason I have kept going and considered my writing was worth it. Just for them. Thank you for thinking I am worth all the trouble I cause. Words can not describe how much I appreciate every single one of you. Deru, Fifi, spiral, chimchim, jes, strangeone, meri, prismatic and all my other moots. Youre the only reason i have stayed on this site.

I don't feel good. I think I just want to keep my writing on A03 from now on. I don't know what I want to do here. I haven't decided whether I want to delete my writing off of here or not. Part of me wants to, but another part doesn't because of all the nice things my moots have said. I don't know anymore. I just wanted to make my feelings clear, even if it pisses someone off. These gacha communities have not been friendly to me and most do not care for me. I am just seen as another “content creator” and they'll move on and forget about me. It may have been the reason I pushed myself so hard to do requests quickly. Because my biggest fear is that I'll be forgotten and that I'm not special.

I don't know what I'll do. I don't know if I ever want to return to doing requests. I am tired of not even being thanked when I do someone's request. I don't know right now. I'm tired of going back and forth with this, coming back every few weeks thinking everything is going to be fine. But Tumblr isn't really nice to me. So I'll just try and be less active and hope that helps. I'm deleting the app from my phone so responses will be slow. Take care xx

[kanonavi]

2023 XVX Fic Recs!

Hi, all, I hope you're having a lovely holiday season! Around the beginning of this year, just for fun, I decided that I would record all of the fanfics that I read this year, and during the summer I had the idea to take some of the best fics I read in 2023 and compile them at the end of the year into a rec list. Since xiaoven was the ship I read the most fics for, I've decided to just do a rec list for them this year, but maybe in the future I'll branch out more!

As with any rec list, please take note of the ratings and the tags for any given fic! Just because something suited my taste doesn't necessarily mean it will suit yours, please take care of yourselves. Now, here are 10* fics that I read this year and think that other xiaoven fans should read too! (Also uh. Sorry for how much I'm about to talk in the reviews lol)

*Keep an eye out for a few bonuses that I've peppered in ;)

~

We Creatures of Fate, by Wackachu

[Ongoing, Teen, 57.9k, 7/?]

Xiao is a weapon forged from red, carved from the hearts of weeping souls and etched into the memories of grieving mothers. While free under the care of a new God, he finds salvation, yet feels as trapped as the day the chains first clamped down onto his wrists. Venti is a God, one born from the wishes of others as opposed to his own. After losing his loved ones, he can't help but feel lost, high on a throne all alone, built upon all things he despised. The two find each other by chance, yet the rest can only be described as fate. ---------- A telling of Xiao and Venti's story with a hefty load of lore

If there is any fic on this list that should be read, it’s this one. I am an absolute sucker for speculative lore when it comes to Genshin, and the picture that the author has assembled of Archon War-era Liyue is absolutely masterful. Within the threads of that beautiful tapestry, they’ve also been interweaving Xiao and Venti’s developing relationship all the way from when they were a newly-freed Adeptus and young Archon respectively. They have a long journey ahead of them (the burn is slow, folks), and I think that said journey is an absolute must-read.

~

Extra Recs: Wackachu has also written two other xiaoven one-shots, which I highly recommend for more bite-size pieces of their excellent taste!

~

the holy light of your single lantern, by boxofcrows (@miralia)

[Complete, Teen, 34k, 6/6]

“Long divided by river and sea, For years we two have failed to meet – And suddenly to find you seems like a dream.” Thousands of years of silence, broken by a single visit.

This fic wrapped up recently, so it’s a great time to go and show it some love! One of my biggest sorrows is that xiaoven is rather lacking in really good canon universe fics compared to other Genshin ships, but this fic managed to fill that hole in my heart. The author does a fantastic job of capturing the way that Xiao and Venti’s conflicting natures and ideals can cause friction between them, all while maintaining the undeniable magnetism that they feel towards each other.

~

Relax In My Arms, by alphaparrot (@aparrotandaqrow)

[Queerplatonic XiaoVen, General Audiences, 5.9k, One-Shot]

As Lantern Rite arrives, Xiao is found exhausted and spent by Qiqi of Bubu Pharmacy, who brings him back to Liyue. Upon awaking, Xiao quickly makes his exit and returns to Wangshu Inn, where Venti is waiting for him on the balcony. Xiao isn't in the mood to party, but maybe a chill hang-out would help him relax. Venti knows just the thing to help Xiao relax and recuperate, and as they both get comfortable, they begin to reflect....

Author's Original Promo Post!

Queerplatonic xiaoven was a flavor of their relationship that I hadn’t tried before this fic, but it really sold me on it. What I’ve always loved about xiaoven so much is the inherent intimacy that can be achieved between them once all of the emotional barriers between them have been stripped away, and I think that those ideas are explored very beautifully here. Xiao and Venti trust and love each other so deeply here, and it shows in every word and touch that they exchange, and I think that it’s a must-read for anyone whose brain chemistry was altered by the ‘Endless Suffering’ trailer (so basically, every xiaoven fan ever lol)

~

i can not save us (but you can), by anemowisp (@sillygirl19)

[Teen, 19.4k, One-Shot]

two boys figure out what the hell they're doing

In the midst of one of the most turbulent times in my life, one particular line in this fic really hit me where it hurt, and it’s one of the few times that I’ve actually cried reading a fic. In my xiaoven-enjoying friend groups, we sometimes call Xiao and Venti old men with teenager problems, which means they don't always work when turned into actual teenagers/young adults with those problems, but I think this fic pulls it off really well.

~

what queer sins stain thy soul, by Anonymous (@sincerelyandyourstruly)

[Mature, 3.2k, One-Shot]

In which Xiao, long-established asexual, learns that identity is not as stable as he’d like to believe.

As an ace person myself, I feel it’s so rare to find a really good asexual character study where the asexuality is actually one of the central focuses of the intimacy taking place (if anyone has any recs of that variety please hit me up!), but I think that this fic pulled that off really well. It also delves into that particular vibe of when one’s identity might be shifting, which can be a really scary thing, but Xiao in this fic is lucky enough to have someone he loves and trusts to support him as he explores his new desires, which was really comforting to read about.

~

Where Words Fail, by kavvueh (@kavvueh)

[Complete, Teen, 34k, 12/12]

Author's Original Promo Post!

"You're Barbatos," Xiao repeats breathlessly. The young man in front of him nods. "Yep." "But..." Xiao cuts himself off and tries again. "You're the God of songs and poetry." The Anemo Archon nods his head sagely. "More or less." Xiao fixes Lord Barbatos with the most incredulous look he can manage. "... You're failing Music Theory."

As someone who was also suffering through music theory alongside Venti as this fic was publishing, all of the attention to detail in the musical aspects of this fic absolutely tickled me. But all of that was merely a foundation for a lovely story about a pair of souls finding their partner in a new life. The musical connection that xiaoven have is one of the essential tenets of the ship, and this fic did a beautiful job of using that idea to its fullest potential.

~

Extra Rec: kavvueh has recently started publishing a new xiaoven fic with a similar setting, so if you enjoy these kinds of fluffy modern aus, give that one some love as well!

~

The Stars in Teyvat are a Lie, and So Is the Sky, by yueyunn

[Complete, Teen, 148.2k, 13/13]

There were several issues that Xiao immediately took with Ningguang’s proposition for him to produce for Barbatos: his other artists had upcoming comebacks and year-end stages that required his attention, he was overworked enough as it were already, and Ningguang was not exactly someone he was looking to do any favors for. While her persistence to overlook all this was one matter, nothing aggravated him more than Ningguang completely ignoring the obstinate fact that he. doesn’t. work. with. idols.

Perhaps I was a bit like Xiao in this fic at the beginning of this year, because I approached the two idol/celebrity aus on my to-read list with open skepticism, and then ended up absolutely adoring them both. What I loved about this fic the most was how much care was put into actually translating the character’s canon backstories into the modern idol au setting. The author clearly has so much love for the characters, and it really shows through in the way that everyone has their chance to shine, even the side characters. This fic also updated recently with 15k words of extras, so it’s a great time to visit or revisit it!

~

Extra Rec: gold rush, by underthethousandstars was the other idol/celebrity au I read this year and really enjoyed, so if those aus are up your alley, I highly recommend it!

~

low-key (no pressure!), by windrise (Twitter - @/wyndrise)

[Ongoing, Teen, 75.7k, 11/?]

Following his friend’s questionable suggestion, Venti partners with Xiao—the resident grouch of his early morning stats class—for his music project.

If you want to sit down with a fic that will give you the warm fuzzies, this is definitely the one to pick. As alluded to previously, I don’t really go for modern aus as much, but this fic absolutely blew my expectations out of the water. I was getting the ‘squee’s as I read about Xiao and Venti growing closer over the course of working on Venti’s project, as the author has an excellent grasp of the deep inner kindness that the two of them hold, and how that kindness would naturally draw them together.

~

bouquet of lies, by underthethousandstars (Twitter - @/zhongliorder)

[Complete, Mature, 85.9k, 12/12]

In a world where humans can use elemental magic, Xiao uses his to move through the shadows becoming Liyue’s phantom killer. Known to the public as Alatus, he is their most notorious assassin. One day Xiao secures his biggest job yet: kill the Crown Prince of Mondstadt, Venti. Harbouring no love towards any royal family Xiao pulls off his mission with success. Or so he thought.

This fic falls solidly on the darker end of xiaoven stories (the ‘Dark Fantasy’ tag is there for a reason!), so if you happen to like your ships with an enemies to lovers flare, this is definitely one to check out. This is one of those stories that really managed to pull me into the world of assassins and political intrigue that the author has crafted, and on top of that it puts a fun spin on exploring Xiao and Venti’s individual guilt and the way that it affects them as people. The first fic in the series is finished, but the second installment is currently in progress, so I highly recommend checking that one out as well!

~

every morning in the dark, by magicites (Twitter - @/bribird_wings)

[Complete, Mature, 77.1k, 34/34]

Stuck in a time loop where he succumbs to his karmic debt, Xiao struggles to see the point in moving forward. Venti struggles to save him.

While by far the heaviest of any of the fics I’ve recommended so far (mind the warnings and the tags!!), if you can stomach the subject matter, this is one of those fics that I would refer to as XiaoVen Essential Reading. The author has a pitch-perfect grasp of what makes xiaoven, qualities which are pushed to their limits as the two of them struggle to break free of the loop that they’re trapped in. I took severe emotional damage while reading it, but my only regret was that I hadn’t read it sooner. It’s definitely A Lot, but it’s so, so worth it for anyone who really enjoys this pairing.

~

And with that, we reach the end of the list! If you've made it this far, thank you so much, and I hope I've given you some fics to add to your to-read list for the coming year! I tried to incorporate some newer fics with some classics, so hopefully there's something here you haven't heard from before.

With that said, I'll hopefully be back next year with some more xiaoven or other Genshin fic recs! <3

[blooom13]

Ohm starting to work with Leng has shown me once again how entitled these so called fans feel to having a say in the lives of these actors. There's really people that lose themselves in this whole shipping culture and start thinking they know these men so their opinion should be the most important thing.

From sending trucks to gmm, to giving Leng a letter supporting the previous ship, to filling the screens on one of their event with videos of their previous couple, to spamming the comments of the live of one of his shows with emojis about onn, the disrespect they have shown to Ohm for moving on is insane, specially since they claim to like him.

Everytime they have an event together there's something disrespectful they do, on every photo and video of them there's people saying Ohm is faking his laugh, that his eyes look sad, that he looked happier before, etc.

Twitter is truly a cesspool of unhinged people. I just saw a thread of like 5 users discussing how Ohm decided to go skydiving because he was so heartbroken about splitting up with his old screen partner that he had to do something to put his safety at risk, their proof was that he'd started following Leng a few days prior, truly crazy. Ohm was tagged in some of the posts, that is a whole ass person that you are speculating this stuff about, these people hide behind the word "fan" and start doing and saying the most invasive shit ever, because they feel like he owes them something.

During the same thread there were users teaching each other how to mute everything related to Lengso cause just seeing "that newbie" pissed them off.

I truly hope Leng knew what he was getting into when he decided to take this series cause people are insane. Everything he does is because he wants fame, everything he says is because he wants attention, "he doesn't know his place", he's overstepping, everything related to him has a hidden motive. And honestly yes working with Ohm was going to get him a lot of attention or fame if that's what they want to say, but so what?, of course he would want to work on something that will do well, it's his first leading role, it's also understandable that he chose to work with someone who he has known for years. It's not his fault that your ship ended I hope they would stop projecting their sadness and anger onto him.

Ohm has asked multiple times to treat Lengso kindly because he's starting out, that he's taking care of him and trying to lead him through this because he was in the same position when he started out, to please be kind to him.

Not gonna lie if I were him this whole thing would probably harbor resentment towards these "fans". The way they speak as if they know what's better for him, not only when it comes to work but also on his personal life is insulting, he is doing what's best for himself and his career and they should learn to respect that. Also seeing my fans be nasty to someone I've know for like 10 years for simply choosing to work with me would make me feel like shit.

Anyways they seem to be getting along well, so I hope their series is a success and neither of them are affected by all of this nonsense

[girls-are-weird]

MASTER LIST: One Fic for Each Fandom [J-Z]

continued from this post. please read that one first for a detailed explanation of how this list came about and just why in the seven hells i've spent so many (many, MANY) hours of my life compiling it.

back in the day, i had hoped this format could catch on as a meme type of thing, so that other people could take it as a template and make their own fandom recs lists. so i'd love to see yours! be sure to tag me if you decide to do this. :)

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[ FANDOMS J-Z BELOW, A-I HERE ]

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JOAN OF ARCADIA

after an afternoon, by angelgazing.

joan doesn't get it.

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JONNY QUEST: TRA

jealousy (and sequels!), by debbie kluge.

the story that started it all. a new acquaintance causes jonny quest and jessie bannon to re-evaluate their relationship.

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LITTLE WOMEN / PLUMFIELD SERIES

and i didn't like the ending, by readdyfreddie (M).

as soon as the post box came into view, she saw him there, reading the letter. and then, as if sensing her presence, he looked up, and jo knew nothing would ever be the same again.

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NARUTO

on the symbiotic relationship, by hundredacresky (M).

somehow they ended up doing everything backwards.

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NEON GENESIS EVANGELION

a glass of wine rebuilt, by toasterman.

shinji and asuka learn about themselves and fall in love, causing massive ramifications. a remake of the late 94saturn's quintessential shinjixasuka story, it is part tribute and part experiment, taking the structure and plot of the original wacky shipping story while attempting to maintain series-true characterization.

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PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS/RIORDANVERSE

if you need, come build your home in me (and side stories!) by yrbeecharmer / @yrbeecharmer (T).

even though the world keeps falling down around him, will solace can't seem to help but keep growing up.

(a series rewrite starting with the events of titan's curse)

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PITCH PERFECT

hooking up with jesse by catswandsandwalkers / @catswandsandwalkers (M).

when aubrey said to beca, "your attitude sucks, you're a grade-A pain in my ass, and i know you're hooking up with jesse," she was actually correct. slightly AU where jesse and beca are secretly friends with benefits throughout the movie. follows canon otherwise.

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POKEMON

destiny, by nova.

carla says: this is a fic i read a long time ago, loved, and then lost track of. the plot is rather similar to the plot of the… second? third? movie (the lugia one!), but it was written pre-movie and the author takes it a whole different way. the characters are grown up and more mature (errrr… except gary and jazelle, maybe), and the story's AU (they all have different backgrounds) but it's very good, filled with action and adrenaline, and even some funny and romantic moments. good read. sadly, now i can't find it anywhere else in the 'net so i wonder if it's been finished since then. if anyone knows, please tell me.

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THE PRINCESS DIARIES

me and you (is my refrain), by naladot / @naladot (T).

when he finally gets to the restaurant to meet his friends for a birthday dinner, the television mounted to the wall has the news on, and there’s mia disembarking from her plane, waving to the press with a practiced smile. he hasn’t seen her in five years—no, it’s got to be six, now—but he can still read the exhaustion written across her picture-perfect face.

years later, michael reunites with the love of his life. future-fic for first movie canon.

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PSYCH

against all odds (take a look at me now) by shuuuliet (G).

ever since they broke up, shawn and juliet have done their best to keep their distance from one another. but now, one of their old cases has been blown wide open. a criminal that evaded arrest is back…and he’s targeting them specifically. can they make it out of this case alive? and can they find their way back to each other along the way?

(set during season 7, a few weeks after "deez nups".)

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PSYCHO-PASS

beasts of all kinds by aroguegambit17 (E).

wolf and shepherd are ancient enemies, opposed in nature and design. a wolf breaks into folds a shepherd guards; a shepherd is duty-bound to fight and perhaps kill a wolf for what the beast cannot help but do to survive. but what is a shepherd without sheep, a wolf without a pack?

free, of course. what a terrifying proposition.

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RANMA 1/2

ranma .05, by darren demaine.

carla says: ranma smut, and believable at that. lots and lots of story before the sex, so it's not plotless at all. and the characters are very in-character-- and that's a lot to say if he can have ranma and akane sleep together and still be in-character!

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RUROUNI KENSHIN

christmas and chaos, by nooziewoozie (M).

his shirt opened down his front, showing golden skin like some kind of blue-collar wet dream come to life—he was brown even in the middle of winter and he smelled like motor oil and had hair that spiked out from his head, bushy and unruly and ridiculous. he radiated heat. some idiot part of her hindbrain wanted to soak it up. -megumi, sano; family, christmas, and sex on couches.

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SAILOR MOON

adventures of the chibi-scouts, by "tuxedo" will wolfshohl.

many wish to be young again but how will the girls handle it when they get that wish?

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SAINT SEIYA

la batalla de los doce tresors (aka el MEGAFIC), by marijose diaz.

carla says: sorry that it's in spanish, guys, but it really is THE best saint seiya fic EVER. written pre-hades saga, but they fight against hades-- just in a completely different way. the cycle has ended, and it's time for athena to die. only hades doesn't want to let her, and it's time for the saints to… save her? so she can die? i LOVE this fic. seriously, i've read it a thousand times, and that's a lot to say because it's HUGE! (it's not called the MEGAfic for nothing!). she manages to put in most of my favorite couples, which is quite rare, and well-- i was reading it a while back and this was actually what made me start this whole list. lol.

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SAMURAI CHAMPLOO

nenju, by 3jane.

where do happiness and ever after intersect? post series, complete. fuumugenjin.

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SEX EDUCATION

these are the days of their lives by howardtduck48 (M).

maeve wiley deserves to be happy. if only she can give someone a chance to explain.

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SHADOWHUNTER CHRONICLES

i know you wanna go higher by orphan_account (M).

the first thing simon lewis saw when he arrived idris high school was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. however, he later discovered that if he wanted to date her, he would need to get a date for his grumpy brother, alec. and that's where magnus bane appears.

the 10 things i hate about you AU that every fandom needs. simon is new and pining for isabelle, and then he has the worst idea of his life. somehow, things work out. kind of.

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SHAMAN KING

hygge, by fruitysmell / @fruitysmellz (G).

hygge. a danish word used for a special feeling of coziness and contentment, whether with friends or alone and at home or out.

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SKY HIGH (2005)

the language of flowers by evergreeen / @everrgrreeen (T).

“i think he deserves to sweat about it for a while,” magenta said, reclining back in her chair. “maybe if he thinks that another guy is interested in you, he’ll come to his senses and see what’s right in front of him.”

layla’s head snapped up to look at her shapeshifting friend.

“magenta, that’s it!”

“what’s it?”

“i’m going to make will jealous… by pretending to date warren peace.”

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THE SOCIETY

you don't scare me anymore by misschatelle / @misschatelle (M).

chief holbrook calmly held her glare for a few seconds. “do you mean to say that you have no memories of the past eight months?”

allie shrugged. “maybe it was all a dream.”

“can you tell me what happened in that dream?”

“why does it matter now?”

“because some of you never returned. and we’d like to understand why. We have parents who, for a second, were given hope, only for that to get brutally taken away. they’ve seen all the other families reunite with their lost children, and they didn’t get to do that. they want answers, and i don’t have them. i’m hoping you can help me.”

(four teenagers never made it back to west ham. emily warner. cassandra pressman. greg dewey. campbell eliot.)

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STRANGER THINGS

be brave and kiss the girl by fatechica / @fatechica (T).

el hopper: beautiful, sweet, and instantly one of the most popular girls in the hawkins’ high junior class when she moves there after her dad takes the job of police chief for the small town. mike wheeler: king of the nerds, A/V club president, and completely invisible to girls.

naturally, mike notices the new girl - how can he not when she’s the most beautiful girl he's ever seen in his entire short life? but she’s so far out of his league, it’s not even worth dreaming about. so it’s completely and utterly confusing to him when el takes a lot more than a polite interest in him.

el, for her part, is instantly smitten with the cute nerd with gorgeous eyes, adorable freckles, and the most beautiful smile she’s ever seen. no one understands when she decides to pursue him, especially not the popular kids, but it’s harder than she bargained for to get mike to trust her, to let her into his heart. guess it’s a good thing she’s as persistent as she is popular, isn’t it?

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TANGLED

her everything by fabulist / @thatfabulist (M).

being the part-time boyfriend, part-time babysitter of the princess isn't all it's cracked up to be, but eugene fitzherbert is up for the challenge. besides, he loves her. now rated M for extra sauciness.

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VERONICA MARS

the orion protocol by annie174 (M).

in the immediate aftermath of the final bomb, veronica finds out things are not as they appear. a fix-it for the veronica mars season 4 final. spoilers for season 4.

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X-MEN

kissing friends, by pirate turner (PG).

friends surprise each other under the mistletoe. kurtty.

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X-MEN: EVOLUTION

playing with fire, by taekwondodo (M).

kurt (nightcrawler) and kitty (shadowcat) managed to get things worked out between them - mostly - but things have taken a decided turn for the worse and are only going to go downhill from here.

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YOUNG ROYALS

and each slow dusk, by loyaulte_me_lie / @if-fortunate (M).

“he wishes for a time machine to turn back the clock, back to a world where his mother wasn’t on the end of the phone, saying grimly, “wilhelm, you need to come home. it’s starting.””

two months after wille’s arrival at hillerska, war breaks out. when his and erik's last-ditch attempt to leave the country goes badly wrong, he ends up stuck in bjarstad - with simon.

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[ FANDOMS A-I HERE ]

[pennypurr]

Lowkey (NOT LOWKEY VERY HIGHKEY I MEAN THIS FROM THE DEPTHS OF MY SOUL) miss when fandom was just for the freaks and weirdos. "Oh, but people used to get bullied for liking things-" YEAH AND AT LEAST THEN IT WAS JUST AT SCHOOL, NOW IT'S ALSO IN THE FANDOM!! I've been in fandom spaces for eight years and trust me when I say it is NEVER that serious. Is this gatekeepy? Absolutely. Do I stand by this? HELL YEAH. New-Gen fandomers are so fucking annoying and the reason I had a block list of over 5000 people when I was still on Twitter. AND ANOTHER THING- what happened to block and move on? Ship and let ship? Minding your own fucking business?? As long as you tag your shit correctly I don't fucking care what you write/draw/cosplay. It could be the most vile thing to ever grace someone's screen and as long as it doesn't involve real people (and if it does you have their consent) I do not give a damn. Fandom etiquette has died and it pisses me off. I also heavily blame this on covid!! Fandom had already been on a decline, but lockdown brought the normies (yes I'm using that unironically idk what else to call them) into weirdo spaces and suddenly everything is morality policing and ship wars all over again. There is a REASON asian artists are constantly blocking westerners and it is because New-Gen people in fandom are annoying as hell and they aren't going to force themselves to tolerate it. It's also the New-Gens using things like generative AI to create things like artificial fanart and fanfic, completely disregarding how those things are so beautiful because they're made out of love and adoration for a piece of media. These are the people demanding new chapters and complaining about what fics are and aren't readily available to them. Make it yourself!! I understand the irritation, but that is what breeds creativity. Directing your energy to making something is not only better for the environment, but also your mental health. Also, yeah, your AI slop and the sheer amount you people are producing is worse and costs more energy than all the shit boomers did to mother Earth, and you're denying your impact just like they did. And don't even get me STARTED on people who intentionally seek out fanart/fic they KNOW has the potential to trigger them and then get upset at the CREATOR that they were triggered!! You literally did that to yourself. That's like getting upset when you break a boundary and the person whose boundary you broke follows through with the consequence. One of the worst parts about it is that as someone who has been in fan spaces for a long time is that the majority of these people are ones around my age and so it's difficult to find actually tolerable people to talk to. You'll also notice that the age demographics of the annoying new people in fandom and the fresh wave of mega-conservatives correlate a lot... It's almost like they're the same people. And even then the ones that identify as leftists are usually so far down that it circles back to fascism. Like what do you mean you think people should only be allowed to write/draw/engage with what aligns with your specific morals regardless as to if they're causing genuine harm or not? That sounds a little too familiar for my tastes- When did we get to a point where we decided censorship was good? It also NEVER works the way you want it to because sure at first it seems reasonable but then no one can agree on what is morally rephresenible enough to not be portrayed in a work of fiction and it just keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse, until suddenly queer people aren't allowed to be shown and social commentaries aren't allowed. Fandoms have been around since like- the eighties (probably before but I'm not looking that up atm), and this has never been such a major issue until now. The Internet has simultaneously been the best and worst thing to ever happen to fandom.

TLDR; Fandom etiquette has died and New-Gens are so fucking annoying.

[deep-sea-anemone]

I don't know you, I don't know who or what you ship, but my understanding of anti vs. pro means being anti vs. pro-shipping children with adults and if you think the majority opinion is that that is perfectly fine and normal, you need to go outside and touch grass.

Hi!

I assume you're referring to my addition on that poll post. I'm happy to clear a few things up.

Firstly, Proship IS the default opinion and only in recent years has this anti-ship ideology come about (I have my own theories as to why that is, but that's its own can of worms and I specifically just want to adress this ask).

Any Pro vs Anti definitions were made up and forced on proshippers (again, because pro is the default and Antis are new). As such, Antis have skewed the meaning of proship into basically stating that "all proshippers like and endorse this content, and do not discriminate between content or judge the individuals who make it". This actually goes against what proshippers believe. The entire pro-ship philosophy can essentially be boiled down to "don't like, don't read".

There is a whole hoard of fiction that grosses me out. For instance I hate yandere and non-con, and find incest and minor/adult relationships incredibly gross. I even block the "age-gap" tag because even if they are both consenting, having that much of a power imbalance wiggs me out. I've unfollowed some of my favorite artists because they've posted dynamics and scenes that I don't like (Most recently I unfollowed a very popular artist because I found out they ship Sukufushi: a ship between a 16 year old and an ancient demon possessing another 16 year old. Since it's fiction and not reality, you get these wierd nuances that could never happen in the real world and it is up to the individual to decide what they are comfortable with).

A lot of proshippers actually WILL tell you that people who like pedophilic ships or other dark content (such as rape and snuff fics) ARE gross and sick in the head and that the people who think otherwise are delusional. That doesn't mean that I don't believe that they don't have a right to create that content. I just want them to keep it away from me. Hence why I have those tags blocked on tumblr and why I filter them out when I search for fics.

The proshipper philosophy isn't that problematic ideas/ships are good and should be celebrated, and everyone certaintly doesn't believe that it is "perfectly normal", we just think that if you don't like it then, rather than berating the "freaks" who do, simply block and move on and do your best to keep them out of your thoughts, because ultimately, as disgusting as it is, there is no actual harm in it.

Secondly, Antis seem to believe that we proshippers endorse gross/dark content in real life. I assure you that that is NOT the case. And if an individual does, in fact enact their ficticious-but-irl-illegal fantasies, then that is not an example of the pro-shipper caving in and acting out their sick desires in the real world. It is the case of a REAL LIFE pedophile (or whatever) coming into fandom spaces and then interacting with or creating dark content. Is it possible that this happens? Sure. That doesn't mean that it is the default or even common, and basically every proshipper is in agreement that they are disgusting individuals. Again, this is because proshippers believe that fiction should remain fiction. Any time that make-believe turns into real-world actions, it is no longer make-believe and is now a real danger. Antis refuse to see the difference between the two.

You also mentioned touching grass which I think is a little ironic. The proshipper philosophy is that as long as fiction remains fiction, it has no bearing on the real world. It is Antis that have a hard time recognizing that playing pretend isn't the same as physical wrongdoing. Hence, why proshippers use the term "touch grass": it's meant to remind people that there is more to life than fantasy and online discourse, That it's important to log off and go "touch grass" to remind yourself that there is a difference between the tangible real-world and the imaginary scenarios that people create in their heads.

If you (and others! This isn't meant to be a callout, just informative) have difficulty comprehending this, I encourage you to consider the following scenarios:

1) Murder Mysteries: just because someone writes someone getting murdered, does not mean that they would want to see it happen,and certainly not commit it in real life.

2) BDSM: no party that willingly engages in bdsm is truly getting hurt (except to the extent that they want to be). Smacking someone during sessions does not mean that that person would ever do it in real life, and certainly wouldn't support others doing it

3) rape fantasies: this sort of goes along with bdsm, but there is a large difference between having faith that your trusted partner would never hurt you and only acts out a scenario because you ask them to, and being forced against your will to engage in harmful and/degrading sex acts.

4) Shooter Games: For a long time, people believed that playing violent video games corrupted children's moral and made them crave violence and increased the likelihood that they would want to renact that violence and turn into school shooters. There was actually a study done a while ago examining the link between video game violence and real life consequences....and they found nothing. There was no correlation between committing fictional violence and real world impact.

Fiction =/= real life.

Secondly, Antis have a tendency to invade people's inboxes and leave hate comments everywhere. Sometimes this is just saying "this is gross", but often Antis start harassment campaigns, recruiting multiple individuals to scare and intimidate people whose content they don't like (One tactic is to dump hundreds of graphic, gory images into peoples inboxes. I'm sure you can see how that would be traumatizing). Antis also have a history of doxxing people and causing this ficticious content to cause real-life harm to come to people. This is especially concerning since one of the most common things Antis like to parrot is some variation of "kill yourself".

A lot of Antis actually ARE proshippers, they just don't realize it because they get so caught up with the Anti's hate philosophy that they believe that willingly not engaging with content that they don't like (rather than harassing and condemning people who do) is what proshippers stand against. This is why some proshippers use the terms "anti-harrasment" and "pro-censorship" rather than proshippers and antishippers because it helps to clarify what the pro-shipper philosophy ACTUALLY is.

*phew* that was a long post, wasn't it? Let's both go touch grass together 🤝

[thegingerwrites]

✨✨Fic/Stats Game ✨✨

Rules: Give us the links to your fics with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fewest words.

1st most Hits: never too late to start again

My obikin magnum opus! This fic possessed me in February/March 2023 when I wrote most of it. It is the longest fic I have ever written, with the most chapters. I still really, really love it.

2nd most Kudos: worry me

I think of this as my empowering heterosexual blow job fic 😂 I read, amongst other things, a decent amount of romance, including regency romance (though most of it is queer) and after watching and obsessing over Bridgerton series 2, I really wanted to have Kate to suck Anthony's dick while he sits at his desk trying to work on the estate finances and what not. I love reading queer romance where that particular sexual position isn't seen as degrading, where the character A giving gets to feel almost powerful as character B comes apart beneath them. And I think Anthony would look really pretty undone like that. I guess other people agreed?

3rd most comments: Solitary as an Oyster

This stat owes everything to one person who went and commented on every! single!! chapter!!! last month and made my whole entire year 💕 There are a couple of really great advent challenge type fics in the drarry ship that I adore and I wanted to push myself to write something prompt based in a short amount of time. It felt a little bit like I was working in a vacuum over the course of the two weeks of daily posts but it definitely made me appreciate every bit of feedback I got on that fic. I think the title might throw people off a bit because it doesn't sound Christmas-y even though it's a quote from A Christmas Carol but I was too in love with the idea to change it at the time. That description of Scrooge seemed perfect for desert hermit Obi-Wan and I decided it had to stay.

4th most bookmarks: i guess you're all mine

This was my first ever obikin fic and at the time was like my thesis for the pairing. I was rotating the two of them in my head like 'why are they like this' and this fic was the result of that meditation. If there is a thesis statement for this fic, it is the two of them realizing that they already belong together, that a romantic relationship between the two of them coming to fruition is just a matter of looking at what is already there from a different angle. A few inches of space, a tilt of the head, everything changes while staying exactly the same.

5th most words: Solitary as an Oyster

I couldn't believe this stat. I feel like I have three wips that are about to blow this word count out of the water, including the Suddenly A Sith fic I'm almost done editing that grew legs and is probably going to be three chapters long. No wonder I burned out a bit after writing this one 😂 24k in two weeks, posting daily was too much for me 😅

Fewest words: Fireside Chats

I have a tendency to fall into the trap of thinking a piece of writing isn't worth posting to ao3 if it's not like 1k long. I think it's like the extra step of formatting or something. I'm not going to link this particular fic but it is posted on my ao3. It's a kylux prompt fill from 2016 (almost 10 years ago jfc). My writing has grown and changed a lot since then but I find it interesting to keep a record of that growth alive there. Maybe I need to make more of an effort to post shorter works to ao3?

This was such an interesting way to look at these fics. Thanks for the tag @teaandjumpers and @ragnarlothcat!

I've been offline a bit over the last few days so I'm not sure who has done this already. But if you want to do this and haven't been tagged, consider yourself tagged! And give me a tag so I can see you talk about your fics 📝

[where-theres-smoak-2]

I'm a ship and let ship kind of girl but one thing that does grind my gears a bit is those antis who deliberately tag there anti sylki posts in the sylki tag. I have got way too many newly blocked accounts since the finale its kind of disheartening and also annoying, its not that hard to probably tag your posts.

But anyway there were quite a few posts of antis gloating about a couple of interviews that Sophia did and claiming that she hates the sylki ship so I figure ok lets talk about these interviews. Here's the first one:

First off the part saying Sophia isn't super into the idea of sylki as a couple isn't a direct quote from Sophia, so this could be the interviewer paraphrasing or it could be the interviewers interpretation on Sophia's comments, either as its not a direct quote and I don't know what the context is I am taking that part with a whole handful of salt and disregarding it.

What Sophia did say was that sylki is weird because they variants of the same person and also that with everything they have gone through the relationship is complicated. It seems like antis saw the word weird and went oh bad, she must mean she hates them but when you actually look at the definition of the word weird it doesn't necessarily mean something bad. The definition from Cambridge dictionary is: very strange and unusual, unexpected, or not natural. The Merriam-Webster definition is: of strange or extraordinary character, of, relating to, or caused by witchcraft or the supernatural. Which lets be honest fits Sylki, they are unusual, strange, unexpected, extraordinary and you could argue with the whole variant thing its got that supernatural element to it as well. I mean them being weird is what makes them fun and entertaining to watch so honestly I'm not mad that she said they were weird.

Another thing to bear in mind is that we don't know the question that goes with this answer for all we know it could have been a very leading question like don't you think its weird they are both variants of the same person, or what do you think of shipping in general, we don't know so we don't have a whole lot of context even with her direct quote. But to me Sophia's answer just seems to be your standard diplomatic, vague, non-committal answer that most actors give when asked about ships which is I like my character and I want the best for them. Sadly we live in a world now where actors have to be very careful and ambiguous when talking about ships because if they say something that upsets one side they may get sent hate, from what I've heard Sophia has already been sent death threats and had other hate hurled at her so it would make sense to me that she wouldn't want to give anything but vague answers to any questions about ships.

But say Sophia really isn't that into Sylki as a romantic pairing, so what? She's allowed to like or dislike a pairing on a tv show just like anyone else, even if she's playing one half of the pairing. She wouldn't be the first actor to dislike a ship they are a part of or to prefer a different pairing for their character. She's a person like everyone else and she's allowed to have likes and dislikes and her own opinions. But trying to argue that the Sylki ship is dead because Sophia may or may not (seeing as this interview doesn't confirm either way) like the ship is absurd to me. Especially as we've already had the head writer and producer of the show confirm that they are canon and that it was their romance that was driving the show. Seeing as they are the ones that write the show and decides what happens, I think I'm ok if Sophia thinks the ship is weird somehow. Now if the producer of the show said that they didn't intend for my ship to be romantic and wrote them as just friends I might be upset and think my ship was dead. Luckily for me that isn't the case.

The other interview I've seen antis throwing about as evidence that Sophia hates the ship is this one where she is talking about their kiss:

This one just baffles me even more. Personally I just don't understand how someone reads this and jumps to she hates the ship and the ship is dead. They were the ones saying the kiss was nothing but a trick, a distraction. Now here we've got Sophia saying the same thing Sylki shippers were saying which is the kiss was more of a good bye kiss. Honestly I love what she said about how it was a thank you and a good bye, it showed how much of an impact Loki made on her, heartbreakingly though it just wasn't enough to break through that need to complete her mission. To be fair this mission was something that had fuelled her throughout her entire life, that pain and those scars left from HWR and the TVA run too deep, really she needed alot more time with Loki before being able to choose him over that mission, maybe if they had more time together before facing HWR it would have gone differently but sadly we'll never know. Sophia recently said in another interview that there is an unspoken agreement between Sylki that they can't kill each other. Which is what makes this moment so tragically beautiful in a way, she knows she can't let her mission go, but she also knows that he won't let her kill HWR, and she also knows that she can't kill Loki so in her eyes her only option was to push him through that time door. She knows that will break their relationship so she just wants one kiss, one moment to say thank you and to say goodbye. Sorry but this isn't what a dead ship looks like to me. A slightly broken one maybe but not dead.

Ok so this is off topic but its something I am curious about. This is more to do with what I saw in the main Loki tag so unrelated to the antis mis-tagging their hate posts, I don't want to lump regular Loki/mobius shippers in with them. But I saw some posts talking about there being a track named L*kius and some shippers felt they had been baited because there was a track on the official sound track with their ship name but the producers were saying it was meant as a friendship and even I thought that was an odd choice on the Loki teams part, but then I've just been listening to the official soundtrack by Natalie Holt, its as amazing as last seasons by the way so if you get the chance I would recommend checking it out, but there is no track on there with that name. I checked the official track list titles as well and I'm not seeing it. So what happened there, was someone trolling that fandom? In which case not cool, or was it just misinformation that was spread, I'm very confused because there were screenshots that looked legit. Saying that I was listening to an epic cover of the track titled Ascension on the official soundtrack pre-release and they had named it glorious purpose seeing as the official name of the track hadn't been released yet, so maybe this was the same situation? It was just a placeholder name by whoever uploaded it? I never listened to the one with the ship name that was being posted about in the main tag so I am curious as to whether it is a track on the official soundtrack but now has a different name?

So wrapping it up, those are my thoughts on Sophia's interviews, the official soundtrack for season 2 is amazing and everyone should go listen to it and ship whatever you like but please, please can people tag their posts correctly because my finger is starting to ache from constantly hitting the block button.

[pinkywritesstuff]

A Little Introduction For You/DA RULES!!

Have you ever had an Animaniacs/Pinky and The Brain fic you've always wanted to read? Do you have that one nagging idea that just sticks in your mind and invades your every waking thought? Hi guys!!!! I'm Pinky and you probably know me from my blog @theonethatyaks93. You've probably seen my random Pinky and The Brain and Animaniacs posts floating around here for some time (January of 2023 was when I joined but I've been in the Animaniacs fandom since 2020). But I also write fanfiction for funsies and since the Animaniacs/Pinky and The Brain fandom has slowly been waning, I decided to make a sideblog to accept requests for fanfics!!! This is so the fandom can stay alive and other people can find it too!! I'm a tad bit late to the party, but I hope that you guys enjoy what I have in store! Now below: I've listed some of the rules, restrictions, and information about how-to submit a request here!!

To make a request, all you have to do is drop it into the ask box here on this blog! I do not want fic requests on my main blog!! Thank you!! :) <3

I tried not to set too many rules but here are the main ones(Most of this is taken from my announcement post on my main blog):

There will be absolutely NO 18+ content allowed. There are a ton of fics out there with mature labels that you can find; you don't have to look hard. I do not feel comfortable writing that stuff yet. Don't ask for smut of any kind because you will not get it, I guarantee that. The farthest I want to go is deep kissing (i.e. tongue) but I'm only willing to do that for Pinky and Brain exclusively, since it doesn't seem to bother the fandom that much. I WILL NOT do that stuff for Yakko and Max because it doesn't sit well with me since they are so young. If deeper, more aggressive kissing is involved in Brinky fics, the tag: mildly spicy mice, will be used to indicate this. It won't be in every fic, I promise. :)

NO WARNERCEST REQESTS!!! That will get you promptly banned off of both my blogs for the foreseeable future. I HATE THIS SHIP SO MUCH AND IT'S DISGUSTING!!!! This also ties into the no 18+ content label mentioned earlier. Do not ask for this.

Fic requests may take up to a week or more to complete. It will depend on the ask itself and the story ideas I compile together. I'm very busy with other life things and stresses that it will be difficult to find the time to work on these. I will optimize weekends for fic writing to my best ability, but I will let you guys know if I'm taking a break. When I'm taking a short break, the ask box will be closed temporarily, but it will be re-opened.

Other ships such as Billie x Julia, Wakko x Louie Duck, and Dark Pinky x Future Brain will be accepted if you request them. If these take longer to make, it's going to be because I haven't written for these ideas before and I will need time to make sure everything is done decently. I'm also accepting AU ideas such as gender-swaps (I have a really good idea if y'all want to see a gender-swapped Pinky and Brain) . However, parody ideas will be extremely risky to request since if I haven't seen the material, I can't make the parody and if I have seen it, I might make a whole fic based on it rather than just a simple one-shot. I am also not accepting Wakko's Wish requests until further notice; I have a few pending and I will get to those eventually, thanks for being patient.

If your request takes longer to complete and it's not a parody or a ship I haven't worked with before, it's likely because I am working on a fic for AO3, most likely my one-shots, or a tedious multi-chapter. Don't think I've abandoned your request; I will get to you ASAP after I'm done with whatever project I'm on.

Certain things that are banned from the askbox: mean comments, smut requests, Warnercest, non-Animaniacs/PaTB requests, harassment of other individuals. Certain ships, such as Warnercest and Brain x Julia will not be allowed either due to personal or emotionally scarring reasons.

Last thing: Enjoy it!!! Make requests that are angsty, silly, fluffy, sad, or happy! Think about what you've always wanted to see in a fanfic, or an idea that you would enjoy seeing my take on. Just make sure to follow my rules and boundaries so we can all enjoy this as a fandom.

I'm really excited to see what I can do!!! And I'm also really excited to see all the fun ideas you guys can come up with!!! I'm hoping I can make this fandom proud and maybe inspire others to dive into the realm of writing!! Gather your requests and let's all have some fun!! Narf!!!

-Pinky (theonethatyaks93)

[theonethatyaks93]

Huge Announcement!! (I'm Taking Animaniacs/Pinky and The Brain Fic Requests!) (Please Read for Information!)

Hello to all my Animaniacs friends and Pinky and The Brain acquaintances!!! After much consideration and a 5-month-long hiatus from fanfiction writing, I've decided that it's time to get back on it! I have multiple Pinky and The Brain fanfics being planned out right now, but while I compose more things for you (including the next chapter of "When He Loved Me" which is back by popular demand), I want to announce something to all of you that I hope will go over well.

With the Animaniacs reboot concluding earlier this year, and the fandom slowly winding its way down the obscurity route, I wanted to do something to keep the fandom chugging. I've actually wanted to do this for a few months, but now seems like a great time to start this little idea. So I've decided:

I'm Going To Start Taking Requests for Fanfics Here On Tumblr!!!

That's right!!! You guys will have the opportunity to submit fanfic ideas/prompts to me that you've always wanted to see in the community. I'm going to be making a second blog, where I will be accepting requests for fanfics and will be posting them onto Tumblr directly. I will also make these prompts available on AO3 in a compilation fic where I will also be mentioning the ask in the notes. I want to mainly focus on Brinky, Yax, and of course, the Warner Siblings and their dynamic. The blog will (maybe) be titled NarftasticFicRequests (TBD as official name) and I will be accepting both Pinky and The Brain, and Animaniacs writing ideas. I think that this is a great prompt to encourage me to write and to keep these fandom spaces alive and well. I don't have the intro ready yet for the new blog, heck I haven't made the new blog yet, but wait to see it pop up in the next few weeks. However, while the introduction hasn't been made, I am going to set down a few ground rules/boundaries here right now:

There will be absolutely NO 18+ content allowed. There are a ton of fics out there with mature labels that you can find; you don't have to look hard. I do not feel comfortable writing that stuff yet. Don't ask for smut of any kind because you will not get it, I guarantee that. The farthest I'm willing to go is deep kissing (i.e. tongue) but I'm only willing to do that for Pinky and Brain exclusively, since it doesn't seem to bother the fandom that much. I WILL NOT do that stuff for Yakko and Max because it doesn't sit well with me since they are so young. If deeper, more aggressive kissing is involved in Brinky fics, the tag: mildly spicy mice, will be used to indicate this. It won't be in every fic, I promise. :)

2. NO WARNERCEST REQESTS!!! That will get you promptly banned off of both my blogs for the foreseeable future. I HATE THIS SHIP SO MUCH THAT IT HURTS. This also ties into the no 18+ content label mentioned earlier. Do not ask for this.

3. Fic requests may take up to a week or more to complete. It will depend on the ask itself and the story ideas I compile together. I'm very busy with other life things and stresses that it will be difficult to find the time to work on these. I will optimize weekends for fic writing to my best ability, but I will let you guys know if I'm taking a break. When I'm taking a short break, the ask box will be closed temporarily, but it will be re-opened.

4. Other ships such as Billie x Julia, Wakko x Louie Duck, and Dark Pinky x Future Brain will be accepted if you request them. If these take longer to make, it's going to be because I haven't written for these ideas before and I will need time to make sure everything is done decently. I'm also accepting AU ideas such as gender-swaps (I have a really good idea if y'all want to see a gender-swapped Pinky and Brain) . However, parody ideas will be extremely risky to request since if I haven't seen the material, I can't make the parody and if I have seen it, I might make a whole fic based on it rather than just a simple one-shot.

5. If your request takes longer to complete, it's likely because I am working on a fic for AO3, most likely my Christmas/Winter fics, or a tedious multi-chapter. Don't think I've abandoned your request; I will get to you ASAP after I'm done with whatever project I'm on.

6. Certain things that are banned from the askbox: mean comments, smut requests, Warnercest, non-Animaniacs/PaTB requests, harassment of other individuals. Certain ships, such as Warnercest and Brain x Julia will not be allowed either due to personal and emotionally scarring reasons.

7. Last thing: Enjoy it!!! Make requests that are angsty, silly, fluffy, sad, or happy! Think about what you've always wanted to see in a fanfic, or an idea that you would enjoy seeing my take on. Just make sure to follow my rules and boundaries so we can all enjoy this as a fandom.

I'm really excited to get this started!!! It will take a while to put everything together. Stay tuned for an announcement that the blog is up and that you can start submitting requests. Look out for the new blog as well, and the intro post that'll contain the official rules and a little more about the blog. Once again, I'm extremely ecstatic to start taking your requests, and I might even post non-requests on the blog as well. I know this might seem a little late since the reboot is over, but I sincerely pray that this new blog can continue to keep the Animaniacs/PaTB fandom alive, at least for a little while longer. I hope that you guys get some ideas for requests while this new second blog takes shape. Hoping it'll be up by the end of next week. Fingers-crossed that this ideas doesn't blow up in my face!!! See y'all soon!!!! Narf!!!

-theonethatyaks93