#[ and platonic friendships is my favorite trope to write ]

[amuyyi]

y/n + her plants .

synopsis; just 3 little drabbles of y/n being the only extrovert and obsessed with plants.

trope; le sserafim x 6th member!reader, platonic , just silly poorly written stuff

wc; 2.0k

cw; none

a/n; im ngl this is just a self indulgent self insert of the author. i love female friendships! also i was half asleep writing this, but i really like the 2nd clip idk it makes me giggle a little :3 i had planned to write more, but i got tired soooo... also did not spellcheck at the end zzz please read my other works if u actually want decently written stuff

Clip 1: 

It was your turn to turn in a vlog for the week, and you decided to utilize this time to do a room tour. You grin into the camera as you make your way to you and Yunjin’s shared bedroom, opening the door and showing the interior to the camera. It was a spacious room, with posters and photographs plastered all along the walls alongside other decor such as string lights, unique shaped mirrors, and endless figurines and trinkets lined on the shelves. One of the most prominent features of the room though was the amount of pure green all throughout. There were plants quite literally everywhere. On the windowsill, hanging off the ceiling, held up on the wall, on the floor, the tables, the shelves. It felt like just about any free space was touched by mother nature herself.

You grin sheepishly as you explain, “Not many people know this– well I guess now many people will know this, but I am a super big plant person!”

The camera slowly pans over all of the plants as well as some of Yunjin’s belongings, including her guitar, glasses, and some smiski’s you two co-parent. “Thankfully Yunjin doesn’t mind me hogging up some space for my babies, and I pay her back in smiski figurines!!” Grabbing hold of a little green man on the table that was struggling to put on a sweater, you shove its face into the camera as you giggle, “I think this one's my favorite, me and Yunjin are still trying to come up with a name for him.”

You look around, trying to figure out which plant to showcase first before you catch sight of one particular plant you enjoy. “Oh! I want to show you guys my favorite pot…” The camera pans to a comically large and rather beat up leather boot, which humbly held home to a mini monstera within its space. 

“It was a random shoe I found near a river during filming one time. Viney here seems to enjoy it,” You grin, accidentally letting it slip that you name every single one of your plants as well as touch random garbage you find outside before you showcase another “pot,”  being a mug that had the words “Live Laugh Love” plastered boldly on the side as you snicker, “this one just makes me laugh. Jen hates it, but I don’t think she can recognize the beauty in irony.”

You let out a sigh as you make your way towards your bed, plopping down onto it as you speak. “Y’know, I personally believe I’m a great candidate to collaborate on a show with Chuu, Tsuki, and Yuqi sunbaenim,” the ramble starts, completely derailing from the original topic of plants as you speak. Your tone is lighthearted and playful, but you’re being completely serious as you continue, “I want to do a bunch of random jobs and harass random people on the street!! I’m perfectly capable of doing that! I’d do that even if I wasn’t getting paid!” 

You start to laugh, realizing how ridiculous you started to sound, but you didn’t care, you pressed the topic on. “If I weren't an idol I’d make a great farmer! Why haven’t I gotten invited to be a farmer with Chuu sunbaenim??” An endless string of various other jobs as well as explanations behind why you would qualify for every one of them begins to spew out of your mouth. You were always a major talker, and quite literally had no filter nor shame when it came to what you had to say. More often than not, you were leading conversations at social events if Chaewon hadn’t already beat you to it– and having alone time with your own thoughts and a camera to record it all was a recipe for disaster.

At the end of your rant, you find yourself slightly winded before making direct eye contact with the camera, pointing your finger directly into it as you announce, “If any TV company is out there watching this right now, this is my application to be a guest on one of your shows! Any job will do, I’ll do it! But just know I’ll leave you farmers in the dust if you put me out in the fields. Watch your back.”

As a last “threat” to broadcasters all around the world, you threateningly do a “I’m watching you” gesture with your hand before placing your hand over the camera, ending the vlog.

Clip 2:

Eunchae spins around the dorm building, giving the viewers on the livestream a living room tour as she looks around, coming up with random things to showcase on the spot. So far, she’s shown off the inside of the fridge, their oven, and underneath the couch. The young girl’s eyebrows furrow as she contemplates what to show fearnots next, her eyes landing on your precious arrangement of houseplants that you lovingly arranged in front of the balcony door. Eunchae clears her throat dramatically as she turns the camera towards your plants, squatting down next to them as she makes sure the audience can see both her and them within the frame.

“As you guys can see here, we have y/n’s plants… She's COVERED the apartment full of them, Chaewon unnie has to scold her every time she brings one home.” She giggles into the camera before shaking her head, “I’m convinced she loves those things more than us…” 

Faint rustling could be heard within the background, and Eunchae turns her head, opening her mouth as if to call out to whoever was home, but she pauses.An imaginary light bulb goes off in her head as Eunchae gasps, looking straight into the camera as she grins mischievously. “I have an idea… Watch this!” She scrambles onto the floor, laying flat on her stomach on top of the floor tile as she props her phone up against the wall hidden behind a stool. The camera perfectly showcases the plants, the living room, and the curtains covering the screen door. 

[ynniez] – oh no… [huhjin001] – this is going to be good [2ningz] - 🥸🥸🥸

The giggles can't seem to stop as Eunchae hops onto her feet and immediately dashes behind the curtains, pressing her finger up to her lips towards the camera in a “shh…!” motion before she disappears. 

“Eunchae?” your voice rings out as you return to your living quarters, grocery bags in hand as the camera perfectly captures your entrance. You don’t think much of the silence that follows as you place the bags down, making your way over to your plants with a grin.

 “Hello my lovelies~” You say to your plants, squatting down to examine them individually before grabbing hold of the watering can nearby. As you lift up the can, Eunchae suddenly bursts through the curtains, exclaiming “BOO!” as loud as possible, resulting in you screaming at a decibel twice as high. 

Unfortunately for the maknae, she had failed to foresee the possibility of you watering your plants at this exact moment– resulting in you blindly chucking 90% of the water inside the can towards the culprit in a panic. Eunchae stands there frozen, oversized sweatshirt and hair absolutely soaked with her mouth agape as she stares at you in complete shock. 

“What THE FU– EUNCHAE??” You yell out, watching the younger girl simply freeze in front of you like a wet cat. You switch to English for just one moment, simply saying, “Girl…” as you clutch your hand over your heart, trying to steady the rapid beating.

Eunchae’s shocked expression shifts into one of glee as her mouth still remains open, now smiling as her body rotates to where the phone hid, silently pointing in the general direction of the camera as she tries not to burst out into laughter on the spot.

You stare at her in complete confusion before following her finger, eyes finally landing on the livestream as your eyes widen, suddenly feeling very exposed in her own home. “No way you just got all of that on camera…”

Eunchae finally allows the laughter to flow, as she suddenly spreads her arms out, inching her way towards you. “You did this to me, unnie!!!” She roars, making attempts to trap you in a hug as you scream, running offscreen as the live abruptly ends.

Clip 3:

You’re seen with your face comically close to the camera, a habit that soon became a signature of your livestreams as you watch the viewers and comments roll in. You glaze over them before flipping the camera around, showing Sakura within the kitchen, wearing a pink apron and plastic gloves as she cuts up some vegetables. “Hi everyone!! Today, Kkura unnie and I are making omelets for the girls with microgreens I’ve grown MYSELF in OUR apartment!!” You loudly exclaim, shoving the camera close to the cutting board as Sakura rolls her eyes, chuckling at the sight as you eventually point the camera elsewhere.

“You did a very good job growing these y/n-nnie. They look great.” The comment from the older girl made you shy, and you flip the camera back to your face as you place a hand on your cheek, “hehe, thank you Kkura-unnie~” you coo, shifting your gaze back to the viewers before sighing.

“I grew all kinds of stuff in here, like basil, arugula, cilantro, kale…” You trail off, counting the number of edible plants you’ve grown on your finger before continuing, “but I could make so much more if I had a full blown garden!!” You whine, and Sakura could be seen in the background rolling her eyes, playfully commenting, “not this again…”

You dramatically lean on Sakura’s back with your own despite her already being hunched over while chopping as you sigh even louder this time, “I’m serious unnie!! The stuff I could grow for you guys.. You would have a whole salad in one place!!”

Leaving the older member to her task, you place the camera down before grabbing some eggs and cracking them into a bowl, impressively doing so with only one hand each as the comments complimented your skill.

[makna33] – master chef y/n?? [nay00n1] – girl what cant u do…

A laugh escapes your lips as you beat the eggs, “guys, its not that impressive. Besides, I don’t cook nearly as often or as well as Kkura-unnie.” The compliment garners a small smile from the other girl seen in the corner of the screen as you continue on, “anyways, if I had my own garden in the building, I would graft the best tomatoes ever… I’d be real life Frankenstien creating the perfect tomato!” You start, knowing that most likely nobody would actually care for your facts, but you shared anyways, this was YOUR live after all.

“Oh! We’re also using my basil today in one of the omelets. Guys, if you’re ever growing your own basil at home, make sure to pinch off the flowers! It makes it tastier!!” You point the chopsticks you used to whisk the egg at your phone camera, and some of the yolk is thrown onto the screen as your eyes widen, looking back at Sakura to make sure she didn't see what you just did. 

You quickly wipe off the gunk before returning to your kitchen duties as if nothing happened, “These eggs are gonna be so good… Though, I did have a pretty bad mealybug problem with the greens at some point… Do you guys know what those are? They’re like these little white dusty bugs that suck the sap out of your plants if you don’t do anything about them. I had SO MANY. But I refused to give up on em and now they're critter free!”

“Yah! Y/n! Don’t talk about the bugs in your plants!! The girls won’t want to eat it then!” Sakura scolds, playfully kicking your side with her leg as she focuses on frying the eggs.

You giggle as you look into the camera, “oops– don’t tell them that there used to be bugs in their food.” 

“WHAT?!”

The sound of Kazuha and Chaewon’s shrill voice rings out in the live, and you immediately slam your phone down, giving the viewers a black screen before the live ends.

[eggslamwich]

I just saw you already did kenjaku fkdjf rip I change my thing to mahito then

Hehe

👐 favorite thing about them

The extreme gender envy they give me. If I had the choice to be anything I’d be a shapeshifting genderless creature.

Like Kenny she also inspires me to make art and gives me extreme brainworms on the daily.

👐 least favorite thing about them

How in the long run he and the disaster curses overall give me an extremely hollow feeling, I feel sometimes like nothing in the first half mattered and that they were just reduced to a plot device. :c

👐 favorite line

images you can hear

👐 brOTP

The disasters curses. uwu You can be an irredeemable monster and still love your friends. I would rather Jjk just be a slice of life show about them hanging out at the beach and roasting marshmallows or some shit.

Junpei and Mahito having a toxic friendship too goes in as a runner up, people wanna gush about toxic romantic relationships but where’s the toxic platonic rep at? Mahito being the metaphorical devil on Junpei's shoulder pushing him further into misanthropy? Yes please.

👐 OTP

MahiKen where they're both pregnant with my kids 🫄

👐 nOTP

Idk none really, I have issues with how people write NanaHito and waste its potential in favor of boring yaoi tropes, but I don’t really hate the ship.

I guess also I’m uncomfortable with any ship involving minors so there's that 🤷‍♀️

👐 random headcanon

Mahito doesn’t really give a shit about gender and doesn’t mind/care what pronouns you use for it, but if you forced them at gunpoint to pick one he would settle for it/it’s because they think it’s dehumanizing (this is in no way meant to dehumanize actual people who use it/its, it’s just a dumb headcanon 🫶)

👐 unpopular opinion

People who think they're the most despicable character ever are weak and have not encountered REAL pieces of shit in anime good lord, I came in thinking this guy's the worst ever and I was severely unimpressed.

Also the constant infantalization of it. She's immature but that doesn't equal iq of a child. It gets really yikes at times. :c

👐 song i associate with them

👐favorite picture of them

anything that looks unflattering

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  dartlekey! @dartlekey has 11 fics in the Stranger Things Fandom and 9 of them are in the Steddie tag!.

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @dartlekey:

If you were church (I'd get on my knees)

RUSH! (T4T REMIX)

At a medium pace

With great power

"I read the "with great power" series not long after I got into the Steddie fandom and was instantly like "I need to raid this author's other fics" and subscribed to them. No regrets for that choice!!" -- Anonymous

Below the cut, @dartlekey answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

For me, Steddie hits that sweet spot of strong characterization but woefully underexplored details, both for the individual characters but also their dynamic with each other in canon. That makes their relationship the ideal writer's sandbox - since they're both so fluid, you can explore the characters through each other, showcasing many different and even conflicting facets of each other while still retaining their original characters and behaviors. Either of them can be rich or poor, famous or an everyguy, Gay or Bisexual, Dom or Sub, Top or Bottom, Trans in any direction - the details are up to you! 

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I love a good slowburn friends-to-lovers fic. It needs to be a specific kind for me though - I'm not much one for prolonged pining, but I love it when the friendship is explored in such depth that the next step feels like an inevitability. Watching that deep platonic affection turn not-so-platonic, that's the good shit. 

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

My specialty as a writer, I think, is crack treated seriously, or crack with a twist. Usually the first question that sparks one of my fics is “If X happened, would that be hilarious or what?” and then the second is “But if it was because of Y, would that be fucked up or what?” I think you can see it best in If you were church I'd get on my knees (what if Steve was a stripper at Eddie's stag party BUT it was actually a social commentary on queerness and sexuality in the face of religious oppression), but it's in At a medium pace too (what if Eddie couldn't move his arms because of injury so Steve “has” to jerk him off, but it's actually about how growing up queer can warp your perspective on healthy sexuality) , or even in Don't look back (What if Eddie had to dom Steve for plot reasons, but it's all body horror and trauma and spiraling codependency). 

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

I don’t think I could name one all-time favorite, because what I enjoy most about fanfic is that different writers bring different character interpretations, storytelling styles and plot ideas to the table, which I find incomparable. I have enjoyed many of the well-known classics, of course (pukner I owe you my life--), but let me use this chance to give a shout-out to some less well-known masterpieces! My top three underrated fics are Three Days on the Red Planet by CaptainHoney/@grandmastattoo on tumblr (retro scifi, gritty but humorous hopepunk, every single fic of theirs is a certified banger but I love this one the most for some reason!!), Love dirty men alike by wrenowich (chef au, an ode to kitchen culture in all its griminess, I love a detailed backstory plus Steddie being wonderfully weird about each other), and That’s just wasteland, baby! by fastcardotmp3 (post-s4 apocalypse survival, sweet and aching and tired and yet hopeful, made me cry in the best way). 

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

One that's pretty unique to the steddie fandom, or perhaps general stranger things fandom, is “if canon event x had happened differently/hadn't happened at all/had happened to a different person, how would the rest of canon change?” I still need to work out a lot of details in my head, so that's all I'll say for now, but it's something I'm very interested in exploring.

What is your writing process like?

Much to the horror of fic writers everywhere, I don't do first drafts, I just write out everything in detail, scene by scene in chronological order. I edit as I go, and consider the many-numbered, often unplanned writing breaks an important part of my process - when I let the written portion sit for a while and the unwritten ideas percolate in my brain for a bit, I often end up with new plot points or solutions for problems I've been having! And when that inspiration strikes, I can write anywhere - on the train, during lunch break at work, in the vegetable aisle of the grocery store… I have gdocs on my phone and I use it liberally; I'd say I write at least 80% of any given fic on my phone. 

Do you have any writing quirks?

Apart from the hot mess I just described, I'd say it's that I never use Beta readers. I'll occasionally ask friends to help with specific details if I need an expert on certain subject matter, but I've found I get very grumpy and fussy if someone pokes at my plot (even if or rather especially if they’re right lol), and I don't want to subject anyone to that. 

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

For oneshots or series comprised of single-chapter fics I like posting as soon as I'm done, but for multi-chapter works I've recently found that starting to post only after I've finished most (if not all) chapters beforehand improves the quality of the story! Since I tend to integrate new ideas or shift around plot points a lot while writing, I often end up in completely different places than my original concept, so if an early chapter isn't posted yet I can retroactively edit it to add foreshadowing or tone-match the end of the work, remove loose threads and suchlike. Don't look back is a good example of how this has worked out for me; comparatively It don't bite (Yes it do) - which I wrote and posted chapter by chapter - is tonally all over the place. 

Which fic are you most proud of?

Naturally I love all my babies, but I consider Don't look back my magnum opus - both because it is the longest fic I've ever written (13 chapters and 90.000 words in total, that's practically a novel!) and because it's the most plot-rich, labor-intensive, and overall serious in tone. I even worked in subplots about the rest of the cast, so it almost reads like its own season. I wrote it for last year's Steddie Bigbang, which means there's also a gorgeous accompanying artwork by @the-chilly-kat. 

How did you get the idea for With great power?

At the time I'd seen a few marvel AUs floating past me on the tumblr timeline, usually with Steve as Spiderman and Eddie as the human component of Venom, and having just recently seen the Venom movie depicting the rich relationship between Eddie Brock and the symbiote, it surprised me that most left the symbiote as its own character, and not substituted one of the ST main cast. The symbiotic relationship of Stobin immediately came to mind, though I also still loved the idea of Steve as Spidey - then I remembered that in the Toby McGuire movies, the two are not mutually exclusive, and it all spiraled from there. Eddie as Deadpool just made sense - immortal wild-card with a dubious moral code but a heart of gold? Obviously! Plus Spideypool is, of course, a classic ship. 

When writing With great power, what was something you didn’t expect?

I actually got several curious comments about the sex toy Steve uses in Because the night - a grindable or grinder, which is a flat-ish silicone structure, usually ribbed in an interesting way, that one can grind against to get off (as the name suggests). I thought it was pretty common, but apparently it's not very well known!

What inspired  RUSH! (T4T REMIX)?

Oh, it's my time to gush! Because the idea for the first work actually came about from a late night conversation I had with the beautiful, amazing, wonderful @maikaartwork, back when we were, how should I say, in the courting stage? Seeing as we met through the Steddie fandom, I decided to write Baby Said basically to seduce them - and I am happy to say it worked, as we've been dating for over eight months now and are planning to move in together next year! Both works from RUSH! - T4T REMIX (and the secret new WIP, shh) are thus somewhat inspired by our conversations and our t4t relationship, but also by the many interesting and different trans people I've met over the years, and trans solidarity and relationships in general.

What was your favorite part to write from At a medium pace?

The small-talk in between position changes - no, really! I love a mindless marathon-fuck story as much as the next person, but there's something very sweet and intimate about those little breaks in sex, the pass the lube, move your leg a bit, what's for dinner later of it all. That's where you see that emotional connection - there's no admission of crushes or big love confessions in this fic because it's right there in the details.

How do/did you feel writing RUSH! (T4T REMIX)?

Honestly, it's just really really fun and self-indulgent. The Steddie dynamic in it is so bitchy, all the bickering makes me laugh even as I'm writing it. It's also just really fun to write about the trans experience in a way that is curious and loving, and reflects all the very different and yet similar ways people experience living in a body that defies expectation. I've loved all my fellow trans people sounding off in the comments about their own transition experiences, it's wonderful to have such a fantastic community!

What was the most difficult part of writing If you were church (I'd get on my knees)?

Curiously enough, not the many religious trauma bits! Much like Eddie in the fic, I'm only church-freak adjacent - I grew up in a non-religious household but with extended family that were extremely catholic, so the odd juxtaposition of being occasionally close to but definitely not involved in what is pretty much cult behavior inspired much of this fic. The most functionally difficult part to write was actually the wedding - as an aro-spec & trans relationship anarchist, church weddings have never been relevant to me, so I had very little idea what actually goes into one! Very little of the research I conducted on the topic actually made it into the fic, but hey, the more you know. 

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

People keep asking me that, and I never know what to answer! If I had to pick one, though, maybe the last few paragraphs of Don't look back - where you can see the tragedy coming, but there's no way of stopping it, because it was always going to end this way. And then Eddie's last words before the end of the fic call back to the title as well as the general theme of the fic - it just all comes together for such a crescendo of an ending. 

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

Yes, actually! Coming soon in the SteddieBang'24, me and my lovely artist @hawkinsleather have been working hard on a 20k post-s4 fic called A glimpse of your canvas, which is about closeted transfemme!Eddie, women's solidarity, and Steve's very confusing no-good trip to the gay bar. Both With great power and RUSH! (T4T REMIX) have another WIP pending which I'll eventually finish (I promise, I'm just easily distracted!!), and for those who are still mad about Don't look back’s open ending, I'm almost done with the sequel, which features a lot of bad decisions by all characters involved, the healing power of community, and a bit of accidental child acquisition. 

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Given the chance of this platform, I would like to notify my readers that I'm a terrible procrastinator when it comes to replying to comments, but I read and cherish every one of them - and repeat commenters, I see you, I love you, I am chewing on your arm like a dog with a bone!! I would also like to thank the steddie fandom in general for giving me the hottest partner known to man or God, and for the many friendships I've been so fortunate to build here. Talk about transformative works, am I right? <3 

Thank you to our author, @dartlekey, and our anonymous nominator! See more of dartlekey's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[ddlcbrainrot]

What are your ships in ddlc? I noticed you do all the ships- If you ship all then what’s your favorite ship?

Now, whoever you are how did you that i was thinking of talking about my ship opinions soon?? mind wizard

SO, here’s the thing : when it comes to ships in genera it takes a lot for me to actually have OTPs and stuff and this is especially true in ddlc for me. For me shipping is more of a “sure, i could get behind this” sort of thing, except if once in a blue moon i find that one ship that alters my brain chemistry but believe it or not that has not really happened to me with any of the ddlc ships. It has happened with the game as a whole, but not really with the ships. The only one that has come close i’d say is sayonika but that’s more bc they happen to be the characters that i think about the most

That being said, i’d say i ship every ship in the game, simply because i could honestly see all of them working out in one way or another. Sure, they’re are some i like more than others but generally all of them work. And yes, this includes the Mc ships even though i like them less bc the side stories blew it out of the park with the chemistry between the girls

Speaking of the side stories, they are the sole reason i got into the shipping side of the fandom lol. The base game, as influential as it was for me, never really ignited any shipping sparks ig. I actually could not care less for the shipping before the side stories, bc most of it felt kind of trope-y ironically enough. Like, Natsuri was the big one, which was only popular bc of the whole opposite’s attract thing (not that there’s anything wrong with that ofc, it just never really resonated with me). Sayonika was a victim of what i like to call the “leftovers syndrome” where two characters are shipped bc they are the only ones left to be shipped with.

And Mc.. well let’s talk about that actually. Mc x Yuri is well… how do i put this. They have absolutely nothing in common. I don’t necessarily hate this ship however, if i see it done right i can like it. Mc x Natsuki was alright, the banter was fun, they actually have things they can talk about, it’s overall a nice ship. I will say i prefer them as close friends, but if i was to see media (fan art, fics, mods etc) where it’s done right, i can appreciate it. Mc x Sayori is also a ship i can enjoy from time to time, probably the most out of any Mc ship. Again, i do prefer talking about their friendship more though but now that i’m writing this down i realise i’m just a slut for male/female friendships. Mc x Monika truly depends on what context the characters are given. Are we talking about non-sentient Monika x Mc? Bc that can be pretty fun. If we are talking about sentient Monika x Mc, i see a very interesting dynamic (not a particularly good one) where Monika is basically using Mc as a vessel for the player in her desperation. Can Mc feel this dynamic? Does he understand in some way that he’s the second choice, even if he doesn’t know the truth about their world? How does it affect him? Its fun to ponder about this ig, but it doesn’t really make for a healthy relationship

Then the side stories came out, where the characters evolved from their one-dimensional tropes into actual personalities with enticing dynamics between them and i was immediately sold. That being said, i still don’t really have an OTP per say, bc as stated before all of them could work out. Which is definitely bc of how we get to see each of them interact individually in each side story. In every side story, we see each character interact with the other and learn how to grow as individuals because of it. I could see each pairing happening individually, i could see them being a poly couple, maybe even a qpr, or just a very close friend group too! There is a lot of love between the characters, whether that is romantic, platonic or something in between im not 100% certain on, but the love is definitely there.

Anyway, you also asked what my favourite ship would be, and i’ll probably say Sayonika since most of the media I consume tends to be with them

WOW this was a long post. Hope i didn’t bore you too much. Thank you for the ask!!

[riallasheng]

Answering an Ask

In an unusual way, because my darn tumblr be broken and didn't show the ask in my inbox! Fortunatly, @edutainer2022 PMed me to make sure I got it! ^^

===============

Hi! Just in case the asks act out, some ask game points for you:

🍒 What’s your favorite character dynamic to write? (Can be romantic or platonic, specific or general!)

🥭 Rank from most enjoyable/fun to write to least: Fluff, Smut, Angst, Crack.

🍏 Is there something you overuse, whether it’s a certain phrase, trope, or piece of punctuation?

🍐 Is there anything in canon that you absolutely hate and love to fix in fics? A wrong choice made, a fuck-up in characterization, a misunderstanding never cleared up, a conversation never shown onscreen, etc…

=============

🍒 What’s your favorite character dynamic to write? (Can be romantic or platonic, specific or general!)

Platonic and/or familial! While I can and will write romance, there's always a heavy focus on the friendship of the characters, more than the romantic ^^

----------

🥭 Rank from most enjoyable/fun to write to least: Fluff, Smut, Angst, Crack.

Well, I don't actually write Smut at all (closest I'll come is Lime, and usually I'll only write Orange. I've never actually written even a Lemon, let alone anything more hard core than that), and the closest I get to Crack is 'here is a silly thing that canonically could happen' rather than true crack.

Sooooo....

Drama (angst, fluff, serious, comedy, and bunch of other stuff rather than a heavy focus in just one type.) FAR and away my favorite.

Angst & Whump (as old fanwoman is old and I go by the definition that ANGST is mental/emotional 'harm' that may have a physical element or trigger, but is all about the emotions and mind. Meanwhile Whump is physical 'harm' that may have an emotional/mental element or trigger, but is all about the physical). I generally prefer it to be an ELEMENT of a story, and I strongly prefer hurt/comfort, but I do have some instances fics / ficbits that are (mostly) solid angst and I'm more likely to have Angst scenes / elements in my works than Fluff

Fluff: tends to be only sparingly and mixed in admist other things, and even my 'pure' fluff pieces like A Cure for Boredom were cahracter and fan-lore explorations alongside the fluff. Mostly because pure fluff BORES ME ^^;;

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🍏 Is there something you overuse, whether it’s a certain phrase, trope, or piece of punctuation?

Ellipses, probably XD I actually try to alter my writing style to a degree depending on who the viewpoint character is, but I am ANYTHING but brief (even though I know brief / less is more is the 'in' thing now). So I tend to have lots of details and asides and descriptions and trend much more towards being VERY wordy

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🍐 Is there anything in canon that you absolutely hate and love to fix in fics? A wrong choice made, a fuck-up in characterization, a misunderstanding never cleared up, a conversation never shown onscreen, etc…

Oh yeah, many things XD There's always at least ONE 'fix it' in every fic I write. Sometimes small, sometimes BIG... I try to give my reasoning for any / all changes, I do my best to respect that other people may have totally different takes than me. But yeah, there's always fix-its in my fics for things that bug me or that I flat out hate

Heck, in an example that I'm currently writing (well, re-writing as back in the Naughts this darn thing was COMPLETE and now I'm re-writing it from memory XD ). In As the Wyrm Turns and my fanfic Universe in general....

I moved Marineville. I've always HATED that it's canon location for a REALLY LONG LIST OF REASONS THAT ARE VERY VALID DARN IT, so I moved it to Maine (Isle Au Haut specifically). On top of solving most of my list o' issues, it also meant that I could have the Aquaphibians living in or near 'Atlantis' ^^

[kasienda]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤️

Look Kayla! I can't answer this question! It's hard! How would YOU answer this question?! (Did you already answer it? I'm going to go look. You probably did). It's just so hard to narrow it down to five at this point. I have like 40+ stories! I don't even remember them all without having to go an look at the list myself! And the other struggle is that I have two different kinds of favorites. I have the stories that I think are examples of my best writing. And stories that are like warm blankets - the fics that I wrote that I find comfort in and end up rereading them myself constantly. I'm going to limit myself to the comfort ones here because I feel like I self rec the same three stories constantly as my best writing.

Rings True - Post Season Five Fallout. I like to make characters hash things out. I like communication! And this one, I made it worse before I made it better and for awhile I had NO IDEA how to fix it, but when it came together I really really liked it. And there's something so satisfying about coming back to it again and again myself. Love Square.

Spin the Bottle - OT4 - core four shennanigans. I had SO MUCH FUN WRITING THIS ONE and I like to think it's true to each of them. And I have so much fun rereading it. Like it always makes me smile!

Love Remains - I have no idea where this story came from to this day. But I like to flip tropes on their head just a little bit and I think I did that so well with this one. It sits with me. I think the geography lesson is one of my favorite scenes, as is the scene where he tries to tell her but she keeps interrupting. There's just so much here with identity formation and self acceptance that I don't always write, and it stands out to me for whatever reason. Love Square.

Would Trust You With Everything - this is my comfort fic. If I'm sad and want a hug, I read this fic. That's what it is to me. A Ninoir story.

Rocketear - this is the oldest fic on this list, but still one I come back to over and over again. Whenever I'm unhappy about missed platonic adrino potential - or am unhappy with how Nino or their friendship is characterized, or just when I finish an adrino fic that I loved and have no where else to go, I come back to this one to satisfy my cravings with my own work. platonic adrino

Thank you @coffeebanana for giving me the opportunity to talk about my stories. Love you and are lucky to call you friend!

(Psst! Aftermath, Right Behind You, and Restorative Justice are examples of my best writing if you somehow didn't already know that).

[madrabit]

Hiii 😊

If it's not too many at once 🍒🍑🥭🍋🫐 please :3

Hey ☺️💖 ofc it's not too much!

If anyone else wants to send me some fruits 🍓🍒🫐🍑🍏, feel free to do so! ✨️

🍒 What’s your favorite character dynamic to write? (Can be romantic or platonic, specific or general!)

I definitely like writing romantic ships, but I also just like close friendships (like Bojan and Martin). One of my favorite types of character dynamics is short and bouncy with zoomies/tall and calm. It's just so fun to have one character be constantly on the move while the other one is more calm and relaxed!

🥭 Rank from most enjoyable/fun to write to least: Fluff, Smut, Angst, Crack.

Smut - Fluff - Crack - Angst

Coincidentally, smut and Angst are the hardest things to write for me, that's why they take ages for me, but I also really like writing all of this in general. I just don't like writing heavy Angst too much since it also makes me sad and ruins my mood, which in turn makes it harder for me to write. If it's just some light Angst and there is comfort immediately after, it's fine, otherwise I'm just making myself too sad.

(Please ignore me apparently not even able to finish answering asks, I had way too much coffee and my brain feels like liquid)

🍋 What’s your favorite spicier trope to write?

Ohhhhhhhh, I love a lot of spicy tropes! I am particularly fond of hair-pulling, choking and a lot of biting. Sometimes it feels like a lot of my smut reads the same, which is a little worrying, but I always try to keep it fresh!

I already answered 🍑 & 🫐, but let me just give you a little recap 🤭

🍑 If you could make a connection between your favorite character and another work you care about (whether a crossover/fusion or a wonderfully “pretentious” literary reference) what would it be? How would it work?

(I need a Magicians!AU like yesterday....)

🫐 What’s your favorite underrated thing in your fandom? (A ship that only you seem to write for, a character there’s almost no fics about, a trope that criminally hasn’t been written yet, etc.)

[lusthurts]

sebastian and blaine for the character asks <3

ahhh hi bestie im so excited to yap about these two <333

sebastian smythe

how I feel about this character

Sebastian is the love of my life <3 I'm obsessed with writing this character and reading this character and consuming any and all content related to this character.

I have sooooo many head canons about him, and the way I feel about him/his backstory/his personality has evolved a ton over the years, even since I've been writing about him. He has that snark and edge that I love to a character with a clearly very interesting past that we have complete creative liberties to explore. it's so fun and I love him !

all the people I ship romantically with this character

BLAINE! seblaine is of course my otp, and no ship will ever come close to them for me in terms of the extreme brain rot obsession I have because of them - I love that they sort of balance each other out and have this undeniable chemistry that's pretty monumental for both of them and leaves a lot of room for us to explore

I don't think anything will ever come close to them for me, and I fully cannot bring myself to get behind kurtbastian no matter how much I love enemies to lovers as a trope (though when my mutuals write kurtbastian I still try to read it lol)

I did enjoy writing jeff x sebastian in how bright we burn (totally snuck up on me on accident - he needed to be with one of the other warblers for plot reasons and I picked Jeff because they're always in shots together in canon) but that's not something I think I'd ever be super into on like,, a bigger scale - I love it as a platonic ship though

my non-romantic otp for this character

honestly, the warblers as a whole - I really like the idea of Sebastian not really fitting in anywhere/never feeling at home anywhere before dalton and being very reluctant to get close with them at first which resulted in him coming on a little strong/trying to take control rather than trying to develop meaningful friendships, but then by the end he's found he really cares about them and wants them to succeed and finally feels like he's found a home and core group of friends

OH and i ADORE his friendship with cooper in the I'll be there for you series - their dynamic together is fantastic and I think probably the best written friendship for Sebastian that I've ever read

my unpopular opinion about this character

I'm not sure if this is unpopular or not, but I do really like that he's an imperfect person who clearly has a lot of growing up to do. He acts like an asshole and he is one kind of a lot of the time, but even the things he does maliciously aren't meant to be that harmful, and there's clearly a complicated person beneath the surface. I love slutty Sebastian and snarky Sebastian and bullying/blackmail/assault Sebastian so so much

I also don't like the idea of him being "soft" or immediately comfortable in a relationship with blaine just because he's the person he's meant to be with - a lot of my head canons about him revolve around him having a kind of unhealthy relationship with love/relationships, and I don't think it's realistic that they'd just immediately be in a happy relationship. I love fluff as much as the next person, but I definitely don't think their problems end when they get together.

one thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon

obviously seblaine - even if they'd just given us a little bit behind the scenes (what were those phone calls and texts??? they were clearly good friends!!)

I wish he'd been around more after season 3 - I realize because of real life reasons this was impossible, and he probably would've been back quite a bit if it wasn't for the flash, but I would've loved to see him develop friendships and plots and sing more songs and maybe have a relationship or two

blaine anderson

how I feel about this character

he's one of my first favorite glee characters and one of the main reasons I still love this show

I think I relate to him more than I relate to any of the other characters in the show - he has that passionate, overachiever, ruthless drive for success thing that Rachel has but he's also clearly very anxious about things and experiences depression and has some attachment issues, and I think all that makes him a much more complicated character than he's given credit for

all the people I ship romantically with this character

Sebastian ofc - see above lol

I used to be a huge blam fan - I haven't read or written them in a long time but I still think this is probably my second favorite blaine ship - they have a lot of chemistry together with a lot of fantastic scenes and development in season 4 specifically, and I think this would've been a cool path to go down during their senior year in the post-kurt/mercedes era

I also used to love klaine (prior to realizing how toxic that relationship was lol) - they were def cute in season 2, and they were probably one of the first queer ships I saw on tv that I felt that attached too. I think if handled better in the later seasons they could've been great, and I think if they're written well they can be a lovely ship - I played blaine in a glee rpg during covid (dark times lmao) and I found writing klaine with a person who really cared for writing Kurt's character well to be super fun

my non-romantic otp for this character

definitely sam & tina! blamtina is my favorite trio in the show, and I think their friendship felt very realistic and well-developed, especially for something that really only existed to that extent for one season

a close second would be rachel - I think blaine and rachel definitely get each other in a way the other new directions don't really, and I enjoy their dynamic a lot, especially in the beginning of season 6

oh and the warblers. he referred to that group as a brotherhood and then just,, left ? makes it hard to believe they were as close as he said, but I also will die on the hill that he must've had strong relationships with those guys if they got him from how he must've felt post Sadie Hawkins to the guy that was confidently singing the lead at every performance

my unpopular opinion about this character

while I do think he was occasionally too whiny and treated as a caricature in the later seasons, I also think a lot of that was the natural progression of his character given the circumstances he was dealing with. I think it's very natural for insecurities to come up when you go from where he was at in season 2 (star/lead vocalist of the warblers, admired and beloved by his peers, confidently helping Kurt through the bullying and trauma of McKinley) to season 3 (ignored/disregarded by ND's leaders like finn, only getting the occasional line or two in performances, treated almost exclusively as Kurt's boyfriend)

he was more interesting in seasons 2 & 4 when he was single than he was at any point during his relationship with kurt

one thing I wish had happened with this character in canon

seblaine !

or honestly getting to see him in any romantic relationship with someone other than Kurt (karofsky doesn't count lol we all collectively pretend that didn't happen)

why do we know like nothing about his life !! he's one of the major characters in the show (second in solos only to Rachel I think?) and yet all we get are a few one off and very concerning lines about his dad??? then his mom randomly shows up at the wedding??? and cooper's there but only for an episode and then never brought up again??? girl what I need to know his lore

[fruitybashir]

🍒🫐🍇

🍒 What’s your favorite character dynamic to write? (Can be romantic or platonic, specific or general!)

i mean very obviously i love writing bokris a lot, but ive honestly also been really enjoying writing the jan&kris friendship dynamic during holidate and been wanting to explore that a little more as well mayhaps?

🫐 What’s your favorite underrated thing in your fandom? (A ship that only you seem to write for, a character there’s almost no fics about, a trope that criminally hasn’t been written yet, etc.)

honestly would love to see some jan/kiki lmao but maybe im alone on that. also jure/kiki and vita/jan or vita/kiki dont ask me about it but i would like to see it

🍇 Is there a particular scene/episode/book/etc that you want to just write a million fics about, over and over? Which one?

uhhhhhh well the thing i do wanna write more fics about is joker out lmao. but in terms of books, ive had a vague bubbline au bouncing in my head based on the book "one last stop" aaaand theres a book im gonna read next month thats probably gonna spark another bokris au and im specifically putting off reading it til next month bc i know i will want to write another bokris au but i also still dont have time for it so. next month it is.

[acacia-may]

Hi again Acacia! Could I please get a request in for Ed x Winry before you close your shipping game asks? 💜

Hi there, friend! Thank you so much for the ask and for asking about one of my all time favorite pairings. 💕 Ed x Winry definitely makes sense and is beyond compelling to me, but I'm going to put my ramblings under the cut because I specifically mention some spoilers for the ending.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood was actually the 3rd anime I ever saw, and it will always be particularly special to me because it got me into the anime genre and to this day, is still probably my favorite anime of all time (though I love so many at this point). Winry was my favorite character, and I adored her relationship with Ed. That bantering, slow-burn friends-to-lovers dynamic is probably my favorite kind of relationship trope, so I was really invested in them and in their relationship throughout the series.

I adored their platonic friendship as well. There was just something so endearing to me about how they'd bicker but really had so much respect and admiration for each other underneath it all, and I think they way that they encouraged, inspired, and supported each other was really beautiful. There was something so natural about the progression of their relationship over the course of the series too, and it really so wonderful getting to see them deepen their relationship, fall in love and realize their feelings for each other. I remember literally screaming (in a good way) when Winry had her "feelings realization" moment, and their final love confession scene on that train platform at the end of the series is just everything to me.

As soon as I started writing these ramblings I had to get my out my manga volumes and just read through the scene again because it's one of my favorites in the whole series. There is something so refreshingly different about it, and it perfectly summarizes their characters and their relationship to me. I love how they so clearly expressed their love without saying the words "I love you" and instead used that equivalent exchange metaphor. Confessing in that way is just perfectly, perfectly Ed, and I found it really endearing, but what really gets me, is how he only asks for "half of her life" at first and suggests that 50/50 split which leads to this just amazing reaction from Winry.

That bantering is just so wonderful, especially when followed up by this sincere confession that she wants to give him her whole life and her whole heart. Her unwavering devotion to him is just beautiful, and I love that she finds the words to express that (when Ed, who loves her just as deeply and just as devotedly, struggles to find his words). I'm getting emotional just thinking about it. They are so in love!

When my friend brought over her dvd box set for us to watch the final 5 episodes together, I literally got up from my seat on the sofa, squealed, and danced around when there was this absolutely glorious flash forward photo of them with their kids at the end of the final credits. (Needless to say, it really shocked my friend because I do not get into shipping. She teases me about it to this day, but there is just something about these two, okay? They're too perfect together, and look they're married with babies!!! How else am I supposed to react to that?)

At this point in my life, I have seen this anime too many times to count and have read through the manga series several times as well, and every time I reach this photo (or the similar one in the manga) and see Ed and Winry together with their family, I still, without fail, get so giddy and excited. I love them so much! And I still can't get over how canon they are. If only all my ships ended up married with kids...they do in my mind, but to see it actually happen for real is everything and it's everything that an amazing pairing like Ed x Winry deserves.

Thank you for asking about them! They probably rank on my ultimate OTP list from anything ever! Just perfect and meant to be 💖💖

[shrinkthisviolet]

Westallen and Snowest for the Ship Ask Game?

Westallen: Ship It!

What made you ship it? I was hooked from the first season! ...at least in the sense that I figured they'd be canon eventually, they were the endgame I always rooted for, and I'd happily enjoy the ride until then (in the meantime, I very much enjoyed Westhawne in s1 and cried when Eddie died. I expect this rewatch will go the same way 😭)

What are your favorite things about the ship? "(best) friends to lovers" is my favorite romance trope, and I love when the show really showed that they were in fact best friends in love (s5 and beyond sorta lost this thread, but s3 and s4 did this well) 💞 the way they'd tease each other, high-five like kids over landing a wedding venue, banter and flirt...just AHHH their banter is so, so great when the writing lets it shine (and the Flash/Iris banter in s1 was great too!)

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? The 1x15 kiss being their big kiss is kinda sad tbh. I get that it was a big moment for them and all, and it's a great rebuttal to the morons who think that Iris loved the Flash and not Barry (though there are plenty of other moments that show this too) but like...sorry, cheating (especially both of them cheating) isn't romantic to me and never will be (and YES I know about the punching bag scene, okay, I have eyes, BUT that was not intentionally romantic. The 1x15 kiss was!). To me, their Big Damn Kiss in canon was that sunlit kiss on the porch

Snowest: Ship It!

What made you ship it? Spite at first, honestly. Iris and Caitlin get pitted against each other so often by shippers, it's exhausting. And then I read Milk and Sugar by @fezwearingjellybananas (literally THE Snowest fic series of all time) and suddenly something clicked for real. I've been aboard this ship ever since 💞

What are your favorite things about the ship? They're a very opposites attract type of ship, but in a way that I think works! Caitlin is more guarded and awkward, and although Iris can also be guarded at times, she's generally more outgoing and confident. I've always believed the headcanon that Caitlin struggles with making female friends - due to her upbringing, the mom she grew up with, that makes perfect sense to me. So having a girlfriend like Iris, the It Girl who nevertheless is warm and generous to everyone and gets through Caitlin's defenses (Caitlin, who is cold and aloof as a defense mechanism learned from her mother)...ooh I LOVE THAT! Plus, they're also both similar: no-nonsense pacifists who will throw down if necessary. So not total opposites - they're similar enough to really work as a couple

also, established Snowest would provide some great angst for the s3 Killer Frost plotline...whether you go with canon's interpretation of "oh no Caitlin and KF are different people", or my preferred interpretation of "they're the same person" 👀 alternatively, Iris's warmth getting through Caitlin/KF's cold exterior could be a bit of fluff in the midst of angst. I sorta tapped into the latter with this prompt fill, tho ofc that's with them as friends rather than as a ship

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? That it's Caitlin's best non-canon ship 🤷‍♀️ also, even from a platonic perspective, the show should've given them more friendship moments - aside from s1 and s4, we get scraps, and it's so sad

ship ask game!

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is: fivecenturiesverse! @fivecenturiesverse has 64 fics posted to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and 45 of them are in the Steddie tag!

@spicysix recommends the following works by @fivecenturiesverse:

i'm feeling devious (you're looking glamorous)

shape it up (get it straight)

chuck me a bouquet after the show, babe

just like a rainbow (you know you set me free)

drag him back to the meeting place

"Fives has a way with words that I don't think anyone else can compare to. More than one fic tagged as "faves" on my bookmarks are theirs. No matter what AU, what setting, whatever way they write a fic, the characterization will always be on fucking point. The way they always include Robin, and the party, and other characters (and also manages to make them so in character, too) always warms my heart. I feel like they truly understand the characters, and in the same way she views them, I view them too, and so Fives' works are always perfect for me. It's like that comfort food, no matter how many times I eat it it always makes me happy." -- @spicysix

Below the cut, @fivecenturiesverse answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

After watching s4 I was mildly annoyed that the show didn’t expand further on Steve and Eddie’s dynamic (not that I ever thought they would be canon) which I found to be really fun and different from a lot of what we see on the show. I also really wanted to explore Steve’s bisexuality and how it relates to his friendship with Robin and Eddie was a great vehicle for that (sorry Eddie lol)

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

There was only one bed… might be basic but it’s always been my favourite. Friends to lovers, fake dating, and forced proximity are also going to have me with my eyes glued to the screen.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Sharing a bed also is number one here, though it’s usually far more platonic than it is in stuff I read haha because non-sexual intimacy is like crack for me to write.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

Lovesick in Loch Nora by redoaktree for the perfect Eddie characterisation but also looking at my bookmarks I think I need to read more steddie and stalk this blog for some recs lmao

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Maybe a genderbending fic because I really enjoyed writing this trope for Star Wars but honestly I’d be excited to writing anything rn, writer’s block is smothering me

What is your writing process like?

I have an idea somewhere between midnight and 3am, then I sit down and write it until it’s finished. Almost every single fic on my account was written in under five hours, I think (outside of my few long fics and series) the fic that it took me the longest to write was “our house (in the middle of the street)” which took me about 10 hours right through the night.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I guess if I have any it’s that I write everything in order all at once and if I get stuck on a scene I cut it and try something else entirely. I also rarely listen to music but if I do it has to be something loud where the words aren’t too distracting.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Alwaaaaayyyys after I’ve finished writing. I used to write on wattpad where I’d post as I wrote and all it meant was that nothing got finished. My problem is that I am fuelled off of interaction and if I’m getting interaction my brain doesn’t understand why I need to write any more. Like, we’re getting the dopamine hit so why bother giving them anything more. My brain is a silly goose, basically.

Which fic are you most proud of?

I’m not sure there’s any fic I’m most proud of. There’s definitely fics I’m less proud of, either because I know how little effort they took me and I think they’re kind of rubbish or because they just didn’t come out the way I wanted even though I put too much effort in. I guess the two series I’ve written for steddie— “of rags and silk (a costume)” and “your love is standing next to me” —are my favourites, I think they are my most imaginative and creative creations :)

How did you get the idea for shape it up (get it straight)?

Honestly a lot of what I wrote in 2023 and the thought process behind it is as much a mystery to me as it is to you but I think I just wanted to get into Mike’s head, dabble in Byler, and I love writing outsider POVs.

When writing i'm feeling devious (you're looking glamorous), what was something you didn’t expect?

That people would like it so much, to be honest. I was just having fun and writing something silly, I guess people do think I’m funny.

What inspired just like a rainbow (you know you set me free)?

I really wanted to add something to the Robin/Vickie tag but it was difficult because Vickie was so character-less in the show, so I focussed it mainly around Robin and Steve’s friendship which I have always loved and their single braincell fake dating plans (a trope I love for them, if anyone has recs… hmu)

What was your favorite part to write from chuck me a bouquet after the show, babe?

The goodbye scene and the reunion scene, I love angst.

How do/did you feel writing chuck me a bouquet after the show, babe?

I was deep in the trenches watching Succession, so I felt like Shiv Roy and I wanted to make Steve into Kendall.

What was the most difficult part of writing drag him back to the meeting place?

The song lyrics for this whole series was definitely the most difficult, fun, and rewarding experience, but for this fic in particular I think getting into the mindset of a 2014 tumblr user reversed any development of my frontal lobe.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

“Carol climbs up, wrapped in a sheet, and yanks up the door to yell at whoever the fuck — But it’s Robin and she’s crying. It’s not even a thought, Carol just reels her into a hug. They’re not friends but it doesn’t matter. They’re something more. They’re Steve’s, they belong to him like luggage he’s left going round and round and round in an airport baggage claim.” – from “let’s make some music, make some money”, my favourite because I think it accidentally described the way I write all ST fanfic like the world is revolving solely around Steve, he’s my little guy I can’t help it.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I wish! I can only say that I hope there’s more coming to an ao3 page near you soon! Thank you for reading B)

Thank you to our author, @fivecenturiesverse, and our nominator, @spicysix! See more of fivecenturiesverse's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[mymoshangthoughts]

one thing i've been grappling with lately is the 'harem' aspects of shen yuan's story arc

like it's objectively my least favorite part. not if he actually had a harem, im all for multishipping and polyshipping, but the whole "every man fell in love with him" thing

which isn't really even that true to canon. yue qingyuan had a very turbulent relationship with shen jiu and his feelings toward shen yuan do appear to be a carryover from that relationship. and liu qingge's feelings toward shen yuan CAN be read as platonic, albeit with some stretches of the imagination given the whole succubus extra. tho i do think the more canon compliant interpretation is that liu qingge at least has a crush. zhuzhi-lang's feelings really don't read as romantic and neither does tianlang-jun's, and no other characters are really that obsessed with shen yuan. aside from his disciples but that is explicitly written as platonic. which basically just leaves luo binghe and liu qingge as the only members of his 'harem'

so while i dont think its not canon compliant to write all of those characters having a Thing for shen yuan, i actually think there was even some authorial intent in doing so, my issue is that i actually dislike that type of story-telling

like on a personal taste level, i dont enjoy the entire concept of "male lead and sub male lead". if you're gonna give your protag multiple love interests, just fucking commit to a poly ending istg. i'm just not really interested in love triangles at all

and beyond that, i really don't enjoy the trope of "everyone is obsessed with x character". it's a reeeeeaaalllyyy boring trope to me. i like contrast. i like complicated relationships. like my enjoyment of shen yuan's story would spike 3000% if yue qingyuan didn't like him. like walk with me, what if yue qingyuan, as the only person who both knew about shen jiu on a deeper level and cared for him deeply, was deeply uncomfortable with this pod person? what if he struggled with disliking shen yuan bc he still thinks its an amnesia situation but he kinda hates everything that makes him different from shen jiu. like im not even a yuejiu shipper (to the point that im not sure thats the ship name LOL) but i just think that would be WAY more compelling?

i dont really have notes on liu qingge's relationship with him because they did a good job establishing how they bonded over time and what they bonded over, so the relationship reads as realistic. i prefer to view liu qingge's feelings for him as (mostly) platonic solely because i detest the whole second-male-lead-trope, but the relationship makes sense and liu qingge's feelings make sense

but like... everyone else? im just confused. because look, i enjoy that shen yuan's disciples love him but............ because so much of his time with his disciples is off screen im left wondering why. like they have such a fierce unshakable loyalty toward him, but we almost always see shen yuan neglecting them in favor of spoiling luo binghe. like idk about you, but if my teacher neglected me constantly and played favorites, i wouldn't exactly be jumping to give him my life to defend him. and see, im sure that there was a lot of things that happened off screen to make them so attached. my problem is that it all happened off screen, ya know? im reading ning yingying ready to give up her life in battle to protect her shizun's honor and im just like "but why do you care?"

to some extent i also feel this way about liu qingge. they did more to establish the liuyuan relationship than most of the other relationships so i give it a pass, but tbh by the time liu qingge was fighting luo binghe every single day over a corpse i was a little bit "...why tho?". the extras did something to express their budding friendship and there is the whole 'he saved my life so i save his life' thing, so im not saying it was out of left field, but i was a bit taken aback by the development. it was one of those "huh... i mean i guess that makes sense?" moments for me

i also just feel like i'd be more compelled by shen yuan if he had more haters. cuz there's some really justifiable reasons for characters to dislike him. like what if mu qingfang resented him because he caused him to get kidnapped or his reckless neglect got disciples injured? i'm not saying that i want shen yuan to be demonized or widely hated, i'd just like if he got more push-back i guess. he does get pushback in canon, but it's all canon-fodder villains. sure, shen jiu's ex hates the ground he walks on, but her grudge is against shen jiu, not shen yuan, and she's a very two dimensional character who exists solely to cause problems and then die horribly.

tbh i think thats why i enjoy the cumplane friendship bc airplane doesnt seem to really get along that well with cucumber (and vice versa lol). they have the vibe of "we would literally never be friends if we werent literally forced together" which is a delightful vibe imo LOL. i like forcing characters together against their will until they get unwillingly attached. again, just a personal flavor that i enjoy, i think thats an aspect of liuyuan that i like too. so it's good to see someone on the main cast who isnt canon fodder be a little bit critical of shen yuan

tbh tho, my real issue isnt actually with the canon events of svsss. yes, i did read it and i had the reading comprehension to understand "the author is going for reverse harem vibes" and i chose to kinda ignore those vibes because, as stated above, i dont like them and since they're not 100% confirmed, i can come up with alternative explanations that remain canon compliant

my issue is that i keep running into the shen yuan harem fanon. which again, has PLENTY of kindling in canon. the people who read this book and said "shen yuan harem" were having good reading comprehension and picking up what the author was putting down. they're also just having a good time and i absolutely support that for them LOL. this is in no way a criticism of them or their likes or their fanon

my issue is with my own personal tastes

cuz normally even when i dont really like an aspect of a characters story, if i really like the character then i can just accept the canon of it. as an example, im squicked out by cannibalism but i really enjoy xue yang from mdzs (who has the whole weird 'i eat tongues in tea' thing). it's a squick of mine, but because i enjoy that character, i continue to characterize xue yang as having cannibalistic traits. even though theres a certain level of dubiousness to xue yang's tongue-tea thing (we dont actually see it, he just talks about it, and xue yang isnt exactly a reliable narrator). so if i wanted to get out of the cannibal xue yang thing, i could make justifications to avoid it. but because i like to be pretty dedicated to remaining as canon-compliant as possible with my characterizations, i chose to just endure my squick

and that's why im struggling right now. i know what my NORMAL reaction to finding a trope that i personally dislike in a character that i like is. my normal reaction is just the above. i want to enjoy the character for who they actually are within the text of the story rather than who i want them to be.

and within canon, shen yuan is a little bit of a "everyone somewhat irrationally loves and becomes obsessed with him" character.

normally i'd just accept it

but for some reason i really hate to accept it in this particular situation. i keep talking myself into circles over it. i keep trying to headcanon my way around the special treatment he receives. i keep getting annoyed when im reading a fic and suddenly in the background theres shen yuan with thirty suitors. and idk why i cant just accept it and move on

i maintain that for the majority of the characters, the harem vibes can definitely be explained away through canon compliant means that arent even a stretch, but i find myself trying to make that stretch for liuyuan. which i dont dislike liuyuan at all. and its not like bingyuan is my otp or anything. im very happy to just read a liuyuan fic or a bingliu fic or ship them both with other people. it's specifically the reverse harem aspect of it thats getting under my skin. its specifically the love triangle stuff. it's specifically the sub-male lead thing.

anyway i keep grappling with it bc a few reasons but one of them is that i realized some part of it legitimately makes me enjoy shen yuan less. like, when he's just some guy from a somewhat privileged background who got trapped in a porn novel he read, i like him just fine. but when he's The Most Eligible Bachelor Ever, then i start to roll my eyes and stop reading

and again, it's a canon compliant headcanon. just because i think that the yueyuan story arc would have been ten million times more compelling if yue qingyuan could tell he wasnt shen jiu and resented that, that isnt what happened. yue qingyuan either didn't notice that shen jiu had been possessed and seemingly enjoyed his changed personality. or he did notice shen jiu had been possessed and decided to do nothing about it and embraced the person who possessed him. i dont get my compelling arc of "you replaced the person most important to me and i dont know how to stop hating you for that and it hurts", i got what we got. and no shade to the yueyuan shippers who enjoyed what we got, but it wasnt compelling for me lol. it's why i dont really ship yue qingyuan with either shen jiu or shen yuan (even tho i adore his relationship with shen jiu and yue qingyuan as a character, i just choose to view yuejiu platonically cuz it wasnt my personal flavor for shipping)

anyway this is just me expressing a struggle ive been having lately LOL theres no real purpose to this other than this aspect of svsss just doesnt appeal to my personal tastes and for some reason, im struggling more than i normally would

i think i could like it more if there was more time spent on each of those relationships. or again, if they'd just committed to poly ending LOL. but tbh, as is, i just kinda wish those elements didnt exist within canon. because they distract a bit from the bingyuan instead of complimenting it (imo) and then theres no follow through on it other than the vague implication that shen yuan left a trail of broken hearts behind him. which again, just not a trope that appeals to me on a personal level

idk, i just realized recently that my personal distaste for it has caused me to just start avoiding shen yuan content and that kinda sucks cuz i do like shen yuan. and so ive been grappling with it

i might just try to make my own shen yuan content??? or maybe i'll just try to avoid him more thoroughly. cuz again, it's not like i think people are wrong for seeing what they see, i just dont like it.

i think an interesting solution might be to explore the actual world-building. like the world itself was built with harem-shenanigans in mind. since luo binghe is refusing his role as center of the harem, what if reality itself is attempting to bend the minds of those close to shen yuan to make him centerpiece. so its not actually that everyone loves him (somewhat) irrationally, it's that the world itself is acting as a love potion.

another alternative that we're just a bit limited by shen yuan's pov. like yue qingyuan IS struggling with those things but he's working really hard to hide it. liu qingge does not in fact view shen yuan that way, but the confusing words of the succubus combined with the aphrodisiac made him confused and scared. when he was calm enough to look at the situation later, he was embarrassed that he almost let himself get gaslit into a crush that he didnt even have. or something to that degree. the disciples all hold shen yuan in such high regard because there were countless off-screen moments that were very forgettable to shen yuan, and therefore not worth referencing or reflecting upon, but that fully explain the extent of their devotion to him.

or again, just go poly LOL. post canon is just an actual poly situation, but it's actually luo binghe slowly and accidentally falling in love with all the men who are pursuing his husband LOL and luo binghe reasoning that, look, if shizun is into it too, i can use shizun as bait to seduce them all..... or smth idk LOL. i do think that the worldbuilding of svsss is more primed for poly than most works lmfao considering that binghe is poly in pidw canon and clearly shen yuan was into that otherwise WHY WOULD HE READ A MILLION CHAPTERS OF POLY PORN. so with two poly husbands, feels like it would only make sense that the pair of them would date other people (both together and separate) once they've settled down and worked out all their insecurities. like at the end of the series, luo binghe is still Deeply insecure about so many things. but once he's had time to realize that his place in shizun's heart isn't going anywhere, why wouldn't he want to explore the fact that he is in fact poly?

my personal preference for poly fiction is that all parties like all parties (even tho thats not necessarily realistic to irl poly life LOL but they fly on swords so im not really looking for realism in my fiction) so i would def prefer fics where its like, bingyuan getting themselves a harem instead of shen yuan getting himself a harem. also my bingliu loving heart would be sad if it was just bingyuan and liuyuan LOL

all that to say, i want more liujiu content LOL loooookkkkk i love me a problematic hateship and those two are DELIGHTFUL. the amount i would kill for the bg pairing in a moshang fic to be liujiu instead of bingyuan or whatever else LOLOL i dont even want them happy together x'D i want them being toxic and terrible in the background. like shang qinghua is struggling with his mobei jun Situationship and he cant get any fucking sleep at night because liujiu are having a Roommates AU nextdoor and they keep trying to literally murder each other in the dead of night lmfao i want this so badly you have no idea. shang qinghua, somewhere near the end of his moshang drama, randomly sees them making out in the hallway and he's just like ".............i hate them both, if kissing could solve their stupid problems WHY DIDNT THEY DO IT SOONER I HOPE THEY BOTH DIE" and he goes to bed that night at least happy that he'll get some fucking sleep without wearing headphones BUT NOPE, NOW THEY'RE FUCKING AND SHANG QINGHUA WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL IF THEY WOULD EITHER A. DIE, B. INVITE HIM BC NOW HE'S HORNY AND LONELY, C. DIIEEEEE

i want this fic now lol. bingyuan can be there too pfff, just a weird established poly couple who at some point hit on shang qinghua and/or mobei jun bc "oh hot guy" and then have a very nice threesome with sha hualing and now she's living on their couch and "airplane you dont understand she's eating snacks while reading my books and staining the pages, im going insane and i wanna scream and kick her out but also lowkey i think me and my husband are falling a bit in love with her and she has this weird ace girlfriend who stays over who is GORGEOUS btw, at least i think bc she wont take off her mask, and airplane dont you dare fucking hang up on me--"

like oki yeah thats the flavor i want for my background bingyuan. established, happy, comfortable, exploring their poly options. also bingyuan x sha hualing is underrated and i will die on that hill LOL i just think it's notable that basically all of luo binghe's original harem grew to hate him, dislike him, or ship him with his husband and sha hualing is the only person who still liked him and actually was close enough to him (proximity wise) to know what his personality was actually like and STILL liked him. ning yingying knew him at his most vulnerable and by post canon she basically doesnt give a fuck about him. liu mingyan writes smut about him and his husband. xiao gongzhu seems to despise him. qin wanyue still likes him but tbh i dont think she knows him very well and ALSO qin wanyue pisses me the fuck off. the fact that she was still pining after luo binghe mere moments after her little sister was brutally murdered reeaaalllly makes me dislike her. i know that this is more of mxtx and her generally bad writing of female characters and less of a purposeful character trait that qin wanyue was assigned, but im a death of the author type of dude and authorial intent and failings set aside, it makes qin wanyue a deeply unpleasant character imo. which leaves sha hualing as the only one who likes him, knows him well, and i still find likeable LOL. (yes i know that sha hualing killed her father for binghe but a. we have no idea if she had a good or bad relationship with her dad. b. its canonically established that demons dont think much of familial bonds in stark contrast to qin wanyue who is human. c. i like that sha hualing is a bad person LOL. my issue with qin wanyue is that she's an otherwise tepid person, she's not an interesting villain who plotted the downfall of her sister, she's just someone who thinks getting her dick wet is more interesting than grieving the death of her younger sister who she seemed to think was immature but otherwise didn't have a lot of bad blood with her).

back to the ot3 shenanigans and on the shen yuan side of things, i just think about all the times he was highkey ogling her when she showed up LOL like you cannot convince me this man is not bi and interested. he's also like "dont put your dick in crazy" (wise) and recognizes that sha hualing is off her rocker LOL but tbh i think thats part of the appeal of the ship. shen yuan is sitting here like "right, so she's literally the craziest person ive ever met, stop looking at her tits, omfg why did i think that now im not going to stop thinking that and oh god she's terrifying and horrible, i think i hate her but also ahhh i kinda cant stop thinking about her now?!?!". i love shen yuan struggling with falling in love with crazy (again LOL he already has luo binghe. now it would be TWO yanderes lmfao)

for the record, i do enjoy mingling quite a bit, my only reason i dont fixate on them more is that they're both very flat characters who dont interact much (again, mxtx does not write female characters well and it drives me a lot insane as someone who normally has all female blorbos. like its a testament to how much i love women that i put so much work into characterizing these cardboard cutouts that mxtx tried to sell us as women). i think theres a lot of potential for mingling to be a fantastic ship and their dynamic could be really great, but basically the most characterization we get for liu mingyan is she's an rpf loving fujoshi. her other traits are... she's composed? good fighter? doesnt take off her mask? very pretty? it's really barebones pickings if youre a liu mingyan fan and you basically have to fill in all the blanks for her personality from scratch. which is something im already doing for sha hualing, bc i love her LOL, so i just need to persuade myself to put in the effort for liu mingyan as well. my gl loving ass is doing all the fucking work here. my bare ass pickings for "these girls are in love" is "they were in the same room once" and No I'm Not Bitter (im VERY bitter). ngl i was very excited when i started reading svsss cuz i saw there was a lot of fandom for female characters so i thought "man maybe mxtx finally decided to pass the bechdel test" (a bullshit test by all accounts but man is it notable when your work CANT pass even that bullshit test). like i got even more excited as i started reading and the premise became apparent. this is the world of a harem novel??? holyshit!! the author is gonna have no choice but to write multiple interesting women!!! omgosh, i hope the protagonist befriends them or something! shit this is gonna be so cool, i am Ready. and then the most interesting woman i get is a yandere who is obsessed with the male protagonist. and nope i dont count su xiyan because she appears for one damn scene in an extra. i admit she seems really cool and interesting and i would love to get to know her more but ohwow she got fridged for the angst of a male character, ive never seen mxtx do that to a female character before 🙄. look, im definitely a fan of mxtx's works and i still adore their female characters even tho the writing on those characters is abysmal, i definitely dont go to mxtx's works looking for great female characters, im obviously in here for the boys love and technically speaking, well-written female characters are unnecessary for those purposes. its like going to a hamburger joint and complaining about their crappy tacos. like what did you expect bro, they serve burgers. all that to say, i still definitely criticize it and i think mxtx's works would only be better if there was more thought put into the female characters

like, if ning yingying was given an actual arc and we were able to SEE the scenes that made her so dedicated to her shizun. and by the point that she's getting into fights that are out of her league to defend her shizun, you've had a lot of time to love her and get to know her and love her relationship with shen yuan so you're just as anxious as shen yuan is about her safety. because she's an interesting and compelling character who was given screentime. and you explore her bond with luo binghe, how the love she had for him when they were younger morphed into disdain slowly and how they both felt about that. ning yingying struggling with "was the person i once knew ever real or was he always a bastard?" and luo binghe struggling with "did she ever actually care about me as an individual or was all of her kindness shallow lies?". im not saying introduce a bingying arc, im just saying that their friendship ought to have meant something to the both of them and i think that the work itself would have been better if it addressed what that friendship meant to them and made ning yingying a well-rounded character who had more personality than "she's oblivious and causes men to fight over her on accident" and "she's very loyal to her shizun"

that's just my preference tho. i prefer works that have well-written female characters (or at least characters who have more well rounded personalities LOL) but just because i prefer those works, it doesnt mean that i dont enjoy my time here. i still love ning yingying, sha hualing, and liu mingyan even tho i have to do all the work in rounding out their personalities LOL and i still clearly enjoy the work itself. that said, it does make it hard for my lesbian loving ass to get really into a yuri ship when the most interaction is "they got in a fight like twice" IM STILL HERE FOR IT, but my mind wanders to other ships where theres more food lolol. that said, i think ning yingying x sha hualing is underrated and more people should explore it LOL (look they were in the same room once and for all my complaints THAT IS ENOUGH FOR ME PFF)

anyway, rather than complaining about the food out there that isnt to my taste, i really should just make my own food LOL but i prolly wont. had a lot of writers block lately and besides that, its really Not That Deep. just me overthinking a minor issue where im like "ew shen yuan harem dnw" and wondering why the fuck i cant seem to get over it (also a very off topic rant abt mxtx writing women lol)

all of that to say, if anyone ever wrote a modern au moshang fic with chaotic neighbors roommate au liujiu and established poly bingyuan x sha huling, link it to me immediately bc now that ive mentioned this premise, i need to read it LOL maybe if i ever get money i'll commission a writer to make it (hmmm what if the moshang of it all is "help im in love with my shitty boss" on r/relationshipadvice LOL)

[polkarots]

How is Jeff and Valerie’ relationship in your au?

When and how did Valerie and Jack first meet?

Also if Emiko and Valerie were to meet each other how would Valerie interact with each other? 😼

i did make a post abt jeff and val's relationship awhile back, i'll link it here but i do want to talk abt them again bc i've expanded it in my head 😼

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at some point in eyho, i want them to get kinda closer but not super close.. like not best friends but close enough for them to hangout together with ben and nina every now and then.

anywho I want their friendship to be kind of a plot device (i hope thats the right term) because Jack getting jealous of Jeff is how he stops being in denial about his feelings 😼

it's not a love triangle because jeff and val are genuinely just friends, the main conflict between the three of them is just jack being a stupid idiot for a bit until he finally accepts that he's in love 😭

HOWEVER! jeff and jack do have a physical fight over it. for some reason emo idiots fighting is my favorite trope in everything. i'll just write what happens in bullet points bc it'll be easier lawl

jack realizes jeff and val are becoming closer friends and he gets platonically and romantically jealous (because val is like his only friend and he has feelings for her, though he's in HEAVY denial)

after like a week and a half of trying to hide the fact that he feels his relationship with val is threatened, all the conflicting emotions swirling around in his head end up boiling over and he ends up confronting jeff in the forest when he's out for a smoke

at first jack doesn't say anything he just kinda stares like a weirdo because he's a complete idiot when it comes to feelings and he genuinely has no idea what he wants to say

and then as jeff is asking him "dude are you okay" jack just.. punches him. and then when jeff starts yelling like "WHAT THE FUCK MAN" jack is just like "oh my god im so sorry i was NOT thinking"

and then jeff punches him and normally jack would win that fight but he just kinda lets it happen because he feels like he deserves it (he kinda does atp) and then after awhile both of them just sit down with bloody noses and bruised knuckles

and then after like 20 seconds of silence jack just says "i think i'm in love with valerie." and jeff just replies "is that seriously what this is over"

anyways thats about it 😊 i havent really figured out what happens after that so :P

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i really dont remember if i made a post about how jack and val met before so i'll just try to briefly explain how it happened

jack already knew about val because she stabbed jeff out of fear when she became a proxy (poor girl was confused and scared it was her first time being fully concious in like 3 years) and obviously that caused kind of a scene 😭

but they offically met a day or two after that. Jack was going to go to her room as soon as she became a proxy and just kinda wander around her forest but Slenderman stopped him and basically said "You're probably just gonna scare the daylights out of her if she's awake, I don't really want anyone to bother her rn" and then Jack's like "yeah that probably makes sense"

Slender told him he should wait at least two days for her to relax but for a reason I havent really figured out yet Jack is REALLY curious about her. Or he's just extremely lonely and bored.

So the day after Val joins the mansion Jack goes to her forest and he was just planning to walk around and not go to her room, but as soon as he steps foot she tries to attack him lol

After like a minute of tussling and Jack trying to tell her he's not a threat she ends up biting his hand and messing up his thumb. The bite ends up startling him enough that he just pauses and looks at his hand for a few seconds until he looks up and realizes that she ran away. Anyways he just ends up leaving since he doesn't want to scare her again and when he's back at his room he just stares at his hand and then he suddenly feels like.. happy. Basically he didn't think there would be anyone else like him ever but meeting Val kinda changed his perspective.. hopefully that makes sense.

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I think Val would be kind of weirded out by Emiko at first, but more in a curious way than in a freaked out way. Like i genuinely think Val would be so fascinated by Emiko lmao.

I feel like if they got close they'd hang out but the "hanging out" is just staring at each other in silence for an hour. Murder yuri 💗

[canonisdead]

I'm the type of person that doesn't believe in 'Tinky's friends hate him for what he did'.

Usually because Tinky is such a sweet baby, like he could see a mouse and he'd probably jump on a chair screaming while holding onto his skirt.

And they lived in an isolated dome so they wouldn't have a normal reaction to your friend killing everyone. And Teletubbies are not like humans, they love each other very much.

Now if Tinky Winky was killing with malice then yeah maybe hate would be expected. But he wasn't. He killed because he was infected and he no longer had any control once he reached the beach.

I don't believe he killed Dipsy after Po left the dome (or Po and Laa-Laa depending on the path) because uh I'm pretty sure there would have been noises that would have drawn Po's attention. I think Tinky killed Dipsy instead of actually chasing Po when she ran from the beach. Since he's obviously very fast in the main story.

And my three are the kind of people to go like "Well that's weird Tinky is killing everyone, I'd like to know what's causing him to act so out of character" *Everyone suspiciously looks at Noo-Noo*

And so I don't believe in the whole "Fuck our friendship with Tinky" Because Tinky deserves good things too. Why is Tinky Winky always top villain (Other than Shadow sometimes) in some fanworks I read? He didn't start the infection, Noo-Noo did.

My sweet favorite boy isn't a victim in the same way the others are, he's the same level of a victim that Arrow is. Poor boys were forced to kill their friends.

Hating Tinky for something he couldn't fight against seems a bit unfair. And worst timeline because that means I create the angsty plotline of Tinky going to Noo-Noo or just somewhere that Noo-Noo was at last because no one wants to be around people that hate them. So Tinky would rather go to someone who would at least accept his infected self. Look its good angst but I don't write the three hating Tinky because it makes no sense in my AUs.

This has nothing to really do with the topic of hate but why do so many people draw or write Po and Laa-Laa being best friends. Just because they're the same gender?

Boys and girls CAN be JUST FRIENDS. Even best friends. I'm a growing expert on Teletubbies at this point. So I know who are best friends. (Though in-show they say 'favorite friend'.)

Teletubbies is ACTUALLY a great show because while it has a usual classic tropes of a girly girl and a masculine character. It also has the greatness of a tomboy and a femboy. And it's great that the close friendships is basically some platonic opposites attract.

[lxchadora]

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed. B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind. C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will. D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t. H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)? K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc? O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of? R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom? U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites. W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom. X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

Darabelle (Daryl x Isabelle - started shipping it a few days ago), Eugene and Rosita (Brotp), Yumagna, Andrea x Rick, Gleggie, Richonne.. There are so many others I like the idea of but those are my favorites at the moment.

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

I never considered Rick and Andrea until I rewatched the show. And I never considered Daryl and Isabelle until recently. To be fair back in my old TWD I didn't have many ships. I used to only ship Gleggie and Richonne.

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

Negan and Maggie. He killed her husband.

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

There are a lot of pairings I'm not into. But I don't really wish I liked them.

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)

TV shows and sometimes video games.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Daryl by far. I initially found him to be kind of a jerk and I never would have guessed that he turns out to be such a profoundly wonderful person. And I loved how Magna developed although I thought she was a neglected character on the show. I like Magna's development from outcast to group leader. I hope she meets Rick.

Loved how Eugene changed too.

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

Tori Amos - A Sorta Fairytale. Beth/Noah.

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

Rosita and Eugene are my Brotp. And I love Carol and Daryl.

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

Magna from TWD because she's just my kind of character. Rebellious, dangerous, kind of edgy with a tragic past, but done in a good way. She's cunning and I like that, but she is also fiercely loyal and I just love how she became the group leader even though she never intended to or saw herself that way, because keeping her people safe and alive has always been her top priority without a second thought. That she didn't see herself as the leader even though she was shows that she is not the type who has their head too far up their own ass and just wants to force others to do as she says.

I will additionally list Rosita Espinosa because I'm writing her. I love Rosita because she is, in my opinion, one of the kindest The Walking Dead characters. I think many people don't realize this about her. She definitely can be blunt and she has a temper, but she's never lost who she is, even after terrible things happened. She's protective, resourceful, tough, I love her.

Miranda Lawson from Mass Effect because of the contrast between who you initially think she is, and who she really is once she allows herself to be vulnerable around Shepard. She's an incredibly well-written, complex character with many layers.

North from Detroit Become Human even if I think the game kind of did her dirty (I don't wanna spoiler too much for those who haven't played it) in some aspects. I like her because of her character development. And because she is willing to fight against what is unjust. She is always at your side no matter what.

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

I don't like the whole soulmates!AU thing.

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

Friends to lovers, I'm a sucker for that. Slow burn romance. Found family. Jerks with a heart of gold. There are probably a dozen of others but those are all I can think of right now.