#[i have some time to write today yahoo!!]

[dawnthefluffyduck]

Sunday doodle, will likely clean this up later :3

[grimowled]

he looks rather pleased with himself and his latest batch of soul binding contracts.

[the-s1lly-corner]

WOoOoOoO SPOOKY SEASON REQUIRES SPOOKY STUFF

Anyways

I would love to request an Child ghost!reader and the gang, basically child reader got murdered when they were using the VR and their soul got stuck into the game.

Their soul being so GORY AND DISTORTED, like an arm is missing, one eye is like hanging out and their head has an hole. Reader can get invisible like a ghost and move things with only their mind, and they are very quiet and just observes, rarely get mad or anything, but when they snap (for example: Because of jax's pranks) they start throwing things around dim the lights and scream, and lets put like, Reader's screams are like LOUD as hell, basically like an ghost tantrum.

So basically Child reader is just an sad messed up lil goof who needs comfort and therapy.

Sorry if its long, i love love love your blog btw!

-🌹

TADC cast x ghost!child!reader (platonic + light found family) !

going to take a different approach to writing this one, since i feel bad about being selective of cast/multi characters today, so! rather than having divided segments like usual, its going to be a group thing! hope thats alright! going to be the last request of this batch them imma make something to eat rq for dinner then get back to writing YAHOO!

when you joined the digital circus, you were already very obviously different from the rest of the gang. even if your gore was toned down thanks to your body being digitized; the programming seemed to struggle with altering your body into something unique... strange... it also seems your body is fighting back against the programming of the world, seemingly trying to restore itself. The effect makes you almost look like you're glitching, or even abstracting

Caine doesnt immediately pick up on your presence, i feel like its in his programming to be aware when a new member joins the circus, but for some reason he didnt notice you until he saw you, or someone brings you up to him

It was Ragatha, who was trying to get answers from him. Who's kid was this? Is it really fair to let a kid be stuck here? Obviously she knew Caine couldnt do anything about it now that you were here, nor did he have any hand in you putting on the headset.

Except... you correct them and say you didn't put on any headset, you were trapped in it.

Of course you're trapped, just like the rest of us, Jax says

None of them immediately believe you try to tell them you're a ghost. Except of course, Kinger, who reasons that that's why you look the way you do; and Gangle, who in my opinion probably finds interest in the supernatural.. or maybe that's just me projecting onto her. Who knows. But the point still stands, almost everyone doesn't believe you.

Not long after, Jax accidentally ropes you into prank that was originally intended for Zooble, I dont think Jax would go as far as to bully a child.... well... actually no, he seems like the type to bully kids on roblox.

The prank wasnt planned for you, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You open a door, and are immediately greeted with a fake snake lunging out at you. You scream, more so out of surprise and fear than anger. It does turn into anger when Jax laughs at you, still finding some kind of joy from the prank getting at least someone. Your scream rises, causing nearly everyone to cover their ears, the rest were not there in the room but would come rushing to see what the hell was going on

I think it would be that instance as well as a few other; namely ones where you became invisible and started removing one of Zooble's limbs after they (unintentionally) said something a little too mean to you. The idea of you being a ghost was further cemented when both Gangle and Ragatha watched you literally phase through a wall. But hey at least someone (Jax) starts laying off of you when it becomes clear you weren't lying

There's mixed feelings, a lot negative. I mean, you're just a kid and you're. Well, a ghost. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to come to the conclusion that something happened to you. Whether or not you remember the details of your death when you became a ghost, or after joining the digital world, is all up to you

Caine, as mentioned before in posts where the reader is a child, tries to be a father figure. He's not the best, since he's programmed to be a ring master, but he definitely tries his best. I like to think he tries to read you bedtime stories when the digital world simulates 'night'

Pomni, who I totally didn't forget, tries to overcome her fear of you and your ghostly powers, ultimately becoming sympathetic you and your situation. Not only was your life cut short, but you were trapped here too, you didn't even get to roam the world in the afterlife. Interactions with her are awkward but there's an effort to try to bring you some form of comfort

Jax, after he stops pulling jokes on you cant deny that he doesnt find you creepy. I think, though, he would ask you if you want to help him scare some of the other members. Whether you be offended by the concept or not is also up to you, since I'm not sure if you wanted the reader to be sensitive regarding their current predicament or not

Ragatha goes into full big sister mode, even before it's confirmed that you're a ghost. Sure, she's a little put off by your ganky and gorey looks, but her heart aches for you. Similar to Caine she tries to do general child care activities with you, perhaps if you let her, she would do your hair and make you dresses

Kinger will take a while to warm up to you, but I think after some time would start to open up to you, usually it's best to interact with him when he's already in a calmer state. He already gives me dad vibes that I cant pin down... but he would tell you stories of his past (in house) adventures and some funny stuff that has happened over his time in the digital world

Zooble is going to need a moment to get over the invisible dismemberment thing... as well as Zooble being Zooble and needing some time to warm up to people in general... Not much to be said, yet...

Gangle would offer to lend you some art supplies... kids like arts and crafts stuff, right? Thats her logic, at least, and if it means you have an outlet for your emotions then that would be great!

Overall you now have a funky found family, so hey, at least things aren't totally... terrible.. Unfortunately with them stuck in the digital world they can't do much to get you justice, if you let them know you were murdered. But rest assured if your killer somehow gets trapped in there with them and you recognize them, they have your back

[sy3ra]

tokyo rev series; his intimidating wife and his children

episode VI

synopsis -tr men with a wife who's intimidating and taking care of their children while you're gone.

characters -sano manjiro, matsuno chifuyu, haitani ran, haitani rindou, sanzu haruchiyo

tw: cursing, bad writing, grammatical errors, female reader, children, fluff, disgustingly fluffy, characters may be ooc, not proofread

author's note: yahoo, i'm writing random brainrots in my head before the poll ends. so today i give you tokyo rev men as dads. enjoy!

reblogs are highly appreciated

requests are open

sano manjiro

this man is the leader of bonten yet.... he's in his daughter's bedroom playing with her. she looks exactly like him, she had blonde locks and the same eye shape as his the only difference was she had your eye color.

she was still very young so she was stuttering between words while playing house with her father.

just then, you barge in making the two turn their heads towards you "the fuck do you mean 'you messed up'? do you want me to break your jaw when i get there?" you spat, gritting your teeth in annoyance as you set down a tray full of snacks for the two. mikey and his daughter exchanged knowing glances before continuing to play together.

you hang up on the employee, cursing quietly. "jiro, take [d/n] with you when you head to bonten later. i have some beating up to do at work" you said looking down at him. he was the feared mikey, the one who controls the streets of tokyo but he had no choice but to say yes to you. a sigh escaping his mouth "okay" was all he said, you were pissed off already and he didn't want to piss you off any further.

"what do you want for lunch hon?" you crouch down at your daughter, your voice softening. "i want taikayi (taiyaki) because daddy likes them" she stutters, you tilt your head towards your husband giving him a slight glare before looking at your daughter again "does daddy give you sweets all the time?" you ask her and she nods, an irritated smile appearing on your face. "didn't i say no sweets until you finish eating rice?" you say, that irritated smile still on your face. mikey was sweating, his daughter was telling you that he gives you sweets all the time and he knew he was going to be dead. "eat your father's bento instead hon, he doesn't deserve his" you added with that same irritated smile plastered on your face.

matsuno chifuyu

the sound of the entrance door bell diverts chifuyu's attention to it. a smile appearing on his face once he saw you and his daughter clinging to your hip

"hey, love what brings you and [d/n] here?" he says with a loving smile. "need you to take care of our princess, fuyu. i have a meeting" you stated as your carried your daughter and made your way to chifuyu.

"but love, i'm working too..." he says as you give him your daughter. "i didn't ask fuyu i'm telling you" you said which made him sigh quietly. he wanted to protest but that will only make you pissed off at him.

he held his daughter in his arms as her eyes light up at the sight of animals. "daddy, why are the puppies and kitties in cages?" she turns to look at him. "because, if they are not in cages they will run around and mess up daddy's store" chifuyu says. you waved your daughter and your husband goodbye as you headed out the door. "mommy can be scary right?" chifuyu whispers to his daughter, who nods in return. as much as he didn't want his daughter to distract him from work, she was too adorable and irresistible. chifuyu is grateful to you for giving him a bundle of joy.

haitani ran

after you told him to bring your daughter with him to work. well he didn't have a choice but he didn't mind he wanted to spend as much time with his daughter as possible.

*flashback*

"ran" you called out to him while dusting your skirt. "yes, darling?" he says, peeking out on the door. "take [d/n] with you to work today, and you can't say no." you said with a stern tone of voice.

*flashback ends*

and here he was, at his office with a fragile, babbling child on his lap while he works.

he absolutely adored the way his daughter tried to write on a blank paper he gave her. she was concetrated, trying to grip the pen again as she tried to write words but ended up scribbling random lines instead. this made ran's chest bubble with joy, seeing his daughter trying her best to write.

then, he turns her around to face him. his expression was serious "[d/n]" he calls out to her making her face her father. "you must not have a boyfriend/girlfriend until the age of 30" he says looking directly at her big eyes. "do we have a deal?" he adds, extending his hand to her as she grabs his finger with her little hands. "good we have a deal then" he smiles before smothering his daughter with kisses, little squeals and laughter come out of her mouth as he tickles her tummy.

he doesn't want this moment to end, he can't resist having his daughter all to himself. he wants her to be 'daddy's girl' forever, even when she grows up to be a fine young lady.

haitani rindou

"dad, let's visit mom" rindou's older twin said, tugging at his sleeve. "i wanna see mom" the youngest twin adds with a pout

and with that, rindou and his twin children were heading to your office. but then they heard commotion in the cafeteria. rindou and his twins peek at the entrance to find you beating up someone, or rather an employee.

"fuckin' bitch." you spat as you kept kicking the man's stomach. a girl was beside you, she was trembling. "how dare you harass your colleague, fuckin' bastard" you hissed. the other employees were watching you in fear. rindou looks at his twins, covering their eyes. he knows he shouldn't let them get exposed to violence at such a young age.

blood dripped from the man's nose, his face and body filled with wounds and bruises. you kick him with the heel of your boots one last time before looking up and glaring at your employees "this is what happens when you fuckers try to harass people, let alone women" you gritted your teeth. "i dare you, all of you to do that and I'll break every bone in your body" you added.

the employees nodded in fear. you turn to the girl and you wrap your jacket around her shoulder "go home, you need to rest after all that" you muttered.

you stepped out the door and you saw your husband with your twins. "rin, what are you doing here?" you said tilting your head as your twins rushed towards you to hug you.

"we were supposed to visit you, then that happened" he said. "i covered their eyes don't worry" he adds because he knows you'll be pissed off if he didn't.

"let's go then? I won't stay here much longer though, we could grab dinner after i arrange some documents" you said, your husband nods at your words.

the day ends with you and your family eating dinner at a restaurant. rindou is very thankful to you for giving him the experience of having a family of his own.

sanzu haruchiyo

honestly, he didn't know his life would be like this.

he was almost gonna pop the pill in his mouth before you stopped him. "once that pill touches your tongue, I'll cut it off" you said in a irritated tone, a child in your arms. her aquamarine eyes filled with curiosity as she stared at her father.

his head perked up to see you and his daughter across him. his eyes beamed as he extended his hand to his daughter. "what'd I say about swallowing your pills around our daughter, haru?" you said with a glare.

you weren't stopping him from doing his pills, just a simple rule not to do it in front of your child. she's still too young to be exposed to explicit activity such as this.

he exhaled quietly, his daughter rushing towards him as he engulfed her in a warm hug. "take care of her for a few hours, haru. i have a meeting" you said, looking down at your watch. "but angel-" "you are going to take care of her and you will not take another fucking pill until i go home, understood?" you retorted.

sanzu wanted to intercept but he knew how irritated you are right now, so he had no choice but to do it.

now here he was at home, taking care of his daughter. she was putting makeup on his face for fun. "you look so pretty daddy" she giggles. "not as pretty as you princess" he grins at her, tickling her in the process. "why don't i put makeup on you this time,hm?" sanzu suggests, and his daughter nods at his suggestion.

he grins, putting dabs of eyeshadow on her eyelids and a tint of blush on her chubby cheeks. then he grabs a mirror and shows her what she looks like. "waahh, i look so pretty! you're the best daddy" she smiles widely. sanzu's heart was beating so fast and he was in the verge of tears at her words.

to think that even someone like him can experience something so beautiful like this.

he's so lucky to have met you.

-Mayven

[nogenderbee]

♡˗ˏ✎*ೃ˚ 𝕄𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝕚𝕥 𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟 ₊˚ˑ༄

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ @bl4cktourmaline request: yahoo~ bee! it's me again:33 I saw the requests are open? If it is and I'm not tripping then may I request for Lyney with an oblivious reader who is a big fan of his and they are like... mutual pining for each other but they aren't even aware of it that it's become annoyingly sweet lol

Words can't describe how I love this man

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ Hey hey! You're not tripping don't worry I see our mental state is similar lol But omg help I love it!! Down for Lyney too won't lie-

But omg, I kinda wanna write part 2 of this!! If I'll still feel like doing this after my requests are all done and I don't forget, I'll def be continuing this!

Anyway tho... I hope you enjoy! I personally kinda like it so I really hope you do too ^^

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ platonic/fluff

At this point Lynette and Freminet were watching you two. Even if they were 2km afar, they could still see you two and could only sigh about the view.

Lyney gave you another rainbow rose. It was like... 24 day strike by now! He gave you one every day, and every single time in a different time. First time it magically appeared in his hand, yesterday he pulled it out from ear your ear and today he "found it" in your tea!! How's even that possible?!

"For you, mon cherie~"

"Awh, thank you! I actually got something for you as well!"

"Oh really? Now what could it be... maybe you got me a reward for my latest magic show?"

"Well... yeah you could think so! Though I actually mean it as a gift for being such an amazing person for me!"

He could only chuckle as he took small box from you. His cheeks flushed gently but somehow, it just didn't got through his scalp what you really meant...

"Well isn't that sweet! Now what could we... ah- that's my favorite cake! How did you know?"

"I just happened to remember it. It's the least I could do for all the gifts you gave me recently."

But maybe it wasn't just him who was being a bit blunt here. You were as well, he was giving you rainbow roses every day, flowers meaning he loves you and yet, you just couldn't notice that special meaning...

"Should we finally help them?"

"Let them be for a bit longer."

2 siblings were now considering just coming up to you two and hitting you in the head, maybe then you'd notice how you both have obvious feelings for each other!

They know their brother has a crush on you because after every meeting with you, he's kicking his feet like highschool girl with crush in his bed. And you? You admitted yourself to Lynette while asking for advice because you thought he hated you when in reality, he was a tomato and had to run away from emberassment.

But both eventually decided to stay back and watch. They don't want to take this special moment away from you... But maybe the can at least do some backstage work at helping you with confessions?

"You see... I got something just for you! I have very important snow this weekend and naturally, I reserved a seat in front row just for you!"

Lyney smiled as he hands you the ticket with small bow, his eyes never leaving yours but not in a creepy way, he just couldn't help but admire you a bit.

"Oh you didn't had to really! But I do appreciate it. I'll definitely show up, thank you!"

"No need to thank me! It'll be enough for me if you come and let me see your smile~"

"What?"

Finally realizing what he said, his cheeks became red and began stuttering even tho he's usually smooth with his words.

"I meant- naturally I'd want to make... my audience happy! That's... just natural... magician's instinct! Yeah."

"Oh that's understandable! Well knowing you, your abilities and charms, I'm sure it won't be hard at all."

But he wasn't any better. You were clearly trying to compliment him, but he thought it's just you saying it as audience and not as someone with a crush...

"Actually... let's maybe make a plan. We can start tomorrow."

Freminet nodded on his sister's statement and entered their hous, leaving the two of you be and prepared the great plan with simple goal: getting you two together!

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

@bleachtheidiot - come get your charming magician~

[chiffaust]

Merry Christmas!! Thank you always for the gift of writings you give us <3 May we get 🎅 with Kuro? Thank you!~

DAY 4 — CHRISTMAS PROMPT 🎅 + kuro kiryu

🎅🏻  ─  be each other’s secret santa

RhyLin had planned on setting up a christmas celebration party; a mix of both to celebrate christmas with one another, not only as idols and producers, but as friends and celebrate the success they've all received this year and hope for the best for the upcoming year.

Most agreed, but you have a suspicion on who and whom will not come to this party, you suppose you'll just have to force them to come anyways.

Once majority agreed on the idea, AKATSUKI were designated to plan the party, and as their producer, you were more than happy to lend a hand.

Soon, all of your hard work pays off once you stood amongst the participants of the party, laughing along to their (un)funny jokes, having fun without any worries of today.

And from the corner of your eyes, you saw Kuro who was leaning against the wall alone with a drink in hand.

"Kuro! What're you doing there all alone? Aren't you hungry or something?" You ask, walking up to him with a smile on your face.

"Ah, producer-san. It's nice to see our efforts paid off, no? Hasumi-danna even decided to come after how many times he had said he won't." Kuro said, chuckling slightly at the big success. "I'd call that a huge success in our part."

"Right, I don't exactly know where he is, but he won't bail on us... Well, I think!" You said, uncertain yet still held high hopes for that guy. "I think he won't leave as long as you-know-who won't."

"Haha, I suppose you're correct. He's quite head over heels for them either way." Kuro said, sighing loudly as a smile plastered onto his face.

He looks around and see just how crowded it is, from idols to producers congratulating one another for their work, people gulping down the food he's prepared for the party as a whole and to you.

"I'm glad yer still by my side 'til this day, producer-san. I hope we'll stay the same next year too." He said, showing a genuine smile on his face.

"Ahaha, you're making me blush~" you replied, waving him off dismissively.

"W-well, anyways, don't you think it's time already?"

"Fer present exchanging?"

"Yep, yep!"

"It's time to exchange Christmas gifts already?!" An energetic voice from afar could be heard. "Yahoo! I've been waiting for this moment! Come on guys, let's go!"

In an instant, everybody had surrounded the christmas tree, in hopes of finding a christmas present with their name attached to it.

One by one, they all receive it, but there's a catch. None would know who they received it from unless the giver reveal their identity to the receiver, and much to your luck you were given the chance to gift Kuro a present!

You aren't sure whether he'll like it, though... That's what quite scares you. Maybe if he likes it, you'll reveal yourself as the one who gave it to him and if he doesn't just die out of embarrassment and not tell him—simple as that, yes!

And after searching for your present, you soon find yours. It was rather not big neither was it small—it was of a normal size for a christmas present. You shake it around, trying to see if it'll make a sound or something.

From the corner of your eye, you saw Kuro. It seems like he has already found his, it'll be quite awkward if he doesn't like it.

You gifted him a plushie—not just some kind of plushie, it's a plushie you really like so you hope he'll like it somehow.

"Ah, you found yours too? That's great." Kuro said, getting up onto his feet, smiling happily at you.

"Would ya like to open yer christmas gift with me? For fun."

"O-oh, uhm, sure!"

And thus you undid the ribbon that keeping the box together. Your heart was going on miles per hour, nervously anticipating his response to your gift.

Alas, you both finally opened up the box, seeing what was contained on the inside to your mysterious santa buddy.

You were shocked, to say the least. Confused—bamboozled, even. You brought your gift out of the box;

It was your favorite plushie.

Upon your reveal, he did the same; it was your favorite plushie.

"Y'know, I thought ya would like it since all ya could talk 'bout these past few days was about how cute it is, my sister even agreed with ya." He said, a smile soon forming up his lips. It could appear that he was blushing too.

"I-I bought it for you since I thought you'd like it since I thought it was cute..." Your words were soon turned into nothing but a mumble as you nervously fiddled with the ribbon.

"Haha, that is very considerate of ya, Producer-san. I do like it, I thank you very much for the gift." He looks down at the plush, his gaze soften as he checks it out.

"Merry Christmas, Producer-san."

[contentment-of-cats]

Part II: Growing Pains

When we ended Part I of our overview of Fandom, we saw fic evolving from Zines and independent publishing to fic specific platforms such as Fanfic.net, LiveJournal, Ao3, and Dreamwidth. The hand-off from one platform to the next was not always a process of evolution, nor a smooth transition, rather often necessity demanding invention. With the transition from paper to online exposure came the opportunity to develop community and an opportunity for problems.

We’re back at the Asker’s Studio™️, so grab a cat, move a cat, kick the toys out of the way and get comfortable.

Today, I would like to discuss what I like to generally define as Growing Pains. These are the issues that arose on all fronts which ranged from the highly personal, to technical assaults that threatened the mere existence of fic, online.

I have chosen a few topics that reflect on the evolution, creation and demise of Fandom platforms/archives/host sites. Let’s begin with the big one: Censorship. Over the months, I have heard fragments about a wave of censorship that hit both FF.net & LiveJournal. I understand that the results caused rifts/fragmentation in the fandoms. Since those platforms existed before my time, could you briefly describe what they were, how they served your needs, and what ultimately led to their demise?

Out of the ashes grows a rose: AO3. I understand that Ao3 was borne as the answer to the failings of the aforementioned FF.net & LiveJournal. However, it is not without its own attacks/problems - as recent as the last two weeks, hackers with content issues successfully took down the site for a solid day. Could you add any insights to these purity attacks & whether they are a continuation of the long war on creativity? Even less spoken of are issues of internal strife, regarding fic content/underage content. Having participated in several Fandom platforms/host sites, was the creation of Ao3 the answer that Fandom participants were looking for, or do problems evolve along with solutions? (I invite @olderthannetfic to feel invited offer any historical perspectives on the creation of AO3 at this time)

Finally, I would like to throw out what I call The Next Frontier: the introduction of AI. Many of us have locked our accounts and designated them Registered Users Only, as the AI beast lands like a pack of Death Eaters. We see the entertainment industry walking the picket lines with AI being one of the contract issues. Can you offer some insight on this topic?

This is a hackneyed list of issues - both human & technological - that has confronted Fandom/fic over its long and short history. Please feel free to add, abridge, omit or expand on anything I have brought up. As always, thank you very much for your time..

*settles in*

I wanted to answer this sooner, but really needed to think about some of my answers. This has been through a few drafts, so hold steady.

Censorship:

In the beginning (Usenet), there was always censorship. The fandoms would start off with 'all are welcome' but that was never actually the truth. Popular ships always eclipsed rarepairs, and people got downright nasty about it and there was also a lot of anti-smut action. Then there was the slash vs. het vs. noromo (no romance - now called 'gen) disputes. The fragmentation came with e-groups and members only listservs where people could write their stories without the censorship of the majority or characterization cops. There was still more fragmentation over other subjects, the purity police existed to make more wedges. The first time I ever saw a fight over 'queer' being a slur was on a Skinner/Mulder e-group so that was around 1996ish. E-groups purged a lot of slash and smut lists before it was bought by Yahoo, and Yahoo did the same.

Archives were curated sites on accessible hosting sites like Geocities, Angelfire, and so on. either dedicated to a specific fandom, pairing, or genre. Posting power rested in the hands of an archivist or a board of archivists. There was a lot of favoritism, and some authors posted their own work on a private website and often joined a ring of likeminded sites.

Fanfiction came out of the woodwork of the internet in 1998 when fanfiction.net came to be. FF.net was the equivalent of a publisher's 'slush pile.' A knocked-over fire-hydrant geyser of fic and fandoms as opposed to the neatly bottled and displayed stuff. It took a while, but the tweaks started in the early 2000's (dammit I am so fucking old) with banning works from a specific source (Anne Rice, Archie, Terry Goodkind etc.), then moving on to banning reader insert, filk and songfic, RPF, NC-17 and sexually explicit material (purging existing content also). They banned CYOA, Self-Insert, Character/Reader (You) fic. A lot of this was for two reasons.

The leadership of ff.net wanted to make the site attractive to advertisers.

They wanted to play nice with publishers, studios, media, real people depicted in fic, and intellectual property attorneys.

The migration to LJ placed fic in the hands of the author. They could post whatever they wanted and screw the mods.

If fanfiction came out of the woodwork on ff.net, it came out of the closet on LJ.

LJ came along in 2000ish, it originally was a place for fans to interact with other fans - like a forum where you could also post fic. The ban and excision of NC-17 and explicit fic from FF.net made LJ into a fandom hub, and for a short while kept the fan-run archives from dying out. However, even the hosting services did not want smut, slash, or other possibly-prosecutable fic on their servers, and were shutting down those sites. It was haphazard, but not random, as fandom grudges and the purity police would rat archives out.

LJ also saw the rise of the BNF, and also the phenomenon of Dark Fandom and Fandom Wank (FW originated on LJ and was driven off several platforms). LJ was sold to 6 Apart in 2005, and the Russian company SUP in 2007, with the founders mostly bolting after Strikethrough and Boldthrough - instigated by Warriors for Innocence (actual identity unknown, speculation attributes to Ms.Scribe). However, 6 Apart and SUP also wanted to - you guessed it - make LJ profitable. WFI was arguably the first successful, large format purity troll. I was already moving away from LJ and FF.net at the time, that just hammered the nail in.

Archive of Our Own:

That leads us to Ao3 (called AoOO and cue the 'Werewolves of Fandom' jokes), began with a 2007 LJ post by @astolat. The genesis of Ao3 was widely mocked, but fifteen years later it is still standing. I remember hearing about it and wondering if it had any relation to the essay 'A Room of One's Own' by Virginia Woolf.

"But, you may say, we asked you to speak about women and fiction—what, has that got to do with a room of one's own? I will try to explain."

I view the attacks on Ao3 as an attack on marginalized groups using nontraditional media. There are still vast numbers of people who do not want women or other marginalized groups to have a room of one's own, much less an archive, much less an archive that can't be held by the balls via their wallet, or threatened with a squad of foot soldiers with Esquire and Juris Doctor next to their name. Ao3 is now a part of fandom culture - good, bad, and ugly - and is a target for purity trolls using straw man, gaslighting, and red herrings to pull Ao3 apart for their own purposes.

Ao3 does have the problems that any institution has - and those unique to those dependent on user-generated content. It has its own internal struggles with the content that users generate as it pertains to underage/noncon and other squicks. To censor or not to censor? Is it enough to ask grown ass people to tag their work or to ask other presumably grown ass people to use tags when to eliminate content they do not want to see? are they doing enough to attract a diverse staff? How is that staff being treated? It is non-profit, staffed with volunteers, and lives on funding drives like US public television and NPR. It has a big enough base that understands the mission and is active enough to parse board candidates. In much the same way as NPR/Public Television, the content is a draw for trolls. Legacy media was the means to control the message, but when you can shoot content on your phone, write and publish from your connected device, the media can't control the message. It scares the piss out of people who have every reason to want to control the message.

When people attack Ao3, their reasons are spurious troll food for the most part. There's another, deeper, more nefarious agenda at work.

AI and the War On Creativity:

AI art, music, and writing is the idea of someone who views media as something to be consumed. You buy a book, you watch a show, and that is monetized.

Nobody has ever successfully monetized fandom.

The war between creators and media controllers heated up when technology handed creators the tools to make their own content and the platforms to distribute it whether it's video, writing, art, or music. AI is an attempt to wrest that control back.

To the Powers That Be, fandom is a resource that needs to be squeezed for money. People consuming fanworks for free are people not giving their money to Disney, Sony, Warner Bros, and so on. The PTB have taken over the cons, despite the inclusion of artists alleys, so that they can once again control the media and control the message. The PTB like to deem themselves creators and disruptors. However, creative human beings are an unruly lot. The PTB want creatives and what they produce, but under their control. No unions, no contracts, no pesky IP issues.

An AI has no rights, no needs, no true consciousness and thus can only copy or derive when it 'creates' content. Their 'disruption' is for everyone but themselves. So when we bar them from scraping our content, they see it as our refusing to give them something that they are entitled to use.

AI scraping from Ao3 and venues like DeviantArt are attempts to make unpaid use of creators' content. Creators write and create art that is uncompensated, which is then shared. Some writers and artists have 'tip jars' or take commissions, but the vast majority get nothing but comments and likes. Since this work is uncompensated, the PTB deem it 'free' and therefore they can do what they want with it. When they scrape a work to train their AI, they are working to replace creatives. Full stop.

For that matter, a scraper doesn't need to be from Google or MicroSoft. You can download scrapers for Wattpad like this one:

There are also tools available on sites like GitHub that can be used to scrape Ao3 and FF.net. Moreover, there are a fuckton of AI specifically marketed for fanfiction writing to fanfiction writers - all of which have been trained on fan-generated content. There are AIs for art and for music. It could be argued that these AI will help people unleash their own creativity, improve stories, and unearth creative potential. The thing is that none of these tech companies does anything for free in the long term.

Finally, the US Copyright office has ruled that you can't copyright anything - image, writing, music, video - that you create with an AI. anyone can use it for any purpose, without you having any legal recourse. There must be a minimal 'human involvement' - in this particular case, the art generated by a human entering text prompts into an AI was deemed insufficient to meet the standard. The ruling is the first of its kind, and more will follow, but keep in mind that you are one ruling from the AI creators assuming a stake in your work.

[kedreeva]

I posted 8,066 times in 2022

That's 329 more posts than 2021!

1,893 posts created (23%)

6,173 posts reblogged (77%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@fiore-della-valle

@redbirdblogs

@idkfandomwhatever

@seananmcguire

@sleepymccoy

I tagged 8,043 of my posts in 2022

#stranger things - 1,920 posts

#asks - 932 posts

#steddie - 722 posts

#anon asks - 532 posts

#all the laughter - 517 posts

#good omens - 490 posts

#my pets - 481 posts

#good things - 438 posts

#peafowl - 405 posts

#eddie munson - 377 posts

Longest Tag: 96 characters

#we are all uncertain if our work is good or we've just been loving it despite its flaws too long

I sent 10 gifts in 2022

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I hope that once everyone's done laughing at the important blue checkmarks (no rush, it's fucking hilarious), Tumblr considers other icons we can put by our names. Like little hats or something we can send to friends for a day for a dollar. Little animal companions. Good job stickers.

28,252 notes - Posted November 10, 2022

#4

A snake in Thailand spent enough time sitting still in the water to grow moss and turn into a dragon, apparently.

More video at the source account!

34,063 notes - Posted March 3, 2022

#3

Oh god, I just aged several years in a single second, a friend of mine sent me a snippet from a fic that read someone put a VHS into a VCR and took so long getting back to it to press play that the menu screen had looped multiple times

36,575 notes - Posted September 1, 2022

#2

When I was a kid, maybe 14 or so (which is, you know, 20+ years ago), I belonged to a Yahoo! mailing list for an anime called Gundam Wing. It was mostly populated by other teens, of varying ages, as it was started by a teen and her friends. Eventually it migrated, when Yahoo! groups started as forums, and even branched off into non-GW related stuff in a second forum.

One of the things I remember the most clearly is the oldest person in the group. Her name was Steelsong. She was a 40-something Dom with a sub whose name we knew even though we knew nothing else. She ran her own fanfic archive because the web was still handmade HTML and navigated in webrings and I’m pretty sure Google didn’t exist or was only barely, barely launched and not well known. She was kind and patient and we loved her. She treated everyone on the group with the respect given any adult, even though most of the rest of the world was still treating us like we were children. Not teenagers even, but children. She never once condescended to any of us, never made our youth a barrier to her respect, never treated us like we were incapable of being full people or like we were less than her because we were young.

I remember that she hosted our fanfiction, as absolutely terrible as it was (and I still have some of it, I am WELL aware of how cringingly terrible it is, just absolute nonsense garbage), right there alongside of other fic that was soul-achingly beautiful. Not a separate section for her friends or for kids, just right there like we were good enough to feature alongside other authors. I never once received crit from her that I didn’t ask for, only support. Only love. I am still writing today partly because Steel was so kind about our fic, fanfic and original.

I remember that when I started doing clay sculpture, she commissioned a tiny pair of dragons from me, to support me doing artwork. She sent a check my mom cashed for me, and my mom helped me mail it when it was finished. It broke in transit, and Steel assured me that she mended it and that it was still beautiful. It was a small gold dragon curled up with a small silver dragon.

I remember that her patience knew no bounds. I remember that she was there for us, regardless of reason. When we wanted to know silly things like what to do with a single AA battery, she answered. When we had serious questions about sex, she answered.  When we had questions about writing, she taught us. When one of our group members, a young gay teen in Australia, ended up in the hospital and then stopped making posts, and we all knew what had happened, she let us talk to her about it because we couldn’t go to our own parents, even though we had just lost a friend.

She was not a replacement to my parents, but she was an extra parent, in some ways. A friend, certainly, but someone that had been through more life than we had and was willing to pass on knowledge if we asked for it. Someone older that we trusted with things that were too uncomfortable to go to our parents or teachers or whatever about, because we already knew she wasn’t going to judge us or something, and that we would get an honest answer.

I don’t know why I’m remembering this so hard tonight, and I’m not sure if there’s a point to sharing this, except that I know she’s gone now. She was ill the last time we spoke, and her site went down a long time ago, and I miss her. She was a huge influence on my life, then and now. She was hope, for me, that life as an adult didn’t have to be boring, it wouldn’t have to mean giving up the things I loved and Becoming Only Responsible With No Fun. Her presence meant I had hope I could still write and play with friends even when I wasn’t ‘a kid’ anymore. And she’s gone, and I miss her, and I wanted to share her from the perspective of youth, and the perspective over twenty years later has provided me.

And I think of her, when people go off about older folks being in fandom with younger folks. I’m an older folks now, or at least middle aged folks because there are certainly folks older than me still, but I wasn’t always. I’ve been here since i was a younger folks, and I know how much Steel’s presence and support meant to me, how much she helped not just me but everyone on that group. And I think of the people saying older folks don’t belong in fandom, and that they shouldn’t interact with younger folks at all, and I just think... I can’t agree. I needed that kind of solid presence in my life back then and even at the age I am now, I need the folks older than me to stay. I want them here.

So I guess, like, if you’re here and you’re 40 or 50 or 60 or 70 or 80 or whatever, I want you here in fandom with me, still. Your presence here is a comfort. It is hope. It is a reminder that life will continue to be fun, even as I get older, myself. And if you’re younger and you have this sort of elder in your groups, I hope that they are like Steel. I hope they are kind and patient and supportive, and that knowing them gives you hope for your own future. I hope in twenty years you look back and remember them fondly.

44,929 notes - Posted July 17, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

If you're ever worried about whether your writing is too self indulgent, I just want you to remember that Sharknado had 5 sequels. I'm only partway through watching Sharknado 6: It's About Time, but already they've traveled through time and ridden a pteronadon into a Sharknado so they could use the magic teleportation portal inside of it to travel forward in time to King Arthur's time, where they are currently battling a Sharknado full of fire-breathing dragon sharks with Excalibur, which is a chainsaw sword that calls lightning. You're fine. In fact, be a little more self indulgent if anything, because I am having a BLAST watching this specifically because I can see how much fun the writers were having.

45,937 notes - Posted June 17, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[zorkaya-moved]

Morning, besties. Ya girl is back from her hiatus 1 day early, but only to update y'all beautiful souls about what's going on.

Did u miss seeing me and Zarina on ur dash (say yes 🔪)? ;)

I had the time to just chill out, concentrate on my real life, and understand that I'll be doing some things differently. I over-hoarded drafts and asks. Every year this happens, and I just never fucking learn, but I'll try to take my time to sort out everything. This means that I'll be looking through my endless list of drafts and finally replying to them (thank u brain for finally working).

I have a queue prepared to start tomorrow until 17-18th for now. It's 3 posts per day, but I'll keep it to 2 posts per day after 18th of March. I'll be absent today as well, even though I came back but it's like... Update-update. Still not going to reach out regarding plots because I'm still not back with those thoughts and ideas.

If YOU have ideas for plotting, through them at me!

It was SOOOOO NICE to take a break from Tumblr and just? Play games? Read books? Just vibe. Also re-connect with some of Zarina's personality traits that I've let to float around. Now, thanks to PTN, I finally understand how to write some of Zarina's apathetic sides and it made me super happy. I'll also post some of the metas I finally sat down to write. I just might continue this type of existence for the whole month of March due to how much I need to do.

I probably will be giving myself like week-long rests without Tumblr on my phone. I'll probably still take a bit of a long time to rest and not really communicate with anyone yet because I still feel like I need a bit more time there. I'm still playing games but I'm also especially busy this month (graduate school registrations, essays, recommendation letters, applying, all of that jazz). 'Cuz of that I'll probably full-on rely on queue. And yes, I wrote things over my hiatus because I just cannot leave my girl alone lmao. Thank u Google Docs for existing.

Hope y'all are safe. I've got things already queued. Today's gonna be a busy work day, and I've got a call with one of the universities before my application to ask some questions, yahoo! Have a fantastic day. Just know that the activity will only be continued through queue for now. I'll also try to limit my ooc posting because I think the amount that I posted made ME overwhelmed as well since I want to have more IC content to interact with people and not make others feel like I forgot or worse. I really was burnt out and I'm sorry if I hurt anyone, made them feel forgotten, or I made them annoyed with my activity/words/ooc posts.

I still struggle with replying to people socially/ooc-ly even in real life, but I'll try to do better. Over the course of my previous job, I was over-stressed but I also... lost touch with many people. And I didn't chase them because, yes, I didn't keep in touch and it was my fault. However, I will do my best to not let this happen again. I cannot promise anything as I still do not have stability in my life (and didn't have for the last, what, 5 years?) and I cannot make any definity promises. I promise to do better, but that's all I can do. And I will do my fucking best.

Oof, thanks you for reading this! Take care of yourselves. I'm gonna try to concentrate on drafts instead of asks these days because that's how active interactions go and I want to interact. Let's fucking go!!

[lumiereandcogsworth]

okay I know it’s technically weeks away BUT valentine’s day has been in my mind and I’m curious how Adam and Belle celebrate 👁️ (did this holiday exist back then? I have no clue)

LOVELY okay so every valentine’s day since i’ve been writing for these two yahoos, i just generally assume they go all out for the day. adam’s love language is gift giving so whether it’s in canon or modern au, you know that guy is getting belle a million gifts and they’re going to fancy dining establishments and seeing a show and all that good stuff. but your question made me want to dig in and actually look into the history of valentine’s day, SO I DID THAT!!

as i suspected, it is super super old. the oldest story is in 270 AD, when the roman empire had been at war for some time. apparently the soldiers were tired of fighting and wanted to marry their sweethearts and settle down with families. but emperor claude ii was like uhhhmmm No. so he made marriage briefly illegal?? but there was a priest called valentine who was still secretly performing weddings, defying the law for love!!! but emperor claude ii found out and threw him in jail. BUT THEN valentine fell in love with the daughter of his prison guard!!! and supposedly, according to the legend, right before his execution, ON FEBRUARY 14th, he left a heart-shaped letter to the daughter and signed it “from your valentine.”

AND THAT IS SOOOOO ROMANTIC HELLO!!!!! defied the law AND died for love. A KING!!

valentine was declared a saint by pope gelase i in the 5th century, after the collapse of the roman empire.

the holiday didn’t become a thing until the middle ages, when the catholic church was trying to fight a pagan holiday for the roman god luperculus that was celebrated feb 13-15. the church was afraid of losing their power amidst europe so the pope made feb 14 st. valentine’s day to honor the guy who sacrificed his life for love.

there is ALSO a story specific to france, that in 1415, the duke of orléans was captured and taken prisoner in london and while he was there he was apparently writing love letters to his wife in france. and i guess there was one (or multiple?) specifically dated for valentine’s day, so it’s considered some of the first Valentine’s Day Letters™️ in france. because before that, in france, letters weren’t really exchanged on the day, it was more a social thing, like a singles mixer in the streets. single people go out and try to pair up. and anyone who is bitter can have a little bonfire and burn images of their exes. but that got out of hand quickly and the government banned that. hence the letter writing became more common.

and this is my own speculation but i would assume that gift giving only took place amongst the upper class at first, and then eventually the trend caught up in varying levels for everyone to the point that we’re at today! where a gift for your beloved on the day is quite common 💝

but anyway there’s your little history lesson!!!!!! was fun to flex my historian muscles thank you 🤓🤓🤓

to answer your question, basically, adam spoils the heck out of his wife and belle lets it happen because she’s as head over heels for her husband as he is for her. in canon they’re probably always in paris. they save their bigger trips for their anniversary and also they just travel a lot in general for king & queen reasons. paris is their home away from home ❤️ they probably stay for nearly a week, (this may vary depending on the ages of their kiddos, of course, they don’t like to leave their Babies for too long 🥺), go to a couple different shows, opera, theater, dance, etc. go for horseback rides, go to a ball (i’m debating if they put on a valentine’s day ball or if they attend one already happening. it’s super likely that adam wants to host it though because he loves hosting. But i could also just see a ball already taking place since it is a Known Holiday. but EITHER WAY THEY’RE DANCING!), and yeah just in general they’re being super in love and gross. i enjoy thinking about this day for them in modern au too, just because it’s a tad easier for my mind to picture, but yeah it’s definitely a holiday they love. they love a day dedicated to love ❤️

also i wrote this last year, it’s short and QUITE lovey dovey, Of Course.

[tiggymalvern]

Tag Game: Fandom Edition

tagged by @kronette. Thanks for thinking of me :-) Current Hyperfixation: Burn Notice Previous Hyperfixation: Hannibal Top 5 Ships of All Time: Ouch, that's hard to narrow down. Sam Axe/Michael Westen +/- Fiona Glenanne, Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter, Vash the Stampede/Nicholas D Wolfwood (Trigun), Benton Fraser/Ray Vecchio (Due South), El Mariachi/Sheldon Jeffrey Sands (Once Upon a Time in Mexico). Top 5 Ships at the Moment: The first three from the above list. I'm also reading some Aziraphale/Crowley and Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling, because a lot of my friends are writing them. Top 5 Fandoms of All Time: Hannibal, Trigun, Burn Notice (too hard to be objective about that one right now), Blake's 7, Star Trek (esp DS9 but others too). Favorite Female Character of All Time: Aeryn Sun (Farscape), Sarah Connor (Terminator), Fiona Glenanne (Burn Notice). There's no way to choose, but it's obvious what they all have in common. Favorite Minor Character of All Time: Elim Garak or Q (DS9 and TNG). It's also obvious what they both have in common :-) A Rarepair that you love: Dorian Red Gloria/Klaus von dem Eberbach (From Eroica with Love). There is no more extreme example of a sunny, OTT extrovert and a grump pairing! An OT3+ that you love: Sam Axe/Fiona Glenanne/Michael Westen (Burn Notice) Favorite Movie: People can choose? How? Favorite TV Series: The hyper-fixation of the moment, whatever that may be. Favorite Book: Historically over too many decades, Lord of the Rings, but it's a long time now since I reread it. As an adult, based on how often I go back to it and rec it to other people, World War Z by Max Brooks. First Site you Ever Read Fanfiction on: The yahoo groups Blake's 7 mailing list and its archive. Where You Find Most of your Fanfiction Today: All. Not Most. A03. Favorite Social Media Site for Fandom: Tumblr's the only place I go for active fandom. There's really no fandom left on Dreamwidth, it's where I interact more directly with people I've known for years. Tagging @dreamerinsilico @zigzag-wanderer and @marielle-heller if you have spoons and want to play.

[myinkpenhasnoicloud]

I can't believe I'm back on here. A lot has changed. I'm not old, but I'm damn sure not wet behind the ears anymore 😅. I come from the Blackplanet, Migente, Myspace, MSN, and Yahoo chat era. I'm a writer. A poet to be exact who has gone into hiding. A recluse damn near. Some of you may not have been born yet (but that's okay), but to my Superman fans out there. Remember Supermans father, Jor-El, put General Zod, Ursa, and Non into a glass or mirror-like frame called the Phantom Zone Mirror? It is a "primary gateway to place prisoners into the phantom zone dimension." That is the best way I can describe my writers block and where it's gone. Thrown into the phantom zone mirror and thrown to the farthest end of the galaxy. There are many reasons why I put one of my passions on the back-burner. But I learned years ago that you gotta start somewhere. Just start writing/typing. Doesn't have to make sense. Somewhere down the line, it'll make sense. SO HERE I AM. Typing away. But I warn you in advance - my introvert is just a door, all my fire signs dwell behind. I'm a thinker and brutally honest at times. You may add/follow me today and months later, see a post of mine and unfollow tomorrow, and I won't even lose sleep. Not only am I here to get out of my head, but also to provoke thought, to be provoked to think (steel sharpens steel). Hopefully, I will connect with like-minded souls and learn on this new journey. Asé 🤲🏽

[the-s1lly-corner]

C, I, K, L Q and Z for Jax plz? 👀

Fluff Alphabet w/ Jax! (1)

as of writing this i only have this request and one more!! i didnt think i would be able to catch up them all when i woke up this morning, but ive been killin it today i guess! yahoo! Im still taking requests but after this and the next ill take another short break to stretch my legs and recharge my brain !!

CUDDLING- if you read the caine alphabet, i believe i mention that caine would wrap his arms and legs around you and trap you (at least i did, im p sure i did but im too tired to check)

well, jax does that to you, pretty much, but hes a lot more stubborn about letting you go and wants to see you squirm and fight for your freedom... so good luck if you had anything planned that day...! he looks like he would be soft, both because bunmy... but also like, stylistically he looks like he would be squishy.. pretty pleasant to cuddle in to!

IN HOUSE ADVENTURE- unless the adventure gives him some ammo and/or way to be a menace to others, i think he just skips them. or if he does stick around he just. doesnt help, instead kind of just not doing anything.. now whether or not you and jax share similar traits is up to you, but if you needed help and asked nicely he would help you with something but otherwise youre on your own sister (gender neutral)

KISS- lots of kisses, especially if you get flustered easily. sure, you get a bit of a break from his antics but not by much... and if he can make you turn red from simply kissing your cheek hes going to exploit that.. speaking of, a lot of the kisses he gives are quick and fleeting, usually short pecks while hes walking by

LOVE LANGUAGE- little harmless pranks that make you do a double take or mildly confuse you are how he shows his love. now this is different from his usual stuff, because what he does to you is like. he leaves you a note. aww hes telling you how cute he thinks you are..! you pull the note out and BOOM! theres now powder everywhere and the note says you're sweet (the powder, being sugar). shit like that. outside of that words of affirmations work for him to, giving and receiving.. gonna be real though, i think jax is one of the hardest characters for me to write for since hes an ass (no shade to everyone asking for him! i love a little challenge!)

QUIET TIME- does not like quiet calm moments, but thats because hes an enjoyer and bringer of chaos, so moments of true silence are very rare. but lets say you two both just sit down and just. exist. actually, ill do you one better and tie this into the cuddling segment, he would probably busy his hands with your hair or any accessory you have on you

ZZZ- assuming you guys can sleep if you so desired, and you somehow convince jax to sleep with you (i think he would be the type to need to be talked into it), he would steal all the blankets. and the pillows. regardless of if hes actually sleeping or not. if this were the real world, and you guys were normal people and you actually needed to sleep due to exhaustion he would ease up on you (if hes doing this while awake). most definitely the type to say something as youre trying to sleep

"first person protagonists in video games never blink" or something similar

[r04ch]

Okaayyy posting my writing heres one I did today to help dialogue.. i usually dont write in this script format but i wanted to try something diff ! Also the descriptions around it dont sound very smooth cuz like IDK but just dont think im a sharty writer cuz of this lol

COD, Otter x Alex, 820 Words

Summary: Its hot af and pool time bonding yahoo also like 2 second trauma dump (gasp!)

It's a hot, humid day on the 141 base. The quarters are empty, the inhabitants instead resorting to the swimming pool outside.

Farah and Kate are chatting in the shallow end, sharing cocktails. Soap, Gaz and Ghost are cannon balling and wrestling in the deeper end, while Price naps in a chair. Alex has just arrived, towel slung over his shoulder and sunglasses protecting his eyes. He spots Otter, who is writing in a journal on a lounge chair, and approaches the man.

Otter is wearing a loose tank top and comfortable board shorts, a pair of sunglasses adorning his face. His hair is put up in a short ponytail, his braid hangs loosely. His knees are slightly pulled up to stay under the safety of the umbrella providing him shade. He sips at a virgin pina colada that Kate made him.

Alex: Thought you were a swimmer?

His tone is playful and light, standing above Otter to block the sun from the latter. Otter looks up at him from under his sunglasses.

Otter: Oh, I am. Im busy right now though. 

Alex: Busy? Its 90 degrees out, what could be making you so busy?

Alex has a appalled expression which pulls a chuckle from Otter.

Otter: You know, stuff and.. things. 

He waves his hand vaguely.

Alex: I don't think I do know, care to explain? 

Otter pushes his sunglasses to sit atop his head, squinting softly at him. Then, he shrugs and pats the end of the chair, pulling his legs up into a criss-crossed sit to make room. Alex complies, taking a seat and leaning over to gaze at Otters journal.

Its a portrait sketch of Farah. Its gorgeous.

Alex: I didn't know you could draw. 

Otter: I have a feeling you don’t know a lot about me, Keller. 

Alex scowls which earns him a hearty laugh. 

Alex: Okay, well why don't you tell me some things?

Otter: Like what?

Alex: How’d you learn to draw like that?

Alex’s index finger lightly taps the page, tilting his head like a curious puppy dog.

Otter: I picked it up when I was younger, it helps me focus. My mother was an artist.

Alex: What did she draw?

Otter: Portraits, too. She had the eye for it, her paintings were phenomenal. I wish I took some.

Alex looked away from the drawing, choosing to instead drink up Otter's features. His round nose, pudgy cheeks, the sharp split in his left eyebrow. The golden brown hue that haloed his iris had him drowning in it. Otter was oblivious to Alex’s current predicament, continuing to shade Farah’s cheek bones.

Alex: Why don't you?

Otter stopped his pencil and bit the inside of his cheek, finally glancing over at Alex. 

Otter: Well, that’d be difficult. They’re all piles of ash now, probably sunken into the earth. 

Alex faltered and gawked for a moment, Otter smiled softly.

Otter: That house burned down a long time ago. I should’ve clarified, sorry. 

His cheeks radiate a pink glow of blush. 

Alex: I didn't know that.

Otter: I know. 

A blanket of tense silence fell between the two, before Otter reached for his drink and took a long sip. Alex memorized the way his lips moved.

Otter: Want to try?

He mistook Alex’s fascination with him for perhaps being thirsty. Alex was grateful for it though.

Alex: Sure

He took the straw and downed the last bit of drink, earning a gasp from Otter as he playfully pushed Alex away from him.

Otter: I know you did NOT just drink it all!

Alex: What? I was thirsty!

Alex laughed while Otter feigned an offended and dramatic expression of shock.

Otter: That is so rude! I cannot believe you!

Alex: Just get another one! 

Otter huffed and rose from the seat, placing his sunglasses back into place over his eyes and giving Alex a half hearted glare while waltzing over to the bar. The former smiled softly. Averting his eyes back down to the page and, nosily, poking through the rest of the journal.

It was full of mostly birds or insects that had messy scribblings besides them like “saw this little guy in Urzikstan” and so forth. He also passed a few rough sketches of Kate, and the resident dog Riley. 

Then he landed on two pages of just him. While most were very rough, hardly even outlined, others were complete with shading. He especially liked the small doodle of him with a mustache 2x the size of his head and a small LOL written beside it. Alex couldn’t help the pride and joy swelling in his chest. Now curious as to when Otter was able to get such accurate references. 

As Otter walked back over, now with two drinks in his hands, Alex quickly flipped the journal back to Farah. Pretending as though he never saw the other pages and instead graciously accepting the mocktail. 

[headspacedad]

I posted 15,807 times in 2022

That's 4,568 more posts than 2021!

182 posts created (1%)

15,625 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@damatris

@void-tiger

@edjectedly

@i-am-thornqueen

@ascendentashes

I tagged 3,740 of my posts in 2022

#sound on - 560 posts

#fic rec - 171 posts

#passing this along - 143 posts

#thanks for the tag! - 73 posts

#yes - 69 posts

#i don't go here - 48 posts

#okay to reblog - 42 posts

#beautiful - 42 posts

#but - 40 posts

#awww - 38 posts

Longest Tag: 129 characters

#i thought today was friday right up until my sister asked about getting together tomorrow and i realized that meant it was sunday

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

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86 notes - Posted October 15, 2022

#4

it is best boi’s birth-month and yet I haven’t seen anything about it really.  Which is Just Not Right.  I haven’t got the time or energy to organize and push the much deserved ‘week of fic/art prompts celebrating him’ that I usually see circulating this time of year but if you can, reblog this to get the ball rolling and decide to write or draw something for his birthday this year.  I’ll be dropping two short fics for him, one on the 28th and one on the 1st.  Let’s show this guy some love this month!

96 notes - Posted February 9, 2022

#3

okay, temporary real talk here

as much as I enjoy the ‘drive everyone that might come visit away’ tumblr shit posts and the way no one wants to be a popular site or a profitable one

look, the overlords have to make money on this site.  Because if they don’t we go the way of LiveJournal and get bought out by a Russian conglomeration that’s going to turn us all into a site we’re not built to be (or something similar).  Nothing exists in a vaccuum and it takes MONEY to run this site.  Someone’s got to pay for the servers and buy the swivel chairs staff spends all their time twirling around in instead of fixing what’s broken.  Even the money that pays the one lonely underpaid intern that’s obviously trying so hard to connect with the userbase in the new tumblr posts has to come from somewhere.  Things don’t run for free and, eventually, if we’d stayed unprofitable, someone would have pulled the plug.  And all of this, the years of it and the networks we’ve made on it, would have disappeared in the blink of an eye.  Ask Yahoo!Groups.

tumblr needs to turn a profit.  The trick is, we need to make sure it turns profits in ways that suit the site and us.  There was a post a while back about tumblr reaching out to the ‘Big Names’ to lure them in and that’s fine - but they need to play by tumblr rules.  Disney can’t come in and start slapping down all the Disney fan art and fanfic like Anne Rice in her glory days.  It would kill what makes this site so unique (and so profitable).  We’re on this site and not any other for a reason.  This site is unique for a reason.  We need to lean hard into those reasons and keep them safe.  Our artists, our writers, our fan bases, our gif makers, our dreamers, content creators, scientists, current event followers, specialized fact spouters, our irreverent shit posters and the thousands of other niches that make this site tick. 

And as for all the refugees from other sites that find us and want to check things out - good!  Let them come. We’ve got blankets and hot drinks like the Carpathia for them.  tumblr can offer them what they can’t find anywhere else (quite possibly things they may wish they didn’t find too sometimes).  Its our strength - and its our selling point.  Staff needs to make money.  Let’s support the attempts at it that are true to this site’s nature and will keep us unique.  No one’s more cantankerous than we are.  Let’s be smart about which horses we let in our hospital (and how we decorate it.  I recommend following color theory).

119 notes - Posted February 4, 2022

#2

the Sea Beast (no spoilers)

Okay, so thank you Netflix for diversity and being willing to throw money at all kinds of strange ideas to see them made.  Kudos for you and that’s why you get my money and Disney+ doesn’t.

So Sea Beast.

I’m going to start off by saying I really enjoyed it.  The world building is super amazing and the design of both the world, the ships and the people is SO far above what I’m used to seeing from CG animation.  These designers went to TOWN on creating their human characters!  There’s amazing diversity in almost every angle of the ship’s crew and you can just tell that every single character on the ship has a whole ass story going on with them that we’re not being told.  There’s a real attention to detail with how people that hunt sea monsters would dress, what their prosthetics would look like, what kinds of varied body builds they’d have.  The first mate alone - phenomenal!   And it caries over into their interactions as well.  There are different personalities all working with the other personalities to keep the ship going and the crew really cares about each other - there’s a scene toward the end where two of them bolt for the Jacob to save him and its automatic and small and beautiful.  Good stuff and you really feel like they’re a family.

Second - oh my WORD!  Someone REALLY did their research and put some thought into how hunting sea monsters would go.  I spent a lot of my summers on Nantucket Island which, once upon a time, had been the whaling capital for the world and there was so much in this movie that just rang true on small detail levels for me.  Hell, they even put in a version of a Nantucket sleigh ride!  But they mixed it up too, because these aren’t whales, they’re city sized monsters of the deep and hunting them would be entirely different in some ways.  The mesh of ‘old’ and ‘new’ ideas for this really was probably my favorite part of the world building.  Just so top notch, someone really put some THOUGHT into this.  Also the touch with the sea gulls was awesome!

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156 notes - Posted July 15, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

hey new tumblr users

Welcome!

Now, I’m seeing a lot of posts about new arrivals to the site that are confused about the purpose and point of reblogging posts.  I know that a lot of the sites you came from put a lot of emphasis on earning ‘points’ for your original posts and the only way to earn your own ‘points’ is to interact with others posts.  Don’t get me wrong - we love it here when you add a comment, either to a post or in the tags, but that’s not the POINT of posts here (for the most part).  The goal of a post here is to share.

You’ve got to think of tumblr less as a classroom where one person is teaching and more as a nature hike with friends.

You see a shiny rock you like.  You pick it up.  You show it to a friend.  They like it and show it to their friend.  Their friend puts a pair of googly eyes on it and passes it to their friend.  Their friend runs off to share it with a group of their friends that are looking at bugs under a rock.  You don’t HAVE to interact.  All you have to do is share the rock with a friend because you know your friends might like to see the rock.  Someone passes you a dandelion they picked.  You think its cool and pass it to a friend you know likes the color yellow.  They hand you a yellow leaf.  You pass the leaf back to the dandelion friend. 

The point of having a blog on tumblr is to share stuff that you think is cool with people that follow you.  People will follow you because they think the stuff you’re scrapbooking on your blog is cool (or fun or weird or funny or heartfelt, etc).  You can absolutely paint your own rock and share it with friends.  But if all you do is pass on someone else’s painted rock because you think the people following your blog will like seeing it?  That’s awesome too.

We’re not really about earning ‘points’ or ‘fame’ here - this is your scenic rest stop on the highway.  We ARE about sharing.

So - share.

And if you want to add to what you’re sharing - that’s cool.  But you don’t need to.  As long as you’re sharing with your followers, you’re using this site the way its designed to be used.

See a cool rock?  Reblog that rock so your followers can enjoy it too!

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2,466 notes - Posted October 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[le-amewzing]

PTO

These two have been on my mind for a long time, so I'm happy to have found the inspo to write them! -w-

Fic: "PTO" [FFN] [AO3]

Pairings/Characters: established!Masako Araki/Alexandra Garcia, Himuro Tatsuya

Rating: light T

Words: ~3,310

Summary: There are a variety of things spinning around in her American girlfriend's head. Still, Masako can't stay annoyed when Alex's zigzagging train of thought leads her…here.

      "Ah, Coach… There's someone here to see you."

      Masako exhaled and, with some concerted effort, dragged her eyes from the scene on the court, where Murasakibara set a poor example for the first years by milling about while he didn't have the ball in his possession. She glanced at her team's new captain—and did a double-take at that practiced smile. "Himuro…"

      Almost imperceptibly, the beauty-marked teen's smile widened. The only giveaway was the twitch of said beauty mark.

      Masako's grip tightened on the hilt of her shinai, which rested against her right shoulder at the moment. Himuro's smile was all the warning she'd get, even as she turned her head and—

      "YAHOO~ Masako~"

      Unfortunately, everyone's attention diverted from basketball practice at Yosen that evening once their blond, foreign guest came prancing indoors. But Masako didn't let her players dawdle for long, swinging her bamboo sword around to smack the tip against the floor with a resolute THWACK that brought them back to their senses. Several of the first years literally jumped at the noise, but the second and third years got right back on track. And all without their coach needing to utter a word.

      Which was good, considering Masako would need to reserve her energy for the blonde sidling up to her now. "Are you surprised to see me?" she asked the jet-haired coach.

      Masako sighed as the other woman gave Himuro a gigantic hug. "Alex, are you even here to see me? Or are you here to see one of your protégés?"

      "Ah, but that's the brilliance of Yosen—two birds, one stone!" Alex chirped. She pouted when Himuro unhooked her arms from his neck. "Tatsuya…!"

      "Not in the middle of practice, Alex," he said, tiredness leaking into that smile as he stuck to Japanese with his mentor. Masako had noted him doing that more since Alex first turned up in Japan last year, during the rare instances she traveled up north…around the same time the former professional player began flirting with the Yosen coach, actually.

      Masako narrowed her eyes at the sly fellow.

      Himuro, for his part, ducked her stare and shrugged away from Alex. "We can always catch up later," he promised the taller woman, and he jogged to Murasakibara's side before Alex could protest.

      Alex's pout lingered for a few more seconds. But then she turned towards Masako. "So, Masako—"

      "Himuro's right. Not in the middle of practice." She faced forward and tried to give her students her full attention, but it wasn't long before Masako darted her dark eyes up and to her left. "You know better than to interrupt."

      Alex grinned. "…maybe. But someone keeps her shinai instead of her phone glued to her hand."

      "No phones at practice—for both student and coach alike."

      The American heaved a sigh. "Then what point is there in texting you that I might drop by?" She lifted her left hand, noted how red her bare fingers were, and rubbed her hands together and blew on them for warmth. She shoved her hands back into her coat pockets after and fought back a shiver. "Ahhh, Akita is so cold…!"

      Masako shook her head at the sight. "Of course Akita's cold. It's November, in the snowiest region of Japan. This is the polar opposite of California and you're not dressed for the climate."

      Alex glanced at her long coat over her jeans. She at least had her coat zipped up all the way today, but Masako would bet a full tank of gas for her motorcycle that the blonde had only a t-shirt on underneath. Alex chuckled and shrugged it off. "Well, I might not be dressed for the climate, but that just means you can warm me up later…"

      Masako ignored her flirty words and glanced at how things transpired on the court. Himuro had them going through passing drills, so she decided it was all right to move her attention elsewhere…such as turning around to the benches along the wall by the doors connecting the gym to the general arts building. She rested her shinai against the wall for a second while she rummaged in her bag. Once she found her prize, Masako grabbed the shinai and marched wordlessly back to Alex on the sidelines. She thrust the small item at the blonde.

      "A hand warmer…?" Alex blinked. Then she shook off her surprise and kneaded the pack to activate it. Alex held the gift between her chilly hands and bumped shoulders with Masako, half leaning on the shorter woman. "Aww, you do care."

      At that, Masako grimaced. She didn't like being doubted same as she didn't like having to repeat herself to her team.

      "But, hey, that whole you-warming-me-up thing wasn't a joke, just so you know." Alex tucked the hand warmer into her left pocket for now and linked her right arm with Masako's. She continued while they watched over practice together, "I actually came in person because I thought a surprise might better convince you."

      "Liu, good connection!" Masako called out to the third year. "Murasakibara, watch the space around you…!" She gritted her teeth, half in annoyance that her Kiseki player clung to old habits and half with trepidation over her girlfriend's words, but— "All right, I'll ask: Of what do you need to convince me?"

      Alex's grip on her arm tightened by a hair. "Well, you're as stubborn as they come. So…" She cocked her head Masako's way. "Take some time off," she coaxed.

      Annoyance, anxiety, anger—none of that came to mind. Instead, Masako offered up a flat expression and an immediate, "No."

      "What? Why?!"

      "Why do you have to ask, why?!" Masako gestured with her shinai to her students. "It should be obvious!"

      "Masako-chan…!" Alex tried, tacking on the honorific and drawing it out in a cutesy pitch.

      But the jet-haired coach would have none of it. She pulled her arm free with a huff. Once more, she gestured to practice. "We may be winding down, but we've still another twenty minutes of practice left. You've got a hand warmer and you've said your hellos, so you can leave now, Alex."

      Alex blubbered, though, in response, and Himuro hustled over to the pair. If her incoherence were words, then he understood the matter and glanced as his coach.

      "You can see her out, Himuro."

      But he gave her a timid smile this time, as well as a one-armed shrug. "I will, but, Coach…taking time off might not be that bad?"

      "Do you want to end practice today with laps?"

      He paled but pushed on. "All I mean to say is, breaks can be good things. Especially for people who go…above and beyond," Himuro finished, though that pause clearly felt like a delay while he searched for a polite way to rephrase "overboard."

      Masako narrowed her eyes at him for the second time that day. "Direct that advice only towards those who actually go overboard." She let her eyes wander towards their second-year center.

      But Himuro needn't look to know who she meant, and he nodded in agreement. Instead, he focused on Alex and ushered his mentor back through the outside doors through which she'd come, and finally practice was peaceful once more.

      Alex's interruption seemed like a fever dream when practice wrapped. Masako left the boys to clean up, entrusting Himuro to lock up behind them, and she returned to the faculty room to catch up on odds and ends.

      There wasn't anything pressing waiting for her at her desk. As the P.E. teacher, she had a handful of get-out-of-class excuses to sort through, but too many of the reasons were rehearsed or reused these days, even for this time of year, so the task was a breeze to complete. There were a few reports due soon…and meetings to schedule…but those either needed input from other teachers or simply could wait, so Masako packed up.

      She went past the gym on her way to the employee lot and double-checked that Himuro had locked the doors. A firm tug confirmed it, so Masako hurried to her car.

      They hadn't had a good, proper snowfall yet, so nothing much had built up, but it was cold, and Masako relished the warmth once her car had the chance to heat up after a few minutes of running the engine. She pulled out of the lot and took the right to head home, but she caught the first red outside the school. Not the worst thing in the world, since she had the heat on full blast.

      On the passenger seat, her phone chirped with a new text.

      Masako glanced at her purse and how her phone lay partway out the opening… …well, this light was a long one, so it couldn't hurt to check, right? Still, Masako checked the surrounding, nonexistent traffic before picking up her phone and reading Alex's message:

-HEY! U should b done by now~ If u r, then I'm nearby at Ichiyan's

      Oh. Alex was at the ramen shop close by? Masako wondered why it surprised her so much…although, given the way Alex popped around Japan, checking in on Himuro and on Kagami or following up on interesting games and upcoming star players or even traveling for themed cafés for her favorite anime, Masako actually knew precisely why she was so stunned. Alexandra Garcia wasn't someone who liked to sit still for very long.

      Masako didn't bother replying to the text, knowing Alex would see she'd read it. Besides, Ichiyan's was a ten-ish-minute walk in good weather and quick drive in the scant traffic she had at the moment. Barely three minutes after seeing Alex's text, Masako rolled up on the little hut just as Alex exited the shop, takeout in hand. "We're not eating here?" she asked when Alex climbed into the passenger seat.

      Alex leaned across the console and planted a lingering kiss on her lips—warm and salty, like the ramen she'd just finished—before settling back and buckling up. "Masako, it's cozy in there, but their walls are still thin as hell. I got double, though, and it'll still be plenty hot back at your place."

      Masako briefly touched her bottom lip before blinking herself free from her stupor and getting them back on the road. She found it in her to smirk at the mention of her apartment. "I take it that means you're staying over?"

      "I have an invitation with no expiration date," Alex quipped, and her grin stretched from ear to ear, which Masako glimpsed out of the corner of her eye when they paused at a crossing.

      Yosen's coach shook her head but didn't deny the fact. "I'm guessing you stopped in Tokyo first?"

      "Mm. To see Taiga, yes, as well as check in with Seirin…" Alex stared out the window. "They let me study their practice for a while, and it got me thinking, so I dropped in on some practice matches Shutoku had, too."

      "Shutoku?"

      "Yeah. That Midorima kid who's Taiga's age. He and Seirin's Hyuuga…they're both shooting guards, same as Tatsuya."

      Well, that wasn't news to Masako. But she frowned when Alex huffed.

      "Tatsuya—is good. But Hyuuga's disciplined in his own way. And then Midorima—"

      "You don't even have to finish that thought. Training them or going up against them—the Generation of Miracles more than lives up to that moniker." They arrived at Masako's apartment complex, and the coach turned into her spot alongside the left side of the small building. She cut the engine and gave Alex a sly look. "But if you come up with some idea of special training for Himuro like what you gave Kagami last year, I wouldn't turn it away."

      Alex blinked and burst out laughing. "Ahhh, Masako…!" She swiped at her eyes. "While I do think Tatsuya's between a rock and a hard place—well, I'll think about it. Tatsuya's stubborn, so he'd also have to accept me training him."

      Damn. She hadn't thought of that.

      Alex hummed to herself as they got out of the car and headed inside. Her voice reverberated in the stairwell, though, causing Masako to shush her, but that only sent Alex chuckling again. She kept at Masako's heels as the shorter woman unlocked her apartment door on the third floor.

      "I know you like a challenge, but does the idea of trying to coach Himuro right now really amuse you that much?"

      "Oh, I stopped thinking about that five minutes ago. Even if I whipped up a training menu for him, the Winter Cup's too close."

      Masako shrugged out of her coat and blazer and hung her outerwear and Alex's up. They both changed into slippers and Masako undid the first few buttons on her Oxford. "Then what?"

      Alex placed their takeout on the nearest counter and took a second to tie up her hair. Then she slipped her arms around Masako's waist from behind, sighing contently as she pressed against the shorter woman's back. "Thinking about Akita. And Tokyo. And California. Shinkansen—and wishing we had that in America."

      It wasn't too difficult to follow her line of thought, given all the travel Alex did. Masako shuffled (hard to do little else with her girlfriend attached to her back) into her living room to tidy up a bit, and her eyes glanced at the small messenger bag that lived to the right of her TV stand. The bag was one of Alex's "go bags," something she liked to leave in the places she frequented most.

      "…although I will say, shopping in Akihabara is almost like coming home," Alex said. She laughed.

      Masako snapped out of her thoughts. Wait, how had they gone from travel to the shopping district? "You don't have any bags with you, though…"

      "Yeah, I left my haul at Taiga's place. I'll take care of the shipping another time or have Taiga do it for me." She squeezed Masako's midsection. "I did have a train to catch, after all."

      Masako half smiled and pecked her cheek, but then she disentangled herself from the blonde's embrace and went into her kitchenette to grab spare napkins at the very least. She checked the takeout and found it'd kept its temperature, and the shop had thrown in chopsticks, so they could dig in. "If you'd waited a bit, you'd be here closer to the Winter Cup, though."

      "Hmm… I've never been skiing in Akita? Or snowboarding."

      She stared at Alex with one eyebrow quirked. "And you think I have?"

      "Potential date idea, Masako."

      "More like something to add to a bucket list."

      "Ohhh! A bucket list! That's a good idea. Hey, hey, what else is on your list? Me, I wanna climb Mount Everest, I think… Go fishing in Thailand…" She tapped the end of her chopsticks against her chin. "Hmm, maybe pet cheetahs, but I think you can do that at a zoo in Australia, probably not on a safari…"

      The more outlandish Alex's items became, the easier it was for Masako to picture them. The younger woman hadn't been allowed to stay a professional player in WNBA, but she'd kept her physique intact and, on the rare occasion, even coaxed a rare one-on-one match from Masako. So an Alex weathering blustery conditions up a mountain's peak or fishing in clear waters or finding herself at home petting domesticated wild animals—yeah, it all sounded very much like the Alexandra Garcia she knew and loved.

      "…and…well, less a bucket list item—"

      Masako slurped some noodles and lifted her head. When Alex didn't continue, she lowered her chopsticks. "If not a bucket list item, then—?"

      Alex reached across the kitchen counter, where they stood on opposite sides, and lightly placed her fingers on Masako's wrist, her thumb tracing a tiny circle along the bone. "Masako, come with me to New York City."

      Her eyes widened as she stared at the taller woman. Even though Alex had told her earlier to take time off, this time the invitation hit differently. "…what?"

      Alex's smile was small but no less bright than usual. "It would be my treat. But." She took a breath and ran her free hand through her fringe. "I've been back and forth between here and home a lot since last winter, setting up Kiyoshi with the right doctors and accompanying Taiga and some of the Seirin seniors to visit him… But I don't have only L.A. contacts. I have NYC ones, too. And going back to California wasn't only about helping Taiga's senpai get treatment." Alex paused and something flashed in her eyes, an odd mix of envy and pride, perhaps, as she continued, "Part of it was to introduce Taiga to a few scouts. And, yeah, there are some people from New York who want to meet him and didn't get to last time, so I'll be chaperoning a bit, but my ideal plan to spend my time isn't all business."

      Masako jolted when Alex paused a second time for emphasis, because this pause came with a subtle squeeze, and Alex stroked the underside of her wrist, as well. Masako jerked her hand away on impulse, but Alex caught her fingers before the other woman was out of reach.

      "I actually really want to see the city lights with you, Masako." Her teal eyes softened behind her pink frames. That look was akin to a nonverbal, "So say 'yeah,' for me?"

      The jet-haired woman's mouth popped open in a small "o" and she licked her lips while she tried to sort her thoughts as the last few minutes replayed, back and forth, in her mind. Still, no matter how well she tried to situate herself when faced with Alex's true surprise, Masako came up dumbfounded. So, she settled for her argument from earlier. "What—What about my coaching? I can't just up and leave, Alex."

      "And Taiga wouldn't leave Tetsuya and Seirin for long unless absolutely necessary. But the Winter Cup's more than a week away. So don't worry. We'll go on holiday. Just—a long weekend. What do you say?"

      What was there to say? A tiny part of her, the part that enjoyed waving her shinai around at school, was doubtful about the logistics. And yet…

      If their schedules could work out… And Alex—her lackadaisical Alex!—was putting her heart into arranging this right before crunch time. Then…

      "…I wonder what New York's lights look like in person, too," Masako answered, entwining her fingers with Alex's.

      Alex's entire face lit up. She tugged Masako to the side, away from the counter and closer, pulling Masako flush against her and indulging in another kiss. But this time, Alex pushed her glasses up into her hair and deepened the kiss.

      Butterflies stirred in her stomach—both at having Alex so close in so long and at the idea of them being in New York City soon—so Masako let go of Alex's hand and hooked her arms around the other woman's neck instead.

      But that was a different kind of invitation for Alex. She had one hand sinking fingers into Masako's hair while the other undid the buttons of Masako's shirt from the bottom, tugging the blouse free and fussing with the fasteners on her pants, too—

      Masako broke the kiss and clonked her forehead against Alex's, stalling that hand. "Alex. Dinner will go cold."

      She received a whimper in reply.

      Yet Masako held firm, and she kissed the sore spot on Alex's forehead. "I simply want to eat with you. Then I'll make good on the me-warming-you-up thing you suggested earlier this evening," she added, hating how badly her cheeks burned as she echoed the blonde's sentiments.

      Alex gaped at Masako.

      (Needless to say, it was the fastest either of them ever had wolfed down ramen in their lives.)

Done for the 5, 10, 20, 50, 70, 100 Fandoms Challenge as well as the If You Dare Challenge (for prompt #933: New York) in the HPFC forum on FFN, as well as for minifemslashfeb 2023 (scenario 4: "One more word on this topic and I'll kill you"—*lol* it was implied) on tumblr. So! I'm slowly writing more for KnB. While I enjoy the femslash ships for it, I haven't written any of them, so that changes now. The title, btw, is a bit of a twofer: PTO being paid time off (a vacation!) or place, time, occasion (tho usually the order there is TPO for time, place, occasion XD). Alex is especially bad at TPO, tho, wanting to be smoochy wherever and whenever, *lol*, but I think Masako would adapt to her without real trouble; Masako's good at training the unruly types, after all. XDDD Let's see… Little mentions of fav charries and implications of Muramuro/Murahimu and Kagakuro for me, *lol*. Also, just, Himuro being a sort of matchmaker and wingman btwn Alex and Masako? I can't get enough of this idea. ;D I'm also here for Alex throwing around her moolah and whisking Masako off to wherever they wanna go. They deserve it. Ahhhh, this A/N is just me dithering about Garciraki and is gonna get worse if I don't stop here, so.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave an anon/unsigned review via the FFN link or comment via the AO3 link at the top of the post, especially if you enjoyed this! Check out my other KnB fics if you liked this, too!

~mew