#Either create more of the stuff you like or find a knew fandom

[darkcrowprincess]

Me ranting about how annoying tumblr takes can be. Especially about Batman:

If you leave your kids months at a time by themselves without parental supervision, that is a form of abuse and child neglect. Even if you send them to boarding school or hire a nanny to watch them, you still aren't parenting them. Your shipping your kid off to be someone else's problem. Usally someone you pay. Which obviously does not a parent or guardian make. So yes Tim Drake's parents are abusive and I wish people would stop dunking on that trope. Not only because I love those fics, but it's not a far out stretch to reach considering Tim Drake or honestly most of Batman's kids. Though again what do I know?

(Don't like don't read. Post hate and I'll block you!)

[impactrueno]

Do you ship beetlebabes?

anon you're one of the three people i woke up to this morning asking if i ship beetlebabes LMAO. so i guess i better address it as thoroughly as i can.

shortest answer i can give you: no. but there's a lot more to it than just that. please read on

as long as it's not kid lydia, i don't care. i'm perfectly at peace with the ship and accept it as an integral part of the fandom (i'll get to that in a second) because this isn't like other ships of its kind. there's a small sector of the shipper side of the fandom that's cuckoo bananas and i don't fuck with that but that's more about those shippers in particular and not the ship itself. and yes, i'm okay with you reblogging my art and tagging it as "beetlebabes" on your blog for your own organization purposes.

i've been lurking the beetlejuice fandom for like 20 years now, so the ship doesn't faze me in the least. especially since i shipped them myself when i was younger, and this isn't a secret or anything i'm ashamed about, because i just never thought that deeply about it back then you know?? i just knew i enjoyed their dynamic in the cartoon a lot. and i'm pretty sure this is the case for most veteran beetlejuice fans because back then 90% of the fan content was beetlebabes. the ship pretty much carried the fandom all throughout the 90s and the 2000s, and the bulk of these shippers was always goth/goth-adjacent women into gothic romances who had crushes on BJ and projected onto lydia. NOT pedophiles or groomers or anything of the sort (and i need to reiterate this every time this stuff comes up because it's really important: do not ever judge whether or not someone is a groomer based only on what they ship because that's only going to put you at risk of being groomed by a "non-problematic" shipper. a groomer can use anything to groom you, even if you're not a minor. please always stay alert no matter what circles you're in. sorry for the PSA i've just seen some stuff and i worry)

the shift in the demographics of the fandom happened when the musical came out in 2019, which brought in a new beetlejuice canon with TONS of new fans who were more attuned to what makes a ship creepy and inappropriate (again, literally no one ever thought about this stuff before the 2010s.) so obviously this new wave of fans were horrified that the ship even existed in the first place. this created a pretty big split in the fandom between shippers and non-shippers. i've been referring to the topic as a hornets nest ever since and it's the reason why i largely keep to myself in my own little corner of the fandom.

as for my feelings about the ship...that shifted a lot through the years. shipped them, then i didn't. then i thought about them again, then i was like nah. eventually i realized that i'm very picky and particular about them and i was never going to feel at home on either side of the fandom so i had to figure out what kind of content i wanted to see, how i see their relationship and if i could create something with that myself since it seemed like no one else was doing it.

so here i am now. the stuff i'm making right now with adult lydia and beej from the cartoon is intended to be "platonic soulmates" since this is what i found to be the closest thing to what i always wanted to see more of, i find it comforting and beautiful and tragically underrated. people are free to interpret it however they wish though, as long as they don't expect me to meet their expectations, because i'll be doing my own thing regardless. i'm not stupid though, i know i managed to put them in a position where they probably could organically develop feelings for each other, and people are inevitably going to be drawn to that potential. so i can't blame the people commenting with "when will they kiss, i hope they get married, etc," i just hope they don't feel to disappointed to learn that i have no plans to explore that far lol (if that's all you were here for then uhhh sorry i guess)

if i ever choose to make something that is actually beetlebabes, i would tag it as such so people know and so people who don't want to see it can block it. maybe i'd even give ample warning beforehand because i wouldn't want to spring that on my followers who are uncomfortable with the ship out of the blue like that.

if you've read my beetleposts you probably already know that i like character studies and analyzing their dynamics, so i don't mind discussing the ship and how or why i think things would be one way or the other. perhaps i'm a bit too lax about it for some people, because i've been asked to tag a couple of analyses that seemingly dipped into beetlebabes territory without me even noticing. that made me realize that what qualifies as beetlebabes varies from person to person, which makes "do you ship beetlebabes" even harder to answer, because people see what they want to see in art. you can ask my non-shipper followers and most will say they don't see anything romantic in my art, but then you ask the shippers and it can be the total opposite. just as everyone does when they watch the source material.

so in conclusion

i don't ship them (any of the canon iterations) romantically but i'm chill with the whole thing as long as people aren't rude to each other in my comments (or to me for that matter) because i'm frankly way too old to give a fuck about these things or all the proship/anti/whatever nonsense

[derangedfujoshi]

A quick intro

🍑 Call me Nene or FuMomo

🍑 New main cause they nuked lovelycureaesthetic on top of nuking cureaesthetic. That's still me if you knew me on those accounts!

🍑 This blog was created with the intent of putting the more unsavory and icky fandom stuff in a separate place from my main to try and avoid getting that one nuked. So expect nsft stuff~

🍑 I would also love for this blog to be a place for exchanging nasty ideas freely and happily, so feel free to engage!

🍑 Please Please Please send me your nsft fandom confessions through asks! Yes all of them, yes even the darkest ones this is a safe dark fiction lovers zone

🍑 LOLISHOS MY BELOVEDS COME TO ME

🍑 Main fandoms and interests will be Genshin Impact; Kingdom Hearts; Pretty Cure (and mahou shoujos in general); Kuroshitsuji; Gachiakuta; Hunter x Hunter; Digimon; Zenless Zone Zero. Yet, feel free to send me stuff from other fandoms as well!!

🍑 Everything will be tagged appropriately for a safe blocking experience so worry not! If I miss something do let me know! EDIT: The tags aren't censored to make your life difficult. The tags are written like that because THOSE are the correct tags that let others find my posts. The uncensored versions like "loli" or "shota" bring no results upon search, a message will pop up telling you they obscured the tag to "protect everyone" so the fans of icky themes have come up with different ones in order to find each other. Just block those as well and you're peachy! For example "l0li" "sh0t4/sh0ta" or directly blocky the tag "1cky thoughts"!

Thank you so much for stopping by and let's have fun together in this nasty corner😈🍑💕

🍑 Just to be clear: this is all FICTION we do not condone this stuff irl so maps/zoos get out and also terfs/antis and any bigot are bot welcomed either, that's the door thx

🍑 BYI (kinda)

[alpaca-clouds]

Something that will forever be a thing that drives me nuts, is people not understanding that yes, there are aspects about art that are subjective.

Look, no matter how good or bad a piece of art is, it does not mean it will connect to you. That is fine. As a picky eater, I always likened it too food. Were those eight-course meals that I got served in France objectively better than a fucking Pizza Hut pan pizza? Yes, they were. I will still choose the pan pizza every time, thank you very much.

And it is the same with media. One of my favorite movies of all time is Van Helsing. And I can tell you a lot of things the movie does good. I like the soundtrack a lot. I find the comedic timing in the movie amazing. And some of the actors are great. However, is the main reason I am watching this, that I am a simp for Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale? Yes. Yes, it is. And while the script is funny to me (like I really do enjoy the humor), it is certainly no master piece and if I was a youtuber, I could probably do a two hour video on stuff about the script I take issue with. Don't get me wrong. It is not a bad script by any means. Just... very mediocre. I am able to tell that. Just as I am able to call out the CGI that has aged a lot worse than the CGI in other movies. And some costume choices that were... less than ideal. I still love the movie.

Or maybe an even better example: I freaking love the movie Megamind. It is one of my Top 5 animated movies of all time. But the script was written by two guys who had never learned or studied screenwriting. And this shows. While the script had been edited a ton by people who knew more about screenwriting than them, it absolutely shows in some places, that it was written by folks, who just did not know how to best pace out scenes and stuff, how to work with show and tell, and how to think cinematically. But you know what? To me it does not matter, because I love Megamind and Minion as characters. Again, I am not saying it is a bad script because of it, just that... it could have used even more work than it got.

And this, too me, is part of the reason why I even in my childhood had a big issue with people who are like: "I love this piece of media and hence it is objectively the best thing that was ever created!"

I had this a lot in my first real fandom. Digimon. Because, yeah, it is perfectly fine that you connected more with Digimon Adventure or Digimon Adventure 02, but this does not mean that either of them were better written or better crafted than Digimon Tamers. Like there are very obvious problems in the writing of the first two seasons. Mind you, these days - after getting my answers on why this happened - I am way more chill about it. Like, I get that the people who wrote this were still trying to do the best with the options given to them. But partly because those options were limited, that "best" was just not the same "best" Konaka could do with Tamers, due to on one hand having more experience, and on the other hand just being a lot more stubborn about certain things.

Again, no, that does not mean you have to love Digimon Tamers. It also does not mean you have to dislike Digimon Adventure or Digimon Adventure 02. Like, heck, while I would argue there are more problems in Adventure, they are a lot more noticable in 02 - and I still like 02 more than Adventure, despite the animation being at times worse than some of those fan animatics on youtube. And yes, I mean animatics. Actually things that are not fully animated. Because 02 was suffering from timecrunch in the production a lot, so the animation really at times is a mess.

Why am I talking about this now?

Well, mainly because I am once more annoyed by this. By the fact that people do not acknowledge the fact that writing and art does have objective factors. And that there are rules to follow - or that if they get broken need to be broken for a good reason. Like, you absolutely can for artistic reasons subvert any writing or artistic rule. Totally fine. But only if it is done for artistic reasons and not, let's say, because of fucking time crunch.

And yes, this is still because of Arcane, and me being very, very sick of people claiming season 2 was well written. It was not. I am sorry, there are rules to writing and those rules were broken. Most notably rules of set-ups needing either a payoff or a clear subversion, and the good old screenwriting rule of "show, don't tell, you are a visual medium after all". (Please note at this point: Show don't tell was always for Screenwriting and visual media, it was never meant for pure prose writing, as in prose writing you will always just tell - given words are the only tool you have at your disposal. Yes, it usually works better if you write about characters in whose head your POV is not more in terms of reactions, rather than 'XY was angry', but other than that... there is only so much you can do as someone just using words.)

Like, it is perfectly fine if you totally connected to the story or specific characters. I mean, despite seeing the flaws with the writing - given they were really, really noticable - I would lie if I said I did not cry at some places. But yeah, if you were all there for Caitlyn, Vi, Viktor or Jayce, all power to you.

But the writing was not good. And from all we know the chances are very good that the reason the writing was such a mess was executive meddling of one sort or another. (Very probably the writers getting less time to tell their story than they had expected.)

And that exactly is why I am so fucking pissed at people being like "Oh, but the writing was great!" Because what you are saying with that is basically: "Creative interference and executive meddling is the most amazing thing. Creative people should not have their own freedom. Who also cares about people learning writing as a craft. Let's just let AI write this stuff, I don't fucking care."

And I actually do mean that last part. Because while I do not think that AI had written anything for that season, the time crunch made it so that there were certain things showing up, I have seen a lot in AI writing. Mainly the tell over show, and the set-up without payoff. Because AI is obviously not good with setting up and paying things off, because the AI does not plan a story. It just gives you a line of words in a row, that it has predicted have a high probability to go with a prompt it was given. And those usually do not have a payoff to set-ups.

Also, yes, I am very much the person, who will always give the creative behind any project a lot more benefit of the doubt, than any executives. There are times where it turns out that this is not warranted, and it turns out that indeed, something was weirdly written, because like some guy, who might or might not have been called Joss Whedon, wanted to write something that was titulating for himself. But still, in many cases where a piece of media turned out to have obvious issues, and someone broke their NDA, it often is the case that some executive was to blame for the mess that existed. Be it, because they wanted to pander to a specific audience. Be it, because they wanted to force in certain advertisements. Be it, because they decided that the creatives would just not have the time to do the creative stuff - or not enough time within the piece of media (runtime) to tell the story they wanted to tell. Be it, because some producer decided that his nephew Larry needed to have a role in the show, and because now this role was played by Larry, who was after all his nephew, this role needed to be way bigger than it was originally intended to be.

No, I do not know what happened behind the scenes of Arcane season 2. I can make some educated guesses, but I do not know it. But I know at least in part what happened behind the scenes of Digimon Adventure and 02, and exactly that makes me kinda pissed of people excusing stuff that was fully and completely there because of executive meddling.

Because yeah, most people who write for TV and movies have in fact somehow learned screenwriting. Not all at uni, some are self-taught. That is totally fine. But they have learned writing. The producers meanwhile have not. And it shows.

[box-of-paperclips]

having thoughts about marlene mckinnon for way too many words

In honour of breaking up the fanon characterisation of Marlene a little, here’s every bit of information I could find about Marlene from canon, and variants of Marlene that aren't a Marauders' year Gryffindor that I think could be really fun to write! As a fandom we all seem to stick to the same few traits for the characters like Marlene, to the point where it almost creates a kind of ‘canon’ which kind of defeats the creative freedom which makes writing in the Marauders era so interesting.

And please note that this is not a criticism of fanon at all, headcanon what you want to headcanon, there are so many talented writers and artists who do amazing Marlene work within her fanon characterisation as a Gryffindor classmate in the Marauders’ year. I just had a lot of thoughts.

So anyway, here’s the three quotes we have that mention her:

“No one lived after he decided ter kill ‘em, no one except you, an’ he killed some o’ the best witches an’ wizards of the age - the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts - an’ you was only a baby, an’ you lived,” - Hagrid, The Philosopher's Stone

“That’s Marlene McKinnon, she was killed two weeks after this was taken, they got her whole family,” - Moody, Order of the Phoenix

“Wormy was here last weekend, I thought he seemed down, but that was probably the news about the McKinnons; I cried all evening when I heard,” - Lily, The Deathly Hallows

Let’s get into it. Alright, so to get an indication of what Hagrid means when he’s talking about “the best witches an’ wizards of the age,” we can look at the Bones and the Prewetts.

“That’s Edgar Bones… brother of Amelia Bones, they got him and his family, too, he was a great wizard” from Order of the Phoenix. Apparently, his mother and father were also murdered by Voldemort (fandom wiki). It’s unclear whether “great” refers to magical skill or strength of character; however, we know Amelia Bones, his sister, was a fair and principled woman, so it probably includes elements of both. 

“Gideon Prewett, it took five Death Eaters to kill him and his brother Fabian, they fought like heroes.” Combining this with the Hagrid quote, we can gather that the “best witches an’ wizards” likely refers to prodigal magical skill, as well as strength of character - generally acting like a hero. 

So from these quotes, we can gather that Marlene was either a great witch herself, or at the very least, most of her family was skilled at magic, and that they all had great strength of character. By strength of character, I guess, from looking at the type of people the Prewetts and the Bones were, I mean that she valued stuff like justice, compassion and courage, and also, to put it simply, had a backbone and could stand up for what she believed in. 

I don’t think this necessarily makes her a Gryffindor, although it does make it more likely. The Bones family was known to be affiliated with Hufflepuff (Susan Bones), and people of every house can exhibit these traits. Although still very much possible, I find Slytherin to be the most unlikely house for her, as Hagrid does tend to harbour certain biases towards Slytherins (i.e. he tells Harry that there wasn’t a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’t in Slytherin) so would be less likely to describe a Slytherin-affiliated family in such a positive manner. However, realistically, all four houses are open options for Marlene. 

Now, onto her relationship with Lily Evans. Lily does not refer to her by name, only as part of a collective “the McKinnons,” implying that to the extent Lily knew Marlene, she was also associated with more than one member of the McKinnon family. Her death is also mentioned in a throwaway sort of line, as an explanation of Peter’s sadness, meaning she had to be somewhat close to Peter for it to be reasonable that he’s at least as sad as Lily about her death. This also reads like it’s the first time Lily has discussed her death with Sirius, and it’s been about a week. This, to me, seems to indicate a relationship that isn’t necessarily very close, more like coworkers than anything - if they were closer, I think we could expect more of a specific comment about Marlene rather than a generalised one about her family. As this letter is addressed to Sirius, it’s also likely that Sirius wasn’t particularly close with Marlene either, as Lily offers no attempt to comfort him about her death, which occurred sometime close to “last weekend.” Given Lily is often shown as quite a caring character, if either Lily or Sirius were extremely close to her, I think you’d expect more from Lily. However, Lily still does “[cry] all evening” when she hears, so it isn’t completely detached news of something happening to a stranger. Casual friends or acquaintances, maybe, but probably not a deep friendship.

We’re looking at a relationship close enough to warrant an initial shock reaction from Lily, but not close enough to warrant continual intense grief for more than a week, with a connection that was to the whole McKinnon family, not simply Marlene. In my personal view, while being Gryffindor classmates fits this model (allows Lily, Peter and Sirius to all be familiar with her, and could have a similar level of detachment as Harry has from Dean or Seamus), I’d think sharing a dormitory for seven years and also fighting in a war together would form a deeper connection between Marlene and Lily (think of Harry’s connection with Neville by the end of Deathly Hallows), or at least warrant a mention of Marlene in particular rather than “the McKinnons” in her letter. 

Moody also doesn’t point out additional members of the McKinnon family in the photo, implying that they were absent when the photograph was taken or were not members of the Order. I think it likely that more McKinnons than Marlene were in the Order, as this would allow Lily, Sirius and Peter to be connected to the family. There are three scenarios: the McKinnons are in the Order photograph and are simply not mentioned by Moody, the McKinnons are in the Order but not the photograph, and the McKinnons are not in the Order. In the first scenario, Marlene is singled out as the most significant member of the McKinnons, as she is the only one named and the others are referred to as “her family” - she could be more involved in the Order than the others, or she acts as some kind of leading figure for the household, or she was simply better known to Moody than the others. In the second scenario, she is mentioned as the only one present, while the others are absent - they could be in hiding, although Lily and James were in hiding and were still present for the photograph, or are on some kind of Order activity (like Lupin, who is also not mentioned as being in this photograph). In the third scenario, Marlene is the only Order member in her family. The way Moody describes her death as “got her whole family” also suggests an element of being caught, as if the whole family was wanted to some extent by the Death Eaters. Hagrid also says that Voldemort had “decided ter kill ‘em,” further implying that the whole family were targets, not just collateral damage from targeting Marlene. For these reasons, I find it more likely that she is not the only member of the Order in her family.

Lily, James, Sirius and Peter are seated in the same row of the photograph - from this, we can gather that there likely wasn’t arranged seating and people sat with those they were friendly with. Marlene is standing nearby to Dedalus Diggle, Frank and Alice Longbottom and Moody, implying these were the Order members she was closest to, not the Marauders. For this reason, I think it’s reasonable to interpret Marlene as older than she often is portrayed. Frank and Alice’s ages are unknown, but they are well-accomplished Aurors, repeatedly stated throughout the series to be an extremely challenging career with training for at least three years after graduation to even enter the position, although they are not too old to have Neville (the average age of first-time mothers in 1981 was about 25, but given that Alice was a well-established Auror by the time Neville was born, she was probably a bit older), likely placing them somewhere in the mid twenties to thirties range. Dedalus Diggle could be any age, but he is quite an eccentric and cheerful character, wearing a purple top hat, known for enthusiastic displays like summoning shooting stars in Kent upon Voldemort’s downfall, bowing to Harry in a shop, and attempting to be friendly to Vernon Dursley (a monumental task). Her association with Dedalus Diggle implies she isn’t bothered by this kind of behaviour - or maybe she is, and she’s unfortunately stuck standing near him. Moody is described as having grey hair, and just generally comes across as an older man (grizzled appearance, gruff, battle-hardened cynic). Given Moody is also nearby, Marlene is now associated with at least three Aurors, so she could reasonably be interpreted as an Auror, or Auror-in-training.

So, in conclusion:

Marlene is a member of the Order, likely at least a few years older than Lily and James. Her family members, whether that be her children or parents or siblings, are also in the order, and she is probably fairly close with them, given they were all murdered together. The McKinnons are highly skilled wizards and have strength of character, standing up for their beliefs, to the extent that they become a specific target for Death Eaters. Her closest associates in the Order are probably the Longbottoms and Dedalus Diggle, as well as Mad-Eye Moody. 

Marlene Variants!!

I think being described as one of the best of the age, not her age, but the age, might imply that she was either a younger member of a well-known magical family like the Potters (James Potter’s parents), or was an older, well-accomplished witch in her own right. 

Marlene, part of a large family affiliated with the Order, who knew Sirius, Lily and Peter through having been the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor one year. We know that, in Harry’s time, Dumbledore asked at least two former Order members to teach DADA in a six year time span (Moody and Lupin, from Harry’s first to sixth year), so it isn’t unlikely that Order members could be asked to fill in the role for a year. Professor McKinnon, who puts her students through almost military paces, but who sits on her desk while teaching, who knows which students are friends, who arranges her seating plans accordingly to make sure everyone has someone they can ask for help nearby. Marlene, who teaches the first years how to duel and goes tramping through the forbidden forest searching for Hinkypunks and takes her third years to the lake with Gillyweed to hunt for Grindylows, because doing is the best way to learn.

Marlene McKinnon and Dedalus Diggle as friends; whether Marlene is similar to him in being enthusiastic and just generally kind of extra, or whether she’s a kind of down to earth character foil for him, just… I think those two would be very interesting to see interacting. Marlene and Dedalus as old schoolmates, who love magic for the wild and the untameable, who charm rain into shooting stars and charm autumn leaves to fly in dizzying dances.

Marlene as an Auror. Marlene as Moody’s colleague, as around his age, as Frank and Alice’s colleague. Marlene who can hold her own against any given Death Eater, even when caught by surprise. Marlene, who can cast spells so powerful they make the floor crack under her feet and sear the walls with energy. Marlene McKinnon, who makes Death Eaters flee when she appears in the doorway, who can never be ambushed and can never be beaten, who decimates the ranks of every opposing force. Marlene, who isn’t afraid to kill where Moody spares, who can snap from kind to deadly in an instant. 

Marlene who is delighted when Alice tells her she’s having a baby, who comes around for lunch on Saturdays, who helps design the wards, and patches loopholes in the magic until it's impenetrable, and who makes Neville a quilt that is never finished. Marlene, who would have been an incredible aunt figure to Neville Longbottom. 

Marlene as an Auror in training, with parents who are already Aurors, potentially siblings too. Marlene who goofs around with Moody, who Tonks reminds him of years later, Marlene who dies despite her training. Maybe Evan Rosier is the one who kills her; maybe Moody remembers this when Rosier refuses to come quietly; maybe Marlene McKinnon is half the reason Rosier ends up dead that day.

There’s my brainrot analysis! This turned out a bit longer than I intended it to be. Feel free to use any of this in anything you make (maybe I’ll cough up some art eventually… tag me if you do, I’d love to see). And a friendly reminder that if you do headcanon Marlene differently, in the end, it’s all for fun, and you’re free to view her any way you’d like. And who knows, maybe I’ll get around to doing this for the other characters one day.

[fallenangelics]

I'll Meet You On The Battlefield

PAIRING | Adam/Lucifer Magne | Morningstar

WORD COUNT | 1189

SUMMARY | Against Lucifer's better judgment, he finds himself in Adam's bed once a year. Trying to turn the tables, he invites Adam down to a hot day in Hell.

RATING | Teen And Up Audiences

WARNING/TAG(S) | No Archive Warnings Apply, Friends With Benefits, Morning After, Forbidden Relationship

A/N | @rubra-wav created the beautiful banner below so go check out their content since they have some amazing stuff.

EVENTS | @eclipsingbingo | Unhealthy Comping Mechanisms | @fandombingo | Lucifer | @multifandom-flash | No Longer With Us | Ungreatfu; Bastard | Phone Call From The Dead | @fandom-free-bingo | You're Hopeless

AO3 LINK | Read Here

Lucifer shifted in his bed, his body aching as his bearings slowly came back to him. It wasn’t often that he found himself in this state, nor did he normally wake up this early but something about sneaking into Heaven to hook up with the First Man seemed to set off some alarm bells. 

He wasn’t sure why he allowed himself to be talked into this. Again.

But every year the day before the Extermination Adam would call Lucifer in for a meeting. Though Adam would never by choice make a meeting unless it was to gloat in Lucifer’s face then it was being mandated by one of the Seraphins, Lucifer would always agree to meet up with him and see what he had to say, even if he already knew where their future conversation was going.

When he’d arrive at Heaven’s Embassy and make his way to whatever room they were having a meeting in, ignoring the paperwork as he went, he’d find Adam munching on a fresh plate of ribs as he waited. Unlike any official meetings, Lute wasn't there, leaving the two of them completely alone and unwatched. 

After Adam’s ego dropped a notch or two temporarily, courtesy of Lucifer, a one-way portal opens for him leading straight to Adam’s room. It was always a risk choosing to go through it and breach Heaven’s walls. It was almost as if there was a disturbance in the air that everyone could feel when Lucifer was there. He still went through that portal every time.

Miraculously, these invites only started after Lilith had run away, leaving Lucifer to his sorrows and to rule Hell by himself. Almost as if Adam had been waiting for this moment since he stole his first wife, maybe even before then. 

None of that mattered though, not when he was once again tangled in someone else's bedsheets with an aching backside. He was getting ready to dress himself before creating a portal of his own to take him home. That’s how most of these occurrences ended unless, of course, Adam woke up before him and either kicked him straight back to Hell since he was too pumped for the Extermination to spare much time on Lucifer or was ready for another round, bothering Lucifer until he was fired up enough. 

Today was different though. As he pushed himself up in the bed, the pearly white sheets fell from his bare chest and pooled in his lap. Lucifer was ready to go about his day just like any other, the heavy snoring of Adam ringing next to him as he was about to get up when an arm slithered its way around his waist, pulling him in. 

Not expecting the sudden hold, Lucifer let out a soft hiss as he was tugged down. Even in his sleep, Adam was as demanding as ever, moulding Lucifer to fit his perfect image of a pillow as he was pushed onto his back and Adam’s head made its way onto his chest. 

Lucifer dared to attempt to wiggle his way out of Adam’s hold, one of his hands shoving against his brown hair while the other tried prying his arm off from around his waist. He could easily snap himself out of Adam’s hold with the angelic power he still possessed though he didn’t attempt to, rather admitting defeat then putting further effort into his escape. All he got for his efforts was a drawn-out groan from Adam as he slowly woke up and more prodding.

“Let me go, you oaf,” Lucifer murmured softly to the waking Adam, the hand that had previously been trying to shove Adam’s head away now running through his hair. Though he hadn’t been let go, he was able to wake Adam up, keeping him awake would be another task in itself. His words seemed to not affect Adam as he slowly lifted his head, resting his chin on Lucifer’s chest so he could stare up at him through tired eyes.

“You weren’t saying that last night,” Adam mumbled, eyes slipping shut as he leaned his head into Lucifer’s hand, a sly smile stretching its way onto his face. A frown etched its way onto Lucifer’s face at his words, tugging Adam’s hair a bit harsher than it was necessary, pulling another groan from him. “I don’t need to be ready for hours, I’m sure you can stay a little longer.”

“Hm, that may be the case for you but if you’ve forgotten I’m the King of Hell,” Lucifer reminded Adam and though he had been neglecting his duties as of late, it didn’t mean he could let them completely slip from his grasp. “Now if you would let go of me so I could return to Hell that would be much appreciated.”

“You’re so ungrateful,” Adam muttered though there was a smile on his face. Trying to bury that smile, Adam planted his face into Lucifer’s chest, holding him down with his weight. His next words were spoken into Lucifer’s skin, the muffled vibrations sending tingles through his body, “I go through all this trouble to bring you up here and you can’t even bother to spend a few more hours with me.”

“Maybe you should come down to Hell for a change,” Lucifer suggested, his hands returning to running through Adam’s hair. He had thought about suggesting the idea for a few years now. Though they only met up once a year, it was a grand hassle to do so as Lucifer’s presence alone could be sensed by most of the higher-ups in Heaven, how they hadn’t caught them yet was beyond him. But if Adam was to come to Hell no one would bat an eye.

“And be subjected to the bummer vibe down there?” He rhetorically asked, head snapping up to scoff at Lucifer so the fallen angel could see how just grossed out he was by the idea. Lucifer merely rolled his eyes at Adam’s words, expecting such an answer. “Hell no.”

“I’m just saying it would be easier for you to come down there,” Lucifer shrugged it off as the suggestion was a silly idea, which he at first had thought it was but with every passing year he was brought up here it seemed it could actually work out. “Especially if you wanted to hold some… private meetings.”

Adam’s eyes narrowed as he took Lucifer’s words into consideration. Just by that look alone, Lucifer knew that his words had struck something in Adam’s brain, making him think upon the possibilities they had.

“Maybe,” Adam slowly said, hesitation behind the single word.

No matter though as a smile graced Lucifer’s face before he flipped the two of them over, Adam landed beneath his small frame with an exhaled huff. “Good to know you’re taking this fling seriously but I do have to part ways now. Call me if you ever want to make the trip down.”

There was a small blip as Lucifer and all of his belongings flashed out of existence, leaving Adam stranded on his back and a tent slowly growing in the blankets.

[nightshadehoney]

I never watched James Somerton's shitty Killing Stalking video because I was trying to be good to myself and avoid something that I knew would make me very angry. In fact, I never watched any of his stuff because the fact that he made a video like that was enough to discount any thing he ever had to say (also I heard about the Celluloid Closet plagiarism).

But man, is the James Somerton discourse bringing a lot of Killing Stalking-related feelings back up for me. Because I'm mad; I'm still so mad. There are a suprising amount of people on social media who are saying they never watched any of his stuff except for the Killing Stalking video. I'm annoyed not just to find out that the vid had that sort of reach and influence, but also because Somerton's unmasking hasn't seemed to make people reasses the validity of the kind of thing he was saying. People are just now being like "hmm I think this guy might have Issues With Women" but that doesn't warrant any reflection on what exactly the motivation is of people who complain about women enjoying a niche webcomic? Because I don't actually believe you're concerned about the influence of some obscure piece of media when you advertise its existence to your large audience many of whom had not heard of it and would never have heard of it but for your transparent outrage porn video. It's rage bait and the target was women that are perceived as straight. A big channel has publicized the fact that they excised a section that endorsed the opinions in this video from their own because they became aware of Somerton's plagiarism and dishonesty (presumably; if it was actually because they recognized his views were coming from a sexist place I would welcome a clarification). And you know, I don't think that's a good look actually. That you needed to be told he was a bad person and couldn't idependently put together that the misogynist man was saying misogynist things.

The comic ended years ago and the fandom has gone mostly quiet, but to this day people are still the peddling the"fujoshi/stupid teenage girls who don't know what's good for them are shipping these characters because they are too braindead to realize it's not a romance; it's a horror, two things I believe are mutually exclusive. I am smarter than all of these cringe degenerates" bullshit. It's in the comments of the hbomberguy video even; one comment was such a gross misrepresentation of the series that my friend needed to talk me down from getting into a pointless youtube comments argument (bless him) because these people are officially making me lose my marbles.

This narrative is full of shit, it's demonstrably not fucking true. You can go on the artist's twitter right now and its full of her retweeting shippy fanart of that pairing readers were apparently never intended to ship.

(I don't think Koogi knows or cares about James Somerton; she just reblogs the works of fans who tag her. This made me laugh though).

Now this is all speculation because he died decades before social media existed, but I think if Nabokov was alive today his twitter would not be full of Humbert Humbert x Dolores Haze fanart. And yet, I have unironically seen people compare shipping Sangwoo and Bum in Killing Stalking with the misreading of Lolita as a precocious sexual temptress more than once.

And this isn't me saying that Killing Stalking is the disgusting"pro-sexualized abuse" comic that tumblr purity police used to characterize it as either. One of these days I'm going to go truly bonkers and end up banging pots and pans on the street corner, yelling at random innocent passerbys about how stories about romantic and sexual relationships are not required to be Hallmark movies. You can make art about the negative, dark, and troubling parts of these feelings and relationships without creating a pat morality tale. You don't need to approach media analysis like your 7th grade teacher has assigned you an essay on explaining what a novel's "message" is.

Nobody, not the author and not the fans, genuinely thinks that Sangwoo and Bum have a healthy or aspirational relationship. This hypothetical person that does not understand the relationship is toxic doesn't exist. Because girls and women, even the ones having cringey fandom fun on tiktok or whatever, are not so stupid and naive that they are unware that breaking someone's legs and locking them in a muder basement is bad. The type of concern troll rhetoric Somerton employed in his video is directed near exclusively at women interested in men and there's a reason for this. Women are not responsible for abuse that men do to them; nobody is responsible for their partner abusing them. If I never saw people spit this bullshit again it would be too soon.

[assorted-candy]

20 Q's for Fic Writers

I got tagged by @dp-marvel94! Thank you!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 

I've just posted my 22nd work a few days ago!

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

37,763

3. What fandoms do you write for?

So far, all my published fics are for Danny Phantom. It's a fandom that's near and dear to my heart and my favorite to write for. I've written fanfiction for myself in a lot of different fandoms over the years. Miraculous Ladybug, Mega Man (Star Force, Battle Network) and Fire Emblem are a few. (Will these ever see the light of day? Probs not, lol)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?  5. Frayed Ends - 37 kudos - Jazz and Maddie are fighting more often. Jack wants to reach out and help his family. 4. The Same Blood - 45 kudos - Maddie and Jack try to help a sick girl that collapsed in front of their house. They don't know what to make of her condition. Danny wants to help.

3. Returned Home - 49 kudos - Maddie finds Danny at home after he disappeared ten months ago.

2. The Broken Pieces Left Behind - 66 kudos (tie) - Maddie knew what the portal did to Danny. If she could create something that essentially turned him into a ghost, she could figure out a way to fix all of it. Even if she hasn't made any progress in the past two months, she'll keep trying. She didn't account for what Danny wanted. 1 . What's Out of Out Control - 66 kudos (tie) - Danny thought he had it under control. He thought he could finally hang out like they used to always do. Tucker could feel the rift between them widening. It wasn't getting smaller anytime soon.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to! There were a few comments from my two earlier fics that I never responded to and it's already been so long and I feel like I ended up putting it off too long to say anything now 😓But I'm so so thankful for all the comments I receive! I never thought anyone would read my work, let alone comment on it. I'm always between two modes of 'author commentary' and 'screaming thank you and running away'.

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

Lol, I love my angsty stuff and there are so many different flavors of angst, so it's hard to pick just one. I'd say the piece I aimed to write for Angst Fest, The Broken Pieces Left Behind, might be it. It ends on a rather hopeless note for the Fenton family that even I don't know how to make everything better for them

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

Probably Home for a Cat. It was for a Ectoberhaunt prompt that I was absolutely stumped on. So I decided someone was going to adopt a cat by the end of the fic.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Ahh, so I actually posted a fic on FFN wayyy back when I was in high school. I remember it being received pretty well but I got a really rude comment on a simple spelling mistake. Back then, I was just told I had dyslexia a few years prior and I had some really bad self-esteem issues tied in with that. So, yeah, that comment basically made me terrified to ever show my work to anyone ever.

It's been over ten years since then and I wanted to actually get over that fear. I impulsively decided to do Angst Fest with the mindset that no one would even look at what I posted. Not only did people look, everyone has been so kind!!!

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

lkdajldkf, nope. I get flustered trying to write basic romance and having two characters hold hands, lmao. Major props to those that can, it's definitely a skill that takes time to master just like any other genre.

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

I haven't.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Also haven't had this either.

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

Nope, but it seems like a lot of fun.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Back when the show was airing, Amethyst Ocean (Danny/Sam) was my go to. I'm a sucker for friends to lovers tropes and it's really nostalgic for me. But, I don't really read a lot of shippy things for Danny Phantom, so ships don't make or break a fic for me.

If I'm looking to read romance, the whole Love Square (MariChat my beloved) with Miraculous Ladybug will always be great. Even if I jumped ship on the show around season 2 or 3 and I have no clue what they're doing now, lol.

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

I honestly have so many WIPs that are unfinished on my computer from over the years. Maybe a super old one that I titled 'Phantoms in the Daylight'. Angst once more with Character Death as the main pain point. I like the beginning but oh boy, does it get sloppy and confusing real quick. I'd need serious outlining energy put into it if I'd ever want to salvage it and I just don't have it in me.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue! Give me two blorbos and I'll make them talk forever.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Scenery and description. I love the dialogue portion so much that I end up running into the floating heads in an empty room problem in the first drafts of my fics. My first round of edits are dedicated to making sure I have a scene and grounding characters into it. And then I have to go back later to make it not feel so robotic sounding.

(Also a weakness but more as in fic than writing. Summaries and Titles. I stare at my drafts on AO3's editor for at least half an hour trying to pull something together, lol)

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

I can probably talk about this for hours, lol. I absolutely love foreign languages, especially when it comes to linguistics. So, I'll try to be brief, lmao. Short answer: depends on the fic but normally no. I already spend so much time fussing over the word choice/slang/formality/dialect characters use in my native language. I don't have a good enough grasp on another language for it to sound natural to the reader. ("They would not fucking say that" is my internal monologue during dialogue edits, lol)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

It's a toss up between Pokemon and Danny Phantom. I first learned about fanfiction from a friend who showed me FFN for the Pokemon fics. I looked around the site and found all of the Danny Phantom fics soon after and got hooked on those. I started writing around then and it would have been for one of those two.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Hard to chose one! Writing technicality wise, I'm proud of how What Remains on the Table turned out. I consider description my weak point, so the original draft was 0 dialogue with very stiff descriptions. I was able to edit it to really practice my environmental storytelling. (Although, please mind the tags if you click the link as it does deal with the dissection topic)

I'm not sure who's been tagged and I'm not sure who writes fanfic, so @lavendarlily, @fangirlwriting-stories, @grub-xd, @nanaarchy and anyone else that wants to join!

[aceofwhump]

Dear Ace,

I need some advice. I’ve been a whump lover for as long as I can remember and I’ve been lurking around this community for some time now but I’m still having some trouble with feeling the need to hide my love of whump. I like to write but hardly ever do because all my ideas center heavily around physical whump scenarios. I have the hardest time putting pen to paper because once I do, it’s out there….and what if someone accidentally reads it and realizes how dark my mind is?!?

Intellectually I know that’s ridiculous. I live alone and the chances of someone accidentally stumbling over my writing are practically zero and even if they somehow do, it’s a creative outlet right?

But I still can’t seem to manage actually writing any of it down.

Any words of wisdom about how to get over this hold up and be able to write the stories in my head? Thanks in advanced.

Signed,

Anxious Writer.

Hi nonny <3 Sorry for my slow response.

What you feel is incredibly common amongst the whump community. Incredibly common. You are not alone in these feelings. And just like you're not alone in feeling weird or uncomfortable about your love of whump you're also not alone in loving whump. There's sooooo many of us here with you and you are welcome in this community. Your work would be welcomed in this space. It really helped me finding out that there are sooo many people out there who love the same kind of stuff I do. So know you're not alone.

It took me a while to become comfortable with sharing my writing and my rambles and general love of whump as well. One thing that helped me is knowing I sharing it in a loving space of fellow whump lovers. So I made sure to tag it so that other whump lovers found it and that non whump lovers who have the tag blocked won't see it. Tagging is a really great way to get your work into the right fandom spaces (both with AO3 and tumblr).

I also share the fear that someone I know will find my writing. My mom especially can NEVER find it because she will not understand it at all. So when I do write I make sure I'm doing in the safety and seclusion of my bedroom where no one can see my computer screen. I don't write when I'm in the same room as my family. Not unless I'm 100% sure they can't see my screen. So another piece of advice I can offer is to create a secluded space for yourself where you can write without worry that someone will see it. I don't know if that's the best advice but it's something that makes me feel more comfortable when I write whump. My sister knows I write whump fanfics just like I know she writes smut but we've made an agreement to never go seeking each others profiles or reading each others fics. Just for our own comfort levels. We don't judge each other but knowing the other wont see what our minds come up with makes us feel better.

And I know it's hard to get over the hump of thinking what you want to write is dark and bad but I promise it is not bad to want to write whump. Tons and tons of people write whump. And not just the hundreds aof fanfic writers either! Look at the stuff written by Stephen King or Mike Flanagan. They're praised for their whump writing.

Another piece of advice I can offer that helped me start to share my work is to create a blog/space made specifically for your whump. As soon as I made this blog I immediately felt more at ease sharing my love of whump because I knew I could keep it separate from my real life and keep it as anonymous as I'd like. If you'd like you could create a whump sideblog and post your work there. Try with something small like a drabble in answer to a prompt post. I did that. I wrote a short little thing that fit a prompt post I liked and i got such a nice response from the community it made me feel more confident with sharing more of my writing. Is there a prompt you've seen that gave some inspiration? Go ahead and try sharing your response! See how it feels!

I hope something here helps you nonny. I know it can be hard but we'd love to read your work! Everyone has something unique to offer and teh more whump the better! This community is really nice and we'd love to have you <3

[spikeface]

Hey friend! A little random question just to pop into your ask box with

Thoughts on the following random ships? Lydia/Malia

Lydia/Kira

Erica/Theo/Isaac

Erica/Allison

Peter/Deucalion

Lydia/Cora

Thank you for the ask, kind anon!

Erica/Allison - One of my fave fave femslash ships! It's got what I think is the perfect enemies-to-lovers dynamic where the characters are good foils for each other. Both were seduced into becoming a pawn for a leader who is exploiting them--harassing Allison is part of Erica's initial power trip, and I love that we can start to see Allison's darker elements when she gloats after stopping Erica from killing Lydia. I really, really wish Erica had survived into s3, because I think her dynamic with Allison would have been so amazing now that both of them have come back, and each of them reckoning with what they did to each other, now that they want to be different. A raging Erica would have been a really interesting pair with 3a Allison, who takes a lot more effort to be provoked into a fight.

Lydia/Malia - I think I prefer these two as friends more, but I do really like their dynamic. They're different enough that their s6 dynamic feels like buddy cops, which I really enjoy.

Lydia/Kira - Very underrated ship! I definitely think Lydia develops possessive weirdgirl feelings about Kira, starting with her faint wariness when Kira arrives. If she's instantly possessive of Allison in the pilot, she seems to take a bit more time to warm up to Kira, but then becomes almost casually flirtatious with things like "you're a vixen," and I like that the two of them get to talk about 4x01 together. I wish they spent more time together, though, and I definitely wish we knew more about what Kira thinks of Lydia. I get the impression that Lydia awes her a little bit, given how shocked she is to find out that Lydia used to pretend to be dumb, but I would have killed for more.

Lydia/Cora - A femslash fandom classic for a reason, though I support it passively more than actively. I'm a sucker for their initial snarking at each other, and do like when Cora, for all her bark, is instantly protective of Lydia, who seems interested, almost despite herself, in Cora's aggressiveness.

Erica/Theo/Isaac - Erica/Isaac for sure, but I can't see either of them with Theo. I can see Erica initially being interested in Theo--his flirting might seem fun and harmless, and I think she'd be a bit charmed by his sleaziness in the way she clearly is by Isaac's--but that would only make her rage post-betrayal bigger. Theo exploits his pack even worse than Derek exploited his, so I can't see her forgiving that anytime soon.

As for Isaac? We saw how he felt about the twins: he never stops trying to punch them and fight them and root for their death, and even in 3b he's still trying to murder them for what they did to him, Erica, and Boyd. The guy who'd killed Scott? He'd never forgive that. He wouldn't piss on Theo if the guy was on fire.

Peter/Deucalion - This one shows up not infrequently in fic and honestly I don't know why. Deucalion canonically thinks the stuff Peter does is "boring," and I can't see Peter "Revenge" Hale ever understanding or respecting the fact that Deucalion became obsessive about creating the perfect pack rather than, say, ripping Gerard's eyes out with his claws. Their contempt is dismissive, which is hard to ship.

[basofy]

rambling time

.

.

ive encountered many points of view that imply that the player's feelings over the garth jack scene do not matter, but i can't distract my brain from the possibility that yes, it does

one of these that haunt me severely and i made a doodle reminiscent of this is, the fact that brad does not get to know of this happening. he only checks the mags after but we don't know his impression of them, he might've not thought much about them. this is between garth, jack, and the only other person watching (the player)

the fact that there isn't any mention of the events of this scene after this. this is what initially infuriated me, i didnt know if the intention was to make it matter to us or not, it felt like not. there's no more mention of it, no changes to the characters save for, maybe, your perception of them after this. but that's the thing, and maybe, leaving some stuff up to you is the way to make it connect with you, (this takes me back to there being so much about lisa that was either unexplained or not too developed, and how this served as a way for fans to connect with her more). rather than it being the game distancing from you it's putting this scene in your hands as in 'here, i trust you with this'. it's not going to tell you to care, it's trusting that you will

i keep thinking about how one of the motivating factors for the definitive edition were lisa and buddy, for austin realized the fandom was unsatisfied with how their characters were handled, and he himself admitted to not be proud either. so he knew how much these 2 girls and their circumstances mattered to lisa fans, and a big part of the new content went into humanizing them (better done wit lisa than buddy imo but anyway) part of it also went into expanding brad's character more as well. so i'm thinking, if with this scene austin decided to create another victim, it feels like he's handling us this scene and trusting us with it

that and his words about finding something worthwhile in all the tragedy. finding something worth pointing out, worth caring about in a very uncomfortable 3 minutes scene that's got no more mention of it after it happens.

if this doesnt end up being the case, and he wrote it very carelessly, well it ends up being hilarious that the scene turned out deep on accident. but i've talked about it with friends multiple times, and some of them have commented on the way it's written, it being 'carefully crafted' and after finding the other stuff in the games (stuff that's always been there) that ties perfectly to this interaction i can't get the thought out of my mind that this thang can't be just a joke, that the player is supposed to care at least a little

[blimbo-buddy]

about the tier list, I'm really curious as to why Jake is as low as he is

You got a big storm comin'

So the thing is, I like Jake. To an extent. It's the canon and common fanon versions of him that I don't care much for

I don't like the idea that he's this great father and great friend who everyone loves. I also have my share of gripes of his appearances. Which is weird, you'd think that I'd be happy that a Kittypet has so many appearances in a book, especially if they're present in multiple books in some form.

But. I feel nothing whenever he shows up or is mentioned. and I have no clue why. But I can try and narrow them down:

I don't like how much he's put onto a pedestal by the fandom

I don't care for the friendships he makes in canon

I don't like his fanon characterization of being the number 1 dad ever

As a matter of fact, I have a wildly different interpretation of him compared to other versions. Below the cut is me going on about my version of how I interpret him. But to reiterate:

Jake being so loved by the fandom and put on a pedestal for being a "Good dad" makes me want him boiled

I feel nothing about him and continue to feel the same way about him in canon

He works better as being a good enough friend, but horrible father

Okay so without further ado:

He was simply another cat indoctrinated into following clan society, he's just doing it with extra steps

His love for the clans soured his reputation greatly in Chelford (i think we all can get an idea of why)

He had the time of his life with TallTail, loving every story he told him of the Clans. To Jake, it was like he was meeting a personal hero (even if he never knew TallTail beforehand)

He was probably chosen by Starclan to act as the perfect puppet for their meddling. So he was visited one night and informed that he could be the sire to the greatest cat that ever lived

Jake longed for a place in the world, a way that he could cement himself into history, no matter if he would become infamous to his hometown. He could finally be something in the world

So when he was given this message from the Clan's afterlife that he would sire a prophecy cat, he went right to finding cats

First, he actually met Nutmeg. She wasn't from Chelford so she never experience The Raids, meaning that she didn't hold malice towards him.

Together, they had Filou, Tommy, and Luna. But when Jake laid his eyes onto the litter, he felt nothing special, no implication that this litter was a success in creating the prophecy cat

I'm not sure if I'd either have Jake cheat on Nutmeg or have Jake and Nutmeg split up for a moment, but either way:

Jake met Quince- who he had known for quite some time in their younger years-. She was hesitant at first with being together with him due to his reputation, but she grew fond of him again

They had a three-kit litter: Socks, Ruby, and Tiny

Jake prayed that this would be the one. But as you could have guessed: It wasn't

Jake swore he could have heard a small voice in the back of his mind - Starclan perhaps?-, to just try one. more. time:

Jake left Quince and went back to Nutmeg and the two had their second and final litter: Princess and Rusty

The moment Jake laid his eyes onto Rusty, he felt a burst of energy into his body that nearly hurt like fire. Rusty was the one

From that day, Jake put every second of his attention onto Rusty, secretly telling him of the Clans in the forest and encouraging his son to be adventurous

For Jake, he finally found his purpose in the world. He now had his prophecy child who would become something far beyond extraordinary. He was Jake: Father of FireStar, the fire that saved the Clans

Here's some other posts that go over how I view him (Which also includes rewrite stuff)

Why FireStar is hated by the Clans

Firekin's familial struggle

Jake repeating the cycle of indoctrination and clan propaganda

Jake's prophecy child mission

[meddow]

Fic Author Q&A

Thank you for tagging me @curator-on-ao3!

1. Why do you write fanfic?

It’s a bit of a combination firstly wanting to share a plot idea I have with others, secondly, wanting to see something happen which I know won’t happen in the original source, and thirdly, it can be a bit of a fun puzzle – I don’t like this canon, how do I fix it.

2. Which of your posted stories do you think about the most, even though the story is “finished”?

Lately, First Solitary Separate Singular Complete. It was the first fic I wrote after a long break and I was a very rusty when writing it, so mostly what I would have do differently.

3. If you could give yourself fic advice from when you first started writing fic, what would that advice be?

There will be times when you feel you’ve lost the ability to write. It will come back. It never strays that far away.

4. What’s your relationship to fic stats?

I do check them and quite often, but just for hits. I like seeing the hit count on my WIP steadily head up and like to interpret that as it has found an audience.

5. Is there a pairing or scenario or friendship you miss writing? If so, why? If not, why not?

I wouldn’t mind revisiting Lix/Randall (The Hour) a bit more. I still occasionally find myself coming up with AUs for them. I had half a Victorian detectives AU plotted out in my head back in the day and I wish I'd had the energy to write it. Anyway, it was six episodes over a decade ago and yet they still reside in my head.

6. What motivates you to write?

Partly it’s a race against time to get things down before my inspiration runs out. Partly is that writing for me is like cooking. It’s lovely cooking for myself, but its extra special getting to share what I’ve created with the world and seeing other people enjoy it

7. Why do you write for the fandom(s) that you write for?

My muse is very much motivated by newspaper articles and non-fiction and basically shit I see in the world which pisses me off, and Star Trek remains the ultimate franchise for being able to discuss contemporary issues with a shielding layer of fiction over the top.

For example (spoilers for the next chapter of The Endurance of Light) the villains I’m writing at the moment have an ideology which is based of a whole bunch of anti-master, anti-vaxxer and anti-science rhetoric I’ve seen around – and I’m getting to show how the ruling class of that planet use that ideology to oppress the masses and keep themselves in power, while finding and exploiting loopholes that benefit themselves. I don't know if I'm weird, but writing that kind of stuff for me is oddly fun.

Strange New Worlds in particular hits that sweet spot as it has a great set up and characters I adore, but never seems to have enough time/a high enough episode order to really explore the characters and I want to fix that.  

8. If you’re stuck writing a WIP, what do you do?

Go for a walk. I get all my best ideas either wandering around the local park, or in the shower.

9. What do you wish people knew about comments?

I can’t speak for any author but myself, but I’m happy to answer questions about future developments (or the general direction at least, I won’t give a blow by blow) if someone asks me in a comment. I don’t like tagging my fics with whether it’s a happy ending or not or whether a pairing is endgame or not because I feel that ruins any tension and/or mystery I want to build for everyone, but in the comments, I can put details below a spoiler cut.

10. Maybe there’s a question you wish had been on here. What’s that question (and answer)?

As a person who has aphantasia (the inability to picture things in my mind), I’d love to know what other people see when they’re writing, and how much detail. For me, I feel like for a scene I get enough in my mind to create one blurry film still per scene. There's no movement though. I can’t picture things like facial expressions changing or what characters are doing with their hands. Often I feel like I’m just writing off vibes.

I've seen a lot of people I follow tagged already, is there anyone who has missed out that wants to be?

[asexual-spongebob]

how I told my older sibling about siren dib: a post by asexual-SpongeBob.

Okay so I wanted to go more in depth abt this.

So, as some you may know, I recently told my older sibling, (who I’ll be referring to as s, for their privacy.) about Siren Dib. And this is how.

So, months ago when I first created siren Dib, I wanted too tell my sibling about him, given we both have a love of Invader Zim.

However, I unfortunately could never quite find the time, either 1. Our parents were around or 2. I chickened out due to anxiety. I was even going to make a ZaDr joke when we went to the water park, but I couldn’t find the right time. And I was extremely nervous to talk about it, as I wasn’t sure if he even knew what it was, or if it was something clown would hate.

However, one day I finally determined to tell ghost. We decided to go get some ice cream together n chill at the park (their bf tagged along too but that was fine. he’s chill.)

And, as we were about to leave, I asked S if I could talk to them alone. They said “Oh, sure.”

We went to a secluded area, where no one was around, I began to speak, saying something like. “So.. I’ve wanted to tell you something for a while, i was even going to make a joke about something related to it at the water park, but I couldn’t quite find the time. But I finally found the time. *digs around in backpack.* this is my Siren Dib. He means a lot to me. I have this Invader Zim AU where he’s a siren, Gaz is too. I’ll tell you more about it next time. Also, please don’t tell dad / my mom about it. they can’t know that I know about this kind of stuff.”

my sibling then asked why, and I explained my reasons. (Aka that my mom is a bitch, and would likely get mad. And 2. I’m not sure if our Dad would understand.)

anyway, then next time we hung out, I told them more about it! :D

his bf was also there but he was fine. 👍 i don’t think he thought it was weird given he’s probably seen weirder shit.

anyway, I did warn clown that it did have shipping (because I had no idea if ghost had invader zim fandom knowledge. (They didn’t.) and he was just like “Oh that’s fine! I excepted that!”

I then awkwardly told clown about ZaDr in it, and ghost thought the scene where Zim found out Dib was a siren was cute. ghost also thought it was a very well rounded story, and I also got to explain my thought process about the whole thing.

So, in conclusion, I’m glad I told S about Siren Dib, I still have more to tell them. But I’m glad I told them about a good chunk of it. :) I’m not sure why I was so afraid and paranoid, lol.

[enigmalea]

Why I Contributed to FujoGuide

If you follow me here or mastodon you may have noticed that I've been reblogging/boosting a lot of posts for something called The Fujoshi Guide to Web Development (@fujowebdev). There's a good chance you followed me or know me from the Dragon Age fandom where I run communities, events, and zines and write fanfic, and you might be wondering why the sudden and drastic departure from my normal content. Why would a writer contribute to something related to webdev? Why have you stopped seeing thirst for Dragon Age characters and started seeing… whatever a FujoGuide is?

The answers to those questions (and more!) are below the cut.

My Coding Journey

I wrote my first lines of code in 1996 (yes, I'm old AF). It was the early days of the internet and tutorials for how to make your own websites were literally everywhere. You couldn't go more than two clicks without finding a how-to written in plain language. But it was painstaking and tedious. CSS didn't exist yet (literally, I started coding about six months before it was released) and even when it appeared it wasn't widely adopted or supported.

It was the "glory days" of Geocities, Myspace themes, Neopets, and Livejournal. If there was a cool site, you could use HTML and/or CSS to customize it. I honed my skills by coding so many tables character profiles for RPs, creating themes, painstakingly laying out user info pages, and building my own site.

Gradually, things changed. Web 2.0 showed up with locked down profiles and feeds you couldn't customize, free website hosts became more difficult to find, and point and click page builders became the way of the web. Shortly after, I took a long break from fandom; frustrated and disappointed with site closures, lost communities, and general fandom wank… it felt like it just wasn't worth it anymore.

I eventually came back, and when I did it meant customizing themes, figuring out how to create tools for my communities, coding tumblr pages (and learning they're not really supported on mobile), and looking at automations for my common tasks. One day, I woke up and thought, "I'm going to make a Discord bot… it can't be that hard."

So, I did it.

An Unexpected Friendship

About a month after I launched my bot to the public, I received a random Discord message from @essential-randomness. A friend had told her about my bot, and she was working on BobaBoard which needed volunteers. I was shocked. First, people were talking about my bot. Second, I wasn't a real coder. I didn't know anything! I just googled a bunch of stuff and got something working. I had no idea what I was doing.

She assured me it was okay. She was willing to teach me what I didn't know - and most of all, that she wanted my help. I took a day or two to think it over, and fatefully filled out the volunteer form. I didn't know if I could be useful or how I could be useful, but I wanted to try.

Programming Is Awful

In the years months that followed, I spent a lot of time in @essential-randomness' DMs complaining about programming… at least once I realized she wouldn't judge me. I was still very much doing things the hard way, taking hours to update a site to add a single link on all the pages. I knew there were easier methods, but I either couldn't find them or once I found them, they were filled with dense jargon which was terrifying.

"An all-in-one zero-javascript frontend architecture framework!" Is that even English? "A headless open-source CMS." Cool. Sounds good. "A full-stack SSG based on Jamstack extending React and integrating Rust-based JS." Those sure are words. With meanings. That someone knows. Not me, though.

I spent so much time looking at what sites claimed was documentation and losing my mind because I had no idea where to even start most of the time. With @essential-randomness' encouragement, I kept at it, experimenting with new things, and jumping in headfirst even when I had no idea what I was doing. And I was so glad. Where I used to struggle keeping one website updated, last year I managed to deploy and update 7 websites. Yeah, you read that right. It was amazing.

The new stuff made it all much, much easier.

An Idea Is Born

Meanwhile, we spent hours discussing why it was difficult to get fandom to try coding. Part of the barrier was the belief you must be some sort of genius or know math or that creative/humanities people can't do it. It is also partially coding communities being unfriendly to newbies and hobbyists; a culture which often thrives on debasing people's choices, deriding them for not understanding, and shouting rtfm (read the fucking manual) and lmgtfy (let me google that for you)- all of which are unhelpful at best and humiliating and abusive at worst. The tech dudebro culture can be unforgiving and mean.

The number of coding-based Discords I've left far outnumbers the ones I've stayed in.

We determined what fandom needed was a place for coders of all skill levels to come together to help and support one another; where they could learn to code and how to join open-source projects they love, and where they could make friends and connections and show off their projects whether they were new or experienced programmers.

And thus… Fandom Coders was born.

What About FujoGuide?

Of course, running a coding group and working on BobaBoard together means we spent a lot of time talking about the state of the web. We both lamented over poor documentation, jargon-rich tutorials, and guides which assume a baseline of knowledge most people don't have. What we needed to do was provide tutorials which start at the beginning… from the ground up (what is a terminal and how do I open it?) without skipping steps. What we needed to do was make those tutorials fun and appealing.

I don't remember exactly the journey it took to get us here if I'm honest. I have no clue who said it first. But I do remember I first started thinking about anthropomorphizing programming languages when we attempted to cast the languages as the Ouran High School boys… and again when I suggested we do a [TOP SECRET IN CASE WE DO IT] group project in Fandom Coders to help people learn about programming.

What I do know is that as last year ended, @essential-randomness became laser-focused on creating our gijinka and moving forward with FujoGuide… and I couldn't say no.

Okay, But… Why Contribute?

To be honest, it's not just that I was around for the birth of the idea. It's ALL of the things in this post - the culmination of three years of frustration trying to figure out what I'm doing with coding, of wading through dense documentation, of wanting to give up before I even start. It's three years of dipping my toes into toxic techbro culture before running away. All added to decades of watching the web become corporate-sanitized, frustratingly difficult to customize, increasingly less fun, and overtly hostile to fans who dare enjoy sexual content.

To sum all of this up, it's the firm belief that we desperately need a resource like this. Something that's for us, by us. Something that builds fans up, instead of tears them down; that empowers them to create for themselves and their communities what no one is creating for them. It is a project I'm deeply passionate about.

And I can't wait until we can bring it to life for you all.

[sekaicards]

Hihi !!

I'm starting a tournament blog and wanted to know if you had any tips on running one + how to promote ?

hi!! um.. well, i don't know if i am the best person to come to but! i am very flattered you asked still :)

okay. promotion. the way i promoted both of the tournament blogs i have run was i made an intro post, maintagged it, and @'d the tournament blog that had inspired me.

both times i have been lucky and the blog reblogged my post, thereby giving me a starting feed-in audience of people interested in the similar style/same fandom tournament to that blog that i was now hosting.

for non fandom specific tournaments, i do also know that people will also tag tournament blogs, either that they follow, that inspired them, or are simply just Well Known ones.

but! mostly i reccomend not worrying too much about that part and instead making an intro post. this post serves as a summary and sort of like an advertisement for your tournament in a way?? it lets people have an idea of what sort of polls they're gonna be seeing if they follow you.

that's about all i got on promoting though now for running...

for one. make your polls in advance; if you know what your contestants pool is, that is. for instance, the pjsk cards. there i knew what all of my match-ups would be made of and therefore could make matches before i even started.

if you don't know your full line-up, like if your tournament will be made up of submissions, then at least make a mock-up of how you want your polls to look. where you want each... contestant?? i don;t know a better word for it. to be placed; where you want the question to be, either above or below the pictures/videos/links/whatever; if there's any additional information you want to add to the match like propaganda, additional photos like i do, etc etc.

if you have a bunch premade then you don't have to worry about creating a full batch to be released every day, helpful for if you have a day where you are suddenly busy or have less time than expected. so. very helpful i reccommed. please follow my advice here and not my habits.

don't. push yourself. if you only feel like you have the ability to post 5, 3, even just 1 poll a day. do that. don't force yourself to spend all of your time working on the blog, especially if you find yourself not having fun! you made the tournament, and if you need to step back a little from it, that's your right. don't revolve your entire life around running a tumblr blog. it. has the chance of leading to burnout, especially if this tournament you're running overlaps with your school year or some other activity you're doing.

communicate with your followers also. it can help you figure out problems you;re running into, can help you figure out what schedule people are more intrested in seeing (i.e. one day polls vs one week polls) and all that important stuff. but also. it's nice. just getting to talk to people who are there because they're interested in the same thing(s) you are :)

uh. in my experience it's nice to have a tag that denotes that your posts are all tournament posts. like. for instance. all of the polls on this blog go into the main 'project sekai' tag. but i have also made sure to add the 'tournament poll' tag and. well, for this round. the 'pjsk costume polls' tag so that people who just use the main tag who do Not want to see/be flooded with my polls have an easy way to block them. i reccommend doing this.

uhm... i personally also reccomend not making a bracket but that's just me, i personally just didn't like making them for each round. and. uh. um. i've already said this but. when you're running the blog. be sure that you have fun :)