#I loved writing about it too even though I'm not satisfied with the end result

[yujeong]

For a writing prompt, how about Pete and his grandmother, post-canon? It could be Vegas/Pete + Macau + Pete's grandmother as well or any combination you want ^_^

I wonder how his grandmother would react to seeing a Pete she both knows and one who has been changed. How would Pete walk the line between the truth she deserves to know and the pain he wants to preserve her from? There are so many unique tensions between them that I'd love to see you explore <3

My beautiful friend, how kind of you to send me this prompt ❤️ Pete and his relationship with his grandma has occupied my thoughts many, many times, so this is an incredible chance to explore them. You already know this, but for the rest who will read it, the following will be part of a bigger fic I intend to write someday, which I had presented briefly here: aka, Pete will be teaching Vegas boxing post-canon, despite both of their better judgements. Here, Pete's grandmother finds out about it 😌 It's a very rough draft and very incomplete, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless 🥰 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Pete, dear, you're adding too many peppers." The pan made a sizzling sound when he added the fifth pepper into the mix, ignoring his grandma's comment. "Don't worry, grandma. It's fine. It's not too spicy," he said, adding another one just because. He heard a deep sigh coming from the laptop placed on the counter next to him. A smile appeared on his lips. "For you and me it isn't, but you know how the city boys are." "I know," Pete agreed, "I'm preparing this for them. Macau will be fine, he's taken this as a challenge." "That young man and his bravado," his grandma sighed again. "Sometimes, I worry he'll get himself into real trouble one day." "You and me both, grandma," Pete said and shook his head at the memories that resurfaced. It couldn't really be described as sadness, this feeling that overtook him. More like fondness mixed with melancholy. Macau had been through a lot this past year and Vegas' recklessness lately was making it worse. Not that Pete could exactly blame him for it.

"Pete, the temperature is too high, lower the heat a bit," his grandma suddenly said, snapping him out of his thoughts. It was fascinating how she could understand these things without being able to see the meal being prepared. Pete had placed the laptop at an angle that only showed his torso and the kitchen table behind him, his face hidden completely from view. If he did that on purpose, it simply couldn't be proven in any way. He slowly turned the dial to lower the temperature as he was told, then stretched his arm to grab a wooden spoon with which he started scraping the bottom of the pan, making sure the mix wouldn't get burned. "Hm, I think it's almost done, it only-" "Pete." He stopped talking. He knew that tone. He had made a mistake. "Show me your hands." Fuck. She saw the marks. "I'm cooking grandma, what-" "Stop what you're doing and show me your hands right now." He tried not showing his discomfort as he lowered the heat even more and presented his open palms to the screen. He could see his grandma's wrinkled face, her frown deep and concerning. This was going to be hell. Pete tried avoiding showing his knuckles, but it was impossible; she insisted on seeing every single part of Pete's hands. He always hated when she did that. "Have you started boxing again?" Pete was so thankful she couldn't see the expression on his face. He wasn't sure he would be able to hide the dread he was feeling as he heard the question. "It's just some light exercise, grandma," he said and hoped his voice wasn't betraying him. "Vegas just wanted to be more active and-" "Vegas made you start boxing again?" Another mistake. Pete shouldn't have mentioned Vegas at all, he was such an idiot. He hoped Vegas would understand, when he found out. "Vegas didn't make me do anything." It wasn't a lie. It had been Pete's choice. He had made a lot of those recently. "Pete," his grandma said again, but this time, instead of angry, she sounded sad. Concerned. "If you need money, maybe you could talk to Mr. Tankhun. He could give you your old job back or find you a new one." "I won't fight," Pete yelled, feeling his blood boil at the mention of his old boss. He checked himself before continuing to speak, making sure he sounded unbothered. "Grandma, I won't do any matches. I'm simply teaching Vegas some basic moves and that's it." "Show me your face." A pause. "What?" "I need to see your face, Pete." His heart was thumping in his ears. He didn't want to be seen right now. He almost said so, before an energetic Macau entered the room and addressed him. "P'Pete, what are you making? Oh hi, grandma!" He ran over to the counter and lowered his body to see her clearly. Pete could tell she wasn't happy she lost the chance to see Pete's face, but she hid her displeasure immediately and smiled brightly at Macau, asking him how his day had been so far and if he had any plans for the rest of it. Pete internally sighed and returned to his cooking, his hand trembling as he was scraping the bottom of the pan with a little more force than necessary.

[cxffecoupx]

asking to place lipstick marks on 'it'

seventeen x reader 18+, nsfw, svt down bad warnings: suggestive content, love making wc: 1.0k author's notes: such a CRAZYY thought to have, so i decided to do it :) but i cant believe it took me this long to finish writing this (read: uni is kicking my ass). anyways, wouldn't say i'm very satisfied with it, but i really hope you guys like it!! also, special thanks to @simpxxstan for giving me ideas for a few members

➼ choi seungcheol

very interested in the idea. would get so excited for this. would ask if he can select the shade of lipstick and runs to your dressing table when you agree. but most likely would end up buying a new set of lipsticks because the shade he wants 'is not there' (it's an excuse for him to buy you a new set). by the time you're able to finish your mission, you're over three rounds and he's a sweaty, moaning mess. neither of you sleep that night.

➼ yoon jeonghan

would become so smug when you suggest it?? like full on smirk on his face and just goes, "if you wanted me to fuck you, you could have just said that." but will eventually agree when he sees your boba eyes and gets excited seeing your excitement. will probably squirm and whimper because of the sensations at first, but the sex later on is crazy.

➼ hong jisoo

confused eyes. looks so adorable you end up smushing his face and kissing his lips in fondness. man is actually so clueless at first, but then ever more confused when he realizes what you meant. becomes beet red until you promise him it's just for fun and not necessary until he's okay with it, hearing which he quickly agrees cause if you're gonna have fun, why would he not indulge you? would become so adorably shy when he sees the result. makes you cum with just his fingers and mouth as thank you.

➼ moon junhui

mindblown by your idea. becomes so excited; it's like a child waiting for candy. so endeared by you that he ends up making you smooch all over his face. then he starts kissing all over your face. the lipstick marks meant for his dick end up on your faces, but neither of you could be happier than at this moment. slowly turns into a gentle love making session.

➼ kwon soonyoung

you ask him in a very usual way, but it's only after he accepts that you realize this is a great opportunity to tease him. asks if he can record it (because he's very amused by this idea) and searches for the perfect lighting and angle while you prepare. thinks he's so prepared for it, but starts shaking and pleading the moment you start kitty licking his tip. by the time you're finished, he's panting and wanting for more.

➼ jeon wonwoo

you ask him while he was gaming; he leaves the game so fast you wonder what went wrong. but then he goes and picks up a random shade of lipstick and pulls you in between his knees as he manspreads on his gaming chair. holds your hair as you work on him. hours later, the lipstick and your clothes lie forgotten by the bed.

➼ lee jihoon

wants this whole event to occur in his studio. literally agrees when you offer to come to the studio for it. he'd be acting so nonchalant but you can clearly hear his heart racing in his chest and his ears going red. also likely to voice record the whole thing with your consent to use as 'inspiration' later (will use it to get off during desperate times).

➼ lee seokmin

another one who'd get red. very shy. "woah where do you even get ideas like these?" as he goes wide-eyed and still manspreads on the couch to invite you in. goes weak in his knees when he sees you make eye contact with him as you look up from between his knees wearing a shade he considers sexy. you have to abort the mission because he ends up pushing your face few many times.

➼ kim mingyu

GIGGLY MESS. you don't understand what he's been giggling about ever since you proposed the idea, but you're currently down on your knees in front of his naked body and he just cant stop giggling??? when you ask him about it though, he says he's way too endeared by this whole task and wants you to kiss every inch of his body. so, an hour or so later, you're panting, straddling a happy mingyu who's entire body is covered with lipstick stains. time to make a new folder in your gallery.

➼ xu minghao

lowkey becomes concerned about you. he already suspected you were upto something when you approached him with a cheeky smile, but he never thought it'd be this... wild? almost instantly rejects until he sees you get down and look at him with such hopeful eyes that he cant resist. still finds it weird as you mark him, but gladly indulges you. takes photos of it (without you knowing,,, or so he thinks) because you are the artist, and he ends up liking the art a little too much.

➼ boo seungkwan

lowkey judges you first, before highkey agreeing to it. it's one of the "how dare you make stupid decisions and do them without me" moments. judgmental most of the time: "is that the shade you're choosing? it doesnt look good on my skin tone," "the lip shapes arent perfect, pucker them a little more," etc etc. after lots of advice and nagging, you finally finish the job. you get up with a satisfied smirk as you look at his pretty pink cock and his spent form.

➼ chwe vernon

deeply contemplates it. quickly nods when you say, "it's for the art" and asks for some time. leaves. comes back saying "okay, let's do it." when you ask him where he went, he goes "i had to be clean and ready." waits for you to prep for it, but almost cums then and there when he sees you naked, wearing only his favourite shade of lipstick. by the time you could finish the task, he's lost all his marbles and begs you to ride him. finishes with his cum painting your chest and stomach.

➼ lee chan

turns red as a tomato. one moment you suggest the idea, the next he has to physically pull his head outta the gutter because his thoughts escalated into something else. and no matter how hard he tries to deny that he was indeed having very mature thoughts, the blush creeping to his cheeks screams the truth. asks somewhere in between if he can mark your chest with his lipstick marks, and honestly? who are you to resist? by the end of the night, he's spent and at your mercy and you havent yet completed the task.

[dilfdater420]

listen this has been in my head for awhile,, Cecil with an assistant who's battle beasts daughter(half alien/half human, so she has a beast form and human form)- now listen, reader isn't much of a fighter, espically after her whole childhood being in a crime ring and going to jail and such- but for Cecil? she'll fight. If he wants her to fight, she does. When he calls her to heel, she does. It's pretty much like an assistant/bodyguard. If you're inspired, could you do some headcanons based on this? romantic or platonic is fine with me! :3

Hey Anon! This is super cool! I love the idea. Feel free to request more and expand on it if you have ideas afterwards because I feel like this is an interesting dynamic to be explored, I'm so serious I'm invested

I��ll make the reader gender neutral though because that’s honestly how I write LOL.

#dilfdater420 : Cecil Stedman x Half Human!Half Alien!Reader who’s Battle Beasts’ kid. little --romantic?? platonic?? idk they're complicated-- headcanons post, feel free to request more from me! more under the cut

Cecil, at first, found you as a means to an end. Something to use to his advantage, and to be evenly matched with Invincible at least. Cecil remembers the damage your own father did to the kid, to have that kind of power even on a small scale at his beck and call could reap bountiful results for himself and the world if Invincible decided to jump ship or worse, Viltrum uses its force and Mark isn't enough.

He found you through intel that there was a powerful threat on Earth that needed to be dealt with from an unknown source. He expected it to be a trap and sent two of the Guardians and himself, finding it to be an actual report.

But the one fault with the report was that it wasn't completely true. You were this defensive, clingy thing that jumped on the man as soon as he outstretched a hand to shake. You were weeping, had almost gave Cecil a heart attack and set his hairline a foot back, but he ended up returning the embrace and awkwardly cuddling you.

This was the beginning of an imprint. After going back to the GDA, never parting with the hand that reached to you in the process, you were put through a series of tests and then therapy. That's where the story of child abuse and violence devolved, and the knowledge that you were the spawn of Battle Beast. After that, Cecil was a lot less annoyed by your closeness, in fact, he banked on it.

With you acclimated enough to be normal and not freak out when you two were separated, Cecil had you become his left hand.

You got his coffee, was something he could air his frustrations to--and no one would ever find out, debriefed him on the current state of the world every morning, and was ready to die if he so little as suggested the notion. It was a match made in heaven, but a high maintenance one.

You talked a lot whenever you could, curious about everything. You were definitely not a child, but incredibly childish. You'd just reach out for anything, Donald even had to make a habit of slapping your hand before you got hurt.

Not to mention, living together? His personal space sacrificed for the good of the world. He doesn't get paid enough.

You improve Cecil's home situation in some circumstances. He could wake up to the kitchen sink once clad with utensils in the aftermath of eating takeout too many times for it to be healthy suddenly clean and tidy. How'd you know he wanted it to be cleaned without telling you? He sighed at it when you first moved in while showing you around.

On the flipside, you could also destroy Cecil's couch and decorative pillows with your claws because you think the sound of fabric ripping is satisfying.

Now, the final question is, how are you faring well as an actual bodyguard? Yes you come from a strong parent, but your actual combat skills and specs lack in comparison, sizably so. You were never much of a fighter and it showed. Yes you could meet Invincible at his level and probably overpass him with a burst of thirst for blood, but an actual Viltrumite?

Despite this, you were good enough for Cecil, so he kept you. Everything cog has a use, and Cecil has gotten really good at seeing which peg a gear can fit in. He's the Global Defense Force Director after all.

#a/n : I hope you liked this, I'm operating on smoke right now I haven't slept since Saturday haha. Forgive me for any grammer/syntax errors charge it to my head not my heart

This turned into something way longer than I thought it would. But you can't stop until the words and you reach this equilibrium of satisfaction. I could go further but then I think I'd fumble it. Better to stop while you're good and come back later yknow

Ok me go sleep sleep **passes out

[mera-k1]

Hiii! Can you write about Doppo, Rosho, Kuko and Rio with breeding hc? If you havent written It yet, please? Also i love your blog!!!

hey!! ofc i can! enjoy♡♡

Breeding Hcs

Rio, Doppo, Rosho, Kuko x afab!reader

-smut, breeding, creampie

-for rio, i don't see him as someone who'd enjoy breeding unless he was absolutely ready to start a family with you. and, of course, with your consent.

-absolutely fills you to the brim with his cum honestly... the best creampie you could ask for from anyone to be honest.

-you've gotta trap him with your legs if you really want a creampie. he just obliges, letting you keep his cock buried deep inside of you as he cums. if this is what you're into then who is he to judge?

-rio wants to settle down somewhere with you, preferably without the hypnosis mics, before you both start tampering with breeding you... he wants to make sure you're both in a place to raise a child that could result of this.

-doppo can never deny your wants. whenever you say you want him to breed you, he can't help but feel as if he has to. he wants to make sure you're happy and if this is what is going to make your experience better then he'll sure as hell comply!

-it's not something he thought he'd ever really be into in general but if it gets you off then he doesn't mind giving you a creampie occasionally..

-he's more into the idea of starting a family with you when you're both ready for it. then he gets more accepting of that idea but until then, it'll be only when you ask him to.

-i think for rosho, he wants to be in the right spot before you both start tampering with breeding. what if he accidentally gets you pregnant!? the poor guy has a little too much anxiety about it so it's best to wait until he's prepared.

-sometimes he forgets if he's supposed to pull out or not.. ends up pulling out unless you make the move to keep him inside of you. it flusters him to no end because it just feels so intimate to him.

-rosho's a fan of intimacy during sex so the fact that cumming inside you feels so intimate to him makes him feels like he really was meant to be with you if you're letting him do that!

-i'm torn for kuko... on one hand, he's down for cumming inside and breeding you till you're satisfied but on the other hand he's not sure if he wants to risk anything. he'd rather be safe than regret it.

-he wants to make sure that there's little to no risk of any accidents before he agrees to breeding. it's something he's actually being careful about for once... but after that? he'll cum in you all you want and even scoop it back in with his fingers when his cum leaks out of you.

-he likes it messy so be prepared for him to fuck his cum into you until it's an absolute mess... don't worry though! kuko always makes sure to clean you up afterwards!

[fushiglow]

Hi! I'm such a huge fan of your fics; you write Satoru and Suguru really beautifully, as individuals and as a unit.

I absolutely devoured JJK (anime and manga) in the span of like three weeks a couple of months ago. I've been completely obsessed ever since. I really love your meta - I totally agree with you about Gojo really caring about people, and your analysis of 236. (I also really loved 236, even though I was devastated by it. Like, sobbing while lying facedown on the floor for a full 45 minutes level of devastated lol.) I really struggled with Nanami's airport comments on Gojo, and I liked how you interpreted those comments and the airport scene overall.

In my stages of grief of processing Gojo's death - probably around the bargaining stage - I kept thinking about whether he would've lived if Geto hadn't defected from JuJutsu society. Obviously it would've been a totally different narrative, but it's still something I can't let go of. I'd be super interested to know your thoughts on that - whether there would've been a different outcome of the Shinjuku showdown if Geto had been there. (I mean, I know canonically Gojo would've fully been satisfied in his life and ending if Geto had been there, but would he have won?)

(I also understand the narrative decision to kill Gojo and think it actually makes a lot of sense, doesn't mean I can't still go through the stages of grief lol.)

Sorry for the novel of an ask - love your writing and meta!

Oh my gosh, thank you so much and don't ever apologise for sending such a lovely ask! This made my day — and super nice to see your name in my inbox again too ♥️

Really glad you enjoyed the analysis of 236 too; that chapter is incredibly dear to me. God, I could literally write an essay on 236 alone. I think it's genius on multiple levels. It really inspired me as a writer, too. That meta level commentary that spans characters and readers is something I've consciously tried to emulate as a result of that chapter!

So, I have definitely given this some thought before and it's my firm belief that Gojō would have defeated Sukuna if Getō were at his side (I think you can argue he "won" the ideological fight. It was a fight of many against one, and the many couldn't have won without Gojō!).

I don't necessarily mean physically at his side fighting alongside him, because I think as soon as Gojō had his "enlightenment" moment, he did become someone who fights best alone. However, I've already shared some thoughts about how "the strongest" was perhaps never actually about raw physical strength for Gojō but about state of mind. He felt stronger with Getō at his side, and that's the only reason I feel this certain about my answer.

Of course, all "what if?" scenarios are pointless to pursue beyond being an intriguing thought exercise. Everything would have been different if Getō was still around, but I love cataloguing each and every one of them. Whether Gojō would be a less experienced fighter in any meaningful way, whether the students could have reached the heights that they did without that specific version of Gojō teaching them — and yes, whether "The Strongest Duo" fighting side by side would actually have made defeating Sukuna (even with the Ten Shadows) look like a piece of cake.

So, my answer is mostly narrative informed. I think throughout the entirety of JJK, Gege was trying to hammer home the idea of strength in numbers by contrasting Gojō Satoru's (and Sukuna's) solitude with that of his students — thanks to his efforts to protect their youth and ensure they didn't suffer the same fate he and his classmates did.

I hope that answers your question, and thank you for asking! It's been a long time since I've received any JJK based asks like this and it's always such a treat to me. God, I love this series so much...

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  @Thegertie! RurouniHime has 24 fics posted to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and all of them are in the Steddie tag!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @Thegertie:

Accidentally Absconding With An Impulsive Idiot: A Tale Told In Thirty Parts

Don't Cry For Me, Next Door Neighbor

The Nightly Stroll

In My Heart of Hearts

Rebellion in Your Back Pocket

"Rurouni does such a wonderful job writing alternative romantic and sexual orientations for Steddie, and has a particularly special skill with writing really tight, fully-formed stories that work alone or within series. The humor and character voices are always so on point, and the variety of depicted relationships make for a very well-rounded selection of stories to choose from!" -- anonymous

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

Why do you write Steddie?

ST was almost a no fly zone for me. I wasn't too impressed with season 1—nostalgia, eh, but I didn't like the 80s much when I was living through them, so it wasn't enough. However, I ran out of things to watch and picked ST up again on a friend's rec, and each season got better than the last. Steve was already one of my favorite characters (the other being Joyce), but up through S3 I'd had no fandom engagement. And thenS4 rolls around and here comes Eddie Munson. And he is such a wonderful character that I finally went searching for fic…and found Steddie. I hadn't felt so moved by and attached to a pairing in a while and I leapt straight in. Steve and Eddie are such great foils for each other, different but also similar, and at their cores are pain, but also wholehearted love. When they turn it all toward each other… well, it just makes for beautiful and wrenching and satisfying stories.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

PINING. Oh, give me all the pining, I love it so! Mutual pining? Even better! Mutual pining unbeknownst to each other?? Just knock me over the head right now and go home, that’s it, all buttons pushed.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

I've thought about this and I'm not really sure. Or maybe it just changes depending on my mood. A trope I tend to return to again and again is the misunderstanding/reconciliation trope, though I know that's very broad. If you (again) add The Pining into the mix, it gets even more rich and delicious. But I do love to use the misunderstanding (minor or major) and pining tropes to explore a character's insecurities and then allow them to get a little healing. That's pretty common in all the fandoms I've written for, I think.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

Might be the very first one I read: the affliction of the feeling by nondz (pinkjook). I mean… hot DAMN. What a way to start! The emotional description paired with the physicality of this fic is superb. Writing goals. I have been meaning to reread this one since the first time I read it. I still have the original tab open for it, but I keep putting it off because I love to torture myself with ever impending feels.

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

I'm always coming up with half-baked fic ideas and most of them are going nowhere. I really don't have anything particular simmering on the back burner at the moment. I do have intense plans for my Tubthumper series (ace!Fratboy!Steve) but if I say much what, it'll be a spoiler.

What is your writing process like?

I do not write consecutive scenes. I've heard from people who have to write start to finish, but that has never been me. I tend to jump all over the place: middle scene, ending scene, middle, beginning, ending, middle, middle, etc. The con of this is that I often lose track of what takes place when and have to redraft parts of the story to make the timeline work. The pro is that my themes tend to stay very strong and intertwined as a result. I think it's a fine payoff.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I jump? More than just jumping around in a story; I have to be working on several projects at once because if I get stuck on something, I need to have something else to jiggle the flow free. I also go through prolonged periods of intake (reading, watching, listening) vs output (writing, brainstorming, plotting), which can be annoying, as it means I'm not always inspired to create.

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

Sigh. I have used chaptered fics in the past to try to force myself into keeping to a schedule, but what usually happens is I stay on task until the end and then I get completion grief or whatever and I end up stalling on the last chapter. Which isn't great. It's a much better idea for me to finish drafting the thing before I start posting, though I did have several projects while in my Drarry days that had a very punishing schedule and that I was super on top of all the way to the end. I'm proud of those. 

Which fic are you most proud of?

In the ST fandom, it's In My Heart of Hearts. I'm all my fandoms, it's my Merlin BBC epic, Dower the Stars. Sometimes I can't believe I wrote that. 

How did you get the idea for Rebellion in Your Back Pocket?

Let me come right out and say it: I'm in the Canon Eddie Is A Virgin camp. In the beginning, I read so many fics featuring Eddie as a worldly sex god, and they were fantastic, I loved them. But when I think about Eddie, I see a lot of my high school self in him: confident for show but with a tendency to endlessly pick at and overthink things. I too had a small but intimate friend group and a propensity for focused nerdiness. I see Eddie, a gay kid in the 80s American Midwest, as super curious about sex but without much opportunity for practical application, and perhaps a little fear of it. On top of that, he clearly uses his own infamy as a shield against the people who don't like him, which means any rumors about him essentially become his weapons. So RiYBP came out of the idea of Eddie finally getting with his long-time crush who also happens to be notoriously good in bed, and he's absolutely forgotten to clear up the misunderstanding that he himself is not knowledgeable AT ALL about sex, and then him digging himself deeper while trying to find a way out of it. I truly feel this is a pickle that Eddie Munson would get himself into, and I adore him for it.

When writing Rebellion in Your Back Pocket, what was something you didn’t expect?

The mix tape chapter! I had Eddie's planned very early on, but at the urging of my beta to give more substance to the nonsexual side of their relationship, I got to thinking about Steve and what he would have on a playlist, and wow, just... That scene in Steve’s car and all the angst and beauty and growth that came out of it by the end of the fic was a complete and welcome surprise. Also I was surprised by how much I loved writing Wayne overhearing Steve and Eddie in the trailer. Omg, #prayforwayne, that man is a saint and the perfect Dad Troll to combat Eddie's dramatics.

What inspired In My Heart of Hearts?

The origins of this one are very personal for me. I am gray-ace, and bi, living in a world that focuses extremely heavily on sex: having it, losing one's virginity, being judged by how little or often you do it… I'd been wanting to write Eddie as a rock star for a while, and also to write Eddie as gray-ace, and this fic blossomed out of that. I read a Stony fic once where Tony was actually ace and had never in his life defined that for himself, and it was so touching. I wanted to capture that essence with Eddie, a celebrity constantly beleaguered by sexual propositions from strangers and not wanting any of it, PLUS the general loneliness that sometimes comes with being on the ace spectrum, and the helplessness of being in love with an allosexual person but not knowing how to ever make that work. I wanted to explore the fact that it can and does work, and that in spite of what society tells us, being ace does not require compromising yourself in order to be happy and fulfilled, and loved.

What was your favorite part to write from The Nightly Stroll?

Hopper’s POV. Getting in his head was so cool. And then Hopper and Eddie's snarking. Please, can I just have a fic with them stuck in a car together, pleasepleaseplease. Hopper's eye-rolly exasperation and short fuse paired with Eddie's derisive sass and well-honed needling skills. The potential there is overflowing, and then to push it up against Steve’s relationship with Hopper and have that protectiveness extend suddenly to Eddie was very nice. I also really enjoyed exploring El and Hopper’s relationship through Hopper’s eyes. He really loves that kid. And Steve lunging out of the car to defend his man. There’s not much about that fic that I don’t love, actually…

How do/did you feel writing Don't Cry For Me, Next Door Neighbor?

Now that one was a surprise venture into ace character exploration. I was writing the scene of fratboy!Steve encountering the enigma of Eddie at a party, and all of a sudden, here's Steve telling me, hey, btw, I'm asexual. I went with it full throttle and this series took off. It truly is a joy to write. I love letting these characters be who they are without the impending threat of death by interdimensional beast and I love finding ways to incorporate pieces of canon into the modern college setting. It's challenging to write, especially since Steve in this one is not gray-ace like me but much closer to full-on asexual, though recently someone commented on one of the stories with the term "recipromantic", and I'd never heard of that. So I'm learning new things every day.

What was the most difficult part of writing Accidentally Absconding With An Impulsive Idiot: A Tale Told In Thirty Parts?

Probably the fact that it was only meant to be one damn scene! Not that I don't adore what came of it, but initially the idea birthed from the snapshot of Eddie taking off one day and Steve getting there just in time to keep him from going alone. And I really should know better because I cannot write anything brief to save my life. Always gotta explore the backstory/repercussions/development. *eyeroll*

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

WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME CHOOSE BETWEEN MY CHILDREN just kidding. But also kind of not? I don't know that I could choose an absolute favorite. A few scenes that bring me true happiness, however, are Wayne overhearing Eddie and Steve in Rebellion in Your Back Pocket (literally, that fic should be titled “Here, Eddie, Have Seven Chapters of Mortifying Moments, You’re Welcome”, and who better than Wayne to totally yank his chain?), Eddie's climactic confession to Steve in In My Heart of Hearts (he broke my heart with how broken open he was and how much he laid himself bare in that moment), and the car scene in To Cleanse the Palate (I just let them get real hot and heavy and monstrously in love, and it was great).

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

Well, fortunately for me because I am head over heels all over again, but unfortunately for all my Steddie readers, I recently tumbled ass over teakettle into The Untamed. For the time being, Lan Zhan and Wei Ying have stolen my tragic-romantic's soul. No, seriously, you don't even get it, I binged the 50-ep live action, bought all the novels, and got myself a bunch of swag while fighting off a two-week-long mystery flu (I'm calling it Influenza Aftershock, rock on, my friends), and am currently trying to talk myself out of picking up the manhua too. (Let's not even discuss the animated series.) But I am not done with Steddie by any means—just taking a breather—so please keep a watch for more Tubthumper and a return to Only A Spark to Light My Way (aka, the Lost Boys Steddie fic) in the near future. I'm also just saw Gladiator II, which will likely plunge me back into the Roman-Britain AU Steddie series I'm writing with patientanxiety. So keep an eye out for those!

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

Only this: Thank you so, so much for thinking of me! These are great questions and I’m really glad I got to participate.

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

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

[crappydrstoner]

(A passionate reader coming from The Kingdom of Science Reacts)

I love your writing style and it's pacing, it wasn't even about the ships but their reactions.

I first started reading it because it had the sengen tag, in fact, I never actually read a good reaction fic so most of the time I avoided them. But in the end I decided to give it a try and I definitely wasn't disappointed.

Their reactions and personalities are so on point, although there's a big focus on Senku and Gen, the others aren't excluded either. You don't make them dumb or overly dramatic but rather... Real. You make them feel like a real person reacting to the past (and possibly future).

Moreover, your Ebola interlude had me on edge, the emotions, the way it fits the story. I won't lie, I cried a little bit.

I entered the fic without much expectations and I'm glad you shattered my perspective because, wow.

And you write so fast! Especially after what happened with Ebola's part 3 incident, I was ready to wait another week since shits happened and I definitely would have crashed out if it happened to me but you didn't! You managed to rewrite it again in just 3 days! Even though you stated you weren't satisfied with the results, I wanted to tell you it was amazing, and I couldn't imagine how much better it would be if the incident didn't happen.

At the end of the day, I don't even care if there's shipping or not, I started for sengen and I'm staying for their reactions.

That said, I was wondering how far you were planning to make them react? Just season 1 or all of them?

(Also coming from an artist, you're doing great with your art, I can see the improvement and the amount of practice you took. Keep it up! No one starts perfect but with enough determination you'll definitely make it big!)

- 🧅

Literally don't make me cry because I WILL urgh you're too nice and I think I teared up a little bit.

SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO DOESNT WANT TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION ON KOS REACTS

As for your question on how far they will react, I do intend to all the way up to the original ending however I do believe we will have two 'breaks' from reacting in order to actually work through some of the things that they have seen, then they will go right back into reacting, if that makes sense.

[jokeroutsubs]

[NEW ENG TRANSLATION] I write songs in Serbian so my grandma can understand us too: The Joker Out frontman talks about Eurovision, his origins, and Belgrade Beer Fest

original article Written by Ljubomir Radanov for Kurir.rs english translation by @moonlvster proofread by X @ klámstrákur

Even though this year's Eurovision ended a while ago, some of the participants, like the band Joker Out, are still talked about. We're referring to one of the most popular pop-rock bands in Slovenia, whose frontman, Bojan Cvjetićanin, has become a real music star. It was this great European festival that allowed his popularity to reach beyond the borders of Slovenia. Ahead of their performance at the next Belgrade Beer Fest, which will be held from the 15th until the 18th of June [2023] in Belgrade, the 24 year old of Serbian origin, otherwise a sociology graduate, talks about his Serbian origins and upcoming visit to our capital city.

This is not your first time in Belgrade?

We had our first performance at the MAC event, but this is our first concert.

What do you have planned for it?

We'll perform as long as scheduled, around an hour, plus two songs, just enough to go over the limit (laughing). We are scheduled to play for about an hour, which means we'll be able to play a good percentage of our repertoire. If the audience is quiet, we'll have to talk to them and we'll play more songs (laughing).

Will you have some time to visit Belgrade?

Unfortunately, our plan is to leave immediately, because we are to perform in Slovenia the next day. Last time, we visited commercial places, met lovely people who promised us they will show us the real Belgrade and the places that only the locals know sometime. Ask me in a year and I believe I'm going to give a much better answer.

You attracted a lot of attention with your Eurovision performance.

How satisfied are you?

Eurovision is one of the biggest festivals in Europe, maybe even in the world.

It took six months of our lives and it was like a giant school trip or a travelling circus, carried out on the most professional level. We met a lot of creative people with whom we will be able to build a career abroad. We have gained a huge amount of fans. The only thing that didn't turn out how we imagined was our result, but in the end, that's less important to us than what we achieved with the audience.

Were you pleased with the score from the Serbian jury and the audience?

I thought I was going to burst with happiness when I heard we received 12 points! It was a magical moment.

Have you stayed in contact with the Serbian representative, Luke Black?

Of course. We became friends and we will probably meet at our concert in London in July.

Did you actually lose your phone at Eurovision?

It happened after the final, at an afterparty. I left it somewhere and it ended up with another country's delegation, but I got it back two days later. Still, I enjoyed not having a phone. The day after Eurovision, everyone was writing messages and being active on social media, and I spent that time with my family and friends. It was like I was in a different universe, completely calm and relieved.

How would you explain your music in terms of genre?

In 2017, we called our music 'shagadelic rock 'n' roll', based on the movie 'Austin Powers', which we adore. Our sound is an interesting mix of ex-Yu rock and roll and British pop-rock.

Who are your idols?

The Beatles, Arctic Monkeys, and Slovenian bands such as Siddharta and Big Foot Mama, and the Balkan bands Bijelo dugme, Indexi, Idoli...

What do you listen to in terms of modern sound from these areas?

The bands Buč Kesidi, Keni Nije Mrtav... We haven't had time to listen to music in the past year, we were constantly in some kind of chaos and noise.

Where did the idea of expressing yourself in your mother tongue come from, like, for example, in the songs 'Ona' and 'Demoni', which are in Serbian?

Every time I play our songs to my family, my grandma, who is from Banja Luka, can't understand the lyrics entirely. I wanted her to be able to understand perfectly what the poet wanted to say, and that's how the songs 'Ona' and 'Demoni' came about. With the song 'Ona', we wanted to capture the essence of the band Idoli¹.

¹The band 'Idoli' was one of the most remarkable new wave bands based in Belgrade, active during the early 80's. They are considered one of the most outstanding and influential representatives of the Yugoslav rock music and their album 'Odbrana i poslednji dani' ('Defense and The Last Days') was voted as the greatest Yugoslav rock album of all time.

Your family's origins are interesting.

My mom's side is from Banja Luka and Lebane, and my dad's side is half from Ličko Petrovo Selo, and the other half from Croatia and Slovenia.

You also act and host. Do you have ambitions in acting?

I would love to act more and I would be very happy if I acted in more serious roles. I've always played characters that were similar to me and I couldn't fully surrender to the charms of this profession. In high school, I acted in theatre, and if I get the opportunity to do that again or to film a movie, I wouldn't run away from it.

How do you see yourself in ten years?

I would love for Joker Out to be an established band around Europe, to have two children, and to live a normal life.

[rinkara]

Hello everyone, over the past few days I once again indulged in one of my favorite creative pursuits (making very specific playlists) and the result is "swag ass lizard," almost 2 hours of what I consider to be shioncore music that I enjoy listening to.

the track list as well as my notes are under the cut. this is very much an "I made this for me" project, but I want to yap about it and I'm happy to share on the off chance anyone is interested, so I'm glad if you enjoy or have any thoughts (unless you want to tell me all the songs are old....... believe me I know) thanks for reading if you do!

Track list: (I can't guarantee I won't still mess with it, but if I do I'll try and remember to update this)

Temptation Waits - Garbage Eros and Apollo - Studio Killers Keep it Simple - Cobra Starship Monster - Lady Gaga IMNOTYOURBOYFRIENDBABY - 3OH!3 When I Come Around - Green Day Social Enemies - Orgy Bullet With Butterfly Wings - The Smashing Pumpkins I'm Down - Goldfinger My Own Summer (Shove It) - Deftones Pardon Me - Incubus One Step Closer - Linkin Park Break Stuff - Limp Bizkit Predator - Siamese Barrel of a Gun - Depeche Mode Spite and Malice - Placebo Pay For It - Mindless Self Indulgence Please Please Please (Young Hollywood) - Head Automatica The Hollow - A Perfect Circle Hold Me Down - Mr.Kitty Make Me Bad - Korn Closer - Nine Inch Nails Pale - The Birthday Massacre Cemetery - Silverchair Fingertips - Poe hard for me - nightlife You Feel it Too - Moxy the Band Tenebrous - Essenger Borderline - Tame Impala The Leaving Song - AFI

Notes: basically this happened because while just trying to listen to music like a normal person, I kept noting songs that struck a particular chord if you know what I mean and eventually my brain would not stop rotating this concept in my mind until I did it. many such cases when it comes to The Characters. most of it is stuff I listened to a lot since my youth which is why this playlist is musty as hell but anyway. I think it benefits from all the 90s rock and nu metal I was able to add.

I don't think it has a required listening order. unlike some others where I basically tried to lay out an entire story and timeline via the order of the playlist, this one is more just vibes and will not really suffer from throwing on shuffle. HOWEVER that does not mean I didn't organize it lol. the first song is essentially a thesis statement if you will, and from there it's sorted in such a way that if you listen to it in order, it's like descending ever deeper through the strata of his mind palace (insane phrase to write)

The Facade

2. Barely contained rage against society and general misanthropy

3. Vices (mainly sexual) to try and fill The Void

4. Deep loneliness and desire for love and genuine human connection that cannot be satisfied by 2 or 3

And finally it ends with The Leaving Song because in the end, (it doesn't even matter) he doesn't know if he can change or be worthy of any of those things. that's so sad for him :( ok but seriously though.............

So yeah thanks for coming to my playlist post lmao. hope you at least got some entertainment out of it! I'm SooOOOo normal

also if you wondered about the title, it's from this post

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #419

So, do you remember the image of the crow I sent you yesterday? And the song that was the reason that the last bit of text at the end is funny?

...And... do you know how my brain doesn't know how to shut up? Well. Surely you know that if you've been reading my letters. My brain absolutely does not shut up. Ever.

So it filled out the rest of the lyrics to the song, because... I don't know why. I swear to goodness, my brain just does things, and I don't even know what those things are half the time, hahaha!

You'll find the results of my brain's random lyrical spewings here:

...I was satisfied with the results.

I was also satisfied with the results of my breakfast today! I had some white bean salad, the leftover tiramisu (I only ate half of it at Eggcellent when we went), and some tea!

I even got some pretty great tea swirls today! I took a burst shot, converted it to a GIF, and then converted the GIF to an MP4 so I could put it on YouTube to show you:

...I'm maybe still feeling a little empty today for reasons I don't fully understand. I slept pretty well. Ate a good breakfast. I'm even hydrated and all that. Maybe it's just the weather or something...

So I played Hades. I probably played more Hades than I should have. But my brain was pretty foggy the whole time, and even though I ended up with a couple of pretty amazing builds at various points, my reflexes were sluggish and I died before reaching the final boss on every single one of my runs today. Lame.

...Oh well. At least I got this picture of a robin today. I knew it was there because Hoshi was chittering out the window:

I wonder what you're up to. I wish you could tell me...

...I wish I could just... talk to you, generally. I wish I could show you around my world a little. I wish I could share all the things I love most with you.

Maybe I'm just a little lonely today. I think everyone is probably busy and would rather not be bothered. Though M and J are literally right here, I've barely spoken to them at all.

And you know? I haven't worked on my weird crafting project at all in a while now. Hm.

...I wonder what's up with these things. I wonder what my brain is doing all up in my skull. Sometimes I wish I could crack open the bones and tell my brain to get its shit together.

Tomorrow will be busy. I have physical therapy at noon. Then an appointment with the orthopedic at around 1, I guess to discuss the merits of injecting cortisone into the space between my right scapula and spine or whatever. Then after that, maybe Ma from work will visit my house with his sister. I wonder what that'll be like.

...I hope she's nice.

...Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure it's not just random loneliness. I think the “inadequacy” type of thoughts are creeping into my skull, too, for reasons I don't understand. Because when I think of tomorrow and Ma and his sister coming over, my brain is immediately flooded with dread. Like... what if I'm not fun enough? Or... what if I'm too much of a nerd for his sister's liking, and she decides to tell me all about what a loser she thinks I am? Or maybe they'll decide I'm gross and unlikable because my house is too messy.

...Oh. You know what? This is probably happening because yesterday, I ended up revisiting the memories of being in the car with my stepmother on the way to or from my father's house. Memories in which I either blast angry music or get berated about what an awful and unlovable person I am. I revisited those memories yesterday, and so today, I am probably a little more prone to falling into old thought habits.

Whoops. I guess I'll have to try to be a little more mindful and hold a little more space for myself over the course of the next few days...

...Sephiroth. I'm not sure what else to write today. I miss you and I feel empty. I'm not really sure what to do. So I guess I'll go to bed. Maybe I'll feel a little better when I wake up.

I love you. Stay safe. Be good. I'll write again tomorrow.

Your friend, Lumine

[shakingparadigm]

Hi hi.

Hi para! I'm writing you to share some theories I got! Since you're one of my favorite blogs.

Hope to not be glogging your asks section...

Luka is an observant calculative person (other than not feeling genuine emotions and empathy like Vivinos made us understand from his behaviour towards the opponents,Hyuna's brother,Hyuna herself etc...) .He has an idea of Till's method to win. I'm talking about what he did in round 2. Then he saw a drastic change in him after Mizi went missing.And again,he knows that Ivan's death has become a trauma for everything that happend in that round. My guess is: Till will be depressed and Luka will manipulate him the same way he did with Mizi,to not let him interrupt the chosen song with another.Just to make sure he will win if he prepared one. And to see his opponents loose their minds and feel satisfied with himself and kiss...their bloody hands I guess. Something may convince Till to not die and fight. In the 7th round there may be a ''fast forward'' in which they show Mizi and Hyuna as prisoners.The aliens may have decided to let them live to obtain informations of the rebels. Till may find out that Mizi is being tortured and go to save her with a parallel similiar to IvanTill ''escape plan''... Luka's knowledge of Hyuna's presence may be a problem too. He may do a mistake and not feel in control. Prioritize Hyuna and say fuck to the Alien Stage. In result we will have a fierce Till tired of everything who clings on the hope to meet Mizi and avenge Ivan.

I'm really curious about your opinion. Please let me know!!! Oh! Do you think the 7th round will be the last? Did vivinos said something about it other than having worked on it for a long time?

It's always a pleasure to scroll and see what you post! Having said that,bye bye!

Hi!!! Hello!!! Thank you so much for this! I fold this ask gently like paper and tuck it into my heart.

This theory is genuinely so cool! I agree with a lot of it as well. Since we didn't get Hyuna and Mizi's interference in ROUND 6, we're most likely going to see it in ROUND 7, just not in the way we hoped we would. I've stated before that I didn't see a reason for them to keep Hyuna and Mizi alive if they were found, but now that you mention it... they're literally the perfect torture tools for Till and Luka. Everything lines up just a little too perfectly.

Honestly, Till finding Mizi again is also the only way I can see him regaining strength. He was actually supposed to see Mizi at the end of ROUND 6 (in the first draft, at least)! I know some people insist that Ivan's sacrifice was to shake Till out of a stupor or encourage him to fight (through anger?), but I just couldn't see it that way. In fact, it seems like his situation just worsened. Genuine rock bottom. He's lost everyone.

I think the only way Till can pick himself up again in such dire and urgent circumstances is if Mizi is involved. Everything in him would reignite in an effort to save her, to sing for her. Her absence was the reason he lost himself in the first place, so it makes sense that she's the only cure for his current predicament. If he saw her, if he knew she was alive and this was his only chance to reach her.... Till is literally going to mega-evolve LMAO. I'm not trying to downplay Ivan's sacrifice, though. I know Till is affected by it too even if he didn't love Ivan the way he loved Mizi. It would be amazing if Till's swan song was a heavy rock piece dedicated to screaming out not only his love, but all his hurt and confusion as well.

The song will no doubt be suited to Luka's taste since Till can be forced to adjust to Luka's style, but I couldn't ever see Luka adjusting to Till's. I have a feeling the song will start out slow with Till at a disadvantage, but a shift happens (Till sees Mizi) and suddenly he starts performing with an overwhelming passion.

Luka losing control because of Hyuna is an incredible thought. I do think he'd lose composure, but not exactly in the panicked way. Instead, I think he'd feel overwhelmed with some kind of intense feeling and maybe even perform in a more crazed manner if he finds out she's been caught. Now both Luka and Till have a strong reason to go all out. After seeing Mizi and Hyuna, they'd need to win. It's impossible for Luka to be an easy or "weak" opponent, and I don't think the sight of Hyuna would necessarily incapacitate his abilities. He's already seen her, after all. He knows she's still alive and that she would inevitably have come back. I feel Luka is a bit more calculated in his approach, so maybe he'd find other ways to get her in his grasp. Maybe if he won Alien Stage again, he'd be granted the privilege to choose a certain prize...

I think ROUND 7 is the last round, but definitely not the last episode (there is a possibility of the ALNST makers finally getting pissed off and throwing Hyuna and Mizi into the ring for another round, though. Not sure if it's a solid and likely possibility, but it's a possibility nothenless). There might be more to tackle regarding the Human Rebellion and the whole pet-alien conflict they seem to be setting up with the story. I believe the original Alien Stage synopsis states that the humans gather to "regain their free will and shape their destiny". We're focused on this particular season of Alien Stage for a reason, and it's most likely because it's the last. Shit hits the fan from here.

This is all just speculation though!! I'll be able to make more educated guesses once they start releasing more ROUND 7 related content. For now, they seem to be taking a well-deserved break.

Thank you for the ask anon!! This was such a wonderful idea to think about.

[izhunny]

Sorry if you were asked this before, but I was curious so figured I'd go ahead and give it a shot xD

What was the most challenging fic you've ever written? Be it in research needed, doubts you had to battle or straight up time and energy cost; what was the fic that made you most go like "I fucking did it!!" once you finished it? :D

I have not been asked this before and I'm thrilled to try to answer. 🤣

My knee-jerk response was: Oh that's easy! My first big (160k)fic Just An Old Fashioned Love Song.

I get a little wordy after this @loni4ever so it's all below the cut.

I wrote JaOFLS so quickly, in just a few months. I barely slept. Every spare second I was hunched over my laptop or my phone, typing or researching something. And I had no idea what story I wanted to tell at the start or how to do it. Except for the scene that became the 1st chapter. Originally it was to be the next to last chapter of a planned eight chapters. That scene was going to be the payoff. Hahahahaha. I like that I decided to lead with it and make it a glimpse of the future.

I ended up scrapping around 20-40k words (in a few big frustration deletion incidents) and restructured, reoriented, stopped worrying about brevity, or how badly I was doing it, and built what has been posted to the archive. 

My chapters are too long. The POV shifts wildly between all characters because I couldn't restrain myself to just one side of any conversation. So readers get to see inside everyone's head. A lot. Had to make sure the core characters' motivations were upfront(almost painfully not holding back anything). There's a fucking wall of tags on it 😓.

But I'm so proud that I not only tried but that I actually did it. No matter how unskilled the result or how absolutely terrified I was about sharing it, I did it. I wrote it. I created a fic all by myself based on experiences and dreams and wishes using every storytelling concept and trope that seemed useful. 

So, my knee jerk response was my first big, not terribly well written, fic.

But I thought again. 

I wrote a ghost story. Never dreamed I'd be capable of that. 

I put together a flashfic PWP writing challenge prompt list for myself to dismantle my own writing inhibitions. Just dipping my toes into smutty concepts, 500 words in one sitting a day. About half of those 45 fics aren't even E rated 😞. None are, I'd say, as properly titillating as I'd wish. (Though others have said parts are in fact steamy). But it was excellent practice. 

I finally wrote an actual sex pollen PWP fic (without 20k of backstory to get to the action).

I wrote a three fandoms of Holmes/Watson crossover fic (via a bit of blatant literary device magic) that pleases me greatly for having wished to do so for around ten years but waiting until I'd acquired enough skill to satisfy myself with the result. It was quite difficult to gut the canons as I did and research to worldbuild to make it come together. Extremely satisfying though.

Honestly? I get that "Holy mother of god, I fucking did it!" euphoria from every single fic or ficlet I've written and shared. 

Er, well, once I actually write the endings down for the first drafts. 

I get another little taste again once I've properly edited and start posting, and see someone else enjoys it. Still gobsmacked that fics I created to make myself happy give others a little happiness too. 

I think I may be getting a little better at writing with every effort. I'm definitely learning something each time. And that's thrilling. 

I don't know if this answers your question properly but thank you so much for asking. And feel free to ask about anything anytime.

[birdship]

This project is unfinished and will remain that way. There are bugs. Not all endings are implemented. The ending tracker doesn't work. Images are broken. Nothing will be fixed. There's still quite a bit of content, though, so I am releasing what's here as is.

Tilted Sands is a project I started back when AI Dungeon first came out--the very early version you had to run in a Google colabs notebook. Sometime in late 2018, I think? I was a contributor at Botnik Studios at the time and I was delighted by AI Dungeon, but I knew it would never be a truly satisfying choose your own adventure generator on its own. I would argue that the modern AI Dungeon 2 and NovelAI don't fully function as such even now. That's not how AI works. It has to be guided heavily, the product has to be sculpted by human hands.

Anyway, it inspired me to use Transformer--a GPT2 predictive text writing tool--to craft a more coherent and polished but still silly and definitely AI-flavored CYOA experience. It was an ambitious project, but I was experienced with writing what I like to call "cyborg" pieces--meaning the finished product is, in a way, made by both an AI/algorithm/other bot AND a human writer. Something strange and wonderful that could not have been made by the bot alone, nor by the human writer alone. Algorithms can surprise us and trigger our creative human minds to move in directions we never would've thought to go in otherwise. To me, that's what actual AI art is: a human engaging in a creative activity like writing in a way that also includes utilizing an algorithm of some sort. The results are always fascinating, strangely insightful, and sometimes beautiful.

I worked on Tilted Sands off-and-on for a couple years, and then the entire AI landscape changed practically overnight with DALL-E and ChatGPT. And I soon realized that I cannot continue working on this project. Mainstream, corporate AI is disgustingly unethical and I don't want the predictive text writing I used to enjoy so much to be associated with "AI art". It's not. Before DALL-E and ChatGPT, there were artists and writers who made art by utilizing algorithms, neural networks, etc. Some things were perhaps in an ethical or legal grey area, but people actually did care about that. I remember discussing "would it be ethical to scrape [x]?" with other writers, and sharing databases of things like commercial advertising scripts and public domain content. I liked using mismatched databases to write things, like a corpus of tech product reviews that I used to write a song. The line between transformative art and fair use vs theft was constantly on all of our minds, because we were artists ourselves.

All of the artists and writers I knew in those days who made "cyborg art" have stopped by now. Including me.

But I poured a lot of love and thought and energy into this silly little project, and the thought of leaving it to rot on my hard drive hurt too much. It's not done, but there's a lot there--over 14,000 words, multiple endings and game over scenarios. I had so much fun with it and I wanted to complete it, but I can't. I don't want it to be associated in any way with the current "AI art" scene. It's not.

Please consider this my love letter to what technology-augmented art used to be, and what AI art could have been.

I know I'm not the only one mourning this brief but intense period from about 2014-2019 in which human creativity and developing AI technology combined organically to create an array of beautiful, stupid, silly, terrible, wonderful works of art. If you're also feeling sad and nostalgic about it, I hope you find this silly game enjoyable even in its unfinished state.

In conclusion:

Fuck capitalism, fuck what is currently called AI art, fuck ChatGPT, fuck every company taking advantage of artists and writers and other creative types by using AI.

[mika-no-sekai-blog]

Dream of Modron

(Eris x mysterious female)

Word count: ±900

Warnings: none I think

This short Eris' drabble was inspired by @erisweek2023 prompt "Dance"

I'm very sorry for my English 🫣

This week was really busy, so I hardly managed to write this. Hopefully you'll like it despite of all the mistakes I've made.

And the hardest part of the story? The speech! I'm the last person who'd ever give any speech and it seems it's impossible for me to write one too.

Eris decided to check on preparations for upcoming Autumnal equinox's celebration. He worked on it for the past two months and now there was only 1 hour left before it starts. As he walked around the clearing where it'll be held he inspected five tall piles of dry wood prepared for bonfires.

After that he moved to the tables. Servants assured him that the tables with food and snacks made of apples, pumpkins, chestnuts and other autumn fruits and veggies, would be ready on time as the last plates and trays should arrive any minute.

Before returning to the palace to get ready himself, he also checked the decoration, podium from where he'll speak and even the stage for musicians. All seemed to be ready.

Satisfied he returned to his room to take a shower and change to already prepared clothes. Last look in the mirror and he moved to the table to go through his speech quickly one more time. As the time came closer he could hear cheerful voices from outside. The crowd started to gather. It's time.

Approaching his podium he could see people gathered around, waiting for him to start the celebration. Making sure his mask of a fearless high lord is on its place, he took his place on the podium. There was a buzz in the crowd as all eyes turned to him. Calmly Eris surveyed people in front of him. He waited until everybody was quiet. Then he cleared his throat and started.

„Welcome to the annual Autumnal equinox's festival! Last year was really hard on us. War took too many lives and we also lost our high lord, my father. But we made it. We survived. Thanks to you all our country is safe once again," he paused to look to everyone in the eye.

„Despite of everything, nature was generous to us this year too and gifted us a lot of food, fruits and vegetables," he gestured towards the full tables set up along the edges of the clearing.

„Usually we celebrate Autumn equinox to give our thanks to the nature, but this year is little bit different. Let's take advantage of this feast and celebrate our victory and life itself as well. Let the party begin!“

With last words he left his powers rumble around, setting the bonfires on fire. Crowd cheered loudly. Then priestesses on the other side of clearing took over the attention and performed their usual rituals and offerings. When spiritual part ended, musicians took up their instruments and crowd split into dancers and onlookers.

A satisfied grin settled on Eris's face as he took in the scene in front of him from his small podium. Everything went smoothly, exactly as he planned it.  Unfortunately he couldn't stay longer and enjoy the results of his hard work. There were some high lord's matters that needed his attention. He waited until he was sure people were enough distracted. But when he was about to sneak out, he noticed a girl dancing around one of the bonfires. In the moment he forgot everything else.

It wasn't her look that caught his eye even though it wasn't bad too. She had big green eyes, waist-length auburn hair, quite lovely face with few freckles on her small nose and cheeks. She was rather smaller with slim and graceful curves.

It was her dance that impressed him. Her movements were precise, confident, elegant and as wild as the flames behind her. She radiated  tremendous energy that attracted him. It reminded him of Nesta's dance just with one difference. This girl was way better. If Nesta was a queen of dance, this girl was goddess.

Before he knew, he was already strolling through the crowd, every step bringing him closer to her. He stopped few meters from her with arms crossed on chest, openly gazing at her with smirk plastered on his face. The smirk that she shamelessly reciprocated. It seemed as if she was dancing just for him making eyes on him every time she turned his way.

Biting down his lower lip he watched her for few minutes enjoying the view before joining her. She eagerly accepted his hand and together they swirled around the bonfire in a wild vortex of dance. Fire filled his veins fuelled by the warmth and flexibility of the flesh under his fingers. A wild grin spread across his face. They hadn't spoken a single word, but neither of them minded.

Eris lost track of the time and his surroundings. At that moment there was only her, the music and the fire for him. He didn't feel tiredness nor thirst or hunger. His body was drawn to hers, his lips only few centimetres from hers. Suddenly she stopped. Eris blinked and looked around.

The night turned into dawn, everybody had already left. Looking at the empty stage where musicians stood before, it was clear that the music must have stopped playing a long time ago. Only embers remained of great bonfires.

Surprised he turned back to the girl, but she was gone too. He looked around in confusion. Except of him there were only wisps of early morning mist rolling across the clearing.

He sighed. He didn't even have a chance to ask her name. Tired he returned back to the palace and crawled into the bed.

[aihoshiino]

Thanks for translating Rie’s interview, I loved reading it but one part stood out to me. Although I can say I agreed with the rest of it, I believe at some point Rie said that if it wasn’t for the stabbing, Ai wouldn’t have ever been able to say “I love you.” Though I do agree that it would have taken her longer to say it without that kind of “it’s now or never” urgency, I like to imagine that eventually Ai does end up saying it. So I’d love to hear your thoughts, if you believe Ai would eventually say “I love you” to Aqua and Ruby, and when/what non-lethal circumstances would set the stage for that?

Glad you enjoyed it!

I've always been of the same mind as Takahashi in that it's really hard for me to imagine Ai saying an 'I love you' for the first time without some big emotional catalyst. Both because this is such a huge mental roadblock for Ai as a character but also just from a narrative perspective, that confession of love is her character arc - the prologue arc as a whole is the words "Aqua, Ruby, I love you". So I think for me, I would want those words to come from a similar place of catharsis as they do in canon, even without a similarly intense setup.

I have one scenario for it in mind but it's, uh, technically also spoilers for one of my in progress OnK fics so I'll keep it under my hat for now. All I'll say in that regard is that the foundation of Ai's issues regarding love all come back to her relationship with Ayumi, so I defo think putting her in a situation where she can work on/through some of that baggage would get her in a good place to try saying it.

I DID once manage to get her to say it in an ongoing RP au in a way that really satisfied me too… it took a very long time in-universe lol but it was basically the end result of two people very slowly inching towards falling in love with each other and Ai taking a chance to open up about her insecurities and the parts of herself she hides - her 'dirty, rough edges' as she puts it in 45510 - and being met with unconditional acceptance the way she's always wanted it. That was really interesting to write because I'd always felt kind of conflicted about the idea of her saying a truthful "I love you" to anyone else before Aqua and Ruby, but in that particular context & with that build up, I was like "oh, of course she would say it". It was actually literally the first time she'd ever said a 'I love you' since I'd started writing her because I'm intentionally super picky about dropping that for hopefully self explanatory reasons so getting to write it for the first time ever was so good…

[enseea]

do you have any writing tips, writers you look up to, or maybe resources? i love your writing style and it inspires me a lot to improve my own.

This is a beautiful thing to be asked, and it did make me reflect a bit more on why I write the way I write. I’m going to assume this ask comes as a result of Only Shot at Honour, so I’ll focus my answer based on that.

I draw inspiration from other writers (think George RR Martin and his A Song Of Ice and Fire universe) in regards to world building. I think it’s really important to have a cohesive sense of the world around your characters, because that’s going to ground their actions in their history and values. It’s what makes them feel real, in my opinion. This is great news for fic writing, because there's already a world built around the canon, and you can use it as a guideline. It's harder for original stories, which I think is an entirely different matter, and is what distinguishes original story writing from fic writing.

Style wise, I don't think I take inspiration from anything in particular. My personal style was very much developed in time and through trial and error. There’s a few key takeaways I like to remember as I write, though, and those I’ve learned both through my own experience and media I’ve interacted with:

Trim the fat: Sometimes, details or scenes you might like as an author don’t serve narrative purpose. At that point you’re at a crossroads. So either a) make it serve narrative purpose, be it character development, plot development, or worldbuilding, or b) cut it. I’ll give an example: in chapter 20, Hashirama’s POV, I really wanted to include a scene wherein Hashirama asked Hikaku to bring him to Madara’s armour. The scene would have been about mourning, and about Hashirama reaching out to the ghost of Madara to try and gain clarity. There was an option to include some foreshadowing in it. In the end, I decided to cut it. It would have bloated the chapter and cut through its tension. People would have liked it, I'm sure, but I'm a firm believer in narrative integrity over instant gratification, which leads me into my next point.

Don’t pander: What I mean by this is, don’t fall into the trap of writing something, or not writing something, based on what your audience might think of it. The body of the work is more important. Don’t undercut your own themes so that people like it. This will ensure that the ending hits, and sticks. I can’t tell you how many excellent fics I’ve read that left me disappointed with the ending precisely because those themes ended up being sabotaged by a desire to make readers happy. In this sense, I’d recommend a TV show: Loki. I’m not a huge fan of Marvel, but the Loki show did right by its ending and by its protagonist. It carried Loki’s story to a very satisfying and ultimately inevitable conclusion, even if it might not have been what people thought they wanted. And speaking of inevitability —

The plot is inevitable: if your characters act in accordance with their morals, their context, their world, their journey will feel inevitable in hindsight. Readers might have their hopes, but as they read, they’ll end up saying — of course it had to happen this way. This doesn’t mean that you can’t alter the course of a character, but it does mean that you have to put effort into it and think, what would compel them to do what I want them to do? This is hard. But it’s also very satisfying, once you’ve figured it out, and you’ll know you have because it’ll click. You, too, will look at the course of your characters and think — yeah. It has to happen this way. Sometimes, though, this will lead you to realise that wait, no, it actually can't happen that way, because that's not who my character is or ever will be. Which means you have to redirect, and come to a new, and better conclusion for your story.

The characters: they’re people. Make them fallible. Make them lie to themselves, be hypocrites. Make them second guess. Give them blindspots. This both makes it easier on you as an author, and serves to flesh your characters out.

Other than these lines, which I personally think should be generally applicable to most works (I’m of course talking about longform, complex stories), what I personally do when I write is I visualise. I like to think my writing feels cinematic, because that’s how it lives in my head — the flicker of light in someone’s eyes, betraying a certain emotion, or the rush of wind, serving as foreshadowing. I listen to music a lot, mostly instrumentals, that help infuse the writing with the rhythm of the song. I think writing stories and writing music are similar, in the sense that there’s ebbs and flows, understated parts and explosive parts. Together, it’s a symphony. That’s how I see it, anyway. How I feel it.

As for the resources I’d recommend — a bit corny, but your heart and soul, the media you’re already drawn to, and practice. Just write. In this sense, I’ll leave you with a personal anecdote: I wrote my first longform story last year. It took me three months to write and I couldn’t rest until it was done. I loved writing it, thinking it, and breathing it. But when I went back to reread it, I read chapters 1 through 7 and thought — god, I could’ve worked so much harder on this, I’m embarrassed to have shared this. But then I turned the page to chapter 8, and suddenly, it was as if all the work I’d put in had manifested into skill. It was jarring, as if someone else had written chapter 8 and onward. That’s just how it happens, though. Time and wordcount.

So, yeah. This was a bit of a long winded reply, but I hope it helped. Thank you for the ask, I loved answering it — and happy writing!