#I’d absolutely not be in character because I don’t know a goddamn thing about them

[tanjir0se]

I don’t mean any offense by this but what do you mean you write in character when you aren’t familiar with the characters at all? How do you know you’re doing anything right? And why do you write for things you don’t know about? No hate I am just curious what you mean or if I misunderstand.

Hi !

So to clarify, I don’t write for characters I’m not at least somewhat familiar with. At most I’ll write (in a fandom I’m already familiar with, like Demon Slayer) something including a character I’m also already at least familiar with but may not know the full backstory of (like Genya and Sanemi).

Using the example of Genya and Sanemi, I’ve seen them both in canon interacting with other characters, we’ve been told a bit about their backstory, their hopes and wants and motivations, and I understand how the show and plot typically works. So even if I don’t know everything about them I consider myself familiar enough to usually be able to write the characters in a way that feels authentic to them no matter what plot happens. Even if the events of canon end up playing out differently, the characters still FEEL in-character (within the little alternate universe plot I’ve created in my own story)

I think I’m doing it right based on feedback I’ve gotten from people who are more familiar than I am (have read the manga, in this example) who say that I did a good job of staying in character. This is one of the more common comments I get on my fics, actually! (My mother is very proud /j)

I write about things I don’t know about because I think it’s fun to speculate on what might happen via writing as an exercise in analyzing/studying the media and the characters itself. Like “wow what is going to happen with X and Y character?? What if it’s this? I’m going to write it!”

That being said I don’t ever write for fandoms I’m unfamiliar with because at that point I’d just write some original fiction and use my own characters lol. And typically if I’m writing a character I am extremely unfamiliar with, they appear as a side character and not main.

To sum up:

1. I am familiar with the characters

2. I know I’m doing it right because I’m familiar enough with the source material and also my commenters seem to think I’m doing it right

3. I don’t lol

_(:3 」∠)_

[cuteniaarts]

Behold, my latest and most enamouring new obsession:

Malina, Lady of the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe. As if Red Lotus child OCs weren’t niche enough

[makelemonade]

straight horny to your request, so basically arranged mirage with neuvillette and wriothesley (separately) BUT! they gain baby fever 😋 write anything you have in mind, thank you 🫡

arranged marriage + baby fever

wrio, Neuvillette - fem + AFAB reader

I suck at titles LOL and it’s kinda short I am so sorry 🙏🏽 this is my first time writing baby fever idk if I did good but WHATEVA

Wriothesley

- I won’t lie to you…I barely know his character LOL uhm…

-like I’m at the part in the archon quest where we just met him

-so I hope this is like…okay

-I’d assume that Neuvillette maybe put you two together, seemingly as a duke needed his duchess. After all his complaining about being an independent man he finally agrees to the marriage.

-at first he’s not really fond of you. Sure, he’s nice to you, but don’t see it as anyrbing more. He still has a job to do.

-but then he really takes into consideration just how sweet you are for him- you’re so obedient and it starts to drive him crazy

-you always have his tea ready for him and he can’t lie when it comes to the fact that maybe he is starting to like you

-and god the way you know how to massage him, whether it be his back, arms, legs, neck- it fucking drives him crazy

-so naturally you start to massage his dick too.

-he loves to make love to you and fuck you- yes they are two completely different things to him. he babbles about how grateful he is to have such a slutty and obedient wife like you

-he LOVES to call you “my wife” when he fucks you, and he loves to think back to when he was so against it and he’ll slap himself because who would not want such a good wife like you?!?

-it means your his, and he loves it.

-what drives him absolutely insane is when he sees you with Sigewinne; you’re so caring, attentative and always so helpful to her that he starts to let his mind wander

-he thinks you’ll look cute with a swollen belly, one he can rub everyday. He imagines what your kids will look like- will they act like you? have your eyes? his hair?

-he needed to fuck a baby into you, and stat.

-he will waste no time in dragging you away to his office or really anywhere in the fortress to breed you…!

“fuuuck baby,” He drawls out his groan, hiking your legs further up his shoulder while also pushing them down as your pushed deeper into his desk.

“so- so goddamn cute, agh! helping Sigewinne and being such a good mommy…”

“Nghh~ oh! Wr-wrio!” You gasp when you feel hot ropes of his cum begin to fill you up, and he makes no move to stop.

He watched the way your tits bounced as he fucked into you, and he moved one hand up to grope at them, imaging how swollen they’d be later in the future, and how he’d get to massage them for you…

“Gonna fuck a baby into you, sweetheart! Needa fill you up…breed you! and you won’t waste anything. Right, you’ll be my good wife…”

Neuvillette

-MY MANNNNNNNNNN

-okay I’d imagine that Furina def arranged this marriage and let me tell u he was NOT AGAINST IT

-why would he be?!? you were gorgeous, adorable, kind, sweet- everything he’d ever imagine for his beloved to be so of course naturally he’s gonna develop these feelings for you

-he watches how you treat people and is so grateful to be able to call you his wife that when he’s talking to other people, he doesn’t even use your name and just tends to say “my wife”

-in full honesty, he also acts like that for another reason; he feels like he owns you with it- that your his

-your his to kiss, find comfort in, talk to, cry to, fuck, make love to, breed- everything! You were his and only his

-and the way you acted with the melusines….how sweet you were to them…his dragon instincts came out insanely.

-you were so kind to them, always helping them with everything and of course with him basically being their dad they start to see you as a mom too 🥺

-one night, he just can’t help it anymore and he’ll force you down in the bed, not letting you move so he can get all of his cum in you.

“Agh! Darling, stay still…” He grunted, pressing a kiss to the love of your ear as he roughly and passionately rolled his hips into yours, his fat cock hitting all the right spots.

“Such a good wife, aren’t you, my dear?”

You couldn’t answer, too fucked out on his cock but also his cum. He’d came multiple times in the last hour and honestly you couldn’t even remember your own name.

“You’ll take it all, right? You’ll let me breed you, fill you up, make you my mate! Hah…”

“Y-yes!” You gasped, holding onto him for dear life. “Breed me…f-fill me up!”

That sentence alone is enough to make him go haywire and he moans as he cums for the nth time, his seed spurring around the edges as he continued to fuck into you.

And when you find a hydro mark embedded on your pelvis, he’ll know you’re officially his mate <3

[see-arcane]

With a total of 1,176 votes tallied, the preferred plushie poll winner with 28.8% of votes is…

What a close one! Jonathan came in with 27.7%, the mysterious Mr. Morse with 24.9% and, delicious irony of ironies, London Dracula with 18.9%. Rest in pieces. Now, what does all this mean going forward?

First, just to reconfirm: I will absolutely be looking into the costs for having more than one plushie character produced at a time. For all that Mina has the top spot if it comes down to a solo run, Nobody Wants to Separate the Gothic Horror Soulmates, even as wee little plushies. It hurts my heart to think of. Mina and Jonathan deserve to sit side by side on everyone’s pillow. Just as Quinn Morse deserves to haunt the pillow next to theirs while casually throttling and carving London Dracula into pieces. For enrichment.

But beyond that, some other key things:

How is this getting done?

Sadly, I was not a cool enough kid for Makeship to greenlight a collaboration with me. Tragique. But while I was sitting around waiting for them to get back to me, I had time to browse around for other options. During that sniffing around I dug up a couple of promising manufacturers—one of which has some really neat options for not only plush toys, but all sorts of bric-a-brac like stationery, shirts, bags, cups, et cetera—and I plan to reach out to them for quotes to start with. Nothing really gets to move forward until I can nail down prices and the amount of X plushies to be made.

I am more than a little hesitant to tell anyone MAKE ME 1000+ PLUSHIES, PLEASE, THE TUMBLR POLL SAID THEY’RE GOOD FOR IT. These aren’t as simple as print/make-on-demand products, so I need to be careful estimating the amount of folks ready and willing to drop money on the little guys. But I will keep everyone updated on the numbers regardless!

Sooo is this a crowdfunding thing or an investment or what?

Don’t know yet. I am still between jobs at the moment—reminder to check out my Ko-Fi if you want to drop me a buck or commission some art!—but if this is something I can safely drop some of my own money in with the guarantee that it will let me do better than break even, I’ll do what I can out of pocket. However, if the cost of making something of good quality turns out too steep, I’ll start looking into stuff like Kickstarter and Backerkit and so on. I want to be sure I’m not gutting anybody’s wallet to pull this off and I want to be double-sure that what we’re paying for isn’t some flimsy throwaway junk. We are all here on the same Dracula book club starving artist site, so It Has to Be Worth It and not a money-sink for anyone.

Got it. Any other info to spare?

For the plushies specifically, this is when I’ll start:

Polishing up the current four designs into cleaner illustrations with different angles to provide for mockup samples with whoever I pick to manufacture with. If I get stuck on something—(which is likely)—I may throw up another poll to bug everyone about palettes and fashion choices. I have a few more designs I haven’t dropped yet for Epilogue Harkers, a non-Bloofer Lucy, and keychains that I’d love to share too!

Eyeballing materials. I’m already picturing a very close-cut cloth for the build and clothes, but I need to decide on filling too. Stiff overstuffing to hold a pose versus softer/lighter plush for floppy cuddleability. 

Poking at other character roughs, ala the Suitor Squad, the Weird Sisters, Van Helsing, Renfield, and Baby Quincey. And if all of those go well…

…maybe some designs for other favorites in the public domain playground. (Looks meaningfully at Clarimonde, Carmilla, Victor Frankenstein and the Creature, the King in Yellow, too many others.) ((But that’s all far-future stuff at the moment.))

Cool! But you also mentioned something about other merch?

I did.

Because goddamn do I want some Dracula-themed stationery. Journals! Memo pads! Pens! Every day we don’t have these things with the Harkers’ mark upon them is a victory for the forces of Count Dracula’s document-destroying evil. Likewise for shirts, totes, mugs, keychains, face masks and other things that could use some novel-flavored goodies. Hell, I’ll probably even get on with making stuff for The Vampyres to link on my website too. Because I am. Maybe behind on that. By several months.

Anyway.

I’ve got to start working on some designs for those too while the plushie process is progressing. Pray that my carpals don’t get tunneled.

Nice! Sounds like your plate is pretty full. So that’s it, right?

:)

Arcane?

:3c

Arcane. I need you to tell me this is all you’re working on.

>:}

Arcane.

Please stand by.

I have a little treat brewing for the Dracula Dailiers and @re-dracula folks in honor of a very special day for our good friend Jonathan Harker.

[crazylittlejester]

i hope this isn’t weird to say, but can i hear you yap about your fiancée? like the little things you love about them? (you don’t have to if neither of you are comfortable with it! ignore this ask if it makes you uncomfortable)

aldkfkdk dw it’s okay!

for starters, no other mother fucker would say shit like this to me and then ACTUALLY give me an explanation:

fr tho, she’s not just my fiancee she’s my best friend and i love her so so much. if no one’s got my back, i know she does, and i have hers. If i need to yap about something, I know she’ll listen and hype me up, and i absolutely do the same for her. She’s truly one of the kindest, most caring people I’ve ever met in my entire life, and I genuinely get very very sad when she goes out of state for college because i miss her 😭

I can text her about a problem or something I’m upset about and she’ll respond with “NTA, divorce” and it’s genuinely the FUNNIEST fucking thing

We have this thing that she’s not allowed to speak while I’m drinking something or have food in my mouth because she chooses the absolute worst moments to say the funniest things and having water come out your nose HURTS, and a few months ago we were getting coffee and she waited until I took a nice big sip before showing me the stupidest tiktok I’ve ever seen and everyone in the coffee shop had to watch me fight for my fucking life. And yes it is a bit annoying to choke and die every time i eat or drink around her, but I do genuinely love the way this mf looks at me like :3 before showing me a meme. istg she does it on purpose /j

every time we play bg3 together she fucking sits there and waits for me to think she wont do it, and then shoves my fucking character or hits them with a sword and then RUNS AWAY AND I CAN NEVER GET HER BACK BECAUSE SHES TOO FAST 😭

she’s also the one who OFFICIALLY got me into Zelda, so without her I probably wouldn’t have gotten into LU. I’d played the og LOZ before when I was 12, but when we were 18 the two of us when to target and she was like “hey man this seems like something you’d like” and had me play the BOTW demo and now I’m here. She gave me the final push and I’ve been yappin’ here ever since. And I think it’s funny that it was my constant yapping that was the final push for HER to get into HER current hyperfixation, bg3. we cursed each other /j

i also love that i’ll go check to see if she got home okay (because i have her location) or im just curious to see what she’s doing, and then I’ll find her in the middle of a fucking lake out of the goddamn country. It never fails to make me laugh 😭

but yeah she’s great, she’s awesome, she’s the funniest person alive, i love her, she’s my best friend, we’re gonna hang a framed photo of autism creature on our wall once we’re able to get an apartment. and there’s no one else who will continue to say “GO PISS GURL!!!” with me in 2024 🫶

[physalian]

#Writer Problems

Meet the 15th character in this series with a name that starts with A! No one will notice hahaha

Going back and deleting the sighs to shake things up a bit because there’s 120 in the manuscript

*checks notes* whoops you died already, Side Character, my bad

*one paragraph* Perfect. Amazing. Poetic. Profound. *the next paragraph* what is words do?

Knocking out a 6k word chapter in an hour/Spending a week on a single transition

*slaps down a shiny new character with zero plan* You don’t know anything about them and neither do I, let’s discover them together

Realistically, there’s gotta be at least one casualty from this fantasy battle so…. *rolls dice* no not you. *rolls dice again* yep. That’ll do. Sorry, pal.

Is this badass or stupid?

Is this hot or cringey?

*checks notes* damn it, plot hole.

Upon this most recent round of edits, you, Cool Side Character, no longer made the cut. Mayhaps you’ll be recycled later.

*checks notes* damn it, I fixed that plot hole by opening another plot hole.

Jesus christ I wrote ‘just’ 308 times across 120k words?

That is definitely not how you spell that

*dreams about my characters in full HD technicolor* awwww yeah, where’s the popcorn? *cannot replicate how cool it was in actual words*

Unes- Unnecs- Unessis- Unnessessarily- Unnecessarily fuck

Do I go with the British grey or the American gray?

*cries* this epic was supposed to be a novella

Well these two were supposed to be having an argument here. But making out is fine. I’d like to see where this goes.

Oops I forgot the straights, here that nameless dude over there isn't confirmed gay, so you can headcanon that he's straight if you want

Oops I forgot that marriage exists uhhh yeah their other parents are all dead or deadbeats

Fuck love triangles here’s a double-helix dodecahedron.

One day my fandom will write so much smut about this guy and I am here for it cause I sure ain’t doing it myself

Oops I forgot people with green eyes exist but brown eyes? I got 20

*describing the writing process* It was the best of times, it was the worst of times it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

I. Hate. Chapter. Titles.

Is this profound or pretentious?

*crafts an absolutely banger metaphor* I hope someone notices this. I put a lot of work into it

I didn’t spend 6 months perfecting this masterpiece for you to sass that the curtains are just blue. I’ll write the goddamn essay myself about all the depth behind my color choices, sir.

Picture that Spongebob dehydrated in Sandy’s treehouse meme ‘cause that’s me on round 12 of edits

I gotta be up for work in 4 hours but this monologue is more important

*distills 30 pages of worldbuilding notes into 2 paragraphs of a fluff scene* somebody will appreciate this, won’t they?

*listening to my book playlist* one day when this is adapted I hope this artist is still alive to compose the main theme cause this shit fucks

*cries* this trilogy was supposed to be just one book

If I turn this plot hole into a character flaw, they become the problem while I remain god

*looting themes, monologues, character names, and archetypes off the corpses of my dead WIPs* You won’t miss them anyway.

While it also immortalizes this person’s dickish behavior, yes, I will, in fact, write a whole character’s backstory as a middle-finger to this one bitch from 10 years ago.

*steps back to gaze at all the suffering done unto my deuteragonist* but it was worth it, wasn’t it?

*staring down yet another loathsome action set piece* whyyyyy do I do this to myself?

Nobody’ll notice my author insert if I dice them up and divvy them out in bits to my entire cast, right? Right? It’s like a shell game of what’s author and what’s fiction

These two are going to be a problematic ship one day and I will burn that bridge when I get there

*2am and I am scouring the internet for that one piece of a fort’s defenses because not remembering is the current root of my insomnia*

*Nudging my favorite character who isn’t the protagonist out onto stage* golly I hope the readers like him

Waiting. For. Editors. Takes. So. Long.

Holy butts accidental motif and deep symbolism fucks. I am so pretending I did that on purpose.

To subtext or not to subtext? Nah, to subtext. *laughs maniacally*

Trying to ride that line between so obvious it’s painful but also juuust enough foreshadowing so you slap yourself for not seeing it sooner

TIL that I have been using that word completely wrong for years. How quaint.

No you’re derivative schlock. I’m crowd surfing the books that came before and loving every second of it.

Damn I wasted a really good name on this throwaway character

*checks notes* wait, who's taller? Where does your hair part? Are you left or right-handed?

*musing over a character slated for death* damn, I really like you. Since I am in fact god, you shall live another day. *rewerites the entire finale*

God I hope people like this story

[beavauna]

Carmine Discussion

Okay, I’ve never done this before, but considering there are a lot of Carmine haters on here, I thought I’d give it a try.

I’m getting sick of going online and seeing Carmine portrayed negatively. There’s people calling her racist, sexist, xenophobic, and all around other horrifying things. It’s like I can’t go anywhere without seeing her drawn in a negative lot, and there’s even porn art where she’s portrayed like this, and I thought it’s time someone put a stop to it. (which I stumbled into on accident.)

Look, I get she’s supposed to be protective older sibling character, but people keep treating her like she’s not a character, like a puppet they can throw their problems on.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Bea.” But I do. There have only be three known sibling groups in Pokemon, Carmine and Kieran being one of them.

The best example I can give is Clemont and Bonnie. They’re brother and sister, and of course- they have their issues. Clemont is the older, protective sibling character, while Bonnie is the younger sibling who just wants to be trainer, but is often followed by her brother who wants to protect her and keep her safe.

I get Clemont’s nicer than Carmine is initially, but I’ve NEVER seen any hateful art drawn of him. It could be just because of how popular XYZ was, but like-

There should be people who portray him negatively, but I’ve never seen that.

The XYZ anime was great. Most people consider it the greatest Pokemon series of all time, with all its characters, story, Pokemon, (coughs. Amourshipping.) and much, much more.

If you ask someone, they’ll most likely tell you that their favorite anime is XYZ. And it’s the same with me.

(I’d like to mention I’ve never watched the anime where May and Max came from. I don’t even know the name- shsjsvsh. I’m not forgetting about them, I just have never watched it.)

But my point is; It’s like people automatically think that Carmine was supposed to be the Clemont character and Kieran was supposed to be the Bonnie character.

“Oh my god she’s so mean to Kieran. She doesn’t give a shit about him.”

Because older siblings are like that?? I’m an older sibling to a (currently) 7 year old brother, and our relationship is like this.

When people first saw Carmine, people were in absolute awe of her design. There was fanart galore, discussions, ext ext.

But when the game officially came out, here came the hate.

And to be honest? I hated her too, but after playing the Teal Mask for a while, I started to like her. She reminded me of myself in a way. (Despite me being transmasculine/nonbinary) And for the love of her design to immediately go to ‘hey let’s make awful art of her’ makes me sick.

She’s honestly my favorite comfort character. She makes me happy.

And I know there’s awful art of characters in every fandom, but my point is: Why hate on Carmine when she’s simply just the living example of an actual sister and brother relationship? People can change, you know. Like goddamn…

She can go through changes. Plot exists for a reason. Like- can people actually get their act together and realize things aren’t so fucking black and white??

That being said; If you’re a Carmine hater, block me and move on. If you’re a Carmine hater but understand what I’m getting at, feel free to stay around! I’m always happy to spread the word and remove one of my favorite video game characters from a negative light.

~ Bea

[cupcakeslushie]

About that crossover thing- I am exclusively a rise fan. It’s the first iteration I’ve ever committed to actually watching because i liked the art style. I know next to nothing about 2k12 or it’s characters, and the Raph bashing still pisses me off majorly.

A lot of the time it comes off as putting the rise turtles on some sort of pedestal, which is… uncomfortable. I don’t even know this man, but I am very certain he is Not That Terrible.

I will never understand why, when fandoms have situations like this, with multiple iterations meeting, we have to shit on one version to make the other one look better. Like a little razzing is understandable, but calling 2012 Raph abusive? Hell no. As an only child (who was raised with a lot of cousins), I can say with absolute certainty, those ppl have no siblings. Get out of here with that.

Like, every version of the boys are just stupid chaotic siblings, ALL OF THEM. Rise Raph might be a gentle giant but that sweet bitch has his own anger issues. He’s definitely a Raph in his own right. And while Rise Raph is dealing with being the eldest, there’s no question every one of the Rise boys is better behaved than 2012 Mikey.

2012 Raph is dealing with having 2012 Mikey as a little brother, constantly pushing his buttons on purpose…I’d lose my temper quite a lot as well…I love Mikey, but goddamn, he’s is a little menace in 2012. He’s not an innocent little UWU who never did anything wrong, like a lot of the fandom wants to paint him as. That boy loved driving his brothers crazy. And it’s honestly a disservice to his character to make it seem like he doesn’t give back as much shit as he gets, and just lays down and takes it.

If the groups did meet, I think the 2012 boys would be a little thrown off at first, as they’re the older, more experienced ones, but it wouldn’t take long before they were having a ton of fun with the Rise boys. These are, after all the very turtles who caused total and complete havoc the first time they went to an alien planet.

[spacerhapsody]

It has recently come to light that my deepest, darkest (Digimon) fandom secret is that I didn’t always ship Taito, and @hazelestelle was kind/curious enough to ask the following question in that shipping ask game:

18. A ship you never thought you would ship but do.

Buckle up, kids, because it’s time for a (long) trip down memory lane.

The year is 2002, and after about a year of exploring the internet via small guestbooks and messaging boards, someone finally pointed me towards the central German anime site. And while I think I had seen a couple of people publishing their own stories online and had written one or two myself, I hadn’t realized before that the concept of fanfic was a whole thing, let alone how much of it there was out there.

I also didn’t know yet that you could properly ship things that aren’t canon. Back then, I thought Yamto and Sora were really cute together (probably I mostly thought Yamato was the coolest person ever and was using Sora to heavily project onto), and apparently so did other people, because I easily found and read quite a few stories about them.

Now what you have to remember is that tags or any kind of useful sorting system just wasn’t a thing back then, which is how I ended up with a sliiightly different story, but I didn’t know that yet.

The fic was labeled with all kinds of warning – but I had absolutely no idea what any of those words meant. I’d only just discovered that Taichi and Yamato were Tai and Matt’s Japanese/actual names and just figured “Taito” and “Yamachi” were other (nick)names for them, and since it was popular to just throw random Japanese words into your fic at the time, and half of the time people didn't even use them right, I didn’t bother to look up what “Shounen-Ai” and “Yaoi” meant.

So I had no idea what I was getting into when I started reading, and after a couple of chapters I might have found it a bit weird that Sora was so little in it, but apparently I’ve also always enjoyed a good slow-burn, so I kept on reading. I don’t even remember when I realized that there was something going on between Yamato and Taichi, but I do remember that I was fascinated, and that I couldn’t stop reading, especially once it became obvious/something actually happened between them.  

(Why do I care so much about queer people, says queer person years before she figures out she’s queer herself, etc.)

Anyways, the story was long (and my internet time limited), so it took days, if not weeks of surreal summer evenings until I was done, but I read the whole thing.

And for whatever reason… I took this as my sign to start shipping Daisuke and Ken (and a variety of DBZ characters). XD

I’ve absolutely no idea why that was what I took away from the whole thing, it’s not even that I disliked the ship (yet), I always kind of understood why people were shipping them, maybe it was simply because Digimon 02 was much more present in my mind than the first season at the time?

But then I started looking for Daisuke/Ken stories (again, without a lot of help from the websites themselves), and it was an absolute nightmare.

You simply couldn’t find anything that didn’t have Yamato/Taichi as the main ship instead, that didn’t feature them as the reason Daisuke and Ken were figuring themselves out, or didn’t have them as the “older, wiser” couple at least one of them went to for advice, and I was steadily growing more and more annoyed by them.

And it was like this for years. I think it got even worse (Adventure, and thus Yamato/Taichi, has always been more popular than any of the 02 characters, and even more so after they lost their momentum).

They just were everywhere, in every goddamn fic, no matter what other pairing you were actually looking for. I was once reading some football RPS, and when the guys in that story were listening to the radio, the host mentioned someone had called in and asked to play the previous song, from Yamato to Taichi (or the other way round) – you can’t even make that shit up.

At this point they just annoyed me so much that I made a point of not shipping them, and I think I’d also reached a point where I was a bit tired of the whole “they’re rivals/always beating each other up, so they obviously are in love” trope.

I also discovered Taichi/Koushiro (which I still think is an amazing ship that at least the German fandom has always been completely sleeping on), so I had even more reason to not ship Yamato/Taichi.

And I honestly think it would always have been this way, but then tri. happened. And hit me with full force. Because they were older, and somewhat calmer/less aggressive around each other, but still very much themselves, and most of all so blatantly obvious.

I was still in denial during most of part 1, but I already knew when Mimi shoved them into a Ferris wheel cabin and declared the group had brought them together that I was fighting a losing battle, and by part 2 with the entire onsen visit and the bickering afterwards, it was over.

Look. I get it. They’re really it. They work so well together, there’s so much there, they’re the blueprint for so many anime ships, they give me way too many feelings. (Help.)

I still don’t really ship them pre!tri., though. Partly probably because of my history with the ship, but also because I like their dynamic so much better now, and because I simply like the idea of people getting together later in life, or at the very least after they’ve at least finished high school.

TL;DR: I never, ever thought I’d fall into Taito hell, and yet here I am, in the year 2k24, absolutely obsessed with them once again. Thank you, Digimon, you’re the gift that keeps on giving.

[aliasrocket]

I wanted to say something for an anonymous comment about feeling less embarrassed of having feelings for Rocket. I must say I totally understand that.

A month ago, when GOTG VOL 3 was released, I went to see it at the cinema with my mother, I spent the whole movie very excited for Rocket, but right in that scene where he is on the verge of death and he meets Lylla again, SOMETHING INSIDE IT CHANGED ABOUT ME, because when they were hugging I realized I was JEALOUS, and in my mind I thought "OH NO, IT'S HAPPENING TO ME AGAIN", because I always fall for characters that might be unconventional or weird to other people , then I start looking for fics and I realize that there are not many for the same reason, or there are many where it is more platonic and I think "IT IS NOT ENOUGH" And it's more complicated for me because my first language is not English and in my language there is NOTHING. So meeting people who write Rocket the way I imagined really makes me very happy. I'm even thinking about writing some one shots myself but it's hard, I've never written NSFW and I find it kind of funny that I want to start with Rocket.

Oh my god this was absolutely sweet.

Yes!! Everyone IT IS OKAY TO LIKE UNCONVENTIONAL CHARACTERS. LITERALLY, IT IS NOT A BIG DEAL!! JUST BE YOU!!!

And I’m really sorry there isn’t much fics in your language, but on the bright side I’m really happy that you’re at least able to read and write in english even if it isn’t your first language!

Also, yeah, in my experience, besides sighing the whole goddamn movie (except for the first 10 mins, I will give myself that,) I remember leaving the theatre in a sigh and going on ao3 like “ah shit, here we go again” bc this is the 1982838th time I’ve visited ao3 for some really obscure ship or an x reader fic for a very underrated character.

And about that Rocket smut, I understand how can it be daunting and I’d really love to help you!

Ykw, let me make a quick guide for anyone who’s scared of writing Rocket smut!! But for those of you who wouldn’t wanna read some real ugly/stupid stuff, don’t press the ‘keep reading’ line, haha.

a quick (and definitely unhinged) guide to writing Rocket smut XD

OBVIOUS NSFW WARNING!!! It gets ugly guys please THIS IS YOUR WARNING I’M NOT JOKING!!

If you’re uncomfortable with heavy nsfw please turn away now!!

written by aliasrocket (89P13 on ao3 hehe)

Suitable for any smut involving Rocket! (Looking at you guys, roquill shippers. Don’t worry, I welcome all ships on my blog <3)

This is supposed to be a writing smut guide specifically meant for Rocket so I’m not gonna go into the basics of writing smut, but if you’re a total beginner, here’s some pointers to help :

the genitals, legs, muscles, brain : main places that tend to be the most stimulated, exhausted or absolutely wiped. That being said, you can use these as a starting point for describing the feelings the characters or the reader may feel in the moment.

besides the main thing, you could try to set the mood by maybe mentioning how the moans sounded like, (screams, squeals, cries etc.) and other things the characters were doing to ground them in the moment, like gripping the sheets, gripping the other person’s shoulder or hips, etc.

Okay, so, about Rocket in particular …

Yeah, of course writing smut about a fucking Raccoon isn’t going to be fucking easy. But don’t worry, as someone who has studied all 3 gotg films and slowed down quite possibly every single Rocket clip in existence (enough to know Rocket … is genuinely CANONICALLY is very particular/skilled with his fingers, he knows where he’s putting them and knows EXACTLY which buttons to press on any tech, so … definitely good at using his fingers if you catch my drift) I think I might have gotten the hang of it to help some of you guys out.

So first off, when I write Rocket smut I always imagine he’s his comic height instead of his mcu height (don’t search it up, you’re just gonna be depressed about it trust me) so all you have to know is that if he pressed you up against a wall his head would be around your shoulder blade area. For missionary, he’s probably around your collarbone.

Rocket canonically has sharp and absolutely grown out nails. No, they’re not retractible. I’ve done research on this, but if you’d like to write him fingering someone, Rocket can have his nails trimmed.

It would hurt if Rocket bit you. Like, it would fucking bleed. So I’m sorry to say to those biting kink girlies (those are me hi) but Rocket can only afford to give you or someone else some nibbles on the skin unless you guys want some serious bloodplay on your hands. This is because he has protruding fangs on both his upper and lower row of teeth, his lower ones more prominent than the top.

Rocket can, however, eat you out. Don’t wanna get too into depth with this but basically his tongue can stick out his muzzle pretty well and his nose makes for a good clit-stimulator HAHAHAH

!!! : (this is going to be a description of the average raccoon penis so skip this if you don’t wanna know about this because you can DEFINITELY write Rocket smut without having to know this so please be free) I had to research this for a very specific request (pls ily shameless anon/pos) and I almost cried out of the loss of my sanity but anyway, raccoons have a baculum bone which is basically a bone in their penis that helps with copulation, its average length is about 4 inches but can be longer if you catch my drift. The genital itself is a like a rod with a ‘spiky’ end (it’s not actually spiky but it looks that way) compared to human genitalia, kind of like a cat’s but much longer and it is a very dark shade of brown or just plain black. Feel free to use any of these for a possible description if ever you need it, though I never really talk about it in fics, especially the whole ‘spiky’ thing. That being said, Rocket should not have an issue with size, as the the average human male genitalia is about five inches, meaning he can hit anyone’s g-spot just fine.

I might add more points if I have any more but this is all I got right now. I really hope this somehow encouraged you to write that nsfw fic you wanted, and just know everyone’s got interests, it’s fine if not a lot of people irl are into Rocket that way, because that’s literally what the internet is for!

[you-didnt]

Dragon Age The Veilguard thoughts!!

I wrote almost 2k words and I have honestly no clue who the audience is here but if someone asks me “Did you like The Veilguard?” I can just pull this up.

This is all from the perspective of someone whose favourite game was DA2 and who didn’t love DAI.

Massive spoiler for basically everything ahead

It wouldn’t be Dragon Age if it didn’t kinda suck and I have so many gripes with this game. This being said… I loved it. I have to think it over some more because ofc there’s a lot of recency bias right now, but I think I can say for sure that it had some of my favourite parts in all Dragon Age games.

What I loved:

The overall arc of the game. It felt very coherent and also: Things happened. I replayed Inquisition some months ago and was shocked at how few main quests the game actually has. It also helps that almost all companion quests somehow tie into the main story.

The antagonists were scary!! I was genuinely scared of them and could feel their looming threat (quite literally in Weisshaupt) throughout the entire game. They really learned from whatever happened with Corypheus.

I vastly prefer those smaller types of maps to the huge ones filled with nothing in Inquisition. I wouldn’t change a thing about them.

The companions ohmygod the companions. I loved the DAO crew, absolutely adored DA2 and felt pretty indifferent about most of the Inquisition companions. These guys are DA2 level for me. It’s the found family, alright. That’s why I had a physical reaction when, in my playthrough, Davrin died – I really, really didn’t expect it. I actually yelled and started violently sobbing when Assan flew after him. When Solas said “Did you really expect to make it through this without casualties?” I was like, well, yeah??? I was also so afraid of Neve being dead, too and the way this gutted me shows what a great job the game did at making me feel attached to the characters. Manfred, too – the way I played my Rook they would have probably said “yeah man go for litchdom” to Emmerich but I, the player, couldn’t.

Speaking of the ending: I said before that I think it’s one of the best things Bioware has done. The final quest felt very Mass Effect 3 and I love the ending of ME3 so much (minus the last 10 minutes that we’re gonna ignore) so this was a huge win for me personally.

Rook!!! I don’t mind that they’re somewhat of an established character, because that’s what I also loved about Shepard in Mass Effect. It’s so funny to me that they’re a bit of a cringefail loser and I’d like to think Varric saw them and thought “This kid reminds me of Hawke”, which is why he recruited them.

The CC and hair physics. Can you believe we got a Dragon Age game with GOOD HAIR???

The art direction of the game. Past me who made fun of it looks so stupid right now because everything and everyone is beautiful.

I know the bar is on the floor, but: I played this game start to finish with no major glitches (I clipped through the floor once and my Playstation crashed during the final credits). This SHOULD be normal for an AAA game, but unfortunately it’s not, so I have to give credits where they’re due.

The lore drops. Some require some suspension of disbelief but all in all, the way everything is connected, feels very satisfying. I do feel sorry for everyone who’s annoyed by the “it’s all elves” lore because once again, it’s all elves.

Solas and his dynamic with Rook. Also the way he completely broke down sobbing at the end (Gareth David-Lloyd the man you are). I’ve never done a Solavellan playthrough because I don’t find him compelling in a romantic way but goddamn do I love him as a character apart from that.

They haven’t forgotten about The Forgotten Ones!!! (no pun intended) I was stoked to hear about them and even SEE them and I would love to know even more about them!!!

Isseya. I very recently read the last flight and at some point in the game I started suspecting and when it was actually revealed… very satisfying.

What I feel meh about:

The music. It’s good, no doubt, but it didn’t leave much of an impression. Listened to it on Spotify and I am a fool I take it back.

The combat. At first I enjoyed it but then I got to bigger bosses and as a mage it was just absolutely frustrating. I was Dark Souls-rolling around the place because every single enemy decided to ignore my companions and attack only me so there were 3 mages firing at me from the distance and some big guy jumping me every 0.5 seconds while my companions were chipping away health at snails pace. I was so annoyed I changed the settings of two sliders in the custom difficulty setting – and then I went to Weisshaupt and beat Razikale in 5 minutes lmao. Maybe the new patch changed it, I can’t say, but in my next playthrough I am so going to be a warrior.

The pacing is a bit all over the place. As many people have said before, the game takes forever to take off.

Unfortunately, the writing. Everyone in Thedas seems to be super chill because you just drop that the elven gods are here and they are evil and everyone is like “alright”. The only one who has a valid reaction to it is the First Warden and I punched him in the face for it. I played and elf Rook who at some point said to Solas “Just because I have the same ear-shape as the gods doesn’t mean I’ll fall to my knees in front of them” and Solas replied “Yeah that’s luckily true for most elves” and I was like… really??? REALLY??? I don’t know, I’m not religious myself but if I was and my literal god showed up and said “I can make all your dreams come true if you worship and join me” … idk man. I think I would be sold.

The game really suffers from how pretty much every decision from Dragon Age 1-3 was disregarded. I can imagine this sparked a few discussions at Bioware HQ because it is a bold choice that did not pay off at all. I know why it was necessary and why you can’t include every single choice and option but come on man, more than 3 choices who all have to do with Solas wouldn’t have been too much to ask. You could pretty much feel the strain they went through to avoid saying certain things as not to establish anything from the past games as canon and it didn’t do the writing any favours.  

The romances are really lacking. I watched a few on Youtube and they're all so... bland. And short. I romanced Taash and it started with them pressing Rook against a wall and I was like !!! and then..... nothing really happened? Every time they wanted to talk to me I was like "kith? Kith please?" and I got one somewhere in a dragon den but after that...... nothing.

I personally don’t mind the wiping of the world state in all of southern Ferelden by saying “yeah the Blight killed everything” that much, also because it’s been 10 years since Inquisition, 20ish (I think?) since Origins and I expected things to have changed drastically in this timespan anyway, but I can also see why it’s frustrating.

I also really get it when people say “this game feels like it was written with HR in the room”.  What bothers me even more though is how much hand-holding there is. When Morrigan explained the Mythal fragment and then started to read the Oxford definition of fragment to me I was like oh my godddd.

Speaking of definitions: It breaks my heart to say it, but a lot about Taash’s story made me cringe – and I say this as someone who is on a “gender journey” and romanced Taash. I saw someone on Reddit talk about it and what they said really resonated with me: It feels like Trick Weekes wanted their Dorian moment too and overshot the mark. I think it’s admirable that they included it, especially considering this is what caused the most backlash from the “anti-woke” mob and they must have been aware of that. The coming out story itself was mostly well done and made me tear up once or twice, but the codex entries with, once again, what looked like dictionary entries of the queer bible? Maevaris saying “You are valid”? Including “trans women are women!”? Not even gonna mention the insufferable Isabela scene. It’s like someone went through a checklist and it unfortunately made the non-binary representation they were going for feel like tokenism.

Some plot holes I can’t ignore/questions I have:

Varric. There was a point in the game where I thought “is this some kind of sixth sense bullshit” and I dismissed it because I thought “nah that’s too stupid”. While I do have to say the emotional impact of Varric saying “I think you already know” at the end fucking hit me like a truck, the plot twist didn’t make any sense if you consider how beloved Varric was by everyone. You’re really telling me there was no funeral for him? The inquisitor didn’t care to mention it at all? Isabela??? They were all just like “Yeah Varric died and Rook keeps talking to him but we’re just not gonna mention it” Were Neve and Harding holding all the others at gunpoint like? “Hey if Rook starts talking to Varric… play along.”

Where are the Qunari? I don’t mean the Antaam, I mean the literal Qunari. Inquisition ended with them being close to invading Tevinter, they actually invade Tevinter in the comics and now we just have a bunch of deserters and the Qunari are also pretty chill with it?

The Lighthouse/Fade. Throughout all of Inquisition people keep mentioning how no one has ever physically entered the Fade since the magisters and how it’s such a feat that the Inquisitor did it twice and now we’re all just… chilling here, bringing friends over, and no one mentions how remarkable that is?

I played a Crow and cringed at the found family-fication of them. So was everything Zevran said about them a lie or are we gonna act like all the evil shit they do is actually cool?

Maybe I just didn’t get it, but I don’t think Isseyas motivation made any sense. I thought her corruption and being driven insane from her guilt was extremely cool, but wasn’t it the guilt of blighting griffons that made her that way? If so, why would she think blighting them again would be their salvation?

We saw a Titan from the outside and I think it looked extremely cool, I took several screenshots of it. But did no one ever notice that some mountains look weirdly humanoid shaped? It had a face and hands and everything and sure, if you see that once you think “that’s a fun coincidence” but assuming they were all over Thedas, no one gave this a second thought?

So. Where does this leave me? If I had to rate the game from 1-10… I honestly couldn’t say, and fortunately I don’t have to. It felt like Dragon Age and when I say this I mean the good, the bad and the ugly. I don’t want to outweigh the pros and the cons, I don’t want to have an entire objective opinion because the way I feel about it will always be subjective. There are so many things that bother me, but in the end the game made me laugh, cry, fall in love with the characters and it showed me a new side of this world I love I didn’t know yet. This ultimately leaves me no choice but to say: I genuinely loved the game and I’m grateful I’ve got to experience it.

[jtl07]

jt (finally) watches warrior nun - s1 e9 (pt 3) & e10

Last episode 9 thoughts and brief-ish thoughts on episode 10

I was thinking again about the fight vs flight critique that Ava and Bea had and was pondering that in the context of all the other interactions they’ve had thus far - and how it kinda bridges over to the interactions (esp the arguments) they have in s2.

As in: This is the first time that we see Ava kinda bite back at Bea - not like how she does in s2, mind you, (e.g. their arguments re: Miguel and the FBC) but it’s a little hint of it. In the same vein, for Bea, it’s a step further from the critique she had of Ava in the hallway in s1 e3 but not yet as emotional as the apartment fight in s2.

There’s not really a point to this observation, more like a, huh that’s interesting, in terms of how their relationship is slowly evolving.

That said, I … don’t have much to say about e10. I’d been dragging my feet mostly because I did not want to watch Adriel being manipulative, and woof, I was right. What I mean: they knew how to cast Adriel as evil via manipulation and lies, and they did it well. It really turned my stomach to watch it, and I was going at 2x speed plus had a completely unrelated movie running in the background (if you’d like to know: it was one of the Ice Age movies lol).

[Things I was pleasantly surprised by and some frustrations under the cut]

The reveal of Vincent’s loyalty was really well done - probably the only time the short scene edits served a purpose. Interweaving Vincent going to Adriel with Mother Superion confronting Duretti (and goddamn, Di Fanti was amazing) reminded me of old Hong Kong Triad movies for a sec. That said: It actually took me a moment to realize what they were doing because they’ve been doing those damn cuts so much prior to this that it nearly lost its effectiveness. All in all, really showed that they’d been setting up Vincent’s betrayal from the very start.

Speaking of old school HK movies, I was really frustrated with the lack of tension in the editing - or maybe it was the angle of shots? I can’t put my finger on why I wasn’t getting the tension I wanted from the girls’ reactions to Vincent’s reveal. (I was, however, hella amused that it took three of them to hold back Mary lol)

I will say that I was surprised by the scenes of the girls waiting for Ava near the beginning, namely Beatrice’s calm - which was highlighted by everyone else’s reactions: Lilith’s restless anxiety, Mary’s tense cynicism. Part of my surprise was because of that fight vs flight convo in e9. I mentioned in my e9 writeup that I found it really odd that Beatrice frames the reason why she has the extra explosives as more of a contingency if Ava fails, rather than how she simply says here in e10 that it’s their worst case scenario. She presents an almost serene sort of faith in Ava here - is it because she’s not alone with Ava (and therefore more critical of Ava)? Is it because she’s with the others (and therefore more presenting as “faithful”)? It’s very curious, human even, how she is both critical and trusting of Ava in these two episodes.

(Or: Perhaps Beatrice can’t find it in her to praise Ava to her face? Hm. Curious, curious)

Oh last thing: I did like - and hadn’t known! - that twist of the fight with Adriel actually being them buying time for Ava. That said, hadn’t it already been 7 minutes since she phased through the wall and yknow, had been talking to Adriel? Also what uh, what were they expecting Ava to do? Like, she still isn’t much a fighter lol. Again, weird tension/build/logic issues - there were plenty of “cool” moments but they didn’t seem to make sense…?

All said, kinda happy to be done with season 1. It felt really disjointed to me in terms of storytelling and editing (goddamn the short scene edits killed me), though it served as a good “introduction” to the main characters. The things it felt like they really wanted to, and did, nail was: let Alba shine as Ava (mission absolutely accomplished) and build Vincent’s betrayal (mission also accomplished).

In any case, looking forward to finally get into s2!

[greenconverses]

Recently read: If you were paying attention last week, you already know my Thoughts about The Sun and The Star, but if you somehow missed my screaming into the tumblr void, here’s your recap!

I didn’t really have any expectations for TSATS, mostly because I’ve settled into the “these aren’t for me but I can have fun with them” phase with Riordan books. But I was looking forward to it because Nico’s a longtime favorite character and... wow. It was bad. Like shockingly so. I don’t know how much of the quality issues came from co-writing, but I’m mostly going to blame RR for it being a hot mess since this is his universe and he has the final say on quality control...which we know has been an issue for a while anyway! 

Somehow, this book managed to fit in every annoying trend of current MG/YA books — endless, useless snark; therapy speak; unnatural twitter dialogue about social issues; absolutely tensionless romance. There were hints of a good book here and there, but every shining moment would get squashed out by a goddamn meme reference or the narrative hitting you over and over with light/darkness metaphors. Anyway, glad I pirated it, you absolutely did not deserve my money for this one, Richard. (★★)

In the “books I should be reading because I’M AN ADULT” category, Not The Witch You Wed by April Asher was another disappointingly meh contemporary paranormal romance. There were parts where the narrator’s voice and the story would grab me, but once again, I’d immediately be thrown out by badly placed snarked and weird pop culture references. (How are Supernatural or Buffy still THINGS when paranormal creatures have been “out” to the world for decades???) The romance could’ve been better too. I’ll maybe try the second book, just to see if the above kinks have been worked out (ha yeah right), but it’ll probably be a bit. (★★.5)

And finally, volume three of Lore of Olympus was cute and continues to be one of the few modern day Greek myth adaptations that aren’t actively disappointing me. I probably should try a few more graphic novels out to compare. (★★★★)

[thygoddessouijathicc]

please don’t shoot me

Ok, I swear someone is going to kill me for making this comparison, but the villains of FNAF and Danganronpa weirdly match up quite a bit. I know it’s just a coincidence, I’m not saying it’s anything more. But I find it absolutely hilarious and I need to share this cursed thought with the world.

Major spoilers for both game series:

Comparisons and reasoning:

Literally every Freddy - Literally every Monokuma

Both are robotic bears that take on a major antagonistic role early on and there is most often one at the centre of everything.

William Afton - Junko Enoshima

Both characters are stated to be geniuses, master manipulators, and the ones behind everything, in similar ways too. William Afton created the animatronics and murders and thus the hauntings, as well as the sister location and thus Baby, as well as being the one to return in some form or level in every game. Junko created what can only be described as Armageddon as well as the killing games, she also causes Monica to become what she did, and although Junko does technically stay dead which we all know William is allergic to doing but she still returns in some way in every sequel if not with literally an AI of herself then at least someone continuing her legacy who wants to be her. And of course, they both died in rather brutal ways, with William being crushed by springlocks and Junko by a trash compactor.

Glitchtrap - AI Junko

Ok this is the main reason I wanted to make this, both William Afton and Junko return digitally in a later game and are the main villain again. William Afton returns by being scanned into a game, Junko returns by having made an AI of herself and having it put in the simulation by Izuru Kamakura.

Circus Baby - Monica Towa

Both characters are the main antagonist of a spin off game with a hit or miss reception. Both have a sort of familial relationship with the larger villain of the main game series with Circus Baby being possessed by Elizabeth and Monica having a sort of sisterly bond with Junko. Both Elizabeth and Monica are the children of abusive families with fathers who just so happen to own a robotics company. Both Circus Baby and Monica are manipulative villains, and by the next appearance they have both have a major personality shift with Scrap Baby liking William Afton now for some reason and Monica giving up on despair because Nagito was so aggressively annoying about hope and despair she couldn’t bring herself to give a fuck anymore.

Vanny - Tsumugi Shirogane

This has a bit less and I’d honestly say I vastly prefer Vanny over Tsumugi because at least Vanny was only disappointing because she was mishandled and could have been the best thing to come to FNAF in years if she wasn’t, while Tsumugi was disappointing because of the twist itself surrounding her being the main antagonist being disappointing. But at the end of the day for one reason or another both characters were a letdown to the fans with their implementation. Both want to continue the legacy of the main villain as an unrelated new one who was affected by them in some way. Both love cosplay, and both games seem to take place in the future. Both were defeated by the building they controlled being destroyed, Vanny with a fire, and Tsumugi with… Keebo blowing the building the hell up.

Glamrock Freddy - Keebo/K1-b0

Both characters are robots in the same game as the previously talked about disappointing villains, both acted as allies to the protagonists, both were the only robots present who were friendly for one reason or another. Also Freddy acts as a performer and presumably sings at Freddy’s, and Keebo dreams of being a pop star.

Basically there’s a lot of things to compare between the two series and I think it’s goddamn hilarious. I may or may not create a joke AU that fuses the two series.

[kiirotoao]

Alright, I’ve had this happen three times now in my TikTok comments, and I wanted to write things down here if not addressed there. Here’s the three-time happening, in short: ‘why are you, as a girl, so obsessed with a gay mlm ship?’

And, oh boy. Look. Yes, I am a cisgender woman. Yes, I primarily ship Byler (cisgender males) over all other ships in Stranger Things. But do you realize how objective that is? I am more than my gender. So are the characters portrayed in film and media and thus Stranger Things. I think that there are indeed underlying issues and reasons for genders that are more praised in film and media and whatnot, but I think that that’s a large oversimplification of what’s going on, here.

Guess what? Two cisgender men created Stranger Things. Do you think it’s easy for cisgender men to write in the shoes of cisgender women and just automatically know the nuances and be comfortable writing for them? No. That’s why we have an opening of the show with our four main characters, four boys. Because this story is one of the Duffers’ love letter to being nerdy as once nerdy boys themselves. However, I think that the Duffers have created great opportunities for discourse on the issues that women face through Nancy and her struggles, especially in season 3, and if you want to talk about women and discrimination, please do! But I’m just here trying to ship my ship. I talk about inter-relational issues, not gender issues. Are gender issues important? Absolutely, but I clearly don’t talk about them on my page. Maybe I can be more clear about that. I’m currently considering saying this in reply to the people who asked. I get it. There are no rules on my page, so it’s an open book.

But what I take issue with and what makes me passionate enough to write all of this is that the comments were clearly made to break me down and question, in essence, why I’m shipping males as a female. Well, to answer that, when I went into shipping Byler, I thought about what was happening in front of me as a story whole: two best friends, one lost and then found, empathetically and lovingly sticking by each other and being honest to each other through blood, sweat, and tears, facing an emotional and then physical rift, rejoining and rekindling their love, and finally deciding to stand by each other in the face of the world crumbling before them. No. Gender. Attached.

Byler are simply written as male characters and I’d take no issue if they were females and I think I’d still ship them the same if they were. But at the end of they day, they weren’t. They are males. And that’s not why I like talking about them. I like their character traits, not their goddamn DNA. But all that being said, I also won’t hide it, I do ship women, too. I like Ronance. God, I really like Ronance. Even if they very likely won’t be canon, I adore their moments in season 4 and love me a good sun-and-moon dynamic. I also like Elmax. I think that those two genuinely make each other happy which I find plain adorable. I even have a friend who has convinced me to see the light of comphet Joyce and Karen having a grade school fling before ultimately marrying heteronormatively.

Thing is, there are far less women featured as main characters in Stranger Things than there are men. And so that is just how it goes around here. And I didn’t have a problem with that to talk about it until it was presented as one.

Also, side note, I just started watching Grey’s Anatomy, and my current favorite relationship is between Meredith and Cristina, who are - guess what? - women. So, okay. Here it is. Bare bones down to gender, yeah, I actually do like sapphic wlw ships, too.

At the end of the day, this is my cry: please don’t assume that my fixation on Byler is because I - as a girl - like talking about boys.

That stung, a little, as someone who wrestled with her own sexuality for years and rarely had crushes and never really properly liked boys at all. I think that I feel like I need to make a video stating my sexuality because of this, and that makes me a little uncomfortable. But I’m putting it out here because I feel just a little safer. So let me be clear. I am aromantic-asexual.

So please just trust me. This is not about Byler being boys.

[thinknicht]

Silver lining and your latest Sixth Hokage was so goooddddd!!!!! Finally I reached the latest chapter of Sixth Hokage and goddamn, my soul seems to be ascend to heaven of how you build up their relationship! I have so much to say about Sixth Hokage, but one thing for sure that its a really roller coaster ride!

I kinda worry about the major character death, like what--don't do it girl. I know your magic, witch. You put those magic chakra and intriguing pov of the characters to distract me, but it doesn't change the fact about that shiny red flag really worries me the most 😭

I really appreciate the depth you put on those characters. Shikamaru lowkey hating Sakura, and how a showoff he was to Temari. Hinata and Tenten jealous to Sakura, not knowing how Sakura struggles about her journey. Choji picking up the subtle hints and gets it immediately. He knows that Kakashi is becoming an absolute menace when he states about his interest to Sakura. My most favorite chapter on Sixth Hokage will be always Ino entering Sakura's mind. It was a fucking shitshow and I absolutely love it. The chapter where Sakura poisoned Kurenai and she nearly killed Danzo was the absolute best.

Asuma knowing that Kurenai is part of root and naming their child, Mirai, was really fucked up. I feel bad to the guy.

Sakura really radiated about that scene from Legally Blonde, 'what? like it's hard?' when she do the impossible shit with so much ease.

Kakashi is a fascinating character ngl. An absolute menace (affectionate).

I think I need to reread Sixth Hokage.

Silver Lining? Best shit I read. The later chapters is so hilarious and make me giggle because the ANBU planned to make a seduction strategy for Kakashi to Sakura 😳😳

Oh, thank you so much for the ask! I so rarely get asks that I don’t check them much… sorry about that!

Legally blonde — best movie ever! I’m honored you compared the energies hahah! And that you read silver lining! Honestly, it’s bookmark and comment count is way lower than sixth shadow so I always get surprised when someone reads it and tells me about it! :)

Kakashi IS a menace in the fic, for sure… and major character death… I mean, I almost forgot I’d added that tag! But all you need to know is that she does travel to the past to fix things so…

The danzo Kurenai scene was really fun to write! And I’m surprised you like the Ino one so much — someone else told me the same thing recently! Anyway, thank you so much for the encouragement,

Xxx