#I'm just adding more and more things to the pile of 'canon to ignore' to make it palatable

[luxlightly]

Star wars meme like

"Sebastian is married to me, the dev"

"as a joke right?"

"...."

"as a joke right???"

Apparently they're making it canon in game and adding additional lines to reinforce the dev being Sebastian's canonical wife which is a bad idea for too many reasons to count.

First of which being it makes no sense in the timeline unless you're trying to imply Sebastian married a 13 year old or something.

They also don't allow shipping outside of that ship and don't want anyone to draw anything even remotely suggestive of Sebastian. I'm taking, like, maid outfit level suggestive. SpongeBob SquarePants joke level of suggestive.

They've been obsessive about controlling everything about their game and how people interact with it to the point of constantly adding things to the game specifically to try to stop people from interpreting or interacting with it in a way they don't want. Most notably, adding a detail to remove any possible textual implications that Sebastian could be trans because people had mentioned they liked that that little possible scrap of clearly unintended implication.

I give the devs a lot of benefit of the doubt. They're young and this has gotten way bigger than they could have ever expected and there's a totally normal kneejerk reaction to try to control how people view and interact with work you're passionate about but that's not a sustainable attitude and you're going to end up alienating your playerbase, your coworkers, and probably your VA, for that matter.

If you think "oh I don't like that people are shipping my character" or " I want to control how my character is shipped" and "I feel very uncomfortable seeing even mildly suggestive things of a character I created" then making yourself a canon part of the game specifically as a love interest to the character people are chomping at the bit to make porn of, you are going to be VERY unpleasantly surprised.

[khaotunq]

Do you have aye akk headcannons that you haven't shared with the group yet? Also who do you think would propose just because I dreamed about that and you talked about marriage in your tags. So I am completely innocent

I HAVE NEVER BEEN ASKED ABOUT HEADCANONS I'M GOING TO THROW MYSELF INTO A VOLCANO

honestly, i don't know that i've got anything special up in the old bargain bucket. i was writing something silly the other day for my own entertainment with eclipse on for background noise and it did sort of slip in that -- and this is as close to controversial as it gets, i know; hold onto yer butts -- i don't think akk's neat? as in tidy. he's organised, sure, but i think his tendency to be a messy bitch extends beyond his personality.

this is a very, very tiny thing okay but go with me on this.

Edit, four hours later: ...apparently it's not a tiny thing. I have had to put a read more because now I've added pictures. Apparently I really do have thoughts.

I think I think of this as a headcanon because a lot of fandom portrayal has Akk as this ruthlessly neat Type A and Ayan as cheerfully messy... but I'm about to insist that this is not, in fact, headcanon: it's canon. I brought receipts.

(I'm kidding but pls nobody bother telling me I'm wrong <3 respectfully, i won't believe u <3)

So over the course of the show we see both Akk and Ayan's bedrooms, right? Prior to the show even beginning, these are rooms they've presumably inhabited for quite some time. There is a whole thing we could get into about their respective economical backgrounds and what the set dressing decor says in regards to that, but I'm not gonna. Not today, at least.

Aside from that and the fact that I have a running joke in my head that Ayan lives in a hotel room in his own home (there's another tangent here about the parallel of ayan not having "roots"/a true home/a "space" but I am trying not to write a dissertation here) - they're teenage boys, right?

However,

FIGS 1.1-1.4: Ayan's bedroom.

Ayan's bedroom has nothing in it. Other than his dead uncle, some Alien urn lamps and a whole lotta beige (potential tangent number 590384: characters and their typical/home surrounding's colouring -- Ayan in golds and brown tones; Kan and Thua surrounded in white; Akk and a whole bunch of blues until he goes home and we see his blues meet Ayan's golds, etc etc -- which i'm sure someone's already done).

Now, it's possible that this is because he and Patcharaporn have someone who comes in to do housework, but even if that were the case, you'd still expect some sort of reflection of it being a teenage boy who inhabits that room... but there's nothing. Yes, I'm aware that this is The Thai BL House, but set dressing isn't something that would be outside the realm of possibility entirely. The most you ever see of Ayan in his room is when he's getting all Conspiracy Cork Board and there are just piles of dictionaries on his desk, or when he's sitting around reading dystopic speculative fiction. A single dystopic speculative fiction book. There are no others.

Come on, Aye.

I could write essays about Ayan Sukkhaphisit and loneliness. Essays.

But this is not that day.

FIGS 2.1-2.4: Akk's dorm room.

Ignoring the fact that there are obvious differences due to Akk's being a dorm and Ayan's being a single room in a house, Akk's room is by contrast overflowing with Akk. Akk has crafted his dorm to reflect himself.

Or rather, to reflect the image he wants to portray, but there are little pieces of him everywhere.

(I'm sure there's meaning in the spoon print, I just don't know what it is yet. The spoon canvas, truly more than anything in Akk's room, Sends. Me.)

There are books everywhere - light sources (tangent 4012432: all of Akk's light sources are caged in some way), knick-knacks that speak to a character with far more to him than he presents to the world, a calendar that never changes from September 3rd.

I think Akk is neat out of necessity, out of maintaining his image; I think Ayan is neat out of never having anywhere to really have stuff. I think, if canon were to progress, we'd see Akk relax even further into his space because it's the only place he can be careless and Ayan begin to be unafraid to actually take up some space.

(Tangent 6535423420: all of Ayan's personality is on him, at all times - the necklace, the hoody: his home is himself. In many ways, while Ayan is a cocky little shit, he's potentially the more deeply insecure.)

(Tangent and class discussion topic 22871342: is Ayan's room being borderline sterile a way of showing that Ayan himself is exactly how he appears to everyone - in that, he has nothing to hide? Compare with Akk's ruthless self control and dogmatic need to be perceived as perfect contrasting with how unsterile his home is.)

(Tangent 900122156: The first time we see Ayan begin to truly inhabit a space is when he and Akk are placing photos of him and his mother in Akk's room)

I'm not getting started on Akk's bedroom at his parents' house because 1. it's a boat cabin, and 2. I have to go eat something, lmao. But, for posterity, I guess:

FIGS 3.1-3.3: Akk's bedroom.

I leave it to you guys to note the multiple and varied light sources (there's still a caged light!), light streaming in from several billion windows, the storage/units brimming with things on or in them, the same dang blue mug from his dorm, the bathroom door wide open to show the mirror and thus adding more light.

(Tangent 123019242222...: Akk standing at the stern/wheel in his bedroom as the above interaction begins and what it means about his need for control while Ayan's mere presence lures him away)

(Additional thought added an hour after I posted this because it was in my head when I started answering this and then it disappeared and then I was brushing my teeth and it's back for some reason so: I think there's part of Akk that actively revels in mess/chaos. Something about him being so externally orderly, something about Ayan throwing his world into chaos and that being what draws him to Ayan, something something something, going to finish brushing my teeth.)

[yorshie]

yorshie my dear!! can i please hear what you think about 3, 23, 31, 33 for the ask game?

Lucky! of course lovely you can ask about anything!

3. What was your first exposure to [tmnt iteration}

I'm gonna go with 90s! After watching bayverse I wanted to watch EVERYTHING and decided to start with the 90s movies because I didn't realize 87 was a thing lol I thought the cartoon was after the movies. I love the 90s movies, I love the suits, I love the storylline in the first two movies (haven't seen the third all the way through) and Idk, I just love those turtles. April was hilarious. and i particularly love how sassy Donnie is in that iteration lol.

23. one of your favorite tmnt fics?

oooooh i am not gonna surprise you at all by saying Goldilocks but Goldilocks lol. I like the way des writes Leo. I just wanna cause problems for him to watch his blood pressure skyrocket. But after yesterday two more fics got added to the pile of favorites and they are currently saved to my phone :3

31. what is one piece of tmnt canon that you dislike/ignore?

hmmmmmmmm. think i'm gonna have to surprise no one and say that the bayvesre turles for some reason share a bedroom space. There is no way in my mind those turtles haven't claimed their own rooms by the time they're adults.

33. what is your favorite thing you've made for tmnt?

oh man, as of rn probably Appy Slices but there's some art I'm excited to get to that I know will be my favorite for a While I'm sure

[benicebefunny]

I'm just...Roy yelled at the top of his lungs at a bunch of children, and it's treated as a cute quirk. Yes, of course the context is different with Nate drawing attention to a specific player rather than general yelling and getting super personal, and I obviously do not support yelling at employees, but something about the way people laugh at Roy shouting and breaking things for no reason, Isaac throwing stuff, all the players making life difficult for hotel employees and apparently stealing stuff despite being loaded athletes, Sassy harassing a waiter, Roy discouraging Phoebe from cursing but being proud of her elbowing a girl in the neck as if that's somehow better, etc. while jumping on every negative action by Nate - notably not white, rich, or "traditionally masculine" - as a sign of him being fundamentally bad leaves a terrible taste in my mouth. Nate stands out so much as the only non-rich, non-white character that gets to show real depth and interesting flaws. He's so much fun to watch! But the way people are all "I never liked him", or "I feel vindicated", or wishing violence on him makes it seem like they were looking for an excuse not to like him, and feels so much like the old "people are bullied for a reason, if they're weird, they have it coming".

Like you, I have so much fun watching and (as everyone is painfully aware of by now) talking about Nathan, because he has real depth and interesting flaws. For me, I really enjoy connecting how his actions, feelings, and beliefs connect (or conflict) with the show's broader context. Also, he's funny, quirky, and delightful.

So, yeah, it's frustrating when people flatten him into a Ticking Timebomb of Evil, or the Antithesis of Ted's (presumed) Goodness, or AFC Richmond's Designated Patient.

But it's also kind of sad when people flatten other characters into harmless, lovable comedic caricatures. That's what happens when Nathan's misdeeds are taken seriously, and those of other characters are brushed off as just a joke or an inevitable facet of the football industry. Why would people do that to their faves? Can't they see all the fun I'm having picking apart Nathan's storyline? (*touches earpiece* What's that? My intensity and occasional glibness can come off as barely suppressed rage? Not again!)

There can be some pretty gross subtext to why and how characters are excused from accountability. For example, Colin and Isaac's harassment of Nathan is sometimes excused because it happened Before Coach Lasso (BC, for short). While Nathan's verbal abuse of Will and Colin is framed as worse than literal daily physical assault because it occurred After Arrival of Dad Figure Ted (AD, for short). Ted is positioned as a White Savior who brings enlightenment to the masses, forgiving past sins for all who Believe. And Colin and Isaac are positioned as spiritually immature, ignorant children rather than adults savvy enough to exploit the fucked-up power dynamics of their industry. (You know, like Nathan in S2, but with regular beatings.)

(To be fair to fandom, the White Savior Ted and his Infantilized Himbos trope didn't burst fully formed from our collective fannish head. Canonically, Ted does encourage this kind of thinking. He refers to the players (grown adult men, a significant number of whom are Black) as "boys." He uses the father figure thing a lot. And he did convince them to burn a cherished possession in order to appease spirits he doesn't entirely believe in. A little bit of cult leader behavior there. More things to add to the This Would be Taken Seriously if It Were Nathan pile.)

My point is: it's a double-edged sword. As someone who enjoys the non-Nathan characters, I don't like it when their actions are stripped of their ethical, social, and financial weight. I read it as an insult, a diminishing of the characters.

[ltleflrt]

If my response came off as Terfy, then I sincerely apologize. I include trans people under the queer umbrella, and the trans men in my life are gay, and the trans women I know seem to lean towards a preference for men too. My enby friends can go either way (which is thematically appropriate lol). I'm not saying all the trans folks in the world have a preference for men, btw. I'm just putting out the reminder that trans folks are also men-lovers in a lot of cases. Either way, I could have been clearer that what I actually mean is cishet women + queer people of all orientations and genders when I said "women and/or queer folks".

I still stand by my point that MY OPINION is that Shadowheart is boring to ME. She's a blank slate due to her memory loss. Almost a Born Sexy Yesterday trope. And all the cishet men I see talking positively about her say she's their sexy goth princess. Maybe that weird rhetoric colors my vision of her, but I still find her the least interesting companion. But LARIAN STATS state that she's the #1 love interest.

WHY THEN, is she ignored on AO3?

Well do you know who hangs out on AO3 the most? Statistically, mostly cishet women and/or queer folks. Again, "queer" is an umbrella for LGBTQ+, but it's important to remember that cishet women also have an extremely high presence in the fanfic writing community as a whole compared to cishet men, so that's why I call them out specifically in addition to literally anyone queer. Especially in romance centered fanfiction stats. Not all of these characters are going to be involved in ships when they're tagged on AO3, but people tend to include side characters that they have affection for from canon. And I'm talking about why people might have more affection for some characters vs others. Adding the straight girlies to the queer pile really weighs down the "prefers male characters" side of the scale when we're talking about the population inhabiting AO3.

Fandom as a whole does not only include fanfiction writers on AO3 though, so OP's argument that the numbers the characters pulled are problematic is weak. The cishet dudes are hanging out elsewhere. My husband, a cishet dude, romanced Shadowheart. He's not writing fanfic and posting it on AO3. (When he does write fanfic, it's Self-insert/Rogue X-Men, and he's not sharing it anywhere because he's afraid of being shamed for shipping himself with his bae, even on AO3.) He reads his fic on Fanfic.net because that's where he finds the more Gen oriented fic. And he's the ONLY straight man that I know who reads fic at all, and I've got a very large circle of mostly male gamer dude friends that I've known for 20 years because we all met through MMOs.

So if Shadowheart is the #1 love interest in the entire game, but not among the AO3 crowd, that leaves the gamer dude bros as a very large remaining slice of the pie. I'm not saying no women or queer people love her or find her interesting. Obviously she's not tagged zero on AO3. There's just a smaller group of women and/or queer folks that she appeals to p. That doesn't invalidate whatever they read into her character and story arc, it just means that it's a more unique lens to view her through. And I think that's excellent! Not my bag, but good for them.

The thing about the original post though, is that it's comparing similar characters to each other and saying that their writing is equal, when it is NOT. I think that there is an extreme imbalance of the quality of writing and quantity of story for just about everyone on this list. I will concede that Shadowheart has more in-game structure as a character and a storyline than everyone else on this list, including Astarion, but she's the ONLY one on this list who is given more attention from the game, and I…PERSONALLY, as I specified in my first reply…find that content bland. YMMV. If you read her through a queer lens, please continue to do so, I support you 100%, and I hope you're writing fic for all the other thirsty SH Girlies.

The post doesn't talk about Lae'zel, who I started out thinking was a bitch, but who I fell head over heels for before act 1 was finished. It doesn't talk about Karlach, who I truly expected to be Larian's #1 on the love interest statistics because she's hot (no pun intended), she's fun, she's got an interesting story despite having less content than some of the other companions. Especially since she appeals to straight men as well as the queer audience. And Wyll… lord, bringing up poor Wyll in that post would have invalidated the whole thing's point because canon treats him so dirty with both the quality and the quantity of his content in the game. But they're not brought up in the post because they're harder to pair up with someone similar. (Though I would argue that instead of Shadowheart & Astarion, it should have been Karlach & Astarion instead, or even maybe in addition to.) (Also, I'm not really bringing Gale into this because he's popular compared to Lae'zel, Karlach, and Wyll, but I find him bland too.)

The original post is specifically pointing out 2 similar characters and saying they are given equal attention in the writing, and they. are. not. I joked about Jaheira and Minsc in my original response, but the truth of it is, Jaheira has waaaaaaaaaaay more story that Minsc and it shows in her tag numbers. Fandom girlies (gender neutural) love a himbo, so if it was "people just love guys more", then Minsc would be a clear winner. He's a himbo with a small fuzzy pet. That is BAIT. But he's in the game for a blink of an eye compared to literally everyone else. We get to know Jaheira for 2 acts, and her questlines in act 3 are pretty significant chunks of the main plot, whereas Minsc is just part of Jaheira's story and we get barely anything on him. And it shows! Jaheira is wildly more popular than Minsc! Because their stories in canon are of uneven quality or quantity.

The post says "here's 9 sets of characters who DO have comparable characterization, plot relevance/presence, and personal development" and then gives us 1 example that proves their point, and 8 examples which do not, the last one being the literal exact opposite of what they're trying to prove here. Their point, as I understood it, is that female characters are ignored by FANDOM even though CANON treats them equally to male characters. But their examples are weak, and their sample size is bad.

There are, statistically, more people involved in the writing fic side of fandom, specifically on AO3, who are into dudes. I'm sorry if that means there's less content for the folks with preference for female characters. I'm just SO tired of "fandom is problematic" arguments about it, especially when it's propped up by poor examples.

A common issue in fandom spaces is female characters ignored in favor of their male counterparts, and one of the biggest reasons I see given is that the women just aren't as interesting as the men. They're placed in lesser roles with less story impact, less personality, less character development, so of course the men get more fan interest.

With that in mind, here's 9 sets of characters who DO have comparable characterization, plot relevance/presence, and personal development -- and how many tagged works each character has on Archive of Our Own. Spoilers: it's pretty bad.

[ariminiria]

When will bootlickers understand that alot people have no problem with diversity in RoP. The actual problem is the fact that Amazon disrespected Tolkien's legacy and tried to change alot of character's backstories and personalities. Not to mention making a cash grab out of it.

Fair warning, this is going to be a bit long simply because I have a lot to say on this.

I don't know how many people I've blocked over them calling everyone who hates RoP a racist. It's ridiculous. I don't know how this started.

But Hollywood has tricked people into defending the worst possible media in the world, tooth and nail, fighting for it like their life depends on it... simply dependent on if it has POC or women even mildly featured.

Instead of making good media, they tokenize minorities like a shield against all criticism. And I'm sad to see it actually working on so many people.

The thing specifically about RoP, is that there is some valid criticisms regarding the specific way the casting was handled, but Amazon has the easy out of calling everyone a racist in order to ignore the nuance. If they lump the genuine criticism in with the people who are just mad that there are POC, then that's how I get ignorant asshats in my notes calling me a white supremacist and telling me how I support Harvey Weinsten (tf?) all because I said that the show is bad.

Further breakdown under the cut, criticism of how Amazon the racist megacorp handled diversity in RoP.

I'm not an expert in Tolkien by any means. I'd say I know a bit more than most casual fans, only because I obsessively research the lore for my fanfiction, but I'm no Tolkien scholar.

That being said... I know that Tolkien already has built in diversity to his world. So right off the bat, it's inherently problematic to racebend characters and claim that you're "adding diversity" as if there never was any. You're flat out ignoring nonwhite nations, which... seems pretty racist to me.

The main issue of the specific way that diversity was handled for RoP is just another indicator that nobody involved in this manure pile has ever actually picked up a Tolkien book because...

There are tan/brown-skinned Hobbits mentioned. There are two proto-Hobbits as the main characters in RoP. Why weren't one or both of them POC? It would be canonical.

Or did they think that making the two filthy, hungry, idiot, moron buffoon characters POC would be too offensive? Though they had no problem making them stereotypically Irish... really makes ya think.

The showrunners are crowing about adding diversity that Tolkien supposedly "never did", yet they ignore the people groups and lore of entire POC nations he created in favor of poorly created OCs, and "representation" in the form of sloppy seconds by taking an originally white character, casting a POC actor/actress, and calling it representation. Maybe it's just me, but I think POC deserve original characters... and ones that are better written than the ones in RoP.

Not to mention that there is less known about these other nations, so less lore to screw up. Of course, making a series about the tragic story of how the Haradrim, the badass people group who tamed freaking Oliphants, eventually fell under the will of Sauron would mean they didn't get to use the names of characters that Everybody Knows. They'd actually have to be creative 🤪

Another huge thing is the specific implementation of "diversity" in RoP: It isn't diversity. It's tokenism.

The way the now-POC characters and OCs are treated is very odd. For some reason, the xenophobia/interspecies tension between Men and Elves is apparently all directed at the singular black elf?

And that's another thing.

One. Singular. Character.

Of each race.

Realistically, unless it's a coastal trade town or a large international city, the region will homogenize in about 3 or so generations. So either these characters are colonizers/the result of colonization in-lore, or... the more likely explanation... they're being used as mascots by Amazon. Because let's say that the "adding diversity that never was" argument actually made sense, despite the fact that we've established Tolkien already has diversity written into his wolrdbuilding...

Is it really adding diversity if it isn't reflected in the whole culture?

Why aren't a portion of the elves caucasian, then some are black, some are east asian, some south asian, some indigenous? Maybe the diversity is even based on the subcategories of elves, like the Silvan vs Sindar divide. Why not commit fully, use some creativity, and implement it in a way that is both interesting and complements the worldbuilding?

Because Amazon doesn't care about diversity beyond tokenism. As long as they check off their boxes ("make sure we get one dwarf, one elf, and one of the race of Men, the ladies can be royalty!"), they don't care about exploring what that would actually look like in the lore and worldbuilding.

And just a final note, but the Tolkien fandom has battled racists claiming that "orcs are black people" for so long. Only for Amazon to essentially canonize it (as much as this manure pile can be called "canon") because they couldn't be assed to know the barest bones of the lore.

(Or even watch the PJ movies apparently, because the Orcs coming from dark magic-twisted elves is explained by Saruman in Two Towers.)

I understand that some of this is extremely specific lore based stuff, but I suppose I'm used to adapted works of Tolkien having actual passion behind them, enough to care about the small details like the patterns on armor or the specific fabric of costumes. Even the notoriously awful Hobbit trilogy had more passion behind it than dollar signs.

The diversity itself is by no means problematic, and thats not what I or (most, I would hope) other critics are saying. But the ignorant implementation utilized in RoP winds up actually being offensive, and it's because everyone making this Product™️ went into it not with the mentality of passionately expanding what Tolkien had already created, but instead arrogantly thinking that they were surely making something better than the original.

[bookwyrminspiration]

I'm doing a drawing of Keefe, and i haven't drawn his hair yet and he looks like a whole entire shrimp. He looks like Caillou as a 12 year old, and that got me thinking about if it was ever said in the book that he didn't in fact have the bodytype of a 12 year old boy who just hit puberty. Like. Was it ever said??? Because if not I'm revoking his muscle privileges

okay okay so!! there are two distinct scenes I can remember where Keefe had his shirt off so we can check--I only remember the location of one but I'm pretty sure the second one happened....? Hoping I'm not mixing it up with a fanfic but who knows!! So first there's the instance in Nightfall where Keefe fights King Dimitar (the first to draw blood thrice thing), and part of that was Keefe taking off his shirt!! I think traditionally he was supposed to be wearing even less clothes but Dimitar was confident enough he let Keefe keep his pants (and also Shannon probably didn't want to write Keefe fighting in his underwear).

Let me find the page numbers for this hang on (i don't know why I leave these parts in but legit there's a time gap between when I say that and when I write the next sentence as I find it. it's like I'm talking to you). Page 320 of Nightfall: "Any other time Sophie might've noticed how Keefe's lean build showed a rather impressive amount of muscle tone when he added the shirt to the pile draped over her arm." Unfortunately, if you wanted to revoke his muscle pprivledges it would be going against canon, but that doesn't mean you can't! I mean, the fandom as a whole has a pretty "thanks for making the world and characters but I'm taking over now <33" attitude from her--Shannon's word is regarded as as sacred as other authors', so there'd be like no objection to us just ignoring that apparently Keefe has muscles and Sophie would've noticed had she not been fearing for his life.

Now I'm really curious on whether or not that second scene exists but I don't remember where!! it was!! Okay found it--page 66-67 of Legacy, but Sophie is focused more on how he has a scar from the aforementioned scene where he takes of his shirt and has muscles and fights the ogre king. No mention of his physique--which could be interpreted as him loosing it and as such it isn't mentioned anymore and his muscle privileges can be more easily revoked.

And while it's not exactly canon, we could use that deleted scene of the black swan initiation where Dex is self conscious compared to Keefe and Fitz as a reference. Keefe was said to look like a surfer and Fitz had "definitely been working out" and they were put in the same category when compared to Dex, so we can kinda infer that while Sophie didn't point it out, Keefe also has muscle tone there.

either way the fandom is very forgiving when it comes to messing with canon, so you are free to shrimpify Keefe and revoke all his uscle privledges <33. I hope your drawing went/is going well! This was sent a while ago so I'm assuming you've finished but then again I've got an unfinshed tamex piece from several months ago sitting in my drafts so maybe not. Also I've always found Keefe's hair to be the hardest to draw because it's the most described part of him/the part drawn the most attention to so it feels really easy to mess up...but maybe that's just me!!

Also I don't know if you actually wanted me to go back through the books and find quotes but I did so...you're welcome?

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 36

💖 first time reader click here 💖

Venom + reader = symbiote. More canon typical violence and mentioned cannibalism (Venom eats bad guys). Some angst at the end - reader really went behind the Avengers' backs, huh? But it's gonna be okay.

Is this how babies feel in the uterus? The darkness was nearly impenetrable but at the same time comforting and warm. It wasn't dry and it wasn't wet; it just was. I was floating in weightless space, subtly feeling the echos of a battle, hearing the sounds of struggle as if I was underwater.

"MORSEL, I WILL CONSUME THESE HUMANS. IT MIGHT FEEL SLIGHTLY UNPLEASANT." Venom's voice seemed to reverb in my skull, bringing my awareness to us. We. We are Venom.

"Don't eat Cabre, he's been possessed. Put him out if you can, but don't hurt yourself. I have very little information about this demon thing," I said - well, I thought, hoping Venom would hear me. A possessed enhanced mutant person was bad but a possessed carnivorous symbiote was nightmare fuel. I also didn't want Venom to hurt themselves; the sonic gun looked painful enough already.

I felt rather than heard the agreement coming from Venom; for a brief moment, the three of us were Venom as the symbiote entered Cabre's body to alter his chemicals. The sensation was foreign, unpleasant, and I shuddered at the violation. The sense of comfort that came once Venom returned fully to me was inexplicable. I began to understand why Eddie didn't want to part with Venom; the symbiote's continued presence felt quite comforting.

Very similar to how I felt when I sat with Tony, him inside of me, for hours, with our bodies joined and minds working in quiet agreement.

"HUMAN MATING RITUALS ARE BIZARRE," Venom sounded baffled and slightly disgusted. "AND THEY ARE NOTHING LIKE A PERFECT SYMBIOSIS. PLEASE DO NOT COMPARE YOUR PRIMITIVE URGES TO OUR SYMBIOSIS."

I gasped inwardly, doing my best to distract myself from the crunching and wet noises that managed to break Venom's barrier. "Would you rather I barf inside of you?" I snarked, giving into the urge to roll my eyes. Not the time to be picky-choosy, Chtulhu.

"YOU DO NOT WANT TO WASTE PRECIOUS ENERGY RIGHT NOW. WE STILL HAVE A LOT TO CONSUME AND I WILL NEED TO REPAIR EDDIE." The symbiote announced patiently, a sense of deep longing beginning to seep into our bond at the mention of my uncle's name.

The points Venom raised were valid and I was as eager to be Just Me as Venom craved to reunite with Eddie; I receded, racking my brain for something to focus on to be able to ignore the cannibalistic experience and not "waste precious energy". "I have a subdermal tracker installed, tap it three times to activate it if you need backup," Belatedly, I remembered about my cyborg experiment.

Venom appeared to contemplate it. "NOT NOW. THIS BATTLE IS NOT VERY HARD." They finally concluded as a particularly piercing scream echoed in my ears. "YOUR MATES WILL BE ANGRY IF THEY FIND OUT. WE CAN MAKE SURE THEY DO NOT FIND OUT."

As surprised as I was at the extended courtesy, I had to face myself and my lies sooner or later anyways. "We'll tell them anyways. I'll take the blame, you play dumb together with Eddie. Consider it a trade," If I could, I would be rubbing my face right now. "I took you out to an all-you-can-eat human buffet, you took me out to take care of a problem. We're even."

Venom snorted as I felt the random crunching and squelching noises slowly begin to quiet down. "FUNNY MORSEL," I assumed it was a compliment as the feelings that leaked through the bond were actually quite fond. "THE OTHER MORSELS SHOULD BE GRATEFUL. WE WILL BRING POSSESSED HUMAN TO THEIR DOORSTEP. WE DID THE JOB FOR THEM." However, it was obvious the kind feelings didn't quite extend to SHIELD or the Avengers. I struggled to comprehend how Venom planned to take all three of us to the tower anyway, with both Cabre and Eddie being out of commission and me currently being, well, Venom.

I needn't have worried, however. There was a slight pressure on one of my shoulders followed by a brief, ten-minute strange sensation of flying, the added weightlessness making me drowsy in the darkness of Venom's fluid body. As soon as it stopped I heard voices that seemed faintly familiar - names that I recognized, but not quite sure from where.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" The yelling reached my ears through the layers of symbiote, making me cringe. Tony's piercing shriek of shock hurt.

"Could you please not be so loud, it fuckin' hurts," I moaned without a thought, hastily shutting up when the voice that spoke my words roared.

"Pri... Princess?" I heard glass shatter; focusing my eyes was hard and the field of view was funky to say the least; I towered over Tony's shaking form by at least good few feet. Subconsciously, I felt the need to taste the air - my engineer boyfriend recoiled at the same time I realized I had stuck out my-Venom's-our tongue, feeling the familiar salt and musk as if I just straight up licked Tony from head to toe.

"Believe me, this is just as weird for me," I spoke, trying to control my and Venom's combined limbs. Deeply inside my brain, I swear I felt the symbiote's snickering. "Venom, can you unattach yourself from me? Please?" I begged, absolutely hating Tony's expression of fear and confusion.

"WE HAVE TO DIGEST FIRST," The symbiote replied unapologetically but took control over the limbs, carelessly dropping Cabre at Tony's feet. "YOUR MERCENARY. SAME-DAY DELIVERY, NO RETURNS," We grinned together. I had felt Venom rummaging my brain for an appropriate joke and supplied it myself. The adrenaline rush arrived late, something I suspect was Venom's handiwork, and I basked in the sudden influx of joy and exhilaration.

Tony slowly slid down the wall, landing ungracefully on his ass, staring straight up with unblinking eyes. "Friday, please assemble the Avengers. And make Bruce bring me booze, please," I've never heard Tony this dejected.

I, on the other hand, was feeling really strange. Joyful one moment and confused the next, I let Venom handle most of the business as my mind faded in and out of focus, limbs growing heavy with each breath that I took. Or I didn't? Panic set in when I realized I couldn't breathe, couldn't inhale.

"CALM DOWN, MORSEL. I AM SUPPLYING YOU WITH THE OXYGEN," Venom's voice interrupted my panic attack as I once again was deposited in the calm, comfortable darkness. "SHE IS FINE. SYMBIOSIS CAN BE STRESSFUL FOR FIRST TIME HOSTS. I WILL GLADLY RETURN TO EDDIE AS SOON AS THE CHEMICALS IN OUR SYSTEM ALLOW ME TO SAFELY WITHDRAW." I heard more voices and I assume Venom calming down the newly arrived Avengers. My mind was still murky, like when Venom dulled it on purpose when they were eating people. Eating people. "I SUGGEST YOU PREPARE A WASTE BIN. MORSEL WILL MOST LIKELY FEEL SICK."

Oh boy, did I feel sick! As soon as Venom retracted back into my skin, I hurled, Steve catching the most of it by pushing a large bucket right in my face whilst Bruce gently rubbed my back. I avoided looking at the contents even though I consciously knew that there wasn't much more than water and bile, having previously felt first-hand exactly how Venom digested their food.

"I'm a dumbass, please put me out of my misery," The words were spoken seriously. Physically, I felt the best I've ever had: aches and pains I had gotten used disappeared and my body felt invigorated. Mentally, however, I felt drained, confused and so, so alone in my skin. As if my brain itched. Someone was talking and I heard none of it.

"Shh, come here, come here," Eddie's voice was drowsy as his arms wrapped around me, scratching that lonely itch in my brain. I grasped at him, hiding my face in his chest, missing most of what was being said. "Yeah, it's not exactly painful, more like... You feel not whole for a few hours after you separate. Not the best feeling, especially if the separation was forced," His voice bore the same pain I seemed to be experiencing at the moment. So alone in my skin.

Another large palm landed on my back as I sighed in contentment. "I'll take her. Do you guys need something?" Bruce's voice reached my ears, my brain finally agreeing to recognise human speech.

"A shower and some chocolate would be great, thank you," Eddie's voice receded further and further away as I freely, finally fell into Bruce's embrace.

"I warned you, Tony," Natasha spoke softly, coming over to brush my hair out of my face. I opened my eyes to see most of the team wearing identical looks of astonishment and worry, their eyes focused on me. Natasha was the only one who had respect clearly written on her face. "C'mon, let's go sit down so you can tell us what happened."

I avoided their eyes, fitfully clutching Bruce's arm as all of us sat down on the couch in a pile of superheroes. I guess I could be counted as one too, after the stunt I'd pulled. The mercenary was nowhere to be seen; Bucky's shirt bore bloodstains so I assumed he took the man to the underground levels where he and Natasha kept a few cells for off-the-record interrogations.

"So?" Tony's voice was hard; he avoided my face, too.

"Planned a plan. Executed the plan. It mostly worked, except the merc was possessed, too. He took out Eddie, I volunteered as a host. We ate the croonies," I stuttered slightly, fighting with myself to call the things by their names without having to throw up. "Grabbed the merc, grabbed Eddie and went home." I stared straight ahead, only partially aware of Bruce's disappointed sigh behind me.

"And it never crossed your mind that you shouldn't be doing this? All this hiding, this lying?" Tony asked, finally settling his hard stare on me. "There are professionals already working on this. It's not your job." His words were harsh but truthful.

Only this truth didn't sit well with me. I'd been monitored for years; there were too many secrets kept from me, too many what-ifs hung over my head. It was made worse by the uncertainty: did Tony know? Did Natasha know? Who else was hiding the fact that there had been a target on my back all along?

"Isn't it?" Anger began to creep in. I shrugged off Bruce's arm. "Isn't it my job to know your little organisation has been onto my ass for years? Isn't it my job to know I would have ended up in that position anyways, considering the fact that at least one hostile mutant gang wanted me to help them take over the world?" I stood up, interlocking my hands behind my back to conceal the shaking fingers. "Isn't it may fucking job to make sure that someone does something about the fact that my family is going crazy from helplessness?" I finished, looking directly at Tony. I hated seeing him recoil but some things needed to be said. "If you expected me to sit and do nothing while this bullshit is happening, you do not know me. At all."

"Years?" Barton interrupted in confusion. "I didn't even know you existed until Peter brought you over."

"Yes, Bird, years," I began to pace in agitation. "Apparently, many people think I'm much smarter than I am. I'm sure Cabre will be happy to tell you all about it," I sneered, stopping in front of the window to look at the dim, sleeping city. "Everybody seems to know about me more than I know about myself. I'm sick and I'm tired of people telling me what to do."

The silence behind me was telling. Maybe they really didn't know or maybe they just didn't really care. I wasn't naïve, I didn't expect gratitude for doing what I did but understanding would have been nice. Paradoxically, Venom's attitude was the most humane out of the whole gang. I hated being disappointed in people but ultimately, their safety and happiness was much more important than my feelings. They gave me a family - even if it was for a brief moment - and I owed them for it.

"Princess," Stephen's voice returned me back to reality. "We do not blame you. At least, I do not. We just want to know why didn't you trust us to help you," He pleaded quietly.

"It's not that I don't trust you. It's the fact you still consider me a child, some wilting flower. And perhaps, sometimes I act carefree," I inspected their reflection in the darkness of the glass pane. "But the truth is, I do not forget and I rarely forgive. And I definitely do not appreciate some random motherfucker messing around with people that I love," As soon as those words left my mouth, the heaviness from my shoulders disappeared. "And I don't regret it. I will burn down everything and everyone if I have even the slightest chance to protect what's mine."

A sharp intake of breath, someone choking on a sob. I closed my eyes, not ready to see the disappointed faces of my family - in moments like these, their heroic nature on stark display, I realized how much I did not fit amongst the do-gooders. The work I did was forever going to be the ungrateful kind; that much I've known forever but it didn't make facing that fact any less hard.

Soft, feminine hand landed on my shoulder as Natasha's perfume invaded my personal space. "I'm proud of you," The spy said quietly, wrapping the arm around my shoulders. "You did everything we couldn't do. That's a big deal if you ask me."

"And just like that, we're supposed to be okay with... This?" Steve's voice sounded exhausted.

"Yes," Bucky replied darkly. "If it was me in that place, you would have done the same. Oh wait," His tone turned sarcastic. "You did do the same. So, shut up, punk. We're lucky bastards if we have a person like that on our side."

I expected tears but none came. I felt nothing but relief, painful, as if I had spent weeks and weeks cramped up in a small space, unable to freely move and breathe.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings  @vozit @littlegasps ​ @pilloclock ​ @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads ​ @hermione-grangers-wife ​ @individualistfem ​ @sleep-i-ness @capbrie @lillsxd @agustdowney @dee-vn @justanotherblonde23 @fanngirl19 @persephonehemingway @softie-socks @schemefrenzy @letsby @romeo-the-cactus @jelly-fishy-babie @mikariell95 @gladiosamicitias @warrior1-19 @toomanyrobins @i-cant-hangout-im-drumming

[mikewheelersfanfic]

OMG OMG OMG

ok i'm mostly focusing on my polycule i have going on so uh bear with me cause i can ramble (one song per guy bc of this)

1.mike

calico kid - humorus ; smalltown boy - bronski beat ; geyser - mitski

calico kid:

"You’ll see what we all thought you knew Confusing reflection for truth"

you think you know what people think of you; mike is someone that spends a lot of time reflecting on what people think of him, especially as a lgbt middle class boy from small town 80s midwest america. his family isn't the richest but they do live in a place where appearance is important.

this often means he looks for his own faults in what other people see in him, as neglect doesn't leave you with much confidence especially if your support system in 3 other kids and your best friend's mom and older brother when they're poor and probably living paycheck to paycheck.

"Things get hard when your heart is missing Calico, you have known all along Calico Kid you’re not broken Feel so hurt but you’re still hoping"

my S/I doesn't come in until after all their upside down stuff, so this is about will, his best friend, moving to california in 1985. he was lost, depressed, but he hoped that seeing will again would magically fix everything and he can go back to being okay for a while, even knowing he just wants the care will gives him in general

"Why try keeping it inside Let yourself let go, enjoy the ride"

he's autistic, he has a lot of trouble with "presenting correctly" even if he has obvious anger issues. he often struggles sharing his feelings about his trauma because people often brush him off because his default is anger. i help him quite a bit with that in our canon (will and i tackle it together), just learning he can still be loved even if he's hurting and angry and he can enjoy his life

"You’re still waiting for the dogwood trees But these seasons change as they please If you’d take some time to let what is be Then your words can match the world’s melody"

pretty much the same. i'd say he embodies this more towards when we meet, but meeting me is kind of a sign that he won't have to change alone (adding will into it too as soon as i meet him)

2.will

nobody - mitski ; boys don't cry - the cure ; car lights - james marriott

car lights:

"Some more fake smiles, I'll just nod my head For one small glimpse of your breath"

will, my love, has always been a quiet guy. a romantic from the background by silent yearning. he'd rather watch his crushes from afar than actively seek them but he'll also do anything just to spend more time, stay a little longer, talk a little more... "c'mon just one more movie?" softie. and with mike and el (his sister, mike's ex)... he was pushing them together using his own feelings in canon when mike nor el really wanted to date each other but had serious comphet

"Forget my fears, ignore all my frets Just lay your mind on my chest"

he's tactile, though not as much as mike, but like before, just wants to stick as close as he can before he's left behind when his feelings are found out. mike and i love hanging off him so we can convince him to do cuddle piles

"You sure we're out of their sight? They're staring, through the car lights I hate what you're doing, I hate that it feels so"

he's self-conscious, aware of what being gay means for him and with everyone expecting him to be queer, of course he's paranoid despite liking small moments with mike and i even in the forest, our bedrooms, or next to the lake when it's empty.

"I'm not scared there's nothing to run from, well I feel like I'm falling for someone"

technically same as before, but because of all the overt homophobia he's afraid of being in love, of liking someone, even if he knows it's okay (we remind him all the time, though, even when he doesn't ask bc we want him comfortable)

You there. Selfshipper. Tell me what song(s) you associate with your F/O(s), and if you want to, say why! This is an open call to nerd and gush to your heart's content! Bonus if you do full lyric analysis bc that's my jam :)

[ghirahims-trophyhusband]

all of the purple questions hehehhehe >:3c

Self Ship Ask Meme: Purple Emoji Edition

Rae why must u make me suffer with so many questions ghdjfgdf

I'll do my beloved catboy I feel like I've been ignoring him /lays out a small pile of catnip to lure him back into my house after losing him in the woods for two days bc he chased after a bird

😈: Do you and your F/O have any inside jokes with each other? - Malachite definitely does what I do and calls Sephiroth a catboy and makes dumb cat jokes around him hjkg. (as for myself only, I also call his original model from the OG FFVII my little lego man :> careful, he bites)

👾: Talk a little about your F/O’s source! What is it about? What do you like about it? - In layman's terms (which you desperately need for this game bc dear god it's so much) FFVII is about a group of people who want to stop Shinra, an evil corporation, from destroying the planet by using up all its finite resources to power their city, weapons, you name it. Then an evil catboy decides to show up after presumably dying years ago and the group makes it their mission to take him down bc he wants to become a god by summoning a meteor to hit the planet (long story but it's a given with this game). Along the way the group fight all kinds of monsters, like robots, behemoths, even bigger robots called WEAPONs, that same giant meteor that threatens to collide with and destroy the planet, and an evil catboy turned angel.

As for what I think about it: FFVII is, in the kindest way possible, a confusing clusterfuck that makes things complex for the sake of being complex, continues to be added onto simply bc it's Squeenix's cash cow and so is the reason I ignore every other piece of media in the FFVII universe, save for the game and remake themselves, as they ruin the pre-established characters of the main cast. I do like it, but I prefer the remake overall as I feel like it does a MUCH better job at just. telling the story of FFVII. The OG game is OK, but its age is VERY obvious and I'm playing it more to experience it for myself than to enjoy this dumpster fire this game has the balls to call gameplay LMAO. I appreciate the ambitious nature of the devs, but sometimes there gets a point where it's TOO ambitious. I've had enough of these 'minigames' that are compulsory to do to continue the plot I want OUT.

🦄: Are there any favorite AUs you have for your self ship? - Naturally, there's the story I've crafted between Sephiroth and Malachite, but I also love the story I have for him, Jura, and Ghirahim bc it's fun and dumb and doesn't tackle any serious subjects like my other stories. It's a nice break from it all :>

☔️: What do the two of you do during rainy days? - If it's a light shower, Malachite will drag Sephiroth along with them to stand outside and enjoy it jdfd (he doesn't object though! he enjoys it when he's with Malachite). As for heavy rain, they both prefer to stay inside and (if Sephiroth hasn't disappeared off to do his own thing yet) Malachite will have him sit with them on the sofa and just enjoy his company/being close to him.

🎆: What’s your ideal date with your F/O? - Sephiroth and Malachite don't really go on dates, but the closest they'd get to one is probably exploring the area Malachite now lives in either on their own or with Malachite's behemoth pack close behind.

🔮: After the end of the canon story, what does the future hold for your F/O and S/I? (If they die in canon assume they didn’t in this question) - Once Sephiroth had apologized to Malachite for being a shit who was being incredibly selfish and damaging the relationship bc of it (but he does save them from being harmed/killed bc he does still love them of course), the two are able to see eye to eye again and choose to stay where Malachite lives, which is in the middle of a valley away from people, which is probably the best option to allow Malachite to 'domesticate' Sephiroth so he won't hurt anyone again and also bc putting him in a public place could just end badly fhskfs.

🧬: Do you have any kids with your F/O? If you do, talk about them! If not, what do you think they’d look/act like? - I have never considered the concept of a fankid with Sephiroth (not even what they'd look like past a joke run in Sims 4), be it with Malachite or Jura, bc he just Does Not have the personality to work with a child/as a father lmao. He's too cold, emotionless, and disconnected from reality/other's emotions for me to confidently give him a child. It feels WAY too out of character for him and would only be something I do as a complete joke (like my aforementioned Sims 4 run), not a serious plot point like I did with Ghirahim's son: Nathaniel, as in the context of my SS fic, Ghirahim develops into a father with a LOT of time, effort, and bc I've written the plot in a particular way to make it work. I don't have that benefit with Sephiroth, and even then I wouldn't utilize it for him to be a dad.

💜: Free pass to gush about whatever you like! - Every time I open up the OG FFVII I keep this meme in the corner of my mind in the hopes I'll see more of my little lego man again <3

Also me waiting for part 2 of the remake which will have nice Sephiroth in a flashback before he became a massive asshole like

[rpbetter]

Sorry if this isn't the place to ask but I'm in need of advice. I have a canon character I truly adore, but I haven't gotten muse or any opportunity to write them at all. My blog is collecting dust and the fandom is kinda dead at this point. Not to mention, it's hard to find compatible writing partners, especially with how picky I can be. I'm honestly considering deactivating the blog (for the nth time), but I don't want to lose the writing I have. I know I could archive, but I hate having blogs just sitting around.

In short, I really want to write the muse/keep the blog but I'm not getting any incentive to do that.

Hello, Anon, it’s totally the place to ask!

I will say, though, that since finding and keeping muse can be flavored rather personally, I can’t promise that what works for me is going to work for you. I’ll even confess that in over two decades, I’ve never personally lost muse. I don’t know if it is due to underlying, neurodiverse style, fixating, or if it is due to keeping myself continually invested in both my muse and writing regardless of what else is going on. (Probably a combination of both, though, and the things I do to keep myself highly in touch with my muse I’ll be recommending.) I’m definitely happy to try to help, however.

That really is a very frustrating spot to be in, wanting to write the muse and keep your blog active, but logging in every day to be reminded of what little reason you have to do so. Since we’re drawn to the characters we are for reasons of personal appeal and writing in itself is a pretty personal form of art, it can also feel depressing on top of the frustration.

However, that’s also the good news, in my opinion, because your incentive here is, or can be, yourself.

You were drawn to this character because you connected with them. They mean something to you, you can relate to them, maybe they have qualities (good or bad) that you wish you could experience. Whatever it is, there’s a reason why you had this draw. Writing is like that as well, there’s a reason why this is a hobby that drew you, that you get enjoyment out of. Again, though all art (it doesn’t matter if it is a hobby) has personal bits of the artist in it, writing is uniquely personal. When you write, you’re exploring thoughts and feelings, giving them life in a character that matters to you. I know, all of that sounds really convoluted and hokey, but it’s true.

And it’s good! That means you always have a reason to write and that you have the tools necessary to find and keep muse without any outside push necessary.

I’d say, firstly, work on getting muse back.

Get back in touch with your muse the next time you feel a particularly strong urge to write. Instead of spending time trying to find people in a silent fandom or forcing yourself to write something you don’t want to, just do some exercises that will help you get back into your muse.

I don’t know what media type your character comes from, but especially if it is something like movie or show that you can have on in the background of what you’re doing, do that. If it’s a comic or a book, think about your favorite scene and read it over first. If you’ve ever made some playlists for writing/your muse, you can always do that instead or as well. The point is to do something passively inspiring while you actively create. Now, that creating...

You want to do something that requires you to think about your muse so you can get in touch with them, not something that is going to make you feel overwhelmed and shut down. So, maybe don’t pick writing prompts for this - you can work up to that. Try out headcanon and character development memes and other question lists instead for right now. Things you can scroll down a list of, find questions that jump out as interesting (or even simply answerable to you at this point, you’re jump-starting a dead battery, it’s alright) and answer them. You can also do something as simple as write down what you like best about the character or their story, or put down the basics of filling in missing information that has always bugged you.

The beauty of this is that it is all on your own terms, your only objective here is to answer what you want, as much as you want. You can stop any time, but you can also answer a single question for three hours, making it eight pages long if the inspiration strikes you. It’s only about recharging your inspiration and establishing a connection with your character again. (This is also going to help you with getting back into writing, or approaching it for the first time, with a more internalized focus of interest.)

When you feel like you’ve done that, you can branch out on these exercises more. Answer the memes more in-depth, answer more of them/the ones you don’t have immediate answers for. You can also try writing out scenes from the character’s canon from their perspective, if it wasn’t already so, adding in their thoughts and feelings, or changing the scene in some ways that would be interesting to write out. This is the point where it’s a good idea to try a writing prompt or two, as well! Take the prompt as a sort of starter sentence from a mutual, you’ve got the situation, fill in with your muse.

Write when you feel like writing. The RPC is great at saying this when it comes to muns not wanting to write, but kind of ignores the other side of the equation. The side where you want to write, have the inspiration and muse to do so, but it might not be the best time. As in, you’re not home/wherever you usually write, with whatever device you tend to write on accessible. No, you’re not going to be able to get as much done, but you can write without the usual situation and device regardless. You can write a scene or ideas down using your phone or tablet, or go old school and use a notebook. If you’re at work and your job isn’t applicable to being able to get down a single sentence, that still doesn’t mean you have to wait 8+ hours to get home; while you’re taking your break, write a little bit. It is a break, and writing is your hobby, it isn’t work. It’s good to do things you enjoy on breaks, and far more fulfilling to have also accomplished something you happen to enjoy.

Not writing when you have the drive to do, putting it off and holding it in until “the perfect moment,” is a great way to lose your inspiration and never actually have that moment. If you feel like doing it, that means it is the perfect moment. Life is restricting, don’t impose even more restrictions on yourself by having to be at home, in a specific spot, with a specific device, at a specific time, on a specific day. Was that annoying repetition? You’re right, it was. And that’s how your creative mind processes all the crap piled onto it that doesn’t allow for creativity.

Now, the other problem, the fandom situation.

There isn’t anything you can do about that, to be absolutely honest. I’m not going to blow smoke and tell you to be positive, wait it out, maybe the fandom will spring to life again. You know, maybe it will...but you could be waiting literal decades for that to happen. Not cool. Please, take my word for that, it’s personal experience that it blows even more than you imagine it will.

What you can do is take the matter into your own hands in other ways; putting yourself out there with more availability in multiple ways.

Are you a single-fandom blog, or are you crossover friendly? If you’re not crossover friendly, try to think of a single, relatively popular fandom that you enjoy. Don’t look at it like a hassle, but rather, just another creative exercise. A serious pitfall of creating alternate universe versions of muses is to take the simplest route, merely picking something you want from that other universe and applying it to your muse with no relevant changes that would naturally occur from it. It isn’t just reductive as hell, it’s not remotely creative, it’s like sticking a sticker on your muse’s forehead and saying that’s a whole different muse. It’s neither attractive to potential partners nor going to sustain your own interest for long. You want this to be a passionate investment on your own end, for yourself.

What not to do:

Let’s say the fandom you picked to do crossovers with is based around magic, the main characters are witches, and they are divided into factions based on how their magical talents display and develop. Not only do you decide to make your muse a witch, you pick the most badass faction. It’s the one full of assassins and action and (metaphorically or literally) sex appeal. Well, that’s also going to be the most popular faction in the fandom. That means there will not only be plenty of big name canons there but also that there’s going to be a plethora of OCs designed just for this universe...and other crossovers from other currently active fandoms.

While that might sound like it’s great for maximizing interaction chances, it’s really not when you’re just starting somewhere new with a character from another fandom that might not be known or liked. It can also take a minute in another fandom’s RPC to identify where the good partners are. Every now and then, it is the most popular and over-populous era/faction/etc., but most of the time, it isn’t. People who write with considerable dedication and talent fairly rarely are in the popular kids club even in their fandom choices. By inserting yourself into that area, you might be bypassing (and being bypassed) by better partners on the assumption that their characters are simply going to bore you to death since they’re not within the scope of your focal point.

It’s not a situation of not being allowed to be picky, you not only have that right regardless of your situation, you also should be. This is not a “beggars can’t be choosers” situation, you’re not beholden to anyone on the basis of being new and bored. However, some of my best, and longest lasting, writing partners over all 23 years I’ve been RPing didn’t/don’t fit with all the exact surface details that automatically draw my interest. It is as true within my own fandom as it is in dealing with crossovers. Opposites (with enough similarities) really do attract and work out well together!

Don’t judge and write people off for anything that isn’t an issue of compatibility with your muse, your writing, or yourself. Decline someone because they do one line only and you are novella, they write topics that are upsetting to you, you can see no way your muse and theirs can interact without instant murder, or because you cannot stand writing with someone who is pulling 90% aesthetics and purple prose. Not because their muse is a witch who uses life-based magic, loves nature, is a healer, and into their health...while your muse in this AU is all about the death, only appreciates an urban environment and is grossed out by animals, kills as an occupation, lives on cheeseburgers and caffeine. You see what I’m saying? Don’t limit yourself unnecessarily!

What to do:

Did you consider if, in that hypothetical idea of a fandom, your muse based on their purely canon self would even fit into that faction? Or is it just something you wanted to see? If you didn’t consider this, or it was the latter, fix that. That’s bad.

If you’re not absolutely dead set on that and only that, think about what really does fit the muse better. Maybe, they would be better as a healer, someone who messes with the very fabric of reality, or someone who manipulates natural elements at will. Then again, they might not even be a witch. They could be more mundane in terms of power, but more accurate and interesting as a normal, human (or whatever). They could even be greatly opposed to the use of magic and witches. Use your muse’s original canon as a base to decide these things.

If you are absolutely dead set on it, though, you have a lot of work to do making the character into what amounts to a markedly different one while still retaining some recognizable aspects of themselves. Consider what events, in this new universe of fandom, might have happened to alter the character thus. Keep in mind that even small changes can have great consequences in a character’s development, and you might need to think about the myriad ways in which that can display, how it changes still more things for this character.

While that job becomes so much more intense when you haven’t planned out a path that matches your muse’s canon characterization at all, it is still an important part of constructing an AU, of any kind, in general. Ask yourself what experiences led to the character you know as you already know them (including your own headcanons, yes). Then, find similar possible experiences within your new fandom verse that can have the same effect. Again, though, it’s important to understand that you are never going to have an identical set of experiences, so you need to explore relevant changes still.

When you do this, you’re allowing your muse to more seamlessly fit into this other universe in a fleshed out, interesting way. Interesting both new partners and yourself.

Okay, next obnoxious question from me! Do you have multiple verses, or are you single-verse?

Whether you are already exploring new fandoms or not, by creating a variety of verses for others to interact with, you’re increasing your chances for interest and activity. When you have a verse from a different fandom you can then, additionally, advertise your presence in both that fandom’s tags when you do a promo or applicable open starter and on active RPer lists for that fandom.

Every popular fandom has such lists. You can get on them by messaging/sending an ask to the blog or by reblogging their post to be added, following the directions. I haven’t seen one yet that doesn’t allow for crossovers. You simply have to tag it as stated in the post, such as “your canon’s name here - original fandom name - crossover.” By tagging your open starter or promo as “-insert fandom here- rp” and “-fandom here- open starter” you allow people in that fandom to find you to interact. Either way is excellent for getting started in totally new places with a character others might be unfamiliar with.

Please remember that if you tag a promo as “promo,” it’ll not show up in searches off of your blog. You know, where it actually needs to be searched. Thanks, tumblr, for being janky! Being more specific as to the fandom and character will help others actually find you. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by tagging it as “promo.”

Make your verses accessible on your blog itself, in the nature of those verses, and how you set up your page or post that lists them.

Don’t put any page behind an impossible or complicated aesthetic. You really shouldn’t anyway, but when you’re needing interactions, it’s actively hurting your chances. Many people don’t want to have to play a game with your theme, it’s a turn off. Try a pinned post that lists all of your links to important pages like rules, verses, and bio instead. It means that, even from the dash, that information can quickly be found while other muns are first interested, and also that anyone who might be using the app can access it more expediently. (I’m genuinely not a fan or big supporter of doing google docs for rules, verses, bios, etc., as it forces people off site, so I can’t personally say, in good conscious and honesty, that I’d recommend it, but you do you!) You want to keep things quickly accessible is the idea here; when people are interested, you want to catch them right then and there before they have a chance to forget and lose your blog.

As to the nature of the verses themselves, give people real options. Don’t have 20 verses that all read same way. Same themes, plot possibilities, and backstories, or incredibly similar names. Have a diverse list of verses that can act as foundations for a variety of different muns. As many fandoms as you can reasonably have a good portrayal of, and different types of fandoms; not all the same genre (all fantasy, all horror, all scifi). Verses where your muse has substantially different goals, occupations, and other life situations that will involve another muse; don’t make your muse A Warrior™ in every verse, you can keep plenty of those aspects without being that literal. People love “modern” verses set in our own universe and, usually, in our own era. That doesn’t mean you have to go stereotypical or otherwise bore yourself by doing the standard “high school/college verse,” for instance. You don’t even have to designate that sort of thing, let alone make it the focus; simply create the verse by considering what your character really would be like if they existed within your reality.

As a final note on verses as pertains to this point, when you’re doing crossover verses, it’s alright to do some verses where your muse from their own canon existence somehow ends up teleported or whatever to another fandom’s reality, or even our own. Just don’t make every verse like this, it puts the onus of a great deal of creativity and effort onto the other mun by default; your muse has cluelessly dropped into the universe, and while it is high drama time for you, the other mun has to babysit, educate, deal with fallout, etc.

On making the list of your verses accessible, you want to focus on ease of browsing and not being overwhelming. People tend to look through a verse page and not read every verse listed, rather, they look at the titles and breakdowns to see if it is of interest, then read it. Don’t try to make everyone read them all, it isn’t going to happen, and shouldn’t change your effort any as the right people are going to find the verses that interest them...if you make it clear and easy enough.

Have a basic format you stick to, firstly. I do it this way: small verse banner, title of verse (linked to its overall tag so that muns can look through the tag at headcanons, aesthetics, pictures of the FC, and threads), muse age/age range, small blurb, possible triggers found uniquely or just heavily within this verse. In that order, one following the other in a simple, but pleasing way. Below that, is a more in depth breakdown of the “verse canon.” Sometimes, that is giving a brief rehashing of canon itself and anywhere my muse differs, be it in this verse only or overall, ending with where my muse is in this verse. Not literally where. I mean their present occupation, emotional and general state in life. At the very end, I provide any other relevant links and/or an expansion on the triggers mentioned at the top of the verse description if they’re that serious/recurrent so that muns can decide this isn’t the verse for them. I happen to have a potentially triggering muse, triggering verses, and writing triggering topics, though. That’s not something everyone needs to do.

Secondly, group your verses in a sensible way. I do my short list of default verses first. (And, I do mean short, you don’t want this be any more than four or five, it is overwhelming right out of the gate.) For me, that is two default verses of canon at different points on the timeline, one default AU that is a bit of a reversal of canon, and one default “modern” verse. Then, I list the verses that are in line with the altered canon one, just different possibilities, changes, points in history. After that, the different “modern” verse options. Then, verses for other fandoms, the crossover verses. And so on. This way, a potential partner can find the type of verse that might appeal to them and have an easier time picking from those possibilities and getting ideas.

Lastly, don’t be so succinct that you give too little information and underwhelm, but also don’t be so excessive that it takes all of the mystery of interaction away and overwhelms someone. It can be a difficult balance to strike, and some verses require more information than others, just experiment a bit. Additionally, it’s fine to link to pertinent information for the other mun to view aside from this, but don’t just link people to a fandom wiki as your “description/bio.” That isn’t giving information on how you write this muse, approach this fandom, or what another mun can otherwise expect. Keeping your descriptions interesting is important, you’re not giving a boring lecture, you’re trying to inform someone while making them hyped for their choices. It’s more interesting, and informative, to read if you do them with an ear to the “tone” of your muse in that verse. Is it a sad one? Sound that way. These can, indeed, function as snippets of your writing, so be sure you are writing them with the same care you should be giving your replies; spellcheck, good word flow and use, mind the grammar, and read over what you’ve written for common, easy mistakes.

Again, by giving a genuine variety of verses to choose from, you’re allowing for a greater reach in potential partners. Everyone from those still in your original fandom to those in new ones, all the way to fandomless muses will be able to interact with you this way.

Finally, in regards to what you can change or do when you’re in a dead fandom and seeking interactions; make sure you are increasing your reach by using proper tags, being honest about what and how you write, and don’t wait for others to stumble across you.

When you use tags properly, you’re increasing your chances of being seen at all. Every time you post something at all applicable on your blog, tag it with relevant things. Tag as described above with whatever fandom it is and “RP,” your character’s name, “open RP,” character name and RP, indie RP, open starter, and so on. Be sure you are optimizing your tags by placing the most relevant to finding you in the first four, those are what show up in site-wide searches only. Anything after that isn’t going to appear in a search across all tumblr.

By tagging your character’s name, as a canon, you should know that you are likely to get personal blog interaction. I’m pretty against being nasty to personal blogs for no reason, as I don’t appreciate personal and fandom blogs being shitty to me for the sole reason that I am an RPer. Please, use clear, short, attention getting directions for them. If you want no interactions with them, put right in the description of your blog “RP blog, does not interact with personal blogs.” When you say things like, “personals dni,” or “personals blocked,” you’re not doing anyone any favors. Personal blogs often don’t even know what the hell a personal blog even is! They do not denote themselves this way, to a personal blog, they’re just a blog. By designating first that you are an RP blog, you’re making it clearer that they’re the personal; they’re obviously not an RP blog, so that must make them a personal. Follow this up in a pinned post, right on top. Give a note to personal blogs that describes them as “any blog that isn’t an RP blog” first, then either tell them in brief what they can and can’t do or that you don’t interact and will block.

I don’t recommend taking your blog off of being findable, however. That’s alright once you have the RP activity you are looking for, but until then, it’s working against you. Other RP blogs cannot easily find you either, they will only find you if you’re on a list or appear in their recommended blogs, if you interact with a mutual, or are recommended by a mutual. You’re not just lessening your chances of personal blogs finding you, so if you have that turned off, turn it back on.

Don’t entirely rely on others finding you regardless, though. You can’t be 100% passive when you have no interactions, and by relying solely on serendipity you’re far less likely to get them. I know that everyone here is terminally shy, but seriously, you have to do more than put your silent will into the universe that someone perfect find you. You have to make this happen. Once you get a few people, you can afford to be more passive. Not only do you have some people to write with, you will be more visible to their mutuals, and more established as a presence. I’m not saying this is easy, or that it will become easy, not awkward or stressful, if you have a legitimate issue behind the shyness. Just that it is the only way to really proceed, and I believe you can do it!

So, go looking for interesting blogs. Be crossover and OC friendly (again, this doesn’t mean “accept everyone,” there are valid reasons for not accepting people you won’t work out with that have nothing to do with their fandom or being an OC), and search those fandom’s RPCs, following any blogs you think you might work out with upon reading their rules and other pages. Search for fandomless OCs and do the same thing. Fandomless OCs aren’t just floating around in the ether, they just weren’t created expressly for a particular fandom and within its confines. What is excellent about that is their ability to have a wide variety of verses and many possibilities to fit into any fandom or verse. So, don’t count them out solely on the basis of being an OC and fandomless. It doesn’t mean what people seem to think it does!

Do not stop at having followed 50 blogs. I mean, other than that you probably should stop following people for a bit. That you should do, as you need to be building writing relationships here, not following so many people that you cannot get to them. Don’t just stop at the follow, though. Since you’ve read their rules and information like a good RP partner, you should have some idea of what their interests are and where they align with yours, as well as how they prefer to be approached, if they accept memes right away to start, need plotting, have a rules password. When they’ve followed you back, proceed with interaction!

Ask if they’d like to plot when they have time, you’re really looking forward to writing with them. But...have some idea of a plot, please. It is a serious turn off to have someone message you wanting to plot, only to reply and get “lol I don’t have any ideas, anything works for me/whatever you want to do.” That isn’t plotting, it’s one party coming up with ideas and constructing a plot while they’re being told “I’m fine with anything.” That may be true, but it’s disheartening and a red flag for many people. If you genuinely can’t come up with anything, pick verses that match up well and suggest doing something within them.

“When you have the time, would you be interested in discussing writing? I was looking at your verses, and I think your verse -name- and mine, -verse name-, would mesh well.” Is a good way to start. Once you have a discussion flowing about the verses meshing and the muses, it’s typically easy to organically develop some plot ideas to go off of.

If both you and the other mun are alright with plot-free interaction and memes, you can send a meme any time. If you can’t find any memes on their blog, look for a wishlist or navigation page that shows you the tags for memes/wishlist. Still can’t find it? Ask them if they’ve got a wishlist or meme tag you can look through.

Additionally, if open starters are a thing you both do and are alright with, find some of theirs and respond. Post your own, tag it appropriately to be found in general and on your blog, and reblog it once or twice. Don’t excessively reblog it, and don’t get upset on the dash if no one interacts with it or any memes you reblog. Both are demanding to outright guilting, and not a good way to get partners. Just provide them with the ability to easily interact by making the posts available in the first place and by making them findable on your blog search and navigation.

Provide something for potential partners to see. Since you said you already do have writing, that’s great! That’s content on your blog that your partners can view. However, since you’re also having the issues you’ve stated, it’s likely that you haven’t many new posts. Show that you are active, interested in being here, and how you write your muse (and in general) by posting some newer content. For original content, do a headcanon or some meta, or post about new verses you are adding, the changes on your blog, a promo. For reblogs, things pertaining to your muse like canon imagery, fanart, quotes from canon or that generally express your muse, and aesthetics relevant to your muse are all excellent things to queue.

Use that queue. Not only do very few people appreciate having dash spam of similar content for the comparatively short time you might be around, but also, running these things on a queue means you spread that out for maximum view. While there are hours of heavier activity, you’ll have mutuals who are on at unusual hours due to their life and preferences or their timezone. This way, you’re not appearing inactive, if not outright invisible, to those mutuals. It’s not a bad idea to use a queue tag so that people know if they interact with a post that’s been queued, you might be here to quickly respond.

Ultimately, to fix your fandom and lacking partners problem, you just need to up your availability and reach beyond that fandom alone. Be proactive in following and approaching, decline blogs based on not working out only, utilize tags and fandom RPer lists, have everything on your blog easy to follow and not overwhelming, and have your verses meet as wide of a range of people as possible while also not being overwhelming.

Try updating your promo, as well, by the way. They’re not dead, they just really tanked when people kept making them based solely on aesthetic principle instead of being at all informative about the muse. They do seem to be coming back, so it’s a thing to consider.

Yes, make it visually appealing, it will draw people to reading it. No, do not just use a song lyric or quote with words highlighted linking your rules, verses, bio. Tell people basic info like the age of your muse and yourself, if you are multiverse and multiship, your muse’s canon verse and a couple of big interest verses of other major fandoms or themes that tend to be of interest to people, and what kind of RP you write - one line/para/multipara/novella. Absolutely give links to rules, verses, bio, and either memes, wishlist, or open starters, but give them just like that; make it very clear what this link is to. Put a very short statement of interest on there denoting that you’re expanding to new fandoms and looking for writing partners.

Do not sound desperate, demanding, or devaluing of yourself. Don’t say shit like “because my fandom is dead,” “trying this before I give up and delete my blog,” or “I suck at interaction/writing/ooc interaction/being a person but welp giving it a try, so follow and hit that heart.” (Conversely, calling yourself derogatory things and implying that your partners are too, such as the “we’re all just losers here” shit.) All of the above are not attractive, and they’re not even surprising enough to stand out anymore. It’s another reason to scroll right by that promo because nothing at all was different or of interest.

And as a wrap-up/rehash of the first topic, getting muse back: try starting over at the beginning by approaching the media involving your muse that has really stuck with you emotionally over the years, and exploring and developing your muse again.

Don’t tell yourself you can only write, for example, at home, on the laptop, after 7pm, and with a pop toy staring at you. The best thing about writing, as opposed to so many other hobbies, is that you can do it anywhere! So, do that. Do it any time you both feel the inspiration to do so and aren’t going to get fired or expelled for it. This isn’t work, it’s something enjoyable that does take effort (like literally all creative activities and skills do), but approaching it as though you need to follow novel writing advice from someone who has never published anything of note and isn’t you on the internet, with strict rules for success makes it feel that way. So does being frustrated with a dead fandom, no interaction. It’s disheartening, feels as annoying and fruitless as work often does. You probably need to break out of that mindset, and you can only do it by beginning to allow yourself to be creative on your own terms, entirely for yourself.

Do write simple things at first that you are inspired to do (you can’t get a scene out of your head, or a bit of dialogue), and/or headcanon/character development memes and question lists. Build from there as you get back in touch with your muse, writing things primarily or entirely for yourself still. Expanding on headcanons, doing some meta, or maybe writing out a missing piece of canon or what you’d be interested in seeing happen in canon if some event was altered.

Doing this sort of thing, you are getting in touch with your muse again and back into the real spirit of writing creatively, simultaneously.

Whatever you find most inspiring, do it. If it’s watching the movie or show again, do that, have it on while you write or simply think on the character’s actions, thoughts, and emotions during those scenes. If it’s reading the material again, do that, and read snippets of personal importance before you write. Maybe it’s some past playlists you can have on while writing, or even while you’re cleaning, walking the dog, driving or riding somewhere. It could even be your own previous writing! Go ahead and re-read that, it sounds like you still appreciate it, and that’s truly promising. If you find that you’re horrified by some of the things you’ve written in the more distant past, hey...that’s not just valid as hell, it’s natural. You know what else it is? An inspiration. You can clearly see that you could do better, that means you now know how to do better and are ready to do so. Validate yourself, prove it to yourself by rewriting or fixing something.

Don’t delete the blog or archive it. It is unpleasant to have a dead blog around, but don’t keep it dead. Use the same blog and simply transition it into wider things that will net you more partners and the interactions you deserve.

Look, even if you weren’t the most popular blog in your fandom before it went quiet, you really appreciated the blog, muse, and writing you were doing. You’ve defined that it wasn’t something you did to cause this situation, you just had the shit luck we all run into eventually of being in a fandom that ran out of material or interest. People are really fickle, so by taking a wider approach and fixing on the writing and muse instead of fandom now, you’re stopping this from repeating. Seriously, on a long enough timeline, every fandom dies or goes into hibernation. If you make a whole new blog with a different muse, it is going to happen again eventually.

So, don’t feel like you’re ridiculously clinging to the past and need to move on, you’re just sticking to something and can continue to stick to it through the next five fandom deaths. Just because it is the most popular thing to do to drop muses, constantly add new ones, and have this attitude that you can “blog refresh” your way out of recurrent, and inherent, problem doesn’t mean it is actually the right thing to do. It’s not even the most sensible, and certainly not the best thing to do with anything you’ve spent time and effort on.

That’s your incentive; yourself, the time and care you’ve put in, and your continued interest in writing and the muse. You’ll find good people, and bluntly, everyone else can fuck right off when you’re incentivized by yourself. It becomes a self-fulfilling activity at that point, I swear, and it feels really nice.

Just get back in touch with your muse and writing itself so that you can begin to expand and start interacting again!

[oftincturedwords]

First of all: I'm currently listening to the songs you added to the descriptions of Steven and Bucky and I LOVE 'em!

I would ask for Doc Roe/Legolas/Dr. McCoy, whoever you most feel like describing!

(I hope you and your stitched up hand are doing well!)

send me a character and i’ll list: ACCEPTING !

DOC EUGENE ROE <3

favourite thing about them : doc roe is another top tier favourite character of mine so i everything about him is my favourite <3 but i won't cheat & just say everything agdjfkglg so to give a specific thing , i love how roe will do everything he can to help the wounded. from running out amidst a firefight / bombings to get to them & get them out to telling off superior officers to sacrificing pieces of himself to ensure he can do his job the best he can. his dedication to that is on par to lipton & winters i feel. he was right there during the absolute worst bits of some of these men's lives , working not only to patch up their bodies but to keep them calm , talking to them & using their nicknames whenever they're wounded so those hurt know they’re in good hands & with a friend , whether they make it to aid station or not. i admire roe for that , in giving his all for the wounded & not letting anything get in his way for advocating for a patient or ensuring his patients know he's treating a man with personality & life back home rather than another number of men on sick call / list of the wounded.

least favourite thing about them : what is not to like about this man ??? agdjfkglg but seriously , the only thing i can think of would be his decision to draw away from everyone during the time in bastogne & become isolated , but honestly i can't blame him for using that coping mechanism with everything that was going on then. but he may have had an easier time of it if he didn't resist heffron’s attempts at friendships & perhaps opened up somewhat to spina , even if spina is a lower rank than him , but roe is the sort to help others before himself & continue to do so until he's used up. he's rather self sacrificing like that & that's not healthy. but again it was 1940’s so they didn't have much concept of mental health help or understanding in ways that we do today & even still today it's stigmatised so i can too see why he wouldn't be openly talking , just wish he perhaps think he had to separate himself from everyone , to create distance & choose his job as a medic over creating those tight-knit friendships as everyone else did.

favourite line : “You are officers, you are grownups. You ought to know!”

brOTP : roe & spina , roe & heffron , roe & luz , roe & malarkey

OTP : roe / heffron

nOTP : roe / winters , only because winters needs nixon & vice versa

random headcanon : back during training , a group from easy company were swapping scary stories they’d been told from where their from or ones their parents shared with them , there's all sorts being told & some overlays , but somehow they convince doc to tell one , so he tells the one of the rougarou & with his low way of speaking & lilting tone he manages to be a good story teller , he’s most likely imitating how his grandparents on his mother’s side told him it. he’s one of the only guys out of three ( luz & malarkey are the other ) to actually get everyone a bit spooked. not scared but it's definitely difficult to not think of it when a few days later they have an exercise that has them out in the swamps of north carolina

unpopular opinion : erm i’m not certain that i have any unpopular opinions on roe , hmm i don't think that i do , but if i think of one i'll come back to fil this out

song i associate with them : oats in the water by ben howard or the humbling river by puscifer

favourite picture of them :

send me a character and i’ll list:

LEGOLAS <3 ( books / films )

favourite thing about them : another top tier favourite character of mine , i think you managed to pick every single ultimate favourite character in these fandoms xD that's very cool ! but back to the favourite , hmm i admire legolas’ ability to still find joy & happiness in the world even though his home has been besieged by darkness’ taint , & losses he's faced as well as the fight he's had to keep along with the rest of elves there. even during trials of the quest he was usually light & could find something to smile about. he has a lightness to him. yet he doesn't allow him to not see the reality of the situation or the quests’ weight , he is very grounded whilst being able to see the brightness that still lives in arda. he can sing , laugh , smile , & find humour even in dark times without seeming like he's clueless or ignorant or careless.

least favourite thing about them : i really don't like his characterisation in the hobbit films , but that's more due to writing than the actual character. i guess i would say least favourite hmm his prejudice against the dwarves , like i don't the elves have their sides & reasons just as the dwarves have theirs , but he really should go find it out for himself instead of just believing a long steeped prejudice & dislike. ( this is excluding the events of the hobbit films )

favourite line : “I go to find the sun!” or “How about side by side with a friend?”

brOTP : legolas & aragorn , legolas & gimli , legolas & elladan & elrohir , legolas & tauriel , legolas & faramir

OTP : legolas / gimli , although i see legolas as more asexual than anything

nOTP : legolas / éowyn , i love éowyn with faramir too much to ship this , so it's not that i hate it , just it isn't a favourite

random headcanon : legolas knows how to use a leaf as a musical instrument , by pressing it between their fingers & then bringing it to their lips to esstentially whistle against it , as do several in his patrol , during moments of downtime they try to play tunes on it & judge each other on how well it sounds or just laugh at the attempts or guess which song is being playing ( or trying to be played )

unpopular opinion : i think my unpopular opinion is in the fact i see legolas as aromantic asexual , tolkien never says that legolas gets married or has someone waiting for him back home , nor do i see he & gimli as anything more than friends. do i like the gigolas ship ? yes ! is it my canon when writing those two ? no.

song i associate with them : i love to see the wheels in motion by barry phillips or fear no darkness by adrian von ziegler or flight of the silverbird by two steps from hell

favourite picture of them :

send me a character and i’ll list:

LEONARD MCCOY <3 ( tos / aos )

favourite thing about them : his dedication to his patients & profession , he will tell off the highest of admirals if it’d help his patient & he'd risk his own life / safety ensure a patient was helped like when he tended to mirror!spock’s injuries or when he stepped in to alter the course of the kal-if-fee to save both spock & kirk , no doubt he got into some legal issue with vulcan on that one. too i admire his ability to remain calm , cool , & collected under any circumstance. like when khan threatened him with a knife to treating the horta to learning he had xenopolycythemia to tending crew members he's come to know as friends & even family.

least favourite thing about them : i don't really like some of his xenophobic comments to spock , especially in tos , i know it transforms more into a banter / teasing thing between him & spock later in their friendship , but it doesn't fit his character to be the sort to try to change someone's ways to prove a point or think humans are better because we express our emotions. i know he's a gruff doctor who speaks his mind , but it just let very off with his character to have him say those things with actual meaning & intent

favourite line : “When the personality of a human is involved, exact predictions are hazardous."

brOTP : mccoy & kirk , mccoy & spock , mccoy & scott , mccoy & uhura

OTP : mccoy / kirk

nOTP : mccoy / chapel , nothing against it , it just isn't my favourite pairing , i much prefer chapel with rand more than anything

random headcanon : his fear of transporters actually comes from an accident he & some of his childhood friends had with a transporter , it all turned out fine in the end but it always left mccoy feeling a bit weird round them , then in school he learnt about all the transporter incidents / injuries that had happened & it just increased his dislike , not to mention when he got to medical school in seeing some of those sort of injuries first hand , & just being on the enterprise with all her transporter incidents it just keep piling onto it , although it means he's picked up some very good ways of coping with it , some good some not. i think that's why he's especially cranky when it comes to transports because he's nervous to hell & back so instead of being anxious , he just gets angry.

unpopular opinion : hmm again i'm sure if i have an unpopular opinion for mccoy … i can't think of any

song i associate with them : far too good by john smith , feels like home by sam tinnesz

favourite picture of them :

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

I'm just gonna say I really dislike the Lena being mind controlled idea. Because A) It feels like a cop-out, when explaining that Lena is acting out of her life's worth of trauma and pain seems plausible enough excuse, even if her actions are extreme. B) Risks falling to the same trap of dismissing and ignoring Lenas pain because "It wasn't really her" and shes okay. I just think Lena doing terrible things inspite of her natural empathy is a far more compelling story.

I see where you're coming from, and honestly I have similar concerns.The trouble is, in my mind at this moment in canon, an uncoerced Lena should be in prison for what she's doing. And at that point, no matter how well the show tries to explain away her motives and intentions, it'd be hard for me to see her involvement in future episodes as anything other than "she escaped justice" or "they let her out of prison when they need her"-- which reeks of Lex, and not the Lena I fell in love with.Obviously, I want to see her in many episodes to come and ENJOY her role, so what my goal would be is a way to keep the emotional weight and guilt, but eliminate the judicial recourse that might remove Lena (or her enjoyability) from future episodes. In my version of a mind control scenario, Lena would be devastated, and would not only take responsibility for her actions, but also have the added guilt of not having been able to prevent it. And Lena being Lena, there would be a lot of ways to pile on that angst. Maybe she consented to sharing a consciousness with Leviathan, because she was tired of hurting or because they promised vengeance, and even though she didn't anticipate what they'd do with her and her resources, she did accept it because she just didn't care and that's on her.Idk but there are ways to mitigate Lena's culpability without handwaving the emotional consequences. 

[lexpistachio]

There is someone that is totally okay with continuing to tag their Kent hate. I mean, whatever. Blocked and all. But I find it ironic that they say that we HAVE to interpret Kent one way, but we HAVE to let people interpret other characters however they want. Like get over yourself, please. Yes, check please has a happy, queer romance story. But is it realistic? I can't say it is. I'm sorry if I want more hockey and more about the characters I'm already invested in. I'm not sorry that it's Kent.

YES! Super agree with all of these. Some things that came to me today:

1. On Check Please being a happy, queer romance story, I get that, but I think what bothers me the most is how inconsistent the writing of Check Please is in that regard. Because Ngozi says this is supposed to be an exploration of a world that Bitty can thrive, but it didn’t start like that at all. There are all sorts of issues that were presented in the beginning that were abandoned in pursuit of the love story that she wanted all along.

Jack’s mental health issue was there as a tragic backstory and insofar as it provided a vulnerable!Jack moment for Bitty and which leads to possibly more tragic backstory. But that very important facet to Jack just vanished along and was forgotten when it’s a valid consideration when they were outing themselves to his front office and teammates. Or take the fact that it was very possible that the added pressure of being closeted and being in a relationship was what drove Jack’s anxiety up a notch, as she hinted when she presented the vignettes of Jack and Kent’s relationship just before the draft–that didn’t all seem to matter because this is suddenly a world cured of homophobia when he presented Bitty as his boo. (Meanwhile, in the real world, millionaire Ryan Getzlaf repeatedly called a ref “cocksucker” and only got fined 10k and Anaheim fans are raising money to pay the fine.) Or that N introduced the idea that Jack had very real issues about meeting his father’s expectations –very real when he ignored the hell out of Bitty because Bitty scored a GWG– but wasn’t real when it’s a huge possibility that his hypermasculine dad could have objections to him outing himself for a few months’ old relationship . Or take the issue of Jack’s bisexuality. It was additional drama to pile on Bitty when he was insecure about their months-old relationship, but Jack’s bisexuality was never discussed, or how relevant that is in his situation as a closeted pro athlete. Or maybe that Jack is Bitty’s first relationship while it was said in the comic that Bitty wasn’t even ready to be out to his family yet–and yet that was forgotten when Jack practically convinced him they could be out, together. There are so, so many more points I could raise here, but what I’m trying to get at is that I see this canon as a series of writing decisions that opens up real, tangible issues, but fails to follow up on them, blatantly ignores them, in the guise of, hey this is supposed to be a happy story so no no no no drama. I’m here, like, 

me: but what about– canon: NO. NO DRAMA. NO

And it’s not as if those were issues are imagined, she wrote them in canon in the first place and then abandons them, leaving me unsatisfied and uneasy while there are so many loose threads flying about. But we’re supposed to ignore them because twu wuv, yeah?

2. I’ve said this before, but why not Kent? Kent is a closeted LGBT who loved a guy for years who just turned out to be buddyfucking him the whole time–he can’t even grieve properly? There is relatability to his heartbreak, complexity to his transformation from that soft-looking boy in his teen years to that night where he’s sharp and cold as he lashes out in anger. That Captain with a broken heart who tries to grapple at his remaining dignity by playing with every inch of the skill he’s learned lends himself to all kinds of possibilities that is exciting to explore. I love it (and I’m happy people love him too!), and his whiteness or his ‘problematic’ behavior shouldn’t be a deterrent to exploring his interiority, because that’s what fandom does! Fandom is precisely the proper space to explore what you want to explore because pushing all kinds of boundaries is what we do when we talk about and write stories that give layers to this character that they claim should be one-dimensional. Quoting some intelligent lady: You can’t keep telling yourselves and everyone else around you that this is a space where you come to to expand storylines and to push back against toxic cultural messages, and at the same time maintain that this is a line too far, that this is not something that is within your control.

3. Moreover, he’s a closeted professional athlete – and his story matters because his story has consequence. If there is an LGBT player right now in the NHL, they’re closeted and as trapped as Kent is in that situation. I feel like when I read Kent fics, most are fully cognizant and acknowledging of the brunt of being in that precarious situation, and that’s why they’re satisfying to me. Jack and Bitty’s story is in a bubble because they’re like in an alternate universe that isn’t remotely this one; the bubble that is modern capitalism is likelier to burst than Jack and Bitty’s little fantasy life. It’s like they exist in a vacuum devoid of real life common sense consequences. So sue me for wanting my stories having cause-effect.

4. I’m looking forward to Jack and Kent meeting again because there’ll be hockey, and I signed up here for hockey, which, for a hockey-themed comic seems scarce and inaccurate about. Though that might mean N will get to fulfill her Jack NHL Suksez Storyline when he finally is better than Kent because he’s powered by love and pies gags