#I'm super proud of it but it's also nothing compared to some of the

[anotherbeastarsblog]

I'm planning on doing a series of shorts about my whole island being a polycule and also just some broader AC headcanons about how the world works and general fluff, and I thought it'd be cool to have an actual town to show off to contextualize it all. I'm making this post to try and like, help force myself to actually get it out.

My island dream code and HHP code if anyone wants to check it out: DA-9346-0904-6067 RA-5814-1260-7037

[shannonsketches]

Rewatching Battle of the Gods and mAN. If you're ever scrolling my dbTag and going 'Sketches, what do you mean Toei does the same plot but completely changes the story, that makes no sense.' I'm talking about Character-Driven Storytelling. And the difference between Toriyama's Character-Driven Story and Toei's Plot-Driven Story is Most Glaring in comparing Super's movies and the anime retellings of Super's movies, because the screenplays for the last four movies were written by Toriyama, and obviously the show was not.

I saw BotG back first when it came out, before the anime was released, and The Point Of It was that it was the very first Dragon Ball story in which Goku failed and Vegeta was left in the position of The Protagonist, due to all of the growth he experienced in DBZ (Beerus in this movie takes Goku down immediately, and does not compliment him at all. King Kai, in this movie, has nothing rude to say about Vegeta and just warns him not to engage with Beerus because Goku just tried and lost, which freaks Vegeta out). So even while Goku still is the guy who gets to fight Beerus in the end, the majority of the movie is about Vegeta's efforts to not have a fight at all.

Like this is the Whole Thesis of Super (as Toriyama wrote it). Vegeta is being handed the mantle of Earth's Guardian (because as Piccolo points out later, he was a Prince and is becoming nostalgic as he gets older (as so many do), so his role is slowly coming full circle back to a proud inherited leadership position, which Goku has no interest in.)

You may have seen me complain about Vegeta and Bulma's dynamic being weird and bad in the anime despite them having been married for ~12 years by this point.

That's because the reason for and the dialogue from when Vegeta gets to the party was completely revised. In the show, Vegeta goes because Bulma yelled at him.

In the movie, he is still wearing his armor because he left training and went straight to the party with the Express Purpose of keeping everyone safe. Bulma not only knew Vegeta was training and expected would be there eventually, but also immediately recognizes something is wrong when he does finally arrive, because he is still wearing his armor, and she notes that him being broody like this is, by this point, unusual.

His behavior is, of course, is because he because he is trying to sense Beerus -- who he has just been told would destroy the Earth if anyone engaged with him. The game of the whole movie becomes Vegeta acting Completely Insane and throwing his pride aside to make sure everyone is safe, because protecting Earth and his family has become his top priority.

His frustration isn't because he finds her or any of the Z Fighters annoying. It's because he is trying to manage a problem that he can't tell anyone about, for fear that the other fighters will get involved and try and solve the problem -- especially if they learn this man's harmed Goku -- and Vegeta knows their good intentions will only make matters worse.

His outburst is because Bulma is (two glasses of champagne into her day and) trying to talk to him while he's trying to concentrate on locating this massive incoming threat he can't find. And what's more is that his raising his voice to Bulma is a shock to everyone.

Including Bulma.

Because the point is he is not normally like this.

And even though Vegeta can't sense Beerus' ki, he knows when Beerus is present, because he is suddenly terrified.

And then the gag becomes that Beerus speaks to Vegeta only, and Vegeta doesn't yet remember exactly who Beerus is or what he looks like, so he looks Completely Insane trying to find him,

When Vegeta does finally find Beerus, he immediately remembers who he is and treats him with the utmost respect, because he understands how Heirarchy works (this is completely changed in the anime, and turned into an attempted fight, for some reason).

Because he will not tell anybody what's going on, who Beerus is, or why he's there, because the risk is JUST too high, he just plays along with Bulma's assumption that they're friends of his. Which means Bulma (who is absolutely plastered) happily invites them to come party with everyone, leaving Vegeta the incredibly comedic task of running context-free interference for the universe's most temperamental god while the most fight-minded people on the planet are getting drunk.

Toei loves pretending Vegeta can't interact with people in a normal way, but Toriyama loved reminding the class that Vegeta is a seasoned professional with 25+ years in a semi-corporate military force who can and regularly does behave as one.

The whole bit of this arc is Vegeta being so scared of his planet and his family being destroyed (again) that he is willing to sacrifice his pride to herd a cat, because Dragon Ball has always been a comedy and Toei is so bad at remembering it's a comedy

I will also die mad that in the anime Gotenks fights first, when in the movie Trunks (as he has before) got involved when he saw Beerus beat his dad, and Vegeta begged him not to fight. Gotenks getting spanked (literally and figuratively) by Beerus is also what got Vegeta back on his feet.

Then there's this (y'all when I tell you someone at Toei fucking hates Vegeta,,)

For context, in the anime Beerus compliments Goku and insults Vegeta. Surprisingly no one, in the movie it is The Opposite. Beerus never says a bad word about Vegeta (and doesn't say anything to Goku after their first fight), and compliments his fighting instincts. And that's before Bulma gets hit.

In the anime, Vegeta can't do anything to Beerus, who drags him for like two minutes straight. Then he walks away from Vegeta, who cannot bring himself to stand, and takes his aim.

In the movie, Vegeta gets back up when Gotenks is knocked down, compliments Beerus, and accepts that the gap is too wide between them. Beerus decides it's time to be done here and charges directly at Vegeta.

Vegeta does not defend himself, does not dodge, does not flinch, and does not break eye contact. Then he says it might be an honor to be killed by Beerus (complimenting Beerus) (where in the anime he says it might be a proud way to go (complimenting himself)), and is ready to die on his feet.

(note: He doesn't say anything about pride, because his actions speak for him, as is very commonly the case with Toriyama's Vegeta, whose pride is loudest in his quiet confidence, not in his insecure outbursts).

The other major difference I absolutely hate in the anime is that for some reason they decided Beerus hitting Bulma was a long, drawn out, dramatic thing.

In the anime almost a full minute passes between her hitting him and him hitting her back. She hits him first, then lectures him, then the rest of that time is spent cutting between Beerus winding up and Vegeta reacting to him winding up, despite The Rest of the Party standing Right There and anyone could've easily pulled her away (Piccolo, for example, is unharmed and standing, and is literally like ten feet from where it happens. He has expanding limbs. Non-Issue of Moving Bulma).

NO. [spray bottle sounds] BAD WRITING.

The point of that moment, in the movie, is that it's a 'blink and you'll miss it' moment. THREE SECONDS pass between the moment she strikes Beerus and the moment he hits back. Vegeta only has time to be shocked that Bulma slapped him, because Beerus' rebuttal happens So Quickly, absolutely no one could've reacted fast enough to stop it. And even if it had been more drawn out -- because Vegeta had Beerus follow him away from the party to fight so that nobody else got hurt, Gotenks and Bulma both end up following him out there, and while everyone else stayed back and watched, nobody was close enough to stop it.

The point of that moment is to be Shocking. There is no wind up, there's no drama, there's not even a music cue. It is Completely Unexpected, for the characters and the audience alike, and that's why Vegeta has such an extreme reaction. He had No Time to brace himself for what was about to go down and No Time to change it.

This is another scene that was fully About Vegeta that Toei made About Someone Else (Beerus), changing the shot to a group shot of his power up and immediately having Beerus block all of the attacks, where Toriyama said, "Vegeta's strength scared the SHIT out of Beerus for a hot sec"

And if you've been following along in my vent tags about why Toei's writing is so bad and what they constantly center everything around, you can probably guess why the premise for this movie was changed so dramatically. But if you're new here, it's this:

It's because Vegeta's SSJ1 could do what Goku's SSJ3 couldn't.

And Vegeta didn't even notice, because he is not Trying to beat Goku. After his own fight and until he shows back up, Goku's probably only mentioned twice, because this ain't about him. Vegeta's not even really trying to beat Beerus here. He's not trying to prove anything. It's not about power or pride or saiyans or being the best, it's PURELY about protecting the people (specifically in this instance, the woman) he loves. ALL of which become the theme of, "Vegeta you are stupid powerful when you can stop overthinking everything."

But that's not allowed in Toei's writing room, nO SIR!!!

Bonus Part 1: Someone at Toei Hates Vegeta part 41238712: The episode About Vegeta's Response to Bulma Getting Hurt is basically titled 'Yay, Goku's Back', because despite stretching this 1hr45m movie out into 14 Episodes, the one that is about Vegeta surpassing Goku (in the movie) and fighting to defend his wife of Over a Decade is a five minute fight scene followed by twelve minutes of Oolong's two minute rock-paper-scissor gag.

What was the fight scene, you may ask??? Instead of having Vegeta know he's not strong enough and still stand in Beerus' way, for Beerus to say 'chill out, I told you it's over' and tap Geets on the forehead to knock him out cold, like the movie --

They decide to have Vegeta just stop trying mid-fight, have Beerus tell him he's too weak to be a threat, then add that he had more fun fighting Goku before knocking Vegeta on the chin and having him land on his back fully conscious.

God I hate Toei's writing aksldjlaskdalkj

Bonus Part 2: That thing Vegeta spent the entire movie trying to avoid telling his wife because it would've scared the shit out her and ruined her party, scares the shit out of her and definitely would've ruined her party.

Crazy that he knew that and did everything in his power to keep it from becoming her problem. He treats her like she's his wife or something ahahaha 🔪 toei 🔪 hahaha

anyway if you figure you've seen the anime so you don't need to watch the movies cause they're basically the same no they're not they're only the same in terms of Basic Plot Points, PLEASE do yourself and your writing skills a favor and watch the movies

[pathologickinkmeme]

5 Year Anniversary Stats Post!

Can you believe that the Pathologic Kink Meme has lasted 5 whole years now? It's true! We got started on April 28th 2020 and we're still going. To honor this achievement, I thought it might be interesting to compile some current stats from the meme and compare it with the original 2021 post and see how the fandom has changed since the beginning. Let's start with the most popular characters and ships! Disclaimer: We are not professional statisticians and this was mostly for fun, so while we did our best to catalogue exhaustively and calculate accurately, we cannot guarantee 100% perfect accuracy. We also tried to avoid assessing for values that would require more than a brief skim of the fills to ascertain.  Most Popular Characters

Fig 1.1 (2025)

Fig 1.2 (2021)

Artemy and Daniil still taking the top spots as the characters who feature in the most fics on the kink meme, but there's a notable trend here that we'll be seeing more of in other charts and that's the measurable explosion of Stamatin content in the fandom since 2021. Andrey and Peter were in about 4x as many fills as they were in 2021 while everyone else is only in around 2x as many. Stamatin Nation rise up! Most Popular Ships Fig 2.1 (2025)

Fig 2.2 (2021)

The kink meme has always been a rarepair haven and it looks like we've largely stayed that way, though a few ships have really taken off since 2021. Daniil/Peter and Daniil/Rubin have breached the 2% threshold to appear on the chart and Artemy and General Block are now vying for Lara's heart. Burakhovsky and Artemy/Rubin have remained remarkably stable, but Stamatincest has risen from a taboo niche to the second most popular ship on the kink meme (i'm so proud of us).

In case anyone is curious, last I checked, the Burakhovsky percentage on AO3 was at around 36%, so while we are certainly love the juggernaut on the kink meme, there's a lot more appreciation for everything else, too!

More charts under the readmore! --->

Biggest Fandom Bicycles

Fig 3.1 (2025)

Fig 3.2 (2021)

So we've already looked at the most popular ships, but another stat I think is interesting is one I call 'Fandom Bicycles' which is characters who... spread the love, so to speak. What these charts measure is how many other characters each character is shipped with across our catalogue of fills. For example, even though Artemy and Daniil are most often shipped with each other, each of them has been shipped with 25 and 18 other characters respectively. So who's your favorite town slut?

Ship Demographics

Fig 4.1 (2025)

Fig 4.2 (2021)

Some interesting trends here! M/M is still pretty dominant on the kink meme (like most of fandom), but our F/F proportions have marginally improved! For clarity, Other (bi) refers to polyamory, threesomes, and orgies where there are characters of multiple genders involved. Other (multi) is for fills where there are multiple ships of different gender configurations (e.g. A fic featuring Artemy/Daniil and Lara/Rubin where each couple is a separate unit). We don't have many of these on the meme, as I suspect that they're more typical of multi-chapter longfic, but there is some! Other (weird) is, well... the weird stuff. Ships between characters and non-human creatures, gods, concepts, architecture! Such classics as Artemy/Wonderbull and Daniil/Polyhedron are typical of this category. We also added a new category, Unclear, for fics where there is romantic or sexual content, nothing super weird is going on, but the gender of one or more participants is unclear (e.g. A sexy painting of General Block between an anonymous pair of legs, or Vlad Jr. visiting a gloryhole).

Explicit Content

Fig 5.1 (2025)

Fig 5.2 (2021)

Given that this is a kink meme, you'd expect the vast majority of fics to be sexually explicit and you wouldn't be wrong, but a whole quarter of our fill catalogue is SFW, whether that be genfic or non-explicit shipfic and I just think that's nice. <3

Trans Content

Fig 6.1 (2025)

Fig 6.2 (2021)

Trans headcanons are really popular in the Patho fandom and they are on the kink meme, too! We thought it might be fun to take stock of all of the explicitly trans content on the meme, though it’s hard to tell how this compares to AO3 due to people tagging for it in different ways. To avoid treating cis as the default, we chose to represent this in terms of content where one or more characters are explicitly trans (most of the time, it goes unstated) and we went about collecting this data using A/Ns, prompt descriptions, as well as skimming all of the fics for trans themes. Almost a 5% increase since the last stats post, which is really cool! Daniil is, by far, the most popular character to headcanon as trans, but there are lots of others, too!

That's all we've got for now, but we're excited to see how these stats change once Pathologic 3 comes out! Feel free to ask if you'd like to see a more detailed breakdown on any of these or if you have suggestions for other stats to collect in the future!

[crystalreydraws]

Greetings, fellow Jamil enjoyer ✨️ I'd love to hear what's your story behind rediscovering that enthusiasm to make personal art again? Well basically, anything you'd like to share further about your creative journey. You caught my attention when you said you were feeling lost for years, because that coincidentally describes my predicament with digital art right now! 😅 Anyway, all the best with your drawing, and may your passion continue to motivate you to create to your heart's content! 🌻✨️

I nvr expected anyone to be interested in my story😳

Well, to put it simple, I started feeling lost around the time when I started work as a junior concept artist that once told my boss, "One day I want to be involved in anime-styled projects!"

↓

That day haven't come yet. Instead, I keep getting jobs that I don't enjoy cuz I'm too bad at it.

I felt like shit cuz, imo, I keep disappointing ppl.

I felt like trash compared to other artists.

I felt like I was wasting time if I wasn't practicing color & lighting.

I felt ashamed of my personal artstyle cuz it's no use in my current job.

I stopped drawing in my free time cuz after stopping myself from drawing what I like, I didn’t know what to draw anymore.

I was hiding all my likings in weeb shit too cuz at this point I thought I was a embarrassment. (I nvr decorated my desk either.)

↓

Things started to change when I was given time and chance to do a small anime-styled portfolio project with a colleague. It’s like leaving a testament to whoever discovers this project, telling them that yes, someone is dead ass serious about anime style.

After that, I took a long break from my company. Staying home, I'm like, "That last portfolio I did I love it so much, I want to do it again"

"Fk it, now no one can judge me imma draw what I want. I will use my best skills even if companies may not need it."

Did some character design & fanart in free time, showing more anime-styled works on ArtStation.

"Instead of pushing everything to average, imma push what already had best in me to 100, so ppl see me, they can see what I’m best at, not just someone average. I want ppl to see that 0.0001% rare job they will immediately think of me."

"I should be proud of my art more to make a career out of it."

Self love, embrace more of my likings by decorating my room with my own art, more pkm & twst merch right👏 on👏 the👏 table👏 not in the drawer anymore.

↓

Finally, time has come. Got a great opportunity. Found back confidence, went back to company to start working on it (this time my office desk is decor with pkm 🥰).

It was super hard & stressful as fk, but I never felt this alive before, it feels good to get feedback on something u truly want to improve. 1 compliment can make me go "I can do this, I still have way more to go."

At the same time, double hair down Jamil has dropped & I'm feeling myself to draw in free time again. Now, every morning if nothing to rush, I will arrive early at office & draw personal art, which is most of the recent drawings u guys are seeing right now.

That's all of my story✨☝️

In short, the main reason me feeling lost years ago is because I keep doing jobs I don't enjoy & I thought my personal artstyle is worthless to my job. I also keep comparing my weakest point to other artists' strongest point (which is a no no)

The key that get me back to personal art again is finding self confidence by knowing what's the best in my style, embrace it, and starting self love.

"I only draw personal art for myself, not to impress anyone. I enjoy my art more than anyone. Even if no one ask for this I still had fun drawing this." Remember this!✨

Moral of story is keep drawing in the way you truly desire, especially in your free time. It's the only way u can "revenge" on ur current state. If you have no drawing intention, how bout starting off finding artstyle goals on Pinterest? Color goals✨ shape & lineart goals✨design goals✨ Discover good arts that makes you jealous & go " That's so cool I want to do this too!"

The most important thing is, not every art pieces need to hit everything perfectly. Monday u can do 1 piece focus on shapes. Tuesday u can do another 1 piece focus on color. Wednesday anatomy. Thursday lighting. Let 1 subject become the main focus. It's ok to hit only 1 subject perfectly. Let that 1 become the strongest point in this drawing is enough.

Oh gosh this is getting too long.

I hope you enjoy drawing again. Wish you an amazing new year☺️

[dragon-susceptible]

TDP Rewatch S2 E3: Smoke and Mirrors

Rayla got the intro voice this time! My girl!

I had actually forgotten that Callum lost Harrow's letter and only gets it back from Claudia.

Rayla not telling the boys their father is dead is honestly a plot line I kind of love? Because she was wrong. Because they let her be wrong. It's fair of Callum to be angry with her. But you also get why she did it, too, because how does a child her age tell another child that her father killed his? And she tried and failed. Also, Callum handles it with such startling maturity, because even though he's upset, he just tells her he can't talk right now, and he's focused less on the lie and more on how he's going to break the news to Ezran - which leads him into understanding why she couldn't tell him.

I love Soren so, so much. He sees his little sister crying and is immediately ready to go after Callum for that alone, to go after whoever or whatever she wants. "I'm always here for you, to punch someone or . . . whatever you need." He cares about her so fucking much, and I just. The older sibling feels just fucking hit with him, because I get it. I get what it's like being the older sibling trying so hard to protect the younger one and then watching them slip down a darker and darker path while there's nothing you can do about it. I just . . . I'm sorry, Soren. You didn't deserve this.

Callum is also such a good big brother, listening to Ezran talk about his dreams. Saying he's really proud of him. These poor kids deserve so much better than they got.

It really says something about how Callum's mindset is already shifting that when he reassures Ezran he has support, he mentions Rayla and Bait, but not Soren and Claudia.

"Ezran, you're a handful!" nearly made me cry, goodness. I understand why Callum's looking at the kid like that when it cuts back to him. Callum must have heard Harrow say that a hundred times, and just saw him in Ezran imitating it, saw how the mannerisms mirror and carry on even though Harrow's gone and god now I'm actually crying.

I love Callum and Rayla's bonding moment over it. And it just - it really says something about Callum and his trust in Rayla compared to the other two that he went to her to talk about it. He went to her, and sympathized with her, and it was her shoulder he chose to cry on.

I do really wonder what the rest of Aaravos' prison looks like. We only really see that one room, but he enters and leaves it through a door we can see from the mirror. So where does he go?

Soren's reaction to being told off and getting mad about it is really interesting to contrast with his father's. When Amaya pisses Viren off, he strikes out at Gren. When Claudia pisses Soren off, he walks away - he does strike a tree out of frustration afterward, and end up fending off a swarm of moths for it, but we can't expect a child to be raised by someone and not learn anything from them. So Soren's grown up around a man who reacts to frustration with physical violence. That's how he's been taught to react. But when Viren does it, he strikes at people, and when Soren does it, he strikes at objects. I like that we can see how Viren influenced Soren and also how they're fundamentally different people at their core in that.

It makes perfect sense, because Callum is a teenager with a crush so of course he's not examining it too closely, but honestly, super should have been a red flag that Claudia and Soren were so insistent that the boys come home only to just be like oh okay, let's go then!!

I absolutely love the illusion/trick plan, especially with some of the stuff we see referenced in Arc 2. Rayla learned this kind of trickery from Runaan.

Lujanne blandly mentions them "desecrating this sacred place these past few days", and I can't help but notice that Rayla kind of sheepishly winces, and Soren keeps exercising but his eyes drop to the ground, but Claudia just raises an eyebrow and doesn't stop smiling. She really just doesn't care that this is a sacred site.

I think that Lujanne is also lying through her teeth a bit about how much support Ava's illusory leg gives her. If she can imitate the texture and sensation of food, and her illusions change the shape of the world around them, it seems to me that an illusion held by a substance like Ava's collar is more like a hard light projection from Star Trek than just a mirage. Ava carrying around a whole child on her back without particularly limping while missing a leg doesnt quite make sense otherwise.

Soren "I'm just a nice guy and people get the wrong idea sometimes" makes me smile and also feel sorry for the poor guy at the same time. So this has actually happened to him, huh? Where he was just genuinely nice to someone because it's in his nature to be nice, but he's actually had to turn on them later? That has to suck.

"You don't speak sarcasm so good, do you?" "No I do not." But also his smile just drops after he says that, and I just have to gesture wildly at Every Goddamn Conversation He's Had With His Father Until Now. He absolutely does understand sarcasm. He's very good at it, actually. Rayla was just hitting him in the vulnerabilities.

You know, Rex Igneous mentions in Arc 2 that Avizandum would intentionally antagonize humans at the border to go after them. I wonder if that applied to Aaravos' prison too. Did Avizandum also sit at the mirror and taunt the imprisoned fallen star? What has Aaravos been thinking since he stopped getting that visitor, and what was going through his head when he finally saw someone again and it was a human in a dark room - a human with a touch of Dark Magic. A human that wields Ziard's staff. How interesting.

I also don't believe for a second that Aaravos didn't see him that first time.

Oh yeah so the illusions being semi solid does have support, I forgot, the illusions of Callum and Ezran were solid enough to hold up Claudia's chains, so Ava's leg is also probably solid.

I love Ellis howling with her wolf, it's so fucking cute.

Soren does go after Ellis and Ava with his sword, but to me it kind of reads the same way as when Runaan went after Rayla. Like yes, he's doing it, it's what he's supposed to do, as far as Soren knows this girl helped kidnap his charges, but we've seen him be more effective than this and he's just not doing it now.

I wonder how long Corvus has been watching from the shadows to realize that Soren and Claudia are more of a danger to the princes than Rayla is. Also, for real this man keeps getting so many head wounds, someone get him a helmet, jesus christ. The hair of Arc 1 is truly iconic, yes, but it shouldn't come at the price of a TBI.

Ellis calling out to them telling them not to forget her stings a bit given we never really see her again. I'm a tad salty about it.

What is everyone else thinking about where Lord Viren is right now? He's just been holed up in his personal dungeon staring into a mirror for like two days at least.

Yk, when I first watched this show, I was a Gren/Corvus shipper, actually. But I get where Sorvus started, I really do. This pretty hunter just being tossed around so easily by the guardsman definitely has a vibe to it. Soren really just manhandles this dude like he weighs nothing. And then gags him.

"I hate the moon!" - Soren, circa 2019, and also Markiplier, circa 2022

It's adorable that Zym is a bit scared of heights at first, as a storm dragon.

I really love how fond Rayla is of the younger kids. With what we learn about Moonshadow elves and their child-rearing in Bloodmoon Huntress and Season 7, and how communal it is, and how she's largely treated as an adult by her society as a whole (Runaan's self-deprecating scoff at her being a child aside), it makes me wonder if she's already taken rotations looking after Mooncubs before. She's also good with kids, and obviously enjoys looking after them.

It's been said before but yeah, I do think this is the moment where Callum lets go of his crush on Claudia. I don't know if his crush on Rayla starts immediately, but I think this moment, going so abruptly from Claudia attacking them and spending all that time ignoring Ezran, to seeing Rayla actually engage with and be soft with his brother, made him realize that Claudia doesn't care about the same things as he does, and that it's possible to find someone that does.

[kiawren]

top 10 favourite things about kiawe 💗

1) I always mention this like a broken record but it really does makes me happy every time I think about it– how he has passions and dreams

It comforts me greatly that a big part of our selfship is about sharing about our ambitions and inspiring each other to reach them. Even outside of selfship he's just a really passionate person deep down and it would simply be nice to talk to him about it no matter who you are.

2) his passion is traditional dance, maybe it's just me but I don't really see characters whose passion is preserving heritage and it's very admirable to me. Especially when it's so intangible and it's easy to question your impact and the work you do. I mean at least for me these are questions I think about as I hope to be a biodiversity conservationist too. But there's always that sense of duty to do it.

3) that he's Pacific islander and there are already few characters out there who are... I also feel like the other sun and moon characters are situated in alola yeah but they don't have as strong cultural ties as compared to Kiawe, pokemon for sure does not represent it the most faithfully but at least I got inspired to learn more about the culture... Selfshipping as a reason to learn more is funny but yeah.

Also learning about Hawai'i is learning about settler idealogy which is just. Something very relevant to definitely pick up. Can't say I'm super well read but at least I put that perspective to his character.

4) just. this dialogue. Ok 😊

How intimate it is in not necessarily a romantic sense if I take off my selfshipping glasses. It's just that he trusts the player to confide in them, or just really needed a listening ear at that moment. And the lines he says hit my emotions so hard realistically 😭 idk how to say it but it carries that weight you can just tell he's been shouldering 😭 "It seems like nothing ever goes right" the one-liner "Sorry." "Thank you for being there." it's just stuff someone would say to you irl, like his troubles feel real to me 😭😭 and it's not just some setback that he felt particularly down about, you can understand what it meant to him to have the money to study abroad, pursue his dreams of not just some self-serving dream but something important to not just himself but his people and legit preservation of heritage and it's not something he would ever just give up.

Like ok we anabel and looker want mc to catch ultra beasts that are threats in alola. that indeed is a problem. But this problem of worrying about money and your future and your ambitions is realistic and true to real life.

5) how I associate him with volcanoes which are a great element of nature, and extending that to my selfship and other nature motifs... I cannot not associate my selfships with nature and with kiawe it's so easy also becuz hawai'ian mythology and heritage is also very tied to the land

6) how I hc him as trans.. I couldn't give you an exact reason why.. I just do... Especially since he grew up without many friends (😭) idk why they had to make kiawe's character have sort of a lonely sad vibe deep down but they did... Well being T4T just makes me happy

7) that you can talk to npcs that mention him and just get an idea of the community.. like how he's teaching a kid dance... And maybe this farmer dude is his neighbour since he was younger and proud that he's a trial captain now.. You can just use your imagination... I just like these details that make the character more rich outside of themself

8) being able to see his room lol. I like that his covers are the colour of the sunset lmao... I like that you can see his weights, computer, globe, radio and books that give you a glimpse into his daily life. He has a globe on his table like I do... He also wishes to know more about other parts of the world...

9) the sun and moon games being the source where everything you want to find out about the characters in the game. And it's not super open world like the newer pokemon games. I just really like how comfy it is that you can go everywhere and talk to every character and be familiar with it all in a homey space. I do prefer games where it's a set space cuz if there's too much freedom I don't really know what to do lol.. So you can just keep going back to it. It's kinda comforting for me in that way except that my emulator pmo cuz the graphics are super patchy and my pokemon refresh pokebeans can't scroll properly but it's ok

Like I can just keep returning to the places in the game I'd imagine us visiting together.

I also love the colours of the sea and sky in the game. Especially at the volcano park trial site when the sky would change colour around him..

10) he's kinda funny to me (uh... I just ate a berry) (the sticker behind the sign behind the boulder) but he looks kinda deadpan when saying it i don't even know whether it's intentional and that's the funny part

[movedtonewblogcheckpinnedpost]

Reacting to The Vampire Lestat - Part V (with a bit of spoilers and maybe important quotes?)

Armand!

YAY!

Okay, what the hell is happening?

??????

Seriously, WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?

Am I lost because I'm reading the Brazilian Portuguese version and maybe it's not properly translated?

*Downloads an English PDF copy* Yeah, this isn't much better and it looks like it was poorly transcript.

I'm still not sure I'm following...

Well

Whatever

I still like this anyway?

Also, I can see I'll have to read at least this book twice anyway. Maybe more or even the whole chronicles.

Because since Armand showed up I'm DEVOURING this and I can see myself maybe missing a few details... I'll need to read it slower and savor it in the future. I also assume that knowing more of the lore will give me perspective on a future read.

Armand is never boring.

Still my favorite character. :) Let's hope nothing ever ruins that. :) /hj

Not one Lesmand/Armandstat interaction is wasted tbh, I don't care if they're vibing or hating each other's guts, they're always A MOMENT™.

Let's hope nothing ever ruins that. :) /hj

They also have some pretty valid and intriguing conversations, really.

The impression I get is that they want to stay close, but deep down know it's better not to because they're so messed-up and would be even more messed-up as friends or else (and maybe it's the or at least one of the reasons why they attract each other?), but there's some frustration in that acknowledgement too. Like, doing something because you should is not the same as doing it because you want to and... Well.

I mean, there's more I could say, but this is the short version of how I generally feel about them lol.

Can't wait to see all of this on season 3.

Assad is right, I want Armand to be unhinged too. So glad we're on the same page about all thigs Armand ever and that the spirit of Armand posses Assad on a daily basis so he can play him 100% the way I imagine him. SMILING THROUGH IT ALL, CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS MY LIFE RN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm also ready for more Lestat (Armand's version) and finally some Armand (Lestat's version). Let the battle begin. I wonder who will be more insufferable.

Little bit of Armand's back story. :/ I wanna put him in a bubble.

I don't really think I'll be interested in Marius, tbh.

Anyway... He's not here yet.

Gabrielle jumps from roofs like Cat Woman and Armand quickly and silently vanishes from places like Batman. I hope we keep the Gotham-esque vibes of these scenes. I think it's super cool tbh.

I also love seeing Armand talking to people telepathically? Feels so much deeper and kind of poetic, idk. Not to mention is such a cool concept. I hope the show explores more of that.

Also, when he stops blocking his thoughts and let's someone peek at his thoughts it feels intimate? And not necessarily romantic or anything like that, but just like, "hey, this is a little piece of my soul, I'm sharing it with you". Or maybe I'm too romantic and trying to find the beauty in everything lol.

But then he finally speaks out loud and it feels deeper and more meaningful as well? I don't know. Maybe I'm becoming insane.

Lestat went like 3 pages without mentioning Armand's beauty. I'm proud of him.

Nevermind, now he is mentioning it 50 times per sentence. Even more than he did before. It's like he regretted it and it's making up for lost time lmao.

Some of the words Lestat has used to describe Armand so far: beautiful, sublime, ethereal, exquisite, perfect, soft, saint, angel (there's more, but it's been so many synonyms for beautiful I can't remember... still, you get the point). Not to mention comparing him to a Caravaggio and Da Vinci paintings.

I feel like he'll run out of words to describe him pretty soon.

I guess we all feel pretty (not) normal about Armand.

This is also ruining it for me, because if someone doesn't describe me as "irresistibly beautiful" then what is even the point, really...

And it's not like they're a couple or anything, SO??? STOP!!!

They're not lovers, they're not friends, they're not enemies, they're a fourth and more sinister thing that not even them can classify, let alone my mere mortal self.

Anyway, I hope Lestat will be even more annoying describing Louis. He set the bar too high now.

I wonder if Louis appears (for a significant amount of time) on this book.

I hope so, but I don't know.

"But I was so glad it was finished. So glad that we could go on. Yet I held to the bars for a long time just looking at the distant woods, and the dim glow far beyond that the city made upon the lowering clouds. And the grief I felt was not only for the loss of him, it was for Nicki, and for Paris, and for myself." This is sad...

"So let him be your patron saint if you need it" LMFAOOOOOO.

Is Gabrielle wrong, though?

NO, SHE ISN'T!

Just have fun with your immortality instead of going on an uncertain quest to find Marius? Stop being stupid???

You'll probably just find danger or disappointment. Or both.

LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF REASON, LESTAT!

"And the sense of grief came back to me, the realization that we were really going, that it was finished with Nicolas and finished with the Children of Darkness and their leader, and I wouldn't see Paris again, or anything familiar to me, for years and years. And for all my desire to be free, I wanted to weep." So, he finally starts making a life for himself away from his abusive family. Then, he is forcefully turned into a vampire, has to live this double life with mortals, without ever being able to be completely open, honest and have real, deep relationships with them. Later, he turns Gabrielle, Nicki, meets Armand and the other of his kind, but they're all so troubled or with completely different interests... And it's clear as a day that they can't stay together anymore, he's slowly coming to the realization he's losing everything and everyone he knows and will soon be alone again... I'm (not) fine.

Also, this is so BPD-coded of him. He's had these pretty sad and traumatic moments, but he never allowed himself to feel those emotions for too long, he always found stuff to distract himself with, tried to see the "the good side" of things, embrace them, be positive instead etc, but you can only ignore it so much until it becomes such a big problem you can't possibly avoid anymore. And then the emotion hits 9483958345x harder than it would have if you processed things properly and had better coping mechanisms. Like, I get him, but OMG. Get him some vampire therapist.

Btw, Armand feels pretty BPD-coded too.

I also heard somewhere that Armand is a Scorpio?

And Lestat is another BPD Scorpio...

That would explain A LOT actually lmao.

End of "The Vampire Armand" chapter and they're parting ways.

So I guess I'll just rot and die, then?

Or...

...Armand will return in the worst possible way lmao.

I tried to find a gif of 2x05 saying "everything is fine!" to represent how I'm feeling right now, but failed, so consider it done anyway. Everything is (not) fine!

[acelynonix]

I am coming back to hyperfixate on A17. Not as much when I was a child, but I'm still passionate about him. I was a child and I am Italian, for context.

I had so much fun and I built so many good memories I regret nothing.

Here's a sum up of my experience as a DBZ Android 17 (A17, C17 or simply 17) hyperfixated fan from 2012(? Probably more 2013) to 2017 (when his comeback in DBS happened) and also until nowadays:

I started both writing, videoediting and drawing thanks to him. He was my inspiration all along🥺✨️

I talked about A17 24/7 and I was a walking encyclopedia about him. No day is complete without at least one small thought of 17, even nowadays.

17 was my comfort character during very hard times (not only him, but he was too).

This hyperfixation has always been something mostly personal that I rarley shared with someone deeply (because nobody loved him as I did, soo yeah, I talked a lot about him, but it always felt something mine, idk how to explain it better)

I knew by memory his sentences in the anime, I watched the episodes with him in them... idk how many times. Lots of.

My favorite match was A17 vs Super Namekian Piccolo and I hated Cell for interrupting them.

My music tastes depend a lot on his AMVs too (nowadays I listen to everything more or less, but a big part of my favorite songs were from YT AMVs).

Everytime I hear his voice on TV (ITA dub) I can't avoid thinking about him. I can recognize his voice very well at this point. When the voice actor was the same in DBS I was so happy!

I also like the japanese voice too and I once heard the ENG one too.

My whole family knows about him. Even my grandparents. And my parents know many details because I'm an info dump champion.

I put the number 17 everywhere so it reminded me of him.

I liked how he drived💀

My grandma made me a cosplay of A17, I was SO DAMN HAPPY running around in comics conventions... I should do it again ya know?-

My hair have been often A17 inspired during my life, before finding my personal style (the influence is still visible I think)

At my first comic convention (I was a child, in middle school), at a certain point my mum called me and told me to look at my right. I did it and I swear I saw him in the crowd. The cosplayer did so well I SWEAR IT SEEMED POPPED OUT OF THE ANIME😭✨️ so I have this memory of me actually seeing my first real crush coming out of an anime. Then, there was the fastest run of my life to reach him and I took a photo with both him and A18, they had been so kind and sweet with me and my little brother🥺✨️ (also they were kinda tall compared to us)

Nowadays both my style and my tastes are still A17 inspired or they remember him.

I mostly wear black, blue and white.

I made earrings holes years ago because I wanted to wear his earrings too (but I let the holes close because they got infected too many times and the earrings were too much to handle for me) - it hurted like hell but I did it anyway XD

I had to buy new storage (a lot) to, ya know, hyperfixate offline too with fanarts, ffs...

At a certain point I thought I watched most of A17 AMVs and I can still remember many of them nowadays

I remember michiru95's A17 and A18 AMVs on YT and many other channels and AMVs / video related to them.

I spent my free time mostly on YT for AMVs and on EFP ff.

I talked a lot with some other A17 and A18 fans. I remember the Android 17 fandom as a chill corner of the internet, both on youtube and EFP.

At a certain point (before 2016 so I was very young and naive) I thought I saw every image of A17 and was so proud of my extended knowledge (little did I know that tumblr and pinterest existed, I lived in my own little world. But it was a good discovery because I had loads of new content for my hyperfixation all at once).

I discovered deviant art and fanarts / fanfictions thanks to A17. And also what ffs/fanarts😏 (some of them)

When I didn't, I searched for eventual new news about A17 (especially about his past or his new life after he came back to life at the end of Cell saga)

I put his human name everywhere I could when I found out (I think it was in 2015)

I didn't find many news so I ended up searching for answers in ffs

I'm still waiting to see the photo of his wife and kids

I'm still waiting for some updates on ffs paused since 2015

I still remember many ffs I read

I'm still crying because my favorite A17 ff is not on internet anymore. 17 x Loria (OC of the autrice) will always live in my heart😭🥺✨️

A17 lived in my mind rent free on daily basis in every moment

I had a whole multiverse based on A17 ffs I wrote, I had various AUs and OCs related to the androids

I also wrote a lot of cringe stuff but I still laugh at it nowadays

I even found some cool gadgets before he got famous in 2017 (where I live it has been hard for me to find those, so I was so proud to find them / happy if they were gifts)

I wanted black hair and blue eyes so bad (now I love myself the way I am, long story short, even if I still love the aesthetic and his look etc)

I really hated Dr Gero, Cell, and the Super 17 saga in GT for what they did to 17 and 18 (I still don't like them, but growing up I developed a keen eye for how complicated some characters and stuff could be. Example: now I understand better how Dr. Gero became like that. This doesn't mean I justify him or I like him, he still makes me angry)

I was very strict about distinguing the three timelines we saw in the DBZ anime in thr android saga and, therefore, the three 17s we saw: the present timeline, the future trunks timeline (we call him Mirai!17 if I remember well, when needed to distinguish him from the present one obv), and the Cell's original timeline one... remember when we saw him and 18 running away from that lab and disappear? Idk what happened and I'd love to know, but anyway, Cell didn't find them, so he came back. There's also another Cell that ends up in the future trunks timeline at the end of the saga, so he's related to another timeline too... anyway it's just a mental trip of mine, I believe in Hugh Everett's theory anyway (multiverses, in a nutshell). I believe in infinites A17s🤣

Let's talk about DBZ Adbridged I love the androids saga

I wanted to learn japan because of him too... I bought a japanese book recently, what a coincindence (now it's not only for him XD)

Spoilers about DB Super Tournament of Power Saga ahead: When the Tournament of Power came out, I was so happy I can't describe it with words. My legend had a cool comeback, became one of the main characters so he had a lot of screen time compared to DBZ... and everytime he did something cool I was amazed and overjoyed. This was the first time I really cared about the result of a tournament I didn't take part to. When it seemed he died, I swear I ran in the other room in tears and stayed in the bathroom for so long. I was glad he survived. But the best moment was... when Goku and Freezer vs Jiren was about to end, I saw the three of them about to fall off the ring and before it even happened I started to scream and jump because hey, 17 was still on the ring and nobody was attacking him. A17 was winning. And I did it long after it was all confirmed. I got scolded cause my father fell asleep and I didn't notice I woke him up but hey, how could I not scream overjoyed?

I'm buying every db manga where I see him since I was like 11 I think?

I had a yt channel and made videos where I talked about him... not public nowadays though🤣 but still, good memories😌

I had the most unrealistic ships XD

[recoveryrambles]

I’m still trying to figure out what the heck to do about my therapist, K. Six weeks ago she told me that she knew I had an eating disorder for years before I sought treatment (which was the end of 2023. She and I started working together in 2017…).

Today I spoke VERY directly (a challenge for me, historically), about how all this has been lingering.

Thoughts after today’s session:

K was trying to frame it today that her not labeling my ed pre-treatment was giving me agency. Like, putting it in my court to give my ed an actual name/space all that time “when I was ready to see it” was empowerment. But I said "giving me information and getting curious about something and exploring together is what gives me agency. If you spoke about a term or concept, I could have had even more agency because I could have explored my reactions and relationship to it. Instead, that decision felt like it was made for me, because it felt like this didn't exist/matter enough to discuss or acknowledge" (also, people with eds are pretty notorious for not thinking or believing they have eds)

Same goes for SI (which K talked about having not labeled in our work together, and then labeled in real time sos). And I was like “calling it that is helpful. Having names for things, and figuring out my relationship to those names, is helpful. Because I don’t know what I’m struggling with innately. It can feel like it’s “nothing” if it’s not challenged or MENTIONED in the clinical environment.

K said (and I agreed) this conversation wouldn't have been in my wheelhouse before. For part of that K was giving credit to our work together, but internally I was like "but also specifically because I'm no longer malnourished and the brain rewiring I'm doing now is only possible because I pursued this recovery process and people held me accountable for what I needed to do both physically and emotionally"

K said she’s proud of me and that she’ll be okay with whatever discomfort this stirs up for her 

K said she hasn’t emailed T (my ed-informed therapist) back because she feels like the response is just going to be T “schooling” her on what she’s done wrong (I don’t like that my providers are having drama//not communicating!)

Metaphor maybe: It's like I had a leech on my head that was obstructing my view for years, but I gaslit myself into thinking the leech was part of me//that was just what life felt like, and I didn’t know how to critically compare my experiences to other people’s, and also leeches were normalized in general culture to the extent that some people vibe with a leech on their elbow/the back of their head/their face. And people talk about leeches super causally all the time, even when mine was obstructing my vision I’m like “this is fine because other people also have leeches and they’re fine." It would have been helpful as I frequented seeing someone who works with general parasites (though maybe her specialty was fleas) who KNEW and SAW my leech as a leech, FOR YEARS, if that someone was like “I think there’s a leech in the room, and it seems to be obstructing your view” and then we could take things from there

[hearthouses]

top 4 works of 2023

I was tagged by @nameslikeguns and also @preseriesdean was an inspiration, but I modified it to four because I'm not super proud of any of my edits this year and I wasn't able to squeeze out another fic before the end of the year, so we're going with top four! I am also not going to rank them, but list them in chronological order from their posting date.

This year was a better year than the last two in terms of writing output, I had a rough 2021 and posted nothing, and only posted one fic in 2022, so four is a massive improvement, even if it feels miniscule compared of other people's outputs. The Fall was when I was most productive and I am very proud of what I wrote then, exploring concepts I was particularly interested in, even if it's not the most popular and putting myslf out there regardless.

I think I would have continued that streak had I not gotten covid, then 2+ months of complications from covid, but I am trying to drag myself out of that funk. I am hoping to write more in 2024 as I have so many WIPs I want to get to and finish.

Anyway, here's the list:

1. when you're smiling and astride me

This was the first work I posted this year. It felt good to write it, but it also came with some challenges because I wrote it for an exchange and I was very nervous with some of the concepts and how they would go over. But the exchange itself was based on the idea of freeing your id and going wild, so I eventually just went with it and this was the result. I really love exploring Dean's feelings about his body and gender expression, and how Sam helps with it, and my only regret is I wish it was longer.

2. you say, go fast (i say, hold on tight)

This was written in a haze of early Fall because of another exchange that created a level of freedom that unlocked something in my brain that kept me from second guessing myself. It sprang from a concept fanvid and I came up with the idea wholesale from some mental images and let the story happen. I'm very fond of the result, even if it feels saccharine and too sweet and romantic for some. I really love the vibes and the imagery, plus how in love Sam and Dean are.

3. the landscape after cruelty

The process for this fic was grueling. No idea was working the way I wanted, so I needed to come up with a new idea altogether and at times, I almost didn't finish this fic. I have no playlist because I needed quiet to work on this. None of my usual preparations for writing fic worked for this one. The subject matter was daunting and I'm still unsure if I accomplished what I set out to, but I am proud of it. It's not very popular and I wonder if I hit the wrong notes often, but I'm also very protective of it. It's a weird fic that I'm not sure how I feel about the end result 100%, but I had to at least try and explore my feelings around the subject matter.

4. we could live forever in each other’s faces

This fic was written during the height of my illness. It wasn't supposed to be the fic I wrote because I had bigger plans (longer, more complicated fics), so I needed to scale them down to something more managable. How I did that was I chose to write the scenes in a series of drabbles, double drabbles, and triple drabbles, so I could focus on the preciseness of the word count. While this style of writing might feels limiting, it helps me to focus. I really love the dreamy, fairytale-like result of this. I still want to write a longer fic about these themes, but I am glad I wrote this all the same.

[greenbirdgreen]

kinda curious, do you write og works too? i think you said something once that made me wonder if you did.

also i absolutely absolutely adore your fics, i'm a big reader and i adore your writing style and how well you capture different characters and their povs and thoughts while also lacing in really intriguing plots with really wacky ideas behind them, it's genuinely inspirational. how did you get so good? what are your favourite fics that you've written? i'm tied between two, one for a fandom i know nothing about, but the way you write is just so intriguing. they make me want to watch video essays on them

hello, stranger! and/or friend!

i've written some original works in the past and brainstormed others; i have some OC works written as well, which involve someone else's characters or settings.

aw man thank you so much :D this is super flattering to hear !! hm... i think the best way i've been able to improve my writing is to a) keep writing and b) keep reading. i think that reading a variety of stories is important in particular—i try to read both very good stories and very bad stories to keep myself sharp, haha. i can go more into my philosophy on writing too if you'd like, but that's a separate way of looking at it, i think.

oh man choosing favorite fics i've written is really hard. most of the time i like all the fics i've written for different reasons, so it's hard to compare them. like, i'm proud of my fe3h fic (Goddess) because i go the whole fic without using third person pronouns for the main character, and i'm proud of one of my re zero fics (seeing red) because i end it on a fun bit of wordplay. both Fighting with Fear (an sctir fic) and Fate, Worse Than Death (another re zero fic) are ones that i'm proud of too—i originally only planned out the first chapter for each of them, so the second chapters were challenging for both of them. despite of that they're the fics that have gotten the most kudos of the ones i've written by myself, which is pretty damn cool.

so... i guess Fighting with Fear and Fate, Worse Than Death are my favorites? nah, who am i kidding. it's normalcdf(. i fucking love normalcdf(. it was a blast to write and i made myself almost cry at the end. i liked the narration of it so much that the one OC work i've finished in recent years was in the same style. and it seems like it's resonated with some people, which is wonderful, because i wasn't sure if it would.

i'm glad you like my writing, and i appreciate the chance to talk about it a bit. thank you for this ask!!

[yandere-sins]

Good Afternoon! If seen your spiels and tales for a while now and may I just say I adore it all, you’re quite talented in your work and you should be proud of yourself! I aspire to write as well and I’m wondering if you have some tips for the long run?

Hey!

Here are my latest posts with links to the ones where I actually went a bit more into details about what I recommend doing.

For the blog

For writing

Honestly, not much has changed, at least for me. It would be interesting to find out whether the tagging rules truly are still the same from the past but from recent experience I can tell you that posting regularly is the key to building a following. But at the same time I know now, more than ever, it's just not doable under normal life circumstances unless you find a rhythm to write and use the queue to schedule your posts.

If you want to write yandere stories specifically, personally, for me it's very important to be balanced. Like a super strong yandere is always cool, but it's cooler if they are so delusional that they will end up hurting their darling with their strength. Or a manipulative yandere is fun and tricky, but if it turns out they are deadly afraid of being left alone and are a bit pathetic about it, that's yummy! Also, depending on the darling, the yan's personality might change as well. I guess what I want to say, balance out the parts of the story to keep it more "realistic" and less Mary-Sue-Behavior. Not always possible or necessary because an OP yan has its benefits in certain situations, but it makes for a good story if there are some flaws in everything.

Also use the tropes. As harsh as it is, no idea of yours will ever be completely original. But I love retellings of ideas! And so do others! I don't care how many more times I read the same "chased by a monster only to be pinned down to the dirty ground" I will literally inhale these stories!!!! I love them!!! And you will put new words and new spins to it, so it will never feel dull!! So yeah, absolutely nothing wrong to lean into tropes and cliches. It might even be very beneficial for bringing your writing closer to people.

For warnings, I'd say, depending on if you do requests or your own work, always warn everything you find problematic in your own works before the story starts and add warnings if someone asks for them. For request, do the same if you derail from the original request too much to not warn (like, have sexual acts/gore/etc. suddenly even though it wasn't specifically requested). I'm not a fan of warning if the request is very clearly what the story will be, but do as you are comfortable. It's your blog. In the end, no one can tell you what to do, but of course don't be mean about it.

Doing requests is fine, but doing your own ideas is also fine. Of course, starting out with only your original ideas can be hard if you don't have a community built already, but you can always mix fanworks with OG writing. I know it's tempting to say "others do it too and they manage to just write their own things" or "I don't want to write for fandoms" but it will be very hard if you do. It's just the truth, tumblr isn't for original content in writing, it has always been for fandoms and blogging and art. It got better over the years but it still is.

Following up with this is: don't compare yourself to other writers/artists on here please, honestly, if you keep finding yourself discouraged by how much more likes and interactions they get, you should unfollow them. It's harsh. I love the stories and the writers of some blogs here, but I had to prioritize myself. Sometimes I sneak back to check out what I missed, but it will still get whiplash and compare myself.

In the same notion: If someone is mean or an idiot in your asks just block them and move on. Drama can entice people to interact with you, but it's not the kind of interactions you want constantly. And it honestly ruins you vibes if your blog becomes dramacentral. It's okay to speak out sometimes and make it clear that you don't want certain kinds of interactions, but feeding the trolls will only end in more and more and soon you feel bad and your followers feel bad, while the trolls are thriving. 9/10 cases it's just not worth it. Block and if it was a crossed boundary, let your people know afterwards unrelated to an ask.

And most importantly: pease just have fun. Put your ideas out there for the sole reason that no one will ever put them into your words the way you would. Of course it's impossible to ignore likes and interactions because it really does fuel the motivation. But I wish you two that you can create because it makes you happy. The rest will follow.

[wlw-cryptid]

You're making a modpack that sounds so cool! Please tell more!

kicking my feet and giggling

honestly the most intensive part is just that I'm trying to make a quest book where you can pick between a couple different progression paths for yourself depending on how you like to play

I split it up into (names not really settled):

tinkerer: for the factory builder, focused on using Create to make resources from nothing. I found a mod that locks waystone crafting behind create auto crafting so they at least need to be able to produce brass. I also found add-ons that let you make upgradable armor and I think creative flight within a certain radius (but I can't remember rn if that was working or if I had to remove it). They also join the push for the nether bc they need blaze burners

I want to make it a little more engaging beyond Create but I haven't really settled on what that should be

warrior: focused on dungeons and bosses killing and looting for resources. Optional Irons Spells, exploring many biomes for archeology artifacts, food made out of mob drops, & I'm going to make a few dungeons personally so I can put the End Remastered eyes as rewards. I also have a mod that complicates entering the nether and I imagine this path leading the push for that too

Wanderer: a more average minecraft experience, farming and building and less dungeon exploration. I can't decide if I'll have this one split into two paths for living in the over world and living in The Dimensions (tropicraft and then the under dark to start), if I'll just assume tropicraft start (bc I have a few friends I know really wanted that mod), or it I should try to make it generic enough it doesn't matter which dimension you start. I'll give them some more guidance towards diversified food production, archeology again, meeting the new mobs, and trying to integrate the mods into gameplay.

I added simply ships and a mod that makes you a mermaid in water, origins, mowzie mobs, and I plan for them to go through quite a few kat-made quests and eye dungeons too. I know a little about using commands and I can leverage that

+ the general progression chapters for getting started (a lot of basic info, storage mod, Tetra, info on quark additions), the nether, a chapter for Alex's Caves (since anyone can stumble into those), the end, and then Deeper and Darker

+ some optional gameplay suggestions that I usually do myself to spice things up like being vegetarian, or only eating foods with fish, or trying to Never Go Mining, or actually using potions (which I added Dave's potioneering for too), or just telling them to really lean into their origin's themeing. I can't actually enforce these so they're just check mark honor system quests but theyre there for fun

We did a mod pack like a year ago (no fancy quests, just vibes) that went well but it did make it so I wanted to avoid mods like twilight forest or bewitched or the ars magica suite . bc we all already played through all that . and nobody gaf about the aether which is sad but oh well

For the most part I don't think it would feel THAT HEAVILY like a super duper modded experience compared to other heftier mod packs unless you take the wanderer path to effectively jump in the many modded puddles. rn it runs clean w 4 rams and I'm proud of that

the most difficult part is that I Want to throw together a quick mod? datapack? just to add some recipes (for inter-mod compatibility, like making tropicraft fish cuttable on the farmers delight cutting board) and maybe maybe ideally make it so a certain iron's spells mob doesn't drop netherite scrap. but. I don't know how to code. I've been watching tutorials and I don't even know what program they're using to do it in or if methods that work in vanilla would work on modded features. worst case I try using that infamous MCCreator thing and hoping for the best. but I'm having a lot of fun

[pygmypyncher]

Hello, hope this is ok. Just to say how much I have enjoyed your writing for Bodies. Your writing is so beautifully detailed, and the internal nuances are delightful to wander amongst. I have read all TRC books, not my favourite, but I really like your fics, but Oh boy, I can see how your writing has developed since then. So, just a big thank you for writing all these pieces. (Do you have any recs for queer media that you have enjoyed?)

Thank you so much for messaging! It's really lovely of you to say!

Also very glad to hear my writing has come on since the TRC days! I was very proud of those fics at the time, and really do still think of them fondly, but I am aware of how much I've grown as a writer since then (hence the slight jumpscare this morning, for which I can only apologise!).

Queer media! Let me dredge my memories for a bit, and I will no doubt mention stuff you've heard of or watched/read already. There are doubtless SEVERAL things I've forgotten, as it is well past my bedtime, but if any glaring omissions occur to me I'll send them on! Shows: Recently I've really enjoyed Our Flag Means Death - you've probably at least heard of it (and as you've been looking at my AO3 you'll have seen I've written for it), and it's completely different from either TRC or Bodies tonally bc it is, in essence, a pirate sitcom, but there is honestly nothing so unashamedly and joyously queer out there at the moment. The fandom is a bit of a terrifying juggernaut, so I suggest treading neatly round the edges and delving into some absolutely top-tier fic (of which there is no shortage) if the whim takes you. On the other side of the pirate scale is Black Sails (DO NOT compare these directly they are very different beasts). Excellent story, very dark and gritty, great pay-off. Deadloch is another great show - Australian detective black comedy, filled to the brim with lesbians! The Haunting of Bly Manor is just a gorgeous ghost/love story with some brilliant characters. Feel Good is one of these unexpectedly heart-breaking sitcoms that I can't recommend enough even though it took me a year to build up the courage for a rewatch A League of Their Own (TV) is just brilliant, and i am GUTTED we're not getting a s2 I'm gonna stick Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries here too, bc even though it isn't actually all that queer (but it DOES have Miriam Margolyes, which definitely qualifies it), it's super camp and has what is possibly the only straight mc romance i've ever been invested in which is saying something Books: KJ Charles is a favourite of mine. She writes really great, quick-to-read queer historical romances that always have a great mystery and body count. The Will Darling Adventures (1920s pulp action-mystery with a romance between an ex-soldier who now runs a second-hand bookshop and a disgraced aristo) are my absolute favourites of hers, but everything she writes is very solid. I've also really enjoyed The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir series so far - very complicated Space Opera, again chock-full of lesbians. Sex: Lessons From History by Fern Riddell is a really interesting non-fiction book about, shockingly, attitudes to sex through history, and takes a delightfully non-heteronormative approach to it that I wasn't expecting going in. As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann is an all-time favourite read of mine, but is quite challenging as the main character is Not The Greatest Guy and it does carry some hefty stuff and warnings. Girl Meets Boy and How to Be Both by Ali Smith are both just brilliant stories with some great Gender Stuff going on.

Like i say, I'm sure I've missed stuff! And it's a bit all over the place because, as well as replying to your AO3 comments too early this morning, I am now answering this too late at night. I am sorry, but can do nothing about it :P I hope this is a little bit helpful at least! <3

[friend-of-giants]

Lines Tag Game

Tagged by @elfinismsarts to post some choice lines from my fic! I guess I will tag @mareenavee @paraparadigm @thana-topsy @boethiahspillowbook @wildhexe @archangelsunited @rhiannon1199 @rainpebble3 @snippetsrus @thequeenofthewinter @thelavenderelf and anyone else who wants to participate, consider yourself tagged! I'm pulling lines from both Into Ash and Ascent from the Ashes.

Also most of these lines are actually snippets and this got super long sorry not sorry

A line from your fic that makes you laugh

Into Ash Ch. 5 "Realizations"

“I didn’t ask for your help, but thanks,” [Wren] said, giving [Teldryn] a little smile.  Her teeth were goofy and uneven, almost rabbit-like, and she rarely let them show, but Teldryn thought they were an endearing feature of her otherwise plain face.

“It was nothing, sera.  Now, let’s get going before Neloth pisses himself.” 

Neloth’s face contorted as if he had just smelled a fresh pile of netch dung.  “What?  I do not piss myself, you fools!”

A line from your fic that makes you sad

Into Ash Ch. 6 "As Hermaeus Mora Intended"

"These people you lost, who were they?  If you don't want to answer, I understand."

Teldryn’s question struck like a slap to the face, though it did not hurt as much as it once would have.  Time had dulled the sharpness of the pain and left only a hollow ache in its place, an ache she was trying to forget.  She blinked, then fixed her eyes on an unassuming mound of snowberries at the table to gather her thoughts.  

How much should she tell him, if anything?  Why did he even want to know?  He was only a mercenary and likely didn’t care, but something about him had changed over the last week.  She felt a new sense of security with him, and had found herself speaking more openly with him since that day at Nchardak, when she had proven to him exactly who and what she was.

He had changed, and she almost felt as if she could trust him.  She supposed there wasn’t much to lose by opening up a little. 

"My family," Wren began after a long moment of silence.  "Not the one I left behind, but…”  Her attention turned from the snowberries back to Teldryn, to the light from the fire shining off his goggles.  He remained quiet, the only sound around them being the crackle of the flames and the angry wind rushing against the roof.  

A low, gravelly whisper broke the silence and cut her off before she could even open her mouth again.  “The one you were trying to make?”  

His words caught her off guard, spoken as if they were plucked straight from her own tongue.  She nodded slowly, and blinked back tears that were beginning to form.  “Something like that.  They’re gone because of me.  I’m not meant to have that kind of life, not with what I am.” 

A line from your fic you're proud of

Ascent from the Ashes Ch. 7 "A World Worth Living In"

There was something about the vast Rift forests that calmed her in a way that nothing else could quite compare to.  Perhaps it was the trees rising around her, white-gray trunks reaching for the skies topped with quivering clusters of leaves in every fiery shade imaginable.  Or maybe the sweet scent of old, decaying leaves that covered the ground in a soft blanket, or the crisp mountain breeze that swept through to rustle them.  

Far from those who hated her, who cared for her.  From those who saw her but did not know her name, and from those who did not even know she existed.  She was one with the wilderness, everywhere and nowhere all at once. 

The forest was hers today, there to stand guard and keep a vigilant watch, to take in her secrets and let them blow away in the wind, never to be heard by anyone except the Gods.  

And Dagon, of course. 

A line for your fic you think could have been better

Uhhhh most of the first 3 chapters of Into Ash, honestly. I'm planning a rewrite as I had absolutely no idea what I was doing at the time of writing those chapters lol

A line from your fic that makes you want to punch a character

I hate Rolff, alright?

Ascent from the Ashes Ch. 10 "Respite, Part 1"

“You make me sick,” Rolff snapped. “Don’t take kindly to women talking back to me, ‘specially not some disgusting gray-skin whore.” His cold, hateful eyes fell upon Teldryn once more, who was still flabbergasted that Wren was handling the situation with such a level head. Teldryn himself resisted the urge to leap down and beat him, but she was right. Rolff wasn’t worth the effort. “How much you pay for her? I'd ask for my coin back if I were you."

Wren's posture stiffened and she scooted away, putting a small gap between herself and Teldryn. "I ain't doing that anymore, now get out of here."

A line from your fic that makes you go 'aww'

Into Ash Ch. 7 "Awakening"

Wren nodded again and turned away to head into the bedroom, whimpering softly.  Teldryn tsked.  "Great job, n'wah, you made her cry."

"I did not try to," Frea said, confusion showing plainly on her face.  "What I said should not have hurt her."

"I don't think you hurt her.  Something tells me she doesn't get thanked very often."  

"Oh," remarked Frea, glancing in the direction of the bedroom, where the occasional sniffle could be heard floating out.  "I thought she would be used to the praise.  She has defeated Alduin, yes?  I do not understand." 

Teldryn got up and stretched.  "You'd be surprised.  People can be very ungrateful to heroes.  It's a sad truth that wears you down over the years."

"We were planning a feast in the event of her safe return, but I do not want her to cry again."  Frea grinned slightly.  "Perhaps we can find another way to thank her." 

"No," Teldryn said softly, peering around the doorway to check on the Dragonborn, who had made herself at home in the bed once again.  He saw a smile on her lips, despite the tears trickling down her cheeks.  "I think the feast will be fitting.  Make sure there’s plenty of salmon."

A line from your fic that's full of symbolism

Ascent from the Ashes, Ch. 8 "What Guides Us"

There were a thousand things to be said about [Teldryn's] relationship with the Gods and Daedra, with Azura in particular. He hummed thoughtfully and gazed back out over the waters, to the torchbugs that still flickered and danced along the shores. Most people were small and insignificant in the eyes of the Gods, just as the bugs were to men and mer.

But as the mortal races would often catch an exceptional specimen in a jar and hold it dear, so had Azura chosen Teldryn, her champion, the savior of Morrowind and all of the Dunmer people. Through all of his trials, from the shining, glorious moments to the times where the darkness had surrounded and suffocated him until he had screamed for the merciful release of death, Azura was there. She always was, and always would be.

A line from your fic that contains an Easter egg

Ehhhh, without being too spoilery (as the scene itself is super graphic), have this single line. Inspired by a similar line in Stephen King's Misery, which I thought might perfectly describe the feeling of having ones leg chopped off lmao

The pain was screaming, and so was she.

A line from your fic that's shocking

According to Kel, it's this scene since I'm not a fan of horse death lmao

Ascent from the Ashes Ch. 10 "Respite, Part 1"

Giving a hasty tug on his horse’s mane, he wheeled his mount around and rode hard back the way he came from.  He had to make it to her before the guards did, he had to.  

The pounding of the gelding’s hooves against the road and the rush of wind in his ears were the only sounds he could hear, until a sharp twang caught his attention, followed by the sickening sound of bone shattering and a squeal from his horse.  The gelding staggered for a few steps before he crashed to the ground, and Teldryn was thrown from his back and tumbled to the dirt beside him.  

A line from your fic you want to talk about more

I know this scene got people thinking and theorizing of what the Thing is. I want to talk more about it but i CAN'T! Not yet! Absolutely down to hear peoples guesses though!

Ascent from the Ashes Ch. 5 "Withered Away and Crumbled to Dust"

"I was cleaning up one day and found this.  Thought you might want to keep it."  

Wren squinted at Lydia's closed hands, and her fingers parted to reveal a piece of soft golden cloth.  Upon recognizing the gift, the blood in her veins froze instantly, and it was as if something had forced the breath from her lungs and replaced it with ice.  She knew exactly what this thing was and where it had come from, but she did not want to acknowledge that it was here, right here in front of her.  

“W-what makes you think I want this?"  Her voice was small, weak.  A shadow of what it could be.  Her vision blurred as tears welled in her eyes, and she blindly reached out, grasping at nothingness, until Lydia's hands found hers and pressed something soft into her palm.  

“You need this," Lydia whispered, her voice crackling.  Wren felt fingers comb through her hair and warm lips on her forehead.  It did little to comfort her.  “Take it.  It belongs with you."

Wren clutched the piece to her chest, kneading it between her fingers.  It was incredibly soft and should have been an object of comfort, but now only served to suck the life from within her.

[post-office-by-the-bay]

dearest covey,

how is life by the sea treating you? i hope the salty air and wet sand are making you feel at home.

no, but in all seriousness, i love the new blog! this must have taken so long to make! the idea is so cute, too, the vibes are immaculate. I feel like i'm actually at the seaside.

i know i haven't sent a letter in for a while, and i'm sorry, it's just been a super hectic week. i went to visit my grandparents this weekend, and they don't have internet at their cottage, so i wasn't able to access tumblr, but i did manage to finish an essay that has been stressing me out this past week, and i'm really proud of it! in othwe news, i went thrifting on friday, and found the CUTEST white maxi skirt, plus some pretty pajama shorts with blue flowers. i also got some makeup from the mall, including some nice blush/highlighter, and some lip oil. my little brother (5th grade) came third place in a district-wide chess tournament, which makes me a little worried about him getting bullied, but i'm still proud of him lol. seriously, though, that kid is scary smart. he's definitely the favourite child. (joking, I hope). do you have siblings? i have two younger ones, my brother and my sister, and while they can be a pain in the butt and hog the nintendo switch, i'd still die for them any day.

i'm thinking about converting the radio station to a flower shop, if only because there's better inspiration pics on pinterest and i'm not extroverted enough to be a dj lol.

that's all i really have to say, but I hope you life has been good recently!

love from way up in canada, flora. 💐

to my best girl flora,

the salty air is amazing, but compares nothing to sitting in your flower shop with you by my side!!

(squealing- we're so cutesy, you and i!)

no worries about the time between letters. i'll always wait for all of you!! i actually spent my weekend by the beach but i had the worst goddamn cell service like fr not a single bar in sight- pissing me off lmao. congrats on finishing that essay tho!! i FINALLY found time to talk to my ap gov teacher and she was a massive help with my FRQ4 (essay answer, basically) bc ya girl was STRUGGLING. also, i loveeeee when i have a good thrift. i found the cutest tank top the other day but it's been too gloomy to wear as of late.

also, about your brother, TELL HIM CONGRATS FOR ME!! my school is kinda strange bc we're also having chess competitions rn but they are actually hyped up more than football games. everyone who competes is actually so cool and well loved, so just let him know that cool people play chess too!!

i've got an older sister who's pretty cool. but...tbh, i think in every single other universe, im the older sister (lemme explain-). she's got really bad anxiety so my parents have always kinda babied her and there have never really been any expectations put on her, so they were all kinda put on me. i've gotten really good at lying to take the blame for things that she did bc her anxiety and mental issues would just make my parents reaction worse so i just take the blame bc she's my sister. of course im gonna look out for her, ya know??? she also went through a weird phase of wishing i didn't exist to my face when i was like eight BUT she's gone to therapy and apologize for that so we good!! i truly do love her but i know im her protector, not the other way around!! which is chill, ya know!

ANYWAYS MOVING ON FROM THE KINDA TRUAMA DUMP- i think a floral shop would be so so cute!! and while i LOVE the dj theme, i think it's kinda hard but the floral shop will be so much easier and wayyy easier to find pics for too!!

all my love from da beach,

covey 𐙚⊹ ࣪ ˖