#I’ve been watching anime and discussing those on discord

[joker-daughter]

hey, how are you? you said you got sick again, hope you're feeling better!

I‘m well now, thank you for asking, anon 🫂

I just don’t feel like participating in fandom stuff too much lately like I keep up with news but don’t expect me to be around tomorrow, I also deleted tiktok, logged out of twitter etc. I can’t be bothered like I’m already stressed out and depressed enough on top of everything lol

[prpfz]

20+ role player currently searching for 18+ partners for some fandom role plays!☄️

Mostly looking to do ocxcc stories where I play my oc, but I am also more than happy to do a double up and do just about any pairing for your side! I always find double ups fun, especially with patient partners and ones that love ooc chat as well. For your side i can do just about any pairing you would like but all I ask is that both sides are kept fair!

Some basic rules!

4-5+ paragraphs (literate to novella) because i love details but i understand life sometimes get in the way- in those cases i am very patient and can wait as long as needed for replies (just please let me know if you can’t reply at the moment or something’s up so i know I’m not being ghosted). 3rd person preferred.

Open to most dead dove topics. Some of my ocs and some of these fandoms may or may not have some triggering topics- but we can discuss that more in private before moving to another platform like discord when we choose to rp.

Now for the fandoms and character I’m looking for!⭐️

X-Men. Just recently watched Deadpool and Wolverine so like many my hyperfixation is back and I’ve been rewatching every movie. While I would prefer to go off the movies (whether the og 2000s or the more recent ones with younger Charles and Erik), I can definitely try out the cartoons as well, I just haven’t seen the most recent cartoon that’s been out recently. I would love if someone could play Logan, Charles, or Erik for me!

The Boys/Gen V. I’ve finally gotten around to watching the new season after watching Gen V and my hyperfixation has also returned for the show!! I’ll gladly take either show but will say my oc for The Boys is more developed then the one I have for Gen V. Characters I’d love for my character: MM, Butcher, Homelander, Jordan, Marie

My Hero Academia. The end of a beloved series😭. I’ve read most of the manga but anime wise I just finished the first war. I don’t mind where we have the rp take place really, whether one of the arcs or after the timeskip in the ending. For me I would love the characters: Shoto, Tenya, Tamaki, Keigo/Hawks, Shota/Eraserhead, Enji/Endeavor.

The Bear. Currently watching the show and I’m absolutely in love. Give me all the angst and drama especially for this show lol. My oc isn’t necessarily complete for the show yet so I may just send her basics and fc! For characters I’d love to pair her with Richie, Carmy, Michael (before the events of the show or one where he was found just in time).

I’ll get to each like ASAP☄️

give a like and anon will get back to you

[tsukikoayanosuke]

Twisted Wonderland Daemon AU (but my brain is not that big), or just Animal Companion AU - Heartslabyul Edition

The Basic Gits: Daemons are the external physical manifestation of a person's 'inner-self' that takes the form of an animal. Usually the daemon will have the opposite gender from their human. During childhood, daemon can change into any animal but when human matured, their daemon settle into a permanent form (you can’t choose the final animal form). When a human die, their daemon will turn to dust. And it’s taboo for a human to touch any daemon except their own.

It has been a long time since I watched/read The Golden Compass, so I might get some points wrong. I technically made this before the whole Yana Toboso interview that said there would be more familiar. And in the discord server I was like “My daemon au is confirm!” XD 

This is a personal choices with a help from a friend. This is harder than I thought it would be. Discussion is much welcome. I’ll be only making for the humans. So, no beastman, mermaid, ghost, fae, or any mythical creatures.

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Ace Trappola

His daemon name is Penelope. In Greek, the name means ‘weaver’. It is also the name of the hero Odysseus’s faithful wife.

Penelope settled into your regular urban raccoon. Raccoons are known to be a trickster, just like Ace. The culprit who knock down your outdoor trashcan. The black mark around their eyes resemblance of a thief mask, thus they’re often associated to thievery. But this also show their intelligence to be able to steal food without anyone noticing. And with the busy and dangerous city road, a raccoon need to adapt and be resourceful with their surrounding. Thus, they can also represent craftiness, resourcefulness, problem-solving, tenacity, adaptability, and endurance.

I want a raccoon representation in this AU, so I’m giving it to Ace lol.

Deuce Spade

His daemon name is Carwen. It’s the female variant of Carwyn, a Welsh name means “blessed love”.

Carwen settles into a flame skimmer dragonfly. From many colors available, we get an orange one that will compliment Deuce’s blue aesthetic. Dragonflies may represent, growth, transformation, impermanence, ephemerality, or adolescence. Because dragonflies, both as nymphs and as adults, are such prolific hunters, dragonflies may also be connected with acuity, agility, and ferocity. In addition, dragonflies are typically born in the summer, and as we know, it’s the holiday. But can also be the time of nostalgia and connection to the youth.

Right from the get go I wanted Deuce to have something that symbolize change/metamorphosis. I can’t pick butterfly because we all know who will get that, so a dragonfly it is.

Cater Diamond

His daemon name is  Avyukth. It’s a Sanskrit girl name means "Peace of Mind; Clear as Crystal; Name of Lord Krishna." Cater gave her “Avie” as a nickname.

Avie settles into a potbellied pig. Pig symbolism is fascinating and varied depending on which side of the world you're in. In English language, there are many idioms where pigs become the subject, like "pearls before swine", "when pigs fly" dan "whole hog", thus giving pigs the symbol of gluttony or slovenliness. But, in China, pigs become the first animal to be domisticated, thus connecting it with domesticity, the home, and the success of the family. It can also symbolize status, wealth, prosperity, honesty, and virtue. Not to mention, pig is one of the animal in the twelve zodiac despite overslept and took up the rear.

For Cater, I was looking for “animal that's kinda sus” and found out that ‘Sus’ the genus of wild and domestic pigs. After that, a friend suggested those little teacup pig. I’ve never heard about it so I looked up and hoo boy it did not disappointed. With the many symbolism of the pig, we can take this as not really knowing Cater daemon’s true reason of her settled animal.

Trey Clover

His daemon name is   Frideswide. It’s a  modern form of the Old English name Friðuswiþ. It is formed of the elements frip, which means ‘peace’ and swib, which means ‘strong.’

Frideswide settles into a Newfoundland god. When you think of dogs, the first thought is usually the term “a man’s best friend”, an animal that will give you unconditional love and devotion. They are also a fierce protector and a faithful companion with their endurance, perseverance, domesticity, and playfulness in life.

I kinda joked around that I’ll be giving Trey a companion animals, and the first pick is a dog. For the breed, Newfoundland dog can be a great mama (other than Labrador Retriever), and also a symbol of hard work and genuine loyalty.

Riddle Rosehearts

His daemon name is   Aurealana. It’s a combination of two words; ‘aurea’ which means “golden” in Latin, and “alana” which  can be derived from the Irish language term "a leanbh" for "child".

Aurealana settles into a Northern mockingbird. From it's habit of "mocking", these birds represent learning, memorization, plagiarism, and music. Mockingbirds are also socially monogamous and will go out of their way to choose a partner who aggressively defends the nest and is an active and devoted parent, thus they can also represent communication, stability, defense, protection, parenthood, or commitment.

From the beginning, I know that Riddle has to have a bird daemon. It’s the usual ‘bird can fly, flying means freedom’ and Riddle being in his mother control feels like ‘a bird trapped in a birdcage’. I also headcanon Mama Rosehearts has a big cat daemon, or something like a lion or tiger, which makes it scarier compare to Riddle’s small bird.

[somnolentdipso]

They Call it An Intro?

You managed to find yourself @somnolentdipso page? Believe me it ain’t much special and it ain’t flashy like others but what it does have is well a Dipso.

Posted Content Includes:

Saké (Too bad 100% Goes to Me🍶)

My tipsy scribes of my whims

Concepts of A Variety of Kinks

Perhaps Chefs Inside View

Art I stare at while waiting for things

Good Vibes

My Likings/Interest(SFW Wise)

(⚠️⚠️If you ask me what I like in dms without reading this I shall present a 🎁. Saying is “Play stupid games and win stupid prizes🫢.” Warning has been dished and presented)

MMA(Mixed Martial Arts)👊🏾🥊

(11 Years total) Known Styles: Muy-Thai, Capoeira & Kickboxing

Cooking/Baking/Mixology💼🍴

Been Doing this for a while like long while maybe 4-5 ish years now

Research/Read/Write/Discuss💻

Most definitely love discussing in-depth topics with people who are invested in the vast world we got for sure. Doesn’t matter how deranged and those with interesting jobs by all means let me know the experience!

Music🎶

My musical taste will definitely be something from everyone’s platters. But then again I would love to make a plate too so drop a song.

Gaming/Anime/Movies/Shows📺

Probably gonna be most chats so let me get this one out the way. Yes I do game but not too often due to work. Just Slide DMs and ask what I am playing lately or even lmk what you maybe wanna run👀. Fortnite or Ow2 would be nice as of lately. Yes We mic’d up too🗣️

Yes I enjoy anime! perhaps pop in and remind me to continue my series or even suggest a new one. I swear I don’t mean to forget but I’ve been stuck on continuing a certain one for years 💀. But I am curious for those who can guess my fav…might be in for something wonderful.

Movies & Shows to me are simple. Big fan of horror movies though! I haven’t seen a lot of anything recently and that includes the classics. Discord watch homies and feedings per chance? Only a suggestion so don’t get salivating so soon.

List of Likings(Nsfw Wise):

Bdsm

Marking & Breeding (Together as it should be)

Shibari bondage

Sadistic acts & humiliating

Degrading & Praising(Either Needed)

Flogging

Temperature play(hot or icy cold)

Knife play

Bruising

Edging/overstimulation

Petplay

Spanking

Electro-stimulation

Mirror play

Worship

Death feederism

Feedism👀(⚠️)

Force feeding

Messy eaters

Gas

⚠️ Potentially shall add more got a lot to think on

[cornylilguy]

RP Request!

Hola! My name is Cherri and I’m looking for a partner for an X-Men rp! Some bits about me, I’m 20+, nonbinary (they/them), and neurodivergent with a very strong fixation on X-Men right now (but specifically Scott Summers, it started with him). Currently I’m trying to finish the og animated series, then move onto X-Men 97’, maybe watch the FOX X-Men movies, then maybe move onto comics if I can! But I am so into it, that I want to start an rp now and binge watch any media needed (since I’m open to working with movie lore or any TV shows like Evolution, Wolverine and the X-Men, etc). Though maybe taking some of the characterizations from those medias and combining parts we both like to make the roleplay (and of course change things later if needed)!

As you can see, I talk a lot, and like talking on Discord! Just because the server functions are super easy to use and keep track of chats. I also talk a ton OOC when I’m super excited, even if I’m a bit busy to RP. I can be a bit slow on responding due to mental health stuff and life, but I generally at max take a week or two to respond and at minimum every 2-3 days, but it can depend. Of course if it’s any longer I will give the proper heads up and tend to let someone know when I’m working on the response and give a timeline. So if you’re kinda busy and want to rp, I’m the guy for you! I don’t really know how to use Tupperware super well, so that’s not needed. And I think that’s all for that section, I hope that we become friends!

As for the rp details I’m looking for someone to play (you guessed it) Scott against my oc, and I’m good with doubling up for oc x canon or even canon x canon! I may struggle at first and be a bit self-conscious about characterization, but I’ve been told I’m not entirely bad and will do my best to work with any personal thoughts that you have! I’m open to playing anyone from the series, but feel like I’d do best with someone like Rogue, Jubilee, maybe Logan, and Kurt (except for writing out his little German boy accent, but we can discuss that); but again! I can do basically whoever with some time, feedback, and patience! Mlm, wlw, mf, or any combo of ships is totally fine as I have experience playing masc and fem characters! For the plot I have a loose idea for what I want for my pairing, backstory, the powers of my oc (but I’d like to discuss some details to not make them too op); but I’m open to really planning things out! I was looking for something very character driven, maybe focused a bit on the political drama of things (my special interest since I was twelve is leftist politics so obviously I want to work it into everything), but I’m open to AU’s or more casual settings, just nothing that’s completely slice of life focused. I need a bit of drama. Oh, and also important, I’d prefer someone to write a few paragraphs, as I can’t stand one line replies or *asterisks* for actions, looking for a more third person semi-lit novella deal.

Okay, I feel like I’ve written a TON, like way too much! If you read it all, thank you! If you had any concerns about me not writing enough, I hope that fear was quelled! And if you’re interested either like or reach out to me so we can discuss on tumblr the initial deets and switch to discord if we’re both interested!

[perryhedge]

Future Boy Conan and Discussing Anime

I’m watching Future Boy Conan right now, a show that I expected to like but didn’t expect to love as much as I am so far. Usually, at a time like this I would be excited to share it with someone, in all the places and with all the people I always do. But this time is different. I am loving Future Boy Conan, but I don’t want to discuss it with anyone. I was even considering not even logging it on Anilist, or perhaps only logging it when I was done.

I think I realized this a long time ago, but discussing anime with people just isn’t fun anymore. I have this desire to share my interests with other people, to connect with others and to be understood, that has motivated me to join online communities from a young age. I logged off for a bit during college when I had more real-life relationships, but for the last five years or so I’ve been more online than ever (this time period was the birth of my current username). There have been good things about this, sure. During the lonely days of the peak pandemic (and my personally lonely days before that), it was nice having somewhere to socialize. I’ve had plenty fun moments in these online communities. But I’ve also had a lot of not so fun ones, and it didn’t take me long to realize that spending so much time like this is driven in no small part by pure compulsion. My compulsive behaviors can get so bad that I forcibly have to log off and disengage fairly often, and it feels like a drug withdrawal sometimes. I had such an unhealthy relationship with Twitter that I had to completely nuke my account, and swear off talking about (or thinking about) politics pretty much at all. Responding to a notification is a completely unconscious activity, and when I turn notifications off I sometimes find myself compulsively refreshing.

One way I’ve justified being on Discord so much to myself is that it gives me a way to learn more about my interests. To an extent, that’s true. I’ve learned so much about animation, anime, manga various artists in those mediums, and the Japanese language itself, that I likely wouldn’t have known about otherwise. I’m sure I may have found a show like Conan eventually, but might not have gotten around to watching it for years if ever had I not seen so much praise for it online (and informative praise too — I’ve seen and heard a few specific things about its animation and story that lead me to believe I’d like it). There’s plenty of more obscure stuff I’ve learned about, too. But at some point, it just becomes a way to make my backlog even longer, as I have spent way more time discussing (or reading discussions about) anime than actually watching it. In fact, I’ve lately had this horrible feeling that I’ve kind of “seen it all” — not literally, but in that I’ve read so much discussion about the topic that I feel like I have a pretty good sense of all the important works and artists by name and maybe a cursory understanding of what they’re known for, and that it’s pretty rare that I hear anyone talk about a “hidden gem” that I’ve never heard of. This is a horrible feeling, because I haven’t actually seen that much. It’s a vicarious feeling of accomplishment, following the controversy, criticism, canonization from afar, that just gives me the sensation of eating my food pre-chewed.

Furthermore, as I kind of alluded to, not all discussion of anime online is actually informative (at least, to me). A lot of it is just arguments over whether a particular anime is good or bad, often times with very little context of what might lead people to those judgments, or what criteria those judgments are based on. I have no problem with reading critical opinions on stuff I like, or vice versa, as long as I can get a sense that the criticism is coming from someone with a defined taste (something, by the way, that I don’t have, and I feel a little bit shaky in all my opinions for this reason). But this very rarely happens, and a lot of the time I feel like these discussions don’t give me any particular insight at all. All I’m left with is hot takes to argue against in my head, and I can think of quite a few series where it’s completely ruined my ability to enjoy them or even watch them at all (I still haven’t finished Ousama Ranking, which I loved, because reading some heated discussions online completely killed my appetite for it).

This experience has made me even more uncertain about what it is that I do like about anime, and it’s made me wonder how much I like it at all. Like I said, I don’t think I have a defined taste in anime, or manga, and I chalk a lot of that up to the fact that I’m not an artist. I’ve wanted to learn how to draw, and tried a couple of times, but there’s some deep insecurity and learned helplessness there that is a real roadblock for me — deep down, I don’t think I am or ever can be an artist, even if it’s not true, and of course that prevents me from trying. I’m not trying to make excuses for this kind of thinking, I’m just trying to describe what it is. Anyway, as a result, I feel unqualified to talk about visual art, and I don’t really believe my opinion has any worth. When I do feel that I’ve made a specific and novel observation, I often feel anxiety about sharing it. That goes to some extent for writing, too (I do know what I like to read a bit more precisely than what I like in visual art, but I’ve really only ever thought about it in a certain framework that I learned in college, thinking about novels and such, and I don’t yet know how to apply it to other mediums — in fact, I don’t think I care very much about writing in anime at all, past a certain point, and I certainly never watch anime or read manga for its writing specifically). But let’s ignore all these excuses. If I really cared about visual art, if I felt it in my soul, then none of this would matter, right? I’d be able to push past these feelings and actually learn to draw, despite it all, and I’d be able to confidently voice my feelings about art, too. Am I giving up before even trying because I just don’t care that much about art, at all? I’m really not sure. I think about that a lot, especially recently.

I used to be really big into music. I do consider myself a musician, even though I haven’t played any music in a while. But, since I always was and still am insecure about my ability as a musician, I’ve always liked to think of myself as a music fan first, and a musician second. And, as far as I can remember, I’ve never felt the need to seek out other peoples’ opinions about music. I know what I like, and the more I listen to the more I’ve been able to pinpoint why. I actually do consider myself to be knowledgeable about and passionate about music, even though I’ve struggled to connect with that passion much since the pandemic. I know a little bit about a bunch of genres, and generally when I meet a stranger I start a conversation about what kind of music they like (and can almost always find some common ground). At this point, I feel fairly confident in being a music fan, and someone who takes it seriously. Even as I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ll never listen to a bunch of classic albums I probably should, I don’t feel like I’m a casual fan. There was a time when I had a crisis about getting older and whether or not that meant I would eventually stop finding new stuff to love, but that phase has passed and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop listening to new music, or finding new things in old music, whether I want to or not. So why isn’t this true of anime? Why can’t I stop being neurotic about it? Listening to music is natural for me — I do it without even trying, because I like it. Is it natural that I have to obsessively log every episode of anime I watch? Is it natural that I have a giant “plan to watch” list? Am I forcing myself to watch anime?

So, all this is one reason I think I don’t like discussing anime anymore — I’m not sure how invested I am in it, whether I want to be a casual fan or not, etc. But even without this anxiety, I think there’s something about anime discussions specifically that is rotten, as compared to discussions of other interests. Again, making a comparison with my experience with music, I can think of a relatively recent situation where I was at a wedding sitting next to a guy I’ve never really gotten along with, but found common ground in rave music we both liked to listen to (and I’m not even the biggest fan out there). Thinking back on that conversation, it was fun to share our enthusiasm and common interest in a completely genuine way. He probably has some snobbish opinions, as do I, but there wasn’t really a hint of elitism in our discussion, just effortless, natural fun to find someone who likes the same things you do. Even most discussions in Youtube comment sections under music, as long as you aren’t listening to something controversial, is genuine appreciation and positivity. I do have one other passion (that I’ve almost completely disconnected with since the pandemic as well) in math, and similarly if I meet a math or physics interested person in real life or online these kinds of positive conversations happen pretty frequently.

But none of that is true for anime, and when I realized that I started seriously wondering why I even bother discussing it with others at all. Again, there are times I’ve had positive experiences with sharing anime, but the overwhelming majority of my experience is not that. It’s mostly snobbery, elitism, arguments, and misunderstandings. There’s very little empathy, trying to understand who you’re talking to, and trying to connect with them. I fall into negativity very often, too, so I’m not saying I’m above all this. I don’t want to be like this, though. I want to be more sincere, more empathetic and thoughtful. But it feels like when I do try, I don’t get back what I put in. And the end result is that I get exhausted, cynical, and completely burnt out. I don’t think I even have it that bad, all things considered. I know there are some people who want to share things with me out of genuine passion, and who, for example, recommend I check out stuff they think I’ll enjoy. But I wonder how common that really is.

A couple years ago, when I got back into anime after watching Your Name on a plane, I thought there was so much for me to discover. At the time, there was lots of discussion on Youtube with channels like Digibro talking about all this stuff that was a completely unknown world to me. When I started learning French (with the intention of learning Japanese only when I was done with that, as a treat) I always had “get properly into anime” as something to look forward to. But when I finally got here, after all this hard work learning Japanese, when I can finally watch pretty much whatever I want and understand it on my own terms, when I have this thing that I’ve wanted for so long in my grasp, sometimes I feel like I don’t even care anymore.

I don’t have a conclusion or a solution to this problem. Now that I pretty much no longer have this goal to work towards, or now that I’ve decided to work towards it more casually, I am thinking more about how I actually want to spend my time, in a way that’ll make me happy. I still haven’t really figured it out yet at all, but I hope this wall of text helps me understand and clarify some thoughts and some things to think about. I’ll start my trying more earnestly to share the positive energy I want to have reflected back at me. But I think things are going in a direction I don’t like, and I want to do something about it.

[true-blue-megamind]

FAN THEORY THURSDAY – Why Did Megamind Choose Hal?

Yes, yes, I know, I'm late again. So sue me. (Don't really do that; you'll only be disappointed.) But at last, I am back!

If you are that one person who still insists reading these posts without having ever watched one of DreamWorks’ best animated movies, well, firstly, I have questions. Secondly, SPOILER WARNING!

Special thanks to Berry Marais for suggesting this, and I quote: “wickedly bad idea for the greater good of bad.” You’re amazing!

During yet another interesting discussion on the Megamind’s Evil Lair Discord, a fellow fan, Berry Marais, brought up an interesting point: if our favorite blue alien is supposed to be so incredibly smart, how did he not notice that Hal was literally the worst person in Metro City he could possibly imbue with superpowers? “I mean,” she went on to say. “Minion realized it at once and wanted to diffuse Hal as soon as possible. This was a serious case of not reading people.”

Is that all that it was? Could Megamind be a true super-genius yet also a completely inept judge of character? If so, why? Let’s take a look at what the evidence can tell us!

Initially, the blue man’s failure to recognize Hal’s obvious lack of heroic qualities seems oxymoronic, completely at odds with other aspects of Megamind’s character. This is not only because of his genius but also due to his background. Consider for a moment how the former villain was raised; as a child, he survived and even thrived while living in a high-security prison filled with adult criminals. As I’ve mentioned before in other posts, the alien child may have had the protection of some of those inmates—his “prison uncles,” as the fandom has charmingly named them, who we see teaching him when he is an infant—but by the time he was old enough to enter grade school, he had already been separated into a lonely cell.

Why does that matter? It may indicate that Megamind often had to rely on his own methods to keep both he and Minion safe. His success was likely based in part upon forming a terrifying reputation from a young age, (you can read more about that in The Warden,) but there was almost certainly more to it. In order to identify possible threats as well as potential allies, he would have needed to become an excellent judge of fellow prisoners’ characters. Although this is never stated outright, it’s difficult to imagine that the blue man would have protected himself and even climbed to the top of the criminal world without such insights. So why did that same skill fail him where Hal was concerned?

Perhaps the most obvious fan theory is that Megamind simply didn’t know Hal. As far as we know, he’d never interacted with the creepy cameraman before the latter was infused with Metroman’s DNA. (Many fans point to Megamind’s obvious attraction to Roxanne Ritchi coupled with the fact that he did not rain villainous wrath down upon her harassing stalker as possible evidence of this.) Indeed, in the original film script, Hal accidentally “saves” a mother and her baby, thus leading Megamind to assume he is a quintessentially Good Guy. Of course, that part was cut from the final version, but it nonetheless illustrates that the blue man clearly knew little or nothing about his homemade nemesis.

The next conjecture finds far more notable support in the movie itself. Starting during his school days, Megamind appears to develop a near-obsession with the concept of Good Versus Evil as well as with that of Destiny. These ideas help form his worldview and remain a driving force for the character throughout much of the film.

Two things render those facts vital to this examination. Firstly, the blue man firmly believes that Hal has been chosen as his new nemesis by fate—he even says as much when Minion suggests it was a mere mistake—and he seems to possess an almost zealous conviction where destiny is concerned. Thus he might not only fail to question what he viewed as a predetermined outcome but also ignore any evidence contradicting it. Secondly, Megamind seems, throughout much of the movie, to have a nearly binary understanding of society. Many argue that it’s likely he feels people must fall into one of two categories: Good or Bad. Therefore, if he and other criminals are bad, then supposedly “normal” citizens must, by the process of elimination, be good. This concept may be combined with the previous hypothesis; although Megamind was probably adept at reading fellow lawbreakers, he may have lacked equal insight into regular people.

Indeed, the rules governing interactions within a prison or a criminal organization differ vastly from those dictating ordinary interactions on, for example, a city street. This brings us to our next supposition: it’s possible that, while he perfectly comprehended how to read other Bad Guys, the blue man may have been so unfamiliar with normal social norms that they were nearly alien to him. It’s not a far leap. Having been raised in prison and ostracized for the majority of his life, Megamind is unlikely to have ever been fully socialized. This means that the only cultural norms, so to speak, he would be deeply familiar with are those of the prison subculture. Judging the character of anyone outside of that group would be nearly as difficult for him as it would be for us to read a stranger in an unknown country.

There is a problem with this theory, however. Megamind and Minion were raised together, in the same circumstances, so why would Minion be better able to see Hal for what he was? Aside from the concepts already discussed, such as Megamind’s preoccupation with fate, there is another possible answer. The fishy henchman may have had more opportunity to observe ordinary society. One reason for this is that, while they did both spend a significant portion of their childhoods incarcerated, Megamind is the only one we ever see in jail as an adult. Whether because he was Metroman’s sole focus, because he regularly bought his friend time to escape, or, as some fans theorize, because he made it abundantly clear that messing with Minion would be extremely bad for a person’s health, the blue man alone seems to have endured punishment following his plots.

This means that his henchfish may have had more time and opportunity to experience society. Furthermore, we know that Megamind and Minion both have holowatches—two of the disguise generators are used during the final battle with Titan—and we know that Minion likely donned his to go out in society more often. During the film, when Megamind lies about his date with Roxanne, claiming that he needs to “run a quick errand,” Minion reminds him that he doesn’t run errands. Yet someone must have taken care of such chores, and the most likely candidate is the fishy henchman himself. Therefore he may have had regular interactions with the people of Metro City while Megamind did not, giving Minion far better insight into humanity in general.

Both the film and other sources support this. According to The Analytical Couch Potato, an online entertainment magazine, director Tom McGrath described Megamind as “a villain who is really naive to the ways of the world, who never had a decent childhood.” He goes on to explain that this is why “everything’s new to this guy outside of his darkened Lair.” However, there are several times during the movie when Minion appears to have superior insight to the society around them. For example, when Megamind is enthused by the windows of the mayor’s office, Minion tells him what they are. Although a bit absurd—the blue man has to have seen windows before; even the Evil Lair has them, albeit old, thickly grimed ones—this scene and others like it were apparently intended to illustrate just how unfamiliar with normal life Megamind really is. However, Minion seems to be a good deal more knowledgeable, suggesting once more that he has greater experience with social interaction.

So, Minion may have been better able to recognize Hal’s unsuitability as a hero simply because he had spent more time among ordinary people and therefore had better comparative data. There is one more reason, however, why our favorite villain-turned-hero may not have easily seen what sort of person Hal really was. Surprisingly, it has to do with Megamind’s intellect. That’s right. While many would naturally assume that a genius should be better able to read people, there is some evidence that the opposite may be true.

According to an article by Dr. Roberta B. Ness in Psychology Today, geniuses are more likely to have difficulty relating to people, and can often even be antisocial. Interestingly, this piece focused specifically on inventive geniuses, which could certainly describe the blue alien, and stated that they can often become so focused on ideas and pursuits that they sometimes overlook people. “In the case of some geniuses, the most radically original thinking may have the greatest blind spot for human interactions,” Dr. Ness explained. Indeed, another article on Learning Mind takes it a step further, stating that highly intelligent people often have poor social skills and difficulty understanding other people. Due to tendencies such as overthinking everything, focusing on cerebral interests rather than social ones, and becoming disinterested in anyone who seems dull, geniuses can sometimes have a hard time comprehending and interacting with other individuals. This could be another reason why Megamind didn’t see that Hal was clearly a terrible choice for a new hero.

Interestingly, that might also help explain how the blue man could have been able to read people well enough to survive a childhood in prison yet have been completely blind to Hal’s faults. If you consider the issues discussed above, it becomes obvious that many of them are connected with focus. Ideas and curiosity will often hold a genius’s attention better than people—especially if they find those people too ordinary and boring—and even when they do socialize, their minds are likely to be engaged by overthinking their own responses rather than listening to others. However, this suggests that a genius can focus on reading people if that task becomes important enough to be prioritized.

In fact, we may actually see this occurring in the movie. While the former supervillain seems to have been entirely oblivious to Hal’s negative qualities at first, the more problematic the creepy cameraman becomes the better Megamind seems to be able to read him. After his supposed new nemesis fails to accept his public challenge, Megamind recognizes fairly quickly how best to enrage Hal, prompting him into their first battle. During their final fight, he comprehends his enemy even faster. Consider the scene during which Megamind is trying to run for the invisible car when Titan picks him up by the collar. It takes the blue man a mere second to not only formulate a plan, but judge exactly what he can say to make Hal propel him toward the unseen vehicle. If he had angered Titan too much, Megamind might have been incapacitated or ever killed; too little and his plan might not have worked. Yet he was able to pick the perfect balance to achieve his goal. It seems that because Hal had become a threat, he had become worthy of attention, and because he was worthy of attention, Megamind was able to focus on him and accurately predict his reaction.

So, why did Megamind not initially see, as was so obvious to Minion, that Hal was decidedly not hero material? It may well have been a combination of nature—the predisposition of highly intelligent people to have poor social skills—along with nurture—the lack of experience interacting with people outside of criminal groups leading to false assumptions. Considering all of the proverbial cards stacked against him, it’s little wonder that the alien genius had difficulty understanding his short-term nemesis at first. However, it appears that our favorite blue hero does have the capacity to read people very well once they gain his full attention. That concludes this Fan Theory Thursday post! I hope you enjoyed it!

[yumeka36]

Important announcement

As some of you may have noticed, there has not been much activity on my blog lately. Part of it is due to there simply being a lack of new Frozen content to post about, and often times when there’s lack of new content, waning interest is inevitable. And unfortunately that’s what’s happened with me.

I joined Tumblr as a way to connect with Frozen fans back in 2014 when the franchise had just exploded into popularity. I didn’t make much original content until 2017 when I wanted to focus my blog not just on Frozen but on my interests in general. But as time went on, especially when Frozen 2 hype started in early 2019, my blog became the extremely Frozen-focused blog that it is today, with a non-Frozen post occurring only once in a while.

In less than two weeks, three years will have gone by without any significant canon content for Frozen, the longest gap in the franchise’s 9-year history. And with that fact, it seems that even a veteran enthusiast like me is feeling the passion dying out. But I know there’s nothing abnormal about this - for other fandoms I’ve been in throughout my life, loss of interest inevitably comes from lack of hype and content. Before Frozen, there were two franchises I had the same level of long-lasting, deep obsession with: one was Inuyasha (an anime/manga series) and the other was Haruhi Suzumiya (an anime/novel series). Like with Frozen, during the years I was deep into those, it was hard to imagine a time when I wasn’t super passionate about them. But of course, those times did eventually come - the Inuyasha manga finished in 2008, and my passion for it faded soon after. And sadly the author of the Haruhi Suzumiya series never got motivated to write new novels, leaving the series incomplete since 2011. But then there’s a franchise like Pokemon that I’ve never once wavered in my love for. And the reason? Because that franchise has never stopped producing new and significant content in its 25+ year history (guess that’s to be expected from the highest grossing media franchise of all time).

During times when franchises I once loved were running dry, it was a perfect opportunity for a new seed of passion to start growing. And that’s what’s happened with me and Frozen. Just as I’ve been pulling at straws to keep my passion alive, something much more enticing came along. Some of you may recall from my last post that I started watching an anime called Spy x Family and really liked it. Well, since then, I’ve been hardcore hyperfocused on that fandom for the past month...and it's been extremely enjoyable! (also thanks to fellow Frozen fan @tare-chan for helping me get initiated!) It’s such a fantastic change of pace to be part of a fandom that has consistent new canon content, a thriving community of fans, and merchandise tailored to adult collectors like me. With Frozen having no significant content for the past few years, I forgot what a wonderful experience that could be.

With all this said, you probably have questions, which I’ve hopefully answered below:

Does this mean you’re leaving the Frozen fandom?

Absolutely not. I still love Frozen, it’s just not my top fandom like it was before. As such, I don’t plan on buying any new Frozen merch or making any new posts about it, at least not until we get new major content, like another movie. But I plan to stay in the Frozen Discord servers I’m already in, continue following my favorite Frozen bloggers, and maybe occasionally partake in discussions online. But I won’t be the avid content creator and enthusiast that I was before. However, if there’s any new major content for the franchise, for example, if/when Frozen 3 comes out, I’ll definitely see it and probably write my thoughts on it.  But whether even a third movie could bring the same level of fervor that I had before, only time will tell.

Are you going to close or repurpose this blog and your other social media?

This blog will definitely remain open and I do plan to post on it occasionally. However it won’t be as Frozen-focused as it was before. I’m going to use this blog to post about my interests in general, whether it’s Frozen or other Disney movies, Pokemon and video games, anime, or whatever. So again, I may still post about Frozen once in a while, especially if we get new canon content, but probably not as much as before. All this applies to my Twitter as well if you follow me there (though my Twitter has always been more multi-fandom focused than my blog). So if you're still interested in seeing potential Frozen content from me, and don't mind seeing a non-Frozen post once in a while, I hope you'll continue to follow this blog 🙂

Are you going to make a new blog or other new social media accounts?

I decided to make a new blog specifically for Spy x Family, which you can find here if you’re interested (as of now I’m mostly posting photos of my newly growing merch collection and maybe my thoughts on the new manga chapters, but I plan to to do other kinds of posts later on as I get more involved in the fandom). But besides that, I’ll still be active on the same Twitter account and the same Frozen Discord servers (though probably not as much for the latter since I’ll be spending more time in Spy x Family servers). And as I said, I’ll still post on this blog when I feel like it.

I’m sure those of you who have been around fandoms for as long as I have understand that they don’t last forever, especially when there’s nothing to get hyped for. The fact that I stayed so loyal to Frozen for almost a decade when all we had were a couple movies and shorts, proves what a special franchise it was to me and I won’t ever forget it. But that’s the wonderful thing about fictional stories and characters...we can fall in and out of love with them with absolute ease - no need for mutual consent to love them, and no breaking hearts if we suddenly decide we’re not into them anymore. They’re immortal and so will be there for us for as long as we need them, and even if we go away from them for a while, we can just as easily go back to them. Maybe some years from now when Spy x Family concludes, I’ll move onto something else. Or maybe I’ll come back to Frozen when we get another movie...or I’ll get into some other hobby entirely. Who knows. But what I do know is that you should put the most time and effort into the things that make you the most happy, even if that’s different from what it was a year, a month, or even a week ago.

And with all this said, I have a little parting gift to my Frozen followers who have read to the end of this post - a few HD scans of the latest French book “Olaf’s Amazing Friend.” I had preordered it a while back and it will probably be my last Frozen 2 purchase.

Thank you for supporting my Frozen content over the years. See you all again in the near or distant future~!

[monsterenergysimp]

Permanence

corpse husband x fem!reader 

summary: you meet corpse on a stream and you’re surprised when he reaches out to you 

warnings: cursing, mentions of tattooing

word count: 1.9k

notes: This is proof read but could have missed some stuff. This is my first corpse fic and my first time writing fanfic since I posted that super cringey book on wattpad when I was like 12 or something. I’d appreciate feed back so please reach out to me :)

main blog @itsmysleepover

read part 2 here!

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

You were cleaning up your station so you can get home and stream. You loved your day job as a tattoo artist but you also really enjoyed streaming. It started as a way to promote yourself as an artist and the shop you worked at but it eventually became a really fun way to destress at the end of the week (or day if you were really itching to stream). “Hey Y/N was that your last client?” your boss, KC, asked as she walked to the front of the shop and put new flash drawings on the walls.

“Yes ma’am!” You said back excitedly. You finished cleaning your station and tossed your black gloves in the trash. “And you can’t trick me into staying and taking walk-ins,” you joked with her. She rolled her eyes and walked back into her office “It was one time,” she said as you slid on your jacket. As you walked out your phone buzzed in your pocket and you checked to see who had texted you. It was a message from Sean asking if you were free to play Among Us with him and some other streamers. You replied that you were on your way home right now and totally down. You were excited to see who was playing this time around since their Among Us streams are super entertaining and have gotten really popular.

On your way back you tweeted and posted to your Instagram story that you’d be streaming soon and set up all your stuff once you made it home. After a few minutes, you had a couple of thousand people watching. You entered the discord chat and Sean spoke up. “Everyone this is Y/N she’s sensitive so be gentle.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you guys and I’m not gentle, I'm ruthless,” You say into your mic and notice the chat calling you a liar. Everyone was in the lobby waiting for the game to start. “You sound way too sweet to be ruthless,” Corpse said. The countdown started and you were imposter with Charlie.

“This should be fun,” you told the stream. Yout tried playing strategically but after such a long shift your brain was mush. You saw Poki in nav and killed her then vented into shields. Not long after the body was reported and you were sure you were going to get voted out or at least sussed.

“Where was the body?” Felix asked. “Nav and I didn’t see anyone near there so whoever is imposter must have vented,” Corpse responded. Felix spoke up again. “I think I saw Y/N walk that way and I haven’t seen her since.”

Shit, shit, shit shit. “I’m in shield right now so-” you said trying to defend yourself but Charlie spoke up. “I was doing tasks with her earlier and I saw her walk into shields so she’s safe but I’m still not sure about Rae.” Everyone discussed a bit more and some people, including Corpse, voted for you but Rae got the majority vote and was ejected. You released your breath and kept playing being extra careful.  

“Okay, guys that was super close. Corpse knows and is out to get me,” you said to the chat. You were eventually voted off but one round later victory was written across your screen with your ghost and Charlie’s avatar. “Good game guys,” Corpse said.

“I told you guys I was ruthless!”

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

You sat at your station doing nothing because a client had canceled a four-hour session. You were listening to music and sketching some stuff but you were bored out of your mind and you didn’t want to leave in case you got a walk-in. The music got quiet as you received a twitter notification saying someone had messaged you. You reached for your phone and saw you had gotten a dm from Corpse.

C: hey :)

You didn’t know what to respond. You were mostly confused as to why he decided to message you out of the blue. Did he want something? But what would he want?

Y: Hii! This is sudden

C: was i bothering you?

    shit sorry!

Y: Youre fine I wasn’t doing anything rn

C: how has your day been

    i dont usually do stuff like this

Y: Im glad you did im doing better now I was so bored

C: what were you doing that was so terrible

Y: NOTHING! thats the problem :(

C: im sure youll find something to do

You stared at his message. Unsure what to respond.

Y: Im gonna give myself a tattoo

C: what?

    NO!

You tossed the needles you used for your tattoo into the sharps box. “Oh my god you didn’t,” KC said. She noticed the wrap on your calve from the tattoo you just gave yourself out of boredom. “It’s not my fault I didn’t have anything else to do!” You said trying to defend yourself. She sighed and just shook her head. “Just go home business is slow today.” It was raining so the shop probably wasn’t going to get a walk-in anyway and you didn’t have any more clients for the day. It was only 2 pm but you drove home and after making lunch for yourself decided to stream. You weren’t expecting too many people so it was bound to be super chill. Your leg felt sore reminding you of the tattoo. You snapped a quick pic of the fresh jack-o-lantern on the side of your calve and messaged it to Corpse.

Y: [image] it came out nice!

C: thats  super cool actually

    i was concerned why you would just give yourself a tattoo but i found your instagram and       youre super talented

Y: Thank you!

For some reason, it felt strange to just have that be the end of your response.

Y: Im about to start streaming if you wanted to watch

    [link]

C: ill be watching ;)

What’s that supposed to mean?

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

You sat in your apartment watching tv, hand lost in a bag of Doritos, and scrolling through twitter. You had stopped paying attention to the anime playing on the screen since you’ve watched it a hundred times and knew you wouldn’t miss anything. It was Saturday and you usually take those days off. Take the time to do chores or meet up with some friends but today you felt like not doing any of those things. As you continue your endless scroll (not helping the twitter addiction you told yourself you’d try to get a handle on) you got a message from Corpse.

C: wanna talk?

You looked down at the message unsure of how to answer. It was a simple yes or no and the obvious answer was yes. You and Corpse had started talking more regularly. You still didn’t have each other’s phone numbers but it was fine. Your conversations weren’t too big-- just you sending him memes, tiktoks, and telling him how much you liked the songs he would drop. Or him complimenting a tattoo you did. Sometimes he’d message you during streams telling you funny stuff his fans would say in the chat and you’d do the same. You learned a bit about each other but nothing too deep or serious. Like how you two lived a few cities away and you both really liked Donnie Darko. When Sean first invited you to that game out of everyone else there you were most excited to meet Corpse. He’s just so sweet and funny. Of course, you’d love to talk to him but you were also itching to talk to him and the last thing you’d ever want to do was make him uncomfortable.

Y: Yeah id love to talk

Here goes nothing.

Y: Wanna facetime or something?

     No pressure or anything it could even be a regular call

     I think facetime is just my default lol

You sent those last two messages quickly after you had sent the first. You wished you could know what he was thinking. It was killing you to think you had turned him off from talking to you completely. You put your phone down on the couch and went to wash your hand of Dorito dust. When you got back from the kitchen you turned off the tv and tossed yourself onto the couch.

Still no message.

Why am I so fucking stupid?  

Just as you were standing up to stretch from sitting on the couch all day your phone buzzed. You reached for it fast and looked to see that it was him. You became super excited still not even knowing what the message said. It could have told you to never talk to him again for all you knew.

C: sure lets facetime

    xxx-xxx-xxxx

You had his phone number. You added him to your small but growing contact list and called. You sat on your couch waiting for a response when he finally picked up the screen was black. It didn’t upset you; you kind of expected it and didn’t care what he had to do to make himself more comfortable during this call.

“Hey,” he said. His voice was raspier than usual.

“Did you just wake up?” You asked and looked at the time. It was about a little past noon and you had only eaten Doritos all day. Shit, you should probably make a decent meal.

“Not that long ago but yeah,” he responded and giggled. That giggle.

“Well, I’ve eaten nothing but Doritos all day while rewatching Ouran High School Host Club, so you’re welcome to join me as I make myself something to eat.”

“Sounds like fun; what are we eating?”

“I don’t know yet,” You said as you stood up and made your way to the kitchen. You opened the pantry and looked. You noticed a can of diced tomatoes and reached for it then checked the expiration date. It was still good. On your counter were some onions and garlic. “How about some tomato soup?”

“Sounds delicious.” you smiled at Corpse and your phone screen not knowing if he was also looking at his screen or not. “You’re really pretty-- you know that?”

“Thanks, but you don’t have to--”

“I’ve already told you what an incredible artist you are so many times I bet you’re tired of hearing it, but you already know what a talented artist you are.”

“That is very kind of you Corpse,” you said to him bashfully as you chopped the onion and opened the can of tomatoes. “But once again you don’t have to reach so far to compliment me.”

“I’m not reaching you are talented and beautiful and--”

“I thought I was pretty.” You could hear him chuckle with a smile on his face. “You’re both,” he said. You could feel your face getting warm from blushing.

“Fuck you you’re making me blush. My face is all hot and stuff.”

He laughed at how flustered you got. “That’s the cutest thing ever.”

You didn’t know how to respond so you just put some olive oil in a pot and tossed in your onions. It became silent but it was a comfortable silence. You turned the stove on and watched the flame for a few seconds. “If it was dark we could pretend we were together and having a bonfire or something,” you said to the phone as you turned the camera to show him the flame (still not 100 percent sure if he was looking at you or not).

“I’ll put it on the list of things to do when you visit me someday.”

[jkknight98]

Tw for talk of death, recent events, depression. This is going to be a ramble.

Passing on has always been a topic I've found difficult to discuss, especially when the topic of cancer is involved.

I've had very close family members of mine face the same battle that Technoblade did, in fact two of them had the same snarkiness that he was famous for (but if he was in the body of either a 57 yr woman with a glass eye, or a 78 yr old woman who could still kick ass at her age). But this is a very unfortunate fact of life.

It's a mix of terrifying and sad to hear someone the same age of you passing away, I like to joke about feeling old, but 23 is still very young.

I got involved with the smp around the same time that Techno did the butcher army arc and he quickly became my favorite of the entire group, I would risk watching his streams during both class/work no matter the time because I enjoyed his content, especially on the days my depression returned. He would metaphorically able to drop kick those thoughts away and I would feel better again.

To answer a question that I've seen whirling on the discord and may get asked in the future. I’m not going to be writing any stories involving Techno anytime soon (which means the au I was currently planning with a fellow writer will be shelved), this isn't to say I won't write for Character Technoblade again. I'm a firm believer that focusing on the good feelings and inspirations a person gave us is the best thing to do, rather than focusing on our sorrow and pushing them away. To me (and this may just be me) doing that would allow their memory to fade and I couldn’t stand to do that.

Though his physical self can finally rest after such a long battle, his memory will forever live on in our minds, artwork, animations, and stories.

So blood for the blood God, and the memory of Technoblade will never die.

[imagining-in-the-margins]

oh god i have so many anons omg im sorry lmao

Here are some TB&TB Anon Asks 🐇 !

Check the last few answers for a ton of headcanon discussions!

1. I do have a playlist for TB&TB! You can access it here (along with some others!)

You are amazing, and thank you for your kindness 💕

2. Thank you, friend 👽 I’ve been writing, both fan fiction and original works, since I was about 12 years old. So, however many minutes that is! Writing is one of those things that you will literally always get better at the more you write (as long as you continue to enjoy yourself!)

Also, I sold my soul to the angst gods.

3. Ahhhh I was falling asleep when I came up with that exchange and I turned around and frantically typed it into my Discord so I wouldn't forget, lmao!

The universe colored eyes is also referencing a line from Part 7's dream sequence, for those who missed it!

4. Impending doom...? No... Not me... Never... 🌝

5. Big thank you to everyone who sent in a favorite line! You all make my day! It makes me so happy to see people get excited about the same parts as me. The callbacks to the honeysuckle language in the Prologue are some of my favorites.

Sometimes I worry I'm too heavy handed with the metaphors, but I just love nature so much.

6. Aaaaa I wrote that at like 2am when I couldn't sleep! Also, as to how I do it... I've no feckin' clue. Brain say word, word go down.

7. First off, I am so not annoyed with you! These made my day, honestly. It was especially great to see someone guess so many things that will be confirmed in canon, lmao!

I'm not incorporating the Daddy kink into this fic, but I do think it would probably shock him badly enough that he would completely stop whatever he was doing while he processed what just happened, lmao!

This will be confirmed in canon.

I don't specify hair type/length the best I can, so I won't be confirming it in canon, but I do tend to picture her with ponytails/puffs!

Spencer is already a (show) canon fan of soap operas! I think it'd be funny watching him discuss how manipulative a lot of rom coms are, but then slowly falls in love with the tropes. One day he doesn't call one out and she just looks at him like 👀

This will be confirmed in canon.

8. The first one will be confirmed in canon on several occasions.

I love showering scenes, but I won't be including one in this work to make it more accessible to Readers of all races, since many hair types have remarkably different hair care routines!

This will be referenced in canon.

Please, Bunny would be mortified the whole time. She'd probably kick him the first few times.

Again, I love these, but they aren't accessible to all body types, so I try to avoid them! I agree with you, though, that would drive him crazy.

She does fall in heels in the Part 3, lol! I suck at heels because I have ankle problems. Shoutout to my clumsy bitches. I don't specify height, though I usually picture all of my Readers at my height (5'6").

He definitely already knows the skincare, but he would pretend like he doesn't just so she could teach him something. She's too excited for him to break it to her.

She hates when he cuts it because it means she has less of a canvas to work with!

9-10. I'm sorry the picture messed up! I don't know what my computer is doing. But I have the missing text (When the couple moves in together spencer buys a sign to the door that has 2 bunnies on it with their names on it).

I personally love classic rock, but I know not everyone will. I fully agree with your headcanon, and I share it! Technically, we do see her recognize two different songs from the 80s (Don't Stand So Close to Me & Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want). She would also have heard from Derek all of the music he had to introduce Spencer to!

Hamsters are so cute! I personally am a cat person, but I could see her with literally any animal!

Pastels are a must with a nickname like Bunny.

Spencer WOULD be ticklish. She would be a menace.

Spencer makes the mistake of saying "Good Bunny" in front of Derek exactly one (1) time and doesn't say it for another month.

I have a running joke in the Discord that later the couple has two kids they nickname "Birdie" and "Bee." When Bunny asks him for his B-nickname, he replies "Bastard." Idk why, but the bunny sign reminded me of that lmao!

All it takes is Bunny shushing Spencer once and him looking positively terrified of her wrath for them to realize who is really in charge there.

He's just so used to dry cleaning! It's not his fault 😜

Him and that kitten would be inseparable after that. He would spend hours telling her why cats are great companion animals for autistic people!

Thank you for sending me these! I had a blast, and I love you, too!

[setsuunii]

𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗠𝗬 𝗕𝗟𝗢𝗚:

⁀ ✦ 𝗔 𝗟𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨.

— 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘦.

    My formal name is “Setsuunii” (Set-Soo-ne), however, I am fine with having it shortened to “Suunii” (Soo-ne) for casual interactions. I use she/her or they/them pronouns.

    ♡  I love cute and adorable things: to my collection of Rilakkuma and CoroCoro Coronya keychains and dolls, to my favorite characters being Plum-chan and Molang! I enjoy reading manga and webtoons more than watching anime, but it doesn’t mean that I like less of either one.

    ♡  My favorite snacks consist of any sort of salty/savory chips to Kukkias and Milanos.

— 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨:

   This is my secondary blog meant to focus on my original works. I am working on a variety of projects such as “[Lati]fier” and I plan on experimenting and documenting different ideas through this website. By no means should my words be taken as “canon” or true as there may or may not be some changes to my stories.

    All the art I’ve reposted here has been commissions of my characters done by various artists. I will credit every artist who has contributed to my projects and could only hope that when viewing their works, it could inspire you to create your own stories or support the amazing artists who have worked with me to design my characters.

— 𝘐𝘯𝘣𝘰𝘹 𝘐𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

   I am always willing to chat or discuss topics regarding my own stories. If there are any questions or theories that may show up, or perhaps even suggestions and headcanons that you may have for my stories, I will try to reply and repost those ideas.

   I love talking to people, and if you were to have anything you want to ask, then be free to chat with me or send your messages through my inbox.

— 𝘊𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦.

   I am using “Weltmeister” by choihangyuls-main/Mizukihs. If you would like to explore my other links (Primary Blog, Discord, and Contact Info), you would have to right-click on the box to open its contents.

   My profile picture on this account is “Komi-san” from “Komi Can't Communicate,” a Japanese manga series written by Tomohito Oda. 

— 𝘛𝘢𝘨𝘴:

     Creative works & General Tags:

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       ✧ — Writing Workshop

[universallywriting]

What fandoms besides MLB and SU are you in?

idk because i love a lot of stuff, but i'm not necessarily like "in fandom". Like I really love Shera, and I've read a lot of fics for it, and I've even been requested to do a couple (which I have), but I can't ever really see myself writing long fics for it, or pursuing endless meta about it, or stuff like that.

It usually takes me a while to warm up to something, and once I do I get pretty stuck on it. I've never been "early" to a fandom. Plus, I like a lot of cartoons, so I tend to discuss stuff in private Discord groups because a lot of fandom is a child-focused space, which is wonderful, but I'm not a child so I don't really belong or want to be in a lot of parts of it.

Every couple of years I fall in love with Teen Titans and bbrae again, lol.

Honestly, my biggest love is books, and books don't really get big creative fandoms unless they get movies. And, like, tbh, almost everything I read is from somebody who is queer, female, or a POC (ideally all three at once) and those works don't seem to get as popular with demographics that get involved in fandom and create fan content, lol.

oh and i also like anime but i only love anime that runs for, like, 24 episodes and nobody cares about it so the fandom doesn't exist, and i can't bring myself to care enough about anime boys who dream about being the best at punching to write fanfic or seriously engage in fandom. I just like watching them hit shit real good.

[danideservedbetter]

Alright so, here’s how things are gonna work.

First off, welcome to this side blog. Since it won’t be jolly fun fandom content and will be a little more personal I decided to separate my health and writing journey from my fandom stuff, although all my fandom content will still be linked on my main blog here.

(I write Izuocha/bnha content which isn’t super popular so if you’re not here for that then yeah, I don’t blame you. But if you are I have a link to our discord and community content pinned so def check it out if you’re interested.)

Secondly, you guys will hear details about stuff relating to my health like what kinds of things affect my disorder based on the tests some doctors are ordering, how I’m trying to improve my diet and activity, and routines and goals I’m attempting for myself. I am underweight, and that’s something I’m going to be talking a bit about, so if that’s triggering following this blog might not be the best thing for you. Details under the cut.

So, what kind of disorder do I have and why did I decide to make a health journey blog? My disorder is called idiopathic hypersomnia. Basically what that means is that when my disorder is acting up (based on factors like stress especially or my generalized anxiety rearing its ugly head) I have the capacity to sleep. And sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep. My longest recorded uninterrupted “sleep-attack” was 26 hours long and ever since I caught Covid in January, my body had been slowly growing weaker to the point I was starting to develop atrophy. I’ve had this ten years and my neurologist suspects inactive cells from mononucleosis I caught at 14 was the cause, because other IH patients have linked their sleeping problems to a case of mono or have had it at some point in their lives.

This disease stole many years and many things I’ve looked forward to from me. I lost friends and experiences and failed so many college classes I had to drop out.

I’ve decided I’m taking them back.

It’s not going to be easy. Just as it took ten years to convince myself that my tiredness was something I chose to give into, it took several extra years and many fights with my family to convince them that I had a real actual neurological disorder and that I need help sometimes. My parents and grandmother finally understand that I have to finish college and find a very special boss willing to work around my erratic progress on projects, but the outsiders they married are not as convinced. My grandmother’s husband kicked me out of their house because he wants to be the center of attention and doesn’t like that some days I’m so weak that I needed my grandmother’s help, and my father’s wife thinks I’m a lazy and ungrateful leech who “gets anxiety just being around” me. Both told my father I’ll never be happy so why even bother with me, but my dad is actually striving to understand his own recently-diagnosed PTSD so while we still butt heads he’s understanding that I have to take things day by day because every tiny circumstance affects my disorder.

Now, why did I decide to air all this out? Well, being open about my disorder and how it affects me has helped at least two people that I know of find out that the tiredness they experience isn’t the typical “American work force exhaustion” they were trained to believe is normal. So if I can help even one more, I’ll gladly talk about what this entails and how I deal with it day to day. Another reason is that I’m also one of those big advocates who believes talking candidly about mental health destigmatizes it and sharing ideas can help us grow as people and maybe make it a little easier to deal with.

So now that you know a little bit about me and my disorder, here are my big goals for the next three months provided my university takes pity on me and actually lets me go back.

First up: create routines to train my body to get used to living a full day fully awake. This includes waking up at the same time and going to sleep at the same time. It means getting dressed and going out and doing things, even little things— which I’ll get to in a sec.

Second: I write. I have a novel in limbo and I write fanfics. Writing is a big part of who I am and I’ve written one thing this year, which for a whole six-month stretch is upsetting and disappointing. Today is my reset. In the next 569 days I want to to finish the six stories I have in limbo (except the larger one) and finally reach my goal of posting 200k words in a single year. I wont be hard on myself if I can’t accomplish this because honestly finishing anything in the chaos of my life is going to be a miracle but. There ya go.

Third: go back to freakin college. I don’t care what it takes. Sit down with every official, every lawyer, and every professor it takes to get me back enrolled in classes in the fall.

Fourth: I have several smaller things I have to do, short term goals, stuff like that. I’m gonna create a to do list each day of small tasks I want to get done and while some of these things will be part of my daily routine I am throwing in like one or two things a day that just need to be done. My writing goal will change daily and I’ll keep y’all updated on that with every post I make.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Dani! That’s so much!! Well, a few months ago I remembered hey!! I basically have a computer in my hand, why make it hard on myself. So I downloaded certain apps to help me out. This isn’t me saying “hey go subscribe to these apps because I said so” it’s just that through a lot of trial and error I’ve come to find that these certain apps work for me and I’ve yet to come across one that has the functionality of everything I need.

Tiimo — so this is an app I found developed by people with autism for people with autism to help them develop good habits and routines. It has preset daily schedules (things like morning routines or nightly routines or work routines) and an internal alarm to let you know when to move on to the next task. I myself have extremely low-level aspergers (to the point where my doctor won’t give me an official diagnosis because I didn’t want people think that *it’s* the reason I have issues with school), so moving from task to task can be difficult sometimes and I also deal with getting distracted. This widget also appears on my home screen so I know what I have to do at a glance. You can program in weekly and daily tasks to fully customize your schedule, which is fantastic for someone like me who wants to for example rotate chores. This is hopefully going to help me get my body in the habit of adjusting to routines and transitioning from one task to another, as well as getting important things done responsibly.

Promptly Journals — I’ve been told for a while that journaling is helpful mentally to kind of recenter yourself, so a bit ago I downloaded several journal apps to add to my morning routine. Now some will prefer more creatively free journals, but I prefer this one that gives me small prompts I can do in a short amount of time that just allows me to get my thoughts down. I can even add pictures at the bottom that go with the theme! I’m scared I’ll run out of prompts eventually lol but until then this app works very well for my needs.

Stretchingexercise — Now idk if it’s from lack of sleep from my disorder, the position I sleep in when I do sleep, all the physical labor I’ve had to do in the past couple weeks, my medicine, or w h a t but I suffer from body aches like no one would believe. I know stretching is supposed to help with that, so I downloaded this app to help me do non-demanding physical activity that wakes me up in the mornings and helps relieve pain so I don’t keep having to take pain relievers. This one has different plans for things like muscle tension, back pain, warm ups— and it also gives you rudimentary weight updates (I’m underweight lololol so we’re looking to fix that) or plan updates. It’s worked really well for me so far and gives you animations and descriptions of the workouts (some taken from yoga) as well as timed breaks and a narrated guide. It’s been pretty helpful in temporary relief and if nothing else gets my blood flowing in the mornings.

Widgetsmith Step counter — in addition to the stretching thing one thing my doctor and I discussed that helps with the sedentary lifestyle is simply walking. I’ve needed so bad to relieve my stamina and reverse the atrophy, and walks have been stellar for that. Now I live in the New Orleans area so humidity and heat force me to go at the crack of Dawn, but honestly my weenie dachshund Charlie really enjoys our time out so he goes with me! The CDC recommends 10,000 steps a day which seems like a lot and it is if you don’t get out much. But this gives me an excuse to get dressed and do the hygienic thing and help Charlie be healthy too, as well as give me time for brainstorming because we walk in a truly beautiful area. I’m sure everyone installed widgetsmith with the last iOS update (Apple users anyway) and while at first the step counter was just interesting I’ve since come to rely on it! We do our 5000 in the morning, which of course is half, and I find that other things I do throughout the day typically drive the counter higher. Anything leftover can easily be accomplished by an evening walk in our neighborhood. Now the caveat is that I have to remote have my phone in my pocket because I don’t own a watch or anything fancy lol, but honestly I need to keep it on me anyway so that serves as a good reminder.

Todoist — this one is my FAVORITE. Ever since I’ve decided that I have trouble keeping track of things I need to do and small stuff I need to keep in mind and appointments, etc, I decided to find a list app. This is the one I found that absolutely helps me for everything from my list of room supplies I need to buy, to my reading list, to general tasks I have coming up I need to complete. And its widget functionality keeps it right on my Home Screen! More organized individuals can just use tiimo, but I’m definitely not one of those individuals so this app is sorely needed and appreciated.

And of course, I know building habits the first few weeks is HARD. So for days my body doesn’t respond to my alarms, I have a checklist of the key things I have to do to keep my life as functional as possible.

So that’s that on that. I’m going to try to keep writing updates and my daily goals in a post in the morning, and reblog what I accomplished in the evening. It’s gonna be tough. But I’m thinking if I can start small I’ll be able to build my stamina enough to return to college and be successful when I do. I hope that anyone watching this journey draws some kind of meaning or inspiration from it. And you guys can even follow along if y’all want! Especially for writers or people trying to get healthier. I can’t promise what works for me will work for you (and honestly I expect things to change especially if I get accepted into college again) but hey, I figure it’s worth a shot.

I hope you guys enjoy watching this journey, if nothing else I hope it’s entertaining. And maybe it’ll be successful. I do know that I’m just gonna try for it, and hope it works out.

First daily update to follow

Xoxo

Dani

[tinyshinysylveon]

i suddenly got this idea where izuku is an anonymous famous editor for youtubers who hire him to edit their videos because he’s a professional at doing it, and katsuki is an upcoming youtube vlogger who travels around the world and yet doesn’t know how to edit his own videos to save his life, so no matter what he does, he always seem to mess up even the basics of editing (part 1/??)

“i think you need professional help” kirishima says as he watches katsuki trying to drag an edited cut on to his video for the umpteenth time that day “shut up, shitty hair just give me a minute-” an error popup. “did you just.. deleted the video?” “....”

katsuki keeps trying, he even watched tutorials on youtube (while skipping important segments ofc because he can totally do that all on his own!) but his patience is wearing thin until kirishima recommended him to someone who’s known in the youtube community for their famous editing skills 

“..deku?” katsuki stares at his screen showing a youtube profile with the name deku as their username and an icon of all might with edited-in sunglasses “okay look, he may seem suspicious to you, but i gotta tell you bakugou, he’s legit, i’ve seen his videos and they look awesome!” well katsuki will be the judge of that despite this deku having 5 mil+ subscribers than him!

the blonde spent the whole day watching deku’s videos which mostly consists of amvs (anime music videos) and games, especially the ones that required a lot of effort to make, plus he even made tutorials! so he gotta give him credit for that, but alas, katsuki is still somehow having trouble following directions and gave up on the latest tutorial video on how to add an easy transition 

when kirishima came to check in with katsuki, all he heard were multiple clicks and grumbled noises, he let out an exasperated sigh “i can’t believe you’re still trying..” “what the fuck do you want me to do kirishima?” katsuki was trying not to flip his table at this point. “hire him obviously!” the red head yells out as if that’s the answer to their problems “..and how do you suppose i do that?” 

it actually took a lot of convincing in kirishima’s part, but katsuki finally threw away his pride and decided to send a message to deku’s business email that was left under his about page on youtube 

“..i want you to become my editor and help me in becoming the #1 youtube travel vlogger in the community” kirishima reads the message out loud that’s displayed on the screen, “you sure you want to send it like this?” “i don’t see anything wrong with it?” “but don’t you think it’s too.. blunt? no formalities or anything like, hello i’ve seen your videos and i would be honored to have you as my editor, you know?” katsuki just shrugged, “it’s too late, i already sent it to him”

about half a day later, deku replied back, “Good afternoon Mr.Explosionmurder, I appreciate that you requested me to become your editor and would like to discuss further details about our agreement via discord. You can contact me by adding my username, deku#2463. I look forward to hearing from you.” to this day, kirishima still can’t believe his eyes when he read the message

“oi shitty hair, what’s a discord?” 

it wasn’t katsuki’s fault that the majority of time he spent in high school was doing his best to stay on top of assignments and projects, plus being in the A honor roll, he didn’t really get to decide on his career until after he graduated, thanks to the courtesy of his parents owning their own modeling industry, he put the money he saved up to good use in traveling around the world and vlogging it for people to see with kirishima as his traveling partner

he explained all of this and his reasonings to deku on discord once he reached out to him and figured out how to use the platform, but katsuki was still suspicious regarding his video editing skills and wanted to see it firsthand on how his videos would look like as a finished product

deku: fair enough, send me your videos and i’ll see what i can do, until then, if you deem it satisfactory, which i’m confident that you will, i request a 50/50 payment on your revenue. take it or leave it. 

for some reason, katsuki agreed to it without a second thought due to the challenging tone from the message; “i can’t believe you! i told you to trust him! why do you have to doubt him?! haven’t you already seen his videos?!” kirishima was full on panicking at this point, how were they going to make money?! “shut up, i know what i’m doing! i know what’s best for my videos!” it was a good chance too since they’re currently in hong kong and planning to shoot the top 10 tourist spots to visit as claimed by an article he found online

a few days later, katsuki finally got all the videos piled up in one folder and sent them all in a google drive to share with deku just as he requested, he even mentioned to him thru discord message to follow the cues he was giving him on his videos such as when he and kirishima took a stroll and tried foods in the temple street night market; “hey deku, i want you to do a close up of kirishima eating the curry fish ball with erotic music playing in the background” he smirks while focusing the camera on the red head eating without a care in the world and not noticing katsuki making the comment, “mmm dude, mmm you gotta try this, it’s so freakin’ good- wait bro, how long have you been pointing the camera at me?” 

in less than a week, deku sent a reply back with the link to the fully edited video; deku: hmm, not gonna lie, but your cues were actually helpful and dare I say, creative? katsuki took it as a compliment and opened the link to the video file, it was about a few GB so it shouldn’t take a long time to upload on youtube, but.. was it ready? he called in kirishima to watch it with him and was actually prepared for it to look horrible despite deku’s obvious talent except.. it was actually pretty good?? better even?! “what did i tell ya katsuki? i told you he was legit,” his partner boasted, just earlier he was embarrassed when the part about him eating the curry fish ball with the “let’s get it on” music in the background showed up while the blonde just rolled his eyes. 

explosionmurder: thanks, and i just saw it, consider yourself hired deku: happy to be of service! i’m looking forward to working with you, mr.explosionmurder! it would be helpful again if you provided the cues during your journey! :)  explosionmurder: don’t mention it and also don’t call me that, call me katsuki  deku: okay, mr.katsuki! [all might emoji]

kastuki found it odd that he became really eager during the exchange but thought nothing of it

a couple of months flew by and katsuki with kirishima in tow have already travelled in 4 other different countries, he even received about 500k+ subscribers, he’s almost to 1 million! as per agreement, he gives half of his revenue to deku which was okay with him since he still has a lot of saved up money in the bank including kirishima’s since they’re sharing it anyway, most of the time, his communication with deku have been entirely professional with a few emojis in between (usually deku’s part), until today that is 

deku: it must be nice to travel 0:  explosionmurder: pfft, what are you talking about? you now have over 7 mil+ subscribers in your channel since i met you, you can go traveling whenever or wherever you want  deku: i can’t  explosionmurder: what do you mean you can’t?

no reply

since then, katsuki didn’t want to think too much on what deku said and focused mostly on traveling, those videos won’t work themselves! after he finished, he sent over the videos of his recent trip from india over to deku and as usual, deku delivered it back beautifully edited along with a message 

deku: that’s so cool! you guys went to india? *o* [link to video edit] explosionmurder: yeah, you should’ve seen shitty hair when he tried that really spicy curry, which reminds me, you did what i asked right? deku: of course mr. katsuki! as always, i’ve paid attention to every cue you asked for! [saluting pepe emoji] explosionmurder: good good, i didn’t just hire you to sit on your ass all day  deku: haha you’re not my only contractor you know ^^”  explosionmurder: is that what you meant when you said you couldn’t travel because you’ve been busy? way to be blunt katsuki, he mentally berated himself, but at least deku answered this time, although reluctantly deku: ...let’s just say im stuck at home  in that very moment, is when everything changed between them explosionmurder: alright nerd, you sound depressed as hell so i’m going to give you the decision to decide on where we’re going to travel to next, think of it as a reward for all you’ve done for us  deku: asdkjflas that’s too much! T_T are you sure mr. katsuki??? explosionmurder: i’m waiting, you got 3 seconds starting now, 3  deku: america! i’ve been wanting to go to america...

katsuki told kirishima his plans, then the spiky red head gave him a pat on the back and a thumbs up, “so you do have a sentimental bone in your body!” kirishima was almost close to being dead that very same day 

when they arrived to america, he asked deku the list of things he wanted to see and most of them were, “all might amusement park, all might cafe, all might- is there anything else the nerd likes besides all might and superheroes?” katsuki says while viewing the list in the hotel they’re staying at. “give him a break, you said so yourself that he couldn’t leave his house, so this is the least we can do for him and for all the hard work he put in our videos,” kirishima reasoned with him

on the last day of their trip, katsuki did his routine in piling the videos together and sending them to deku with the attached message, “i actually bought you a souvenir if you want it, looked like the type of shit you would like, you’ll see what it is in the videos i’ve sent you” they’ve known each other long enough so he thought why the hell not, it’s just a matter of getting his PO address, and the response to this was immediate, “AAA I SAW IT! THANK YOU THANK YOU!” <3<3 <(^w^<)

it was an all might limited edition figurine only available in the US 

for the first time, deku took two days longer to finish than katsuki expected him to since they’ve started because he always goes through them pretty quickly, maybe he’s too busy making them look up-to-par? whatever the case was, when katsuki received the video, it already had a title for it, “MY AWESOME TRIP TO AMERICA PLUS ULTRA!” kirishima just laughed and told him to keep it in honor of deku so he left it like that, “this better give me some views,” he grumbled and uploaded it the night before they went to bed, he wasn’t really worried in checking it out either because he has faith in deku’s abilities  

the morning after was hectic, katsuki has been receiving notifications upon notifications on the “travel bros” (courtesy of kirishima) twitter since last night, one in particular caught his eye, “i can’t believe deku and katsuki are dating! who would’ve thought!” what?

a short video appeared underneath that came from the video he uploaded, and regretfully never took a look at, showing katsuki saying to the camera as he held the AM figurine, “deku, you should’ve been here, look at what i got you, nerd,” at first glance, it was supposed to look normal (from the original video!) except hearts and sparkles began appearing around katsuki as he smirks up at the camera, what the fuck? besides, deku was suppose to edit that all out! for every cue in every part where he says deku’s name, he was expected to delete them like he usually does! even though it was no secret that deku was his video editor, he distinctly remembers mentioning about him in a video they took way back when they first started out their contract agreement

meanwhile, kirishima was having a field day, he finally saw their video while katsuki kept on seeing other short videos of him on twitter from different segments of the trip in which he either had sparkles or hearts around him, especially when he mentions deku’s name; “bro you won’t believe this, our subscribers grew up to over 1 million last night!” kirishima yells enthusiastically, but when he noticed katsuki not paying attention to him, he looked over his shoulder to check what he was looking at. “oh that, you know those aren’t fanmade videos, right?” katsuki unblinkingly turned to look at him, “you mean..?” kirishima gave him a toothy grin, “yep!” 

a video call from discord, “dekuuuu, what is the meaning of this?” a squeaky voice, “i-I’m so sorry i got carried away and i couldn’t help it! all might was too beautiful including you and-!” “..what did you just say?”

TBC maybe?

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Sophia Jirafe

Seven of Sophia Jirafe’s fics are at Gossamer, but more of her X-Files stories are at AO3 (as sophiahelix). I’ve recced some of my favorites of her stories here before, including Stones and Bones. She was active in the fandom during the show’s run and has never strayed far from fandom in general. She co-founded Glass Onion, a great multi-fandom mailing list that now has nearly 1,000 fics from 100 fandoms at AO3. Big thanks to Sophia Jirafe for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

It did initially, but so many old shows are on streaming now and getting discovered by new people, it makes sense.

I did get a comment from someone who said my first story under this name, posted in early 2000 when I was a college freshman, was older than her by a couple of months, and THAT took me aback.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

It was my first fandom, discovered when I was 17 and searching for info about the show on the school library computer, and it really shaped my whole life! I met a lot of people I still know today (mostly in non-fannish venues like FB, though I do still have some connections in fandom), and learned a lot about writing and just life generally, since I was younger than most of fandom at the time.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

I started off on a tiny forum at a website called Squirrel’s Nest, but I kept seeing people thanking Scullyfic in fic headers and eventually I was able to join the mailing list (which was capped to 500 members). Scullyfic was everything to me — I made friends, betas, discussed the show, learned about all kinds of things on Off-Topic Fridays, etc. A lot of those friends, I would email with or more often chat on AIM (individual or these sprawling group chats that would go on all day), and then at the end of 2001 we started migrating to Livejournal. I was getting into Buffy more by then, but it was still mostly the same crowd of people I knew from Scullyfic.

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

I feel like it started me on a whole life path really — finding that my deep obsession with fiction could be channeled like that and shared with other people, as well as deepening my writing. Online fandom has been a major part of my social life for over 20 years now, and I love the mix of getting excited about things with friends and also the creative outlet.

My corner of X-Files fandom in particular was just very calm and enjoyable for the most part, full of older professional women who were happy to be friends and give me advice about all kinds of things, and it really set the bar for me with my online interactions. Now I’m almost 40 and trying to be that person for my younger friends, as well as having no patience for toxicity and in-fighting in my fandom spaces.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

A combination of the creepy conspiracy angle and just adoring Scully. I remember how mysterious and fascinating the show seemed when I discovered it right before S5, and there was no way to find out more except to keep watching and hoping they explained. Scully was so smart and tough and beautiful and interesting, and as a teen I was just captivated by her (and the UST, though I didn’t care about Mulder as much).

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I ran across it a couple times early on but felt embarrassed by the concept, but then I read the first in Karen Rasch’s Words series and suddenly it clicked for me. After a while I started daydreaming my own conversations between them, very similar to what happens to me now when I’m getting into a new pairing, so after reading tons of recommended fic by big authors, I started writing my own (the 3-4 stories I posted in high school are all wiped from the internet now, though).

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

Good memories, though because it was my senior year of high school and college, I know a lot of it is just tied to that time in my life, and also being in my very first fandom. I will rewatch episodes from time to time, but I basically never revisit former fandoms because they’re kind of like exes, even if I finished on a good note. I also think my taste in fic has changed (and there isn’t the same novelty of “characters I like getting together omg!”)

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

So many! None of them had quite the same combination of excellent central architecture (especially pre-AO3) and a really high level of discussion and friendliness without being enormous, but I’ve loved them all in their own ways. I’ve done fandom on LJ/DW, Tumblr, Discord, and now on Twitter, and I think I miss the mailing list days the most. You didn’t have to repeat yourself so much in multiple conversations, you weren’t character limited, and the discussion was all in one place, with personal stuff more confined to your side conversations. Discord is a little like that, but it moves too fast and there’s too much noise for my taste.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

Heh, after X-Files I went through a whole phase of faves in the Scully vein — Buffy, Aeryn Sun, Kara Thrace, etc. Like many people I’ve shifted primarily into m/m in the last decade (Sherlock, YOI, and recently The Untamed have been my major fictional fandoms, along with a lot of sports RPF), but for non-fannish shows I’m always looking for awesome new female characters, like Elizabeth on the Americans, Peggy on Mad Men, Nadja on What We Do in the Shadows, etc. And I do LOVE Killing Eve and have written a little f/f over there.

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

I’ll rewatch favorite episodes occasionally, and I keep thinking about a full rewatch but it takes so much time! I never saw the second movie, and I didn’t finish the first of the new seasons because I was hating it, so it’s a little hard for me to think fannishly about them when I disliked basically everything after “Je Souhaite” so much (as far as I’m concerned the show ends there).

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

X-Files no, but yeah I’m still very active in fandoms.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

I lost all my saved fic several computers ago, but I recall loving “Blue Christmas” by Plausible Deniability and “Diamonds and Rust” by MustangSally (obviously everything she wrote was great).

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Looking at my X-Files fic, I can’t believe how short it is and how comparatively little of it there is (I have lost track of a few ficlets). It felt like such a big deal to finish anything back then! I think my favorite remains Alphabetum, which involved a tricky structure and 5 elements given by people as part of the Scullyfic Improv challenge, where you had a week to write a story around those elements.

My favorite of my recent fic in fictional fandoms is probably the GoT/YOI crossover novel I wrote a couple years ago, for a completely opposite experience to this (and proof you can grow as a writer with a lot of effort!)

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

It’s honestly hard to imagine going back (like I said, I usually don’t), but I guess I could get inspired by something.

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I certainly still write, and I do have to give credit to XF fandom and Scullyfic in particular for giving me the start I got, where I really wanted to be writing good fiction. The few things I wrote in high school were just me jamming out romantic cliches, but the people I was lucky to know in XF fandom showed me that “just” fanfic can still aspire to be high quality. I am a much, much better and more disciplined writer than I was back then, but I might never have started on this path without fandom friends encouraging me.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

Usually just daydreaming about emotional dynamics between characters/people, but sometimes something specific in canon or real life (I write a lot of RPF) gets me going, or maybe something I read.

What's the story behind your pen name?

When I wrote for X-Files, I picked “Sophia Jirafe” combining my favorite first name with a fancy spelling for my favorite animal (I was 18! Don’t judge!) Over on Livejournal, my friend Jintian and I initially shared an account with the same name as our website, double_helix, and when she got her own account I changed to sophia_helix, which is now sophiahelix just about everywhere. A little clunky, but I like the continuity (and I do run across old friends who remember the name).

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

The friends I’ve known for a very long time know about it, but we have never talked about it in depth. My husband, who I met not long after getting into fandom, also knows about it, and he’s encouraging and also a writer so we talk all the time. I told my mom in college and she was pretty dismissive, so we haven’t talked about it since (but my younger sister knows and is cool about it).

When I was younger, it was something I shared readily (I bonded with a new friend in law school I saw looking at LJ), but now I don’t really bring it up with new acquaintances.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

I just made a Carrd the other day with all my various fannish addresses (Twitter, locked fannish Twitter, AO3, Tumblr)

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

Just that it really was a high quality fandom — so much excellent long casefic, so many cool down to earth people, just generally a great launching place for a young fan. The friendships I made with older people were really important to me, and it makes me sad to see a lot of younger people now getting upset about the idea of anyone over a certain age being in their fandom spaces. I hope someday fandom can get back to appreciating that people of all ages can be the fandom type, and that everyone brings something different to the community.

(Posted by Lilydale on December 1, 2020)