#These are just the fandoms I'm particularly partial towards as of writing this

[giggly-squiggily]

Hm.. top 3 favourite fandoms/anime you would/already have written for? Or ones your interested in? Just asking so when you have requests and stuff open I know what to ask for lol

🐸 - anon

Oo, that's a great question! Thanks for asking, friend! Let's see..

Blue Lock: My comfort show/absolute brainrot fandom right now. Any characters will do- though admittedly I'm incredibly biased towards the fearsome four (Isagi, Chigiri, Kunigami, Bachira) but yee- give me some characters and a prompt when they're open and I'll gladly write it! :D

Demon Slayer: I feel like I write for this one alot but I just really love Demon Slayera kjrajkerjerkaj. Admittedly I'd love to get some more prompts with the Kamaboku squad (Tanjiro and friends)- I love writing the Hashira/12 Kizuki (sans Muzan) and will always do so- I just also really miss writing for Tanjiro lols. I'll have to start working up ideas for them aoerajkrjkarjk

Sk8 The Infinity: The absolute JOY I feel whenever I get to write for these dorks arekajraerkarker It's a bit rare these days but not uncommon! I love the characters so much- the potential for tickly shenanigans is unstoppable!

Here's a few honorable mentions :D

Hell's Paradise: It's fairly new so I don't get nor expect many requests for it but the ones I get- oooooo I love it! I also have a ton of my own ideas I turn into fics for it so it's a good time all around!

Bungo Stray Dogs: I need to watch more/start the manga but kajkjraekjrajklerjkarjkaewjkraekjwrjkaew YES. Dazai beloved- I love writing and reading him so much! My friend got me hooked on the two major ships (Shin Soukoku and what- Sou Koku? If I butchered it my bad- AkuAtsu and Dazuuya there you go :D)

Fruits Basket: My literal babies I adore them so much! Part of me really wants to rewatch the anime again cause it's just that sweet. Whenever I get the chance to write for them my heart does a happy little dance aklerajrjaekrj

Thanks for asking!

[saintsenara]

What I really struggle with in HP is JKR's shallow neoliberal world-building, and how it forces characters to navigate it quite awkwardly. As a big fan of the werewolf lore, I hate what she did there. I want to accept some of the self hatred and oversimplification of the society as complexities of the characters, but some of it also just feels like bad writing. Of course I am a bit of a Lupin stan and I'll do some gymnastics to try to make him a better man/werewolf than he'd ever be (I like to picture him as kind of a Union rep), but I don't know, I just really feel like canon is lacking. Am I just not a great reader?

no, i don't think you're a bad reader, anon.

when it comes to worldbuilding, jkr is certainly no tolkien - a lot of the inconsistencies in canon [i.e. why dumbledore flies to the ministry in philosopher's stone] come from her not having the world fully mapped out prior to writing, and, while this isn't as much of an issue as the fandom makes out [lots of authors adapt their worldbuilding as they go along!], it's definitely exacerbated by the fact that she has a tendency to claim certain inconsistencies were intentional.

the series' politics are also clearly incredibly neoliberal. and part of this [such as the fact that the order is defending the "sensible" status quo] is obviously a bleed-through from jkr's worldview, and i think it's legitimate to acknowledge and criticise that and how it manifests itself in the doylist text.

nonetheless, i think it is worth saying that the fandom has a tendency to criticise aspects of the text which ought instead to be understood as intentional spaces we can devote our energy to filling in. the genre conventions of the series require it to become an uncomplicated good-versus-evil trajectory which ends with all being well - and i do think that, when we're criticising jkr's writing, it's important to acknowledge that the ending of the series feels unsatisfactory because it does these conventions properly, rather than in spite of that fact. similarly, the reason that apparently key aspects of wizarding society [law, politics, etc.] don't get discussed in detail is because they're not the series' focus - i've mentioned elsewhere that i'm obsessed with the concept of wizarding medicine, and that i find the way this is presented in the series really shallow, but i recognise that this is because medicine isn't something the series wants to focus on. order of the phoenix is too long as it is - we don't need 200 more pages of detailed descriptions of how healers learn their craft...

and so i think it's fun for us to work in our own writing to make the worldbuilding feel a bit more cohesive.

the easiest way i've found to square this circle with the watsonian text is to recognise that harry is a partial narrator. he's someone with an incredibly self-serving, black-and-white moral code; he's incredibly privileged within wizarding society and comparatively privileged within muggle society [by which i don't mean that he isn't neglected by the dursleys, but he's also canonically white, able-bodied, cisgender, a native english speaker, well-educated, raised in a middle-class household and so on] and, therefore, never has to actually think about the politics and structure of wizarding society; and he's also a teenage boy, which explains him not being particularly observant or politically aware.

[the best example of this is, of course, that he doesn't give a shit about sirius' treatment of kreacher - because he likes sirius - and he doesn't consider his own mastery over kreacher to be a moral abomination - because he's shown to not really understand the broader social impact of slavery - but he detests the malfoys' treatment of dobby entirely and only because he dislikes the malfoys.]

his attitude towards lupin - and his attitude towards werewolves more generally - can be made sense of through this, i think. harry doesn't care about the broader state-sanctioned oppression of werewolves because it doesn't impact him, he cares about lupin's experience because it does; harry doesn't notice the imperialist overtones to lupin's self-presentation [that is, that he bears "the unmistakable signs of having tried to live among wizards"] and considers lupin's embrace of "civilisation" to be a good thing [in comparison to werewolves like greyback, who reject it] because it's what he personally considers legitimate; harry focuses on specific aspects of lupin's character because he's not a omniscient perspective - he's a [canonically short-sighted] teenage boy.

[teardropvampire]

To give my thoughts on the fandom discussion of the handling of DID Mikoto/John's writing after the Double mv, I think my main frustration is just the somewhat black and white attitude many people have being viewing things with. In all honesty, I think the writing is complex situation that's a lot more then just 'good rep vs bad rep'. Instead, it almost could be better viewed through what the writing choices are attempting to explore/say about the character vs what ended up coming across to viewers? Its especially hard when we're only partially through the series, meaning a lot of your current opinion has to come from how strong your faith is in the series providing satisfying narrative conclusions to all the threads we've been presented with so far. But even then, I think its both fine to be uncomfortable with his portrayal or be satisfied with it - and that mixed reaction is generally what I've seen so far, particularly from viewers who are systems themselves. Its important for us singlets that we take into account the opinions of systems who are willing to comment on the character while also using our own critical thinking. Things seem to have been a lot better so far in that regard, which is great to see.

As for me personally? I have to say that I trust in the series to deliver nuanced and respectful writing. When you take a look at the series from a wider perspective, Mikoto and John's circumstances do tie into Milgram's exploration of societal issues in a way that I'd expect to be handled with care and empathy going forward. I feel the presentation of such flawed characters and the conflicts that can arise in our voting as a result of it can be applied to not just here but all the characters in at least some way. John isn't, and was never meant to be portrayed as purely antagonistic or monotonous, and I'm glad that idea has gotten more focus in this trial. This complex presentation of the cast's actions, as confronting as it often may be, have always been to help us understand and connect with the prisoners, rather than demonize them as foreign entities. This is particularly notable in Mikoto's case because of the divisive nature of mental health as a subject matter, but is definitely not the only occurrence of it in the series. However, Mikoto's case is definitely not perfect from a writing perspective and its important to be critiqued when necessary! Regardless of good intentions, trying to write a disability as complicated as DID will inevitably contain both steps forward and backwards. Although my opinion towards the handling of Mikoto's DID in this trial lean towards positive, It's completely justified to be uncomfortable with it and we should respect those who feel that way. But yeah, it's just slightly frustrating that I've seen people acting as if you need to decide between 'this is good rep, defend the series with your life' and 'this is bad rep, drop the series entirely'. Of course, learning to observe your own bias and look beyond restrained dichotomies of judgement has always been one of the series' main intent, so it's interesting in how it's shown itself again this time around. It'll be extremely interesting to see how both Mikoto and John are going to develop as characters going forward!

[flightfoot]

Underrated Miraculous Fic writers

So I read a crapton of miraculous fanfics, and I often end up gravitating towards particular fic writers over and over. Most of the time a lot of other people have clearly noticed the same thing, as their stories tend to get tons of kudos - but not always. Some of the fic writers I read most reliably get very little attention, for one reason or another. Usually because they tend to write for a particular niche that I like but isn't overwhelmingly popular throughout the fandom, but other times I have no idea why their stories aren't more popular.

Anyway, I wanted to spotlight a few of those authors here!

---

Generalluxun (@generalluxun)

If you're a fan of fics that really explore Chloe's character, look into her mindset and try to redeem her without relying on shortcuts or making other characters look worse in comparison, then you've probably at least dabbled in his fics before. I'm especially partial to his newest fic "In Direct Opposition", as Alya's the main POV character and is looking to reform Chloe while navigating this whole akuma situation, and Control, a Senti!Chloe fic where Marinette accidentally stumbles across Chloe's Amok and has to decide what to do with it.

---

linerle (@liiinerle)

Linerle specializes in Marigami fics, with a more general bend towards queer romance. If you like those, then you're in for a real treat! Accidents Are Also Miracles is particularly noteworthy, as it's the single longest completed Marigami-centric fic in the fandom. It's a fantastic story that I highly recommend checking out!

---

BecomingButterflies (@bbutterflies)

They specialize in Adrino fics, so if you want to read some Adrino goodness, their author page is a great place to stop by! I've especially enjoyed "I'll give myself a name (something stupid and pretentious)", where Adrien leaves town after finding out Monarch was Gabriel, and only returns years later, to find that Nino has missed him quite a lot...

---

TrishaCollins (@consistent-chaos-corporation)

Trisha often writes Felix-focused fics, delving into his trauma with being raised by Colt, and him trying to be a better person. Not that it's just introspective pieces, a lot of their fics are pretty action-based with serious stakes and villains who are only too willing to hurt the heroes and innocent bystanders, and even kill them. I'm especially partial to their Madness series, which is a sprawling AU, touching on Felix's and Adrien's childhood, but soon fast-forwarding to the present-day, with Chat Noir and Ladybug confronting Felix about Monarch's Miraculous theft, and him seeing the errors of his ways and helping them. I particularly appreciate how viscerally Felix comes to understand how his actions hurt others, particularly the Kwamis, who he put in a similar position to what he himself had been in with Colt.

---

TheChatatonicOne (@rosie-b)

I love a lot of their fics dearly, they're well-written and scratch just the right itch! They mostly write Lovesquare fics, often with a more angsty bent.

I especially adore their enemies au fics:

Stealing Freedom, where Adrien's long been puppeted about using his ring by his father as Cat Walker, who, thankfully, Ladybug and Co. know is a Senti who has no choice in the matter - with Marinette then discovering that her fiance, Adrien, IS Cat Walker.

home is where the fight is, A short glimpse into a Ladrien enemies au, where Adrien's being controlled by his father into fighting her, but is dating Ladybug as a civilian - and Ladybug's secret identity has just been revealed to the world.

True Blue, Chatatonic's ongoing enemies au which I have recced numerous times, which takes the more unusual (and difficult) approach of having MARINETTE side with Gabriel instead of Adrien, and doing so while keeping her in-character by having Gabriel lean into his manipulation skills, telling her half-truths about how Adrien will be happier once his mother's back, and that ultimately the heroes are the ones being greedy and reticent in all this, and that the akumas all agree to help him, even if they don't remember afterwards. It's among the best Miraculous fics I've read this year so far!

Not that she only writes enemies au of course, she's written many other Lovesquare fics. I particularly enjoyed The Mer-Human Race, in which sailors and merfolk would have friendly competitions on who was faster in the water, with the winner being able to ask for some sort of prize. Marinette had been looking for a merman to race for awhile so that she could be granted a vessel of her own at a younger age than was normally permitted. Luckily, a Merman named Chat Noir showed up suddenly and offered to race her. Pity that her friend Adrien wasn't there to watch it...

[tentenpropaganda]

the main problem with naruto fandom is just that like 98% of characters have done something very objectionable at some point, and people (myself included tbh) just tend to have a bias against whichever character just... caught them at the wrong moment, or did something that they find particularly objectionable. but, in the name of "critical analysis", people in fandom tend to really focus on, like, grading the morality of every character and action in the story (which is not really what critical analysis means imo. that can be a PART of critical analysis but it's not the end-all-be-all; there's a time and a place, yknow?).

so it just causes a lot of unnecessary vitriol because people feel entitled to be like "how could you like [x character] from this nationalistic manga about morally fucked up ninjas who murder people bc they're indoctrinated by a morally fucked up system??? don't you know [x character] is morally fucked up and has literally murdered people????" and often this is closely followed by "you should instead appreciate MY favorite character, [character who has ALSO done some seriously fucked up shit which went unquestioned by the narrative]"

and like, it should be obvious from glancing at my blog that i can be a bit of a hater towards characters i don't like. i have my own biases! but just bc i dont like j*raiya, for instance, doesn't mean i'm gonna make a post implying that liking him means you, yourself, are sexist, or don't care about the real-life misogyny and SA.

idk. this is a really common problem in fandom in general, but it feels particularly bad in naruto sometimes, and i think that's probably partially because it's such a huge series with so many fucked up things about its writing (see: treating genuine SA from j*raiya as a hilarious joke, or treating hyuga clan slavery as something that can just be papered over by ~treating the branch family nicer~, or going to Great Lengths to establish that the shinobi system is deeply fucked up and immoral and needs to be changed only for naruto to become hokage and change Literally Nothing). so like, you're hard pressed to find characters who haven't done something fucked up which the narrative condones. which can feel very frustrating!!!

that frustration is valid!!! and ranting about specific moments or characters that bug you most of all is very valid!!!! but please don't feel the need to take that out directly on other fans. whether that be by, again, implying that ppl who like the characters are stupid or immoral, or by getting personally offended when you see other ppl who like characters you hate/dislike characters you love

(be like me instead and make your own rant post complaining about this phenomenon rather than replying to annoying rant posts in your fav's tags lmao)

[sugaredrhubarb]

Reading with Ru: 2023 oct/nov/dec fic and book recs

Hello hello! Back again with some final recs from what I was reading towards the end of the year. Gonna start with cod because that's where most of my moots are, and then some from other fandoms and published romance I've been enjoying as well.

Just in case this goes outside my little circle, please check the tags of anything I rec; I'll try to mention if I think something is particularly dark, but don't read anything you won't like!

COD

landscape with honey by @ceilidho - (bear shifter!price x reader) starting with ceil because, at this rate, I can't write a list without including her. my friendship with ceil partially started from bugging her asks about bear price, so this one is always gonna be special, but I genuinely love it, ceil writes blatant dubcon really well (as we all know), but I think it's in fics like this—when the hero is just a little off, and the reader is caught between what seems too good to be true and a gut instinct that something isn't quite right—that her writing really thrives. Anyway, I'm okay with a big, burly man hibernating with me in a cozy cabin in the woods for a winter. (side note: we need to be talking about��ghost x feral witch reader more)

Mind the Drop by @sprout-fics - (BDSM au, price x reader) more aftercare in fics!!! This wonderful one-shot is based in a universe where people are biologically designated as dominant or submissive. Reader is a sub who is feeling the effects of some missed aftercare, which Price takes notice of and offers his... assistance. Honestly, this is just some really well-written comfort and aftercare from a fun concept.

My daddy didn't love me, so I guess I've moved on to you by @makoodles - (price x reader) clearly, I was back in my Price era, and this fic hits on the central theme of my attraction to him in the first place: daddy issues :) So, if you may want to read 17k of Reader and Price succumbing to their attraction and mutual daddy kinks, this one is for you.

Light On by @peachesofteal - (ghost x singlemom!reader) I feel like everyone was reading it, but if you haven't checked out this lovely story yet, please do! It's nice to take a break from the darker fic, and this one is so lovely while still acknowledging Simon's trauma and obsession. Peaches is an excellent writer, and this sent me down a rabbit hole of single-parent fics and books! I could read so much of this.

Pornstar!ghost by @ghosts-cyphera - ( x reader) lo is on a little break right now, but this is another wonderful entry on the soft side of cod fic. I really enjoy Ghost's charisma and confidence on display here, and every update had me giggling and kicking my feet. (I found lo through her price wife x 141 post, which is also a must read)

okay, so @ohbo-ohno (hopefully) knows I love her, and she wrote a ton and is constantly throwing out mind-bogglingly yummy drabbles, so here are some of my favs from her kinktober and 1k celebration: price x reader breeding (surprise, surprise), soap x reader somno (drugged noncon), 141 x reader orgy, ghoap ft price deepthroating, 141 x free use reader (the dream), kingpin price x reader, ex husband price x reader, gaz x reader a/b/o, and my personal fav I think about all the time ghoap x brand new vampire reader. Maybe got a little carried away, but I adore Bo's work, and she has a unique ability to make everything hot.

And finally, @charliemwrites. When making this list, I was tempted to just rec everything Charlie has posted in the last few months, so if you aren't reading her stuff already, I'm jealous that you get to experience it for the first time. Obviously, it would be a mistake to not start with her current fics: charmed slasher simon (he's a serial killer, so violence warning) and woof woof johnny, which are both so fun and compelling, I get so excited whenever I see a new update. I almost daily think about this dark(ish) Price decides you're his wife post. Charlie also writes just wonderful fluff and lighter but emotional relationships too, and both childhood friend simon and bodyguard!gaz have a special place in my heart

other fandoms

casualties by little fools writing/tianawritesfic - (darklina) yet another person I could rec every single work by. This is a boyfriend's roommate cheating fic with the perfect amount of mean man.

You kept me like a secret (i kept you like an oath) by burninghoneyatdusk - (darklina) I genuinely think everyone should read this; it's modern setting, so no canon knowledge needed. Alina wakes up after an accident and discovers she's pregnant, but she doesn't remember the last year of her life, doesn't know who the father is, and most importantly, doesn't remember the affair that ended her relationship. I could talk about it for ages, but I'm just gonna share my comment on the last chapter: "every action, line of dialogue, description, and internal thought felt deliberate— not a single word felt wasted. you stripped both aleks and alina bare and it felt impossible to not take them in completely. i don't even know how to talk about the therapy sessions and alina's healing. the exploration of her guilt, her past, her anger, her confusion it all felt so earnest and raw. what a gift to read."

Bury Us Both by morriganmercy - (Lavinia Lucia/Nick Bruin) this is sibling incest! For the love of god, don't read it if it's not your thing. I know nothing about The Royals of Forsyth series (books?), but this was recd by someone, and I saw the tags codependency, slowburn, heavy angst, pining, and religious guilt, and now here we are.

bonus! published romance I enjoyed

links are to goodreads

Return to Monte Carlo by Cate C. Wells - set in 1982, fmc runs away from her stifling life with her rich italian husband and his snobby family before discovering that she's pregnant. fun, smutty, warning for miscommunication galore. i saw some comments about the fmc being immature but she's swept into this crazy life at like ~19 so idk enjoy your smut and stop thinking so much.

Between the Devil and Desire by Lorraine Heath - a widowed duchess must learn to get along with a notorious self made rogue when he is given guardianship of her beloved son. I'm a sucker for historical romances and for single parent stories but the combo is so hard to get right and this one did it for me! while sometimes a little ridiculous, i felt the characters actions had clear motivations. watching the mmc's relationship with the son grow was really nice and it actually made sense given his backstory rather than the sudden "guy who hates kids suddenly cares" trope other books do. (warning for discussions of childhood abuse and sa)

Luna and the Lie by Mariana Zapata - say what you will about MZ slow burns but no one else can get me to read 600 pages for one sex scene at 95% in. are most of her character's really similar? yeah. but they're never annoying and i love that they're always good people trying their best. i love all the small details and i love me an older man who is secretly down horrendously bad only to gets worse and worse at not showing it.

Icebreaker by Hanna Grace - people have things to say about this book. do the characters get together early on? yeah. do they hook up in the back of an uber filled with their friends? also yeah (i thought it was hot so). is their very little plot in a 400 page book? sure. i'm here for a good time not to be intellectually challenged. i actually enjoyed seeing their time together and really enjoyed that they just fucking communicated even if there were mistakes along the way. plus big nice hockey player who cares about consent? swoon my little canadian heart.

check the reading with ru tag for more!

[snickerdoodlles]

📕📗📘📙and this ask is for when you feel the need to torture us again with fic ideas you are never going to write. it is mean and evil but i support you in this!

😂❤❤.

so there are 2.5 more fics coming for idiots & idioms series. the first one will be vegas's rise to youtube stardom (/vegas rules at internet toxicity) and the finale will swing back to kimchay. plus maybe one silly bonus thing that i'm debating if i will do or not (plus side: jeff's face. down side: jeff's face. it's quite the conundrum, lemme tell u.)

i actually have a lot more ideas for this universe, but the vegaspete story means a lot to me and the kimchay finale is just too perfect of an ending. and while i have these other ideas for this series, there's just no...drive to do them when i have the other 2.5 stories to finish.

so here's 4 ideas i'm not writing for gone fishing series, one for each emoji ;) put under the cut because these also include partial fic snippets and this post got long:

📕 fic of a fic fic

i joked a few times about writing a 'chay live tweets a popular wik/angel fic' fic for this series. and while this entire concept is really funny to me in the fiception sense of how i'd have to write a fic (or at least partial fic) for my fic's fandom so that i could write a fic for my fandom, i have...a lot of issues with actors publicly interacting with fic and lack of boundary between fandom and cast & crew. i'm not going to get into those here, but even when i can control it, i just couldn't get over the driving concept of the fic long enough to write it. i did however, finish the following scene for it, which i am still very fond of.

so, if you recall: chay made a joke in gone fishing about how his life was a mafia AU, which spurned on a brief trend of mafia AU fics where the common trope was angel as the mafia prince, and wik somehow getting involved with him/dragged into the mafia by him (wik being a singer AND a mafia prince would just be silly talk, obviously). the fake fic live-tweeted by chay is the 'angels with dirty hands' fic by twitter user @/_controlleurs mentioned in from concrete. (fake fic's title is a rif off the movie 'angels with dirty faces', which i have not watched but like the name of.)

the fake fic's main premise is THIS, after which wik got recruited by the police to inform on the mafia except then he fell in love with his mark (possibly was going to include wik's brother also getting involved and later wrapped up with angel's brother as well due to wik). i would've planned SO many goncharov references had i not abandoned this by the time it got invented. in long & short, chay makes a comment about kim having a "rivalry with carrots" which was really just me trying to give him a silly Thing for chay to tease on camera until i went "o wait, this can be a thing >:D"

;;; excerpt ;;;

“‘Wik wrinkles his nose at the small pile of carrots on his plate. He hates carrots. If he were anywhere else, he’d carefully pile the carrots right on the edge of his plate, where the threat of infecting the rest of his plate is minimal, assuming he couldn’t find another plate to remove the offending vegetable altogether. But this is the home of a crime lord. Angel implied his chef used to be the most feared hitman out there, something Wik’s inclined to believe after he saw the guy’s muscles. Would chef man be offended if Wik didn’t eat his carrots? He doesn’t want to offend chef man over his carrots. Someone would probably shoot him, which would be a particularly stupid way to die.’

“‘But then. An opportunity. Angel and his father are listening attentively to his brother’s report—Wik should probably be listening as well, this seems exactly like the sort of thing the police would like to know, but he’s on a more important mission right now. Wik carefully glances at the three mafia men and, seeing the coast is clear, he sneaks a handful of carrots onto Angel’s plate. Angel’s eyes flick towards him and Wik shoves a spoonful of rice into his mouth. Angel smiles at him, a fleetingly sweet thing, before he looks down at his plate and does a double take at the mysteriously grown pile of carrots on his plate. He squints at Wik suspiciously. Wik takes another bite of rice, and chews innocently.’” 

Chay stops reading there, too choked up on giggles. “This is from that time I told everyone P’Wik hates carrots, right? Hold on, lemme—“ Chay scrolls down to the author notes and yep, there’s the link to his video threatening Kim’s online reputation. Chay bursts into another fit of giggles. 

“Okay, so, this actually isn’t too far off from how P’Wik is I-R-L. Well. He has two reactions to carrots on his plate.” Chay snickers at the camera. “So, if we’re in public, or at a dinner, or anything like that, he won’t react to the carrots. P’Wik actually has a decent poker face when it comes to stuff like that. But he’ll hide his carrots under his other food to make it look like he’s eating them, then inevitably be offended when he’s left with a pile of carrots on his otherwise empty plate. Like, how dare they not disappear themselves while he ate everything else? Weirdo,” Chay says, sounding disgustingly besotted even to his own ears. 

“But,” Chay leans closer to the camera, grinning, “That’s not why I’m telling you guys this story. That’s how P’Wik reacts in public. It’s a totally different story in private. 

“In private, P’Wik always makes this—“ Chay pauses and screws up his nose like he just smelled something gross, and puckers his lips like he just bit something sour “—face when he sees carrots in his meal, then he always reaches over and pointedly shovels his carrots onto my plate, radiating prim indigence that he’s facing the terrible injustice of carrots in his food. But here’s the thing…”

“P’Wik knows the owners and chefs of his regular takeout spots. They would never forget his dislike of carrots. But after we started dating and he introduced me to them, suddenly, his orders all started getting carrots again. And it’s all my fault.” Chay sighs tragically, and nods in response to the imagined question. “Yes, I’m to blame. See, I told them how much I love carrots. I told them it was silly, but I just didn’t keep carrots in our apartment because P’Wik really hates them and it was hard to eat them all before they went bad, so I only got them when we went out on dates to save us the hassle. A few of them offered to give me a double serving of carrots, but—“ Chay looks at the camera with an earnestly distressed pout “—I don’t want to be a bother! It’s bad enough we already have one special order, I’ll feel so bad if we bothered them with two.”

Chay sighs mournfully. “I know what they’re doing. They sneak me an extra helping of carrots by giving them to P’Wik instead.” Chay’s tragic look suddenly cracks into a mischievous grin. “But let me tell you a secret…”

Chay looks side-to-side, hamming it up for his audience as the live chat goes wild. He grins, barely able to bite back his laughter. “I don’t like carrots. Or, well, I do. They’re fine. A perfectly respectable vegetable. But nothing I’d go out of my way to eat. So why would I go through so much trouble to get extra, you might ask?”

His phone starts flashing Kim’s caller ID, and Chay bites back a laugh. “I certainly don’t need two servings of carrots, but P’Wik’s disgusted face when he sees them in his food?” Chay sighs happily, hand pressed over his heart. “That feeds my soul.”

;;; excerpt end ;;;

📗 goose chasing, or the trials and tribulations of one user ghoasters

so, idk if you've noticed, but there is one (1) username that calls out the weird mafia bullshit obliquely referenced in this series, and that is user ghoasters.

this was supposed to just be a silly joke, but then...i don't remember why this came up, but @majestictortoise said ghoasters reminded her of the persona 5 character futaba, then i looked the character up and said, iirc, "oh my god she looks exactly like the anime girl 13yo i wished to be, YES" and she became a wholeass character in my head. so, using futaba as a blueprint, here are some facts about ghoasters:

nosy fandom obsessed teen girl, expert hacker, doesn't leave the house much.

all of her codes include a ghost ASCII art signature (hence: ghoasters)

her mother gave her the nickname 'sprout' but her name is GHOST, you will respect it or she will rain digital hell down on you.

has a very long, extremely thorough tweet thread tracking potential criminal activity to wik and angel. arm loves it, it makes his job of socmed clean up so much easier.

would've hacked and downloaded some extremely sketchy government facial recognition software just so i could make "but do the butts match?" jokes.

dream in life is to strangle angel and wik. this does not change after she gets hired by the family and becomes besties with chay.

arm wants her hired because he is not a good hacker (he cobbled his IT education together in prison, his true skills are grifting and bullshitting) and he invites her to movie night. ghoasters obviously arrives for movie night in full cosplay, up your game @ khun and khun's angels.

ghoasters 100% gets on board with the mafia bullshit in the name of better cosplay wigs btws. she is getting paid ridiculous sums of money to watch shows and make full cosplay (including the props!). crime is fine now guys.

there's more but like....this is already getting long lol, i'll expand this later. maybe. idk anyways, point is i have enough ideas for user ghoasters i could've actually written a whole fic for her had i not been too busy with other fic ideas. so here's a silly scene of ghoasters getting shlorped into a hum bar visit;

;;; excerpt ;;;

Ghost takes Khun’s advice to heart. Her breath hitches and adrenaline buzzes in her veins when she leaves the compound, but when they arrive at the bar, Ghost spends the first five minutes hacking into the bar’s cameras, the cameras on the surrounding streets and buildings, checking her backdoors to the electronic locks on the entrances, and hacking into the bar’s server just in case. She debates the merits of cloning a few phones, just to be sure the other patrons IDs match the information security has on the bar’s regulars, but Ghost doesn’t actually want to pass the line into paranoia. She’s trying to be better about this sort of thing. 

Ghost checks the cameras she did hack in one final sweep. Everything looks safe, except for the final frame where some guy in a flashy jacket is creeping over the shoulder of some girl bent over her phone—

Wait. 

Ghost yelps and whirls around to face Khun, who is indeed looking over her shoulder in a surprisingly discreet way for a guy wearing a suit with a full-bodied, gold-embroidered dragon stretched over his back. Khun’s pink lensed glasses gleam, like the flash of an anime antagonist, and then he beams with the full force of the sun. 

“That,” Khun says gleefully, “was fascinating. What’d you do?”

“Uhm,” Ghost stammers, beet red. 

Khun plops down in the seat beside her, expression gentling into something more open. “You took control of everything, in just a handful of minutes! It’s amazing!” Ghost stammers some more, face growing hotter and hotter under Khun’s enthusiasm. “Teach me how to do that!”

Ghost opens her mouth. 

“Wait!” Khun abruptly yelps. “Don’t tell me, tell Arm!”

Ghost blinks as Khun sweeps up in a dramatic swish with the full force of a hurricane, unsurprised he’d somehow left a bewildered Arm sitting in his place. Arm looks at her, vaguely distressed, then turns to Khun, vaguely panicked. 

Khun pats Arm’s shoulders happily. “Enjoy your geek chat and show me your new skills later, okay!” Then he kisses a still distressed Arm on the forehead, squishes his cheeks for good measure; and flounces off to the bar to give Miss Yok a proper hello. 

Arm turns to her, looking like puppy left out in the rain. It’s the most pathetic sight Ghost’s ever seen. 

“Would you like me to build you an app?”

Arm nods earnestly, still looking like a drenched puppy. 

;;; excerpt end ;;;

📘 parade rain (groupchat for kim's PR team fic)

i joked...at the end of long & short i think about doing a very weary and exasperated groupchat/slack forum fic for kim's PR team, who went from five years of free reign coasting to "what the fuck did angel do now?" it never really went anywhere for a few reasons:

i don't actually think kim's so popular as to have a PR team, they mostly got slipped in the first place for some jokes. i'd laughed at the idea of kim going "help make sure my family's bullshit doesn't slip thru" and then chay going "eh, its fine" and the PR team having to deal with it, but i never really got around to imaging what this team would actually look like in this series.

i don't like groupchat fic. texting fic, yes, groupchat...ehhhhh.

idk, this one just wound up being funnier in concept than reality to me. i could think of some funny bits for it, but there was just never any substance to the idea ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

📙 university yikyak fic

is yikyak even a thing still?

whatever, my main interest here was i love outsider POV fic lol. the main premise of this fic was kim loses his song notebook, which is found by a very nice, very protective 4'10 girl who works long and hard to find its original owner without accidentally handing it off to an unsavory someone, ft some b-reel of kim or chay related yikyaks. the main goal of this fic was to give kim a tiny friend who mistakens kinn's teasing one day and marches up to him to yell "leave him ALONE, he's SENSITIVE" at him. kinn is delighted (kim made a friend!!), kim and chay are laughing (kinn vs girl half his size and girl is winning!), and porsche wonders if there really is something to this social media thing (naturally, he is filming the whole thing).

it didn't really go anywhere mostly because i only vaguely know of yikyak, i never actually went on it, so trying to think of how i'd even go about telling the story wound up just being a big creativity drain :/

[[ ask me about fic im not writing ]]

[rhonuscorner]

3, 5, 17, and 32 👀✨ (for the questions post!)

3: 3 films you could watch for the rest of your life and not get bored of?

Oof... um. I guess that would have to be the LotR trilogy. Can't really go wrong with the LotR movies lol. (the Hobbit moves are eh and RoP doesn't exist as far as I'm concerned).

5: what made you start your blog?

I've had a lot of blogs since I joined tumblr, all of them for one particular fandom, which got a little troublesome whenever my hyperfixation would shift from one fandom to another. I didn't want to bother my followers who followed me for Fandom A content with content for Fandom B, so I figured I'd make an all-purpose multi-fandom blog so I wouldn't have to keep making new ones... and then this blog ended up becoming 99% DCA content only anyway🤣

I know my hyperfixation will partially shift towards Dragon Age in October (though I'll never get rid of my DCA fixation, no worries!) and I'm still torn on whether I should make a side-blog for DA stuff, or just keep it all concentrated on this blog. I tag all my fandoms for this reason, but I'm still conflicted lol.

17: name 3 things that make you happy

The DCA obviously 🥰 They are the comfiest of comfort characters and I wouldn't know what to do without them! Also my beloved birb Loki (a cockatiel) and I'd post a picture but he's not particularly photogenic lmao. And art/writing/gaming as creative outlets. I'd go crazy if for whatever reason I wouldn't be able to do any of those.

32: how many tabs do you have open right now?

Only six tabs at the moment.

[existentialflirt]

Finished s2 of Good Omens and I am UNWELL. Because I need to yell about it, I'm very sorry. It is going under a cut if anyone who is following me hasn't finished and is allergic to spoilers. Idek. Idek. I have been a wreak. I woke up early and binged the last two and uggggh the end. Fuck. Right. Under the cut we go.

So....so uh, where to start that won't get me angry again? To say that I have ISSUES with the ending is an understatement because look fucking look, this is not about the ship. I mean it is but it isn't, it's about the fact that it does not make sense for Aziraphale. Is does not and I'm going to unpack that in a second but first i want to talk about the canonization of an apparent rare pair (I don't know. I don't tend to lurk in single fandom spaces much and I'm pretty new to Good Omens, but Mo has been and he mentioned the fandom quite fancied Beelzebub and Gabriel as an item so fine). I do not understand it as an arc if it wasn't supposed to twig something in our angel's pretty little head like oh hey, this seems familiar. I understand it's a way to free up the head angel position in heaven and that's all well and good but the writing is usually so much tighter than that so I call it sloppy. AND I DO GET THAT THIS ISN'T THE END BUT SEASON 3 IS A LONG WAY OFF AND WHO KNOWS WITH THIS STRIKE AND THE STUDIOS BEING MONSTERS LIKE FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. I mean yes Neil has promised if he cannot get it renewed as a series, he will get it done another way and I trust him. gdi, i trust him because that ending destroyed me.

Right so, I'm getting incoherent, sorry.

Now, if we want to talk rationally, it does make sense for Aziraphale to get sweet talked by Metatron (and presumably God, by that measure). I do. He gave him coffee and talked like a dear old man, really playing up the freedom he'd have to continue to associate with Crowley. Combined with that, Aziraphale having a lot of doubts about what's going on in heaven, since oh you know, the whole Job incident (loved that whole story, my god, the end murdered me and set me down in a shallow grave. In a good way), and that's partially from Crowley's influence. But why in heaven would he think that offering Crowley to be reinstated as an angel would please him at all?????

Crowley has made it extremely clear since he fell that he doesn't give two shits about any side but his (which in time extended to theirs, Aziraphale and him against the world. At one point almost literally). So why??? Why would he think it's something he'd want, even with a nice coat of paint? I mean, maybe it could be said that he was blinded by Crowley's acts of kindness and mercy and thought that maybe if he spun it as they can go up there and change things, that Crowley's distaste toward heaven has to do with the fact that he could run it together. It wasn't. He was mad about unanswered questions and the prospect of the universe, which he played a part in creating, being destroyed. (I have a lengthier head canon about that, tbh, which is will pen in time). It just doesn't serve any narrative for the characters aside from we're setting up for the third season on a cliffhanger (and yes, yes, Neil couldn't have predicted the WGA/SAG-AFRA strike. He says he had been working on it but stopped for the strike, which good on him. We stan, but also god what piss poor timing to destroy the fans with this angst)

Now look, the performances are gorgeous. Always perfect. David and Micheal are incredible together and I would have been FINE been FINE with that argument in the store, Crowley practically begging Aziraphale to run away together and that desperate fucking kiss, but I don't understand Azirapale remaining resolute. I don't. I really don't. He should have done....well, so many things instead that would have been a better close to this particularly romantic arc.

Argh. Anyway Mo and I will be mostly sticking with season 1/Book canon and cherry picking from season 2 because we are coping or diverting that ending so they can have their US TIME god fucking dammit.

As a side note: I did not appreciate Maggie and Nina lecturing Crowley about him needing to be more emotionally cognizant about his feelings toward Aziraphale. Like, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be obnoxious here, but Crowley is as clearly in love with Aziraphale as anyone can be. He makes time for him, indulges the angel, and is very protective. In season one he also begged Aziraphale to run away with him. He literally wants nothing but his car and to be with Aziraphale and he rarely appeared too conflicted about it. Yes, he has demurred about them being together but that has nothing to do with his feelings and everything to do with the fact that Aziraphale is rather oblivious when it comes to his own emotions. Crowley is the one that has emotional intelligence. Aziraphale needs to be walloped over the head about it. Hell, I would have preferred Maggie and Nina talk to Aziraphale and Metatron talk to Crowley as a bit of an inversion. Could you imagine, God knowing how Crowley is really not great with this whole being evil thing deep down and maybe even feeling a bit bad about casting him out, so sends Metatron to offer him a job (that would have been fitting of his former rank, to boot). Crowley tells him to eat shit, he and Aziraphale have a moment in the bookstore, Crowley ranting and raving about the offer and they should maybe fuck off for awhile and Aziraphale finally opening up that big box of feelings and realizing what Crowley has given up for him, risked for him, and oh my god, I should save this for a thread idea.

Anyway, whew sorry for this. I just needed to get it out in words.

[leiakenobi]

Can you elaborate on your thoughts on fanon Poe? Not that I disagree, I might just not know enough about the fanon of his character to have a strong opinion. His canon gets iffy too though in like the ninth episode (with like the drug running? I didn’t actually watch that one though 😬)

Ooh yes for sure, I'd be happy to elaborate!

Right off the bat, I want to say that I do believe there's always going to be some variation in how people read characters. I'm certainly not under the illusion that my approach to Poe will be everyone's cup of tea, nor do I expect that everyone's reading of Poe should be to my liking. None of this is me trying to regulate how fandom should read him; it's just what motivates me to write him the way that I do, and also to some degree what motivates me to not... really... read much Poe fic.

Since you mentioned it specifically, I'll also say that I tend to flat-out ignore the spice runner backstory they give him in TROS, partially because it's uh racist and partially because dude already got another backstory in the extended canon, making Poe's story one of a million things JJ retconned just for funsies. (I do not have a particularly favorable view of that movie.)

But I think regardless of whether you take the spice runner backstory into account, my feelings about his fanon characterization remain the same.

Essentially, it comes down to the fact that canon tells us Poe is confident, assertive, maybe a little bit reckless, but also incredibly compassionate. He's affectionate toward the people he loves, and he cares so much about the fate of the galaxy both on a large and small scale. And a lot of fanon interpretations -- especially but not limited to reader-inserts -- turn that into a character who's seductive, possessive, and aggressive.

As far as canon justification goes, I'd say his dynamic with Holdo comes the closest to supporting that reading, particularly the things she says to him in their first conversation. (The whole bit about knowing "plenty of trigger-happy flyboys like [Poe]" and him liking to think of himself as charming and dangerous.) I'm personally skeptical about the usefulness of any of this dialogue to tell us about Poe, because a big part of Poe and Holdo's dynamic is that both of them are underestimating one another in their interactions. If anything, I think it's more useful in telling us that he's not just another "trigger-happy flyboy": because both Poe and Holdo are more than meets the eye.

The other thing about it, which is what makes me feel quite so strongly about Poe's fanon interpretation (and many other Oscar characters tbh) compared with other characters I'm invested in, is that characterizing Poe as seductive, possessive, and aggressive... starts to veer toward stereotypes and racism pretty dang fast. Which is not to say that everyone who approaches Poe that way is doing so because of Oscar's ethnicity, but I've seen it happen often enough in fanon interpretations of his character that I tread lightly whenever it starts to look like it might be a possibility.

[into-the-afterlife]

This is about your why I ship female v with Johnny post, I was going to just reply to it but it was getting quite lengthy so I moved here lol

I 100% agree, especially about the voice acting issue. Another point that I'd raise is how enthusiastic he is about male V getting with Panam as opposed to his blatant pettiness and jealousy towards female Vs LI (especially River ofc, the "spinning a new song anyway" scene when you're heading to River to cook with him is unexplainable in platonic terms as far as I'm concerned lmao) - I think that's a not so subtle detail that makes their dynamics shift in my eyes. But I may be biased as I ship them like crazy and would never play with a male V to begin with, ops. Also, I've seen your post on reddit and noticed how someone kindly pointed out how "canonically" V isn't Johnny's type - as if you wouldn't had noticed by yourself ;) - and I just want to say I'm baffled by the way people seem to automatically list everything they're being spoon-fed as gospel truth without any critical thinking getting involved. Johnny is but a human being, we can't just rule out the possibility that he isn't lying, consciously or not. Which he is, imho, cause it just makes no sense for V not to be his "type" tbh. Idk, maybe it's wishful thinking cause I love the idea of them falling in love with each other, the bittersweet tragedy that comes from it... 💖

Firstly: thanks so much for such an involved ask! It’s always so lovely to see that people like my writing :D

Secondly: ooooooh I hadn’t even thought about how Johnny reacts to the love interests but it’s so true! Particularly River lmao, it’s definitely at least partially motivated by River being a cop, but I also suspect that he sees River as a direct rival. Like, he’s dismissive of Judy, but warms up to her eventually. River, though? It’s nopenopenopenopeity to nopetown from the start, and I strongly suspect it’s because River/V is an M/F relationship, a direct comparison to what Johnny could have with V. (This fanfic explores that really well, btw: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28362381/chapters/69490191 ).

Thirdly: It’s nice to see there are others who appreciate both Reddit and Tumblr’s charms. I mean, I do get where that user is coming from. Closely examining the canon and knowing all its ins and outs is a perfectly valid way of approaching fandom, and I definitely enjoy aspects of that kind of approach. But as I say at the start of that post, I want to come at this from a ‘What if?’ perspective, and if that’s not that user’s cup of tea, it’s not their cup of tea.  

Fourthly, and lastly: I’m really on the fence about whether Johnny is lying about V not being his type, tbh. On the one hand, I absolutely agree with you about it not making sense. Both Rogue and Alt are active, intelligent, decisive, skilled and daring women - all traits that V shares. And Johnny is established as unreliable.

 On the other...I do think in canon it makes sense for Johnny and V to stay platonic. If they went from enemies to lovers in-game, they wouldn’t have gotten the kind of deep, believable characterisation of their relationship that we know and love. It would have been too much to stuff into the timespan of the plot. I also like seeing representations of friendships between men and women that stay as friendships.

But God, do I agree with you about their bittersweet tragedy. I’m going to talk about this more in upcoming posts, but V/Johnny are a special kind of M/F ship. And that’s the joy of fandom, isn’t it? To take what’s great about canon and go ‘Yes, and...’

[sleepy-subtitles]

Blood Cultivation: Nighthunt Meeting

from the Blood Cultivation-verse series

set approximately one year after the events of The Untamed Characters: Lin Meili (OC), Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi, Lan Wangji Chapter 1 of 2 WC: 2229 Summary: Lin Meili is not a demonic cultivator. it just looks like it. also the juniors are here! I love them. (originally written July, 2020) ((I tried to do courtesy names and titles right. mostly I followed other writers in the fandom who had some knowledge of how it works))

posting this here because why not. I post fics here now. this series is extremely self-indulgent and I don't care. I had fun writing it and it got me through a very bad time. it could probably stand to be re-edited, but I'm resisting the urge. for now.

enjoy!

Lin Meili repressed the urge to flee the situation, knowing that would only mark her as someone up to no good. Not that the Lan Sect were particularly mistrustful, but she knew that her appearance didn’t help lend credence to the fact that she was, actually, up to some good.

Lang Wangji eyed her with subtle suspicion in his eyes, his face as smooth as ever. Behind him, the Lan juniors were whispering to each other while maintaining the placid calm of their teacher. The forest around them seemed to whisper as well, the wind moving through the trees like a dark entity. The beast they appeared to be tracking had disappeared into the night, leaving only the faintest trail of resentful energy behind.

“Hanguang-Jun,” Lin Meili bowed respectfully. She couldn’t fault the man for his silent misgivings. Ever since the news that Mo Xuanyu was actually Wei Wuxian, the Yiling Patriarch, the whole cultivation world had been on edge. People saw demonic cultivators everywhere they turned, paranoia soaking the land still drenched in blood and resentment from several years ago.

Lin Meili was well aware of the resentful energy still coiled around one arm as the Lan disciples watched her warily. Lan Wangji greeted her in response, polite but not deferential. After all, these were his lands and he was a well-respected, powerful cultivator. Lin Meili knew he was ready to dispatch her if she proved to be an enemy of his sect. Still, she only tightened her grasp on the resentful energy, unwilling to lose the trail despite how suspicious it looked.

Lang Wangji had yet to speak, so Lin Meili offered a partial explanation. “I believe I’m tracking the same beast you are. If either of us is to catch it, we should move quickly. Already its energy path is fading.”

The juniors were gripping their weapons tightly, like they believed her to be the beast herself. Lin Meili was not offended. Instead, she met Lan Wangji’s eyes with a steady gaze. “I have no doubt you can eliminate me at any point if you believe me to be a worse danger than this creature.” She gestured toward the direction the beast has gone, the resentful energy around her person moving lazily in the still air. “Shall we go?”

With the slightest nod, Lan Wangji set off at a brisk but calm pace and the juniors followed. Lin Meili matched his stride and concentrated on the energy trail. It had dwindled even more while they were speaking, causing her to extend her reach. The strain of distance immediately reminded her how much resentful energy weakened her if it was not dealt with correctly. She glanced to the side, aware that she could not possibly reveal her unorthodox cultivation techniques to someone who already suspected them of being of demonic origin, so the burdened blood in her body would simply have wait until she could take the time to purify it. As she followed the trail like a string across a river, the negative energies bit into her strength, angry at not being released once collected.

All at once, a stench filtered through the forest and the trail became heated with power. Lin Meili stopped even though the Lans did not. They were approaching the beast’s den, she was certain. With so many cultivators, it would not be hard to slay the beast. And yet, as she turned in a slow circle, the blood on the ground alerted her to an unfortunate truth. She knew she’d potentially wounded it earlier, but now sure of that fact, the consequences made themselves known. Once killed, instead of the resentful energy being silenced, it would instead simply leak into the area, poisoning life and air alike.

With quick strides, Lin Meili caught up to the Lans and immediately stopped one of the disciples from touching a blood-splattered tree. “Do not touch the blood,” she warned, even as the junior shook her off with his hand on his sword. “HanGuang-jun,” she called out, catching the man’s attention.

He still did not speak, but Lin Meili was not deterred. “Before you lure it out, please, allow me to ready myself.”

“Ready yourself for what, harnessing its demonic energies?” The disciple who spoke looked slightly embarrassed at his outburst, but the rest of the juniors looked at her with the same question in their eyes.

“The simple answer is: yes,” Lin Meili answered wryly, ever so slightly smug about their surprise. “But I realized that killing this beast will allow all of its energies to pollute the land. It would be simpler to disallow this in the first place than to clean up after, don’t you think?”

The disciples just blinked at her, unsure of they were being mocked or not.

“Hanguang-Jun, I don’t mean to interrupt a teaching moment. Please, confer with your disciples and I will work to contain the resentful energy.”

Lan Wangji had many emotions lurking behind those golden eyes, Lin Meili could tell, but which he was favoring she had no way to know. It was unsurprising the amount of control in his expression and actions. She honestly hadn’t expected him trust her thus far, but his experiences with the Yiling Patriarch must’ve taught him not to judge at first glance. It was a welcome change from the open disdain most cultivators bestowed on her upon simply sensing resentful energy in her presence. Lan Wangji only gave her the barest of nods before he looked to the juniors who quickly turned to listen to his quiet, simple commands.

Lin Meili took advantage of their preoccupation to continue preparing. It was going to be a fierce onslaught and her body was already tired, but she was no stranger to making it through extreme danger. With one of the little knives hidden on her person, she drew a line across her palm. No blood spilled out, yet. She carefully transferred control of the resentful energy from her right arm to her left hand, calm breathing keeping the connection between her natural energy and the demonic as narrow and as tight as possible. When she was certain of her complete control, she rejoined the group.

The disciples had fanned out and were each performing their own task, placing talismans, controlling their energies, readying their instruments. Lin Meili didn’t pay attention to whatever signal was given; the sound of a feral growl was enough to warn her. She allowed a thin stream of blood to drip from her hand, mingling with the blood of the beast. The tangle of positive and negative energies from the beast and the cultivators was sour to taste, though Lin Meili knew the others likely didn’t notice it. The creature, a massive, decaying, dog-like thing leaped over the hillock in front of them and charged at the group.

Lan disciples were well-trained and never let their guard down, even if their weapons trembled in their grasp. Lan Wangji had taken more of an observant role, but those eyes missed nothing, ready to fully step in if his juniors needed the help. Lin Meili felt the tug from the beast’s energy pulsing through both its own blood and then her own. It was a fight to keep it from entering her body, to keep it from straying anywhere else. The longer the fight lasted, the less she aware she became of the many witnesses to her strange techniques. As was usually the case, her determination to eliminate the resentful energy took precedence over all else.

Such was her concentration that she didn’t even notice when the beast fell dead, the roaring of the resentful energy so loud in her ears. Fire burned along her skin as the energy rammed itself into her body, desperate for somewhere to go. It could not be allowed to escape. She didn’t release it for a second, even when her legs gave out beneath her and unknown arms grabbed hers. Voices floated along the edge of her consciousness, but all she knew was the battle for control. Her left hand shook; her right dancing in the air, pulling apart the energies and infusing the demonic with the natural. Blood continued to flow out and pause, a gaudy mass of red soaking the ground and rising back up out of it, darker, angrier. Still her right hand weaved in and out of the energy, pulling the dark out and letting a brighter blood return to her.

When at last there was no more darkness to remove, she forced the remnants of her own energies back into her skin, the cut on her skin sealing itself shut, leaving only an ugly mark behind. Voices surrounded her in the dark, though she didn’t think she’d closed her eyes. She swung her eyes upward and dimly saw the moon, stretching out of shape like a reflection on water.

“-safe to move her?”

“-feel anything anymore-”

“-never seen blood like-”

“-Jun, was that demonic cultivation?”

Lin Meili slowly become aware of herself again, that she was propped up against another warm body, that her hands and arms ached terribly, that people were speaking about her, that Lan Wangji was crouching in front of her, eyes only slightly less suspicious than before. She breathed in deeply, her lungs protesting such a feat and promptly causing her to double over with harsh coughing. Blood spilled down her lips, but no resentful energy remained in it, so she wasn’t worried. She did, however, wonder how she was supposed to explain herself and if she would even be given the chance to.

“Are you alright?” One of the juniors asked it, helping the one behind her to sit her back up again. A cloth was passed over and the blood wiped from her lips.

“Her energy must be very low, I can’t even feel it.”

“We should give her some! Sizhui, you do it.”

The disciple called Sizhui knelt beside her and took her wrist before she could think to tell him not to. Lan Wangji must have seen the panic in her eyes because he laid his own hand on top of Sizhui’s, stilling him.

“Can you stand?” Lan Wangji’s voice was as calm as his presence, a monotone that wasn’t as harsh as his demeanor implied.

Lin Meili took a slower, shallower breath, and then another one before answering. “I can try.”

Sizhui and the others assisted her to stand. Within a few seconds it was apparent that their strength was the only thing keeping her upright. Lin Meili sighed, too tired to be frustrated but frustrated all the same. She should have simply come along after the hunt and cleaned up then, rather than deplete herself like this in front of so many curious eyes. Not that such thoughts were useful now.

“Can I not give you some energy?” Sizhui asked softly, his face the only one completely devoid of suspicion.

Lin Meili smiled in spite of herself upon seeing the genuine kindness of the junior. “My body cannot receive it,” she gave in answer, trying to be as truthful as she could. “It would be too great a shock.”

Sizhui’s face was puzzled, but he accepted the explanation without further questions. The disciple to her right, however, whose voice she recognized as the one who’d named Sizhui in the first place, asked one instead. “So are you a demonic cultivator?”

“Jingyi!” Sizhui scolded, not looking at her.

“It’s a fair question!” Jingyi protested, his grip on her arm lessening, causing her to list sideways. He immediately latched back on, mumbling an apology. So he wanted to know if she was a demonic cultivator but would apologize to her in the same breath? Jingyi was an interesting one. Perhaps it was her exhaustion that cleared her mind of apprehension, though she knew even as she answered him that an honest question was always preferable to an angry accusation.

“I am not.” Her response evoked some murmurings from the group, though Lan Wangji remained impassive.

“But, you were controlling the resentful energy, weren’t you?” Another disciple asked, one whose face she couldn’t see.

“I was restraining it only. Demonic cultivation actively manipulates resentful energy and allows it to infuse with the body.” Lin Meili closed her eyes for a moment as the world tilted. “It also usually creates more resentful energy when used carelessly. Surely you noticed that the there was no longer any resentful energy after I finished.” She forced her eyes open to see the disciples nodding their heads.

“Then, what was that?” Sizhui’s curiosity got the better of him, in the end.

Lin Meili sighed again, her head leaning on Jingyi’s shoulder without her consent.

“Enough.” Lan Wangji saw fit to excuse her this time. “We should return.”

“Will you allow me inside Cloud Recesses? I always wanted to see it.” Lin Meili hadn’t meant to say that out loud, though out loud was an exaggeration as Jingyi bent his head to hear her.

“Of course you can come inside! We don’t abandon those who need help.” There was a pause and Lin Meili didn’t even try to lift her head. “Right, Hanguang-Jun?”

Lin Meili didn’t hear an affirmative answer, but whether or not they left her in an inn somewhere or locked her up in Cloud Recesses, at the moment, she was just going to sleep.

[saintsenara]

I really like Snape as a character. I made the mistake of mentioning that online. Someone asked me how I like a character is inexcusably mean to children when he is a position of authority around them and how he is petty, can be cruel and harsh teacher and his lack of patience towards Nerville and basically a list of all the mean/horrible stuff that he has said/done. What do you say when people ask you how you can reconcile liking such a character given all of cruel and hurtful things that he has said and done both towards his students and joined willingly a known blood supremacist terrorist group and said known slur towards his friend that is a member of a minority group? I find Snape to be a deeply compelling and flawed and complex character- that's why I enjoy seeking out Snape centric fics.

thank you very much for the ask, anon, and i'm sorry that people have popped off about you liking snape. it's an extremely tedious way for them to behave, since these people are fictional.

i must be honest, i don't really get asked to justify my fondness for the baddies - partially because i curate my fandom space in order to avoid it and partially because i must give the impression of not caring - but i've never found it particularly difficult to reconcile the fact that all my favourite characters are mass-murderers with the fact that i myself am not one...

the first - and frankly the most important - way that i do this is because i understand what genre conventions are.

it seems to me that this is the thing that really is the most lacking in the discourse surrounding the 'bad' characters in the harry potter series, with snape chief among them, but it’s absolutely crucial to understand:

snape is a mean teacher because harry potter is for children, and children do not want to read about sweet or competent adults.

[this is also the reason why the dursleys are horrible, or why hogwarts is such a dangerous and poorly-run school. if the series contained the line, a troll did not get into the dungeon and so harry did his homework, then any child worth their salt would be hurling the book into a fire.]

it must be remembered that child readers - for whom the text is primarily intended - will have a different response to the tropes and themes of the series than adults returning to it with their own experiences, and that adults' responses to the books are not responses that the books were written to provoke. this doesn't mean that adults' reactions are unreasonable - nor does it mean that adults shouldn't engage with harry potter, as my 300k words on ao3 attests - it simply means that it is not a flaw of the series that snape's behaviour is not addressed in the way that adults would like it to be. it's just genre.

because children tend to see the things in the series which horrify us as adults as considerably less frightening or problematic than we do ourselves. indeed, they often see interactions which we read as abusive, or as evidence of systematic cruelty, as simply unfair, and they are looking for retribution not in terms of legal punishment or wide-ranging institutional change, but in the character who is behaving unfairly getting their comeuppance, often in a comic way.

this is because fairness-unfairness is one of the primary ways in which children understand justice. as adults, we think with more nuance - but that doesn’t mean that our response to the text is better. in fact, we have a responsibility to understand the series’ genre conventions when we approach characters in our own writing - if you want to make snape a violent abuser, you actually need to understand all the ways in which the series shows him not to be those things.

snape’s relationship with his classes is written in a way which provokes the response in children that he is unfair, but not one which provokes the response that he is frightening - indeed, the story generally treats his "cruelty" as comic, at least until half-blood prince, and he often gets an embarrassing comeuppance when he tries to be sincerely malicious. [i.e. literally everything which happens to him in prisoner of azkaban.]

he is unfair, because he doesn’t tell malfoy off for misbehaving. he is unfair, because he doesn’t give hermione a chance to answer questions. he is unfair, because he is rude to harry [who, like any good child hero worth his salt, has no respect for snape and isn’t intimidated by him]. he is unfair, because he gives horrible detentions.

but no child character in the story ever seriously believes his behaviour to go beyond this - including neville.

neville’s fear of snape is caused by snape being unfair towards him - and, since neville is a character the text likes, snape therefore frequently gets his comeuppance for this unfairness. the incident where he threatens to poison trevor is horrible to read as an adult, but as a child the outcome - snape is foiled in his plan because of neville and hermione - is understood as triumphant. snape - an adult - is constantly outfoxed by his pupils - who are not adults - and children love to see that.

[similarly, it really should be emphasised that the text treats neville’s fear of snape as ridiculous. lupin laughs in his face about it in prisoner of azkaban, and neville himself admits that it’s silly and irrational. it cannot be seriously suggested - although i've seen plenty of people try - that snape is his boggart instead of bellatrix because snape sincerely frightens him more. he fears snape more than bellatrix because his narrative purpose in the first four books is to be comic relief - he’s a bit cowardly and a bit useless, and he provides a character for the child reader to feel braver and cleverer than.]

obviously, these incidents read very differently to adults - especially if you are an adult who has, knows, or works with small children. but if somebody complains to you about your favourite characters because they're upset by children’s literature without thinking about how it’s intended to be read by its primary audience... that’s not your problem.

but even beyond genre, i feel comfortable liking "bad" characters because i understand human complexity.

online, it is increasingly becoming a dogma that our attitudes are fixed and unchangeable. i feel incredibly sorry for young people nowadays, who often have to live in a state of hypervigilance in order to make sure that they never do or say anything cruel or ignorant. this must be miserable, because flawlessness is unattainable - not only for real people but for fictional ones as well.

the fannish desire to write someone like snape off as bad and unchangeable - alongside the accompanying tendency to minimise the human flaws of characters such as james and sirius - comes from the fact that snape, like many antagonists, holds up a mirror to us as the reader. and we may not like what we see.

snape’s life demonstrates that it’s very easy to be radicalised into joining a terror group - particularly for people who have experienced things like poverty, being othered, or being bullied. it forces us to recognise that people who end up involved in evil did not come into it fully formed - they started somewhere, and they often ended up where they did because of failures in societies and their institutions which we ignore because they benefit us. after all, hogwarts does nothing to prevent voldemort recruiting death eaters among its pupils, hogwarts does nothing to dismantle the oppressive class system on which the wizarding world runs - the school is the archetypal ivory tower, and the ministry is no better.

snape’s life demonstrates that it's very easy for people who are victims in some areas of their lives to be perpetrators in others. trauma is often not sympathetic and perfect victimhood does not exist. having experienced trauma means you have experienced trauma - it can still make you act like a cunt.

and snape’s life also demonstrates that it’s very easy to - without entirely intending to - do something absolutely terrible, and this is something which we should always be compassionate towards. because it’s going to happen to all of us - and, actually, our terrible deed could easily be something as significant as snape’s report of the prophecy. if you drive, for example, it takes one momentary distraction for you to kill someone. what are you going to do if the person you kill is your childhood best friend, whom you love?

well… you’re going to try to redeem yourself. and, like snape, you will learn that redemption is messy and often strange, and that people can show growth in some areas and lack it in others.

and the redemption point is important - the idea that snape is redeemed by the end of the canon text is something which lots of fans push back against. but it’s crucial to note two things:

the first is that one’s own capacity for forgiveness and the potential of forgiveness as a concept are not the same thing. you might never have been able to forgive snape if you were lily or harry or dumbledore, but that says nothing about whether anyone else can or should. the second is that forgiveness and redemption are not inextricably linked. one can redeem oneself without being forgiven.

my view is that approaching bad characters with nuance is actively beneficial for us, and that having a "problematic fave" is a good thing when it comes to our self-growth in the real world. if we believe ourselves to be immune to the sort of radicalising forces which would lead a person to other their best friend to the extent that they call her a slur, we will be easy to radicalise. if we believe ourselves to be incapable of making a dangerous mistake, we will be more likely to miss the clues that we’re about to. if we do not believe in the possibility of redemption for all, then we are going to have a very hard time when we do something bad, since we therefore have to believe in redemption for none.

thinking critically about oneself - both in relation to the media one enjoys and in general - is a protective act. learning to identify commonalities with bad people protects you. learning to recognise that you’re not always going to be good or right protects you. learning to accept that you’ll fuck up protects you. learning to be remorseful protects you. learning to forgive protects you. learning that the limits of your personal capacity to forgive is not the same as the potential of forgiveness protects you.

unsympathetic literary characters show us how to approach unsympathetic people in real life. snape is a brilliant example of what can be caused by failing to see the whole person - voldemort is evidently the only person who offers him a life-line, where dumbledore and the "good guys" in wizarding society do not. this is a lesson to us all - if we flatten people into good-and-therefore-worthy-of-help and bad-and-therefore-not, it’s a recipe for disaster...

but this is all very pretentious and philosophical. the main reason why i have no qualms about enjoying "bad" characters is because i’m not a cop.

the summary of the last point is - basically - that readers need to learn how to sit with discomfort in media, because discomfort within a fictional context is completely safe, and therefore it provides an outlet for people to think about themes or characters which are darker in a way which cannot cause actual harm.

fiction is not real life and fictional characters cannot harm you - and this is the case even if the fiction is about something which would or did materially harm you if it happened in real life. [this is doubly the case in harry potter because the harms upon which the series focuses are themselves fictional - the series’ blood-supremacy obviously reflects real-world examples of discrimination, but it is not something which any real person has actually experienced.]

this means that a reader’s reaction to something in fiction is always on them. authors have no responsibility to anticipate every single reader’s response to their writing - encountering something that upsets you in a fictional setting is your responsibility to deal with. [even if the author’s not tagged properly.]

snape may upset a reader for various reasons, some of which may be related to experiences of real world discrimination, but his existence cannot cause actual harm to any living person, because he and the society in which he lives are not real.

fictional crimes are not real crimes, and so, if someone tries to say that you shouldn’t enjoy reading about him because they don’t like it… they are a cop and you should have no respect for them. acab applies to the thought police too.

and knowing this gives us a powerful tool… i have no qualms about being criticised for liking bad characters because i just say acab and go on with my day.

just as you can’t cause anyone else material harm in your consumption of fiction, nor can anyone else cause you material harm just by criticising your choices - obviously, if they’re attempting to doxx you, or to cause any real-world repercussions because of your fanfiction tastes, that’s another matter - which means that you have the power to choose to be unbothered by unjustified criticism. it’s not even that hard! simply refuse to be upset!

curate your fandom experience without shame. post what you like. block and move on. filter assiduously. scroll past without engaging. don’t waste your time getting into fights. don’t answer comments which are rude. don’t feed trolls. delete messages. this is just harry potter!

and also be compassionate towards the fact that people don’t express themselves perfectly. if you are primed not to immediately get upset or consider yourself to be under attack, you will be able to read comments with more clarity, to look and see if you can find commonalities, and to answer them in a way which doesn’t escalate the situation.

[and always remember that a lot of the angriest and most righteous comments come from teenagers, and being a teenager is hell. be compassionate, as your fandom elders had compassion for you.]

[batmansymbol]

Hello! I'm sorry if you've been asked this before, but what draws you into Dramione? What do you like best about the ship? And are they your Harry Potter otp?

sweet anon! i don’t think i’ve been asked this before, you’re good!

what draws me into dramione differs between reading and writing, i think? i like reading banter best, but when writing, i don’t find myself leaning into that as much. i guess i’m most interested in a relationship as a refuge. so when i ask myself how d/hr could be a refuge to each other in the long term, the answer to me is twofold:

draco’s emotional intuition paired with hermione’s high sensitivity. i often see fic writers building up draco’s book-smarts in order to increase hermione’s interest toward him. but we don’t actually see in canon that draco is particularly intellectual. his dominant traits are emotional and interpersonal: he feels deeply, he’s defensive of his family, he’s able to read people quickly and accurately. (in canon he uses all this stuff to be a shithead, obviously, but the traits remain.) this intuition forms the bedrock of the relationship to me. for hermione, whose best friends are totally out of touch with their emotions, i think being in a relationship with someone who could intuit what she’s thinking or feeling would be brand-new and deeply connective. and for draco, who’s grown up in a world where everything is manicured and pruned into place, i think it would feel equally novel and meaningful to be with someone who is messy and earnest and forceful, who disregards social ideas of correctness in favor of caring about him openly.

draco’s small-scale focus paired with hermione’s large-scale concerns. even a post-redemption draco will be innately self-centered. he has loyalty first to the people he cares about. hermione, on the other hand, thinks on the grand scale: elf rights and structural injustice. i think this is something draco and ron actually have in common: they would serve as a grounding force for a character who wants to Make A Difference. hermione’s interests, on the other hand, would bring draco out of his bubble and connect him to the world, especially important in a postwar world that would be hostile to him.

obviously i’m a sucker for hero/villain ships and redemption arcs, so there’s that. but the above personality/compatibility questions are more important to me, because when considering her feelings, hermione’s not going to be asking, “how are you better than you were before,” but “how are you better for me than everyone else in the world.”

like, draco could undergo a huge redemption arc and fall hard for hermione and give up everything from his family to his social standing for her, and while these are traditionally ~romantic~ actions, they still aren’t necessarily a reason for her to see a future with him. she has to love him as a person first and foremost, or the reader won’t be able to imagine what happens off the page once every ~romantic~ plot point has elapsed and they’re just living their everyday lives. i take the marie kondo view. how would they spark joy in each other every day.

but yeah! as for whether they’re my otp, honestly, i don’t know if i have otps anymore. i’ve become much less of a shipper since i joined fandom. i remember being so obsessed with my teenage otps (tomione and johnlock), but i don’t really have those obsessive fixation feelings about pairings these days. i can be convinced into just about anything if i find a really good fic.

i do read a lot of dramione while working on disappearances, but i feel like it’s mostly curiosity... a wholly redeemed draco is sort of a blank slate, because canon goes for a kind of partial redemption, so i like seeing everyone’s different takes!

if i have a current otp, it’s probably Luna/Ginny. but again, that’s mostly just predicated on a single fic, this one, Skirt Full of Thorns, which remains my favorite fic ever and beats out probably 90% of books i’ve read, too.

[polandspringz]

I read your essay, but I was more concerned by how Diavolo and Simeon acted in the event than whether the devs were wrong for making it. Simeon obviously for his sneaky behavior and Diavolo for basically saying he wishes his alleged best friend had fallen under the same non consensual mind control spell as his brothers because it would be fun to see a new side of him, even though Lucifer clearly hates to lose control of himself. I know he would not enjoy that as much as Diavolo would, and I can't help but wonder if he actually cares about Lucifer. In events Diavolo is often messing around with the brothers, kinda using them for his own amusement, but this event really brought that into focus. It might not be as big of a deal as it feels to me because I'm kinda sensitive about stuff like mind manipulation for some reason, I can't help but be mad at him for basically not caring at all, which is disappointing since they just released all that stuff for the side characters... What are your thoughts on this?

I want to preface this by saying technically I am have not started lessons 21-40. I am aware of the events that happened in them, but have not played through them for myself, so I can’t necessarily comment on a lot of Diavolo’s character development in the recent lessons.

I think it’s fine to be uncomfortable with how the characters acted. Writing should evoke emotion, both good and bad. My post ended up going more into people being mad at the creators because I’ve been seeing that build up for months now, and just thought that now was a particularly trivial reason (and I didn’t want people to start attacking the devs for something that I think was just being misunderstood). Like you though, I did not like Diavolo and Simeon’s actions in this event either.

When I first read what the bangles did, my thought was that the characters were actually going to the Celestial Realm for a party, and that the bangles would just keep them from acting out while there and corrupting other angels or causing a scene. Simeon’s characters I think has just been always a bit more complicated than the pure angel that much of the fandom reduces him too (when I saw a screenshot of him saying “Did he just discover a new kink?” from a previous event, I was shocked.) We know about the Celestial Realm from the brothers’ talking about Lilith that the angels were aware of the human realm and it’s culture (although some of it is anachronistic in terms of them knowing about manga back when the War happened thousands of years ago), and so it seems that the story’s version of angels are not the way we normally see angels portrayed in media (100% good, never faltering), but instead are just like humans that are usually very good and selfless but capable of doing bad things. I think this brings up a good point with Simeon’s character about how hypocritical he acted during this event, forcing the characters to act good when he himself has committed what in, at least Christian interpretations, could be viewed as wrong (not necessarily a sin) but more of a bystander issue. During the main story even, he often is just standing back while the rest of the characters are having trouble, he’ll often just find amusement in what’s going on rather than step in to help. I think this brings to mind that theme again of questioning what is good and evil in the lens of this type of story. Lastly, I forget where I read it, but in the past I did extensive research on angels for my own writing, and I remember a detail in one interpretation of them that “angels often got into disagreements with one another” and that God had to step in to help resolve them. I think this is an interesting thing to point out that angels themselves are not 100% pure or perfect, and are just of capable of committing sins like the demons, (as that is what leads to them becoming demons to begin with). In the frame of this story, I think the way Simeon acted in this event and how he normally takes amusement in seeing the brothers’ struggle may be indicative of future story lines that may highlight through our perspective with the demons, that the Celesital Realm is not good and that we may actually see a character fall. I know the popular fan interpretation is Simeon, but I actually see Luke as the one who could stay behind in Devildom.

Now, in terms of Diavolo- I think he has always been a manipulator too. Although he enjoys spending time with Lucifer, we know from the story in Lessons 1-20 that in exchange for Lilith being saved, Lucifer had to swear himself to him. Diavolo and Lucifer cannot ever have a true friendship because of this, and although we are viewing the story through a lens that makes us more partial and sympathetic towards the demons, that doesn’t meant that all the demons are in that view. Diavolo from the start seems/acts like a nicer ruler than the one the Celestial Realm has purely because he gave the brothers refuge when they fell. He lets them be their true selves rather than hold them to strict, righteous standards (standards that this event showed are not even what the angels themselves are held to, thus making Simeon’s actions hypocritical). However, as much as he may seem to be friends with Lucifer, we have to remember that Lucifer and his agreement was not one of friendship, and their perceived friendship is much more one that has just been forged by happenstance of them being around each other for so long. I’ve incorporated this discussion on Lucifer and Diavolo’s relationship into a few of my fanfictions for this series, and I truly think that Diavolo wanting to see Lucifer act under a mind controlled spell is completely within his character. After all, he already has control over Lucifer in some ways, he already has power over him. Why would forcing Lucifer to act a certain way be any different of him?

I can understand why this still makes people uncomfortable. I think at a certain point in stories and through fandom culture, when we consume stories in small pieces and then discuss them at large, it allows for many more views and interpretations. (Like a big book club!) However, I think a problem can occur if the largely vocal aspects of that discussion circle are overtly negative or angered about something within the media, as it normally does not fuel a positive discussion about the work (as in, constructive discussion, not positive as in considering the work perfect with no flaws) but instead can quickly spiral into a hate circle. Works can cause you to experience emotion and feel conflicted about things, which is a good thing. However, when you then discuss those things with others, I wish I saw more people not being so strong with their language in discussions of “I hate all these things” without talking about why or examining it. I probably sound very pretentious with all this, but like I said in my previous post, I think this is just one example of a greater problem in all fandom culture. I guess a more clearer example of this would be that the fact that the “book club” has people from so many different ages and backgrounds, but no one to moderate like in socratic seminar or no one who knows the ultimate, true answer (even though there never is one to writing, but with classics and established books we tend to all agree on main themes, symbols, and points that we find more valuable or more central to discuss) and what can often happen is members of the circle with less maturity or less experience in consuming media become the more vocal groups and refuse to hear other sides, thus spawning more negativity and preventing more discussion.

I promise that last bit wasn’t directed at you at all! I just thought of it was a good way to sum up my whole thoughts at the end. I’m glad you messaged me asking for my thoughts on Diavolo, and just to end off, I think we cannot mistake that there might be a culture difference in Japanese creators making a romance story. Like how Belphegor is categorized as the “yandere” character, some Japanese players may prefer Diavolo fitting some trope that has more negative, darker connotations. (Although it’s only hitting Japan now, the game itself is Japanese. I still don’t know why it was released to the western market first, but usually Japan is the predominant market). Anyway, that’s all the thoughts I have more now. If you have any more questions, I would be happy to follow up on anything I said here!

[thisgirlhastales]

after that last anon you answered, i'm now curious about how you pace your stories! i'm usually a little too excited for all the things i want to happen, so i do a lot of skipping ahead and getting to the meat for a fast-paced story. but!! your space cowboy stories are SO GOOD and i know they wouldn't be the same with my kind of pacing, so yeah. i'm curious ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hi there, honey! :D *hugs*

Okay, this was another question I had to think about for a long time … I often conflate pacing and overall story structure, so fair warning, that is probably gonna happen here.

I’m going to start off with a fairly obvious fact, which is that different stories require different pacing, and that the rules in fanfiction, I find, are a little looser.

This is because we rarely need much exposition in fanfiction, since we’re assuming our readers already know these characters and these settings, so we don’t have to worry too much about explanations or descriptions. That being said, there is always some world-building (particularly in AUs), and that can be pretty challenging to insert without disrupting the … narrative flow, I guess?

There’s a sort of … ebb and flow, overall, to a story. There are quiet times and loud times. There’s talking and then there’s action. Now, the other reason why I say fanfiction is different is because I am perfectly happy reading a story that is literally just characters being domestic, or having emotional conversations (communication, I love it so much) or … every other fun trope in fandom.

I think the way I’ve always approached pacing is to fret about it in the planning stage. Once I start writing, I’m very character-focused, so my main concern is keeping everybody as in-character and “realistic” as possible, since I usually already have an outline with all the plot/emotional beats in place (written or up in my head). But pacing does come up at times even when I have most of the story planned, and I think the biggest indicator of a pacing issue is when you get stuck while writing.

Getting stuck isn’t always about that narrative flow — there are hundreds of reasons why I get writer’s block — but I have found that sometimes it’s because I’m writing something that’s disrupting the flow. Sometimes it’s a dialogue scene that runs too long, and characters are saying/explaining things that I could just show or summarize in a descriptive paragraph. Sometimes it’s a scene that’s totally redundant, period, and I scrap it entirely. 

In other words, skipping ahead and getting to the meat is totally valid on occasion ;D 

As for the space cowboys … *throws hands in the air* … Here’s a look as to how that mess got organized into a semi-coherent flow of words — massive, likely incoherent ramble under the cut!

First off: a one-story example — The Six-Gun Sound.

That story has the most basic pacing ever. Action scene at the start, exposition/dialogue scene right after that sets up the main plot/motive for the characters, followed by a steady build that goes right into that heist. The heist then slowly builds until BAM. Everything goes wrong, there are literal explosions, and then a climax of both the main plot-line and the emotional plot-line. (There is pacing set for both of those when I plan, usually. The plot informs the emotional beats and vice versa, depending on which is more important at any given time.)

In shorter words: action, calm, build-up to more action, big action, calm, and then the resolution. That kind of “ebb and flow” is basically how most stories work, I believe. If you have that going on in your tales, then I think you’re golden :D

I totally break those rules in many of my other tales, but, yeah. There it is ;)

Now, secondly: the entire Trouble’s Making Everything All Right series.

That is just … well, a giant mess, but it’s one that I find works for me? I might be confusing pacing with other parts of narrative structure, but overall, there’s a certain ebb and flow that leads to the first huge climax (which I believe is Short Change Heroes). Um, I’m going to try and explain and hope that it helps you?

Trouble Coming is essentially my expositional story (though I initially had no idea how long this series would go). If, for example, in your own writing you feel like “skipping” all that establishing information, well, I’m gonna be horrible and give you that old cliché — show and don’t tell (much).

I still had to explain some stuff in that story, but having no Team Voltron, having Lance and Keith sitting around that poker table, cheating at cards (Keith), and flirting as a distraction (Lance), while being tough as nails, pretty much establishes that something not good has happened. Especially as Keith worries about making ends meet.

Following that, the attack afterwards, which they treat as business as usual, barely blinking at the deaths they cause … Again, I don’t think I needed to tell you guys that they had been through some bad stuff. And they were continuing to go through some bad stuff. I don’t actually explain much until more than halfway through the story, when they’re back at the inn and there’s a moment of calm. (Again, I’m not great at pacing, but I tried to put a bit of ebb and flow in this series as a whole.) (Action at the beginning, sort of, and then calm.)

Six Gun Sound is pretty much all action, and it retroactively explains partially how Lance and Keith came to be the way they are (and how they got together ;D), and since you’ve already seen how jaded and broken they are in Trouble Coming, I like to think it makes for a sharper, harsher contrast to see them more … good just as they cross that line into becoming The Two McClains. (Lots of action/emotional conflict.)

Following that action-filled, emotional story, we’ve got Broken Bone World, which jumps forward to the more jaded Lance and Keith, but this time, we get to see them relax and perfectly in love with each other — and generally more settled in their new mercenary existence. (More calm.)

And then, Shuffling Madness, back in the past, is lots of action, lots of suffering — I hoped that seeing them as Paladins after three stories as space cowboys would be quite impactful in hindsight? Basically, seeing them being so optimistic about their chances makes you wince on their behalf because you, as the reader, already know how they end up. (Plenty of action/emotional turmoil.)

This is the point where the series is actually building towards the main climax. I had hinted at Keegin Dras going all the way back to the first story. But Paradise City is where the tension, um, kicks up, I guess (some of y’all may remember that cliffhanger? Er, sorry?) (Build-up to lots of action with a sudden stop and cliffhanger.)

I really like contrast, so this is my own personal opinion/writing style, but, um, yeah, there you go.

Edit: Damn, I totally forgot to mention Heaven Above You, which was probably one of my favourites to write — it prolongs the tension between Paradise City and Short Change Heroes, but also, while it isn’t too heavy on the action, I think of it is as still tension building because it shows that defining moment when Lance chose to take a life that wasn’t a direct threat to him. It’s an almost purely expositional story, but it sets up the emotional conflict of Short Change Heroes, while Paradise City sets up the main plot conflict?(Bit of action, mostly calm, but lots of emotional turmoil.)

Short Change Heroes is a damn disaster, but it’s a disaster I kinda really loved writing. There are just so many conversations. It really shouldn’t have had that many dialogue scenes. Holy crap, that war council is a story in and of itself, and I am definitely not Tolkien, holy crap, no. 

But, um, here’s where I contradict myself and say — I didn’t care about pacing, I just wanted to get these people (Team Voltron + The Two McClains) actually talking because communication rocks, and they absolutely would’ve wanted to talk a ton after a year apart. 

I did try and chop up some of the dialogue/exposition with a few action-type scenes (the interrogation scene, then that gang ambush, and that brief attack during the war council), but those scenes were also key to the plot-line and the emotional stuff. I was focused on pacing when I chose where to place those scenes, so that things would feel balanced and move forward smoothly. 

So, if in your own writing, you feel like you want to skip ahead, but you also feel like whatever information you need to impart (or interaction these characters need to have) is important to the plot/pacing (e.g. you need a quiet moment before battle or you need to show off an action scene before you can get to that juicy emotional resolution), find a way to make it fun for you to tell! I am a sucker for gritty honesty or sappy confessions or no-holds-barred arguing, so that’s how I handle some exposition. I love creating angsty situations instead of just explaining that someone’s had a bad time. 

Basically, in summation: I try to keep action and moments of stillness somewhat balanced. 

— A huge burst of action demands a longer moment of quiet/reflection, or a longer emotional conversation and/or resolution afterwards. 

— A massive emotional fight/discussion demands that the characters either have time apart or some kind of quiet/temporary peace after (even if the fight isn’t resolved right away or the discussion hasn’t unloaded everything in their heads). 

This is my preferred rhythm to story-telling, both on small (one story) or large (series) scales. This way a story doesn’t feel too stilted, or overly long (too many quiet moments?), or like it isn’t letting up/allowing the reader to settle (too many action moments?) — an even rhythm/flow carries the reader along easily (hopefully). 

I break these rules of mine often, but this is a general rant ;D

I really, really hope this has helped you, that this hasn’t bored you to death, and that I haven’t been totally nonsensical. I am honestly not even sure I answered this question at this point — it kinda just turned into a freakishly long ramble. *sweats* Sorry! 

You are very kind to ask, and I am so grateful to you! Best of luck with the writing, dear! *all the hugs*