#and a premise!

[faeriekit]

"This fic was ai generated—" Cool, so lemme block you real quick

[sanguinifex]

You gotta read and watch some old books and films that aren’t 100% modern politically correct. I’m not saying you should agree with everything in them but you need to learn where genres came from to understand what those genres are doing today and where media deconstructing old tropes is coming from.

Also, more often than you might think, they’re not actually promoting bigotry so much as “didn’t consider all the implications of something” or just used words that were polite then but considered offensive now.

Kill the censor in your head.

[spockderangementsyndrome]

I know "60s housewives who invented slash fanfiction" has taken on a life of its own as a phrase, but Kirk/Spock didn't really exist until the 70s and THOSE WOMEN HAD JOBS. They were teachers and librarians and bookkeepers and scientists and they damn well spent their own money going to conventions, printing zines, buying fanart and making fandom happen. Put some respect on their names.

[ilovedthestars]

there really are few emotions i find more compelling in a story than "you should be afraid of me. please don't be afraid of me"

[inkskinned]

this is just my opinion but i think any good media needs obsession behind it. it needs passion, the kind of passion that's no longer "gentle scented candle" and is now "oh shit the house caught on fire". it needs a creator that's biting the floorboards and gnawing the story off their skin. creators are supposed to be wild animals. they are supposed to want to tell a story with the ferocity of eating a good stone fruit while standing over the sink. the same protective, strange instinct as being 7 and making mud potions in pink teacups: you gotta get weird with it.

good media needs unhinged, googling-at-midnight kind of energy. it needs "what kind of seams are invented on this planet" energy and "im just gonna trust the audience to roll with me about this" energy. it needs one person (at least) screaming into the void with so much drive and energy that it forces the story to be real.

sometimes people are baffled when fanfic has some stunning jaw-dropping tattoo-it-on-you lines. and i'm like - well, i don't go here, but that makes sense to me. of fucking course people who have this amount of passion are going to create something good. they moved from a place of genuine love and enjoyment.

so yeah, duh! saturday cartoons have banger lines. random street art is sometimes the most precious heart-wrenching shit you've ever seen. someone singing on tiktok ends up creating your next favorite song. youtubers are giving us 5 hours of carefully researched content. all of this is the impossible equation to latestage capitalism. like, you can't force something to be good. AI cannot make it good. no amount of focus-group testing or market research. what makes a story worth listening to is that someone cares so much about telling it - through dance, art, music, whatever it takes - that they are just a little unhinged about it.

one time my friend told me he stayed up all night researching how many ways there are to peel an orange. he wrote me a poem that made me cry on public transportation. the love came through it like pith, you know? the words all came apart in my hands. it tasted like breakfast.

[crownanother]

Apparently, back in the day, there was a really notorious tie in novel for Star Trek that had a lot of slash elements called Killing Time

The slash elements were requested to be removed by Paramount, and they were, BUT due to a mistake, the original was sent to print without the edits

When it was caught, they’d printed 250k of this “first edition” which subsequently became collectors items for Kirk/Spock fans, since later editions DID include the edits censoring the slash

NOW, I bring this up because my friend who’s into the original Star Trek found and was reading the first edition at the desk at the library we work at, cause we’re slow on weekends and we’re the only ones here. She laughs at it, so I ask and she tells me about the general backstory of the book, and that she laughed because (among other things) Kirk, who doesn’t get mad in the og series really, was being described as hot headed and apparently just getting into fights left and right

So I’m looking over her shoulder at the scene, commenting on the character changes that resemble modern fic-degradation of characterization for the sake of a shipping dynamic, when I realize something

Now, my only interaction with the Star Trek series directly was the 2009 reboot, and my friends hasn’t seen those and is only interested in the originals. As I’m looking at this scene, and my friend is pointing out the character changes to Kirk, I realize that this is the fucking premise of the reboot, down to the fucking alternative timeline shenanigans, the rank swap, and Kirk being a hotheaded fuck up

The 2009 film was literally based on this slash fiction misprint they tried to bury!

Im reeling.

I can’t be the only one who made this connection.

So I google to see if anyone else has, and oh yes, good, there was someone

The fucking author of Killing Time

…I feel like I’ve uncovered a conspiracy. I’ve still got 3 hours left in my shift and I can’t focus. The world must know.

[jakeperalta]

I'm curious. what job would you do if money was no object (you just automatically had an income you could live comfortably on)? including work like volunteering, studying etc. please share in the tags :)

[brawltogethernow]

Ominous howled rendition of "Silent Night" recorded in the woods at 1AM this morning.

[cepheusgalaxy]

ein [placeholder name]

Arielle

[image descriptions: two picrews in different artstyles of a girl with curtain bangs, grey eyes and white hair wearing cute black clothes. the second one has significantlly longer hair than the first. /end id.]

Basic info: Arielle (she/her and they/them)

Background: Patrouilleur (term for the people who defend the magic country) in Onemia, the magic country.

Role: The protagonist.

Main traits: Stoic, caring, empathic, pacifistic

*Notes: She's a tough girl. Bigender.

Kaiki

[image description: picrew of a boy with brown skin and short, wavy blond hair. his eyebrows are dark as wellas his eyes, and he wears a colorful pink & yellow button up shirt with blue sleeves. a speech bubble with a broken heart points to him and he has yellow sparkles on his face. his expression is slightly aannoyed. /end id]

Basic info: Kaiki (he/him)

Background: Normal guy (called ambue in this setting) who accidentally won at magician lottery and now got sent to this magic school

Role: Co-protagonist

Main traits: Cynic, easily annoyed, very good friend, reserved

*Notes: Very very transgender and also very aroace. The picrew is inaccurate, he actually has pigtails.

Lis

[image description: a very small in scale uncolored reference of a short girl with medium curly hair, short trousers, sport shoes and a crop top under a big and puffy jacket. the drawing was made in lined paper and there are faint notes all around her. she has a devillish smile and wears long sockets. /end id.] (old doodle)

Basic info: Lis (she/her)

Background: Ambue to magician pipeline as well, comes from a wealthy family

Role: Co-protagonist

Main traits: Chaotic, reckless, positive, malicious

*Notes: Part of her character arc is to find out she's pansexual. Her outfit is also in the pansexual pride flag colors. Has albinism and dyslexia.

Simba

Basic info: Simba (he/him)

Background: Youngest but heir prince of Onemia, has military training

Role: Supporting character

Main traits: Cool-headed, subservient, loyal, mature, calm, soft

*Notes: He's sensorily disabled in some way I just don't know how yet. He's a very chill prince. He breaks the rules sometimes.

Lucy

[image description: a semirealistic picrew, showing a white blonde girl with short boyish hair and blue eyes, wearing a blue jacket. her expression is serious but she is blushing a litte. /end id]

Basic info: Lucy (she/it)

Background: Ambue to magician as well, is half usamerican and actually grew up there. She is living with her grandmother now for highschool

Role: Main character

Main traits: Self-aware, soft, caring, sweet

*Notes: Loses her memory at some point and becomes Fennice White. She's super trans and I love her.

Lali

[image descriptions: a drawing and a picrew. the first one is a pencil doodle of a fat guy with lipstick and a short bob cut. he wears a black bra and shorts and a transparent shirt on top of that, has an annoyed expression and one hand on his hip. the secons one is a headshot of the same black guy wearing subtle lipstick, eyeliner, golden earrings and a pink fur coat over a pink bra. there are sparkles around him. /end id]

Basic info: Lali (he/him)

Background: Comes from a wealthy family in Onemia and is considered a genius and a prodigy in the magical field. He’s got mommy and daddy issues.

Role: Main character

Main traits: Arrogant, moral, proud, excitable, loud

*Notes: You can't see it here but he's black and most of his clothes are pink. Has NPD. I love him sm.

Luna

Basic info: Luna (she/her)

Background: Kaiki’s slightly younger and more socially adept sister. Never becomes a magician and lives with him, their other two sisters and their aunt in a not very wealthy home.

Role: Supporting character

Main traits: Cocky, social butterfly, stoic, feisty

*Notes: Also has a self discovery arc. Cis girl to multigender pipeline. Also a little like if the Mean Girls were a tween (she's 14yo). She's nice. Assigned song: Boyfriend by Cameron Dove

Giulia

Basic info: Giulia (she/her)

Background: Onemian Patrouilleur and Arielle’s colleage and queerplatonic situationship partner.

Role: Supporting character

Main traits: Playful, competent

*Notes: She doesn't have anything close to a design yet :(

Margeoux

Basic info: Margeoux (she/her)

Background: Onemia’s Grand-Countess (ruler, like a queen)

Role: Supporting character

Main traits: Strict, dry and sharp, coolheaded

*Notes: The cis mom. I have all of her family's baggage and history on my notes.

Taylor

Basic info: Taylor (he/him)

Background: The Grand-Countess’s oldest (alive) son. He backed out from the heirship line and had all of his three older siblings die before Simba was born. He has a military job.

Role: Supporting character

Main traits: Protective, family guy, nervous

Helena

Basic info: Helena (she/her)

Background: A military commander in Onemia. Getting married with an ambue (a guy from a special operation of collaboration between the ambue and Onemia).

Role: Supporting character

Main traits: Lighthearted, focused

Alice

Basic info: Alice (she/her)

Background: Kaiki’s aunt and his mother’s older sibling. She took his and his sisters’ guard when their parents were divorced and lives with them.

Role: Supporting character

Main traits: Patient, responsible, observational, lighthearted

Tatiana

[image description: pencil doodle of the side profile of a black girl with an undercut and her hair tied in a bun, wearing a kitten themed mask. there are a lone of notes and lines pointint to her and she has freckles. /end id] (old doodle lmao)

Basic info: Tatiana (she/her)

Background: Kaiki’s older sister. Has the most memories of when their parents were still together and holds some grudge for her mother. In college.

Role: Supporting character

Main traits: Playful, sarcastic, focused

*Notes: Autistic and apl. Her favorite color is green.

Estella

Basic info: Estella (she/her/it)

Background: Kaiki’s baby sister. She has very few memories of when their parents were together, and is the youngest out of the four siblings. She is still in elementary school.

Role: Supporting character

Main traits: Curious, humble/understanding, excitable

Adalia

Basic info: Ade (she/her)

Background: Chief of a special operations squad who works for the government of Anglony, another magical country, located near the United Kingdom. She is young.

Role: Supporting character

Main traits: Responsible, friendly, serious, caring

Pamela

Basic info: Pam (she/her)

Background: Ade’s “right hand”. She trusts her a lot and obeys her first and foremost, even when they disagree (often).

Role: Supporting character

Main traits: Reckless, caring, loyal, feral

Lola

[image description: portrait pencil doodle of a black woman with a sharp jaw and long curly hair with asymetrical bangs. she has proeminent cheekbones and one single earring and a suspitious expression. the drawing was made on lined paper and there are a few notes surrounding her, but the most proeminent is a "Lolla" written right below her. /end id] (outdated spelling, don't mind me)

Basic info: Lola (she/her)

Background: Onemia’s Viscountess (the Grand-Countess’ wife, a little below her in rank) and Simba and Taylor’s biological mother. She is also a notorious political figure, and was so even before entering the Prime Family.

Role: Supporting character

Main traits: Formal, responsible, cold, observational

*Notes: The trans mom. I have her full-body design ready too.

Clarissa

Basic info: Clari (she/her)

Background: Tatiana’s college friend and queerplatonic partner. Is friends with Tati’s siblings.

Role: Supporting character

Main traits: Fun, simple-minded, caring

*Notes: I don't like her name so I'm thinking on changing that.

Alvaro

Basic info: Alvo (he/they)

Background: [Unknown.] He is from a pro-war group that helps doing experiments on Kaiki in a later arc to test out a new magic body mod, and was created to be Kai’s whumper.

Role: Minor antagonist.

Main traits: Ruthless, minutious, sadistic, mean

*Notes: Has heterochromia :) Idk what his deal is, actually.

note: this one has the largest cast so far. Many supporting characters, you can see.

[egophiliac]

bring back zooterkins, the best 17th-century swear word

I don't normally do Just Characters Swearing, but. ...this kind of wrote itself and then wouldn't leave my head. it comes from both a piece of character-writing advice that has always stuck with me, and also my conviction that Leona is 1000% funnier as a character if his dialogue has to stay G-rated. let Kalim say fuck, but don't let Leona say bastard.

(I'm sorry)

[shigeoreum]

“… It flows out of you… it flows out of me too… and I can’t tell where you end… and where I begin”

lyrics from “A Given Thing” by Weyes Blood and drawing is inspired by Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss ^_^

[axwaitaru]

On our way to you🍲🍄🌱

[theburgertv]

i watched the first parkour civilization movie and its like. 2 hours of youtube shorts tied together. its so funny, they reestablish the plot like 200 times throughout the whole move. everyone's ego is beyond fragile and no one has ever heard of a 360 jump or a backwards jump somehow

[starberry-cupcake]

THIS WAS INTENSE IN MANY WAYS

congrats to jim kirk for surfing through a panic attack and also wow

[etherealspacejelly]

happy spirk day everyone!!! remember our founding fathers of fanfiction: two guys who were so gay a bunch of women in the 60s invented slash. god bless