#and all the comments indicate

[not-poignant]

If you’re still taking these, 17 and 20 for falling falling stars? Love your writing so much — was just rereading FFS and feeling all the feels

17. What was the hardest scene to write?

The logistics of the Forest scene in general took me a long time to think over even though those chapters came out very quickly.

The timing had to be just right, and there were different moving parts. I needed to logistically get Efnisien away from Arden in a kink club, which Arden wouldn't do if there were any practicing people around, and I needed to get someone from the class into that space, I needed to get Augus into that space, I needed to get Efnisien out of an extremely crowded space, there was just a lot of like...moving pawns on a chess board mentally like, you go here, he stays there, you go over there, now you come in this room, you come in this room, you leave this room, you stay in this room, he goes into that room, he goes over there - and so on.

And that's fiddly when I also need to punch up the whole emotion and mood of the scene, which is high fear, high humiliation, high terror, high embarrassment, high pain, high self-hatred etc. So it's not just a logistical nightmare, it's also like...one where everything has to make sense while also narrating in a choppier way, because Efnisien stops noticing as much when he's terrified.

I also really struggled with writing the end, which is why it basically has three epilogues, lmao.

20. What is something you wish more people noticed about this fic?

This one...I don't have any wishes for, people notice what they need to notice. For some it's Kadek, for some it's Arden and Efnisien, for some it's Efnisien and Dr Gary, for some it's different when rereading, for some it's everything, like...

Overall, there's nothing I wish people noticed. I actually think my life would be very unsatisfying as a writer if I constantly wished people noticed things different to what they were noticing in a fic. This is a really interesting question because if a writer feels they can answer this for every fic they've written, they might actually want to look at their writing technique, because it kind of loosely indicates they can't gently nudge the reader into noticing what they should be noticing. And that's a skill thing more than it is a reader thing, imho. That's just my thoughts! Like if it happens once or twice, okay, but if a person can really think of something for every single fic, they need to keep writing and keep polishing up.

~

From this meme!

[rickybaby]

Team DR3 is no different from the dirlies (gn)

[muninnhuginn]

You know what's gonna kill me when we get the inevitable Lu Guang flashbacks?

The fact he's always described as "mature" as his post-dive self implies he must be different now than before. It's hard to imagine exactly what his personality was like before, and if it's written well, he shouldn't be completely unrecognisable. But we know he's been changed.

Imagine a first timeline where Lu Guang just follows along with Cheng Xiaoshi, no attempts to reign him in whatsover. Cheng Xiaoshi having the opportunity to come up with more of his complicated tricks but channelling it into lower stakes stuff like pranks and Lu Guang actually enabling him in that and having fun with it. Imagine tragedy striking when Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi are both allowing themselves to be genuinely happy, no facades.

We know that Cheng Xiaoshi used to put on a brave face in light of his parents' disappearances and what that meant for how he was treated and what he was missing out on. But we also know that Qiao Ling and Lu Guang together have been able to lift that into something more genuine. Imagine a world where Cheng Xiaoshi was able to do the same for Lu Guang. Where they both mutually brought that light into the other's life.

It's still true to some extent in the current worldline, but it's complicated by Lu Guang's own actions. Lu Guang can never be fully honest with Cheng Xiaoshi without (in his mind) losing him forever. But he has to stick by his side in order to have any chance in his hopeless quest. And so, he must distance himself in other ways, protect Cheng Xiaoshi, enforce the rules. Swallow the guilt. It leads to a more lopsided relationship, one where one side is always hiding something from the other and refuses to open up themselves. A relationship that in the original timeline must have been more equal, as partners.

There's something that's been lost here, and it's not just the original Cheng Xiaoshi.

[bedlamsbard]

I have been dealing with how much some people hate Gambit for TEN YEARS and one of these days (not today) I am finally going to snap and pull this story. TEN YEARS. TEN HUMAN YEARS.

[aturnoftheearth]

the lord huron subreddit in shambles over this song lol

[robinsversion]

The most ironic thing to come out of having not one but multiple of my posts about the James Somerton situation that’s been blowing up over the past couple weeks, is people plagiarizing the additional commentary I put in the tags of those posts ON THE SAME FUCKING POSTS THEYRE USING THOSE TAGS ON

[lavenoon]

“Your kindness is imprinted upon us. You are entirely brave and brimming with love when there is fear and malice roaming this world. We profoundly care for you, sweet heart.”

@naffeclipse CAN YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING?

comic callbacks: three names, clever heart, oops trauma

[unfortunatelyimaginary]

If Marvel tries to make Rio move on to a new relationship (idc if it's comics canon) I am fighting them because I cried over Peggy Carter for YEARS. That's also not comics canon. If Steve Rogers can pine over her to the point of absurdity and breaking the narrative then I don't expect anything less of Rio who's already been pining for like 300 years.

14-year-old me who didn't know she was queer but cried through The First Avenger over and over and felt a stab to the heart with every following reference (Winter Soldier, AoU, early Endgame (didn't like the ending of course), Agent Carter s1) deserves nothing less.

[tumblingclockwork]

The ending of ii was really good. Idc. Idc.

[not-poignant]

Are Sebastian and Alex going to learn about bdsm and safe practices/negotiation? Or do they keep fumbling around and doing what they're doing?

Hi anon,

People who learn about BDSM don't necessarily practice safe practices or negotiation.

And there are elements of negotiation in this story! It's not a black and white 'they're not doing this in a paint-by-numbers sort of way and therefore it doesn't count' situation, y'know?

They are two characters in their mid-20s who live in a tiny town, one of those characters is dyslexic to the point that he can barely read, and the other's method of doing things has worked for him all his life (or so he thinks), they don't have any reason/s to learn about BDSM, and it's not likely that either of them ever will.

That also doesn't mean that they can't enjoy their kinky sex life.

There has been a lot of discussion already, and there will be more and more going forwards. It might not be at the level most people want, but Sebastian has certainly obtained consent (more than once), offered and then insisted on debriefs and post-sex discussion, explained to Alex how to communicate if he hates something, and made it clear that what he likes is unusual and sadistic in nature. It's also clear that Alex likes being pushed, i.e. - not being forced to give consent in every circumstance when someone can take control and give him what he wants anyway. That's actually pretty common in some people with a child abuse background who become people pleasers.

If you want negotiation + safe practices at a certain level, you'd have to completely remake Alex's character into someone who can magically be a functional, communicative, healthy human being, and he's not that. Alex is getting better at communicating (that's how we go this far in the story in the first place), but if you expect this story to end on Alex being a perfect human who can do Instagram-level kink negotiation, then no, this isn't the story you want, anon.

If you look deeper and don't expect cookie cutter kinds of dialogue, there has been ongoing negotiation in the story since the early chapters. When Alex makes it clear through physical response and then verbal that he doesn't like yelling, Sebastian stops yelling. When Sebastian makes it clear that he has complicated feelings about hiring his ex-school bully as a cleaner, Alex makes it clear that he doesn't share those complicated feelings, especially in light of the pay rate. Sebastian consenting to Alex being his cleaner makes it clear that those terms are acceptable to him.

When Alex tries to undervalue himself, Sebastian makes it clear that he's not comfortable paying someone less simply because they value themselves less. When Alex then takes that pay, it's a form of consent to Sebastian's attitudes. Their relationship has been an ongoing negotiation since the beginning, and that's how they've grown closer. If you're used to only looking for very obvious signs of negotiation, it might be easy to miss the non-verbal and subtle forms of negotiation that are happening.

For example, it might not seem like it, but Sebastian - many chapters ago now - talking about how he likes control in the bedroom and that turning Alex on long before they'd ever shared anything sexual together, is a form of communication. Alex learns he likes the idea of it without it ever been forced on him, and Sebastian wouldn't have that conversation with someone he didn't trust (for example, Alex in the beginning of the story). They had to have trust to have that conversation, Alex had to have trust to ask Sebastian questions about it in the oblique way he did, and they had to share a common comfortability have a conversation in that direction in the first place.

In A Stain that Won't Dissolve, these things don't look like a psychologist's version of: 'Okay, what do you want, and this is what I want, and here's where we meet in the middle' - a lot of life doesn't look like this (but if you want that, I've written that in Falling Falling Stars - it still has dubious consent though, lol). Both Alex and Sebastian have poor communication on their side, and it's a growth story for the two of them.

But no, I have no intention of Sebastian ever learning terms like 'subspace' or 'RACK' or anything like that. A lot of people in the world, especially prior to easy access to the internet, figured this stuff out on their own and many of them made it work even without the rigid or codified structures of the world of BDSM (and some of those people went on to invent the world of BDSM that we take for granted today).

It's the kinks that make you kinky, not the knowledge of an acronym or the world it engenders.

There's also no reason to think that Sebastian has access to a healthy education about BDSM there, it's not like Elliott was practicing much healthy BDSM in my other Stardew fic, The Wind that Cuts the Night, :D Elliott knew all about safe practices, negotiation, and BDSM, and chose to ignore a lot of the safe stuff over messing around more dangerously.

The fumbling around is the point, basically. Growing up is messy, and dubious consent is hot (for some of us), and there are many ways we communicate with the people around us, especially when it's two guys in a town the valourises machismo and stoicism over emotional openness, and one of those guys was beaten by his father over not being macho and strong enough which makes him exceptionally resistant to communicating clearly even about basic subjects and needs.

That's the part I actually really love about this story.

[theorderofthetriad]

seeing your rarepair tag has a new fic in it only to find the fic is less than 300 words with over 40 completely irrelevant relationship tags on it, posted by an anonymous author so you can't mute the motherfucker with extreme prejudice

[flowering-darkness]

dream interludes: an unintended exchange (Clio/Aria)

After teaming up with an eclectic mix of characters to figure out why the worlds are in disarray, Clio and co. learn that the scattered Jamba Hearts may play a role - and the three mage sisters of Jambandra, plus their apparent subordinate “Rogue”, are hunting the hearts for evil purposes.

One night, just after the party successfully recover their first one, Clio seems to dream of the very foe who has opposed her and the others at every turn so far - but this nightmare doesn’t play out how she expected it to.. (2158 words)

Here is the first of what will be a series of scenes from Origins, an RP I’m part of that features both Aria (my self-insert) and Clio (my KHUX OC)! I am very grateful to @mark-seins for allowing me to be so self-indulgent here.. but it’s also something with fun potential for later plot points, so =3

This is technically very pre-relationship, and the particular version of arilio for this story is going to be very much enemies-to-lovers, but.. it still felt like something I could post here as well, so I hope it’s alright that I do. I’m happy to explain any part of it if anyone wants me to ^-^

Comments and/or reblogs are always appreciated, but never a requirement. Thank you to anyone and everyone who decides to read what I write!~

Document transcript below the readmore (in case the link doesn’t work):

The events of the last few days weighed heavily on Clio’s consciousness, and she knew as she settled down for bed that they would lead to a difficult night for her even *after* she had tried to clear her mind of actively thinking about them.

Indeed, once she had finally gone off to sleep, her mind’s eye did not take long to place her in a disorienting situation - she began to dream of being trapped inside a dark corridor, while a massive Heartless loomed above her.

“Right, come on, we can do this..” she was saying - though no-one else was around to assist her in this fight. Her dreams were consistently dangerous enough that she’d honestly gotten used to being in them to some extent, even if she didn’t often remember them when she woke up.

She ran forwards to strike at the foe with her Keyblade, trying to leap up and get to its weaker points above her. The Heartless itself, a towering Assault Dragon, lunged for her with a mechanical roar as the Shadows in its core writhed angrily - but she was just about able to dodge in time, slashing away at the gears on its side. The very air around her seemed to glow as the dragon hissed out a jet of smoke and started to charge a beam of energy in its mouth. It was all she could do to try and twist it into itself, rooted to the ground as it seemed to be - but the whole thing rocked sideways with a groan of metal parts creaking together, and although the blast missed her, it also didn’t hit itself either.

“I could *really* have done with that working, y’know!” she yelled with a tut - but she was able to use her agility to her advantage, diving back around to start attacking from a new place on the body. She couldn’t really tell how long the battle had gone on for, but eventually, the scrapes and damages she had inflicted to the Heartless’ metal skeleton seemed to win out, as a final decisive blow caused the whole structure to collapse, and the Heartless to dissipate into Lux which then quickly faded.

“Phew.. There we go..” she said to the air, though a part of her almost knew that was probably only the beginning. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she looked around at the dark corridor she seemed to be in, but couldn’t make out any of its details.

Then she sensed something move behind her.

Turning around as quickly as she could, nothing seemed to be there, but she started running towards the source of the sensation. Though there was no indication of where she was from her surroundings, she found herself able to move what *felt* like forwards in the cavernous darkness, and with the light of her Keyblade still shining in her hands, she eventually managed to find an exit.

She kept going through the exit, and found herself standing in what could have been the square around the fountain in Daybreak Town; it seemed reminiscent of where she used to meet up with her fellow Keyblade wielders. Despite it being the middle of the night, the air seemed surprisingly mild in temperature, which gave the environment an odd though not unwelcome feel.

As she approached the central fountain, the same sensation arose again, and she instinctively whipped her head around to try and see its source - but, just like before, there was nothing in her view to see. She opened her mouth to speak, but found that her voice had unexpectedly disappeared. Frowning, she instead turned back towards the fountain - she could hear the quiet splashing of its water, and so thought that a drink might help free up her throat, as well as calm her nerves; she must have still been tense from the sudden fighting earlier.

When she reached the fountain’s edge at last, the way the water was agitated meant she couldn’t make out any details of her reflection in its surface - but this was quite normal. She was used to the weary feeling of being in a dream by now, and after so long of having to experience such similar events, she could even start piecing together some of the reasons behind what she went through each night - not that there were always reasons to be fathomed out, of course, but occasionally there would be something she could at least find a potential explanation for, and while she didn’t feel a need to understand every single aspect of her subconscious, the straws she was sometimes able to grasp at did nevertheless bring her some form of solace in the face of her more persistent nightmares.

(Tonight’s encounter with a massive draconic Heartless, for example, made sense in the wake of the dragon-like form taken by Ren’s Shadow, which she was so recently forced to face; while she had had a large group of allies alongside her in however close a Palace came to reality, the world of her dreams offered no such support or companionship for her now, though.)

Clio dispelled her Keyblade, blinking momentarily at how much less lit-up doing so made the space around her, and reached down into the fountain to cup some water into her hands; she found it pleasantly cool to the touch, in comparison to the strangely-balmy night. As she went to drink it, there seemed to be nothing untoward about its texture or taste - however, she realised as she did so that the sound of splashing water was not the only thing she could hear; it once again seemed like something was slowly approaching her from behind. Despite sensing this, she decided to take a deep breath and try her best to feign unawareness, fighting against the curiosity and concern rising up inside her just to see if that perhaps might let her spot the answer.

The sensation slowly increased in intensity, like a long shadow looming over her as her back was turned, but it eventually stopped increasing as the almost-silent footsteps on the stones behind her stilled. Clio could tell from listening out for their pace that they *were* footsteps, but had not seen any change in the lighting around her as she finished her drink from the fountain, so she surmised that their owner had stopped further away from her than the looming dread now hanging over her would indicate.

There was a pause, but in the end, her instincts refused to let her stay vulnerable any longer.

She turned around.

And saw a familiar cat-eared figure with long black wings.

Instantly, her eyes widened and she let out a cry, taking a step back to position herself properly and nearly falling backwards into the fountain in the process.

“Wh- You’re that Rogue girl!”

Clio’s voice rang loudly off the stone of the plaza, enough to make “Rogue”’s own eyes widen in return.

“Y-You- You saw me, then?” she(?) asked, as if confused. Her(?) ears were flattened against her(?) head.

“*Yes*, I saw you, or- see you now, at the very least!” she exclaimed. Her heart was now frantically pounding from being so startled, even if she had quite deliberately put herself in such a situation, having not known what was creeping up on her.

“What do you want?!” she then asked, defensively.

“That.. is not your concern.” she(?) replied, her(?) voice terse but not forceful. “I cannot say this has gone how it should have..”

It was now Clio’s turn to frown as her adversary’s expression - or what was visible of it, anyway - became contemplative, like she(?) was lost in her(?) own thoughts.

Something about her(?) presence seemed wrong, but she had to assume that was due to this being the first time she had seen her(?) with her(?) hood down, and could properly see her(?) head and newly-visible flowered hairpiece in full.

..Could dreams fill in details like that?

“What do you mean?” she then asked her(?), more tentatively.

At that, “Rogue” looked up at her from beneath her(?) messy, dark blonde hair.

“I didn’t expect you to take notice of me here.” she(?) then admitted, after a pause. “Such a factor can still be advantageous, I suppose, but it does complicate things..”

Clio’s frown deepened. “So I’m not supposed to be able to see you? But, of course I can see you, this is my dream!”

“That this dream is yours is true enough, but to think yourself its master is quite another.” she(?) replied. “Were that the case, you would surely have the strength to free yourself from the nightmares you suffer, yes?”

She was taken aback by that. “W-Well.. not exactly! I’ve heard of people who can make themselves dream whatever they want, and- sure, if I had that power it might let me have a decent night’s sleep for once, but-“

“So the sudden appearance of your battle before was not new to you, then. I suppose I should have known from how aptly you handled it.”

“Huh??”

By this stage, Clio was quite sure she wouldn’t have been able to keep up with Rogue’s deductions had this conversation been happening in the waking world, let alone with her feeling as exhausted as she tended to in her dreams.

“_Look_, I still don’t understand- why you’re here.” she began, trying to climb her way back to confidence. “Especially not like this. I was expecting us to just.. fight again.”

“Is that the usual course of your dreams, then?” she(?) then asked, tilting her(?) head to one side. “An endless stream of constant conflict?”

There was a pause as she then let out a grumpy sigh. “It’s either that, or I’m running for my life, or being shouted at, or some other violent scene’s playing out in front of me..”

She(?) stayed silent at that, though the silence was not a cold one.

“So, yeah, that’s why this is weird.” she continued, her expression now decidedly melancholy.

“..Wait, why am I even talking to you about this?”

Her(?) cheeks rose up behind her mask as if she(?) was smiling. “Who can say? Beyond the confines of the waking world, your heart and mind are free to express themselves as they truly would want - is that not what some believe?”

Clio frowned again. “What’s that meant to mean?!”

Her quick jump to her own defence made her sigh exasperatedly to get the rising tension out of her shoulders, but she did see how the girl(?)’s lynx-like ears had dipped downwards again from her outburst.

“..Look, you’ve been confusing me every time you’ve shown up and caused trouble.” she then began.

“First you ran circles around me and Mimi ‘til Morrigan and Kazuki arrived, but then they seemed fine with giving you Francisca back despite the fact she ordered you to kill us.

Then you set Hoa Sen off into a panic as soon as he saw you, but he also wouldn’t let anyone hurt you.

And then you corrupted Ren’s Shadow with more darkness, but didn’t even stay to finish us off.

So- who are you, Rogue? What are you trying to achieve??”

There was a long pause.

“..I am not “Rogue”, for one thing.” she(?) said quietly. “Not somewhere like here, if anywhere.”

“Huh?” It dawned on her how tense the girl(?) before her had become. “As in, that’s not.. your *name*, or-?”

She(?) shook her(?) head, which Clio realised was not a particularly clear answer, but it seemed she was - however reluctantly - willing to speak further.

“Not *here*.” she(?) repeated. “It is all that the sisters will call me, but-”

Clio tried to step forward as she(?) was talking, but had to raise her arm up to shield her face instead. From the unspecified horizon in the distance, it seemed like the sun had just started to come up - and then from either side of her, a fog began to roll in.

Though her(?) sight was not turned towards the slowly-rising dawn, she(?) could sense it reach a new stage in approaching from Clio’s reaction.

“Ah.. So the waking world sees fit to reclaim you, then.” she(?) stated. “Of course..”

“Wait a second-” She tried to close the distance between the two by running forwards, but doing so only seemed to make the fog close in more quickly, and it felt like she was sinking into the ground.

“What were you going to say??” she cried.

The thin mist now filling the air between the two was growing thicker by the second, though it retained a certain brightness nevertheless.

“Perhaps another night.” she(?) declared, her(?) voice still holding melancholy. “Though, perhaps..”

She(?) gave a sigh, but it was muffled.

The last thing Clio caught before the fog engulfed her entirely was the mysterious figure looking directly towards her.

And though her(?) mouth was obscured by a mask, she(?) nevertheless said *something*-

-which sounded a bit like “Fiore”.

[2kinkycubangemini]

A friend of mine organized a little pirate porn watching get together tonight and we all have to dress up like pirates and I'm weirdly excited??

[op-sys-chaos]

There's ppl arguing in the comments section of a fic I wrote and I'm like...

Guys.

It's not that deep.

Spoilers ahead for one of my fics

They're arguing over whether or not a character, who is in a bad situation and can't leave it because assassins will try to kill him and his loved ones if he does, should be forcibly taken out of that situation anyway, regardless of his concerns for his loved ones safety and whether or not he feels the bad situation is dangerous.

...THEY'RE GOING TO DEAL WITH THE FUCKING ASSASSINS! OBVIOUSLY!

They're not "overriding his desire to stay away" by taking out the assassins because he only wants to stay away to protect them from the assassins!

They're not "overriding his right to choose if he stays in the bad situation" because once the assassins are gone he can actually pick for himself!

And guess what! He may not even have to pick between which situation to stay with! Because people on both sides of this situation love him and want him to be happy so they'll let him do what he thinks is best! Sure, they might be working to cook up options for him, but that's all they are! Options!

Geez, y'all, I get that this fic isn't 100% lighthearted but it is entirely built on the back of angst-driven shenaniganery. It's not meant to be that deep and it's not meant to cause arguments on the right thing to do when a character is in a bad situation and whether or not you leave them there and how either option could traumatize them!

And besides, there are more than two options! "Forcibly take him, ignoring his wishes to keep us away for everyone's safety" and "leave him alone and never speak to him again" are not the only two options here!

For fucks sake, if it's that deep I'll give you the fucking answers. The people who love him, on both sides, are going to 1) deal with the problem of the assassins and 2) work together to find ways to combine the two halves of his life, assuming he's okay with that, but they're gonna plan it out first so he has pre-prepared options and doesn't have to worry about that aspect unless he doesn't like the given options and wants to make his own. Then he gets to pick his favorite solution and be surrounded by people who love him no matter what he chooses, and guess what, he picks to maximize how many people that is!

So yeah! Not that deep!

Geez y'all.

I get it, this fandom loves talking about complex trauma. And I know this character is neglected. But this fic was not meant to dig that deep into his home life. It was about reconnecting with those he lost and bringing together those he loves on both sides of his life through identity shenanigans. No one's taking the extreme, traumatizing option to fix the problem. They're working together to fix it as a family because that's the theme of the fic. Chill.

[currentlyonstandbi]

until capcom proves me otherwise, this is my interpretation of leon throughout the entire film

[palukoo]

movie recs please? :) I’ve seen all about eve and the women but wanna more old lady gays

omg yes absolutely!! i made a longer/more thorough and broad list here that you can check out!

i am taking this to mean old movies with women being gay so hopefully that's what you meant lol. i also have a letterboxd list that is relevant here, but it's kind of nonsense and not really based on what i would or wouldn't recommend lol, so i will try to make a coherent list in rough order of how i'd recommend them but i went back and forth a LOT and some of these i really need to like rewatch and reevaluate i suppose

Rebecca (1940)* - thriller

The Children's Hour (1961)* - drama

Stage Door (1937) - comedy/drama

The Great Lie (1941) - drama

Old Acquaintance (1943) - drama

The Haunting (1963)* - horror

Persona (1966)** - thriller? i guess?

Night Nurse (1931) - drama/comedy

When Ladies Meet (1941) - drama/romance

A Woman's Secret (1949) - drama/mystery

The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951) - comedy/romance

Johnny Guitar (1954) - western

*some level of intentional queerness **this would be higher but i recognize that the fact it isn't in english and is also just like weird does make it one that is somewhat less accessible i suppose