#being real bold by putting this in the main tag

[sw4p-0ut]

Soooo I finally finished season 1 of TOH and here are my thoughts!

PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL ME!!! I DID MY BEST TO GO INTO IT COMPLETELY BLIND, DO NOT RUIN IT FOR ME, PLEASE.

I do not like Luz. Like, she fucks things up, insults people, puts others in danger and then fixes everything by... Apologizing real niceys? It gets tiring, boring, and awkward after like three times. I did like her in ep 19 though, she finally owns up to her mistake and has to take an actually important decision, which I actually really respect!

I would die and kill for Eda. She's everything to me now. I love Lilith as well and relate to her a lot. I don't know what to say about them I just love them so much and got really happy whenever they were on screen! :3

I sympathize quite a lot with Amity too and I think she's pretty cool, but her development feels kinda forced? She gets too nicey too quickly, if you will. I'm all for a good cutesy love story, but this feels kind of rushed. :(

I really really REALLY like the Emperor Belos guy. We haven't seen him much, but his cult leader-ish character, his voice (kudos to the voice actor, the job is FANTASTIC) and his design really had me nailed to my seat.

Gus and Willow are cool! Gus is really funny I really like him. Willow is very nice too, she's a good friend. :3

I was so damn bored for 17 episodes. I was expecting something at least interesting, but the plot points were uninteresting, awkward and just overall not enjoyable.

Annnnd yeah that's about it! All in all this was VERY boring and the only things I got real enjoyment of were Eda and Lilith, so I can only hope it goes better next season (especially since Lilith betrayed the Emperor's Coven (good for her))!

[chaliceofthescales-if]

Sector 7, or Schai, depending on who you are. An otherwise barren dry desert on which nothing grows with a busy bustling tourist city as its main focus. A city of indulgence, excess, and sin, the shiny glittering lights hide the dark truth behind the City of Wonders. Many will do anything to get out of the gutter and different groups often take advantage of that. So when two strange people approach you, offering a lifetime's worth of payment for protecting someone and going to find a special cup that may or may not actually exist, who are you to say no?

Chalice of the Scales is the first book in the Turnwheel of the Twelve Saga. It will be a shorter smaller game with the total amount of words read during each play through being about 40k, which is about the size of a novella or 80 pages front and back in a real book. It's inspired by different sources including Dungeons and Dragons and JRPGs/RPGs. The focus will be mostly on storytelling and adventure, but romance will also play a rather big part. While it leans more towards storytelling, there will be a decent amount of stat-based gameplay/mechanics as well.

You play as a Sector 7 Bodyguard for Hire. That means you're poor as dirt. You're approached by two mysterious hooded figures who offer to pay you a lifetime's worth of money in exchange for you to protect your Charge and find the Chalice of the Scales. You, obviously, accept thinking it's an easy job. Turns out, it's anything but. Now you have to create a group to set out and the Scales' Relic, which hasn't been seen in over 1000 years, while also trying to make sure no one dies.

Genre: Adventure, Romance, Fantasy Post-Apocalyptic

Rating: 18+

Tracked Tag: #chalice of the scales

Status: In Development (Writing)

Demo || Romance Options || FAQ || Ask Guidelines || Tag Navigation || World Lore || Current Anonymous Survey Form || The Full Saga || Dev's Main Blog ||

Create and customize your bodyguard for hire. Choose their gender, pronouns, appearance, and personality and more.

Protect your Charge and make sure he isn't killed or kidnapped by the assassins after him while trying to find the lost Relic.

Explore Sector 7 of Astelle, also called Schai. Traverse dry barren deserts, smog filled cities, and the Great Divide on your quest.

Do research and follow leads to find out where the Chalice is located. Fight back against Relic Hunters and other groups to safely deliver the Chalice to its Warden.

Romance any of your 6 companions: Merlion - Your Charge, Astor - The Guardian, Elise - The Cleric, Bran - The Relic Hunter, Korone - The Navigator, or Starling - The Assassin.

Build your relationships with others in the group and find out their stories. A good relationship with someone may unlock different choices during gameplay.

One final question... Where is the Warden?

Merlion Corwell (he/him) - Your Charge. Two mysterious hooded people paid you quite well in advance to protect him and find the Relic. A fairly easy job, in hindsight. Now if only he would stop wandering off and getting into trouble.

Astor Wryth (he/him) - The Guardian. A real-life Guardian, like from the legends. Structured and well-put together, he's very adept with his abilities as a Guardian, but is very out of touch with his Warden.

Elise Fairthing (she/her) - The Cleric. A sweet and energetic Cleric who decided to join you on your quest after you crash her trip. She possesses a decent amount of knowledge and history about the Twelve.

Bran Noire (they/them) - The Relic Hunter. A shoddy Relic Hunter who let themself get captured by you. Rather irksome and arrogant, they're bold, loud, brash, and are, unfortunately, a fantastic shot.

Korone Noire (they/them) - The Navigator. A stoic and Machiavellian Navigator who knows the land of Schai like the back of their hand. Despite being quiet and thoughtful, they are somehow related to Bran.

Starling Rhise (she/her) - The Assassin. A woman once your enemy, now your (reluctant) ally. Calm and intelligent, she possesses an adventurous spirit and a grudge that won't go away anytime soon.

[p0rk-guts]

YAAAAALL IT'S ANGEL DUST!!!!! bro I'm so exited to tell u about him hehehehe he might be my fav redesign of the bunch idk

Comparison & rant!⬇️ + A bug/spider cw. I put reference images in there!

Ok guys can I be honest with you. I think. Pilot and pre-pilot Angel were peak 😔 I'M SORRY I'M BREAKING MY SILENCE

Like whaaat... WHAAAT.... I'm sorry he served here he had the BEST design idc idc you can't change my mind. These were NOT bad designs. I've got a slight preference to his oldest design but even then the pilot design was great to me.

THIS however...

OooOOOH MY GODDDDD THEY NEUTERED HIM!!?! NO tits, three measly ugly stripes on an uglier coat, LONG GLOVES THAT ARE MISMATCHED??? ONE OF THEM HAS THESE WEIRD... WHITE FLAPS?? WHO— WHAT. WHY. AND THEY GO OVER HIS LONG SLEEVES 😭😭😭

I'm sorry but Angel will always be the most egregious case of character assassination in this show, design and character wise. He sucks now and I used to love him.

Okay enough crying let's get serious.

So yeah show Angel sucks. Removing his chunky gloves removed a lot of the fun shape in his silhouette so now he's just a gangly twink. Very little visual interest. Also hate hate hate how his new mismatched gloves are pulled over his long sleeve coat. So dumb. Hate it.

Also explain to me how he's gradually gotten less tits but has simultaneously become more femboy-ified..... So many people immediately mistake him for a girl.......

They also mistake him for. Literally anything but a spider. Once again Viv can't code or theme characters for shit. I also don't like how his face changed... I can't describe it but It's so much less appealing and charming. Something in the eyes and his little cheek bump. Idk. Really hate show Angel props to the animators for making him watchable with his bold animation ts was real nice

Okay onto my Angel! He's now a goldenrod crab spider now! Thank you @/cryptablog for this idea!! (Not tagging them bc they hate the hellaverse with a burning passion lol 💀) They can be white with pinkish markings like our og Angel but most of them are tinted yellow or completely yellow!

I decided to make him most similar to that mid ground mix of yellow and white with pink-er markings. 1 because I kept lust pink and I feel like that'd be a prominent sin of his (+ purple is in here a lot bc I feel like he'd also be pride aligned! Purple is now the pride color :3) and 2 because the yellow tone in his fur is kinda meant to connect him to Husk in a way... Cuz that's kinda his main color... Idk maybe I'm onto nothing with that one BUT his primary color is purple and Husk's primary color is yellow(ish)! Complimentary boyfriend's!!! Are you seeing my vision!!!!! (Also on a lesser note his colors look more similar to my fav version of Angel aka his design from the pre-pilot ref sheet I showed)

Another idea you can thank Cryptamen for is him being partially translucent in places just like real goldenrods!!!! The idea behind that was because he was in the mafia in life and he had to be really stealthy at times so now in certain environments he's harder to see... Maybe he can even turn fully invisible for a bit... There's also possible character reasons to consider tying in there as well... Ough very cool idea 10/10

Gave him 4 legs and 4 arms + the big abdomen to really make him scream spider bc yes spider boys can be hot and no Viv was not willing to CAPITALIZE on that 😒 Also lengthened his fangs... Also moved his eyes to his forehead to make them more prominent and hopefullyyyy seem more like eyes. Idk. And now he's got pointy little pedipalps as well!!!

Gave him his boobs back bc he deserves them and just generally gave his body more shape (though the second set of legs definitely helps lol). Slightly de-twinked... But not by much...

Once again looked up some common hairstyles at the time and people loooved their hairspray and curls, or swoops, or waves— they were gettin funky with it. Hard to emulate that on his nonhuman skull so I took some artistic liberties applying ideas from common styles onto him.

Didn't do much research at awl for his clothes... I mean... He's not wearing much to begin with... I kept the long gloves bc I thought they had potential to look cute and I have him rolled cuffs on short sleeves. Wanted to keep the style simple but otherwise I would've drawn button clasps keeping them in place. No notes on the thigh high heels so I kept them. Everything else is just kindaaaa whateverrrr EXCEPT THE NECKLACE. Though it was hella funny and fitting

And that's awl folks.... Do u like him do u fuck with him.... Let me knowwww....... Okay byeeee ✌🏾🧍🏾‍♀️

[the-letterbox-archives]

Well, hello hello! First of all, great tag game idea, I love it! I came here to ask about "insincere.". I read "winning an argument" and I was blown away. I wanted to ask how you came up with it? What made you want to put this into words?

Thank you and have a lovely day/evening <3

aww thank you so much! i'm so touched you think that about the series, it's really a dream come true.

file (1)3-32-000: ask response

i came up with the idea kind of out of nowhere, but from general feelings of sadness and loss of identity. it's not nice to think about the state i was in when i first conceptualised it, but writing insincere. has really helped me get through depressive episodes.

the more minimalistic style compared to my other works, with more frequent paragraph breaks and italics and bold for emphasis make it easier for me to write. that might get harder when more plot comes in, but that's not the main focus of the series. i can't honestly dig too far into my thought process about the series because it is the way it is to help me destress and have a bit of fun, so there's not much rhyme or reason to what happens. there's no set ending, but i've got quite a few ideas, so we're not done yet!

on to a little rant about the characters: ven's desire to go back to sleep is a pretty simple allegory for wanting to be in a simpler, safer world, enabled by escapism, something i've borrowed from my real life. sissy is representative of neglect, especially in children, especially in gifted children, especially in weird gifted children. it's hard to tell when she's not surrounded by the rest of the cast, but sissy is constantly overlooked and brushed off. her speech pattern reflects this, she repeats herself over and over on instinct and tries to present herself as intelligent and all-knowing. the owl, though it's not too clear yet, is representative of a different kind of wisdom and vanity (i tried to show this by their first action being attacking a small child then calling her a liar, which was pretty funny ngl). the rest of the cast will explore more facets of myself, social issues, or personal struggles i want to make satirical in writing.

it's gonna be fun, i hope you keep reading!! thank you again for the ask!

btw here's next chapter's title drop -- lesson 4: choosing sides

[gross-text-adventures]

Jake Text Adventure: Urban Exploration

Welcome to Jake Text Adventure: Urban Exploration, a project by @reallygrossstuff! The story begins below, but bear with me while I lay out how this will work.

Unlike Karkat Text Adventure, this story will have a specific focus on ABDL content and related kinks. This first page has no fetish material, but as ABDL is a main focus, I will not specifically warn for it when it arises (though it will still be tagged). If other fetishes come up, I will put a bold warning at the top of the prompt indicating which fetishes are present.

All plot progression in this story is up to you readers! Most prompts will have a few ALL CAPS sections that act as suggestions for what Jake might do, but if you want him to do something different, send that in! This isn't something where I'm just waiting for people to prompt me to go down paths I've already made - everything is being written in real time with the project.

Just as a reminder, when submitting requests, remember to specify which page you're jumping off of. For example, this page is JAKE TEXT ADVENTURE: URBAN EXPLORATION. Unlike last time, I'll be prioritising keeping this story on one single path until either that path ends or interest in it fizzles out. Once that happens, I'll look back through unused prompts in my inbox and find one to branch off from.

Again, sorry for spending so many words explaining things, but I hope you enjoy the project!

Ideally, Jake would be out in the untamed wilderness right now, exploring long-forgotten temples and ruins around the world. Apparently though, when most of Earth C's ancient relics relate to worship of himself or his friends, ransacking those sites of history is "disrespectful" and "guache" and "seriously, Jake, I don't want to see ancient shit with my face on it".

Maybe someone less driven would give up entirely then, but not him! If he isn't allowed to delve into the ancient past, he'll just settle for the more recent past - and how convenient that he can find it right at his doorstep!

Only a mile or so away from his home, at the intersection of the city's business and shopping districts, lies a derelict building. Scraps of peeling paint indicate it was once decorated with bright primary colours, but now most of its exterior is plain bare concrete. Tall windows face the street, most broken in or too grubby to see through - beyond them the interior is too dark to make out any details.

The building has no visible company name or branding to indicate its original purpose. Jake had wondered about it for some time - it's prime real estate, sitting directly next to a popular shopping mall, and yet the building has been left abandoned and untouched for who-knows-how long. Nobody seems to know quite how long it's been in its current state, and he hasn't been able to find a record of who exactly owns the land it sits on.

What better place to start exploring than a local mystery?

He's waited until it's dark out, with few people up and about. Waiting until the street is empty, he picks the window with the least shards of glass left in it and gingerly climbs through, making sure not to trip over since he can't safely hold onto the window frame. Once inside, he casts a look around, but his eyes have yet to adjust to the grimy darkness after the brightly-lit street outside.

Taking out his flashlight, he aims the beam low and sweeps its light across the room. On the opposite wall he sees a large switch, presumably for the room's lights. TURNING THE LIGHTS ON will obviously make it easier to pick around, but the large windows also mean he'll be visible from outside, doing something… less than legal. If he WAITS, his eyes will eventually adjust to the lower light, though he might miss some of the finer details around the place.

Well, what's he meant to do now?

WAIT | LIGHTS ON

[spark-lapis]

Hi! Ritsu's propaganda submitter here. What would you say is the best way to get into kagepro? Your propaganda made me curious^_^

OH WOW THANK YOU !!! and for the kind tags on your reblog too!!

to be entirely honest kagepro is a bit of a Mess and I'm a pretty casual (and old) fan of it, I haven't even caught up at all since like 2017-- this post (embedded below) has a really good comprehensive explanation of the situation!

basically it started as a series of plot-linked vocaloid songs, which is what I'm most familiar with! then there's also a manga (Kagerou Daze) and anime (Mekakucity Actors) and apparently novels too???

the anime (in my opinion) is basically only supplementary to the rest of it; the real heart of the series is the songs, but I read the manga online on one of those free translation websites back in the day and I definitely enjoyed that at the time as well!!

I don't usually post with links on the tumblr app so I have no idea if tumblr is embedding everything correctly, but this is Kano's character song that i mentioned in the propaganda!! It's an absolute classic and I highly recommend it! (And, due to being a classic, there's tons and tons of interesting vocal covers and such as well!)

most fanmade guides I've seen tend to consistently recommend starting with the songs and, if you do watch the anime, to do it dead last (otherwise it's deeply confusing because they don't really. like. explain anything that's happening. in the anime. basically it doesn't work very well as a standalone), but past that it's kind of a free for all.

as for what songs to start with, searching "kagepro" on YouTube turns up plenty of playlists to take your pick from!! after looking over a few of them I think this is probably the closest to my original experience (embedded below again since apparently Tumblr mobile is weird about in-text links) but ultimately kagepro is a bit more like a Jumble of Characters and Ideas than an actual chronological Plotline, especially since a lot of these songs are actually new and I don't even recognize them! (from what I've heard there is a chronological plot but there's lots of canon time-fuckery and rewinds and loops and routes and it's a whole mess.)

the really Classic songs that I personally recommend the most and consider the heart of the series, in my recommended order (sorted so songs with related characters are grouped together, with my personal favorite songs in bold), are:

Kagerou Days (Hibiya), Konoha's State of The World (Konoha), Children Record (basically the whole main cast), Ayano's Happiness Theory (Ayano, Kido&Kano&Seto), Toumei Answer (Shintaro&Ayano), Lost Time Memory (Shintaro), Kisaragi Attention (Momo), Otsukimi Recital (Momo&Hibiya), Imagination Forest (Mary), Shounen Brave (Seto, Mary), Yobanashi Deceive (Kano), Mekakushi Code (Kido), Yuukei Yesterday (Takane, Haruka), Headphone Actor (Takane), Outer Science (Saeru&Mary), Summertime Record (also the whole main cast; this is the good end I think)

after spending so much time thinking about this and typing it up I actually just went and put together a playlist in this order! especially because the titles differ slightly by translation and there's SO MANY covers that it's really hard to figure out what's the original version if you aren't already familiar with it. this is the playlist I picked the videos from if you are interested in more than just the classics, too!

SPEAKING OF COVERS !! this is a playlist of english covers for most of the really classic songs, and this is a half hour long english cover for a guitar medley of a lot of those same songs!! and this is by far my favorite cover ever for Outer Science, which i just. love how it sounds so much.

SORRY IF THIS IS ALREADY OVERWHELMING i just like to be really thorough if possible!!!! thank you for your interest and best of luck to your blorbo in the competition as well !!!!!! and absolutely feel free to reach out if there's any more questions or curiosities!!

TLDR is basically that I recommend checking out playlists of the songs and fanmade pvs, and/or the manga (under the name Kagerou Daze)! unlike the anime, the manga DOES seem somewhat understandable on its own, but I found it much more fun to read after already knowing about the characters from the songs!!

[wordiestbird]

So I finished Kamen Rider Decade the other day...

And I do indeed have some thoughts about it, both as a whole and how it adds some interesting character to Tsuaka's whole deal in Zi-O (and I should really re-watch that at some point too). Thoughts below the read more, spoilers abound as you might expect.

[forabeatofadrum]

Hello everyone and a fine El WooWoo Wednesday to you. Thank you @facewithoutheart​ for the tag. I woke up today and I chose violence and by violence I mean “doing something batshit like posting another WIP Wednesday Hospital”.

It’s been a while (7 months, apparently) since I last did one of those, so for the ones who are new, let me explain what a WIP Wednesday Hospital is real quick. The WIP Wednesday Hospital is inspired a post by @facewithoutheart​ called a WIP Wednesday Graveyard, where Christina put her abandoned WIPs to rest and I was obsessed with the idea, but I also realised that I wasn’t ready to put my WIPs to rest since I had the intention of finishing them. So instead of a graveyard, my WIPs reside in a (long-stay) hospital ward. All my WIPs are waiting for me to discharge them (aka finish them). Some WIPs have been in this long-stay hospital ward for years (shout out to aap noot mies for getting discharged after 7 years!) while others are still getting used to it.

Below the cut are 10 patients waiting for a visit. You can go say hi to all of them, or just skip to the ones that interest you. I bolded the fandoms/ships etc. for easier browsing.

So please mask up and leave your name at the guest list: @quizasvivamos @crissmastrees-and-candyklaines @coffeegleek @esperantoauthor @otherworldsivelivedin @caramelcoffeeaddict @sillyunicorn @bazzybelle @dragoneggos @raenestee @tectonicduck @nightimedreamersworld @urban-sith @thnxforknowingme @captain-aralias @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @takitalks @justgleekout @cerriddwenluna @wellbelesbian @tea-brigade @cutestkilla @ivelovedhimthroughworse @moodandmist @artsyunderstudy @whogaveyoupermission @bookish-bogwitch @confused-bi-queer @martsonmars @aroace-genderfluid-sheep​ @ionlydrinkhotwater​ @1908jmd​ @special-bc-ur-part-of-it​ @larkral​

Patient no. 1 has gotten a lot of love lately. It’s my Snowbaz Carry On Prompt Fest text fic make a fire out of this flame. Simon’s sent a wrong message to Baz and things escalate from there on:

Baz🍆 (17:06) Will I ever meet your soulmate?

Simon Snow-Salisbury (17:06) what

Baz🍆 (17:07) The fish

Simon Snow-Salisbury (17:07) OH

This is Simon’s phone, hence the 🍆 (it’ll get explained) (it’s not what you think). And I hate to say it, but I think I might have to wheel this one back to the hospital ward. I may have to prioritise finishing other fics, including patient no. 2.

Patient no. 2 has the working title comphet babey! and I hope it’s going to be my Klaine Advent fic for this year. I have a total of two (2) ideas for this fic. One is that Blaine and Quinn are in a comphet relationship and the other is that the entire fic takes place in Ljubljana, Slovenia. You’ve heard of “Saló is the place to be”, well, meet a contestant:

Kongresni trg is the place to be.

Kurt loves sitting in the grass - on a blanket, mind you, he’s not going to ruin his clothes - and breathing in the scent from the pizza place in the corner. He’s not attached to the square because of its historical value, but because he likes being here. It’s a nice green spot in the heart of the capital. It’s surrounded by gorgeous buildings and you have a stunning view of the Ljubljana Castle on top of the Castle Hill.

Kurt’s only been here for a few days, but he already loves this place as a spot to unwind. And again, the great pizza place is an added bonus.

Yes, yes, this is based on my own experiences, although unlike Kurt, I did park my ass on the grass.

Patient no. 3 is Just Some Guy. Remember him? Matt Christopher Davis? This is the full 8 years at Watford from an outsider’s POV. Sure, Simon is the Chosen One and Baz is his Main Antagonist, but Matt is just some guy trying to get an education and he’s a bit fed up about these two interrupting his studies. Matt needs a break, so in his fourth year, he exchanges with Micah and fucks off:

“And you would not believe what happened this time!” John says, as usual.

Every week, John gives me updates about life back at Watford. I was clearly mistaken about the year being uneventful. Well, it’s uneventful for me, but for some reasons John finds it important to keep me up to date with the Chosen One’s life.

It all started with the Humdrum sending magickal monkeys to disrupt the welcome picnic.

Oh, and yes, John is Check, Please!’s John Johnson. Why? Because I can.

Speaking of Check, Please!, patient no. 4 is a returning patient and it is a Zimbits fic, although you can also call it a Jack & Lardo friendship fic first and a Zimbits fic second. It’s about Instagram and I haven’t written for it since 2019, but hey, let’s give it some love:

Apparently, the hockey world is not done with Jack Zimmermann.

He’d been updating his Instagram for a month and he’d gathered a couple of followers when one day, a comment appeared.

‘r u jack zimmermann from hockey???‘

Jack had ignored it.

But the comments kept flooding. His follower count expanded greatly. Jack kept ignoring it.

Then, one day, Larissa barges into his room. 

Patient no. 5 is, well, you can say it is a Simon/Butter fic. No, not really. Remember I can’t believe it IS butter? I then planned a Simon Snow Butter Saga that I do want to finish one day but then I sort of let it go in favour for other fics. This is from Cheer up, butter cup!:

But yeah, I have mini butter cups now. I stash them in my cold and enlarged pocket (I persuaded Baz to also spell it bigger on the inside) .

Back in my flat I put them in my fridge. Honestly, Baz should also enlarge the inside of the fridge to make room for all my butter.

“At least my strawberry dessert syrup doesn’t take up that much space, love,” he says as he watches me shove the mini butter cups to the back.

“Baz, what do I do now with all this butter?”

He raises an eyebrow.

“You’re asking me? You’re the one who eats them like candy.”

Patient no. 6 is a Love, Victor ending rewrite. Yes, I am also creating a bunch of Love, Victor ending rewrites because I thought the final season sucked ass. BEWARE! SPOILERS FOR LOVE, VICTOR START AFTER THIS SENTENCE, SO SKIP TO THE NEXT PATIENT IT YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED. I already posted All I needed for another day, which is an ending where Victor ends up single and rides the ferris wheel alone, and this one is called All I ever knew, only you. Benji doesn’t show up at the ferris wheel either. Instead, they meet again 3 years later. After all... do I dislike Venji? No, but I am also not incredibly happy with how they ended up together. Hence the rewrite:

A host announces a new band and Leah cheers loudly.

Abby raises an eyebrow.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of them,” Leah says and she turns to the others, “They’re a new group, all UGA freshmen. I spoke to the drummer once. They want to do covers, but also try their hand at original stuff.”

“Let them hear it,” Abby says and she raises a glass.

The others join in. They look at their joined glasses and they cheer and hoot even more.

Out of the corner of Victor’s eyes, he can see the band getting on stage and he drops his glass when he sees a familiar face.

“Victor, Jesus!” Felix yells out. It’s a good thing Victor’s glass was almost empty and it didn’t fall from a great height, so it didn’t break. It only spills a bit of beer on Victor’s shirt, but Victor couldn’t care less.

Benji is on stage.

Patient no. 7 is an Under the Whispering Door fic called Actual Freeman. It’s supposed to be short and sweet. Emphasis on short. Yet, I haven’t finished it, but I do have this:

Wallace Reid knows he’s up for another change of names. It was fun being Wallace Reid for two years, but it’s time to move on.

It’s time to become Wallace Freeman.

Hugo is the one who proposed. They were out riding the motorcycle. Hugo took them to their favourite spot and went down on one knee.

Patient no. 8 is another returning patient. It’s Hold on to that feeling, my Glee/CO crossover. I haven’t written for this in ages, but all the new information about Simon being able to sing... oh chef’s kiss! I can’t wait to incorporate that. But first, this:

“Uhm, Simon, Baz… Blaine?”

It’s Kurt’s voice. Blaine opens the door and Kurt looks very confused and surprised when he sees the others.

“You’re- you’re back,” he says quietly. Blaine also guides Kurt inside so that he can close the door. It’s true that no one else can see this room, but it still feels like they have more privacy now.

“Look, I messed up!” Simon throws his hands in the air.

“Again,” Baz reminds him.

“I was trying out several spells that could help us on our quest to get home. One of them was an Everything in its time.”

“Which, as Snow unfortunately forgot with his pea-sized brain, creates time jumps,” Baz says angrily.

Patient no. 9 is, uh, an unexpected patient and honestly this one is still in the waiting room. I might not admit it to the hospital in the first place. I’m still wondering if I actually want to do something with this, but, uh.... Rosemary Snow my beloved:

“Papà, babbo, sono a casa!” I yell out and I close the door behind me, “Anche Ire è qui!”

I hear some commotion coming from the living room. Ire raises an eyebrow and I shrug.

Eventually, a small voice comes from the other side of the door.

“... R-Rosemary?” my papà sounds uncertain, “Is that you?”

“Si, sono io,” I say with a frown on my face. Why did he reply in English? My papà and I speak a lot of Italian when it’s the two of us, and especially if one of my friends is coming over.

I open the door and my jaw drops when I realise what I am seeing.

My papà is standing in the living room, looking like a lost dog, and he has wings.

Basically, this is an AU of Paradiso? Learn more about it here. Not sure if the Italian is correct. Sorry Marta for cheating on you with Google translate, but like I said, I’m not sure if this is going to be a thing.

And okay, let’s end this with a bang. Patient no. 10 is [REDACTED]. As in, the actual title is redacted. Everything about this fic is a secret, since it is written for the Klaine Secret Santa and any snippet might easily give away what prompt I am writing and who I am writing it for. Yet, I want to share it, since I actually started writing it today and I have clear plans for it now. Here’s the start:

“I am here because I want to be challenged.”

Everyone claps politely and [REDACTED] sits down with a satisfied grin on their face. They’re basking in the praise and [REDACTED] envies their confidence. It’s almost their time to introduce themself and they are incredibly nervous.

This is their first [REDACTED].

This is a [REDACTED].

This is [REDACTED].

Yet, they can’t help but be anxious.

What if they [REDACTED]? After all, if you had told them a year ago that [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED], they wouldn’t have believed you.

[REDACTED], of all people, as [REDACTED]?

I’m sorry. I think I am funny. (I also changed all the gendered pronouns to they/them for this snippet. Gotta commit to the bit ✊😔.)

Thank you for reading. As always, feel free to leave flowers and to make your own WIP Wednesday Hospital. It’s always a lot of fun. Feel free to visit the previous three hospital posts here, here and here, although you will see that some patients have been discharged 🥳.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Found your blog via the sanditon tag and I couldn't agree more. This season is just so effin boring for the main couple. Like. First time I don't care about an Austen hero? Like going from Theo to this random dude is such a downgrade. Brooding awkward average looking man doesn't feel like the romance hero I'd root for. Arthur's, Lady Susan's and Georgiana's storylines are much more interesting than anything Charlotte has had this season. I wish they would have at least given her Slater after Sidney left.

The thing is... and it's totally fine for people to enjoy the show after Sidney died, I just didn't (and not simply because Theo left, though I'll admit I kind of thought it would be a situation where they would clumsily make up for his departure, and... I was right lol)...

The show was always meant to be an Austen fanfic. What she wrote of Sanditon is not a "final draft", and it's not even close to being finished. It's not a full skeleton of a novel. I never expected for it to play like true Austen, because it's not, and that's fine.

Where you got more complicated, and where the show got to the point that it's just a lame horse and it's better off being put out of its misery, is that it was an Austen fanfic that then lost one of the only solid Austen bones it had, lol. And a really important bone (... his bone could've been so vital to the story). And because Austen heroes *do not die*, there had to be this sort of narrative reshuffle of "well ackshully, what we saw was sort of a prequel, her tragic backstory as a heroine", except the guy who's coming in is not a Jane Austen piece at all, he's the writer's own piece. It became this Frankenwork.

And it was... extremely boring. I saw people responding to my post saying that I didn't like the show because I didn't identify with Charlotte "as written"; I don't need to identify with a character in order to like her, but I do need to be entertained by her. While I pithily said I don't like romances with kids and her arc seems like a nightmare to me... Which is true.... I can and have been persuaded to like stories similar to Charlotte's.

Where you lose me is when I think of the girl who was excited to get off a boring farm where she helped take care of a million siblings, going to a town where she saw things that ~shocked her~ (the moment that got me to watch the show was Charlotte having her entire Awakening in 30 seconds when she saw Sidney in the ocean; the fear of her own feelings mixed with curiosity and being overwhelmed was so real) and helped Georgiana defy this overbearing man... When I say I didn't get "let me be a teacher and raise this dude's kids" (which, cool, she's working, but she is working with KIDS, the entire sum of her life is about KIDS, after she came from a farm where much of her responsibilities were about KIDS, the dynamic evolution didn't exist) as being something Charlotte would want as this young woman, that's what I'm talking about. Doesn't mean she wouldn't have kids! It just means that I thought the show's original goal was to give us more of the girl who ran off to the city and just traipsed into a brothel and gave Sidney an entire heart attack. A girl who seemed bold and reckless and a bit zany.

In what I saw of the Charlotte of subsequent seasons (which was not everything because my time is limited and I'm not going to waste it on a show I don't enjoy) was not that. And I didn't really care for this subdued version that never would have existed had Theo James decided to stick around.

And I'll be honest--if they'd come in with a dynamic romantic hero, I would've come back. At its heart, Sanditon did play like a romance, and I think that having a good romantic hero was so important for its vibe, its success. The guy they brought in was very dull for me as a viewer; the life he offered was not a romantic fantasy. It was a bit of a male fantasy--hey, the wife (who I believe shit was kinda complicated with anyway) is gone, and now you get a plucky hot governess who's gonna help you with your kids and bounce on it for the rest of your life when she's not saving the children. But the setup they were giving in season one felt more like the feminine fantasy--he's hot but he's kind of an ass and but he chills out for meee. Not saying either fantasy is particularly romantic! But it felt very much like the original goal was giving Charlotte something, whereas the next was giving the GUY something.

I'm guessing you got autocorrected to Slater from Stringer lol, and tbh, I disliked Stringer in season 1, but Leo Suter has gone on to really impress me (both as an actor and in simple leading man ways) in Vikings. I think there could've been a path where you had Stringer get an edge and come back as this successful dude with a chip on his shoulder who's not so *eager* to have Charlotte in season 2. Someone she'd have to reevaluate, as I never bought her being genuinely into him in season 1. It could've had Persuasion vibes, but with perhaps an edge.

Again, it's whatever, I'm happy for people who liked the show. To me, it was just a letdown and it felt like Charlotte's character was changed to fit the new guy they introduced. Not interested in debating that; but I don't see s1 Charlotte and s2/3 Charlotte as the same person. Not because Sidney died--because she was changed to fit an unplanned storyline.

[nami-moittli]

Alright, part two of explaining why I chose which digimon for each character in my twst x digimon AU! Part: Jack

I first started out by deciding on Garurumon. It felt like an obvious choice to represent Jack being a wolf-beastman since in this AU things like beastmen/merfolk/fae don’t exist. Also, Garurumon could be used as a form of land transportation, like how you see in 02, when the kids would ride on the backs of their digimon partners.

After that, I decided on Gaomon because I didn’t want to make Jack’s line be the exact same as Matt’s from adventure. It’s also fun having Gaomon due to how he’s portrayed in Data Squad/Savers, as I feel that the two have a similar personality. (I did make a doodle for this, if you check my twst x digimon tag) and finally, I really like Gaomon because he’s described as being apart of the Gazimon family. Now, this AU focuses mostly on the freshman, however, if I were to give partners to the other twst characters, I would give Ruggie a Gazimon! Not only that, but one of Gazimon’s “main evolutions” (as shown by Wikimon’s bolded text) is Leomon! So, fun for the whole Savannaclaw family!

Moving on to the perfect stage, I wasn’t actually sure which I liked more. I first clicked on Caturamon’s page bc I thought it sounded like “cactus” and Jack really likes cacti and succulents (heh, imagine if I gave him a Togamon lol. I mean, both Togamon and Gaomon have boxing gloves, so who’s to say?) but then I realized who Caturamon was, and I feel like he fits in really well with the rest of the line! Of course, there is the issue of Caturamon being more of a “dog” than a “wolf”, but it’s not unforgivable. Plus, with Caturamon as the perfect level, the line separates itself further from Matt’s.

Though, I don’t really mind if it’s WereGarurumon either. First of all, the only difference between Epel’s Salamon line and Kari’s Gatomon line is that Salamon’s mega is Lovely Angemon and Gatomon’s is Magna/Holydramon and/or Ophanimon: Fall down mode. So clearly I don’t care to much about that as long as I can come up with a good reason for it to be so similar (though I do prefer differences to the (anime) protags), and, I can. Sure, it may not look as nice having Garurumon go from Quadrupedal to bipedal back to quadrupedal, but I don’t really care about that. In fact, I find that digimon evolution is so much fun because it’s so free and not afraid to make a line look bad as long as you can tell how you can get to point A from point B! Plus, I feel that going back to Jack, a werewolf is a very fitting partner for him, as he practically is one himself in canon, just a bit differently than normal. And I like how WereGarurumon is still a wolf, to once again, reference that Jack is a wolf beastman. So idk, I like both options so I just put them both for now. I probably will pick one or the other eventually, but for now, it’s just Caturamon or WereGarurumon.

Finally, the mega is MetalGarurumon. There’s no real “deep reasoning” for it like the previous picks, just, wolf mega that makes sense. That’s all.

[khoicesbyk]

The Royal Romance.

Love Everlasting.

A/N: I had a different name and plot for this fic over a year ago. But after being in the RP community for more than a year, I've decided to write the current Royal Life of my favorite OTP.

Rated: Mature (at times can and will be Explicit. I'll be sure to change the rating when and if that happens). | Contains sexual content and strong language. (You know? The usual. Y'all should be used to this from me by now 😁) | Bolded and/or italicized words are conversations and thoughts of the characters. | Main Characters: King Marquise Rys (LI) and Queen Shanelle Miller-Rys (MC) | All Characters and names: (except MC and original characters created by me and/or other authors [their characters have been mentioned and/or used in the story with their permission] ) are property of Pixelberry.

Current Word Count: 7K words. (may be slightly more or may be slightly less. Look, I stop counting after editing and re-editing and driving myself insane. 🤷🏾‍♀️)

If you’d like to be added to my tag list. Just reblog or dm me and I will gladly add you! 😁😘

This series is rated Mature and/or Explicit. It is NOT reading material that is safe for those under 18. Reader discretion is STRONGLY advised!

Missing a chapter or want to read a chapter again? I got you covered! Click ——> Here!

Tag List: @choicesficwriterscreations @shewillreadyou @txemrn @busywoman @peonierose @twinkleallnight

Chapter 13.) A Royal Debut.

Marquise felt like time had stood still. He couldn't breathe. His palms were sweaty. His heart raced. He was in total shock.

“Your Majesty?” Dr. Ramirez asks.

He blinked himself back to reality. 

“Say hello to your son, my King.”

He looked at his wife’s OB and it still didn't register.

Not until she placed the tiny newborn in his arms. 

“Congratulations to you and Her Majesty.”

He looked down at the baby in his arms. 

“My son…my son…”

He gently ran his thumb over the soft skin of the baby’s cheek.

“You're here. You’re really here.” 

His vision blurred as his eyes welled up with tears.

“My boy. My sweet beautiful boy. You’re here.” he said as he broke down into tears. 

His dream had finally come true. Shanelle had given birth to their eldest son. And the baby boy was safe in his arms. While his heart celebrated the birth of his second son, it also still mourns the death of his first. 

“Look at you. Look at how beautiful you are.” he said as he cried, “You’re so tiny. And so precious.”

Marquise didn't want to put him down but he knew his wife was anxious to hold him. He gently placed the baby in her arms where she lost it.

“My baby. My beautiful baby. You’re here. You’re real.” she said as she cradled their son.

This was an answered prayer. They prayed for this moment. Ever since they lost their first child. And now that prayer has been answered.

“Your Majesties?” their nurse asked, breaking their reverie. 

Shanelle looked up at the nurse.

“Do you have a name for your son?” she asks.

Shanelle nodded as she took a steadying breath.

“Yes. His name is Kylo Jeremiah Rys.” Shanelle replies.

The nurse nodded as she wrote his name down.

“Very well. I will register his name and give you both a few minutes. We still have one more to go.”

Shanelle nodded before looking down at their son.

“Kylo Jeremiah Rys,” she whispered.

Marquise wrapped his arms around her and their baby.

“First Prince Of Cordonia.” Marquise quipped.

Shanelle smiled tearily.

“Eldest Son Of The King Of Cordonia.”

“First Heir Of The Queen Of Cordonia.”

“First Heir Of The Queen?” she asks. 

“Yes. The twins are officially your heirs to the throne. After all, The Royal Family is essentially two families in one. And Because Khari is my heir to the throne. Or at least the boys will be once the paperwork is filed. So no one can say our children aren't the heirs.” 

Shanelle smiled softly at her husband.

“Congratulations my love, you finally have your son.”

Marquise looked at her as she held the baby close to her heart.

“All because of you. You gave me our son. This beautiful boy is here because of you.”

“I don't want to let him go. I just want to stay in this moment forever.”

She kissed their son's forehead before handing him back to his father. 

“My sweet boy. I swear to you that I will always be here. I will always love you. I will always protect you. I will always defend you.” he said with tears in his eyes. “I refuse to fail you. Like I failed your brother.”

Shanelle laid her head on his shoulder, rubbing his arm. 

“I wasn't there for him or your mother. I couldn't save him. I failed him. And I will never forgive myself for that. But with God as my witness, I swear I will never fail you, your brother, or your sister. I will never be able to forgive or live with myself if I ever do.” 

He held his son close to his heart as tears streamed down his face.

“I love you so much, my beautiful little love. You will always be safe in my arms.” 

He was obsessed. His son is here. He's safe. He's healthy. He's alive. This moment is what Marquise asked, begged, and prayed to God for.

When Kylo quietly fell asleep in his arms, Marquise handed him to the nurse who had quietly reentered the room.

“I promise you, Your Majesty, we will take good care of the little Prince while you wait for his brother,” she said, smiling warmly. 

Marquise nodded before going to check on his wife.

“How are you feeling my love?” he quietly asked.

“Exhausted. Elated. Scared. Still wondering if I'm dreaming.” Shanelle replied. 

“I know. I'm still in shock.”

She looked at him, tears shining in her eyes.

“We did it, baby. We finally have the son we prayed for.”

Marquise shook his head.

“You. You did it. You blessed our family. I am eternally grateful to you. For your love. For your grace. For your poise. For your patience. And for your sacrifice. Our family is complete because of you.”

“You deserve credit too, Marquise.”

“No, I don't. I didn't do anything. You did. You nurtured our children. Followed the orders and advice of your doctors. Even when you were exhausted from the process, you stayed the course. All I did was watch you go through the emotions and physical changes. Our children…our family is blessed because of you.”

“You still deserve credit. Everything I felt, I took it out on you. And I'm sorry. But after 9 months look at where we are. Our son is here. And soon his brother will be too.”

Shanelle took a breath. 

“Are you okay, love?” he asked. 

“Yeah, but I think he's ready. Go get the nurse,” she replies. 

Marquise nodded before going to get her nurse and Doctor Ramirez. 

“Well, my Queen. This is it. Are you ready?” Dr. Ramirez asked Shanelle. 

“Yes. I'm ready to meet my baby,” she replied. 

“My King, are you ready?” Dr. Ramirez asked him. 

“Beyond ready!” he replied. 

“Okay. Take a deep breath my Queen. And on the count of three, you’re going to push. One…two…three…Push!” 

Shanelle took a deep breath, squeezed her husband’s hand, and pushed with everything she had in her. And soon a baby’s cry was heard. When Shanelle looked up, Dr. Ramirez held their son in her arms. 

“Congratulations again Your Majesties. Your son is here.” 

Shanelle’s vision blurred as the tears welled in her eyes. The moment she had been patiently waiting nine whole months for was finally here. Her sons, her Princes, her boys, her babies, are finally here. They're alive. They're healthy. They're safe. After Marquise cut the cord, Dr. Ramirez placed the baby in her arms, she thought she would drop him. He was so little. 

“Look at you. Look at how small you are. My son. You’re here. You’re actually here.”

She was enamored with him. 

“No wonder I had so much heartburn and indigestion. You and your brother have heads full of beautiful hair.”

There was no bigger joy than this. 

“You're so small. I never thought I could love someone this much.” 

Shanelle looked at her husband who was in tears himself. 

“Say hello to your Daddy baby. He's been waiting to meet you,” she whispered to the baby. 

“My Queen. Do you have a name for the baby?” her nurse asked. 

“Yes. His name is Zyon Shomari Rys.” Shanelle replied. 

The nurse nodded. 

“It's a beautiful name for him, ma'am. Congratulations again to you and His Majesty.”

Shanelle smiled at her nurse before turning to her husband. 

“Come meet your son.” 

She gently placed the baby in his arms and he was a mess of tears all over again. 

“I love you. I love you so much little one. I can't believe you’re here. You and your brother are here. I asked God for one healthy baby and he gave me you two. You and Kylo. My sweet boys. My loves. Thank you for choosing me and your mother. I will always love you. I will always protect you. I will always defend you. You, your brother, and your sister are the reasons why my heart beats.”

Soon the newborn was on his way to the nursery and His Majesty was just beside himself. His wife had safely and successfully given birth to their children. He was in awe of her. Her power, her patience, her strength, all of it enamored him. 

He pulled his chair up to her bed as he looked at his wife and she smiled at him. 

“What is it?” she asked softly. 

“You. You amaze me. You mesmerize me.” he replied as he gently ran a thumb across her forehead, “I know you’re exhausted. But I…I just want you to know how eternally grateful I am for you. You did it. You pushed through an unimaginable pain to bring our boys into this world. They're here because of you. I love you so much. I will never be able to repay you for giving me the ultimate gift of fatherhood.” 

He gently took her left hand in his, wrapped his right arm around her, and laid his head against hers. 

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you. But I will never stop loving or appreciating you. You are the love, strength, and backbone of our family.”

Marquise squeezed his eyes shut to hold back tears. 

“My Warrior. My Goddess.”

“A Warrior Goddess?” she asked. 

“Who needs Xena when I have you?” he replies. 

She chuckled softly before letting out a yawn. 

“You must be exhausted, my love. So get some rest.”

“Stay with me? At least until I fall asleep.”

He kissed her forehead softly. 

“I am at your side, My Queen. I am always at your side.”

He held her until he heard her snoring lightly. He felt as if his heart would explode when he looked at her.  He watched her chest rise and fall peacefully as she slept. He moved a few stray strands of hair from her face. 

“Je t'aime mon amour. Je suis entièrement et entièrement à vous. Je serai toujours à toi. Merci pour tout ce que vous m'avez toujours donné,” he whispered, before kissing her forehead and quietly leaving her room. 

Once outside Marquise took a deep steadying breath. The reality of the situation was starting to set in. He's a father again. There was no more waiting for his sons to arrive. They're here. And he still has so much to do. He has to formally announce their births but first, he has to tell their daughter. 

When Marquise finally arrived back at the residence of the palace, he was greeted by Margo and Shanelle’s parents. 

“Why are the three of you still awake?” he asked. 

“They were waiting to hear from you. I'm just here as moral support,” Damien replies. 

Marquise snorted. 

“Well?” Shantel and Margo ask impatiently. 

Marquise chuckled before choking up again. 

“They're here. My boys are finally here,” he replied. 

Margo and Shantel looked at each other before squealing happily at the news. 

“That is fantastic! Congratulations Your Majesty.” Damien said to Marquise. 

The grandmothers couldn't get enough of the news. 

“They're here! Our grandsons are here.” Margo exclaimed. 

“This is everything we wanted to hear. Our grandbabies are here.” Shantel added. 

Margo hugged her son. 

“Congratulations my son. Your family has been blessed beyond measure. And you…you finally have the sons you always wanted.” 

He hugged her. 

“Merci Maman. You are as much a part of my family as anyone. Je t'aime.” he said to Margo. 

“Je t'aime aussi mon garçon. Papa serait si fier. Et ta mère aussi.” she replies. 

“You look exhausted Marquise. You should get some rest.” Damien said to his son-in-law. 

“I said the same thing to your daughter.” 

“Go rest, honey. We’ll celebrate later.” Shantel added. 

Marquise nodded before yawning. He watched his in-laws and mom walk down the hall before turning in the direction of his bedroom. He had just enough energy to take a hot shower and change into something to sleep in before inevitably crashing. 

When he woke up later, he had a renewed energy. His first task was telling their daughter that her brothers were here. After freshening up, Marquise was off to see his baby girl. 

When he entered her room, she was sitting on her bed reading her favorite story to their corgi quartet and her kitten Paisley. When she looked up from her book and smiled at him. 

“Hi, Daddy!”

“Good morning my love!” he said to her as he sat down on the edge of her bed, “Did you sleep well sweetness?” 

“Uh-huh! When did you get home?” she asks. 

“Earlier this morning. You were still asleep. And I didn't want to disturb you,” he replied. 

“Is Mommy getting ready for breakfast?” she asks. 

“No mon amour. Mommy isn't here. She's at the hospital.” 

“Is mommy okay?” she asks. 

“Yes. Mommy is just fine. As a matter of fact, I have some very exciting news for you,” he replies. 

“What is it, Daddy?” she asks as she climbed into his lap. 

“Mommy gave birth earlier this morning. Your brothers are here,” he replied. 

“They're here?” she asked. 

“Yes, my love. And I can't wait for you to meet them,” he replies. 

He watched her face light up. 

“They're here! They're here! They're here!” she cheered. 

He loved seeing the excitement and love in her eyes. 

“Will we go see them, Daddy?” she asks. 

“Yes, my love. But first, we have to make a very big announcement,” he replied. 

“We do?” she asks. 

“Yes. We have to announce that the boys are here,” he replies. 

“Yay! Let's go, Daddy!” 

There was a knock at Khari’s door before Margo entered the room. An animated Khari made a beeline for her. 

“Grammy! Grammy! Grammy! Grammy! Guess what! Guess what! Guess what!” 

“Yes? What is it, my sweet?” Margo asks. 

“Mommy gave birth! My brothers are here! They're really here!” Khari replies. 

Margo chuckled. 

“I know my sweet. Your grandparents and I stayed awake until your father came home and told us the great news. Are you excited my Princess?” Margo asks. 

“Yeah! I get to a big sister Grammy. That's a very big job.” Khari replied. 

“Indeed it is my love. But Grammy and I have all the confidence in the world that you will be the best big sister ever.” Marquise quipped. 

“Your father's right. You will be the best big sister ever.” Margo added. 

Khari nodded. 

“But first Daddy says that we have to make a big announcement and tell everybody that my brothers are here.” 

“Well then! We'd better find you an outfit.”

“Yeah! It's gotta be something big and pretty!” Khari said before running into her closet with the corgis and Paisley hot on her heels. 

This caused Marquise and Margo to laugh. 

“I've never seen her so excited before.”

“She just became a big sister, Maman. It's to be expected.”

“This is true. And how are you?” Margo asks. 

Marquise smiled. 

“I feel like I'm dreaming. Like I should be waking up any moment now. I'm still in shock. I held them Maman. I held them both. And it hasn't registered that I did.” he replies. 

“I'm sure son. This was everything you always prayed for. It's everything Papa and I always wanted for you.” 

Marquise shook his head with a smile. 

“God I miss him so much. He’d be so thrilled.”

“Hah! Thrilled nothing! He would be marching up and down the halls with his chest out saying that not only are his grandsons here but he finally has his golf proteges. He'd be especially happy that they were born today.”

“Why?” he asks. 

“It's our wedding anniversary today,” she replies. 

Marquise winced. 

“I totally forgot I'm so sorry.”

Margo patted his arm affectionately. 

“It's alright my son. Papa wouldn't have paid attention anyway with the boys being born today.”

“I promise. We'll visit him together soon.”

Margo smiled. 

“Very well my King. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to help my granddaughter get ready.” 

Marquise pulled her into a warm loving hug that she returned. 

“Somewhere in heaven, Ellie is smiling because she is even prouder of you than I am. And she loves you just as much as I do. Maybe even a little more. Always know that.”

Marquise kissed Margo on the cheek before leaving to go get ready. 

As the King got ready, he felt a strange sense of nervousness. The announcement of the birth in the Royal Family was common yet this felt monumentous. For the first time since his birth was announced, Cordonia would have not one but two Princes. 

But what made him nervous was he wondered if he would end up making the same mistakes with his boys as his own father made with him. He was so lost in thought he didn't hear his father-in-law walk into the holding room outside the throne room.

“Are you alright, Marquise? You seem a million miles away.” Damien asks. 

“Huh? Oh! Yeah. I'm fine. Hell, I’m more than fine. I was just lost in thought.” Marquise replies. 

“Something troubling you?” Damien asks. 

Marquise sighed. 

“Yes? No? I don’t know?” Marquise replies. 

Damien gestured to the chairs for them to sit down. 

“What's wrong son?” Damien asks. 

“I'm excited. I'm exhausted. I'm so full of happiness and joy and love. But I can't shake this nagging voice in the back of my head.” Marquise replied. 

“What is it saying?” Damien asks. 

“It keeps saying that I'll be no better of a father to my boys than he was to me,” Marquise replies. 

Damien nodded in understanding.

“Let me ask you this. Do you think you and Constantine are the same in terms of fatherhood?” Damien asks. 

“No. We are indeed night and day. He abandoned his children whereas I would die for mine. But I also know that he lives with me. As much as I despise him, I can't ignore the fact that parts of him are a part of me.” Marquise replies. 

“This is true. And while we grew up together in a sense, I didn't know your father all that well. But you do. No one knows Constantine quite like you. And you have worked hard to not repeat his mistakes. Now I'm sure there are parts of you that are just like him. But there are parts of you that are just like Eleanor. While I never met her formally, my mother did. And she always spoke of her gentleness, of her kindness, and when I look at you, I see that in you. Yes, you and I don't always get along, but even I know how much of an amazing father you are. I see how much of an outstanding husband you are. I say all of that to say this, you'll be just fine. You'll continue to figure out this whole trial-and-error journey of fatherhood. And you'll love and protect and defend like you always have.”

Marquise nodded at Damien gratefully. 

“Thank you. I know I shouldn't be in my head but sometimes I can't help it.”

“I understand that. Every father has that nagging voice in their head, even me.” 

“Really?” Marquise asked. 

“Just because she's a Queen doesn't make Shanelle any less my daughter. I will always worry about and for her. I'm not saying that I don't trust you to keep her safe and protected, it's just sometimes I can't help but wonder if she is truly safe.” 

“I get that. And to that, I can assure you that I take her and Khari and now the boys’ safety seriously.” 

Damien nodded. 

“I know you do.” 

As they walked out of the holding room they were greeted by Khari and both of her grandmothers.

“Look at Pop Pop’s sunshine! You look beautiful.”

Khari curtsied to her grandfather. 

“Thank you Pop Pop. What do you think Daddy?” Khari asks.

“You look ever a vision like your mother, my love.” 

“Thank you, Daddy. Are you ready for the announcement?”

“Yes, my love.”

Before taking his daughter’s hand Marquise looked at Damien. 

“I might be a bit busy today so can you start the paperwork on the boys’ official titles for me?” 

“I would be honored. Now you two go.” Damien replies. 

Marquise nodded before taking Khari’s hand and walking into the throne room. They made their way to the thrones where the press was already gathered. With Khari sitting on his lap, Marquise cleared his throat, quieting down the voices in the room.

“Good morning everyone! I know it's a bit early to be awake on a Sunday but I do thank you all for being here. I assure you all that this won't take long. On behalf of my wife, my daughter and I have a very special announcement to make.”

Khari nodded before looking up at her dad. 

“Can I say it Daddy?” she asked. 

“Go ahead, my love,” he replies. 

Khari smiled brightly. 

“My baby brothers are here!!” she announced. 

“My daughter is correct. Earlier this morning, shortly after returning to Cordonia, Her Majesty was taken to St. Regis Memorial Hospital where she gave birth to our sons. Prince Kylo Jeremiah Rys and Prince Zyon Shomari Rys. I can assure all of you that mother and babies are doing quite well.”

Many of the press began excitedly talking at once. 

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! On behalf of everyone at the CBC, I'd like to congratulate you and Her Majesty on the birth of your sons.” Donnie Brine spoke up. 

“Thank you, Donnie! We are overjoyed and completely grateful and blessed.” Marquise replies. 

“And happy too!” Khari chimed in. 

“How are you feeling, Your Majesty?” Donnie asks. 

“I am everywhere at once. I feel everything. Joy, excitement, gratefulness, thankfulness, adoration, shock, intimidation, and love. This moment has been a long time coming. And now it's here.” Marquise replies. 

Donnie looked at a smiling Khari with a gentle smile. 

“And how about you Princess? Are you excited to be a big sister?” 

Khari nodded. 

“Yeah. I can't wait to see my Mommy and meet my brothers too.”

“That's great, Your Highness.”

Marquise cleared his throat. 

“Now I would love to take more of your questions but I think this little one is anxious to meet her brothers. So I thank you all for being here this morning. I will have an official statement for you all very soon.” 

He looked to Khari. 

“You ready to go?” he asked. 

Khari nodded enthusiastically as she took his hand. 

“Yeah! But first, we have to get Mommy some flowers,” she replies. 

“Very well, my love. Now let's go see your mother.”

Soon, they departed the palace for a local flower shop and then to the hospital to see Shanelle and the twins. Khari couldn't run out of the elevator fast enough. 

“Whoa! Wait for me!” Marquise said to his daughter as she raced down the hall. She stopped when she got to her mother’s door. 

“Sorry, Daddy. I forgot you’re not fast anymore.” 

Marquise made a face at his daughter. 

“You're lucky I love you.”

Khari knocked on the door before they went inside. 

“Mommy!” Khari said before running to her mother. 

“There's my girl.” 

Khari threw her arms around her mom. 

“Are you okay Mommy?” 

“Yes, baby. I'm okay.”

“We brought you flowers, Mommy.”

“Thank you Peanut. They're beautiful.”

“Are my brothers here?”

Shanelle nodded to the corner of the room. 

“They're right over there.”

“Can I see them?” 

“Of course baby. Go on over with Daddy.”

“Come on, my love.”

Marquise led Khari over to where the boys were resting. 

“Say hello to your brothers, Princess.”

She was in awe. 

“They're so little Daddy.” she said as she looked at them, “Hi Kylo. Hi Zyon. I'm your big sister. We're gonna have so much fun.”

It was at that moment her parents knew she was in love. 

“Can I hold them, Daddy?” 

“Of course my love. Here, have a seat by your mother.”

Khari sat down on the bed with her mother behind her. Marquise placed both boys in their sister’s arms. 

“They're so small. They're like little dolls. And they're warm.” Khari said as she held her brothers, “I want to hold them forever.”

Seeing the love she had for her brothers, melted her parents’ hearts. Eventually, she gave her brothers back to her father. After spending all day around the boys, Khari found herself laying in her mother’s arms. 

“When do the boys and Mommy get to come home?” 

“Tomorrow babe. We'll be home tomorrow.”

“Okay Mommy,” 

“My sweet girl. You’re gonna be the best big sister ever.”

Khari nodded before laying her head on her mom’s shoulder. As Shanelle held her daughter close she glanced over at her husband who winked at her, making her smile at him. 

“Mommy?”

“Yes, babe?”

“Are you happy?”

Shanelle nodded. 

“Yes, baby. I'm very happy. Because I have you, your pigheaded Daddy, Pop Pop, both of your Grammies and now I have your brothers.” 

Kharu nodded with a smile. 

“I'm happy too. We have a big family now.”

“Yes, we do.”

Khari snuggled in her mother’s arms then slowly and accidentally fell asleep. When Shanelle looked down she smiled softly. 

“And she's out.”

Marquise chuckled. 

“Like a light. I should get her back home.”

“Okay. Thank you for bringing her.”

“Always my love. I'll be back after I put her to bed.”

“Okay. I'll see you when you get back.”

With a sweet kiss to his wife, the King gathered his sleeping daughter in his arms and took her home. True to his word, His Majesty was back at the hospital that evening. Watching his wife and sons as they slept. It was at this quiet moment that his heart continued to swell. The peace that settled over him was a feeling that he wanted to have bottled. 

He moved a few strands of her hair from her face, causing Shanelle to stir from her sleep, and smiled at him. 

“Hey, handsome.”

“Hey yourself beautiful. I didn't mean to wake you up.”

“It's okay. I'm just glad you’re here.”

“I'll always be here love.”

Shanelle smiled softly. 

“You know it hasn't hit me yet.”

“What?” he asked. 

“Reality. I still think I'm pregnant. Like I'm in a dream and when I wake up I'm still gonna have this huge stomach.” she replies. 

“I know the feeling. Like we should still be waiting for the boys to get here.”

“Exactly. But nope. They're here. Our boys are finally here.” 

“We have never been more blessed.”

“No, we haven't. And that's a blessing in and of itself.”

Shanelle nodded with a smile. 

“Thank you.”

“For what? I haven't done anything. At least not lately.”

“For being the amazing father that you are. My children could never ask for a better Daddy than you.”

Marquise chuckled softly. 

“You let the world tell the story, and they'll say I don't deserve you or our children. But I will never stop proving my undying love and utter devotion to them or you.” 

Shanelle ran her thumb over his cheek. 

“I love you.”

He softly kissed the knuckles of her left hand. 

“I love you too, my Queen. Always and forevermore.” 

The next day it was time to head home and Shanelle couldn't wait. While the staff at the hospital were nothing short of fantastic, she was ready to go home and get in her own bed. With the boys safely in their carriers, The Royals headed back to the residence where her parents, Margo, and Khari eagerly awaited their arrival. 

“Welcome home Mommy!” Khari said as she greeted her parents. 

“Thank you, baby. It's good to be home.” Shanelle replies. 

Shanelle greeted her parents as well. 

“Hi, mama. Hi Daddy.” 

Damien wrapped his daughter in a loving hug. 

“How are you my darling?” he asks.

“Tired but I'll be okay Daddy,” she replied. 

Her mother couldn't get enough of the boys. 

“Look at them. My precious grandbabies. I am going to spoil you two rotten!” 

Shanelle shook her head with a smile. 

“Welcome home Your Majesty. And congratulations on the birth of your sons.” Margo said to Shanelle. 

“Thank you, Margo. Now go love on your grandsons.”

It did Shanelle’s heart good to see her babies receive so much love. After spending the day with family and getting the boys settled in their new nursery and opening the gift box she received from Vescovi Boutique’s new baby line, Shanelle was finally able to climb into her bed and relax. 

“God I've missed this bed,” she said with a sigh of contentment. 

“I'm sure you have.” Marquise quipped. 

“And I missed food. I missed real food. Don't get me wrong, the food at the hospital was decent, but I missed food that didn't taste sterilized.” 

Marquise chuckled as he wrapped her in his arms. 

“Well now that you're home, you can have whatever you like. And it won't taste sterilized.”

“Thank God. But you know what I missed most of all?” 

“What?” he asks. 

“You. I missed being with you. I missed being in your arms.” she replies. 

Marquise tightened his arms around her. 

“I missed you too. I hate being in this bed without you.”

“You're spoiled, Your Majesty.”

“Pot. Kettle.”

“Touchè.”

The two snuggled together, enjoying a quiet moment together until the baby monitor on Marquise’s nightstand crackled to life. 

“It seems it's time to feed the boys.”

“Okay, I'll go.”

He stopped her. 

“Nope. I will. You rest.”

“You sure?” she asked. 

“Positive. You did most of the heavy lifting so get some rest.” he replies. 

“I love you so much right now.”

Marquise chuckled before kissing her forehead. 

“I love you too.”

The next two weeks were a blur of diapers, feedings, bottles, sponge baths, and uneven sleep schedules for the new parents. But they handled it beautifully. They took turns so one could rest and so the boys could get used to either parent being alone with them as well as together. 

While their daughter was at school they were enjoying a quiet moment walking down the hall with the boys. Shanelle was tickled with how animated her husband was with their sons. 

“You are too cute, you know that?” 

“Thank you. I love talking to them.”

He rocked Zyon as they walked. 

“You’re a natural at this Daddy thing.”

He snickered. 

“Thanks. I have 5 years of experience.” 

The two laughed. It did his heart good to hear his wife laugh. 

“I love this feeling.”

“What feeling?” She asks. 

“This feeling of pure happiness. I have never been this happy.” He replies. 

Shanelle smiled. 

As they turned a corner, they were greeted by an attendant. 

“Pardon the interruption Your Majesties. But you have an audience waiting for you in the throne room.” she informed them. 

They looked at each other. 

“When did you put an audience on the schedule?” Shanelle asked. 

“I didn’t. I cleared our schedules through the end of the month.” He replied before turning to the attendant, “thank you.”

The attendant bowed then walked away. They looked at each other before Shanelle texted her parents. Asking them to meet them outside the side door to the throne room. 

“What is it butterfly?” Shantel asked her daughter. 

“Someone is waiting for us in the throne room. So we need you and Daddy to take the boys if you two don’t mind.” Shanelle replies. 

“Of course.” Shantel said as she took Kylo from her.

“Can I be of assistance?” Damien asks. 

“No but thank you. I’m sure it’s nothing serious.” Marquise replies. 

With their children safely with their grandparents, The Royals stepped into the throne room to some unexpected guests. 

“What are you doing here?” Shanelle asked. 

They were greeted by Genevieve and two other guests. 

“Well hello to you too, niece. And to you as well Your Majesty. I heard the great news. Congratulations on the birth of your sons.” Genevieve replies. 

Shanelle and Marquise looked at each other. 

“You requested an audience?” Marquise asked. 

“Yes I did. I had to come see and congratulate the two people who ruined my life on their two new bundles of joy.” Genevieve replied. 

“The two people who ruined your life? What are you talking about?” Shanelle asks. 

“If it weren’t for you and your husband exposing your uncle I wouldn’t be a laughingstock among the court!” Genevieve sneered. Her face ugly. 

“With no due respect Genevieve, if your husband had kept his dick to himself you wouldn’t be in this situation. And the only reason the world knows he fathered a child is because Naya tried to use that pregnancy as an excuse to not be convicted of murder.” Marquise replies. 

“And you just had to tell the entire court!” Genevieve snapped at him. 

Marquise let out an annoyed sigh. 

“I’ll remind you to watch your tone, Genevieve. My wife and I are not your children nor are we your staff. When you speak to me or her you will be respectful of our titles.”

“You think you scare me?! Without me you wouldn’t be King!” 

“I became King because my cousin’s mother took him out of the line of succession when my uncle died and my brother abdicated. And before you tell me how your kingdom was stolen from you and your children, South Cordonia was never meant to be yours or Edward’s. Your father-in-law, King Dominic made sure my wife would be the next monarch. Because at that time not only was she the oldest living child of the Miller Clan but he was still King when she was crowned Princess. Not that I need to remind you of this.” 

Genevieve looked at him indignantly. 

“Now why are you here? And don't lie to me.” Marquise said. 

“I'm here in an official capacity as a representative of the next Head Of State Of Comery Isle.” 

“Is that why Former Prime Minister Ballenger’s grandson and I assume his wife are sitting on my thrones?” Marquise asked. 

Genevieve nodded. Seemingly impressed. 

“Very good. The hollow King knows his nobles. Yes, that's them.” she replies, “Marquise, Shanelle, meet Lord and Lady Alden Douglas Joseph of Gallagher. The next Heads Of State Of Comery Isle. My Lord and Lady meet your sad excuses for Monarchs.” 

“Do you enjoy your life and the comfort it provides you, Genevieve?” Shanelle asked. 

“I earned the comfort my life provides me!” Genevieve snapped at Shanelle. 

“Then if you want to continue enjoying that comfort you'll respect my husband and his title as YOUR King as well as my own. Don't you ever forget that I control what you get from the Monarchy.” 

Genevieve scoffed. 

“And you had the nerve to call me and your uncle tyrants.”

“I never wreaked havoc on the people or the economy of this kingdom. But you did. So yes, you and your husband, separated or not, were indeed tyrants.”

Marquise cleared his throat. 

“Now that we know who's with you, you can get on with the reason why you're here.”

“As I said, I'm here as a representative of the next Head Of State.”

“Okay. You could've just sent that in writing to the campaign committee.”

Genevieve smiled venomously. 

“Why do that when I can happily inconvenience you and my niece? Besides, I wanted Lord Joseph to see you up close so he knows the type of watered-down leadership that he would be dealing with now that he's the next Head Of State.” 

Lord Joseph finally spoke. 

“I'm glad she did. It's high time someone stood up to the tyranny of you and your highly unqualified wife.” 

“Highly unqualified you say? Then I guess that includes your grandfather.”

“Unlike this Queen, my grandfather served this kingdom with distinction!”

“While feeding state secrets to Auvernal when they tried to force our daughter into a betrothal and attempted a hostile takeover.” 

Lord Joseph stood stock still. 

“The schmuck you call a grandfather was willing to sell this kingdom out for a check. Oh! You thought my husband and I didn't know? Why do you think the man is in exile now?” Shanelle asked. 

Lord Joseph kept his mouth shut. 

“That's what I thought.”

Meanwhile, Marquise tilted his head to the right. 

“Hello, Makenna. It's been a while since you and I have seen each other.” 

“Not long enough Marquise.” 

“It's Your Majesty.”

“I don't care what it is.” Lady Makenna sneered. 

Marquise rolled his eyes and then turned to his wife. 

“My love, meet Lady Makenna Laurent-Joseph. Aka Naya’s cousin.”

“Your ex has a cousin?” Shanelle asks. 

“Yes. She, Geoffrey, and Lord Joseph are the same age.” Marquise replies. 

Shanelle nodded. 

“Charmed I'm sure.”

Makenna scoffed. 

“Of all the women in this world for you to choose from, you pick this bleating sheep to be your wife Marquise?” Makenna asks before shaking her head, “Such a shame. But not surprising given how much of a failure you've always been.” 

“Your cousin didn't seem to think so.”

“My cousin was a fool! Falling for you was the worst thing she could ever do!”

Marquise raised an eyebrow. 

“How is King Elgin doing Kenna?” Marquise asked. 

“My uncle is none of your concern!” Makenna replies. 

“Oh well since he's no longer my concern, I can tell the Monarchy to stop paying for his dialysis treatments now.”

Makenna fumed. 

“If you dare…” she sneered. 

“Careful my Lady. You don't want to end up like your cousin.” Shanelle warned her. 

When Makenna backed down Marquise turned his attention back to Lord Joseph. 

“If you plan to run for the Head Of State, be my guest, and should you win, I will do my job as your King and congratulate you. But don't let the power go to your head. Because just like I told Edwin, I reserve the right to remove anyone from their position.” 

Lord Joseph took a menacing step toward Marquise. 

“I look forward to the day your reign as King goes down in flames.”

Marquise cleared his throat. 

“My Lord. Don't ever forget that your station is LIGHT YEARS BELOW mine. Don't ever threaten me. It never ends well.” Marquise said to him, “And oh! Don't you ever touch MY Thrones again!” 

“So dramatic! This isn't a threat, Your Majesty. It's a preview. To let you and your wife know that I am a wolf. And I will not play nice with bleating sheep!” 

“Guards!” Marquise commanded, “Get these people out of my throne room.”

The couple watched as their guests were ushered out of the throne room. 

“They're going to be a problem I see.” Shanelle quipped.  

Marquise nodded resolutely. 

“Nothing we can't handle, my love.” 

“True. Now let's go see what my parents are up to.”

Marquise led his wife out of the throne room and down the hall. The next few days were filled with family, fun, fellowship, and the twins’ first Thanksgiving of many. This was all Marquise wanted. He even took time out to honor his mother on the 25th anniversary of her death. As hard as the day was for him, he was comforted by the fact he had his family all under one roof. 

That following Monday, the elections for Comery Isle had concluded and the winner was announced. Marquise and Shanelle were in his office when the results were announced. As predicted Lord Joseph won by a landslide over his opponents.

“Well, it's official. Lord Joseph is the new Head Of State.” Shanelle said to her husband. 

“So it would seem,” he replied before taking a sip of his whiskey, “but we needn't worry though. Always remember Comery Isle is still under your jurisdiction, my love. You are the Queen. No one bullies you. You are the one who sets the tone and the standards.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Good as long as you know.”

Just then Marquise’s phone buzzed. 

“What is it?” Shanelle asked. 

“The latest news on the kingdom of Gemmora,” he replies. 

“What's the latest?” she asks. 

“It's up for grabs,” he replies. 

“What?! What about King Eli and Queen Vanda?” 

“According to this press release the Gemmoran High Court has decided not to award control to either and instead will sell the kingdom to the highest bidder.”

“Wooow! Their divorce cost them both. So what happens now?” Shanelle asks. 

“Simple. We enter and win the bidding war to acquire Gemmora,” he replies. 

“No, we are not.” 

“Yes, we are.”

“No. We're not. We don't need Gemmora.”

“I'm not about to just let it sit there.”

“We already have Auvernal to the west and Monterisso to the south. We do not need Gemmora.”

“Yeah well, we're getting it.”

“Oh My God! You're being greedy.”

“Don't act like this isn't a great opportunity.” 

Shanelle crossed her arms and challenged her husband. 

“Okay, Your Majesty. Convince me to agree to this.” 

Marquise raised an eyebrow at her. 

“Gemmora is home to the largest Nintendo manufacturing plant outside of Japan. The jobs from that plant alone will bolster our kingdom’s economy. It will give us a chance to have land that will not be given to the nobility first for once. Their schools and educational system is one of the best in the world. Think of what that will do, not just for our children but all of the children of our kingdom. On top of the fact that their Aerodynamics sector is the best in all of Europe. They're a leader in cancer research and cure development. On top of the fact that it would be nice to acquire the homeland of my grandmother.” 

“Your grandmother is from Gemmora?” Shanelle asks. 

“Yes. Her father was a well known Duke in Gemmora before her family fled when she was a child to Cordonia during WWI and she met my grandfather,” he replies. 

“What is it with you Rys men and marrying outsiders?” Shanelle asks. 

Marquise chuckled and shrugged. 

“Okay fine, since I know you'll never let this go.”

“See? I knew you would eventually see things my way. Besides, Drakovia has wanted Gemmora for decades. So that means beating Queen Viktoria at her own game.” 

“You are so cocky,” Shanelle said with a laugh, “Okay. Go win us a kingdom, Your Majesty. Don't lose.”

“Always remember, I don't lose. I either win or I learn.”

“No one knows that more than me,” Shanelle said with a wink. 

Marquise winked back at her. This was his chance to expand his kingdom’s borders further north and east. And he is determined to take it. 

[baratrongirl]

Fanfiction Trope Meme

Stolen from @pigeontheoneandonly, who I don't know at all. Saw it in their blog and went "I like these questions". Rules: copy/past and bold your fic preferences and tag someone to do the same. I don't ever explicitly tag people because I don't want anyone to feel put on the spot when they could be having a bad week/month/year. I'm interested in all my friends' answers, so answer the questions if you want to.

slow burn or love at first sight. (Good question. I tend to think that love at first sight is unrealistic, because you only know what someone looks like, not who they really are. So I suppose I prefer slow burn where the affection grows as the people get to know each other.)

fake dating or secret dating. (Ugh, I like both! Though secret dating wins with Klapollo - dating in secret because Klavier's a rock star and they don't want the tabloid hassle.)

enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers. (This is how my relationships have worked in real life. We've always been friends first - at least for the relationships that have actually LASTED.)

oh no there’s only one bed or long-distance with correspondence. (Ack! I can't decide! *squishes Klapollo into one bed* vs LDR with Apollo in Khura'in and Klavier in Los Angeles/Tokyo?)

hurt/comfort or amnesia. (HURT/COMFORT. Finally, an easy one!)

fantasy au or modern au. (This one depends on the original setting. If it's a fantasy setting, a modern AU. If it's a modern setting, then a fantasy AU!)

mutual pining or domestic bliss. (Get it together, silly boys! Of course, I'm talking about Klapollo again. With some of my other ships, I prefer them to simply communicate and sort their relationship out.)

smut or fluff. (I like both BUT if we are simply talking about tropes in the absence of plot, I prefer Porn Without Plot to Fluff Without Plot. Fluff Without Plot leaves me feeling unfulfilled, like I ate candy floss when I wanted a meal. Fluff WITH Plot is fantastic, and I've written quite a few Teen-rated fics myself. Smut is definitely not essential for a good story.)

canon complaint or fix-it fic. (Fix-it!!)

alternate universe or future fic. (AUs are fascinating.)

one-shot or multi-chapter. (Depends on the story, of course. If it's high-quality, I can easily read 150k of fic in a night. What is this "bedtime" thing you speak of?)

kid fic or roadtrip fic. (I am not really a fan of either, but I LOATHE kid fic. Fan-created OC children make me break out in metaphorical hives. Though - I say that, and I would still absolutely love to read a story where Trucy (aged 25+) offers to be the surrogate for Klavier and Apollo, since she is Apollo's sister and has the most similar genetic makeup to him. I guess I'm more interested in the negotiations (will they accept it? Does Klavier even WANT children which are genetically his considering how Kristoph turned out?) than the actual part where a baby exists.)

reincarnation or character death. (NEVER character death, I hate it - and it's an actual squick to the point of being triggering with my main ship. Whereas reincarnation, finding each other again and again in different worlds over time - OMG I love.)

arranged marriage or accidental marriage. (Especially if accompanied by queer lawyers with legal shenanigans.)

high school romance or middle-aged romance. (Middle-aged fans demand middle-aged Blorbos! 35 is not "old", you teenage Narumitsu fans.)

time travel or isolated together. (Can't decide. As long as it's not a tragedy where they're separated by time, or where one is already a ghost while the other is alive, I don't much mind.)

neighbors or roommates. (No actual preference.)

sci-fi au or magic au. (Slight preference for magic, but only because SF is hard to write well.)

body swap or genderbend. (No preference, though I should perhaps observe that F/F Klapollo are barely any different to M/M Klapollo unless you're writing smut. Body swap, however, is hilarious because you have Mr Tall, Skinny, and Beautiful suddenly inhabiting the body of Mr Short, Buff, and Ordinary - and vice versa.)

angst or crack. (Angst with a happy ending. But I do love a good crack fic too!)

apocalyptic or mundane. (Mundane please. Apocalyptic fic stresses me out instead of being fun.)

[strawberryamanita]

Sorry, started ranting about live-action adaptations and corporate dilution of artistry, Can't Help Being A Capricorn or whatever

Discourse is allowed, just don't add something like "wow OP/prev you're a fucking reprobate I hope something happens to you that compromises your health" thanks ✌️😘

I'm also not tagging this, so if it breaches containment it's not my fault lmao

If I could be so bold.

I think the reason there's just so nauseatingly many live-action adaptations out right now, and over the past 12 years, is because there were quite a few fan-casts made over the years, whether by one person or a small group brainstorming together. Like if you search "[series] fan cast"***, there's a very good chance you'll find people still having fun with the idea of matching a celebrity up to their cartoon lookalikes, even today. Not corporations trying to drum engagement, not stark and barren listicle websites, but individual human beings who haven't been paid to say what they're saying or do what they're doing. Even after we've seen just how little Hollywood actually does with the concept 95% of the time, people are having fun with hypotheticals and being creative without restraints.

***The exception is live-action adaptations that have been officially made. If you look for things that have not been tainted adapted yet, it's like looking into a portal to a time before all This Shit started happening.

I think the main issue is, nobody who's making those fan-castings is imagining, like, a full-on movie to go with it. It's more like, who would look cute cosplaying as that character. The extent of the idea is a PhotoShop job, and that's it.

Not whatever vortex of billion-dollar soullessness we've been tossed around in for the past decade.

The Nihilist part of me wants to say: "This kind of open discussion online is gonna keep convincing Hollywood that these ideas are guaranteed to birth successful films, so we should just stop having these convos publically" -- but that's an incredibly stupid thought. I'm not gonna try and convince people that creating is something to be ashamed of and hidden away; in this Capitalist Hellworld, where artistry is minimized to keep profits high, commercial-free creativity often feels like our last stand.

I don't really have a solution at this time, myself. Nor do I think I'm responsible for providing one -- the majority of people I've tried to make a big artistic project with can tell you I'm not the most experienced nor the most confident director. But I do know that this is what the culture of media has been since the early 2010s, and all I aim to do with this rant is bring that fact to the forefront.

In the 80s and 90s (and some of the 00s), companies had no problem churning out fun visuals and engaging soundtracks and worldbuilding that took honest-to-God effort by the dozen. I mean we have nostalgia over commercials from those eras, and it wasn't just because we're susceptible to consumerism; if that were the case, we wouldn't roll our eyes and groan whenever we hear the Unholy Trio of a ukulele, glockenspiel and someone whistling over whatever fucking hunk of plastic they're trying to shove in our faces now.

The 00s had a more laid-back vibe to it, particularly with videogame commercials. This was the Era of Grimdark and goths and embracing darkness because it felt more real than anything else, or whatever the fuck I was writing about whilst crying over MCR songs. But even so, a good chunk of 00s media had effort put into it. Yes, more than half of it was horribly problematic and exploitative; I'm not telling you it was good, I'm telling you there was effort. Even the shit with deadpan narration and cheap mascot costumes and out-of-place toilet humor had some sort of creative writing team, had some sort of vision, had some sort of direction.

Then the Internet started ramping up in quality and bandwidth, and people actually could speak loud enough that companies would hear them. To anyone who's too young to remember a world before the Internet being pushed into every corner of everyday life: it wasn’t this way 15+ years ago. Media slowly became more collaborative over the era of AOL and MySpace, because consumer feedback became easier and easier to access. And then with the advent of YouTube in 2006 -- which, as shitty as it is now, was revolutionary at the time, being a place where you could publish videos without needing to audition for anyone -- access to free ideas had very suddenly become exponentially faster. More and more Internet stars were popping up on TV (think "Web Soup" and "Tosh.0"), and then Google bought YouTube and decided to monetize it and now everyone's a rockstar and Andy Warhol's laughing at us from beyond the grave.

Fuck off, Andy.

...Now, I know it feels like I took a million detours -- and I agree that it does, because driving around in my brain feels like zig-zagging between five lanes at once -- but this all came from my theory that the ideas for media are in the hands of unpaid creators. We went from production teams being creative as Hell in the 80s and 90s, to an intentional cynicism in the 00s, to a fizzling-out of ideas and corporations holding their hands out for scraps of ideas from the consumers in the 2010s.

Money isn't trickle-down, but culture sure as shit is trickle-up.

Again, I don't have any ideas on how to fix this. Capitalism breeds a culture that allows exploitation of every fundamental part of human existence, and it knows how to adapt. With every new slew of ideas I have on how to combat it, it worms its way through anyhow. It's like fighting a hydra, and it gives me agita if I think about it for too long.

I don't know.

I remember a time when adaptations were fun to think about, but they almost never came from the minds of people looking to profit off nostalgia. They came from impassioned, vision-driven fans who wanted to try retelling their favorite stories through a different lens... and I think that's a beautiful thing. All fanart is -- fanmade drawings, fanmade covers of songs, fanmade films, cosplay, and fan-casts.

I don't really know how to end this rant neatly. Just... next time you're on your way to watch the latest diluted, regurgitated corporate shlock that's trying to profit off your nostalgia, just remember that there's probably some unpaid, good-natured rando out there that took your favorite media to new heights without any executive meddling. Maybe save a buck or two from not buying a ticket.

Or just watch the original story again, since everyone seems to have forgotten what a re-release is.

I'm taking a nap. Thanks for sticking it out, if you made it this far into whatever the Hell this is.

[fractured-shield]

Bold the facts

thanks for the tags @nczaversnick and @willtheweaver!! going to answer for my main 2 + Waith and Malin, so we're putting it below a cut lmao

open tag for anyone who wants to join! doing open tags until I get caught up I think

Therien: Personal

Financial: Wealthy/ moderate/unsure/ poor/ extreme poverty

Medical: Fit/ not applicable/ moderate/ sickly/ disabled

Class: Upper/ middle/working/ unsure/ other (solidly working class while she stayed in Rhorn, but Tarnuvin's weird and even though her father is one of the king's councillors and an officer their living conditions are rather spartan)

Education: Qualified/ unqualified/ studying/ other

Criminal record: yes, for major crimes/ yes, for minor crimes/ no (but she's been detained for "being suspicious" at least once in Durnthain)/ has committed crimes, but not caught yet/ yes, but charges were dismissed

Family

Children: has a child or children/ has no children/ wants children eventually/ she's baby

Relationship with family: close with sibling(s)/ not close with sibling(s)/ has no sibling(s)/ sibling(s) is deceased

Affiliation: Orphaned/ abandoned/ adopted/ found family/ disowned/ raised by birth parent(s) (except for those 5 years)/ not applicable

Traits+ tendencies

Extroverted/ introverted/ ambivalent

Disorganized/ organized/ in-between

Closed-minded/ open-minded/ in between (makes snap judgments defensively and has to walk them back when she gets to know people)

Calm/ anxious/ in-between/ highly contextual

Disagreeable/ agreeable/ in-between

Cautious/ reckless/ in-between/ highly contextual (somehow both at once idk either)

Patient/ impatient/ in-between

Outspoken/ reserved/ in-between/ highly contextual

Leader (reluctantly)/ leader (gladly)/ follower/ in between (led Oenith and Condel in getting up to bullshit but defers to more competent people at every opportunity)

Empathic/ vicious bastard/ in-between/ highly contextual

Optimistic/ pessimistic/ in-between

Traditional/ modern/ in-between

Hard working/ lazy/ in-between

Cultured/ uncultured/ in-between/ unknown

Loyal/ disloyal/ unknown/ highly contextual

Faithful/ unfaithful/ unknown/ highly contextual

Beliefs

Faiths: Monotheistic/ polytheistic "the gods are real but idk really"/ atheist/ agnostic

Belief in ghosts or spirits: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in an afterlife: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in reincarnation; yes/ no/ don’t know/don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in aliens: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care none of these are really concepts in-universe in the current draft

Religious: orthodox/ liberal/ in-between/ not religious

Philosophical; yes/ no/ highly contextual

Sexuality & romantic inclination

Sexuality: heterosexual/ homosexual/ bisexual/ asexual/ pansexual/ nonbinary

Sex: sex repulsed/ sex neutral/ sex favorable/ naive and clueless

Sexuality: adventurous/ experienced/naive/ inexperienced/ curious

Potential sexual partners: male/ female/both/ agender/ none/ all

Potential romantic partners: male/ female/ both/ agender/ none/ all

Abilities

Combat skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Literary skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Artistic skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Technical skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Habits

Drinking alcohol: never/ special occasions/ sometimes/ frequently/ tried it/ alcoholic/ former alcoholic turned sober

Smoking: tried it/ trying to quit/never/ rarely sometimes/ frequently/ chain smoker

Recreational drugs: tried some/ never/ sometimes/ frequently/ addict

Medicinal drugs: never/ no longer needs medication/ some medication needed/ frequently / to excess

Unhealthy foods: never/ special occasions/ sometimes/ frequently/ binge eater

Splurge spending: never/ sometimes/ frequently/ shopaholic

Gambling: never/ rarely/ sometimes/ frequently/ compulsive gambler

Idhren: Personal

Financial: Wealthy/ moderate/unsure/ poor/ extreme poverty

Medical: Fit/ not applicable/ moderate/ sickly/ disabled

Class: Upper/ middle/working/ unsure/ other (see previous section)

Education: Qualified/ unqualified/ studying/ other

Criminal record: yes, for major crimes/ yes, for minor crimes/ no/ has committed crimes, but not caught yet/ yes, but charges were dismissed

Family

Children: has a child or children/ has no children/ wants children eventually

Relationship with family: close with sibling(s)/ not close with sibling(s) (used to be, let them think he was dead though)/ has no sibling(s)/ sibling(s) is deceased

Affiliation: Orphaned (raised by sister)/ abandoned/ adopted/ found family/ disowned/ raised by birth parent(s)/ not applicable

Traits+ tendencies

Extroverted/ introverted/ ambivalent

Disorganized/ organized/ in-between

Closed-minded/ open-minded/ in between

Calm/ anxious/ in-between/ highly contextual

Disagreeable/ agreeable/ in-between

Cautious/ reckless/ in-between/ highly contextual (typically very cautious, has at times been very reckless with his own wellbeing)

Patient/ impatient/ in-between

Outspoken/ reserved/ in-between/ highly contextual

Leader (reluctantly)/ leader (gladly)/ follower/ in between

Empathic/ vicious bastard/ in-between/ highly contextual

Optimistic/ pessimistic/ in-between

Traditional/ modern/ in-between

Hard working/ lazy/ in-between

Cultured/ uncultured/ in-between (depends on the culture)/ unknown

Loyal/ disloyal/ unknown/ highly contextual

Faithful/ unfaithful/ unknown/ highly contextual (relationships? absolutely. religion? no and I can't blame him)

Beliefs

Faiths: Monotheistic/ polytheistic "the gods are real and they don't like me"/ atheist/ agnostic

Belief in ghosts or spirits: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in an afterlife: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in reincarnation; yes/ no/ don’t know/don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in aliens: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care

Religious: orthodox/ liberal/ in-between/ not religious

Philosophical; yes/ no/ highly contextual

Sexuality & romantic inclination

Sexuality: heterosexual/ homosexual/ bisexual/ asexual/ pansexual/ nonbinary

Sex: sex repulsed/ sex neutral/ sex favorable/ naive and clueless

Sexuality: adventurous/ experienced/naive/ inexperienced/ curious

Potential sexual partners: male/ female/both/ agender/ none/ all

Potential romantic partners: male/ female/ both/ agender/ none/ all

Abilities

Combat skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Literary skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Artistic skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Technical skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Habits

Drinking alcohol: never/ special occasions/ sometimes/ frequently/ tried it/ alcoholic/ former alcoholic turned sober

Smoking: tried it/ trying to quit/never/ rarely/ sometimes/ frequently/ chain smoker

Recreational drugs: tried some/ never/ sometimes/ frequently/ addict

Medicinal drugs: never/ no longer needs medication/ some medication needed/ frequently / to excess (depends on the situation. he's been known to deny himself pain relieving medicine and tough it out. he's also intentionally poisoned himself at least once)

Unhealthy foods: never/ special occasions/ sometimes/ frequently/ binge eater

Splurge spending: never/ sometimes (will buy things for other people, not himself)/ frequently/ shopaholic

Gambling: never/ rarely/ sometimes/ frequently/ compulsive gambler

Malin: Personal

Financial: Wealthy/ moderate/unsure/ poor/ extreme poverty

Medical: Fit/ not applicable/ moderate/ sickly/ disabled

Class: Upper/ middle/working/ unsure/ other

Education: Qualified/ unqualified/ studying/ other (no formal education but present and competent in high society nonetheless)

Criminal record: yes, for major crimes (got caught up in the power disputes of his superiors and was punished for loyalty/by association)/ yes, for minor crimes/ no/ has committed crimes, but not caught yet/ yes, but charges were dismissed

Family

Children: has a child or children/ has no children/ wants children eventually

Relationship with family: close with sibling(s)/ not close with sibling(s)/ has no sibling(s)/ sibling(s) is deceased

Affiliation: Orphaned/ abandoned/ adopted/ found family/ disowned/ raised by birth parent(s)/ not applicable

Traits+ tendencies

Extroverted/ introverted/ ambivalent

Disorganized/ organized/ in-between

Closed-minded/ open-minded/ in between

Calm/ anxious/ in-between/ highly contextual

Disagreeable/ agreeable/ in-between

Cautious/ reckless/ in-between (a healthy amount of confidence given his competency)/ highly contextual

Patient/ impatient/ in-between

Outspoken/ reserved/ in-between/ highly contextual

Leader (reluctantly)/ leader (gladly)/ follower/ in between

Empathic/ vicious bastard/ in-between/ highly contextual

Optimistic/ pessimistic/ in-between

Traditional (it's mostly a performance he doesn't really care)/ modern/ in-between

Hard working/ lazy/ in-between

Cultured/ uncultured/ in-between (depends on the culture)/ unknown

Loyal/ disloyal/ unknown/ highly contextual

Faithful/ unfaithful/ unknown/ highly contextual

Beliefs

Faiths: Monotheistic/ polytheistic/ atheist/ agnostic

Belief in ghosts or spirits: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in an afterlife: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in reincarnation; yes/ no/ don’t know/don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in aliens: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care

Religious: orthodox/ liberal/ in-between/ not religious

Philosophical; yes/ no/ highly contextual

Sexuality & romantic inclination

Sexuality: heterosexual/ homosexual/ bisexual/ asexual/ pansexual/ nonbinary

Sex: sex repulsed/ sex neutral/ sex favorable/ naive and clueless

Sexuality: adventurous/ experienced/naive/ inexperienced/ curious

Potential sexual partners: male/ female/both/ agender/ none/ all

Potential romantic partners: male/ female/ both/ agender/ none (he doesn't want to ask anyone to put up with his unpredictable life and won't settle down with a partner)/ all

Abilities

Combat skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Literary skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Artistic skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Technical skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Habits

Drinking alcohol: never/ special occasions/ sometimes/ frequently/ tried it/ alcoholic/ former alcoholic turned sober

Smoking: tried it/ trying to quit/never/ rarely sometimes/ frequently/ chain smoker

Recreational drugs: tried some/ never/ sometimes/ frequently/ addict

Medicinal drugs: never/ no longer needs medication (very many past injuries at various points in time)/ some medication needed/ frequently / to excess

Unhealthy foods: never/ special occasions/ sometimes/ frequently/ binge eater

Splurge spending: never/ sometimes/ frequently/ shopaholic

Gambling: never/ rarely/ sometimes/ frequently/ compulsive gambler

Waith: Personal

Financial: Wealthy/ moderate/unsure/ poor/ extreme poverty

Medical: Fit not applicable/ moderate/ sickly/ disabled

Class: Upper (her parents are also courtesans but Lauthein's structure is different than Tarnuvin)/ middle/working/ unsure/ other

Education: Qualified/ unqualified/ studying/ other

Criminal record: yes, for major crimes/ yes, for minor crimes/ no/ has committed crimes, but not caught yet/ yes, but charges were dismissed

Family

Children: has a child or children/ has no children/ wants children eventually

Relationship with family: close with sibling(s)/ not close with sibling(s)/ has no sibling(s)/ sibling(s) is deceased

Affiliation: Orphaned/ abandoned/ adopted/ found family/ disowned/ raised by birth parent(s)/ not applicable

Traits+ tendencies

Extroverted/ introverted/ ambivalent

Disorganized/ organized/ in-between

Closed-minded/ open-minded/ in between (similar to Therien)

Calm/ anxious/ in-between/ highly contextual

Disagreeable/ agreeable/ in-between

Cautious/ reckless/ in-between/ highly contextual

Patient/ impatient/ in-between

Outspoken/ reserved/ in-between/ highly contextual

Leader (reluctantly)/ leader (gladly)/ follower/ in between

Empathic/ vicious bastard/ in-between/ highly contextual

Optimistic/ pessimistic/ in-between

Traditional/ modern/ in-between

Hard working/ lazy/ in-between

Cultured/ uncultured/ in-between (depends on the culture)/ unknown

Loyal/ disloyal/ unknown/ highly contextual

Faithful/ unfaithful/ unknown/ highly contextual

Beliefs

Faiths: Monotheistic/ polytheistic/ atheist/ agnostic

Belief in ghosts or spirits: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in an afterlife: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in reincarnation; yes/ no/ don’t know/don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in aliens: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care

Religious: orthodox/ liberal/ in-between/ not religious

Philosophical; yes/ no/ highly contextual

Sexuality & romantic inclination

Sexuality: heterosexual/ homosexual/ bisexual/ asexual/ pansexual/ nonbinary

Sex: sex repulsed/ sex neutral/ sex favorable/ naive and clueless

Sexuality: adventurous/ experienced/naive/ inexperienced/ curious

Potential sexual partners: male/ female/both/ agender/ none/ all

Potential romantic partners: male/ female/ both/ agender/ none/ all

Abilities

Combat skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Literary skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Artistic skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Technical skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Habits

Drinking alcohol: never/ special occasions/ sometimes/ frequently/ tried it/ alcoholic/ former alcoholic turned sober

Smoking: tried it/ trying to quit/never/ rarely sometimes/ frequently/ chain smoker

Recreational drugs: tried some/ never/ sometimes/ frequently/ addict

Medicinal drugs: never/ no longer needs medication/ some medication needed/ frequently / to excess

Unhealthy foods: never/ special occasions/ sometimes/ frequently/ binge eater

Splurge spending: never/ sometimes/ frequently/ shopaholic

Gambling: never/ rarely/ sometimes/ frequently/ compulsive gambler

...I was also considering adding Leithe, Oenith, or Maithyr but we'll hold off on those for now

tag list: @just-emis-blog @orions-quill @honeybewrites @leahnardo-da-veggie @robin-the-blind-sniper-rifle

[hollow-prey]

thinking about that post making the rounds talking about the interaction dilemma in the self ship community, and I have some Thoughts but didn't want to lump it onto the main post bc some of them are a bit petty and, well, this turned into a lengthy train of thought.

I do agree that there is definitely some uneven distribution of interaction around the self ship community. Bigger/more popular blogs tend to get more attention, asks, validation, and yes, sometimes even uncommissioned fanart and small fics of their self ships. I won't lie, I do get jealous sometimes seeing popular blogs getting heaps of attention. And it can feel frustrating (and sometimes a bit condescending) when bigger blogs make posts saying "the popularity of your self ships shouldn't matter! You should be doing this for yourself! You don't need any outside validation for your self ships to be important :)", yet most of them don't have to worry about that since they're the ones frequently getting outside validation and asks and whatnot.

That sounds petty as hell, I know. And yeah, it is petty and silly to feel that way about something like this. But it's so easy to feel jealous and bitter and even discouraged when posting one's self ship content and getting little to no response, while the same handful of popular blogs in your orbit seem to be raking in the notes and interaction all the time.

To be fair, it is true that self shipping should primarily be about and for your own enjoyment. Each self ship is something created and maintained solely for yourself, you make the rules, you can tweak and rewrite and eliminate canon as you please, you can do whatever makes your heart happy. But also, as the original post said, we are social creatures and we like sharing stuff we make with others. We like knowing that other people see and enjoy our work. We like the interaction and the validation. And it can start to sting when we constantly put ourselves and our self ship stuff out there in the hopes of someone noticing and saying something, yet getting nothing at all.

I know no one owes me anything. I'm very shy and I keep to myself and I rarely post in the main tags. People are busy, myself included, and when it comes to supporting self ships, most people are going to prioritize their friends and mutuals over some rando small account they have no connection to. I get that, and I'm not faulting anyone for it.

The easiest and most obvious solution to this dilemma is, naturally, for blogs (regardless of size) to interact with people more (also regardless of blog size), especially if they're not a mutual or a friend or even a familiar account that you follow. Find other small blogs! Reach out! Send a message! Find self shippers who enjoy the same content as you!

Easy enough in practice, but I can also understand why some people are hesitant to reach out to strangers. Speaking for myself, I'm very shy. I have anxiety. Talking to new people, both online and in real life, often makes me nervous. I'm afraid people will hate me immediately for something I like. I'm afraid people are going to judge me for my taste in f/os. Some people might seem intimidating to talk to, even though they're just another regular person! So I realize it would be bold of me to request interaction from others when I'm so shy and barely interact with strangers as it is.

I want to try and be better at reaching out to different self ship blogs and sending messages or prompts. Mostly because it's just a nice thing to do, and in theory, it should set the wheel of "interaction karma" in motion, where (in theory) something you do (like sending an ask) comes back to you in a similar way (receiving an ask), repeat the cycle and keep the interaction flowing across the community. You know, "you must give if you want to receive" and all. It keeps things from being one-sided, where a chain of people keep taking prompts and posts from the last person who reblogged it but never giving anything back. Like when people post those ask games and say to practice "reblog karma" i.e. send a message from the prompt list to whoever you reblogged it from, or whoever reblogs it from you, so they get something in return. This is, of course, a wonderful idea when it works. But that can still feel one-sided at times when people (especially small blogs) follow the "reblog karma" rules and send asks/prompts/messages upon reblogging an ask game or prompt post, only to still get nothing in return.

And again, I know, people are busy and they have lives outside of tumblr, ultimately no one owes anyone anything, and most blogs are going to prioritize friends and mutuals when it comes to interaction and ask games and the like. Interaction is important, and I think increased activity from all corners of the self ship community would be awesome. But it's also important that we don't burn ourselves out or spread ourselves too thin trying to interact and send stuff to every self ship blog we come across. Sending asks and the like to other blogs shouldn't feel like a chore or some endless daunting task.

TL;DR though I'm a very small blog and often keep to myself because I'm very shy, I want to try and be better about interacting with other self ship blogs, especially ones I'm not already familiar with. Hopefully others will do the same (without burning themselves out). And hopefully this post made some sense despite being all over the place.

[ufuckingpastry]

hey not to start shit but since empires smp is a family friendly series and pixlriffs a family friendly creator and large portions of this fandom are minors do you really think its fair to put a post about an explicitly and exclusively nsfw thing in both of the main tags for that. like do whatever i guess but at 27 years of age do you really think putting that in a place where kids are almost definitely gonna see is fair.

In my experience, anytime someone says “hey, not to be [whatever], but…”, they are almost always trying to do that thing. And I fully recognize that you’ve probably come in here, Anon, to stoke a defensive reaction out of me in hopes to start some shit. I’ve been at work for 8.5hrs today and I’ve had my time to cool off, so you’re not gonna get an infuriated reaction or some kind of sassy response. 

TLDR: I use tags the same way that I’ve used them for the nine years I’ve been on this site. Which is mostly to help me keep some level of organization in my own blog, as well as make sure that I’m tagging for things that people might want to blacklist. Every fandom seems to change how they do things, and I’m still trying to learn all the nuances of the fandoms I’m in on how to tag stuff. So if you have a tag for me to use instead, let me know and I’ll start adding it to my posts so that I can make sure that any person who doesn’t want to see that content can avoid it.

For the writing challenge I’m doing, the tag you can blacklist is “kinktober fic fest”. Or, if you really just can’t stand to see me and the content I put out, the block button is right there, and I highly recommend that you use it. Blacklisting tags is actually a function that works on this dear site of ours, as long as people continue to tag their things.

For the record, nothing of what I write about in regards to SMPs has ever been about the real person behind the screen. I don’t write RPF. Anything that I write is about whatever character that is being played, with maybe some slight tweaks to help tell the story better. Empires SMP, especially season 2, is incredibly bold with their pole dancing jokes, or calling people ‘daddy’ with emphasis on “sharing their hard wood”, because that stuff isn’t really for kids. But those jokes are often in family friendly material because it’s going to fly over the kids’ heads. None of my fics are for kids, so I tag things to the best of my ability in order to make that clear.

Do you really think it’s fair to come into a random person’s inbox to tell them that they need to sanitize and censor themself for some hypothetical children that might come across that post? I put everything that was actually explicit under a read more that, by default, you have to click to see the rest. Which is very much like opening a bag labeled “dead dove, do not eat” and being infuriated to find there’s a dead dove in the bag. I recognize that maybe a community label should have been applied to the post, but I didn’t feel like it was necessary since the post was literally only about how I was going to tackle that writing challenge. 

You can be damn sure that any explicit fic I post on tumblr will be labeled correctly, to the best of my ability. Every bit of explicit stuff will be put under a read more, so you will have to click it to be able to view it.

And if some hypothetical children come across something that is very clearly labeled with the things they don’t want to see, and they’re still upset about it being in the main tag because I don’t know where else I’m supposed to put it, then, to be frank:

That’s not my problem.

Have a lovely day