#bugs contains multitudes

[squidiosyncrasies]

🔥 (i was going to give the topic 'bugs' but I feel like I can maybe guess already so feel free to do anything)

I actually hold an incredibly unpopular bug opinion within my household!

Dear my cats,

Stinkbugs are not a problem. I understand that they sneak in the house a few times a week, but you should really be used to them by now. I don't think it's fun to stare at a lightbulb for an hour because a stinkbug decided to hang out there! I hope it's not hurting your eyeballs.

You don't even like hunting them anyway! I've seen the way you gag when you finally catch one. You don't need to hunt the stinkbugs!!! And frankly they're not even stinky! They just smell like cilantro (the greatest herb on the planet).

Also, please understand that I do not control the bugs. I am not hiding them from you when they've escaped your gaze. You are very cute though when you meow at me about it.

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

Buggy is so funny, he really caused all of his problems on his own and he’s angry about it. Babygirl you were the reason everything bad happened to you

he's incredibly looney tunes villain-coded. suffers the consequences of his actions in the funniest way possible. accidentally eats something he had wicked plans for and gets wicked plan'd himself. literally gets struck by lightning, does survive, but ends up a smoking heap while someone else walks away just fine. shoots his mouth off in front of the bigger, meaner baddies and gets beaten to a pulp off-screen to a soundtrack of clown horns.

[irbcallmefynn]

Bug who is Puppy!!!

sometimes it does kinda feel like this though like i'll be quite clearly a buge but then the moment someone acknowledges me as a dog i'm a wolfdog and then i'm right back. or something. idk i am very weird and Do Not Understand myself.

[archivist-the-knight]

making this its own post bc i dont wanna bother the op of that post but oh my gosh. the way falin is treated vs the way laios is treated despite them having similar personality traits/the same kind of autism, all because laios presents more masculine and is much more energetic than her sister, and falin is much more softspoken than laios is

[isfjmel-phleg]

I've been thinking idly about the beginning of Book 3 again, and was offhandedly wondering about Tamett. How can I get to know him better? What makes him tick?

And metaphorically what happened was Tamett looks straight at me with shining eyes and a hint of impatience and says, "Aeroplanes." Like it's obvious.

A symbol of freedom and escape. A new and exciting form of technology in his day, rife with possibility. An indicator of changing times, changing perspectives. Not really an encouraged passion for a child whose lifework is supposed to consist of acquiring enough social status and money to keep the rest of the family afloat and hopefully inherit his uncle's ducal title someday. Tamett's personal interests and priorities are at odds what's supposed to ensure him and his family security and comfort, but his fascination with this potentially useful technology just might be useful after all. To other people. Which might not be a good thing.

...perhaps?

[silvr-skreen]

misty and diane being both incredibly competent but that leading them into the trap of condescension to others and/or the belief they know the other person's abilities better than they do.

nyx hates his boss because: I CANT WALK TODAY FUCK YOU MEAN GET UP?

[pugswithlasers]

The babies had their first vet appointment and they were SO brave abt it

[graveyardmouth]

every timw i see any vwrsion of ray toros name with the suffix "-cal" added on the end i am reminded of "Eating Disorder Twitter"....................... i know it is Meant in a similar manner to the word local/s but m,y brain still reads it as calories. this of course leads to beautiful brain URLs such as Ray toro Calories......... i bet that man would have wonderful caloric value. i could eat him whole for a week. violently and in a non sexual manner.

[littlecornerinbrooklyn]

For a long time, I thought the goal of life was to be happy for the majority of the time. But in the last few months, I’ve really focused on instead just accepting how I feel moment-to-moment. To learn to treat “fine” as the baseline. I just want to be present enough to experience joy when it comes and also know that when I’m in the depths of despair that it will end, that there’s no way I’ll feel that way forever. Asking myself what makes me happy used to panic me because I felt like I didn’t have concrete answers, or the things I wanted to hope for felt embarrassing to admit because failure is shameful or something, but getting better at asking myself that question just required honesty.

[crevicedwelling]

i never thought about centipedes much before, but ive fallen in love with them thanks to you! i can't get over how cool they look in motion, and also how cute their faces and antenna are. thanks for posting pedes, i never would have known otherwise!

I think a lot more people would like centipedes if they were a) talked about more and b) talked about as anything other than some sort of evil! they are surprisingly diverse, all sorts of beautiful, and behaviorally very interesting as well, much more than a creepy bug out to get you or even the mindless killing machines coolguy nature documentaries cast them as—myriapods that contain multitudes, more than just legs.

[deconstructthesoup]

One thing I really love about Slay the Princess is that pretty much every single fan-made princess out there... could be canon.

Because guess what? Shifty's infinite, she said it herself. All those vessels that we can gain throughout the game are likely only a fraction of the multitudes she contains, so there's probably a fairy princess, a mermaid princess, a bug princess, a poisonous princess, a pirate princess, a vampire princess, a mad scientist princess... the possibilities are endless. Every single fan princess that you make could exist.

And that... that is fucking beautiful

[hotdaemondtargaryen]

PHIA SABAN INTERVIEWED FOR CONTENTMODE MAGAZINE.

CONGRATULATIONS ON HOUSE OF THE DRAGON! HOW HAS THE PROCESS BEEN SO FAR?

"Thank you! It’s a cool thing."

"When we’re working on it we’re in our own little microcosm with each other and those characters, and now it’s coming out and we’re seeing it all link up and become something else."

"It’s very new to me."

"Acting on screen still feels very new to me."

"I am so lucky to get to work with this group of people, they are so clever and loving."

"Recently we’ve been promoting the show and have been asked for opinions and explanations about our characters and the story."

"I’ve found it a new and funny facet of the job, to be asked sometimes to represent myself and speak from the character and for the bigger picture."

"It can feel different from acting, where you engage with the contradictions and spend more time with the mystery and the magic than the answers."

"I guess I’m saying that I’ve found this process contains multitudes."

"And watching the show is surreal — there are all my pals in wigs!"

MANY DIE-HARD GAME OF THRONES FANS HAVE READ THE BOOK SERIES AND ANTICIPATE PLOT POINTS IN THE TELEVISION SERIES. HOW DO YOU PROVIDE A FRESH TAKE ON FAMILIAR MATERIAL?

"It’s major to be part of something that people already feel passionate about, but it’s also exciting to have the chance to subvert expectations."

"It’s fun to make up little secrets that only you know about."

"As a viewer, I always like to be surprised anyway."

"I think it’s important (and fun) to have some irreverence for the genre so that you’re not patronizing your audience."

"The hope is to be part of something that challenges people!"

YOU'VE FOUND SUCCESS IN THE FANTASY AND DRAMATIC GENRES. ARE THERE ANY OTHER GENRES YOU'D LIKE TO EXPLORE?

"Yes! I miss being in plays so much."

"I cannot wait to be in the theater again."

"I’ve never been in a film, I’d love to make an independent one."

"Oh! To be in something people call a ‘picture’!"

"Recently I’ve been fantasizing about learning motion-capture and playing some sort of animal or creature."

"I’d love to be part of a suburban coming-of-age film, like the ones I obsessed over growing up."

"I’d like to do a great limited series, an intense crime one."

"And I could narrowly avoid being eaten by a shark, or an alien."

"I have dreams of doing a time-spanning project."

"I’d like to be the voice of an animation!"

"I‘d love to have a go at the present day."

"And maybe a dystopian future."

"And a Western?"

"I always want to do something funny."

"And strange."

"There are so many TA and filmmakers I admire (I won’t list them but they’re always being lovingly scribbled in my notebook.)"

"I’ll learn Norwegian and French for them!"

"I’m excited to keep finding new people too."

"More than all these, there are so many more things I hope to do, if I’m lucky."

"Not that I give it much thought or anything…"

HAS YOUR REAL LIFE INSPIRED YOUR APPROACH TO YOUR CHARACTER IN ANY WAY?

"Sometimes a character can be an expansion pack for your real life, like a new way to see things."

"So maybe it’s more that the fantasy inspires your real life!"

"It’s been really fun to explore Helaena’s interests."

"I’ve thought quite a lot about bugs."

"I get a huge kick out of investigating how her mind works and finding all the ways her’s overlaps with mine."

"I do lots of people-watching, which is great because now when I’m staring at people on the bus I can tell myself that I’m ‘working’."

WHILE FANTASY CAN SEEMS UNTETHERED FROM REALITY, DO YOU THINK IT CAN REFLECT THE REAL WORLD?

"Haha I hope so, otherwise that would be boring!"

"I suppose these stories are full of archetypes, which should mirror universal truths."

"But maybe that’s just good TV?"

WHAT TYPES OF NARRATIVED DO YOU FIND YOURSELF DRAWN TOWARDS WHEN READING SCRIPTS AND CHOOSING ROLES?

"Something surprising and honest that doesn’t tell me what to think!"

"And I love it when a script lets sad things be funny."

WHAT INSPIRES YOU AS AN ACTOR?

"Other actors, a lot."

"On a good day, almost everything can…"

"That might be one of the best things about being an actor."

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  fragilecapric0rn! @fragilecapric0rnn has written 22 fics in the Stranger Things fandom and 21 of them are in the Steddie tag!

@cheatghost recommends the following works by @fragilecapric0rnn:

It Might Be Worth It For Once

clown music at the disco

you can take the heart from your chest to use as a compass when you are lost

Catch Me (I'm Falling)

Anyway, It's About Old Friends

"Sen's body of work is like a truly love letter to the characters. No matter the universe, Steve and Eddie always feel authentic to themselves. Sen's love for classic rom-coms influences a lot of her writing and makes for really romantic, touching stories. It's an absolute delight to dive into a world crafted by this author!" -- @cheatghost

Below the cut, @fragilecapric0rnn answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I think in May of 2022 I was bit by the same bug as everyone else. Before I started writing Steddie, I was on a 4-year fic writing hiatus, and it was like seeing those two interact on screen zapped my brain awake. The chemistry, the potential, the fact that one half of the ship got ripped away from us too soon. All of those components really did something to my brain and I decided I had to write them and I haven’t looked back since!

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I love a idiots to lovers! These two really have the potential to fit that trope so well!

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Second-chance at romance! If you’ve seen any of my fics, you know that I love and will take any chance to write 90s older steddie, haven’t spoken or seen each other in years, who re-meet and fall in love. It is so them, it is my favorite version of them. It’s the version of them that lives in my head!

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

There are so many good ones to choose from, but I think I have to go with Show Me the Place Where He Inserted the Blade by the incomparable, the magnificently talented and outstanding Cheatghost. Lou, who I am very proud to call a friend, is one of the most talented people I know and I feel very lucky to have had them brought into my life via the Steddie brainrot.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Is it lame if I say no? LOL. Honestly, I have written almost everything I have felt the need to explore with this pairing. A lot of my ideas moving forward are expansions/continuations of ideas that I already started or have posted before. 

What is your writing process like?

Right now it’s at its most unstructured because I am rawdogging life without my ADHD meds for the first time in 7 years, which has been a whirlwind but I am managing. However, it usually depends on the fic I’m writing! For a lot of my longfic, I have a physical notebook that has an outline and major plot points I want to hit at certain times in my stories. Other times, for the shorter fics/one-shots, I just write them all in one go. It starts with a (usually silly) idea, and then I get possessed by the writing demons, and suddenly, I haven’t moved from my chair in 2 hours and I have four thousand words on my screen. I contain multitudes!

Do you have any writing quirks?

I am a victim of the: One word. One phrase. Lin breaks for emphasis. And I will be doing it until someone who is being paid real money to publish one of my original works tells me to knock it off!

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Again, asking if it’s bad if I say neither? When I first started posting fic again, I was very much writing it all and then posting it over the course of a few days. But now, I tend to write sporadically and post even more sporadically. And I prefer the latter! Fanfiction, and fandom in general, is a collaborative experience in its heart and soul. One of my favorite things about longfic is posting a chapter and seeing what people take away from it, because 9/10 it’ll be different then what the writer thinks they’re going to take away! And the chance to change and rework and let yourself be influenced by other fans of the ship is taken away when you write it all at once and post it all at once.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Anyway, It’s About Old Friends. Even in its unfinished form, it is my magnum opus. My white whale. I have done some of my best writing in it (chapter 2 MY BELOVED) and the fact that its so close to the end is both exciting and terrifying. It is a fic I wrote and continue to write for me, and the fact that other people are reading and enjoying it is a win!

How did you get the idea for It Might Be Worth It For Once?

HA! So, I was chatting with my friend Emily (JudasofSuburbia) about a potential Pornstar!Steve AU offhandedly back in the fall. Then, I got paired with them for a little fic exchange between friends, and it felt natural to take that one off little conversation and turn it into a fic for her. It was one of those fics that started out as a silly idea and then suddenly it’s been six hours and I wrote the whole thing in one go! After some polishing and editing, it became a Pornstar!AU with not as much smut as I expected. It was so fun to write, made even more fun as it was for a dear friend.

When writing Anyway, It's About Old Friends, what was something you didn’t expect?

I didn’t expect it to change and mold and morph in the way that it did. There is a version of this fic where they do hook-up earlier, there’s a version where they re-meet at gay club and not a wedding, there’s a version where Steve marries a Evie and Eddie is Raul. But, this version feels the most right. It’s a story about heartbreak, about finding love (in all it forms) in unexpected places, and it’s about found family most of all. All of that was stumbled on accidentally! My only intention was to write a Steddie-fied When Harry Met Sally fic, and accidentally flashed my heart and soul. Whoops!

What inspired clown music at the disco?

I used to be an opener at a coffee shop and there is something so disorienting and mind altering about having disco music blasting on the speakers at 4am. But, it was in one of those moments, where I was so tired I was nauseous, that the fic idea came to me! I had already been thinking of writing as my first fic, Steve and Eddie accidentally have a Devil’s Sacrament moment at the gay bar, but the line “But it’s Disco Night”, came to me at the ungodly hour of 4 in the morning. What a time!

What was your favorite part to write from you can take the heart from your chest to use as a compass when you are lost?

The Never Have I Ever Scene! It was the first time I wrote the entire party in one scene and it’s chaotic and a little messy but it was one of my favorite parts of the fic. It also made me realize how much I love writing ensemble scenes! Just everyone trying to talk over each other, chaos in its best form.

How do/did you feel writing Catch Me (I'm Falling)?

I wrote this fic in the span of like almost 3 weeks? I was sick and burnt out for most of the time I was writing it, but it was almost a compulsion. I had the idea and I just HAD to write it. No outline, just vibes and Steve Harrington in a cheerleading uniform! I took it down for a while because I was turning it into something else, but then had a change of heart and put it back up. And part of me is glad that I took it down for a moment because people love to be weird about the feminizing Steve’s character, and even though I was writing him as a cheerleader, I tried really hard to keep him earnestly himself, and in character.

What was the most difficult part of writing Anyway, It's About Old Friends?

Writing about San Francisco while being the most homesick I have ever been in my life. Also writing Eddie in those first few chapters as an asshole but not unlikable. I didn’t want him to be “fine” (because no one is fine in this universe, especially not in the beginning) but I also didn’t want him to do or say anything too bad. I think I got a handle on it pretty well.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

In Faces Freedom With A Little Fear, the first scene in the hospital with Steve’s sister. She storms in, threatens federal agents, all for her brother. JJ Harrington you will always be famous!

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

Just my current WIPs! Anyway It’s About Old Friends; the When Harry Met Sally AU of my dreams. Hand on My Stupid Heart; the modern AU, where the UD exists but everyone has iPhones and Steve deals with his bisexuality!

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Shout out to my boys! Kkpwnall, judasofsuburbia, figthefruitfaeth, gideoncharov, cheatghost, fastcardotmp3, snowangeldotmp3 you guys rule and they’re all so talented!!!! Thank you to whoever nominated me! I feel the love and give it back to you tenfold!!!!!!

Thank you to our author, @fragilecapric0rnn, and our nominator, @cheatghost! See more of fragilecapric0rn's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[thealogie]

I am an Aziraphale apologist and yet I contain multitudes because I am also very sympathetic to Crowley in a situation where from Crowley’s point of view (I don’t think this is what Aziraphale meant but it’s what Crowley heard) it’s like he said to Aziraphale ‘I know that I am gay and you are too, now we’re both basically excommunicated from our Christian sect we can be together’ and Aziraphale said ‘yes we can be together… in this conversion therapy where we can learn to be straight best friends’

Well the thing is they are not equally wrong in that scenario like aziraphale is clearly more wrong. Like regardless of how good his intentions are and how he’s actually making a noble sacrifice, he very much does say “I forgive you” in response to gay kissing.

However that is what makes it more special to be an aziraphale girl. Crowley is the people’s princess, aziraphale belongs to me and my handpicked group of tumblrinas who want to squish him like a bug and put him under a microscope

[pikahlua]

Hello, Pika!! Because I trust your takes on Bakugou quite blindly, I figured I could ask a question that has been bugging us enneagram nuts for years, if that's okay with you. What would you say is the core motivation behind his actions? Is it more "I am good so long as I am successful and others think well of me, I need to achieve greatness and be valued by others," "I am good so long as I am true to myself, I need to have personal significance," or "I am good so long as I am in control of the situation, I need to resist control by others and determine my own life course."

While I appreciate the praise, I regret to inform you I am one of the worst people you could bring this sort of stuff too. I find the wording of such phrases drives the autist in me absolutely nuts. I would never be able to pin down the intended meaning in any of these statements well enough to make a decision. All I can say is Katsuki Bakugou contains multitudes.