#but i'll definitely make sure i can a moment with any younger people in my life

[awakefor48hours]

It's been a year since For the Future came out and I can't believe it. This one episode has done so much for me this past year and has done the one thing that nothing else has throughout my entire life which is make me like myself. I always knew that I was angry at myself but I never knew how much or really what the source of it even was. I ignored my feelings and just hoped they went away but they didn't.

Then For the Future came out. Seeing Luz have her moment in which she realized what her greatest desire was so fun. It was a very colorful and impactful scene. But the rest of the episode was still going on so I didn't dwell on it too long.

Then once it ended, I thought about it more and what it meant to Luz. She's been a pariah everywhere in her life and has been constantly mocked for her interests. She's always been, in Eda's words, "such a mark" but she's always wanted to fit in. Then in For the Future, her mom speaks to her on her own level. She makes references to her favorite book and the blorbos from her shows. There's so much understanding and love between Camila and Luz.

Thinking about that scene again, suddenly I had a realization that I couldn't believe took me so long to figure out. Because the only thing I ever wanted was to be understood.

Being understood in a way that it doesn't matter how strange or different I am because at the end of the day, the person I've always been looking to be is me. I didn't need to keep being angry at myself. This past year, I've been happier with my accomplishments and where I'm going because I'm finally proud to just be me.

[karlachismylife]

Writing Russian-speaking characters

So I have once again been chuckling at some adorable clumsy Russian in Nikolai and Nikto fics, and thus I decided to make a little list that might be helpful for fellow COD writers here. And yes, please, feel free to reach out to me if you need any proofreading of your Russian phrases, I would be glad to assist since google translator can butcher it in ways non-speakers won't be able to notice.

I would really appreciate if you guys shared this post and helped it reach people that might need it, I put way more effort into it than I expected myself <3 Also, I might make a followup with some more words and/or phrases that can be useful, so please feel free to request some, since here I am mostly focusing on terms of endearment.

I will write down Russian words, their (approximate and wonky, sorry for that) transcription/transliteration and what part of speech they are (keep in mind that adjectives can be used as nouns when used to address someone) and provide according translation and use.

Keep in mind that in Russian the gender of the word is important!!! I'll write down them in following order: he/him (он/его) version/ she/her (она/её) version/ they/them (они/их) version. However! They/them is NOT traditionally used as gender-neutral pronouns, it's plural only. Some queer and younger folks do use they/them (myself included), but it does sound wonky as it's direct copy from English. Unfortunately, Russian is not very suitable for gender-neutral writing, but there are ways to go about it (I'll try to note some of that too).

*however, since Nikto is sometimes using plural they/them to describe himself, that would be okay with him since it's plural. I hope that makes sense, lol.

So if you're putting an adjective with a noun (example: милый котик) you have to use an adjective in the correct gender form FOR THE WORD! If the noun (котик here) is masculine, you use masculine adjective form EVEN if you're referring to a person with she/her pronouns.

What is love?

The main thing I noticed is that y'all use a direct translation of the word "love" - "любовь" [l'ubov'] (n) to refer to a person. As in "how are you doing, love?". However, that's wrong. "Любовь" is either a word to describe the feeling, or a name (short version would be Люба [Lyuba]). If you wanna use an affectionate pet name, consider one of the following!

дорогой/дорогая/дорогие [dorogoy/dorogaya/dorogiye] (adj) - means "darling". Often used between spouses. Mostly used to refer to person directly, sounds a little quirky if you use it to refer to them in third person (as in "my darling went out to buy some strawberries").

любимый/любимая/любимые [l'ubimiy/l'ubimaya/l'ubimiye] (adj) - means "beloved/loved/loved one" and is probably the closest to "love". You can use it to refer to person directly or to talk about them in third person (as in "can't wait to see любимую". Also yes, the endings are changing depending on the case and I'm not entirely sure how to explain this concisely without going deep into grammar lol).

милый/милая/милые [miliy/milaya/miliye] (adj) - the word means "cute/cutie", but is also used as a general terms of endearment, like "sweetheart". Mainly to refer to someone directly, using it in third person is a little old-fashioned I'd say. Also commonly used by people outside romantic partnership, a kind old lady can definitely call you over with this one asking to help her read expiration date on a milk bottle or something.

любовь моя [l'ubov' moya] (n + adj/pronoun) - okay, I kinda tricked you saying you can't use the word "love" to refer to a person. If you say this (means "my love"), you can! It's pretty romantic and I am actually the one person that uses this daily, otherwise it's either very romance-novel/old-fashioned sounding, but there are moments when it's perfectly suitable. Have that fairytale moment! Also please note, that while "моя любовь" [moya l'ubov'] (adj/pronoun + n) is grammatically correct, it sounds kinda weird if you use it to address the person directly (like in a phrase "my love, you shine brighter than the stars"). While Russian doesn't have particularly strict rules about word order, it does matter to some extent, and this is a prime example: people just use one order way more often that the other.

Pocket-sized

I've already told somewhere here my favourite Nikto fic moment: the sweetest, romantic moment, interrupted by him calling reader "детёныш", which means "cub" as in baby animal. And while my parents do use this word affectionately, I can assure you, most people don't, and it was clear that this was a result of a clumsy translation of "baby" or something like that. So here are some variants for words like baby, little one and such!

малыш/малышка [malysh/malyshka] (n) - I'd say this feels more "little one" than "baby" to me, it's a tad less sexually charged if you get what I mean. Also, you call "малыш" a person of any gender/pronouns, while "малышка" is strictly for she/her. Obviously can be used for kids too.

детка [d'etka] (n) - this one is definitely "baby" or "babe" as a term of endearment, calling a real kid this would be WEIRD if you're not a really old granny. I would also say that it's more commonly used to refer to female partners, but that might be just my perception and experience. It's still okay to use both ways. Also this word can be very much used if you need a little bit of sleazy/catcalling/bad pickup line energy, like someone shouting after a girl passing by on the street. Yuck.

маленький/маленькая [mal'en'kiy/mal'en'kaya] (adj) - this just means "little" or "small", I'd say it's used less commonly and usually in this form "маленький мой/маленькая моя" [mal'en'kiy moy/mal'en'kaya moya] (adj + adj/pronoun). I will expand on this a little later here! Can be used to refer to kids too.

All kinds of fauna

While poor детёныш is reserved for furry freaks like yours truly, there are some animal nicknames that are very widely spread! Here are some that I think would be most useful for y'all. Granted, some people think that these are a lil' bit cringey, but I think it really just depends on what you're used to hear around you. So if I think calling someone a cub is cute, and bunny is cringe, that probably says more about me :D

котик [kot'ik] (n) - this is a term of endearment for a cat. NOT same as kitten, mind you! Mostly used to refer to men (since the word is of masculine gender) - in my experience.

котёнок [kot'onok] (second o here is like ö in German) (n) - now THIS is "kitten". I would say this is more gender-neutral than the previous one, but the word is still masculine gender.

зайка [zayka] (n) - I believe this would be an equivalent to "bunny", although it's actually a cute word for a hare, not a rabbit. Definitely used for all genders (also the word can be both masculine and feminine gender), also is okay to use referring to kids (even teachers that are into endearing nicknames can call pupils this and it's not weird. well, in elementary school). You can also say "зайчонок" [zaych'onok] (n) which is a word for baby hare, even cuter.

рыбка [ribka] (n) - a term of endearment for a fish. I think it's viewed as a bit old-fashioned and thus only used jokingly nowadays, but you know what? Nikolai could pull this off 100%. Bonus points if it's "рыбка моя" [ribka moya] (n + adj/pronoun). Only used for women and the word itself is of feminine gender.

медвежонок [medv'ezhonok] (n) - now, I actually have never met someone who would call their partner this, but I myself would (and I definitely saw it in some media, but that's obv not too reliable). It's a word for a bear cub, so I think it's cute to call a huge ass bear of a military man this word. It's of masculine gender, but I would say it's okay to call a she/her person this too. ALTHOUGH there is a grammatically incorrect (but this only adds to cuteness as it often happens) word "медвежонка" [medv'ezhonka] (n) - this would be a female bear cub. My family uses this word, I use it, no, it won't be in a dictionary, but everyone will understand what you mean. Is okay to use for kids too.

щенок [sh'enok] (if it helps, щ is like German "schtsch", like in Borschtsch, like sh but soft) (n) - now, this actually is not used as a term of endearment, it's "puppy" and it's suitable for degradation. The word is of masculine gender, but you can call anyone this to be honest. You can tell Nikto he's "глупый щенок" [glupiy sh'enok] (adj + n) (silly puppy) and that man will either bark for you or gut you. If you say "тупой" [tupoy] (adj) (dumb) instead of "глупый" [glupiy] (adj) (silly), it will be downright offensive. You can say "щеночек" [sh'enochek] (n), which is an endearing term for a puppy, so it's a little bit sweete. OR you can use my personal favourite - "щен" [sh'en] (n), which is actually also incorrect, but if you've ever heard of a great poet and poetry innovator Mayakovskiy, he was called this word by Lilya Brik. I do NOT have the time to unpack that wild relationship (there was a throuple involved. Russian poetry scene of early XX century was WILD and it's my favourite poetry period hands down), but it's pretty famous. The word "щен" consists of the word "puppy" but with the end diminutive suffix cut off. The trick is, that while some words return to their non-diminutive form with such procedure, this one does not - so you're basically inventing a new word that now sounds quite degrading and harsh, but also sexy as hell (personal opinion). I would definitely call Nikto this word.

птичка [ptich'ka] (n) - that's just "birdie", but I actually wouldn't say many people use it to refer to each other. HOWEVER, Nikolai 100% calls his steel bird this. The word is of feminine gender and if you are calling a person this, it's probably more suitable for a woman.

цыпа [tsipa??] (n) or even цыпочка [tsipoch'ka] (n) - that's a chick, like a baby hen, used only to refer to women (feminine gender word). Honestly I only heard this in foreign films dubbed in Russian or like in jokes/sarcastic phrases. It's kinda rude/indecent/vulgar and the only man that can say that and stay attractive is Captain Jack Sparrow (he used this word in Russian dubbed Pirates like once maybe, talking to Elisabeth, and that was funny cuz he be crazy like that). But maybe you want this, idk.

And everything sweet

Unfortunately, I haven't seen anyone translate the word "honey" as "мёд" directly, that would be another brilliant laugh (cuz it's wrong to refer to a person like that), but there are some "sweet" words to use!

сладкий/сладкая [sladk'iy/sladkaya] (adj) - this just means "sweet", like the taste, and it can be sexy or sleazy or just cute. You can call a kid this word too, BUT for a child would be better сладенький/сладенькая [slad'en'kiy/slad'en'kaya], which is like one step further into diminutive-endearing department.

конфетка [konf'etka] (n) - this is a diminutive word for a candy, a sweet, like a caramel or chocolate or whatever. Not very common, but is cute. Also a way to describe a sexy/good-looking person (more likely a woman, the word is of feminine gender) or just something really good (a bit jokingly). The latter is usually used in a phrase build like "не ..., а просто конфетка", which is roughly translated "that's not ... that's just plain candy". Might have an actual English equivalent that I can't think of right now. Maybe "a total snack"? Probably that one, yeah. Can be said about anything, a car for example.

Shiny

I wanna stick in a few more words of endearment and they all are kinda shiny, lol, so here you go!

солнце [solntse] (n) - this means "sun", like that big glowing thingy in the sky, but it's very welcome as a term of endearment. This word is NEUTER gender (explained in the next section). Viktor Tsoy (a famous rock musician with an unfortunate fate and immortal cultural heritage) had a song ("Cuckoo" - "Кукушка") with the words "солнце моё, взгляни на меня" [solntse moyo, vzgl'yan'i na m'en'ya] (my sun, look at me), so "солнце моё" (n + adj/n) is a good one. You can also use "солнышко" [solnyshko] (n) which is an endearing version of "sun", so it's like "sunshine". Also of neuter gender! Can and should be used to address kids too.

золотце [zolottse] (n) - this literally means like... a little gold? A little golden piece? I don't think there's a proper equivalent in English. It's a word of neuter gender and it's very much used for kids too. Another version would be "золотой мой/золотая моя/золотые мои" [zolotoy moy/zolotaya moya/zolotiye moyi] (adj + adj/pronoun) - this is "my golden", it's a little less common and I feel like it's often used to be condescending, but it's not inherenrly bad, so you can use it for a loved one.

сокровище [sokrov'ish'e] (once again it's щ, look previously) (n) - this is a word of neuter gender and it means "treasure". I personally adore this one and it's pretty common. Can be used for any gender and for kids!

звёздочка [zv'yozdoch'ka] (n) - this is like a little star/starshine. Wouldn't say it's that common, but I use it a lot. The word itself is of feminine gender, but you can call anyone that! Or you can say "звезда моя" [zv'ezda moya] (n + adj/pronoun), which means "my star". Also feminine gender word, but can be used for anyone.

This dog belongs to...

I am not going to go too deep into sexy/sex-related words in this part, because I'll just get overwhelmed with the amount, but I want to go over some words of ownership quickly.

мой/моя/мои/моё [moy/moya/moyi/moyo] (adj/pronoun) - this means my/mine. It goes really well with many words in this list, especially the adjectives, like "мой дорогой" [moy dorogoy] (my darling) or "солнышко моё" [solnyshko moyo] (my sun/sunshine). The last version, "моё" [moyo] is neuter gender, it's NOT gender-neutral! It's the "it/its" I guess (not exactly, but let's just stick with this simplyfied explanation). Previously there were some words of that gender, so here you go. BTW I would say that in speech it's more common to put this word before adjectives and after nouns (like in my examples), just sounds better, but it's not wrong to do otherwsise. You can also just say "ты мой" [ti moy] (you're mine). Also can be used to refer in third person, like when you're discussing your man with your gossip girls, you can just go "а мой вчера..." [a moy vch'era] (and mine yesterday...) and everyone will understand that you mean your man. Unless you wee discussing pets, then they'll probably assume it's your cat.

хозяин/хозяйка [khoz'yain/khoz'yayka] (n) - saw this one too btw. This means "owner" or kiiiinda "master/mistress", and they are gendered, so it's actually wrong to call a woman "хозяин" unless there's some kinky genderfuckery going on (which I'm all for, but like. you get what I mean).

господин/госпожа [gospod'in/gospozha] (n) - okay, THAT is definitely master/mistress, also gendered. Standard BDSM terminology and yada yada.

And that's where I'd like to wrap up for today! However, if needed, I can write more - perhaps with curse words or with sex-related words, or some phrases? I dunno, you tell me! Once again, I kindly ask you to share since I think this will help people (and while I understand the struggle of writing in another language and especially using words from language you don't speak at all, I can't help but be a little thrown off every time I see a wrong use of words in text).

Also remember: while Siberia is bigger than USA or even Canada, there are still other regions in Russia that deserve to be mentioned <3 a lot of places with mindblowing nature, cultural heritage etc.

[rhysiana]

Because I saw a post about how modern AU WWX would probably actually be as tall as LWJ, if not taller, since so many modern AUs don't feature him suffering as much childhood privation as canon, which reminded me of another thought I have had, about how an early life period of interrupted growth can in fact just delay a person's growth spurts rather than eliminating them. Thus: WWX who gets confusingly taller after graduating from college.

3 People Wei Ying Talked to About Suddenly Getting Taller and 1 Person Who Definitely Noticed On His Own

[Now also on AO3]

Wen Ning

Wei Ying looked down at his feet, perplexed. "Wen Ning?" he yelled down the hall. "Did something weird happen to the washing machine that you didn't tell me about?"

Wen Ning popped his head around the door to Wei Ying's room. "No? I don't think so."

"Then why are all my pants suddenly too short?" A new thought occurred to him and he looked up, now delighted. "Wen Ning! Are you actually pulling a prank on me? I know I don't have all that many clothes, but still, this must have taken so much work! I respect the dedication." He held out a fist.

Wen Ning just blinked at him. "I think... maybe you got taller, actually?"

Wei Ying scoffed. "I'm way too old for a growth spurt. Seriously, did Nie Huaisang put you up to this?"

Wen Ning gave up arguing and simply produced a tape measure instead.

~*~

Wen Qing

Wei Ying burst into Wen Qing's lab, which he might have felt worse about if she hadn't been babysitting an experiment while no one else was around. He still received an impressive glare, but he didn't have time to worry about that right now.

"Wen Qing, I need you to test me for every weird kind of chemical exposure you can think of!"

She blinked at him, looking remarkably like her brother for a moment. "Wei Ying, you're in computer science. Exactly when do you come in contact with chemicals?"

"Uh. A leak on the science campus somewhere?"

"What is actually wrong with you? Tell me in the next," she glanced at the clock, "three minutes or leave."

"I apparently grew another inch in the last month without noticing. That can't be natural. I'm 23."

She stared at him for a moment, frowned, and then her expression cleared. "You said once that you had a bad time when you were younger. Stopped growing for a while."

"Why do you even remember that?" Wei Ying asked with an uncomfortable laugh, looking away. He must have been drunk; he didn't usually bring that time of his life up in any detail. It just made people sad.

Wen Qing turned away briskly, ignoring his minor display of emotion, and checked some readouts he was pretty sure hadn't actually changed in any way yet. "Well, that's why. Your growth spurts just got delayed, not erased. It's normal. I'll send you some references tomorrow."

He swept her up in a relieved hug. "Thank you, Qing-jie. Even if this does mean I'm not developing some weird superpower mutation."

She poked him cruelly in the ribs to get him to let go. "Go away, you're distracting me."

~*~

Jiang Cheng

"You what?!" Jiang Cheng demanded at full volume. It'd been a while since they'd managed to get together in person--Wei Ying had nearly forgotten how red with frustration Jiang Cheng could get.

Wei Ying grinned and bounced a little on his toes to really rub it in. "Grew another inch."

"No! This isn't allowed! The universe can't do this to me!"

"What's the problem, little brother?" Wei Ying edged closer so he could prop his elbow on Jiang Cheng's shoulder and really lean on him. "I think I should get jiejie to measure me again and mark it on the door frame. Really make it official."

"Don't you dare!"

"Why don't I ask her now, so she'll be all ready when we see her next weekend?" Wei Ying fished out his phone and then held it up over his head, laughing, as Jiang Cheng lunged for it.

Jiang Cheng's eyes narrowed. "An inch isn't really that much," he growled, and hooked Wei Ying's leg in a takedown they'd both learned when they were 11.

Wei Ying tossed his phone out of wrestling range and turned his full attention to finding a hold that would make Jiang Cheng tap out.

~*~

Lan Zhan

"Wei Ying."

Most people claimed Lan Zhan's voice (and face) didn't have any expression, but Wei Ying could clearly hear the shock underlying his name.

"Lan Zhan!" he returned brightly. "You're back! Did you have a good trip? You've been gone for months and months!"

Wei Ying was used to the intensity of Lan Zhan's regard under normal circumstances--one of the many things he loved about being friends with him--but he didn't think he was imagining that it was particularly intense today.

"It was as I texted you," Lan Zhan said shortly, and then, surprisingly, continued before Wei Ying could get a teasing reply in. "Wei Ying... did you get taller?"

"Oh, that!" Wei Ying felt himself start to blush, for some reason. "Yeah, I did. It was so weird at first, but Qing-jie assures me it's normal, and I've almost gotten used to it now. It was just an inch but I had to go buy all new... pants..." He trailed off as Lan Zhan pushed into his personal space much closer than he ever had without Wei Ying initiating it first, as far as Wei Ying could recall. "Hi?"

They were nearly chest to chest now, and he could see it when Lan Zhan actually had to tilt his chin up just a bit to meet Wei Ying's eyes.

"Hello," Lan Zhan said, grave and low and very, very focused.

Wei Ying wasn't entirely sure what was happening right now, but he was pretty sure he was into it.

[queervocasongtourn]

Queer Vocaloid Song Tournament: Side A, Round 1

Please listen to all songs before voting!

Shama by NILFRUITS feat. VFlower

VS

Zero Talking by Harumaki Gohan feat. Hatsune Miku

Propaganda under the cut!

SHAMA

"extremely potent yearning, the powerful dynamic of safety in disguise but a dangerous freedom in truth, beautiful characters…what more can you ask for?"

"if i am being completely honest i dont actually get everything that happened in shama - that can be left to all the other people who are more knowledgeable about nilfruits songs than me and immediately thought of submitting this - but I immediately thought of this song because its so SO good. the song itself is incredible and the mv adds on to make it an even greater work!! i might not know all of shama's story, but what i do know is that shama's a fantastic song regardless and i'll go crazy whenever i hear it. and i also do know that clay and kalmia (especially clay) are some great lgbtq+ rep in a vocaloid song!!! the section from 2:00-2:36, when accompanied by the mv, is maybe one of my favorite moments in any vocaloid song. what follows is also great! as propaganda i am begging the reader to go listen to shama with the mv if they haven't. i don't want to explain it because i don't entirely know how to but they're fucking gay and i really like how the mv shows this!"

"sapphic 👍👍"

"Okay so this one is kinda hard to explain but the MV is some flavour of queer for sure. Just… watch it and you'll get what I mean"

"a femme-fatale prisoner and one of her guards have a doomed romance..! the mv is by wooma, who uses a graphic colour palette to complement nilfruits's addictive guitar melody. this song is also the first in a series, so if you're interested in the prisoner's backstory, you can watch the other works to find out more :-)"

ZERO TALKING

"tbf most harugoha songs are so #yuri but this one has an actual kiss. royalty x maid childhood friends who have drifted apart over the years and the royal lady (unsure of her english title, in japanese shes just named daireijo) desperately wants to just Talk to her dearest maid dorothy again but can't get anywhere with it (hence the title). In the final chorus of the MV she has enough and kisses dorothy on the lips. They're referred to as "sisters" sometimes but this is a reference to the classic catholic school yuri trope where an older girl will take in a younger one as a "younger sister" and they have a sort of romantic friendship going on. They're like definitely not actually sisters it would make no sense. It's such a good song. the bass in it is really good. please listen to harumaki gohan"

"despite the sister term scare that happened when the mv first came out this mv is about a princess and her maid who used to be friends and i believe grew apart and the princess is trying to reconnect with her friend. also first harumaki gohan mv kiss iirc!! the song is also just a brainworm in general i looped it so much it was stuck in my head for months"

"The song is about a girl who has a strained relationship with another girl, and who wishes for things to go back to the way they were (the maid doesn't talk to her anymore). The use of "sister" is also not literal, instead being a term found in yuri to describe a relationship between women (often shorten to S/esu), as well as the comparison between the two girls and the story of orihime and hikoboshi, as well as the fact they literally kiss in the song. I don't know if you can really deny it with that."

"this was in my head for weeks and weeks after it released!! the mv really makes it, the surprise near the end is so cool"

"😳"

"ZERO TALKING TALKING TALKING .Harumakigohan is the king of vocaloid yuri rn but oh my god first on-screen kiss in his songs!!! For a cute song about a princess trying to win back the affection of her childhood friend now employed as a head maid at her castle. just listen to the beat and tell me u are not enthralled. the lil "pop" noise in the song when they smooch is adorable. the song is so catchy it's ridculous i just hit that shit on loop."

[local-pr1nter]

Kiyotaka Ishimaru Ship Dynamics!

These are my personal opinions and headcanons! If you do not like them then please move on!

Assume these are all based in a Non-Despair AU!

Ishimondo

I've mentioned them before multiple times, but they're just that good and I adore them.

Real sweethearts and adore each other.

I've spoken about them multiple times now though so I'll just add some small things.

Daiya teases the two of them relentlessly. He refers to Taka as his brother-in-law and it always makes Mondo turn red- either with rage or embarrassment, who knows.

Takaaki was not a fan of the relationship at first, but eventually warmed up to Mondo after seeing how happy he made Taka- and not to mention how Mondo's changed immensely since they first met.

Daiya was the one to fully encourage Takaaki to just support them. He invited the Ishimarus over for dinner one night and it went lovely- after Mondo and Takaaki bickered for a while of course. Overall, it was a nice moment between all of them.

Takaaki eventually warms up to Mondo so much that he reveals that he also used to ride back when he was younger (I think it would be funny AND would shock everyone- not even Taka would know, shocking him the most.)

Ishikuro

YEAAAAH ANOTHER PERSONAL FAVORITE OF MINE

I love the concept of two people learning how to be in a relationship when they don't get social cues or haven't had anything similar to a romantic relationship before.

I think they have a lot of potential as a couple.

Outspoken hall monitor x stoic soldier lets fucking go.

Either of them could've fallen first, but neither of them would've realized it at first. Mukuro would acknowledge it, but not have any clue of how to go about it, so would bury the feelings down deep inside and just try to ignore it. Kiyotaka would slowly realize it, only to freak out and panic because AHHHHHHH NEW FEELINGS ARE SCARY-

But once he calms down and accepts his feelings he'd probably bring it up with his friends. Leon would freak out about it but Chihiro, Hiro, and Mondo would be fully supportive about it. They'd help him ask her out before following them on their date to make sure nothing goes wrong (cough Junko cough)

Which speaking of-

Junko would NOT be happy with Mukuros crush. Mostly because she's not a fan of Kiyotaka, doesn't wanna lose Mukuros attention, and is jealous that someone actually chose her out of the two of them.

She'd probably try to sabotage their first date in any way she can, but of course Mondo, Chihiro, Leon, and Hiro are bros™ and won't let her ruin it.

And would you look at that! The date goes well!

Taka and Mukuro are very low-key and slow with their relationship- their first kiss had them bright red within minutes and neither of them could speak.

Like they had a system reset or some shit.

Against PDA, Taka wouldn't be very touchy with her in public. Even then, as they're still getting used to a romantic relationship, they aren't very touchy with each other. The most they'll do is cuddle in bed, either after Mukuro wakes up from a nightmare or Kiyotaka gets overwhelmed and shuts down.

In public, the most they would do is hold hands. It makes them both very happy.

They both just wanna take things slow and not ruin anything.

Mukuro is definitely a follower in this relationship, but Taka always encourages her to speak up or let him know if she's uncomfortable or if they wanna do something else together. She always appreciates being treated as an equal in the relationship.

After a while I think Mukuro is the one who likes to touch the most. Mostly holding his hand, arm, pinkie, or the strap of his bag whenever they walk. Almost like she wants everyone to know that she cares about this dork and if anyone touches him she will beat them up.

Both very protective of one another, Mukuro more than Taka but still both of them are very protective.

[34saveme34]

sometimes i still wonder if I should join an smg4 server or not because I really like to yap and discuss stuff with people, especially if the other person is as awfully yappy as me

but then I'll be seeing discord happenings

and also I know first hand how bad they can be, even if I only realise afterwards

so like, I guess, storytime, warnings for mentions of nsfw among minors AND also of (fictional) minors because of course it's always that! I talk a lot, sorry in advance

So, at the time I got to join this discord server, it was through a friend of mine

I was like, 16 I think at the time, and it was like their friend circle

I got invited cuz my friend sent my art to them and they really liked it so I was invited in

of course since I didn't have such experiences yet (except for on Amino when I was 14 but I think I wasn't mature enough to realise something similar could happen elsewhere)

and besides being immature, I also just- always liked drawing nsfw. Feels a bit shameful, but the first ever dick I drew uncensored belonged to a roblox demon character- and it was because of this server

It- was fun but had some... weird moments

for example, the age range, I'm pretty sure that there were younger people there than me, also talking about nsfw shit

but there was also like, this I think 20 something woman I think? But she mentioned I think at least some of her sexual experiences. among minors. And honestly? I didn't really- care that time, I was uncomfortable yeah but, for one, it's the pressure you feel and also I was stupid, seeking ANY chance to have friendships where I could show off how I can be like OooOOoOOo i can draw the funmny sex !!

I bet the server doesn't exist for a long time now as well, if I remember right, I think it was remade several times or something? I don't remember honestly, I'm 22 now and I don't have the best memory

yet a lot of things stuck cuz it was traumatising even if I didn't want to admit it at the time. And not just that- I just feel like in so many ways, discord servers can bring such weird vibes. I'm only really comfortable in one server and it's one with 2 of my friends and no one else (besides one of their brother joining once for the funny then leaving) even as an adult and being in so few discord servers, I still see these things, my boyfriend is a moderator in a discord server and talked about how shit it is to manage. Like it feels like discord servers, especially public ones just bring out the worst out of people. Hell, I was once in this cookie run server and someone who joined in kept complaining about child characters drawn sexually and then proceeded to send people that stuff and delete them quickly as if it never happened. I never experienced shit like that anywhere else besides maybe like, Amino. And I haven't even been in that many discord servers! I can currently recall, besides the one I have with my 2 friends about maybe 5 servers I was active in (maybe 6) but I'm not active in any of them anymore. I didn't even need to go to too many places to experience the kind of awful shit that can go down on Discord

So like yeah. I have good reasons to never join an smg4 server. Yes, this was halfly brought up because of something I saw on here. I don't know what to think of it right now but either way, regardless of what comes of it, it definitely doesn't make me want to join any servers, drama is super tiring

[angie-long-legs]

SHIPPING INFO

tagged by @voxuli !!

answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog.

what’s your OTP for your muse(s)?

huskerdust <3 I am UNWELL about them

what are you willing to RP when it comes to shipping?

most things! fluff and smut are both on the table, and I'm a huuuge sucker for angst. anything I'm not willing to write comes down to personal preference or triggers, but other than that, I'm game for quite a lot.

how large does the age gap have to be to make it uncomfortable?

I mean, the show makes this a tricky question, given that most sinners died a long ass time ago. my portrayal of angel died at 32 but technically has existed for over a century - bro is an old man. I probably wouldn't ship him with anyone younger than their mid-twenties, but Angel's taste definitely favours men who are older than him, anyway. I don't really see a limit to how old of a guy Angel would go for LMAO. he's 109, let him have his old man yaoi moment.

are you selective when shipping?

mmhmmmm. I'm happy to write with the intention of shipping with husks, but for other ships, there HAS to be chemistry. I like to rp non-ship stuff first to see how we mesh and just go from there. angel's an awkward muse because he will flirt, he'll show an interest in most male rp partners because that's his personality, and he'll sleep with anyone he finds attractive. however, I won't write smut unless we already have a good rapport from writing together, and romantic chemistry is definitely a slow burn for him.

how far do steamy moments have to go before they’re considered NSFW?

usually when genitalia gets a mention, but also any kink scenario. muses can be not even touching, but if there's anything going on like bondage or a d/s dynamic, I'm considering it nsfw.

Who are other muses you ship your muse with?

husk is my main man, but I'll ship with virtually any male muse, chemistry-willing. I'm more likely to ship if your muse fits angel's type, which is generally guys who are taller/older/more powerful than he is. this spider likes a rugged bad boy or a big, strong daddy to put him in his place I don't tend to ship with vals, but their dynamic is one of my favourites to write.

does one have to ask to ship with you?

yessss. angel will flirt and make suggestive comments, but that doesn't necessarily equate to shipping. if your muse is interested in angel, that's cool, but if you want angel to return those feelings and build that relationship, that takes some ooc chatting.

how often do you like to ship?

I don't ship as much as I thought I would on here, but I love the ships I have.

are you multiship?

yessssss.

are you ship obsessed or ship more-or-less?

I don't ship with many rp partners, but those I do I am fairly obsessed with!

what is your favorite ship in your current fandom?

huskerdust <3

finally, how does one ship with you?

just ask me! my answer will usually be the same: sure, let's see where this thing goes! that means I'm happy to keep writing to see if chemistry builds between muses, but of course, that doesn't mean there WILL be chemistry. I like a slow burn, I like plotting, and I love seeing how relationships change and grow even outwith shipping. my favourite thing about rp is seeing how characters develop in relation to eachother, and whether that's romantic, sexual, platonic, or antagonistic, I love it all.

tagging: @top-shelf-tender @hazbinned @sirserpentine @arcanepactguile @booozecat @hellsgreatestfashionista

[6-atlas-6]

Here's a list of anime characters that I associate redacted characters with because I'm a fucking nerd

(It's only jjk, csm, and bsd because they're my favorites atm so I'm thinking abt them more)

Lasko: Yuta Okkotsu.

I've already said this before but I'll say it forever. They're both nervous wrecks until they know shits getting serious, they're both afraid of hurting other people with their powers, I mean come on.

Vega: Suguru Geto or Makima.

Vega and Geto both have to absorb/feed on pure negative energy. Vegas a sadism demon so that's obvious, and Geto has to absorb curses born from negative emotion. Vega and Makima are both overpowered as fuck, manipulative as shit, and clearly hiding everything about themselves. I mean come on they both refer to their "partners" as pets. (I say partner lightly cause technically in Makimas case that shits grooming).

Damien: Maki Zenin

While we're on the Jujutsu Kaisen train. This one is weird because Maki is driven because she wants to prove her family wrong while Dames is driven because he wants to live up to his families expectations, but in my head they're similar in the family aspect.

Sweetheart: Denji.

The whole "if my friends died would I even cry?" thing is so them. I just think sweetheart is so used to death that it barely phases them anymore so they have that whole am I emotionally numb moment exactly like Denji did. Also Devil Hunter, Department worker, you get me.

Blake: Himeno.

They don't have similar personalities persay but some aspects are similar. Both are really shitty people but you're able to sympathize with them because they would do anything for the person they love, even if their efforts mean nothing in the end. Both of their partners are destined to inevitably die in the near future but they still do everything in their power to stop that from happening. Also even though the feelings they had weren't necessarily reciprocated (Blake's were but he didn't think they were). I would say Blake is definitely crazier than Himeno though like 100%.

Aaron: Choso.

Protective older brother who would do literally anything for his younger sibling(s). That's all.

Gavin: Sigma.

The whole "what was I made for/why am I here" thing. They both were created for a specific purpose that doesn't resonate with/apply to them anymore. Sure Gavin still feeds on attraction and Sigma is still involved with the DOA, but in a different way than they used to be. Both of them just want to live normal lives and do normal human shit. Please let them live.

Echo: Fukuchi.

They can both go die in a hole, they make everything worse for literally everyone else, and they have some bullshit ability that fucks up everyone's day. I don't hold any resentment towards either of them guys trust /s

[spoonyglitteraunt]

Sooooo.

I just checked something on mobile, and that means having to deal with the ads which, sure ok I guess. Usually I either ignore them, or grumble to myself if they are particularly teeth grindy like the diet ads. Because really, Tumblr? Can we just not? Can we just yeet these and their fatphobic bullshit into the nearest trashfire? Just sell me gadgets and gizmos aplenty or something.

So normally I would have zero inclination to share one of these. The less seen of them the better. But I'll make an exception this once. Because, well.

Tumblr, I have questions.

I just...

Ignoring the bullshittery of the topic with the barely legible 'meal plans" that I'm sure are to die for. (As in they'd kill you if you actually followed them for real.) What in the seven fandom hells even IS this. 😂

Just look at that thing and let it sink in for a second.

So you start with the 45 to 55s.

Weird place to start, but ok. You get dude who looks like he ran away from a conan the barbarian game with a woman where the only thing they did to make her look "older" was to give her sort of vaguely grey hair. Has the designer ever seen a woman in their 40's early 50's? Or seen any humans in that age range? Any humans at all even? That bicep is bigger than her whole head. Also why are they naked? And why are they the only ones that look computergame rendered compared to the more "photorealistic" ones next to them?

Not to mention none of these "people" look particularly happy or excited about this challenge they are trying to sell you. What is the message here? Take our challenge and be so miserable you need naked hugging times in space to recover? I mean, that's more honest than most diet ads then.

So we move onto the 25 to 33 bracket.

Weird age to cut it off at, but sure. I guess this age group can expect to suddenly feel the urge to have "supportive Bro time" as part of their need to recover from the hells of depriving the body of natural energy sources. But look at that manly support. Look at the nuzzling, I mean the smelling of eachother's manly musk, I mean the bros will be bros solidarity with definitely no subtext as displayed on the subtext site.

On to the 33 to 44 aged.

I guess if you are 33 you can pick your fighters meal plans. But not if you're 44 or 45 then you only get ONE! This one is the most ambiguous and thus boring. Is it a particularly muscly lady, a msclady if you will, or just a well hidden second dude? Or could they actually have tried to appeal to beyond the gender binary, quickly confused themselves, and then just went meh throw in some muscles hide the head and it will probably be fine. We'll never know. So let's put this down as ambiguous snuggles and hope that dude goes to see a doctor for whatever AI art went wrong with that arm.

Now all of that was vaguely nonsensical and stupid, but nothing that would compel me to share. No that's for our next contestants age groups.

So, my 55+ dudes. No ladies mind, the only feminine presenting people allowed in this challenge need to be between 45 to 55, maybe 33+. The rest of you ladies get to escape the challenge and find your own reasons to do some sad naked cuddling.

But my 55+ dudes, you get the chance, nay the unexplainably privilege of tenderly embracing a lion.

Was the lion rewarded to him by the challenge as a comfort animal? Was he already in a committed partnership with the lion? Was the lion just nearby and got caught up in a moment of emotion? And what has any of this to do with diets? Who knows? Certainly not me that's for sure. But our totally real and not badly AI photoshopped apex predator is clearly making the most of snuggling up to the muscly 55+ dude who incidentally looks younger than the two previous categories. Conclusion: cuddling lions in your time of need may in fact be the source of anti aging. Let's all not try this at home.

And then we arrive at the whippersnappers amongst the lineup of tender manly dudes.

You get to gently kiss a panther on the head. As one does with an apex predator, obviously. Funny though how there are more feline paramours than any other category what with the ambiguous third. So furry is clearly the ultimate relationship dynamic for sad naked cuddling in the aftermath of their product. Maybe they should have given them all cats then. Although I must say the panther seems far less pleased to be used for comfort than the lion did. Maybe they didn't feel photogenic that day. Maybe it's a relationship on the rocks. Maybe they were not paid enough to deal with this shit. Neither were we, my friend. Neither were we.

So, as I said. Tumblr, I got questions.

But I don't suspect you have any answers.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

Some replies! Surprisingly, a lot of replies about boys sharing and not sharing boyfriends with each other +  some longer old ones about fandom stuff.

Anonymous asked:

I LOVE CODE GEASS. GRWHSBDHURBFUHHDNUSJ

(related to this post)

IT’S VERY GOOD, ANON!! Unfortunately, I was in my potato phase art-wise back then, and this is like the worst title to fanart when you have a roundish potato-like goofy-looking (unintentionally) artstyle, so I can’t even look at my sketches from that time. But we’re definitely going to rewatch it again at some point, and then I’ll draw CC a lot…

Anonymous asked:

Just saw your reply the other day about RookVil (my other favourite ship) and this is exactly how I see it too. Two people who are private enough that only those in their circle really know them, and yet they've opened up to each other and found something special, there's real trust between them. I love them and I wish I had somewhere I could gush loudly about them (other than my long-suffering non-twst friends, my fandom friends aren't so keen so i stay quiet). I love your stuff, all of it, even the stuff I don't get because it's in a fandom I don't know. I'll shut up, but thank you for all the RookVil ❤️

(this is about this post)

Thank you so much for liking our stuff, Anon, I am so happy to hear that you enjoy it even if it’s unfamiliar fandom! I am also happy you feel that way about RookVil. I’ve said it multiple times already, but it wouldn’t hurt to say it again: they’re amazing together.

I hope you find someone to scream into all your love for them, but also feel free to send another ask when you feel like it. As long as I can add something, I’ll reply!

Anonymous asked:

I actually enjoy being in the mountains m, they’re peaceful. Jade, if you ruin that for me, I’m sacrificing you to the mountain gods and throwing you off the nearest cliff ૮( ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ )ა

Mountains are great, Anon! Jade would never dare to disrupt the peace… but also I am not entirely sure he would be opposed to being sacrificed to the mountain gods, to be honest lol

Anonymous asked:

Lilia, the only tickle he feels “down there” is the tickle of dread and terror.

(this is related to this comic)

Indeed…  but it still tickles, right? >w< Isn’t it fun???

Anonymous asked:

Ok ok ok.

Now I've got ideas about Lilia and making plans to mess with Idia to get Ortho all riled up so Lilia can watch Idia get even more flustered.

Like, Lilia and Idia are playing games and Ortho's all jealous, so Lilia intentionally says stuff that'll both make Idia flustered and Ortho more jealous.

And then it eventually leads to Lilia getting to witness Ortho trying to get Idia's attention any way he can. (either by listening through headphones or he's actually in the same room)

Your art gives me so many ideas and I love it.

Very cheeky of Lilia to do it, but also of course he would be into seeing just how possessive Ortho can get with Idia. Ortho isn’t even supposed to eavesdrop on them or watch them play together, but Lilia would somehow always be aware of that from the moment he learns who he is playing with lol

I feel like Lilia likes making people jealous in general. Watching someone get angry and try to win someone over or get their attention is always super amusing, but with the Shrouds? With the added layer of Ortho being a needy younger brother that doesn’t want to share Idia with him? Amazing.

Anonymous asked:

I need to ask, do you guys ever think about 2 tops putting it in at the same time in someone?

Idia could take it? Right ? 👀

Idia could take much more than Idia himself thinks… he should believe in himself! <3 You go, Idia!

But to answer your question, yes absolutely we think about it, even though with some of the boys’ sizes it seems physically impossible… but nothing is impossible if you try hard enough!

Seriously though, Idia would be so shocked when he realises that both of them are currently inside: 50% panicked and 50% aroused.

I would love to put all of our bottoms through this fate, but the ones that are more likely to be able to handle it are Silver (wouldn’t hear a peep of complaining from him, just eagerness to please), Jamil (just as shocked and aroused as Idia) and Deuce (too horny and barely understanding what’s going on). Riddle would be so hot though with how tiny he is…

I always think about the tweels when we discuss this particular topic, but Lilia and Ortho are a surprisingly good team~ At times they might be even a better team than the Tweels because Floyd turns it into a competition sometimes.

Anonymous asked:

Don't remember if you had a similar ask to this, but how about twst boys that have multiple partners/ships where one gives advice on the best way to please their shared partner? Like, I can imagine floyd trying to get trey to squeeze riddle too because trust me, he likes a lot.

Good question, Anon! In theory, it could be something for Floyd to tell Trey (because Riddle likes it A LOT…), but I also feel like Floyd is surprisingly possessive when it comes to Riddle. Something has to click in a certain way in his brain to go that route; somehow sharing this information with Sea Turtle feels like a waste… if he didn’t figure out by now that this is how Goldfishie wants to be treated, well too bad!

The tweels would talk to each other though, and even though it isn’t necessarily giving each other advice, they would discuss sex in details sometimes, sharing experiences, so to speak.

I feel like those who are the most likely to give advice in this way are Lilia and Rook. But for some reason I always picture it as something unsolicited with these two lol

I think Lilia gives lots of advice to Sebek about both Silver and Malleus, and Sebek is always super flustered and surprised at first, but he still ends up applying everything… he had no idea his liege would enjoy having his horns bitten…

But Sebek isn’t the only one that gets to listen to Lilia’s advice. He hinted at some of Idia’s weak spots to Azul a couple of times, both to help out and to tease him. Azul always gets super jealous but tries to hide it behind smiling and thanking Lilia for looking out for his and Idia-san’s relationship.

Basically, no one is safe from Lilia’s sex advice. He is here to help out! And to watch everyone blush and panic lol

Rook sometimes gives advice about someone he doesn’t even sleep with, but he still has this information somehow. It actually caused some pretty bad misunderstandings in the past. He really should stop sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.

Anonymous asked:

Hey Ryu! It's been a while since I sent you an ask, I just wanted to drop by to tell you that your art is amazing and it gets better everyday! And also to praise you for being one of the very few people in the fandom to explore the twst characters dark side? Idk if it makes sense, but I keep seeing fandom puritans that are sadly spreading more around in the twst fandom portray them as these poor little helpless teens who do nothing wrong and it's hilarious because they're villains? A lot of them are morally grey, some of them borderline villainous (like the Leech twins imo) and they're also teenagers. When I saw your comic about Floyd squashing a fairy out of sheer fun and curiosity, I was all "yes, yes, this the kind of twst content I like!!". I'm not trying to say that fluff isn't allowed because I love me some good fluff of my OTPs, but I think we can enjoy "soft" twst content while acknowledging that these boys are the worst lmao. They're teens and also villains, of course they're gonna be cruel, of course they're gonna be manipulative, of course they're going to gangbang someone in revenge (ye I'm taking about that Fellow art, good shit! Tbh I could see them doing that or beating him to a pulp at the end of playful land). And also they're gonna explore their sexuality. I don't know why fandom nowadays is so hell-bent on saying "don't make art of teens fucking" when... Teens fuck, a lot lol, and villain teens? I think they go at it in any place of the school. (And they're fictional ffs, they don't even act as normal teens). Sometimes I wish Yana had full creative control so she'd give us some more dark content without The Rat™ holding her back, but you're doing god's (Yana's) work so keep going at it. I enjoy your art, and I enjoy that you feed us daily. I hope my ask made sense lol, have a good start of the week, both you and Katsu!

Anon! Sorry so much for the late reply, and thank you SO MUCH for saying that my art gets better and for all the praise in general! I am very happy you like our stuff, and especially that fairy comic! Sometimes I feel like I went to dark there but then I remember that it was literally inspired by one of Floyd’s voice lines lol

Everyone has their own preference, and I agree that fluff has a right to exist, and even we post some pretty fluffy stuff sometimes despite not liking it at all. But you are also right, there is such a lack of darker content, considering how dark the game is and how bad the boys are. Especially the tweels! Katsu and I love darker themes, and a lot of times we make the characters worse than they actually are and come up with some messed-up headcanons, and we do it for twst too, but I feel like the majority of things that we write and draw for twist are like… already in twst. It’s either hinted at or implied, or even straight-up said; and this is why we love it so much. They really are bad people, they really are villains, and some of them are legit monsters.

As for the teens having sex, yeah everyone has their own pace and no one should be rushed to do anything, but it’s silly to argue with the fact that teens do in fact experiment sexually, and it’s a natural thing to do. The absolute majority of us has been there in one way or another. And I find it funny when people forget about it, you know? That sometimes (a lot of times, more often than people think) fictional teens fucking is a reflection of one’s own experiences, thoughts, desires, fears and feelings from back then, combined with their favourite characters’ dynamic with each other, put in a hypothetical situation that has nothing to do with them or with real life whatsoever, and still has this vague and often subconscious emotional link. This isn’t always the case, but yeah that’s the whole point: it doesn’t matter. It’s fiction, therefore any idea can be explored.

Especially if we’re talking about an all-boys school filled with a bunch of angry horny delinquents that is NRC lol

Thank you once again for such a sweet message, and sorry for replying so late. We really appreciate everything you’ve said…

PS. Reading Yana’s censorship-free version of twst would be such a blast oh my god

Anonymous asked:

Hey ryuichi, have you ever noticed the difference between the EN Twst fandom and the JP Twst fandom? The EN Twst fandom is mostly  80% made out of Antis, unfortunately, so out of curiosity, i decided to see what the JP Twst fandom is up too (Mainly one Twitter, privatter and poipiku) and it's so peaceful over there?! Everyone is so supportive and friendly. No one is calling out anything "problematic" in my experience, which makes me think most of them know the difference between reality and fiction.

That being said, I feel so bad for them and the way they were treated. So many talented people have been harassed and bullied out of the fandoms. It’s disgusting to see. (Like in general, not necessarily Twst related). I'm against all morality policing. It's so frustrating to see a lot of Japanese artists on Twitter being harassed for the way they depict characters (skin colour, bust size, body shape). I've also seen a lot of antis trying to justify racism against asians because "Japan's a nation of pedos anyway." Because nothing beats imagined racism like actual hardcore racism.

The best part? Japanese fandom is learning about the anti/proshipping discourse! Basically, they've started to call antis "American Yakuza feelings," which is so fitting if you ask me, lol. And I notice that anti's are removing "proship dni" rapidly because the Japanese fandoms blocking them. Imagine giving up your "highly moral value" for some Japanese fanart. I mean, in the end, they got what they wanted "Proship DNI" and didn't expect the Japanese fandoms to have more common sense and media literacy than any other EN fandom out there.

Anyway, I love your art, mwah 💋

Hi Anon!

Yeah, the difference between JP and EN fandoms has always been surprising. You might have seen the post with the list of our fandoms throughout the years, and I was thinking whether I should note that by “fandoms” we just mean “titles we are into” and not being a part of any actual group of people… I didn’t end up writing it, but the point is, we were barely a part of any actual fandom all these years exactly because of this social climate. Just posting things from time to time without participating anywhere and talking to someone else felt much more comfortable. Twst (+ shingeki a couple of years ago) is the closest thing we’ve ever had to being a part of a fandom, and it’s solely because there are so many chill people there who are willing to have fun and indulge in weird ideas. People who are here for the characters and their interactions, you know?

I am sure that JP fandom has its own issues, and I would actually really love to learn more about it, but one thing we can all say for certain is that they really respect boundaries. The “live and let live” culture is very important in fandoms, and I wish EN fandoms would have it too. The only thing one really needs is to warn about posting possibly upsetting things and have disclaimers for those who don’t want to see this type of content, and after that the artist isn’t really responsible if someone clicked on it/scrolled the page despite the warnings and got upset. I like it a lot. I am super grateful and happy to be able to communicate with JP artists even if it’s just through mutual likes and occasional comments, and I am super grateful and happy that the EN people we have around us are supportive and don’t tolerate any bullshit.

It really is heartbreaking when an artist is being harassed. No one should be harassed, but when someone who doesn’t talk English is getting ambushed or shittalked by the antis that just have nothing better to do, it’s super shitty.

Actually, I won’t mince my words on this particular topic: people should stop harassing creators and treating them as jesters to throw tomatoes at. It’s pathetic when people shit on an artist for shipping Vil and Neige, it’s disgusting when people mistranslate manga and spread rumors that cause creators to feel helpless because they can’t address this shit, it’s sickening when people shit on Yana for taking a break and drawing shorter chapters. This isn’t exactly the theme of the post, but as I was thinking about it, I got angry again lol Such ungrateful fucks.

Anyways! I agree that it is hilarious that JP artist block “proship dni” people on sight now, the only bad thing about it is that it’s more difficult to find these people now that they’re removing this phrase from their bio. And I thought it was their badge of honor, how come how come…

eh-nonnie-mouse asked:

Sorry, this ask is a bit unhinged with how much stuff I tried to cram into it. I wanted to get this off my chest and feel free not to respond to this, since your response seemed pretty chill. I got a little annoyed at how I have seen a couple people asking for more 'content' in the past month and it has been bugging me. But I have also been wanting to comment on your cute Sebek art and bully him.

To the anons who ask tersely for more 'content' without helping create a dialogue to work from,

I don't think you meant it that way, or I hope you didn't mean for it to sound like a demand. Head cannons and art take time to think up. It's not just something that is generated (and yes I am using this word on purpose) out of nothing. Creativity is fueled by a give and take between fans and Ryu and Katsu's enjoyment of a fandom. If you want more of something, try reaching out with a comment or start a discussion on something you liked about the character. They are both people and not machines pushing out stuff for you to consume. Especially since they are sharing their hard work for free.(discounting Ko-Fi, but tip your artist anyway. They all deserve it for their work.)

Now I would like to gush about Sebek and his cute little blush and lipstick mark from a certain fae. (and maybe about the new Fellow and Gidel art.)

Sebek baby!!! He looks so blissed out I bet he came in his pants a little (please just a little as a treat💦). Mal Mal so mean to him. I love the poses and how you can only see Malleus's arm and how Sebek is leaning into the touch for more. The expression of pure want. OMG, what if Malleus kissed him as a consolation for not sitting in his lap and now Sebek can't move cause he's got a raging boner. (OR HE DOES AND EVERY ONE IGNORES HIM BECAUSE WHO DOESN'T KNOW HIS REFERENT LOVE FOR LORD MALLEUS 🤣)

I only plan on NA server and have seen some spoilers for the Playful Land Event, but Fellow looks so conniving and shady lol. Gidel looks so cute trying to concentrate on what to write. Does he do the tongue sticking out thing when hes thinking really hard and does he know how to write or is it just indecipherable scribbles that Fellow just nods and goes "Yep, those be words, totally."

Also totally unrelated to either of those pics, who is the anon who posted about Silver sleeping around and calling people Daddy. I just wanna talk, about how hilarious the whole thing would be. Please, I don't bite. Just a little feral about freaky stuff. (And gods you two had an AMAZING response. I don't feel like I could add more but thots go brrrrr.)

SORRY FOR REPLYING SO LATE AAAHHH YOU ARE SO KIND THANK YOU SO MUCH!

It does bother us when people ask for more content or for some specific content, but I always try to assume that it’s just the phrasing issue… which doesn’t necessarily make things better considering that we post like 5 things per day if we’re counting all of our accounts lol We also always try not to post the same characters all the time, Katsu especially makes effort to ensure that our posting is still fun and fresh for both people following us and us too. My replies usually sound nicer than they probably should because sometimes in this way I can address other people in case they’ve been wondering about the same thing or at least to explain things to them. That + a firm belief that people really don’t mean to sound rude, although from time to time both Katsu and I snap in our replies lol poor anons...

So I really appreciate you supporting us! You are absolutely right: enjoyment is the main thing that keeps us posting, not any obligation. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we would have stopped posting twst after like 1 week of posting if we didn’t get support; we never anticipated that it would become such a huge thing for us. Let’s enjoy it as much and as long as we can without making it feel like a job.

I am so happy you liked that Sebek sketch!! <3 He really did come in his pants a little from that smooch lol Malleus is a tease and he knows it. If this is consolation for not sitting in his lap… damn that Sebek boy is lucky :”( lol poor people at Noble Bell looking at this lost and smitten horny boy.

You also absolutely nailed the dynamic on that Gidel+Fellow sketch lol this is exactly what it is. I hope you enjoy these two when you finally get to play this event!

[bastionbibi]

Question if it’s okay to ask: what is it that made Akai one of your favourites? Or at least someone that’s cool in your book

Man.... This is like asking why I love soup.  Ok, I'm not sure if I can stay coherent but I'll try, 

Ive been reading detco on and off since I was a was a wee child and even back then he was already one of my favorites because I like mystery, and he was the definition of that. 

And this way before the revelation that he was a good guy too. There was this moment of 'yeah, okay, this is it, he's the one (that im not gonna be normal about)'. Specifically, I fell in love in that one scene where he met ran on a snowy night, something about that scene was just so striking, especially something about him that, despite how intimidating he sounded or looked, didn't set off any alarms in Ran, that was the point where I knew there's more to this character, and that I love him. 

On another lighter note. I like his shinigami aesthetic, his one liner and lack of facial expression, I like his lonewolf tendency, how weirdly dependable he is and yet, he's not, in any way shape or form, charming. 

Like that time where he confronted Gin for the first time, he could've told Jodie and Conan that he had a plan to elude the BO but he didn't, he acted alone, he's extremely slow to trust but when he does, he pledge to them his true loyalty. I mean, Conan was just a child in his eyes (even though now he knows him as Shinichi), and yet since he decided to trust him, he never dismissed his words or treat him like a liability despite his 'age'. 

When he trust people, he cherished them in his own ways, and that's what I find commendable. 

He's ANNOYING. An asshole 75% of the time, we never got more backstory about him and Akemi because I refuse to believe this man with the personality as hard to love as the taste of blue cheese could land not 1 but 2 amazing ladies like cmon now. I hate how he treated Jodie but I have no doubt he would take a bullet for her if need be, I guess that’s why Jodie still likes him too to a degree but he didnt deserve her tbh (<- says the girl who will still reblog redstarling fanart whenever it crosses my dash). 

The same can be applied to his ‘rivalry’ with Rei, it doesn't matter what his true reason was, he decided that night, when he was holding the bleeding gun of a man he failed to save, he would keep the truth away from Rei and he stick by that decision till now, Rei did everything in his power to literally hunt him down over a misunderstanding and he didn't care, come hell and high waters and he will still keep Rei away from the truth because that's what he decided to do and he keeps his promises, especially ones made to himself. 

I suppose I like him because outside of 'work', while he keeps people on a distance, you don't have to second guess on where you stand, there's a sort of ease in that. 

As the story progresses, we get to see reasons as to why he ended up this way and that was pretty entertaining, seeing how affectionate he can be to his siblings and what happened in his past to make him go the extreme lengths of being an agent to another country and infiltrating a deadly organization etc, it fleshes him out, it makes me excited to see where he'll end up next. 

Also, he looks kinda handsome ngl 

ON ANOTHER NOTE!! He's also just- Really weird?? 

Like ok, sure, he faked his death like one would do but he came back from the grave as a guy 5 years younger with pink hair that's taking his masters?? Hello???? Has he even been to college before like I legit wonder if he knows how hellish a masters program is AND, I know this is based on a situation that's out of his control, out of all the personalities he can embody, he chose to be a milfy malewife who's always ready to babysit others?? Dedication to the bit is unmatched. 

(Also bc i hc him as conans dad and made a whole series about it, thats fun!)

(Anyway if youre in the gc dont u dare call me a simp i am not . ) 

[aibhilin-atibeka]

I just saw an ask game :D and I do have a question that I think would be fun for you.

What actually interested you in learning multiple languages in the first place and what draws you to a language that makes you want to learn it?

Oohhhh, now that's a fun one! :D

Well. I learned my first "real true" (no, seriously, honest) foreign language at the age of 9 and I felt absolutely neutral towards it.

Meh, 'twas another subject at school, so what? XD younger!me was not specifically very interested in languages at all. I had the world to explore, after all! What's languages compared to manga? Compared to anime? Compared to books?

Compared to the real world? Darn, no, I sure am not throwing time at something I might never use again at a later date in life, see me go "nope" at languages and "yes" to life experiences.

And then my sister went and learned to fluently speak five languages somehow. It seemed very much like "all of a sudden she can speak five languages" to me. Dammit all, I had to learn at least as many, didn't I?

That - along with my school offering languages as their educational focus - helped. Still wasn't ideal, but I'd gotten that certain nudge into this direction then. And at that point my love for Japan was noticeably not fading, so I got gifted a Japanese language class. And... sort of haven't stopped learning Japanese since. Whoops?

At the same time my school offered French and in a choice between Italian and French? Sure, I'll choose French (the language sounded nicer at that time and the teacher kinder). I can learn Italian later on, once the school offers another language choice two years into the first one, right?

Right?

Wrong. Had to choose between Spanish and computer science, so no Italian for me back then. But Spanish is basically Italian on crack, isn't it? (pls don't dunk on teenage!me, teenage!me was a bit of a teenager back then) They're 1:1 understandable to one another, right? Right?

Also wrong.

But that didn't stop me from starting Italian on my own at university.

And a friend offered to teach a class of Turkish right in-between school and university, so there we went~

And university itself offers language classes too, how could I not check them out and study Hindi for a bit?

... somehow, without even consciously being aware of it, I'd accumulated a starting vocab for about twenty languages before I was twenty (how do I know that exact number at that exact age? I had to do a language autobiography collecting, chronologically listing and presenting all my language studies and some of the knowledge I'd obtained in detail for a class shortly after turning twenty).

By now it's probably stayed *roughly* the same in number (... maybe I added five to ten-ish languages since then? no clue), though I couldn't say whether or not that's simply because of where I live or what opportunities I had or what little time I've had to spend on accumulating more languages since. Life's a busy bee, sometimes, and the life of an author/linguist/leisure-social-media-scroller (tumblr I'm looking at you) feels even busier. Never mind any other engagements I have ended up in so far.

I have an ongoing interest in languages cause I find it fun to be able to communicate with the world in whatever language I can. They're a means to reading, listening and interacting with people and there's wordplay to consider. ;) In short, I find it fun.

To answer your questions:

What actually interested you in learning multiple languages in the first place

I stumbled into them like Winnie the Pooh might stumble into a pot of honey XD there was no definitive moment of "Oh, I'm interested in becoming a polyglot now" - at the point in time that I had that realisation I already was one.

and what draws you to a language that makes you want to learn it?

Depending on the language, I have different motivations for learning them:

Japanese: "stopping now makes just as much sense as a prisoner breaking out might stop in front of the 9th out of 10 walls they'd have to climb", also "I've got manga to read in Japanese just to get all the jokes in them" and "I bought and imported books from Japan that I still have to read"

French: "I still haven't read all of the Arsène Lupin series" and "from time to time the Frenchspeakers release funny movies that I wanna watch in the original language"

Italian: "darn, originally I was in this for the bit but I'm committed to learning it now with whatever means necessary"

Spanish: is "just sort of there" and "Sometimes I find articles and news pages and books I want to read that just so happen to be in Spanish, so why not read them in Spanish, I don't even need a translation"

Korean: "I want to be able to read you at one point, darn it all to hell"

etc. ad infinitum. I didn't even mention all the ones I'm fluent in here, never mind all the ones I started to learn at one point in my life, so yeah.

I love the challenge? I love the way learning languages open up a whole new world view to you as you go along? I adore being able to read yet more books by just learning a language? I love word games?

All of these and more count towards my interest in languages. :D Gotta say, languages rock. Polyglottism ftw.

@stereden cause I can

@a-knight-owls-curse thanks for the interesting ask!

[umlewis]

lewis hamilton is interviewed during the press conference, texas, united states - october 19, 2023 (transcription under the cut)

Interviewer: "Sorry to kick things off by throwing it back to what was your most frustrating weekend of the season in Qatar; your first DNF, your first non-points scoring race. How do you reflect on it, first of all, that weekend?" Lewis: "Move forwards. Yeah. Just excited to get… The great thing about our sport is that there's always another day to get back on the horse, and so I've just been pushing, moving forwards. There's nothing I can do about the past. There's definitely things I can learn from, which I have, and just now focused on getting back in, and excited for these next races coming up, especially the back-to-backs." Interviewer: "Look, one more: You talk about learning things. After the collision with George you received a penalty for crossing the track, and the FIA is now reviewing this type of infringement. Would you welcome any potential changes?" Lewis: "Well, they've spoken to me and their actual point, I think, is important. When I sat in the meeting with them, or in the stewards office, obviously put my hands up. In the heat of the moment it was the wrong decision, and what's important is to send the right message, particularly for the younger drivers througout the ages, that that's not the thing to do, and I apologized at the time, and I think they were just looking to how to make sure that doesn't happen, moving fowrards." Interviewer: "Okay. Let's move fowards, ourselves. Let's look at this weekend. You've got a new floor on the car. Carlos Sainz was telling us earlier that he thinks you're gonna be very strong this weekend. What are you hoping for?" Lewis: "Well, it's been a huge amount of work back at the factory. This is our last big update of the large updates through the season, and really excited to see how it feels. All the amazing people back at the factory worked incredibly hard during the whole season, and hopefully this really kind of tips the needle a litle bit and helps us in the right direction of where we want to pursue next year. But yeah, I'm hoping… I don't know exactly all the different parts of the circuit that I'll feel it, but hopefully it's a global improvement and hopefully it puts us a little bit closer to the guys ahead." Interviewer: "Alright, best of luck. Thank you very much." [time jump] Journalist: "David Croft, Sky Sports F1. Afternoon, everyone. Lewis, question for you: Let's go back to Qatar. Whilst I understand why the FIA would look into their processes and would want to examine whether they could have done better with that incident, what I didn't get is why they needed to speak to you again, given that you'd apologized and held your hands up at the time. Do you understand why the FIA would want to speak to you again, or do you think because of your status of the most high-profile driver in the sport at the moment, you're singled out a little bit by the governing body for wanting to speak to you on this matter?" Lewis: "No, I don't think I was singled out. I think ultimately it was just poor communication. I don't think what they had said is exactly what they meant. I think what they mean is that they're just gonna look into how they can tackle those sorts of things, moving fowards, to make sure that doesn't happen. And if you look at… I think there was a karting incident recently where a kid was hit, so we really need to make sure that we're continuously focusing on safety and I think that's really at the root of it. But I just think [laughs] they probably need to speak to their PR agent to do a better job."

[sirjuggles]

Worm Reading - Part 1, Insinuation 2.6

So I've heard the series Worm thrown around peripherally over the years but I've never sat down and read it. Lately some folks I follow on Tumblr have been talking about it more, and I do love me a good web serial (shoutout to Astielle and Velveteen Vs. and, uh... Tales of MU but we don't talk about that). With that in mind, I figure I'll dive in and share my experience reading Worm for the first time.

Up front, what I know about Worm before beginning: I know it's yet another take on the reality of a world where some people have superhuman powers. I know the initial main character has bug powers. I'm pretty sure that somewhere along the way there's a massive spike in power level, where we go from dealing with street fights to dealing with civilization-level threats. I think there's some investigation of how people get powers, and experiments with trying to give people powers (that, inevitably for the genre, probably go awry). I also think there might be some shenanigans with the focus of the story, like a primary viewpoint character dies or becomes someone else? I'm hazy on that part.

With that in mind, I began reading this morning. I'm currently up to Insinuation 2.6. I will admit it's a little bit of a struggle to not skim over the school bullying portions. I know this is a story written twelve years ago by an amateur author, but the initial descriptions of all the pretty popular girl bullies and the focus on what they wear and what their hair looks like is definitely the weakest part. Not that this isn't sadly a legitimate depiction of how awful high school can be for many people, but at least for me it's the least interesting thing to read about.

So far it seems that Taylor hasn't really fully thought through how reality on the streets might differ from the Good Superhero VS. Evil Supervillain narrative put out by an organization with a name like THE PROTECTORATE. We've gotten some interesting glimpses into the street-level struggle between gangs led by powered individuals, I'm a little fascinated by this idea of non-powered mooks as basically gang members who rally around a powered leader. I'm gonna slide right over the characterization of the gang led by Lung and chalk that one up 2011 being a different time.

I am SO INTRUIGED by the Undersiders. Specifically it has been established that they have a somewhat diverse mix of powers and have been able to take on or shake off any attempts at suppression from officially authorized teams.

Hellhound: Seems to be general muscle for the team. We have yet to actually speak to her, but I kinda like her? Seems like she looked after herself while homeless for many years, and I can't really begrudge her for being standoffish or abrasive.

Grue: "Darkness Generation" is such a vague power, but I suspect it could be very handy in battlefield control and breaking contact after a fight, which makes their crew substantially more slippery. Deeper implications to how this could be weaponized?

Regent: Vague hero name doesn't seem to indicate any particular power, I'm curious what his deal is.

Tattletale: I'm sorry, I've only known this character for five minutes and I already LOVE her. Her power seems to be information-related, something like she knows the answer to any question asked? If her power is anything like what I think it is, she is CRAZY powerful and is absolutely being underestimated by the narrative at the moment. Can't wait to find out what her deal is.

Only other character we've met so far has been Armsmaster. He seems... fine. Generic corporate superhero. Nifty iconic weapon, not clear what actual powers he might have. He seems nice enough, I was a little surprised that he didn't put more pressure on Taylor to get registered and go legit in their initial interaction. I did feel a brief pang of "oh god I'm old" when the clearly Responsible Adult-coded character is estimated to be about my age or younger.

I'm curious to meet this elusive "Boss" the Undersiders have mentioned, that seems to be a critical part to this story that I suspect will be a central part of which way this story goes. Onward from here!

[mariyekos]

Writer interview game

Tagged by @dithorba a little while ago so sorry about the delay but thank you for the tag! Just took me a bit to get to this.

When did you start writing?

I want to say 2014ish. The oldest fic I still have access too was started in 2014, but I don't remember if it was the first I ever wrote or the first big one I wrote. 2015 was when I started really getting into writing. I didn't post any of my writing to 2016, but I'd written tens of thousands of words by then. That 2014 fic got to 38k before I set it aside! (It was a time travel fic which hadn't even gotten to the time travel part 😅)

Though actually looking at the question again... sure I started writing fic in around 2014, but I actually started writing for fun before that! I had a teacher in elementary school, probably 5th or 6th grade, who encouraged me to write a story. I don't remember why she did, but I probably just liked writing so much that she recommended I have an outlet for that. I started with some original fiction that I want to say was something about people deserted on an island or something. In eighth grade I had another writing assignment that I'm pretty sure ended up being 25 pages long when the requirement was probably something like 5-10. After that I got into fic, and besides two or so original stories that never made it past 5k, I've stuck with it since.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write? -

I'm not good at writing romance and don't usually write romance, but I enjoy reading about romances. Generally I still prioritize plot over romance though. Once I got a book that was definitely a romance first novel and let me tell you, I was really annoyed when the MCs decide they wanted to storm out of the conference room to have sex in the hallway when they were in the middle of interrogating the guy who'd killed the POV MC's mother and was plotting the murder of a bunch of other people. There are times and places to do that! Don't do that when we have plot going! Figure it out and then go make out once we've made some progress!!

Other than that... I find body horror fascinating but I'm also not great at it. Unlike romance, body horror is something I would like to get better at writing myself.

(On a related note, the favorite genre of original fiction is fantasy. I looooove high fantasy novels! Give me magic and knights and religion and mythical creatures and I'm sold.)

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often? -

I don't think I've ever been compared to anyone. I have no idea who or what my writing is like to anyone else.

As for writers I want to emulate... this is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I've gotten into the habit of screenshotting fics I really enjoy so I can break down what I enjoy and think about how to integrate that into my own writing. I'll sometimes take pictures of books if I have my phone on me while reading, or screenshot ebooks for the same reason. I wouldn't say there's one writer in particular I'm trying to emulate at the moment. I do want to get more flowery in my writing though. It might be a slog for some people, but I adore it, so that's something I want to work on.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space? -

There are a couple places! Sometimes I'll write at my desktop computer, but I frequently write on my laptop while sitting on my bed. There's a chair by a big open window that I'll also write at from time to time because I like the light. Usually when I'm in my room it's because it's later in the day/night, whereas when I write in the window chair it's because it's earlier and the light streams in the room in a pretty way. I like to change it up a little bit from time to time.

When I was younger I wrote pretty exclusively on my phone. It was either my phone or the family computer, which I did start on, but that was hard because I didn't want to write when anyone was home so...yeah. Now I hardly ever write on my phone. For one, my two main WIPS are over 85k words long so they'll just crash if I try to write on my phone. Beyond that I tend to write when I'm at home, and I'm faster at typing on my laptop than I am on my phone. It's physically more comfortable. But I will use my phone if inspiration strikes when I'm out and I want to jot something down, or if it's the end of the day and I'm in bed and want to knock out a few (hundred) words before I go to sleep. (Occasionally this will turn into a thousand words like a few days ago but. Usually it's for shorter stints!)

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse? -

Great question. I wish I knew!

I will say that several of my recent fics have been motivated by seeing someone post something that makes little sparks go off in my mind. They'll put out a question or a sentence or three, then my head will go 'ah yes, what if we explored this-' and go deeper. From there it's just a matter of how much I feel like writing. Sometimes there's an idea I enjoy but little motivation to write. Sometimes I really, really want to write but even if the ideas are sitting there, I just can't get the words to flow because none are appealing in that moment. Sometimes I just have to trudge through a hundred words or few before I get in the groove of things and the words start flowing.

I will say that I daydream about things a lot. So sometimes I will daydream about a scenario until it turns into something fic worthy. Other times I'll have a fic, daydream, and then get enough of a foundation that I feel like I can write. It just depends.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you? -

Uhhhh. Angst? Pushing characters to emotional limits and seeing how being stretched may make them react? Character studies? If there are recurring themes they're probably unconscious. I like feeling things, I like making characters feel things, and I like examining them when they do.

I will say that a good deal of my recent writing (posted and not) has to deal with unpleasant situations and how people react to having to make a decision when their only options are bad ones, or to people doing unhealthy things. Lots of heavier topics in my recent writing. Does this surprise me? Nah, I enjoy it. Does it perhaps say something about my recent mental state? Well.

Even if they go through hardships they make it through. Are they happy? Well. They're alive. Happiness means something different to everyone. For those of you who've read xxxHolic, if you remember Yuko's quote about Subaru....it's stuck with me for a very long time. That and Subaru's horrible terrible quote about happiness to Kamui in X. Should the takeaway be that you should be okay with not finding happiness because happiness is not for everyone? That not everyone can find happiness and this is a fact of life that we should make peace with? Probably not. You should always strive for more. But whether I and the characters I write about are doing that as much as they probably should... it's fascinating exploring what happiness means to someone, and where the line between contentment and happiness lies, especially in regards to peace and acceptance.

What is your reason for writing? -

It's fun. I like imagining characters in scenarios, and when I write, I preserve a variation of that scenario that I can always come back to and enjoy. Sometimes I'll daydream variants of my own fics that don't happen quite how I wrote them. And that works because I have that base to come back to! Writing also helps me straighten out some of the kinks in these daydream scenarios. It's also fun to improve.

I also write to share my ideas with other people. I love reading what other people write, so I like to share my ideas so they can have a little peace of that happiness too. It also opens the door for discussion, which I absolutely adore. Sometimes even a short comment can get my brain firing all cylinders again, prompting me to think about something in a new or deeper way. I was very chatty in college discussion classes and I miss forums. I love talking about the things I love, I love exploring different themes and motifs and language etc etc, and fic is an excellent way of starting the discussion.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer? -

I'm not sure. I would like to say ideas, but even then I don't know. I can write long things? But I feel like that's more my a product of my definite weakness, which is being concise. I really struggle with that. It's something I've tried to work on from time to time, but I still tend to get so wordy I lose steam on fics before they're done. My google drive is the graveyard for dozens of unpublished fics. And when I say dozens, there are definitely over a hundred.

How do you feel about your own writing? -

I think it's on the good side of okay. I'd probably rate it 6.5 or 7 out of 10, with 10 being "this is the most amazing thing I have ever read, get this person an award, I need to talk about this writing," 0 being "this person seriously needs a beta and to look up the fundamentals of writing, I could not finish this." and 5 being "yeah this is readable, was worth my time to read it."

Recently I did some self reflection and have come to terms with the fact that my writing isn't what I want it to be but that's okay. I'm young. I've been writing for 10 years, sure, but for how much of that time have I really been trying to get better as a writer, as opposed to merely writing? How much time have I spent studying other writers? How much time have I spent trying to tweak my writing without giving up? I have time and I have room to grow. I might not be at the top but my stuff is still readable for the most part.

I think I have a better relationship with my writing than I did a year or two ago, when I felt like I was not able to do what I wanted to do and immensely frustrated by it. I'm still a little frustrated, but I don't feel paralyzed like I used to. My two current longfic wips, sitting at 89k and 101k words, are fics that I wrote for plot and and am currently revising. They're both almost done in terms of plot, only needing another ~2 and ~3 chapters respectively, but I'm only ~25% and 5% through revising for writing respectively. By that I mean going back to make them sound pretty. And even more importantly, I'm revising them to make them consistent in terms of style, and for the style to mimic the atmosphere/plot of the fic! I'm trying to work on matching my writing style to the narrator, which can be a bit tricky when the narrator doesn't exactly lend themself to the style I would like to write in, so I've been working on blending the two.

My writing isn't perfect. I wish it were better. I really, really wish I were better at using literary devices, adding in references, the general 'being flowery', and making these big overarching themes that readers can catch onto. I wish I were better at connecting small thins to the big themes. I love picking apart writing, and I want people to be able to pick apart my writing to find gems too. I need to strike a balance between explaining all my choices in the writing and not explaining them but hoping readers pick up on it. It does not always make sense for the narrator to explain all of the logic to something, because some of that should be innate. But I also don't want things to seem illogical, or for signs to be so obscure no one catches them. It's hard to strike this balance. I'm not very good at it yet.

So when it comes to the art of writing, I think I'm overall only just barely okay. When it comes to the craft or the act, sure I can write. I've written 288k words of fic this year. I can do plots. I can put words on paper (or on screen). But are they works of art? Well...they are, technically, I'm not going to deny that, but are they museum worthy? My current answer is no. If they're going in any museums then it's the city museum at best. It's the filler that people enjoy, but could easily be replaced. It's okay. People enjoy it! I'm proud of it. But I know it could be better.

That's the main thing. I know it could be better.

I want it to be better. I need to get down the patience to make it better. I'm making strides, but I'm not where I want to be yet.

My writing is enjoyable, but again I would place it on the good side of okay. Or the okay side of good. Not the good side of good. It feels childish in a way, compared to some of the greats. Not all writing needs to be chock full of little references and themes and flowery language to be good, but since that's what I want my writing to be, it means I'm not where I want to be and thus that it isn't good at what I want it to be. It's okay at what I want it to be.

We'll see how far I ever manage to get. I have so many words I haven't' published because I feel like they're not "good writing" and it's frustrating me because I want to share. I'm just sitting here hoping someone doesn't get to the topic before I do... because I definitely have stuff in my vaults that I enjoyed but hadn't finished tweaking, only to find someone wrote the same topic but better, causing me to place them in the grave because I can't hope to match that and don't want to be accused of plagiarism, because who's going to believe I wrote my thing first but then left it in my drafts for 3 months?

So...yeah I need to get over myself lol. I can write. I've been writing a long time. What I write is enjoyable. It could just be better. I want to get better at writing as an art. Hone my skills, refine my craft, and all that.

[thetavolution]

I'm unclear if you meant you wanted asks for those couples of yours, but just in case:

14. Rings - What do their rings look like, if they choose to exchange any?

15. Vows and Unity Ceremonies - Does the couple exchange vows? Do they complete any kind of "unity" ceremony, like handfasting, planting a tree together, etc?

18. I Now Pronounce You... - Do your characters change their last names, keep their last names, arrange for a specific kind of name? For example, "Mr. and Mr. Dekarios" or "Lord and Lady Ravengard-Cliffgate"?

3. The First Look - Write about the moment when your married couple sees each other in their wedding outfits for the first time.

I'll think about answers for later. <333

Thank you for sending this! I'll be honest, I didn't really know how it worked haha. I just wanted to tag people who might want to do it. I have no idea what I'm doing.

I would have probably filled these out without asks because I'm just like that.

BG3 Wedding Season Tag Game

14. Rings - What do their rings look like, if they choose to exchange any?

Gale is definitely the easiest to figure out rings for, for both the Gale/Tessa and Gale/Vaira pairings. Ed Greenwood, the Forgotten Realms creator, explained Waterdeep wedding ring traditions:

"Each person about to be married takes their own ring to the same smith (in Waterdeep, many "storefronts" for gnomes and dwarves reach anvils in the Warrens) and are ("betrothal rings" are worn on middle fingers in the Realms) "sized."

Then both rings are cut in half, the non-matching halves fused together to create two half-and-half "union" rings, made (either by adding new material or by thinning the rings to stretch what's already there) to fit the respective middle fingers (resizing visits may be necessary).

These are worn to the ceremony on fine neck-chains by the partners-to-be, then exchanged, each puts the ring on the other, and at the end of the vows, the rings are clinked together to end the ceremony, so the kissing and feasting can start."

Wyll proposed with an acorn. He would eventually have a ring, but it's hard to top that acorn. I think he'd probably use his mother's ring. Both Lamia and Minty would happily accept that, too.

Lae'zel has no idea what you're talking about. She does not care about weddings. Laura, fortunately, doesn't care that much about tradition. A ring exchange would not be part of their ceremony.

Halsin wouldn't do rings either. He wouldn't even have a wedding. He'd have something wedding adjacent. Maybe this is a hot take, but while he is poly, I don't think he's as "we just roam and do whatever" as he claims. I'm sure he was in his younger years, but he's more prepared to settle down now. It doesn't mean he's less poly, just less "I roam around and if my partner takes off, that's how it is." He actually wants something more stable.

Exactly what the ceremony or tradition he partakes in would look different depending on his partner, so it'd be different for both Ingrid and Paloma. That said, he still wouldn't care for rings. It feels to close to claiming ownership for his liking.

Astarion would have jewelry from 200+ years ago that he would use for his rings. And the rings would be, I dare say, gaudy as hell. Lamia would also love something that flashy. Bex would just go with the flow and defer to what Astarion would want.

Barcus would make rings for his betrothed. They'd be rustic, yet heartfelt.

Rolan would overthink it so hard. He'd hunt for the perfect rings. Since Elyse was born a noble, he'd pressure himself to get the most expensive ring. He'd eventually realize that's not what she wants, but he'd still feel like a failure if he couldn't provide it. It'd take a lot of reassurance before he accepted the cost of the ring is the least important thing.

15. Vows and Unity Ceremonies - Does the couple exchange vows? Do they complete any kind of "unity" ceremony, like handfasting, planting a tree together, etc?

Gale's vows would be an hour long. Tessa would match him for time. Vaira, on the other hand, would be more succinct. Hilariously succinct. And it would sound so perfect to Gale.

Wyll would definitely exchange vows. Lamia would follow Wyll's lead for the most part. She'd be surprisingly sincere in her vows. In Minty's case, she'd want to add some more Kara-Tur traditions into the ceremony, which Wyll would love. I'd have to look into that to see if there's anything already out there on it, or what might have to be created.

Lae'zel would just challenge Laura to a fight and cry joyfully when Laura wins.

Halsin would alter what he does for his partner. I could see Ingrid and Halsin planting a tree together to watch it grow together. It'd be a gathering for their friends. With Paloma, it'd be such a small, intimate affair with vows. Halsin would 100% tear up during the ceremony.

Astarion would want a traditional elf wedding. I found this on Reddit:

"An elven marriage ceremony can take many forms. Though it is often a ritual celebrated before the entire community, it can consist simply of two elves speaking the words that bind them forever with no witnesses except the trees and the grass. Most elven weddings are officiated by a priest of whatever deity the couple deems appropriate (most often Hanali Celanil, but sometimes Corellion Larethian). The two elves write and speak their own vows, and the priest uses their own words to seal the union. Thus, an exchange of vows amounts to an exchange of life essence that forever bonds one to the other. Dowries are not usually exchanged unless the marriage is of considerable political import, though gifts to the newly wedded couple from the community are common."

Astarion seems like he'd be ostentatious in how he would write and perform the vows, but I think he'd just get emotional during the ceremony. He'd cut himself short and not even say half of what he meant to. He'd try to play it off and fail miserably.

Barcus would prefer to have something like a barn raising with an exchange of vows.

Rolan would follow Elyse's tradition of exchanging vows, but he'd also want to do handfasting.

18. I Now Pronounce You... - Do your characters change their last names, keep their last names, arrange for a specific kind of name? For example, "Mr. and Mr. Dekarios" or "Lord and Lady Ravengard-Cliffgate"?

Vaira doesn't have a surname since it's not really something gith do. She'd happily take Gale's especially since it'd help her fit in more in Waterdeep. They would become Mr. and Mrs. Dekarios. Gale would be so delighted. He doesn't need his partner to take his name, but the idea of the love his life taking his name would make his heart soar. I just think everything would make that man melt. If you don't take his name, he'd just be like "My love is so strongly independent" or something. It's win-win with him.

Tessa would want to keep her surname for social reasons. So it'd be more of a Mr. and Mrs. Dekarios-Chastain situation. Because Gale would probably feel the same about both their surnames. I told you, this man just loves his love.

Minty is proud of her family name, but also understands the importance of Wyll's. They'd become the Ravengard-Lam or Lam-Ravengard household. They're figuring it out. Their children would have both surnames.

Laura would keep her surname. Lae'zel has no interest in taking a surname, no matter how much she loves Laura. I also don't think they'd have a "I pronounce you..." moment in their wedding. They'd want something much more unique and fitting for their relationship.

Ingrid has no attachment to her surname. While I, personally, like her surname (I did give it to her after all), she associates it with her parents who she has a rough relationship with. She would happily take on Halsin's surname. He would just want her to do what makes her happy.

Astarion would want to have the same surname as his partner in my opinion. It wouldn't matter if his partner took his or if he took theirs. It would give him a sense of family and belonging. It's more about coming together as one family than the name itself.

Bex wouldn't care. They could go by either Ancunín or McQuoid and she'd be fine with it. It'd drive Astarion nuts that she'd make him decide which name they go by. (He'd pick Ancunín btw.) Lamia would most likely change her name to Ancunín. In the case of Paloma, she's not interested in changing her surname. Astarion would take hers.

Lamia would take her lover's name, be it Ancunín or Ravengard. She just does not care about her birth name. She's apathetic to it. For Astarion, it would give him that sense of family. If she's with Wyll, she will want to wield the power of the Ravengard name. Also she'd be so fucking smug about being an ex-con changeling who married a Ravengard. (Look, she does love him... but she's still petty.)

Viktor would keep his name. He would leave it up to his partner how they feel about their own name. Barcus would also keep his name. So they'd have to just be pronounced married lol.

Rolan... does he have a surname? He might take Elyse's just because she has one. Also Starling is a big deal name in Baldur's Gate and there's something juicy about a refugee tiefling getting to have it. Cal and Lia will make fun of him forever for it, too. But then they will also throw around the Starling name to get things as they should. They are Starlings by marriage now so suck it.

3. The First Look - Write about the moment when your married couple sees each other in their wedding outfits for the first time.

For now, I'm only going to do two.

Halsin and Paloma

Their outfits are simple yet elegant. They reflect nature in some way.

Halsin didn't expect Paloma's dress to affect him so profoundly. He had heard of how grooms and brides reacted upon seeing each other. He just assumed it wouldn't apply to him. He had agreed to do the commitment ceremony while never anticipating the rush of emotion that would come over him.

Seeing Paloma changed everything. She was surrounded by her children who he would also vow to care for. His family was waiting for him to join them before the Oak Father himself. It was overwhelming to say the least. He wept, happily. His tears set off Paloma's. She's also taken off-guard by how handsome he is, the man she hoped to grow old with. She'd been burned before by love and assumed her jaded heart wouldn't stir at the sight of him, and yet....

They would both be incredibly glad they had decided to do a commitment ceremony, and cherish the memory for the rest of their days.

Rolan ad Elyse

Rolan wouldn't even notice he was holding his breath. He'd be so blown away by his partner. Elyse would be able to make the most simple, inexpensive gown look like it was being worn by a queen. He'd be tongue-tied before he finally found his voice again.

Elyse would be anxious until she laid eyes on Rolan. All of her fears would melt away and it would feels as if it was just the two of them.

Cal and Lia would never let these two dorks live it down, but they'd cry the day of. Fortunately for them. Rolan is too distracted to even notice so he can't tease them back.