#but telling an author how much you hate how they write a certain character

[rainbowresurrection]

I ended up reading The Price of the Phoenix and while it didn't make me want to bleach my eyes like Killing Time, I still didn't like it as much as I hoped I would. Don't get me wrong, the homoeroticism was intriguing to me, but the actual writing and storyline itself left me with a headache. I think I get my hopes up with these books, given all of the possibilities that the written word has for Trek, and it inevitably sets me up for disappointment lol

[eevees-hobbies]

Don't Threaten Me With a Good Time!

This is a response to this anon request: Hii can i request wind breaker boys : bofurin and shishitoren with a reader that love to flirt and hard to flustered although they tried to do it back? Thank you

Author’s Note: Thank you, Anon, for being my first Wind Breaker request! I feel like we were on the same wavelength because I was planning on doing a flirt fic/headcanon, but you beat me to it! Unshy and bold is how I like to write my readers, too!

Content Warning: Fem!Reader x Characters. Not smut but highly suggestive in some parts. Use of the word slut in the beginning background piece, a brief examination of the word and scenarios in which it’s weaponized. If you’re not into that, feel free to skip that part. But I’ve seen what some of you all are into and seen some of those reblogs—you know who you are, so spare me. You’re also a major flirt. Like, you’re at a 10 on the flirt scale. Go, you! Nothing too explicit, but here’s what we’re working with: mention of panties in Sakura’s. Kaji needs to learn to keep items inside of his mouth…unless? Suo intends to punish you so pick a god and pray. Hiragi needs you to chill out…but say more, please. Umemiya is too shy to ask you to call him Daddy (please call him Daddy). Togame tells you what you’ll be sitting on by the end of the night (also mention of alcohol in his). Nirei is a cute little bean <3. Minors Don’t Interact.

As always, I appreciate comments, reblogs, and likes. Requests are as open as my legs are for Haruka Sakura’s dick.

Word Count: 2.8K

Dividers by Saradika. Story banner by me.

Background: How You Got Here

You’ve always hated the word ‘slut��

It’s not that you wouldn’t personally consider yourself one. Depending on your ideologies, reclaiming the word can feel liberating and you find that to be true for yourself. 

You consider yourself to be naturally flirty, sexy, bold, and charismatic. You can also be a bit of a tease and have slut-like-tendancies in the bedroom, so, sure, a slut. And for the right person or people, if you’re feelin’ nasty, you’re willing to be whatever they want you to be. 

You’ve just grown to hate the word because slut is often used to mischaracterize a woman that men often can’t understand. 

They can’t, or choose not to, understand a woman who is vocal about who she wants and how she wants it. 

They call women sluts who do the chasing.

They call women sluts who fuck on the first date. 

They call women sluts who don’t fuck on the first date. 

The word slut has lost all meaning.

Patriarchy issues aside, this wouldn’t be a problem if you didn’t also have a mouth on you. So when some low-life-loser cat calls you from across the street, asking if you got a man and then calling you a slut because you chose not to answer in front of his five loser friends, you turn around and yell, “Sorry, buddy! Experiencing disappointing sexual experiences isn’t on my bingo card for tonight!”

“What the FUCK did you just say to me?”

And contrary to what some may say, you aren’t fucking stupid. You know what happens to women when a man hates them and decides that you’re the object of their rage.

So, you often find yourself running in situations like this. Running until your lungs are about to explode and the only thing keeping you going is adrenaline and the fear that that word—and your mouth—might get you snuffed out. 

You’re looking over your shoulder as your assailants close the distance, painfully aware that this can’t go on for too much longer when you collide with someone’s chest. Strong hands grip your arms, anchoring you in place. 

You look up, expecting to see one of the men from the group but you’re instead taken aback by the stranger in front of you. He seems like the kind of boy you’d let call you a slut—-his close-mouthed smile disarms you, and even though it doesn’t reach his eyes, you’re almost certain he’s someone you can trust. You don’t have too many options right now, anyway!

His tassel earrings swing as he raises his head from looking down at you, and his eyes follow the sound of running feet emerging from the alley. 

“Oh? You look like you could use some help. Stand over there for me?” He tilts his head when asking you the question, but part of you feels like he’s not really asking, so you nod and watch with bated breath as the young man methodically mows down every one of the men. 

Afterward, he turns to you, pristine and perfect, “I can’t let you walk home alone after that.”

“Sure,” you say, taking his outstretched hand. What’s your name? I have to know the name of the person who just saved me.”

“Oh, I guess that’s a fair point. My name is Hayato Suo. It’s nice to meet you despite the circumstances.”

It’s not long after that event that you fall into the protection of the Bofurin & Shishitoren men; your natural charisma quickly gets you in their good graces and earns you a special spot among their ranks. You give off mascot vibes—if mascots were cute and didn’t have gigantic, scary bodies!

Hanging out with them means being yourself without experiencing judgment or retribution. Your laid-back persona and flirting are met with laughs, blushes, and even sometimes flirtation in return. You’ve never felt more at home than with them. 

Haruka Sakura

Flirting with Haruka Sakura is like flirting with a brick wall; either he notices and chooses to ignore the situation as his face turns a crimson red, or he’ll yell at you for being a pervert in public. And both of those reactions are equally cute, so when one day you’re sitting at a booth at Cafe Pothos—-with Sakura, Suo & Nirei—-you decide that this is the perfect environment to get him riled up.

You gently knock your shoe against Sakura’s, which earns you an eyebrow twitch as he continues to shovel food into his mouth. Oblivious as always. 

You do it again to prove that it wasn’t an accidental nudge. Sakura’s eyes shoot up to yours, frantic because this is something you would do. His eyes are met with your innocent smile and subtle shoulder shrug.

As you all continue eating (excluding Suo, who enjoys a cup of tea), you gradually move your foot up his leg until it rests between his thighs. Sakura is trembling like a leaf, eyes darting between the faces of your friends, who could very well notice that you’re trying to get him to play footsie under the table. What if they notice? 

The meal concludes; Suo and Nirei exit the restaurant, and you and Sakura linger for a bit. Part of you hopes that he’ll call out your behavior, but he’s doing his best eye-avoidant routine. As you rise to leave, Sakura stops you, grabbing you by the hem of your sleeve and pushing you into the last booth at the back of the restaurant, where the line of sight is blocked.

Sakura climbs on top of you, your bodies crammed into the leather booths in a way that feels deliciously intimate. His hands are holding your arms at your sides, and his knee settles in between your thighs—and you are now more than ever painfully aware of how high your skirt has bunched up as his knee is dangerously close to brushing up against the seat of your panties. 

“Y-you can’t control yourself in public, can you!?” Sakura practically spits out. He’d sound angry to anyone else, but that’s not what you see in his eyes. 

You look up at him, mesmerized by his vulnerability and the proximity of his well-placed knee. "Do you want me to stop, Haruka?”

He again avoids eye contact with you, but the way he bites his lip gives him away, “No, I-i didn’t say that.”

Akihiko Nirei 

“Have you added anyone else to that book of yours, Nirei?”

Nirei beams at you. You’re one of the few people who takes an interest in the compendium of facts and stats he’s collected about the others. He flips through the pages and starts pointing out information he’s added since you’ve last spoken.

You nod along, taking a genuine interest in what he says; you barely notice your hand moving up to brush away a strand of hair that had fallen out of place. His cheeks tinge pink, and he stutters as he continues to read to you.

After he’s done hyper-fixating, a comfortable silence sits between you.

“What do you have about me?” you say, leaning closer to him. You’re teasing him; you don’t exchange blows like the subjects in his journals, so there’s no practical reason for him to collect information on you. That’s what you think until he reaches into his back pocket and brandishes a small notebook with your name on the front. 

“I-i uh have the basic demographics, but uh…still need the more personal things like your favorite color and food.”

“What about my bra size?”

“B-bra….” The pencil in his hand snaps, and he looks everywhere but at you. “I uh… s-sure! I’ll take that if you’d like me to!”

You laugh; you genuinely find him endearing. “I’m kidding! We haven’t even had our first date yet, Nirei!”

He looks at you, pulling out a new pencil from seemingly nowhere. “Well, once I find out what food you like, I’ll add the anniversary date of our first date here, too.”

Ren Kaji

Flirting with Kaji feels dangerous, but you do you, friend. You, as an individual, and the way compliments flow easily from your lips makes Kaji uncomfortable, and he admittedly doesn’t understand why someone as gorgeous as you gives him the time of day. It isn’t until you somehow become closer that the absence of your flirting with him sets off blaring alarm bells. 

Are you ok? 

Who did this to you?  

Who does he have to kill?!

As you thumb through the vinyl at your local record store, you feel a bump against your shoulder. You look up and see your favorite platinum blond guard dog; his headphones are settled around his neck, heavy metal pouring from the earphones. His piercing gaze is a clear indication that you might be in trouble. Oops. 

“You mad at me or somethin’?”

You raise an eyebrow at him, “Mad? Why do you think that?”

“You haven’t been pestering me lately, and it feels…odd.”

You can see him chewing on the inside of his cheek, even with the round sucker placed snugly in his mouth. 

“Ohhhhhh, no, Kaji! I was giving you a break, but if you insist on flirting, how about-”

“Shut up,” he pulls the sucker out of his mouth and presses it against your lips, watching as you purse your glossed lips and kiss the candy. Neither of you breaks eye contact; an unspoken threat between you dares the other to yield first. His eyes narrow as you poke your tongue out and stroke the sides with intentional, slow licks.

“Tch!” he turns quickly, marching away from you. Despite his back being turned, you can tell by the way his arm raises that he’s now placing that saliva-soaked sucker in his mouth. 

Hayato Suo 

Suo might be one of two people on this list who might be a worthy opponent for you. How do you flirt with someone who is perpetually unbothered? Good question! I see your flirting as back-and-forth quips, playful jabs at one another that get increasingly sexual and oddly specific throughout the day.

If you meet up with the group and one strand of your hair is out of place, Suo chirps, “Bedhead, huh? What were YOU doing last night?”

If you see Suo break a sweat after an intense fight, “Wow, Suo! You really need to work on your stamina. I can imagine a few ways to help with that.”

Sure, it’s all in good fun, but there’s a sexual undertone to it all; between the smiles and sarcastic comments, you’re both participating in your special version of foreplay, and you have never been more turned on. 

Everyone around you thinks you should get a room, and as sunset approaches, you two do exactly that.

“Ready to work on that stamina, Suo?” you chide as you push him against the wall in your apartment. You know you’ll pay for man-handling him later, but that’s part of the fun, isn’t it?

His earrings sway back and forth from the force, but he gazes down at you with smoldering ruby-toned eyes. Every smart-mouthed remark you’ve said that day replays in his head, contributing to his desire to make you atone for your brattiness.

“Yes, Y/N and I promise I won’t let you out of bed with your hair a mess like I did this morning.”

Hajime Umemiya

The complexity of Hajime Umemiya should be a case study. You’ve witnessed his laid-back nature as he jokes with friends, and you’ve seen the scary side of him that bubbles over when anyone threatens those he’s closest to. 

You’re truly attracted to both sides, but when it comes to you and the way you tease him, running manicured nails through his gelled hair and scratching gently at his scalp, he’s putty in your hands.

One of your favorite ways to experience Umemiya is meeting him in his element: his garden. It allows you to bond with him, and he often shares information about his life. Somewhere, Sugishita is biting his fist. 

“Big brother,” you whine as you plant okra, “am I doing this right?”

Umemiya’s eyes widen, and he looks at you across the garden. In what feels like seconds, he’s kneeling in front of you, your hands cupped in his own. “Y-you can’t call me that!”

You blink, confused, “you tell everyone to call you that.”

“I don’t want YOU to call me that.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s weird when someone you…like…calls you big brother. It’s worse than being called a friend!”

You snort, but when you meet his eyes, you quickly straighten. Oh! He’s serious! 

“So, not into me calling you big brother even during our ‘private moments?’ What about ‘Daddy?’ How do you feel about that?”

He laughs loudly—not because he thinks that was especially hilarious—but because you just make him nervous. 

“You can call me Hajime or…’my boyfriend?’ Yeah, let's stick with my boyfriend!”

“Not Daddy?”

“I won’t stop you! Now, how about that okra???”

Toma Hiragi

“You’re a pain in my ass.”

Hiragi’s simultaneously rubbing a knot out of his neck while chastising you. You found yourself in an all too familiar situation, running errands when a drunken man approached you and began to hurl “that word” in your direction when he didn’t find your reaction to his advances to be appropriate: same shit, different day.

As you were looking for an escape route, Hiragi rounded the corner and snatched the man by the collar—it was almost comical to see the drunkard's feet dangle feverishly off the ground. With a scowl and a threat from Hiragi, he was stumbling off.

You sigh, “I don’t mean to be a burden, Hiragi. But something on my forehead must read, ‘fuck with me’ because this is becoming a common occurrence.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he grumbles, “I just find myself worrying about you too much. Might give you my jacket to keep these creeps at bay.” 

Before the last syllable leaves his lips, he’s stuttering and trying to walk the statement back, “I mean uh…or any Bofurin jacket! We have boxes of these somewhere! Not mine, per se.”

You smile, placing a hand on his toned bicep. “I’d love to wear my protector's jacket.”

You need not say more. He removes his oversized jacket and places it over your shoulders. The smell of him and the warmth he left behind makes your heart flutter. You give him your best grin, “you know you’re never getting this back, right?”

“See? A pain in my ass. With a mouth like that, I’m goin’ to have to teach you how to fight.” 

You lean into his arm, “With a mouth like this, you might have to teach me more than how to fight.”

“Jesus.”

Jo Togame 

Jo Togame is the other person on this list who’ll give you a run for your money when trying to flirt. He may seem turtle-adjacent, but his rebuttals to your flirtation attempts are quick. 

You’ve been shooting Togame smoldering glances for the entirety of the night, and even though Shishitoren men surround him, he’ll catch you looking, give you a lopsided grin, and then turn his attention back to the group,

You lick your lips. The draw of his signature sweatpants, black, loose-fitting tee, and Shishitoren jacket is doing something to you. 

And maybe it’s because you’re on your fifth shot of mystery concoction, and the music they’re playing at the house party makes you feel bold and think that what you’re about to do is a good idea. 

With all the courage you can muster, you walk up to Togame. He tilts his head in your direction, but you can see amusement in his jade-colored eyes.

“Took you long enough. Thought you were never gonna get tired of starin’ at me.”

“Dance with me!” you yell over the music. You can feel everyone in the group sizing you up and waiting to hear how Togame responds. 

He puts his beer down and takes your hand. You pull him to the center of the room, where a makeshift dance floor has been constructed. You allow the music to move you before you can talk yourself out of whatever is happening. Togame puts his hand on your waist and allows you to grind against him and to the beat. 

“You like the idea of making me nervous, huh?”

You stand on the tips of your toes to get as close to his ear as possible, “You caught me! Is it working?”

He chuckles and shakes his head, “No because I know exactly how this night is going to end.”

Your heart picks up a bit as his hands slide down from your waist and rest above your ass.

“How?” You squeak.

“With you grinding just like this on my dick.”

You open your mouth to respond, but he presses his lips against yours, his kiss hot and hungry. 

Your eyes flutter closed, and you agree that this night will likely end how he prophesized.

[nortsauce]

I’m gonna just copy and paste my “Miles Edgeworth Chooses Death” yap session from my broadcast channel on insta! Go join that if you want my Talk Show in real time LOL

BEGIN!

I wanna talk about my interpretation of the “Chooses death” sequence and what i think about Miles and Phoenix in it bc i feel like people get me wrong when i talk about it.

I often say that I would not have forgiven miles as quickly as phoenix did, and that i believe phoenix should have punched him for what he did. A lot of people say that phoenix was in the wrong for basically saying “You should have never come back from the dead!” and interpreting that as like phoenix basically telling miles to khs.

A lot of ppl wanna give miles more grace because they believe it WAS a “game over” note but he decided against it last minute, and i like that interpretation too!

Some believe phoenix knew what the note meant and still got pissed givibg phoenix less grace, because he was the one who told miles to “Kill the old prosecutor in him” or smth like that in the Skye case

And i’m not saying any of these interpretations are wrong! I like a lot of these interpretations!

But a lot of people miss my point when i say that i believe no matter what, phoenix had every right to be pissed and mad at miles.

1) This does NOT mean i hate miles as a character, no this flaw of his, constantly running away rather than facing problems or believing that he doesn’t leave much of an inpact on others Makes me like him MORE!!

I love when characters have an inherently unlikable flaw about them! Usually when people write character flaws they tend to be more sympathetic flaws, and i like those too! But when they have something about them that is just Ambiguous and unlikable like, they have a tendency to run away, they deflect and lash out at others, they have a problem with commitment, etc. I LOVE THAT. I love when a character has traits that are UNLIKABLE IT MAKES ME EXCITED TO SEE “Ooo how are they gonna grow from this!!!! :D”

2) this also does not mean that miles or phoenix are totally at fault here. Both of them are pretty messed up guys who are trying to communicate in the only ways they’ve ever learned how.

Phoenix is a very emotional person up until AA4, who is a representation of how a “normal” dude would react to absolutely batshit scenarios, but ultimately is really never talking about himself. He reacts to other people. He’s emotional about other people. He was sad and angry at miles, he’s silly and strong for the lil sisters/kids that he has, he’s exasperated and fond of his friends and he’s static with those he doesn’t know all that well. Phoenix is a very interesting character with his emotions which is why i find every interpretation of him so interesting!

Miles on the other hand:

Miles is a reserved person who is intimidating upon first glance and awkward at a closer look. Phoenix even says himself “A lot of people dont get edgeworth, do they.” and i believe the investigations games are a big indicator of this! Throughout the investigations games, so many people find the first one boring because Miles doesn’t react as much, because we are SEEING through his persona that he puts on in the courtroom!

We are finally seeing what got him the title of the prosecutor to call when there is a high profile case. We see him exasperated, we see him stressed, we see him angry, stoic, calculating and at certain times we see him show a little bit of a lack of empathy for others, including himself.

But we also see inside his mind, we see him fawning over steel samurai merch, we see him thinking of Phoenix when he’s lost which could factor in on why he kept calling phoenix over to europe during phoenix’s disbarment. We see him fondly looking after Kay and growing his friendship with Gumshoe.

He never says these feelings outloud, he shows them in roundabout ways that go over a lot of the characters heads until they start to understand him and know him more.

In an interview, the authors explain some things about miles and why he’s so less vulnerable in the investigations games, and they said “Its because we aren’t looking through the eyes of phoenix anymore” (paraphrasing. would you believe me if i told u my paraphrasing made it LESS gay?)

Phoenix seems to see miles in a way that no one else does, that is to say that miles shows more to phoenix than he shows other people.

But this also goes vice versa

In a scene in Hazakura temple (the famous bridge case) Miles says something about how phoenix is feeling. Miles then says something along the lines of “Not that i expect to get any clarification out of you” with a fond side smile. Phoenix then apologizes to miles about this. (this is slightly inspired by a tumblr post lol)

So it can be inferred that phoenix is NOTORIOUSLY dodgy with the details of his life. Mia points out that she thought phoenix had a twin because of how different he was from the “Feenie” she saw on the stand during the first dahlia trial where phoenix eats a necklace.

all this to say that miles KNOWS phoenix deflects topics when they are about himself, so for him to be so open about something personal means all the more of how dire it can get for him.

BACK TO THE NOTE! Because yes this all started with the note i go on tangents alot LOL

The note has a lot of significance for how miles was dealing with his whole life being flipped inside out, because he resigned himself to a tragedy when suddenly a side character from his past RIPPED THROUGH THE PAGES OF THE BOOK and changed the narrative to a redemption story. He wasn’t expecting anything of that. He looks at phoenix the way he remembers his father in a way, a shining light. He never realized that phoenix saw him the same way. So when Miles came back, he did everything in his power to try and live up to that. But once again, phoenix turned the pages of the book and scribbled all over it.

Miles understands phoenix because he is so blatant about how he’s feeling and why he feels that way. Despite being secretive about the facts of his life, He’s an emotional person, which is probably why we don’t see much of miles during apollo justice. It’s new territory, its unnerving. He’s so hidden and miles needs time to interpret that.

Also don’t think i’m skimping out on phoenix’s flaws. We have a whole ass game for that called AA4

In the trilogy he is so quick to floor the gas pedal on ANYTHING like yes i’ll change my entire life to see one dude bc he looked sad/stressed

Yes i’ll run across burning rope bridges, take the execution, tank an explosion, all for maya

yes i’ll break into a place (Gant’s office, Engerde’s house) and almosy get killed (50,000 volts, mafia, redd white, assassin, etc,) to prove you’re innocent!

He’s idealistic and sometimes gets upset when they dont match his ideals

he’s a master at deflection and many other condescending traits. and thats what i love about him.

Anyways yeah what miles did was a dick move but thats why i like him LOL

Phoenix had every right to be mad bc yeah. God forbid phoenix be a little upset and yell at the dude who tried to execute him and maya LMFAO

[aleskie]

THE WAY I LOVED YOU | Charles Leclerc x Reader

SUMMARY: You will never love anyone the way you love Charles Leclerc.

Warnings: None. Just a lil angsty Author's Note: This fic was originally written and published for another athlete/character, but I don't write for them anymore! But I thought it was too good to stay hidden forever so I changed some details to make it suit this setting more! I hope you like it!

“You hate him,” Charles says, his voice low but certain.

He’s talking about your boyfriend, Levi, who you’ve been with for a little over a year now. The one you brought back home with you. He gets along with everyone swimmingly. He finds things in common with your mom—they’ve apparently been texting for a few months now about embroidery—and he effortlessly talks business and stocks with your dad. He plays with your nieces and nephews, throwing himself into their games without a hint of self-consciousness.

Even when your ex-boyfriend’s family showed up to dinner, he handled it with grace—no jealousy, no drama. 

He’s perfect. 

Absolutely perfect.

So why are you hiding on the back porch with said ex-boyfriend? 

“I don’t hate him,” you say, eyes shifting away to the night sky. “He’s good to me. He’s…” Your voice falters, just enough for him to catch it. “He’s it for me.”

Charles scoffs, his tone tinged with frustration. “I was it for you. He’s just nice.”

You and Charles were childhood sweethearts with a love story set against the charm of the Monaco riviera. It was the type of romance people dreamed about—two kids growing up together, sharing dreams, making promises, finding warmth and love in each other amidst a world of fast cars and even faster summers.

In these types of stories, they stay together forever. They get married, have kids—they build a life together and spend their golden years watching their grandchildren play by the sea. 

You wanted that with him. A fairytale story with a fairytale ending: the home, the family, a life wrapped in shared memories. You thought you had it.

But reality has a way of ripping those dreams apart before you even realize they’re gone.

“What do you even want from me?” Your voice is laced with exasperation. “We both know you don’t want to be here.”

Charles shrugs, not even looking at you, his nonchalance only making your heart ache more. 

“Let’s not forget the facts, Charlie.” The nickname feels bitter on your tongue, the affection you once felt now tangled in hurt. “You ended it. You left me.” You can feel the tears starting to well up, but you force them back. You refuse to let him see you break again. “You might always be ‘it’ for me, but you don’t get to blame me for trying to rebuild my life after you.”

Charles broke your heart. Plain and simple. 

You would’ve preferred a slow death for your relationship, something you could have seen coming, prepared for. Instead, it was a quick burial. He’d made it into Formula One and suddenly, you weren’t worth fighting for anymore.

One day, his arms were wrapped around you, his voice soft as he whispered sweet nothings���feeding you dreams of a future, of leaving the country and traveling all over the world together. The next day, he was gone. Packed up his things and took your heart with him. 

He didn’t even say goodbye.

So when he shows up out of the blue, all chocolate eyes and chiseled face and that same boyish smile, it feels like a cruel joke. Like the universe is testing just how much you can take. You tell yourself you won’t fall for it—for him—not again. But then he looks at you, and for a second, it’s like no time has passed at all. The years melt away, and you’re back on that same street where everything began.

“Run away with me,” he says, like it’s nothing. Like you don’t have a life now. Like you aren’t a part of a community, of something—anything. Like you’re his again.

You hate how he can say it so easily, like no time has passed. 

You hate how a part of you wants to run with him

The silence stretches, broken only by the sound of birds and the wind chimes that hang near the door—the same ones you made when you were sixteen, back when you were together. You make a mental note to take them down.

“I hate you,” you say, your voice threatening to break at a moment’s notice, “I hate you. I hate that you think I can just leave everything behind for you. I hate that you think I don’t have a life without you. I hate you.” A pause. “I hate you.” It’s resigned, almost a whisper.

“Mon ange,” he murmurs, his voice so soft, so familiar. It’s the Charles you remember, the one who knew how to make your heart ache in all the right ways. “You don’t hate me.”

A bitter laugh escapes you. “That’s the worst part. I can’t.” You feel a tear slip down your cheek and quickly wipe it away. “We weren’t good for each other,” you continue, your voice trembling. “God knows we fought all the time. Never agreed on a single thing.”

You chuckle, the sound hollow. “You broke me. And I still love you. I wish I knew why.”

He’s quiet for a long moment, his eyes searching yours. “Do you think we would’ve made it if I’d given us a real shot?”

Your breath hitches as you consider the question. “I don’t know,” you whisper, the words barely audible. “You never let us try.”

It takes a beat before you stand, wiping away any lingering tears. There was no more room for what-ifs. You were adults now. You couldn’t afford to dream anymore. 

When you re-enter the house, Levi’s smile greets you instantly. His arm wraps around your waist, and he presses a soft kiss to the top of your head. You try to focus on him, on the warmth of his touch, but all you can feel is the numbness creeping in.

You catch the looks from Charles’s brothers, the ones that seem to see straight through your carefully placed smile. You shove down the guilt—the guilt of letting him occupy your thoughts when your perfect boyfriend is standing right beside you

You ignore the echoes of youth flashing through your mind as you spot Charles re-enter the party. 

You ignore the memories of you and him slow dancing in your bedroom and driving around the city and kissing in the rain. You ignore the memories of the fights, short-lived and fiery and passionate, always ending with a tender kiss and a promise to do better. You ignore the memories of matching bracelets and midnight runs to the store and sneaking into each other’s bedrooms after curfew. 

You ignore everything. You keep smiling, keep playing your part, though deep down you know he can tell it’s all an act.

The evening winds down, and soon Levi is guiding you to the car, saying his goodbyes to your family and friends. You follow along, playing the part of the dutiful girlfriend, hand firmly locked in his hand.

Once inside, Levi turns to you, his gaze soft and warm. “Did I tell you how beautiful you looked tonight?” he asks, smiling at you like you’re the center of his universe.

You offer him a soft smile in return, though it still doesn’t quite reach your eyes. You think that maybe this is what he thinks your real smile looks like. You take his hand in yours, pressing a gentle kiss to his knuckles.

“You’re perfect,” you whisper.

You know you’re lying. But that’s okay. In the end, you’re the only one who’s hurting. You can smile through the lies, through the ache that lingers, through the painful truth that you could never love anyone the way you loved Charles Leclerc.

[colorlessjay]

hello! may be a weird request but do you have any fanfic recommendations?

BUCKLE THE FUCK UP

OH DO I HAVE SOME RECS FOR YA'LL

Mind you, 90% are based on personal preference and fics I think about way too often than I should. A lot of them influenced the way I make characters interact

Some of them might not be your taste and that's cool!

First off, Gotta promote the fics that people wrote inspired by my art (I am truly honored)

Time Cast A Spell On You by bethefirstwhoeverdid

Cabin of Feathers by Featherpie (Izupie)

Return To The Past by faeryn

NOW FOR MY COLLECTION

Just any fic written by everandanon

I swear to you, all of their fics are worth a read. They are frustrating (In a good way for me) but the worldbuilding, comedy, dialogue, and character interactions always have me physically getting up and laughing. At one point during Quarentantion, I had to stop reading to rant to my friends about it because it made me feel so much that I went to 3 different friends about it. With Interest actually made my heart physically hurt at certain points. Expectations had me on a roller coaster ride But if you think their fics are a little overwhelming, I recommend reading Casicorn. It's the first ever fic I read from them and it solidified my love for this author. I swear I am on my hands and KNEES waiting for them to finish their newest fic

Where All My Journeys End - (a Twist and Shout alt universe) by Say_It_In_Enochian

Did reading Twist and Shout devastate you? Did it emotionally hurt your heart and make you wish there was something to make the pain lighter? READ THIS FUCKING FIC NOW I got so fucking lucky when I found it immediately after reading T&S and when I tell you the JOURNEY this fic took me? It healed my soul The struggles, the history, the relationships, the LONG fight to get to their happy ending I am FLOORED this doesn't have 1000 Kudos!

The Ed Sheeran Effect by tricia_16

It made me laugh. That's it. It's sweet and funny and really fun and just feels very campy, like it could've been a decent movie I would rewatch on days I just feel like feeling good Am I a sucker for HighSchool/College AU fics? Yes do I fucking care? No

The Best Years of Our Lives, My Ass by ireallyhatecornnuts (CharleyFoxtrot)

I. fucking. love. this. fic The story alone was so interesting but it was the DIALOGUE that hooked me in. I swear I think about this fic in the middle of drawing and go "Damn, good times" like it's a long lost friend

Slide Away by Castielslostwings

It's the TENSION that got me. I can't explain to you how much I just love their hate-pining for each other Read it, love it, in my digital bookshelf

Sleep Without You by turningthepages

Hilarious. The density is so high it could float. I swear to god I've read this fic at least three times and think about it once a week I remember reading it and cackling so much that I woke up my mom

Should've Just Asked by Annie D (scaramouche)

I wish this fic had a follow-up that was just Dean's perspective because I would LOVE to read more of it. The situation is so absurd and I binged it all in one day (I'm a very slow reader)

Pinfall by crowleyo

I'm gonna say it. I'm so actually angry this fic doesn't get enough attention. It is so so SO well-written and heart-wrenching. Am I still a sucker for highschool sweethearts? YES! I OPENLY ADMIT THIS! But COME ON

Of fuming and partaking and so on by zation

This fic and literally any fic from Zation. I absolutely love the way this author writes. It's so funny and self-aware and the dialogue and scenarios always keep me entertained and laughing They have such a large catalog of fics that I'm pretty sure I have at least 15 saved on my phone

Mr. Blue Sky by anyrei, queerwolf79

This fic specifically and literally ANYTHING from these two. I swear, a lot of their fics are certified bangers. Mr. Blue Sky is probably a personal favorite of mine cause I actually teared up

Love Me More by Saiorse_Irvyne

I'm not the biggest fan of A/B/O stuff, but MAN this has me feeling things. When a fic makes me feel strong emotions, I just gotta recommend it

Lock and Key by tricia_16

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH it's THAT good

Kind Of A Forever Deal by komodobits

It's FUN. It's FUNNY. It's so fucking campy and cute and the progression of their relationship was just AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It's Always the End of the World Somewhere by Annie D (scaramouche)

I can sit here and recommend Annie D's fics all DAY, but I'm recommending this one specifically because of this: “Get a room, assholes,” someone mutters. “Hey!” Crowley whirls on the offender. “I could set on you on fire!” And that's one of many fantastic quotes

Cinderwings by bendingsignpost

One of the first fics I've ever read from this fandom, and I recommend it to ANYONE regardless of whether they know Destiel or not. The story is so fucking captivating it makes me want to eat my foot it's so GOOD

--------------

Do I have a type when it comes to fanfics? Yes

But I like gravitating towards funny dialogue and silly shenanigans. I thrive off of fun fics that sometimes take themselves seriously, but still pull me back and make me laugh

If a fic can make me feel such a strong emotion that I PHYSICALLY have to get up? Then fuck yeah it's going in my archives

I would recommend some of the darker fics I have, but this is for fun

[ofbreathandflame-archive]

With the rise of booktok/booktwt, there's been this weird movement against literary criticism. It's a bizarre phenomenon, but this uptick in condemnation of criticism is so stifling. I understand that with the rise of these platforms, many people are being reintroduced into the habit of reading, which is why at the base level, I understand why many 'popular' books on booktok tend to be cozier.

The argument always falls into the 'this book means too much to me' or 'let people enjoy things,' which is rhetoric I understand -- at least fundamentally. But reading and writing have always been conduits for criticism, healthy natural criticism. We grow as writers and readers because of criticism. It's just so frustrating to see arguments like "how could you not like this character they've been the x trauma," or "why read this book if you're not going to come out liking it," and it's like...why not. That has always been the point of reading. Having a character go through copious amounts of trauma does not always translate to a character that's well-crafted. Good worldbuilding doesn't always translate to having a good story, or having beautiful prose doesn't always translate into a good plot.

There is just so much that goes into writing a story other than being able to formulate tropable (is that a word lol) characters. Good ideas don't always translate into good stories. And engaging critically with the text you read is how we figure that out, how we make sure authors are giving us a good craft. Writing is a form of entertainment too, and just like we'd do a poorly crafted show, we should always be questioning the things we read, even if we enjoy those things.

It's just werd to see people argue that we shouldn't read literature unless we know for certain we are going to like it. Or seeing people not be able to stand honest criticism of the world they've fallen in love with. I love ASOIAF -- but boy oh boy are there a lot of problems in the story: racial undertones, questionable writing decisions, weird ness overall. I also think engaging critically helps us understand how an author's biases can inform what they write. Like, HP Lovecraft wrote eerie stories, he was also a raging racist. But we can argue that his fear of PoC, his antisemitism, and all of his weird fears informed a lot of what he was writing. His writing is so eerie because a lot of that fear comes from very real, nasty places. It's not to say we have to censor his works, but he influences a lot of horror today and those fears, that racial undertone, it is still very prevalent in horror movies today. That fear of the 'unknown,'

Gone with the Wind is an incredibly racist book. It's also a well-written book. I think a lot of people also like confine criticism to just a syntax/prose/technical level -- when in reality criticism should also be applied on an ideological level. Books that are well-written, well-plotted, etc., are also -- and should also -- be up for criticism. A book can be very well-written and also propagate harmful ideologies. I often read books that I know that (on an ideological level), I might not agree with. We can learn a lot from the books we read, even the ones we hate.

I just feel like we're getting to the point where people are just telling people to 'shut up and read' and making spaces for conversation a uniform experience. I don't want to be in a space where everyone agrees with the same point. Either people won't accept criticism of their favorite book, or they think criticism shouldn't be applied to books they think are well written. Reading invokes natural criticism -- so does writing. That's literally what writing is; asking questions, interrogating the world around you. It's why we have literary devices, techniques, and elements. It's never just taking the words being printed at face value.

You can identify with a character's trauma and still understand that their badly written. You can read a story, hate everything about it, and still like a character. As I stated a while back, I'm reading Fourth Wing; the book is terrible, but I like the main character. The worldbuilding is also terrible, but the author writes her PoC characters with respect. It's not hard to acknowledge one thing about the text, and still find enough to enjoy the book. And authors grow when we're honest about what worked and what didn't work. Shadow and Bone was very formulaic and derivative at points, but Six of Crows is much more inventive and inclusive. Veronica Roth's Carve the Mark had some weird racial problems, but Chosen Ones was a much better book in terms of representation. Percy Jackson is the same way. These writers grow, not just by virtue of time, but because they were critiqued and listened to that critique. C.S. Lewis and Tolkien always publically criticized each other's work. Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes had a legendary friendship and back and forth with one another's works which provides so much insight into the conversations black authors and creatives were having.

Writing has always been about asking questions; prodding here and there, critiquing. It has always been a conversation, a dialogue. I urge people to love what they read, and read what they love, but always ask questions, always understand different perspectives, and always keep your mind open. Please stop stifling and controlling the conversations about your favorite literature, and please understand that everyone will not come out with the same reading experience as you. It doesn't make their experience any less valid than yours.

[etoilesombre]

Hi im a new here i finally watched black sails after someone convinced me. And im changed. I'm. Yeah. I'm not who i was before. It's a bizarrely good show?

I'm so so so glad that so many ppl on ao3 agree with me that flint and silver need to fuck. Have fucked. Will fuck.

This will be all i think about for the next month or so.

If you have fic recs do let me know. I'm in dire need.

Hi my friend and welcome to hell! It's the best, right? ("Month" is a HIGHLY optimistic estimate about how long this will consume your brain...)

So honored that you asked for recs! I don't think I've ever compiled a general list of favorites, I had a great time and I think I'm happy with the results. This is by no means comprehensive, and obviously HIGHLY reflective of my own tastes, which are... uh.. I am known to not enjoy nice things very much. I invite others to reblog with their own favorites. Here we go...

Notes: These are in vaguely chronological order. I'm including word count and brief descriptions so you know what you're getting into but no warnings or anything, that's all on AO3. They are all silverflint and all explicit (I think, there might be one or two 'mature' in there but, this is the they need to, have, and will fuck list.) I didn't include any of my own work because presumably that's how you found my blog so you're aware, but I do have a pinned list, and if you want recs for mine or to talk about any of these just message, I will talk about silverflint all day.

Overall Recommendations:

The Most Unexpected Things by forbiddenarchives (~20k words) I think this one is a great starting point. It is very.. fic flavored fic, if that makes sense, in a great way. Hits the spot. The author's description is "season 2 if everyone were 5000% hornier" and that is accurate. Note this is marked as unfinished, but the place it wraps up feels totally reasonable to me.

As Good as Gone by spinninginfinityboy (~5.5k words) Complicated hot weird semi-hate sex on the way to Charles Town. A thing with a Spanish Dubloon that is emblazoned on my brain forever.

Combat by equestrianstatue (~10k words) A two part series, which I think captures the push-pull early frenemies vibe of s1-2 perfectly. Also the writing itself is stellar.

All alone in a moonlit shanty by PrimalScream (4.3k) Celebrating a good day hunting, Flint gets very drunk and tells the crew a dirty story. Silver tries to put him to bed, but he has different ideas. By far one of the lighter things on this list.

after the winnowing by princesskay (~14k) Set after Silver loses his leg, early in his recovery. Silk pajamas, multiple orgasms and overstimulation as well as their usual codependent fuckery.

What It Feels Like Not to Hurt by Robotboy (~9k) Another recovery fic. As the author says, it's 9k of slowburn watersports but really it's about Silver's pain and autonomy and humiliation and. Just. Even if it's not your usual cup of tea it's hot, give it a try.

vigia by doomcountry (~3k) A short, perfect rendering of their dynamic during early s3 raid times. Heartwrenching character study, excellent porn.

The Sack of James Flint by princesskay (~107k) So, yes, this is a novel length sub!Flint cock and ball torture series. I would make the argument that it is one of the best character studies in the fandom, for real. Absolutely worth your time, but fuck, it hurts your heart as much as your captain's balls in the end.

Concurrence by ember_firedrake (~2.5k) Mid s3. The first time they call each other by their first names. Now, that's not actually a thing I think they do, but, good porn and lower angst.

appreciation by nysscientia (~8k) Flint cultivates a certain aloof persona, but Silver sees right through it, and eventually they kiss about it.

Don't Fear The Ships (Fear The Black) by Farasha (~10k) - Silverflint use learning to sail as a coded way to flirt and talk about feelings (and eventually they kiss about it).

A Ship Is A Republic by Robotboy (~20k) A slow burn fic set during the inter-season sword training times. Love this dynamic, this author does power bottom Flint and sub Silver so fucking well.

deliverance is ours by the light of the stars by piratecaptainraven (3.1k) Flint sees Silver and Madi together, and doesn't stop watching when he should. They don't technically fuck in this, but its SO much pining, and the writing is poetic and gorgeous.

frail and fragile bars by ajaxthegreat (~21k) Possibly the hottest thing I've ever read, this rewrote my brain chemistry. Slow burn-ish. It captures that late season love and dependence and resentment and power struggle.

Cold, Dark, Depraved by notfelix (~10k) When fucking fixes absolutely nothing. This hurts in a way that feels, to me, similar to canon. I hate it (affectionate).

Opportunist by anonymous (~6.1k) This was part of the kinkmeme event (see below) and it fucking changed me. If I recommend one fic and only one fic to process the ending, it's this. It's awful. It's necrophilia and light cannibalism. It's the only thing I can imagine happening after, if Silver actually shoots Flint on that island. It makes me feel bad in the best way.

hand in unlovable hand by brinnanza, Jaynovz (~9.9k) Affectionately known as the worst ending AU, this is actually a great followup to the last one. How Silver copes, after Skeleton Island.

Bonus: AUs. I don't generally read AUs, but these two worked for me, in very different ways that still felt very silverflint.

did the twin flame bruise paint you blue by Jaynovz (138k) Novel length mod AU where silverflint broke up, and we see their relationship along two different timelines, before and after. Toxic fucked up goodness, lots of BDSM dynamics, bonus silvervane! All set in NYC.

holy ghost fire by ajaxthegreat (~52k) Appalachia horror au! The author clearly knows the area, and silverflint is already a ghost story, so it works really well. If you've ever been there you'll know how right it feels, if not, just trust me.

extra bonus: fic event collections and rec lists

kinkmeme

built on sand

beach blanket black sails

@jaynovz has also compiled a number of much more specific rec lists, which can be found at #jay's esoteric rec lists

[naehja]

Ok I'm for the Angst today.

For a little (very) angsty idea.

One day Airplane is very tired and frustrated. His work didn't become like he wanted. He had a lot of lore ideas, of relationships ideas…but people wanter porn. People wanted SQQ to suffer (looks to a certain cumcumber). He ended killing or not using characters he loved (without being able to use his ideas about them). People enjoyed Luo Binghe becoming violent, sadistic, pervert (becoming a r*pist). It's not what he wanted. He wanted to write something else with his characters. He wanted another story. Not THAT. But he needed money and people wanted THAT. But he's so frustrated. His story became something he hates….he hates what it became.

At a point, he listen a potcast about Conan Doyle and how he killed his main character to (try to) end the stories about him. Even if he failed since people wanted so much the character's return that he forced himself to find a way to make him survive and return.

And this famous day, he's so frustrated and disillusioned that he wrote about Luo Binghe's death. Like his demon blood, at a point, start to poison the human parts of his body because he's too powerful with his demon powers and he damage his body without realizing it. He writes how Luo Binghe becomes more and more tired, starts to cough blood, etc. How nothing can help him (no plants, meats, or even s*x).

He even writes lore about half demons to justify what happened. So it would no look like if he just invented it recently but had planned it. And so his book…his story, who became something he hated and was frustrated with, ended with Luo Binghe's death.

Half demons doesn't live long. Being 50/50 is dangerous.

Half Demon Body can't bear the fight between the two egal parts of his being: It's like if his own body was destroying half of his adn.

It's only happen with the Heavenly Demons. So the most powerful ones. Airplane even writes that Binghe's father never thought of the possibilty to have a child with a human so never spoke about those problems with his lover (Binghe's bio mum)

To avoid any reincarnation plot, he evens say that Binghe can't reincarne because demon reincarnation and human reincarnation are differents. And since he's 50/50, he can't use any of them.

Airplane, maybe a little drunk: Ha! fuck you! That's for have forced me to do stupid harem plot rather that all the serious and lore things that i wanted to write! You forced me torture and kill SQQ!! Well i kill Luo Binghe!

Airplane: I wish i could see Cumcumber's face when i'll publish that! In your face Hater =)

He has never the possibility to publish it (like for Shen Jiu's backstory) because he dies and is reincarnated as SQH.

He feels bad about a lot of things. Because SQQ's horrible backstory for exemple.

Everything Airplane wrote about this universe happens, right? The backstory of the characters, the deaths of certains characters…except after Shen Yuan being sent there, things seems to change: SQQ's change of behaviour, LQG is saved, etc…

But the change are not because the story is different but because Shen Yuan takes over SQQ's body. So yeah, some things become more and more differents. But others things stay the same.

And SQH realizes that nothing can change Luo Binghe's fate because he 100% wrote that NOTHING could save him and even wrote LORE to justify that nothing could save him. And that seen how everything happens sooner in this universe....

SQH: Well Fuuuuuck

SQH: …Should i tell Cumcumber bro?

*later*

SQQ: What do you mean, the inevitable death of Luo Binghe is coming in the future? OoO

System: Ask the author :/

[brw]

Man, how do you even tell if something is "in character" for a comic book character? Especially the really old ones. There's been so many authors and artists not only building off each other but contradicting one another. Do you just pick out the runs you like? What if the run you dislike is important? What a mess

I mean, yeah. When dealing with characters like ones from very long running comic book series' that involve many different writers, artists, other creators, with various different politics, backgrounds, expectations and opinions to show through their writing through the medium of a shared universe in comic books, conversations around characterisation become very murky. But to me, that's part of the appeal. I think if you're getting into an old, established shared universe like Marvel Comics or DC with the expectation that everything will be canon all the time, or that characterisations of characters who have been in consistent publication for years, decades, and in some cases, coming up to centuries are going to stay static is one that is going to set you up for failure, in which case company-owned shared universe comics as a medium may not be for you. And that's okay! They don't work for everyone!

Something I think about a lot is that everyone has their own sense of canonicity, of which events do and do not matter, and that extends to writers too and it's important to sometimes approach things from the perspective of where they might be drawing certain things from. Comic book writers and creators aren't just like, people who have been living and breathing comics since birth (although some, like Jim Shooter, are). Taking for instance, Sabertooth. Did Victor LaValle write the most canon Sabertooth ever to exist? Probably not! But LaValle as a horror writer, as a very politically conscious and acclaimed novelist, has other things to say about Sabertooth than following every single comic published before him, and we have an incredibly fascinating and beautiful story for it. The opportunity to have interesting artistic and novel ideas explored just as much as the people who are clearly more based in the actual lore and history of comics like an Al Ewing is what makes this genre so wonderful to me. Each can have their own space, and sometimes even within the same character and the same team.

And yeah, there is an element of picking and choosing, but I also don't think it's right to like, dismiss anything outright. If you have to dismiss a lot, after a certain point you don't actually like the character you're reading, just the idea of them, which I think is where problems arise and where maybe more singular visions in books or creator-owned comics might suit someone better.

It's difficult with comics because you aren't ever dealing with comics in a vacuum, either–the biases of comic creators and their politics always colour their writing. I've been talking a lot about Charles Xavier for example, and he's a good example of this, because he serves equally as a mouthpiece for tolerance and acceptance for writers, and as a scapegoat for their political or personal frustrations. He is often a representation of a writers' disability politics and perspective on wheelchair users, regardless of if that's something they knowingly engage with or not. And you can't really disentangle Charles' character from ableism, because so much of his character has depended on tropes surrounding the disabled body. So trying to engage with Charles outside of this context, ignoring the ableist tropes inherent in his writing or erasing his disability outright, by both people who love him and people who hate him, leaves so much out that after a certain point you're not engaging with this character at all, you're just looking at a very vague representation of him built from your own expectations and opinions and not what the reality of his character looks like.

It's a difficult topic, and I don't really have a straight answer for you. Because on one hand, I do, as I said, think it's wrong to dismiss textual history outright, or to make blanket statements over certain eras or periods. Like, I've talked before about Claremont's racism and Zionism, which has infected the entire X-Men because of how much contributions he made to them as a franchise, but Claremont X-Men is still like, Good. It's Zionist, and racist, and incredibly fetishising towards Asian people and black women, and those are inherent to it, but there's a reason why that run is as acclaimed as it is, because even with that baggage it is still a story people love and people come to and people want to talk about. Things don't become massively popular across generations without having some artistic merit, something that speaks to people.

But, equally, striving for more tolerance, and making a safer, more open, more critical space in comic book communities is necessary, and a very important step in that process is acknowledging the sordid past of a lot of our favourite comics. Enough time has passed that people are willing to acknowledge that while the contributions made to comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby are impossible to overstate, and that those comics are artistic and beautiful and strange and have a very important place in the history of pop culture and American culture as a whole, they also are deeply misogynistic! They have very flawed opinions and perceptions of black people, and there's a host of anti-communist rhetoric that spins into active sinophobia. And we're having those conversations more and more, which is good, and necessary to start reappraising these comics and creating a better environment moving forward, but it's important to keep up that momentum for the likes of a Chris Claremont or a Grant Morrison.

There's not really a clear answer I can offer you, ultimately. To a point, it is a choose your own adventure story, but to another, comic book history is a complicated, ever changing and ever fluid thing, and dismissing parts of it to preserve your opinions on characters that are ultimately fictional takes away from what makes this kind of comic book interesting to me, and what makes it a unique creative medium.

[elainsgirl]

Imagine you’re SJM and you have been building up this beautiful story between Elain and Azriel for years, and you decide to write a scene where they wanna jump each other’s bones in a bonus chapter, thinking it would hype readers up for elriel’s romance, but then your friend Steph thinks gwynriel is endgame based on that and spreading nonsense about them on social media. I would be so embarrassed if my friend missed the whole point and that I have to ask her to not post about them like they’re canon. I’d be so annoyed that my friend didn’t understand the story I was trying to tell. Because honestly something like that would make me question if I wrote the story well enough

I just know Mass was giggling and blushing whilst writing the beginning of the bonus which certain parts of the fandom have twisted to become something so disgusting which was clearly never Sjms intention and they did it all because they hated that the bonus confirmed what they’ve been dreading - that Az is very much into the character they hate the most.

Idc much about Steph because who is she in the long run? Its not like she is Mass’s close confidant who knows everything that will happen in the series. Her opinions are just as valid as mine and yours - gwynriels have just inflated her importance because for some reason they think Steph reflects Mass and whatever steph says comes from Sjm.

I’d be embarrassed too ngl. It would definitely make me distance myself which seems like what Mass has done with anything acotar related w steph. Apparently, Steph came online and said how not every interaction is meant to be romantic or something along those lines so…if thats true I think it does speak volumes.

you know what, as an author it would make you question yourself but I think for Mass - the more hated something is, the more enticing it is to write about and if everyone is out here believing its gwynriel only for Mass to confirm elriel - it would be a suprised which is what she is known for. Im jusst happy Mass distances herself from the fandom and even discussing acotR w her friends. Its a very healthy move to make as an author.

[roboj0e]

Wade would bully Peter bc someone said he would and wrote it happening and bc y'all are so boring and annoying. Fanfiction isn't about what's canon or strictly in character thats why they're called transformative works. I think y'alls weird obsession with what's cannon while also trying to heavily police what and how ppl make fiction is honestly been the death of fandom and creativity.

There hasn't been a large scale cross over in fandom in years that either wasn't completely ironic or torn down by bullies that it fizzled out bc y'all don't know how to have fun. Even that recent debate over how sans would react to his brother death is further proof of y'all's lack of understanding of interpretation and fan works. Fanwork are supposed to exist in the reality of the fiction of the person who wrote it. NOT what IS the right interpretation bc there are NO right interpretation except for what is made canon which can be anything bc WE aren't the creators.

Who cares what happens in the comics. The comic themselves don't care what happens in other comic runs unless it's specifically meant to be a spin off/continuation.

Wade is SUPPOSED to be a morally ambiguous character. I know y'all have washed him of all the ambiguity bc ppl have told you that how ur supposed to approach fiction and y'all can not perceive a protag who might not be the best person who ur also NOT supposed to hate (god forbid a protag not have Jesus adjacent morality) but thats what he is. He'll do whatever anyone wrote him doing bc he's not real and also anything thats morally ambiguous or toxic bc that's one of his character traits and what was supposed to set him apparent from other heros he's not even a hero he's an antihero. I can not believe y'all are moralizing something as tame as bullying. Bullies making up with their victims happens in DISNEY movies now y'all tryna make that into some problematic take. OMG. And this is from someone who WAS bullied briefly until I learned how to fight and stand up for myself.

Thinking that someone who romanticizes something morally wrong couldn't have possibly been through that experience is the direct antithesis of fiction. It also makes no sense. Plenty of ppl write from experience but also sometimes turning it into a story in which they control how they interact with a bully does A LOT FOR REGAIN CONTROL OF THOSE NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES. STOP TRYING TO SUS OUT WHO HAS TRAUMA OR NOT. also STOP thinking that you are an authority of certain traumatic experiences you aren't every experiences are very VERY personal and the portrayal of those experiences should have NOTHING to do with yours bc there is NO way to encapsulate all lived experiences. And even if someone hasn't been bullied who cares again decenter yourself from a fictional scenario that should in now way be a representation of you bc u are not the center of the universe.

(THIS SECTION UNDERNEATH IS MY HEAD CANON U DONT HAVE TO TELL ME U DONT LIKE AGE GAPS IDC)

Secondly wade only wouldnt bully Peter TO ME bc I'm not a teenager in highschool like some of y'all and highschool fics don't interest me and wade to me shouldne even be in highschool and always be the much older one in the dynamic. They shouldnt even be near the same age for me. But whatever floats ur boat. You can do whatever you wan't but when y'all make these long posts telling OTHER ppl what they can and can't do OR how you think YOUR interpretation of the character is the most right your crossing a line frl.

Edit: I read both Deadpool and spiderman comics btw plus the very wonderful spiderman/Deadpool run. GASP I know someone who likes the source material but doesn't adhere strictly to it bc I actually have an imagination and like to have fun instead of kissing marvels feet and remaining in a narrow interpretation of a character. A rare breed I guess.

Edit edit: I also think alot of y'all have a very romcom take on spideypool. And thats definitely fine love my fair share of fluff. But I have a much more complicated take on them. Again I think an age gap compliments these complications. It adds to an imbalanced perspective of both of them towards each other. I'm also very uninterested in a spideypool that grow healthy together or peter "fixing" wade. I want them to overcomplicate their relationship but for it to also be a healthy balance of comedic and fun and hot monkey sex that keeps them interested in a less than perfect relationship. A sorta push and pull from both sides.

[humanpurposes]

There isn't any point to this, I'm just ranting.

Lately, posting fanfiction feels like screaming into the void.

This isn't to say I'm not grateful for those who do interact with my posts. Since I've started posting fanfiction I've gone through phases of having a lot of motivation, having little motivation. Phases of comparing how many notes I get compared to someone else, then reminding myself why I started writing fics in the first place, because I can do exactly what I want with something I write. And I so appreciate all the comments, likes, kudos and reblogs I get on my fics.

There can be a whole load of different reasons why engagement in fandom lately has been not great. Season 2 being a mess, toxicity and petty drama within the fandom, dwindling attention spans, general disinterest in HotD and ASOIAF. I get it. I haven't felt particularity inspired by the latest season, I'm not very 'Tumblr sociable' and tend to stick to a few mutuals, I also haven't been interested in reading as much fanfiction for a few months.

And if someone doesn't want to interact with me or my content, for whatever reason, that's their business and it's completely valid. I don't write to hit a certain number of notes or followers. I write because I enjoy it. I started posting because I thought there might be a few people out there on the internet who might like what I was doing. In a way I have found that, and I know I wouldn't have stuck with writing this long if I hadn't started posting. But I won't lie and say it isn't disheartening when you get nothing or very little back after putting a lot of time and thought into a chapter.

And on top of that, some comments are just... the worst. What goes through someone's head that they feel the need to read a fic they don't like, comment all the reasons why they didn't like it, AND insult a writer who has posted this FOR FREE. We're all doing this as a hobby. The fact that fanfiction is public is not an open invitation to criticise, all you're doing is discouraging people from sharing their works or writing altogether, which damages our community. Fanfiction is not content simply there for you to consume. It's a pure form of creativity (in my opinion), because it doesn't come from necessity or obligation. If you don't like what you're reading, stop reading it. Find something else, or go write a hateful review of an actual book on Goodreads because at least that author got paid.

Or even just people being so stubborn about their dislike of certain characters. I can't tell you how sick I am of people taking the existence of Alys Rivers so personally in fics. Or wishing death upon characters that are clearly central to the plot or main relationship in a fic (why are you reading an Aemond fic if you hate Aemond)??? This fandom can only operate in extremes, apparently. There's no room for nuance or emotional complexity and it's frustrating when someone projects that on a fic.

I don't really have a point to this. Read what you want. Read the tags first. Reblog posts to keep them alive. Ask writers about their fics and OCs. Be nice to people.

[kaccvcate]

This may surprise my fans, but in my life I often find myself to be a very unloved person, despite my best efforts. Perhaps that's why I feel the need to defend the unloved and controversial. Somehow more provocative now than when it was made in 1946, my favorite hill to die on is Song of the South. The last time I wrote about this movie I was 19, and although I had a fairly adequate defense, I believe now I have a much more nuanced understanding of history, and can do it more justice.

When this film was made, the United States army had only recently been desegregated, and the Deep South was still under apartheid. It's based on a book featuring stories collected by a white author who worked alongside black laborers on plantations, controversial when it was published in 1881 for the dignity it gave to "folk stories" (how some people pronounce "non-Christian religion.") I haven't read the book, but like it or not, racists hated it when it was published, and that means it was a daring and revolutionary piece of literature. For those who are not familiar with United States history, slaves were legally granted their freedom in 1864. I could get into the fact that slavery is still alive and well in United States prisons, perpetuated by racist laws targeting certain ethnicities, but that is a whole nother can of worms.

The script was written by Dalton Raymond, who had actually lived in the south, and Maurice Rapf, a Jewish communist. Some parts of Rapf's draft had to be toned down for fear of censorship, but the whole movie is reflective of his touch. The black actors are the only authentically southern characters, the white actors were all Hollywood people (and as a red person living here in Mississippi I can tell you exactly why.)

The most important part of this film is the animated sequences depicting myths about the character Br'er Rabbit. Many people see race as an issue of black and white, but reality is a lot more complicated. In reality, many natives of all nations were sold into slavery by their friends and family. A lot of black people are actually native as well as African. Specifically the stories that Uncle Remus tells are Muskoke in origin, and I know this because my great grandmother told them to me, and she never saw this movie. James Baskett tells the stories with familiar ease, he performs the voice acting for the majority of the characters. This means he was intimately familiar with the stories, and judging by his accent, I would say he is probably Muskoke, which means he is the same race as me. The movie centers around his phenomenal performances. Over and over, the black actors are more effective in their roles, but due to their race only a few of them were given the opportunity to perform in other movies.

Some have attacked this movie for the characters talking as if they're "stupid," which is incredibly offensive since the black actors have clearly been allowed the freedom to write their own lines, they speak very naturally and are written with complete dignity. Simply I would be able to tell if a honky or Jew had written fake dialect for them, and I've watched the movie with a black friend from rural Georgia, who emphatically confirmed it was how his family spoke when he was a child. Multiple actors have distinctive Muskoke accents. The stories themselves are about animal characters outwitting each other competitively, and have a lot of wisdom in them (in my humble opinion.) In Asian cultures "zen" is celebrated for its superficial simplicity, which reflects enormous depth, but I suppose native americans are just "stupid." People are often trained to think of unique dialects as being indicative of less “education,” but people are learning constantly even when they aren’t reading books or speaking in European accents. To reduce your estimation of a person’s intelligence based on accent alone is racist, whether your skin is black or white or anything else.

Many people attack the movie for portraying the black workers singing, as it makes them look happy. I don't know how to approach this, as the fact is that songs were a vital part of the work day back then, and still are today, regardless of how happy you are to be there. Maybe this is just my cultural understanding. People also inaccurately assume that the black characters are enslaved, simply because they're living on a plantation. The unfortunate truth is that after black people were freed from slavery, absolutely nothing was done to help them in any way, and so many chose to stay where they were if it was nice enough, which is the situation portrayed in the film. The unfairness of the dynamics between the characters due to their race or income is the center of the plot. The movie also features poor white characters, which is accurate to reality as, at risk of stating the obvious to some, many white people also suffer from colonization and most never owned plantations. (Yes, even in Georgia.) On my Scottish side I am descended from slaves sold to American colonizers by the English, who colonized Scotland first, for example. People of all colors and nationalities have taken advantage of colonialism and slavery for all of history, including native americans and Africans who sold their comrades to European conquistadors, Jewish people who owned slave ships, and so on. Even in some cases Asian people bought slaves for their plantations in the American south (this won't come as a surprise to anyone Asian, as slavery is still common in many countries and not limited to prisoners as in the U.S.) It's a complex situation that can't be simplified into "white people did this to black people," as convenient as that would be.

Walt Disney had this movie premiere in Atlanta specifically to make a statement. The theater was segregated, as I mentioned previously, and the black actors weren't allowed to see the screening. They also were forced to stay at a separate hotel. Walt announced the movie, and walked out, leaving a theater full of empty seats - black actors comprise the majority of the cast, and again are the only authentically southern characters.

I've shown this film to lots of native friends, "black" and "white," and many were perplexed as to how the film could be considered racist. I think the misunderstanding is largely due to divisive propaganda. To judge a work of art as intensely cooperative as a movie by the actions of one individual is a little reductive, but it's true Walt Disney was a flawed person. He had as recently as 1941 gone through a massive strike at his animation studio, as he was treating workers extremely unfairly, not to mention his unfortunate racial disability (being white.) And we won’t even get into his friend Leni Riefenstahl today. But just because he wasn't a devout communist, doesn't mean he wasn't also a daring and revolutionary artist. People’s actions aren’t any more black and white than their ethnicities. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the very first feature-length cel animated film, released in 1937, less than ten years before Song of the South. Less than ten years previously, people didn't think a feature length animated film would be watchable, and if you watch some short films released before then, you'll see exactly why. Maybe he didn’t see ripping off his employees in California as being related to apartheid in the south, or maybe artists he respected and admired quitting their jobs made him open his eyes to discrimination more broadly. Perhaps the events of World War II were a factor in his decision making. It’s hard to know, but I’ll never stop loving a movie that so beautifully portrays the characters I first learned about from my great grandmother.

[mymoshangthoughts]

it's prolly time i talked abt my theories for luo binghe and airplane having similar personalities

so i have like separate theories about how exactly the multiverse works in svsss canon and what the system is and airplane's specific relationship to god-hood that i should prolly make a post about to explain BUT

before that i wanna talk about the influence between protag and author lol

oki airplane might be a hack author but he isnt the type of author who can only write self insert characters. still, there is something to be said about relating to your protagonist and something else to be said about method acting

like sometimes when you get so fair into someone elses head for writing (or acting) purposes, certain traits just stick. your personality can influence the character your write but also the personality of the character you write can influence your own, it's a kinda funny lil quirk of people. it's a lot to do with cognitive dissonance, our brains don't like inconsistency. so if you spend all freaking day writing about a character who fucking loves pizza, even if you kinda hate pizza, you'll start to feel a certain want for pizza. because you've basically been telling your brain for hours "PIZZA IS THE BEST, WE LOVE PIZZA". you're not gonna change your tastebuds lol, the power of suggestion isnt THAT strong, but it can definitely make you second guess "do i hate pizza....? should i try it just one more time??" and look, if you really hate pizza, you'll still hate pizza. this isn't some "personalities can change dramatically via the power of suggestion" post. BUT if you were maybe just meh on pizza or your hatred was overblown bc of a bad experience, you might find that you didn't hate pizza that much.

so if you spend all day writing like a machiavellian manipulative bastard, if you generally don't have a manipulative bone in your body, you're not gonna become machiavellian overnight. but if maaayybbe you have some machiavellian traits that you normally don't explore bc Society or Morals or Whatever, you might start to lean into those traits more

it's a bit of the same sort of thing that positive self-talk is supposed to do. it tends not to work well if you say something you absolutely cannot believe, but theres something to be said about influencing yourself by saying the same thing over and over and over

and its a bit of the same reason that when you're in a long term relationship with someone, you tend to share a lot of traits with them over time, because you're just kinda together that whole time

so basically i like to think that luo binghe and airplane influenced each other. like a two-way street. i think that airplane related to binghe as a person to some extent, prior to even writing, bc it's easier for a lot of people to model their protags after a personality that they find personally relatable, so there was a bit of a core similarity between them. not a "we're the same person" sort of bullshit, but a more general "we have a lot in common" sort of thing.

and then, after years spent "together", with binghe influenced by airplane's writing and airplane influenced by writing binghe's personality, they developed even more similar traits over time and by the time pidw ended, the two of them had A LOT in common

anyway i want to explore this more lol cuz i think it's fascinating

[chaoticisis]

I feel like I am going to get a lot of hate for this, but I don't care anymore at this point. The needs to addressed.

I believe there's a lot of toxic positivity in the interactive fiction community. Specifically, text based IFs.

Everytime, I see someone offer criticism, it gets shot down immediately and ends with them being labelled as a hater and downvoted to oblivion on the hosted games reddit. There's nothing wrong with disliking some elements in a story and being vocal about it as long as you are not harassing the author. You should not have to praise the book in order to make your opinion matter.

Yes, a lot of people misuse the anon feature. There are comments people have made towards authors and made assumptions about them that have left me reeling but not every comment has to be an attack. When someone says "oh i didn't like ABC book because of XYZ in it. I wish it was YXZ instead, I would have enjoyed it more then." There is always someone in their replies with the "if you don't like it so much, why are you even reading it. Maybe don't tell the author what to write?"

Here's the thing :

Wishing for something to have been a certain way doesn't mean it should have been that way alone. It means the poster would have enjoyed the work more if it was written that way, it doesn't necessarily mean, they are imposing their opinion on the author.

Also, why is our immediate response to any kind of criticism "yeah, well maybe its not for you, stop reading it" because why should they?? Maybe there's a lot of things they like about the book? Maybe they are interested in the setting? The premise? They are actually looking forward to how the story will develop or are at least curious about in which direction the author is going to take it? Maybe they love the relationships in it?

I recently came across the post of an author making fun of people who has a discord server to "hate" on IFs. Now, I don't know much about this so I could very well be in the wrong here— if that's the case then I sincerely applogise in advance, but I am assuming there are no authors in the server. If that is the case, then I don't see how that is an issue? We watch shows. We get excited about them. We want to have someone to talk about it. People make edits of it. We read things. We get frustrated about it. We need a space to vent about how it made is feel. It's exactly that.

It's actually a great thing in my opinion. It's a discord server so these haters won't be in the authors' faces— unless you deliberately join the server, in which you don't have anyone else to blame but yourself. It's a discord server, not a place you can go looking for constructive criticism. I remember looking at the post and thinking how incredibly rude it was when the author told those people to get a job. (Especially the way they worded it) Because would you say the same to the people in your inbox? Or the people taking the time out of their life and drawing art for your characters because they loved your work? Or the ones making memes? Or the ones writing those extremely lengthy posts on reddit about an IF? Or those who join fan based discord servers of IFs to gush over them? No, you wouldn't. Because that benefits you. When you post something online it is bound to receive both negative and positive reaction. Collen hoover is a best selling author, yet a lot of people dislike her work.

However, I do understand that IF authors are more accessible and hence, have to face harassment by these people hiding behind anon. I have defended authors myself. It does get out of hand sometimes. But still.

I came across this discussion on the forum about how people feel about ROs potentially getting into a relationship with an NPC. Someone said how they don't like it because they read books to escape reality. They are not a fan of realism in fiction. For them, fiction is fiction. Now, personally, I don't care about it. I like me a little realism but I understand. At the end of the day, it's upto the author and i will just have to look for books that align with my tastes. But somebody dismissed this person by saying how "its just words on the paper" and how its weird for them to be jealous.

No. It's not just words on a paper. It's so much more than that. People read books, people get attached. We cry when our favourite character dies or gets injured. We get angry when we see a character we dislike show up on screen. Both are valid. Books are there to make us feel. I don't think any author would like it if they wrote something and it didn't make anyone feel any kind of way.

[piosplayhouse]

Just came across someone in the mdzscql/tgcf fandoms with an "anti fic recs" list where they just linked a bunch of completely unproblematic ao3 fics from established writers in the fandom without permission and extensive and unnecessary criticism (most of it just disagreeing with characterization) just to make fun of them, had "regretful recs" where they wrote maybe a paragraph about how they liked the fic and then listed the author's "problems" which were just whether or not they had written noncon/somno/etc kink work in ANY other completely unrelated fics or even just used words like "queer", and didn't even read some of their "anti recs" on the list but just wanted to make fun of them on the descriptions and I'm absolutely fucking livid.

Even if you don't like certain types of content that shouldn't lead you to compiling authors you don't like on a "shame list" in public stocks to humiliate them all for the grand sin of making a character a bit ooc. Genuinely ghoulishly evil behavior. It's so difficult for me to even fathom what the point of making any recs at all are since doing something like that 100% just discourages ALL writers, even the ones who make "good content", by telling them that the art they made of their own free will and time just out of a love for a piece of media is going to be mercilessly scrutinized and if deemed unacceptable your name will be blasted through the halls like some sort of mean girls burn book. Just some abhorrently poor etiquette that stifles the creativity of an entire community.

I really wish the poster had linked their ao3 somewhere so I could warn ficwriters to block them immediately so they can't access anyone else's writing since they apparently hate it so much, but unfortunately they don't have it up. I don't want anyone to harass them because bad behavior shouldn't be fought with bad behavior, but if you want to know the account to block so you don't interact in the future and promise you won't contact them you can dm me.