#but the tldr is that I think it would just be kind of a bittersweet outcome for both of them

[shazzbaa]

Asking the FLoc crayon [neon carrot] bc someone has to.

neon carrot: if you could give them any npc as a spouse, who would it be and why?

THIS IS SUCH A HARD QUESTION.

To address the obvious answer given recent activities: no i dont think he should marry Feducci, but he… might, if given the chance. The man CANONICALLY sent Sam 12 cellars of wine with a note reading "TO PASSIONS UNMATCHED" i dont think anyone can blame him for feeling like they had something special!!!! Feducci seems like he could make him very satisfied intimacy-wise but would also almost certainly Make Him Worse.

Samuel's constant difficulty with Marriage is that he isn't really… romantic in the traditional sense. HE HAS A LOT OF PHYSICAL DESIRE but romance rarely does anything for him outside of stories, and he gets antsy whenever he's locked in to a particular life plan. HOWEVER: he is usually too Catholic(TM) to really embrace a no-strings-attached lifestyle, and his tastes are well outside the typical Veilgarden hookup anyway (one of his most sensual experiences was getting murdered by an actual literal lance through the gut, so…). The real reason he bought multiple viric dreams of the Bishop of Southwark was that he was trying SO hard to Want Marriage, but even with someone so physically intense and driven, that dream of settling down for life isn't what he really wants; he just wants the part where they're wrestling by the fire.

The other complication is that he has finally found partners he can be happily intimate with: Peter and Jack (@little-red-notebook and @reliably-derogaffectionate's characters, respectively), to whom he is essentially a friend with benefits. He was best man at their wedding somewhat wistfully, but since they've both assured him that they still want him involved in their relationship, it feels very easy to be with them; a closeness he wants without the expectations that come with being a Spouse. It's still, you know, making love outside of marriage, but Samuel has never been good at avoiding that, and at least here he knows he's not leading anyone on or cheating on anyone.

An Ideal Marriage for Sam would involve some amount of polyamory to give him room for these inevitable, ah, extracurricular activities, someone that doesn't tie him down, ideally someone he can do physically dangerous things with and, importantly, have sex (these two activities can be combined). But I also think in an ideal world he would have someone who respects his own principles and doesn't try to smother his hope for compassion with duty, which feels like the big sticking point for a lot of the aggressive characters (like Southwark and Feducci) that Sam's attracted to.

I don't remember well enough to say how many of these points she hits, but I keep thinking of the Zubmariner from the Sunken River ES, as someone no-nonsense in a way Sam really respected and found attractive, but who also has people she cares about. She might be too cool to fall for this soggy loser, though, and the chances of her turning out to be a lesbian seem high. (Also Sam left her behind…. that's a choice he regrets, and I kinda wanna replay that story at some point, with the idea of him actually trying to go back for her). But in general, the idea of Samuel marrying a principled pirate where they both know their first love will always be the zee feels like something that could turn out to be a genuinely happy partnership for him. BUT WHO KNOWS maybe in a year I'll come back with a totally different answer I never saw coming.

[poopyheadandhoneybunch]

Calebs and MC's first kiss should've been a solo card

I'm gonna preface this that I absolutely LOVE the new banner. It's beautiful, the visuals, the outfits, the event and its game, the music, everything is just perfect. Rafayel's card was the first one I got and watching the story I was so satisfied. I didn't expect the depth and lore additions, I thought all the cards would just be some cute flufff which would've been super fine. But they really made an effort to show Rafayel's and MC's relationship progress, the increased emotional intimacy that we all know they both struggle with and how they both matured in their communication skill. It was a beautiful card with emotional payoff and consistent with all of Rafayel's previous cards and the stage of his and MC's relationship stage. I loved it.

Which - sadly - brings me to Caleb. Caleb's my main and so far I thought that he was beautifully written. His relationship with MC, their bond before the explosion and the following awkwardness, grief, anger and sorrow and also relief and joy of being together again was portrayed in a really mature and realistic and emotionally satisfying way.

We have seen them going from anger and despair and estrangement in homecoming wings to a tentative agreement of wanting to be in each other's lives again in endless summer, of getting to know each other again and coming to terms with these new kind of people they are now in deceptive solitude to addressing Caleb's insistence of keeping MC out of his problems and not wanting to show her weakness in hidden waves. In intertwined gold and exclusive aftertaste they dance around their feelings for each other but are too afraid of voicing things in fear of destroying the fragile bond they have manged to establish again and it's just such a beautiful, bittersweet portrayal of two people who are absolutely obsessed with one another but are held back by their history and current circumstances.

Both the main story and the cards have shown the intense tension that hangs between Caleb and MC. We have seen Caleb holding himself back, afraid of going too far and we have seen how much the guilt of his feelings crushes him down, how conflicted he is about wanting MC in a romantic way. The way he called it a literal sin in lucid dream haunts me.

This boy has wanted to kiss MC since forever and has been pining and yearning and longing in such an intense, heart aching way I have never seen before I think. Really, kudos to the animators and the voice actor because every single card had me on the floor.

And then we have MC, who also had always had feelings for Caleb, it's so obvious when you go through their "old days" cards but our girl is also the most oblivious woman in existence lol. I think that subconsciously and at some point definitely consciously she realized Caleb's intentions but deliberately chose to ignore them out of fear that it might change their entire dynamic. Which obviously it would and MC - let's be real here - LOVES being Caleb's little pipsqueak, she loves how he takes care of her and spoils her. He's the most important person in her life. Her biggest fear is to lose him. So yeah, obviously she is just going to ignore things because she think she would have to reject him and doesn't truly realize that she feels the same for him.

tldr: They are both absolutely terrified to take the next step, TERRIFIED.

Which brings me to their first kiss. A first kiss in the context of a relationship dynamic like that should've been a groundbreaking event for both of them. Not the casual, "no big deal" kiss that we got in Caleb's new card. It just doesn't fit. It doesn't fit their history, it doesn't fit their current stage of their relationship dynamic and it - frankly - also doesn't fit the card's story even.

Caleb's first kiss should've been a solo card. It should've had build up and tension, some catalyst that would've finally make them jump off the metaphorical cliff and finally put the feelings they have for each other front and center, either through a confession before the kiss or some kind of event that triggers the kiss and they talk about what it means afterwards.

They actually could've woven it beautifully into the card itself if they wanted to!! MC finds Caleb's letters, reads through them which makes her realize that she could lose Caleb again every single day and that she should stop wasting time. It makes her realize that her feelings for Caleb go way beyond their brother/sister/family dynamic, that she wants him too. Then, they go on the boat date and MC addresses this. She tells him he's the most important person in her life and that she's doesn't want to waste any more time and kisses him. It can still be gentle and soft like it is shown in the card but it would actually fit their history and context. The kiss, as it is now, happens out of nowhere. It doesn't even get addressed afterwards. The date itself is so awkwardly shuffled into the rest of the card's story, honestly I thought it was a dream at first because it's so abrupt and vague.

Don't get me wrong, I love, LOVE the rest of the card. It's beautiful, it made me actually cry. The angst, the bittersweetness of Caleb having to think about possibly dying every single day and MC being the only thing on his mind, it hurts in such a good way. It really shows how much he loves her, it really added depth to his character and up until the kiss I thought this card is his best so far.

As I was watching, I really hoped that it would go in the way I described earlier or that maybe the whole date is a dream either of MC or of Caleb. (It would've been really sweet actually if it was MC's, it could've been like the first time she was dreaming of kissing Caleb and it could've let to some realizations on our girl's part and also some adorable awkwardness where she now becomes flustered in Caleb's presence and he teases her about it.)

And THEN the next card could've been all about their first kiss, for example.

Ugh, Infold, WHY. it's so disappointing, they really dropped the ball on this in my opinion, all that buildup and tension for nothing, just to provide fanservice for players who complain about Caleb and Sylus not having the same kind of spice content the others have yet? I don't know, have you never heard of narrative consistency? Both Sylus and Caleb are being rushed in my opinion, just to satisfy some part of the player community, to the detriment of their chacters and story. Like, I would gladly wait another couple months for a REAL Caleb kiss if it would mean that it would do him and MC justice.

There still needs an emotional payoff, they have still so much to work through, like?? In Deceptive Solitude they were still figuring things out, barely scratching the surface of their many, many walls and issues between them and now they're already kissing as if they're in an established relationship. It just doesn't make sense. The kiss in the spring card is an established couple kiss, not a first kiss between two people who just a couple months ago saw each other as literal family and also one them though the other was dead. Who were experiencing catholic levels of guilt about their forbidden feelings for each other and who did their best to avoid talking about it for YEARS. This will sound dramatic but it's just WRONG. I want more. THEY deserve more.

I can just hope that this card isn't chronological and this truly wasn't their first kiss and that Infold is actually gonna release a first kiss card where they fully explore what it would mean for Caleb and MC to take that step, the emotional fallout, the impact and how they deal with it.

Oh also: What about Caleb's chip? Isn't the chip supposed to regulate and suppress Caleb's emotions any time they cross the programmed threshold? Are you seriously telling me that Caleb, CALEB!!! didn't almost have a heart attack when MC kissed him? Why wasn't the chip activated? Even the Café heartbeat interaction has that built in but not the actual kiss card? COME ON. I'm sorry but this is incredibly lazy writing and another sign that Infold just didn't think this through. I truly wonder what goes on behind the scenes during the production process because - as I said - it's not always like that.

Which makes it even more disappointing because we KNOW that they can do better, they have so much potential and they can truly deliver beautiful, emotionally impactful stories and characters. I mean we are ALL unhealthily obsessed with every single love interest and that truly says something about their skills.

I don't know, if you've read that far I am truly thankful and salute you. I just needed to put this out in the open somewhere because I love the game and I feel like this time, it really failed, in a way. :(

edited for grammar

[kiwi-luminaryofthestars]

04/18/2025 Progress Update:

TLDR: 2K written, about 24.5K so far drafted for ch 6

Lord I actually got to sit down and write today, thank God. And we got past poker! A bittersweet victory, to be past poker. I don't know if it will properly come across in the fic, and that's okay because the experience was fun anyway, but I put a lot of thought, time, and effort into these poker rounds. Thus it's both a solemn and happy parting to be done with them.

Now, we're just finishing up the last parts of section 3. They are already written, we are just fleshing them out, connecting pieces. Then we'll do the same with sections 4 and 5 and we'll be good to edit!! Maybe this'll be done at an adequate time after all (I say while knocking on every piece of wood in my general vicinity lol).

Kokichi POV has been ahhhh hard but we're doing our best. I haven't done Kokichi POV since the very beginning of ch 4, so it's been a good like two months. I gotta get back into the swing of things, put my head into my best dude, what could he possibly be thinking? The answer is lots of things and mostly self-deprecating, because I can't resist making him hate himself in anything I write. But I think I honestly just make every character hate themselves, which is... sad, but I do feel that from a lot of DR characters in general. Maybe it's just my interpretation, but it seems so few DR characters actually like who they are. And GOD that's relatable, so here I am making them all have this deep-seated hatred of themselves.

Sometimes I hope I don't come across like I hate the characters when I write like that because I AM OBSESSED WITH THEM so... could never ever ever hate them lmao. I just like making them have inner turmoil because it's relatable and interesting. I'm also very "story-first", as I'm sure you've now guessed, so I like giving characters struggles that directly correlate with where the plot is going. Like Shuichi's alcoholism is a core component of this fic and so is Kokichi's self-hatred. Characteristics that drive what they do and how they act in certain situations. This fic's plot would not continue if neither of these things existed.

Ahhh maybe that was a little self-indulgent and pretentious. Apologies, I've had a bit of whiskey in me lmao. But I'm excited to continue, excited to have ch 6 and 7 out. I do think I'll probably take another small break after 7 to write a one-shot, or maybe do the second chapter of the vampire one. We'll see. I've been getting so many ideas lately, which is... really abnormal for me. I tend to not have many ideas, but in talking with friends and hashing out scenes, it's like... I suddenly have so many I want to write one day. Double-edged-sword for sure, because it is both delightful to imagine and also a little stressful to think about lol.

Anyway, Jesus this is long. I'm glad I do those summaries at the top because this is like... a lot of rambling lmaoooo. Well, it's mostly for me, so I'm gonna be kind to myself. I want to one day have all of this for me to read back on and see what I was thinking when I wrote certain chapters. It's fun!!

I hope you all have a lovely lovely night. I send all the good vibes out to anyone reading. This weekend will be absolutely demolished by us, squashed like a bug. Have a goodnight!!

[akashirl]

sorry if im gonna spam you but also if you two were fondue (bars) would ygs be sweet or savory 🙏🙏🙏 also if there was a dish themed after you2 individually and then you2 together what would the dinner course be like !!!!! includes atmosphere , your yumeship themed cafe 🙏🙏🙏

i have never tried a fondue bar so i'll keep the answer short. sei's themed fondue bar would have a bittersweet taste to it, not sweet or savory, strictly in between. perhaps dark chocolate with cherry-flavoring (as much as i dislike this idea, it's what's most fitting for him) maybe add some caramel to save it. as for mine, it'd be a sweet bar, despite tasting salty. milk chocolate with coconut filling. i don't know if this is what the answer was referring to, i'm not very cultured when it comes to "fondue bars".

- sei as popular bars/sweets:

- me as popular bars/sweets:

i haven't given this much thought!

now up to the main dishes...

- sei's dish :: the main component would be wagyu steak, which symbolizes his authority (and, in my opinion, his elegance as well). for the sauce, red wine reduction paired with black garlic aioli -- i just find it fitting. the side would be a serving of sweet potato mash (matches the color of bokusei's eye), along with reek asparagus (because vegetables MUST always be on the plate). top it with edible gold flakes and a touch of red chili threads and you're good to go! chefs of tumblr, i hope i didn't just describe an atrocity.

- me as a dish :: the main component would be a layered mille-feuille of smoked tofu and daikon radish. the smoked tofu represents my hidden nature, and my resemblance to being kind of a "background" individual in comparison to sei. why am i talking like i'm chihiro. moving on, there would be no sauce because i'm a chicken when it comes to seasoning. maybe a little bit of soy sauce. just a little. the side would be eggplant-glazed gnocchi and dried mushrooms with beet. overall, it'd be a dish that doesn't need a lot of seasoning to stand out despite the apparent blandness.

our combined dish would be much more simpler! the main component would be seitan, which is, for me, the vegetarian equivalent of meat (that sei likes) with a side of gnocchi with teriyaki sauce then the reek asparagus and gold flakes from sei's dish. the seitan can be replaced with wagyu meat, for people who dislike vegetarian food. eitherway, i think it's quite suitable for us.

a whole café based off of our relationship...that's curious. it'd have smoky red and grey walls, decorated with hints of golden silver. the sweets department would be all based off of sei and the salty department would be on me, since i'm still incapable of eating sweets (but i'm planning on challenging myself on my birthday!! :D)

sei's desserts would feature red velvet, strawberries, cheries, passion fruit and caramel while mine would include coconut, oreos and apples. of course, not all at once. that actually sounds disgusting.

visuals!!

tldr; flavors that i associate with sei: sweetness, cheries, red velvet, passion fruit, (red and golden apples), caramel. strawberries also remind me of him but i hate strawberries so it makes no sense for me to add that.

flavors that i associate with myself: oreos, coconut, milk chocolate, hazelnut.

i think i got a little overboard and avoided the topic...i don't know. let me know if this was what you're referring to, i'm still not big on visiting a lot of cafés as i only have food that i can actually eat at home. it's still part of my disorder but i'll surely get over it!

though imagining me and sei as main courses was actually such a fun thing to do. once again, thank you for the question! never stop asking me these things hehe.

[smilesrobotlover]

Aight I’m gonna rant about the ending of totk… again. I deleted the first post cuz honestly my opinion has changed on it and I just wanna say some things cuz a lot of people left some awesome inputs.

Now I wanna say this first, I have nothing against happy endings. I love happy endings. Zelda games all have happy endings. But they’re also very bittersweet and some of them just outright devastating. This game def has a happy ending, but it’s underwhelming to me. What I want out of totk is CONSEQUENCE. You’re telling me that Link lost his arm and Zelda turned into a dragon and then in the end everything is back to normal and things are fine and dandy? Like it’s not a terrible thing, but it feels like everything you went through was kind of pointless cuz the characters don’t seem to have been affected by it. I would’ve been less upset if Zelda at least kept her memories as a dragon, or had some dragon features or something. The light dragon was easily the best part of the game and it ended in such an unsatisfying way. YOU don’t have to agree with that statement, but it was unsatisfying to me. I didn’t like how Rauru and Sonia’s bs magic just turned her back. I can understand Rauru’s arm being there since Link was there and Sonia’s time power turning her back to her original form, but how is she just there? It’s not a TERRIBLE solution but it’s not good to me personally.

A lot of people commented on the original post that there should’ve been a quest for Link to find a way to bring Zelda back, and I found that far more intriguing than leaving her as a dragon. This game is full of fetch quests but this type of quest I would’ve loved, besides, Impa WAS going to look for a way to bring Zelda back, it’s not like it would’ve come out of nowhere. I’m sure doing this would ruin the flow of the ending, but let’s think about AOC. Terrako dies. He stays dead at the ending. But after you finish the game, you can start rebuilding him, and there’s a second ending where Terrako is back with a cute second staff credit. Totk already has some AOC influence with the character bios and stuff, so I feel like it would’ve been fine if they had done this honestly. And it would’ve been more satisfying that the player WORKED towards Zelda returning back to normal. You can have the dive that parallels the beginning and all that stuff, it’s fine. I just feel like this would’ve been a better ending to the game.

But again, I want consequence. I want Zelda to either be haunted or amazed at seeing history before her very eyes as a dragon, I want Link’s arm to not magically regenerate, I want there to be something different with the characters. Cuz to me, it felt like the characters came out the same way they went in.

Now just to clarify, this would’ve fixed the ending for ME. If you’re content with the ending I do not care. Good for you. I’m so glad you’re happy. But this overhyped game wasn’t good for me and I have so many issues with it so I just wished that Nintendo did something better with the ending. Something more bittersweet or hopeful towards a future cuz there’s none of that (I guess Mineru dies but she was already dead and only Zelda cared about that so I really didn’t care that she officially died. And it’s not like she was an interesting character to begin with).

Tldr; I wish there were more consequence to the game and I wish the light dragon had a more satisfying ending

[wordsofasarcast]

It’s your gal sophie here, and I come bearing a sorta long ask. I’m going to pack a lot of things into this so it might feel a bit rambly-

Firstly, CONGRATULATIONS ON THE NOMINATIONS!!!!

You deserve it, really. The amount of time and thought you put into your fics is absolutely unfathomable, and updates literally make my whole week. 

Secondly, the latest Dolce chapter has me literally spiraling, I’m so excited for the next one! (take your time btw, there’s still a good two weeks until I start rereading and making theories about what happens next)

(You’re really dropping chapters like Nico drops surprise songs tho)

I also went through your ENTIRE tumblr just now, so here are a few observations I had.

You’ve said that in the Dolceverse Silena is a singer/songwriter under the name VALENTINA. I don’t think you’ve mentioned it in Dolce, so I was thinking that you could just plop that name in there sometime.

The song ‘Free Now’ by Gracie Abrams was suggested for Will on JULY TWELFTH. It’s been half a year, and just now it’s been mentioned in Chapter 43. I would’ve forgotten it at this point

Your first post was on June 27, 2024. It’s been half a year-ish.

Lastly, I have a request. The two chapters of ‘stars, hide your fires’ that have been released are pretty lengthy, and I’ve had to read both chapters over the course of a couple days to finish them. (Still working on the second one.) Could you possibly make them shorter? I know they aren’t always going to be this length, but right now it’s really hard to start them because of the rather intimidating word count. 

Love your works, love your writing, and love your personality. Mwah<333

P.S. I know I sound like a stalker, I PROMISE I'M NOT, I’m just really invested. Plus pls excuse me for any weird grammar, I am writing this at one AM.

Hi Sophie!

First off, I love rambles—they are so fun to read and answer. Here's a ramble in exchange :)

I'm still in shock over just how many nominations I got, especially the Author of the Year nomination in my first year of posting fics! LIKE WHAT?!! Whatever the results, I'm super proud and very grateful to everyone who votes <3

The latest Dolce chapter marks the beginning of the very last act of Dolce and that is such a bittersweet feeling. (Also, I smile every time I see your rereading comments, I think you've read Dolce more than I have at this point!)

I don't mind a bit of good natured tumblr stalking, though it might expose how frequently I've pushed back chapter releases lol. Anyway...

Good pick up! So Silena (or VALENTINA) actually had a fairly big part in the secondary storyline for Dolce Dissonance that I decided to cut. So, she won't appear and there is a reason why I've chosen not to mention her at all. I do still have plans for her in the Dolce universe though (eventually).

Has it really been half a year?! That tells you how long Free Now has been sitting in my chapter outline waiting for the latest chapter to be written. Shout out to @solitaire-addict for the great song rec! <3

I started posting my fics on April 20th, 2024 which feels like SUCH a long time ago but really it hasn't even been a full year. And then it took me a few more months to get on tumblr, but I'm so glad I did, I think answering asks might be one of my fav things.

And lucky last: 'stars, hide your fires'. The chapters are intimidating to write, too. But I've been wanting to challenge myself to write a long-chaptered fic for a while now, and Stars felt like the perfect opportunity since its very action heavy. So TLDR, they're kind of intentionally long? Future chapters will continue to average around 10K. This won't the case for all my future fics, I will continue to have a little mix of everything to suit different readers. If you'd like I could post a version of Stars that splits each chapter into 3-4 shorter chapters over on my wattpad? Would that make it less intimidating? Let me know...

Also sorry in advance for when you finish Stars Chapter 2 :) Thank you for the ask and of course, for reading along x

More stories to come,

~ Sarc

[yuurivoice]

Hi yv! I just wanted to send a message saying how much I love your content and I have for years. It's been amazing to see your channel grow and I'm one of your biggest fans!! I used to sub to the patreon but life goes hard and I haven't been able to for a while. The latest auron video has been practically on repeat for me and I really just wanted to say I hope you have a wonderful day and happy holidays!!! Give all the kitties a kiss on the forehead for me pls!

Thank you for the kind words! No worries about whether or not you're a Patreon sub, I certainly appreciate the support but always want people to put themselves first so don't sweat that and I hope you kick life's ass! Also, sending me a kind message is a pretty great way to support in its own right, so I'm genuinely appreciative!

The cats will most definitely be smooched, and I'll pass along a note that it's from a kind Anon!

It's been a wild few years, huh? Making the leap from the Tumblr days to the YouTube era was a big one, but the past 4 years were where I really started to find my footing and I think there's been a lot of growth creatively and personally.

Things have been moving in the right direction despite some personal road bumps and detours. Looking back, there's a lot of things I wish I could have accomplished and kept afloat while working through everything. Still dealing with the guilt of BitterSweet and Shattered not being a thing this year, particularly for all the ride or die Alphonse and Seth fans who have been starving for content while I've been hesitant to push out content for them because the big series wasn't coming.

Thankfully, most people have been supportive, kind, and understanding. That being said, I'm not ignorant to the nature of my content (growing roster of characters = someone's fave isn't getting posted for a while) and I'm doubly thankful to those who have been chill as other characters get established and have their time in the sun.

I'm really hopeful that in the coming year, balance and scheduling and planning are all finely tuned and help me avoid content traffic jams like we've run into such as the recent Charlie Era (lol) which wasn't exactly the plan, but with October AU series + Plushie + Lost & Found all aligning it sorta just worked out that way. Also, it bears mentioning that it's not every day that a side character who was not guaranteed to catch on as A Thing (TM) actually finds an audience and has significant demand. Sometimes you gotta roll with how things play out, and that's just the nature of creating content on social media.

I'm optimistic that things will be at least a LITTLE bit more balanced thanks to ADHD treatment and seeing huge improvements with my mental health. Which can't be understated, because holy shit, the amount of things I'm just able to do without feeling like I'm holding myself at gunpoint or making a million deals with myself to convince myself to do a single task is amazing.

Not only is it easier to get to work, it's easier to do more of the work. That Auron audio you referenced is a great example. I was worried with the script I had and the premise, I wouldn't be able to get much more than 9/10 minutes out of it. The length of my general audios is something I've been conscious of forever, so I was shocked and thrilled when I finished up with the recording and it was 24 minutes of some of my favorite Auron content ever. I'm getting more comfortable improvising, or creating more as I go vs. write, record, post. I'm able to do a little more, add things that I would normally omit or not bother with, and just try harder without feeling like I'm trying harder and purely because I'm enjoying it and I want to.

I am SO sorry that this turned into a rant in response to what was a fairly straightforward question, you caught me while I was feeling introspective.

tldr: Thanks for fuckin' with me. Folks like you make me want to work hard and deliver the goods. The kindness goes a long way, and I don't take that for granted!

[cielelyse]

Boo! I saw you followed me ^u^

What's your opinion on angst vs whump? Which do you prefer to read/write?

HI SILVER!! Omg YES! You've been such a source of happiness for me for the past 10 months and have always been so kind, and I love what you wrote -- I still think about how stark and distinct Patty's voice is in that letter -- so I'M SO HAPPY TO BE MUTUALS

(Sorry you asked straightforward questions and here I am going on a ramble wkh;ghweg;kg)

So there's actually a pretty specific thing I like in stories (it feels too callous to call it a "trope", but it kind of is one). It's when a character experiences prolonged hardships/suffering/abuse, but they don't quite recognize it as such. They might think it's just a natural thing that happens to everybody, or they might know it's abuse but react to it like nothing happened: hide it, shoulder it, repress it, put on a mask. Bonus if it happens in childhood! And bonus if their found family later finds out about it not through them!

Which I think falls somewhere between angst and whump... Tbh I had to google the definitions before answering NHEL;GWEK so from what I saw, "angst" is primarily emotional distress, and "whump" can cover either/both mental and physical suffering? (PLS CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG.) If that's the case, then I think what I like proooobably falls into more whump than angst, since I love the mental/physical torture but the character narrating wouldn't often lament about it as torture, so it might remove some of the emotional distress. Not all! But some!

ANYHOWS I do love them both. Especially if there's at least a bittersweet conclusion at the end.

And I definitely prefer to read angst & whump than write it! There are always a lot of new thought processes and emotional progression that I learn from reading -- specific to the writer -- which opens up a lot of avenues to explore empathy, WHICH I FIND SO INTERESTING. I don't learn as much writing it myself. Reading also feels more cathartic to me. But sometimes I'm really just in the mood for that specific thing above, and if I have trouble finding fics for it, I enjoy writing it myself too because that would cater exactly to my taste xD

TLDR: I LOVE THEM BOTH and definitely prefer to read!

I'm gonna send you an ask of the same questions Silver! I wanna hear what you think too!! (I realized you have a writing blog so I'll send asks in that one :D)

[bestbuybathroom]

I'm also not a big shipping person. How about 003, Ava?

rubs my grimey hands 2gether

sorry if this seems kind of disjointed/nonsensical, if you need me to elaborate on something just tell me lol

How I feel about this character: 

aouaah she deserved so much better man. she went THROUGH IT!!!! also her model is probably my favorite human model in the game, it amazes me how her and knack 2 lucas come from the same game.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: 

literally Zero

My non-romantic OTP for this character: 

her and lucas were such a cool duo in the beginning of the game,,,,, i think the way their characters interact (or rather could've interacted if i wrote knack lmao) is really interesting and kinda tragic, if that makes sense? the way they interacted in the beginning of the game vs the end where they talk more like acquaintances or strangers is soooo fjduagajwgsysbahaa starts gnawing the bars of my enclosure. tldr they're fucking DOOMED BY THE NARRATIVE. THEIR FRIENDSHIP WAS SO DOOMED and i love that. it makes their interactions in the beginning so bittersweet when playing for a second time

My unpopular opinion about this character: 

genuinely i don't think ive seen enough posts abt her to point out a strictly unpopular opinion. but personally i don't think she did anything wrong/did things that literally anyone else would do in her situation lol

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

SO MUCH the writing for the second game sucks so bad man. but off the top of my head i think exploring more of her and xanders dynamic + her backstory would've been cool. like, was xander a parental figure to her?? how long have they known each other??? xander literally barely talks about her after she betrays him like COME ONNNNN. also where are her PARENTS

My (platonic) OTP:

her + lucas

My (platonic) OT3:

her + lucas + knack

[wing-ed-thing]

I'm literally so obsessed w Foul Creature. It's the first story I found of yours that made me wanna follow and I'm so happy you continued updating it.

I'm sure you get this a lot but I love your writing style. It's the kind of style that makes me stay and keep coming back for more.

I gotta ask, without giving too much away, is Foul Creature going to end in fluffy angst or bittersweet angst?? 😭

Thank you!! You're beautiful 🩶🫶🏽

I would love to take a moment to LIGHTHEARTEDLY give you a hard time and think that all of my other writing was terrible until you found Foul Creature and decided “yeah, maybe worth a follow” LMAO. JOKING JOKING. Really though, I appreciate your kind words and I am so happy you’ve been following along and enjoying.

About the ending… I have been deciding how I want to do it. The original plan was to do a sort of “choose your own adventure” thing where a pivotal scene occurs and I ask you at the end of the chapter what you want to do. There will be a few options, and whatever is most popular will dictate the ending (I was considering with one “good” ending out of the selection). The only solid ideas I have so far are extreme angst and fluffy, bittersweet but satisfying angst.

In the same vein, I was considering a series of these for maybe a week where there would be a scenario or a piece of dialogue out of context that you would have to vote on your response. (One I was considering was “Do you love me?” But you wouldn’t know who was speaking for example.)

I do have an epilogue in mind already set in the Shippuden era, but I think it’s a bit dependent on what ending I want to go with (aka if I want to leave it up to y’all).

One thing is for certain. Everyone in the story, including you, dies. Whether or not it’s after a long, fulfilling and peaceful life may or may not be up to y’all.

TLDR: For the Foul Creature ending, I don’t know if I should just a) write the ending I have in mind b) let you choose one action at the end of a cliffhanger chapter that will dictate the ending c) make a series of polls voting on several character actions out of context before the beginning of the end. All characters will die, but the epilogue is in the shippuden era.

I am also setting the poll to one week so you can save your vote for after chapter 11 if you so choose.

[benoitblanc]

🔥 + hadestown

karolina i had to let this one sit in my inbox for a little bit because i knew if i didn't think about how to answer very long and hard i would end up with about fifty paragraphs. so my tldr of all the hadestown thoughts that are just constantly in my brain is that the ONLY musical that even stands a CHANCE of potentially beating it for objectively greatest musical ever written is into the woods, which is kind of similar thematically anyway, so maybe my point here is that if the musical isn't about the power of storytelling and the importance of individual agency, i don't fucking want it. i was lucky enough to see the obc way back before the pandemic and as such i never want to see the show again because i don't want anything to write over that memory. the catchy but incredibly sophisticated music... the bittersweet notes of the story... the sharp political commentary... the breathtaking set design... eva fucking noblezada... broadway will never ever be this good again.

(also one more quick thing: i think that almost every edit anais mitchell made to bring the show to broadway was the best possible thing she could've done, but i will mourn the loss of "you're early"/"i missed you" at the end of doubt comes in forever. WHY would you cut that. holy fucking SHIT)

send 🔥+ a topic & i'll give my honest opinion!!!

[lovinglin]

1, 2, 3, 4 and 13 with,, with lynelle? 🥹🥹🥹 you kno i love them lots bespren 🐖

I GOTCHU BESPREN. THIS ONE'S FOR YOU‼️‼️ NUMBER ONE LYNELLE SUPPORTER🫶🩷🩷

1. what are the basics of your self insert? name, date of birth, height, etc.?

I am making stuff up on the spot‼️ I don't have a last name for Lynelle but maybe... Lynelle Valentine? Perhaps? Sounds cute HSJAHSJD she has the same birthday as me (Oct. 14) like all my other inserts do, BUT I'm taking a little bit more creative liberty with his height (they're 5'5-6 methinks :3)

TLDR: Lynelle Valentine, October 14, 5'5-6

2. when in canon does your self insert come in? do you have a scene in mind for your entrance?

OOOO OKOK SO... I don't have a very concrete knowledge on game mechanics on x and y so take this with a grain of salt but- I do like thinking that there's gotta be something that the player triggers to have encounter with Lynelle. Maybe it starts off with weird and faint whispers of screams, then dialogue, then the actual encounter (battle perhaps). But here's the catch! To give it a more spooky feel, I like thinking that Nel doesn't actually... attack the player, especially with their Delphox. Maybe the dialogue just changes into something like a cry for help? Calls back to how Nelly would try and scream for help since he was trapped in the cave and left to die there. She tries calling for help from the player even though they're already dead, but in their mind- sometimes they get thrown back into an illusion they're still alive and suffering.

3. how do the other characters generally feel about your self insert?

Disturbed, probably! They're a ghost and the first encounter you have with Nelly isn't too pretty. Unless you're not used to encountering ghosts, ppl would definitely get spooked with first meeting them. Even after knowing they don't mean any harm, Nel tends to be a little- weird probably? Tends to crack dark jokes that revolves around their death and is overall maybe a bit of a pest. Not for anything bad! They've been alone for alone for a long time, so any company would be appreciated.

4. would you be considered a main character, side character, villain, or something else?

OHOHOHO, GOOD QUESTION. I've only hinted it before (and only few know abt this) but TECHNICALLY you can consider Lynelle a main character! Though, they're a discarded one, unfortunately. My lore for her is that they were made as a gnc option for the current x and y protagonists (Calem and Serena), but for some reason- was just thrown to the side afterwards (probably bc ppl weren't too fond of him...). Guess she's just a side character for now- not a villain but not a hero either. Supposed to be a hero, but fate wasn't too kind with him.

13. does your self insert have any information about their family?

Ouu what if I make this angsty!! I haven't thought much of their family but maybe... they're a single child? Whose parents were a bit careless. Making it the reason why they became a bit reckless in their choices (I mean- who decides to just casually explore a dangerous cave?)

BUT BUT... ehehe making the dynamic between him and Rainbow a bit more sad- what if Nel had a younger cousin that would come visit every now and then that would play with him. But at some point, the cousin would stop visiting- making Nelly wonder what happened and why :(

Cue to Rainbow where once Nel meets her, it's a bittersweet feeling of being reminded of their little cousin... making him want to keep Rainbow around lot more often bc he couldn't bear to be alone again.

[chaewberry]

demi this might sound weird but your writings really click in my brain in a very specific feeling of laying under a blanket with your lover on a cool afternoon but hot summer in a perfect feel good intimate way. tldr i rmb you said you read a bit before your writing sessions. girl what books do you read your writings are fire 😭 do you have any writing tips?

(((and if I'm allowed to ask more about that higuruma fic,,,,,,)))

omg circiiiii 🥰✨i'm glad my writing gives you that feeling because that's exactly how i want the readers to feel reading my fics! a not too hot summer afternoon where one has no responsibilities and no worries, just being able to laze around during those summer months!

as for what books i'm reading lmaooo. it really does depend on what i want to write sometimes. i don't only read things i like but also some works out of pure curiosity or if i think a certain book will help me with planning out a fic etc.

as for the higuruma fic oh lord i'm planning on making the start as miserable as i can, the middle vindictive with a misshapen attraction and/or escapism, and finish it somewhat ambiguous ??? no idea but it will be a hot ass mess <3

NOW, long answer below because sometimes i get toooo serious about writing phew

for example - while i was plotting my diluc fic, i read shakespeare and platonic beauty (john vyvyan) and also erotism; death and sensuality (georges bataille). the first book can get kind of boring but it gave me a new perception on love and is actually pretty perceptive about the philosophy in W.S works! (i also wrote my furina/neuvillette fic based on what i read in that book hehehehe) etc, etc.

i also read the article roland barthes: love as a language - as someone who grew up without much physical intimacy and in a family that didn't think much about feelings (lmao) this article also helped me a lot!

and of course, who could forget gothic romance and tragedy The Idiot by fyodor dostoevsky (it is, i think, one of my top five fav books.)

ohhh also, anne carson's eros the bittersweet! it is such a good essay <33333

i was very much plotting out the diluc fic like i was writing a goddamn novel lmao but also because i was frustrated because my other writings were shiteeeee.

nowadays i'm mostly reading novels, but i have recently picked up roland barthe's a lover's discourse.

my advice would be that if you feel you are lacking somewhere or if you want to strengthen your writing - read! philosophical books like georges bataille if you want to explore darker themes (but never ever ever ever read his books the story of the eye - or do if you want, but be warned lmfaooooo) and articles and novels you think will help you with the things you're writing, etc, etc.

i also write thing that have caught my eye and go hmmm how can i use this in my writing / can i use this / on which of my fics will this concept fit and stuff like that!

BUT ALSO! don't be pressured by the idea of writing or getting better! take it slow and enjoy it.

you can find a lot of the books listed above on the internet if they aren't in your local library! i used archive.org but you can also just google the pdf since they were published a long time ago!

as for writing tips hnnghhhh idk what to say except that sometimes sitting down to write without any outlines or plot and only with a sense of the direction you want a fic to go can be cathartic. as i like to say, sometimes i just like to 'raw dog' writing <333 (idk if that makes sense tho 😭😭😭)

i don't know how much my rambling will help you dear circi but i hope at least on some miniscule level that they gave you a sense of what i did to improve/help myself in my time of need lol.

also, if you want a list of sites i read articles (for free<3 hell yeah) you can send me a dm or smth!

[jinogasux-fr]

This entire thing has been really exhausting for me, and I can gratefully say it can be put to rest now.

TLDR; My account got reinstated. Santae staff said it was due to a false flag by a new automated system they had implemented. I don't think I could have gotten this outcome without everyone helping spread the word; thank you.

On the night that I made this post, I finally received another response from staff:

Needless to say, I was rather confused. It kind of felt like the explanation has changed a little bit, and now it appeared that there was some kind of hacker that logged into multiple accounts at once; not just my own account.

I sent back a rather livid response because, frankly, the way this whole situation was handled was incredibly unprofessional and, if my account really did get hacked, I could've been in a lot more trouble than just my Santae account for the reasons I explain in my response:

And just now I've checked my email again to find this response that was sent earlier this afternoon:

It's bittersweet. I got my account reinstated, which I am quite happy about and I do want to thank Santae staff for doing so, however, I am extremely disappointed by how this whole situation was handled and started. Given how silent Santae staff was to me before I made my post, I really feel like if my post didn't get as much traction as it did, nothing would come of my situation. For this, I thank everyone who reblogged and shared this. I feel like thanks to you, enough pressure was put onto Santae staff for them to take action.

Additionally, while I am appreciative of them taking steps to rectify the issues that caused this situation, as well as no longer entertaining the idea of asking for photo IDs from anyone, the fact that this situation happened in the first place has incredibly soured me from the game, and I'm unsure if I will return to it. But, I'll be keeping my eyes out, and watching how the game responds to its community and how it works to handle feedback and improve itself. Maybe with time, these wounds will heal, and I can return without feeling the way I do right now.

You can do with this information what you wish, whether you think Santae staff is telling the truth or not. I would still hesitate to recommend this game to others at this current time, and I am incredibly uncertain if I would find joy in returning to the game again after this. But, I'm tired, and I just feel like reading a book right now.

At the end of the day, I'm just happy that I got some form of closure, and the ability to make the choice of returning to the game or not at all.

Thank you, everyone - including Santae staff.

Santae banned me without telling me why and won't unban me unless I send them my photo ID

Hey guys sorry for not posting in… forever? I just suck at social media lol. But you may have seen that I've reblogged some posts that advertise Santae in the past, but please disregard all that. I've since deleted those posts after learning how the site is managed and, after what happened to me a few days ago, I feel as though I should go public about this. Because boy did I just get fucked over.

Anyway, yeah, what it says in the title. On October 24th, around 10am EST, I was restocking my user shop when the entire webpage went white. I couldn't access the site at all and, when I tried to look for the Discord on my server list, it wasn't there. I knew what this had meant. I got banned from both the game, and the Discord - this is important to keep in mind for later.

I didn't receive any Discord DM or email notification about my ban, so after asking a mod what their support email was (and yes, I later verified that this is indeed their legitimate support email), I sent them this:

After a few hours, I get this back in response:

There's so much I'm confused about here. I think the one that screams out the most is that they're asking me to show them my photo ID so I can get unbanned. Absolutely not. I refuse to do this. This poses a massive security and privacy risk. They straight up banned my account, gave this half-baked explanation, and told me I need to send my personal information or... I stay banned?

Let me make something clear: The only personal thing they have on file about this account is the email address that I created my account with, which I've also used to contact them. My real name, date of birth, anything of that nature would not be connected because this was not asked for during account creation, therefore this wouldn't actually prove I'm the account holder. Theoretically speaking, I could show them any ID in the world and for all they know, that's my real information, because they have nothing else to go off of. They even say as much in their privacy page.

Secondly, "account has been compromised"? What does that mean? I think anyone's interpretation of this would be that my account got hacked. But if my account got hacked, why wasn't I informed of this? I had to reach out to support, they did not reach out to me first. That means my password, which I may share across other sites, would have been known to someone else and thus I should've been warned of this immediately, not roughly 5 hours after the fact.

Thirdly, what, was my Discord "compromised" too? If an automated system had flagged my account, does that system somehow interact with a Discord bot so they ban a user on both at the same time? How does that work? That makes no sense as to why they'd ban me on both the game and the Discord for something like this, which is why I'm calling bullshit.

Let me tell you what I think happened.

Recently, Santae has been in some really hot water with connections revealing their relation to an older petsite, Lurapets, which has a history of scamming and artist mistreatment, as well as proof coming out of them using AI art for their NPC art. You can find these posts on the @santae-salt blog if you want to see for yourself, but I'm also linking them throughout this post.

Once the post about them being directly related to Lurapets was released, several users that the Santae staff thought might be involved in the creation of the post got banned. As it turns out, I was banned at the same time as these users.

After speaking with the @santae-salt admin, we are both of the belief that I, a regular user, got caught up in this mess because they're assuming I'm an alt account of someone else and staff demanded to see my ID because they didn't think I was a different person. It may turn out to be wrong, and yeah that sounds a bit far-fetched, sure, but really, what else can I go off of here?? Santae staff has given me a very questionable and refutable explanation as to why I've been banned, and their radio silence after I refused to send them my ID is just making me believe they don't think I'm real. They don't want my photo ID to verify I'm the account holder, they want my photo ID to verify I'm not someone else.

This is unprecedented. I've never seen any petsite ask for a photo ID in any situation, and after asking around, not even those banned from Santae were asked for this. It's just me! This is an incredible attempted breach of privacy, and, with Santae now under doxxing allegations, I really don't feel confident they'd keep my personal information… well, personal.

I messaged back almost immediately after they responded to me where I told them I would not send my ID and I had asked if there were any other way I could verify myself to get my account unbanned. I've received no response so far, and after what I've learned, I feel like I'm not going to get one at all.

So, let this be a lesson to you: don't waste your time on Santae. You can be the most obedient player out there. You can abide by all their rules, be a nice and generous player, or just be minding your own business, but if they so much as think you're associated with someone who they think has wronged them, you'll be banned.

And they can't even be bothered to properly tell you why.

[onlyswan]

i am SO SORRY for how long this message will be

dearest art,

please forgive me i’m literally just copying and pasting my thoughts about dreamboat part 2 from my rb tags (from my other account) so !! i just cant stop thinking about it and you deserve all the compliments in the world.

while reading i was just thinking about how the phrase in another life is one of the most cruel things to exist. everything you could’ve been, and all these versions of you exist; but you’ll probably never meet.

“in another life i would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you”

“in another universe we’re sitting across from each other at the kitchen table, writing a grocery list”

i also immediately thought of taylor swift’s songs cardigan & peter!! especially these lyrics and how they parallel each other:

tried to change the ending, peter losing wendy // forgive me peter, my lost fearless leader

i knew i’d curse you for the longest time, chasing shadows in the grocery line // forgive me peter, please know that i tried; to hold onto the days when you were mine

- the goddess of timing, once found us beguiling (from peter) THIS ONE RIGHT HERE!!!!

here are all the lyrics from cardigan that encapsulate the feelings i had while reading:

- i knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss; i knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs, the smell of smoke would hang around this long

- playing hide-and-seek, and giving me your weekends

- your heartbeat on the High Line, once in twenty lifetimes

- you drew stars around my scars, but now im bleeding

i could literally talk about the song peter and how a majority of the lyrics fit so well with the dreamboat characters:

- and sometimes it gets me, when crossing your jet stream; we both did the best we could do underneath the same moon, in different galaxies

- cause love’s never lost when perspective is earned

- promises oceans-deep, but never to keep

if the timing was right, if life didn’t cast its cruelties. nothing is more devastating than knowing you’ve found the right person, but the timing was just never right; its out of your reach now. all those what-ifs that haunt in the middle of the night. i hope whatever happens to dreamboat jungkook and oc, that its kind and they can finally, one day, be at peace.

now im just rambling and projecting but to give you the tldr: rip my heart out why don’t you lol. but in all sincerity, this was so beautifully written and such a bittersweet story that i will be thinking about for a long time. as always, tysm for sharing your gift with us all, its a privilege and honour to see <3

sending you all my love!! 🌱💌✨

my heart is bursting and i want to squeeze you in the biggest bear hug😭🫂❤️

“in another life” “in another universe” were invented by hopeless but hopeful lovers in my head </3 the way it speaks of regret and/or longing that can only be cured by imagining themselves across time and space 😭 so gutwrenching and cruel truly. the second example!!!! </3 they could’ve been that

okay so i finally listened to peter and you said were gonna grow up and you were gonna come find me + i won’t confess that i waited but i let the lamp burn 🥲 really hit me hard along with the ones you shared. except dreamboat!jk was told not to wait and well…

i hope whatever happens to dreamboat jungkook and oc, that its kind and they can finally, one day, be at peace.

crying like a baby </3 they deserve the absolute best in life and i hope life could be gentler with them truly

🥹🥹🥹 and i’m so grateful to all of you for dedicating your precious time to reading my works. it makes me so happy and so honored. love you to bits and pieces!! 💖🔐

[yuurivoice]

Hi! I don't know if this counts as profound but I got stuck in my creative feels so figured I would share. I create a different kind of media to your awesome work, but writing's still involved.

When I start out with a story idea, I often find it being completely derailed by the characters, the more I write them, the more I get to know them, until they eventually start writing the story themselves.

Does this ever happen to you? And if so, how do you stop them from running away with it a little too much?

That's a great question, and I've talked about it a bit before because it is definitely not the way I think most people expect writers to write, I think. lol So for me, BitterSweet is a great example of how sometimes I let my stories reveal themselves to me as I go. I may go into it with a rough idea and an outline, but BitterSweet started off as "Rival for listener's affection arrives in town, creates conflict, leads to two different routes people can listen to." and we ended up nowhere NEAR that.

As I was writing Seth's introduction to the listener, it was the first time I was sinking my teeth into him and getting to know him. Up until that point it was just "he used to do crime with Alphonse and he feels like he got sold out" but I'm big on motivations, set ups, and payoffs...and his arrival didn't have enough stank on it. lmfao

As I approached the "I don't hate him, I love him" reveal gears just started turning and ideas started flooding into my head and it was exciting. Writing, sometimes, is sorta like playing a rogue-like game for me. Never know what loot you're gonna get, or what is behind the next door. At least, when establishing the story and characters.

Once I got to BS3 I was much more deliberate and my process was outlined pretty thoroughly. I made some detours (background on Charlie wasn't planned, but people's interest in him made me pivot to an entry with the Al/Seth/Charlie story) and ran into some massive decisions, but those were all primarily choices left up to me vs. letting characters show me the way.

I don't think I've necessarily ran into any character running away too much, or straying so far off the beaten path I felt like I had to wrangle them. Even if sometimes it's inconvenient for me, they haven't led me astray yet! The issue I find is that sometimes I am too ambitious in scope, or underestimate the time and effort required to see things through to the end. Sometimes that's just on me being exhausted and struggling mentally, sometimes I just get bored, sometimes I need to move on to other stuff because of timing.

So, when I'm first learning a character and discovering what makes them tick and how they fit into what I'm trying to do they definitely get in the driver's seat for a while. Once they're well established in my head though, I'm much more likely to outline, write, perform, and post without having to make many adjustments.

Now, in terms of structure and plot, that also changes as I go sometimes. For example with the spooky season AUs, I outlined three parts for each boy, and basically after the first script in each I was like...yeah okay so this needs to be tweaked. It wasn't entirely because of character, more so I didn't really know what I wanted to do with those stories until I was in the thick of things. I might go in with a plan, but as I discover what characters really want to say, how they want to act, etc. it might not necessarily reflect what I thought the plan was. Thankfully it's never TOO far off from where we were trying to go, so it's just a matter of shuffling and planning. The AUs probably didn't help a ton because while they're familiar characters, they're also entirely different in terms of motivations and situations so I have to familiarize myself with them as if they're new.

tldr: Yeah I'm changing and adapting all the time to what the characters want to do vs. what I thought we were going to do. From little things to massive things like...oh, they were lovers, oh they were best friends, oh he nearly killed someone for him, oh he's terrified of who he was and has a shitload of trauma, oh he's healing because he's been shown unconditional love, oh he's learned how to show that love to others, oh they're like a little family now.

It's beautiful because it's coming right out of my heart and soul, rather than my brain. The deepest parts of me wanted to tell that story and I didn't even know. That's art, and I didn't even know I could do that.