#but there are ships where i generally dislike them but someone makes an AU that gets rid of the stuff i dislike

[maybeamiles]

I think shipping is most fun when you ship literally whatever so long as the fanwork interests you. Character's a lesbian? Sure why not its basically canon? Character's polyamorous with the two characters he has a unique relationship with? Sounds like a cool way to give an oft-ignored character some love. Gay for his first real friend? Amazing. A mermaid being taken care of by a guy who refuses to give up his bathtime? Better than canon give me the tenderness that's lacking in the original. RIVALS????

10/10 shipping method would reccomend

[zukosdualdao]

i don’t begrudge people interesting aus, and i get why someone might be interested in exploring a plot where azulon didn’t really order ozai to kill zuko and that whole series of events went differently from what zuko was told and what the narrative says (and the comics, contentious as they are, further cement.)

that being said: when it comes to canon, i strongly dislike the argument that it can’t really be that azulon ordered ozai to kill zuko because it’s illogical when he just berated ozai for disrespecting iroh and lu ten after lu ten’s death…

because like… yes. it’s illogical, and unfair, and absurd, especially when he’s ostensibly doing it in the name of love for iroh and respect for the family line (which is not actually what it’s about, but more on that in a minute.)

it’s not logical or reasonable. that’s the point.

abusers don’t care about logic, not as it pertains to them. abusers will often give illogical orders or make unreasonable demands and then treat everyone else as the problem when they can’t live up to them or else point out the flawed nature of them.

(we also see how it affects zuko and azula, who have both been taught this behavior both by example (and, in zuko’s case, by being on the receiving end of it. the demand he endlessly search for a deity-like figure no one’s seen in a hundred years and most people believe to be forever-dead springs to mind.) in the storm, zuko unreasonably demands that they continue their search for the avatar and that the safety of the crew doesn’t matter, but the whole episode is about deconstructing that mindset and showing how he got there, and in the end, he chooses to do the right thing, saving a crew member and deciding to get the ship to safety instead of following aang. azula, by contrast, orders her own soldiers to pull in the ship despite the tides, and only doubles down (and violently threatens) when questioned, showing a lack of respect for the laws of nature itself. this is her first proper episode, and she never truly grows out of this mindset. see also: cherries accidentally left un-pitted being treated as evidence of high treason.)

there is a story about intergenerational trauma and the cycles of abuse being told here. azulon is contradicting himself. he’s a hypocrite! abusers often are! he doesn’t care, though, because why should he, when he defines what’s right and wrong—just as ozai does and as he teaches azula to—not through any consistent moral conviction or code but through what he decides to do and therefore what he perceives as his right to do? in his mind, the only ‘right’ is his final word, and the highest ‘wrong’ is going against it.

and while he couches his outrage at ozai’s attempt to usurp iroh’s place in the line of heirs in language that suggests it’s about loyalty to iroh and respect for the family line—it’s not really. it’s outrage that ozai, the son he clearly doesn’t care for, dares to question iroh’s place, and therefore azulon’s judgment and authority, as the rightful heir, the respected general, the golden child.

but it’s not even about genuinely respecting iroh or what he would want, whatever azulon may tell himself. iroh, who, even at the height of his imperialist indoctrination and military power, i very earnestly believe would have been horrified to learn azulon ordered zuko’s murder and that it was done, ostensibly, on “his behalf”—even though he never and never would have asked for it. and, especially coming just after lu ten’s death, i think he would hate for his grief at the loss of his son to be twisted and used in this horrendous way.

anyway. azulon’s order doesn’t match up with what he say he values and is trying to defend, but that’s because those things are not what he’s truly so angry about. it’s about control. he has it, and he will make any illogical, cruel, sadistic order he wants when someone challenges it, because he can.

which, by the way, is ozai’s whole MO as well.

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

From Brainrot: Discord Server Invite!

Here it is! This space is open to anyone in the fandom :D

We have sections to talk about specific characters, the world in general, theories, AUs and OCs, a creative section full of channels to share the stuff you're working on and help each other out, and lots more!

You will be asked to read and agree to the server rules when you join, so I'll be attaching those below the cut in case you want to check them out ahead of time and decide whether or not you're interested ^.^

I look forward to sharing a space to chat with you guys!

Section 1: General Behavior & Expectations

Discord’s Terms of Service still apply; any users discovered to be under your country’s minimum age will be banned without chance for appeal. We would love to have you here, but underage users puts the entire server at jeopardy of being shut down.

The minimum age is usually 13, but several countries range from 14-16, please check here if you’re located in Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, or South America.

1.1 Toxic Behavior

We’d like to make this a safe space where anybody can feel welcome! That said, anything that can be considered ‘toxic behavior’—such as instigating/perpetuating an argument, insults of any kind, harassment, etc—will result in a 30-minute timeout for all parties involved. If this keeps up, it may result in a ‘soft’ ban.

1.2 Language

a. This server is PG-13, so yes! Swearing is allowed! However, please keep it moderate. We’d like to see you expressing yourself, but if that turns into being offensive/hurtful to other members, or if someone expresses discomfort with your language, you may be muted for 5-30 minutes after a warning. If this keeps up, it may result in a ‘soft’ ban. b. Any language that is considered derogatory, racist, sexist, homophobic, or generally insulting/inappropriate will result in a ban without chance for appeal.

1.3 NSFW Content

a. THIS IS A PG-13 SERVER! No sexually explicit content please! (with exceptions, see Rule 3.4 for details.) b. The same goes for extremely graphic imagery or discussion of violence/gore. (with exceptions, see Rule 3.4 for details.) c. In short, this is a space where we want both adults and minors to be safe. If you wouldn’t see it in a PG-13 movie or show, please don’t introduce it here.

1.4 Communication

a. Tone tags are really useful for clarifying how you want your words to land when talking to people who don’t know you very well. They are more than welcome on this server! b. If you and another member are experiencing a conflict, please reach out to a staff member! We’d love to help where we can. We also want to protect other people’s well-being, so we do expect you to keep conflicts in private channels. c. If any member—including staff members!—causes anyone discomfort, please reach out to one of the staff! Our priority is a safe and respectful space for everyone who wants to join, and open communication helps us with that immensely.

Section 2: Fandom Policies

Our goal is to create a space that is friendly to all The Arcana fans, and open to all forms of creative content. We ask that you follow these rules to help us create and foster that welcoming environment.

2.1 Character Discussion

Each of the M6 has their own channel for events/perspectives in their own route. If there is a character who you dislike in your preferred LI's route, please put that opinion in that LI's channel without taking it to that other character's channel or into the general Arcana channel. For character x character ships, see Shipping Discussion

2.2 Dorian Live

Dorian fans, users, and critics are all welcome here, because the main focus of this server is a shared love for the Arcana game and characters. If you want to discuss personal grievances or concerns in either direction, please do it in a different space or with a staff member privately.

2.3 Respecting Everyone’s Fandom Experience

Everyone interacts with The Arcana in different ways, and we want to create a space that respects that while also bringing everyone together! Just like with character discussions, we ask that certain topics stay in their designated spaces. This way everyone can avoid topics that make them uncomfortable while also leaving the door open for people to discuss it if they enjoy it.

Section 3: Creative Works

The most wonderful thing in a fandom is the creativity and passion we all put into our creations. We want to have a space that celebrates that in every way, while also maintaining a safe and enjoyable environment for all our members.

3.1 Posting Creative Works

Be it art, character sheets, fanfics, Dorian Live stories, etc—we love to see what you’ve made/what you’re working on! Please be sure to share them in the dedicated channels so it’s easy to keep track of.

3.2 Copyright

Sharing other people’s work is great too, as long as you give the creator credit. If we know that it’s not yours, then we want to know whose it is. Most of the time, a reverse image search on Google is all you need. If you cannot find the original source, please don’t post it.

3.3 Advertisement

a. Sharing is encouraged, but solicitation is not. If you've posted work you're proud of, feel free to share the link in the dedicated channel! That said, asking others to boost engagement with your content or putting it in other channels to get more views will result in a 30 minute mute + the messages being removed. b. Additionally, pressuring other creators to join/leave social platforms for any reasons will result in a soft ban. c. This rule extends to private messaging as well; please do not DM users about boosting your content, or to join/leave social platforms. If you’re experiencing this, please DM a staff member with the member’s username and a screenshot of the conversation!

3.4 NSFW Creations

a. Links to non PG-13 works are okay! But they do need to be properly tagged with a warning attached to the Discord post, and with any previews being PG-13. b. Please do not post or link any content with taboo themes or extreme violent/disturbing imagery.

3.5 Constructive Criticism

a. Constructive criticism is welcome when it is asked for! If it’s not been invited, then please don’t offer it. b. There are channels for critiquing outside works, but those spaces are not open for insulting/mocking/tearing down creative works or their creators. If you’re wondering what constitutes as constructive or destructive criticism, this article has a great summary of it in the introduction. You can also find a fantastic article on constructive criticism for creative works here.

Verify

As you may have noticed, some of the rules have a ‘soft ban’ listed as punishment. Soft banning means you lose the ability to send messages in the majority of the server, or add reactions. You will be able to talk to staff and have a chance to appeal your ban in a separate channel. By joining this server and reacting below, you agree to follow all the rules and expectations as outlined above. Please do not be the reason we have to add more rules.

[thatneoncrisis]

20 questions for 20 writers!

tagged by @waitineedaname thxx

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

21 works, i feel like thats a healthy number

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

i have 439,385 words, a very large chunk of that is from We Have Always Lived in the Apartment

3. What fandoms do you write for?

right now its the locked tomb, used to be homestuck, i have some crossovers with the magnus archives and one with john dies at the end

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

We Have Always Lived in the Apartment -- TLT horror mystery modern au

Insert Jesus Allegory Here -- solkat focused continuation of karkats pesterquest route, i NEED my new fics to get more popular than this oh my god

Gehenna the First -- TLT houseswap au with harrow as god

the gap between a tragedy and comedy (in this life its just you and me) -- TLT coffee shop au.

What's Eating Gideon Nav?  -- TLT catholic boarding school horror au

5. Do you respond to comments?

not typically, theres some weird thing with my head where i kind of hate that it counts my comments in the total comment amount. i cant explain it i just dont like how it looks, plus just repeating variations of "thank you!!" feels hollow after a while. im more likely to answer direct questions about the story rather than general commentary i do love talking about my thought process and intentions

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

ok so i cant actually tell you this because none of those fics are Done yet but all you need to know is that i consider all of my TLT fics tragedies to some extent. take that as you will. i dont even Like the word angst really it portends a level of melodrama id like to avoid

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'd say its a dead tie between A Brief Lesson In The Occult and Shit. Let’s Build A Fort. i can barely look at these anymore and if you read them and feel compelled to tell me you like them: dont. i can do better now

8. Do you get hate on fics?

never to my knowledge has anyone ever publicly disliked one of my fics. in fact sometimes i dream about someone posting it in their discord group chat and making fun of it because im so curious about what theyd say

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

yes i have. i do it almost exclusively as satire or character analysis as i find like, the physicality of sex to be inherently kind of goofy. liek the second you have to describe a dick or boobs with words the magic is gone it just becomes weird silly looking flesh. so i like focusing on weird and bad sex, unsatisfying or clumsy sex. sex that changes you in no significant way

10. Do you write crossovers?

yes i have. A Brief Disappearance and Statement of David Wong are both TMA/JDATE crossovers and i DID write a homestuck/TMA crossover but its not on my ao3 i guess? odd

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

no? does that happen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

i think once someone asked but i have no clue if it happened

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

@notedchampagne is my co producer in all things forever but ive basically written everything myself and they help polish it up

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

shiiiiiiite uh. jade/davepeta still means a lot to me. i think there are a lot of really engaging ships in TLT but i always kind of default to griddlehark i just kind of understand them the best

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

eventually SAM and i would like to circle back to our fanventure Therapystuck but we both got really busy with school, work and a general lull in the HS fandom. also maybe someday ill go back to Insert Jesus Allegory Here i liked the direction of the story i just have to get myself back in that headspace. being into homestuck Does something to you, like psychologically

16. What are your writing strengths?

after asking some friends theyve told me im good at tone, prose, funny metaphors, and dialogue but a caveat for the last thing as "I have yet to see how your Own guys talk and how you'd handle distinct voices from scratch so I'm only giving you about 80%"

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i hate like. writing Around the important bits of a scene. i love the physicality of characters and what it reveals about them, along with pieces of the scene the narration deems important or interesting enough to mention to the audience. but im always worried im jsut fucking yapping. also i hate like, political scenes theres a rhythm to them that i dont quite understand. people sitting around using specific language that Feels important in a way that doesnt make it clear im bullshitting like 99% of what theyre talking about

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

AHAH. GOD. i actually looked this up the other day because theres an original story i want to write where i want to make it clear theyre basically speaking french the whole time, even though its written in english. i only speak english (i took some french in hs, its left me though i want to pick it up again) so i wouldnt know anything about how it reads to polyglots but i guess theres really only so much you can do outside of literally learning a new language just to write a story for free. ive seen a whole host of tips so i gues sit just matters how you employ them

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Homestuck. my only regret is that i wasnt a better writer

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

FUCK christ uuuuh. favorite right Now would be The Apartment but EVENTUALLY id like it to be Gehenna the First because its the hardest to write and i need it to pay off. if you havent read it uhhh. hi. hello. you should do that. i think its really cool and fun and junk

CHRIST who to tag i dont follow big writers uuuh @tranquilitybasehotelcasino and @accidentallyadorable sure have fun

[lissomelace]

⭐️ i would love to hear any director’s commentary about point of pride!

Okay, I got this and my mind proceeded to go COMPLETELY BLANK of anything to talk about. So since this one is more general about the AU, I’m going to talk about the Aulendi.

I often tell people that if I could be anything in the world, I would want to be a Ñoldor elf, despite the murder. This is because I love making stuff, and really love how significant it is to their culture and identity. (and problems. I must not forget the problems.) So the majority of the Aulendi either a) do things I really want to do, or b) do things I have at least a little experience with. Which is why I love writing them, and loved building out their world.

TaÞarwen is (I think) the first one that I wrote in, and I sort of made her and that scene out of a combination of things, including: my dislike of fast fashion as an institution, my love of the Gender Neutral Skirt ™ (seriously, so many people wore ‘skirts’ for so much of history. They are SO much easier than pants), and my conviction that making proper clothing takes a whole lot of time and effort.

(You may notice that Findaráto still doesn’t have the custom outfits. Because it takes time to craft something Really Really Nice, and immortal elves who are also devotees of the god of craft most definitely take the time to Do Things Right.

That said, it IS coming up!)

And the other significant ones we’ve seen are Meryanilda and Tiquwen. My experience with harps is definitely on the ‘making’ rather than the ‘playing’ side, but I’m still very new to making them, and have only dabbled. Still, I enjoyed getting to feature them and the sort of interplay between their craft, practiced by the Aulendi, and someone like Makalaurë, who has a competitive AND collaborative desire to work around and with the masters of HIS craft. Which is practiced to less of an institutional degree among the Aulendi.

When I started planning this story and universe, I started from the threesome and worked outward. What safe place could Findaráto find? What made Fëanáro’s family different from the other Ñoldor to such a degree that they had completely separate gender roles and social culture?

…It had to be craft. The fact that there is a culture in which craft is important and respected is still very different from a culture of craftspeople. Historically speaking, however much craftspeople were respected (or not) they were not a ruling class. Ruling classes are generally politicians, by birthright or (more rarely) election, religious leaders, and economic ones. Similarly, in my reading experience, I see few examples of actual craftspeople among the royal Ñoldor. The specific examples are Míriel (dead), Fëanáro (…complicated), Mahtan (among Aule’s folk, not Tirion, not royal), Nerdanel (same as Mahtan, don’t know if/how she fit into the court, but my guess is no), and Curufinwë II and III.

Most of the next generation comes into their own in Beleriand. They’re politicians, rulers, warriors, generals. They build things, yes, like cities (Turgon and Finrod), ships (Eärendil, with clear Telerin influence from Círdan), and Maeglin (half-Sindar, specifically learned smithing from his Sindarin father and not his Ñoldorin mother). There are a few other notable smiths, but still. Not directly in or from the ruling line, save Curufinwës 1-3.

(I'm not saying they aren't a culture of crafters, I'm just saying for the purposes of this story, I engineered a split working off of a potential subdivision in canon. Also, a culture is more than just the ruling line, that's only where we tend to focus because those are the significant and named figures in canon)

So that’s kind of where the split came from, in Point of Pride. The Ñoldor respect craft, and it is what their culture is known for, but most of the people who specifically devote themselves to it as a calling can be found in Aulë’s lands, which I feel has at least a little canonical justification. Even if they wouldn’t see themselves as priests, disseminating the work and ideas formed in his forges to the broader Ñoldorin culture at large is kind of the role they play in this story. And because of the physical and social distance, they had the room to develop in a drastically different way (as much as the two-way unawareness might be a bit unrealistic). I like the idea that the farther one gets from a strict social ‘court’ and the closer one gets to a sort of egalitarian unification of ideals and purpose in proximity to a literal deity, the more protected one gets from strict social consequences. And the less close someone is likely to look. Like nuns, who were allowed/required to eschew the social requirement of marriage for religious purposes (not an expert, don’t quote me on that). I’m not saying the Aulendi are religious figures to that sort of strict level, but by opting into the inner circle of a Vala, they are effectively opting out of the monarchy and the social structure of the Ñoldor, knowingly or not.

(Yes, this will cause problems later.)

Well, that was probably way too much!! Thank you for the chance to (over) explain some thoughts I had! I hope you enjoy reading this excessive wall of text, and thank you for the ask!

[believeinyourotp]

Love

Hansanna: My OTP! Well I was watching a bunch of trailers, back in my freshman year of high school and was wondering why Hans didn’t appear that often in the trailers, like he appeared in one for a couple of seconds then none. Turns out they were setting him up to be a “villain,” and I loved him already which grew strongly after the Love is an open door song, and with every scene of him even when he revealed to be the villain, I think this would be the first Disney Princess: Hero x Villain ship I had. I always love the ships that are not obviously going to be endgame, but have their subtle moments that keep you locked in.

Like

Kristelsa: I’ve made this chart a long time ago, before, if I had to choose someone for them to be with, maybe each other, but now not so much

Sven’tron: because of that one kabedon comic strip.

Ok

Kristelsa: Now I’d prefer them as just friends, and also because I believe you should never ship something only because of the pair the spares trope

Kristanna: They’re great friendship wise, but if I was Anna, I’d be annoyed with Kristoff as a friend and lover. I don’t think you should be insulted in your choices for romance, but KINDLY offering advice ALWAYS helps.

Hansoff: Potential romantic rivals, but I’d like to read some fanfic where they’re hanging out as friends, can be aus (like any for example canon divergent or compliant, or just your general aus like coffee shop or whatever)

Olaf x Hans: A singer I knew (who dated an old crush of mine) compared me to Olaf, now I can have Hans all to myself lol, canon or oc lmao.

Sven’tron: read the description for this ship in my like section

Sven x Olaf: Pals

Olaf x Marshmallow: Siblings

Dislike

None that I don’t already hate

Hate

Elsanna: I feel those who ship it are most likely normalizing incest ships in kids media and I’m not ok with that. If this was an adult show and an anime or cartoon, I’d understand, but there has been a weird community that’s been normalizing incest in Disney ships. Cmon guys make a private community so we don’t normalize it. Ok to be fair I know I have questionable taste in ships but not to this extent.

[fogsrollingin]

Time for some more Good Omens fic recs! These are the most recent fics I've read and loved. For all of them, nav to https://fogsrollingin.neocities.org/recs/goodomens 😈🪽 Cheers and happy readings! 📚🥂

Ocean of Secrets (illustrated) by magicbubblepipe. Explicit, 16k words, Aziracrow. Summary: When Crowley uncovers a plot to sink a so-called unsinkable ship, he decides to take credit for it and collect a commendation from the safety of his London flat. That is, until he spots a certain flaxen haired angel with a weakness for expensive creature comforts boarding the ship. He's forced to take action, lest his beloved be horribly discorporated. TL;DR Crowley and Aziraphale were on the Titanic. https://archiveofourown.org/works/23713294 The Titanic one - this one really stayed with me. It was such a lovely read, and I loved the epic horrifying proportions and backdrop of the Titanic. The author described the disaster very well.

Slow Show by mia_ugly. Explicit, 95k, Aziracrow. Summary: In which temptations are accomplished, grand romantic gestures are made, and two ineffable co-stars only take four seasons of an award-winning television program to realize they’re on their own side (at last, at last.) https://archiveofourown.org/works/20395261 Okay as someone who generally dislikes celebrity AUs, but I love drug addict redemption stories, I gave this one a shot (with over 12k kudos, it wasn't a hardship). Very well-written (you just know it's gonna be good when the author starts with a Richard Siken quote). Some terrific heart-wrenching angst that I adored. I appreciated the way the author mixed scenes from Good Omens into the fake TV show they were in. It worked really well for extra visualization.

A.Z. Fell Cooking (aka vlogger au) Series by MostWeakHamlets. Rated General Audiences, 35k words, Aziracrow. Summary: Aziraphale has a cooking show on the internet. It started out with three viewers, but now he's known as the happy grandfather that blew up overnight. Crowley occasionally makes cameos, has dedicated his garden to giving Aziraphale fresh herbs and vegetables, and struggles with living after the apocalypse. ___ “Taste this, my dear,” Aziraphale said. He held a spoonful of jam to Crowley’s lips with his free hand cautiously under it, ready to catch any dripping. Crowley leaned forward to wrap his lips around the spoon. Most likely his shyness came from the small tender moments Aziraphale was not afraid of showing the world. It had been the topic of many long conversations after Aziraphale took Crowley’s hand in St. James Park, causing Crowley to freeze and break out in a cold sweat. Being discreet had always been their top priority. For 6,000 years, someone would have surely seen them if they embraced in the middle of London. But now, Aziraphale had assured Crowley, things were different. They no longer needed to hide, but Aziraphale would go as slow as Crowley needed him to. It was almost funny how their roles had switched after the apocalypse. https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610359 Oh man I loved the first chapter of the second fic installment where it's written like we're voyeurs watching the heart-wrenching reality of Aziraphale caring for Crowley, who's super sickly and frail in the winter (is usually back to normal in the spring and summer). The amount of love and trust that goes into the relationship depicted in this fic is sooooooo This is mainly a South Downs curtain fic btw. It sounds like a social media AU thing, but the YouTube vlogging aspect is a side quest / cool awesome vehicle to give us some fantastic hurt/comfort

Honey, You’ll Survive by HotCrossPigeon. Teen+, 12k words, Aziracrow. Summary: Crowley only popped into the bookshop to say goodbye. He might not have been thinking straight, due to that bloody great big hole where his stomach used to be. Aziraphale, quite rightly, refuses to let the demon pop his clogs in his bookshop of all places, thank you very much. https://archiveofourown.org/works/20790638 Aziraphale saving a fatally hurt Crowley and being super straightforward about wanting cuddles was the best thing in the world. Crowley was written really well in this fic - doing his best to be snarky and sarcastic, anything but sincere and vulnerable (but he gets there. Oooo how I love that 🥰🥰🥰)

Untouched by Etaleah. Teen+, 3k words, Aziracrow. Summary: A demon's life is a lonely one. What Crowley wants is so simple, yet he can never have it. https://archiveofourown.org/works/20505689 Touch starvation. When Aziraphale finally hugs h Crowley and basically breaks him 😭 literally the best

Someone Reaching Back For Me by lorenzhellmangloucester. Teen+, 1k words, Aziracrow. Summary: Aziraphale tries to soothe, tries to rock him, completely unsure if he’s helping or not; he’s never seen Crowley lose control in quite this way. Sometimes Crowley lashes out in anger or hurt, and he’s seen him vulnerable before, but nothing like this. Nothing this fragmented, nothing this… shattered. It’s like watching Crowley break, this shivering, terrified creature clinging to him like he might disappear, and oh. Oh, Aziraphale thinks, feeling very small and fragile himself all of a sudden. In the immediate wake of the almost-apocalypse, Aziraphale realizes he's not the only one who was afraid of being left alone. https://archiveofourown.org/works/19241956 I really adored this - I love the concept of Crowley going snakey when he's upset & panicking, and especially that Aziraphale would just wrap him up in hugs and cuddles no matter how monstrous he's looking 🥰🥰🥰 I *love* it so much.

side effects by darcylindbergh. Explicit, 7k words, Aziracrow. You don’t have to do this, you know, Crowley said, somewhere around Aziraphale’s stomach. His hand was rough around the hem of Aziraphale’s jumper, tugging a little, like he was trying to convince himself to let go. I’m fine on my own. I know. Aziraphale touched carefully—he was learning how to touch, like this—searching out the place right above Crowley’s left eyebrow where the migraine lived, pressing on it. You don’t have to be, though. You can just consider me a side effect. https://archiveofourown.org/works/35166532 This was super emotional and so well written. The amount of hurt/comfort and nonsexual intimacy was amazing. There was a bit of sexual intimacy but it was... it was lovely. Definitely going to reread this one.

Recompense by Flywolf33. Mature, 21k words, Aziracrow. Summary: At first, he didn’t realize anything was wrong. They’d had a row, which wasn’t entirely unusual, and Crowley had stormed off with a few harsh words he didn’t mean flung over his shoulder. Aziraphale had flung a few of his own untruths, though he always knew they hurt the demon far more than either of them would admit. To his everlasting shame, Aziraphale didn’t start looking for another two years. By that time, the trail had gone cold and he couldn’t sense Crowley’s aura anywhere. In which Hell gets hold of Crowley and Aziraphale has to try to put Humpty Dumpty back together again - if Crowley will let him. This has nothing to do with my other GO stuff at all. This has been bouncing around in my head and I finally got it on paper. https://archiveofourown.org/works/21471934 Aziraphale barging into hell 50 years later to rescue Crowley. The slow burn of recovery and angst (the scene where Aziraphale says he'll let Crowley go forever if that's what he wants and needs to feel better and recover) and love. The device-pulsifiers family supporting them was so brilliant too. Fantastic fic.

[moondane-lovers]

✍️🤪🥰😡🌦️🏷️❤️💞☕️🛌🪐💘🙈💌👀 4 the canonical ask game since u said you wanted it ~ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆Generous Anon⋆˚｡⁺⋆

youre a madman. you are. everything i have ever wanted. i'm doing this for both my s/i's because i just. i can. you are my hero.

SPANDAM

✍️: Overall, how does the fandom trait you? Are you a beloved character, or hated? Are you popular, or a minor side character? Anything in between?

Definitely more of a side character. There's a lot of uh. weird dudebros in the fandom that despise LQBTQIA+ characters so I feel like that group would hate them, while the fellow queers would probably find them pretty neat. Definitely more of a side character, all things considered.

🤪: What is your trait that fanon would exaggerate?

The autism. DEFINITELY the autism. Also, Pluto is genuinely devoted to her work as a cleaner, but I imagine that would be misinterpreted as “i love to clean!” Instead of “this is what I do, i’m just good at it.” If glossed over.

🥰: How would someone who loved you portray you?

I don't really know. People in the fandom use a lot of words for their faves. Great autistic rep? They/She icon? Tough ass underdog who deserves the world? I just... don't know. Very positively I imagine, with heavy emphasis on the less obvious bits of symbolism and story hints that are present? Probably loved by the over analyzers.

😡: How would someone who hated you portray you?

Annoying, failed tradwife material that was turned into a “stupid gay" who got written in to make Spandam less hateable, or getting in the way of other ships (this is incorrect)

🌦️: Would you be accompanied by mostly fluff or angst fanfics? Both? Explain why.

I feel like a mix of both? There's a lot of brutality and pain that can be grabbed from their backstory and youth, so it could go a number of ways depending on what's focused on.

🏷️: What is you and your f/o’s ship name?

I haven’t thought of this, myself! Pluspan? Spando? Coffeemops? Who knows. I imagine there would be a bunch.

❤️: How popular is you x your f/o? Are you a rarepair?

Considering Spandam isn’t a very popular character and there is already at least one minor fandom ship with him, not a rarepair since canon but probably not like, popular. A niche ship. Definitely a few specific superfans who churn out fanworks.

💞: Aside from with your f/o, who else would you commonly be shipped with? Why?

Probably Jabra, Kumadori or Fukurou, since there would be canonical flashbacks of them interacting with the three during her time in Enies Lobby, and she was friendly with them and able to handle their antics. Especially among the “they deserve better!” crowd.

☕️: What are the most common plots of shipping fics between you and your f/o?

I imagine a lot of fics would involve their time at Enies lobby and the happenings then. That and timeskips/post-ending fics, since there’s not a lot to work with between what would be given.

🛌: What tropes show up in fics involving your ship?

Definitely forbidden love, one sided pining and a lot of slow burn. I haven’t thought about this one much. OH, hurt-comfort and whump.

🪐: What would be your most popular AU and why?

Hear me out. Arranged marriage or royalty aus. I just feel it. I don’t know why, but it feels like those would be all over the place. Also! Aus where they stayed at Enies lobby during the actual arc and buster call, for maximum angst.

💘: Why would people love your ship? Why would people dislike your ship? How might it start debates?

People would love it for its nuance and deeper story that is hidden in the “show don’t tell” sort of presentation, as well as it being an unexpectedly healthy outcome. People would hate it because 1: spandam, 2: you gave the queer rep to spandam? 3: They deserve better

Debate wise oh my GOD I feel like somehow discourse would start from some dumb reason to call it problematic or the really weird new “two grown adults have an age gap” argument. (And no, I’m not referring to the very much questionable the middle aged man/woman creeping on a freshly 18 year old thing, that weird me out too.)

I think overall, they would have an older fanbase.

🙈: Why would your ship be thought of as cute/fluffy? Why would your ship be considered problematic?

I mean, this is Spandam. There will be people who will automatically see it as “he doesn’t deserve them” or with critically low media literacy, “him having a love interest is problematic”. Outside of that, I feel like the people who like it would see it as pretty wholesome and hopeful with the dynamics.

💌: How would your dynamic be portrayed? What might people focus on most? Any misconceptions?

I feel like the dynamics would be very easily misconstrued due to how... you know, shitty Spandam is in canon. Their relationship is strange and complex but healthy and structured, just contains a long winding road to get there. Mischaracterization of either would definitely lead to assumptions about the relationship. As for focuses, I feel like power dynamics would hold a big part.

👀: How does your ship with your f/o influence both of your characterisations and the world? Would there be any interesting metas written about your dynamic?

Spandam would definitely have more apologists thanks to their interactions, his overall characterization is definitely less brutal as his actions would have some more lore behind them and be less harsh due to the positive influence of Pluto, but he's still a huge shit. Meta wise, I feel like people would absolutely tear into Pluto's willingness to accommodate him and how that changes him as time goes on. On pluto's side, autism in relationships would be a big thing to analyze with the way they act.

OUGHHHH ITS DONE I'LL DO GULDO LATER

[the-somwthing]

Looking at all these ship tierlists and seeing the negative tiers makes me realize how much I refuse to dislike ships hahaha. Where are my hot takes???

So, I’m now going to brainstorm any ships I might possibly have a negative opinion on. Warning for ever so slight negativity towards ships

HMMMM HMMMMM man im a lover at heart this is tough. Scott x women is cheating (even then I don’t think I dislike it as much as other ppl there’s some nuance but still generally not for me)

ALRIGHT. TIME TO DIG FOR ANY NEGATIVE FEELINGS.

Was never much of a fan of grumbo/mumscarian. BUT!!! This is because I’m MOSTLY LIFE SERIES VIEWER!!! I only casually enjoy hermitcraft and don’t watch it often. And I KNOW that’s where the ships come from, so all of the life series version of the ship just feels so forced. Which sucks cuz I do actually see some potential for it in like Last Life that would be a hilarious ship!! I definitely lean Grumbo because even in the life series you can see it, tho I see it mostly grian-sided with mumbo technically reciprocating it but not realizing how problematic it is to be dancing around the feelings in the middle of a death game. But that’s just me.

I USED TO BE A GRITHO HATER (but not a full on hater. Just the slightly negative feelings as portrayed here). I remember during limited life I kept seeing gritho stuff and I was like “it’s not gonna happen 🙄” then it happened and I was like 🤯 and bowed down to all the gritho shippers. I also had divine intervention in the form of a dream telling me to ship gritho and now I love them.

Flower husbands is a complicated one that is seen on many negative tiers and I will admit I don’t always like it. But sorry guys I like it just don’t watch Scott’s 3L otherwise you will be traumatized for life

I LOVE RANCHERS but I DON’T LIKE RANCHERS FANS. SORRY. Don’t take this personally either there’s no one in this fandom in particular I dislike (to my memory) but like there’s just something off with rancher fandom idk. It feels like a lot of them are missing the point. My sister is the one who got me into ranchers and even she agrees that a majority of the rancher fan content out here just isn’t it. I feel like it’s the general treatment of Jimmy and the also kind of ignoring Tango in favor of making him just Jimmy’s supportive bf idk. BUT AGAIN DON’T TAKE THIS THE WRONG WAY I LOVE RANCHERS AND THERES BANGER CONTENT OUT THERE!!!

^ also due to the ranchers vs fh war I feel the need to point out that while I seem nitpicky on ranchers but gave fh a free pass it’s because my problem with ranchers is purely fanon while the problems with fh exists within canon. I do also struggle with fh fanon not being what I want (give me liml fh NOW!!!)

Bringing forth another hot topic YOU WILL NOT BE SEEING BIGGRI HATE FROM ME. Sorry pal they are NOT on this list. I don’t know WHY it’s seen as “soo bad” by like ALL SIDES like ok. HUH? I especially don’t get the stance that ppl hate Biggri cuz it always gets used as a stepping stone for scarian. Like ok so you don’t ACTUALLY hate biggri you just hate scarian. I promise you nobody who says “I love biggri” shares that same sentiment on it that you hate so much. Literally why in the world would someone go “I love biggri soo much because I get to completely ignore it in favor of scarian 😍” like HELLO? I understand if that treatment makes the ship leave a bad taste in your mouth but why is the hate directed at the people who ACTUALLY CARE 😭 I MUST be missing something

SO ON THAT SUBJECT!!! I AM A DL SCARIAN HATER. I LOVE Scarian SOO much but in DOUBLE LIFE… *growls and eyes glow red* STOP VILLAINIZING GRIAN FOR FALLING IN LOVE WITH BIGB!! STOP MAKING SCAR LOOK INNOCENT WHEN HE WAS TERRIBLE TO GRIAN!! To be clear I get it. It’s the scarian soulmate AU. I believe there are ways to do it right but in general I just don’t like the way people do it. GIVE ME TOXIC DL SCARIAN OR GIVE ME DEATH!!!

My blog title says “#1 Scott x Joel HATER” but that was a lie sorry guys 😔 I only hate them because they take up 75% of my brain usage

Humm haww idk if I can come up with anything else. Maybe I’ll come back if I remember anything but as I keep saying I AM A LOVER AT HEART!!!

And just to be PERFECTLY CLEAR. I do not care if you have the complete opposite opinions. I don’t hate you!!! Even if I had said “people who ship this are the WORST they’re all BAD” and your url was “that-ship-u-hate-shipper” I WOULDN’T THINK LESS OF YOU!!! I would interact with you like a normal person because I believe in NUANCE and the fact that OPINIONS ON COMPLETELY FICTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS IS NOT A BIG DEAL. We can still be friends ❤️

[utterentropy]

I'm kinda sad that being cringe is now considered a fighting movement than just like, being yourself.

I see all these people who are like "I'm CRINGE and I'm FREE and YOU CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME!" but like… it doesn't feel like they're just being themself, it feels like they're just trying to piss off (objectively bad) people they don't like rather than actually savouring their love of being themselves.

Like, I don't know how I feel about the people who just throw in as many cringy concepts as they can think of in one story just to prove a point. You're not really enjoying those concepts, are you? Your content isn't motivated by love, it's motivated by spite. That's not passion, that's ire.

My abuser was definitely one of those types of people who was all "I'm cringe and I'm free, cringe culture is dead, I don't care what you think" but not only were they A. An uber com-shipped who guilt-tripped me into supporting ships that made me extremely uncomfortable (despite claiming that they were pro-ship in the sense of "anti-harassment") but also B. They were a very, very angry person and in-school they would constantly start arguments and not back down with other kids, and one of their main methods of abusing me was through having the mentality of "you're a bad person if you disagree with me, but I'm not if I disagree with you".

I can't help but feel like if the only reason you indulge in cringe is so you can spite people who dislike it you're just kinda like that type of person. Like, cringe shouldn't be a movement. Cringe shouldn't be a rebellion. We are cringy because we're not putting (unreasonable) limits on what we find fun and how we use our imagination, and that's what is and how it should be.

I'm unapologetic for making dumb stupid crossover AUs where all of my favourite characters from like fifty different fandoms all gather 'round and live in a big house in Iceland and go on adventures that explore complex psycho-sociological issues where the entire worldbuilding is based on the fact that it's multifandom, like literally my blog's title (at the time of writing this) is "CEO OF (ANTHRO) ARTIFICER RAIN WORLD AND HEART CCCC TOXIC YURI". That's not a joke, Artificer and Heart are genuinely exes in like half of my self-indulgent crossover AUs. Mike Mias World and Heart Chonny Jash are lovers in all of them.

I think that's a much better show of what "cringe" should be. Cringe should be unapologetically writing what you like, even if it's considered "bad-writing" or "weird" by general societal/writing norms, not trying to impress anybody. And by doing cringe just to piss people off, you may not be trying to impress people but you're still writing for people you don't like. Stop that. Don't do that. Write what makes you happy, not because you want people who will read your profile for five minutes to get angry at you. Have fun. Enjoy yourself. Relax and think about stupid concepts. That's the magic of writing, it doesn't have to be good, someone will like it.

Don't pick a crowd of people you don't like and write to irritate them. Pick someone from the crowd you do like and write for them. Anger tastes bad to hungry writers, but indulgence is exactly what it sounds like.

[silvermoonshipping-is-love]

previous anon here! its absolutely understandable why you feel that way, especially since i noticed you were here during the creepypasta fandom recession era (2016-2019), where people were starting to police what was the right and wrong way to intepret the pastas.

As for the drownedsilver hate, while i cant confirm for sure it was the source, was primarily started by a pokepasta fnf community member who has been recently outed as a creep and a generally terrible person (who called any ship they disliked proship!!) 😭 they had an iron grip over that community for 2 years, hence why so many people were dogpiling! Now that they're gone, i see more people being comfortable with putting out drowndsliver content out there!

I dont know if this information or acknowledgement will eleveate your anxiety. But i hope you gain the courage to post more about your own intepretations of ben and silver 🫂 You shouldnt feel like you have to appease a wider public to enjoy what you love.

My favourite example is the fact that say Ben HAD to be a pervert or a stoner and an asshole, nevermind the fact he's a deeply traumatized child, stuck in a video game and canonly a pacifist and not (intentionally) hurting anybody, like that is fine, but GOD FORBID you make EJ's skin slightly blue-ish to go with his overall colour palette. But also god forbid if you draw or write anything messed up or more mature in whatever way?? If anything the creepypasta fandom of all things being so strict is so odd, most characters don't have a fully set personality or the fact that all kinds of awful shit happens to them, especially CHILDREN, but wanting to draw two characters smooching? Now you've gone too far lmao.

Policing fandoms and fandom activity is a rising trend and I'm not happy about it as a "fandom old" so to speak lol. My motto is unless you are genuinely harming someone in real life or crossing someone's boundaries, just tag it correctly, and you do you. I may not like everything you do personally, but unless you are actively interfering with me or trying to harm me or others, whatever.

Also I was never in the community fully due to the incident and the hate towards SilvernMoon, so I never heard about this person. But unfortunately I'm not even that shocked, if you're that adamant about how wholesome or pure or unproblematic you are and everyone has to be, then you just seem all the more likely to have some skeletons so to speak. Just a real shame about my one FNF AU, cause it's sort of a personal one to me, cause of venting and feelings depicted.

If you mean creep as I think you do, I hope the victims are okay now.

But on the flip side I also eventually thought the fnf community are hypocrites anyways. Cause I saw all the hate for SilvernMoon while not even say incest stuff got as much hate in all my fandom years, yet the very person most of the community shipped Silver with? Red. The Red from his story. The same Red that is the whole reason Silver is forgotten and dead! I don't want to fully ship-shame, I just wanna showcase the irony, like- THAT is fine but SilvernMoon is wrong?? SilvernMoon out of all ships I ever saw is the one people drew the line at and hated the absolute shit out of???

Also there was a similar person over here in the regular creepypasta fandom that dogpiled on me as a minor, so that added, who called me a pdf file because I portray these characters as adults and made a more adult joke, but they INSISTED every version of Ben had to be 12 years old. Gurl, I don't know how to tell you, but the ghost kid that haunts a Nintendo Cartridge... He's not real, his whole concept as a cyber ghost isn't real. I know it's shocking to hear, you may sit down from that, but it's the truth.

I am getting better but it still feels like a long road to fully heal and say "fuck the haters"... I keep trying to even do youtube or stuff, but all this is holding me back pretty strongly-

[folatefangirl]

List of  Disorganized Enemies to Lovers AUs and Prompts for Your Ficcing Needs

Rival coffee shops (courtesy of The Bookening Group)

Rival Parisian bakeries (courtesy of @ichabodjane)

Rival county fair blue ribbon baking contestants

Rival pet walkers/pet sitters

Rival fashion designers

Rival gamers (twitch streamers? youtubers?)

Rival succulent plant insta accounts (or houseplant fandom in general)

Rival morticians

Rival dragon trainers

Rival knights in a tournament

Other obscure sports rivals

Rival academics in the same niche field who keep responding to each other’s publications with increasingly snarky commentary and shading each other at conferences 

Rival ghost hunters who use wildly different methods of technology to try to find ghosts and mutually think the other is the one scamming viewers

Same set of Stabby McStabby characters, just make one side Sith and the other side Jedi aka the Star Wars AU (courtesy of The Bookening Group)

Rival Jedi Masters who want the same apprentice

Rival smugglers (Star Wars or Firefly or other AU potential)

Rival spies (The Mr. and Mrs. Smith AU, basically)

Angel and Demon trying to stop the apocalypse (aka the Good Omens AU or possibly the Daughter of Smoke and Bone AU, depending on what kind of reader you are)

Superhero vs Supervillain

Sidekick vs Henchperson

Their friends told them to try out for Beatrice and Benedick in a “Much Ado About Nothing” production bc they thought it would be funny

Pirate rivals who accidentally meet while trying to score the same merchant ship

Pirate vs Pirate Catcher

Vampire vs Vampire Hunter

Pride and Prejudice AU

The classic dance fic: “We have to dance together for XYZ thing [an important event or competition] because there are literally no other options and we’re competent at dancing even if we dislike each other immensely.”

One knits, the other crochets; both frequent the same fiber crafting circles (@longsightmyth)

One cooks food crimes, the other insists on cooking to the letter of the recipe every time

“You snapped the pasta in half?!” 

“What, like it’s hard?”

Someone keeps leaving the shared gallon of milk/carton of eggs empty in the fridge after using it up (and they were roommates AU)

Your Preferred Tarot Deck And Reading Method Is Wrong And So Wrong IDK Even Where To Begin

We have each other blocked on our mains but not on our sideblogs for a mutually shared fandom and we are both aware of it

You put lipstick in my Valentino white bag?!?

My name is [Character Name]. You killed my [relative]. Prepare to die. (Sword duels!)

I moved in and I nominated myself for the HOA as a joke and accidentally got the position and now someone with years of personal beef with the HOA hates me by default

If you keep blasting party music until 2 AM, I will keep doing my yard work at exactly 7 AM the next morning, thank you very much!

Our pets are very good friends. We are not. Our pets do not care in the slightest.

Oh no, I understand that particular language just fine, I just wanted to keep hearing the hot goss and shade said about me within earshot

You described corsets incorrectly in one of your novels due to inadequate research and I, a fashion historian, am going to continuously write you essays on corsets and historical underthings in general until you fix your shit. You, on the other hand, are wondering if all my long winded letters mean I’m fixing to turn your skin into a coat. (Maybe I am!)

[solar-synapse]

🌒⭐️💬 🎭

(I am only somewhat sure I got all those right have fun sol~)

🌒 - Do you prefer Sun & Moon to be separate animatronics or share the same body?

I think if I was going to write a more canon-typical AU, I would write them as animatronics sharing the same body. The tension in their relationship is fundamentally tied to how unequal their control is over their shared body, and that's something I would want to dig into in my own writing, but I love seeing other people write them as separate animatronics too.

In my existing AU's, I've done both! The boys in Star-Crossed are twins, but they're very different individuals. In the Silt Verses crossover, they're two aspects of one god. So I guess my answer is both. Both is good.

⭐️ - Favorite AU character design?

If you asked me this three days ago, I probably would have said the Fairweather Fool, but now I'm looking at some of these proposed Digimon evo line designs and sweating over Sun and Moon's mega fusion.

If we're talking about other people's AU designs, hands down, it's gotta be Dusk and Dawn from head-in-the-icloud's Royal Jesters AU. They're just so appealing.

💬 - How would you describe this AU to a friend who wasn’t in the DCA fandom?

Both of the AU's I am actively working on are already so far removed from DCA fandom, they lend themselves really well to being read by people who aren't familiar with the source material! I have a couple friends who have read and enjoyed Star-Crossed who aren't in the fandom. I'd honesty just summarize the premises.

Star-Crossed: Sun is the Seelie court jester, well known and well connected, but in political decline. In order to bolster his waning popularity, he has written an ambitious stage play, a tragedy between star-crossed lovers that is certain to satisfy his fans, if only he can find the perfect actor to step into the protagonist's role. That's where you come in.

You are a sidhe seer searching for someone who was taken to faerie many years ago. In exchange for passage to faerie, you sign a contract with Sun agreeing to perform in his play. However, his twin, Moon, doesn't quite buy your story or the convenient timing of your appearance. Faerie is a treacherous place. He suspects there is someone working in the shadows to sabotage his brother's career, and you are his prime suspect.

TSV crossover: It's been generations since your people's god was outlawed during the religious wars that codified the legal faiths. Your rural, largely agricultural village is struggling to modernize, until a man from the city in a purple suit arrives one day with a tantalizing offer: a newly rebranded god of sunlight and celebrations, guaranteed to help your crops flourish in a way the pesticidal gods never did.

While the village elders and elected council members jump at the opportunity to expand in a new direction, one that promises increased opportunities for religious tourism, you pay the new god little mind, until it becomes clear you've caught his eye. However, the attention of a god isn't necessarily a good thing, and it seems Fazco hasn't been entirely transparent about this god's original aspect.

🎭 - Tell us one cliche/trope you love in AUs and one you dislike

Love: Enemies/rivals to friends/lovers. Bonus points if they were friends before they became enemies too, so you have a friends to enemies to friends/lovers reconciliation arc. Listen, I love a ship that makes me work for the payoff. The more baggage they bring to the table, the better. Messy people make for interesting stories.

Hate: Love at first sight and/or stories with pacing that doesn't give sufficient time for realistic romantic development to take place before characters start making dramatic life-altering gestures for their love interests or choices that go against their established natures. I'm an aromantic who loves ship fic, but nothing makes my romance repulsion flare harder than this. Just start in media res if you don't want to write the build up.

[iztopher]

sits coquettishly. bats eyelashes. i'm not going to say answer every question this time because i respect that you have many others thing to do over answering 48 questions in a row, and thus: 5, 12, 15, 24, 36, 42, 50!

EHEHE THANK U BOTH FOR UR MERCY AND UR ENTHUSIASM

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about [insert fic]? Answer it now! (don't you dare go down)

"Hey, Iz, you frequently list don't you dare go down as your favorite fic you've written, even though it's years old at this point. Why?"

I'm really proud of this fic for several reasons: I overall still really like the writing, people consistently compliment my favorite lines on it so it makes me confident I got across what I wanted to say, it covers some of my favorite te'ijalahad concepts.

I love this fic because, more than any fic I've written, it's essentially distilled headcanons. I knew, for years, that I wanted to write a fic about Te'ijal patching up Galahad after the fight where he got the scar across his eye, and a fic about Galahad reflecting on Te'ijal after the tower scene. I came up with the idea of Te'ijal getting scarred from the tower scene and realized I had the opportunity to put it in a fic. I kept thinking up ideas about Te'ijal helping Galahad with his injuries, and then about him always wearing armor and how that reflects on his (dis)comfort with her. I love the genre of te'ijalahad fic that's understated improvement in their relationship simply through the contrast of how it used to be and how it is now. And I got to include all of that in this fic!! I love it, and it means that people reading it are essentially listening to me ramble about a lot of my favorite ideas for my favorite characters.

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

I answered meta already - but I'm blanking on others, honestly. I feel like trope-wise my tastes have narrowed, but more generally they've broadened and I like reading about more characters/ships/headcanons than I used to.

15. What’s your favorite AU that you’ve written?

"AU" is a hard genre for this question actually. If we mean strictly alternative universe, I've only ever written one, which wins by default: left undead.

If we expand it to "canon divergence", then my favorite AU I've written is one I never cleaned up or, uh, finished well enough to post, called only "stella kills gyendal AU". I don't think I'll ever end up finishing it, but mostly because I think I'm going to end up mixing it into my TDP rewrite!

24. Are there any easter eggs in [insert fic], and if so, what are they? (now we're two of a crime)

okay this does not have any easter eggs but while rereading it to confirm that i jumpscared myself with myst referring to banana boy, so i guess it's a reverse easter egg LMAO

36. Do you visualize what you read/write?

I genuinely have no idea how to answer this question. I think I do, but my visualization is so clipped and vague that calling it that doesn't feel fully accurate. I have to make a point to visualize when I'm writing, but I do make that point a lot.

42. Have you ever received a comment that particularly stood out to you for whatever reason?

I've had comments on both ill-conceived and you try so loud to love me that feel too personal to repeat here, generally stuff where my fic really resonated with someone or made them rethink something, and that feeling is maybe the best feeling I've ever had as a result of writing.

50. Answer any question of your choice, or talk about anything you want to talk about!

i miss writing (sobs) i haven't had the time and/or brain energy for it since classes started back up! i also really want to finish the fic i'm currently working on, i started it like two years ago and i'm so ready for it to be done jksdfld but i'm just having so much trouble getting the tone right. i hope i can knock it out in the next month or so

[konnoiseur]

you want rarepairs/crackships? i'll name you some of mine, so enjoy my long ramble:

-ironhill (Ironwood x Robyn) - HEAR ME OUT! i know Ironwood is disliked in rwby fandom while Robyn is, i'll safely say, unpopular in rwde community, BUT there's a certain charm of shipping disliked character with a liked character, especially when the views of the characters differ in different fandoms. Romeo & Juliet who?/j

But joking aside, i started shipping them when Robyn was like "i thought you were a jerk & didn't care about others, but i was wrong.". Call me basic but i like when two characters find a middle ground/realize they're not what they thought the other one was.

In all honestly their relationship was such a wasted potential and yes i am also saying it because i ship them, but with the theme of trust going around it would have been cool to have Ironwood & Robyn team up and become allies - with Ironwood representing Atlas & Robyn representing Mantle. Not to mention, BOTH care about their Atlas & Mantle and want the best for it's people. Just two leaders who didnt see eye to eye, only to realize both have the same goals in mind and are not each others enemy (it's Jacques)

Right now i can't name other reasons why you should like my ironhill propaganda, but consider this - they both hate jacques so that should be a sign they're soulmates/j & they both having shooting type weapons.

But even if you don't ship it, you have to admit their relationship was a wasted potential :/

-invisible poison(?) (Tyrian x Fiona) - HEAR ME OUT...it is mostly centered around them being Faunus, BUT the thing is Fiona is a sheep Faunus and Tyrian is a scorpion Faunus. Sheeps in general are seen in a positive light, while scorpions are seen in a negative light.

It's hard to put in words, but it would be interesting to explore how these two, while being Faunus had different experiences with how others treated them due to what type of Faunus they are. (Not to say Fiona never got discriminated against for being a Faunus in general).

Both are also very loyal to their leaders (Salem & Robyn), so yeah parallels...sort of. And my mind then came up with a scene where they fight and Fiona questions Tyrian on how he could be loyal to someone like Salem and he answer with that Salem is the only one who accepts him fully, never treating him badly due to him being a Faunus, UNLIKE certain other leader who called a dog Faunus "Waggs" & just makes Fiona question her role in HH and if she would have been treated differently by them if she had been a "dangerous" type of Faunus (but let's be honest he would mostly say this to mess with her)

There's the whole aesthetic/tropes with them too - short x tall, good x evil, kind x terrible etc. And I once decided to search them on google in case I find something, and while it wasn't a fanart, I did found a drawing of them together, so that's something.

-firewall/electric fire (?) (Watts x Cinder) - they hate each other and that whole balcony scene of Watts calling out Cinder's bullshit. Also unlike Ironwatts & Ironwood x Jacques, instead of them having divorced & sick of each other exes vibe, they rather have two people who refuse to get a divorce because they're petty af and want to see the other sufer. Next question

-target practice/pvp (?) (Penny x Pyrrha) - i might not ship it as i used to, but i think it started when i thought about how Pyrrha died thinking Penny is dead (which she was and will be), while Penny got brought back, not knowing Pyrrha is dead (does she know it is unknown but for the sake of angst im chosing this option) and then my mind thought of PvP Childhood AU, where Penny got the chance to travel around the world years ago and befriended Pyrrha with them keeping in touch over the years and getting to see each again other at the Vytal festival.

And yes that does make their fight a lot more devastating because now Pyrrha dies feeling the guilt of killing her best friend and Penny comes back only to learn her best friend is gone and died not knowing she's alive (if we assume bringing Penny took a lot of time).

Aside from the angst, I think they could have had a cute dynamic :)

-envy zinnia (Emerald x Ren) - it's the "because she's scared just like us" for me (dont remember if he said that because he used his semblance). It's the way Emerald reacted to his words and denied them. It's the way Ren looked at Emerald while others were arguing about her joining the team (i think it was Yang who mostly against it).

It's the idea of Emerald assuming Ren can read her well because of his semblance and trusts her based on that, only to learn he had never used his semblance and trusts her, because he wants to and sees good in her for me.

It's the idea of Ren feeling complicated about his feelings about Nora, because he feels like he should fall in love with her given she's his best friend and had always been by his side, only to fall in love with his former enemy. (nooo, i did not drop the summary of my wip here, nooo)

There isn't much with this ship, for me this mostly being "hey this is a neat one" only to then imagine Emerald getting flustered over Ren holding her hand or looking at her with a soft gaze in his eyes.

OKAY YOU SENT ME A LOT (WHICH I LOVE THANK YOU SO SO MUCH) so im gonna put my responses under a readmore bc i do actually wanna put thought into each of these

okayyyyy lets start with IRONHILL: well i think ironwood is a whole gay man but thats just MY hc so like. of the female characters u can ship him with its not the WORST option? like i 100% totally get what u mean that sometimes theres so much wasted potential or a better story hidden behind a dynamic that you either dont get to see on screen or doesnt get nearly enough to work with that u kinda end up shipping them just bc u want more of them. im not sure i see any romantic or sexual chemistry between them personally so i feel like i would "ship" them as like Business Partners. like

robyn: would you like... to form an alliance with me

james: ... yes, yes i would

robyn: EXCELLENT >:333

NOW TYRION/FIONA. This Interests Me. like i love corruption type romances, where the innocent or happy or naive one gets a dark or bad boy or straight up evil lover. some real hades/persephone type shit. ive said before that i love angel/demon imagery and u cant get more heavenly than a lamb. also i do agree that i think their parallels of their roles are very interesting and i also dont like robyn so anything that gets fiona away from her is good with me! i feel like i would really love like almost a roleswap of them? like a fiona slated to be a maiden candidate for salem, on the bad guys side, and a tyrion that was still fucked up but he is like on ironwoods payroll as a ace-op special assassin or something, like i feel like that would be really fun LOL or like a tryion that was just SLIGHTLY less insane and not on salems side but like is still a bad guy and he gets wounded and fiona finds him dying in the woods or something and brings him back to her little cottage and fixes him up and they bond as he recovers like THATS TASTY

cinder/watts im not a fan of. i do get what u mean about them having toxic divorced exes energy but i feel like watts/ironwood does that in a way sexier and fun way and i dont want to subject cinder to that sort of vibe tbh (i have another cinder-centric rarepair thats genuinely my cinder otp so theres also that)

TARGET PRACTICE IS A FUCKED UP NAME FOR PYRRHA/PENNY SKCBSODBSPEHEJ but pvp is deffo something i get... in a completely au context. like nothing about their canon vibes click for me? but with ur whole childhood friends thing i get it; i think like if somebody told me to outline a pvp fic, i would like. okay pyrrha is brought to beacon on a special recommendation and before she even starts the school, shes brought in and told about the maidens and magic and penny and the proposal to make her the next autumn and penny the next winter and ironwood and ozpin ask if shes willing and if she is, will she work with penny? and the two of them are assigned as partners (meaning jaune gets a new partner which according to canon would be WEISS so hello thats fun) and they bond and struggle with making friends and being 'normal' with these pressures and its quite bittersweet and emo and cute i like it

NOW YOU HAVE TOTALLY SOLD ME ON EMERALD/REN. i love putting ren with literally any other character and i feel like emerald has such a simple but good character that she can fit with a lot of people and tbh u really have sold me on them. i really like the imagery of like ren and emerald both having this barrier for whatever reason that prevents them from being open and honest with their feelings but using their semblances as different private u iqie communication that just WORKS for them they are both autistic and hot and i think they should kiss also their shades of green being complimentary and ren and her just having this really fun dynamic of them both being really snarky and sassy but quiet and observant and they just VIBE im highkey lowkey obsessed with the idea... ren and nora are side characters in my fic but they are on a team with merc and emerald (trust the process) and the plan is currently actually emerald/neon but... somethings may have to be rearranged bc im actually really REALLY into the idea of ren and emerald... SHIT YOU ACTUALLY DID IT YOU ACTUALLY SOLD ME ON REMERALD.....

[canayams-art]

i also feel like the animation this season is different, more crisps or something, because it looks even better than season 1 already gorgeous one. fengqing taking hold of me again was unexpected, but im dealing with the onslaught of emotions! i think it's just been too long since ive seen them in new scenes :"))

LQQ IS THE MVP OF THE DONGHUA AT THIS POINT! i looooove his design so much, more than the manhua one personally, and every scene he was in was soo good, i would have hard time choosing the one favorite as well. i think lqq debut this season was absolutely on point, and honestly i love watching him on my screen. he's so precious and when i tell you every scenes he's in makes me love him more and more im not kidding.

KEJEJJRJRJ FY AND LQQ INTERACTION WOULD HAVE BEEN SOO GOOD! especially considering mq is much more open as fu yao and being touched by lqq's sincerity and concern for mq would be right there on his face. (dw they make me cry as well🥹) i think i would also like to explore lqq's reaction to qi rong insulting mq, or maybe even their interactions during the aftermath of the tong'lu. mq being canonically good with children and helping lqq with guzi would be soo cute 🥰🥺 their potential for a strong and genuine companionship has me squealing as i write this, no lie

im so with you on your view of quirong!! it's definitely not a ship for me, even if i do tend to give every ship i come across a chance. although i think a fandom as well plays a role in my dislike, the overall impression of the ship didn't really give me the right vibe to like it either. im not above liking a pretty fanart for them when i come across it, but overall i just don't care about them. however it is always nice when you come across someone who also isn't a fan of the popular ship, makes you feel less crazy for not liking them 😭

mhmm if only more people thought like that, the discourses in the fandom would not exist :") it's so silly thinking everyone would have the same taste about fiction and media they watch and choose to interact with, and if that were to be the case the fandoms would be such a dull place to be. everyday i feel like the fandoms have went from a fun place to find like-minded people who enjoy things you do and with whom you can gush over your silly little blorbos, to this draining chore where you're constantly afraid someone will be on your throat for whatever reason if you dare say something about any character whether you like them or don't. it's honestly becoming exhausting but that's exactly why curating your own fandom experience and environment is important to have fun.

im personally ready to drop a fic if i see a trope i don't like or interpretation i don't agree with, even if i was already invested into the story prior. im willing to look past the characterization issue when the fics are clearly meant to be crack, but otherwise it really is very important to me that characters be the closest to canon as possible, especially in canon universe. modern aus are tricky, but honestly with enough lore throw in to explain it, i can swallow slight mischaracterization. anything fanon related tho, yeah im dipping so fast 😭 gods i sure sound pretentious and nitpicky about this but it's true, i learned the hard way that the only way to enjoy a fandoms is to set standards for what you like and not and not really care about others opinions, it's so much more enjoyable and you will eventually find the like-minded people who will support your delusions

side characters are gold mine when it comes to fics and general fandom experience, and from what ive noticed, the less popular the better 😭😭 sure you will probably have to make your own fan work but it's soo worth it at the end of the day! also less discourses so it's definitely a win. i also feel like the side characters/pairings usually have more interesting concepts when it comes to fics/art 🤔 this is not the case in every fandom but from my experiences, fics and art about side characters somehow feel more satisfying? idk to me it always comes across how people make a thing without it being cut out and served for them by already established canon, so to me it always feels more enjoyable to interact with such works

FIRST TIME DRAWING SQX?!?!?!!! IM ALMOST TEMPTED NOT TO BELIEVE IT! SQX IS SO GORGEOUS IN YOU ARTSTYLE AND IM DEFINITELY LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING THEM AGAIN AT SOME POINT IF YOU DECIDE TO DRAW THEM AGAIN! im also not so subtly stalking you account for any lqq rarepait you decide to grace us with 👀👀

I’m so sad we have to wait a little longer for the next episode to come out,,,,, I need to see fengqing more 😭 Also!!! Lqq really is the heart and soul of the season so far!!! I guess that makes sense considering we’re right in the middle of his arc but he really is such a joy to see in every scene— they really made him so baby and if last episode is anything to go by they’re about to make him so anguished (affectionate). I love this boy so much.

Also every time we bring up more and more different qianqing scenarios, I can’t help feeling that they’re actually so surprisingly complimentary to each other. Now I’m actually just disappointed that mxtx never really explored their dynamic. Lqq would’ve been a perfect ally in mq’s hardships and mq would’ve been a such an asset to have in the search for qr and the management of Guzi’s care (not sure if mq would be nurturing but he’d definitely come through with a lot of “Why aren’t you [insert form of care here] ?”). They could’ve benefited from being closer.

I think there’s something novel about side characters and rarepairs that makes them (personally) so appealing. We don’t see so much about them so we want to know more and from that want comes so much unique and interesting exploration. I just read an entire story about a pair of main guys— I wanna know more about the people who were a part of their story. It’s about the fun of redirecting the spotlight 🥹

(Also I think in a way everyone is a little pretentious with their personal preferences for what they enjoy and how they enjoy it. If the writing or the art isn’t doing anything for you or it loses you along the way then that’s just part of the subjective experience of the arts! It’s okay to admit to being picky or selective.)

Anyway—! As a lqq art peddler I am happy to keep peddling more lqq art in the future. Might even start drawing more donghua lqq (manhua lqq is very special to me but donghua lqq has charmed me so much 😭). I really gotta get back into the frenzied rate at which I used to draw him— now with a couple extra boyfriends LMAO.