#but yeah! if only I had as much motivation writing my other fics! wouldn't that be great

[evil-ontheinside]

Byler Week Day 2: 80s movies - Kiki's delivery service, 1989

“You’re really going to leave?”

A bunch of clothes glide out of Will’s arm into the bag lying on the ground when Mike’s voice rings out through his room. Will almost doesn’t want to turn around because if Mike looks anything as sad as his voice sounds, Will isn’t sure if he can stay strong in his decision.

He takes another look at his heavy journal, placed on the table beside his bed, a constant reminder of his family’s tradition, and takes a deep breath before turning to face his best friend.

Mike is standing in his doorway, one hand clutching at the frame while the other fidgets with the hem of his shirt. He looks at Will with big eyes and sadness written all over his face. There’s mud smeared on his cheek where Will had left it after hearing the exciting news on the radio.

A clear full moon night with warm temperatures and no rain in sight: the perfect night to leave and find his own town just like his mother had done when she was thirteen.

Mike was always excited when Will took the radio from the living room and they went out to Castle Byers to listen to the weather report. Granted, Mike had never been much interested in the weatherman and listened more to the music and news report when they came on but still.

Will’s shout of excitement had made Mike excited just because Will was excited but that excitement had soon been washed away when he understood what Will was so excited about. Will hadn’t taken the time to look at Mike’s troubled expression before he snatched the radio off the ground to go home and tell his mother of his choice.

He isn’t sure who is more troubled by Will’s decision to leave, Mike or his mother. Still, his mom had rummaged through the hallway closet and gave him the bag she had used all those years ago when she had been his age and told him to be mindful of what he takes with him.

Per tradition, Will isn’t allowed to return home. His family has never been big on traditions but even then, Jonathan had taken to writing letters only two years after he left and was still set on visiting after he turned eighteen earliest. Will is dead set to follow in his footsteps.

Still, that meant not seeing his mother and his friends for five whole years. Even the giddiest feeling of excitement couldn’t quite drown out the sadness.

He would miss them and if Mike looked at him like that for more than five minutes, he might not leave at all.

“I told you I would,” is all he says, determination seeping into his voice. He turns back around, trying to ignore how Mike’s face falls, the last bit of hope washed away by Will’s words, and folds his clothes into the bag. Will can see Mike shuffling about in the doorway, swaying a little from side to side and wringing his hands in front of him.

He knows Mike is trying not to tell him to stay. They had this conversation plenty of times in plenty of scenarios, the latest of which was a sleepover, just the two of them in the middle of the night.

Mike had spoken into the darkness, not sure if Will was still awake, and quietly asked him not to leave. To just stay in Hawkins and become his mother’s apprentice or something of the sort, or to wait until Mike was old enough to come with him.

Will remembers sighing to himself and telling Mike, again, that this is something he has to do. That he has to prove to everyone and himself that he can do this on his own. His mother did it, Jonathan did it and now Will was going to do it as well. No way around it.

Mike’s whispered okay had almost broken Will’s heart as he listened to it. It sounded very different from the last time Mike had tried to convince him which ended in a fight and a whole week of not talking to each other shortly after Will’s birthday. Only Mike’s birthday soon after got the two of them to talk to each other again and even then, it must have been the worst birthday Mike had ever had because he looked miserable half the time.

Will hears a sniffle from the door and has to close his eyes for a second to will the tears away and walks over to his bedside table to get his journal. When he turns back around, Mike is sitting next to his bag, rubbing at his eyes and folding the rest of Will’s clothes into the bag.

Will can’t help but grin, especially when he sees that Mike brought some of his own things to add to Will’s collection. Other than Will’s favorite sweater of his, a green one that matches Mike’s eyes but is also really warm and has found its way into Will’s hands plenty of times during the winter, he also brought Will’s set of dice that he usually stores in Mike’s room and the stuffed tiger that they both share custody over ever since they won it together at the fair. What other people might call cheating, they call teamwork, suck it, Max.

Will joins Mike on the ground again and watches for a few seconds before pulling the bag away from Mike to place the heavy journal on top. While Will closes the flap of the bag, Mike attaches the radio somewhere on the side and gives it a little tug to see if it will come off.

After that, they sit in silence for a while, neither quite looking at the other until Mike reaches out for Will’s hand and squeezes it a few times as if to convince himself that Will is still here. Will squeezes back and finally looks up at Mike, who has his face scrunched up in a look that Will knows means he’s trying not to cry.

Will’s own eyes begin to leak. The tears drip down onto their hands, Mike finally looks up at Will and lets out one heartbreaking sob before he pulls Will into a hug. For a second, all air leaves Will’s lungs but that doesn’t stop him from holding Mike just as tight when they both start crying into each other’s shoulders.

“You cried before me.” Will gets out between two sobs, trying to lighten the mood at least a little since he’s responsible for Mike’s tears in the first place but it doesn’t seem to help.

“I’m going to miss you.” Is Mike’s response which has a new wave of tears streaming down Will’s face.

“I’ll miss you too.”

Will isn’t sure how long they sit there and just cry their eyes out on his bedroom floor but he knows his mom came and watched them from the door for a little. He saw a part of her cardigan disappear from view which didn’t help stop his crying and only set Mike off again when he realized that Will was back at it again.

When they separate, Mike presses a stack of papers against his chest before he even finished to dry his tears.

“Here. So you can write.” It’s a stack of letters, one from each of his friends and with their addresses written on the envelopes in familiar handwritings. The whole thing has Will tearing up all over again and he can’t help himself when he pulls Mike back into a hug for a fourth round of tears.

“I’ll write. Promise.” Will’s voice is muffled by Mike’s hair but he seems to understand him all the same. He nods in jerky movements and if Will could see his face, he’s sure there would be fresh tears on Mike’s face too.

Will prepares himself for another round of crying later when he says goodbye to the rest of his friends for the foreseeable future and a different kind of sobbing competition when he gets to hug his mom one last time. But for now, he thinks the tears might have been shed. Still, he and Mike don’t let go, keep clinging to each other like they will never see each other again.

Which they might not. If Will takes a note out of Jonathan’s book he won’t write for two years and a lot can happen during that time. Maybe Mike won’t want to be Will’s friend anymore, maybe he’ll get tired of waiting for Will. The tears tell a different story but Will can only wait and see what the future holds for them.

For now, Will tries to stay optimistic. In a few hours, he will take off and follow his family’s tradition to become a witch of his own town. In two years, he’ll write his first letter and in the meantime, he’ll take comfort in the five letters now tucked into his bag. In five years, he’ll come to visit, if his friends didn’t make the trip first to see him, which they might. His friends are crazy like that, sometimes. He wouldn’t be surprised if they stole a car and made a road trip out of it.

“Don’t steal a car while I’m gone.” The comment startles a laugh out of Mike and it makes Will smile just hearing it.

How is he supposed to survive five years without hearing Mike laugh?

“Have you met our friends? What am I supposed to do if they want to steal a car?” Will leans back, lifting his head off Mike’s shoulder where it had been resting for a while, and gives Mike a look.

“Not encourage them, maybe.”

Mike grins, cheeks red and eyes puffy but smiling. Will tries to burn the view into his brain for the next five years.

“No promises,” he says shrugging, and then takes Will’s hand again. He places a journal, smaller and a lot lighter than the one already in Will’s bag, into his hand and closes Will’s fingers around it.

“For when you’re lonely,” Mike says bashfully, cheeks growing redder by the second in the way they do when Mike does something unbelievably sweet and gets embarrassed about it. When Will tries to open it, Mike slaps his hand on top of his and yells, almost frantically: “Don’t look at it while I’m around!”

Will laughs at Mike’s hysterics and places the journal carefully next to the letters. They share another look before Mike helps Will carry his belongings outside and it’s time for another round of goodbyes when all their friends are already gathered in front of the house.

A few hours later, sitting on his broom, Will sheds a few more tears when he thinks about what he leaves behind. If he wasn’t afraid to lose them to the wind, Will would already be reading through the letters but he keeps them safe in his bag, at least for now.

Five years, he tells himself. That’s not that long. He spent the first five years of his life without his friends, without Mike. He’ll manage to do it again. And if the pain in his heart grows too big, he can read their letters. And if that still isn’t enough, he’ll have Mike’s journal and if that only makes the heartache worse, he can just pick up a pen and write some letters back.

He rubs a tear off his cheek and corrects his course toward the ocean. With his friends and family only one letter away, Will allows himself to be excited again. At least he’ll have a lot of stories to tell when he sees them again.

[surr3al1sm]

I just wanted to come on here and make a little celebration post because Maybe Loving You is Dangerous has officially hit 100 kudo's! That number is like genuinely insane to me because I was expecting it to get like 30, max. I cannot believe it oh my god. I'm so grateful for everyone that has read my fic so far, that has left a kudo's, that has left a comment. It all really means the world to me, thank you so much. I truly wouldn't have been able to do any of this without you guys. I'm so happy you enjoyed the story so far, and I'm so excited for what's coming next because I get to have some fun. I hope you guys will like it! Now, surpisingly or not, I am very bad at talking about myself and my accomplishments. And since it's my celebration post I get to do what I want. Today that is being nice to some other writers. So I decided to leave a little note to the authors that inspired me to write and actually publish this fic under the cut. (So if you got tagged, that might be why). Feel free to read these notes if you want to, it's truly just me being an insufferable fanboy. If you did not get tagged, but we are mutuals (or friends) just know that you might have also had a role in the inspiration and motivation departments of this fic.

A note to @halfratsalready: I'm sure this comes as a surpise to no one, and I warned you I was going to tag you in something. But yeah, being very real and sappy with you: you're like one of my biggest inspirations for this. I was, and still am, absolutely enamored by the Lose Yourself series. I honestly feel confident enough to say that its my favourite Just Dance fic, ever. It's genuinely so well written and you executed everything so perfectly. I loved inserting it into my weekly schedule and I felt so inspired to write afterwards. I'm going to be a little sneaky and say that the whole reason I started even thinking about possibly writing a pre-canon fic. So truly, MLYiD owes Lose Yourself it's life. I joke around sometimes and call you my target audience, but honestly? You are. Everything I write is with your enjoyment in mind. I really do catch myself thinking "I hope Oboe likes this" while writing lol. I will forever be your nbr 1 fanboy, and I am so glad that we're friends. I wouldn't have it any other way.

A note to @libra-cant-just-dance: Hello there! You're the only one in here I haven't talked to, but I still wanted to tag you and tell you how much I love your fic. The Tainted City was such a great fic. I loved the plot and your story telling and the way you describe things is just so amazing. I really look up to it. The Tainted City was a bigger inspiration for my other fic than for this one, but honestly without it I doubt I would have ever started posting fics. So really, I owe you one at this point. Your fics are amazing and I cannot wait to see what you end up doing with Mirrored Walls!

A note to @lightning-and-sparks: Thorns was the first Just Dance fanfic I have ever read, and it will always be one of my favourites. I genuinely enjoy the story and you're such a good author as well. I'm so glad it's back and that I get to read weekly updated for it again. As you know, it is a very big inspiration for MLYiD and I might have accidentally stolen a few things from it but that was all in good faith and because it was all so good that I just had to. Keep it up, I need infinite Throns content (please.)

[sineala]

So, Tony’s marrying Emma Frost now? I feel like Tony’s the only character that toss around like this, in that sense. What number wife will this be?

Uh... one, assuming it happens? Tony has never been canonically married before in 616.

He has had one retconned engagement to a woman named Joanna Nivena, who left him when he decided to be Iron Man. He was serious enough about Rumiko Fujikawa to want to marry her, IIRC, but he never had the chance to propose to her before she was killed. He proposed to Patsy and she said no. As far as I know, that's it. He's dated a lot of characters and he's generally very serious about them and I wouldn't be surprised if canon had said he had seriously considered marrying at least a few others that I can't name off the top of my head, but, yeah, he's only been engaged once.

(Across the multiverse, he's clearly been in serious relationships at least a few other times and famously engaged to Natasha in Ults, but the only non-MCU universe I can think of right now where canon has focused on him being married to anyone is the one where he's married to... Steve.)

Also, this shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone? We have known Tony and Emma have had a Friends With Benefits thing going, as was established in Civil War, like, fifteen years ago. We have specifically known for the past four years that the wedding was coming, ever since History of the Marvel Universe came out in 2019, and made several prophetic statements about the future, including this:

This is not coming out of nowhere; we have had four years of lead time. So far I think about half the things on that page have come true. Maybe more? I haven't checked in a while. So honestly for the past four years of comics I have been saying that I was still waiting for the Tony/Emma wedding, as the prophecy foretold, and that it seemed likely to be some kind of politically-motivated marriage for mutant/human relations especially given that Tony is canonically a member of the Hellfire Club, which has also been true for years, and that seems to be exactly how this is playing out, judging by today's announcement. As I was expecting.

I really like how Duggan has been writing Tony, and how he's been writing Tony and Emma, and I've always thought it would be interesting to see more Tony/Emma in canon, so I think this is gonna be a lot of fun while it happens and maybe there will be more Tony/Emma fic because the few I have read have been great. Tony in relationships with telepaths has been something I've thought was interesting for a while and I don't think we're ever getting Marianne Rodgers back, so Emma it is.

Given Marvel's track record with their characters' marriages I feel that there's no way this is lasting more than six months assuming the marriage happens at all (as the prophecy only foretells a wedding) and honestly I'm hoping no one sells them to Mephisto because seriously, he already also collected Strange and Clea's marriage for a bit in addition to Peter/MJ. I don't know why that dude wants marriages so much.

Honestly, if you want to talk about weird and unexpected canonical relationships involving Emma Frost, I am STILL not over the part where it appears to be canon right now that (1) Steve and Sharon have been in an open relationship for a while, (2) Steve and Emma slept together at the last Hellfire Gala, and (3) it was mommy kink. Because I assure you I absolutely didn't see that coming.

So basically I am intrigued now that the time of Tony/Emma is upon us as foretold in the prophecy. Also I hope fandom brings me some It's Complicated Steve/Tony/Emma because I can't believe we're really just going to leave the canon Steve/Emma thing alone, fandom, and oh my God it is all SO MUCH. Comics. Comics are so Very Comics sometimes.

[magoranzz]

Kirby au rambles (behind the scenes) below :D

two months ago (or 3)

I had this au messing around in my mind for awhile, like I wanted to make it SO BAD!

But the story, writing, drawing it was just to much. But I managed to make it happen

Here are more: I was going to have each picture on each chapter of a plant that grows on the next chapter

But I pretty much scratched that since it was kinda stupid

And I was going to add color!

But it was too hard!

After I found the choice, maybe some different shades of gray in the comic?

Nah too much work.

I wasn't going to make the comic, so I gave up

Until...

Flipaclip got new brushes! THIS *points at it* HELPED ME TO HAVE MOTIVATION

"star you could've just said that we could help make this!"

NO, I'm a solo artist. I don't like to get help from others, it makes me feel like a brat, I ONLY ask if I really have to.

and When I was making it, I wanted descriptions on it so then people wouldn't be confused when reading it

So I pretty much make my first fic! I combined my writing with my art and made it into a glistening ball of PAIN

YES, PAIN. CAUSE IF I NEEDED TO MAKE GOOD STORYTELLING I HAD TO PUT 1 HOUR OF DRAWING, 24 MINUTES OF SHADING, AND 2 HOURS OF MAKING TEXT BUBBLES AND WRITING, AND PROOF READING EVERYTHING 4 TIMES WHICH TAKES ME 20 MINUTES

3 hours and 44 minutes :D

But don't worry, I done this before, only on paper.

Pretty much I made the plot in my head of how Magolor would survive or die, and how the story would go out since Mags already went through the events of RTDL

And while I was making this, I was going to have magolor die, but then people would go after me!

(WHAT IF I GET BANNED? WHAT IF I'M IGNORED?) Negative thoughts wouldn't stop, so that's why I put out a poll that said "should magolor live? It's for my au!" And surprisingly people had attention to it.

Magolor got to live, while I was in the middle of designing possessed mags

Like, have you seen those posts of writers/artists that imagined that one scene that started the book?

Yeah... That happened to me.

but yeah, getting to the ending of the comic got me finishing it QUICK, I just wanted to be done, now the finale is here

I put my final touches to the comic, and posted the last part of the Chapter

ah, now I can sit back and relax and work on my other things that are less hard.

Then, when I reread the Chapters

THEY WERE MISCOUNTED AND NOT IN ORDER

SO I GOT ON MY ASS AND FIXED ALL OF THEM EVEN THOUGH PEOPLE HAD ALREADY REBLOGGED THEM.

That's why you see a pinned masterpost about it! And I pretty much was done with it

so yep! I finally got things of of my chest

[askamnesiamoonjumper]

🫂

(🫂: Comforting hugs)

WOE MJ COMING OUT BE UPON YE (though should be noted this isn’t 100% how it happens in the final fic in my head, example being I tweaked some dialogue to not have references to spoilers and made it just be Mj and Snatcher, where as in my head I think Delilah would also be there :3 but yeah I have no clue how I actually got myself to write this I was fully expecting to fail horribly at this bc of my motivation sucking ass but welp here we are ig?) (also note this is taking place during the timeskip but I think everyone here already knows that about femmj) anyway, enjoy!!

(Tw for accidental misgendering)

——————————————

“…So, are you going to tell me what’s eating you?”

“Mm-m”

“Moonboy you know I can’t hear you with your face in the pillow like that.”

Moonjumper flinched at the nickname, he doesn’t know. She had to remind herself. 

The two sat in the corpses room, with said corpse having their form pressed into the pillows of their bed, as their brother sat at the end to question their odd behavior lately. 

Moonjumper tilted their head away from the pillow to unmuffle their words. “I said no— it… it’s fine, Snatcher, really.” 

“Yeah, and my name is the Twilight Goat, I’m not falling for that Moon, now fess up.” He gave a deadpan look, a hint of annoyance inching its way into his tone. 

“Snatcher really, it’s—”

“I know it’s not fine. Now. Talk.”

“No, it’s—”

“No, you’ve had yourself locked up in here throwing yourself a little pity party all week! So what’s going on? Because I’m not leaving until you say why!” The ghost snapped. 

The two were left in silence, Moonjumper bit their lip uncomfortably and buried their face back into the pillow, clutching it tighter between her claws. Why couldn’t she just tell him? It would solve both of their problems wouldn't it? 

“I…” Moonjumper tried but the words died on her lips. 

Snatcher simply gave them a sympathetic but simultaneously tired look, one that said he knew far too well what they were feeling right now, oh the joys of being one in the same— you know every little trick and act the other knows. All the same horrible coping and communication skills, like a snake eating its own tail. 

The ghost sighed, “Look— I didn’t mean to get mad. I’m just… worried. You know how I am.” He looked off to the side, shoulders slumping. 

Moonjumper nodded, she knew, she knew he was worried— who wouldn’t be after you realize the pattern over the years that your sibling shuts down through self isolation. A painful habit from the Horizon. Who wouldn’t realize the spirit hadn’t been seen all week and come to the conclusion they’re rotting away in their room, wallowing in their own misery over something that couldn’t even be. Who wouldn’t come check on them, who wouldn’t worry. 

“I know…” Moonjumper whispered, turning over to better face him, “I just…” she blinked a few times, tears rung the corners of her eyes, “I… just don’t think you’d get it…” they looked off to the side. I know you’d understand, I know you won’t care, but I care, I care so much, and it's killing me, it’s killing me how much I care. 

Snatcher only stared at them, “Try me.” He prompted.

The spirit looked up at him upon hearing the words, it’s not you, it’s me, it’s not you, it’s not your fault, it’s not that you won’t get it, it's not that you won’t understand, it’s that I can’t say it, my mouth goes dry just thinking about it, so how in the world could I possibly say it?

Moonjumper slowly sat upright, holding the thick pillow in their lap, suffocating the poor fabric into their chest, “…I…” try again, “I’m—…“ again, “it’s just that— …that I-“ one more time, “I think— no- I am—! I mean— I…” 

“I’ll be here all day, Moonboy.” Snatcher gave an amused look at their failed attempts at the words, though it wasn’t hostile, or the typical harsher teasings he gave, it had a softness he only showed now to them, after all the years that had passed, the kind of softness his past self would gag at seeing from himself. 

There it was, the nickname, …it’s now or never. 

“That!” Moonjumper scrunched their eyes shut, “that— that's the issue.” They mumbled.

Snatcher blinked in pure confusion, “…What?” 

“Th- the name…? Um… that.” She sat up a bit straighter, not looking at anything in particular. “Can you… not call me that…?”

Snatcher was silent, before laughing a bit under his breath, “Wh- the nickname!? Was that what this was all about!?” 

“N- no, Snatcher it’s…” their voice trailed quieter. 

“Haha— You- you had yourself locked up in here for that!?” He laughed, continuing on.

“There’s more to it th—!”

“What? Did you think I would steal your soul over it or something!? Ahahaha—!” 

“Snatcher I'm not a boy!” The words came out as one sound, like ripping away a bandaid, get the pain over with. 

Snatcher froze, his laughter instantly disappeared, he looked at the other, eyes wide before his brows furrowed, bright gold lights looking into amaryllis red irises that shook and shivered with tears that lined the corners of their eyes. 

“You— …what…?” His voice was a complete 180, hushed and silent like the wind, rather than booming and loud like a thundering hurricane. 

Moonjumper bit her lip, desperately blinking the tears away from her eyes, “I— I…” she hicced, voice trembling against her will. She simply let her head fall down, burying her face into the pillow in her grasp, harshly digging her fingers into the cloth coated stuffing. 

Snatcher shifted on the bed, scooting closer to the spirit, “Woah, woah, hey, Moon— it’s ok, I didn’t—“ he didn’t finish his sentence, as he spoke while he moved, bringing his claw to his siblings— (possibly sisters? He wasn’t going to ask just yet,)— shoulder, to which they wordlessly understood where the gesture was leading, shoving the pillow to the floor and diving into his arms. Snatcher was still in shock from the quick hug for a second, before he eased into the embrace, wrapping his arms around the others shoulders as they sobbed silently. 

Moonjumper let the tears slip down their face, allowing themself to relax in his hold, the heat of his fire magic helping tremendously, as they let their form slowly limp against his warm chest, keeping their hold around his back tight though, as their head rested comfortably in the crook of his spectral neck. 

Her sobs slowly died down, but the two remained like that together, wordlessly in each other's embrace 

“So…” Snatcher began, “Do I have a sister, or…?”

Moonjumper laughed quietly, “Maybe~” she sang. “…But, um, I don’t mind you still calling me your sibling, that part is staying the same.” She added in a more serious tone. 

“Got it.” He nodded, “Just no more ‘he’, then? ‘Brother’, ‘Moonboy’, none of that?” He asked to double check. 

Moonjumper shook her head, “I don’t think so, no.” She mumbled. 

“Alright, good to know.” He mused. 

The two were silent yet again, simply resting into the other's arms. Moonjumpers' breathing slowed, dying out into dead emptiness as they stopped forcing it to show itself. 

“So… why were you so upset? Isn’t this a good thing?” Snatcher asked. 

Moonjumper looked at nothing for a moment, biting their tongue in their mouth to think of the words. 

“It’s just…” she shifted, finally breaking the hug to demonstrate— “Well, Snatcher look at me! I’m dead!” They held out their arms, gesturing to their form.

The ghost blinked, “Well, Yeah, so am I. What’s the issue here? That isn’t exactly able to stop me from calling you different things, is it?” He laughed slightly. 

Moonjumper huffed, “it’s not just that— it’s- my form is what’s wrong— it’s my body, not just the words.” They explained, hands motioning as she spoke, “And… and anything that I think of I know wouldn’t do anything— medicine would just absorb into my magic, and- and I couldn’t go to any kind of doctors because— well, one, they probably wouldn’t even take spirits for patients, and two, even if they did, they wouldn’t know how my biology works!? Hell, I hardly do!” She continued to motion her hands, waving them out exaggeratedly at the last part before they fell down into being crossed against her chest, as the corpse huffed, looking off to the side. Her eyes looked at nothing intently, the ghost across from her watched as tears began to build in her eyes once more. 

Moonjumper turned to him, “Snatcher, don’t you get it?” She said in a desperate, defeated tone, “I can’t have it.” 

Snatcher looked at the corpse in sympathy, watching as they looked down, nails clutching tighter into their crossed arms. 

“And how do you know that?” He finally spoke.

Moonjumper sniffled, before looking up to him with wide eyes. “P… pardon?” She said in a shaky voice. 

“How do you know you can’t.” He repeated, deadpan. 

“I— …I just told you?” They said in confusion.

“And what if you’re just jumping to conclusions.” He challenged.

“I…” the spirit didn’t have any words. …Huh. They hadn’t… considered that… 

…They supposed that was what happened when you made an echo chamber of your own negative thoughts for days straight… 

“Well?” Snatcher broke her from out of her head.

Moonjumper only blinked a few times, trying to sort through their thoughts, before she laughed weakly. “I- I guess you have a point…!” She smiled tiredly, a bittersweet sadness rung in her face, as she still managed a toothy grin despite that. 

Snatcher seemed satisfied with that, bringing himself closer once more and hugging the other again. “Even if all that nonsense does turn out to be true, I’ll make sure we find a way, promise.” He leaned his head back away from the hug, pressing his forehead against hers.

Moonjumper laughed airily under her breath, “O- okay.” She shakily breathed out with a smile, easing her head against his.  

“That’s more like it.” Snatcher said in encouragement. “…Glad we talked, Moongirl.” He added. 

Moonjumper paused, her brain freezing up trying to comprehend the words, the nickname hitting her like a train. Once it sunk in, a warm fuzziness she didn’t know existed filled her form, making her smile stretch more as she dizzily pressed her forehead further into Snatchers, letting her eyes slip shut in her newfound haze of bliss. “Yeah…” She echoed the sentiment, “…Glad we talked.” 

[misc-obeyme]

The anon's point about the Mc's presence and how it could be more representative of a wider range of players if the character had an independent goal or mission is definitely a valid one.

But just like you said, a lot of otome games often focus on romance and relationships, with the Mc' s main motivation being to connect with and date the "main" love interests. But there is potential to introduce more complexity and appeal to players if the Mc has their own goals, motivations or missions that are separate from the romance aspect of the game.

Personally, I do think the idea of exploring the more "plot-based" angles and incorporating more elements of action-adventure into the story is a great suggestion and one that could make the narrative more engaging and relatable for us/players.

While the focus of the game may still be on romance aspects and character relationships, adding more depth and complexity through plot-driven angles can definitely add an extra layer of interest and appeal.

And I would love a buff mommy Mc or love interest by the way

I absolutely agree with everything you're saying.

The thing is, that is what you would get from something that is well written.

You are not going to get that level of consideration or good writing from a mobile otome game. Especially one that regularly rotates writers and also has a whole translation team that also mangles the story when they put it into other languages.

I love Obey Me, I really do. But the writing leaves a lot to be desired. I think it's inevitable. And honestly I think that right there is the only reason I decided to write fanfiction for it.

Because the characters have so much potential that's wasted. So why wouldn't I feel the urge to elaborate on them myself? I haven't written fic for a fandom in ages because I never felt compelled to until Obey Me came into my life. I couldn't possibly fuck it up, right?? LOL okay I'm exaggerating, it's not that bad. But they definitely have more characters than they can actually develop effectively.

So I would argue that the main story is more focused on MC's goals independent of their relationships with the characters. In the first season of OG, MC's whole goal is to get pacts, eventually the reason for this is to free Belphie from the attic. But none of that really has anything to do with MC's love story with any of the characters. You can go through that whole season and give them only platonic responses. Season two is similar in that MC's whole thing is figuring out how to deal with their "ring."

In fact, I would say that after season one, the events of each season don't even have an impact on MC's relationship with the seven brothers. The main thing that connects them and deepens their relationships in season one are the pacts. But in subsequent seasons, it doesn't seem to matter what happens, the brothers always see MC as family.

So I actually feel like the romance of the game is a side plot and even then, you can still choose to go through all of it without choosing lovey options for any of the characters.

However, they are expecting you to want to romance the characters. So they have to make MC someone that all the characters can fall in love with, whether their romance is front and center of the story or not.

Would it be more compelling for all of us if MC had a more interesting personality? Yeah, probably! But do I think these guys could pull off something like that? No, not really.

I'm not trying to bash the game or anything, obviously I totally love it. Look at my blog lol. I'm obsessed with it. But I've never found the writing to be especially good.

I've seen complaints that it's not romantic enough. I've seen complaints that it forces romance on the players. I've seen complaints that MC is too generic. I've seen complaints that MC is not generic enough. I'm sure they're doing the best they can, but I highly doubt writing quality is high on their list of concerns.

All that is to say that of course every anon that has come to my ask box about this particular topic has valid opinions on it! And you can certainly discuss what would improve the overall story. I just generally choose not to think about it too deeply because I'm not expecting anything of higher quality than what we've been getting all along. Which is just quality enough to keep me hooked lol.

Lastly, all I want in life is a buff mommy love interest asdlkfkjf not at all holding my breath, but SHEESH. Just gimme a stunning muscular demon lady, huh? I would die on the spot.

[mishy-mashy]

WELP got a new BNHA fic idea about the Resistance and an entrepreneurial OC, including:

Kudo is pretty sure the university barista isn't as polite and proper as she seems. Bruce doesn't believe him

"Are you sure you want to be working on Valentine's, Shiki-san?" Bruce looked up at the red streamers hung around. "Don't you have someone to go out with? It'll be really busy with all the couples."

She gave a closed-eye smile, which set off an alarm in their heads as this was very much not her usual one. It was a familiar sensation, being why they stiffened—the instinctive fear of scary women.

"What are you talking about, Bruce? Other than the fact that I have no time for romance..."

Her back turned, fist clenched as fire erupted in her eyes and around her. The aura she let off darkened her surroundings to a noxious blue, and Kudo could swear he saw GOGOGOGO~ characters shrouding her.

"Coffee dates are a classic. I can't turn down this chance to turn a profit......"

Bruce and Kudo sweatdropped.

Kudo likes facial masks

"Are those things really essential?" Bruce deadpanned, watching her stash mask packets away.

"If I ever need a self-care day to relax for a bit," she said.

Kudo put a finger on his cheek, touching the results of the deluxe face mask he stole from her.

"Totally understandable. Shit feels great. I'm smoother than a baby's ass."

"Kudo," Bruce warned, not wanting him to swear in front of her.

"That's why I was saving it. Jerk."

"Jerk who saved your life."

"Kudo!"

Being asked out by All For One while undercover with a fake identity

Her brain stalled.

"Fumi Haruka. Be my woman."

"..... I'm sorry, but we barely know each other. So, a relationship like that is..."

Yoichi didn't want to be here. He really did not want to watch his brother do this right now.

"Brother!!"

... Oh boy.

Yoichi doesn't understand Resistance codenames

"What's your name, dear?"

"Yoichi," he mumbled.

"What would you like to be called?"

"Yoichi."

"...... Alright." She didn't falter, tone as chipper as when she first asked. Similarly, Leader and Bruce didn't even blink as she introduced herself with a codename.

Writing their own domestic fanfiction in a canon-divergent void out of boredom

"I think we should adopt," Yoichi said thoughtfully. "I'd love to give children another chance at family."

"Oh, boy, 'children' plural." She did not miss that little big fact. "What's the limit of children? I don't want more than three."

"I want six," Yoichi hummed.

"More than one," Kudo decided so firmly that he definitely already had a number in mind.

"Only one, because just one is going to drive our house crazy," Bruce remarked as the sole voice of reason. "I wouldn't mind another one when the first is old enough."

"Well, we definitely aren't in agreement."

Going through their theater kid arc while waiting for the other vestiges

"She's the most beautiful girl in the whole town. That makes her the best."

"Damn, Kudo, didn't know that was your motivation," Bruce muttered not-quietly-at-all.

Yoichi still learning his memes

"Are we all cowabunga on this?" Yoichi asked the other holders.

None answered him. Finally, Shiki sighed and spared them all the discomfort of answering. "Yeah. We're cowabunga."

"God, I hope the road works ahead," Kudo muttered under his breath.

"This is fine." Bruce held up a thumbs-up.

En crinkled his nose, keeping quiet. They were his senpais, but, They're so outdated.

The first four holders being old

"Do you think we should call them Quirks now?" Yoichi asked Shiki, turning his head. "It's been long enough. No one calls them Meta Abilities anymore."

"Eh..." She looked away, not partial to the idea.

"We should keep up with the times," Yoichi decided for them.

".. If you think we should," she relented. Yet again, she fell victim to it: no one could say no to Yoichi. "Quirks," she tried it out. "Quirks. We have Quirks."

"No offense, Shiki-tan, but it sounds weird coming from you."

"Bruce, please."

Bruce basically having aneurysms whenever his attention is brought to All Might and Midoriya's health

"I WAS RIGHT."

"Bruce-"

"FORCING HIMSELF TO DO SOMETHING HE CAN'T DO WILL JUST BREAK SOMETHING."

[*Midoriya using One For All for the first time]

[nerdydowntherabbithole]

Okay, I've sent a lot of asks talking about my stuff, but I need to take a moment to say thank you.

I've only recently got into making art, and up until now it was slow going. Sometimes I just wouldn't have the energy to draw, or I straight up couldn't think of anything that I wanted to draw. But then I stumbled onto "Taking Life As Is" and it energized something in me.

I've been pumping out new art of completely original creatures at a ridiculous rate, taking the time to actually research real life animals for reference, something I've rarely had the patience to do before.

I can't believe it's only been 3 days since that ask where I came up with One Thousand Silent Eyes, the first OC to ever leave my brain. In 3 days, I've filled eleven whole pages of my journal. That blows my mind.

So thank you. Thank you for the wonderful story in a fandom that is desperately short on those, but more than that, thank you for inspiring me. For the first time in years, I'm creating things for myself, instead of consuming things made by others.

Without your wonderful story and constant shared excitement for not just my ideas, but everybody's awesome ideas, I don't know how long I would have gone without that drive to create. Thank you. <3

(Sorry if this is too serious or self-important, I tend to ramble when I need to express what I'm thinking. Dont feel any pressure to answer this if you dont want to!)

HI HELLO. UH. I needed to go lay down for a min after this so I didn't just outright start bawling my ACTUAL eyes out in a /srs way. And I just can't say enough how little my expressions of gratitude will not live up to the feelings I got. I can type abt screaming and sobbing all I want but AUGH that does NOT live up to it. So all I can do is say thank you thank you THANK YOU. Like I've stated before, I started TLAI as just. A silly little fix it fic that, I am going to tell you now, I thought I would barely get over 100 kudos in like. A month or two. My writing experience is basically sequestered to fandoms that have zero members other than myself and my dear friends, making small drabbles for said friends. AND UH. YEAH. AS YOU CAN SEE IT HAS GONE A LITTLE OUT OF THAT RANGE BY NOW. It is ABSOLUTELY guys like u that keep me motivated and confident in my own work. It is beyond the highest honor for me to ever hear that I have actively inspired ANYONE, honestly. Especially to this degree. It is BEYOND wild. Especially because your stuff is so GENUINELY massively awesome. It is so cool. I would have never guessed that you haven't just been doing this forever. SO UH YEAH. MUTUAL SAP. IM TAKING YOU BY THE SHOULDERS AND SHAKING YOU. THANK U SO MUCH. I NEED TO GO AND CRY NOW.

[lixenn]

COMES IN TO BOTHER YOU. what was the first fic you wrote? do you have any cool keychains/trinkets you carry around? if money and time was no object, what field of study/career would you pursue? what is a book youre currently reading?

WOW SO MANY QUESTIONS I LOVE IT!!

Let's get you some answers then:

First fic

... Already stumped at that one, because damn my memory is so fucking bad. I can't even ruffle through my documents on laptop because when I first started writing I had a different one and I'm not sure if I transfered all the files when I upgraded.

*tries to make the brain do the thinking thing*

I think actually my first try at anything fanfic like was with my super cringy self-insert thing into the Percy Jackson universe. I didn't even know fanfic was a thing at the time and I'm pretty sure I deleted that document because it went absolutely no where, so yeah that was probably it. I was and still kinda am pretty obsessed with Uncle Rick's work, so it's no surprise to me that I tried my hand at writing fanfic without knowing the concept even existed. However I wouldn't be able to tell you what that story was about even if you put a gun to my head so I can't really give you much detail.

Cool keychain/trinkets

Unfortunately no cool keychains for me, I have a heart shaped one my mum got me from her trip to Berlin but that's pretty basic. As for trinkets? Do earrings count? Because I have some pretty dope sword earrings.

The keychain situation might change though, because my friend is going to Japan in May and he promised to get me a souvenir, so maybe I'll have a cool KHR keychain soon (might get something else though who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Field of study/career

It's a toss up between Writer and Owner of Small Crochet Business. I would love to spent my day just being creative and making stuff. I do like science and I think with all the time I invested in my studies I can say I'm not bad at it but it's not my passion. Like, learning about new stuff is fun and I certainly can do experiments and data analysis but give me the option to simply chill on my couch/bed and just create, I would choose it over science every single time.

I'd probably need to get a better grip on scheduling my day because I realized having a strict routine does wonders for my mental health but otherwise just let me make stuff and I'll be happy.

BOOKS

*stares at all the books in my shelf that I've started but currently don't have the energy to read*

...

You want me to choose just ONE?

Well, if we take the one I read the most recently it's Assisstant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Meahrer. It's a cozy fantasy romance, easy to read and quite funny at times. I liked the premise so I picked it up and I'm over half way through but my brain is so focused on writing right now, I don't really have the motivation to read (which is very strange since normally it's the other way around.)

Other titles that are gathering dust in my self:

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch; also funny but in a more serious way, very heavy on the worldbuilding which is awesome but it takes a lot of brainspace so I put it on hold for now.

As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson; I binged the first two books in the trilogy in a day, but this one a bit darker than the others (which makes sense because shit happened) and I need to be in a certain brainspace for that.

The colour of magic by Terry Prachett; I read a lot of Discworld as a kid but I read it in German. This book is my first try reading Prachett in his original glory and it's actually a bit difficult, because again very heavy on the worldbuilding.

I know you only asked for one book, but I'm a chronic oversharer and you asked about BOOKS okay?! I'm bad at controlling myself when it comes to book discussions, so be glad I just kept it to four examples, I could have listed more!

[fieldsofview]

The Orphan Story - Baby Steps into Storytelling

I had a realization today because three of my interests (Spider-Man, D&D, and Writing/Storytelling) got their wires crossed - bear with me because this is probably going to be a long-winded post.

Something that's really prevalent in the Spider-Man fandom is the trope of "Dead May Parker" in fic. Usually, it starts with Peter's aunt and primary guardian, May Parker, being killed off-screen to set up the fic, often with just a small blurb about it like it wouldn't completely shatter Peter's world, but ya know.

It can be done in any number of ways (car crashes, cancer, and being caught in a supervillain's crossfire are all pretty typical for this).

There are a myriad of common storylines that build from this choice. IronDad, Homeless!Peter, and Foster!Peter are all really prevalent. Sometimes it's so that characters that people ship with Peter will be pushed together out of a need for Peter to live someplace new and/or needing someone to lean on. (I could go on, but you get the idea).

I could spend a lot of time talking about each of these storylines and the ways they can be done well or poorly, and the greater implications for the fandom as a whole, but that's not what this post is about so I will leave that here.

Peter Parker as a character, despite his many iterations among the various Spider-Man comics and adaptations, has always been a character with tragedy engrained in his story (Richard & Mary Parker, Ben Parker, Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn, the clones, his marriage, etc., etc., etc.). It's not necessarily out of the norm for more tragedy to occur, and having his only living family and primary guardian for most of his life die would definitely be on par with the rest of his life.

However, I don't think that the instances of the "Dead May Parker" trope in fic are because of this. At least, not when you dig.

I think people do it because it's easy.

I'm not saying that writing grief is easy, but that's part of the problem. Most of the stories using this trope don't bother to show the grief. Her death is just a device used to further other relationships.

Generally speaking, it's easier to write stories with fewer characters. Balancing a large cast with varying points of view, backstories, voices, motivations, etc., is always going to be more complicated. For a writer who's starting out, or perhaps someone who just doesn't want to make things harder on themselves for their hobby-writing, it's easier to do what you can to shrink the relevant cast. And for something like Spider-Man, there are more side characters relevant to his life than I think any person could possibly count - especially when you look across all the versions/adaptations that exist.

(That's part of why I love this fandom, despite its flaws. There are SO MANY stories to be told and so much room to pick apart what's there and transform it into something new. Fandom is transformative in nature, after all, and comics like Spider-Man are a buffet to choose from.)

I also think that it's easier to put a character like Peter Parker (especially if you're writing him as a high schooler as so many adaptations seem to permanently keep him as) into convoluted situations if he doesn't have a primary guardian to keep an eye on him. Especially one who's loving and caring and is actively parenting him. (I would argue that this is the perfect time to write him as an adult with his own autonomy and whatnot, but you know, that's not what the movie makers seem to want so... I digress.)

And lastly, I think someone being young and completely orphaned with no caretaker to look after them is also a sort of trauma that is easy to understand. I'm not saying it's a trauma that's easy to live with, but as an outsider looking in, it's easy to say "Oh, well yeah, of course, that person is struggling. Look at the hand they've been dealt."

A character - just like people - with more complex reasons for 'Why They Are The Way They Are" TM, can be harder to empathize with, especially if those reasons are not something the reader is familiar with. And it's most certainly harder to write, with all the layers, intricacies, imperfections, and generally weird ways that the human experience works. (In the same vein, it's why people with certain traumas, triggers, mental health issues, etc., are often dismissed or harassed, but that's a whole other can of worms that I'm not going to dive into atm.)

"But FOV," you might be wondering, "How does all of this relate to Dungeons & Dragons?"

Well, y'all ever heard of the Orphaned Rogue Trope?

In the greater online D&D community, there are a lot of common tropes and character builds that people are familiar with. They're common enough that you get a lot of memes shared around about them and a lot of people building characters that both lean into the tropes and/or subvert them. (The horny bard, the dumb barbarian, the warlock with daddy issues, etc.)

One of these is the 'Orphaned Rogue'.

(Please keep in mind that I'm referencing 5e specifically. I've played many editions - don't quote the old magic to me, Witch - but 5e is the most common edition to ever be played and has brought a massive influx of people to this game in the last decade, so that's what I'm talking about here.)

A lot of people start out with a Rogue as their first character, I would argue disproportionally so. There are a few reasons for this. 1) Rogues typically (I'm not going to argue over subclasses here, don't come for me) don't have any magic, and magic-using characters are typically more complicated to learn to play than non-mages. 2) For players who aren't as familiar with high fantasy, a thieving, backstabbing character is usually still one that people can recognize. (Similarly, I think this is part of why a lot of people also start by playing Rangers). 3) Especially at low levels, Rogues don't have a whole lot of character abilities. They're really really good at the few things they do, but that's about it, so it's extra easy to step into as a beginner.

So where does the orphan part come in? Well, a lot of beginners to D&D are also beginners to storytelling in general (with exceptions, you'll always have the people who side-stepped over from LARPing, theatre, writing, etc.). This means that they're new to the idea of creating a character that has no reliance on their own personal history. Their character can be literally anyone, and they will be able to interact with the story in whatever way they want to.

Creating a character is one of the most overwhelming things for a new D&D player. It's a boundary to entry that I've seen turns a lot of people away from the game. It's work that has to be done before you even get to roll your first die. It requires math, decision-making, and creativity in a way that not everyone is prepared for right off the bat.

(Yes, I know I might seem to be exaggerating here, but please remember that we live on the hellsite for creatives. This is not the norm for a lot of people. I once invited a co-worker into a game who was an avid non-fiction reader and had never done any theatre, not even drama class. She had genuinely never put herself into a fictional character's shoes since she was last playing Let's Pretend as a small child at recess. It was a hard learning curve for her, but she grew to love the game a lot and now is an avid LARPer as well.)

Your character has to have somewhere that they came from. They are a person, through and through, and should therefore have lived experiences that shape their point of view, their actions, and the way that they interact with other people.

It's not easy to think of an entire history for a person all at once, all while you're just trying to wrap your head around the math and learn the rules required to play this damn game that your friends have been bugging you about for who knows how long.

And so - orphan. No existing family means no extra characters to have to build personalities for or shared experiences between your PC and them that you have to write.

It's easier. It's removing a barrier to entry to the game.

(This is probably also why amnesiac characters are also really common first-time PCs, now that I think about it.)

So what's my point in all of this?

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure.

I think it's really easy for anyone who has been a storyteller of any kind for a while to see the annoying, problematic, or sometimes downright concerning ways these tropes manifest. There are connotations for the stories that use these 'easy' orphan tropes, and these can and should be talked about. As I said above, I could talk about the "Dead May Parker" trope and the problematic themes that regularly exist in these stories until I'm blue in the face.

But, at the same time, I think we should also take these things with a grain of salt. New storytellers of any kind are going to make mistakes. They're going to write imperfect things. Humans never pop into existence with a fully formed skill. These things need to be learned through practice and exposure, and these choices most often aren't made with malicious intent.

Long ago, when I was a wayward young teenager, my first major foray into fanfiction was through an A:TLA fic that I put on ff.net. (No, I will not link it here. No, it was not under any USN I use anymore. Don't ask.) But, looking back, even though I was so immensely proud of that story, it also had a lot of things in it that I wouldn't write today. Things that my gut reaction would be to judge and raise an eyebrow at, if I read them now. But I also learned a lot while writing it, and there was a lot of heart in that story, too. I was just writing from a naivete that made me think I had the know-how to tackle themes that I was too young to fully understand.

In many ways, I am still proud of that fic, not because of the story itself, but because of the effort I put into it and the things it taught me about storytelling and writing as a learned craft.

I think my point is this: everyone has to start somewhere.

Sometimes people need to start off with those easier stories so that they can learn enough and build enough confidence to tackle the bigger ones.

So, do I think we shouldn't critique something when it does have harmful implications? No, we absolutely should. Critique and open discussion are how individuals and communities learn to grow. (No, I am not advocating for you to leave criticism on random people's fics. I mean critique of tropes in general. It's never cool to leave negative comments on people's fic.) Open discussion is good and healthy, and it's part of what makes fan spaces and communities flourish and bond.

But I do think that those critiques can be done from a perspective of learning. I often see people so far split down the middle that it alienates people from each other.

In fan spaces where the content shared is inherently made as an act of love, freely given and freely received, it's easy for people to say that no criticism is ever acceptable. "It's free content, just enjoy it and move on!" & "You're taking it too seriously!" are often phrases I've seen spouted about both these communities. And they are true things to an extent. It is fictional and freely made content. There is a point where it can be taken too seriously. The other side will often say things like, "Enjoying ___ media makes you a ___ supporter!" & "Anyone who writes ___ is a terrible person!" I would argue that these also have some truth to them, but they are also taken too far.

(If you like a fictional trope that has problematic or harmful indications, it's a good idea to unpack why you like that trope. What draws you to it? What enjoyment do you get out of it? A lot of times, the answers to this are not actually harmful, but they can be, and it's always good to self-reflect.)

Fictional stories are a way for us to feel aspects of the human experience that we cannot experience for ourselves. It's also a way for us to find catharsis when a character does experience something similar to our own lives. It's a way to broaden our views and feel our way through the wide range of human emotions. It is not meant to reflect life perfectly, and yet it is often done best when there are still echoes of reality embedded in its soul. (I digress, again.)

Communities - even online ones - thrive when the people in them are doing their best to be open to each other's perspectives.

Nuance is never easy in online spaces. When the person on the other side of a post is an anonymous little picture with no connection to your life, it's easy to take one small piece and blow it up to be your whole picture. They become that one post, that one hot take, or that one fic in your mind. But that's not people.

People are always learning, growing, maturing. Every skill takes time. Everyone has to start at their first step - even if it's the orphan story.

So keep talking about those tropes. Keep discussing the harmful trends that crop up across fandoms. Keep breaking down the root of the problem and sharing ways to build better ones.

But if you see someone in their 'orphan story' phase, understand that they are new and learning. They might need a push in the right direction or a friend to guide them for the better.

[maddiesbookshelves]

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta (August 2022)

The shadow of Godolia's tyrannical rule is spreading, aided by their giant mechanized weapons known as Windups. War and oppression are everyday constants for the people of the Badlands, who live under the thumb of their cruel Godolia overlords.

Eris Shindanai is a Gearbreaker, a brash young rebel who specializes in taking down Windups from the inside. When one of her missions goes awry and she finds herself in a Godolia prison, Eris meets Sona Steelcrest, a cybernetically enhanced Windup pilot. At first Eris sees Sona as her mortal enemy, but Sona has a secret: She has intentionally infiltrated the Windup program to destroy Godolia from within.

As the clock ticks down to their deadliest mission yet, a direct attack to end Godolia's reign once and for all, Eris and Sona grow closer--as comrades, friends, and perhaps something more...

Would I recommend it to anyone? Not to someone who wants to read SF with a little romance (or with no romance at all). Otherwise, not really, if you want to see mechas I'd rather recommend Iron Widow or the first Pacific Rim movie.

Level of (dis)satisfaction based on the summary and my expectations? Honestly, I was really disappointed. I was expecting action and interesting worldbuilding but, uh... yeah.

My thoughts on it? Celebrating Mia (@yourneighborhoodbibliophile)'s return to booklr with some salt ✨:

I saw this review on Goodreads that sums up what I thought of the first book:

“if I had to read one more version of “you do not have my permission to die” in this book I was legitimately going to gouge my eyes out”

I felt like I was reading a fanfic. And I love reading fanfiction, but this was everything that makes me rage quit a fic condensed into one book. First, there was the found family trope with very "funny" dynamics where people run after each other, pulling dumb pranks, hanging someone from a window on the 5th floor threatening to kill them... It wouldn't have been as much of a problem if it had been contained to the main group, but the few interactions we see between the pilots lead us to think that they also had this dynamic. It didn't make sense to me that EVERYONE behaves the same way and it made me think that the author didn't know how to write anything else.

The fight scenes honestly disappointed me. Everytime there was a fight scene, it would cut in the middle and skip to after the fight. It really gave the impression that the author skipped them thinking "I'll come back to that later" and never did. The first time it happened I was so lost, I thought I had skipped a page or that there were pages missing entirely, but no. It was pretty annoying because it happens a lot so it feels like the book was left unfinished out of laziness. Plus, what's the point of reading about mechas if there's no mecha fight?! I don't know if the author is aware of that but she does say in her acknowledgements that it ended up being more of a love story with mechas in it than mechas with a love story, so...

I feel like we only see glimpses of who the characters are, at least for Jenny. The rest are kinda just... there. We know about Sona and Eris because we're in their heads but the others are quite shallow. I don't even remember all of the names of Eris' crew. I also don't understand the motivations behind one particular character's actions, they just don't add up to what (little) we know of him.

All in all, it was entertaining. It gets the job done and I genuinely liked Sona. It was a story that had potential but it deserved to be edited (better?).

French version under the cut

L’ombre du règne tyrannique de Godolia s’étend, aidée par leurs armes mécanisées appelées Windups. La guerre et l'oppression sont le quotidien des habitants des Badlands vivant sous le joug de leurs cruels dirigeants. 

Eris Shindanai est une Gearbreaker, une jeune rebelle effrontée dont la spécialité est de détruire les Windups de l’intérieur. Lorsqu’une de ses mission dérape et qu’elle se retrouve dans une prison de Godolia, Eris rencontre Sona Steercrest, une pilote de Windup améliorée cybernétiquement. Eris voit d’abord Sona comme son ennemie, mais celle-ci a un secret : elle a délibérément infiltré le programme des Windups pour détruire Godolia de l’intérieur.

Tandis que l’heure de leur mission la plus dangereuse approche - une attaque directe pour mettre un terme au règne de Godolia une fois pour toutes - Eris et Sona se rapprochent, en tant que camarades, en tant qu’amies et peut-être un peu plus…

Est-ce que tu le conseillerais à quelqu’un ? Pas à quelqu’un qui veut lire de la SF avec une petite romance (ou carrément sans). Sinon pas vraiment, quitte à avoir des mechas je recommande plus Iron Widow ou le premier film Pacific Rim.

Niveau de déception/satisfaction par rapport au résumé et tes attentes ? Honnêtement, j’ai été très déçue. Je m’attendais à de l’action et un worldbuilding intéressant mais, euh… ouais.

Avis sans spoiler ? On célèbre de retour de Mia sur booklr avec du sel ✨ :

J’ai vu ce commentaire sur Goodreads et ça résume assez bien ce que j’ai pensé du premier tome :

“if I had to read one more version of “you do not have my permission to die” in this book I was legitimately going to gouge my eyes out”

J’ai vraiment eu l’impression de lire une fanfiction en lisant ce roman. Pourtant j’adore lire des fanfic, mais là c’était un concentré de tout ce qui me fait rage quit une fic. Déjà y’avait la found family avec une dynamique “drôle” où les gens se courent après, font des farces stupides, font pendre les gens du 5ème étage d’un bâtiment et menacent de s’entretuer… Ça aurait pas été un aussi gros problème si ça avait été contenu au groupe principal, mais les quelques interactions des pilotes entre eux laissaient croire qu’ils avaient aussi ce genre de dynamique. Ça me paraissait pas logique que TOUT LE MONDE ait la même attitude et ça m’a donné l’impression que l’autrice savait pas écrire autre chose.

Les scènes de combat m’ont vraiment déçues. A chaque fois qu’y avait une scène de combat, elle était coupée et on avait une ellipse. Ça m’a vraiment donné l’impression que l’autrice les a sautées en se disant “j’y reviendrai plus tard” mais n’est jamais revenue en arrière pour les écrire. La première fois que c’est arrivé j’étais perdue, je pensais que j’avais sauté des pages ou qu’il en manquait carrément, mais non. C’est énervant parce que ça arrive souvent donc on a l’impression que le livre a pas été finit par flemme. Puis quel est l’intérêt de lire une histoire avec des mechas si on a pas des combats de mechas !? Je sais pas si l’autrice a conscience de ça mais elle dit dans ses remerciements que c’est devenu plus une histoire d’amour avec des mechas que des mechas avec une histoire d’amour, donc bon.

J’ai l’impression qu’on a eu quelques aperçus de qui sont les personnages, du moins pour Jenny. Les autres sont juste… là. On connaît Sona et Eris parce qu’on est dans leurs têtes mais les autres sont pas approfondis. Je me rappelle même pas des prénoms de toute l’équipe d’Eris. Y’a aussi un personnage dont je comprends pas les actions parce que c’est pas en accord avec le peu qu’on sait de lui.

De manière générale, c’était divertissant. Ça fait le taff et j’ai vraiment aimé Sona. C’est une histoire qui a du potentiel mais ça aurait mérité d’être (mieux ?) édité.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

The way you write Ingo and Akari's interactions with each other never fails to warm my heart. And after seeing how he is with Rei in oop, I'm so excited to see how Emmet interacts with Akari. And let's not forget how your Cyllene is with Rei, and how she considers him Her Boy. I just love the intergenerational relationships you have going on. Kids deserve to have good adults in their lives, especially ones like Akari and Rei who have had it so rough.

There are... a lot of things I don't like about many interpretations of Emmet in fandom, but one I especially dislike is when he's overly rude or dismissive towards the kids. You avoid that trap neatly, though that's no surprise because the way you write him is one of my all time favorites. That's maybe a bit beside the point though.

In any case, I loved the little prompt snippets you wrote yesterday about Ingo with both Akari and Rei. The one you wrote with Rei was both cool and heartbreaking with how his dedication and care was the only thing keeping him going, all so Rei might have the chance to live. And the one Akari was so sweet and heartwarming, with how gentle his love for her was. She doesn't know it, but Ingo's home isn't a place, like her it's the people he cares about, and she's included in that too now. In this au where he's so close to her, it wouldn't be complete without her there.

WAAAAH THIS IS SUCH A NICE ASK?? THANK YOU?? thank you so much... i'm gonna cry this is so sweet. thank youuuu... i uh rambled a lot about characters and relationships so i'm going to put the rest of that under. a cut i think. contd:

anyway. YEAH re: kids deserving Good Adults. tbh whenever i see a kid on their own in fiction it activates some kind of primal pack bonding instinct in me to protect them, so this is like, vicarious parenting. and i just REALLY like characters who are Good With Kids, it's like one of my fav character traits that makes me instantly love them. and i love all the different ways that can come through, like, like you said, cyllene who isn't so great at saying how she feels but has SO adopted these two. so. yes. this is primarily self indulgent. it all comes back to my love of picking apart character motivations lol

also WHO is making emmet not nice to kids. i'll fight them. i'll duel them in the street right now. why is everyone else so WRONG about my BLORBO. i think- not to Also get sidetracked, lol, but- i think emmet is someone who's extremely straightforward with everything he says, and doesn't back down, but the critical thing is that all that blunt directness and stubbornness is backed by an intense motivation to help and protect others. so that's what i'm trying to channel when he's with rei or anyone else—specifically because he doesn't try to hedge his words or anything, it is so obvious at all times that he Cares and wants to Help. which can be like, intensely validating/reassuring/trust-building. like short and direct and not good at subtlety don't have to be negative asshole-building character traits!! ...but uhh anyway what were we talking about again

ingo ficlets right. YEAHH THANK YOU... i think in comparison to emmet ingo is like. actually good with people, in the sense that he can read peoples' emotions from their words and actions much better, and is very understanding and patient. and obviously he's also driven by that same compassion. trying really hard not to just make this about comparing how i characterize them both ANYWAY. and i am giving him the Parenting Instincts, lol, which, i think he has an immediate reaction of "oh i need to help you" when he sees anyone who's lost/hurt/confused, but it's stronger with kids bc they obviously tend to have less ability to support themselves. so with akari in the adoption fic i keep gesturing towards and Not Finishing, and rei in the ficlet who got separated from his usual crew, he just adopts them very quickly lol. (there's also something to be said there for how i usually write amnesiac-ingo as having a kind of busted self-perception, as we've covered, so he's outsourcing his motivation and desire to continue living to others, which is sort of a Not Great aspect of this, but uhh that's getting sidetracked again)

anyway YEAH!! his home is his loved ones!! yessss exactly!! you have it spot on, i think in that snippet after akari brings it up he does have that thought of, all he has to judge his "home" by is a vague vibe that it was good and he misses it. what if it isn't as perfect as his non-memory thinks it is? what if it can't/won't make space for akari? in which case i think that despite how much he misses it, he would be fully prepared to walk out of it for her. because like you said, his home isn't a place, it's the people!! so if akari can't belong there, then it isn't his home, either. (not that it would ever come to that in reality)

so. yes. as you can probably tell i could go on about this subject forever. just adhd tangent after tangent about kids, and the ways they get treated, and what it says about characters, and character motivations in general, and bitching about how my blorbo gets misinterpreted. but. my point is. this was a very nice ask i am going to print it out and tape it in my diary thank you

[musicallisto]

✨🌈💋 for the writer asks?? ily ily

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit) zero hesitation about this one: the door to heaven and hell! it's one of my favorite things I've ever written for this blog, probably because it's so personal and also explores one of my favorite fictional characters (matthias helvar). the whole time I was writing it I was just in such a peculiar zone that I haven't encountered since. I get why it didn't blow up like my kaz fics did (kaz is much more popular, and that fic is Weird and has no reader), but if you're looking for a truthful representation of my prose, my prefered themes, and my ~vibe~ when writing, I'd strongly advise reading that one over anything else.

🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with? ok it's time to let you all in on musicallisto's biggest secret... i used to write for marvel for a little while,, despite having seen exactly 1 marvel movie (avengers 2) and like 3 episodes of tfatws, and having zero interest whatsoever in the mcu. literally the only reason I wrote for that fandom is bc it was so wildly popular, I knew it'd get me requests and traction, and I am nothing if not a little bit of a gold digger. so yeah anything marvel was soooo painstaking because a) i had no emotional attachment to the source material, so no motivation to finish a piece other than just posting new content on my blog, and b) i constantly had to check events and plot points on the mcu wiki so people wouldn't notice I was full of shit. whenever people would tell me "omg the characterization is so good!!!! you write him so well!!!!" it would always make me laugh bc girl i literally just read the "personality" paragraph on marvel cinematic universe wikia dot com... the only reason you think theyre written well is because they're so unidimensional their personality over the course of a 10+ year saga can be condensed in 4 lines it's actually quite tragic

💋when you leave comments on a fic, do you want to hear back from the writer? not necessarily? oftentimes there's not much the writer can add other than thank you, glad you liked it. i'm just happy leaving my little comments for the writer to enjoy and carry with them <3

*ੈ✩‧₊ writing asks!

[ppangjae]

omg hi akskkskjskskks how have you been, alex? sooo, i've re read ALL of your works for the 127th time in the last three days, as the mentally insane person that i am aaaand i found it cute that you've inserted cute lil things like ice cream (ah yes the good old pistachio and cookies & cream), long eyelashes, jungwoo being the best cupid (and a few like that but honestly i can't even remember rn TT i was giggling while listing out all of those lil things @ 3 am last night tho) have a as snippets in almost all your works TT

nostalgia hit hard when i was reading the older fics 🥲 i can't quite remember but the first one that i've read of yours was either planet girl/seven letters, and you've written alot of masterpieces since then and i'm so proud of you TT you're my favorite writer in the whole damn universe ngl (that was cheesy but i mean it) aaaand ily akskkakalakjska do you have any book recommendations?? i'm aching to find good books but the modern romance books that i've come across make me feel like i hate romance (when i'm a literally a hopeless romantic) 😩

aaaand i really hope that you're doing great! (would love to hear about what's going on in your life cause i'm nosy) and how's your dog (...i forgot his name but what i didn't forgot is, how cute he was! i feel like the name starts with m...) and sorry for going on and on 🤡 i just felt like it wouldn't be fair not rambling about how much i love your works after re reading all of those masterpieces. have a good day!

hi love! i've been doing well! just super busy with life lol how have you been?

yes i love having cute little details. i'm not sure why but i always pick jungwoo as the cupid—there's just something about him that's giving cupid or like the matchmaker friend kjsdhdf and yes! jaehyun's long eyelashes! they are honestly my favourite little thing about him.

hehe yeah, i read my old fics from time to time. it was the time during covid and i had nothing to do with all the free time i had jkshfdf honestly, i look back and reminisce those times because i was so motivated and i was always writing when i had the time. but nowadays i've been struggling to find the time to write, which is kind of sad lol because there are so many ideas i have occupying my brain but i just don't have the time to sit down and write it :(

book recommendations! i haven't been reading lately but my all time favourite romance books are from emily henry hehe 'people we meet on vacation' is hands down my favourite romance book I WOULD HONESTLY RE-READ IT that's just how much i love it

and my dog! you remembered! his name is maui hehe, he turned three last month! he's a spoiled kid because my parents and i love him so much lol.

in regards to what's going on in my life, there's not much LOL. my boyfriend and i are reaching our first anniversary next month! i'm super happy and excited.. i already got my gifts for him :') also it's weird how we're only reaching one year of being together when we've known of and danced around each other for years (literally since i was still in high school.. but that's another story for next time if you're interested lol) but that's my life update! lol my life is so boring sjkdhf

thank you for dropping by love! i love getting asks from yall because i genuinely love catching up and seeing if everyone's keeping well hehe

[fonulyn]

I've been rereading "and each one of us is a path somewhere" since I was lucky enough to have the page loaded before AO3 was DDOS'd. And I am really glad because I love that fic! I'm not sure if I've commented on it before to say that (and I don't wanna risk loading anything just yet to check/send a comment lol ^>^”) but I still wanted to say that. It's a really good fic! It made the two bus rides I took in the last two days much better, and I could, for a second, pretend that the Residen Evil World still had an alive Piers which is the best part of fics XD

Also I really love the concept in general. Piers time travelling for Leon Specifically (which. I would be inclined to believe that he was only visible to him + zombies if not for Ada talking at him lmao, if only because of the gun shop scene). Though I do love that, in this fic, Ada either just Magic Science Forgot Piers was there (maybe the memories transfer through a kiss lol) or just straight up gaslit Leon about it for no reason other than "I don't want to deal with this," or at least I assume that was her reason. Like. I love Ada to bits and would forgive her most wrongs, but that is still extremely funny to me. Ada, girl, what are you doing.

Anyway, aside from that, I just really love it all. The banter, the soft relationship and how it's building up. And I love the thought that Leon had to internally accept Piers time travelled to him and he wouldn't remember Leon on his own. Can't help but imagine the mix of worry and relief he felt about the whole thing :'3

So yeah, leaving this here to tell you I love that fic and I am very glad you wrote and shared it. Thank you so much for that! <3

so first of all, most importantly: THANK YOU for such a lovely long message!! truly was the highlight of my day. I read it in the morning and kept thinking of it throughout the day, even though I just now got the chance to respond :3 I'm glad hte fic helped entertain you through bus rides too! (and shhhh I don't know why you say ''pretend'' he's alive and well and happy with his boyfriend Leon)

you know I never even thought that Piers could be only visible to Leon and now I'm kinda bummed I didn't because that would've been sorta fun :'D but alas, too late haha. as for Ada, I honestly think she 100% lied to Leon because she didn't want to deal with that pining shit lol. she had a job to do, a mission to focus on, and that crap? not helpful. so forgetting it we are! she 100% didn't even think she was ever gonna see Leon (or Piers) again ever again at that point so who cares if she twists the truth a little bit :'D

ahhh and I'm so happy you enjoyed the buildup! Leon did go through a lot while waiting for Piers to get those memories 😅 but hey at least he wasn't alone in RC, that has to count for something, and they did get their happy ending eventually! even if it took twenty years :'D

I hope you don't mind I published this ask but I really just want to keep it forever 💖 and come back to it when I'm struggling with writing and feeling like none of it makes sense. I have no words to even convey how much kind comments like this mean to me! and help with motivation issues too! hearing specifics what you enjoyed and thought made my entire day :D

(sidenote; this is why comments on ao3 are so important, too, because they're easy to find for a motivation boost! I've had 'friends' who staunchly refused to comment there and just sent me a quick pm somewhere, and the thing about pms is that they get lost :( they won't be findable at one point. on ao3, they'll always remain!) (this is 100% not applicaple here i was just reminded of it 😅 no shade to this absolutely lovely and wonderful ask!!!)

[masschase]

V and O for the fic ask game :)

Fanfic ask meme

V: If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

Ooooh I feel awful because I can't think of any that I would do that to?

It's actually incredibly weird that I wrote such a long fic because I mostly read one-shot smut and even then I've not read much recently.

And while I love interpreting canon... I wouldn't want to fuck up other people's interpretation of the canon, y'know?

I already get so scared doing my silly cartoons of people's Bosses and wondering if I'm fucking it up somehow.

Sorry this is kind of a cop-out answer but yeah. I would only do this if the writer asked me to, and under that circumstance, I'd probably enjoy the fuck out of it.

O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?

Y'know for a second I was confused about this question bc I was thinking... it's fanfic, we already have the characters? But then I realised this was more about characterisation of the characters so... actually the plot first, definitely!

I didn't know who Casey was beyond "SR4 female voice 1 Boss" when I first decided to write this. Her characterisation came to me bit by bit, much as the readers get it, although not quite in the same order as I didn't write it linear. I didn't feel there was any other option than to make her the Boss throughout all games even though my SR1 Boss was some random guy haha.

I've spoken about this before but at one point that's all she was going to be. The Boss. I knew she had to have a name eventually (for ch30 related reasons) and that it needed to be gender-neutral. I wasn't going to describe her physically, really. But as the story got longer and required more depth I found I was giving her some serious backstory. So at that point I thought... why not just write her the way she is in my head?

I'm glad I did because it let me factor in so many things. Why people mistook her for a boy in 2006. Matt not recognising her in 2016 because she looked so different/disguised her appearance in 2014. The feeling of her image being very controlled in 2016. The thing of her 2016 self envying her 2022 self's blue hair 🤣

Matt's characterisation was obviously a little easier to work out, but still plenty of things about his history came to me a little at a time. I always hope I write him at least somewhat consistent with how others see him.

Something I always have in the back of my mind when I write Matt is that he's always kind of scared and awkward. He's the quintessential Cowardly Lion trope. He doesn't have this moment's hesitation and then get over it. He remains terrified but still does the badass thing because he knows he has to. He feels the fear and does it anyway.

The same goes for every other character, really. It took a while to think about their motives, their backstory etc. because a lot of it wasn't immediately relevant. But I love that I got to work in some sort of headcanon for almost all of them eventually.

But yeah, I started with the plot and the voices. Just having the voice of a character in my head is so key to writing their dialogue and even their actions for me. If I'm not sure I'm writing them right I go and listen to cutscenes/voice clips to be sure. And when I read, I definitely read in their voices.

Semi-related. Sometimes I think I should've made Jane Austen the narrator. Casey's POV means I have to write the way she thinks, and I know that won't be to everyone's taste. And I'm 100001% certain I sometimes write those thoughts sounding far too british. Excusable for the 2022 Boss Matt's bestie Boss. Not so much for the 2016 one 🤣

Anyway, thank you for the ask! This was fun!