#come ask tricks

[pidgydraws]

🐕 dog dads 🐕

[insertdisc5]

I've been very curious since ISAT has such strong characterization: what do you think makes a "well written" character? I've asked around in my circles and I've gotten different answers (serves their role in the plot well, 'you can imagine meeting a real person like this', they move the plot along in an interesting way, etc) but I was curious because ISAT is still fresh in my mind.

thank you very much... for me, if every action a character takes can be linked to a specific trait/backstory/whatever, thats a well written character. you dont need to know in the moment, but on a rewatch if you go "omg thats why they did this or said this..." you know thats the SAUCE!!!!!!!!

[shepscapades]

trick or treaaaaat!!! there's a little bee at your door :]

I can explain this one too okay um. Well you see it’s

[neillesart]

Can I trick or treat from Nightmare please? :o

You gained Strawberry Truffles x2.

[invye]

I have watched all of three episodes of House MD and I am delighted to report I am absolutely sold on this asshole and his secretly-just-enough-of-a-bastard best friend.

House: *says the most out of pocket sarcastic thing*

Wilson: *rolls with it without even blinking*

I see through you and what I see is love and devotion.

[magentasnail]

Dulce o truco!

ohh uh, it seems like you don't have a bag! that's fine, you can have my bowl I guess !

guess that this is where tonight ends !

thanks for all the trick or treaters!! and the boopers!! and everyone else that been liking my many posts today !

[whetstonefires]

#4 please !

Now see this could be tricky, because generally if I don't get some key elements written down very quickly the idea flows away again and the 'yet' disappears, even if I remember generally what it was about, but I have one this time! I am still just enough plagued by this vision that it's not out of the question I'll go for the capture, but so far nada.

Idea was basically a Jiang family character study by way of modern au. (So tw canonical abuse.) I started from the reflection, in a modern au very high chance the Jiangs are divorced, because being a divorcee wouldn't necessarily ruin Yu Ziyuan in the modern world, as long as she was allowed to control the narrative enough that she didn’t look at fault, so it might be on the table.

Especially because modern views on child abuse are such that while she'd hold back more than she already does in terms of physical chastisement, Jiang Fengmian would also be under less societal pressure to not interfere in her disciplinary system too much, and both these factors mean he’s more likely to put his foot down.

So, concept: Jiang Fengmian, when his son is eight and his daughter thirteen, forces the issue of taking in his best friends' abused orphan child whom he’s just managed to track down in a nightmarish group home, probably leveraging the fact that wherever their money comes from it's mostly his, something he usually doesn't do, but she has always known he could, and been fucked up about it (reasonable) and hated him a little (less so) and hates him so much more now (understandable but still fucked up).

They were obviously still both pressured into this marriage by their families, because I literally cannot imagine them choosing one another of their own free will, and if they did that would be an au in an even more dramatic way than being modern, and no longer work as a character or relationship study as far as I'm concerned. I mean or it’s a cql-based au, but that’s not the version of this toxic marriage I find compelling.

Situation subsequently deteriorates to the point that when the boys are around twelve some outside party observes and is repulsed or otherwise upset by Yu Ziyuan's treatment of Wei Wuxian specifically--she's emotionally abusive to everyone in the family, canonically, and it harms Jiang Cheng significantly more than Wei Wuxian, which I think is also pretty explicit on the page, but she's more openly antagonistic about going after wwx because he's basically a proxy for her husband, whom she doesn't consider to be someone she's capable of harming.

And ofc in a modern family scenario, being abusive to your foster kid is more plainly personal misconduct than being unfair in how you discipline one of your husband's many students, even if it is his favorite. Which means she's very unlikely to chase him around with a whip, but whatever she does do will sting that much more emotionally.

Anyway the outside judgement provokes a more explicit confrontation than the last four years of maneuver and attempting to balance all the competing needs according to two very different standards. And the upshot is that by the time wwx is 13, the Jiangs are divorced. To avoid making a humiliating spectacle of themselves they present a weirdly united front in court and have a very smooth uncontested proceding, although the closed meetings with their respective lawyers involved a lot of vitriol.

Yu Ziyuan, despite having a smallish trust fund and probably a job of some kind, though one that's more prestigious than profitable like uh. Olympic fencing coach. Idk what they make but it's probably not enormous. She and Cangse Sanren probably competed in the same events back in the day.

Anyway she gets a solid chunk of alimony, the house, and primary custody of both her children, although Jiang Yanli is almost 18 at this point so mostly she just gets Jiang Cheng. Everyone thinks Jiang Cheng wants it that way, including sort of Jiang Cheng; he has this idea that if he has his mom to himself they'll finally have a good relationship, even though he's also terrified of being left all alone with her. He's complicated. Families are complicated.

Also she would never have forgiven him if he hadn't concurred that he wanted to stay with his mother because she was the only one On His Side.

Jiang Yanli ofc does not move out right away when she comes of age, in part because her brother needs her, but she probably does go to college, so she's only around part-time.

Jiang Fengmian, meanwhile, keeps most of his financial assets and Wei Wuxian, and gets his kids on the weekends.

So that's all setup for how you have this situation where Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are entering high school--probably the same school, together, but no longer sharing the commute except maybe Monday mornings--and Wei Wuxian's primary residence is Jiang Cheng's dad's apartment.

It’s really chill. They get a cleaning service in once a week and eat a lot of delivery food, but they do cook at least once a week. The canonical thing where they largely agree about what’s funny and what’s right-or-wrong, and so forth, on the one hand really pops when there’s mostly no external conflict disrupting it, but also probably gains more complexity now that it’s not a thread of positivity fighting for its life against a background of drama. They get to know each other better than they ever had a chance to in canon.

Some of that isn't all that positive, because now they have the space to discover the places where they do actually have the capacity for friction, but both of them are very good at dispersing tension (I do tend to suspect jfm's dad was abusive he sure acts like it), and on the whole it's a good thing.

Jiang Cheng is going to have such a mental health crisis, and Jiang Fengmian is going to handle it so badly. Because of course when his son starts replicating his ex-wife's toxic attitudes and behaviors more now that she has primary custody, he’s going to feel guilty and like it’s His Fault, but he’s going to feel like it’s his fault that Jiang Cheng is growing up to be a shitty abusive person.

And even if he’d never say that the subtext would come through, in the assumptions he made when framing communications and so forth, as in canon, so the thing where Jiang Cheng’s father loves Wei Wuxian more than him, or at any rate likes him better and thinks he’s a better person and prefers his company, would wind up feeding into a self-reinforcing loop.

(Jin Zixuan's nasty public remark about Jiang Fengmian treating Wei Wuxian better than his own children hits Jiang Cheng significantly harder in this scenario, where he's being Tormented by the feeling that all his peers know his dad walked out on him for another son. Wei Wuxian's punch is therefore even more clearly primarily for Jiang Cheng's sake, although Jiang Cheng is probably more inclined to see it as being for his dad's. Jin Zixuan is about halfway between the Jiang kids' ages here, so he's a senior saying this shit to a sophomore.)

So that cycle builds to the point where Jiang Cheng would eventually have one of those rare moments where he resorts to actual violence, because his poisoned feelings are choking him so bad his rationality deserts him.

He’s not going to be nearly as close to actually murdering Wei Wuxian as he was in canon the night the Jiang Sect was massacred, because it’s a less extreme situation, but he still goes for the neck. So Jiang Fengmian is in his home office one Saturday about a year and a half into this new normal, and realizes the boys are fighting. He hears through the wall the accusation you stole my dad. He says to himself, well that’s terrible but interjecting myself into this situation would definitely make it worse.

Then he hears sounds of violence, and then an ominous abrupt silence, and updates that analysis.

And when he opens the door to the boys’ room, Wei Wuxian is being strangled. He’s not really resisting, which is because he’s made the call that that’s way more likely to get Jiang Cheng to snap out of it, and thinks it might make Jiang Cheng feel better to get it out of his system (because he does sort of feel like what Jiang Cheng is going through is all his fault, or at any rate is much worse as a result of decisions made for his sake) and is severely underestimating the dangers of choking, but looks to a third party like he’s already passed out and Jiang Cheng is still at it. Which is to say, it looks like a serious murder attempt on the brink of success.

So that sure made that situation worse!

So yeah that's my idea that I probably won't write but it sure has its teeth in me.

[blueskittlesart]

how do you come up with ideas for your comics? :?

yeah ok so the trick is to be crazy

[qoldenskies]

My favorite dynamic has been Mikey & Donnie because of how much time they spend with each other in show. So I honestly thought they were each other’s favorite.

I kind of got surprised that their not as exploration in fics as much as Leo and Donnie.

the thing is that like. vibe-wise i could TOTALLY see leo being donnie's favorite, but donnie as leo's favorite? less convincing to me. leo obviously cares about him very much because he's family but if i didnt have the jokes in lair games and that one authorial statement to go off, i would have said it was raph. i'd make the whole favorites thing be leo > raph > mikey > donnie > leo like a chain, more interesting than it just being two separate duos in their own boxes idk. and it's got angst potential! (kinda, if you wanna see it that way! like sibling favoritism is not a bad thing idk why people act like it is, its normal especially if you've got multiple. siblings annoy the fuck outta each other)

i say this because with mikey especially there is no one he ENGAGES with like he does with donnie. there's evidence of mikey everywhere even in donnie's lab. he can be condescending but he's actually very rarely even rude to him, whereas he actually gets fed up with raph SO MUCH which i think is hilarious. mikey does have kind of clear and apparent donnie-favoritism in the show to me. he's constantly clinging to him and gravitating to him and he's gleeful about his work with no caveats. hell, in repo mantis you can even see him operating power tools. he's picked things up from him!!

im a b team fan all the way down. i think a team has more potential to do fun stuff with on a wider narrative level (they're BUILT for tragedy. how does nobody see this) but donnie and mikey's dynamic is so goddamn charming. i need to go back to wwww ive been focused on faw so much cause like ,,, i lub them

and i think disaster twins get more in fic because people like leo more than they do mikey. most "disaster twins angst fanfics" are just leo angst fanfics. its made me avoid them as of late

[nyoomerr]

You gave me some writing advice a while back, and I published my first fic!! :D I knew writing was difficult, but I didn't really expect myself to struggle with something that wasn't even 5k words. I truly gained more respect for fanfic authors, and I really want to focus now I'm developing my writing skills since I'm still pretty mediocre. Also I didn't expect to be so confused when it came to publishing on AO3 lol but I'm learning everyday. Tagging is hard...

that's awesome !!! but don't put yourself down - i think there's an important distinction in thinking to yourself "my work is mediocre" vs "i'd personally like to develop my work in X ways" - in my own experience, framing things in the later way helps keep motivation and joy in what i do.

EITHER WAY THOUGH CONGRATS !!! i hope you enjoyed it and that it can be a fulfilling hobby for you :>

[hajihiko]

Trick or treat !

trick!

Junk

[lady-quen]

Hello Guild Wars 2 community! A new poll has dropped! 🐦‍⬛

(At least, hopefully new, lol.) I'm curious, which blessing did your Commander get on their first/canon go through the Raven Sanctum in the story mission "The Invitation?" Choose and tell me in the tags why they made their specific decisions :)

Compiled explanations from the wiki below for ease of access:

The trial choices in order:

Save the wounded man or save the healers

Save the spell tome or save the historical record

Save the queen or save the prince

Blessings:

Blessing of Daybreak

"When the fear of beastly claws and a child's pain is made sharp by the knowledge of elders, we make no mistakes. But do we grow?"

Healers -> historical record -> prince

Grace of Dawn

"When wisdom is favored in all things—a healing hand, a text of old, a beloved queen—we lose the sharpened sword of the truly bold."

Healers -> historical record -> queen

Consecration of Morning

"We seek to destroy monsters with sharp claws and icy breath, but do we protect ourselves from the beasts shaped like us, who prey on the young and vulnerable, who seek to rule us?"

Healers -> spell tome -> prince

Invocation of Midday

"When we flee from the things we fear most - the teeth of beasts, the storm of a dragon, a change of power-we risk running backward."

Healers -> spell tome -> queen

Supplication of Midday

"We favor the skill of healers and the wisdom of elders over the uncertainty of the future. But the young take chances, and the young push us forward."

Wounded man -> spell tome -> prince

Consecration of Evening

"We long for the comfort of a healing touch, an ancestral word of wisdom, a leader we know and trust. But comfort is fleeting, and with it comes inertia."

Wounded man -> historical record -> queen

Grace of Dusk

"We sacrifice so much—safety from the claws of death, knowledge of the ages, a steadfast reign—to propel ourselves forward. But if we move too fast, do we risk the inability to stop?"

Wounded man -> spell tome -> prince

Blessing of Twilight

"We try so hard to do the right thing. We heal, we protect our people, we preserve stability. But we cannot control how the winds of fate may shift, and a tight grip can sometimes hurt more than it helps."

Wounded man -> spell tome -> queen

[fussypaws]

trick or treat :) are you still doing this or am i being weird now

Halloween never ends. I drew your profile picture (mostly in ms paint) because ummm I'm obsessed with it but then I also got silly with it. So yeah

[carriesthewind]

the "painting" with the orange tree by "juan" is AI.

Hi, do you have any actual evidence of that? I looked at the original post, and it looks like op just added "ai art" tags because someone told them it was ai art, again, without evidence. I looked up the artist, and while he is openly a digital artist and I get a lot of hits of people doing so-called "ai art" in his style (or links to pages in which his art is talked about and then halfway down the page there is an article about ai art), I don't see direct evidence that he is using so-called ai? (Although most of the direct some I can find by him is in Spanish, which I do not read, which makes it more difficult to research.)

I will remove the post (and be kinda pissed) if it is made by a plagiarism machine, but some random anonymous person declaring that to be so is not enough for me. One of the really messed-up results of the use of so-called ai is that people feel empowered to call tons of genuine artwork (often digital artworks) "ai art" based nothing except vibes or repeating a rumor.

And again, to be clear, I am more than willing to accept actual evidence that it is ai generated. But I need more than an anonymous person's say-so.

[moonshynecybin]

In fco verse when journos do motogp journos things and ask awkward questions like, you said marc was reckless dangerous blah blah, has your view changed or do you still consider it so. How does vale react because it's funny if he says less kisses in bed because now it's true or if he defends it's a reality check for him

this is interesting because i think those little jokes are like. key to the overall thesis on vale’s relationship to the press/media and how he protects himself. funny little deflections are the BEST way to avoid a question because they’re funny ! people like them ! no one is offended and you don’t even have to answer a question that you don’t want to answer… and i do think. mister Gen X addicted to lighthearted gay sex jokes MAKING one of those jokes and seeing eight million stories (i will say that their irl gay sex jokes already have a bunch of news articles god BLESS) that actually and forreal reference his gay sex life is like. weird for him. i mean he loves PDA (they both do lmao) and showing off a hot partner and making outrageous statements about his sex life (max biaggi penis interview. mile high club. etc.) but that doesn’t MATTER. that doesn’t chip at the tender little place inside him that turns over every time he sees marc smiling, soaked with champagne, below him on the top step of the podium.

it’s also. and this is maybe less fun but i stand by it !! one of his little ways to still assert power over marc i think. like especially if he’s still in competition with him, especially if his ego is threatened or he feels really vulnerable about the whole thing which i think he DOES but is ignoring like a champ. like YES this story is about him coming out with marc in order to sort of. shield him from that bullet of being forced out of the closet, but that doesn’t get rid of his weird rivalry complexes. that doesn’t stop him from wanting to win against marc. that doesn’t stop the aforementioned bullet from hurting. so idk i think it takes a minute for him to let go of some bad habits ! and maybe that minute includes a sexy sort of realization that marc winning reflects well on HIM as marc’s PARTNER. and a lot of positive reinforcement via postrace sex

[myokk]

Trick or Treat!! 🍬

Here’s a 5 minute sketch of Elsie!!🫶🫶

She’s writing a fic, I haven’t had a chance to read it yet but it’s about Elsie💓💓 & on her blog you can see a lot of excerpts!!