#crazy how some empathy goes a long way

[zandrawz]

Finally watched Kung Fu Panda 4, tell me why it unironically changed my life

[floylia]

ELYSIAN ♫

18. Am I wrong? ✎

“So my manager leaked my information.” It’s not a question anymore.

Scara nods apologetically as if he was at fault, eyes gleaming with genuine sincerity. This is the third time, he’s been vulnerable with you. He guides you up the cobblestone path, leading you closer to the Estate’s courtyard. The sun has already grazed its goodbye, only the moon rests above, gleaming at you and Scara. The darkness along the trees, shrubs, and boulders around the garden is eerie but something about his presence soothes your worries—something about his rare smile, hushed voice, and messy hair.

Perhaps it’s everything about him.

You pause in your tracks, watching over the waves on the beach—hands on the wooden fences standing around the courtyard, “Do you think they’ll believe me?”

“They’ll believe you once you tell your side.”

Doubt lingers, “What if they don’t?”

“Then they’re all fuck heads with no hobbies,” He swerves his head, now facing you with narrow eyes, and brows pulled together, “It’s stupid, how some of them graduated with degrees but have no basic sense of empathy or respect. They’re all entitled, gullible, and hypocritical assholes who use every opportunity to deflect their insecurities on others. It’s a crazy world we live in.”

The scowl on his face is almost laughable—how angry at the world he is on your behalf. You take note of Scara's wrath, experiencing it is not for the weak. Although, you don’t need to worry. His patience for you seems limitless.

“I can’t believe Jean lets you handle your social media accounts. You have no filter.”

He scoffs, “She doesn’t, but I find my way. They have to change the password every other week or else I might be permanently banned on every platform.”

You chuckle at his smug expression, “I want your confidence.”

“You already have it, you just need to use it.”

You avoid his gaze, “You sure do have a lot of faith in me.”

“Because I believe in you.”

For how long? You heard those same words before and they never kept their promises. Your agency, your manager. It was blind trust. Funny how life works.

“You blindly trusted me.”

You didn’t mean to say that. But it can’t be helped. What if one day you disappoint him? Will he leave too, like your manager? Or your fans?

“I knew you wouldn’t do that.”

No he didn’t. What did he know?

“There’s always a possibility—“

“But you didn’t and that’s what matters,” He sighs before running a hand through his hair, “Am I wrong for trusting you?”

You shake your head in guilt, realizing you let your doubts slip. Overthinking kills the mood, “It’s just that—“

“Am I wrong for wanting to be with you?” His voice softened.

You squint your eyes, unsure of what he means. You open your mouth to say something, anything to fill the silence, but nothing comes out.

So he inches forward, his left hand rests on your cheek, the other latches down to your waist, gentle and warm—you lean in to his touch, “Is it wrong to be this close?”

“No but—“

“For once please,” He sounds desperate, “Fuck what they think, focus on me and you. They can all go to hell.”

“So tell me: Is it wrong to need you at every moment?”

Once again you shake your head, this time with no interruptions.

“Is it wrong to be with you? To wake up every morning knowing I’m yours—knowing I can flirt shamelessly without doubting your feelings? Knowing I can write songs about you without hiding my love. Knowing I can feed you my favorite dishes without asking: am I doing too much? Or buy you things that remind me of you because not a single day goes by without your presence in my fucked up head.”

You feel tears welling up in your eyes. Everything is blurry but your gaze remains on Scara. Only him, because it has always been him.

“Am I wrong for feeling this way?” He whispers softly—so gentle that you want to apologize for trying to push him away.

You wrap your arms around his neck, “Kiss me.”

“Can I really?”

“Please.”

He does.

He does like his life depends on it.

Notes:

im on vacation but nothing will stop me from writing 😃

sorry for grammatical errors or spelling mistakes

Synopsis: After 7 years of enduring the media’s relentless pursuit of painting you as a villain, you’re forced to go through an indefinite hiatus with a tainted reputation on your head. However, just when you thought your career was over, a certain 5WIRL member wants you to feature on his solo career. Surely, this won’t affect your reputation once more, would it?

Scaramouche x fem!reader

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[thisapplepielife]

Written for the @steddieholidaydrabbles pop-up Graduation challenge.

Along for the Ride

Prompt: Graduation | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: T | CW: Language | Tags: Post S2, Graduation Day for the Class of '85, Eddie Munson Doesn't Graduate, Wayne Loves Eddie, Unlikely Duo for the Day, Pre-Steddie, Hanging Out

"Looks good on you."

Steve jumps ever so slightly, and turns to locate the disembodied voice that came out of thin air, scaring the ever-loving shit out of him.

It's just Eddie Munson, lurking behind a fucking tree. Of course.

"Munson," Steve says, by way of greeting, but then has to ask, "What looks good?"

Eddie takes a step forward and flicks the mortarboard on Steve's head, "Your cap."

Steve laughs, and takes it off his head, and smooths his hand over his hair, sure it's sticking up all crazy.

"Yeah, right," Steve says, knowing that hat has done no favors for his hair, and clutches it in his hands, worrying his fingers all along the pointed edges. "You didn't walk? I didn't see you in line."

Eddie toes at the dirt, eyes suddenly downcast, "Yeah, well. It came down to the wire, and I didn't quite get it done. Again."

"Sorry, I didn't know."

Eddie has his gown slung over his arm, and his cap in hand. All the makings of a graduate, but no diploma. That really sucks, and Steve knows how close he came himself to not skating through. This could have just as easily been him, so he has no snarky commentary to offer up. Not today.

"They didn't tell you until today?" Steve asks, because if that's the case, it's absolute bullshit. 

"No, yesterday. After graduation practice. But, you know…"

Steve doesn't know, "You came to the ceremony anyway?"

"Hell no," Eddie laughs, "They said I could walk, get a blank folder. No fucking thanks. Just. My uncle. He had to work today. Too many other dads needed off. And I'm just his nephew, so the plant didn't prioritize his request. You know how it goes," Eddie says, and Steve really doesn't know. His dad has been riding his ass hard, but he was damn well in the bleachers, watching him graduate this afternoon, and nobody could have stopped him. Especially not work.

Eddie keeps talking, "Anyway. Uncle Wayne was unduly proud, so I just let him take some pictures of me out here before his shift. Embarrassing, but whatever. Maybe I'll tell him later. Maybe not. I'm over eighteen, it's not like they're gonna call and tattle if I don't show up next fall. I could get my GED. I could say fuck it. Or, god-fucking-forbid, I could try again next year."

Steve nods. He isn't exactly sure why Eddie Munson is telling him all this, not really, because these are the most words they've ever spoken to one another in a row.

"I'm sorry," Steve says.

"So you've said," Eddie says, but he's teasing, even if Steve still thinks he looks sad. And Steve spent a lot of the last year fucking sad, so he has, like, empathy and shit. 

"There's a graduation party at my house later, if you wanna come," Steve offers, suddenly.

"Thanks, but no thanks, Harrington. I'd rather not experience that kind of humiliation again today. It was bad enough having the principal look over here at me in my cap and gown, like I was a fucking idiot. Which I am. But still."

"I get it," Steve says, "but if you change your mind. Come."

"I won't," Eddie says, "don't wait up."

And it strikes Steve as hilarious, and he laughs, like he hasn't laughed in a long time, "Damn, Munson. Break a guy's heart. I was gonna sit by my bedroom window, awaiting your arrival."

Eddie grins, and then there's a glint in his eye, "What time will this party be over, Harrington?"

Steve just shrugs, he isn't sure. His parents will be there, so it's not exactly gonna be a rager.

"Midnight?" Eddie asks.

Steve nods, because surely it'll be over by midnight.

"Then sit by that window, and I'll pull up and get you. For the afterparty."

And Steve doesn't know why he's nodding, but he is, enthusiastically.

At midnight, Steve is standing at his bedroom window, waiting. 

At ten after, he realizes that Munson had just been fucking with him. Of course. Eddie Munson isn't the idiot here, he is. And he starts to pull his shirt over his head, the one he'd changed four times for no discernible reason, when he sees it. The old van, barreling into his driveway. 

Far too fast and wild.

Steve smiles, climbs out of his window, and shimmies down the side of the house, running towards the van like he's really getting away with something. He could have walked out the front door, and his parents definitely wouldn't have given a shit, if they even noticed.

Yeah, he's in trouble about the college thing, and he has to get a shitty job, but they aren't chaining him to the bed or anything.

He pulls the van door open and there's Eddie Munson, in all black, waiting.

"Wasn't sure you'd come," Eddie says.

"I could say the same thing about you," Steve echoes, sliding into the van seat, and slamming the door behind himself, "You're late."

"Sorry, your highness. Where to?" Eddie asks.

"This was your idea!" Steve yells over the roar of the van peeling out of the driveway, and man, Munson is a bad driver. Maybe the worst. 

But the warm night air is whipping through the open windows, and Eddie's hair is blowing all around, and Steve's feeling air ruffling through his own.

It feels freeing. 

He's with Eddie "The Freak" Munson, so that makes no sense whatsoever. But Steve's not gonna question it. He's gonna have some fun, with whatever this night brings.

He doesn't have any friends, not really, not his own age, anyway. Not anymore. 

Eddie shoves a box of tapes onto his lap, "Pick something."

Steve isn't familiar with most of the bands, but he settles on one he likes, and jams it in.

"Harrington, no, that's Wayne's!" Eddie says, punching the eject button hard and fast.

"You decide then," Steve says with a smile, "I'm just along for the ride."

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @steddieholidaydrabbles and follow along with the fun!

If you want to see more of my entries into this challenge, you can check them out in my Steddie Holiday Drabbles tag, right here!

[reblive]

An except from Eric’s journal that i’ve thought about often as of lately. I have no place to put my thought so I will speak on here. No intent for discourse, I just have no outlet to speak on this matter. If this is not the space for you, just don’t read it. I don’t really care to hear anything.

“Society may not realize what is happening but I have; you go to school, to get used to studying and learning how youre "supposed to" so that drains or filters out a little bit of human nature. but thats after your parents taught you whats right and wrong even though you may think differently, you still must to have more of your human nature blown out of your ass. society trys to make everyone act the same by burying all human nature and instincts. Thats what school, laws, jobs, and parents do If they realize it or not and them, the few who stick to their natural instincts are casted out as psychos or lunatics or strangers or just plain different. crazy, strange, weird, wild, these words are not bad or degrading.. if humans were let to live how we would naturaly it would be chaos and anarchy and the human race wouldnt probably last that long, but hey guess what, thats how its supposed to be!!!!! society and goverments are only created to have order and calmness, which is exactly the opposite of pure human nature. take away all your laws and morals and just see what you can do. if the goverment was one entity it would be thinking "hey, lets make some order here and calm these crazy fucks down so we can be constructive and fight other goverments in our own little so called self created "civilizied world" and get rid of all those damn insticts everyone has" well shit I'm to tired wright anymor tonight, so until next time, fuck you all”

In some way in pains me to see the way he felt about the world and the wrong doings of those around him. If you take a second to sit and read what he’s saying it’s like part of his authenticity comes out and then transitions back to switching to speak to the audience and how he wanted to be seen. I can’t always articulate in words the feelings I get when I think about him but it’s genuinely always painful. He was so hurt, and described his pain, but still shadowed his true feelings of distress for the audience. He cared about what other people thought about him even in his writings, and it’s so disheartening that he was that broken and plague by the environment he was in. I take time to consider how people cannot feel empathy for him and I understand it due to the situation at hand (obviously) however, considering how he was 17 years old writing this, he was just a kid. He was once how we all once were, innocent and compelled to continue on the paths of our lives the way that the nature of society intended us to. It really goes to show how fucked up he had it. This draws me back to the butterfly effect, was there one decision by himself, or inflicted upon him by others that brought him to where he ended his life? Empathy is a theme he seems to disregard in his journal entries, and quite frankly, all of media and the world deems him as un empathetic because of his writings. We didn’t know how he thought of himself in his head, we didn’t know the guilt, destruction, and true pain he went through that was genuine. I find this a reason why there is much more weight put onto him within his person. “It’s only a tragedy if you think it is, and then it’s only a tragedy in your own mind.” (7/29/98) I suppose this is how we all (who empathize with E&D) feel and can relate to.

Thinking too much about his pain these days and what he once was and how he became what he was. Being truthful and honest are two different things. Being truthful, factual, what he did was terrible. Being honest, feelings, I have so much pain in my heart for how he was feeling. There’s nothing anyone can do now (whom empathize)

[lightningbreath]

A little more information about the HH leaks + a rant about some things in these leaks.

SPOILER ALERT

WARNING: MENTIONS OF ATTEMPTED SA AND SUICIDAL ATTEMPTS

Rosie owns Alastor's soul and sings a song about how Alastor is her pet and how he is in her zoo.

Vox looks like they will try to perform a '''''correctional grape'''' on Alastor to prove that Alastor is not asexual. (PROVEN FAKE) .

Vox tries to use the media to damage the Hotel's reputation. At some point, he manages to place several sinners (including some members of the Hotel) under mental control.

Husk and Angel apparently kiss in episode 6.

Apparently Lucifer dies (AMEM) in episode 8. Lute probably kills him, but it's pure speculation, all I found was an image with Lucifer on the floor. If this is true, and Viv resurrects Lucifer, then the chances of Adam and the dead Exorcites returning become very likely. And this will further undermine the understanding of how death works in Hazbin Hotel.

ABOUT EP 2, SEASSON 2

Sir Pentious is simply insufferable. During Emily's song introducing him to Heaven, Pentious tries to create and link A SHITTING DEATH WEAPON WITH A SMILE ON HEAVEN'S FACE, but Emily, Abel and Peter stop him and destroy the weapon.

Sir Pentious's sin was not having reported Jack the Ripper. Although I would say that inaction in these cases does not constitute a valid reason to be sent to Hell for christianity, after seeing how some Mouthwashing fans treat Curly, then it's not crazy to think that there are people who believe that would be a reason to go. to Hell. But it's interesting to see how Viv didn't have the ability to take a real sinner and try to redeem him, it seems like she thinks the only way to empathize is by posing a '''sin''' that isn't a sin, without a challenge moral, without a conversation about what is good and evil, without something that makes people REALLY think about whether redemption should be for everyone or if it should be limited, etc.

Ah, but Hazbin Hotel is a bold series that criticizes religion and says that situations are nuanced, a series without ''good guys vs bad guys'', a series that is not moralistic..... Of course it is. 🙄

Lute nearly has a panic attack after the Tribunal, this is where she starts hallucinating Adam, he basically validates all her thoughts and encourages her to do what she has planned (similar to how she is talking to herself). Here it is interesting to see how Sera, Emily or the ''Voice of God'' don't even care about Lute's emotional instability. Emily and the Voice of God are described as ''good'' and ''compassionate'', but they only know how to look at Lute with disgust instead of, I don't know, TRYING TO LISTEN TO HER BEFORE SIMPLY DISCARDING HER. To have the slightest empathy because Lute's WHOLE world is crumbling and falling apart and the only person with whom she identified is DEAD. It's also funny how quickly Sera simply discards Adam, Lute and the Exorcisms now that she sees that she was ''''wrong'''', simply using them as scapegoats, without worrying about the consequences this left on the exorcisms. itself. Yes, the Exorcisms were Adam's idea, but it was SERA who allowed them for who knows how long, Sera doesn't seem to have tried to control the Exorcists' murderous impulses, she simply left everything in Adam's hands and only showed up to demand and complain when something went wrong.

Abel seems at least somewhat affected by Adam's death, despite appearing to be a pacifist type, he seems somewhat willing to go to Hell out of resentment for Adam's death. He admits that he is not the best person to say what to do about the situation in Hell, as he himself is kind of interested in getting revenge for Adam's death, so this bombshell is in Sera's hands.

Lute goes to Adam's office and Abel follows her, he tries to connect with her by talking about Adam and apologizing for the way he acted in Court, but Lute doesn't want to listen to him and throws him out.

Lute's song begins (BANGER SONG), where she swears revenge on Charlie.

St. Peter continues to be useless and from now on, I will consider that he is just a random person with that name and that he IS NOT the real St. Peter.

Emily is spoiling Sir Pentious, and when she sees him crying for his minions and his "friends", Emily creates new minions (basically the same as the ones he had in Hell, but these ones have wings). She continues to spoil Pentious, who continues to try to create weapons (but the environment in Heaven seems to not allow weapons like Sir Pentious's to work). Sir Pentious spends the entire episode crying saying that he wants to go back to Hell and see his "friends".

Sera decides to put all of Heaven under protection while she thinks about what to do. Emily opens a portal saying she will warn Charlie about recent events.

The Exorcists continue to be dehumanized to the extreme and treated as simple '''walking weapons'' and as scapegoats, with Lute being THE ONLY ONE who has, at least, a face.

Lilith is apparently in the Garden of Eden, she was sitting enjoying the breeze and eating fruit. Then she sees something on the phone, gets up and leaves.

[hg-aneh]

will you ever come back, or is this an indefinite hiatus/straight up dipping?

i don't know

all the i miss yous are making me want to come back but ik i would just be terrified and motionless as soon as i do

Vent-ish Rant downstairs

CW: Pedophilia, Antisemitism, Suicide, Ableism, Harassment, Bullying, all the important words except for murder basically

i want to fix things in private with the people who hurt me so things can be okay and I don't out them for being wieners

but i also want everyone to know who hurt me, yet I'm aware it's not the right choice to make. social media outrage barely leads to anything, specially where minors are concerned

hell,now that i think about it, considering the fact that they genuinely don't believe people older than them are allowed to have feelings, I don't even think talking would be the right move

it's scary, its fucking scary

fuck. the whole thing started with a person mocking the way i spoke about crowley telling me to stop babying him because i was a legal adult and shouldn't be speaking like that

i had just turned 18 and the person was only a year younger than me

like when it's gone to that point and shit is that fucked up, what can one person even do

i remember i laughed about it back then but truth be told, every single little thing I've been told and that I've listened to coming from the people who hurt me has fucking destroyed me as a person

I looked at my older Discord messages, from before this whole mess started. I was so fucking happy and shameless with my joy, now look at my sorry ass

i just.

it's crazy that i have to go around masking in social media of all places because there are people that take such offense to me being cringe that they legitimately turn into high school mean girls

it's crazy that there are people who claim I'm something i am not because they want to make me look bad in the eyes of their little circlejerking friend groups so they can feel like the hero of the story

it's crazy that empathy goes completely out of the window when an account is big, that people don't see human beings as human beings when they're behind a screen

"just log off lol" i am a lonely shut in motherfucker due to my autism (that, surprise surprise, hinders my ability to socialize), you do not understand what you're asking of me, specially while being in this country and at this point in time where I'm actively craving to kick the metaphorical bucket, at daily risk of doing so, and what basically is house arrest for my own safety and well being

(aka, avoiding to physically yeet myself into upcoming traffic or buying something to actually seal the deal)

thus far I've been accused of antisemitism, pedophilia, being too self-centered (which. bro, the reason why i talk about myself is because it's the one thing i can comment on without being scared of some random person coming to tell me "NuH uH" about it out of nowhere or worse, having their feelings hurt because I don't agree with them 100%), proshipper (which, to those people, the word implies wonderful labels such as "incest apologist" "pedophile" (again) "abuse endorser" among other things) ((sidenote, I'm on neither side on that particular discourse. my friends from both sides know this. I would elaborate on my stance if this wasn't already long enough, but it is, so I'm leaving it at an "I don't care, you do you, but please leave me out of it")), being... mean... because i blocked someone...? (this one is just. that's how the second wave of hate started btw. yeah, because i blocked someone. holy fuck), and there's probably a handful of other things I haven't seen yet. fuck it, there's probably someone out there calling me a zoophile because of my catboy au

My friends who I will not name because I don't want the high school mean girls crusade to get to them, have helped me stash out evidence for all of the accusations and bullying.

fuck, they were the ones who let me know about it on the first place, both actions for which i am eternally thankful for because it means I can defend myself properly should the occasion arise (dios no quiera)

I've already had to make a post on Xitter responding to the antisemitism and pedophilia claims, in which, for the latter, i had to reveal extremely personal information for the people who started this to give me respite if only for a while

and. ugh

What I'm trying to get at with all of this is. it's. coming back is scary. i want to but at the same time I don't think I can take this shit anymore

I wish I had people defending me like this when the harassment started because I'm a spineless little bitch who'd rather talk things out and at least be neutral with people than clap back and tell them to stop being stinky

but what's done is done and now i just gotta figure out how to fix my head before i do something stupid

this is not the full story obviously, I'm cutting off certain details as well as more personal depression stuff to not make this bible longer than it already is

fuck

TLDR: I need a hug, idk if I'm coming back, I probably will cuz I can't say no to people, and some teenagers are horrible

[loganswdc]

i dunno who fucking said it, if it was david c. or will buxton but they tried my baby (logan), comparing franco to logan talking about how franco was better and saying logan crashed more and shit, but they both can eat my shit and leave my baby ALONE .

- 🏎

REAL REAL REAL REAL REAL literally i don't understand how anyone thinks they can fairly compare logan and franco when logan never got to drive the car with upgrades (and when he got upgrades they took them away !) while franco is driving a fully upgraded car like come on 😭 and in general it's insane to me how vehemently people have been comparing franco , not just to logan but to other drivers , too !! like it not only makes me upset for logan and the other drivers being compared to him because ?? wtf ?? but it also makes me sad for franco because he didn't sign up for this kind of treatment .

i truly will never understand how people can think they can fairly compare franco with others , especially with logan , and the insane hate that people have towards logan . i cannot comprehend it and i don't think i ever will . i overall do not understand the hate that a lot of drivers get . perhaps it's because i have a lot of empathy for people and can understand different sides of things ,, but i just don't understand how hateful the f1 community has been recently . and that especially goes to how people have treated logan .

and the commentators making such comments and coming after logan even though its been a whole month since he got dropped is also insane to me . it's as though they have nothing else to talk about and their commentary will fall flat if they don't take a jab at logan . like , please , just move on . let him rest . let him go on to different motorsports series and show how good of a driver he is . they need to stop constantly bringing him up in such a negative way . he was their scapegoat then and he still is now , and it's pathetic and sad and disgusting .

and it's crazy to me how it's their job to know what's going on (who has upgrades , who doesn't , who is driving what car , etc.) and yet they never have any clue what the fuck is going on and make stupid comments . like y'all fucking SUCK at ur jobs if all you can comment on is negative things about logan . literally they need to do some damn research and open their eyes like us fans have been doing for so long 😭

also !! on a happier note -- oh my gosh hi race car anon !! this is my first ever emoji anon message i've ever gotten so this is genuinely so exciting to me 😭💞

[batbitesthebat]

Hey bat!!!! :D it's been a whileeee.. So- here's my question!

Do you have any head canons for your octonauts- characters? (Regular au) if so. Can I know em? :0

Sorry this took me so long!! I'm a very busy Bat!!

I decided to share some headcanons for all of my octonauts for my normal BatBites AU.

Captain Barnacles:

He goes to sleep curfew on the DOT and wakes up at 7:00 am each morning, and will wake up the other Octonauts as well

He feels like the father of the crew, whether he likes to or not

He doesn't open up to anybody about his struggles or insecurities- ever! He's bad at that sort of thing...

During the summer he'll take extremely long cold baths that he'll literally dump ice in, and he sheds like crazy, he does NOT like the summer.

His suit has a cooler. Tweak built it for him!!

He is totally unaware of any feelings his CREwMAtes might have for him....

Lt Kwazii Cat:

He bat's other peoples tails instinctively...

He can bareeely taste sweet, so he'll usually add a shit ton of sugar to his desserts

Struggles with impulse control and social awareness, struggles to understand what can be talked about on the dinner table and what can't be

Quite ashamed honestly about his cat-like behavior, so he'll try to keep it to himself. He doesn't like to meow or purr around anyone but Shellington, but because he lacks impulse control, he'll end up doing it anyway. Dashi loves the meowing.

He's incredibly affectionate

His first thought when a sea creature gives them trouble is I'LL SHOW THEM WHO'S BOSS!!!

Medic Peso Penguin:

His urge to pick up rocks everytime he sees a pile of them goes strong, and he usually ends up doing just that

This is more of a redesign than a headcanon, but he has a full set of teeth in the og books and I thought that would be a good excuse to give him fangs in my AU just for added cuteness

He's a chronic apologizer

He gets picked on by the crew occasionally, he hates it

He looks up to Barnacles and Kwazii so much- he IS the youngest and the last one to join, after all.

He does really like taking care of his friends.

He's a bit of a crybaby. His sense of empathy is really big and strong, and he'll feel himself tear up if he sees something- or someone- suffering.

IT Officer Dashi Dog:

Because she's the IT officer, programmer & photographer, she's super busy all the time

And speaking of time, she always loses track of it..

If Kwazii and Barnacles were to be unavailable she would be in charge.

She likes to keep incredibly clean even if the DEMONS tell her to jump in the MUDD and have FUNN

She loves everything cute and collects chibi cat squishies. This is like, one of my first head canons ever.

She's in charge of the wifi, whenever it shuts down and the crew begins to bug her about it, she gets super fckin annoyed

She barks, because of course she barks, and her tail wags whenever she sees something she likes or is giving/receiving affection

Her tail ALSO wags when she's talking to Captain Barnacles, I wonder why THAT is!!!

Engineer Tweak Rabbit:

Gets 1 second of sleep every night

Taught the rest of the crew how to play her video games

She glows in the dark because she's literally radioactive, same with her dad

When she needs a break she goes to the garden to chill, and eat a few carrots on the way

Will wake up in a cold sweat to randomly build something in the middle of the night

She does not give a shit about how messy she gets

Dr. Shellington Sea Otter:

Spends so much of his alone time just grooming himself

Goes searching through the fridge for ice cubes during the summer. Loves his ice cubes

Was the most geekiest geek in high school, he had like 3 friends

He plays visual novels

He's really defensive, embarrassed, and shy about what he likes.

His sleep schedule is fcked up, he talks in his sleep as well. He'd much rather be spending his time researching so as he sleeps he'll usually dream about his research.

He cannOT take a compliment. Compliment him and he will curl up into a little ball out of shame.

Professor Inkling Octopus:

He'll put on classical music in the library and vibe to it with whoever's with him

He hosts story nights occasionally

He's really good at giving romantic advice

He refuses to drink coffee

He needs to be constantly MOIST

his chair is super high tech and comes with a heater and cooler

May or may not be the group therapist

He's INKredibly humble

Tunip Vegimal:

Like 4 years old

Gets excited over literally anything

Gets the cutest puppy dog eyes when he wants something

Defaults to running around with the other vegimals when there's nothing to do

His fave thing in the world is watching the crews face light up when they eat his food

Vegimal food just hits different

Tunip sees Shellington as his dad, and sees Tweak as his mama. Kwazii's the gay aunt

*flies away*

[throwntotheair]

Tl;Dr

Homestuck in both canon and post canon have a remarkable throughline re:

John as a Person

Dirk as a Character

John consistently hyper aware of the narrative to the point of looping back to thinking only he could be real

Dirk consistently hyper aware of the narrative and embracing it to the point that he can only submerge himself further as a narrator

They give each other a reach around and deny everyone their personhood and agency

(Candy John is maybe improving but also maybe this is part of Ult Dirk's plan)

Anyways, I think they should kiss

My personal opinion is that John is kinda boring as a character - and wasnt that his whole point? average kid with an average life - loving father, suburban house, no tragic backstories just the folly of being a teenager

But if we sink into the verse and treat him as a person, he's almost believable. He was a fun guy (pre-canon), and then became horribly depressed and consequently awful (post-canon)... But like we've probably walked by a thousand Johns in the real world who maybe didnt become gods but who still treat the world like its not a part of them and theyre going through some shit that makes empathy real fucking hard - making them unpleasant to be with

John is a believable person

Dirk is a character - all the way to how he was Dave's Bro - this bigger than life figure. Who does all this crazy and cool shit - with all the irons in the fire, with all the sicknasty tricks, etc. etc.

Dirk always seemed to be framed as someone who could never be real. So he can't become a believable person and his whole journey to villainhood is just another way for him to run away from his own (for lack of a better term) humanity.

It all circles back to the idea that John is a loser because he's basically an everyguy. I could meet a guy like John on the street and think there goes another divorcee father at forty. but if Dirk walks down the street, you will always look twice - you will always watch. That's Dirk's whole deal

And a good long way that canon and post canon seems to fight is because Dirk thinks that people want a spectacle - they want the keyfabe - they want the wrestling match

But the spectacle works best as an opening gambit - it works best as a way to grab people, hook them in - people come for the spectacle

People stay for John. And Rose. And Dave. And Jade. And (insert favorite character here).

They want people to form parasocial relationships with so they can read and be changed however minutely - however infitisemally. We can't as a matter of fact feel things about characters as written without the double think of "oh for a second that felt real". And Homestuck's general navel gazing into the nature of fiction has utterly forgotten the most important question of all

Why do we tell stories?

[a-doubleh-x]

Fashionably Late Review: TADC Episode 2

Hi everyone! Welcome to Fashionably Late Reviews, where I write my thoughts on media days and days later, not because I've been in frequent dental pain, no, no, no. It's because I care for writing the most detailed, most thought through analysis you're ever gonna see!

Episode 1 started us with a general introduction as well as a mini arc for Pomni. Episode 2 resumes that with a proper self contained adventure while still breaking the mold in the process.

While this episode was shorter than the pilot, the writing was so good and the emotional beats so well played, I barely took notice. It felt like a very strong second step for the series, plus it gave every character at least a small moment to shine, which was very nice.

The theme of existential dread returns once more and this time we're treated to a showcase of how characters deal with it, prominently in this case Pomni, Ragatha and Jax. Interestingly, I noticed each of these has an NPC counterpart they get along with who reflects their personality in some way.

For the rest of this review, I'm going to run one by one following their perspectives and episode arcs in order to showcase the episode's narrative.

Pomni represents existential shock and subsequent apathy. After the first episode, we see her in a cathatonic state of depression, even while Ragatha tries to wake her up from that funk. Because her entire world has been shattered, she doesn't recognize herself anymore. She feels alone because nothing has meaning anymore.

The small distraction Ragatha offers her at the beginning, the adventure of the day, is rejected because she knows it's "fake". It's a sad substitute of all the experiences in the outside eorld she' been robbed of.

This is mirrored by Gummigoo, who undergoes a similar existential crisis when he learns he's an artificial construct with no agency. At that point, everything loses meaning for him as well, but just looking at someone in the same circusmtances as her fills Pomni with empathy, momentarily taking her out of her existential dread with a connection and purpose.

She knows getting out of the out of bounds area is not going to save them on the long term, but she still wants to do it because something has meaning for her again: Gummigoo, who may still be "fake" but holds enough humanity to feel "real" to her.

And then, Gummi dies, proving how fickle life is in front of an uncaring universe XD

It's still too early to say how much of an impact this will have on Pomni in the long run as well as how much of a trend it sets, so we'll see.

Ragatha represents coping through trivial distractions as as well as codependent altruism fueled by denial. We learnt the reason she goes along with the adventures is to keep herself and everyone else busy. This way everyone has something to do and don't go crazy: even if adventures are just trite entertainment.

She clearly puts others above herself, especially newbies like Pomni, in order to keep peace in the group (although I have a feeling she secretly hopes the others took care of her the same way).

Her counterpart is Princess Loolilaloo, whom she simply gets along with swimmingly. Princess Loo is presented as a sweet, kind and well meaning individual who unfortunately is blind to the circumstances surrounding her. This comes into play when she trusts the "heros" come out of nowhere with the key, which Jax holds for his own chaotic mischief.

Similarly, while Ragatha's intentions towards Pomni are benevolent, she fails to acknowledge her perspective and connect with her and instead annoys her with her toxic positivity. Fortunately, Kinger is there to teach her a valuable lesson, which is respecting others' boundaries and have patience.

Jax represents destructive revelry and rejection of morals. Because he believes nothing the crew does during their adventures matter, he spends the whole time stirring the pot in order to cause as much trouble as possible, not quite caring who gets affected as long as it's not himself.

It's interesting to note despite Jax's nihilistic tendencies, he seems to value self preservation, suggesting there are things he holds onto, after all. He's happy as long as he can see "funny things happen to people", but he's still not quite the master of his own world as he's still not satisfied if things go out of his control.

His counterpart is the Fudge, a haunting and deeply unsettling potrait of a sociopathic being. They're called a monster and they accepts that label willingly, as they were designed to be a monster. They claim to "hear the voices of the candy people, calling [them]". Tragically, their destructiveness is only in their nature.

Jax, however, causes pain deliberately and at the end we get a little hint of why. When the circus crew prepares Kauffmo's funeral, he looks sad for a moment, then angry. I think this is a subtle telling that Jax not that deep down *does* care for his fellow players, but he also rejects the pain of losing them, which is why he purposely pushes them off to avoid making connections.

At the end of the episode we're presented with a hopeful message, which is that even with the notion of existential dread, our connections are what keeps us alive in the face of non-existence. Although it seems there is no escape from the fate of abstraction yet, it seems that Pomni has gained a substantial comfort by seeing the humanity of the circus crew, represented by them grabbing her by the hand in her imaginary sequence.

All in all, a beautiful piece, although I dread what's still ahead of us XD As a writer, I've learnt to expect the unexpected, so I can only expect that we're going to have our hearts twisted and folded in ways we're absolutely *not* ready for. But it's all part of the fun! Right?

By the way, I just started writing a little fanfic for TADC. It's a Pomni x Ragatha story because I could use a little levity and I think everyone else as well. Expect that as well as more post like these in the upcoming future.

I'll see you fashionably late! 👋🎉🐊

[puffpawstries]

Hanichi questions for you!

- Are they dating/how did they start dating?

-What's their favorite things about each other?

-What is something they admire/are envious of about each other?

I love these two so much you don't understand

- Are they dating/how did they start dating? so to this question as of now they are dating in the lore! There was a friendship arc at first after their first meeting in a back alley (original I know👍) near the Library that Honno works+lives at! But how they started dating is the funny part cause I did plan to draw a comic of some kind/doodle page for it cause of my friend and I lore of how it happens is real funny (to me and him at least) so I'll give out small context info for now! 1- Honnos, after a bit of being friends with Ichimatsu, gain three new friends that aren't good for her who were making them worse, and Ichimatsu slowly became aware of it, realizing they're making Honno worse and more reclusive, and even pulling away from him and sabotaging their friendship, which he tries to be selfless, which leads to an argument. (P.S Honno is no longer friends with those three) 2- But after the argument, Honno finally cuts ties with the bad friends, cutting those three out of their lives, and goes to find Ichimatsu to apologize and make things right. (with ESP kittys help to find Ichi cause they didn't know where he lived) 3- Ichimatsu hid the fact that he had brothers and is a sextuplet from Honno for months during their friendship (you all should know why he'd do that) and tried to push them away more by denying any closer feelings he had for her. 4- The brothers somehow help push a confession out of these two??? (mostly Osomatsu calling Ichimatsu out on his lies.) Is it quite a way to confess your feelings to each other that leads you to dating??? (Their both losers and crazy.)

-What's their favorite things about each other?

Ichimatsu favorite thing about Honno: Their height (He likes being picked up and dangled like a cat) But seriously, he loves how she shows him a lot of affection/love, because Honno is a very clingy and PDA person. Honno doesn't hide expressing their passion and affection to Ichimatsu, wanting him to know that he is loved. Honno favorite thing about Ichimatsu: In Honno's words, they would say everything. cliché, but her reasoning is that Ichimatsu was the first person in their life to make her feel not alone in a long time and has helped her out a lot. No matter what people may think of Ichimatsu, he is the healthiest person they actually ever had in their life.

3. -What is something they admire/are envious of about each other?

Ichimatsu is envious of Honnos empathy and optimism The ability to see the bright side of things and not fall into themself despite everything being against her, especially given Honnos background and relationship with her parents Ichimatsu is envious of the fact that despite basically having everything handed to him, he turned out to be a piece of shit while Honno (from his perspective!) essentially came out a wiser person Despite their gullibility.

Honno is envious of Ichimatsu's self-awareness, despite Ichimatsu's stupid shit of being gloomy, he is like still a neet and is like 'I'm a piece of shit idgaf.' Their envious of Ichimatsu being able to not care.

Honno also envious of Ichimatsu confidence

tapping my temple when I know the Honno angst and lore (i also suck at explaining so plz thank my friend Kevin ( @chocowhomps ) for helping me here!

[roydeezed]

Luffy's defining characteristic is his deep empathy in the context of his desire for freedom

Wordy title? Yeah. But it expresses the point I want to get to pretty succinctly. I saw a post the other day that said Luffy was selfish. I don't know how I feel about that. I really don't think he is that selfish. Yeah, he's selfish about meat and having fun. But I don't think that's his defining characteristic. It feels like an uncharitable read of him that doesn't take into account his worldview that everyone deserves freedom. Though that reblog about him being lonely is an amazing catch. I'm glad someone else caught that moment in the flashback cause I thought I was going crazy thinking Luffy had a deep trauma relating to his loneliness.

I think there's a lot to talk about there, including a theory as to Luffy's core motivations which involves Impel Down, Incarceration and forced labour of some sort but we'll get to that later down this post. I normally don't like arguing or refuting people's takes, which is why I didn't do this through a reblog, but thinking about why that take sat wrong with me helped me to reconcile Shank's whole persona, prompting me to make this post. But to do that, me, as the authour of this post, and you, as the reader, need to get on the same page about my long held beliefs on Luffy's defining charecteristic and motivation. And I'll go into that below the "Keep reading".

To start off with, we need to establish some common ground. First, let's start off with something quite simple to accept. And that's the fact that Luffy is kind. He will fight for the weak and hates seeing injustice. One of my favourite early stories is the Orange Town arc and the bond Luffy forms with Chouchou.

He understands people's(also read as animal's when applicable) emotions and gets upset when they're mistreated. So much so that he fights on behalf of people that can't fight for themselves. But only after they've resolved to fight. After Chochou loses to Mohji and Richie, Luffy fights them.

After Luffy defeats them, we get a soft moment between the two of them where he acknowledges Chouchou's effort, his love and his treasure. It chokes me up everytime but it's such a great distillation of Luffy's character.

This is why the label of selfish, even in the context that he selfishly wants to be nice, falls so flat for me. Luffy cares for people. He understands people(and once again, read as animals when applicable, it's just not as punchy you know what I mean?). He goes out of his way to care for them. Luffy has such a great emotional intelligence that he's able to understand when people are hurt, what's holding them back, and when they lie to themselves. For example, Sanji's dream was to go to the All Blue, but due to his obligation to Baratie, he couldn't leave. So what does Luffy do?

He destroys the physical metaphor for the mental block his friend has, not only to remind him that Baratie is just as much the people as the place, including Sanji himself, but also to unanchor him from the spot he's been rooted in so long, both physically and mentally. Oda does this time and time again, beautifully melding emotional concepts with their physical manifestations.

But Luffy understands one more thing. He can't fight these battles for them. He can show them the way. He can destroy things if it will help them come to a certain conclusion. But he won't make the decision for them. Because they need to do that themselves. They need to choose to fight. They need to choose to change. It's the most important thing to him. Not only the freedom to be unmoored from restrictions. But the freedom to choose either life. It's why he doesn't fight on their behalf until they ask him to.

He'll stop them from hurting themselves.

And he'll admit how much less he knows than them. About how little right he has to make a decision for them.

And he'll wait for them to make the decision. To ask for help.

Unlike animals, who he chooses to help when they choose to fight, for people he needs to hear it from their mouths. And then he seeks to understand the best way to help them. This is not the act of someone who is selfish. This is someone who respects choice and the dignity of being able to choose.

With Nami, once he understood what trapped her, her obligation to her people, the years of work she's done as a navigator, and all that Arlong was, Luffy set out to free her one by one.

Her obligation, and all that Arlong has done, Luffy could erase with beating Arlong. But her years of servitude, the crushing weight of incarceration? The feeling that comes with being used?

The only way Luffy could get rid of that was to destroy the place that kept her prisoner.

One Piece has very consistent and solid themes about how institutions, when granted power by the threat of violence, subjugates and restricts the freedom of the citizens it was meant to aid. We see that with the World Government, and places like Impel Down. On a smaller level, Oda shows us this threat through people like Arlong. They become like institutions and every action they take becomes one of restriction. Very rightfully, Oda shows that incarceration is one of the most dehumanising and soul shattering things that can be done to someone. The very place of Incarceration holds a power over the incarcerated. I'm sure if distilled enough, those statements can be ground up into something pithy enough to be an overarching theme, but I'm trying to make a point here so let's stick with my unwieldy lingo. Besides we all know if One Piece had a theme, it would be that Afro Power trumps all. I mean look at Brook, my guy survived dying. Also, Gaimon and Yasuie both had afros... We'll put a pin in this. But this is important. Back to the main point. Objects and places serve as anchors, the equivalent of handcuffs on a prisoner. That's why Luffy does this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

We see in Nami's reaction how much this all means to her. Her overwhelmed look as Luffy frees her from the weight and hold Arlong Park had on her.

These are the actions of a fundamentally kind person. One who believes that everyone deserves to be free. One who has the empathy to realize that it's a hard choice to pursue. And one who will unselfishly do his best to make it so that those that do choose to ask for help, get it. One who seeks to understand the pain of other's and how best to help them. The reason we see him choose to help people is because they've chosen to ask for help first.

Luffy understands that everyone deserves the dignity of freedom. Or more accurately, everyone deserves to be at a place where they can choose their future. It's why he doesn't begrudge Dragon or anyone for what they choose. Luffy also waits for people to ask for help because what good would freedom be if you weren't free to make the choice to pursue it. A forced decision isn't freedom to him. That's how deep his empathy runs. And that's how all encompassing his definition of freedom is. And it's the combination of this deep well of empathy and dream of freedom that drives and defines Luffy. My boy's wicked smaht(emotionally).

That's the face of someone who cares about others. The words of someone who cares about other. Unselfishly.

That was just one instance out of many where Luffy followed this pattern. Oda is amazing at cyclical storytelling, so much so that in the twenty year plus lifespan of One Piece I believe he has created his own tropes. And that cyclical storytelling is such a powerful engine of thematic storytelling, in so many different ways, that it's hard to get into here. But the general gist is that he repeats ideas that are important. Let's take a look at this pattern of deep empathy with another Best Girl, Robin.

We see here that Luffy comes to an understanding of what needs to happen first. It plays out in a different order but the beats are the same. And they all show his empathy.

He destroys her shackles first. He lets her know that as long as she's with them, she'll never have to fear the World Government.

And here's the most concrete example of his empathy. He needs to hear the words from her lips. He needs her to make the choice. And he gets her to the point where she's free to make that choice. The control the years of abuse and loneliness have on her is so intense that she doesn't even think she's allowed to wish for this, much less say it.

(I've stopped to cry multiple times while making this. Oda has a straight line to my tear ducts. Thank Nika I'm not talking about Fisher Tiger as well) At the end of it all, one must choose to live before being free. Up until this point. Up until learning the massive weight that Robin carries, Luffy was chasing after a friend. After learning of her struggles, he realizes that he needs to help her. And he got her to the point where she could ask for help.

I hope that, through actual textual evidence, I've demonstrated what I think Luffy's core characteristic, his empathy, and core motivation, his dream of freedom, are. Now we get into some of the more speculative points that build off of this foundation. We'll start with my take on Luffy's past and then explain what all of this showed me about Shanks.

This is going to be pretty quick. First of all, the following paragraph contain some SPOILERS up to CHAPTER 1080. Oda has time and time again made it a point to highlight a plot point of characters having to forcefully work in solitude, isolated from friends. Hell, he even made an entire arc about it that resulted in our hero only escaping because of his friends. And bringing up that cyclical storytelling, we've seen arcs and moments repeat. But here's two things we haven't seen yet. An Impel Down like arc and a giant flashback like the ASL flashback. And with Garp being where he is in the story, just like how Ace's death motivated Luffy's first big flashback, if something happens to Garp, we could get a flashback into Luffy's past as we still need to learn of his true dream. And based on that second picture in this post, of Luffy saying lonliness hurts more than physical pain, and Luffy's aversion to lonliness as well as his high tolerance to pain, it makes me believe that his early childhood was truly tragic, something where he was imprisoned alone and forced to work on things for his captors. Also the way he gets rid of obligations people think they have makes me feel like whatever thing he may have been forced to do, he might've felt an obligation to carry it out. If that does turn out to be the case, it would just go to show how well Luffy is characterized.

Next, talking about Shanks, I feel like Shanks has been such an enigma to me. Both in his actions and his buddy buddy relationship with the Gorosei. It wasn't until thinking about his most recent actions in the context of Luffy's desire of freedom, and how Luffy likes to get people to a place of equality where they're free to make their own choices, that it clicked for me. Shanks is in a way a reflection of Luffy. Or more likely he taught Luffy the concept of the freedom to choose and the equality in reaching that choice. Because Shanks is about equality. Maybe in the way that his desire is freedom for all but I'm not sure about that yet. More than anything, Shanks wants things to be fair. Equal. Actual Justice in a world of twisted renditions. He's a reflection of the Admirals as much as he is a reflection of Luffy.

Look at his actions. He wants Luffy to give him the hat back when they're equals. He didn't do a thing to the mountain bandits until they chose violence, letting him play in that realm as equals. Arriving at Marineford and stopping Kaido, it was all about equalizing the playing field. Stopping the navy from poaching the warriors of Wano while the recuperated, also about fairness and equality. And with the most recent example of Kid, he wanted to make sure Kid had recuperated and only attacked when he knew Kid was attacking. I can't tell yet if it comes from kindness. But what I do know is that Shanks is a reflection of Luffy meant to better highlight our boy's sense of empathy and Justice. I feel like Shanks represents what Rayliegh talked about in Sabaody, about how after seeing the One Piece they came to a certain conclusion. One that must have been based on fairness and equality. But I think the One Piece needs Luffy and his empathetic and kind viewpoint to come to a different conclusion, the right one.

If somehow, somebody's read through this whole thing and made it all the way down to the bottom, thanks for reading! And I always love talking about about the stuff I discuss here, especially One Piece so feel free to comment, ask or DM about things.

[narcoticwriter]

Let's 'Rec' It - The Narcotic Edition

Yeah, I have Genshin fic recommendations that I need to shove down people's throats, keep scrolling, keep scrolling . . .

Series -

the angel share's cat - Although some may find it to be a bit canon divergent as this was written in the pre 2.8 era of Ragbros fanfiction. I can say with confidence that this was one of my favorite series of all time. It still is.

beasts and mortals (and how to cross the distance in between) - I absolutely love the characterization between the two main characters and the time the author takes to really flesh them out and have them interact with each other and others around them.

nobody in liyue respects diluc - This was one of the goofier fics I've read, but I had a good laugh. Essentially the 'What if Diluc Didn't Go Back to Mondstadt' speculative fanfiction that goes absolutely hogwild on the lore and respect to research.

Kazuha and The Crux Fleet (the family we made along the way) - Genuinely one of the most solid series surrounding the Crux Fleet I've experienced in a while as well as realistic whump and hurt/comfort. Featuring some other characters as well!

Legacy of the Ragnvindr Brothers - In my personal opinion, this fic is foundational to what I look for to a subconscious degree. Also written in the pre-2.8 Ragbros era, it sticks out with how it kicks off and how they deal with it long-term.

Frost And Flame - A Tale of Two Brothers - This series was one I kept up with at its tail end, and I was quite invested in it. The author had a blast and so did I. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're willing to excuse the low-key crack in some places as well as other canon-divergent elements, then I recommend it.

memento mori, bitch! - I laughed so hard at this series that I felt my ribs start to shift and crack. Scaramouche is a little bitch. Arataki Itto is a himbo. Kuki Shinobu is holding it together by a thread. Beans.

Fox Tricks - This is probably the only Eimiko-centric thing I genuinely like as the characterization is top-tier, the writing is top-notch, and the realism is unmatched. Recommend to anyone willing to read through it.

noir!Fischl - What if Fischl consumed noir novels instead of fantasy ones?

Mora for a Myth 'verse - Arguably my best example of abusing how open Genshin Impact's worldbuilding is to make something better, featuring Beiguang.

Teyvat University of Fuck-Ups- I Mean Allogenes - Featuring familiar faces in a University AU as well as a healthy dose of characterization.

scarlet and amethyst - There is always that one crazy person in the fandom that latches onto a rarepair and makes it their mission to produce nothing but content for it. This is one of them and I salute them.

About Tengu Courtship - A Sara-centric fic on how and why the hell she's feeling things for Itto and vice versa.

the ragnvindr-alberich get along sweater - A slew of lore, headcanons, and character interpretations meet in a Modern AU that makes sense.

A Cat Visits A Winery - Diluc and Diona interact and grow closer as they bond over things they didn't quite expect to.

An Unexpected Duet - In which Barbara begins to develop a friendship and feelings for a certain bard, prompting an interesting path of character development.

Resurrection and Mayhem - Qiqi does not want to lose her main source of coconut milk, so she resurrects Childe as a zombie. Hijinks ensue.

contemplation, empathy, praxis - An Al-Haitham-centric collection that features him being put in situations and interactions that he would not be in ideally.

unfocused - A fanfiction that caused me to not only reach Ao3's character limit for the comments but had me compose a whole essay on it. The following smut also never broke the established character for a second.

let everyone be a part of you, a little - A collection of one-shots featuring interesting character interactions not usually present in-game and their varying headcanons. Some of my favorites.

occupational hazards - A Fontaine-centric collection featuring some of our favorite characters as well as dealing with a good chunk of the Archon Quests. Arguably some of the best stuff I've read.

Multi-Chapter Fics -

Scary Love - This fic took me the fuck out. You have to read it for yourself to really understand where I'm getting at. It slaps hard.

A Hypostatis' Guide to Godhood - Featuring Klee as its adopted child. It's not finished, but it slaps regardless of it. It gets technical, but this didn't stop me from having a good time.

All In A Day's Work - One of the only Noelle-centric fics that not only characterizes her well, but manages to stay true to its tags of 'crack treated seriously'. Also features NPC love, which is always a good thing to have.

how to human - A Razor-centric fic featuring Razor trying to learn what it is to be human as well as who he is. It made me cry inside.

Broken Wings - This one surprised me. The writing is one of the best I've seen for a premise like this. It's a genuine treat I go back to from time to time.

Teapot Tales - The dream of shoving characters into a space and watching how they interact like scientists observing a petri dish.

How To Finish Your Bucket List Before You Die- A Guide From Kaeya Alberich - The title is self-explanatory, but it's done so tragically well that I had to put it here. Came out way before anything substantial was done to canon, but still captures Kaeya's character perfectly.

The Meaning of Bromance - In which a card game sends Thoma on errands, stirs Itto into a bout of manic desperation, and spurs Ayato's typical scheming. Truer to the characters than usual. A good chuckle.

Circles - In which Lisa's house is burned down by accident and Klee inadvertently becomes a catalyst for two folks to get together.

Cake Crumbs - In which the trope of being a fake couple for a discount for food is taken up a notch.

Ragnvindr Brothers Mortuary and Co. - In which Crepus' death unlocks a morbid curiosity in the boys instead of the canon-typical fallout.

The Final Campaign - In which Diluc finds a leather-bound journal in his father's study and the nostalgia comes punching back with a vengeance only abated by seeing it through to the end.

throw me to the unknown (and hope for my return) - In which Venti has a rough time and Beidou is there to help him out of it. Featuring some other character interactions.

adrift - In which Tama's cat ends up with Kazuha in the end.

A Tengu's Flock - In which Sara delves into what 'home' really is when a kind elderly woman opens up her own, only for Sara to find out who inhabits that home and bond with them as well.

Problem Conversion - In which due to varying circumstances, Faruzan and Al-Haitham interact, with much being exchanged between them.

adoration - In which there is an Adelinde-centric approach to the Dawn Winery dynamic, in varying points of time.

Little Lioness - In which Jean is somehow turned into a cat, and the events that follow.

Kuki Shinobu's Day Off - In which Kuki Shinobu ends up getting sick, so Itto and the gang have to pick up the slack and try to take care of their deputy.

Carved in Stone - In which the Arataki Gang is founded, featuring some deep character analysis and tribulation

One Shots -

Lone Wolves - An intricate and wonderfully thought-out coming-of-age one-shot featuring the trio of Bennett, Fischl, and Razor and their unbreakable bond.

stubborn - In which Kazuha is recovering from an injury and insists that he's fine, but Beidou has none of that. Featuring Baizhu, the acceptable use of a syringe, and decent hurt/comfort in the midst of sickness.

Grow Forward - Collei takes the first step to improving her relations with Cyno and Tighnari offers her his support in doing so. If 3.5 didn't exist, this would be an acceptable subsidiary.

looking out for you - Ragbros without the pinch of angst but accompanied by diabetes-inducing fluff. It gave me whiplash to see them depicted as such, so now you have to experience it too.

clinical horror - Ningguang hates the dentist, but her tooth aches. And yes, Beidou forces and half-drags her to the dentist anyway because pain medication will only do so much.

Perilous Brunch Bunch - The Chasm gang gets some brunch and hangs out together, from the NPCs' point of view.

my home without seasons - Kaedehara Kazuha finds another place he can call home.

Butter Knife - Canon-divergent and goes into the speculative question of what would happen if Diluc properly lost his mind.

Kitties on Board - The Alcor suffers under a plague of cats, or that's what the captain of said boat would call it.

Like a Pair of Hunting Birds - Shenhe and Xiao in a character study with some interesting peeks into some of their shared traits.

consequences of one [1] sakoku decree - Ganyu deserved to go off a little and her reasons are entirely justified.

a knight and a nun walk into a bar - Kaeya and Rosaria have a few drinks, and a lot more that wine is spilled.

I Heard You Like Cocogoats - A prank war between two individuals that will inevitably have people caught in the crossfire.

calm after the storm - Diona grapples with who Diluc is and what she pictures him to be.

Rest Day - In what world would Chongyun's exasperation boil over into hatred? This one, but only speculatively, of course.

The Tale of Klee and the Gender Reveal Bombs - Who gave the child specializing in the making of pyrotechnics access to smoke bombs?

saraba pasara - It's Qiqi's birthday, and it comes with some baggage.

"But that'll hurt real bad!" - A punch here, a dented guard there, and the varying miscommunications that arise as a result.

Dawn Winds, Heed My Vision - Diluc bears witness to his Archon in the midst of dissociation.

to new beginnings - Freminet stumbles upon the Hydro Dragon and they become friends.

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Hey, so I saw your post about some fics demonizing Neytiri. That has actually been one of my major fears as a fic writer, attempting to balance Neytiri's extremely valid trauma and the POV I'm writing from (that is typically flawed in some way). I was wondering, since you seem very well-versed on the topic, what do you define as "demonizing" for Neytiri? Is it ok to write from a perspective where a character doesn't really like or trust her, as long as the trauma is noted? Do you have any resources so I can educate myself to properly write this kind of character?

I really want to make sure I'm doing right by Neytiri and improve as a fic writer overall, so any advice you could offer would be very much appreciated!

Whoa, what a complicated and nuanced question. A great one! And I'm super flattered you came to me! Just one I'm going to try to answer to the best of my ability. I'm assuming you're referring to Norm's pov in your fic?

First of all, I do not want to at all proclaim to be an expert on generational trauma; I am not a person of color, and I have been lucky enough to have a very normal and healthy family. I just had a best friend growing up in an abusive household and took steps to educate myself best I could to understand the situation, which I believe anyone would do. So I'm just gonna try to word vomit out my thoughts for you, please ask questions or challenge any of what I say if any of you see anything you think is incorrect. Buckle in, this will be long.

What do you define as "demonizing" for Neytiri?

Demonizing means portraying someone as wicked or threatening, as evil or worthy of contempt and blame.

For me, demonizing for Neytiri is the trend I've seen lately of portraying her as this unyielding, animalistic type character who's hatred of humans, Spider specifically, goes so far that she gets physically violent with Spider and eventually ends up tearing apart her family. In these fics, Jake is always a sad sack loser bystander, loving his wife too much to step in but of course shamefully knowing how wrong what she's doing is. Infantilizing poor white savior Jake Sully, being brow beaten by his mean indigenous wife into neglecting a child is a weirdly strong take in this fandom. Often Mo'at is a wise elder chiding Neytiri for being unable to get over her prejudice. Mo'at and Jake understand Neytiri as much as anyone would, they wouldn't shame her. To me, it's an extremely reductive and frankly borderline racist characterization. When paired with a sympathetic view of Quaritch, it is at best irresponsible and at worst knowingly dangerous.

Neytiri is representative of an indigenous woman. I feel like I don't have to explain why making her violent, volatile, and completely unreasonable is a little bit of a harmful caricature. In these fics, for me, Neytiri ceases to be a person. She looses autonomy to sort of represent this monolith of hatred and prejudice that has hurt our little baby boy Spider. It's crazy to me that people can't apply the exact same empathy they have towards Spider (saving Quaritch) to Neytiri (not being able to trust Spider). They are the most foil of foil characters. Their storylines are extremely similar, if I'm being honest. Essentially, ignoring the fact that Neytiri is a member of a minority community being actively genocided by Spider's people is intentionally reductive. If you can empathize with Spider, and ESPECIALLY if you find Quaritch sympathetic, finding Neytiri's actions unforgivable is racism, plain and simple.

Also, side note, the lengths people go to where Neytiri just literally will not budge under any circumstances at all is INSANE.

(I read a fic the other day where she gave Spider to child protective services behind everyone's back. That's LUNACY. She only came around after she almost lost Tuk when Tuk was suddenly born prematurely and Mo'at came in and was like "Eywa made it so you can never have kids again because of what you did, have you learned your lesson yet?" Like?? I do not understand the HATRED some of ya'll have for her, the suffering you all think she deserves. She's having an EXTREMELY NORMAL trauma reaction to surviving GENOCIDE? Examine yourselves greatly).

But where I was going was Neytiri is the same character who pushed her parents to let them go to human school, fell in love with human Jake, defended him and trusted him despite her family, mated with him and lost her religious position because of it, and then had a bunch of part human kids with him, and adopted a fully freak of nature kid born of a human she loved and respected. She has human friends, she wears and uses human tech, and she forgave Jake after he had betrayed them. Basically what I'm saying is Neytiri, despite her continuous trauma, is the most open and curious and non traditional Na'vi of all time. Girl is READY to meet new people and learn new shit, and to be open to everyone. Sometimes I think about a no trauma Neytiri and I get emotional. I think it's crazy to say she would never budge on Spider, if it wasn't for his dad I'm pretty sure she would've softened lonnnnng ago, if not having liked him from the get go.

Um, that got way too long I have too many thoughts. Second half of your question.

Is it ok to write from a perspective where a character doesn't really like or trust her, as long as the trauma is noted?

This is a tricky question, because technically there is nothing you can't do as a writer. Of course, it also means there is nothing anyone can't criticize you for writing. Like, Colleen Hoover can say she's writing realistic depictions of domestic abuse until the cows come home, I'm still going to say she's romanticizing and normalizing it in a super callous way. Neither of us can stop the other. So yeah, of course you're okay to write from the perspective of a character that doesn't like Neytiri. I just think the point will be what your prerogative is. One of my MFA professors says it in a way I like and I'm sure I've referenced before, if you aren't trying to make a point about something that might have to have a trigger warning then don't include it. I always say I would take it a step further; if your point is to defend that thing, don't do it. So for me, my big points would be try not to project my own feelings onto the character either way; if the character is wrong about something and the narrative intends to show that they will either learn, or we the reader will grow past them. But to be sure what you feel the takeway of the piece is is what you wanted it to be, I guess.

Do you have any resources so I can educate myself to properly write this kind of character?

Well, I have a few on white writers writing BIPOC characters and the ethics of that if you're interested in that. But I don't have any on specifically writing generational trauma. I guess I'd say reading and absorbing are my biggest tools; so reading books/watching movies or TV that use the speculative to translate generational trauma, and learning about and taking in the real life examples the character is based on. Read up on some genocides, and indigenous people today and how their lives are still affected. Even just watch the news; we're witnessing a very public genocide being pushed right to our attention right now. And of course, that is not the only genocide happening rn, it's just the only one we're talking about, so there's plenty of real world case studies unfortunately right in front of us.

[obsidianpen]

I had an idea for Harrymort Children for the story, a story that could never see the light of day, but I would like to share and see your opinion, because you are an inspiration Let's say it's situated in NG. How? Let's leave it for the imagination. They would have 3 at least. The first by an accident, others by choice. The first would be shy, introverted, but direct and brave. He would look to much like Tom and would be quite resolute and smart, even wise. He would be apathetic, cold, but still sentimental in the heart, with much empathy for those who he considers his or worthy of tenderness. His eyes are very expressive. He wear clothes that do not show much the skin, he likes the mystery and being guarded, using a cap, head scarf, with cold colors, blue, gray, only when he is in festive mood he would wear hot colors. Would be intimidating, but is not cruel for no reason. The second son would be another mystery. But not one of the good ones. He would disappear if someone looked away. He likes a adventure and danger. He really likes adrenaline and wild things. Very independent and does not like to talk.

Can be quite cruel with his words, even if is not his intention. He only has an uncontrollable spirit, strong and impatient temperament. He can be the saying "I'm not a violent dog, so I do not know why I bite." He knows that it is often, and feels, a "villain" among other people and children their age. He himself has a sadistic side for liking to scare people. But he also feels solitary, if it were not for his brothers. He feels that Harry does not love him and Voldemort either, but he knows that his older brother and young brother have "affection" for him. He has some friends, but he feels that he is an impostor and that they do not understand him. So he often runs away in his own world. He is what Snape would have indignation to see in his classroom. The youngest, is a free spirit in his own way. Quiet than the middle, but not quiet as the first. He is like a butterflu, he would be dispersed, think too much, is distracted very easy. Very messy and disorganized. Your hair and clothes are a mess., uses socks of different colors and a pen behind the ear, full of bites. He would have a book of drawings and writing. He would talk too much. Sometimes has headaches. He also likes to follow the middle brother in escapades, but it is very fearful to continue. There are friends, but many find him to much for a long time, or even confusing. He learned not to care. He likes Luna, and Muggles science, art, and snakes. He himself goes without shoes sometimes and is often cheerful, happy to have fun and can be a little strange, both in a good and bad way. It is also quite philosophical. They all have a bit of Voldemort in them, just like Harry. They are all lonely in their own ways, but they are very loyal to each other. They often speak parseltongue among themselves. They often look for comfort in themselves. And they love their parents deeply. They can be more, crazy and. But they can also be quite emotional and get lost in melancholy. I don't know if my ideas will see the light of day, but I hope so, because I really like this idea. I hope you at least like the characters I created haha.

honestly you’ve clearly put so much thought into this…. You should just write it!!!!

[carnivalls]

hiii. so. i'm a little trapped right now as far as writing goes - aka wholly unsure which of my two main projects to work on. and i've decided that after presenting my respective problems, i'm leaving my course of action up to all of you.

please read the propaganda before voting if possible!

EXPLANATIONS/PROPAGANDA.

terras town is about a girl, lev alvarez, who falls into a parallel world layered right under hers, and who needs to find a way back home before she brings her world crashing down alongside. however, lev's life back home is not going too well right now, and this goal rapidly starts to vanish as she deteriorates more and more into escapism in a world that carries no consequences for her.

pros of me working on this: this has been my main project since i was 15, i have it completely outlined and the characters are fully fleshed out and everything, i know how it all fits together and i'd kind of really love for it to be the first project i complete properly

cons of me working on this: structurally it's a bit fucked - it drags on in the same way for far too long, it has too much introspective activity and not enough external action, and the mc is totally severed from the wider plot surrounding her; thus risking a large part of the story not making sense until book 2 or (like i said) feeling repetitive as she simply does not engage with it. also it's a little cringe

good intentions is about the first academy in the saints-square built with the aim of anchoring cores (people who possess raw, explosive, very dangerous magic) to mages (an artificially created class of people who can siphon cores' magic into 'usable' forms), and more specifically about the experience of two girls (hess tiamaret & juve mizani) in the process. hess flat out refuses to become some rich girl's magical battery, and juve is very much keen on making her buckle and accept her 'help.' they're also both really fucking crazy and there's more to them but i'm still learning how to summarize their deal.

pros of me working on this: i think it runs a lot smoother than tt structurally, with a good balance of internal and external action; it's multiple person pov which is just v fun and also helps keep everyone involved in the wider plot, it has a more polished sense of character voice, juve is a low empathy love interest which ive always wanted to explore (i have a low empathy character in tt too but shes more of a minor character), if you like gideon the ninth vote this one

cons of me working on this: since it's a new wip i'm still not done plotting it, there's big worldbuilding gaps, and i have no idea how a lot of stuff ties together just yet (and potentially for a long while) so it'll take much longer to do. also everyone really does love tt, me included, so it feels a bit like a sell out.

some excerpts to help sway your mind either which way:

1. terras town

2. good intentions