#etc. but these are stories for other time. }

[from-autor]

im not even american but i want to tell a story about me and my parents mountain hike in a national park

the thing is, even if all three of us were inexperienced in this kind of thing, my dad is very good at predicting and taking precaution. we wore good boots. we took a lot of water and had warm jackets with us, even if it was a warm summer day. it was actually great. to a very certain point.

we made it to one of the mountains top. there was a mesmerizing great view, chill air and a monument of someone there. as i said — it was good.

and the trail kinda ended there.

there was no signs of trail leading forward (downward), only the one we came from. and my parents went "yeah we will just go down through the woods". i can not emphasize with you how against the idea i was. nonetheless we went through the woods.

after an hour or two we met another trail. it was on the other side of the mountain, basically at its base. we were dirty with mud all over our clothes. tired as fuck. my mother sprained an ankle on a wet rock and didn't tell anybody. my dad was helping me to not loose my mind there, while i know he had his own troubles with it. i was so scared and tired that my brain just went to survival mode and i don't remember four to five hours of that trip.

people who we met on the trail were clean, in flip-flops, smiling and enjoying life.

because, as it turned out when we made it out of that park, the part of not-trail we went through was CLOSED ON RECONSTRUCTION because it was that unstable and dangerous. the safety nets were rusty and tarnished. the railing was unstable. at one point there was a small river and the bridge to the other side was non-existent. it was broken, with bits of it still collecting rust on the both side of that non-trail. we had to make it to the other side with sticks and slippery huge stones in the river.

it never even occurred to me what could've happened if one of us would get lost there. walking down through the wild forest without a soul nearby. thank everything the only injury we took was my mothers ankle and my hurting knees afterwards.

please PLEASE even if there are no signs like "keep out" "dangerous" etc (as it was NOT in my story. all the signs were on the other side of that trail, the more "popular side" of that national park) stop and think if you have a suspicion that there is no trail forward. maybe there is a reason for that. and help me gods DO NOT go through and un-trailed forest in the middle of mountains alone even if you think that you know where you are going. i still think it was a miracle that we made it safe and sound out of there.

and rip my favourite boots at that time. you served me well. no wonder you didn't last long after that.

Any conspiracy theory about people going missing in National Parks is automatically silly to me. Like "Why are National Parks such a hotbed of disappearances???" because they're full of idiots. You've got thousands of people who've never pissed outdoors in their life wandering around the woods/desert/mountain with zero experience and zero gear and zero understanding that this place can kill them. You don't see as many disappearances in wild areas because people don't go to them unless they have some background knowledge. Whereas you get tour buses full of old folks and suburban families shuttling people into National Parks 365 days a year. If you took the same amount of buffoons and dropped them in the actual wilderness the disappearances would be significantly higher than at the parks. Use your brain.

[yintous]

꒰ 🦢 ꒱ ─── 𝓗EART TO HEART ㆍ₊⊹

gn! reader ; love is spoken through many different languages, such as words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, gift giving, and physical touch. which language do each of the batboys speak? or rather, what is their favorite love language?

notes. fluff, established relationship, more content under the cut, kinda long?? idk i didn’t proofread much 😭 this is mostly inspired by one of my lovely mootie’s ask! :D [masterlist]

DICK GRAYSON, physical touch.

dick could NEVER keep his hands off you. at this point, everyone knows how clingy he is toward you

comes home to you and never stops looking forward for your touch. the moment your skin touches his, he feels as if he’s immediately grounded to earth.

the type to trace your facial features; the slope of your nose, your jawline, etc. if you have freckles, he’d count them to pass time

when sleeping next to you, he’s def the type to wrap his leg around your hip or waist to accumulate more warmth and to make sure you wouldn’t get away from him 😭 (he would NOT gaf if he was heavy for u either)

ADORES any kiss you give. whether it be on his cheek, his nose, his lips, etc— he loves to be kissed and wouldn’t pay attention to lingering lipstick marks. at this point, he wears them as a badge of honor

LOVES stroking your hair and getting his hair stroked. to him, it feels like an entrepreneurial trade deal. mutually beneficial and rewarding.

he gets veryyyyyy soft when you trace his muscles, it’s a small gesture, but it has such a big effect on him— when you do, he gets literal butterflies and he suddenly feels like a teenager indulged in puppy love again 😭😭

would occasionally wrap all of his limbs around you when he’s extremely exhausted from patrol

JASON TODD, quality time.

jason sticks to your side unconsciously. every room you go to, he has the instinct to just follow you. at times, maybe not instantly, but it’s always guaranteed that he’d end up in the same place as you

is in love with quality time as much as he is in love with you. no words can ever express his affection the same way quality time can

has a messily written and probably crumpled list where he has written down ideas of how he can spend time with you efficiently (and it lives in every pocket he has)

he has probably read articles and reddit stories about the topic too 😭 to really immerse himself in it

he never passes up the opportunity to get more time with you. it’s a silent gesture, but never hidden.

because of how much time he spends with you, the people (which probably wouldn’t be many people) that know about your relationship would be shocked if one wasn’t with the other

he LOVES feeling wanted too. like getting asked to go on dates, hanging out, etc.

if you ever reciprocate any of the same gestures, he’d fall in love even deeper

TIM DRAKE, acts of service

a firm believer that actions are better than words bc he thinks that his words may not be enough, so he resorts to committing acts of service for you

his acts of service can range from helping you carry your bags to analyzing what your hair type is so he’d know how to properly help you with it at 2 am in the morning

i feel like he loves taking naps with his s/o too… and when he does takes naps with u, he’d make sure your neck is resting on something soft such as a neck pillow or just a regular pillow before you fall asleep

memorized the way you like your coffee, including the amount of sugar (or the lack thereof) you want in it, the amount of creamer, if you prefer iced or hot, etc.

has this weird obsession of finding out your little icks and finding solutions to said icks

probably bought or made you a massager that people can only experience at least once in their lifetime (especially if ur body is the type to ache easily)

LOVES giving and receiving back massages. no elaboration whatsoever i just KNOW

DUKE THOMAS, words of affirmation

he never runs out of reassurance. he praises you like a devotee atp 😭

he has this sixth sense whenever you feel the slightest bit off

you get jealous? he’s immediately reminding you how much he loves and appreciates you. you need a motivation boost? he probably already prepared a whole list on why you shouldn’t give up

he LOVES LOVESS little praises. getting a small “good job” or “you’re doing great” is enough to boost his day and keep him sane for a whole WEEK. he loves giving them and loves receiving them even more

but at the same time i feel like he’d be the type to not really care about love languages?? probably the type of lover that doesn’t mind anything you do as long as the both of you are happy and satisfied

i think he’d be the type to also call you those REALLY cheesy petnames to tease you ironically, such as “honeybunch sugarplum raspberry blueberry pie” or somewhere along those lines 😭😭

jokingly flirting with him would probably make him happy too!! he’d def enjoy the lighthearted banter with his significant other as a way to escape from his life as a vigilante for awhile

© yintous do not copy, repost, plagiarize, or feed any of my work into ai.

[eevzz]

a toymaker's desire o(≧▽≦)o

brief sum: not one but two yan toymakers!!

notice! semi-based off of @yanderenightmare's post about yan captors !! its perfectly written (as all of their stuff)!!! btw this might be a bit long i realize. i spent sm words on the coming to life part :,)

There was something so intimate about constructing your face. Your head, the curve of your nose, your eye shape. It felt so personal. From this moment he knew you were gonna be the favorite out of all the dolls they've had.

After being fully made there was never a day that went by where you weren't dolled up. Even though you weren't alive they dressed you for every occasion. For example when it's bed time they choose from various types of pretty pajamas to put you in, one might even read a bedtime story for you. When it's morning hours you're put in frilly dresses or if they want to go for something more casual they'd put you in a baby doll dress. If they have to attend a gala or something fancy and punctual they'd dress you in a long dress adorned with intricate details with satin bows and silk gloves and lace. You obviously never end up going with them. If we're being honest though, if it weren't for societal norms and the stares and looks they'd get, you'd definitely end up going.

They love you so much, it's weird. You don't show signs of life but they feel strangely attached to you. They feel as if you all were meant to be. If we're being honest, it took a while for one of them to understand the obsession with you, he thought it was creepy if anything. However, over time he started to understand, their love for you transcended words and life altogether. No one's quite sure what had happened, they say that is was fate, it was destiny, etc. But your vitalization was truly something unexplainable.

It was a silent night in the manor today. The boys had already put you to bed and read you a story. Born staring, all you could look at was the pink bed canopy curtains that decorated the sides of the bed. You're not sure what had happened but suddenly you could blink. Hm, that's weird—You're a ball jointed doll, ball jointed dolls don't have joints in their eyelids. Even if they did they probably would still need someone to help them blink. Before you had the chance to think about it more you could move your eyes too! Your eyes usually are just straight across you couldn't move them before. This makes you wonder actually, if you can move your eyes and eyelids, you can move other body parts, right?

Almost instantaneously after thinking about it you could move your head. Honestly, it hurt like hell, now you're starting to understand why humans complain about the pain they feel. You decided to take another chance and just try try to sit up, that's is easy enough, right? When you hoisted your back up to sit in an up-right position it felt like a huge stab of pain in your lower back. You wanted to scream, you almost did actually, but you wouldn't want to wake up the boys, would you? They do so much for you that they don't have to. At the very least you owe them uninterrupted sleep.

Now that you're finally sitting up-right how about giving walking a go? You flung your legs over the side of the bed and decided to stand up. Honestly, this isn't that far off from being unable to move. You just have a lot more feeling in your feet. You decide to try walking! Though, this one is probably the hardest of all. You've never walked before, not even when you were a solid doll. You just try to copy what you see humans do! Uhh, one foot forward and uhh another one forward? You try to put another foot forward but you end up wobbling a lot. Oh my—You never realized how much balance that goes into walking! You end up falling, thank god it didn't make much of a sound though. That whole night though, you were fixated on getting walking right. It took you up until almost the break of dawn to get it right, once you finally walked good enough for your satisfaction you just passed out sleeping on the floor.

It was finally morning and the boys had the most perfect sleep! One of them went downstairs to make food and some coffee, the other went to go get you dressed for the day. As soon as he opened the door he was met with shock, you're on the floor and not on the bed as he left you.. Huh, weird. It's okay, as long as you're here he's fine! As he was about to pick you up he realized you're a bit heavier than usual, that's unusual but that's fine. Maybe he's just now noticing how heavy you are, you are a doll after all! As he picked you up, he realized, you're very not stiff? Your joints are much more limp and more prone to moving. Maybe he's just tired and his brain is just messing with him. Upon putting you on the bed he realizes, why is your chest rising and falling—Oh my god, are you breathing? This can't be right! You're a doll, is his brain playing games with him? He starts to put his hand on your chest. What the hell! Why does he feel a heartbeat?! Are you even the same doll he's loved? He looks at your face and body, I mean, you do look relatively the same.. He lifts up your sleeves and realizes your doll joints are gone..

Upon feeling all of this commotion along your body, your eyes start to carefully open. "What the hell.." You hear a masculine voice say, huh, he sounds just like one of your owners. As your eyes start to focus and make of what you're seeing, oh, it is him! He looks scared, and suddenly he pushes you off of him and backs away from the you. He starts to yell for your other owner. "You have to come see this, I don't know what happened!" He sounds so panicked, he looks terrified of you. Seeing this makes you a bit self conscious if anything, you're still the doll they know and love. You're not any different. You finally open your mouth to say something, "You still love me, right?" Moments go by and no response. The silence being so loud between you guys, you almost thought it was the end of the road for you until you see his face get less and less tense and his eyes start to soften. He walks towards you and gives a warm, deep embrace. "How could I not, my baby?"

౨ৎ

[bengiyo]

Heesu in Class 2: Maybe It’s Time to Stop Calling Myself a BL Viewer

After finishing Heesu in Class 2, it’s been surprising to feel like I’m in the minority for enjoying it. We’ve seen a great deal of concerted posting from fans of the webtoon about how this show betrayed its source material with its adaptation changes. Over the last few weeks, I’ve read the original webtoon to gather my own thoughts. After reading through @my-rose-tinted-glasses post on why this project didn’t work for her, I decided to sit with it for a while. I then came across this tweet from Dr. Thomas Baudinette:

I respect Dr. Baudinette’s academic interest in the genre and the useful insider insight he brings to the table. However, I will say plainly that I think this is a grossly disingenuous take, grounded in the idea that stories about queer romance take precedence over other queer stories. Additionally, it deeply misreads the adaptation choices and insinuates that a queer show that includes heterosexuality in it is somehow betraying the BL audience. There’s a lot to unpack here, but I will say plainly that I will go back to just being a queer cinephile who dabbles in BL instead of advocating for BL if this is who we are.

I am a queer person here for stories about queer truth. BL is a romance genre. While I respect BL viewers who are here to get their feelings from swoony moments, I cannot abide the presumption that a story that is inherently about the coming out experience somehow let its source material down for maintaining that connection. Every year we get into a big fight about what is or isn’t BL (see: 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us, Love in the Big City, What Did You Eat Yesterday?, etc.), often arguing that BL is a branding term used to get romance viewers to show up and support queer works. I think it’s fine enough to argue that Heesu in Class 2 isn’t a BL because it uses Korean drama frameworks (@lurkingshan) for its story instead of sandblasting you in the face with pop music as two boys stare at each other, but I think there’s real value in what the show is doing for mainstream viewers.

I’ve avoided discussing the webtoon too much in my commentary, but now that I have read it I will say firmly that this would have sucked as a TV show. We know that about 40-50% of the shows we get each year are based on their source material. The webtoon is adorable and well-intentioned. It’s also a very simple narrative in which we are primarily in Heesu’s point of view, and any time we leave his point of view it’s to see only what other people are thinking about him. In my opinion, simpler narratives like the Heesu webtoon work best as films and not as dramas. 

We recently went through this with Living With Him, in which a really short manga got stretched to eight episodes and had to add contrivances to the middle to pad out the time that eventually hurt the core narrative. Thai BL is rife with secondary, tertiary, and quaternary couples to pad out time to meet the long run time demands of the airing schedule. When you’re adapting a fairly simple story, you either have to add depth or bloat. Oftentimes we get both. In the case of Heesu, it’s clear that they were only adapting the first season of the webtoon, and so they added depth.

The constant refrain from detractors of this webtoon is that it deprioritized the queer characters and their narrative in favor of straight narratives. I wholeheartedly disagree. Every single straight story in this show (and the gay ones) are meant to add context to the queer struggles Hee Su and Seung Won face, from Ji Yu and Chan Young to all three of his sisters.

Ji Yu’s music arc hearkens to the queer fear of being public with yourself and facing judgment and scrutiny. Chan Young’s tennis arc features real parental abandonment consequences that many a queer person fears. Hee Sin exemplifies how easy it is to fall for people and also deal with the constant rejection of most people not being into you (because they’re straight). Hee Jae exemplifies how toxic a relationship with your best friend can be when the romantic feelings aren’t fully reciprocal. Hee Yeong shows us what it means to be brave and face your friend after you’ve let them down romantically. Ho Sik highlights how easy it is for straight people to express and pursue their romances, and then be public with them. None of these plots exist in a vacuum; they’re meant to add context to the tension between Hee Su and Seung Won.

On the queer front, the show expanded on the initial lesbian advice plotline as a way for Hee Su to open the discussion about queerness with his siblings. The look shared between the sisters, their careful responses, and the way they treat him in the final episode after Hee Su comes out to Hee Sin shows that they talked to each other. Hee Sin clearly pulled on her prior knowledge when she insisted to Hee Su that she still loves him. Hee Jae, the grumpiest sister, was especially direct about praising Hee Su when he offered to help them take Hee Yeong to the airport. Hee Yeong told him plainly that he must remember that she is always on his side and will support him. Seung Won’s mom acknowledged that her own coming out affected him, and let him decide how open to be about his family.

The coming out sequence with Hee Sin was so powerful. He made it clear that this isn’t a gay-for-you situation. He said plainly that his crushes are on guys, and will probably always be on guys. Hee Sin’s response took me back to this incredible scene from The Fosters, in which Lena’s dad apologizes to her for saying “I still love you.” He rejects it as something horrible, in which you confirm to your kid that you could possibly stop loving them. He says he wishes he had instead said, “Thank you for telling me something so important about yourself, and I can’t wait to meet the person you want to share your life with.” 

I’m also annoyed about the insistence that the straights were given priority in this narrative in which everyone gets about the same level of on-screen intimacy. This is a show that managed to avoid getting an R rating, which means that it’ll be accessible to a much wider range of viewers without needing additional parental controls. The straights getting time means that when the gays throw the ease at which they pursued romance back in their faces, it’s actually grounded in events that transpired in the narrative. I will also say that I did NOT like the way Jiyu and Chanyoung meddled with Heesu in the webtoon, and thought conspiring with Seung Won was not kind to Heesu. I like that the drama instead uses their stories to support the queer themes as Ji Yu directly supports Seung Won.

I’d also like to say that all the Chan Young commentary troubles me. Hee Su has been in love with this boy for ten years. I actually think the show needs to spend time fleshing him out into a real person for the audience to understand why Hee Su likes him so much. He’s charming and friendly. He’s kind and thoughtful. He wants to help the people he cares about. He also trusts Hee Su implicitly. 

I do not blame him for being overwhelmed and surprised when Hee Su suddenly confessed to him, and I think there is real value in him botching that moment. So many viewers who might not have spent a lot of time thinking about how they would handle queer people coming out to them will benefit from seeing Chan Young flub that moment. What’s more important is that he did eventually talk to Hee Su and begin to repair the break in their friendship. It isn’t about being right every single time; it’s about always doing the work required to make things right. 

Finally, I really loved that Hee Su got to be mad at Seung Won for confusing him all this time. It was fun to see Hee Su, who I think was way out of line for always interfering in Chan Young’s life, face the reality that he had also been subject to that kind of behavior. This worked so well for me because we understood that what Seung Won liked so much about Hee Su was how warm and open he was. I will have more to say in the future about how many shows we’ve already had this year reject one-sided pining as inherently pure.

In the end, it’s just a really dissonant experience for me to see such a kind show getting such an energetic negative response. Like anyone else who’s watched over 300 BLs since 2016, I like seeing cute boys kiss each other and make face as much as anyone else. However, if we’re unable to appreciate using a webtoon with clear ideas about the difficulty of coming out when you’re in love with a friend in a format that far more viewers are used to, I don’t think I can rock with this anymore. I can’t even find myself associated with the kinds of people who would have called Degrassi homophobic because it wasn’t exclusively gay. 

[ganondoodle]

( OC, Eadrya, they/them, water demon )

"Oh don't look at me like that, is this the first time you've drawn blood or what? do it again! had a nice sting to it-" (Eadrya to Shargon, likely the first time Shargon's ever dared to fight them instead of fleeing immediately like his life depended on it ... bc it did)

finally gave Eadrya their deserved post character arc design (instead of doing what i should be)

since i know my handwriting isnt always readable, heres a short an overly long explanation of the context (oops)

(recap, the demon world was invaded and is believed to be destroyed, Eadrya lost a fight for the first time in their life to a celestial and survived by sheer luck and kindness of a little fishing village in the human realm, which kind of broke their pride and kickstarted their arc- (here i drew the lady in charge of the village before, though Eadryas design here is also a little out of date again ..)

-skipping alot in between that and the end of their arc bc that would jsut be too long for this post)

Eadrya helped other Lords and Shargon (with Midas and Idri) escape from a trap set by hunters but was captured themself, since it was the first time hunters managed to catch a Lord they 'researched' alot about demons using them .. by torturing them (demons are not considered sentient by people at large)

they managed to escape but were hunted down immediately, even Eadrya with their immense magic overproduction and abillity to recover was too drained (both literally of their strength -since the most effective way to hurt/immobilize a demon is draining them of their magic/blood faster than they can recover it- AND mentally) to easily avoid them and instead turned to killing, making them relapse into their old bloodthirst which lead to them spiraling into thinking that it is all they are ever good for and they will never be able to change-

Thor (with Idri) were on their way to free them after being informed of Eadryas capture ( Thor is Eadryas best and only friend ) but when they arrived it had already escalated so far that they went after killing Thor as well, now firmly believing Thor was never their friend but was simply trying to tame them out of fear of their power (not completely wrong ..). despite Thor with his two hearts being able to give Eadrya a second chance they decide to go for killing him twice, unintentionally missing the second time but doing enough damage for Thor to .. essentially fall into a near death condition; thinking they actually killed him everything starts to fall apart further as they realize over time they have changed after all but it is too late now-

Eadrya then flees into a snowy mountain range far away and lives there in complete isolation for several months (as a sort of .. self punishment and convinced of that being the best choice for everyone, they are a danger, they have no one left anyway etc trying to cope with it all) and thus grows out their fur (yes they always had fur, just short and slick like a seals fur) which they keep even after reuniting with Thor and everyone else later down the line

(the golden rope they wear in the picture was made by Thor during the time he was recovering and searching for them with the solar pirates (long story..), its not a good quality but he tried his best ... the two beads on it symbolize Thors two hearts (thunder and fire, blue and red)- Eadrya treasures it dearly)

so funnily enough, despite looking much wilder now they are actually much better in their self control and general health :P

[cameronsbabydoll]

heyy im not jewish but i do love ur jewish!rafe x jewish!reader stories

how would they celebrate some jewish holidays? do they have some family traditions?

shabbat (every friday night)

candles lit in baccarat holders, challah from a bakery, white wine already chilled.

reader always wears something silk, always barefoot in the kitchen, and always makes sure to get her nails done beforehand because rafe kisses her hand when she lights the candles.

rafe comes home early from the office, tie loosened, sleeves rolled. he blesses the kids with his hands on their heads and always kisses her forehead right after.

they do challah and soup and a real dinner at the table—but after the kids go to bed, it’s them time.

rosh hashana

matching designer outfits for the whole family. reader orders gold-dusted pomegranates for the table and puts apples and honey on gold-rimmed plates.

they host a big dinner, obviously. everyone comes. reader’s parents, rafe’s siblings, the cousins from long island.

rafe wears a crisp white shirt, whispers in your ear at dinner about how beautiful you look in front of everyone.

they do sweet custom cards for the kids with their "new year wishes" and let them dip everything in honey—even pizza bagels.

yom kippur

they fast together. no makeup, no jewelry, no fuss. reader still wears a chic white slip dress and cashmere cardigan.

rafe is clingy. He holds her hand at temple the whole time, rubs small circles on her knuckles during the service.

when they break the fast, it’s with a huge spread at someone else’s house—so reader doesn’t have to host on an empty stomach.

hanukkah

eight luxury gift nights. one night for the kids, one for each other, one where they donate, one where they do pajamas and latkes, etc.

custom dreidels. personalized gelt. matching pajamas on night 5, and rafe gets everyone designer slippers to match.

they light candles every night as a family. one night, rafe kisses her in front of the candles and says “this is what miracles look like.”

reader does blue & white manicures and sets up a hot chocolate station in the kitchen with peppermint sticks and marshmallows.

passover

reader has a vintage judith leiber matzah minaudière. just because.

they do seders with the works. matzah ball soup is famous. rafe always reads the four questions dramatically to make the kids laugh.

they make it romantic: sneaking glances across the table, feet tangled under the tablecloth.

afikomen prizes are major: airpods, new sneakers, expensive gift cards. reader says it’s “to motivate.”

other traditions:

high Holiday mani/pedis with sarah.

matching lulavs and etrogs in lucite display cases for sukkot.

rafe buys her a new pair of shoes every purim “because esther was a queen and so are you.”

reader orders custom “cameron family haggadahs” with gold foil for passover.

tons of professional family photos for every holiday.

[revxwrites]

GUESS WHO'S BACK TO RAMBLE HEHE

I'm sorry for the horrible ms paint doodles but I needed something to explain my Shadow Knights

anyways ramble under cut as always

cw mention of cannibalism and light gore (?)

SHADOW KNIGHTS!!

Undead fellas /silly

In all seriousness shadow knights are well, yeah undead, a subcategory of undead in my rewrite, specifically knights of our dear shadow lord

humans affected by sk magic

there's humans like brian and alexis that have been exposed to large amounts of shadow knight magicks, which made them have the same 'veins' sk's have under their eyes, but still be human (ie. alexis' curse)

usually there's no side effects to large amounts of exposure to shadow knight magic other than mood swings (irritability or rage)

incomplete (premature) sk's

a 'premature' shadow knights eyes are their original eye color with very small hints of red in them, as if alluding to the side of themselves they pick to repress typically only magicks users can see the red of their eyes, and the 'veins' they have around them. to the untrained human eye their eyes look their original color but don't have any life in them

they have a hard time controlling their temper, still attempting to retain a sense of humanity that they have long lost

immortal sk's

to become immortal a shadow knight must kill either their lord or the person closest to them, and ingest their heart (as mentioned in gene's story), or alternatively, they must take countless lives of the innocent

once immortal they may gain different abilities, or a boost to the ones they already own. ie. Gene's mind manipulation working without having to touch the person (unlike his mortal counterpart)

another example is Zenix' flame manipulation (despite not being a magicks user)

general shadow knight facts

they're smelly, especially when having recently emerged from the nether shadow knights have an incontrollable appetite, similar to a

zombie, they can eat human food but it doesn't sit very well with them (the only thing that'll control their appetite is human flesh)

there's certain shadow knights who's bodies cease to exist (or are reclaimed by the earth in the mortal realm). in cases like those they are made new vessels of materials of the nether

shadow knights stop aging once they gain their immortality

Shadow Knights hibernate in order to heal their bodies in the overworld, their healing can be sped if left in a place that'll connect it to it's undead roots (morgue, graveyard, etc), due to the fact they feed off of the dead spirits lingering, using what little energy is left of them to heal.

Shadow Lord > Sergeants > Commanders > Magicks Users > Soldiers

with the hierarchy set above we go

shad > gene > zenix (pre betrayal) > sasha > vylad (before caught) > glenda

in terms of the shadow knight 'rebels' we have (in strength)

vincent > zenix (mostly due to his instability) > vylad > laurence > amethyst (this is before the rebellion is properly set in place, still during season 1)

anyways thank you for attending my ted talk /silly

[enbysiriusblack]

ok i feel like the wording of this is gonna be so bad bcs i'm currently walking whilst writing this post & i've also only had one coffee but. (oh & also i should clarify that i am white)

i'm all for hc'ing a characters race and/or ethnicity, i mean i do it myself all the time, but it feels very empty to do so blindly & just sorta seems similar to the kinda ppl that 'don't see race'. by this i just mean like something very common i see in this fandom. hc'ing a white character to be a different race -> proceeding to seemingly not think/talk about how that would then impact the character, their relations with others, & generally in the story & rather just hc'ing it & proceeding to then only rlly talk about it through blatant stereotypes (this also is common in this fandom for hcs for ethnicity, sexuality, etc). if someone is a certain race, they will experience life differently to someone of a different race. i'm not just saying here like "oh if you hc james as indian then he'd be the one getting bullied in 70s england" or something. like, that's not what i'm saying, its that im aware there's a lot more nuance to that. im saying race impacts people's lives and ignoring how you're changing this character is, in my opinion, ignorant. i'm not saying 'keep all the white characters white', ofc not, just if you are hc'ing a character to be a diff race then maybe put more thought behind why you hc it & how this would impact them. and that applies to not just hcs for race but many things. otherwise you are very likely doomed to repeat harmful stereotypes

[literatemisfit]

Re: Talking about JKR on David's episode of "The Assembly"

I love how he immediately got emotional when talking about why standing up for trans rights was important to him. I often forget how emotionally tied he is to the cause, not only because of his own child being affected, but also because of his long-held core belief that members of the lgbtq are as valid and normal as any other (see: working with RTD, Phil Collinson, early interviews with Alan Carr and Graham Norton where there's playfulness around him being attractive to gay men etc.). And when people like JKR are somehow countering that as if it's normal to deny people's human rights to be who they are or love who they love and endangering all these people in his own life that he loves, of course he's tied to it, not only in terms of logic and reason and the injustice, but by emotion and worry and care for those other people.

But also, I love that when he starts talking about JKR (he also did this at a recent comic con), he starts by saying and acknowledging that she is a brilliant author who has created amazing stories and I find that so interesting because often, when people disagree with each other on huge core beliefs (esp on social media), they have to tear them down and jump to insults (fat-shaming t**mp, etc) which is not helpful to any kind of discourse. It will only add fuel to the fire for the other side to disagree with that kind of sentiment, having now fat-shamed other fat people - maybe who were on your side - and essentially saying that the reason you dislike him is because of his looks, and not his actions, which should be the focus. And I love that David takes the time to acknowledge that JKR did create great stories and that's not something he's taking away just because he can't understand her political/human rights worldview. He's not coming at it from a place of anger, emotion, telling her to fuck off and saying well her stories weren't even that good anyway - because that's not helpful, and it's not the POINT. The point is where the money is going - fueling anti-trans legislation. There isn't any of that pettiness or emotional language that a lot of people jump to in big heated emotional arguments, and for him to not give them the fodder for attacking him on an emotional argument because he does admit to the quality of her work WHILE ALSO absolutely countering her on human rights. I worry a bit that some fans WANT him to jump in and tear her down and go off on her as the father of a trans kid, but the truth of that is that it's not helpful. It's social media, it's tabloid BS that takes away from the POINT which is human lives are being aversely affected by right-wing politicians. He's not giving them that fodder because he's coming at it from a place of logic and reason, and not from a place of emotion, which is ironically what JKR is doing on twitter.

I love that, I love that it's a power move and a strength that he has as someone who is not on social media and who has the time and space (no pun intended) to breathe and think and react and answer truthfully and thoughtfully. I admire that in him because I think I also struggle to put the emotion away and not jump on someone and insult them, but to step back and take a deep breath and pinpoint what you actually disagree with someone on, and the rest of it isn't relevant because you CAN be the most amazing artist in the world, but that still doesn't mean you get to forge a movement against a marginalized community and say such backwards things about other people.

[scrollypoly]

Sorry sky im stealing ur tags rq to just discuss a bit more (under the cut, is long sorry)

I think the main and biggest thing I've noticed with anton, and again I'm a person who knew of him before BBTW, and I never got into BBTW because I was already put off by one of his posts dragging the fandom. But that's just it though, isn't it? This fandom and how it interacts with its source material isn't just something you can separate. The source we all orbit around, the horror stories, nosleep forums, is very different from creepypasta as a fandom. As a fandom, we really only focus on a small subset of what's available, we focus on the characters like Jeff or Slenderman or Ben, so on and so forth. Most people that get into this fandom are young: I got into it when I was maybe 11 or 12, I know most people get involved in it around that age to 16 years old. Most of us are neurodivergent, have been bullied or victims of abuse or some form of ostracization or othering, and we connect to this fandom *because of that.* You cannot detach that aspect of this fandom from the rest of the fandom. We saw stories (most badly written but we were young so who really cares) about characters that were bullied and abused and snapped (Jeff), people struggling with mental illnesses and situations out of their control (MH, most slenderverse series really), characters that have had horrible tragedies happen to them (Ben, Sally, EJ, Liu, need I go on?) and they persevere and keep going. This is the essence of this fandom. We are all misfits that found our little community and family on the internet. Ergo, our misfits we imprinted on, we want to see the characters we care about have a happier life. Slender mansion au anyone? Ever noticed how it mimics how we make our own communities?

That was the main thing that stuck out to me about anton's rants. I do understand what he was getting at, he is far from the only person to complain about the "woobification" of the characters of this fandom. But if it wasn't for the silly teenagers who imprinted on these fake killers like baby ducks, most of these characters would have been lost to time in the forums. Again, these stories weren't good!!! There are a few exceptions (jadusable I love you /p), but the main guys like Jeff and EJ had SHIT stories. EJs author Azelf literally removed the og story because they said it was terrible and people deserved better writing. You cannot just disregard the fandom and the kids and teens and young adults that made it what it is; it's a slap in the face to the entire culture of this fandom. It's in bad taste, its shallow, it's not really making anything better (again, havent read the comic so this statement is more on what I've seen from other people in the fandom).

There seems to be a prevalent belief that by adding more violence and gore, that you're somehow making it more "mature" and better written. You're not. Violence and gore and brutality isn't what makes a good "mature" story. Handling complex themes in a thoughtful way is how you make a mature story. And hey, you can do that without making your characters irredeemable horrible awful people. Why is there such a focus on characters having to be awful and irredeemable? There are so many ways to write these guys to be interesting and thoughtful without writing them as literal monsters. Not that that's a bad thing! But it's often seen in fandom as an either or. You get woobified husbando Jeff the Killer yaoi, or interpretations where he's abusive, misogynistic, a rapist, etc. There is so few in-between, and I cling to the writers that find it.

Another prevalent issue with the whole fandom, one that is thankfully being addressed, is how female characters were treated. This fandom was misogynistic as HELL, and I'm so glad people are giving characters like Jane and Nina justice, and are making MORE female characters that are actually complex and don't boil down to just. Self insert ship characters. Again, nothing wrong with that! But as a writer, lover of girls and women, and feminist, *those were our only options back then* and it sucked. I won't address this much more because like I said, times are changing some, but yeah. It was bad.

And I'll gloss over what sky said too, I also personally don't think there's anything wrong writing toxic or unhealthy dynamics. If I did, I'd be a hypocrite, a HUGE one. Purity culture in all fandoms rn is insane, and its especially hilarious in this one cuz baby. We are writing serial killers. And you're. Crying because two of them have an unhealthy relationship 💀 girl they're MURDERERS. I digress, call me a freak or whatever, its perfectly fine to write fictional relationships as fucked up and unhealthy. It's fun to explore, its fun to read, its a way to understand and process these dynamics in a healthy environment and sanitizing it does more harm than good. Some of yall conservative as hell and its concerning.

Anyways. I don't know what other controversies anton has been in, all I know is how he talks about the fandom really. I tuned out after that. And again, don't know about his story, but I remember going through his blog while this was going down and being disappointed because his art is fucking good!! I'm sure his comic slaps ass!! But I just can't vibe with someone who so blatantly hates what this fandom is and has such contempt for the people who literally made this fandom what it is, its nuts really. It truly is just contempt for the media and it seems like he has a lot of spite for the fandom. I also just can't vibe with people who egg on hate-attention and thrive from it, but that's a personal thing and not like. Something i view as bad morally, I don't really think it is because it's not really hurting anyone other than our immediate attention lol.

But yeah. Rant over

Why I No Longer Support Anton Morrow Or Blessed Be The Wicked

Okay, we're finally doing this. As always: Do NOT harass anyone involved. This is not what this post is for.

So, this has been a long time coming. I know I keep repeatedly saying that I don’t wanna cause drama but at this point? It’s not even a drama anymore. There’s a glaring issue that’s been circulating the fandom for a while, and up until now, people have either been ignoring it completely or are too scared to say anything at all — which is understandable. I’m frankly scared to be finally making this post. But with most of the fandom beginning to speak up on this, now is a better time than ever. 

You’ve all most likely seen my latest, very angry, Jeff rant post, and some of you might have already put together as to who it was about: Anton Morrow, the creator of Blessed be the Wicked.

If any of you remember the whole “mistype” situation that happened in 2024 revolving around BBTW, you already know I have gotten into a bit of a spat with him before. Then it was all cleared up, and we were chill. But now, with all that’s been happening, I’m starting to question that situation as well.

When it comes to creepypasta, you gotta acknowledge and respect both sides of the fandom, because more often than not, they tie together. Anton, however, doesn’t do this at all, creating a space where people feel unsafe and uncomfortable like they have to walk on eggshells. 

We are not mad at the fact that you are trying to make BBTW horrifying, grotesque, and realistic. In fact, a LOT of people were hyped for your project. No, we’re mad that you have to be an asshole about it. Shaming anything that doesn’t fit into your view of what a character SHOULD be, hating on the fandom way more than you claim to love it, villainizing characters that should not be villainized, like Jane, who’s a VICTIM of Jeff, not doing proper research (apparently not knowing that Clockwork was an SA victim despite her being your “favorite character”), being a fucking hypocrite (hating shock value yet using it in your work as well), and most of all, claiming to be bringing back the old roots of Creepypasta when you don’t even understand or know what those roots are. 

This fandom has ALWAYS been cringy, weird, and unrealistic. I mean, we have a tall faceless man in the woods, a magical black and white clown, and a guy whose skin turned completely white because of BLEACH. This fandom was never realistic! 

You can only use the “I mistyped” or “you all misunderstood me” excuse so many times.

Are you telling me you didn’t mean ANY of this?

Like, if I recall, David Near’s, MBK’s, Pastra’s, AND Ekatlani’s Jeff’s are NOT soft boys at all. But you refuse to acknowledge that, don’t you? Because even if they are closer to what you claim to be looking for within a Jeff rewrite, you still hate them because they weren’t what YOU THINK the character could be. 

But somehow, that’s not even the worst part. No, the worst thing has to be what you’ve done to Leech. Characters change, I understand that. My personal gripe with her not being the character I initially was excited for anymore is just my personal bias. What’s NOT, however, is the relationship you’ve put her in with Tyrant. 

Now, I’m all for toxic relationships. I’ve written them myself, but this? This is straight-up fucking grooming. It’s non-consensual, and you straight-up called Tyrant PREDATORY. 

And the fact that you tried to edit your post to hide what you said first tells me all I need to know.

Not to mention, you continuously like to bring up how much YOUNGER she is than the other two (Context: She's in a poly relationship with Tyrant and a character named Marc)

This goes past a toxic relationship, this is straight up fucking CREEPY. You admit that Tyrant is using his VICTIM, cause that’s what she fucking is, as a way to feel like he’s not all the negative, that “he deserves love.” No. Just no. 

I’m disappointed. Tired, angry, and disappointed. I thought you were a cool guy, Anton. I thought all of you were cool. I was genuinely excited for Blessed Be The Wicked, as I’m sure a lot of the fandom was. But you showed your true colors the moment your project began to get popular. 

Not so politely, fuck you. And if all you can do is complain about is the fandom having fun, fuck off. 

[degloved]

i've threatened to post yet another sotr opinion, so here i go: lenore dove is a great and valuable character, but her romantic entanglement with haymitch felt completely unnecessary and tacked on. there was something about the two of them that kept bothering me as i read, but i think i was Feeling Everything Too Much to stop and pick things apart. having sat down and dissected my thoughts with bestie though, i've identified my four biggest gripes; their relationship is (a) repetitive, (b) useless, (c) clashes with the core themes of the story, and (d) undercooked.

(a) the main trilogy does "dystopia with a sprinkle of romance" perfectly (though i've certainly debated the inclusion of romance before, i'll pretend i don't hold those stances for the purposes of this post.) romance here is both useful in the sense of giving us a feel for who each character is wrt their view of it and, in general, is as good a vehicle for character development as any (especially given that we're dealing with teenagers here.) in tbosas, the romance takes a much darker and more twisted turn, though it plays a similar role—it illustrates the rottenness-to-the-core of president snow. neither the trilogy nor tbosas would be the same if the focal relationships were to be taken out, they're absolutely integral to both arcs. and yet... it gets to a point. is there not another means of accomplishing everything above? is there not another way to explore the characters' personalities, motives, values, etc.? can't they have a different driving force? wouldn't it have been perhaps smarter and, arguably, more fun to go beyond what's expected of a book within the ya genre?

(b) tying into what i've hinted at in the above paragraph—the four books that came before sotr all depended upon their focal romances to drive the story forward & hammer the point in. sure, we could've gotten a glimpse of snow's cycle path mind by other means—there was sejanus, there was dean highbottom, there were others who snow has fucked over in pursuit of his own ends. but nothing could've quite captured his rancidness, i think, that the way his obsession and attempted possession of lucy grey did. we're all familiar with villains who miraculously change around that one person, who dote on their specialest little boy/girl, yet that wasn't the case here. snow's [redacted] for lucy grey did not absolve him, did not change him, did not halt him in becoming who we know him to be at a rapid pace. as for the romance in thg, i don't think i can say anything that hasn't already been said before & much better besides. the girl on fire and the boy with the bread, we all know how that went. we all know what their love for one another made happen. & with that in mind, what did lenore dove and haymitch's romance accomplish? what did it do? did it alter the trajectory of either of their lives? ...no. did it change anything? ...no. would the story have been 100% the same if they'd only been friends? ...yes. would the story have been 100% the same if lenore dove had, god forbid, not even existed? ...yes. "oh but nico, why must a relationship be useful? why must it serve a purpose? can't we simply be in love?" why, yes! in real life! unfortunately, this is a story, and at that one where every single detail matters. every detail must serve a larger purpose, or else its value is automatically diminished (prime example.) and at times, i'd argue the value of the entire work may be diminished by the inclusion of an extraneous, frivolous plot point (though i wouldn't go that far here.)

(c) perhaps the most offensive aspect of the whole thing—its existence alone completely clashes with, in my view, one of the core themes of the book: friendship. sotr speaks of the biggest in-game alliance between the tributes thus far (and ever since.) again and again it emphasizes the "kad se male ruke slože" of it all (roughly, "many hands make light work.") unlike the tributes in katniss' time, they all approach each other. they talk. they make promises. haymitch isn't afraid to ally with louella on the train, and it doesn't take much at all for him to see loulou—a girl who is no one to him, nothing—as something precious to protect. not to mention ampert (no really, i won't, i'll get upset.) his and maysilee's entire arc is so, so beautiful and touching—his perception changing, the admission he had been wrong about her, the journey from refusing to ally, to doing so begrudgingly, to calling her a friend and a sister. even wyatt found his place in haymitch's heart. friends, friends, friends, it's all about friends. haymitch in the present timeline could've been that sad lonely drunk wreck just as believably after losing them. just as believably if lenore dove had been his friend (i hesitate to say only a friend—a friend can't ever be only.) haymitch has really lost so much, so many, and there is something about the pedestal lenore dove is put on—when it comes to these losses—that i can't get behind. would he have been any different, really, if she'd been spared? would all that misfortune not find him if she had been spared? no. no, i don't think so. therefore... two plus two.

(d) and finally, the total nail in the coffin—it wasn't even that good. we're thrown in medias res of their romance & we're meant to take suzanne's word for it. we're meant to do this from the get-go and throughout, because—in a book that can be summed up as So Much, All The Time—there was really not a moment to spare for haymitch and lenore dove. their romance was given no time to develop—and how could it have? how could it have, when the characters were hardly in physical proximity of each other for more than a page and a half total? he fed her the gumdrops and i felt nothing but a passing sadness, because all i could think about was ampert, was maysilee, was wyatt, was loulou, was anyone and everyone whose haymitch gave his all for & still couldn't save. we didn't need this romance subplot to begin with, and it wasn't even good.

[mikasa-imadebiscults]

Optimus Prime as a Father Figure Hcs

(A/N- You can imagine any version of Optimus Prime like the g1 series, movies, etc. I hope y’all enjoy this wholesome post)

(Warning: Random platonic and wholesome hcs)

- He’s good at giving advice, though it honestly depends on what you need advice about. He’s always there to listen if you ever need to talk.

- He always lets you know that you can count on him for anything.

- The other Autobots are like brothers to you, especially Bumblebee. Sometimes you all will be hanging out, having fun, and Prime will watch over y’all with a smile on his face.

- Speaking of the other Autobots, they are protective of you. Not overly protective but like in a big brother way, y’know?

- Optimus will take extra precautions to ensure your safety. Since you’re close to the Autobots, the Decepticon’s might plan to capture you as bait or some other heinous plan. He’ll be damned if he lets Megatron hurt you.

- Sometimes when the both of you have free time to spare, y’all and some of the others will watch the sunset together or stargaze. Sharing stories and hanging out.

- Speaking of sharing stories, Optimus has some interesting stories. They’re mainly about Cybertron and fighting but still entertaining. He also tells you what it’s like back on his planet.

- A good listener. He’ll listen to you ramble and talk about your interests/hobbies. Even though he may not completely understand it.

- Doesn’t know slang at all so when he hears you say any type of slang he’ll be confused. He’ll ask you what it means and will sound like a grandpa too.

- If you’re ever going through some mental health issues, he’ll ask about your symptoms and what you’re diagnosed with. So that he can do some research on how to help and support you.

..

[prettydaisygirl]

can you do a part 2 about the bf james and peter story? maybe james ghosts her and she runs into remus one day, tells him what happened and he goes back and tells james

Just for you, love! This one turned out way longer than I thought it would, haha! Hope you enjoy <3

(ex)boyfriend!James Potter x fem!reader who finally talk about Peter ✿ 1.7k words

cw: fem reader, break up, Peter is the worst, Remus is the best, angst with a happy ending

james potter masterlist

°˖✧✿✧˖°

please read part 1 here

You hate breakups.

Not that you’re entirely sure that is what is going on, but you haven’t heard from James in three weeks. That has to mean you’re broken up, right?

The first week, you’d held out hope that James might call you. Even though deep down you knew, when he’d kissed your hair instead of your lips and Peter looked at you with that smirk… It was pointless to wait around, but you’d been hoping for an opportunity to explain yourself. To tell James that it’s Peter who was saying horrible things, not you. You were trying to defend him!

But the call never came.

So your days go by in a blur, aimless routines and rituals that keep your body occupied and alive while your brain and heart ache for him. Things aren’t the same without James’ bright smile and beautiful aura. Your home feels dull without the promise of his shoes by the door next to yours, or a goodnight kiss where neither of you really want to fall asleep. You miss him. 

The park is your only escape. The light on your skin and the breeze in your hair makes you feel lighter, even if it’s just for a moment. You let the excited dogs and giggling little kids make you happy. It’s enough to get you out of the house. Enough to keep you going. Enough to make sure your heart doesn’t fully shrivel up and die. 

It’s one of those days, the ones where you feel a bit lighter sitting at the park bench and letting your mind go, when you suddenly find that you aren’t alone.

“Hello.” You know that voice. The smooth, honeyed tone you know to belong to James’ friend, Remus. 

“Remus,” You greet him with a smile that doesn’t entirely reach your eyes, “How are you?”

“I’m alright, love. But I’m more interested in how you’re doing. You look…” Remus’ words trail off but you can think of a million different ways he could end that sentence: bad, tired, upset, broken, etc.

“I’m… alive.” You decide on, but the words sound empty even to you. Remus eyes you, clearly deep in thought. 

“It was Peter, wasn’t it?” He asks the question like he already knows the answer. His words surprise you, head turning and brow raising, especially when he continues. “Peter said something that made you upset.”

You nod, throat tightening as you remember that horrible dinner all those nights ago. Your fingers pick at the wood of the park bench, your shoulders sagging.

“Peter is horrible.” You say, and you don’t care if you sound cruel, “From the moment I met him, I knew he was horrid. I know he’s your friend but you all let him say the most disgusting things about people. About each other!”

“What did he say?” Remus asks, and when you turn with your mouth open ready to argue, ready for Remus to defend his friend, he doesn’t. His face is only open, understanding.

You wring your hands in your lap and purse your lips as you think about what you want to say. Remus sits in patient silence, giving you time without complaint.

“He asked me if I think James is obnoxious.” You start, and Remus’ brows raise just an inch on his forehead. But he doesn’t speak. “He told me that… James would be getting bored of me. That someone new would catch his eye and everything we had would just…” You look around the park, eyes scanning everything without really seeing. You just will yourself not to cry. 

“I mean, I guess he was right? James and I haven’t talked in three weeks, he won’t even respond to my texts.”

Remus nods slowly, and your heart sinks a bit more. Maybe Remus agrees with Peter. Maybe he is just here to destroy your last bit of hope and put the final nail in the coffin.

“Peter and James have been friends since before I ever met either of them.” Remus says, finally, his voice cutting through the rest of the peaceful park sounds. “Peter has always been… for lack of a better term, a small man. James is larger than life, and Peter has always been jealous of him, even when we were young.”

“As boys, Peter would scare off anyone who wanted to be friends with James. It was only through Sirius’ stubbornness that he managed to break through them and become a part of the group. And Peter only allowed it if he was there too. I came along a bit later.”

“But even in our group of four, it was obvious that James is Peter’s best friend. He would get… antsy if we ever spent time together without him. It’s gotten better now as we’ve gotten older but it seems as though Peter has shifted his attention.” 

“What are you saying?” Your voice cuts through Remus’, eyes wide and your body turned almost fully toward him at this point.

“I’m saying you aren’t the first girlfriend of James’ that Peter has gotten rid of.” Remus runs a hand through his hair and sighs heavily, face turning serious. “I should’ve known he was going to do this.”

The two of you sit in silence for a while, a mutual anger bubbling in the air around you both.

“Has he said anything?” You ask finally, your voice weaker than you’d like it to be. “James, I mean.”

“Oh, he’s devastated.” Remus’ voice is thick with emotion and his face morphs into obvious frustration, “The man is so in love with you.”

“Then why-” It’s like Remus can read your mind, he answers before you can even get the words out of your mouth.

“James loves Peter like a brother. Peter has been by James’ side since before the two of them were in diapers. I think… I think James doesn’t want to see what Peter is doing. He wants Peter to be good but…” Remus’ voice trails off again and you find your stomach churning.

“I love James.” You say, and you’ve never said anything truer in your life. “I just want him to be happy.”

“You both deserve to be happy. I’ll talk to him.” Remus says, and he continues to speak before you can open your mouth to argue, “I mean it. Then, if he doesn’t want to be with you, we’ll know. But he does. And you both deserve to be happy together.”

“Thank you, Remus.” You say, and you hate the way hope creeps back into your soul.

But four days pass after your conversation with Remus, and you still don’t hear from James.

It’s been devastating, almost worse this time, like breaking up all over again. You really tried not to get your hopes up when you spoke with Remus, but you can’t help it. All you want is James back.

You’re in an old t-shirt and putting a frozen meal in the oven when there’s a knock at the door. You groan, moving through the living room to the front door and you open it. 

Your heart stops when you see James’ face. He looks… dull. Not that bright, bubbly ray of human sunshine he always is.

“Jamie.” His name leaves your lips as a breath of relief and also a cry of pain.

“I’m sorry,” He says, and his voice is just as strained and pained as your own. “Remus told me about what you said. About what Peter said…”

You lean against the front door a bit, letting it hold some of your weight since you don’t trust yourself to stand fully on your own at the moment. You watch James, heart pounding in your chest. You’re sure it’s loud enough that he can hear it too. 

“I tried to tell you, but you all just left.” You say, and your eyes burn as the emotions resurface. “And you never called. I just wanted to explain…”

“I know.” James’ eyes squeeze shut and you feel your heart squeeze too. “I know, I’m sorry. I thought Peter was my friend…”

“Friends don’t talk about each other like that.” You step out onto the porch, standing in front of James. You miss being close to him, even just like this.

“No. They don’t.” James agrees, and you find yourself wanting to reach out and touch him. He seems to read your mind, placing a hand on the side of your neck and placing his forehead on yours. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” You say, your voice cracking at the end. “I don’t want to break up.”

“I don’t either.” James agrees softly and it’s like you can feel the broken parts of yourself start to let him put you back together. 

“What about Peter?” You ask, pulling back enough to look into his eyes. You’re worried this is too good to be true. 

“I’m done with Peter.” James shakes his head, his curls swinging in front of his forehead as he moves with vigor, “I confronted him about what happened after I talked with Remus. And he admitted everything! He bragged about it, he said he thought he was helping me out because he thinks you aren’t good enough for me.” James rolls his eyes, but you can still see the emotional turmoil he must be going through.

You pull him close, your two bodies fitting together like the pieces of a puzzle, reuniting after weeks apart. 

“I’m sorry.” You say. “I know you love him.”

“I love you.” James says, and presses a kiss to the side of your head. “I’m sorry I believed Peter.”

“I’m sorry he wasn’t a good friend to you, Jamie.” Your voice is muffled as you bury your face in his neck. His scent is comforting, soothing the ache of weeks without him. You squeeze him a bit tighter.

And this time, you’re not letting go.

°˖✧✿✧˖°

© prettydaisygirl

[genevievefangirl]

How to AO3 - A Tagging Guide Masterpost

Maybe it is the autism, but I've always found AO3's tagging system to be extremely fascinating and fun. However, I know that many people do not share my love and find it frustrating and difficult.

Now after over a decade of reading fics on there I can say that I have *opinions* on how works should be tagged. I have seen many people lament over not knowing how to tag, and if that's you, here's a guide!

Blanket Disclaimer – Tagging is inherently subjective.  There are very few cases where a fic is truly tagged ‘incorrectly’ since an argument can be made for or against the inclusion of most tags.  Besides the 4 major warnings (and selecting a fandom & language), everything else is optional (and you can even not do those 4 if you choose “Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings”).  So take a breath and relax, you will be fine.

Additionally, since tagging is subjective, this advice is how I think works should be tagged.  You are free to disagree, but these are the guidelines I use and the interpretation that I think makes the most sense.

Alright with that out of the way... here we go!

1. What are tags even for anyway?

Tags are advertisements for your work. Each tag should be considered with care, don’t just throw on a tag for no reason.

There is one main question I want you to take away from this entire post. If you remember nothing else, remember this. When considering to add a tag, ask yourself:

Would a reader looking for this specific tag be happy with this story?

The answer to that for every tag on your work should be an enthusiastic YES. If the answer is no, cut the tag (with a few exceptions – mostly kink/warning related)

2. Ratings

The lines between some of the ratings can get fuzzy, but I generally think about them like I would think about movie ratings.

Not Rated This is the one to use if you either don’t want to rate your fic or are unsure.  When people search, this will be treated like M and E fics (meaning a warning will be shown about possible adult content when people click on it). G - General Audiences Suitable for everyone. You could show this to someone under 13 and it would be totally fine. T - Teen Think PG-13 or the equivalent rating in your country. I would categorize total fade to black sex scenes in here and violence on the level of the original Hunger Games books. M - Mature Adult themes such as sex, violence, etc, but not exceedingly graphic. This is where partial fade to black sex scenes go as well as scenes in which the sex is described but not in detail. For violence, I would put anything in here that doesn't spend a ton of time describing the gore. E - Explicit Porn and graphic violence. This is where smut goes. I do also think that when AO3 readers see an E rating they expect sex so if you are rating something E for violence and there is no sex present, you might want to put that in an additional tag so as not to confuse people.

For ratings - use your judgement. Some topics are inherently dark (suicide, non-con (even off screen), death, etc). It is up to you to pick what you think that appropriate rating is for your story based on what you think.

3. Archive Warnings

When you get to this section you will be confronted with 6 checkboxes: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, and Underage Sex.

The last 4 of those (Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, and Underage Sex) I will now call the 4 Major Archive Warnings for the rest of this post.

Now let's walk through each of the 6:

Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings - You pick this one if you do not want to select any of the others. If any of the 4 Major Archive Warnings exist in your story and you don't want to tag them, then you MUST select this option to be in compliance with AO3 Terms of Service.

No Archive Warnings Apply - You select this if none of the 4 Major Archive Warnings exist in your fic.

Graphic Depictions of Violence - Often people get tripped up with what counts as 'graphic' for this warning. I usually think about this one in relation to the source material the fic is from. For example, what might qualify as 'graphic' in one fandom might differ from another. But I tend to use the movie rating scale again (anything that would be too much for PG-13 gets the warning), but again it is up to your judgement.

Rape/Non-Con - Pretty self-explanatory. If your fic has this at all, you should tag it. When I see this tagged the implication to me is that the assault occurs on-screen. However, if you want to tag if for off-screen non-con no one will stop you.

Underage Sex - Again, self-explanatory. If your characters are underage and have sex, tag it. Technically, for AO3, underage is considered under 18 no matter where the fic takes place or where you are writing it, so take that under consideration. (This tag can get complicated with immortal beings, aliens, ghosts, or other supernatural elements, just use your best judgement).

Major Character Death - I have the most to say about this one because I find it the most confusing of the 4. I will attempt to not go on a rant here about how I really dislike this one (but man do I hate it). Here are some questions I often see about this warning and how I would answer them: 1. So... who counts as a major character? AO3's official answer to this is to use your judgement. Which isn't super helpful. I think the warning should apply to major characters in your fic not the source material. For example, if your fic's main character is Leon and Arthur dies at some point, but he wasn't a focus of your fic, then I don't think MCD should be tagged. (This might be my most controversial tagging opinion) 2. How do I determine who the main characters are in my fic? Here is my approach - if your story has main ship X with characters A and B driving most of the plot and character C is also there, but is not the main focus of the story, then killing C does not count as Major Character Death. However, if the story is about a trio of characters A, B, and C and A and B also happen to also be in a relationship, then killing C would be Major Character Death. In the end it is up to your discretion as the author, but I would think about how much the character contributes to make a determination. 3. What about temporary death? Do I have to tag MCD for that? I don't think so. The Temporary Death tag exists for a reason and that should be sufficient. 4. Okay so I don't think the character I killed is a major character, but some people might disagree and I don't want people to be mad that I didn't tag MCD. What should I do? Tag Character Death and leave it at that. In my opinion, that is sufficient warning that someone might die. 5. What if the characters are already dead at the start? Like they are ghosts or something? If your characters are essentially immortal creatures whose natural state is dead then I don't think you need to tag MCD. The spirit of the MCD tag is that a character is going away. If the characters are dead but still around then I don't think that is MCD.

Yeah I have a lot of MCD opinions... but moving on!

3. Categories

These are for the type of romantic relationship is in the fic.

Gen - No romantic or sexual relationships, or relationships are not the main focus of the work. F/F - Female to Female F/M - Female to Male M/M - Male to Male Multi - more than one kind of relationship or relationship with multiple partners (so both Poly relationships and fics with multiple relationships as the focus go here). Other - Relationships not covered by the other categories.

4. Fandom

This one is usually easy. You just tag the fandom for the fic you are writing for. Done! But there is an instance where this can get confusing...

When do you tag multiple fandoms? You tag multiple fandoms when you are using elements from another fandom in a CROSSOVER instance! Do NOT tag it if it is used in an AU instance! The difference is subtle, but for example, I am writing my Dead Boy Detectives Hunger Games AU, but since I am NOT crossing over with Hunger Games characters and am only using the Hunger Games setting, I do NOT tag Hunger Games.  However, if my fic were to use characters from Hunger Games (like if Katniss showed up for a chat), then I would tag it. This is important because: 1. Some people filter out crossovers and you don't want your fic to be considered a crossover when you are just using it as an AU. 2. Tagging other fandoms where you really aren't using the characters floods the other fandom tag with works that aren't really related to that fandom and that isn't a nice thing to do.

5. Relationship Tags

/ vs & - they mean two different things! The / is for romantic relationships. The & is for platonic relationships. There are times when tagging both is acceptable. For example, if your fic is ambiguous about if two characters are together then you can tag both. Also, if the 2 characters haven’t gotten together yet, but they will at some nebulous point in the future beyond the end of the fic, I think it is fine to tag the / tag since it is pre-slash, but that depends on personal preference.

Poly Ships - “But what if I have a poly ship?  Do I tag the poly ship and all the sides of the triangle (or square, or pentagon, you get it)?” It depends on personal preference, but here is how I would do it- Remember , the key for adding any tag is “Would a reader looking for this specific tag be happy with this story?” So, for example, if you are writing a poly fic with characters X/Y/Z and X/Y have scenes together alone and Z/X have scenes alone, then you tag the poly ship and those sides of the triangle. But say Y/Z don’t have much development outside the poly ship, then you don’t tag them. Poly ships can make your relationship tags quite long, but it is better to cover your bases adequately. This way, if people don’t want the poly ship, they can filter that tag out, but if people don’t mind, they will still be able to find your fic while searching for the non-poly tag.

Side Ships - “X couple are the main focus of my fic, but Y couple is there too, should I tag both?” It depends on a couple of factors. If someone clicked on your story just for the secondary Y ship, would they be satisfied? Is there enough content to justify it being a Y ship story or are they just there to support the main X ship? - If they are just in the background and mentioned but get zero onscreen development or scenes DO NOT tag it in the Relationships section! - If they get screen time and development, then DO tag them in the Relationships section. If Y ship does not get enough development to be tagged in the Relationship section, you can tag them in the Additional Tags section. This allows you to highlight couple Y's presence in the fic without clogging up their relationship tag.

6. Characters

Now you might think that if a character is in a relationship tag, then they should be automatically assumed to be in the fic. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. Perhaps a fic includes allusions to X being with Y, but Y isn’t actually present. In that case, only X should be in the Character tags.

On the flip side, if both members of the relationship tag are present in the fic, always tag characters in the Character section too! If someone is just filtering on X and doesn’t put anything into the Relationships section, then they will not find your fic if you don’t tag them individually!

How many characters should I tag? Do I tag everyone? In shorter one shots, you can probably get away with tagging all the characters even if they only have a small role. But in long fics, choices must be made. Tag everyone that you feel gets adequate attention and contributes significantly to the plot. Again, would a reader looking for this specific character be happy with this story?

7. Kinks

I’m not gonna get into the specifics of this because I don't really want to and it isn't my area of expertise, but you know what these are 😂

If you are writing smut, then you should tag the tropes you are using so people can properly filter on what they want and don't want to see.

8. Warnings (outside the Major 4)

There are a lot of warnings you can tag for outside of the Major 4. Here is a list of some of the common ones I have seen:

Suicide

Self-Harm

Incest

Manipulation

Alcoholism

PTSD

Minor Character Death

Gun Violence

Non-consensual touching

Body Horror

Dub-Con

Torture

Psychological Horror

Abuse (Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Animal Abuse)

Homophobic Language

Grief/Mourning

That is in no way intended to be a comprehensive list, but you get the idea. If there is something in your fic that you feel might upset someone, consider tagging it.

9. Time/Universe

Tell people when/where your story takes place!

Alternate Universe - in which something is changed from the canon universe. I usually sort them into 2 major subcategories: 1. Canon Divergence - The fic changes an aspect from canon, but still is in the same general universe. 2. Other AUs - These fics go wild! It can be anything from the classic Coffee Shop AU to an AU based on another fandom property (Harry Potter AUs, Hunger Games AUs, etc) Get creative with your AU tags! If the tag for your specific AU doesn't exist, make it yourself! Also, you can tag multiple AUs for one story if they all apply (such as tagging both Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse and Alternate Universe - The Last of Us Setting)

Canon Universe - The fic takes place in the fandom universe with no changes. There are also subcategories here! 1. Pre-Canon - takes place before the timeline of the source material. 2. Post-Canon - takes place after the timeline of the source material. 3. Canon Compliant - takes place during the timeline of the source material and doesn't change that timeline (think missing scenes)

Almost every fic should have either an AU tag or one of the canon tags!

10. Gender Swap/Trans Characters

Remember that tags are advertisements! If you are writing about trans characters or gender swapped characters, people want to find that! Let them know and tag it!

11. Genre/Big Tropes

These are the big ones. Every fic you post should have at least one of these tags:

Angst

Hurt/Comfort

Fluff

Smut

Romance

Humor

Crack

Every fic has a feeling you want to evoke or emotion you want to convey and that is what these tags are for. Let the reader know what they are in for!

12. More Specific Tags

This is for everything else. This is where you can have a lot of fun. If there is something in your story you want to highlight, put it in the tags! Here are some examples!

Amnesia

Friends to Lovers

Enemies to Lovers

Slow Burn

Mutual Pining

Fake Dating

Miscommunication

Pregnancy

Mpreg

Jealousy

Abandonment Issues

Codependency

Cuddling

Fake/Pretend Relationship

First Kiss

Love Confessions

Hurt (insert character here)

Protective (insert character here)

Time Travel

Apocalypse

Established Relationship

Or literally anything else your mind can think of! The possibilities are ENDLESS!!!

13. Joke Tags

AO3 is not tumblr, so do not treat the tags like you do on there. The goal of the tags is for readers to find your fic if they want to read it and filter it out if they don’t, so don’t take up a ton of space with joke tags.

However, some joke tags can be fun, and I don’t mind seeing some of them, but keep it limited to a couple at most. They are most useful to clarify something about a tag you used. For example, I tagged “Slow Burn” but right after that tag I put “but also they literally share a bed all the time so… take that as you will”. It is a joke, but it also provides useful information to the reader.

14. How many tags is too many?

AO3 limits you to 75 tags, but you should probably never be approaching that number. I’d say ask yourself that main question (“Would a reader looking for this specific tag be happy with this story?”) for each one of the tags. That should help you narrow it down to the main ones your story represents.

A reasonable goal is that your tag list and summary should just about fit onto a phone screen so a reader can see all of it at once.

I have about 30 tags (including everything) on my current long fic with over 90k words; you don’t need a million tags.

AND THAT'S A WRAP!

My God this too me way too long to make, but I hope this is helpful! Now go tag like an expert!

[technovillain]

i have a lot of milla thoughts while i'm at it too...

i think milla was also raised in an orphanage, she had a photo of her parents and was living her childhood 'little orphan annie style' constantly dreaming about what her parents might be like. she had a lot of love for the women who raised her in the orphanage. i have an old fic i never finished about her growing up there, and how she started to idolize one of the women there, thinking she was so beautiful, wanting to be like her when she was older and thinking a lot abt that (i do hc milla as transfem btw)

she spent a lot of time thinking about the movies, and stories on the radio, and when she was a little older and they got a television, she was in love with it. she had a lot of 'big movie star dreams' as a kid. (thus her in-game dialogue "i'm on tv! where i was always meant to be!".... i think her current fame within psychic circles is kind of the ultimate healing of her inner child in that way. not only is she marginally famous but she is famous amongst the people who matter, those who accept and respect her for who she is)

i think that in her teen years she became more independent, and she got a job as a nurse/caretaker in the orphanage. she always felt like she belonged there, and grew to think of the staff like her family. they had always been kind to her despite her differences, and milla had always been there to help the younger kids. her working there felt like a natural step.

as a young adult she continued working there, and nothing made her happier than taking care of the children. she did, however start to spend a little more time outside, exploring and taking in the local culture. this is where she first started going to dance clubs and realizing how much she loved it. it got her back on track with her wide-eyed childhood hollywood dreams... sometimes it made her feel guilty, going out and enjoying herself (milla can have little a catholic guilt, i imagine her upbringing was religious) i like to think that maybe her psychic powers started flaring up as a result of this guilt, namely the fear of "burning" for not living her life 'the right way'...

i'm not completely sure if i subscribe to the idea of the fire being a result of milla's intrusive thoughts and worries about something bad happening to the children and it being her fault somehow, i think purely because that makes her already tragic story even sadder, but i'm not not a fan of the theory. i feel like there are ways that you could interpret milla's level as dealing with intrusive thoughts (though now in a healthy way. like locking up the really damaging ones, and keeping her good music loud enough to tune other stuff out, keeping the rings spinning to conditionally 'make her feel better' etc. etc.)

after that, i do pull from the li-po story a bit. that she was tortured by the voices of the children in her head, intrusive thoughts and fear of fire. she stayed in the hospital for a while, and eventually the psychonauts where contacted when someone figured out what she was struggling with, which was something that she could not explain.

i also do like the idea of sasha being her therapist for a while after her initial psychoisolation. it adds extra fuel to the fire of sasha being weird abt pursuing her romantically despite them being sooo past that dynamic and having been equals working together for years now

[antimony-medusa]

Female Characters and the Big Sister Problem

So in this fandom we love family dynamics, and something I see pretty regularly is characters written as a family even if they didn't have that relationship in canon. When it comes to things like SBI family dynamic or Kristin as SBI's mother, some people might not even realize this isn't canon, because the trope is so strong. And now with a lot of people 3-6 years into the fandom, we're expanding the family to other characters— I see Niki big sister pretty regularly, or Niki mother. Puffy mother, Gem sister, Pearl sister— etc. And I know people are writing this because they love family and familial love— family is one of the strongest bonds many people of experience and people are writing this because they want these characters to be part of this network of love!

However, there's also a pitfall when writing canonically non-family characters into a family in its simplest form, especially to female characters, and I think some people might not realize it— so I thought I'd point it out.

One of the basic ways to write a story is you have your main character or main duo, and everyone else is in a supporting role. If your story is about one character, then often things revolve around them— around tommy, or techno, or ranboo, or grian, or jimmy— and everyone else is there to play support. Often in a family situation, big siblings and parents take specifically nurturing and caring support roles.

And when all your female characters are is their nurturing/caring role as a big sister or a mother, if that's what defines them within the narrative, or if you always write them in that way, there starts to be a problem.

Particularly when you look at canon— these characters were not in nurturing roles originally. Kristin is a powerful goddess presiding over death, Niki is defined by rage— Geminitay is out here bullying her friends and building beautiful things, Pearlescentmoon is working multiple jobs and joining revolutions. Roscumber is inventing new types of yuri daily. The list goes on. These are characters in the original with their own arcs and quirks and hopes and dreams! And every time you change someone from their canon role or characterization, that's sending a signal about how you see the character and your specific victory condition for the character. When you hold up the character to the light, are you holding up good at combat, or powerful, or mischievous, or organized competence— or nurturing care of a male character who is the centre of the real story? Are you doing this over and over again? Is the tag full of this?

And again, sometimes you don't have time to get into the background and characterization of all your side characters, that's just a narrative focus thing. But if every time you're using this character nowadays, you're swapping their canon character out for a nurturing role, that starts to message about how you see the character, and further, how you see female characters in general.

When you write a male character away from canon characterization into a nurturing support role that's one thing— the fans of that character are probably not gonna be hype but that's not like, a societal trend. But unfortunately the pushing of female characters and female-perceived people into a nurturing support role is something that hollywood has been doing since we invented film, that people have been doing since we invented stories, that society does every day. It starts to grate. It reduces women down from complex beings into the care they can provide men, and again, I don't think anyone is doing this on purpose, but when you meet it again and again in fiction, boy. I start pacing my room and muttering. It is one of the classic sexist tropes for how to write women, unfortunately. Every terrible guy in your creative writing class who got told to add more female characters does this, and boy, we don't want to be like terrible guy in your creative writing class.

So! You have to make sure your character comes alive as more than just nurturing support. If your heart is set on family, spend a little more time rotating that character. What are her hopes and dreams, and quirks and foibles? Can she contribute to the plot in a way that isn't just support of the main character? Can she provide a narrative role that isn't nurturing? Does she get to be the centre of attention and have other characterization? Can you make her really funny and scene-stealing for a scene, or show that she has a life outside of her family? Consider writing a story or an arc where she's the main focus!

Or even, I'd strongly suggest considering writing women in as not family at all. Expand that circle of influence away from the home. Does your main character have peers or adversaries or friends? Coworkers? Brothers in arms?

I think sometimes people go to family because it's a fast way to show how important a character is to a person, because so many of us think "sister" and feel that tug of affection and importance. And because people love family, which makes sense. Family is important to a lot of us! But if you can show that importance in a different way, through the narrative, you've celebrated a character you like, and you've sidestepped the pit trap hollywood is digging for us. Because boy is hollywood lining up to make this a pit trap. Movie after movie after tv show with female characters who are only there because they're family. It's as bad as the woman who's only there to be sexy, because it starts to message that the only way a woman can be important in someone's life is if they're related to them. Which is not an improvement on women are only there there for sex.

And I don't think anyone is doing this on purpose, and no one fic or au is necessarily "oh this one is sexist", but it's about the trend. When there's one fic that does this, you go "aw this person loves family". When it's every second fic that does this, you start to go— wait a minute, what's the signal being sent here. And we are unfortunately there, as a fandom. We've been there for a bit. And it doesn't mean that every female character in a family dynamic is bad characterization— women also exist in families. I am in one, in fact. Family is cool. But this trope does map so precisely to sexist writing tropes and carries so much potential narrative weight that you've got to do some quick maneuvering to avoid all that, if you're doing family.

So please, I'm begging you, when you're bringing women into the story, make sure family roles is not all your women are, or consider the joy of making them not family at all! Most people your character meets will be not related to them, perhaps your selected character is one of them.

Godspeed, may your women be complex and nuanced beings henceforth.