#fandom is for funsies. no other reasons unless you want there to be
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i apologize for the text wall you are about to recieve i'm facing my fears of being an annoyance in the inbox
hey what do i do when i have several fixations happening all at once
my madcom keeps coming into the house because its cold but then goes back out because yay snow
the funkin won't leave the pantry because i keep coming back to the Tall Modded Men
deltarune deltarune deltarune deltarune
undertale is returning with a baseball bat because it refuses to be left behind in my elementary days (i promise you my AU content won't be based on fanon i've been tracking little details in the game i'm not cring pleas e don't sentence me to the swamp of sin)
im not sure if i'm going back to my fnaf phase i'm just very fond of the sundrop models i find on VRChat
MINECRAFT!!1!1!1!!!
and it doesn't help that i want (personally i have to i live off making silly little worlds with different stories and flavors) to make AU content the neurodivergent courses through my veins it will never end
this is a really good question that I don't see a lot of people asking so it's hard to find good advice for this
best advice I can give as a neurospicy individual is to not fight your attention span when it comes to hobbies. with school and work you don't have much of a choice but remember there are no deadlines or consequences in fandom
like I feel kinda bad for not having updated my two big fics in 2-3 months but y'know the juice just isn't there. I like quality and if I'm not interested it won't be quality. I try to keep my blog madcom focused because that's what people followed me for but trust me right now I'm all about my gta dude, sonic, batfam, mw2, and others I can't remember on top of madness combat
I can't give advice for artblock because I don't draw unless I absolutely want to, but for writing at least I find that outlining costs way less mental energy so even if I'm not putting together a new fic/chapter, I can still plan to with relative ease
but yeah neurodivergence doesn't always mean there's something wrong, sometimes it just means your brain works different and I don't think it's productive to try and force it to work another way. do what sparks joy. if your ideas are cringe, kill the cop in your brain because the entire premise of madcom would sound cringe if a 12 year old described it as their superhero backstory. what makes or breaks a story is the presentation of it, not the idea itself
also feel free to combine things you're fixating on. I was on a horror kick, decided to incorporate it with fandom (have not finished it because oh my god horror is so hard to write)
having people to bounce ideas off of is really helpful too because it can help you focus more on that one thing, as I'm sure you saw with the AU I'm working on right now. feel free to yell about stuff in my inbox if you'd like, don't know all those fandoms but I'm happy to listen
music also helps with focus, find a song that fits the vibe of what you want out of your work and set it to repeat. normal behavior I know but it worked for me
ultimately, don't stress. the mojo comes and goes, it's more cooperative if you are. fandom isn't a job or any sort of obligation and you can write, draw, headcanon whatever you want. sometimes multitasking is helpful because you can step back from something and then come back refreshed after working on another thing
hope this makes sense because it feels all over the place but yeah that's basically what I've learned to do
#don't obligate yourself and don't let others obligate you#fandom is for funsies. no other reasons unless you want there to be#asks#writing advice
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[20 Question Fic Writer Game]
Shamelessly stolen after I saw @needle-noggins did this....
How many works do you have on AO3? 39, but that's deceptive because two of them are alternate endings to two others and 31 of them are 100-word drabbles.
What is your AO3 word count? 51,620
What fandoms do you write for? Primarily Attack on Titan (mostly Eruri), but also Jujutsu Kaisen (mostly Satosugu), Given, Sk8 (Matchablossom), the occasional Chainsaw Man (AkiAngel), and a handful of others
What are your top five fics by kudos? What You Want (Eruri), What You Want: Reflection (companion piece to What You Want), Balanced within the Ring (AkiAngel drabble), It Keeps Away the Bad Touch (AkiAngel drabble), No Accounting for Taste (Satosugu drabble)
Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Sure, as long as I think the comment was made in good faith. I want people to know their comments were seen and appreciated, and sometimes I want to rant a bit about my writing process.
What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hmm.... Probably A Slip of the Heart (Orufrey), but don't read it unless you're up to Chapter 40 in Tongari Boushi no Atelier/Witch Hat Atelier, as it has some MAJOR spoilers.
What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? This depends a bit on what one feels qualifies as a happy ending. I think I have more funny endings than actual happy ones (and more angst than funny ones). Maybe A Rewarding Meal (Matchablossom) or No Accounting for Taste (Satosugu)?
Do you get hate on fics? Oh, I'm not NEARLY popular enough for that.
Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I have written smut, and I might again in the future, but it's not really my thing. If I'm gonna write it, it's probably gonna be some sort of yaoi hurt/comfort.
Do you write crossovers? Not really, though I do have an idea for a Promare crossover series with... um... everything, really.
Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge.
Have you ever had a fic translated? Alas, no. Though I might try translating some of my fics on my own for funsies.
Have you ever cowritten a fic before? Yes, but nothing that's posted on AO3.
What's your all-time favourite ship? Yeah, there's a reason my longest project is Eruri.
What's a WIP you'd like to finish but doubt you ever will? It's a Satosugu one that's a bunch of unsent emails from Geto to Gojo.
What are your writing strengths? Uhhhh... I feel like this is a question best asked of those who've read my fics.
What are your writing weaknesses? I get very caught up on things being as canon compliant as I can make them. Also, I like starting my sentences with conjunctions.
Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I mean, why not? But it's a good idea to get someone with fluency in that language to double-check it for you. Buuuuut don't let bad grammar in a foreign language stop you from writing what you want to write. If you're writing it for formal publishing, your agent/editor/publisher will help you clean it up. If you're writing for informal publishing... well, have you seen the spelling/grammar/syntax people use in their native tongues? Seriously, just go for it. Maybe be prepared to take some flack from native speakers, though.
First fandom you wrote for? Ooh, gonna show my age here. Transformers/Beast Wars.
Favourite fic you've ever written? Definitely the What You Want series, but specifically the epilogue, Memories and Promises, which can be read without reading any of the rest of the series.
Tagging @revenantghost, @nepentheisms, @iwritenarrativesandstuff, and anyone else who'd like to steal it from me the way I stole it from someone else.
#i'm usually down for questions about my writings#questionnaire#fanfiction#ao3#eruri#erwin smith#levi ackerman#attack on titan#satosugu#gojo satoru#geto suguru#jujutsu kaisen#akiangel#aki hayakawa#angel devil#chainsaw man#matchablossom#kaoru sakurayashiki#kojiro nanjo#sk8 the infinity#sometimes i write stuff
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&. FREE GRAPHICS FOR MUTUALS !
hey guys! so i recently got back into making graphics & after giving all my active blogs makeovers, i realized i wanna practice more to build my skills. i love making graphics for mobile themes so i decided i wanna make some totally free ones for others to use!
if you're a MUTUAL FOLLOWER of the MENTIONED BLOGS, LEAVE A COMMENT here as the RESPECTIVE BLOG and give me a general idea of what you'd like! examples found below.
REQUESTS ARE [ OPEN ! ]
i can make:
banners, dividers, icons, headers, && word graphics
+ i can make gifs if i'm able to find a good video / OR i can make static gifs (static image with gif overlay)
here are my blogs for reference:
@aiscapades
@alnazarcana
@outtaluckawoo
please keep requests related to whatever fandom we share (touchstarved themes for touchstarved mutuals) so i'm working only with material i understand.
you're allowed to ask for more complex things since this is for practice! just know that i may not be able to complete your request if i can't figure it out :') don't be shy to ask if i can do something!
examples of requests:
hi! i'd like a kuras icon in the shape of a star with a brown border and matching wavy dividers
i want a minimalist blog header featuring nadia and portia with my blog colors & a gradient word graphic of my blog title in a font like this
about me banner with zed + comic book style graphics
IMPORTANT INFO:
i am very very busy (i care for a toddler 5 days a week) so orders will take me a while to complete. pls be patient :) this is all for free + for funsies so let's keep it kind! okok.
there is absolutely no pressure for you to use anything i make for whatever reason. this is solely for my own practice, so once the theme/graphic is made, it has served its purpose.
if you do end up using any of my creations, credit anywhere on your blog is super appreciated. this includes in tags, in blog descriptions, in a pinned post somewhere, linked or unlinked (@antegfx or @/antegfx).
i'm going to post all graphics to this blog & i will tag you unless you ask me not to :)
this is open ONLY for MUTUALS ALL FOLLOWERS of aiscapades, alnazarcana, & outtaluckawoo.
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ASKBOX IS NOW OPEN FOR FUNSIES
Current status: OPEN
Comfy (will answer):
Moots.
Anything abt my OCs, headcanons, fandoms, silly facts, etc..
How I write, draw, etc..
What smth on my blog means (eg. tags).
Opinions on small things (eg. food, clothes, the apocalypse (/jk)).
Vent asks (see bottom of this post).
Semi-comfy (will probably answer):
Only one or neither of us follow each other.
Asks without tone indicators. Please use them!
Requests for French translations of my posts (semi-comfy bc my French isn't perfect, and Google Translate may fill in blanks).
Uncomfy (will not answer):
Anything personal/invasive.
Flirting/creepy stuff.
Ppl who go against my DNI.
Ppl asking why I blocked them.
Ppl putting another group of people down, even if I agree with their opinion (unless it's smth like n*zis, sexists, racists, etc.).
Religious discourse. Religion and cultures fascinate me, so don't be afraid to talk about it if you want, or what you do as theists! I just don't want extremists here, and I'm an atheist, so I don't want to get into things that could upset people who have more connection to religion than I do. Religion will be put under a TW.
You can also ask my OCs questions if you want to know more abt them! Just say if you want me to answer as myself, answer as the character, or both!
NOTE:
I can delete any asks without giving a reason. It may not even be listed here, but if I don't want to answer, it's not your business.
Anon is turned off, but if you want me to answer without tagging you or saying who you are, just say in the ask and I'll make a post with a copy+paste of your ask, w/o naming you rather than answer! Check my asks tag to see if I've answered it :)
DMs will be ignored, but unless smth happens my asks should be open. I'll update this post if they close.
You can send vent asks. I won't answer them unless you specifically ask me to, for the sake of your privacy + comfortableness. I'll give you reassurance in your ask box unless you don't want me to.
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sorry about putting this in main text it got too long for tags. anyways! replying to this for funsies. please note i am a jasico liker who is also a minor and would also be very uncomfortable if adults got super interested in my romantic life. also please note that i am genuinely not trying to start or continue a fight and am not trying to be rude and am instead just replying to this because i find it fun to engage with people who are asking about things (and i am still treating this as a genuine question regardless of the calling of jasico adults weird in the tags) and just happen to be bad at explaining without sounding dickish. please take everything i say as if i am speaking to a cat about why they can't come into my room when my window is open.
so! jasico shippers tend to be adults because of the obvious reasons, of course, they grew up with the ship and their interest lasted throughout their life and into their adulthood. but there is a second thing (which is mostly my assumption based on how i see older jasico shippers talk about it) and that is that there's just a lot more potential for more serious, intense, or dark content with jasico than there is with other ships. it's literally a dead guy and a child of the underworld, obviously you've got more potential to discuss serious topics because the pieces are put in place for you right out of the bag. the potential for dark or serious content is more appealing to adults than it is for a lot of teenagers (obviously, because adults are more mature mentally and are more equipped to deal with those topics and thus more likely to enjoy them).
but more about the calling of adult jasico shippers weird
stories of romance exist to be enjoyed, and enjoying them is fine for people of all ages, yeah? and i personally like to think that applies to stories that follow minors.
i'm gonna use the be more chill as an example. bmc is a book and musical about a teenager who, in basic terms, does some crazy weird shit because he has a crush on another person who goes to his high school and is struggling to deal with it due to his self confidence issues. very very basic explanation so my rambling is somewhat understandable.
the story of bmc is kicked off by the romance aspect. that's one of two major factors that get the plot going. the main character wouldn't do the crazy weird shit (which also involves a lot more romance and even sex (because teenagers have sex sometimes)) that he does if it wasn't for the fact that he had a crush on this person.
people like the story of bmc though, people of many ages! there are so many adult fans of the book and musical (mostly the musical, and it's not nearly as old as pjo)! and if you want to enjoy the plot of bmc, you probably have to somewhat enjoy the romantic aspect unless you're actively working away from it because of how tightly wound the romance is with the rest of the story, so a lot of the adult fans are interested in and enjoy the romantic aspect of bmc. this isn't particularly weird, there's nothing inherently odd about enjoying it unless they're being creepy towards real people.
and the reason it's not weird is because they're fictional in a fictional story. if they were real teenagers that people were obsessing over the love lives of then obviously it'd be weird, but you can't apply real life logic to shipping. it'd be weird for anyone to be obsessed with anybody's love life. that's why people are funked out by irl shipping and rpf, because they're real people and it's weird to ship them. but in fandom there's nothing wrong with shipping fictional people, and the difference there is why you can't apply the same logic to both real people and fake people. if you can't ship people in real life then you can't ship anybody in fandom at all regardless of age. you can't really apply the same logic there, yk? cuz comparing shipping real minors to shipping fictional teenagers leads to a lot of odd takes that end up quite foolish down the line.
like, i'm really into monarchies in fiction. i think they're interesting, i like the characters in them, i like how they function, etc. me liking monarchies and royalty and such in fiction isn't comparable to if i was a huge fan of the english monarchy and was a big king charlie stan. like there's a difference between what's okay to like in fiction and what's weird or gross or bad to like in reality. you couldn't call me a bootlicker for being into royal aus because it just isn't comparable to liking monarchies in real life.
anyways, a bit of a shift. if it's weird for adults to ship jason and nico because they're teenagers, why was it not weird for rick to write about percy and annabeth's romance from the ages of 12–16? why is it not weird for him and mark to write about nico and will at age 15?
because the stories rick tells also involve a lot of romance. annabeth's feelings for luke, percy and annabeth's relationship, jason and piper, nico and will, and on and on and on. rick writes a lot of romance and most of that romance is about teenagers. he's literally creating teenagers and getting so into the idea of them dating each other that he incorporates it into the actual books! if he can do that and not be considered weird for it, why are jasico shippers weird for liking the possibility of romantic stories with the characters he created?
like of course if they're into it specifically because they're teenagers then that's weird. like if they're like "it'd be cool if these teenagers kissed" instead of just being like "these are characters. anyways it'd be cool if they kissed" then yeah it's weird but so long as they're not into it because of the characters' ages then i think they're in the clear.
but like, authors write romance because they enjoy it (or for money but in this case sticking to enjoyment). and if they write romance about teenagers and aren't considered weird then perhaps it should also not be considered weird for people to do so within the context of fandom. if anything, fans enjoying the romance in a story featuring minors is more the fault of the author writing romance into a story featuring minors.
apologies if this comes off as attacky towards you!! i do get where you're coming from and just wanted to explain and provide some of my thoughts.
tl;dr: jasico shippers are often adults because of the potential jasico has that specifically appeals to adults. it shouldn't be weird for adults to ship jasico because the logic of shipping changes based on reality vs fiction, so while shipping real life teenagers is weird and gross, shipping fictional ones is fine. plus shippers shouldn't be considered weird for liking stuff that rick writes himself and if anything people being into romance in his stories is more his fault for writing it than it is their fault for liking it.
calling all jasico shippers:
why are all of you mfs adults . genq .
i am about 2 go to bed but i am really curious about this . like do yall hav e a reason or....
#sorry if i sound like an asshole!!!#pjo#hoo#anti jasico#← for people who don't want to see this kind of stuff#also beloved followers ignore me partaking in any sort of discourse#it's the easiest way to engage with people in fandom without annoying random blogs by sending messages and such#and i'm terrified of being annoying#oh also#sorry about all the tags rip#ik the tags are the least of it but yk
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Junker Queen x Chubby Fem Reader Headcanons (SFW & NSFW)
Requested by: the head archivist, because there isn't anything out there with this prompt that I could find (a crime if you ask me) There is an indication where the NSFW starts :)
⁍ First of all, you cannot convince me that this woman wouldn't prefer to date a bigger girl
⁍ Chubbyness was literally seen as a sign of royalty and this woman still sticks to that belief (as she should)
⁍ Saw you walking down the street and went "Awooga das mine now" (of course, Odessa wouldn't actually just pluck you off the street (unless you wanted her to))
⁍ She'd try her best to somehow find a natural way to talk to you she knows, after all, how intimidating it could be for LITERAL ROYALTY to just show up and talk to you
⁍ Prays for you to show up in the arena some day. Not because she wants to beat you up, but just to find some common ground to talk
⁍ Yeah no way that's gonna happen
⁍ You'd probably meet in a pub you work at, being nothing short of honored to serve the Junker Queen herself
⁍ Finds your politeness incredibly entertaining and intentionally teases you to make you feel more comfortable (also pisses you off, but it worked ig?)
⁍ Calls you stupid nicknames all night and tries to make small talk
⁍ The night ends with her just blatantly saying she finds you hot and exchanging numbers
⁍ She invites you out on a date a few days later, and that's when you both really kick it off
⁍ Odessa is gonna be really touchy from the beginning, but also constantly asking if you're okay with it
"Hey can I hold your hand?"
"We literally violently made out twenty minutes ago"
"Yeah, but can I?"
⁍ So sweet with it too, like dhdhdjksjs
⁍ It's wild how this seven foot, muscular and intimidating woman walks next to you like a pathetic puppy /pos
⁍ Also carries you around a lot, simply because she can. Oh no, you wore heels that make your ass look great but feet hurt like a mf? "Piggyback ride or bridal style?"
⁍ Looks for any excuse to (gently) slap your ass. Bent over? Slap. Lying on your stomach? Slap. Literally just standing there? Guess what, slap. Just loves watching it jiggle ngl
⁍ Absolutely LOVES it when you wear clothes that show off your body in any way, whether that be stuff that shows your curves off a bit more or full on sky's out thighs out
⁍ Would actually melt if you wore something that matches her clothes
⁍ Stares at you so much that others start to think she's going to murder you (Dess is just admiring you)
⁍ Probably shows you off to the public a lot
⁍ Makes you a throne next to hers, but you'll rarely, if ever, use it since she just makes you sit on her lap (she calls that position the 'reverse pillow')
⁍ Would purposely bounce her leg just to watch your boobs bounce ( her favorite activity)
⁍ LOVES it when you sit in her lap and do her makeup. You could have literally done the worst job anyone could ever do, and she'd be "gosh babe that looks so good!" and walk around with it all day
⁍ Wears your clothes for funsies
⁍ Don't be surprised if she returns them with holes or burn marks
⁍ If that upset you for whatever reason, she be at your doorstep the next day with designer clothes she got from god knows where
⁍ When you're both in a different country that's cold asf, she will warm herself using your body. Hope you like ice cold hands :)
⁍ She lives your tibbies <3
⁍ Dess is constantly using you as a pillow and has fallen asleep in very uncomfortable positions on top of you
NSFW
⁍ Mommy dommy cannot convince me otherwise
⁍ Almost always cares about your pleasure more than she does hers, but she'll absolutely be more selfish if she's had a rough day
⁍ She is PACKING those tounge piercings if you know what I mean
⁍ Definitely has a thing for knifes ngl. If you're not comfortable with that, she'd use blunt or fake ones
⁍ Probably like half the fandom has agreed on this but THRONE SEX. Her favorite activity probably
⁍ Will occasionally sit you down on her throne, put her crown on your head and gobble up that kitty cat
⁍ This woman eats you out like it's her last meal on death row. Odessa could go on for hours if you let her
⁍ Million dollar pussay
⁍ Do you smell that? Yeah, that's a praise and mommy kink 2-in-1 deal.
⁍ Call her mommy and she'll go from fast and rough to cooing at you while significantly slowing down her speed, calling you baby and praising you even more than before
⁍ Absolutely loves suckling on your tits, will also use teeth if you let her
⁍ She isn't into public sex, but will finger you under a table full of important diplomats if you ask nicely
⁍ Loves to try new things and will gladly stop holding herself back if you ask her to. (don't blame her if you can't feel your legs after though)
⁍ If she's in one of her "I will eat you like a starved woman until you beg me to stop" phases, she doesn't even need any kind of stimulation to get off, literally cums in her pants multiple times just from getting you off
⁍ Please use her face as a throne, please, please, please
⁍ If you're hovering above her even just slightly, she will force you in onto her mouth, claiming that even if she did die, it must've meant she wasn't worthy enough
⁍ This woman doesn't even need a strap with how long her fingers are dear god
⁍ She'll make you sit on her thigh and tell you to grind yourself against her (just loves watching how your body moves tbh)
⁍ Wear lingerie and this woman will absolutely lose it. Will buy you sets that she thinks would look cute on you after that.
⁍ Aftercare is so sweet too <3
⁍ Prepares a bath for you and massages your sore muscles while praising you for how well you did
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INTRODUCING... THE TAYLOR SWIFT DISCOGRAPHY RATE
Hi Swifties! Lottie aka @cardgian here, with a (hopefully) fun, exciting and potentially messy little activity for the Swiftie fandom. Over the next month and a bit, we’re going to be doing a rate of Taylor Swift’s entire discography, and we’re going to see just how much taste you all don’t have!
So, what is a “rate”, and how does it work?
I got the idea to run a rate after seeing countless of them done on other music forums that I browse, such as r/popheads and PopJustice. Put simply, a rate involves you submitting a ballot giving a score from 1-10 for every single song. Then I will average the scores for each song and announce the results one by one, ending up with a list of each song, ranked from top to bottom, and as we slowly reveal them, you can all celebrate your fave songs ending up near the top, or go ahead and attack others for paying your faves dust.
Some rates pit albums by different artists against each other, or pull together a bunch of individual songs that all have something in common, but obviously for this rate we’re going to be scoring Taylor’s entire discography. I’ve put together the list, and it comes to a whopping 150 165 songs, and you’re going to have to score all of them. Here’s how I came up with the list:
All the albums are included, obviously
Taylor has 5 features on other artist’s works (Babe, I Don’t Wanna Live Forever, Both of Us, Two is Better Than One, Highway Don’t Care) that I’ve included for funsies
There’s also a small collection of non-album tracks - the (original) Christmas songs, her soundtrack songs, stuff like that
No acoustic/alternate versions, live versions, covers (with the exception of Untouchable) or demos are included.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way:
CLICK HERE TO GET THE TEMPLATE FOR YOUR BALLOT
YOU WILL HAVE JUST OVER ONE MONTH TO FILL OUT YOUR BALLOT. THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT WILL BE 12AM GMT ON FRIDAY JANUARY 8TH. It’s probably easier to just google what that is in your timezone, but here are a few conversions for the sake of convenience:
11am AEDT, Jan 8th
7pm EST, Jan 7th
4pm PST, Jan 7th
Once all the ballots are submitted, it’ll take me a couple of days to calculate the results and do the write-ups. I’ll most likely start announcing the results on Monday Jan 11th, but I’ll announce an actual time closer to when it actually happens.
Because this post is long enough as it is, I have all of the rules for the rate outlined below the cut, including instructions for filling out and submitting your ballot! They’re also summarised in the template linked above - either way, please read the rules very carefully so you fully understand what you have to do.
THE RULES:
You MUST use the template above! This is because I have it set out exactly the way I need it to be able to easily include your scores in the final calculations.
Give EVERY song a score between 1-10 (decimals are allowed if you want to be super specific, please use a period for them, not a comma); place your score in the cell directly next to the song name (column B in the spreadsheet)
This means you have to have listened to EVERY SONG. We’re probably all very familiar with the albums, but if by chance you are unfamiliar with any of the features or non-album songs, then listen to them so you can score them!
The songs are separated by album but you do NOT need to give an overall score for the album; overall scores for the albums will be calculated by me using everyone's votes!
You may give scores of 0 or 11 to ONE SONG EACH - that is ONE song from the whole list, not one song per album. You don’t have to give a 0 or an 11, but it’s a good way to denote your ABSOLUTE favourite and least favourite song! Scores of 11 and 0 will be deanonymised in the final results (i.e. for each song's writeup I'll be tagging the people who gave it 0, and the people who gave it 11)
Optionally, you can provide comments on individual songs in the cell next to your score (so, in column C). I might include your comments in my write-ups for each song!
A couple of notes on this: I’ll be more inclined to include comments about songs you’ve scored 11 or 0, and please note that this will not be anonymous, so don't say anything unless you're comfortable to have your tumblr url attached to it!
PLEASE SCORE FAIRLY and try to use the whole scale - I know some of you probably think Taylor has never released a bad song in her life but this will be very boring if you just rate everything an 8 and up. Don’t be afraid to be brutal, there are 150 songs in this rate and some of them have to be at the bottom!
Once you’ve finished your ballot, I would prefer it if you reupload your completed spreadsheet to Google Drive/Google Sheets and then DM me the link. If you don't know how to do this or for some reason this method doesn’t work for you, DM me and I can help you out!
Any questions, send them in either to this blog (preferable) or directly to me @cardgian
Above all, have fun! I look forward to seeing (and judging) your scores :)
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WARNING: LONG POST! NO TRIGGERS - FEEL GOOD VIBES GUARANTEED! (Unless your heart is, like, literally made of stone!...)
ANYWAY!
So I'm going to tell you a bit about my Dad! 😍
The whole reason why I express myself creatively is because of my dad. My love of reading and writing comes from him. He is (along with my mum of course – if you want a lesson in equality and the example of “sensitive, new age man” my dad’s pic is under the definition) and always has been my biggest supporter – the person who is guaranteed to be in the front row cheering me on. I didn’t have a soccer mum growing up, I had a soccer DAD. Dad was the one who took me and my brother everywhere on the weekends! I was very lucky and privileged growing up – dad would take me to singing lessons, piano lessons, tennis lessons (I tried other activities too but I won’t mention them…basically cause I sucked lol). Dad was the one who listened and encouraged me when I wrote my first song – music was my absolute passion (and still is)and he would spend hours with me workshopping every performance I would prepare for, every recital...He was my Alpha before I knew what that term meant.
WHY AM I TELLING YOU ALL THIS???
I'm glad you asked - I'll tell you 😉
As most of you know - I have recently created my author page on Facebook. This year I have made a conscious effort to connect to those with like-minded interests. HP FANFIC! I’ve found my people!!! Specifically on the platforms Facebook and Tumblr (I still suck at it…but I’m trying!)…I’m also a lurker on Instagram.
MISSY GET BACK TO THE POINT!
Here it is: My dad is an Indi Author! I know! How BAMF is that?! He’s retired now, but back in the day he was an English and History teacher. He also taught English as a Second Language for a while and eventually moved into Higher Education in which he taught young adults with learning disabilities – his program was designed to teach them essential life skills (like budgeting, shopping, skills that would lead to getting a job) He would come home and tell me stories about his students and one of their favourite activities: Reading the newspaper together as a class and discuss the current events – dad was an amazing teacher and he is an amazing man.
When dad was an English teacher at High School, one of the activities he would run when teaching creative writing was an activity he had dubbed: “speed writing”. Now that I’ve become a part of fandom author community - I have literally only just put two and two together and realised my dad was running “sprints” in his classroom 😱😱😱
Again! What an absolute BAMF!
MISSY! YOU’RE RAMBLING AGAIN - GET BACK TO THE ACTUAL POINT!
Okay, Sorry! I'll try again...
Dad isn’t on social media (though mum is), he doesn’t use a mobile phone (but mum does – you see where I’m going with this?). As an independently published Indi-Author on Amazon (I’m gonna share the link – don’t worry), I’ve told him about the benefits of social networking. He’s been reluctant…I decided at the time not to push. Recently though, I shared with him the fact that I’ve been writing during Covid 19 – not songs and music, but stories. I told him I’ve found a safe haven in fanfiction – I’ve found people I wish I knew years ago! I’ve found friends who I’m now collaborating with (back in the day I was never in a band or anything like that). I’ve told Dad about my experience publishing my little ficlettes and stories on AO3 - how I was receiving reviews and feedback. I told him about ‘Kudos”.
His ears suddenly perked up and bless him – he said “Do you think your friends would look at my story too and do you think they would leave a comment?”
Well friends, now you *know* - I’m a daughter on a mission!
My dad’s alias is Raymond Jeffrey. His birthday is the 12th of December and I’ve been thinking...What can I possibly give the man who has literally fuelled my love of writing? Who has constantly encouraged my creativity. What does he truly want?
The answer is Kudos people!!!!!
My dad isn’t interested in the amount of sales or rankings his book gets – It’d be nice, but it won't stop him from writing his trilogy. He's already a thrid of the way through book 2!!! (BAMF!)
So friends, if I may be so bold - can I ask you to reach out and leave him a review on Amazon? Even if it is as simple as a phrase of encouragement to keep writing, to continue? The way we do in Fandom?
That would be simply magic!!!
I’m not asking you to buy his book, but if you have Kindle I’d love for you to give his original work a go and leave him a review.
You can download a free sample here:
https://www.amazon.com.au/God-Wills-Lucifers-Raymond-Jeffrey-ebook/dp/B07NTQ2C5T
Dad literally painted the artwork himself (and then had mum scan it as a PDF in order to upload it and then use it as a cover). My mum has been simply amazing – she’s his Alpha and has encouraged him on this life long goal to write a book.
Dad currently had 10 sales in total (some are purchases made by family from overseas) and recently he cheekily introduced himself to his new neighbour (my folks recently moved during Covid 19) as an ‘internationally selling author’(Omg Dad! 😆🤣😂 ). He's also hired a woman to professionally format and edit his book for SPAG – so his book has actually been professionally Beta’d (when I told him I had met people who loved Betaing for funsies he was shocked and also secretly I think he was a little jelly 🤭🤭🤭).
So yes, can you help me friends????? Be a part of this movement I’m trying to start?!
I would literally love for him to suddenly get a flood of reviews and have no idea why!
I plan to share this post with him for his birthday.
Thanks and gratitude friends!
Love from Missy xxxxx
#kudosformissysdad
#kudosformissysdad#unsung hero#soccer dad#FanDad#FanDaughter#creative writing#paying it forward#happy birthday dad#inthefrontrow#alpha#beta#fandom#independent author#dad jokes#dadhumour#number one dad#my dad the feminist#BAMF#hpfanfic#Harry Potter#feelgood#positivevibes#love and support
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Up in Flames chapter 17 - Liar on the Wall (Ashes Part 2)
Warnings: Major Character Death, Chose Not to Use Category: Other Fandom: Transformers Relationships: Megatron/Sunstreaker, Megatron/Sideswipe, Sideswipe & Sunstreaker Characters: Sideswipe, Megatron, Onslaught, Soundwave, Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp Additional Tags: Dubcon, Mechpreg, Sticky Words: 2608
( Previous )
How did Megatron react to the news that he and Drag Strip commed to the Victory ahead of their arrival?
Predictably, not well. Unless you considered red hot fury a good reaction.
In the circumstances, Sideswipe sort of did. The angrier Megatron was, the more the Autobots would hurt.
They damn well deserved to get hurt after this.
The Autobots didn’t do anything to Wildrider, who crawled back to the Victory some time later. The two Stunticons… Were in trouble. Mildly put. Not only was Megatron angry at them, he was angry at Motormaster too for having such useless underlings, and that made Motormaster angry with them too, and boy but Sideswipe was surprised the two didn’t get the living daylights beat out of them first thing.
But Megatron held off his punishment for now, and ordered Motormaster to do the same. All Drag Strip and Wildrider got—for now—were a few dents.
No doubt there was something intensely unpleasant waiting for them in the not too distant future, though. Neither looked particularly happy about it.
Honestly, Sideswipe didn’t blame them any more than he blamed himself and Sunstreaker. They’d all let their guard down. If they hadn’t, there was no way none of them would have noticed Mirage sneaking up on them—or the fact that they had likely gotten tailed for a good while even before that. He wasn’t sure how exactly the Autobots had managed to pounce them like that, but considering they hadn’t much tried to hide themselves or their movements…
Soundwave pointed out Teletraan and some general route prediction as the likely culprits for the whole incident. Provided the Autobots had had more than one agent on the field, they could have covered several potential roads they could have taken, and then it was just chance which of them had actually scored them. Happened to be Mirage.
Sideswipe didn’t disagree with that theory too much. At the end of the day, though, the why was a little irrelevant compared to the fact it had happened and now needed to be fixed. They could worry about not repeating the why later, once both Sunstreaker and the newspark were safely back on the Victory.
To that end, the more tactically minded had gathered in the Victory’s command center, namely Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, and Onslaught, who were busy arguing about their options. There was a lot of raised voices anda angry gestures from Megatron and Starscream. Soundwave was as passive as ever, and Onslaught remained fairly put together too. Thundercracker interjected with his opinions every now and then too, standing next to his trine leader.
About what Sideswipe had already come to expect, then.
Soundwave had already dispatched Ravage, Lazerbeak and Buzzsaw to have eyes on the Ark, as much as they expected the Autobots were well prepared for retaliation and on high alert. It’d be a miracle if any of the symbiotes actually got in, but at least they could observe the ongoings from the outside.
Skywarp was next to useless as far as planning anything went, but he was sitting next to Sideswipe against the furthest wall of the command center where Sideswipe had sequestered himself to provide updates on what the Autobots were doing to Sunstreaker. There hadn’t been anything for him to tell at first because Sunstreaker wasn’t even conscious in the beginning, and Megatron had merely given him the order to alert them as soon as something changed.
Then Sunstreaker onlined and Sideswipe jerked from his stupor as well, his alarmed sound drawing everyone’s attention.
Sunstreaker was angry and unhappy even from the beginning, but after he got to converse with the top three of the Autobot army, he went pretty quickly from just angry to borderline enraged. Sideswipe was halfway surprised his brother managed to avoid glitching—it was definitely a close call a few times—because Sideswipe wasn’t nearly as much the type to get angry at things, but frag, the way the Autobots kept dismissing Sunstreaker was sure getting on his nerves something fierce.
Megatron wasn’t doing any better. Sideswipe could hardly pass on the conversation word to word, their spark just didn’t work like that, but it was easy enough to catch the gist: Sunstreaker saying what he wanted and what he thought, and the Autobots repeatedly circling back to how that couldn’t possibly be the truth—and what really got on Megatron’s nerves, the talk of keeping the sparkling from him.
It didn’t matter what Sunstreaker said, that much became obvious in the first few minutes. The Autobots had already made up their minds.
All optics were on him as he recounted the by and large of the conversation going on at the Ark. And maybe, just maybe Sideswipe still thought some good of his old side, that they wouldn’t do anything really bad to either Sunstreaker or the sparkling. They were supposed to be the good guys, right? At least that was how they wanted to come across as. Protectors of the universe, opposers of the evil Megatron, bastions of freedom.
Fuck, he was so wrong about them.
Almost everyone looked at him as if he’d partway lost his mind when he started laughing all of a sudden in the middle of telling them about the Autobots’ considerations of the ethics of letting Megatron have his goddamn sparkling. Skywarp drew back to stare at him and everyone waited impatiently for the punchline.
It wasn’t a very good one.
“They’re talking about snuffing the sparkling.”
Everything was still and quiet for a few seconds before Megatron roared and turned to punch the nearest wall with full force. The bulkhead beyond dented under his strength.
Thundercracker, Onslaught, even Starscream looked surprised, but Skywarp was the first to speak up. “What?! Why? Why would they do that?”
Sideswipe shook his helm, his mirthless laughter dying down. He looked back at Megatron who was already staring intently at him, waiting as much as anyone else for the answer to that question.
Why?
“They think you raped him,” Sideswipe said, his voice calm and at complete odds with the turmoil in his head, spark, and field. Much of it was from Sunstreaker, who was still fighting against snapping entirely, just because he wanted to hear what further manner of madness the Autobots were spewing.
But he was so ready to glitch if it meant protecting both of the sparks in his frame. It wasn’t just his frame protective of the sparkling. Their spark reacted just as strongly, completely rejecting the idea of allowing anything to happen to the little one. “Think you raped, got him sparked with that, forced him to leave the Autobots just to continue abusing him—that… Slag, what do they think? That you force him into fucking on the regular and beat him for funsies or something?”
Fraggit… Sideswipe shook his helm before dropping it into his servos, digging his digits into his helmet—trying and yet unable to deny the insanity that had befallen the Autobots.
If they hadn’t always been like this and he just hadn’t seen it. “They think the only reason he’s staying with you is the carrier coding. They want to bring it offline to free him.” And apparently killing the sparkling was the only way to do that.
Although, “Besides, then you couldn’t have the sparkling. Win-win, huh? Better dead than in your hands.” Sideswipe huffed. So much for protecting innocent life. This wasn’t about protecting anyone from anything, it was just about denying Megatron for the sake of denying him, because he was the worst enemy of the fragging reality or something.
Sideswipe shook his helm harder, dug his digits in some more as much as that didn’t leave anything other than minor scuffs—tried and failed to stifle his sob. “They hate you so much.” Would they really take life that had done nothing to deserve it just because it would undermine Megatron?
Pits, he was starting to think of course they would. This was the Autobots. Their whole reason for existing was to oppose Megatron in any and all ways, wasn’t it?
Megatron, whose field filled the room to the brim with his fury. Sideswipe wasn’t sure how much of it was personal offense and how much came from the Autobots daring to threaten something Megatron wanted and already considered his.
Everyone was tense, waiting for the tyrant to violently erupt at someone in particular and most likely beating the shit out of them—although it turned out the two he wanted to maim in that moment weren’t present. “Soundwave!” Megatron growled, turning to his third. “Let Vortex know he will have two visitors soon. Drag Strip and Wildrider will not come out of the brig for anything without my explicit authorization.”
“They’re lucky they’re parts of Menasor,” Onslaught commented, quickly making the assumption that as much as the two might wish they were dead, Megatron likely wouldn’t get rid of them entirely so as to not cripple an entire Combiner team.
Megatron confirmed that with a simple, guttural, “They are.”
And Sideswipe should probably count himself lucky Megatron wasn’t laying blame at his pedes. Too much, anyway. Or maybe that was just because he was useful for the moment. Who knew what would await him in his future.
Something else to be anxious about, but first he was going to worry about Sunstreaker and the life his twin was nurturing, and now, was desperate to protect.
“You shouldn’t get so attached to one worthless Autobot,” Starscream scoffed, and Sideswipe grimaced in time with Skywarp and Thundercracker. Megatron’s attention turned to his second at once, his optics sparking with violence that was threatening to unleash itself on the Seeker.
To his credit, Starscream looked vaguely like he wanted to take the words back. He tried to dodge, but Megatron’s servo still wrapped around his throat and slammed him against the already dented wall.
“That former Autobot is carrying my sparkling,” the tyrant snarled, getting right into Starscream’s face until the flier’s wings were making disquieted little jerks against the wall he was pressed against. The wings of his trinemates had hiked up in alarm, but both knew better than to intervene. “I will not let the Prime have his way with it,” Megatron continued, slamming the Seeker against the wall again before taking a step back and releasing him.
Starscream got off easy, Sideswipe was pretty sure. The second was rubbing his throat and glaring at Megatron’s back when the warlord turned away, but Megatron seemed more interested in being productive with getting his sparkling back than he was in wasting time slagging the flier. “Have your symbiotes made any progress?” Megatron snapped at Soundwave.
“Ark: increased guard and patrols around the entrance. Autobots: stay close to the ship,” Soundwave reported. “Ravage: has found no entry.”
Sideswipe became the target of Megatron’s focus next. “Sunstreaker is still in the brig?”
“Yeah,” he responded. “Deep in the mountain, part buried. He can get out of the cell and the brig–”
“Then what does he even need rescue for?” Starscream interrupted. Sideswipe glared at him in time with Megatron, but continued before Megatron had the time to do whatever to his second.
“But he can’t make it through the entire Ark if everyone’s interested in stopping him,“ Sideswipe said firmly. Sunstreaker was good, but he couldn’t fight the entire elite of the Autobot army. Jazz alone could bring him right down, if he happened in his way.
“If he can make it towards the exit even partway…” Onslaught rumbled. “Get someone in to help him the rest of the way. Draw the Autobot forces elsewhere for less resistance on their way.”
“Can’t ‘Warp just teleport in and out?” Sideswipe asked. That seemed like the most obvious solution to him.
Skywarp shook his helm, though. “I can’t warp somewhere I haven’t been to before, unless it’s mid-air. I might embed myself into a wall or something.”
That… Made sense. Sideswipe still frowned in disappointment.
Onslaught wasn’t done, though. “But you can warp back out if you get in on foot,” he pointed out. Skywarp nodded after a moment’s hesitation, and Sideswipe could tell the Seeker next to him wasn’t following even though everyone else seemed to catch on quickly.
“Small force in,” Soundwave intoned. “Skywarp: can teleport them all out once Sunstreaker is reached.”
“I can’t warp far if I need to teleport multiple bodies,” Skywarp said hesitantly, still not catching on by the looks of it. Sideswipe stifled his laughter.
“Outside of the Ark is enough, even if it’s just barely,” Onslaught rumbled.
Megatron growled a pretty bloodthirsty sound where he had let his commanders do most of the talking for the time being.
Starscream was straight up sulking and apparently refusing to even contribute anymore.
“The rest of the Decepticons can function as a… Distraction,” the warlord said, although it sounded a hell of a lot like he meant to say something else there first.
“Bring out a lot of force and they won’t have a choice but to respond or have their base invaded,” Onslaught agreed. “That’ll draw a lot of attention from Sunstreaker and the team that needs to slip inside.”
“Suggestion,” Soundwave spoke up again, “Team composition: Skywarp, Sideswipe, Vortex, Barricade. Sideswipe: knows the layout of the Ark.”
“Four too many for you to warp?” was the question directed at Skywarp.
“But that’s only three others…” the Seeker pointed out, trailing off like he was a little unsure about his math skills.
“You’ll need to add Sunny to it,” Sideswipe pointed out helpfully, watching as the lightbulb lit up in Skywarp’s mostly empty helm.
“Oh! No, yeah, I can teleport four others. A short distance.”
So… That seemed to be the plan.
Although, “Are you ready to fight your former comrades?” Megatron asked, and Sideswipe looked back at him to find the warlord’s red optics intent on him.
Before, they had hesitated and opted to not fight for the Decepticons.
He was starting to question the why behind that a hell of a lot, now.
Sideswipe snarled himself. “If they’re willing to do this to Sunstreaker, and the sparkling? Pit yeah.”
Skywarp whooped and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him to his side. Sideswipe beeped, but Skywarp didn’t let that bother him. “Finally!” the Seeker grinned instead. “I thought you’d be holding back forever!”
Sideswipe snickered after a small delay. “Yeah, well, needs must. Plus they fragging well deserve everything I can ditch out, at this point.”
No one disagreed with him. “Then it’s settled,” Megatron said. “Leave only a skeleton guard on the Victory,” he instructed Soundwave. “Everyone else will join in on the attack on the Autobots. They will pay.”
That was probably what he’d meant to say earlier too. It wasn’t so much about the distraction for him, as it was just about punishing the Autobots.
Sideswipe was just fine with that. Did he have friends among the Autobots? Sure. Or, he had had. He wasn’t so sure anymore. Not because he thought all of them had anything to do with this, but… It was becoming more and more official that they were on the opposing sides now, and just that fact was enough to drive a big ass wedge between them.
They would fight for the Prime just because the Prime told them to—and Sideswipe would fight anything the Prime tossed at him, past friends included, because this had gotten mighty personal all of a sudden.
If they dared to so much as scratch Sunstreaker…
“...What if we don’t make it in time?” Sideswipe had to ask, looking at the tyrant.
Megatron growled back at him. “We will.”
( Next )
#transformers#maccadam#megatron#sideswipe#starscream#onslaught#thundercracker#soundwave#ashes#up in flames#fic#2021
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Hi, this is going to be a long ask, so, sorry about that. I want to write a fic about polythieves + shiho x mishima x hifumi (who won't be a part of the polythieves) + akesumi (who I don't know if I'll add to the polyamorous relationship of the polythieves, but I'll surely give Akechi a redemption arc.) So, what's your opinion on polythieves? I really like them, but I don't know if I should write a fic about them. And so, should I write this fic? I was thinking of writing a fic with pegoryu, akesumi (and still give Akechi a redemption arc), yusuann, okujima, and futaba being aroace if the polythieves fic was a bad idea. And still add shiho x mishima x hifumi just for funsies tbh. Sorry for the bother, and I hope you're having a nice day/night!
first off, no need to apologize for long asks, cause i love getting them :)
second, anon...look me in the eyes and take my words to heart. if you want to write a fic, do it. it doesn't matter if you think no one will read it, or if (for some reason you care about this factor) I would like it--writing is one hundred percent about the author. readers are lucky to even be able to read your hard work for free. trust me when i say this: if you write a fic that you’re not sure about, or a fic that you had other ideas for but other people “dont like” those ideas, the process of slamming out a fic is going to be brutal. it will make you want to cry. it will ruin writing fun, free fanfiction for you. if you are passionate about what you want to write about, it’s wayyyyyy better than waiting for some loser like me to give you an okay!!!!
you seem really passionate about polythieves and akechi and that's so great, so i think you should do it! but again, even if i was a horrible human being and said something like “ew no way don't write that” do not listen to me or anyone else. unless your fic is...i don’t know, actively malicious to a group of people, then you should absolutely write it.
that being said, i personally don’t like polythieves at all, but i know a lot of people in this fandom do.
anyway, thanks for the ask! best of luck with whatever you decide to do!
#ask#asks#man can you imagine if i wrote withering with you to get attention#LMFAO#14k words and 10 comments#but you know what?#its one of my favorite fics that ive ever written#and im so proud of it#and really thats all that matters and it sounds cheesy#but its true! you are your most dedicated reader#treat them with kindness
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Year in Writing - 2020
Well...I really don’t know where to start. One year ago today I was pretty optimistic that I’d get a lot more done and even get at least one person on my Patreon, but (gestures to 2020 in general) shit happens I guess.
Somehow in this messy year I graduated college and managed to get a PT job while the world. In between all that, I somehow had the time and energy to write. So, like last time, here’s a summary of what I can remember writing in 2020 as the final hours dwindle down to zero.
Okay, where to begin?
I guess we can go with zines since that can be dealt and done with. I moderated a lot this year, and will probably do some more modding next year once the pre-order period for the ones I’m currently on have passed. I contributed less than I mod since I’m guaranteed to be rejected every time. It sucks that there’s hardly any zines that even include writing in the first place. The perks of being a mod that, if writing is available, you can bypass the application process. That’s what happened with the Slime Rancher OC Zine and my piece Trials of a Rookie Rancher which features my OC from Summer Essay, Riida. It was a financial flop, but atleast it was a charity zine anyways.
I’ve applied to another charity zine about Pokemon called Helping Hand, which I forgot to apply as a mod to. I got accepted as a pinch hitter and, surprisingly, I was called to action as someone had to drop. As of writing this, it’s still in the production phase so I can’t tell you much. I meant to post a preview of it, but the formatting of which the mods wanted the writers to post scares me. I’ll probably post it on ao3 when I get the go ahead.
I only updated Friends Like You and Us with only one chapter back in May, but lately I’ve made excellent progress on the next chapter since action and fighting isn’t really my forte and yet here I am, getting sucked into fandoms that are action-oriented. I think watching ITSV again before it got pulled from Netflix helped.
Of course, it can’t be a year unless I write an FGO fic. In fact, I somehow managed to write two! Part one of a two-shot, and a crossover one-shot! The two-shot is Night SURFING which is a continuation/sequel of my Asterios fic called Ebb and Flow of the Sea back in 2018. I have to give a special shoutout to my friend Pallan Minerva, author of Saga of Shirou’s Summons and irl friend, who enabled me to write more cute shit for the minotaur. The only reason why it’s not completed yet is, surprise surprise, the second part has an action/fight scene and as you probably know by now, I’m not very good at writing those. Especially since it involves two huge monsters...which is ironic considering I’m a big fan of tokusatsu.It’ll figure itself out one day.
The other FGO fic is Udon for the Drifting Warrior, which is a crossover fic with Isekai Shokudou or Restaurant in Another World. It came to me during one of those days during the pandemic where I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t go outside and do shit. In a sleep deprived haze, I decided to pick up Shokudou again, got hungry in the process, and thought “This would be the perfect setting for Musashi.”. Few months prior, I told Pallan that I wanted to do something with Musashi since she’s my waifu and he suggested an udon date. Well, I got the udon part down at least. I haven’t finished the anime yet, but I have bought the first book of the light novel. I’m hoping to at least do a Shokudou crossover with Dorohedoro but other than that? Who knows.
And finally, I have fallen in and out of fandoms throughout 2020...and there’s one that I’ve fallen hard for. It’s Obey Me, the latest addition to the Shall We Date? otome mobile game franchise. I think I tried another SWD game years ago but never got into it because reasons. But Obey Me definitely hits all my buttons...which is just hot demon guys plus the obligatory human and angel. I wrote A Sleep-In Demonstration for funsies when I was planning out like at least two longer-form stories. Satan and Belphie aren’t my top faves if you would believe it. It’s Lucifer and Diavolo bc of course it would be
That...seems to be it on my end. While my quantity is less than desirable, I can only hope I improved in quality. My job can be pretty draining, and I know I don’t want to do it long term, so I hope juggling to find a better opportunity alongside writing fics will be easy for me in 2021.
I hope I can update Summer Essay too in the new year. I’ve done tremendous progress for the latest chapter and I would like to think it’s almost done. The mental block that’s preventing me from finishing this fic already is going to catch these hands when I find it. I hope I can gush about it in next year’s YiW as well.
And that’s it for real. Thank you so much for reading this. If you’ve been sticking around for some time, I thank you for your patience and support. We may not talk, and only one person drops something in my inbox once in a blue moon. It gets very lonely on this blog, but I know you people are out there. Knowing that you’re reading my fic as well as liking and reblogging it so other people can see it works just fine. Thank you, and I hope the new year treats you kindly.
See you in 2021!
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Title: Poison Tears
Prompt: No prompt.
Fandom: How To Train Your Dragon
Pairing: Hiccup/Astrid/Fishlegs/Snotlout/Ruffnut/Tuffnut (polyamorous gang)
Word Count: 3623
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Biphobia, homophobia, polyphobia/anti-poly sentiments, abuse mention, abusive parent, murder, character death, mentions of misogyny, implied sexual content, references to sex.
Disclaimer: I don’t own the source material in this fanfic. That’s to whatever company or person owns it. I would never claim to own it.
Notes: There are probable influences from fandom and whatnot in this story. There’s a sentence from Brooklyn Nine-Nine (“Well, I’m happy this went terribly.”) in this fic. There’s also a line that I wrote with this post in mind. While rewatching Race to the Edge’s Have Dragon Will Travel, the fact that Razorwhips have poison tears got me thinking about poisoning Spitelout, because Spitelout is an abusive asshole. Shoutout to afterandalasia, who in our long talks about the show, once commented to me how Snotlout will never be able to get away from Spitelout unless Spitelout dies, and @howtodrawyourdragon who workshopped this fic with me. Takes place after Race to the Edge. This is also on AO3.
And it is under the read more.
“What do you need Windshear’s tears for?” Heather asked, having discreetly met Hiccup on Dragon’s Edge.
It was a good meeting spot, given that no one aside from dragons lived here anymore.
She handed him a small vial.
“Reasons,” Hiccup said, darkly. “Thank you. Give Dagur and Mala my love.”
Hiccup wanted to kill Spitelout. But he had not wanted to kill him with dragon fire because he knew that would trace back to him somehow, and he wouldn’t want any dragon to be blamed for any deaths. While Astrid would almost certainly kill Spitelout if asked, he wanted a method of death that was not readily apparent. No one would know. No one would be blamed.
Atali had once told him that Razorwhip tears don’t kill immediately and it never traces back to the tears, simply making it seem like Spitelout died of something else, like a heart attack.
It’d be easy to get rid of Spitelout.
He heard Viggo’s voice in his head, “Hiccup, you're more ruthless than you realize.”
He figured that this was the kind of thing Viggo meant.
And Spitelout was someone who repeatedly abused Snotlout, one of his Riders. For years. And Hiccup was frankly tired of knowing that it happened and not being able to do something substantial to stop it. So, he had to die.
Yes, perhaps the man had been helpful with studying the Singetails and even the battle at Berserker Island, but that did not cancel out the bad. He remembered how frightened and upset Snotlout had been when they were late for the cancelled Hofferson-Jorgenson wedding. How a mere conversation Snotlout had with his father at Storehouse Island, had wrecked him and made him feel useless, caused him to act in ways that could have killed him. The way Spitelout made his son feel was reprehensible.
And he certainly remembered some of Spitelout’s recent behavior towards Snotlout (and to some degree, the gang) and how it made Snotlout feel.
After their return to Berk, the gang was open about the relationship that they had begun on Dragon’s Edge, intent on continuing it on Berk. As such they did engage in some public displays of affection with each other (nothing more than hugs and kisses, as appropriate for public), and normally, most people kept their comments to their themselves about this.
Most people.
But not Spitelout.
Spitelout had seen Snotlout give kisses to everyone in the gang on a lovely day while they were in the Great Hall, and had to say something. Loudly. Had to declare his displeasure that his son was kissing the young men that were his partners. Even declare it indecent, unnatural.
The way that man put his hand on Snotlout’s shoulder had been much too rough.
And just like that Storehouse Island incident, it was apparent how much this incident upset Snotlout. In the days afterwards, the public displays of affection with Snotlout had dwindled down to just Ruffnut and Astrid. Snotlout had rebuffed attempts at chaste kisses from Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Tuffnut. He even visibly seemed uncomfortable with the affection the other three men expressed in public with each other, when usually quite happy to watch.
Soon afterwards, the six sat down to privately talk about it, and Snotlout had cried.
Snotlout did not deserve to feel that way because of his father. Hiccup knew this already. But he came out of that talk knowing that Spitelout deserved to die. He was not letting Spitelout get in the way of Snotlout’s happiness.
“How’s Smidvarg and the Gang?” Tuffnut asked, when Hiccup and Toothless landed. “Hey, T,” Tuffnut added. He gave Toothless a pat on the head, who purred happily at the affection.
When Hiccup dismounted Toothless, Tuffnut kissed Hiccup softly on the lips. Hiccup kissed him back, happily.
Hiccup had told the gang he’d be heading to the Edge just to visit with the Night Terrors, which yes, was partially true. Nothing about getting poison dragon tears from Heather, which was hiddenly safely in his saddlebag.
“Oh, they’re doing wonderfully. They were happy to see me. Smidvarg yelled in my ear,” Hiccup said. He then stuck his finger in his ear briefly.
“Well, we’re glad you’re back, we missed you,” Tuffnut said. He patted Hiccup’s butt. “Now, go on. Go kiss the rest of your partners.”
“Sounds good to me!” Hiccup said.
Hiccup absolutely did that.
Hiccup did not use the vial right away. He felt if he did it right away, it would be suspect because he had been gone for a few days.
But every time Spitelout so much as touched Snotlout even slightly roughly or even looked at him in a way Hiccup didn’t like, his fingers itched. He had spent too long watching that man abuse his son.
Within a fortnight, he decided… it was time for Spitelout to die.
He had a plan that had already been put into motion.
While he usually had dinner with the gang in the Great Hall (they got used to eating meals together, having lived together on the Edge), his plan was to have a drink and a meal with Spitelout. Maybe in the Great Hall, maybe alone. The setting was to be decided.
Though he realized, that yes, this might be suspicious because he had an established routine of having dinner with his partners. However, perhaps one could assume that given that it was obvious he had plans to marry the other Riders someday, he was making sure the Riders’ parents were aware of his intentions. That was the pretense for this meal with Spitelout. To inform him that he planned on marrying his son. He planned on speaking with Snotlout’s mother at a much later date after Spitelout’s death in which he would inform her that he planned on marrying her son. He had considered speaking with her before Spitelout, but figured Spitelout would take offense that he had not been consulted first as the man or some other misogynistic nonsense.
He made sure that he was seen having a meal with at least one parent of the rest of the Riders prior to this meeting with Spitelout.
He had a meal with Fishlegs’ mother in the Great Hall, shortly after his return, making his intentions known to her that he planned to marry her son and that he loved Fishlegs quite dearly and ardently. She cried, he cried, they both cried. Fishlegs cried from afar. They made quite the fuss in the Great Hall. He was quite fond of Mrs. Ingerman. She was a lovely woman, mother, and grandmother. And he loved her crab cake recipe.
He had heard rumors that members of the Jorgensons were going to be bludgeoning their own heads for funsies (not his word, Tuffnut’s) later that day, so… hmm. Spitelout could go bludgeon his own head and then… fall asleep and never wake up. They could just blame it on the head trauma.
So.
He found Spitelout in the village about midday and approached.
“Spitelout,” Hiccup said. “I’d like you to have dinner with me in my house.”
“Boyo!” Spitelout exclaimed. “Will your father be there?”
“No, he’ll be having dinner in the Great Hall,” Hiccup said.
“What’s the occasion, boyo?” Spitelout asked.
“Just have dinner with me, please. I’d like to talk about your wonderful son with you,” Hiccup said.
Spitelout let out a noise that sounded like a scoff when Hiccup described Snotlout as “wonderful” and Hiccup took a deep breath, not wanting to immediately strike him down, or say “Toothless, plasma blast!” without thinking about it.
“Alright, boyo, I’ll see you in a few hours,” Spitelout said.
“A few hours,” Hiccup repeated.
Yak stew, bread, mead for Spitelout, and water for Hiccup. The food was all set out and ready when Spitelout arrived, Hiccup’s water was already waiting. Hiccup asked Spitelout whether he would prefer water or mead, and when he got Spitelout’s choice, Hiccup poured the mead and after that, poured the vial’s contents into the cup, all while Spitelout was sitting with his back to their kitchen. He was patting Toothless. A good distraction from a good bud.
He handed Spitelout the cup.
“Aye, boyo, what’s this about?” Spitelout asked as he tore into his bread.
Hiccup took a deep breath. This speech was essentially similar for all the parents he planned to speak with but tailored to each Rider.
“Well, Spitelout, as you know, Snotlout has been a valuable member of my team for many years. My team would not be the same without him. He is protective and loyal and has grown into a sensitive, caring man. And over the course of those years, my affection for him has grown exponentially. I love him, ardently and plan to someday make him my spouse along with the rest of my team, and while I am not speaking on behalf of the other four Riders, but I know they plan the same. And I wanted you aware of my intentions for your son,” Hiccup told him. There was one bit unsaid: “Whether you approve or not.”
Hiccup ate a spoonful of stew and waited.
“Hard to believe my son found someone to love him. Much less five,” Spitelout said, and he took a sip of his mead.
Hiccup took a deep breath. At least Spitelout would be dead soon. But… hearing someone say that, of their own son… that hurt Hiccup deeply. It felt like a gut punch. And he had been punched in the gut before.
He chose to eat his stew in silence. He heard Toothless make a soft noise… that was a growl, yep.
“Disappointing he ended up into being buggered, though,” Spitelout said. “And that the future chief, by wanting to marry three men, is as well.”
Oh, Toothless’ growl was a little louder this time.
Hiccup took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry that you find love disappointing,” Hiccup said, evenly. He ate some more stew and some bread as well.
Spitelout drank some more mead.
“I suppose you’re the reason why my son is in this phase of being interested in men and women, at the same time. Cheating on all his partners, who are all cheating on him,” Spitelout said.
Toothless growled again.
Hiccup took a deep breath.
“You misunderstand what polyamory is. We all love each other; we all know about each other’s individual partnerships. Snotlout is not cheating on anybody, nor is anybody in the Riders. And being attracted to multiple genders is not a phase and I didn’t cause that. It was a facet of himself that he figured out,” Hiccup said.
Spitelout scowled, then shrugged, and continued to eat and drink, as did Hiccup.
Hiccup knew this conversation would not go well, and had not expected it to.
But it was a way to get Spitelout alone, so he would end up drinking poison. And Spitelout had, so at least that part of the plan had gone well.
“So, if I were to go out and fuck some woman that isn’t my wife, would that be okay?” Spitelout asked, after a few long moments of silence.
“No!” Hiccup said, aghast. “Not if you didn’t talk to your wife about that beforehand! Don’t cheat on your wife!”
He couldn’t believe he had to tell this man to not cheat on his wife.
Luckily, Spitelout had finished his stew as well as his bread. Hiccup watched Spitelout as he drank the last of the mug’s contents. Good.
Spitelout stood up, as if to leave.
“I’ll be going then, thanks for the meal, boyo,” Spitelout said.
“Well, I’m happy this went terribly,” Hiccup said.
Hiccup watched Spitelout walk out of his house and shut the door behind him.
One of Hiccup’s first actions after he and Toothless were alone was to grab the vial and the mug, and put the vial inside the mug. And he put the mug near the hearth.
“You know what to do, bud,” Hiccup said.
Toothless fire a small plasma blast that destroyed both the mug and the vial. No evidence.
They had plenty of mugs in their house.
“Good job, bud,” Hiccup said. He patted Toothless’s head. “Let’s go meet with the gang, eh? I want some kisses.”
Toothless licked Hiccup’s nose.
Well.
It was clear that was his target was his nose but he licked Hiccup’s general face area.
“Yes, thank you for that,” Hiccup said, flatly. “I’m sure that will make me very attractive to them.”
The next morning, Hiccup woke up to Tuffnut snuggled next to him, Tuffnut’s hand on his bare chest. Toothless was on his rock bed.
He heard his dad talking to Gobber. Hmm. His dads. That made him smile. He loved his dads. He loved Toothless. He loved Tuffnut.
“In his sleep?” he heard Stoick say.
“Seems like it,” Gobber replied.
Despite being curious to know what they were talking about (though he had a very good idea what it was), he did not move from his spot, as it would mean waking up Tuffnut.
“Is Snotlout here?” he heard Gobber ask.
“I don’t think so? I know Tuffnut went upstairs with Hiccup last night,” Stoick responded.
At that precise moment, Tuffnut said softly, “I heard my name so I’m awake.”
Hiccup looked over at him.
“My dads are talking,” Hiccup whispered. He then pressed a soft, chaste kiss to Tuff’s lips.
“So, you’re eavesdropping,” Tuffnut whispered.
“No, just curious,” Hiccup whispered.
“Still eavesdropping,” Tuffnut whispered.
Hiccup ignored this. Even if it was true. “Where’s my leg?” he asked.
Toothless chose that moment to place Hiccup’s prosthetic on Hiccup’s chest.
“Thanks, bud,” Hiccup said, as he quickly put his prosthetic on and got out of bed, patting Tuffnut’s hip. “Get dressed, Tuff.”
Hiccup handed Tuff’s pants to Tuff.
Hiccup made a show of putting his shirt on and yawning at the top of his stairs.
“What’re you talking about, dads?” Hiccup asked, sleepily. He walked down the stairs. Toothless was definitely following not far behind him.
“Who’s still upstairs?” Stoick asked.
“Me!” Tuffnut exclaimed. He jumped down from the loft, not using the stairs, letting out only a grunt.
“Tuffnut was the only one with me last night once I came back to the house,” Hiccup said. “I assume Snotlout, since I heard you mention him, either went to his parents’ house or went to one of the Riders’ homes.”
Snotlout had gotten in the habit of mostly staying with the gang since their return from the Edge. For obvious reasons.
“Well, Spitelout died in his sleep last night, and obviously, his son needs to be informed,” Stoick said.
Hiccup nodded seriously.
Obviously, he knew that there would be fallout after Spitelout died, and therefore planned for it. He, of course, would be there to comfort Snotlout, with the rest of his and Snotlout’s partners.
“Whoa, Spitelout kicked the bucket?” Tuffnut said.
“Would you like me to collect Snotlout so you can give the news?” Hiccup asked his father.
“Yes, of course,” Stoick told him.
Hiccup grabbed Tuffnut’s hand, and said, “Come on.”
As Ruffnut and Astrid were standing at the steps of the Great Hall clearly waiting for them, that answered Hiccup’s question that Snotlout probably stayed with Fishlegs overnight. The ladies were holding hands.
“There’s a rumor going around that Spitelout died overnight?” Astrid asked. She let out a yawn before she said this.
“It’s true,” Hiccup said. “My dad wants me to get Snotlout so he can give him the news, given that Snotlout wasn’t at the Jorgenson’s. I assume he’s with Fishlegs?”
“Yeah, they left before we did,” Ruffnut said.
“Let’s go get ‘em and bring ‘em to my house so Stoick can give him the news privately,” Hiccup said. “And he has our support and comfort.”
They had all done such a beautiful job when his own father had been unwell after the ambush by the Flyers. They were so comforting, and they stayed by his side. He would never forget their loyalty.
And he intended to reciprocate that loyalty to Snotlout. This was about his love for Snotlout. Not about Spitelout.
He did not feel guilt for Spitelout’s death. The man deserved to die for abusing Snotlout.
The four of them went to Fishlegs’ home, retrieved Snotlout and Fishlegs, and headed back to Hiccup’s house. Hiccup held Snotlout’s hand the entire way back.
When they returned to Hiccup’s house, everyone sat near Snotlout, five different hands held onto his two.
Snotlout sat in between Fishlegs and Hiccup. Stoick and Gobber sat across from them.
“What’s going on?” Snotlout asked. “Why are we meeting with the Chief and Gobber? It’s a little early in the day to be having ‘I want to marry your kid’ dinners. And I figured we would all tell Hiccup’s dads one at a time.”
Stoick cleared his throat.
“That’s not why we’ve asked you here, Snotlout,” Stoick said, breezing past Snotlout’s comments. It was not appropriate to talk about at the moment. On another day.
With Snotlout’s hands both occupied, Stoick reached out and touched Snotlout’s arm about midway to his elbow.
“It is my sad duty to inform you, Snotlout Jorgenson, that your father, Spitelout Jorgenson, died overnight in his sleep,” Stoick said.
Snotlout gasped.
“W-what?” Snotlout asked. “He’s only forty-six. How could he die?”
Stoick sighed gently.
“Lad, we know that he bludgeoned his own head for fun yesterday evening. It’s possible that accidentally killed him,” Stoick said. “I’m so sorry. He was a great warrior.”
Hiccup could agree with that. Spitelout was a great warrior.
At least Stoick didn’t say some nonsense about how Spitelout was a great person or a great father. That would be lies. Spitelout was neither of those things. An abuser is not a great person or a great father.
“Oh, Snotlout, I’m so sorry,” Fishlegs said softly.
“We’re here for you,” Hiccup whispered. Hiccup squeezed Snotlout’s hand.
Astrid and the twins, who were seated on the floor, echoed those sentiments, also squeezing his hands.
Snotlout sniffled. He then sighed and chuckled awkwardly.
“He would have disapproved of me crying,” Snotlout said. “Would have called it weak. But it’s all I want to do.”
“You’re allowed to cry, Snotlout,” Astrid said, softly.
They had allowed him to cry freely many times including that private meeting that lead to this moment. It was not necessary for Hiccup or any of the other Riders to second Astrid’s sentiments.
“Aye, let it out, lad,” Stoick said. “Crying is not weak.”
Snotlout nodded tearfully.
And from there, the tears fell.
And perhaps, Spitelout may have disapproved of Snotlout crying, but the people sitting with him, certainly did not, even if all they could say of the deceased was that he was a great warrior.
Snotlout had once said he did not have a heart, because he was not a girl, but that was almost certainly toxic nonsense Spitelout had taught him. Snotlout did have a heart; it had allowed him to love a dragon and bond with him deeply and profoundly and had allowed him to fall in love with five of his closest friends.
They sat with him, their hands on him, a constant reminder that they were here with him and not planning on leaving him alone.
When Snotlout had finished crying, he asked, “Where’s my mother?”
“With members of the Jorgensons,” Gobber said.
Snotlout nodded.
“I should probably go be with my mom,” Snotlout said. He sniffled.
“We’ll go with you,” Hiccup said, quickly.
Hiccup squeezed Snotlout’s hand.
“We’re your family,” Fishlegs added.
Hiccup, Astrid, and the twins indicated their agreement on this point.
“Aye, if the Jorgensons need anything, do not hesitate to ask,” Stoick spoke up.
Snotlout nodded, sniffling.
So, the gang stayed with Snotlout during that day at the Jorgenson house. Fishlegs cooked in the kitchen so that Snotlout’s mother could sit with her son while various Jorgensons talked about Spitelout. The gang stayed close to Snotlout and his mother. Stoick even came by as part of his chiefly duties. Hiccup, realizing, that this was part of the duties that would one day (hopefully, a long time away) be his, paid attention to the way his father handled those duties.
Hiccup resisted the urge to go into the room where the family had placed Spitelout’s corpse and go say something to the man’s corpse.
But then Stoick called Hiccup’s name and gestured for him to come over to him. Hiccup took a deep breath.
“Stay with Snotlout,” he told the gang, as he got up.
“Yes?” Hiccup said, softly, upon reaching his father.
“One of the duties as Chief includes visiting with the deceased member of the tribe,” Stoick said, as the two walked towards a room.
“Oh,” Hiccup said.
Well. Hiccup supposed making sure Spitelout was actually dead would be a good idea.
They soon stood in front of Spitelout’s corpse. The poison tears did their work. It was not apparent how the man died. Maybe his heart gave out, maybe blunt force trauma. His body was still. A relief. He would never again lay a hand on Snotlout or say something ugly to him.
His father said some funeral-type words to the body. Hiccup didn’t quite pay attention to the words. He knew the funerary prayers of his tribe by heart. It was probably one of them.
“Would you like to say something to Spitelout?” Stoick asked him, softly.
“Uh,” Hiccup said. He took a deep breath.
“Your son is safe with me,” Hiccup said. In his head, he was thinking, “And safe from you. You can’t hurt Snotlout anymore.”
And when Hiccup stood by Berk’s shores as they watched Spitelout’s funeral ship burn him to ashes, he thought the same thing.
#how to train your dragon#ashleybenlove fanfic#hiccup#spitelout#snotlout#fanfic#Hiccup and the Gang#astrid#fishlegs#ruffnut#tuffnut#ot6: we’re fast we’re fearless and we ride dragons#ot6: where hiccup goes we go#toothless#hiccup and toothless#otp: we can do this. you and me. as one.#stoick#gobber#major character death#character death#homophobia#biphobia#abuse mention#poison#abusive parents cw#polyphobia#misogyny
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@sleepytv said: 😡😡 🤬 🤬 two of each. Lemme hear it baby
Unpopular Opinions, IRL and RPC Edition || Open!
[RPC/FANFICS/FANDOM 😡
You already get all my salt so it’s probably gonna be rehashing ;P
1. BUT we’ll start off hot. First one: Purity culture in the rpc.
Listen. Roleplaying is fiction. Roleplaying is writing fiction. What happens within a roleplay is just like writing say a fictional book and does not necessarily mean the writer condones it. I grew up reading Stephen King and shit okay, and I don’t believe he condones shit like murder, kidnapping, torture, or an other foul thing he’s written his fictional characters doing. The other thing is...this shit happens in real life. Not to downplay these bad things but murder happens. Cheating happens. bad things happen and people do bad things. Some of them enjoy. And there are characters that would do awful shit like murdering, cheating, torturing, etc. This does not mean the writer condones these actions in real life or supports them. I have characters that have and will murder for fucking funsies, but my ass is livid about current news in Georgia (I won’t go into it here but it’s fucking sick).
Basically, if you don’t like darker themes, don’t read/write them. And it is not your place to attack people that DO write these things. Like unless you have solid evidence that they support it in real life and it could be a hazard to actual people, you have no more business than unfollowing that person and moving on with your life.
2. This goes for just Dragonball fandom/the writing of it. The fucking trope that every husband (with the exception of Gohan as far as I’ve seen) is afraid of his wife. Like it is the most annoying thing because I’m sorry. Vegeta would not be afraid of Bulma FOR SURE. Goku has no reason to be afraid of Chi-Chi. And same with Krillin and 18. And everyone loves these ships and condones this and I’m sitting over here like, no that’s toxic. If that’s how they feel, it’s just a toxic relationship and not a loving one that the show, fanfics, and the fandom try to push. It is not the women being strong-willed and it is not the men “respecting” their wives. It just kills the relationships as a whole and invalidates them more than they already are.
Real Life Things 🤬
1. I’m tired of all the essential worker commercials and also the ones that are like “I KNOW THIS IS A REALLY TOUGH TIME NOW BUT COME BUY A CAR FROM US” and whatnot. Like stop calling me essential and making it sound like all of us that are forced to work want to endanger our lives so you can come to the store or some other bs you don’t need to do. Capitalism is shit.
2. I’m sick of seeing Tiger King everywhere. I didn’t watch it, I never plan to watch it, but from what I read that bastard deserves to be in fucking jail.]
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🔥 villains. 🔥 the hellfire club 🔥the difference between naive and unintelligent characters
Welp, this all got STUPIDLY LONG and I’m really sorry. Under a cut because HUUUUUGE.
🔥 villains.There’s just been a robbery! All the jewels in the museum’s vault have been stolen! The culprits are….Sabretooth and Magneto!Yeah, that doesn’t sound right, does it? Thievery isn’t really something either of them do, they’re not bank robber or cat burglar types at all. And Magneto’s not a fan of Sabes to my memory, it’s unlikely he’d work with him unless it was essential to his ACTUAL goals…which this isn’t. But hey, they’re both bad guys, so they must do ALL the bad things! No matter what it is, it’s in-character if it’s evil or unlawful, right?This is the logic that I see running both often in fandom, and also sometimes with canon writers. There’s a mentality that if someone is villainous or bad in ONE way, then they must be villainous or bad in ALL ways. I think there’s always been this misunderstanding, as people do tend to think in black and white a lot, but I think it’s also increased with the rise of purity culture in Tumblr, where people/characters/works are All Good or All Bad, and if the bad guys aren’t depicted as 1000% heinously evil then it’s APOLOGISM. An example in RP would be that more than once I’d had people expect Fabian to be a racist. I can see why, given that he expresses sexism, classism, a bit of ableism, and disgust with physical mutations. But not only does he never express racism, he never expresses racism DESPITE AMPLE OPPORTUNITY. Think about it—his main antagonists are Magneto (Jewish) and Quicksilver (Jewish and Romani), he once personally fights Bishop (Black and Indigenous Australian) one on one, he’s on one team with Shinobi (half white, half Japanese), and his allies/underlings in the second-gen Acolytes included people who are African American, Moroccan (and Muslim-coded), and Inuit. And he never, ever, EVER even THOUGHT anything related to race (or religions that are usually implicitly tied to race) about ANY of them. Given how blatant his other prejudices are, I think he would very much let the reader KNOW if he were racist, anti-Semitic, etc. An example in canon…look, I’m sorry to bring up this dead horse again, but it is the best example that I presently have—Sebastian Shaw making the “women’s work” comment. As with Fabian, I get why it makes sense on the surface. He’s a powerful man, the proverbial rich old white guy, and he’s part of an organization where women walk around in lingerie as a general rule. It seems like it makes sense, it does, I grant that. But then if you actually look at his history…for 40 years of canon, he’s been allies and enemies with many powerful women, and never made a remark about their gender, never relegated lesser or menial tasks to them, never treated any of them differently as partners or foes, he actually never even flirts with any of them, be they opponents or partners in crime (except that ONE issue when Emma is in Storm’s body and he kisses her…yeah that was a weird issue, why does a telepath need a gun to switch bodies?) Which is pretty unusual for a male Claremont villain. And he actually reacts with “I…see.” the one time a comrade makes a genuinely sexist remark. He doesn’t agree with him, he’s more like “wow ok I can’t believe he said that but I guess I’ll let it go since I want to recruit him” So, it’s actually VERY odd for him to suddenly say something like that, once you know the character. Especially since, like Fabian, he had TONS of opportunity in the past and he’s also not a character that most writers want to seem sympathetic or likeable. So it’s unlikely the writers were just trying to make him look good by playing down some secret sexist tendencies all this time or something. It’s more likely he just doesn’t have them BUT IS STILL A HORRIBLE PERSON! He just doesn’t need to be horrible in every way! Most people, even the MOST terrible, aren’t horrible in EVERY WAY POSSIBLE.That’s also why I try to avoid having Fabian being too homophobic (beyond “I can convert lesbians”) or transphobic, despite the fact that I *could* justify it (since those things are very intertwined with sexism)—because he’s awful enough. Giving him additional bigotries just seems stupidly redundant and cheap. Especially since I think people actually hate a bigoted character more than they hate a murderer; like I feel like if Duggan ever graduates to Shaw making a racist or homophobic remark, I might have to close his blog, but it’s fine to have blogs for fictional serial killers. By the same token, a villain having good traits doesn’t somehow eliminate their bad ones, especially if the good and bad traits are unrelated to each other. A mass murderer supervillain is not “actually a good guy deep down” because he loves his family; it’s actually VERY common for even genocidal dictators to care for their own. Hell, not to go all Godwin, but Hitler was an animal-lover and had a beloved dog. You can certainly point to good traits to show that a villain isn’t ALL bad (which as I just said, I support) but not being “all bad” isn’t the same as “actually a good person and just misunderstood!” Like, Shaw being an egalitarian in a lot of regards or was good to Madelyne Pryor or loved his father, doesn’t change he’s a heartless, morally bankrupt monster who abused his son and sold out an entire oppressed species (his own, no less) for his own financial gain. Mystique is an incredibly complex character, far more so than Shaw, but her love for Destiny and Rogue and many of her other good points don’t change that she hunted down other mutants for the government, abused her human son for not being a mutant, has committed rape by deception numerous times (though I think that’s due to the writers not realizing that’s a thing), constantly tries to manipulate her daughter’s life and choices, and I’m pretty sure I recall an issue where she framed a guy for domestic abuse just for funsies?Basically, villains are people. They have individual different traits and beliefs and motives, and those things will drive them towards individual different types of villainy. One villain probably won’t do the same kind of villainy that another does. Likewise, someone being a shitty person in one way, or many ways, doesn’t mean they will be in ALL ways. Pointing this out isn’t the same thing as denying their flaws or defending them, but some people do do this and that’s wrong too. Nuance needs to be allowed for. Pointing out Shaw isn’t awful in every way doesn’t mean I think he’s a misunderstood woobie whose crimes should all be forgiven. Pointing out Mystique has done awful shit doesn’t mean I think she’s pure evil and all her complex points should be ignored. It just means I don’t think characters should be strawmanned by fans OR writers as paragons or demons, especially when it contradicts what canon has actually established (with the caveat that canon is dumb sometimes too, and also some characters canonically ARE one extreme or the other, but I’m talking about ones who AREN’T)🔥 the hellfire clubI’ll give two on this! One is “unpopular” just in the sense it’s not something I’ve ever heard anyone express, but I’ve never heard an opinion in opposition to it either. The other is “unpopular” in that it does directly contradict a popularly held opinion.The first is that I think it’s stupid that Grant Morrisson made The Hellfire Club into a strip club, and it’s stupid that writers since depicted it this way. The Hellfire Club is shown in the 80s and 90s as being, first and foremost, an elite social club for the wealthiest and most powerful people in society. It’s basically a big posh country club, and most of its members are just regular people. Super duper rich people, but still normal people, lots of old money and new money and big business owners and politicians and probably royalty/nobility. Most of what they’re doing is big fancy, stuffy galas and balls, that kind of thing. But under the surface, it’s hinted that there is indeed a much more sexual underside to it. The female staff wear very fetishy maid costumes, the female Inner Circles literally have dominatrix lingerie as their getups, and while we actually never see what goes on beyond the closed doors in the 80s, nor was anything directly stated, the hints are definitely there that it’s as libertine in the private rooms as they are prim and proper in the ballrooms. We don’t know WHAT exactly is happening, only that it’s dark and decadent and surely sexual in some kind of “abnormal” (read: kink shaming) way.And then it turns out it’s just a strip club where the dancers wear corsets? Really? REALLY? I’m sorry, you expect me to belief that these oh-so-forbidden and secretive sexual delights that are available only to the richest and most powerful people in the world are…a TITTY BAR WITH NO ACTUAL TITTIES EVEN OUT???? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! It’s so fucking juvenile! It feels like something a 13 year old made up while trying to come up with the mos edgy, shocking, “sexy” thing he could. It just…doesn’t work. It doesn’t work firstly because it completely took away the whole “upper class veneer” that is as much an essential part of the HFC as the sex. In fact, I think more so. Writers, artists, and fans all like to focus on ZOMG THE SEXY COSTUMES but thematically speaking, I think the fact it’s an elite organization exclusive to the super-wealthy is much more important; that should be what they’re really about as villains, but writers end up focusing way too much on the shock value of the kink, and that’s how you wind up with stuff like this. The second reason it doesn’t work is that…it isn’t even shocking. When what they were doing was kept hidden, the reader could imagine no limit of decadence and depravity. When it’s revealed, and revealed as something that’s frankly super and common and TAME (seriously, strip clubs aren’t edgy these days) that you can get anywhere else, you’re left wondering why exactly anyone gives a shit about being in the HFC if this is all it really is? We should NEVER get to see what the HFC patrons truly do in private, and we should definitely never get shown that it’s just watching a woman pole dance with Victorian underwear on. That doesn’t make the HFC look sexual, it makes them look like PRUDES!Honestly, I do actually love the sexy sinful decadent aspect, but it’s overtaken the “extremely rich and powerful people trying to rule the world from behind the scenes through political and economic manipulation” aspect (which is far more interesting and villainous) that I kind of wish sometimes they had been created without the kink or colonial cosplay aspects, and instead had just worn some 80s powersuits.Now, here’s the “unpopular as in contradicts the popular” opinion. I see the Hellfire Club described a lot, in canon and fandom, as an organization of powerful MEN, as a bunch of MEN who just want to control others, as a BOY’S club…but aside from Sebastian Shaw, all the most prominent and effective members of the Club have been women? I mean, think about it. The names most synonymous with “Hellfire Club” in fandom are Emma Frost, Selene, Jean Grey as Dark Phoenix, and Sebastian Shaw. Shaw’s the ONLY dude that really gets any focus from writers OR fans; the women are almost always utilized more by writers and remembered more by fans. Heck, in the London Branch of the Hellfire Club, NONE of the male members of the Inner Circle even got NAMES, while ALL the women did. Now, of course, individual women in an organization being successful in said organization and beloved by fans/writers, doesn’t mean the organization itself can’t also be sexist. And like most people, the disparity between the costumes of both the Inner Circle and the mere staff does lead me to believe that it was probably founded and run only by men originally, and I bet women probably weren’t even allowed in for a long time (especially given that it was established in the 1700s) But that’s my HEADCANON. That’s what I EXTRAPOLATE. But what’s actually on the page IN THE PRESENT is women that are on equal footing with men, or superior to them. They’re not just simply ALLOWED in the Inner Circle, they’ve been dominating it from the first appearance with Emma ruling it alongside Shaw over Leland and Pierce, and then Selene coming in to challenge Shaw and Emma (with Shaw being terrified of her) in a way that none of the other members (all male—Leland, Pierce, Von Roehm) could. Gender is never brought up by anyone, even the most despicable male HFC members like Donald Pierce. So while I believe it was founded by sexist men, the Inner Circle seems pretty egalitarian now.But of course, there’s the costumes. I absolutely think it’s a sexist setup that the men get to wear (super ugly) period cosplay while the women are in fetish lingerie. It seems to be the standard uniform, and the fact that they haven’t CHANGED it shows that there’s definitely still some sexism.Except…it doesn’t seem to be a rule in-universe that the women HAVE to wear them? We actually see female members of the HFC, such as Selene, wearing clothing other than that while hanging out there; there’s actually a scene wear Selene is wearing pants and a sleeveless turtleneck with gloves. Maddy also wears a lot of black leather when she’s a member, but it doesn’t look like the Hellfire Club ladies getup, it looks like all the other stuff she was wearing in the 90s. And when Selene, Emma, etc., AREN’T in the Hellfire Club…they often still dress exactly like that, or in a similiar manner. I think it’s pretty clear that no one is MAKING them wear the uniforms, they just LIKE them, they’re probably “encouraged but optional” or something like that. And Emma even has that WHOLE DAMN SPEECH about how this is her armor, how it empowers her, etc. That said, while I don’t think any other CHARACTERS are making these women dress like that, I do think the writers/artists are. If a real woman made the speech that Emma did, I’d be like “ok sure, you go girl, do what feels empowering for you”. But Emma ISN’T a real woman. Every word in her mouth in that panel is being put there by Chris Claremont, a horny man with a dominatrix fetish who is trying to justify it by selling it as feminist. That is what it is. But just because that’s the case on a meta level…on an in-universe level, no one makes these women dress like this, and that’s very evident, and while the way they’re treated by writers/artists is definitely affected by them being women, the way other characters, including the Hellfire Club men, treats them, isn’t. At least not til shitty recent stuff. (I’ve seen some people think SHAW made the women dress like that….yeah, sure, like he could make SELENE do anything? He’s completely afraid of her but somehow can make her wear something she doesn’t want? Emma and Selene dress like that no matter where they are and whether they’re presently HFC members or not, but somehow he’s making them do that? HOW DOES ANYONE GIVE THIS GUY THAT MUCH CREDIT?)Basically, I think people are TRYING to be feminist, but it often ends up feeling like SEXISM to me? Because it’s totally ignoring and erasing the power and agency that these women exert in this organization, and often even claiming that it’s actually the men who have all the control, when aside from Shaw it’s usually the ladies running the show. It just seems disrespectful to me. It’s like, as much as people are claiming to hate a lack of agency for female characters, they seem more comfortable with that idea than a situation where women actually HAD it. Maybe it’s because they’re villains, maybe it’s because the costumes really are distracting and unequal no matter how the writers try to justify it (again, I wish they’d just gone with business suits), but there seems to be an overall fandom determination to insist on women like Emma Frost and Selene as victims or simply accomplices to a greater (male) villain, rather than embracing them as the Top Tier Bad Bitches they were/are, and, again, that seems more sexist to me than not. But I worry people will think I’m sexist if I say that. But you know me, you know I LOVE agency for female characters, and how I rail against it when see them ACTUALLY lacking it in comics, so you know it’s not that. I think it’s just a part of the rise in purity culture that even “progressive” people would rather see a woman forced or coerced to be a victim than choose of her own volition to be a villain and be GOOD at it :/🔥the difference between naive and unintelligent charactersWell, firstly, obviously there IS a difference. Naivete is just a lack of experience or learned knowledge, neither of which has anything to do with intelligence. A naive character may make mistakes in a new situation based on their lack of knowledge about it, and that may LOOK stupid to those who have this knowledge, but it’s not the same thing. I think we can agree that, say, Tony Stark isn’t stupid, but if he had to navigate in the wilderness, he might do things that experienced hikers and campers and outdoors people know are SUPER BAD IDEAS. Because this isn’t something he knows about or has experience with.So, I think considering characters who are new to this world (as is common in comics—lots of people from other dimensions, planets, and times) as stupid because they don’t know a lot of things we take as a given, is erroneous. I think it’s pretty common for fandom to look at, say, Longshot or Thor, and deem them as basically being idiots because they’re not familiar with their new environments…when in fact, we’d all be acting the same if we wound up in Asgard or Mojoworld. Not that there’s not other reasons they can’t be idiots, but not knowing what a toaster is isn’t one of them.The big difference is that naivete is a temporary state, and I think both writers and fans forget that. The character’s naivete will gradually decrease as they learn more and more. So if you’re writing an Avengers fic where Thor has been on Earth for five years so far, he probably knows what a toaster is, can order normally at a restaurant, isn’t confused by normal sights like cars or traffic lights or computers, etc., but could still be confused if he went to a Midgardian country with very different cultural norms than the ones he’s learned in the United States. Likewise, I can keep Malcolm perpetually baffled by new worlds in RP since time is kinda wobbly here and can be static or move forward or back as we like, but if I were writing him in a linear story, he would have to learn along the way about the technology and norms of other worlds as he experiences them; if he didn’t learn, THEN he would be unintelligent, not just naive. If he touches a hot stove once because he didn’t know what it was, and it burns him, that’s naive. If he touches it twice to test if it does the same thing again, that’s curious and maybe even smart, despite looking stupid to others. If he keeps doing it every day by accident, then THAT’S an idiot. Also, even a naive character may still be able to deduce that certain things are bad ideas, dangerous, etc. For instance, let’s say my character is a normal everyday girl sucked into a fantasy realm. She doesn’t understand the language, and the people around her don’t look like anything humanoid, but when all of them go quiet and still when a larger, more decorated one enters, and they all give it a lot of space, she can probably deduce that this is someone of great importance, and she probably should do what the others are doing and not risk pissing it off. She may know nothing about these beings or their customs, but she still can use her powers of observation and common sense. It may end up being a TOTALLY wrong move—for instance, maybe newcomers are meant to come introduce themselves to the leader by touching them–but it was a good, sensible guess. Whereas if she’d just walked up to the being and given it a good swift kick, that’d be unintelligent to an almost unbelievable point, and no amount of “she’s just naive!” could excuse it.Oh yeah, and optimism doesn’t automatically equate to naivete either. To be honest, I think that extreme cynicism is just as naive in its own way as thinking everything is sunshine and daisies, and I’d like to see this explored more in fiction rather than the perpetual “happy positive people are dumb and naive and just don’t know better, whereas the grumpy cynics are always smarter and more experienced” that media is so fond of.TL;DR Not only is naivete not unintelligence, it also should be a temporary state. It’s definitely cute to watch a naive character stumble around their new experiences, but in gaining those experiences, they’re going to become less naive, and make few mistakes. Naive characters should also still be capable of acting in ways that are sensible, even if they end up being wrong for the new situation. And being positive doesn’t automatically equate naivete either, nor does negativity equate to the reverse (and can be naive in itself)
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Potentially Unpopular Opinion Alert
Hot Take™, but calling people that refer to Lucio as Montag transphobic solely because they don’t agree with your headcanons about why he changed his name is trivializing actual transphobia.
This isn’t the same as misgendering Nazali, Vulgora, Valdemar, or Asra, because all of those characters are canonically nonbinary. This isn’t the same as deadnaming any of those characters if they had a canonical deadname. That would be transphobic.
There is a culture in fandom of people accusing anyone who disagrees with their headcanons bigots because it puts them in a position of moral superiority and shields them to a certain extent from criticism because people don’t want to appear as anything less than morally pure. But unless someone is actually misgendering/deadnaming a character, they aren’t transphobic solely because they interpret a fictional character differently than you do. It just comes across to me as fake outrage.
Bottom line, if you can forgive Lucio for:
Killing his father and attempting to kill his mother because he didn’t get what he wanted for his 18th birthday
Enslaving Muriel and forcing him to act as his executioner and turning him into a spectacle
Telling Asra he had his parents put to death just for funsies
Throwing an artist in the dungeons over artistic differences
Killing a mayor for no other reason than being “unfriendly”
Extorting the people of Nopal for their cactus crop
Setting people on fire for disagreeing with him
Then you can forgive someone who doesn’t forgive Lucio for those things, right?
I think Lucio is an amazing, complex, interesting character. I think he’s a compelling villain. But I don’t see him as being a sympathetic victim, and even if it’s revealed that he is, I still don’t feel that it justifies or explains away all the terrible things he’s done.
tl;dr: Just because someone disagrees with your interpretations/headcanons about a fictional character, does not automatically mean they’re a bigot. Please fandom responsibly.
Thank you for coming to my TEDTalk.
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5, 17, 21, 22!
Hey Dani darling! Thanks for these!!
5. do you think of yourself as a human being or a human doing? do you identify yourself by the things you do?
LOL the way that question is phrased made me chuckle. So this might seem like a cop out, but I am a doing being, so both. I identify with my hobbies, or the things I do- I train brazilian jiu jitsu, so i am a fighter, I write, so i am a writer. I enjoy making cookies and the like, so I am a baker. But I also identify strongly with the things that make me ME: I friend HARD, I love HARD, I work HARD (at things that are worth the hard work, i.e. my goals, not my day job) so there. It wasn’t a cop out after all.
17. would you say your tumblr is a fair representation of the “real you”?
For the most part? Yeah, I think so. Truth is, I’m a big ‘ole nerd who likes music and writing. I say what I mean and I mean what I say, so I only post things that I stand behind. I can be blunt sometimes (I’m from Jersey, whaddayawant from me, huh?) but I always mean well (unless you piss me off or fuck with someone I care about. Then you should be very afraid. My triangle choke is no joke nor are my verbal assaults.) Music is really important to me so sorry, not sorry about the number of audio posts that I share. I’m pretty much an open book with no shame, so if there’s something you want to know or comment on just ask. I swear I’m only scary if you cross me. ;)
21. do you love easily?
No, but I love deeply.
22. list the top five things you spend the most time doing, in order.
1- Writing. Whether its emails or contracts for my day job, blog or marketing posts for my side hustle, or creative work for funsies, I spend a LARGE chunk of my day slamming words together. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Even contract writing, while sometimes boring, can be interesting, because I have to think about every aspect of the job I’m contracting: what are the loop holes I need to close off? How can this point be misunderstood, etc.
2- Reading. Be it the wonderfully written fics that are shared here in this lovely fandom, informative blogs that I enjoy, or books that I can escape into or learn from, numero dos is reading.
3- Training. I’m JUST coming back from surgery, so my training schedule isn’t quite in full force yet, but when I’m in competition mode I train at least 9 times a week. My goal is to compete in some local tournaments in the next year or so, with a five year goal of getting a slot on the under card of a pro-fight.
4- Dog walking. My dog is an Alaskan Husky. They are the iditarod sled dog of choice. (Think Balto and getting the serum to Gnome.) He can literally go for 40 miles a day if I let him, but on average we do about 4 miles. He’s like, the bees knees though so I thoroughly enjoy my dog walks.
5- Cooking. Hubs and I both work two jobs, but both of his require longer, more physical hours, so most of the food responsibilities fall to me. He’s 110% the better cook, although in the last few months I’ve gotten my kitchen incidents down to 0, so I’m getting better! I don’t mind cooking, and I LOVE baking. I am gluten and dairy free for health reasons, so I enjoy the extra challenge of substituting ingredients, and enjoy learning and experimenting with food.
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