#however I feel like I’m learning a lot more doing things traditionally

[emthelibra]

I’m honestly shocked getting back into traditional art has completely consumed me the way it has. I just hope I don’t burn myself out and get art block

[thewickedmerman]

My Top 10 Favorite Disney Heroines

Okay, so I've recently been having some issues with making videos and until I can sort it out, I can't really get any new clips for videos. So that makes it harder for me to be able to talk about certain topics I want to discuss on YouTube. However, I really want to talk about this so I decided to make a post here on Tumblr and when I have my technical issues sorted out, I'll post a YouTube version. However, since I'm not playing a character on Tumblr, that means that this won't include my signature merfolk language like "mermazing", "What the Tartarus", or "Dear sweet Poseidon." But you can expect that in my video when I sort out my technical issues.

Anyway, I’ve been criticizing Disney quite a bit lately and while that’s been both fun and therapeutic, I’m still a MASSIVE fan of Disney and would like to talk about something great from them. Since one of my more recent videos where I fixed Disney’s adorkable problem has gotten popular, I figured I would talk about my top 10 favorite Disney heroines. Now lets establish the guidelines. I will only be talking about Disney’s animated heroines, I will only be including characters from their animated movies so that means no TV show heroines like Kim Possible will be included, and I won’t be including characters from properties that Disney has bought. So that means that characters like Anastasia/Anya from Anastasia won’t be included, otherwise she would be in my top 3. Why? Because apart from putting them on DisneyPlus, Disney hasn’t done anything to promote or profit off of these movies so it’s hard to consider them to be actual Disney movies. It’s why I still don’t consider movies like Anastasia to be Disney movies.

But other than that, I will have free range in what heroines make my list. So that means Pixar and Disney sequel heroines will be included. Keep in mind that this will be heavily bias, since this is obviously my opinion. So your favorites aren’t necessarily my favorites and vise versa. Feel free to share your favorites and your thoughts on my list. Just don’t be an asshole about it! Now without any further delay, lets dive right on it.

10. Lilo (Lilo and Stitch Franchise)

This is definitely one of the BEST child characters EVER and I don’t just mean from Disney. She’s weird, eccentric, emotional, she gets into fights, she’s sweet, charming, hilarious, clever, adventurous, sassy, and is just the most entertaining part of her movie. And considering the cast of characters in this franchise, that’s saying A LOT. I love how she is into unconventional things that a girl her age typically isn’t into. It’s great rep for those of us who were the weird kid growing up. I mean, while I wasn’t into the things she was into, being a boy who was, and still is, into traditionally feminine things made me a bit of an outcast growing up. Speaking of great rep, many have said that Lilo is autistic-coded, and while this hasn’t been confirmed by either the original creators or Disney, I definitely can get behind it. Speaking as someone who is autistic, I definitely remember having similar behaviors to Lilo at that age. Not entirely because everyone with autism is different. Me and my wife (@keeloves) are both autistic but we have different sensory issues from each other and behaved differently from each other as kids but still saw ourselves in Lilo. My wife particularly sees herself in Lilo, due to being a brown autistic woman, which you don’t get a lot of rep with in media.

But anyway, even if I didn’t connect to Lilo because of my autism, I would still adore her, especially since I didn’t learn I was autistic until I was a senior in high school and I still grew up loving Lilo. She has a creative way of doing things and it helps her stand out from a lot of heroines. Even heroines that are allegedly supposed to be more unique and break the mold like Mirabel from Encanto, can’t hold a candle to Lilo’s uniqueness. She has a style that’s all her own and that’s what makes her the perfect friend for Stitch, along with her immense generosity. Many have said Lilo means lost in Hawaiian but it can also mean generous one, which perfectly describes Lilo, due to her not only being lonely, but also her generous heart that managed to break through to Stitch. However, she has her limits and when pushed too far will come at you hard. I also relate to her loneliness as someone who has a hard time both making friends and maintaining friendships. She also has some of the best lines in the movie. Her personality continues to shine in the other forms of media she appears in and you can’t have a Lilo and Stitch product without her because she’s the heart of the franchise. Yes, I’m aware of those stupid shows that don’t have Lilo and I don’t plan on watching them. They don’t exist!

9. Jane (Return to Neverland) and Raya (Raya and the Last Dragon)

Hey, I never said that I wouldn’t have ties on my list. Don’t worry, this will be the only tie on this list. But to keep it organized, I will be talking about each of these characters individually before I talk about why I can’t decide who I love more.

Starting with Jane, she’s a character who isn’t like most Disney heroines that are adventurous and dream of something more. Instead, she’s a young girl who is living during wartime and is just trying to survive and do what she can to take care of her family. She’s the daughter of Wendy from the original Peter Pan but the two couldn’t be more different. Whereas Wendy is a soft-spoken optimist who is full of childlike wonder, Jane is a practical pessimist with a sharp tongue that has become jaded due to her situation. This gives her more of an arc with her story compared to her mother, who is by no means a bad character. This helps her stand out among all the Disney sequel children who tend to share their parents personality traits. I love how they don’t have Jane just be a stick in the mud for no reason. She has an understandable reason for why she is the way that she is and I think people tend to overlook that because she’s so different from the heroines that we’re used to seeing from Disney. She had to grow up fast due to her experiences and she longs for her childhood days when she could believe in things like Peter Pan, Neverland, and pixie dust. However, she knows she has to be strong but she also needs to learn to regain some of her childhood wonder to help get her through the hard times. I honestly love her relationship with Peter Pan. Not only do they have amazing chemistry, but I love how unlike the female characters in the previous movies, who tend to fawn all over him and boost his ego, Jane deflates his ego, helps him mature a bit, and calls out his behavior. I love that even if she’s not as snarky as characters like Megara that Jane is still snarky. But she also has a loving side and can be taken in by the beauty of Neverland when she’s being shown Neverland. I honestly see a lot of myself in Jane and I loved seeing her growth as a character. She’s such a complex character and she’s just a child. She’s the best thing to come out of the Peter Pan franchise. Yes, even better than Tinkerbell and I love how she calls out Tinkerbell as well.

Now we move on to Raya. For those of you who have seen my video about fixing Disney’s adorkable problem, I mentioned that Raya is one of the few heroines of the revival era that doesn’t have an adorkable personality, making her one of the more unique characters of the era. Unlike the bubbly, optimistic, quirky, and over-the-top heroines of the era, Raya is mature, snarky, pessimistic, cheeky, serious, and jaded. This is a character type that is not only unique for this era of Disney but is also a rare type of character from Disney in general. I love that she’s not so optimistic and bubbly but can still be sweet and caring towards the ones she loves. Also, speaking as someone who has trust issues, I do relate to Raya and her journey with her distrust of people. She’s been hurt and when she trusted someone, the world ended up broken because of it. So her trying to save the world isn’t about trying to help the world but to help her kingdom and bring her father back. On the one hand it’s selfless for her to do this for her people but on the other hand, she’s selfish for not caring about the rest of the world but it makes sense because of her experiences and trust issues. I also love how she’s a bit xenophobic but she slowly starts to let down her walls and trust others from different clans. I love characters that are relatable but also have a lesson they have to learn that helps them grow as people and Raya definitely fits the bill. I also love how unlike other heroines, who are great with kids and babies, she was very awkward when interacting with Noi at first. It shows that not everyone is great with kids and it’s something that can be learned. It also shows her growth with how she’s able to let herself have connections with others. But she’s also a badass of a fighter! The woman has moves! But I love that there’s more to her than just her physical strength. I love her snarky and jaded personality and her journey. Plus, it's unique how she's a Disney Princess who wasn't wanting more out of life but rather wanted to the life she used to have back. Not to mention how she was the closed-minded one while her father was the open-minded one. I also love how became one of the few Disney protagonists that are willing to kill. Granted, she didn’t do it but she was willing to kill Namaari during the climax of the movie. But she’s ultimately a good person who comes to the realization that it wasn’t right. She’s a phenomenal and underrated character from a phenomenal and underrated movie. Give us more characters like her and unique personalities, Disney.

As for why I can’t decide between the two, it’s honestly because both of them are pretty similar. Both are snarky, jaded, practical, responsible, and act as the straight man in their respective movies amongst the more chaotic characters they come across. Not to mention, both long for the simpler days when their lives were actually happy but can’t because of how their worlds have shaped them. They have great character growth and their way of thinking is technically wrong but you also understand why they are the way they are. So with how similar they are, I can’t really decide who I love more so I decided not to. The two of them are truly amazing characters and actually break the mold of the heroines we tend to see from Disney and I adore them for that.

8. Tiana (The Princess and the Frog)

Just like Raya, she’s one of the few heroines from the revival era that actually has a unique personality and in my opinion is the best heroine from this era. I love how she’s practical and serious like Jane and Raya but it’s not because she’s jaded. It’s just because she’s determined, ambitious, and a workaholic. But even without her being jaded, there’s also an explanation for why she is the way she is. She has a dream that people say will be impossible for her to achieve due to her being a black woman of low status and a dream her father spent his whole life to achieve but never managed to see happen. She’s worked two jobs her entire life and has to work so much harder than everyone else just to prove herself. But I love that she’s also a bit playful, caring, friendly, does want to have fun but just can’t let herself, and is still creative. Almost There shows off the massive extent of her incredible imagination. I love how passionate she is about her dream and cooking. I adore how she never loses her passion and fire no matter what. I wish I had her drive in life to help make my dreams come true. She inspires me and it kills me that both she and her movie are so underrated when really they deserve to be getting the attention that Frozen got. I honestly can’t wait to see what they do in the new Tiana series and I just pray that they don’t disappoint me. Tiana is truly a great character and it’s a shame more people don’t realize it. Even in her frog form, her personality shines through with her hard-working and witty personality. Not to mention, she has great growth as a character. There’s nothing wrong with pursuing a dream but you shouldn’t let that keep you from also living your life. She’s confident in certain areas but she’s also insecure as well. It helps make her a layered character and one of the most three-dimensional heroines from the revival era. Truly one of Disney’s best leading ladies.

7. Pocahontas (Pocahontas)

First of all, yes, I know that the movie is problematic with its misrepresentation of the real Pocahontas’ life, showing both sides being in the wrong when in real life it was the white settlers who were the only ones in the wrong, and portraying Pocahontas in a romantic relationship with John Smith when she was a child when they met and the fact that he intended to colonize her people. However, I still ADORE the movie! Yes, it has its issues but it also has gorgeous animation, incredible songs, an amazing musical score, an engaging romance, likable and iconic characters, a great message that’s definitely relevant today, and most importantly one of the best protagonists to ever come out of Disney.

Despite the issues Native Americans rightfully have with her movie, one thing, at least from my understanding, that they universally agree on is that in terms of personality, Pocahontas is spot on. So it’s really no wonder that Pocahontas herself is the best thing about the movie. I adore how she’s curious, adventurous, mischievous, fun-loving, playful, and daring. However, she’s also smart and mature. She’s undeniably a remarkable character that deserves nothing but praise. I love how she has a journey of finding her path but isn’t sure what her path is. And I don’t mean like she has to decide between two things but rather she has no idea what her second option is. It’s something a lot of people can relate to who can’t decide what they want to do with their life. So it’s interesting and unique to have a character who doesn’t have a clear idea of what they want but still know they want more than the life that has been planned for them. When you think about it, Pocahontas is a pretty complex character in that sense and it’s one of the reasons I adore her along with her just being a fun and exciting character. One of my favorite scenes is just her going down the water rapids and instead of her just going down the safe path that she goes with the more exciting and fun path because it’s just who she is. I mean, when she’s supposed to just come down to the river and get into the canoe with Nakoma, she could just run down there but instead, she chooses the more daring option of diving off. I wish I had the amount of guts she has. She’s such an exciting character and there’s nothing dull about her. But she also stands up for what is right and will lay her own life down in order to do what needs to be done. She’s such an underrated character that it’s painful to think about. I adore Pocahontas and consider her to be one of the best characters Disney has ever created.

6. Anastasia Tremaine (Cinderella Sequels)

Originally starting off as a minor villain in the original Cinderella, Anastasia has since become one of the most complex and interesting characters to ever come out of Disney. Even people who hate the Disney sequels tend to agree that she’s one of the best things to come out of these cash grabs. She’s so great that even the show Once Upon a Time in Wonderland continued the trend of making her a sympathetic character, with her being played flawlessly by Emma Rigby. But anyway, I adore how she still has some traits from her original appearance with her lacking elegance and grace, being a clutz, being a bit ditzy (But not dumb), and having a bit of a temper to her. It shows that just because someone becomes good, they don’t lose all of their negative traits or become 100% different because that’s not realistic. However, she’s incredibly sympathetic with how she’s a victim of her mother and sister’s abuse but they don’t erase the fact that she was abusive to Cinderella. As they say, hurt people hurt people. People are complex and it’s amazing to see someone who was abusive can also be the abuse victim without erasing past mistakes. But they don’t have Cinderella judge her on the person she used to be but rather the person she is now. In A Twist in Time, we do see her show guilt towards Cinderella. She’s just someone who wanted to be loved and for someone to love her for who she is and not what her mother wanted her to be. Honestly, I wish Disney would explore more characters like Anastasia who aren’t conventionally attractive and can also be complex and interesting. She kind of reminds me of Helga from Hey Arnold. And honestly, while Cinderella herself is still a great an admirable character, I prefer her step-sister. In fact, I might have a video analyzing what a great and complex character Anastasia is in the future (Or even post it here on Tumblr), so keep an eye out for that.

5. Megara (Hercules)

But her friends call her Meg, at least they would if she had any friends. Yeah, you know I had to quote that. Much like Anastasia, Meg didn’t start off as a heroine but rather as a minion to the villain. I honestly went back and forth on whether or not I preferred Anastasia or Megara but I ultimately went with Megara because of her amazing snark. Being someone who is incredibly sarcastic, sassy, and snarky, I relate to characters who are like that as well. She’s honestly the sassiest Disney character ever. Literally no one can match her. Yes, there have been sassy and snarky characters from Disney, a good number of them are even on this list, but none meet the same level of sarcasm as her. She’s one of the most unique Disney heroines with her starting off as a bit of an antagonist, being way more snarky and jaded than Disney’s heroines, and actually having a romantic history instead of just only being in a relationship with one person in your life and that’s the one you end up marrying. A lot of people can relate to Meg and the fact that she gave and gave all her love to someone she was in a relationship with but that person just didn’t love her as much and left her for someone else. She gave so much that she sold her soul to save her boyfriend’s life only for him to dump her for some random girl. No wonder she swore off love and became so jaded. But I love how she learns to love again and sees that it’s not bad to give yourself to someone so long as it’s the right person because just like how Megara gave up her life to save Hercules, he was willing to give his life to gets hers back. While Hercules is a great and engaging character, I find Meg’s journey more engaging. She’s a great character and it’s no wonder that she’s so beloved. Plus, she’s a snarky queen!

4. Angel (Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure)

Yeah, can you tell that I have a thing for characters that are snarky and jaded? She reminds me a lot of Megara, albeit, not as extreme due to being a kid and her movie having a different tone to Hercules. It’s no wonder that I love her, especially when her movie is also one of my top 10 favorite Disney movies of all-time. I love how she is very sly and confident but isn’t cocky or arrogant. However, despite her confidence, she also has her insecurities about her wanting a permanent family, since she’s had five families that have taken her in but when she starts to think that this one is for keeps, they move, have a new baby, or have an allergy. So despite her desire for a family, she’s jaded about the world and feels that she can only depend on herself and only sticks around the junkyard dogs because she has no other alternative. I love how even though she’s a major factor in Scamp’s development and is basically the glue that holds this movie together, Scamp helps with her development. He allows her to be brave enough to be vulnerable and to see that you don’t have to only look out for yourself because he looks out for her. The two of them help each other to grow just like a true couple should. Despite their age, their love is to the same level as any adult relationship because they were friends first and then fell in love. Overall, Angel is a phenomenal character that is smart, sassy, jaded, confident, insecure, layered, brave, brutal, sly, caring, kind, tomboyish but still feminine, and just so freaking adorable.

3. Mulan (Mulan)

Yeah, you know that you can’t have a top 10 best Disney heroines list without including her. I mean, what can I even say about her that hasn’t already been said. She’s a perfect character journey. She starts off trying to be the perfect bride and daughter but she just keeps messing it up, has no idea who she is or what she’s meant to be, breaks the rules and risks possible death for herself in order to save her father from certain death by taking his place in the army and disguising herself as a man, starts off terrible at training, gets better by embracing both sides of herself (The masculine and the feminine), and ultimately brings honor and saves the day by being herself. I love how, unlike the modern heroines we get nowadays, they take her journey seriously. Yes, there’s still some comedy with her but they don’t go over-the-top or make her clumsiness her most defining character trait. But her amazing actions aren’t the only great thing about her. I love her realistic clumsiness, awkwardness, wit, cleverness, kindness, caring nature, bravery, courage, creativity, and that she’s funny without having to be over-the-top. She’s far from perfect but that’s why she’s so great. She isn’t strong for just being masculine but also because she’s feminine. She’s flawed but she tries, she’s insecure but that doesn’t stop her, she wanted to save her father and bring honor but she also wanted to prove that she could do things right. And yet, they still made sure she was a likable character with a three-dimensional personality so that we actually care about her journey. I feel like modern Disney could learn a thing or two from Mulan. And the less said about that awful live-action remake or that horrendous direct-to-video sequel MulanII the better. Lets just focus on the original Disney Mulan and how she truly brought honor to us all.

2. Ariel (The Little Mermaid Franchise)

Yeah, you know that I had to include my favorite Disney Princess. Ever since I was a little boy, I’ve always absolutely ADORED Ariel. I relate to her rebellious nature, since I’ve always had a naturally rebellious side to me. She’s playful, mischievous, adventurous, curious, bubbly, determined, sweet, fiery, and a painfully accurate portrayal of adolescence. She’s reckless, naive, impulsive, stubborn, and headstrong. I love how flawed she is because it makes her feel more real and three-dimensional. I honestly love how relatable she is and even as someone in my late twenties, I still relate to Ariel even to this day. I know the feeling of wanting more out of life and wanting to explore beyond the confines of one's current existence. Ariel wants to learn more about the human world and wants to be a part of it because of her love of learning and her fascination with the human world. I adore just how curious and daring she is. When she sees something that interests her, she pursues it and is just so passionate about it. She’s just so engaging. I also love how on land when she’s can’t talk how adorable she is with her facial expressions and actions. She’s just such a delightful character. She sees what she wants and she goes for it and I love her for that. I honestly get so mad when people say she’s just boy-crazy and threw her life away for a man. Did people not watch the movie? She sang a whole mother-flipping song about how she wanted to be part of the human world long before she ever saw Eric. He was just what finally got things going. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with wanting romance because that’s not all she wants. She wants to explore the world and learn. The live-action remake actually made the character even better and considering how much I love the character, that’s saying something. And yeah, the live-action remake is amazing and the best of the live-action remakes (Which I have a video all about on YouTube). This little mermaid is the best Disney Princess and one of my favorite fictional characters of all-time.

Honorable mentions:

Now before I name my number 1 favorite, lets name some honorable mentions. Keep in mind that these aren’t in any particular order. Madellaine from The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Judy Hopps from Zootopia, Elsa from the Frozen franchise, Jasmine from the Aladdin franchise, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Jane from Tarzan, Violet from The Incredibles franchise, Jessie from the Toy Story franchise, Kiara from The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride, Dory from the Finding Nemo franchise, Vanellope from Wreck-It Ralph, Miss Bianca The Rescuers franchise, and Rapunzel from Tangled.

Melody (The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea)

I mean, is anyone surprised? I’ve already mentioned that she’s tied with Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians as my favorite fictional character of all-time. I absolutely ADORE her! Much like how her mother is an accurate depiction of teenage struggles, Melody is an accurate representation of preteen struggles. She’s awkward around her peers, she’s doesn’t know how to act around people, she’s shy around boys, she feels like a fish out of water (No pun intended), she’s unsure of herself, has a hard time communicating with her parents, and doesn’t make the best decisions. These are all part of growing up and they captured that flawlessly with her. She has the same traits as her mother but she also has her differences that make her feel like her own unique character. Unlike her mother, who is extroverted and confident, Melody is introverted and self-conscious, which makes her feel more relatable to me. I love how they can make her very awkward without having to make it her most defining character trait like with the Disney heroines of the Revival era. She only feels comfortable in her skin when she’s out swimming and she’s told that she can’t go out into the ocean. That’s something many of us can relate to with how we’re comfortable living a certain lifestyle, doing something we love, or being true to ourselves only to be told we can’t for whatever reason. Being a naturally rebellious person with interests that aren’t traditionally masculine, I definitely relate to that. Plus, being someone who always wanted to be a merman, I also have a massive love for the ocean and Melody’s explosive passion and undying love for the sea is just so engaging. But I also love how she also has a lesson to learn, which gives her more of an arc than her mother, though to be fair, Ariel didn’t really need to learn a lesson, King Triton did. But I still love how Melody had to learn her own self-worth and apologized for causing this mess. And instead of choosing between land or sea, she chooses both by breaking down the wall that divided them. She is the bridge that connects the two worlds together. She’s just such an engaging character. Every time I see her on screen, she's just so charming and entertaining. I love her passion, awkwardness, curiosity, mischievousness, playfulness, sweetness, cunning, and just everything about her. Maybe one of these days I’ll make a video all about how mermazing she is. She certainly is a remarkable character that is more than deserving of it.

And those are my top 10 favorite Disney heroines. Are any of my favorites your favorites? Who are your favorites? Let me know. Please like, comment, reblog, and follow me if you haven't already.

[forcemasculinisation]

Hey I don’t know if this is really a big issue among trans guys but I constantly find myself questioning my identity due to the fact I can’t find any clothing or looks on men that I like. This with the fact I’m a poc makes it like weird to look for clothing styles I enjoy. Like I keep going “am I really a man if I prefer feminine clothing? Am I just lying? Should I stay feminine?” So long story short I was wondering if theirs any like styles that look good really on men or tips for when your not feeling masculine? Or just tips on feeling more masculine pre transition in general?

Thank you for your ask, anon.

I myself am pre-transition, medically speaking. I don't necessarily do much in the means of "passing" for reasons I don't feel the need to share. My opinion may not be as valid to some of you because of this, but I'll share things that my male friends do that I've observed.

My major piece of advice in terms of clothing is don't go rushing to the men's section of a store and pick up all the large, body-covering garments you can find. Playing to your body type is important, and you should probably aim to go for a size down of what you initially assume you want in men's sizes.

Brands I usually go for are general sports brands like Nike, Adidas, Reebok etc, as well as second-hand SuperDry and H&M. (Also, if you buy something and it's too big, throw it in the wash and dryer several times.)

Dark tones are traditionally masculine as well if you want to stay safe, however there are a lot of men who wear light tones, it just depends on the style.

Layering also works in my case, but it's only helpful in winter. I find when I wear a coat over a hoodie over a t-shirt, I tend to pass a lot better. (Puffer jackets are really good for emulating this, especially North Face or similar dupes.)

Also, if you wear glasses, order some more boxy-looking prescription glasses with darker or more muted frames. These generally appear more masculine at first glance, but you can ask an optician or your friend for an opinion of what looks more masc on your face. Spend a lot of tine on this, because you obviously wear your glasses more often than certain outfits.

I'd also say that it depends on the "type" of guy you're looking to present as. I have a lanky build with longer legs, so I wear straight-legged jeans to only discreetly hide curves.

Overall, it just takes a bit of experimentation. This post may not be that helpful to everyone, because I'm using my own life as an anecdote, so I apologise in advance. There is no right way to pass, and a few people warp the meaning of passing to looking more western-centric, however I've learned that this is poor advice.

As for feeling more masculine, you could:

Buy male deodorant, shower gel or aftershave and shave with a razor marketed towards men

Buy male underwear and pajamas

Try skin-tone coloured transtape (if you can find it, it's a horror to find dark brown trans tape)

Work out every day (don't rush into this, and consistency is key)

Experiment with masculine hairstyles.

If any of you would like a separate post with specific resources for any of these, or my own personal recommendations for products and clothing, I'd be happy to share.

Sidenote: passing ≠ feeling masculine. You're doing this for yourself, not for others.

[tinywitchgoblin]

Oya vod! I’m brand new to this, so hoping I’m doing it the right way. :)

Could I request a ship?

I’m a 6’6”, relatively fit terrestrial ecologist (biologist) and a horseback archer. I have a passion for all wildlife, especially avian creatures. I spend a lot of time in the outdoors assessing habitats, identifying birds (sometimes at long distances) by sight and sound and just enjoying the freedom of the natural world. I should probably just go ahead and build a cabin in the forest, because that’s where I feel most at home. Owing to having to work twice as hard to gain the same amount of respect respect in the traditionally male-dominated field of biological science I’m pretty independent and self-reliant but am flexible and can work as part of a team too.

I find large social situations challenging, and am generally slow to connect with people but once I do they are part of my clan for life. ;) People tend to perceive me as confident and capable, but in truth people mostly make me anxious. I connect with animals far more easily - they’re honest!

When I’m not in the forest, I can probably be found with my horse, firing arrows at targets as we gallop across a field, shouting along to metal tunes while driving my Jeep on trails, or working on some ridiculous craft project (probably a wool bird sculpture or leather armour that no one will ever see). Come to think on that I have some rather contrasting traits, haha!

Thank you! These have been fun to read!

Of course, I'm glad you're enjoying them!

I ship you with...

Crosshair!

Our resident sentient toothp(r)ick enjoys spending time outdoors, especially alone, where no one can bother him and he can have some peace and quiet. Just like you, he doesn't like large social gatherings and is very hesitant to let people in. However, once you accepted each other and started dating, you spent a lot of time alone together.

Once he finds out that you do horseback archery, he begged asked you to teach him everything show him a couple of things, and you happily obliged. Initially, he wasn't very good at it because it was so different from his usual skills as a sniper, but eventually, he started showing some improvements. There are few people in the galaxy more stubborn than Crosshair, and he was determined to be good at horseback archery, so help him god.

Having grown up with Tech, Crosshair is very familiar with listening to ramblings about various topics (animals included) and identifying local flora and fauna. However, having it come from you instead of his brother made it very different. He asked Tech for some resources to learn about the various birds in the area (which Tech was very curious as to why Crosshair would want all of that information all of a sudden. suspicious), so when you and he went birdwatching, he had at least a basic knowledge of what you were seeing and hearing, and it made you happy that he put time and effort into such an activity- because as much as he refuses to admit it, your smile is far prettier than any bird.

-

Thanks for reading! If you want a ship request like this one, drop it in my ask box, and don't forget to reblog 💚

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hey I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask this but I would appreciate any advice you could give me… I’m about to go to college and I’m good at everything but I have a deep interest in writing. I would like to be a professional writer sometime in the future but I’m not sure if I should do it on my own or pursue English as a subject in college. I’m scared that if I chose it, I’ll lose interest in it?I’m interested in psychology so I was planning to take that as a major? I don’t know? Help

College and Becoming a Writer

Defining "Professional Writer" - We have to start by defining what you mean by "professional writer" because there are many, many careers in many different fields that qualify as a professional writer. Journalists, columnists, technical writers, editors, copywriters, speech writers, marketing communications specialists... these are just some of the many jobs that professional writers do. And if you want to do any of these jobs, you will definitely want to pursue a writing-related degree like English or communications.

However, if by "professional writer" you mean someone who writes novels or short stories, here's the thing: you don't need a writing-related degree to do that. In fact, most fiction authors don't have writing-related degrees, and some very successful ones don't have degrees at all.

And you also obviously need a degree if you want to be in a lot of other fields, like psychology for example.

Also... and this is a big one: the vast majority of authors do are not ever able to fully support themselves on the income from their books. And yes, that includes traditionally published authors.

So... if you want to be a published author one day, but you're also interested in another field like psychology, business, or engineering, it's a really great idea to pursue that degree and get yourself settled in a career in that field. Meanwhile, start writing in your spare time and start building up a backlog of unpublished but finished fiction. You can take creative writing classes and writing workshops, too, often for free. Then, eventually, when you feel you've built up your craft enough, you can write something and try to get it published, or look into self-publishing which is a growing industry for authors.

I hope that helps! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[20elements]

Inspired by Ren’s original songs, I align my thoughts on them with the three Triforce components in the above artwork. In the following, I’ll not only describe my drawings, but focus more on how I interpret his songs before discussing what my links are between them and the Triforce.

What I will not do is claim I know his mind and music better than anyone else (let alone the guy himself), nor will I project anything… much…

TL;DR - I entertain all three songs cohering into a story about our former alien warlord seeking new meaning in his life, transitioning from  solitude and hostility to worthwhile connections on Earth, with music playing a major role in this. (Apologies in advance if I use the word ‘connection’ a lot.) 01) Wanderer

Elements Drawn: Fire, Darkness

I want to start with his latest song first, because the MV seems to touch on the earlier stages of his lore before his descent on Earth. In other words, it seems to be chronologically first in this yet-trilogy (apart from that ending scene with the rest of ILUNA). According to his lore video, Ren was weary of his race’s bloodthirsty history and left. In Wanderer, Ren seems to express loneliness, either from the lack of friends or love in his darker home planet, or from other planets’ antagonisms towards him. Lyrics such as “could you be alone with me?” may hint that one of the things he hopes to find on his journey is at least one meaningful connection who can accept and truly understand him, however complex or enigmatic he may be, as opposed to fearing and avoiding him.

Nevertheless, my artwork sees the Wanderer of galaxies with the Triforce of Power befitting both his own strengths and violent history. (Similarly, this Triforce would traditionally be blessed to Legend of Zelda’s dark lord Ganondorf.)

“Even if I had great power, I couldn’t get anything. I keep losing them. Everyone will get up from their seats and leave me. …There is no one to invite me anymore…” —Malleus Draconia, Twisted Wonderland 02) Blue Sugar

Elements Drawn: Water, Sound

This one’s easy; methinks Alien Dabi is addicted to jumbo blueberries :D …Jokes aside, I’ll start with Ren’s own explanation: He underwent a rough time and was stuck in his head, then wrote this song out of both self-criticism and a desire to “feel alive again”. For how therapeutic he finds music to be, I want to say this “sugar high” he pursues is simply music. Not very deep, I know, but it checks off many boxes: It’s his new newfound passion and one of the easier yet healthier “highs” or stimuli to experience. More importantly, it can be a way to communicate feelings and possibly even forge connections with.

To backtrack a bit, Blue Sugar was the first song Ren composed after arriving on Earth and discovering music for the first time. Like as not, his prior challenges would include adapting to life and culture on Earth, to say nothing of a continued solitude. Nevertheless, music can soothe his soul and help him carry though his ordeals. But if he wants a song that can truly “hit the spot” and better yet resonate with others as well, Ren may want to compose a song himself for the first time. Depending on how difficult all of that is, creative frustrations and feeling trapped in his thoughts sound plausible—but hey, long story short, he made it!

The most obvious link to the Triforce of Wisdom here is the color blue (water, Lanayru’s element, go figure). A popular fan theory I embrace is that the “Blue” in “Blue Sugar” alludes to planet Earth where Ren discovers music, with much of the color reflected in our oceans and seas. And while I’m stressing music, (1) water is a good conductor of sound, so I portray Ren in a literal sea of sound in my drawing; (2) in Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Link even learns specific songs from Zelda/Sheik, our “Wisdom” bearer. But more pertinent of Wisdom to Ren himself is that I’m seeing Blue Sugar as a mark of his “learning stages” on Earth in general.

“To me, a life without music is inconceivable. I never turn down the volume, even when I’m working on a case.” —Klavier Gavin, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney 03) Amplify

Elements Drawn: Flora, Light

After overcoming his personal ordeals and literally finding his own melody, it sounds like Ren has succeeded in getting his voice and presence across the world. The beat and melody of Amplify celebrate his successes, while his lyrics reach out to convey the same optimism and encouragement he has developed. Lines such as “Our connection is by design” not only tells me he has found his aforementioned “meaningful connections” (e.g. ILUNA enrollment), but a tremendous reward to his patience in general. The message I’m hearing is that whatever difficulties or odds we may experience, as long as we perservere and not drown in despair, a perfect timing will be there for us to fulfill our aspirations, just as he found his.

So I scarcely need to explain why Amplified Ren holds the Triforce of Courage; he sounds as encouraged as can be to take on the world and possibly the rest of the galaxy (and this time with less destruction in his wake, maybe).

“Your story may not have such a happy beginning, but that doesn’t make you who you are. It is the rest of your story, who you choose to be.” —Soothsayer, Kung Fu Panda 2

__ Nonetheless, Wanderer was released after Amplify, so I’m lead to believe either (a) Ren wrote his third song as a humble reminder of how or why he started this journey that led him to this meadow of magic, or (b) simply an expression that his earlier pursuits still continue, even with the… very mixed warmth of his genmates’ camaraderie. Speaking of which, that lower middle space between the three Triforce panels alludes to his inclusion in “Let’s Get It Started” with blessings from the Moon and Sky. Last Word

I arrange all of my ideas here with doors open to future songs from Ren Zotto that may either completely contradict what I have here or fit any of these Triforce virtues better. But to anyone who may see this in the future, I’m only working with the songs available at this current time while awaiting more bangers from the Alien Prince.

[missing-sock-misto]

For the writing ask game:

12, 20, 35, 76

12. Do you ever have trouble focusing on writing? how do you get around that?

Oh my god, so many problems, I am very ADHD XD However: I’ve learned that non-linear writing works really well for me. I will jump around from scene to scene based on what interests me or what pops in my head. I like writing this way because:

It allows for me to get to the fun stuff first, which for my dopamine deficient brain, gives me energy to continue working on the story.

If I get writer’s block, I can skip ahead to a different scene, and let the other scene marinate for a few weeks. Often, while I’m working on OTHER scenes, I figure out something to continue the plot forward earlier on.

It forces me to think about the story in a deeper way, because I need to keep track of the plot and the plot elements way more. Which, WOULD be exhausting, but by giving them scenes names, and make those headers, it turns into a functional outline.

If later something doesn't work out and I have to cut it, at least I have the scene out of my head. I can always recycle it, and at least I'm not building on bad foundations.

It means I'm constantly having to reread and edit my stuff, as I'm trying to remind myself what happens, so my editing can happen gradually through out the process.

I also will often have multiple creative projects in different states; various art wips, writing wips, long projects, short projects, will-not-be-published- projects etc. So I work with my moods. If I feel like drawing for two weeks, I do that. And if I want to write for a week, I do that. But I work WITH my moods. It means I approach the hobby in a pretty healthy and sustainable manner, even if it means my output is not as fast. But no point being fast if I burn myself out!

20. what is your favorite trope to write?

Whump, hurt and comfort. :3

35. tell us about a character who’s very different than you who you love a whole lot

Demeter. I write her as very traditionally feminine; she’s kind, loving, emotionally intelligent, and a hopeless romantic. She wants to be a mom, and loves being one. As someone who ID’s as a girl (though, more by default than any connection to my gender) but has never had any interest in children, romance, and has zero patience or nurturing instincts etc, it’s a very interesting headspace to be in. But it’s also fun to explore her strengths and her courage. I love that in the musical, despite being TERRIFIED of Macavity, she jumps on him to warn the Tribe of the danger. It’s such an amazing moment for her, and I try to keep that courage she has in my writing. She will do the right thing and protect those she loves, even if she’s scared.

76. what is one essential thing to remember when writing a villain? 

In my opinion- how do they relate to and reflect your protagonists? I love writing Macavity, because he has such a personal relationship with so many characters, and he’s a foil to so many:

Misto- with the themes of magic, and by extension, power.

Tugger- I like making Mac a dark reflection of Tugger. They both are charming, charismatic, magnetic, passionate, clever, (hot), confident, and more that a bit self-centered. But Mac lacks the kindness, loyalty and love that Tugger has. They’re also both emotionally volatile, but how they manage their outbursts is very different. Tugger gets angry because he’s pissed, Mac will use his anger to intimidate and incite fear.

Munkustrap- Leadership and Love. I love exploring Munk and Mac's relationship with Demeter, and likewise Demeter’s relationship with them. How Mac uses Munk’s weaknesses against him when courting Demeter, but how Munk’s ‘weaknesses’ become strengths in the aftermath of Macavity- where before his caution, general amiability and kindness made him “boring”, after Mac, it was exactly what Demeter needed.

Plus, it’s fun giving a moral paragon like Munk so much conflict with his brother, who he SHOULD have loyalty, respect, and love for, but has been hurt so deeply by that it causes him turmoil.

Bombalurina- Mac is also a dark reflection of her, though in a different way to Tugger. It’s like, both Macavity and Bomba are foxes (?), but Mac chooses to get worse where Bomba chooses to get better. 

Old Deuteronomy- again, the leadership, the familiar ties, power, etc. 

He’s just a really fun character to write because I can basically make him a foil with every protagonist I’m interested in writing. I actually had a brief hyperfixation on a different fandom, but it didn't last cause I couldn't get a villain as fun as him!

Thank you for the ask!

[livrere-green]

i’m curious—what’s ur specific experience of genderfluidity like?

Oh— There's a lot to say about this, honesty but I'll try to be concise.

I think my first crisis about gender happened when I was around 10/11, but to establish some points:

I came from an old-fashioned family. I was obligated to take etiquette classes when I was a kid (piano, oratory and calligraphy too).

I didn't have a voice over what I could wear in my daily life as a kid. I just had the school uniform. It included an skirt, a cape, a hat and sometimes a coat. And my other clothes that were all curated by my mother

I also had all the toys and things traditionally related to me, as an AFAB person. Dolls, and a room with pink walls.

However, when I was 10, all of it started to finally annoy me. I grew progressively detach from traditional feminine things, and I didn't understand why (honestly I never asked myself that question at that time). I just felt like an outsider, and it was worst at school (it was a catholic school for girls).

It lasted for years, but at least since I turned 13, I had more freedom over my own style and gender expression. As a consequence, I didn't experience those years normally, I didn't learn to do makeup, or to go shopping, I didn't attend normal parties, or felt interest about dating (boys). I didn't feel like a boy either, it just felt safer not to define myself into any of those categories. I was just... some thing.

I stayed in that lane for a long time. My gender expression was pretty much androgynous, I cut my hair short constantly (since I was 16) and I started telling everyone that fabric is fabric while buying clothes or opted to go shopping with my father because he gave zero fucks about the section I was picking clothes from.

I wasn't aware that there was a name for feeling more like one thing one day, and more like the other after some time. That changed during the pandemic, and in 2021 I was back in a more feminine vibe, and it hit me hard because I felt lost, I mean, I wanted some things as skirts and make up, and— You know, I just never learned those things, and it was incredibly confusing, but I managed to catch up (it was weird af at first).

From that moment to now, a lot of things had change. I mean, I started to understand myself a bit more, to create my own style, to experiment with gender expression a lot, and there's so many silly things I discover that just make my brain go "is this gender?"

It has been a long long journey and still, I know it's going to keep begin like that for me, constantly changing, oscillating even.

Fun facts:

It doesn't matter if I'm going with a more masculine/feminine/androgynous vibe, I always walk like they taught me when I was seven, and it never goes away, i hate it a bit now.

The first time I feel like my gender was truly gendering was when I tied my uniform tie by myself (younger girls had ties with elastic, only the older ones were allowed to have real ties), and that day I was wearing the cape and a pair of patent leather shoes. It just felt okay.

Sometimes I have huge crises about what to do with my hair, it was short for a lot of time and just last year I let it grow... It's still complicated (before I also used wigs when I felt like my hair was too short for the way I was feeling).

I guess that's all I can say for now, I know is messy, but that's exactly how confusing it is sometimes.

Thank you for the ask 💚

[deusvervemakesgames]

Project RBH Devlog 0001 – Finding Direction

There were some real-life complications that means this Devlog doesn’t have quite the progress that I would like, namely how long it took me to get feedback on my experiments. 70 mph windstorms can do that, apparently. The good news is that nobody was harmed, and damage was minimal.

To recap, I found three possible directions for Project RBH, and I promised to settle on one of them and write up a Game Design Document (GDD). And I have reached my conclusion from probably-not-extensive-enough playtesting.

Project RBH will involve the player starting out with a basic attack that they steadily upgrade over the course of a run, until by the end they are filling the screen with bullets like an angry god.

So the next step is writing out the GDD to make sure that the game actually reflects this idea.

I touched on it last time, but I feel like there’s more to say about GDDs and what makes them such useful tools for game design and development.

Conveniently, Game Maker’s Toolkit recently put out this video on means of analyzing games which ties directly into this subject.

The short version of this video is that a game’s systems and mechanics lead to dynamic interactions with the player(s), in turn coloring their emotional response. For example, a game where you have big guns and lots of bullets will probably make you feel like an unstoppable action movie hero, while a game with limited ammunition and powerful enemies will make you feel disempowered and cautious.

The GDD is a way for the development team and the designers to coordinate the systems and mechanics to steer the dynamics and achieve the desired emotional response. It’s an incredible tool for focusing design and development to a single, sharpened point. A way to ‘fail faster,’ so to speak.

Failing Faster refers to the practice of constant iteration as quickly as possible, in order to achieve more feedback and learn from the parts that don’t work. It’s the entire reason I threw together my current prototype even though I haven’t done my GDD yet. And yes, the GDD itself can be used to fail faster. Getting ideas out of your head and onto the page forces you to think of how to communicate those ideas, and gives you something tangible to show people and receive feedback on.

It's a way to prevent Perfect from being the enemy of Good.

But what’s included in a GDD? Yes. Yup, that too.

I’ve still got a template from my college professors while I was getting my degree in game design, and it includes:

The World,

Intended Audience,

Unique Selling Point

Multiple sections on plot and characters

Means of narrative progression

Locations, Layout, Maps

Intended Gameplay Experience

Enemies

Combat

Obstacles

Items and Equipment

User Interface

Art Style

Music and Sound

Among several other things.

As you can see, it’s a lot. Luckily, it’s divided into sections which makes it a heck of a lot easier to get through, especially because I don’t need to write an entire essay per section. The GDD is a living document, meant to be edited and updated throughout the lifespan of a project. I also won’t necessarily need every section.

This does, however, lead us to our next problem with the design. Story.

I’m the kind of person who really likes narrative in his games. Traditionally, Roguelike/lites are not known for being exactly narrative heavy. The cyclical nature of dying, restarting for zero, dying again, repeat, doesn’t always lend itself to storytelling.

Luckily this is a problem that has been solved multiple times. The recent Hades, for example, turns that very thing I listed as an obstacle to storytelling into a vehicle to drive the story forward. Heat Signature gives each of your playable characters a motivation; a specific goal they wish to achieve before dying or retiring, letting the player craft each character’s narrative through their successes and failures. Cult of the Lamb has a narrative explanation for your immortality and your runs with a plot that continues through the whole game, albeit a simple one. And, of course, the Mystery Dungeon games have been telling stories with roguelike elements for a long, long time.

The issue is not that it is impossible to tell a story in this kind of game. The problem is that calling my budget ‘shoestring’ is a gross exaggeration. Having a simple excuse plot like the one in Orbital Bullet would dramatically reduce the development time of Project RBH.

On the other hand, making this game the way I am is already enough of a pipe dream that it might be worth going all-in on it.

So that’s where things stand at the end of Week 1. Next week I’ll be checking in with the progress of my GDD, and deciding how and where to start actually making this thing.

Until next Devlog!

-DeusVerve

Special thanks to my Tier 3 Patron Haelerin!

Support me on Patreon

[ten-cent-sleuth]

Hi!! Nice to meet another Zibell fan and fic writer! I have to admit that my time on Tumblr is a bit sporadic (real life is way too busy), but I'm always glad to talk about Zibell and writing fic for them. I've written a lot of romantic fic for them, but I definitely enjoy the platonic friendship on screen, so I could really go either way with them. Do you ship them romantically at all or just platonically? Any favorite moments?

[Disclaimer: I am only on S3 of the show, so some of my comments might not be (as) applicable anymore. Also, there might be some prime Zibell moments from S4 and S5 that I don’t mention when talking about my favourites because I haven’t seen them yet. Sorry!]

I could go either way with them too! I read (and write…maybe… 👀) romantic fanfic for them, and I’m definitely on the lookout for budding feelings between them when I watch the show. However, when it comes to their canon relationship atm, I only ship them in the sense of “I’m rooting for them”, not in the sense of “I want them to be together”. It’s like you said on another post: I’d like their professional dynamic and platonic intimacy to develop some more before they drop any romantic ILYs (I’d be down for some platonic ones though; tv needs more of those!) or passionate embraces. I think there are some things they can discover about each other more meaningfully (to me) if they aren’t in an exclusive, committed relationship when they learn them.

(I answer the rest of your question below the cut, but it’s looong so be warned lol.)

Like, some things are kind of expected to be shared when you’re dating someone, and the idea of Maggie and OA sharing those things with each other just because they want to instead—just because they feel comfortable turning to each other before any friend or family member or even side character love interest, even though on paper they’re simply colleagues!—is really quite special to me. For example, when OA shows up at Maggie’s place and confides in her: his seeking her out means more in my eyes because, traditionally, he’d be expected to disclose what’s troubling him about his past if Maggie were a romantic partner, but not when she is merely a professional one—at least, not the details, not in such a personal setting, not when their job is already done. Plus, the fact that they don’t always share these kinds of things with each other (e.g., Maggie doesn’t tell OA that she suspects Erin has relapsed and that she is making the big decision to help her move back to a rehab centre) suggests that they aren’t yet at a place to let each other in so completely. That being said, I don’t want to suffer through another Bensler torture method! There is a difference between a tasteful slow burn and a fourth-degree scorch, Dick Wolf! And it’s not just the length of it, either, but the pacing! I could last twenty-four seasons of romantic tension between Zibell as long as it’s not a dragged-along, low-key out-of-character romantic tension, y’know?!

[deep breath] Sorry. Where was I? Right, I ship them platonically and would like them to get a happy ending together romantically at some point, but that should be a decent way off imo. On the show, at least. I’m an impatient, lovesick twat and will absolutely peddle and plead for romantic art, fic, and edits on Tumblr, YouTube, and AO3. :)

As for favourite moments… If you mean scenes that won points for their relationship in my book, I would say any where there was a Thing they had to talk about but were resisting until the crucial instant where they chose to let down their walls to the other. So when a case directly hits close to home, when something personal is bothering them and affecting their job, when the two of them are disagreeing and need to get on the same page… Those moments. Those conversations. I live for those small, subtle relationship development milestones! Also, anytime they back each other up. I’ve said this before, but when one of them gets snarky and the other smirks to themself, or when one of them successfully captures a person of interest and the other smiles in gratitude/pride, or when one of them seconds the other’s hunch against the rest of the JOC… I also live for those small, subtle signs of a healthy, stable foundation, ’cause that’s what any future romance—if there will be any—will be laid upon, y’know?

Now, if you’d prefer my list of scenes that I obsessively re-watch for the Drama and Feels, I can definitely be more precise. ;P

1x01 (their banter about OA’s arachnophobia and drawing; Maggie struggles with Emmett’s death and OA reassures her that her evac order was the right move; when OA goes to take down Bernardo and Maggie runs after him, their conversation was hilarious; their side whispering like the person they’re discussing isn’t right there; OA brings up Maggie’s husband and she shuts him out but also thanks him! OA and Maggie smiling at each other after the case; “All you need is a ride?” “For now”)

1x03 (the “Is it true? One in four women…?” conversation; the fight in the stairwell; “I always got your back, Mags”)

1x04 (Maggie tries to talk down the sniper and OA gives her Concerned Looks in the background)

1x07 (OA talks about his experiences in Iraq and Maggie gives him Concerned Looks in the background; Maggie tells him he can talk to her, and he takes her up on his offer!!)

1x14 (Maggie trusts OA with her suspicion, and OA trusts her instincts—and cares about her concerns—enough to look into it; OA accompanies and comforts Maggie at the hospital; “Wherever this goes, I’m with you”)

1x16 (OA gets shot, and Maggie is like “Don’t do that to me again” but also acknowledges he did a Good Thing)

1x19 (OA insists on hearing Maggie’s opinion about his friend; Maggie gives him Concerned Looks in the background whenever he gets worked up, and she mediates between him and Jubal)

2x01 (OA goes to Maggie for comfort; later, he apologises for not taking her advice but she apologises for offering it)

2x03 (at the end, when OA tells an embarrassing story to cheer Maggie up despite his having warned her about Caldwell, and it works <3)

2x05 (protective!OA when Maggie and Kristen briefly go UC)

2x06 (Maggie meets Mona ahaha, plus OA admits his insecurities about their relationship to Maggie and she reassures the heck out of him)

2x08 (Maggie sympathises with the widow and OA gives her Concerned Looks in the background; Maggie wrestles with one of the Russian spies and OA is worried until he finds her the victor and is subsequently all proud smiles; Maggie tries to persuade Isobel that the widow should know her husband was murdered and OA gives her Concerned Looks in the background)

2x09 (“Don’t touch her” … “Then do your job without putting hands on my partner” … need I say more?)

2x11 (basically all of their scenes this episode; protective!OA is always a win, and Maggie being scared to see Kristen but being supported by OA 100% was just <3)

2x16 (OA immediately knows something is up and wants to know what; OA doesn’t want Maggie to leave, and she knew that he would have been able to dissuade her from taking the UC case so she already accepted it before telling him hwkrhfjs)

3x01 (Maggie returns! HUG!! Maggie is standoffish but eventually confides in OA about what went down on her UC case; OA is impressed with and proud of his partner’s success…as well as her sharp clothes at the end of the ep hehe, though also maybe a little hmmmm when he first meets Nestor; also, Maggie backs OA up against Nestor!)

3x04 (judgemental was not a good look for OA lol, but he made up for it; also, the “I’m gonna be a little overprotective and make sure the guy you’re seeing is a good guy” speech was 10/10, was surprised a tv show had a man actually use the word “overprotective” about himself lol)

3x08 (Maggie backs OA up to outsiders but is upfront with him one-on-one)

3x11 (OA meets Erin; Maggie talks about Erin’s addiction and OA gives her Concerned Looks in the background, plus Maggie touching his arm to signal she’ll take the lead for the interrogation and him understanding; Maggie talks the bomber down and OA cuffs him, the touches and “Good job”s afterwards)

4x09 (Maggie gets shot and OA reacts; “I thought I almost lost you for a second”; Maggie offers herself up as a hostage and OA is…not thrilled)

4x12 (OA repeatedly checks in on Maggie’s state of mind; Maggie drives off with the bomb with OA begging her not to; OA helps her up after the car explodes; the two talk after the paramedics clear her)

4x18 (the hdqkrhcnekfhj breakfast they were having together) (…and ofc the whole sarin gas thing—“I can’t really breathe anymore”, OA’s desperation and continual “It’s going to be okay”s, OA carrying her—and OA’s speech and Maggie’s nod)

5x07 (Maggie returns! HUG!! OA being worried, Maggie confiding in him, the “Count them” confrontation, hooo boy I love me some angst)

Note that I’m only on S3, yet I know about some S4/S5 scenes and have jumped ahead to watch those lmao. I did say I was an impatient, lovesick twat!

Wow, okay, I talk a lot! Thank you so much for the ask—feel free to come back anytime, if you dare risk another rambling answer haha. :) Take care! <3

[askthefuturegleeks]

Thank you for joining the campaign to bring the arts to future generations, DAVID KAROFSKY, we’re happy to have you! If you want a refresher on what to do next, feel free to look at the WELCOME CHECKLIST. Please send your account in within the next 48 hours so that you can get started.

ooc information 

NAME: C AGE: 28+ PRONOUNS:she/her SHIPS: I’m really not set on anything, I’m open and don’t mind what people do with their characters ANTI-SHIPS: None, I’m open either way and don’t mind what people do with their characters

basic ic information 

NAME/AGE: Dave Karofsky/31 BIRTHDAY/ZODIAC: September 8, Virgo CURRENT OCCUPATION: High School Biology Teacher and Football Coach CURRENT LOCATION: Lima, Ohio RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single Pringle FC: Max Adler

twitter post 

@COACHKAROFSKY: (It’s a beautiful morning for some coffee and a bagel. Too bad I’m fresh out of coffee, and I don’t like bagels. Oh well, it’s still a beautiful morning) #cestlavie #stillsmiling #findyourreason

in character questions 

Answer these in character, and feel free to add gifs into your answers.

1.) What did you want to do with your life when you were younger? What would the child version of yourself think about the path you paved for yourself?

When I was younger, I really wanted to be a pro ball player. Football, more specifically. I always thought I’d play through college, and then get drafted into the NFL. Obviously, things didn’t happen like that, and that’s totally fine. It wasn’t for me. I think a younger version of me would be proud of myself. And, I’m not just saying that either. Even though I didn’t go pro, I’m doing something I love. I’m learning, I’m growing, and I’m appreciating myself more than I ever have.

2.) What is your proudest accomplishment? Don’t be afraid to talk about what it took to achieve it and how you feel about it as well.

My proudest accomplishment was honestly graduating college. Getting through school- primarily middle and high school- was a challenge I wasn’t prepared for on any level. I made a lot of mistakes, and I did a lot of stuff I’m really not proud of. But, I pushed through. I made it. I survived.

3.) If you could do anything you wanted for one whole day, what would it be and why?

I would start the day off with a nice cup of coffee on my porch, enjoying the sunrise, and just listening to the birds as they sing. Then, I would magically appear at a Bears game, one that would go into overtime, and would be a nail biter to the very end (until they won, of course). I’d have dinner at my favorite cafe in town, and then I’d close the day by reading one of my favorite books.

where are they now?

Dave Ean Karofsky was raised in a loving home, by accepting parents. His father, James, was a salesman with a good career, making more than decent money, though not enough to classify the family as traditionally wealthy. His mother, Kathy, was an art teacher for the majority of his life. Everything seemed happy, healthy, and wholesome within the Karofsky family, though things with Dave often seemed just a *little* bit off. Well-adjusted wasn’t how the majority of people would have ever described Dave as a child. It seemed as though he was always searching for something different, something more, something outside of the traditional Karofsky days.

Moving into middle and high school was tough for Dave, and once he fully realized how truly cutthroat those age groups could be, he knew he had to do something. So, he altered himself. Similar to the color-changing chameleon, Dave began to do whatever he had to in order to fit in. He took up football, changed his personality, and launched himself into popularity. However, once again, no matter what he did or how hard he tried, something just didn’t quite seem to fit. It was that knowledge, that feeling, which began to fuel Dave’s anger. He’d worked so hard to force himself into a mold, he began to feel a sense of anger towards those who simply couldn’t be bothered to care.

Moving into high school, he began to realize exactly what those feelings were, and where they stemmed from. The realization that he was gay was a slow one, and when it finally shifted into a realization, Dave was absolutely lost. His anger grew, as did his discomfort, and his desperation to be what he’d always thought he wanted to be- just like everyone else. Once things came to light, and after all was said and done, Dave was so completely ostracized for who he was, he couldn’t take the pressure. One heartbreaking attempt later, and he began to realize that no matter what the opinions of others were, at the end of the day, they simply didn’t matter.

Once he had that realization, everything changed. Dave became something he couldn’t ever truly remember being- happy. He continued playing football, and passed each of his classes with flying colors. He’d always been intelligent, though allowing himself to fall fully into who he truly was lead him to the top of his class, where he graduated as Salutatorian. College was even better. He continued playing football, though he decided to major in Biology Education, wanting to have an impact on lives during a time that had been so important to him.

During college, Dave met his first boyfriend, and lost his virginity. Things didn’t work out, and that relationship was followed with a string of several others that didn’t work out, though he saw each of them as a lesson, and held no hard feelings. It was no secret that one of his exs, Blaine Anderson, was someone he fell deeply for, though it was another which simply didn’t work out. After college graduation, Dave returned to Lima. Though he hadn’t originally planned to do so, however his mother, Kathy, had fallen ill and his father desperately needed his help. He took a job at McKinley High, and moved in with his parents. After a few years, he bought his own place on the outskirts of town- a peaceful home in the woods, not too close to town but not too far from his mother. Though his mother is still going, she is very ill, and Dave still does what he can to take care of her, and to help his father with anything the pair needs.

[plugnuts]

Ok, unironialy, could you explain/resume to me the basics of homestuck??? I have NO CLUE what is it even about or even WHAT IT IS and I feel like I should know

Also much love ur like one of my favorite people on tumblr <3 🥺💕💕💗

Dnfnnfs yeah ofc! I’ll try to summarise it as best I can!

And thank you so much!! 🥺 dude I wanna hug you rn much love to you too <3 your presence on my dash is always a delight honestly! <3!!

The short and sweet official summary of it is: A tale of a boy and his friends and a game they play together

But if you would like a more detailed, but still summarised, explanation then look under the cut. But beware for it for it is long.

I haven’t read this webcomic in over a year so bear with me lol (I actually went and read a recap of it and. wow)

! Major Story Spoilers Ahead !

Okay so in as simplest terms I can manage is that four kids play a game that ends their world, but them and their homes are transported inside due to certain conditions that were met. They each get planets and if they die on a certain spot on these planets they become gods (aka ascending to god tier). There’s another race that played this game called trolls that also destroyed their world in order to enter, however only one of them became god tier. The trolls playing the game created the kids’ world (they didn’t do it right tho and that lead to one of the ‘npcs’ doing their own thing and.. ruining the course of the game.)

I forget where it happens but there’s an intermission that is super important. (Although it doesn’t appear to be lol it introduces the big bad and all his associates and whatnot)

A lot of shenanigans. We learn about the trolls, about the game and time shenanigans!! Some of the trolls help the kids, most of the trolls die bc they kill each other (and can’t resurrect bc they aren’t god tier). Key part of the killing is that one of the trolls, Vriska (the one god tier troll), is killed due to almost committing a timeline altering act. She doesn’t resurrect as her death was deemed Just. The only ways you can die permanently when god tier is when it’s deemed either Just (justified) or Heroic (being a hero).

(I’m missing a lot but it’s okay lol)

Anyway as the game is nearing its “end” and due to the trolls fucking up the kids’ session they’re forced to do a hard reset. Using their new god given powers they force this reset and the kids split up to escape their session, one group of two going with the trolls and the other two go off on their own together. This split lasts three years, by the way!

In the mean time due to this reset (or scratch as it’s named) the kids’ universe resets itself and basically…. Is reversed. So, instead of the kids we have their ancestors that are now… kids. Oh yeah, forgot to mention, during the shenanigans earlier one of our kids, John, basically made both him and his friends and his nanna and his friends’ guardians in a lab using shenanigans and sent them back in time so that everything can happen. Yeah. So, in this new session we have a new set of kids which I’ll refer to as the Alpha Kids, whereas our set of kids are the Beta Kids. So, we have the alphas now and we see their journey into the game. It’s to note that these kids can’t become god tier traditionally because of their Dream Selves dying beforehand (a needed self in order to become god tier).

So the alphas enter and are met with a dead game, basically. You could say their game is ‘infertile’ as it doesn’t have the means to create a new universe once it’s done. So it’s unwinnable. There’s nothing the alphas can do but wait. There’s some back and forth, we’re met with a new ‘troll’ and get to know her and her ruthless brother who wants to kill everyone his sister loves and stuff. Fun!

We get to know the betas more on their journey and wow one of them is depressed okay back to the alphas who. are high on sugar. Okay. Through their sugar high they get to their Quest Beds (ones that can grant them godhood without having a dream self but it’s buried deep within their planets (iirc)). So. They die on them and become god tier!

Oh yeah and during this we get to know one of the trolls’ dead ancestors called Meenah who works to build an army of the dead to tackle the big bad (Lord English) in the dream bubbles where those who die (either in this timeline or another) go to as a sort of afterlife.

The three years are up (only 6 months for our alphas) and everyone’s now in the alphas’ game. Jade (one of the betas) brings over everything from the Beta’s game so now the Alpha’s game is fertilised! Yippee! John sleeps and dreams and finds a treasure whilst everyone else uh. Suffers, basically. Once the betas arrived two of the kids (one alpha one beta) get possessed by Betty Crocker (one of the alphas’ mother but she’s an evil troll who can mind control). Jade (beta) and Jane (alpha) are now possessed.

A lot of stuff happens here. Best way I can explain it is that there’s a lot of glitches, death, and bad drawings. John also gains the power to rewrite canon (retcon), if you can believe it. The evil brother plays his game, kills his sis and gains way too much power for his own good. (Remember I might be getting things wrong here). Now, remember Meenah? Well from her group of trolls we have Aranea and she ruins everything. She brings herself back to life using what’s called the life ring and brings everyone to the same planet (except John who’s running from Jade). So. She fucks everything up, gets a lot of people killed (some people dying Justly and Heroically) and basically creates a GAME OVER timeline. Did I mention that when the betas came to the alphas they also brought along their own game’s bad guys? Yeah. Whilst GAME OVER was happening John was out there battling a kid version of the big bad. He teleports back into canon when everything’s already over.

So, now we’re in game over where basically everyone save for some are dead. Terezi, one of the trolls, tells John to fix it bc of his retcon ability. She gives him a list of what to do because of her own game given powers (she’s a Mind player but. yeah I won’t explain that sorry) and John goes and does it, using the keywords she gave him to find those specific points in time to change and fix. This leads to Vriska not dying when she was supposed to. A lot of shenanigans after this, basically everyone who was dead before is okay in this new timeline bc Vriska is here now. Yay? Anyway, they all go through their dramas and stuff, betas mingling with the alphas yada yada they all talk about defeating the bad guys.

Then there’s this whole animation about it!

Anyway that’s Homestuck as best as I can describe it without going into BIG detail. There’s a LOT of stuff I missed, but it’s very overwhelming lol.

TLDR; Kids play game. Time shenanigans. Death and destruction. Godhood. Vriska. Kids play game. Kids play game. Death. Big fight. They create a new universe where they can all live together and whatever have you. :)

I hope that clears SOME things up and if you have any more questions feel free to ask! Or you can read the webcomic but. I wouldn’t read it from the source bc it’s broken. I’ll tell you what to do if you Do want to read it but with over 9000 pages and god knows how many words….. it’s quite the task. But there is games you can play in it! And cool animations!! But some of it.. didn’t age well, let’s say. Anyway if you’re still reading then colour me impressed! I tried to summarise it as best I can but with limited memory and with so much plot it was difficult lol, ik you said the basics but also. Homestuck ain’t basic nfngnrksmnd sorry

[daretosnoop]

So since no one responded to my post on what to do for New Years (thanks guys), I decided to give a top 6 Nancy Drew controversial thoughts list:

In no particular order here are some of my hot takes. It’s fine if you agree/disagree. Feel free to make your own. Will you change my mind on these takes? Probably not.

1. Liking any character does not equal simping. Social media has some weird language, but it’s concerning that liking something is equated to obsession and liking a character is equal to simping. It’s not.

2. Who cares what relationship Nancy is best for. It’s fun to call out Nancy, I know I do, but at the end of the day. I don’t care. She’s a fictional character meant to solve a mystery, her friends provide some background for the reader, so they become more engrossed in the game. Relationships are messy and a healthy relationship is entirely subjective.

3. The newer games are not bad. I’m not counting MID, although I know it’s liked by many, but from TMB to SEA, the games are not bad. They suffer from a lack of narrative direction yes, but they are not bad games. They’re amazing for puzzle lovers like me.

4. The infamous puzzles are not as awful as we think. We played many of the games when we were younger, and of course got frustrated. I know I hated the chemical puzzle in HAU when I was 12, but as an adult, I love all those puzzles. It’s easy to let our negative feelings influence how we view the puzzles today, but they’re quite fun.

5. George’s personality and interests does not make her a lesbian. Let me explain. It’s fun to ship characters and I know lots of people think George and Ryan would hit it off. I think so too! However, what makes someone gay is simply their attraction to someone of the same gender. That’s it. Labelling George as lesbian because she’s interested in sports and science, has a tomboy personality, basically anything not traditionally feminine feeds into heteronormative constructs of the patriarchy instructing how people should be. It implies that a woman who is interested in traditionally feminine things cannot also be a lesbian (which we know is wholly inaccurate). It also hurts transpeople and non binary people in that they have to “look” their gender (i.e look like a man/woman) or strategically present themselves as “not looking” like any gender in order to be accepted. George’s character is rooted in her time period where post WW1, women were breaking the molds and seeking jobs, education, etc. that were typically reserved for men. That’s why she so contrasts her cousin, Bess who adheres to the traditional model. The Nancy Drew series (at least the yellow hardback ones) was trying to challenge the traditional male dominated detective field, with three types of women: Bess, Nancy, and George to show women that it didn’t matter who they were, they could be a detective and seek adventure.

6. The “boring” games are not bad, you’re just not interested in them. Games like SSH, DED, TOT, SAW, etc. get a bad rep because they’re “boring”, but they’re not, you’re just not captivated by their subject matter, and that’s okay. It’s okay to find something boring, but that doesn’t make it bad. I love SSH because I love learning about history. I love DED, cause i love science, and I love sudoku and nonograms so of course I love SAW. And I don’t like TOT because I think tornadoes are boring to learn about.

[blue-eye-samurai]

Agreed. Granted, I want to see Taigen confess his growing feelings for Mizu no matter what, but I do think it will be even more powerful and unexpected if Taigen confesses his feelings before he finds out Mizu is a woman. Also, I really think he needs to be the one who makes the first move (for example: initiate their first kiss) because after what happened with her husband, Mizu will probably never make the first move again.

Another thing that is important to keep in mind here is that Taigen needs to be able to love Mizu just as she truly is and do so without trying to make her become more traditionally feminine like Akemi. One of the reasons why things didn’t work out with Mikio is exactly because (like op said) he didn’t want a wife who was an equal partner. He was a very conservative man who still held very misogynistic and patriarchal views about women.

Mikio could accept that Mizu is mixed race woman, but he still expected her to behave like every other Japanese woman around her (frail, passive, submissive, etc). He could not accept her as a woman who isn’t traditionally feminine, much less accept that she’s a woman who could easily beat him in combat. In his eyes that was completely unacceptable and Taigen cannot make that same mistake. Mizu has felt unloved and unwanted her whole life, so he cannot give her anymore pain or rejection by confessing his feelings — only to then turn around and abandon Mizu the moment she reveals her true self to him.

Sure, right now he can easily respect Mizu “the man” who everyone knows is an incredible warrior, but will Taigen still respect Mizu the woman? Can his ego handle knowing that a woman humiliated him publicly and continues to best him in combat every time? I like to think so, especially since we’ve already seen Taigen grow a lot in just the first season. However, I know that he still has a lot more growing to do and I think Taigen needs to continue proving himself worthy of Mizu’s love.

“He’s not a good man. He can be a great one.” — I’m really looking forward to seeing Taigen grow more as a person and I truly believe that when he does learn about Mizu’s truth, he will not respect her any less for it. If anything, I want him to admire her even more because of it. He may give her a bit of grief about it at first (“Ringo knew the truth but not me?? ME, who endured torture from your enemies just to protect you?!”) but I think he will quickly get over it and will understand why Mizu couldn’t tell him the truth sooner.

Taigen’s love confession NEEDS to come before he finds out Mizu is a woman.

Listen. I have given this a lot of thought and the more I think about it, the more I’m sure. When looking at Mizu and Mikio’s marriage, we can see how Mikio was in to the idea of a strong woman only so far as he was still stronger than her. This is clear when Mikio insists that he wants to “see all of [mizu]” and insists that they spar; Mikio doesn’t unsheath his blade even though Mizu tell him not to hold back. He assumes he is stronger than her and when this is proven false, like the beta bitch he is, he bails.

But with Taigen it’s different. Mizu and Taigen’s relationship has been a power struggle from the start. Taigen wasn’t introduced to Mizu as a woman or a wife. Taigen has always seen Mizu as a swordsman first. And when the hostility between the two starts to cool, it is because of their mutual admiration of the other’s skill. Mizu’s strength and boldness are what win Taigen over in the first place.

We also see a very important juxtapose between when Mizu pins Mikio to the ground and when she pins Taigen to the ground. In the first instance, Mikio pushes Mizu off him and calls her a monster. He feels put off and emasculated by being overpowered. In the Mizu/Taigen scene, however, once Mizu has Taigen pinned, he stares, awestruck, into Mizu’s eyes and gets a raging hard on. Instead of feeling emasculated, Taigen get so aroused that he has a full blown bi awakening.

So we know that Taigen is different to Mikio in that he is attracted to Mizu BECAUSE she can kick his ass, not in spite of it. But Mizu has been burned before. Badly. So if Taigen were to confess his feelings and tell Mizu that her strength is what he adores most about her, she’d be like, “right, sure, heard that one before.” And that’s why Taigen needs to confess his feelings BEFORE he finds out what’s in Mizu’s pants.

In my daydreaming about a Migen love confession, I find myself reminded of this quote. How Mikio was like the exotic bird collector. He only liked the idea of Mizu knowing her way around a sword so long as at the end of the day, he can still put her back into the caged-in roll of the house wife.

Taigen is also guilty of this with Akemi. I sure there is still no small amount of attraction and love between them, but I think Taigen pursues Akemi mostly out of the personal fable he has written about himself; the poor fisherman’s son who raises himself up to be the star of his Dojo and then marries a princess. He might not have wanted to cage Akemi as much as other men would have, but he still sees her as the exotic bird. The prize. And thats why I can’t ship them.

But with Mizu it’s different. Taigen even admits that Mizu is a better fighter than him. He KNOWS he could never cage her and by the end on the first season he strops trying, opting to stand beside her instead of against her (“it’s your fight, so it’s mine” 😭) So when he does confess his feelings, he has to do is as one man to another and make it clear to Mizu that her strength is what he loves most and that he would never want her to be anything less then the superior swordsman she is.

Only then will Mizu have a chance of believing that Taigen wants to be with her, not to subdue her into a wifely role, but to stand beside her in all her greatness. If Taigen’s confession were to come after he finds out she’s a woman, Mizu might just think, “oh, NOW you want to be with me, cause you think just because I’m a woman I’ll eventually submit to you.” Mizu needs to know she is loved AS SHE IS.

Also, I just think it would be HILLARIOUS if Taigen confesses, and Mizu is like, “ well then….. I guess I should let you know…” and then Taigen spends the rest of the episode with his mind fucking BLOWN and complaining that he has spent the last several months coming to terms with the fact that he is attracted to another man only to find out the man he is attracted to is a woman! He goes through a whole bi awakening for nothing!

[she-who-fights-and-writes]

Hi. I hate filler scenes, they drive me up the wall BUT i'm currently drafting one of my stories and notice that it needs a filler scene. Do you have any advice on how to make filler scenes feel less like they are a waste of words and feel more like they belong in the story?

How to Fix Your Filler Scenes

The primary reason a scene would be considered "filler" was if it offered no contribution whatsoever to plot, worldbuilding, or character development within the narrative. Filler takes up space, can make the pacing drag, and often adds quantity but not quality to your story.

It’s often seen as a setback to have any number of 100% filler scenes in your work, especially if you plan on publishing traditionally and need to keep your word count down.

However, a lot of people rely heavily on filler to provide a segue into the next part of their story and keep the pacing steady, so in that case, how do you make these filler scenes worthwhile?

Here are some ways to fix your filler scenes to make them meaningful (and essential) to the story!

1. Make it About The Characters and Their Relationships

A good way to make a scene not filler is if you use it to help develop your characters or the relationships between them.

Maybe you can use this time to make your protagonist and their love interest grow closer, or maybe you can use it to reveal some backstory that you weren't sure where to piece into the narrative beforehand.

Maybe your protagonist has a revelation about themselves or about the others in their group, whether through a meaningful conversation or by observing their behavior.

This could be a good time to show how your characters view the world around them, having philosophical conversation about love or death or anything in between, or to show them changing their views based on their experiences and the experiences of others.

All in all, if you make your scene an important aspect of your story when it comes to character development, then it's not filler at all, and will serve the story well in not only connecting two important events, but also allowing the reader to learn more about the people they've invested in.

2. Make it About the Worldbuilding

Worldbuilding is an important part of any story, especially in high fantasy and Sci-Fi. If you need to take a break from your plot in order to make sure things aren’t going by too fast, perhaps take some time to develop the world that your characters live in. 

Now, I’m not saying to use this time to infodump everything there is about your character’s world, but instead show it off in a beautiful and poignant scene that can be coupled with character development. 

It’s the night before a big event. The lovers sneak out of the motel to enjoy a drink at the bar at the far edge of the intergalactic satellite they’ve docked at to refuel. Perhaps while drunk, one of the characters reveals something about their past they’d meant to keep hidden?

A character takes their foreign friend shopping in a bazaar unlike anything you’ve ever scene before. Perhaps they find an item of interest there that helps them along their journey?

These scenarios make sure that the “filler” is actually an important aspect of the story that would actually take away from the overall quality if it were removed. 

3. Make it About Suspense

It's night. The sun is going down. The fire crackles and sputters.

Tomorrow, the characters will be off to battle. They know that they might be sitting in a room with people who will be dead by the following evening. They wonder if this will be the last time they see each other alive, if this will be the last conversations they ever have while they're all in one piece.

Suspense is a great way to make your filler scene important, building up the tension leading up to the next scene. Of course, this scene can only be used to segue into a very, very integral moment in the story, perhaps even the climax, so use it wisely.

Suspenseful scenes often benefit from an interesting setting and high-tension description and dialogue, and can also be paired with character development to show how your protagonists react in the face of fear.

4. Understand that Sometimes Cutting the Scene May Be For the Best

Sometimes, things just don't work out with the above ideas. Perhaps it's too late in the story to develop characters or worldbuilding, or maybe the subsequent event isn't important enough to prompt an entire scene dedicated to suspense.

In that case, it's probably best to just cut the filler scene. To keep from the timeskip being weird, have the event you want to segue into be at the beginning of a new chapter, or maybe re-work the narrative so that it weaves together more easily.

It'll be difficult to do this, especially if you've grown attached to what you've written, but I promise it'll work out all the better in the end; each aspect of the story is supposed to mean something, and I wouldn’t want you to put in all that effort and time into crafting a scene that, in the end, doesn’t really do much for the narrative.

Hope this helped, and happy writing!

[a-muffin-full-of-poetry]

Animals | Jumin Han

This request was a complete pain in the ass and boy am I going to complain about it, however, to the lovely anon who requested it, thank you! I do in fact take song requests and I’m glad you’ve enjoyed yourself so far. I'm so sorry this has taken literal months, but as I am just about to explain, there's a reason as to why. Now, for the muffin rant. Swearing abound.

First of all, my tumblr decided to fuck itself. I couldn’t edit it when I was on my laptop, which is how and when I write and then what I did write on my phone didn’t save. So I’d write it and there’d be nothing fucking there. To add insult to injury it just meant I didn’t want to write and there’s been five drafts of this is as a result. Secondly, there was no way to fix this problem and I had to screenshot it which really was the butter on the biscuit. I eventually just gave up and wrote it traditionally in several notebooks and frankenstenied them together, which made it take even longer because each draft was on separate pieces of paper in random notebooks. Plus, as you’re about to see, this song is inherently sexual and as I don’t write NSFW, had to adapt it around that so it ended up nothing like the song at all, so I wasn’t happy with the end result anyway. https://genius.com/Maroon-5-animals-lyrics this is what I used for reference. I was not very happy with it, I don’t like writing unhealthy relationships really because I do not want to promote them in anyway but... here we are. *sigh*

Summary: you didn't think it would end this way. you didn't think Jumin was like this, but you keep coming back anyway

Warnings: bad endings for Jumin (I did a cool thing called mixing them), unhealthy relationship, swearing, possessiveness, DO NOT TAKE THIS AS A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP IT IS NOT AT ALL.

Everything Zen said about men you hadn’t believed, especially when it came to Jumin. Everything in the chatroom was gentlemanly, cute in an oblivious you’ve-clearly-never-liked-someone way. Maybe the alarm bells should’ve started ringing because no one could ever be that put together, but he was and that was enough for him to catch your attention.

Then... then it started to go downhill when he logged into the chatroom and told you his father wanted him to get married. To someone he didn’t know, someone you’d never heard of.

Something switched, something you couldn’t predict. First, it was his cat. His beloved cat was everything to him but it really did become his everything. Clearly everything was too much and you just wanted to help.

You shouldn’t have. Because, if you hadn’t, you would’ve been able to leave him. Leave him to sort through his emotions, leave him to work out what he really wanted.

“Jumin,” you said, once you entered his house for the first time. “I’m so glad I got to meet you. It’s a lot different in person, isn’t it?”

A dangerous twinkle flickered in his eye. At the time, you hadn’t caught it, but you would soon learn what it was. What it meant. “Very, MC.”

It seemed like a dream, staying by his side. Even he seemed content with you in his house, in his space. In fact, it was easy to fall into something as soon as you stepped foot into the house. Perhaps you should have thought it was too easy, but you were enraptured.

The cat went missing and you understood well enough that you had to help him feel better in anyway you could. That was why you never said anything when he got possessive like that. A smile would placate him.

You would look wonderful in a cage, my dear.

WTF?

Jumin... why don’t you come to the kitchen? I’m very good at making tea.

So you avoided it.

The collar they want me to wear is so uncomfortable. Honestly, can’t they see it might damage my neck and then no one would want to watch me on stage.

Zen, no one actually thinks that. Besides it’s part of the act.

Collars are so ugly.

I think a collar would suit you, MC.

Seriously!?

And avoided it.

“MC, dearest, I was thinking that it would help me a lot more if you stayed here from now on. I don’t want you to leave here, not without me. Just in case something happens.”

All you did was nod. “If it helps you.”

You ignored it all, you believed it would help. And then. And then.

The only thing you wanted was some groceries, you had mentioned that you were running low. It had begun when you picked up cooking as a hobby. With little to do without Jumin there, you tried everything to cut into the boredom. Cooking did that for you and Jumin was more than happy to come home to dinner and walk out the door with homemade lunch, if only to indulge you. Truthfully, you had no idea if he ate it, but Jaehee had said it made him rather more tolerant of meetings since you started.

Surely he could allow you out for a moment, couldn’t he? It wouldn’t even be for long, if you brought someone with you, he would let you.

“No,” he sighed. “I’ll just send someone for you.”

You weren’t expecting an outright no. “Jumin, please. I’m going crazy in here. I won’t be gone long.”

“I said no MC, I’ll send someone else. I don’t want you leaving the house.”

“But Jumin—”

“No MC! God, how many times do I have to tell you before you get it?”

That was when you knew you had to leave. Had you encouraged him too much in his possessiveness? Or had you been to flimsy with your stance on staying at home? Should you have been sterner? More defensive?

None of that mattered, you just had to leave. Slowly, you backed away from him. It seemed he realised that he had messed up because he moved towards you with his slow, assured steps. Like he knew you’d go back to him. No, no you wouldn’t. You couldn’t.

“Just—Just go. Go to work.”

He stopped in his tracks, analysing you. For a moment, you saw his brows furrow, some sort of a pout making its way onto his face. Clearly he was trying to make you feel a little bad and it would usually work except you adverted your eyes quick as. Finding yourself staring at the cage you couldn’t help but think about the one you were trapped in.

Eventually, he left. Not before he tried to press a kiss to your cheek but you managed to dodge it, an unimpressed ‘hmph’ leaving you. Once he was gone, you desperately tried to argue your way out of the penthouse with his bodyguards. You weren’t expecting much, but they must’ve heard you or they could see how much you wanted to leave, because with a nod to each other, they let you out.

Pulling out your phone, you called a familiar number.

“Y’ello?”

“Seven, get me out of here, please.”

Graciously, Seven had let your into his home. After hours of hysterical crying to Seven and the maid(?) at his home and several phone calls to Zen and Jaehee, you had come to your conclusion. You would go to the party and then you would leave the RFA.

V, who Seven had called, had only tried half heartedly to make you stay. Somewhere, it seemed he realised that you should’ve left far before you actually did. Yoosung had tried harder, but that was only because you couldn’t explain it to him. It wasn’t that you couldn’t trust him with it, you just...

Seven was a gracious host, he even offered to make sure to fully block Jumin from your phone but you thought you wouldn’t need it. Honestly, you weren’t prepared for the full onslaught of texts from him you inevitably got sent your way.

MC

MC

MC, please, I really didn’t mean to upset you.

I don’t want to do anything to cause you to make any rash decisions.

I’ll see you tomorrow, we can discuss this then.

You didn’t know what was more uncomfortable: the fact that he wanted you to stay and was willing to back down simply to have you return or the fact that you knew it wouldn’t take much for you to go back. It seemed Seven agreed and frowned at the messages. “We’ll make sure he doesn’t get you alone.”

If that was your main concern, everything would have been so much better.

The party began and you made sure to keep a tight hold on Seven’s arm. Jumin had sort of up ended the whole affair and the paparazzi at every turn made your stomach churn. It was just so wonderfully him and that was completely the problem.

Actually seeing his face, his hair slightly styled compared to how it usually look, made you freeze on the spot. Seven seemingly mistook it for fear, and it was to some degree, but you could feel your blood pump faster, your heart rate spike. “MC, we can go back if you want. We only need to be here for a bit.”

“It’s okay Seven, I’ll be alright.”

His speech was nothing amazing. Not at first. It was simply a statement, the truth and exposing the women for what they were—fraudsters. If they hadn’t gotten you into this whole mess, you might have only given them a slight frown, something disapproving. But that wasn’t the case. They’re disruption at his house, their continued pushiness for Jumin to marry Sarah had made him go almost insane in his own house. You scowled.

Then, just as their shrill voices rose to a crescendo, Jumin spoke over them, crystal clear as usual. “MC.”

Everyone was suddenly turned your way. Both Seven and Zen moved slightly in front of you. “Move back, we—”

“Let me go, I’ll... I’ll be fine. Get it out of the way.”

You stepped out from behind them, nodding your head to Jumin as his eyes watched you make your way closer to him. Sharp, grey and full of something—something animalistic. It was like a predator, watching its prey wander closer to the trap it had laid.

As you got closer, Jumin continued. “This wonderful person has organised this entire party for us and has revitalised the RFA into something new. MC is the one who has my heart, not you.”

It was a scathing remark to both Sarah and Glam. But you were practically in front of him now. The small little stage that had been set up had him towering over you and you looked up at him. There was a satisfied smile on his face, like he knew exactly what he was doing. And to some end, he probably did.

He only had to ask and he knew exactly that.

“I am so sorry you have had to put up with those women.” He never stopped looking at you, keeping your gaze directly on him. “It was not right. We just need another try, without them.”

At that, he stepped away from the microphone and stepped down to you, taking your hand. You could hear Seven and Zen shout, hear their anger as they stormed their way to you. But you simply turned around and held up a hand. “You really mean that? No more of this week, ever again?”

“I promise.”

“Then okay. I’ll... We can try a normal date, alright?”

His face lit up. You should’ve known then that this week would always be a pattern. That he would always be like this and you would always come back.

However, as he smiled down at you, it was hard to think about that.