#i don't want to start something new and join a new fandom either because then that's just adding to my ever-growing list of ocs

[iron-parkr]

I feel like I'm in a little bit of a writer hell. I can feel myself slowly losing motivation to work on my Supernatural fic (which, okay, understandable since I've been going non-stop with it for over a month now). I kinda want to just bite the bullet muse-wise and switch to my DBZ fic, but I can't decide on the POV for the next chapter so I'm stuck until I figure that out. And none of my other fandoms really appeal to me right now.

I'm going just a little bit insane tbh

[captainsophiestark]

Take A Break

Javi Rivera x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for my personal fic writing challenge for 2024, Sophie's Year of Fic! Featuring a new fic being posted every Friday, all year long :)

Fandom: Twisters

Summary: As part of Kate's original crew of tornado-tamers, you're as much of a workaholic as she is. Thankfully, Javi's around to help pull his girlfriend out of her notes when she really needs a break.

Word Count: 1,123

Category: Fluff, Humor, kind of angst just because of what happens to the original crew, but you can easily pretend that doesn't happen in the timeline of this fic :)

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

"Hey, enough work for tonight. Come join the party with the rest of us."

I smiled to myself as I made a few last notes off the computer screen. I knew Jeb was mostly talking to Kate, but I also knew that if I stayed here and tried to keep working after he managed to get Kate to take a break, my boyfriend wouldn't be far behind to literally drag me away from my notes.

I scribbled down a few last things as Jeb herded Kate away to the campfire, then started the process of shutting down my computer. Just as the last program finished closing, two arms wrapped tightly around my waist and picked me up, pulling me away from my work at the back of the truck.

"Javi!" I squealed, laughing as he slung me over one shoulder and started heading for the campfire.

"Yeah babe?"

"I was about to head over!"

"Oh yeah, I've heard that one before. Sorry, I know you too well. I know how fast another minute can turn into another hour. I care about this project as much as you do, but you need to take a break."

I sighed, rolling my eyes even though Javi couldn't see me. Even so, I couldn't totally hold back a smile.

"You know, Jeb just came and threw an arm around Kate."

"That's because Jeb lacks commitment," Javi responded as we neared the fire with the rest of our friends. He made sure to speak loudly enough that Jeb could hear him, too. "And because Kate's easier to convince than you are."

I scoffed, but the impact was lessened as Javi flopped into one of the chairs around the fire, pulling me around to sit in his lap in one smooth move. I shook my head and grinned up at him once we landed.

"You don't want your own chair?"

"My girl's had her head in her work, completely ignoring me for hours. No, I don't want my own chair."

I laughed, snuggling in closer to Javi and resting my head on his chest. He wrapped his arms tighter around me, and I smiled to see the rest of our friends settled comfortably around the fire, too.

"Glad you could finally join us!" called Praveen, Addy grinning beside him. I grinned right back.

"Don't act like I'm the only workaholic in this group," I said, fake-scowling as I curled closer into Javi's side. "You're all just as bad as I am. That's why we're friends."

"Alright, I resent the implicaiton that I don't know how to have a healthy work-life balance," said Javi, drawling his words a little as he held up his hands on either side of me to help illustrate his point. "I know how to have fun and how to work my ass off with Dorothy."

I twisted in Javi's lap to look up at him with a frown.

"Is it a healthy work-life balance to go way too hard on work and fun?"

He just looked down at me with a grin, leaning in for a quick kiss before pulling back with the same roguish smile.

"Hell yeah it is."

I just laughed and shook my head, leaning back on his shoulder as he tigthened his arms around me.

"Alright, whatever you say. I guess that's what college is for anyway, even if it's grad school."

"We're making memories. We have to have something to say when we're being interviewed for our incredible scientific breakthrough. Some good memories for the memoir."

"He's right," Jeb chimed in, leaning back and stretching his arm out across Kate's chair. "Most people won't want to hear that we spent every hour of every day in the lab. They want to know the people behind the science."

"I don't think any of the journals we want to publish in are going to care about who we are outside of the lab," Kate countered, flopping back against Jeb. "Or the people reading our grant proposals."

"Still works for the long-term headlines," Addy chimed in. "'Brilliant scientists tame the tornado, protecting the home where they spent countless nights together'."

"I think that's a little long," mused Kate.

"It makes it sound like we were all sleeping with each other or something," I added.

"Yeah, that's just the two sets of lovebirds over there," Praveen added.

Kate and Jeb smiled, Kate tucking her head into Jeb's shoulder, and I shot Praveen a wink before leaning up to give Javi a quick kiss. Praveen and Addy liked to make a big show of covering their eyes and shouting at any sign of PDA, but we knew it was all in good fun. They loved the four of us, both separately and as couples, even if they'd both developed strong ten minute comedy sets on the fact that they weren't dating each other or anyone else in our little group.

"Alright, enough of this," Kate said, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow. "I came over here with the promise of s'mores. So where are they?"

"Javi packed them," said Jeb, nodding in our direction. Javi shifted under me, settling further into the chair and wrapping his arms a little tighter around me.

"They're in the back of the van, but somebody else is gonna have to get them. I'm settled in here, and if I don't keep an eye on this one, she might just run right back to her computers."

Most of our friends rolled their eyes, but even so, Addy stood up.

"Lucky for both of you, I want s'mores enough that I'm willing to get up and take one for the team."

"Thank you, Addy," we chorused. She just waved us off with a smile. I waited until she passed Javi and I and got all the way to the truck, then leaned up to whisper in my boyfriend's ear.

"You absolutely know I wouldn't choose computers over s'mores. Probably ever."

"Of course I know," Javi said, leaning down to whisper in my ear with a smile, nuzzling into the crook of my shoulder. "But I'm enjoying sitting with you like this. We're too comfortable to be getting up for s'mores when we have friends that'll take care of that for us."

I laughed, nodding and resting my forehead against his.

"You're right. Genius decision."

"I know."

We shared a smile, one of Javi's hands gently squeezing my thigh as I leaned in to give him another quick kiss. Sitting by the fire with him, surrounded by all our friends, was my absolute favorite happy place. It made all the work and risk and long nights spent huddled over calculations and theories worth it, to be able to do it with Javi and the rest of our crew.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989 @space-helen

[urmultideadfandomperson]

The Specialists as Your Boyfriend

Fandom(s): Winx Club

Pairing(s): Red Fountain X Reader

Character(s): Sky, Brandon, Riven, Timmy, Helia

Genre(s): Fluff

Writing Style: Headcanons

Summary: A few headcanons of the Red Fountain Specialists as your boyfriend.

Warning(s): None

Requested by: None

Note: Hello! It's been a while since I wrote some headcanons like these. And yes, I joined the Winx Club fandom recently because I just finished Season One! It feels good to go back in track! I apologize for my lack of posts nowadays, but I'll try my best to feed you some content! Enjoy your read!

Sky

I know a lot of people find him as 'meh' because he is sort of a basic blonde, I can agree

But for me, he's super sexy, I cannot. This prince completely stole my heart because of his basic personality (yes, I'm a basic bitch too)

Anyway, Sky is definitely a sweetheart, already seen at how he treats Bloom in the first season

But don't forget he's the prince of Erakylon, so he's definitely rich

Sky will pamper you with so much love and affection

Whether if you're royalty or not, or if you're a fairy or an earthling, this man will still love you

Hand kisses are a MUST

Brandon

Oh boy. This suave flirt

Because Brandon is Brandon, he will obviously love teasing and flirting with you.

But that doesn't mean he wouldn't flirt with the other girls in Magix

As Prince Sky's squire, he obviously knows how to defend you. He may or may not try to impress you that way

He will definitely bring you to dates in Magix. Wherever you want to go, he will come with you

He may be flirtatious to you and other girls, but I assure you that Brandon is loyal. How did he become Sky's squire if he wasn't a loyal servant to him?

And for me, I have a feeling he will give golden retriever vibes

Riven

THIS MAN IS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE

Riven is really awkward and closed off in the beginning of your relationship. But as time goes by, he becomes comfortable

He isn't the best guy in words of affirmation, but the way he helps you out when you need it is always there. It's his way of loving you

This man actually has the best and warmest hugs

It's a guilty pleasure of his in which you try to calm him whenever he is about to go maniac over someone or something

Surprisingly very cuddly in private

Riven also wants you to stay in Red Fountain often so you can watch him spar with the other Specialists

Timmy

Similar to Riven, he is firstly awkward in the start of relationships (less awkward than the latter, however).

He loves to go to the library with you to study for exams and such

When he has new things to share, the first person Timmy will approach is you because he knows you will listen

Timmy is actually really blushy, and this is evident whenever you help him with his glasses

He isn't really into physical contact, but he does excel in quality time. He loves your presence with him

You're his assistant during calculations and he loves your cooperation as a duo

Timmy loves to gift you some new items and he likes to impress you with his logical thinking

Helia

Ah yes, the hottest guy to ever exist in Red Fountain of the Magix Realm

Helia loves to write poems and short stories for you

Since it is often seen that he loves to draw, he would secretly draw you in his sketchbook

Expect bouquets of flowers from him once in a week

It may or may not be expected, but Helia loves to say some pickup lines. These pickup lines are either cheesy or romantic

You are the only person he allows to braid his hair, so be thankful

Hand kisses are a MUST 2.0

[agoldenblackbird]

i'm gonna be a ranty bitch for a minute.

tbh i'm turned off even reading new buddie fic despite being a multishipper and have unfollowed a bunch of buddie accounts because i'm sick of the smug attitudes. one ask that i am otherwise not going to publish or respond to ended with 'sorry you don't understand media literacy bestie :)' fuck off. listen INFANT, i have been writing fanfic and original fic AND watching, reading and analyzing queer media since before you were born, i understand how character and story development works, and i know the difference between 'storyline i personally disliked' and 'bad writing.' this was BOTH, and it also was marketed to us as 'carefully crafted bi rep' and 'queer love story that is not about a bunch of pain and conflict FOR ONCE' so we have every right to be upset at the bait-and-switch.

the fact that i'm seeing the same exact posts - 'bt bones buddie CANON' that i saw three seasons ago after the bucktaylor breakup, or every time they thought buck and taylor MIGHT break up - says something. the fact that so many fans seem genuinely convinced (STILL!) that buddie is inevitable because there have been so many 'signs,' and then they rattle off a convoluted theory that would make the most hardcore taylor swift stan say 'wow, that's a bit of a reach,' honestly weirded me out a little when i first joined the 911 fandom. i have never been in a fandom where so many fans are insistent that their ship will be - not might be or could be, but WILL be - canon. i am skeptical both from past experience with other shows mishandling queer storylines or ship-baiting, and tim minnear's proven track record with this one of not really knowing what to do with buck's LI's. but i didn't want to yuck anybody's yum, so i let them have their theories and squee in peace, and unfollowed or blocked certain tags if i was seeing too much of it and getting annoyed. it's too out there for me, but i'm glad they're having fun!

yet they can't give us the same courtesy. they deride us as delusional for thinking that a canon pairing that was presented to us both in promo and the show itself as different and important (eg the bobby approval convo and 'buck getting off the hamster wheel') might last, and we're stupid to have ever liked tommy or lou or be disappointed at how the breakup was written, and if we point out the biphobia it's just sour grapes.

the bucktommy breakup is not the first time 911 has started out strong with an interesting storyline and fumbled it in the 4th quarter either because the writers got bored or in the name of needless drama/a 'gotcha' sudden twist. amir & bobby, eddie's fight club arc, the sperm donor SL, hen vs councilwoman ortiz, whatever the hell is going on with harry, the whole mess with shannon/kim, just to name a few. and especially the past couple of seasons, for me since 6b, the pacing has been off. they seem to have too much happening at once and many of the storylines don't have enough room to breathe to be narratively satisfying, or they get resolved in ways that feel lackluster.

if the toxic buddie stans who have been attacking lou on sm and sending death threats (wtf!) actually get what they want, which i admit is possible, but it's certainly not guaranteed….i don't know why they think the writers won't fumble that just as badly. it's not going to happen precisely the way they want it to because it is impossible to please everybody, that's what fanfic is for. but at this point i have zero faith that it would even be well done at all, and zero trust in the writers not to just sabotage or regress a character for funsies, and that's an excellent reason to stop watching the show. in most of my other fandoms i regard canon as a jumping-off point or a blurry outline at best, and i can have just as much fun in the 911 sandbox without any further input from canon at all, once i'm less angry.

[generouskittentidalwave]

Watching the She-ra reboot after 5-6 years

Hey remember that show in 2018 that came out on Netflix during Tumblr's Twitter era and stirred up enough toxicity to turn you into Dave the Skeleton in the highschool science classroom?

Well BUCKLE IN for a RIDE cause I recently watched that show for the first time after avoiding it for YEARS, after seeing the fans and the haters be so devoted to either the fans praising it like a godsent deity or haters devoting their whole life to finding something wrong with every aspect of the show that it makes you wonder if they realized that they've become the Catra that they sought to destroy, I decided to avoid even touching the show and went about my life in other fandoms.

Well years have passed and like a Hallmark movie time abruptly went on and the drama soon faded, the tides have settled, the war has ended, and neither side remains the same. The fans have grown up, matured and enjoy the show as it is and the haters have lost all that sweet sustenance back in 2019 and have went the ways of the DoDo. With everything finally settled, I joined in on the rush of new fans recently that started rewatching the series and wanted to display my thoughts as well as a first time watcher ^^

I went in well aware of all the criticisms in mind, and having seen the original She-ra, and I just gotta say that my worrisome thoughts on watching it was completely washed away from the start of the show. I was worried of Adora being that one marysue character that is from the bad guys side but is actually a good a guy with the personality of white bread and with flaws of just being "a little bit QuiRkY" but she completely shooed away those fears. She is a well balanced character with a unique and well done backstory, her character breaking away from the steriotypical chosen ones and her having flaws that don't take away her being a good person but instead have their own charm and relatability that makes her very fun and down to earth. She is so golden retriever coded and I love it. What I like most though is that she wasn't "random main character comes in to lead everyone to victory out of nowhere" , instead of making her the unsaid leader, they made her the main character who is the muscle of the group and part of the heart and has to learn overtime and understand their ways instead of making her the leader. It makes way for her to pave and earn her way as being the main character instead of it being given by default by making her the leader and I love that break away. And that break away also helps to counter the fears I heard about the white savior trope by making Adora the way she was and making Glimmer and Glimmer's mom the queen the actual leaders of the rebellion that they helped start.

Love the best friends squad, I love Glimmer's growth and her bond with Adora, I like how she went downhill and built herself back up again as a person as it was very realistic with her being so young and having to replace her mom as queen. Bow is my spirit animal, period, but I really want to know more about his huge family. I imagine that because they are all historians they must go to the academy or similar academies that Bow was meant to go to and I can see why they wouldn't question him not being there as 12 siblings is A LOT to keep track of. Swiftwind is great but he shall always be known as Horsie and the queen's sacrifice hurts everytime I see it, I love how she owned up to her own flaws. Shadowweaver messed up being a mother figure 3 times, she needs parenting classes fr, 'nough said. I love all the princesses but Mermista is my personal favorite. Also why is aunt cast named Castaspella, I can't even say it without dying of laughter 💀🖐️

Now I know some of you are sitting at your computer with 5 monsters in hand and sweat anxiously dripping from your forehead as you dramatically hover over the keys just WAITING to write a five page essay response if I even dare to utter the name Catra and her relationship with Adora. So, I'ma give you my opinion.

Honestly, their romance was the end goal since the beginning and the story made that clear and honestly I like Catra's growth as a character from her knowing she has anger issues and actively working on it to better herself, helping to save others and helping to save Adora in the end. Her realizing that pushing others away to protect herself only harms her and everyone around her in the end and her realistically taking it slow and steady to better herself as a person for herself and for Adora is something a really like. Yes their relationship was hella toxic, especially in the middle (but I do like how Adora recognized that and punched Catra when they were in the portal). The build up was great, the middle ground of her doubling down was great, and I think her growth at the end was great and that the two are happy and not in a toxic relationship with eachother anymore at the end. I think what truly makes it odd is although the redemption was great the time constraints made it so they couldn't flesh it out to help answer and address the past actions that were caused by her, they did so great with her slowly becoming better and better, and so it wouldn't have come off as bad as it did if they had just a bit more time to address everything with that instead of being forced to dive right into it which definitely left a- well- less than good impression to it's audience. But they tried their best with what they could do and honestly for a show as surprisingly dark as this I'm just glad they aren't in a toxic relationship anymore and are happy in the end and that Catra got redeemed. It definitely wasn't trying to romanize abuse, however it came off as such due to constraints and them rushing the ending which gave plenty of ammo to people who already hated the show to have a reason to hate it more. In my opinion if you don't like it that's valid, if you do like it that's valid, me personally I'm not a romance person so I couldn't care enough either way.

Now to address some things I know some people are waiting for, but in speed run fashion. Mara's She-ra design was the fault of the designers not agreeing on what they wanted her to look like, I was expecting her to have brown flowing hair not blonde, I get the stripping of individuality message they tried to go with, it just needed better designers and better execution but that's as deep as it goes. It's not that they are racist, they are more along the lines of "you need a more organized team cause her design changes every five seconds like wtf" kind of situation. I'm glad they didn't automatically forgive Hordak or accept him but I'm glad he was changed enough to not be a killer that's mass murdering people anymore and as long no one is dying by his hands anymore and people don't automatically forgive him then that's fine by me, whatever keeps others from dying a horrible unnecessary death.

Overall, in conclusion, love the show, great depth, great characters, love the humor and amazing magical girl transformations, awesome rep, stronk princess punching things, would most definitely recommend, especially now with all the wave of chaos it's initial release sucked in now evaporated. (Seriously there are full tags and blogs deticated to hating a show about glowing princesses fighting aliens, it's okay to not like a show but come on people there is more to life than that 💀) Enjoy it, have fun, and I hope you have a great day/night! ^^

[aziraphales-library]

Hello beautiful people! First of all, thank you so much for this blog. Your work is amazing!

I'm looking for some fic suggestions, if you'd be so kind in answering. I loved Slow Show and Old Vines, so I wanted something similar, a long AU fic that has a lot of pinning and some angst, but has a happy ending. Thank you ❤

Hi! The fics you've mentioned are very popular in the fandom, so I'd recommend checking our #fandom favourites tag, as well as our #pining, #human au, and #long fic tags for more to enjoy. Here are more to add...

Between Comfort And Chaos by anathxmadevice (T)

“And how long have you two been a couple?” “Oh, I—” Aziraphale panics. “Ha, well, that’s a funny… We’re not actually—” “We’re just friends.” Crowley says, their voice clear and calm and lightly amused, either because of or in spite of Aziraphale’s flailing attempts to divert the conversation. “Ah, yes, quite.” Aziraphale says, then takes a sip of his drink just for something to do, instead of focussing on the way Crowley said just friends, and how it causes a painful throb in his chest that he has never fully got used to. His memory can only scrabble at the edge of a time where being just friends with Crowley didn’t feel like a particular form of torture. * Or, Aziraphale has been desperately in love with his best friend and housemate Crowley since they were students, but is too scared to do anything about it.

Keep it casual by Kiez21 (E)

Aziraphale has just been dumped by his boyfriend of thirteen years, right before turning thirty. While out with his friends, he meets a red-haired stranger that gives him one of the best nights of his life. Crowley's just moved into Tadfield looking for a fresh start. On his first night out, he invites a handsome stranger for a one night stand. It is just a one night stand, right?

The Anon Before Christmas by foolishlovers (M)

When Crowley’s friend, blogging buddy and business partner Anathema announces her annual Secret Santa Exchange on Tumblr, she is very adamant Crowley should join this year. The old-fashioned (but admittedly compassionate) man he gets assigned to send anonymous messages to every day until Christmas sounds awfully similar to the fussy bookseller that his friends adore, yet Crowley tries to avoid at all costs. But surely his friends would have mentioned if Aziraphale had taken an interest in the Bad Omens fandom as well… right? Or: An Enemies to Lovers Secret Santa Tumblr AU.

It never hurts to keep looking for sunshine by Dervila, elf_on_the_shelf (E)

After Adam's parents die in a car crash, Aziraphale is forced to start taking care of him as more than just an uncle. Don't get him wrong, he loves the little devil, it's just that he is completely clueless and could rather use some help. In comes Crowley, Adam's new nursery school teacher with his amazing skills in dealing with kids. Could he be the answer to all of Aziraphale's prayers - Adam-related and otherwise? Well, it looks like he might be just that, judging by the weird things Aziraphale's heart seems to be doing whenever he sets eyes on the man. Now, if only the tall ginger returned his feelings...

For His Eyes Only by AFrenchFanWriter (M)

Anthony J. Crowley has been an MI6 spy for 10 years, completing successful mission after successful mission under the guidance of his quartermaster, Aziraphale Fell. But this life is starting to take its toll on him as he is getting older; and when, one day, his past comes back to haunt him, Crowley realizes that it might be time for him to hang up his gun and face all the things he has left unaddressed… (Yep, it is basically a James Bond/Q AU!)

Driving in the Dark by Sarah_hadeschild (E)

Aziraphale, a small town librarian with a troubled past, has resigned himself to the impossibility of love. That is, until he meets a rough-around-the-edges motorcycle mechanic who reads Mary Oliver. TW for mentions of a past abusive relationship.

- Mod D

[amberluvsbugs]

My reaction to the news you just posted:

I saw your 'I lost someone' post a few days ago, and I have no clue what was going through that person's head for them to do that. Neither you, your co-workers, nor anyone in the fandom who may be suffering from illness deserved to be deceived like that.

My heart goes out to you, and I hope you're doing okay now. 💖

(If you're comfortable clarifying this for anyone who didn't see that post and may want to know the full context (no stress if you don't want to ofc), was Ari initially claiming to be dying of cancer or was it something else? Either way, it's still disgusting what they did.)

thank you it really means a lot. ;;;; In case anyone didnt see the post I made a while back, this is the full story for clarification: This all started on April 29th when I received a DM from my co-worker Toby, saying that a Poppy Playtime fan and friend we will call Ari, who he told me was 18 and has come to know for a solid year, was set to be sedated on May 6th due to having an incurable cancer. Because of this, he wanted me to create an illustration for her before she passed which I immediately took up the offer. Now, for clarification, I don't trust what anyone says in the PPT community. I am aware of how immature and dangerous the community can be. But when it's coming from someone I know and trust, I put my trust forward on that person. I don't mess around when it comes to someone nearing their death. So I got in contact with her, made sure she saw the illustration I made for her, and for the past week after work hours, I would talk with her in VCs and chill at every chance I got to make sure she was happy and having a good time. She acted very kind and sweet to me and so many others who would join the VC as they also soon came to know of her upcoming passing as well. On Saturday, May 4th we hosted a podcast for her as a subtle final farewell to the whole server. And on Sunday evening at 5 pm, me and Toby talked with her one last time in a private vc until she had to take her final leave from Discord. At 6 pm, me and Toby stayed on call listening to the Caretaker album fully (as we both had a big fascination for The Caretaker album, Everywhere At The End Of Time) as a sort of timer to let us know when she had passed, as we knew in 6 hours she would be sedated. At 1 am on Monday morning, The album finished. We both cried so hard it gave us headaches. I only got to really know her for a short time, but at that moment, she made such an impact on me and so many others in the PPT server and community. We had made art dedicated to her and I had even laid out a post for her. Everyone was mourning over Ari’s departure and for 4 days me and Toby were a MESS of emotions of grief. That was until I received a message from Toby on Thursday, May 9th, saying he needed to speak to me urgently in call. Toby told me that he had been watching Ari's activity and found something off with it as it had recently gone active a few times. I told him that maybe it was her friend having access to her account in her passing but Toby immediately showed me proof of the activity that's been going on in another server and on her Roblox account that she had. And that's when we needed proof or confirmation. For the past 4 hours, we did our research to find leads on her. We eventually found her school which apparently confirmed that she was 14, NOT 18, and we got in contact with her parents and asked them about Ari to which they were confused about this whole thing and told us that she was here. Which CONFIRMED that she was still ALIVE. We filled in on the parents for what Ari did and she is no longer going to have access to her electronics. We were both devastated at this point and absolutely furious. Everything we did for her, and the community, was all for nothing. She used and fooled us by a means to get attention and to specifically get in contact with Toby and be forward with him as a minor. We dedicated hours and days to her, mourned and cried for her, all for it to be crumbled down into a fake death. We were beyond disappointed, me especially as I don't take kindly to this sort of thing. I don't get mad. In fact, I try to be a kind person to everyone, but the fact someone would take advantage and play death like this to us for attention is disgusting and just wrong. I have moved on from this but please don't make this a big deal. They were 14 and this will not stop me from doing what I love for the PPT community or whatnot. It's just a life lesson I will take to heart and be careful to not put my full trust in someone unless I have clarification that they are indeed going through a death-like situation like this.

[fereldanwench]

I didn't want to completely sit out a year-in-review, but for reasons I'll explain at the end of this post and under a cut, doing the traditional pick-one-pic-from-each-month approach just wasn't going to work for me. So instead, here are 20 of my favorite shots (in no particular order) of Valerie from 2023!

(I'll share solo Goro shots and shippy/story shots in two other posts before the year ends.)

Some thoughts about this year (cw for anxiety and depression mentions):

So yeah. I actually hadn't planned on joining in on the virtual photography year-in-review fun in part because... Well, frankly, I wasn't sure if it would actually be fun for me.

Although I do have pictures for every month, the first third, maybe even half, of the year was a struggle on almost every conceivable level. A lot of it was shit that carried over from the end of 2022, which was also an incredibly difficult year for me. I don't really want to delve too deeply into why--Some of it was personal, some of it was professional, some of it was fandom, and if you know, you know.

The main obstacle I had here is that looking at a lot of the shots I took from about January to May (give or take a few weeks on either end) honestly reminded me of Bad Times™️. I've worked really hard to pull myself out of that depression/anxiety cycle and return to a healthier approach to fandom and online socialization in general, but I just didn't want to spend a lot of time in that mental space. There are a few shots from those months that made it to my favorites, and I hope one day I can look back on that stuff and just feel the good from it again. Alas, that day is still not here.

But I am happy to report that the other reason I wanted to approach the review differently is a lot more positive! It's also two-fold: 1) I spent the earlier part of this year exploring more of a technical side of virtual photography and 2) I was really prolific the last third or so of this year so trying to narrow faves from about August until now was just not possible.

One of the few good things about the end of 2022 was being able to upgrade my graphics card, which meant I then had a rig that could support ray-tracing and hot sampling. As a result, I started putting a lot more focus on lighting and getting acquainted with new tools. I also was trying to work with the new AMM posing system, which is very convenient in some ways (100s of poses without reloading the game!) and a complete pain in the ass in others (can't move characters without their poses breaking!). Custom photomode poses + Nibbles Replacer has been the game changer I've been waiting for.

Or to put it more succinctly, December 2022 through about April 2023 felt like a relearning/return to basics kind of creative period, which is essential, but also means I just don't really like a lot of what I did, lmao.

Then, shockingly (I'm not shocked at all), starting treatment for my anxiety and depression in the second half of this year suddenly made creating a lot easier and fun again! Crazy how that works.

Even bumping this little review up to 20 shots instead of 12, there are still pictures from the past few months that I had to cut as favorites. There was just no way I could condense the amount of fave shots I took from August to now in just 5 options.

I also owe quite a bit of this revival to modders for asking me if I wanted to take shots for them--Exploring more of a fashion photography approach to my shots I think did a lot to build on what I had learned earlier in the year and encouraged me to try something new. I don't want to tag anyone in this long-ass glorified diary entry, but if you invited me to take mod shots for you, just know that it really meant a lot. ♡

And that's where my head has been with a yearly review! Is filling out a little template with 12 pictures this serious? No, it definitely is not, lmao. But hey, overthinking shit is still something I'm working on. ✌️

[envysparkler]

do you have tips for beginner writers?? i wanna start but i feel so out of my depth, and usually i run ideas by my friends but none of them are into the fandoms i wanna write for. throwing smth out into the world for anyone to see scares me so bad but i cant goto irl friends and my parents wont let me get discord to maybe connect with people who i’d be ok running my ideas by.(do not know i have tumblr, but discord they actively check for) throwing smth into the world without anyone to check terrifys me

Breaking into a new fandom is undoubtedly nervewracking!

Back when I first started writing fanfiction, Discord didn't exist, and while I'd heard of Tumblr, I didn't have an account. (I believe the main writing community for that fandom was on Facebook, though it wasn't very active either.) I started writing on FFN, which did help in community-building somewhat since you could send messages to authors and not just comments, but we didn't do much idea sharing. The fandom was new and small, most of us were in our early teens, and altogether, we probably lacked the self-awareness to be self-conscious about our ideas.

Of course, I had the same setup when it came to Batman. I hadn't joined a discord server or made any posts on Tumblr before I wrote my first batfam fic. I wasn't self-conscious about that one either either, for a very important reason that to be perfectly honest, I'd almost forgotten.

I wrote my first fic because there was a story inside of me that was bursting to come out.

It didn't matter if the idea was good or bad. It didn't matter if it was popular or unpopular. It didn't matter what the fandom thought about the characters, the ships, or the plots. What mattered was that my fingers were itching and words were scrawling themselves on the inside of my eyes and so I wrote.

That's not to say that you can always and only write if something is bursting to come out of you--writing to fill a challenge, practice a new skill, meet a word count, or offer a gift are all perfectly valid. But when I look back at the stories I enjoyed writing the most, they were always the ones that kept me up at night. The ones I had to write, or else. The ones that refused to let me go until I put pen to paper or finger to keyboard.

That's my best piece of advice for you and anyone else struggling to write their first story and also anyone struggling to write their tenth or hundredth or thousandth story.

Write the story that demands to be written.

As for the second part of your ask: don't worry about your audience. Especially don't worry about your audience before you've even written your story. You don't have to ever post your story if you don't want to. If you do want to publish, there are several ways of slowly dipping your toe in the water--you could publish a snippet on Tumblr, you could post anonymously, you could show it to someone IRL first. But please, please don't get into the habit of having someone else approve your ideas before you start writing. All it will do is limit your imagination.

[thoughtsaboutshows]

2024 Fic Writer End of Year Roundup ✨

Answer and then tag three or more creators to keep the game going!

I was tagged by the lovely @overjoyedisland for this!! Thank you!!

1. How many words did you publish on AO3 in 2024?

106,565!

2. How many fics did you complete this year?

I completed 6 Empyrean One-shots! Most of them are little ficlets or drabbles and then one Solstice Exchange fic! I just joined the Empyrean fandom in August and it's been so so wonderful. I'd taken a break from writing fanfiction and these characters were the perfect ones to get me back into it!!

3. How many in progress or ongoing fics did you start this year?

I started one, Let's Play Pretend, my Riorgail Fake/dating (also sort of second chance?) romance fic. It's my first long-fic for this fandom and it's been so so fun to write. I have some ideas for extending some of my drabbles/one shots that are marinating in my brain but we'll see if it actually happens! I'd love to do a canon world or canon compliant long fic depending on what Onyx Storm brings us. 😬

4. What was your favourite thing you wrote?

all that you rely on, and all that you can save- was inspired by the Chapter 27 Xaden Bonus Chapter where he wants to do wickedly inappropriate things with Violet on an archives desk. I hadn't written smut in a while so it was to dip my toes back into that

I’m Gonna Be- I've only really ever written for the main ship in fandoms so I absolutely LOVED writing something for Immrick. I love their dynamic and their potential. They are one that I plan to keep exploring!

5. What piece was your most experimental or different from your usual style?

I've never done any sort of exchange so participating in the Rider's Quadrant Solstice Exchange was super fun!! Writing something for someone else wasn't something I'd done and I really enjoyed it. Also writing for a non main ship (Immrick) was a blast.

6. Did any fics surprise you - either while writing or their reception?

I didn't expect Let's Play Pretend to be as popular as it has been! I kind of just started it because I love a premise of two idiots in love and I am a SUCKER for fake dating (especially when one person is CLEARLY besotted with the other 👀). I love stocking it up with tropes: one bed, second chance, enemies-ish to lovers....it's been fun! It seems others love those tropes too!

7. Do you have a fic you wrote and loved that went under the radar? (This is your sign to reblog/repost it!)

I think I'm Gonna Be (my Immrick one-shot) went sort of under the radar probably because it's not a main ship work. Though I will say that Xaden/Violet do make some appearances in it 😊. But I'm really proud of that one, and Immrick can ALWAYS use more love.

8. Who is an artist that inspired you?

I don't think she is on tumblr but the artist Mads Schofield is INCREDIBLE. All her works are AMAZING. Here's her link to instagram: madschofield

Her throne of glass works specifically have inspired me. She'll always draw the characters authentically and with all their scars. It inspires me to allow the characters I write to lean into their imperfections.

She has some fourth wing art too that's amazing. Here's a Riorgail one.

And here's her website!

9. Who is an author that inspired you?

Oh my goodness there are SO many amazing fic writers out there. Everyone on the discord server has been so welcoming and supportive.

I'd say the writing of @skyfallscotland, especially In Too Deep, inspired me to dive into an AU. And @saranova and @tegantales are also incredible and inspiring.

@suebswrites's Just Ask inspires me to want to jump into canon compliant. And that fic (and everything she writes) is amazing!

10. Who is a new author you discovered?

All of the Empyrean writers! I didn't start reading Fourth Wing Fanfic until this Summer so I've basically always been able to read something new or by someone new. There's so many amazing fics out there.

@ubiquitouslyme @justallihere @lizardsrunfast @widebrimmedhatsblog @caeli0306 @overjoyedisland @yanny-77 @siobhanbooks @alexandia03 @hockeyspiral23 @sarcasticmothwrites @copperfirebird @serahadmoni are just a few more of the many very talented fic writers for this fandom.

11. Did you do any collaborations? How did it start?

I haven't collaborated or co-written anything but a huge shout out to @lovemedarkly29 for being a beta and a springboard for ideas. She's given the best feedback and has helped me organize my thoughts and helped me ensure things make sense and are reasonable (especially with the messy backstory of Let's Play Pretend).

12. What accomplishments are you proudest of?

I'm the proudest about getting back into fanfic. I was writing for the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina fandom but fell off of it in February. I absolutely love writing and it's been a lifesaving outlet for me, but I was just so uninspired and had not been able to do it. I was nervous about starting again but the fandom has been so welcoming.

13. What did you learn about writing or creating this year?

I've learned to put less pressure on myself and to write when I'm inspired but not to force it. When I try and force it it's usually not very good.

14. Any advice you’d like to share with new or aspiring writers?

Just start writing! Even if it's just a few lines of dialogue or a paragraph or only the first chapter of something. If it's something you want to try just get something on the page when you're inpsired.

On a practical note I suggest using googledocs fro writing. That's what I do and because I have it on my phone I can jot down any random thoughts or pieces of dialogue that comes to mind wherever I am. It leads to some pretty chaotic google drives, but at least all my thoughts are in one place.

15. What are your creative goals for 2025?

My goal is to finish Let's Play Pretend! I would also like to finish up this Immrick oneshot that's been bouncing around in my head. One thing I would also like to accomplish is writing ahead (at least a few chapters) before I start posting.

In a perfect world I would also finish Thicker Than Water, my Nabrina WIP, but that's currently on an indefinite pause. I just can't seem to write it. In truth, it's felt strange to write about the situation Sabrina is in at this point in the story after Chance's passing. I just can't get into the headspace to finish it. But maybe some day.

This was fun!!

Much Love.

[imthepunchlord]

Honestly? At this point Miraculous seems like a pick and choose kind of fandom??? Like when the storyline and author of something become too much of a mess for the fans to care much for canon anymore so they just choose what the want to write fanfics about. It happens in stuff like DC where they can't have all the different characterizations of the characters together without contradiction. Death of the author situation I think???

It was already happening with fan artists so very intrigued by the PV. And then as new characters and powers were introduced people started omitting some characters n episodes.

Now, with the absolute nothing having done for the character arcs for most of the characters (Adrian, Chole, even Alya) people are just tired.

Understandably so. We have almost a decade of bad writing, inconsistency on characters, clashing set up and characters, upsetting/huge choices that don't have any real consequences to them or not the right response, and honestly at the core, nothing changing all that much. S6 is going to have LB and Chat still not know each other's identities, and are still going to face a villainous Butterfly user.

Only difference is that there's now a total of 17 heroes in Paris, but given that LB and Chat are the center piece, I don't know how much we'll really see them. Oh, and Adrien and Marinette are dating, though I wouldn't be surprised if s6 just had them broken up or immediately broke them up. They did it before. And this pair is supposed to chase each other eternally... maybe they'll stay dating s6 and onwards but idk, it seems like no one likes writing couples together, which is a shame as that can be a whole other can of worms and not always happy, as you're taking that partnership further, you're going to learn more of who your SO is, and there's going to be fights, there's going to be learning communication, there's going to be learning compromise. There's a lot to explore with couples together that's not always sunshine and rainbows, and hardly any show wants to really explore it. Maybe they will s6 but I'm not really anticipating the possibility.

Either way, yeah, ML is that medium where, because of the inconsistency, you can pick and choose what you think fits the character. Given the lack of consistency, it can be up for debate of what's even in character for this character.

Like, I remember when Collector first came out, and Chloe is sobbing about Adrien being pulled from school and I was so surprised by the choice. The Chloe that was presented in s1 would not be sobbing. She was be mad. She would go demand and threaten Gabriel to give Adrien back. Probably one of the few people she genuinely cared for, and this is a girl who knows that she has a lot of political power and can get her way easily. She would not be crying over this, she'd be marching her way to the Agreste manor, ready to give Gabriel a bad day for the audacity of pulling her friend out of school when she waited so long for him to join her in school.

And that's just one of many moments where something can feel out of character, at least for me. Depending on how you view Chloe, that could very much be in character. And that's the nice and frustrating thing with Miraculous, no consistency, anything is up for your interpretation.

Even more so when you have characters that have a clear route of progress to follow.

Like, take Felix, who got cut because he didn't work with what Astruc wanted to do, which yeah, he doesn't. Which he wanted to do a status quo story, which means little to no progressing forward, no major changes to that initial set up. Felix though is a character that needs progress. He starts out selfish, not wanting to be a hero, and his set up arc is learning to care. Learning to truly become a hero, learning to make friends and working with others, coming to genuinely fall for his partner and being genuine with her.

Felix would've been fine with a story progressing forward.

He had a clear path to take.

Chloe, given all the build up to be Queen Bee, had two clear paths to take, be it redemption and rising to becoming a hero, or embracing a role of full villainy.

Alya had a clear path to take, with her eagerness to expose the heroes publicly, she needs to learn the value and security of secrecy, and the reality that her trying to expose them put them at risk; that she needs to reevaluate her priorities and how she should go about things.

There's also the issue of lore, which ML has really bad lore. Which can leave us to be more creative with it, make changes so it makes sense. And this can extend to powers too, as I don't think a majority genuinely like all powers presented, I don't know anyone who really likes time traveling Rabbit or really knows how Rooster works. So it is really nice that people are pretty open to seeing Miraculous power changed or expanded upon.

And of course, there's the lack of consistency in what they set up.

Ladybug and Cat are supposed to be THE most powerful, the big two! But they don't feel like. Butterfly feels like the most OP given it can give any power and can make superior versions of preexisting Miraculous. Peafowl can do the same, and make actual life apparently, that you can fully control and terminate whenever you want. Rabbit can freaking time travel. Rooster it seems can give you any power you want, I know they tried to explain that Rooster can't do what other Miraculous do, but that's a clashing statement as Ladybug and Goat both generate items, and the Paris Special reveals that a Ladybug CAN control what items they gets, and you got Butterfly and Peafowl able to function the same, and in the Paris Special, Butterfly can make a champion that can go to different realities, and Rooster can give the ability to go to different realities, so I guess we'll just go with Rooster can give you any power you want?

Yeah, Miraculous over all is a huge frustrating mess. Even more so that it's still going on despite how sloppy it is.

And for me at least, I create content for it as I can SEE the potential it has for the concept. It's such a brilliant idea for a superhero/magical girl show.

Doing animal themed heroes, with their powers working off the animal symbolism, themes, folklore, and mythology? Yeah, that is great. That can give you SO MUCH to work with and do. Even more so, most animals have the same themes across different cultures, like everyone agrees that foxes are tricky, horses are about heroism and traversal, bees are the peak example of community, ect..

And then there's these little beings that are based on those animals, that have lived through a long history alongside humanity? Easily could've been the most fascinating part of the show, especially if they work off animal archetypes. That gives you a preset personality to build upon, and can shape each kwami's view, moral, and guidance.

Like Pollen as a Bee should have values of having a role to play in the great hive of the world, you might need help finding your purpose, and to believe that humans should communicate, work with others, work hard, be kind but take no bull. Live a life of integrity and responsibility.

Trixx as a Fox though should be a trickster. One that's ultimately for the greater good, but she's going to be chaotic about it. Maybe a little selfish, maybe a little mischievous, and maybe a little risky. She's going to urge a value of cleverness and perception in her humans, but she's also going to let them act for themselves as she wants to see how things play out for curiosity and fun. And in the grand scheme of things, everything will work out as Trixx intends, with her having various predictions on how things will probably go, but my goodness, anyone caught up in her gambling game is going to be in for a wild ride.

And with these two very drastic animal archetypes, it sets up Pollen and Trixx to clash on how they handle things, expanding upon kwamis having unique dynamics, some as friendships while others are rivalries.

Then of course, there's the intrigue of what humans they could get paired with, especially if you go a route of foils that could open the way for growth.

Like Bee was set up as Chloe's ultimate foil, being the opposite of who she was: being mean and petty, lashing out, being lazy, egotistical, selfish, doesn't work with others unless she values them. All of that is the opposite of what bees represent. And all of that is what Chloe needed to grow and improve, but no, we can't make progress, she has to stay who she is, so the Bee is catered to her lashing out.

So yeah, it's a big shame as I freaking love this concept, especially as I like animals, I like reading up on their mythology and symbolism and such. But it's so horrendously done. And that's the biggest shame as I think it could've been one of the great cartoons to recommend. But not how it is now.

[oh-no-its-dragons]

2024 Fic Writer End of Year Roundup (Distrated Version)

aka only the ones I can do off the top of my head after the first few questions because otherwise I'll never get this done

1. How many words did you publish on AO3 in 2024?

On AO3, I've got 150,559 words for the year.

2. How many fics did you complete this year?

Oooh "complete" is not a thing I'm good at, but let me see...

Looks like there were three multichapter fics and about twenty one-shots. I've gotten better at making something a series instead of an open-ended multi-chapter fic when that's what makes more sense for it.

3. How many in progress or ongoing fics did you start this year?

Started posting? Only three. I've got a few more in my WIP files but they don't count until there's something posted somewhere.

4. What was your favorite thing you wrote?

This is a super hard question for me and not only because I forget everything exists once it's posted. Maybe Country Air? I'm enjoying The Cure Is Worse Than The Poison except for when I hate it. I had a lot more fun writing Defying Gravity than I expected, and Early Tyrrish Romantic Poetry was an act of love so it's especially close to my heart.

5. What piece was your most experimental or different from your usual style?

Gotta be the faux-translated ancient dramatic poems, lol.

6. Did any fics surprise you - either while writing or their reception?

Defying Gravity probably surprised me the most- there's probably two or three points in there where I had a good idea of what would happen and then when I got there it just. Didn't happen that way.

9. Who is an artist/author that inspired you?

Can I just list the entire Riders Quadrant discord? Because seriously I had so much fun writing fic and talking about it this year. @suebswrites helped me restructure both Poison and Defying Gravity in ways that made them better. @alexandia03 and @siobhanbooks and @essjaywrites and @tegantales all made me think a probably unhealthy amount about Imrrick. @yanny-77 and @siobhanbooks made me fall in love with Bodoc and Bodhi in general. @fantasywithkassidy's adorable Altitude Adjustment is directly responsible for the modern-with-magic AU Moth and I are starting. @lizardsrunfast and @saranova and @hockeyspiral23 are incredible writers who all inspired my design work which has been like a whole new bonus hobby. @illustratinghan and @essjaywrites and (ig)cuddlydevil1114 and (ig)mangaurania all make me want to be a better artist every time I pick up my tablet. I'm blanking on tumblr names for Mint and Mara_Leigh but both of them blew my mind too, and @overjoyedisland and @shipmistress9 and @caeli0306 all writing amazing stuff and @serahadmoni and @greeneyedwildthing killing me with the meta and... shit I'm sure I'm forgetting people too. This fandom is so fucking talented.

10. Who is a new author you discovered?

I mean, the whole fandom? I discovered the whole fandom. I'm endlessly impressed by how many people in this fandom wrote for the first time this year and are killing it right out of the gate, y'all are amazing.

11. Did you do any collaborations? How did it start?

@sarcasticmothwrites is my favorite person in the world

like how it started is they picked up Fourth Wing as a lucky day at the library and read it in less than a week and made me read it immediately and we couldn't stop talking about it. and then I made them join the discord, and we either co-write or beta everything for each other anyway because we're just that couple. lol.

14. What is your advice?

Write what makes you happy. Try things because they seem fun or because you always wanted to and haven't yet. If you told me a year ago I'd be designing t-shirts and making stickers I'd have laughed. I learned to make discord emotes! I got my first tattoo! In 2025 I'm going to try getting acrylic charms done and I'm going to try doing my own embroidered weapons patches for my denim jacket.

Just find time to do what brings you joy and celebrate with other people when they find their joy.

[cybercasket]

Sally Williams headcanons

(CW for discussion of coping with death + trauma. I go in-depth into Sally's mentality towards what happened, but I don't talk about the trauma itself.)

To start things off, this is based off of Sally's official character sheets (2017/most recent sheet) (2013) and what I remember from the story more than they are the fandom's perception of her. These headcanons might make more sense if you check those out first!

🧸 According to her creator La-Mishi-Mish, her body's age can change. She's chronologically in her 60s, mentally + spiritually 12 (her age at death), and typically appears 8. She used to have the ability to turn any age she wanted, but it got retconned because La-Mishi-Mish kept getting called out for being irresponsible and creepy with it.

So, I think that Sally's form can shift ages to some extent, though it's mostly subconscious and based on her state of mind. It's a little bit like the early Steven Universe episode "So Many Birthdays" except a bit more stable.

🎀 Sally is actually deathly afraid of becoming older, and does everything she can to maintain the persona of an innocent 8 year old girl.

To her, 8 was one of the last few good years of her short life--afterwards is when everything became bad and wrong, and she was subject to so much judgement, criticism, responsibility, and predatory behavior from the people around her that she couldn't handle at the time.

She's afraid that being much older than 8 will make her a target.

🎠 Sally romanticizes being younger a lot, though she also likes the way it makes other people perceive her. By behaving more incompetent, temperamental, and oblivious than she really is, she can make people believe that she's cute, innocent, and incapable of wrong. She has a strong internalized belief that being older is dangerous, while being younger is safe.

🧸 She age regresses intentionally (from 12 to 8) by heavily focusing on her more childish interests (eg. Dolls, girl toys, and princesses) and by pushing away/repressing parts of her that she seems too mature or grown-up (eg. Certain words, ways of speaking, and knowledge/awareness she has).

🎀 According to her creator, Sally spends a lot of time in the woods near her house playing with kids at the local playground.

I think she is absolutely DEDICATED to the act of being a completely normal 8 year old girl. She'll bandage the bleeding from her head, watch all their shows, learn all their games and slang, and even collect the toys they like so she can fit in and play with them.

🎠 Lately though, she's been having to tell kids that her parents don't let her use her iPad much. There's always a bit of an adjustment period for her between each new generation of kids, but she really struggles to wrap her head around Gen Alpha's modern technology.

🧸 Speaking of technology... She's not good at it. For a long time she didn't really bother to learn since stuff like computers and phones were associated with older people, and her not knowing how to use them fed into an image of her being cute and childlike. However, it's genuinely bewildering and confusing to her.

🎀 Do NOT play Roblox with her, it will take 20 minutes for her to join your game and she won't know the first thing about how to play it 😭😭😭. Though with enough patience, you could probably get her hooked on something like Adopt Me.

She's not good at other games either, though she usually doesn't try in competitive video games (eg. Mario Kart) on purpose because she doesn't really understand them, and likes seeing how happy the people she's playing with get when they win :-).

🎠 She has a ton of excuses memorized for why her parents are never there with her at the playground, and why the parents of other kids can't meet her parents.

Sometimes it doesn't work out so well, and she has to spend a few hours trying to find a way to wiggle out of a missing person's report... She usually hangs out farther away from where the adults are to avoid ending up in awkward situations like that.

🧸 Over time, her perception of her years from 0-8 and her years from 9-12 became really polarized--in her mind, her younger years were all really good, happy, and romanticized, and her older years were completely terrible and miserable.

Like, in her head 1st and 2nd grade were happy and peaceful, meanwhile 4th and 5th grade were completely miserable and that's when her life became terrible. Realistically there was good and bad in both, but she isn't able to see it that way.

🎀 Everything past 9 for her is a blur until she has to connect with people closer to her death age, which then makes her shift her physical appearance back to where it'd normally sit. Her older years become a little bit easier to process in that state.

She tries to act a bit more like a "big kid" to fit in, but she's extremely out of practice since she's almost always acting 8, so she ends up coming off a bit immature.

🎠 She misremembers herself dying younger often.

🧸 She doesn't like throwing temper-tantrums (especially around strangers) because it's difficult to tell how people will react to them, however she plans them out strategically and WILL have them if it means she gets what she wants. She represses a lot of her emotions and releases them during these (Though she does have plenty of genuine breakdowns as well, since she's mentally 12 and has been suffering from PTSD and depression for the past 50 or so years.)

🎀 Maintaining her appearance as a young girl takes stamina/energy, though being 12 takes the least because it's more authentic to her.

🎠 According to Sally's creator, she also haunts her childhood home. I think her house is her safe space where she can be herself without worrying about how she's perceived by others.

It's really messy (she's a bit of a hoarder and only cleans when the mess becomes inconvenient to her,) and she has a huge collection of toys and books.

🧸 Her toy collection spans multiple decades, and she even still has some toys from back when she was alive deep in her collection somewhere in terrible condition. She doesn't usually have whole sets, just a few pieces here and there she decided to keep from the people she plays with (whether they left them at the playground or she decides to pocket something small she likes but the other kid doesn't seem to care about while they're playing) or from CVS or something.

🎀 Sally really likes reading, but she's a little self-conscious about it because she likes to read books that are far above the reading level and outside of the interests of the average 8 year old, like Pride and Prejudice. She also likes watching old movies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and has a secret obsession with Marilyn Monroe.

She also likes reading romance, but sex scenes trigger the hell out of her so when she comes across one, she gets out a giant black crayon (because black covers the words the best,) and just starts madly scribbling over it.

🎠 Sally likes horror a little bit too, because darker stories and themes often reflect how miserable she feels deep down. However, since she's 12 and doesn't have a large capacity for tolerating the heavier stuff, she usually keeps it light.

Most of it isn't worth much, but there's probably a couple things that are like $200 or something and she has no idea because she barely uses the internet.

🧸 When she runs out of stamina or gets too triggered, her body morphs into a very pale, bony, frail old woman with sunken cheeks. It's terrifying for both her and whoever witnesses it.

🎀 She doesn't kill, but I feel like it's less of a morality thing and more because she's too squeamish and also terrified of the consequences of getting aggressive/violent with someone who ends up attacking her back. Rapists in particular make her angry enough to almost want to kill.

🎠 She's emotionally attached to and chases Ben, but he doesn't reciprocate it. They're both technically the same age (both being dead at 12), but while Sally embraces her childishness and immaturity almost to a fault, Ben is deeply ashamed of and uncomfortable with his which leads to him feeling easily annoyed or disgusted by Sally. Basically, Ben is too much of an "Ew, that's for babies" type of kid to enjoy playing with Sally 😭😭.

[kaija-rayne-author]

Review 11 in series of Dragon Age Veilguard

84 hours in, 82 actual playtime.

Obligatory disclaimer, feel free to skip to the cut if you've read it.

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I'm on media blackout while I play this, so I'm only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though., every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard (and everything else Dragon Age, I'm a Lore fiend).

Part 10.3 here.

Wow. Talk about plot hole city in Cyrian's fate. Oh... no... the dying brother is conscious enough to talk (which means swallow). Rook is standing there with 3 healing potions left over and there's at least three green jars scattered about the room. Eyebrow raise of doom.

It would've been far more poignant, and, y'know, would actually have made a lick of sense if no one had any potions left and there weren't any in the room. Rook has been really close to dead, and those potions brought him back to fighting ability. No, I don't expect writers to know what the sets will look like. But at some point, someone, probably multiple someone's saw that and decided it wasn't worth fixing. I can even think of a single line that would've fixed it. Just. One.

Like... did any thought go into this game? At. All? It really doesn't feel like it.

Goddess, that scene just feels so unintelligent and thoughtless. And not because of the writing. If it had been blocked out properly to support the script, it would've been fine! (We use the term 'blocking it out' in writing and acting, not sure if it's the same for games.) It could have been sooooo good! But. Welp. Bioware apparently has no idea how to hire writers and editors and playtesters for quality control. Y'know, if I even thought they gave a shit about quality, because after playing most of this game? I highly doubt it.

I believe everyone can learn how to write. I don't think you need to have advanced degrees or anything silly like that to do it. But there is quite a bit of science behind writing well. No one is good at it from the start. And no... not everyone can just turn their hands to writing and be good at it. That's just not how the science of writing works. You need to dedicate the time and effort to learning how to write well. Reading a lot helps. Same goes with editing. And I know at least one (more than) of the writers played this before release. They talked about it on their socials. So either they didn't notice that massive fucking plot hole, or they just didn't care enough to fix it.

I don't know how else to put it. If someone had hired me to edit this? I would've sent sooooo much of it back to the writers with fix-it notes. (I even give suggestions on HOW to fix stuff in fix-it notes.)

I'm just gonna call the Solavellan ending now. It's so fucking obvious it's sad. The world will be saved (somehow leaving the veil up? Still not sure how that's gonna work given stuff they've said in this game). And then Inky will either join Solas in his prison because that's twue wuv. OR Solas will sacrifice his mortal form because he never wanted one anyway and Inky will poof turn into a spirit and go with him. And we probably won't get the intimate scene.

And NO that does NOT count as a happy ending! Or even the suggestion of a happy ending! That's them either going to prison or dying! A happy ending would be them living quietly until Inky's natural time, with her gardening and him painting. Or working in secret to help fix some shit, or insert absolutely anything other than what I'm pretty sure will happen. Only when Inky naturally passes would a happy ending be going poof into spirit land. What if she'd wanted a family? What if he had? Uuuuuugh. What if they wanted to enjoy life before becoming spirits? Hang with their friends? Let Solas deliver some overdue apologies? Sigh.

Well. I suppose I'm not just guessing. It wouldn't surprise me if I have more than a little savantism when it comes to writing, editing, and prediction.

And when I'm not recovering from almost dying, editing media is my actual job. One I'm pretty good at.

I dunno. Whenever I look at a piece of media, it's like it forms a 4d puzzle in my head. I can see the problems and where the story is likely to go. I actually read encyclopedias for fun (yes, I'm totally serious).

I also may have been dubbed a walking encyclopedia a time or million. So not only can I see the issues? I can usually figure out several ways to fix them. Very little surprises me in fiction. Making the ones that do incredibly rare and precious to me. It should go without saying that absolutely nothing in this game has surprised me except how bad it is.

But that 4d puzzle thing my brain does with fiction makes it far too easy to guess things. Especially when the writers and devs, at every turn, decided to pick the most banal, most uninspired choices available.

If that's what happens with the Solavellan ending, I'm never trusting Weekes again. They were Lead writer. They had to have had some control. Not just because we likely won't get the only two things Solavellans have wanted for what is it now... 10 years? But that they claim to love their character, Solas. And this entire gods damned game has been doing absolutely nothing but shitting on him. It's honestly been difficult to play as a person who deeply identifies with Solas's neurodivergent traits and his story. And who romanced him.

I'm solidly in a relationship with Lucanis and he's made me dessert. Don't get me wrong, a guy who can cook AND who makes me dessert? A+! But I don't play rated M games with romanceable characters for dessert scenes. I'm starting to wonder if there's even any kissing in this game. There's probably only a day or two at most left for me before I finish it. (And thank everything holy that this is probably true. This is painful at this point. But I need to see the ending for myself.)

Y'know? With all of the betrayals this game has dished out to a die hard Solavellan DA fan? I think no intimate scenes would be the shit cherry on top of the shit sundae of this game.

My kids have started being able to tell when I'm playing without looking at my screen by what they term the 'thousand yard stare of horror'. Honestly? They've probably nailed my expression. How can this be so awful?

Oh and yes, Isseya was ooooooh so eeeeevil. (Insinuating mental illness as evil? Yeah, that's rank ableism. It's not even remotely okay, and both whoever wrote that sequence and whoever approved it should absolutely be ashamed of themselves. Perhaps if they'd actually found and hired some diversity editors along with some better developmenal and copy editors, like I told Epler he needed, someone would've caught that.) Though I have no idea why I'd hoped for better from Bioware. They have absolutely awful ableism issues and always have. Psst. Bioware. It's 2024, might want to fix that.

If you've read Last Flight, the Isseya sequence is such a disrespectful, awful story arc. Even beyond the shitty ableism against mentally ill people. 3% of violent crime (pretty sure we can call that sequence 'violent crime') is committed by mentally ill people. All you neurotypicals need to own the other 97%. And a much better villain was still likely kicking around the deep roads. It hasn't been that long since the 5th Blight.

A much better story would've been stopping the Architect. Permanently. They basically just took his motivation and plans, tacked them (in a very badly fitting suit) to a character that didn't deserve that dirty treatment.

I'm honestly not sure if I can even find words for how fucking disappointing this game is.

I do have to say that other than a few teensy details, the sequence of Taash's rescue efforts for their mom was well written. Pacing was a little off, and the bad guy at the end not having a separate battle was a little anticlimactic, but it's absolutely one of the best written sequences in the game.

And my biggest disappointment for that sequence was that both Taash and my Rook are Lords of Fortune. I know it was all emotional, but why did they both run into one of the most basic trap set-ups in existence? Aren't Lords of Fortune supposed to be sorta, y'know, good at both detecting and avoiding traps?

I forgot to say earlier that Isabela is basically the only previously shown character who actually looks sort of like herself.

Oh, and I was pleased with Bellara talking about figuring out what to keep from the past and what's better about the present. I'd have really liked more than a few sentences on what is truly a massive area they could've explored, but at least they did mention it.

Haven't seen a thing about generational trauma and abuse, though. Nor about what’s happening with all those elves and agents Fen'harel had who joined his fight to free the elves in modern THEDAS. Did the writers forget about that part too? Or just decide the closing scenes of DAI weren't important? It wouldn't matter if this were a stand alone game. It might even be a decent, albeit poorly designed, standalone fighting game.

But a Dragon Age game cannot be a standalone. There's far too much history and Lore and previous decisions that need to be considered when you're making series material.

I honestly don't know how much I have left. I keep thinking I'm almost done, and more quests pop up. I've got the final sequence at the top, then maybe 6 others? Two are treasure hunts I'm not sure if I'm going to bother to finish.

And still. The best part of this game? Is still the sets, scenery, backgrounds, and environments. I can't find a single thing I'd change about any of it.

The rest? Eeeeenh.

Section 12 here.

[aobawilliams]

🤔 Are there any new characters you want to write about? (for some reason tumblr isnt registering me pressing enter so you will just get. a paragraph) 🌈 What research do you plan on doing for your writing? 🫘 Spill the beans. What's a new project you're doing this year? 💥Is there a chapter, scene, or WIP you're most excited to write? Share a snippet or tell us about it!

[Ask Game]

🤔 Are there any new characters you want to write about?

🌈 What research do you plan on doing for your writing?

Grouping these two together because,,, I honestly don't know. I can't really see myself writing for the Temeraire fandom, because it would involve a lot more research than I ever care for, but if I ever did it would probably involve either Fem Laurence or Trans Laurence and would involve sooooo much research (something about the idea of Trans Man Laurence, and how it can be seen as 'her' hiding 'she's' a 'woman' because obviously a woman cannot join the navy, but 'she' doesn't need to hide anymore since there are female captain in the corps! And how being a woman captain would be better perceive than being a transvestite, somehow, except that Laurence is more comfortable being a man than he's ever been as a woman.) Even beyond that my knowledge and interest in early 19th century england/the napoleonic wars is so low it's at the bottom of the sea.

🫘 Spill the beans. What's a new project you're doing this year?

The bar is low, but at this point I'm just hoping to get something written ✌️😔

I don't really have a specific project, yet, I think, though I did have a vague plotbunny for a one piece - temeraire fusion but it honestly hasn't gone anywhere yet. So less of a new project, but the plan is to at least finish some older stuff (the flowers have water I am looking at you), hopefully get out some one shot as well (Brook one shot i am glaring at you).

💥Is there a chapter, scene, or WIP you're most excited to write? Share a snippet or tell us about it!

I've got a few, mostly One Piece projects, that I really want to see out someday!!

This actually led me stumbling through my writing notebook, and I found again some stuff that got me really excited.

Behold very very rough first draft of a Sabo never lost his memories and this turn into Impel Down/Marineford angst WIP.

"This must be some new kind of hell," Ace thought as he stared into a familiar face, who did not even dare to look at him. After all, why else would he ever imagine his brother, the one who died too young, as a perfectly healthy young man wearing a marine uniform. Sabo would never, and so this Sabo couldn't be real. The laugh started slow, and then suddenly Ace couldn't stop, gasping for breath, laughing and laughing and laughing as suddenly that familiar face, those familiar eyes looked at him, stared at him as if he was the one who wasn't real, and his laugh only got louder at the thought (as the jeer from other prisoners got louder) as the mere idea that this Sabo-who-was-a-marine-and-alive couldn't believe he was real. By the time Ace was able to stop, whether he was real or not, Sabo was long gone.

[addressing-creeperchild]

I'm speaking out not because I think I have anything extra to add onto the Evidence, but because I'd Like to help confirm it.

Please keep in mind this was a year ago, so somethings might be slightly off.

So, one of My first interactions I had with Freddy, was when I joined the server. I joined it right around the start of it's formation, maybe like two days after. I was new to the Fandom, and Freddy was one of the first people I interacted with.

I can't remember how it started, but I'm pretty sure that I was the first one in the server, publicly (could be wrong, but idk), who was shown spicy (not downright Nsfw) images. But where it had come from with me, is I had made a joke about me not simping for anyone, and Freddy had teased me about it.

First I believe it was actually in the role play areas, where Freddy did one scene where he was playing as Shamura, and was flirting with my CoTL Sona, which I thought was all good fun.

Then it progressed to the buffmura images, which I didn't mind originally, in fact, I liked the images, and the art. I got flustered with the images and teasing and I enjoyed it, granted, it started out way less spicy, and originally it didn't include my Sona expressly in it. I still, had figured that it was just harmless fun, after all, me and my irl friends poke fun at each other, and sometimes make innapropriet jokes.

But then the images started getting spicier, and they sometimes included my sona, which back then, I still hadn't realized it was a bad thing.

And then the Soft-Nsfw event happened. And the teasing stopped, he even got annoyed at me if I made a joke about it, and I remember feeling guilty and wondering if I had done something wrong to make it stop. Because Freddy was an Idol, I looked up to him and thought of him as a friend, so I was actually sad when it stopped.

In the server, I never gave my specific age, (Always giving an age range of 3 years) but I expressly let them know that I was a Minor, so that nothing inappropriate would happen, because I knew that the internet was a Dangerous place.

Another thing I should have realized, was that I never gave my Sona a specific age. It didn't feel quite right, because I liked to be able to play whatever role was required in the role play with it. It may have been assumed to be 18, but I had never said anything about it, or even shipped my Sona with a character, except for some slight things like Simping for Shamura, because that's what I did.

Another incident that happened, was when I was using Freddy's Shamura bot, and I was either messaging it to them, or we were in a voice call, but we talked and laughed about how it was breaking the filter.

Admittedly, Even up to a few days ago, I never realized that this might be inappropriate behavior, I had heard rumor that Freddy had grooming allegations, but I didn't believe them at first because of how Freddy had said in the server, that the Suggestive images were getting out of hand, and that he didn't want to have the server be an unsafe space for Minors, which furthered my thought that there wasn't anything inapropriate with those incidents.

But when I heard my friends tell me themselves, and when I saw the evidence I realized that it wasn't okay, and I figured that I should talk about it. Specifically because of the fact I didn't have any clue that it wasn't appropriate.

I unfortunately can't supply screenshots because I had an account change and he never messaged me on my new one, as well as me Not having access to the Discord.

But there were some images that I don't think were shared in the Discord, because they were drawn on Gartic Phone. So I just wanted to put that out there as well.

He only got mad because Sarai caught him. We are so sorry you had't realized, even expressing you were a minor was not enough to keep him from discussing NSFW topics with you.