#i feel like my idea of an ideal relationship dynamic has changed a lot since I wrote bento

[roseworth]

what direction do you think they should have gone in with jason? as in where should he be now in terms of people and what he's doing

i think winick had it exactly right green arrow #69-72 and batman & robin #23-25. he was a villain but he had a Method and a Purpose. and usually that purpose was just to fuck with batman. i loooove it when hes a villain and hes very clearly doing bad things, but hes not just indiscriminately killing people. hes doing it for a reason, hes still doing the same thing he was doing in utrh by controlling the drug trade, and even when hes doing the right thing hes being an asshole about it

i especially love the ga issues because jason doesnt even talk to batman but bruce KNOWS what hes doing and he knows its about him. i love the bruce & jason post-utrh dynamic where they've both pretty much said everything they have to say and neither of them is changing their position, so now jason is just starting fires to get attention. "ok bruce you dont want to talk to me? thats fine. ill just follow you to star city then psychologically torture a teenage girl then blow her up in front of you" icon! i forgive him! i think its so fun when red hood is a member of batman's rogues gallery and bruce feels bad every time he fights him but also he kinda cant stand him since he knows jason is only doing it to mess with him and its working. but also jason is a Greater Good person so he DOES end up working with the bats sometimes just because theyre also working on the good side

anyways the ideal bruce & jason dynamic to me is "the love was there and it made everything so much worse" because jason is doing everything for bruces attention because he loves him and wants him to care about him but hes not willing to budge on his own morals and neither is bruce. and bruce loves jason so he doesnt want to arrest him or put him in danger but also hes killing people and doing terrible things and bruce is batman so he feels obligated to. yk. stop him. and as much as they both love each other they do not like each other at all

in my mind jason doesnt really care about any of the other bats besides dick & babs just because he knew them before he died so hes willing to hang out with them but they Do Not want to see him. like in brothers in blood when jason goes hiiiii dick <3 lets hang out <3333 and dick is constantly suppressing the cain instinct. he never really talks to babs pre52 i think theyre interactions would be very similar in that jason goes hey babs ur so cool <33 and she says jason get the fuck away from me or im activating the bomb in your helmet <3

but also with steph even though he didnt know her pre-death,, i think he would like her. i can imagine him doing something very similar to what he did with mia, basically finding her and going "quit your vigilante career. join my emo band" but i think she would end up being a lot more receptive to it than mia was ! like im thinking batgirl 2009 era steph so she would not be on board with the idea of joining him since things were going well with team batgirl, but i also think that any interaction between the two of them in that era would go well and end with them getting along :)

as for everyone else. i dont think he would care about any of them. theyre just kinda collateral damage in his war with bruce. like he gets involved with them sometimes just because of their proximity to bruce, or like i said earlier that he works with them sometimes because he cares about the greater good so is willing to help them when necessary. also honorable mention to aoifa's headcanon that jason doesnt actually know tims name because he just does not care. thats canon to me

so yeah in conclusion: he should be a morally grey villain that does what he does either for the greater good, or to fuck with batman, or both. and he has complicated relationships with all of them bc he likes bruce dick and babs but also kinda hates all of them and they like but also hate him too. and the rest of them he doesn't really give a shit about

[sh0tanzz]

I remember reading an astrology obsv about seunghan which said he might not be the best partner long term since he loves adventure. That makes me think, which members are most to least suitable for being husbands, based on astrology? Love your reading so much <3

RIIZE HUSBAND MATERIAL ~ based on astrology

reminder this is based off of MY opinions of their birth chart placements + aspects and is not exact fact unless I knew them myself and in no way am I saying members ranked lower cant/never will be married !!!

Shotaro

Capricorn Venus…that’s it. KIDDING but he aims more so for long term relationships and stable commitments in the traditional sense so getting married or at least having a long time partner is probably something he desires at some point. His scorpio placements are possessive and bent on loyalty so if he’s with the right person they’d get locked in imo, he'd be the breadwinner and like a traditional family dynamic when married.

Sungchan

He’s a leo venus with a cap mars so I think he’d want to get married and have kids since Leo and Cap are both synonymous with “maintaining your legacy and family name” I put him second because he’d want his choice of marriage partner to make him feel validated and approval especially by his family ESPECIALLY by his mother. Let’s say he was thinking of making someone his fiancée but his family/friends lowkey side eyed his choice..he mighttt change his mind about it. Like Shotaro he'd be a proper provider and might be into the "nuclear family" trope.

Anton

He's mainly husband material because he can take care of himself and wouldn't necessarily rely on his wife for much of everything, he's a taurus venus so he likely would be pretty traditional on a basic sense like paying for things and being committed however I don't think he'd settle down until after living a full portion of his life being independent and only having to worry about himself before adding someone into his life for the long term.. 

Eunseok

Husband material without wanting to be the husband IJBOLL. See when I analyze Eunseok with diff mediums (typology/astrology/etc etc) I can see him 100% being someone's long term partner BUT the label of marriage might be something he doesn't care for. He doesn't like feeling constrained or pressure so being with someone forever SURE ofc ! he secretly wants that ! but. being labeled and having legal documents attached...um. If it was normal in SK culture to not get married to your long term spouse I think he'd take that route. 

Wonbin

Honestly I really wasn't going to put Wonbin this high until I did some brainstorming. His pisces venus and taurus mars makes me feel like he lowkey has this "dream life" or "fantasy" where at a point in his life where he'll find 'the one' and have a comfortable life of being a husband (maybe or at least having a long time partner). Also in multiple readings he wants to be the masc counterpart with his partners and do what a boyfriend is "supposed to do" However he might take a very long time for him to find "the one" or commit to the right person commitment is extremely hard for him especially since his idealized idea of a person can break so easily .

Sohee

Sohee is a Sag Venus, they can be very very hard to pin down and they’re super picky about who they stay with due to the fact that Sag venus wants an equal that is on the same level as them, not someone that makes them feel “owned” and not someone giving him the responsibility to “own” them. But he's a pretty fair partner that can take his own responsibilities and an easygoing lover however he cares about his livelihood and freedom a lot plus he might think with his lusts/desires (venus/mars square) rather than viewing dating and marriage from a more serious pov

Seunghan

Loves the idea of marriage, isn't fond of the act itself. Similar to Eunseok I think he'd rather have a long time partner without the extra of marital duties attached. He's a very romantic sweet guy swear he is but he has a hard time expressing more deeper/complex feelings and is pretty avoidant in times of disputes and as we know marriage it has it's hardships and I think said hardships would turn him off. Also…venus square saturn..like…naur. He’ll fear missing out with other possible romantic opportunities

[swordoffrivolousthings]

Thoughts about Heroes of Olympus and how it could have been better.

Sometimes I think about what would have made HOO a better series. And I'm not talking about the obvious 'too much focus on romantic relationships' and the lack of usage of certain characters or the dumb ending.

I mean the little things that would change so much (mainly character dynamics but also worldbuilding i.e. Camp Jupiter and Gaia's reasoning)

Some of the points are inspired by @crisisreading and their posts. They are the first I saw raise some of my own points so! part 2

Make the ages vary more in the main cast, trust me

Let Percy, Annabeth and Grover get older by 4-5 years. Let them become adults and find themselves outside the godly war. Let them even finish college, I wouldn't get mad. Let them do anything beside being teenagers.

I promise this would make the dynamics more interesting. Percy and Annabeth will be more mentor figures, than fellow comrades. This would create some distance between some of the them, but ultimately create something fun. Piper would come to see some aspiring female figure in Annabeth (I think this would ether be positive or negative, depending how Annabeth changed as a character over the years, but I tend towards negative). Leo would potentially have someone older to exchange ideas with. Jason would possibly feel intimidated by Percy's vastly superior age, prowess and experience, instead of being able to clash heads with him.

Hazel would have not one, but two that people that would play parent to the others' reckless behavior. (go snort your harmful stereotypes up your ass, Riordan.) Frank, when telling Percy and Hazel about his stick, would possibly find in Percy a kind hand (not that he wasn't kind already, let me explain) and Percy would probably share with him this feeling of vulnerability - not dump it on Frank - about having your life tied to a specific thing. I mean his Achilles heel, with which he would have lived for far longer.

And a whole lot more.

2. Add Grover into the series as a perspective character

You have a new trio dynamic introduced in the first book of the series. Let the original trio interact as main characters and let us see how their relationship has changed.

Grover's opinion on the conflict between the gods and Gaia would be important. He is the Lord of the Wild, and Gaia is the literal personification of the Earth. Let us see his struggle between the loyalty he has to the gods and his friends and his powerful feelings towards protecting nature.

Also, he would act as a protector for the demigods. Because while I enjoy Hedge, he is not enough to keep them safe.

3. Throw the bullshit about Gaia getting revenge for Kronos' defeat out of the way

Gaia, as mentioned before, if the personification of the Earth. One of the first gods to emerge from Chaos.

Gaia can, of course, keep her resentment for the gods defeating the son that freed her from her pain (caused by Ouranos initially). But she is a mother goddess. She should want obliterate humanity because humans are slowly killing her. Painfully. She wants to survive and the only way she sees how if by killing all the humans. She wants to save her children, aka animals, insects, nature, and the only way she sees is bloodshed. Gods are not rational in their anger, no one is. So let her be angry and vengeful and out for human blood.

DO NOT MAKE HER A FUCKING VILLAIN, MAN! Make her an antagonist, but someone's whose ideals are worth taking in and adapting. Kinda like Luke about the demigod and minor god recognition. Where have the themes of the original series gone? Remember, an important theme in BOTL was protecting the environment. It was one of the most important moments when Pan faded. Do not let that go to fucking waste. Especially not now, in the world we live in.

4. Show the effects the war had on Camp Half-Blood. Hint it at Camp Jupiter, when Percy does not have the memories to corelate it with

We've had years since the end of the Second Titan War. How did the gods change the course of events ? (the victors write the histories) How much of Luke's reasoning for starting the war was erased. (hint, all of it.) Show us how much the perspectives were shifted and how much the people that fought in it were made into martyrs and villain, basically becoming caricatures.

Let us feel how much this hurts Percy, Grover and Annabeth. How it had impacted and impacts their trauma, grief and utter horror. The younger, newer campers see them as wonderful, all-just and loyal heroes of the gods. The way they hate it.

Good moment to implement the new cabins for the gods and let the new ones forget that it wasn't always this way. Let Percy's demand to the gods be forgotten, shoved under the rug. The tragedy unfolds, use it.

Since in Camp Jupiter none of the main characters have fought, let us see the subtility. Let the older legionnaires be ragged, scarred. Older and weary, with eyes glassy and suspicious. Have younger recruits have this heavy air around them. They know what happened, what killed most of the older people in the legion.

Have Jason, Hazel and Frank see these things in Annabeth, Grover and Percy too. They realise that oh. oh. these three have fought in the war, of course they would. Show them gain respect for the trio. The same kind of respect they have for the veterans back home.

5. Cut one of the Seven from the prophecy.

I know this seems radical, but it is a symbolism thing, which I think would be more interesting in a world based on Greek mythology.

It is established in PJO that three (3) is an important number: 3 Olympian sisters (Hera, Demeter, Hestia), 3 Olympian brothers (Hades, Poseidon, Zeus), 3 Fates, 3 quest members, 3 Furies, 3 godly realms (the Underworld, Olympus + the sky, the seas). Use this.

Give us six (6) prophesized heroes. It is, after all, the second most used number in the series and a multiple of 3.

I suggest Annabeth. Why? because she has her quest from Athena. Let that be her top priority, while hanging out on the Argo II to get to Rome. Let her bond with the younger demigods and have her possible death be always on her mind. Bring her hubris into play and she would think herself the chosen one, the one demigod child of Athena to survive. This would make her falling into Tartarus with Percy not letting her go more taxing on her psyche.

Show us how she hates herself because she took one of the principal quest members to certain death. She feels like she'd jeopardized the whole saving the world thing.

Cut the Seven to Six and let Annabeth die in Tartarus. Show us why a single-man quest is a death sentence. Why three (3) is such a valuable number.

6. CONSEQUENCES!!!

Jumping straight off the last point.

Change why Annabeth would end up in Tartarus. Make her ignore the string around her ankle because she thing that nothing bad can happen to her now. After all, Arachne is gone, right.

Let this be her undoing. I do not care how she dies, but make her choices, her hubris, be her undoing. Do not let her death up to a chance, a mistake or miscalculation. Show how toxic Tartarus is, because we do not see it enough, but make it Annabeth's idea, the plan by which she dies.

Do not make it Percy's fault. Let him try to do everything to keep her alive, but still failing. Attack his sense of loyalty, his self-esteem. Show how the experiences and her death affect him.

Bring the trauma from the last war back in those chapters, in a place where demigods leave something behind.

To less drastic things - let the others get hurt. Permanently. Show how this life affects and damages people physically, too.

Have one lose an eye, another get horrific scars. Lose a limb, a part of themselves. Do not make it seem like any other could have gotten the same wound.

Tailor them to their character, their pride and their skill. Hit them where it hurts most and let us see how it changes them.

Also, about Leo. Kill him too. The fact that he ended up alive is a deux ex machina. He should have suffered the consequences.

Also also, bring back the fatal flaws. They are missing from the series. Play with them, show why they are important parts of their characters. Bring back ancient Greek fatal flaws, and new ones that make sense in a modern world.

Hurt them because what hurts them is part of who they are. Show us why the Greeks invented tragedy.

7. Age up the target age. Go more young/new adult

I understand that PJO was made for middle schoolers. But the target audience had grown up alongside the characters, and as such they have matured.

This is why I said to age Percy, Grover and Annabeth up further. Leave some distance for the old and new readers to get up and personal with the new main characters. Have them find common ground with the new demigods but have their anchor in the old ones.

Make the readers work to understand and refamiliarize themselves wit the older demigods. Because they've changed.

Targeting a more mature audience allows exploring n. 6. The realistic consequences of living with the fear that something will come and eat you. How just a little mishap could change you for life. (or what has been left of it)

Please do not go grim dark. Show that despite this all, their purpose has not stopped existing. A life exists outside of your appearance or disability still exist, and while it would be hard, do not lose hope.

8. Hope, or lack of its importance in the Heroes of Olympus series

Alongside other callbacks and reinforcements of PJO's lore, where is Elpis (hope)? Why doesn't she appear as a larger theme in the books? I don't know.

Elpis is still in the jar, having been used as a threat of defeat. But now Kronos is gone. Have Gaia use it as s symbol for her own cause.

Make hope Gaia's argument. The most important part of why her cause stands. Gaia is waking now because there is no hope for the betterment of the planet while in human - and therefore godly - grasp. She wants to save the planet, but they, the destroyers, are opposing her.

Hope is what she wants to bring back. The hope that death will not be the end of life, but further evolvement and betterment of all species.

This argument is what the counterargument should unravel. All species? Why are humans considered irredeemable, unworthy of becoming something greater?

Why can't they not coexist and why can't humans learn how to care about the world surrounding them.

Make hope for humanity and for the environment not a question of if they are capable to coexist, but how we can manage that. Humanity and nature are not mutually exclusive, but two halves of the same whole that need each other to sustain their longevity. Yes, nature can exist without humans, but humans can't.

This does not mean that the best way forward is to kill all humans.

There is no need for hope in HOO because there are no greater questions being asked about topics that require hope, because otherwise we would descend into nihilism and fatalism.

9. Give the gods reason to act the way they act, or a look at a greater narrative problem in the series

I may be generalizing, but the gods act erratically and make choices convenient for the plot, as it is, to happen.

Hera: how, specifically, does she know that Gaia is rising and what her plans are. Why is she against Gaia, when the older goddess has a track record of helping the Olympians on different occasions in the myths. Why does she decide to act when she does, how she knows that the king of the giants (whatever his name may be) is coming after her right then.

We don't know.

Athena: we understand why she wants the Athena Parthenos back. Why not force the Romans to give it back. After all, she is a goddess, even if the Romans don't respect her as the Greeks did, she has power and sway over them. Why send her children, a supposedly important part of what brings her glory, to a near-certain death. Is it misguided vengeance, an obsession to get the statue back at all cost, or simple cruelty. These reasons could apply very well to sending the Romans, yet she doesn't.

Zeus: why lock down Olympus? Paranoia, which fair, but you are a King, why wouldn't you look after your subjects? (bc Riordan chose to ignore part of his characterization in the myths and part of his godly domain) (I know kings aren't perfect, but after the last war, one would think he would do everything in his power to stop another one before it begins) Why not seek justice for Octavian's lies, that affect their ability to win the war, and kill/imprison him? Justice is part of his domain, as Zeus Nomius.

I know that we wouldn't necessarily need these answers, but without some of them, some choices left hanging seem to be there only to add to the drama and danger of it all.

All in all, I have many problems with the 'Heroes of Olympus' series. Some of them are nitpicks and personal preference as a high fantasy reader in my free time. Some of them would really add to the story and continue the themes of PJO.

Please ask me if something wasn't clear to you. I'll happily explain further.

If you find something you don't agree with, let's discuss. I'm open to changing my opinions.

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  dartlekey! @dartlekey has 11 fics in the Stranger Things Fandom and 9 of them are in the Steddie tag!.

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @dartlekey:

If you were church (I'd get on my knees)

RUSH! (T4T REMIX)

At a medium pace

With great power

"I read the "with great power" series not long after I got into the Steddie fandom and was instantly like "I need to raid this author's other fics" and subscribed to them. No regrets for that choice!!" -- Anonymous

Below the cut, @dartlekey answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

For me, Steddie hits that sweet spot of strong characterization but woefully underexplored details, both for the individual characters but also their dynamic with each other in canon. That makes their relationship the ideal writer's sandbox - since they're both so fluid, you can explore the characters through each other, showcasing many different and even conflicting facets of each other while still retaining their original characters and behaviors. Either of them can be rich or poor, famous or an everyguy, Gay or Bisexual, Dom or Sub, Top or Bottom, Trans in any direction - the details are up to you! 

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I love a good slowburn friends-to-lovers fic. It needs to be a specific kind for me though - I'm not much one for prolonged pining, but I love it when the friendship is explored in such depth that the next step feels like an inevitability. Watching that deep platonic affection turn not-so-platonic, that's the good shit. 

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

My specialty as a writer, I think, is crack treated seriously, or crack with a twist. Usually the first question that sparks one of my fics is “If X happened, would that be hilarious or what?” and then the second is “But if it was because of Y, would that be fucked up or what?” I think you can see it best in If you were church I'd get on my knees (what if Steve was a stripper at Eddie's stag party BUT it was actually a social commentary on queerness and sexuality in the face of religious oppression), but it's in At a medium pace too (what if Eddie couldn't move his arms because of injury so Steve “has” to jerk him off, but it's actually about how growing up queer can warp your perspective on healthy sexuality) , or even in Don't look back (What if Eddie had to dom Steve for plot reasons, but it's all body horror and trauma and spiraling codependency). 

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

I don’t think I could name one all-time favorite, because what I enjoy most about fanfic is that different writers bring different character interpretations, storytelling styles and plot ideas to the table, which I find incomparable. I have enjoyed many of the well-known classics, of course (pukner I owe you my life--), but let me use this chance to give a shout-out to some less well-known masterpieces! My top three underrated fics are Three Days on the Red Planet by CaptainHoney/@grandmastattoo on tumblr (retro scifi, gritty but humorous hopepunk, every single fic of theirs is a certified banger but I love this one the most for some reason!!), Love dirty men alike by wrenowich (chef au, an ode to kitchen culture in all its griminess, I love a detailed backstory plus Steddie being wonderfully weird about each other), and That’s just wasteland, baby! by fastcardotmp3 (post-s4 apocalypse survival, sweet and aching and tired and yet hopeful, made me cry in the best way). 

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

One that's pretty unique to the steddie fandom, or perhaps general stranger things fandom, is “if canon event x had happened differently/hadn't happened at all/had happened to a different person, how would the rest of canon change?” I still need to work out a lot of details in my head, so that's all I'll say for now, but it's something I'm very interested in exploring.

What is your writing process like?

Much to the horror of fic writers everywhere, I don't do first drafts, I just write out everything in detail, scene by scene in chronological order. I edit as I go, and consider the many-numbered, often unplanned writing breaks an important part of my process - when I let the written portion sit for a while and the unwritten ideas percolate in my brain for a bit, I often end up with new plot points or solutions for problems I've been having! And when that inspiration strikes, I can write anywhere - on the train, during lunch break at work, in the vegetable aisle of the grocery store… I have gdocs on my phone and I use it liberally; I'd say I write at least 80% of any given fic on my phone. 

Do you have any writing quirks?

Apart from the hot mess I just described, I'd say it's that I never use Beta readers. I'll occasionally ask friends to help with specific details if I need an expert on certain subject matter, but I've found I get very grumpy and fussy if someone pokes at my plot (even if or rather especially if they’re right lol), and I don't want to subject anyone to that. 

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

For oneshots or series comprised of single-chapter fics I like posting as soon as I'm done, but for multi-chapter works I've recently found that starting to post only after I've finished most (if not all) chapters beforehand improves the quality of the story! Since I tend to integrate new ideas or shift around plot points a lot while writing, I often end up in completely different places than my original concept, so if an early chapter isn't posted yet I can retroactively edit it to add foreshadowing or tone-match the end of the work, remove loose threads and suchlike. Don't look back is a good example of how this has worked out for me; comparatively It don't bite (Yes it do) - which I wrote and posted chapter by chapter - is tonally all over the place. 

Which fic are you most proud of?

Naturally I love all my babies, but I consider Don't look back my magnum opus - both because it is the longest fic I've ever written (13 chapters and 90.000 words in total, that's practically a novel!) and because it's the most plot-rich, labor-intensive, and overall serious in tone. I even worked in subplots about the rest of the cast, so it almost reads like its own season. I wrote it for last year's Steddie Bigbang, which means there's also a gorgeous accompanying artwork by @the-chilly-kat. 

How did you get the idea for With great power?

At the time I'd seen a few marvel AUs floating past me on the tumblr timeline, usually with Steve as Spiderman and Eddie as the human component of Venom, and having just recently seen the Venom movie depicting the rich relationship between Eddie Brock and the symbiote, it surprised me that most left the symbiote as its own character, and not substituted one of the ST main cast. The symbiotic relationship of Stobin immediately came to mind, though I also still loved the idea of Steve as Spidey - then I remembered that in the Toby McGuire movies, the two are not mutually exclusive, and it all spiraled from there. Eddie as Deadpool just made sense - immortal wild-card with a dubious moral code but a heart of gold? Obviously! Plus Spideypool is, of course, a classic ship. 

When writing With great power, what was something you didn’t expect?

I actually got several curious comments about the sex toy Steve uses in Because the night - a grindable or grinder, which is a flat-ish silicone structure, usually ribbed in an interesting way, that one can grind against to get off (as the name suggests). I thought it was pretty common, but apparently it's not very well known!

What inspired  RUSH! (T4T REMIX)?

Oh, it's my time to gush! Because the idea for the first work actually came about from a late night conversation I had with the beautiful, amazing, wonderful @maikaartwork, back when we were, how should I say, in the courting stage? Seeing as we met through the Steddie fandom, I decided to write Baby Said basically to seduce them - and I am happy to say it worked, as we've been dating for over eight months now and are planning to move in together next year! Both works from RUSH! - T4T REMIX (and the secret new WIP, shh) are thus somewhat inspired by our conversations and our t4t relationship, but also by the many interesting and different trans people I've met over the years, and trans solidarity and relationships in general.

What was your favorite part to write from At a medium pace?

The small-talk in between position changes - no, really! I love a mindless marathon-fuck story as much as the next person, but there's something very sweet and intimate about those little breaks in sex, the pass the lube, move your leg a bit, what's for dinner later of it all. That's where you see that emotional connection - there's no admission of crushes or big love confessions in this fic because it's right there in the details.

How do/did you feel writing RUSH! (T4T REMIX)?

Honestly, it's just really really fun and self-indulgent. The Steddie dynamic in it is so bitchy, all the bickering makes me laugh even as I'm writing it. It's also just really fun to write about the trans experience in a way that is curious and loving, and reflects all the very different and yet similar ways people experience living in a body that defies expectation. I've loved all my fellow trans people sounding off in the comments about their own transition experiences, it's wonderful to have such a fantastic community!

What was the most difficult part of writing If you were church (I'd get on my knees)?

Curiously enough, not the many religious trauma bits! Much like Eddie in the fic, I'm only church-freak adjacent - I grew up in a non-religious household but with extended family that were extremely catholic, so the odd juxtaposition of being occasionally close to but definitely not involved in what is pretty much cult behavior inspired much of this fic. The most functionally difficult part to write was actually the wedding - as an aro-spec & trans relationship anarchist, church weddings have never been relevant to me, so I had very little idea what actually goes into one! Very little of the research I conducted on the topic actually made it into the fic, but hey, the more you know. 

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

People keep asking me that, and I never know what to answer! If I had to pick one, though, maybe the last few paragraphs of Don't look back - where you can see the tragedy coming, but there's no way of stopping it, because it was always going to end this way. And then Eddie's last words before the end of the fic call back to the title as well as the general theme of the fic - it just all comes together for such a crescendo of an ending. 

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

Yes, actually! Coming soon in the SteddieBang'24, me and my lovely artist @hawkinsleather have been working hard on a 20k post-s4 fic called A glimpse of your canvas, which is about closeted transfemme!Eddie, women's solidarity, and Steve's very confusing no-good trip to the gay bar. Both With great power and RUSH! (T4T REMIX) have another WIP pending which I'll eventually finish (I promise, I'm just easily distracted!!), and for those who are still mad about Don't look back’s open ending, I'm almost done with the sequel, which features a lot of bad decisions by all characters involved, the healing power of community, and a bit of accidental child acquisition. 

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Given the chance of this platform, I would like to notify my readers that I'm a terrible procrastinator when it comes to replying to comments, but I read and cherish every one of them - and repeat commenters, I see you, I love you, I am chewing on your arm like a dog with a bone!! I would also like to thank the steddie fandom in general for giving me the hottest partner known to man or God, and for the many friendships I've been so fortunate to build here. Talk about transformative works, am I right? <3 

Thank you to our author, @dartlekey, and our anonymous nominator! See more of dartlekey's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[tikiki05]

Miles and Gwen’s relationships outside of being spider people really could’ve changed the tone of the movie but alas here we are. Now I don’t read many comics, but I can speak for the recent Spider-Man PlayStation games that Miles and Ganke’s relationship is way WAYYYYY different that what Across portrayed. I’m still pretty sure it’s like this in the comics I hope but Ganke was more excited to be involved with helping Miles when he became spider man (Ganke was the biggest Spider-man Miles fan I guarantee you). And not only that, I don’t know if you know but Itsv released scrapped scenes which showed a dynamic between Miles and Ganke where Ganke also played an active role in assisting Miles in figuring out how his powers functioned and who he could be. Sadly that idea got scrapped and fast forward to 2023 and we got a Ganke that takes a complete 180 from other versions of him. It’s kinda hard not to look back at Across and then start to wonder if they just so happened to change Ganke’s role in the story just for them to push this narrative that there’s only one singular person who can truly know Miles. And the same thing can be applied to Gwen. (I’ve never read her comics throughly to know how she balances friends who do and don’t know about her second life)

I’m probably on the minority side, but I have mixed feelings about Gwen blowing up at the Mary Jane’s in the opening scene. Granted, it’s not easy to open up about about being a spider woman much let alone about all of the other spider people you learned about that live worlds away. All I’m saying is that those girls were trying to understand why Gwen wasn’t being herself which is what good friends do despite not knowing the whole truth. And I could say more stuff but this all goes back to my main thing: the writers attempting to convince the audience that both Miles and Gwen HAVE to depend on one another and that they can truly know the other is just a huge, random stretch.

Now don’t get me wrong, Miles and Gwen go through certain things that only other spider people get , but the movie is trying to convince us that in a span of a few weeks these two are attached to the hip and can’t live without one another?? The sudden jump just doesn’t make sense.

Oddly enough it could be an interesting plot line in Beyond for Miles and Gwen: Miles learning that his infatuation with Gwen led to false expectations and he views her differently (not in a bad way, but more cautiously as they have to build trust back). Gwen coming to terms that she still isn’t properly healed from when she was close with Peter and lost him. And I think understanding that Miles clearly isn’t the same person he was a year and a half ago, he’s not that amature spider man anymore and he’s grown in his ideals and aspirations and he’s allowed to make his own calls about certain situations

Good morning and thank you for the lovely ask! This has been on my mind a lot since I reblogged that one tweet.

In terms of Ganke, as I keep saying, I think it’s great that they’re trying to do something that’s different from the comics, but it continuously gets harder to support that when I keep hearing about how the comics are better!!! Like yeah, be unique, but also be good and make sense please??

The Mary Janes scene is honestly frustrating when I think back on it. I understand how hard it can be to reach out for help, cause mental blocks can prevent you from doing things that are in reality very easy, I’ve been there. But I find it so hard to sympathize with Gwen when her friends were actively reaching out to her because they were worried about her, and she loses it at them. Did they come at her with some attitude? Yes, and maybe that was unnecessary, but Gwens problems were disrupting their band time, so their upset is understandable

Ahh, this is why spider-verse Gwen is so frustrating to me as a character! They somehow made a character with struggles I absolutely relate to and who I want to feel for, but simultaneously just make her (in my opinion) extremely unlikeable and unsympathetic??? Maybe that’s just a me problem but does anyone relate?

I just don’t even know what to expect from Beyond the Spider-Verse at this point, nor what I even want from it anymore. The anticipation is killing me and I want it out now now now BUT also want the animators to work at a reasonable pace that is most beneficial to them. Cause when the animators thrive, the movie genuinely will too.

I’ve said this before as well; the movie we got with ATSV was spectacular, but if the production side of things weren’t so bad, I think it could have been even better. And the characters deserve better! Because they are good characters, I just feel they’re not reaching their full potentials under the constraints and shitty directing (lookin’ at you, Phillip) (I guess he’s not the director but still you guys get it I hope lmao)

I really wish they would stay friends too, because I want to see strong powerful friendships more often in media, especially amongst opposite gender friends so that when it’s a guy and girl, they can show audiences it doesn’t always have to be about romance. But no, they can’t do that, because the spider-verse movies are about the “love story” between Miles and Gwen, for some reason. Even though it doesn’t make sense. And right now is just a one sided unhealthy attachment caused by refusing to seek help elsewhere when it’s readily available to her (this is Gwen I’m talking about Gwen 😐)

Ah this was a long one lol, thank you so so much for the ask! Idk where else it’s happening but I’m going to an Oktoberfest today, so, have a happy Oktoberfest i guess!! 💖✨

[iamacolor]

At the end of the day this was an epic love story and I genuinely believed that these two people would and did do anything for each other however I still felt the show focused a lot more on sunjae being in love/romantic than sol, they gave him all the clinginess (that's not a word lol)/whipped "looser" in love behavior , all the sweeping romantic speeches and declarations (just in the last 2 eps he had at least 3 and we didn't get that from Sol) and I wanted more of that more Sol because sometimes it felt like it was 80% more focused on what he was doing in that regard. Their actions were offset by each other, she traveled time to save him and he loved her for decades and died for her multiple times but otherwise I wanted her to talk about her time spanning epic love for him like he did, I wanted her to be as clingy as him and as prone to dramatics sometimes when it came to their relationship, I wanted them to give her as much as they gave him.

hi anon! that's a really good point actually and i do think some of it is in part due to this specific story (which i liked) but some of it is also due to the genre (romance/kdrama) that has its limitation in how it portrays the dynamics between men and women and often has this imbalance between the leads (that often annoys me).

kdramas often tend to portray men as more proactive in their declaration while the women (who are often supposed to be more emotional because well...they're women :))) ) are reacting to these declarations or grand gestures - it might be because romance as a genre still mostly cater to a female audience and they're trying to make it "dreamier" for the women by having men saying swoony lines etc (which is a shame because as a viewer i love seeing a woman actively in love, loud about it and proactive, it's fun, it's touching. I support women being stupid in love. and being in love isn't just about having someone tell you romantic stuffs and kiss you in the rain it's also about feeling in love and getting to share that and to love someone anyway i'm getting sidetracked) and it might also be because a lot of the times women are "used" as a plot tool to chanel a man's journey and emotions. (same with "skinship" for which a similar dynamic is mixed with how korea seems to value a certain idea of modesty for women and how most of the time the man is the one initiating it no matter who fell first and the women tend to shy away from it in a lot of dramas and don't really get to show that they're excited about it...).

in regard to that i felt that lovely runner kind of was a nice change because although you can see these patterns of writing and storytelling in it like you said and how sunjae is definitely written to be dreamy and make people go "omg what an ideal bf who wouldn't want a man who's so devoted and so overwhelmed by his feelings he acts stupid", sol gets to be a very romantic lead with her own version of several grand gestures, her own sacrifice for the good of the man she loves, her love for him is driving the plot, she defends him from bullies directly and killers more indirectly, she has much more agency than a lot of female leads from the beginning to the end (a lot of the time the female lead's storyline just gets sidetracked or forgotten around ep12 lol), she literally writes an entire movie about him and once she's free from the fear of driving sunjae to his death she is actually much more like him in her behaviour (and also more proactive with physical touches!!). and the moments when sol is like that are some of my faves! i was watching ep16 like omg i love this sol so much why didn't we get more and well the answer is because before she thought if she did something as simple as talk to him he'd die so that kind of dampens the mood.

but then i would say there is an imbalance inherent to this very specific story that i don't mind since it makes up for more angst - and i love that - because a) sol was just his fan at first so it took a while for her to even get in that mindset while he was already crushing on her hard - like when he tried to confess when inhyuk threw the petals and she was like ok maybe we can't be fan and athlete anymore but we can be friends! because in her mind she was thinking about how to stay close to him so she could save him for sure while he was like sol please be my gf b) and then sol was never free from the burden of what she saw as her duty (ie. saving him) the whole time they interacted until ep16 and so she never could let herself be too clingy (clinginess is a word i think btw and if it's not it should be!) or super romantic (although she did allow herself some very cheesy puns) because most of the time she was either trying to make big changes in his life or trying to stay away from him as much as possible and so she had to show restraint constantly (and that's actually a very common trait in a male character in romance - not just kdramas but also like romance novels which i read a lot of lol - they're always like no i have to stay away because i could bring danger to my loved one, because i have a dark past or i'm not good enough for them, too dangerous or tainted to say i love you and to shackle them to me and my fate etc gosh life is so hard when you're a romance lead) while sunjae was literally just a guy standing in front of a girl he liked and trying to make it happen most of the time, he didn't really see anything else at stake lol and even once he did you could tell he was just a 19 yo trying to cheer his girlfriend up knowing she's also trying to save him and he kind of walks into his big gesture without really planning it.

and that to me is what truly created this imbalance because she did her sacrifice but unlike his that was very visible (he literally got stabbed in front of her and still made sure to not let go until she was safe) her own sacrifice was to make sure he never saw her (which obviously plays into the less proactive type of representation because her grand gesture is to walk away but also that makes it all so tragic because she choses to endure her pain knowing it's going to last rather than risk death which stops everything ). And all of that meant also she could only say she liked him - either "too late" (but thankfully not really because he still liked her) when they were already adults or "before it's too late" when she prepares to say goodbye to him at the seaside and she doesn't want him to feel too entangled with her, she doesn't want him to be too sad this time - or when she made speeches about her love for him, how big and strong it was, how steadfast she stood in her desire to see him safe before anything else, how much she loved him...(and especially in those last 2 eps - and to me that cound as declarations) but she had to say them indirectly by pretending she was either talking about her character or someone else because she couldn't tell the truth directly to sunjae. so technically sunjae heard her say (and also read her) that she loves him very much, that she's ready to sacrifice her own hapiness for his live etc but it was all retroactively which is quite bittersweet. i do wish we could've had her say these things directly to him but at the same time i understand that once he remembers everything and understands she was talking about him and they can finally be together, they prefer to focus on their future rather than on their multiple pasts.

also i like that by the end they both waited so many years before reuniting - because when it was just sunjae who had done the yearning from afar and who still had feelings it made him stand out in a way because wow look at the sheer size of his feelings no wonder he gets a little stupid when she comes back into his life and clearly he's the big romantic once between them. and now they both did the waiting, the yearning, the let me sacrifice my life (or at least life as we know it) for you, the "omg what do i do now that they're back!!!!" and that kind of eases the differences between them.

all this to say i mostly agree but also if it brings more romantic angst i quite like it dghjdfgqsjk

[winterswhite]

gotta ask, what do you think about the tetonaru dynamic

AH I ALMOST FORGOT TO ANSWER THIS. I was really tired and unwell when I got it and I wanted to write a proper answer so yknow. Hi, now that I can write one:

I absolutely adore the tetonaru dynamic! I got into enstars some time before Beasts first dropped, and back then I hadn't really thought about their dynamic a whole lot (especially bc... I was new to enstars lmao), but when that story first came out I started thinking about how interesting it was to put those two together, as the trans girl (at the time, a question mark) on a journey to self-love and the boy who wants nothing more than to become a man among men. Two people who are seemingly complete opposites in every way, especially in their desires and ideals, coming together at the end of the school year and exploring what it means to be who they are. Seeing Tetora in a skirt and wig I was... definitely shocked? And had no idea what to think of what the story would be like, but I did find it interesting. (continued under cut)

Then eventually, because I couldn't speak Japanese at the time to read it for myself, a translation of the story came out and it quickly became one of my favorite stories ever. I absolutely adore the way it was written and every single development that happened, both between the characters and in the story itself. Like I said before, at the time I wasn't sure whether Arashi was a trans girl or was just a... weird portrayal of an 'effeminate' boy, but this story really cemented that she is a trans girl, and it's the story I use as evidence of it all the time. Seeing Tetora learn about her and realize his mistakes? That was peak! It was also the start of a beautiful dynamic between the two of them, and it's one that I can't imagine going without now.

I just love the way their relationship started out so rough, with Tetora only having a surface-level knowledge of her and using that to praise her, not knowing that he was hurting her instead. In turn, Arashi thought he was annoying, and after being hurt by his words, decided to play a mean-spirited prank on him in return. Tetora may have looked up to her, but it was a misguided admiration, and Arashi wanted nothing more than for him to leave her alone. It's a very good representation of their characters in general - Tetora is quick to get attached to people he feels like he can look up to, and Arashi has struggled consistently with acting unfairly towards others based on her own personal annoyance etc. But then, things happened, and their relationship changed; they both had realizations about themselves and each other.

Madara told Tetora that Arashi is trans, and he realized how much he had been hurting her by calling her manly without even intending to, and he regretted his actions so much that he cried - something we never ever see him do otherwise - when apologizing to her. Even though he says he doesn't fully understand the way she feels, the way it is to be trans, he's still willing to respect and support her. He still sees her as the woman she is, and later refers to her as such when talking to Midori in the epilogue.

Arashi, on the other hand, thinks she may have put him in real danger by having him dress up as a girl, and then realizes how mean her prank was. When he apologizes so sincerely, even prostrating on the ground in dogeza, she realizes that he really meant no harm and was just being earnest. She gets upset at herself for being so mean, but forgives him for what he did, and it's a lesson in... not assuming the worst from others? Which is also really important imo, especially for Arashi, who always has. She even thinks she's just as bad as the people who have always hurt her for doing what she did.

The way their friendship has developed since that story is so special to me. Tetora saying he wants to embrace the more 'girly' parts of himself and that those can be manly strengths too is so important! And in the same way, he talks about wanting to turn his perceived weaknesses into strengths. Arashi, on the other hand, learned to love and accept both herself and others more, and again, not to assume malice where it may just be ignorance.

They both help each other improve as people and just... have become so important to each other? And that's so important to me. Watching them become such good friends, Tetora really respecting and treating Arashi like a girl and Arashi being respectful of Tetora's own wishes (he's one of the few people her age or younger that she doesn't use -chan for! Because he's expressed discomfort with it!), and the two of them hanging out together to do all sorts of things is just so cute and sweet to me. The fact that they became roommates in !! era was a dream come true for me. They both learn so much together and from each other, and their friendship is so cute.

I love seeing them do cute things together, seeing Arashi get Tetora modeling work, seeing Arashi teach Tetora about fashion and skincare (things he hadn't paid much attention to before, but now he's become so good at? He helped design the outfits for Nekketsu☆Ryusei Ninpouchou, he made suggestions for Kanata's second personalized outfit, Midori has commented on how fashionable he's gotten and several characters have commented on the condition of his skin and his use of perfumes), seeing them go shopping for accessories together (Tetora's recent 4* story destroyed me, hence the translation), seeing both of them think about and admire each other's growth... it's just been such good development for them, both as individuals and together.

Their friendship is just... so special to me. It's a story of forgiveness, of acceptance, of self-love, of respect for yourself and others, of realizing your mistakes and bettering yourself from them, of watching each other grow, and it's just plain cute. TetoNaru are just so so special to me. I don't think I even did it justice in all the words I've written here lmao. I apologize for the rant but I really care about them so much >.<

[whatever-the-mess]

2022

This last year was definitely a big one for me. 12 months ago I had no idea how much my life was about to change, but it's been a very fun and rewarding time - despite all the turmoil and bad news happening elsewhere.

I told myself I was never going to do the long distance thing again, but a drunken message back in April led to a series of events that turned that ideal completely on its head. If there's one thing I've learned to do this year it's to say Yes more, and that's been a large part in how I approached this new dynamic. I'm always hesitant to call it a relationship since money does play a role in this thing that we have, but we do chat daily and ask each other how our days are going. We spend a lot of time each week just talking about completely non kink related topics, and honestly I don't pay her nearly as much as I should for the play time that we do have.

I've spent a large amount of 2022 locked in chastity. Ever since she found out I had an interest in it, that was it. At first it was locked on for a week, then two, then four, and then 100 days, all with only a brief bit of freedom between each re-locking. But now we've reached the point where I was able to um "relieve my frustrations" using a vibrator while still locked up (and in the tiniest of cages) so I don't think I'll be allowed my freedom again any time soon. I've played with chastity with other partners in the past, but it's only now that I realise how poorly I was treated back then. It's been truly eye opening to play with someone who has my health and wellbeing as a priority over everything else, while still finding numerous ways to torment and tease me.

That latest trick that I've learned to do was such a turn on, and has actually been a personal goal of mine for a long, long time. I really couldn't be happier that with her help I've been able to achieve one of my biggest submissive dreams.

Outside of exploring my kinks 2022 was also the year I finally felt comfortable being myself. It might have taken 40 years but I'm finally here. Of course a large part of that was the reassurance and love I've had from my Domme, and seeing myself on camera and hearing myself on audio has helped a large part in that. But taking nudes and posting them on here has also helped an incredible amount, and I couldn't have done that with the love and support from my wonderful Tumblr mutuals ❤️

In fact this was also the year I learned to reach out and be more vulnerable with people. Finally having the courage to talk to people I've admired from afar and striking up friendships with people on Tumblr has been amazing. It's never been quite the same since the big NSFW apocalypse on here, but this strange little corner of Tumblr has really started to feel like home again.

[erythristicbones]

OC Time! :3c

What is the relationship between two characters like and who's someone that comes and shakes that up?

OR! Alternatively (since I just had one I cant talk about yet) what's a big character or story breakthrough you've had recently? :0

Okay, since I'm working on revisions of my book EOTA today, I've got that story on the brain and I'm absolutely gonna talk about Kirsen!!! Specifically the relationship between Kirsen and Imogen, which gets touched on over a couple different chapters, but ultimately just can't be explored in-depth during the book itself. Also......this is gonna get long, fair warning AKDHDKFJDK

So, to start it all off: At the start of EOTA, it's only been a handful of months since Kirsen and Imogen ended their 1-2yr relationship. I think in the original draft I put a hard number on it, something like 6 months since they broke up? But I think it'll read better if I leave the period more up to interruptation. Anyways, the point is that Kirsen is someone who grows very, very attached to people and things are left unresolved.

Because it says from the get-go, from the very moment their past relationship is mentioned, that Kirsen and Imogen didn't break up because they stopped loving one another. In fact, they still have very strong feelings for one another. It's just that they recognized that they simply couldn't provide what the other needed and deserved in a relationship.

Imogen's aging mother is essentially the person in charge of their town, Pointes. She runs everything and keeps the town safe and functional. While she could have chosen anyone to take her place, she raised Imogen with the idea that she was going to inherit the position. This is the culmination of her entire life so far and really, Imogen does very much want the position.

Kirsen is someone who...well, there's several parts of her personality that come together in an unfortunate way. She was raised with a hunter's disposition; she needs to be out, she needs to be moving, she needs a job, she needs a prey. And unfortunately, Kirsen has a lot of trauma that she has been desperately trying to avoid acknowledging her entire life. If she stays in one place too long, she can't have a constant distraction, she can't hide her bad days from the people there, and she risks people trying to force her to acknowledge it.

Imogen needs a partner who will be there by her side, who will be the support she needs while she takes on a very taxing, pivotal role. Kirsen needs a partner who will be willing to travel with her, who will recognize her need to run and be there to pick up the pieces when everything does catch up to them. And no matter how hard they try, they are both intimately aware that they cannot provide those things for one another.

Ultimately, I think they both recognize this and yet cling to the hope that something in their lives will change and, magically, all of their differences will disappear and they will be able to live together happily.

[Enter Lucida] :)

Kirsen is now having to work with Lucida to save the world. It provides a great distraction from her struggles with Imogen- except that Kirsen thinks Lucida is attractive and falling for the person you're going on a perilous quest with is not exactly the brightest move. So now she's juggling feelings for two different people and knowing fully well that neither situation is ideal for her currently.

And there are specific scenes where Kirsen is clearly leaning into her attraction to Lucida so she can forget about Imogen, only to then have specific scenes where she (for instance) makes out with Imogen bc "surely this will absolutely help me not fall for Lucida and have no emotional repercussions at all".

Its- at the end of the day I think the three of them have such interesting dynamics with one another (and that's not even touching on Imogen/Lucida being weirdly passive aggressive and jealous of one another bc they both ALSO like Kirsen)and I can only scratch the surface of it in the book itself, bc technically the romance plays second fiddle to the Saving The World Shit ya know? I could write essays on these three idiots, I love them

[septembersghost]

If I am being honest since mh thing i am starting to see Taylor in a different light. Up until this point I excused some of her friendships like Lena Dunham and mh because in industry you have to have connections, even with questionable people. But this is so upsetting for me because while I can see a need for rebound why would she associate with him unless she does not care about the issues she spoke up against??? This makes her look like a hypocrite. He is a racist! How can she excuse that?!? He is a misogynist!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even look at her without feeling 'fake' anymore because I genuinely believed she cared about my community and WILL NOT TOLERATE SOMEONE WHO ACTIVELY DOES. ........[points at everything] THIS. It's so hurtful and many swifties are finding justification like if she's happy then why can't you accept that. Was all this 'I wont tolerate racism its disgusting' thing simply performative activism?? It hurts like hell.

oh anon :( i am so sorry that you're hurt and that you're upset processing this, and i will not presume to tell you how to feel or talk over your confusion here. i've seen a lot of fans upset at the idea of "shaming her for backsliding," and i want to be very clear that that's not the issue here, and that her behavior and reaction is understandable and human, even if it's messy, and i do believe we need to offer people grace to make mistakes and to respond to major life changes however they feel they need to. the issue here for many fans isn't her doing this - we have no say over it any way and we shouldn't! it's not our life or relationship or business - but rather...him specifically. i don't believe other people should be blamed for someone else's actions, either, matty's gross and bigoted stuff is all on him, but i DO understand the concern regarding the tacit excuse of it. that said, if we're going to be mad at taylor, or hold her accountable, do we have to extend that to jack, who apparently facilitated this? to phoebe, who's very good friends with him and has been far more outspoken politically than taylor has? i felt this way about the debate over amsterdam too - it was a horrendous choice on her part, but she appeared for two scenes, so don't we also need that angry energy for margot, and christian bale, and rami, and anya, and john david washington, et al? it becomes hard because, like you said, the industry is full of problematic situations and people. idk it's very complicated and tangled, and having a confused/conflicted reaction to that is normal. that said, the intimacy of dating makes it harder to excuse as ignorance. working together or being loosely professionally connected/friendly and dating are starkly different dynamics. for her to be so clear on her stances and then be involved with him is causing cognitive dissonance.

for whatever it's worth, which i know doesn't seem like much right now, i don't believe that her ideals are fake or that her compassion and inclusion is performative, i think she's always wholly meant that and has tried to back it up with actions like diversity in her casting choices and such, but she is also an exceedingly wealthy white woman who lives in a world of privilege we can't comprehend, and she cannot understand what it's like to be in our world either. the sad bottom line of that is, no matter how real her love for her fans is (and i think it is), no matter how real her empathy is (and i think it is), no matter how good her charitable actions are (and they are), her awareness is always going to be a bit limited, and she's always going to make choices serving her interests, especially about her personal life. this just happens to be an unpleasant one for many to see - the fact that there's nothing we can do about it and there's a boundary regarding intrusion doesn't mean your hurt isn't legitimate, and you are not obligated to tolerate his behavior that's caused you distress, nor excuse her seeming unconcerned about it.

we also cannot dictate other fans' reactions, i get that we care for her, and the automatic response from many is to want to support/defend her. she and her music mean so much to me, and it has for so long, and i do dearly love her, i tend to feel a lot of understanding for her, but to be honest, i have no interest in justifying this. and saying that is hard. if you don't want to hang in until this passes, you don't have to. if you want to come back after some time, you can.

however you feel is valid, and i hear you, and i wish i had some comfort to offer other than this.

[stitch1830]

Hi Stitch! Hope you've been doing awesome <3

For the ask game, 15, 23, and 50! :D

Mooney! Hi Mooney I hope you're doing well <3 More than happy to answer some questions for ya :D

15. Are there any relationship dynamics/tropes you would never write?

I'm down to write lil drabbles or one shots of anything, I think, just to get out of the ole comfort zone lol. Perhaps some that I may struggle a lot with and would put off would include insta-love. Not a huge fan of that, particularly with Kantoph lol. It's about the back and forth, the will-they or won't-they fall in love <3.

I also think I would struggle hard core with writing them as like, one person is a human and the other is a mythical creature (or creature part-time lol). It's just something I'm not particularly interested in, so I would need probably a lot of time to warm up to it and come up with an idea lol!

23. Do you think you idealize relationships in fiction, or are your depictions grounded in reality? How often do your characters make mistakes?

I would say it's a mixed bag. Of course, I want the relationships I write to be practical and feel relatable, but these relationships for me are also supposed to be idealistic. Especially for my fluffy fics, the relationships are just.... easy. They're fun. Uncomplicated. That's not very grounded in reality, but it's a slice of the fluff life and that's what I enjoy writing a lot.

But, I also love trying to capture the ups and downs of a relationship being established. I don't carry on with a lot of details in my fics (since I mostly write one shots now), but I think there are elements of reality, where the characters think one thing, but do another. In the beginning of the story, there are usually a lot of mistakes that the characters make in my fics. But as time goes on, they start to figure things out, and they live happily ever after <3.

50. Free space! Brag on yourself! Advertise your writing! What are you most proud of recently?

Hmmm. I haven't written much outside of the Year of the OTP prompts...

One work that I was pretty happy with the outcome on was Tell Me Lies. It's a Zutara story, but I have hopes to continue the story. Katara has to repay the favor to Toph, after all! ;)

I was pretty proud of The Mysteries of Chief Beifong. It's from the perspective of an OC, but he observes Toph as her life changes dramatically, and it has Kantoph crumbs sprinkled throughout :)

......

Okay! That's all I've got for this ask. Thank you so much for sending this in, Mooney! Always love seeing your name in my inbox <3 Hope you have a day as fabulous as you are :D

Send me asks about fanfic couples!

[thelyingjoke]

@vespertin-y HEHE you’re so correct about that first part. Honestly i think that

i was thinking abt the maki stuff a little more and realized not only does everything there happen, but she has no idea about it. she’s just standing there guarding her lab. and the person who would be a most likely mediator in this situation, kaito, is ALSO not there. so it depends on whether everyone thinks she or kirumi is more of an immediate threat, but they also could split up into groups (one to confront maki, one to talk down kirumi, one to comfort ryoma) depending on the specific person’s priorities. so she’s just suddenly confronted by an entire group of people who suddenly know her true talent. i don’t think her reaction would be pretty

it’s alllllll about the fluff & angst crumbs. kokichi being accepted more into the group because now they know there’s nothing wrong with him, he’s just annoying. i think he’d lean heavily into being a trustworthy figure honestly! he still lies of course but this time the others know there’s no actual malice behind it, and he’s given up any plans to be an antagonistic figure—now that they know, it’d be pointless, there’s no factor of being a villain is perfect for him because everyone hates him. oddly he’s like…the most trustworthy now, since he Specifically has a no-kill code. and i think he prefers being able to be trusted. he’s their silly shithead little brother guy. maybe he can actually get some friends this time. hang out and have fun times with them (it’s also funny for me to think about how his relationship with kaito would change. kaito wasn’t there to see his video. do they show it to him or just explain it? if the latter, how skeptical is he? their dynamic would be so goofy)

and then that would make someone murdering later even more devastating. he tried so hard. and also if i may go into speculation territory here: i feel like, at a point like this, miu may be the most likely person to try and kill at this point. i think she was probably supposed to die in ch1, since her and kaede’s labs are the only ones open then, and she already expresses some desire to kill someone—but that happening gets overtaken by kaede’s plan when she’s asked to work on the cameras and sensors. it would be convenient for tsumugi, and she could probably get her to do it rather easily and discreetly (maybe by giving her her motive video since she wasn’t at the watchparty?) i also can’t really see many of the others killing just yet. which makes things even worse, because in an ideal situation, kokichi asks miu to make inventions for everyone to fight monokuma with. if she kills ch2…that is Not going to happen! although these are just my little thoughts, someone else could also do it maybe. this would definitely be a worst case scenario which ups the angst a lot! he couldn’t even try to swerve back to the mastermind plan if worst came to worst because he wouldn’t have the remote from miu!!! it’s a bit of a puzzling predicament, huh.

i saw the pre-fte dialogue courtesy of this masterlist and the strategy meeting ones are specifically #3, #4 and #5! they’re all really neat though i recommend reading them :)

hello mx bow today i cannot stop thinking about the motive video watchparty _(:」∠)_ it started w/ me thinking about how sad it is that gonta *agreed* to help kokichi show everyone the motive videos, and then kokichi lost his trust because he chose to lie abt everyone hating bugs *on top* of that...sir please stop self destructing all your personal relationships bc of your paranoia it hurts my feelings :[

but then i couldn't stop thinking about the plan WORKING nd how that would change the entire trajectory of the story...obv ryoma and kirumi would get A Lot of attention from the group but (unsurprisingly) i can't stop thinkin abt how it would affect kokichi...being outed as a pacifist w/ a small organization that just does silly hijinks would crush most of the villain plan. and he was *willing* to do that!! i don't remember where i was going with this. wah. kokichi being more integrated into the group is spinning in my head at all times forever.

SOSOSOSOOOOOO REAL

the plan working would lead to so many changes……..i love kokichi working in the main group scenarios it gets my brain going. especially with this scenario because it’s not just his word they’re relying on, they have more evidence that they can actually trust him!!! think how the group dynamics would change!!!!!! they’d still think he was annoying (he is) but they’d actually know he wouldn’t mean any harm. he can’t play himself up as a villain anymore and he’s fine with that because now he knows this current plan (the nicer plan) is working! not to mention ryoma & kirumi would be able to get the support they need. it’s not likely kirumi would try to kill again any time soon because at this point she’d be too obvious and hopefully everyone would convince her out of it

something interesting as well, i think, would be how everyone sees maki. how would people react to learning her talent from her video while also knowing kokichi is someone they can trust? would they distrust her more than canon? would some people sympathize with her, given that her orphanage was likely in her video, or would everyone focus on the assassin part? it also of course depends on how much of the situation the video gives away, if her being an assassin is even mentioned to be because of her worry for her orphanage in it at all. people were already a little wary of her in canon, after deciding to believe in her during the trial and her talent being revealed by a guy not many of them are fond of, and it makes me wonder what would have changed in these circumstances

it’s also funny to me to think about how MAD tsumugi would be at this. what the hell! this little shit foiled her heartwrenching murder of the chapter!! she came up with such good motives too!!! she can’t even try to villainize him later. what the fuck you were supposed to be the antagonist who fits with the season’s themes asshole we gave you a whole rivalry with kaito and everything stop breaking the script. she can’t just let everything stop before the chapter 2 murder! she’s definitely going to try her darndest to get people to kill. and given the new information about him, it may be hard to try and get someone to kill kokichi as much as it would be convenient for her. someone would probably eventually kill though, it’s important for the ratings, but also can you imagine how crushing that’d be

kokichi went and had the PERFECT plan that was working! he even showed himself to be trustworthy!! he gave up his villain plan for this!!! and then someone went and killed anyway. dude. Why Did They Do That. IT WOULD BE SO PAINFUL !! ohand imagine . he’s gained the trust of the group but then his trust towards them starts to be broken even more from this. he already had trust issues before but now it seems like they’re being confirmed. his nice peaceful plan only prevented one murder just for another to happen??? did he throw away the mastermind plan for nothing? he still believed there was a mastermind, and it seems even more definite now that someone in their group is working against them. he just doesn’t know who. in his mind it even further confirms his idea that cooperation will be punished. oughhh……… this scenario is so full of opportunities for both kokichi fluff & angst i am consuming it so hard even though it’s only mere crumbs i made up in my head

SPEAKING OF TRUST ISSUESSSSSSSS i am so with you on the gonta bit. stop it dude DON’T TELL A NEEDLESS LIE THAT WILL ONLY ALIENATE YOUR CLOSEST ALLY IN THE END. YOU ARE KILLING ME. although i also wonder if maybe it has something to do with the way he grows increasingly frustrated at gonta over the course of those 3 strategy meeting pre-fte dialogues! in the first one, if you invite kokichi, he’s hesitant about it before he receives the OK from gonta, while if you invite gonta, he’s very polite about letting gonta hang out with shuichi and saying they can meet later. in the second one, inviting kokichi has him expressing hesitance since he’s with gonta again—however, when you invite gonta, he gets more aggressive and goes “i get it, i’m not wanted!” after gonta mentions he’d been falling asleep. by the third one, kokichi doesn’t hesitate to hang out at all, and just says he’s got a plan, and inviting gonta has him go “i don’t mind, take him off my hands”. to me it seems like he was trying to explain everything, but gonta found it hard to follow—hard-to-follow things make gonta fall asleep, and kokichi took that the same as gonta calling him boring, which he hates. if you invite gonta the second time it merely comes out earlier, and kokichi probably notices it later if you decide to invite him instead, which irritates him. he gets tired of trying to explain it and decides lying to him would be easier, which is the plan he figures out by that third event. maybe a combination of all that and his paranoia made him do that? idk i’m just kinda spitballing ideas here . i’m very not normal about motive video watchparty !

[tizzyizzy]

A lot of people headcanon or speculate that Ed and Izzy knew each other since Hornigold or even earlier. While that would be very sweet and also even more tragic for Izzy (always a bonus), I think they met each other later in life.

First, Izzy calls Ed the most brilliant sailor he'd ever met. I feel like Ed would have taken some time to achieve those skills and have a chance to display them. Also, Izzy says that when Ed made him first mate, he told him 'above all else, loyalty to your captain'. If he knew Izzy before becoming captain, I expect that wouldn't even need saying.

I also think their relationship is strongly colored by their being boss and subordinate. Ed's first instinct with Calico Jack was very familiar. Sure, he probably hadn't seen Jack in a long time, but I can't imagine him being that playful with Izzy.

My instinct is that the Ed/Izzy was planted in the soil of leader/follower. It helps explain why Izzy might idealize Edward a bit and might not know how to approach Ed when he's vulnerable. Also, while they don't have specified ages, if it matches the actors Izzy would be older than Ed, and those years make a bigger difference the younger you are.

Their relationship did change into something closer, but I think that dynamic has kept it confined. Izzy has much more freedom to disagree with Ed without being reprimanded or punished, but his instinct seems to have been to obey until he's pushed to his breaking point. Ed is friendly with Izzy, relies on him, but doesn't seem to offer much back.

I do like the idea of Izzy meeting Ed before he quite had the Blackbeard reputation. Like Izzy saw his potential from the start and knew he'd found something special.

[kingofthewilderwest]

I've seen a lot of posts about Hiccup's kid, who he hooks up with, yada yada, but when I heard Hiccup had a daughter, my immediate thought was "oh, I bet she's adopted." Because 1) I can't visualize Hiccup in a committed relationship, he seems like too much of a lone soul in that regard, and 2) it would be just like Hiccup to find an abandoned baby girl and raise her himself. It'd feed right into the books' "found family/do the hard but necessary right thing" themes as well.

You know, I keep fearing Cressida Cowell is going to go the route of "hook up with Camicazi," which I'd distinctly dislike. But it also seems like something she'd write.

I've always loved the fact that we had an entire adventure, start to end, where Hiccup and Cami were friends. This was a story about children, and we didn't need children to have a locked-in central romance. Any crushes that happened with the young generation were appropriately youthful, awkward, short-lived, and far from end game, Fishlegs-blushing-from-afar affairs. The romances that had substance, passion, tangles, etc. were characters in age-appropriate positions, our adults. I love how Cowell wrote that.

Now, that said, since Hiccup is a child throughout this series, I don't think we can get a good measure for what his adulthood self would be like romantic-relationship-wise. A young childhood adventurer is hard to pin down, whether he'd be a lone soul like you say, or someone taking great comfort in the closeness of people who care for him. It's too early to say. We change lots from our younger years.

I absolutely adore found family themes. They're my happiness, and there's reasons why I'm a nerd for franchises like Voltron or the DreamWorks HTTYD universe. There's reasons I infuse found family, pair-friendship, and group-friendship dynamics in my original writing. I will preach to the ends of the earth how friendship dynamics can be just as fulfilling and engaging in narrative. At the same time, I think tumblr has a biased inclination toward labeling, desiring, and fanoning everything to be found family to an idealized scope beyond what many creators intended. That's awesome for fandom and fun, but it means I don't bear fandom interpretations in mind when guessing what Cowell might be up to! Taking from the same sentiment that led her to pattern HTTYD after her childhood, Cowell is a mother who I think would place high value on a story of a father with a biological daughter.

But all that is Doylist speculation. We don't know what Cowell will do yet, sure. But we aren't restricted by Cowell. It's free reign for fandom imagination! And boy howdy howdy, let's have ALL the fun! And what you have: GREAT fun.

Personally, I see Hiccup as a biological father who cherishes his family, taking the imperfect yearnings from childhood (Mom not around, etc.), the lessons from past Hiccups (ex: Hiccup the Second being abandoned by his father), his abilities to keep those he loves close (ex: his value for Fishlegs and Cami), and his generous spirit... and infusing those into the next generation. History is two steps forward, one step back, but here, he can invest in the next generation and make a step forward.

But my headcanon is no better than your headcanon. It's extraordinarily adorable to imagine Hiccup as an adoptive father! I think this is cute, and it makes me want to toss an extra adopted child or two my headcanon's way XD (I have a thing for big famblies <3 ). Beyond the themes you connected it with, my brain goes to Fishlegs, if you like, who was raised without family, but who had Hiccup as someone to grow up with: Hiccup understands what his best friend experienced, and upon coming across an abandoned little girl, feels compassion. AKA: Your ideas are WONDERFUL and I am all for it.

[booasaur]

“It’s just not gonna happen…;I can’t betray my SOUL” lol I felt that! There’s a lot more ‘official’ representation these days but in the past, so many f/f ships were entirely based on subtext or the show was actively queerbaiting, so most of my ships weren’t canon. And there’s always the thing of shipping two women who click just for whatever reason that I’ve kept up even now, when one character ends up being gay or bi and gets a partner. That’s me now with New Amsterdam, I always loved the idea of Bloom and Sharpe together and even seeing all the setup for Sharowin from day 1, I was in denial ha. I love Lauren and Leyla but BloomSharpe will always own a piece of my heart, ‘real’ or not :,)

(Note: I actually did start answering this in April and then left it till now so this’ll be somewhat disjointed as I finish off my older thoughts.)

The subtext vs canon discussion is always super interesting, right! Sometimes it’s a question of which dueling ship from the various current fandoms is the one that wins the most attention from a smallish community but it’s really interesting when there’s friction between subtext and canon ships in the same show, though that happens less and less so now. I feel like the mid '10s will remain the peak of that, as media began to include canon f/f more regularly and a large part of fandom followed, while others stayed with subtext. Glee was a great example, since both ships were so huge, but you see that behavior in SC vs Alex's canon ships too, or, less so because Red Kansas or whatever could hardly compare, but SQ as well. I do remember when New Amsterdam started and idly noted the two female characters who actually interacted and had a friendship and wouldn’t have minded shipping them but Helen/Max seemed set up from the start and I wasn’t in the mood to battle that. [Me adding months later: It’s ironic now, whichever one was more popular, both Sharpe and Leyla are gone. :x]

But it was super interesting to see who was drawn to Faberry and who to Brittana, then the two combined for Clexa, and then split again into Sanvers and SC, for example. It seems to me that it really depends on people's individual engagement with ships, what is it they get invested in specifically. The subtext group essentially goes for the ��ideal” pairing, usually main characters with rich backgrounds and histories and well-defined, multilayered relationships, deciding that romance makes the dynamic even better, or clearer. Even now you have KCFH and HotD offering scope for that. The canon group will usually, just as a matter of statistics, not get the main characters, but to them the romance is already the source of the richness, and they can add the rest of the character and relationship work. 

Neither way is better or worse and there’s no hard rule, there’s lots of overlap, most people will switch back and forth, or like both. I myself am a character-first person and so you’d expect me to be more subtext but I’ve pivoted more into canon lately for sure. I was just telling my friend the other day about how on Peacock’s Vampire Academy, the two leads are SO ready-made to subtext ship, but so much time and energy was spent on their respective m/f relationships, as with Helen/Bloom above, I just didn’t have the time or energy for that fight. Or interest, to be fair, I suppose, if I was really into it, I’d make it work. 

Whichhhh, I do have the time and energy and interest to make J/7 work. No other pairing for either of them can compare for me. You had four full 26-ep seasons developing this extremely pivotal mutually transformative relationship that changed both of them and the constantly influenced Voyager plots, I cannot move on from that.

[diademsandtiaras]

Headcanon: If the Marauders never existed

my personal opinion on what would happen if each marauder didn’t exist, which changes a lot but these are my current thoughts

James

Sirius would be in Slytherin

James was the one who encouraged Sirius to be in Gryffindor and gave him that push on the train, I think that with his family, if he had never met James on the train he wouldn’t have been sorted into Gryffindor - he wasn’t brave yet

Lily and Snape’s friendship would’ve still fallen apart eventually, since Snape would’ve still been in Slytherin and joined the Death Eaters, but it would’ve happened later on, maybe in Seventh Year or after graduation during the war

Remus and Peter became friends but never really clicked like the four marauders did

Remus and Lily are still platonic soulmates

Regulus would’ve been in Ravenclaw

with the pressure off of him, as Sirius is the heir and wouldn’t have disappointed his family, he would’ve most likely been sorted differently

be still pranks people and has practically the same personality, but he has to be more careful

regulus and remus meet in a study group and become friends

regulus, and eventually through him, remus would’ve influenced sirius enough so that he isn’t a blood purist

it takes him a lot longer to shake off his family’s blood purist ideals

but in order to keep the pressure off of regulus and to keep him safe, since his parents don’t like regulus as much anymore, he doesn’t run away

when his parents die he becomes the head of the house of black

remus becomes head boy, as much as he hates it

sirius is convinced to be the order spy

sirius is the one to find out about and hunt for horcruxes

he finds them all with the help of remus and regulus because dumbledore is useless

(sirius and remus eventually get together but it takes longer)

peter stays neutral during the war, he has no one to convince him to join the order, but isn’t important enough to be recruited as a death eater

snape doesn’t become the order spy, since when he tells voldemort the prophecy it has nothing to do with lily

Neville would be the boy who lived, obviously

the second war doesn’t happen, since all of the horcruxes have been destroyed

lily survives the war and is dating mary macdonald (i don’t take any criticism on this, lily is bi)

this may seem like a better universe in the end but it’s not because james doesn’t exist

Sirius

remus, james, and peter are still friends, but aren’t as close

remus and james are best friends, as are remus and lily

lily doesn’t hate james as much - at the beginning james always wanted to impress sirius and vice versa, without sirius james would’ve been more tolerable in lily’s eyes

but without prongsfoot friendship james isn’t nearly as much of a mother hen

james is really close with marlene, because he needs a quidditch friend

regulus’s storyline remains the same

james and peter become animagi for remus, but it takes longer

lily becomes one too later on

james and lily start dating fifth year, because it took him less time to win her over

snape and james are still rivals, but sectumsempra is never invented

snape and lily fall out in sixth year over him finding out remus is a werewolf, and lily sticking by remus’s side

the prank never happens

snape still becomes a death eater and the order spy

peter still joins the order

although he doesn’t feel as left out without james and sirius’s friendship, he still feels overshadowed

peter still becomes the spy

james and lily never believed remus was the traitor, so without sirius he convinces no one

remus is too obvious to be secret keeper and is away on a mission for werewolves

peter is the secret keeper

james and lily are still killed and peter is found out and taken to azkaban

remus raises harry

dumbledore still needs to keep an eye on (control) harry though so remus becomes the DADA teacher

the curse isn’t a thing in this for the sake of me favoring remus

since he hires remus he doesn’t hire snape

harry basically grows up in hogsmeade

the plot of the first book remains more or less the same but quirrell is the potions master

so is lockhart, because he claims to be good at everything

remus is petrified in the second book

the plot of the fourth book is more or less the same, but crouch jr poses as potions master

remus went to school with crouch, so when he sees him on the map he realizes somethings wrong

but because of that he’s exposed before the third task and voldemort doesn’t rise again

the order doesn’t reform

so no remadora

...the end

OR

even though lily and james never believed the spy was remus, everyone else did

peter framed remus instead

because peter might not be book smart but he’s still smart, and knows how to play his cards right and manipulate people

remus went to azkaban

being a werewolf, he has practically no rights

let alone in a war

he’s given the dementor’s kiss immediately without a trial

the rest of the plot is more or less the same in the end but harry has no parent figures at all

i don’t like this ending as much

Remus

first of all, james and sirius never mature as much

while remus was the one who headed most of the pranks, and made them better

he also kept them in check because they’re both privileged as fuck

so they’re more arrogant

their pranks aren’t nearly as good either

the marauders don’t form, the dynamic of just james and sirius and peter is off, peter wouldn’t have felt included enough for their friendship to form

the first reality check that james gets is from lily

sirius takes longer to run away, he doesn’t get as much shit from his family since he’s not friends with a half blood

and it takes him longer to shake off the blood purist ideals that his family has drilled into him

james helps though, and lily too since james is too priveliged to fully explain how bad the black family values are

sirius + lily friendship eventually, takes longer since sirius is more of a dick without remus but they bond over rocky relationships with their siblings

the prank doesn’t happen for obvious reasons, but sirius and snape do still actively try to ruin each other’s lives

it takes longer for james and lily to get together, but they do eventually

peter joins the order and becomes the spy, he’s always been overlooked and underestimated next to james and sirius

becoming an amimagi for remus was the first thing that made him feel truly brave, truly connected to the other marauders, he doesn’t have that in this

sirius remains the secret keeper though - the marauders never formed and he never trusted peter as much as he did in canon

also he doesn’t have to worry about remus being the traitor

eventually peter is caught

but bellatrix tortures sirius the same way she would’ve done to the longbottoms

he’s tortured to the brink of insanity

neville is the boy who lived

jily and harry live, but sirius never recovers

peter goes to azkaban

Peter

the marauders take a lot longer to form

peter was the glue, they’re all vital to the group but peter made them all complete

james sirius and remus are still very good friends

sirius figures out remus’s secret at the end of second year (peter was the one who figured it out first a lot earlier) because they’re not as close yet

and james is unobservant as fuck

mom friend james (even more so because remus can’t take care of himself to save his life, literally)

they become animagi in fifth year, but it takes them longer

again, peter actually came up with many good ideas and helped a lot

the map is made in sixth year

the prank occurs, and the group shatters

it takes a long time to get back to normal

wolfstar and jily both start dating seventh year

remus is the secret keeper

sirius is tortured a bit as everyone thinks that he’s the secret keeper, but is saved in time

neville is the boy who lived

they all live (except peter)