#i just discovered it a few days ago and binged all of it and like mecha lesbians is all i want

[blood-teeth]

top nine shows:

okay im sorry i cannot for the life of me think of nine shows

but!! thank you so so much tagging me @veswrites-if i really really appreciate it and appreciate you <3

im going to tag a bunch of people that have probably already done this!! @atrial-ofhorror-if @lapinlunairegames @magiciansvoyage @gamesbyalbie @signalhill-if @manonamora-if i know im missing a bunch of people so if you see this please do it and tag me so i can see your shows!! i need to find more!!

[buskingalbatross]

AmazingPhil channel marathon musings

during a pre-show q&a back in november, in response to a question about what show someone should binge next, dan said they should watch all of the AmazingPhil channel from the start. I was not the person who asked this (nor was I at this show), but regardless I did decide I wanted to take dan’s suggestion seriously. just a few days ago, I finished watching all of AmazingPhil in chronological order. and now i really want to talk about what it was like and why I would recommend marathoning his channel to pretty much anyone—because it was a blast.

I watched all of the 369 currently public AmazingPhil videos over the course of 35 days, which is from my perspective a pretty casual marathon. 369/35 = roughly 11 videos a day, though due to algorithm and monetization policy stuff, phil’s videos became longer in duration around 2015-2016; for many years, most of his videos were around 4 minutes long or less, which for me meant that early on in this marathon I was watching more videos per day, and then later on my pace slowed. phil’s videos with dan are usually pretty long as well, so if I had something like a baking video or wdapteo up next to watch, I might have only watched one or two videos that day. 

unsurprisingly, watching all of phil’s videos in order in a relatively short span of time gave me a really cool perspective on how phil has grown as a person and as a YouTuber over the past eighteen years. surprising to me, though, was how I felt like watching his channel in such a linear way felt a bit like coming to know who phil is for the very first time, again. despite having watched his videos for over a decade, i feel like i understand his style and creativity and personality more fully, and in general better, than I did before. watching 2007 phil become 2009 phil become 2011 phil and so on in the span of a few days or a week meant seeing clearly how his sense of humor evolved, how his editing and creativity developed, how his perspectives on life and relationship with his audience shifted. much as when you binge an entire tv or book series and immediately afterwards feel like you’re brimming with information, and have all the context, that’s sort of how I felt. and it was new for me because I’d never done that with phil’s content before—I’d never followed the course of his life the way you might a fictional character’s. 

AmazingPhil is also an incredible capsule of 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s Western internet culture, obviously. it’s like an anthropologist from the future with a very hyperspecific thesis topic’s dream treasure horde. what a person can learn about one corner of the world, and one corner of society, from AmazingPhil’s videos is, well, a lot. I see so much cultural value in AmazingPhil, it’s insane. his videos are not sketches, essays, and commentaries on society and life like Dan’s, but I’d make the argument (as I’m sure most of you would) that they’re just as important and critical to helping people understand themselves and the world they live in. and the kind of people they want to be, too, perhaps.

there were also certain videos that stuck with me more than they had in the past. I discovered new favorite videos and videos that I considered more interesting than I previously had. (I tried just now to make a list of some of these but it rapidly got too long, so instead I’ll restrict myself to mentioning only one, a new favorite, from 2021: “I Got Catfished.” - which i think is a fantastic example of phil’s storytelling style). dnp have both said before that they view life as a performance – and phil is without a sliver of doubt a magical and incredible performer. he knows so well how to tell stories with words, pacing, structures, and effects that are hilarious and entertaining; he turns anecdotes from his life into these amazing whimsical pieces of art made in a way no other person has ever made things. YouTube has from the beginning presented him with the perfect way to be creative in a way that suits him. and more than that, i found that it was never even remotely unpleasant to watch his videos every day for over a month. there is simply not an AmazingPhil video that doesn’t bring me joy and make me sit there smiling like a fool. my cheek muscles are probably stronger than they were 35 days ago. 

so, to you I say, go: watch all of AmazingPhil, draw your own conclusions from his current oeuvre and deepen your parasocial relationship with Phil Lester in ways you cannot yet comprehend. I really recommend. 

(final notes: one side effect of watching all of phil’s videos was being unexpectedly yet thoroughly convinced he does indeed possess psychic talents. even though i don’t believe in magical anything, i do now believe phil lester inherited prescience from his grandmother.) 

(also dan is completely right that every time phil changes his hair, he regenerates into an entirely new man.)

(also also I made an AmazingPhil spotify playlist that is highly specific to my music tastes but that anyone is welcome to listen to all the same) ✨🐗💙🥱

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

Hey, I don’t really have an ask, but I found out about your series a few days ago and it’s been amazing, I just finished binging it, can’t believe I never heard of it until now. I love how it’s written, all the interesting changes to the narrative, and that WD Steven still feels like Steven without him being a carbon copy personality wise, with more complicated layers and still wanting to help others and do the best he can.

It’s probably the best fan content I’ve seen of SU, glad it’s still running. ❤️

I'm always thrilled when new people discover the comic and all I can say is - thank you! For your time and also your kind words. Even after all these years, it's thrilling to know people enjoy my silly fancomic.

[creamyavocadosoup]

𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞

a/n: lowercase intended! been in an anime binge lately and am currently watching horimiya. its great honestly, it makes me feel so mushy bc me when !! but also i can kinda relate. sorry this wasnt proofread! if there are any mistakes lmk ;-;

characters: rtte!hiccup x fem!reader

tags: kinda angsty, unrequited (?) pining, intimate touches and moment (nothing nsfw)

word count: 1.5k

if you missed it, here's part one: can i be her?

the road to recovery was slow, and the mending of hiccup and i's relationship even slower. although i had forgiven him, there was an undeniable shift in how i acted towards him, whether it was intentional or not.

i had felt guilty about it, of course, but i couldn't force myself to go back to the way things were and pretend nothing had happened. even more so when i could tell that hiccup and the other riders picked up on it too.

after that incident however, something else had also changed. as subtle as it was (or tried to be), hiccup had begun doing things out of his own volition. small things like the soil in my garden being damp when i wake up, my medicine cabinets tidied and arranged how i liked it after a nap, or even my hut being spick and span, a still-hot plate of food awaiting me on my bedside table when i wake up.

it was strange to be on the receiving end of such actions. i had gotten used to helping the riders more than i had received it in return. so having hiccup do so much for me just because, induced emotions in me that i'm still quite unsure in how to handle.

today was spent patching up the riders after a grueling training session and a few accidents (mostly snotlout) and we make conversation as they tell me the new things they've discovered when they went adventuring a few days ago.

my huge cut had - thankfully - been steadily healing, the riders taking turns in making sure i wasn't doing tasks i wasn't supposed to. a few weeks since the incident and i could finally start walking around my hut with much, much caution.

taking this opportune moment of reprieve, i'm currently sat at my front porch, admiring the view of the sea and horizon off in the distance. i sipped quietly on my drink while wrapped in a blanket, the birds chirping and soft swaying of the trees my only company.

...that is until strong gusts of wind caused by a familiar midnight black dragon landed on my front yard, along with his ever-familiar rider in tow.

"[name]! i come bearing new entries to my journal, along with snacks of course."

right. ever since my injury, hiccup had made it some sort of tradition to come and talk to me about things he discovered while out on adventures or simply reading up and researching on subjects he thinks would interest me.

he reasoned it as him hoping i wouldn't feel too lonely even though the other riders visiting routinely (which i soon figured out was coordinated by hiccup thanks to a slip of the tongue from tuffnut) had given me plenty of company since then.

hiccup took his seat beside me on the porch swing, making himself comfortable. offering the other half of my blanket and he takes it with a smile, scooting closer to me.

initially, i seemingly wasn't quite receptive of this tradition he had started; lack of responses, barely any indication that i was interested in whatever he was talking about. but the dragon rider hadn't exactly let it affect him whatsoever. he continued coming regularly, and talking enough for the both of us.

"hiccup." i spoke, softly and quite mellow, but it had stopped his rant completely as he turned to look at me.

i raised my head to look back at him, my eyes slowly dragging over his features. sweat beaded faintly across his brows as he also searched my face of any indication of emotion. he gulped, the action quite apparent, "yes?"

"are you doing all this because you feel guilty?" i questioned, my voice devoid of any accusatory tone, yet it made him flinch slightly in his seat. "if you are, then you shouldn't be, because i already forgive you."

he pursed his lips and brows furrowed as he continued to keep his eyes on me, clearly displeased despite my words. i felt a warmth slowly settle on my hand, looking down to find his hand grabbing onto mine.

my heart beat quickened, a soft yet steady heat creeping up onto my cheeks. for a moment, it had felt like we were suspended in time, the universe letting us have this moment that we've needed.

"even if you have forgiven me," he paused, his body turning to me and gripping my hand tighter, "i can't." he whispered, a soft tremble in his voice as i watched his eyes gloss over.

"i'm sorry. i'm so sorry." he almost weeps, his voice crackly and tears turning his eyes glossy. "i shouldn't have talked to you like that. been so - so caught up in my emotion that i just had zero regard for how you were feeling to how i was saying it." his voice shakes slightly, and my heart crumpled at the emotion.

gently setting aside my drink, i reached to hold his hands with both of mine, softly rubbing my thumb along the natural contours of the back of it. my throat felt tight, that same burning feeling in my eyes coming back, but i steeled myself and my voice to be able to say what i needed to.

"hiccup.. i understand, i really do." my voice had felt so fragile, like glass, about to break if more pressure is applied to it. "in the time i've spent by myself these past few weeks, i've come to a certain understanding and acceptance to the situation. and it's okay," i squeezed his hands, "i'm okay."

he subtly shakes his head no, one of his hands breaking free from mine and drifting to my wounded abdomen, past the hem and underneath my shirt. hiccup was quiet but his touch spoke more than his words tried to convey. my breath hitched at the action as he continued with his ministrations, yet his expression more spaced-out. i'm not sure what it was exactly, but i could tell he was heavily contemplating something in his head.

despite the gauze barrier, i could feel the heat of him emanating through it. it allowed that familiar warmth to bloom in my chest once again, the same warmth that only he seems to be the cause of. it had felt entirely too intimate to consider it as something friends do which only raised so many more questions and confusion in my head.

this wasn't normal for friends, right? is this something he normally does with the others?

i gulped down the lump in my throat, the thought of him doing the same thing to a certain blonde-haired viking setting an uncomfortable feeling in my gut.

before i could voice out any of my thoughts however, my eyes widened and cheeks warmed considerably once i felt his touch travel to my cheek. it was soft, almost feather-like, and comforting. his eyes glowed beautifully, the orange sunset reflecting onto his green eyes, effectively enchanting me with how beautiful it looked.

he kept his eyes on me, seemingly waiting on a sign on how i felt about the current predicament. seeing no protests from me, he continued on, now essentially cupping my face with both of his hands, his piercing eyes never leaving my face, flitting between my eyes and lips.

"hiccup..."

"hiccup!" a familiar voice cut through the silence and the trees, dispelling the intimate moment in an instant. i hurriedly moved away from his clutches, picking up my forgotten drink, as hiccup nervously fixes his hair and clothes.

astrid appears on the path in front of my hut, lax features and usual demeanor indicating that she didn't see whatever just happened between hiccup and i. "there you are. figured you would be here." she spoke, walking closer towards my porch.

hiccup laughed, notably a little more breathless than when he normally is, yet astrid doesn't bat an eye or pick up on it. admittedly, i spaced out as she rambled on, the scene before still playing over and over in my head.

hiccup's soft touches was still practically branded onto my skin, with how i could still feel the heat of his touch despite him being on the other side of the seat we were on. his actions had only made me more confused, swirling thoughts trying to reason why he did what he did yet none of them made sense.

what was that? was he...

i shook away the thoughts as i come back to consciousness back in time. "[name], i hope you don't mind that i'll be taking this guy with me for a little bit. i need his help on a few things regarding training." she spoke.

i nodded, plastering a small smile on my face but i turn to look at hiccup, silently torn on wanting him to go or letting him leave. his gaze was on me, searching my face but perhaps my features weren't translating my desire well, because he turns to astrid and smiles, "we can go, we were just finishing up anyways."

my heart cracks just a tiny bit, that same feeling that i felt a few weeks ago leaking through the cracks of my resolve little by little. but i force the smile back on my face, standing up to bring my drink back inside, the atmosphere now leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

they gather their things and leave side-by-side, and i also turn and huddle back into my hut, missing the longing look hiccup held to my disappearing figure.

DO NOT REPOST MY CONTENT ANYWHERE! i would love to hear any and all thoughts. mwah! have a great day!

quick access to my library.

[dangerousduckcloud]

Flowerbeds make up for a nice eternal rest

My first DC fanfic! More specifically a Jason Todd fic. (Jason Todd/Reader)

English is not my first language! So if there's any mistake please be kind and let me know.

You can also find it in AO3.

Chapter 2

You’ve always wondered what it would be like to live inside the stories that you read on books and see on TV, what it would be like to be a medieval princess, a pirate exploring all seas, the girlfriend of a certain vigilante/crime lord that has you reading fanfiction after fanfiction about him. But what happens when one day you wake up in an unknown city, in an unknown cave filled with bats and a kid with a domino mask looking intently at you?

You’ve always wondered what it would be like to live inside the stories that you read on books and see on TV, what it would be like to be a medieval princess, a pirate exploring all seas, the girlfriend of a certain vigilante/crime lord that has you reading fanfiction after fanfiction about him.

Naturally, no matter how much you daydream about those worlds, you always come back to your nice, calm, but sometimes monotonous life.

Many wouldn’t consider a hotel receptionist would make an exciting job, let alone a prestigious one, but you like it. Love it, even, as you’ve had the opportunity to meet a vast array of people from all over the world, some even sharing their life’s stories, as well as leaving you enough time to work on your hobbies.

Of course, you’ve also had to deal with the typical Karens and Darrens that like to create problem after problem all because they never bother to utilize their brains for a second, let alone develop any level of reading comprehension. ‘What do you mean I can’t go swimming? Yes, I read the sign that says the pool’s closed today, but I want to swim’, or ‘Yes, I’m not an idiot, I know the door says breakfast is from seven to ten, but I always eat breakfast at twelve’ or your favorite ‘What do you mean I have to pay for the table that almost killed my children? Well, yes, I know they were jumping on top of it but it’s a serious hazard to have such cheap furniture! An accident waiting to happen!”

Even though at that moment it’s stressful and tiring dealing with them, at the end of the day they added to the list of stories you couldn’t wait to share with your friends every time you met up.

Today however, was a slow day, the constant, heavy downpour in the city making everyone reach their rooms as soon as possible to change their dripping-wet clothes into something warm and comfortable.

“D’you think it’ll stop soon?”

“The rain? Yeah, seems like it.” Joan, your coworker, replied, not looking up from her phone. “It’s not as heavy as it was an hour ago.”

You hoped she was correct, as your shift was about to end and you didn’t want to deal with the headache that it was not only to get a cab in this weather, but one that wouldn’t charge you 200% more than usual.

“So, what are your plans for the weekend?” Joan asked, resting her charging phone on the desk and turning towards you. “Anything exciting? Any dates?” At her last question, she raised her eyebrows consecutively, drawing a chuckle out of you.

“If only.” You snort. “I haven’t had any luck, not even on dating apps. People nowadays just want sex. Quick, done and gone. I’m not saying it’s not nice, but I want something… Real. Someone that can even make grocery shopping exciting, not just a face that I’ll forget in a few weeks.”

“So, you want someone that does not exist, got it.”

Laughing, you gently push her shoulder with your hand, the wheeled chair desk sending her a few centimeters away.

“They do exist.”

“Sure, but just in those stories you read.”

With a pout, you began thinking about the newest fanfiction you’d discovered last night and started binge-reading it, with 56 chapters, and you were already on chapter 39.

A sudden flush crept across your cheeks, embarrassment at being 22 and spending your weekends reading some silly fanfiction instead of going out to have some drinks.

But who could blame you? Whoever SuperWomBat_89 was, they sure were blessed with the writing of an angel, every single word so carefully chosen to convey the poetry their writing was, a story so romantic and profound that had you shedding a lonely tear at remembering people like Jason Todd — your newest hyperfixation —, did not exist.

Besides, it was way better than doing drugs, or kicking old ladies. Or doing drugs while kicking old ladies.

Not to mention, everyone enjoyed their limited time on earth in different ways, remembering that just because you didn’t enjoy the common pastime of your peers didn’t make you a weirdo or a failure.

No matter how many times some of your classmates called you that.

When you stopped disassociating, you took a glance at your phone, the time reading five minutes to six. Standing up from your chair, your eyes examined the weather outside through the glass doors, glad the storm had turned into a light drizzle, nothing your umbrella wouldn’t protect you from.

Bidding goodbye at Joan, you made your way towards the staff room, using the private bathroom to change into something more comfortable to walk home; pants, an oversized sweater and sneakers, walking out the back door.

Usually, you would put on your headphones for your fifteen-minute walk home, but as luck would have it, you’d forgotten to charge them, and not wanting to bother the other pedestrians walking home, you opted for not putting music on the phone speakers, no matter how low the volume was, making you more cognizant of the world around you.

Now, normally you wouldn’t call yourself an idiot. You considered yourself to be quite smart, honestly. Even if most of your actions didn’t seem like it. But you were, promise.

But when a strange light without a seemingly clear source brightened up a whole alleyway, you couldn’t help but get curious and walk towards it, a young, distorted voice coming up from somewhere around it.

“I knew it would work.” The voice said with glee. “B will… This technology…”

You couldn’t make up the rest of the sentence, the sound becoming too warped up for you to understand it. Was this some kind of magic illusion? A hidden camera? But looking all around, you couldn’t spot anything that resembled one, or something that would look out of place in an alley like this.

If someone were to ask you what possessed you to touch the light, you wouldn’t be able to come up with an answer, not even knowing it yourself. But you did it, feeling a warm, tingling sensation traverse your body until everything around you became engulfed in the bright light, including you.

[swaps55]

I lost my friend to cancer yesterday.

I’d really like to tell you about her.

We meet people throughout our lives who change it, in big ways and small ways, and ways we will never forget. Sara/ @dearophelia was one of those people for me.

I met her here, on tumblr, about 10 years ago. I wish I could remember what piece of writing I stumbled onto first, but she was such a gifted writer that I immediately wanted to see more. I somehow wound up following her live blog of a road trip, which was full of uproariously snarky jokes about Ohio. I had the courage to reach out and tell her how funny I thought she was, and how great her username was to this fellow Mass Effect fan who lived right down the road in Kentucky and got all the Ohio jokes.

We talked. We chatted. I introduced her to a group of people I played Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer with. She grew from a level one first-timer to a total badass who could carry a team and taught other people how to do the same thing.

And then my life fell apart.

Everything fell apart for me. Turning to my family wound up being a catastrophe, and I didn’t have local “real world” friends I could turn to.

So I texted Sara. Told her I needed somewhere to go, and asked if I could stay with her that weekend.

She texted back, “Yes.” Sent me her address, and said to ping me when I got there. She didn’t hesitate. She didn’t ask why. She just gave me shelter. So I showed up on her doorstep, and she listened while I told her everything. She didn’t judge me. She didn’t think I was insane. She had every right to think both things. Instead, she gave me safe harbor at a time when I had no control over my life and didn’t know what was going to happen to me.

For the next several months, I made frequent trips up I-75 to Ohio. She kept an air mattress out for me. We played multiplayer. We talked about Mass Effect. We talked about life. We bitched about all the people who hated on one of our favorite characters. She introduced me to Babylon 5. I have so many memories of sitting on the couch in her apartment, with her cat Odo crawling around behind my head. When I eventually pieced myself together enough to leave Kentucky and start the work of starting over, it meant leaving behind that sanctuary with her in her apartment, and it was something I had to grieve along with everything else.

And now I am grieving it again, and so much more. I am so lucky I was able to fly back to Ohio a few weeks ago while I had the chance. Hugging someone goodbye, knowing it’s the last hug you’re going to get….well, it sucks.

But I got that hug.

Sara was so many things. She was a gifted storyteller with entire worlds in her head. One of the weekends I stayed with her, she had recreated the Mass Effect galaxy map on her wall with notecards and string to help her tell a story. She could create a character and make you fall in love with them in a matter of sentences. Because of her stories, I binge watched all ten seasons of Stargate SG-1.

She was also not afraid to unapologetically be herself. I had a lot of things to learn and unlearn about the world, feminism, gender, and sexuality, especially in those days. Listening to her fight for her space in the world and refuse to be told she was anything less than who she wanted to be helped me learn some of the things I needed to learn, and embrace the things I discovered about myself.   

She loved music. She made the best fucking playlists. She taped inspirational notes around her condo. She sent me a set of coasters that say, “Fuck It,” and “Nah,” and I use them every single day. Her smile was gorgeous. She lit up a room.  

And now she’s gone. I won’t see her in my tumblr notes anymore. I won’t see her on my dash. I won’t get pinged with new Odo photos. She won’t get to hear the new music I listen to that shows up in our Spotify blend. I won’t get to talk about the next Mass Effect game with her. I won’t get any more Ao3 updates in my inbox.

I wanted you to know about her – this pocket friend of mine who impacted my life in ways that I won’t ever forget.

I hope you will read her stories. Listen to her playlists. She was a brilliant human being. She should still be here. She isn’t.

And I miss her.  

[slick-devon]

Musing out loud

This post may not be what you think. I just noticed a single negative comment in my feed for the first time in months. I can probably count on my hands the few times my 2,000+ posts have been criticized. Outside of our gay AI-generative bubble, there is a lot of noise around this still relatively new form of expression...the debate whether it's art or not or is the AI learning process actually learning or stealing from legit artists. The hetero creators seem to get more flack over their impossibly volumed busty creations. In my other life, I push pixels professionally with little use for generative AI (though machine learning tools in Adobe have been a lifesaver). My work hasn't been threatened yet. I chose to learn and embrace this technology so that when the time does come in my day job, I can adapt, rather than be left behind.

But here in our world of gay generative creations, we're having a lot of fun discovering what we can do. This is a new revolution that in many ways to can be compared to the tools Adobe and MetaCreations gave us years and decades ago with morph, warp, and liquify tools visualize our desires to share with others.

And there is room for this new form of expression without shoving out the works leading up to this point. HS Muscleboy's sketches are legendary and can still excite me! Silverjow will never be out-AI'ed (is that a thing) from their artwork that practically bulges off the screen without the need for 3d specs. And many, many others that I hope continue to create.

Back into the generative AI segment...I do hope that general consumers do understand that there are different levels of effort in this from casual or carefully worded prompts into MidJourney or Bing, to the works of those that train their own models and Loras, pushing and directing their creations via dozens of tweaks via ComfyUI, Automatic1111, and other emerging tools.

Myself? I fall somewhere in between. I'm not so good at training models which takes some patience and dozens if not hundreds of source images and coaxing. I do what I can and try to come in from the analog side of things and sketch the final touches of what the AI gives me.

Hey if you followed my musing this far...what do you think? I suppose I'm looking for some feedback. I wonder if this stuff is worth my time beyond just collecting likes. (I love the likes though and I like all of you back!)

[wirewitchviolet]

Oh damn it, The Boys has a spinoff?

Not too long ago, I wrote about The Boys, and how I have a few issues with it. And when writing about season 4 in particular, I mentioned how off-putting it was that the right wing characters in the show were constantly shouting about the protagonists loving trans people as a dig, and how weird that is to toss out there when there don't seem to be any trans people in the show at all, let alone any the protagonists associate with. But there IS a trans character in Gen V, the weird little spin-off series they apparently made between seasons 3 and 4 that I was unaware of when I wrote that. So out of some combination of morbid curiosity, feeling the need to maybe amend my earlier statement, and let's be honest, an act of self-harm, I just sat down and watched that too.

In a lot of ways, I hate this even more.

The premise is that all the characters here are going to a special superhero high school in the setting of the main series, and there's this whole tease through like half the show about how there's a big competition where the top student in the school will get to go join the big superhero team from the primary series which feels a hell of a lot like they were trying to maybe lure in some of that Hunger Games fandom or the 5 people who haven't totally denounced those seven doorstops from the most famous transphobe in the world or something, and maybe also trying to pretend the main character from this show would end up on that show which... just does not work? Like if a character joins the superhero team in The Boys it means they're going to be revealed to be a nazi or they're going to be almost immediately sexually assaulted then killed, or possibly all of the above, and that's not really something you'd want for any of the main cast in this show here, because a decent swath of them are more or less good kids and all. Like is it even a spoiler to say it ends by going all shaggy dog story with Fascist Superman showing up for a quick cameo at the end to declare everyone remotely likable an ideological threat and them being thrown into a secret prison? Probably but look you could have stopped reading when I said how it ended.

Also the protagonists being mostly likable kids with superpowers. kinda just completely breaks the whole premise? Like the one thing The Boys does that I approve of is shout very loudly about how much right wing scumbags suck via what I'm sure they'd describe as a metaphor, but really we're just kinda largely overlapping with a theme of superheroes being inherently evil and horrible... and that's just kinda not a thing in the spinoff here at all, outside of some really limp references to the series proper and teasing out a season 4 plot threat at the 11th hour. Doesn't really seem to try and replace

All the stuff I hate is totally still in here though! Demonizing kinky sex stuff, really pushing for shocking gore and making people weirdly squishy accordingly, and trying to talk about serious stuff affecting women and minorities, but not having the perspective to do that well and coming off a bit weird. I'd almost say it is at least a little less bad and gross about women but (warning the rest of this paragraph describes really tasteless stuff) the opening scene of the first episode is the main character discovering she has blood control powers because she gets her first period, plays with the resulting blood, freaks out when her parents try to check on her, and accidentally totally explodes them with blood daggers. Because yuck girls are gross I guess. And then once we've established she has blood powers we clumsily try to make a whole thing about how she has to cut herself to get access to them like how all those teenage girls are cutting themselves these days. And to really hammer that home, her roommate has shrink/grow powers that are activated by doing the whole binge/purge thing. And no, we aren't trying to make any sort of larger point with the imagery with either of these besides "ew."

The rest of the cast besides those two get introduced as the cool popular bitchy maybe racist mean party kids who do drugs and kill random bystanders trying to show off with powers which feels like they were maybe trying to do some kind of parallel with the super hero team from the main series and then I dunno maybe got some real quick feedback that that's lazy and did a 180, or maybe they were just trying to kickstart messy teen drama because this show doesn't really have any real like... themes or point to it. This gives us the really weird setup where a character gets introduced using Magneto powers to accidentally slit someone's throat and the lead being offered up as a sacrifice to maintain his reputation and then having him just be the goodest boy for the rest of the show. And also this means that trans character we have gets introduced as a gatekeeping bigoted popular kid so... yeah...

Probably isn't going to come as any sort of surprise here, but the creative team behind The Boys doesn't handle this here trans character super well! To be fair, they do try! The character in question is eventually pretty plainly one of the good guys after spending a whole lot of time on this weirdly drawn out thing with them being this coldhearted gatekeeping popular kid who is somehow simultaniously looked down on for being "a bigender Asian," and we're at least picking and naming a flavor of trans there.

Buuuuuut OK we've got this AMAB trans character who has this vastly preferred girl form, and parents frustrated by that noting they could just always stay in boy form, and something like half of all form switching incidents are sudden ones when starting to make out with people or immediately before/after having sex, and look it is REALLY hard for me not to suspect they started with an absolutely monstrous take on a trans girl built out of a lifetime of bigoted scaremongering and misconceptions, ran that by a sensitivity reader, and tried to salvage what they could while making adjustments. Plus you know, trans character with nothing but cis friends, HRT does not seem to exist in the setting, being bi but hopping over the gender fence to keep all romantic or sexual relationships "straight."

Another thing I have to get into is that while the show ultimately doesn't have a point, and goes all shaggy dog story, there's this whole thing where the school has a secret torture dungeon and the protagonists break someone out who suffers from, if I properly recall the term used, "schizophrenia or something," and wow, get this, you're not gonna believe it, in addition to being prone to fits of violence and sometimes seeing people who aren't there and maybe they're puppets sometimes, he's a weird spongey blank slate who needs all of like 1 minute to be talked into becoming a genocidal fascist in the last episode.

But anyway the one token trans character still never once interacts from anyone from the original show and is like 4 or 5 degrees removed from the person being smeered as trans positive so turns out I don't need to correct myself with that complaint.

Also I'm just gonna go ahead and not watch any more of this when more is inevitably released I think.

[copwef]

My adventure with Rise of the TMNT and it's community.

I remember very clearly where I was when I heard about rottmnt for the first time. I was over at my sister's house for a night. Everyone else was asleep and I was still trying to watch TV. When all of a sudden their was an ad for a new TMNT show.

At the time I was a fan of 2012 TMNT, but as a child I was too dumb to keep up with the show on a regular basis. Plus we still use cable so I had no way to binge all the episodes. To this day I haven't watched all the all the episodes of 2012 TMNT.

However when I got home at like 11:00 PM the next day. I saw the the first episode of Rottmnt was on. I watched it and while it seemed kinda childish and goofy at first, I slowly grew to like the show more and more. I watched every episode at least once and watched the season 2 finale when it came out. This was the first show I kept up with like this.

However, as I said, I was a dumb kid. I was oblivious to many things such as Donnie's autism, Mikey's ADHD, How the show had been cancelled unfairly, and many other messages of the show.

However a couple months ago, I got reminded of the show and searched it up. I watched a lot of old clips on YouTube until I saw that I had missed the rottmnt movie. I had no way to watch it or the show, so I resorted to watching the few reaction videos I could find at the time. Then I watched character analysis and saw how much of the show's messages I missed as a kid.

One night while I looking at a rottmnt comic dub compilation, I saw something that seemed cool. A comic series that showed what the future turtle's did before the events of the movie. I quickly made a Tumblr account and searched up this au.

I quickly discovered the creator of this au was @somerandomdudelmao and the comic series in question was called the cass apocalypse series. If you have somehow not read this series I HIGHLY recommend it. The characters act like they do in the show, the art is fantastic, and I consider it the closest thing there is to as "season 3" of Rottmnt at this time.

This discovery led me into the rottmnt fandom. I discovered many other very talented artists and writers. If I tried to list all of the talented people in this community I would be here literally all day. It inspired me too both write my 3 part own series called "Rottmnt Atoning" and my first attempt at drawing Leo.

So consider this a thank you message to everyone in the rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles community. Thank you for helping me rediscover this show after forgetting about it. I have a couple good ideas for Au's and I will try to post them when I can.

Now if only we could get an official rottmnt season 3.... Actually at this rate the community is so talented that if don't get an official season 3 we could just band together and make it ourselves.

[zydrateacademy]

Current Activities in Warframe #13

I don't really know how long my longest Warframe binge went as I never really thought to time it. In my Nightwave history, I have a record of making it to rank 26 some time ago which certainly required a modicum of daily investment (at 22 on the current volume 7 with a rank or two in the bag, but it ends in 9 days for the new one), but generally I've been going pretty strong and I generally have a fair few things left to do.

My frame priorities have shifted a bit. I no longer feel that Koumei is reliable on more difficult survival content but she's still a fun frame to use in some baseline longform content. I was running a solo non-Steel Path in Hollvania for the calendar kill purposes (as they are not shared) and was dying multiple times. I made it through in a 20 minute game by myself but went down 3 times or so seemingly randomly, perhaps her defensive charms ran out and I didn't notice. There's technically the visual indication of the charms that circle around you but they're pretty subtle as to not be distracting, but as a result I barely notice when they're nearly gone. Also when you're going for a melee challenge and you're just wading into a sea of particle effects, there's even less indication.

So Nyx has sort of replaced Koumei as my "hardest of hard mode" type frames as her 4 only ever cancels out with a specific type of Eximus (I'm assuming it's the one with the yellow dome because I know you can't cast abilities while you're in it) but sometimes Nyx just decides to cancel it herself and I see her do the pulse bomb thing without my input and still with plenty of energy left, so I have no idea what gameplay element or mechanic dictates that. Otherwise, since I've played her after buying her gemini skin, I don't recall ever actually going down while playing her but the once so far.

On my last post I said "I don't expect either (Nyx/Koumei) to overtake Mesa anytime soon" but I underestimated how much I was really playing Koumei, who overtook Mesa the other day. Nyx is still slowly working her way up my roster as she's generally become fairly specific, the girl I bring for only the highest level of play. (Archon hunts, laboratories, etc). She'll get there.

I've tried exploring other frames, for naught. I Forma'd Xaku Prime a couple of times but not the third or fourth as I discovered that I just couldn't get a handle on their kit. I understand what the skills do but their 4 is apparently some high survivability skill that negates ranged damage to some degree but I was getting downed by level 35's in standard Sanctuary Onslaught while trying to boost them. One player said that they function more like a "kill the enemies before they can hit you at all" kind of frame but I'm just not seeing how that's possible to do. They have no room-clear nuke and all their other skills are basically just buffs, like having a bunch of enemy guns floating around you and shooting back at them or the skill that just buffs your damage with void. As I said I was getting downed by basic level 35's which hasn't happened to me in forever and I'm thinking Xaku just might not be for me. It's a shame, I quite love their prime design.

Khora is kind of on my "to do" list to figure out. I see her very often on long form survivals and defenses and my feelings on her are a bit mixed. I can absolutely see the value in the harsh CC to keep high level mobs off your target but as an outsider I find it annoying to get shots off the dangling bodies and it's impossible to charge my incarnons on them which can be annoying when the dangly dozen are the last enemies left to deal with. Still, I recognize her value and I'd like to at least try to build her up as an option.

I've pushed relic cracking quite a bit more than I have before, and had an admirable stockpile of ~4000 ducats for Baro only to be met with three Primeds I either already have or one I didn't care about, but bought a couple of the weapons for mastery fodder. I still have 3000 or so but I'd like to build that stockpile back up a little for future Baro use.

I'm continually rep-grinding both Hex and Cavia as they both still have a few things I want. I'm more or less done with the Hex as I'm really just buying the arcanes at this point, as I generally have all the scenes I want. Cavia still has a few scattered items I'd like to have, and I'm working on buying some of those high quality lenses for focus farming.

I'm also dipping my toes back in Deimos. I still don't like it. There's a few weapons and even pets from them I need to craft for some mastery fodder. After all these years I have finally made the Sepulcrum. There's also the Trumna and some other shit.

I despise fishing in games and I still don't know why devs keep adding it in. It's not relaxing, it's infuriating, and a waste of my time. Warframe made the boring activity of fishing more bearable only to make sure they annoy and anger me in new and different ways. I don't mind the spear-fishing activity itself as it's typically just a "click and you're done" but there's the matter of having speared a flying fish point-blank and still missing, only a slight reposition fixes it but it's very taxing to fire off six times from six feet away and still miss the fucking things. Then there's all the enemies that like to snipe you from across the map, slowly draining your shields and resources. And while you deal with that, the timer on your bait and "make fish glow" items keep counting down regardless of interruptions, further wasting my time.

And somehow mining is actually worse. It takes longer and is heavier on RNG. With fishing you can generally aim for certain kinds of fish whether you're on the coastline or a cave. Mining is almost completely RNG and takes longer just to tap one node. I can spear four fish in the time it takes to tap one node (assuming the point-blank glitch doesn't happen and my aim is true). It's not fun.

So there's a fair amount of gear hiding behind those activities I've yet to fully tap into. I'm a bit stalled at rank 27 without farming out some relics and grabbing some primes I've missed in my year away. Otherwise my time in Warframe right now isn't so much a matter of "catching up" anymore as I've had to do in the past but I'm more emptying the veins of the current content so I won't be -as- behind when builds call for specific arcanes.

I'm also recording it for Youtube but it's a fine line to walk. The gameplay loop can be fairly homogeneous despite being fun to actively do. My Warframe videos are doing decent numbers but I'm also trying to avoid full blown farming sessions where I'm literally doing the same thing minute by minute and I prefer to keep the activities varied, and in doing so I'm noticing how rather thin the game can really be. I don't want to record a long form, 25 minutes survival while on the same frame shooting the same gun and killing the same 3 enemies. I want it to be varied, to change frames, to give viewers a general change in scenery.

As a result I have absolutely no backlog of Warframe videos. They're all being published faster than I can find sessions to record in, and I feel like I'd benefit more if I streamed it rather than recorded it... But I've never been able to get that to work properly.

I do feel as though my Warframe batteries will need recharging soon but there's still a few things left to do.

[tojiscrack]

i keep like not seeing when u answer my asks jfc.....

BUT ANYWAYSSSSSS

i just got back from CANADA. i usually like it there but after being in california a few months ago, i was reminded how much i HATE paper straws. and canada fucks w paper straws so that was hell but.

ANYWAYYYYYS.

'‘cause how are you so perfectly okay with killing YUJI.'

THATS WHAT IM SAYINNNNNNNNN. I LOVE YUJI SM.... i genuinely think he's one of my favorite anime mcs ever bc he's one of the few i don't dislike! and he's def the reason why my friend is sticking w jjk. (we did a trade deal where i have to watch arcane if she watches jjk).

'the whole guy bsf thing, ARE YOU GUYS ALL LIVING THE SAME LIFE WTH?'

It's a canon event i fear.... i was literally thinking ab him on the drive back from canada and i realized that HE STOPPED LIKING ME WHEN I STARTED BEING NICE TO HIM??? men only like it when you're mean to them.

'you guys can bond over your shared/similar experiences on top of when i traumatise you all by making you go through worse in the story! 😋'

i'm gonna cry......

yk what's so crazy... i discovered liar liar right before the west coast cyclone last month and binge read it during the 4 days we didnt have power (i charged my phone at my gym). and i have been obsessed with it since. so just know that if you hurt me, you hurt cyclone me 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

'my obsession with making fun of emos needs to be studied'

STOP UR SO RIGHT. literally my ex bsf is fuckin emo and she is the most insufferable self victimizing bitch ive ever seen in my life so she ruined emos for me.

ANYWHOOOOOO

give us a sumaya lore drop just for shits and giggles 🙏

OKI BYE

yeah ykw, tumblr needs to come up with a feature that basically alerts us of when our asks are answered 😐 like why is that not a thing already?

like now it’s a fear of mine to think about how someone might think i’m ignoring them when in actuality, i’m beginning to get more interactions so i speedily answer every one, and then theirs goes further down my page but they’ll never know that ‘cause TUMBLR (😒) doesn’t have a feature that lets us know our shit’s not being ignored 🌝

anyway mini rant over, bACK TO YOUUU ML 😋🩵

i wanna go to canada so bad ☹️ i heard that the british-accent privilege over there is a million times better than the british-accent privilege in america 🤧 i’d be favoured so nicely over there 🥴

paper straw hate is so real. why do these stupid turtles keep snorting the plastic straws anyway? dumb turtles. aND WHY DO THESE HUMANS EVEN THROW THEIR STRAWS IN RIVERS AND NOT THE BIN THAT’S 0.2 CM AWAY FROM THEM? dumb humans.

second mini rant over, back to you again 😋🫶🏽

‘just know that if u hurt me, you hurt cyclone me’ — noted 📝 😚

i love how everyone has stories of where they’d been when they found the fic, how they came across it, what they were doing during reading it, etc. it’s so fun seeing different stories, like idk, it’s computing to me that we all have different lives but we’re connected by one story?

my story? 🥹

gonna start weeping stoppp

anyway <3 you’re so right. yuji’s such a cutie patootie and does no wrong. i’ll defend my son till i die he’s older than me but idgaf. personally, my fav mc has to be eren from aot, but i can’t exactly say ‘he did no wrong’ ‘cause… yeah 💀

bUT YUJI HAS DONE NO WRONG! MY MORALLY RIGHT SON! <3 i have a deep, deep hatred for that four-armed tarantula ‘cause of his random vendetta against my yuji 🌝

omg trade dealllll! i do those with my friend so often but she does me dirty every time. i put her on an awesome sitcom, but she said she refuses to watch it until i watch saltburn.

yeah. saltburn.

so i was traumatised after that and she was having fun with the sitcom. i’m glad you and ur friend do fair deals 🥲

‘it’s a canon event i fear’ — 😟

‘HE STOPPED LIKING ME WHEN I STARTED BEING NICE TO HIM??? men only like it when you’re mean to them’ — so i think m*les in the usa and m*les in the uk are different breeds, ‘cause when i tell them to leave me alone or give clipped, straight to the point, honest and dry responses, they go away 🌝

but maybe the circumstances are different ‘cause i’ve never been asked out and the m*le you’re talking about had feelings for you 👀

whatever girlypop, i just know that from the way you speak, you’re gorgeous 😐 if you ever did go with him, it’d be those couples i see on the street and my first thought is ‘he makes me laugh’ ahh relationship.

‘i’m gonna cry…’ — honestly, i’m being dramatic 😭 like the angst is bad and the ending MIGHT be bittersweet, but it won’t evoke tears. at least, ik that if i was a reader and not the author of the story, it probably wouldn’t be enough to have me in tears, yk?

‘she ruined emos for me’ — NAUUUURRRR 💔⛓️🖤😔👊🏻

just think of malakai (i don’t think you participated on the kai hate train so i’m saying this with a grain of salt lmao)

anywhoooo

I DON’T HAVE ANY LORE TO GIVE 😭 i’ve got the most plainest life ever. the most you’ll get that i can even strain to think of ‘cause that’s how little lore there is to me is that bad grades will put me in a coma 😔

oh, and that literally an hour ago, i was gonna jump a middle-aged man for being rude to my mum at home bargains? 😭 yeah, not much lore, just stupid occasional stuff

[h5eavenly]

hello 🤗 i just binged through carousel and i had to leave you a note. this might be a bit long so i apologize...

i'm a baby stay -- my best friend got me into stray kids at the beginning of september. i obv fell head over heels with them, and hyunjin specifically... i'm also a pisces (he just thinks the way that i think and sees the way that i see), and he's breathtakingly beautiful, but his story and background and the amount of work he has put in to be as talented and successful he is today has always been so admirable to me.

i was born in '96 and back in like the early 2010s i was writing fanfiction a lot. i wrote on tumblr and gaia online, roleplaying with others because i was never comfortable or confident in portraying a character other than someone i saw as an extension of myself. regardless, it always gave me such joy and giddiness creating stories and dreaming that maybe my life could be like the ones i was writing.

since i've gotten into skz and have been exploring more and more facets of the stay community, and now have gotten back on tumblr and have been reading fics left and right, i have been simply overwhelmed by the return of that joy and giddiness. i truly didn't think i would ever feel this way again.

all of this is to say that your story, your words, your mind, and your hard work -- carousel, it has given me so much joy over the past few days that i've been reading through it. i laughed out loud, i cried, my jaw dropped MULTIPLE times, i listened along to the playlist (serendipity has been on loop since i finished 20 minutes ago), and honestly the tight feeling in my throat right now has me fighting back tears again.

i just wanted to thank you for sharing your beautiful work. you wrote hyunjin in such a mesmerizing way. your descriptions of everything, but most especially of love, of the heart and gut wrenching pain of love, and then of that warm, fuzzy, and soulmate level type of true love, had me by the throat.

y/n's arc honestly gave me so much hope for myself, helped me better understand that i am not my trauma. the way the story made me feel gave me such a beautiful glimpse into everything in this community, hell in this WORLD, that i still have not discovered. i am so grateful to people like you who share your talent and passions, who remind me that sure if i have a crazy dream about hynuie, someone else probably also did and wrote a fic about it. you remind me that i'm not alone.

anyway. thanks for everything and i can't wait to dive into your other works. 💗

Hello omg 🥺 first of all please dont apologize for the long note bc this was such a blessing to read <3

welcome! once you start stanning skz you're down bad lmao and i totally agree with you, i think a lot of the time people are attracted to hyunjin bc of the way he looks (understandable he is breathtaking as you said) but the more you know about him the deeper you'll fall in love with him so i totally get your point 🙏

it is so crazy that you mention getting that giddiness and joy back bc carousel was also my first work coming back into writing, i had stopped for a long while before that so this feels like fate honestly lmao. but knowing i was able to make you feel so many things through my words is honestly what i live for and it is one of the reasons i always wanna write more and keep getting better so THANK YOU for reading and giving carousel the time of the day 🤍🤍

i wish i was better at experiencing myself but just know everything you said truly means so much to me i'm so so happy you enjoyed it and im so happy you were able to find even glimpses of yourself\relate in any way.

thank you so much for reading and writing to me 🥺🥺🤍🤍

[writerchic16]

Just in time for Halloween, I’ve noticed all my absolute favorite OTPs fit one oddly-specific trope:

Strong-willed, compassionate good witch meets goofy (but not dim-witted), kind-hearted guy who loves his witch more than he ever thought possible.

(My Personal) Trope Originator:

Cassie Nightingale and Sam Radford from Hallmark Channel’s Good Witch

If I try to describe the incredible friends-first dynamic of these two I’d be here all day. Just do yourself a favor and watch. I do recommend starting with the very first The Good Witch movie for a proper introduction to all characters involved. If you like Jake Russell there’s a whole series of movies for you. (Not that I don’t like Jake. He’s just no Sam Radford.)

Other Examples I’ve Recently Discovered:

Left: Eglantine Price and Emelius Brown from Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Right: Darrin and Samantha Stephens from Bewitched

I say “recently” with some irony, as these two are relics by today’s standards. But trust me there’s plenty of shipping to be had! And yes, that IS Angela Lansbury, playing a witch in a Disney movie! As for Bewitched, honestly I always thought Darrin was a jerk especially concerning Samantha’s witchcraft, but I watched some episodes a few months ago and now I Get It.

I started thinking about where all this came from and it hit me:

Chandler Bing and Monica Geller from Friends

Okay hear me out. I know Monica isn’t a witch (then again name one thing beyond her power). But the dynamic is the same and Friends was a formative show for me. I started watching when they were first airing season seven - yes I’m old, what’s it to you?

Then I realized this goes even deeper:

Harvey Kinkle and Sabrina Spellman from Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Talk about formative. During elementary school this was my absolute favorite (though we might also need to discuss Alex and Ray from The Secret World of Alex Mack). I wouldn’t say I was actively shipping Harvey and Sabrina but I loved the show and I’m sure it seeped into my psyche.

This post doubles as a list of Halloween-y type things to watch (Friends did eventually do a Halloween episode), so I hope you obsess over these ships as much as I have.

[thebeeshaveknees]

@aenbyveryverygayperson Konton I blame you for getting me into Dr Stone

SO I JUST BINGED ALL OF IT SO NOW I'M GONNA MAKE A WEIRD AU/CHARACTER STUDY THING

Okay so basically Evil Senku au-- but it's more complicated than that I swear

Senku is a bit more empathetic than canon. A bit less clinical.

He still puts Taiju in the miracle cave, still wakes him up, still wakes Tsukasa up, basically everything is the same except their conversation at the beach

Tsukasa asks Senku how he plans to revive everyone, what will happen then. Senku says the world will rebuild. Tsukasa mentions that all human possessions have rotted or rusted away. That countries would flounder and blame eachother, that people would try owning and taking and leaving nothing left so they can rent what they have out to those people already giving their skills and their lives to them, that even if they were lucky enough that a war wouldn't break out, progression would become competition, and freedom will be bought and sold once again.

And Senku knows. Senku isn't an idiot, he knows that what happened was terrifying, that rebuilding would be terrifying, he knew that fear made anger and anger made war. He understood that. He knew that. But he also knew that history repeated itself, that humans would rebuild, with or without him, that whoever they revived would have children and those children would have children and they would make war eventually. Senku didn't want war, but progress was more than that, and here was a pivotal point.

Tsukasa mentioned reviving children, mostly. Children and teenagers. Teaching them contrary to the world that died 3700 years ago. Tsukasa wanted there to be no technology, for the modern world to be forgotten.

Senku wanted to use the modern world, take the pieces he needed, leave the rest behind. He told Tsukasa this, told him that humans needed soap, and medicine, and food preserves and travel and indoor heating and agriculture. That if he could teach all the progress that was good, then it would let people grow and learn and make a new world that could sustain itself without them and without war. Tsukasa said any progress was dangerous. Senku said trying to stop progress was stupid, that directing it was the only way for it to last. Tsukasa agrees

They revive Yuzuriha and then go to a mountain to get a better vantage point because 3700 years can change geography in ways Senku can't predict. They see the fires, they find Ishigami village, Senku discovers Ruri and starts working on antibiotics. Tsukasa meets Chrome and understands Senku's point about progress. It's very slow going getting the village to like them, but Tsukasa keeps dissapearing every few days and coming back with more people between 15 and 25 willing to help. Eventually the village outside Ishigami is bigger than Ishigami itself, and Tsukasa does most of the leading, which suits Senku just fine, so long as Senku still gets help for what he needs.

Senku becomes something like a doctor, even when he's still building with Kaseki and Chrome, he focuses a lot on just keeping people safe, fed, and happy and teaching them how to do it themselves (mostly Chrome)

He doesn't like the idea of statue smashing, he convinces Tsukasa that statue smashing looks too gruesome, that he'll accidentally end up ruling by fear if he keeps it up, tells him it's better to give them graves like corpses.

Chrome is very curious about weapons from all that time ago, Senku describes the nuclear bomb and Chrome is no longer curious. He explains that since before he was born different countries had dozens, that everyone knew that if they started a third world war it would end the world they knew. Chrome is now cautious about learning about the old world.

[tenthousandyearsx]

Hey! I'm curious, pls indulge me: which book or fic that you've read in 2023 has made the most impression and why? x

Hi magpie! What a great question to find in my inbox. ❤ I actually rarely look back or make lists for some reason, so it was lovely to do so just now!

Books:

I saw someone reading “Lanark” by Alasdair Gray on public transport last December. I had never heard of it before, so I looked it up and it ended up being one of the wildest things I’ve ever laid my eyes on. I really, really liked the first book, it made me think of The Master and Margarita (which I adore!) and it seemed plucked entirely from the author's unconscious, which is always a bonus with me. But as I read the other three books, I got progressively more frustrated and annoyed, so I honestly don’t know if I’d recommend it. That said, the opening book was such a shock, I can’t stop thinking about it. I just keep wishing I could unread the rest. 😬 (Sorry for the conflicting rec! You might have read it already – and if so, I’d love to know what you think).

Because I'm so conflicted about choosing the novel above, my second pick is a reread of a book I used to love as a teen, but that nobody seems to have heard of. It’s called ‘The Only Alien on the Planet’ by Kristen D. Randle. It has nothing to do with aliens; it's a getting together YA novel about a boy who refuses to speak or be touched and the female protagonist, who's a transfer student and doesn't know what she can or can't do around him. It was my first time rereading it in almost two decades and I still loved it so much. I have no idea what it would be like to read it for the first time as an adult though. CW for childhood trauma – but it’s not a heavy novel. I fell for the male character all over again 🥲.

(Also, because I know you like danmei as much as I do, I just want to add here that I’m dying to read Nan Chan – but I haven't yet!!)

Fics:

I’ve been binging a lot of Alhaitham / Kaveh fics – their characters are so compelling and I cannot get enough of the whole quarrelling scholars living together dynamic they have going. On top of this, I discovered only a couple of days ago that Alhaitham is based on Tagore among other things, so now my brainrot is even worse.

This is probably not a ship you’re interested in, but if you are, I loved "pure conjecture" by shrimpheavnnow. It's 5.7k words PWP but it’s so them, and I thought the premise was hilarious. I also need to mention a wip I’m following, which is very much on the same vein but looks like it's going to be 12 glorious chapters of PWP: “testing, testing” by Lithopus.

Drarry: I don’t normally read memory loss fics, but I read "Somewhere in My Memory" by maraudersaffair while I was stuck at home with covid and it brightened my week so much I’m still thinking about it months later. I’m personally really bad at writing domesticity, and I thought their day-to-day looked so effortless here!

Oh! I also read astolat’s Jeeves and Wooster fic for the first time a few weeks ago ("Jeeves and the Blessed Indiscretion") and I thought her Wooster’ voice was brilliant.

Sorry for the long reply! I was probably supposed to pick only one but I got a bit carried away.

If you have any fic recs, especially wangxian and hualian, I'd love to hear them! x

[electronicwitchcollection]

Good morning, how are you? Recently I’ve been binge reading everything I’ve written. It’s so good 😊 I’ve been thinking about writing for a long time i just never had the confidence to do it. How did you start?m if you don’t mind sharing?

Good evening! Sorry it has taken me a while to reply, with Christmas around the corner it’s a little hectic around here 😂

Firstly, thank you for your support! I’m thrilled you’re enjoying what I’m writing 💜

For as long as I can remember I’ve always thought up little scenarios about characters I like, bleach is probably the one I’ve gone back to the most, which is why I’m most comfortable writing about bleach characters, I feel like I just get them, you know?

I’d basically day dream about full story lines and scenarios, which led me to believe others did to. This is how I discovered fan fiction all those years ago. I’ve spent years reading so many amazing stories about so many fictional characters, loved seeing the different takes on characters I love, see new relationships and storylines I’ve never thought of.

I had been thinking for a while to start writing, even just for myself to go back and look at, something tangible I could read and spoil myself with. So I started writing.

I shocked myself with how quickly I began to love it. The firsts few chapters I sometimes look back on, embarrassed with how poorly written it was 😂 the timing was off, I’d over describe one thing while skimming over another, but it’s mine, it’s a little piece of my heart and soul and I love it.

As time went on, I discovered my style of writing and it started to feel right. Like this is something I’m supposed to be doing. It’s strange, how therapeutic I find it. It’s an escape, although I’ve never written anything similar to my own past trauma/heartache, I found a healthy way to express myself when nothing else worked.

Going back to fan fiction, seeing so many others similar to myself, loving the work of others I just thought, “what the hell?” Maybe someone out there would enjoy what I’m writing. And I started to post it. I’ve never done it for recognition or praise, just simply offering what I’ve created to like minded people, hoping I could share even a small amount of the joy I’ve felt creating it, or reading others. Even just one person.

I’m aware some people on the internet are unkind, but thankfully I’ve not had any of that directed at me yet. I’ve had nothing but amazingly, heartwarming supportive comments, praises, discussions, with some of the sweetest, funniest people, and I’m so glad. I never would have spoken to some of these people if not for writing.

I’ve learned so much from other writers, been inspired by fans of the same fandoms I love. I feel incredibly blessed. Sometimes it’s hard. Writing isn’t as easy as I thought it was, the mental/emotional energy we use to create was shocking to me. Sometimes I’ll stare at my last sentence for hours, days, struggling with what to say, even though it’s already in my head.

Digging up your own emotions, your own past to accurately try to get across how a character is feeling can be exhausting, but it’s so worth it, especially when I get asks/comments like these. Thank you 💜

But it’s so rewarding. Sometimes I’ll get a comment like “this part really made me laugh” and that sets my heart alight honestly, because it’s me. I made them laugh, me, my mind, my sense of humour, it’s a beautiful confidence boost.

I’ve had requests, which I find harder than my own ideas, only because this person trusted me to bring their vision to life and I want to do my absolute best for them. Maybe I read to much into it, but when I get a request for a reader with scars, or over weight or anything, I think it’s a way for them to heal their own hearts over their insecurities. Because I do the same. What an honour that is. How brave, to reach out to a stranger, lay out your insecurities and ask for something that’ll mean something to them.

If you’ve been thinking of writing, do it, be brave. It’s worth it, even if it’s just for you, even if you never post it. If you love what you write, you’ll always have someone who loves your work. And that’s priceless. It’s fun, it’s soothing, it’s exciting. Do it, you won’t regret it.