#i really do appreciate the discussion and engagement! this has been an interesting/fun discussion

[alto-tenure]

I think we're in agreement mostly except for two points. 1) I do feel that Eve probably was actually betting on Layton and Luke getting emotionally involved with Espella... And for Espella to go through the trap shoot through her framing case. Then Phoenix and Maya happened. 2) The Beldukes consistently keep Jean away/out of witch stuff. it didn't start as a Eve idea I think. But I tend to add "Things are going to plan. Not." To NPC actors. And one of the fun things with the game is finding out

I don't think Eve actually has that much investment in Jean Greyerl's well-being? At least, not on her own. I think even without the knowledge of the fact that Jean fully believed she was culpable for Newton's death, Eve has some level of resentment towards Jean for being the child Newton actually took care of and loved, as opposed to her, effectively left to take care of herself. So I think without Newton actively working to protect Jean, Eve doesn't really have a reason to care about her -- and actually has more reason to resent her. I don't think she actively wanted to include Jean meaningfully into her plans, but the opportunity did fall into her hands...and framing Maya is the perfect way to make sure Phoenix gets to the truth.

I've always interpreted the situation with Kira as Kira acting independently -- I don't think that trial was meant to be the one where Espella was taken out. I imagine that Arthur let Eve in on his plans to fake his death and end the Story, and Eve took one look at those plans and shoved her own scheme into the cracks where it would fit -- just enough to pull out the rug from underneath him and undermine everything he wanted for Labyrinthia's future. Both Fire Witch and Golden Court were unplanned, though I do think to some extent there would have been a different incident that's basically the same as Golden Court to get Layton into the Eldwitch Woods somehow -- without his incursion into the woods, it wouldn't have been possible to find out about the Bell of Ruin.

(And for reference, I agree -- Eve is right to want Labyrinthia exposed. We see the seams from the very beginning. Espella is paralyzed by the thought she might be a witch. Labyrinthia's society is what drove Kira to frame Espella and want her dead; Labyrinthia is what killed Newton Belduke; and Labyrinthia nearly killed Jean and Espella. Is it really any surprise that after Newton's death, Eve was driven to such dramatic lengths and wanted to tear it all down?)

[gffa]

This is a long rant and I apologise if this comes off as too much 😅 I just want to let you know that I'm SO GLAD you're part of the star wars fandom. You're one of the few reasons my interest in this franchise has survived despite the toxicness that it has seeped into everything the past few years. Yes, star wars fandom has always been pretty much a mess but I feel like these days it's somehow gotten even worse. And there isn't even anything coming out that could distract everyone from the constant drama.

Your blog and your posts about the books are always a breath of fresh air in all this. I really appreciate that you take time to make all these long canon references and share them with us. And that you actually engage with canon content! For some reason that seems to be a tall order for most 'fans' these days.

It's exhausting seeing the ice cold takes about the jedi be repeated over and over again by people who seem to have barely even watched the films, let alone read the random book they're referencing to show how the jedi are So Evil and failed poor anakin by Forcing him to let go of his Attachments so they definitely deserved to all get massacred down to the last child!!! And if you push back by citing literally anything canonical to show how ridiculous their takes are they reference a random obscure legends novel (that they are often twisting and also usually haven't even read) And if you point out that, no, Legends isn't canon (and never has been) and we could discuss it as its own separate thing instead of dragging it into canon discussions, they completely flip and say they don't care and to stop taking star wars so seriously �� ( u can probably tell I've had some pretty frustrating fandom arguments recently lol)

It does feel like groundhog day sometimes with the same arguments being repeated over and over again to villainize the jedi while absolving the genocidal mass enslaving space fascists that are Very Clearly the Bad Guys. And it feels pretty much deliberate at this point when people misunderstand star wars' canon definition of attachment and project all their issues in their own lives with their christian upbringing onto the space monks... This has only been exacerbated by people like Headland jumping onto the franchise and doing this with fuckass disney's approval, so now the racist anti jedi youtubers have started attacking this new anti jedi show so if I defend the jedi I get lumped in with them *sigh*

Anyway, I just listened to Padawan's Pride because of your posts and it was fun and a much needed palate cleanser for me after the months of anti jedi takes. I also started reading your jedi citations project and it's gotten me back into reading some other of my favorite jedi fics and maybe writing some of my own. So tldr; Thank You!

Oh, anon, I hear you and I went through a lot of similar feelings over the last few months. In between a lot of IRL stuff coming up and the fandom getting incredibly weird about Jedi fans (soooo much projection going on that it started getting unsettling sometimes) and the same old constant beratement on my posts, I was thinking that I was just too tired to deal with any of it.

It did get hard some days because it felt like no matter how hard I tried to be friendly and make a point to say that everyone needed to be allowed their space whether we agreed or not, that I would still get words put in my mouth or my posts misinterpreted or accused of trying to shut down other people's conversations, when I've never even interacted with that person, I've never reblogged anything from them, never talked about them, just made my own posts about the Jedi on my own blog.

That aspect of how, if we write posts that cite Lucas quotes or moments from the movies and shows, we're taking things too seriously (or the super weird one of how we're trying to "force" people to have to take Lucas' commentary as a holy grail or whatever), then we're taking it too seriously is SO REAL, I have been through that SO MUCH. And it's like, no! Nobody has to take authorial intention into consideration! But if you're going to say that I ~missed the point~ of what Lucas intended with the movies, I'm going to break out the Lucas quotes to show that, no, I didn't miss the point. You're still not obligated to agree, but the point is that I'm not coming out of nowhere with my views and deriding me as not a ~true fan~ or whatever is asshole behavior.

And it's hard to have that groundhogs day feeling, especially because you don't necessarily want to spend that time getting into arguments with people--they are allowed their own space, if they want it! But if they're coming into our space, then yes we get to respond with an essay if we like. (And, hey, some of us genuinely like writing essays, it's satisfying!) But I've found the best mindset for me to have when arguing is: I'm not going to convince this person in front of me and that's fine, they're not going to convince me, either. But there are other people watching this discussion and they are seeing which one of us is being a pill and which one of us looks kinda fun to hang out with.

Which is my way of winding around to what I really want to say--I'm so glad that I can help you want to have fun in this corner of fandom! There's always going to be times to respond with sharp edges to Jedi-critical stuff (especially when it starts dipping into the racist, xenophobic, bigoted nonsense)(not all of Jedi criticism is this, but it does happen all too often), I don't blame Jedi fans for having their nerves scraped raw by people feeling absolutely free to treat our posts like public property instead of them coming into someone else's lane to make a mess. (I've met some very nice Jedi critical people, this isn't about them, this is about the assholes.)

But is it really worth being in a fandom where that's all we do anymore? We can't avoid the negativity, we can't avoid people being assholes to us, but we can work on making the content we want to see at the end of a long day when we get home and log onto the computer and want to see something that makes us feel joyful.

I hope I'm doing my part to make it fun to stick around the fandom, to want to read some of the books or some of the fic, I love the artists who are drawing the cutest Jedi art, I love the fic writers who are writing great Jedi-positive stories, I love people who make silly shitposts about how funny the Jedi fan be, I love people who cry over the deaths of their favorite Jedi, they help make the fandom worthwhile.

It really does make a huge difference, I think! Whenever I need that same palette cleanser, I just take a week or so to push aside all discourse (don't even go look), just pick up some of my favorite Jedi fics, just go looking for some of my favorite Jedi art, reread "Padawan" or "Padawan's Pride" or "Obi-Wan & Anakin" or "The Living Force" or "Dark Rendezvous" and just spend time thinking about the things I love about the Jedi in canon, thinking up headcanons about lineages or nerdy Jedi philosophy arguments or adrenaline junkies, and it helps create the space I want to be in.

Hearing that I can help you with that is a huge boost as well--I hope you know that it helps me in return to know that we can help build something together here in our corner of the Star Wars internet. We're in this together and we can cheer each other up with cute content and I am getting out the pom-poms for you to have fun with that fic! <3

[tinywitchdraws]

Modern AU head-canons for these Dune characters:

Feyd Rautha

Glossu Rabban

Piter de Vries.

ohh okay this is interesting. I am not really that used to headcannons/ AUs, as I'm honestly new to engaging with fanfic in general so my apologies in advance if it doesn't totally fit, but here are my headcannons and ideas for how I'd do a modern AU with these characters.

Feyd Rautha:

Feyd Rautha is the heir apparent to a large spice mining company- in this case, you could substitute an oil or mining company for modern AU. The company culture is highly toxic, but Feyd likes that. He's known to churn through interns and keeps a non-existent sleep schedule.

His overall dynamic is finance bro meets basically any character from succession (think a slightly more financially literate Roman Roy). He buys luxury items just to fit in, however he has just enough taste so that it actually works. He considers most of these purchases a waste of money, but also his right and/or part of the job as heir.

As part of the Baron's inner circle, he has knowledge of most of the company's inner workings and takes great personal pride in digging up as much information as possible on the people he doesn't already control. He will often go to conferences and events just to get a read on competition. He secretly longs for someone to take that kind of an interest in him, but no one has just yet- many still think that he's too young and unpredictable to inherit.

After all- there is that rumor that he tried to kill the Baron.

Glossu Rabban

If Feyd is the more of a Roman Roy, Rabban is Conor. He had ambitions at the company which ended in failure, and has been reassigned to lobbying. Rabban is attempting to trade off of his industry connections to get into politics, if he can. He's aware his current position is tenuous at best and that he might need to make his own career. As the family industry is regulated, everyone basically hates this pipe dream of a career ambition. His moves are too obvious and clumsy, and he often tries to influence someone only to find that Feyd has already discussed the business with them. He's not a total failure, but his family just doesn't appreciate any success outside of financial success.

Piter de Vries

Piter is a math genius that works in data modeling and analytics. The Barron and Feyd love that he makes them money, however he's abrasive personality wise. He's known to use a myriad of drugs recreationally and at work, just because solving the same problems sober is too boring for him. The company has tried to hire assistants that can help him or at least explain his reports palatably, but he insists on doing the work himself and his own data models for fun in C. Not C++, C. The entire department rests on his shoulders and the Baron is weighing if Piter is worth putting up with. He gets the work of a department done on one salary, but also insists on making MILF jokes about lady Jessica basically any time she's within his zip code.

Would love to know your thoughts <3 Thanks for this ask!

[covenofthearticulate]

hiii idk if you’ve ever discussed this before but i’ve been thinking about louis and marius interacting all day and so i’d LOVE to hear your take on what you think their dynamic would be like! what do you think it would take to get louis to engage with him on a more intimate level?

NO KENZIE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH I ADORE MARIUS AND LOUIS!!!!!

literally all my favorite quotes about Louis in canon come from that little bit in QOTD from Marius' POV! Like!!! I will never get over how IMMEDIATELY smitten they are with each other!!!

Like on the one hand we have: "Louis stood quite still looking at [Marius] as he had earlier, as though he were seeing a myth made real."

and then we see that the feeling is absolutely mutual with Marius: "He smiled at Louis. Something in the manner of this one made Marius happy, though he wasn't sure why."

I think their dynamic is just so especially interesting because they have so many connecting threads re: Lestat and Armand, so up until QOTD they really have this mythologized version of one another— to Louis, Marius is this grand figure with all the answers Louis had always been searching for, and someone who both deeply loved and deeply hurt some of Louis' closest companions. For Marius, Louis is this strange fledgling who had the audacity to expose these secrets he's kept hidden at his own expense for literal centuries. By all accounts there should be some tension there, or at the very least some awkwardness!

But just as Armand and Louis are sort of two sides of the same coin in a lot of ways, I think Louis is one of the only vampires who has an innate understanding of Marius' worldview. Louis is not the artist or philosopher or politician that Marius is, but he holds a lot of the same values. I mean— Louis is a textbook Libra for god's sake— he NEEDS order and balance in his life, and lord knows Marius is the only other person who prioritizes that as well!

So anyway this is all to say that I really don't think it would take much for Louis to want to engage with Marius on a more intimate level!

And like, I was talking to a friend about this the other day as well but I'd like to think that in their contemporary era, Louis could really be the pupil that Marius needs. Yes, Daniel's relationship with Marius is bittersweet and interesting and fun to play with, but I've always wanted to see who Marius is outside of being a caretaker, and I think Louis is just like the perfect middle ground where he doesn't need or want anyone doting on him or worrying over him, but he's still coming into his own in the new era, he's still finding himself, he needs a kind hand, someone to talk with about books and music and art and culture.

And on Marius' end, I think it would do him good to spend time with someone who is just so genuine. As much as Marius needs and wants his pupils to challenge him, I think he would really benefit from having someone who is willing to just listen and appreciate his philosophy (that's not to say that he and Louis wouldn't have disagreements— but even then I'm sure they hash it out Socratic Style and end up with enough intellectual stimulation to get them all giddy).

ANYWAY TL;DR: WE NEED MORE MARIUS & LOUIS CONTENT PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

[archiveikemen]

'His Cherished Doll' Story Event: Chapter 2

William Rex

This is a fan-made translation solely for entertainment purposes with no guaranteed perfection. I do not own any of the original content. Please support CYBIRD by buying their stories and playing their games. Reblogs appreciated.

❥･• Warnings and FAQ

William: A “fun place” that you also know.

Whenever he gave such vague responses, it meant that he wanted me to figure it out myself.

William: Now it’s your turn to get ready to head out.

Kate: But… there’s no need for me to change my clothes, right?

(Even though we’re going out together, I can’t show myself in public…)

William: Won’t you dress up just for me?

His sweet request struck my heart like cupid’s bow.

Kate: … You’re really so good at leaving my heart in shambles.

William: I’m sure you’ll still be beautiful even when you’re ruined.

Will let out a stifled laugh and held out a cute dress in front of me.

Kate: This dress is…?

William: It’s from the Queen’s Aide who has been dying to be the one to take care of you.

William: May I do your hair for you?

Kate: Yes, of course.

William: … Oh, it’s almost night time. We must hurry.

…

The “fun place” William was referring to turned out to be a modest mansion located in a quiet area.

I was familiar with the place as I had been taken there once.

I recalled Will telling me that this place was a venue for social gatherings, open to people of all social classes. It was referred to as the “Mad Tea Party”, similar to the one in Alice in Wonderland.

(... He brought me here before we started dating. I’m feeling nostalgic.)

(Fufu, I was kind of surprised when I heard that Will owned this mansion and plot of land.)

Kate: So this is the fun place you were talking about.

William: I’ve been so obsessed with you lately that I haven't visited this place in a while.

Will whispered as I looked up at him from the pocket of his coat.

William: Kate. Do you still remember the rules of this place?

Kate: There are two rules. Respect the other person’s free will, and no monetary transactions are allowed.

Kate: As long as you follow those rules, you’re free to exchange information, form friendships, have conversations… you can spend your time here as you please.

Kate: … Am I right?

William: Correct. Your memory is impressive.

(It’s not that I have a good memory. I remember everything about Will.)

Kate: That’s because… it's related to you.

William: Hmm?

William: Does that mean that you had feelings for me even before we became lovers?

Kate: T-That’s… true… but…

William: I just heard something good. My trip here tonight was worthwhile.

Kate: … Jeez, please don’t tease me.

William: That’s because your reactions are always so cute.

Will chuckled, and I heard several footsteps approaching.

(Someone’s coming. I need to hide!)

I hid myself deep inside Will’s pocket, and heard some voices at the same time.

Lively Young Man: How lucky of me to see you here tonight, Earl Rex.

William: Hey, Connor. I heard that your business has been flourishing lately. Remember to take good care of your health.

Long-Haired Lady: Earl Rex! I’ve been wanting to hear your opinions regarding women’s suffrage (the right to vote).

William: Certainly. We shall discuss it over some tea later.

Doctor with Mustache: Allow me to introduce myself as well. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Earl Rex.

William: Ah… Doctor Cedric Hamilton, is it? I heard that you’re very passionate about your research on developing new drugs.

Doctor Cedric: Goodness me! It is an honour to be remembered by someone as refined and intelligent as you are, Earl Rex.

(As always, he’s so popular…)

Approached by both men and women, Will engaged in multiple friendly conversations.

While it was obvious that a few of those people had taken an interest in him — I was the only person who knew his true identity.

(However—)

Despite my slight feeling of superiority, I couldn't help wishing that I were standing right next to him.

(Usually, I would gently intertwine our fingers, then Will would notice and pull me closer to him by the waist…)

William: Pardon me. We shall continue with our discussion after I quench my thirst with some wine.

With those words, Will managed to pull himself away from the crowd and left the room with me…

…

He gently took me out of his breast pocket at an empty stairwell.

Kate: Will? Weren’t you about to go get a drink…

William: That was what I was about to do… but there’s one thing I forgot.

(...? … He forgot something?)

William: Come here, Kate.

Will traced my cheek with his finger and pressed his signet ring against it.

Kate: Nn, nn…!?

William: I forgot to mark that you belong to me.

William: Hahaha. Now it's obvious to everyone who you belong to.

I felt my cheek, the imprint from William’s signet ring remained clearly visible.

(I’m glad… … He could tell that I was feeling lonely.)

Kate: … Will, me too.

William: You want to leave your mark on me too? Alright, anywhere you want.

Kate: Then I’ll leave it on your neck.

I pressed my lips to his neck and sucked on the skin, leaving a red mark that looked like a flower blooming.

While I was admiring it, I heard my stomach growl loudly…

Kate: Oh…

William: Fufu, shall we get something to eat and drink?

Will was about to put me back into his breast pocket, but…

Kate: I’ll wait for you here. Having me with you means that you have to move slower than usual, right?

William: Am I right to interpret that as you want me to return as quickly as possible?

Kate: W-Will…

William: Fufu, I understand. Thank you for your concern. I’ll be quick.

Will’s figure disappeared into the distance, leaving me alone in the moonlit corridor.

I touched my cheek again, the mark from his signet ring had become slightly fainter.

(How I wish it would never disappear… what am I even thinking)

And then, I heard footsteps coming from downstairs.

Kate: Welcome back, Wi—...

I stopped before finishing my sentence.

(... No. It isn’t Will…)

(Will went up the stairs… but the footsteps are coming from downstairs.)

The footsteps grew closer, and I was forcefully grabbed by an unknown man’s hand—.

[dustteller]

I just finished watching all the available episodes of The Apothecary Diaries, and I have to say that it surprised me!

The premise of an apothecary working for the emperor's consorts and solving medical mysteries is already a gun one, but the execution really elevated the concept past entertaining romcom to genuinely fantastic storytelling. It's not revolutionary, but it's certainly deeply endearing, and I really enjoyed how it found a balance between lighthearted comedy and acknowledging the awful aspects of sex work and being a woman/lower class in a world where neither are valued. It doesn't explore the darker side in detail, at least not so far, but it still does a fantastic job in making the horrible parts feel like a real part of the setting while still making the choice to focus on the women's joy even when faced with hard situations. I guess I just appreciate these things being openly discussed without immediately having it be a psychological story about dealing with trauma?

The characters are also soo good, and while most lack depth (its been nine episodes, so for a cast this big, that can be excused), usually their schtick is strong enough that it can easily carry their appearances. You also get the sense that while a lot of these characters do fill out comedic roles/archetypes, there's a lot more going on beneath the surface. Their schtick is fun, but its not all they have, its just there to help the audience familiarize themselves and bond with the charcaters while their entire personality is unearthed. The entire cast is genuinely absolutely delightful and reasonable and feel incredibly real while also being really funny.

The romance portion is also really really fantastic. Both Maomao and Jinshi are hilarious little freaks, and their dynamic is so fun to watch. Maomao is such a good take on the cold, blunt, genius character, who is socially challenged but very far from frigid. She's practical and logical while also keeping a very strong emotional core founded in empathy and genuine care for the people around her. Her obsession with poison is also pulling triple duty, as it 1) serves to break her cold facade and provides comic relief in the form of an ongoing gag, 2) gives the reader a strong understanding of her guiding motives/desires, and 3)gives her role as a medical investigator narrative justification. Of course she'd know what was used to poison someone, that's her whole thing! Jinshi himself is a counterpart to Maomao's colder tendencies, being very clingy and emotional. This show is not afraid of making him a pathetic little obsessed man, and it's all the better for him. Unlike other possesive and obsessed male leads, Jinshi manages to mostly stay away from the creep factor by being so uttely pathetic and cringe that he never really comes across as an actual threat. Couple that with him actually being very respectful of Maomao, only engaging in light flirting, and how he never actually wants to change her (most rapey MLs try to break the FL out of their feisty charcater or demean her for it while showing her how they're more powerful), and Jinshi makes for a very good love interest that also feels like a very safe comfortable person, which I feel matches the tone of the show very well. He's also as much of a freak as Maomao ("she wants to crush me like a bug <3333🥰🥰🥰), so they're very well matched there, too. He's such a petty loser, and that makes him a stronger character.

The story seems to be ramping up, and while I don't think it'll ever lose the lighthearted tone, I'm excited about how it already seems to promise a more in-depth exploration of the world it's set up the scaffolding for. For what it's worth, I also think the show has done a very good job at making the world feel expansive and mysterious, while also balancing that wholesomeness, which for a show centered around sex workers is quite the feat.

Anyways, long story short, I think the nine episodes that are out so far are really great, and the story thrives through how utterly endering it is. I am charmed by the world and the characters and what the plot has promised us, and while I don't expect it to revolutionize anime or whatever, it's still a masterclass in narrative shorthand and the act of balancing its heavy themes, especially when it comes to the characters themselves. There's so many of them that are so fun and memorable that I didn't mention, but who absolutely deserve their own posts, and that's only nine episoded into a comedy show, which I think goes to show how strong of a start this series has. Overall, I'd rate the show so far an 8/10, and I'm really excited to see what will come from the next 15 episodes.

[thelampisaflashlight]

Milkweed

Some tidbits and rambling about my OC Asclepias/Klee, because he's currently giving me brain rot and I have time to kill before I go to the family Christmas party. Some discussion of dissociation and trauma related memory loss below the cut as a heads up. Let's go.

-Due to the nature of his summoning/transformation into a ghoul, Klee has some memory issues -which is a fairly common side effect of combining a human vessel/soul and a demonic entity into one, singular being- and is prone to forgetting large chunks of his day if he's having a particularly bad episode.

This is the main reason Klee has to remain in the rehab, and why he was brought to the abbey in the first place, because while he is aware of the fact that he has a condition that causes these gaps, it is nonetheless upsetting, if not outright debilitating, for him to not remember what he was doing or whom he was talking to throughout the day.

Thankfully, with help, Klee has been able to go longer periods of time between episodes.

-Oftentimes, Klee can be found roaming around the small courtyard near the ghouls' den along with a few other inhabitants of the rehab, usually accompanied by either one of the siblings of sin or another ghoul, as he tends to do best when in the company of others.

-Klee has only been a ghoul for about a year or so now, and his transformation does seem to be the primary cause of his current issues, however the ministry suspects he may have endured some sort of outside trauma prior to this event that could also explain other aspects of his behavior/personality.

When discussing his life before becoming a ghoul, in regards to his human existence, Klee has expressed that "nothing worth noting" occurred during that time, though he did also feel like, deep down, that his life was "not important" or "interesting" enough to really dive into, hinting that, perhaps, he was already experiencing some sort of dissociation/withdrawal from the world around him before his transition.

-When it comes to food, Klee is not really picky about what he eats, but does lean towards more savory dishes and likes most anything with melted cheese on top, or cheese in general really.

His least favorite food is oatmeal, except for when he has a craving for it, otherwise he finds the texture off putting.

-Overall, despite being a ghoul, Klee doesn't have much of any idea about what that means for him personally, nor does he really know what the church's mission is beyond, "There is a silly man dressed like the pope, who wants people to have fun." which only adds to his overall feeling of not knowing what's going on.

And lastly;

-During the time he's allowed to roam around by himself, Klee likes to explore the abbey's grounds, in particular, he's fond of the gardens, though not overly fond of the woods as it is "a bit scary" and he worries about getting lost while out there alone.

When he's walking around independently, he likes to engage with others and tends to make friends easily.

He is fairly open about his memory problems, and usually appreciates it when people reintroduce themselves to him or start by saying, "Hey, it's -insert name-!" or "Hi, it's me, -insert name-!" because that tends to help jog his memory and help him recall previous interactions he's had with them.

However, with some people, he's able to remember them based off of vibe alone, and he's really quite proud of that, as he's able to recall how and why he knows them

This "vibe check" applies to a select amount of individuals, usually people he interacts with daily or with some regularity, but there are a few notable exceptions, such as Sister Imperator, whom he only met once and recognizes on sight for better or worse.

[tea-and-secrets]

im so so so so into one of my friends. im literally so into him. hes so funny and nice and fun to hang out with.

hes brought me a lot of comfort when ive been going through tons of hard things for the past year. i just love talking to him and hanging out with him.

i love listening to him talk about his interests, it makes me so happy and i know a bunch about many different things now, and he listens and engages when i talk about my own interests too.

hes also completely hilarious and makes me laugh at least once every conversation i have with him.

hes also just such a good guy. hes so kind and helpful. and hes really, really good at comforting me when i get upset, as well as distracting me if comfort doesnt work.

and we match up on politics completely, and agree on a lot of opinions about media too.

but even if he liked me back, im not healed enough from trauma to be in a relationship right now. i dont think i will be for a while. im pretty unstable.

plus, i feel like im not nearly as smart as him. we're doing a long-form art project together (writing, possible webcomic) and discuss it often, and he has such good and smart ideas for it and really Understands complex things...

meanwhile i have brain damage from an injury done by my ex and im not good at wrapping my head around complex things or even vocalising my ideas, and my ideas for our project tend to be pretty half baked and not very well phrased...

hes really patient with me despite that though. hes really kind and he seems to understand how my brain is and he really meets me where i am which i appreciate so much.

but i still just feel inferior...

i dont know. i just like him so so so so much. but i think i dont have a chance for all the reasons listed. maybe in a couple years when im more stable, but who knows where everything will be at by then?

more than anything, i want to always be friends with him. i dont think he likes me back in a romantic way, but i like to think we're pretty good friends and that makes me happy.

im just really glad hes in my life, even if we can never kiss or cuddle or anything like that haha. im genuinely satisfied just being friends with him, no matter how strong my romantic feelings are, because i just love having him in my life in general. he makes me happy.

this is long sorry haha but enjoy my woes on the tea and secrets blog, and @ mod thanks for running this blog

.

[courtana]

🧡📙🌀 for Beatrice!

thank you for the ask, Mari!! 💖 Sorry for getting to it so late! I really appreciate your interest in my OCs though 🥹

🧡 Who is your OC’s favourite person? Why is this person the top of their list and have they actually met them (an idol or rolemodel or celeb can be someone’s favourite after all!).

I wanna say that she looked up to the work of researchers like Dr. Halsey at first, but later comes to feel ambivalent and disillusioned with the reality of their work... From her childhood and in terms of more long-term admiration, I'd say she looked up to her brother the most, who was an ODST.

📙 What kind of subjects (of conversation, of discussion, in school or whatever) does your OC find interesting or engaging or that they can talk for hours about? What kind of stuff do they just find fun?

Currently I have down that she likes to read domus diaspora books! So, like, contemporary books from our era. I think she could talk for hours about those with whoever is willing to listen.

🌀 Where is your OC from? Where were they born? Do they still live there, if not why did they move? If they still live in the area how has it changed since their childhood? How many places has your OC lived in and where has been their favourite?

She was born in Sargasso Colony. It's described as like a "tropical world" and in the few visual glimpses we get of it, it's like a very 'green' environment, for sure. She definitely does not still live there anymore, since in the human-covenant war it was glassed over 💀 Now she's kind of living "on the move" wherever her work and adventures take her... so I guess she no longer calls one singular place home.

💌 Jumbo Ask Game 💌

[thisnameisnotspokenfor]

I want to start by saying I LOVE your fanfic and the amount of lore you’ve built around everything, it’s just such an interesting world to experience and you’ve done an amazing job building it. Genuinely in my top three fanfics I’ve read across any fandoms I’ve been in!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

This discusses educational discussion of women’s undergarments in the context of fashion history, just in case you aren’t comfortable with it!

In chapter 29 I noticed one line that bugged me a little, so apologies for the LONG explanation here about corsets— if you already know about their actual history and not the hollywood misrepresentation of them feel free to ignore this, I just thought this could help in the future with the ball chapter especially!

““Ha,” she grinned, pulling herself upwards before she turned back to the star. “You think this is outlandish? You should see what some ladies are capable of doing while wearing a corset!”

“A corset?” he repeated.

“Yeah, it’s like a cosmetic thing that came straight outta hell, because no one down there wanted it, so now we on earth have to deal with it. “”

To start- corsets as a whole shouldn’t be demonized as much as they are in popular media since they were quite literally just the old version of bra’s— just like how there are uncomfortable ones and comfortable ones today, there were back then. I’m less here about historical accuracy but realism, because working class women wore corsets daily and they were an essential part of the everyday clothing they wore!

More accurately in this time period it would be called ‘a pair of bodies’ (later on shortened to bodice) and should have been comfortable unless poorly made and tailored. An uncomfortable corset means one of two things, it was poorly tailored like I mentioned before or the corset has been tight laced. Tight lacing only became popular in the early 1800’s and would be the beginning of corset demonization. Doctors would claim organs were being moved and fertility was being damaged (‘studies’ have been made but also debunked) hence the quickly descending popularity of them and the invention of the bra!

To put it into perspective, modern day translation would go like this:

“Ha,” she grinned, pulling herself upwards before she turned back to the star. “You think this is outlandish? You should see what some ladies are capable of doing while wearing a bra!”

(Which by the way, that’s so real, I hate mine so much)

I feel like it’s completely in character for your Asha to have a gripe with corsets, which is why I wasn’t sure if this wasn’t an intentional choice or not. Asha definitely seems like the type to strictly wear working corsets and avoid tight lacing ones like the plague.

Quick personal suggestion, since I noticed asha’s victory dress being very-ballgown like, It’s likely she’d opt for a corset of her own design similar to an Edwardian corset, which created an hourglass design not by cinching in the waist to extremes but adding volume at the hips (hip pads) instead. Ideally, an everyday corset should feel like a tight hug, not a torture machine.

Fun fact: It wasn’t uncommon for men to wear corsets as well! They were good for hiding ‘beer bellies’.

If you prefer visual learning, here’s a really engaging video that goes over the basic myths: https://youtu.be/LWYG5sQp0-E?si=LugoryF2eR_Dja83

Highly encourage you to look further into it because fashion history is so interesting and deeply reflects the political standings of each era.

Tldr: Just like modern bra’s have restricting pushup bras and comfy grandma bra’s corsets had comfy ones and tight lace ones. Asha likely would be wearing a corset too :D

It’s just a personal thing I’m very passionate about, and although im not a fashion historian I hope I gave you a general idea of what corsets are actually like if you didn’t know already 🙏

Seriously looking forward to the future chapters, this fic is a literal piece of art <3

First of all- thank you! I appreciate it!

Also, I did not know that much about corsets, (nor did I know that men actually wore them to hide 'beer bellies' that's too funny) so this was a learning experience to me! I never knew that they were actually comfortable- ((I'll be sure to look into it more!))

Admittedly, I do fine the fashion aspect to be a bit challenging because it's trying to balance the whole- medieval time period fashion vs the star fashion that you see in Asha's victory dress- along with some other things, but I will definitely go back and edit that line in chapter 29 when finished!

[mediaevalmusereads]

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity. By David Graeber and David Wengrow. Picador, 2021.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Genre: history, social science

Series: N/A

Summary: A dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the origins of the state, democracy, and inequality—and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.

For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike—either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.

Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what’s really there. If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.

The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action.

***Full review below.***

CONTENT WARNINGS: discussion of colonialism, slavery

This book has been on my TBR for a while, and I've only now gotten around to picking it up. Every once in a while, I'll get the urge to investigate some prehistory, and since I've enjoyed Graeber's work in the past, I had high hopes.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this and I loved unlearning the narratives about prehistory/ancient history that I've been told since childhood. I appreciated Graeber and Wengrow's honest approach to anthropology and archeology - how they deferred to Indigenous scholars and were forthright about what was known versus what was just an educated guess. Categories such as "democratic," "equitable," "hunter-gatherer," "agricultural," "city," "state," etc were challenged in ways that were convincing and interesting, and I felt like I walked away from this book more informed and more motivated to view the past as a complex human experiment.

I also appreciated the way this book was written. It's accessible to non-specialists without reading like pop history; it respects the reader's intelligence while also engaging critically with past scholarship, and it avoids a lot of jargon that could trip people up. In that, this book is very elegantly written. I wouldn't recommend it, however, if you're not inclined to get into the weeds of academic study. I don't think this book is right for a casual reader, but it is good for those with an interest in the origins of what we call "human society."

TL:DR: The Beginning of Everything is a refreshing and much-needed exploration of human prehistory, challenging dominant narratives about the development of human society.

[signaturedish]

Hello, I've read perfectly alien completely over 10 times since 2017 and I don't think I'll ever get sick of it. (I like to listen to it in audio book mode through the FF app) I just want to say that I'm very grateful that you share your stories for free. I honestly am willing to pay for this because the story telling and emotions you convey through words always hit me. Thank you for making and sharing your work. If PA has no fans, then that means I am no longer on earth.

Hello biggerbagofsin!

That is one of the most incredibly kind things anyone has ever said to me and I just wanted to really thank you. I kind of abruptly abandoned this blog for a while and was really nervous about coming back for anything, but you and others in my asks definitely deserve responses. You’ve all been so amazing and I’m so glad I wrote even things I didn’t finish because of the people I got to meet in the process.

I’m going to go through my backlog right now so I just wanted to respond and say that you taking the time to read things I wrote years ago means so much more than money and I really do appreciate you for sticking through all my nonsense!!

I also wanted to officially declare Perfectly Alien abandoned, I won’t delete it and I noticed you left a really good idea for compiling some of the PA adjacent stuff here on ao3 which I’m going to check out- that’s a great idea. But the main story is over- it’s not something I’m excited about anymore, although it’s one of my favorite works and I have really fond memories thanks to all of you, it’s not something I look forward to.

And besides that, on a stickier note. HP used to be my crossover vehicle since the world is simple and the characters are easy to change, I have a ton of fics I adore from the HP fandom and every now and then I read one, but the author has thoroughly trashed my enthusiasm for engaging with that world any further. Death of the author is a messy subject when that author is alive and using their profits to actively harm others, and this discourse has certainly been discussed in better ways than I ever could multiple times over. But for me, I understand reasons people have for engaging anyways, this isn’t a place for judgement- I wrote PA during the Bayverse lmao- but it’s not fun anymore.

Anyway this response has gone on long enough and if anyone has bothered to read all of it, thank you so much. I’m going to go through all my asks, and then do some overhauls for this blog. I’m moving away from TF and HP and I fully understand and encourage jumping ship if that’s what you came here for, I’m going to be moving forward with more current interests now.

[harlivycentral]

Poison Ivy #22 Review

First of all, it's a relief to be back to the main story line after three issues of backstory which fleshed out but did not outdo James Tynion IV's version of it (as seen in Batman Secret Files: The Gardener #1). It was fun to get right back to the action, and I thought the issue was overall engaging and seemed to have both a clear sense of forward momentum and neat continuity with the beginning of the run.

As I've discussed before, I wasn't a huge fan of them bringing Woodrue back for this fight. I really loved the way the writers handled Ivy's arc in the first six issues of the run; I thought the writing around their past abusive relationship was nuanced and interesting, and it felt satisfying to have the story line end with Ivy's defeat of Woodrue. My preferences might just be a matter of personal taste, though, and, knowing what we do about the modern comic industry, it's probably pretty naive to expect them to permanently kill a villain, especially one so integral to Ivy's backstory. I can see arguments, too, for how this is an equally compelling if different story about abuse and how hard it can be for victims to escape it (either literally or figuratively).

So: he's back. Given that, I liked the way his return was handled in this issue. I love the way we're shown his limits, how Ivy is able to transform beyond the scope of his limited imagination to give herself a way to fight him in what looked like an impossible situation. After he abused her when she was so young, she's so clearly worked to grow outside the narrative limits that he gave her, and it's satisfying to see her healing bring her to such a powerful version of herself.

I also appreciated, if we did have to pause for three issues of backstory, the way the writers wove pieces of that backstory into the fight. I especially liked the moment Woodrue talks down to Ivy, both the way we see her freeze up and then overcome it. That moment resonated as a realistic portrayal of living with and surviving past abuse.

I also really like the way we have the... zombies (? not sure the best word with which to refer to them, gonna use "zombies" for shorthand) converging on the swamp. In a run that has been really intent on grappling with the complexities of Ivy from the beginning, it's satisfying to see the writers not letting Ivy get away without facing the consequences of her previous actions, even as her thinking on the matter has evolved since then. In that vein, I also loved the little hints we got of Harley and Batman picking up on signals that Ivy's in danger, clearly setting them up to come help in a later issue. The whole series has been about Ivy grappling about what she owes both individual people and humanity as a whole, and I love that we see her both willing to die to protect humanity but also with the foreshadowing that she has grown her connections and has people who aren't going to let that happen.

In that vein... I really did think for a second that Janet was going to be seriously endangered/possibly even killed in this issue. I honestly think that would be an interesting way to bring Ivy's story line full circle. (YES I may be biased because I honestly would love to see Janet written out of the story at this point.) But also, just from a narrative perspective, Janet has clearly been a stand in for "humanity" as a general concept. As Ivy herself says, Harley has always been the exception, the one human she cares about, and her frenemies relationship with Batman also has quite a history. Janet, as a normal human who Ivy's met pretty recently, has been a way for the writers to show that Ivy has expanded the circle of who she cares about. To see Janet killed now, I think, would force Ivy and the readers to grapple with the real consequences to Ivy's actions earlier in the series, when she was spreading spores intent on killing people, even as she tries to undo those actions now. But I guess we'll see just how attached the writers are to Janet.

With the writing about Ivy's relationship to the green in this issue, too, in what feels like a very cumulative and important story line, I'm interested to see if we'll end up with a repaired or re-imagined relationship between Ivy and the green at the end of it.

The art was (as usual) a huge highlight of this issue. The monstrous form that Ivy changes into, the way the mycelium network seems to be overtaking the page by the end... it was all pretty peak for what I've come to expect from this run.

I'm excited to see where the next two issues take us!

[probablygoat]

Some Random 3:47 AM Thoughts

I've been playing and replaying Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy a ton recently. It's fun, genuinely. I enjoy its physics, its movement, the authentic feeling of improvement, and above all, I enjoy its philosophy and the things it has to say about the media we consume.

For a long time, I've gently prodded at my own means of media-related consumption. I love to branch out and have new experiences, but something that always gets in the way of me doing that (and probably always will) is the inevitable retread of an already-lived experience. Replaying favorite games, rewatching favorite movies and TV shows, listening to favorite albums and artists ad-nauseum until it's reached levels of proverbial insanity.

There's a personal sense of comfort that comes with the engagement of familiar settings and ideas, but I think there's more to it than that.

There's a quote from Getting Over It that I think about a lot since I first heard it: "For years now, people have been predicting that games would soon be made out of prefabricated objects, bought in a store and assembled into a world. And for the most part that hasn't happened, because the objects in the store are trash. I don't mean that they look bad or that they're badly made, although a lot of them are -- I mean that they're trash in the way that food becomes trash as soon as you put it in a sink. Things are made to be consumed and used in a certain context, and once the moment is gone, they transform into garbage."

Initially, this postulation read to me as something highly negative—pessimistic even. But the more I spin this idea in my mind, the more sense it makes, and the more I can relate it to my personal habits.

I massively enjoy replaying video games. But not all video games; certain ones that appeal to those fundamental aspects of myself that scream for and want and desire unforgettable experiences. Those experiences, for me, come in all forms: challenge, narrative, mechanics, depth, character, mood, ideas, atmosphere, variety, or a combination of these things or more.

"When games were new, they wanted a lot from you. Daunting you, taunting you, resetting and delaying you. Players played stoically. Now everyone's turned off by that. They want to burn through it quickly, a quick fix for the fickle, some tricks for the clicks of the feckless."

I've come to really appreciate video games that are built with this sort of replayability in mind. Games that dare you to improve after each playthrough, games that encourage you to keep coming back for an increasingly rewarding experience. Said experience can even change drastically, depending on the game. It can change for better or for worse, but through that encouragement they've made an active effort to avoid becoming trash.

I don't actually like using the word "trash" to describe media, but for the sake of categorizing my thoughts, I will. It doesn't mean that they look bad or that they're badly made, it means that they're trash in the same way food becomes trash as soon as you put it in the sink. If an experience you've had is amazing—and I mean honestly, truly amazing—then why only experience it once? I would even argue that the lack of a recurrent experience, in a lot of cases, narrowly misses the full and complete picture of what a lot of things have to offer.

If that call to action is ignored, it becomes trash. Disposable and light—like a wad of paper being thrown across the room. A thing that you did, and will likely not do again.

Of course, like any philosophy, I don't genuinely believe this can hold 100% true in every case. It's different for everyone. But I do think it opens up an interesting discussion. How much do you truly value each new experience you consume? Do you have the drive and the time to appreciate its every crevice, pore, wrinkle, crack, high, and low? It can be video games, music, TV shows, movies, anything. Chances are it comes down to either personal preference or circumstance, and that's definitely okay. Some don't have time, some don't have the patience, some just want to get their money's worth, others simply don't care one way or another. And that's perfectly fine, because this sort of cultural waste is inherently recyclable.

What I mean by this is: something may become trash to someone out there. It may even become trash to an incredibly large amount of people. But human beings, as a collective, love to preserve. We don't exactly have a 100% success rate with all of our preservation efforts, but the effort is always there nonetheless. A video game that very few play or talk about anymore could come coupled with pages of important resources for those who wish to experience it retroactively. To that person, in that exact moment, they likely don't see trash. They see a new experience. And under the right circumstances, this new experience could blossom into something special. It could lead to inspiration—new ideas being created and subsequently introduced into the world.

An experience like this can stem from just about anything. So, if you can, take the time to replay, re-listen, rewatch, whatever it is you do. You might be surprised how different a second experience can be from the first.

:)

[citylawns]

even ur tumblr page is mostly pretty models and people, lmao.

having beautiful people on my blog in the context of a pretty multifaceted blog doesn't mean I centre beauty in my life or base my entire self esteem on it. although it's something I'm thinking about a lot since I'm writing a book on it and using tumblr as a place for image reference. lmfao.

I mean the constant pressure to be more beautiful is always there don't, I'm pretty open about my relationship with beauty and how it is something we constantly are in flux with, and I am not against anyone engaging in beauty rituals, I just don't want women to sacrifice the fullness of their lives to be a vessel of beauty standards. women are starving themselves, mutilating themselves, sinking all their time and money into being pretty so they don't hate themselves and limiting their opportunities and richness of their lives because they literally hate themselves otherwise, and that's the ugliest thing I can think of.

that video was not saying "never appreciate beauty or have a complex relationship with it!!!!" it was saying in a very clear and compassionate way.... girl... get some other things going in your life because beauty is ephemeral and the way its being presented by skincare and make up companies is a con.

I'm just a girl with a blog and a lot of interests, that's why there's pretty people on my blog.

most days I get up and I write and read and go to work where I get paid sell and style clothes and I speak to my friends who are musicians and artists and we discuss politics so I have lots of things to base my self esteem on outside of how I look, but it actually does take a while to get here for a lot of people! beauty is currency as I keep saying, which means we have to take part in it to some degree to navigate the world. so no I don't put make up on for fun lol. I do it so people are nicer to me. even though I actually have a lot of privilege because of my body and face. I mean I literally get paid for having this body and face, modelling is such an amazing but ridiculous job. but I am not saving up for plastic surgery or buying into beauty culture in the way the video I shared is addressing, even though there's plenty of things society thinks I could get done!

I shared that video to help people considering the huge amount of messages I've been getting recently from insecure young women, and because it's something I have to keep reminding myself of since it used to be the only thing I based my self esteem on because of how I was spoken to as a young girl... we can be interested in beauty and fashion and also critique it. my blog also contains much much more literature,

art, music, architecture, photography, politics, design, films, shots and glimpses of other peoples life, my own personal reflections on how modelling and beauty and misogyny has affected my lived experiences, and plenty of things which do explore, exemplify and critique beauty culture as well as shocking vulnerability, body horror, negative consequences of celebrity culture, runway fashion and garments and outfits that inspire my style as well as runway history

some of you guys... worry me... because to me it seems like you can only grasp very basic concepts with only very polarising and differing GOOD and BAD concepts. but that can't be true. I really hope you are just being willfully obtuse and a hater because babe the world contains multitudes... we all contain multitudes <3

[rosyfingered-moon]

Twenty Questions

@angryteapott Thanks for the tag! <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

35!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

748,763

What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly television: kdramas and cdramas, and some English-language shows. The only films I have written for are Decision to Leave and Cyrano de Bergerac.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

All of them are Mr. Queen:

Mrs. Queen - A rushed fix-it that I began one day after the show ended and then published daily for two months straight. It was a super fun writing exercise bc I tried to work in as many reader prompts as possible to salvage all of our broken hearts after the horrid ending. It was also the unfortunate beginning of my haphazard style of posting first chapters with no clue what the rest of the story will be. (100k)

The White Grass- Non-magic AU. I really enjoyed writing this because 1. it's my only properly beta read story and it was sooo fun to go over things with Sarah in advance! and 2. it features a noncon scene that was really divisive and led to a lot of very interesting discussions about power and consent on Twitter. (74k)

The Raw Ingredients - Bong-hwan finally returns to Joseon, but not as a queen, but a chambermaid!! So she has to scheme her way back to Cheoljong with the help of Minister Kim Soyong. I loved writing this, it was pure wish fulfillment and lowkey I think the most hilarious way a season two could have gone (if I may toot my own horn). @lady-guts has made theeee most beautiful fanbinding of it which has made me appreciate it more <33 (41k)

And I, and Silence - Soyong wakes back up alone inside her body with no memory of what has happened and has to fend for herself. I loved writing Kim Byeong-in's pov and also Jo Hwa-jin's pov and also their freaky love story!! (99k)

Whatever Souls Are Made Of - After almost drowning Soyong ends up with the complete memories of her future self (Bong-hwan). So suddenly she is both a Joseon woman and a South Korean man and has to grapple with that. Also there's a sweeping romance crossing time and space. (61k)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to respond to all, because I think those connections is what makes fandom worth engaging in. Currently behind on answering though :(

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'm a HEA gal, but my Kingdom fic Something Rotten ends with hate sex that isn't maybe only hate but more hate than love. (Also, at least one of the main characters is gonna get eaten by zombies in the future.) I wrote a short My Liberation Notes piece called These Winter Fields where I let Mr. Gu attend Alcoholics Anonymous, but his recovery is left open-ended. Writing it felt very bittersweet to me personally, as someone who has been close to an addict.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of them have tooth-rottingly happy endings! But the ones that felt the most healing to me were my The Hour fic not even the rain because I had been hurting for a decade over its cancellation, and my Beyond Evil fic Splinters where I unfridged Kang Min-jeong and let her live a vibrant poly life without having to die to fuel other people's manpain. Also very much enjoyed saving Comrade Gu in my Crash Landing on You fic Allegretto, not so much for his own sake as for Seo Dan, who deserves to have everything she wants.

Do you get hate on fics?

Not really. Sometimes people have expressed disappointment. I think the most hate I got was a person on Twitter who got really upset that I wrote a ship they didn't like and in a way they didn't like, but I don't think that had very much to do with my actual fic (since they hadn't read it).

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do! Mostly het. I think I have progressed from more tender depictions to, like, trying to hone in on the slightly weird or awkward parts of sex, and also to describe the scene more straightforwardly and let people's imagination do the work for them?

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

A Six Flying Dragons/My Country: The New Age crossover, and a Rookie Historian/Sungkyunkwan Scandal crossover. Neither feels very crazy to me because the universes fit so well (the two former because they feature the same historical people and events, and the two latter because they are both fluffy fusion sageuks with perky heroines).

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes, or at least reposted without credit.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I would love if that happened!!!

What's your all-time favorite ship?

Gotta go with Goo Hae-ryung and Min U-won because they are sooo delightful to write, really grew on me (I didn't ship them immediately), and the fandom are such lovely people!

What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I hope I will finish all of them in time.

What are your writing strengths?

Funny dialogue! (At least I think it's funny.) Readers mostly seem to appreciate the heart-wrenching confession oneliners.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Pacing, repetitive descriptions, that classic hyperfocus on the main ship to the detriment of other characters, and action scenes. There's probably many cultural misconceptions as well, especially since I mostly write historical pieces (ranging from the Joseon Dynasty and Tang Dynasty to 1950s Britain). I try to research, but being a foreigner means that there will always be a gap.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Since I'm not a native English speaker, all my dialogue is in another language! In the kdrama fics I sometimes include familial terms, honorifics, and other forms of address in transliterated Korean, because I think that helps remind people reading it of what the sentence "actually" sounds like within the fiction, and also maybe allows them to recall what those particular words sound like when spoken by the actors of show. It gives the appearance that the fic only translates the character's "real," embodied, Korean conversation and keeps the readers immersed. At least that's my intention.

First fandom you wrote for?

On AO3 it was for Supernatural, since 15x20 enraged me enough to finally post something. But I also wrote Buffy and Harry Potter fic on FF.net when I was a kid. Including Snape/reader inserts, which I recently told a friend about and she gave me the most repulsed look I have ever seen :)

Favorite fic you've written?

I don't actually know!! Whatever Souls Are Made Of is probably one of the best pieces I have written, but all of them are dear to me in different ways.

Tagging @drivingsideways and @comfect and @elderflowergin and anyone else who wants to do it!