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juniperhillpatient · 2 years ago

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Sozin's Comet Part 4: Avatar Aang Re-Watch

Wow, I'm so sad that this rewatch is over. This show means so much to me, & I've had such a great time revisiting it. Alright - let's get into the final episode. The battles are underway & everything is as high stakes as possible. I'm just going to say that I know pretty much all of us have a lot of valid criticisms of the way that this show was wrapped up, but I still love it overall & I still think the final episode is just a fantastic conclusion with beautiful fight scenes & a lot to love.

The air battleship showdown is freaking intense. The scene where Sokka is hanging onto Toph's hand & he says "I don't think boomerang is coming back. This is the end," is just insanely scary & emotional - these kids really did think that they were about to die. Suki gets +2000 iconic behavior points for rescuing them. I loved "did boomerang come back?" "no! Suki did!"

[id: Suki smiling as she stands on an airship. end id]

I love that this finale really did give everyone their badass moments. Toph gets +1000 iconic behavior points for using metal bending to steer the ship, & Sokka gets +1000 for giving up his space sword to save Toph.

Aang Vs. Ozai, well, that's just a fantastic battle. The animation, the music, the voice acting, the fight itself it's all just so good. I mean, I have to give Aang a lot of iconic behavior points for saving the world & doing it on his terms. +3000.

[id: a scene from Ozai & Aang's final battle. Aang's tattoos are glowing, & he is yanking Ozai's goatee. end id]

I already said in my last recap post that I think that Aang finding a way to defeat Ozai while staying true to his cultural identity & maintaining air nomad values is the most satisfying conclusion the show could possibly come to. However, I would like to add that this is a pretty grim fate - possibly worse than death. In this show, bending isn't just a thing you can do, it's part of who you are. Aang taking Ozai's bending was not done lightly, nor should it have been. I just think that this was a very narratively satisfying way to conclude this epic final battle & while I totally get critiques of it, I don't think there's anything I would change. Maybe the lion turtles could've been brought up sooner? But I also liked the way energy bending was explained & it made sense to me, so that's like, actually me digging for something to critique. I loved this final battle.

The final Agni Kai...And its aftermath. Azula has completely lost it after almost killing her brother. She tries to stop Katara from helping Zuko, & goes after Katara herself instead. This battle is just absolutely haunting & beautiful. It's tragic, it's intense, it's beautifully animated, the music & voice acting is amazing, & it's just a well-written battle. I wish the show had leaned more into the fact that Azula & Katara are foils - younger sister prodigies who overshadow their insecure older brothers, with distant father figures & missing mothers.

[id: Katara putting chains on Azula's wrists. end id]

It's been said before (I can't remember by who) that Azula "loses to a better version of herself" & I think that's a harsh way to put it because it's not like Azula had a chance to be anything different than what she is (that's what's so tragic about her) but it's narratively true that the only one who could ever beat Azula is her foil who was given the chance to be strong in ways she could not. I remember holding my breath the first time I watched this showdown. It's just so beautiful & sad.

***Edit to say that I'm coming back because I totally forgot to give out points. Katara & Azula each get +2000 iconic behavior points for one of the most intense battles on any show ever.

I go back & forth constantly on how I feel about Zuko as Firelord at the show's conclusion but ultimately...I enjoyed the scene where he & Aang promise to restore peace, balance & love to the world the first time that I watched & I enjoyed it this time. It's a good scene, even if I could hem & haw about whether I like this conclusion for Zuko or not all day.

[id: Zuko & Aang, in the Fire Nation Palace. end id]

I really loved the parallel of "we're friends." "yeah, we are friends" compared to "do you think we could have been friends if we knew each other back then?" *cue Zuko fire-bending.* The way that Aang & Zuko have developed & grown & the way that their relationship has evolved really is the heart of the series.

Now - the part that I flat-out hate. I think I know when to be charitable to the writers versus when to call them out, & the scene between Zuko & Ozai? I didn't like it the first time that I watched & now I hate it. I'm not a big comics or graphic novel person, it's just a taste thing. And I'm pretty much against post-series extra content, no matter the fandom, just like, in general. I just think stories should be allowed to end. SO, the first time that I watched the show with limited knowledge of the comics? I was vaguely annoyed that we got this obvious advertisement for them instead of something else more meaningful in the final episode. But, I didn't know what the comics were like so I was kinda "whatever" about it. Now that I know how fucking stupid the comics are? Bruhhhh. Fuck this stupid scene.

We could've easily had a scene with Azula instead. And yes, Azula is my favorite character, but I also feel like I'm pretty reasonable about her arc & not like, totally blinded by loving her or anything. I'm not actually opposed to Azula having a somewhat tragic/ambiguous end. I don't think she & Zuko should've hugged it out after the Agni Kai or that she should've immediately been shown as besties with the Gaang or anything. I just think we should've gotten a scene where Zuko - maybe with Katara by his side - visits Azula, & it's shown that he does want to see her heal. THIS post from @theowritesfiction already discusses how this should have happened as well as a number of other valid critiques of the finale, but I wanted to bring this up too in my own post too.

A N Y W A Y. Yeah, that's really my biggest critique, & it's all about that one scene. I actually love the finale for the most part. I totally understand the critique I've seen pretty often from a lot of you that Mai & Ty Lee were shown as good guys way too fast but like...Guys, I WISH there was a Book 4. I do. There's so much that could've & should've been expanded on. But there isn't. So....yeah, I'm glad we saw Zuko & Mai happy together. Ty Lee becoming a Kyoshi Warrior was definitely out of nowhere but I still prefer seeing Ty Lee happy with new friends to just not appearing & viewers being left to wonder if she's rotting in prison. I pretty much think the writers did the best they could with the time they had there.

The final scene at the Jasmine Dragon, well, as someone who's made no secret out of my distaste for the Katara/Aang romance, you'd think I'd hate it. But I actually don't hate it at all (the scene itself that is, not the kiss, the kiss is stupid & out of nowhere.)

I like that we get to see a final scene of the Gaang all hanging out though. I thought it was a cute & funny lighthearted way to end the show. I loved the group just hanging out & the implication that visits like this will be often & they will all be friends for life. At heart, I'm a sap.

Anyway, I'm sad to say goodbye to this rewatch. It's been so much fun revisiting this show.

#sozin's comet part 4: avatar aang #sozin's comet part 4 #atla book 3 #atla re watch

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teeg · 2 years ago

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Starting a New Challenge

It’s been a while since I had a Sims game where I really cared what happened with the family, the last one was when I married Caleb Vatore and J. Huntington and they were such a great couple that Caleb had to turn J into a vampire so they could both live forever. I just wish their children didn’t seem to inherit the worst facial features of both, which is interesting since Caleb almost never has weird looking children, except with J.

They sat on the sofa and held hands without me doing anything, then sat there staring at each other long enough that i had time to think to take a shot. They are seriously adorable together.

And yes, the looks of my sims are important for some reason. I think this is the only Sims game where I’ve really cared about it, and after pondering why, I think it’s because the sims are human-looking enough to cause the uncanny valley effect.

Malcolm Landgraab is a perfect example. He looks just off enough to make you uncomfortable.

I did a make-over on him a while back, but forgot to save him. This is what he came out looking like with just a few tweaks to make his face look more normal (and a new hair style).

And I totally got sidetracked.

Anyway, I want to enjoy playing again, not just building, so I’m coming up with a new challenge.

Start with a new sim or your favorite preplayed sim. Move them onto whichever map you want to play, in the cheapest section of the map, choosing the option to bulldoze the pre-existing house if there is one.

Preparation:

Completely clear a map (or use Newcrest).

Remove every community lot in your game. An easy way to do it is to change them all to Residential.

Kick all the families out of houses (and if you have MCCC, set it so no one else can move in or destroy the houses, you’ll have to rebuild them later anyway).

Pick the cheapest community on the map you’re playing and put starter houses on each lot. For mine, I’m starting on Willow Creek and I’ve added Pottersville, both shipping container houses (the 8x10 one twice), and one of the single-wide mobile homes. You can find all of them here (https://www.ea.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/pc/gallery/browse?category=all&searchtype=ea_origin_id&sortby=downloads&time=all&searchquery=Teegers1&max=50&maxis=false).

Go to Manage Households and choose Sims to move into the empty homes in the neighborhood.

Playing:

Start with 20k. Buy one of the lots you put a house on and move in.

Find a job.

When you have enough money, buy a store in a different part of town. As you earn money, build your new lot into whatever community building you’d like to have (library, gym, park, etc.), except a museum.

When the community lot is finished, sell it, then go to World Select, edit the lot, and set it as whatever lot type you’ve created.

Museums can only be filled with your sims’ work. And only Masterpieces. Masterpieces can’t be sold, they must be donated to a museum instead. Save the works until you have enough to fill a museum, then build one.

You can only use community lots that you’ve built, so if you want a library to make it easier to skill build, you need to build one.

The Rules:

You can only marry a sim from the neighborhood you live in.

Each heir receives 20k when they become a young adult and must move to a new map. Pick the cheapest neighborhood that hasn’t been lived in yet, fill it with homes, and choose the sims you want for neighbors (you can move out 1 sim from your original neighborhood to add to the new one if your sim has a high school sweetheart).

This will get harder as the game goes on and lot prices go up. Soon, you’ll probably find that you need to build a tiny house on a large lot until you can afford to expand it.

Work: Your Sim and their heirs must choose a different job and a different starting aspiration. Career branches count as different jobs, so it is possible to have a child start off in the same career as their parent as long as they change branches when they reach the right level.

Notes:

You can play with aging on or off. Aging off will allow your sim to learn more skills before they grow up, but it will only affect your game, not give them a huge advantage in the challenge.

Mods are acceptable as long as they don’t increase the money the sim earns.

College is also acceptable, but if a sim gets pregnant while at college, they must drop out as soon as the baby is born and get a job instead. They can return once the baby becomes a child, but can only take 1 class a semester and must continuing working while they do.

#ts4 #Sims #Sims 4 #sims 4 challenge #Sims4 #sims4 challenge #fun

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jerkfacepink · 8 months ago

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Periodically this posts nukes my notifs and I wonder if giving additional info would even be worth it, but I figure it doesn’t hurt to add, I’m not forcing anyone to read it. Maybe archivists will like it. The way things for the web were built are done differently due to the changes in technical limitations— details nobody would realize unless you were from that time. But, maybe fan motivations could be similar? Hah, idk. It was normal for anime fandom online to go to a lot of trouble for our content— as my best friend puts it, “We all fucking walked 15 miles uphill in the snow for anime fandom, that was standard!” and a lot of people who have been online as anime fans since the 90s know each other or at least know each others’ work. (Hey everyone— I’m PIMoSDL from the Ranma ML. Anyone still alive? Hahaha.)

This gif was inspired by an even older dancing Lum gif (transparent background, Lum facing forward, the dance from the Lum’s Love Song ending from Urusei Yatsura, I can’t seem to find that gif anywhere and have no idea who made it), which was on a buddy’s Ranma site that’s long gone. As a new webmaster I wanted an animated gif on my anime site too, because animated gifs were cutting edge, but it HAD to be one I made myself! From OUR fandom! It HAD to have a transparent background because that was more immersive, and I wanted everything on my anime site to be content I produced (it was the first English Ranma and Akane shipper shrine ever; even back then my first foray was into fandom because of ship wars, hahaha. I had a whole fucking career as a web designer because I shipped Ranma and Akane.)

I had to jam the card onto the motherboard with my foot (don’t do this) because it was too hard for me to push in. My boyfriend (who bought me the card after I asked how to get screencaps onto a computer “like those college kids do”) bought it at a computer show; we were still mostly limited to local options for many specialty purchases. Also, I married that guy and we have two kids now 🤍

The first adapter (A/V adapter) didn’t work, so he brought me a coax adapter (hence— static on the screen caps)

You could not just hit “print screen” to get screenshots of video back then. I had to export screen caps from the capture software and use the pause on my VCR if I wanted specific frames. I was lucky enough to have a frame-by-frame feature on my VCR but it left even more lines and static on the frames compared to just playing video and hitting the “capture” button in my software. There was no choice but to redraw everything.

The version of Photoshop that I had was 4.0. It didn’t even have a tool to make rounded corners or rounded corner vector paths, so it sure as hell didn’t have an animation panel/animated gif export 😆

The frames were made in Paint Shop Pro. It was saved to .gif in a separate program (forgot which) where I had to manually enter the hex values for the color palette because I didn’t understand why t f it was messing around with my colors and adding “dots.” I freaked out a bit and had to manually fix all the “dots” that were added from dithering

This was my first gif. I tried my best to make it as small as I knew how to (which was already a relevant professional skill back then, since most people downloaded graphics over a 14.4 modem; 14kb a second. A web page that took up 1mb was about the most you wanted to make— I was working as a fledgling web dev after school for a local company and was learning all this stuff at the time, using my Ranma site as a test grounds for any new tech I was learning. The site’s still up and the last time I edited it was when frames were still in vogue, it’s been a minute lol)

This gif helped make, and outlived, my entire career as a web designer. Companies always change their web presence, so it’s survived past anything I ever made professionally, and it’s loved more than any stupid corporate junk I made, hahaha

THANK YOU BING IMAGE SEARCH. Thought I lost this! 8D

I made this in 1996. To make it back then was a million times harder than it would have been today: screen capped each frame in the loop by hooking up my VCR to my TV capture card (it was this external monstrosity with a separate power cord XD). The screen caps had bad color, were blurry, and full of static so I redrew each frame pixel by pixel with a mouse (wasn’t so good at image editing programs back then). XD;;

Of course, it got lost over time because I made that thing like 203498203489 computers ago, so I’m glad people jacked it from my site back in the day. XD

#my gifs #ranma 1/2 #ranma ½ #akane tendo #diary

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sneezypeasy · 2 years ago

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Original Script Analysis, Part 1: Kataang Is Better... And Also Worse.

I want to start this off by saying that when it comes to media analysis, I personally don’t tend to give authorial intent a significant amount of weight – at least, not by default. I understand why authorial intent is so often debated among media analysts, and why so many metas and critiques often hinge their arguments on paratextual information that serves to provide potential insight on what the authors were thinking or planning. But I myself tend to follow more of a “Death of the Author” framework. There are some exceptions, such as when I believe the author’s stated intent – or even details such as their background, life experiences, advocacy etc – has bled through their work so heavily that it becomes impossible to ignore its impact on the final product. (E.g., reading Fyodor Dostoyevsky compare murder to state-ordered execution, it is hard not to contextualise the passage with the knowledge that Dostoyevsky himself faced a firing squad and was given a pardon at the very last minute). Even then, I tend to treat paratextual information like – Understanding the context behind x scene or y narrative choice potentially adds a layer of meaning to it, particularly why some scenes may have been framed the way they were, or why the author chose to tell/expand/conclude the story like this instead of like that. I use paratextual information to deepen my understanding of the author’s reasonings behind their choices. I don’t use paratextual information to form my opinion on whether their choices were good.

(I prefer to form my own opinion on that, based on what I think of the text itself.)

That being said, like most of you readers I too had heard the many rumours surrounding the writing/production process behind ATLA, especially when it came to the ships. Which ship, if any, was planned for, when were the romance arcs finally decided, were there conflicts/disagreements between writers, were there script changes and animation edits to strengthen one pairing while weakening other, and so on and so on. I’d heard the rumour that The Southern Raiders went through multiple rewrites/changes, because it was originally “too shippy”. I’d heard the rumours that Aaron and Elizabeth were pro-Zutara, Bryan and Mike were pro-Kataang, and that their respective positions/opinions on these two pairings seep through their writing in an acutely perceptible way.

I’d also heard the counter-argument, the official narrative endorsed by the creators that any chemistry or subtext between Zuko and Katara was always intended to be platonic, and that readers who saw anything romantic between these two characters were simply setting themselves up for disappointment by projecting their own expectations or preferences onto the show, nothing more.

Over the past 15 years or so, these debates shaped much of the ATLA “shipping discourse”, sometimes even dominating discussion on the subject. I myself have gotten many a variant of “Zutara was never going to happen, get over it” – even when I’ve made a deliberate effort to omit any mention of authorial intent in my analyses, because, as I’ve said, I still don’t consider that kind of paratextual information relevant to my own opinions on why I think Zutara just works better. But given the intensity of the arguments surrounding behind-the-scenes shenanigans, their impact on the final product, and even their supposed significance in determining shipping validity, it was impossible not to wonder at the truth behind all these conflicting rumours.

So when I set foot in the WGF, it was admittedly difficult to contain my bubbling excitement and anticipation. Even still, I resolved to keep my expectations low. Rumours are rumours, after all. Secondary sources must always be taken with a healthy grain of salt, and some of the rumours weren’t even second-hand information at that. And I already knew that no matter what I found, my own opinion that Zutara is the best love story almost written, would not change.

All that said and done, let’s just say that I found the discovery... highly rewarding, and for those of you who have spent years refusing to accept that you were just “reading into things”, I hope my findings bring you some long-awaited vindication.

There are two other disclaimers I need to get through before we continue:

1) The Writers Guild Foundation is not a lending library. You may make an appointment to view the scripts in person, and you are allowed to take notes and manually copy as much as you like. But you will not find copies of their scripts online, and photos and screenshots are strictly prohibited. From what I understand it’s a copyright issue. Legally I’m fairly certain that embedding photos in this post and accompanying it with critique and analysis would/should count as “Fair Use”; however, I know that at some point I’d like to be able to return to the library, and I don’t want to risk being blacklisted for not following their rules.

As such, all the images embedded in this post are reproductions of snippets that I had to manually copy and type up, word for word. It was slow work, so as much as I’d love to be able to just plop the entire script of The Southern Raiders (or any ATLA episode) here for you to read, I had to narrow my focus a fair bit. I mainly noted down, in order of significance:

additions, omissions or changes in the original script compared to the show

bits where the writer’s notes/storyboard directions contained insights or descriptions that I found interesting, surprising, or just plain funny

scenes that weren’t really all that different or unexpected, but we love to see it in writing anyway (ahem Crossroads of Destiny *cough*)

I’m sure there’s a lot that I still managed to miss - even visiting over two days, I couldn’t read every episode. I highly encourage Zutarians living in or near LA to make an appointment and read the scripts for yourselves. You’ll be able to see more than what I’ve posted here, and you might even unearth some goodies that escaped my notice.

(Credit goes to @lady-of-bath for taking my boatload of notes and reformatting them to look like scripts again ❤)

(Also apologies that some passages are split across two images; that just means they were long enough that they spanned two pages and I couldn’t be bothered splicing them back together so I just embedded them here as separate image files. I promise I didn’t cut/remove anything; images not separated by a line of dashes should be read as one continuous snippet 😊).

2) The second thing I ought to clarify is that, from my understanding, the drafts I read were final drafts. These were scripts submitted to the guild just prior to storyboarding, voice acting, animating etc. As I read them, I noticed that the only changes to the script that I could tell were non-dialogue related - so things like, descriptions of the characters’ actions, movements, facial expressions/body language, what you can or can’t see in the shot, etc. Otherwise, voice lines have been essentially kept intact. This suggests to me that the changes made to the script after submission to the guild, were also made after lines had been recorded, possibly even after scenes had been storyboarded. It also suggests that the scripts the voice actors read were the same ones I read in that library. (There is one notable exception that I found, a very interesting exception in my opinion, which we’ll get to later.)

While I would have loved to have seen the earlier drafts, to be able to see how the script changed with each revision (including revisions made to the dialogue prior to voice recording), it’s my understanding that the guild rarely ever receives these scripts, and such was the case again this time. I did also have a look to see if they had the ATLA Series Bible, but unfortunately that hadn’t been submitted either. It is what it is. Still, I’m not mad about what I found. :)

And on that note - ONTO THE SCRIPTS!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m going to start off by defending Kataang a bit here. (I know, I know. Don’t worry, we’ll get to the juicy Zutara stuff in due course.) In my 2 hour long video analysis I talked about lack of development being one of the biggest structural problems with Kataang as a ship. Specifically, I showed how you can take the scenes that we know to be “Kataang scenes”, jumble them up so that they appear in a different order than they do in the show, and the end result still makes just as much narrative sense - or maybe even more sense than they did in the show.

Interestingly, the original scripts for these scenes do not fail this test - at least, I don’t think they do. Let’s start at the very beginning:

It’s love at first sight for Aang, which we all knew already. For Katara, it’s less “love” and more “wonder”. But it’s a powerful meeting for both of them. Honestly, this isn’t all that different from how I perceived this scene on television when I watched it.

Let’s continue with the Fortuneteller:

Okay, so again, roughly what we see on television. Katara realizes Aang could be who Aunt Wu was referring to, and is unsure what to make of this. Fair.

Next, the Cave of Two Lovers:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unlike in the show, Katara doesn’t blush in this script (I also checked the ending of the script where I remember her blushing again in the show, but the script doesn’t mention any blush, anywhere). However, Katara seems to be taking the possibility of Aang as a love interest a little bit more seriously here. In the show version, they hug, Aang seems a little awkward and is clearly hoping for some closure/confirmation of where they now stand, but Katara doesn’t seem to spare it a second thought - she just yeets it out of there. The slow parting and the “awkward look” these kids share in the script suggests, at least to me, that script!Katara is placing more weight on what just happened than show!Katara does, and she at least seems aware, maybe even nervous, of the fact that sharing a maybe-kiss in a secret love cave might do something to their dynamic that she’s not sure how she feels about yet.

The divergences get more interesting now. Enter The Earth King scene, where Aang attempts to confess his feelings to Katara:

“They both know what he's about to say.”

WELL. Not only did they cut out the “he looks her directly in the eyes” part, but they completely took out any shot that might have indicated a mutual understanding between them, as was written in the script. Instead, we get a deer-in-the-headlights look from Katara, then her head cocks to the side “What is it, Aang?” and then… nothing. Everything about her body language on screen is written to suggest she either has no idea what’s coming, or is doing a great job of playing coy about it.

The cheek-kiss is intact in both versions, however. Let’s keep going.

I didn’t take notes on the Headband. I probably should have, but I didn’t bother because there weren’t really any notable differences between the script version and the show version. What you see is basically what you get - Aang dances with On Ji, Katara is agitated but acts aloof, Aang invites her to dance, she hesitantly accepts, they dance and it’s all very cute. She says “that was some dance party, Aang” and gives him another cheek-kiss at the end. If there were any differences from script to screen, I didn’t spot them.

But there was a pretty big difference for Day of Black Sun:

(By the way, this confirms an earlier version of the rumour that had been based on alleged edits made fairly late in the storyboarding process. Credit to @lady-of-bath for procuring this receipt).

So, what I’m basically getting here is that, in the original script, up until the midpoint of Season 3, the writing was originally heading towards a Kataang conclusion. And actually - you may disagree with me here but you know what? I actually don’t hate this version of Kataang. (So far, anyway).

There were two main issues I had with Kataang - the structure/pacing of it was all over the place, and on a deeper level I felt that the conflict they set up regarding Aang’s character arc and “letting Katara go” were not properly resolved in the show, leading to a lack of cohesion in the storytelling.

Combing through these passages, script!Katara reads way more natural and realistic, to me, than show!Katara. Let’s look at the progression here, from Katara’s side:

She meets an “adorable” boy and forms an instant attachment to him

She sees their dynamic as platonic until a comment from Sokka makes her question whether it will always be so in the future. She doesn’t quite know what to make of this at the time.

She shares a maybe-kiss with him in a secret love cave, and seems to be aware/nervous that their dynamic may change as a result.

Some time later, he works up the courage to confess his feelings with her, and the script makes it clear that she understands what he’s trying to say and may even have been anticipating it.

They go to a party where Katara is moody seeing Aang dance with someone else. Then Aang asks Katara onto the floor, and they dance, and Katara seems genuinely pleased/delighted.

Finally, just before the eclipse, he kisses her. She may not have been expecting it, but her reaction (smiling after him as he flies away) shows she didn’t see it as unwelcome.

If Kataang were actually written like this, I think that would solve the structural problems of the ship that really bothered me, and I probably wouldn’t have stopped shipping them. It’s very clear to me that taking any of these scenes, as written, and jumbling them out of order, would completely mess up the steady (if subtle) progression of Katara 1) seeing Aang as a potential love interest, 2) understanding he sees her as one, and finally 3) realising she does actually return his feelings.

It also makes Katara feel much more like a real person, and less of an objective for Aang to try to reach in a “two steps forward, one step back” sort of situation.

I think, even then, I still would have shipped Zutara as well, because I don’t think the symbolism and depth to Zutara can be beat. But I’m pretty sure I would have kept a soft spot for Kataang, for the fluff. At least, I wouldn’t be strongly opposed to it. My position would likely be “eh, there’s flaws, and it probably could have been written better, and I think writing Zutara instead would have been more compelling and thematically satisfying but you know what, this is cute. I get it.”

Of course, that’s before we get to the second half of Season 3, where Kataang goes from oscillating in place to taking a nose-dive out of ... nowhere.

And in a way that seems to seriously contrast with how the ship had been written from Cave of Two Lovers to Day of Black Sun, the downward spiral of Kataang coinciding with a deepening friendship/connection for Zutara - seems to be exacerbated in the original script.

Remember how uncomfortable it was to watch Ember Island Players in the show?

...

It’s quite a bit worse here.

Aang comes off significantly less sympathetic in this version of the episode. Here he is, looking at Katara “accusingly”, and even “glaring” at her, because the actress playing her on stage is flirting with actor!Zuko. Why is he so angry, and at her? And meanwhile, she “pretends not to notice”? Ick.

I’ll be honest, I never had a strong opinion of Aang being “possessive” in this scene. I understand why other people did, and I totally see where they’re coming from with that. Personally though, I kind of gave him the benefit of the doubt and just perceived him as immature, not really getting it, and I always perceived his jealousy to be more hapless than disturbing. This is just my personal opinion, but I felt that their clash in this episode was more indicative of a lack of compatibility and understanding between them than anything else, and obviously I think the non-con kiss was wrong, but generally I didn’t think the kid had bad intentions - I just saw him as... too young, to be honest. He did get pushy and demanding, and either way Katara deserved better, but with Aang, I kind of understood it to be stemming from hope/desperation rather than anger/entitlement.

The writing here, however, does not leave room for me to be charitable. Aang hearing Actor!Zuko suggest that Katara was supposed to be “the Avatar’s girl”, and glaring at Katara as if to say “Yeah!” - I don’t know how to read this as anything other than possessiveness. Yikes on a cracker.

ALSO, did you notice that Zuko and Katara don’t scoot away from each other in this version? Read it again; the absence of that bit escaped me on my first read-through. (Credit to @zutarawasrobbed for spotting that difference!) Zuko and Katara are still sitting next to each other here (the earlier “I wanted to sit here/Just sit next to me, what’s the big deal?” scene is still intact), and all it says about Katara is that she’s pretending not to notice Aang simmering at her from two seats away. Wow.

The non-con kiss is kept intact and most of it is just dialogue so there isn’t much deeper insight to gain from the script, though again, Aang comes off more explicitly volatile/angry at the end of it:

Later, Aang rejoins the group in the theater, and sees Actress!Katara reach a goofy platonic understanding with Actress!Aang, and reacts to this with chagrin and embarrassment. There is no reference to Katara averting her gaze from the screen in a sad or awkward manner, as how she does in the show.

Overall, I find that Kataang looks worse here, a lot worse than in the show. The omission of Zuko and Katara’s “awkward scoot” is intriguing as well. To be honest, I never perceived “the scoot” to be explicit confirmation or denial of any potential attraction between them (that clip can genuinely be read two ways depending on what trope you’re trying to invoke; neither are inherently invalid), however, the fact that it wasn’t originally written but was added in later... that’s interesting.

Some of you might be forming some opinions by this point. I have some of my own as well, though I want to hold off on them for now. Let’s have a bit of a palate-cleanser with the snippet of Zuko sharing some vulnerability with Katara before we move on:

❤

Now I am going a bit out of order here - I know that EIP actually happens after The Boiling Rock/The Southern Raiders, but as I was already on the topic of the Kataang arc, I decided to continue with that before I delved into the other episodes. So now we’re going back a little bit, chronologically.

(Also, you know me, gotta save the best for last 😉)

Ultimately I had a very brief look through The Boiling Rock, and nothing really jumped out at me - except for this bit:

I can’t be the only one tickled at the idea that Zuko just yeets himself out of that prison cell and doesn’t seem to spare Mai a second thought 😂 (if you’ll recall, the show has the two of them share a glance through the cell window after Mai yells “Get off of me!”; Zuko looks apparently apologetic/sad while Mai just glares at him). I know people have pointed out how amusing it is that Zuko seems to forget about Mai completely after TBR, right up until their last scene together, but the way this scene is scripted here just makes it even funnier to me.

But I know which episode it is that you guys all want to read.

*record scratch*

Oh ho HO, what have we here Elizabeth Ehasz 😉

Next up - Part 2: The Southern Raiders, The Finale, and What I Think About it All

#atla #atla original scripts #zutara #kataang critical #writers guild foundation #part 1 of probably 3 parts #will try to get out part 2 asap #thank you so much for your wonderful patience #stay tuned!#text post #long post

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demonicxrocker · 2 years ago

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current inbox status: anon + non-anon requests are on. feel free to request stuff, just don't be a fucking cunt ty

current number of request(s) in inbox: 9

last updated: oct 30, 2024

hey hey— the name's mod corey. they/them pronouns, very aroace, and local edit maker

main blog is @coreys-riffin . im also mod blaze in the @pr0ject-chaos group editing acc as well

top and bottom graphics are made by me— headers are linked here and here

please stop asking me why i don't like spam-liking or spam-reblogs, i swear to god. /srs

[more info is under the cut :thumbs up grinning emoji lol:]

🔥 || content

icons

pride icons

reply icons

gif icons

matching icons

playlists

care kits/clothing kits (is that what they're called?)

stimboards

moodboards

wallpapers (very selective bc it's been a bit)

layouts

name sets

pronoun sets (selective xp)

color picked pride flags

transparents (will be posted onto my transparents account and reblogged here)

probably more things im not thinking about atm tbh lol

🎸 || sources

(favorites are in bold)

canadian cartoons (grojband, looped, yin yang yo, camp lakebottom are the ones that pop up in my head first, but im down for editing almost all of them)

sonic (somewhat selective since im not that heavily into the franchise)

pokemon + pokemon media (ie the starters series by movieunleashers, etc)

any generation of my little pony, littlest pet shop, strawberry shortcake, care bears

any show that aired on qubo in it's lifetime (ie. pecola, sitting ducks, babar, sandra the fairytale detective, sally bollywood, etc etc)

disney animated shows (amphibia, gravity falls, wander over yander, the owl house, etc) (semi-selective)

SOME nickelodeon animated shows/nicktoons (making fiends, danny phantom, fairly oddparents, my life as a teenage robot, etc etc)

rise of the tmnt (friends/mutuals can request other tmnt series)

cookie run (ovenbreak + other games, mainly. will do kingdom but it's VERY fucking selective)

super phantom cat games, spoon pets / neko atsume, postknight 1 + 2, etc (mobile games, basically)

super cat bros / super cat tales games

browser games like heart star, double panda, and etc. their mobile game counterparts are allowed too

cartoon network shows (adventure time, regular show, over the garden wall, etc etc) (semi-selective)

lego shows (ninjago, monkie kid, nexo knights, etc etc) (selective)

sanrio (aggrestuko included)

little witch academia. and also any of the monster collecting animes (digimon, bakugan, yugioh, yokai watch, etc)

minecraft, minecraft story mode, and mcyt in general (hermitcraft, last life series, empires, etc etc.)

dude, that's my ghost!

webshows (group 5, dick figures, happy tree friends, bravest warriors, jumpcut!, and etc) (semi-selective)

webcomics (ie. sparklecare, ghost eyes, it hurts, serendipity, deathsitter, etc etc) (semi-selective)

🧨 || unfamiliar sources but will still edit for

pretty much anything, to be honest. just make sure i haven't said outright that i won't do it. ocs also fall into this category most of the time

💢 || sources i absolutely WILL NOT edit for

any horror media (creepypastas, horror games, horror series, horror args.. you get the idea)

anime in general lol

irl people in general (this also includes youtubers + vtubers)

total drama series, 6teen, and clone high

anything too problematic (if you have to ask yourself if it is or not, then that means it probably counts)

anything else, just ask me atp. a lot of things have changed over the years— and also i can't be asked to add all of em

⛓️ | blacklist / general things i will not edit for

weirdcore, traumacore, "sanriocore" (*actual* sanriocore is fine, im talking about the kind that's essentially just traumacore but with sanrio characters whatnot)

fetish-y type shit (i am NOT explaining this one.)

laney + corney (grojband character n grojband ship)

ectofeature

lloyd, harumi, or garmadon (ninjago characters)

lloyd x anyone ships

extreme body horror / gore

agere, babycore, angelcore— stuff like that (not against it by any means but it's just not my personal thing tbh)

#🔥; mod corey #🕯; update #⛓️; request list / inbox check #🧨; not a request #💥; request complete!#🎸; my edits #💀; my stimboards #🎼; request declined.#🕸; request pending...#🎧; not an edit #🌋; chatting #pinned post #🎵; my playlists #🎶; self rb #🖤; promo #💢 ; rb #☠️; source updates

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lucky-sevens · 4 years ago

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mechanisms basics & lore

welcome to my updated mechanisms intro post! this post will cover both the topics discussed in my mechanisms basics post, which is geared towards people who don’t know what the mechanisms are, and my deep lore post, which aimed to be a comprehensive compilation of all the important character and world lore. this post should serve the above group, but it’s geared towards people who have listened but feel there’s a lot of lore that seems to be common knowledge they’re missing. we’ll start out with a basic introduction, and then go into crew lore and a semi-comprehensive guide on where to go for further information.

basics

the mechanisms were a steampunk concept band, known for their queer representation and their tragic stories. they are no longer together, their last performance being january 2020, but several of their members are still creating related spinoff content.

they follow the trope many steampunk bands do, which is albums that tell a story; think similar to listening to a musical soundtrack, but geared to a visual-less experience. what distinguishes them is 1) narration tracks between each song, making the plot very easy to follow, and 2) being meant to be watched live, meaning there’s layers of meta that are more easily understood by watching recorded gigs rather than studio recordings of albums. specifically, there’s a focus on the narrators, known as the mechanisms or the crew of the aurora, who are immortal space pirates telling the stories and occasionally inserting themselves into them. though they are tragic figures themselves, their banter serves the purpose of bringing a lightheartedness and dark humor to the stories. if there’s an aspect of the lore you’re confused on, it’s probably related to the narrators!

to watch the mechanisms live, you can find recordings on youtube, dropbox, google drive, soundcloud, or vimeo, which are all compiled in this post (including transcripts!). if visuals aren’t your thing, i’ve linked the studio recordings later on in this post when they come up, and here are the mechanisms’ official spotify, bandcamp, and youtube, as well as an unofficial comprehensive lyric videos channel.

the albums

regarding the albums specifically, there are 4 main ones (once upon a time (in space), ulysses dies at dawn, high noon over camelot, and the bifrost incident), 2 that are compilations of miscellaneous songs (tales to be told 1 & 2), 1 single (frankenstein), and 1 album that’s a high-quality recording of their last live show, including an alternative performance of the bifrost incident, 2 songs only performed at live shows, and 'the deathsong’, which details how they all eventually die (death to the mechanisms).

as you might have been able to tell from the titles, they’re all based off of various myths, folklore, literature, and/or fairy tales, using different genres on top of a sci-fi setting to add a fresh twist to them! for example, high noon over camelot is a western based on arthurian mythos, set on a space station. (the albums are known for all ending in tragedy, so be careful if that isn’t your cup of tea!) if your goal is to get into the mechanisms, i’d suggest sitting down and listening to them all in full; links will be provided below, or alternatively you can watch once upon a time (in space) live here, ulysses dies at dawn live here, or the bifrost incident live here. (there is no full live recording with visuals of high noon over camelot, sadly, but there are partial and audio only recordings.)

once upon a time (in space) - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

ulysses dies at dawn - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

high noon over camelot - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

the bifrost incident - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

tales to be told, volume 1 - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

tales to be told, volume 2 - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

frankenstein - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

death to the mechanisms - edited video with the stream corruption fixed + subtitles / stream / spotify / bandcamp / youtube / transcript pt. 1 / transcript pt. 2

reading the fiction is integral to understanding both the albums and the mechanisms themselves. the fiction is a collection of short stories set in the mechanisms universe posted on their website here and compiled by me here, with an extra high noon over camelot story here. (there are also audio versions for ‘mirror mirror’ and ‘a rebel yell’ included on both the website and the compilation).

the crew of the aurora

as for the crew, at their peak there were nine members played by people, as well as the ex-member dr carmilla, who has extensive solo lore and is still active (which we’ll touch on in a few paragraphs). there is also their ship, the aurora, who is sentient and has her own lore. in fact, every member of the crew has their own backstory, set in a different genre or historical period; for example, nastya rasputina's is historical, jonny d’ville’s is a western and marius von raum’s is a mecha anime. however, they’re all still different flavors of steampunk! below, i’ll list each member, their performer, and the main sources of lore about them. for the majority of them, they have their own song in tales to be told, but there are a few outliers. everyone also has their own bio up on the website, which can all be found here.

the aurora (n/a, ship)- on aurora (meta)

jonny d’ville (jonny sims)- one eyed jacks (song), jonny before he was mechanized (meta)

nastya rasputina (anonymous)- cyberian demons (song)

ivy alexandria (morgan wilkinson)- archive footage (fiction), crew bio

ashes o’reilly (frank voss)- lucky sevens (song)

drumbot brian (ben below)- lost in the cosmos (song), crew bio

the toy soldier (jessica law)- the story of the toy soldier (fiction)

gunpowder tim (tim ledsam)- gunpowder tim vs the moon kaiser (song/minialbum)

marius von raum (kofi young)- the death of byron von raum summary (blog post)

raphaella la cognizi (r l hughes)- crew bio

if you’ve noticed the crew bio doesn’t say much about raphaella, that’s because we know little to nothing about her backstory. the only thing we have to go on is a quote from the tv tropes page, which looking at the edit history, was likely written by one of the mechanisms. the quote is ‘Science officer who may or may not have cheated her way onto the ship after becoming a little too interested.‘ and the page is here.

the majority of fandom content is about the crew, working off of what we get from the tales to be told songs, the live gigs, and the fiction.

dr carmilla

speaking of characters with obscure lore, let’s talk about dr carmilla! rather than linger, i’ll just link my carmilla basics post, which is a comprehensive summary of who she is in and out of universe. to summarize, she’s a character based on the novella ‘carmilla’ by sheridan le fanu, commonly regarded as the first vampire novel, but her lore has diverged heavily from that original starting point since then. she is the oldest out of all of the crew, and made the majority of the other crew members immortal. she, as well as aurora, is from a planet called terra, which was destroyed partially as a result of her actions. her character is defined by her immortality and how she deals with it, her experiences on terra, her relationship with the mechanisms, and her dysfunctional relationship with her ex-girlfriend loreli, the last of which is the most covered by her songs. out of universe, she is played by maki yamazaki. all her lore lines up with what happened out of universe, and ties to the fact the mechanisms were originally dr carmilla and the mechanisms. she has two solo albums and two singles, which i’ll link below.

ageha (prototype edition) (album)- bandcamp | youtube

exhumed and {un}plugged (album)- bandcamp | youtube

the city {nex:type mix} (single, in-character cover)- bandcamp | youtube

eleven (single)- bandcamp | youtube

the majority of her lore is still to be officially revealed, and will be in the trilogy of albums maki yamazaki is working on.

further reading

if you’d like to delve further into the lore, there are a few sources i use! there are official, in-character, blogs, as well as things that are harder to dredge up; i won’t link them here, but some sources include @/thedreadvampy (the band’s artist, as well as morgan wilkinson’s sister and kofi young’s partner; don’t bother her for lore or anything, but she’s previously made posts sharing previously unknown information), old websites and deleted content found on the wayback machine, the tv tropes pages, and most notably the lore doc.

the ‘maki forbidden lore doc’ is an archive of all the lore maki yamazaki has shared on the mechscord, the official mechanisms discord which she’s on, and her own personal server, where she’s running an arg (alternate reality game) as a way of relaying more lore about the dr carmilla universe. for an idea of the scale, the doc is currently 91 pages and 28346 words, and recontextualizes much of what is known about dr carmilla and maki’s canon of the mechanisms universe. it is confidential to anyone not in her discord or the mechscord, as she’s said that this lore isn’t thought out nearly as much as the albums and is subject to change, so she’d rather it not be out in the open. however, information on how to join the mechscord can be found here. there is also a non-canonical fan project based on the arg in progress, but information on it is also confidential for now.

with regards to the above phrase ‘maki’s canon’ it’s worth noting that all of the individual band members have their own idea of what counts as canon and what doesn’t, and as you foray deeper into lore that division becomes more and more apparent.

with that, here are the mechanisms’ blogs. they are all both run in-character by the main nine band members and inactive unless i note otherwise.

twitter

tumblr

facebook

website/wordpress (run ic by tereshkova’s ghost, the blogbot, for the most part)

carmilla twitter (active, run ic by dr carmilla)

conclusion

now that we’re coming to the end of this, i’d like to thank whoever got this far, and to say a few words. my interest in the mechanisms has been slowly fading, and i’ve been writing less and less meta and lapsing in keeping up with new lore myself. honestly, i’m pretty worn out by how much i’ve done on this blog and in this fandom, and the commitments i’ve assigned myself. i do have plans for future meta, but it’s unlikely they’ll come to fruition. so, i thought i’d do a new version of my two oldest posts on this blog, and hopefully enable other people to look into the lore and theorize themselves with the new information.

to find more information, remember there’s a mechanisms wiki, and that my askbox is always open.

thanks for reading!

#the mechanisms #the mechs #meta #my posts

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holycafe · 4 years ago

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I have gone full blown conspiracy clown today, but I just needed to get this all written down so I could stop obsessing over it for more than five goddamn minutes!

Look, I’ve never been a part of any queer ship that I genuinely thought was going to become. Never. Not even with my biggest OTPs, not even after 15x18 was first released, not even when I realised that the cast and crew all wanted Destiel. I never genuinely believed that the writers would make it explicitly canon.

Not until now, a week after the finale aired. So, I’ve decided to compile this post of everything that we know about this episode and why I think that it was the CW, not the showrunners, who axed Destiel. (I will update this as the story continues to unfold, so if you have anything to add, feel free to message me about it.)

Let’s start with 15x18. Castiel’s confession itself was a beautiful speech, but we can all agree that Dean’s reaction left something to be desired. At first, it was claimed to be homophobia on Jensen’s part, or just bad acting, but it is much more likely that the scene was chopped and edited and remixed to take the soul out of Dean’s side of the confession and make it easier for homophobic fans to digest (x). This includes the removal of Dean’s “Me too, Cas” from the episode, the existence of which was leaked to the fans long before the Spanish dub confirmed it (x).

Now onto episode 19, there were a few issues with this but most of it boiled down to two points. A – the pacing for the episode made it feel rushed (not uncommon for this season as they’ve truly been ploughing through plot after plot since 15x01 began). And B – Dean never mentioned Cas’ confession. So, were there any scenes cut from this episode too? A scene that was perhaps filled in with the oddly placed montage? I believe so, yes… (x)

In the end, 15x19 ended with the villain defeated but with 4 smaller plot points left unresolved. Those being the issue with the Empty being ‘loud’, the fact that heaven was still failing, Cas’ confession being unanswered, and his death being unresolved. So, surely those would be in the finale, right?

Except, no, they weren’t. Or, at least, not on screen. They spent approximately two lines of dialogue on the remaining plot points and then just left it be.

And remember how I spoke about 19 being rushed? Well, ep. 20 was the exact opposite! And that’s strange, don’t you think? How they raced through the penultimate episode and the defeat of God himself, only to pump the breaks suddenly on the finale, slow everything down, and never resolve those final plots on screen? Strange, unless the CW ordered any and every queer-coded scene to be removed from the final episodes - which included all remaining plot points because they were all linked to Cas. This left us with excessively long drawn out scenes (x) as well as some ridiculous last minutes additions (x) to fill in the timeslot. (Also, click here and here for two linked posts about cut scenes from episode 20). But it also left several loose ends, even though the showrunner said that nothing would be left ambiguous by the time the credits rolled.

Very strange indeed.

If you’re still not yet convinced by this post, you’re probably thinking that of course scenes were cut. The cast and crew have all said it was because of covid restrictions, but it was just going to be a bigger heaven scene. Well, was it? Because it seems awfully odd to have a scene where Dean and Sam reunite with all of their family, if half of said family were never even asked to appear in the episode – not even before covid forced the script changes (x).

And now I’m going to talk about another love story that was cut from this finale, and that was Sam and Eileen, resulting in the Blurry Wife Fiasco. The decision to never mention Eileen again makes absolutely no sense in the slightest… unless it was damage control for Destiel (x).

And all of this because the CW didn’t want to alienate the cishet white men and women who they are hoping still watch supernatural and will follow Jared on over to Walker (I will explain this further in an additional post when I have the energy to continue. But if anyone wants to start it off, tag me and I will link your post here too).

And finally, we have Misha’s video. Poor Misha, having to be the face in front of the CW’s words. Absolutely nothing about that tweet sounded like something that the Misha Collins we have known and loved for the past 12 years would say (rancid nuts, anyone?).

So, in conclusion:

Fuck the CW!

Updates

(27-11-20) an unofficial video has emerged claiming to be the leaked italian dub of 15x18 (x) Faked

(28-11-20) a second of an unaired scene from 15x18 has been found in one of the August promos. I did a breakdown of it and tried to place where it should have been in the episode (x)

#deancas #destiel #supernatural #saileen #fuck the cw #they silenced you #rambleoncas #castiel deserved better #dean winchester deserved better #sam winchester deserves better #spn #castiel winchester #spn spoilers

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mccoymccoymccoy · 4 years ago

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Riker - No Drinks

A/N I KNOW a shift on enterprise d wouldn’t end at 1900 yes i looked at the shift times but… it’s my story and i wanted you to get off at 1900 so for god’s sake you’re getting off at 1900.

Edit: forgot ten forward doors slide open LOL changed that line.

Word count: 2399

“Doctor!”

You spun on your heel away from the ensign you were advising, snapping to attention to greet your commanding officer. You had to try really hard not to be too casual- Riker had such a friendly face and demeanor. It may be okay for him to be casual with his crew, he’s earned it, but you’re not commanding officer. You’re the head of the science department.

“Yes, sir?” You replied, meeting his eyes. He smiled. “Ease up, Doc. I was just coming to ask if you’d care to head over to Ten Forward after your shift for a drink.”

Huh? Why would he want to get a drink with you? He’s your superior officer, as you just reminded yourself. You did recognize that being the head of the science department aboard a galaxy class ship was a pretty big deal, but your self esteem had never been that high, and you tended to greatly overlook your worth. Taking a second to add that to the equation to solve the question of why would he ask me why would he ask me, you concluded that he may want to learn more about what’s going on in your department. Maybe he’s interested in the specs of the volcanic rock you had him beam aboard for you and your team to study the other day. This all ran through your head at the speed of a blink, and you responded, “Of course, sir. I’ll be off at 1900, will that be okay?” He grinned. “Great. I’ll see you there, then.”

“Aye, sir,” you finalized as he turned and walked back in the direction he came. Such a quick visit. Had he really waited for a peaceful minute in the bridge to run down to you? Why not use the comm? Sighing, you turned as well, facing the ensign once again who had started giggling by the end of the quick encounter- She saw how flustered you’d gotten, despite not showing it to the commander. Behind your back, however, the skin around your nails was being picked raw, all for the ensign to notice. You sighed again, this time at her, trying and failing to keep from smiling. “Hush, ensign. Let’s get back to the lab.”

The rest of the day seemed to slip away from you like the beaker from your hands earlier. You had zoned out, something incredibly unusual for you. But then again, it was incredibly unusual for the commanding officer of the ship to invite you out for a drink after work! Let alone one you already happened to find particularly intriguing and attractive! The beaker was empty, thankfully, but still a bit of a hassle to clean up. “I’m off,” you called from the doorway, nodding in the direction of the ensign from earlier. She giggled and waved you away, and you finally set out for Ten Forward.

Regardless of the actual temperature, it always felt warm in there- it had such a positive atmosphere, as the only place people could truly relax most of the time. You entered quietly, trying to not disturb the dim and hum. Guinan smiled at you warmly as you walked by, which you returned, of course. Wouldn’t be the same without her here. Looking back in front of you, you instantly spotted Commander Riker sitting at a table close by, a drink in hand and one waiting on the opposite side for you. He looked pretty like a statue sitting there, lit up from the glowing table. You swallowed hard and tried to shove those thoughts out of your head.

“Y/N! Hey. Glad you came, I was getting worried you wouldn’t show.”

You tried not to blush as you slipped your lab coat from your shoulders and onto the back of your chair as you sat down. “And disobey my commanding officer? I think not,” you laughed. His usual pep faded for a moment, face growing slightly solemn. “Is that how you see this?”

That damn equation started running through the halls of your minds again. Commander. Friend? Superior officer. Date? You looked down. “Well, sir, I thought maybe you had called me here to ask about how it’s going in my department. Did I think wrong?”

The smile returned to his face slightly, chuckling lightly before responding: “It’s not a work matter, Y/N. I was actually hoping to get to know you a little better, to be friends. I mean, if that includes talking about work, then that’s alright too, I just-” your chin tilted back up and to the side slightly, a confused look. “Friends?” So he did want to be friends? It makes sense, rationally. You were technically a very crucial person onboard, despite mostly keeping to yourself.

“Yes, friends. What’s wrong with that?” You looked down again. Friends. Friends!

“Nothing, sir, just surprised is all. I thought you only liked to hang out with your bridge crew.”

“I like to hang out with them because they’re there with me. If you had work on the bridge, I’d want to hang out with you. And hey, not at work. No ‘sir’. You can call me Will.”

The man emanated a warmth unlike one you’ve ever felt. You smiled at him, leaning back into your chair and finally taking your drink. You raised it to your mouth, but asked before sipping, “Alright then, Will. What were you hoping to learn about me?” He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair, at a loss. God, that was hot. “Christ, Y/N, never made friends before? You act like this is an interrogation.”

“A little direction would be nice, sir-” you shook your head, smirking as you met his eyes. “Will.”

He smiled that ever-charming smile, and his eyes seemed to glitter with what could’ve been anything- curiosity, wonder, lust? It didn’t matter in the moment. Leaning back, holding his glass by the rim, his voice suddenly seemed to be the only one in the room. “Okay then, how about this: What are you doing here? Why did you join Starfleet?”

Once he had gotten you talking, the only was he could shut you up was to talk in return and tell you about himself. The two of you continued like that for a couple hours until yawns started to invade every sentence, and Will had decided it best you called it a night. It was so exciting, you didn’t expect him to be so interesting! Cool, of course, but not all cool people are interesting. Will Riker was cool and interesting, and damn good-looking to boot. He had asked you all about what went on in the labs on a daily basis- considering he practically runs the ship, he did already know what happens, but he asked what you do specifically. On a daily basis, for fun, as challenges. He asked what places have been your favourite to visit, or rather maybe, get samples to study from. He asked what makes you tick and what unwinds you. Beyond that, he answered every one of his own questions and yours. You knew how he’d been offered his own ship but passed it up to stay here. You knew about how he loved jazz and played trombone and piano. You knew about how cunning he had grown to be in poker, how he’d outwit everyone at the table in the weekly matches, and even taught classes on it.

The door to your quarters slid open, and as soon as you stepped inside you leaned back against the wall. How could you get so tired from just talking? It was late, sure, but you spent extra hours in the lab all the time. Maybe because of the dim lighting in Ten Forward? Or, more likely, the synthehol he seemed to be pumping into you. Perhaps he forgot he was a walking fridge, and you were not. You exhaled heavily, doing your best to take off your shoes and drag yourself to bed, and as soon as you got there it was as if you’d been hit by a tranquilizer.

Many, many hours later- unknown to you, sleeping- the door chirped. It was well past your shift start, and someone seemed to have taken it upon themself to go check on you. The door chirped again, and was followed by a couple quick knocks. Met with no response, the knocker came in- what if you were hurt? Better to be safe and check, right?

Riker entered your room. Over his arm was your lab coat, which you’d left in Ten Forward the night before by accident. Stepping cautiously, he said softly: “Hello? It’s Will.” He placed the jacket over the back of a chair at your table. “Y/N?” He called out, louder this time. You rustled-

OW. You were instantly met with the signature hangover headache, cringing and scrunching your nose in pain. Hissing, you squinted at the door arch of your room, and slid off the side of your bed. Riker looked in the doorway and saw you, shuffling towards him, messy haired and wrinkly-clothed, and smiled. Huh? What’s the commanding officer doing in your quarters?

“Oh no. Back to bed with you,” he said gently. What? You did your best to stand up straight while running a hand through your hair. “Commander. What are you doing here?” A pained groan escaped despite your best efforts to appear alright. He stepped closer, reaching out to gently hold onto your arms to make sure you stayed upright. His eyes didn’t lock onto you anywhere, rather flickered all around your face as if scanning you. He looked at you thoughtfully, and responded, “You left your coat on your chair last night, I came to bring it back. You didn’t answer the door so I, and excuse me, let myself in to make sure you were okay. You’re not. Go back to sleep, Y/N.” He half guided, half pushed you back to sitting on your bed. “I’m not fine, but I’ve been worse. I’ve got to get to the lab now, probably. What time is it?” Your head was in your hands at this point. Will was walking away from you, and it made you sad for some reason- you wanted him near you. You didn’t know until he had been, but now you did.

“You’re not going to work, Doctor. You’ve got the day off today.” Your eyes darted up and you opened your mouth to object, but he cut you off right as your face twisted with pain- “My orders. Lay down.” Figuring you may as well take the opportunity, you complied. He walked back over with a hypospray and used it on you, causing the pain to almost entirely disappear immediately. You closed your eyes to enjoy the relief for a moment, and felt the bed dip next to you. Your eyes flitted open, and Riker was sitting there on the edge smiling, reaching out and petting your hair. “Commander? What are you doing?” His smile dropped slightly. “How much of last night do you remember?”

You closed your eyes again. You went to the bar. You talked. You had a drink. You had another drink, and another. Rubbing your temples, you sighed. “I remember drinking, but that’s obvious. I remember talking. Laughing. You were very pleasant, as far as I can tell. What happened?” He shifted on the bed, facing you better. “We really got to know each other, Y/N. And for that I’m glad. But if you can’t remember, I’d be more than willing to give it another go.”

His eyes had an unexplainable sort of glitter to them, as if he was really excited about what he was saying. Oh man, what did you say? You knew your headache would come back if you thought about it too hard, so you asked: “Sir, did I say anything I should know about?”

His features softened yet again, a seemingly impossible feat. He moved his hand from the crook of your neck to reach down and hold one of your hands, which in your groggy, sore state, confused you even more. “Well,” he started, barely above a whisper, “you did agree to call me Will now. And then we talked for hours. And…” He trailed off, brushing the back of your hand with his thumb. His hands were a lot bigger than yours, and it provided a sort of comfort you wouldn’t have been able to explain if asked.

“And?”

“And, well, you said you thought you might love me.”

“I think I could.” It slipped out. Your eyes widened immediately, and you felt your face flush what was probably a deeper red than his shirt. It just slipped out! You barely knew him! Tearing your hand away from his, you brought both of them up to cover your face. “I’m sorry sir, that just slipped out, I, I’m sure it’s the headache, I-” He chuckled softly, and you peeked through your fingers. “Huh?”

“You’re adorable, you know that?” You stopped peeking and blushed harder.

“Hey.” He gently took your hands away from your face and held them both, tightly this time. “I think I might love you too.”

“Sir, er- Will,” you corrected, trying to look anywhere but him, “I hate to be frank, but we barely know each other, At least, I don’t remember getting to know you very well. Love is entirely the wrong word. Sure I like you, but one night isn’t much to go off of, and you’re my superior officer, and-”

And he kissed you. Still holding your hands, he brought them close to his chest, and pressed against you ever so slightly. He pulled away, once again smiling down at you, and once again presenting a whole new level of what now appeared to be love. “Everything’s alright. People date for a reason, right? To get to know each other and see if they’re a good fit?” You nodded, doe eyed and starstruck. “Well, Y/N. Would you care to head over to Ten Forward for a date tomorrow?” He had mimicked his initial invitation. You nodded again, grinning, still in a bit of a shock over all of this. He returned your grin and ruffled your hair before standing up and turning to leave.

You grabbed his hand- “No drinks this time though, yeah?”

“No drinks.”

#Riker x reader #will riker #william riker #william t. riker #star trek #star trek x reader #will riker x reader #will riker imagine #william riker imagine #riker imagine #star trek imagine

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elizabethsharmon · 4 years ago

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reblog if you feel disrespected by skam france and demand official apology

below a full list of all the offenses:

Manon going back to Ch*rbage after he emotionally manipulated her to not testify against his brother (who got her drunk, took nudes of her, and kept blackmailing her) because “after all nothing happened = he didn’t r*pe her”

Making Arthur and Alexia a couple in the first place just so he could cheat on her with Noee and lie to her for weeks and then having her break up with him, only for them to suddenly being good friends in s6 and kissing in the last clip (which ngl almost made me throw up)

Bringing up Lucas’ insecurities and abandonment issues but never letting him talk about them with Eliott; posting some damage control posts on instagram instead and pretending like Lucas is fine with Eliott kissing Lola for the film (which he clearly wasn’t, the writers seem to not know him at all)

Wasting time to edit Tiff’s head onto different animals and posting things on that cyberbullying account that no one cared about instead of posting something from the grew + the worst social media ever

Not giving us a proper goodbye to the grew and not really saying anything about their future

Lying to the fans about god knows what we will see in s6 and baiting them to watch even though legit nothing of it happened

Not continuing Arthur’s story in s6 (fine, I don’t really care about that but we were supposed to see it so ???? )

Treating some fans more privileged than the others, giving them spoilers about the new seasons, inviting them on set

FranceTV Slash and SkamLaSerie instas mocking fans in their stories - saying stuff like Lola will cause the break up between Daphne and Basile, “addiction can be useful for flirting” (yikes), creating a ship war between fans in s5 by posting two photos of Alexia/Arthur and Noee/Arthur with a caption “we love them both, we can’t choose”, the host of the live of s6 calling people on tumblr “obsessed” and not apologizing when people said they’re offended by that, blocking people who were asking questions about why the SA was never mentioned again during the live

Liking all the praise but constantly ignoring fans when they were asking questions about writing choices and then blocking them

the rest of 50 offenses under cut cause turns out they really disrespected me more than I thought

feel free to add whatever you want if i forgot about something

None of the girls really apologizing to Imane at the end of season 4 after all they’ve put her through and after they took the side of the racist (who already had a history of drama with Emma) instead of their friend

Taking away Noee’s integrity and making her say “I love you” out loud (which was totally ooc cause an episode earlier she said LSF is her language and she doesn’t like her voice) after Arthur (who was leading her on for weeks) told her they can’t be together

Male gaze in s5 because even though the sign language is a body language, the way camera was lingering on her flat, bare stomach, a few times showing a close up on her boobs during the “song-dance” scene was male gaze

Lack of beautiful, slow-mo, piano music scenes for Alexia with Arthur staring at her awestruck because apparently she’s not worthy enough

Completely sidelining the deaf/hoh storyline in favour of cheating/love triangle plot

Reducing Camille to a translator and randomly making him Mika’s boyfriend because why the hell not

Completely forgetting about Mika and Lisa after s5 (did they ever find that roommate????)

Noee kissing Arthur right after he shared his traumatic story with her and overshadowing domestic abuse with cheating

Absolutely no follow-up about P*trick and domestic abuse after s5

Having P*trick cheat on Arthur’s mom with Emma’s mom because they’re all one big family

Random crackfic farm episode that didn’t make absolutely ANY sense

Killing Fifi rip [*]

Arthur getting hit by The Car and being perfectly fine the next day

The Boy Squad becoming cheating apologists, Lucas giving Arthur the same advice he gave to Emma in s1 and Yann (who got hurt because of it back then) supporting it

Character regression, especially for Lucas, and the whole boy squad acting out of character

Continuously trying to make Lucas look like a bad guy because they knew we would forgive him everything

Arthur suddenly liking art even though it hasn’t been ever mentioned before and his whole instagram was filled with space related posts

Parallels between Eliott/Lucas and Arthur/Noee

Catherine - or lack of her - aka the queerbait from s3

Completely ignoring character’s birthdays - Basile and Manon (second year in a row)

Not introducing Lola before and making s6 about a complete stranger but still expecting the fans to like her from the get-go and watch the show by baiting the fans with the promise of “unofficial mains” (Daphne and Eliott)

Forcing the Lola/Eliott friendship and selling it in the promo as sister/brother relationship instead of writing it in a way that would make it flow naturally

Making Eliott Otteli Urbex King only to forget the plot after more or less three clips; also having Eliott hide the truth from Lucas for months and then pretending to resolve it in a text to Lola ??? which didn’t make sense in the first place but then it turned out that it was just damage control

Making Lola hook up with much older guys than her over and over again and having one of them s*xually assault just so Eliott could play the hero and save her; never bringing that up again

Making Eliott punch people left and right - anything to protect the ladies, Sofiane punching Ch*rbage in s4 can agree I guess

Letting Eliott talk about his past and insecurities only so Lola could prey on them later and emotionally manipulate him into drinking

Also Eliott not letting Lola apologize and brushing off her apologies because apparently that was nothing at all and it’s okay to let people walk you over and manipulate you

Not letting Lucas speak for himself

The whole Lux & Obscurus plot, having Eliott write the film about his and Lucas’ relationship and what his love means to Eliott only to have Lola play in it, not adjusting the script so that it would fit the change and still keeping the Eliott/Lola kiss as a big fuck you to the fandom instead of having it end with a forehead touch and fade to black especially that they haven’t even showed it to us again during the screening of Eliott’s film (but it made all the other couples turned on enough to kiss in that exact moment so maybe it had a purpose) (it didn’t what the fuck was that)

Also acting like Lucas can’t spare a few hours to film it with Eliott cause he has to sTuDy FoR tHe BaC when they were filming it in the middle of a night on Friday, how is that realistic

Not giving Eliott any friends of his own and pretending like he’s a lone wolf even though he’s the biggest sunshine ever and he’s naturally drawn to people; acting like there are no other studens at his film school who could help him film his project so instead he let Lola find random people who knew nothing about filming to help him; having a bunch of random people at the screening of his film and if they were supposed to be his “friends” from the film school then I’m gonna throw hands

Acting like we will see what “minute by minute” really means and “see Eliott like we’ve never seen him before” which never happened

Switching POV for two clips only and they all revolved around Lola because they decided to go with su*cide attempt in episode 9

Also ending that episode with a su*cide note even though the next clip was before midnight on Friday

Giving Lola the worst therapist ever and a really poor attempt at cheering her up from the nurse

Enforcing that “having a loved one” is “the real reason to change” instead of sending the message that you should change for yourself first and foremost and showing that reaching out for professional help is a good thing and can really help you

Acting like ED can be cured by italian cuisine and not mentioning it again for weeks; having Daphne ask Lola not to go to rehab because they have each other and a few clips after that she’s suddenly after her first therapy (love that for her but there’s something huge missing here)

Making Lola’s life a living hell and a misery porn for 10 weeks straight

Making P*trick, Thierry and Lola’s biological dads The Worst (men are trash but it would be nice to see some good parenting on the show)

Giving all the members of La Mif two or three personality traits and not fleshing out their characters

Giving Maya a girlfriend because a season without a love triangle is a waste

Not really developing Mayla well and having their first kiss right after Eliott/Lola cursed kiss as a preemptive damage control to shut us up

Never mentioning why Lola was doing

Wasting a good chunk of the season on Tiff and that insta account and ending it with “she’s addicted to social media”

Giving Yann like one line each season after s3

Reducing Sofiane to the background dancer in s5 and s6

Hating female characters

F/M friendships are only possible if the guy is gay, otherwise cheating always had to be involved

and you know. in general. pretty much everything they did after s3.

#skam france #skamfr

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theunreliablewriter · 4 years ago

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Are You Jealous?

Pairing: Kylo Ren x Reader

Warnings: Mentions of blood, violence, and killings, but not at all detailed. Other than that, mostly fluff.

(W/N) = Wolf’s Name

Request: okay, imagine you an kylo being in an established relationship and finally decide to take the next step and start sharing his quarters. the catch is that you have some sort of pet (you can pick what type), and kylo is so jealous of it. a lot of your attention goes to it, it crawling inbetween you when you're cuddling and so on. so kylo just automatically hate it, until it one day protects you from some intruders while kylo was away. btw, you're writing is amazing and i love you 🥺❤️

It had been over half a year, but it felt as though you had barley blinked and it passed.

No, it wasn’t always simple being the lover of the First Order’s Supreme Leader Kylo Ren. But for certain, it was always worth it.

You loved him more than anything. He loved you all the same. And never did either of you doubt it...at least, that’s what you initially thought.

Kylo and you had officially started your romantic partnership nearly seven months ago. A few weeks prior, you both wanted to take another step together by sharing his quarters.

He happily helped you pack and move everything, but somehow, it must have slipped his mind that it wasn’t just you moving in. This was shocking considering how often you gushed in adoration for your wolf hybrid. Kylo accepted the large animal straight away when the two of you met. After all, despite being the sweetest thing you had ever known, your wolf’s predator instincts still existed—something Kylo very much liked about him.

But ever since moving in together, you could cut the tension between the two as if your wolf was a long lost admirer trying to win you back.

“Y/N,” Kylo spoke sharply. “Did you hear what I said?”

You pulled yourself out of your thoughts of how you wished to be off of the ship to allow W/N time to roam on actual ground, not overly polished tile, and ceased brushing his pitch black fur. The frustration on Kylo’s face was obvious when you asked, “I’m sorry. What?”

He sighed. “I said I need your opinion on the attack plan I have created to take out the newly discovered Rebel base.”

“Alright. Can we go over it in bed? I’m quite tired.”

“Fine.”

You both changed into your night clothes before burying yourselves beneath the covers. Your head rested on a broad shoulder as you were shown a map covered in several red marks.

Kylo never failed to impress you with his ability to create near-foolproof strategies to give the First Order the edge it needed in this ongoing war. While most of it didn’t require any editing, you gave your input on a few details, such as where to place the third unit and what time they should be sent after the others. Kylo took each of your revisions and thought them over carefully while mindlessly playing with the side of your hair.

“You’re right, my heart,” Kylo said. “I’ll make the changes.”

He began to sit up—his impulse to work continuously kicking in. But all it took was a single protest to stop him.

“Stay with me,” you insisted. “There’s much more important things to attend to at the moment.”

The smile that spread across the man’s handsome face made the beating in your chest quicken. Too many people had shared how they had never witnessed the Supreme Leader smile. Several wondered if he was capable of it. For you, though, it was a common as breathing, but that did not at all mean you’d ever grow use to it. No, anything this strong, powerful man did would always have the ability to affect you in countless ways.

“And what does that include?”

You grinned at the sound of him nearly giggling as you rolled on top of him. It only intensified as you laced your hand with his and pinned it near his head. Your heart swelled at the sound.

You lowered your head until your lips met his, and slowly, the two of you kissed.

His free hand roamed its way up the back of your shirt, seeming to only want to feel the warmth of your skin.

A minute passed, and you were taking your time to turn this into something more. But then, the sound of claws running across the floor just before they landed on the bed with you ensured that would not be happening.

“W/N!” Kylo said angrily to the wolf.

Golden eyes stared back at him with a mouth opened to form what you always called a smile. One spread across your own when a pink tongue darted out to lick Kylo’s nose.

“Stop it! You know I hate that!”

“As much as I like to believe animals know what we’re saying, I don’t think he does,” you told him with a laugh.

“He does too know! That’s why he does it!”

“Only because he loves you.”

Kylo unhappily groaned when you moved off of him to take your pet into your arms. You chuckled at the several kisses he gave your cheek.

“Lay back down,” you said.

Immediately, W/N compiled, placing himself directly between you and Kylo. With a content sigh, he took it upon himself to share the pillows with the two of you.

“Are you serious?” your lover asked incredulously. “Does this have to happen every night, (Y/N)?! I took time out of a mission to get him a bed—a ridiculously expensive bed, I must add—but I’ve only seen him in it once!”

“He gets lonely.”

“But you and I had more time together when we lived apart! It’s not just while in bed; it’s all the time!”

“That isn’t true, Kylo. I just take care of him,” you explained.

“But you’re always with him!”

You lifted your head to look at him fully over the massive wolf’s. “Are you jealous?”

A muscle flickered in Kylo’s jaw, before he shook his head and turned his back to the two of you. “This is ridiculous.”

“How is it ridiculous? I love him.”

“You say that about me too, but that must not matter.”

“Oh come on. Now who’s being ridiculous? ” you reached for his arm just to have it fall.

Kylo abruptly rose to his feet and snatched the map off the floor loud enough to wake (W/N).

“Oh no. I woke him up,” Kylo mocked. “Maybe you should sing him to sleep.”

You listened to the sound of his heavy footsteps exit the bedroom, too in shock to say anything more.

The most feared being in the entire galaxy, and he was jealous of a pet.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

“Don’t you go far.”

It had been a few days since Kylo fully voiced his feelings of envy. You had tried to bring them up, but he insisted he was too busy to talk. At night, he would return after you had fallen asleep. It was as though he was avoiding you, but you tried to comfort yourself by saying he genuinely was busy with upcoming mission.

It commenced today and far in the distance, you could hear the battle rage on.

Sometimes, you would join if you felt it was necessary, but you much preferred strategizing over fighting. Today was expected to be easy, so you remained with the ship—and W/N of course.

He was now sniffing away at the several rocks, trees, and bushes. You loved watching him be free of the doors and walls. You yourself loved being outside of them as well.

While part of you was always tense while Kylo was in battle, you tried find peace in his unbelievable abilities, along with your beautiful surroundings.

You succeeded for the longest time, but then W/N went still. Ears stood fully erect atop his head as he sniffed the air. Second later, a growl began to sound from deep in his chest. It was one that would send most sprinting away without a second thought.

With each moment that passed, the warning to the unknown intensified until his sharp, lethal teeth were fully exposed.

Your hand instinctively reached for your blaster at the sound of a breaking branch.

And then they appeared.

It was a group of six Rebels—all armed. But thankfully, you were as well.

“Stay, W/N!” you commanded.

You were trained prior to meeting Kylo, and your skills had only bettered since. You didn’t think you’d need to put your beloved pet in harms way. And as you watched the final man fall, you believed you had been right.

But then something happened quicker than your brain could process. A weaponless man came running from the bushes and launched himself at you.

He was fast—fast enough to tackle you to the ground and attempt to reach for your throat—but W/N was faster.

The man screamed as the wolf’s powerful jaws latched onto his shoulder, ripping him off of you. Your attacker was dragged away, as though W/N knew what he was going to do was something you wouldn’t want to see.

Flailing limbs disappeared in the thick bushes, but the screams and growling continued. Then suddenly, it was silent.

“W/N?”

You breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of your wolf prancing towards you.

You lowered yourself to your knees and hugged him tightly, feeling him nuzzle his snout against your shoulder.

The embrace lasted only moments before he turned and looked exactly as he did before. After a few sniffs though, he sat down beside you with a tail beginning to wag.

Out of the trees appeared the Supreme Leader and a unit of Stormtroopers. All of them looked at each other.

“What?” you asked, standing to you feet.

“You did this?” Kylo asked, motioning towards the scattered bodies.

You only nodded.

The mask was the removed to show the prideful smile on your lover’s face.

“I’m not surprised.”

“It wasn’t just me,” you told him, and all gazes fell to W/N. “One appeared out of nowhere and attempted to kill me. It was him who saved me.”

A tail thumped against the ground as Kylo approached. Blood stained teeth were revealed when the wolf gave the Supreme Leader his best smile.

Your heart suddenly warmed at the sight of the expression being returned.

Speaking as though he was a proud father, Kylo praised him by saying, “I’m sure it was a horrible as it sounded. Good boy.”

You moved closer and placed your arms tightly around your lover, who leaned to firmly kiss your lips in greeting.

“Does that mean you’ll help me brush his teeth tonight?”

“You must be joking. Why would a wolf need his teeth brushed?”

“Because they’re dirty of course. I don’t want to risk the blood making him sick.”

With a sigh and a shaking head, but also a smile breaking its way thought, the Prince of Darkness surrendered to the both of you. “I’ll help you, and we’ll give him a bath to make sure all of it gets out of his fur. He deserves some pampering I suppose.”

| Masterlist |

#sorry if this sucks #kylo ren fluff #kylo ren x reader #kylo x you #kylo ren imagine #star wars fanfic #star wars x reader #kylo ren fanfiction #star wars imagine #kylo x reader #kylo x y/n #Star Wars #kylo ren #adam driver x reader #adam driver #x reader #star wars fanfiction

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canyouhearthelight · 4 years ago

Text

The Miys, Ch. 127

Annnnd a-one, and a-two, and a queue-queue-queue!

This chapter has one of my favorite things in the world to write - Interpersonal relationships (if you are surprised, I’m going to assume you are new here....).

Specifically, one of my biggest pet-peeves is when friends or siblings are written in a way that shows that the author doesn’t actually have any friends or siblings they are close enough to that all rules of societal politeness go whizzing into some far-off dimension as soon as they are in proximity.

When I get to write a chapter with such close friends/ersatz-siblings and also have @baelpenrose cackling and egging me on, it literally makes my whole day.

P.S: If anyone has wondered about the ages of the characters, several are clearly lined out in this chapter......

EDIT: Fixed some insane formatting issues.

“The food festival, Sophia? Really?” an incredulous voice asked before the door to my office even opened all the way.

I resisted the urge to scream, but did surrender to pinching the bridge of my nose and breathing slowly. “Hello, Arthur. Do come in. Long time no see. Of course I’m not busy…” My one day each week to have a few hours to myself - no mentees, no assistant, even Tyche was off work….

“We saw each other last night when I came over for dinner after sparring with Conor, and you’re never busy on Saturdays, Alistair makes sure of it.” He dragged a chair in front of my desk for what I felt was the sole purpose of putting his boots on my desk instead of the conference table.

“I thought you two didn’t even like each other, how did you - “

He waved a hand dismissively. “Enemy of my best friend’s enemy is my friend, that sort of thing. Anyway - “

“Did you just call me my own worst - “

“You are, let’s not pretend otherwise. Anyway.” Arthur arched an eyebrow at me and waited for any further objections, but I couldn’t think of any. “The Food Festival. It’s my one favorite tradition on this ship until armed combat becomes a spectator sport, and you are putting Parvati and Hannah in charge of it?”

After a beat pause to make sure he was done, I glared at him. “Everyone has asked me that, and I don’t understand the issue. They’ve both helped in the past, even before they started training to replace me. I’ve handed more and more off to them each time, and they did great! Plus, they have three months, it will be fi - Wait, why do you even care, Arthur?”

He held up one finger with the authority of a deity who would have smited me if he could. “One, Parvati Fletcher does not like mapo tofu. You do. Specifically, you like it from that one vendor who grows her own Sichuan peppercorns and uses them like they are an infinite resource. Two, I spend entirely too much time working with Zach Khan, and he won’t shut up about how stressed Hannah is. Three - “ I was seriously starting to get concerned he actually could smite me at this point - “As much as I love you in the most platonic way possible, you are an obsessive, compulsive perfectionist who insists on doing everything herself and running herself into the ground so that everyone else has the time of their lives. So why are you trusting this, the largest and oldest event on the Ark, entirely to other people?” Dropping his boots from the desk, he leaned forward, palms down until we were nearly nose to nose.

“Sophia Reid, I swear on any god I can kill if you are dying…”

“WHAT!?” I squawked, jerking back and standing so fast I knocked my chair over. “For the love of little fish, I’m not dying! I haven’t had a near death experience in four years, thank you.”

“Three, not counting the fact that there is a reason Alistair makes you drink anything through a straw anymore.”

“How did - Nevermind.” I shook my head and tried to focus on the topic at hand. “No, I’m not dying. Nor am I injured, having a midlife crisis, rethinking my life choices any more than I ever do, or so much as in possession of a stuffy nose.” Taking a deep breath, I rolled my eyes and started counting off before I could stop myself. “Conor and Maverick and I are fine. No, I’m not arguing with Tyche again. Yes, I’m still going to therapy. Else is fine. No new sentient plagues or rogue cult leaders that I’m aware of. Nor have I become immortal, queen of the universe, savior of humanity, pregnant by Noah, or possessed.” Carefully, I picked my chair back up and sat down.

“Good...to… know?” He gave me a funny look. “Who asked the most disturbing one?”

“Immortal or Savior of Humanity?” I asked for clarification. “Those were Maverick and Derek, respectively.”

The look only got worse. “I meant ‘pregnant by Noah’, but fascinating to see where your priorities lie….?”

“Oh. That was Charly.”

“Dammit,” he swore softly. “I had her pegged for ‘possessed’.”

“I’m pretty sure she is, but the suggestion that I am came from Tyche, on no fewer than 3 occasions, by 4 different entities. She seemed pretty hopeful that Else was potentially mind-controlling me in an effort to make me take a nap,” I admitted.

“That tracks.” A nod of approval prefaced the question I had been avoiding - successfully, thus far, I might add. “Now that you’ve ruled out every possible plausible reason that you would entrust this to literally anyone other than a clone of yourself, why?”

“Why what?” My face was composed in an expression of innocence so convincing that I probably deserved an Oscar.

“I can and will convince Charly to turn all your coffee to decaf, so help me, Sophia.”

Realizing that he was, legitimately, worried about me and at the limits of his usually-impressive patience, I held up my hands in surrender. “Fine. You get the scoop. Please record this and send me the loop, so I can just flick it at people who ask, please?” When he nodded, I exhaled slowly. “It is no secret to anyone that I never wanted this job. I made the mistake of establishing the Food Festival, which as you point out is the largest event of the cycle on the Ark - the last three years, literally everyone attended in some capacity.” When he opened his mouth to argue, I held up a hand to stop him. “Don’t get me wrong. I love the Festival. What basically started out as a potluck because we were homesick and needed to meet - you know, the rest of humanity - is a huge, three day holiday. It’s amazing!” I spun in my chair, arms flung wide for emphasis, before stopping to face him.

“It also consumes my life, for months, to prepare for. And that’s just implementing changes to make it more accessible so people don’t miss out! That doesn’t include adding things to make it more interesting or keep it from getting boring, or whatever. I literally don’t have time to do any of that!”

“So, you’re inflicting this on them instead?”

“Inflicting?” I snorted. “Hardly. This is their final exam, their capstone project, their dissertation. If they pull this off, I will gladly hand the entire office over to whoever is elected, cheerfully and knowing the Ark is in good hands. But, they have to pull this off. It’s the only major part of being Councilor of Resources and Relations that they haven’t done yet by themselves.”

He rubbed his face, looking somewhat impressed. “That’s honestly not what I was expecting.”

“I don’t think it ever is, honestly.” I shrugged at the question he glanced towards me. “For Evan, it was coordinating the weapons exhibitions. Charly managed to pre-empt her own by designing more efficient aqueducts and filtration for when we reach Von - you know, the ones that also produce light?”

“Of course she would invent glow-in-the-dark plumbing. Who else?” Something caught up with him. “Evania Josue got away with planning an event? Seriously?”

“Oh, that’s right… you weren’t on Level One…” I murmured. When he only looked more confused, I clarified. “She was Maverick’s co-pilot when we needed people to pilot the Ark, which was not designed to pilot manually, via dead reckoning, using cameras pointed out the few viewports we have, for several weeks after the sensors were sabotaged.”

“She was whose co-pilot?”

“You really never heard this story? You practically live with seven people who were there…”

“Usually I get the bits about ‘Sophia nearly got her brains bashed out’ and ‘that traitorous bitch’, then start tuning out while I try to decide what it would take to get Charly to teach me necromancy… If Evan was the co-pilot, then why is Maverick….”

“Not in line to replace any Councilors? Arthur, we know that would be a disaster for him.”

He nodded reluctantly. “Your younger partner is a nice boy.”

“For fuck’s sake, he’s thirty seven!” I groaned.

“Nice man, whatever,” he waved off. “Which is exactly what I would like for you as a partner. You need nice partners, and blunt siblings. But I see what you mean about him being a Councilor… he’d be miserable.”

“What was yours?” I asked mischievously, dropping my chin onto my hands.

That earned me a flat stare, until he finally surrendered when I didn’t flinch. “The Twentieth/Early Twenty First History curriculum.”

“Seriously?” That had literally been the first thing he had done when Eino tapped him as a possible successor.

“I didn’t budge on points even he admitted he would have, out of fear of offending people.”

“Which is a fear you very much lack,” I pointed out.

“The truth is the truth. Coating it in sugar only makes it taste worse.” He shrugged nonchalantly before suddenly looking dangerously like he was thinking again. “There’s two of them.”

“Yes, Arthur. Hanna and Paravati are, in fact, two distinct and separate women-type-lady-people.”

“Thank you, Fee, I was well aware.” I suppressed a growl at the nickname - he knew I hated it. “I meant, only one can win the election, smartass.”

“Better to be a smartass than a dumbass,” I muttered.

“Sophia, you are forty five. Please grow up just a hair?”

“Tyche doesn’t want to be HR forever, you know.”

That brought his mind to a visibly screeching halt. “Wait, what?”

“What what?” I asked. “She does it because she is phenomenal at it, but it isn’t her passion. She only stuck around as long as she did to make sure I didn’t trip over a chair and brain myself while I was at work. When I’m gone, she’s gone, loser take the spoils.”

He whistled softly before shaking his head. “It’s bizarre to think of you two retiring around the same time I’m just starting the position.”

“I’ll have been a Councilor for a decade when I step down,” I pointed out. I almost included unless I die first, but that never seemed to be as funny as I thought it was.

“But you aren’t that much older than me,” he sighed dramatically. “Anti-aging technology is frustrating.”

“Annnnd this is a natural extension of your career, with a ten year break thereabouts the middle.” My grin was so bright it made him scowl before I finally got a begrudging smile. “Think of it as getting elected head of the school board.”

The groan he let out probably echoed for several levels throughout the ship. I had basically just pointed out that he was becoming that which he most hated.

Or not. He seemed to recover with a gleam in his eye. “Pfft. Dean of Students, at the very least.”

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#the miys #humans are weird #found family #siblings #humans will pack bond with anything #aliens #post apocalyse #post post apocalypse #science fiction #original science fiction #haw #hfy

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a-singleboat · 4 years ago

Text

Virtual Reality

Word Count: 2.4k

Request: hi! if your taking requests, i was wondering if you could write a damien x reader, where they meet through Twitch? add anything else you want i always love everything you write, thanks so much!! - anon

Warning(s): like, one swear

It was a Thursday night when you first met him, or rather, heard of him. You had been streaming for five hours heading into your sixth when you decided it might be time for you to log off for the night. As per usual, you took at least thirty minutes at the end of your stream just to talk with your viewers, usually about how their lives were going in exchange for a story from your own day.

Tonight, however, there was an influx of people asking if you’d ever heard of a streamer by the name of Damien Haas, which you hadn’t, and if you would do a collaboration with the man anytime soon. Apparently, your content was eerily similar and you were, and I quote, “Practically the female version of him, looks aside.”

“Damien Haas…” you rolled yourself back closer to your desk, hands settled on your keyboard. You typed his name into the search bar, patiently waiting for Twitch to pull up his account. You clicked into the first one, making an impressed face at the purple checkmark next to his name. You squinted at the screen. “Is this him? In the profile picture with the LEDs in the background?”

You glanced at your chat, chuckling as the viewers started spamming ‘yes’ and ‘oh my god it’s happening,’ and your personal favorite, ‘mom come pick me up the best crossover of 2020 is happening and im SCARED.’

“He plays a lot of Animal Crossing,” you observed, clicking on one of his videos and dragging the tab onto your main monitor so the stream could see it. You skipped through the beginning part, biting into a pretzel as you watched.

“He’s kinda cute,” you commented, laughing as your stream freaked out once more. There were a few people commenting what looked like it could be a ship name though you ignored it. “Shame I’d never meet him, though.”

You paused his video, taking note of the time, before rolling out your shoulders. “I think it’s time for me to head out so I’m gonna end this stream with a huge thank you to you all for sticking with me through this entire stream and if you didn’t stay the entire time, I’m glad you decided to join in on the ride even halfway through. I’ll see you guys next time.”

You ended the stream, waving goodbye to your viewers before the light went out and you could relax the smile off your face. Don’t get it twisted, you loved streaming and you loved your viewers but just like any other job, it could get exhausting at times. You shut down your monitors, the screens turning blue before fading to black. You stretched, taking your phone up from its charger and launching yourself into bed, opening your phone and clicking on Twitter.

Much like staying thirty minutes after you were done streaming to talk to viewers, you usually went on Twitter right after to answer questions and respond to DMs. This time, however, instead of opening the app to see a bunch of post-stream questions, your mentions were filled with the video clip of you saying, “He’s kinda cute,” as well as maybe a million people tagging both you and Damien in them.

Well, shit.

Soon enough, that was all that filled your timeline. You couldn’t move in one direction without running into another screencap of you admiring the man. God, you knew the consequences but something in the back of your mind was urging you to reach out to him.

After a few moments of contemplation, the lonely side of you won out, forcing you to message him against your better judgment. Without even thinking about it, you found his Twitter and sent this message:

Hey, I’m sorry about your mentions blowing up because of me tonight. My viewers recommended your Twitch to me and I spoke without thinking about it on Live.

And with no expectation of his response, you fell asleep right there with your phone on your chest and the DM still open.

You woke up the next morning with a sore neck and a dead phone, which was a terrible way to start your day. You rolled over, plugging your device into an outlet before crawling out of bed to start your day. When you weren’t streaming, you worked as a freelance editor for different YouTubers, helping their editors with their workload or even staying on as a Temp for different companies. Occasionally you edited the odd commercial here and there, but those gigs were rare.

Most recently, you had received some material from a group of YouTubers, Smosh. This job was different, however, because if you did well on this you could be looking at a permanent place of employment through their parent company, Mythical Entertainment.

You knew Mythical Entertainment, it was hard not to, especially since your aunt was one of the producers within the company, but tended to ignore everything the company did. The last you’d heard, they’d onboarded another YouTube group (which you did later find out to be Smosh, the same YouTubers whose video you were hired to edit).

After a quick shower and a half-assed attempt at a proper breakfast, you were ready to start your day. You situated yourself behind your monitors, opening the video clips that had been sent to you. The first was a sample video, something that gave you insight on what their editing style was actually like.

But imagine your surprise when you’re staring down the same man you have called cute the night before, his approximately five-eleven stance taking up one-sixth of the space. He was standing next to a blond, who had been marked as “Shayne Topp.”

Despite there being five other people in frame, your eyes kept moving back to Damien’s figure, watching his mannerisms through the screen and laughing along to his jokes when they fell upon deaf ears.

Your eyes slid over to your phone, now decently charged after sitting for so long. On your screen were dozens of notifications. There were maybe two from your mom, asking if you’d be coming home for dinner sometime that week but the majority came from Twitter. You picked up the device, unlocking and responding to your mom with a, “yes,” before opening Twitter.

Nothing much had changed from the night prior. Your mentions were still being flooded with the video from last night but newer content had been ushered in, namely fan edits using footage from your streams and, you assumed, his.

The only major difference, however, was the fact that Damien had responded to your DM from the night prior. The first message read:

It’s really no problem! My stream had mentioned your name before, too.

Followed by the second:

P.S. I think you’re cute, too.

You couldn’t believe your eyes. Mr. Damien Haas, the man that you had made a thoughtless comment on stream about, also thought that you were cute. Suddenly, the fact that you had been staring at him for the past hour seemed less stalkerish and more like a blooming crush. You wrote back:

Aw, thanks! Have you seen the newer fan edits? They’re all so talented.

You cringed at yourself. A cute boy started talking to you and you’ve suddenly forgotten how to be suave, not that you really were in the first place. But still, you liked to think you had some tact when talking to people that you found attractive.

Not even a moment later, there came a response.

Yes, I have, he responded. And I agree! They are all very talented individuals.

You looked from the monitor in front of you. You had about a quarter of the footage left to go through before you could start editing but this technically wasn’t due until the following night. Feeling emboldened by the fact that he had actually responded, you replied:

Are you going to TwitchCon on Friday? We should meet up or something.

Anxiously you awaited his response, taking his silence as an opportunity to watch a bit more of the footage and take down notes according to the sample they’d given you. Roughly thirty minutes later is when the next response came in, reading as an affirmative to both questions.

You didn’t respond, choosing to leave your social media for after you’d finished editing the video. Your heart still pounded, however. Just the thought that there was a possibility for the two of you to meet was, simply put, insane. You’d just heard of the guy the night before and decided that he was going to be your latest hyperfixation.

But who could blame you? He was a nice, funny guy that showed the slightest bit of attraction towards you. It didn’t help that you were a sucker for guys that were nice to you.

Fast forward to the Friday of TwitchCon, also known as the first day of TwitchCon. You and Damien had been talking steadily over Twitter DMs and just last night you had gained his phone number, giving you even more access to the man than you had before. But of course, who were you if you didn’t tease your fans with the prospect of you meeting.

The night before, at the end of your stream, you’d given your fans the little tidbit of information that you and Damien were, in fact, planning on meeting up sometime during TwitchCon and would be greeting fans together for an hour at your booth.

That sent Twitter into a frenzy, both of your combined fans getting your ship name to trend within the hour, which confused the hell out of a bunch of locals.

It was nearing the time you and Damien had set to meet up. The plan was you’d meet around twelve for lunch, take an hour for yourselves, before going back to your booth and meeting with fans for an hour or so as promised.

You had never been more nervous than you were in that moment. Not only were you about to meet your three-day-old crush but apparently a very popular YouTuber. You tried not to let the thought mess with your head. One of your friends, Wilbur Soot (who you played Minecraft with from time to time) was poking fun at you for being nervous about meeting a popular YouTuber.

After three years of streaming and gaining a solid following, you’d think you’d be used to meeting other popular content creators. But because it was him, you found yourself unable to think straight.

“What if I fuck up?” you asked Wilbur anxiously. He’d flown in from London for this event at your insistence and because you’d offered to pay half his airfare to get there and back. He didn’t have his own booth as his arrival was very last minute, but he didn’t mind. He signed the occasional poster though his main purpose was to provide you mental and emotional support.

“You won’t fuck up,” he comforted, leafing through one of the comics a fan had given you. The entire thing was hand-drawn, which was an insane fact in itself. It looked professional, which was what blew you away when you’d received it. “Well, you won’t fuck up as badly as you did when you first met Schlatt.”

You groaned in embarrassment. “Don’t remind me.”

Long story short, you’d dumped a red in color slushy on the man accidentally after tripping over an unmarked cable. It really wasn’t your fault but the boys hadn’t let you live it down since then.

Half a moment later, Wilbur was poking your side. “Is that him?” he asked, jabbing his pointer finger into your side while looking in the opposite direction. He was looking at a familiar figure walking down the hallway toward your booth. He stopped for a moment to take a photo with a fan, talking to them about something, before continuing on his way toward you.

Your eyes locked and you gave him a smile while trying to beat Wilbur into no longer poking you. He stopped when you slapped his arm the first time, sticking his tongue at you before going on his phone. You rolled your eyes at his half-assed attempt of pretending he wasn’t about to start listening in on your conversation.

“Hey, Y/n, right?” Damien asked as he approached. You nodded, reaching out for a handshake but becoming pleasantly surprised when he instead pulled you in for a hug.

“You ready for lunch?” you asked glaring slightly at Wilbur as he made kissy faces over Damien’s shoulder. Luckily, Damien hadn’t noticed your moron of a best friend.

“Yeah, I saw this sushi place on the way in if you wanted to try that?”

“I’d be down,” you agreed, reaching behind your table to grab your bag. Wilbur was set to meet with a few other Minecraft streamers, meaning you didn’t have to worry about him while you had lunch. You looked over your shoulder, making sure everything was set for you to leave before saying goodbye to Wilbur.

Over the course of lunch, you and Damien had gotten to know each other pretty well. Once the conversation moved away from your fans and, well, work, and more into personal details, you found that you actually weren’t all that similar. For starters, Damien loved watching anime while your guilty pleasure was Gilmore Girls. The one show you both had a love for, however, was Avatar the Last Airbender, which made sense.

Another thing was that he actually enjoyed being in front of the camera while you tolerated it on most days, really only putting on your face cam for the last thirty minutes on most days. Despite that, he still classified himself as an introvert.

You returned back to your booth much later than you anticipated, thoroughly shocked at the line that had formed with Wilbur at the front of it, entertaining the fans that had shown up early to meet both you and Damien.

“Y/n!” one fan called, pointing in your direction. Immediately, the entire line turned and gaped at the sight of you and Damien walking together. You greeted them happily, stopping for pictures and verbally promising that you’d stay until you got to meet everyone personally.

“You really love your fans,” Damien observed as you put your things back down behind the table. Wilbur had set up shop on your right side, chatting with a few people at the front of the line.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere without them,” you admitted, pulling a silver sharpie from your bag. You handed a gold one to Damien. “I also wouldn’t have gotten to meet you without them, which I’m still sorry about, by the way. Your feed must have been chaotic.”

“You have no idea,” he chuckled. “But everything happens for a reason.”

You nodded, grinning up at him. “Yes, they do.”

Permanent

@beautiful-holland @toms-order @starlightfound @grandmascottlang @positiveparker @bippity-boppity-boopa @caswinchester2000 @andreasworlsboring101 @imladylunaticbitch

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twokinkybeans · 4 years ago

Note

Hello! I absolutely love all of your stories! I have a request, can you do a Starker story where Peter and his class go on a field trip to stark tower? I don’t really mind what happens there I just really want to see the ship. If you can thanks so much 💗

CHAPTER 2: BACKPACK

(Read chapter 1: Science Rules on Tumblr / AO3)

Summary: Peter is 14. Recently got his Spider powers and is no longer friends with Flash. Ned is in the picture. They go on a high school excursion and Peter is set on finding Tony to ask if he can join the Avengers. Side note: Tony is not romantically/sexually interested in Peter until chapter 3, when they are in an established relationship. Warnings: Angst. They talk about death whilst not actually mentioning it. Flash is an absolute asshole as always.

Rating: Mature (just to be sure for later on lol).

I actually had this one finished last Sunday but never got around to posting it. It isn’t edited at all, so I hope you enjoy! :P -Lien

“Mister Thompson, if you don’t take a seat this instant, it’ll be detention for you,” Mister Harrington threatens. Flash immediately presses his ass back into his seat and grins at Peter from a distance. They might resent each other now, but their infinite common interest in science, technology and Tony Stark has never faded. They don’t really talk to each other anymore and Peter is not expecting their broken friendship to ever be mended. Not with how Flash treats him these days, at least. The first cracks in their friendship appeared during their last visit to Stark Industries, when Flash became jealous of Peter for spending time with Tony. Flash’s behavior completely changed with his growing popularity at Midtown High. With regards to friendships, he ended up choosing quantity over quality. This resulted in him attempting to gain the schoolkids’ favors by bullying. Since Peter used to be his friend, he became an easy target. Peter might miss what they once had, but at least he managed to trade his friendship with Flash for an even better one. Ned Leeds enabled his geeky side and ever since the boy had helped Peter up after Flash had pushed him to the floor the first time, they became inseparable. Obviously, the school wanted to go to Avengers Tower to get them interested in pursuing careers in science and technology. Something both Ned and Peter already kind of were. As excited as everyone was to get a look inside the labs and workshops, there is a significantly higher interest in getting a glimpse of not just Tony Stark, but of any of the Avengers, now that Stark Tower has been rebirthed as Avengers Tower. However, there was another occupation that Peter also took interest in now that he had gained his Spider powers a little over half a year ago. Becoming an Avenger was his number one career dream. He’d no longer just help the little guy. He’d be able to help everyone. There’s nothing Peter wanted more than to run into Tony again like he did when they had the class trip in middle school. Maybe Peter could train under him? Learn from him? Tony would be the Master to his Padawan. He’d be an Avenger. All he needed right now was the courage to actually ask. Well, he’d have to find Tony- or any Avenger for that matter- first. … The second they set foot in the building, Peter grabs his bag and takes out the Science Rules cap that he wore as a child. He didn’t expect Tony to actually recognize him after all these years, but at least he has one point of reference he could fall back on. Security reminds him he’s not allowed to wear the cap inside, so he opts to attach it to his belt and have it hang from his hip. Flash makes an off-handed comment about it, but Peter ignores him. It still baffles Peter that Flash seems to feel no remorse for joking about the cap that he knows was Peter’s father’s. After the first two hours of the excursion Peter already starts losing hope. Most locations they go to are quite secluded and it’s not easy to get away from the security’s watchful eyes. They had to put their bags in a locker room earlier, so save for his web shooters, Peter couldn’t show Tony the suit he'd so proudly put together. If he would ever run into him. After hour three they’re finally allowed to go into the labs and actually do some tests themselves. Most of the materials they work with are quite harmless. The only thing that really could hurt them if they’re not careful is the bottle of slightly diluted bleach on their desks. At least all of the students want to make a good impression on Stark’s scientists, so they’re all on their best behavior. Everyone, but… “Whoopsies,” Flash deadpans next to Peter. The teen looks up surprised from his own workbench to see Flash, who is stationed next to him, purposefully elbow the bleach bottle. The opening up top is small, but some of the liquid still splashes out of it. Onto Peter’s hip. Peter stares at the cap that now has bleach splattered all over it and then back up at Flash who grins. “Guess it really is a one of a kind now.” Peter runs away from his spot to one of the security guards. He doesn’t trust himself to not start crying if he actually takes time to ask his question properly so all he can blurt out is: “Toilet?” The guard sees Peter’s panic and lets him out. “Uh, there’s one on the left right there.” “Th-thank-“ Water. Peter needs water right now. Needs to wash it out, even though the fabric is already lightening. Who knows, maybe he could wash it out with the tears that are forming in the corners of his eyes. He rushes and throws open the door, immediately starting the stream of water and shoving the cap under it. The further he can dilute the bleach, the better. His left hand clutches the little tag on the inside in an attempt to keep anything from spilling into it and messing up his father’s handwriting. A soft sob escapes his throat, but he’s startled to hear a urinal flush in one of the stalls. He sniffs and attempts to wipe away the tears with the elbow of his shirt. When he hears the door unlock he looks down in a half-assed attempt to focus on cleaning the cap. He bites on the inside of his cheek and clenches his jaw, feeling the presence of the man from the stall emerge. The man casually washes his hands next to Peter but his movement suddenly halts. “Peter?” Peter could recognize that voice in his sleep. His heart beats loudly in his chest and the world is spinning. He blinks before whipping his head up to lock eyes with Tony Stark. “Jeez, you’ve grown.” The man’s brows curl together at the look on Peter’s face. The boy breaks eye contact and looks forward into the mirror, only to realize his cheeks are red and his eyes are puffed. “What the hell happened?” There’s a moment of silence. Peter barely realizes that Tony recognized him. Knows him, still. Is concerned for him. Peter’s mouth opens and closes and he takes a breath before looking back down at the cap and continuing to attempt to wash out the bleach. “Bleach,” he mumbles. “Didn’t take you to be that clumsy.” “Wasn’t wearing it.” “Still.” Peter scrubs more aggressively now, tears threatening to spill again. He’s making a fool of himself and he wishes he could just disappear. “Hey,” Tony says quietly. “Hey-“ Peter’s eyes widen at a hand suddenly holding onto his lower arm. Peter’s frozen where he stands and can only watch defeated as Tony turns off the tap. Only now he feels how wet his cheeks are. When did he start crying again? “Damage’s already been done.” Tony takes the cap out of Peter’s hands and studies the lightened splotches on the front. “Don’t you think this looks cool?” He tries. “Don’t want it to look cool.” “I’m sure your dad won’t-“ Tony stops himself, knowing exactly why he shouldn’t finish his thought. He sucks at his teeth and looks away. “Sorry, how’s your mom?” Peter nearly laughs at Tony’s inability to read the room. “She was with him.” Mortified at his previous decision on how to continue the conversation, Tony takes a step back. Peter looks down at his wet hands and adds: “It’s okay.” “To be honest, no, not really. Are you taken care of?” “My aunt.” “Didn’t Richard have a brother?” Peter looks up again and grimaces, feeling like every word falling from Tony’s lips is a stab to the heart. “Fuck, I’m-“ “It’s okay.” “It’s not.” Tony shakes his head and moves closer to Peter again. “I’m sorry, kid.” The man scoffs. “I used to be better at this… Well, no actually, that’s a lie.” Peter swallows as the two just stare at each other in silence for a few seconds, neither of them sure where to go with this. The boy then clears his throat and moves to stand up straight. “I am, eh… Here on another excursion.” “High school this time, I presume? Or are you in uni already?” “Parents wanted me to have a somewhat normal childhood, so they didn’t want me to get ahead that far. My aunt honors that wish.” Peter now properly washes his hands, since his hands had started to tingle from the bleach. “Aren’t you bored out of your mind, then?” Peter raises his eyebrows and chuckles. “Maybe.” Tony’s wrist beeps and he takes a glance at his watch, sighing exasperated. He heads for the door and hands Peter the cap back on his trek. “Pete, I’m sorry, I gotta go. Give reception a call-“ No, is all Peter can think. Before he can form a rational though, he reaches out and webs Tony’s hand to the door handle, locking both of them in the bathroom. Tony stares down at the substance keeping the door shut and his hand attached to it. “What the-“ “I want to join the Avengers.” Peter is ready to hit himself in the head. That question was way too direct and now he’s really done it. Tony laughs surprised. “Oh, bother. You’re Spider-Guy?” Peter’s eyes widen. The man hadn’t said no. “Spider-Man.” “Right.” “Wait, aren’t you fourteen?” Tony asks confused. Peter’s aware his physique as Spider-Man is wildly different from what he appears as in daily life. “And a half.” “Kid, if that really is you, you need to stop before you get in over your head, okay?” Tony wants to step towards him, but is held back by the webbing. “You think I’m lying?” Peter crosses his arms offended. “Well, no, but-“ The billionaire shakes his head at the substance and scoffs. “You’re putting yourself in danger when you shouldn’t.” “I’m not stopping.” “What- are you an adrenaline junkie? Please, don’t tell me you’re doing this because of me. It’s not worth it, I promise you.” Peter stares at the wet cap in his hands. “Not everything’s about you.” He wishes he swallowed those words, but Tony seemed to be self- aware enough, taking the comment somewhat gracefully. “Then what is it about?” “Half a year ago I got these… Powers.” Peter raises his hands up to look at them and sighs. “I’m stronger and faster… And I- well…” He trails off and pulls his face together in a frown. “When you can do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen? They happen because of you.” “As inspiring as that is, you shouldn’t be doing any of the stuff I’ve seen in those videos.” Tony’s pulls at his wrist and swears silently. “Jesus, what is this made of?” “You… Watched the videos?” “Yeah, kid, I did, now please get this stuff off me?” “Right! It usually dissolves after two to three hours, but I have a dissolver in…” Peter falls silent as he realizes that what he needs is locked away by security. “Kid,” Tony threatens. “My backpack.”

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digi-tama-in-your-pocket · 4 years ago

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Sloppy little v-pet guide

It feels like the virtual pet community on tumblr is super small and mostly favors Tamagotchi, I feel way unqualified to do this, but here’s a quick, super basic guide to the modern Digimon virtual pets that I know of ( I say modern but I use the term loosely because they’re all very much nostalgia bait )

If you really don’t know anything about virtual pets at all... they’re little LCD key chain games, pet simulators, you feed them and train/play with them to fill up their heart meters, clean up their poop, put them to bed, treat injuries and sickness, watch them grow into new forms, and try to keep them from dying, Digimon sets itself apart from the rest by connecting to to other Digimon V-pets to do battles and more.

One thing to note is that Most, if not all V-pets can connect to each other even if they’re not the same version. They have a very basic battle system in place if they’re different versions, but it’s slightly more involved if they’re the same version. ( There’s even a fan made device that can connect them to battle online and play in an online digimon game )

Last thing i’ll say is that if you are thinking of getting a Japanese v-pet, all the ones I mention here are in english, with the exception of the digimon’s name, but that can be looked up by looking over one of the evolution trees on Humulosmon’s website, Digitama Hatchery.

Perhaps I should move this to it’s own FAQ section on my blog but who even opens people’s blogs anymore? With that out of the way, let’s get this started under a read more!

Digital Monster Ver. 20th ( AKA the DM 20th )

This is the most accessible and affordable Digimon V-pet on the market right now. So affordable that even though Bandai has issued slightly improved versions in Japan for twice the price, most Japanese fans prefer to import these from overseas to save money. Some people have sighted them at Target for $5 but you’ll typically find them for $20.

They look just like the original Digimon virtual pet, but they are actually a special 20th anniversary edition that has some new features... new features that, for some reason, Bandai are not advertising at all, and I don’t know why.

New features not in the original virtual pet include:

Choose from all 5 of the original digimon eggs on one device

Battle the AI opponents in a Colosseum mode

Raise two digimon at the same time

Your two Digimon can tag-team battle, and some can even fuse into a new digimon ( this is called Jogress, short for “joint progress” )

Put your digimon down for a nap for up to three hours hours in case you’re busy

Keep a log of all the different Digimon you’ve raised, giving you a goal to fill it out

New forms that were not present in the original virtual pets

New unlockable eggs with special digimon inside

You can actually load your save data, so if you need to take a break from your v-pet or you have a low battery, you can just pop out the battery without fear of losing your digimon or your log book progress.

This is the v-pet i’d recommend to everyone who’s interest in Digimon V-pets. It does have it’s downsides though. This v-pet is programmed to poop a lot more frequently than other v-pets for some reason, which becomes a real problem if you’re busy or you over sleep ( pro-tip, set your digimon’s clock ahead a bit so it wakes up when you do. All Digimon wake up at 7AM ), there are also some exclusive eggs locked to certain colors of the device. You’ll have to do a little research on that. Digitama Hatchery has all the info you need on that subject. It’s also fairly basic compared to other virtual pets, but not by a lot. And lastly, you cannot pause this pet. ( Pro tip, actually you can, but you have to press the reset button to do it )

As mentioned earlier, there is a new version of this device called the Digital Monster Ver. Revival, exclusive to Japan. It lessens the poop frequency, and has a proper pause funtion instead of naps. But it’s twice the price, so I’d say you just put down $20 on the western release.

Digimon Pendulum Ver. 20th ( AKA the Pen 20th )

These are a lot like the Digital Monster Ver. 20th. But instead of being a special reprint of the original virtual pet, they’re a special reprint of the Digimon Pendulum, which didn’t come out in the west as far as I know. The main difference here is that instead of button mashing to battle and train, you shake the device repeatedly. You have to get to know the rhythm and number of shakes your digimon requires to get the best results.

The key difference between this v-pet and the one above:

They poop a lot less frequently than the DM20th, even when there’s two digimon

The sound is very different

You still get multiple eggs on each device, but with far more exclusives.

You can pause them by putting them to sleep when it’s not their natural bed time

Device makes a subtle sound when the Digimon poops so you know when to clean it

They wake up at 8AM instead of 7AM

A lot more of the digimon can Jogress, in fact most of them can

The eggs are somewhat themed ( beast, aquatic, robots, evil, good, ect. )

These Digimon are very desireable, but they’re also unfortunately very overpriced compared to the DM 20th, as they only came out in Japan. I don’t even want to mention how much I paid to get two of them... They come in four colors, Silver black, Silver Blue were wave 1, and Beelzemon, and Dukemon themed devices were wave 2... The wave 1 and wave 2 devices share a lot of digimon, but they do have some exclusives. On top of that, I hear these are prone to losing their save data, so it’s recommended to reset it every time you change the batteries, and handle with care.

Digimon Pendulum Z ( AKA the Pen Z )

This is a lot like the Digimon Pen 20th, but it’s not a special anniversary reprint. It is actually a continuation of the original Pendulums. So sadly, you only get one egg in these devices. But, the Digimon you can obtain are mostly new Digimon that have not featured in a virtual pet before, and some even make their debut on these devices. They’re also a tad bit more nuanced. Here’s the key differences between the Pen Z and the Pen 20ths.

One Egg per device like the original 90′s v-pets, which means no tag-team battles

You can only raise one Digimon at a time, but you can “Back up” your Digimon, essentially preserving them in suspended animation where they won’t age or get sick, so you can raise another Digimon. You can have up to three Digimon on your device this way.

Evolution trees are slightly bigger

Hearts fill up and deplete in halves now, and older Digimon can have more hearts than older v-pets

The device tells you how many times you need to shake it for battles, removing the guess work and making it easier

New close ups on your digimon’s face when they perform strong hits

Digimon went back to waking up at 7AM

RPG elements added to the Colosseum, your Digimon now has a level and can earn EXP to get stronger, and to effect what they evolve into. You get a congratulations screen when you beat this mode.

In Colosseum mode you fight three digimon in a row, with the third one being a stronger “boss” digimon

Single use items that can completely fill digimon’s hearts, change their performance in battle, double EXP, and more

Your digimon can have a random event trigger, usually it finds an item or an enemy worth lots of EXP when this happens.

These things are expensive, but not as expensive as the Pen 20th, and are some of the newest virtual pets you can get. In fact, wave 2 of the Pen Z has not even been released yet. You can only get them by pre-ordering through Premium Bandai, they ship out in April, so act while supplies last. You can only pre-order them in packs of three unfortunately. No individuals.

Digital Monster X Ver 1-3 ( AKA DMX, DMX2, and DMX3 )

Here’s the last modern Digimon V-pet I have any kind of experience with. The Digital Monster X. These ones are the most nuanced yet in my opinon, and they have my favorite mechanics. Also, they come with lore I guess? If you slip your hands in between the cardboard packaging, you’ll find a tiny comic... of course I can’t read it. But it goes something along the lines of... “ King Drasil, the king of the Digital World, created some kind of virus to kill off Digimon and solve an overpopulation issue, but the Digimon mutated the “X-Antibody” that makes them resist the virus and are rebelling against King Drasil”, it’s wild and weird and I guess there’s more lore that I haven’t dug up yet and a TV special I’ve not seen yet... anyway, onto the pet..

This one no longer has the shaking mechanic and goes back to button presses. But it adds in a new mechanic of it’s own called the X Antibody Indicator... Actually... this is technically a continuation of the Pendulum X, which introduced the X antibody, but I don’t know much about that v-pet, so I won’t go into it. And once again, we only choose from one egg this time.

They came out in three waves, each having two devices in each wave, and those devices have some exclusive digimon, but a lot of shared Digimon, so you’ll have to make your own call on weather or not you want more than one v-pet per wave.

This thing is a lot like the Pendulum Z, so I will use that as a basis, here is what makes this different from the Pendulum Z aside from the shaking mechanic going away

XAI rolls, a new mechanic that involves rolling dice. You do this once daily to determine the random events for the day, you do it before the colosseum to determine how difficult it will be that day, and you do it before each battle to effect how easy it is to land a strong attack.

Colosseum mode battles are now called “areas” and have pixelated Landscapes to make it feel more like a Quest mode rather than a series of battles

Colosseum mode will eventually start throwing more than three enemies at you. Your digimon’s hunger will deplete in the Colosseum, if you make it far enough, there are rest areas in which you can feed your Digimon.

Even larger evolution trees

A lot of evolution trees are locked until you advance far enough into the Colosseum

Most of the Digimon are “X-Antibody” counterparts of existing Digimon ( this won’t mean much on the little pixelated screen, but if you look up their key artwork, you’ll find that they look very different with much more intricate designs than their original counterparts. Think “Alola Pokemon” )

These things are great, probably my favorite mechanically speaking, however, I don’t much care for the X-antibody Digimon, or the Rosters of each V-pet. And while I did follow an evolution guide on Digitama Hatchery, I often didn’t get what I was aiming for, so maybe I didn’t know what I was doing, idk, it was my first Digimon V-pet outside of the DM20th, so I was still learning.

These ones are also fairly expensive, I probably spent more than I needed to just buying one of these, when I paid the price most people sell two of them for. Only other major warning I hear is that the wave 1 devices have very bad screens that display things way too dark. So keep that in mind... BUT, before you buy, these things are strongly rumored to be releasing in the west. Meaning they’ll likely be sold for a cheaper, more reasonable price.. the rumor was that they’d be announced early this year, so i’ll give it until March.

And there you go, a little guide to modern Digimon V-pets. Hope it helps someone, anyone, make a decision if they’re interested at all in these little things.

These are only the modern V-pets, there’s loads of older pets that likely go for obscene prices, you’ll have to do your own research on those. I really don’t know much about the upcoming Vital Bracelet, and honestly I don’t know if i’m going to get it if it’s tied to fitness. Seems like a poorly timed release during the pandemic if you ask me. And the “Digivice” that looks closer to the devices you see in the anime is not so much a virtual pet as it is an LCD mission mode game. I have ZERO experience with those but I have ordered one recently, i’ll come back and talk about it when it gets here.

And remember, check out Humulosmon’s website, Digitama Hatchery for tons of resources. At the very least, it’s a good way to see what your Digimon is meant to look like instead of trying to interpret the pixel art yourself.

#digimon #virtual pet #v-pet #tamagotchi #digital monster #giga pet

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charmedseoull · 4 years ago

Text

The Aftermath of Fanfiction Authors with Reba Interview

Before You Read the Interview

I contacted Reba after she posted a Reddit thread titled “When a fic becomes too popular and the author deletes their account and/or work. Explained.” on a throwaway account. We discussed details of the interview during December over email, then started the interview in January. This interview is not associated with a project and is its own independent work. Reba has chosen to remain anonymous.

She provides insight on potential reasons to why fanfiction authors abandon their work from the perspective of a fanfiction reader. She also answered general fandom questions and questions about herself so readers could understand her background.

Charmedseoul is a BTS-focused anonymous historian who documents fandom history using Fanlore. If you would like to be interviewed to help document perspectives in fandom, please contact her on Twitter @charmedseoul or on Tumblr @charmedseoull.

Parts of this interview have been edited with links to Fanlore and Wikipedia pages for understanding. Any information in [brackets] serves for further clarity for readers and elaboration of information.

Now presenting the interview with Reba, long-time fanfiction reader and participant in fandom:

When did you first join fandom culture?

I joined fandom culture in 2014. I feel like fandoms really peaked during this time. [Presence of SuperWhoLock and other Tumblr specific fandoms.]

What fandoms are you in? How have your experiences in them been?

I will be honest and say fandom culture isn’t for me- so I can’t say I’m active in any fandoms (I’m just a silent consumer) but growing up I was a fan of music artists mostly; Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande… I loved the IT 2017 movie adaptation for a long time (I still do), and early 2020 is when I got into BLACKPINK, then BTS. My experience with all of these has been good, and maybe that’s because I don’t see any of the drama and arguments online- but I don’t regret any of my past interests because they all made me happy at one point in time.

What do you like about fandoms?

What I like about fandoms is how happy it can make an individual; getting excited for a new music video, smiling at behind the scenes photos… it can bring someone a little joy if they are having a bad day.

What do you dislike about fandoms?

I don’t like stan culture at all; fandom drama, arguing on twitter with strangers to defend an artist who doesn’t even know you… it all seems toxic. While I'm sure healthy stanning does exist, I don't think it's easy to achieve at all.

How long have you been an ARMY? What are your opinions about the fandom? How has your experience in the fandom been?

I became an ARMY in early 2020 when Map of the Soul: 7 was released, so only a year. I really do like the fandom; ARMY is the only fandom I’ve seen where there are so many fans worldwide of all different ages, and that just shows how BTS and their music really is for everyone. There is so much BTS content that there’s never a dull day, so my experience in the fandom has been enjoyable!

Did you ever leave ARMY and take a break then come back?

I’ve never left ARMY, that being said, I’m a newbie and haven’t been here for long.

When did you first start reading fanfiction?

I have been exposed to fanfiction since 2014, but I wasn’t in any fandom back then and started reading fanfiction in 2017.

What do you think the purpose behind fanfiction is?

We mostly read for entertainment but there is definitely a purpose to fanfiction, as for all art. Fanfiction is a great thing for both reader and writers, it can be an outlet for many people, a way to experience things that you don't have a chance to experience in your own life. It also can be a good base ground for people who want to start writing, or for someone who finds reading huge paperback novels difficult. Fanfiction is so easily accessible, you can pull up a story to read or share your work at the press of a button.

As you’ve read fanfiction over the years, do you feel like anything about fanfiction has changed?

Yes! Fanfiction is taken a lot more seriously now, people who write fanfiction treat it like an actual novel with plotting and editing- the quality of fanfiction in general is a lot better. Fandom ships have also changed; when I was a teenager Harry Styles fanfictions were crazy popular, now the fanfics that seem to be more popular are BTS! So that just shows when music evolves, pretty much everything else does too.

As a reader, how do you view authors?

I'm always amazed by fanfic authors because they practically write whole novels for free. Writing can be such a personal thing, and it does take talent; there is a story the author wants to convey, and when a story is told in a beautiful way, it leaves a lasting impact on the reader. I’m sure that must be a euphoric feeling for the author- it means they told their story, and they did it well.

Do you think many other readers share the same view as you?

No, not at all. There are readers out there who don’t really think about the time and effort authors put into their stories. I’ve seen readers expect so much, and criticise something so little. It’s sad- people should be able to write whatever they want, writing is supposed to encourage creativity. Authors shouldn’t have to fear backlash for doing just that. Being creative.

Why do you think so many authors delete/orphan their work after it gains popularity?

When a story gains popularity- it attracts good and bad attention alike. Unfortunately the negative affects us a lot more, it’s just human nature. While authors do put their work out there, I don’t think they are ever prepared for their stories to become so popular. I am sure it is overwhelming and that’s why authors feel the need to distance themselves from it all and delete/orphan their work.

What stories prompted you to start thinking about why authors delete/orphan their works?

I read a story called mixtape (IT movie) and I was around long enough to see chapters be uploaded each week. I also saw the struggles the author went through when their fanfic began to rise in popularity, which eventually led to the story being completely deleted from the internet. So I thought this could have been a one-off since I hadn’t read many fanfictions. I then moved onto BTS fanfiction and decided to read the most talked about ones first, only to see a lot of them were by orphaned accounts (so not just a one-off occurrence!). House of Cards by sugamins was the one that got me thinking, I thought “why would somebody not want to be associated with this amazing writing?!” That’s when I began to do some research and stumbled across your interview with the author!

How do you think backlash for a work harms an authors mental health?

An immense amount of feedback, positive or negative, can take a toll on one person. A lot of authors can be reserved people and they write because they are passionate, as an outlet or just a hobby. So when their work does receive backlash it can be very upsetting- it could make them doubt their reasons and capabilities and affect an author so much they might stop writing all together.

How do you think some authors manage their mental health and not delete a work?

This is a hard question because everyone deals with backlash differently. I know some authors who are not bothered by backlash and they choose to ignore it and move on with their day, and then there are other authors who are more anxious and have to put a lot of measures in place to protect their mental health; from your interview with sugamins they explain how they didn’t want to destroy their work, just distance themselves from it, so that’s always an option.

Taking time away from social media and getting enough rest, it is important to not neglect your well-being. Finding a way to cope when you feel low; animals tend to ground me and improve my mental health- they are loving and don’t judge you for who you are. Maybe you cope by talking with friends, or listening to your favourite song. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it helps.

At what point with mental health do you think authors start to consider deletion/orphaning?

I think an author starts to consider deleting/orphaning their work when it completely consumes them. It is not healthy to be fixated on something that is no longer bringing you happiness, you need to let it go. If you are an author reading this, just know you are not your feedback, it doesn’t define your existence, okay? Fanfiction should add to your life, not take away from it.

Why do you think some readers invade an authors privacy?

Sometimes, people care more about the author than the work they have created. So when a fanfic has deeply touched a reader and helped them through so much, they want to reach out in any way and tell them so- this can be invasive if the reader is not careful about their approach.

How do you think authors manage this privacy invasion?

Stopping it before it happens; not using your real name, having a separate account for writing, don’t link social media accounts in your works etc. If privacy has already been compromised and a reader is making the author uncomfortable, then disabling comments on their works, making a new social media or changing their accounts to private would be smart. Just knowing how to keep safe online.

At what point with privacy invasion do you think authors start to consider deletion/orphaning?

When you are at risk of being doxed. I think when readers are going as far as finding authors’ personal accounts and messaging their friends- anything along those lines is scary and the reader is going from a supporter to an intrusive stranger real fast.

Why do you think anonymity is important for fanfiction writing?

When your full name is attached to everything you do, people have a very easy way to get back to you. This is why authors keep an anonymous profile, and it is important readers respect that. Most authors don’t want their family, friends, employer etc to see that sort of stuff. It is completely okay to remain professional and keep fanfiction writing separate from personal life.

Do you think fanfiction writing should stay free? Do you think authors should be paid for their work?

I do think fanfiction writing should stay free on the sites they originate from (AO3 for example). However, if the author wants to take their work elsewhere to earn money then I don’t see an issue in that. I am glad you mention copyright law with fanfiction in particular because the author of mixtape (the fanfiction I mentioned earlier) tried to self publish their work while keeping canon names, the author tried to justify it as a parody work and everyone was so concerned that they reported the book until it got removed. I have seen stories on Wattpad become published books to purchase, however, the names had been changed to original characters- I think this seems like a much more logical move to avoid any legal repercussions.

As a reader, how has an author’s work connected with you personally?

I have had works connect with me on a personal level, one in particular is Somebody To Love by LOVERVMINS (orphaned). My standards are impossibly high after reading that fanfic and I don’t think I will ever come across something so beautiful again. Somebody To Love is a taekook fic that was uploaded to AO3 in 2019, the author ended up deleting all their works but thankfully left this particular story up. I was immediately captured by the incredible writing and unique plot; the story of two lovers who were never meant for each other, but destiny found its way anyway… I apologise in advance for how long this summary (with spoilers) is, but I think my thoughts are proof of how this story has connected with me so much!

(Spoilers for Somebody to Love by LOVERVMINS. Please feel free to scroll to the next bolded question to avoid spoilers.)

In this story, Taehyung is a successful lawyer while Jungkook is just a student, despite the difference in status and wealth, they are intrigued by one another from the very start. After meeting Taehyung, Jungkook is left feeling confused about himself, the internalised homophobia is strong to begin with but as the chapters progress Jungkook goes from someone who is afraid of society and what people may think, to strong and outspoken. Taehyung plays a fundamental part in this, because if Jungkook were to never meet Taehyung, he wouldn’t have realised who he really was, he wouldn’t have been brave enough to discover his sexuality and fall in love in a time where it was so unaccepting. Taehyung is bold and confident on the surface, giving little regard for anybody other than himself, but his concern for others soon changes after he meets Jungkook, he becomes a better man. He could have had his heart desires- but Taehyung was no longer selfish from those few months he spent with Jungkook, so he stayed with his wife to be a good father.

Taehyung makes Jungkook promise him he will find somebody to love (hence the title), and he does, Jungkook finds somebody to love and he is happy- Taehyung finds this out when they unexpectedly meet a few years later, this is the final time Jungkook and Taehyung see each other… but knowing Jungkook is happy, leaves Taehyung happy.

There are different kinds of love, some last forever, and some just for a chapter of your life. It is clear Jungkook was Taehyung’s forever. And I don’t think Jungkook’s love for Taehyung ever went away, he just found another kind of love like he had promised. Jungkook had to live his life; he couldn’t wait for Taehyung, to leave his marriage in the unforeseeable future, or watch him raise his kids from afar, this shows that even if society were accepting, their circumstances were too far gone- if only they met sooner, or in another life. It makes you imagine a world where they could have been together, it makes you think beyond the story even when it’s ended.

It has been a month or two since I read LOVERVMINS work, and I still feel a pang in my chest every time I think of Taehyung’s letter for Jungkook in the epilogue.

Why do you think others think they have the right to know an authors personal information?

I think in this day and age, everything about a person is on show, so people just expect that sort of information from you. Authors appreciate feedback- but they don't know the reader, their family or what they do for fun. Vice versa. You only see a small glimpse into the authors life, and the stuff you see is what they feel comfortable enough to show. That should be enough.

Do you consider writing an art form?

I do consider writing an art form. Writing is like painting an image in the readers mind. I think it is better than visual art because when you are reading a story, not everyone is going to envision the exact same thing, it is up to the imagination. I think that is what makes it so beautiful- we all collectively love a story, yet, we somehow interpret it differently.

Why do you think Archive of Our Own is the ideal platform for fanfiction writing?

I think Archive of Our Own is ideal for fanfiction writing because they give you many options with your work so you are comfortable- it is easy to remove comments, delete an account, or orphan works while keeping your account etc. It is important authors get control of what happens to their work if they want to leave and go in a different direction.

Do you think other fanfiction writing platforms like Fanfiction.net and Wattpad are ideal or lacking?

I think Wattpad is ideal for younger audiences; it’s more visual with book covers and the layout in general is more appealing, I also feel like the stories on there are targeted for pre-teens. When I first got into fanfiction, I did start on Wattpad because it was easier to navigate. I look back now though and do think it is lacking in terms of quality, a lot of the stories are written for shock value and don’t really make much sense because of that. It is hard to find a story on Wattpad that ticks all the boxes (but not impossible). Wattpad also had a breach with data last summer and everyone’s emails got pwned so that made a lot of people move to AO3. I have never used Fanfiction.net so unfortunately I can’t speak for that one. Overall, AO3 has much more content, you can find a story with ease once you know how to use the site.

How has fanfiction writing affected the people in your personal life?

How did you find out that your sister is writing fanfiction?

My sister wrote a Harry Styles fanfic in 2014 which gathered around half a million reads on Wattpad, she got comments from people telling her how much her fanfic has impacted their lives pretty much every day. My sister and I are close and we share the same friends, I noticed when we would have sleepovers she was always on her phone and never paid attention to the movies we were watching. I think all the numbers did affect her for a moment and it wasn’t until my sister started her exams that she realised she had to put her concentration into those to pass, that’s how she came to the decision to delete the story. I asked her recently if she regrets deleting it and she told me she doesn’t at all, she now looks back and doesn’t think her writing was good back then. So I think that shows authors do know what they’re doing and what is best for them in the long run.

My sister had a one direction fan account on Instagram that had 100k+ followers (insane!), she was always open with her interests and I found out she started writing fanfiction through that account.

What personal reasons do you think authors have for deleting/orphaning works?

The list is endless; maybe the author wrote the story in a bad time in their life and they want to delete it because it reminds them of that time, they could have left the fandom, or they simply do not like their story anymore- they grew up and know they can do so much better. It is okay for an author to grow apart from their work, it shows they are growing as a person too.

Why do you think authors get backlash from writing dark themes?

I think authors receive backlash from writing dark themes because it can be triggering for some and can bring up unpleasant memories.

What do you think are the responsibilities of an author when writing dark themes?

A safe bet would be to tag anything relating to abuse (physical, emotional, etc), mental illness (eating disorders, self harm, suicide, etc), graphic violence and rape/sexual assault. That’s what comes to mind. And if a trigger occurs only in a certain chapter, then having an additional warning in the chapter notes would be helpful.

What do you think are the responsibilities of a reader when reading dark themes?

If dark subjects are included in the tags, don’t read the story if it could trigger you. It is as simple as that. People decide to read the fanfic then get mad at the author for triggering them. I am not trying to insult anybody who has triggers, maybe they read a story and their specific trigger was never mentioned in the additional tags… this is what the ‘chose not to archive warnings’ box is for, with this option, it is handled in AO3’s FAQ that major tags are not necessary. In shirt, this means there may be triggering content in the fic that is not disclosed by the author. Plus, there is usually a pop up banner before you click on a story which reads ‘this work could have adult content. if you proceed you have agreed that you are willing to see such content’. There are so many warnings, you can’t miss them. It is a case of reading at your own risk, you can’t blame the author if you do not like the result.

Do you think authors are facing too much pressure from readers about what themes they write?

I do think authors face unnecessary pressure with the themes they write; they are put on such a pedestal that when they write something that isn’t what the audience want, they receive a lot of negative criticism. Authors, no matter what themes you are writing, there is no need to worry if you are writing for yourself and putting out the content you set out to create.

Why do you think authors write dark themes?

Dark themes are simply an exploration of difficult emotions along with unpleasant events or consequences. Authors write dark themes because it serves a narrative purpose. And authors don’t have to be ‘dark’ people or experience all of these unsettling things to write such content.

Why do you think readers read dark themes?

Dark themes are not for everyone, I personally don’t think there are enough dark works out there. I read dark themes because it interests me more, I want to know how the characters are going to cope with the consequences, or heal from the trauma. Other readers might prefer dark themes for the graphic content, this is fine too. Fictional violence is not real- we all know this, so there is no reason to be terrified.

Why do you think so many authors want to have their work get popular?

People may disagree, but I think it has a lot to do with validation. Subconsciously, authors want people to like their work- a rise in popularity means readers are seeing the authors work, and hopefully taking enjoyment from it. This isn’t a bad thing as long as you realise validation does not equal self-worth. There are people out there who write and do not gain much attention, but that doesn’t stop them from posting their work anyway.

Do you think a work’s popularity is important?

I personally don’t. I read a range of fanfictions- some are super popular, others are not. It is the content I am more interested in, not how many hits/views it has.

Should we judge authors for deleting/orphaning their work?

Not at all! I am sure authors have thought long and hard before coming to their decision.

How should we view situations where authors delete/orphan their work?

For a reader, it can be upsetting when authors delete/orphan their work, especially if there is no possibility of reading that story again. However, we need to show compassion and view the situation from the authors perspective; gaining popularity on a fanfic isn't as pleasant as it might seem, it is much more complicated than that. A lot of feedback, both good and bad, can be overwhelming. Mental health is important, and if that means distancing yourself from something so popular, then it must be done. Privacy can be compromised, people in your real life might find out you write these stories and not be accepting, or readers become invasive which is a scary situation to be in. And a mixture of personal reasons, people are allowed to grow and change and want to distance themselves from things they are no longer proud of.

What do you think authors should be aware of in case their work does get popular?

This is a good question… I think authors need to be aware that with good feedback, also comes bad feedback. You cannot please every single person on this earth, but that is not your job- so do not take it personally.

Do you have any last messages to readers of this interview?

I want to thank you in particular, Charm. This interview is probably the coolest thing I’ll ever get to do for the BTS fandom and I’m so grateful that our paths crossed so we could create this interview together. You are such a kind soul and it has been a pleasure from start to finish.

For the authors reading this interview; I am just a reader, but I do understand how it can be hard for you to continue on when you are going through so many struggles readers don’t get to see. Just know you are appreciated, and you are supported no matter what you decide to do with your works in the future. Having popular works shouldn’t feel like a burden, there are blessings hidden in there- you have made readers feel a rollercoaster of emotions with your talent, you are able to engage with readers around the world, and you have created a beautiful story from nothing… you did that!

For the silent readers like myself: let the authors of your favourite work know how much you loved it (in a respectful way) before it is too late! I so wish I had the chance to tell the author of Somebody To Love how their story broke my heart then healed it again. Treasure the fanfictions you love because they very well could be gone tomorrow!

Thank you for reading this interview. Further below are reminders and information about this interview and Charmedseoul’s Fanlore projects.

Reba has chosen to remain anonymous. No social media or information about her will be released publicly.

This interview was conducted through email from January 31, 2021 to February 1, 2021 with Reba’s consent and protections under Fanlore’s Identity Protection policies and the posting website’s privacy policies. Unauthorized reposting of this interview is forbidden.

Due to the casual nature of this interview, repost of this interview is strictly prohibited. Linking and sharing is appreciated. Translation and unauthorized repost of this interview is forbidden.

Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them.

#bts #bangtan sonyeondan #fandom #fandom meta #fandom interview #fandom interviews #fanlore #charmedseoul #charmedseoul interviews #fanfiction #fanfiction author #fanfic #fanfiction meta #fanfic meta

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