#i wrote it during breaks and didn't have the chance to reread it i just hope it makes sense ;;;;;;

[stormyoceans]

can i rant here a little bit? i hope you don't mind! okay so... i'm a big yinwar fan and have been since love mechanics (it was not a perfect show we know that but their chemistry was top tier), the partners in crime trailer was amazing tbh can't tell you how many times i've rewatched it it's just so good! and they did that just for a concert like good for them!!! so i was soooo excited about j&j! and i enjoyed the first episodes so much, it's a good show, it has social commentary it has good acting it has war wanarat it has slowburn (i looove a good slowburn) but at some point they... lost me? and i'm so sad about it lol because i love them! but like the last three episodes i found boring i was fast forwarding some scenes even, the pacing was weird, some decisions i didn't understand, the conflicts didn't hook me up at all, the tension they have been building up completely flattened for me, the kiss felt so anticlimactic 😭 i hate this, i guess i wanted to know your opinion maybe i need to give it some time or something idk idk i enjoyed sooooo much the first half of the show that's why i'm sad

hello, anon!!!!

first of all, please remember that if you need to rant about a show or even life in general, my ask box is always open and i will always gladly listen, so i don’t mind at all!!!!

about jack & joker…….oh boy. okay. i feel like someone is gonna snipe me out of the fandom by the end of this, but let’s talk about it. i want to preface this by saying that i appreciate this show a whole lot and that yinwar will always have my undying admiration and support for being able to put together a series like this without a company to back them up: they dared to do a unique plot without knowing how well it was going to be received, which is a risk that big consolidated companies are still too afraid to take ([coughs] GMMTV [coughs]), and they’re doing so while also serving great social commentary, complex characters, interesting dynamics, incredible acting, insane chemistry, and an actual slow burn

all this being said, i try my best to be objective and honest in my opinions, and while the show has all the elements that i love and that would normally make me go crazy, it’s unfortunately not working as much for me, and that’s because i agree that the show has MAJOR narrative and pacing issues. you actually nailed one of the main problems down, which is that the tension that was steadily building in the first few episodes, both plot-wise and relationship-wise, all of a sudden completely flattened out. and don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly fine to include moments where the pace is slowed down to add new information or character motivation, because while they do temporarily slow down the momentum of the story, they also help to make the later tension that much greater and more gripping, but after episodes 5 and 6 – after the group steals aran’s mother’s necklace back from rosé, after jack forgives joke, after aran gets disowned by his father and moves in with tattoo – the tension has had trouble picking up again

even if they included new conflicts – grandma getting sick, jack becoming boss’ adopted son and being forced to court rosé, the four horsemen – the narrative has started to crumble around the edges, because suddenly it has lost sight of the characters that it used to build tension up until that moment, and instead of releasing that tension, it just leaves you with all these loose threads that don’t really get tied up: how did tattoo and aran get closer? did aran’s father beat up any bodyguard in place of aran or was it always hope? is hope still recovering? is jack going to find out about what save did? how close jack and save even were? how did they meet? how did hope and save meet? i still have no idea who nang is for rosé and the boss and idk if i’ve missed something or ??????

and like im sure some of these questions will get an answer in the last three episodes, but the focus has shifted so much that whatever tension was built over them is now gone. i personally think they were able to raise it back up a little in episode 9 thanks to the heist and the group being back together (which is why i enjoyed it way more than the previous two), but the narrative feels very clunky to me. as for the kiss itself, i actually liked it, but i understand how the entire confession scene might feel a bit anticlimactic, and again i think it’s because all the tension they built up between jack and joke basically disappeared once jack forgave him. yes, the divorce era in episode 7 and 8 hurt, but by then the viewers already knew that the two of them had feelings for each other, and the entire thing with rosé was never really a threat to their relationship, so you’re just waiting for them to confess. they could have made the tension rise again by making them do that in the heat of the moment (while arguing, after one of them got hurt, etc.), but i guess they wanted that to be a small moment of peaceful joy for them, so i appreciate it

this got so incredibly long so im shutting up now, but the point is. i very much feel the same way as you, anon, and believe me when i say im also incredibly sad that im not going crazy over the show like i wished to. it’s still probably gonna make it into my top 10 BLs of the year for a couple of different reasons, but yeah, for what is worth, you’re not alone

let’s hope the last three episodes can up the stakes and tie up all the loose ends somewhat nicely!!!!

[nightofnyx8]

One of the perks of being a teacher is that my summers are mostly full of professional development, travel, and reading all the books I didn't have the time to during the school year. As next summer will be mainly dedicated to my master's degree, I thought it'd be fun to do a little book review from the month of June.

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross--Such a delight to read, Ross's prose is sheer poetry and immerses you in characters rich with conflict, emotion, and resilience. The world is an interesting twist on the Hades/Persephone myth but told from the perspective of the mortals whose doomed romance has wreaked havoc upon them in the midst of a WWI-type setting. And while I'm not opposed to more explicit romance, I really appreciated the way Ross was able to evoke such an intimate and deeply felt romance without relying on heavy sex scenes. 10/10

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke--This is actually one of my childhood favorites, and I reread it often. I adore the father-daughter duo of Mo and Meggie, their eccentric, no-nonsense book-loving Aunt Elinor, and the mysterious fire-eater Dustfinger. The prose is immersive yet simple, and it is just the book to read with a steaming cup of tea. 9.5/10

The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros--I have a special fondness for historical fiction, especially those set in WW2. I was surprised as I thought Yarros only wrote fantasy, but she can break your heart any day with her romances. While I found the modern-day couple of Noah and Georgia rather charming, the dual storyline of Jameson and Scarlett stole my heart. I've never been a huge fan of insta-love, but living on borrowed time in the midst of a war-torn world is one of my only exceptions. I cried my eyes out when I finished the book for a solid ten minutes, but it does have a surprising twist with a bittersweet ending. 9/10.

When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn--Oh Bridgerton, you guilty pleasure you. I've actually been working my way through the series, and this one was probably my favorite. While Quinn is certainly no Jane Auston, and while there are certain aspects of the book that are...problematic, it was undeniably entertaining. I do adore the tropes of second-chance romance, and it touches on the rarely-addressed subject of infertility in the 1800s. I'd give it a solid 7/10.

I'm excited to read more in the month of July! @lantur (whose new novel you should go read, btw) recommended Ink Blood Sister Scribe, which I'm already in love with, as well as the sequel to Divine Rivals, Ruthless Vows. Happy reading! <3

[sea-owl]

You know what? If you tell me right now that your Isekai AU (and all its variations) are because Lady Danbury decided to stir shit up, I would 100% believe you. This would be something she'd do for shits and giggles. Like maybe she was Modern!Portia's closest friend who she confided in that she really wanted a family and a person to love her and Lady Danbury was like "You know what? Say no more" and isekai'd her to the regency era. But of course Agatha 'ShitStirrer™' Danbury didn't end it there (ofcourse not, what do you think she is?? A simpleton??) And Isekai'd the spuses and Bridgertons as well but fron different timelines just to watch the chaos unfold, make betting pools and matchmake these poor unfortunate souls to her heart's content.

You know when the idea of Isekai AU first came up Portia's life in the modern world really didn't go that far besides how she came to the knowledge and then truck-kun more than likely took her out. But the further that I went into it and the more variants that popped up the more I played with the idea that Lady Danbury had something to do with it.

Lady Danbury has always meant to be a neutral (and chaotic) character in the au. She's the one who pulls Simon (and later Gareth) out of their homes after Portia accidentally changed events during one of her half awake episodes where past life and current life memories mixed together. She's also the one who informs Violet of Portia dipping out of the ton, and later Lady Danbury finds Portia and that's how Simon gets introduced to her. She's the side character having fun in the background with a martini enjoying the chaos around her.

But the bigger this got the more I thought about Lady Danbury's role and the more I thought the more I came to the conclusion that yup she definitely is the one who isekaied Portia.

How I would frame it is that Lady Danbury, known as Professor Agatha, because she's gonna be known by as her name damn it, in the modern world, was a mentor to Portia, I'm thinking a college professor that she still talked to after she graduated. She is also was the author of the Bridgerton series that she wrote under a pen name. Lady Danbury was surprised to find out Portia was a fan of the series when she saw her rereading one of the books during her break.

"I would have never guess you were a fan."

Portia blushed, carefully marking her place in the well read book. "In a way. You know I never really had a family."

"And you're too guarded for love," Lady Danbury added.

Portia playfully glared. "And I chose to focus on my career." She let her fingers trail across the book. "I enjoy the dynamics of the main family but I actually feel more connected to the villains throughout the series."

Lady Danbury raised an eyebrow. "The villains?"

Portia nodded. "They were like me once upon a time, starving for love. Except they didn't get the chance or it came too late as their minds were already twisted beyond help. Of course they should still be held accountable for the actions they chose to take as adults but I don't know. Maybe if they given that chance earlier things would've turned out differently."

"Interesting," Lady Danbury hummed. "So no love for the love stories Ms. Career Woman?"

"Haha." Portia shrugged. "They're okay, kinda cheesy, kinda predictable. Honestly the Bridgertons had more chemistry with their villains than the love interests. The love interests were just kinda there, or showed up at the last minute to fill the romance quota."

Lady Danbury pondered over that as she reread her books, and dug up those old first drafts where the villains weren't the villains but second love interests. Portia's thoughts, they were some of Lady Danbury's thoughts as well after she had time away from the series. She wrote it when she was young, before she found her true writing style.

Perhaps Portia was right, perhaps the villains just needed a chance early enough to turn things around.

"Let's have some fun then," Lady Danbury smiled as she grabbed her books and first drafts. "I can't wait to get the betting pool started. I hope you're ready my dear."

Lady Danbury chuckled when she heard the news that Lady Featherington disappeared right after her fourth daughters birth and the letter from Violet appeared asking about her friend. Oh this will be fun indeed.

Let the games begin.

[ambrossart]

Hiii🎈 how are you adapting to your new life after the move and the wedding? Hope everything is great!!

I've been inspired by the last posts with the asks (I love to read them). Aaand I thought of a few questions...I hope not to bother you too much

For DWM, I was thinking...are they going to approach the infamous campaign again? Like, she felt pretty guilty about what happened,are these feelings going to resurface sometime? For example going on dates and doing things together will take them to think/discuss about what could've been if they weren't so stubborn/oblivious?

Eddie said he would ask her out on her freshman year...if she never killed him do you think they would have been friends for the 2 years of distance (middle - high school)? Or they would stop hanging out and just met again when she finally was a freshman?..2 years is A LONG TIME especially at that age.

Also, you wrote that in order to learn d&d she went to play with kids in the Wheeler's basement, is this going to be referenced in the side stories? You hinted Gareth doesn't like her..will the youngest guys of Hellfire have a nice opinion of her?

Finally, not an answer but an appreciation. I'm not a native english speaker so it takes me a while to get all the details. I LOVED the parallels in the chapters for example the openings of chapter 1 and 9, when they were both skeptical. She was caught off guard when Chance invited her to prom because he is popular and on the basketball team while she was just Chrissy's friend. And he was caught off guard because he thought she was popular and he was just the trailer park kid. I don't know if it was intentional but while rereading I was upset I didn't notice it before.

Lastly for Paper men, I was wondering if Evelyn's family will still present in future updates, it's so refreshing to read about a positive-non toxic-supporting family, in such toxic environment. I have to say.. I'm team Vic for the win, as much as Evelyn and Patrick's interactions show really good chemistry and I'm intrigued about her and Henry's past, they are too toxic to deserve that pure little heart.

I always apologize for the long questions but I end up writing more and more each time, so I get it if you don't want to answer.😂

Have a nice weekend 🥰

Hey! I'm almost fully settled in. It's a much smaller apartment than what we're used to, but we're making the best of it. Thanks for asking!

Now, moving on to your questions!

1. In regards to the campaign itself, they're totally gonna replay it at some point over the summer because they never got to finish it together. So once Scottie gets out of prison, they're all gonna sit down and play it again, properly this time, and the Reader will probably be tempted to sacrifice Eddie again, just for giggles. She's such a troll. 😂 But in regards to those feelings of guilt and regret, I think they both would prefer to move past it and focus on the present. They only have a couple months before the Reader leaves for college, and they don't wanna waste time dwelling on the past. They've already had their big heart-to-heart. Now they just wanna enjoy their time together. But as we get closer to the end of summer, I think a lot of those old feelings will inevitably resurface because neither of them knows what will happen. I wouldn't be surprised if the Reader has a massive anxiety attack. She might even consider breaking up with him in order to spare herself the heartache of another separation because it would be 100x more painful than before. She's not a kid with a crush. She's a woman in love. The more time they spend together, the stronger her feelings get, which means she has a lot more to lose, so I could definitely see that triggering another fight-or-flight response.

2. If she hadn't betrayed Eddie, they would have absolutely remained friends during those two years. Yes, it is a long time, but Eddie is a very loyal person and he values his friends (because he doesn't have that many). This is something Eddie wishes he had told her when they were kids, but that would have meant putting himself out there and opening himself to potential hurt. At that point, Eddie wasn't 100% sure of the Reader's intentions (if she genuinely wanted to be his friend or if she had some kinda ulterior motive) and, like you said, two years is a long time. A lot could happen in two years. She could be fully embraced by the popular kids and not need him anymore. That uncertainly alone would make him hesitate. But yes, if Eddie had reassured her, if she hadn't betrayed him, they would have stayed friends and let their romantic relationship naturally develop over time. It would've been like this unspoken thing between them. They both would just know that eventually they'll start dating, and neither of them would be in any rush to get to the finish line. They'll be perfectly happy and content with their friendship and then take that next step when the time is right, which would probably be when the Reader's about 15.

And let me just say, Eddie would be SO FREAKIN EXCITED to have her in school with him again. If he has his license, he's picking her up and driving her to school. If he doesn't, he's gonna be waiting for her in front of the building (like she used to wait for him 🥺), ready to give her a private tour. He's been waiting two years for this day, so he's gonna do whatever he can to make it special.

3. You know, I was going to include a scene of all the boys trying to teach her D&D (and given how bad she is at the game, clearly none of their lessons sank in 😂), but there just wasn't enough content there. I imagine at first they would be super eager to teach someone their favorite game, but over time they would become increasingly frustrated with her for sure. Anyway, I don't know if I'm ever gonna write that scene, but I do have others planned that will showcase their relationship well enough. I could definitely see her having a special soft spot for Will. I think his passion for D&D would remind her of Eddie. Plus she would be intrigued by his artistic abilities and would commission him for random drawings of her and Eddie's D&D characters.

4. Yes, the similar openings for chapters one and nine were completely intentional. 😊 The initial plan was to have nine and ten be one chapter, so the final chapter would mirror the first chapter. It ended up being way too long, though, so I split it into two chapters. It kinda ruined the effect, but oh well. 🤷🏻‍♀️

5. Evelyn's family will definitely be in future updates. Her family is extremely important to her, so they're not going anywhere. 😉

And I'm not gonna lie, I'm completely Team Vic here. I love their relationship and I think he and Evelyn would be absolutely adorable together. HOWEVER, personal feelings aside, the reason Victor isn't listed as an official pairing is because, compared to the other two pairings, you're not gonna see much romance between Vic and Evelyn. At this point, Evelyn has already moved on. She's painfully, hopelessly, and foolishly in love with someone else. Vic knows this. He doesn't like it, but he respects it, and right now all he cares about is righting his wrongs and salvaging their friendship.

Whew, that was a lot, but it was really fun! Thank you for taking the time to write all these awesome questions. Hopefully I answered them well enough ❤️

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

Rightly or wrongly, I'm going to assume you don't know anything about Taira's story, in which Paddy appears.

The story was originally a Narnia fanfic with largely original characters. (It's on AO3, titled A Rabbit's Trust.) It's around 13 or 14k from memory, excluding author's notes. Anyway, I really liked it - especially Paddy and Taira's dynamic - so I took a while of developing it before completely rewriting it as original fantasy.

I wrote the first draft during nanowrimo last year, excepting one small section I haven't written since because I haven't touched it since, for mental reasons; this is a wholesome, happy, strong book and one I do not want to spoil with depression. Apart from that scene (I estimate around three thousand words), the entire thing clocks in at just over ninety thousand words.

No, wait, I'm incorrect: I just checked and I have in fact skipped small parts of scenes all over the place, as well as two whole chapters I was struggling to fill because they're very much character-driven and about a conflict I was struggling to fill out properly, but which is vital for the story dynamic. Given that I'd forgot about them, I estimate the story as a whole, unedited, to clock in at about a hundred and ten thousand, though I usually write pretty loosely first time round and the word count drops by half. This, though, I did underwrite in some sections, so it may remain around sixty or seventy thousand when it's done, or even up to a hundred thousand still. I'm not sure; I haven't reread it. I intended to submit it to a competition, the first ten thousand words, but then that competition didn't run for this year, so I didn't. If it runs again next year I probably will, God willing.

Anyway, as to the story - I've expanded on it at length in other posts (#taira), so I'll just summarise it super quickly. Taira, a white rabbit, is forced to flee her home to escape the alyen (bad guys). In the process, she falls in with a fox, Paddy. He promises to take her to the tairen stronghold (the good guys), and so together they travel, taking their sweet time. The alyen capture Taira through Paddy's mistake. The catch here is that the entire motivation of the alyen is to raise a Dragon again, an evil spirit trapped in the earth. Due to the magic of it, she can be raised only by the use of a Speaking white rabbit. These are incredibly rare and Taira is the first for ages and ages. The tairen are diametrically opposed to this. Anyway, the lynx Sheba, who is the general of the tairen army, decides they will take a massive chance and try to break the ritual rather than capturing Taira before it can happen (because if the ritual is broken at a certain point the spirit will neither remain trapped nor be corporeal enough to wreak havoc, and hence dissipate forever). This causes a lot of tension between Paddy and Sheba. To skip over another chunk, they all end up living happily ever after, except the folks who don't. ;)

Paddy is a gorgeous fellow, a happy merry goofball who was heavily inspired by @stealingmyplaceinthesun in the best way. He makes mistakes, and they change the course of the story, but in the end - he survives, and he gets his happy ending after waiting for it all story. I don't know, I love him so much.

For the OC asks,

30, 21, 11, 9

30. How are you doing? <3

I'm doing alright! I should be studying instead of being on tumblr, though. Avoidance for the win- :P How are you?

21. When did you start considering yourself a writer/artist?

I was a writer from when I was very small. I have no memory of when I started considering myself such, but if no earlier, definitely when I was thirteen and first did nanowrimo.

I've never really considered myself an artist until I got an art program and discovered that digital art is actually possible for me to make something I'm vaguely happy with.

11. Sum up one or more of your wips!

I feel like doing a Bad Summary of a few, so here goes. Congrats if you guess which each one is. A sentence each.

Finds a book and has a mental breakdown as a result. Dad dies so MC shifts countries. Spouse diagnosed with terminal illness so they read books together. Exists and causes problems, not on purpose. Knits to cope with having a new sibling. Gets married and tries to get divorced so the other person doesn't have to cope with MC.

9. Favourite OC?

Ultimately I'd have to say Paddy, for a variety of reasons. I can elaborate if you want.

[kyurilin]

Hey everyone I don't know why I'm doing and end of the year post when I don't really have the energy to do one and it's only the 26th but I have to do it while I'm thinking about it or I never will and this one is kind of special

2021 was an alright year the good kinda balanced out the bad

I turned 28 in January and had my first chance of getting covid in the same week because of my department lead which really sucked

My 105 year old great aunt iris passed away in May which continues to break my heart because she was an awesome person and I'm really gonna miss seeing her

My 80 year old grandfather passed away in August which was complicated because he was never like a warm and friendly grandpa but he had dementia and that changed his personality so the last few times I saw him he was easier to be around and that made it really really suck

Here's the good though

I had to knock one story's word count out because I started it in November of last year and couldn't remember exactly which part of it I worked on in 2021 but between my other stories that were for sure started this year I've written over 140k words this year which is fucking insane and likely only because I write everything in Google docs now

I haven't written that much in a long time and I owe it all to not handwriting anything anymore and my love of erasermic because about 95% of that is erasermic

There's a lot of stuff I haven't shared yet that I plan to share if I ever get it finished which you can probably figure out from my pinned post what is the stuff that will be shared lmaooo

But the real biggest thing of the year is just how batshit it still is to me that anyone saw a story titled Present Mic's Totally Bullshit Life and read it

So like way back in like February or March maybe I joined an erasermic discord and IMMEDIATELT outed myself as a former Cars fanfiction writer to someone else who was online at the time and ever since then @purekesseltrash has not stopped bullying me into writing

Like legit, that was the first person who saw that story and was like 'you should absolutely post this' which led me into a downward spiral of self doubt for two months because I was absolutely writing that story for me and me alone (and there was smut in there which I never post in stories so I had to have a heated internal debate about leaving it in or taking it out and well anyone who's read it can probably nail down exactly where the smut used to be) and I really didn't think that with the ADHD writing style of just writing whatever the fuck I wanted whenever I wanted it would be anything good

And instead of anyone being like 'what the fuck is this ADHD fueled nightmare of a story why doesn't it have chapters WHY IS IT A NOVEL LENGTH ONE SHOT' everyone has fucking loved it and I'm just over here like thanks writing that was completely unplanned the only part I planned was the goddamn ending

No but seriously I'm stupid happy I got bullied into sharing it because every time I get a new comment or kudos on it I almost cry

It's the first story that was never crossposted to ff.net of mine because I held onto maining that site until 2017/2018 during my third Cars fanfic resurgence, and man. Guys.

My record for reviews/comments on a story is 34. And that's from a 16 chapter Cars fanfic called The Wreck that I wrote when I was 13 and deleted from ff.net about 4 or 5 years ago because it was so embarrassingly bad.

Present Mic's Totally Bullshit Life is only like 2 unique comments away from tieing with that AFTER 15 YEARS

And that's not including kudos and notes people have made while bookmarking and the fact that @purekesseltrash also commissioned fanart for it like????

The love people have for this story is unreal considering I'm pretty sure the inspiration came from a TikTok about mic teaching the UA students how to party like a pro hero and rereading vigilantes until I had it memorized. There's a character in there who isn't named until the end of the story who is somehow partially important. My old Cars OCs Thunder and Storm have cameo roles. I think at one point Shouta slept a full 24 hours in a row during the story. Probably. Who knows. And somehow people suffer through reading this story and love it.

But it's made 2021 so worth it because I started writing MHA fanfic after getting 75% of the way through handwriting a FNAF AU story and getting stuck, and even though I was typing MHA fanfic on my phone I had the mindset that I was just doing it for me, which made it easy to do. I wasn't really planning on posting fanfic much if at all anymore because trying to keep up with it got to be A LOT and I think part of that was how wildly involved the FNAF AU was and how little I talked about it for fear of ruining it for people on the off chance I ever finished it.

So yeah everyone thank @purekesseltrash for making me post it because god knows I've already said thanks enough. It's become a story I'm proud of and love a lot even with the little mistakes I find every time I reread it (which I do a lot lmao), and I can't wait until the next time I drop a stupidly long story with no chapter breaks and no real formula on you guys but that will be probably somewhere in the middle of next year because my writing confidence is through the roof and I'm working on way too many stories at once.

Anyways I'll stop rambling now just know that I would gladly kill for any and everyone who has read that story without question and that it's made my year better because man. I finished the last bit of that story- the literal happiest part- and posted it the week of my great aunt's funeral and that's made it honestly easier to not focus on how sad that made me.