#i wrote this sucker in like three days and i actually like it a lot which is crazy for me

[colorlessjay]

hello! may be a weird request but do you have any fanfic recommendations?

BUCKLE THE FUCK UP

OH DO I HAVE SOME RECS FOR YA'LL

Mind you, 90% are based on personal preference and fics I think about way too often than I should. A lot of them influenced the way I make characters interact

Some of them might not be your taste and that's cool!

First off, Gotta promote the fics that people wrote inspired by my art (I am truly honored)

Time Cast A Spell On You by bethefirstwhoeverdid

Cabin of Feathers by Featherpie (Izupie)

Return To The Past by faeryn

NOW FOR MY COLLECTION

Just any fic written by everandanon

I swear to you, all of their fics are worth a read. They are frustrating (In a good way for me) but the worldbuilding, comedy, dialogue, and character interactions always have me physically getting up and laughing. At one point during Quarentantion, I had to stop reading to rant to my friends about it because it made me feel so much that I went to 3 different friends about it. With Interest actually made my heart physically hurt at certain points. Expectations had me on a roller coaster ride But if you think their fics are a little overwhelming, I recommend reading Casicorn. It's the first ever fic I read from them and it solidified my love for this author. I swear I am on my hands and KNEES waiting for them to finish their newest fic

Where All My Journeys End - (a Twist and Shout alt universe) by Say_It_In_Enochian

Did reading Twist and Shout devastate you? Did it emotionally hurt your heart and make you wish there was something to make the pain lighter? READ THIS FUCKING FIC NOW I got so fucking lucky when I found it immediately after reading T&S and when I tell you the JOURNEY this fic took me? It healed my soul The struggles, the history, the relationships, the LONG fight to get to their happy ending I am FLOORED this doesn't have 1000 Kudos!

The Ed Sheeran Effect by tricia_16

It made me laugh. That's it. It's sweet and funny and really fun and just feels very campy, like it could've been a decent movie I would rewatch on days I just feel like feeling good Am I a sucker for HighSchool/College AU fics? Yes do I fucking care? No

The Best Years of Our Lives, My Ass by ireallyhatecornnuts (CharleyFoxtrot)

I. fucking. love. this. fic The story alone was so interesting but it was the DIALOGUE that hooked me in. I swear I think about this fic in the middle of drawing and go "Damn, good times" like it's a long lost friend

Slide Away by Castielslostwings

It's the TENSION that got me. I can't explain to you how much I just love their hate-pining for each other Read it, love it, in my digital bookshelf

Sleep Without You by turningthepages

Hilarious. The density is so high it could float. I swear to god I've read this fic at least three times and think about it once a week I remember reading it and cackling so much that I woke up my mom

Should've Just Asked by Annie D (scaramouche)

I wish this fic had a follow-up that was just Dean's perspective because I would LOVE to read more of it. The situation is so absurd and I binged it all in one day (I'm a very slow reader)

Pinfall by crowleyo

I'm gonna say it. I'm so actually angry this fic doesn't get enough attention. It is so so SO well-written and heart-wrenching. Am I still a sucker for highschool sweethearts? YES! I OPENLY ADMIT THIS! But COME ON

Of fuming and partaking and so on by zation

This fic and literally any fic from Zation. I absolutely love the way this author writes. It's so funny and self-aware and the dialogue and scenarios always keep me entertained and laughing They have such a large catalog of fics that I'm pretty sure I have at least 15 saved on my phone

Mr. Blue Sky by anyrei, queerwolf79

This fic specifically and literally ANYTHING from these two. I swear, a lot of their fics are certified bangers. Mr. Blue Sky is probably a personal favorite of mine cause I actually teared up

Love Me More by Saiorse_Irvyne

I'm not the biggest fan of A/B/O stuff, but MAN this has me feeling things. When a fic makes me feel strong emotions, I just gotta recommend it

Lock and Key by tricia_16

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH it's THAT good

Kind Of A Forever Deal by komodobits

It's FUN. It's FUNNY. It's so fucking campy and cute and the progression of their relationship was just AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It's Always the End of the World Somewhere by Annie D (scaramouche)

I can sit here and recommend Annie D's fics all DAY, but I'm recommending this one specifically because of this: “Get a room, assholes,” someone mutters. “Hey!” Crowley whirls on the offender. “I could set on you on fire!” And that's one of many fantastic quotes

Cinderwings by bendingsignpost

One of the first fics I've ever read from this fandom, and I recommend it to ANYONE regardless of whether they know Destiel or not. The story is so fucking captivating it makes me want to eat my foot it's so GOOD

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Do I have a type when it comes to fanfics? Yes

But I like gravitating towards funny dialogue and silly shenanigans. I thrive off of fun fics that sometimes take themselves seriously, but still pull me back and make me laugh

If a fic can make me feel such a strong emotion that I PHYSICALLY have to get up? Then fuck yeah it's going in my archives

I would recommend some of the darker fics I have, but this is for fun

[zarvasace]

I have been tagged by @batrogers!!

1. How many works on AO3? 241

2. Total AO3 word count? 1.25mil. Almost to my 3rd AO3 anniversary :D (that's around 1,170 words every day for three years, not counting nonpublished words! Proud of that rate, even if it's slowing.)

3. Top 5 fics by kudos:

Status? about Four. I think this one hits the sweet spot for a lot of people: not too long, a bit angsty, but sweet.

so i admit that the mud didn't do much for me, about Hyrule. Actually the first fic I ever posted on this account, it's silly and I'm surprised to see it so high

incandescently happy, a post-LU happy ending. Posted little chapters every day for like a month which kept it in people's feeds so I think that's why it's so high

what is a stump supposed to do, a random Hyrule & Four one, honestly baffled why it's up here

Rise and Shine and Fall, my successful (by that I mean actually wrote and posted every day on schedule) Whumptober 2022 extravaganza compilation. I posted it all in one work, so it's higher than most other whump fics of mine, but there's a lot in it!

4. What fandoms do you write for? Zelda. In the past I wrote a tiny bit of Danny Phantom and a fair amount of FE3H!

5. Do you respond to comments? Always!! I admit to being SO VERY BEHIND right now, a couple months' worth. I'm trying to keep up on new ones, but I've had some beautiful wonderful readers going through my catalog and I can't always keep up!! XD

6. Fic with the angstiest ending: I don't write a lot of negative endings, so I think this badge goes to Counterbalance, my LU Darks AU. I'm actually fully in love with this fic, it's probably the best mix of silly and angsty I've ever written. It's full of what are essentially OCs but they're all my babies and I love them.

7. Fic with the happiest ending: incandescently happy, post-LU. The whole fic is essentially a fix-it ending, though LU doesn't have an ending yet. XD

8. Do you get hate? A couple silly comments trying to tell me I'm doing things wrong, but not really no! Oh, also can't forget the ask I got that was "Remember that Jesus is your first reader." I think that was meant to be passive aggressive but there's a chance it was meant like, genuinely? Not sure.

9. Do you write smut? Nah. And I don't plan to. Not my thing! Closest I get are vampire bites XD

10. Do you write crossovers? I swear I've done more but the only ones on my AO3 are a Vidow fic done in an original world (Nothing New Under the Sun (crystals, dumplings, jewelry)), and Blood-Sucker's Guide to High School, a Vidow retelling of a very fun vampire novel.

11. Ever had a fic stolen? Nope, but I did have one of my Vidow fake fic book covers stolen for someone's fake fiverr listing. Got it taken down with a DMCA but I was like, why

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not to my knowledge.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic? Oh plenty. @enrolio and I spent most of 2020-21 lockdowns and beyond cowriting, mostly original stories (1.7mil) but a lot of fic, too (nothing published, but almost 400k worth.) We're currently in the process of working on a big epic original fantasy series, though that's a long-term project. @batrogers and I have done a few alt-POV-type projects too, which have been super duper fun!! Hope to do more.

In that vein too, I feel like the Bad End Links kind of qualify here—so much of the characters and their stories were brainstormed collaboratively and so many friends have contributed details and fics and art, it feels like a fun group project! I've really enjoyed working on it. :D (the encouragement and hype for it also helps a lot!! I'm really hoping to finish this big project out!)

14. All-time favorite ship? Ahhhh a harder question than you'd think, tbh, even if you're limiting it to fic. I've written the most for Vidow, and they're definitely up there (same with Fourdow though I've done less with them.) I do have to admit that Linhardt/Byleth might take the cake, though. They were the first ship I was ever actually obsessed with, and the first romantic pairing I wrote in fic.

I just really adore Linny in general, and I love how the pairing continues and closes off some of the themes in the Crimson Flower route of FE3H. That's the only route where Byleth doesn't become archbishop-slash-dictator, and I think choosing to live life in a small cottage, not particularly contributing too much to the government, builds nicely upon the themes of becoming human and choosing your own destiny, themes that are really missing from the other routes.

15. WIPs you want to finish but doubt you ever will? My old AO3 account (a couple FE3H fics and not much else) has a series where I wrote the beginning of a fic and then had several different endings planned, each a different ship with Linhardt, but I only ever wrote one. I'd love to read the rest but I have too many other fics calling my name!

16. Writing strengths? Um... Volume and speed? Also AUs. I think I can call myself good at fitting characters into new settings. Also fight scenes are fun and I think I do them well.

17. Writing weaknesses? I feel somewhat weak in the plotting and style realms.

18. Thoughts on mixed language dialogue? You can't count on a reader to know not-tagged languages, so that has to be accounted for in the text.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Danny Phantom, in high school or maybe just after. That's late for a lot of fic writers but... there are reasons for that, and a different discussion!!

20. Favorite fic you've ever written? This is an extremely rude question, because I love so many for different reasons. I write things I want to read!! Counterbalance (for the tone) and Blood-Sucker's Guide (for the finished novel plot) are up there but I linked them above, so I'll take the chance to call out a different few—Marvelous Misadventures is way up there, a Wind-focused modern with magic AU. I promise I'm still working on that last chapter (and the epilogue), I just gotta throw everything else aside one month and buckle down. Maybe June, I don't have any fic events planned and 06/23 was the last update. I think some earlier chapters need a refresh as well, once I have the ending written.

I'll also toss White Walls (medwhump, "non consensual body modification: the fic") into this category for how long it is and how proud I am to have finished even a collection this long, and a long walk, a Linked Nexus fic where I did so much math and had so much fun with it. :D

Tagging: @silvrash-797 @toyouhellohowareyou @nopenototdaysatan @skyward-floored :)

[popculturebuffet]

Powerpuff Review

Hello all you happy people and it's time to fight crime, try to save the world and come just in time to.. unpack childhood trauma! Today we're talking about powerpuff, the story of what the powerpuff girl's childhood's did to them, the impact it left and why Bubbles burned out as a child star after Professor Utonium exploited them like he always did and not some old friend of his who didn't understand these were children and not cash machines. Where Mojo was a man and not a monkey like he'd always been and where the budget is a paperclip and a piece of string and tom kenny was involved

Yes Powerpuff... the CW Pilot which somehow got to trailer before Warner realized they done fuck up and shut it down. Which somehow got to script. Which... we do not have a copy of yet. Soooo

YUP! Though this year the prank.. isn't that far off. I am reviewing Powerpuff, a work about the Powerpuff Girls as young adults and the future they live in, with the three formally reuniting for the first time in a while, an old villian using said reunion for his own nefarious ends, and at least one of them being in a pretty bad place.

The diffrence is this Powerpuff... actually understands the assignment. Instead of being an edgelord deconstruction of the girls that comes off as if the writers had only heard of the show and pieced together the rest on loose assumptions "BUTTERCUP'S A LESBIAN BECAUSE SHE'S THE MOST BUTCH" "PROFESSOR UTONIUM ABUSED THEM BECAUSE HE SENT THEM OUT AND WOULD MERCH THE HELL OUT OF THEM" "MOJO IS LEX LUTHOR BECAUSE WE CAN'T AFFORD AN APE EXCEPT HE BECOMES A MONKEY LATER ANYWAY!" "THE GIRLS WERE ACTUALLY NOT WHITE EXCEPT BUBBLES BUT THEY WHITEWASHED THEM!"

If the full pilot gets leaked I will review this hilarious and awful trainwreck that it's actresses thankfully got out of. I am fascinated by the mountain of bad decisions. ]

But i'm also more than happy to cover the version of this that is written by someone who actually watched the show, loves the characters and knows how to age them up and explore who they'd be while not pulling punches. Powerpuff can be a tough read that deals with aimlessness, abuse, homophibia and moving on from what you think your life should be, that struggle to find a purpose in your 20's when everyone else in your life is settled and everything you knew is gone. It's a beautiful work. So i'm going to break down this comic: why I love it, why you should read it.. then save the spoilers for under the cut on the tumblr version as there is some stuff I want to get into but a lot of the work's impact is it sucker punching you. I mistakingly read a few later pages and wish I hadn't been spoiled on some things. The series has twists in it's 100 pages and can be read here if your curious before knowing anything

It just finished re-running on Webtoon and it's well worth it. If you need more or just got back, let's begin.

Powerpuff is by @hasaniwalker aka @hasanistories aka the genius behind the previously reviewed Doris Doodle, which is currently being remade for print. And I will likely cover the print version whenever it's released as I loved the original. If you want my thoughts on that one go here

It's in short an excellent comic following a lost star of the golden age who was sadly abused by the system and finds her second shot when a video of her telling off a creep abusing his employee goes viral as she deals with both a confusing new world and her gen z counterpart the studio foists on her whose deeper than she first appears.

So when Kev pitched doing this for April Fools I was on board once I found out who what wrote it. I need to check out more of their work and this keeps up the standard.

Powerpuff Takes place about 20 years later. Here we are in the future and it's bright. Nothing to fear and noone to fight, as Blossom and Bubbles have genuinely moved on from superheroing and found other ways to help the world: Bubbles is traveling the world helping with a charity and livestreaming her travels to get donations, a fitting fate: she was always kind, thoughtful , was bilingual and loved animals so her helping in Guetmala makes sense.

Blossom went into science, creating a bunch of robots to police robberies, help people get reformed, and return giant monsters to their big ole island when they show up at peoples houses at night to wreck up the place. She even, in an ending I love for them, finally helped the ameoba boys, convincing them to reform as being giant walking cells.. meant she could use their help to create a fuckton of cures.

They aren't the only villians reformed either: Mojo gave up evil to settle down with his love intrest from meet the Beat-Alls, Fuzzy Lumpkins runs a popular country chain restraunt having gotten therapy and Arturo is at home having moved on from his life in the gangs before he lost his life like his friends as the last surviving member of the gangreen gang. I guess Ace REALLY coudln't adjust to life after the gorillaz.. or Murdock gave him something that no one but him and 2D possibly had the tolerance for.

Finally we have Princess... who has the biggest role in the story and in a way I thought was brilliant I simply never thought of: When visting Princess 10 years before the story in it's first page , which I get the sense was just a one off Walker did that took off and laid the foundation for doing a full story, Blossom found an old valentine in Princesses latest mech... to Blossom. yes Princess was doing all of this because she had a crush on blossom and just couldn't admit it. And as we see shortly into the story.. Blossom fully reciprocated and Princess fully reformed, helping run her girlfriend's company and genuinely being happy.

So that leaves Buttercup.. and the story is essentially her version of Steven Universe Future and I mean that in the best way possible. Like Steven in that excellent epilouge, Buttercup feels lost. She searches for crime but her sisters worrying police state the comic never fully adresses does that. I mean it does say their going to try and rehab criminals, it's not heartless I just question any system that puts a lot of the power in the hands of a bunch of automation. I'm not sayin git's not a GOOD idea to have something to protect people, lower police, and what not, but Blossom probably shouldn't be the only one running it. I don't think she's abusing it.

It leaves her aimless. The only real joy she gets.. is fighting the rowdyruff boys who do get a dark reimagining.. but it's a genuinely clever one. This work does deconstruct some things but unlike the failed pilot it gets why the original worked.. it simply pulls some thread. In this case the Rowdyruffs are stuck stunted as children and clearly not stable in either sense, yet also are the only friends Buttercup has. The only people she has PEIROD are a bunch of children she fights and her dad whose age is catching up with him. He's kind and supportive as always but enables this routine. Her sisters never visit, and the mayor is an asshole.

And I .. do not like this as the mayor is miss bellum, now mayor bellum.. whose the only character I feel is written horribly out of character. She's overly agressive to buttercup, tells her to get on with her life and geneerally seems to dislike her for destroying the city.. when A) blossom's robots restore the city effortlessly and it's stated to be one of their functions and B).. your not offering any actual solutions to this. Your not forbidding her from operating, your not getting her a job, your not calling her dad which is a lot to do to a grown woman but possibly needed (She doesn't and Utonium only talks to her because he realizes his enabling her isn't healthy). It's jarring in a work where everyone else is on brand. Bellum has known her since she was 6... she'd at least care on some level. She'd be blunt but she'd actually WANT to help her.

Buttercup is stuck, and trying to find a new job.. isn't helping as most of what she finds is service jobs. And as someone who worked a lot of fast food jobs.. it can be annoying.. that you don't know what you want to do or had greater ambitions but this is all you can find. Not knocking service workers, from working those I learned that no people who work fast food work damn hard and deserve respect, i'm saying I get her. And when Utonium gets sick, wont' spoil how or when as it's gutting.

Bubbles is bubbles.. she tries to help and loves her sister. She's the only one in the comic besides the professor to really get through to her because like the professor.. she's kind. She's honest, but she gets just yelling at buttercup does nothing. Buttercup is a fighter by trade who now has nothing to fight. She's ALWAYS been quick to react, quick to snap at people and quick to rebel. Bubbles and Professor get that you have to be firm with her but not confrontational.

And the main conflict is naturally that BLossom, as the older sibling if only in spirit... can't simply be nice about it. She berates Buttercup for being aimless (true), not keeping a better eye on their dad (fair), and generally.. because they've ALWAYS butted head. Walker deftly captures that siblings.. fight. These two have always fought and while they love each other.. the gaps widened. Buttercup's aimlessness and Blossom's relationship with their former foe, someone Buttercup sees as both an invader to their family and a walking symbol of how much of her life is gone have split them.

And what I love is that.. it's even. Buttercup, like me can sometimes be oblivious and SHOULD have been watching their father closer. The accident that happens isn't her fault, nor is the fact she was gone a long time moping, but she shouldn't' of ignored him or the signs. That said.. Blossom is still a dick for a lot of this. She berates Buttercup.. but clearly barely checked in. Living her own life is fine, nothing wrong with that and were she anyone else, living in new york far form wherever townsville is.. that's a fair reason not to visit.

The problem is

She's busy yes but she could make time to visit. To check on her dad and sister, to visit, to be family. Even if princess coudln't always tag along (She mentions when having flown in to help that the g forces are a lot). The rift between them that's grown vicious and toxic.. isn't all on Buttercup. While Blossom did it for the right reasons, she made her sister, the only one of them who WANTED to be a superhero still irrelevant. Blossom can't see how her whole life is waving every problem in Buttercups in her face, while Buttercup can't see.. that's not all blossoms fault. She married a villian because she loves her and Princess has truly changed, going from the bratty asshole she was before, to a confident but shy woman who gave up her millions when her homophobic father gave her an ultimatium, a powerful as hell reveal, and simply dosen't want to keep being treated as an invader when she's TRYING and belongs in the family. When the professor warmly accepted her as of course he did.

It's a divide that's raw, painful and well done throughout. Like steven Universe the problem is mostly internal: it's a person who feels she has NOTHING in her life and slowly gets broken more and more over the story, and a person who has her shit together but can't get past herself and her need to fix things to see her sister is really hurting and lost. And when that gives... it fucking hurts. This is a raw book and it also gets pretty violent in the last act as superhero stuff does come up once last time. I'll get into that in spoilers but yeah.

So before I do if you like the powerpuff girls or you liked steven universe future.. you'll love this one. A fantastically painful character piece that evolves everyone nicely, has a lot of nods and what flaws it does have dosen't hurt the whole. Now we're getting into the spoilers so if you want to read it without any more than i've given out of need, dont' go under the cut.

So yeah... some stuff really goes down.. and it really breaks Buttercup. I had to spoil a lot of the first half as.. the comic is not that but this part really hurts. So in succession.. buttercup HITS blossom. Just.. straight up punches her and breaks her glasses.. which she doesn't need but are a gift from the professor.

What hit me is that.. this doesn't result in a fight. The two don't go back and forth.. it's instead played as any sibling hitting each other at this age would. It's something that hits all too close and is painful.. you can see buttercups regret.. blossoms quite pain. Princess is later utterly pissed over it and doesn't want Buttercup to see her when Buttercup, genuinely contrite tries to apologize. You understand how it got this bad.. you don't like that it got to this, that Buttercup gave her sister a black eye, that thigns got this bad... but neither of them do either. The abuse isn't brushed over and fianlly gets buttercup to realize princess isn't the enemy.. she belongs here. The professor took her in when no one else would. She isn't some invader.. she's family.

And buttercup... looses the rest. While Bubbles is absent for this nightmarish breakdown, otherwise the plot would likely go a different way, the rowdyruffs start to break down. Blossom warned buttecup they were breaking down... but didn't you know.. fix this or tell her that sooner. And as a result we see the boys bodies graphically breaking down. No blood or anything just... like a clay figure or an atom slowly falling apart

It's horrific. You see red under them.. but it's not really bloody.. but it's body horror at it's finest. Their chldren.. just.. slowly dying and

And all of this.. breaks her. And that's where HE comes in. Or rather HIM.

HIM.. is the perfect villian for this story. While the main villian is still the characters own issues, HIM is the only villian left who isn't reformed, dead or some third thign. HIM is left an old man, still fabulous but balding, old and like the professor likely not here forever. He reminseces with Buttercup, missing the old days.. but can't quite push her... until at her lowest she picks upt he old phone.. and he answers.

And in horrifying fashion.. he takes her body, using her insecurities and depression as a battery and amping it up by attacking the city. Blossom does try to resolve things.. but finds her sister ins't there. I love how walker draws HIMCUP. The jagged teeth, the white text on black speech bubbles, all so good and horrifying as HIM destroys the city and our heroines desperately try to hold the line. Thankfully casualties are avoided as the robots are also designed for disaster relief. Princess even steps in.. and breaks a leg. I mean she tried at least, even updated the armor and it's.. genuinely awesome to see her alongside the girls, now having earned it. When you think back to her first apperance... had she just.. bought the equipment to be one and asked nicely.. she MIGHT of gotten what she wanted. She was just so self absorbed she demanded it instead. Now.. she has it and it sucks.. but it's only for the right reasons. To protect her life and try to save an innocent person whose been bodyjacked by camp satan.

In her head.. Buttercup is living her ideal life. She's a kid again, princess is a villain again.. i'ts a perfect him scheme: using the girls own fears and anxieties against them as always. And like his schemes... he fails because.. he lacks empathy. He can't understand.. and thus he can't account for the one thing he clearly didn't prepare for: Buttercup empathizing with princess. Her violent death by BLossoms hands rattles her and her absence.. shakes her. Buttercup is in a bad place.. but realized from their talk Princess isn't some monster... fighting her dosen't fix the hole inside. She's part of blossoms life.. she's her sister in law.. and she needs her. It's what breaks the illusion. Buttercup has everything.. but it's not real. It's not right. And princess calling out to her from outside helps that, helps break it. It also breaks princesses leg with a painful reset being needed but it frees buttercup

And the resolution.. is beautiful. I compare it to SFU a lot, and while I can't know if Walker was inspired by it or not and it's with diffrent enough characters to be it's own thing... the climax has the same vibe: a big fight breaks out.. but that isn't what resolves this. Like steven being stuck in monster form and his self loathing, Buttercup..doesn't punch him away. Despite breaking her arm, GRAPHICALLY... despite getting exactly what she wanted, a final glorious battle, exactly what HIM wanted to... and she stops. She realizes she can't hide from her problems.. or her grief. The simulation was fun.. but she has to face what she lost

And the finale.. makes me tear up. Twice both when reading it the first time and rereading it while writing this to refresh my memory. Buttercups torment at revealing they died, that all she could give them was dying happy playing with them.. and that it left them alone.. and when blossom argues "Well we're still there for you.. you still have us"

And Blossom is forced to reflect.. and realize she basically abandoned her. Her new life isn't unimportant... but she blamed herself for not checking in on the professor, lashed out at the one person she can blame.. and apologizes for it, while Buttercup apologizes for her lashing out and implicitly punching her sister in the face. It's what I hoped the story would end on... after all the pain.. both acknowledge they fucked up.. and move on. And HIM.. simply shrivels away. He wanted a fight, blood, he wanted everything buttercup did.. and her movign past it .. leaves him starving, only telling bubbles he always hated her most after she tries to redeem him.

And Buttercup... wakes up in the hospital. The professor, who passed out due to a brain thing, is okay too and helps encourage her.. telling her there's no such thing as perfect and beautifully recontexutalizing the "perfect little girls concept". Utonium was obsessed with the study of perfection, perfect circles etc.. but in making the perfect child realized .. that's truly impossible. A perfect child.. is just a child. However they end up, whoever they are. A child that does whatever you want is just "a robot". He wanted them to live.

And .. we get a happy ending for Buttercup some months later. She's teaching at the new school Ms Keane, who I was worried about when it was revealed pokey oaks was shut down, as principal. And encouraging a kid being bullied to pop em one when no one's looking. Still herself. As I read this I honestly didn't know what Buttercup would move on to but this fits.. she can still protect.. but in a way that's healthy. She can still be athletic.. but helping kids. It makes the rowdyruff thing come full circle and it's beautiful and she ends the comic going out to dinner with her sister in law, finally fully letting her in.

Powerpuff is masterful. If you didn't check it out at the previous jump off please do and remember: I'm pulling for you, we're all in this together.

[luv-again]

What are some pet names Shadow would use for Amy? I just cannot get the scene of Wreck It Ralph out of my head where he calls her a “dynamite girl”.

firstly, oops, sorry it took a little while to get around to this ! i have such a bad habit around leaving responses in my drafts for forever and a day </3 secondly, hi, yay, i love asks ! but oh NO you've just enabled me to yap and i am SO sorry in advance for the length of this response ;-; i'll put it in a dropdown so i'm not assaulting everyone's dashes

buckle in, it's blabbing time

i'm of the firm belief that if you can convince me shadow would say [ xyz pet name ] within a certain context, then i can believe it. my bud, @sadgirlz-lovemoney, does this brilliantly in her fic, ballads for the gallows, where shadow is insistent on calling amy "troublemaker", based on the fic's proceedings and their attitudes/personalities. to me, that's the perfect way to implement terms of endearment !! you gotta set the stage before hitting the audience with it — it's all contextual and more importantly, it rides on how natural it comes off

"dynamite girl" is so fun 😭 i think i vaguely remember this scene ?? and i think shadow would absolutely call amy something within the same vein ! something pertaining to her abilities or overall nature ? i'm a sucker for shadow admiring the qualities about her that no one else will openly recognise (so much so, i wrote a whole piece on him doting on her like this. i am both guilty and biased)

as much as i have learned to accept the charming, almost honorific-like term of endearment that shadow applies by regarding to amy as 'rose' (i actually used to abhor it, but i adore it when it's applied in the right way. i love the use of her given name more - but that's a whole other thing for a WHOLE different discussion lmao), i always like to resort to referring to her differently in my pieces. out of exploration, mostly, but it never seems to be a pet name of sorts ??

when i don't write shadow referring to amy by her given name — you know what ? i'm going to be honest, i normally don't. just because all my interpretations of him so far have been either pre-relationship and/or unsettled with the idea of giving pet names at the time. BUT. if i were to, here's what i reckon :

'my love'. simple, timeless. shadow doesn't muck about and if he's comfortable with announcing to amy or anyone else that she's the subject of his adoration, that'd have to be one in his repertoire. it's boring, i know, but to me, shadow is a little boring. in an endearing way

^^ by extension, 'beloved'

going through a search of my pieces, i did in fact find one where he does apply the former pet name ! as a tease, but it still made an appearance !

— dusk, or eventide

as for an extensive list, i am so so garbage with churning my brain for further ideas, they normally crop up on a whim. but in a basic sense, those are best fit. at least to me, in good faith to my interpretation of shadow, anyway. i know others in the community have far more clever ones out there; i just rely on one failing brain cell to do all the heavy lifting for me lmao (and it does me no justice, i'm afraid)

furthermore, on the point of not using pet names too often, i come to my next (unnecessary) point of discussion : how i do represent amy through shadow's eyes

a lot of how i perceive shadow's view of amy comes down to my previous statement of admiration. he admires and respects amy for all that she can do and all that she is. i like her actions and her bearing to speak for her more than superficial things like the pigment of her fur or the colour of her eyes. and if i DO mention that (most likely the latter because i am an 'eyes are the window to the soul' believer), there's something attached, whether that be a feeling evoked by them or a deeper concept they play testament to

let me nab some extracts from some of my pieces :

— the kiss...?

— three words, three syllables

it'd take me a ton more time to pick out more features/metaphors i've used in regards to amy (especially in three words, three syllables, since that's all the piece is full of), but i can be sure to say i love — not quite the sun/moon dynamic trope — to liken amy to the sun because i think it's a beautiful way to encompass all her attributes. she is warm, but she can burn. she can glow, but she can blind. amy is unapologetic in both her love and her malice, and that's what i love about her character. so by extension, so does shadow. he wouldn't change her for anything. if you can draw a handful of pet names from that one, be my guest hehe

i think i personally prefer to remain poetic, vague, or unspoken when i write for shadow, hence the severe drought that is the pet name scene in my neck of the woods lmao

this post went off on such a wild tangent, i'm so sorry. i'm as verbose as they come once you get me started on something </3

nevertheless, thank you for the ask !! i really enjoy prompted shadamy yaps hehe

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is: @thisusernameisunavailable01! Thisusernameisunavailable has 85 fics in the Stranger Things fandom on AO3 and 69 of them are in the Steddie tag!

@dame-zoom-a-lot recommends the following works by @thisusernameisunavailable01:

blue skies over suburbia

friday night bible study

be kind & rewind (the only prison I see here is time

dumb, delusional, and maybe a little desperate

it came from beneath Hawkins Lab

"I have yet to read a scene in their fics that didn't end up sticking with me in some way. If you look at their catalog, you'll see so many different kinks, so many AUs, so many degrees of angst. And they're all incredible.

"They don't only write taboo / dead dove subjects. But when they do, they're so good at showing both the appeal of dead dove fantasies, and what the consequences would look and feel like in real life. I have a lot of squeaks, but I'll always at least give my squeak a try if they wrote about it. It's like watching a masterfully crafted train wreck-- beautiful, bleak, and something I just can't look away from." -- @dame-zoom-a-lot

Below the cut, @thisusernameisunavailable01 answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I have been a fan of Stranger Things since season one. Steve has always been my favorite character, but he never had a ship that stuck with me quite like Steddie. Once I started writing, I couldn't really stop and it brought me back to Fandom culture, which makes it even more enjoyable to create. 

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I actually don't think I have favorite. I will read almost anything if it's Steddie. I guess I can be a sucker for fix its, and I do like when there are sci-fi/upside down elements to a story too. I like a little of everything. 

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Oh, I have a lot. Strangers or even Enemies to Lovers is probably my favorite. I also enjoy writing Eddie how I really see him-, charming, in his own way, but a little socially inept and awkward around Steve. Also, liking steddie has enabled me to explore so many crossovers and that has been fun too.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

I have so many. The first steddie fic I ever read, I still love is & it's- that's one romantic poltergeist by appledagger. My newest favorite is from this year's bb- It's Only Forever by Hbyrde.

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

I'm writing omegaverse for the first time, if that counts. It's fun so far 💖

What is your writing process like?

Honestly, I have ADHD. My process is usually…get an idea, write obsessively about the idea until it's done, or procrastinate for several months until I'm finished with it. Sometimes projects die off and never see the light of day ever again (unfortunate)

Do you have any writing quirks?

I write complete first drafts using only my phone.

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

My schedule is more like…post three chapters back to back…sit on the rest for 8 months (apologies)

Which fic are you most proud of?

The benefit of not wanting to run away this time. It's older steddie and I put way too many pieces of myself into it, but it is definitely still my favorite project.

How did you get the idea for it came from beneath Hawkins Lab?

I love old sci-fi and horror movies. I also always wanted to write Eddie coming back as a monster. The trope was something I had loved since I first started reading steddie fics, but every time I started one it never came out right. So while I was watching a movie one day I ended up writing the whole opening scene to the fic and in my head, I imagined it in the style of an old horror movie, in black and white. Then it was my entry into the big bang that year, which made me actually finish it.

When writing it came from beneath Hawkins Lab, what was something you didn’t expect?

The fact that at first I had written Eddie as Kas or at least as a vampire. That changed during the writing process and he ended up being more like a Frankenstein esque monster.

What inspired dumb, delusional, and maybe a little desperate?

My insatiable love for Steve Harrington…I feel like most of my PwPs could be derived from that very same reason.

What was your favorite part to write from be kind & rewind (the only prison I see here is time)?

Exes To lovers never gets enough hype and I also got to write a little platonic Eddie and Chrissy, which I adore. I guess I just liked making the boys fall back in love again.

How do/did you feel writing friday night bible study?

Haha…it was a sequel to my kinktober/PriestSteve fic and honestly, I feel like we all need more Priest Steve.

What was the most difficult part of writing blue skies over suburbia?

Setting up the scenes. It's told from Steve's POV but he is an unreliable narrator. You are never really sure if what he's describing is accurate, but you start to believe it too because of Eddie's not so sweet characterization. At the end, even I was asking what just happened.

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

Anything under the tag crack treated seriously…also writing Eddie's inner thoughts gives me pure joy. I also loved the AIM chatspeak scenes I wrote for this year's bb fic. 

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

Sure! for anyone who enjoys #metaldeputy (Eddie Munson × Gator Tillman crossover) I'm currently posting soothe, which is a 4 part omegaverse piece. I'm also working on finishing the sleaze series & hope to post another #metaldeputy series around Christmas time. For good ol steddie, I already have a very classic, sharing the bed trope fic planned for the holidays. 

Thank you to our author, @thisusernameisunavailable01, and our nominator, @dame-zoom-a-lot! See more of Thisusernameisunavailable's works featured on our page throughout the day!

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

[greyeyedmonster-18]

(so i found this in my archives from 2021, and wanted to do it again. i am a sucker for year-end recaps. tagging everyone who loves these things as i do.)

2024 YEAR IN REVIEW

BY THE NUMBERS:

words published this year: 105,730 (on AO3, and I might guesstimate like....10,000 here on tumblr? no more than 120,000 words this year though)

# of fics published: two! and i made art for one

# of one shots: zero on AO3

# of completed multi chapters: two-- The Crimson Kiss and Clear Eyes, Full Hearts

# of WIP multichapters: zerooooo

# of drabbles on tumblr: three (best day for wolfstar candyhearts, we meet again my prongsfoot AU, and most recently jingle all the bidet). There might have been like...a few more but I don't recall

# of ideas waiting their turn: at the moment, none.

# of WIP one shots: zeroooo.

Longest work: Clear Eyes, Full Hearts (Can't Lose Either Way)- 60k+ words

Shortest work: I think? jingle all the bidet (1.5k)

Highest Kudos: clear eyes, my baby (455)

Highest Hits: clear eyes again (12,772)

Top 3 by kudos: clear eyes, the crimson kiss

Top 3 by Hits: clear eyes, the crimson kiss

-

BEHIND THE NUMBERS:

Most challenging fic to write: The Crimson Kiss-- this big bangerang was on the struggle bus the entire way. I kicked and screamed the entire process. I think, admittedly (and also i think you can feel it when you read it), i bit off more than i could chew, and really did not do this plot justice.

Fic that came easiest to write: i loved writing clear eyes. i love writing football and stupid silly teenage boys. i think i had the brain child of "oh a Friday night lights au, wheres all the football au's" and wrote the 2nd chapter in the same day.

Most true-to-the-outline fic: i would love to know what an outline is. i didn't outline for clear eyes, so by default The Crimson Kiss and i think i largely outlined to spare my poor beta from guessing.

Most unlike-its-outline fic: all of them.

Favorite Reader freak-out: i

Most controversial scene: I don't think i wrote any this year??? but i will say that there were MANY questions regarding "WHAT HAPPENED TO SIRIUS AND REG IN NY" "HOW DID ORION LEAVE THEM THERE!"

Hottest ask box topic of the year: where is chefs kiss? what happened?

Most loved OC: not applicable, i do not know here

Most hated OC: see above

My favorite thing about writing Wolfstar: I am actually going to keep my answer from 2021 here because it's still true!!!! "i love writing dialogue between them. i think they are both like exceptionally smart and Sirius in particular has a really quick wit so it feels like a spar when I write them together and then it'll just SKRRRT into the most feelings ever."-- 2021 dr. grey.

Most I’ve laughed writing a scene: Idk if i like LOL'd but i had a lot of fun writing jingle all the bidet, and remus just rambling. i also very much enjoyed writing the scene in clear eyes where remus was going through the backseat of Sirius's truck while he was driving and making fun of the teen quizzes he had done in a magazine.

Most I’ve cried writing a scene: i cried writing the entirety of the crimson kiss (i joke, i joke, kind of), but i don't think i cried writing anything?? i don't tend to do this

Smuttiest smut scene: not applicable!

Favorite Wolfstar kiss: the first kiss in clear eyes!!! no but actually, i found myself quite clever (not to toot a horn but toot toot beep beep etc) writing their first kiss scene because it's remus's inner monologue, and he doesn't know what to say because he's feeling too much and like says a two word sentence, and sirius responds back with two words. and then the rest of their dialogue counts down from five words, four words, three, two, one, before they kiss and.

“Y…you play.” Is what Remus settled on. Two words seemed easier to manage than every novel he had ever read about romance and burned into his long-term memory. “I do.” Perhaps two words were easier for Sirius too. “You’re good.” “I know.” “That’s infuriating.” Sirius laughed quietly, “I’m sorry.” “It’s alright,” Remus shrugged, stopping at the edge of his porch just before the broken first step. “Thanks for wakin’ me up.” Five.

Hardest trope/thing to write: while writing Crimson Kiss, i realized i truly do not have the patience or the...skills or the anything to properly write a mystery/properly write a pseudo thriller and in my opinion this fic leans more towards absurd crack fic. i left a lot of this fic simply up to the readers imagination/choice because i did not want to write it and figure out the hows and the whys and the whos. like it's just too much work, and better left in the hands of...someone who is not me.

Easiest trope/thing to write: dialogue/flirting. also just romance 5ever.

Any fic regrets?: I am going to again quote 2021 grey, "Yes. We're trying not to have though. I keep reminding myself that at one point this was the story i wanted to share. and someone else reading it might be at that point in their life as well...so it's all worth it."

2024 fic habits to break: i struggled really badly with decision paralysis this year (across all forms of writing i do) and it impacted me a lot. so...that. stop thinking about whats right and just do something.

2025 fic habits to make: go back to writing nonsense, stop thinking so hard.

[sapphoshands]

Fandom in Review: 1, 2, 11, 15,

1 Favourite fictional characters this year

goddddd agatha my BELOVED. she's a genius she's a mess she's perfectly dressed she's a muddy wet cat she likes knives she sometimes wants to be treated like a BAY BEE. she has three hundred years of history and eight million emotional defenses to explore. i love! her!

rio is also up there for me just because the concept is so wonderful - what does it mean when death falls in love with a human? i am so looking forward to spending more time with rio in upcoming fic!

i took something of a break from thinking incessantly about wheel of time this past year but my excitement for more moiraine and siuan, not to mention more alanna and liandrin and lanfear and MORE, is riding high. 73 days? is that right? omg.

2. Favourite ships this year

not including my yuletide fics which have not revealed yet and which may or may not break this streak, the only ship i wrote about was agatha/rio. as always, i am a complete sucker for relationships with long complicated histories. doesn't get much longer or more complicated than this!!! moiraine/siuan also fall into this category, of course.

11. Biggest squee moments of the year

godddd the entire airing of agatha all along? i LOVED being part of the fandom excitement of that. there's no experience like it! within that: the agatha/rio almost-kiss in ep 4 - hell, the entirety of ep 4 - and also the marvel that was ep 7 were probably my biggest squee moments. and god, just the return of agatha! in such a spectacular way! oh, going to the agatha panel at fanexpo (i actually... called in sick to work for that...) and getting to listen in person to the way kathryn hahn talks about agatha was hugely fun. made up a little for the intense disappointment of NO agatha at SDCC.

also ohhhhhh my god the wheel of time s3 trailer. the collective buidup and joy and experience and analysis of that! AND ALSO the official announcements of shohreh aghdashloo and olivia williams' casting in wot.

ahaha also also getting my weekly production list email and it having agatha s2 on it. yeah that.

15. Favourite f/f ship of the year

iiiiiiii meeeeeeeean do you EVEN need to ask. it continues to be all about agatha/rio. i was thinking about them on the drive back to where i'm staying tonight... that moment when rio says that she watches agatha the way agatha watches everyone else. and of course part of why agatha watches everyone is to learn how not to be hurt by them. but rio just sees what's coming for her and accepts it to be with agatha while at the same time not seeing so much that will blindside her. anyway lots of feelings about them!!! lots!!!!

[doraambrose]

fav comic writer & artist?

Hello! Thanks for the awesome question!

I'm not sure I have a FAVORITE writer, but here are some I do like:

Shawn Martinbrough took over for RHATO Rebirth for the last couple issues and us writing Redhood: the Hill, and I did really like his writing for RHATO, much better than Scott Lobdell

Gretchen felker-Martin wrote Jason's issue for Titans Beast world tour: gotham and it was hands down the best jason characterization I've ever seen since under the redhood despite him being a furry in it lol. She might be my new favorite actually

Geoff Johns wrote Batman: three jokers and I gotta be honest, for all its flaws (including some jason and Barbara), it'd probably one of my favorite series. The mix of the art, the exploration of chronic pain and trauma because of the joker, ugh so good.

Of course, I've got to give props to Judd Winnick for lost days and under the red hood. How jason was before he was retconned into being a sloppy stupid hothead, he was clever, cunning, sneaky, SMART.

An honorable mention is for suicide squad get joker, but definitely not my favorite

As for artists, me! (Just kidding) that's also hard to pick just one favorite, but I LOVE these artists

Dexter soy has such a unique way of doing comic art, but I just love it. He makes jason look his age and not, you know, a 50 year old Vietnam War vet. And I love the way Artemis was drawn as a strong, tall amazon woman with muscles and not, you know, skinny feminine woman like old style comics.

I also just LOVE Alex maleev for his work in suicide squad get joker. The people are drawn well, the color palette, it's all so visually appealing. And again, jason isn't 50. It seems like a lot of comic artists forget that most members of the batfamily are in their 20s

Jason Fabok gets a mention for his art in batman three jokers. It was beautiful. Same reasons too. I'm also a sucker for line art

Finally, one of my most favorite artists isn't even a jason todd artist but I wish he was. Bruno Redondo does a lot of the art for the newer Nightwing comics and I LOVE IT. The color scheme is so visually stunning, everyone is drawn so well, it's beautiful.

And call me a narcissist but I gotta add some of my own art in here lmao but thanks for the ask!!! This is very exciting for me and I love talking about jason todd as he is someone I've studied and read everything about for the last few years

I've reached my image limit so I might start posting my own art as well

[battleshipgarcy]

3 October 2016 - 3 October 2024

Happy 8th Anniversary, Timeless!

I don't know what I can say that I haven't already said a thousand times before. Timeless is my favourite show. I stopped keeping count of how many times I've watched it back in 2018/19 after I hit 50 rewatches. And I've watched the OG26 almost monthly since (and sometimes more than that).

I knew I'd love Timeless the first time I saw a trailer for the series during the 2016 Rio Olympics - time travel, history, action and adventure. Gimme gimme gimme. OMG. I have a "three seasons/renewed for another" and "series complete/not left unfinished or with a shitty ending" rule that I apply to what shows I will watch. Timeless didn't make the criteria (obviously bc it hadn't aired yet), but I was so in love with the trailers I saw, that I marked my calendar for 3 October, and the moment I could add it to record on my DVR, I did.

And eight years ago tonight, I fell in love with the series.

Sure, after the Shitmas episodes, my love for it wavered, and I found it difficult to rewatch. But the months passed, and my memory of Shitmas details waned, and I was able to rewatch without thinking about how that shitty lyat fanfic "movie" took the OG26 series and erased it for gross lyat fanfic fodder. Yes, I may not remember Shitmas well, but I do remember how disgusting it was, and I will forever hold a grudge against NBC, arika and lauren for fucking it up as badly as they did. (please note: I have never and will never watch those Shitmas episodes again - and neither should you 😊).

The OG26 series isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I love it anyway.

I wrote more about my fandom-ing for Timeless on my fanworks site if you're interested 👇 IIRC I write a little bit about the fandom history, and my good (and bad) experiences in it.

Timeless introduced me to Garcia Flynn who went on to dethrone my previous Favourite Character of All Time who had held that top spot for 17 years. Today, in 2024, Garcia has held that title for six, and I don't think he will ever be dethroned since I've stopped watching new TV shows. What makes him more special than all other characters I love is the strength of his redemption arc. Who he was in season 1 vs. the changes he made to be a better person in season 2. His ability to speak several languages helps a lot, too. I'm a sucker for men who speak more then two languages.

I also cannot resist a character who has lost loved ones, and is hell bent on avenging their deaths. Even better if at first he seems to be the villain of the story, who turns out to be the hero.

Timeless also introduced me to Garcy.

I maintain a Garcy fansite. I have a couple handfuls of Garcy fanvids. I have over 50 works on AO3 for Garcy. I've made manips and graphic fanart for them. I don't think I need to explain how much I love this ship 😂

I could write an essay on why Garcy is my favourite ship, and why I love it over all others.

But for now, all I'll say is that my love of Garcy is personal. And like in my own life, it ended leaving only one question in its wake... what if?

This is the answer to "what if?" (from an alternate, happier timeline where NBC renewed the series and arika and lauren were fired from the show) 👇

( these are AI generated Garcy kiss GIFs, the kisses never actually happened)

Karl reacting to his boss making out with Lucy 👇

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

So, anyway...

Happy Timeless Day & Happy Timeless Month! 🕰

If you love Timeless too, make sure to check out my Timeless themed fansites: Team Garcy, The Timeless Fansite, and BattleshipGarcy 👇

👆 my fanworks site where you can easily find all the fanart, fanfic, manips, and fanvids I've made for Timeless and Garcy ❤

[jinjojess]

So, what routes in Hundora have you done by now?

I've gotten 10 endings so far, which is what, 10% of the endings? I don't know how many different routes there are, but I've done three (arguably four) so far.

More details with spoiler talk below.

I don't know what this says about me, but the series of choices I was naturally making during the second run-through has mostly kept me on what I assume is the Prime Timeline (my basis for thinking this is that this timeline has included all the extra fluff the first runthrough had, like free time etc, and the chapter select screen refers to it as "Chapter 00").

The first actual route deviation happened to me on Day 33, because while I was okay to bite the bullet and sacrifice Magadori to detonate the bomb earlier on (it felt like the right decision thematically, and it would provide some delicious Jess Place pathos for me to savor), given the choice between Maruko, the character I care about the least and has the least utility to me in battles, and Kurara, a character I like a lot and who is key to my playstyle, it seemed laughably obvious to secure the latter.

So I went into the Chapter 7 offshoot verse, and got all the weird little endings there. Gotta say that they're a touch disappointing, because many of them are just slight variations of the same basic premise, and the only ending with any interesting implications (#022 Donna Donna) fades out without addressing anything juicy because to do so would spoil later reveals in the Prime Timeline. (Presumably.)

I did find the entire concept of having to make Sumino redpill himself very funny, and even funnier is how on Day 34 before any of that even comes up, the game itself just kinda shrugs and is like "yeah, makes sense why you'd sacrifice Maruko, huh. Was anybody even especially attached to that guy?"

Telling my girlfriend about this prompted her to suggest that Maruko living might be less thematically important than destabilizing Nozomi with grief, and based on where I am in the Prime Timeline now (Day 41), I kind of agree.

Yes, please haunt the narrative, Kurara-chan!

Not sure what to think about Gotoh, and the idea that there's a sect of humanity that thinks everyone should make peace with the fact that they fucked up and go quietly into eternity. Well, I kinda do, actually. Interestingly, the Anti-Human Relocation Camp feels very similar in ethos to the religion from niche PS2 SRPG Stella Deus, which makes me wonder if the devs of Hundred Line were at all inspired by it. It's pretty different on the gameplay mechanic front, but in a broader sense there's some underlying themes and style conventions that line up in a way that makes me wonder if any of them were Hoshigami series fans, ya know?

(Now thinking about Hundora gameplay with the RAP system... )

As always, I'm a sucker for representing the Will of Man not as a monolith but as a series of competing opinions, so I like that the Anti-Relocation side exists, but I feel the whole route was half-baked. I can only hope it's addressed in a more satisfying way later on, but there isn't any indication either way so uh... In particular, the turnaround between Gotoh telling the player that everyone's motivation to fight has been twisted to better manufacture consent and the reveal that they made all of that up was way too quick to feel effective.

Actually. Who wrote this route? Because the way it sets up a fascinating premise that challenges the characters' perception of themselves while also potentially challenging how the player sees them, only to just giggle and shrug and go "I made it up lol" feels like a pointed critique of Kodaka trying to Lady and the Tiger the fiction twist in V3.

Hm.

Final thing of note for this route is that I have a very pushy coworker named Gotoh and when I sent a screenshot of ending #015 (I think?) to a friend at his request, to show him what happens if you bluepill yourself, he responded that Nigou is pretty accurate to how he imagines the devil on her shoulder.

After exhausting the 8 endings in that offshoot and having it not take very long, I decided that before parting ways with Kurara in the Prime Timeline, I'd go find out what happens if you try to stop Shizuhara from breaking Nigou. "This'll probably be a quick diversion," I thought, like an idiot. "She got stopped anyway when I just stood idly by, so it can't be that big of a difference."

So yeah. I've also done Chapter 8, aka まったり編 (which I'm choosing to call the Living to the Fullest route).

This one feels more like a proper alternate story path, given that it's far longer and only contains one choice at the very end. I kind of like how it's carved into a handful of major chunks, where you're wandering around and dealing with trivial bullshit, though again I'm not fully convinced that 100 days were necessary. Regardless, juxtaposing stuff like The Mystery of the Potentially Bisexual Sock Thief with actual enemy sieges was pretty effective at getting to the heart of the ultimate route dilemma: do you stick with comfort, knowing it's fake, or do you face reality, knowing it sucks? Hardly groundbreaking or anything, but if the delusion ending is the only true Golden Route in the game, I will be satisfied with that.

Plus it's never not funny to see Veshnis (Veshnith?) comporting herself like a Saturday morning cartoon villain. Yes, Queen! Give us nothing but empty threats!

This answer got way out of hand, sorry.

For those of you keeping score, here's the stats.

Routes I've Played:

Original Timeline

Chapter 00, ongoing (technically nameless, but I'm calling it the Prime Timeline)

Chapter 7 (The Route of Many Decisions)

Chapter 8 (Living to the Fullest Route)

Meanwhile, the endings I've gotten so far are (in the order I got them):

017

018

022

021

020

019

016

015

024

023

Choices I've made so far that were kind of notable:

Chapter 00, Day 015, who sacrifices themself to detonate the bomb. "I'll tell you who it's NOT gonna be. It's not gonna be Kawana, because I refuse to nuke my best flying unit equivalent for no conceivable narrative purpose."

Chapter 7, Day 34, choose to take the red pill or not. "Welp. Guess Sumino's about to become either a girl or a Joe Rogan fan."

Chapter 7, Day 35, who should be convinced first to run away. "I feel like Kurara could easily get the Dai2 group on my side, but Shizuhara could force everyone onto my side so..."

Chapter 8, Day 99, stay in the dream or face reality. "I don't respect staying in Plato's Cave but let's see it first I guess."

Finally, I've got a few other thoughts. First, I'm feeling quite vindicated about my prediction that the planet is not Earth and the shinkousei are the indigenous ones. If that's not the case, it could be that we're so displaced in time/reality that despite the planet being Earth, the shinkousei are humanity's distant relatives or convergent evolutions or something else appropriately Uchikoshi-minded.

The other main thing I'm noticing is that every single death or potential death in Round 2 is a character that survived the OG Timeline. (I don't yet know who dies instead of Amemiya if you forsake Dai2 Bouei Gakuen, in all fairness, so that might screw my theory up a bit.) This makes me wonder if the Prime Timeline will have the only survivors be everyone who died in the original run, which would be interesting, because depending on how you look at it, that's arguably a worse outcome for the main cast. Maybe not for Sumino, whose prime directive is that Nozomi makes it and everyone else is preferred but not necessary, but objectively you'd go from ten characters surviving to like, five, depending on how things go with Eva and Aotsuki.

The interesting question for me at this point is: does this problem extend to Sumino himself, or does he have protag plot armor? I'd gone into the redo timeline assuming he was insulated from the same kind of consequences as the other characters because he's the only one with time travel powers, but looking at it again after seeing how the endings are handled... Sumino doesn't diagetically time leap when things go south like the Ashton Kutcher movie Butterfly Effect; whatever ending he gets is the end of the line for that version of him, with only the player getting to hop around afterward.

A fun detail, because it implies a couple of things. First is that after the original timeline, Sumino is coasting on quantum immortality instead of literally avoiding bad outcomes using time travel. The Sumino in any given route is as unaware of all his grim fates as a fresh Mario is of all the versions of himself who perished in bottomless pits. (Curious to see how Little Runmo this can get.)

The second fun implication is that the narrative is not locked to Sumino specifically, and he could "canonically" die without inviting a game over state. We've seen this before, of course. [Clair De Lune starts playing.] That said, it'd still be a very ballsy move to have the Prime Timeline end with the player character dying after tens of hours as the audience's stand-in. Ballsy, but thematically appropriate for a story about the sacrifices one is willing to make to protect what's important to them.

(We've also seen this thematic self-sacrifice cheated by this very same creative lead before, twice even, so I remain wary. Maybe Sumino will mysteriously be protected by the will of humanity like V3's stupid epilogue, or maybe he'll rock up looking confused and mumble "pretty sure I died" to himself. We shall see.)

So yeah, that's my extremely long and detailed thoughts so far. When I'm not just having a laugh about some silly detail, I have a lot to say regarding this game, apparently.

[susiecarter]

hi!! hope you're doing well!! just wanted to check in as you haven't updated your projects page in a while (not that you have to! but you're one of my fav writers of all time so just got worried) also, if you're seeing this, how goes the arranged marriage au? (and if u can sprinkle in some writing advice, that'd be great, tho srsly i feel like i'm asking a little too many things lmao so feel free to ignore)

/o\ :D Hi, anon, and thank you so much for checking in! No need to worry—I'm absolutely fine, I've just been ludicrously busy (my job changed somewhat at the end of last year and I acquired New Responsibilities; figuring out how to handle those and still have as much time as I need to write and to reply to comments has taken me six months :'D but I think I've mostly gotten the hang of it, hence me finally starting to catch up on my inboxes both here and on the AO3).

AND, ngl, I am absolutely delighted to hear that you were looking at the Projects page! :D That was honestly three-quarters me experimenting with the new theme I set up, haha (and the reason I threw a "last updated" date on there was 100% because if I got busy, I knew I was definitely going to start forgetting to update that sucker). I've updated it today, and the good news/bad news breakdown on the arranged marriage AU is: good news, I am still working on it; bad news, it is super not done. :'D I've got some other shorter stuff that should be done sooner than that (including some Bruce/Clark!), but I'm hoping to make that this year's Big Long Bruce/Clark Fic. Obviously I also have not made a whole lot of progress on some other things on that list :D but here's hoping I can fix that this summer!

As for writing advice, I've written a few posts in the past about my process, how I approach managing character identity, and my tl;dr thoughts on characterization, pacing, dialogue, and prose rhythm, if you haven't seen one or another of those! Honestly, working on my writing has been a real process of self-discovery for me :'D so I'd say my bottom-line "if you do nothing else, do this" of writing advice is: try things! Try different techniques, try outlining and not outlining, try doing writing exercises and not doing writing exercises, try sitting down to write a few hundred words each day and try only writing when you feel inspired to do it ... Everybody is different, everybody's brains and subconscious creative sources are different, and stuff that works for other people might work for you or it might not, but you won't know if you don't try it all multiple ways and see which approach feels the best to you.

Personally, I used to not outline at all, and I wrote the scenes that came to me in my head first and then went back to fill in the gaps—and that worked okay, it was fine, but as it turns out I'm MUCH better off when I outline every! single! time! and also my odds of completing a story I'm working on increase about 5,000% if I write it straight through from start to finish. I thought I knew what worked the best for me! I was wrong! :'D But I wouldn't have found out I was wrong if I hadn't decided to try outlining, and then decided to ditch how other people outline and outline in the way that worked for me, and then tried writing straight through, tried writing every single day and sucked at it BUT trying to write every day is actually good for me, it's just I have to let myself not do it if it's not working, &c &c. So, yeah, try stuff, don't get too stuck on doing anything one specific way, and sooner or later you'll figure out how you work, what gets your brain doing its best writing, and you'll be able to get it to do its best writing more and more often. :D

[cucumbermoon]

Hello! I just wanted to say, I was browsing old Indeedsir posts as is my wont, and I came across your Meet the Family fic, and I really really love it and have read it multiple times. It's still open in a tab on my phone right now. I like Rebecca, she feels like a fleshed out real person and a believable Jeeves relative. I love outsider POV fics where you have to read between the lines, and I think you did that really well in that Rebecca doesn't have the information to understand straight away what she's seeing, but we understand perfectly what's going on between J and B. The contrast between her (understandable) assumptions about how a rich employer would be expected to treat her brother and what becomes clear is the actual reality is so !!!! The way she describes the way Reginald talks about Bertie makes me feral. She thinks Bertie is an idiot but we know he's just babbling because he's nervous about meeting Reg's family!! I adore the way Bertie and Reg are clearly communicating with each other nonverbally from the moment they get there. The moment where Jeeves looks at Bertie chidingly and Rebecca assumes there's no way Bertie could have picked up on it, but then she realizes he looks contrite made me want to scream!!! BEST moment (and there were a LOT of great moments). I love love love your characterization of Bertie, the way he's brilliant in his own way and shows hints of hidden vulnerabilities and is just INCANDESCENTLY in love with Jeeves. The way he tells the swan story oh my god!! (it's funny how we were just talking about that on that tumblr post recently!) Some of the dialogue made me laugh out loud.

There's so much more I want to say but I'm actually not sure how long asks are allowed to be, and I don't know if you even check LJ anymore and I honestly can't figure out how LJ works anyway, but if you ever saw your way to posting it on AO3 I would love to comment on it. I want to write a book report on it. I want to put it in a blender and drink it. I want to boil it down to a tincture and sprinkle drops of it on everything. It's SO GOOD.

Oh, wow. First of all, I am relatively new to tumblr and I don't know how to answer asks other than publicly, so hopefully this is all right! And no, I haven't logged into LJ in over a decade and I have no idea how to do it anymore!

Thank you so much. It's incredible to get any kind of feedback at all on a story I wrote fourteen years ago, but especially getting feedback like this is just incredible. I was (obviously) a much younger and less experienced person when I wrote my little smattering of Jeeves and Wooster fics, and though I have thought of them from time to time I didn't really have the courage to go back and read them again until you wrote to me.

Thank you for reaching out, for opening that door again. I spent last night rereading my Jooster stuff from when I was in my early twenties and it felt like reconnecting with a version of myself I'd almost forgotten. I never really thought about posting my old stuff on AO3, but I'm going to consider it. I will let you know if I do. I remember at the time I intended this particular story to be a part of a series, and I actually have half a chapter each of a story from the perspective of Bertie's sister (that mysterious person!), and Jeeves' uncle Charlie that I was going to add. Maybe I'll dust those off and try to finish them! I also happen to be a huge sucker for outsider POV, so it would be a lot of fun to play around with that series again.

Finally, I am so deeply pleased that you enjoyed it. I know anyone who produces art of any kind hopes that they can make some connection with someone or bring some joy into the world, and it absolutely delights me to know that something I wrote made you happy for a while. I appreciate your generosity in writing to me. Readers like you make writing so much better. People like you make life better.

And yes, it's so funny that we were talking about the swan thing like three days ago. I had forgotten I wrote that same sentiment in a fic a decade and a half ago. I guess none of us change as much as we think we do!

Thank you again. You've made my day, maybe week, maybe month.

[charmwasjess]

Twenty Fanfic Writer Questions Okay, this is embarrassing, because I got tagged in this like two weeks ago when I was in time zone stupor, copied the prompts out, and then forgot, and I think it was @stellanslashgeode who tagged me - if not, I will cry with embarrassment so don't tell me if I'm wrong.

And :'D I don't remember either who was tagged when it was going around, so here's some no pressure tags (and hop in if you want to play and I didn't tag you!) - @bolithesenate @calcedon79 @purple-ant @reconstructwriter

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 

10!! :D Which is totally amazing to me. Where did they come from?! Who made them?!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 

Oh god, almost 300k… I don’t have any explanation. 

3. What fandoms do you write for? 

Just Star Wars! I can only handle one frenzied obsession at a time.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Sitting in the Dark, Five Days to Murder Sifo-Dyas, The Thunder Answered Back, Milk Run, and hey, aww, wow, Jedi Nights?! 

I’m a little surprised any of my Sifo-Dyas/Dooku stuff beat out anything else, it’s such a little tiny ship!

5. Do you respond to comments? 

I do, it's my favorite part. I get a tremendous amount of inspiration and energy from engaging with people who take the time to talk to me about my work. And friends, too! I have been in my fandom since I was like 11 or 12. I’ve made lifelong friends out of my comment sections.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? 

I'm a sucker for a happy ending so a lot of them end on an upbeat note, but I can’t imagine The Thunder Answered Back ending on anything other than a mixed note. I'm not gonna be able to undo Order 66, you know? It’s a salvage job, not a fix it. If Jocasta gets through the fic without killing Dooku, we will call it a happy ending.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? 

My corny Five Days to Kill Sifo-Dyas probably has the most classical happy ending for the saga but my favorite is the one in Sitting in the Dark - Qui-Gon waking up on the couch with Rael asleep next to him, and listening to Dooku and Jocasta and Sifo-Dyas wash up after the party. That little kid feeling of being safe and sleepy with your adult family happy and laughing softly nearby. 

8. Do you get hate on fics? 

Ohhhh, if I had a dollar for every time one of my friends made some joke about me writing Count Dooku porn! But I don't care about that, if they actually read my shit, their pervert asses would become terribly addicted to it. They’d be begging at my door. “More old man yaoi! PLEASE!” (This is a joke, my local friends have been very nice about my return to fic writing and the teasing is loving.)

Weirdly, the nastiest hate comment on a fic I’ve ever gotten was in the Before era, when I was writing fic on my old teen account. It was on a young Knight-age Dooku/Jocasta one shot. It was a simple, very vanilla romantic moment with a T rating at best so I don't really get why the person was so worked up about it? I think they just couldn't get around Dooku and Jocasta (OLD PEOPLE?!?) written as young and attractive. For years, I was horribly embarrassed about the fic, like it must really actually truly suck to have someone spend so much time writing such an extensive hate comment. I must have really fucked up. 

I went back and reread it recently and realized: oh, no, it's a regular fic, they were just a fucking loser.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? 

The…sex kind!!

But yes, I do! Mostly Sifo-Dyas/Dooku these days, but also Jocasta/Dooku and once or twice the holy Trinity of the three. 

I was REALLY shy about posting it at first and I still kind of can’t believe I did, but it was absurdly good for me as a person. Great for my religious purity culture baggage, my teenage years as a closeted queer person, just a really freeing experience. 

And it’s hot. And you get to think about Dooku saying or thinking the word “erection,” which is worth it just for that. 

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? 

Nah, I’m boring.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

Nope, but I have been lucky enough to help with the English in bringing several of Purple Ant’s remarkable works over from Russian. 

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? 

Yep! In the Before time, I cowrote a lot, although I don’t think I posted much. One stands out: I remember this big rambling self-insert (we called them Mary Sues back then) I did with my bestie where we were transported to Star Wars world and we had to… I don’t exactly remember, but I think Obi-Wan falling in love with one or both of us was a big part? I went back and deleted it years later because it was so cringe. But that’s silly too - we were like twelve, of course it was silly and cringe! 

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? 

I tend to be pretty fucking stupid about Syku. 

It’s just. Two people who manage to collectively destroy their own universes together. They’re so connected in such strange, powerful, frightening ways, they know all of each other’s secrets, they were there on the worst days of each other’s lives, and will go on to be each other’s worst day of their life. And the way, even as they change, they can’t get away from each other, even though they both really try, it’s like they’re stuck in two orbits that have to cross. 

And then you read the dumb book, and see that they’re just stupid funny and cute together, idiots who finish each other’s sentences and call each other little nicknames… augh, the bizarre sweetness of it?! It kills me. It’s the narrative doom, but also the weird, enduring love that has Dooku giving Sifo-Dyas a Jedi funeral or trying so earnestly to tell Obi-Wan his crazy version of events with his death, or how Sifo-Dyas goes running back to him for the Clone thing after he already knows so much about how Dooku factors into the end game... 

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? 

I will definitely finish The Thunder Answered Back but I kind of doubt I’ll get to the two years worth of content and every individual character’s endgame storyline I envisioned out of it. I'll stick with Dooku, Jocasta, Scout, and Asajj.

16. What are your writing strengths? 

….this is embarrassing, but I tend to think I’m occasionally really funny. 

Even though my fics are really serious and I haven’t written any crack, I really try to put in moments of humor, depending on my POV character’s dialogue or internal monologue. I think my best humor comes about when I can get Dooku and Sifo-Dyas in A Situation, slinging shit back and forth. Those two just take off. 

17. What are your writing weaknesses? 

I overwrite. My fics would be a lot more successful if I tightened up and left more on the cutting room floor. I get over attached to small moments of character at the expense of the plot (and let's be honest, word count.) 

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? 

Hmm, does sign language count? That has been really fun in Rabbit Heart. A huge chunk of the fic happens in sign language. 

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Star Wars!

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? 

It’s got to be Milk Run, by a long shot. I’m really proud of that fic, but it was just such a blast to write. It was so fucking fun. And there’s all these little moments or tiny funny things I’ve left myself in it that are probably only funny to me, but they’re so funny to me. 

….Like, so, at one point in the fic, Sifo-Dyas is pissed at Dooku because he can tell he and Jocasta have been sleeping together, again, and this always happens, and he always has to clean this mess and play mediator when it inevitably implodes (and also maybe he is in love with Dooku a little bit?). So he’s furious about it, but pretending not to be, and so he bitchily tells Dooku the name of his ship is The Haru-Spicy, as in, a cooking pun, instead of the real name, The Haruspicy. And then Dooku spends the entire rest of the fic just wildly mispronouncing the name of the ship in his own POV chapters and to other characters? 

I love to imagine him saying it, all declarative, “The Haru-Spicy!” And everyone just stares like “do we correct him… or…?” Sifo-Dyas quietly soothing himself, chuckling over this small pettiness. Cracks me up.

[hellfiresky]

hii i just started reading ur fics & i was wondering, as a writer, which one of your OCs is most like you? 👀 and! inspired by the last ask you answered, can u do the same but for red? give us three songs that describe her! love your writing style 💗

Hello there! Thanks for reading, and those are some really great questions! Really got me thinking about how much we, as writers, unconsciously share parts of ourselves through our characters.

Both Tal (Red) and Tavi definitely have aspects of me instilled into them! Physically, Tal is the closest - I also have bright red hair, tattoos, and an anarchist. But we’re VERY different beyond that. For transparency, I originally wrote Tal because I wanted to see more characters that look like me - masculine presenting women (though I no longer identify as a woman), in their thirties - within the realm of fanfic, especially in male canon character x OC fics.

That being said, I think Tavi is actually the one who is most like me. Like her, I’m a photojournalist, and a lot of her struggles (applying for grants, dealing with professional frustrations and bureaucracy, the entire process of documenting stories) are drawn from my own experiences. But I wouldn’t call these fics self-inserts, because I don’t see myself as them. They’re their own people with their own lives, just with similar jobs or physical traits to mine. Like, I literally do not want to be them thankyouverymuch LOL they’re something else.

Also three songs that describe Tal!

1. Boys Wanna Be Her by Peaches: This song is the ultimate bad bitch anthem, and it fits her perfectly. She’s the kind of person who doesn’t try to be cool, she just is. The line “You got them all, by the balls, causin’ waterfalls”? Yeah, that’s her slinging her blasters in the Underworld with zero fear (and zero self preservation). Everyone wants to be her.

2. I Was A Teenage Anarchist by Against Me: Tal literally was a teenage anarchist. This song reflects that rebellious fire she had in her youth. Especially this part: “I was a teenage anarchist, looking for a revolution. I had the style, I had the ambition. I read all the authors, I knew the right slogans. There was no war but the class war. I was ready to set the world on fire. I was a teenage anarchist, looking for a revolution.” - she was alone in her community, and followed her rage blindly, and that caused her exile.

3. Last of the American Girls by Green Day: Okay, change the American to Galactic. She is dangerous in the best way. The stubborn rebel who refuses to conform, the one still clinging to her ideals even in a world that’s constantly trying to crush them. The song’s imagery of a woman unapologetically living by her own rules - reading radical literature, carrying the weight of resistance on her shoulders - fits Tal to a T. I mean this part is self explanatory: “She's on a hunger strike for the ones who won't make it for dinner. She makes enough to survive for a holiday of working class. She's a runaway of the establishment incorporated. She won't cooperate, well, she's the last of the American girls. She plays her vinyl records, singing songs on the eve of destruction. She's a sucker for all the criminals breaking the laws. She will come in first for the end of western civilisation. She's an endless war, she's a hero for the lost cause.”

Thanks again for reading these fics!

[angelanimedesaray]

📚,🥐, and 🦋for the truth and dare game!

Hellooo! It's good to see you, thank you so much for gracing my inbox 🥰 and for an ask game too, ack, it's been a good week 🥰

Okay! Yes! The questions.

📚 What's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app?

Okay, two things. 1) I am super old school, i like physical books, physical notes, i have three corkboars, index cards on pins with tags handing from them, stacks of partially used notebooks, and sticky notes literally covering the wall and desk and bookshelf within arms reach of the computer. So this is not a notes app entry, cause i dont use it, its the last sticky note i put on the wall. And 2) this is going to be spoilers for one of my series because it was dialogue that occurred to me for near endgame of one of my big stories. But I think the fact that it's massively out of context even for those actively reading the series because it's so far down the road HELPS.

So, having said that, what it was, is:

Erwin, thank you, for allowing me to step into the light and take this journey. Hange, I'm forever grateful for all your help in unfurling my wings. And Levi...everything I have ever been and could be, I give to you. The wind lifting my wings ever higher.

🥐 Name one internet reference that will always make you laugh.

Honestly, any good placed reference will always land right with me. I'm the fool that always quotes road work ahead, I can't help it lol. I'm also a sucker for Sanders Vines. BUT for this I chose a Tumblr post about video games from back in the day that is 100000% my playstyle in dnd and video games hahahaha (which one depends on how badly actual stealth goes haha).

"I love that there are two approaches to stealth games. It's either no bodies for the guards to notice or no guards left to notice the bodies." "No one can call the cops if there's no one to call the cops."

🦋 Share something that has been on your heart and mind lately.

Oof, um...it's hard not to get heavy on this one 😅 I mean, I've been thinking a LOT about the deeper topics of life, ngl, which makes sense with a lot of what's going on in my life right now. My dad's been having a lot of medical issues pop up, mothers day is tomorrow and I've been ruminating on a pretty deep letter to write her to go with some flowers I bought her, my brother LITERALLY just graduated high school and I spent the ceremony comforting my little sister whose distraught and told me she's going to be the only one left, like...oof. lots of thoughts about life right now on the one hand. On the other, funnily enough, just yesterday I was talking to my dad, who watched aot as well, and we were talking about the overarching theme of breaking cycles of hatred and how it unfortunately went over the heads of a LOT of people who end up in a twist of bitter irony further illustrating the point 🤷‍♀️, and that was a pretty deep conversation because of my dad's life experiences and what he teaches for a living now, so yeah. Pfft, just "light" over coke floats and tuxedo Sundays in a hidden corner ma and pop ice cream shop conversation, you know 😅

Coincidentally, this question comes at an interesting weekend cause it's been the weekend for heavy topics in Angel's head so far, and there's still a whole nother day to get through 😅

Thanks for the questions!!! I think this is the most attention an ask game I've posted has gotten and I'm loving it 🥰

Ask Game Here

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  Sidekick_Hero! @sidekick-hero has 82 works on AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and 80 of them are in the Steddie tag!

@steddieas-shegoes recommends the following works by Sidekick_Hero:

I wore his jacket for the longest time

Suitcase of Memories

to the rhythm of eternity

Will you cleanse me with pleasure?

Sandy is an incredible writer and always manages to paint beautiful scenes regardless of rating or situation. She was one of the first authors I found in the fandom who really captured so many things about Steve and Eddie that I love. She continues to inspire me constantly! -- @steddieas-shegoes

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

Why do you write Steddie?

Great question! I'd been out of fandom and on a writing hiatus since 2016, the spark had just left me. Until early 2023, when I wanted to give Tumblr and fandom another try, but nothing really clicked until late summer when this wild-haired, bambi-eyed guy started popping up on my dash more and more. I fell in love with Eddie first, looked him up, and found that people were shipping him with this Steve character. I've never seen Stranger Things. I went to AO3 looking for some fic and the rest, as they say, is history. I fell in love with this ship the way you fall asleep, slowly, imperceptibly, and then all at once. I think what drew me in is these two characters who are so different from each other on the outside that you'd never think they'd work, but the closer you look, the more you can see how well they would fit, how good they could be for each other, bringing out the best in each other.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Wow, so many. I actually love the range of tropes this fandom offers. I'm a big fan of modern aus, especially ones where one or both are famous. If it's canon-based, I'm a sucker for Kas!Eddie. In general, I love it when one or both are creatures of any kind. I also love friends with benefits fics because they are idiots. Enemies to Lovers and Fake Dating are also high on my list. Last but not least: Porn with feelings and hurt/comfort.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

That's tough. I enjoy writing all kinds of smutty tropes as one-shots. When there's more plot going on, I really enjoy the "exes to friends to lovers" trope, just because as someone in their 30s, I look back on past relationships and hookups and realize what went wrong and how it could be different today, and I think that's something I can relate to a lot when I'm writing it for Steddie. I also love writing about second chances in general.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

It’s impossible to pick just one, sorry. I give you three with the disclaimer that there are so many more I could - and probably would - have picked on a different day. But I wanted to share some older ones in the spirit of what this blog is all about. the most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it’s you by greatunironic Keep it Steady, Eddie by outofmygourd Love blooms, love hurts, love prevails by corrodedbisexual (mishabawlins)

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

Yes! I definitely want to explore some fantasy/creature fics (more outside of a pwp I wrote with Lake Creature Eddie), I already have the idea for Werewolf!Steve, and I really want to try my hand at Vampire!Eddie. I'm also super excited to finally get to work on a fake-dating trope fic for the summer exchange, I've been dying to do that. Last but not least, I really want to try writing an omega!verse at some point, I just don't have an idea yet.

What is your writing process like?

Pretty straightforward, I guess? It never really feels like a process, to be honest. I have an idea and I let it grow in my head (daydreaming, my beloved) until it has grown enough to become an actual fic, and then I sit down and write it out chronologically. Before I start writing, I need to know a few things about the story. I don't usually work with outlines or anything like that, but in my head I know where it starts, what the emotional beats and major plot points are, and how I want it to end. The rest I let unfold as I write. That's why I'm not the fastest writer (plus the whole not-native-English thing). Often the story tells me where it wants to go, so as long as I have the cornerstones, I let it flow.

Do you have any writing quirks?

Not sure if these are quirks, but my sentences tend to be very wordy. My dear friend @yournowheregirl used to comment on my fics when she beta-read them, "Another Sandy sentence. Make it multiple sentences." Also, I only write in present tense, even though I know most people prefer past tense, but it's too hard for me. Other than that, I can't have too many WIPs, I have to finish one story before I can start another.

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

Post when I'm done writing, for sure. I hate waiting, I have the patience of a toddler.

Which fic are you most proud of?

I wore his jacket for the longest time, no question.  It's still so precious to me, especially because I got to write it with my platonic writing soulmate @legitcookie, but also because I got to really explore these characters and their growth in this story. It has so much of me in it and I'm really proud of how it turned out.

How did you get the idea for I wore his jacket for the longest time?

Actually, it wasn't all me. I just had this idea of them being kind of friends with benefits, but Eddie wants more than Steve is willing to give him, so they hook up one last time before Eddie sends Steve away for good. That was the original idea that inspired the prequel "we pass the ghosts that haunt us later". The idea for that actually came from a song, "we can never be friends" by mgk. Jen (legitcookie) would not accept the ambiguous (sad) ending, so she demanded that we fix it. So we decided to find a way to let them both grow as people apart and then rebuild their friendship, because only then would they have a real foundation for their second chance.

When writing I wore his jacket for the longest time, what was something you didn’t expect?

How much fun it would be to develop those OC side-characters, especially Mrs. Horowitz but also fucking Tom or even Fritz. It was also the very first time I collaborated with someone on a fic and I was a bit apprehensive if this would work out so I was surprised when I discovered how much I love writing with someone else.

What inspired to the rhythm of eternity?

My love for London, really. I am madly in love with this city and have explored it a lot, so I wanted to use my experiences in a fic. And when @tboygareth asked for a long distance relationship fic for our server holiday exchange, I knew this was my chance. Their meeting as well as the ending is heavily based on my own experiences.

What was your favorite part to write from Suitcase of Memories?

The dreams! They were so much fun to explore because there's a certain mood I wanted to set with them, that dreamy feeling mixed with events from another time period. Their first date and especially their first kiss is a close second, though, because the swing set scene is something I've been thinking about since I saw 13 going on 30 as a teenager.

How do/did you feel writing Suitcase of Memories?

To be totally honest, a bit stressed 😀 It was my first big bang and I was so glad to have Jen by my side, but then real life happened and I realized it's hard to write on deadline. BUT I still love this fic. Especially the theme of love as a choice, even if some cosmic interference gives you a second chance, you still have to WANT it, you still have to work for it and choose it, over and over again. I feel like we nailed that pretty well and I'm proud of us and this story.

What was the most difficult part of writing Will you cleanse me with pleasure??

The emotional setup, because it was a gift for Ger (@steves-strapcollection) and he wanted them to be disgustingly in love, but I also needed Eddie's condition to be something he kept from Steve at first for fear of losing him. Besides that, the logistics, really. So many tentacles, man. So many.

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

Okay, some very, very self-indulgent scenes I wrote are for my Runner!Steve verse. I am a passionate runner, and it was so much fun to write that love for Steve and to geek out about it in my writing. Another scene I'm very fond of is from my very first ST fic, "I'm tired of asking to settle the debt," and it's a scene where they're both kids and meeting for the first time, it's winter, and Eddie is doing an impression of a dragon with his breath.

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

Well, by the time this comes out, I will have posted my reverse big bang fic "Emotional Motion Sickness" with art by the amazing @arimakes. There's also the summer exchange, in which I was lucky enough to claim my dear friend @starryeyedjanai's prompt, and the steddie big bang 2024. I'm also finishing the last chapter of "hold me close (I'm shaking apart)" and hope to post it soon. 

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

Yes, I want to thank everyone for making this project possible! This fandom has grown so much and there is so much amazing fic that easily gets buried under all the content, so having this project to give the writers of this fandom some visibility and love is precious to me. Thank you, really 💜🙏 Also, all my love to every single writer out there - you make my life and the lives of so many better by sharing your gift with us.

Thank you to our author,  Sidekick_Hero, and our nominator,  @steddieas-shegoes on tumblr! See more of Sidekick_Hero's works featured on our page throughout the day!

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