#i’m personally in the certain they’ll be canon category

[theaviatorthatcouldnotfly]

wait wait wait i’m curious

rbs would be very much appreciated to get more input 🫶

[elencelebrindal]

Saw the passive abilities question, so now we have to ask: what passives would all the golds have?

I am SO sorry this took me so long to answer, but here I go!

Of course, I went the "creature the zodiac sign is linked to" way.

Aries:

You know how rams headbutt each other to assert dominance? The Aries Saint has the ability to headbutt people without gaining brain damage as a result. Well, jokes aside, rams can charge at incredible speed before attacking and have considerable endurance, so maybe the latter is what I can give the Aries Saint as an innate ability? Fights between rams can last for hours, so I bet the Aries Saint can keep fighting for much longer than a Saint normally can.

Taurus:

Rather than an ability, I would say the Taurus Saint has a tendency of being red-green colorblind, as bulls generally have dichromacy. In addition to that, I'd say the Taurus Saint is always the strongest, at least on a physical level, because bulls have incredible strength.

Gemini:

Well, I don't know? The gemini zodiac sign literally represents twins, so... I have no idea what kind of ability I could give the Gemini Saint, aside from an innate capability of bickering with their twin.

...

Okay, I'm done joking. Gemini represents Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, who are known for being excellent hunters and horsemen. With this in mind, I'd say the innate ability of the Gemini Saint is exactly that: riding and hunting. And this Saint can hunt anything.

Cancer:

... I thought I had no idea of what do write here, because, well, the constellation is literally just the crab that bit Hercules while he was fighting the Hydra. There's nothing associated with it, save for this fact, and that it was placed among the stars by Hera. But then I remembered that I'm supposed to take into account the animal itself as well, and crabs? They can themselves so well you can't notice them even if you walk right past their hiding spot. So this is what the Cancer Saint's ability. Hiding. Which, if you ask me, is an extremely useful ability, no matter how proud the Gold Saints are.

Leo:

I wanted to say "the Leo Saint has the ability to run after a laser pointer" so bad, but then I remembered that one video I watched of lions being completely uncaring of laser pointers so... guess the joke died before existing. Anyway, the Leo Saint is probably known for ability to deliver short but powerful attacks, just like real lions. They don't have much in terms of stamina - remember, we're still in the superhuman category here - but they are powerful by default. Also, using the Nemean lion to my advantage, I'll say the Leo Saint can't be wounded easily. Just for a silly comparison: if another Saint lands face-first into the ground, there's going to be blood right away; is a Leo Saint lands face-first into the ground, there's still going to be blood right away, but only because Leo would kick in the teeth whoever slammed him on the floor. Basically, it takes effort to draw blood from a Leo Saint.

Also, a Leo Saint that's also a woman has a more refined hunting instinct, because I watched way too many documentaries in my life and I know that a lioness does 99% of the hunting work and it's better at it.

Virgo:

Does the ability of never getting laid count?

This one is tricky, because Virgo represents Astrea, the celestial virgin and goddess of innocence, purity, and precision. Since these don't really qualify as abilities, I looked into her mythology and remembered that she's closely associated with Earth. Because of this, I believe the Virgo Saint's ability is to communicate on a deep, spiritual level with the essence of Earth and its creatures. Which is not too far from what's actually depicted in canon, after all.

Libra:

The Libra Saint can always find the perfect balance. Doesn't matter if it's physical or metaphorical, Thanos would die of envy for how perfectly balanced everything is for this Saint. Aside from this, which is more of a practical ability, the Libra Saint has also the amazing capability of being always able to find loopholes in laws (Libra represents justice and law, so... yeah), and can always know if someone is innocent or guilty.

Scorpio:

Oh, here I go, let me butcher my sign completely. My first thought was that the Scorpio Saint is actually venomous (god, I hope I used the right word, we only have ONE in Italian for poisonous and venomous). Not like a certain Pisces Saint we know and love, of course. Just like with Taurus, it's a characteristic and not a passive ability, but I do have something else as well.

And that something else is an ability to survive even in the worst, most dire conditions. Scorpions, unless you straight up crush them under your foot, are extremely difficult to kill. They have a tremendous immune system, they literally don't drown, they can slow down their metabolism when there's no food around, you can freeze them completely and they'll just walk away once thawed, and they can live in harsh climates with no issues. In light of this, the Scorpio Saint is extremely difficult to kill, and can resist most life-threatening conditions with ease. I'd say is a good passive ability to have, for sure.

Sagittarius:

It goes by itself that the Sagittarius Saint has the innate ability to be absolutely amazing with bow and arrow, but another passive ability they have is horse riding. Lastly, since the constellation actually represents Chiron, the Sagittarius Saint is an excellent mentor and teacher, better than anyone else.

Capricorn:

Goats can climb near vertical surfaces, and so can the saint of this constellation. It's a really useful ability, especially when it comes to stealthy missions and the like. Alongside this, the Capricorn Saint is probably a really good swimmer, since the constellation is half goat and half fish, although not as good as the Pisces Saint.

Aquarius:

Oh, here we have some troubles. The Aquarius constellation represents Ganymede, Zeus' freaking cup-bearer. He's a hero, yes, but he's known for having enchanted Zeus enough to gain a place in the Olympus as an immortal. What does this leave me with? A Saint that has the air association of the sign, the water association of the constellation, and the fascinating beauty of the myth.

Let's just say that the Aquarius Saint has the perfect mastery over ice (which is canon) because air and water? Come on, it's the only thing I cant think about. That's the passive ability, an insane control over water and air that translate in mastery of all ice things. Plus the ability to enchant even the gods, because the Pisces Saint is not the only enticing person of the Sanctuary.

Pisces:

I'd say the passive ability of the Pisces Saint is swimming like a mermaid, aka quickly, efficiently, and without needing as much rest as a normal human. Some powerful Saints can also find themselves able to breathe underwater, but it's a rather rare ability that doesn't show up often, and not many are willing to try breathing underwater just to make sure.

And that's it, since the other somewhat passive ability I love to give every single Pisces Saint (and not only the canon ones) is venomous blood and plant toxins immunity.

I don't know if I nailed or failed this answer. I'm mostly going off of stuff I know out of the top of my head, because I'm a sucker for nature documentaries and documentaries in general, so there might be some stupid things sprinkled here and there.

Doesn't matter.

Once again, sorry for taking so long, and thank you for the interesting ask!

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

Why do you think so many fans, even those who wouldn’t be considered casual viewers of the show think that those who romantically ship Mike and Will are kidding themselves? Sometimes I feel like I’m missing something, like we’re not even watching the same show. From my perspective, it’s beyond me to how someone could look at Mike and El’s romantic relationship, especially after s3, and think it’s proper.

Great question. I’ve touched on this issue a time or two before, but perhaps never in such a direct manner. I think there’s several things in play here that lead to the more “mainstream” fans considering it crazy when Mike and Will are seen as a romantic pairing. I think these same causes also lead to fans missing how improper, to use your terms, Mike and El’s relationship is. Some of these things are more valid than others, but they’re all valid in the sense that they are real, meaning that people aren’t just being petty. There are those out there who are petty, of course, but I think it’s unfair to cast all fans we disagree with in with that group.

First, let’s get this out of the way, heteronormativity maintains quite the stranglehold on American culture. Yes, we’ve come a long, long way. Gay characters and couples are portrayed in a much more positive light compared to twenty or more years ago. Still, they continue to be treated as a shock, either in behavior or reveal. By that I mean that these characters are either blatantly obvious or a complete surprise. There is seldom any middle ground here. This is, in my opinion anyway, a remnant of the transition of gay characters from caricatures to genuine characters. Fans, American fans at least, want to seem accepting to gay people, but they also want it crystal clear that gay people are different from them. To quote Homer Simpson from Homer’s Phobia, a 1997 episode of The Simpsons, “I like my beer cold, my TV loud, and my homosexuals flaming!”

The 90s were a time when gay people were starting to be seen as decent people instead of deviants. They still weren’t equal, though, and were often used as props and novelties. The Gay Best Friend trope came out of this idea that gay people were fun and exotic, and many would also use them as a way to show how progressive they were. It was a step in the right direction, perhaps, but gay people were still not seen as equals.

Why is this important? Well, maybe it’s not, but not only is Stranger Things the product of two brothers who grew up in that era of thinking, but so is the largest segment of the viewership. Most Stranger Things viewers fall in the 18-29 and 30-44 demographics. I, myself, fall in the latter category. While we all laughed at Homer’s idiotic homophobia, we all knew deep down that we were similarly taken in by stereotypes and heternormativity. That is to say, that being straight was the normal, expected way of things, and gay people was something neat and trendy, but that only happened to other people.

This mindset persists today, though it does seem to be slowly eroding. We still expect most characters to be straight. I suppose, in some ways, this makes sense. The majority of people in America (and likely the world) still identify as heterosexual, so, technically, statistically, being LGBT is “abnormal.” Still, the degree to which I see LGBT people being open about their identities sometimes catches me off guard when I stop to think about it. It’s something that was unimaginable when I was a teenager, barring being in an identified gay club or neighborhood. The fact that it catches me off guard, despite identifying as bisexual, is proof that those mechanisms of my upbringing persist.

I am able to see the romantic undertones of Mike and Will’s relationship because I’ve been there. I’ve been in love with a same-sex friend and been afraid to say anything about it. I’ve agonized over whether it was real or just a phase. I’ve struggled with hiding it. I’ve tried to keep my feelings hidden while also letting them slip out in controlled bursts of not-quite-platonic gestures. I’ve even wondered how I could be “like that” when I acted and dressed just like any other guy I knew. Despite living it, I still saw “it” as something foreign and different. It’s only because I lived it that I can see through the heteronormativity and recognize homosexual love in “straight” TV and movie characters. I’m sorry, but Poe Dameron was definitely into Finn, and Finn, at the very least, idolized Poe, and you can’t convince me otherwise, no matter what Disney tried to pull by giving them both inconsequential female love interests.

(Christ, this is turning into a real rant here, oh well, the bottle has been opened.)

So, yeah, heteronormativity basically tells us that if characters are gay then they’ll act a “certain way” so we know. Mike and Will don’t do this, so, to most fans, they aren’t gay. Heteronormativity and pop culture tropes also tell us that male and female leads are meant to end up together. Now, in defense of other fans, the Duffers do play around with all sorts of tropes, so it’s understandable that people would expect things to be just as formulaic in Stranger Things. The problem these fans don’t see, however, is that the Duffers seem to like subverting the tropes.

For those of you who aren’t aware, subverting a trope means that we are led to believe that we’re being shown something we’ve seen time and time again, only to end up with something else. Season 1 was so big on this that I fell in love with the show. Adults Are Useless? Joyce did not sit around while the kids solved the mystery. Hopper wasn’t the ineffectual drunk cop I was expecting him to be. Jerk Jock? No, Steve is actually a nice, if dopey, guy once he stops letting his friends influence him. Virgin Survivor? No, sex is not seen as a vice needing to be punished, so Barb dies instead of Nancy. The Duffers know what we expect to see, they tease us with it, then pull the rug out from under us.

So, what do we expect in terms of romance? We expect our opposite sex leads to pair up. This would mean Mike & El and Joyce & Hopper as our kid and adult lead pairs, respectively. Mike & El, in particular, seems to be something they’ve tantalized fans with, both in the show and marketing. We can look at that relationship, though, and see that it’s not built on much. That’s somewhat in line with many kid relationships, so, really, it’s expected that it would similarly fizzle out as those relationships generally do. These are two kids who knew each other for a week, then spent a year apart. If anything, they’re more in love with the ideas of each other they created in that time apart than anything else. This could explain why their relationship was so shallow once they’re together again. We all experienced this type of crush or relationship before, the one where we don’t really know the person so we create a version of them in our minds. This version often clashes with the real one once we get to know them. Still, we’ve all been there.

This brings me to my final point: identification. We identify with characters when we watch TV shows and movies. I dare say most, if not all, of us can identify with these kids getting these crushes and early relationships. The youngest fans probably identify even more since they’re currently in those stages of life. I’m sure many young fans identify with either Mike or El, and perhaps fantasize about being with the other (or both?). Whether we realize it or not, we’re casting our own wants and needs onto the characters. Some fans want Mike and El together because it validates their own feelings and experiences.

I know that I certainly identify with Mike and Will through my own teenage experiences. I identify with other characters for more mature, adult reasons, as well. Yes, a part of me ships Mike and Will because of this. The difference here, compared to other ships I’ve gotten behind, is that this actually seems real. There is canon evidence that Mike and Will appear to have non-platonic feelings for each other, feelings built over a very long friendship. Mike legit seems like the closeted, possibly not even aware, gay kid going through the motions of a straight relationship. Will seems like he’s actively suppressing any romantic urges because he’s spent his life being bullied for being queer. They’ve been written to have more genuinely romantic moments than Mike and El have had. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the writers will have some explaining to do if they don’t get together. Many fans will miss it, due to the reasons mentioned above, but it’s all been laid there before us. Nobody should be surprised, but they will be.

[lvrexe]

Wild Ride | Shiranui

Wild Ride Chapter 1 - Shiranui Chp 2/Chp 3 [both are yet to be written] First three chapters will be published on Tumblr, but the rest will be posted on my AO3 which you can find here.

General Fic Info Rating; Explicit Category; M/M Ship(s); Hatake Kakashi/Shiranui Genma, Sarutobi Asuma/Shiranui Genma, Hatake Kakashi/Sarutobi Asuma Genre: Romance, Angst, Tags: Smut with plot, Poly Relationships, Friends with Benefits, Eventual Romance, Alternative Universe, Semi-Modern AU, Anal sex, Explicit Content, Misinterpreted Relationships, Misunderstandings, Drinking, Alcoholism

Semi-Modern AU - Many aspects of the canon universe are still present (Shinobi Organization System, Jutsu, Missions, Chunin Exams, etc) but take a lighter mood and aren’t as prominent. Technology is advanced and modernized, such as; phones, computers, internet, tvs, video games, etc. Peaceful AU - The Third Shinobi War still occurred but many, such as Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin, still survived to tell the tale. The Uchiha clan were never massacred and neither of the Uchiha brothers left the Village.

Chapter Info; Word Count: ~5.7k Content Warnings: Drinking, One night stand, Hangover, Oral sex, Hand job, Friends with Benefits, bit of an oral fixation

s/n; There’s a reference to an anime I once watched in here, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt.

+ last scene includes NSFW

The faint sound of his phone buzzing is what stirred Shiranui Genma awake, that, and the bright sun beaming him in his face. A shiver shot up his spine as cold, morning air brushed against his single exposed leg. He tucked his calf back under the blanket, which alerted him to the stinging pain between his cheeks.

Buzz… Buzz…

Genma groaned as his phone vibrated. His hand swung over to the end table, tapping around to find his phone. When he couldn’t feel it, he peeled his eyes open and a groan left his lips as the room he was in wasn’t his own. He tossed himself onto his back, keeping his hips turned onto their side, and ran his hands down his face. ‘Dammit… And I promised Hayate I wouldn’t...’ he thought to himself.

His phone quit buzzing and fell silent, leaving him in the quiet room. He sighed and rubbed his temples, trying to stop his splitting hangover headache as he tried to remember the night before.

Genma had gone out with his Jounin colleagues for a night of drinking; a way of celebrating Uchiha Obito’s promotion to Jounin. It didn’t phase him that he had a shift in the morning, he told himself he wasn’t going to get too drunk. Heh, and look how that turned out. He let out a groan as he pried at his own mind for answers. From his memory, he remembered… Ebisu, Might Gai, Umino Iruka (Technically, Iruka wasn’t a Jounin, but he still grew up close with the group), Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai, Nohara Rin, and Hatake Kakashi.

As he thought back to the night before, he cursed to himself for keeping his head upwards as his partner attacked his neck after roughly pushing him against the wall. The two hardly seemed to get through the door. He remembered the touch as he viciously undressed the person then. He definitely didn’t remember any tits.

The next thing he remembered was him on his knees, lips dragging up and down his partner’s cock as he bobbed his head. He still didn’t get a look at who it was. But it definitely wasn’t Kurenai or Rin.

So it wasn’t Kurenai or Rin and it wasn’t Obito or Asuma, he knew that for certain. Sure, Genma enjoyed a good hook-up here and there but he knew damn well that people in loving relationships were a no-go. So that left him with Ebisu, Gai, Iruka and Kakashi. Genma’s face visibly cringed and held back a gag before he immediately chucked Gai out of the list. He thought about Ebisu for a moment before kicking him off the list as well.

That left him with the last two on the list; Iruka or Kakashi.

Genma shivered and he held his wrist, resisting the urge to palm himself as he relished in the memories of the previous night. Fuck, Iruka or Kakashi were good, whoever it was. He just hated how every memory he had of the experience failed to give him any sort of indicator of whoever it was. Not like he wasn’t going to find out soon anyway.

He bit his bottom lip as his hips humped up into his hand; he caved in. His brunette bangs fell to the sides of his face as he raised his lower body upwards, his mouth drew open, heavy breaths leaving his lips as he felt his cock harden beneath his boxers. But as he melted into the pleasure, his phone started up again, buzzing and vibrating, effectively ruining the moment for him.

Scoffing, he relaxed himself and turned onto his side to look around for his phone. On the floor, his clothes were scattered across the room but his pants were the closest to the bed. His phone’s bright screen shone through the fabric of his pants pocket and he tugged out his phone. Checking the caller ID, he uttered a “fuck” under his breath. Shizune. Reluctantly, he hit answer and brought the phone up to his ear. “‘Ello?” he croaked out.

“Genma! Where are you?” Shizune screeched through the phone, causing Genma to pull his head away momentarily.

“You’re rather loud this morning,” he grumbled.

“Answer me! You’re supposed to be here by now! Do you know what time it is?” God, if she kept shouting in his ear, his headache was bound to come back; not like it had dissipated. He checked the time listed in the top corner of his phone. 8:34 AM. Dammit, half an hour late. He pushed himself up and rested his back against the pillows. “I am.... Helping the elderly at a nursing home…”

Shizune immediately scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, Genma! You were out drinking again,” she lectured. He could hear her sigh before her attention was likely drawn elsewhere when someone in the background raised their voice. “Ack! I’m coming, Lady Tsunade!... Get your butt back over here already, Genma!”

“I will, I will…” he groaned as he rubbed his forehead. “Cover for me, please?”

“Cover for you, how? What am I supposed to tell Tsunade?” “I… Uh, got kidnapped?”

“Oh, har, har… I’ll tell her you’re running late. And that’s it.”

Genma heard a click on her end and the call ended. He sighed and tossed his phone on the nearby end table. His umber brown eyes caught wind of a familiar book hanging on the edge of the table; Icha Icha Paradise. Ah, so he managed to bed the famed Copy Nin, Kakashi. And if on cue;

“So you’re awake.”

Standing at the door frame of the bedroom was Kakashi, messy silver hair looking more like a rat's nest than actual hair, a loose white tank top that hardly did anything to hide much, and of course, his classic mask that clung to his face to hide his features. In his hand was a glass of water. Genma made no effort in hiding the fact he was eyeing Kakashi up and down. He chuckled and purred, eating up the eye candy. Kakashi pushed himself off the door frame and placed the cup onto the table, “Glad you’re enjoying the view.”

“Wish I could’ve seen more of it last night, y’know,” A cocky reply, but not necessarily a fib. He would’ve loved to see Kakashi’s features, even if it were from a drunken one night stand. The brunette grabbed the glass and sipped on the water. He let out a sigh and rubbed the side of his head. He gulped down the water and placed the glass down as Kakashi wandered over and sat himself down at the edge of the bed. “Heh, sorry, you know how finicky I get about that…”

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled, brows curving to express a light-hearted nervous expression. He turned his head to Genma. “You’re not in too much pain, are you?” he questioned. “I did what I could with the whole aftercare thing… Tried getting you dressed as well, I think.”

Curious, the brunette Jounin lifted the sheets. A smile tugged at his lips and a quick laugh erupted from him. He was only in his boxers. When he reached down and tucked the waistband around his thumb, he noticed something. “These are inside out, Kakashi,” he stated with a cackle.

“Never said I did it well…” the silver-haired shinobi chuckled. He rested his arms on his knees. “You got a shift soon?”

“Late for one…” Genma clarified, “... Can I use your shower?” He took a glance down at his inverted undergarments. “... And snag some underwear?”

“I’ve only got large, so I hope they’ll fit,” Kakashi replied as he pushed himself up. “As for my shower, I don’t have much in there, but feel free to use it.” He opened one of the drawers in his dresser and tossed over a pair of his briefs onto the bed as Genma climbed out of the bed.

“They’ll fit,” Genma replied as he gathered his clothes from the floor. He tossed his pants, his shirt and his jacket onto the bed along with the briefs. He caught the towel tossed towards him. Kakashi headed towards the door, before stopping and turning to the other Jounin, “Shower’s just down the hall, at the end.”

Genma found the shower fairly easily; there weren’t many rooms in Kakashi’s house. He tossed the white towel onto the hanger and peeled off his briefs before stepping into the tub. Turning the knob, he held his hand under the stream of water until he found the right temperature before tugging up the diverter. His back flinched when it was splashed with water from the shower head above. The shower fully woke him up and he spent a good minute or two just soaking in the warm water, he rested his arm against the wall, letting the water drench his hair as he thought about the night before. He just slept with the Hatake Kakashi, the famed Copy Nin and the ideal example of an elite shinobi; the best of the best.

A low chuckle pried its way out of his lips. ‘Now that’s a tale to tell…’ he thought to himself. Remembering the night, his cock twitched in response. Fuck, he was not that caught up on the encounter that it got him hard this quickly. Regardless, Genma reached down to the sex between his legs; he’d indulge in his fantasies for a moment. His hand wrapped firmly around his base and he pumped his hand down to the tip, letting out a shaky breath as he did so.

His hand continued to stroke his length, pleasing his hard-on. An aroused huff left his lips as he leaned against the wall, resting his forehead on his forearm, eyes focused on the shaft in his free hand.

Genma bit into his bottom lip, raising his head upwards, water splashing on his throat now, as his motions increased. A low groan rumbled in his throat and his eyes squeezed shut as he chased his release. He humped his hips, a familiar tingling sensation pooling deep down. He groaned out as cum shot out of his tip, splattering onto the pearly white bottom of the tub.

The water diluted his fluids before the two liquids were sucked down the drain. Genma panted out as he calmed himself down. He stared down at the floor of the tub, his body ached for more and he nearly caved to his urges. But he shook his head and reached out to the knob, shifting the warm water to freezing cold. He shivered as his mind was shocked into snapping out of it’s groggy state.

Genma knew what awaited him behind the doors of the Hokage’s Residence; a lecture from Shizune, pestering from Kotetsu or Izumo (if they weren’t on gate duty), questions from Hayate, and finally, a reprimanding from Lady Tsunade. Running his hands down his clothes, he made his attempt at smoothing out the wrinkles in his clothes.

He sighed and shook his head before he sucked in a breath and entered the bright scarlet building. As expected, both Izumo and Kotetsu sat in the lobby-esque room. Kamizuki Izumo was the first to raise his head from the desk he was stationed at. “Running late today, Genma?” he shot out his first question.

The exhausted Jounin let out a low grumble as he walked over to Izumo and Kotetsu’s desk. “You could say that…” he murmured under his breath, teeth clamping down on the senbon between his lips.

“‘Say that’, huh?” Izumo huffed out, handing over a clipboard used for signing in, “You act like you’ve been a no-show for an hour now.” “Hey, where were you?” Hagane Kotetsu piped up, popping one of his eyes open.

“Home,” Genma answered with a lie. It left Kotetsu raising a brow with a mischievous grin. Uh oh. “Really?” Kotetsu swung up to sit up straight, his attention now fully grabbed by the conversation. He rested his arms on the end of the table, “Hayate told me he went and checked on you.”

Shit.

“Must’ve not heard him,” the brunette responded as he grabbed a pen from the pen holder tucked into the corner of the desk. He scribbled his name on the sign-in sheet.

“Huh, odd,” Kotetsu hummed, “‘Cos he only left to pick you up after your call with Shizune.” If Kotetsu kept on pestering and prying, Genma would be in jail for seven cases of assault soon.

“Was already out,” he was popping out lies left and right, and he knew Kotetsu knew that his tales were fabricated. But he supposed that was the dynamic of their limited friendship. One prying, the other lying.

“Well, Hayate sure came in way earlier than you—” “Kotetsu, that’s enough,” Izumo spat as he took the clipboard away from Genma. “Ignore him, Genma… Go get to the Hokage’s office, Lady Tsunade’s waiting for you. Best not keep her waiting.”

Genma quickly took his leave from the two Chunin and headed down the hallway. He passed and greeted a few other shinobi, making brief conversations, checking up on them just as his mother raised him to. He turned onto the stairs but as he was about to reach the top floor, he stopped in his tracks as he spotted the back of his close friend, Gekko Hayate.

He sighed in defeat, no way he was avoiding his friend now, and took that final step, bringing himself to the top floor. Of course, the ninja in front of Hayate pointed him out and the sickly Jounin turned around. His dark brown eyes were well-sunken in, his skin dreadfully pale, dark hair rough and damaged; his illness was taking a toll on him, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to identify that. “Oh, finally, there you are,” he said. He turned his head to the other shinobi and dismissed him before heading over to Genma. “You want to tell me what happened to you?”

Genma groaned. “Did you need to check on me?” he shot back.

“I thought you said you weren’t going to drink,” the other murmured. “Shizune and I both had to cover for your ass, you know…”

“Sorry, sorry… I got carried away, I know…” he grumbled as the two made their way down the curved hall to the Hokage’s office.

“So who was it this time?” Hayate inquired, his interest piqued. “Must’ve been someone good if they kept you late for an hour rather than the usual half hour.”

The taller of the two laughed before he pondered whether or not he should spill the beans on his night with Kakashi. Kakashi probably wouldn’t like others knowing of his sex life… He didn’t strike Genma as the type to brag of his encounters and experiences in the sex department— if he bragged about anything at all. “Can’t tell you,” Genma eventually replied.

A hiss through Hayate’s clenched teeth. “That bad?”

“Oh no, he was amazing,” Genma informed. “Just don’t think he’d want me to disclose our night.”

“What? You worried I’d gossip? Do I look like a 14-year-old girl to you?”

“No, I think you look like a character from a Tim Burton movie,” Genma was quick to shoot back, earning him a shove in the arm from Hayate.

“Rude.”

“Come in,” Tsunade’s voice called out from behind the closed door.

Genma sucked in a breath and let out a heavy sigh. He opened the Hokage’s door and entered the office, Lady Tsunade sat behind her large desk, papers scattered across the top while her tawny brown eyes remained focused on her computer screen, scrolling through something.

“Lord Fifth,” Genma greeted, grabbing Tsunade’s attention.

Tsunade shifted her eyes to him before turning her body to fully face him. “Genma.” Oh that wasn’t a good tone. “You’re late.”

“My apologies, Hokage,” he murmured out, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “I got wrapped up in something…”

The blonde woman cocked an eyebrow but she turned her head to her computer, deciding against prying. She clicked around on her computer, bringing up some files, specifically the files about the up-coming Chunin Exams. She scrolled down and found the blank proctor spot for the finals. Normally, Hayate would be taking this spot, however, his illness interfered. Genma had held the finals before and based on the Third Hokage’s report, he did well. Not that there was much to report on. He was one of few recommended for the position.

“As you probably know, the first Chunin Exams of the year are around the corner,” she spoke up finally. She rested her elbows on her desk and rested her chin on her intertwined hands. “The first and second stages already have their proctors,” she explained, “The finals, however, lack a proctor.”

“Hayate can’t operate?” Genma piped up.

Tsunade only nodded. “Given Hayate’s illness and it’s sudden increase in progression, he won’t be able to perform optimally during the Exams,” she stated briefly. She sighed and furrowed her brows, averting her gaze downwards. She closed her eyes for a moment, dwelling in a feeling of guilt. She opened them once again, eyes strict and firm, she gazed back up at the brunette Jounin. “There’s been a few recommendations, but I feel like you’d be the best pick for the proctor.”

Genma bit down onto the end of his senbon. He pursed his lips and let out a heavy breath through his nostrils. He sighed and nodded. “I see,” he hummed. He glanced back at the door where Hayate had dropped him off. “I get it…”

“You don’t have any qualms about this?” she questioned.

He shook his head. “Not at all,” he affirmed, “I’d be glad to proctor the exams.”

“You know that as a proctor, you now take part in determining which participants are promoted to the rank of Chunin,” Tsunade reminded with an explanation he had heard once before, “And you must remain unbiased to the shinobi and kunoichi of Konoha. Genin from other villages will be attending the exams and unless this exam is lacklustre, I do expect more than just one or two being promoted.”

“Understood, Lord Hokage,” Genma replied sharply. He had heard of this speech before, almost every proctor had heard it when given the position. He knew the job, his new position and the sudden boost of significance to his decisions the position brought.

“Lady Tsunade,” he piped up. She raised her head. “Who exactly are the other two proctors?” he inquired.

Tsunade turned her head to the screen of her monitor. “Hm, well it’s Nara Shikamaru and Yamashiro Aoba,” she listed off the two proctors. “Shikamaru is already ironing out some of the details for the first exam, while Aoba is working out his plans for the second exam.”

Shikamaru and Aoba, huh? Genma made a mental note to check in on the two. Then again, it wasn’t exactly necessary, the Finals were always the same no matter what the previous exams were.

“I’d also like you to inform some of the teams,” Tsunade requested. “Get the news spreading among the leaders.”

“Don’t you want to bring them here?” he questioned. “Unfortunately, I’ve got a few meetings… It’d be a hassle for me to squeeze in another.”

Genma groaned. “So, no patrol around the residence?”

“No, I’d suggest you get going. You’re already running late as it is,” Tsunade instructed.

The brunette Jounin made no more complaints, not even a little comment, before he nodded and headed out of the office.

“Naruto, what are you doing?!” Haruno Sakura pestered, angrily pointing towards her dimwitted teammate.

“Whaddya mean ‘what am I doing’?” Uzumaki Naruto shot back. “I’m doing just as Kakashi-sensei said!”

Sakura whacked the back of the blonde boy, gritting her teeth. “You idiot! No, you’re not! Here, watch me again and pay attention, Naruto.”

Leaning against a tree, arms crossed, Kakashi let out a sigh as he watched his two students struggle to pin down a technique he taught— well, Sakura had already gotten it down and mastered it, it was Naruto who had yet to execute it. He rubbed his forehead for a moment, eyebrows frowned, and dipped his head, tearing his attention away from the two Genin. Discerning a familiar chakra approaching behind him, he quickly turned around and waited for the Jounin to land.

“Kakashi.”

Genma dropped onto the ground swiftly. He stood up straight and walked forward, resting on the tree across from Kakashi’s. “Training your squad?” He spoke leisurely, making for small talk.

“New chakra technique… Naruto needs it.” The silver-haired shinobi made a quick glance over at the teenage couple as Sakura desperately tried to aid Naruto. “What do you need? Thought you had a patrol shift around the Hokage building.”

Genma let out a groan and rubbed the back of his neck, flicking the senbon to the other corner of his lips, teeth nibbling on the end in his mouth. “Nah, I got a new job,” he murmured.

“Which is?”

“I’m the proctor of the Chunin Exam finals,” he announced. He stuffed his hands into his pants pockets as he gazed out towards the training Genin out on the field. “Lord Fifth specifically asked me to inform the genin squads of Konoha of the upcoming Exams…”

Kakashi let out a hum as he pondered whether or not his squad was ready. His eyes flicked over to Sakura; she was fine, still needed some tuning but her training with the Fifth Hokage proved to be rewarding, she had a devastating blow to her punches and her medical Ninjutsu was nigh on perfect. His absent student, Uchiha Sasuke, had perfected the Chidori and his combat effectiveness. His skill with his sharingan, while Kakashi couldn’t help in that department despite having been gifted one, was honed in, thanks to the help of his older brother.

His eyes drifted over towards Naruto. He observed the blonde’s strained but concentrated expression as he pushed himself off from the ground. Naruto was still learning the Rasengan and whatever other Jutsu Jiraiya had started teaching him. Naruto was who Kakashi was worried about.

“...Kakashi?”

The elite Jounin snapped out of his daze. He chuckled and waved his hand softly. “Sorry, sorry…” he murmured. He sighed and crossed his arms. “I’ll end up talking to them, see if they’re ready for another Chunin Exam.”

“Speaking of your students,” Genma piped up. “Where’s the third?... Sasuke?”

“Ah, him. He’s already mastered the technique. I decided against keeping him from training with Itachi just because Naruto struggles to get it down,” he replied.

Genma only hummed in response, kicking his leg up, resting his foot against the trunk of the tree. He kept his head turned to the two Genin training on the field. As Sakura lectured and Naruto snapped back, the specialized Jounin couldn’t help but quietly chuckle at himself. Memories of his own Genin years flooded his mind. It was a mere three years compared to Team 7’s five years, but his years were still packed with fond memories; it was hard not to have some eventful memories when Might Gai was your assigned teammate. Pair that with Ebisu's stern personality and insistence to do everything by the books, Genma was often the bystander to a lot of spectacles between Gai and Ebisu.

Another laugh danced from him as he remembered all the antics he was dragged into by his two teammates; their fights, Ebisu’s not-so-hidden pervertedness, Gai’s determination to defeat Kakashi in quite literally anything, Gai using Ebisu and him as essentially training dummies. That was before any of them were promoted and all took their own paths; Ebisu went off to be assigned to the Third Hokage’s honorable grandson; Gai went to train a different squad, similar to Kakashi; and Genma? He ended up specializing in Hokage protection.

“I know that look.” Genma tore his eyes away from Naruto and Sakura upon hearing Kakashi’s words. “What’s on your mind, Genma?”

“Just reminiscing,” the brunette admitted. “Sometimes it seems like it was only yesterday we were their rank, acting without a damn care in the world.”

Kakashi only nodded in agreement. “Yeah…” he muttered under his breath. He pushed himself up off the tree. His eyes scanned over Genma’s body, images of Genma’s body flickered in his mind. He shivered at the thought of having the brunette beneath him again. “Genma.”

“Huh? What’s up?”

Nervously, the silver-haired shinobi chuckled. “If you’re not busy, stop by my house later.”

Genma cocked his brow up, a smirk tugged at his lips. He lifted off the tree and tilted his head. “Oh?” His interest was piqued. He stepped forward. “Alright, I’ll bite then… Eight sound good?”

Kakashi quickly nodded. He gulped down his nervousness and resisted the urge to run his hands up the brunette’s slim body. “Yea-yeah, of course.”

The older Jounin only chuckled. “Don’t fret, Kakashi… You were enjoyable, like hell I’m turning that down,” he assured. He pulled away and hummed. “I’ll bring a bottle to calm your nerves, don’t worry.”

With that, Genma turned on his heels to head off, waving goodbye to the silver-haired Jounin.

Kakashi wasn’t sure what he was doing giving into his urges earlier, he never usually thought with his dick. No matter the situation, he was always thinking with his head. He cursed himself, but he also praised himself for shooting his shot. And with someone like Genma too. He had to admit, the brunette just awoke something within him. It wasn’t certain how long the attraction had lasted but it definitely became noticeable in recent years the more the two hung out with each other.

A knock at the door disrupted his thoughts and Kakashi pulled himself up off his couch. He opened his front door to Genma, a bottle of whiskey in his hand, two shot glasses dangerously stacked onto the cap of said bottle. Genma wore a grin on his face, his senbon clenched firmly between his teeth. “Hey there, ‘Kashi,” he greeted, “You gon’ let me in or…?”

Kakashi cleared his throat and stepped to the side, inviting the brunette in. “You brought whiskey?” he asked an obvious question.

Genma laughed. “Of course,” he replied with the obvious answer as he plopped down on the couch. As he popped the bottle open, he took his time in observing Kakashi’s house in full.

It was a small house nuzzled between two larger buildings, so it didn’t come as a shock that Kakashi had little space in his living room; a large glass door that led to his backyard, the left wall beside it rested the couch Genma sat on, on the right was a wall-mounted TV with a shelf of all Kakashi’s books beneath it; the middle was a simple coffee table with miscellaneous items scattered across the top.

Kakashi sat himself down next to Genma as the brunette poured them both shots. He accepted the drink Genma offered him and watched as the other downed his shot instantly. He watched as Genma curled his lips in momentarily before he spat out his senbon, the thin metal needle clattering onto his table. Fuck. The way Genma moved his lips, how they’d look during his cocky smirks, all of it lit a flame deep down inside Kakashi. “This whiskey…” he brought up.

“Don’t worry,” the other said, “It’s weak whiskey.”

Accepting that, he shifted himself to the side. He tugged down his mask when his back was fully turned to Genma. He tilted his head back and downed the shot. Lifting his mask back up, he turned and watched as his old classmate poured another for himself before offering the bottle to him. He waved off the offer and slid his glass back onto the table. “I’m fine, Genma,” he assured.

“Alright, bottle’s here if you ever want more,” Genma replied as he drank down another shot.

“So… You’re the new proctor for the Chunin Exams?” He was quick to pull up a topic for small talk.

“Mhm,” the brunette quickly confirmed. “Apparently, I was one of the slim few who were recommended.” He turned his head to Kakashi. “But you seriously didn’t bring me here to just chat, did you?”

“No— but I just—” While Kakashi fumbled over his words, Genma shifted off his own cushion and kicked himself over Kakashi’s lap, resting his legs on each side of the other’s thighs. The white-haired Jounin sputtered as Genma sat firmly on his lap, his hands on his shoulders. “Oh.”

“You get flustered so easily for someone who reads porn on the daily,” Genma chuckled as he rocked his hips into Kakashi’s. “Hell, you probably watch a shit ton too, don’t you?”

“I—… Wow,” he murmured as his hands landed on the older’s hips, fingers dangerously close to groping those firm cheeks.

The brunette laughed and his hands slid up Kakashi’s neck, his jawline, his cheeks before his index and middle fingers hooked around the edge of his black mask. “Relax, ‘Kakashi,” he purred, “Let’s get this mask off, shall we?”

Kakashi’s hands were gripping Genma’s wrists in an instant, causing Genma to flinch momentarily. He sighed and slowly pulled Genma’s hands off his mask. Averting his eyes, letting go of Genma as the brunette’s hands found themselves back on his shoulders. “Sorry, Genma…” he murmured under his breath.

Genma pursed his lips, a little annoyed but he respected the other’s wishes. “Alright,” he replied.

Switching up his plans, the brunette slid off Kakashi’s lap and knelt on the hardwood floors. Realizing his intentions, Kakashi shifted his hips closer to the edge of the couch, spreading his legs. Genma’s hands trailed over his thighs, fingers drawing circles into his pants. He could only shiver in response. His zipper was undone and he lifted his hips as his pants were yanked down to his ankles.

Genma was quick to lick his lips upon seeing an erection hiding behind some black boxers. His hand reached forward and palmed the obvious bulge, a breathy groan escaping Kakashi. He chuckled and smirked as he continued on caressing Kakashi’s clothed cock. Watching the silver-haired shinobi’s reactions only egged on Genma. He felt Kakashi twitch and harden under his touch.

“Genma,” Kakashi grunted, “If you don’t start sucking, I’m going to burst.”

A teasing laugh erupted from Genma’s lips and he complied with Kakashi’s desperate wishes. His fingers hooked around the waistband of the undergarments and like the pants, he tugged them down. His chocolate brown eyes stared at the erect dick that shot up upon being freed. “You’re packing some length there…” he purred out a compliment. Kakashi only let out a nervous chuckle in reply.

Genma’s hand wrapped around the base and his tongue swiped across the tip. He dragged his tongue down the side, leaving a strip of his saliva down the sensitive flesh. His tongue licked around the tip, lapping up any pre. He pumped his hand up to the tip before tugging back down, spreading his saliva down the shaft.

Kakashi uttered curses under his breath before his hand reached over to the top of Genma’s head, tugging out the knot of his hitai-ate. He tugged off the navy blue headband and chucked it to the side, the metal clattering against the wooden floor. His fingers dove in, tangling themselves in Genma’s locks of brown hair. He tugged the other closer to the tip of his leaking cock. “I told you just suck,” he demanded in a timid tone, though, it only sounded like a squeaky request.

Genma rolled his eyes but he wasn’t going to deny or complain. He kissed the reddened tip before his tongue swirled around the tip. Through his thick eyelashes, his eyes locked with Kakashi’s as his lips wrapped around the cock. He pushed the length down his mouth, his tongue cupping the underside of the erect cock.

Kakashi groaned out as Genma’s wet warmth enveloped his length, resting his head on the back of the couch. His hand tugged at Genma’s hair, pushing him down his shaft. “Fuck…” he murmured out.

His eyes focused on Genma as the brunette dipped his head up and down, saliva coating his shaft. Specifically, his eyes watched Genma’s lips; he watched how they firmly wrapped around his length, how they dirtied themselves with saliva each time he bobbed his head, dragging up and down his throbbing cock. His cock twitched inside the mouth of Genma just from staring at his lips working.

Genma’s cheeks hollowed out as he sucked, his tongue cupping the underside of his dick, fingers wrapped around the base. If he could, he’d be smirking as Kakashi sung him whispered praises as he guided his mouth down the thick cock, the tip pushing against the back of his throat.

“Shit… Just like that…” Kakashi uttered. His hand continued to tug Genma down his shaft, deep-throating the other. He groaned out in pleasure as he rocked his hips upwards, earning some gagging sounds from Genma. He hesitated for a moment but Genma picking up his pace led Kakashi to continue on.

Heavy pants and lewd slurping noises filled the living room, Kakashi occasionally moaning out loudly as he reached his release. His grip tightened around Genma’s locks of hair as he shoved the brunette’s head down, thrusting his cock down his throat.

With a muffled moan, Genma squeezed his eyes tight as thick ropes of cum shot deep into his throat. As Kakashi relaxed, he pulled his head back, slipping the cock out of his mouth. He swallowed down the salty white liquid before smirking. His rosy pink lips were drenched with saliva, eyes hazy with lust as he gazed up at Kakashi. A chuckle escaped him and he licked his lips. He leaned in and slapped the cock against his cheek, splashing saliva against his face, thin strings kept him connected to the cock whenever he pulled it away before they snapped and disappeared. “You’re still a bit hard…” he commented.

“I… Urm, bedroom?” Kakashi squeaked out as Genma continued to play with his cock like some kid’s toy.

Genma kissed the sloppy tip and nodded. “Bedroom,” he affirmed.

[sokkathebluewolf]

Is there any character that you originally wrote as a super minor character, but you’ve ended up changing your plan so that they have a larger role?

This is honestly a really funny question, and I really hope you’ll enjoy the answer.

When Gladiator started out, I decided I’d be too bored writing about bland and flat soldiers with zero personality or depth to speak of. Canon did feature a few Fire Nation soldiers with personality, but they weren’t all that fleshed out and virtually had no identity, so in a sense, I decided to rebel by actually giving my soldiers a little more relevance than that.

But it wasn’t meant to be a TON of relevance, you see... it really wasn’t. So when Captain Sokkla (that’s how everyone used to call him xD) suddenly became a hit with readers, I wondered if maybe I should expand his role even more than I had during the early arcs of Gladiator. He had no name for a long time in the story because he had no name in my head either, then it turns out the name I picked for him had a really cool meaning (as in, the guardian lion statues frequently seen in Chinese culture) and I had no idea xD it’s ironic how many amazing things came into place for Rui Shi to slowly but surely become the most popular of my OCs, as well as one of the actual main characters in the story. He’s subtle in many ways, and he’s never seeking to hog up attention... but the man’s definitely outgrown his initial role and become a most incredible character I’ve loved working with over the years.

Of course, if Rui Shi’s role wasn’t meant to be as big as it’s become, it’s probably pretty obvious that Song was also intended to have a supporting role, even if she had some moments of prominence in the early stages of the story here and there. A lot of the idea of giving Song a new life in Gladiator came from my lingering grumpiness at canon for not giving the poor girl a better resolution, so I wanted her to be more important, and treated better, in my story. Then, everyone started shipping her with Rui Shi and why lie? I enjoyed the idea of those two interacting right off the bat. Figuring out how to get their romance started was tricky, but damn, it’s been worth it. And I’m just going to come out and say it: Song is literally a breakout character. For the majority of Part 1 she was mostly a supporting character, with the occasional moments of relevance indeed, then she grew more important through Part 2, and that importance has only continued to escalate and rise higher as we come closer to the end of Part 2. From starting off as a maid and healer for Sokka, she’s honestly become one of Sokka and Azula’s best friends, and I’m not even going to talk about how absolutely CRUCIAL she’s going to be in Part 3. Much like her soulmate Rui Shi, this girl’s gone the distance and I could not be prouder of her for it xD

Next! I think I could lump in all of Azula’s guards along with Rui Shi, to a fault (despite he’s obviously the most important of them). Most of the guards didn’t even have names for a fairly long time, but I slowly grew to use them more, especially in the Festivals, and I just needed them to be individualized and relevant as they are. Of course, not all the ten guards are easily individualized yet... but they’ve all become near and dear to my heart over the years, that much I can confirm, and they’re definitely going to become more than nameless, faceless soldiers in the future, for they have some very important roles to play in the story by the end of Part 2 and eventually in Part 3.

Shoji also, of course, gained more relevance as the story progressed, to the point where I finally set him free from the confines of his desk for the first time in chapter 201 xD He’s a really fun character to write because of how innocent, sweet and good-natured he is. Giving him a bit more content to work with, including as good as becoming Haru’s foster brother (yes, Ran’s basically adopted Shoji by now x’D), made me very happy because he deserves the relevance, for sure.

The last one I’ll bring up... is Rei. Oh, my sweet, pure, wonderful Rei. She definitely could compete with Shoji in the contest of the sweetest characters in this wild story xD But of course, Rei’s role so far has been minimal and nobody really understands why I love her so much. To focus on your question, though, I pondered the idea of making her Zhao’s illegitimate daughter since the moment I came up with the character, back in chapter 138, but over the next months (heck, years, probably) I wondered if I should scrap that whole idea and just make her a regular maid with no further relevance than that. But when the time came to really plot Part 3 properly, to ponder if there was a role this girl could play by then... I was completely blown to bits by the possibilities, and I literally spent DAYS just plotting, not writing a single word, so I could unravel her future role in the story, which is just one of the many things I can’t wait to write already. Rei will breathe a lot of life into Part 3 as long as I do my job properly, and I guarantee she’ll be so much more important than I EVER anticipated she could be, back when I first came up with the character.

At any rate, there’s quite a fair share of characters who went the distance and completely shattered not just my expectations but who broke out of the plots I used to imagine for them. They’ve all outgrown their initial roles to varying degrees (Shoji, despite he’s more important now, won’t be as much of a main character as someone like Rui Shi, for instance, despite his role has indeed expanded plenty). You see... sometimes you have to enforce plot by any means necessary, restraining whatever wild ideas you get if they’ll derail your overall plans. But sometimes you have to cut yourself loose and let ideas run away with you... because who knows? Could be letting some characters gain life of their own is exactly the element you needed so your story could truly move forward in the right direction.

As an added note, Kino, the poor forgotten boy whom I did NOT forget xD was actually meant to have a prominent role from the moment I came up with him (as a fun factor in the South Pole, as well as a useful source of information for the Tribe before Zuko and Suki arrived), but... hehe, much like Rei and Song, this guy’s going to be much more important than I planned initially, even if I did plan for him to play a big-ish role from the start. I didn’t list him with everyone else because he was intended to be important all along, but he still became a much more relevant character than I expected once I plotted Part 3 better and certain possibilities came to life through his character. So he’s a case of “important who became even more important” rather than “supporting or background character who became essential to the story”, unlike everyone else I’ve listed here. There’s definitely a few others who suit that first category, and there’s probably more of the second one too, despite I can’t think of them right now... but thanks for the ask anyway, and I hope your curiosity has been sated, if just a bit :D

[a-mellowtea]

RWBY Issue #1: An Elegy For Continuity

I’ve never been one for comic books. I think I read a couple when I was younger. I seem to recall Spiderman. I did pick up the Bone series at one point and fell in love with it. But beyond that, they never appealed to me. Now that I’m older, however, and finding more of an appreciation for design and storytelling alike, I really want to go back and just smother younger me in superhero and fantasy comics to make up for what I missed.

When I heard that RWBY was making a venture into the comics scene thanks to DC, I honestly got excited. It’s a perfect medium to tell stories that canon may not have been able to cover, and with the promised content being set in the area in-universe -- between Volumes 3 and 4 -- we have the least specific information about, there was no conceivable reason not to be at least interested.

RWBY #1 dropped on August 28th, 2019 under the subtitle “Prelude: The Elegy”. It’s narrated by Ruby Rose, one of the series’ titular characters and arguable ‘main’ protagonist out of the four, and covers in very brief form the Creatures of Grimm, the Huntsmen Academies, the fellow members -- Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee -- of RWBY, the Color Naming Convention/Rule, Dust, Semblances and the Fall of Beacon. It ends with the finale of Volume 3, and Ruby uncertain if they’ll be able to carry on.

The quality of the artwork and layout varies, but overall Mirka Andolfo and Arif Prianto do capture the look and feel of the characters (although, they can’t seem to decide whether Weiss is left-handed or not). Whether or not some of it seems off is an entirely subjective matter. Personally, while I find some panels to be absolutely striking (such as Tai, Yang and Ruby at Summer’s grave, the Volume 1-3 era combat panels, the initial Battle of Beacon Academy page, and the final panel), I also find others to be a bit... lacking (the Volume 4 design splash page especially).

An article by CBR appropriately labeled it an adaptation at a “breakneck pace”, which is honestly an understatement. The elements I mentioned get perhaps a page each, touched on in a manner I can in all seriousness relate to skipping a stone across a pond. Being a fan of the series, for me, that is perfectly fine; I already have as much of a grasp on things like Aura and Dust and the combat Academies as one who has been with the show since the Volume 2/3 hiatus could. On top of that, with Ruby as our narrator and speaking from in-universe, she may not see the need to go into incredible detail. However, someone just delving into RWBY with this as a primer or part of their proper introduction to Volumes 1 or 2 would in all likelihood be left winded by everything that zooms by with so little explanation. These elements are essential to the story and the world of Remnant. They, along with certain key events such as the Battle of Beacon, are the building blocks of the series.

On that front, it certainly doesn’t help anything that canon is shakily incorporated or, at points, firmly and summarily disregarded. See, the issue with RWBY #1 doesn’t lie in the art style or storytelling. Rather, it is with the connective tissue between the comic and its source material.

Most of these instances aren’t egregious oversights but are worth mentioning regardless. For instance, there is a panel in which Penny is shown wearing Beacon’s uniform, though she is from Atlas and was never shown wearing any of the Academy’s uniforms.

In the panel talking about Semblances, Weiss’ Semblance is described as being able to “summon any Grimm she’s slain”. While true, that is a facet of her Semblance, not her power itself. Weiss’ Semblance is Glyphs. She also never summoned before the Battle of Beacon, making the page of her summoning a Grimm circa that time also inaccurate.

In yet another, Ruby mentions rumors about the Maidens and magic. However, the only way she could have known about the Four Maidens before Qrow telling her and RNJR in Volume 4 Chapter 8 was through the fairy tale known as the “Story of the Seasons”. Only the Ozluminati (Ozpin, Qrow, Glynda and James) and Pyrrha knew in full about the truth surrounding the four Maidens. As this is being narrated at the end of Volume 3 (the “now”, as stated in the penultimate panel), Jaune also only knew that Cinder had acquired some sort of power; nothing of magic or the Maidens.

The worst of these errors come at the end of the comic, and are most plainly wrong. Ruby is shown having come back to Patch on foot, whereas she was most certainly entirely unconscious when she was brought back to Patch by Qrow. It is also implied that Ruby returned to help Tai take care of Yang; their conditions of consciousness somewhat perplexingly reversed from canon. 

Furthermore, though it is clearly stated and shown that Jacques was the one to take Weiss home after the events at Beacon, Willow also appears to be present alongside an AK-200.*

And finally, Taiyang is shown in the aforementioned penultimate panel waving goodbye to RNJR as they depart for Mistral.  The issues of this particular change are further-reaching than most of the others; Ruby leaving without a word to her father and sister other than a letter was brought up several times in Volume 4, and was part of what made Yang and Ruby’s reunion in Volume 5 such a good moment.

Some things are also oddly worded (and that’s without mentioning the run-on sentences), leading to unnecessary confusion. For example, at one point, Ruby explains that “Atlas, Vale, Vacuo and Mistral -- every Kingdom in Remnant has their own way of dealing with Grimm. But only the Kingdom of Vale has Beacon, the legendary Academy where my mother and father went to become Huntsmen”. This makes it sound like Beacon is the only Huntsmen Academy in Remnant, and the other Kingdoms have completely separate ways of dealing with the Grimm. I doubt that was the authorial intent; it could be explained away rather easily as Ruby simply stating that none of the other Academies are as good; ie, there is only one Beacon.

There is also another rather odd panel following the aforementioned, in which a young Ruby and Yang stand with Taiyang, their father, and Summer Rose, Ruby’s biological mother. While this family shot is very nice and certainly pulls on a fan’s heartstrings, the composition is strange. If this is meant to be an in-canon moment, rather than a symbolic one, then Ruby and Yang’s ages at the time of Summer’s death are thrown into question yet again. As stated by Yang in Volume 5 Chapter 8, “My mom left me. Ruby’s mom left too. Dad was always busy with school, and Ruby couldn’t even talk yet”. This shot, with Ruby and Yang looking closer to 6 and 8 respectively, contradicts that.

That’s not to say that these errors, numerous as they are, completely ruin the experience of reading the comic. Paired with Mirka Andolfo’s artwork, RWBY #1 presents a decent introduction to RWBY until the end of Volume 3, heading into the timeskip territory. However, being a recap of elements and events already covered in the show, it is sorely lacking and has absolutely no excuse to be. I saw someone mention that it feels like the writer, Marguerite Bennett, skimmed the show’s Wiki or otherwise did the least amount of research possible on the series before writing. I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment.

At the end of the day, RWBY #1 “Prologue: The Elegy” is a good attempt at summarizing the most basic and key material of Volumes 1-3, but ultimately fails, falls flat and devolves into a mess of inconsistencies, errors and nonsensical changes that fans should not consider being canon whether it has been stated to be in the category of “canon-until-it’s-not” or not.

I do hope they find their footing in the second issue of RWBY, as perhaps original content will provide better space for the story to flow largely unhindered by canonical information.

*Amendment: I originally stated that it was Winter in this panel. I’ve been since informed that that is incorrect. Apologies for the mistake!

[threewaysdivided]

Hey, I know this is like a billion years from where you are in YJ:DW, but I had this thought strike me: what if Danny could see and talk to Jason Todd's ghost? (assuming Red Hood isn't YJ canon) There's so much potential for angst there, especially if Danny is the only one who can see him, and decides to try and get Jason to cross over. Or heck, what if Danny had a hand in Jason's revival?

That’s a neat idea that definitely has some good angst potential.  Have to admit though, I’m not entirely sure how it would work within the ghost-lore headcanons I’m using for YJ:DW specifically.  

I can write a longer post on this if anyone wants but Basically ghosts in the Deathly Weapons-verse break into 2 unrelated categories that get lumped together for looking sort-of-similar on the surface:  Ectoplasmic (the ones we see in DP) and what we’ll call Shades (DC ghosts like Secret, Deadman etc).  Ectoplasmic “ghosts” are their own inter-dimensional entities so they can’t really “revive” in the traditional sense, and “passing on” is pretty much limited to accepting what they are and chilling in the Ghost Zone forever or straight-up discorporealising/ re-dying.  Shade ghosts are the more traditional original-soul-bound-to-the-physical-world; either because external force is trapping them there, or because they were willful/ powerful/ knowledgeable enough to bind themselves.  These ones can potentially be “revived” more easily, and can “pass on” if they’re released from whatever is holding them to this world.

If Jason came back as a Ectoplasmic ghost he’d work the same way DP ghosts do; most likely everyone would be able to see him unless he had some kind of Young Blood-esque visibility condition (in which case anyone who fit the criteria would also see him), and outside of extreme edge-cases revival would be off the table.  (Throw a ‘plasmic ghost into a Lazarus Pit and they’ll just climb back out,  except now wet and mad at you for giving them a skin condition.)

More likely that Jason would come back as a Shade-ghost (especially since he seems intended to revive in some capacity in YJ canon), in which case he might only be visible to certain people.  In such a case though, I’m not sure it would be Danny who sees him. 

I feel like Danny would be the least emotionally and symbolically connected to Robin!Jason of the Wayne-household residents who’ve appeared in YJ:DW.  As mentioned in this post Danny kind of falls in this weird spot of being Dick’s Brother first and foremost where all the other Bat-Kids are Bruce’s Son/Daughter, and he has some personal qualms about Dick handing off the Robin mantle (and how close he feels he can/ “should” be to Jason) to work through because of that.  Outside of the both-technically-death thing, I’m not sure there’d be much reason for Jason’s shade to attach himself to Danny as an anchor compared to Bruce, Dick, Alfred or even possibly Tim or some location of personal significance (unless Danny seeing him is due to the ectoplasm, in which case other ecto-ghosts should see him too).

Although, in this very specific hypothetical, Danny is probably one of the better people Jason’s ghost could attach too.  We’re about a billion years from the end of YJ:DW right now but Grief and Healing is going to be a major theme of the core emotional arc, so by the time Jason comes along Danny’s going to be much better equipped to deal with even his canon death.  Add to that that Danny’s had to work with ecto-ghosts and therefore tangentially-death-related problems since he was 14 and he’d be less thrown by Jason’s “reappearance” and more likely to think “this could be a ghost problem” early on compared to Bruce and Dick whose first thoughts would likely be “this is an illusion caused by losing my mind from guilt/grief”, especially if Danny can’t also see him.  Plus, by that point Dick and Bruce do trust Danny pretty implicitly and let him take point where ghosts are concerned.

If Jason did appear as a Shade ghost, Danny’s process would probably look a little something like this:

Confirm that Jason is, in fact, a ghost and not a product of him going nuts

Work together to find a way to prove this to the others (while also working through any personal feelings and unresolved communication/ conflict issues)

Call in Bruce, Dick and Alfred and let them know

Family drama/ angst ensues

Collectively find Dr Fate/ John Constantine/ any other amenable magic-spiritualist hero who exists on Earth-16 to figure out how best to Deal With This.

As for Danny helping Jason (or other ghosts) to “pass on”, I kind of feel like that’s…. not really his ballpark.  I don’t see Danny as someone who’d compulsively seek out other ghosts and feel obliged to “move them along” unless they were actively in distress or causing damage/ distress/ fear/ pain to others.  Like, Johnny 13 wants to ride his motorcycle at full tilt through the streets of a town, terrifying the citizens?  Get in the thermos or get out.  Johnny 13 wants to ride his motorcycle at full tilt down a long, deserted county road?  Fine, just don’t go into towns or bother other drivers.  He’ll leave them alone so long as they leave other people alone.

In that regard I see Danny as sort of the fixer compared to Jazz’s counsellor - if a ghost is acting up because of some problem (or comes to him for help) then he’ll deal with it so that they can leave, or at least chill out.  And if he can’t fix it (because the solution is harmful, the ghost’s nature/powers are too inherently dangerous or they’re just there being dicks by choice) he’ll capture and send them back to the Ghost Zone (or find someone who can exorcise a Shade) to remove the problem that way.  He might gently float the suggestion, but if Jason wanted to pass on then that would be Jason’s choice to explore unless he specifically asked for help or became distressed/ disruptive enough to force Danny’s hand.

Similarly, I think revivals wouldn’t really be Danny’s ballpark either; it’s not a solution he’d like and he has neither the knowledge, interest, skills or equipment to actually facilitate any of the rare reliable edge-cases methods of resurrection.  Danny prefers to keep to the ‘best left alone’ side of ‘Meddling with dark forces best left alone’ as much as is possible.

Personally I kind of prefer the revival stories where Jason isn’t around until his actual return.  I think there’s more easy gut-punch mileage in most of those versions.  That structure forces the other characters to accept that he’s “not coming back” and try to process all the conflict and pain that it brings, only to then sledgehammer the new status-quo by having him reappear, now changed, at point where his death has significantly altered their dynamics with him, his memory and the other characters.  By comparison, having him come back as a ghost and then revive kind of smooths and flattens that trajectory to one where anyone who can interact with him (even indirectly) gets their emotional healing accelerated, and the status quo eventually slips back closer to how it was (with them mostly just having to adjust to physical limitations of the new form he takes), only to reform fully when he “comes back” for real.

But, anyway, that’s part of larger personal nitpick with the use of “ghosts” in stories.  I find that the meaningful thing about death (and that seems to get weirdly missed by a lot of works) isn’t the moment of impact itself so much as the persisting loss and how the survivors cope.  We are haunted by absence more than by presence.  Most cases of bringing the dead character (or at least their mind/personality) back in some capacity tends to soften the weight of that for me, unless the ghost is meant to function as a some kind of metaphor for the healing/ acceptance/ closure process and “move on” when the other characters do.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this long and somewhat tangential ramble.  It probably won’t be happening in YJ:DW or YJ:DW-EU but in a story which took a more hardline all-ghosts-are-dead-people/ horror approach to world-building, I can definitely see the someone-seeing-Jason’s-ghost set-up having a lot of angst and uncanny potential.  (I know there are a couple of fics like that already out there but I can’t remember their titles right now, sorry!)

[catscradlezine]

Never fear, recovery is here!

Hello, everyone!

Thank you so much for all the interest in our zine! At one week in, we’ve received an incredible amount of support and we thank you very, very much for all your interest in our project! 

Since we’re halfway through the interest check, we’d like to take some time to answer some of the questions we’ve gotten on the survey. So many of you have also sent in encouraging things in the comments section of the survey and we appreciate each and every one of them! Truly, the support for our zine has blown us away.

So without further ado, here’s some answers to the questions you’ve left us!

Will this be for all characters or character centric? Is it canon compliant?

This is for all characters. We will be having 5 categories of characters/general topics to choose from (UA students, pro heroes, villains, family, other) so that the zine isn’t over-saturated with one or a few characters. As for canon compliant, we do very much encourage headcanons for our topic, but we would like to keep it in-universe. 

Would ships be allowed?

There are a few questions like this, so we’re sort of compiling them into this one answer. This is a gen zine and we want to keep it as free from ships as possible. While we understand the importance of a romantic partner helping their partner through something, we ask that you don’t make the shipping explicit. You can still have them as friends or leave their relationship up to the viewer/reader. This is to ensure that the zine is for everyone and not just people who like certain ships. Thank you for understanding!

What kind of recovery are you looking for and is it going to be different for each character? Like I know for todoroki he is going to be dealing with things different than say uraraka. And then how far are we allowed to go with the recovery? Like emotion wise and are there certain topics that you would rather not have involved? Some people are uncomfortable with certain things and there are triggers but I understand this is a zine for self care and working on that so I'm guessing you'll have limits but not that much. 

We’ve touched on this a bit in asks like this one, but you’re very right--recovery looks different for every character and that’s where you as a contributor will have your artistic freedom. It’s up to you to decide what recovery looks like for your character. As for how far you go, that’s up to you. Your character(s) could be at the start of their journey, the middle, or the end of it. 

We’ve explained how we’re handling triggers a bit here. There are limits, yes, but we have plans for how to handle things. We also ask that everyone keep in mind that the zine is rated T and is also to focus on recovery. 

This is briefly mentioned in the zine description, but I'd really love to see an emphasis placed on physical disability in this, and recovery around that, and not just mental health! Of course the two go hand-in-hand, and the latter accompanies the former anyway, but I hope there's a good focus on the physical side of things too. 

While this isn’t a question, this is a good suggestion I wanted to touch on here. This is absolutely a topic people would be allowed to cover. While we don’t want to touch on disability as something that needs to be ‘cured’, the psychological process of accepting it and coping with things and/or the effects of physical injury are definitely topics that we would allow in the zine. You are very right in saying that the two go hand in hand. 

What will the timeline be, past present future? Is any character allowed or is it a pre picked group? Will this be for profit or charity?

This is a charity zine, donating to two charities. You can find more information about our charities on this page!

You are definitely allowed to portray things in the past, present, or future. All we ask is that you keep it in-universe, rather than AU. As for characters, all characters are allowed, but in order to prevent over-saturation of characters, once participants are picked we’ll be having them sign up for which ‘group’ (students, heroes, villains, etc) they want and asking them for which characters they’ll be focusing on. We’d like to focus on many different characters in this zine and have a diverse group. 

Would you consider opening applications for cosplayers?

Sorry, we’ll only be having applications for writers and artists (with a merch option on the artist application)! Thank you for your interest, though!

I’m super glad you guys decided to do this! I saw the zine a while back but guessed nothing had come of it, so I’m super pumped to see it starting back up! 

While this isn’t a question, I wanted to take the time to say we appreciate it! It’s been hard rebuilding the zine after the old team left, but it’s going very well and we’re all having a good time! Thank you!

What would be the tryout process for writing? How many MHA pieces would you like to see?

We haven’t decided exactly, but in general, we’re going to be asking for 3 pieces of writing, a portfolio link, and some general ideas/characters you’d like to focus on for the zine. We’d like to see at least 1 MHA piece. The examples will probably have to be 3,000 words or less, in the interest of time.

I would love to participate as an artist OR a writer, whichever you need more! 

You can definitely apply for both, if you’d like! You’ll only be accepted into one position, but you can try out as both artist and writer.

Is there a age limit for contributors? and I'm curious if I were to apply and be chosen if it's okay that I can't be payed due to not having a paypal?

We ask that contributors be 13+. We’re a charity zine, so you do not need a source to be paid, since all profits will be donated to charity after compensating contributors with full bundles. 

I saw that there are only two mods on staff right now and a jr mod? I’d highly encourage reconsideration to add at least two or three more mods onto the team, considering recent failed zines I’ve seen. Especially if all writing and comics are to be as strictly vetted as you’ve indicated.

While we understand the concern, sometimes smaller mod teams are better. There’s no reason for us to add more mods since the three of us are able to do everything. All three of us--our junior mod included--have also completed publishing projects and have finance experience. Additionally, sometimes with larger mod teams, things become over-delegated and it can just be better to have a smaller team of mods who are familiar with each aspect of modding. Thank you for your concern, but we feel more than comfortable with our team.

What's the skill threshold for being an artist in it? I. Want to participate but don't know if I'm good enough, nor what all it entails.

There’s no skill threshold to apply and while we understand the feeling of not thinking you’re good enough, we still encourage you to apply! There’s times where all of us have been surprised and even if you aren’t accepted, then you can’t say you didn’t try.  

I filled more writing than art, but I'd suggest a bigger word count for writers? Because something about recovery probably needs time(and words) to flesh it up. Although some writers can probably do it in a short word count, I personally like longer fics!

Yes, we’re thinking the same thing :) Our zine will definitely have a bigger word count for writers than most zines do, for this exact reason!

I would give up my left lung and stomach for this.

Not a question, but this made all of us laugh. Thank you!

Thank you all for your interest so far! The interest check is still open and will be open for about another week! We’re so excited to see all the support so far!

[sanrionharbor-blog]

For Everybody Still Worried About the Leaks

Clues from the Cast Interviews, GRRM Hints, and My Own Gut Feelings

Disclaimer: Hey, nobody knows nothing, but life’s too short to stress about things we can’t control, and stories are supposed to be maps to help us learn more about ourselves and about life in general–not hair-pulling inducements.  So I’m going to enjoy all the speculating that I can regarding the GOT season finale, and want to share some thoughts on why I think certain “leaks” are most likely bunk.

I’m mostly focusing on the pervasive “Does Tyrion die by trial?” leak, and everything that links to that, including any betrayals or major deaths.

Tyrion’s Ending and The Ending, In General

First, let’s quote Peter Dinklage himself:

I had all these ideas in my head and a version of one of them is how it ends up [for Tyrion]. David and Dan have a brilliant version of what I had. If I use any adjectives it will give it away. But I love how it ended up. And how it ends up for everybody. They had a beautiful gentle touch with some, and a hard touch with others.

But that’s just on Tyrion’s ending. Before I get into what that quote tells us, let me quote what other people have said about the Overall Ending of Game of Thrones:

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau:

I’ve never read anyone who got the whole thing. And when I read it the first time, I was blown away.

George R.R. Martin:

So many readers were reading the books with so much attention that they were throwing up some theories, and while some of those theories were amusing bulls*** and creative, some of the theories are right…At least one or two readers had put together the extremely subtle and obscure clues that I’d planted in the books and came to the right solution.

What the above quotes tell me is:

No one has guessed the ending completely–but parts of the ending? Yeah, they’ve been guessed. Which just goes to show how much this show and its themes have resonated not only with GRRM, but with his audience. Because,as a writer, I can tell you that no storyteller tells a story alone. There’s something guiding us and we can’t put a finger on it but it’s often the source of our best ideas. And it’s the same ineffable something that stirs all of us when we’re creating, sharing, and participating in stories. It’s the reason you see the same patterns in stories over and over. In short, the fact that part of the ending CAN be guessed is NOT a bad thing. It’s natural. Some postmodern storytelling theories have taught us that tricks and surprises are where it’s at–but a story isn’t true unless it can surprise us and, in retrospect, give us the only answer that makes any sense. You can see a pithier version of this kind of storytelling in Ye Olde Riddle–for example, the Sphinx in Oedipus Rex could tell us the answer to her riddle is orange, and that would throw us for a loop, but it would tell us nothing and mean nothing and add nothing to the story and thus would be forgotten. Surprise doesn’t count unless it has a ripple effect. So, about-face turns and OOC arcs may shock and subvert, but they’ll ultimately end up as dross and not as gold. (But hey, more on my thoughts on what can and can be accepted as canon in the last blurb below!).

Now, has anybody assumed that Tyrion would betray Daenerys and end up dead simply for 1) loyalty to the Lannisters, 2) suddenly losing faith in humanity?, or 3) suddenly wanting to usurp power himself? No. This is not a popular theory by a longshot. Tyrion dying? Sure. Somebody betraying Daenerys? Sure. Tyrion as a ruler? Sure. But this very specific, shoehorned version of the story is simply too contrived to have been picked up by fans organically.

The leaks so far have painted nothing but harsh endings for ALL the characters. Don’t tell me those leaks are pro-Stark. Those leaks point out backstabbing, loneliness, and emotional stagnation–forget what characters live, think about what these leaks have said about these characters. Not only does this not jive with the “bittersweet” aspect of the ending, it doesn’t jive with Dinklage’s assertion that, while some characters will go down harshly (R.I.P. Missandei especially–at least Edd and Jorah and Beric got heroic deaths and funerals), others will be treated gently. A heartbroken Brienne? A cold, lonely, manipulative Sansa? A suddenly hopeless, headless Tyrion? I don’t think so. (I also don’t think that means that Brienne and Jaime will necessarily ride into the sunset–but I do think we’ll have Jaime’s feelings for her confirmed, along with the completion of his redemption arc. I also don’t think that means Tyrion definitely won’t die–but I don’t think he’ll be character assassination, either. And I also don’t think that Sansa WILL end up in a canon relationship–but, logically, they can’t leave all the Stark’s COMPLETELY UNABLE TO LOVE, and um, somebody has to be willing to have legitimate heirs to the Stark House. Ok, just to continue this aside, but it seems theoretically impossible to me that the Stark House, which is all about the continuation of the Starks and the independence of the North, would not be given any canon marriages/alliances at the end of their arc. Arya’s already rejected marriage, Bran drove Meera away, and Sansa’s always wanted a happy marriage, even if she’s got very understandable trust issues right now. Anyhow–).

Peter Dinklage was able to guess how his character arc ended. What are the odds that Betraying Somebody He Cares About Without Good Reason (Daenerys–I could see him betraying her reluctantly, but not easily)/Being Betrayed By Somebody He Cares About (Sansa)/Dying Guilty After All The False Trials His Character Has Been THrough were in the mix? I don’t think so. Dinklage has gone on record multiple times to say how much he admires Tyrion and thinks he’s a good person. He’s also gone on record stating that Sansa and Tyrion’s relationship is full of true affection. Even if Tyrion dies and/or he and Sansa don’t end up as a couple, betrayal just seems so far out of the scope of what these characters’ storylines have been building to. And again, I can’t see that being even one version of one of Dinklage’s headcanons. What I think is most likely? A) Hand to the Ruler, B) Part of a new council that replaces or supplements the King/Queen, C) the King himself, or D) a heroic death.

How Long They’ve Planned the Ending:

They had talks with GRRM in 2014

They’ve been planning the ending for five years

They’ve known it was Arya who would take out the NK for three years

So some decisions weren’t set in stone, even by GRRM (such as who would take out the NK…an interesting thing not to know, actually, but that just points out how inflated the importance of the Others/White Walkers was–do I still think it will be handled better by GRRM, yes, but that’s another story), and even if D&D’s execution feels more like “here’s an outline of what’s happening” rather than “here’s the organic progression of that storyline,” I can only imagine that if core pieces were given by GRRM AND they’re not completely winging it, then there will be a certain amount of narrative cohesion once this comes full-circle.

Let’s not forget, we still have a third WTFudge moment that was came straight from GRRM himself, with the other two shockers being Hodor’s origin and Shireen Baratheon’s death. Could this third twist be Dany going completely mad? Maybe, though it doesn’t fall into the same category of completely-unexpected-but-honestly-possible, like Shireen and Hodor. Only because the foreshadowing for Dany’s madness was heavy-handed in the last few seasons (taking away the ‘unexpected’ bit), and is now quite uneven here in Season 8.

I think the third twist will likely be a specific action (a la Shireen’s death) or another origin story-type twist (a la Hodor). Some people have speculated that “Tyrion’s Trial” would make for that final twist, but here’s why I don’t think so:

The Nature of the Leaks

It’s very interesting to me that this leak, supposedly this Huge Most Important Leak, was one of the very first ones released. Like, months ago. While the rest of the leaks, the ones that have actually been accurate, are usually only released at the max a few days before each episode airs.

It’s also interesting to me that HBO has not done more to shut down this particular leak.

And, I would not put it past HBO to have actually filmed one entire fake-out scene. Most of the Dragon Pit/South scenes were filmed after the first three episodes, so they probably knew that they had the time and money to just throw fans for another loop. Sound tinfoily? Perhaps, but the idea that this big twist–and a twist that so far doesn’t make much sense given what we’ve seen in what is now ⅔’s of the season–was such an easy leak just makes me suspect.

Another possibility? Tyrion IS on trial, but is pardoned. Or Tyrion thinks he’s on trial, but it turns out to be somebody else’s funeral (a la that Littlefinger Fake Out 2.0.). I’m not saying any of this makes for the best handling of his character or for a particularly compelling scenario, but considering we haven’t seen it, I can’t say for certain.

GOT’s Recent “Plot Twist” Pattern

D&D have switched to information-withholding tactics in the last few seasons. Just look at Sansa and Arya’s arc and the Littlefinger Fake Out. Were these well-written? Not entirely–but they don’t make for the worst entertainment either. Yeah, we had better quality storytelling in the first four seasons, but soap opera can still be fun.

And how long have they been teasing Dark!Sansa without actually delivering? And let’s not forget–show-Sansa’s arc is still, broadly, based on book-Sansa’s arc. Book-Sansa remains far more in tune to the archetype of the Lady/Maiden, while show-Sansa is slightly blended with Jeyne Poole’s arc (and, unfortunately, a dash of Pop Feminism). But the fact remains that whatever meeting D&D had with GRRM back in 2014 contained information based on the broad trajectory of Sansa’s arc as GRRM has been writing it. (I’m writing a character arc meta on Sansa that’ll be out…soonish).

And let’s just say I don’t see Dark!Sansa hinted very well in the books at all. Sansa learning to pull strings like Littlefinger and Cersei and Margaery? Heck yes. But Sansa will do it Sansa’s way.

So, given that D&D usually try to shock us by hinting at a character’s worst possible tendency AND by withholding information AND by trying to get us to see one scenario while giving us another (another example being Jon Snow vs. Night King actually being Arya vs Night King), I can very well see them turning Sansa into a reluctant last-minute ally of Daenerys, Tyrion being pulled out of hot water at the last minute, Jaime’s running to Cersei being about taking out Cersei not making out with Cersei (yeah sorry/not sorry about that one), and heck, maybe Dany won’t go mad–she’ll just realize she doesn’t want the Iron Throne anymore, or the Iron Throne shouldn’t exist, or she dies tragically but not as a monster. Time will tell.

Who We Haven’t Seen So Far That Can Introduce New Complications

1. Edmure Tully

Tobis Mennzies (Edmure Tully) has been confirmed to return this season. Could it just be a cameo? Maybe. But I wouldn’t put it past Sansa, Arya, and Bran to be planning a back-up plan to help out Jon (and thus Dany). Arya is probably planning on killing Cersei, Sansa can rally what’s left of the Tully’s, and Bran will hopefully do something Three-Eyed Ravenish (or regain some of Bran’s humanity–which would be a twist worth waiting for).

2. Khal Drogo

Motherhood is an important theme in Dany’s life. I think ultimately, book and show wise, it’s what’s truly important to her. She just doesn’t realize it. In this way, Dany is a very interesting parallel with Cersei. Both of these women are tempted to replace their intimate losses with power. They believe power will protect them and their own. And that mentality can slowly shift into the classic Mother Bear conundrum: Us vs. Them.

Now, Khal Drogo not only represents a happy time in Dany’s life where she was both powerful and protected, but where she was a mother. After her losses, she gained her dragons. She truly loves her dragons as children, but they are also a liability to everyone but Dany. Interestingly, Dany’s human child with Khal Drogo was a liability to everyone but the Khalasar. The priestess from season 1 knew this, and so she prevented it. It doesn’t make the loss any less of a tragedy, however.

Will we see the same thing play out here in the final act of Game of Thrones? I’m not sure, but Khal Drogo’s presence will be heavily symbolic. Either Dany will meet him in the afterlife or reject death another time–but perhaps she’ll realize that her true desires were always for belonging and motherhood (just not at the expense of her own free will).

And, as an aside–I’ve really come to see Dany in a different light this season. I’ve always been anti-Daenerys as Ruler, but Daenerys as a character is truly fascinating. So what I see implied in her final arc is truly heartbreaking (and I hope it’s handled better overall than it was, in snapshot, here in 8x04). [Dany’s also my dad’s favorite character, haha, and I respect my dad’s opinion almost more than anyone else’s, so she gets props for that too lol].

3. Robin Arryn

I have a feeling this will be a cameo, but honestly the worst-case scenario for me would be Sansa being engaged to him lol. It would certainly be a Margaery Tyrell move on her part (knowing she won’t have to marry him for some time and he’ll be easy to influence), but the Knights of the Vale are already dedicated to her and I’m a Sanrion shipper so you know where I stand on any other Sansa ship. ;-)

Regardless, the Vale could become an important wrinkle in the plot, and I’m all for us not having a complete Doomsday scenario.

And In The Worst Case Scenario

The worst case scenario is that the leaks are legit. Bran as an emotionless king? The Starks are forever alone? Tyrion’s character assassination? Bleh.

But I’ve already hinted at my philosophy on canon storytelling.

Look, most fanon is crap–but so is most fiction. There are millions of stories out there, but it’s hard to find (and tell) one that resonates across all borders of sex, ethnicity, age, and epoch. You know what CAN exist in both fanon and canon–and what actually matters as canon in the end? The stories that are true.

If characters don’t act true to themselves, if deep-in-the-bones themes suddenly drop off, if crucial scenes that are present in every single successful outline are missing (don’t go postmodern on me–just read The Story Grid), then that story is incomplete. And it’s a lie.

Madeleine L’Engle once said “All truth is God’s truth.” She was trying to make the point that fantasy, and fiction in general, is important because it tells the truth. It’s not about the facts (dragons aren’t real! This is just a TV show! Etc.). It’s about the truth (dragons can be beaten! There is wonder in the world! We are united by our mythologies!).

So no, fanon can be a lot more than making heterosexual characters gay or inserting fluff without dealing with the consequences of character actions or erasing parts of canon. Fanon can be more true than canon when the author is on the tail of the actual Story.

Steven Pressfield does a much better job of explaining this in The War of Art. Madeleine L’Engle does a much better of explaining this in Walking on Water. Shawn Coyne does a much better job of explaining this in The Story Grid.

So don’t just take my word for it.

For me, then, I’m excited to see how the show plays out. And I’m fine if certain things that I only WANT don’t happen–but if the story doesn’t have what NEEDS to happen, then I’ll sadly and reluctantly reject it, and wait for GRRM’s books to come out, or simply contribute to the ASOIAF lore as best as I can. Hopefully not as wish fulfillment, but simply to respect the core of the story itself.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[sebastiianstan]

Tumblr content school: why you don’t always get notes and how to (potentially) get a bit more

So in recent weeks, I’ve seen quite a few posts floating around that centre around the same subject: content creators, mainly gifmakers, not gaining followers as quickly as they would like to and/or not getting as many notes on their original content as they would like to. Most recently I’ve seen people share their like-to-reblog ratio, with a call to users to also reblog content instead of just liking it, which would result in more exposure and recognition for the creator.

Now, while all of those feelings are perfectly valid and you’re obviously allowed to post whatever you like on your blog, the conversation around this is quite unnuanced and, at times, a bit uninformed. I’m not claiming to be some kind of expert, but having been a content creator (gifmaker) on this platform for quite a few years, with my own small share of popular gifsets floating around and having built both my own blog an two fansites/group blogs to at least moderate success, I do think I have a certain degree of insight re: getting notes, so I thought I’d put in my two cents. Please note that I’m not making this post to be condescending in any way, or even to tell you what to do/how to create content, but I thought I’d help as much as I can, based on my own experience.

Below the cut are 1. reasons why I think gifsets don’t always get the number of notes you wanted/expected them to, and 2. tips on creating and posting content in a way that will potentially get you more notes.

Why you might not be getting (a lot) of notes

So let’s start with some general trends re: gifsets not getting as many notes as you’d like/expect, and not as many as they would have maybe a few years ago.

1. Tumblr is past its peak

Based on experience, I’d say fandom Tumblr reached its peak in 2015-2016, and was riding that out in 2017. I’ve mainly been a Marvel blog in recent years, so I can’t speak for other fandoms, but Tumblr was... wild in the lead-up to and aftermath of Captain America: Civil War (2016). Wonder Woman (2017) was a similar situation on the DC side of things. 

New Marvel releases (like Ant-Man & The Wasp, Avengers: Infinity War and probably most notably, Black Panther) still get a lot of traction and fandom definitely isn’t dead on Tumblr, but I feel like 2015-2016 were definitely peak years. I only recently returned from a year-long hiatus; I stopped being active in late 2017 and even then my dashboard wasn’t quite as active as it was a year before that. Upon returning here about a month ago, most of my mutuals from back in the day had also become inactive and a lot of gifmakers I used to follow were not creating content anymore.

So it boils down to this: I think it’s very likely that the amount of active users within your fandom has diminished significantly as compared to two years ago. A set that may have gotten 10k notes within a few days in 2016 might now only get half of that.

2. The URL thing

This is a sad truth, but it does seem that having a semi-canon or canon url does at least help with getting a larger amount of notes on your content. I have no tips on getting a canon url (I got very, very lucky with this one), but this is a simple observation I have from over the years. Url trading/selling has basically become a genuine business due to this - canon urls are in high demand.

More importantly, what I can say is that it’s smart not to change your url too often. Becoming a popular content creator on this platform is basically the same as building a brand - and a brand has an easily recognized name. Once you have a url you are happy with, try to stick to it for a while. When you change your url, links break on reblogs of your old gifsets, by the way.

3. The like-to-reblog ratio has always been unbalanced

For as long as I can remember, posts have gotten more likes than reblogs. If your ratio is 2-to-1 or 3-to-1, trust me, you are doing perfectly well for yourself! Again, as with my first point, this might have gotten a bit more extreme since 2016, but it’s not a new thing.

4. Popular users support each other

Obviously there’s nothing wrong with this (in fact, I love that we all support each other), but yes, in general big/popular blogs are friends with each other and tend to reblog each other’s content, which can be discouraging for smaller or aspiring content creators on the platform.

However, please be aware that these big blogs built up the following they have by posting content for years and it just takes time. Also, know that most users on here actually really enjoy being tagged in your posts - so if you gif a movie or tv show you know a popular user (that you follow) likes, tag them in it and if it’s high quality content (I’ll touch on this later), they’ll probably reblog it.

Tips on getting more notes

Alright, on to part two: my personal tips on getting more notes. These are strictly based on my own experience, and as a repeat of my disclaimer earlier: I am genuinely trying to share my knowledge; none of this is with the intent of being a condescending know-it-all.

1. Don’t look like you’re complaining

No matter what the intent behind your post about your lack of notes and/or followers is, it’s very likely you’re going to come off entitled or ungrateful. I’ve personally unfollowed multiple users who post consistently about reaching their next thousand, who make angry/frustrated posts when their followers don’t increase as quickly as they’d like to, when they lose followers, etc. I understand that the hustle is frustrating, but posts like these are really quite annoying for your followers; you’re complaining about followers you don’t have to followers you do have, who are then more likely to unfollow you because it looks like you’re complaining. Your mutuals might understand why you’re posting this, but others probably don’t.

When it comes to posts about like-to-reblog ratios, which I’ve seen a fair few of recently, please consider a couple of things. 

When you ask people to reblog your post instead of liking it, you are essentially telling them what to put on their own blogs.

A lot of users on here have carefully curated content; while some users simply blog about everything they like, others stick to a certain set of subjects/movies/tv shows. If they see a post they like that doesn’t fall into those categories, they’ll give it a like to keep track of it and show their appreciation, but won’t put it on their blogs. You can’t tell people to reblog something they don’t want to.

You’re essentially asking people that you do not really personally care about to do something for you. Most of the likes you get on your post are likely from people that you do not follow yourself. I’m not saying that you hate your followers or don’t care for them, but you can’t really ask anything of a user that you don’t even follow yourself.

Look at it this way: Tumblr is basically a mini society, with its own market in the form of content creation. The ones who have a few thousand followers, and who get a few hundred or a few thousand notes on their posts are already the lucky ones. If you’re a user who gets hundreds/thousands of notes on their posts (even if it’s not as many as you like or deserve), you should keep in mind that the vast majority of users on here are small blogs that don’t have the traction that you have. If you post a screenshot of the like-to-reblog ratio on a post that has 2k notes, they’re going to think, “what on earth are you complaining about?”

Posts like these can really only backfire. I don’t think it’s likely that a lot of users will suddenly start reblogging instead of liking because of them. I know those posts are getting traction, because your mutuals and fellow content creators understand your frustration (believe me, I do too!), so they reblog/like/comment on it, but you’re essentially in an echo chamber of content creators. Anyone outside of that circle will not understand it and might unfollow you because of it.

2. Quality

Another disclaimer: I’m not implying that the people who have made posts about notes/followers don’t make HQ gifs. This is simply the “tips on getting notes” section of this particular post, so that’s what I’m doing. Veteran gifmakers can skip this section because I won’t be presenting anything new here.

Here’s the thing: high quality gifsets get notes. I know that what constitutes a HQ gif is subjective, but there is a consensus on this amongst big blogs, so I will summarize it below.

Make gifs from high-quality video sources. If 1080p is available, use that. Don’t gif from videos below 720p. Also, the larger the t*rr*nt file, the higher the quality. If a 1080p t*rr*nt from a movie is under 2GB in size, it’s probably not decent enough to gif from.

Use the new dimensions. Tumblr changed from 500px to 540px over 3 years ago now I believe, and all the big blogs use these dimensions. I rarely see sets like this anymore, but some users do still hold on to the old dimensions. Obviously, you should do what you like, but know that you’ll get more notes if you make the switch.

Do not skip frames. If you use screencaps, extract 25 frames per second. If you are an ‘Import video frames to layers’ kinda gal, like me, import all frames.

Sharpen your gifs! It makes an insane difference. My faq section links to a sharpening action.

Your frame delay should be 0.05. If you have a low amount of frames, you can get away with 0.06, but do not make your gif any slower than that. It will look unsmooth.

Go for natural coloring, where you simply brighten up the gif and enhance the colors (beware of whitewashing tho). I know that using PSD’s from resource blogs is tempting, but it’s very likely they will not work for the particular scene you’re giffing. It’s best if you learn to color yourself and adapt your coloring for every set. Also, it’s up to you what you think is pretty, but extremely vibrant and extremely pale coloring isn’t very popular anymore. Natural is the way to go. (This is with the exception of those gorgeous color edits people have been making recently. Y’all are queens & that shit is hard to make yo!)

If your gif is larger than the 3mb limit, NEVER sacrifice colors in the ‘Save for web’ window. Always delete frames to lower the size of your gif.

Just saying, but Photoshop CS5 has been known to make the best gifs.

For beginners out there, please don’t be discouraged. I’ve been making gifs for years, and they were absolute shit in the beginning. It just takes time to learn, but if you stick to it, you’ll get there.

3. Concept over quantity

Allow me to draw a comparison with YouTubers here - I think we all prefer YouTubers who post one well fleshed out video a week (for example, Safiya Nygaard) over YouTubers who post an okay video every day.

I think a lot of users think the way to get notes and followers is to post a gifset every day. This probably does work to an extent, but I personally think it’s better to come up with original concepts that you post every few days.

When you watch a movie, you can make five gifsets out of scenes from that movie, or you can come up with a concept. For example, parallels between scenes, parallels with other movies, the best lines of a certain character, etc. This takes more work, but sets like these are highly appreciated because they’re original, and they tend to get more notes.

This doesn’t apply to new releases, as you are probably among the first to gif a particular scene, but if you’re giffing a scene from a movie that’s been out for a while, you’re very likely not the first to do it. People will see it, realize they’ve already reblogged something very similar, and keep scrolling. But if you come up with a new idea, that’s what’ll get you more traction.

To give you a personal example; I recently rewatched all of the cap films. Now, I could have giffed popular scenes like “I could do this all day” or “I’m with you ‘til the end of the line”, but that’s been done before... a lot. Instead, I came up with this, and got 6.5k notes. I haven’t posted that many new sets on my blog recently, but posting content like that has gained me some followers and new mutuals.

4. Timing

All this requires is keeping an eye on your dashboard and taking note of when most of the people you follow are online. I sometimes see European content creators posting their sets smack dab in the middle of the day. Lemme tell y’all something: the Americans are sleeping.

I’m in timezone GMT+1. My dash wakes up around 5pm. I never post before 6pm - I’ll post anywhere between then and midnight, so feel free to convert that to your own timezone. The scheduling feature on posts comes in handy if you’ll be asleep or at school/work around that time.

If you post when Tumblr isn’t active, your set will drown in all of the other content, so be smart about timing.

5. Strategic tagging

It seems that a lot of users still don’t know this: only the first five tags on your post show up in tags on Tumblr. Anything past the first five will only be useful for your own tagging/archiving system, but will not show up in any tracked tags.

So first point: always use the most prominent edit tag for the fandom you’re posting in. Examples are #marveledit, #hpedit, #filmedit. These are frequently used, and often tracked by big blogs.

Second point: figure out who the big fansites/group blogs are, and if they track a tag, tag them. Make sure you follow them, obviously. If your post is funny, you might wanna tag bob-belcher (#bbelcher) as well - this blog is popular across fandoms and posts content from all over!

Third: tag users who you think will like your post. Don’t be thirsty with this. Again, only do this if you follow them. Tagging 2-3 users is ok, but don’t be out there tagging 8 to 10 blogs on your post. Not only is that a little pointless (because only the first five tags will show up), it also makes you look thirsty. Users might not appreciate this, and ultimately might not reblog your post because of that. Also, try not to tag the same users on every single one of your posts.

6. Popular content

If your fandom is niche, so is your content. That’s perfectly fine; don’t feel pressured to post about anything that isn’t your passion.

But if your goal really is to get more notes and followers, create content from fandoms that are big on the platform. Examples are Marvel, Harry Potter, Star Wars, film blogs, etc.

7. Join a fansite/group blog

Every big fandom on Tumblr has one or multiple fansites/group blogs. I recommend you figure out who they are for your fandom, and apply to one that’s accepting new members. You’ll likely get in if your gifs are HQ.

I know this sounds a bit counterintuitive, as you’ll be posting content on another blog that will be getting the notes and followers from it, but it actually is a good way to gain more exposure. These blogs have large amounts of followers, and they usually allow you to reblog your own content to them, as long as you’re active. I think it’s a great way to get your content out there.

Alright, time to wrap up this post. I’m not personally calling out anyone who has made posts about followers, notes, like-to-reblog ratios, etc. I’ve seen at least 15 of those posts in recent weeks so I’m just reacting to a trend I’m seeing, by presenting a potential solution to a problem people seem to be having. 

My last tip is this: if notes and followers on Tumblr are making you feel down or frustrated, maybe it’s time for a little hiatus or a step back. In the end, you are not getting paid for this and your popularity on the platform has no bearing on your real life. This is supposed to be a fun outlet for your passions and interests, not a source of frustration and anger. Don’t take it too seriously! You’re doing amazing sweetie.

[mindibindi]

Do you have any tips for writing fanfiction?

Hey, Anon, thanks for the ask and sorry about the delayin replying. I’ve been writing fanfiction for so long that I’ve gotten into abit of a routine with it so I had to have a think about what I actually do. These tipsare based on my own writing practice, experience and approach to fanfic.But I would encourage you to keep asking this question, keep chatting withother authors (some might be kind enough to comment here) as you search for your ownunique writing style and practice. Everyone’s will be different and, as long asit works, I say stick with it. I’m assuming that you’re a new or aspiringauthor so I hope one, some or all of these tips prove useful.

1. Get In The Zone: Find the time of day when yourbest writing happens. For me (rather inconveniently when there’s work to bedone), this is first thing in the morning. For others, I’ve heard it’s themiddle of the day or late at night. But you will know this time when you find itbecause words and ideas will flow freely and easily, faster sometimes than yourfingers can keep up. Revel in this time, use it well then stop writing when theenergy runs out. Nothing good was ever produced by pushing past inspirationinto frustration or exhaustion. That said, inspiration can strike at any time – while watchingan ep or taking a walk or going about your work or trying to fall asleep. When itdoes – whether it’s an opening line, a plot point or snippet of dialogue – jotthose ideas down.

2. Watch (and Rewatch) Your Source Material: Thismay sound obvious (and not much of a chore for a fan) but watching whatevermovie/show/whatever you’re working from helps you to pick up the jargon of thatworld, to absorb the particular milieu, to know the people, places and canon(before you presumably diverge from it). The best fanfic gets both the bigpicture and the little details right. Without these firmly in place, you riskwriting a story that doesn’t ring true to the basic characters, tone orsituation you’re attempting to emulate. You want to extend a reality you love,not break it. So always be on the lookout for any little thing that mightfracture this reality and cause readers to fall out of a world they (you mustassume) know equally well. As a reader, there’s always a jolt when this happens, a dishearteningplummet. So know your stuff before you put pen to paper.

3. Get the Voices Right: Unlike character which canbe ambiguous, changeable and open to interpretation, every fan becomes attuned tothe particular voices of their favourite characters. When reading, you don’t need to work toknow when an author gets this right. You can just hear it. You can also (unfortunately)hear the tiniest slip in consistency and truth. I have written for somecharacters with very distinctive voices, voices I really didn’t think I couldemulate: both Ten and Donna in “Doctor Who”, Jack and Liz in “30 Rock” and,more recently, Gene Hunt in “Ashes to Ashes”. My particular trick for writingthese characters, for practicing their voices, was to write out the dialoguefirst then fill in everything else. Obviously this is only going to work forfics like this, this and this that rely heavily on banter. I love this kind offic. I love reading ‘em and I love writing ‘em. But even in fics which meldprose and dialogue, writing the dialogue out in isolation can help since theseaspects use slightly different writerly muscles.                          

4. Spellcheck is Your Friend: There will probablyalways be errors in your writing but do your best to avoid preventable andobvious mistakes. These can destroy your credibility as a narrator and takeyour reader out of your story. Personally, I am a compulsive editor. I wouldn’trecommend it. But I would recommend reading through your work at least once andrunning spellcheck before posting. Reading aloud can also help to identify anygrammatical errors or issues with flow. You can, if you find a friend willingto act as beta, outsource some of this work.

5.Don’t Be Afraid to Start Small: I’m a fan of theshort, self-contained fic. I’ve written lots of them and significant work must still go into making them work. So don’t aim to produce 25,000brilliant words right off the bat. Just 1-2,000 solid ones of which you can be proud.

6.Write What You Want: If you’re lucky, readerswill request fics of you (I have never been good at fulfilling these requests).If you’re unlucky, they’ll complain about directions you take or detail whythey refuse to read what you’ve written (this is pretty rare). But you can’t, Ibelieve, force inspiration. It’s either there or it’s not. For me, I beganwriting fanfic because there just wasn’t any for a pairing I shipped. So Iwrote it myself, for myself. I wrote what I liked and wanted to read (I stilldo). This is a medium in which fans have complete autonomy. They choose to go frompassive consumer to active creator. So just do what you do. Do whatever youwant. Turn back time. Bring people back from the dead. Unite lovers. Mergeworlds. Create characters. Make it sad, happy, dramatic or funny or both. You have the power. Claim it. Play with it. Revel init.

7. Start Strong and End Strong: You gotta have agood first line, in my theory of ff. That’s where it (literally) all begins. I always like to openwith something concise and intriguing that immediately communicates a little (butnot necessarily all) of what I’m planning to work with. Don’t be fooled intothinking you gotta start at the beginning. You don’t. You can enter the storyat any point. You can enter late – and leave early, as the saying goes. Thisis a screenwriting principle that ensures that only the most relevantinformation is included in a scene. It keeps the pace of a piece up, controlsthe dissemination of information and keeps audiences engaged. I think thisprinciple transfers rather easily to the page, especially since most of us areemulating material from the big or small screen. In order to imitate thesevisual mediums in written form, you might like to think of paragraphs, breaksand sentence structure as editing techniques that can guide the reader’s pace, growingperception and emotional experience.

8.Avoid Clichés: Clichés can occur at the level ofexpression, character or narrative. At the level of expression, these arewasted words that hold no meaning so find a fresh way to express what you mean.At the level of character, keep words, thoughts and actions rooted in thecharacter. “Show, Don’t Tell” is another well-known writing principle that can help maintain authenticity. As much as we may identify with certain characters, make judiciousdecisions about how much of yourself belongs in them. When writing intimaterelationships, less is often more. I know many shippers (myself included) spendyears sometimes LONGING for couples to express what they mean to each other,physically and/or verbally. By all means, let your beloved characters express –but not everything and not all at once, would be my advice. Allow them to maintainsome sense of mystery and sovereignty. At the level of narrative, clichés canactually work, especially if used with awareness. I had such fun writing a OneBed! fic for Jack and Liz, in which I paidtribute to some of the many reams of MSR fanfiction I had previously consumed.There were so many of these stories in that fandom that they became a categoryof their own, boasting a set of (increasingly ironic) conventions. Some fanfictraditions, it must be said, deserve to be embraced, extended and celebrated.   

9. Read: Reading is the easiest way to absorbgrammar, to expose yourself to different writing styles and to become moreadept with language. So read books of all kinds. And read fanfic from your favefandoms. But read it actively, critically. Figure out what works and whatdoesn’t and why. Figure out what you enjoy, don’t and why. Apply theseinsights to your own writing and keep applying them. Keep improving. The more you read and write, the better you’ll get.

10. Avoid Comparisons: My best experiences of readingand writing fanfiction have been in strong, supportive communities. Generally,the more supportive the community has been, the more prolific I have been. These communitiesare wonderful spaces to inhabit, filled with peeps that love their shows,defend their ships and support their authors. Authors are always hungry forfeedback, and is it any wonder? Writing, creating and sharing takes work, love,thought and guts. You have to claim a little corner of a fandom and boldlystate that you have something to say that’s worth listening to. Sadly, you will probably never receive the same amount of energy back as you putin. This can lead to authors comparing their output and input, judging theirwork on its stats rather than on its merits. It can lead to them competing forthose few meagre reviews that roll in. This is partly why it is so important toreview fanfic, particularly fanfic you love and authors you read consistently.It’s part of encouraging and creating a sense of community in which people feeltheir voices are heard and their contributions valued. So be generous with others. Encourage and share. Read, review, reblog.Treat your fellow writers as your community, not your competition. Viewfanfic as a labor of love, an act of generosity that sometimes gives back. And if you don’t get the response you wishfor then make sure you hit that internal heart button and give yourself somekudos for trying, for creating, for loving something and letting it show.

Good luck. :)

[ace-alex-art]

Could you tell me a bit about the egos? (Im new)

Oh, hi! Welcome! Yes, of course! Or at least I can try to...

So I’m gonna just talk about the Septics (Jacksepticeye’s egos) because those are the ones that are mainly talked about here, but if ya want me to talk about the Ipliers (Markiplier’s egos) I definitely can do that for ya!

We’ve got the main “official” egos which all have had at least one of their own videos where they’ve actually appeared in. So this would be Anti/Antisepticeye, Chase Brody, Doctor Schneeplestein, Jackieboy Man, Marvin the Magnificent, and technically Jameson Jackson I think that’s his official name (also called JJ or Dapper)

Anti is the glitchy demon guy who always sets the community on fire. His first appearance was in one of Jack’s videos when he was playing FNAF sister location. He’s got an obession with knives and murder. He wears all black and has gauges. He writes/talks in zalgo text. I personally see him as the oldest of the septics, but that’s a personal thing

Chase Brody is a like vlogger/youtuber. He was created in a video called BroAverage which Jack made as a parody of DudePerfect. There isn’t very much information that is canon for him, but he has/had a wife named Stacy and he had kids. He’s known for throwing tea bags and having a nerf gun. At the end of his video he “pretended” to shoot himself with his gun. And some people have head canons that that was an attempted suicide. He also wears a snapback that is grey and has a red skull on the front and has like a red geometric pattern on the flip side of the lid. That’s all the “official” information that we have on him or at least all that I can think of.

Doctor Schneeplestein is a doctor. That’s kinda obvious... If I remember correctly, I believe he is actually a surgeon but either way he has his own 100% real doctor certificiate. He is German and has an accent. He is a bit off his hinges but he does feel guilt over losing patients. He tried his best to save Jack during bioshock inc. Anti tries to get him to strangle himself with his headphone cord. Uhhh I can’t remember what specific video he first shows up in. I’m probably forgetting a few more things, but hopefully others can help with it.

Jackieboy Man is a superhero. He wears a red suit and a blue eye mask. I don’t think he has any official super powers, so it can vary from person to person. Umm when he appeared to play the south park the fractured butt whole, his character was trans (polygender pansexual to be specific). Cause of that there are quite a few people who head canon Jackie as being trans (myself included). He’s trying his best.

Marvin the Magnificent! He’s a magician! He appears in one of Jack’s power hour videos. (In the video) he wears a blue shirt, a black cape, and a cat mask that he decorates himself. There isn’t much about his character except that from the video he doesn’t appear very good at magic tricks. There’s a bunch of head canons floating around out there, but I’ll briefly tell ya some of mine: he almost always wears his mask because he has scars on his face around his eyes, he has severe depression and anxiety, forgets to eat or sleep if he gets too into learning a certain magic trick/spell, he has issues with self harm, intrusive thoughts, and low self esteem

Then there’s JJ. So he’s kinda a weird one. He does have his own video, but it was a video with Anti. It was the jacksepticeye silent movie video. Again there isn’t like any information for him except the fact that he doesn’t talk. He’s mute! And he dresses very well and has a mustache. So again there’s a bunch of head canons for this lovely guy too. Mine currently is that he uses sign language to communicate most of the time, but he will write stuff down as well. He teaches the other egos sign language.

The other egos that we’ve talked about on here are some “unofficial” egos. Basically they’ve never had a video and are entirely created by the community. This would include Robbie and there are quite a few others that fall into this category, but I don’t think they’ll really show up here. So I’m not gonna talk about them right now, but if they do then I will definitely let ya know!

So Robbie is the lovely purple haired striped shirt zombie! He was created entirely by the community solely from a thumbnail from, I believe, a PUBG video of Jack’s. There’s nothing canon for him at all, so this is basically just my head canons about him. He is a soft boy who cares about all the other egos. He has an attraction to animals and they surprisingly like the purple boy. Even though he is a zombie, I don’t think he rots or like smells of decay. He loves to hug and cuddle. I like to think that he stims which is part of why he loves cuddling so much because for him it is a pressure stim. He sometimes falls apart and has to be sewn back together. He is the one who normally knows when Marvin isn’t feeling well or when something is wrong with him. His speech is a bit broken because his mind is kinda like that of a child’s. He uses sign language frequently because it’s faster and easier to express his thoughts. He is terrified of being alone, so he always needs to be near at least one of the others. Overall he is a very good boy who is trying his best

I dunno if that helps at all, but I hope it does at least slightly!

[sarah--writes-blog]

Keith’s Galra Biology

Anon: (1/?)What kind of huge changes do u think keef will hafta get used to after he goes full galra? (I was reading your trio about it and wanted to know more ^_^)Personally, I think the eyes would be a big one...Like he can't see that well in normal lighting but when it's dark he has vision like a hawk! And then the ears too! Like he's more prone to motion sickness and the mice's squeaks make more sense...Then there's the problem of claws accidentally scratching everything and feet he's not used to!

(2/?) then there's the possibility of a tail, and getting used to that thing moving around and doesn't know control, and fur would be hard to live with when ur used ta plain skin!Especially when u hafta wear clothes over it and what if since his blood is different then it hurts his human heart? Argh so many angsty ideas!!! .·´¯`(^▽^)´¯`·. Another thing... you mentioned, allergies... Can you imagine if he was allergic to his own fur? Then that'd be terrible until he wasn't human at all anymore...

(3/3) so many things! Well sorry for nothing you! The post wanted anima so here I came to talk about sick fics ヽ❨｡^▽^｡❩┘

(cracks knuckles)

We have much to discuss.

I’m assuming when you said the trio, you meant Being Galra: Without You, Teeth and Diet. I have nine more pieces planned out for this series, and I wouldn’t hesitate to add more if the muse strikes me. I’m not gonna tell you what each of them is gonna be, but I will tell you that you hit the nail on the head in your first ask, and I will tell you that the next one is titled “Ears”. It just kept getting put on the back burner because I had requests I wanted to fill, and Being Galra was much more for me than anyone else so it could wait.

The thing about me is that I’m a selective perfectionist. Stuff that interests me and that I’m doing has to be perfect because that’s apparently who I am. And it kind of sucks. But in this context, it’s perfect, because I love Keith, I love biology, and I love fantasy/sci-fi creatures. Imma go down your list one by one Anon, we’re gonna have a grand ol’ time. This post is almost 2000 words long, you asked for it.

We’re gonna talk about the shit we know about Galra biology first. And by know, I mean what we can see.

Eyes. Absolutely, if Galra have night vision, his daylight vision would be much worse. And I’d believe Galra to have night vision to be somewhat canon, because of how goddamn dark all their ships are. Alternatively, since all their shit is purple, they could be seeing a different spectrum than we are (towards violet and ultraviolet). If Keith were to have that, he’d potentially lose some of his infrared and red vision if the size of the spectrum is the same. His suit and lion would be gray to him. I also like to consider the advanced biology option, where Galra are just more evolved and are better than humans in most ways. So he could have 20/20 day and night vision and see past the visible spectrum. But since he’s transforming and the human eye is the most complicated thing ever, any sort of change would probably warp his vision somewhat, making it worse than normal human and normal Galra vision. He’d probably end up with some form of astigmatism and have to wear glasses (can someone art that? I would like that to be art’ed).

Ears. Gotta give you props on this one for being more prone to motion sickness, I hadn’t considered that (me, a sickfic blog, go figure). I might wiggle that into the next piece if you don’t mind. I don’t think the mice’s squeaks would make more sense since they squeak in Altean? Mouse Altean? But they’d at least be a lot louder. I’m more worried about him and the ship. BIG-ASS SHIPS MAKE BIG-ASS NOISES. Maybe the other paladins would tune it out or get used to it, but he’d hear every little gear and crank moving in the vicinity. Not to mention, whenever an actually loud noise happens, his ear drum would have the potential of being completely shot. Again, he’d probably hear into the higher and lower spectrum. Something else to consider: ear muscles. We all like it when his ear twitches or moves to express his emotions, those new muscles would get sore fast. I remember learning to wiggle my ears, and they hurt.

Claws. Could we even call them claws? Maybe just nails? They wouldn’t come in with the initial transformation. They’d grow in afterward just with his nails. His nails would get thicker and thicker, and since I really doubt they have nail trimmers on board, he wouldn’t have any decent means to cut them without getting hella hangnails (and I personally headcanon Keith as doing anything he can to avoid hangnails because that shit hurts). So he’d let them grow. If they grow with him, he’d be able to adjust, and probably not scratch up things as much as he would if they were suddenly just there. It’s just like growing your own nails out, you get used to them as you go. This implies something interesting, though - nails are made of the same stuff hair is. This doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll correlate, but Keith’s hair could potentially be much thicker/rougher. Again, this would happen over time because his hair doesn’t just fall out.

Which brings us to Skin/Hair/Fur. This is the last thing we really know about, and we don’t even know all that much. There’s a lot of variation on Galra skin/hair/fur, etc. Ulaz has a lot less hair/fur than Thace or Kolivan, but that could be a personal preference of his. But he also has these white markings. The white markings could also be part of a Marmora thing, since Kolivan has them, and Thace wouldn’t because he’s a spy. But Ulaz also doesn’t have fluffy ears like Kolivan or Thace. There is no cookie-cutter Galra skin and hair/fur template that we could apply to Keith. But we see across the board that they have both. There’s a clear line on every Galra where the hairline begins. So Keith wouldn’t necessarily be sprouting fur everywhere, but he could certainly get a lot more when he already has it (interpret that however you like). Would he be allergic to this hair? Potentially. There are some instances where the body rebels against its own cells, and that would make life a living nightmare for him. Unless Coran has some wild antihistamines, he’s in for a bad time if he’s allergic to the fur. His skin might turn a shade of purple, and I personally like to think that different Galras have different shades of purple like humans have different shades of flesh color. He would probably lean towards a lighter purple because of the paleness of his skin in the first place. He might also adopt some white markings because he’s part of the Blades (which is also a thing I want to be art’ed). But the thing about skin is that your top layer is completely dead. He’d turn purple after a week or so, or he’d get incredibly itchy and exfoliate it all off in the shower at once.

So here’s Part 2. What we don’t know. And that can be more fun and more infuriating at the same time.

Tail. The only Galra we see with a tail is Antok, and we don’t even really see him. For all we know, he’s not Galra, and he’s just like Keith - a different species with a splash of Galra blood in him to awaken his blade. As fun as a tail would be, I don’t think that would happen. It’s not a staple of Galra biology that we’ve seen so far. But honestly? Give him a tail, I love that shit.

Feet. FEET HAVE BEEN BUGGING ME EVER SINCE S2E8. The suits on the Blades have room for what we could assume would be toe-claws, but the suits also have very decorative pieces all around - the eyepieces, the hoods, the boob-plates. Zarkon’s suit doesn’t have them. But Sendak’s suit looks like he might. Could it be a Blades thing to have room for claws for decoration? Sure. But I’d be willing to bet they have freaky Galra feet under there and I wanna see them bad. Maybe some Jurassic Park velociraptor shit, I’d really love that. That might necessitate a tail for balance, and would help explain Ulaz’s speed when we first meet him on the castleship. If Keith were to adopt these hypothetical feet, his bones would have to shatter and reform, or something like that. Do you remember that version of The Little Mermaid where it felt like every step was walking on glass? Talk to me about The Little Galra.

Allergies. The only one that I can think of that we can pull from canon is lactose. If we assume that Keith has some sort of Asian heritage (not really a lot of evidence except his name), and we assume that the Galra are very similar to our earth cats (again, not much evidence except the teeth and the fur), he’d have a really hard time with milk and other lactose products. But this is all assumption, so it goes in the unknown category. I’ve definitely played with the idea, I think it’s great, but there’s not a lot of things to back it up with. But if the Galra race as a whole can’t tolerate a certain material, it’s likely that would carry over as well. Keith may already have some allergies he has to manage. But consider the idea: Galras being allergic to humans somehow.

Other Internal Stuff. You mentioned blood, which is REALLY FASCINATING. Because bad shit happens when blood isn’t compatible. Even within human standards, the wrong type of blood in a transfusion can kill you. And I imagine Galra blood doesn’t abide by A/B/AB/O +/- rules. So I’d say the reverse of your idea might be true. His heart may physically change, but his blood may stay the same because otherwise blood changing types inside of him would kill him. Other internal organs, I’d LOVE to know about, but we haven’t seen any Galra sliced up and examined, and I don’t think we will. But any shift in any organ would be absolutely hellish to experience for our poor Keith. The same goes for bones and muscle. How dense is Galra bone? Do they have the same muscles as we do?

Other things I love to consider because I’m a HUGE NERD

Evolution of Galra. They’re clearly an advanced lifeform, I can only assume they evolved similarly to us from tiny microbes.

On that note, could they not be a carbon-based life form? They could be silicon-based, or any other element-based. In that case, Keith is FUCKED.

The sheer amount of food Keith would have to eat to keep up with this transformation, especially if he’s growing a tail and weird feet.

He really wouldn’t adopt any Galra mannerisms without being around Galra 24/7. In fact, he might stay away from those because he wants to prove he’s still human and part of the team in all that shit.

It’s very rare for species to be able to cross-breed and have a non-deformed child, much less an alien having enough human biology to birth a human child, assuming his mother was Galra and procreated by human means. That can link back to the evolution and the carbon-based life form thoughts. Legitimately tell me about Keith’s birth, I wanna know exactly what went down in that hospital room.

Galra genitalia, anyone? Keith would probably be infertile, no matter what junk he ends up with.

Brain rewiring for ANY of the traits mentioned above. New tail? Rewire. New ears and eyes? Rewire. If he has weird feet, he may have to learn to walk again.

Conclusion

This is why you don’t ask me about Galra Keith. You get about 2000 words at 1 am. I didn’t expect to write this much about one topic in one ask, but I had a hell of a time.

I totally left out some stuff that needs to be put into consideration. I actually purposefully left some thoughts out because I’m putting it in Being Galra. Is Being Galra going to be as comprehensive as this? Absolutely not, I just wanna put Keith in interesting situations.

Thank you for theorizing with me! If anyone else wants to yell with me about any of these topics or a topic I didn’t mention, please do!

[queenharumiura]

Neo’s RP Comforts

RP Comfort Meme A valuable hella long meme for any role-player! Come display your comfort levels so your role-play partners are aware of what they can do, and of what they should avoid! A healthy relationship between role-play partners is the key to a good time! While this meme shows the basics, please remember to communicate with your role-play partners!

Tagged by: Lol I took this from dA honestly.  Tagging: Anyone who dars fill out his monstrosity.

RP Basics

RP Methods I am comfortable doing:

im: Chat with me on im or on skype (ask for it) if you wanna! We can like plot or just simply chat~

Asks: I’ve done a few rp’s where they just continue through with asks. If you prefer that, we can do that. ^^

Skype:I used to rp more on skype, but I don’t really know with how skype is just...non-functional. I can use it to rp though. 

Google Docs: I’m okay with this if you wanna go for that. Most likely if it’s NSFW, i’d opt for docs because of reasons. 

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OOC/Headcanoning/RP Planning Methods

I love to just talk about HC’s and I also just love to plot. I’m very okay with simply winging things as well. 

im: Feel free to hit me up on im if you just wanna plot or HC with me. I’m totes mcGoats okay with that. 

Asks: I personally do prefer asks because it’s a lot easier for me to hunt through for past conversations rather than on im where I have to scroll forever. 

Skype: If you have my skype, if I have my phone near me, I will hear the notification sounds and will answer as soon as I can. If it’s not around me-- then i’ll only answer if I happened to be logged onto skype.

. Participants I am comfortable with:

One on one RP’s: These are the easiest for me to work with for obvious of reasons. Much easier for me to keep track of where the thread is and whose turn it is to reply. 

Up to three people (including myself): I can manage this

Four or more people: Ehh;;; I can try but that’ll be difficult for me to keep track of. I’d rather not. 

. RP Style I am all right with:

Lit/para: This is basically my default and I love it. This is the easiest for me and so i’m very much down with that. 

1-3 lines: If you wish for shorter threads, I can do this. For shorter threads, I try to match the best I can. For longer threads, I tend to just write however much feels right to me. ;;;;

[text]: I can do these, though I tend to make them a bit on the long side eventually. OTL

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Post Length

I usually write about:

1-3 Pragraphs: I do try to stick within this range if I know people are most comfortable with this range. 

3-10 paragraphs: This is normally when I get a bit carried away because super duper excited and I wasn’t asked to stay within a certain paragraph limit so whooo!!!!!!

PAGES: I really really really try to not get so long that it takes up pages in microsoft word, but it does happen. Normally for angst threads or AU threads. //coughs. I get uh... really excited sometimes

. Partner Post Length I am comfortable role-playing with people who write:

Dude, you do you boo: You can give me one-liners, all the way up to PAGES upon PAGES worth of a reply. I’ll appreciate the effort you put in and have fun regardless. You don’t have to match me. Just write however much feels right to you. I literally will not get mad at you or anything. I just want everyone to have fun. I personally write however much feels right to me anyways, so you can do the same. Write however much you are comfortable with. 

DO NOT GIVE ME LESS THAN 4 WORDS THOUGH, PLEASE.

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RP Speed

I usually reply:

Within minutes: If i’m online and the thread is relatively short and so I can crank out a reply in no time. 

Within a day: Probably got to replying after I get back from work. I have a full time job that I work from 8-5 so during that time frame, I can check the blog during breaks but I can’t reply. 

Within the same week: If it ever takes me longer than 48 hours to reply, I either just took a break, i’m feeling lazy, or it took me that long to realize I never replied. 

Within a month: I’m probably either very busy, I’m being lazy because ‘oh wow such a long thread... maybe tomorrow’ and the cycle repeats. || ‘Oh snap! I thought I replied to this! OMG OMG OMG SO SORRY!’

Longer than a month: I probably am being lazy and lost my motivation. Most likely the reply is hella long and i’m just trying to recharge myself. || ‘It’s my turn? WUT? I thought it was yours! OMG SO SORRY!!!!’

Sporadic: I’m probably just doing all kinds of stuff so don’t be surprised if I’m real active, suddenly disappear, and then get real active again. I do that. 

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I expect my partner to reply:

Dude, you do you boo: I understand you can lose muse for a thread, or that you just lose muse in general. I also totally understand that people have busy lives. Just reply whenever you feel up for it. I’ll wait however long you need to. 

Within 2 years: I’ve waited a year for a reply before and I was totally okay with it. 2 years is pushing it a bit as i’m likely to forget a lot of stuff, but I’ll just re-read the thread if it comes to that. 

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Role-play Requests

The people I’ll take rp requests from: 

Mutualship: Are we mutuals? If you hit me up with a request, i’ll take you on! We’re not mutuals?

Non-mutuals: Wanna rp? Hit me up. If you are an rp blog and you followed me there is a 95% chance i’ll follow back. The 5% chance is if I falsely believed you to not be a rp blog.

OCs: I accept OCs. Whether you are a self-insert or whatever, I don’t care. Just read my rules and abide by them, and we’re good. I’ll take anyone on. 

Charas from other series: You don’t have to be from KHR, I’ll RP with you anyways. That’s what AU’s are for, right? Or simply just winging it. I don’t care. If you wanna rp with me, i’ll give you a shot~

ANYONE WHO ADORES HARU: As long as you tell me that you like Haru, I will throw her at you. Let’s rp, friend!!!

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Expectations

I expect my RP partner to:

Have read my rules.

Use punctuation marks: At the very least use “” if you won’t be using any punctuation. You don’t have to have perfect grammar or whatever, because even I struggle with it, but at LEAST add paragraph breaks and quotation marks, otherwise i’ll struggle super hard.

My Activity: Understand that I work full-time so I can’t reply during work hours. Sometimes I get tired after work and am not feeling up to replying after I return. I also have a shitty sleeping schedule. Understand that I can’t rp 24/7. I will at least try to reply within 48 hours if I can. If you can’t respect that, I don’t think we can rp together.

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Romantic Relationships

** Important: Communication is the key to a real life relationship, it shouldn't be abandoned for a fictional on either! Be sure to talk to your partners when considering romance! Shipping I am comfortable shipping my characters:

With chemistry: I need to feel a ‘vibe’ between the two characters. Like something in my gut that tells me they’ll work together well. If I don’t feel it, I can’t force myself into shipping with anyone. I cannot just jump into a ship. I personally can’t do that and Haru wouldn’t appreciate it. Unless I feel the two characters can get along well, I won’t ship wit anyone. 

With considerable interaction: I will not ship with anyone after just having one thread with them. I personally prefer a gradual build up. I need there to be a good amount of interaction between the muses for me to gauge how well I think they can be together. 

AU: If it’s for the sake of an AU, then i’m okay with shipping then, but I won’t consider it a canon ship of the blog. If you’d like for it to be, discuss it with me.

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If you want to ship with my characters:

Interaction/chemistry: Ensure there is a decent amount of interaction between our muses and for there to be chemistry between them. 

Ask: Just ask me how I feel about shipping and i’ll give you the honest truth. 

HC’s/Angst: Understand that shipping with me means that I WILL throw HC’s at you left and right. I do not stop. I am a tornado of random ideas and I WILL BURY YOU WITH THEM. I will probably also throw angst at you because it FUELS MY VERY SOUL. If you don’t like angst, I will refrain. 

     -    Abuse/toxic: I absolutely do not condone this and cannot and WILL NOT do this. I’ve had my own experiences with different kinds of abuse or toxic friendships, so I cannot handle these on any level. They really bother me and scare me. If you want a toxic relationship, I am not your gal.

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NSFW material 

NSFW material i’m comfortable with: 

Violence: I mean, this is the KHR-verse. It’s bound to happen. I’m sorry to say that i’m not very good at writing out action and violence. OTL

Blood: I think this is a separate category? I mean, this is just territory with the series she’s from so--ye. If Haru is going to end up hurt, i’ll be sad for her, but I’d totally do it. Angst threads, here I come.

NSFW Material i’m okay with:

Smut: I am a shy bean okayyyyyyyyy? I don’t know if I can/will smut on tumblr but if I do, just know the first time will consist of me CRYING IN THE TAGS. Most likely i’ll cry at you and ask to move this to docs because i’m hella mega SHYYYY. Though if you manage to keep me on tumblr for the first time, I’ll become comfortable and it’s free game from there. ((By ‘first time’ I mean the first I rp smut with anyone. lol It’s like an initiation lololol))

Torture: Again, this is KHR-verse. This is to be expected. I’m not very good at writing this out though... so I’d likely refrain from trying-- but I so can.

[topfygad]

Best Travel Hashtags to Use on Instagram

Finding the best travel hashtags to add to your posts on Instagram and other social media platforms can help boost your views, get more people commenting on your travel photos and help people see why you’re totally worth following.

But more than that, travel hashtags can help you find a community of inspiring Instagrammers who love travel as much as you do. Whether you’re one of the #SoloTravelers, your journeys are #FamilyTravels or you’re working to fulfill your #TravelCoupleGoals, finding your tribe is much easier thanks to hashtags.

You may not be a travel influencer (yet), but that doesn’t mean you can’t use the same hashtag strategies the pros use to grow your own following and get your photos noticed. Here’s what you need to do.

Use Unique Instagram Travel Hashtags

#travel is a popular hashtag but not great for getting your travel photos seen.

#Travel and #traveling seem like the obvious best travel hashtags to use, but they’re really not. By the time you’ve finished editing your next Instagram post, your most recent #travel-tagged post will be buried by new snapshots shared by your fellow travelers because these are very, very popular Instagram hashtags.

The key to standing out from the ever-growing crowd of globetrotting Instagrammers is using travel hashtags that are variations of the theme. Here are some ideas that are highly searched but not overused that you can copy and paste:

#traveling

#travelers

#travelbug

#travelholic

#travelgram

#travelinggram

#travelphotography

#exploring

#explorer

#wanderer

#wanderlust

#doyoutravel

#goexplore

#travelmore

#lovetotravel

#wonderfulplaces

#roamtheplanet

#travellifestyle

One strategy you should also try is choosing your Instagram travel hashtags and vacation hashtags based on who you are and how you travel. It’s a great way to connect with other traveling Instagrammers who share your passions.

#solotravels

#solotraveldiaries

#solotravelstories

#nomadiclife

#womenwhoexplore

#womenwhotravel

#travelingladies

#familytravels

#travelingwithkids

#familytravelmoment

Hashtag Your Destination

Your followers definitely want to know where you are, so let your social media travel hashtags do the talking.

I used #kauai during a recent trip and found I received likes from both people who lived on the island and people who were traveling there. Start with the obvious Instagram hashtags related to your destination, like:

#mexico 

#sandiego 

#lajolla 

#nyc 

Then drill down even further. First, you can break it down by region. If you happen to be in Hong Kong, you could use #china and then #hongkong and even drill down further into neighborhood names like #kowloon.

You can also think about what sets your destination apart, like #colorado, #denver, #rockymountains, and #coloradolife. Just don’t forget to include those top-level destination-specific Instagram travel hashtags before experimenting with variations like #nycstyle, #instaparis, #traveleurope, or #lajollavibes.

Not sure how to hashtag your destination? Just pop the name of the city you’re visiting into Instagram’s search box. You’ll get loads of results showing the popular hashtags fort travel that other people in the city are using.

Use Branded Travel Hashtags

This tourism board travel hashtag is a sculpture on the famous Nice promenade.

Make sure to find out which popular travel hashtags are used by tourism boards, airlines, and attractions in the destination you’re posting about. Magazines and media also have their own branded hashtags for travel that you may want to consider using.

The upshot to using branded travel hashtags is not only are you getting more targeted eyeballs on your photos, but they may be less active than Instagram hashtags used worldwide. This means that more people are likely to see your travel photos as they’ll stay near the top of the hashtag feed for a longer period of time.

And, if you’re trying to get the attention of a particular brand on social media, this is one way to do it. Just make sure the photo you’re posting is relevant to that brand.

Some examples include:

#VisitSD (San Diego Tourism Authority)

#VisitCalifornia (Visit California)

#DiscoverHongKong (Hong Kong Tourism Board)

#flyLAX (Los Angeles International Airport)

#lifewelltravelled and #mychinaexperience (Cathay Pacific Airways)

#iflyAlaska (Alaska Airlines)

#IamATraveler (CN Traveler)

#IamAFan, #MOSpa, #MOFoodie, #MODetails (Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group)

#FourSeasons (Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts)

Hashtag What’s Around You

What are you capturing? A sunny day on the hiking trail? A sunset over the ocean? Make sure to hashtag what features prominently in your photos. Maybe you should include beach hashtags or mountain hashtags for travel.

Start with top-level hashtags that describe exactly what you’re looking at, like:

#sky

#clouds

#beach

#food

#nature

#snow

#sunset

#night

#mountains

But don’t stop there. Next, add some Instagram hashtags that give your post additional flavor, like:

#snowcapped

#roomwithaview

#beautifulnature

#riverside

#beautifulclouds

#landscapephotography

#luxuryhotel

#reflections

#tropicalisland

Are you lounging on the most beautiful beach you’ve ever seen? Think about how many beach hashtags for travel you can come up with, and then do a search to see if people are using them. It really is that simple.

And, finally, why not add a few photography hashtags that tell people how you take your photos? For example:

#Canon

#CanonEos

#Sonyphotography

#Sonycamera

#GoPro

#wideangle

#fisheye

Describe the Moment

Is the lei you just received in Hawaii super pretty? Is the Caribbean’s warm turquoise water washing onto your toes? People want to experience what you’re experiencing.

That’s why these top-level hashtags are so popular:

#love

#pretty

#funny

#amazing

#awesome

#yum

#cute

#luxury

Next, describe the vibe with hashtags like:

#viewfromabove

#skibum

#beachbum

#lovetheocean

#foreversummer

#sundown

Hashtag What You’re Doing

Hashtag what you’re doing or about to do.

Were you running on the beach or hiking in a national park when you took that photo (or your bestie snapped that gorgeous photo of you)?

Describing what you were doing is an easy way for people — aka potential followers — who share your interests to find you.

#running

#hiking

#flying

#swimming

#relaxing

#spa

#scubadiving

#exploring

Get Creative with Your Vacation Hashtags

Vacation hashtags are getting more and more descriptive and fun as time passes. Like:

#sunsetporn

#nightphotography

#postcardsfromtheworld

#choosemountains

#optoutside

#ipulledoverforthis

#viewfromthetop

#sunset_madness

These vacation hashtags for travel are all about the vibe and how travel makes you feel. They may not have the numbers that #sunset has, but you can bet that the people browsing niche Instagram travel hashtags are the kinds of passionate people who make the best followers.

Aviation Travel Hashtags

Obviously, the photos you post with these popular hashtags must have something to do with aviation, but that should be easy considering how much of travel involves boarding a plane.

Do you love the journey as much as the destination? Then check out these air travel hashtags:

#instaplane

#planegeek 

#planes 

#flight

#aviation 

#planespotting 

#planeporn 

#landing

#takeoff 

#airlines 

#airplanes 

#aviationphotography

#flightpictures

#avgeek 

You can also hashtag the airline, make and model of your plane (e.g., #deltaairlines #boeing737 #737) or even your #airplanefood.

Because I have a thing for airplanes and love to Instagram airplane food, I’ve recently been using the hashtag #avgeek, which stands for aviation geek, and I’m getting a lot of engagement from Instagrammers outside of my usual network as a result.

Food Instagram Hashtags for Travel

Like to take photos of food? Use hashtags!

For many of us, food plays a major role in a vacation. My family often automatically does not touch their plates until I’ve taken a photo. And, I believe there is no better way to experience a destination than through your taste buds. So, you should absolutely create Instagram posts that include decadent and local eats.

It’s highly likely that the destination you’re visiting has a set of city specific food hashtags. To give you an idea here are a couple of San Diego food hashtags:

#SanDiegoEats

#SDFoodie

#YouStayHungrySD

You can also use some general food hashtags that may apply to your situation:

#onmytable

#foodphotography

#foodieadventures

How Many Instagram Hashtags Should I Use?

The quick answer is however many you are comfortable with.

I’ve seen popular Instagrammers use as many as the full 30 allowed by the platform, though some research suggests that 11 is the perfect number for attracting new followers.

Remember, you can always add more Instagram hashtags for travel in the comment section if you remember one later or don’t want to clog up your caption with too many hashtags. Make sure to get the best travel hashtags in your Instagram post right before you post (in addition to checking for spelling and formatting errors). If you edit an Instagram post after it’s live, their algorithm will likely show it to less people. I know this based on personal experience and fellow influencers also report the same.

How Do I Remember Which Top Instagram Hashtags to Use?

There are a few apps out there that will automatically identify hashtags to use in certain categories like food, plants, travel and more. I quite like Tailwind for scheduling Instagram posts and hashtag research (I also use it for Pinterest).

Tailwind is an Instagram Partner and they offer allow you to save hashtags into reusable lists. Their recommended hashtags are usually pretty good. Every once in awhile they’ll present something that I feel is irrelevant (as do other apps like this) so I’ll simply ignore them. They also color code Instagram hashtags so that you’ll know which of the popular travel hashtags that they recommend are the most likely to give you the most engagement.

However, many people I know forego apps and simply store hashtags on their mobile phones. Make a list of hashtags that you like in the notes section of your phone and refer to it as you’re posting. I know people who have hashtags listed by category in notes that they copy and paste into Instagram as necessary.

Or you could just wing it — which I actually do fairly frequently.

The Best Travel Hashtag Rule of Thumb

Here’s what I do. I do a little bit of research as to what tourism boards and major brands in the destination use for Instagram travel hashtags. You’ll save time if you do this before you head out to take photos. I also often hashtag my location (in addition to setting a location on my post), a word to describe the moment, when I took the photo and what I was doing.

Next, I’ll add in a few general top Instagram hashtags or related hashtags for travel. Of course, it all depends on the photo, so I am always be flexible.

Remember that you’ll spend more time at the top of the results when you choose travel and vacation hashtags that are popular, but not so popular that new posts are buried in a matter of seconds.

Do you find yourself using the same travel hashtags over and over again? Instagram hasn’t ever confirmed that it penalizes posts based on repeated use of the same hashtags, but some users have reported less engagement when they keep repeating Instagram hashtags.

You can always experiment to see whether you see increases or decreases in engagement based on the travel hashtags you use, the number of hashtags and whether you put them in the caption or the comments of your post.

Again, choosing the best travel hashtags should be first and foremost about creativity. How can you tap into a community of travelers who love exploring the world as much as you do without getting lost in the constant flood of travel photos? Look at the travel hashtags popular Instagrammers are using and follow their lead. 

Which Instagram travel hashtags have you’ve experienced success with? How many hashtags do you use? If you enjoyed this post, please follow my travels on Instagram — @lajollamom.

About La Jolla Mom

Katie Dillon is the managing editor of La Jolla Mom. She helps readers plan San Diego vacations through her hotel expertise (that stems from living in a Four Seasons hotel) and local connections. Readers have access to exclusive discounts on theme park tickets (like Disneyland and San Diego Zoo) and perks at luxury hotels worldwide through her. She also shares insider tips for visiting major cities worldwide like Hong Kong, London, Paris, and Shanghai that her family has either lived in or visits regularly (or both). View all posts by La Jolla Mom

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[tech-battery]

The Canon EOS R5 is the Most Exciting Camera Anyone Has Released in Over a Decade

I’m not one to generally heap praise on camera products that one, I haven’t tested or two, haven’t even been fully announced yet let alone released. But given what we know about Canon’s upcoming EOS R5, I have to change precedents, sit back and just clap.

Canon has been the butt of many criticisms and jokes over the past nearly ten years, and for good reason: the products they have been releasing have been mostly pomp and circumstance and not performance. They haven’t been at the leading edge of imaging technology since pretty much the 5D Mark III, with the exception of the 1D X Mark II that was priced above what was competitive at the time, didn’t stay in the technology lead for long, and came with many caveats.

The 1D X Mark III was good, but it didn’t blow any of us away. It impressed, don’t get me wrong, but we aren’t staring slack-jawed at it.

But the EOS R5 — that’s an entirely different story. This camera is shaping up to be the most impressive technological leap between models, nay compared to what is currently on the entirety of the market, that we’ve ever seen.

Model-to-Model Technology Leap

I know that the R5 isn’t technically a next-generation EOS R (we are still expecting them to give us an EOS R Mark II at some point), but the timing and market offerings from Canon puts the R5 as its technology successor. If you wanted, you could argue that the R5 is more the successor to the 5D Mark IV, and since the EOS R is basically a mirrorless 5D Mark IV, I wouldn’t disagree with you.

Whatever you do choose to compare it to, the R5 is offering an unprecedented gigantic technology leap from any other camera Canon has ever made. Not only that, it puts to shame every other hybrid camera currently available and even outperforms almost every high-end cinema camera available.

Just looking at the R5 spec list compared to either the EOS R or the 5D Mark IV, it might be the most impressive leap in capability I’ve ever seen between any two models of any digital camera, ever. Not just between Canon products, but between any two models of any camera released by any company.

And with all this said, I think we can truly put to rest the notion that Canon purposely holds back their hybrid cameras to “protect” their cinema line.

The Effect on the Industry

When the 5D Mark II was released, it really did change the industry entirely. Both photo and video in one device could be argued as the biggest shift in digital imaging in our lifetimes.

But can you argue that the EOS R5’s offerings are on par with that, given what is available on the market?

Given that it can shoot full-frame, uncropped 8K at 24p and 30p, in RAW, Canon Log H.265 or HDR PQ H.265 with full-time Dual Pixel autofocus all internally, I am really racking my brain to say this camera is worse from a pure specifications standpoint than most RED, ARRI or Sony camcorders. It will even shoot 4K at 120p, a spec that no hybrid camera to date has yet to hit and is reserved for those super high-end camcorders I just mentioned.

Oh, and it doesn’t just do that slow-motion capture just to add a spec to the box, but is nearly without compromise: it’ll record that 120 frames per second internally at 4:2:2 10-bit in Canon Log. If you wanted to narrow that scope to just cameras with full-frame, it’s an even more exclusive club: the R5 is the only member.

The biggest effect on the industry though might be proving how much can fit into a small package without fans and without, at this point, compromise.

To get 8K in a RED (like the Helium, Gemini, and Dragon) requires some serious cooling. Same with ARRI cameras like the ALEXA LF or the AMIRA, the Sony Venice (which can only do 6K), and even the Panasonic S1H (also capped at 6K) which we already mentioned has a specs list far less impressive than the EOS R5. All those cameras have fans.

Though the R5 doesn’t quite match up with the high-end ARRI or RED cameras I just mentioned, it does come close. Additionally, those cameras aren’t full frame like the R5 or the Sony Venice are, and the R5 beats the Venice in several key categories. It has 8K, and the Venice is only 6K. The R5 can do 4K at 120 frames per second internal, the Venice can only do 60 frames per second in 4K in full frame.

Author’s Note: Sony reached out to let us know that the Venice is capable of 4Kp120 as of Firmware 4.0 which was released in May of last year. However, that increase in frames per second came at a cost: a crop. You can only capture 4Kp120 in Super 35 format. Even though the Venice now competes in frames and resolution, it still falls short of the Canon’s full-frame readout at the same specifications. It can, however, capture up to 90 fps in 6K as of Firmware 5.0 in January 2020, which is a step above the R5. Nevertheless, the fact we are comparing what is likely to be a sub-$10,000 hybrid camera to a $40,000 cinema camera and finding it to be a back and forth boxing match is kind of ridiculous and puts a spotlight on how advanced Canon’s new camera will be.

Back in February, I attended WPPI and Canon showed the R5 (an actual working body, they promised) behind glass. Though we couldn’t hold it, we could look at it from nearly 360 degrees. From what I saw and how the Canon team talked about it, the body of the R5 is identical, at least in footprint, as the EOS R.

That body is tiny compared to any video camera with half the specifications that this camera will surpass. That fact alone will have major rippling effects on the industry. Not only is it pushing technology limits beyond anything we’ve seen before, but it’s also doing it in a body that’s arguably one of the smallest on the market.

That body also has no fan.

Is all this more impressive from an industry standpoint than putting video in a DSLR for the first time? That’s definitely a conversation to have and arguments could be made going both ways. Right now, all I know is it’s an idea we can start to entertain.

I do want to say that I by no means think that the R5 is going to replace ARRI or RED cameras or even the Venice. Though in specifications, it’s coming close or beating many of the capabilities of the cameras made by those three juggernaut brands, camcorders are always going to have major advantages for large production companies that this camera will not address.

But that’s not the point. The point is the gap is closing from what you can do with certain pieces of equipment, and more powerful equipment in more people’s hands means a better chance for incredible independent art to be produced. That’s a cause we should all be championing.

Still a Lot of Questions

Folks are going to criticize this article as well as the R5 for all of the unknowns. For example, up until this point, many public critics of the R5 have all said there was without a doubt going to be some caveat to the 8K recording, either a terrible bitrate or horrendous crop. It was easy to believe this line of thought because for the last decade, Canon has been the king of caveats. They were wrong in this case, but there is still room for healthy skepticism that there will be tradeoffs in other areas.

You can argue that it doesn’t have SDIs, we don’t know how it will manage audio control (maybe they’ll go the Panasonic route and sell a hot shoe adapter), we don’t know if it has dual gain ISO, we don’t know how many or how granular the video bitrates and frame rate options will be, and we also don’t know if it will support all the high-end video features many shooters want (like waveform).

Canon also was reluctant to give us recording time limits at any of these high-end settings, which could be worrisome if they’re only a couple minutes. Given that the S1H has much lower specs than the R5 and that is fan-cooled, I am not certain how Canon is managing the massive amount of heat shooting at 4:2:2 10-bit 8K or RAW will generate. Given what we know about cameras to this point, you would think we would have to limit recording times.

We still don’t know the price point, which is likely going to be a subject of wild speculation from here until we do. Given that it bears the “5” in its name, and that we should expect it to play in a different ballpark than the 1D series, I personally cannot imagine Canon asking for much more than $5,000 at launch. I am by no means sure of this, but their camera hierarchy and need to be competitive makes me feel pretty confident we won’t see a budget-buster of a camera.

But even with all those questions, Canon is showing that Panasonic’s impressive 6K at 4:2:0 isn’t the best that can happen in a compact camera. They’re showing that 4Kp120 in a hybrid camera is not a pipe dream. They’re proving that by embracing CFExpress, you do not need to be restricted by the data ceilings of HDMI or even have the need for USB out, and can deliver RAW recording the day of launch instead of having to wait for third party support (looking at you Nikon and Panasonic).

At every turn it feels like Canon is proving wrong every possible naysayer with the R5. It feels like they are rewriting their stigmas. I am sure the goalposts will be moved again in the coming weeks as folks come up with new reasons to be skeptical of Canon’s impending camera, but I’m going to take a stand and just applaud them for doing as much as they are here.

They haven’t even come close to releasing half the specifications for this camera, and I’m already more than satisfied. At the very least, I hope that most of you will agree with me that the title of this article is not hyperbole. Canon clearly figured out their processor issues and destroyed (nay, absolutely obliterated) any of the barriers that were holding back their development in the past, and I’m just happy to be along for the ride.