#idk what are the tag conventions in this case

[spinaroos-47]

Very healing to finally be able to draw the characters that 11 year old me wanted to draw

I've been meaning to rewatch Yona of the Dawn soon. I actually did watch it from the episode that Shin-ah appeared up to the end of the season last year (which I never finished before), but I want to fully watch it all at once soon

[iliothermia]

Small update that all of my keychains are on sale and the last batch of my patches are up. Patches/stickers/mini prints mail worldwide for $3 or less :)

[moe-broey]

LIKE..

[madderruz]

Do you think in the future you would ever make a four legged falin chimera? Like obviously that would be like a fuck ton of work and if not like,, yeah obviously, but I just keep thinking about it.. like maybe building it like those multiple arm cosplays where the back legs are just tied to the front legs and have tandem movement. it'd be a lot of trunk junk though so I don't know how practical for walking through conventions it'd be (unless they were detachable but idk I'm just on an autism tangent)

I'm making a four legged one now! Check out this tag to see how I'm doing it.

For a TLDR/expansion on that tag though: I'm making a centaur body for the back! Since those are a concept that has been done a few times already in youtube videos, I figured it'd be the best way to just follow along with that.

So the way that it's set up is its basically a PVC rectangular prism, and then PVC back legs. it belts around my waist, and the back legs move along the floor (for most of the centaur builds they're light enough to fully articulate, but in my case its not entirely possible. they'll move, but they wont lift off the ground.) And then you either cardboard or chicken wire around the frame, spray foam it (or whatever other method to get it to be the body shape), and then cover it!

HOWEVER, the way I'm doing mine has a secret third step that throws all of it into difficult range, which is that i'm making WINGS!

Now, the thing with cosplay wings is, 99% of the time you look them up, you're going to find tutorials on how to make ones that you wear like a backpack, over your shoulders. But with the chimera's case, that's not possible! So, my dad and I actually had to engineer a completely new way for the wings to open on the "centaur" body. You can see in this post the mechanism we had to make. I originally wanted the wings to go through a more naturalistic movement involving tilting and such, but because we're doing it manually and neither my dad nor me are engineers, we eventually settled on a two step movement. The wing sits in the way a birds wing would when tucked in. Then, it expands, and it pulls forward to frame around my body.

The most important part to me was that it looks natural when closed, and that when opened it frames around my body, which I wanted for a flourish for the performance aspect of the competition.

ANYWAY the hope with the centaur ass and the legs moving along the ground is that them being on the ground will help kind of keep the weight less on my hips. I mentioned in a previous ask that if it came down to it, there would be a harness coming from the back of the centaur ass near the tail and working around my shoulders, that would help again distribute the weight off my hips and more to my hips and shoulders.

I'm not sure what walking through a convention space is going to be like, but since this is mainly made for competition, the hope is that I won't be anywhere near an overly crowded area like an artists' alley for any length of time. I'm also going to have a handler (my dad lol) to help with maneuvering through the space. It's going to be something that's worn strictly to the competition, and maybe a meetup if there is one. ALSO: currently the entire length of the back half is about 4/5 feet behind me. The body is 3ft and the tails entire length is 5ft, but the tail droops off the back, so it's not a full 8 feet length. I'm going to make sure the tail is detachable just for elevator situations and the like, too.

But I think no matter where you see it, even in the state that it's in now, it's gonna turn some heads.

Thanks for asking, and for letting me ramble on!!

[sybilius]

20 Questions for Writers

tagged by: @grand-magnificent thank you so much!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

108! Wow!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,047,840 words! I've been writing a while :)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

My main right now is pro wrestling, currently NJPW with some AEW :) . I've got a lot of different ones on there, but The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is still top with 33 fics

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

burn this city, my first fic, lawlight for Death Note. Nothing special tbh.

ghost in the machine, my first longfic and third fic, also lawlight for Death Note and also nothing special.

acute gifts, which was a Beth Harmon / Benny Watts knifekink fic. I got in the Queen's Gambit tag very early and so it rose to the top. It's not too bad, not in my top 10 of my own fics but definitely quite charming.

sword and the pen, my second fic, lawlight for death note, nothing special.

Oesterle's Derealization Claim, a Disco Elysium Mathematicians AU. Cherished fic and I am so glad and proud it climbed the ranks to be top 5 :)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Always! I love responding to comments, it's not always right away but I do get there.

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

Intentionally? flowers grown in forgotten lungs, probably. Like in a lot of ways, that fic is about L giving up, knowing he's going to die, and saying "fuck that, I'll burn all my ideals and drag as many people as I can down with me". I think other fics that I've written have hit people harder, especially the ones that I intended to make a happier followup and lost energy for it. But that one was meant to be absolutely gutting.

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

I'm going to go with the most recent one I'm proud of and say blueprint drift, which I'm sure is more melancholy than some other ones but idk, I love the story that's there, I love to see Takeover lowkey husbanding.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not generally, I can't remember if there was anything too egregious? I've gotten a few passive-aggressive "why won't you finish this" pleas but I tend to shut that kind of behaviour right down.

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

Hell yeah, though less than I used to. I really like writing new and weird scenarios and I've done a LOT at this point. Some of my top 3 weird ones were "skeleton threesome" "the cask of amontillado but it's kink" "spider/bat porn"

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

A few! My craziest is probably Blair Witch Project x The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Grey Desert Mythos. Still very proud of that fic!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No! I have had a fic chapter podficced though, which was a transcendent experience: Static Contact [podfic]

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

SO many. SO many. That's probably why my word count is so high hehe

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

HMMM. In practice my favourite is whatever I'm obsessed with at the moment, in which case Jaykada (Jay White / Kazuchika Okada, NJPW). By the numbers? Blondeyes (Angel Eyes / Blondie, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)

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

I'm pretty good about letting go of things I don't think I'll finish, so there's nothing I'm holding out desire for at this point. I have a longfic cooking but at present I do think I'll get it together for it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, strong POV, thematic intensity. People say my settings are very evocative/atmospheric, which is flattering since I worked pretty hard on those.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Humor. I always feel so awkward with clown characters. I don't really do plotty works in the conventional sense, but I don't think that's a weakness, more of just an intention.

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

So funny, I'm working on a fic with that right now! I would say the my practice is to write the dialogue however the POV character is able to understand it, and however they parse it. In my mind if you speak the language or know a solid translator, it's all right to actually "quote the dialogue" in its characters for the reader who can speak the language. If you don't, probably best not to use machine translation and only stick to vetted phrases if you can.

For the fic I'm writing right now, it's a lot of fun because the Okada/Jay series spans different stages of understanding they have of each other's language. In the young lion era fic, Jay barely speaks any Japanese, and Okada has patchy English but he's sort of limping along. In the current WIP, Jay's Japanese is better, but not perfect, and similarly with Okada's English. So they sort of speak to each other semi-fluidly and the gaps in understanding are written in the text. So it's fun to think about how in the later fic, Jay speaks fluent Japanese and exclusively talks to Okada in Japanese to keep his language skills sharp.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

In another life, Batman. Specifically I was inspired by The Dark Knight but I based a lot of my work on the comics.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

My favourite fic is always my most recent, which was Shadow Gimmick (a FinJay Fic!). Barring that, the Grey Desert Mythos :)

-

tagging: @girlfriendsofthegalaxy, @jaimehwatson, @blizzardsuplex, @nagdabbit, @elphantasmo and if you wanna do it go for it!

[minefield-of-a-ninja]

CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4 | CHAPTER 5

Summary (request from @thesassywallflower​ for @spnfanficpond​ Secret Santa): Donna is horrified to learn that the boys have never had a proper Christmas, so she invites them to her house for the holiday.

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Donna Hanscum

Warnings/tags: explicit (eventually), fluff (? Idk), angst (? light), domestic (can’t get much more domestic)

Chapter WC: 2000

Author’s notes: There will be multiple chapters to this -- at least three, and they will all be written in 3rd person POV, shifting perspective in each section.

Many thanks and love to my dear friend and the very best beta ever @brrose-apothecary​.  Text divider by @talesmaniac89​.

________________________________________________________________

“That’s it,” Donna exclaims, after wiping down her machete and carefully replacing it in its secure case in the bed of her truck. “You two’re comin’ home with me.”

She’s hyper-aware that the Winchesters didn’t have the most conventional upbringing, but, dangit, how many more times will they break her heart with stories about never going to a Christmas party or experiencing the joy of opening gifts on Christmas morning?

“C- coming home with you?” Dean wonders aloud as if he’s testing the words in his mouth. As if she uttered the invitation in Old Norse.

“Yes, Dean. To Stillwater.” Donna turns to face the brothers who both eerily resemble that deer she missed by a hair’s breadth on Highway 95 last week. “Jody and the girls’ll be there, and all’s you need’re the clothes on your backs. We can stop at the dollar store down the street for you two to pick up a couple white elephant gifts.”

“Dollar store?” Dean asks, looking thoroughly bereft of understanding.

“Dean, stop repeating everything that comes out of my mouth. And close yours while you’re at it; you look like a drowning guppy.”

Donna rounds the side of her pickup to stride toward the driver’s side door. The brothers shuffle after her like a couple of 10-year-olds who’d rather be playing Super Mario than endure whatever perceived Hell she’s invited them to.

“Donna...” Sam lets his words hang in the air while both brothers huff and puff condensation into the frigid night air and fidget after her. “We’ve never been to a Christmas party or anything like that.” 

“That’s why you’re coming to mine. No excuses.” She spins on her heel and stares them down as they exchange looks and unspoken words.

Dean’s the one who breaks first. He swings his narrowed gaze back to her.

“Will there be mistletoe?” he asks pointedly.

Donna tries not to think about Dean and mistletoe at the same time. Not that she’s never imagined kissing him, but now is not the time.

She snorts and rolls her eyes. “Of course! What kinda Christmas party would it be without mistletoe?”

Dean grins before slapping his brother on the back. “Well, Sammy, looks like we’re gonna have Christmas after all. Ya know, one without a Wood Nymph.”

“Huh?” Donna furrows her brow in question.

Sam shakes his head. “Never mind, long story,” he mutters. “I guess we’ll follow you?”

Donna claps her hands together as she nods, bouncing on her toes. “You betcha!”

“Can’t believe we almost passed this up,” Dean mutters to Sam as they unpack their bags, making a load of laundry. They each showered in Donna’s guest bathroom and she gave them some old clean sweatpants and t-shirts of her dad’s to wear for the night.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” Sam agrees quietly, tossing his last pair of underwear to the floor. He’s pleased that Dean sees the value here in Donna’s home.

Ever since they defeated Chuck, Sam has tried a dozen different ways to get Dean out of the bunker and into a real house and real jobs. Dean seems frozen in time, though, like he can’t see that they can do just about anything they want now. They’re regular hunters — no angels or demons to battle (Jack and Rowena have seen to that). In fact, most of the monster world has quieted and stays in their own lanes.

“Imagine having this on the regular.” Sam tests the waters. “A washer and dryer from this century?” he chuckles, scooping up the dirty clothes and shaking his damp hair out of his face.

“Yeah, well, I doubt Donna wants a couple salty old hunters camped out in her guest room for the rest of her life.” Dean turns down the covers of his borrowed bed and inspects the pillow. “‘Sides, I like havin’ my own room.”

Sam watches Dean smooth his hands over the bedding, wondering...

He knows how Dean feels about Donna, even though his brother’s never put those feelings into words. Sam’s seen the way Dean looks at her, the way he touches her like she’s made of glass, and the tone of his voice when he says her name. Dean adores Donna, but even more than that, he wants her.

“What if...” Sam starts then pauses, shifting his weight. When Dean turns to face him with a questioning brow and wistful smile, he forges ahead. “What if you could share it with someone like Donna?”

Dean almost rolls his eyes as he slowly straightens his stance. His soft smile twists as he meets his brother’s gaze. Sam worries that he’s pushed Dean too far.

“And now we’re back to Donna deservin’ a lot better than...” Dean shakes his head and motions between himself and his duffle bag.

“Heya,” the woman in question sing-songs as she pokes her head around the door. “How ya doin’ in here? Need anything?”

Dean’s edge immediately smooths at the sight of the sheriff.

“Hey,” he answers with a quick, practiced grin. “We’re good. Better than. Just, uhh...” He reaches for the bundle in Sam’s arms. “Gonna throw this stuff in your washer if that’s okay?”

Sam notices the tiniest flush in Dean’s cheeks, and the sight squeezes his heart in his rib cage. Dean doesn’t think he deserves a life like this.

“Yep,” Donna replies, a bright smile gracing her freshly scrubbed and freckle-dusted face. “Right down the hall.”

“Alrighty then. Lead the way,” Dean says, following Donna to her laundry room.

Sam heaves a sigh before wandering to the small bookshelf in the corner for something to read.

Dean has nightmares almost every time he closes his eyes. Last night, he had a different kind of dream.

Donna was there, her soft blonde waves were piled on top of her head. Her fingers were floured and her big flannel shirt was dusted just the same. She laughed at his jokes and hummed through her smile when he wrapped his arms around her from behind. She smelled like butter and vanilla.

When he wakes, Sam’s already up and out of the room. A low light sneaks through the curtains, and Dean smells coffee. He rolls out of bed, runs his fingers through his hair, and makes his way to the bathroom across the hall.

“Dean, hey.”

Dean cocks his head and squints because it’s too damn early for pleasantries. It’s Kaia, though, and Dean owes that girl a lot of pleasant.

“Hey, kid. When’d you get in?” He turns toward her and she steps into his arms for a hug.

“‘Bout an hour ago,” she replies. “Claire’s in the kitchen.”

“‘Kay,” Dean answers pulling out of the hug with a lopsided smile. “Be there in a minute.”

Kaia nods and shuffles past him. “There’s coffee and french toast.”

“Nice,” Dean grunts, pushing through the bathroom door and switching the light on. When he sees his reflection, he groans. “Christ.”

His eyes are puffy and his hair’s sticking out in nine different directions. He shakes his head and sighs before taking care of business. Dean definitely puts the seat back down, washes his hands, and splashes his face and hair with water.

Before heading to the kitchen, he makes his bed and changes into his own clothes. As he shrugs into his flannel, he realizes it’s the one from his dream. The one Donna was wearing — his shirt and nothing else.

He could feel every dip and curve in his hands. She was so warm and soft. Dean’s thought about a hundred different ways to make her say his name the way she did in his dream. He can still hear her breathy voice in his head as he walks the length of the hallway toward the bright kitchen.

“Mornin’, sunshine,” Donna greets him first, and his skin flushes with heat.

Before he can focus too much on it, Claire sacks him without a word.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he murmurs, holding her close. He isn’t exactly the picture of emotional growth, but since Cas… well, he’s trying to be more present.

Dean closes his eyes and buries his nose in her messy hair. She’s been smoking, and probably drinking by the looks of it. “Takin’ care of yourself?” He pulls back, gripping her shoulders and looking her in the eyes.

Her smile is crooked, and her blue eyes are shot red and rimmed with black, but she’s still the strong little girl from Illinois whose daddy loved God enough to leave her.

Claire shrugs. “More’r less.”

Dean huffs a wry laugh, squeezing her shoulders before releasing her. “Sounds about right.”

“Heeeyyy.” Jody and Alex round the island to greet him with hugs and Patience isn’t far behind.

“Coffee?” Jody asks.

“Absolutely. I also heard there was french toast. Or did I miss it?” He turns to find Donna extending a plate heaped with carbs, and a steaming cup of joe. “Awesome.”

He accepts the proffered items from Donna with a hearty thanks.

Jody and the girls retreat to the dining room where Sam sits, doing a crossword puzzle. He looks up and Dean nods a good morning to him before sliding onto a stool at the island.

“So, uhh, dollar store, huh?” He digs into his breakfast, trying not to ogle Donna’s ass in her cute little red and white snowflake leggings. The phrase ‘thick thighs save lives’ will be stuck in his head for the rest of his stay here and he isn’t mad about it.

Donna nods as she turns to face him with her own cup of coffee. “And if I give you a list, can you pick up some wine?”

Dean bobs his head as he chews and his eyes roll back. “Oh, yeah... Yes, anything. Holy shit, this is good.” He’s momentarily distracted from objectifying his hostess by the un-fucking-believable french toast.

Donna chuckles, jutting a hip against the island. “Family recipe. Just like the smorgasbord for tonight.” She sips her coffee and watches him devour the rest of the meal in silence but for Dean’s moans and groans of satisfaction.

How many times has Donna thought about this? About Dean Winchester sitting at her kitchen island eating a breakfast and coffee that she made? About him enjoying it?

Experts say that good food and good sex share neural pathways. That a person’s reaction to good food is similar to their reactions to good sex. That theory takes on a whole new level of wow when applied to Dean.

Dean drains his mug and wipes his mouth.

“More... anything?” Donna asks innocently -- or so she thinks.

Until Dean’s gaze flicks to hers for a hot minute. She could write his hesitation off as morning brain, but then he drops his gaze to her mouth. He licks his bottom lip into his mouth then slowly drags it through his teeth.

Donna’s breath catches in her chest and her insides flip.

“Hey, so, we should hit that dollar store, and I think Donna wants us to grab a few bottles of wine, right?”

Sam realizes a beat too late that he’s walked in on something; Dean looks ready to attack and Donna’s cheeks are fuchsia. The younger Winchester’s gaze bounces around the tension between Dean and Donna before he clears his throat.

Dean blinks a couple of times and shakes his head. “Yeah... yeah, uhh...” He draws a deep breath and looks back up at Donna. “Got that list?”

Donna gnaws at the corner of her anxious grin. “Oh, yeah. I’ll text it to ya.”

Dean nods and pushes out of his barstool. The brothers find their boots and coats in the front closet. As they walk out the door, Donna calls from the kitchen.

“Oh, and Dean? When you get back, you need to help me find that mistletoe.”

The screen door slams shut behind them, and Sam laughs.

Chapter Two

Please don’t leave without telling me what you think!

[atrirose]

hi! idk if you were the anon who asked abt tagging you on my latest work but i’m so so sorry i didn’t, i only joined two weeks ago and i’ve never had to tag anyone yet so i didn’t know it was the convention,,,

i promise i didn’t mean to use your idea without credit, i thought linking the original post was the right way of giving credit and that you’d be notified but if that’s not the case i sincerely apologize

as for permission, in a similar vein, i thought liking/reblogging was the way to do so since that’s what moodboard/header creators ask for but i completely get that it could be different for writers

if you’d prefer that i take down what i wrote, just lmk and i will! if you're okay with me keeping it up, i'll tag you as soon as you give me the word — again, i’m really really sorry and i’ll be sure to go about things better when i get inspo from another user

hi babes i have no idea what you are talking about so i checked your page and it seems to me that you linked one of my random thoughts as jay oneshot that you wrote. it’s okay since you are new, it’s completely fine but as far as it goes whenever there was someone on enhablr who wanted to do something similar to me after being inspired by my work have asked me before hand in case im comfortable with it or not and it can be confusing i understand but moodboard creators have it mentioned as to how they want credits which does not apply to everyone here.

secondly it’s alright you can keep it up if you want i mean, i did see your rb under my post but i didn’t think of something you would actually be doing, uhm yeah also if you see someone brainstorming or putting ideas out there please ask them if you can use it or just leave it be as it can be disrespectful to some people (im not saying me but i want you to be careful thats all 😭🫶🏻) anyways so you can have it up dont worry.

as for whether anon(?) is me or not, it’s not me i actually had that anon informing about it too so i think they are the same people. BTW DONT SWEAT IT TAKE IT EASY.

[jaded-of-mara]

LEGENDS CON RETROSPECTIVE

COSPLAY THOUGHTS

I suffer from specialist little boy syndrome. every local con i've gone to, i've been the only mara jade. HOWEVER. i knew that there would be multiple maras at legends con. and i was right

when i saw barbara hambly was going to speak at legends con, i knew i was going to have to cosplay callista. because i suffer from specialist little boy syndrome.

this is my own interpretation of callista, based on a combination of several official art pieces that i just didn't vibe with tbh. i do what i want

BUT in retrospect. if i ever decide to work with this type of vinyl again. please shoot me

anyway. a few people recognized me. i probably shouldve asked for a photo with barbara hambly but i chickened out.

i'm glad fandom is starting to reevaluate callista. because the misogyny present in some of those older fics? woof

also: new definition of hell unlocked: sitting trapped in a lightsaber sales pitch while your wig cap crawls up your head underneath your wig and you have to sit there nodding politely while trapped in a sensory nightmare

CONVENTION THOUGHTS

pretty tight. lotta good panels

got the unofficial guide book for dark horse star wars writers. some stuff thats applicable to fic some stuff not. vv funny to see how many of its rules the new canon violates tho

also some panels that were actually sales pitches

also some panels that couldve used some audience q&a rather than just prepared questions, but who knows what guests stipulate

i recognize that with every con there will always be some panel overlap, but the 15 minute overlap specifically felt a little harsh. day-of it wasn't as much of an issue bc of last-minute reschedulings

artist alley was a little bare, but it was a first con, things can only go up from here. shocking the places that supernatural merch can creep into tho

SOCIALIZATION THOUGHTS

i shouldve come out of my shell more. or cajoled a friend into making the thousand-mile drive with me.

i might have made more friends if i had gone to cantina night but i don't drink so idk what the vibe wouldve been

i did end up meeting a tumblr mutual for breakfast in burbank proper and that was fun

to make up for not making friends day of i have been following everyone whos posted in the legends con tag. from my main which has a cring url so who knows if they know i was there

HOTEL THOUGHTS

i wish i had checked out the hot tub but i didnt see the sign for where it was until i was checking out. i thought the only pool was outdoors and (see photos above) me and outdoor pools don't mix well

this is a very white trash and/or dean-coded thing to say but every hotel room should come with both continental breakfast AND a microwave

staff were vv nice but also i did feel silly walking around in my costume in the fancy lobby during an actual like. work convention

CONCLUSION

one of the organizers informally speculated that the next legends con might not be until spring/summer 2025. if thats the case, good, bc it means my body will have forgotten what it was like driving from green river utah to burbank in one day (do not recommend)

[sweetsuke]

i hate all the discourse around what ship names to use for ships based on who bottoms/who tops. like it's not 2012 on ff.net anymore, we don't have to force people to adhere to a strict tagging system of [topname][bottomname] for ships if they don't want to. esp because in a lot of cases, ships aren't inherently sexual, so that naming convention literally doesn't apply to them!! and i get in other sides of fandoms, such as chinese and japanese, they use that lot because it's important to them to distinguish who's the top and who's the bottom in a relationship. but literally no one has to do that if they want to, whether they're chinese/japanese/etc or not. getting mad at someone for not using the "correct" ship name and expecting them to adhere to rules you made up is honestly so stupid and self-entitled. idk where else i was going with this but basically if i see one more person say "oh if you ship a x b as switches you should use the ship name aba instead of ab or ba because that's not correct" or "hey i noticed you posted art with a topping b but you tagged it as ba, you should tag it as ab instead" im gonna lose it ‼️

[lostcauses-noregrets]

I really want to contribute in the eruri writing fandom but I'm very reluctant about my writing, I write very well in first person and I'm able to describe scenes vividly but idk when I write in third person it's like I'm in front of a brick wall and can't write! I'm not native English so that's why but I really want to know how can one write so well in 3rd perspective without being repetitive with words? Can you give me some advice? I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, u can ignore it <3

Hello Anon, not a stupid question at all! Pretty much every writer I know has struggled with anxiety about their writing, so you are very much not alone. My advice would be start out with what you're comfortable writing. If you know you're good at writing in the first person go with that. There's no law that says that fanfic has to be written in the third person. I've written second person fic from time to time! I haven't come across much first person Eruri fic, but that's no bad thing, there's a niche there that you could fill.

If you do want to branch out into third person you could start out by writing little ficlets, character sketches, or snippets of dialogue. Writing is 90% practice and writing short pieces is a great way to experiment, try out different writings, and build your confidence as a writer. Don't feel pressured to post longer multi-chapter fics, lots of writers post much shorter ficlets. I have a fic called Skin on Skin which is really just a collection of random snippets of writing.

In terms of how to avoid repetition, I'm guessing you mean things like "Erwin said...", "Levi said". If that's the case, don't be afraid of repeating the word "said". As a reader you tend to just parse out dialogue tags like this. Also you can often leave out dialogue tags altogether and just let the dialogue flow.

The main thing to remember is that every writer had to start somewhere, and that every writer is unique. It's far more rewarding to focus on developing your own unique style rather than trying to conform to hypothetical writing conventions that fanfic should adhere to.

I don't know if this helps Anon. If you're interested, I've got some other asks about fic writing on my blog tagged Writing.

Good luck with your writing!

[septembersghost]

you mentioned in a tag how fewer and fewer people who knew him are with us and I think about that too, plus some of the ones who've still been here suck, to say the least, and it's such a sad thing bc idk if the people on the business side care that much. then people hate Priscilla for being involved in the legacy work and they're going to hate Lisa's girls for not being involved in the legacy work. nobody wins.

i do contemplate this a lot, and of course anita's passing has brought this to the forefront of our minds again, and there's still that profound shock and grief from when lisa died. i was talking to a friend earlier about this too, and how lisa should've had so much more time, how she still had things to do and a life she wanted to live again (which is eerily similar to things her dad expressed before he passed as well, it feels cosmically unfair somehow). certain people have been here to run their mouths for decades and he didn't have the opportunity to share in his own words, but as we're losing the direct connections with loved ones, it's just…it has a particular sorrow to it, especially as the estate and graceland become more of that business model, that convention center remove, and less of the home it's always been. it would've been so, so different for the girls if their mom were still here, and i wish she was for every imaginable reason, but as far as graceland goes, they wouldn't have been looking at whether or not they wanted a role in that and what it might be until they were much older (and well into adulthood, in the twins' case).

it's heartbreaking, and of course there's no "winning" in this situation regardless (winning would be not losing him at 42, you know? it would be lisa and benjamin still here. it would be the girls getting to know him, he'd love them so very much), but yeah, there was a living link in lisa that's gone now, and whether or not any of the girls want to be involved closely in the estate/EPE is completely their choice, especially the twins because they have a lot of time before they're adults who even have to consider that. there has been such tragedy in their family and it's potentially a heavy burden that they're not obligated to carry - they should only be involved by their choice and if it makes them happy. priscilla has stated herself that part of why she feels compelled to still go out and give talks is to share her memories while she still can, and there's a poignancy in that. but thinking of graceland being more of a business...i know ultimately it has been that in many respects, along with being a place of pilgrimage to fans, but to lisa it was still home too. i have NOT read good things about joel (and the general tenor of everything at his hand), and i just hope at the end of the day, it remains cherished and its soul is kept intact, no matter who is or isn't running things.

all that said, again that's where his legacy falls to us too, which is why there's a particular beauty to the love we have and the insight we find with him, and what we keep and share with one another. the sense of community with fans matters, and is quite reflective of the bond elvis established with people then that has so brightly carried into the present. fans do a lot to carry that flame, even though many of us never got to even share the same time with him, and that's valuable and an essential reflection of him.

anyway, this:

[apollotronica]

goodness. ok one big ask for all of them

hearts

🤍 - you scare me /pos

💛 - you are like a wet cat

💚 - one million dollars. for you

i'd say red but that's known

artist

4. fav character/subject thats a bitch to draw

9. what are your file name conventions

24. do your references include stock images

27. do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? if so, what is it you draw to warm up with

30. what piece of yours do you think is underrated

specific and unrelated

4. mythical creature you think/believe is real?

7. what animal do you look forward to most when you visit an aquarium

16. thoughts on mint chocolate chip

26. hows your spice tolerance?

get-to-know-me

bamboo - do you change into a different outfit when you get home

sage - what 'medium' of art (poetry, music, fiction, painting, statues, etc) is the most touching to you? why do you think that is

ivy - what are your 'tells' for your emotions and moods? how can someone tell you're happy annoyed upset or tired

chamomile - what kind of things do you like receiving as gifts

aloe vera - what's something (mundane) you really want to experience in life?

taro - if someone called you right now to catch up, what're the things youd tell them about

- 💌

OKAY JESUS HOLD ON these responses are for the heartsI SHOUDLNT SCARE YOU IM SO SWEETS and like you said . a wet cat .norhing to be afraid of . 10 jerbillion dollars for me

these r the attist asks i think

4 - honesltyUMMM i can never get dazais hair right . but hes pretty sinple everywhrr else . i also feel like i draw akutagawas hair inconsistently . all my problems are centered around hair

9 - my file names are whatever ibis paint x decides the file name is . unless i download it on my computer in which case its usually somr dumb shit

24 - SOOOOOMETIMES ???? i go on pinterest and just save and use whatever i need Hold on let me look at my reference folder rq. yeah ol i only have one stock image and its a dude holding a corndog

27 - NOPE my warmup is the sketch and maybe ill draw a couple face expressions on the side if im not in the zone yet . but no indont warm up usually

30 - THAT ONE OF IVLYA (OC) where hes like . almost facing the side .i cant find the image rn just go into my art tag😢

these repwonses r for the . unrelated/specific ones, 4 + 7 answered

16 - i like the mint . not the chocolatw chip . i think i would enjoy a minr chocolate swirl better because i hate chunks

26 - Um . average . i can handle like actual food spice like curry or other . things . but junk food like takis RUUUUUUIN MEEEEEE

these r for da get 2 know me ones ^_^ ivy ans chamomile answered

bamboo - Yeah i hate wearing outside clothes in the comfort of my home . i change into . usually what i slept in

sage - MUSIC AND POETRY i dont seem like a poetry guy i think but holy fucking shit some poems . some of them man. Ugh. and music theres so mucu potential Like . harmonies and shit dude im unwell . Music foreva

aloe vera - i kinda wna tto go on a real date Because like . idk that stuff is so foreign to me im not familiar with aaaany of it . i also want to get into baking

taro - FUCJ IT DEPENDS FROM WHEN HONESTLY i d let them know about my Mental Ailments i think id show off some art and link some of my socials maybe . and id talk about music . and things i got into while they were gone . Maybe attempt to discuss ... shivers . Feelings . i dont know

[wiwinia]

Tag 9 people you’d like to get to know more

Tagged by @celestialspark - Thank you for tagging me ❤️ This came out a little longer than I expected

Last song: According to my YouTube history (I really don’t understand how to use Spotify and I don’t think I ever will at this point), that would be Stranger by The Mechanisms, from Tales To Be Told, Volume II. Idk why, but this song vibrates my brain in exactly the best way. (I feel like that about a lot of songs in this album, especially Lost In The Cosmos, which is honestly weirdly relaxing for a song describing a slow death in painful details, and Pieces, but like, only the chorus)

Show I'm watching: Well, the last show I’ve seen was the newest episode of Helluva Boss, watched it with both of my partners, one of whom knows nothing about this show. It was fun, though, well, don’t want to spoil anything, but I was hoping for something else. Besides that, I intend to watch Stranger Things soon, cause I have read some great fanfics (I wanted to check if any of the authors are on Tumblr, so I could tag them, but for some reason, I can’t open ao3, which is quite concerning considering what happened this month) and decided I might try, even though I am good 7 years late. However, I am not watching it yet, because from what I know so far it feels like the kind of show that will permanently rewire my brain, so I am waiting til I can watch it with my friends, cause I am not going through that alone. If we consider podcasts shows, then I am an active listener of Dracula Daily, the voice acting is great, and I am already swooning and fanning myself like a victorian lady at Quincey P. Morris, which is to be expected, he’s one of my favourite characters. I can’t wait for this year’s holiest love entry tho, I want to see Tumblr go wild for it again. Also, season 2 of Not Quite Dead is coming out in a little more than two weeks (a fair warning to anyone who follows me, I already know I will be insufferable about it ❤️). I binged season 1 in one sitting, I am so excited (there are precisely 0 fanfics for this show on ao3 so far, I am working on changing that, but I’ve been suffering from a serious case of can’t-finish-wips-disease for quite a while now, so we’ll see how it goes)

Book I'm reading: If we’re talking new books, then right now nothing, but the last two I’ve read were: 1 Noce za nocami by Małgorzata Wilk, I loved it, it was exactly what I wanted, and I was so excited to finally get it, I read it on Wattpad back in the day and I preordered it the moment I was able to. It just feels very cozy to me. If you a) know Polish, and b) like gay vampires, I highly recommend it 2 Vampireology from the Ologies book series, cause I’ve never seen it before, I found it at a convention and I may be an adult, but it had vampires and was full of shiny secrets, you can’t possibly expect me to resist that Besides that, I am currently relistening to an audiobook of The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, because the first time I listened to it, I was in a really bad place mentally, and this in tandem with some incorrect beliefs I had about this book caused me to miss some important things the first time, so now I am doing better I plan to listen to the whole series again, and I am really enjoying it! I know this series goes into some very dark places, but at the point at which I am currently, it is just full of pure joy of exploration and awe-inspiring discovery and listening to it makes me really, really happy right now

Currently obsessed with: Fandom-wise, The Magnus Archives, closely followed by The Mechanisms, a lot of things mentioned above are either basically obsessions, or very close to becoming that, because I can’t just be normal about things Also, vampires are my obsession that has been a constant part of my life practically since I remember, and I doubt it will ever change at this point. If for whatever reason you want to see me ramble, ask me about my opinions on any vampire-related trope or theme, and you will probably get a pretty substantial essay

Tagging: @suaveotter @laceandsteelgirl @kind-ghost @doofus-and-dragons @fall-festival @katenotbishop @wet-snail @rhymingteelookatme @graceful-not

[rosyvvoods]

Do you have any new / previously unshared info about your newest oc River? I would love to know more.

Idk how long this has been sitting here I'm so sorry if it's been a little while 😭 but thank you!!!!! For the question!!!! Um. I feel like I haven't gotten into River that much so lemme just dump most of what I've got for them

There is so much under the read more, just be prepared LMAO as I said there is a damn NOVEL under the cut

Name: River Quinn Dennison 

Callsign: Nightingale

Nicknames: Doc (Price and Gaz), Denni (Soap), Rivvy (Gaz, Soap, Ghost), Riv (Ghost, sometimes Soap), bird/birdie/little bird (all of 141)

Birthdate: December 7, 1993 (29 yrs old in 2022) 

they/them (afab)

Height: 5’4”

Weight: 225lbs

Relatives: 

Agent Quincy Dennison (father, deceased)

Agent Hazel Dennison (mother, deceased)

Corporal Markus "Steel" Dennison (older brother; born September 25, 1983, 39 yrs old in 2022; part of Shadow Company)

Rank: Specialist (Line Medic, US Armed Forces)

Assignment: TF141, via Laswell’s recommendation

Like i said BE WARNED there's a lot of text down here lmao

River tries their hardest not to bond with whoever they’re assigned to ; they take the “Rules of the Combat Medic” very seriously, and it’s harder to remember the first two when River is bending over backwards to save not only teammates but close friends.

Those “rules” are as follows:

1; Men will die

2; Medics can’t save everyone

3; Medics will go through hell to break rules 1 & 2

Their personal desire not to bond too deeply with their teammates is practically thrown out the window when it comes to TF141. Something about this rag-tag highly qualified group makes them feel right at home.

Laswell is the one who recommends them when Price makes note that TF141 is going to be in a lot of situations that are threatening death and fatal wounds (though he understands that putting a medic in the line with them when they actively go up against people who don’t observe the Geneva Convention could be highly dangerous for said medic); River’s mother was a CIA operative killed in the line of duty, and Laswell knew her fairly well- so she knows of both Markus and River and how well they each work within their military careers (Laswell does warn Price about Markus being in Shadow Company when they learn that Shadow Company will be their backup; Price asks if he should be concerned about River’s focus, to which Laswell says no, but his boys should keep an eye on Markus)

I think Laswell may have also been the one to inform Markus and River that their parents were gone (IDK what their dad does, I think maybe FBI, something else government-related- their parents were unfortunately fairly distant because of their lines of work) or at least she was there with whoever was giving the notice

(I also think it would also be fun if Laswell and River’s mom dated in their early career years <3 Exes but friends <3 )

AND because I like things to be connected arbitrarily and overly complex, River’s current therapist is canonically none other than one Dr. Laurel Woods (the child of my Blops Cold War oc Janet and Frank Woods <3 ). Laurel was assigned the Dennison siblings’ case when she was fresh to the world of psychology and therapy and has stayed with them ever since. Markus isn’t fond of her (red flag!) but she and River are as close as a therapist and their patient can be legally- Laurel can also heavily relate to River’s hesitance to do anything associated with the military/government as well as their need to take care of others.

For self-reference: The Dennisons

Agent Quincy Dennison - father to Markus and River, FBI agent, KIA

Agent Hazel Dennison - mother to Markus and River, CIA operative, KIA

Corporal Markus “Steel” Dennison / Shadow 0-6 ; he/him, 39 ; Shadow Company under Philip Graves ; previously in the United States Army and National Guard before signing on to Shadow Company’s PMC

Specialist River "Nightingale" Dennison ; they/them, early 30s ; combat medic assigned by Laswell & Price to Task Force 141

Also because I’m annoying, River’s great-grandmother is Nitra Konvalinka-Dennison- sister to Mary Krasava Konvalinka, who is the mother to Teodor “Teo” Konvalinka <3 So River is sort-of kind-of cousins with Teo bc I like things to be complicated and connected

So TLDR; River’s grandmother, Marcella, is technically Teo’s immediate cousin on their mother’s side, so Teo is like River’s cousin once removed or some shit

Markus and River are at odds with their relationships with one another. Markus is sure that he and River are close as can be, and that he wants to be closer- they’re the only family they’ve got now, in his eyes, and he understandably wants them to be thick as thieves- but he always talks to them like he knows best.

The biggest point of contention between them was a few years after their parents’ passing when River came out as nonbinary- Markus was sure they weren’t really aware of how they identified and that it would be a passing phase, which really cut a divide between the two of them. He’s since come around and is very accepting of it, though he won’t correct people who still call River by she/her pronouns unless he’s pressed to by River themself or by someone close to River.

He’s also totally deadnamed them a few times, and honestly I could see it happening if/when River is paired off with Soap and Ghost and they meet up with Shadow Company. (Not that it matters, but their birth name/deadname is “Marcella Quinn Dennison”, named after their grandmother. So Markus will sometimes call them “Marcy” and River goes blind with rage, understandably!)(I also think Markus felt like being “Markus and Marcella”/”Mark and Marcy” made them closer as siblings somehow.)

Markus is also overbearing and, while he was pressuring them to join some form of US military in his footsteps, he also didn’t want them to take up any kind of arms or put themselves in harm’s way. If/when Markus realizes River has been assigned to TF141, he may give Price an earful and contact Laswell in some capacity to do the same. (Which shows how much AUDACITY Markus has honestly.) He’s certain they’re going to get themselves killed and wouldn’t trust 141 to keep them safe. River is not only pissed about the fact that Markus still doesn’t trust them to take care of themself (when they’ve been doing it for years), but even more so that he’d take 141’s honor and capability into question.

River, at first, was cold and standoffish to TF141- again, they keep everyone at arm’s length despite it all- but between their strained relationship with their older brother and their parental issues, they were kind of doomed to fall into the group’s dynamics further than they’d intended. Gaz and Soap would be the first two to break the ice of River’s exterior- Gaz through being generally reliable and kind (and being a better brother figure than even their own actual older brother) and Soap through bonding-via-pushing-River’s-buttons.

River and Ghost actually clicked a little upon the first few days/weeks that River was with TF141 considering both of them preferred silence and didn’t mind being paired up or left on their own to do things. (River also complimented his knife throwing skills and expressed that though they prefer to save lives rather than take them, they prefer using a knife or their own hands to do the job. Ghost rather respected that answer.) (I also think Ghost and River are both in their early 30s, as opposed to Soap and Gaz being in their mid-to-late 20s.)

Price finally managed to persistently start conversation with River enough that they seemed to latch on (older brother figure!) though they were resistant to start off with. Not that it was so hard, considering River was always polite to the lot of them and held decent conversation- but all business talk slowly led into more personal conversing on a friendlier level.

As far as Alejandro and Rodolfo are concerned, I think River would get along easier with Rudy considering they’re both quieter and a little more reserved- but they butt heads with Alejandro (in a productive and sometimes playful way, not in a mean way) since Alej is more reckless and bold. But they'd also razz on people together I think and River would respect the hell out of both Alejandro and Rodolfo for their skill and dedication.

And just to note nicknames again bc I think they’re fun and River pretends to be huffy about them but they actually adore them:

Soap calls them “Denni” (though it sounds more like Den-eh or Denna) most of the time

Gaz defaults to “Doc” but also just calls them “River” or “Rivvy”

Price honestly just calls them “kid” half the time, though he also will go with “River” or “Rivvy”

Ghost almost always calls them “River” or “Dennison”, but in quieter or more serious moment he’ll call them “Riv”

Intimacy comes pretty easily to River (though they are loathe to comment on it, if no attention is given to it they’re fine but if someone makes mention of how vulnerable they allow themselves to be (mostly physically) around TF141 they will Bite) and everyone learns pretty fast that touch and holding and so on and so forth are a common occurrence with River. They aren’t good with words, so being physically there for people is the best way they can show it; it also comes with the “medic” occupation, and River is NOT afraid to manhandle people though they can sometimes do it without thinking.

Therefore even with those they’re not romantically or sexually inclined to, River has a tendency to do a lot of holding and carrying and bumping arms and so on and so forth. From afar it can seem kind of flirtatious despite their :| demeanor but assuredly, most of the time, it’s not.

Soap and Ghost however. LMAO SDFHSDFH

Honestly they and Soap, I think, are a little obnoxious. Like has been said to me before, Soap would probably get the most kick out of being carried around by River and will find any kind of excuse to do it. He will attempt his fair share of carrying them around also, though that tends to result in more “very flustered River”s and “Soap getting bopped in the face”, usually by accident. They’re menaces to each other though.

River and Ghost I think have somewhat similar outlooks- both more hollow and self-contained because of past traumas, with a dry sense of humor that can be exceedingly dark, both self-isolating and “prickly” to the general eye. But I think the two of them literally sitting in silence together or just talking business, or Ghost making an observation on something River is trying to keep hidden and vise-versa is what starts River’s crush. (It’s a little blindsiding to River because they also get their crush on Soap for reasons opposite to Ghost. River says WHAT is happening.)

I don’t know if anything ever really comes of it aside from stolen moments and Soap and Ghost both finding out somehow that River has garnered two big ol’ crushes on the two of them BUT it’s fun to think about (screaming crying throwing up)

☆ If you've read this far you get a goddamn prize honestly good for you ☆

Anyway some bonus RiverGhost headcanons

RIVERGHOST || ship: same twist in the heart 

General vibes:

Traumatized (: and bonding over it in their own ways (:  

Quiet and very scary vs quiet-until-angered and also kind of scary

Tall and small 

Both are just captivated by each other and careful around each other when other people aren’t 

They Get each other somehow

Ghost talks more to River than to almost anyone else (almost, Soap still holds that title)

Shared judgemental glances 

Bitchy and bitchier

Can and will end a fist fight one way or another

More in depth thoughts:

Ghost has a tendency to quite literally watch over River; he knows as a medic they’re beyond used to being the one to check in on everyone else, and he knows what it’s like not having anyone check in on you- to avoid River feeling that deep type of isolation he keeps an eye on them (sobbing that one Lana Del Rey tiktok audio or whatever “I’VE GOT MY EYE ON YOU”)

Push each other’s boundaries just enough to help them grow and open up to one another; a level of new uncomfortability that is welcome- River especially presses on Ghost’s walls, but is respectful of his past traumas and doesn’t push too hard; Ghost does the same, but has more of a habit of going a little further than necessary, though they make amends about it 

River will jump to Ghost’s defense without hesitation, and can be rather snappy about it- even if he doesn’t need it nor necessarily deserve it; their anger and meanness matches more of Soap’s energy than it does of Ghost’s, and Ghost has absolutely picked them up off the ground and hoisted them out of situations bc they’re yelling or retorting too much

Ghost and River have a very mutual feeling of the fact that they are not going to have forever to be together, that they are on borrowed time, and almost certainly their time together (and with TF141) will end in some kind of tragedy, most likely one or both of their deaths; they sort of bond over the morbidity of the concept, the fact that what they have is so special because it’s so fleeting 

Every now and then they’ll allow themselves to ponder what it would be like to survive past all of this, Ghost wants a rescue dog and River wants some cats, they agree they’d like to live in the mountains somewhere, away enough from society but not entirely off the grid to be wholly secluded, somewhere where Ghost can grow to live without the mask and the balaclava and find comfort in himself again and where River can just exist without issue- they like Wyoming, or at least Ghost thinks he does as River has described it, possibly Montana, but they’ve also discussed the Swiss or Austrian Alps region- somewhere cold, for sure, and somewhere they can even raise livestock or animals, it’s all about the mundane and the peaceful for them 

Ghost allows TF141 to lightly patch him up if they need to, but anything serious he initially prefers to take care of on his own- it’s too vulnerable, too exposing- but after River joins, he slowly but surely has it be them and only them who is allowed to treat more intense wounds, and they also are adamant about helping tend to old ones and take care of older scars so that they don’t get irritated

Speaking of scars (BRIEF TW FOR MENTION OF SH)-

.

.

.

.

I do have the headcanon that right after Everything Happened To Him, Ghost was SUPER self destructive and while initially it was more a hypersexualization type of coping, he also swung deep into self harming; as of the current reboot games he's gotten away from it but of course still has the scars. And. Fun fact! River does too (': from their own past traumas that I won't get too into here but.

At some point Ghost sees them and is like. Eyes emoji. River snaps at him about it and he just silently goes over to them and they're like. EXCUSE U. SIR. and he's just very gentle about asking if he can look at them and River hesitantly says ya and he just takes like 10 minutes to run his hands over their scars and be very soft and reverent about them and be like. "I'm sorry to see you've suffered with this, but these show how strong you are, yeah?" And long story short River ends up WEEPY and Ghost is like oh little bird its OK c'mere look. I'll hesitantly show you mine too.

Ya

That's all i got

[lai-mar]

#dunmeshi thoughts#dunmeshi#L + M#i need a better tag for the two of them as a duo in an oddly ambiguous sense. hope you dont mind me using these op#laimar#<- just in case#but also yeah im very fond of their relationship#i very much like how comfortable they are with each other#its so crazy what do you MEAN they helped each other face their fears#what do you mean he asks her “would you be willing to stay?” and she becomes his right hand#i think its so so lovely that no matter how you choose to go about it they'd still be close#im very fond of how they care no matter what. that they become close with each other and dont stay “falin's friend” or “falin's brother”#to each other#L+M#i wrote that wrong earlier#dungeon meshi spoilers#that also#i think its very neat how much they look out for each other... laios being the first to notice she's struggling a lot...#being the one who helps her out without question#he's very sweet and i think marcille very much needs someone to look out for her or she'll run herself dry#i like that she trusts him more than anything and he does the same for her#i like that shes the first to find him at the end#idk. guy who runs away from every bad situation because he's gotten used to the idea that he's not wanted#and girl who's terribly loyal to her friends no matter what... how he's weird and it annoys her sometimes#but she doesnt love him less for it. he's her friend and she doesn't want him different. she likes him as he is#augh. clutching my head. male-female strong friendships save me........

YESSSS YOU GET ME. and yeah alternate tag.... you know how in mcyt fandom people make up different names for ships / platonic duos to separate them and it's a whole discussion. for my pair i just. mashed up their names and tagged it regardless of whether it's platonic or shippy or wtv. like sometimes i don't wanna specify whether it's shippy or not it's just i'm making this post about THEM. are they friends. lovers. something worse. i don't know. i don't care. it's about them. "in what way" yes. but for conventional fandoms obviously the name mashup has ship connotations and i don't wanna put a bunch of non shippy stuff in the ship tag (even if it's about the characters) soooo i'm kinda stuck here. but i know people also tag for filtering purposes. i think this is why i made a new blog actually so i can do whatever i want lmao and put my disclaimers in the profile

laios turned into his monster and marcille was like. oh i'll find you in every form. my last thought before falling unconscious was you. silly silly laios. don't look sad. come back and have a meal with us. they're soooooooooooo

I think. For me L+M is another example of a male+female pairing that seems a little too straightforward to ship in canon and hence some fans view it as “boring” and “low hanging fruit”, and as a result the ship is less popular despite having canon crumbs that you can interpret in a shippy way. So the ship being low hanging fruit turns around? In canon they have a strong friendship and lots of moments, and that’s what I like them as, friends (and they are canonically friends). Shipping these “straightforward straight pairings” can be a bit squicky (because I tend to think they are more interesting nonromantically) but it turns out in the end I will blatantly blaze through my squicks because I am desperate for content. And also because shippers actually care about them and their bond.

However, for these pairings people SOMEHOW usually impose a familial interpretation (siblings, in-laws) even though they are not related in canon either by blood or marriage. It’s more acceptable in DM because F/M certainly gets a lot of crumbs but it also kinda makes me salty to see people reduce L+M to being in laws only, like their only connection is through Falin, and that is just plain wrong. I have seen so many male+female pairings that get stuck in the fanon “sibling-coded” area and it’s like… guys it’s okay to not like them as a ship and not make them siblings. Guys. Not every kind of love has to be romantic or familial. I think sibling coding is fun and all that but sometimes it does feel like a “gotcha! I totally do not ship them because they’re like SIBLINGS to me and if you ship them you’re WEIRD”.

L+M would still be funny if it’s the fanon “lesbian elf teams up with her gf’s autistic brother and they squabble but work together to save the day” but canon L+M just drives me crazy because they obviously develop a bond outside of the other people they love, and they’ve basically known each other for two years only which is short even for a tallman lifespan, let alone Marcille’s. Actually I think what really gets me about L+M is that every time they get a moment that can be interpreted as shippy (eg. succubus, M wearing the dress in the Golden Country, even M knitting in the room with L in the Kensuke extra just like her mom used to do with her dad), there might be a few blushes and nervousness, but they quickly return to the status quo of being comfortable and physically affectionate with each other. Which you can interpret them as not seeing each other romantically, in deep denial, or they’re just so comfortable with each other that they don’t need to define their relationship, they just are.

Tbh the widespread DM fanon did mislead me a bunch, I thought we would get obvious F/M shipping or even confirmation after the bath scene but nope. I thought L+M would kinda stay the way they were pre Ep 11 and have a fun back and forth bit noooo they had to go and save each other and learn about each other’s deepest desires. I was shocked that they weren’t being discussed on such a widespread level considering how much screentime and importance they both get. Saw someone say “the romance between F/M is the catalyst and main plot driver” and I want to bang my head against the wall. DM has ship crumbs for a ton of ships but nothing has ever been confirmed canon and I’m happier because of it and it’s fun to explore.

I would say L+M needs better PR but honestly just read the manga, it does all the PR lmao. I can forgive anime onlies but if you read the manga you surely cannot ignore the elephant in the room.

[mynonclicheblog]

An accidental character study of Erin Quinn (and James Maguire)

This post is mostly a thought dump because it's been buzzing around in my brain, but I'm tagging in case anyone... idk... is interested in reading my chaotic analytical thought processes or w/e 😂

Before 3x04, I was confident that if we got a Jerin confession in canon it was going to be James who dropped the bomb first. I've been thinking about this a lot lately in terms of, like, my understanding of James and Erin as individuals and WHY I felt that way (prior to ~that scene), so this is mostly gonna be me laying out my thoughts on Erin's headspace leading up to James's confession + why she wasn't mentally ready to be the one to say anything.

Anyway, my brain is a bit scrambled while writing this so please bear with me. 🐻

So let me just say first, I've got some Derry Girls/Erin POV ficlets saved in my drafts right now and I've never connected more thoroughly with any other character I've written for? Ever? It was like, suddenly I'm inside her brain and she's telling me things about herself that I didn't realize before with absolutely zero effort on my part. Idk man it's been so much fun & unlike anything I've experienced 😂

But anyway - as I stated in my tags on this post, one of the main reasons I felt it would have to be James who bit the bullet first boils down to their rationalized self-perception // the fact that he's more honest with himself than she is. This is consistent with James in pretty much all areas: he is easily able to recognize something, process it, and state it out loud.

His character falls pretty well into the "straight man" trope within the wacky and colorful landscape of Derry natives. He is often a voice of reason amongst the girls (a role he sometimes shares with Clare) despite his rarely being taken seriously by them - he's similar to Gerry in this way. Regardless, James is overall the most grounded and self-aware member of their group. The show hadn't dropped as many obvious nuggets of his crush on Erin imo (compared to the other way around), but that's fair because he isn't the one who needed his feelings to be billboarded in order to self-actualize them. Once James gets something, he gets it. Signed, sealed, delivered.

Erin on the other hand is notoriously delusional - even in situations wherein she's well aware of the reality, she's keen to mentally overwrite that by clinging to a self-imposed narrative which she finds to be more suitable. She's also an incurable romantic with a flair for drama and sweeping love stories - but then, she's stubborn, and not totally honest with herself.

So, how do you determine which side wins out? And if she so loves romance, why would she prefer to keep her crush on her best friend buried rather than take a chance on this potential romcom storyline come to life?

For me the answer is in her current frame of mind: despite her clumsy, awkward, and chaotic ways, Erin is extremely image-conscious. Since season 1 she has been repeatedly concerned with what others think of her (David Donnelly, Charlene Kavanaugh, Ms. De Brun, to name a few).

Putting aside the connotations associated with Anglo-Irish relations, I think Erin's biggest hang-up lies within her immediate circle, like the way she and her friends slag him off all the time. That is comfortable. Slagging off James is normal, familiar. But having to admit that she's actually started to fancy that same boy, the object of her and her friends' endless ridicule... that feels awkward. It's unheard of.

And most importantly - this is the real kicker - it's embarrassing.

To compound this she has a touch of Anne Shirley disease, in that James doesn't fit the 'ideal' mold she thought she wanted (just look at him next to her usual type; the cool, aloof, masculine lads). James is her dorky best friend - not exactly the conventional Love Interest hottie she's always imagined herself with.

I think after 2x05/6 Erin realizes on some level that she has a wee bit of a crush on James, but she's decided to keep a lid on it and pretend it doesn't exist. Why? ->->-> Because it's weird! My friends won't understand. The WORLD won't understand. He's an amazing fella but I'm... I can't date James! That's just- it's ridiculous! Best keep that to myself, then.

She keeps her crush tucked away partially out of ignorance to the weight of it, but that's only because she WANTS to be ignorant of it. She knows it's there but refuses to look right at it.

Whereas James is able to zero in on the feelings and the feelings alone once he has a lightbulb moment (hi James I'll get back to you in a sec), Erin automatically filters those feelings against a bunch of external factors: what will people think of me, an Irish catholic gal, being with an Englishman? Will they think it's weird if I'm dating my sweet friend James and not some absolute ride-o-rama? What will our families, our FRIENDS think??!

Erin's got a rather anxious personality. Right now, while she's young, that manifests as this tendency to hyperfocus on her self-image and the image she projects to the world.

This futile desire to be perceived as 'cool' is something that Erin and James have always had in common, though each in their own way. I think James has shown the most progress getting past that fear as of series 3 as he continues to grow more comfortable with himself and has learned to fit in with his, quite frankly, crazy group of girls.

In the earlier series episodes James was frequently concerned with the judgements and/or assumptions people made about him - he's an English prick, he's gay, he's not much of a man. As time has gone on, we've now seen James proclaim himself to be a Derry Girl. He's performed onstage dressed as Posh Spice. He's no longer seeking approval from other males like he used to.

This isn't meant to sound like a cruel outlook, but I think the constant belittlement he experiences from the girls (affectionate) has aided him in learning to not always take words/opinions to heart. He knows now that it's not always an accurate picture of how people feel, nor is it a reflection of how he should feel about himself. Erin's not quite there yet, but post-kiss I think her mindset regarding her crush on James is going to make a conscious shift.

As of 3x04 she still prioritizes what Michelle thinks, still fears the newness of these feelings she's just finally had to face, and she doesn't want to make waves in the friend group. So she turns him down for now (though the dejection in her apology betrays her attempt at emotional distancing).

Eventually they'll all get older. A more grown-up Erin will realize that these things she's been so worried about re: a relationship with James are trivial, and ultimately inconsequential to the bigger picture.

James and Erin started out in the same place with the same trajectory - fearing judgement, eager to please, desperately craving validation. James's rational personality and experiences happened to boost his maturation ahead a bit, so he was in a position to break the fog sooner than Erin.

The parallels within their development arcs (to say nothing of the peace process symbolism) is really quite beautiful when you think about it.