#if u consider what various characters know at certain times then yes their actions do make sense

[mekatrio]

there is a venn diagram of people who love 3-5 and people who think 4-4 makes no sense and the diagram is a near-perfect circle

[killmebutneverinsultme2]

Rules for mobile (Pinned Post)

The Code

Success. I’ve sufficiently pestered the wench to make me a blog, much to the cost of a certain behorned mischief god whose presence I must share. Follow the rules below, and there’ll be smooth sailin’, savvy?

This be an exceptionally selective blog. I was me mun’s first ever muse yonks back and I’ve pestered her into writing me again, BUT, she’s horribly pressed for time. Partners will likely be very few, else ones doubling up with Loki’s. Anyone is welcome to approach and enquire, but she and I will be leaning toward those either from me own universe or crossovers with which she’s highly familiar and characters in whom she’s especially interested. Ye have been warned.

Replies are like to be slow, up to a few weeks at most.

Partners must be 18+. Various themes of an adult nature may be found here. Sexual things will be tagged ‘#filthy pirate’ with whatever level/variety of sin I deem them. More details below.

Behave. There shall be no rudeness, no passive aggression, no hate, no censorship or generally being a twit. Do I make meself clear?

The Code - Extended (below the cut)

Hi, guys. I’m Pirate (oddly known as this long before I made Jack a tumblr). Here are my more detailed rules and guidelines for writing with me on this blog, though the absolute basics are at the top as, honestly, it’s never easy to remember everyone’s requirements.

Jack is a sideblog. If you’re being followed by a benevolentgodloki that means I’m following you back. I don’t need us to be mutuals (both following each other) for us to write together, but there is a greater chance of us having a partnership if we’re letting each other know we’re interested.

How I Roll

I note myself as ‘highly selective’. This isn’t to be an elitist bugger, it’s because we all only have a limited amount of time we can put in. I want to write what I enjoy with people I enjoy. I am married with two attention-seeking cats, two jobs, a slow-brewing intended writing career and a video game addiction.

Asks/Memes - I will usually answer these no matter who they are from but I may or may not turn them into a thread I intend to keep. Some memes are very much designed to be something that continues so context can be key. If you would like to know in advance whether I intend to answer and/or keep something, please do pop me a message and I will be kind and honest.

My Threads - While Jack’s blog is still exciting and new, I’m being a bit all over the place with who and what I reply to depending on which way Jack’s.. compass.. is pointing. I do have a rolling turn order that I adhere to (to the point that I can genuinely tell you who is next at any given moment) but it’s all piled in with Loki’s threads, meaning I can take a few weeks to get round everything. Every partner gets one of their threads answered within that ‘round’ and then I go round again. However, when I’m really into something/finding something easy to pop back, I treat myself to spamming certain threads or partners at my whim. I use rpthreadtracker.com to maintain what I have. 

I will remind partners of threads that have not been replied to for more than three months. If I do not do this, I have either forgotten/lost it myself, I’m not too fussed about keeping it at that stage, or you were absent for a long period of time. 

My Style - I will write in both past or present tense depending on partner preference. My default is past but I like either. Please kick me if I screw up and write the wrong one. I prefer using regular size font but I will make mine small on replies to people who use the smaller so that it looks neat. I will often match partners’ lengths and some formatting details e.g. bolding dialogue, but I struggle with doing novella-length posts for reasons below.

I have a bugbear to admit about role-play. What we call splicing. A good half of my partners write this way so I’m not about to tell everyone to stop but if you’re someone who does this, you will occasionally run into some frustrations when writing with me. ‘Splicing’ is when you retrospectively write dialogue or actions as having previously happened during your partner’s last post. These things are fine when they’re passive i.e. your character muttered them, thought them or you were writing what your character was doing at the time because that’s pretty much essential. The trouble comes usually when my characters talk a lot/ask rhetorical questions and partners choose to answer every single one despite the fact my character carried on talking. I know it’s an ass that I have talkative muses and you really want to respond to every point/get a word in, but putting words and actions into the past effectively godmods my muse into accepting they happened. If you feel your muse would have full-on interjected midway through their ramble, please ask me to edit my post/stop it at that point. Otherwise if you do prefer to splice, my muse will only respond to whatever it is your character did or said last in their post. This is one of the reasons I can’t write novella, because often there is only so much you can write before you’re stepping into the territory of changing what went before and not allowing your partner to do anything about it.

TL;DR don’t ever worry about your post being too short for me. If it’s one sentence long but it’s because something fast-paced is happening, I won’t be miffed.

Shipping! - no not that kind of ship, Jack. I love shipping. Ships all around. Let’s face it, romance can be one of the most exciting reasons we bother writing. I am open to a lot of ships for Jack, practically all of them. Yes, even that one. I will do downright nasty, toxic, horrible stuff, savvy? It’s fiction and Jack is a great indulgence for bad things happening to him as much as good. That said, of course don’t force something on him without prior agreement between us. Well, I mean, your muse can try and accost him and see what he does, just don’t expect him to definitely reciprocate. Jack and I are bi/pansexual. We’re open to everything. I will admit a heavy lean toward m/m but, that said, Jack is extremely fond of the ladies, more so than Loki. I am very into Sparrington especially.

Not Safe For Ye Olde Work

Sliding down from the above topic, I enjoy the occasional smutting. It is not a requirement from my partners. In fact, I’m warming very much to fading to black depending on the context/mood/if things feel a bit repetitive. I do feel a touch more comfortable with partners who don’t need that boundary but as I’ve recently figured ‘if it needs a cut, then it’s smut’ I know when to skip on.

Saucy material will go under cuts/Read More’s and be tagged as mentioned above with ‘filthy pirate’. Additional tags will be based on the citrus scale: ‘lime’ for general grabbing, ‘lemon’ for full on sexual content and ‘grapefruit’ if things get extra kinky. I will tag things such as ‘rape tw’ or ‘noncon tw’ or ‘dubcon tw’ where necessary. Please blacklist any or all of these at your leisure, or search them if you fancy :U I do NOT tag these as ‘ns.fw’ because tumblr just completely hides them from being searchable which is useless for my partners.

OC’s - Due to my time constraints I am extremely picky when it comes to OC’s. This is a good fandom for well-thought-out muses and I know firsthand how hard it is to make headway as an OC in the RP world. However, I also understand that for people like me, I want to dip in on this site to mostly play with the characters and worlds I’m really absorbed in and ship my weaselly black guts out. Some people have more time than others to really give your OCs the time and love they deserve. Unless I’ve played with you a long time and I really like the cut of your and your muse’s jib, it’s very unlikely I’ll bite. Apologies! The same goes for crossover muses from fandoms I’m unfamiliar with, but I will let you know if that’s the case.

Limits

Threads - I don’t have a strict limit on how many to have per person but please bear in mind that the more of these you have with me the longer it will take me to get to a particular one (unless I’m spamming it back and forth). This is more a mun/muse context how many I accept.

Exclusives/mains - I don’t do these although I may consider having a maximum of 3 or 4 of one muse depending on activity levels and to ensure plots don’t get mixed up or attention feel unfairly balanced.

Triggers/squicks - I don’t like body horror e.g. graphic detail of squishy bits having bad things happen to them. I’m writing a pirate so there’s absolutely allowed to be elements of torture/violence, just don’t stab him in the eye or chop bits off him. One torture-related thing sends me into a complete freakout which I’ll discuss with partners if we’re doing a thread of that ilk as needed. Kink-wise I’m not into mpreg, A/B/O or infantilism or toilet things. Just ask me/Jack if you’re after something XD

Who I Am/What I Need From You

Being yourself is the most important thing and I promise I am not a scary person (usually). We’re only human and it’s natural that we’ll get along better with some rather than others. This is more to give you a gist of the sort of person I am and who I gel with best.

So I’m a shy hermit at the best of times. I’m trying to be better at engaging and enthusing with partners over our threads because I realise more than ever this does keep things alive and make for a more enjoyable experience. I’m not always great at it. I work best with people who are patient and don’t worry too much on what I think of them and their writing, with people who are happy to keep threads going for the longhaul rather than keep dropping everything before I’ve had the time to get to the next post, and most especially people who accept that fiction =/= reality. I do need a certain level of quality, which doesn’t always mean perfect grammar, but it must be coherent, fun and creative. I like a relaxed approach, sharing mutual enjoyment in silly fantasy world sandboxes as escapism from (and exploration of) this complicated world we live in.

If you managed to read all of this, have a drink (even if it’s water). You’re a diamond. 

Pirate xxx

[pocmuzings]

mysticroleplay did a female ban in 2020 //:

hi ! thanks for the info , anon !!! when i first received this message i was big yikes tbh , bc female bans in 2020 ?? who even does that . but . . also admittedly , i know how things and misinformation can be spread thru tumblr discourse , so i actually approached the admins of mysticroleplay myself, to ask them for their side and an Explanation of what the 'female ban' really meant , bc . it doesn't Read Well for Anyone involved dfjkndfjnfjn . ANYWAYS , here was their response : ( under the cut bc it’s long , and then i add More commentary at the bottom ) 

 “ So, there’s a lot to unload here… as what initially was presented as a temporary tool in an attempt manage our influx of female characters, had got out of hand and taken out of context >< We hope our explanation below can gain a better understanding as to where we were coming from when implementing this ban, as we know it can come off quite… old school and not at all encouraging of those who disapprove of a gender ban in general. 

 When we started Mystic, we wanted to be a roleplay that didn’t care about ratios, which is why we categorize our characters by ‘stayed, left, new’ (according to our plot). In the beginning stages, we noticed the reputation roleplays were getting for caring about ratios (and ultimately understanding why it was a bad thing), which is why we made that decision in the first place.

As Mystic was growing, we noticed the influx of female characters joining, and didn’t really think much about it. However, slowly, we noticed that we had a handful of non-female desired wanted connections sitting in our tag, and there’s only so much that we admins can do to encourage gender diversity. We were also aware of the pressure a few members (we included) that had male characters felt when interacting with female characters (shipping, and etc), which was also a mildly growing concern behind the scene. As admins, we want to do our best to cater to our member’s experience and because we have encountered a certain feeling (in our own experience as members or admins, outside of Mystic) whenever there’s a heavy gender presented more than others, we couldn’t help but feel concerned. We’ve seen roleplays die when one gender overpowers the other, so we couldn’t help but wonder… should we do something about this? We’re not supposed to care about gender ratios, but our fear of our roleplaying dying due to past (separate) experiences seemingly overpowered that. (And not only that, but we’ve also been approached individually if we would consider a female ban of sorts, as we know *whether it’s a bad thing or not* that there are some people do care about ratios.)

And so, we came to the decision of implementing a temporary female ban, for various reasons. Yes, to balance our ratio to a degree, but to also encourage our members who were thinking of taking on second characters, to think about taking on a different gender. (We were also heavily wary about the backlash this would cause, but under said pressures, in a misguided attempt, did it anyway.)

 That is not to say, we only encouraged male characters in the slightest. Our ban was to encourage both male and nb characters, however, we will admit, we didn’t encourage nb characters as much as we should’ve. We know now, we probably should’ve sent ourselves some anons to put forth the public desire of having gender diversity, but we’re sad to say, we didn’t. We genuinely didn’t encourage (nor do we desire) one gender over the other, but we understand, that not voicing our desire for nb characters outright, could’ve been the reason why it this female ban we implemented was taken out of context.

Within the week of closing our ban (which was only up for about a week), we received anon asking if we’d do the same for nonbinary characters. We weren’t sure what to make of this ask, because admittingly, we were afraid it was a tool someone was using to try and make us (and Mystic) look bad. We know that might sound a bit dramatic, but the three of us are particularly protective over Mystic (as it has taken over two years for us to finally bring this roleplay to light) and we didn’t want a misunderstanding to have all of our hard work go to waste. (We’re also extremely aware of the rpcs of cancel culture, and wanted to avoid that as much as possible.) So, we made the unfortunate choice of not answering it, not for any other reason than being fearful of the outcome. 

 Within the next day, we received an IM from one of our members that it was them who had sent the anon and have expressed deep disappointment towards us for ignoring their query. It was… shameful, and heartbreaking for us to say the least. We loved that member deeply and have grown extremely embarrassed for not meeting their needs, all out of fear. Although they have expressed that they wish to have approached us off anon (as they were aware it came off hostile), they were still disappointed as a whole and we couldn’t blame them.

We did our best to explain why we didn’t reply, and how we weren’t trying to prioritize male or female characters over nonbinary (which is certainly another story within itself), and while we thought the conversation was going quite well and civil, we were met with them ultimately deactivating and we could no longer talk things through. 

 The incident between the three of us and that member was a lot for us. In fact, it still affects a few of us to this day, as we’re continuously fearful of disappointing our members again. We didn’t expect for Mystic to grow this big, nor did we expect to gain traction from the rpc in general. But, through this experience, we’ve learned that we do hold some sort of responsibility for doing what we can to encourage what is needed in the rpc. (Whether we feel as though it’s our duty or not.) We’ve learned a lot from that member, and although we weren’t able to settle things to their likeness, we decided to move on with the decision of implementing a ban for both male and female characters, in hopes of encouraging trans and nonbinary characters to enter Mystic in the near future. We want to look it as taking it one step at a time to be as inclusive and accepting to all as possible, whether we’re fully capable of taking on that task ourselves.

There is a lot more to say upon the matter, which we would be happy to discuss, as we want to lay things out as transparent as possible, but we hope that all of this explains things, enough for you to form a fair opinion about us. Not once did we ever make a decision to purposefully harm a particular community. Between the three of us, we are fully supportive (as well as a part of) the LGBTQ community and have been distraught knowing we have been misunderstood, due to a misguided decision in order to control our ratios. However, that is not to say, that we didn’t harm anyone (intentional or not), and we hope moving forward, we can right our wrongs. 

 If you have any more concerns or questions regarding the matter, please let us know, we appreciate you approaching us privately. <3 “

i kinda do understand what they're talking abt . if u've been on my blog in the past few weeks , we've been talking heavily abt playing male muses and how they're ship-chased to no ends , and i do recognise that this is what the admins were noticing in their own rp with female muses coming in, and creating a MASS amount of wanted connections just for males , and chasing the males that were already in the rp . this is smth we've all seen time and time again , and it makes rps die , and ppl just . Click right out , bc who wants to come into a rp thats just 'ship ' 'ship' ' ship' 'ship' ??? thats not fun , and not the environment u wanna foster. 

 do i agree with the Actions per se , of a female ban ? no . not at all . it's very demoralizing and derogatory to female muses who AREN'T there for ships and actually for the Real purpose of rping. but i do UNDERSTAND what the admins were trying to accomplish , in order to break up the amount of ship-chasing they were seeing . 

 after scrolling through their blog , i did see that they were trying , somewhat, to encourage more male AND nb fcs . however, again , of course - this didn't really pan out , because . . nb muses are hardly EVER picked up , as we all know  . should they have pushed MORE for nb rep , and maybe picked up a few nb chartacters themselves ? probably . admins should lead by example , a classic g line . 

 so . the action of them removing the female ban when they had more Males , but not really Considering as much abt the nb-representation ? not great either , but they acknowledge that in their response too , and admit they're Ashamed of how they acted . it's not my place to talk on the nb/trans community's end on this topic . simply put , if that side of the community is hurt and Damaged by these actions , then thats understandable too . 

i think it's at least Slightly commendable that when i approached the admins out of the blue - they were completely 1000% transparent and honest with me abt the situation in general and what had seemingly warranted , to them, a 'female ban ' 

 look , overall. mistakes are made . people own up to them . they apologise , and they acknowledge they’ll do better in the future . that’s SOMETHING . overall, they’re Trying to do better , and i think that that’s something important , and i do appreciate them for that . they did the wrong thing . they admitted it and owned up to it . i can understand where they were Coming from , but the execution , admittedly , was not done Great .

[unearthitaly]

ITALY FROM A TO Z - A Review -

This past year I’ve been sharing an Italian word beginning with every letter of the alphabet and giving a bit of cultural context, which is always useful in order to implement the vocabulary when learning a new language.

Here’s a review (check the linked posts for more info):

A for AMERICANATA: “Americanata” [ fem.noun, pl.form “americanate”] is a word used by Italians to underline an action, a thing, a behaviour which is judged kitsch and characterized by delusions of grandeur, considered typical of the American demeanor [American intended as “citizen of the USA”]. - More info here;

B for BACIAPILE: “Baciapile” is a  word used to indicate those people who are, apparently, very pious, because they always go to the Mass, but that, in the end, do not follow the Christian precept of love for the others. It is believed that, for them, the Mass is just means to appear good in public. - More info here;

C for CONTRAFFAZIONE: [La] Contraffazione [-i] means forgery/counterfeiting. It can be used especially when talking about counterfeit money, but not only.In Italy we use an expression to indicate a kind of forgery made abroad against Italy and the so-called “made in Italy” which employs this noun. It’s “contraffazione alimentare” ( “food counterfeiting”) - More info here;

D for DIVORZIO: [ Il ] Divorzio [pl.form “i divorzi”] means divorce. In Italy it was legally introduced in 1970, but given that not all agreed on it in the Parliament, they decided to organize a referendum to see if people wanted this new law. The majority of Italians voted yes to the divorce law during the referendum held in 1974. The word “divorzio” became known worldwide even before it was legal in Italy, thanks to the 1962 movie “Divorzio all'Italiana” (“Divorce Italian Style”) by Pietro Germi - More info here;

E for EDICOLA: [L’] edicola [pl.form: le edicole]. It can have different meanings. At first edicole were small temples, In a second moment they became niches located inside the temples, meant to contain the statues of the deities. In modern times we indicate with the noun “edicole” the newsstands. - More info here;

F for FARO: [ Il ] Faro [pl.form: i fari ] means lighthouse, but also headlight. This noun derives from the name of the small island ’pharos’, located in front of Alexandria and where there was the biggest lighthouse of the ancient times and considered one of the 7 Wonders of the World - More info here;

G for GALLO/GALLINA: [Il] Gallo [pl.form: i galli] means rooster and [La] Gallina [pl.form: le galline] hen.The “realm” of the henhouse has always been used as a metaphor of the society in the Italian Culture. Check the post to see the countless idioms where gallo and gallina are used in Italian idioms;

H for HOTEL: The word hotel is clearly a loan word according to Italians, because in our language we don’t really have many words beginning with “h”. It’s indeed a French word. What many of us ignore, though, is that the French word derives from the Latin term “hospitale” [hosting place].What you might find peculiar in Italy is finding certain kinds of hotels which are not to be found or are not popular outside the Belpaese. Check the post to discover more about them;

I for ITALIANIZZAZIONE: [L’] Italianizzazione [fem.noun], meaning “Italianization”, is the spreading of the Italian Culture,  people or language which can happen through integration or assimilation.When we use this term, though, we specifically point out  that specific forced policy carried out by the Fascist dictatorship in  the African colonies, in the European territories annexed during WWII  and  in the Italian areas populated by linguistic minorities ( South Tyrol, Venezia Giulia, Aosta Valley, the Asiago Plateau etc.) Foreign languages and press were prohibited, foreign-sounding surnames and toponymy   translated and foreign schools suppressed. - More info here;

J for JUVENTUS: [ La ] Juventus ( = Juventus Football Club ). We don’t have many words beginning with J in Italian and Juventus is probably the most famous. - More info here;

K for K2: K2 [ Italian pronunciation: “kappa due” ] is the second highest mountain in the world and it’s located in the Karakoram range, on the border between China and Pakistan. What has Italy to do with Pakistan and the K2 ? Well, it was an Italian expedition that first climbed the mountain on 31.July 1954. After the war, a great venture was believed to be necessary “to lift the country’s mood” and the attempt to the second highest, but most difficult mountain to climb, seemed like a great opportunity. - More info here;

L for LIBERAZIONE: [La] Liberazione [pl.form: le liberazioni]. As its English translation “liberation”, it’s the action of setting someone free from imprisonment, slavery  or oppression. In Italian Culture we use the term “liberazione” to indicate the 25th April, the so-called “Giorno della Liberazione”, Day of Liberation. - More info here;

M for MEDIOEVO: [ Il ] Medioevo means “Middle Ages” and, as you know, it’s the historical period that goes from the 476 aC (the fall of the Roman Empire) to 1492 aC (the discovery of America). What you might don’t know is that, nowadays, in #Italy we still use some idioms “invented” in the Middle Ages. Check them out here;

N for NOZZE: [Le] Nozze [plural] is the Italian translation for “nuptials”. A synonym is “matrimonio” (which is not formal like its English counterpart “matrimony”). Not many know, though, that the words nozze/nuptials take their name from the bride’s veil. The Latin naptiae derived indeed from nubere= “to veil”, which then became “to marry”. - More info here;

O for ORO: [ L’ ] Oro [masc.noun] is Italian word for gold. As you probably know Italy does well in the production and trade of luxury items and it’s actually the first country for the number of firms operating in this branch. The gold industry is obviously one of them. We have three important “gold districts” in Italy which are those of: Valenza Po in Piedmont; Arezzo in Tuscany; Vicenza in Veneto. - More info here;

P for PREVISIONE: [La] Previsione [pl.form: le previsioni] means “prevision”, “prediction”. This word in Italy is mostly used in association with “tempo” to form the expression “previsioni del tempo”, which are the weather forecasts. - More info here;

Q for QUOTIDIANO: [Il] Quotidiano is a useful word that can have different meanings. ⚡It is usually translated as “daily”, but it can also be used as a noun to indicate the daily routine. It is also used to indicate the daily newspaper. - More info here;

R for RECITAZIONE: [ La ] Recitazione is “acting” in Italian language. Italians, often described as quite “creative” and “artistic”, are known for being naturally talented actors. There’s even a famous quotation by Orson Welles that stated that Italy was populated by 50 millions actors and the worst were those on stage, lol. - More info here;

S for SAVOIARDO: [Il] Savoiardo [pl.form: i savoiardi]. The savoiardi, known in English as “lady fingers”, are the biscuits used for the preparation of the tiramisù. - More info here;

T for TERREMOTO: [Il] terremoto [ pl.form: i terremoti ] means earthquake and, sadly, it’s a word which we happen to use a lot in Italy. - More info here;

U for UMORISMO: [ L’ ] Umorismo is “humour” in Italian. People’s ability to comprehend and appreciate humour largely depends on a host variables like one’s culture, education and even intelligence. Another factor is, surely, the geographical location and, in a place like Italy, could a thing not vary according to the region or town? Obviously not! Check which are the most famous kinds of Italian humour that we have in this post ;

V for VULCANO: [Il] Vulcano [ pl.form: i vulcani] is volcano in English. Italy is one of the countries with the highest number of volcanos in Europe. “Vulcano” is even the name of a proper volcano and of the island where it is located (which belongs to the Aeolian archipelago in Sicily). - More info here;

LETTER W: Even though in Italian the letter W is not considered part of the alphabet, the character has a symbolic meaning. W stands for “evviva” or “viva”, which mean “hooray for”. We have also the counterpart which is a W positioned upside down that stands for “abbasso” and means “down with”. - More info here;

X for XYLELLA: Xylella is a term that, sadly, has become popular in the recent years, especially in Apulia. It’s an aerobic bacterium that causes various diseases in plants. In Italy it has attacked olive trees in the Salento area in Apulia causing the olive quick decline syndrome. - More info here;

Y for YODEL: [Lo] Yodel - also known as jodel - is a type of rural song that involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the so-called “chest voice” and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. It was born in the area of the Central Alps as it was used by the hearders to call their stock or to communicate with other Alpine villages. In Italy it is present in South Tyrol given its cultural heritage. - More info here;

Z for ZAMPILLO: [Lo] zampillo [ pl.form: gli zampilli]. It’s often translated as “gush” and it’s used to indicate, indeed, a small gushing of water or blood. - More info here.

[zombiequincy]

THE MEGA RP PLOTTING SHEET / MEME.

First and foremost, recall that no one is perfect, we all had witnessed some plotting once which did not went too well, be it because of us or our partner. So here have this, which may help for future plotting. It’s a lot! Yes, but perhaps give your partners some insight? Anyway BOLD what fully applies, italicize if only somewhat.

MUN NAME: Hela     AGE: 21       CONTACT: IM

CHARACTER(S): Giselle Gewelle, Yumichika Ayasegawa (inactive)

CURRENT FANDOM(S): Bleach

BLEACH FANDOM(S) YOU HAVE AN AU FOR:  I have gory Bloodborne au but that one just exists in my head on my lonesome.

MY LANGUAGE(S): English and one very specific Middle Eastern dialect.

THEMES I’M INTERESTED IN FOR RP: FANTASY / Science fiction / Horror / WESTERN / ROMANCE / Thriller / MYSTERY / DYSTOPIA / ADVENTURE / MODERN / Erotic / Crime / MYTHOLOGY / Classic / HISTORY / RENAISSANCE / MEDIEVAL / Ancient / WAR / FAMILY / POLITICS / RELIGION / SCHOOL / ADULTHOOD / CHILDHOOD / APOCALYPTIC / GODS / Sport / MUSIC / Science / FIGHTS / ANGST / Smut / DRAMA / etc. 

PREFERRED THREAD LENGTH: one-liner / 1 para / 2 PARA / 3+ / NOVELLA.

ASKS CAN BE SEND BY: MUTUALS / NON-MUTUALS / PERSONALS / ANONS.

CAN ASKS BE CONTINUED?:   YES / NO    only by Mutuals?:  YES / NO.

PREFERRED THREAD TYPE: CRACK / casual nothing too deep / SERIOUS / DEEP AS HECK. (i love it all sorry I am quite the mixed bag lmao)

IS REALISM / RESEARCH IMPORTANT FOR YOU IN CERTAIN THEMES?:   YES / NO. i gotta know what certain human body parts taste like u know

ARE YOU ATM OPEN FOR NEW PLOTS?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS.

DO YOU HANDLE YOUR DRAFT / ASK - COUNT WELL?:  YES / NO / SOMEWHAT. it’s SO BAD FOR ME RN ASGLDKJDJKA i’m very inconsistent i’m so sorry.

HOW LONG DO YOU USUALLY TAKE TO REPLY?: 24H / 1 WEEK / 2 WEEKS / 3+ / months / years. / a lot of it has more to do w my general writing mood and if the thread im writing catches my interest, and rn im writing a TON of really wonderful and fascinating threads so they’re all super captivating for me and i try to reply asap

I’M OKAY WITH INTERACTING: ORIGINAL CHARACTERS / a relative of my character (an oc) / duplicates / MY FANDOM / CROSSOVERS / MULTI-MUSES / self-inserts / people with no AU verse for my fandom / CANON-DIVERGENT PORTRAYALS / AU-VERSIONS.

DO YOU POST MORE IC OR OOC?: IC / OOC. (i have a lot of stupid shit sorry) 

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WITH FOLLOWING OTHERS?: YES / NO / DEPENDS.  

BEST WAYS TO APPROACH YOU FOR RP/PLOTTING: just send me a tumblr instant message, i know it sucks shit but im not comfy releasing my discord w everyone just yet cause i use it for personal use as well. i check tumblr on the daily so if you send me a message chances are i’ll see it and respond!

WHAT EXPECTATIONS DO YOU HOLD TOWARDS YOUR PLOTTING PARTNER:  i guess just be able to put up with my rambling and stopping and starting, a lot of characterisation choices i do go through various stages and its pretty messy so when i communicate that with others it usually ends up equally messy. just be patient with me please.

WHEN YOU NOTICE THE PLOTTING IS RATHER ONE-SIDED, WHAT DO YOU DO?:  i don’t mind! sometimes ppl have more ideas that they want to share first and i’m always super happy to listen to those ideas !! sometimes its nice to have someone with a clear guide or structure and be able to work around that rather than trying to fumble through a plot together.

HOW DO YOU USUALLY PLOT WITH OTHERS, DO YOU GIVE INPUT OR LEAVE MOST WORK TOWARDS YOUR PARTNER?:  i try to map out some basic info abt their characters that i otherwise don’t know from their bio or verses and try to pick out points of confrontation or similarities to expand on with giselle that can be used as points for like a starter to happen. its either that or sometimes i have really stupid ideas i just toss out there like ‘LMAO THEYRE BREAKING SHIT AT DISNEYLAND’ and go buck wild from there if the other person is down. i also always try to warn people or get a gauge for what subjects to avoid and steer clear of considering that giselle is a bit of a Freak(tm) and will say and do bad things.

WHEN A PARTNER DROPS THE THREAD, DO YOU WISH TO KNOW?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS. - And why?: if there’s something giselle did or said that upset you, i would love to know not to repeat it again (since i do still feel pretty new to the rp game, theres still plenty of time for me to make stupid mistakes). if its just a general lack of interest or uncertainty of where the plot should go, then you dont have to tell me i wont take it personally i promise ! 

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY LEAD YOU TO DROP A THREAD?: sometimes i can be made uncomfortable by certain things mentioned... it happens but its rare 

- WILL YOU TELL YOUR PARTNER?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS. i don’t want to upset anyone personally and sometimes explaining the ins and outs of my discomfort make things ten times worse so i just. would rather not.

IS COMMUNICATION IN THE RPC IMPORTANT TO YOU? YES / NO.

- AND WHY?: i am the most nervous person you can meet and my brain is always giving me misinfo abt paranoia and random shit so i having clear concrete communication between two parties abt if something is going wrong or is being received poorly means the world to me.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH ABSOLUTE HONESTY, EVEN IF IT MAY MEANS HEARING SOMETHING NEGA1TIVE ABOUT YOU AND/OR PORTRAYAL?: i need it !! i still feel relatively new to all this and i need to know whats going wrong to improve !! 

DO YOU THINK YOU CAN HANDLE SUCH SITUATION IN A MATURE WAY? YES / NO.

WHY DO YOU RP AGAIN, IS THERE A GOAL?: to help with my confidence in writing! i have v bad anxiety when it comes to sharing my works and i write a lot of other pieces alongside this blog on ao3 and i want to develop my writing skills just in general. when it comes to like the nuts and bolts of why i rp giselle specifically, its mainly to just have fun and have a laugh w my friends who are really awesome quincy writers

WISHLIST, BE IT PLOTS OR SCENARIOS:  OH SO MANY! ive managed to fulfil a lot of my wishlist threads with like, giselle talking to characters she’s already zombified and i love all that angst but i want to do more stupid shit. i want to make it my personal goal to bully every quincy man and woman on sight. although a REAL dream would be if i got to write a thread zombifying a character who managed to escape giselle’s clutches. and more fighting! i want to get better at describing action and fights and i love to write giselle getting beat up and beating people up! more more more!! 

THEMES I WON’T EVER RP / EXPLORE:   hohoho theres a LOT... uh r*pe/dubcon threads for one, even if yeah i know writing it doesnt condone it, it makes me intensely uncomfortable to put my muse in that scenario, i feel like i have an obligation to like, protect her from that shit you know? racism is one i don’t want to transgress, even though i’m a poc, its not really cathartic or groundbreaking to write abt racism in threads its just... really fucking upsetting. also i know the quincy’s have this very close parallel to the whole n*zi imagery and ideology thing going on and i am not about to start even daring to thread that into my writing or bring those allusions and references of real life tragedies into giselle’s threads. i’ve already talked at length abt exploring giselles trans identity in rp and why im not comfortable doing so, so.... yeah! all those i guess.

WHAT TYPE OF STARTERS DO YOU PREFER / DISLIKE, CAN’T WORK WITH?: i like starters where giselle can just immediately get right into being a piece of shit. mise en scene and all that! cut out the build up and just get to the intense horror !! i don’t like starters where its not immediately clear where the characters are standing and what they’re doing and what’s happening around them. those really disorientate me and leave me kinda floundering because i always need some allusion or mention of a setting to ground giselle in a time and place other wise i cant tell what her response should be

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE MOST?:  EVIL WOMEN EVIL WOMEN EVIL WOMEN. also just characters i can wholeheartedly clown on, or also characters who have hidden depths to them and have a single panel of screentime. honestly it’s just all over the place!

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE LEAST?:  angry old men GSADJDKSJA i could never rp yhwach for example or yamamoto because idk. theyre just so crummy and boring to me. i also couldnt rp characters who always have an upper hand in battle like aizen. i like my dumbasses and i like them stupid and adaptive not just, ‘yes i know this because i Know this.’

WHAT ARE YOUR STRONG ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: i think im nice...? FKSJDKDJSA idk i hate trying to toot my own horn. sometimes i also think i make funny jokes and im pretty chill and laid back

WHAT ARE YOUR WEAK ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: my writing style is inconsistent and adapts to whatever i’m reading so sometimes it’ll be really good and i love it and other times it reads like really bad fanfic and i get carried away far too easily and write novella lengths for threads which should be much shorter. i also get shy a lot and dont think i communicate very effectively but HEYO we’re working on it!

DO YOU RP SMUT?:  YES / NO/ DEPENDS. haven’t had anybody brave enough to try yet lol

DO YOU PREFER TO GO INTO DETAIL?: YES / NO / DEPENDS.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH BLACK CURTAIN?: YES / NO.

- WHEN DO YOU RP SMUT? MORE OUT OF FUN OR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?: more for fun i’d imagine because that’s just giselles own attitude to sex and relationships where she doesnt want anything deep. it might show character development in one way of just showing how she regards others in a romantic sense to be used rather than actually appreciated as their own person and show how selfish she is but yeah, more out of fun

- ANYTHING YOU WOULD NOT WANT TO RP THERE?:  theres a few kinks and such but i dont think they’d ever really come up. again, just mainly no r*pe/dubcon.

ARE SHIPS IMPORTANT TO YOU?:   YES / NO lets hope this doesn’t make me sound like an asshole, but its more like a fun little side thing than anything important to giselle’s actual development and characterisation. 

WOULD YOU SAY YOUR BLOG IS SHIP-FOCUSED?: YES / NO. again, hardly anyone is brave enough to try to romance this evil cannibal.

DO YOU USE READ MORE?:  YES / NO / SOMETIMES WHEN I WRITE LONG STUFF.

ARE YOU:  MULTI-SHIP / Single-Ship / Dual-Ship  —  MULTIVERSE / Singleverse.

- WHAT DO YOU LOVE TO EXPLORE THE MOST IN YOUR SHIPS?: more how giselle likes to give over her power or dominate in different circumstances depending on who she’s with and what’s being done. BUT AGAIN, not a whole lot to explore yet.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH PRE-ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS?: YES / NO. - i mean im down for p much anything if it vibes w giselle.

► SECTION ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

- WHAT COULD POSSIBLY MAKE YOUR MUSE INTERESTING TOWARDS OTHERS, WHY SHOULD THEY RP WITH THIS PARTICULAR CHARACTER OF YOURS NOW, WHAT POSSIBLE PLOTS DO THEY OFFER?: if you want an evil woman to taunt and mock and hurt your muse, she’s your gal. you want her to zombify and ruin your muse, shes also your gal. you want her to insult and maim and injure, she’s also YOUR GAL. basically, if you want to do anything fucked up or sad or scary, she can help with that.

- WITH WHAT TYPE OF MUSES DO YOU USUALLY STRUGGLE TO RP WITH?:  uh muses who get really angry quickly or don’t rise or respond to her jabs and are just kinda like a flatline. theres only so much pestering and annoying she can do until realises its not working and just wanders off

- WHAT DO THEY DESIRE, IS THEIR GOAL?:  to find a goal worth living for.

- WHAT CATCHES THEIR INTEREST FIRST WHEN MEETING SOMEONE NEW?:  appearance she always takes an interest in girls almost right away. age as well because she judges old people. 

- WHAT DO THEY VALUE IN A PERSON?:  a good set of guts to ruin and strong muscles.

- WHAT THEMES DO THEY LIKE TALKING ABOUT?:  women, gore, murder, herself, music, stupid memes, gossip.

- WHICH THEMES BORE THEM?:  politics, history, quincy ideology, soul reaper ideology, hollow physiology.

- DID THEY EVER WENT THROUGH SOMETHING TRAUMATIC?:  her family tried to force the burden of upholding the quincy lineage onto her shoulders, she was thrown into the wrong prison and held in isolation, then pressured to become an undying monster in service of a god and then was nearly killed by that same man and left wandering without guidance or purpose. so, yeah?

- WHAT COULD LEAD TO AN INSTANT KILL?:  transphobia. even a whiff of it in her direction and she’ll gut you like a fish.

- IS THERE SOMEONE /-THING THEY HATE?:  the twink soul reaper who outted her.

IS YOUR MUSE EASY TO APPROACH?: YES / NO. - Best ways to approach them?:  if you’re smart, you’ll bring a big bone for her to chew on and distract her while you ask whatever you want.

SOMETHING YOU MAY STILL WANT TO POINT OUT ABOUT YOUR MUSE?: i love my evil queen!

CONGRATS!!! You managed it, now tag your mutuals! ♥

Tagged by:  @bazzardburner​ cheers chicken boy !!

Tagging: @hyouketsu​ @blooming5th​ @viciousvizard​ @glacies-tempestatem​ and whoever else wishes to do this!!

[yaboylevi]

hey vivi how are you? hopefully you’re doing good ! question in your personal opinion do you think that we stopped seeing eren’s caring side towards levi bc of what happened in RtS arc? do u think like in a way he resents? or feels betrayed by levi’s actions? i mean eren trusted levi kinda blindly i would say so maybe he felt a little deceived by levi ? anyways i’m just curious on ur thoughts on this, have a good day! :D

Okay hi, so…I got this question once in the past already and I decided to not reply for various reasons. I didn’t really feel like replying to this either, as you could guess by how long it took me to actually reply (I actually typed a full answer 3 times in these 2 months but deleted all of them aahh). But I have a question for y'all I would really love hearing an answer to: Is this a common interpretation/headcanon in the ereri fandom recently?

So, anyway… if they were real people experiencing such a development, based on MY feelings and how I’d react, I would say yes, it would be normal for Eren to have developed a sort of resentment once things calmed down a little and he thought back on how absolutely unfairly Levi treated him back then: he agreed to give Eren the serum only to take back the offer at the last moment; he basically told him to shut down his own feelings, dismissing them, when Levi himself couldn’t do the same; he lost his patience and punched him in the face with such strength that he made Eren lose half of his teeth. I understand why it happened: Levi is not emotionally mature at times, imo, and it was a charged development with important lives at stakes and they were all mentally and physically drained. But he didn’t even apologize.

Granted, no one apologized. However, Eren and Mikasa were made to feel responsible for everything that went down by a number of people (Hange, Floch, the other military in Paradis), and were punished for it. I don’t feel Levi held them responsible because I think at one point he realized he acted worse than them and also understood why they all behaved that way.

Either way, Levi never apologized, even though we could argue that Levi telling them to never regret their choice (as if they even had a say in the matter…) and ruffling their hair was a sort of double apology (i.e: I forgive you and I hope you can forgive me). If it was real life, it wouldn’t be enough, in my opinion.

So long story short, I would feel betrayed alright, if I were Eren. Because Eren has always believed Levi was the better man, someone he could count on to be fair and mature. Levi was none of those things during their altercation on the rooftop.

But if I were to look at the whole situation through the lenses of what is ACTUALLY portrayed in canon, I feel the answer to your questions is no, as it isn’t given the proper depth, for 3 reasons:

1. It seems like there were no grudges left amongst all of them. Especially in chapter 108, they all behave naturally, as they used to do before the timeskip, before the Shiganshina fiasco happened (Isayama would’ve shown it to us if it wasn’t the case). I feel there is tension only between Eren and Armin. Also, there aren’t many instances where the 104th need to rely on Levi’s mentorship as before because they aren’t at war, and international matters are in Hange’s hands so they all rely on Hange when searching for an opinion. But I would like to believe that, when Eren couldn’t see eye to eye with his friends, he consulted with Levi, because they often talked about “feelings” rather than “actions” (so it doesn’t matter if they’re at war or not in their case), they have very similar opinions and went through similar experiences in the past. But so far there’s nothing that supports this in the manga. There’s just that tiny panel of Levi saying that they’ll talk later, but I feel it was forgotten/unimportant. Anyway, no grudges mean they have all forgiven one another because they all understood the others’ actions in Serumbowl…or Isayama simply didn’t care about exploring such conflict amongst them because he had other, more important things he needed to tackle in the story, so he made all of them forgive each other off-screen, with no repercussion whatsoever on their relationships.

2. Eren and Levi barely interact during and post-timeskip, and what we see of their relationship is a shadow and/or a copy-paste of what has already happened in the past (Levi kicking Eren, Levi thinking back only to their first encounter as if everything that happened later on had no weight, Levi acting as Eren’s bodyguard, Levi thinking of Eren as hope). Nothing new, whereas Eren’s relationship with other characters has changed quite a bit.

If we consider it from Eren’s point of view, he stopped opening up to his friends after talking with Yelena, but before that, he was quite open about his opinions with both his friends and Hange and Levi. Levi, though, during these moments, felt distant, opinionless, almost like a background character. And it’s true, Eren kept secrets from his friends and comrades, but he was justified, considering the military’s and Hange’s treatment of Eren himself when it came to his titan’s powers. He always spoke his mind in every other instance. We don’t see Eren and Levi talking, because…I don’t know. But I don’t see resentment from Eren, nor from Levi. And Levi, oh, he should have a lot to talk about. Not only with Eren. With Mikasa, too, about their shared family. With Hange, about Erwin. But he’s just…there.

So the fact that two characters who used to share so much screen time together, who shared such a relationship where one of them used to guide the other, and the other used to open up to the mentor in private in the past, and who both used to play into the same themes of the story, now share close to no screentime, conversations, and themes, makes me think that it is either just to show Levi’s distance to their cause as a whole and Eren’s frustration with everyone in general, OR Isayama simply has no intention of keeping their relationship relevant anymore. And this last point brings me to number 3.

3. Isayama has dropped a significant amount of relationships or characters throughout the series, and sometimes it was very disappointing (Annie, Bertolt, Historia, Ymir, Mike come to mind). I didn’t think it could happen with the series’ most popular character and the protagonist, as they had consistent importance together throughout the whole series until the change of POV in the Marley arc (so for 80 chapters), but it may have as well happened for real.

With Levi dead or out of commission most probably until the end of the story - and so he will never meet with Eren again to have one of their usual talks - and with Eren in the middle of probably the last fight of the story where he will almost certainly die, I can see closure for Eren only in regards to his friends of the 104th. That’s also where the main focus of this whole arc has been. No closure for Levi re:most of his “bonds”. And again, in Eren’s memories in ch120, we see a shot of Levi from the Female Titan Arc, even though Eren and Levi had other relevant conversations down the road. Couple this with Levi’s flashback of an Eren from their first meeting in volume 2 (?), and I get the feeling Isayama has no intention of making them relevant to each other ever again. He decided to 1. make Levi’s character about revenge - and I’m curious to see what he will do with Levi, because he has already punished him for it so I’m waiting for a conclusion - and to emotionally separate him from the main cast, and 2. to make Eren a solo player who may have absorbed Levi’s teachings in (maybe) the wrong way, but his mentor won’t ever be there to confront him about it, because it’s not important as long as Armin, or someone else among the 104th, will act as Eren’s moral compass.

And it is kind of disappointing. It feels like wasted potential and abandoned character development. But I’m also biased about it.

–

tl;dr:

1. Eren has stopped talking to everyone in his group of friends after talking with Yelena. Levi is the one who feels the most distant in such group prior to that.

2. The fact that Eren hasn’t opened up to Levi about certain things could be: a. because we still haven’t been shown this (but I gave up on it, as new important memories were highlighted in ch120 and Levi’s not part of them); b. Eren doesn’t believe Levi has answers for him anymore or that his opinion is valid, as following the Serumbowl fiasco (but there is nothing that supports this in canon); c. Isayama just doesn’t feel their relationship is important to the story anymore.

3. My personal opinion is that Isayama just decided to take a different route with them singularly, in particular axing Levi’s character, and they will never be relevant to each other ever again.

[unequippedwit]

An Informal and Incomplete Essay on One Fangirl’s Feelings and Descent into Mo Dao Zu Shi

So, if you’ve even glanced at my blog of late you’ve noticed a lot of dolphin screeching in regards to a series called The Untamed/Chén Qíng Lìng/陈情令.  Or, something else called  Mó Dào Zǔ Shī/魔道祖师.  (Hint, they’re mostly sort of the same thing as The Untamed is MDZS’s live action drama with a whole ass stable of attractive).

Someone on my dash had done a recommendation list of things that they had watched and enjoyed and I made the glorious mistake of looking at the summary given, shrugged my shoulders, and said “Why not?”.  I proceeded to change my entire life simply by turning on my PS4, tap-tapping my way to YouTube, and settling my behind in my easy chair where the cat and my knitting proceeded to fight for space.

I’m not going to say how many hours total that I’ve spent to watching/listening to the various adaptations (the 50 episode drama, the 23 episodes released of the donghua, and the first season of the audio drama), or reading the manhua, or reading the OG novel, but, I am going to say it’s a lot.  Yes, I’ve calculated it and no I’m not telling.  Oh, hecking heck it is a lot.  And, considering that I’ve only really been into it since the beginning of August, well, even I’m impressed and I know how I can get in regards to hyper-fixation.  I’m so glad that I have also dragged my BFF along for the ride.

I can say with some confidence that a part of the reason why I have done a full sprint down into this magnificent madness, as I cackled with glee and mass binge postings of gorgeous fanart, memes, and Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan’s faces, is that I was semi-floundering in the MCU fandom and post-release of Endgame, even more so.  There had been a lingering sense of fatigue and this was needed.  The fandom, for all that it is a fandom with its own faults and no fandom ever escapes them, is refreshing and new and a joy in a way that the MCU has been missing for me for quite some time.

Now, as to what actually kept me engaged I’m going to cut, because there’s A LOT and it’s going to get long folks.  And a smidgen spoilery.

On the surface, the plot itself is simple.  A supernatural who-dunit and where-is-it, a large and eclectic cast of characters, with two main leads who fit the one goes by-the-book and other is a renegade trope to perfection.

Then the series actually starts with the MC’s horrorific violence filled death, a bunch of vicious gossip, and someone waking up in a body that sure the heck ain’t theirs.  Simple?  Not so much and that’s just the first chapter.

And, oh, god, the characters in this series are just everything little ol’ me could want.  Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian have catapulted themselves to I STAN levels in my hierarchy of Favorite Fictional Characters and even secondary characters make me cry/scream/laugh/*insert every other emotion* on a level I haven’t experienced in a very long time.  I would die for Wen Ning, any version.

In this cast we get several sets of foils and a whole host of morally grey characters.  No one, with the possible exception of the Juniors in the present timeline, are not guilty of at least something.  Our protaganist, Sunshine Idiot Genius Hero Wei Wuxian has caused the death of 3000-5000 fellow cultivators, dug up countless graves, and risen the dead at a level that’s, well, not been seen by me in any sort of fictional setting that has necromancers.  Look, I like stories with necromancers.  He is also someone who doesn’t hesitate to do what is right, loves his family and his friends, and a lot of the above actions were in direct relation to him wanting to protect those that are precious to him.

With such a set of complicated characters I get a whole murderboard worthy set of complicated relationships and often complicated motiviations that make me want to cry tears of emotion.  Wait, no, backtrack that as there is no want, I have cried tears of various emotions as something else is discovered or thought about or I see someone giving me some good, good meta to chew on.  Yunmeng Twin Heroes being one potent source of me wailing, “MAH BABIES” while clutching at my face is a good example.  Jiang Cheng is such a misunderstood character.

Know what relationship is both complicated and not at the same time?  WangXian.  As in the relationship between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian.  As in the romantic relationship between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian.  As in these two Idiots wandered off and got married at the end of the novel and fucked by the side of the road for their first time and we learn that our strong and stoic Hanguang-Jun is one kinky motherfucker and Wei Wuxian is really that guy and doesn’t shut up during sexy times.  Considering that he doesn’t shut up during the rest of the time, it shouldn’t be that surprising, but, really, the man is missing a filter.  Look at the exasperated Xiao Zhan videos of The Untamed BTS where he’s complaining about the number of pages he has per scene.

But, it took time for them to get there.  It took years of hardship and anger and miscommunication and death, including Wei Wuxian’s in the beginning, to get them to the point that they are.  I won’t wax poetic about Lan Wangji, other’s who word better than I have already said so many good things about how he is fundamentally a Good Person and I won’t hear a bad word said about him and the fact that there a number of people who thought he was the villain in The Untamed for a good part of it make me cry for humanity.  Okay, I’ll wax a little poetically about him.  But, the man has his faults.  He’s not very verbal and that can and does cause problems, like leading to Wei Wuxian to believing that he hates him through most of their past, especially as they start hurtling towards the end of his first life.

I know I’m missing a lot, like how there is no true villain of the story other than people being at their worst and allowing that to lead so many of their actions.  But, really, I’m just going to go back to screaming about WangXian and sharing memes.  Oh, and a few recs because the writers in this fandom?  Fucking Aces all around.

<u>Fic Recs</u>

Five Times Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng Had a Civil Conversation, and One Time They Didn't by tabulaxrasa      Summary:  *Does what it says on the tin*Wei Wuxian's life is almost perfect now. There's just that one, angry, purple hole in it. If only there was some way to fix it.(There is. It's using their words.)     Reason I love it:  The relationship between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian is almost as important to me as the the one between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji and this gives me hope that there is a future for the two of them at the end of the novel.  That things can get better, never back to the way that it was because too much has happened, but they can reach a Good Place and that’s everything really.

Monotone by Seredemia

    Summary: Wei Wuxian died. Wei Wuxian died and he never came back, not after thirteen years, or a hundred, or a thousand. The year is 2019 and Lan Wangji is still here, having reached the highest point of cultivation that has gifted him with immortality. It's supposed to be a gift, an honour, yet to him it's nothing but a curse.

Wei Wuxian is dead, and life is colourless. Lan Wangji ghosts through time, simply living each day in monotone.

That is, until he meets a man who has the same face, same name, same smile as Wei Wuxian. Suddenly, there's colour and hope back in his life—but it's not long until he realises Wei Wuxian in this timeline has not escaped the sorrow that plagued his past self.

Maybe history really does repeat itself after all.

     Reason I love it:  It’s epic.  Not only in length, but in how everything is put together.  The past parallels the future in all the right ways with certain things coming together to make me cry happy tears as I clutch my cat in my arms.  And, let’s not forget Lan Wangji and his haircut.

Perfectly Arranged by Mondengel

     Summary:  Three nights before his wedding to an omega from Yunmeng, Lan Wangji meets Wei Yuandao.

     Reason I love it:  I have a fondness for ABO.  I’ve long stopped being ashamed of my enjoyment of it and I love even more when I find an ABO that gives me arranged marriages that stay so true to the characters.  Even just this little slice of life, gives us something close to the actual meeting of Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian and it makes me so happy that their happiness is well and truly implied at the end of this.

Now, there about a thousand other things to be read that one should when it comes to this fandom, I’ve only thrown a few grains of rice to show what has been feeding my appetite, but, no seriously.  The fic is so good guys.  I think I’m actually going to start throwing up recs on the regular because gaaaaahhhhh and I’m going to go read some now that I’m done word vomiting.

[the-desolated-quill]

We Need To Talk About James Gunn - Quill’s Scribbles

This could prove to be the most controversial Scribble I’ve ever written on this blog, and the sad thing is it really shouldn’t be, in my opinion.

First off, a couple of disclaimers because I know some people are going to accuse me of ‘bias’. I’ve never been very fond of James Gunn as a filmmaker, it’s true. I thought the first Guardians Of The Galaxy movie was okay at best and I absolutely hated the sequel, but I confess that’s less to do with any inherent flaws in the films themselves and more to do with the fact that I just don’t like Gunn’s style of humour. Oh don’t get me wrong. There are still legitimate problems, which I’ll go into later when they become relevant, but I’m big enough to admit that my dislike for his brand of comedy and storytelling is merely due to my own subjective tastes (the same is true of Taika Waititi and Thor: Ragnarok).

Okay. So. Let’s talk about James Gunn.

As I’m sure most of you know, in July 2018, an alt-right conspiracy theorist called Mike Cernovich unearthed tweets made by Gunn between 2008 and 2012 where he made offensive jokes and remarks about sensitive topics such as rape, child abuse and paedophilia. While James Gunn did apologise and vowed to ‘do better,’ Disney, fearing the public backlash, fired Gunn as director of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 and dismissed him from any role in producing and expanding Marvel’s planned ‘Cosmic Universe.’ The result was the public backlash Disney were trying to avoid in the first place. They received a lot of criticism from various entertainers and filmmakers, as well as many media outlets such as Collider and The Independent, the cast of Guardians wrote a letter urging Disney to reconsider their decision with Dave Bautista in particular being very vocal in his criticism, and there was a massive outcry from fans who petitioned for Gunn to be rehired. Guy Lodge, writing for The Guardian, asked the question ‘Was James Gunn the first undeserving victim of Hollywood’s new zero tolerance policy?’ Now I’d argue the answer to that question is a definitive no, but apparently, and surprisingly, that’s not a very popular opinion among liberals. So I’d very much like to challenge them as we explore James Gunn’s moral character and ask ourselves why he’s being defended so passionately.

Before we go any further, I think it would be a good idea for me to show you some of the tweets that we’re talking about, just to remind everyone what we’re dealing with here.

Now I hope we can all agree that this is objectively disgusting. Only an amoral, depraved and utterly moronic individual would find offensive tweets like these even remotely funny. But I should make it clear that, by James Gunn’s own admission, these tweets represent who he was rather than who he is. In his apology, he described himself as a ‘provocateur’ during the early days of his career, making shocking statements for the purposes of ‘satire.’ But it’s okay because he’s a better person who has grown and matured fully and will never do this again. Fair enough, you’d think. He admitted what he did was wrong and apologised profusely. That was a very honourable and decent thing to do.

Except we’ve seen this song and dance before.

In 2012, roundabout when Marvel announced they were making a Guardians Of The Galaxy movie with James Gunn directing, an old blog post of Gunn’s resurfaced entitled ‘The 50 Superheroes You Most Want To Have Sex With.’ The original post has since been deleted, but cached versions still exist here and there around the internet if you know where to look. Here are a few quotes from said blog:

[on natasha romanoff, the highest ~debut] “considering she’s fucked half the guys in the marvel universe, that’s quite a feat”

[on batwoman] “i’m hoping for a dc-marvel crossover so that tony stark can turn her; she could also have sex with nightwing and still be a lesbian”

”Many of the people who voted for the Flash were gay men. I have no idea why this is. But I do know if I was going to get fucked in the butt I too would want it to be by someone who would get it over with quick.”

Needless to say, this was quite offensive and causing bad PR, so James Gunn issued an apology:

“A couple of years ago I wrote a blog that was meant to be satirical and funny. In rereading it over the past day I don’t think it’s funny. The attempted humor in the blog does not represent my actual feelings. However, I can see where statements were poorly worded and offensive to many. I’m sorry and regret making them at all.

People who are familiar with me as evidenced by my Facebook page and other mediums know that I’m an outspoken proponent for the rights of the gay and lesbian community, women and anyone who feels disenfranchised, and it kills me that some other outsider like myself, despite his or her gender or sexuality, might feel hurt or attacked by something I said. We’re all in the same camp, and I want to do my best to make this world a better place for all of us. I’m learning all the time. I promise to be more careful with my words in the future. And I will do my best to be funnier as well. Much love to all – James”

Sound familiar?

Now of course it’s unfair to judge the man based on past actions that he himself apologised for. What matters is the present. Whether or not he has demonstrated to a reasonable standard that his work has grown and matured and that his offensive idiocy is a thing of the past. So let’s look at the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies.

While the first movie received critical acclaim, a few people (particularly fans of the source material) complained about how Gamora was treated. The so called ‘most powerful woman in the galaxy’ was reduced to a love interest, an occasional damsel in distress and there were a few odd occasions where she was objectified and degraded based on her sexual history. The most prominent example of which is when Drax describes her as ‘a green whore.’ The context being that he was ignorant of how offensive he was being despite trying to compliment her and call her a friend, and this was played for laughs in the movie. The second movie has more examples. Gamora’s role still paled in comparison to the role she played in the comics, and a new female character called Mantis was introduced whose power level from the comics was also significantly reduced for the movie and whose character was effectively reduced to be a punchline/punching bag. There’s also a scene involving Drax where he frequently describes her as ugly, saying that "when you're ugly and someone loves you, you know they love you for who you are. Beautiful people never know who to trust." Again this is played for laughs. Except I’d argue that an adult man constantly fixating on a woman’s appearance isn’t even remotely funny. 

Another disturbing aspect of the Guardians 2 was the way it seemed to romanticise and excuse abusive relationships. Obviously there’s Drax and Mantis, but the biggest example is Star Lord and Yondu. The first movie did a reasonably good job establishing what drew Star Lord and Gamora together. They were both trying to escape from abusive father figures. The second film does a complete U-turn, calling Yondu Star Lord’s ‘David Hasselhoff’ and giving him a gratuitous and overly sentimental funeral as though he were a noble hero. While I’m sure the death of Yondu would emotionally impact Star Lord to a certain extent (he did raise the kid after all), to say that he’s like ‘David Hasselhoff’ because he’s a better dad than Ego the Living Planet was seems like a very low bar to clear. By that logic, Hitler was a good person because he didn’t kill as many people as Stalin did. It’s tone deaf, lacking in nuance and just a little bit insulting.

Bearing all this in mind, has James Gunn grown and matured since the period between 2008 and 2012? That’s for you to judge. I’d personally argue he hasn’t. Sure he’s no longer as extreme or provocative as he once was, but that’s not necessarily proof that he’s matured. Rather he’s just gotten better at hiding his immaturity. And in my own subjective opinion, based on his work, I think Disney made the right decision in sacking him. Now let me be clear, I don’t think Disney sacked him in order to take a moral stand as a lot of the problematic elements in the Guardians films have carried over into other MCU films. Gamora is still treated like shit in Avengers: Infinity War, and Thanos, who, like Yondu, was clearly established in the first Guardians movie as an abusive father figure, has been woobified and turned into a kind of sympathetic anti villain who actually cared about his daughter and only killed her because he had no other choice (as opposed to, you know, because he is a maniacal despot who’s a few Oompa Loompas short of a chocolate factory). The reason Gunn was fired was because of bad PR. Disney had dealt with this shit before in 2012 and they weren’t prepared to deal with it again, so they dropped the baggage, as it were. It’s a very common occurrence in Hollywood. Which is what makes the public backlash against this decision so puzzling to me.

I can understand being upset that the director of your favourite franchise has been fired, but can we try to get some perspective here? What happened to Gunn is nothing unique. This kind of thing happens all the time. A filmmaker does something controversial or has been revealed to have done something controversial in the past, the studio sacks them in an attempt to save face and everyone gets on with their lives. The situation with James Gunn is no different. The only reason I can see why people are so passionately against this is because of how these tweets were unearthed in the first place. Because the discoverer of the tweets, Mike Cernovich, is a member of the alt-right, the liberal community seem predisposed to dismiss this out of hand, which I think is incredibly dangerous. Okay, yes, Cernovich is a Nazi and almost certainly didn’t do this out of the goodness of his heart, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. It doesn’t change the fact that the tweets still exist and that they’re still incredibly offensive. And all the things I’ve heard people say in defence of James Gunn sound very similar to things the right would say about the likes of Brett Cavanaugh and Donald Trump. ‘It was x number of years ago.’ ‘It’s not relevant to who he is now.’ ‘He’s changed.’ ‘You can’t judge someone based on their past mistakes.’ I mean... come on guys! Either everyone should be held to the same standard or nobody should be held to standards at all. You can’t just change tact just because the person in question has the same political ideals as you. What are we saying? It’s okay for liberals to hold conservatives accountable for past actions and behaviour, but the right can’t do it to the left because apparently it’s not as funny when they do it? It’s classic ‘them and us’ mentality and it’s got to stop.

So, why am I bringing all this up, you may be asking? This happened over six months ago Quill. Aren’t you a little late to the party? Well a couple of days ago, it was announced that Warner Bros and DC Films had hired James Gunn to write and direct a sequel to Suicide Squad.

Well... sequel isn’t quite the right word. Apparently it’s more along the lines of a reimagining. Titled ‘The Suicide Squad’, the film is going to follow a whole new cast of characters and effectively start from scratch. No doubt this is part of WB and DC’s attempts to salvage the DC Extended Universe after the critical and financial disaster that was Justice League, as well as a response to people’s criticisms of the previous Suicide Squad film.

Writer/director David Ayer’s version of Suicide Squad was... let’s be charitable and call it problematic. Many people criticised the film for being misogynistic, borderline racist due to the one dimensional characterisation, and particular outrage was directed toward Ayer’s attempts to romanticise the relationship between the Joker and Harley Quinn. So it’s quite ironic that WB and DC are relying on James Gunn - James Gunn?!?! - to fix Suicide Squad when similar criticisms have been made toward the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies. That’s like hiring Harvey Weinstein to investigate sexual harassment claims.

And do you know what the funny thing is? We’ve been in this exact same situation before. In February 2017, news media started to report that WB and DC were eyeing Mel Gibson, the Oscar nominated director of Hawksaw Ridge and professional arsehole, to direct Suicide Squad 2. I even wrote a Scribble on it then. I heavily criticised WB and DC for caring more about snagging an Oscar nominated director to bolster their failing franchise than about holding certain ethical standards of decency within the industry. Oh, sure, Gibson has said many sexist, homophobic and antisemitic comments for years and has never at any point showed any hint of remorse for the amount of offence he’s caused, but he just made a good movie about Spider-Man fighting in World War II, so it all balances out, doesn’t it? We’re good, right? We’re cool. Gibson’s cool now. Yeah?

And now here we are seeing this play out again. James Gunn, a man who has said some incredibly offensive things over the years, is being hired by WB and DC to helm a new Suicide Squad movie and conveniently ignoring all the problematic shit surrounding him because he’s the guy that made those sci-fi films about the talking raccoon. People love those films. Let’s get him on board.

I’m getting so sick to death of actors and filmmakers getting away with shit and avoiding the consequences of their actions. James Gunn and his offensive tweets, Mel Gibson and his shitty behaviour, Kevin Hart and his temper tantrum when he was expected to apologise for being a homophobic prick. And the few times there are consequences for said actions, people of influence within the industry end up undermining it. WB and DC hiring James Gunn so soon after he was sacked by Disney, and Ellen fucking Degeneres ringing the Academy and persuading them to let Kevin Hart host the Oscars. Thankfully, and to his genuine credit, Hart turned it down, but seriously, what the actual fuck Ellen?! You’re LGBT, aren’t you? Why are you giving him a free pass? Do you have short term memory loss like the fish you voice in Finding fucking Nemo? Jesus Christ!

Finally, to people saying that Disney treated James Gunn too harshly for the tweets, may I remind you that when ‘The 50 Superheroes You Most Want To Have Sex With’ resurfaced in 2012, Disney still kept him on! He still got to write and direct two Marvel movies before finally getting the sack. And he was in talks to lead production in all future ‘Cosmic’ Marvel movies going forward before the resurfaced tweets made that impossible. Too harshly? I think he got off extremely lightly, frankly. I think he’s grotesquely lucky he’s still got a job at all. Let alone a job where he continues to direct tentpole blockbusters. For someone who was treated ‘too harshly’, he’s sure done alright for himself, hasn’t he? He’s not Oliver Twist begging movie studios to give him a film, cap in hand, ‘please sir, may I have some more?’ His position hasn’t changed one iota. That’s what we should be pissed off at. Not that he’s being unfairly punished. That he’s not being punished enough roughly seven years after the fact.

So what should we take away from all this? That we need to hold everyone accountable for their past actions and behaviour, regardless of whether they share our political beliefs or whether they were involved in films we actually like, and that the industry needs to do a better job of upholding the consequences of said actions. And regardless of whether you thought Disney were right to sack James Gunn, it cannot be denied that WB and DC handing the keys of another profitable franchise over to him so soon after this controversy is an incredibly irresponsible thing to do.

[annimusdebbysblog]

Rittenhouse Gains the First Heir Developed Personally by David Himself

Posted by u/annimusprime 1 hour ago

My thought out idea is to make myself 'an OC' 'original character' that I was destined 'had recently discovered' a backup plan that David Rittenhouse placed at a house that I had visited in the present day, an ‘Estate Sale'. I later investigate the paraphernalia I had found at the sold house that the sale was active at. It occurred at Germantown Tennessee, where I live nearby.

I learn that it was breath taking to take into my own hands, the potential power that I could have picked up and seal for David's will and testament. It was a valve, something you'd find at a laboratory, a decorative glass container that was of the essence which David put together with his own blood and energy 'that he believed' was connected to his being and future heir, meant to be land in the hands of the one' so the scroll that was set with the valve, states.

Sounds more like a chance of a lifetime, to lead a bunch of disorganized individuals 'a secretive group' into the master plan for their future. To walk with the master's selected person who was intended deliberately 'positioned in such away. This was done to avoid not making an indefinite mistake in that endowing of a person with such a high position, so what an honor for my feet to be standing before his eyes, one day.

Do you guys remember how the power ring chose a person 'uniquely' fall into the hands of the most unexpected person, the idea from Green Lantern? It's arranged spectacle Allowed the chiming clocks that filled the on-going Estate with noise that immediately began ringing through the halls and rooms of the house, the moment I slowly drink the carefully mixed juice that was in the small valve, after removing the small top 'lid'. It soon seems to sound like pacing tones of patternized music after some while, after listening closely to each chime of the various clocks.

Oh? I forgot how the eventual discovery of these special pieces were erected, to obviously I picked up a small clock key, that I tried in a few of the abstract looking clocks. This key however, was different than the others I've found in some of the rooms. I observed that the key was filled with semi-precious stones 'jewels', that glamoured in the light when it reflected off the lamps and outside window. I was moved inside 'emotionally' becoming enthused that I had identified a possible important key.

I tried attempting to match it with the proper keyhole in a large, but eye aspiring clock, that looked so origami like, especially when it opened before my two wondrous eyes. It felt at the moment, thrilling and gave me a slight brisk feeling down my spine. Once it fully opened, the reveal of what was inside, curdled my heart rate with pure excitement. It was like a box of treasure waiting for me to make a clear landing for it. It was meaning for me to drop in and take it without concern of anyone being concerned of who was in that room and what that person 'me' was doing.

I collected the two-hundred-year old sentimental wealth, most that to David in this case, besides myself. I felt even more like afterward, once leaving the room behind me, just upon closing the outlandishly sizable artistic clock, to attempt leaving the house, without telling anyone of what I just trampled passed that cold, but fair sunny day. When I was driven home 'our pleasant house' the same day, honestly the old clock in the great 'living room' started chiming when we stepped into the house to rest 'relax ourselves'.

Though after four hours, the chiming of the old clock on the piano top stopped, and dead silence filled the room even pausing 'muting' the sound of the television that was on during the same time 'for several lengthy seconds'. To my attention, this experience thus far felt fascinating and somewhat suspenseful when coinciding with the all those clocks and the amazing 'mysterious' tiny fortune I divulged.

Later on, I began reading the scroll 'rolled parchment' again and realized that the pre-existing home owners of that house must have protected and implemented enough respect to not open this family fabergé clock that might have been an heirloom 'passed down through their generations'. It was so fantastic looking, that clock should've settled finally for its last home, a museum, like the Smithsonian, for example, who are those that preserve historic commodities.

I also wondered additionally, that the previous owner of these unparalleled finds, was equally setup so that one day, a person could determine whether to open the clock or not. I felt 'guessed' from evidential knowledge that from the source of the scroll, about how David directly and specifically intended only one inherent person to be fully responsible and knowing of his plan involving the situation with the novelties.

His plan was frank and discerned that since I opened the clock, which maybe I wasn't supposed to be the one to do so, as it could have been originally planned that another person should have, who wasn't there at the time. There really is not telling who it should have or needed to be, for the person who suddenly was slapped in charge of everything, as David must've dreamed about and wanted. One statement, that if translated from French, says that the person who opened both the scroll, not in David's hands, and drink the formula, that he made 'concocted' serum, assigns without error, that person to be the new heir leader of Rittenhouse.

Yes, the person based on the scroll's rule, is certain with definition, states that a person is considered chosen, with the human empowerment to have enough nerve inside 'I'd suppose' to manage and run the next directive 'strategic' force 'endeavored with goal' to reach the next step ahead. I must be that person, the scroll says, the person selected therefore by the clock, aka David, appears that is, make no mistakes that I was mis-elected for this job and opportunity.

This knowledge I grasp is that the family withholding this secretive clock in their house, were too frightened and overwhelmed to touch or interact with this piece of history, and encrypted inside 'tremendous power' for the world's future, or at least America’s. I was still in awe, with thoughtfulness, yet deeply intrigued to have uncovered such an exhibit.

So, am I supposedly gonna replace or 'I'd pray work along with' as a probable right hand, like a lieutenant or a first officer, to David? That's a huge and jump of the latter of positions for just anyone, like me. I think it's my patience and ability to take everything into one thought at a time, and then spread it out to see all the details. I take too long than average to figure out how to solve difficult cases, like a conscientious detective mentally looking at all the data and analyzing every aspect and structure of each 'normally ignored element' to pursue solving it.

Anyhow, I also along with that, felt it a little too good to be the mere fact of what this might simply be represented by. All the fixation on who is needed to rule the organization and how it is administrated. I felt if this is the action the Founder was willing to take, rather than appointing someone for the job by one-on-one choice for the stature of importance. This means that these people as a whole were losing for a couple of hundred years and need 'desperately' a naturally talented and faithful, loyal individual to be in command.

*Rubs numb hands together* Right, maybe I'll figure out how to meet David in person. Discuss 'one-on-one' about this situation. I agree to help, but only under circumstances that make rational sense, despite unnecessary confusion that may turn out misleading or show deception to what appeared to be legitimate material, decides the strange drink. I had been personally bothered by why the organization had exerted a desperate move, like this. The only reason that resolves explanation would meander around the idea that they've been losing 'trendily' missions so often.

[ellehletoile]

About me as a writer

I was tagged by @itsalwaysmiyukikazuya​!! Thank u darling <3

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

It actually comes from my first ever nickname I used when I started, you know, the internet thing. It was awful so when I grew up a bit I renamed myself. (It’s funnily also the first sound of my actual name). 

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (Bookmarks/ Subscriptions/ Hits/ Kudos) 

How To Crush is the one with most feedback in all fronts. Still impressed, if I’m honest.

3. What is your AO3 profile icon and why did you choose it? 

Iwaizumi being great and handsome, because you know, Iwaizumi, being great and handsome.

4. Do you have any regular/ favorite commenters? 

There aren’t really any regular commenters? Although I do cherish all the comments, because I know it’s not usual to actually leave them (and they are for the most part the most beautiful things ever). 

5. Is there a fanfic you keep going back to read again and again? 

Not at the moment. I haven’t been reading much fanfic lately, but I do have some authors I usually go back to when I feel like reading something I’ve already read. 

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked? 

4 suscriptions, 34 bookmarks. 

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most? 

I honestly don’t have an specific AU? I love trying new things, new settings and new environments where I can put the characters. 

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (You can view this on the stats page). 

Bookmarks 438, Subscriptions 78

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it?

Not really? If I don’t write something is usually because I don’t feel myself prepared enough to do so, but I don’t tend to restrict my writing by third parties’ hypothetical opinions. (At least not yet, anyway).

10. Is there anything you’d like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Omg, everything? I feel my style is pretty awful lately (as in, I have no decent style at all), I should practice more to develop stories through characters actions instead of forcing stories into characters, English vocab (this is pretty important lol), character development and construction… and so on and on.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often? 

I don’t usually write rarepairs? I do have some but I don’t feel ready to write them (SuguTora, I’m staring at you), so I basically go to the popular ships (Iwaoi, hello?). 

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day? 

16.

13. How many stories do you have saved in/ with your writing program? Like wips?

7, plus random ideas I will probably never write.

14. Do you write down story ideas or just keep them in your head? 

Usually keep them in my head, till I decide is time to write them.

15. Have you ever co- authored a story? 

Nope.

16. How did you discover AO3? 

My best friend and tumblr, of course. 

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3? 

Hell no.

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers? 

I don’t.

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write? 

Inspired? A ton. Fanfic writers are amazing, and reading them pushed me to write again after years of barely doing so. Encouraged as in actively pushing me to write, not really? At least not that I can recall. I do have a lot of support from the discord chats and my friends, though.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author? 

Write what you love, write what you like. Write for yourself. Be kind to your own creations, love them no matter how “bad” or how “much better” they could be. Don’t compare yourself to others, let them be an inspiration and a challenge. Be gentle when your words don’t come out the way you want them. Read all those writers you admire, and then read those you don’t, and then read books you would have never read. But most of all, write whatever makes your heart sing and your soul feel weightless. It doesn’t matter if your prose and style are the most amazing thing out there, if you don’t love what you put on paper, love will never come out of the page. 

21. Do you plot out your stories or do you just figure it out as you go? 

I do the latter most of the time and it’s a mistake I’m trying to fix. I always end up stuck somewhere, and end up not finishing anything. I’m trying to outline the samurai AU i’m writing so this doesn’t happen (and I actually finish it).

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do? 

Not a bad comment per se, but I did have some “demanding” comments that pissed me off a big deal. So I just… ignored them. I thought of answering them explaining the entitlement of asking more of me is wrong, but I felt it’d been pointless, so I didn’t.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (Action, smut, etc). 

Action probably. Dances are hella hard as well. Also fluff? As in, “I’m gonna write fluff.” I suck at writing fluff consciously.

24. What story(s) are you working on now? 

Two secret santas and Iwaoi Samurai AU.

25. Do you plan your new projects before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

Man, I have so many ideas at the same time. I’m too impatient to actually wait to finish stuff before starting a new thing.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself? 

Writing everyday is the goal.

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started? 

Yes… at least I hope so.

28. What is your favorite story that you have written? 

If we are speaking about stories in general (not fanfic) I’d say the retelling I wrote of Momotarou last year. If it’s fanfic, then How To Crush, for it was the first fic I wrote purely out of love and it’s hella dear to me. 

29. What is your least favorite story that you have written?

I don’t really have one? All of them are good and bad in their way I guess? I can’t really pick one.

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

Writing, hopefully. At least participating in various contests, maybe even publishing in lit, magazines? (and with at least two novels finished, HOPEFULLY).

31. What’s the easiest part about writing?

When I have figured out a character, just writing them and letting the story flow. I’ve found out that the simplest of ideas can be the most rewarding when you have a direct connection to the complexities of your character.

32. What is the hardest part about writing?

Being gentle to oneself, letting the words fill the page without judgement. Honestly, I need to stop correcting/editing before the story/chapter is done.

33. Why do you write?

I write to live my reality and to escape from it. To learn, to teach, to experiment. Writing is a door to half of the truths I hide inside, truths that aren’t always worded or even conscious. I write because every story is a part of me, and because every story is independent of me, and because sometimes I just want simple things life can’t provide, so I have to make them up myself. Sometimes I write because I need to understand, and sometimes I write because I don’t. 

I tag: @cheetahleopard @amajikies @allykat023 @flydeku. It’s, of course, optional, and really, whoever wants to do it, feel free!!

[tann-dom]

This is the only post that’s going to be on this blog regarding Con/crete

(If you don’t want to read a giant wall of text regarding my feelings about this in full detail, there’s a TL;DR version of it at the end for those who simply want to know how this situation will impact this blog and S/U-related content on it in the future.)

So, like a lot of people, I wasn’t happy with what I saw.

It was ugly, hurtful, disrespectful, and uncomfortable, among many other things that can be said and have been said about it, including, yes, racist. It was all of these things just in its own right, without any other context needed. But those feelings felt amplified even further considering it was attached to this show that preached love, diversity, and acceptance, and it came from a group of people who I and many other people believed to be loving, caring, and understanding; people who stood against the kind of thing this image represented. And as much as it hurt to see them come under fire without completely knowing the context behind this, it hurt even more to realize that there was a certain level of understanding as to why they were coming under such a huge level of scrutiny. And even though it didn’t have the same level of impact on me personally as it did to the people who were actually being stereotyped by this drawing, it still hurt me to see their pain and how they felt personally betrayed by people whom they trusted and by this show that they enjoyed.

Despite all of this, however, I still wanted to wait for an explanation from the crew/niverse before I came to a decision regarding my personal relationship with the show. Because I still wanted to know the complete context behind this picture. I wanted to know exactly what it was, what the process of making it was, what was going on through the people responsible’s head(s) when they made it. And, selfishly, I did want an admission of wrongdoing in regards to this whole situation, from the character’s creation to her inclusion in the art book. Because as much as I despise racism and other similar base levels of discrimination that involve treating certain groups of people as sub-human, I do feel like there’s a difference between someone proudly spewing all kinds of hateful garbage without any sense of care or remorse and someone who has insensitive thoughts or ideas without realizing that they’re wrong and why so at the time. I’ve personally seen myself in both categories on various issues to various degrees in different parts in my life, and I find myself fortunate to have been able to grow from these experiences and from understanding marginalized people better, so that I would be mindful to treat them well, like they should be, and not to do or say anything to hurt them in the future. That being said, I felt that if the crew could display this same level of mindfulness, I could come to forgive them, and hopefully many other people who were offended by this could, as well.

That brings us to now, where we have an explanation from La/mar Ab/rams, the artist who drew Con/crete, as to what the process was with creating the character, being careless with aspects of her design, and acknowledging how that carelessness led to a hurtful depiction for this character. He also mentioned that the person who wrote the description for the character also apologized and admitted to being careless, not realizing the negativity that their words could provide until everything was already unfolding. In addition, Rebe/cca Su/gar acknowledged how Con/crete invoked racist stereotypes and took responsibility for the art’s inclusion in the book, despite not being any part of the creation process of the character. Both have apologized and seemed to show a clear understanding that this was wrong, from the carelessness involved from the character’s creation, to its inclusion in the art book, to understanding why this character invoked these feelings from so many people in such a strong way.

I understand that this isn’t going to simply go away. It happened. It’s there. It can’t be taken back. Even though they’re going to remove Con/crete from future publications, it doesn’t change the fact that Con/crete was drawn, had this description written about her, was put in an art book, and upset countless people. Some people will be satisfied with the explanation and apology and will be able to carry on with their lives as normal. Some people will be scarred permanently and won’t feel the same way they did before this again. These feelings can’t be controlled, nor should they be controlled. It’s how we come to understand these situations better and learn from them in the first place, which is what we need to do in order to better ourselves as people and as a society, and hopefully reach a point where these levels of discrimination don’t exist and we can all accept everybody for every aspect of their being, as far away as such a point in time may seem. And it’s more important to listen to these feelings and try to understand them rather than try to change them so that they can fit our own personal mindsets to our satisfaction, without ever letting our understanding of these thoughts evolve to any higher point.

As for me personally, with my outlook on this situation, my feelings, and my personal experiences; the only thing I can see fit to do regarding a group of people who did something wrong, understand that what they did was wrong and why, and express desires to do better as a result of what they did; is to accept their apology and give them a chance to be better as a result of this situation. Because I feel that this is the best way to allow them to understand feelings like this and learn from what they did wrong, as opposed to stagnating their words of regret and making them feel like they can never move past what they’ve done.

That being said, I will continue to watch this show and express my enjoyment of it on this blog. If you’re okay with this, then I’m glad to know that you understand. If you would rather not see anything regarding this show anymore because of what happened, then I respectfully understand and recommend you take any actions needed to avoid it on my blog, whether that would mean blacklisting any tags regarding it or unfollowing me altogether if necessary. If you see me as a lesser kind of person after reading all of this and don’t want anything to do with me, all I have to say in return is that I sincerely wish you the best of luck in life moving forward. I never had any ill intents of hurting anyone when I decided to make this post. All I wanted to do was express my personal feelings regarding this issue to the people who take the time to follow what I do here. Hopefully I’ve made those feelings clear and we can move forward together in a way that works best for everybody involved. I still love this show, and I love the team that’s creating it. I want there to be more shows like it, and I want there to be more people willing and able to create these shows, and do so successfully. With all the wrong that’s come out of this situation, I hope that doesn’t stop any progress towards this goal in the long run, because I believe that having these kind of shows in the mainstream will help mold the world into the kind of caring, loving place I feel like it should be, even if only by the slightest bit.

TL;DR, I wasn’t happy with Con/crete, I understand that there are a lot of strong feelings about the issue, including those that I can’t hope to comprehend, but after seeing people behind the character and the show explain the situation, admit that what they did regarding the character’s creation and her inclusion in the book was wrong, and apologize and strive to be better for it, I’m willing to forgive them. For those of you who can’t do the same, take any precautions you need to take while avoiding content from this show, as I plan to stay invested in it for the foreseeable future.

To those of you who read this, thank you for your time. Hang in there, lift your head, move forward, and take care. <3