#if you want to explore a relationship you can write fanfics nobody will stop you

[jayskai]

i love when people turn character analysis into fucking fanfiction (sarcasm)

[nym-wibbly]

On your AO3 you wrote The pieces I'm proudest of are the Broken Wheel series (Once Upon a Time) and Madness for Two (Doctor Who).

What made those two series stand out above others for you if it's ok to ask?

It's completely okay to ask!

Those stories are the ones that turned out on the page looking something like the vision in my head. They were relatively quick and painless to write, probably because they're so contained compared to my long fanfics, but also because I threw away some of the self-imposed constraints that make writing harder (if ultimately more likely to be attractive to a wider audience). They're more self-indulgent and removed from canon than I normally go for as either writer or reader.

Broken Wheel explores a Dark Castle-based romance for Belle and Rumple without really digging into the pitfalls of their relationship. They desire each other and they go for it. As a canon-divergent AU it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but as a fairytale take on OUaT's twist on a fairytale, it's kinda fun. It's quirky because Belle and Rumple are both quirky characters capable of becoming lost in each other to the exclusion of everything else. They spend the story exploring what's possible on their terms and - to deploy a phrase I didn't yet know when I wrote those pieces - matching each other's freak. I think it was the first time I wrote Rumple's POV, which I don't find easy or comfortable compared to Belle, so I'm proud of how that turned out.

Madness for Two is similar in a way - short, contained, smutty with feels, showing POV's I usually avoid because I find them hard. Self-indulgent, quirky, prioritising the Doctor/Master 'ship and smut over the more complex realities of their canon relationship. I wrote it for the 50th anniversary of the Master's debut on DW so I wanted to avoid really diving into the morality of it all and just celebrate my love for the characters. As with Broken Wheel's Belle and Rumple, I wrote Thirteen and the Master (and the subplot with Twelve and Missy) in an obsessive, claustrophobic, and quirky collision of personalities. Nobody matches freaks like those two!

In this case I added a MacGuffin to stop 'em actively fighting for five minutes so the story could work, not so much to enable the smut (though it was nice to do that for the Master's birthday - they've been jonesing for some quality Doctor-time in my head since the 1980's!) but to force their POV's to deal with the antagonism and intensity of their bond in words. I wanted them to describe each other as intimates and, in doing so, throw a light on themselves.

I intended both Broken Wheel and Madness for Two to be character studies first, smut second, love story third. The DW piece throws in angst and hurt comfort too, because that's my fave playground. I played with tone and voice and imagery more than I usually would and - on the whole - was happy with the results. I enjoy reading these stories back, actually seeing the story instead of the flaws in my writing/things I'd do differently now I've learned that bit more.

Lastly, they're actually finished pieces and not WIPs that keep me awake at night listening to the unfulfilled character voices in my head! I've always hoped to add a third piece to make Broken Wheel a trilogy, but it doesn't need it if I never can. I've never quite found the right narrative voice for it, maybe because it wants to be told from Belle's POV while the first two are Rumple's. It's a cute enough story from her POV, but I'd like the set to match and haven't yet figured out how to do that.

[centi-pedve]

When you take whatever the fuck is going on with Ahospice seriously it serves to create a very interesting dynamic at least in our eyes... as an insane person...

We're pretty sure in any reading of Ahospice's gender that isn't Cis Woman (and we have yet to meet someone who headcanons that) this applies because minus that interpretation, Ahospice would be very explicitly trans and/or gnc which is nothingsauce overall but considering how he's antimedicalist and specifically aligned with the whole Karen/Anti-Vax Mom archetype that's like. Insane to us and we know nobody else gives a shit but this is our blog and we give so many shits

It doesn't take a genius to configure that antimedicalists tend to be conservative aligned and that reads in Ahospice's character. And the specific type of antimedicalist that Ahospice is parodying tends to overlap quite significantly with TERFs.

Nobody that Ahospice aligns himself with would want to talk to him, much less want to be represented by him. So the way that Ahospice would interact with the world would be heavily affected by the fact that he ultimately belongs nowhere, ESPECIALLY not with the people he's parodying. Combined with just the way Ahospica looks, Ahospice as a person and not as an ideology comes off as inevitably isolated.

Also the fact that Ahospice handles a Molotov to destroy a pharmacy ⁉ like undeniably Ahospice is a lot more than just an anti-vax Karen stereotype (not like the expansion was intentional, lmfao) because while that is his foundation that fact that his gender identity is incredibly unique among the cast in regards to how it would affect him and the fact that he's destructive to a similar level as how anarchists are portrayed gives him that extra spice that makes him so much more fun as a character... and whenever we fuck with certain aus particularly ones that involve the cast in the real world more, Ahospice always ends up being a character whose relationship with himself and the world around him is so damn hard to portray because he's fucking weird and makes literally no sense and we LOVE HIM FOR THAT

These are all things that most people are aware of but don't really like think about or care about because Ahospice is a joke character first and has feminine ass hips second and it kind of stops there. and like we dont blame em LOL we're just fucking ill and anyways maybe we should write like. fanfics or something. and explore Ahospice more outside of the baseline because the way his character comes together gives him so much potential even within mundane ass scenarios. but it comes down to like. how much can we write about Ahospice before we get sent back to the institution

[aristocratic-otter]

Get To Know Me

Thanks for the tag @cutestkilla, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe and @angelsfalling16. This looks interesting!

Under the cut for length

Relationship status: Married and I just had my 25th wedding anniversary. So married for a long fucking time!

Favorite color: kinda depends on the use! Silver is my first response, but to wear I like jewel tones and for decorating I like ocean colors. So all over the map, but I can definitely say I love color!

Favorite food: My family likes to joke that everything I eat is cheese and bread. Grilled cheese, pizza, quesadillas, macaroni and cheese. I've got the palate of a five year old. I do love popcorn and chocolate though!

Song stuck in your head: If it gets stuck, it's almost always something from Hamilton. Shit's catchy, man.

Last thing you googled: "Jacob's Inn, Oxford" for a fic, but you'll have to wait and see which one.

Time: 11:41 pm

Dream trip: The British Isles. So much of the history I love to explore is found there. I come from a place where the oldest house is probably fifty years old. I want to stand in a place where the history is reckoned in thousands of years, not tens of years.

Last book you read: Just relistened to Boyfriend Material in prep for the new book coming out. There's a lot of that going around, I've noticed 😏

Last book you enjoyed: Same. I mostly read fanfic these days.

Last book you hated reading: I'll probably get a ton of shit for this, but it was Song of Achilles. Not because it's sad. That's a perk, honestly. I just couldn't get into it. The writing style was too dry and unemotional for me. I still have it on my dresser to finish, and I probably will because my daughter got it for me for Christmas, but I'm not looking forward to it.

Favorite thing to cook/bake: I'm not much for householdy things, but I do love cooking pancakes. There's something aesthetically pleasing about waiting for the bubbles to form and pop and finding the exact shade of golden brown on the other side.

Favorite craft to do in your free time: I've been trying to learn origami without much luck. I'm not particularly crafty, but I do love scrapbooking, I just don't have time for it.

Most niche dislikes: Onions. It's a constant trial because nobody believes that I can actually hate onions that much. They hit my Autistic texture squick and I hate the flavor, so it's a double whammy. But most of the people in my life think I'm a drama queen for constantly questioning wait staff about the onion content of the food on the menu.

Opinion on circuses, now and in history: Hmm...I enjoy the idea of them, the circus life. I like reading stories about it. Historically they're pretty horrific, but the idea of a life on the road, free of care except for caring for each other...it's pretty attractive. I've seen both Ringling Bros circus and Ka from Cirque de Soleil, and they are quite the pretty spectacle, but not something I seek out in my life.

Do you have a sense of direction, and if not what is the worst way you’ve gotten lost: I inherited my mother's shitty sense of direction, but I'm self aware and use directions apps constantly, so I seldom get lost. That said, I definitely have a getting lost story, though my husband was driving. We were driving to Bear Lake, Utah in midwinter because that's when I had time off. It started snowing as we drove up the state of Utah from St. George, and never stopped. The roads got slippery and icy, and we're Californian. We don't know how to deal with that. So we drove like snails, and therefore didn't arrive at the turnoff to our resort until one am. Now, the road to the resort was a single lane switchback and it was coated with snow. We couldn't even see the lane lines. We stopped and my poor husband spent half an hour out in the freezing weather to put chains on our tires and then we inched our way down the mountain in utter terror. We arrived at the town of Bear Lake at past two in the morning. NOTHING was open. We drove to our resort; they'd told us there'd be a key waiting for us in the box outside the office. We drove up a driveway covered in unbroken snow and found an office, and a box, but no key.

At this point, we were shivering in insufficient heating in a tiny compact car, me, my husband and our three year old son, and we were facing having to maybe spend the night in the car until something opened. We drove around the property several times until we realized there was a different office and found our key. Then we drove to the block of rooms, and dragged ourselves, our luggage and my kid through the snow, past every downstairs room and couldn't find one with our room number. All of the upstairs rooms appeared to have employee names on them. We circled the building. I was crying, the baby was wailing and we were all exhausted and terrified. Then we found that there were a couple of upstairs rooms that weren't set aside for employees and one of them was ours.

It was the closest I've ever felt to dying, honestly.

Funny thing is, that trip on our return found us passing through a hundred-year flood in Utah, where half the city of St. George was underwater, so this trip definitely gave me years of stories to tell!

Tagging some friends! @artsyunderstudy, @bazzybelle, @carryonsimoncarryonbaz, @fight-surrender, @fatalfangirl, @facewithoutheart, @johnwgrey, @krisrix, @moodandmist, @otherworldsivelivedin, @giishu, @frjsti, @ivelovedhimthroughworse, @penpanoply, @prettylightsbigcity, @palimpsessed, @subparselkie, @tea-brigade

[kitausuret]

There are some fics I am really proud of but don't have a lot of kudos and such on them. So here are some of my personal favorites I've written, all under 50 kudos:

"Sick Day", 2k words, rated G

Flash Thompson/Venom Symbiote, the symbiote gets sick while they are in space, feelings and such ✨💕 Space Knight adjacent

"One Day at a Time", 2k words, rated T

Venom Symbiote & Carol Danvers, GotG/Space Knight era, reconciliation and such - also a little bit of venomflash. As a treat.

"Entre Nous", 1.5k words, rated T

Planet of the Symbiotes era adjacent, now that I have read Clone Saga in full there are probably things I would change about this but overall I am still really happy with it. Married PeterMJ, sharing a bed with Venom, Ben Reilly walking in on them sharing a bed with Venom... it was just a lot of fun you know?? I can and will set up an ot4 nobody can stop me.

"Stray Cat Strut", 1k words, rated T

Peter/Felicia, symbiote suit Spider-Man but like. Before he knows it's a symbiote. Symbiote pov because that's fun!!! Also Peter being just kind of the worst boyfriend but I really like them trashing Fisk's things and dancing over those broken, expensive things.

"Whatever Shape You May Take", 1.7k words, rated G

Eddie/Venom Symbiote, Flash/Venom Symbiote, and yes of course the symbiot3. This was actually a symbruary prompt about the three forms the symbiote often takes, and god I had such a good time writing this. Explores San Francisco era, Space Knight, circa Venom vol. 3, and some nebulous time in the future in space.

"Can't You Show Me the Light?", 1.2k words, rated T

Eddie/Venom/Flash, more just musings on each other and their collective relationship than anything else but this is probably the one fic in this list that is closest to my heart because I was SO HAPPY with how it turned out despite writing it in like. A day. Focuses on how they see each other, literally and figuratively.

"Black and White and Neon", 1.1k words, rated Explicit

Anti-Venom!Eddie Brock/Frank Castle, I have really no reason to like this fic except that I do and it makes me laugh. Adjacent to "New Ways to Live" and a lot of comics that were really not that good, but I wanted to write a fic where Castle says "fuck" a lot and is extremely grumpy about everything, up to and including sex in a sleazy motel.

"We See Through a Glass, Darkly", 7.5k words, rated T

616/Sony crossover, Eddie/Venom, background Sony ot4 - okay technically this fic has over fifty kudos but I am SO happy with it I literally cannot pass up an opportunity to talk about it. I can and will have 2 Eddies and 2 Venoms in my fanfic and they WILL meet and they WILL talk about things that 616 Eddie doesn't like to talk about, like having support groups and the importance of having balance in one's life. I'm sure the fact that it's a crossover probably scared away a lot of people but I just really like this one okay. I do.

So yeah, some of these fics have kinda gotten buried so I figured I'd self promote a little bit, just because I can. And trust me, seeing kudos or comments on a really old work is NEVER a bad thing because all of these fics are very near and dear to my heart!

[amagicalmoonlight]

Since I know people are going to leap on your question and simply present pro-shippers as if they're kinky freaks who want to fuck their brothers and think murder is romantic, please allow me explain a little bit of fandom history and the modern applications of the terms.

'Pro-ship' is actually more accurately described as 'pro-fiction,' however the term developed from the acronym SALS, which stands for 'ship and let ship.' In the very early days of fandom, when online communities were just beginning to bud, so too was the more 'mainstream' progression of fandom and shipping, which was and still is a huge component of fandom space.

'Anti' used to be a prefix, not a standalone noun. It was always used in conjunction to whatever the person was against. 'Anti-Destiel' and 'anti-star-trek' and so forth. Because things like NSFW content and darker content were still kept to specific, enclosed, private spaces, the notion of being an 'anti' was applied almost exclusively to certain ships, fandoms and characters rather than a collection of tropes, qualities and content.

However as fandom spaces grew and evolved, so too did the type of content and how more 'mainstream' specific content became. People grew less wary of sharing more 'taboo' ships such as antagonist/protagonist or tropes such as whump/whumpee. The creation of AO3 was a huge stop for this, because sites like Fanfiction.net and LiveJournal had previously been the only spaces available for fanfic, and they were known for routinely purging certain types of content.

Naturally, anyone who was disliking of or against X thing was outspoken about it, and in some cases it would devolve into arguments, harassment and discourse. It was a clash of opinions, perspective and personal morals. While pro-shippers do believe that fiction and reality run parallel to each other, they do not believe that fiction inherently aligns with or accurately represents an individual's beliefs, actions, moral dictations or attractions.

So for example; its similar to believing that an actor who is portraying a rapist in a movie isn't actually a rapist or interesting in rape in real life. Or that George R.R Martin isn't actually interested in copious amounts of incest and murder; he simply used them as components of his books.

Antis believe the opposite, and usually often believe that specific types of content should not exist at all, or should only exist under specific, usually personal criteria. Such as only victims of abuse can write about abusive relationships. 'Anti' has evolved to become synonymous with being against anything that is morally grey/taboo/opposed in real life. Such as incest, ships with unhealthy dynamics and tropes such as ABO.

Now obviously there are bad people on both sides, and both terms usually vary according to the individual's beliefs and application of the term, but to summarise:

Anti Believes that X type of content is abhorrent and shouldn't be created, and that fictional content is a direct reflection of the creator. Some 'antis' with more extreme beliefs use harassment and threats in order to attempt to stop creators from producing content.

Pro-shippers Believe that fictional content is not a direct reflection of the creator, that such content can and should exist so long as proper precautions are taken to safeguard viewers, and believe that nobody should be harassed or threatened for their fictional content and consumption. Some more extreme believers suggest that even if the content does reflect the creator, as long as they only explore it in a fictional capacity, they're not harming anyone.

Holy shit this is a long ass ask, lucky for you anon I’m not one of those pretentious that go “too long, didn’t read” and will reciprocate to the answer you gave takin in notice the previous answers I’ve also received to this question.

First off thank you for the clarification of “anti” I do think it should be specified as a prefix of a word, cause simply saying for example “you’re an anti” it leaves confusion as to “anti-what?”. That’s why I personally wrote “antiship” on my question.

No idea What “whump” means though and I’m scared of googling it, I trust you anon, if you do get my answer, to possibly explain the term?

Fiction obviously doesn’t specifically align with the authors own morals. The purpose of antagonists and villains is to be the opposing characters that rival our own morality, and just cause a story has an antagonist doesn’t mean the author agrees with them.

On the other hand I’ve seen some people say (and even received some individual proofs of) anti-shippers believing that fiction doesn’t affect reality or that fiction only reflects reality and not the other way around, which I completely disagree with. Fiction and reality are a constant reciprocation of consequences, reality inspires fiction and then that fiction affects reality. The effect of stuff like Jaws and the trope of torture in detective media are great examples of fiction affecting reality.

As you seem more familiar with anti ship spaces and ideals anon, is it possible to explain if these ideals about the effects of fiction to reality just mentioned are common in anti ship spaces or just a minority?

I’m a bit personally torn on the idea of wether some types of content should or shouldn’t exist at all. And that’s as much as I can say unless further prompted.

———

The answer as to wether I would classify as an anti shipper or pro shipper differentiates on the definitions I’m given and becomes even harder to classify the more detailed a definition is or the more abstract ideals are put into a singular label.

For this I have decided not to label myself as either, if any of you want my opinions on a specific topic, you can ask and I will answer if comfortable.

But I suppose to leave some of my opinions here:

positive depictions of abuse, large age gaps, incest, etc, are harmful and should not be made.

With that in notice, exploring these themes either as coping, analyzing spychological aftermath of the victim, inform and educate the public of their harm, or so fourth should be allowed given the media provides proper warnings and so on.

That’s all I can think of saying right now but I’m probably missing a ton of stuff, if anyone is curious about any of my opinions on these types of things you’re free to ask so I can clarify.

[cosmiclatte28]

#12 Lay by Your Side (Taeyong x you)

Twelfth day of Christmas (the last one!)

Lay by Your Side (Taeyong x you)

 I do not own pictures, but I own the stories :D. It’s the last day of the project and although the header doesn’t really fit the theme, it’s too cute!! I gotta do it lol 

Before reading I want to thank you all for reading this much :D I really appreciate your time and everything else you give for this 🥺🤗💖 ily all! Here we go

It’s another new year, a new chance to start the things you missed last year, a chance to fix your mistakes, the time for you to learn and grow from your past self.

You rest your eyes from watching the picturesque scene laid before your eyes. The blue green endless ocean that meets the horizon, the bright sun shining above your head and of course the sight of a book cover you can see when you raise your head.

You’re enjoying the last day staying in a bungalow at Hawaii before duty and responsibility call back. With your boyfriend, Lee Taeyong, relaxing on the long couch while reading his newest novel and your head is resting on his strong thighs.

The gentle breeze coming from the ocean through the window is enough to almost drive you to sleep, along with Taeyong’s slender fingers slowly stroking your hair as he focuses on his story, you can’t hold back the sleepiness hitting your body.

You yawn and feel his fingers leave your hair, only to hear a page flips and his fingers are back, stroking your hair calmly while sometimes applying a bit of a pressure to your scalp. You exhale and relax your shoulder, feeling even drowsier now.

“Yong-ie” you mumble with your eyes closed, you’re bored seeing the cover.

“Hmm?” he asks you back, his head didn’t move, his book is still in the same place and you bet his eyes are not stopping at all from those lines.

“Fun part?” you ask him the chapter he is reading, well it’s not like he is ignoring you the whole holiday to finish that book. No, he was treating you so well and he just continued where he left off today. You understand if he wants to add a few more pages before he is back to his tight schedule as an idol.

“Quiet exhilarating, why? Need anything?” he asks finally pausing and putting aside the book so he can see your face.

“Glad I can finally see your face, not that boring book cover.” You grin and he leans in to kiss you.

“Sorry, let me fix my posture a bit,” he pulls his body that has been slipping down the couch and you yelp when you feel your head forced to meet his knees.

“Whoops, sorry” he picks you up from your neck slowly and helps you return to your position.

You giggle when you realize he’s still sweet even after he did something so clumsy. You flip your body so you’re resting your arms on his thighs as you cup your cheeks. You’re laying on your belly between his legs. (I really hope you can picture this)

“It’s okay, what are we going to do after this?” you ask, sending him a subtle hint you’re wishing to be able to do something else in this good villa before going home.

Taeyong smirks “Want what? We’ve explored everything around here, we even went swimming this morning.” He rubs circle with his thumb on your slightly tanned shoulder.

“Didn’t you have enough tan already? I cannot go tanner than this even if I want to, my stylist will kill me.” He chuckles and you nod your head “I know, I mean if I want my skin to be tanner, I’ll do it by myself. But-“ your breath hitched when you catch his red shiny lips in your sight.

Taeyong follows your gaze and realizes where you are staring at and he licks his lips when he caught you staring “Eyes are up here miss,” he teases you and do the regular “see my eyes here” finger gestures.

You gulp “Sorry,” and you focus your eyes to see his. His dark eyes are twinkling as usual but today with his messy hair he didn’t look cuddly at all.

You secretly snake your arms around his torso and bury your face into his chest before snuggling closer to his body if that is possible.

“Woah, careful can you breathe?” he asks when he sees you plant your face to his torso, you nod “Perfectly fine.”

He giggles and reaches out his book to continue where he left off. He peacefully hold his book on his right hand and his left hand is back to stroking your hair and now touching your skin too slightly grazing over it with his callouses fingers.

You did not know you fell asleep while hugging him. The soft snore coming out from you is what makes Taeyong stop reading his book.

He marks his page down and puts it aside. Slowly without waking you up, Taeyong moves your head so at least he can see your pretty face and ensures himself you’re not suffocated.

The man smiles down lovingly and gently places a kiss on your temple, he lets go when he feels your body stirring. While leaning back to the sofa, Taeyong watches the endless blue horizon that meets the sea. A small smile tugs his lips when he remembered the night he confessed his true feelings to you.

Taeyong always says he is a man with the heart of the sea, yes the sea because it is deep and mysterious. Though some of his friends say that may be interpreted in a wrong way, he met you and you bravely answered him with “And I am a fearless adventurer, who’s not afraid of the deep and mysterious sea. Guess we matched.”

He cannot hide his happiness away when his ring finger sparkles while stroking your hair and getting caught in the golden sun ray. With memories playing in his head, Taeyong plays with the metal ring on his hand. He always wears it everywhere he go, even to music shows!

Taeyong keeps his promise ring on his hand no matter what, no matter how hard the stylists tried to make him put it down just for the sake of the wardrobe and cameras. He always find a way to sneak it back on or just go to a long ass bickering of ridiculous things like

“It is my lucky ring… my mom said to never take this off…. Hey I might lose it….” And others even silly ones. But in the end, he did it. He always brings that small part of you with him, to remind him you are his and he is yours. He’s glad you’re not the type who gets jealousies instantly or even put needless curiosity over him.

Instead, Taeyong is more protective of you. He knows your past with your boyfriends are not good, especially the ones that secretly date another person, or just the abusive ones who are obsessed to have you. Taeyong acts protective because he didn’t want any one of them to hurt you, but you just smile and tell him “Thank you Tae, but trust me I can keep myself safe.”

And for three years of dating, you proofed yourself to Taeyong that you can take a good care of yourself. Saesang fans have gotten through your way before, but you can finish it off with a cold head and cold heart. You talked to them nicely, explaining that no it’s not a relationship. Well to you and him this is already beyond relationship, both of you are committed already and slowly taking steps to marriage. The fans asked your apology and you told them you won’t make a fuss if they keep quiet and also stop being a saesang.

You even asked them to join you for a drink and they open up to you, you learnt they became this wild  because they crave for attentions they couldn’t get. So, you give them the attention they needed. Every month, you make a small gathering for that group of fans and they even bring more fans too and you just reveal yourself to be a nobody. They didn’t really mind who you are, they’re so happy to see that being a healthy fan is way way way much better.

You never tell Taeyong about that secret project, he only found out about it when a fan came to him during fan sign and told him everything. Taeyong went home that day with fascination, he told you about the story and he even praised the creator of that event.

You teased him “So you wanna marry that person?”

Taeyong on that day giggled and pulls out an “are you insane face” “Hell if I am not committed yet, I might ask that person out.”

You nod your head “I’m gonna tell you, even when you’re committed you can do that.”

He shakes his head “No way! I am not going to hurt you. I was just talking nonsense.”

You just silently walk to his back and hug him “Will you still say no when I show you who runs that project?” you show your phone to his face and swipe the photos you took from each event.

He went speechless and when his soul is back, Taeyong gets down on one knees and proposes without a ring. But that spontaneity and the air that night, made you nod your head. The night and the promise were sealed with a warm passionate kiss.

He bought you the ring two days after it, because he asked the jeweler to crave names inside.

It was a beautiful memory and you’ve passed the event on to another friend you trust can handle the lonely fans. You disappear from media because slowly Taeyong and you will be coming up to the agency and open up the hidden stories, though you both don’t know when.

He wants to marry you once the agency gives him the green light and of course after both your parents and his agree. Though he knows the latter part will be easier than the first one.

“So, are we going up this year?” Taeyong mumbles to the air, he is not actually talking to you for he knows you’re sleeping.

But even in your sleep, you unconsciously nod your head and give him a reassuring face he always gets from your face whenever he is in doubt.

Taeyong brushes your hair away from your glowing face and leans in once again to seal his lips with yours. “I love you (y/n), to infinity and beyond.” He whispers and seals your lips one more time.

end

thank you guys for supporting me, this is the last story for the 12 days of Christmas fanfic project! ;D I am happy you all are enjoying this and I just want to wish you all a happy new year!! May all your goals be achieved this year 

See you on another story :D

I love you all!! Thanks for being an amazing friends who want to read my small writings 💖

Christmas masterlist completed

[sauvreng]

This isn't actually an ask, but I would feel uncomfortable sending a message since we didn't have a prior interaction. I just want to say, I was new to the fandom and just read your fanfic, I love it really. I reread it from time to time. Favoring kurokura ship is scary sometimes, some fans hated the ship so much they would attack the shippers. So I'm delighted to find fans like you who openly supports it despite the odds.

hello, thank you for writing. i'm sorry if this answer is late. tumblr notifs are... inconsistent.

the haters can really be rough to deal with. i've had dav and myself called a few nasty things, but i generally don't let it get to me. i like what i like and i don't really care about the opinions of some random nobodies i've never and will never meet or interact with in my life.

i do however, have a few things to say about the purity movement and what it does to creators so hang on for a while as i rant.

people sometimes confuse "interesting and fun to consume" with "this is what i think is healthy and wholesome". you don't eat fast food hoping for a healthy meal; you don't read fics hoping for well-balanced, woke, aware and healthy characters and relationships. the two are completely unrelated. some may have all of this, but it's not really the norm. that said, don't try the salad at mcdonald's, it is absolutely horrid.

i write what i find interesting and fun to write. and let's be real, all h×h characters are very much in the grey zone. that's what i love about it. we have a culture of black and white, good vs evil, light vs dark. thanks a lot, christianity. but life is never like this. people who attack kurokura shippers seem to conveniently forget that kurapica is also a murderer, that killua has probably personally killed more people than kuroro has (unless you count people murdered by the spiders as a whole, then it's probably reversed).

if you think of it, this black and white thinking is way more destructive to the psyche of everyday people, than shipping a pair that would probably have an unhealthy relationship if they were real people. this black and white thinking makes people believe they are Right™ and therefore everyone who don't agree with them are Wrong™. and how can you have a real conversation, how can you grow and learn and empathize with people different from you if this is how you view life?

no one is good. no one is evil. we all do things that sometimes have positive results, sometimes negative, but most of the time, the results are positive *and* negative.

even this purity movement started with very good intentions and had good results. they pushed creators to be more inclusive, more aware of social disparity and so on.

but still.

kurapica is not "good". kuroro is not "evil". they both are more than that, and that is a testament to togashi's writing genius. all his characters are complex and multi-faceted. it is what makes them vibrant and feel real and helps us connect with them. i would *never* advocate that a real life survivor of mass murder would start dating the person who orchestrated the whole thing (though even that is debatable, if you read chapter 0). it would be absolutely unhealthy and twisted.

but. as characters, it is hella fun imagining how this would happen and what each of them could bring to the other, how they could heal together, how hatred can turn into trust... i'll stop here before gushing about this for three pages.

i mean, i've already gone on a long rant nobody asked for, lol. bc i'm tired of this, not just for k/k but...

i've seen fic authors literally bullied into deleting their fics bc one of their characters dared say something out of line that immediately labeled them "abusive". i stopped reading certain fandom fics bc the entire fandom was like this, expecting teenagers who have lived through extreme trauma to always say the right thing, always be kind and patient and supportive to their partner... and they bullied many authors who dared let them lash out once in a while.

or there's amelie wen zhao who had been so looking forward to publish her first book and was bullied so heavily she cancelled the whole thing. bc she dared portray a social issue from a chinese point of view, wanting to describe what was happening in her country, but people took it to mean something completely different, stolen from the african american point of view. she was literally bullied into abandoning her dreams. that's just so upsetting.

so it's not just k/k. i'm tired of this. can we just agree that stories are stories, they have fun, complex characters that makes one want to understand their psyche and put them in uncomfortable situations to see how they might react, that the stories are a safe and healthy way to explore things you probably don't want in real life?

stories have an impact and i understand that. but at the end of the day, they are *stories*.

[nikibogwater]

Bogwater’s Guide to Writing Platonic Relationships

Have a seat, dears, pour yourself a mug of cocoa, and let’s talk about writing for a bit. Specifically, writing emotionally intense, compelling relationships that are completely devoid of any romantic tension.

“Niki, those don’t exist! The only relationships that are truly intense and compelling are the romantic ones! Everybody knows that!”

*gently bonks you on the head with my magic scepter* NO. This is a common misconception that is perpetuated by media and especially fandom culture. And it stems from this bizarre idea that emotional intimacy must always equate with romantic intimacy. I have no idea where this idea got its start, but if you ask literally anybody who has experienced real, genuine friendship in their life, they will tell you it’s absolute nonsense. Just because you’re not doing the kissy-kiss with someone, that doesn’t mean you’re not emotionally intimate with them.

“But I don’t want any emotional intimacy without the kissy-kiss! It’s boring!” 

Yeah, so, there’s a reason platonic relationships in modern media often feel less interesting than romantic ones, and it’s precisely because of what I said above. Media producers and many fic authors are skittish about showing platonic love with the same level of depth and emotional intensity as romantic, so it often ends up being somewhat watered down and simplified, to the point that it becomes a less interesting relationship. The only thing this does is perpetuate the idea that any and all emotional intimacy immediately implies romantic attraction (it does not) while also devaluing the very real importance of genuine friendship/familial bonds. 

“Okay, but what if I just like romance better?”

That’s your personal preference, and that’s okay! Everybody has their favorite genres and tropes that resonate with them more than others. My personal favorite is Family, Found or otherwise (with a healthy dose of Hurt/Comfort on the side), but I can totally understand if romance speaks to you more. HOWEVER. This does not excuse writers and other content producers from low-key asserting that romantic relationships are objectively “better” than platonic ones. Hard fact of life: Nobody needs to experience romance, and even those who do experience it do so in different ways. But everybody does need to have emotional connections with other people through the bonds of friendship and family. Believe it or not, romantic love is not a universal experience. Platonic though? Everybody knows that one, and everybody needs it to be happy. To devalue it as a whole is to impose a toxic mindset that forces people to experience relationships in a very narrow and restrictive way.

Okay--*steps off my soap box and kicks it to the side*--now that we’ve established that friendship is important and should be given the same value that society gives to romance, let’s talk about a few ways to write intense and compelling platonic relationships!

Emotional Intimacy:

I’ve talked about this a lot already, but just in case some of you are confused, emotional intimacy is just when two people have a very deep familiarity and understanding of each other. They understand how the other’s mind works, and feel comfortable opening up to each other about their own stuff. Obviously, this is very important for any relationship, platonic or romantic, but writers will often limit such familiarity between characters to the romantic relationships. The first step to writing an interesting friendship is to not do that. Show that your platonic soulmates understand each other and are vulnerable with each other. Here are some easy ways to do that:

Character A knows all of Character B’s personal preferences--likes and dislikes, including small things like food, flowers, music, etc. 

A can finish B’s sentences for them. 

A is willing to talk about their feelings when B asks if they’re okay.

A and B trust each other and know the other always has their back

A and B will occasionally reference events in their shared history and even have inside jokes

A will seek B out for comfort when they are upset.

A and B almost never miscommunicate--they know what the other means when they say something, and will immediately notice if the other is acting strange.

A and B can communicate with each other silently, via subtle looks, eye movements, or gestures.

Selflessness:

To quote a grossly over-marketed Disney franchise, “Love is putting someone else’s needs before yours.” This is the simplest and also most accurate definition of love I’ve come across, and it is universal to all kinds of relationships. So in order to make your platonic relationship compelling, you need to show that the characters are willing to make sacrifices for each other--even big ones. Make sure this is a mutual exchange between both characters, because otherwise you risk making the relationship look a bit toxic. Here are a few of my favorite examples of selflessness between friends/family:

Character A willingly puts themselves in harm’s way in order to protect Character B.

A is always ready to drop what they’re doing and come to B’s assistance. 

A and B regularly do small favors for each other without being asked. 

A is always mindful of B’s needs and makes sure they’re taken care of.

A and B always do their best not to hurt each other, either physically or emotionally. 

A is openly very worried whenever B is in danger and stops at nothing to help them.

Affection:

This is the part where most writers balk when writing platonic relationships. “They can’t touch each other!!! That’s sexy and weird!!!” No, it’s not. This idea that any and all signs of affection are exclusive to romantic relationships is toxic, and we need to wipe it from existence. Obviously there are different levels of physical intimacy, and some absolutely are exclusive to romantic relationships. Here’s a list of No-Gos if you want to keep a relationship completely platonic:

Kissing on the lips/mouth/neck.

Gazing deeply and silently into each other’s eyes for long periods of time for no other reason than to simply Gaze.

Doing the Do or otherwise touching each other in an explicitly sexual way (I feel like this one should be pretty obvious. Also wth guys, that stuff is grooooosssssssss 🤢)

Honestly those are the only ones that I can think of that are always exclusively romantic. Everything else requires pre-established context in order to be taken as such. So here’s a list of affectionate gestures that are totally safe for established platonic relationships!

Little forehead/cheek kisses.

Hugs--yes, even prolonged ones. Sometimes friends/family just want to hold each other for a while, and not in a sexy way. 

Holding hands.

Leaning on each other.

Playing with each other’s hair or gently petting it in order to offer comfort.

Sleeping next to each other when circumstances require it (and neither of them makes any fuss over it)

Saying “I love you.” STOP MAKING THIS AN EXCLUSIVELY ROMANTIC THING, PLEASE, FOR THE SAKE OF ALL THAT IS PURE IN THIS WORLD!

Touching foreheads (my personal favorite of the lot!)

Maintaining prolonged eye-contact during moments of sincerity and communication, especially if Character A is trying to tell B something important.

Sweet little smiles, or other such soft looks of fondness

And many other gestures that I don’t have time to go over in this list.

Tip the First: When writing platonic affection, be sure to bear in mind your characters’ personalities and physical differences. For example, if Character A is significantly bigger and heavier than Character B, they probably wouldn’t be tackle-hugging B, because that would risk seriously injuring B. Different personalities also have different levels of comfort when it comes to physical affection. If you’re writing fanfic, it helps to revisit the source material and observe how the two characters interact with each other. And remember: just because two characters aren’t physically affectionate with each other, it does NOT mean they don’t have a deep and meaningful friendship. Also bear in mind that many people have different dynamics with different friends simply due to the way their personalities fit together. Not all of my friendships look the same, and it’s not because of insincerity on my part--I just have different interactions with different people.

Tip the Second: If you want the gestures of affection to really pack a punch, use them sparingly. Save your long, warm embraces for when the two characters finally reunite after a long separation. Have Character A take B’s hand only when they can sense that B is frightened and in need of reassurance. A “First Platonic Hug” scene can be just as sweet and feelsy as a “First Kiss” scene if you do it right! Also, don’t be afraid to talk at length about how a gesture of affection makes a character feel. Describe the warm fuzzies that bubble up in their chest when their friend/family member gives them a hug, wax poetic about how grateful they are to have said friend/family member in their life. Taking time to explore and dwell on a certain feeling should never be strictly reserved for the ones associated with romance. 

And when in doubt:

Observe the professionals. Here are some fantastic platonic relationships from various pieces of media that I take tons of inspiration from:

Frodo and Sam from Lord of the Rings (especially in the books)

Jim and Toby from Dreamworks’ Tales of Arcadia series

Din and Cara from Star Wars: The Mandalorian

Lilo and Nani from Disney’s Lilo and Stitch

So in conclusion:

Listen, I get it. Romance is exciting and cute and sexy and very important in its own right, and society likes to beat us over the head with it these days. But I cannot impress on you enough just how vital platonic relationships are to living a good and fulfilling life. I am who I am today because of the family and friends who have helped me grow. Please don’t disregard it, whether in your writing or in your own life. Cherish friendship. Acknowledge the depth of your platonic feelings for someone. And writers, please don’t be afraid to express those feelings in your work. If we let friendship and family die, I can assure you, any potential for healthy romantic relationships will quickly follow suit. 

[cescalr]

9 and 23 for the ask game please 😊

9: Are there any fics you'd love to see but don't want to write yourself? What are they?

Ooh, um... I'm not sure! Something substantial for Cursed 2005, maybe, like a crossover with buffy or teen wolf or something, with jimbo as the pairing from cursed and idk just something interesting (please no b*angel or st*rek or st*dia), or a time travel fic for Supernatural that involves Dean as the POV but absolutely zero, nada, nothing of (even hints) De*tiel or winc*st, that's 100% a fix-it fic (bc my mans deserved a lot better than that ending smh. And so did Jo, and Anna, and Lisa and Ben and Charlie and Benny and- ).

23: What's one piece of advice you would give to anyone who wants to start writing or posting their writing online?

Hmm... Just go for it? Like, write whatever comes to mind and post it. And keep doing that. Over and over again, because it's all the same thing - practise. If you can't think of an idea, there's no reason not to go trawling for prompts. I've got this list of 200 prompts, can't remember where I found it, but it's really useful if I'm stuck. But yeah. Find some time, any amount of time, whether its 5 minutes or five hours, and write what you can, as much as you can, whether it's ten words or 10,000, or more or less, it doesn't matter. Just get words on screen (or on paper, if you prefer.) And then... post it. If the main issue is getting the courage to post it, don't read back over it. That's when the nervousness rears it's ugly head. Just post it. Straight up. Type right into the Ao3 doc and hit post if you have to, just... find a way to minimise the amount of time you give yourself to get all worked up about whether it's 'good enough' or not. It won't be perfect the first time you write something - nothing ever is. Everything requires practise. And each time you post something, you get better at it. It gets easier. If proofreading is the bane of your existence, just post it and come back later to fix any issues. If titling it is a problem pick a random word or a song lyric or hell, a sentence from the fic, anything at all. 'Working Title | Stiles POV All Human AU Stira Fic', even. Just. Anything. You can always change it later. Summaries an issue? Grab the first paragraph. Grab the first sentence. Put 'Stiles POV all human au, stira focus.' as the summary. Who cares? You. Can. Always. Change. It. Later.

That's the great thing about fic. Changing everything later is possible. Nothing here is permanent. If you aren't happy with something, that doesn't matter. So long as it's out there, you can get feedback (because often, we don't know why we aren't happy with something - outside help is always invaluable). Being scared of criticism is half the problem, for a lot of people... but - not to sugar coat - it's necessary. And, just to note, in my 10 years of fanfic writing, I have never, ever, gotten a single malicious comment. Not. Once. It's much rarer than people think it is. And even if you do, you can always delete it. Put comments on moderation, turn them off, if it's the main issue. Gather your confidence at your own pace - but don't forget feedback is necessary for improvement. Eventually you will need to accept it's going to happen - it's not an attack on you. It's an attempt at help. We're taught in school to consume media critically, and those who internalise that will comment constructively. English class can leave an impression - the worst thing is to take any of it personally. Having a negative mindset (they hate it) versus a positive mindset (they want me to improve at this thing I enjoy doing, they're trying to help, they're being supportive) can make all the difference.

Eventually, you'll need to turn those comments back on. But you don't need to take anyone's shit, hence why moderation is a thing. There is a difference between constructive criticism and hate - but it's rare you'll get the latter. Tone is hard to convey in text form; benefit of the doubt is the best way forward.

Make sure you've got friends/mutuals you can ramble with about your fics. it's genuinely the most helpful thing. Give them snippets, do the whole cheerleader routine for each other. It's great. Brainstorm with each other. Not necessarily doing collaborative fic (though you might find that's what works best for you!) but just, geeking out with each other. It makes a huge boost for your ego, and that's useful for your confidence when it comes to posting things. But also, if you trust them, it makes taking their advice easier.

Sometimes, it might feel like two steps forward and one step back. That's great! It's still a step forward. Go at your own pace. The worst thing you can do is rush yourself and burn out. If it takes you a year to update, it takes you a year. I assure you, the readers will still be there, and they'll be happy to see the update. Nobody's going to hate you for taking your time. Prioritise your health. I promise it makes your work better if you're in a good place, and you don't have too much on your plate.

Though, having said that, if you find you work best with about twenty wips all at once updated every week, then go for it! Like I said; your own pace. If a schedule helps you, have one. If it doesn't, don't. I don't have a schedule. I have about 40 wips posted, and a few that aren't yet. It can take me a year to update, or I'll do four in a week. People are pleased either way - what matters is that you wrote something, and it exists, and other people can read it. Isn't that awesome? You've made something. You've made a mark. Someone's happy because of you, because you wrote something they like. Who cares if there's twenty typos and you use the wrong you're* (*or equivalent in your language, ofc) - you can fix that later. And it didn't stop that person's enjoyment of the first fic you ever posted, which might not be as good as your future fics, but it's still special. It's still yours.

Prioritise the thing you want to prioritise. Plot, relationships (of any nature), whatever. Prioritise that. The rest will fall into place. Personally, I prioritise characterisation. interpersonal dynamics follow, part and parcel of character exploration, then plot, as an extension. Do what suits you. And people don't tend to mind very much about any of these. If characterisation matters to you not one whit, just put OOC in the tags and be done with it. Plot doesn't matter? Perfectly fine! You don't want to write ships? Nobody's forcing you. Do what you want. It's just fanfiction. That's kind of the point. There's no need to feel pressure to write a certain thing. I'm in a lot of fandoms with a lot of very large ships. I'd get a lot more readers if I wrote st*rek, or d*stiel, or whatever, but I don't, because I wouldn't enjoy it. Write what you want to see. What you want to read. That's the best advice I can give. If you cry at your own fic, perfect. If you laugh at your own fic, brilliant. If your own fic leaves you all giddy like, grinning wide, amazing. It's gonna give someone else that reaction, too.

Hits, kudos, comments - they're not everything. Ao3, for harry potter, has 5000 pages of fic, with some of the tags I don't like excluded. It's not a case of people not liking your fic - it's a case of people not finding it. Don't worry. Recognition will come with time. Also, the ratio for fics is kind of awful, anyway. Comments and kudos vs hits is always poor; 2%, 5%, 7%. Don't worry too much about it. If people read it, it's likely they liked it. A lot of people are just lazy, and don't press the kudos button. A lot of people are incredibly nervous, or don't know what to say, so they don't comment. Another thing; some of your fics are going to be more popular than others. This is normal. Fandom size, fandom activity, content of fic, tags - prevalence of fic type, etc etc. One of my fics has around 15k notes. the rest are all below 6k. the runner up is a whole 10k below that fic. This is to be expected, and it's nothing to tear your hair out about. Write, first and foremost, for yourself. The rest, as always, comes later.

Really, tldr; you can always fix it later. the rest comes later. recognition comes later. the best thing to do - the first thing to do, the only thing to do - is just start. Post something. Anything. And go from there however you wish.

In 2016 i had zero subscribers on Ao3. I've got 72 now. These things just take time. In 2016 i'd written 30k words. I've written 1.2 million now. These things just take time. Through fandom, mostly fanfiction, I've gained people I'd consider friends. I think it's a really cool endeavour, and I think - for your confidence, peace of mind, and social sphere - it's also a really positive one.

[panharmonium]

more rambling re: that last post (+ the merlin/will fic survey overview)

because i generally refrain from reading fic while i’m actively writing for a fandom, the only real ao3 reading i have done for merlin is my survey of the merlin/will ship tag.  and the only reason i undertook that survey in the first place is because while i was doing an introductory cruise of the various merlin tags during my first exploration of the fandom (after i finally finished S5 and was able to start looking into fandom dynamics without fearing spoilers), i noticed that a LOT of the fic tagged with this ship was also tagged merlin/arthur, and despite the fact that i personally am more interested in gen stuff, i started to get both suspicious and annoyed about what i was seeing.  but i also wanted to have the data to back up my annoyed feelings, so i made a little spreadsheet for myself and then just filled it in whenever i had time to kill and wanted something to do. 

the data, when i eventually finished, backed up my annoyance pretty much as well as i expected, which was disappointing, but not surprising.

to clarify - i’m not annoyed by the fact that will and merlin don’t have a whole lot of material in their ship tag.  will only showed up directly in one episode; i don’t expect him to be a popular subject.  what i AM annoyed by is the fact that there are actually more merlin/arthur fics in the merlin/will tag than there are fics that actually focus on...merlin/will.  by, like - an extreme margin.

(the rest of this is just me griping about fandom trends.  popping it under a cut so folks can just move on with their days if this isn’t relevant to their interests.)

The Numbers

two quick notes before i get into the nitty-gritty:

1) i originally did this survey a few months ago, but i updated it this week with fics that have been added since then, so the numbers are current.  

2) some of the data below would probably vary slightly depending on who was conducting the survey, so there’s a bit of wiggle room in either direction.  the criteria i had to use [aka what counts as just a ship ‘mention’ vs actual content] would be subject to reader interpretation, obviously, but even with that, i do feel that most stories fell into pretty clear categories.)

so, without further ado -

total # of fics in the ship tag: 145

number of fics that are inappropriately tagged (meaning either will himself or merlin/will as a ship does not actually appear [which is kind of bizarre, but which i saw happen surprisingly frequently], OR where there is only a brief reference to will or past!merlin/will and that’s the extent of their inclusion: 50

number of fics that are duplicates of works already in the tag (ie podfic), or (in one case) a meta podcast about the show: 5

so, that brings down our total number of fics with some sort of actual merlin/will content to 90.

of these 90 works, only 17 of them are actually focused on merlin/will.  

everything else in will’s ship tag, including the 54 works from the previously discussed "incorrectly tagged” category, is either a) fic where will is dumped, broken up with, or otherwise passed over in favor of arthur (and very occasionally gwaine, at least once mordred, once percival, once arthur and gwaine in a threesome, and once CENRED, which i’m sure will would be especially thrilled about), or b) fic where will is only included as a previous/ex relationship (again, almost always in lieu of arthur).  

moreover - of the 17 actual merlin/will fics, 7 still end with will dying or the relationship ending for reasons other than him being passed over for arthur.  an additional 4 are <1000 word PWP snippets, generally written for old LJ summer pornathons, one of which still somehow manages to be...you guessed it - all about arthur. 

in terms of actual one-shots/full fics where merlin/will is the endgame/non-dead pairing, there are only 6 stories.  

i repeat: will gets six earnest stories, IN HIS OWN SHIP TAG.  

i repeat once again: will, in a non-dead, endgame form, gets 4% of his own ship tag.

The Content

the in-fic trends are frustrating, if you actually like this character.

the asshole.  will is an abusive boyfriend.  he is a jealous ex. he’s a shitty friend.  he’s a stalker.  he’s manipulative.  he’s emotionally abusive.  he’s physically abusive.  he dumps merlin for someone else.  he cheats.  in one fic he’s so mad at merlin that he outs merlin’s magic to arthur.  in multiple fics, i watched him literally go off the rails and try to murder somebody.

the fuckbuddy. they’re just messing around, guys!  no, of course it’s not serious!  they just do this for fun!  of course there’s nothing to get in the way of arthur’s inevitable arrival!  no sirree!

the unrequited.  will is actually in it deep for merlin, but merlin doesn’t feel the same.  this does not, however, prevent merlin from using will for sex, companionship, comfort, distraction, etc - until arthur shows up, when will either steps aside in deference to merlin’s all-consuming passion for arthur or is dropped like a hot potato.

“not even will.”  that sentence.  over and over again.  merlin had never felt like this before, not even with will.  nobody had ever understood merlin like this, not even will.   even in fic when they were like.  married.  or engaged.  fanon arthur pendragon must be truly mind-blowing, y’all.

dead long-term relationship.  will was merlin’s husband/fiancé/long-term partner.  now he is Dead.  merlin getting together with arthur is what allows merlin to Heal.  (these stories sometimes contain some variation of “not even will,” as discussed above.)

lastly, in a related phenomenon:

who are you and what have you done with arthur pendragon???   i suppose in a way it’s nice to know that will isn’t the only one who gets the OOC treatment, but it is still really...something, to read fic where will is twisted into an unpleasant, abusive, canon non-compliant version of himself, and then to see arthur, on the very same page, transformed into a gentle, solicitous, kind, caring, equally canon non-compliant angel.  fanon!arthur is more worried about merlin’s well-being than literally anyone i have ever seen.  he is so invested in merlin’s emotional health.  he is so concerned about merlin’s boundaries.  he says things to merlin that no version of arthur pendragon has ever - EVER - in any universe, thought about saying to anybody.  he wants to hear all about merlin’s problems, and he’s all about taking it slow and making sure merlin feels comfortable and loved and worthy and safe (from all that horrible stuff done by that horrible other guy; that must’ve been so hard, merlin; ‘it’s okay, i’ve got you now’) - the man is utterly unrecognizable.  and you know what?  it’s okay!  it is fine to make your characters as OOC as you want.  it is fine to make them better/nicer than they were in the canon.  sometimes we all want that, right?  it’s fanfic!  have a ball.  i will never tell anyone to stop writing what they like, and i will NEVER interact negatively with a fic i don’t care for.  EVER.  do not do this, people - click the back button and move on with your life.   but i reserve the right to be annoyed, in my own space, about a persistent trend of will and arthur’s canon functions being flat-out reversed, in service of merlin/arthur.  not in the sense that canon!will is particularly gentle or sweet, because that’s not the case - but in the sense that will, in canon, is the one who actually cares about merlin’s best interests, whereas arthur is, quite frankly, the ass. a lovable ass (sometimes).  but an ass nonetheless, and one whose relationship with merlin is, from start to finish, an unhealthy, oppressive mess.

The Point

the point of me typing this up is not to say that what people choose to write is bad or wrong.  this is fanfic!  you can write whatever you want.  you can make characters as OOC as you want.  you can create as many AUs as you want.  i don’t mind fic authors writing stuff i don’t personally care for; someone else probably loves those stories!  and i am never going to interact negatively with anything i don’t personally enjoy - i am going to let people continue to have fun in their own ways, and i am going to grumble about my frustrations in my own space, and then i’m going to direct my energy into writing stuff i would personally like to read.

the point is just that i needed a brief second to complain, on my own blog, about my most familiar bbc merlin nemesis (otherwise known as ‘single-ship ubiquity’).  and what i mean by this is that it is REALLY FRUSTRATING that other little relationships are not even granted the tiniest concession of owning their own ship tags, in a fandom that is already so SATURATED with merlin/arthur content.  like - even if i’m generous and use the number 17 for the number of actual merlin/will fics in the tag, that still means 88% of will’s ship tag is actually fic about merlin falling in love with people who aren’t will (*cougharthur*).  eighty-eight percent!  of his own ship tag!  

(to put it another way - the ship tag isn’t supposed to be where you go to watch your character get repeatedly dumped or left behind for someone else, okay?  it’s supposed to be literally the opposite of that.)

will’s ship tag is already tiny.  and almost all of it belongs to arthur.  moreover, a significant chunk of it uses will as a convenient villain (completely contradicting every canon aspect of his characterization), when in the actual story will dies to protect arthur (who he doesn’t even like) and then lies to save merlin (at the expense of his own reputation, and despite the fact that he personally thinks merlin returning to camelot is a bad idea).  his behavior in canon is selfless, and wholly committed to merlin’s welfare, and yet in his ship tag he gets treated like trash.  

the kid can’t catch a break.  and it’s such a pervasive thing that even though i personally am primarily interested in merlin and will as friends (i am pretty romance-averse in general when it comes to media, and i have never written anything that isn’t gen, for any fandom, ever, in my life), i am also so indignant on will’s behalf that i’ve basically become invested in the well-being of this ship as a matter of principle.  it’s not my main thing, and it’s not necessarily how i view the canon-verse, but i am SO IRRITATED about how virtually all of will’s shipfic has been taken over by merthur (and about how maligned will is in his own tag) that i have actively committed myself to supporting merlin and will together in as many AUs as possible.  

(this is basically like when i trained myself to love allison argent after teen wolf killed her off.  i did that out of spite, y’all.  it’s the principle of the thing.)

so, y’know.  all i am saying is that i think will deserves his share of happy endings, and i think it would be nice to see fics where he is not just a stepping stone on the road to merthur or an unrecognizable parody of himself.

more importantly - EVERY merlin ship deserves to have a tag that isn’t completely swallowed by the local fandom behemoth.  merlin/arthur already owns three quarters of the archive.  a gargantuan oil tanker like that can afford to let the little rarepair canoes float down their own streams in peace.

[arlakos]

The problem I realized with Adrien Agreste (and many of the other miraculous characters)

Ok, let me just put a disclaimer here.

I love all the characters in miraculous Ladybug, I really do. I mean, aside from Lila and Gabriel, but really who doesn’t? I think all the characters are cool from both design and initial character standpoints and made you wish we see more of them. 

But just like most of my other posts, I see both good and bad in the show and acknowledge all of it. I like the concepts, but I don’t have to necessarily like all the executions of said concepts.

I’ve been holding off this post for a while due to me wanting to take some time to review the show first and see if there was anything that would have made me change my mind on my newfound stance. But surprisingly, there really wasn’t.

So let me get to the point

Adrien Agreste...Is one of the blandest characters I have ever seen in a show

As with most to all the other characters in the show as well.

(Cue sounds of  betrayal)

“But Arlakos!” you might say, “Why would you think this way? You love Adrien! He has a great personality!”

Yeah, I love him. I love his initial character and I think he as Chat Noir is just amazing. But having watched three seasons of a single show, as well as comparing Miraculous to ANOTHER similar show, I have to address this issue and how it affects all the characters.

So first, let's talk about the show

Spanning three seasons, Miraculous Ladybug, as of this moment has released 78 episodes of this show (also including the Christmas special). In comparison, the show I'm using has released 87 episodes, so I feel that after this long, its fair to now compare the two shows, even with the 9 episode difference.

After watching Miraculous Ladybug for so long, I realized by this point that a lot of episodes in the series are pretty much flash and no substance, along with some ship teasing. I would call it filler, but that's under the implication that there was any plot they were following, to begin with. With each of the episodes bottled into one standalone story, most of the episodes have no impact to each other aside from a few rare few. Season 1 was chock full of this, but it was ok for the time being as Season 1 was used to introduce most of the characters in the show and the world itself. But that has also been the basis for the other two seasons as well, especially those that promised to expand the story of the show. 

But it didn’t. Each of the episodes would occur, their story would end, and any important lessons the characters would learn would be forgotten by the end. The episode and its story would never be brought up again, aside from the Akuma if the person in question was to be re-akumatized again. Maybe it would be brought up in passing, such as Kim and Ondine’s relationship, but truth be told, none of the episodes mattered to the lore or plot of the show. You could feasibly cut out most of the episodes, aside from episodes introducing a new hero, the finales and the first episode of each new season and the show would still work plot-wise.

Because of this format of the show, the characters have undoubtedly suffered a lot development-wise, due to character resets cause of the nature of standalone episodes, most characters not being utilized in most episodes unless its for setting up an akuma, and the overall Marinette focused nature of the show not allowing any other characters to have focus.

And nobody has really suffered more, that the Big Cat himself, Adrien Agreste.

But why though?

To understand this, let's go over his initial character traits

He’s Kind

He’s willing to see the good in people

He’s Lonely and has no friends

He’s a model

He loves Ladybug.

He makes puns (as Chat Noir)

He’s flirty with Ladybug (as Chat Noir)

As you can see, most to all of these character traits are pretty much all the traits  Adrien has shown in season 1. Actually, all of these traits were shown in just the Origins itself which, being the first chronological show in the series, does a pretty good job of setting up Adrien's initial character.

(Also just a quick mid note here, I just realized why the show produced this episode last compared to the others. If this was the episode that came out first, most to all of the other episodes in comparison would just be seen as boring. With the origins being both action-packed and plot rich with its main cast, most of the other episodes would be seen as filler if they came out after this banger of a season finale.)

But going on the topic of later seasons, ask yourself:

What have you learned about Adrien's Character in season 2 and 3?

And when I say character, i mean actual stuff about him. What other stuff does he like? What does he want to do in the future? What does he do when he spends time with Nino? What does he think of other people (aside from Lila)?

Chances are, that unless the stuff you’re pulling at might be from a headcanon in whatever fanfic you are writing, most of you will answer nothing. I mean, sure some people may say that he’s likes games as made evident from Gamer, but that is probably the only moment where we see a bit more of Adrien's character, and again we are talking about season 1, so it doesn't really count

Some people may say that Gorizilla was an episode that explored Adrien's character. While I do agree that it was more Adrien focused than others, and easily one of the best episodes in the show, looking back on the episode, I realized that more or less all it does is show how Adrien is pretty much a Disney Princess more helpless than Snow White. He’s trapped in the house, unable to escape, waiting for a hero in spots to ‘save him’ from his loneliness. Also, it had some Adrienette in it, but again it was just teasing.

(Note: I just gotta say though that Wayhem’s character and growth were just the best. Being just another fanboy at first, he realized his mistake and even stood up to an Akuma to save Adrien, then apologized at the end even though he would pretty much get no reward for his action, becoming an actual character in the process rather than just a background one. The fact that Adrien became friends with Wayhem was just heartwarming for a background character. Despite Roi Singe being a blast, I’m really sorry that they restricted Wayhems character to just being another Akuma in Party Crasher, it would have been nice for Wayhem to be an actual Friend Adrien could talk to outside of school and add more development into the show.)

So back on the Topic of Adrien, we haven’t really learned much about Adrien's character or see him develop in any meaningful way. The only thing we ever see him really do outside of being part of the Squad (Alya, Nino, Adrien, Marinette) is just either pine for Ladybug in his spare time, or complaining about not being able to spend time with his dad. No seriously, look at most episodes where Adrien's at home and that's all he does!

But now for the topic of Chat Noir. I mean, Adrien is trapped as a normal boy, so it would make sense that Chat Noir would be able to develop as a character and show the world he is more than just a sidekick right?

Unfortunately, Chat Noir, just like his civilian counterpart, also suffers from a lack of any meaningful character growth. Shorts vids on youtube aside (which btw should never be used to develop the main characters, otherwise what is the point of the show), we never see him talk to Ladybug in any meaningful way (I mean he does try, but chances are Ladybug shuts him up because (a) she wants to leave and (b) blah blah secret identity)

Basically, he has three different moods.

He flirts with Ladybug, often using puns to do so. 

He’s a suicidal mofo who takes hits for Ladybug, saying its because she's the only one who can save the day (Hot take though, I just think Chat Noir is just the persona of Tumblr that wants to die)

He worships Ladybug and thinks shes amazing, complimenting her on the daily, as well as comforting her and giving her pep talks when shes low.

Other than that, he’s written as basically useless. Don’t expect him to come up with any plans and if he does, expect them to fail (Reflekdoll). Don't expect him to actually help Ladybug and for Ladybug to always say him. If Ladybug is in any way made useless or incapacitated, be sure that Chat will in no way be able to help Ladybug as he will be made to be more useless than Ladybug so that Ladybug has to take care of him (Reverser). Also Chat will flirt at the worst times to show Ladybug is better and more ‘professional’ at being a hero (Prime Queen)

Also Chat Missile

WARNING: Not suitable for anyone under 13 years old. Only use if your a superhero with increased Strength, otherwise it may hurt your back.

These are all the same traits we see in every episode, without change without fail. I mean, in Glacitator Chat promised to stop flirting with Ladybug because she likes another boy, but since characters reset after every episode he went back to flirting the next episode. So yeah, that's it. Next episode

Aside from that, we never see him do anything else, nor have anything as a hero impact him in any way. The only times I have ever seen him be impacted as a hero was 

Syren, where he was tired his partner kept hiding secrets from him (as HE SHOULD), and was about to quit, but reconsidered once Fu arrived and explained some stuff, which bascially set him back to normal, which i guess its fine, but i wish the episode had more of an impact on Chat’s character.

Frozer (where Astruc was making Adrien salt cause Luka)

The Ladybug episode, where he saw a living, thinking duplicate of Ladybug, who had just become free from Mayura and became a hero, killed by said villain, and was just about to have a heroic breakdown and attack Mayura. However, this one was cut off due to Hawkmoth, resulting in Chat going from Heroic breakdown to making puns about Hawkmoths age. Really?

However, despite all that I have said, some of you may still think I am wrong. You may think that Adrien does show more character and that I'm just pulling facts out of my ass. You may think he does show character because of that one ship tease moment that you think qualifies at plot development.

But some of you may also think, why does this even matter? Its called Miraculous Ladybug, the show is about Marinette and Ladybug. Its all about her. Who cares about the other characters? Who cares about Adrien? He doesn’t need character development, we need to focus on Marinette and her making Adrien's birthday gifts for his next 35 birthdays. We should all just stop worrying about Adrien's character. All he should be is just a kind pretty boy for Marinette to idolize and have as a prize at the finale, and for Chat Noir to be useless comic relief while Ladybug saves the day, because she is juuuust that amaziiiiing.

Well first of all 

It’s called Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Miraculous Ladybug is just a nickname used by fans and writers to simplify the name. The name implies that there is another main character, known as... Chat Noir. It's not called tales of Ladybug and Marinette, get with the program.

The show can still focus on one main character but still develop other characters as well. If anyone thinks otherwise, they either have a character bias or don't realize how to make a good show.

If anyone actually thinks this way, well then screw you. Developing a character should not be made at the expense of another character. Chat Noir should not have to be made to be comic relief just because Ladybug is the only one who can purify Akumas.

Secondly (yes I realized that I used 3 points but IDC) there’s another show that is very similar to Ladybug that also focuses on a school girl saving the world with the help of her sidekick male character.

That’s right, I’m talking about ... KIM POSSIBLE!

But to be more precise, I’m talking about its secondary hero... Ron Stoppable.

This guy right here, just in case any of you thought I was talking about the kung fu naked mole-rat.

But in all seriousness though, let's talk about him.

In the series, Ron Stoppable is the partner of the teenage heroine Kim Possible. Just like Chat Noir, he helps KP on her missions, and unlike Chat, is actually seen as a sidekick by the world, including KP.

Then why is it that I think he’s a better Character than Chat?

Well, the thing is unlike Miraculous, the show has a good job of integrating its school and hero stories together, and it helped to explore Ron’s character as well. Sure, he was a clumsy dude who got scared a lot and had an unhealthy obsession with Mexican fast food, but we still got to explore his character.

Just a few small examples:

Most episodes in KP had the fine job of adding stuff to Ron’s Character. Small stuff, but it fleshed him out over time He shows in one episode that despite being clumsy in the hero business, he can cook pretty well! In another episode, he learns he is pretty good at running and becomes a back runner for the football team at his school.

He also gets to have a few episodes where he and his buddy Rufus (the naked mole rat) get to shine despite being a secondary character. He becomes the second incarnation of the fearless ferret (an in show super hero), visits Japan where he gets to learn some monkey Kung Fu, and often times fights villains himself, though this is usually in one of the situations where he gets a one time power up or Kim Possible is not available, but it still showed that Ron could be a hero as well. Hell in the finale, he actually helped Kim Possible as a partner rather than a sidekick.

Now I get that Miraculous and KP are two radically different shows. Secret Identities aside, Kim Possible has a large variety of villains, while Miraculous only has the One big villain, so it's very difficult to have Chat be able to stand on his own two feet while the only thing they are fighting is something only Ladybug can fix. 

But in that regard, this also shows the importance of Miraculous needing more plot progressed the story. Unlike Kim Possible, who’s many villains and overall lack of an ‘ending villain’ can allow for one-off episodes involving Ron and some villains, Miraculous only has the one. Once Hawkmoth is defeated, the show technically ends (future version not counting), so It would make sense that the characters should develop over time as the show gets closer to that finale. 

So in that Regard, what could I do to make Chat Noir more fleshed out?

Honestly, you could add in some moments in the show where Chat noir interacts with Paris. Like maybe in one episode Chat rescues lost cats and takes them to the shelter, or perhaps he works at a cat shelter in his spare hero time.

Perhaps have an episode or two where Chat saves the day on his own while Ladybug is busy or oblivious to the trouble in Paris. Regarding Akuma, I have often considered Chat should have an ‘ability’ similar to Ladybugs that allows him to ‘purify’ the Akuma by disrupting the magic inside the Akuma (the ability being called Disruption), but can’t use it too often without proper training due to the dark energies in the Akuma being too harmful to Chat to use often. That way Chat can occasionally take on a few Akuma by himself.

Have a few episodes where something happens which allows the audience to learn what Adrien/Chat likes. Maybe there’s an episode where he learns to cook desserts, and finds out he’s actually pretty good at it!

I feel the need to add some ideas in because in the end I still love Chat Noir and consider him my favorite character. But I also have to acknowledge this problem because it ruins the quality of the show.

In fact, I think that Adrien's problem isn’t just limited to him, but also to every other character in the show, and even Marinette to an extent.

Going back to the show and looking at all the side characters, it's obvious that looking at them, a lot of them are very one dimensional in their character. We don't learn much about them or their personality, and even when we do, we only learn about them when it's their turn to be akumatized, or if the akumatized person is related to them in some way like in Markov. Once they usually are done, we don't get to see the characters much, unless there is a second akumatization. 

Juleka only became important when she got akumatized twice and aside from that, we don't get to see her much or learn about her. Ivan and Mylene were basically forgotten after they became akumatized. Pretty much no one is affected post akumatization with any sort of trauma or worry, so nothing about the characters actually changes as a result of events in the show.

Even those that do become heroes don’t really get any character growth, they are just considered to be worthy to be heroes because they are good people, but considering the qualifications of good in the show are determined by if you like Marinette, that means pretty much everyone in Marinette’s class could be a hero, aside from Chloe because HEY! SHE DOESN’T LIKE MARINETTE THEREFORE SHE’S VILLAIN!

(God I hate Miracle Queen)

Also, these problems pretty much apply to Marinette as well.

I mean, all the things she does in the show basically comes back to the same simple fact that ‘Marinette is kind and helpful’. That's it.

She helps Jagged getting some glasses, its because she is kind and helpful. Helping her classmates? Kind and Helpful? Helping Kitty Section with Costumes? Kind and Helpful? Helping Adrien? She wants to get into his pants.

(Also because she’s kind and helpful.)

Like, this isn’t bad, but nothing seems to change about her, she goes and helps people as Marinette, helps people as Ladybug, and despite this, is unaffected by the school or her life. What is she going to do post Lycee? How is she going to become a fashion designer? Work as an intern at a fashion company. Work at Gabriel Agreste’s company? Startup her own local business? The show refuses to acknowledge any of these things, despite her being a schoolgirl, because she has more important things to worry about than school. Such as being a Guardian for a box magically bound to her that will take away her memories if she tries to get rid of it.

(God Miracle Queen was a mistake, she didn’t even learn how to be a Guardian yet! )

To close things up, most of the characters in the show lack any meaningful character development, which i can safely say is due to the structure of single-story episodes in a show that has a defined ending (and therefore doesn't work) lack of care for writing these amazing characters, and just the writing in general.

Despite what some people may say about Astruc, it's clear that beyond all that, he’s not good at writing stories and characters beyond initial design, he’d rather go making one-dimensional characters and show off how amazing Marinette is, rather than allowing them to develop in any logical and meaningful way that shows the distinction between earlier and later seasons

Here’s to hoping these characters get some character development in season 4. Even if all we get is Plagg learning he likes milk.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. As always, thanks to the amazing @twin-books​ for talking to me and helping to refine my views on the characters and the show!

[butterflyinthewell]

I’m gonna lose followers. Oh well... a rant by me.

People who harass others about SHIPPING FICTIONAL CHARACTERS are irksome.

Preface: if you say you don’t want someone role playing a NOTP with you or sending asks about it, or you don’t want secret Santa stuff containing it, if you ask people not to suggest fics with that pairing for your fic collections, if you stay out of your NOTP’s pairing tags, if you choose not to interact with material related to your NOTP, if you blacklist the pairing tag and ask people not to tag your fanwork with your NOTP, if you heed warnings and don’t click something with material you don’t like, I do not have a problem with you.

But if you write novel long posts about why a ship is gross to you and tag the pairing so shippers see it, send people hate over their ships, reblog fanworks of your NOTP with nasty messages to the op of the post, if you make a blog all about hating that ship and anyone who ships it, claim it must be grooming, or if you call people pedophiles or abuse apologists because they wrote something morally heinous in fiction that they will most likely never do irl, I’m not gonna have much respect for you beyond you being a fellow person.

Guess what? Shit you hate is going to exist on the internet. If someone tags their work appropriately or tags with appropriate warnings, you should not be clicking on it and harassing them! They have done what is necessary to protect those pearls you want to clutch.

Banning all questionable material is not going to save people who are targeted by predators and criminals.

Calling people pedophiles because they ship a fictional minor with a fictional adult gives actual pedophiles who go after actual minors a hiding place. These days you can’t tell if someone is an actual pedo or got called one over a ship they ship. Pedos are totally banking on that.

Fiction is supposed to break rules and let people explore dark subjects that are morally messed up because you can close a book or close a website if it gets too weird for you. A child with a predator’s hands on them right this moment can’t click an x or close a book to stop it.

Think about that.

No one is forcing you to go read morally messed up stuff. Not clicking on someone’s creepy fic with your NOTP is nowhere in the same realm as turning a blind eye to actual predators predating on someone.

Running someone off a website because your ass is on fire about them writing a pairing you hate or whatever is not going to stop the bad shit happening in the real world.

Predators and criminals will use anything, so someone’s freaky babyfur smutfic that they wrote to troll a fan website in 1999 is hardly going to normalize bad behavior.

I swear some of you insult the intelligence of people with your moral abuse garbage.

Teaching people to recognize predatory behavior and what to do about it will actually help. Teaching people what is and isn’t a healthy relationship will help.

Remember how people called out Twilight for how unhealthy Edward’s behavior towards Bella was? I’m sure a lot of preteen and teen girls learned to open their eyes a bit more. And I’m sure others still enjoyed the books and movies anyway because it’s fiction. It is the job of parents and guardians to teach their children what is and isn’t healthy in a relationship, but the unfortunate problem there is that can fail if the parents aren’t in a healthy relationship.

That’s why there needs to be more discussions about “this is healthy, that might be fun in a story, but that is not healthy in the real world and anybody who treats you like that is waving abuse red flags” rather than attacking somebody by saying “you’re a monster for shipping that”.

The whole point of art in any form is to create an emotional reaction in the audience.

Fucked up fictional shit exists on the internet. Get over it. I think the fact that people get freaked out by weird stuff in fiction is a clear indicator that it’s not being normalized by that piece of fiction. Flailing about it is not helping anything except your ego. It’s not gonna help survivors who write messed up stuff to cope, it’s going to make them go more silent.

Imagine being someone with an abusive pedo parent who takes comfort in the SessRin ship and being called a pedophile for it, or seeing people in the tag call Sesshoumaru a pedophile. That’s triggering as fuck for somebody.

Imagine being a Starkster going through sexual abuse who takes comfort in the ship, and being called a pedophile for it. Imagine seeing people in the tag call Tony a pedophile. That’s triggering as fuck for somebody.

Imagine having the heinous thing that happened to you being turned onto you as an accusation by people on a moral high horse who forget what pedophile means. That is triggering as fuck for somebody.

Nobody owes you a trauma history in order to be ‘allowed’ to create and post morally messed up fanworks. It’s on YOU to check for warnings and keep scrolling if it’s so offensive to your sensibilities.

What’s better? Discussion of tropes that are harmful if done badly. That’s a place to start. Save the accusations for people who are knowingly doing harm to people and not caring that they’re doing harm.

Go after shit that is actually exploiting actual people right now instead of harassing creators whose trauma you don’t know. Tell pedos their attraction to kids is not a sexuality and they have no place in the LGBTQIA+ community. Warn minors away from MAPs/NOMAPs. Expose predators who have exploitative materials of actual real children. Teach people to recognize predatory behavior like grooming. Find ways to get people out of human trafficking. Question adults if you see them touching or treating a child in a way that doesn’t look right. If you’re a minor and somebody keeps sending you porn material or pictures of their genitalia after you said stop, remind them that you’re a minor and expose the shit out of them. If you’re an adult and know somebody is doing that to a minor you talk to online, help them expose that person. That’s not all you can do, but I can’t think of everything. There’s a lot you can do that will actually help people!

But telling someone not to create something questionable because a predator might misuse it is utter horseshit.

I can bet you anything that every single person who hounds others about their ships has a whole bunch of fucked up stuff they read and never talk about because they know it will get them run off by the same people they use as shields against scrutiny.

I’ve read fucked up shit that I enjoyed because it was done well, but I can grasp that it is not okay to do the same thing in the real world and I would be horrified if I saw somebody doing the same thing in the real world. I am able to experience that moment of being horrified, sit with it and see where the fanwork takes me with that feeling.

I say this after I have just read an awesome morally gray Inuyasha fanfic called “Devour Prometheus” by ladybattousai on AO3. It’s gorey, there is murder, there is abuse, there is exploitation, there are allusions to animal trade and it’s the darkest thing I ever laid eyes on. My stomach twisted several times. It’s a fantastic lens on society right now. (Sesshoumaru’s speech about “don’t hold me to your hypocritical human morality” was epic af.)

And some of you are going to think the author is some kind of violence glorifying freak based only on that.

I feel like a lot of anti shippers and antis in general can’t get past that horrified feeling. They yell that they can’t enjoy the fandom if the material makes a hated pairing canon, so it’s like they don’t want anyone else to enjoy the fandom or the pairing. It’s very immature and scorched earth, and it hurts everyone.

Hey, guess what? I have written pairings with hella huge age gaps. Oh, the horror!

OptimusxMikaela? I headcanon Optimus as being 10 billion + years old, and Mikaela was 18 when they hooked up. Mikaela ages as the stories carry on through the years as my Danceverse series, so she’s in her 30s currently. They fucked and still fuck explicitly.

UnicronxStarscream? Unicron is as old as the universe, so 13 billion + (headcanon), and Starscream is probably 11 million or so (headcanon). They fuck explicitly.

Whouffaldi? The 12th Doctor is 2000+ and Clara is in her 20s. They fuck explicitly.

BeastGojixMiki? Godzilla has been alive for probably close to 65 years in the story, but he acts more like he’s in his 20s and he looks to be in his 20s when he turns back into a human. Miki is 18. They fuck in the story, but it’s written non explicitly.

Bowser JrxOC? Cherry is an oc who is 19. I aged Junior up in that story to be about 20. Their ages aren’t specified, but they’re mentioned to be adults. They fuck in the story, but it’s written non explicitly.

I have written fanfics with rape, abuse, murder, manslaughter, bdsm, stuff that’s morally messed up, etc, and I’m not a murdering rapist who eats children now, am I?

No, because I have no desire to do those things in the real world (because some are not possible...cuz I would date Optimus 😛) and I can distinguish fiction from reality. I can grasp the concept that fiction / art is not always endorsement.

Now get a grip on yourselves, put the pitchforks down and stop policing people’s imaginations.

[thegeminisage]

sorry but i have been thinking about this for ages and it’s time 2 get it off my chest

kind of wild to be a gamer & a lady & engaging in fandom in 2020 because in my social circles/life in general there is a HUUUGE disconnect (long post goes behind a cut)

growing up, Games Were Only For Boys. my first interactions with games in a sense where i was actually engaging with the story of them did not involve me at the controller, it involved me watching my brother play

in my late teens and early adulthood up til now, Fandom And Especially Fan Fiction Is For Women - obviously there are exceptions to this, but in this post i am speaking in a very broad, general, stereotyped sense

which is wild because when i began writing fanfiction (for video games, in 2003) there were a LOT of guys who also wrote fanfiction that usually just involved action/adventure plots and little to no romance and i think that stopped because the stigma of fanfiction is that it’s romance/erotica aimed towards the ladies

the Fandom That’s For Women is very very VERY focused on shipping, romance, and sex

games, especially story-heavy games, can often also be full of sex shoved in your face - but that’s sex aimed at men, not women - women in skimpy outfits, jiggly boob physics, etc

true irony is that nowadays in fandom if you DON’T write the slash or you ship m/f characters you’re more likely to get hate for being homophobic or whatever but in 2006 when i was writing fma and ff6 slash i got shit on ALL THE TIME for publishing “that gay shit” and while i’m well aware slash as it exists today existed also way before 2003-2006 i wasn’t in those spaces i was in video game spaces and They Were For Men

so if you’re not in the engaging in fandom in the Stereotypical Dude Way (no gays, only boobs & violence against women, fanfic is stupid) or the Stereotypical Lady Way (ship everyone with everyone, romance is the focus, obligatory sex scenes) you can like sometimes find this section of fandom (SOMETIMES) that’s like...all gen only gen 110% of the time ONLY wholesome content ONLY fluff canon romances get a pass but nothing else and it’s like you’d write your mom and dad, not like, Romantic, it’s innocent in an almost childlike way, because there is also the stereotype that games are Only For Children

which is fine but it’s like...a lil boring...sometimes...not that i don’t have my “gen and fluff ONLY” days/fandoms because we do get tired of pointless sex & romance - i also definitely have my “oh they are ALL fuckin” days/fandoms...experiences are fluid...

anyway much more women play games and engage in fandoms for games now & thats dope as hell but for me personally there’s still this weird disconnect of like...i want to enjoy fandom (maybe especially game fandom bc fandoms for games are almost always very small) in a way that’s adult and explores the depth of the stories available to us but i don’t want to do it in a “obligatory bikini-clad woman and blood & guts scene” way or a “obligatory sex scene & everybody’s shipped with everybody” way either so like......idk. i’m not wording this very well i don’t think

i guess i miss how game fandom was in the early/mid 00s...despite the sexism and homophobia and etc...obviously all that is bad

but i think it’s harder these days to find good solid adventure/action fics these days ESPECIALLY for video games 

bc 1. most men don’t typically write fanfiction anymore and they are less likely to write romance 2. there’s this unspoken pressure that if you ARE writing fanfiction they Gotta smooch (or do more than smooch) & if you don’t stick it in there your fic falls anywhere on a scale of “boring” to “problematic” - there’s a huge focus on romance especially between same-sex characters - and i think PART of it is because we staaaarving for seeing those sorts of relationships written BY women and queer people in proper mainstream media which is valid but also partly that it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy - everybody thinks fanfic is for romance so it continues to be about romance

i just want like a middle ground...is that too much to ask...especially in game fandoms...

ok for an example...ff13 is the WORST offender re: fandom stuff 

what little fic there is is like focused on shipping fang/vanille which i dont like bc i see her as fang’s lil sister or hope/lightning or hope/snow which is like ?!?!?! because he’s like 14 or hope/noel because they’re literally the only 2 dudes who are in their early 20s and romantically available even though they BARELY speak to one another...like half the appeal of 13 to me was the very limited romance and YEAH i love me some fang/lightning but where’s the gen?! there isn’t any because gen’s too boring!!! men would write gen but they don’t write fanfiction!!! (or there would be needless sexualizing of/violence against women. i’m not going to sit here and say i actively want to read stuff written by men more than i want to read stuff written by women when i know that’s usually how that goes lol) and when you do find gen it’s like...VERY wholesome and thats great sometimes i have written that tooth-rotting fluff but ff13 is a dark game that deals with dark stuff sometimes... you see what i mean?? 

anyway. drives me batty

and it’s wild too that the PEOPLE in my life who engage with fandom all distinctly fit into Guy Fandom or Girl Fandom or Gen Only Fandom...i rarely ever see crossovers...my brother is the first most of my friends from tumblr are the second and a lot of people i met thru undertale are the third...Girl Fandom does not engage in game fandom much, most of game fandom is Gen Only Fandom or Guy Fandom...but i want the lessened romance/sex of Gen Only and Guy Fandom, the adultness of Guy Fandom and Girl Fandom, and the “please stop objectifying and victimizing women” of Girl Fandom and Gen Only Fandom...HOW do i get this...i don’t...i can’t...Gen Only Fandom tends to stay so far away from heavier darker stuff too and i like my heavy shit...it’s a Problem...

again there are obvious exceptions to these generalizations...these are just personal observations...nobody send me mean anons...i just had to get that out there

this isn’t very well worded if you made it to the bottom thank you for indulging me

[pinkykitten]

I was tagged by @writing-with-melon I hope my answers aren’t complete waste or if time and if so I’m sorry and I love you

Rules: Answer ten 10 questions, ask 10, and tag 10 people

1. What song automatically plays in your head when you look out the window on a long drive? 

i dont really have an answer for this. i think i just automatically think about any song ive been listening to recently or any song that has been stuck in my head. 

2.  Do you have some snacks nearby when you write?

well i live in a two story house so the kitchen is downstairs and im usually lazy busy so since i have a mini fridge upstairs i just usually get water to drink while im writing. its kinda hard to eat and write cuz i loose focus really easily so when i am writing i am writing! i am in the zone! but if i am a little hungry ill usually snack on candy like chocolate kinder joys i love them but they r so expensive or snack on chips but i get like salt on my fingers or i like cheetos so cheetos dust and that just gets everywhere and later my hands and keyboard kinda smell like fart. 3. What do you do to combat creative burnout?

so burnout happens to me a lot so to get inspiration i either read other stories or fanfics which gets my head gears turning or i admire a piece of art or photography or a song. whats so unique and satisfying with writing you can explore and go anywhere with it, hehehe erotic if you know what i mean lol jk there are no barriers with writing just your imagination. there is inspiration any where you go and id advise to never stop writing. even if its a few short sentences or paragraphs about anything even bird poop its still progression and your mind is working and your searching for words like its all good for you bby.  4. Do you use (or like to use) prompts? 

i do ill put the link here. im thinking of changing it though to do something different. 

5. What is your favorite place to write?

lol boring, i know but my room. my room is really bright in the mornings and comfortable and chill and i have a candle of the pandora ride in disney that smells like the ride so its all good and relaxing and super peaceful plus i have a picture of myself the age of like 9 on my desk idk why but it encourages me and makes me focus to make sure i never get that cringy again. 

6. What is a hobby or yous that you usually don’t talk about?

well i like working out HAHAHAHAHA jk that was a joke...get it...cuz i much rather be eatingokillstop. but i really like to draw which i have a art page you can see it if you click here pls look at my failed attempts to be hip and cool with the cool kids and being artsy fartsy. another hobby is i really like to do makeup and nail art, nail art is really tough guys no joke if you do it like you got wizard powers are something. maybe its bc my nails are shorter than pete davidson and ariana grande’s relationship, alright im trying to stop i swear!

7. Do you play an instrument? Which one?

no i wish though. i always wanted to learn to either play the piano or electric guitar cuz H.E.R looks so cool doing it. 

8. How do you feel about your handwriting?

it sucks dont even try me. my sister can barely read it like no wonder nobody wants to steal my signature heck they can’t even read it!

9. Can you tell us of a story that marked your development as a person? As a writer?

ok sit back guys, sniff a nice amount of crack and get ready for the most cringy moment of my life but also a time when i knew i was meant to be *inhale* a fanfic writer. 

so it was elementary school, i think 3rd grade and for my writing assignment we were given a prompt of idk what the heck tbh i think it was like be outside the box and im like ok imma nail this cuz im a weird child and yeah so i got my papers and pencil and i went TO TOWN on this paper. so i wrote two stories. one short story with a picture to go with it and one long story that yeah i buried years ago. so my first story was about a farmer was about that farming life. he had chickens and dairy. so i cant remember if the cheese was spoiled but doesnt matter. anywho these cheese and a chicken were alive like they could talk in the story and i gave them faces, yikes. but the whole story was the farmer was a b*tch and he was trying to eat the chicken and cheese so they hatched a plan to get away from the farmer. they did it successfully and they ran away. yay happy ending my teacher actually liked that one me too and my school mates were thinking what they heck is this girl on i made a story about how me and justin bieber made cookies for Christmas you know. so then my other story i was more proud of this one cuz it was a tone of paper, sorry trees, and this story was about how a female hippo (girl i was all about plus size and thicker girls and no body shaming) and an male ostrich were kidnapped from their own habitats and taken to become circus animals. failed version of Madagascar hey mine was before the circus movie OK THEY STOLE IT FROM MEEEEE. so they get taken and are treated to harsh punishment and the animals can talk and i think its in the point of view of the male ostrich guy thing. they are in the circus and they start to have this relationship happening. love starts blossoming its all good. im happy with this cuz i believed in love at age of 8. they find a way thru a kick butt scene of the animals escaping and the hippo and ostrich are so in love that they run away together and they have half hippo half ostrich babies and i think i named the species  hipstrich or like ostppo idk but i was so proud of this story and when my teacher read it she was worried about me lol i think she thought i might like mate these two animals like secretly idk but she was like it was ok and i was like what this is frickin William Shakespeare writing or like F. Scott Fitzgerald writing. nevertheless it taught me a lesson that nobody else needs to like what im writing the main point and only thing that matters is if your proud of it and you like it and i really did. i will remember that story forever and thats what made me want to be a writer. lol sorry that was a lot. 

10. @emdop I’m going to use this great question: Explain one of your WIPs in the most ridiculous way possible. 

wellllll im working on my peaky blinders oc story its a lot of drugs money killing weapons jewelry rich profanities like its the show but written from my stubby hands so my oc and whatever its great and so excited to show it to you guys. 

MY QUESTIONS:

1. WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO START TUMBLR?

2. IF YOU COULD CHANGE ANYTHING OF THIS WORLD, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

3. WHAT QUALITY IS IMPORTANT TO YOU?

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE OUTFIT?

5. WHAT MAKES YOU SMILE?

6. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SONG IN THE WHOLE WORLD?

7. IF YOU COULD VISIT A PLACE, WHERE WOULD IT BE?

8. WHAT SHOW OR MOVIE UNIVERSE WOULD YOU WANT TO BE IN?

9. WHAT IS THE SCARIEST MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE?

10. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE IN THIS WORLD THAN ANYTHING ELSE?

im tagging: @thatlittlered, @ardentmuse, @acciosnapes, @lotsoffandomimagines, @collecting-stories, @blog-of-a-multitude-of-fandoms, @naughtyneganjdm, @lenahellgizibe and two random followers @spiritsent, @sucker-for-my-fandoms

i was tagged by @writing-with-melon again ty btw, ps i felt so much pressure lol jk 😊

Rules: Answer 5 questions, Ask 5 questions, Tag 5 people.

1. What is your favorite book?

fifty shades of grey hahaha naw my favorite book is obv you all know this is series of unfortunate events but i never usually cry period and i never cry for books ever so when i read mrs. tom thumb by melanie benjamin, its the part when her sister minnie dies i cried so hard idk it was just emotional the wording the way she described her pain it was so beautiful written yet so sad and that was just amazing to me cuz im like this book made me feel things and im like wow i would love to write a book one day and make someone feel something whether it be sadness anger happiness annoyance anything they are having an emotion and that is super powerful to do that with just words. pls go check out that book its a good read. also im a fan of the greatest showman so i really enjoyed it. there are many other books tho that i thoroughly enjoy so much. 

2. What piece that you’ve written are you most proud of?

oh my god ive always wanted to be asked this question hands down i am always proud of my platonic gender neutral tony stark fic called in·con·sol·a·ble window to me i wrote it so sad and i was feeling like depressed lol when i saw peter die in infinity war like i didnt know what to do with my life tbh but im so glad that @impetrichorny requested it tysm i just like how its not based on romance or fluff or happiness it is based on when you lose someone the nightmares and sadness you go through and that there is nothing nobody can do about it except just be there for that person so i really like writing angst and something that was out of the box. ive been thinking tho of doing a part two since the fate of all the characters has changed after endgame. who knows tho. 

3. What is the last song that inspired you? 

well for art it would have to good news by mac miller when i did that kobe bryant memorial on my art page. i dont want to give it away though but ill just say some very powerful womens music inspired my oc writing and making. 

4. How do you feel about letting people read what you write?

at first i was scared cuz i thought i wrote like trash which that feeling kinda doesnt go away like some days i feel that way others i feel confident or it depends on the request it just depends but anyways i was always insecure about my writing so when i started writing it was more like lets see how this goes if not ill delete the whole page. im glad to say it went great but in the begging it was hard cuz i kept putting myself down but i learned to accept or just understand that you keep learning with writing you always learn knew things with writing how you can explain something better or you words get more intricate and people see the improvement and you do too thats why i applaud those who dont speak english that english isnt their first language. you are doing a tremendous job and keep practicing cuz you’re gonna make it to the top. ive also learned that some days are not my days and you can take time off when youre not feeling it when you have writers block. just recollect your juices sip some tea go to the beach relax your mind a little and take as long as you need to come back and give it your all. also comments and reblogs and likes a follows those meant so much to me and encouraged me. thats why i cant express it enough how much all those mean to writers, artist, photographers, anybody who is truly trying their hard in this area of social media. its makes a person happy smile and confident in their writing but first train your mind into loving what you make not what others thing. you have to be happy with the outcome that is what truly matters and what makes your writing the best. look at me getting philosophical. 

5. Do you get distracted easily? If yes with what?

yes and with porn haha i get distracted easily like very easily homeschooling was really tough for me. music distracts me, netflix, the urge to watch david dobrik or unus annus or buzzfeed unsolved on youtube, heck my farts distract me. i gotta be like troy bolton i gotta get my HEAD IN THE GAME!

MY QUESTIONS:

1. IF YOU COULD BE NAMED SOMETHING ELSE, WHAT WOULD YOU BE NAMED?

2. WHAT PERSON INSPIRES YOU THE MOST?

3. IF YOU KNEW THE WORLD WAS ENDING TOMORROW WHAT WOULD YOU DO TODAY?

4. WHAT DO YOU OFTEN THINK ABOUT IN THE SHOWER?

5. WHATS YOUR WEIRD COMBINATION FOOD?

im tagging: @thatlittlered​, @ardentmuse​, @acciosnapes​, @lotsoffandomimagines​, @collecting-stories​ AND WHOEVER WANTS TO DO THIS IF YOU FOLLOW ME OR LIKE MY STORIES TAG ME ILL READ YOUR ANSWERS. HOPE I DID THIS RIGHT SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING MWUAH 

[whoareyouandwhyshouldicare]

To all my fellow LoVe shippers who are feeling down I have one thing to say.

I can’t make the last 8 minute of season 4 disappear but I can recommend some really great LoVe fanfiction that will make you feel at least a little bit better. So without further ado here are a few of my favorite LoVe fics!

A Hard Habit to Break  by  mskatej   Nothing gets Veronica over her failed relationships better than Logan Echolls.    

...And Long For You  by  AbsolutelyIris It was moments like those Veronica wished she could be like Lilly- storm into his house and curse and yell and damn him to hell before demanding he fuck her...and like with Lilly, he would gladly, if reluctantly, do so.      

 “Any Love Is Good Love, Baby”  by wily_one24   Apparently, Hollywood was wrong, the devil did not wear Prada, the devil wore butch black boots and tiny little skirts.                                

The Best (and Only) Kept Secret in Neptune  by  vixleonard Even when they hated each other, Logan and Veronica just couldn't stay away from each other.                     

The Burdened Vessel  by  vixleonard   Veronica needs a favor only Logan can help her with.              

Every Belt That Ever Hit Someone (Is Still Made to Hold Something Up)  by igrockspock   Logan doesn't get any votes for Most Changed at the ten-year reunion, which is bullshit when you think about it.  In the past ten  years, everything in his life has changed.  He's joined the Navy, dated a pop star, and figured out that Dick Casablancas can occasionally behave like a real human being.  Only one thing hasn't changed: he's still in love with Veronica Mars.  Oh, and he's suspected of murdering his girlfriend.

"Fear and Loathing in Neptune"   by wily_one24 Veronica Mars was going to get herself laid. Series  Part 1 of Any Love  

A Fine and Endless Cycle  by kartography A freshman year at Hearst and the cyclical nature of love                                         

Fireworks by AliLamba Veronica is technically not a virgin, and awkward results ensue. An AU version of LoVe's first time.                

For the Sake of a Friend by jacedesbff   What if Logan and Veronica were involved in a secret relationship throughout the events of Season 1?     

The Game of Trust  by Kantayra of Yore (Kantayra)   This time Veronica really did trust him, and she knew how to prove it...    

Getcha, Getcha, Getcha, Getcha  by  Kantayra of Yore (Kantayra) Veronica and Logan prank each other. Really, it's shameless the way they flirt...  

Give Me The Ocean  by scandalpants   Post Season 3 AU.  Veronica decides what she really wants.  Spoiler: it's not Piz.                                              

Home Is Where The Heart Is by: lv63   AU preseries and forward, begins in season 1. this story is all about veronica and her friends. angst, mystery, humor and romance, LoVe and MaDi. summary in prologue. 

I Hate You Because by: SilverLining2k6   Mid 1X3 - Meet John Smith.    Logan, Veronica, a pool, snark, and a made up drinking game.

i knew you were trouble when you walked in  by youcallitwinter   And, it's just—  Logan had always been her intense high-school romance, sure. But she had, somewhere along the way, in some secret corner of her mind, convinced herself that was all he was; a high-school romance. Explosive, powerful, passionate, and bound to burn itself out eventually

(Im)Perfection  by  AbsolutelyIris The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.                

In a World by: my shangri-la   A/U! Exploring the 'what ifs' that could have happened if Lilly Kane hadn't been murdered, and her secrets – and others – had come out anyway. Pairings: Lilly/Logan, past Duncan/Veronica, eventual Logan/Veronica. (Story begins with Lilly as a senior, the rest are juniors.)

In the kind of world where we belong  by  Anonymous  There was always something missing.  A Lilly Kane sized hole in both their hearts.  Instead of going to see Aaron Echolls on October 3rd Lilly decides to comfort a friend and their lives change forever.A very smutty OT3 take on what might have happened if Lilly had lived.

Kid Things  by sowell   5 years after graduation, Logan comes back to Neptune to ask Veronica for help.                      

King of Mars  by: HGRising   AU. In which everyone has a story to tell but not everyone gets the chance. And, things make more sense from a different perspective. Ever wonder why Veronica Mars was Lilly Kane's best friend? There's redemption for some and condemnation for others when the secrets come out. And everyone's got a good one.

Landmine  by  AbsolutelyIris It needed to be forgotten, and quick.             

The Long Way Home  by  AbsolutelyIris   "We should take the long way home." 

Matching Pink Bikinis  by  Anonymous Veronica and Lilly wear matching pink bikinis to Logan's for a pool day.  This is pure threesome smut, folks.                

Pink Lemonade (Logan/Veronica/Lilly)  On a trip to Honolulu, Lilly manages to bring Veronica out of her pink, frosty shell. Spoilers/Warnings: This is a threesome fic and therefore includes some femslash.        

Playing Hide and Seek With the Truth by: jenwin23   Continuation of the Truth series. The kids go back to school. Old issues remain while more secrets will be revealed, relationships will change and lives will crumble.

The Real Thing by: Josielynn   AU. Logan and Lilly are off again/on again. Duncan is dating Meg. Veronica was never friends with Lilly. Logan sees Veronica in her soccer uniform and wants to date her.

Scotch on the Rocks (A FanFic Tribute)  by kmd0107   A long time ago...there was an incredibly hot LoVeLy trilogy fic (Pink Lemonade & Sex on the Beach) started over on Live Journal that never got its third part.  This is a tribute to what that might have been.   Logan POV of the evolving sexual and emotional relationship between himself, Veronica, and Lilly.              

Scourging Fire, Blazing Soul  by Nerdyesque   What if Veronica didn't grow up with the 09ers, but came into their lives prior to Lilly's death? How would her presence affect Duncan, Lilly, Logan, the Kanes, and the Echolls? Also, who is Veronica without Keith Mars' loving protection?      

Sex on the Beach (Logan/Veronica/Lilly) NC-17 Lilly's chapter in my Drinks Series. Nobody wants to talk about what happened in Hawaii, and it's driving Lilly crazy. How could she possibly make what happened less awkward? By making it happen again, of course!        

Some Truths Hurt by: jenwin23 Jumping off point: V gets Duncan's journal in Echolls' Family Xmas. AU from there but many canon events happen too. All characters in the VM-verse make an appearance, but it is a LoVe story. In script format-but give it a try, it's well written.

The Third Kane by: Mac-alicious   Lilly, Duncan and Veronica Kane rule the social scene in Neptune. The three are loyal and inseparable. They once believed there was nothing that could come between them. They didn't count on Logan Echolls.

Time, Make It Go Faster Or Just Rewind  by  kmd0107  Logan being ‘the real-Logan’ is so familiar that she almost can’t help but give in to it, even if it’s just a one night pass.   She’ll embrace this moment out of time and the walls and armor can go back up tomorrow.AU from 1x4 Wrath of Con              

Truths Too Big to be Told  by: jenwin23 Sequel to Some Truths Hurt. It's summer time and more than the weather is hot. Neptune is embroiled in class warfare, Veronica is looking into the mystery of another dead girl, the fallout from Lilly's case continues, and more secrets will be revealed.

I’m also throwing in some of my favorite MaDi (Mac and Dick) fics because Dick needs a hug too.

The ABCs of Mac and Dick by: jenwin23   The ABC challenge with Mac and Dick. Created for Madi lover at VM Santa 2010 at livejournal. Cross-posted. In letter order, not in chronological order.

Bodycount by: BIFF1   Cassidy and Mac meet a little earlier and a little blood-lust gives him an entirely different problem when it comes to forming a real relationship with Mac. AU with MAJOR season two SPOILERS! Mac/Cass, Mac/Dick, Mac/Cass/Dick

Casablancas Kryptonite By: BIFF1   "You just don't get it. She's like kryptonite or something." Dick looked at his brother and thought about those blue eyes that cut and the way her mouth twisted around insults. Yeah maybe she was kyptonite. Casablancas kyptonite because isn't he just as weak.

Casual? By: BIFF1   It's just sex. Casual sex. no attachments, just good hot sex. But that was the summer and now school is about to start up again and Veronica's back from Virginia and can tell that something is up. They can stop, no problem...

The Charm Bracelet by: DalWriter   Future Fic. Who Knew Prince Charming Would be Dick Casablancas? Mac reminisces as she looks at a charm bracelet Dick gave her.

Commitment Buffers by: BIFF1   Dick and Mac live with Logan and Veronica in their attempt to have some sort of commitment buffer between them. Only problem with the arrangement is that Mac and Dick tolerate each other at best which is a big improvement as far as their concerned. However living in such close quarters may prove difficult when it becomes obvious that they may actually sort of like each other.

Dark Day by: BIFF1   It's Cassidy Casablancas' birthday and the two people closest to him are falling apart. She just wants to hide away from the world for the rest of the week, just drink and cry and be with someone who gets it and no one gets it more than Dick. Not as angsty as it sounds, promise. Now complete with happy ending!

Electrify by: BIFF1   A guilt trip from Logan has landed Dick in a crowded tent with Mac. With a lightening storm raging outside he can't sleep and it appears neither can she.

Rendezvous by: BIFF1   A collection of one-shots. In which Dick and Mac are forced together by fate or friends and hook up. Because I apparently really like writing them hooking up.

Secret Santa By: BIFF1   Saw this homemade sweater from hell prompt from VMficRec. It's a November challenge but I couldn't help myself. Just some fun when Mac pulls Dick's name for Secret Santa. She figures a six pack and porn until he makes a big deal about not wanting anything handmade. She can't really help herself, she spends the month knitting Dick a sweater.