#issues are easily resolved

[stephaniejuhnay]

Candy Cane Lane is the perfect Christmas movie. No notes, 10/10.

[probablygoodrpgideas]

I think Fabula Ultima is a really cool RPG with a lot of great ideas and figuring out a build for a PC seems super fun (haven't character played yet so can't judge) but its bestiary feels so limited and there is so little adivce on how to properly balance homebrew monsters that running the game is just incredibly exhausting to me.

[pimento-playing-hopscotch]

🤐🫣🫣

[talaofthevalley]

I think, at the end of the day, what I want above all else from the end of the Todoroki family story arc and Dabi's story, beyond Enji not just getting off scotfree after ruining his family's lives but I feel that's a given but beyond that-

I want Dabi to be given time.

One reocurring thing running among the Todoroki's is that most of them has been given time away from the fucked up family situation, away from Enji, to grow as their own people.

Fuyumi complicates this obviously. You could argue her becoming a teacher and building an adult life could count, but Fuyumi also wants other things compared to her siblings, and that's okay! But if you look at the other three, I think it's easier to see what I mean.

Shouto is the most obvious example. It's thanks to not having his thoughts occupied by his father and letting them rule his actions and mindset, even if just to piss his dad off, that Shouto is able to grow. UA and his classmates give him that, he's given a space and time to develop as a person and find out who he is and who he wants to be. Bouncing off his classmates and interacting with people his own age as equals helped him.

It's a big part of Shouto's character that he thinks about his decisions thoroughly and what he wants to do. And he's able to do this because he is given the time and space to do so. It's not explicitly stated, but I think moving to the dorms helped him a lot with this. Shouto is no longer at risk of interacting with his father everyday, letting Shouto distance himself and decide how he feels about his father, being his son, and his ow quirk, without his abuser there to influence him.

I think this page best shows what a bad influence Endeavour can be on Shouto's mind. Shouto was calm before this, just trying to get to his match and not engaging, but his worsening mental state is called to attention the longer Endeavour talks. Keep in mind this match and moving to the dorms happens long before Enji decides to be a better parent when he realises becoming No.1 wasn't satisfying.

Shouto had not even given Enji his contact information before this and Enji had to get it from Fuyumi(a breach of boundary most definitely, but we don't know Shouto's reaction to this). Shouto doesn't even reply to his fathers incessant messaging until he himself needs something from him, and it's from Endeavour the hero, not Enji the father.

Shouto's development is gradual, but noticeable, and never really stops happening. Even now in the manga he's not finished his arc. But that's what made it very satisfying to watch him grow and find what kind of hero he wants to be.

I think it's worth noting that no one tells Shouto he should go visit his mother. Neither does anyone tell him he should try and talk to his siblings. How Shouto got started on properly talking to them is unknown, but it's clear it's on his terms, and because he wants to. Visiting Rei and reconnecting with her is something Shouto decided himself, and he goes to see her when he can and writes to her. How these visits go are never shown, but it's clear both of them want to connect again, and that both Rei and Shouto are in good places to actually do so in a healthy way.

Rei being in a good place is very important for this, and she is because she has been getting help and been away from the source of her distress and breakdown. When we see Rei out of a flashback, she's calm. She even seems happy, smiling with her children. Happy Shouto is keeping in touch with her through letters despite being so busy.

Rei was in dire need of getting away, that is obvious when you read the flashbacks. Her worsening mental health and situation ended up hurting not only her, but her children, especially Touya and Shouto. And she's been getting help and getting better since. At this point, she hasn't seen Enji since she was admitted to the hospital. Thanks to all that, Rei has been able to better process her trauma, what went on in their family, and her part in it, and she can face it. Rei, unlike Enji, is open about scarring Shouto, how she couldn't reach Touya and ultimately failed him as a mother.

We don't know a lot about Natsuo, but in his character profile, it's stated that thanks to Fuyumi, he was able to make the decision to go to college. It's said he spends a lot of time away from home and Fuyumi teases him about not keeping in contact enough. For Natsuo, who was one of the 'worthless' children of the house along with Fuyumi, going to college, making friends and getting a girlfriend, probably did wonders for him.

Natsuo is very upfront about his dislike for Enji, and his refusal to ever forgive him for what he's done. He's taken up the role of holding Enji responsible for his actions after Touya was no longer able to. I think it's pretty clear what Natsuo would like to do is go no-contact with Enji, but he doesn't want to hurt Fuyumi's feelings, so he goes to the family dinners where he has to sit in Enji's presence anyway. Though we still see him stand up and leave sometimes because he can't stand to be in the same room as his father. Natsuo getting up and leaving is, I think, the mature thing to do. He's looking out for himself.

So, where the heck am I going with this? Basically, I want Dabi, Touya, to be given the time and space to decide himself what kind of relationship he wants to have with his family, every single one, in the same way the others have.

Touya up to the point of his death had his life defined by decisions made for him or things happening out of his control. His life after his death were dedicated to one day kill his father, with the heavy implication he has no plan to get out of that confrontation alive.

You could say Dabi has no identity outside of the Todoroki family, outside of killing Endeavour and getting revenge for himself because no one else ever would. He was born, raised and groomed to be Enji's successor and the next number one, only to have that ripped away from him and expected to just, deal with that and move on, when he had no tools or methods to do that. Touya had no identity outside of being Enji's successor because that wasn't how he was raised. In his mind, he had no worth outside of that.

He was scapegoated by his family for most of his time living with them, and he might not even remember what being with them without being treated as the source of all the problems in the family is like. He went back home and thought they continued on as if he never died. And while that might not be fully true, just telling him that isn't going to magically absolve and fix the damage that left him with.

Throwing him right back into the family, with or without Enji involved, when the rest of the Todoroki's doesn't even know how to treat him now either, could end up really badly.

Especially when they still appear to lean into Touya being the problem. Dabi is the problem for acting out and "involving unrelated people in family matters" as Shouto so eloquently put it(not word for word don't shoot me), when Dabi wanted society to hold Enji accountable for his actions. They still say Dabi needs to be stopped, not saved.

At this point of the arc, Dabi is expecting to die, and he'll have to deal with the fact he's still alive after all this. I don't think he's gonna have the mental strenght to reconnect with the family he hasn't seen for years, not to mention we don't know if Dabi believes they even want him around or ever truly loved him. What does he think of them? We don't know, and chances are big he doesn't know either.

And that's why, I think a timeskip is one of the absolute best ways MHA can end, with time to see, years later, how all the characters are doing. And for the Todoroki's, it could mean Dabi has gotten time by himself to heal, to find out who he is outside of being a Todoroki, outside of being Enji's son, the failed experiment, his own avenger, and deciding on his terms how they should finally meet and talk and what kind of relationship he wants to have with them, if any at all.

It would also give the rest of them the time to once again process Touya's death, Dabi's existence, the fact their brother and child is alive once more and what that means to them individually. It's clear Touya's death was a big open wound for the family even years later, and if it wasn't still bleeding it definitely was after Dabi revealed himself, and that shits messy to deal with.

Then, we can have them meet at a dinner table. Maybe even have it be a picnic or something. When Dabi, Touya, is in a better place, because he was given the time and space to get better and finally decide for himself what he wants to do. It's the very least he's owed.

[tripleguess]

You know what's frustrating? I've got an immediate knee-jerk reaction over anyone calling me a perfectionist, for 99% of the time I get called such, it is to dismiss any and every complaint I have as unreasonable instead of hearing me out. Because of that, even if the label is used in good faith, I get upset.

Now, guess what is part of the OCPD criteria.

[my-current-obsession]

I VERY rarely do this kind of thing but I have to rant a little about this hp drarry fic. Mostly because I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about it, but said thoughts and feelings are very mixed so I couldn't bring myself to leave a comment since I don't want to come off as hating/critiquing, but I have to vent about it SOMEWHERE.

I really enjoyed it in the beginning, and I want to say I ultimately still like it. But I WANT to love it and just can't, because it frustrates me. Literally every person in this fic, including all of Draco's friends and even his mother, is on Harry's side of the situation. And that just isn't right.

I understand that "everyone" can see that Harry is in love with Draco and wants to be with him, which is why they keep trying to steer Draco towards him, but personally I think the conflict and onus to fix things is very much on the wrong person.

I don't care how obvious Harry supposedly is. There is a difference between being obvious and being explicitly clear. It should not be up to Draco to magically REALIZE Harry has feelings for him, it should be on Harry to clearly, explicitly tell him. If Harry wants to be with him so badly he needs to put his feelings into words instead of just implying things.

Because OF COURSE Draco wouldn't realize how Harry felt when he was so explicitly rejected before. Why the hell is it on the person who was hurt - possibly even heartbroken - to figure out that the guy RESPONSIBLE for that hurt actually DOES like him now so they can be together?

The entire conflict of this story comes down to Harry's inability to clearly confess his feelings and Draco's inability to understand them WITHOUT said clear confession. And that sucks because the rest of the plot and the character writing is SO fun and engaging, but I feel personally wronged by this conflict and the fact that literally everyone keeps trying to push Draco at Harry instead of seeing his viewpoint and going either "well, Potter screwed up and has missed his chance now" or just freaking confronting Harry and making it clear that he NEEDS to confess or Draco will never understand because he was so badly burned by him before that he's completely blind and/or willfully ignorant to the idea of Harry ever loving him, and no amount of just flirting will break through to him.

To be clear, I'm not inherently against fics where the conflict is just that the pining idiots won't admit their feelings. My frustration here is that Harry is BLATANTLY pining and making moves so clearly he wants to make something happen with Draco yet STILL doesn't do the obvious thing of just confessing. It's one thing to withhold your feelings if you DON'T want the other person to know or your relationship to change. But Harry DOES, which makes him sitting on his confession and getting hurt every time Draco doesn't notice his dangled hints upsetting.

Basically, one or both parties having a chronic case of Cannot Spit it Out is fine, but here, where one party is clearly pursuing the other but the other is oblivious? In general that's fine too but this fic has a REASON Draco is oblivious. I feel like it makes perfect sense NOT to expect/want anything romantic from someone who rejected you before, so since Harry made that bed now he has to lie in it.

Maybe it's a stretch, but this to me feels lowkey like victim blaming. It's clear that Draco liked Harry in the past and was incredibly hurt by the fallout of their one-night-stand, yet rather than sympathizing with him or trying to make the relationship happen on Harry's end, everyone in his life is just telling him to trust Harry now and that he won't be rejected. Which then led to him opening up just a little bit before a misunderstanding happened that led to him getting hurt and feeling rejected AGAIN.

I really do want to love this fic, but as someone who has BEEN hurt and rejected, I just don't understand how everyone in Draco's life can side with Harry. I don't understand why it's up to Draco to realize Harry loves him without being told, instead of up to Harry to verbally convey that.

[datastate]

to clarify: rio is not a weak character, necessarily. unless he is considered on his own. typically he exists in contrast to other characters: gashu, michiru, or kai (with honorable mention of maple/obstructors). he is much more of a plot device than he is a character, which is why he fits within the main yttd plot quite well. we see him balance out the antagonism expected of asunaro and makes michiru seem more sympathetic in turn. his death displays how cold and meticulous asunaro's researchers are when it comes to experiments such as these. his very existence in the wake of kai's death/banishment from the organization is meant to uphold this shadow of kai alone.

however, with the addition of sei... rio is easily overshadowed by the two of them. sei's existence does add a bit more meaning to the experiment mentioned with rio, as ranger is directly based upon him, but ultimately not enough that couldn't previously have been extrapolated with the implication rio was meant to be a successor/a son. if gashu did not already have kai, then sei's addition would be perfect because it allows us confirmation to fully realize where gashu felt he went wrong in training sei up.

but... kai does exist. and he was the only one that we really needed to get across gashu's sentimentality & connection to his family / desire to have a child who would not fail asunaro - as the punishment for failure is execution, which he himself carries out.

additionally, although we are given proof that kai abhors the idea of killing others (unable to deal the killing blow on sei despite it being second nature drilled into him, disbelief toward the other children killing one another with the hope that this couldn't truly be them, etc.), i do worry if it comes across to others as if the only thing withholding kai was sei's death and the admission of how terrifying death feels when you finally experience it. there is much more resolve kai has before this to not kill, but simply incapacitate, which i wish we could've seen explored how his mindset works here despite being told he is meant to be a tool for killing while being raised in asunaro. was it gashu who unintentionally influenced him? was it a trainer? sei hasn't been here long enough to truly affect kai, so why did he stop himself from killing sei then when given full opportunity to uphold the role he's been born for? it has to have been something beforehand, as strict as gashu tries to be.

inevitably, gashu identifies compassion as the problem and proceeds from there to see if in any scenario his apprentice/s would've succeeded. both the compassion found in himself, though he evidently struggled to refrain from offering brief moments of affection, and in his child - whether they reflected it from his moments of weakness and desire for normalcy or learned from another.

sei's existence in this regard feels redundant. which really hurts me to say, because i do know exactly what nankidai was going for. but rio exists in relation to other characters by virtue of being incomplete, and is now split between kai and sei in this shared relation to gashu. i feel similarly about rio now as i do with mishima being brought back three more times simply to die, if you understand... it's a little overdone than what it had to be with the story already given.

[elegantwoes]

The new little mermaid was more jonsa coded than I expected.

[endreal]

The main (only?) reason I'm not switching the T-level system to a sev category system is because I'd have to completely retool the order of them.

[teansouprmyjam]

i came up with a perfect idea for a dnd character now i’m doomed to think about them forever and ever and ever and never actually play

[sealedsanctuary]

If that neon red haired girl slaps her again I swear to fucking god...

stop! Slapping!! HER!!!

[spiltcandycoatedpunkblood]

a big thing: eh, it's too much, just distracting myself

realising a small fuck up: I just want someone to kill me

[riverofempathy]

Tearing up because that’s me.

I can’t stop (couldn’t stop) all the pain & struggles & trauma in my life or the lives of literally any other person in this galaxy, but I can write worlds where things get better, where people actually talk about their issues, where people save the day. Or maybe sometimes they don’t, maybe sometimes they’re seconds too late and they still have gut-wrenching grief and trauma, but other people are there for them in exactly the way they need. They say exactly the right things. They hug them and kiss their foreheads and provide a safe, warm, soft space for my characters to actually let out ALL the tears instead of holding them back—something I’m still figuring out how to do for myself.

My stories are all about going through terrible things and figuring out/receiving the things they need to heal. It’s about *humanity* in all its beauty and ugliness and pain and wonder and joy and grief and hatred and love and suffering and comfort and all the things that we go through in our own lives, because I think it’s important to see how even fictional people can survive those things. Because it helps us feel like we can, too.

a comic about fix-it fanfics

[berserkflux]

My father is fucking hilarious sometimes. Ever since I had a chronic diagnosis, my body is prone and vulnerable to minor infections. I always make suicidal ideation jokes in front of him so he was like;

"You said you do not fear death but a little infection terrifies you?"

Naturally, my response would be;

"It's the annoyance that might consume me from the inconvenience that should be a cause for fear." with the most deadpan face.

He's been real quiet ever since.

[lemonlover1110]

𝐉𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐲

Toji Fushiguro

Summary: Megumi is insanely jealous of the new addition to the household.

Warnings: Fluff, Jealous!Megumi

*Didn't have anything bigger for Toji for father's day but I had to celebrate it one way or another sfjosjf. Enjoy my lovelies!

Discord +18 - Twitter - Ko-Fi

“Papa, up!” Megumi yells, hoping to get his father’s attention when he sees Toji holding the new addition to the family. Megumi has reached the age where he claims to be independent, after all, four is such a big age. He’d cry if you or Toji held him, but he’s changed his mind.

“Your baby sister is crying, give me a minute.” Toji sounds annoyed, knowing that Megumi does it out of jealousy. Jealous of a baby that can’t even hold her own head, kids are so dumb. Megumi lets out a cry before yelling again,

“Papa, up!” He wants attention now. He doesn’t want to wait until Toji is done with some stinky baby. Toji lets out an exasperated sigh as tears begin to stream down Megumi’s face– Crocodile tears, but tears nonetheless. He extends his arms and opens and closes his tiny fists repeatedly, yelling, “Up!”

“Megumi, you don’t want to wake up mommy, do you?” Toji asks, trying his best to calm down the crying baby in his arms while also handling Megumi. Toji goes unheard as Megumi begins to cry his little heart out. 

Toji takes a deep breath, trying to remain collected in this situation. Megumi is only four and getting adjusted to the presence of his little sister. Toji decides that it’s best to walk away, going to the kitchen to get the baby’s bottle and deal with her first since Megumi’s issue isn’t easily resolved. 

“Papa!” Megumi yells, following around Toji as he gets a bottle in the baby’s mouth. 

“Megumi, wait for me in the living room.” Toji says, but Megumi isn’t listening. Daddy isn’t like mommy, whatever mommy says goes but when Toji speaks he goes ignored; Toji’s is far scarier and intimidating than you are, he doesn’t understand why Megumi doesn’t take him seriously. “Megumi, go away!”

“I’m running away!” Megumi stomps his little feet before finally leaving Toji to deal with the baby. Toji breathes in relief, his pesky little bug finally giving him a moment alone. He’s able to go to the living room and sit down comfortably as he finishes feeding his daughter. 

“He’ll come around, princess. He hasn’t witnessed just how cute you are.” Toji coos, as if the baby can understand or care. She finishes her bottle, and Toji burps her before setting her down in her crib. He usually chooses to hold her whenever he can, but right now he has bigger fish to fry.

Toji walks into Megumi’s room, watching how his son tries to fit his most valuable toys into a backpack. Toji is trying his best to not chuckle, knowing that Megumi is deeply hurt. Toji takes a seat on Megumi’s tiny bed, clearing his throat before asking, “Need help packing?”

“You hate me!” Megumi cries, and Toji rolls his eyes. Was he that dramatic when he was Megumi’s age? “Mommy and you don’t love me anymore.”

“Oh c’mon, why do you say that, urchin?” Toji tries to see the little guy’s point of view before attempting to comfort him. The last thing Toji needs is attempting to explain to you why Megumi is packing up all his toys– You leave him alone with the kids for a two hour nap and Megumi’s already moving out. 

“You only care for the new baby.” Megumi angrily muffles, and Toji could’ve guessed as much. 

“C’mere, baby. Let me carry you now.” Toji opens his arms for Megumi, and Megumi glares at his father. He wipes away his tears before deciding that he does want to be carried by his father, after all, the tantrum is simply because of this. Toji picks him up, setting him down on his lap before kissing his forehead. “Is this why you’ve been so sensitive? Because of the new baby?”

“Yeah…” Megumi pouts, and it takes everything in Toji to not laugh.

“I will tell you something but don’t tell mommy, okay?” Toji begins, almost whispering to Megumi. Megumi’s eyes perk up, and Toji is fighting back a smirk. “We… Don’t like the new baby that much. I mean, we just met her. But you, urchin? You’re our favorite.”

“Really?” Megumi’s voice is full of hope, and Toji prays that this means Megumi will stop being so jealous about his baby sister. Toji doesn’t hesitate before nodding. It reminds Megumi that he doesn’t like being held anymore, which makes him get off Toji’s lap.

“Will you behave around her, now?” Toji asks, and Megumi takes a moment to think about it.

“Can we sell her?” Megumi responds, which makes Toji’s jaw drop. Did his cute little urchin seriously just say that?

“Okay, new rule: you’re not allowed near her room.” Toji stands up from the tiny bed, his knees cracking. He leans down and kisses the top of Megumi’s head, “Now unpack all of your toys before mommy wakes up.”

[friendshipgun]

y'all really gotta stop being so disingenuous with this shit. the only way you can see bookmark comments is if you actively go looking for them, it's not "someone having a conversation with someone else at a party where you are" it's someone having a conversation in another room entirely, who is under the assumption that you're not at the party, and then you barge in and go "HEY WHAT ARE YOU SAYING ABOUT ME."

reminding people about privating bookmarks is one thing, bc there are plenty of ppl who do not know that it is an option, but stop talking about this like you could just """happen""" to come across someone being blunt about your fic in THEIR bookmarks.

the bottom line is that bookmarks are for readers. saying this as a fic author: that is not a space for you; that's why you can't get bookmark notifications like you can for kudos/comments. you are going out of your way to look at what people have put in a system that is designed for their personal use and for the use of other readers.

"you don't need their rating system" EXACTLY. it's not for you. bookmark comments are not for you. yeah it sucks that people are being nasty but it's being put in a place that is meant for them and which you, as a writer, have to intentionally seek out.

and when it comes down to it, if people are being nasty on purpose you trying to guilt them into stopping it ain't gonna work. all it's going to do is make other people afraid to use the bookmark system exactly as it was intended to be used: to keep track of fic. saw this exact discussion on twitter and it was mostly ppl using it to keep track of what chapter they were on now afraid to use bookmarks at all in case the chapter numbers were accidentally read as some kind of rating system, so great fucking job!

if you see someone being nasty block/mute them. or, if seeing a comment on a bookmark that's not gushing praise is going to bother you, stop looking at bookmarks.

as a reader i would much prefer ppl being blunt with their bookmarks than click on a fic to read and find out it's slightly ooc, which would immediately make me stop reading. but if someone left a bookmark that said "slightly ooc, but the relationships are so well-written, and the ending is so fucking good" or even the reverse: "the plot is contrived but the characterization is so spot on omg" i am most likely going to keep reading the fic! even something like "passable" would make me more likely to try a fic bc the person clearly enjoyed it enough to bookmark it so they could come back to it.

bookmarks are there for readers: for the individual who made the bookmark foremost and for other readers looking for fic after that.

i think what people actually need to learn is that others may enjoy your fic even if they didn't enjoy every single thing about it. that they may want to recommend it to people even if they didn't think it was perfect, and the fact that they are putting this in their bookmarks and not a fic comment already indicates that it is not directed at you as the author. sure it's public, but it's effectively a reclist, and some people prefer putting caveats on fics on reclists. that's all it is. it's not an attack on you, it's being put in a space where the person likely didn't even intend you to see it.

this has been a sticking point for me for a while now bc i'd really like to see fic reclists make a comeback, but this attitude of "saying anything not 100% positive about my fic is pure maliciousness and shouldn't be allowed" has really gotta stop for that to ever happen.

tl;dr: the system is actually being used as intended, you're just trying to warp it into an extended comments section.

Hey guys? Stop doing this please and thanks. There’s no need to put your rating system in a public bookmark where the author can see it. I don’t care if it’s a good or a bad rating just stop it and keep that shit to yourself.