#it means I don’t have to do the work of finding the memes myself /silly 😁

[doctorsiren]

Can you draw Reigen in that one Saul Goodman pose? The one where he's leaning forward with his hands behind his back like a school girl or something. I think that'd be funny.

look at my lawyer dawg i’m goin to jail

[bubblergoespop]

My Top Guy Quotes

silly pizza manヽ(*＾ω＾*)ﾉ @capitalisticveins @miya-akiko he has been delivered!!

“You’re a jerk. Well. I like jerks.”

“We can’t be getting outta bed before 10, that’d be crazy, that would violating countless labor laws.”

“Oh, you are getting close. Hi! Hi baby. I love youuu~”

“I missed you. I always miss you. Days are long when you’re not around.”

“Jealousy’s a disease, get well soon to those bitches.“

“Come on, take my hand. Well if you don’t, I mean you could get lost on the way. Anything could happen.”

“I am not a menace. I am the menace. And I am your menace. I love you, honey.”

“I don’t need all that shit. I love you just like this. Eye rolling and grumbling is a totally valid love language.”

“Dishes? Dishes? You want me to do dishes? […] Honey, I like a little degradation as much as the next guy, but can’t you just put me on a leash instead, like a normal couple?”

“Let go of me, ahhhh I’m being repressed!”

“Oh, no, no I’m kidding, come here, don’t pout. Yes you are, you are pouting. It’s cute.“

“I vacillate wildly between either looking like an Adonis sent down like a gift or a literal gremlin that couldn’t pull numbers if his life depended on it.”

“No, you smile plenty. And it’s a beautiful smile when you grace me with it. It’s special when you smile.”

“But you are a softy with me. And the other people you care about. You feel things deep. That’s not a bad thing.”

“And how exactly do you expect to keep me in this bed now that you’ve got me here, hmm? Thought about that? Ooohhh gon’ tie me down, fifty shades of honey oooo~”

“You look really cute bundled up in bed like that. Shut up, yes you do. My cute little grumpyface. Aw is my grumpyface mad at me?“

“Aw. That’s so sweet. Who are you and what have you done with my lover? [hit] Ow, okay, there you are.”

“What do you mean you’re gross? You’re not gross, you’re amazing.”

“Thank you for seeing something in me. Something that mattered. Nah, I was talking about my ass.”

“You know wordplay reminds me of? Tongue-twisters! You know what tongue-twisters remind me of? Tongue-kissing, let’s explore that topic shall we—ow ow ow”

“That’s not nothing, that’s called quality time honey.”

“I only wanna be supine if I’m being supine with you!”

“I’m a bad bitch, you can’t kill me~”

“Ew, you can’t give me a forehead kiss, that’s too sweet! Who are you? Why would you do that, being all tender and sweet, that’s gross, you’re gross. No, don’t go. I like you tender and sweet and gross.”

“You have a wonderful hand. It does exquisite work. Ooo don’t make a boy a promise, you betta use it to cover this mouth, fifty one shades of honey ooo~.”

“Making my stupid jokes isn’t as fun without you rolling your eyes and pretending to hate it.”

“Is that why you put up with my memes and shit? Cause I got a big dick and a great ass?”

“I’ll never be sorry for a chance to spend a day at your side.”

“—eh, “Buy Low”, “Start Low”, what’s the difference? You say tomato, I say I wanna put my head between your thighs, it’s semantics.”

“It’s about your thighs wrapped around my head like you’re trying to crush a watermelon. Aw, come on, I’m made of tough stuff. Or not, but hey, that’s a hell of a way to go.”

“You know what this means though, right? Oh my god, they were roommates!”

“Honeybabydarling.”

“But I’ll restrain myself. At least until I can convince you to restrain me. Preferably to our bed. Unnhh.”

“I want to make you squirm under the touch of my fingers and the heat of my mouth and the weight of my tight, straining body pressed flush against yours. And then at some point you can shampoo my hair, cause that always feels nice.”

“Okay, okay, very serious… Canasta. Nasty canasty. Ow—!”

“I’m ready for instruction, professor. Mmm. Mmhmm. I think you’ll find I’m a very hands-on learner. Unnhhh.”

“Do they have to match suite kiss me. Hmm? No, I asked do they have to match suite kiss me, like does the whole canasta kiss me have to be the same suite please kiss me. I don’t know what you mean kiss me. […] kiss me, kiss me really hard.”

“Because no one’s gonna tell me I’m too sexy to be who I am.”

“And maybe I wanna get some, I don’t know! Who said that? Wait— who said that? Wait, who was that? I mean that wasn’t me… shit.”

“That’s my brain, and the only thing that’s gonna wake it up is some kisses. Slow sexy kisses. With tongue. For. You know. Kinetic energy. Transfer. In my mouth. Our mouths.”

“Thank you, honey. I don’t know. For a lot of things. For the water. For hanging out with me. For putting up with me. For being so hot and sexy. I repeat, for putting up with me.”

“I’d lick it off the fucking floor at this point if that’s what you want— anything. That’d be pretty fucking hot actually.”

“I love you, hun.”

“Ah, mm, no. I saw the smile. Yes you did, you can’t hide it from me.”

“Anyway, I am half naked. You are very mean. That’s very hot. You and me honey ain’t nothing but mammals so, uh, whaddya say we do it like they do on discover channel, unhh? Well, you know, personally I was thinking a little less nature documentary and a little more battle bots, you know? Like, I want you to just fucking snap me like a twig!”

“Can’t steal what’s already yours. That’s why you can’t steal my heart cause it’s already yours. Do not groan at me!”

“With you, silence doesn’t feel bad. You looking at me doesn’t feel scary. It feels really good. Feeling seen by you feels good.”

[weirdocat83]

*kicks your door down* YOU. I need to write a silly oneshot so I can fall back into writing because Losing Hope is dramaful and I can't comprehend the words I am writing. I need something goofy. Something silly. Issue? I can't think of any silly plot ideas. SOOOO, I come to you, the au/headcanon master, as a mere writer hoping to find motivation. Do you have any silly ideas that you'd be willing to let me sculpt into a quick oneshot?

Whenever I think silly ideas I default to cumplane because they’re ridiculous and them quoting memes wwhile nobody knows what they mean will never not be funny to me. I mean, imagine explaining a meme without the internet! Bonus points if some of them start picking up on how to use the memes without knowing the context.

A friend of mine told me about a svsss au they don’t intend to write where Shen Jiu is a strict teacher and Shen yuan is the TA that grades his students papers so LBH and SY end up communicating through notes and doodles :)

*takes a Quick Look at old posts because I had ideas then and I don’t have any rn*

Not really that fluffy but Any Hualian time travel or truth serum. There’s like, one truth serum fic in the TGCF fandom that’s good and Xie Lian has both so many secrets and also the sassiest thoughts. Also Xie Lian and Hua Cheng meeting while still alive (and possibly ascending together??).

I would also like to direct you to this post and this post because some aforementioned things are there but also various other ideas that could work. It was an idea day and today isn’t (unfortunately)

Any scenario in which anyone gets drunk. Literally pick a character and choose how they embarrass themselves and regret their decisions in the morning. Xie Lian could harp on about the dirty things he keeps to himself as well as insulting *so* many people, Hua Cheng could be very soft and emotional but also really kind and ends up giving so many compliments even to Feng Xin and mu qing (much to their shock and amusement) speaking of mu Qing, get him wasted. My man has so many emotions and unnecessary thoughts. Cuddle the man and make him laugh. I think he’d be a little more insecure openly but also happier. We’ve seen LWJ drunk but imagine wwx drunk. Idk if that’d be angsty or not but up to you. I think he’d be soft and VERY cuddly. Half of what he says is completely nonsensical but the other half is very sweet. Binghe would be clingy and Shen Yuan would probably be singing some modern pop song with airplane (who is equally wasted).

Outing myself here but non-explicit abo is probably one of my fav types of fluff. Idk something about people being intensely cuddly while surrounded by soft things and being incredibly vulnerable always gets me. Like, ‘nope, you’re mine to cuddle for the rest of the week. Live with it.’

Chatfics are my preferred crackfics because hell hath no chaos like a bunch of people smushed together in a gc with naming privileges and being unable to leave. Bonus points if it’s in high school so there’s extra drama and humor. Imagine Hua Cheng and Xie Lian haven’t confessed but everyone else knows? Hilarious. Mu Qing and Feng Xin fighting in the halls (again) over something stupid and getting suspended? Hilarious. SQX being girlfriends with HX and going on dates (they had a rough start with their relationship because Shi Wudu pulled some shit that was NOT run past SQX which led to a lot of difficulties but eventually they did become friends again and eventually lovers.)

Anyhow that’s all I can think of. I also had some fluffy-ish ideas for losing hope if you want those ;3

[coral-melon]

hiii i saw the matchups thing on the om tag and thought pog i wanna do that so here we are

personality:

gonna be honest with you, im kind of closed off and dont talk to people unless im talked to first BUT i do get very talkative and extroverted when at stuff like cons because i think "wow all these other people are cool and like the same thing as me"

but i still get shy and extra apologetic around people i view as cooler than me like cosplayers. like i will read way too much into an interaction with a cosplayer and sob.

also im kind of... nuerodivergency... in that i do things that i consider friendly but other people think is creepy. like ill make jokes and talk to someone like i would to my friends and i mean well but to them im probably really weird

anyway around friends i just like to be affectionate (if close friends) make jokes and be a silly lil man :3 but im kind of cringe and make references to things i like and memes but hey we are all cringe

strengths:

im good at drawing and singing.. i think? and people say im good at comforting and being rational in emotional situations

weaknesses:

garbage self esteem, ridiculous expectations of myself and also i have the too tired to get out of bed or do anything at all or take care of myself syndrome and also sometimes i lash out butthatsjustbecauseiliveinaplacewhereimnotallowedtoshowwhenifeelupset

looks:

157 cm, im quite thin like more than normal, pale and i look really like hong kong chinese (but im not) i have hair like yumeko jabami and unfortunately im flat

hobbies:

besides drawing, i REALLY like gaming like its my jam and im kinda good at some of them

other:

cats... my beloved <3 i also really really love cutesy stuff like pink and sanrio and stuffed toys.... also im a little mental illness.. and nuerodivergency... but i remain silly

Hello anon! Sorry for the hold up ^^’

Thank you for taking the time to introducing yourself and I hope you end up liking what I wrote for you! I’m also praying it doesn’t feel too out of place ._ .,

I match you with…~

✧ Have a hard time getting out of bed? Not a problem! It’s not like he’d let you leave anyway.. who do you take him for? ((Beel would be the one to make sure the two of you are still alive and well fed👍✨))

✧ When your around him, people would never think of you as odd or weird considering some of the things he says with a straight face.

✧ Never feel self conscious about the things you say or how you say them around him, he’ll understand what you mean even if you didn’t word it correctly. It’s like a six sense that he has.

I’m sorry, I really wanted to write a bit more about your neurodiversity but I suck and I wouldn’t want to offend you in any way.. ;-;

✧ I also imagine him not letting you be apologetic with anyone; why do you have to apologize when it was a mistake for the person to exist in the first place, boo? ;)

✧ Though will tease you if he finds out that you think his cool and all. Gives him a lot of material to work with! Above all though, he likes being able to have a good laugh with you. Your laughs is very soothing to him..

✧ Thought cosplaying was weird — mostly cuz of Levi — But is very open about it if your the one talking about it. Surprisingly also stays fully awake if you go on a tangent about a topic.

✧ Sing him a lullaby, he’ll remember it for all eternity. It won’t leave his head and will force you to come over just so you can at least hum it to him.

✧ He also doesn’t care how thin you are, he always find a way to lay on you in the most comfortable positions. He’s an expert, so don’t even worry about it! >;D

✧ Will most definitely get you any and all stuffed animals and pillows. Not only do you get happy, it also makes your bed a lot more comfortable for him to nap on. He’d give you all the ones the world could offer in a blink of an eye if he could. Nevertheless, you have a large collecting thanks to him!

✧ He attentively watches the things you do, but you can’t really rely on him actually joining you since he might doze off and hit his head somewhere.

End

You said u liked cats and cute stuff and I happened to find out that there was a card of him with cat ears and thought, ‘oh, this works!’

If this bothered you in any way, please let me know! It’ll be good to have some things pointed out if I made any sort of mistake

But other than that, I hope you liked it! Take care✨

[lampmanliveblogs]

Pictured: Me, writing this liveblog late at night when I have work the next day.

If you look down at the lower right corner, you’ll find the time and it’s nine past eleven? In the forenoon? Talk about a sleep-in!

Staying in the lower right corner, we also find what might be Luz’ handle on this universe’s equivalent of twitter or X or whatever it’s called. She’s called FriendofOwlsandTitans.

Moving over to the left part of the screen, we find a The Good Witch Azura fanfic. Pfft, only one? I’ve got like twenty unfinished fanfics lying around my computer, get on my level.

Luz is also a gamer, as she’s got the alternate universe version of Hollow Knight, something called Hades, which I’m sure is a reference to something, and Totally Original Farming Game Moonfarm Valley.

Say. who do you think is Luz’ favorite bachelor/bachelorette in Stardew Valley? Oh wait, silly question, it’s Abigail. Who’s her second favorite then? I’m thinking… maybe Sebastian?

”Dear Diary. All I ever wanted was to be good at something. To be around people who also liked that something. And when I found the Demon Realm, I thought ’wow, I found it!’I can learn magic, I can be a witch! I won’t be the dummy in the principal’s office anymore.’ But I messed up too much a-and put everyone in danger.”

I-I’m sorry, I need a minute-

…

When I sat down, I was expecting to watch a sad cartoon child, not a reflection of myself. Did someone swap my computer screen for a mirror?

Shit… this hits a little too close to home for comfort, jeez Luise. ”All I ever wanted was to be good at something, to be around people who also liked that something.”  No, that’s not me, nu-uh. It ain’t me, it ain’t me.

And after I just got done plugging my fanfics too… bloody hell’s bells…

Insert that one ”I’m in this picture and I don’t like it” meme.

”So… I know what I have to do now.”

Wait, what are you talking about now Luz? Do what? Luz, what are you planning here? Tell me right this instance, young lady!

And so does arrive the Spirit’s Eve. Check out the maze and see if you can find the Golden Pumpkin at the end!

Let’s see… I spy with my little eye… what looks like Jacob Hopkins (ugh) over by the round stage. Also by the round stage, but a wise distance away from the insane creep is what I think are the two guys Luz met in school. Next to them, sitting on the stairs of the big building are, um… decorations…? Either that or some of the shadow people from RWBY volume 1.

Next to one of the stands on the lower left side we find the principal from episode one, season one. It doesn't look like the snakebite had any lasting effects, that’s nice to see. Near the middle of the screen we find what looks like young Willy Wonka going trick-or-treating. By the hale bales next to the tractor we find someone who gives me Mickelina Räv vibes. Just throw on a yellow dress to complete the look.

Up on the tractor wagon itself we have what looks like Masha. And that could be the mom and daughter who got spooked by Philip earlier in the episode as well.

Finally, in the upper right corner of the street, we find Frybo talking to the steak from Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared 5. Now THERE is a cursed crossover idea.

What kind monster truck car is Camila driving that the top of the wheels reach Luz’ waist?

…

And wait a minute! Go back a few seconds! Were all of the kids squeezed into the backseat? All five of them?

Amity exits first, followed by Willow, meaning Amity must’ve been sitting in Willow’s lap. Then comes Hunter, followed by Gus, meaning Hunter was sitting in Gus’ lap, which really should’ve been the other way around considering Hunter’s bigger than Gus. Either that, or Hunter got the middle seat to himself and Gus sat in Luz’ lap, since she exits last.

Why couldn’t one of the kids be sat in the front passenger seat? Couldn’t Hunter have used his Oldest Brother privilege to get the front seat?  That’s like on of the few nice privileges we have!

Also, I guess Vee didn’t come along. On one hand, staying at home instead of going to any form of activity involving a mass of people is super valid and cool. On the other, should the rotten mayonnaise of a man that is Philip rear his ugly head (or what constitutes a head in his current state), it might’ve been useful to have someone with the ability to drain magic.

[desultory-novice]

Been awhile since I had seen your stuff, and I really enjoy what you’ve been coming up with! Glad to see you’re having fun

(Also, how did you start here, so to speak? I would love to be an active creator in the kirblr community, but since I just lurk and rb because I don’t have the energy/confidence to create, I just feel like an unwelcome stalker LOL. Sorry if this is too much!)

Oh, gosh, thank you so much! I'm a little impressed at how things have turned out after barely two years(?) here myself!

I don't know if my methods could ever work for anyone else as they do me, as I attribute a lot of "this" to serendipity but...

...It seems to me I really took off after opening my inbox up to doing detailed ask memes about the characters. Again, this was kind of luck on my part because I spoke very lovingly (albeit truthfully!) about a few mega popular characters, which caused two of their fandom BNFs to kindly reblog my posts, and that sent a bunch more asks for the WHOLE rest of the Kirby cast my way!

I'm sorry to say, it does take a lot of energy though. But I do get the struggle, as I'm often exhausted by life/lots of jobs. However, if you can find any sort of mental "trick" to keep yourself going, you might discover you have more energy than you think inside you!

(Me, I'm very visual, and I keep a collection of my favorite fanart on hand. If I think I've exhausted myself on a character/ran out of ideas of things to talk about, I'll browse through my personal "gallery" and it will help me to remember characters/events/interesting points.)

As to the matter of confidence, you've probably heard the whole "fake it to you make it" bit and to a degree, at least, it's true. I've had a couple of posts where I've flooded the tags with things like "OMG this is so bad and I'm so sorry!" or "I had no time to work on this and it shows~" or "if this sucks it's because life is crushing my soul and I just want to sleep for a thousand years..." annnnnd unfortunately...

...even if it's how you're feeling At The Time, those things can make people feel like they're intruding into your space by liking or reblogging it. It's like, if you're telling us something so personal and private, maybe you really only want to hear from a friend right now, and not a stranger...? What I've done is I've told myself it's okay to write out those low self-esteem thoughts elsewhere but try to let the people who are here for the art/images/videos/writing/discussions just enjoy your art/images/videos/writing/discussions.

If you've got something to get off your chest, don't feel like you have to hold it inside, but don't hold your audience captive either.

(Also, something else fun about this: if you cast out positivity, you may find that it comes back to you, and when you look again at that thing you shared, it was NOT as "awful" as you thought.)

Now, a lot of that was about "external" confidence or what you display. As for internal confidence, that's... kind of a constant struggle. We all -- and by all, I I mean even famous published creators -- have times when we think our work isn't good enough. Annnd...

...Well, it isn't always great. But the fact that something isn't great now (even if it's the absolute best we can do at the time) doesn't mean we have no skill at something! We all have to start somewhere. And sometimes "somewhere" is a piece of art or writing or theory or humorous content that only 1-2 people think is "...Eh, not bad."

My first "hit it big" piece? My "Moon's Haunted" Kirby meme? Ohhh man, I can't STAND to look at now! I redrew it a few months back and if I were to redraw it today, it'd look better still, probably. The key is that I tried (...and that I meme-posted when the game was going viral >.> ) and I think that shone through??

(...It might be silly, but there IS a Nintendo Direct tomorrow. Probably no Kirby news, as I assume Vanpool's closure will bring an end to us getting multiple Kirby titles a year, but if you really want to try and take that ^ path, you can always get up early/stay up late and ready yourself to post commentary on any news!)

That doesn't just go for art, but writing/theories/HC as well. I myself find it a little sad when someone starts on a post and then will just trail off with "...lol I dunno, didn't think about it that hard."

"Don't say that, person on the internet," I cry! Do you realize how much information is at your fingertips right now? You can google for things even if you only know it as "that thing in that one movie about the fruit." You can watch a Youtube video in 5 minutes explaining the mechanics of something you've never seen or ever hope to do before! You can even watch a Youtube playthrough of a Kirby thing you forgot instead of saying "You forgot!" Don't know how to draw cloaks? Pinterest has millions of references! Don't like Pinterest? Just google "cloaks, Pinterest" and click on the images tab and you will never have to log into that accursed site! It just takes WANTING to.

Though sometimes, I think people write that out of embarrassment? Maybe they DID think about it but they don't think anyone would be interested? Or maybe they really didn't think about X or Y but didn't want to feel like they were neglecting anybody and that something is better than nothing. Which it is, but LOVE is even more important!

...And love, especially in a fandom space, can be ~complicated~

Like I mentioned above, I'm LUCKY that my top favorite characters also come close to topping the rest of "the fandom's" list. But as I've said before, I love every character in Kirby. Even the ones-people-want-to-throw-off-a-bridge-into-a-waste-treatment-plant..

And if I'd started off my tumblr as a "The Susie Haltmann Appreciation Blog!" as opposed to my actual "Hey I'm Completely Obsessed About Marx and Magolor and I Think About Them All The Time (...but I also like the Haltmanns from a story perspective for their heartrending tragedy that hits close to home for me...) Blog" I don't know if we'd be having this conversation right now. ^^;

(It doesn't just have to be all about controversy/"discourse" related stuff either. I could have started a "Daily Sillydillo" blog and had to retire it in a month due to low levels of interaction. The concept of fandom favorites might not be very egalitarian, when every character deserves to have their story enjoyed, but sometimes, strong love can make up for the lack of eyes on a thing. Occasionally ^^)

...Anyway, you might not have the energy, at least not all the time, and confidence might be a little low right now too, but you love Kirby, right? You have passion for it? Passion can get you a lot! And also, there's a few methods of interaction that, for personal reasons, I could not choose that have done wonders for everyone else!

For example, I have some old, unhealed trauma about OCs, but there's a whole hu~ge section of Kirblr that loves OCs and, as far as I've seen (??) tries to be really supportive about them?

Lastly, I can guarantee you, you are NOT a stalker and anyone who thinks being a "quiet supportive fan" equates to being a stalker should consider moving away from thinking of themselves and/or others in that negative way. You have stalked nobody! You have only shown an active interest in others! That is a POSITIVE thing!

And on that note, you're definitely not unwelcome either! Especially if you're one of the precious, wonderful people out there who reblog lots! If you want to get your toes wet, why not test the waters and build your confidence in this space by adding some of your thoughts onto your reblogs? You could build a rep/connections that way!

TLDR, sometimes gaining an audience/a space is a magic trick that no one knows the secret to. Other times, it is the result of months and months and months of hard, lonesome persistence.

The best advice I can give you is advice I would give myself:

-Be kind if you can, if you cannot, then be understanding -Demonstrate care about your interests and those of others -Forgive yourself for being at the beginning of your journey

-Enthusiasm, sincerity, and love are warm lights in this world of ours that can, at times, seem so dim and dreary. Light a little lantern for yourself and remember to laugh loud with joy that life is also so amazingly, ridiculously magical and before you know it, others will find their way to your light to add their lantern to yours!

[card-queen]

Writer Q&A Tag

I am truly blessed! Thank you so much for the tag @maskedemerald! It really means the world to me!! I'd love to do more tag game things just to get involved or join a writing group of some kind!

What motivates you to write?

Disappointment, I guess? A lot of things I read/watch/play don't go places I want to see, don't explore ideas I want to hear about, don't show the effects of events on characters I think should be there. It sounds all negative, I know, but it's really not. Nothing gets me fired up quite like getting mad at the things that should have been.

A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work that you love (just please credit them)

Well, I'm not sure on this one. I still consider myself pretty green as a writer, so I don't think I've written anything that stands out just yet. I'll grab this from one of my little writing challenges. I grabbed two random characters and a vague prompt to write a little scene about. It was surprisingly fun as I hadn't actually written for Velena yet.

‘That’s the funny thing about the truth, it doesn’t seem to change.’ ‘You truly expect me to believe that utter drivel about it being luck that you survived?’ ‘I don’t expect anything,’ Hughwen retorted in a predictable manner. Velena almost heard the words before they came out of Hughwen’s mouth. Was he becoming more predictable? Or was she? ‘You have your ungrateful life while your comrades don’t. How many good men died today instead of you?’ ‘I have no idea, I didn’t think to count,’ Hughwen said coolly. Velena felt something in the atmosphere change. Either she was getting to him, or Hughwen had decided he no longer wished to cooperate. ‘But I can tell you this, not that you asked: few of those men were “good men”.’ Velena looked Hughwen up and down. His face bore that smirk she had grown to loathe in the short time she had known her prisoner. His eyes showed a mixture of challenge and defiance. He had decided he was done for the day. She could see it.

Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

I'll say Cas for the sake of the question but quite honestly, I find myself getting wrapped up and enjoying thinking/talking about my characters without even realising it. Each character has something really enjoyable or challenging about them that makes them fun to write. The world, the story, the factions and forces within the world, the other characters and their struggles -- they all take root in the other characters as well, so even if you don't find their personality to be enjoyable, their perspective on matters, characters, past knowledge etc. often makes them stand out as enjoyable to me. Anyway, to answer the question: Cas' endless struggle to build an image of himself isn't really true to him to combat the stigma of a reputation that also isn't true to him. He pours himself into duty, over-exerts to the point of breaking and denies some of his stronger aspects because they might make him look like the criminal people see him as. He's exactly what I want from a main character: vibrant and adventurous, with a good heart and a rogue's mentality and a sucker for outcasts and black sheep.

What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

Easy answer: dialogue. It's fun to craft the ways characters say what they mean to say. Complex answer: that moment in the third or so draft, when you're looking at your overview and you see a common thread you didn't notice before and suddenly a whole wave of thematic resonance just clicks into place.

What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

I can't truly say yet. I think dialogue but to be honest, not many people actually read my work. Especially not now that I've started from scratch again!

What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

Silly asks, memes and just fun-building questions. Characters are simultaneously tools that fulfil a purpose within the story they inhabit, and ALSO they are vessels of personality and joy that bring the life to events and scenarios. You really need to have fun with and love your characters beyond their purpose and silly headcanon questions and fun doodles often do just that!

A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

Enneagram, I guess. For me, I like to see similarities around where I'm aiming to feel grounded. The vast infinity of everything is really daunting and I do my best to avoid thinking about things that 'could be anything'. Anything = too much = I'm drowning. I've always tried to connect my work to other things to feel less disjointed but there was always something that didn't feel right or help me all that much. Everyone always went to TVTropes but I really didn't like to. Thank goodness I found something that worked for me!

A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

It's not so much one thing that I like the most, it's the fallout and effects of that thing. From this unspecified event, my world has:

The Runes of Magic as it is known. People are born under the sign of two or three Gods, with one God being their patron and thus, their birth element.

From Magic, there is Soulfire. Soulfire is the birth element dying and needing to be Cleansed. Uncleansed Soulfire can create Rifts and if a body with Uncleansed Soulfire is eaten by a beast or animal, they will transform into a Monster during an Athyric Moon.

Speaking of, Magic and Gods ties into the Godmoon or Athyric Moon. A monthly event that most Continental countries base their calendars on. A full-moon event that causes all Magic to be enhanced or brought to full power.

With Athyric Moons & Magic, there are engineers and tinkerers who use the Runes of Magic to make crystals and jewellery to perform simple tasks, like a Ice chests to keep stored food frozen, Heatstones for warming public baths, Crystal lamps to give off a faint glow at night, etc. These devices are designed to last the month then be recharged by the Athyric Moon.

Returning back to the original point with Gods & the Runes, we have the religions that populate the world. Each having different core beliefs, rules, taboos and ways of life based on the Virtues of the God that governed that land.

and so on, and so on...

Things in worldbuilding don't exist in a vacuum. If something is created, it may make something else in the world impractical or impossible. There may be something else that needs to be created alongside it to make sure that life would be sustainable for those in the world or area. These are areas where you can really have a lot of fun!

What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

My first goal for my day is always to write. If I can't write, then I'll watch, read or play something that might give me ideas or inspiration. If I'm not in the right mind for that, I spend time with my sisters and the dogs, and remember what I'm doing it all for.

Don't sweat the details, honestly. Some days/weeks/months just suck and it's good to recognise when it happens so you can just hit the eject button. Things tend to have a way of working themselves out. I find that if you're blocked when writing, there's something there that's bugging you and you might not even know what it is. The answer will be right around the corner before you know it, just don't go looking for it. Relax your brain, the answers will come find you.

Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters

I can only really tag @maskedemerald, @yunidraws, @albicantknight, @snow-the-wanderer, @prismshard, @reneethegreatandpowerful and @merwetketet! Many of whom are inactive, I know, but I don't know anybody else!!

If you see this and want to do it, then pretend I tagged you, please! I need more friends here.

[tejoxys]

For the WIP meme, I'm intrigued by any of the TFTLs, particularly hivemind Tooth.

ah, yes, TFTL. I feel bad for this fic, because it deserves to be completed, it's just, I think I psyched myself out with how much I was trying to do with it? I haven't really figured out if I'll be able to pick it back up or not.

anyway, here's a bit of hivemind, and, hmmm, Aspen :D hivemind is fairly early on, after Pitch has been shut in immortal time-out, but before much of anything else happens.

-

Toothiana was working, of course, buzzing briskly back and forth between seven tasks at once, when a chill wind tumbled through the palace, tickling her feet. Her heart leapt. Sure enough, a moment later, an unmistakable voice followed.

“Tooth? Are you here?”

“Jack,” she yelled back. At least, she hoped it sounded like a yell and not a squeal. She rapidly directed a squad of fairies to take over, and zipped through the honeycombs to find him. “Jack, hi! Come on in. It’s great to see you.”

Jack flashed that wonderful smile and flew a playful loop around her. “Hey. It’s good to see you, too. I’m really sorry, I know you’re busy—”

“Don’t be silly. I’ll—all of us—will always make time for you, Jack. What can I do for you?”

“Aw. Thanks, Tooth.” His smile turned shy. “I’ll try to make this quick. It’s just, it’s a memory problem—”

Toothiana shooed a few stray fairies out of Jack’s face. They became so distractible every time he talked! “Oh, no, you’re still having trouble?”

“Huh? Oh, no, not with mine.” Jack laughed. “Well, actually, yes, mine too, but I’m doing okay with that. No, this is about Pitch. Did you know he really can’t remember anything from before?”

Pitch. That name brought a different kind of chill. Toothiana blew out a breath. “I thought that might be the case. I mean, once in a while, he almost acts as if... he knows about everything he’s done. But I suppose if he did,” she said, half talking to herself, “we’d all be in a lot more danger.”

Jack abandoned his midair ballet and settled down onto a balcony. “What do you mean? Would it be bad for him to remember?”

“Oh, I just don’t know.”

“Listen, Tooth, I wouldn’t ask for help with this... but it’s getting really hard for me to work with him when I don’t even know where he came from. When he doesn’t know, either. He’s straight-up amnesic. About weird things, sometimes.” Jack’s voice was becoming more animated. Toothiana fluttered closer and put a soothing hand on his shoulder, willing her own ruffled feathers to smooth down. “It… reminds me of me, in the old days,” Jack finished.

Ah. So much for the argument on the tip of her tongue—the one about the Man in the Moon most likely stripping Pitch’s memory for good reason. That might not go over so well, just now. Toothiana closed her eyes. “Jack… I have one of his teeth.”

“From the time you punched him? Wow. That was awesome, by the way, in case I haven’t told you enough.”

She smiled a little at that. “Thanks. I think that’s my favorite memory of him.”

-

Aspen is close to the end. the timeline of this fic covers... I want to say 14 years? and this scene takes place in the 14th year. Jamie is on his first couples vacation with someone new ouo

-

Jack gave Pitch a shove with one shoulder, unable to stop smiling. “Can we do this later? You were about to tell me how you know my ex’s new boyfriend.” He stumbled slightly on the word ex.

They looked over the roof at the couple again, and it was Pitch’s turn to roll his eyes. “That boy… I almost had him, years ago. He was almost my believer. Before I made my bid for power, when I was still… recruiting.”

Only Pitch would describe systematically corrupting children’s dreams that way. Jack shivered involuntarily and gave him a look. “What did you do to him?”

“Nothing! That’s just it.” Pitch’s wolfish smile faded. “He was like your Jamie, so eager to believe. He put monsters under his own bed and frightened himself silly with them. He invited me. He heard my voice. Given the chance, he would have been mine. I’m sure of it.”

“Let me guess: one of the Guardians rained on your parade and never even knew it.”

Pitch ducked his head and chuckled. “Oh, no,” he said softly. “I wouldn’t respect a child for being rescued by you lot. No, this one was different. He created his own guardian to stand between himself and me.”

“What?” Jack glanced at Pitch, then stared down at Calvin. “You mean an invisible friend? They’re great, but can they do that?”

“No, they can’t. I don’t know what he was, or how the child made him; he was far too independent. And the way he stood up to me—he took every negative feeling into himself, and let the child fear him instead of me. While remaining the child’s friend.” Pitch shook his head. “I never got a word through after that. I came so close.” He paused. The grin resurfaced. “I see no sign of him now. Perhaps I should go give those boys a thrill.”

Jack’s hand clamped down on Pitch’s arm. “No you don’t.”

“Oh, why not? Don’t you want to see this little outing spoiled?” Sharp teeth gleamed.     “Depending on the young man’s character, maybe I can scare him off for good, and poor Jamie will have to start all over. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“No! Don’t you dare go down there.”

“Are you sure?” Pitch teased, half-melting into the chimney’s shadow.

Jack grabbed him with both hands and yanked him into the moonlight. “Pitch, if you go down there, I swear—”

[piracytheorist]

Get to Know Me

There are various things about me that I mention vaguely in ranting posts, that I know some of my followers don’t know. So I’m writing some stuff here, for people who want to know me better! 😉

I’m PiracyTheorist, for personal reasons I don’t share my real name or selfies publicly here. You can call me Nette.

Current fandoms circulating around here:

- Spy x Family (CURRENT OBSESSION) (I’m up to date with the anime but I don’t read the manga, so please no manga spoilers) (tags are "Spy x Family" and occasionally "sxf")

- Colin O’Donoghue (sporadic but massive posting whenever he graces us with new content)

- Resident Evil Village (there will be horror and graphic content, as well as spoilers for the game and its DLC Shadows of Rose) (tag will mostly be “Resident Evil” and/or “re talk”)

- Digimon Adventure (20 years after watching it as a kid I went back to it and what do you know I still love everything about my very first blorbo, Yamato Ishida, so I’m going off about it here as well) (tag is “Digimon”)

- Occasionally, other random stuff I'm into.

Personal stuff:

I’m in my late 20s, I was born in a small town in Greece. I lived on an island for six years, where I studied music teaching. I now work as a music educator in a public middle and high school.

I support all genders and sexualities and ways people choose to live their own lives.

I’m a white cis woman, an asexual, I’m probably also aromantic but I’m not sure. Due to not being interested in romantic/sexual relationships however, I don’t spend a lot of time wondering about that. I just go with the flow.

I am a certified cat person™. I have one of my own (though she lives in my parents’ house and I only see her when I visit):

I was born with a cardiomyopathy. I’m on mild medication (by which I mean no side effects and no problems if I miss one dose) and I have some standard medical tests once or twice a year. I cannot do heavy exercise or push any limits (which, due to not being able to exercise my whole life, are low considering my young age). I am able to be independent though I'm eligible for some disability benefits. And yes, that means I’m in a high-risk group for any disease, not just covid or the flu.

I find dogs cute as well, but I prefer cats for myself.

I don’t want to have children. I like working with them as a music educator, but I don’t think I’d ever have the patience to actually be a good parent for life. Plus I have a ton of crappy genes, first and foremost of my own disease, so why spread them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I attend therapy sessions. Sometimes I talk here about my sessions, or about things I want to say in them. I tag those posts as “nette therapy” so you can filter that if you want.

I love travelling. Thanks to being a part of several choirs while studying, I’ve visited various places in Europe, and I hope to be able to visit more.

I try to tag everything, including triggers, so if there’s something you need me to tag (within reason, don’t bring fandom drama into my inbox please), don’t hesitate to ask me. I shitpost from time to time, so prepare for some silliness here and there.

I enjoy whump, that is, seeing fictional characters (mostly male - for me mostly ones played by the aforementioned Colin O’Donoghue) in pain or any kind of peril. I tag everything about that as “whump”. I understand triggers and squicks so tagged or not, if that makes you in any way uncomfortable, you can unfollow me. I appreciate people following my blog but I rarely if ever check my followers list.

Sometimes I write fanfics, though my main contributions to fandoms are gifsets and silly memes, occasionally. Killian Jones from the TV show Once Upon a Time is my biggest love, so content about him may appear here sometimes. My fanfics can be found on Tumblr [link] or on AO3 [link]. My gifsets can be found here [link].

I do not tolerate hate that’s aimed at innocent people - and that goes from hate for race, gender, sexuality etc. to hate for what fictional character each other likes. If what the other person is doing is in no negative way affecting someone else, I will not tolerate hate on my blog about them. I used be a person who judged others for what fictional characters/ships they liked, and I know now how miserable I was to act that way, and I’m trying to move on and become better.

That’s it for now :D Welcome to my blog!

[henarten]

Gay ramblings of someone who is very used to having a character limit

This is kinda very much trauma dumping in real but also idk figured its good for my mental health if I get it out in writing and maybe someone else will get a kick out of it who knows my most popular posts are just my sona. I don’t know why I’ve felt digitally illiterate my entire life. I mean, it *might* have had something to do with growing up in the middle of the woods and having actual dial up internet until I was 17 (4 and a half years ago damn). Or maybe not having a proper working phone until high school and no free time to figure out what I was doing. My parents always said I was the “tech wiz kid” of the family but what this really meant is I knew how to use google and had a history binging wikipedia on the computer. My first real introduction to social media that I actually bothered using was discord in 2017 and even then the most it was used for was the occasional meme browsing on a friend’s server or meeting up irl with said friends... and later on, finding out what RP stood for. I used discord rp to cope with my gender dysphoria at the time, initially joining a random big rp server (I think it was RP World or something I cant recall) to finding friends and enemies both figurative and literal in much smaller servers, to somehow running one of my own and watching it build up into something good and then burn to the ground. Twice. But that’s sorta different from the social media experience you get from Tumblr, Twitter, Mastodon, etc. You get these short little snippets that can be targeted towards a larger audience. It could be towards just yourself, or no one at all. The act of existing is such an open ended question that can barely be considered as such. I am staring at a white box. All the potential in the world, with little splashes of color and text, images, videos, songs. Struggling to find out what I can contribute. What is my niche? Do people like me for how I talk? I’m not a comedian, I’m just neurodivergent with a LOT of trauma. Do people like me for my fighting games clips? Am I really that good? Maybe they just like me for my sona? Do people like me at all, or is it just this online persona I’ve made for myself? I’d like to think people like me, but this nagging feeling has always existed in the back of my head telling me I’m not. It’s hard to ignore but it doesn’t mean I don’t try. Above all, Tumblr is from what I’ve seen a site that lets people be people. To find or even make their own niche, regardless of the popularity. A post could have a thousand notes or just ten but still mean something to someone and have an impact on their life far greater than the silly little image of a cartoon animal dancing was ever intending on. A random stranger turned me into a furry simply for having a pfp of their sona and look at me now. I’m so much more accepting of myself than I was in 2017 and its still gonna get better from here. So yeah, maybe I’ll make a post once in a while about my very ADHD spur of the moment interests like the time I made a wooden travel version of a board game or a paint program for the TRS-80 Color Computer or how I’ve accidentally transed at least 3 other people’s genders. Just silly things idk.

[handfulofmuses]

1-5, 14

How do you feel about reblog karma?

I think I like the idea behind it and try to practice it myself if I can. As someone who reblogs a lot of memes because that’s how I get interactions going nowadays because it’s easier, I try to make sure to give my partner something, especially when I want to reblog the same thing.

The way I see it - people reblog a meme, they want interaction and it can kinda be “eh” when you find yourself with nothing.

Having said that, while I do send a lot, people are not obligated to answer them all and can tell me to tone it down if it ever gets too much. I don’t expect everything to get turned into a thread either! Even if I happen to reblog my response, I don’t expect my partner to reply or continue the thing. I don’t want to overwhelm my partners or even myself.

2. is it hard for you to write with characters you don’t know/don’t know well?

Not at all! I roleplay a lot of characters from unknown stuff myself, so I understand how hard it can be to get interactions going with lesser known characters. It’s fun for me because I might even end up with something new to watch and if I don’t have the time for it, after looking at their about pages I try to find more information about the character on google.

3. Whose writing has impacted your writing style the most? (you can choose anyone! famous writer or not.)

Richard Adams (author of watership down and the plague dog) has always been a big inspiration for me when it comes to writing, but also the netflix watership down series. However, recently I am also inspired by Katherine Applegate, author of the one and only Ivan / Ruby / Bob. She has created such incredible characters who went through a lot and all of them deal with their trauma in different ways. Her writing style is really charming and funny actually!

4. Which muse of yours is your all time favorite?

As difficult as he is to write and even analyze for me, I’d have to go with XR. I can just get up to a lot of silly shenanigans, write an incredibly flawed hero who also gambles and steals on occasion and is just unpredictable, deals with an identity crisis and has a lot of issues in general regarding his life. There is just so much more to him than just a comic relief and it’s fun to explore. But I think it’s also because people have been so open in his interactions or even plots with him, so that is what makes it fun to write him.

Cheezi, when his muse was still high, could be considered as such too. Writing as him helped me to get through some tough times. The thing about Cheezi was that I never put effort into his replies actually. I just wrote whatever came to mind first, didn’t bother to give it a second thought because that is exactly how his mind works. This goofy little fella made many people laugh and if there is one thing I love doing is making people laugh and brighten their day.

Vervain definitely took the spot regarding that too! He just comes so naturally to me in writing and his character is so interesting to explore.

5. Is there a muse you really want to try? If yes, what’s stopping you?

If it were up to me, I’d roleplay the whole Watership Down cast. And when I say the whole, I mean it. Every character from the book, the movie, the tv series, the netflix series and the upcoming graphic novel. I love all these complex and flawed rabbits who also deal with their trauma in different ways. It’s really fleshed out because everyone genuinely copes with their experiences differently, no character acts the same regarding the tough life they lead.

Unfortunately, time and energy and the fact that I can’t bite off more than I can chew! Which I already do so I don’t want to add full time pressure.

14. Which roleplay community has been your favorite to write in?

I really disliked the series but, the lion guard rpc was the best one I’ve ever been in. I just really felt welcome there, you know? I try to avoid large rpcs because I don’t do well with large crowds, so half the time I write characters where I’m either the only person in the rpc or two other people.

But lion guard rpc was fun. With all the other rpcs I feel like I’m just sort of “there” (which isn’t anybody’s fault btw!! I’m just a really withdrawn person and half of the time my social battery is empty, years of tumblr experience also kinda made me incredible selective with who i interact) but in this rpc we all had fun together, came up with plots and we all goofed off so much. I genuinely miss those times because it sure was wild sometimes.

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

A Moment's Surprise--Chapter 9

Whether it’s called an accident or the fates of the universe, you and Calum find yourselves taking on the next level of your relationship: parenthood.

Reader (Gender Neutral) X Calum. Multi-chapter Series.

Series Note: Across this series, pregnancy is discussed thoroughly. While I have made this series specifically a reader insert and have done my best to avoid coding for cis women, I am taking this moment to acknowledge that this content may not be suitable for every reader. I want to acknowledge even if I’ve been careful some things (like uteri) are still mentioned and if that causes you discomfort please DO NOT read this. You may keep scrolling (as there is a read more) / skip this as necessary.

Series Masterlist

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Epilogue

As the weeks pass of the tour, you and Calum find a rhythm. He calls when he wakes in the mornings, usually right around the time you take a quick 15 minute break at work and step outside. Sometimes you’ll walk the building, other times you’ll just sit and enjoy the sun. Though the conversations are short, you two are able to reconnect on the most pressing things. Like the venue for the babyshower finally confirms you all being able to get the convention room for September 17th or Calum finally hitting the green on his practice GED tests, which means he’s more than likely to pass the real one, or the updates from the doctor about how the weight and blood pressure are progressing for you. 

Throughout the day, small things will get sent through text. Like you ask Calum to verify the guestlist when he gets the chance, or sending him pictures of cute little onesies you spy out with Joy. Or Calum will send you pictures from all the places he stops at or he tells you that he confirmed the guestlist last week but he can resend the email so it’s at the top of your inbox. There’s of course memes and silly things you two find on the corners of the internet that you two are one. 

In the evenings that they don’t have a show, Calum calls after he knows you’ve had dinner so that the two of you talk until you fall asleep. When he does have a show, you set an alarm to get up and talk about how the show went. On days that you have a doctor's appointment, Calum knows he’s going to get a bump update. He clings to his phone on those days, wanting nothing more than to know what fruit his baby boy is being compared to and when he finds out, he runs to the other guys to celebrate. 

Tonight is a night that Calum doesn’t have a show, so from the couch of the tour bus, Calum watches you snuggle into the sheets back at home. “Looks comfy,” he comments. 

“Missing you,” you return. “But I do have Duke.” Turning down the covers, you’re able to show off Duke who’s burrowed next to you. 

Calum laughs. “I’m glad he’s taking good care of you.”

“Did you talk to Joy today?”

“Yeah,” he nods. “After I called you this morning, I talked to her.” 

You nod, knowing Joy had mentioned missing Calum just by a second earlier in the week. “Where’s next for you?” 

Calum shrugs for a moment but he does turn his attention away for a moment, “Texas is next? Ash, is that right?”

“Yeah, Texas. I think there are three shows.” 

Calum looks back at you, “Texas.” 

“All my exes live in Texas,” you sing, mostly in jest but the lyric does cause you to pause. Calum’s laughter echoes through your speakers. “Can I confess something?” You ask after the laughter subsided. 

“Yes, love. You always can.” 

“I read through some delivery stories on my break.” You pause and Calum nods, signaling that he’s listening. “What if I shit myself in delivery?” 

From Calum you hear a stifled laugh but in the background Ashton howls his laughter. You know it sounds ridiculous. But there’s the inkling of fear. What would anyone think of you should it happen to you? Sure nurses may be used to it but it worries you. Calum throws a half hearted swat at Ashton and the laughter quiets but you can tell both men are close to cracking again should they share more than a second look. 

“Babe, what—what are you talking about?” Calum asks, keeping his gaze on you. 

“When I’m pushing. I’ve heard some people accidentally poop themselves. What if I shit myself?”

“What has your doula said about this?” The laughter is slowly leaving his voice. 

“I’ll meet with her tomorrow, so I haven’t brought it up to her yet. I know it sounds silly. But I don’t want to shit on our baby or myself!” 

Calum nods. “I hear you. I’m sure all the nurses and doctors there are more than equipped to handle it should it happen. But let’s see what might cause it and what we can do to avoid it, okay?” 

It’s logical but still a bit of the fear remains. “I’m not losing it you know? It’s a real thing.” 

“I'm sorry for laughing. I do believe it’s a real thing and I think if I were in your shoes I would be worried too. It mostly took me by surprise, love.” 

“Imagine my surprise too,” you exhale out through your own bout of laughter. 

“I’ll still love you even if you do shit yourself in delivery,” Calum offers softly to you. “And any other time too?” 

“I’ll love you too, even if you get old and need adult diapers.” 

“I disgustingly adore this,” Ashton chimes in from the background. “It’s actually insane how much I adore this but also disgusting because it’s not happening to me.” 

Calum cracks a smile. “I’m sure it’s much more thrilling to have the shitting yourself during delivery conversation rather than the would you still love them if they were a worm.”

“But I would then be a worm? Why does it matter?” you ask. 

Calum only laughs watching something out of the scope of the phone. “Ashton’s mad at me but he knows I’m right,” he giggles out before landing his gaze back on you. “There was a thing about significant others asking if the other would still love them if they were a worm. I’m shocked you didn’t catch wind of that fiasco on social media.” 

“No, I did. But like I would be a worm. It doesn’t matter,” you laugh. 

“So you’re saying you wouldn’t love me if I was a worm?”

“Calum—you would in fact be a worm. I would care that you were safe and that you felt your short lived worm life was full but you would be a worm.” 

He squeaks at your response. “So if I suddenly turned into a worm tomorrow, you’d just not care?”

“You absolutely did not include the human being of you suddenly turned into a worm. That’s a different scenario.” 

“Different, huh?”

“Calum Thomas Hood, I would love you and do what I could to turn you back into a human. But if you are saying you were a worm from the start, that is an entirely different scenario.”

Ashton’s voice floats in from the background. “Oh how the tables have turned.”

“Stay out of this, Irwin. You’ve caused enough trouble as is,” Calum retorts. “It’s important that I know if worm me is getting the same love as human me.”

“Sounds like a suddenly turned worm you would be, but if you were just a regular ol’ worm, I’d watch out,” Ashton giggles. 

The worm debate only lasts for a minute or two longer, as Calum concedes that maybe it is a slightly different scenario to suddenly be turned into a worm than it would be to be a worm since the start. In the silence after the tufts of laughter, Calum watches you snuggle in even deeper under the covers. A yawn interrupts your statement, but Calum doesn’t seem to care too much about it as he asks, “Sleepy, love?”

“A smidgen,” you answer. “But I was going to say that I’m sad to have missed the LA shows. Joy said the second show was great.”

Calum nods. “They were both great shows. I missed seeing the little finger wags in the audience,” Calum laughs, referencing the dance his mother is notorious for. 

You--in the times before realizing you were pregnant--had agreed to go to the first LA show. However, once you got word of the baby it quickly became a question of how far along you would be, how much would you be showing, and did the two of you want to address the pregnancy publicly.  Things kept pointing to you. At work, you kept to your normal attire though it was increasingly more and more clear that you were expecting. Your coworkers were a safe group of people to tell, but if you went to a show, it ran the risk of being spotted. If you got spotted, then questions about your dressing of choice would become a topic of conversation. If clothes came up, then the rumors would fly. 

You not being there was the better choice as you knew or at least feared that things weren’t certain. Though the check ups were always good, the fear never left. On top of the fear, the last thing you wanted to do was to defend not only your relationship with Calum to others, you’d have to also defend your choice to still have this baby even if others didn’t agree with the order in which you and Calum were doing things. There was no winning for losing so you stuck to avoiding the battle if at all possible. Especially given how quickly things in pregnancy could shift. The last thing you wanted was to announce the pregnancy and then lose it. An already messy ordeal would then be made into a public display. 

Even though it wasn’t a loss to have neither you or Joy go, the last thing you wanted for her was to feel chained to you. So you suggested that Joy could go to one of the shows. It might bring up questions as to why Joy was in town. But it was Joy, she was Calum’s mother and the thing more evident that Calum’s soft heart was the tenderness he had for his family. So Joy went to the show in your place and when she returned, she was all smiles the rest of the day. It made your heart soar at the sight. WEven though you’d missed out, there was still a win to come out of the change. 

Calum watches you, the way your gaze looks unfocused on the screen. “Next time,” he offers. “And our little one will be on your hip and they’ll probably be fast asleep, but it’ll be the three of us, a little family.”

“We’ll be cheering Pops on from the wings,” you offer with a smile. You yawn again with the action. “I’m fading fast, love,” you whisper. Your eyes flutter close. 

“I’ll stay on if you want until you fall asleep.”

“It’ll probably be the next five minutes,” you laugh. “Didn’t realize how tired I was until I laid down.” 

“And I’ll stay on for all five of them.”

“Again--why is this not happening to me?” Ashton calls out. “You hang up first. No, you hang up first,” he teases. 

“I know someone from work,” you call out, hoping that your voice will carry. 

Calum’s laughter rings in your ears. Behind your closed eyelids, it sounds like he’s right next to you. Like at any second now his arms will slip around your waist and he’ll press a kiss to the back of your neck. Maybe--though it’s not really a question of if but when anymore--he’ll smooth a hand over your growing belly and he’ll whisper softly to the still in womb baby. His voice sounds like it could wisp along your neck. You let the thought carry you as far it can before sleep grips you fully. 

Calum watches the steady rise and fall of the bed sheets. The phone falls just a little from the hold in your hand. You are gone--fully out to the woes of the world and he grins happy to see just how much tension leaves your face in your sleep. “Sleep well, angel,” he whispers before ending the call. 

“So, who do they know from work?” Ashton asks. 

Calum snickers. “It might be Deb or it could be Angie. Those are the two that I know from them that are more consistently recounting their dating life. Literally, I couldn’t tell you much else besides that.”

“Of course. Just my luck!” 

Tagging: @wonderlandiswhereitsatyo @busstop @icelily13 @carma-fanficaddict @one-sweet-gubler @fandomfoodiedancer @markaylafruitcup @sunflowercalum @wiiildflowerrr

[ghoste-catte]

I was curious what advice would you give to someone new to writing fics? I've been wanting to get back into it but haven't seriously written something since high school. I hope this isn't an annoying question or anything!

Not an annoying question at all! I'm just a little worried that I won't have terribly good or useful advice. To be honest, I also sort of stopped writing in earnest right as I finished high school, and didn't pick it back up until my late 20s. It's certainly an adjustment! But I think the few things that really helped me get back into writing fic as a hobby and something I spend quite a bit of time on would be:

Write for yourself first, then find your other motivations. My original inspiration in getting back into fic writing was that there just were not that many fics I liked for my favorite pairing, and I wanted more of them, and I especially wanted more with the tropes and characterizations I wanted to see. I think at the very core of anything you need that internal spark that drives you. At the same time, for me at least, if I just relied on my own drive, I would not get much done; I need some external guardrails. So having people send prompts, or writing for particular events, or writing stuff for friends really helps me to get my ass in gear and finish stuff. That may not be the perfect motivator for you, and that's fine! You just gotta figure out what is.

Be open to inspiration. Anything and everything can be spun out into a story with the right tweaking. Obviously stuff like music is a classic inspiration source, but I've also pulled ideas from poetry, from memes, from Reddit threads, from YouTube videos, from rambling conversations on Discord and from real life to make fics out of. So many times, someone will post a silly Twitter screencap, and I'll think, There's a fic in this. And a lot of the time, there is! Research is a wonderful thing, but so is serendipity. If you're out there actively looking for ideas, eventually one that you like will stumble past you.

Find your community. I can genuinely say I never would have finished more than one fic if I didn't have fandom friends to talk to about even stupid headcanons, to bounce ideas off of, and to encourage me (and to encourage them in turn!). Discord has been a godsend, and some of my closest online friends are people I met in the GaaLee discord server. As I've gotten more comfortable as a writer, I've also joined general writing servers and Reddit communities and have found them immensely helpful on both a motivational level (bingos, sprints, owe-me challenges) and on a craft level (plot workshopping and writing ethics and live grammar help). It's a lot easier to think about fic ideas and hash through problem moments when I have a constant stream of fandom-related chatter coming from the little people who live in my phone! Ao3 is an amazing website, and it's great as, well, an archive, but it isn't social media by design. If you want conversation and human connection and cheerleading, you've gotta forge out and find it.

Make it a habit ... If you want to produce anything longer than a couple hundred words, you really have to set aside time for it. And writing is just like knitting or dirt biking or painting little model figurines: the more you do it, the more easily it comes. When I was first getting back into the proper swing of things, I committed myself to 30 minutes of writing per week. Just 30 minutes. I didn't even hit that goal every week, but there were tons of weeks I got on a roll and went over that amount, and by the end of the year I'd written over 200,000 words. I used to spend an hour laboriously tip-tapping out 200 words, but now I can easily blow through 1k in a 50 minute sprint. It's all about training that muscle.

... But don't make it a chore. With fanfic, you aren't doing this as a job, and you aren't ultimately doing it for anyone other than you. That means you can take breaks when you need them, you can set deadlines and then fail to meet them, you can write stuff and then decide to never post it. When you start getting burnt out, when the practice loses the joy and energy, stop. There's no 'hustle' here. In our capitalist society we're so trained to push past our limits and keep going even when it hurts us, but the hobby you do for connection and relaxation and whatever else shouldn't be like that.

Ignore metrics. Sometimes stuff isn't gonna get hits, or kudos, or comments. There are some basic 'rules' as to the stuff that does and doesn't get traction, but every time you post something it's a roll of the dice. If you're focused on watching that kudos counter tick up, you will get bummed out fast. And any writer will tell you that the stuff you think is your best work will never be the stuff that gets the most accolades. So you have to find something else to give you a sense of success. For me, it's watching my wordcount go up in my stats and those occasional comments where someone has a lot to say and that one person who always leaves me a <3 emoji (and, shout out to @egregiousderp, having someone to have long one-on-one conversations with about the stuff that never made it to page).

Don't strive for perfection. It's really easy to want your first ever fic to be a complete showstopper, the best fic fandom has ever seen, hitting all the tropes and the ideas and the characterization that you just know fandom is missing and would be everyone's top favorite if only it was written. This is a trap. No one fic can be all things. Most people who want to write an epic as their very first venture will not see the end of that epic, because they haven't put in the practice hours to make something on that scale work. That's not to say you can't start out with a big, sprawling multichap, just don't expect it to be the greatest thing since sliced bread if you're just starting out, and be okay with abandoning it for greener pastures if you get to that point. Think of the first time someone makes a vase out of clay or bakes a loaf of bread. That's never their best vase or their best bread. If they keep up with it, they'll make more and better vases and loaves. Likewise, your first fic is probably not gonna be your best fic. See it for what it is: your launchpad.

You can't edit an empty page, but you can over-edit a full one. This kind of spins off of #7, but if the words aren't there, you can't fix them. Daydreams and headcanons are fantastic (and god, how many times have I wished for a speech-to-text engine that projected my falling asleep thoughts onto a Google doc for later perusal), but they aren't fic. If you want to write fic, you've gotta get comfortable with the idea of sloppy outlines and rough first drafts. You can't build a house without a frame and you can't build a man without a skeleton (I mean, you can, I guess, but he'd be one floppy man). The nice thing about fic is that it doesn't matter if that frame is structurally unsound or the skeleton has 18 too many bones, you can clean that up in the editing process. But you can't start hanging curtains and arranging furniture in something that doesn't even have walls. That's the process. But! Also know when to set down the editor's pen and say, "Okay, this is good enough for government work", and call it done. ("Done" doesn't have to mean "posted", but it does mean, "I'm done picking at this for now, and I'm gonna go write some more stuff".) Over-editing can make stuff seem laborious and forced, and it prevents you from actually improving. To continue belaboring the house metaphor, you can spend your whole life rearranging furniture in just one room, but the end result of that is a pretty narrow existence and a room with a lot of footprints and tracks in the carpet.

Write shit down. When you have ideas, jot them down--in a notebook, in a Google Doc, in the Notes app of your phone, in pen on the back of your hand. You think you will remember that brilliant line of dialogue or sparkling snippet of narration or genius plot that came to you in a dream, but you Will Not. Write it down. Write it down. Write it down! There have been so many times when a fic was completely saved by past!me having written down my shower thoughts about what happens next in the fic, that present!me had completely forgotten about and was floundering over.

Have fun with it! Try different stuff. Try stupid stuff. Try experimental stuff. Do stuff you've never done before that you aren't sure will work. It's important to get comfortable with your niche (for example, I know I'm never going to be the sort of person who writes intricate plots of intrigue or super long 100k epics or detailed battles), but you can't find that niche unless you explore lots of different niches! Figure out what you love and what you absolutely hate, and then keep doing the stuff you love.

Okay, so that was actually TEN things, but ... I hope you still found this helpful. Feel free to send another ask if any of this was confusing or unclear. Good luck with your fic writing and, if you want, send me a link to what you've written once you've written it! I'd love to read it.

[riacte]

I was gonna make a meme about how Fruitninja isn’t happening but Dreamnap happened simply because Fruitninja work well with Most People (unlike Some Other Players *COUGH*) but then Scott went and confirmed it himself lololol

It’s so sad…. Their friendliness is the exact reason why they can’t team with their best friend…

Idk about you guys but I feel MCC needs a shift in team making. Fruit should have a better team; he’s been nerfed for too long. I know he doesn’t care about placements but it’s really disheartening to see his team place 10th 2 times in a row.

Can we please, please make a non competitive MCC? Or at least a silly MCC in which coins are earned by stupid goals. I don’t like how competitive this is becoming and I’m watching the chillest streamers.

I miss those Petebomb glory days. At least the DB domination peeps are good people with fantastic leadership skills and are enjoyable to watch no matter what.

This is frustrating as a viewer bc there’s no solution. You can’t kick people out of MCC. We should respect different playing styles. Except this results in like, a one sided domination. MCC is for fun of course, but it’s not fun being one of the best players and always getting bottom half teams.

God. We should just get redstone games and watch the world burn while Cubfan gets 1st individual.

I find it funny that Scott basically listed all the skilled MCC participants that I like (bonus: they are all nice to the “weaker” players which gives them extra points). They’re the core of the MCC spirit. They show how sportsmanship is done.

Listen I just wanna see all of the players that Scott mentioned facing each other in DB okay. Can we have like, a rerun of MCC10?? Cherrybomb training Niki? Viewer teams?? Builders and the chill S tiers in DB? Pretty please?

I am so tired of the competitiveness. It’s like, at this point I love 80% of MCC but I’m so sick of 20% of it. “If you don’t like it then stop watching!!” I mean true, but MCC didn’t use to be like this. Something changed. And I don’t think I really like it.

I guess this became a whiny post in the end, but I’m just kinda frustrated. As fans I want my teams to do well, but because they’re friendly and adaptable they don’t get super powerful teams. And being friendly and adaptable is exactly why I like them. Never change, my streamers.

Once again, I guess I chose the right people to watch, even if we don’t get the “entertainment” we want. Seeing them in MCC is already a blessing (after the H thing, I’ve realized I’ve taken H for granted). So I’ll keep on watching. The existence of the teams I like is already a win on its own. The existence of MCC itself is a win. I guess this is me trying to make myself feel better lmao.

[hungry-skeleton]

Hey you know what fuck you if you think that people who make happy/simplistic content are less competent as content creators. Just because what someone makes isn't dark, complex, and serious doesn't mean that they don't take their work seriously or that their work shouldn't be taken seriously by others. Complexity and seriousness do NOT automatically make for a good story or art piece.

For example, I make and consume a lot of cartoony and comedic content, because that makes me happy and I want other people to be happy too. Just because what I make is simple or humorous doesn't mean I don't put time and effort into what I do. I make and consume this kind of content to cope with personal issues, as many other people do. Stories/art that are too complicated or serious genuinely make me upset and stir up a lot of unpleasant emotions that can seriously effect me. Being someone with ADHD emotions like this will hit me 10× harder then they would another person.

Comedy is so important to me. Comedy gives me a reason to laugh, it shows me a side of the world that isn't so painful. It's the perfect distraction. But because comedic content isn't serious or complicated it turns a lot of people off. People will call it childish or uninteresting.

What people don't understand is that there is an art to simplicity. There is an art to comedy. There is an art to silliness. Art is difficult to perfect. Look at spongebob for example. A colorful and silly cartoon for kids. Behind that, there is a team of hundreds of people working day in and day out to write jokes and draw storyboards. People that put serious work into this not so serious show.

People cope in different ways, I understand that. A lot of people cope by projecting their trauma onto characters that people with similar trauma can relate to. That, is so so so valid. But with this rising tide of people expressing themselves this way, people who cope with happiness are looked over. This can be so damaging to content creators who cope this way. I myself have gone down continuous self hating spirals because I think the things I make aren't serious enough to ever be recognized.

Again, I'm not saying that complex and serious stories are bad or that they shouldn't be used to cope, im not saying that at all. Please cope however you need too. But people who cope by spreading happiness deserve your attention too. Cartoony art, bright colors, comedic comics, even memes, are all just as worthy of your attention as more serious content. People who make simple silly content are not less competent then other content creators. They are not playing it safe. They are not trying to be crowd pleasers. They want to make people happy, first and foremost, and THAT is deserving of respect.

If you make simple or silly content, weather it be to cope or just to make people happy, you are deserving of so much respect. You take time out of your day to spread happiness to people who cant find it in themselves. But most importantly, you mastered the fine art of being wacky

[sybilius]

ohohooo 🥺✨🤗✅ for the fanfic writer emoji ask meme if I may, please and thank you xoxo

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

Absolutely, yes. So a lot of to-do is made about that “italicized oh” moment, but usually when people refer to that it’s “the moment where shipmates realize their feelings are reciprocated”. Now I’m not really about that, but feel like one moment I always find super satisfying is kind of similar with respect to emotional punch. 

My favorite character arc is enemies with benefits to lovers– and I feel like the equivalent oh moment is both a combination of “we’re in this fucking deep and there’s no looking away from it just being (hate)sex anymore” – but it’s more than that because I really like when (a) the stakes are deeply interpersonal and (b) the characters realize that they themselves have to…change a little bit, despite the unconditional acceptance they are being offered.

In short– they are in love, and love requires compromise– but I love the moment where they realize they need to find that compromise and they want to offer change in order for things to be a bit gentler for their lover. 

This moment is always at the middle point of my fics, by the way. The Chapter 3 moment. You being familiar with Sighted Crows especially will recognize the frostbite scene, that moment of “she was right, she’s always right” // “Do you know how I knew I cared about Sue? I don’t like seeing her in pain. Never have.” 

I like it most of all when the shipmates reckon very deeply with the mess they are in, and then realize they have to step up and try to disentangle it. Delightfully, I just wrote that scene for you got fuck all clue what the work really is; which was a real treat. 

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

I’m feeling all kinds of ways about my wrestling research in the writing lately, so I’ll pat myself on the back for that <3 getting to learn a ton about an art form I really care a lot about while also spinning silly lil narratives has been so good. A friend recently complimented my use of recontextualized finisher moments in fuck all clue, and I really appreciated that and felt the work deserved it <3 

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

Oh, I feel like you really said a lot of my favourite things!! I think for myself I would add that while finding your voice can be a really satisfying thing, you don’t have to write a Unique Thing(™) (™) always. It’ll be unique just by virtue of the fact that you’re writing it. Treasure that. Also, as a corollary to your “don’t compare yourself to others” (which is excellent advice!)-- try not to compare yourself to your past writing, or meet your past and present self with compassion if you do. If your writing before was “”worse””, celebrate that you’ve gotten better and be kind about the fact that that was your best then. If your writing is “”worse”” now, take a gentle look at your goals and capacities now vs. then and be gentle with judging yourself. Your writing is where it is. It’s good to have goals but always be kind, especially with you. 

✅ What’s something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don’t mean to?

Never over a good “meaningfully provided hot liquids” scene, I think. Platonic or romantic :”)