#it's not like i *know* why they're choosing not to be upfront about the content

[not-poignant]

7 & 8 for the writing asks!

7. Your favourite ao3 tag.

The Explicit categorisation or the Rape/Noncon warning, which is pretty dark now that I think of it. I don't generally search Additional Tags very often, but if I do, Hurt/Comfort is at the top of the list when it's not kinks.

8. How slow is a slow burn?

It depends on the author and their style. And it depends on the characters. But I've seen stories labelled a slow burn that are like 5k words long and I have to admit, that's not a slow burn to me.

There's also different kinds of slow burn. You can have early sex but a slow burn to love. You can have early sex but a slow burn to kink. I've read a few different kinds and I tend to enjoy them all.

But I have no fixed idea of how long or slow they should be. I'm not like a slow burn puritan or anything. People can use the tag and I can decide for myself if I think it is based on like...word length and the writing style. :D

~

From this meme!

[virtue-and-beneviolence]

Vi's Selfies Event

This one's all about being self indulgent. self shipping. self love. etcetc. So many folks are shy about self shipping and for silly reasons. That's why I'm here to say fuck it for you. For the next week or so, we're celebrating the joys of daydreaming about your faves.

"But that's cringe, virtue." Disrespectfully fuck off. If someone wants to bitch or judge anyone having some good, harmless, self-soothing fun, they're not welcome here...Now that that's outta the way, lets talk about how this is gonna go down :)

You (yes, YOU!) are going to send me an ask about the self ship of your choice. Tell me a bit about yourself. Tell me a bit about your character (I don't know every anime super well so this could be really important if its not tokrev or another one I'm really engaged with). Send a mood board or playlist or anything you think will help me appreciate the dynamic! Pic crews of you and your fave are welcome!

In return you'll get me gushing over you and your fave. Simple as that. Some little headcanons or scenarios for you to ponder, and probably some questions about your beloved self ship dynamic!

Important notes and rules:

Unless you explicitly request me not to, the ask will be published with your silly lil head canons or scenarios.

You don't have to be a moot, but I will not accept anons for this event for logistical reasons. PLUS this is unabashed self shipping! Nothing but resounding support here so no need for anon!

I will only answer one ask per person - so choose your self ship carefully!

You are not restricted to TokRev, but know I may not be very familiar with your character and that might affect the kind of content you get back.

I may get a little suggestive in the HCs so clearly state somewhere in your ask if a little suggestive content is a hard no

Be respectful to anyone and everyone else who takes part and consider interacting more with others' self ships.

I still reserve the right to refuse an ask if I feel uncomfortable, I don't expect that to happen, but I'd like to disclaim that upfront anyway

Block SelfVi's Event if you dont want to see this

So if you ever needed a sign that it's okay to talk about your self ship, consider this it and drop by for the SelfVi's event :)

[randomloserlover]

this is exactly what I love about II fandom aus, and by extension other object show ones too. they're so interconnected and rigid. you can't stray too far from the original source material without completely warping the setting and making it unrecognizable. you have to play within the set of rules the shows have. altering or adding anything signifigant to your au usually breaks all canon plausibility of it because of how specifically these worlds work.

if you do wish to strongly diverge from them, it has to be done slowly overtime in the story. otherwise you have to state upfront there's new elements at play unrelated to the show itself. and, unlike a lot of other fandoms, that's often a massive alienation which tends to heavily discourage people from looking into your fanfic. the core parts of the shows are what makes them so special to us, and the characters are made who they are entirely because of being in them. changing that removes the most important bits of the source material and might as well be about something else entirely.

then there's the limited but lovable cast of characters... there's a reason why there's so many evil test tube lab aus, lol. it feels weird and wrong to portray one of them in a negative light unless it's already a common normal in the fandom. and even then it still feels like a destruction of their character, the canon version of them wouldn't do these things. it's practically a disservice to fans who enjoy them. every character has something compelling about them- it's rare to find a nobody that people seldom like. yet authors need an antagonist, so they have to choose someone or make a brand-new girl up.

the absolute weirdest thing about all of this is how outlandish it all is to anyone outside of the fandom. object shows are so different from other types of media that enjoying fan content of them can be difficult if you don't know what they're about. I mean, it's literally talking objects. every now and then I get reminded of how odd this fandom is, here's an example from a fic I read recently (fanfic is called All That Glitters Isn't Gold, written by @kanatacs on ao3):

no one outside of the osc is going to take this seriously lol. we enjoy such a niche little world that looks ridiculous to anyone else. II just took this a step even further, it's wholeheartedly disconnected from any semblance of a real world to ours. it's kind of impressive how much effort fandom writers put in to follow the newly revealed canon, really. yet because of our love for these shows we commit ourselves to creating content that mirrors them, little or a lot, and fully immerse ourselves in these isolated universes.

the weird thing about writing osc and specifically ii fanfic is that like. everybody is the main character. and there aren't any like one-off side characters or background characters you could demonize for your fanfic about abuse or whatever

and since for a lot of object shows LITERALLY nobody in the world exists outside of the cast you can't create a guy either. so if you want to write about a character being abusive and horrible to another character it literally NEEDS to be a character who is also a main character and probably someone's favorite babygirl character. idk its a weird dynamic vs shows where you can make up your own extended lore if you need abusive parents or exes or whatever. everybody needs full empathy and personality bcuz they are like..... an actual guy in the show. there's nobody who isnt really important

most osc writers would get around this by just choosing a super unlikeable character from canon and making them abusive or whatever (nickel, trophy, silver spoon etc) but it isnt as common in general for those types of stories to even exist bcuz..... there are such specific limits to the world they even exist in. and if its a completely different alternate universe they basically feel like your ocs

they all live together and play together and compete together. NONE of them have outside friends or family. they dont even exist outside of the concept of the show they're competing in. they'll never know another person. romance doesnt really seem to happen very much at hotel oj anyway. Basically just a bunch of guys existing outside of time and space and reality in their own hype house. the most you can do is two characters from different seasons who never interacted