#it's well written and a good story obv

[gildeddlily]

my something flag is that, as a seasoned marauders fan, I've never read All The Young Dudes. I tried to, finished half the thing, then got bored and stopped. just like that. and now I can't stop seeing videos or posts talking ab it while i'm just there being pretty and voluntarily ignorant

[art--harridan]

[Image description: A digital drawing of the character Billy Kid from the film Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire. He's wearing the outfit he wears for the grudge match, but sans the suit jacket. His pose is unconfident, knees together and one slightly bent. He hunched over slightly, loosely holding a snooker cue. There's a sheepish grin on his faces as he gazes off into the distance, noticeably sweating. There's a snooker table behind him, it's perspective warped. Above it, there's a fringed lamp that gives off a pale yellow light. The rest of the room is in shadow. All of the colours in the piece are warm but this makes the yellow light and green baize feel sickly. The lineart is starkly dark, with exaggerated shadows.]

Inktober - Day 16 (Grungy)

Film - Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire (Alan Clarke, 1985)

[trans-leek-cookie]

Catching up to CSM is terrible because all it does is make me wish JJK was more like it

[maryasmorevna]

wow, mockingjay was. much more violent and gory than i remembered

[vonbabbitt]

big long kamimura loredrop that i sent to my tetro staff two years ago. obvious spoilers and trigger warning for a lot of stuff. not for the weak of heart. also forgive the very casual tone this is written in i was sending it to my STAFF!! MY FRIENDS!! it has not been curated for public release lol

KAMIMURA KAZUTOSHI. WOW. LOTS TO UNPACK HERE. so kamimura was born as a very sickly kid. his parents were initially planning to have two kids, but when kamimura was born with very particular needs, they decided it would be better to dedicate their full time and attention to just one kid. so thats what they did! kamimura was born with a few conditions that made his childhood a bit rougher, the main of which being hemophilia, an (at the time) unidentified autoimmune disease and a few lesions on his brain. not ideal! so he was in and out of the hospital a lot as a kid, something that was very scary for him at the time, but his parents were very very supportive and loving during this time. they would be at the hospital with him every single time he had to be there (obvs cuz he was a tiny baby boy) and his mom would not go home until he was discharged. she would always be there telling him stories and playing games with him and doing her best to make the experience as comfortable as possible for him. so that made it less scary!

kamimura had a very good support system and it made him a very happy and social kid! he grew up very outgoing and playful and eager and close with his family. his dad was a busy guy who worked in tech, so while he was usually at work, his mom worked from home as a copy editor, so he spent a lot of time with her. as he started to get a little older (7-8), a few more comorbidities and diagnoses started popping up - chronic fatigue, crohns, some vision problems, muscle issues, things that made his life a lot more difficult and worried his parents because he was getting bad fast. this meant a lot more time in the hospital for baby kamimura which is very unfortunate for him. eventually he gets put on a new balance of medications/treatments and his family keeps doing their best because goddamnit their kid should get to be a happy kid! which he is! hes a very happy kid! hes just also a kid with a LOT of medical issues

SO THEN WE HIT AGE NINE. kamimuras mother is home alone with him when a close family friend drops by. hes someone kamimura knows very well - comes to all their parties, visits often, etc etc. but he was also someone who had very strong feelings towards kamimuras mom. he had confessed to her multiple times and obviously she had said no because she is married with a child and was not interested at all. except this time hes completely fed up with it. she says no, he gets aggressive and violent and tries to overpower her. she fights back, he panics and stabs her. a lot. repeatedly. over and over and over. so the kitchen is an absolute bloodbath. not good! a few minutes into this, kamimuras dad gets home from work and is very quickly added to the body count. family friend runs, and about ten minutes later, kamimura gets home from school.

so now this nine year old boy has walked in on his parents mutilated bodies lying in a sea of blood on the kitchen floor. his mind basically shuts down. he cannot even begin to process the ways in which his entire world has just come crumbling down. he goes upstairs to his room, closes the door, and proceeds to stay there for two days straight. if he can just stay in his room and not go outside, no matter what he saw, no matter what he smells, he can pretend that everything is fine and theres nothing downstairs.

after two days of this, kamimura's dad's work calls for a wellness check. a wellness check is performed! EVERYTHING IS NOT WELL. the police find kamimura, remove him from the house and into the system he goes. pretty soon he ends up living with his moms sister, who isnt a mean person or anything, but she never wanted kids and shes just lost her sister and shes going through a lot so she never really connects with kamimura. she feeds him and houses him and does her best, but hes completely shut off emotionally and very traumatized and wants nothing to do with this new life thats been put on him so he mostly ignores her and just goes through the beats of life.

from this point on, he has no friends. he doesnt get close to anyone. he doesnt try to. he shuts himself off, keeps to himself and gets picked on a bit because of it. hes outcast at school pretty quickly and that does not do much to help his mental health. it doesnt help that his PHYSICAL health is still deteriorating pretty fast and hes now living with somebody that has NO experience in taking care of his medical needs. hes still in the hospital all the time, but now hes alone and its quiet and hes scared. he hates hospitals. he hates going to the hospital so so so so much because hospitals are scary and it only serves to drive home the complete lack of his mom existing that is haunting him every day. it doesnt help that hiding out in a corpse house for two days has given him a deep, DEEP fear of anything dirty or putrid in the way that his parents' crime scene was. this evolves into a pretty bad case of germophobia that makes him hate hospitals even more because theyre disgusting infected places where people go to die and rot. bad.

but life continues! so when he turns 14, kamimura goes to high school for the first time! its also around this time that he finally dyes his hair - his black hair makes him look exactly like his mom and he cant handle seeing that every time he looks in the mirror, so blue it is! because blue does not look like either of his parents and now he doesnt have to fking see their faces every single time he looks at himself. yay! so he enters high school, his mental health is tanking, his physical health is tanking and everything is bad. high school is equally bad because hes still getting bullied and he feels sick all the time and school is stressful and he is completely lacking in socialization. so at age 14, kamimura tries to kill himself for the first time. it does not work. he goes to the hospital and very hastily explains it to his aunt as having simply fucked up his own medication and says it was all an accident because fuuuuck he does NOT want to be institutionalized. that would suck. and luckily this excuse works and he's back out in the world soon after. yay?

anyway life goes on! so kamimura goes back to school. except weirdly enough, he actually starts talking to another person. this person is named isao kamei and he is a boy in kamimuras grade! hes nice and cool and hangs out with kamimura and likes kamimuras dumb blue hair and likes all the things kamimura likes (scary movies. breaking random shit behind the school after class. yknow) so the two hit it off pretty quickly and soon kamimura has a best friend. except, uh oh, maybe hes more than a best friend?? kamimura starts realizing that hes got feelings for isao and panics because he does not need this complication ruining his one and only friendship. kamimura has had severe severe trust issues for years now and has finally let himself get close to another person again and he CANNOT LOSE THAT. but isao is a good guy, and theyre close, and kamimura is starting to think that isao feels the same way about him so maybe hed be cool about it. it goes against every instinct he has spent the past five years cultivating, but he finally works up the nerve and admits to isao how he feels about him.

IT GOES BADLY. SO BADLY. isao is uncomfortable and frankly kind of disgusted and pulls back HARD. he basically distances himself from kamimura forever and word very very quickly spreads (starting from isao) that kamimura is gay and that he asked out isao, something that absolutely quadruples the amount of bullying he is receiving. so a few days later, kamimura tries to kill himself for the second time. once again it does not go well. he gets very very very sick, but still wakes up in the end and is absolutely miserable and furious about it. his awful awful awful life continues to march on as always and hes back at school pretty soon after that! he continues getting relentlessly bullied, his health continues to deteriorate, and finally during one of his numerous numerous hospital visits he gets hit with two fun new terms: multiple sclerosis and myasthenia gravis. these are the two things that produce the vast majority of his symptoms. so at the very least he now has a few words to label himself with, but hes not really that thrilled about it either way. kamimura is someone with a lot of internalized ableism and resentment towards his own body. he sees it as the reason his life sucks and the reason he gets bullied and the reason he cant live like other people can. he hates himself, and that makes him hate himself even more because his parents always made such a big deal about telling him how much they loved him and how much he should love himself, so he feels like hes betraying them by absolutely loathing himself and his body.

so at sixteen, he tells his aunt he wants to move out. they arent close and he just wants to be on his own and honestly shes on board with this because she never wanted kids and shes ready to go back to her life. so out the door he goes! hes got his own apartment now, which means theres nobody to make him get out of bed or shower or eat or go to school. so he stops doing all of those things, which makes his health deteriorate faster and makes him even more miserable. so at age sixteen, kamimura makes a third attempt on his life. he learned his lesson last time and ups the dosage hard. except he cant keep it down because he hasnt been eating anything for like two weeks and his stomach just physically cannot handle the amount of medication hes ingesting. so this one fails too. but life goes on and kamimura needs to pay rent! his landlord thinks he is strange and concerning and wants to help him so he manages to get kamimura an apprenticeship with a man named ryōichi katō, a very experienced crime scene cleaner! kamimura EXCELS in this field. hes able to shut off his emotions around blood and viscera - his brain just completely blocks out the horror of it, which is almost a coping mechanism i suppose - but the point is that hes great at it. he starts working full time and it pays the bills well enough so hes got nothing to complain about quite frankly.

except his life still sucks. hes alone. hes sick. he hates himself. everything is bad bad bad bad bad. so at a particularly bad mental low at age seventeen, kamimura makes a fourth attempt on his life. this one has GOT to work because he has been honing this method for years now and SURELY he has worked out the kinks by this point yes? so he downs a shitton of pills, washes it down with cheap booze and passes out. then he wakes up in the Fujioka Memorial High School Basement Laundry Room and now we are here

[what-eats-owls]

Hello! I'm a fan of Tangled and its spinoff series, and I'm curious about your upcoming book "Rootbound."

It sounds like it explores many of the same plot elements that Tangled the Series did (ie Eugene's identity/past, understanding Rapunzel's Sundrop powers, and traveling to a mysterious kingdom). I really like that it also focuses on the awkward phase of personal growth that comes after escaping an abusive situation/surviving severe trauma. (I'm in that phase right now, and I'd really like to see Rapunzel get the chance to work through it herself.)

I was wondering if you could go into more detail about your vision for Rootbound in relation to Tangled the Series. Do you see the book as "your version" of the series (meaning it's what you would have written if you were in charged of the show's plot)? Or do you think of it as a continuation of the movie that's completely different/separate from TTS?

(If you explained this already, I may not have understood due to my Autism. I'm genuinely curious to know what your perspective is tho!)

Hi friend! If this sounds short at all, I promise it's not because I'm upset, haha—I just want to be really clear so readers have the right expectations going into Rootbound! (While also not getting too deep into the fifty pages of publishing context.)

Your second option, that it's more of a continuation of the original movie and separate from TTS, is pretty much right on the money. The one thing I'd like to clarify is that I wouldn't call it solely my vision/version! When I was approached for the project, the lovely folks in charge had an early seed concept for the story, and from that, I was able to build a more detailed outline, and once that was approved, draft the manuscript. This is pretty normal for when you're working with another entity's IP!

That initial seed concept directly followed the original film, but did not draw on any characters/plot/lore introduced in TTS, and explored different takes on some things TTS covers, such as Eugene's history. Now obvs, I'm not an official spokesperson here, but my view on it is that Rootbound is only as canon as you want it to be. TBH, I think that's the better approach—the TTS fandom is enormous and passionate, and I'd rather not tinker with a story already told so well.

(And if anyone's worried that Rootbound will be the basis for a sequel film... let's just say for multiple reasons, no one would be more surprised than I, haha.)

So tl;dr: characters and lore from TTS are not part of Rootbound, I think that's a good thing (why mess with perfection?), I hope y'all enjoy my spin on things while knowing TTS isn't going anywhere.

[will80sbyers]

when I listen to interviews of the Duffers or other writers they always think like I would about media stuff and the show and it's one of the things that made me believe they were really doing it at the beginning, it gave me more trust in them as professional writers because they seemed to understand how good stories should be(obv), like when Matt was offended that Millie thought Brenner was all good (I don't remember the exact context now) and he said something like "he wanted to force you to kill the cat" or when they were saying to Finn that everyone regardless of age can like to play DND, or when they talked about how and why they would kill a character or not... and all these little things they say in interviews, every time they talk about the story it checks out with my understanding of the story and how I would go about most things, and this is valid for other writers too... so with that in mind I really could never believe that they truly think Mike and El are well written as a couple that should stay together, it just goes against all logic in a "too much in your face to be casual and just bad writing" way 🤷

[hellspawnmotel]

Re: well-written female characters in JRPGs, do you have recommendations?

chrono trigger, wild arms 1, golden sun 1+2 (haven't actually finished the second one so I can't be sure but what I played was great), saga frontier (specifically asellus's story), final fantasy vii (original), mother 3, and octopath traveler 1 are 👋 because on the whole I think they do better than most but theres still things that are prominent enough to bother me, phantasy star 1 (not much of a story but the hero is a girl with a sword), breath of fire 2 (also haven't finished this one. it's so grindy! but pretty good about the girls so far).

obv I haven't played every JRPG I intend to and there's also many that I love but the writing still annoys me. I think if youre a fan of this genre though you're used to a certain amount of sexism by now lol

[hey-august]

Cus saying something about rollercoasters gave me an idea.

What do you think buggy is like if he wants to take his partner to like a fair or theme park or something of the sort. Cus, obv he would. But they're way too afraid to get on most of the rides?

He may tease, sure. That's got to be a given, no? But seeing the terrified look your face after he'd somehow coaxed you into let's say the Ferris wheel? He's holding your hand, telling you it's okay. Describing the pretty lights and stunning view as you slowly get to the top. And while it's stopped all the way up high, you actually look out. Able to relax a bit. It's not so bad. It's pretty, actually. But heights are still terrifying.

Or maybe it's a rollercoaster he had to coax you onto. "Just try it once!"

And maybe he'd regret it just a little. The constant scream right next to him. Absolute death grip on his hand.

Getting on and starting to go up was one thing. The second it sped up just a hair to get to the top is when the screaming started, the tight hold on his hand. Then the screaming got louder as it sped downwards and your hand kept one hell of a death grip on his hand. The only time the screams stopped was so you could take a breath to continue screaming. Once the ride was over though he led you to a nearby bench until you could relax.

Or maybe those teacup rides. Only scared to get on it because.. Well it's buggy. And most people you've been on that type of ride would spin it way too fast and scare the ever loving hell out of you. But he's already dragged you on enough rides and this was one you liked. So he did spin it, but made sure you were okay with the speed. Laughing and spinning it together, enjoying the more peaceful ride.

Though you two did get on it again just to go as fast as possible. Laughing and clinging onto the seat.

I feel like he'd also want to win you a prize. *Of course* it had to be one that was so fucking stupidly hard to get. But he wanted to see you smile, he always did. So he tried. And tried again. And again. And..one more time. *damnit* why was it so difficult? But the second the person who was in charge if the game became distracted with something, even for a mere second, he cheated. Hey, he wanted to get you that prize. And it so happens he can detach limbs. His hand reattaching before anyone can see of course.

Is some of this based on personal experience? Yes. I can't stand rollercoasters, they scare the shit out of me.

My personal story with my first rollercoaster was at Kentucky kingdom. Lightning run. My mother fucking counted. (Yk the count to 3) Just to get my ass on a rollercoaster. I was terrified okay? But, yes, the death grip and screaming was what I did. That was her karma. My loud ass screaming in her ear (I was on her left) and one hell of a death grip. She might have lost a little blood flow for the time being. But she never dragged me on a rollercoaster again. And she never will be able to again.

(I have written more than intended but ideas keep coming)

Heck yes! Buggy would be a MENACE with this. Taunting and goading you into going on the thrilling rides.

PUH-LEASE, only weenies skip the big rides. What's the point in going if you're not gonna ride Mr. Bones' Wild Ride? (okay, maybe skip that one)

Buggy also talks up how the rides aren't even that scary. You eventually give in because:

maybe he's right,

you don't want to miss out on a good ride,

he seems so excited, and

he's getting annoying.

Yeah, the ferris wheel wasn't terrible. A little more shaky that you expected and very high up. But you got to sit next to Buggy. He even bought (stole) you a corndog to enjoy. He ate most of it.

The roller coaster though. Buggy thought he won (what exactly? who knows) when you agreed to go, but a little worm of regret started wiggling when the car reached the apex. Buggy said it was like climbing the ship's rigging on rough waters, but this...did not feel the same. Or maybe it did and he forgot how intense that feels. Both of you had white knuckle grips on the safety bar the whole time.

The tea cup ride was fine. Better. Really nice, actually. Even when it spun wildly, you still enjoyed it. It was less of a competition and more of a cooperative sport to spin the tea cup juuuuust right. Buggy also showed off by using his hands to spin the cup while he leaned back, handless-arms behind his head.

And BIG AGREE to Buggy stealing prizes. He also cheats. A barely-noticeable fingertip knocking over bottles, nudging balls, guiding hoops. He's schmoozing with the game attendees, distracting them from all the other shady shit he's doing. Meanwhile, you stand slightly off to the side and grab whatever Buggy hands you.

Do you need a giant plush sleepy banana? Or five bunny keychains? Or more than three lanyards? Or a frog bucket hat that doesn't fit? Or a bear bucket hat that doesn't fit? Or a cat bucket hat that doesn't fit?

No. But you take them anyways.

---

I'm also right there with ya with some un-fun ride stories, cyra. 😂 Once when I was a younger kid, I CRIED on the queue for Space Mountain. SOBBING. I was scared but we were going to go on the ride. And then the HORROR - I was supposed to sit at the front. Absolutely not. Thankfully, some older teens took pity and sat in the front.

I got on the ride, continued to cry, and shrunk myself so low that my head knocked on the sides of the ride during sharp turns. It was not ideal.

On a lighter note, there was a time where I was on one of those spinning Gravitron rides. The UFO shaped one. And the ride operator would slow down the spinning and then start it right back up. They said we were almost done more than once but everything kept spinningggg. We were hostages in the UFO and it felt like forever. Honestly, I loved it but omg I felt like I was outside of my body afterwards. I was not the same person.

[mithrilhearts]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Look at me getting to this 500 years later (I'm so sorry!!) Anyway.

Thank you both so much, @cilil & @laurfilijames for sending me this ask game thingy!! I figured I'd just do it in one post, so I hope that's okay, but here we go!

I think picking my "favorite fics" of mine is like, asking a parent to pick their favorite child - not easy, in most cases I guess lol...but I will do my best and explain why! These are all based off of fics I've COMPLETED, and by no means reflects on my love and affection for the other stories I've written. I love them all for their own reasons, otherwise I wouldn't have written them.

In no particular order...

May Your Forge Burn Bright - This is THE original longfic from me. I started this back when I was creeping my way out of RP and into fanfiction, and was nothing more than an independent baby writer. (Been writing a long time, just never like this), and the story means so much to me, as well as the commentary from readers along the way. It's still my longest fic to date, and I love a good "alternate first meeting" fic. It's the OG, and you can't replace that.

Dragonhearted - The Hobbit & Beauty and The Beast are my two FAVORITE stories, and mashing them together like this was perfect for me. Dragon!Thorin is such a fun concept for me, and badass Bilbo is another. This setting just WORKS. (Also, did you know @i-did-not-mean-to had a BLANKET made for this fic???)

Kurdu 'abadaz - That's right, I finished this one just recently, and it has easily stolen my heart to being a favorite. The Fix-it fic that I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to write, that went under a LOT of rehashing and had a huge overhaul in the story early on when planning. It turned out so much better than anticipated, and the love for this fic from readers/friends has been overwhelming.

Fuck Thy Neighbor - A VERY FUN ROM-COM STYLE MODERN AU!!! This really had me cackling the entire way through, and like a few other fics of mine, it spawned from a writer's ask game/tag game thing that I can't quite remember. Accidental marriage & neighbors? I love it. It's so funny, and I enjoy rereading it frequently for the laughs.

When Darkness Shines Brightest - Did you know that anything can be made into a Bagginshield Fic? Did you know that this fic spawned from a joke/conversation between @starthecozy and I and then erupted into this really original Hades/Persephone, Nightmare Before Xmas, blended style fic?? Various worlds and environments, powers over elements, and saving homes from a dragon?? The Onion Fic sprouted, and blossomed into one of my favorite stories, and I got to collaborate with Star the entire way through it, and we had SO MUCH FUN!!! Go give it a read, it's really neat!!

Honorable Mentions:

(Take Me Back To) The Night We Met - My entry for THAUC22 (partnered with the amazing @consultingpacha), and one of my FAVORITE concepts. Yet again, another "alternate meeting" style fic, featuring small kids Fili and Kili, rather than adults. What it sets up to at the end of the fic blends into the OG Hobbit story, but with a few small changes that I kind of want to explore one day in a sequel. 👀

Between Vices and Virtues - My entry for TRSB22 (partnered with @mysandwichranaway!!) First of all, I love working with Sandy, it's truly one of my favorite things on this good planet, and I can't wait to do it again - hopefully soon. Secondly, this was my take at a modern royalty AU, and learning about how to connect with the people around you. I have two sequels planned for this universe (even if this fic kind of felt like a let-down in terms of reception? but idc about that lmao) it was so fun for me. A light dusting of magic superstition in a modern au setting? Sign me up!

[hoodiedoodles]

i wish Lostbelt 6 and Lostbelt 7 were swapped because it feels like LB7 was penultimate compared to 6.

Lostbelt 7 is very much "big bad guy blows shit up and it's a really hard fight to stop him" which parallels Babylonia's Tiamat in functionality, but it's also kind of a basic premise? Like obvs LB7's story isn't "basic", I hear it's quite complex and very good.

But LB6 is about narratives as a concept. LB6 is a story about stories-- it is a self-fullfilling entity. By existing it embodies it's own ideas.

Given how FGO is fundamentally about "the stories of humanity-- stories of love and hate" manifested both literally through Servants being heroic fables and conceptually through the various Singularities/Lostbelts being "forgotten stories of humanity", concluding with a "story about stories" feels very appropriate.

Who better to be the final boss than Oberon-Vortigern, the Devouring Worm, he who hates you for the stories you've destroyed?

Who better to fight than the Tam Lin of the Round Table, circling all the way back around to the narrative nature of Artoria from the original FSN?

Who better to develop as a character than Mash, someone who's stood with you all this time?

Obvs it wouldn't be that easy. Part of the reason LB6 is so good is because it separates itself almost completely from the rest of the Part 2 plotline. It might be a Lostbelt but all the Lostbelt concepts are absent. Even the Tree of Emptiness has been cut down by the time we get there. If LB6 was the finale they'd have to shoehorn a ton of Alien God fuckshittery in there to tie the story up, which would compromise the overall quality.

But still, Oberon is the final boss in my heart. My man is too well written to not be the last enemy at the gate.

[leslutdepointedulac]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Thank you for sending this! Ngl all of my fics are my babies to some extent and I do have a couple of fics that I would love to add to here but they're not posted yet so I can't lmao. But these are some of my particular favourites that I've posted so far.

Drunken Matrimony ~ General | Louis/Lestat

This is just a really soft, fluffy little fic that has a special place in my heart. They deserve to have sweet moments like this, away from any drama and theatrics. I got cute aggression when I wrote this, it's too cute.

Hē Seirḗn ~ Explicit | Lestat/Armand & Louis

This is to date one of my all time favourite fics I've written so far. I feel like most people, if not everyone, knows that SIren Louis is my scary daughter who I love more than anything in this world. The whole concept of her was only supposed to be for this one fic, nothing special, certainly nothing that I ever planned on revisiting. But I love Siren Louis so much that I just had to bring her back again and I will continue to do so. I've even created whole entire lore surrounding my sirens because of her and it's now a fully developed universe. I could add the other siren au as well but this one started it all, hence why I went with it. Sorry, i'm rambling, I just really love my sirens lmao.

Experimentations ~ Mature | Louis/Lestat

I had a lot of fun exploring a canon compliant way to give the vampires a good time. It's good to let Louis let go and give himself over to his pleasure, I love that for him. He deserves it.

The Long Road ~ Teen and Up | Louis/Armand & Louis/Lestat

This is a fic that comes from my fanon theory as to how and why Louis ends up at Trinity Gate. I've thought about this an awful lot and it's really sad. I definitely upset myself while writing this but I felt the need to get it out there, so here it is. It's a fic that I hold very close to my heart, I love it a lot, even though it gives me the morbs to dwell on.

Treasured Finds ~ General (currently) | Louis/Lestat/Armand

So this fic is a multi-chapter fic and is still being updated, but I thought I'd add it here because I'm obsessed with it. Kinda like with my siren au, this wasn't supposed to become a Whole Entire Thing, but the story I want to tell with this wouldn't fit into the 4-5k words that I originally intended for it to. I have so many plans in store for this fic and who knows how long it will be by the time it's done lmao. What I do know though, is that it will most likely end up going from a general rating to an explicit for horny reasons and I can't wait.

[obsidianpen]

So sorry Pen. I think you must be fed up with all the Harrymort vs Tomione submissions, and obv you don't have to post this, that's only my take. I like the Tomione pairing, though of course not so much as to read everything Tomione, only the fics that address it in a convincingly manner, that's thought up, profound and well written. I don't like Harrymort as much, I think because in the past I read so much m/m fanfic that I've had my fill now and I find it difficult to read m/m fics anymore: I liked them because they avoided all the het cliches and portrayed less predictable and more conflicted relationships, but over time they seemed to me to become tropey as well, ofc it's not so, a good story is a good story, maybe I'm only saturated with m/m fics and now I find more compelling f/m stories with complex and believable female characters, they are so difficult to find! Buuut all this said I've no problem admitting: No Glory is a wonderful, dark, suspenceful fic, which I also follow because I love the way you write, and the Tom/Voldemort and Harry pairing is a lot more grounded in canon than the Tomione pairing, which I prefer, but admittedly makes no sense canon-verse and to work has always to be justified by brittle devices (almost always time-travel in ways which should be impossible canonically). A f/m pairing which makes sense in canon is Tom/Voldemort and Ginny, but I don't very much like her character because duh, it's non existent in the books, and also I couldn't find fics about them that appealed to me.

You’re not wrong, I am tired of responding to all the discourse and seeing it get washed up on my page - honestly I’m only responding to this for the last bit. Hard disagree from me about Ginny’s character being non-existent in the books! She gets shit on so much in the fandom and it makes me sad. Ginny had some real character development in the books, it’s even visible from the POV of Harry, who is pretty clueless when it comes to his love interests (I also feel like Cho gets a really bad rep!). Ginny went from super shy, awkward, and all around embarrassing fan girl to a cool, breezy, quidditch player who snagged a personal invite to the slug club before term even started, something plenty of other students never managed. She came up with the name for Dumbledore’s Army, she said a few things to Harry that made him rethink his life (“The thing about growing up with Fred and George… is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.” and, of course, when reminding Harry that she was possessed by Voldemort many times years ago and Harry says I forgot, “lucky you.”). She called Blaise a poser, Percy a prat, Ron and Lavender a pair of eels or something when Ron’s being a hypocrite - she’s got nerve. She doesn’t get as much screen time as Hermione and people hate her, I think, because she got Harry in the end, but like her or not, she’s a definitely got a personality!

and yes - canonically, gin’n’tonic has much more going for it than tomione does. I’ve always thought there’s a lot of potential for a super dark Ginny/Voldemort thing too, like why didn’t LV kidnap her in book 7 and use that to flush Harry out? It couldn’t have been too hard to figure out who Harry had been openly dating and use that against him… 🤷‍♀️

[radfemsiren]

Honestly it might just a be a relatable thing as I am a wlw myself, but I can only find wlw romance films, well written. Obv not all and most are by fetishising men, but they feel like they are genuinely thought through and deep. But most mlm romance is just a cash grab. I always found them very repeptive. And obv most straight is misogynistic unfortunately.

I'm not all that into romance myself as I love being single and alone. But I just can't enjoy like 90% of the romance media out there. Maybe I just have high standards?

I used to be really into bl when I was younger and for some reason it still didn't click that 2 women can be together too. I don't know why. But I eased up into gl and got comfortable with my sexuality. And now that's the type of romance I find myself thinking is well written.

No fr, when it comes to gl vs bl, it’s definitely quality versus quantity. Looking back at the shit that was popular in my time 🤢 Me and a bunch of girls were into Killing Stalking when we were freshmen and I look back and think, wtf were we reading?? Doesn’t work as a romance, doesn’t work as a crime thriller, doesn’t have a good art style, doesn’t have interesting characters… yet still thousands of readers, huh?!

We’re pretty similar. I feel super picky about romance media too, as someone who prefers the single life. Ive always found it less interesting than other kinds of over arching plots, like coming of age, war, mysteries… I like it as a b plot, something sweet for the background. I always find it hard to bring myself to care about love stories… probably is hypocritical of me to try and judge romance as Not a lover gal, more of a chronic Three-months and I’m bored and over every relationship gal 😅

[ladyrabbit29]

a VERY long post about my opinions on all the DRAGON AGE games lol

It's genuinely so hard for me to pick a favorite Dragon Age game. I love all of them for entirely different reasons, and they all have their own set of flaws. Some of which are more just my opinion than actual flaws anyways.

Origins is such a great example of setting the tone for an entire universe. The backstories for the Warden are very well-done and leave so much room within the game for roleplaying. The characters are original and well-rounded. The characters I dislike, I dislike because of the type of people they are, not because they are poorly written. The plot is generally interesting and the twist that you have to sacrifice someone (even with the ritual, you in a way sacrifice Morrigan) for the sake of Thedas isn't one I'd seen from any game I'd played before. However, the gameplay is pretty outdated and is more frustrating for me than it is fun. Loghain was always a frustrating villain to me because for someone that was set up to be a fantastic soldier, he felt super ignorant when it came to the Blight. He felt a little hallow as a villain and making him an ally feels out of left field. What reason would you have to do that? Even then though, I still enjoyed the game and have played it a few times.

DA2 is...complicated. I LOVE Hawke (specifically Purple fem!Hawke) and Varric is probably one of my favorite video game characters ever. The relationship Hawke has with their family adds a really interesting depth to the game, and I like the use of the passage of time throughout the game. It also gives you a much more in-depth view of the prejudices the people of Thedas have. Their treatment of elves and mages specifically. There's also something fun of the idea of a bunch of people hanging out because they all really like this one friend of theirs, even though the other people they hang out with are your least favorite people ever (i'm looking at you, Fenris and Anders). But honestly? The game is kinda full of stuff that...almost doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of the Dragon Age plot. There's no big bad you're fighting. The big boss is literally just the two big powers of the city fighting cause your friend is a terrorist (ANDERS IM STILL LOOKING AT YOU). Plus, for me personally, I don't really like most of the characters all that much. Obv I like Varric and Hawke, I like Carver and Fenris alright, Isabela is growing on me...and that's kinda it? All of the characters have their good moments and I don't HATE any of them, but for me personally I just like having them around because they add to Hawke and Varric's stories and not because I like them. I'm not saying they're objectively bad, I just don't connect with them very much. I literally started playing Dragon Age for the romance and I prefer to not romance someone in this game (cause I ship Varric x Hawke mostly but still-) I still love this game though despite my personal problems with it.

Inquisition is a big one for me. Sometimes I'm tempted to say it's my favorite because of the fact it was the FIRST Bioware game I ever played and made me fall in love with the series (And exposed me to Mass Effect). But it also is far from perfect. The characters in this game are, I think, some of the best written. Even the characters I personally don't like are well written and are generally well-loved (Sera and Solas mostly) One of my favorite Bioware romances is also in this game (Cullenmancers UNITE), and Dorian's personal quest literally makes me SOB no matter how many times I play it. The plot itself is pretty interesting to me, and I love that I can play a Dalish mage that rises from one of the lowest classes in the south to a literal political leader. I find the gameplay decently fun, and the worlds are gorgeous. I do personally enjoy open world games, but the fetch quests can get pretty annoying and I have literally never bothered learning how to get good at schematics so I rarely play above easy mode lol. I feel like the Inquisitor has some of the least amount of roleplay for a DA protagonist, specifically surrounding their origin. Outside of some specific moments in quests or some relationships/conversations with specific characters, there's not a lot. There is a war room mission but like...that's not much. Also I think most fans will agree it has some of the WORST character customization in the games.

Then come the most...controversial of the games. I'll be honest. I LOVE this game. I've already played it four times, twice 100%. It's the first one I'm trying to beat on Insanity too. The gameplay is really fun for me (I've played all classes, but mostly mages) and my only real complaint is that the enemies almost exclusively go after Rook, so it makes it kind of hard to fight something you can't get too close to. It's easy to get the hang of and it can be SO satisfying. I also really enjoy the characters, and I think they completed Solas' arc in a great way. Learning about the Elves and Titans was super interesting and finally getting to SPEAK with Mythal after she's played such a major role in all of the games (for a "god") was really exciting. I cried, I laughed, and raged, all of the good things. They even tricked me into actually feeling betrayed by the GOD OF LIES. I also super love Rook and their relationship to all of the characters. I could talk for HOURS about how Rook is like an extended version of the Varric vs Solas on how to BE A PERSON (Cole). But the main complaint I have with it is a big one. So much of the games just feels...missing. Because it is missing. They scrapped A LOT of content for this game. I'm not totally sure why, I've seen most people point the finger at EA and I wouldn't be surprised. If they had been allowed to have MORE the game would've EASILY taken place as my favorite Dragon Age game, maybe even favorite game in general. But there are so many moments that just feel...hallow. Because something is missing. The biggest example I have for this is that a lot of the background for Rook fall flat. Unless you romance someone from the same faction, it feels kind of irrelevant which is upsetting. ESPECIALLY because all they'd have to do to fix this is give Rook THEIR OWN questline. It would solve the background issue, along with the fact that most people feel that the team dgaf about Rook. If they had the chance to center a quest on Rook, how Rook feels and thinks, and how their team, their FAMILY, comforts them, the game would improve IMMENSLEY.

But yeah. That's how I feel and why I dont have a favorite DRAGON AGE game lolol.

[importantdestinydefendor]

My Thoughst about A Stepmother's Märchen

So it is @stepmarchen anniversary of their blog and we both talked in the comments about ASM (obv) and I brought up how I thought about some of the things in the story. And I though I just make an entire post about it!

So first off: I absolutly love the story and the art. But not every story is perfect and even those who love the series will have some nit-picks/"negativ" thoughts. I also want to preface - I am german (and actually a quarter Prussian but that doesn't really count now, doesn't it).

Now, let us start with some things I like about this story:

I love how complexe the characters are and how they fit the themes of the story. They are so well written - even the onse we hate or despise (*cough* Johan *cough*). We see some of their reasons but they are not excused. I can't wait to see more of the older characters backstorys! The setting is one we see a lot in mahwa (especially isekai/reincarnation) but it still feels fresh to me. It fits the overall vibe of the story a lot and we do travel from place to place and not stay in one location too long (except the Neuschwansteins estate ofc). The art really complements the story and I love how it is a well balanced mix between the manhwa style and a semi-realistic one.

And now my nit-picks:

My biggest gripes are the names that are not only used for places but for the characters. For example the name of the empire itself always catapultes me a little out of the story when I read it. In the story the place Shuri lives in is called "The Empire of Kaiserreich" as we all know. But the problem (for me) is here that the word "Kaiserreich" is already the german word used for empire. So it is basically "The Empire of Empire" which doesn't make much sense?? I know that the name Germany had for a long time is "Deutsches Kaiserreich" or "Kaiserreich of Germany" which consited of both Germany and Prussia. And thus Kaiserreich is also a name. But we also use it as a noun to talk about an empire so it feels a little weird. This is the most common complain I see so I don't want to hammer too much on it.

Now character names (primarily first names since most of the last names ar derived of actual places). We have really good germanic names like Albrecht (love his nickname btw), Johan/Johannes, Heidi, Theobold, Ludovika, etc. But some names seem like a... weird choise for a germanic setting. (I am also not counting Latin names since that is were the German language originates from) Let's start with the Neuschwansteins and with Shuri. The name Shuri is not of german origin and feels a little out of place sometimes (I think one of it's origins is Japanese). Same goes for Jeremy, which is a british name and only got popular in Germany around the 1970s. Leon is of greek origin. The exttended family: The first two siblings of Johan are fine even though I am questining the use of Müller as a first name since it is commonly a surename derived from an occupation. Penceler is not that bad either but would usually be written with an s and is actually a surname as well which is a variant of the surname Hensler. Valentino is an italian name that got popular in the 2010s in Germany. Staff: (Next I wanted to do Roberto, but apperintly it is a german name??? The more you know, I guess.) Gwen is of welsh origin. (I do not remember the names of the knights working for Neuschwanstein)

Now the others I can remember. Royal Family: Most of them are fine but Letran seems to be a surname. And at first I thought their surname Baden Mismarck was a typo. (Can anyone tell my why ORKA and Spice&Kitty chose Mismarck and not Bismarck? Maybe to not cause confusion when searching fro the characters?) Church: Cardinal Richelieu is a french name and there actually was a man named Cardinal Richelieu, who also came to be known as "The Red Eminence". Nürnberger: Norra is a scandanavian name and a variation of Nora.

Onto appearances

Character design whise I can't really say much since it is indeed fanatsy and not trying to do real life acuracy. But it still bugs me a little that we have all these actually acurate haircolours but Shuri has to have pink hair? And Ludovika + Theobolt white? Like I understand why. And if you squint you could say that Shuri has really light red hair and Ludovika + Theobolt have really light blond hair. This is the tiniest nit-pick of all though. Most of my nit-picks are with the names. At least what they wear stays consistant all the time.

This is all from the top of my head. I saw on this reddit post that people discussed the different time periods that ASM consists off/takes insperation from. I am not a really good history buff so I can't really talk about the historical acuracy of the story (even though I do study art history and should know about some of these things oops-).

Reminder: I love this story and did not write this to hate on ORKA and Spice&Kitty. And most of the nit-picks are name related. I did research most of what I have written here while writing this and my appreciation and respect for them has grown immensely.

(On a side note: I fell very deeply for those whos culture has been missrepresented and against those stories, my nit-picks are just a fraction of the injusties these wonderful cultures get. So, authors and artists (myself included), do your reaserch and a proper one at that if you are unfamiliar with the cultur you want to write about or draw. Any culture. Even your own.)