#just that. like. not technically anymore than any other story written by a person from gendered society

[preciouslittle-bhaalbabe]

Thoughts about Ascended Astarion! (This is a long one, and I'm not trying to change anyones opinion, just highlighting the fact that the player is in complete control of the situation at all times. This game is about choices.) First off, I don't usually prefer to ascend him. But I love all versions of Astarion. His character is so well written and all of his arcs deserve praise and attention no matter what your personal opinion of them are. The devs did an incredible job. If any parts of his arc (ascended or spawn) make you uncomfortable, then romancing him isn't for you. If the dynamic between AA and your character makes you feel scared or upset, don't ascend him. That dynamic is supposed to be 100% consentual. He's a tough nut to crack and his story can be very triggering. I myself broke down a few times hearing him talk about what he went through. There are other companions with lovely character development that you can choose. When people go "ugh he's ruined I didn't want this" My dear, with all due respect. This is the dark fantasy romance option. Emphasis on the fantasy. You didn’t get his approval by being nice. It's not like he's the only option. You chose to romance the vampire. The game warns you of what exactly you're about to do multiple times. You willingly help him murder thousands of people for freedom. A vampire who was a literal slave for longer than he was even alive for just got a MASSIVE amount of power. Were you expecting he was gonna just be a good guy now? He has had NOTHING for so long. His entire life trajectory changed within moments. He’s still figuring himself out. You as the player are still completely in charge. He owes everything to you and he knows that. You can walk away at literally any point. He asks you to kneel and obey to establish trust and a dynamic. To confirm this is what you want. YOU CAN SAY NO. Then, he gets right down on the floor with you. He's either gentle or rough based on your choice. If you don't like the vibe just break up with him at that point like he literally lets you do. Or, even just reload the save. But just remember. "That's what you want, isn't it?". When Astarion ascends, Neil says it best. His mask is off and he's allowed to be at his most terrible with no fear. He doesn't have to perform or be aloof as a distraction from the pain anymore. He was never good aligned. But now, he has the power and ability to give himself and his favourite person the life he thinks they wanted. Otherwise why would you ascend him? His love language becomes acts of service and gifts. He ADORES tav to almost obsession. He's always doting on them and calling them his. The ritual only amplifies that. "but what about what he says if you convince him not to go through with it?"

He’s not lying. He knows tav saved him from himself. It is technically the “good” ending. But that’s not what matters here. The ascension is for characters who are not good aligned. It is for characters that are just as much of a power hungry monster as ascended Astarion is. They want to be a monarch that rules the world over. It’s a role playing thing. Is it wrong? That’s for you to decide for yourself. Not others.

"but what about karlach? He's a massive jackass to her when he ascends" ...Yes. He's not a good guy. Karlach is basically the goodest character in the game. It won't work. And if you do break up with him, he lashes out and says some extremely hurtful things. Because you just broke his heart. It's a perfectly normal response from someone being completely blindsided. He thought you wanted this. You said you wanted this. After everything you both did you get here, he feels betrayed. Not even to mention ascended Astarion does not make you just a regular spawn. You quite literally become his vampire spouse. He thanks you for putting your trust in him. Then eventually you become a true vampire with time. He wants to make sure tav doesn't go insane after being turned. If you wanna learn more about vampire spouses in DnD I highly reccomend doing some google searches. It's fascinating. Is ascending him the right thing to do? No, but it's not "wrong". The game doesn't work that way. Is keeping him a spawn the right thing to do? Maybe, if your character thinks it is. Either route has their sets of pros and cons. It's up to you which ones you think work for your playthrough.

I almost always convince him not to go through with the ritual. But ascended Astarion + durge is a power couple and the vibes are immaculate for evil runs. Just have fun with the game! The devs made all these character arcs for you to explore! Thanks for reading <3

[broadwaybalogna]

I, a Zutara shipper, would have way more fun self inserting on Mai

So why don’t I?

A short essay on self inserting, what it means, my experience, and why it shouldn’t be a problem.

So the ‘problem’ of me self inserting recently arose again with discourse surrounding a post of mine. I’ll spare you the details, but someone, in an attempt to make me look like a bad person (I assume) said that I was a “self insert”. At first, I was confused because I don’t understand why something like that would be used as an insult. Then I remembered the horrible stigmatization that self inserting has had on the atla fandom.

So I’d like to bring light to what it truly means to self insert.

For this short essay, I’ll be using the term “self insertion” as defined by Wikipedia:

“Self-insertion is a literary device in which the author writes themselves into the story under the guise of, or from the perspective of, a fictional character. The character, overtly or otherwise, behaves like, has the personality of, and may even be described as physically resembling the author of the work.”

First, I would like to go over why I would personally prefer self inserting on Mai, since it’s technically the clickbait for this post.

I had a very large emo/goth phase a few years back. I loved wearing black, chokers, being depressed, etc. while I don’t necessarily identify with that version of myself anymore, I still hold high praise to any and all people who are emo/grunge/goth/fall under that kind of category. Now, I’m not saying that Mai is emo, she’s actually the exact opposite as she doesn’t display much of any emotion, but she is a badass female character who has space buns, a fiery personality, and really cool weapons. I actually like the idea of her a bit more than Katara, and it would certainly be easy to self insert onto her since her character was never really fleshed out.

(Look at her… she’s so cool. I can’t decide if I wanna be her or be with her…) this would probably also be a great time to say that I don’t feel here nor there about Mai in fandom spaces. There are many anti Mai people out there, but I honestly don’t care much for her at this point other than what I’ve already established.

I can relate to a good portion of her problems (being the face of her family, holding their reputation, not having many friends etc.) so self inserting on to her would honestly be no problem for me. So why don’t I do it?

Because my characterization as a shipper doesn’t revolve around myself. If it did, I’d totally okay into that sarcastic brooding gf because I think it’s kinda badass.

I ship Zutara not because I personally wanna be with Zuko, but because I want Katara to be with Zuko. Does that mean that I don’t self insert onto Katara? Hell to the no.

Self inserting helps me understand a character to the best of my ability. In order to figure out how a character might act, react, or approach a situation, I have to put myself into their shoes, that’s just how I work. I don’t think this is a mindset that is personal to just me either, there are plenty of other people who self insert onto Katara and Zuko in order to best convey the realism of their stories.

Now, I’ve self inserted onto BOTH Katara and Zuko, (which probably won’t stop the haters any more than before since I am attracted to both men and women) and in each of those times, I am sure to always stay true to the original characters. I am always considering how the characters were brought up, what they have experienced that has shaped their personality and how they have behaved before.

But I can’t just rely on that to help me tell a story. I have to feel the characters. I have to know what they’re feeling and how it affects them.

This may seem weird, but when writing, I’ll often close my eyes and imagine myself in a scenario much like what the people I’m writing about are experiencing.

This is how I became well known for some of my writing.

I’ve written monologues for characters to say that reflect my own experiences to help give myself and others peace of mind.

I’ve written relationships based on flaws I’ve had with people in my life.

And I’ve written hate. Because I feel hate, and I know that Katara and Zuko do too.

Self inserting shouldn’t be viewed as something that’s horrible for authors to do, it should be embraced. There shouldn’t be a world where people can’t share their experiences through people they relate to.

If you can’t see yourself agreeing with me, I’m sorry, but I don’t think we’ll ever see eye to eye. This is something that I am passionate about, and I will not be thrown off my stance because of a small insult.

In conclusion, I could very easily self insert onto Mai, you could even say it would be lemon squeezy, but self insertion isn’t the only thing that drives me to ship characters, and it never will be. I am a complex person with complex emotions that have led me to look at Katara and Zuko and envy their relationship. Yeah, I want it, and there shouldn’t be anything wrong with that.

[onebizarrekai]

❓ FAQ ◇ 🎨 Art Tag ◇ ✏️ AO3 ◇ 💛 Shop

recurring fandoms ::: mcyt ◇ legend of zelda ◇ indie rpgs ◇ …others works ::: isaac beamer versus the supernatural ◇ kcu ◇ short works past works ::: dreamswap ◇ greyscale ◇ dintis ◇ meme waker ◇ driftverse

Details:

🌟 Isaac Beamer Versus the Supernatural - Written work

A plot-heavy comedy. With a large cast of characters, IBVS is a mostly-original work that evolved from an idea for an Undertale Multiverse story conceptualized back in 2016. It centers around the unusual activity that occurs in the fictional city of Foxfield, California. Edward Quinton, the 'school king' of Foxfield High who secretly harbors mysterious powers, discovers a social outcast with his same supernatural predicament: the titular character, Isaac Beamer. Edward, motivated to form a secret club of others like them, goes down a path that changes their lives for the better or worse. The two of them make friends along the way… and enemies. Curiosity just may lead them straight to hell itself. Last updated June 8th 2024.

🔪 Kagehara Cinematic Universe - Written works, mostly

An incredibly niche fic series where I rip apart everyone’s derogatory favorite Danganronpa V3-inspired fan character, featuring lucid dreams, existential crises, depression and kissing your idiot hot inner demon. The character list has increased significantly since it started, featuring counterparts for other V3 characters as well. Last updated August 2022.

🗡 Dreamswap - Open Setting, No Ongoing Story

An ‘AU’ based on the UTMV outcodes. It originally got its name from being centered around Dream and Nightmare switching roles. Other other characters have also technically switched roles, but at this point, the swap thing is basically obsolete due to the convoluted nature of the lore. A comedy-heavy setting despite its themes. This was being adapted into a separate story called Fatal Flaws.

❤️  Greyscale - Comic (Stopped)

An Undertale comic about two humans with drastically different ideas on how problems should be solved who end up in the Underground at the same time and have to work together to make their way through it. Went on hiatus in 2019. Any comebacks would be a complete rework.

🌙 Darkness Is Nicer Than It Seems - No Ongoing Story

Forced into the role of a hero, Dark has been at odds with his power-hungry childhood companion Jet for a long time, but he decides that continuing to fight him is not worth it anymore. A Dreamtale alternate timeline. Its tag is #dintis.

❌  Meme Waker (Discontinued) - Comic

A parody of Zelda: Wind Waker featuring various Underverse characters as characters from the original game. Please note that the link may not work on mobile due to being set to a chronological tag. The last comic strip was in 2018.

🌓 Driftverse (Also Discontinued) - Comic

An interactive story dedicated to Nightmare and Dream, except they were combined into one person and they had no idea how. A post was released explaining the remainder of the story. The last comic strip was in 2019.

If you’re looking for some of my old works that are not on Ao3, feel free to check out the #fics tag. If you want anything older than what you can find in that tag, you'll have to dig for them yourself.

There are other projects that I don’t talk much about online, if you can call them that. I may as well note that when I say private projects, I really just mean characters and stories that I brainstorm them occasionally and I don’t actively work on. If you see something not listed here, it’s probably one of those.

[trashexplorer]

BLCD Review: Zanzou Slow Motion

Title: Zanzou Slow Motion (残像スローモーション)

Author/Artist: Janome

Shop: CD + Manga

Release Date: 2021/05/28

Cast:

Furukawa Makoto x Nakazawa Masatomo

Eguchi Takuya

Satou Gen

Tadokoro Hinata

Yasuaki Takumi

Matsuoka Yoshitsugu

Ichikawa Aoi

Yanagi Kouhei

Karino Sho

Synopsis:

What happens when two rival directors who hate each other's guts are forced to share one roof? And what if one of them has a secret he's been harboring for years? Throw in a shared love of movies, BL manga, and an accidental kiss, and you've got the next heart-pumping love story in Midorigaoka High and the sequel to Twilight Out of Focus 1. Jin Kikuchihara, third-year director, main actor, and president of the film club, and second-year director Giichi Ichikawa see eye-to-eye on very little. Jin is flashy, flirty, and focused on keeping everyone happy, while Giichi expects the best from himself and others, and will compromise nothing to see his vision through. Constantly at each other's necks, the two can hardly stand to be in the same club. But what will happen when family trouble forces them to live in the same room? Will their shared interests bring them closer as friends, push them further apart as rivals, or something else entirely?

Review Proper

I love Tasogare Outfocus, but this is actually my favorite Janome.

The second installment curse strikes again!

UGHHHHHHH THIS WAS SO WHOLESOME. Don't get me wrong, Tasogare Outfocus is written pretty decently, but I really don't like how Janome just glossed over Hisashi's SA and grooming like that. It reminds me a lot of Etude vol. 1. I can still get over Etude vol. 1 'cause it's not that uncommon to see in sports and Ichi-san's deal with Futami was given some closure in 2, but given how short Tasogare Outfocus was, Hisashi felt like he just lmao byed his teacher. 😔Doesn't help that it kinda doesn't matter anymore in overlap even though it hasn't been long since it ended. Is my son Hisashi really okay now? 🥹

I'm old, so DK BL doesn't appeal to me that much anymore. It's also hard to find good DK rivalries nowadays that aren't just about fucking or delinquents. Zanzou Slow Motion, however, just checked all the right boxes for the category: simple, no drama, and no loose ends. That coupled with Janome's element of touch?

And can we talk about this monologue?

Ugh.

I will say Jin's suspenders, Ichikawa's snatched waist, and the ABO shout-out greatly influenced my decision too. Y'all should get suspended in high school, not wear suspenders!

Onto the technicalities...

I don't think I've heard these two co-star before (or I just don't remember), so I was a bit skeptical especially 'cause last I heard Makonyan in a DK was in, well... Given as BLCD!Ritsu. And where else did we hear Yuuma star in a DK too? Yuuma as Anime!Ritsu. We just had Given Anime!Ritsu in Tasogare Outfocus being somewhat friends with Ichikawa and now we have BLCD!Ritsu (thanks to ecargmura for catching this!) trying to romance him. They used very different tones for Ritsu, but the vibe was the same overall. THEY'RE THE SAME PERSON. Makonyan and Nakamo also played tops in the last works I heard of them (Makonyan as Takaba in Kurui Naku and Nakamo as Yakumo in Nu:carnival), so I was concerned about a lot of things. Thankfully, however, instead of Makonyan going for his Ritsu tone or his lighter Kimitte Yatsu for a more youthful vibe, he went all shounen in here lmaooo.

His bwakame was so funny it reminded me of this:

I love roasting Makonyan more than any other seiyuu out of fondness, but I'm really proud of how far he's gone. He's gotten so much better in his delivery, and it's obvious in his budding anime career, too.

But...

I didn't expect there would be improvements in his bedding techniques too...

What the fuck was that? HAHAHAHAHAHA. WAIT. No, y'all don't understand. I have most of this man's r-18 otome CDs and BLCDs, and I have never heard him this... this hot before???? Jin is such a smooth flirt, so I had some expectations on the delivery, but FURUKAWA MAKOTO HISSES. HE HISSES!!! SIR IS THIS APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR FOR A HIGH SCHOOL BOY??? THEY DON'T EVEN SHOW THEM DO THE DO FOR MORE THAN A MINUTE??? WHERE WAS THE NEED?!

PUTS THE GODDAMN FU IN FURUKAWA MAKOTO ALRIGHT!

First it was Ono Yuuki, now it's Makonyan. Is Nakamo's ass really that good that his tops go all in???

I admittedly don't have a lot to say about Nakamo because that man always slays. I was afraid that Makonyan would overpower him during their Netflix and chill, but as soon as I had that thought, Nakamo pushed back like??? THEM SHAKIRA HIPS DON'T LIE!

HOW DO I LEGALLY MARRY GINGER RECORDS???

I didn't read the scan or the official English release 'cause I actually had the raws, so I can't vouch for the translation. As for faithfulness to the manga, however, I need to stress that there were a lot of rearranged events and cut dialogue. One notable instance was Ichikawa's message for Jin. It was placed after their kiss in the last chapter, so I believe that these changes are quite significant. It is still possible to read the manga while listening to the BLCD, but I suggest reading the manga once first so you're aware of which pages you need to jump to.

Chil-chil Awards 2022 was a scam 'cause this wasn't nominated for ANYTHING! This might actually just be my favorite BLCD of 2021... and Makonyan was my favorite actor in this series so far. OKITSU AND MAKONYAN REALLY SWITCHED IN THIS LOG HAHAHAHA. Makonyan and Nakamo at least won in my heart. 😌 Definitely listen to this if you're a Makonyan fan or if you're a fan of the series in general. It's also perfect if you're looking for something light and sweet but immersive at the same time. Chesk gives this a 9/10! Only the third 9 after Sonna ni and KD!

[prettywordsyouleft]

2024 Writer's Wrapped

Thanks @blizzardfluffykpop for being so kind and tagging me in their wrap up. I'm not sure if this is going to be an amazing one compared, since I've written very little this year, but I think it's important to look over what I have achieved, considering I have some ambitious goals to get back into writing more in 2025 (life playing ball and not throwing anymore curveballs withstanding).

Tagging @noona-clock because I know B is still writing, and any of my other wonderful mutuals who write who see this, have a go!

Anyway, here is my Writer's Wrapped.

First Fic of 2024:

Every Damn Time - Park Jinyoung x female reader (published 30th April)

You can tell this entire year has been really hard for me and my mother around her health as this was written at the start of the year, I didn't have time to post it until April. At this point in time, Mum had been pretty dizzy from medication and just really unwell, and I remember writing this story out through tears on my phone in bed to calm down enough to go to sleep. Whilst this wasn't anywhere near as bad as it got, writing or reading really helped me endure everything that went wrong this year for Mum. And of course, I turned to Jinyoung for comfort. If it's not him, it's Kyungsoo lol.

Last Fic:

Missed Me - Park Jinyoung x female reader (published 7th November)

The fact that Jinyoung got me writing again thanks to his military discharge still makes me annoyed. But I'm glad I'm writing again, so I guess this story was a necessary evil. It's technically not the last thing I've written this year, as I have two stories to go up in January already, but it's the last thing I've posted in 2024.

Longest Fic:

Business or Pleasure [M] - Jung Jaehyun x female reader (1608 words)

Yeah, I still cannot believe I wrote a dedicated smut scenario either. Let alone post it online, but here we are.

Most Popular Fic of 2024:

Personal Torture - Bang Chan x female reader (has 127 notes currently)

I still dread returning to the gym thinking about this. I had to quit to take care of Mum full-time soon after writing this as I just couldn't do everything in a day, and now I'm wanting to improve my health so I can look out for myself anddddd definitely not getting a personal trainer any time soon if I return. But I love this story. And if you love Chan, well maybe you should look out for 2025 👀 a series I started like 2-3 years ago is FINALLY getting posted...

Personal Pick:

Well, there's only one fiction left that's not posted above, so let's pick it now.

Roll Into Me - Park Chanyeol x female reader

I dunno why I wrote this, just that I was enjoying playing around with how far I could take my suggestive content without cringing.

*whispers* Business or Pleasure is actually my favourite of them all, but the less said on that, the better.

Total Fics Written:

Five published on here. Two that are unpublished and will be shared next year. Several ideas written down but no progress on yet.

Total Words Written:

4975 - way more than I thought I'd get done.

I also have a fictional world that I write on for my close friends. And I think I did about 3-5k there earlier in the year. I'm really behind in that world actually >_<

Top Artists Muses:

Annoyingly, we know who is my top muse.

In Conclusion:

2024 wasn't the year for me to write, but a year to survive. One that I had pockets of creativity to endure what a shitfest it was for me and my family. Equally, it showed me that writing is helpful, and that I shouldn't feel like I can't do it anymore because I read books now. It's kind of a snobbish sounding response that, but what I mean is, I know I don't have the backbone to publish a book anywhere. I couldn't handle someone like myself who reviews books on the regular trashing anything I write. So I decided, I just can't write anymore somewhere in amongst that thinking.

But I can, and I don't have to publish a novel to prove that. I just have to write in what capacity I choose to.

Let's hope I can give this blog more love in 2025, try new things, keep expanding on what I enjoy writing, and just rediscover my love for writing whilst enduring the grief I'm living through with the death of my mum. I think it will be a cathartic experience.

[callmearcturus]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

tagged by @lo-fi-charming

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 82, 83 if you include the one I wish I hadn't orphaned.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 2,721,477 words

3. What fandoms do you write for? Oh boy. Homestuck, The Magnus Archives, Mission Impossible, Borderlands, Welcome to Night Vale. Some one-offs in other fandoms. First really cut my teeth on The Dresden Files.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? Let's seeeee.

dustsceawung (The Magnus Archives) with 4,600 kudos

a steady hand, a delicate man (The Magnus Archives) with 3,316 kudos

dripping with alchemy (Borderlands) with 2,663 kudos

The Eurydice Suite (Homestuck) with 2,164 kudos

I'll bring the motion (The Magnus Archives) with 2,163 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments? When I have something fun or interesting to say, yeah. I don't wanna just say "thanks!" on every comment so I tend to try to repay the comment with a tidbit or something?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hmmm. See I'm a Happy Ending Guaranteed kind of writer so I don't know. Maybe we float before the sea at dusk because it's technically a bad end?

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? GOD that's hard... I think maybe all the world is earth and water or the Five Years Later ending of The Eurydice Suite.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not anymore. 8)

9. Do you write smut? what's smut never heard of her

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I'm going to choose to interpret this as "fusions" instead of "crossovers" and in that case I have written....

Homestuck/Inception (The Eurydice Suite), Homestuck/Kinda Sorta John Wick (so we don't kill the ones we love), Homestuck/Fallout New Vegas (out here the good girls die), and WTNV/Good Omens (all plans are golden in your hands)

Out of those, I think the New Vegas one is the most out-of-left-field.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? By now, at least 10 times that I'm aware or.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? A few times, yep! Russian and Ukrainian I think.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? BOY HAVE I.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? I despise this question and if this question had a face, I would punch it. I assume this has to be a ship I have written since this is a writing questionnaire.

In my heart of hearts, it's Karkat and Kanaya. I enjoy their platonic love more than any romance pairing....

SEE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS QUESTION is that I... think for me personally, the pairing is a vehicle of the wider story/themes, so I can't say "Oh its DirkJake" because to me the KTOWL DirkJake is wildly different from, like, TES DirkJake.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? The barely-inspired-by-Hellboy AU that I should probably just write as an original story. But I won't because I'm a coward, lmao.

16. What are your writing strengths? Consistency and structure, I think. I'm a tradesperson, not an artist.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I feel like I lack a lot of foundational material that other artists have due to my lack of education and just generally not knowing things. Like, the kind of works I personally admire and learn the most from, I lack the toolset to create myself, which is constantly frustrating.

Structure is sometimes a shackle, and I often feel like I can't execute something truly Artistic because to me, writing is a trade, not an art.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I do this sometimes and lemme tell you, every single fucking time I do, I rigorously check everything.

Like, I recently agonized over whether a character would use Verzeihung versus Entschuldigung in a fic, and that was a solid hour of research. Worth it tho!

I'm of the opinion that if you're just going to use google translate or something, then I would elect to write it as ["Excuse me," he said in overly-polite German as he passed], but that's me.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Uuuuuuuuh ppppppprobably Gundam Wing or something? Way back in the era when you could post smut on FF.Net.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? Could it be anything other than KTOWL? Honestly.

I am taggingggggg @arquiving and @interropunct

[thrudgelmir2333]

About Phoenix Ikki

This post is partially copied from a response of mine on Reddit, but I thought I'd expand on it here on Tumblr, where I can structure my ideas better. There's some thoughts I've had about the character of Phoenix Ikki for a while that I wanted to get out there. If you ask around the Saint Seiya fan community which character is their favorite, there's a relatively solid chance they're going to answer 'Phoenix Ikki'. In fact, you might even get told Ikki 'inspired' a lot of Saint Seiya fans. He's one of those shounen symbols of 'badassary' and 'uncompromising attitudes', like Takamura from Hajime no Ippo, but also of emotional distance, like Itachi from Naruto. In a lot of ways, if you grew up with Saint Seiya characters, there's a powerful possibility you looked forward to seeing Ikki show up and beat the crap out of some villain for hurting Shun, his little brother. It was an effect intensified by how much Ikki was usually withheld from the story. The absence of Ikki in a lot of ways made you want to crave this supposed member of the protagonists to show up.

Shun himself reinforces this interest, being adoring and forgiving of Ikki and his distance in every instance. This means all the reinforcement you get as a reader/audience is that Ikki is someone you're supposed to admire, to look forward to showing up, to be an example of how 'brutal and badass but also protective' a Saint could be.

I'd like to offer an alternative point of view on all this. I think Ikki is, well, actually a bad character. I also think that his absence had more to do with that poverty of personality to his character than any kind of perceived 'coolness' to him.

Maybe I'm the one off here. Maybe I just don't identify anymore with this sort of character. If you wanna conclude that from my post, that's fair. But I wanted to ask, though, "Isn't it about time we acknowledge Ikki is... kind of a bad character? And a terrible role model for young boys? And probably a sign of things that were to come in anime fandoms, even in the early 90s?"

Pictured above; Phoenix Ikki, deeply contemplating how little effort he has to put into the story

First, let's talk some technicalities.

This is where you'll see most of what I wrote on Reddit.

First off, I'd like to establish that I think Phoenix Ikki, in technical terms, is NOT the worst Bronze Saint, but he's definitely the worst after Seiya. And also that the way some of the other Bronze Saints, mainly Shiryu, outshine Ikki as quality characters should really expose how poorly written Ikki is to more people.

People rightfully talk about how Seiya's character stopped growing after a certain early point in the story. There's no denying that. Ikki, however, as a character, doesn't trail far much behind Seiya in my opinion. This is such to the point that I got a theory that maybe somewhere in Kurumada's mind he intended to kill him off after the Black Saint Arc, or ideally against Shaka.

I believe this because all of Ikki's involvements in the story past his battle with Shaka (and perhaps some of them during the Silver Saint Arc itself) have been needless interventions that either only reinforce how his character hasn't changed from his Black Saint days or steal the spotlight away from other characters, usually Shun.

Before we continue, another important technical note, this time on action, and this one goes especially to those concerned about how can such a strong character like Ikki be 'needless'. One important thing to retain here is that action can be written in a lot of ways, which is to say SCALING OF FICTIONAL CHARACTER IS A FABRICATION YOU DERIVE FROM HOW THINGS ARE ALREADY WRITTEN and not some kind of result from a scientific analysis of inalterable story facts.

So its not that Shun needs Ikki to save him, but rather that a choice was made by a human being for Shun to be written that he needs Ikki to save him. He could have been written, instead, to do it on his own, and even then something ridiculous like winning the Japanese lottery, just to add to the triumph of, idk, beating Capella.

Sorry for the earlier caps, I just always feel I have to remind people of that important fact whenever discussing action, become some people think that the usefulness of a character is derived from fights they win. Like they're real life wrestling competitors or something. The reality is, Ikki interferes in the events he does because he's written as such and he gets the results he does because, likewise, he's also written as such. They are choices by Kurumada.

And the reality of those choices is that they are open to discussion on weather or not they caused more harm than good to the plot and its remaining characters. This goes beyond the mere antipathy aspect in Ikki; the character is flat in a CREATIVE sense, being what the author of Rurouni Kenshin called "a joker card".

This means a character designed to counter the villain's respective 'joker'. AKA, Ikki exists to not to advance the plot in important ways (slaying main villains, help friends overcome trials, add to the story message) but to occasionally show off during an episode or two to deliver the audience the red meat of a high-octane action scene against a giant ogre or something.

What does Ikki actually DO in the story?

To understand the reason why I call Ikki a 'joker card', it is important to put his character's role in review. If you do, you'll find that most of his interventions in the story don't contribute to the plot's overall progression or the development of any of the characters, including himself.

So, just to quickly sum up his role; in Sanctuary Arc, after 'sacrificing himself to defeat Shaka' (which is where Ikki's character should have come to and end) he battles Saga only to stall him so that Seiya, a worse character, can reach Athena's Statue. This is something that can easily be written around to bolster Seiya instead, or have the lesser Bronze Saint character group that had just rejoined the story take on (instead of sitting back 'guarding Saori'). Ikki then contributes to a combination attack against Saga, but its mostly done by lending his Cosmos to Seiya, which means in terms of a physical measurable character choice, it's too abstract a gesture to feel emotionally impactful.

Yes, that's all he does in Sanctuary after Shaka. He then fucks off cause he's too cool to hang with his little brother and his friends. Moving on.

He comes back in Poseidon to show off to Caça, saving Shun, Hyoga and Seiya's life from him. The battle climaxes with Ikki defeating Caça but declaring that "Caça would have won if he had used an illusion of Esmeralda instead". It sounds touching, until you realise that it shows how Ikki is STILL not over Esmeralda, this despite his redemption arc. This is because, without that permanent grief, Ikki has no good reason to justify being away from everyone else other than just that he's an anti-social douchebag. Then Ikki, again, contributes nothing to the battle with Kanon and Poseidon that Shun couldn't have been written to do on his own. All of his involvements are in Shun's presence and taking away opportunities from the story to write Shun heroically.

And then Ikki fucks off again after posing for the arc ending picture.

Notice how, once again, Ikki's appearance is entirely predicated on taking action away from the main characters against a villain written to be particularly dangerous. Caça and Kanon act as the Poseidon Arc's joker cards; characters designed to give the cast a big giant obstacle to look cool overcoming, except it's really all fed to Ikki instead, who looks cool doing it but otherwise does nothing in the plot.

Finally, he stays away from Hades for the most part, thankfully, only to then show up to get the story rid of Aiacos (which was written to the point of being a non-character at the time, just a big Judge Joker) and have a fruitless battle against a Hades-Possessed Shun that ONCE AGAIN is all about drawing tears from the audience about how Ikki can't get over himself and do his job.

It's Saori, the character EVERYONE calls useless, that actually saves Shun, not Ikki. If Saori is a "useless", like everyone always says, what does this make of Ikki?

Oh, and then Ikki returns in Elysium for one final coolness shot; he takes a blow from Thanatos so that the story can reinforce the idea of "Oh, no, trust me guys, Ikki is TOTALLY special. Thanatos says so. Cause he took a hit and wasn't written to just fall over."

And then the story ends with him contributing to another abstract combination attack, instead of making any character choices. We don't even get a personal confrontation between him and Hades for, you know, HAVING POSSESSED HIS PRECIOUS LITTLE BROTHER THAT IKKI IS SO MOTIVATED FOR.

Oh, and guess what, thanks to Next Dimension, we know that after all this, with Seiya crippled and Sanctuary in ruins, Ikki fucks off yet again, cause apparently nearly losing Shun to an evil God taught him nothing about the need to stay by his loved ones.

The Terribleness of Ikki

I don't know if you've noticed by now, but all Ikki ever seems to do is pop in front in the camera, talk about how cool he is, and then whine about how "Death Queen Island was SO hard" until he Genma-Kens someone. And then fucking off.

Does he have a life? Can we imagine that he goes to a bar or something to drink his sorrows, or works in a farm like Shiryu, when not fighting a Holy War? Or does he just stalk Shun, looking for opportunities to swoop in and look like the big pathetic attention-needing loser emo older brother that he really is?

It's almost like the character doesn't exist for any other reason other than to show up and look cool, like a decoration. Almost as if, bear with me, the story of Saint Seiya didn't really have anything planned for him past a certain point, so they couldn't give him any meaningful contributions to the story.

Meanwhile, just to compare, Shiryu has a whole character arc about overcoming his crippling blindness, which he manages to do:

A) Without using it as a prop-trauma for how cool he is;

B) Without pushing away his friends;

C) Without neglecting his duty as a Saint;

D) Without disrespecting all the struggles everyone else go through;

E) And without making it the sole defining characteristic of his personality, unlike Ikki "My-girlfriend-is-dead" Kido;

Which is frankly hilarious considering that the reason Ikki told off Seiya early in the story and left the group to be on his own was because, I quote "he doesn't work well in a team", cause he's such a hardass, right?

Sorry, Shiryu. You had that whole 'character development' thing going, but look how cool I look.

Yeah, well, everyone in Seiya's team does a better job at being a Saint than he does, so maybe Seiya was on to something when he almost punched Ikki that night for saying such a dumb thing. This, of course, without going into all the things Hyoga and Shun also go through to show upstanding and emotionally strong they can be. I only mention Shiryu because if I talked about them as well, I'd be writing this post all day.

So you might be asking "That can't be it, right? You have to be acting reductive, Thrud. This can't be the extenct of such an influential character's contribution?"

No, seriously, it really is. Ikki never grows past his distant, traumatised self, he never learns to overcome his pain and personality problems and all of his contributions to the story's challenges is to act as the sleeping giant behind Shun's smiley face.

We're pretty much at the end stretch of ND, and Ikki is YET to show signs of change. He's just done a bit of fighting and hasnt had any friendly interactions with anyone. It's 2024 and Ikki is STILL a giant asshole.

Even the thing he's most beloved for, his contribution to action, ultimately falls flat in story terms because most of the antagonists he takes on, with the exception of Shaka, are written to be just temporary obstacles to the story (like Aiacos) or are people Ikki saves Shun from (like Caça). Shaka has a whole thing involving challenging the Bronze Saints conceptions of evil, and in the manga he even has his manipulation of Ikki, but everyone else Ikki defeats look like they were written in just so that Ikki could have someone to look cool beating on.

Which is to say you could probably envision a version of Saint Seiya WITHOUT Ikki, and you wouldn't lose that much, story wise.

So why is Ikki so beloved? What is going on here?

Well, because simply put, the fandom identifies with how macho and action-oriented he portrays himself. They like him BECAUSE he's an anti-social prick who tells you "You can replace having healthy emotional development by just being a badass". And to some people, especially in shounen circles, that's the ultimate power fantasy, giving you a bigger trip than being reincarnated as the most overleveled slime demon princess.

But don't take my word for it, peruse the internet yourself and try to find someone defending him who doesn't talk about how "badass" he is.

The fact is, not just in anime but in media in general, a lot of people love identifying with assholes who put down everyone else's contributions to the group, act like they are above it all and fall back on a fantasy that "they don't need anyone" and "are secretly the best". They reinforce the idea you don't have to put in effort to make others like you, because you can just be violent and dismissive and that's somehow automatically worthy of admiration.

Yet, put anyone problem in the story that cant be solved with punching, or put anything too complicated in the story to solve with a Genma Ken, like Hades' possession and Poseidon about to kill Seiya at the Main Breadwinner, and chances are Ikki won't know what to do about it. His contribution will be to put a strong face about how he wishes he had a way to fix it, but what a shame, this will just be "another trauma to add to the pile, poor Ikki"

There are terms for these kinds of role models that teach you to dismiss emotional problems, that teach you to admire those who see their self-imposed solitude as a curse, or even strength.

They're called sigmas. You know, those assholes infesting male media who blame everyone else for their problems and think mysoginy is super cool? And look at that, people LOVE how Ikki told Pandora "he ain't feminist like Seiya and WOULD hit her if she stood in his way". What a badass! Ikki isn't gonna let this goth girl stand in the way of him... failing to save Shun anyway. Wow!

So cool, guys, right? Right?

This is where my point just devolves into a rant.

Ikki isn't just one of the worst Bronze Saint characters. He is, in fact, a terrible character just in general, who gets by on having a cool power suit and reinforcing his audience's pre-conceived notions about the world. Ikki teaches you from a young age that your problems are to be dug deep down, only to be brought up to shield yourself from criticism.

His staleness ends up rivaling Seiya's, and only fails to meet it cause Seiya's case is so comically bad. Ikki happens to make a good Bronze Saint action figure, so he remains popular.

But unfortunately his influence casts a long shadow. Saint Seiya isn't nearly as popular as it used to be, but there are tons of storytellers and story followers that have been influenced by him as a character. Bleach, by Tite Kubo, drew heavily from Saint Seiya in not just story telling, but story structure and characters.

Who do you think Byakuya, Rukia's stoic, overpowered older brother is modeled after, my lovelies? And look at that, he's just as overrated as Ikki is, to the point the author didn't have the courage to truly kill him off in his final story arc, even though his arc was done and done.

Rukia: Nissan, there's some weird guys in armor staring at us over there. Byakuya: Don't pay attention, Rukia, those are just the characters our author subconsciously based us off from. Just focus on your sand scuplture of how pretty I am.

And honestly, it's tiring to see people my own age still thinking and saying that the pinnacle of character design and development is characters like Ikki, and the long trail of 'stoic badasses' he has left behind.

I don't respect this kind of anti-social glorification any more. You might even say I think it's toxic. Obviously Ikki is just a character, a bunch of ink on paper, but when you take a step back and you look at the characters that have copied him, or the legions of people online making unhinged rants about 'strong masculinity' that would think Ikki IS inspiring (especially when he slaps the hell out of Pandora), and then you combine it with the 'hate' directed at the weak characters? Then he becomes more than that.

I just think that characters like Ikki make people miss the point of stories like Saint Seiya. And if you have a character that makes you miss the point of the story, who just stick around because their toys sell?

Then they're not good characters. Not in my opinion, anyways.

[bluegekk0]

do you think there are any book series' vyrm or the kids are interested in?

this is completely biased but maybe something like warrior cats with hallownest wildlife? sorry i have to include the silly cats in my brain

I'll be completely honest, I don't think I've read enough book series that I can still remember to properly answer this question. But I suppose I could talk about the family and book genres they'd enjoy?

Vyrm would struggle a bit with focusing on large plots, he's definitely more into more technical books. Anything about tinkering or engineering would be right up his alley and he would be completely lost in any well written book on that topic. That being said, I think it was my friend who had this idea, but I love the mental image of him picking up some romance books prior to hibernation, and after separating with WL. He never really thought about romance before (WL wasn't really the romantic type, and for the longest time he thought he was the same way), but once he started suspecting he might have feelings for Grimm, he gave romantic novels a try, to see if what he's experiencing matched their portrayals of love. Despite that, however, he didn't get the confidence to confess until after he woke up from hibernation. These days he doesn't read them, as I said, he's not actually a novel type of person, and he finds learning romance through his experiences with Grimm much more pleasant.

Grimm on the other hand loves sappy romance novels. It definitely hits right into his desire for intimacy and affection that he experienced for most of his life. He'd imagine himself in those romantic situations, though for many years the realization that he'd never find that life only made him feel worse afterwards. After meeting Vyrm, those thoughts finally had some merit, and he found comforf in picturing himself and Vyrm in such scenarios, as this time there was a chance he could finally get to live that life. Well, he got his wish at last, though he still finds enjoyment in the genre. But doesn't limit himself to it, he fancies all kinds of stories, he has a large collection of various books in his Troupe chamber that he collected during his travels.

Hornet really likes adventure books, I think she'd enjoy Lord of the Rings for example. Stories are an escape for her, she lived many years convinced that loving anyone would just bring her pain, but deep down she really wanted something more. And books let her immerse herself into experiences that were perhaps more hopeful than her life. Of course, she now has a family again, and despite her fear of attachment, that sense of escapism isn't as strong of a driving force for her anymore. She still absolutely loves books and has read through Grimm's entire collection at least twice. She tries to hide it, but she's always ecstatic whenever Grimm brings new books from his travels.

Holly enjoys slice of life type stories, they grew up wanting that type of peaceful life, though unfortunately they wouldn't get their wish for a long time. They prefer stories with low stakes, something they can read to find comfort and reassurance that things are going to be okay. Though I think they'd like poetry as well, particularly that of very personal kind - it's difficult for them to interpret, but they're always willing to learn, especially in areas that give them a better understanding of emotions and things others struggle with. They didn't get to develop good communication skills in their childhood, but they really want to be a proper part of the Dirtmouth community, and exploring such themes in fiction certainly helps.

Zote claims he's above reading, but deep down he loves literature about knights and heroes. He always pictures himself as the great hero that saves the day and gets all the fame and appreciation for his heroic actions. He does struggle with separating those fictional heroes from reality, and he'll often start quoting his favorite knight characters pretending to be them, much to the amusement of others. It certainly feeds into his conviction that he's a great knight, but as he tones down his arrogance throughout the span of the AU, it becomes more endearing than harmful.

Lewk can only read very simple books for children, but he loves whenever someone else reads for him. Vyrm and Grimm would always read him various stories to bed, those of heroes and villains, of family, and who knows, maybe also some kid-friendly equivalent of a Warrior Cats story like you mentioned. He particularly enjoys looking at the pictures in Vyrm's technical books, and asking him what those things are and how they work. He's incredibly curious about everything, and is definitely shaping up to be an avid reader like Hornet or Grimm.

Asta and Milo are way too young to read, and they don't fully comprehend things that are read to them either. They do understand some words, but mostly those they hear often - mainly things like "papa" which they hear from Lewk, that they repeat to get the attention of Grimm or FPK. They like when someone reads them to sleep, but it's mostly due to the comforting vibe created by their soft blankets and their dads' voices.

[zazzander]

Did you enjoy tsats? I've seen you posting and rebloggin some critics, but was the book enjoyable?

So I haven't actually finished the book yet but at this point... I'm not sure that I will. But I have a lot of thoughts anyway. And I've been reblogging the posts that match up with my own reading experience (mostly because it's becoming clear the book continues to follow this pattern I've already noticed, so I'm not concerned about spoilers anymore).

The thing is, I went into the book with low expectations. I'm not a big fan of Will Solace - though I like the Apollo cabin in general. I was really hoping to pick up the book be shown why I should like Will. Instead, I got a character assassination. Will is flawed, and I appreciate those flaws, but not in the way Oshiro (and it was clearly Oshiro at this point) protrayed them.

I was actually prepared for the mismatched lore and some minor retcons - because every Riordan book includes those! Plus, I'm not opposed to a character-based narrative, in fact, I generally prefer stories with a lot of angst and drama. I also wasn't bothered by the lovey-dovey way Will and Nico interact, I found it sweet.

Unforunately, the book, on a technical level, is poorly written. For one, the central metaphor of the story "darkness vs light" is not done well. It lacks concrete examples.

Is it about their powers? It shouldn't be - that dynamic is more about "death vs life" than anything else. If that is the case - it's odd that Will reacting to "death energy" now. Other characters found Nico's "death energu" creepy, Will found it cool. So the entire conflict wouldn't be in character, that's what the metaphor is angling towards (again, it seems purposefully misleading to rebrand "death vs life" to "darkness vs light").

Is it about their personalities? It could be. Nico often describes Will as unfailing kind in this book, always smiling, always warm. It harkens back to Nico's description of Will as a chill cat bathing in the sunlight. Now, we all know that Will isn't like this, at his heart. The flaws beneath that persona could be his "darkness". However, Nico seems to hate that part of Will. The part that's arrogant, that sees his way of doing things as best, etc. Furthermore, Nico is apparently "all darkness" to Will, but like... what does that mean? Nico is a bleeding heart, he's giving and he's caring, and does Will not realise that? Like, if that's the case, why are they dating? How have they been dating for an entire year and Will doesn't know that? It's just... not good.

But that's not where the problems end. The pacing is slow, the entire book drags. I feel like the characters the couple run into don't push the drama / angst as far as it should, considering this is a book focused on that. There are many more characters who could show where Nico and Will's worldviews fundamentally misalign!

Finally, this is an example of a wider plot / set-up issue: Will's backpack. At the start of the adventure, Will fills a large backpack with "stuff". The only real item we're told about is a Sun Lamp. That's an issue, because if we don't know what's in the backpack there's less chance that Will will actually use the stuff inside. And if he does use any items, it will feel contrived. Furthermore, by this point in the book, Oshiro seems to have forgotten that Will is lugging a heavy bag around. When Will gets tired he doesn't mention it nor Nico does offer to carry the bag.

We know that Will has never been on a proper quest, but he has fought in three wars at this point. He is a veteran! I think the backpack would have been an excellent opporunity to show Will's character and experience. Maybe he knows that he tends to freak out in battle when he doesn't know what he should be doing (if someone's injured then, well, it's obvious his job to fix them) - so he's overcompensating.

Have Will pick up items from various campers as he prepares to go. Maybe he gets grenades from Clarisse, traps from Cecil, a magical flare gun from Lou Ellen. There - now we know what Will is taking to the underworld. We are also reminded of Will's friends at camp. And these items would help make Will more useful! Instead of giving Will random new powers, just... have him use the items he brought with him!

I have no idea if Will does, in fact, pull something out of his bag at some point. But at this point, I'm really doubtful.

((I actually have so many more issues with this book but these are some examples))

I hope you don't mind the rant! I really did go into this book with an open mind - I was really to give it a chance. But pretty much every writing choice Oshiro made is one I disagree with, and that's hard to put aside.

[theartfulmegalodon]

Context: I was given a (very much needed) week off from work, and I haven't done a single thing with it that I intended to! Instead, I've been doing random stuff like this: sketching a thumbnail for the very first page of my River & Ash comic.

Now, DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP. I still have no intention of actually drawing any of this comic until all 30 (technically 32) issues are written, and I'm only on issue 23. WHAT'S MORE, I'll just state for the record now, that I have no plans to draw the entire comic.

Like, EVER.

Why?

Well I crunched the numbers last night as I lay in bed. 32 issues, each 25 pages long (and that's not including covers or side stuff), adds up to 800 pages. At my fastest, I could probably finish one page a week. Can you do that math? That's SIXTEEN YEARS.

As much as I like my story and am proud of it, that's too much of my life to even consider dedicating to this self-indulgent story about a guy and his demon boyfriend that I dreamt up in my kitchen one day while making ramen.

I think, at the very most, it might be neat to do the first two issues, as, like, a proof of concept, and then maybe some single panels or illustrations from random points throughout the story. But even that... I mean, I struggle to finish art anymore. It never feels worth it. So even that much is probably pushing it. I have other stories I'd like to devote time to when R&A is done. Whole novels' worth of ideas. I'd like to do more of that. Will anyone read it? Maybe not, but more people than are willing to read a comic script. And I get more personal return on investment with writing than with art.

Ya gotta choose where to devote your time and energy. I decided from the start that I wouldn't draw River & Ash until I finished writing the whole thing, just to prove I could finish SOMETHING. And by golly, that's still going to happen. (Issue 21 script gets posted Saturday, btw.) Sorry I can't promise more than that.

Love to whoever's still reading. <3

[voidscarredadjudicator]

Hey guys. Sorry for being quiet for a month. Hopping on here to let y'all know that I do still have a pulse. Things have been... fine? I guess? Here's a bit of a wordy update on my situation right now, but the tl;dr is, I'm good, HE is still on hiatus, but I'll get back into the groove soon hopefully. Also happy holidays!

The mysterious and vague 'personal life stuff' is still ongoing, and I really don't know how long it'll be something that I have to deal with. I'm continuing to not elaborate because it is very much a personal life thing, but I can assure you that nobody's dying or anything grim like that.

On an only somewhat related note, my expendable income has shrank dramatically in the past few months, so I've been having to get a lot more stingy with what I spend money on. I'm not poverty stricken; I can still afford rent and bills and groceries and whatnot, I just gotta cut corners where I can so I can actually build up my savings.

What does this mean for Humanity's Endling? Well, it's... still on hiatus, technically. But really it just means I'm picking up more shifts than I'd usually care to, which means less time to actually work on it. If work were being done on it to begin with. I'm also cutting out my NSO subscription, which unfortunately means I will not be playing Splatoon 3 much at all anymore. Granted, I was kinda taking a break from it already, so it's not like I've been getting my money's worth of the subscription anyways. So if you were curious about my absence during this most recent Big Run, or the lack of a lengthy season observation/headcanon post like last time, that is why.

All of that said, it's not like I haven't been writing at all - just been hard focusing what creative juices I'm still able to generate given my situation on the accursed TTRPG I've mentioned in prior rambles, as that's an actively running thing that I kinda need to constantly pump stuff out for.

Speaking of which, I pulled a Super Mario Galaxy and wrote a whole ass children's book for the players to find as a lore thing. It was written with the intention of just being a normal children's book in a bubble, but when viewed with the context of the entire campaign thus far, takes on a completely different meaning. Which is to say, you don't need to know a damn thing about the campaign to appreciate the story - a theory I tested by having two people who aren't players read it.

One almost cried. The other actually cried. And when the players found it in our most recent session, one of them also cried, and we had to take a breather after the fact.

Not to pat myself on the back or anything, but I feel like that's one hell of an achievement. So I am pretty proud of myself for that. If you guys are interested, I might clean it up a bit and post it either on Ao3 as an original work or just straight onto this tumblr. It's only about 2k words, so it should fit nicely in a single post.

That's all I can really think of to say at the moment. Again, even though I might seem a bit quiet, I am still here. I take a peek at tumblr at least once a day to see if anyone's sent any asks or anything like that, so don't be afraid to toss something into my inbox if you have a question.

Oh, and for the anon who sent an ask suggesting me to upload what I have of Act II done already - I don't exactly plan my stories in a linear fashion, nor do I write them as such either. It's closer to me thinking of the major moments I wanna do, plotting out how to connect them, refining, refining, refining, rearranging, refining, scrap half of what I have done, rearranging, suddenly having an epiphany, scrapping another chunk... yeah, it's a bit chaotic. I see what you're trying to say though, and I do appreciate the suggestion, but it can't really be done with the way I go about writing.

That's it from me. Happy Holidays. Play Cyberpunk 2077. It's a good game, I swear. Or Undertale Yellow if you own a toaster. It's me, I own a toaster. I played Cyberpunk on my brother's computer. Thanks, bro. Love you.

[myraelvira]

Soilent Green's Accidents

Soilent Green’s First Accident

Technically, if we’re going to be funny, Soilent Green’s first accident was their song, “It Was Just An Accident”, which is the first song on their album, “Sewn Mouth Secrets”. I’ve been told that the song was written about a girl that they knew, who drank a lot and got into some bad relationships (as told to me by Ben).

But the focus of this is about the two motor vehicle accidents that the band got in.

On December 4th, 2001, Soilent Green got into an accident. One article from Lambgoat, posted on December 5th, 2001, stated that Soilent got into an early morning crash, that resulted in “numerous injuries, forcing the band to cancel its touring plans” for the rest of 2001.

At around 4am Pacific Standard Time, the band’s van rolled 4 times on an icy, snow covered road, in Eastern Washington. Brian Patton and Scott Williams suffered broken bones in the shoulder area. Tommy Buckley and Ben Falgoust escaped with minor injuries. At the time, they were on tour for the “Extreme Music For Extreme People Tour”. All of the band gear survived the crash.

On January 2, 2002, Lambgoat posted an article about how Scott Williams was recovering, and in good spirits, but still in pain.

Soilent Green’s Second Accident

Less than six months later, around April 13th, 2002, Soilent got into an accident again, on the road. This time, the band got into a crash in Chicago, Illinois. Jon Model, their touring bassist was injured, along with Ben. The other members escaped the crash with minor scrapes. At the time, the band was on tour with Gwar, for their “Blood Drive 2002” leg.

An article from May 4th, 2002 stated that Ben was still recovering from the crash, which had resulted in both of his legs being broken. Falgoust was at the wheel of the van during the accident. The article quoted him, saying”

“I don’t remember much, just a few pieces. I was told that I was avoiding a car spinning out of control and as I came back into the lane, I ran in the back of an 18-wheeler. The story is still not in full. No drinking and driving, or any drug use!”. Ben went to physical therapy during this time, and Soilent was expected to be in full gear by the end of that year (2002).

An April 21st, 2002 article stated that Ben was still in the hospital. He had already gone under two leg operations to repair broken bones. He was still in Chicago at the time, and was to soon return home to New Orleans.

In 2003, Soilent made a come back, going on tour, and in 2005, they released their album “Confrontation” (Which is personally my favorite).

A 2006 article mentioned the crash, stating that Ben was nearly killed. He had to endure numerous surgeries, and go through rehabilitation to learn how to walk again. According to some people I’ve talked to, Ben was initially told that he may never walk again.

He ended up needing a skin graft on his foot, the donor site being from his torso.

I don't know what his pain management or physical therapy was like. I can only imagine it being incredibly rough and frustrating. There's a part of me that wonders if such an accident could lead to being thrown opioids constantly. I wonder if being wheelchair bound was more painful than learning to walk again. From a therapy point of view, I can't help but wonder, what the process was like. I wonder what it felt like to be told that you'd never walk again. Did that frighten him? Did it make him feel mad?

Did he truly expect to walk again? Or did he figure that it was at least worth trying?

These are just some of the questions I have. It's quite hard trying to get into contact with any of the members of Soilent Green. The last time I got to talk to Ben, he told me he didn't really do interviews anymore.

In a 2014 interview, Ben recalled some of that time, from after the accident.

“It was just bad luck, it was all timing and stuff like that. But the only thing you can do at that point is persevere and move forward and do all you can. When I was in the hospital, I remember I was in a wheelchair for like a year, and I was going into this hospital in New Orleans, and I didn’t have any money; so it was kind of like a hospital for people with low funds.

I remember being next to people and seeing some of the situations they were in. I kept thinking, you know, both my legs were broken, I tore my heel. But this guy, his face was sewn up or something and he couldn’t talk; he had to write everything down on paper. And some dude was there who got shot in the hip, and his whole hip fractured and broke up in little pieces. When you’re in those situations, you start to see a lot.

There’ll be people thinking, “Oh pity on me, I’m in this situation,” but I was like, look at this shit these other people are dealing with. You know, I need to get through this and I just need to sort it out. I had a lot of good friends and my family was really close and helpful, so that was a beneficial thing too.”.

Years later, in 2017 or so, Ben broke his legs again, when touring with Goatwhore. The ramp door to a trailer came down on his head, threw him back, and landed on his leg and foot. Initially, the door was supposed to have a hydraulic system, but the mechanics to it failed causing the injury. Of course, he had to go to the hospital for treatment, but because of his prior accident, he didn’t need to have rods put in his legs, as he already had some in there.

Nowadays, you can’t even tell what Ben has been through. It’s amazing how strong of person he is, not just physically, but mentally. The mental fortitude one must have to go through what he’s gone through is incredible. In the very least, I am so glad that he , and the others, are still around today.

Ben, if you ever see this, please know that I’m proud of you. ♥

[SOURCES]

[unohanabbygirl]

I was going to post something a little bit longer but it got deleted when my computer shut down so ill just keep it short . What if there is a scene kind of like in "The Butterfly Effect," where Aemond and Luke are having this conversation in a diner and Aemond finally got Luke to meet with him but not only that it has been a good minute that they have seen each other because well Luke ran away and he got tired of all the family drama and quite simply he has too much trauma that he is dealing with his own sh-. This is the first time Aemond has seen Luke in a while and Luke appears worse than when he had last seen him, he looks pale, gaunt, heavy bags, scars now on his face, old scabs on his arms and hands, signs of drug use and other self destructive qualities. He looks tired and really doesn't care in the slightest what Aemond has to say about the past life or his apologies. Because he is over it. All the while Aemond is trying hard not to fall apart at seeing the love of his life in the condition and is trying to get Luke to come back again to his old self to come back to him, to remember the love he had for his family, but Luke can't feel that love anymore because people have shown nothing but hate and ugliness to him that its overpowered all the love he was given in the past life. Like the scene in the film he tells Luke with tears in his eyes "You were happy once." Luke is just listening to Aemond talk about the past and how he regrets hurting Luke and Storms End, and Luke has this sleepy drugged out look in his eyes scoffing at Aemond and saying that he is still that kid stuck in the past, and tells Aemond mockingly and nonchalantly "its okay Aemond, don't worry, you didn't break me, other men did that, so don't feel bad about it." "So what, you want me to apologize for the eye, okay I'm sorry, you want me to apologize for the pig joke? you want my forgiveness, fine you have it." "That kid you killed at Storms End, is dead, he died there and if he did come back, he's been dead a long time ago." Luke just gets up barely able to walk and walks away "I got my own sh- to deal with than something that happened 2k, 10k years ago." Scoffing at Aemond. Aemond at this point is broken beyond any repair.

Inspired entirely by your amazing story "Forget Me Not," Unohananbbygirl and "The Butterfly Effect."!

This is so beautiful yet so heartwrenching!

I love this little drabble because the possibility of Luke running away and falling further and further down the rabbit hole of drugs, stealing and sex work is a big one. All it takes is the wrong words from the right person and Luke could very much just say forget it and decide that fighting the person he’s become isn’t worth it in the end.

I think that’s one of many parts that makes FMN so tragic. This scenario you’ve written has just as much of a chance at happening as the happy ending we’re all waiting for. So many people who live in a simyreality end up like this everyday, regardless of their financial situation (though coming from a harsh background makes it all the more likely)

Luke very well could feel himself incapable of change and choose to part ways with everyone because even though Luke will always be that caring kid down to his very core, Lucerys Velaryon died above ship breakers bay with his dragon over a thousand years ago and isn’t ever going to come back. That in itself is enough to convince Luke that the family is better off without him since the person they’ve been looking for is technically no more.

Now that I’m thinking of it, this makes me wonder if the reincarnation cycle would just keep on continuing until everyone gets their shit together. Of course this current like they’re living is a second chance, but would they get a 3rd, 4th, 5th, so on and so forth if they fail to truly fix everything. Sort like a circle of hell, forced to continue on as the world changes until everyone gets their happy ending. My god anon, you have my brain working overtime and I love you for it lmao

[erinhime83]

Edit: lol, I thought I had posted these designs before, but couldn’t find them…until now. >.<

With the realization that we had a twenty year collab anniversary coming up (hold up, hold up, twenty years?  Shiittt) and deciding to use the current designs for the characters rather than use the actual characters due to some…dislike of the story they came from, I discovered that I had recently redesigned all these characters, although I had forgotten how recent that had been.  From what I recall, I had seen a twitter/tumblr post about Viking dresses, and saw one that just blew my mind so much that I had to design Buttercups’ dress around it.  Just wish I had kept the link to the post, lol.

But as I looked at the designs, I realized I really really like them, but I have a new template for designs, and the older ones, although very nice, didn’t ‘look’ right anymore.  So I made it my mission for the past couple of days to redo all the designs using the new template.  (It wasn’t as challenging as you might thing, since I basically reused a lot of my lines.  It was a lot of copying and pasting and fixing lines.)  So I figured I’d make a stupidly long post and show off all the designs I did.

The biggest difference in this version is that I have designed to age up the characters.  Sure, their story really doesn’t need it, but eh, I sort of like writing not-teen characters now.  Besides, it makes the whole thing with people worrying about Buttercup not being engaged/not have any prospects a little more understandable, since she’s older.  Rereading it, it was weird how everyone was so worried although she was seventeen.

Buttercup Angelia:  Age 20.  Buttercup is one of the voice characters, and she’s the daughter of a blacksmith.  She helps her father with his job since she’s a Fire Mage.  She’s one of the very few Fire Mages what wasn’t brought to the Temple when she was younger, since her parents decided they wanted to raise her.  She is the second oldest of nine, and people consider her a bit odd because, well, technically she is.  Her father educated her and she has a weird obsession with the written word, she doesn’t think the Lumentians are as evil as everyone makes them out to be, and she helps out at a forge.  It’s really no wonder that none of the guys in the village have shown little interest in her, but she doesn’t really care.  She’s a skilled archer, since every Alterian is required to know how to fight.  She chose archery because she doesn’t like being up close and personal, and she’s really good at it.

I really love her dress, and how it’s sort of a call back to her first dress a bit.  She really looks like a Viking! 

Raito Akira:  Age 22.  Ratio is the other voice character, and he’s the second prince of Lumentis.  His people don’t think too much about him, mostly because, well, he’s the second prince, not the heir.  He’s more of a scholar than anything else, preferring to hide away in the library reading than attending his lessons.  He’s a skeptic when it comes to religion, which hasn’t endeared him to the capitals’ priests at all, and they basically go around slandering him whenever they can.  Raito is bothered by it because he does want to help his people out, but most of the people who live in the capital think he’s worthless.  He goes on the journey to find out what happened to the Angelus Dei partially to prove himself and mostly because he was tricked by his older brother.

His outfit isn’t really anything new or original.  Its sort of like his 2013 outfit, tweeked a little, but damn, making his sash longer worked wonders.  I also redid his hair (ignore the fact that it’s Connor’s hair), and...wow.  He looks awesome!

Clover Gunvald:  Age 23.  Clover is Raito’s bodyguard and best friend.  Clover’s parents are royal guards as well, so she grew up in the palace and around Raito since they were close in age.  Despite the fact that they were basically polar opposites, the two of them got along very well as they got older, such that Clover declared that she was going to protect Raito no matter what.  She is a very skilled warrior, although she herself is an Earth Elf.  She tags along with Raito on his journey because she knows he wouldn’t be able to survive on his own, and because, you know, she’s his bodyguard.  And while Raito is annoyed that a girl knows how to fight better than he does, he doesn’t hold it against Clover because, well, she’s an elf.  She’s a little distrustful of Buttercup at first, since she’s from Altere and a Fire Mage, but she warms up to her quickly once she realizes Raito’s interest in her.

Her outfit is ridiculously simple, but also awesome.  It suits her very well, even if she lost her awesome jacket in the process.  This looks better on her, in my opinion.  Makes her look like a medieval badass.

Odessa Wilson:  Age 21.  Odessa is a Dragon Tamer that the group comes upon when they visit with a traveling merchant troupe.  She’s from Tara Nora, being the only child of a poor farmer.  She started traveling with the troupe about three years ago because she was always longer for adventure, and the advantage of the troupe is that they stop in her hometown several times a year, so she still gets to see her family.  She Bonded with her dragon Regalis by accident when she was about ten, although it was more of his part than hers since he took an interest in her.  (She didn’t find him as an egg, but rather when he was fully grown.  He’s a good thousand years old or so).  She ends up joining the group just for the hell of it and not at all because she develops a crush on Clover.

Odessa was always the hardest one for me to come up with a design for, for whatever reason.  I wanted her to be tomboyish, but not overly so, and honestly, what I landed on here is perfect.  I love her dark skin and light hair, and I love her outfit and I love everything about her.  It just all works so well together.

Ruby Starleaf:  Age 24.  Ruby is pretty much the only one I don’t have much on, mostly because I keep forgetting that she exists, whoops.  But Ruby is/was the sacred fairy before the Angelus Dei disappeared.  The old one recently passed and she had just gained the position a few years ago, so she’s never really been in contact with the Angelus Dei.  But thanks to that connection, she’s the only fairy who isn’t effected by her disappearance.  She sort of randomly stumbles across the group and decides to join them, which Buttercup casting a communication spell on her so they could hear her like they would any normal person.

I can’t really say much about her outfit.  It’s cute, obviously, and I love the wings.  Another benefit of being the Sacred Fairy is that she gets an actual dress rather than the leaves and the like normal fairies wear, lol.

Ignatius:  Age ???.  He’s the Diabolus Dei, at least according to the Five Kingdom’s religion.  His real title is the Younger God of Fire, and he’s considered the evil one of the four gods, which annoys him to no end.  He’s the only one of them who actually interacts in the world and the people and he’s not quite sure why no one but the Alterians dislike him so much.  He’s the one everyone is blaming for his sister’s disappearance, which he doesn’t understand.  Why would he kidnap his sister?  He ends up being summoned by Raito, mostly because he is confounded by the fact that a Lumentian prince is trying to summon him.  He and the rest of his family started pulling away from the world about a thousand years ago, with his final appearance being about five hundred years ago, which is why there are skeptics like Raito out there.

I like how I ended up designing him.  I’ve been trying to add a ‘flair’ to the gods’ outfits for a while, but doing something simple like this works very well as well.  He’s the only one whose continued to pay attention, which is why he’s up on the current fashion.

The next group is the villain characters.

Selene Deangelo:  Age 21.  Selene is the second princess of Silverstine and Raito’s betrothed….sort of.  (I actually forgot about this detail until I was rereading the story.)  Basically, should Raito not be married by the time he turns twenty-five, he’ll be married to Selene.  She is absolutely obsessed with this idea, despite the fact that Raito clearly doesn’t like her very much.  He’s probably be fine with it if she wasn’t obsessed and annoying.  She basically just recently moved herself into the palace right before the story starts, which annoys Raito to no end.  Obviously, she views Buttercup as the enemy since Raito picked her over Selene.  She doesn’t have much of a role in the first book beyond being an annoyance, but she’d be more of a villain in the later stories.

Her design…I really like it.  I like the dress I came up with.  It’s elegant and pretty and suits her extremely well.  She’s pretty.

Dante Eld:  Age ???.  I really don’t have much on Dante, at least nothing that’s not spoilery.  I remember I included him the first go around because he was a randomass character I had created, and I felt like I needed to use him, but he had no real purpose, and that’s sort of true now, at least for the first book.  He’s supposed to show up and have no point, and then he shows up in later books as a villain and people’ll be like…oh, hey, I remember him!  But anyway, Dante is a Dark Elf, and I switched him back to his original appearance (he was a traditional Dark Elf for a while) mostly because I already have a dark skinned elf.  Plus, I always thought it was fun to have a Dark Elf that wasn’t a traditional Dark Elf, you know?

And eh, I didn’t change much about his outfit.  It works, it’s dark, and it looks better in my current version, so I like it.  I like how he turned out.

Aria:  Age ???.  Aria is the titular Angelus Dei whose disappearance at the beginning of the book sparks the adventure.  What no one knows is that she chose to severe herself off from the world because she had been corrupted, and that she ends up being the main antagonist of the first book. 

One thing I like about designing Aria is the idea that the other gods are not paying attention to the world around them after they start disassociating with the world, so their clothes are outdated.  Way outdated, which is why she’s wearing a Roman inspired dress.  Also, with Aria, I liked the idea of her looking like a storm cloud while she’s corrupted, since she’s the Younger God of Air.  Which is why she’s in all greys there.  She actually turned out looking pretty damn cute!

The next set is the ‘extra’ ones I did, and sort of what I consider the Lumentian designs, I guess.  I mean, the first two designs are what the main three wear in Lumentis – Buttercup in the dress she’s given when she arrives at the palace (her ‘princess dress’, if you would), Raito in his prince attire, and then Clover in her royal guard uniform.  I was going to give Raito the extra sleeve things I had given him in his previous prince design, but I sort of liked how this looked without them, so kept them off.  Also, Buttercup sort of tries to de-Alterian herself so the Lumenian people might accept her more, but, uh, girl.  You a Fire Mage.  Can’t work yourself out of that, but that’s why she doesn’t have the braids around her face, or the eyeliner.

The other three, though, are Raito and Clover’s siblings.

Yukino Akira:  Age 18.  Yuki is Raito’s little sister, the only princess of Lumentis, and both her bothers are overly protective of her.  She and Raito are closer, though, and she’s always sneaking off to hang out with him.  She’s the first in the palace to accept Buttercup, since Raito trusts her.  Raito hates the fact that she’s technically an adult now, and guys are starting to court her.

Her design is really cute, and her dress is something different but still medieval looking. 

Fern Gunvald: Age 23.  Fern is Clover’s twin brother and polar opposite.  Where she’s a warrior, he’s a scholar, and was actually the first one to meet Raito when they met in the library when they were younger.  He is Raito’s other best friend, although Raito and Clover are closer.  Despite the fact that they are so opposite, the twins are extremely close and supportive of one another.

I love hos nerdy he looks, lol.  He did have spiky hair, but that didn’t suit him (or look right), so standard boy hair it is, and it works perfectly for him.

Kazuto Akira:  Age 24.  Kazuto is Raito’s older brother and Crown Prince of Lumentis.  He is, in a word, a womanizer, and has been seducing any girl who has shown any sort of interest in Raito for as long as he’s been able to.  Not like Raito has really cared about any of those girls, of course.  Naturally, he attempts to sway Buttercup as well, much to Raito’s annoyance.  The brother do not get along at all, with Kazuto constantly having to prove that he’s better than Raito at everything.

His design isn’t anything exciting, but I like how I managed to make him look like a playboy prince somehow.

The next set, I suppose is the Alterian design, which are Buttercup’s friends as well as two of her siblings.  Her friends aren’t featured that much, but I had wanted to design out their dresses, so…here we are.  Buttercup had more friends in the original, but I whittled it down to three.

Lilac: Age 21.  Lilac is the brunt one of the group, as well as being the oldest.  She’s not engaged because all the guys their age are terrified of her, but no one’s really worried about her, despite her age, because she does have a guy she’s talking with.  Also, she’s very independent.  She’s trained in melee fighting.

Rosemary:  Age 20:  Rosemary is technically Buttercup’s best friend who also happens to have just recently become engaged to her older brother.  She is sweet and gentle and perfect, and pretty much beloved throughout the village.  (Given that she has the more complicated dress, I think you can tell which of the three is my favorite, lol).  She’s trained in sword fighting.

Lavender:  Age 20.  Lavender is sort of shy and withdrawn, although not to the point where she’s soft spoken.  She’s the one closest to actually getting married thanks to an arrangement her parents made with another family, although neither party minds since they’d been close since childhood.  Thanks to her glasses, she’s trained in using a staff so she doesn’t have to get close to her enemies.

Seth Angelia:  Age 22.  Seth is Buttercup’s older brother and he’s highly protective of her thanks to being the only one older than her.  He’s also the only Angelia son who’s training to following in his father’s footsteps – the others work on the family farm which is run by their father’s cousin.  He and Buttercup are close and he’s unsure what to think about Raito’s interest in her.  He was a little unsure about asking Rosemary to marry him, seeing as she had a lot of other options, but considering all the time she spent with him growing up, it was really no completion.  He’s a trained swordsman.

It was hard to come up with a male Viking design, especially after seeing how plain they tended to be, but I think I did really good!  I mean, he is really plain, and then you have Rosemary looking all gorgeous over there, and it’s sort of funny knowing they’re a pair.  But I like how he turned out!  He’s just as adorable as everyone else.

Lily Angelia:  Age 12.  Lily is Buttercup’s younger sister, and the second Angelia daughter.  (With everyone aged up, I decided to give the Angelia’s two more children, and the last one is another daughter.)  She is pretty much the opposite of Buttercup, believing herself above her own status and that she’s somehow going to catch the eye of some nobleman in the future, despite there being none in her life.  As such, she’s a bit lazy since she doesn’t see the point in learning homemaking, although she’s forced to learn.  She is obsessed with Lumentian culture, which irks everyone due to the fact that, well, Alterians hate Lumentians for the most part.  Buttercup loves her little sister and all, but the two do not get along.

Lily ends up looking simple as well, but I amused myself with the idea that she’s wearing a Lumentian inspired dress that turned out extremely pretty!  I wasn’t going to give her a braid at first, because at some point, she absolutely refuses to participate in any of the Alterian cultural attire, but figured she'd find a way to make it work where she was still pretty.  I also like the soft pink on her.

I know the three girls look similar, but that’s because I found a design I love and wanted to run with it.  I liked the idea that, since their village is a border village, their clothes would have some Lumentian elements to it anyway, and I just…I don’t know.  I really like how everyone turned out.

I think my biggest problem with this story is realizing that I wrote the original ten years ago, thus making it a prospective story to write for NaNo,  *dies*  I mean, I still want to do Division, and it’s still, you know, two months away, so anything can happen, and knowing me, I’ll probably lose interest in this once it goes out, but there you go. I had to do these because my muse was bugging me, and I figured I’d write out this long ass description for my future self, lol.  And because I wanted to put these designs out into the world.

[kohakhearts]

7, 9, 12, and 33 for the fic writers questions!

thank you!! <3

7: any worldbuilding you're particularly proud of?

i mean, the obvious answer is asld. i put blood sweat and tears in that world, lol. but since these questions are technically about fic, i've gotta shout out sinner's serenade. i don't think making mahiru a siren was really my idea, but god it worked so well and going back and reading this fic like...i did some really cool and fun things with the world. it's so obviously removed from canon in a lot of ways, but the nods to canon work really well, and tbh the whole dynamic between guren and shinya and mahiru like...that wouldn't have worked for any other characters, lmao. like the au is just such a love letter to all the things i loved about these characters And It Shows. 16 year old me made some points!!!!

my other answer is mors tua vita mea, because let's be real - hp is RIDDEN with plot holes, and i think i did a really good job of patching those up. will the fic ever see the light of day? idk. unfortunately i don't do a lot of writing for the fandom anymore, and i didn't want to post the first fic until the first three books were finished. but i've wanted to do my own full rewrite since i was like...14, so it'd be a shame if all my hard work on that never got out tbh :') (i think i did some pretty galaxy-brained stuff to explain soul magic and horcruxes...since the small amount of explanation in canon are bad and stupid<3)

9: how do you find new fic to read?

ok i admit, i...mostly don't. i go through periods where i read a LOT, and in those periods i'm usually looking for a very specific kind of content and i will use every ounce of researching knowledge i acquired at the stupid top 30 university i attended to find it. and then i don't read anything for like, six months. i try to keep up with my friends' fics when i can, but i am very busy and a very slow reader (and on top of that, very unaware of the passage of time lmao. so if i've ever promised to read anything...just know i wasn't lying. i just might take a year ot two to get to it. i WISH that were an exaggeration lol)

thinking about it though, when i was younger and not like. a full-time student with a job and groceries to buy and rent to pay and all that shit, i generally found fics via recommendations (if the fandom was big). if the fandom was small, i'd just sift through the entire relationship or character tag until i'd read everything. wish i could go back to that tbh. i was living the life when i wasn't too exhuasted to use more than 5% of my brain at a time for leisure activities like reading fanfiction :')

12: are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

i don't know why but this is always such a hard question for me to answer??? i think it's largely because i have an awful memory but also like...i'm pretty much willing to give anything a try, idk. all i can really think of is that i used to categorically refuse to read a/b/o but now sometimes, if it's all there is...i can accept it. but it's still not really one i enjoy.

33: if you write chaptered fics, what’s your ideal chapter length to write? is it different from your ideal chapter length to read?

i am a very long-winded person in general and that definitely tracks into my writing. that being said, when i'm not like...actively trying to make them a certain length, my fic chapters tend to be around 6k-7k. which is not bad imo? that's pretty average i think? but i also firmly believe that things like chapter length are really relevant facets of style. i've written things with chapters all less than 1k words and things with chapters that are 25k words. it all depends on the story! so for that reason, i don't really have an ideal chapter length as a reader. as long as it feels well-paced for that specific story, i'm good with it.

questions for fic writers

[katherineholmes]

From the ask game!

3, 7, 12, 13, 14, 30, 38, and 45 (i would've asked you the entire thing in excitement but these are all I'm curious about 😂)

Oh god, I am so, so sorry about how late this answer is, but…. I’ve finally opened my asks, so this and everything else will get answered soon, I promise 🤞🏽

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

Probably possessive behaviour or protectiveness, mainly because I'm writing about the Mikaelsons. But, I do enjoy these tropes, and then changing the power dynamics later on.

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

Um, hmm...world building 🤔 Maybe in Make It Holy, Mystic Falls in 1919 was quite difficult to plan out, all the characters and all. Every character except Klaus and Elena is technically an OC at this point. But I'm especially looking forward to the world building in New Orleans in 1919, because it's a mixed bag of canon characters and OCs.

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

Kidnapping lol. I didn't exactly dislike it, but I wasn't very fond of this trope, but I think writing Klaus/Elena in particular has opened me up to it, to the point that I definitely see it as a very useful plot device to both further the action and add tension.

13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

Best friends to lovers maybe, I used to be a fan of it before, but I'm not now. While I understand that a lot of people like the strangers -> friends -> lovers situation, I just don't understand unless there's some sort of identity crisis that one of the characters have.

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?

Toxic/abusive relationships. It's great when the author is using it to show a characters arc, and are aware of what they're writing, but a lot of fics that I've read in the past romanticise toxic relationships, which I cannot read. I actually love reading about romance and love existing within a toxic dynamic that either the author/characters are actively trying to better or even where the characters are stuck in a cycle, as long as it isn’t presented as ‘right’. But that's different than romanticising abusive behaviour.

In my experience, very few authors understand the difference and the nuance, so I stick to people I know.

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

The Monster In Her Mind. It was an extremely difficult fic for me to write, I think it was the first time I'd written in present tense, and it was extremely triggering. There are graphic, if brief, depictions of rape in it, and I actually reached a point where I couldn't physically write more of it. There is also so much violence and grief in it that I don't think I would've been able to complete it if I hadn't written it in one sitting.

It definitely made me realise that I can write in present tense, if I want, although I do still prefer past tense. I also know that I can write about sensitive topics if I want. But mainly it taught me that while fiction is fiction, sometimes there are certain topics, that as a writer, I must handle with the utmost care, because it can be so easy to make small of a very real, very serious issue.

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?

The Monsters In Her Heart and the Monster series in general actually. I honestly thought I’d get hate for it. Instead I have never received such response on any of my other works, and it means the absolute world to me.

I couldn't be more grateful, because it is an extremely important and personal story to me, and the fact that anyone would read it despite how triggering it is, and then take out the time of their day to discuss it with me is everything to me. I'm not sure about the popularity, but as long as it touches someone and helps them, it's worth it for me.

45. What’s something you’ve improved on since you started writing fic?

A lot, prose, grammar, the flow of a story, plot, foreshadowing. I've learnt a lot while writing fic, which is the most important thing to me. To be better than yesterday, and while I wouldn't call myself great by any means, I know how much it's taken for me to improve, and that's all that matters.

Thank you so much for such amazing questions Q! You’re incredible ❤️