#like hypothetically we get to the rut scene

[tennessoui]

#6, #20, and/or #38 for Road Trip AU my beloved!

ooo thank you for these road trip au (a/b/o dynamics within)!! i will answer them all and then just write a few paragraphs for one :D

6. Who would beg the other not to leave? Who has to leave to protect the other?

ok what an interesting question for road trip au cause you know they've probably thought loosely about how one of them should move out because they're too attached and this is gonna end in heartbreak

but like the moment the other one is like 'hey let's resign the lease together forever and ever', the first one is like 'yeah of ocurse lets do it. best friend roommates for life.'

but in the hypothetical next chapter for the fic, it's anakin that goes into rut and then refuses to let obi-wan be in the room with him for his safety and to try and respect obi-wan's wishes - and obi-wan definitely irrationally feels like this means anakin has left/doesn't want him at all anymore

20. Choose one song that perfectly describes their relationship.

oooo the "you are my sunshine" song but when they hear it/sing it, they're both convinced the other one is the "you"

38. Who is more sexually experimental? Who’s more vanilla?

i think there's a moment in the fic/christmas fic where obi-wan mentions a hot professor flying into town and meeting up for some casual bdsm (which he never would have agreed to if he knew at the same time anakin was meeting jezebel) so i feel like obi-wan's more sexually experimental. he can separate his instincts from every day life super well (for everyone but anakin ofc). i'm sure anakin has done his own experimenting with kinks and such but you'd never know he likes to toss people around for how gently he places obi-wan in the bed lol

and for the writing! 20. what's their song (feat some post-get together fluff):

Obi-Wan wakes blearily to the feeling of the mattress shifting beneath him, the weighted blanket of Anakin's arm moving away. He lets out a noise of protest, though it's not nearly as indignant as he intends, residual sleepiness stealing the edge of his irritation.

"Hush," Anakin murmurs, hand carding gently through his hair as he pulls away. "I heard her shifting around on the monitor, she's about to wake up."

The worst part is, the alpha sounds downright chipper about it, as if their infant's fussy sleeps are like little tiny miracles or unexpected snow days that cancel school.

Obi-Wan grunts and rolls over into Anakin's warm spot. If Anakin wants to get up this time, then he's not going to complain. If Anakin wants to get up every time, in fact, Obi-Wan isn't going to complain. Obi-Wan's worked night shifts most of his adult life. On parental leave with a partner willing and eager to get up in the middle of the night to feed his daughter, to change his daughter, to cuddle his daughter back to sleep, Obi-Wan's not getting up for anything.

The apartment is quiet and still, the only sounds being the faint shifting noises coming from the baby monitor as his daughter fusses herself awake. Obi-Wan rolls his head to the side and squints at the digital clock on Anakin's side of the bed. 2:12.

Later than usual, but still far too damn early. He rolls back to look at the ceiling, trying to convince his body to relax back into the sleep he so desperately needs, even though he knows it's already a lost cause. After six months sleeping beside Anakin Skywalker, he can't sleep alone. He's forgotten how.

When the baby monitor crackles alive with the sound of Anakin's croons, just a moment before his daughter's first shrill cry, Obi-Wan sits up and slips his feet into the slippers by his bed. He knows what comes next, and suddenly he does not want to miss this.

By the time he convinces his old bones and sore body to walk from the warmth and comfort of Anakin's (and now his too) bedroom to the nursery--Obi-Wan's old room--Anakin has picked up his daughter and has begun to pace around the room. He's already on the second verse.

"When I awoke dear, I was mistaken," his alpha murmur-sings, large hand completely engulfing the back of her head as he sways in place. Her cries have dropped to steady whimpers. "So I hung my head and cried."

Obi-Wan leans against the open door and looks at them. It's with a kernel of satisfaction that he thinks that he'd been right. Anakin was made to be a father. He was so good at it. So beautiful with his baby in his arms, expression soft and open and vulnerable and so sweet that Obi-Wan almost thinks that perhaps he's not supposed to be looking at this. Even though she's his daughter, and he's his alpha.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine," Anakin sings, with such wonder in his tone that Obi-Wan pushes off the doorway and enters the room just to be closer to him. His presence seems to take Anakin by surprise, because the alpha blinks at him before frowning lightly, running his hand over the top of her head as he takes in Obi-Wan's presence. "You're supposed to be asleep, baby."

"I named her after that song, you know," Obi-Wan murmurs, stepping forward until he can run a finger down her soft cheek. He rests his chin on Anakin's shoulder, wrapping an arm around his waist. "Rey, like ray of sunshine."

"Oh," Anakin says. "No, I didn't know that."

"Because you used to sing me that song," Obi-Wan adds, turning and pressing his lips to the bare skin of Anakin's neck. "When I was exhausted from work or sick or you thought I was asleep."

"I definitely thought you were asleep," Anakin says, eyes falling back to his baby. She's gone back to sleep. Little Rey Kenobi-Skywalker, curled up on her father's chest and fast asleep as if she'd never fussed at all.

"I used to hear that song and think about you," Obi-Wan admits. "You'll never know, dear, how much I love you..."

"That's funny, sweetheart," Anakin replies, turning towards him so that the baby is kept safely between their bodies and Anakin can look at him with dark eyes. "Cause I used to sing that to you and mean every word."

[olderthannetfic]

With all this talk about AI, the one perspective that appears missing from the discussion is that of someone who actually uses AI writing tools in production of their fanfic. So here I am, stepping in to provide my (anonymous) two cents.

I've been using a generative AI program especially made for creative writers for several months now. Initially, I had a lot of the same reservations I'm hearing form others, but I was curious about the tech and wanted to try it for myself. I quickly discovered that it's insanely useful, and I truly believe it has improved my writing. 

I also believe these tools will become commonplace among creative writers in the near future. In fact, I've heard that generative AI is coming to a writing software near you (MS Word to be exact), and I suspect that that once more people have actually tried it, use of AI will begin to seem no more remarkable than the use of spelling or grammar checkers does now. 

In the meantime, as you can see, I am staying anon, and there is absolutely no way I would tag my fanfic as AI assisted given the current environment. People are very quick to make assumptions about what a statement like that means, and are all too hasty in reaching for their pitchforks.

As far as I can tell, the main concern seems to be that Ao3 will be flooded with 'bad' fanfic as a result of AI use. But 'bad' fanfic has been a thing for as long as I've been in fandom (decades, at this point), and in my experience, human beings are perfectly capable of writing poorly without any help from machines. Readers are, as always, advised to curate their own reading experience. The 'back' button works the same as it always did, and someone's possible use of AI changes nothing about that. 

But the general assumption that AI input automatically leads to 'bad' writing seems rather short-sighted. Yes, obviously if someone were to go to ChatGPT and tell it to write them a fanfic in 'x' fandon about 'x' pairing, the output would be bland, generic and probably a bit rambling. AIs are not great storytellers; they can't maintain narrative logic. 

If this hypothetical person then copy-pasted the unedited output directly onto Ao3 and called it a story, the result would most likely qualify as 'bad' fanfic. Whether it would be worse than a story the same person might have written on their own is debatable. Our hypothetical protagonist obviously decided that the output was good enough as it was, and chose to post it without bothering to edit, which suggests (at least to me) that they would have similar standards about a story they'd written without an AI.

Since the above seems to be the scenario everyone has in mind when talking about "AI fic," I would like to point out that what I just described is not the only way to use AI in one's writing. My own use is more akin to using an online thesaurus; a very powerful thesaurus that can make suggestions for things like phrasings, descriptions, dialogue, and so on. The key there is that it makes suggestions. 

My AI assistant is smart enough to 'read' the scene I'm working on and tailor its suggestions to the mood, style and context of what I'm writing. But it's still my story. The AI doesn't write it for me. I'm the one who sifts through those suggestions, takes the bits that work, and shapes them into useful text. Sometimes the AI comes up with amazing things. I wasn't kidding when I said it's improved my writing - and my rewriting. It knocks me out of those mental ruts we writers tend to get into, coming up with descriptions and turns of phrase that I wouldn't have thought of on my own. 

But it's still just a tool, and at the end of the day, I'm still the writer. The words that end up on the page do so because I chose them. Those writerly choices are what make the story mine, regardless of where the words might have originated from. And whether they came from my brain or the AI, they are still subject to the same standards of rewriting, editing and proofing.

So no, I don't think I'm going to be tagging my fic with an AI disclosure statement any time soon. Not until the current moral panic dies down to the point where people don't read that and automatically assume it means 'copy-pasted from ChatGPT.' And for anyone who's curious about AI... I suggest you try it for yourself. Play around a little and find out what it's about before making judgments. I think you'll find it's a tool like any other - and just like any tool, it can be used well or it can be used badly. That's entirely in the hands of the human being using it - which is one thing that hasn't changed, and never should.

--

Yeah, I fail to see any major issue with more sucky fanfic getting posted. That's just the default for big fic archives.

The actual problem problems we're seeing are with paid markets with open submissions that get flooded beyond what staff can handle and big corporations replacing humans they already try not to pay.

The main potential issue I see with other uses of AI is that it may end up with samey suggestions, but it's hard to know how much that's 1. a thing and 2. an actual issue when writing genre stuff that often sounds samey on purpose and where that's a desirable characteristic.

[jandjsalmon]

So let’s talk Banana Split. 

I did this mini review thing with Dylan’s last film (if you’re into crazy hot crazy boys - check out my review here) - and I’m not going to get super detailed into Banana Split as I did with that one - but needless to say, this will be a video and picture heavy review - because look at him. *looks down*

Before I get into the nitty gritty - I just have to say - THIS FILM WAS ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL. I adored it - and probably not for the reason you think I would ... it’s true that the very very best time to be a Dylan fangirl was late 2017 and that December was when Dylan packed up Magnus and headed up to Syracuse to film with Hanna and Liana- but it’s not just about his pretty hair and his pretty face and his pretty hands. It’s not. I promise. 

Let’s talk about the good of Nick and April’s relationship. They were sweet high school sweethearts. They were each other’s firsts. They had literally nothing in common - save a friendship with Ben (who is absolutely hilarious) - and that built up common ground of growing up together, same town, same school, same life. It’s actually addressed in the first real scene in the movie - other than those things - they really don’t have anything in common. 

But they’re happy - for two years. 

Sharing baths with your high school boyfriend - but talking about Dumbledore and horcruxes? This is the epitome of hilariousness. It was part of a montage meant to show us their tender moments. I mean, they dated for two years. Nothing Nick has with Clara could compare to two years of this kind of build-up, right? 

Continuing with that montage - I will never look and lemurs and pandas the same way. Honestly - while Nick is rutting away - telling her she’s his lemur? I nearly DIED of laughter. But I mean, get it. Kink same not kink shame. 

And let’s take a brief segue to talk about April’s sister Agnes. SHE has a crush on Nick too (of course she does) - and she is HILARIOUS. Whether she’s telling her sister to suck my dick/kiss my ass (their poor mother eventually has to lay down the law about keeping their mouths away from their respective genitals) - or she’s feeling up Nick under the table (making him give her mother and his girlfriend THIS expression) - Agnes was a HIGHLIGHT. SO funny. She’s like 11 years old. Poor Nick.

But then they broke up. And it was painful. You see - they were graduating from high school and April got accepted to Boston College. Nick got accepted to UCSB. They didn’t talk about it - and then they both cried and broke up. It was hard to watch. When they discussed it later - it was even harder to watch.

It was HYPOTHETICAL, APRIL! *cough*

Anyway - after the breakup, Nick moved on. Clara was SO clearly a rebound - and he certainly had a good time with her - sex on the beach - sex in a birthday party hat (aside: notice how the women in the sex scenes in this film are covered up? I LOVE that they went that direction. This is not a misogynistic film in ANY way. But I digress.) - They really do seem like they have a good time together - but it was definitely MORE for Clara that it was for Nick. Definitely.

AND we were talking about SprouseHands here on tumblr the other day - I offer this picture as evidence that it obviously runs in the family. YAY genetics. You know what they say about big hands! (... big gloves ha ha ha).

ANYWAY - unfortunately - April and Clara kinda accidentally meet at a party - and find out that they actually have a TON in common and instead of hating each other, they become best friends - on the sly without telling Nick.

And without letting mutual friend Ben tell Nick either. Which is actually kind of a big thing - because Ben is Nick’s bestie - and he hates lying to his friend. But it’s also hilarious - so roll with it. (in the below scene right after this, the girls take their birth control pills together... because they both have alarms to remind them and they are completely bonkers. lol).

They even have secret code names on their phone (George Clooney and Brad Pitt respectively) and it ALL comes to a head when Nick realizes that he misses April - thinks about her all the time - and breaks up with Clara when he thinks that April is going home from a party with Ben (she does and there is weird bushes kissing but they both agree it was weird and agree to never do it again). 

ANYWAY - then the crap hits the fan and Clara goes all #friendsoff with April - throwing a slushee at her head that misses and hits her boobs - and they’re both miserable - and they both want their best friend back. 

It’s funny because neither is really that miserable about Nick. 

His storyline concludes with him telling off April for being the bad guy in this whole thing (she was) - and him making up with his best friend (after sucker punching him). Nick was the sexy lamp in this story - and there is no way around that. It’s a delicious departure from most films like this. 

ANYWAY - the crux of the film is that April and Clara are best friends. And they eventually make up - and it’s adorable and sweet and I LOVED it. The scene below is literally me and MotherMaple btw - I love her but I don’t want to bang her. Ha ha ha.

So yes. Was this a great movie? It TOTALLY was. I will watch it again and again. It was delightful and funny and heartwarming (as heartwarming as you can get when the mains continually make poor decisions, get drunk a lot, get high a lot, and make more poor decisions. 

But I love it for not being a typical romancey movie. Like I said - no one gets Nick at the end (except for Ben - who is an awesome and funny friend) which is a good thing because he deserves to meet a great girl at UCSB who also loves Carly Rae Jepson (unironically) - and the girls are happy to have their long-distance best friendship and that’s awesome too.

I definitely recommend. 

[somethingfoe]

Seahorse

Preface:  So.... a Fallout:Equestria related poem.... Three years after the last one....and three years after I already finished it. Why? Let me explain. During the height of my enjoyment of the side story to 'Fallout:Equestria' known as Project Horizons, there was a particularly grizzly scene in which the main character, Blackjack, with no eyes, bruised and beaten after defeating Deus, one of many antagonists in her wake, got apprehended on this naval ship called the 'Seahorse' by some misfits that she had come cross with prior (even 'gelding' one of them). Taking advantage of her weakened and vulnerable state, they proceeded to nail each of her limbs to the floorboards of the ship, and viciously and brutally rape her repeatedly as 'revenge' for what she did to each of them collectively. I had planned to make a poem during that time...but the scene itself was so horrifying to me that I hypothetically vomited at the idea of doing it. It's only now with me having a falling out with the FOE lore, and MLP as a whole, that I can even make this without convulsing at the idea of the scene that I would have to paint with my own words. It is also because of this, that like with another poem of mine called 'The Cunt', that I actually added a mature content notice on this, something that I do incredibly rarely as I don't tend to get disgusted by a lot of things. So this is for those who know exactly WHAT SCENE I am talking about; this poem is not for the faint of heart. I describe every wanton action in their perspective. Why now of all days I decided to do this, might have something to do with the announcement of 'Fallout 76' coming by, somewhat igniting my enjoyment for the fallout series considering how Fallout 4 dashed them all away, but since I got burned bad by the hype engine, I'm definitely attacking this game more skeptically. But there you go. My unofficial return to the 'My Little Pony Meets Fallout' crossover that I had satisfactorily shelved back in 2015. I didn't want to rely on doing the same thing over and over, and what with the Regressive, SJW, Overtly Ideological mobs of 2016 burning my sides, my creative interests were more invested on that rather than this. I have one more additional piece of 'FOE' content planned, but as for anymore being that, I am still unsure. Like I said, I do 'anything, everything, and something', even when the hype train for FOE related content has run it's course. For now, 'try' to enjoy this, and a change to my avatar yet again, more suiting to the Fallout style.

POEM:

We're having too much fun on this seahorse getting our rocks off this stupid whore don't rock this boat of intercourse She's asking for it, of course Nail her to the floorboards and then nail her some more pump her up to her gourds sheath this sock with our swords I sense your look of disgust understand that we do what's just been scarred by her so we must! She gelded my friend and spilled my guts! Eye for an eye and she's got none but sockets for me to drive my nine anytime like property I own she'll wish she never survived We're having our fill at the seahorse spewing our loads like it's watersports don't rock this boat of intercourse she deserved it, of course Spit roast this pig in the hull fuck her until she's in a lull any hope of being alive dulled as we keep pounding her 'til she's full I notice your cry of sympathy but all manner can't get to me she never showed the same when I'd plea! why would my friends be so forgiving?! Eye for an eye revenge has come now I do what I will until she dies beat her ass full of cum yet the pain hurts still Part mirror, part rubber what has been taken from us we'll get back fucking her rebound the ire so righteous permanently forsake her life just a nugget to churn our hate until we slit her throat with a knife so much for her love and tolerate Yet I can't get enough of this whore we keep pounding her bruised and sore rocking the fun off this seahorse as we push back any sense of remorse Justify after justify more eyes for an eye the heat of my gonads doesn't satiate the satisfaction of justice yet I want more than I've been had try to ingratiate the sows of contempt with lust She deserved it, yeah She asked for it, yeah she's got what she had coming and that's getting a thrill out of nothing rape her endlessly but feel more empty with every rut but fuck it! fuck her! She's a cunt! she deserves every slap and punt! Keep rocking this whore until we're satisfied! Keep rocking the boat until we're undermined! Keep fucking the cunt until we got back what we lost! But none of it will ever be enough to pay the cost! BUT I SAID FUCK IT, FUCK HER! PART MIRROR, PART RUBBER EVERYTHING SHE DID TO US COMES BACK TO HER SO FUCKING SELF RIGHTEOUS! SO FUCK IT! GIVE ME BACK WHAT I LOST! OH WE'RE HAVING TOO MUCH FUCKING FUN ON THIS SEAHORSE! FILLING OUR EMPTY SELVES WITH SEXUAL INTERCOURSE! SHE DESERVED IT, SHE ASKED FOR IT, OF COURSE! DON'T ROCK THIS FUCKING BOAT OF REVENGE OFF COURSE! STUN US AT THE DOCKS! FLAY OUR FLACCID COCKS! OH WE FUCKED UP NOW! CAN'T ESCAPE THIS, HOW?! AND HER REVENGE COMES SWIFTLY BACK SHE LET'S US GO WITHOUT A SMACK TO KNOW FORGIVENESS AFTER OUR REPUGNANCE TO KNOW HOW EMPTY OUR EFFORT WAS YOU WOULDN'T ROCK THAT SEAHORSE KNOWING IT WOULD MAKE YOU WORSE! PLEASE GIVE IT ALL BACK! PLEASE GIVE IN TO THE LAST! PLEAsE GIVE US OUR PAST! PLEASE US FROM FRONT TO BACK! GIVE IT BACK! GIVE IT BACK! PLEASE!!!! PLEASE!!!! we fucked up we fucked her trying to get more than we offered humility even in the face of the pain and rapes forgiveness to spite our vengeful life we rocked that seahorse to the bottom drowning in discourse we're rotten to the core but what's worse is knowing it's all for naught revenge is all we we're taught now it's all cold and empty in this vessel to carry our vices onward...