#memes : let me be a part of the narrative in the story they will write some day

[averlym]

fairest of the fair

[mario-art]

HELLO, you made such an interesting point in the tags of my post:

You know what’s funny? Is that Thrawn is really being turned into a “Machiavellian” type of villain, but what’s even funnier is that Machiavelli himself received this type of treatment. Now idk how much familiar you are with the 16th century author, but just know this: Machiavelli and “Machiavellian”, and whatever people can take from him, is heavily misunderstood (I actually really hate the use of the adjective, but perhaps that’s a story for another type). Now I know that Zahn wrote Thrawn based on a certain extent on the Machiavelli archetype (I remember reading it somewhere, pardon if I have no proofs), but I’m actually laughing hard thinking that as characters they are having the same treatment by popular media. Lemme explain: Machiavelli wrote the Principe not because “oh he cynic!1!🥶He mad!1🤬”. No. Machiavelli wrote what he wrote because he wanted to save Italy dalla Ruina, from its ruin. Machiavelli dreamed of a more compact and unified Italy. He had a vision and just as much as Thrawn, he wished to serve his people, Florence (in Thrawn’s case, the ascendancy) and Italy (which didn’t existed at the time).

And now, with Thrawn being reduced as you said in a villan without complex motifs, I can’t help but think how poetic is to be doomed to the same narrative as the figure who inspired your existence. Maybe this was planned all along, I don’t think so personally, but Thrawn is being oversimplified by Filoni the same way Machiavelli gets reduced as just a “pragmatic person” and “the ends justify the means” by everyone (don’t let me start on how wrong the quote is).

To sum up: Thrawn and Machiavellian are rhyming in the same direction in popular mainstream media.

This was my Ted talk, sorry in advance for possible writing mistakes, I just woke up✌️

Hiii! Thank you so much for the spontaneous Ted talk 😄😄 Your parallel between the Ascendancy and Florence+Italy is sooo on point, it blew my mind for a second. Now I have to delve deeper into it

Actually there was a period of time when I was really invested in this topic, I read his 10 letters, history of Florence +the Prince obviously and almost fell from a chair when they put him into Assassins Creed game, but now there're just small bits that I remember. Maybe it's time to refresh things

I didn't know that Zahn was actually inspired by Machiavelli. I'm new to this part of the fandom, so I haven't read anything about him or his working process, but after you mentioned it I'll take a note for the future. I must confess I learned who Thrawn was only during the Ahsoka show and due to the fandom. Like there were so many memes about him here on Tumblr, there's no way fans will hype some basic dude so much. And then my friend recommended the new trilogy

So yeah, it's such a pity that not 1, but 6 books of new material got completely ignored and the character simplified to what we've already seen so many times literally everywhere. You phrased it beautifully

I haven't read the old trilogy yet, heir to the empire, only know the plot in general, but I'm curious what exactly motivates Thrawn to rebuild the empire. And how the characterization of him differs between these trilogies. Is he mostly the same or did Zahn change the character after so many years like Terry Pratchett's Vetinari evolved from the very first version of the Patrician to his later works (I can't help comparing them after yesterday, though I hadn't done it before idk)

So yeaah... At least I'm happy that there're so many talented fans here and we can happily ignore whatever happens on the screen 🙃

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

I hate to be that guy. But as I was pissing on the clock as usual, I had another fandom related thought. I’m typing this into a Word document because having tumblr opened on my screen, which everybody can see, would be a bad look – if that helps…?

I thought about that “I can’t believe it either. I’m pretty sure I died” line. So I started thinking about Kyouko’s survival in DR3 again.

This isn’t something people really argue about anymore. It’s been a while. But back then, I remember a lot of people arguing that it was bullshit, because, most importantly, if Hajime’s waifu died, then Makoto’s could die too! There was also an unwillingness to read between the lines and understand what the writers were implying. Thus, I remember writing about my feelings that for Kyouko, the Smart Girl Character who Historically Didn’t Sacrifice Herself Easily, it made a lot more sense to have planned a mysterious and yet efficient option to save herself, than it did for her to let herself die or sacrifice herself for Makoto’s sake. In fact, “psych, I’m playing with death by having an out” was already established in Kyouko’s writing in DR1.

This has all already been said at some point. But one thought crossed my mind today, and something I already wrote just above might indicate to you what it is…

I don’t think this conversation would have looked the same if Kyouko had been a guy.

Of course, there would always have been people who insisted it was bullshit – either because they genuinely didn’t like it or because they were part of that group who refuses to give writers a chance to think outside the box. But something that was nearly, if not fully absent from the conversation, and would have been everywhere had Kyouko been the Smart Boy Character instead, is “whaAaaAAT? What is he doing here?! How did he do this? Oh my God, he’s such a smart genius, controlling the game. Of course he would find a way to stay 😭 Give me an hour I’m updating my character essay”

And I know it’ll be hard to convince someone who didn’t like that plot point that it could have gone this way, but the entire way it was set up would, in my opinion, have been received with hype had it been a genius-boy type of character. Less people could have argued that “the narrative just saved him” because everyone would have recognised immediately that Oh, He Is The Smart Character, Whose Deal Is Being Really Smart. My argument that “of course Kyouko would think ahead and play the plot” wouldn’t have been rare. People would have heard Mikan try to say something, seen him appear, and be surprised but amazed that he outwit us all.

Most importantly, he would have been saved from being relegated to the role of “waifu who died for drama points”. Much of that conversation was about her role as Makoto’s – and possibly some fans’ – waifu, and how Danganronpa has established killing waifus dramatically with Chiaki. Well, don’t we love Kyouko? It would be so dramatic for Makoto if she died! And so interesting! (And such a meme for her fans to share with Chiaki's !)

…But she’s her own character. You don’t need to fridge her for Makoto to better become a powerful hero. The plot is that Kyouko, the Mysterious Smart Girl character, took a fucking chance. If a Mysterious Smart Boy character, and you know they exist, had done the exact same thing, the reception would have been : “hell yeah. He saved himself and will continue to live his life.” Not “ugh, Makoto gets everything he wants”.

Kyouko was going to stay Kyouko. She did play the role of deceased loved one that Makoto had to grieve. This happened in the show, as everyone believed she was dead. But she’s not a side character the writers could sacrifice easily for plot convenience. In my opinion, the story being told was, at least, an attempt at being loyal to her characterisation. And I respect that a lot more than killing off a strong character in your story for no, ultimately, good narrative reason.

[bobbydagen24]

Personally I Really don't like Flapjacks death the more I think about it story wise.

Brooklyn nine nine meme aside 😂😂 part of me does feel it was a touch unnecessary and I have Read a Bunch of people's points Regarding the point of Flapjacks death

but IDK its not like Flapjack's death was actually necessary to Hunter breaking free of Belos since he already did that due to him being hurt

sure the self sacrifice is sweet and all but it does kinda just feel like angst for the sake of it for Hunter's character

when the episode seemingly did tie up his arc in a good way at first showing him moving on from Belos and be happy throughout the episode

only to have his old abuser show up and still try to control him and use him one last time

only for Hunter to actually stand up to him and break their tie for good which he didn't actually do when he left the coven before

so this would have been a great episode to end Hunter's Arc like so many claim it did

if they then didn't have Flap's death leaving a sour spot and seemingly setting up more story for Hunter only to not really do much with it

sure he was upset for a few scenes but I'm sorry I don't feel that alone justifies this writing decision especially when it just ruins what could have been a good ending to Hunter Breaking free from his abusive parent.

by just kinda not letting the story between them die there and instead having the relationship end on Belos Delivering a crushing cruel blow on his victim and then the show never really paying it off

since this is Hunter and Belos's last interaction so instead of their relationship ending on an empowering nice note for Hunter it ends on a cruel one.

this is why I was disappointed with the lack of a final interaction between them in the finale prior to Belos's death, to be clear I don't think Hunter should have killed him or even witnessed his death

but I do feel not having a final interaction between them Just makes Flapjacks death more cruel tbh

as that is the canonical ending to Hunter's Relationship with his abuser and its a sour one tbh.

So it does just end up feeling like Hunter angst just for the sake of it.

IDK I just don't really like Flapjacks death the more I've thought about it over time I've seen a ton of people talking about its narrative purpose and whatnot so I understand people's reasons for believing it was the Right story choice

and Hell I ain't necessarily saying it objectively wasn't

( I ain't a professional writer what do I know? 😅😅 )

But I do just wanna say after thinking about it a while I do Dislike it writing wise no beef with anyone who does like it tho.

[sophia-sol]

whoops I drafted this for crossposting but then never got round to it - just discovered the draft while cleaning up some files!

two question/answer memes* I did over on mastodon! reposting here so you can see my answers too :)

*shipping meme and fic-writing meme.

Shipping meme

1. three shipping tropes I love:

bodyswap, fake dating/marriage, sex pollen/fuck or die, inter-species communication, timeloop, whoops that's five but I'm not deleting any!

2. three shipping tropes I don't love:

soulmates, omegaverse, royalty au (I usually see that in the context of shipping so I think it still counts as a shipping trope!)

3. One emotional aspect of a ship that always gets you:

when you can tell how much they know each other on a deep level, and nothing they see of the other's full self puts them off!

OR when they're so different that there's no hope of them ever managing true and full understanding but they care about each other so much that they try anyway

4. One physical aspect of a ship that always gets you:

I'm fairly far in the direction of aphantasia; I simply do not picture my ships having physical existences because I can't picture them period!

anyway what I want my ships to have physically is for them to have the things that those characters in specific would be super into

5. Multiship or Monoship?

you can convince me of nearly any ship! me shipping one thing by no means stops me from simultaneously being into like five other ships that conflict with the first one. each ship has different dynamics to explore and it's fun to spend time thinking about all of them!

6. Rare pairs or Mainstream?

both! ship all the things!! I often start in one of a fandom's bigger ships because it's what's there to dive into, but over time I start hungering for variety and investigate all the possibilities

7. Polyamory or Monogamy?

either, both, whatever makes sense for the characters and ships in question!

8. If the ship is physical, reversible or not?

truly not something I have strong feelings about in any particular direction, shrug

9. Do you always have romantic ships for fandoms?

honestly…..almost any characters I'm into romantically shipping, I would also be into platonically shipping, unless that would be wildly out of character for them. I just want them to have intense feelings about each other! the specifics of those feelings are less important.

10. How important is the sexual part (if any) of your ship?

not a big deal to me! unless it is obvious from canon that sex is important to these characters, in which case, it's important to me because it's part of writing them in-character

11. Opinion on platonic ships?

love em! I like stories about people's relationships with other people, whatever shapes those relationships takes

12. List 3 ships you currently love:

I love so many it's ridiculous. I am into the major ships of all my current fandoms as well as plenty of other ships, but let me name three rare ones I like, just for fun:

jin guangyao/su she

ling wen/shi qingxuan

ning yingying/liu mingyan

13. List 5 OTPs from past fandoms:

chosen somewhat at random from the vast numbers I could pull out of my fandoms of yore!

marcus/esca

budur/hayat/kamar

methos/everyone

elisabeth/death

valjean/fauchelevent

14. Opinion on the importance of marriage?

not something I have any particular attachment to for my ships, one way or another. if it's something the characters would place high importance on, then that's great, but it's not something I feel any need to lead characters in the direction of if they're not already going there themselves

15. Opinion on OC kids?

I'm not personally into kidfic or other narratives that are inherently focused on themes of reproduction, pregnancy, parenthood, or the wonders of children/childhood/babies. OC kids are particularly likely to be props in a story that's about those themes, so they're a flag that a fic is likely not going to be for me!

fic writing meme

1. Fave genre to write:

I find it the most fun to write humour, I think, but I don't actually do it very often; only the occasional fic idea I want to write actually lends itself to being humour. I think a lot of my fics are…..idk, literary fiction that happens to be in an sff setting? focusing on style, character, relationships, and theme.

2. Preferred tense and pov:

strong preference for past tense as my default, but present tense can sometimes be useful for certain effects - I just don't like to use it unless I have good reason to!

for pov I like to mix it up, because different ones can serve different purposes. first, second, and third, but also within third doing either limited or omniscient. I like experimenting with the different things you can achieve with pov! fandom house style is limited third so I do default to that, but I think I have written fics in all the possible varieties of pov!

3. Tag you've used most:

Post-canon, with 5 uses out of 60 works on my ao3. You can tell I don't tag profligately - I mostly use tags as a way to tell readers who see the fic what kind of fic it is, rather than trying to draw in more eyes by having my fic show up in every possible relevant tag. I'm just not that interested in that style of marketing for myself I guess, for better or for worse!

4. What inspires you to write:

A number of intersecting factors! it's fun and interesting creative work, it's a way to engage with thinking about the fandoms and characters I love in a more structured way that lets me dig deeper, it's a way of regularly connecting with my cheerleader verity, it feels good to finish a thing and post it online for accolades, it's a way of connecting with others in fandom and being excited about our shared fandom together, and probably more!

you'll note that none of this is the type of "I am just driven to write" or "I have so many ideas I simply have to get out" that I often see from people who identify as writers. I don't think I'm an obligate writer, but it is a hobby that brings me lots of joy and pleasure regardless, and I love having it in my repertoire of hobbies!

5. One line from a current WIP:

you're getting three whole paragraphs! :D

Bored and suspicious, Luo Binghe glanced through the memorial he held, ignoring the watchful attention of those around him. His reading skills were developed under the neglectful tutelage of a sect who did not appreciate the potential of the student whom fate had given them. Five subsequent years in the Endless Abyss provided few opportunities for practice. Luo Binghe was a slow reader, ashamed of it, and angry at being so ashamed. This added to the forbidding impression he gave to the anxious northern official. After looking at the paper in his hands for long enough only to take in a few phrases here and there, Luo Binghe's eyes snapped up again, glittering and dangerous. The memorial said something about a mating season, he thought. The location of the ritual seemed to be the problem at hand. Tedious business to a ruler who was used to focusing on duels and battles and power struggles, and vital in the working life of a career bureaucrat. “Why are you bothering me with this?” Luo Binghe asked, his voice soft.

6. Trope you want to write:

It's unconscionable that I have not yet written any time loop or time travel shenanigans in my entire decades-long fandom career

7. Favourite character to write

I like to mix it up, I would get bored writing the same character(s) regularly, but I do keep coming back to shen qingqiu of late - I think because the disconnect between his self-perception and his actions is enormously fun

8. How you choose your titles:

mostly: sighing, despairing, looking through the fic to see if there's a short phrase I can use that's thematically relevant, seeing if I can find lyrics I like in a song or poem that's thematically relevant, asking friends for help

9. Describe your writing style:

hmmm a tougher question! I would say - heavy on creating vibes and on interiority, precise and careful about choosing just the right words, and tending over-much towards very long multi-clause sentences. flowy rather than high-tension or rhythmic.

but I might be too close to my writing to describe it accurately! I'd love to hear how others would describe my writing style!

10. A comment you treasure:

one fic I wrote eons ago got a comment from a person who was deeply moved and grateful because they saw themself and a major struggle in their life reflected in my fic in a way they had never seen before. that comment has really stuck with me!

11. Favourite scene you've written:

I am extremely fond of the scene from Habitat, Behaviour where bingqiu transition from peaceful cozy homelike vibes of sqq writing an angry letter to a publisher while lbh brings him more paper and snacks, to a scene that's extremely sexual with sqq in lbh's lap while lbh hand-feeds him and escalates from there, and sqq has no idea how or why this counts as sex because lbh's pillar isn't involved at all. meanwhile lbh is sobbing into sqq's neck over how amazing it is. (sqq loves it too.)

I am really proud of the physicality I managed in this scene, the groundedness in sensation and tangible presence of things, as well as the conveyance of what sqq is actually feeling vs what you hear of his thoughts from his close pov!

12. Fic that best represents you:

hmmmm, probably Artifice and Affectation. from the pov of a secondary character who's not a man and who doesn't get much fandom attention, gen with ambiguously shippy vibes, About Gender thematically but not explicitly, interested in interrogating structures of power, doesn't actually have a plot.

13. A fun fact about a fic you wrote:

do I even have any fun facts? if I haven't written it down somewhere I've probably forgotten it!

goes to check my old fic notes

oh ok! so while I was writing precious treasure I was very aware of what I felt was needed from each side of the foursome to turn them into a viable ship from the state they start the fic at, so these were the things I had to be sure to make happen.

sqh needs: to be able to complain at lbh without being nervous of how he'll respond

lbh needs: to feel like he could be fussed over in a caretaking way by sqh

mbj needs: to find something in lbh that he can respect

sqq needs: nothing, he's soooo gay for everyone in pidw plus the creator of pidw, he's easy to get on board

14. How you handle writer's block:

I put the fic aside for the day and come back the next day. if I keep on not coming back to it, I try to think about whether there's something I feel unsure of in terms of where the fic is trying to go, and I either think it through on my own or talk it through with a friend, to get myself unstuck. if that doesn't feel like it's what's going on, I just accept that there are factors in my life that make writing harder for the time being and I let it go, because trying to force writing when it doesn't want to happen doesn't give me what I want out of this hobby!

15. Hardest thing for you to write:

in the past I would have said dialogue but I think I have really levelled up on that! I suppose now what I find hardest is plot. I'm working on it though!

16. Dialogue you loved writing:

every single line from the aquarium hobbyist discord fic!!! so much fun, and rereading it now, I still think I'm very funny :D

17. Your planning process:

Not a huge amount of pre-planning, usually! once I have the general concept of the fic, I dive into writing, and discover as I go whether more planning is needed. Sometimes I keep an outline of the fic in a separate doc as I write - a retroactive outline, showing what I've done so I can see what structure I'm creating. Sometimes I talk through the concept with a friend to figure out what I'm actually interested in exploring with the concept. Sometimes I get partway in and realize I don't know where I'm going and need to do some brainstorming on that front. But sometimes the concept is all the planning I need and I just….write.

I do usually end up having a notes document for any fic that's longer than 1-2 k words though, with little thoughts to remind myself about what my intentions are for the fic, or noting things I want to keep in mind as I write, and that doc gets added to and altered as I go. But the kinds of notes I keep in there vary fic by fic!

18. Your editing process:

I do a fair amount of editing as I go, both editing the bit I'm writing as I write it, and semi-regularly going back to the already-written parts of the fic to tweak when I have more distance from what I wrote and more sense of where the fic is going. When I'm done a draft I give the whole thing another read, fixing anything that stands out to me, then I send it to beta. I do another round of editing based on my beta's comments, and then I consider the fic done and I post it!

19. Your favourite writing tip:

(caveat: not all advice is right for everyone, ignore if not right for you!)

it's been big for me to have a cheerleader! a friend to send snippets of fic to as I write it, who will say encouraging things!

some reasons:

I get accountability, because they're expecting fic updates, so I don't get as caught up in the executive dysfunction failure to initiate task

I maintain a sense of perspective, that my fic is good and worth continuing to work on

Praise as a form of critique is under-valued! Having someone react excitedly to my writing as I go tells me which things I'm doing well and encourages me to do more of that! It can help me see things in my writing that I wouldn't have seen without that outside perspective! It motivates me to hone skills to do more of that better and on purpose!

I have a friend who is invested in my story to talk things through with when I run into issues!

AND MORE.

A++++ would recommend.

20. Your current writing goals:

keep having fun writing :)

[wetcatspellcaster]

for the dvd meme, chapter 7 of pieces still stuck in your teeth, from where astarion says "i knew it" to "you returned to me. i knew you would." i've read that chapter like five times it's SO delightful, SUCH a fun narrative payoff too HAHA

Thank you for the ask, anon! I will copy and paste the text you're referring to under the keep reading tab, just so this doesn't end up being too long/I don't expose my IRL mutuals to the horniest part of my fic lol :')

So, here we are, at the horniest part of my fic :-)

In more serious commentary, this was one of the scenes I had from the very inception of this story - I knew that Astarion was going to have killed people to get Tav back to the Gate, and I knew he was going to reveal it at literally The Worst Possible moment. I really wanted to write a chapter that turned from horny to horror without warning, and this is the speech that I envisaged doing that work for me. As such, it went through many, many drafts!

I know I said this in comments at the time, but... when examining this chapter from Astarion's perspective? Why *wouldn't* he be this fucking cocky? He has no idea what's going on in Rose's mind or why she's agreed to go to his house so easily, and why she's gotten so close to him with complete disregard of the wider situation. So as far as he's concerned, he murdered a bunch of people (which was the only risk in his plan, he thinks) and she's still down to fuck only days later. Honestly, he doesn't even *need* the ego he has, to think this is a done deal.

I also said this a lot in comments, but as such, any respect he held out for her is just gone in this moment, and that's why he immediately plays his whole hand, because he doesn't see her as a worthy opponent in the slightest. I was leaning on what developers/writers said about how he loses respect for people who fall for the superficial sex appeal and endanger themselves because of it- if this is the means by which he can do them harm, then he feels they've sealed their own fate. In his eyes, this is exactly what Rose looks like in this moment (not knowing anything about her own hidden agenda).

I also think that, if you've romanticised the one thing you've lost and can never get back, and then suddenly it's there, and it's almost... too easy, then that also makes you disappointed and angry. Maybe part of the reason he says all this heinous stuff here to try and test the waters further, maybe even anger her so there's some spark of a challenge or a fight. Maybe he wanted to make everything a little more difficult for the both of them, just so it stays fun and interesting.

As I said in previous asks, I am not really a Dead Dove writer - I appreciate the girlies who are, but it's just not something I can do (I mean, I can't even write smut lmfao). So I wanted the violation and emotional impact of non-con without any of the graphic depictions of it... lots of people have said in comments that the moment he refuses to let her go is the moment he proves he's evil, and I certainly approve of this interpretation. But here, I was mostly just in thrall to the Yandere tag lmao. He can't imagine her protests being true bc he can't imagine a world where they aren't destined for each other. And also, in this case, a world where his seduction techniques (now so well honed, now nearly unstoppable, now the only thing people seem to want from him) do not work - especially on her.

As to some specifics about the section itself:

the phrase 'little love' is, I feel, single handedly responsible for any and all Ascended ending brainrot I have. Like COME ON. What a term of endearment! What a term of endearment to MAKE EVIL!!!!

'I was bored' got workshopped a lot as the 'foreshadowing' phrase, bc I really struggled to find something that was both vague but also had ambiguous meaning from the beginning. If the delivery is a little clunky here, that's why... I agonised over this for weeks lmao

'Every meal without savour' - cue Chapter Ten, when he gets really excited that Rosalie wants to drink hot chocolate with him, and briefly loses any composure bc the future he envisages is finally getting tested out.

"how you much used to hate slavers.” This is me still making digs at Grymforge, 4 months later. Fucking Grymforge.

"You yourself would've carved through that room like a righteous blade, my love." Look. I wrote this line. And I decided. It would work on me.

DVD commentary ask

"I knew it,” he repeated.

“I knew it was only a matter of distance," he muttered into her shoulder, almost to himself. He kissed the spot: she jumped at the touch, and he hummed approvingly. "I knew that the moment I got you here, darling heart, that this would be inevitable. A matter of days, Rosalie. That is all the time you could hold out on me, the longest you could bear to resist. You don’t want me to charm you? Fine. I don’t need glamour, to make you like this. Let us both know that this was all you, and only ever for me.”

She tensed up, and he soothed again, making a chiding sound. “Hush, now, don’t be prideful. Why fight this, little love? Why deny yourself? You're not very good at it. Isn’t it so much better, this way? Doesn’t it feel good?"

"I - what?" Rosalie said, fighting to clear her head as fear and desire warred within her thoughts.

Had he not caught her? Because if so, she had done what was needed. But now she was trapped - and each word that came out of Astarion's mouth was more sinuous and sinister than the last, coiling decadently around her.

"So bored,” Astarion murmured in a low voice, nosing along her collarbone, breathing her in. “Every day the same, every day interminable. Every meal without savour, every conversation dull, and I knew you were what's missing. I knew it. I knew all I had to do was lure you back to me. And you do so love to play hard to get, but it wasn’t exactly difficult, was it, my love-?”

Rosalie struggled to make sense of what he was saying. It wasn’t precisely a threat, but it wasn’t bedroom talk either. What did he mean by ‘bored’?

No, actually, Shadowheart had said, when Rosalie had asked how the Vampire Ascendent had responded to the murders. He gave a three word reply: ‘I was bored.’

“No, in fact, it was easy,” Astarion smirked into her skin. “You put up a good front, my darling. But here you are: with me. Where you’re supposed to be. Where you will stay. You will make everything better. All I needed to do was to make you come back to me, and finally, here you are.”

Rosalie froze up. Her mind began to whir, almost as if she couldn’t dare let herself think, to follow the logic too far to its horrible, inevitable conclusion…

"The party," she said, heart pounding. “Those people who died-”

She tried to pull against his hold on her hands, moving her body back as far back from his as it would go. But it was like pulling on iron shackles, and Astarion didn't budge, simply leaning in further into her space, her legs trapped on either side of his body, and the evidence of his reaction to her utterly impossible to avoid.

"All terrible, heinous people, I assure you," Astarion told her conversationally, kissing his way along her shoulder without any concern for her sudden resistance. "No one who deserves to be mourned: all wretches and ingrates, murderers and thieves and flesh peddlers and slavers - I remember, pet, how you much used to hate slavers.”

Rose tugged at her hands, again - he ran his thumbs over her knuckles, and pinned them down harder.

“You yourself would've carved through that room like a righteous blade, my love. But I did it, all for you. I invited them all there, and they all came, like the cattle they are. And then I slaughtered them for their crimes, and now they’ve served their purpose, for here you are again, with me, once more."

Astarion's mouth was still moving all over her skin, which had begun to crawl. He reached behind her back and undid the clasp of her bra as he narrated. He whispered the words against her, like her body was made for his secrets, and then kissed the flesh, open mouthed.

"Astarion," Rose said, "you need to stop - I need to think - you said you didn't do it for any reason-"

His hands came up to her arms, and tightened to bruising, holding her in place even as his thumbs stroked circles designed to soothe.

"Of course there was a reason. You said that if I killed people, you'd come back and stop me," he said, moving back and pressing his forehead against hers, silvery lashes blurring with the closeness of her vision. His breath ghosted across her still-damp mouth as he smiled with utter tranquillity. “But you didn't try to stop me, did you? Cornered in Ramazith, and you simply let me walk away. And now, here you are. You just… came back. You returned to me. I knew you would."

[fellowship-of-sleep-reads]

Prologue/Chapter 1 Ramble

This is the first time I'm actually reading the LOTR books, so I wasn't expecting the prologue to be an in-universe anthropological article! Maybe the lack of familiarity with the LOTR universe beyond seeing the movies a few times (and the memes MANY times) is the reason it took me a long time to get through it. There were so many details, and it seems the author assumed readers' familiarity with the geography and such.

So, it must intentional on the author's part since it IS an in-universe document (complete with maps! At least in the copy I bought). It really does give a sense that the story will take place in a complex, wide, and well-realized world. (I wonder what readers of the original publication must've thought. Maybe they read "The Hobbit," but the world of LOTR wouldn't have been part of the cultural zeitgeist the way it is today.)

Regardless, the narrative writing in the first chapter was closer to what I expected in the book. JRR Tolkien was easier to get through than JSTOR Tolkien 😅. So much so that I didn't realize I read ahead to the following chapters! I don't have the book with me right now to confirm what we end Chapter 1 with, and I don't want to accidentally jump ahead in the discussion, so I'll just say: WHAT a birthday party (and aftermath)!

*If I'm using the submission feature incorrectly, please let me know! I just thought this would be a lot to put in the replies lol

[wot-tidbits]

hello!! I just want to ask what to keep your motivation for so long?

Hello, anon! The short answer is myself. But you got me in a mood so there is some TLDR if you are interested.

Every time I repeat the same story for creation of this blog. When I had the idea for my blog ages ago, I expected little attention for my niche and I told to myself that numbers don’t matter, but only the joy of the experience and the journey to do what I love – sharing the Wheel of Time madness. I thought that 100 followers would be a nice goal after some long time. The motivation was myself, not the imaginary attention of strangers.

And here we are 10 and a half years later. Maybe it would be cool to say that my followers, a community or whatever, is my motivation. In the end of the day it is still me and myself. In the end of the day the question is if I was random visitor what I would love to search for in a WOT blog. This question has motivated me through the years. That one imaginary person. If there is one person who have been hooked to check the blog regularly for the newest art, memes and community posts, then everything was worth it and will worth it to continue. I am not good at creating content, but my stubborn ass is good at searching for content.

Most probably my stubborn ass will finish the current Necromancy (Blast from the Past) project and then I will have two options to decide from. The first is to continue with the second part of bringing back WOT content from the dead which is gonna be less laborious and less time-consuming but still needs my insane dedication for a year ahead. Or finally I ditch my urge to check everything WOT and to slow significantly my pace with barely posting new stuff but to try to focus more on my meta analysis. I have my plans for writing my own silly thoughts based on the Wheel of Time but they were constantly pushed back in my mind. One thing can be for certain with my meta – it won’t fit the narrative that Tumblr loves to promote. But what is new – I have not been creating controversies for nothing in the last decade.

So in such future situation from one side people won’t care about my content and it will get less or negative attention. Most probably half the Tumblr (WoT community) doesn’t share good feelings to me as I am always stirring the pot with stuff that people don’t like to read. And from other side, yeah, people won’t care and this is the most liberating part actually. Didn’t I mention that the only motivation is myself? I can write what I want not fearing how others may react. Maybe there will be one person who will be interested and that will be enough. It is never about getting attention but about what I would love to loose my finite time on Earth for.

Sharing the love for WOT has never changed as my ultimate goal. And in doing the Necromancy project, it is very satisfying to watch how this ancient content (which is predominantly not mine!) gets new wave of appreciation and love. This happens only because I happen to be extremely stubborn and very patient in doing the tedious process every day. It is also funny when I see my name on blogs which have blocked me. This shows that the Wheel of Time is transcendental and can pass through everything and everyone. This is unity that I would like to see some day.

But nothing is decided yet. I have time to think what the future is and if it is time to finally close the door. 11 years every day is a lot of dedication so it is amazing that I am still enjoying it. And this is enough motivation for me.

Let the Light keep you safe. LightOne

[coralhoneyrose]

for the ask meme!

💥👻🤩🤔

💥 What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

Definitely the inability to have same-sex marriage in game. I would love to play the gay awakening mod someday for that very reason. As is, I definitely ignore that aspect of canon in my writing. Crossing my fingers that if they ever decide to re-make Awakening they’d approach things with a more progressive lens.

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

If we’re taking “wildest” to mean least common / not shared by many other members of fandom, it’s probably just Chrom being demisexual since I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone else expressly portray him that way? If we’re taking wildest to mean just like completely out there and off the rails crazy then uhhh…let’s say it’s this one that I definitely didn’t come up with just a second ago, where in the video that plays when you boot up awakening, that scene that LOOKS like it’s Chrom and Sumia on the balcony with Baby Lucina is actually Chrom and Robin and Robin is just wearing a very elaborate hyper-realistic disguise or perhaps was on the other end of that body swap spell from the Henry support. I’d say that constitutes wild adhfdjk

🤩 What led to your interest in the fandom?

For fire emblem in general, it was actually a combination of my partner recommending the series to me and Byleth’s announcement for Smash Ultimate LOL. I played Three Houses first and was totally consumed by it for a year or so before eventually branching out to other entries. My partner had suggested Awakening as the next one I play, and I enjoyed it the first time through but like…a normal amount? I particularly liked Chrom as a character but had played as m!Robin and was bummed the game wouldn’t let me pair them together.

And then almost a year after that I decided to replay as f!Robin because I was curious how it changes the narrative (and particularly the Lucina scenes) if you’re with him. And the story just hit me completely differently that second playthrough. Chrom and Robin’s relationship being such a central focus emphasized the game’s themes in a way that burrowed into my brain and has not relinquished its hold on me since. I started reading fics and looking for fan art, found some excellent and highly influential ones early on, and then became totally consumed by thoughts of the two of them and trying to write my own Chrobin stories. And the rest is history!

🤔Would you ever want to write something canon if you got the opportunity?

Oh gosh, like be a writer for a fire emblem game? My instinct is to say no, but I think a big part of that is that I feel wildly unqualified LOL. In a universe where I had more of the required skill set / background and training though, it would be really cool to try my hand at it! Though I think I’d probably rather write support conversations than like…the actual main narrative for the game

Thank you for the ask! <3

[bonesandthebees]

*clears throat*

Anyway…

Things I liked about this chapter in no particular order:

The flashback with Niki and Quackity

Quakcity warning Wilbur about the bandits indirectly, doubles as foreshadowing and a hint that he’s behind it (though let’s be honest, it was probably Schlatt’s idea)

Oh and you should have seen my face when I realised [“Hand him over!”] I swear puzzle pieces have never snapped into place faster in my brain. I literally went “OH FUCK QAUACKITY WHAT DID YOU DO?”

Niki might think that Wilbur is lying again but I don’t have the mental energy to think about that right now for obvious reasons.

I cannot stress enough how much I’m here for this.

The l’manburg backstory. I was trying to put it together and analyse which character’s would be narrative parallels only the realise that it was literal based off of actually canon pogtopia and c!Wilbur and c!Tommy. I love it. Also made me think of Niki when she does not get the throne.

Wilbur saving Tommy’s life (twice? Attempted at least). Nothing says bonding like life or death situations.

Also at first I thought it might be something meant to be part of it or a plan by Phil and then the foreshadowing hit me like a truck.

Put Quackity and Schlatt on the most likely to be executed list right now. Not because I think Wilbur is smart enough to figure it out but because the person who was trailing him might.

Also, I love the consistent pov and the way you write it, but I would pay actual money to know how everyone reacts. I want my sand duo angst of Phil sending his son away against his will only to learn that might have killed him. I want to watch them turn the country upside down. I want to see Quackity in shambles because he might have killed his friends and the man he loves (? Is it mutual?) I want to see Niki’ reaction. But alas, we get Tommy and Wilbur in a SITUATION. Instead.

I do fully believe people will come looking for them, but now I’m worried we will get a chapter of snowstorm in the wilderness first.

Again I better get a sand duo hug after this is done. I need Wilbur to know that his dad loves him.

Also, at first I was like, “I wonder why Jack isn’t here?” Then the guards started getting sliced and I was like “oh that!s why.” Nobody gets plot armour in here. Jack’s cranckyness just saved his life.

Also, Tomys copying the way Wilbur eats his food tells us he looks up to him and trust his judgement. Maybe he did something right with his paranoia expenation.

Also, the consequences for this are going to be so good whether Wilbur figures out it was Quackity or not.

Anyway, I’m going to bed now. So good night! And a good day to you!!! What a great chapter I did not see that coming at all but I love it.

P.s. AO3 is being mean and Wouldn’t let me comment “BEE, WHAT THE FUCK!” but that genuinely was my first reaction.

-🌲

lol thank you, a lot of the flashback bit regarding wilbur and niki changed from what it was originally planned to be. I don't know how it happened but I got really into the flow of the scene and I'm very happy with how it turned out

HA the puzzle pieces falling into place about the bandits right at that moment. just "what's going on- OH"

I'm very glad you picked up on the l'manberg story not only being c!crime but also the parallels it could hold to rose!niki

life or death situations are the best for bonding!

don't be so sure we're only staying in wilbur's POV this time around spruce :)

LMAO yeah literally while I was writing about them leaving the palace in the morning I was like "shit wait I can't have jack here but I need to come up with an explanation for why he's not here" and jack's morning crankiness came about. he would've been killed so quickly by those bandits and I don't want this story to lose The Manifold so soon

wilbur and tommy eating their lunch is like that meme of miles morales and peter b parker in the first spiderverse movie you know the one

[shittyelfwriter]

ALRIGHTY here we are at weeks three and four for the santa clauses series! I did not rewatch a second time because genuinely, these melted my brain. anyway, lets get into it below the cut!

So apparently according to the tsc tag, episode 3 that I missed last week is a sort of filler episode? OH BROTHER REALLY

Normally I would not complain bc I miss old format, 20-23 episode series but because I know this Isn't That? DREAD. how are you going to plot well and good in 7-8eps if some are filler? that is just SO condensed, my guy

Counterpoint to people who were sad about it but: I thought the teen romance was annoying and I'm GLAD they ended it even JUST for a bit (it will come back to haunt again, trust. It’s a disney series ffs.) Whoever is writing this needs to ask a teen about how they talk nowadays. This is not it.

I also think we're driving the whole "Buddy is terrible at everything" punchline WAY past its breaking point. Which I would argue was last season entirely, but. At the very latest, last episode with how heavy on cringe it was. Yes, EVEN for kids/teens.

Again, they are not antagonizing Magnus Antas enough for me to hate him. waaaaay too funny to be a villain. I can't take him seriously and DON'T want to

The way that Noel keeps sideyeing the Betty cutout as if to say "do you see this shit?" during his brunch with the Clauses SENT me tbh. That's bernelle coded and I love it

I do not know why Disney gets OFF on the Clauses being absolutely inept parents but I wish they would stop

SHOUTOUT JUDY OMG JUDY'S ACTRESS THAT’S JUDY JUDY IS HERE YOU GUYS (SCREAMINGGGG)

LOVING the exterior shots of the workshop and Elfsburg. As someone who has POURED over all available screenshots from the movies of those I am LIVING for new angles (even though I do NOT think bernelle would live that close to the Workshop, but it doesn't seem like Betty and Noel can POOF like Bman and Elle can (and do))

I don't know why there are TWO instances of a "misspoken turn of phrase" in this episode but neither were funny and TWO OF THEM was REALLY bad

CHUBBY BUNNY DID NOT EXIST THAT LONG AGO. NOT IN MAGNUS ANTAS' TIME. THAT WAS AN INTERNET FAD LESS THAN TEN YEARS AGO. WHAT ARE WE DOING DUDE. WHAT ARE THESE WRITERS ON (it's not good, I don't want some)

Crossing guard callback? For what? (okay, shrug I GUESS dot meme)

Why does this specific franchise always have to make EB SO WEIRD. WHY. Nothing about this is funny it's just off-putting. Just like the previous EB flirting with Carol's MARRIED MOM in tsc3

This Carol and La Befana scene was actually very good. LOVE it when they actually just let the characters be HONEST with each other. Women supporting women core. Even if Carol's reason for being mad at her was really shallow and obviously stems form Carol's lack of identity as Mrs. Claus because they just cannot wrap that plot point from last season up.

THE LETTERS DEPARTMENT. It looks dope but HATE the explanation for it. Half assed as hell. WARNING! Rant incoming: like from what I know a LOT of postal services have little lore stories about how they get the letters to Santa. WHY COULDNT WE JUST SAY THERE ARE AGREEMENTS BETWEEN SANTA AND OTHER ADULT PEOPLE WHO KEEP THE SPIRIT ALIVE FOR OTHERS AS WELL? Why is this series so obsessed with making everything only powered by magic and never by others (yes, humans) who want to keep the spirit alive as well? It feels like magic is being used as an "explain it all away" crutch narratively. Even in season 1, the "solution" to mass consumerism wasn't for people to be kind to each other and do little things to keep the magical parts of Christmas alive, it was to show the world that magic was real. Season 2 so far, the answer to everything is also just magic. I'm hoping that maybe the B plot with Kris will touch on this. Because as it stands right now, it feels like the writers are talking out of both sides of their mouth. Commercial Christmas is bad, but Kris is a loser for having a Santa theme park. Like?? Homogenization of Christmas is the Big Bad at large, but also up at the Pole they are trying to find ways to do the same thing to be "current". CHRISTMAS IS MULTIFACTED. It is both secular and religious! That is OKAY, I don't even think "woke" people are arguing about that. Sheesh.

Can't believe I'm micro rambling IN my ramble post. New achievement unlocked omg

The way Magnus Antas picks up on modern slang so quickly practically puts Scott to shame. Good for him

AGAIN, the misturn of phrase jokes. DEAD. Not funny. STOP

If they are going to make Sandra so op that she can just Wanda Maximoff chaos magic "I just say something when I'm mad and it happens, anything I want with no negative impact on me" I will not find that swag. That is in fact Mary Sue territory, lads

Sandra's little outburst @ La Befana was giving magical nepo baby for a moment there. Oof. "Too bad I'm just naturally more skilled than you even though I'm new and you've been a witch forever" girl SHUT. UP. You are like a little baby. Also that is so mad disrespectful like no WONDER La Befana is wanting you to slow tf down. You fly off the handle WAY to easily and we ALL know you lose control when you do! Okay loose cannon! Werk!

Riley. Girl. "we never see each other" you were just up at the Pole?? Like. OFTEN?? This is so stupid of a breakup but they are teenagers so go off kids, be dysfunctional or what have you. Rah rah, as Jack would say

Episode four now, lord help us. God has cursed me for my (loving this one Christmas movie series) hubris and my work (watching it's hellish series spin off) is never finished

"Reversing a transformation is never a guarantee" what is this La Befana? the Sims? Sounds like transformation ray odds. Magic is not THAT unpredictable, even by in-universe logic

CURTIS-ITIS!??? CURTIS FUCKING EXPLODED??

ARE YOU SO FUCKING FR RN. SO BERNARD IS MARRIED TO A SENIOR CITIZEN AND CURTIS. FUCKIN VAPORIZED?? FROM STRESS? WHAT'S NEXT? Lemme guess, Judy joined the circus. Quintin is a crypto investor or works for Tesla. WHAT ARE WE D O I N G

Not Scott moving the scissors like he's afraid Buddy will shank him or others?? SIR

SANDMAN AHHHHHHHHHH HELLO SIR /POS :D

So they just con him? As though that's a long term solutio-- OH MY GOD NOT SCOTT USING SANDMAN'S SAND ON SANDMAN HIMSELF?? that's ILLEGALE?? According to tsc3 lore: "We legendaries can't use magic on each other?" I am so bewildered by the level of retcon occurring before my very eyes at BREAKNECK speed

Sandra doesn't need magic she needs THERAPY for her ANGER ISSUES bruh. Damn. She doesn't need a rage room (in someone's house too I might add? okayyyy) she needs to learn to process like a normal human being wtf

Scott being able to look like his normal self whenever he wants and they just didn't tell him? For like. 25 years? Like its clear that by the series standards, the elves think he's a total moron. But it pendulums hard and fast between "haha funny joke" and "damn they really think he ain't shit, huh"

Edie being a fashion diva is such a serve she's grown on me this season ngl

"I had to teach him how to do all the Legendaries jobs" Scott I know you're waffling, absolutely FUMBLING but what the FUCKKKKK is that excuse??? What's Cal going to do? Be EVERY Legendary? TERRIBLE AWFUL HATE IT UNINSPIRED. Not to mention, SOME OF THE OTHER LEGENDARIES MIGHT NOT TAKE THAT NEWS WELL. Some might even feel THREATENED

"The man I die for in my sleep every night" UM? Noel? You okay there bud? Holy heck

THE PURPLE JACKET IS SWAG AND SCOTT IS A HATER. HE CANNOT SEE THE VISION

Do you guys think according to this new lore Edie made Jack's suit? because me thinks PERHAPS

Magnus Antas is kind of popping off, damn. Like I think if the gnomes hadn’t given him MAJOR delusions of grandeur and an ego trip, he could have stayed totally a vibe. But stop giving the Santas snow powers and reconning Jack holy SHIT dude. First Scott now him? HATE IT

The way they made Scott and Cal look when "invisible" is Not a Good Look heck. Its like a bad picsart filter

These Scott visions. I get why, its through the Santa magic, right? But dang its corny

So Scott knows Magnus Antas is back now. Okay. They got away from him. Lost visual on Olga, have a bad feeling she somehow sneaked into the sleigh. Weird cliffhanger but EVERY episode has been like that so far

Final thoughts: I feel like they're definitely trying to make this season take itself less seriously, but I feel like the trade off is that the writers are taking too many liberties for diversions from source material and are therefore, losing the plot entirely and retconning movie lore at will and convenience. Tl;dr, it's messy. Concepts are fun until things just become so irreverent they fall apart or lean into entirely unfunny territory. Which is just a hallmark of T*m All*n brand humor, tee em, but you know.

It feels like this series is doing everything and nothing. It wants woke points, but immediately doubles back and makes fun of those same things. It wants us to feel empathy for these characters, and immediately makes them insufferable. I am so confused as to what the takeaway is supposed to be. It all feels so poorly executed--the series retcons itself constantly, not to mention the movies. I want it to be fun, and to take it at surface value, but if you know literally anything about the movies, that becomes a challenge to do. I'm just so confused dude.

I will be shocked if this gets a third season. Truly.

Also, I miss Betty too, Noel. Wish this whole season was about HER shenanigans, instead.

So. See you all next week then?

[calchexxis]

FANFIC APPRECIATION MEME

FANFIC APPRECIATION MEME

Post recommendations for your ten favourite fanfics and tag the authors if possible. Tell us what you like about their work.

Tag five people of your choice to do the meme too."

I was tagged by @blood-lich-crow @heroinejinx and @ghostofyaz

Fair warning, I do not read much Fanfic anymore as I spend most of my time writing it, so some of these fics are probably going to feel really scattered. With that said, let’s get into it.

LIGHTCANNON (Lux/Jinx)

Non-Linear Growth by @booking-and-blogging (Elfen1012 on Ao3)

A lot of people reading my work have said that Flashbangs is the Lightcannon bible, but if that’s true then NLG by Elfen1012 is the Lightcannon New Testament. It hits the ground running from the perspective of a Jinx that is trying to piece herself back together after the end of Arcane and it is something to behold. I cannot recommend this enough.

Luxurious Anarchy by @cannibalelf (Cannibal_Elf on Ao3)

A kind of Soulmate-lite longform fic in which Lux is drawn across the span of Valoran to find her one-and-only: Jinx, mad and still struggling with the events of Arcane. This is just a really fantastic romp through the world of Piltover and Zaun, thoroughly enjoyable on every level. The prose are punchy, the narrative is clean, and I really enjoyed my time with it.

Friction Coefficient by @blood-lich-crow ( Blood_Lich_Maeve on Ao3)

I would argue this is probably the best Modern!AU Lightcannon on Ao3 right now, at least in my very subjective opinion. It gracefully deals with a lot of delicate topics like internalized (and external) homophobia and transphobia, trans issues, and addiction. This is one of the messiest romances I’ve ever read and I am here for it. 

PISTOLWHIP (Caitlyn/Jinx)

the lover of my impossible soul by Goldfyshie927 on Ao3

This Modern!AU features Caitlyn as a professional escort who is drawn into a relationship with the wealthy and chaotic Jinx in order to keep her father happy and convince him she had mellowed out somewhat. The profound sense of loneliness you get from both characters throughout the story, and the way they inelegantly mesh together is really profound, and I look forward to seeing more of this story come out. Big recommendation for very unusual ship.

SYLVAINA (Sylvanas/Jaina)

Vintage by (jointly) @redisaid and @uninspired--poet

How do I put this. To date, I’ve read the entirety of Vintage six times. Vintage isn’t just a fanfiction I think is good. Vintage is one of the fanfictions I go back reread every now and again to remind myself what willful romance is supposed to look like. In this Modern!AU where Jaina is a college student and scion of a wealthy family, while Sylvanas is the owner of a small, failing vintage goods shop in New York. It’s a story about falling in love and then choosing to stay that way despite the many things that crop up. It’s about coming up against the difficulties in relationships and choosing love, with all its messy difficulties, over the path of least resistance. Read this, I am begging you.

Fearless by @redisaid

This might be the best example of modern magic I’ve ever read. It’s as subtle as it is overt, and as entrenched a part of the world as it is wholly separate from it. Jaina, a ghost-eating witch, finds a house haunted by a powerful banshee, and fully intends to consume her for power. Over the course of the story, that changes, and everything from the side characters, to the small moments, to the strong finish has stuck with me to the point that it inspires aspects of my own writing.

Within The Drift by @uninspired--poet

It’s hard to do a good crossover, even when the crossover’s make a kind of thematic sense. Writing a good crossover when the two subjects have jack shit in common is testament to a great author’s skill. Within The Drift is a fantastically put together sci-fi/fantasy action-romance crossing over Pacific Rim with World of Warcraft, featuring Sylvanas and Jaina as contentiously drift compatible pilots. I’ve read this story back to front several times, and it never gets old.

KAZULA (Azula/Katara)

Measure Each Step to Infinity by paxbanana

Set in Post-Canon ATLA, Measure is fantastic enemies-to-lovers-to-wives story full of angst, intrigue, action, and redemption. It has one of my favorite depictions of Azula and, surprisingly, Aang, which the story humanizes wonderfully. Azula is as morally gray as ever, and her struggle to leave behind the horrors of war and emotional abuse inflicted on her by her father to be better, and Katara’s growing dedication and devotion to her over the course of the story is gripping.

KORVIRA (Korra/Kuvira)

you know you'd look good in my hand by Goldfyshie927 on Ao3

Phenomenal Modern!AU Kuvira fic and I will shamelessly plug this because I love a good bartender character. Kuvira and Korra instantly charm in the first chapter, and their friendship blossoms into a lot more. This is a story that’s impossible to summarize without spoilers, but it is an absolute rollercoaster of emotions, drama, angst, and disaster gays from start to finish and you’d be doing yourself a favor by reading it.

PILTOVER’S FINEST (Caitlyn/Vi)

Run At The Cup. by @thehomelybadger (TheHomelyBadger on Ao3)

I’ve reviewed this story before on this very blog so I really feel it’s necessary to have it here. I don’t read a lot of CaitVi but this one absolutely knocks it out of the park. Or rather, into the goal. Run At The Cup is a Hockey!AU, it’s a fantastic underdog story of a brand-new NHL team, the Zaun Sumprats, and it’s mix of sports jargon, action-packed hockey games, and interpersonal and political drama make for an absolutely gripping story.

[natsumi-no-hotaru]

Chihayafuru #55: Karuta is so unpredictable... and fun!

AKA. I was completely blown away by how AWESOME this episode is. 

[Previously: The four-on-four team match and all hail the Shiranami Offensive!]

Gosh, what an episode. Absolutely wild, chockful of surprises and oh so meme-able! The pacing is faster and so much happened in 20 minutes. Seriously, a lot and wow, I haven’t felt that energized after watching Chihayafuru in a long while. Not that the last couple of episodes were dull or anything, but they kind of lack a certain spark that makes them truly memorable and leaves viewers at the edge of their seats. This is definitely not the case with Chihayafuru #55. As soon as I finished watching, I felt compelled to start writing, and had it not been for the intense workload and pressure at the office, this post would have come out much sooner. 

Picking up from where we left off, the match between Chi-chan and Haruka entered its most critical juncture, as Chi-chan snatched back the Chihayafuru, the one card that Sakurazawa never managed to take from the former Queen. 

Why she plays karuta

The loss of Chihayafuru was a considerable blow to Haruka, whose inner tumult gave Chi-chan the chance to reduce the card difference and turn the tides in her favor. Facing a fearless young opponent who played with such tranquility and enjoyment, Haruka became trapped by strenuous thoughts of having to “throw off [her opponent’s] pace and not let her have fun”. 

Her elder kid is so cute!!!

Instead of making the overly enthused Aki a burden to Haruka and her pursuit of karuta, the narrative took a step far from the beaten track, in turning his curiosity and budding interest into a source of strength and encouragement for the young mom. 

The game was momentarily interrupted but it gave Haruka just the needed headspace to recall her karuta origin story. Turns out that her parents were also karuta players and she, along with her sibling, joined their karuta practice ever since they were little. Haruka grew into a successful player, as proven by her holding the Queen title for 4 consecutive years, and became a young mom with two adorable kids. Convention would dictate that she should be satisfied with what she had, with the implication of giving up karuta, akin to a part of herself, to focus on her kids. But that was not the choice that her parents made, and this is the one case where “history repeats itself” does not mean a negative thing.

“But the realization that parents can have something they treasure as much as their kids set me free.”

I am once again blown by the bold and mold-breaking direction taken by Suetsugu-san (the mangaka), and subsequently honored by the animation, with regards to Haruka’s storyline and character. At first glance, Haruka had all the family trappings that, in your run-of-the-mill competition narrative, would have weighed her down and turned her into a past-her-prime mom player. But this is definitely NOT the case here. Previously, we have seen how supportive her husband was of her karuta to the point of sharing in the child-rearing and caretaking responsibilities and how Haruka herself was not content to rest on her laurels. All of that culminates in this episode, where she demonstrates a solid conviction to be a model for her children, to show them that a rewarding lifelong pursuit does not need to come at the cost of family. She plays karuta because she wants to stay true to herself and believes that by not giving up on her passion, she is passing on her parents’ gift to her children - a chance to embark on the journey of self-validation and self-affirmation from a young age. 

To this end, there was no other way for Haruka to proceed but to play the karuta that she excels and enjoys. Instead of dwelling on how to break Chi-chan’s momentum, she recovered herself in time to showcase the top-tier hearing that carried her through past games and astonished all. 

In a battle over a multiple-syllable card, Haruka emerged victorious when she swiped at Chi-chan’s card after hearing only the first syllable, which, technically, should not be enough to let her know which card the reader was reading: hers or her opponent’s. Yet it was not a grab made in desperation or blind luck. Haruka knew which card was read with dead certainty because she could pick up on the tonal variations of the card reader (who is from the west like her). There was simply no contest possible for Chi-chan in this regard.

Just as the match was about to take a more serious turn, a curveball came out of nowhere in the form of a card being slightly moved upon the reading of a dead card. 

A moment of confusion gripped the room as everyone tried to figure out who moved the card. 

But for the two persons in question, it was no more than an amusing incident, a much-appreciated reliever of tensions that brought them closer. It is also another instance that highlights Chi-chan’s growing maturity as a karuta player; she would have been so flustered had this been a year earlier. The fact that she could laugh about it and enjoy a bonding moment with her opponent, a former Queen for 4 consecutive times no less, speaks volumes about her mindset and approach to the game. Her little routine of wiping her face, fixing her sleeve ties and hair, and exhaling deeply before returning to the game without a hint of stress viscerally reflected Chi-chan’s inner composure and enjoyment of the game itself.

“I’d thought she’d tense up against a former Queen, but right from the start, and even this close to the end, she’s not getting worked up. Maybe in Ayase’s mind, the only Queen is Wakamiya Shinobu.”

Damn, this moment gave me the shivers. It is precisely why I ship Shinochi - this fleeting yet tenacious connection between two very talented and quirky players, both in search of personal fulfilment through competitive karuta. Previously, Shi-chan found in Chi-chan a promising rival who wants nothing more than going head to head against a Queen that went all out. In Shi-chan, Chi-chan found an indomitable will to aspire to, a constant source of inspiration that buoys her up at challenging moments. If Chi-chan can face Shi-chan after a merciless match and came out all the more gratified for it, then how can she lose heart in front of an opponent lesser than the latter?  

What puts the cherry on the top for me is how these insightful observations do not come from the usual sources, like Kana-chan, Tsutomu, Taichi or more recently, Sakurazawa-sensei, but from Nishida. The fact that he could grasp this facet of Chi-chan’s psyche so well speaks to the bonds between Mizusawa karuta club members. It’s a very beautiful and understated way of showing how much they care for one another’s progress.

“This is it, Taichi”

“Even Wakamiya Shinobu isn’t invincible.”

Mentions of Shi-chan and her defeat at the hand of Arata made for a smooth transition into Arata’s unanticipated loss against the unfavorably compared Tsuboguchi. The latter’s victory was such a major upset that left everyone dumbfounded in the most hilarious of ways. 

LOL, look at their faces. I absolutely DID NOT foresee this turn of event at all, too. Kinda bet on Chi-chan facing Arata in their first official match in this tournament. Turned out that would have to wait. 

Me very glad that it was not an actual bet me made. Would be a major loss here lmao. Who would have thought that Arata would lose here, to high school karuta coach Tsuboguchi-san of all people, cursed or not by the latter’s student? 

Nothing seemed to go according to plan for opponents of the Shiranami Society. Murao-kun, Arata’s senpai, managed a win against Harada-sensei, but at great expense to his stamina. Imagine the kind of unyielding battle Harada-sensei must have waged against this much younger player, to have brought the card gap from 10 down to 4 at the end. 

It was a vicious tug of war for Chi-chan and Taichi, both locked in a tie against their opponents. At a juncture where many would play cautiously, our beloved President and Vice President persisted with the Shiranami-famous offensive style, living on the edge as their sensei and senpai would have it. 

The imagery is a little silly in how it made Harada-sensei and Tsuboguchi-san the dearly departed, instead of the still kicking members of the Shiranami Society; but the emphasis on the bond between all members and the influence they had on each other’s mentality, playstyle and decisions rendered depth to the story, neatly harking back to the team-tournament spirit espoused by Harada-sensei before the quarter-finals, as well as to the desire to stay true to oneself in karuta, as embraced by Haruka at the episode’s beginning. 

Chi-chan ended the game victoriously on the poignant note of “Since I could not hide my love” (remember when Taichi himself pulled through the class A ascension game with this same card?) and promptly fell into sleep on the spot, to the joy and dismay of Kana-chan and Nishida. The only match undecided left was Taichi’s, and as per his usual luck, it came down to a luck of the draw, again. Good thing this was not a cliffhanger cos I was literally holding on to my tea mug for support. 

Feels like Taichi is becoming a Master on his own at luck of the draw...

The instant the reader started reciting, Taichi reached for the card on Sudo-san’s side, before the latter even reacted. It was not that he could hear a decisive sound as the basis for his judgement. It was simply a move borne out of much arduous experience.

Lmao, it was too outrageous even for Sudo-san.

Regardless, GO, Taichiiiiii!!!! *exhaled in relief* Semi-finals, here we come!

Well, before the semi-finals was a somewhat out-of-the-blue segue about Chi-chan’s mother, who sought to juggle between doing her own work and supporting her daughters in their career/pursuit. 

It did find its way back to an unconscious Chi-chan cradled in the arms of friends but still, bit disjointed, albeit an interesting glimpse at the dynamics among the Ayase women.

“I’ll take the loss by default.”

In another surprising turn of event - well not the post-march dead-to-the-world Chi-chan, Hiroshi chose to lose by default to Chi-chan, instead of making her lose by not being able to show up for the match. Certainly one may chalk this up to team spirit but that would not be ... sufficient. Hiroshi’s concern for Chi-chan - “just let Chihaya-chan sleep” felt very brotherly, which is nice because it didn’t seem like she was showered with enough familial care and affection at home.

Taichi is a different story though. It’s not that Hiroshi did not care for Taichi but like a big brother, he knows exactly which button to push to get his sibling fire up, the way he did back at the Omi Jingu team tournament as a karuta high school coach. Hiroshi knew that Taichi needed someone to acknowledge his efforts and progress without sugarcoating the thornier parts.

“Most people here think you’re just a kid who rode a wave of momentum to get here.”

As Hiroshi rightly said, Taichi could never rely on momentum or luck, but pure skill. This helped to bolster his spirit but also placed the weight of expectations on him, as someone with the skill. Thankfully, he was motivated by the fact that Arata would be watching him - a chance to show Arata what he could do now. 

An easy win is not gonna help Taichi mentally and I think that’s partly why he said that he would not have yielded to Taichi, the way he did to Chi-chan, in response to Harada-sensei’s question. Certainly, rivalry also fueled this answer but at the core of it is Hiroshi’s desire to show that he takes Taichi seriously as well as his deep awareness of Taichi’s inferiority complex. 

“This is my first time watching Taichi play.”

Gosh, that cute chuckle of Arata. This is, if memory serves me well, the first time that we got to see Arata showing an interest purely in Taichi, without being occupied by other considerations such as forming his own karuta club or joining group tournaments. His flashback was of the few interactions with Taichi that did not directly involve Chi-chan too - the incident with Arata’s glasses in their early days and Taichi’s tsundere attitude towards playing karuta with his childhood friends. I personally enjoy very much these brief moments of camaraderie between Taichi and Arata and look forward to more of them, be it in the rest of season 3 anime or in the post-s3 chapters of the manga. There is a lot of potential to flesh out meaningful character developments from these interactions, not just from Aratachi or Taichihaya moments. 

Before getting back to Serious Land™, and I do mean it, cos oh boy the ending, here are Chi-chan’s lovely selves.

I do want to see Chi-chan and Shi-chan decked out in all their goofy glory for a karuta game lol.

The perfect defense

In previous episodes, Taichi has shown a certain affinity towards incorporating others’ techniques into his own mentally rigorous playstyle. Against a Murao-kun whose "simple-minded aggressiveness” has been whittled away by the attrition battle waged by Harada-sensei, Taichi held his own and maintained a large card difference against his opponent, even finding opportunities to test out a new pull-back move (which is Sudo-san’s move right?).  

While this battle’s outcome is more or less decided, especially with the large card difference and Chi-chan already being slated for the final, it would be nice to be able to delve deeper into Taichi’s state of mind here. Seemingly in response to the unvoiced question from Tsutomu-kun and Nishida, Taichi mentally pointed to the presence of Arata in the audience, Harada-sensei’s previous whittling effort, and Chi-chan’s absence. I am not quite sure how all these pieces fit together to bring about this version of Taichi; hopefully we will get some insight in the next episode. The most ominous piece is Chi-chan’s absence... considering what several people already said regarding Taichi’s performance in her absence. 

In the meantime, Harada-sensei clearly sensed that in spite of the offensive karuta he was taught, it is defensive karuta that increasingly defined his playstyle and brought him victory this time. I vaguely recalled someone already making an observation to similar effect, was it Sakurazawa-sensei, during the team tournament in season 2? 

And here we go, the match that has been hinted at for quite sometime now - an official match between Taichi and Chi-chan!! 

Chi-chan certainly is the better player and she has proved herself against very strong players, from Queen candidates to actual Queens, so I think there should be no surprise as to the final outcome of this match. Nonetheless, I am certain that Suetsugu-san would not have this important turning point to be without its share of twists and drama. 

Can Taichi hold his own against Chi-chan? Will he lose to himself? And more importantly, what will he do to improve his karuta, especially the defensive playstyle, in the aftermath? I eagerly await the next episode (or episodes, since the match may take longer) and what it has in store for Taichi.

Before ending this post, I just wanna drop a quick note for all readers, new or regular (gosh, do I have any left after more than a year of hiatus). Thank you so much for your support and I am sorry for disappearing for so long. Life has been putting me through the wringer ever since and drained me of any interest in putting out my own written word. This is not the first time this happened, unfortunately. But regardless of my pre-occupations, be it professional, gaming or anime-wise, I remain invested in seeing my series of posts on Chihayafuru to its completion. So buckle up, cos this train is resuming service, to the next episode of Chihayafuru and beyond!

[jacquelinesbookclub]

The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde

“Jasper Fforde has gone where no other fictioneer has gone before” claims The Guardian in the front cover endorsement. What a load of genetically re-engineered dodo crap. Who amongst us hasn’t day-dreamed about going into the books we love and meeting our favourite characters? That’s where it all starts for us “fictioneers”. The first stories we tell are clunky re-imaginings of the things that speak to us, we get enraptured by a story and it motivates us to share that story too. It’s a tale as old as human communication. Oral and written tradition is just this, sharing stories, and over time we add parts of ourselves to the narrative and mould it to better fit us. It’s how we learn to tell our own stories, by first copying the things we love. “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness”, or so it has been said.

Lately I’ve been attempting to shift my time-use away from consumption and towards creation. I had found myself trapped endlessly scrolling social media, or watching stuff I don’t care about just to have something on the telly. I felt like I was wasting my time and getting nothing out of any of it. But the real kick in the arse was watching my kids emulate that same behaviour, and being unable to connect with them on any conversational level for the two days a week they live with me because they’d rather hide themselves away in a hole of Sonic memes from TikTok via Gacha Life via YouTube shorts. And how could I blame them? I was in my own hole of complaining about Formerly-Known-As-Twitter drama and voyeuristically watching old men build things with their hands (my guilty pleasure). None of us were engaged, and all of us were miserable. So I turned off the TV, deleted half the apps from my phone and YouTube from my Switch, and loaded up on art supplies from the dollar store, ready to set an example and give us all something to bond over. And it worked! (Mostly. As I’m writing this, my daughter is watching Spirit Rangers on Netflix and I’m listening to music with my headphones on. Lets just call it parallel play, alright?)

By the end of the first day without the addictive pull of easy dopamine machines, both of my kids had written multi-thousand word short stories. My daughter (10yo), who’s special interest is kid horror like Poppy Playtime and Five Nights at Freddy’s, wrote about a little girl with a traumatic past who solves puzzles and befriends the big scary monsters. My eldest (12yo) on the other hand is big into anime, their favourites right now being My Hero Academia and Tengoku Daimakyo. They wrote a character driven isekai turned reverse-isekai slice of life, naturally. Given the freedom to write whatever they wanted without guidelines from teachers, both of them re-told their own favourite stories with a personal flair. This is how we learn to tell stories, it’s how we learn anything really, through repetition. Just like how babies learn to speak by imitating the sounds its parents make until it learns meaning and context, in imitating the stories we love, we learn story structure, flow, framing, technique, effective use of dialogue and thematic meaning. It’s not the only way we learn, of course, we get taught the nuts and bolts of writing in school, and some take that all the way through university in order to perfect their craft, but I think that’s all polish. The people who study writing are the people who have a passion for the craft they’ve learned through personal experimentation, and it’s passion that is key for motivation.

In response to a recent live stream question about encouraging a creative design environment in the classroom, Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame) said “New skill acquisition, for me, has always been based on desire.” Without the desire to emulate, without the love of a story or stories, our writing is dead before it’s even born. Writing is a slog sometimes, it doesn’t come easily to any but the luckiest few, so we need the love of the influence to fuel the work. I’m not just talking about the derivative copy cat stuff we all practice on, even the most original novels have influence. The reason we have genres of literature is because of the influence of authors who came beforehand. In 1818 Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein, in 1886 Robert Lewis Stevenson publishes Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, in 1896 H.G. Wells publishes The Island of Dr Moreau. We have science fiction as a genre because authors read science fiction stories and said “I want to write that too.”

The world Fforde has created in The Eyre Affair is one that those of us who were teased for being bookworms as children would long for. It’s a world in which people wear their love for their favourite stories proudly on their sleeves. Where literature is so important that the British Government have a Special Operations group dedicated to preventing book crimes. Imagine if people cared that much about literature in real life? Could you imagine people door-knocking and handing out pamphlets to argue their theories of who wrote Shakespeare? People changing their names and their dress to honour their love of poet John Milton? Imagine hundreds of people torch and pitchfork protesting over the possibility of Jane Eyre being changed. This all sounds hauntingly familiar, actually. There is one place in the real world where people have such strong opinions of their favourite stories: fanfiction.

Savage continues: “It’s frankly within pop-culture you’re often going to find a lot of intersection of desire for a thing.” Our modern internet is lousy with pop-culture, it’s incredible just how pop our culture has gotten. It drowns out any culture that isn’t pop by smothering it in mounds of double extra servings of pop. Our pop is so pop we had to create hyper-pop to contain it, another magnitude added to the pop-Richter scale, and boy oh boy, is there desire for it. I have many criticisms about fanfic, both the art and the culture, but I’m not going to go on a tirade here. What’s important is that people are doing it. They’re taking the stories they love and expanding upon them, putting their own spin on their favourite characters and creating something new and interesting out of it. As Savage says “I personally don’t care where somebody gets interested in creating something, I just want the act of creation to occur.”

The Eyre Affair is a love letter to the stories that compel Fforde, like Arthur Conan Doyle’s Through the Magic Door made narrative. Published in 1907, Doyle’s collection of essays is adamant that popular fiction is vital to creativity, so this isn’t new age thinking. What is new is that we have more accessible places to share with each other, to create community around the things we love, and yet it still feels so closed off. When we say fanfic we think of a subsection of the internet filled with wierdos, from Trekkies and X-philes in the 90’s, to whatever is popular in fanfic today, I don’t know, what are you into? Is it Gideon the Ninth? Y’all still doing One Direction? Whatever the case, it’s delegated to a shadowy basement corner filing cabinet and forgotten by the rest of the literary world, and that’s a shame, because it is often where our most base fantasies as readers play out.

“Gone where no other fictioneer has gone before”? Fforde goes where all of us go, that’s what makes this book so compelling, only he does it in public where everyone can see.

[mothheart-ships-archive]

So I think I'm coming to a decision and here's what I want to say:

I am choosing to be neutral. I do not want to take sides, and I don't really wanna be involved in discourse and see people say that someone should die or something. That's wayyyy too hard for me, as someone who has lost someone close to me to suicide, and has witnessed many more crack under the opinions of people who don't even know them.

More under cut.

I come from a fandom where darker topics are roleplayed all the time, but the people there agree that certain topics are yikes and do not support them irl. We agree that characters intentions, thoughts, opinions, etc. do not equal the intentions, thoughts, opinions, etc. of the roleplayer; the fandom source is dark, and it allows us to explore darker themes, angsty plots, and interesting stories. We recognize that some stuff just isn't our cup of tea so when engaging with each other we don't engage in those topics!

Additionally, I think characters and ships and narratives all rely on the source and CONTEXT they are based on.

Another example: It's like cancelling George R.R. Martin for writing about war and murder and incest and rape in Game of Thrones. These things, unfortunately, happen, and exploring them in fiction is normal for a lot of writers and they are still able to admit that these actions irl are wrong. And yet Martin is not cancelled. People who are not comfortable with these topics don't watch the show nor read the books. People who do engage with the media make ocs and ships with murder and darker themes as it is within the realm of belief for the source. It does not mean that they, nor Martin, support rape or murder or incest.

This. This is what I'm understanding of Proship at the very least. I do not know enough about comship as it is a new label that I'm not as familiar with and I am still struggling to understand it. I think it is VERY important to be critical about the media you consume, to question themes and the creators is healthy, but I do just as genuinely believe that people can explore darker themes without actually endorsing it irl. THAT is the most important thing to me. If someone is prancing around saying they whole heartedly wanna do things to children... that is a completely different story. That is not even in the realm of shipping. Those are the people to watch out for.

Think about the memes about this, too. The "i could fix him" and "i could make him worse" memes. That's toxic idealization, but put in a way that is humorous and something a lot of people can chalk their very own ship dynamics up to. I don't see people sending death threats over that.

Which means it's all about context and intent. Not all proshippers agree with various dark themes, and from what I've had explained to me and from what I've seen it is generally just letting people explore fiction the way they want to. Sometimes it's a way to cope. Sometimes it's to create a story. Sometimes it's just to have fun.

If you're reading this and choose to disagree, that's your decision and it will be respected. People are allowed to agree to disagree over something as simple as fiction. Feel free to block me.

This said, here are my boundaries, I would like for them to be respected if we have a conversation/talk about ships.

-I do not support incest irl and would prefer not to engage with romantic incest ships. I will block if this is disrespected.

-I do not support pedophilia and would prefer not to engage with adult/minor age gap romantic ships. I do not mind ships with age gaps as long as a MINOR is NOT involved. I will block if this is disrespected.

-I do not support rape irl. I do not support unhealthy relationships where sex is more important than the emotional well-being of the partner. I do not support situations where 'no' is not respected. I do not support non-consensual actions between individuals. I do not mind it as a detail of narrative, I do not mind it as being part of a character's/oc's/insert's back story. But if there are heavy themes of active noncon in a ship then I do not want to engage. I will block if this is disrespected.

-I would like to get to know the actual human person I'm talking to before judgement is made over the little things.

-However, fascists, racists, pedophiles/MAPs, terfs, anti-lgbt, antishippers/anyone who actively harasses anyone for differences or brings harm to others ARE NOT welcomed here. If you identify as these or with the ideologies of these identities then please do not engage with me. These are not little things. That's a person's life.

Thank you for reading, regardless of your stance on the subject of pro/neutral/antishippers. I hope you have a nice day whoever you are.

[yowlthinks]

Numbers Game

Something happened today in the way of mixed age social group dynamic and I am still thinking about it. The key question I am still struggling with is what is better, what is healthier (for all the participants): segregate the participants by age with lower and upper limits, or just let everyone who wants to be part of the group be there? And then if we say "better", for whom exactly is it better?

A few days ago a massive GO fandom WhatsApp group was founded and pretty soon it swelled to nearly a 100 participants globally. Did you know you could reach 1500 (one thousand five hundred) unread messages in a group by just not looking at your phone for a couple of hours? Neither did I, but now I know. Anyway, it was lovely, just as this whole fandom is, and among all the one-liner chatter there were some really nice more in-depth discussions about life. It was a little overwhelming, but I liked it.

Now, the age of participants varied, you could see that straightaway, but that was not a problem, because it wasn't like there was anything in the discussions that you could not discuss with a teenager. But then today the inevitable question of "how old are you" came up and apparently some members were shocked to find out the age differences. When you're 36 and a 16 year old asks you "What are you doing here?", I'm not gonna lie, it stings a little.

You want to turn around and tell them that in those 20 years since you were their age you have not, in fact, disappeared. You still read and write fanfiction, enjoy a good meme and generally are allowed to have fun. Yes, even if you have a job, kids and all those other adult things. Especially, because you have all those other adult things and they weigh on you, but you are still you and it is good to remember that. You want to turn around and scream that you are not "old and boring". That you need that little happy corner to dive in and let yourself go happily unhinged over fictional characters. And you have every right to do it.

But then I guess, if you are 16 and you have this fandom where you run away from school, parents and teen angst, you want to have this as your own world. You think people who are in your fandom are essentially all more or less like you. And finally someone understands, someone knows your suffering!! And when it turns out that apparently there are people closer to your parents' age enjoying these same things, well, it feels like a betrayal. Like some sort of spies infiltrating your fortress of happiness, and you want to turn around and shout at them. How dare they take this from you?! You are already going through so much, and now these old boring people dare to steal this one happy thing from you?!

The thing is, Internet is great at mixing people and bringing them together. And fandoms are a place where discussions happen, which wiuod never happen in real life. And to get those discussions, it is good to have different perspectives, and yes, this diversity includes diversity of age.

It is also good for teens to know that life does not end after 20, or 30 or 40. Or even 50, or 70. Life only ends when you die. And there is noone who should police what you enjoy as long as you are doing this without harming others. You do realise that the first modern fanfiction authors are pushing 70 and 80 now, and can you honestly tell me that these people suddenly lost their ability to imagine and enjoy the things they love? I bloody well hope not, because being ale to enjoy what you love is what makes life worth living. It is just a little uncomfortable to think your gran is probably not averse to reading or at least imagining Kirk/Spok stories in her head, yeah, probably saucy ones too. This thought doesn't really fit the narrative, so you push it away. But knowing that it is possible, makes the thought of being an old person a little less scary. "I will still be me".

Anyway, long story short, there is now a separate group. It is smaller and also devoid of stickers (did you know WhatsApp has stickers?! I had no clue, I don't know if it is a generational or cultural thing, but whatever), and I hope it will be a joyful place and full of discussions.

That "what are you doing here?" still stings a bit. But I guess, it is the right thing to let the teens have space wherever possible, they are going through it all, so let them be.

And hey, look at me, having fun on Tumblr, coping with being in my mid-30ies so well.