#minor/background ships include

[roughlytwentytwofrogs]

There is an issue in this community with misstagged fics on AO3, specifically in the FxF tags. I don't know if it's going to reach the actual people or not but I'm still going to put this here:

A lot of MxM and FxM are tagging FxF ships in the main relationship category despite the ship itself only being written in the background.

Which is a problem because when you go into your ship tag to find fics of your ship, a ridiculous amount of them are off topic. And while yes you can lower that amount significantly by filtering and tag exclusion, AO3 has a built in feature that is made to avoid this.

I am going to use the Shadowzel tag for that because it's the most popular FxF ship on there and it's also one of the most misstagged rn. As of right now, there is 607 fics in the Shadowzel tag without filter. If you restrict the search to only include FxF, you are down to 397 fics. That is more than a third gone!

And it gets rid of some shadowzel content as well, so it's either you filter that out or you have to scroll through a tag where 1 out of 3 fics are about Astarion, Gale, Halsin, etc instead of the ship you looked up.

If your fic, let's take for example a Tav x Astarion, has either consistent mention of Shadowheart x Lae'zel, the most popular wlw ship, or has them in the background as support characters, or even just mentions them as a funny little wink and you want to make sure your readers know they are in here, you do not use the relationship tag! You go down to the additional tags and add "Minor Lae'zel/Shadowheart (Baldur's Gate)".

Unless the pairing you are tagging is the main focus or have a significant role and spotlight on them, you should not use the relationship tag! It clogs the feed for no reason, AO3 is not a website where you have to advertise your posts to the most tags possible.

Adding a visual for clarity:

[silentgravesdontexist]

MDNI: MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

This took me a lot longer than I expected. Not sure if I pulled it off properly but here it is! I'll be working on a AMAB!Reader version of this— though that might take a while since my other drafts have been glaring at me for a while now.

Portgas D. Ace x AFAB!Reader

CW: Sexual Content (mutual body worship, oral on both sides, praise kink, and penetration), Explicit Language, and he gets a bit sentimental at the near-end

Word Count: 3k

There was a certain question that lingered on Ace's mind for quite some time now: What in the name of all the seas did he do in his past life to deserve someone like you in this one? And what can he do to keep you in this life and the next one?

Try— desperately. That's for sure. He may not be a romantic when it comes to words but through action? He's more than willing to put in the effort if it means you know how much you mean to him. May it be carrying your things for you, holding your hand as he helps you down the docks, bringing you a warm drink while on nightwatch duty, or to even make sure you feel warm during visits on winter islands at all cost. He firmly believed that there was nothing he wouldn't do if you asked him for it.

Well, that also included worshipping that brilliant body of yours.

There's a full moon hanging over the sky. Inky heavens littered with glittering stars above. The subtle splash of the waves hitting the sides of the ship become a soft hum in the background. A lull to the noise within your shared quarters with Ace.

Soft sighs leave your lips as his hands roam over your body. He tugs you closer to him, making you straddle his lap as he sits on the bed. A hum leaves his lips when the inside of your thigh brushes against his clothed erection. It took everything not to just roll his hips to feel more of that friction. He had to be patient. Treat your body with the reverence you deserved.

His head ducked against the curve of your neck as he presses open-mouthed kisses all over the expance of your skin. Sucking and nipping love marks in every place he knew would get you to squirm on his lap. He'd trail his tongue over the mark and press a gentle kiss on it before moving to the next spot. Each mark had you arching your back with a matching shiver that ran down your spine. Your mind slowly becoming more and more blissfully blank with the tension and pleasure.

"'Atta girl. So responsive, just for me." Ace mumbles against your skin before running his tongue over the column of your neck. It has you running your hand through his hair with a small whine which makes him chuckle. "You taste so good. I'd never get tired of your sweet taste." His voice sultry against your ear and nipping your earlobe.

His hands move up to under your breasts, his thumb bushing over the underside of it. And it goes straight to his cock when you suck in a sharp breath. Now, he's trailing kisses all the way down to your chest. One hand moving down to your ass as he leans you back a bit to give him more access to your chest. He kneads your ass with a mixture of possessive devotion while his other hand is fondling your breast, enjoying the way you arch your back even more into his touch. Practically offering yourself up to him.

"Ace..." You breathe out, eyes fluttering shut when you feel his cock twitch just beneath his shorts. "Let me." With that, you pull away to craddle his face in your hands. A warm smile on your lips at the sight of him looking dazed with lust. Pupils blown wide as he struggle not to latch his lips to some part of your skin again.

Before he could even respond, you gently take his hat off him and place it on your head. That playful smile on your lips that has him closing his eyes and praying to whatever gods are listening for self-restraint. You take the chance to place a languid kiss against his lips. With a groan, Ace chases after your lips even as you pull away. Your hands wandering over his toned muscles, indulging in the way the flex under your touch and the way he lets out a shaky breath as you descend lower and lower.

Kisses trailed down to his torso, adjusting your position to settle between his legs and he gladly lets you. A groan leaves him when you stop over his happy trail, just above his shorts. You look up to him as if silently asking for permission. He lets out a chuckle before leaning back and give you better acces and to see you better as well. His hand reaches out for the hat to move it back just a bit so he'd get a better view of your face. And, gods, did he love what he saw.

You trail your lips against the tent in his shorts, sucking on the damp tip over the fabric. It has him spreading his legs wider for you. Fingers brushing away the strands over your face while biting down on his lip. With that, you make quick work of his pants. He raises his hip to let you tug them away with his boxers and thrown somewhere on the floor.

The sight has you visibly swallowing. Pre-cum beading at the tip, it twitches at the way he sees that hunger in your eyes. Slowly, you place a hand over his abs while the fondls his balls. Lip peppering kisses over the length and giving kittenish licks over the veins of it.  A chocked groan rumbles in his throat when you finally give attention to his tip. Just the sight of you lapping up his pre-cum so hungrily has him clutching on the sheets for dear life.

"Your cock tastes so good, pretty boy." You hum, licking the tip before looking up to meet his gaze. Gods, his knuckles were turning white from gripping the sheets beside him. You wearing his hat, lips parted with your tongue sticking out and that thin line of saliva between your tongue and his cock. You looked ethereal in his eyes.

With that, you take in the tip into your mouth and suck on it just the way you knew he liked. How it made his hips twitch, holding back from just fucking that sweet mouth of yours. However, he can't help but run his fingers through the back of your head and tugging on it a bit as if to keep you there. His hat becomes askew on your head and a shaky sigh leaves his lips.

You continue your ministrations on his aching tip without neglecting his balls. Fingers slightly digging into the muscles on his stomach as you begin to take him in. Inch by delirious inch while you swirl your tongue just right and hallowing your cheeks in the process.

"Fuck," Ace breathes out when you take him in fully. He had to stop himself from spilling his cum in your throat then and there. "Such a sweetheart, taking me in like that." His thumb brushes over your cheek reverently. The mixture of worship, love, and hunger swiling in his eyes as he looks at you makes you squirm your thighs together for some form of relief.

Moans of pleasure begin to fill the room as you keep a steady pace. And each time he had to visibly hold himself back from bucking his hips forward seemed like an encouragement to you to make him feel good. The second you hear that guttural groan from him and with his cock twitching in your throat was an obvious sign he was close.

The final straw to him was really the sight of you taking him in so eagerly. As if his cock was the best thing you've ever had. A curse leaves lips and it has him cumming down your tight throat. He couldn't help but keep himself there to enjoy the high blanking out his mind at the orgasm. Tears well up in your eyes from the strain but you do your best to swallow every last drop.

Ace finally comes down from his high after a while and tugs you back to his lap again. A playful grin on his lips as his eyes take you in. Swollen lips, tongue peaking out to lick your lips, and a feral kind of desire brimming in your eyes. He captures your lips in a languid kiss, tasting himself on your tongue. His hand reaches out under your chin to make you meet his gaze.

"You're a vision, love. My turn to make 'ya feel good." He whispers as he eases you down on the bed. Your back against the soft mattress while your hair a messy halo under you. His hat tumbles somwhere on the bed. "Gonna make you feel so good."

He begins to undress you. Lips pressing kisses all over every inch of skin he reveals before throwing your clothes somewhere on the floor. Calloused hands over your bare thighs to spread them open for him. For a moment he just enjoys the sight of you under him like that. He's seen you like this for so many times, but by gods he could never get tired of the sight— nor did he ever want to. You looked so beautiful it hurt.

Ace maintains eye contact with you, drinking in your facial expression while his finger traces along the slit of your folds. Your breath hitches, unable to look away from his gaze as if entranced. Lips parted as soft sighs leave them. Thick and calloused fingers spreading your folds, humming in satisfaction at how warm and soaking wet you felt. With a tease, he flicks a finger over your clit just right that it has you whining and throwing your head back.

"Ah-ah, be a good girl and look me in the eyes when I make feel good, 'kay?" He muses while using his free hand to guide your gaze back to him. Your back arching so sweetly while he starts to adjust his postion to bury his face between your thighs. Lips press kisses over the skin, leaving marks in their wake as he moves closer to where you desperately needed him.  "Always so sweet and responsive for me. I'm too addicted to ever get tired of it."

Ace shamelessly meets your gaze, making you unable to look away when he swipes his tongue over your folds and swirling the tip of his tongue over your clit just right before sucking on it. Shivers run down your spine as you squirm under him, biting down on your lower lip as you do your best to not look away.

Your hand pushes back his hair and keep it there. A mischievious glint in his eyes as you feel him smile in approval against your folds. With a kiss to your cunt, he gets to work. Eating you out that has your back arching off the mattres and nails scratching along his scalp. He was godly in feasting down on you. His ministrations make it seem as though he were a man dying of thirst finally finding an oasis all the while making it so reverently erotic in the way only he could pull off.

"Oh, baby, you're absolutely ravishing. I could worship you all night." Ace mumbles against your folds. It comes out muffled but you can still somewhat understand it. You let out a small whine in protest, "Please don't. I need you." There's that tremble to your voice. He gives you that boyish grin before inserting a finger inside you while his lips wrap around your clit and sucking on it just right.

You tug on his hair as if desperate for more. Ofc, he'd never dare deprive of you of that. His pace picks up while he inserts another and making a come hither motion. Tapping your sweet spot that has you mewling out his name so prettily. He made sure to meet your gaze every now and then to make sure you were still looking at him while he made you feel this good. Your thighs squeezing his head eggs him on to push you over that brink.

Eventually, all it takes is that one final stroke and you clamp down on his fingers. Head thrown back in pleasure while you cry out his name, chanting it like a prayer on your lips. He made sure to continue his ministrations to prolong your orgasm— forgiving how you looked away given that you were practically screaming his name while your walls convulse around his fingers.

When he feels you coming down from your high, he slows down his ministrations before stop. You let out a whine when he slides his fingers out, feeling far too empty for your liking. Kisses trailed over your body while his hands rub soothing shapes over your skin while mumbling praises.

Bracing his hands beside your head as he looks down on you. Ace could feel his heart swelling up with love in the way you looked at him. Your were cheeks flushed, brows slightly furrowed as you look at him, and the satisfication mized with a lingering touch of desire. There was so much...adoration in your eyes that it made his throat constrict by a fraction. He could only respond to it all by leaning in for a kiss, letting you tangle your fingers through his hair.

"I love you," He whispers against the kiss before deepening the kiss. "So, so much." Ace adjusts your position so you're comfortably situated on the bed with his weight on top of you. "Let me show you— treat you like the goddess you are. Please." There's a kind of need in his voice that he could barely hold back. His tongue slips past your lips and the heady taste of you has his mind reeling.

When you pull away, he chases after your lips immediately. But you're already trailing open-mouthed kisses along his chin and jaw, lapping up the remnants of your own slick. It has him groaning and rolling his hips against yours in response. You pull away and craddle his face in your hands. Gods, he'd never get tired with how breathtakingly gorgeous you were.

"I love you too, Ace." The words leave your lips, making sure you meet his gaze so that he know that weight of your words— the truth that even he could never be able to deny despite the lingering doubt in the back of his mind. "I am yours as you are mine. Always."

Ace could feel his eyes stinging at the sincerity in your voice. His jaw clenches for a moment before capturing your lips in a searing kiss. One hand slowly slides down to your waist as he positions the tip against your entrance. Unable to hold back teasing you a bit by dragging the tip over your folds. The whine that leaves your lips is muffled by the kiss.

With a small chuckle, he slowly bottoms out. Inch by delicious inch that has you stretched around his cock so well. The feel of your walls clamping down on him makes his hips stutter for a moment. He acts as if its the first time he's doing this— making love to you. Stopping just as he bottoms out, peppering your face with languid kisses, mumbling praises against the skin, and even reaching a hand to weave his fingers through yours.

Oh, how he adored the way you fit seamlessly with him. You hand holding his firmly and your gummy walls taking in his cock with every thrust so well. He'd angle his hips so that he'd be able to hit that sweet spot inside you that has you mewling his name with each thrust. Brows furrowed in concentration as he closes his eyes to enjoy the feel of you.

"That's it, sweetheart. Show me how good I make you feel." Ace mumbles, trailing kisses down your neck as he continues his slow languid pace. You could feel your own heart being filled with his affections. How each touch makes you feel loved and desired. All because of him.

You let out a loud keen when he hits that sweet spot inside you just right, holding his hand tightly as the two of you slowly feel that tension coiling tight in your gut. Ace made sure to keep his pace slow, making you feel him filling you up again and again with each movement of his hips. Intertwined moans and soft sighs sync as they echo in the room. The sensual yet erotic sound of skin slapping against skin has your mind blanking out.

When you're finally babbling that you're close, he whispers in your ear, "Look at me, love." And that command alone has that sweet shiver running down your spine. "I want to see you unravel." Eyes flutter obediently as you meet his gaze. Your face contorted in pleasure as you do your best to not just let your eyes slip shut and bask in the pleasure he gives you.

There was something about that look in his eyes that always drove you feral— and you knew you had the same effect on him. His pace slowly picking up as he chases after both of your highs. All the emotions he held for you shown vividly on his face. Even the vulnerability he rarely ever shows. Its all laid out before you— and only ever just for you.

A final thrust has that coil in your gut finally snap. Your hand clenches around his tightly as you babble out 'I love you's along with his name. Forcing your eyes to stay open as per his instructions. That's all it took for him to bury himself to the hilt and spill himself inside of you. Your name leave his lips again and again as he returns your words. Forcing his hips to keep moving to prolong both of your pleasure.

You held him as if he were the most precious thing in all the seas, and he held you as though you were his lifeline. Neither of you entertaining the slightest thought of letting go. Just like your words. Ace was yours as much as you were his. And no force could ever pry you away from his hands.

~~~~~

Taglist: @ofoceansandtombsanew @captainportgasdace

~~~~~

Here's my masterlist for more One Piece drabbles, fics, and hcs!

~~~~~

[sgnarl]

sgnarl 2024 updated comm post

helllooo. i know i updated my commissions last in january, but ive honestly improved and done a lot of work this year, so i felt the comm post needed to be updated

before we get into the details....

as always, if you're ever curious about the progress on a commission, just ask for an update and i'll send you one.

character credits: @loveaankilaq / @anaelwings, @goldencamelias, @orcapologist, @bearliquids, @hobgobbin , @too-many-muses , @mightymessenger @odiletheswanqueen

i only accept payment upfront & i will not negotiate on paying after. payment info at the end of post

you can contact me right here on tumblr dot com, just DM me!

Full Body Character - 30$

Add character +10$

Add shading & lighting +10$

Price points for the background can be negotiated based on the level of detail required, or if they are a complete or partial background

Portrait - 30$

Portraits will always be rendered

They will always have a "decorated" background (simple shapes, colors, concepts, or designs)

Portraits will always be from the bust up

Full Canvas - 70$

The full canvas option can get a bit abstract. Basically, you just sit and talk with me about your character/s, their aesthetics, occupation, their lore, specific poses or concepts you want and then I go ham on the canvas

It will always include some level of shading and lighting & some level of background, whether it is a literal setting or a decorated/abstract background

The base price is 70$. However, if you'd like to add another character (as shown in the second example), it will be +10$, just as it is with the Full Body Character option.

If you're only curious and want to discuss this option, feel free to DM me, no strings attached

Concepts I Will Accept

✔️ - some robot/cyber/mech stuff (i really determine case-by-case), furry/anthro, non-humanoid creatures, fantasy, sci fi, OCs, weapons, blood, nudity/suggestive

✔️ - some fandoms I'm familiar with are D&D, Marvel & DC comics/movies, Assassin's Creed, Disco Elysium, ATLA, Metalocalypse, The Wolf Among Us. I'm capable of doing any fandom artwork with sufficient references & have done so in the past

Concepts I Won't Accept

❌ - hateful imagery, underage/abusive/incest ships, certain fandoms (Harry Potter, Voltron, Supernatural are among these), gore, and ofc I reserve the right to deny anything

paypal: thundahouse

NSFW comm post (minors DNI this link)

Further various examples below

Furry/Creature

Full Canvas

Full Body

^ non standing poses can count as full body commissions

[raguiras]

Mionn's art & writing ship trade event

(Click the art for better quality!)

I'm hosting an art & writing event centered around ships & duos (multifandom)!

🖤 REBLOGS ARE SUPER APPRECIATED

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I've recently reached 200 followers on this blog, 900 on my meme blog, and 100 on Instagram!! Honestly, I don't even know what to say... I feel so damn honored and am so grateful for the support!! 🖤🖤🙏

As a multi-milestone celebration as well as an event for the official Spade of Storms (Deuce x Allen) day, which is on the 27th of July, I decided to host a TRADE EVENT!!!

Basically, this event is going to be an open art/writing trade that's all about ships (or platonic duos).

The event starts on 7/23 (today) and lasts for rest of July as well as for the entirety of August. For every Allen x Deuce art/writing that I receive during this duration, you get one of your own ship from ANY FANDOM back!

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Why am I hosting this?

it's a way to thank everyone for three different follower milestones

a contest/DTIYS/raffle wouldn't promise that everyone gets something back, so I went for a trade event

the event allows me to post more about other canon TWST characters and draw them while not having to neglect Allen x Deuce

I wanna make new mutuals & friends, get to know more ships, and strengthen friendships with mutuals I already have!

Artfight is/was tons of fun, but I only do/did colored sketches there & ships are a tricky subject. Meanwhile, I'll do ANYTHING here!

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

Basic information:

Make a drawing/writing/comic of Allen x Deuce. (Ideas can be found in this post's pink "starters for my ship" section.)

Post it on your blog, tag me in it, and refer to my event. (While posting is by far preferred — especially for bigger artworks and written stuff — you can also just DM it to me.)

In return, you'll receive a gift of the same type for your own ship from any fandom (OC x canon, canon x canon, OC x OC)! I'll DM you about the ship, so make sure that your DMs are open.

For example: If you submit a sketch, you'll get a sketch back. If you submit a fully shaded drawing, I'II make a fully shaded drawing for you, too. If you add a background, I'll (do my best to) do the same. If you write a drabble... You know the drill!

ANYONE can join, whether you follow me or not! However, new followers through the event are super appreciated!

EVENT TIME: July 23th (today) - August 31st

Anything submitted before or after this event duration will not receive anything back (unless we explicitly do a trade), but be held in high regard nonetheless!

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Rules:

The portrayal of Allen x Deuce must be shippy/romantic.

Please keep angst at a minimum unless it has a happy ending. Comfort is allowed.

Please DO NOT add your own OC or another canon character to the submission. Including them in the background as a wingman or something is alright, though. Additionally, any kind of romantic implications between Deuce and another character/OC are NOT allowed.

Please no NSFW. Harmless implications and slight spice are okay, but keep in mind that these characters are both minors.

AUs are very much allowed! All the previous rules apply here, too, and I'm willing to give an overview of some AUs via DMs.

Please no genderbending.

Please DO NOT draw Allen or Deuce as a standalone character. This is a SHIP event for a reason.

Please don't change their appearances too much, especially when it comes to the color schemes & body types.

Giving them different outfits — especially event outfits — is absolutely cool (yes, you can draw Allen in a skirt if you wanna), and changing their hairstyles is okay as long as they still look like themselves.

This is NOT A DTIYS event, so please DO NOT redraw one of my Allen x Deuce arts. Please come up with something original.

If you have any more questions, please DM me!

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What CAN you submit?

drawings // comics // writings // animatics

For drawings, anything from a quick sketch to an extremely detailed drawing with a background is allowed! You'll get something of the same quality back. The same also goes for writings/fanfics.

Animatics will receive a drawing in return.

What CAN'T be submitted?

Gacha videos // edits // memes

-> You can theoretically submit all of these and I'd appreciate them, but I wouldn't be able to give you anything back.

Memes refer to funny pictures that simply have Allen & Deuce's faces in them. DRAWN memes/meme redraws count as DRAWINGS.

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Starters for Allen x Deuce

Got no clue what to draw/write about?

Check out the few already existing Allen x Deuce posts on this blog for proper lore and facts.

Check @spade-of-storms for fun facts, shorter rambles and additional info.

In any case, you can't go wrong with simple fluffy, romantic scenarios! Dates, kisses, cuddles, whatever!

For information about Allen himself, please check my pinned post.

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Q&A:

I want to join the event, but I don't have any ship (OC x canon, canon x canon, OC x OC) you could draw/write about for me in return.

That's okay! In that case, I'll gladly draw/write about two separate characters or a platonic duo for you.

Can I do multiple submissions for this event?

Obviously, and every single one will be "revenged"!

Can I get something of another type/quality back? For example, can I get a fully shaded drawing for my sketch, or art for my drabble?

Unfortunately not, as I prefer to always give something of the same type back. There are only the following two exceptions that I AM willing to do:

you do a drabble/oneshot —> I do a sketch

you do any type of art —> I write a drabble/oneshot

Is there anything you refuse to draw/write about?

Deuce ships (other than Deuce x Allen). NSFW. Family x family. Minor x adult. Any ship considered to be problematic.

How do I tell you about the ship I want you to draw/write about for me?

I'll DM you after you post your event submissions.

Do you prefer to do OC x canon, canon x canon, or OC x OC?

I have a bias towards OC x canon and canon x canon ships. However, I'm willing to do any ship that's not problematic! In the case of OC x OC, I simply need you to provide information on two OCs instead of one only.

Will you do poly ships?

In order to keep things fair, no. But I could include the third party as a plush or chibi head.

I want to make Allen x Deuce content for you, but not receive anything in return.

That's also super appreciated anytime (and totally doesn't make me freak out /pos)! Simply share it as a gift and don't mention the event.

How long is it going to take you to finish your "revenge" on me?

It depends on the type of submission you make & what I'm giving you back. Some things can be done within a day while others may take much longer, but either way, you WILL get something of the SAME TYPE back & that's guaranteed.

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Personal notes:

My health isn't the best and I also have a job. Please be respectful and don't rush me nor get mad when I'm being slow.

Please do not start a discussion nor get mad at me if I refuse to draw/write about a ship I deem problematic & want you to pick another one instead. Preferably pick a ship that's by far NOT problematic from the beginning.

I'm unwilling to draw/write about any Deuce ships other than Deuce x Allen because I kin Deuce a ton and tend to feel uncomfortable with many of his ships, so please don't ask for any. I'm asking you to not start a discussion over this, either.

I won't post everything I make for the event on this blog. Sketches and writings will either be DMed to you or posted on one of my other blogs.

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That's it for now! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to DM me.

And again, thank you so much for 200 followers!

♤ Happy trading! ♤

[seangardnerxiv]

Shadow and Maria's Complex Relationship

FOR DISCLOSURE: this thread is going to be discussing the complexities of Shadow and Maria’s relationship based on many different factors. Though I will be including the romantic interpretation (NOT a sexual one – I do not support nor condone sexualizing these two, nor any of the characters in Sonic, as they are almost all minors) as a potential, I will not be arguing to assign a definite label to their relationship – I will, in fact, be doing exactly the opposite (I am also not interested in engaging in shipping discourse over Sonic the Hedgehog characters). I would simply like to disclose that that will be discussed in case the topic upsets you and you would prefer to stop reading now. I accept this post may not be received well by some.

SPOILERS FOR SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS

So I've had to break out my Tumblr for this - my usual haunt is Twitter/Bluesky, but those don't really allow for longform posts. This is also a major departure from my usual FFXIV posting, so apologies to anyone who follows me for that.

Sonic x Shadow Generations recently dropped, alongside the short animations “Dark Beginnings” as well as the (non-canonical) manga “The Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow the Hedgehog.” With it, discourse surrounding Shadow and Maria’s relationship has kicked up again, largely in two parties – that Shadow and Maria held a sibling relationship, or that Shadow and Maria held romantic feelings for one another (some people have also argued that Shadow is her uncle, or Maria is his mother, but I won’t be discussing those views). There are arguments for both drawn from a variety of sources – I will do my best to present both (if there are others I've missed, please feel free to comment and I will add them).

For siblings:

This Twitter post of artwork for Dark Beginnings has the following alt text: “Shadow and Maria reach out for one another in an infinite abyss (as long-lost siblings would) with the Moon and the Space Colony ARK in the background."

The manual for Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) describes Maria as “like a sister to Shadow.” I have also seen another screenshot of a different manual that states that Shadow as "like a brother to Maria," but I've been unable to find which manual it is.

Gerald refers to Shadow as “son” during the climax of SxSG.

For romantic:

Maria saying “I love you” in the Japanese version of SxSG uses the kanji “ai shiteru,” whilst her “I love you” in the Japanese version of the manga uses “daisuki.” Whilst it can be used for familial relations, it is apparently very uncommon for both of these to be used outside of romantic intent.

Shiro Maekawa – the original creator of Shadow and Maria – based them (or at least parts of them) off of a romance manga known as “Please Save My Earth” (with Maria sharing the Japanese voice actress for the female lead from the anime), and has frequently supported them together, often retweeting romantic art and posts of Shadow and Maria.

In a recent interview from Sega, Maria touching Shadow’s face in Dark Beginnings was equated to Beauty and the Beast.

For Tanabata – a Japanese festival celebrating the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi, and the separation of them as lovers – Sonic Channel posted artwork of Shadow and Maria reading the story beneath the stars. Sonic Channel has also published fanart for Valentine’s Day relating to Shadow and Maria (although they publish a lot of fanart).

Before I go any further, when the topic of Shadow and Maria in a romantic lens comes up, many of the same criticisms arise that I do not believe are fairly levied – namely accusations regarding their age, species, and familial ties. I would like to address – and debunk – these three before we go any further. Keep in mind while you read these – this is not meant to convince you that their relationship was one thing over another, but only to provide validity to a subjective point of view I feel is unfairly stigmatized.

“It’s incest because Shadow is Maria’s brother/uncle(?).”

While there were notions of family stated by both Maria and Gerald, Shadow was grown in a tube with alien DNA and has zero blood relation to the Robotnik family. Whilst there are abstract labels of “like a sister” or “sibling coding” that are only ever applied in a meta sense, neither of them define their relationship in such a way within the lens of the universe. And it is not as if the topic never arises - in Shadow Generations, Maria herself likens young Abraham Tower as akin to her little brother, but she makes no such distinction with Shadow.

“Sibling coding” is ultimately a nothing statement, and unless a proper adoption is made, it does not magically turn romantic feelings towards the two involved into incest. Frames of reference are often informed by what young people are familiar with, and they sometimes lack the proper tools to acknowledge that their feelings towards each other are more complex than they first believe - to say that this is something that potentially occurred with Shadow and Maria is not outlandish, and not a concept unique to Sonic as a series.

Similar examples to this include Clive and Jill from Final Fantasy XVI (Jill is accepted into the Rosfield household and raised alongside Clive and his brother, only to later enter a romantic relationship with him as an adult), Nero and Kyrie from Devil May Cry (Nero is fostered by Kyrie's family and considers Kyrie a sister initially, only for her to become his love interest as adults) and Sidon and Yona from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Sidon grows up perceiving Yona as a sister, only to realize his feelings for her are more complex later on). None of these are incestuous relationships, nor is Shadow and Maria’s were it to be romantic.

“It’s bestiality because Shadow is an animal.”

Bestiality is applicable to regular animals that do not hold human sentience of thought, as they are unable to consent to a relationship, like a dog or cat. Shadow is not this, nor are any of the anthropomorphic characters within the Sonic games - were you to change the anthropomorphic animals in Sonic into humans, basically nothing about the series' content would change. All of them are completely sound-minded beings that are essentially just people who look different. Shadow is not Maria’s pet, he is her fully sentient friend that holds the same degree of thought as she does – given that Shadow’s entire arc is about finding his purpose in life, degrading him to simply a lab animal rather than acknowledging he is a person defeats that entire arc (something the manga also touches upon).

A lot of people also cite Sonic and Elise from Sonic ‘06 (namely the scene where Elise kisses the deceased Sonic) as a reason why Shadow and Maria should not be done - while I think it’s valid if you didn’t like watching a human girl kissing Sonic the Hedgehog, I maintain that a good chunk of that disdain stemmed from two major reasons:

Elise was very poorly characterized in her game. She existed to constantly get kidnapped and be saved by Sonic, and so both the relationship and the kiss came off more like pandering than something earned.

Sonic '06 had a bizarrely realistic artstyle for the human characters, whilst all of the animal characters retained their cartoonish appearances. This clash of artstyles looked its worst when Elise kissed Sonic at the game's climax.

Maria, however, does not fall into these pitfalls. She does not exist to be purely a love interest for Shadow - she’s certainly not someone for him to save, as the entire inciting event of Shadow's character is his inability to save her when she saves him.

For a frame of reference, Shadow is more akin to an alien from Star Wars – a setting where humans also exist. It is not bestiality for a Human to hold a relationship with a Twi’lek, as both races are fully anthropomorphic and sentient. On a similar note, Beauty and the Beast is not considered bestiality either, even though the Beast bears obvious animalistic traits. Some people have also entertained the notion of Rouge and Topaz from Sonic X, even though the latter is human. This is all the same principle, and none of it is bestiality.

“It’s creepy because Maria is young.”

Shadow – while said to be ageless – is not an adult, and to imply that he is one is a fundamental misunderstanding of Shadow’s character – whilst there are many instances where he demonstrates maturity on some levels, he has shown much immaturity since his inception in Sonic Adventure 2 (his desire to destroy the world out of revenge for Maria), and his most recent storyline in Generations involves his naïve desire to change Maria and Gerald’s fates (or rather, an initial indifference to what it will bring). Not only that, but his time on the ARK was mired in confusion over the point of his existence – Maria was the one that helped him field through his confusion, and was arguably the more mature one between the two of them. We can safely say that Shadow is not an adult character, nor is he ever presented as one in the lens of the game.

As the closest thing Sonic likely has to an equal in both body and mind (Sonic holds his own immaturities similar to Shadow), he can likely be placed mentally close to his age of fifteen. This is reinforced by the leaked transcript of Sonic ‘06 that refers to Shadow as 15 (the red squared text in this image).

Maria has no canon age established in game material, but Sonic X lists her as 12. 15 and 12 is the same age gap as Sonic and Amy respectively.

In addition to that, many people have claimed that Shadow is over 50 years old, but this is only true of his chronological existence, not the time he has been conscious and aging. He spent 50 years stuck in cryosleep, and awoke exactly how he was when he was placed in there.

A similar example would be Aang and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender - Aang was frozen at the age of 12, and awoke 100 years later. Nobody, however, tried to claim that he was 112 years too old to kiss the 14 year old Katara, as Aang was physically and mentally still a 12 year old upon awakening - most people who watched the show were also actively rooting for these two characters to kiss, which they did at the show's finale. It's the same principle regarding Shadow - he is 50 chronologically, not 50 in mind or body.

If we’d like to really get into it, I would point out that nearly every character in the lens of Sonic is in and around Maria’s age range (according to the Sonic Channel). As stated previously, Sonic is 15. Amy is 12, Knuckles is 16, Rouge is 18, Blaze and Silver are 14, etc. Nobody bats an eye at notions of romance between any of these people (not that I’m saying they should inherently).

Romantic intent between minors is not inherently viewed as a bad thing - see the examples of Aang and Katara or Clive and Jill above, or for an in house example, consider the canonical (to Sonic X at least) relationship between the 8 year old Tails and Cosmo - yet for some reason when it comes to Shadow and Maria, a relationship is stigmatized.

To reiterate in the wake of the last point, my discussions of romantic intent ARE NOT SEXUAL IN NATURE. As I acknowledge these are minors, any notions of that are completely off the table, and I do not agree with anyone who would imply their relationship was a sexual one. I want to make that unmistakably clear.

My major takeaway from observing both the Sonic fanbase and those on Sonic Team seems to be that in western circles, Shadow and Maria as siblings is the popular perception, whilst in eastern circles, they are more commonly perceived romantically. But ultimately, Shadow and Maria’s relationship seems to have many contradictory signals that makes it hard to pinpoint a concrete definition, especially in the most recent releases – and I believe that this is fully intentional.

Shiro Maekawa has stated in DMs has stated this regarding their relationship when asked if he saw them as siblings or love interests (translated from Japanese):

“I think they have a special bond that is unique to them that doesn’t fall into either of those categories. Just my personal opinion.”

From the way that the two are written post-Sonic Adventure 2, this appears to be a sentiment that is fully carried forward – their relationship is more nuanced than a canonical label would make it. Maria was the only person who made Shadow feel loved, and Maria unquestionably loved him back. What kind of love that was is up to the viewer, especially given that Maria died when they were both young, before they even had a chance to expand upon their relationship, if that was ever on the table – not that they needed to, given that their bond seems to have transcended both labels. Maria was the only one who acknowledged Shadow as more than an experiment or a weapon, and Shadow was her rock in an environment where she was isolated away from her family and home. Maria was Shadow's person, and still remains that in death.

To disclose for me personally (in case it was not obvious), I have always interpreted their relationship as romantic - or at least having romantic implications - ever since playing Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and Shadow the Hedgehog when I was a kid. I have both a fiancé and a sibling, and the way they treat each other is far more evocative of how I treat the former than the latter (especially in Dark Beginnings – I do not imagine my sibling through a shoujo filter while I wistfully think about cuddling them in a field of flowers). I do not take the awkwardly placed alt text verbiage from the Sonic Twitter account, used to fake-argue with the Wendy’s Twitter account, as gospel for anything, and I think that treating it as a damning disproval is silly. Had she lived, I believed the complex feelings they held would have been identified as romantic down the line. The relationship always just read as too intimately charged for me to perceive as siblings (it still does especially in the wake of seeing how she touches and speaks to him), even before I had a serious relationship. I think that arguing the nitty gritty over Twitter alt text and translations is silly, as all it took for me to takeaway that the relationship was still romantic was to play the game, watch the animations, and read the manga for Shadow Generations - but that's just me.

That said, I will concur that if you are weirded out by romantic notions between the two of them, that is completely understandable, and I would never argue that you should not feel what you feel for yourself. The sibling viewpoint is also wholly valid an interpretation, with or without word from a meta source. Though she had her grandfather and later Abe, she was largely alone on the ARK away from a family that she clearly loved and missed, and it’s not unusual to presume that Shadow filled in the role of a brother for her. I will also acknowledge that many things I have not mentioned - such as Shadow blushing at Maria calling him cool, or her saying "I love you" in general - are not inherently indicative of romantic intent, and can be read as fully platonic interpretations, and I find those that try to state that the romantic interpretation is the objective one just as irritating as those that state the sibling interpretation is the objective.

My intent is only to dispute the idea that romantic interpretations, and the people who hold them, deserve to be scrutinized. The pairing is completely innocent, and the treatment people have received for believing them to be romantic is obscene. Sweeping blanket statements have been made to insult all who do (some going as far as to wish death and harm upon them), all just based on subjective viewpoints held by people who see them platonically. The fact that there is so much discourse surrounding this topic, and that there is evidence enough on both ends to make an argument, means that Sega has intentionally left the relationship up to interpretation - including the romantic take.

Everyone unclutch your pearls.

But with all that said, I will reiterate that this post was not meant to convince anyone of one thing or another, but rather that both interpretations of their relationship are valid, as it is essentially a secret third thing that transcends both labels and is special only to them. Strictly defining their relationship as “siblings” or “love interests” (even as someone who perceives them romantically, I would never want that to be definitively confirmed for this reason) is deconstructing what is perhaps the most nuanced part of a series that does not always tend to be terribly nuanced, and a definition matters far less than acknowledging what Maria means to Shadow in the present – he is who he is because of her, and because of that, he is now living a life for himself. Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) ended in a way that had Shadow let Maria go, and Shadow Generations ends with him carrying her forward with him after accepting her loss. She was, and will always be, the person who loved Shadow - however you define that love is up to you.

Nothing has ever been hard confirmed by Sega, no matter how much either side wants to pretend it has been.

In summary, both points of view regarding Shadow and Maria’s relationship are simultaneously true and not true – it is a matter of interpretation according to the viewer what their feelings towards each other were, yet their relationship in the lens of what it is now after the tragedy of their existence (even before Maria died) is purposefully indefinable, and it should remain that way. Nobody should ever try to say that Shadow and Maria are definitively something - that goes for both points of view. I doubt it will, but I hope this goes towards removing the stigmas towards one of the more nuanced parts of this series, as nuance in Sonic the Hedgehog - frankly - does not come along very often, and it would be nice if that were encouraged rather than smothered.

Thank you for reading.

[olderthannetfic]

I thought it would be interesting to see if I could easily determine which ships had the most works updated in 2023.

It turned out to be fairly easy, though a little time consuming. I think these results should be reasonably accurate.

Some points to note:

I did this on my own account, and I have like 2 people muted. So I am capturing the effects of archive-locked works, but my numbers might be off by one or two works due to muting.

Works updated in 2023 is a number that constantly changes as works are deleted or updated again in 2024.

I didn't scrape the entire archive or anything like that, so it's possible I missed a ship that would bump one of these down below 100. I'd take the last few at the bottom there with a grain of salt. But I think we can be reasonably sure the top ones are accurate and that the kinds of numbers that we see at the bottom there (eighteen hundred plus works updated in 2023) are about where the cutoff will be even if we find a ship I missed.

--

As for how I did this, I went to the category tags and the rating tags, filtered for updating in 2023, then excluded ships in the sidebar till I got to 130-150 ships excluded. I also grabbed ships that are big in general from tag search, which you can use to find all relationship canonicals, ordered by frequency.

I combined those lists of ships, cleaned off the works numbers, and generated a list without duplicates. That got me three hundred and something (yes, they were mostly duplicates). I generated the relevant AO3 URLs, opened them in batches with Open Multiple URLs, and copied the works totals into a spreadsheet. Not as tidy as using a script but honestly pretty easy if you know a few spreadsheet formulas to clean up data.

The key here is that if you're only going for pretty good and not accurate beyond a shadow of a doubt, all you need to do is generate a list of likely ships, then check them.

It's possible that there's some much-updated ship that is so evenly spread across these various other tags that it just missed showing up in the sidebar. Hopefully, grabbing more than just the top 100 avoided this problem.

This method also doesn't take into account backdated works. If a whole archive was imported in 2023 but all backdated, there could be some ship that didn't have new works but where AO3 users experience in 2023 was of an influx of content.

I also did this just now, in late March/early April, so some 2023 works have inevitably been deleted or updated again. So the exact work counts don't represent the experience of using AO3 throughout 2023. A fandom active in early 2023 might not have much updating in early 2024, while a fandom active in late 2023 would. This could demote the latter a few places in the rankings since I didn't grab numbers on January 1st.

Even if a person scraped AO3 every day or was monkeying around in the databases, you also have to ask what conceptual answer you're after. Is it works a user could have read at some point during 2023, whether they were deleted by the year's end or not? Is it new-to-AO3 works or only newly-created ones, not including imported archives? Does it matter if the works are fic? If they're in English? What about accidental double-uploads or translations of a single work?

I hope this makes it clear why a definitive ranking is not actually possible.

However, despite these drawbacks, I am confident that the rankings above accurately represent the broad trends on AO3 in 2023. Just don't get too fixated on whether a ship should be at number 73 or number 74.

And, of course, I excluded these from the top 100:

Original Character(s)/Original Character(s) - 20,026

Minor or Background Relationship(s) - 16,187

No Romantic Relationship(s) - 8,052

Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s) - 7,195

Original Male Character/Original Male Character - 6,283

Other Relationship Tags to Be Added - 5,618

Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s) - 3,990

Original Character(s) & Original Character(s) - 3,210

Here's a spreadsheet if you want to see the actual numbers not as a shitty screencap. I left the next few below 100 for context.

[mecachrome]

landoscar ao3 stats — 2023 overview

notes

retrieved ~sometime in march 2024

methodology: scraped metadata for every fic in the landoscar tag and...... that's it. however one important constraint is that all temporal data is date updated (not posted), so the above timeline isn't exactly a true representation of fic growth but rather how many fics were last-updated at that time. of course this is still its own reflection of fandom health in a way since dead fandoms don't update old fic but well... it's just not quite the same!

this is just info about general trends, fic content, tags etc... so nothing about kudos/comments or any authors specifically

i decided to focus solely on fics last-updated in 2023 (unless otherwise mentioned) because i wanted a tidy set that i can maybe compare & contrast in a year's time, because i expect a lot of details to look different then (tho as stated above this set isn't exactly static... 🤷‍♀️)

ngl i had to re-scrape a bunch of times because i forgot about it for like 3 weeks and then there were 100 new fics 😭 so if there are some minor discrepancies across the post it's because of that halfskh.

also i wanted to include more global comparisons (aka how 814 stack up against the f1 rpf tag in general), but this is also considerably difficult in some contexts since i can't exactly scrape 31,000+ fics can i... or i didn't even want to entertain the thought of trying to do so!!!

why did i do this? who knows.

anyway here's some viz T__T

ship growth

as evidenced in the opening graph, landoscar have been a very fast-growing ship over the past year — although interestingly enough they didn't really start growing substantially until july / the ~better half~ of the 2023 season. here are two views showing their "growth" (by date updated) alongside two other ships on the fringes of the f1 rpf top 10 (sebchal & galex):

landoscar are very much on-track to surpass them and officially enter the top 10 soon, likely before mid-april ❗️ :o

ship characteristics

onto the ship content — another thing i was mildly curious about was how landoscar differs in certain areas from other f1 ships, or the f1 rpf "global" average you could say. for example, here's a breakdown of rating popularity in their ao3 tag:

seeing as explicit is their most common rating, and that i don't necessarily expect this to be true for all ships/fandoms, i compared these percentages with the general f1 rpf tag to see whether some ratings are more commonly represented in 814 fic than average, which produced interesting results:

do lando ships simply skew more HornyTM in general? is it oscar? a secret third thing??? who knows... actually i think it would be fun to do more analysis in this direction but that can wait for another time!!!

similarly i also wanted to see which ships are the most "public" on ao3, as in have the highest share of fic that isn't user-locked... i will refrain from peppering in my feelings about the 4th wall too heavy-handedly but i was curious to see whether some sort of perhaps... er, generational gap (?) of sorts between ships that are more public vs. not could be identified. however i don't pretend to have any takeaways from this LOL i conclude absolutely nothing. (for ref landoscar is currently 72% public, vs. a global avg of 63%)

note that this graph is current stats, not filtered for 2023

looking at relationship tags, i also wanted to know whether landoscar suffer noticeably from Second-Ship Syndrome, so i tallied the first-tagged ship of every fic to find out. i know this doesn't necessarily mean that it's always the "main" ship but it's a good enough approximation. the results were quite positive!

filtered to top ships with count of >1 only

i then also calculated the number of ships tagged for each fic to discern the profile of multi-shipping in 814 ficdom; i did have to do a little bit of string standardization (all instances of implied / background / hinted collapsed to hinted for simplicity's sake + removal of other redundancies), but otherwise i left everything mostly untouched.

as you can see, landoscar also have a fairly promising amount of OTP: TRUE fic:

by the time you get to the fics with 10+ ships tagged, landoscar are less likely to be the primary ship, which makes sense just on a basic statistical level... this is also a very small sample size though

i also lazily tallied the 10 most common ships that weren't NOR/PIA or NOR & PIA to diff their shares of the 814 tag vs. of the general f1 rpf tag, to see which other pairings are more represented in the 814 tag than on average (because lestappen are the most popular by pure count but this is also true of fandom in general, so it would be a misrepresentation to say that their popularity is out of the ordinary):

maxiel's gap isn't really that surprising since i think that, generationally, in terms of when both pairings were teammates there is quite a gap; with carlando—actually let me tally this again but including all instances of "implied" and "past" as being part of the same ship, since that's how ao3 tag-wrangles as well:

Aha ! obviously as a direct ship there is competition between 814 and other lando or oscar ships, but this difference is somewhat less pronounced once we include all formats. tbh none of this really means anything but i thought i'd add it anyway... (it's also very possible that there are several errors in this, in which case my b 😔)

before we move on to additional tags, there are a few more basic characteristics of 814 fic we can calculate. i realize i never offered an overview of Super Basic Stats, so here are a few:

plus, looking at word counts, here is a distribution of those in 2023-updated fic, which shows that a majority of 814 fics were under the 5k mark:

85% of landoscar fics were under 10k & nearly 97% under 25k

i don't really have any reason to believe that landoscar's wc stats differ significantly from average ? so this is kind of just Data To Have Data, and it most likely reflects normal ao3 trends in general... but i thought i'd include it anyway because i already made it lol. similarly, here are word count distributions but stratified by rating:

& same info but heat map view:

i feel like this is also probably something you'd find across fandom in general — that gen fic is likely to have a higher share of under 1k works, since Building Up to sexual content often takes... Literal & Metaphorical Foreplay ! and the longer a fic is the more opportunities an author has to include a sex scene or other explicit content (ofc, not necessarily just porn but also graphic violence & so on). but i thought this was fun to visualize haha

additional tags & aus?

back in my old f1 rpf stats post, i made a table comparing fluff/angst "ratios" (not exactly a direct ratio because of how tag wrangling works, but an approximation) of the most popular f1 ships, and now that landoscar are somewhat popular i thought i'd first do an update:

also current data, not 2023 to make things easier

just like before, simi are one of the most fluffy ships and brocedes are by far the most angsty, but it's interesting to see 814 also extremely high up on the charts, with far and away the lowest % of angst. will be exciting 2 see how that holds or changes as the seasons progress !

finally, i also wanted to do a bit of au/additional tag analysis because you can kind of see this when you use additional filters on ao3 but the previews are limited and get bogged down by the prevalence of *checks notes* Fluff, Angst, PWP, Anal Sex and what have you. which are nice stats to have and all but what of the rest !

disclaimer that the set for these tables is a biiiit outdated because by the time i'd wrangled everything i was like I Am Not Changing It Again. unfortunately i clean my data with shoddy queries and regex functions in googsheetz...

there were 48 tags with at least 10 instances from 2023 fics, shown below, with ones that are (some ~vaguely) nsfw in red just to kind of get a rough sense of which tags get commonly used in M/E fic:

getting a bit too much into small sample size / specific fic territory so if you're an author i sincerely apologize for that... do not mean 2 put u on blast... TT__TT but i also tried to tally the most popular aus people write for 814, which is a bit dubious because people tag in really different ways and i had to accommodate for a lot of string formats but ... it's close enough ! (?)

i feel like this is very little interesting info but idk what else to add so i will stop here for now... well!!! if you made it to the end i hope u learned something or even vaguely enjoyed reading T__T and most of all thank you :')

[zexapher]

Vacuan Nights, Like Vacuan Days

They’re just so great together! I’d love for Jaune and Weiss to get a little downtime in Vacuo to live out a moment like this. They really deserve it, and I’d love to see Jaune’s guitar make a reappearance.

The comic here was inspired by u/Silverstar1243’s excellent piece of art, A Serenade Under the Moonlight. Send some love to them on their twitter, commission some art if you’re willing and able, they’ve made some great stuff.

You folks may have noticed I threw in a couple of references for those in the know; the Golden Oreos behind Yang (double stuffed, I might add) for the trio’s ship, Weiss liking it rough for Mallobaude’s great fic, and of course I made a whole theme around the Arabian Nights Disney song. A song, along with its Aladdin compatriots, which I spent the better part of a day finding covers for just to listen to on repeat while I worked.

This one’s now officially my longest comic project, with 14 panels, two over the past record since I added the White Knight kiss at the end. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Not sure I’d say it was more difficult than my Vanity of Vanities post, but for this one I actually knew how to use my editing software going into it (at least somewhat).

Put a lot of work into this one, been working on it on and off since February. Took a few breaks for vacation, to make my memorial post for Rooster Teeth, and another five meme edits or so, but I came back around to it. First half was pretty easy, relatively minor edits inserting characters into scenes and so on. The second half with Jaune and Weiss was tougher though, with color correcting, merging poses, redrawing features, drawing Jaune’s entire head to fix some lighting issues, etc. Really like how the edit to make Jaune strum his guitar turned out.

The time it took to make the whole comic got me down a little, until I did a bit of math. Including my side projects since starting this, all the scripting and editing and all, I’ve been pumping out a panel every two days. That seems pretty good to me, that kind of accomplishment makes me a little proud of myself.

Really need to get around to watching the second part of the Justice League Crossover movies. It’s got a few Vacuo scenes that might make things a little more authentic instead of me just using Saphron’s house and pretending it’s a suite in Vacuo. I do love taking yet more character stills from Jaune and friends experiencing deep trauma and turning it into something positive, been making that a bit of a personal habit. And I’ve got to say, the background for Jaune and Weiss’ scene is really beautiful, pulled it from when Sun and Neptune hear Ruby’s message about Salem. That’s just a really good shot all on its own, I even saved a copy for my computer’s wallpaper after editing out the two.

Posting a big RWBY White Knight edit, watching not one but two RWBY Beyond episodes, and all on the trail of the news that RWBY’s found partners that they’re negotiating with and that the creative team is expected to stay on. And I'm sipping bubble tea. Life is good.

Anyway, pardon the long write up. I’m invested in this one, and am quite pleased with how the comic turned out. I hope you all get a kick out of it as well!

[2dmax]

2dmax 🌻🥀 custom art commissions

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Your final art is sent over Google Drive. I will either transfer ownership or delete the file after 7 days. Please download locally.

You must credit me on the platform used if reposted. Always OK to post to ToyHouse; my username is 2dmax there. On instagram and all other platforms where I don’t have an account, please credit my instagram @/maximumgroove.

You may not use my art to promote anything hateful or illegal. You may not claim it as anyone else’s creation. You may not use it for commercial uses, or to edit, adapt, trace, or directly reference, without permission. I may use my art in my own promo material.

Unsolicited advice on my pricing or how I otherwise conduct my business is subject to a $1,000,000,000 fee via personal check, made payable to Joe Mama!

This post is LIVE from Sept 15th 2024 - January 1st 2025, with a possible slight extension.

-max k.

[clancyismylover]

Axel's Totally Radical Selfship Commissions!!!

STATUS: OPEN!

This is my commission information for anyone interested in getting a commission from me! I've been struggling with some funds due to my disabilities keeping me out of work, so anything would help!

Below are a basic set of rules and examples for my work, I hope you can consider me to draw your lovely shelfships!

INFORMATION BELOW

RULES: - Payment through paypal/kofi/venmo - Payment is up front before I begin the commission - No art I make may be used for training AI bots or in NFTS - Pieces are for personal use only - No Proship/Comship - I'm flexible with references, however, if you do not have any images/refs of what you want I'd appreciate it if I could get some sort of image with any physical description. Even stuff on pinterest or just general ideas is fine! - 3 revisions are offered, two in the sketching stage and one in the lineart stage - Estimated time of delivery is 1-2 weeks MAXIMUM depending on my mental health

WILL DO: ⩗ Humans ⩗ Furries ⩗ Oc x Canon and SI x Canon ⩗ NSFW (must be 18+ or older) ⩗ Gore ⩗ Monsters ⩗ Simple robots/machinery

WON'T DO: x Underage Characters x Minor/Adult Ships, Aged Up Ships x Feral NSFW x Hateful Topics x Transformers/Complex Machinery x Anything involving self harm or animal death

PRICES: [Each base price includes the cost of 2 characters, for more they wil l be an add on]

Halfbody - $15 USD

Fullbody - $20 USD

Chibi - $10 USD

Add-Ons: Complex Background - + $5 USD

Additional Characters - +$5 USD

MORE EXAMPLES:

SFW EXAMPLES

NSFW EXAMPLES [WARNING: PLEASE ONLY VIEW THIS IF YOU ARE 18+]

[sceosource]

Get ready for Sceo Weekend 2024!!! It will be running October 19-21. We welcome all positive depictions and celebrations of Sceo–fic, art, gifsets, edits, fanvids, notfic, favorite moments, and more! For your inspirational pleasure, we’ve provided three basic prompts below, but please don’t feel constrained by them! Whatever you create, make sure to mention @sceosource or tag your post #sceoweekend2024.

Saturday, October 19th: In A Dream

Give us your yearning! We see Scott waking from a nightmare about the murder, and Theo practically dreaming of calling Scott. Show us their dreams about each other, or how they'd live the dream together, or explore the fact that each of them has been to the same nightmarish dreamscape.

Sunday, October 20th: At Home

Today's the day for all things domestic, whether it's explorations of pre-canon (did they ever visit each other's houses as little kids?) or canon (did anyone go to Theo's fake house? what's it like for Theo to be back in Scott's house?), or beyond (what happens when Scott finds out Theo's homeless? what does it look like when these two live together?).

Monday, October 21st: On the Road

Road trip, baby!! Today's the day for anything beyond the bounds of Beacon Hills, whether that's the two of them on the road, fighting Monroe, or moving somewhere new, or exploring some unknown world in an AU. The sky's the limit!

If you have any questions about the event, please feel free to submit them to this blog. General rules are below, and rules concerning adult content are below the cut.

General Content Rules:

1) This is a ship-positivity event. While dark themes, sadness, and angst are all inherent in Sceo's history and welcome, works must be positive in their overall tone and story toward the Scott/Theo relationship.

2) No character bashing or hate.

3) All submissions must have Sceo as the main focus and endgame. Background ships and characters are welcome, but please no polyships or other endgames for this event.

Adult Content

1) You must be 18 years or older to create and share NSFW content (including fic).

2) All content created must be compliant with USA laws, especially regarding the protection of minors.

3) Depictions of non-consensual sex acts between Scott and Theo are not admissible for this event.

[plounce]

rob plounce's ffxiv fic reclist

this will update as i continue to find stuff i enjoy. (it also exists as a page on my desktop blog!)

disclaimer: this is just stuff i’ve read that i’ve enjoyed! i have my own favorite characters and pairings, so my reclist skews heavily towards those. i’m not super into in wolshipping, so there won’t be much of that, sorry! i have not read everything in every pairing and character tag, so don’t take this as a comprehensive guide. these are just things that i liked and think are worth reading.

fics are noted with wordcount, pairing (or as gen), and rating (e = explicit). * means it's been recently added to the list.

spoilers ahoy!

scions

*flight of an anorak (17k+, G) gen - urianger childhood backstory fic with transfem urianger! incredibly well-characterized urianger narration. breaks my heart and brings a smile to my face with every update.

lost and found (8.8k, T). gen, light moenuri - you know how moenbryda’s parents basically adopted urianger after they basically abandoned him? this fic is about that. also urianger autism :)

while eating (2.2k, G) gen - more baby autistic urianger with bastard parents. sob. at least moenbryda’s parents are there.

foster (1k, G) gen - pre-canon, thancred overhears fourchenault and louisoix talking about him.

second impression (4.8k, T) gen - fourchenault is a bit more of a classist bastard than in canon and is a dick to thancred, but gets past it. mostly. thancred does his best.

the stars in their abundance (2.7k, T) gen - pre-canon from the perspective of g'raha’s mom in corvos!

cross (1.1k, G) gen - minfilia and thancred clean up the mess of thancred’s possession.

your song, carried onwards (4.9k, G) gen - thancred’s rescue of alisaie from the WoD in the hvw patches.

a stranger in the woods (4.3k, E) thancred/marcechamp - you know, the guy from tailfeather in heavensward? they hook up. thancred gets taken care of.

dust in your eyes (8.8k, T). background ships include wolchefant, wolcred, and haurchefant/urianger, but is mostly about thancred being a sad bastard who is always too slow, too late, and trying to be his best self but not totally succeeding. and haurchefant being a great guy. good character stuff.

how massive is the spirit in us (2.2k, G) gen - ryne character introspection… makes my heart hurt.

testing the waters (1.8k, G) gen - thancred teaches ryne to swim.

the shimmering light (2k, G) gen, light thanuri - urianger settling into the bookman’s shelves. fun il mheg worldbuilding.

almost crystal, almost ascian (10k, T) gen - minfilia and the exarch meet up a few times over the course of a century. their parallelisms. the horror of being “minfilia.”

off the hook, provisionally (974, G) gen - y'shtola talks to the exarch in the wake of 5.0 about his deception.

among the shelves (5k, G). gen - the twins and ryne hang out and talk about the other scions.

portentous news (842, G) gen - urianger’s first morning on the moon in the middle of endwalker.

adventures in unlikely friendship (23k, T) gen - wol+cred friendship! i really like these. the bozja one is delightful. passively-suicidal bestiessss

void parsley sojourn (4k, T) gen, light thanuri - urianger hotboxes the rising stones. very charming depiction of urianger as a weed nerd. makes me laugh and smile every time i read it!

there is (maybe) an ascian among us (11k, T) gen, minor side pairings - post-endwalker, the scions try to get to the bottom of a conspiracy about thancred, who just wants to grill for gods sake! comedy.

two scions walks into a bar… (26k, T) gen, but eventually thanuri - a series where the author intended to just analyze and write about thancred & urianger’s relationship as gen, but then slid into shipping lmao. covers ARR-early STB with a bit of post-SHB. great character work for both of them!

respite, despite (25k, T) thanuri - urianger pining from pre-5.0 to the close of endwalker… good pining, good urianger misery, good romance. wagh!

erasing all the lines in the sand (30k, E) thanuri - mutual pining, miscommunication, coparenting! bookman’s shelves fic.

(in parantheses) (9.9k, M) thanuri - thancred's rescuing of minfilia, time in the first, and the mental stress that emet-selch gives him due to ascian trauma during shadowbringers. also getting together with urianger.

sleepy-eyed soldier (4.6k, M) thanuri - elidibus puppetting ardbert's body brings thancred’s ptsd over having his body used by lahabrea roaring back to the surface in the form of nightmares and hypervigilance. (mind the CWs)

trouble in paradise (2.3k, E) thanuri - transfem urianger!!!! :D :D :D great kind-of-an-asshole thancred character work. hurting each other but trying to fix it.

sole conundrum (412, G) thanuri - pre-edw garlemald scouting mission. urianger autism :D

three of swords reversed (3.2k, T) thanuri, moenuri - urianger dealing with grief over moenbryda and thancred in the later half of endwalker.

another sunrise (5.8k, T) thanuri - post-edw wanderings - urianger deals with a mystery, sudden solitude, and a crisis of doubt! ends happily.

take root in this barren soil (and grow back stronger) (7.4k, E) thanuri - thancred shares what the training regimen of a sharlayan spy entails, not expecting urianger to react so strongly.

to wander is a dream (46k, M) thanuri - post-edw. i don’t tend to enjoy hanahaki fics but this fic is so so so good. thancred being an emotionally stunted asshole, urianger being the world’s most beautiful martyr (for better or for worse), lots of fae stuff, both of them struggling to not be repressed.

why do we forbear? (9.3k, E) thanuri - modern au fake dating, which would usually not appeal to me but this one’s real cute. (currently unfinished)

*to care for those we love (11k, T) ryne and her parents, thanuri - ryne drags thancred to the bookman’s shelves and does her best to administer first aid in urianger’s absence. each chapter is from one of the trio’s pov - i’m usually not super into 1st person, but this fic uses it really effectively in imparting each character’s mindset. it’s very sweet!

ancients

on call (2.5k, T) hythades - emet-selch goes out of town, and hyth is asked to step in for a soul-seeing duty. and he futzes with emet-selch’s office.

mail run (840, G) hythades - “A young archival intern keeps finding completely legitimate reasons to do all the deliveries to a very specific Bureau of the Architect clerk. For no reason at all.” young love!

as stars to a sky (1.8k, T) hythades - little vignettes about life in the pre-sundered world.

the seat of destruction (13k, M) hythades - canon-divergent au where hythlodaeus is the one to take the seat of emet-selch, and the sundering still happens. my favorite ascian!hyth work.

affective memory (9.3k, T) hythades - pov from the shade of hythlodaeus as he wanders around emet-selch’s reconstructed amaurot.

for good health and opportunity (14k, T) pre-emetexarch - emet-selch visits the crystal exarch numerous times over the course of a century. frenemies!

other characters

“nero tol scaeva did nothing wrong”… (5k, G) gen - a bunch of job npcs try to arrest nero for driving without a license. goes about as well as you might think.

biohazard (1.1k, G) gen - nero hates valens’ ass. not because he has “morals” or anything he just thinks valens is a dogshit project manager.

left in the dust (3.9k, T?) cidnero - ARR nero finds amnesiac marques working in the lichyard. miserable little man.

adrift in memory’s fog (16k, T) cidnero - cid’s frequent bouts of amnesia have led to a patchy memory - enough where he forgets that he and nero were betrothed as teenagers. (trans cid!)

the troubled envoy (1.3k, T) gen - maxima’s diary entries during the stormblood patches, including his thoughts on his weird boss.

the last abandonment (1.9k, M) gen - maxima wanders the ruins of garlemald and reflects on his time in the garlean left. by the same author as above - i really rec all their maxima fics.

this cathedral where your face stains the windows (2k, G) ysayle/igeyrohm - “Someone had to teach Ysayle summoning.” great ysayle heresy stuff + toxic yuri.

this blessed day (80k, M) gen - lucia’s journey from a captured garlean spy to aymeric’s right hand. lucia……

cadavre exquis (6.4k, T) gen - emmanellain helps pack up haurchefant’s things at camp dragonhead ft ishgardian homophobia and an underground queer zine scene.

the lantern jar (19k, T) cirisadu - OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDD. this fic is so good. cirina and sadu growing close. lots of development of steppe spiritual traditions and beliefs.

duet (13k, T) estivrtra - estinien encourages vrtra to live more fully as a dragon. cool dragon stuff.

a view of you (14k, M) estivrtra - estinien gets fatally wounded, and vrtra keeps him alive via a great sacrifice (sadly unfinished, but what’s there is a great read)

veteran advisor (15k, E) vrtra/estinien/gaius - really great gaius character work here where he and allie are on vacation in radz-at-han, and the impact that has on both of them. but also? it's mostly about big!varshahn getting railed. good for him!

this home wrested forth (2.5k, T) gen - sidurgu from DRK quests and alaqa from WHM quests meet up and deal with some gridanian wrongdoing.

a fervent desire (111k+, E) sanson/guydelot - an incredibly in-depth retelling of the BRD quests. great work developing these characters and giving them really in-depth motivations!

and love you shall find (9.8k, E) sanson/guydelot - BRD quests, but what if sanson journals as an accommodation for short-term memory loss?

[omaano]

⭐COMMISSIONS ARE OPEN⭐

Reblogs are deeply appreciated even if you cannot afford to ask for a commission <3 However, if you'd prefer to leave just a small tip to support me and my art I have a ko-fi too :)

I’d be happy to draw your OC, favourite character or ship for you; you may check out my art tag for other examples of my work on top of what is in this post, as well as previous commissions I had drawn. If you have further questions don’t hesitate to DM me, or send me an email at omaano.art@gmail.com - detailed descriptions, and reference pictures are greatly appreciated! I truy love learning more about your characters and their backstories through the art process :)

Text transcript of prices, DOs and DON'Ts and additional information under the cut, I encourage you to check that out as well ->

Prices, payment and refund options

All prices are in USD and to be paid through PayPal invoices upfront. Cancellation of the commission is only possible before work on the piece is started. Once the sketch is finalized no refund is possible.

Prices for STYLE 1:

Headshot/bust: sketch $25, lines+flats $35, full render $45

Half-body/waist-up: sketch $35, lines+flats $50, full render $60

Full body: sketch $40, lines+flats $60, full render $80

Prices for STYLE 2 (my painterly style):

Headshot/bust: $60

Half-body/waist-up: $80

Full body: $110

Extra characters are +75%

Simple background is included in the price, anything more complicated (background, very detailed clothing/armour/jewelry/tattoo etc.) can be negotiated for extra ($15+).

DOs and DON'Ts

I WILL draw: fanart, OCs, ships, mild nsfw (e.g. blood, scars, suggestive themes, if unsure pleases ask)

I will NOT draw: mecha, anthro or anything I deem to be harmful content

How it works

Commissioner will receive digital goods - I'll send the high-res version of the commissioned art piece via email. Check-ins can be done via DM or email.

3 minor changes are allowed (e.g. hand placement, flat colours etc) at check-ins with the sketch and colour concepts. Other major changes (like changing the pose after the idea of the sketch is finalized) will cost extra $10.

I have the right to refuse to accept a commission. The work is for personal use only and cannot be used for commercial purposes. I retain rights to the artwork. The commissioned drawing is not to be used in any AI training program or any NFT-related project.

You may post the finished piece to your social media accounts with credits to me as the artist. I might want to post the piece to my own socials as well but I will ask for your permission for that first.

For detailed Terms of Service and further information please check out the following link.

I’m looking forward to working with you :)

[sgladiesnight]

Ladies Night: Stargate Edition

Ladies Night: Stargate Edition

Welcome to the place where the Ladies of Stargate take center stage. Stories where women come together to be badass and competent, and the men take a backseat. Damsels who rescue their men, ladies sweeping each other off their feet, female friendships and relationships as they were always meant to be seen! Come celebrate the incredible women in Stargate and add a little something of your own. 

Got a few fics you think deserve more love? Create a rec list! 

What about a comic series you’ve been dying to draw? Break out the doodles! 

Is there a story you want to tell? Get to typing! 

There are so many ways you can participate. Put together a gif set! Record a podfic for a story starring one (or more!) of Stargate’s Ladies! Make a fanvid! Add to the body of transformative works for these ladies by sharing your favourites or adding to the feast!

If you are looking for a little inspiration (take a look at our daily prompt list / come and spin The Wheel of Prompts). There is no obligation to fill any of the prompts, they are there to inspire and for those who enjoy filling prompts.

Now, on to the particulars! 

When / Schedule: Sunday, July 14 to Saturday, July 20

Where: On Archive of Our Own (AO3) - Ladies Night: Stargate Edition (Collection)

And on Tumblr of course! Please use the tag (#SG: Ladies Night 2024) so that your entries can be collected. 

Q&A List:

Q: Who is a Stargate Lady? A: Any female character (major or minor) that appears within the Stargate canon. 

Q: What is considered part of Stargate Canon? A: Stargate canon includes:  -Stargate (1994) -Stargate: SG1 (1997-2007) -Stargate: Atlantis (2004-2009) -Stargate: The Ark of Truth (2008) -Stargate: Continuum(2008) -Stargate: Universe (2009-2011)

Q: What can be submitted to Ladies Night: Stargate Edition? A: Acceptable submissions to the AO3 collection include:  -Fanfiction -Fanart (drawings, paintings, edits, etc) -Fanvids -Podfics -Gif sets -Meta Entries

On Tumblr we can also accept:  -Fic Rec Lists

Q: Can we include romantic relationships? If yes, what kinds? A: Ships are absolutely included! Any fem-slash or het-ship is welcome so long as the female character(s) are central. This means that any m/m ships that might be included are background and secondary to the fem-slash or het-ship. 

If you have any questions about this event, please send in an ASK! We would be happy to answer :)

[kideternity]

[Image ID: A group photo of the cast of Digimon Tamers. On top of it is a large circle in the middle with a smaller circle to the left underneath it. In the large circle there’s a rainbow background and faint pink and purple semicircle trim and an excited looking white avatar with antenna and its four arms up in the air. Above this avatar says the text “Ants Digimon Server!”. In the smaller circle is a white background with a red line going through it with the text “18+”. /End Image ID]

HEY!!!!!!!!!

After some deliberation, I've decided to make my own Digimon server!

It’s an in general Digimon server- You can talk about anything related to Digimon, which includes the anime seasons, games, manga, etc. it’s also inclusive for Digimon OCs / Original Digimon universes and projects!

Anyone can join, the only criteria is that:

A) You Are 18+. For a myriad of reasons, big ones being for the sakes of minors safety in the fandom and my own comfort, the server is 18+ only.

B) You’re not a “pro-shipper” or “anti anti” whatever the fuck. If you ship or support incest, pedophilia, rape etc etc you are not welcome here. Get outta my house.

C) You’re not like a racist or a transphobe/TERF or a misogynist or bigot or anything like that.

With that out of the way, link is below!

[masilvi]

(leaving this here for future reference)

[Terms of Service] Contact: antonellasilvii@gmail.com (no DMs! I don't check them often)

More info below 👇

✦For personal use only. ✦Please send as many references as you can! ✦Prices are for a single character, extra characters are an extra 50% off the base price ✦Payment method is via invoice with PayPal or Wise Transfer in USD (please specify you're preferred method when discussing your piece!) ✦Mercadopago es sólo para Argentina (en pesos ARS)

Clean sketch ✦Bust: $20 // $35 ✦Half body: $25 // $37 ✦Full Body: $30 // $45

Flat Colour ✦Bust: $25 // $37 ✦Half body: $30 // $45 ✦Full Body: $35 // $52

Full Render Type 01 ✦Bust: $35// $52 ✦Half body: $50 // $75 ✦Full Body: $70 // $105

*Includes simple background

Full Render Type 02 ✦Bust: $50// $75 ✦Half body: $80 // $120 ✦Full Body: $120 // $180

*includes simple background *Complex backgrounds are an extra $70

Comics ✦10 panels: $150 ✦5 panels: $80 ✦1 panel: $20

*Only with a written script *Some backgrounds are included

Will Draw ✦ Original or existing characters ✦ Real people ✦ Pets ✦ Mild gore or violence ✦General nudity and NSFW (fictional characters only, prior discussion)

Won't Draw ✦ Intricate mecha/armours ✦ Intricate monster designs ✦ Extreme gore/body horror ✦ Minor/adult ships, big age-gaps, depictions of minors in sexual situations ✦ Upsetting content including, but not limited to: hate speech, racism, sexism, LGTBQ+ phobia, etc. ✦ Non-con, sexual violence, extreme fetishes