#my strengths have ALWAYS been in concepts and editing i think and idk

[kotoyin]

I want to be clear this is not me fishing for compliments btw this is me. Almost grieving a bit??? Idk I used to think I was a pretty good writer but without strictly having the portfolio to back it up. But now my perspective is shifting and I think it's probably more accurate to call my writing adequate. Probably largely from lack of practice because I put such massive pressure on myself to write something I considered top percentile?? Idk I'm having very mixed feelings atm but it feels like something I need to process to move forward as a creative

[queertwilight]

Under threat from my sister @awkwardlysarah I have been forced to return to this hellsite in the middle of a delirious long day to post what she has informed me is the best idea she has ever had. please share and show her some love so that she thinks i’m a cool older sister and not just a tired grad student with a nostalgic affection for this series. Seriously she’s really excited about this post and I love her so make her happy or else :) Without further ado:

The Cullens as Different K-Pop Fans

Disclaimer: this is all my @awkwardlysarah head canons not my sister’s @queertwilight. I decided to combine my love for K-pop with my sister’s love for twilight. My qualifications are that I’ve been listening to K-pop for 6 years, so I kinda know a lot. Also no hate to any of the artists mentioned, you can have your own opinions and I’ll have mine. Silly little post enjoy!

Edward:

-exclusively listens to K-drama OST’s

-mainly for the instrumental and piano

-listens to the Best KDRAMA OST: of all time playlist and ranks them by instrumental

-secretly does watch K-dramas but claims its to help “appreciate” the music, has cried to almost every drama he’s seen

-Does not understand the appeal of K-Pop groups, prefers what he believes to be the classics

-Though, Alice once showed him RM’s album Mono and is now his biggest fan

-“No, you don’t understand guys if I met Namjoon we would get along perfectly. We could go on a museum date together and talk about life.”

-Loves RM’s newest release Indigo and locked himself in his room to reflect on the lyrics in the album.

-He too, mourns the loss (of what would have been) his 20’s

Rosalie:

-she is such a baddie with her K-pop taste

-mainly a 2nd gen girl group stan, but dips her toes in 4th gen (mainly AESPA) because Emmett showed her a couple groups

-also loves soloists-mainly IU and BIBI and DPR

-BIGGEST 2NE1 and 4minute stan there is (prays on YG and Cube’s downfall)

-if the songs are about being bad bitches then Rosalie is listening to them

-she can low key body any rap by CL

-has her more mellow moments when listening to Girl’s Generation and IU

-overall supports her girlies

-will fight trolls online that try to discredit any of the girls’ careers (

-has made multiple accounts deactivate because she proved them so wrong they could not show their faces online again

Emmett:

-OH BOY

-when Emmett discovered K-pop it was like opening up a portal that could no longer be closed

-he had casually stanned 3rd gen groups (since Alice listened to them)

-but then he found LOONA and other girl groups

-Rosalie low key curses this day btw

-became the biggest Orbit and Chuu stan

-“Emmett we have to go save Bella, she’s in danger.”

“Idk, maybe if she stanned LOONA this wouldn’t have happened.”

-is a photo card collector (Rosalie put a stop to this after he spent 3K on a Chuu broadcast photo card and getting scammed trying to buy other pcs)

-when I tell you he was so devastated that Chuu was kicked out of LOONA

-he didn’t have the strength to go hunting for DAYS

-helped boycott BlockBerry Creative #freeLOONA

-he does also dabble in boy groups; mainly Enhypen because he thinks they are actual vampires. (No one tell him it is just a concept it would break his heart, he streamed Bite Me for days because he felt SO seen).

Alice:

-MY MULTISTAN QUEEN!!!

-she knows everything about every group (obvi) and knows which groups are unproblematic

-runs an undercover KPOPpredictions twitter account where all her visions go

-Loves groups mainly for lore/storyline purposes

-like TXT, BTS, ENHYPEN, ATEEZ, EXO, etc. she LOVES a good storyline

-does theories on her main stan blogs about what she believes the MVs mean for the overall story

-always has people commenting on her theories about how right she is.

-is also a K-pop dance/lifestlye influencer

-give her 10 minutes and she WILL know the entire dance-will upload and edit it almost instantly

-has been featured in KCON dream stages and has been able to dance alongside some of her fav groups

-love planning her outfits for concerts and giving people inspiration on her social media platforms

“You need help coming up with vampire themed outfits for Enhypen’s upcoming concert, say no more I’ve got just the looks for you!”

Jasper:

-some of y’all may be a bit mad about this one…

-he’s the problematic K-pop stan

-like his playlist is CONTROVERSIAL

-liked sticker when it first released (believed the flute is what tied it together)

-low key a Jay Park stan on main

-…and a super junior apologist

(what did you expect he literally was a confederate solider)

-If a group has a cowboy concept he will be all over it tho, “takes me back to my roots.”

-will start shit online because he knows in the end he can control their emotions

-loves those unpopular k-pop opinion videos

-Alice does try to get him away from the problematic side of K-pop and it does kinda work, but like quitting human blood it takes him some time

-not a big stan, he’s kinda in it for the drama and to be an instigator

[zedxspacess]

My controversial wrestling take tonight is I liked Ospreay v MJF for what it was. Y'all say yall are sickos until its an actual weird/fucked up match up, and for me, I was always morbidly curious at what the hell kind of match their styles clash would create.

This got really long, but tldr; good match that could've used trimming and editing to get the point across.

I'm weirdly invested in a career long rivalry between MJF and Ospreay. I have a VISION, there's so much juicy character/story meat there that I don't think ppl realize (even TK, Ospreay, and Max) but I See It and go in detail in the read more, but that tldr is:

There were def points where the match dragged on, but I didn't notice until like 30-40mins in. Sure, they played to the crowd a bit much and lots of stalling with them rolling on the floor. Both of these guys' previous long matches were aided by the veterans they shared the ring with. So I'd say for a match they called on their own, they did pretty good all things considered--these guys are 28 and 31 years old respectively, like come on. Commentary said it was hot and humid as hell in that arena, so the fact they went that hard for so long is respectable. I also thought they wanted to challenge the idea of "Ospreay can't sell" by making it such a focal point, but imo they over corrected it at times to where it felt less believable the longer he sold the shoulder. If the match was shorter, I think they would've been able to hide it better or Ospreay could've remembered also selling the knee, but it is what it is to make it believable MJF could beat someone as athletic and powerful as Ospreay.

I think the beginning, parts of the middle, and ending wrestling moments were where a lot of the real meat of the story was that got buried in the downsides/all the stalling. I've seen some ppl say the match felt half MJFism, half Ospreayism, and finally a weird mix of both, and I think that's what they were going for: purposefully highlighting their staunch differences, the strengths and weaknesses of their respective styles, then forcing their opponent to dip into the others' style to meet in the middle. It's not just a clash of styles, but and ideological clash of what wrestling can be. Ospreay doing his athletic performance, but MJF being really pragmatic and countering in simple, creative ways. Max then gets too caught up in character, gets cocky, and lets his guard down where Ospreay's skill and power bulldozes him. So it forces Max to wrestle seriously and meet Ospreay on the mat and in athletics, while also forcing Ospreay to understand the way Max wrestles behind the theatrics, psychologically.

Also for Ospreay, its his ongoing story of "am I willing to bring out my darker instincts to win the match?" if MJF is willing to play so blatantly dirty. It's the conundrum with the Tiger Driver, but also with his matches with Kenny Omega and the Dog Pound Steel Cage match where he was pushed to an emotional limit where we saw a viciousness never seen before. I don't think they quite achieved this with Ospreay in AEW yet (minus the Kenny match), but Max as the top heel definitely has the potential to really get Ospreay down to his level in the future.

I overall liked all the highspots, MJF showing he could keep up with Ospreay's athleticism, Max's heelisms are missed, call backs to Cody/AJ Styles, the Ospreay/Ibushi landing on your feet spot. God, and Cole/Ricochet. Which btw, holy shit the connection between MJF-Ospreay tracing back to Max's friend and Ospreay's friend/mentor's legendary match; if we want to get real crazy, tag match between MJF-Cole vs Ospreay-Ricochet could be something.

Idk, I'm embarrassed to say it, but. I'm just personally super intrigued by the concept of Ospreay and MJF clashing--potentially for the rest of their careers--because of what they represent feels so diametrically opposed, they have to be at odds. But the irony in all of it is, at their cores, they are very similar.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: MJF is a pure acting, soliloquy-giving theater kid; Ospreay is the dance/choreography theater kid--which is a shoot, they legit have done those things irl, but it's also their characters. They care so much about story and emotion and performance. They go 100% in their preferred way of doing it and face heat because they do "too much" in their respective ends of the spectrum. As a result, they are so prideful and defensive about their favorite method. Max as a babyface was so extroverted, super loyal friend, outgoing neurodivergent kid and Ospreay's current character as a genuine, kinda dumb but passionate, golden retriever neurodivergent kid have similar energies. Both have the tendency to speak before thinking too. When you look at their heel characters, Max goes out of his way to embody all the spoiled rich kids of Long Island, while Ospreay tried to embody half chav-half spoiled rich kid culture in England. They're similar kids at hearts, it's just one of them had a diet of 90s Best of the Super Jrs+DragonGate, and the other had a diet of NWA territory+Attitude Era, and thus were sent on different paths.

The other main differences are Ospreay always had the United Empire with him who truly trusted him as brothers. When he left Japan, all the fans showered him in love, and arriving in AEW, fans continued that praise and acceptance. While Max never trusted anyone, even when surrounding himself with people. And the moment he did trust and tasted acceptance by fans, it bit him in the ass, got rejected by the fans, and it all only reassured his worst insecurities. Max is doing a lot of projection onto Ospreay for being accepted so easily, for taking his spot as top dog, for what he represents as his ideological opposite, for having it so easy. But Ospreay wears his heart on his sleeve because it wasn't easy for him, just watch the promo he did against Omega before Wrestle Kingdom. That fighting spirit has tempered him where he can handle the blows, he has the support system with him. He lacks the fear that makes MJF take on such an abrasive persona as a defense mechanism. Ospreay's genuine person, charm, outgoing energy is all what MJF could be or secretly wants to be--as seen on his face run--but was rejected. And he cannot stand it.

Personally, I think they should kiss fight forever about all of this.

[flamevbirdv]

20 Questions for Fic Writers Tag Game

Thank you @acediscowlng for tagging me!! I haven't posted anything in nearly a year but sure, why not

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

24, I've orphaned and deleted a couple of fics lol

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

106 303 and I'm very proud of every single one of those words, I usually have to fight my perfectionism to put anyhting on page

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly DC comics! I have one (1) les mis fic and one (1) x-men fic

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Catalogue of Things Unsaid by far my most popular fic with 1000+ kudos, it's a Superbat fic. I love re-reading this fic, sometimes I like my writing in this and sometimes not but I'm still fond of it Bear Me No Witness my most popular Jaydick fic, I worked really hard on this one so I'm glad people liked it Lost And Never Found is a moody, horror-esque JayDick fic that really fits my style blow a kiss; fire a gun my first fic ever asdfghjk idk it's kinda silly False Alarm I wrote this mostly as practice, I don't really have anything to say about it

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes!.. except on wips because I'm delusional and I keep telling myself I'll reply once I update the fic... lol

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't think I have angsty endings? I don't remember most of my endings, it's my least favorite part of writing, oops

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably You're committed, I'm your crime ??? because jaydick are kids and they are cute

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope, fortunately the people who read my fics want to be there

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

HAHAHA...HA uhh I wrote mermaid porn, and that's it, mostly. I wrote one sex scene prior to that but it wasn't explicit

10. Do you write crossovers?

No. I don't read them either

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not really, there was a Cass/Tam fic that resembled my own Cass/Tam fic: let me count the roses but this was a gift and I think the giftee just liked this concept and asked for it again LMAO

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

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

Yes! It was fun but I don't think I'm built for it, I like oneshots and my co-writer liked multi chapter stories hence why the only time I tried we didn't finish it lol

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Jaydick ❤💙 they're the reason I started writing fic in the first place

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

😭😭😭 all of them please send help (see above: I don't like writing multi chapter stories but sometimes the plot needs them)

16. What are your writing strengths?

The way I can tell a story in 7k words or less, "short but packs a punch" is 100% my strenght. Also the fact that I really enjoy editing

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Endings. Every. Single. Time

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I love it in cases like les mis fandom. I get so excited when I see french especially in canon era fics. There are a lot of ways in which we can put the translation in the notes or using a skin I hate it tho, when I'm reading a fic and a latine character's only personality traits are that they are a criminal and they speak spanish BUT that doesn't mean I don't want more spanish speaking characters in fic even if they're just minor characters

19. First fandom you wrote for?

DC comics! I started writing and posting fic in 2019 and it's still the fandom that I write for today, attempts at branching out haven't been succesful

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Always the hardest question to answer but I really, really like re-reading Bear Me No Witness it has it all: Dick in a croptop, a news scandal, fake marriage and Jason messing with Dick to hurt Bruce I wish I could write a sequel!!!! (self call out)

Tagging @laaawliet @braingray @paperempires no pressure though, guys!

[displayheartcode]

20 questions game!

thank you, @startanewdream for the tag! ✨

tagging: @thenicestthingiveseen, @alphacrone, @women-inthe-sequel, and whoever wants to join in!

How many works do you have on AO3?

393... yeah, i don't know if i should feel proud about that number.

2. What's your total AO3 words count?

360,179!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

H.P, the old guard, young wizards, etc. i like to bounce around wherever the inspiration strikes.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

this pjo fic that was written at the right time despite the quality being crap (880 kudos), virtue is only virtue (502), crossing the streams (410), get up now you're not alone at all (340), eggs (334).

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes! i thrive on interaction and external validation! the comments section is also a great place for unexpected recommendations and ideas!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

18-year-old rachel was very proud of and we'll be chasing stars. 27-year-old rachel is also proud of her moon knight fanfics.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

let your love surround me is so cozy!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i've gotten entitled people in my comments and dms. :-)

9. Do you write smut. If so what kind?

tasteful? idk, the smut i write is light, as seen in no strange land, let your love surround me, and etc.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

could it be my the old guard/torchwood one, the doctor who/young wizards fic that is weirdly canonical in a sense, i actually a lot of young wizards crossovers... and let's not forget the one that got the actual author's attention by mistake!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

:-) he wanted to :-) :-) :-) :-) nothing like getting barraged in my dms and reviews about how i was writing something against the wizarding god, and then i saw that his profile was full of fics that he had "corrected ." the rants were also wild.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

several! i don't think that site is up anymore, but some of my works have bene translated into russian.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

waaaaaaaay back in high school, my pjo forum friends and i co-write an original story about a weird town that featured us. i was a hardboiled private detective who was determined to be the beacon of sanity, musa was a kindly old grandmother who watched things a little too cheerfully, plug was an eccentric english professor...

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

hinny, zoya/nikolai, joe/nicky, gideon/harrow.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

the rewrite for you've got the love, which is titled keep you like an oath. i have a vague outline and character beats set, but i have written before how it's daunting to look back and start the whole thing.

16. What are your writing strengths?

i've clearly been writing for a while! there has been genuine growth since i started when i was 15, building more believable romances and a stronger comedic voice.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i spend too much time on cliche ambience than building a cohesive plot, character voices tend to blur together, not enough editing/taking my time, when i get comfortable with a niche thing i have trouble breaking out...

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

don't use google translate. consult friends who speak the language and be prepared to be humbled.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

before i even knew what fanfic was, i wrote continuations of emily windsnap and magic tree house as a kid. playing in people's sandboxes has always been a thing for me!

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

perchance to dream was a ridiculous amount of fun to write! technicolor beat had me work my creative muscles with tying the au concepts to canon. along the churchyard green had soooooooo much fun research involved. my top five are also listed here.

[ackermanshoe]

Rivamika details we haven’t talked about enough - part 2

Idk why we haven’t talked about the parallel between Kenny & Caven duo and Levi and Mikasa?

Caven is one of the few people who was close to Kenny Ackerman, apart from Uri, Kuchel and then Levi. It's also important to note that the first time Kenny and Caven interacted, Caven also took Kenny by surprise. It was her indifference towards a serial killer who was now qualified to lead their squad, this reminds me of mikasa's indifference towards,, everything that doesn't concern Eren tbh. But it's not only that it's the fact that Kenny was "intrigued" by her and came close to her to talk.

And this

From this scene alone it was obvious that she served as his partner in crime, of course Kenny had many men but it was cavens significance that was highlighted from the rest in both the manga and the anime ( in their own ways).

And as of Levi and mikasa's role in battle needs any kind of explaining that wasn't already made clear. Of course Caven and Kenny's partnership didn't go as deep as rivamika for obvious reasons.

This next parallel I have more faith in lmao.

Hitch and Marlo

I always found it very weirdly interesting how these two were introduced to in this episode. I wouldn't have guess them having any romantic connection if it weren't for the oddly placed flirtatious dialogues

Well obviously they were playing around and Marlo disregarded her quickly. But because of the those few lines is why they are shipped together isn't it? It was unnecessary and yet it was there. And that brings me to this

Isayama visually placed these 2 pairs on to each other. It couldn't be more obvious, however I believe it has more to do with than just holding the knife to the throats of their respective person. Like I said if it weren't for the ever so subtle hint of romantic undertone in hitches lines I wouldn't have thought about this at all. But how this parallel is making me think it was a hint from isayama about rivamika relationship. And notice how Armin is placed straight in the middle as well. Didn't we all, as rivamika community, speculate that admin is a rivamika shipper? Because he has always noticed their similar presence, trusted in their strength as not only individuals but as A PAIR. and isayama definitely does not forget to make it known that Levi and Mikasa are being watched by Armin.

Idk about you but to me it seems a little suspicious how those two were placed as a pair on top of another pair with plausible feelings for each other, in front of a person who has always acknowledged rivamika has a pair. 💆‍♀️💆‍♀️

I'll also add this

Idk about other times but hitch is a person who would bite the moment something threatening happen while Marlo has thinks a little deeper. And the fact that Marlo understood Jean testing them and hitch acting on it proves that. The scene above^ is painfully similar to countless rivamika scenes we got in this season. It's the same thing, Mikasa acting recklessly without thinking everytime Eren is in danger and Levi who thinks rationally and stops her.

And I'm not gonna talk about how Marlo died or how Kenny and Caven died because I think these are irrelevant to rivamika completely. They are both Ackerman's not alone like Kenny, and like I said in one of my first ever rivamika analysis, Mikasa isn't a burden to Levi, she is freedom. Where as hitch and Marlo go they both shared different goals at the end of the day, that isn't rivamika. So I don't believe they'll meet a tragic end after all, they are a pair who would break the cycle of death which has been a endless concept of aot and they will be the ones to bring more life in the world.

Anyway that's all as always thank you all for reading ! I have a theory I've thinking about for about 2 months but I don't have a proper conclusion yet, and there's so much which connects to that concept so idk when I'll post but hopefully before chapter 139 😭😭

Goodnight 💓

Edit: Pls ignore my spelling and grammar mistakes lmafo I can't be bothered to fix them aha

[veliseraptor]

got tagged for two fic writer memes yesterday! the one from @ameliarating first:

How many works do you have on AO3?

509.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

3,432,24. dang! that’s a lot of words

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

I have written for...counting the MCU as one fandom, on AO3 I have written for 32 fandoms, including at least one work in:

MCU, The Sillmarillion, Caliban Leandros, both DC and Marvel Comics, the book Barebacked by Kit Whitfield, Doctrine of Labyrinths, Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, Black Jewels, Dragon Age, Lucifer, Dexter, Temeraire, Gentleman Bastard Sequence, Supernatural, A Song of Ice and Fire, Greek Mythology, Lymond Chronicles, Merlin BBC, Code Geass, Good Omens,  Death Note, and White Collar.

this is not a comprehensive list of every fandom I’ve ever written for, because it is not including ones that live only on FFN or Livejournal.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Life In Reverse tops the list (11066), aka my 200k Loki-centric post-Thor AU fic that I wrote between 2012 and 2018 and with which I have a decidedly complex relationship at this point. I love it but also I no longer think it’s my best work but also I credit it with teaching me a fuck of a lot about writing and writing longer projects in general.

With Absolute Splendor is rapidly catching up, to my astonishment (6559), despite having been posted for less than half as long. Aka the wedding planning fic that’s really just me mucking about in my Jiang Cheng and my Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian feelings, at length.

some good mistakes (4618) was my first foray into the Untamed version of “characters who hate each other going on resentful roadtrips together, feat. Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng.” I have gone on to write others and will continue to write more.

Unraveling (3069) is a little bit of a surprise but also not - it was originally just sort of WWP stuff for my ‘what if people remembered that blunt force trauma is a really bad thing actually’ problem that pops up sometimes, re: Loki at the end of The Avengers, and then it kind of turned into a whole thing. I personally think it’s the weakest of the installments of the series it belongs to, but it is the first one and also the one that gets least into the broader family dysfunction and depression stuff that probably is less everyone’s thing (but is what came out this fic that mattered more to me, personally).

I am a little surprised to see Steve Rogers’ Halfway House for Notorious Supervillains (3068) here too! I was expecting one of the more...idk, mainstream concepts from the MCU to win out? But I also wasn’t expecting two Untamed fics to make it here, either. But I am stupid proud of this fic even if it is very extraordinarily unfinished. This is one of those unfinished fics that will nag at me unless and until I finish it, at least a little, because the concept - if I do say so myself - is so goddamn good and I think I was executing it pretty well, too.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Pretty much never. I was never very good at it and now I’d feel like I had to go back and reply to all of them and I just. I can’t do that. and when I do try to just start at the beginning I get overwhelmed very fast and start avoiding it.

Basically I decided that if it’s a decision between wrestling with myself to reply to comments versus actually doing more writing I’m going to end up landing on the latter as feeling both more doable and more productive.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

probably it’s The Worlds Forgotten, the Words Forbidden for sheer level of “so then what was the point” of it all. but like. I’ve definitely written a few extraordinarily miserable fics, and by “a few” I kind of mean “a lot.” Other nominees I’d put down might be nor autumn falter (for currently personally making me suffer most), once there was a way to get back home (for I think having the ouchiest summary), and Waiting for the Summer Rain (which remains one of my personal favorite Supernatural fics I wrote).

but like. there are 43 fics I have marked with Major Character Death warnings and every single one of those, pretty much, has a downer ending.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I have written several though not in a long time! My craziest probably remains the Morgoth/Cthulhu short I wrote that actually got sporked because someone took it seriously (???) enough to do that. But the craziest that actually has any merit, (I’d argue) is probably the Maeglin/Viserys one.

not linking to either, if you want to go find them I don’t think it’ll be that hard.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yeah, a few times on a few different things. More if you count “people who seem to like the fic but love telling you how much they hate the female characters you’re writing about in it” as ‘hate’ which I would but isn’t, you know, quite as straightforward. If I had a nickel for every time someone bitched about Jane in Life in Reverse, though...lots of nickels.

Do you write smut? if so what kind?

Sure do! But what does ‘what kind’ mean, I don’t know how to answer that question. I feel tempted to just put in my “Mike’s Hard Kinks” image edit in this space.

I guess usually I tend to write smut that at least involves a little bit of a kink? I don’t think I’d feel comfortable writing entirely kinkless smut. I think I’d feel weird about it, the same way I do when I write really nice fic, generally.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I think I did back when but I don’t remember anything about it. I feel like it was one of those mass data scraping things where my fic happened to be among those caught up in it.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! several actually, mostly into Russian and Chinese. every time it happens I’m immensely flattered that someone wants to put in that kind of work on something I wrote.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I think I’d be very, very bad at it.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Depends on when you ask me! I could probably give you a top five but then I’d remember six that I forgot to mention five minutes later. I guess if I were to think about ships that feel like they hold very special particular places in my heart... Xue Yang/Xiao Xingchen, Steve Rogers/Loki, and Min/Rand come to mind.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

oh god do you want the whole list cause honestly I could just like. screencap the entirety of my “in progress” folder with a crying emoji watermarked over it. and that’s not getting into the fics that are like...half formed babies in my consciousness but not anywhere on paper.

and also I just hate to admit that I might not finish something.

you know what? the Lucifer/Good Omens crossover I started would’ve been a lot of fun. I’m probably never going to finish it, but it would’ve been great if I had. I know other people did it too but my contribution could’ve been amazing.

I can say this very boldly with the near certainty that I’m not going to finish the fic so no one will be able to disagree.

(...also the Last Herald-Mage fix it. that was going to be a good fic too, and also will probably languish unfinished forever.)

What are your writing strengths?

I’m pretty sure dialogue is my strongest point. Dialogue and emotions, which is why I always end up just wanting to write about characters talking and having feelings at each other.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Writing action sequences throws me into conniptions every time I have to do it and I will take drastic actions sometimes to avoid doing it at all, which probably weakens the work as a whole.

Also, I don’t plan ahead and this means I write myself into corners kind of a lot. If I wasn’t writing long, dense fic it wouldn’t be a problem but here we are.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I tend to avoid it unless it’s in the context of, as in CQL/MDZS fic, leaving certain terminology untranslated. I’m pretty sure I almost never write full exchanges of dialogue in a different language than I’m using for the narration within a fic, and generally speaking my reaction to other people doing it is at least mildly negative.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter was technically the first fandom I wrote for, but it was a crack fic I wrote to make my friends laugh more than anything; I tend to count Wheel of Time as my first actual fandom for which I wrote my first actual fic.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

some days the answer is “all of them” and some day the answer is “I don’t like anything I’ve written in my entire life” and I never like giving this a definitive answer. yesterday I reread efforts in a common cause (the bound copy!! thanks @spockandawe) and you know what, that was a good fic and I’m proud of it, so I’m going with that one, for this meme, today.

tagging: @mostfacinorous, @jaggedcliffs, @silvysartfulness, @mikkeneko, @kasasagi-eye, @curiosity-killed, how many people am I supposed to tag for this one anyway

[tokaritoo]

havent been feeling the best so i believe the only logical cure is to watch hxh 1999

i might make a small thread of my thoughts (ill just edit)

_______

- i cant get over the fact that kurapikas introduction is him throwing a fork at a spider, its the funniest thing

- leorio complaining about it being too hot while he wears a full suit, uhuh

- also cool to see that the captain just casually murdered a man by throwing him off a ship in the middle of the ocean

- kurapika acted like a brat and a smartass, sat around while everyone tended the ship and then took a nap as the ship was sinking.

and the captain went “yes thats hunter material”

- kurapika tells this whole honourable reason about why he wants to become a hunter and leorio is probably thinking “fuck i was going to say i wanted money”

- “if you really want to understand someone, you need to know what makes them angry” one of my favourite lines from gon

-pft, the man going to shake kurapikas hand and kurapika just stares. Then leorio going “sorry he isnt normal”

- why does kurapika find it necessary to diss leorio every fuckin second. Like they can be talking about something random and he still finds a way to insult the man

- i love the way they handle leorios backstory here

- the cooking phase is one of my favourite parts of 1999

- glad to see leorio helping gon and killua using his super power of seduction (rip anita)

- kurapika looked at death in the eyes and said “k, anyway” (trick tower)

- its always so funny to me when kurapika takes off part of his clothes before fighting. Idk what his goal is but man he has no muscle definition. Its like the opposite of intimidating-

- “hey kurapika, go ahead and stick to your principles, ill take care of the rest” ???? What???? Huhhhh

- i hate leorio in trick tower. Actually, leorio trick tower doesnt exist. Who? Never heard of him nope

- ok the way 1999 handled leorio in trick tower is a better than 2011, it emphasizes how he is being messed with physiologically instead of just being gross

- id happily take ten episodes of the hxh main four just chilling in the waiting room for hours. Like they are just playing video games, talking and having fun??

- *part where leorio switches rooms with hanzo* oml and they were roomates

- i actually love the inclusion of the kurta treasure to the 1999 exam arc. It gives this extra level of melancholy to the kurta loss that isnt there in the 2011

- “kurapika, gon, dont come in” *gon and kurapika proceed to come in*

- one of the funniest moments in the exam arc is when leorio realizes “oh shit i shouldnt mess with kurapika, the twink can actually fight”

- kurapika with a hookah, thats it thats the comment

- what was that train scene, bless your soul kurapika

- it doesnt matter what happens the “lets meet up: September first in yorknew city” always makes my heart hurt and nearly causes me to cry

- at the part where kurapika is taking to his nen teacher and the teacher said “if you get into a fight with an enhancer... your strength can change based on how you feel that day” why does this sound like foreshadowing to the uvogin fight?

- i find it cool that kurapika took arguably one of the weaker nen types and made it a complete game changer, like damn

- poor melody, trying to strike up conversation and kurapika just says “sorry can i just not answer you”

- right now you are a butterfly getting tied up in the spider web of vengeance (what a beautiful line, drawing concept)

- kurapikas aesthetic, oh god

- i like how the greatest insult in hxh is being compared to leorio, you know, the doctor

- the uvogin shadow beast fight is one of my favourite eps, just the deception and the way they establish strength damn

- kurapika and melody have one of the best dynamics in the show,

-“melody thank you for calming me down, but fuck you im still going”

[magniloquent-raven]

Fic Writer Questions

i was tagged by @cherry-toxic and @gideongrace ty both 💕🥰���

How many works do you have on AO3?

15

which is a relatively small number but sometimes im still like, holy shit i finished 15 whole fics lmao

What's your total AO3 word count?

68,299 (time to post a 701 word fic and then never post again i guess)

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

well this is about to get mildly embarrassing lmfao. ive only got harry potter & stranger things fics on my ao3 and tumblr but if you want a full list, as a teenager i posted a shitty borderlands self-insert fic on quizilla, and hiccup/jack frost fic on ff.net.

and if u count fics that never got finished or published anywhere i dabbled in teen wolf, supernatural, dragon age, star wars, left 4 dead 2, skyrim, good omens, the mcu, buffy, wynonna earp, plus like, general disney/dreamworks crossover fic. and i started writing shameless fics recently, we'll see if i actually finish any. aaaand...i think that's it?

so...15?

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Wait for you, Burn for You

2. Find Our Way

3. Something to Hold

4. Room for One More Troubled Soul

5. Don't Know What I'm Gonna Do (About This Feeling Inside)

all harringrove fics except #4, which is probably only on the list because it's been on ao3 the longest lol

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

oh god, i used to. i did when i was starting out, but then i just. i get self-conscious about what to actually say & leave shit to sit for too long. and suddenly ive got like 100 comments i havent replied to and i want to respond to them so bad but ive left them so long i feel weird about it now and it's a problem 😥

i want to start responding to them again, and every time i get a new one i tell myself im gonna but i never do cuz im fuckin awkward lmao

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

i......don't really do angsty endings. like, most of my fics end with smooches and/or love confessions lmao, i don't like leaving things off sad, even if it starts depressing as hell.

maybe this one? it still ends soft but without resolving the thing billy was angsting about, so.

Do you write crossovers? If so what's the craziest one you've ever written?

hahahhha.............i don't really do them anymore, but i already said i was into the whole animation movie crossover thing, so. yeah, i did lol. it was when i was in high school so of course i did one that was like, every disney character ever and they're going to school together. which really isn't that crazy a concept, but it was a lot of movies to write in so maybe that counts

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

nahh, not rly. i don't get around enough to attract anti attention lol, tho i did get one of those "👎" comments when someone was going around doing that, which lbr, is so low effort it barely counts 😂

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

yea sometimes. i do get the occasional horny idea lmao. mostly "what if touch-starved character + tenderness" or someone having lots of feelings while they're fucking. someone is usually billy lbr. i've also got a couple "what if someone got tied up and treated right" ideas but i don't think i've actually published any of those lmao

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

don't think so?

Have you ever had a fic translated?

i have not

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yea, kinda! a collab with a friend of mine for fun

What's your all time favourite ship?

i...don't know? i get emotionally invested in characters more than the relationships themselves lol. i don't even know what ship i've been invested in for a long time, most of the shit i shipped as a kid i don't give a fuck about anymore lol.

except fuffy, actually. i've always shipped buffy/faith

and if we wanna go with fandom i've actively stuck with the longest it'd be harringrove. cuz ive been here and writing shit for yall for over a year now when i usually would've cycled thru a couple fixations by now lol

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

that's a mean question lmao how dare you. i honestly don't know, i have a lot of wips and i want to finish all of them. i know i won't but there isn't one specifically that seems less likely than the others so idk

What are your writing strengths?

uhhhhh.....i mean i've been told that my characterization is good? like, ppl being able to picture the actual characters when they're reading n stuff, so that's nice. and i could write introspection forever, u don't even know man, i get in the zone. i love getting in a character's head and picking apart their emotional state

What are your writing weaknesses?

writing dialogue really trips me up because i get picky about word choice lmao. i can be writing uninterrupted for twenty minutes cuz it's all a character's inner monologue but the second they gotta speak out loud im sittin there like ok what words sound natural and how much would they be willing to say etc. etc. suddenly it's an hour later and i've written three lines of dialogue. plus i tend to edit as i go so i'm always stopping and going back and rewriting stuff instead of just finishing the damn story

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

no thoughts head empty

lmao for real tho idk? i mean there's that one trope, when someone says nice stuff in a language the other person doesn't speak because they're pining and not sure if they're allowed to say it outright, that shit's cute. im sure all the google translated dialogue has been annoyin as shit for native speakers lmfao but yeah

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

probably harry potter but i literally have no idea. i started writing fic in my early teens and that time of my life is a big fuckin blur lmao

What's your favourite fic you've written?

ngl i think my fav fic is one of the multi-chapter wips i haven't published lmao

BUT. if i gotta pick something yall have read, this one. just a lil guy. plant dad billy and domesticity. it's cute and i like it. maybe also this fic that i wrote for valentine's day. i wrote basically the whole thing in one day and i was really proud of myself lmao, and i just really like headcanoning backstory for billy & that fic is rly just about him growing up, so

tagging @rvspberryjvm @wingedbears @paperbodiesamongthestars @platypan

if yall wanna! 💕

[hermannsthumb]

Idk if you doing requests or not rn buut, feriowind has been posting a bunch of vampire!Hermann and I needs some modern vampire Hermann and professor Newt...

uwu ily

SO I feel like I should open by saying a WIP fic with this concept by @coloredpencilroses exists and I Love it, so read High Stakes for something much better than this lol (and leave a nice comment). HAPPY OCTOBER!!!! warning for very mildly implied sexy stuff. EDIT: and of COURSE I forgot to tag @theloccent for my extremely belated fill for the “Vampire” square on my bingo card :/

-----------------------

Newt has always been an extremely persistent type. He considers it, naturally, one his greatest strengths—no theory goes untested, no question goes unanswered, no experiment goes…well, unexperimented. You don’t get more PhDs than you can count on one hand if you’re not persistent. You don’t get a date with the hot new engineering professor down the hall if you’re not persistent, either, but Newt is finding this venture is taking a little more effort than usual. That’s fine, though. He likes challenges.

Dr. Gottlieb was hired by the university at the start of the semester, after the head of the engineering department—who’s nearing her seventies—finally decided she’d had enough and announced her retirement somewhat last minute. He is, frankly, unlike anyone Newt’s ever seen before, a weird combination of cheekbones, wide lips, and a turn-of-the-century old-fashioned air that carries over into everything from his wardrobe to the stiff way he carries himself. He wouldn’t look out of place in a black and white photograph, Newt thinks. Or maybe even the illustrations of a Dickens novel. That’s not why Newt’s into him, though—well, not the only reason why.

In the entire month and a half Gottlieb’s been here, he hasn’t spoken a single word to anyone his contract doesn’t require him to; when he is forced into conversation, he scowls and snaps and mumbles his way through before making a polite excuse as to why he needs to leave the room right now, immediately. No one knows anything about him other than the bare minimum—that his name is Dr. Gottlieb, he lectures in engineering, and he exists. Shit, Newt doesn’t even know his first name. The little plaque outside his office just says Gottlieb.

The mystery just makes Gottlieb all the more alluring to Newt.

Anyway, his continued failures in winning Gottlieb over aren’t a result of a lack of trying. On Gottlieb’s first day, Newt stopped by his office to introduce himself. He didn’t bother knocking. Maybe that was his first mistake. “I’m Newt,” he said. “My office is a few doors down from you. You’re the new department head?”

Gottlieb looked stricken, but he nodded. “Yes,” he said. He didn’t say anything else.

“Cool,” Newt said. “Anyway, I’m technically in the bio department, but I teach a few interdisciplinary courses with engineering, so I requested they stick me over here to get a bigger office.” He cracked a grin. “I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”

“Hm,” Gottlieb said.

Newt tried again the next day.

“Your office is so dark,” he said, conversationally, because it was—lights all off, books stacked up everywhere, maroon drapes drawn tightly in front of the single small window. Dark and stuffy. “Feel free to stop by my office whenever you want a break from it. I have a corner one, so I have two windows.”

“I requested this office,” Gottlieb said, not looking up the article he was marking up.

Newt became desperate by his third attempt and did something that’s left him burning with shame even now, weeks later, and that would probably warrant the immediate transfers of sleep-deprived engineering majors out of all his courses if word ever got out it was him: he deliberately broke the department coffee machine. “Man, I can’t believe that thing is busted again,” he declared to Gottlieb. “Good thing I have a Keurig in my office.” Newt had gone out and purchased a Keurig immediately before destroying the coffee pot. “Seriously, come by whenever you need caffeine.”

Gottlieb blinked at him, long and slow, and Newt had the strangest sense that he knew exactly what happened to the coffee pot. “I never drink… coffee,” Gottlieb finally said.

For all Newt’s troubles, the list of things he knows about Gottlieb has expanded by two pitiful points: that his accent is English and posh, and his voice is low and sexy. Helpful.

It’s a chilly day in late October when Newt finally decides to enlist the aid of his interdisciplinary undergrads. Some of them—he learned after poking around their registration records—have a seminar with Gottlieb, and they seem his best bet at learning anything. A spouse—a first name—Newt would take Gottlieb’s favorite color, even. “So,” he starts class, unwinding his scarf off his neck, “that Dr. Gottlieb sure is weird, huh?”

In Newt’s firsthand experience, undergrads love to gossip about their professors, and his certainly don’t disappoint. Gottlieb’s classes are all held in the basement of the engineering building. All run well into the evening, after the sun’s set—most not finished until nine—and Gottlieb hustles out of the lecture hall the moment he can. He walks with a cane and a slight limp. He always dresses like that. He’s never mentioned any sort of family, and wears no wedding ring. He’s scary good at math. No one knows his first name.

“You’ve been an invaluable help,” Newt tells them all seriously.

He mulls the new information over in his office later as he grades some tests. So Gottlieb is a bit of shy, reclusive, genius. No surprise there. Well, his apparent hatred of sunlight is kind of weird (if unsurprising, given how pale he is) but maybe he just has sensitive eyes or something. Who is Newt to judge? At least he knows how to improve his next plan of attack—he just has to ask the guy to come over and sit in a dark room in silence with him. That’s probably Gottlieb’s dream date, actually.

There’s a knock on Newt’s office door. Newt looks up and drops his pen: it’s Gottlieb.

“Uh. Hey, dude!” he squeaks, unsure of how to proceed in this entirely unfamiliar territory. Gottlieb, willingly interacting with him? Willingly leaving his office? “Is there…can I help you with something? Did you want that coffee after all?”

“Most definitely not,” Gottlieb says coolly. He’s standing far enough back from the door that not a single sliver of lamp light from Newt’s office hits him, instead shrouded by the shadows of the dark engineering department. Newt didn’t realize how late it had gotten. “My students informed me that you were interrogating them about me.”

It’s not a question. Newt is struck by a wave of nervousness that he doesn’t quite understand—maybe it’s the sour expression Gottlieb is giving him, something in those dark brown eyes that are piercing through Newt. He feels, foolishly and briefly, like cowering under his desk. He swallows. “Yes,” he says, and adds, stammering, “I mean—I wasn’t interrogating them. I was just asking a few questions.”

“Why?” Gottlieb says.

“Uh,” Newt says. “I guess I was…curious, about you?”

He works up the guts to look Gottlieb in the eyes; he sees Gottlieb’s eyebrows jump the tiniest fraction of an inch. “You’re attracted to me,” Gottlieb says, another non-question, though Newt hears a flicker of surprise.

“Yeah,” Newt admits.

“I see,” Gottlieb says. Then, to Newt’s surprise, he suddenly smiles. “I’d like if you invited me over for dinner, Dr. Geiszler.”

“Dinner,” Newt says. He feels strangely dizzy; but, shaking himself, he quickly gets over it. “I mean, dinner! Yes! Shit! When?”

“Tonight, I should think,” Hermann says.

Tonight is Friday, which means they don’t have work tomorrow. By the time they make it off campus it’ll be almost ten—way later than people eat dinner—and besides, Newt already had a sandwich at around seven. Is dinner a euphemism? Is Gottlieb propositioning him? God, why didn’t he wash his sheets with the laundry this week? “Tonight,” Newt says. He stands up abruptly and grabs his leather jacket with trembling fingers. Why is he trembling? Nerves, he guesses. He’s about to hook up with total hottie Dr. Gottlieb, he’s allowed to be nervous. “Fuck yes. Let’s go now.”

Gottlieb is not impressed with the messy state of Newt’s apartment, and even less impressed with the state of Newt’s refrigerator and freezer. “Dinosaur chicken nuggets and canned Lime-A-Ritas,” he says with a sniff. “Hm. You ought to be getting more vitamins, Dr. Geiszler. I’m certain you’re deficient in something.”

“You sound like my dad,” Newt snorts. He throws his car keys on the counter and shrugs off his jacket. “There’s some leftover Chinese on the second shelf if you want it—just some lo mein. Or I could put a frozen pizza in the oven. Or I guess we could order something too?”

Gottlieb shuts the fridge door delicately. “How kind of you to offer,” he says. He doesn’t sound like he means it. Newt is suddenly struck by how bizarre a sight he is in the midst of Newt’s chaotic kitchen: buttoned up to the throat with his stupid shirt and blazer, prodding at the fraying lime lizard-shaped rug by the sink with the end of his ornately-handled cane. Out of time and out of place. 

“It’s Newt,” Newt says. “Please don’t call me Dr. Geiszler, it makes me feel ancient.”

“Hm,” Gottlieb says.

“And what,” Newt says, deciding to test his luck a little, “uh—what should I call you?”

Gottlieb considers him. “Hermann,” he says.

The name rings a bell in the back of Newt’s head. He swears he’s heard it somewhere before—an article, maybe. A book. Has he stumbled across Dr. Gottlieb’s research before without even realizing it? He’s on the verge of asking what publications Gottlieb’s been featured in when Gottlieb suddenly snags hold of his hand; then, raising it to his mouth, he kisses it. His lips are as cold as his skin. “Would you like to show me to your quarters, Newton?” he murmurs.

Newt shivers; he nods.

“Hermann Gottlieb,” Newt says aloud later, while Hermann redresses himself. “Now I know where I’ve heard that name before.”

“Yes?” Hermann says. He’s lacing up one of his Oxfords.

“I worked with his research in one of my dissertations,” Newt says. “Another Dr. Hermann Gottlieb, I mean. He was a brilliant mathematician from—God, 1830-something. German. His work was groundbreaking for the time, or shit, for our time, too.” He remembers seeing a portrait of that Hermann Gottlieb in one of his sources; the whole of the similarities between him and Newt’s Hermann Gottlieb (the dark eyes, the mouth, the cheekbones) are a little too much to be entirely coincidental. “You must be related to him, right? Like, he’s your great-great-great—”

“Yes,” Hermann cuts him off quickly. He turns to Newt and smiles. “A distant ancestor, certainly. I believe you are the first in some time to have made that connection.”

“Always thought he was cool,” Newt yawns. “Man, I’m tired.” The romp with Hermann had been fun, if not unexpectedly exhausting, and a little…out of the ordinary. The dude apparently has some sort of weird biting kink that left Newt’s neck stinging a little bit, but it’s cool, Newt doesn’t mind. It was like boning a vampire or something. Kinda hot. “Do you need me to show you to the door, or can I just stay here? I’m serious about spending the night though. I really don’t mind.”

Hermann fiddles with the laces of his other shoe, then, slowly, draws the whole thing back off. “If it’s not an imposition,” he says, and smiles again, shyly. “Though, I warn you—I’m a bit of a late sleeper.”

“Good, so I am,” Newt says. “Could you toss me the sweatshirt hanging on that chair? You can grab one for yourself too, if you’re cold, I’ve got another hanging in the closet. No, not--yeah, that door.”

They dip under the covers and get cozy, Newt taking on the task of big spoon, because Hermann is a cold sonofabitch and could use a little insulation. The last thought on his mind before he drifts off to a comfortable sleep is how strange it is he can’t feel Hermann’s heartbeat—though, he realizes, it’s probably just muffled by their clothing.

[yyh4ever]

Follow up (also sorry if this is a resend my tumblr app was being rude): DO U THINK KURAMA WENT TO HUMAN WORLD TO SET UP A BASE OF OPERATIONS.... TO MAKE A “KINGDOM” AND POSSIBLY RULE OVER HUMAN WORLD??? Or maybe. He just spent all his time stealing treasure for fun.... and finally he was able to use that hoard to pay for his mom’s honeymoon 🤣🤣🤣

When Raizen told Yusuke that Yomi also wanted to rule over the Human World, I thought this was Youko’s original idea lol. But, Youko basically shifted his base of operations to the Human World because at that moment he wasn’t strong enough to go against the two great forces that were consolidating in the Makai: Mukuro and Raizen.

Mukuro once told Hiei that his hiruseiki stone was just one of the many spoils she got from the many countries she had conquered. Kurama also told Hiei had no idea how terrible Mukuro was because he hadn’t been born yet. And apparently Raizen was a pretty fierce and savage youkai back then. Let’s not forget that Raizen stopped eating only 700 years ago and Yomi stated Kurama deserted Makai 1,000 years ago. Taking this hostile scenario into consideration, I imagine it became really tough to Youko to go on with his plan to accumulate wealth and build his own country in the Demon World.

I don’t think it was for fun, I really think he wanted to make a kingdom as you said, rule over Ningenkai and become an opposing force there. Kurama mentioned to Yusuke in the end of the manga that there were some types of energy not used by the humans that the Spirit World had great interest in. Kurama knew a lot about the 3 worlds and maybe he was also interested in that energy (probably the same energy that fed the Spirit World’s cannon). I read a cool fanfic once that tells the story about Youko Kurama’s 1,000 years in the Human World. It was really fun, he visited many countries, became ruler of some of them, stole great treasures and so on until he got caught by Shunjun. If I find the link again, I’ll share it. 

As you said before I don’t have all the answers 😂😂 but I also like talking about this stuff. I don’t know if you are the same person who asked about the Three Kings Arc and Japanese honorifics like "Kuwabara-kun", but I’ll reply them. It’s just I haven't had much time lately. My apologies.

[Edit] Anon answer:

Thank u for responding to my question about Kurama ruling over a kingdom in human world!!! i really find this stuff fun to think about!!! i have always thought it was strange that with the kekkai up that kurama says he "escaped to human world" after being injured, bc it would be strange that he would have the strength to do something like that if he was fleeing... so the knowledge he has been in human world already makes me think a lot more about what he was doing in his time in human world! -🦇

I did not send the other asks about the honorifics or anything lol i also decided im signing my asks as "🦇" bc i dont want to come off anon but then you can know it is me! lol sorry about it im just shy! i like being able to discuss though more about the canon and the things we can extrapolate idk it is just rly enjoyable to me

That part “escape to the Human World” was really confusing. We don’t know exactly where he was injured. I’ve always imagined Youko was snooping in the Spirit World or was lured there, got caught and then fled to the Human World. It’s hard to imagine how he got caught. A youkai like him being so careless? I’m sure Reikai had a real good stratagem to capture him and planned it out for centuries.

But, given the fact this story was told in the beginning of the manga and Togashi hadn’t introduced yet the concepts of the barrier, the author could have forgotten, I don’t know lol. Hiei also said Yukina and he had different mothers and suddenly they are twins XD. The story of the janken is also funny. Hokushin also mentioned that the barrier was not a problem as there were several ways to cross it. I wish Togashi had developed more this other methods as he only showed the device to reduce youki.

No problem about staying anonymous, I love the idea of signing as 🦇 or using a pseudonymous. 

[iacon-stargazer]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE: MUN & MUSE

fill out & repost ♥ this meme definitely favors canons more, but i hope oc’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. multimuses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

tagged by: stolen from @oneshallfall like.... months ago. im a slow gremlin hjksd. it's been in my drafts and i finally decided to finish the last few sections while working on clearing them out

tagging: steal it

MY MUSE IS.   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless

is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO.

is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  Well.../ NO / IDK. (i know optimus is but i don’t really... know about orion? i have seen a handful of fanartists who turn him into a very sexualized moe baby but i’m not sure about the fandom at large)

is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

are they underrated?  YES / NO. (lmao there’s like no fan content with him unless it’s with megatronus) 

were they relevant to the main story?  YES / NO.

were they relevant to the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO. (not yet.... lol)

how’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL.

HOW STRICTLY DO YOU FOLLOW CANON?

This... this is a trick question in this goddamn mess of a continuity. That said, I try my absolute best to make my portrayal coherent with the TFP show... even if said show contradicts itself at times. I take inspiration from the earlier parts (the thirteen primes section) of the Covenant of Primus for his origin backstory, but ignore the rest of the Covenant since it makes absolutely no sense with his characterization in... literally anything else. I’ve peeked at Exodus and it utterly sucks, but I’ve picked up bits and pieces of concepts that originated there just from spending time in the fandom. Aside from that... I spend a ton of time thinking about how to weave everything together in a way that both makes sense and makes for a character development arc.

SELL YOUR MUSE! (aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.)

Orion is genuinely kind, thoughtful, and introspective, very loving of the world around him.

He’s also a more complex character than is initially obvious - despite mostly being good sweet pure baby nerd he’s still flawed, with many of those flaws being his strengths put into the wrong situation. His strong morals can lead to dogmatism, and he’s only slightly less likely to deliver lectures than Optimus. His determination to be kind and help everyone can come off as unintentionally patronizing at times; he has a very “well-intentioned semi-privileged middle class” perspective that he’s not always self-aware of. However, he’s also willing to look at himself critically and learn/adapt. 

Essentially, he has many of the same traits as Optimus... just more or less apparent and/or developed. He's less confident than he eventually becomes through his future experience with leadership, wanting to change the world for the better but sometimes struggling to ground his plans in reality—something that continues to apply, but with reduced intensity and frequency over time. Idealistic cinnamon roll will eventually develop some realism, though never really quite enough. His selflessness remains a strength for now, but we know that eventually it will dip into martyristic tendencies.

NOW THE OPPOSITE! (list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?)

He could be potentially ‘boring’ in some senses. he’s the polite, considerate ‘next door’ type, who has for most of his life has just lived as a very average middle caste nobody. He’s more laid-back than he eventually becomes as optimus, but where others might get into trouble and shenanigans he’s most likely to just express concern. And since I try to keep him at least mostly ic, even with non-serious posts, this can derail ‘fun’ stuff and I fear dissuade some interaction.

While I try my best to give him realistic flaws that work with his character, he could still be seen as a little too good. very kind, understanding, forgiving, patient, considerate... almost endlessly so. A lot of my “he’s so good and pure” interpretation comes from using his having been the thirteenth prime as backstory, where he was pretty much the epitome of that, but some might not like the “he was a literal deity in a past life” idea for its “super special chosen one protagonist” elements.

His responsiveness to his environment can also be a downside. He’s not the type to start things; he just reacts and responds, standing his ground and finding himself when things get crazy around him. without megatronus, he may have eventually attempted political campaigning, but it wouldn’t have gotten very far. He needs to have more intense characters or events around him for major plots to really go places. Without those nothing would ever happen besides slice of life fluff, because he’s content with that kind of life.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO RP YOUR MUSE?  

Honestly I just wanted to write op/ratch fhsjkdjsdh. But I also wanted to be able to interact with a variety of muses and so I chose Orion over Optimus because he’s not so emotionally closed off, which I figured would give more flexibility beyond the handful of characters op would reasonably have close personal and/or plot-important relationships with. Also, I can relate to him on a thought-process level which lets me get into his head easily, which additionally made him an appealing choice for my first real rp muse.

WHAT KEEPS YOUR INSPIRATION GOING?  

I just love him so much, especially with the layers of his character I've built up around him. I don't always have inspiration to write or rp, but I think about him a lot. When I do find motivation to write, it's generally out of wanting to continue to work on developing him and just having a chance to express his characterization.

SOME MORE PERSONAL QUESTIONS FOR THE MUN.

do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO.

do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO.

do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO.  (i should do it more...)

do you think a lot about your muse during the day? YES / NO.

are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO. (at least most days fhsdhfskj)

are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO. (it waxes and wanes. I know I'm a good writer but I could still be better...)

are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO.

DO YOU ACCEPT CRITICISM WELL ABOUT YOUR PORTRAYAL?

I’ll be honest; I’ve never gotten criticism. I haven’t been here very long in comparison to some and I’ve never been that popular, so I figure I’m pretty easy to just ignore. I guess how I would feel about it would depend on what it was and how it was delivered, though I like to think I would be reasonable regardless

DO YOU LIKE QUESTIONS, WHICH HELP YOU EXPLORE YOUR CHARACTER?  

yes? yes absolutely?

IF SOMEONE DISAGREES TO A HEADCANON OF YOURS, DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY?  

I would be curious to hear their reasoning, but I think enough about how everything fits together that chances are I would agree to disagree

IF SOMEONE DISAGREES WITH YOUR PORTRAYAL, HOW WOULD YOU TAKE IT?

Depends on if their disagreement makes sense. Maybe I’ll give back my own reasoning for why I characterize the way I do. Maybe I’ll just agree to disagree, if their view is just totally different from mine. If they have valid points I’ll probably overthink it and spiral into self doubt. In all cases I’ll spill my thoughts to friends on discord.

IF SOMEONE REALLY HATES YOUR CHARACTER, HOW DO YOU TAKE IT?

......Orion in general or? ... fhsjkdhf...... Well if it was mine specifically that might hurt lol. But at the same time.... I doubt i’d agree with their takes either so... fair enough.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH PEOPLE POINTING OUT YOUR GRAMMATICAL ERRORS?  

Sure. I’m good at grammar so if something glaring is there it’s probably a typo I missed and I’ll be grateful for the chance to edit it out before more people see it lol

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE EASY GOING AS A MUN?  

Yeah. I’m pretty quiet most of the time because I just don’t have energy to talk to a lot of people, and I never want to get caught in drama. I honestly wouldn’t know what to do in a situation like that. I tend to avoid conflict, I’m quick to apologize, and polite with anyone I don’t know very well.

[magenta-llama]

Avengers Assemble Season 1: the stoniest

List: 

ep. 1-2 “The Avengers Protocol”

ep. 6  “Super Adaptoid”

ep. 13 “In Deep”

ep. 17 “Savages”

ep. 25 “Exodus”

ep. 26 “The Final Showdown”

Episodes 1-2: The Avengers Protocol

"You lead. I'll follow." (Steve Rogers)

What can I say, the show is gay from the start. Like, Tony is missing his team so much that he stalks them over his morning coffee on a daily basis. And yeah, sure, he stalks all of them and Steve is the last one he gets to, but come on, this show is so transparent (thank you, whoever made it this way. You make my life better every day. I love you.) And like, idk, I, personally, often leave the thing I am truly interested in to be the last one as well. Like, you never start with what worries you most when you don’t want to look suspicious.  And excuse me, what exactly was Red Skull’s “So Iron Man has a heart after all” about? I MEAN, AFTER IT LOOKS LIKE HE KILLS STEVE AND TONY GOES “NOOOOO” AND GETS KINDA ANGRY? Really, I think he is the biggest Stony shipper of the show (after Clint maybe).  And then again, “So you left the rest of your team behind - for me?” (Not that he doesn’t have a point, because the moment Tony sees Cap’s signature? He forgets everything). I tell you, he has an ao3 account, and he posts stony fics every night when MODOK is not around.

And the moment Tony frees Cap-Skull? He just wouldn't stop TALKING because he'd MISSED Steve so much TT 

Then goes part 2 - yep, the one with Steve’s “show-off” face. 

Like, he is biting his lip right there, I don’t take criticism.  He literally offers his body to Tony Stark at the very beginning of the show.

And Steve carrying Tony around in his arms? (Steve carrying Tony is a thing of this show in general - no matter whose hands are free, no matter the fact that Thor and Hulk are stronger than Steve and can move faster than him while carrying heavy stuff, Steve never lets anyone else carry his Tony. Ever.) The tender looks and shiny smiles Steve gives him? The non-stop flirting? I mean, if "Careful. Keep leading like that and we might actually stick together." was not a Captain America pick-up line I don't know what is. 

And the way Steve and Tony are right by each other's side, all the time, they just can't bear being farther than 1 meter's distance from each other. 

Do they have to be so close? There's plenty of space in Tony's house! And given that Tony was the first to turn and walk down it looks like Steve just ran after him to stick close again. 

Episode 6: Super Adaptoid

"There are a few old-fashioned things worth keeping around." (Tony Stark)

This one is just my favourite. I think I've rewatched it at least four times already. This whole trope with Tony's Modern Tech vs Steve's Old Fashioned Gut, learning to actually listen to each other and becoming closer in the end? Love it.   The way they just outright flirt and fool around from the first minute of the show? The way Tony is genuinely worried about Steve being hurt and tries to make him wear armour?

I personally find the whole concept of Tony making a suit for Steve really hot. And yes, it's always Steve. Not Clint or Natasha, who don't even have super strength. Just Steve. Tony wants to protect him so, so badly I want to cry.

I also love how Tony and Steve sit a bit apart from the others on their way home. Like, alright, Tony's piloting the jet (which actually JARVIS can do) but what is Steve doing? Just sitting there by his side and what, watching him? What had he been doing before he asked about the readings? He just likes spending time with Tony so, so much. I tell you, the only reason Cap wasn't sitting on his lap at that moment was that it's a kids' show. 

And Steve “never missing an issue” of Futura? That magazine with Tony on the cover? No, I can respect that he can just have interests of his own, but I like to think that he reads things like that to understand his boyfriend better. Or maybe impress him, who knows. He did impress him in the end :3

Also, why does Cap know how to use Iron Man's gauntlet? It didn't take him long to figure it out. Well, I actually made a fanart on that one, you can find it by “my art” or “stony” tag, I don’t know which one helps, tumblr messes with the tag search all the time.

And of course, the last scene. Oh, that last scene. That peaceful walk down the corridor while Tony's drying his hair. I have so many questions about that one scene. Like, what, were they taking a shower together? Were they going to spar? But then why do they take a shower before that..? But I've already written a post about that one, too.

Episode 13: In Deep

“So are you pals gonna hug now or what?" (Clint Barton)

The stoniest episode of the season. Possibly, of the whole show. Like, the whole episode is entirely stony. Undercover mission while gazing tenderly into each other's eyes? Trying to play bad guys, but keeping flirting and looking after each other's backs all the time? Really, the whole episode is just Steve and Tony being:

Yeah, I made a post about that one, too.

The "Tony's not following Steve's plan and Steve's pissed but in the end, they steal each other’s moves" trope? The "I know you're enjoying the role-playing thing"? I mean, how does he know Tony’s enjoying ‘the role-playing thing’? Oh, we all know how.  And Steve telling Tony how amazing he is? @tonysbubblebutt​ has already made a post about this, too. And COME ON, "Step 3 - we enjoy the view"? ENJOY THE VIEW, STEVE? REALLY?

(The view:)

Also, Tony's face when Steve hit him. For a moment, he really thought his babe was gonna hurt him, omg. 

And I like how everything is censored and yet so obvious. Like Tony putting a photo of his butt into the armour, but in pants - because kids'  show. Or Steve saying "billionaire, genius" and then trailing off - because kids' show. And Clint’s "So are you pals gonna HUG now or what?”  I mean, really?

Episode 17: Savages

"You know me, and I know Tony" (Steve Rogers)

The Camping! trope episode. Seriously, I've come up with at least three fanfiction ideas while watching this one. 

The first thing you should understand is that Tony and Steve had had a very good morning sex before the events. Or maybe not that good, because Tony just kept throwing Steve around the room and tried to make him “test drive his next invention”. Maybe he wanted to top and Steve didn’t let him, idk. Anyway, there is no other explanation for them beaming at each other for 20 minutes straight.

Really, the bet should have been about Tony and Steve being unable to go a day without eye-sexing every time one of them starts talking or, idk, moving. But just look at how wide their smiles are all the time - it makes it hard for them to even talk at all. 

But yeah, making bets. There’s actually an amazing fic about that, it’s called Quit While You’re Ahead by  @magicasen​ (ao3 work 3067199), I highly recommend you read it.

And the way they tease each other, oh my gosh. And the mysterious "next *fingers-up-in-a-scissoring-gesture* invention" Tony expects Steve to test drive- 

And both of them running around like two happy puppies when it’s time to set up their camping. 

And yes, Steve knowing Tony all so well and having so much faith in him? I love it. 

Episode 25: Exodus, Episode 26: The Final Showdown

"Sorry to break this romance" (Clint Barton)

These are just worth watching for Tony and Steve holding hands (I stopwatched 6 seconds, and those were only those shown), Steve carrying Tony on his shoulder while holding him under his butt and just Steve's "You're amazing, Tony" and Tony's "No, you are amazing. I am also amazing, but that's because you make me amazing with how amazing you are yourself, Steve." 24/7.

Bonus: Steve carrying Tony around - Season 1 edition (tell me if I missed anything)

[pumpkinpaix]

9, 13, 14, 20? :O

9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?

ALAS I AM APPARENTLY A LONGFIC WRITER,,,, or like, a very short tiny vignette, no in-between.  I used to be incapable of writing anything long (all my shit from like 2007-2012 was under like 5k pretty much), but now it’s like. fuck! every story i want to write ends up spiralling out into like 50k+ projects /o\ I’m definitely a plotter. I wish I could be more spontaneous, but I do much, much better when I have some kind of endgame in mind. I can kinda fudge the middle, but the beginning and end have to be set :/

13. Do you share your writing online? (Drop a link!) Do you have projects you’ve kept just for yourself?

yep! here’s my ao3, which is pretty much just mdzs right now, but I’ve got some Saint Seiya stuff planned 👀 truly getting ready to return to my roots. saint seiya was the first fandom i wrote for! :D if you’re looking for my tumblr ficlets, I believe the tag is #myficlet

however, in terms of original prose and poetry, it mostly all just stays in folders on my hard drive. :’D I’ve entered some poetry and prose into local writing contests and won before, so my work exists out in the ether, but one day I’d like to have published books :’) I have so much poetry that kind of just sits around, and i’m like maybe?? it would be cool to share some of it? but all of it needs more editing and refining, I almost never edit my poetry it just kinda comes out in a mess and then I don’t look at it for years, so none of it is like good. a lot of it has potential, I think, but I have like, maaaaybe one poem that I would say is almost good lol.

I have like five nano novels hanging out as well, so just like. hundreds of k of words stacked up over the last decade and a half :’D

14. At what point in writing do you come up with a title?

depends! sometimes I think of a title and a concept at the same time and try to weave them together. sometimes it comes in the middle, and sometimes I’m scrambling right at the end. sometimes I’m struggling for the whole fucking time (me with lxc fic right now good god this title has been eluding me for MONTHS)

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

okay, since you’re the one asking, I’m going to talk about my painting selections in this little tumblr not-fic i wrote about hyoshun even though I know you don’t really do the classic series, but hey.

I’ve seen both Aivazovsky’s Ninth Wave and Repin’s Sadko in person, but I’ve studied all of the paintings that were included. I’ve never been to the Tretyakov, so I haven’t seen any of those in person, but GOD i want to. All of the paintings that I talked about are some of my favorite 19th century russian works except Sadko, which is nice, but not like, one of my favorites. I just like it.

here is why I chose those works in particular:

1. Aivazovsky’s Ninth Wave is a fucking experience to witness. It’s impossible to convey the presence of it, the size of it, on a computer screen. you feel swallowed up by the ocean and the light and the terror and the beauty of it--even as you face death, you also face the sun. you know, just like. peak sublime. I really think Shun would find the concept of the sublime very moving, given what we see of his character in canon: he cares, deeply and viscerally about the inherent value of life, but sees himself as small within it. And I don’t necessarily think that scares him so much as it awes him sometimes. He knows his own value and strength, respects risk, and respects sacrifice. I think would relate a lot to the Romantic artists who looked out at the vastness of the world and reacted with wonder and terror.

I think Shun very much feels a deep sense of wonder at being alive, of existing, and that he takes that very seriously. idk, there’s that moment at the 12 temples, when he stops to smell the roses at Aphrodite’s temple. it’s like, yeah, we’re in the midst of fighting for our lives, but god. there is such beauty here. facing the sun even as you face death. I think he would like that painting a lot.

2. Knowing Repin’s other work, I find the Sadko really beautiful and charming and surprising! It’s such a fun subject for a painting--instead of painting a religious scene, it’s a scene from a bylina, about a man named Sadko. I believe here is the scene where he’s asked to choose a wife from a line of beautiful sea maidens, but all he wants is to return to the surface and live with his human wife that he loves so much. and it’s okay! he does! the painting is lovely and just really visually stunning. and there’s something really moving about the way that sadko has eyes only for his wife on the surface, dressed in plain clothes, out of reach, even as these dazzling women laden with jewels parade before him. aaaaaaaaaa. anyways, I think Shun would like this painting too, for those reasons!!

3. Now the Tretyakov paintings that I’ve never seen, but GOD they just. they get me right in the heart. first, Conscience, Judas, by Nikolai Ge. it’s hard for me to describe exactly what I’m feeling when I look at it, but that really vicious white on Judas’s robe, the coldness of it, the alienation of a traitor. I want to weep for judas. I am not christian, so my interpretations of the bible are largely moot and uninformed, but I’ve always been intrigued by the thought that like--without judas’ betrayal, christ could not have risen. without the fall, there cannot be a triumph. that doesn’t mean that judas was acting for that reason, i certainly don’t know enough about biblical studies to make any kind of interpretation, but in the sense that like--christ had to fall and judas was the instrument of it. imagine the remorse of knowing. there’s something very human and sad about watching everything you loved and betrayed walk away from you into the darkness while you are left behind. without you, it could never have happened. i don’t know. there’s something about the nature of unforgiveable sins in there. i think about Shun’s speech to Balron Lune and I think he would feel some kind of way looking at this painting.

4. Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, by Perov--this painting kills me every time i see it. again, not christian, but like. the agony of christ. god. the nature of sacrifice. knowing that you must suffer and die, but oh! you would rather live, please if only you could live. let this cup pass me by. that on its own is already so much to sit with. and I think Shun, as well as the other saints, for very obvious reasons, probably have a lot of complicated emotions surrounding the concept of sacrifice and doubt. and idk, whenever there’s a moment when you feel like you are reaching through time and space to realize that someone out there has felt the way you are feeling, it’s like. that’s a lot. it hurts.

5. The Demon Seated, Vrubel: aaaaaaaaaaa. one of my favorite paintings!!! the demon is beautiful, and the demon is terribly melancholic, and the demon is alone, and the demon is powerful sitting amidst the blooming flowers and the setting sun. the gentle face in contrast with the muscular body. the inherent negative aspect of a demon in contrast with the subject’s heroism. I think that this would remind shun very much of his own brother, who is so angry and violent and dark, but whom he still sees as gentle and loving still. i think shun would look at this painting and see ikki sitting there, alone, watching the sunset on some distant shore. as for hyoga, I think it would be hard for him to see this without seeing shun after the hades arc: a kind and beautiful man, a demon by nature not by choice. someone soft made unwillingly hard. a murderer who would ferry even centipedes out of the house to safety.

ANYWAYS. I LOVE ART and i project all my feelings onto shun thank you for coming to my ted talk

writing asks

[lovemxnot]

How to kill a dragon | Lee Minho

Genre: how to train your dragon!au, Vikings!au, enemies to lovers!au

Pairings: Reader X Minho ft. Chan, Changbin, Jisung. (Maybe more)

Warnings: blood and gore, idk they're Vikings what would you expect.

Synopsis: It was your soul's mission to avoid Lee Minho at any cost, but life seemed to have other plans. A plan full of dragons, confusion, lots of tears, Minho, and newly found troubling feelings. 

A/N(edit): the fic is posted.

A while ago, I read this masterpiece by none other than @j-once, and it reminded me of my favorite movie (httyd).I don’t know if she wrote it based on this movie or not, but I thought it would be a fun concept.

Heres a sneak peek ( basically the first part of the story)

I’ve been working on this for some time now, give it some loven’ it’s lonely.

I.

Steam was still rising from your soup bowl, meaning you haven’t been sitting on the polished wooden bench here for that long. But time could not go any slower than a wagon pulled in mud whenever you were in the presence of the almighty Lee’s family.

All they did throughout the whole weekly-dinners you and your father had with them in the great hall was boast and brag about how powerful they are, how many dragons they’ve slain, how much dragon skin they have hung up on their walls as tapestry, and how many teethes they wore around their necks, one from each species they’ve killed, as a reminder to the townspeople of who they were.

They perceived themselves as royalty. No one actually liked them, but everyone bared with their bragging as they played a crucial role in keeping this land safe and in one piece.

Your spoon kept picking at the peas in your soup, glaring at them, hoping if you keep your head down and stare at your soup long enough, you might turn into one eventually and not have to sit through this agonizingly long Rendezvous.

You wished you could skip these dinners, but being the last and only descendant of the villages’ chief put you in a tight spot. The Lee’s were a compelling family, they kept the village safe for innumerable years, forming a long line of dragon slayers. So to refrain from rendering this town to ashes, your father made sure to always be on good terms with them; thus you having to sit next to your father on a weekly basis in the large hall placed up north the island, where the elite lived, and pretend you don't dream about having their heads on sticks.

Appetite nowhere in sight, you abandoned your soup in favor of playing with the mashed potato next to the rib meat dosed in a brown sauce, smashing it even more. The food looked delicious, props to the chef, but you lost your appetite whenever you were within a mile of their existence. Being their neighbor wasn’t that fun either. Not when you inevitably meet at least one of the Lee’s whenever you step a foot out of your house.

You were beginning to believe this dinner might actually end on a peaceful note this time, without food thrown at each other across the table. Until the pretty faced boy seated in front of you opened his mouth.

“Why so quiet, Y/N? Dragon got your tongue?” Lee Minho, the youngest and last of the Lee’s, teased.

Great, now any sign of you having a civil, quiet meal completely perished.

You glared at him, trying to keep composed and not fall into one of his tricks, you replied, “Having to stare at your face all evening makes me want to hurl.” Alright, so much for keeping your composure.

“Aw, I make you that nervous?” He grinned, mischievousness sparkling in his pretty brown eyes— you meant ugly, ugly mud brown eyes.

“Aw, you want me to shove my foot up your ass?” You taunted.

“If that's what you're into,” that made everyone on the table queasy. And made your cheeks burn.

“you're revolting.”

“Come on, princess, I know you like me.”

“ I’d much rather have myself hunted down by a night fury than fraternize with you .” It was infuriating how good looking he and his brothers were.

His oldest brother, the firstborn- Chan, was the only one with a cool-headed mind, he was notoriously known in the village for his strength but he never, not once bragged or acted out as the rest of his younger siblings.

You were even more agitated with the way your heartstrings tugged whenever you set eyes on Minho. But you never liked him. There was no reason behind that, no big fight over who got the last biscuit from the great hall buffets, or quarrels over who-said-what-about-who, and especially no arguments over who was the better Viking because you-along with the whole island- knew that both of you have never killed a dragon.

While 12-year-olds were out there with a dash in their slate, both you and Minho were known for being the most softhearted Vikings this town has seen in decades. It was no victorious title, especially not to Minho, the legacy of the Lee’s must continue on, and you understood how suffocating it must feel to have to bear the weight of the crown he was forced to wear since the day he took his first breath. And it’ll stay on his head till the day he takes his last.

You hated him because he was a stuck up prick that couldn’t stop himself from annoying the living daylights out of you. And as far as you know, he couldn’t stand you either, if the glares he always sent your way weren’t an indication of his hate than you don’t know what it is. But you had no idea why he hated you. You never did anything to him. His hostility originated from the pressure of being the black sheep of the house, but why he chose to take it out on you was a mystery.

“Be careful what you wish for.” Minho had the audacity to smirk, right where you had a steaming hot bowl of soup in your hands reach. Did he not learn from the last time he tried to test you? Was the slimy residue of the goat intestines that left his hair sticky and smelly for a week not enough of a warning of how hands-on you could get? He might need a reminder.

He was right though, Night furies were no joke. They are the most feared type of dragons. It only appears at night, never shows itself. It’s fast, stealthy, and never misses an aim. If it has its eyes on you, then you better pray to Odin to give you the stamina to outrun it to a shelter, because other than that your chances of encountering a night fury and coming out alive are nigh to none.

It’s sporadic to see a night fury, much less kill one. No one knows how it looks like, and no one has ever caught or killed one. The only sign that one has come to hunt you is their screech and their unmistakable blue plasma fireballs that could burn anything to ashes upon contact.

You could say night furies were the most sought after dragon in the Lee’s, they want them as a trophy. If they could get that under their belts, then this town would not hear the end of it with how high their heads would be in the asses, proudly wearing it as a tophat.

While you were busy thinking of your comeback, You heard his parents and your father joking as always, saying how you two bickered like a married couple, and how perfect both of you already played into your foreseeable future marriage.

This was another point that added fuel to your hatred. Your families always talked about how the both of you would eventually come around your little fights and marry each other.

With that said, you still would rather be eaten alive by a dragon than have to face the Lee’s for any second longer.

You opened your mouth to say exactly that, but the perusing pair of eyes that were set on you made you shut up. You turned your gaze from Minho's and caught his older brothers instead.

You’ve always admired Chan, he was calm and collected, unlike his baby brother. Fighting in front of him made you feel immature. You two don’t talk often, but you would have absolutely no problem if he were the one you would be betrothed to. He was a very sensible man.

You dropped your gaze back to your plate, letting go of the issue. Shame draped over your shoulders like a coat, you don't mean to pick fights with Minho, but his constant remarks always hit the nail on the head. He knew how to get on your nerves, and it annoyed you to no end that you give him the power to do so.

“So tomorrow is the big day, yeah?” Minho’s father cut into the pregnant air with his question, gathering everyone’s attention back to him, ignoring you twos previous bickering.

“Yes, the sea has cleared up enough for us to set sail.”

Seeing as it was getting hotter these days, sun heating up your armors, turning them into a portable fireplace, melting your skin. Seas turning back to their natural liquid state, your father and his soldiers were bound to go on to one of their semi-annual sea trips.

It completely slipped your mind. It was always around this time, where the adults of this town sailed out to explore the ambiguous sea, in hopes of finding where all these dragons were nesting, while the younglings stayed back for dragon training.

Dragon training.

You’ve managed to avoid joining training thus far, somehow explaining to your father how important it was for you to learn from the town's seamstress how to sew two pieces of leather skin together. But you had a feeling, not this time.

“ Is Commander Kim still the head trainer for this years dragon training ?” Your father nodded, then said, “ speaking of dragon training, Y/N will be joining this year.”

That was news to you. You knew it was bound to happen, but knowing that he signed you up behind your back without consulting you first still hurt.

“What?!” Your spoon clacked loudly against the plate, gathering everyone's attention.

“You heard me,” He said with finality. “ Minho will be there with you too. One of you might actually kill a dragon this time.” He added humorously, as if that would make either of you feel any better. You would rather jump into an active volcano than have to stand next to one of them.

You saw Minho scowl at the mention of his name while everyone else at the table cackled.

“ I bet Y/N will kill one first.” Changbin, the second oldest son and the older twin of the lee pair, made the frown on Minho's face deepen. You could see he was trying to not burst, his hands curled to a fist, knuckles turning white.

Sympathy washed your disdain away, You always felt sorry for Minho whenever his brothers made fun of him. You were an only child and were handled as a relic, meant to be seen and not touched, behind compacted glass. You've never lived a life of sibling rivalry, it wasn't that you envied people with siblings but the thought of having someone to throw the blame on when you tear one of your father's maps seemed pleasant. You always thought blood is thicker than water but witnessing firsthand the unfortunate bulling of lee Minho made you think otherwise.  

“ what’s she going to kill it with? Her crossbow?” The younger twin, Jisung, Snorted. You ignored him, both pairs of the twins were nutheads. Albeit good looking nutheads.

“But dad,” you tried to bring the conversation back onto you, letting Minho breath for a second, not that you cared about him, but because you would hate it if you were in his place “the seamstress finally managed to get velvet, she’s going to show me—“

“No more excuses!! this time you're going!” He slammed his fist into the table. He looked mad, you didn’t know the town folks shit-talking about his daughter being too weak to inherit this town bothered him that much. He must have reached his limit for him to slip and yell at his kin in front of other people. “ how can I pass this village down to you if you can’t even face a training dragon?!”

Ouch. That stung. It wasn’t like you wanted to become the next chief, you wanted to explore the world beyond your tiny island, study the plants and animals, experience life in general. But you were tied down by duties and responsibilities.

You were startled into tears, you’ve never felt this humiliated before. Getting yelled at in front of your archnemesis made tears threaten to fall from your eyes. Now you wished you had stared at your soup harder.

Picking up your crossbow from beside your leg, you stood up abruptly, your soup could not rival the heat that was pooling in your cheeks, eyes glassy, lips pressed to a tight line. “I'll take my leave.” you rushed outside, ignoring your father's calls. Missing the solicitous stare that followed your figure out, his fists unclenching.

Continue.

[fae-fucker]

Zenith: Chapter 49-51

Chapter 49

So the queen of Adhira, Lira’s aunt, is, like, super disappointed with Lira and her shenanigans. Lira finally explains that while she loves her aunt, she doesn’t want to be her, aka refuses the role of planetary queen once more. I honestly have no idea what reasons Alara has for making Lira her heir, because Lira has evidently never shown any interest in politics. Why she won’t just make Lon her heir? He seems loyal and eager. Idk I guess feminism or something. Oh and we need a character conflict for Lira. Doy.

Anyhoo, Alara says that she’s been in contact with General Cortas and knows about his deal with the crew. She says she can instead offer Lira a position as a pilot for Adhira’s new starfleet. Which they apparently didn’t have before? She says they need a stronger presence “in the sky” if there’s another war, and like 1) that’s not the sky and 2) you mean to tell me that this entire planet of randos that do in fact train pilots judging by Lira’s existence ... doesn’t have a starfleet already?

Oh, but the ship Alara offers Lira is “the fastest model in the Mirabel galaxy”. The fastest model of ... what? Is it a frigate? A cruiser? A fighter? We don’t even get any made-up specs or even a general specialization, all we get is that it’s the fastest and coolest ship ever that everybody wants right now but it’s not even out on the market yet! Because that makes sense for the government that just admitted they had a minuscule starfleet to have. I would’ve accepted it if Alara tied the existence and offer of the ship back to her correspondence with General Cortas and the ship was a diplomatic gift from Arcardius, but it’s specifically mentioned to be Adhiran.

So ... these guys don’t have a meaningful “presence in the sky”, but they DO have the tech, the budget, and the marketing strategy to make the most wanted and advanced starship in the galaxy?

Oh, and this starship? Lira would pilot it as a commercial ship. So the queen wants to invest in a bigger starfleet ... except this one extra fancy ship she’s willing to throw away for regular trade? I mean I guess it makes sense if she doesn’t want to put Lira in danger but does want to sweeten the deal with a sick starship, but then I have to wonder why the previous info about the general and the lacking starfleet is even in here at all?

This whole situation is just doubt dot jpeg.

We find out that the offer only stands this once, and only if Lira immediately removes herself from her current mission and also leaves her crew to stay on Adhira. Apparently the super sexy cool new ship hasn’t even been built yet, it’s literally just a sketch, but Alara has set aside funds to start construction. But it’s also famous enough of a ship already that everyone wants it?

I’m no politician but the logistics of it all make my brain hurt. It’s just really ass-backwards, is what I’m saying. It really feels like Shinsay just wrote one word in front of the other without any consideration of the words that came before.

Oh and Lon is here also. I’m only saying this because he bites his lip and his blood is blue and I need you to remember this for future reference.

Lon and Alara tell Lira to pick them and ditch her friends because her friends are bad for her and tbh are they wrong? Are they though? Lira leaves to go mope about how uninteresting her character conflict is and finds Alfie and Dex.

Alfie sat beside him on the couch. The AI was oiling his gears while Dex oiled his insides with a bottle of Griss.

I had to read about Dex oiling his insides and now so do you.

Wait ... is Dex butt-chugging this Griss? Dex, you know that’s bad for you, bud?

Lira asks Dex if there was truly no way to save both Andi and his dad, to which Dex replies something appropriately dramatic that nobody would actually say out loud (something something tearing galaxies something), and Lira mopes out of that room as well in grim understanding of their symbolically similar situations before the chapter ends.

Chapter 50

We’re back with Andi. The girls are all “training” aka playfighting out in the open and inconveniencing the people around them while Andi angsts about how broken and sad and black her soul is and how everything is her fault including Valen’s and Lira’s pain and how much she just LOVES these WONDERFUL WOMEN she calls her crew and how HARD it was to open up to them after Kalee and Dex but now that she has she would never give them up for ANYTHING.

It goes on for literally pages and I’m not going to include it because 1) it’s pretty much a rehash of shit we already know and have seen her angst about and 2) the fact that Andi’s thoughts and character “development” is happening in her mind alone and the other girls are doing something else makes this feel really jarring and ironically disconnected. There’s nothing wrong with having emotional chapters where not much “plot” happens, but maybe have people actually, like, talk and interact with each other? Instead of just having one character think about how deep and damaged they are? Idk, just a thought.

Anyway, after several pages of pointless nonsense, Andi finally starts crying and tells the other girls that the new info from Dex and Valen’s whole deal has been taking a toll on her. She also apologizes to Lira, which, bonus points, and to the others for getting her into this. Unfortunately Lira undoes the apology and Andi’s attempt at taking responsibility and admitting to wrongdoing by saying she doesn’t need an apology and only needs to hear Andi complain so she can be the emotional sponge and fortune cookie advice dispenser of the group just like Shinsay always intended.

Now, to be fair, this section is honestly quite touching and I wish Shinsay had focused more on the friendship instead of ... well, literally everything else. Observe:

“I tried to kill [Dex]. What if I’d succeeded?”

“You didn’t,” Breck said. Her dark eyes met Andi’s pale ones as she spoke. “And now you know his side of the story, and he knows yours. You both did terrible things, broke promises, ruined a mutual trust. You can hold on to your anger, if you think that makes you strong.” She smiled a little then. “But brute strength isn’t everything, Andi. Trust me, I would know.”

Man, Breck is really wasted on this book, isn’t she? Or at least the concept of Breck. There isn’t much of her to waste in the first place, lbr.

Andi admits that if Valen tries to kill her when he wakes up, she’s not sure she’ll want to stop him. Um. Shinsay ... It’s time to close the laptop and go outside I think. You are not equipped to handle this.

The crew tells Andi that they can carry some of her burdens for her, which is very sweet, if only Andi showed the same thing in return. Right now all she’s done is mope around, think about how much she loves her crew because they’re just so supportive, and then unload her emotional baggage on them. To her credit, Andi seems hesitant and tells Lira she’s there for her too. Lira’s about to spill the blue beans when Alfie interrupts to tell them that Valen is awake. Lira says that whatever she was about to say isn’t important in what I assume is supposed to be dramatic irony? But watch this actually get forgotten and resolved without her input, making Lira some sort of prophet.

All in all, not the worst chapter, but definitely bloated.

Chapter 51

Andi is pacing back and forth and trying to hype herself up before the meeting with Valen. We find out that apparently, the entire planet of Adhira has no military, because they’re just SO peaceful? Yeahh ... no. The only way I’d accept that is if they had, like, some sort of mind-control abilities and networks of spies and agents in the governments of every other planet nation to prevent any conflict to turn on Adhira, which I doubt since they’re supposed to be the peaceful hippies of the story. It would be mad hardcore if that were the case, but alas, I fucking doubt it my dudes.

Besides, wasn’t Adhira in the war against Xen Ptera? Or did they sit it out but still celebrate the victory as if they helped? What’s going on there?

Also, it’s been four years since Andi last interacted with Valen, which I belive makes her 18-19? Meaning Dex was an older teen when he boned down mid-teens Andi. Ok ok ok ok.

Anyway, today is the day of Revalia, which the United Systems celebrate as it marks the end of the Cataclysm. Andi is not hyped. She’s also not hyped for the Intergalactic Peace Summit that’s happening.

[...] leaders from each of the four systems would be present to symbolize that peace still existed in the galaxy, and would continue to exist between the planets that made up the Unified Systems.

So ... Um. I know Shinsay probably think that “intergalactic” is a really cool sci-fi word and they’ve heard it used before so they had to put it here because it sounds science-y and official, but ... intergalactic means between galaxies. Not between star systems or planets. Given how the summit is defined, interplanetary would be more fitting because they’re all coming from different planets from different solar systems all within the same one galaxy. (Not entirely sure what fancy word would be used for multiple systems, but my point still stands.)

The secondhand embarrassment is strong in this one, y’all. Who edited this?

Gilly finds a Marketable Fuzzy Space Pet and convinces Andi to let her keep it, naming it Havoc. It’s impressive how not charmed I am.

Dex enters with Valen and Andi thinks about how different they are and how fucked-up Valen looks.

What horrors had he lived through?

Being thrown down a flight of stairs, for one. He was rotting at some point also. You know, from all the torture you know he went through for two years? Feels like you should probably know that. Oh, sorry, was that a Deep Rhetorical Question?

I should also mention that Alfie is getting on my nerves big time, which is frankly impressive on Shinsay’s part since I’ll eat up any naïve and emotionless robot character, gears and all, yet somehow they’ve written him to be obnoxious in their attempt at making him charmingly socially inept. I think the fact that I’m supposed to be finding him cute or funny is what’s making me really dislike him. Observe:

“I find the name quite fitting, Breck,” Lira added. “Every beast deserves a strong name.”

“Allow me to assist,” Alfie added, walking over on silent feet. “Havoc is defined, in the Great Universal Dictionary, as ‘great destruction or devastation. Ruinous damage.’”

[...]

Valen inclined his head at Alfie. “My deepest apologies that you’re programmed to work for my father.”

Alfie’s unblinking eyes stared at Valen. “I am detecting strong levels of distaste toward...”

“That’ll be enough, Alfie,” Dex interjected. “Why don’t you go check on the ship repairs? Memory could probably use some company.” 

At the sound of Memory’s name, Alfie’s posture straightened. “I find my gears are warming at an alarming rate. Excuse me.”

Is this supposed to be cute? Endearing? What is the point of Alfie in this story? Why is he here? It feels like his entire reason for existing is to be the silly comic relief and the stereotypical weird AI with no concept of normal interactions. I’m also hardcore weirded out by how horny he is for Memory. It’s making me genuinely uncomfortable for reasons I can’t explain.

Why do we need another comic relief guy? Dex, Gilly and Breck, and now the fucking Havoc (the weird shitty pet thing) all serve that purpose already. WHY DOES ALFIE EXIST?!

Anyway, Alfie leaves and Dex suggests that they all have an “adult conversation” (lol) and the chapter ends on Andi finally greeting Valen and it’s very dramatic.