#ofc i come to tumblr bc i haven’t seen this one on here yet and i want to share

[milogoestogreendale]

THIS VIDEO?!

[winryofresembool]

Get to Know Me meme

Thank you @athenasparrow for the tag!!! :)

Last song: Taylor Swift Eras tour spoilers (if I have someone who wants to avoid those following me!)

...

Um, possibly Karma by Taylor Swift since that was the last song she sang in her concert and I spent a /lot/ (too much) of yesterday finding clips from the said concert. Also currently have this is me trying open in a tab but haven’t listened to it yet. 

Last Show: (referring to my previous answer) Watching a concert online doesn’t count, right? In that case, I think it was Diandra’s (a Finnish singer) concert in November. Yeah, I don’t really get to go to these often bc I live in the middle of nowhere :d

Currently watching: I watch very few TV shows these days (aside from certain anime but I’m not gonna list them here) but I currently have a tinykittens (a Canadian cat rescue organisation) livestream open and I take a peek at it every once in a while. Those Bramble kittens are super cute ♥ (I would absolutely love it if I happened to have a fellow TinyVillager following me! So if you do, pls come talk to me!)

Currently reading: While my TBR list is ever growing, I have to be honest, I haven’t really been reading published books for several months now. Blame the Jily fics. They are way better :P But if I have to mention one, I’ve been reading this book by the Finnish translator of Harry Potter (Jaana Kapari) where she tells about her translating process and it’s honestly pretty interesting, makes me wish I was a translator too.

(As for the Jily fics, do not ask me how many fic tabs I have currently open. I literally just visited the Jily tag here and was like :--------O ‘Oh wow, a lot of authors seem to have decided to post stuff last night’)

Current obsession: my poor friend @criis55 who has to listen to my ramblings every day would be able to testify for this: currently it’s Taylor Swift. I wanna talk about what my relationship with her music is because I’m not a long time Swiftie unlike so many of the people I’ve seen here are. I first started paying attention to some of her songs maaaaybe around the time I started writing Caleo fics so ~ 2020 (obviously I knew some of her hit songs before that but I couldn’t call myself a fan) but a year later she released Red (TV), incl. All Too Well 10 minute version and that was probably when I started thinking, hey, this song is wonderful, I should give a chance to her other songs too. Since then I’ve been slowly getting more familiar with her other albums (it’s been a longish process bc she has a /lot/ of songs and as a non native English speaker I need to be able to see the lyrics to know what’s really going on in the song) and found more songs that I enjoy. This very week is an important milestone to me when it comes to me being her fan because she just released 4 new songs/new versions of her old songs and started her tour and I get to follow it from the beginning and as a relatively new fan I find all that really exciting. Hence you may also see me talking about this more here on tumblr as well. 

Well, other than TS, Jily ofc remains high on my current obsessions list ♥

Tagging: @criis55 if you happen to want to do this, no pressure ♥

[agust-dyke]

Thank u for listening to me :’( It’s so nice to know that it gets better. I had a weird-ish interaction today with my partner when I said I wished I had a body like Jimin’s and I’m trying to not overthink it and just figure my shit out. I haven’t told my partner about my gender crisis (yet?) cause I’m worried about how he’ll react. Like, he has totally accepted me for being bisexual, but I don’t think he gets gender stuff as much? He always tries to be respectful and is always open to learning more but that disconnect is a little hard these days.

Again, thanks so much for listening. Did you read or do any research about gender stuff when you went through this? I’d really appreciate some things to read if you can offer them. <3

ofc, i’m always here to listen <3 i hope that when/if you feel comfortable enough to discuss it with your partner that his response is open-minded and understanding. gender stuff can be hard to understand at first esp for cis ppl but i’ve seen some people come a long way so i’m sending you luck and good vibes!! also i 100% get the jimin thing, i think part of the reason i like boygroups so much is bc i rlly appreciate the gnc vibes and androgyny that a lot of them have and jimin is def in that list, he’s so gender

as for reading, i generally just searched for things written by other trans people, sometimes in the form of tumblr posts on trans-positive blogs. for me personally, reading stone butch blues felt very impactful since i’m a nonbinary lesbian. im not sure if it would translate to you in exactly the same way bc so much of the gender stuff is tied in with butchness but i felt very Seen and generally that’s what i thought of when you said reading (it’s on the author’s website for free if you wanted to read it!) there’s lots of books on lgbt history and that helped me a lot too, i have one book that’s a collection of queer people’s writing on their presentation and body image, including lots of trans ppl dissecting their relationship with gender, it’s called “looking queer” <3 also just familiarizing myself with other people and cultures who acknowledge genders outside the binary helped me feel more secure, so you could def try to find some stuff on roles trans ppl have historically played in society. visual media also helped me, at the time i watched a lot of nonbinary ppl on youtube talk abt their experiences with gender, so you could try that too if you think it’d help!!

if you want more recs or some of the sections from “looking queer” or just want to talk more, feel free to send another ask or a message 💕

[leshyleaf]

Ok I replayed all of deltarune again so silly deltarune theory time!

(I dont peruse tumblr all that much so sorry if someone already posted about this specifically)

so we’re all very heartbroken about the lack of papyrus in chapter 2, right (at least I am). Basically, I’m just very curious about what Sans’s little brother is gonna be like. ((It’s not even confirmed to be papyrus, but considering that they are sans’s little bro, and of course, the trousle you trigger when you knock on their door, it’s gotta be highly likely lol.

I’m almost positive he is going to be a teen, as it would be weird for sans to schedule a hangout with someone much younger or much older than Kris.

Anyway…what If he turns out to be a human?

shut up and hear me out okok

I think it would be really interesting!! Because

We’d get to interact with another living human for the first time in the utdr verse

It would be a really cool character/family parallel to Kris and their situation…I’m not sure how to put it eloquently, but one of the many themes in deltarune/undertale seems to be that feeling…of being a bit of an outsider in your own family/among your friends ((I mean, kris used to want to be a monster when they were little, I’m sure to “fit in”; they even wore little monster horns…and the town members seem to regard them as a bit of a weirdo)) ALSO, there was a really dope theory post about Susie being from a human/town family that explained a lot about her/her actions.

And this “outsider feeling” I think fits papyrus well…he doesn’t have many friends; he’s a bit brash, loud, clearly neurodivergent…and is just. Lonely. Sometimes I forget how lonely he is. In deltarune, sans tells you that he really needs more friends, so I’m sure this carries in some degree to deltarune. (I’m glad he seems so happy after the pacifist ending in ut. It warms my heart.) I mean, just check out the Christmas party dialogue.

Anyway, even the library has books on how to take care of humans, (checked out by only toriel, but the brothers just moved here, so.) it just seems like one of those thematic scenarios that Toby might throw us for a loop on.

There is even some dialogue in ut that somewhat, jokingly, goofily, suggests… something.

Not to mention all that “behind-the-ear dabbing” lol

Of course, these might all seem like silly jokes, but Toby has a bit of a habit of disguising real lore with humor (which I’ve always thought was genius.)

“ but this dialogue is from undertale, not deltarune!” Good point, I say, good point. Except NOT

Toby himself said there would be SOME connections, and in my recent replaying of undertale (and farming for river person dialogue), flowey AND riverperson both directly reference the world of deltarune, with flowey showing seam’s eye before his omega flowey fight, while saying (as differentiated from humans and monsters) “EVERYONE.” And river person says “beware the man who comes from the other world” or smth like that (I didn’t get the screenshots for these, sorry lol.) also, sans’s gaster blasters, ofc.

Now. This theory is kind of debunked by well. This

LOL. BUT!!

BUT!

No bones in ch. 2…Just the trousle. (And honestly, the trousle of bones in ch. 1 could just mean nothing, or be just a reference to the name of his theme, or the box of bones he maybe still has ((why did he have that in undertale?? It would actually make more sense for him to have that if he was not?? A skeleton monster?? That could magically produce bones and thereby would not need a box of them for attack use??))

This theory could also somewhat explain the fact that papyrus is the only main cast member that we haven’t seen yet.

I would like to end this theory with a disclaimer [this is just a small crack-y theory haha, I don’t actually think this holds much weight at all, I just thought It was interesting and wanted to share!]

And of course, this famous dialogue from dt.

Oh, and also, some doodles and sprites of human teen paps I did when I was thinking about this bc why not!!

[insecateur]

just a post of thoughts and headcanons about lysandre's team bc i've been thinking about that and now when i think about stuff i'm like "oh i can post about it on tumblr dot com"

lysandre's team is by and large royalty-themed which makes sense of course! no particular order to tackle them in just vibing

pyroar is the pokémon usually associated with lysandre in official merch and the likes. his hair was definitely styled to be reminiscent of a mane. the imagery is straightforward: lions are associated with kings. there's the whole "king of the jungle" thing ofc but also lions are associated with english royalty in particular. the lion association is probably also what influenced him having a 4:1 female/male ratio of scientists.

i tend to write litleo as being lysandre's first pokémon, given to him as a child as a family tradition. this would be how malva got hers as well.

the nickname "Orléans" probably doesn't require much of an explanation; it's a name associated with the french royal family. if you want bonus lore about it though, i actually partially stole it from a movie called Marquis which is about a talking dick and involves terrifying puppets, one of which is a lion named Orléans. i have not seen the movie.

gyarados is lysandre's mega-evolved pokémon. i find this fact fascinating for many reasons, some i will explain shortly. magikarp's japanese name is koiking and its design is definitely kingly. interestingly, it mostly loses these attributes upon evolving, which might make it seem like an odd choice for a royalty-themed team. i have shared some of my thoughts about lysandre's gyarados in a previous post, but i will touch on a point i haven't discussed yet (here at least. i've talked about it a bit on twitter.)

even disregarding shipping opinions, it's plain as day that lysandre and sycamore were created as counterparts. thematically, they are linked respectively to death, despair, pessimism, destruction, the color red (yveltal) and life, hope, optimism, creation, the color blue (xerneas.) imo the fact that lysandre's key pokémon is blue and associated with the opposite type to his other main pokémon (water vs fire) isn't a coincidence. we can only speculate what it means, i suppose, but i find it very interesting.

i tend to write magikarp as being lysandre's second pokémon, usually because his litleo caught one and lysandre rescued him as a result. (him having a cat and a fish is also kind of funny...)

the nickname "Charlemagne" probably doesn't merit an explanation either. he's a frank king. it's a long name, which fits a long pokémon.

mienfoo/mienshao is an ermine, which are linked to royalty because of the fur, mostly, although it also relates to heraldry. it's definitely lysandre's most underrated pokémon imo.

i haven't actually written about how lysandre and mienfoo met much! i tend to see him as being his most recent pokémon. rescued by sycamore and kept at the lab, he takes an interest in lysandre. maybe i'll write about it in more details someday.

the nickname "Pyrrhus" comes from King Pyrrhus of Epirus from which comes the term "pyrrhic victory." it also means "red-haired" so there's that. i don't think either of those require much elaboration.

it's not the first instance of murkrow/honchkrow being linked to a team leader, and it's pretty unsurprising, considering honchkrow's whole deal is being at the head of a murkrow gang. in french its name even contains the word "boss" (and in english, of course, there’s “honcho” in there as well.)

the link with royalty isn't as straightforward at first, but my personal theory is that it relates to Odin and his crows. there are a lot of references to norse mythology in pokémon xy, most notably irt the legendary trio, so it doesn't seem that far-fetched. Odin is tied to death, war, and royalty (among other things.)

i also have never written about lysandre meeting his murkrow. i like to think they ran into each other in some of his later travels, maybe before he met sycamore in lumiose.

the nickname "Léon" doesn't actually have any interesting story behind it! obviously it relates to lions, but i was actually thinking of the fact that in french people say that a peacock's cry sounds like "Léon"... how this relates to murkrow/honchkrow, don't ask me, but it stuck.

that's most of what i had to say on this subject, heehoo. i'll leave you with this old drawing.

[the-sappho-of-lesbos]

Just to say a few things about the aks someone send about being "deletable/relatable" and about lesbian culture: lesbian culture was created by lesbians that believe eberything avout ou socirty to be men made and meb centric (heteropatriarchy). Then, the lesbians, who lived among women only created their own spaces to survive, live and enjoy themselves. Their commom interestes was nothing more than to relate to each other, all of them had their own individuliaty, but they live in an collectiveness and they knew it. (and ofc almosy every lesbian were a part of feminists groups, either the women's liberation movement, black womeb liberation movement etc etc)

I myself agree with you and the person that send the ask in the way i dont see myself in whatever the lesbian community is at right now, the trends etc. Tiktok is so so bar i think, and theres this huge gap when you are not from the US, since everything from there we as exposed too. But yeah, theres a lesbian vanguard for us available, I like your tumblr so much bc its exactly it, somehow you make the lesbian voices from the past alive here, i adore you for it. And the fact you search for this type of material is already not isolating bc so many lesbian like me come here for this especificlly. Lesbian culture still exists, its harder now bc of social media I believe and the state that the world is right now and ofc we somewhat lost the collective feeling of a community :( which makes everything even more isolating for us....

But anyways, just toughts you can even not answer it if you dont want to!

Thank you so much for contributing this to the conversation!! I really appreciate it! I don’t know if I have a lot to add though because you pretty much covered everything!

And you are so right. Circumstances have fully changed how what the lesbian community is. It’s funny though you saying that reminded me of that one comic strip by Alison Bechdel (I think it was from Dykes To Watch Out For) where one of the characters was talking about how when she showed up the lgbt scene wasn’t what it once was and how she missed out - yet many people nowadays would say the same thing about that time period. I think it’s so easy to wish for things to be what they once were, especially if you yourself (not necessarily you, just people in general aha ) haven’t lived through it. Humans seem to have a track record of romanticising the past. Especially when they feel out of place in the present.

Also that is such a beautiful and kind thing to say about my tumblr 🥺 I could cry. I really appreciate you taking the time to say that. I’m so happy and grateful I’ve been able to cultivate a small place in this corner of the internet for people to feel seen and happy in their identities and personhood. It means a lot to me and I promise to try my best to keep it up!!

Thank you again so much for popping in and saying such lovely things. I hope you have a great and beautiful day 💖💕🌻

[dayseternal-blog]

Hi Days! I'm a huge fan of your work and your tumblr blog bc you give so many naruhina fanfic recs and talk about your stories, etc.

To sum it up, you're my favorite person lol, I'm a bit shy so I'm asking this as an anon, but I wanted to tell you something random just because I've always just thought about it and maybe you would agree or comment on it.

Have you ever listened to mitski? If you haven't I recomend you do bc she's amazing, but anyways I was listening to a song of hers called "washing machine heart" and it reminded me of naruhina, like the fic "together you and I" but different you know, like naruto only married hinata because he couldn't have sakura, she was his second option and every time he looked at her he wished and pretended it was Sakura, so Hina tries her hardest to look pretty and try to be the person he wants, always getting saddend by the idea that she isn't the one he wants, she knows his heart will only belong to Sakura. She let's him trample all over her heart and use her because she loves him unconditionally, maybe cry to her on some nights because he longs for Sakura's love that will never come.

I've read so many fanfics and I've never encountered one using this concept, I'd write it myself, but I'm not good at writing, maybe I'm reaching but it could inspire an angst story made by you or just a prompt or idea/concept for anyone to use. The hurt in this could be inmaculate and I bet a good writer could bring everyone to tears if they read a story like this. You don't have to do anything ofc I'll love you either way, I'm not meaning to push you to write a whole story with this concept by any means or to even post this ask, it's just something I made up/ related to this certain song, so I wanted you to see it, perhaps share your opinion or thoughts on it or just think about it. I love pain a lot hahaha bc I'm not a narusaku shipper in any way, I actually dislike the ship a lot.

Thank you for reading this and pls keep up the awesome work!! I'll always be a fan and support you and your spectacular writing❤️❤️

GAH What an awful fic idea you have 💔

“The Ring that Binds” by softwind - Rated M, Canon-Divergent, Multi-chapter, Incomplete.  Naruto and Hinata are married.  So why is Naruto calling “Sakura” in his sleep?

“Girl No 10″ by meeiwen - Rated M, Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Complete. Naruto makes a mistake with a dancer one drunk night.  Years later when he meets her again, he begins realizing his perfect life is a lie, but he’s too late to fix it.

And

“Territorial” by @bunny-hoodlum - Rated M, High school AU, Multi-chapter, Complete.  When Hinata takes advantage of Naruto’s desperation for love, they’re both a little too much for the other to handle.

Are similar to what you have there.

HERE’S MY VERY QUICK AND INCOMPLETE STAB AT YOUR PROMPT IT’S UNEDITED UNREVISED CANON-DIVERGENT AU RATED T FOR LANGUAGE BUT I HOPE YOU LIKE WHAT I COULD COME UP WITH 😘  THEY ARE NOT MARRIED BECAUSE I WOULD BE TOO SAD

...

Naruto finally makes it to the Hokage’s office, having had trouble shaking off fangirls on his way.  He can immediately tell he’s the last one there, even though it’s the eve of the Rinnegan Festival.  Tense expressions greet him, the atmosphere somber.

Sakura whips her attention back to the desk before them.  “Rokudaime, with all due respect, I don’t think Naruto belongs on this mission.”

Her behavior has confused him all night.  First moving away from him so that Hinata would sit between them at Ichiraku when Hinata could have just sat on the other side of him.  Then pushing him to follow Hinata back home.  He said aloud that he’d be seeing her later, and that he wanted to catch up with everyone first, but Sakura just glared at him...

She’s been pushing him away, more and more every day, breaking his heart to smaller and smaller pieces...whether knowingly or not, he’s not sure about that, but she’s never rejected him from being her teammate on a mission.

Worried, he meets Kakashi’s gaze.

“I understand your concern, Sakura.”  His tone is heavy.  His usual careless attitude nowhere in sight.  “Call it just my gut-feeling...you’re going to need Naruto’s strength for this mission.”

-

Hanabi was kidnapped.

Hiashi and Hinata are nowhere to be found.

“What do you mean...?” Naruto finds himself asking.  “I just saw her.  We just saw her.  Not even an hour ago.”

“When Sai reported Hanabi’s kidnapping, believe me, Naruto, we moved to notify her family immediately.  Anbu can’t find them.”

“What?”  The last memory he has of Hinata abruptly leaving dinner and running off without hardly a word nags at him, inexplicably tightening his chest.  “She’s fine.  Hinata’s strong.  She can take on anybody.  No one would dare-”

“Naruto,” Sakura interrupts, her gaze cutting sharp.  “She’s nowhere to be found.  And as much as you believe that, no one is invincible.  Not even Hinata.  We need to form a plan, otherwise we’re losing precious time.”

“No one is invincible.  Not even Hinata.”

An emptying numbness invades his insides, discomforting slickness muting him.

This isn’t his fault, is it?

-

What if she needed to tell him something?

She was acting strange at Ichiraku.

Quiet, unusual for her as of recent...

But how was he supposed to notice?  Should he have followed after her, like Sakura said?  But they were supposed to meet at his apartment later on anyway, so why did she have to come out early like that and ruin the good time he was having?  She knows how he hasn’t given up on Sakura.

She knows everything about him.  She’s been his rock after Sakura tried to shut him down for good.  So how can it be that she’d just disappear?  There’s no way.

There’s just no way that she disappeared right after she left...

-

Hours.

Hours of wandering around in abandoned, desolate, war-stricken villages in god-knows-where, and nothing.  No one.

He’s asking for the hundredth time, but he doesn’t care, he’s past the point of desperation, and anxiety-laced tension fills the air.  “Taku, you really don’t see anything?!”  The Hyuuga they have on their team led them into this godforsaken wasteland.

Taku turns on him aggressively, getting in his face in reaction, and yells, “What about you??  You think I’m not trying my best?!  This is my family!  Just because you’re Hinata’s boyfriend doesn’t mean you’re any more worried than the rest of us!  You don’t sense her??”

No.  He doesn’t.

His Sage Mode has never been so useless.  In fact, he senses no one besides them in this place, and it’s with terrible unease that he begins to entertain the thought that she’s gone for good.

“There’s no one even here besides us!  Nothing!  Why’d you take us down here?  Where are we even?!  How do we get out of here in the first place?!” he argues back.

“Sakura-san was right!  You don’t belong on this mission!  I don’t know what Hinata-sama could ever see in you, I haven’t seen her smile in months!”

“What do you mean by that?!  She smiles all the time!  I’ve never seen her act so cheerful in my life!”

“So you fucking know it, too!”  Taku glares at him with an incredulous expression.  “That she’s just acting!”

“What the hell do you mean by that-”

And he doesn’t know what happened next, but Sai’s grabbing onto Taku and he himself is locked in Shikamaru’s shadow manipulation.  Chakra’s sparking off his own hands, while blue embers warp along Taku’s.

“Calm down,” Shikamaru orders both of them.  “We’re not getting anywhere if the two of you keep fighting.”  He waits for Taku to loosen his stance.

Sai lets go of him.

Taku throws an insulting glare around before sauntering off.

Shikamaru sighs.  Hard.  “Go cool your head, Naruto.”  He retracts his shadow, and Naruto wastes no time walking off in the opposite direction, far from wherever Taku is heading.

Yet Taku’s ridiculous words ring in his head.  “That she’s just acting.”

But she said that she’s happy to be with him.  That she doesn’t mind that he’s still in love with Sakura.  She said that she’s just happy to be with him.

She said that.  She did.  And she wouldn’t lie to him, right?

She was just acting?

“You’re not going to finish your ramen?” he asked her on their date last month.

“No...”  Suddenly, she smiled brightly, something she’s been doing more often ever since he mentioned that he’s always liked how genki Sakura is.  “Do you want the rest of mine?  I’m dieting.”

He scrunched his eyebrows at her.  “Dieting?  Why?”

“Well...”  She looked thoughtful for a moment before seeming to come to a decision.  “Naruto-kun, you like thin girls, right?”

He knew she was talking about Sakura.  “...I guess...”

“I want to make you happy,...” she started.  She bit her lips for a hesitating moment before continuing, “so I’ve been trying to lose a little weight.”

“Oh.”  He didn’t know what to make of that.  Unbidden, he looked her over. 

“Can you tell?” she asked, her characteristic shyness lowered her lashes, yet she didn’t fidget under his examination, and he could tell how she was trying her best to have that confident persona he admires in his former teammate.

Despite her recent changes in attitude, Hinata’s still been so physically small compared to himself and everyone else.  Under her jacket, he couldn’t tell if she looked skinnier or not, and even if she was, he doesn’t think she really needed to be skinnier.

But then she looked up at him with that heavy, hopeful weight in her gaze, and he couldn’t let her down.  Not when she’s trying so hard for his approval.

He fibbed easily.  “Yeah.  You look really good.”

She shined another smile at him that made him feel good.  Even if their relationship wasn’t traditional, he could at least still make her happy.  He could at least tell her some sweet words and see her sweet smile and-

She was lying.

She wasn’t happy?

He never made her happy?

Then what was the point of any of it?

No, she must have been happy, right?!  She said so!  She told him so!  Many, many times!

After all, he asked her.  All of those times he thought she was faking her smile, he asked just to make sure, and she vehemently told him that she was really happy to be with him.

She said he could talk to her about all of it.  That she could take on his heartbreak because her feelings were so much bigger than...

“Uzumaki Naruto.”

The unfamiliar voice has him leaping to his feet.

A man as pale as a ghost with piercingly icy eyes is floating down to him on some strange platform.  “You’re really as pitiful as I expected.”

“Who the hell are you?!”  He readies his stance.  He’s not in any mood for games, and he’s ready to let loose some of his stress on this very suspicious character.

“Hinata’s fiance.”

“Hinata?!”  Fire races through his veins, heating his feet, and he’s ready to leap at this guy.  “Where is she?!”

“With me.”

His heart rate exponentially explodes, beating into his ears, his skin practically bristling.  “Let her go,” he demands, and the threat of his words leaks from every pore of his being.  “Now.”

The man almost snorts.  “What makes you think she wants to see you?  You only ever used her, broke her...”  His collected expression hardens, and Naruto can sense that he has no intention of releasing her.  “I’ll make her happier than you ever could.”

Several thoughts fly too quickly through his mind to properly process any of it, leaving only residual uncertainty and that deepening sense of his culpability in her sudden disappearance.  But he doesn’t linger on the unpleasant sensations.  “What the fuck do you know?!”  And he’s charging at him, a Rasengan heavy in his hand.

The enemy is far more powerful than he appeared, immediately blowing him back with some kind of focused chakra.  “Weak, pathetic.”

“GIVE HER BACK!”  He replicates himself a dozen times, each of them throwing Rasenshurikens at the man.

Yet more of that strange yellow chakra protects him.  He’s unscathed even under his shadow clone onslaught.  “No.  I gave her a choice, and she came with me.  I’m just here to get rid of you, take revenge against you for her sake.”

He hardly comprehends the nonsense spewing out of the enemy’s mouth, and he rallies his clones into close combat, but the man manages to avoid many of the attacks while landing hits of his own.

Clones poofing away only to be replaced by more, frustration and fury starting to blind him into sloppier and sloppier moves.

“I love Hinata.  That’s why I deserve her.”

He chokes on his own breath, and in his momentary loss of concentration,...

He’s falling.

------------------------*

aaannnnd that’s as far as I want to go with that.  Imagine the rest of the team arriving in time to notice Toneri making his escape toward the sky, and I guess the rest of the story would sort of follow the rest of The Last...Naruto self-reflects a lot in a bundle of depression for a long time and yeah.

...ahhh...  I encourage you to write the fic you want to see in the world ❤️

[alethiometry]

Edward Kenway for character asks!

ooooooo okay i should open this with a disclaimer: i have not finished black flag yet (about 2/3 of the way through i think? i need to level up my ship so i can beat the next story mission lol) so everything i'm saying here is based on the game up to thatch's death, and everything we know about edward in ac 3: forsaken and the comics that came out a couple years ago.

First impression

oh boy... to be honest, one of the reasons it took me such a long time to get around to playing black flag (it was one of the first ps4 games i bought when i got my console in 2016, and i didn't start until about a month ago) was because i didn't really feel particularly strongly about edward's character design. i was vaguely interested in That One Pirate Assassin Game after having watched (and loved) black sails, but was afraid i would be let down; to me edward just looked like Some Dude, and i was still hung up on the black sails gang. to me, black sails and its characters were so genre/time period-defining that any other piece of pirate media just seemed lackluster in comparison.

i'd also heard a lot of praise for edward and for ac4 in general so i was aware that it was a very popular and well-received game. but since i mostly heard that from reddit (didn't join tumblr ac fandom until odyssey in 2018) i kind of discounted it, bc gamer reddit tastes are... questionable at best.

Impression now

I LOVE HIM!!! i always think i want stories about virtuous characters who believe in goodness and kindness and aren't motivated by gold or glory but aren't afraid to do what needs to be done to help others who can't help themselves. and sometimes that's true (coughratonhnhake:toncough). other times i end up clowning on myself because i realize that it's so much fun when said good/kind character has a rough and rugged exterior, and is motivated by personal gain (i think edward and kassandra are kinda kindred spirits across time and space in that regard, but maybe that's another rant for another time). sometimes you just want someone to be a little bit of an opportunistic bastard, and boy does edward fit that to a T. he's an incredibly complex man, and i think what really got me was that even as he was impersonating assassins and then templars and then assassins again, all for personal gain (pickpocketing the templars in havana while he gains their trust and agrees to do their dirty work lmfao my beloved <3), his primary motivation for doing so was to prove to caroline and her family that he is someone worth a damn, that he is capable of great things and that he is worthy of their love and acceptance. and i know from ac forsaken that the marriage with caroline doesn't last (though i haven't played ac4 far enough to see if that happens on screen, or if it occurs between the game and the novel) which makes his backstory in the game all the more heartbreaking. but his optimism and perseverance and determination to prove himself are all what make me love him.

so that's edward the romantic. now let's talk about the way edward is with adewale, his crew, and his friends. and let's also put the rest of this behind a readmore bc girl i am RANTINGGGGGG

he has several lines that he says to adewale that make me physically cringe (namely: "many of [these men] wouldn't accept you as captain" or "what was it like being enslaved?" like i get that someone like edward would be asking that question in good faith and genuine curiosity but also JESUS CHRIST UBISOFT). but on the flip side - cringey as those questions are, he also takes the time to actually listen and learn, and i think he genuinely values the perspective that he gets from adewale allowing him to open these lines of trust and communication. there's a patience and mutual respect there that i adore.

i also love how much edward loves his crew and his other pirate friends. those scenes of him + kidd + thatch + adewale + hornigold (lol) drinking on the beach and having a grand old time and talking about establishing - to borrow one of my favorite chills-down-my-spine phrases from black sails - a nation of thieves, for people like them to live and prosper, free from the chokehold of civilization. and i know he's not as outwardly invested in counterculture/independence/anticolonialism as thatch and vane and kidd are, but the fact that he so wholeheartedly supports his friends' goals, lofty and impossible as they are, speaks volumes about his love for his friends.

Favorite moment

every scene he has with kidd when kidd casually and softly reminds him that they see that he is a good person beneath his opportunistic and rambunctious exterior. i especially love when they discover julien du casse's mansion containing orders for templars to go out and hunt down assassins: the way kidd immediately knows that edward wants to help the assassins as a way to make up for the damage he did while masquerading as a templar, even if he hasn't voiced it aloud himself. the way that they don't force edward to admit anything about himself before he is ready, but still constantly remind him that he has a good heart. they give him space to come to terms with his compassionate side in a world/environment that more often than sees compassion as something to be stamped out or cast aside. i don’t love when characters are forced to be the Moral Compass for a main dude character, but i think it works for edward and kidd.

Idea for a story

not an edward story per se, but there are 2 povs into edward's life that i would cut off (someone else's) limbs for:

jenny's pov growing up in the kenway household. from haytham's pov it seems that she knows way more about his past than haytham ever did (it was hinted at that there are rumors about edward’s past as haytham was growing up that he wasn’t privy to, but i don’t think at any point in the novel does haytham ever find out definitively that his father was a pirate) and i want to know how she knew so much, and more into what her life was like - through her eyes rather than haytham, who is like 10 years younger and by his own admission barely understands her and barely has a functional relationship with her. i'll expand further on edward and jenny in the next question/prompt/bullet point, actually, bc i have a LOT more to say.

connor's pov learning about his grandfather from... idk? who's around to tell him? what's so goddamn sad is that by the time connor rebuilds the colonial brotherhood he's kinda the only one left. sure there's aveline down in louisiana, but as far as we know everyone who was around in edward's generation is dead now, and i'm not sure how much of the kenway saga is preserved for connor to discover, or if all this information about their family line was discovered in the modern-day, by your abstergo employee character, and later by osto berg in the comics. which is why i so badly want a revelations-style game where connor traces his assassin heritage back to the caribbean, relives some of edward's memories, and then makes the trip to london to see his aunt jenny. it would have been such a cool way to round out the kenway saga.

Unpopular opinion

idk how popular or unpopular this is bc i rarely see other in-depth posts about it on my dash, but edward was a terrible father to jenny. he was every bit the wonderful and loving father to haytham for the 10 years that haytham had a father, but i wish we'd seen more of jenny's perspective than just a few lines of dialogue in haytham's diary: i hate the way edward sidelined her and raised her in the same manner that any other wealthy person of the time would have raised their daughter - that is, for the sole purpose of sitting pretty and marrying her off in an arrangement that would benefit the family. it's especially hard to reconcile because in ac4 there are female assassins in the americas, and there are female pirates in the caribbean, so it's not like edward isn't aware that women have as much right as any man to live life on their own terms. it just seems like by the time he returns to england and settles down with his family, he's reverted back to the societal norms and gender roles that the pirates fought (and lost) against, and it's hard not to be deeply disappointed by that.

to be clear, i don't begrudge edward settling down and becoming a Rich Society Man. dude deserves to live comfortably with his loving family. he has every right to dote on his wife and children, and leave behind the hardships of being a pirate. but i think "fightning against deeply-ingrained cultural norms/expectations is a long and bloody struggle, and after losing so many people he cared so deeply about, i think it's understandable that edward wouldn't want to continue that fight alone (and also adewale is still fighting the good fight) (do NOT @ me about ac rogue I Pretend I Do Not See It)" and "i don't love the way edward sidelined his daughter into societally-expected gender roles she did not want; it makes me think that he did not continue drinking his Respect Women Juice as much as i thought he did/wanted him to" are two opinions that can coexist.

Favorite relationship

i don't know that i ship edward romantically with anyone, actually. i thought he and caroline were cute in the beginning, but it's hard to want to ship them knowing that she leaves him eventually. and ofc there'd edward/tessa in ac forsaken, and we know they were very happy together and that he loved her so so much. but we don't see that relationship except through haytham's eyes.

as for non-romantic relationships, i already talked at length above about his relationships with adewale and the other pirates and kidd, and i'll just leave it at that. i'm also vaguely aware that edward's got some upcoming scenes with anne bonny, but i'm not at that point in the game yet so i don't have much to say about the two of them. so far i've only seen them say a few lines to each other at the nassau tavern.

Favorite headcanon

kassandra absolutely rubbed shoulders with edward at some point during his time in the caribbean; i like to think that she needed to lie low for some reason (maybe she was with the assassins idk) and joined his crew. i just need my best stabby gal and my second-favorite stabby dude to be pals!

finally, this isn't a headcanon per se but it is obligatory that any time i talk about kenways i yell for a bit about the fact that EDWARD WOULD HAVE LOVED CONNOR SO SO SO MUCH AND I'M FOREVER DEVASTATED THAT HE NEVER GOT TO MEET HIM. at the same time, if edward hadn't been murdered and haytham not been indoctrinated into the templars the way he had, i'm not sure connor would even have existed. and in a way i'm glad that edward wasn't around to see how broken and cynical and depressed haytham became, because i think that would have absolutely broken his heart.

send me a character!

[curiosity-killed]

#ShowYourProcess

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content!

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES — When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!

ty for the tag @sketchyscribbles ! and also ajksdh props for picking the hardest pic I could do this for lmao 

tagging (if you want to but no pressure ofc!)

@tricksterkat209​ with this piece

@lookforanewangle​ with this piece

@littlewhitetie​ with this piece

Process for this yanqing piece under the cut bc whoo boy we wordy

Planning:

In general, except for bigger pieces, there isn’t...a whole lot of planning....ever. This one was a break from working on a large, detailed painting and the result of talking with @apaladinagain about yanqing AU thoughts so it was pretty quick and mostly just a kind of visual note-taking for myself.

I don’t have any of the WIP files/layers because I clean out my WIP folder at the end of each year but based on memory and knowing myself, the initial sketch would’ve looked something like this (this is done with my trackpad and a sore wrist but honestly...probably not that far off. my sketches are uh rough):

Creating:

I work in Paint Tool SAI (but like. a slightly fucked up version. idk why but it’s been janky since I got it ANYWAY) with a Huion tablet. My usual process is a little weird but goes:

rough sketch — usually a very rough scribble of where heads are and other important features (in this case, the lotus and fire) on a canvas around ~1500 px on the short side

clean sketch — the actual base of the piece, where I fully draw out all elements of it (except fingernails lol) and also set the composition. On this one, the original sketch was flipped, which felt much more stagnant, so I flipped the canvas in order to have more visual interest/direction. I also wanted to be more intentional about placement of hands so that each of them should roughly correspond to the upper dantian (Wen Qing’s right hand), middle (Wen Qing’s left, with the flame), and lower dantian (Yanli’s hands with the lotus). I don’t totally remember the thought process behind this but I do remember looking at a lot of pixelated diagrams. as u do. this part’s usually on a slightly larger canvas (~2500 px short side)

lines — I use a custom brush I made a long time back but it’s basically set up to emulate like...a micron pen? might be the closest feel to it so smooth, slightly softer edgers, etc., and I always size up the canvas so that the shortest side is at least 6000 px so that I can downsize and have extra crisp lines

colors — block in colors roughly to get a sense of color composition (for bigger pieces, I often do a rough version of this before I go into lining it), then clean them up so they’re all within the lines. Once all the main color bodies (so like: skin, base color of each set of robes, etc.) are in, I always go in and add facial details first (blush, nail colors, eyes, lips, etc.) mostly out of habit and also as a treat to myself bc it’s one of the easiest ways to start seeing the piece come together

details — after that, it is clipping layer central! in this one, I think (based on squinting at it lol) each robe has at least 2 clipping layers for details such as the difference colored collars on Jiang Yanli’s and the pattern on Wen Qing’s sleeves. I tend to organize layers by color so like the dark red on Wen Qing’s robes would be one layer and the ombre pattern would be a separate one. This is also when I do any rendering, usually, which there isn’t much of here but would include the details on the lotus

shading — pretty basic multiple layer here. I p much always use desaturated blues and purples for shading unless it’s for effect. 

effects — glow baby glow! this is where i had to google “How to Paint Fire” bc it’s been 8 million years and then spent forever airbrushing on luminosity and overlay layers. also added a luminosity effect to the lotus for the shigs. Also added an overlay layer for the highlights from the fire here

signature — pls don’t ask me how many times i redraw my signature for each picture. it’s embarrassing. i’ve had the same signature, with slight variation, for like 10 years and yet. orz

fussing — on very rare occasions, this translates to me actually checking for errors and making sure I haven’t forgotten anything but most generally, this involves me staring unblinking at my screen as I slide the saturation and hue bars back and forth and contemplate whether I should start exclusively drawing at 100% saturation. in this piece, the background was originally a lovely deep blue but at this stage I decided to turn it green both for the contrast with all the red and for a hint of unease/eeriness coming from a highly saturated green + the donghua’s use of green ghost fires for yllz!wwx — basically hinting at Bad Shit Comin’. I have regretted that decision every time I’ve seen this piece since then :| it was such a nice blue...

Sharing:

At this point, I spend 15 minutes staring into the middle distance trying to come up with any sort of caption and then just throw down whatever I think of and post it on tumblr. titling fics? easy peesy lemon squeezy. captioning art? terrible death suffering time.

if i think abt it, i’ll post to instagram (unless i am defeated by the cropping curse) but i didn’t with this one...presumably bc I am p meh about it (the blue!! the blue ;____;)? but also possibly bc i just forgot

[0ffgun]

The whole point of valentines day is to yell about how much you love someone (at least that’s how I see it) so that’s exactly what I intend to do! I haven’t had this blog for very long but already I’ve met so many incredible people who have all made this place a home for me! I spend a lot of (too much) time on the internet so honestly?? You guys are basically a huge chunk of my life and this is just my way of saying thank you. So here goes -- beware! Lots of messily written and emotional love notes under the cut!

In alphabetical order:

@1akorn​: TOP QUALITY TOP QUALITY EVERYWHERE!! Your blog is one of my all-time favourites and I love the fact that we watch a lot of the same shows! Your gifs are amazing and I also love reading through your text posts or your replies on your blog to see your opinions on things. I know we’ve never talked much but I basically just wanted to say I think you’re super cool sghdjs

@akingyouniverse​: Hi hi hi! Okay so we’ve never talked but I think you’re fun and I love reading the tags on your posts (I also love seeing Trinity posts on your blog bc there isn’t much content of them around and it makes me so happy!!!!) Anyway yes hi I LOVE YOU hope you have a great day *throws roses through all your windows*

@bldramagalore​: Cindy!! Wow can’t believe that if we both weren’t so damn gay we’d already be married by now! Seriously thank you though, we talk most days and you’re always there when I want to talk to you (usually it’s just to scream about Mark or uwma but still!) Ngl I can’t really remember how we first became friends because it just feels like I’ve known you FOREVER and that’s so comfy and wholesome. My favourite part of my week is when we yell about shows together - even better when we watch them together ofc! - and I just KNOW that we’ll be friends for the longest time so knowing I’ll get to do that a lot in the future too makes me so happy. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I APPRECIATE YOU!!!! I’m so in love with you and your gorgeous face and beautiful hair and your stellar makeup skills *KISS KISS*

@blueskycafe​: Hey there!! Sorry if this is super random but you’re a blog that I see in my notes and on my dashboard a lot, and it’s always so nice when I do! Your blog is definitely one of my favourites I adore you fdjgdf I hope you have the best valentines day!

@chaeunwoo​: Your gifs are so pretty 😭😭😭 I love the content you post and seeing you enjoying the shows that you’re watching! We’ve never talked but damn maybe we should - I should send you a random friendly message sometime (if you don’t mind of course dhsjghs) but yes happy valentines day, I hope you have a good one!

@chaoticallytate​: HELLO!!! You randomly message me sometimes and it always puts a smile on my face when your little notification pops up. I don’t know you all that well but I already feel super protective over you (I’m adopting you as my little brother OKAY) and idk you just seem really down to earth and it’s so pleasant. I hope you have the absolute loveliest valentines day!

@doctorbeam​: Hello hello hello you’re lovely just LOVELY omg did I tell you that you’re lovely?? We’ve only talked a little (I’m still so happy about the time you sent me those Mark pics!!) You’re ridiculously cute and I really can’t wait to watch Ossan’s Love so that I can tell you what I think about it! Have the best valentines day you amazing person!

@dollopheadsandclotpoles​: Yeah okay maybe following you has made me get one step closer to drowning in the Merlin fandom as each day goes by I CAN’T DENY IT I’ve barely ever watched the show and yet I somehow already love it just because you do hdkjgd. Also your love for Jaylerr?? That’s my fave! You’re just a really cool person and I just... ugh I super duper appreciate you 💖 Also?? Hope this doesn’t sound weird but you post a bunch of stuff about being aro/ace and seriously I never really knew much on the subject so it’s really nice to see stuff on your blog and get a little more educated every time. Please always keep throwing Merlin onto my dashboard, it feels weird now when you’re not online and there’s no Merlin dhgdskjg 

@earthpodd​: Hey Vic!! I know you’ve probably been crazy busy these days and haven’t been online much, but I really hope you’re doing well! It’s always nice to see you when you’re around and your opinions on stuff are always interesting to see 👀 happy valentines day to my favourite tumblr crush, hope you have a great day!

@gmmtvmother​: jfghjgdhfd no idea what to say because you messaged me today and I near enough burst into flames with joy but hi! I think your blog is one of the first few that I followed, and I’m still shook by the quality. Your content is GREAT and I love it when you make funny posts like your incorrect quotes gifsets, they’re the best! We watch a lot of similar shows so it’s always nice when I get a notification that you’ve posted something and I know in advance that I’m going to absolutely LOVE it!

@idontevenwatchbl​: Hey Millie!! I love seeing you post stuff as you’re watching shows, it’s always so fun and entertaining to see hdsjghjks I’m always excited when you start watching a new show because I know I have those screenshots and funny comments to look forward to! I hope you’re having the very BEST day and I can’t wait to see what you’ll watch next!

@iplann​: sdjghjs hi hello hi!!! First of all thank you so much for always blessing my dashboard with that quality content of Plan - I love him but I can’t always keep up with his activities so heck you’re brilliant for helping me know what’s going on! And second of all I love your blog and your content, it’s fun seeing what videogames you’re into, especially when it’s ones I like too (I’m a TOTAL sucker for Dragon Age ngl.) SO yeah I just wanted to say have a nice day and always stay amazing!

@inkorns​: Oh daaaaamn if it isn’t the creator of the prettiest gifs I HAVE EVER SEEN. You’re super talented at editing okay (don’t even t r y and deny it Ada pls) and I love your blog so much. You’re fun to talk to and I’ve decided that we’re good friends and you are extremely stuck with me forever 😈 I’m gonna spend the rest of my days complimenting your gifs and you can’t stop me!!! Seriously though, talking to you is so nice and honestly?? You’re really cool and funny what the heck. You better have the best valentines day ever or else I’m gonna come over and throw heart shaped stuff at you until you have a good time 😈

@loveisactivated​: Your blog is so extreme super quality I don’t even feel worthy of just LOOKING at your gifsets because damn they look so good. You seem like a really chill person and it’s always nice when we’re watching the same shows and I get to see your amazing content! But yeah hi I think you’re really cool, happy valentines day jfdhdhfdh

@mingskit​: FRIEND FRIEND FRIEEENNDDDD!!!! (I love this “friend” thing we have going on can we do this forever please - I can’t believe we’ve never really directly talked much but we already have a cute friendship thing BLESS) Your gifs? Incredible. You? Even more incredible!! I adore the content you post, especially when you focus on the underrated girls in bl shows. You seem like such a sweet person and I like to think that maybe someday we’ll become good pals! Happy valentines day you wonderful angel 💙 

@nazaaqat​: Faiza!! Okay so yeah we’ve never talked (apart from occasional yelling in tags) but I just wanted to say hi!! You’re one of the absolute most friendliest people I’ve seen on tumblr and it’s always such a pleasure to see you replying to asks in the softest way and your gifs... ugh YES that top quality I’m pretty much addicted to your content at this point. You have so many friends and this is probably really random but I low key (high key okay it’s totally high key) adore you and hope you have a nice valentines day!

@ohbabycupcakes​: Damn you’re one of the first blogs I ever followed and you’ve always been someone who I’ve admired from afar - you’re so good at keeping your followers up to date with stuff that’s happening and you put so much time and energy into your blog and that’s just straight-up awesome. Your language skills are also so good! It’s so exciting to see how much you love learning Thai and honestly you’re so ridiculously talented, I really hope that someday I could be on your level, you’re such an inspiration really. Anyway before I gush for like 6 more paragraphs... I think you’re great and I hope you’re having a good day!!

@perthtanapon​: Pretty edits!! Pretty edits EVERYWHERE!!!! Honestly I really love your content and you post a lot of my faves which just makes me love it even more wow. Your Mark edits literally have me on the floor in a sobbing mess I hope you know that jkghjfkdgfd. I think you’re really chill and it’s nice to message you from time to time, I know we haven’t talked very much but it already feels like we’re good friends! Happy valentines day buddy 💕

@piningbisexuals​: A X E L L E 💕 You’re the first friend I made on here, I remember how excited I was when you first started following me! Your enthusiasm for the things you love is so contagious, half the time I watch new stuff just because I see you enjoy it so much. We have the loveliest most wholesome friendship where we just compliment and hype each other up all the time and I live for it. Can’t wait until the day we both achieve our dreams and can meet up in Thailand to drink some pink milk together!

@priceofwarmclothes​: Erm alright so seriously?? Your gifs are so nice please don’t ever stop gifting my dashboard with your glorious creations. We’ve never talked but you seem like a really fun and talkative person so hopefully someday we’ll have the chance to talk and become buddies! Can’t wait to see more of the gorgeous content you’ll post in the future 💚  

@purnotas​: Hello!!! I see you in my notes a lot and you send me helpful asks from time to time.. thank you so much for that!! You seem so lovely and your blog is full of great content! Please have an absolutely WONDERFUL valentines day! 💛

@rosa-leche​: Hello friend, hope you’re still doing well and that things are much less exhausting for you now that you’re done with your midterms! You always have the nicest things to say and when you leave nice comments in the tags it makes my heart so warm! Wow can’t believe you’re the sweetest person ever 💛💙💜 happy valentines day!

@rosiedaes​: One of the coolest blogs I follow okay.. you’re so chill and I always love your edits so much 😭😭😭 Ngl I’ve been following you for as long as I can remember - when I used to run a kpop blog your main was one of my faves so I was so excited when I made my new blog and I realised that you also have a drama blog!! Always stay amazing and I’ll always be looking forward to seeing what you’ll post next! 

@seoinsguk​: Okay so Alexa... we’re both seriously so BAD at replying to messages (I literally just checked and it’s been forever since I replied oh my god shsk) but really?? I love that! There’s no pressure or stress to our cute little friendship that we have like we can reply to messages weeks apart but it’ll still just feel like a normal conversation 🤣 Also THANK YOU for fuelling my kdrama needs, I don’t follow many blogs that post Korean content so it’s the best when I see you getting excited over a kdrama you’re watching because then I instantly know what to start watching next. Also can I just say... you’re so lovely thank you for being so lovely.

@thaitheseries​: One of the first thai-based blogs I followed and seriously one of the best tbh. You’re so active and I see you on my dashboard all the time and it’s so NICE (probably 90% of the things I reblog are from your blog whoops.) I love reading your tags when you reblog my content and we have similar tastes in shows which is always great! I remember when I was having a rough day and you reblogged some Mark content for me to see... and that was seriously so nice of you and it made me so happy! You’re one of my favourite people and you probably don’t even know about it djsgsfhd happy valentines day!

Wow can’t believe I’m so madly in love with all of you!! And if we’ve never talked... my inbox is always open, let’s be best friends 💕 Hope you all have a great valentines day!

[thegirlwholied]

SW anon - So I have tried to watch the whole thing before but I could never really get past the start. I watched ep IV a few years back (and in 2018 I watched it while it playing with a live orchestra which really enhanced the experience) and ofc I’ve known most of what happens bc my mom and brother have been fans of it (and ofc all the references to it in shows and it being everywhere) but the thing about the original trilogy that I found difficult to watch was very much the acting being off

Gov SW anon continued - but I think I’m gonna watch the clone wars show next as I feel like the general universe and people speak to me more than the skywalker and co. story speaks to me. But I’ll probably try and get back to the prequels afterwards (at least just to have seen them) but also bc I’ve been on tumblr for so long and I’ve encountered so much about the new movies with Finn, Poe and rey (I already know I don’t like kylo) that I’m interested to see what comes before that

Seeing Ep IV with a live orchestra sounds fantastic as the music is incredible. <3

I must admit I haven’t gotten properly into the Clone Wars show! I’ve tried, & did jump in to (and enjoy) the finale ~ and certain Mandalorian episodes strongly remind me of the show’s tone ~ but it has yet to hit me right in the place where I care. What I appreciate about it & what it’s brought into the Star Wars universe is still on a more distant level, not visceral. 

I most love that The Mandalorian is truly exploring & taking advantage of the wider Star Wars universe beyond Skywalker & co. (but boy do I also love Skywalker & co.) There is an exciting amount of potential in the newly-announced projects too I love characters outside of a universe’s main chosen-one story. In 6th grade, I was obsessed with the X-Wing book series, which were definitely really marketed toward adult guys but whoops, I had found the deep Star Wars section of the library! And the first line of that series, introducing the main character, is “You’re good, but you’re no Luke Skywalker.” And in a way, that’s the Mandalorian too, to the audience if not himself ~ good, but no Luke Skywalker. Not a Jedi, not meant to bring balance to the Force, a sidestory in the main universe’s struggle.  I (from what I’ve seen/know of) get the impression that’s how Ahsoka sees herself ~ ‘you’re good, but you’re no Anakin Skywalker’. 

Of course, for that contrast to work, first you need a Luke Skywalker.

it’s interesting you mention OT acting feeling off as I would use that exact word to describe how I feel about the acting in some episodes of The Mandalorian. In some I love it! Other times... I hesitate to say ‘like a video game’ as I mean no insult to the well-developed video game characters out there but yeah, it hits me like the actor’s aware they’re essentially in a live-action video game cut scene.

But. I truly love the acting in the original trilogy! ...but also as I type this I’m watching a movie from 1944 and acting style certainly varies by decade, & mileage varies as to personal taste... but also I will never be objective about Star Wars which I have loved since I was six... but also I studied film history in college and firmly believe Star Wars, the original trilogy is just objectively good if not quite everybody’s cup of tea (...okay maybe Return of the Jedi is not quite as objectively good, but I still love it so much and given the work it had to do wrapping up the original trilogy, hey, it did its job successfully and with Ewoks). 

I love the twinkling, wry humor & also gravitas of Alec Guinness. There’s that sense of amusement as he talks to Han, as he waves off the storm troopers, and even in the “let go, Luke”... but always the right weight in the right moments imho

Luke & Han particularly can both be petulant in different ways, & they’re all quippy & brash & even cavalier at times in what in context ~ especially when you rewatch A New Hope right after Rogue One ~ in Very Serious Situations! and I love them for it. 

Carrie Fisher’s accent does shift in the one scene (which I have never minded and definitely went around as a kid trying to say ‘Governor Tarkin’ exactly the way she does), and young Mark Hamill’s Luke can be Dramatic & the Most Petulant but understandably (& prettily) so, and... yeah I probably could muster a criticism for Harrison Ford but also I *can’t*! There are some ridiculous Han Solo moments in Return of the Jedi especially, but also I love him/them/just about every choice these movies made. They just hit on magic.

The magic’s there for me from the music swelling as Luke looks yearningly into the twin suns (the cinematography!), but where it really hits is the up-and-running chemistry between all three of the main actors starting the “Luke, we’re gonna have company” scene, and then, boom, it’s the garbage chute, it’s the you’re-braver-than-I-thought/he-certainly-has-courage, for-luck, here-they-come of it all and the movie is flying. 

...and I will never forgive the sequels for, avoiding spoilers as it sounds like you’re familiar but haven’t seen them, not giving us any true interaction scenes between Rey & Finn & Poe all together until the 3rd movie. While I still so appreciated finally getting that & what we got, for me it was just not just too little but too late. I love the casting & acting for all 3 of those characters, but while fandom’s taken and run with the combination, and they had plenty of chemistry... it should have been up-and-running so much sooner. 

And the prequels just... well, even seeing them in theaters at a susceptible age, the Lord of the Rings movies were coming out at the same time and that did them no favors in comparison. As someone who judges movies above all on dialogue, that... also did them no favors. (Beyond the OT I may have a Nontraditional ranking of Star Wars movies). 

The short version of my prequels & sequels take is that both missed that cinematic magic for me, outside of certain scenes, though I still enjoy them as part of The Whole Thing That Is Star Wars Which I Love. Rogue One had that magic; I know and see the criticism of the early editing & introduction-of-Jyn’s-background-and-Krennic-and-Galen scene, but, to me, that movie is perfect. Solo was solid - maybe not magic, but reliably enjoyable, and I’ve been meaning to rewatch. The prequels & sequels... the lows are very low and the highs are very high, in terms of how they hit me. 

I feel like I’d probably sum them up as Prequels: Good Star Wars, Bad Movies, and Sequels: Good Movies, Bad Star Wars, which may seem a little harsh or too kind on one side or another but gets at my take at the worldbuilding vs. just the cinema of it all. The bread scene in Force Awakens, the salt planet in Last Jedi, the dyad-duel-in-dual-locations in Rise of Skywalker? Gorgeous. Individual scenes’ acting & dialogue is sound for me. And yet. All three sequels’ choices in respect to the entire Star Wars universe and existing characters AND its new characters? ...Tonally inconsistent with each other *and* ultimately with the themes of the OT. Whereas the prequels did so much worldbuilding, and its politics, and I’ll see gifs and think ‘yes actually, is it better than I remember?’... and then I’ll catch one on TV & it’s the Padme & Anakin romance or even Anakin & Obi-Wan’s buddy scene dialogue at the beginning of Rise of Skywalker and the answer will come, clearly: “noooooooooooooooo.”

(...this got long. Which I tend to do when I care, about fiction in any form, and with the prequels/sequels: the ingredients were there to be magic. And just-misses are more frustrating than swing-and-misses. A la, you won’t find me complaining about the Star Wars Holiday Special!) 

(...OK so I haven’t seen all of the Star Wars Holiday Special, and I’m sort of aiming to watch it through this holiday season, since what other year than 2020 seems more appropriate? So I won’t promise not to complain about the Holiday Special but I mostly expect to laugh at it.)

(That said I found the Lego Star Wars Holiday Special an absolute, surprising, laugh-out-loud delight; 9/10 would recommend & yes, 1 point deduction as I will nitpick character consistency even when they are Legos.)

[tony-starkrogers]

Stevetony Fic Rec: Recently Read

I’ve read soooooo many good stevetony fics recently that I felt like I just had to rec some? Most of these fics I’ve never seen before and I couldn’t figure out how I hadn’t read them yet and I love finding new fics that are so amazing I just have to share them! So here’s my big long list of recs, feel free to add more in the comments! I will also post a rec list of tumblr fics too, since you all are so talented so.... more to come!

What We Deserve (T | 4k by Wordsplat)

Summary: Tony is certain he knows exactly what's going on between him and Steve. (Spoiler alert: he doesn't.)

My rec: High school au! Ft oblivious Tony and pining Steve. Actually, there’s more than enough pining to go around, it’s super cute and gives you all the awkward high school feels.

Be Somebody Else (The Mask and Mirror Remix) (T | 4k by Sineala)

Summary: When Tony invites the Avengers to a superhero-themed costume party, Steve knows exactly who he's dressing up as. He can't bring himself to ask Iron Man for assistance, so instead he turns to the man who makes the armor. Tony is more than willing to help Steve with his Iron Man costume -- and in the process, Steve learns a little more about the man behind the mask.

My rec: omg when I first saw this I was like “ok it’s a Halloween fic by Sineala, I’m going to read the shit out of this!” And yes, it’s just as good as you think it is.

And Then There's You (T | 6k by someonelsesheart)

Summary: and it’s funny that they’re like this, isn't it, because there's Tony, too-clever and too-fast, always having to be moving, selfish and desperate and cruel, and then there’s Steve with his kindness, his slow smile and his patience, selfless and calm and kind to everything and everyone. They’re fire and ice, good and bad, and somehow, somehow, it works.

Or, Steve Rogers teaches Tony Stark how to love, one year at a time.

My rec: This fic is a high school au focusing on Tony’ s early years. It’s Tony-centric, and the characterization is spot on. It’s also really beautifully written - another great work from this author!

Night Out (T | 1k by MusicalLuna)

Summary: Steve takes Tony out for their first date. The world is soft and shining and Tony thinks he'd like to stay this way forever.

My rec: I loooove first date fics and this is the cutest thing ever, they are both so soft and adorable in this fic.

Dangerous Kitchen Tools (E | 18k by ladyshadowdrake)

Summary: Engineering prodigy, billionaire, and heir to the Stark Industries empire, Tony Stark turned the business world on its head by opening a restuarant and burying himself in the kitchen. Years later, he covers an informal evening cooking class for his friend and fellow molecular gastronomist, Bruce Banner, where he meets famously camera-shy comic artist Steve Rogers.

My rec: a cooking au!!! This is my cup of tea. Tony is a famous cook and Steve is an comic artist taking a cooking class, which is brilliant imho. Also it is super hot.

Flower Child (T | 24k by itsallAvengers)

Summary: The point was this, though:In a hundred million universes, in a hundred million different lives, there would never be a single one of them in which Tony Stark deserved anyone like Steve Rogers. Ever.So this? Nonsensical.

My rec: soft!tony in this fic is adorable! I love the characterization and the backstory here is really good. So much fluff!

see a thing a thousand times (T | 27k by Mizzy)

Summary: Whoever came up with the rule that SHIELD agents in modern times had to be a certain age should be shot. Obviously the solution is for Steve to travel back in time. (If only things were ever that easy.)

My rec: a different kind of high school au with a side of time travel! I love fics where being with Tony makes Steve realize that he wants to stay in this time, and this fic does that really well.

A Wish Your Heart Makes (T | 4k  by Wordsplat)

Summary: Tony's magical night has a few restrictions. Thankfully, his friends are amazing and his prince is exceedingly persistent.

(Very vaguely a Cinderella AU.)

My rec: It’s a high school prom fic! If you can’t tell, high school aus are my favorite, and I love the Avengers as a friend group in this fic.

you really got me (and you shook me all night long) (T | 3k by shieldmaidenofrohan)

Summary: The one where... Tony and Steve are classroom neighbors, and the whole school ships it.

My rec: a teacher au! With post-it conversations and lots of pining (in a good way).

Iron Chef  (T | 4k by MemoryDragon)

Summary: Natasha has a broken leg, Tony is in the kitchen cooking, and Steve has a crush he's not sulking about. Chicken soup must be good for the soul, right?

My rec: Tony is feeling guilty (completely unnecessarily ofc) so he cooks (bc that’s totally logical right?) a really cute cooking fic that’s pretty close to early mic canon.

The T-Shirt Means I Love You (G | 1k by laireshi)

Summary: "You’re wearing my clothes.”

Steve wants to take the words back as soon as he said them, because obviously Tony isn’t wearing his clothes, Tony’s not wearing any clothes, Tony’s an artificial intelligence, but Steve wishes Tony were corporeal and wearing his clothes, preferably in his bed.

My rec: AI Tony!!! Steve with a crush! I love it! If you haven’t read the comics it probably won’t make much sense but you can still get by because why wouldn’t you want to read this fic???

Saving You (The Promises Kept Remix) (T | 1.5k by laireshi)

Summary: Tony knows Steve’s weak spot, and he knows that it’s him. For once, it’s not a scary thought, because he will do exactly what Steve asked him to do: he will fight, he will try, and he will succeed in bringing Steve down.

Because he loves Steve, and because Steve loves him, too.

My rec: mmm another great 616 fic by this author (seriously go read everyone they’ve ever written, you’ll love it). Getting Steve back from Hydra-Cap with lots of feels.

Lovesick (T | 3k by royal_chandler)

Summary: The depth of the flu aisle in the pharmacy is substantial, overwhelmingly so, and Steve is half-convinced he needs to return to the front and trade his basket for a full-on cart.

My rec: a super cute sick!fic! Steve takes care of a sick Tony and has lots of feels about it.

Let Me Be Your Good Night (T | 44k by malfoys_cousin)

Summary: Inspired by the prompt: "I was studying at 3am and accidentally locked myself out of my dorm room and you have a job with weird hours so you walked by to see me sitting by my door crying in my pajamas. Help me I'm a wreck."

Alternatively: Tony does not function without caffeine. He just doesn't.

My rec: college au! Tony is an oblivious (but loveable) idiot who really loves coffee (and Steve).

Anti-Virus (G | 4k by marinarusalka)

Summary: Steve didn't think he could get sick any more. He was wrong. Tony didn't think of himself as the caretaking type. He was wrong too.

My rec: sick!fic ft adorable Tony taking case of a sick Steve.

Ten Romantic Valentine's Day Ideas for Busy People (M | 3k by BlossomsintheMist)

Summary: Steve and Tony do their best to celebrate Valentine's Day together. They're busy and it's not perfect, but it ends up surprisingly romantic all the same.

My rec: valentine’s day fic! This is steamy hot and gives you all the good feels. Established relationship and they are so in love!

Be No Stranger (All Your Saints and Soldiers Remix) (T | 6k by jibrailis)

Summary: That's the twenty-first century love song, baby. Glitz and glamour and every one of us is a liar.

My rec: I love this fic sooooo much! A difference kind of time travel fic, where Steve gets stuck in Tony’s past and Tony has to go through different times in his life to find Steve and get him back. It’s amazing, go read it!

Tagging some people who might be interested: @nasafic @sabrecmc @itsallavengers @ishipallthings @goodmorningbeloved @sineala

[nikatyler]

Tomorrow I’m going to Italy for a week, so I quickly wanted to talk about some things and reply to your comments from the past month. This is my last chance before we go. I might have wifi (I had it the past two times we went to this place) but still, I don’t think I’ll be around too much. I’ll catch up later. Simblr, promise you won’t start any drama when I’m not here, thank you. I’ll be back on 30th July, I think. I’m not sure when exactly we’ll be home.

I haven’t started the BC yet, but I’ll work on it when I get home. I’ve often seen people say they played through their BCs quickly, so hopefully that’ll be my case too. I don’t want you to wait too long! (And yes, I also really want to know who wins. Obviously.)

You might have noticed that my queue is a little longer now. I’m posting 9 posts a day and it’ll stay like this at least until BPR ends, I think. Speaking of which, all of BPR gen 1 is queued/drafted (and ready to be queued)! It’ll last for the next two months or so and then, as I promised, NSB is back. I honestly can’t wait for these guys to come back.

Also, I finally finished reading Kingdom of Ash yesterday and ooh boy. It was good. However, looking back to when I read the first book of the series, I had no idea I would be signing up for this. Throne of Glass, man...simpler times :D

dandylion240 replied to your post “I have a spot for any sim with the name of Caleb. Love gen 4 Caleb and...”

Oh that's a cool idea. I could see them being best friends!

Exactly! I’m dying to get Strangerville to see their friendship in action. I almost bought it when it was on sale in June (?), but I couldn’t. I was so close though D:

alfalfalegacy replied to your photoset “Alright, good morning everyone! This is where it’ll all take place....”

Loving this look for her!! It's kinda weird after being used to her with blue hair but I like it!!

Honestly I’ve wanted to do this for a long time but this always stopped me. I always knew how weird it would be because I’m not used to it, but then I just decided to go for it and suffer for a bit lol. Worth it!

desira-sims replied to your photoset “felt cute, might burn down your house later, idk ��‍♀️��...”

This is too cute!

She is an adorable sim *-*

starburstshores replied to your post “Ahh, now that I can, I don’t feel like creating the replies post at...”

I started my simblr in university but ofc it depends ��

mintsweettea replied to your post “Ahh, now that I can, I don’t feel like creating the replies post at...”

If it makes you feel any better, I didn't start playing Sims (on pc, I used to play the original GameCube one) until I was away at college so there's that ��

I believe that I will have some time to play sims. Maybe not as much as I had in high school, but there’ll be something. I’m just not sure what I want to do with this free time. If I really want to spend it all by playing sims, ya know? I want to finally have some real life when I’m in uni. Don’t get me wrong, I love this game, I love this community, but it’s not everything. I’m tired of being lonely irl.

xiapxls replied to your post “Re: how to get people to play ask games. Well, it would be helpful if...”

yeah it does i feel like a solid 2/3 of the asks i send just... disappear somewhere and never actually get delivered. it makes talking to people on this site pretty difficult :(

That’s weird...

Guys, if you ever send an ask and I don’t respond, chances are I couldn’t even see it because tumblr ate it. I try to answer everything I get. Feel free to send it again.

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “I have some tasks I need to work on…oooh, this ten seasons long TV...”

Hello, me

Me two

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “Put some clothes on, you fool. “Nah.”

What's the deal with him?��

He’s too sexy for his clothes...wait, that was a song, wasn’t it? Don’t actually answer, I don’t want it to get stuck in my head :D

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “Why would we watch the stars when the sky is so cloudy tonight? Oh…I...”

Gwyneth is a cutie❤️

She is! I can’t get enough of her face ;-;

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “Take that as a yes, Eden.”

I'd be happy for them but this generation and spoilers about the pink kids make me rather suspicious ��

I can promise that we haven’t seen the last of Eden...but whether things will be good between them or not, I won’t reveal just yet.

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “Geez…just thinking about ruined waffles is making me physically sick....”

Are that the waffles though?

It’s never really the waffles

sparkiemonkey replied to your post “Sooo...”

I've killed a few, nearly killed the whole set of an edit I'm working on. I forgot it was summer and had everyone in warmer clothing.

Oh my god, that makes me feel a little better about myself. That hasn’t happened to me...yet.

dandylion240 replied to your photoset “My kind lost their rainbow skin colours a long time ago. You could say...”

Favorite moment? It had to be when Ross and Caleb finally got together!!!

Ahh, I remember when I played through that! I don’t think I was going to get them together at that point, but then they were sitting there and I just thought “screw it, just kiss already”.

cloudberry-sims replied to your photoset “Roxanne Clare artistic | absent-minded”

Adorable!

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “Roxanne Clare artistic | absent-minded”

Cute! ❤️

This legacy was blessed with adorable toddlers, just wait for it.

fogbrookcrossing replied to your photoset “Roxanne: “Food!” Gwyneth: “There you go, Roxy! Sorry it took me a...”

Roxy is so polite. ��

I mean...she’s not wrong.

froggypixel replied to your photoset “Be free, my child!”

Funny thing about this is that she’s literally headed down hill����

That’s the best thing about it!

[heroquills-a]

✮  : ━  ROMANCE HEADCANONS ! ❫

tagged by: nvm @babylonbrains tagged me and i didn’t see bc tumblr is a BITCH ASS MOTHER F tagging: if you haven’t been tagged yet, i tag you if you wanna do it

NAME: Sonic 

NICKNAME: Sonny, Blue / Big Blue, Blue Blur, Faker, and an assortment of insulting nicknames from various enemies

GENDER: Cis Male

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Demi-panromantic demi-pansexual

PREFERRED PET NAMES: i dunno if he really prefers any of the ones he has ? unless it’s from someone special to him then he’ll probably lean more into favoring it so uhh i guess faker...

FAVOURITE CANON SHIP(S): i don’t believe there are any canon ships for sonic ? besides... sonamy maybe, since it’s kinda implied here and there, and i do like the ship but i’m not a huge fan of how canon typically portrays them anyway so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

FAVOURITE NON-CANON SHIP(S): i think most sonic ships can be enjoyable if written well but...if it wasn’t glaringly obvious already i’m very biased towards sonadow

OPINION ON TRUE LOVE: it probably exists ? sonic’s been all over the world and has seen plenty of examples of true love. he just never experienced it himself but he’s fine with that but ofc in recent times he’s fallen quite hard in love and he can say its a messy, difficult experience but the pay off is turning out to be quite lovely after all

OPINION ON LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT: pffft, yeah right. crushes and attraction at first sight, sure. but love at first sight ? to put it in the words of garnet steven universe, ‘love takes time, and love takes work. you have to at least know the other person. and you literally have no idea who or what i am.’

HOW ‘ROMANTIC’ ARE THEY?: sonic... doesn’t usually have the intention to be romantic, he’s just got a natural charm to him and enjoys flirting only because... he just thinks it’s fun. but i don’t think he actually realizes or intends to come off as romantic when he does so lmao. he just likes being a charmer bc it’s exciting and he likes exciting things. although it’s a completely different story when he’s actually in a relationship with someone. i say sappyness isn’t his style but it turns out sonic’s the biggest sap out there when it comes to who he’s in love with. ‘cause when he’s in love, that person tends to occupy his thoughts a lot and he’ll end up showering them in non-verbal affection via doing nice things for them, being physically affectionate if they’re comfortable with each other, and inviting them to ‘go out’ (aka go out on some crazy adventure that’ll likely result in death defying stunts) he’s not very good at expressing his feelings verbally, and when he does it usually ends up coming out really sappy and cheesy (which he’ll embarrass himself over)

IDEAL PHYSICAL TRAITS: i don’t think he has a preference really? because what really wins sonic over is personality and that’s what matters. but uhhhh,, anyone who can keep up with him or beat him in a fight/put up a good fight he’s sure to find attractive... 

IDEAL PERSONALITY TRAITS: patience definitely, sonic’s very spontaneous and has little patience himself for most things, so anyone who’s willing to put up with that along with the many adversities he has towards relationships & everything that comes with is a plus. having a good heart w good morals is good too. he also likes banter and playfulness and just having a general sense of ‘this is someone i can have fun with’. 

UNATTRACTIVE PHYSICAL TRAITS: ehhh... i guess lack of hygiene upkeep ? even sonic who runs all the time and tends to work up a sweat a lot and has nomadic living tendencies still values hygiene maintenance so like. there really is no excuse

UNATTRACTIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS: excessively annoying or pushy people who don’t mind his personal boundaries, overly boastful, mean spirited attitudes that put other ppl down, boring/no fun allowed types

IDEAL DATE: you know that one scene in sonic x where theyre on prison island and amy busts sonic out and she’s like ‘so will you finally take me to go do something fun?’ and sonic’s like “whats more fun than this?”? yeah anyway sonic’s ideal date is as stated earlier, going on some kind of death defying heart racing high intensity adventure that probably involves lots of running and fighting robots. but honestly anything that gets the blood pumping and the heart racing is sure to be ideal in sonic’s mind. he also doesnt mind sharing a good meal. but honestly, all it comes down to is getting to spend quality time with his partner. thats what he loves about it the most

DO THEY HAVE A TYPE?: uh... red......strong.......temper..........sharp teeth..... can keep up with him.................. can kick his ass,

AVERAGE RELATIONSHIP LENGTH: assuming sonic actually agrees to a relationship it’d probably be long-term ? if he really loved them and they were willing to stay that committed

PREFERRED NON-SEXUAL INTIMACY: just sharing physical contact in general. while it’s a scary thing for sonic considering he’s touch repulsed over pushy fans/ppl invading his personal space he’s also simultaneously very touch starved and craves physical contact that he can consent to, so chances are if he’s that comfortable w someone he’ll likely just initiate cuddles or physical contact all on his own bc he wants to be closer to them

COMMITMENT LEVEL: when sonic falls he falls hard, and he’ll stay fully committed to his partner so long as they remain the same. if sonic isn’t committed to something, he was never in love with them to begin with

PAST RELATIONSHIPS?: i wouldn’t really say he had any past relationships besides a brief one that was lowkey forced on him back when he was still with his band mates. it wasn’t really much of a relationship anymore than it was sb who was manipulative and pushy and tried to get sonic to do things w them,, and sonic almost let himself go down a dangerous path bc of it but thankfully left before it got too bad

[undadasea]

Hello! I came a little late into the YOI fandom but i want to write stuff for it, the stories are so good! The thing is, i've never written for fun before, so i dont know how to like,, do it? (Also i'm kinda shy, and English is not my first language) Do u have any writing tips or any advice you could give me? I love your work!

hi!! first welcome to the fandom! it’s a little quiet right now, yea, but as soon as there’s any news again? i can’t wait to see the fandom rocking again. and second i’m so happy you like my work enough to ask me for advice??? TTwTT i’ll try my best to help!

-okay so aaaaaaaa first just remember that, regardless of what some people may say, there is no right or wrong way to write a character. when you write, you want to write what is genuine to you, what you think the characters would do or say. you think victor secretly swears a lot? cool! you think yurio is trans? dope! you think yuuri and phichit were lovers? awesome! there is so much liberty you can take when writing fanfiction while still staying true to the characters themselves.

for me, i like writing yurio so he is actually a sweetheart, and he just acts mean. is this 100% canon? who knows! who cares! because it’s my personal interpretation of him, it’s how i see his character.

so if it’s something you see the character doing, then have them do it!

-think your story idea is cliche or overused? do it anyway! 

listen, take it from someone who has probably read most of the mafia au victuuri fanfiction on ao3. readers don’t care if it’s been done before. sometimes, they look for a story because it’s been done before, and they enjoyed reading it so they want to again! your style is different from other authors, so naturally your story isn’t going to be the exact same.

at this point in history, there are a LOT of stories that have already been done and if you freak out constantly about having a 100% perfectly unique, never been done story, then you are going to scrap so many amazing ideas! your story will ALWAYS be unique because only you can write the story that’s in your head. 

please please please never stop writing a story because you don’t think it’s unique enough. 

-also, you don’t have to post everything you write. if you just want to mess around and write a few silly things just to get a feel for it, that’s totally ok! i have a lot of stuff that i’ve written and never published for various reasons. sometimes i was just messing around with ideas, or maybe i didn’t like how it was. i have so much really old hetalia fanfiction i wrote when i was younger that i would probably die if it ever got published.

and that’s fine! when i first started writing, i didn’t have the option to publish it, but i still wrote, and i shared it with my sisters. 

just try out new techniques, mess around with the way you can word things, play around with how you think a character would respond to something (it’s also a good way to get a feel for the characters) you can just play around and keep those little stories to yourself. 

-sometimes you see people who publish a lot of stuff in a short amount of time. good for them! but if you don’t write that fast, don’t worry about it. you don’t have to post something every day in order to gain loyal readers and followers. trust me, those who enjoy your stories will wait forever for you to update, and they will be there when you do post again, with the same amount of excitement. 

hell, i’ve waited 2-3 YEARS for an update from someone, and i’m STILL waiting, and i’m STILL checking to see if it’s happened yet. when it finally does? you bet i’m going to read that update with love and tell the author how much i’ve missed the story.

and if you DO write fast, and post lots, guess what? people are going to be so excited every time you post. i promise you that you will get followers who will read everything you write. 

-as for actually doing the writing? it can be hard to tell you exactly how to start, because i can’t even remember how i did myself. it just sort of.. happened. 

if you want to get into writing the characters out, then i’d recommend just writing small lines first, just to get your head working to learn how to write stories for fun. 

“Victor whistled while he walked.” “Yurio sighed as he pet his cat.” 

just write small things first, little actions. slowly that can make it’s way into a story.

“Victor whistled as he walked down the street, glancing from house to house. He wondered how everyone was doing. Since his skating accident, he hadn’t seen anyone in ages. Did they miss him?”

“Yurio sighed as he pet his cat, lowering his phone from where he had been scrolling instagram. Yakov had sent him home for ‘bad behavior’ and he was so bored.”

-and if you can’t think of anything to write about, writing prompts are the BEST THING EVER. just search them up on google, pinterest, instagram, or i like to search here on tumblr. sentence prompts, idea prompts, character prompts. the people who write them out are amazing and there are so many great ideas of things to write. actually a lot of i write comes from writing prompts. just take an idea and think “in this scenario, who would be who? what would they do to solve the issue? and how did they even end up in this situation??”

-another good place to get ideas is music, or at least in my case. i love listening to music when i write, too, because it can set the right mood. feel like writing something fun? boppy pop songs. angsty? emo songs. a little crazy? lord knows there are some weird songs out there. 

and then there are songs that have stories and you just want twist it just so, and write the characters there. the first song that comes to mind for me is “Whiskey Lullaby” which is a very sad song, with a very sad story. but hell if i haven’t considered writing a story based on it. 

-then of course, there’s writing a story based on another one. whether it be based on a shakespeare play, that movie you saw last week, your favorite show, a book you read as a kid, etc. that’s ok too! even writing a story based on a different fanfic. tho of course, you always want to cite your inspiration in this case. i’ve read stories that were based off of others, that they asked if they could write a story in the same world, even. and those stories stood on their own, and i loved them all.

(me, remembering that my biggest story was inspired by someone else-)

-finally, i tell you that numbers are just numbers. 

this is something that a lot of people are still trying to learn (me included, sometimes) but numbers are fake. 

no matter what number you are looking at, i promise you it’s not worth it to stress out over it. 

number of kudos? number a views? number of comments? number of words? number of chapters?

none of it matters. because numbers aren’t a reason to write. write for YOU, and share the gift you have created with others. 

-

ok i can’t really think of much else to tell you and this already got,,, a LOT longer than i meant it to so i’m gonna stop here ;;; what and when and if you write will be up to you. 

if there’s anything specific you want to ask me about, either you want me to elaborate on something here, or you want to know about something not mentioned, i will absolutely try my best to help you. if you want another 1,000+ word essay on writing, let me know bc i just looked at the word count for this and almost fainted- this goes for everyone, by the way! 

also, i will absolutely read your first story whenever you decide to publish it!! (if you do, ofc) just let me know and i will be your first reader-

[lunebinnie]

(1/14)I am so sorry for taking so long! (I also had to spend a lot of time studying this week bc I had my first exam for my Anatomy Lab on Wednesday... And then we had our first exam for *Lecture* Thursday (which also was the day I had a bunch of powerpoints due for my very intimidating adviser...) and then I had to substitute teach all day Friday (and then I meant to respond sooner but I got so busy 😭) so yeah I completely understand about school getting in the way no worries abt it!)

And also sleeping in on a day off when you’ve been busy studying lately is completely valid hon 👌 I hope that your midterms go well and that you’re able to stay healthy and take care of yourself in the midst of preparing! (not that you wouldn’t, I just have a bad habit of neglecting things like healthy sleeping and eating habits when I get caught up studying, so hopefully you’re not like me in that way) And yeah me too! I mean on the one hand I understand *why* they have that limit

3)If u could just send as many as u want there would be so much more spam and ppl would definitely abuse that. But also?? Um? I have a chronic condition called ‘Can'tShuttheFuckUp-itis’? 🤷 This policy is so discriminatory towards people like me who suffer from this crippling condition! I feel oppressed honestly 🙄 tumblr rlly has something against ppl just trying to get to know each other huh? Lol, but at least now we know why it eats them I’ll be sure to try to prevent that in the future

4)And oh my gosh that’s so cool! I’m super jealous!! 😮 lol. I wish they hosted kpop nights at my local bar! 😭😭 But no, I’m here at my little state college in a little 2 mi2 town just under pop 5500 (and idek if that’s before or after counting college students) in the middle of the 'farm zone’ of my state. All we get is country night @Riley’s 😩 RIP. But ya I wish I had more ppl around me who were into kpop! So far I’ve only met 3 ppl who listen to it. One was that roommate I told you about

5)One is just a casual listener who isn’t really into 3rd gen groups and mostly just listens to Girl’s Generation but that’s valid, and one isn’t even rlly a fan of any groups in particular, she just puts the kpop station on when she studies bc she says she needs music but if it’s in English she gets distracted, lol And omg that is insane! $500?? And 5 copies of the same album? 😲 (Says the girl who’s been a Monbebe for a hot 2 months and has already bought three (3??) Monsta X T-shirts… 😂

6)in my defense tho one of them was only $10 bc it was Black Friday? And u can’t blame me, Hot Topic is my krypotonite lmao) but yeah I already feel guilty about spending 30+ dollars on one copy of an album (thx international shipping) That’s so wild. And yeah I don’t get why ppl feel the need go out of their way just to insult other ppl’s music taste. I’m also pretty self conscious abt sharing my music taste and obviously the way everyone around me talks abt kpop has made me even moreso now 🙃

7) I haven’t gotten into too many groups yet bc I’m trying to go slowly and focus on getting into one group at a time but I do have a long list of groups I plan on getting into eventually! NU'EST is one that I’ve heard some of their songs on my Spotify based on my listening history and they’re on the list haha 😂 And omg I feel really similarly about Got7! I tried to get into them after I got into Monsta X and right before I got into Astro and although I did really like some of their songs

8)I haven’t really been able to get into their music as much as MX and Astro’s yet. I do think they seem like a really fun group in terms of personality though. As for the comeback I know right?? I mean I know a lot of ppl were freaking out abt the comeback being a 'sexy’ and how it wasn’t gonna be the same cute Astro we all love anymore. But they filled the MV with flowers and glitter and still managed to make it sexy as fuck! This album has a very different vibe but it still felt like them

9) They managed to pull off a more mature and sexy concept while still staying true to themselves and I’m so here for it! I don’t know if I could really pick a favorite era because I love them all! I mean Spring Up was an excellent era and every era since then has been great. They really don’t know how to have any bad concepts or make any bad songs huh? Lol. Since I’m still pretty new I really love the title tracks since I’ve heard them the most. (I have listened to their full discography

10)But I haven’t listened to their Bsides enough to pick out my favorites from those) I also really love Again though! The first time I saw the dance practice I was super into it and then I looked up the lyrics and was like 'this is supposed to be sad/regretful song it has no reason to be this much of a BOP?!’ 😂 I have such a hard time picking favorites though. Since All Light is new though I actually have listened to it enough times to pick some 'non-title song favorites’ from there haha

11) Other than All Night (which is great, obvi) I also really like Starry Sky, Moonwalk and Role Play 😂 and Bloom is so pretty oh my god! 😭😭 the album is great and has no bad songs but those are the ones I particularly like. I feel u about the dances honestly. I think that’s actually what drew me to kpop initially. I mean I like listening to the songs ofc but it wasn’t until after I actually watched an MV/saw the choreography that I actually was like… Oh shit I’m gonna have to be a fan now

12) It was the visual aspect that really made me want to be a kpop fan bc I haven’t really seen that level of performance with any western music. Which isn’t to say I think all western music is bad but I think it’s really impressive to watch kpop groups singing and also doing really impressive choreography and performing at the same time. Plus that’s the part I can show my family and say 'even if you don’t like the music because of the language barrier you have to admit they’re talented dancers’

13)And yes! With Astro especially I think the dance practices rlly succinctly capture the reason why I love them so much. They are *super* talented but they also have such great chemistry and u can rlly tell that they just love each other and have so much fun together! I love a family of six hardworking dorks! 🤧💗 lol. And yeah it’s too bad that neither of are able to see them this cb ☹️ (I also did the 'hypothetically…’ research but it wouldn’t have worked out 😒) I hope you’re right though!

14)Hopefully the success of this comeback is the catalyst to Astro getting more of the attention they deserve and there will be many more opportunities to see them in the future! (Although it is too bad we won’t be able to see live performances from this cb, since it’s so pretty 😭 tho with their track record I’m sure future cb’s will be just as good lol) But what about you? Do you have any favorite songs from this cb in particular? Talk again soon! (I’ll try 2 b better @ responding 😭) -AHA

FUCKKK okay so after like a million years of midterms + 2 days straight of sleeping ya girl is BACK to answer these asks after getting through the hurdle of copying and pasting and italicizing 14 asks onto one response on my phone. Did I perhaps fail at least 3 of my midterms? Quite probably. Do I have the energy to care atm? No. Did I need to get away from everything and fly to Boston to visit my friend for reading week? Yes.

How did all your exams go? That sounds crazy though! I hope you got through everything ok!

Tbh I have the same unhealthy habits too, I essentially became nocturnal and lived on like one meal a day + snacks and coffee 😭 fr, I would be writing my midterm from 11:30-1:30, go home to eat, sleep from 4-7pm, then wake up to study all night for the next one, and repeat,,,,, I’m like an actual mess tbh

Honestly as much as I’ve enjoyed the Aroha secret admirer thing (it was sooo nice getting to meet new people) rn I’m just so glad that post-reveal we don’t have to deal with tumblr ask limits and writing entire essay responses all in one go.

Honestly 3 shirts isn’t even THAT bad especially if they weren’t all like ordered from overseas so they wouldn’t have been that expensive. When I went to the Myeongdong underground shopping centre I went craaaazy with Kpop merch despite stanning (at that point, pretty much only) BTS for a whole 3 weeks, so I ended up coming back with 2 albums, a bunch of stickers, a photocard pack (also bonus: got an Astro one too) and like a BUNCH of bt21 stuff. Speaking of, my All Light album finally came in!! I ended up getting a Moonbin, MJ, Jinjin, and Sanha photocard plus the a Rocky lyric booklet and ik I basically got THE best set for someone who loves all of them w my whole heart 😩✊ but I’m still sad I didn’t get any Eunwoo cards since he was my first Astro bias 😭 it’s soooooo pretty I love it sm and like lowkey I’ll probably end up buying more of their albums anyway oopsss

Speaking of Monsta X btw, I heard their new song and I thought it was really good! What did you think of it?

Regarding favourite songs, I swear my moods change so much, so it’s pretty common for me to not love a song at first and sort of rediscover it months later, and tbh that’s kind of what happened with Innocent Love, Baby, and Again. In this album though, I’d say my favourite Bsides are probably be Bloom, 1 in a Million, and Heart Brew Love.

And I toootally agree with the performance aspect of kpop being the thing to attract me it, even before I got really into it I’d sometime like to watch dance practices (and lowkey even learned a bunch of choreos a with my friend last term just bc we had access to a frequently empty dance studio). It’s just super impressive to see people singing and dancing at the same time mostly live, and for the same reasons I’m also super into musicals as well, which isn’t so say I think like lip syncing or just dancing/singing is bad, it’s just refreshing to see it done all at once, you know?

Also side story it turns out that I actually DO know another Astro fan irl!! Her older sister (who I’m closer to bc we’re closer in age) is the one who bought the million got7 albums. Even though she’s been a fan of Astro since before debut, her sister doesn’t even know she listens to kpop since she was afraid of getting roasted at first, but now she’s in too deep to say anything. I’d mentioned liking Astro to her before, but she didn’t say anything bc she didn’t want to expose herself in front of her sister but on Friday I saw her while her sister was out and she was like “oh btw here’s a secret I went to the Toronto fanmeet last year but my sister doesn’t know” I was SHOOK but tbh I’m just super glad now to have someone to talk about it and go to concerts with (I’m banking on the fact that they’re coming back)

Anyway, THANK YOU SO MUCH for waiting 2747287482 million years for my response, and it was so great to finally (officially) meet you Kjersten!

@kaptain-k-pop