#one of those cases of the right story at the right time

[lovecolibri]

Okay, I haven't been on Tumblr yet and thoughts may change throughout the day but here is where I stand at the moment.

I do not thing the show *as a whole* is baiting us, because the story is not finished yet, and you don't bring something like that up in-universe to make the audience think about it if there's no follow thorough. I DO think they are trying to tease it like a classic m/f slowburn but without consideration to the fact that it IS different for mlm pairs, ESPECIALLY 8 seasons in. If this was season 2 or 3 it would be a different story. If we'd had sometime even this season a "classic slowburn" trope of an almost kiss or something like that, even that might be enough to pull the kind of press stunt they did. But we are kinda in uncharted waters here, with characters/actors with so much chemistry AND the willingness to follow through on it, and a show/network/showrunner that seem to be on board, or at the very least not actively hostile. This changes the game a bit! And unfortunately the old marketing techniques are not gonna fly in the case without SOME KIND of immediate payoff, because mlm ships have been burned so many times before.

All that said, I DO think, for this episode specifically, the hard Buddie push and Buddie press before an episode where they did not even have a one-on-one scene talking together and barely spoke, WAS ship baiting people into watching what they knew was going to be a lackluster finale that was not giving anyone anything to look forward to. (Except maybe Chim becoming captain, what is anyone else even set up for next season???)

The Abbott Elementary cast can come make arguments about characters just being friends (while knowing they were getting together) to tease and rile up the audience because those shows and those m/f ships ALWAYS get the follow through, AND most viewers won't see one random article, and so will just follow the clearly laid path playing out on the show. For mlm/wlw ships, that kind of talking point plays directly into some harmful stereotypes, and fans are often looking for ANY scraps so the articles are much more likely to be seen.

IDK man. I think there is a reason they kept the writer under wraps (which should fucking tell them something about allowing that writer to continue on rhe show), and I think they hoped dropping a lot this week would be enough to carry everyone through hiatus, but if the show itself is not delivering ON SCREEN what is happening with these characters, no amout of press is going to get people to tune in. Why bother when you can catch any important character moment in an insta post or two, and read an article about the stuff happening with characters that never gets shown?

ANYWAY. I'd say disappointed but not surprised, but I AM actually surprised that the set up for a perfect 9-1-1 wacky save and triumph over death storyline was right fucking there, and they chose NOT to capitalize on it. They literally could have put a couple seconds at the end of the episode of Bobby in a lab and no one would have shut up all summer about it. I just...HOW do you utterly fail on THAT scale?

[smolestbrein]

Like ... I just think the film isn't as deep as it think it is.

Look, Megatron is evil and I will not deny that. But I have to scratch my head at how he's really the only main character here.

Bumblebee?https://x.com/TFHypeGuy/status/1769212602800800250 Keagan was literally instructed to not sound like anything else but him. The film not only has Bee purely for the reason of popularity, but he's just a joke machine where the serious moments don't even come from his character but the writers realizing that he was there and needed to take it seriously. So now one of the central four is nothing more than a joke, where even the potential interesting angle of his clear mental instability only existing to make him funny.

Elita-One? Whatever the voice director was asking for, it was damn well wrong. Elita starts out really only has the second annoyed adult, but has so little dynamic with Orion that the climax of her going "you've always seen the better world" feels really unearned because they had the same dynamic as Orion with Byaverse Optimus. I really was also bothered by the High Guard recruitment scene (more on that).

Orion is the worst for me. For a guy who's supposed to be "loud" and a wild spirit, he's almost completely brushed off when the plot actually rolls in. Like yes he's trying to build the better world, but he feels largely un-impactful, and even his speech to the miners was kinda undercut by Megs getting fucking branded by Sentinel.

At every step after they find out about Sentinel, Megs gets all the strong moments whereas Orion kinda doesn't. He only gets one cool scene but it comes after Megatron getting branded. He feels like a peripheral protagonist (is that the right term?), where Megatron is the main character as Optimus is just the point of view he see him from. He barely has the emotions that Megs pulls on-screen.

Yes he defeats Sentinel's control over them, but the narrative inflection uses Megatron splitting him in half as the end of his era. An even is you want to say that's not the case, one should also have problems with the fact that Alpha literally fucking says "VALIANT SACRIFICE" for quite literally the worst time.

It's not "making abuse victims/oppressed people into villains because they dared to fight back and be uncivil about it" but it comes from that trope, the skeleton is still there despite every context in the film. The only guy who's "embodying" (or at the very least has the most screen time to that feeling) the anger of being robbed of his own rights is written to be a guy devoured by it and turns into a fascist that drives his planet to madness while the hero was given the fucking Excalibur of their world by their god for a sacrifice that was neither on his intention.

Like ... people really think the narrative thought that deeply for the foot-soldiers of Sentinel, the faceless drone coded mooks past them being fodder for fight scenes and kills? The story never draws upon them for the morality of slicing Sentinel down, it's just that Megs was going down the dark side and Orion wants to stop that.

And also, one of the dumbest statements I've seen also drive me nuts.

"D-16 was always clearly evil-" I have to stress this very clearly, one the main characters on the fucking poster is a glorified comedian cameo was straight up asked not to act as said character. Trying to stretch scenes where the comedy and joke is basically "Orion is a dumbass motherfucking idiot and D is the tired adult in the relationship." There's never any inflection or framing before or after to say this. Even the fucking script doesn't support this. I don't believe those scenes were that thought through. Even Cooley doesn't support it.

And that's just my problem, the character the most visible and focused emotions in the film is the one that wants bloody vengeance of the despotic, deceiving tyrant who mutilated the young as to create a social underling class to feed the greatest enemy of their people but that will turn him into the villain and the hero is a dude who only has one good scene and a few lines that should not be subtle or set-ups and also becomes their Arthur for taking a shot for the fascist.

Orion is just so under-baked. And I won't lie that real-life politics also influence my views on the film. So for the character with that visibility to be ham-fisted as becoming the the villain, with little to no actual power-hunger or even hidden evil past being a crash-out because he finds out his life is a lie for tyrant to hoard pleasures for himself, it feels off.

(And don't even get me started on the High Guard. These guys could've been a whole lot more interesting, but the come out of nowhere and only exist to give Megatron the Decepticon Army. The idea of a toxic mindset being implanted into Megs falls apart when you remember that Megs was already becoming more controlling like the hill scene. And he doesn't even get to lead them, Elita has more screen time as the leader of the High Guard/Decepticons than Megatron. Their characterization is nil for a fertile ground of soon to be Autobots, hell have some of the miners become Decepticons when they get their T-cogs back.)

Whatever drives Optimus isn't going to matter, because the story univocally goes with the idea that his sacrifice for fucking SENTINEL is what got him the Matrix. Because if the sacrifice was somehow because he was willing to die for D's innocence, then it just comes of as insulting for the story to insinuate that the main black-voiced character was becoming a villain because he was oppressed by the guy was basically a slave since birth (and yes Keagan will never fucking count as a character) and the guy telling him to "tome it down" is given god's divine cool card.

Orion is like stale bread here, he makes a good speech that should've been placed somewhere else in a film that gives him better scenes so he would be more impactful.

The politics of the film can't exist in the vacuum and I find it borderline propagandist in how it's own internal justifications are basically Thermian Argument. I know the damn context and characters, it just hits a little too close to certain things and sayings in certain funny parts of history when the oppressed were enraged over the pain they suffered. Too close for me to go "but the F-French Revolution" every time I think about it.

[ancha-aus]

Bitty Surprise - Chapter 14 - Pov Killer

We are back with our favourite Bitties!!

After this chapter just one more and this little story is finished <3

First Chapter: [Here] AO3 link: [Here]

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

Killer doesn’t like this. But it was the only way.

Even as he keeps both Horror and Dust close the others on the council stare in slight awe.

Someone already suggested getting them tiny chairs so they can sit on the table but Horror had just said ‘No thanks.’

Fuck Killer loves those sassy little bitties.

Horror and Dust both just sit right by Killer as they ignore everyone around them. Nightmare took a book for them and the two bitties are just slowly reading the book together as the meeting continues on around them.

Blue looks across the table at them with actual hearts in his sockets “They are so cute… Can I please see them from closer?”

Killer glares “No.” Blue looks heartbroken as he stares wishfully at the two bitties.

The meeting had been going slower than usual but there were also less fights than usual. Which is nice for a change.

The only person who they had let come close had been Error. With Nightmare needing the god of destruction to stay on his good sight it would be a good show of faith and trust. They had all been ready just in case.

Error had stared at the two as the two had stared back before shrugging. He muttered something about them being smaller than his puppets before walking towards his usual spot.

Talking about spots.

Killer is sitting in the middle of Nightmare and Cross this time. As he was on bitty duty to make sure neither bitty got into trouble or anyone tried to steal them. It was working rather well so far. Killer thinks he got the best deal as he could just watch the bitties go about their business.

Even if the meeting was going on for an annoyingly long time.

Dust eventually looks up from the book and shoots Killer an annoyed look “Killer.”

Killer nods “Yeah Dusty?”

Dust pulls a face but he continues on “Are these meetings always this… useless?”

Dead silence around them and Killer grins as he shrugs “Normally there is a lot more shouting.”

Dust huffs before nodding and turning back to the book.

Dream leans a bit forwards “We just try to make sure everyone agrees and understands the decisions made.”

Dust frowns at him “Why?”

Dream grins more as he looks slightly smug “It is good to have everyone pitch in and share their opinion.”

Dust continues to stare “Why?”

Dream pauses before chuckling “It is polite.”

Dust rolls his eye lights and asks again “Why?”

Dream frowns “I… am unsure what you wish to know?”

Dust lets out a long annoyed sigh before speaking “Why bother? None of their opinions matter.”

Another long silence.

Dream stands up “Of course they do! They live in this multiverse!”

Dust tilts his skull, looking completely calm “But they don’t contribute to the balance. They don’t feel the balance. Even if they know what it is and what it implies they can’t understand it. Meaning they can’t judge correctly concerning it. Meaning this whole meeting is useless as their opinions don’t truly matter. All that will happen is that they get to judge about something they don’t understand or have knowledge about.” He looks at Horror and Horror nods and Dust moves to the next page and turns back to read.

A very long and awkward silence.

Dream shoots Nightmare a look “What did you tell them!?”

Nightmare frowns “Look at Killer. He explained the basics of these meetings and our work. Not me.”

Killer shrugs at the glare send his way but Dust looks up with his own glare “Don’t glare at Killer for speaking the truth you wish to hide.”

Again a long silence and Killer coos as he leans closer and grins widely at Dust “Aw you do care!” and he makes a kissy face at the bitty.

Dust rolls his eye lights and pushes his face away. Horror however snorts and nuzzles Dust “Calm bunny. Don’t want trouble.”

Killer must disagree because he can see that look in Dust’s sockets. Dust wants trouble, and preferably he wants to cause it. Killer is just wondering how he can help the other.

Cross coughs and tries to get the focus back on the meeting at hand but they aren’t going anywhere at the moment. Too distracted by what the bitty implied and asking Dream very specific questions. Dream tends to shoot Nightmare looks but Nightmare just shrugs and waves at Dream to answer.

The conversation goes nowhere as it very quickly becomes obvious that Dream had been leaving some information out on purpose and he doesn’t wish to discuss it. Meaning everyone is trying to get the information out of him now.

Then Ink shows up with Sci.

Dream jumps up “Ink! You are finally here! Where were you?”

Ink grins as he raises a small bottle “A present!”

Sci rubs his arm as he nods “It is a medical thing. There are many universes for bitties and in some of these the bitties wish to temporarily be bigger. They sell these growth elixirs to enable the bitties to be bigger. Ink came to me and said it may be useful to have these on hand in case the gang took the bitties along-” and Sci notices them and yelps.

Ink grins as he holds up a tiny vial “Sci recreated one! It is the first version and only short for a hour but this way the bitties can actually join in on the discussion!”

Red snorts “They seem to have been fine so far.” And he sends them a look before laying back on the table. Clearly already over it all.

Blue however looks beyond excited “Oh that is great! That way they can truly meet us without anyone having to be afraid they may get hurt in any way!”

Cross glares “We are not giving random drugs to our bitties! What the hell is wrong with you!”

Ink just stares as he tilts his skull “It is fine! Sci recreated it!”

Sci looks a lot more nervous “We haven’t… tested it yet. Maybe best to wait longer? This is just a prototype and-”

Ink marches over to them and Killer pulls both bitties close as he growls “Stay the fuck back you paint drinker.”

Cross stands between him and the artist “Back off Ink.”

Ink grins “Come on! Just a tiny sip and test!” He puts an arm around Cross “For your good old friend!”

Cross pushes him off “We are not friends. And back off.”

A pat on his hand and Killer looks down. Dust stares up at him bored “I want that vial.”

Silence.

Killer looks at the bitties panicked “No wait. Dusty. We don’t know if it is safe.” Horror also shoots Dust a worried look.

Dust hums “I will be fine. How long?”

Ink grins widely “Sci said anywhere between thirty minutes and an hour.”

Dust blinks and Killer is once again reminded that neither bitty has any sense of time beyond day and night. They just don’t bother with it.

Dust looks back up at Killer and Killer whines “Dusty…”

Dust points at the vial and waits.

Nightmare looks long at Ink “I hope you realise. That if anything happens to him. You will be punished. Badly.”

Ink chuckles “We still have the truce.”

Nightmare doesn’t even hesitate “And then the truce will be over and we will go right back to how it was before. And instead of bothering with Dream. We will be gunning right for you.”

Ink gasps “But Sci made it!”

Sci sputters but Nightmare speaks “And even Sci is telling you to not test it in this way.”

Silence as Dust still reaches for the vial Ink is holding.

Nightmare stares the artist down “So think long about this decision Ink. Because there will be consequences. And we will make sure you remember them.”

More silence but a gasp as Blue points. Killer looks down to see Dust, no longer in his hand, but on Ink’s arm before he jumps to the table, a certain vial in his hands.

Cross whines and dives after him only for Dust to bunny hop over the much larger skeleton. Holding the vial easily above his skull.

Killer has to secure his hold on Horror as Horror is also already halfway to being free “Damnit. No. Horror please stay put. Dust!”

Dust looks so goddamnit smug as he holds the vial “Mine.”

Dream looks panicked, same for Ink as Ink now no doubts realises the possible consequences while Nightmare leans a tiny bit closer but stops when Dust takes a few steps back.

“Dust. Please return that.”

Dust thinks for a moment before shaking his skull.

Nightmare nods “I understand. That is yours. But it may just hurt you instead of aid you in anyway. We can try and get a better version of the elixir? From a more trustworthy source.”

Dust seems to consider it before shaking his skull and just downing the vial.

It is empty before they know it and Dust waits.

Nothing happens and Dust huffs “Rip off.”

Killer sighs in relieve as he lays on the table “Thank everything. Come on Dusty. Please?”

Dust sighs but walks back towards him even as he drags his feet. Horror makes grabby hands at his fellow bitty but then Dust pauses and frowns as he rubs his sternum.

Cross doesn’t bother with waiting anymore and climbs on top of the table and tries to reach for Dust when a flash of red and blue covers him.

When the flash disappears there is now a normal sized skeleton sitting on the table. Rubbing his sockets and sternum.

Killer can’t help but stare because shit those tiny grey freckles are so much clearer now. The tiny ring of blue in Dust’s socket is so much clearer and lighter than Killer thought. The gradient on his hands from grey to white is much more even than he expected.

Also. Very naked. And Killer can’t help but stare in awe. He is gorgeous…

Cross gets to him first and puts his jacket around him “Dust?! Are you okay? Feeling sick? Can you move?” Killer can see that Cross doesn’t dare to touch him after putting the jacket around him. Hands hovering over the other.

Dust turns his hands this and that way before looking at the jacket curiously and putting his arms through the sleeves after which he pulls the hood up and over his skull. Dust then turns towards Cross and grins at Killer’s mate “So sweet.” And Killer can see a bit of a blush appear on Cross’s cheeks as Dust just gets up and walks to the side of the table and jumps off.

Killer gets it, Dust is pretty.

Red grins and whistles “Damn you are a looker. Can’t really see it when small but it is a very nice improvement.”

Dust looks at him. Raises a brow before flipping him the bird.

Red blinks before laughing as he leans back in the chair, obviously looking the now not small bitty up and down.

Dust huffs and makes his way towards Killer and Nightmare, a little bit shaky on his legs but doing alright. Cross quickly follows.

Ink grins and puffs up his chest “See? Completely safe!”

Nightmare glares at him before looking worried at Dust “Are you okay? Do you feel sick?”

Dust hums as he gets to Killer “ ‘M fine.” He takes Horror form Killer for a moment and the two bitties nuzzle each other and both purr. Dust’s purr is now much louder and Dust seems surprised by it for a moment while Horror looks very proud of his handy work. Dust kisses Horror’s skull before handing him back to Killer.

Killer frowns “You don’t want to keep holding him?”

Dust nods “I do. But I don’t know when I will shrink again.” And he shrugs.

Ink looks curious and Dream smiles widely as he starts to speak “Oh this is wonderful! If we can get more of those elixirs you can live on your own-”

Dust cuts Dream off mercilessly “Don’t want to.”

Dream frowns “Look. We are just trying to look out for you and-”

Dust cuts him off again “No you are not.”

Dream glares “Stop interrupting me.”

Dust crosses his arms “Stop acting as if you know what is best for me.”

Dream crosses his own arms “We are just trying to do what is best and-”

Dust tilts his skull “Why are you trying so hard to take away anything that makes your brother happy?”

Silence as Dream sputters “I- I am not-”

Dust continues “Yes you are. First, you tried to get Killer to leave Nightmare behind, something about saving him and going as far as to tell others he was being abused so they would try to get Killer to leave Nightmare. After that you tried to get Cross to leave his new home with Nightmare and Killer and join you. Not because you actually like him but because it was the ‘better option’. Then, once the truce happened you tried to convince both Killer and Cross to move and find other homes in the multiverse. Then when it turns out your brother adopted Horror and me you tried to tell him he can’t take care of us and we need to move for our own safety. And now I am a bit bigger you are trying to give me things and get me to agree to move out and live on my own and to take Horror with me.” He slowly tilts his skull “Why are you trying to make your brother miserable?”

A long silence as Dream just stares in shock.

Dust gives a slow nod “Anyway. I wanted to be big for a few reasons. First.” And he punches Dream hard enough in the face to make him fall backwards and against the table, a crack had been heard loud and clear. Dust stares down at him “That. Is for making Nightmare feel miserable and causing people to dislike him because you, Dream; can’t work together, communicate, or admit you made a mistake because you prefer to keep your perfect image over admitting you wronged your twin.”. Dust waits for a moment before saying more “Second.” He turns around and high kicks Ink straight in the jaw. He walks over to Ink and spits on him “For leaving Cross in a dying world all alone just because you wanted to kick off an apocalypse because it seemed like an interesting storyline to you.” Dust stares at the council for a moment before sneering and turning away. “Third.”

And Dust marches over to Killer and Killer blinks before two hands are on his face and- OH SHIT! Dust is kissing him. And that is tongue. Holy shit. What?!

Dust pulls back before doing the same to Nightmare and moments later to Cross. Dust steps back looking very smug “Much better. Hard to kiss our big mates when we are tiny.” And Dust looks at Cross “Can you open a portal for us?”

Cross, who just stands there blushing and staring gives a slow nod as he fumbles with his knife and cuts a portal open.

Dust just nudges Killer through it first and Killer, and Horror, are in their living room again.

Killer blinks and looks in shock at Horror. Horror looks so proud.

Killer finally finds his voice “What?”

Horror looks up and grins “Dust doesn’t like it when those he loves are hurt. He gets aggressive. He was waiting for his chance to stab Dream in the socket but this probably worked better for him.”

Killer feels his mind crash and he isn’t sure how to even react. Then he is joined by Cross and Nightmare and the portal closes. Cross stands there hiding his face while even Nightmare looks bashful.

Dust however walks around with a tiny spring in his step, looking very content as he pushes two couches together and fills the created space with blankets and pillows. Then he leads Cross into it, and then Nightmare. And lastly Killer himself.

In a matter of five minutes the now large bitty had created a nest and gotten all of them in there before getting himself comfortable laying on them. After which Dust promptly fell asleep with Horror near him also asleep.

Killer speaks up “What… what just happened?”

Cross mumbles, still blushing dark purple “I… I read about it in the books? That bitties can form emotional attachments and fall in love with normal monsters but that it is rare.” He covers his face “More… bitties make nests for their mates.”

Right!! Dust had called them his big mates. Oh fuck.

Nightmare just lays in the nest “… That… that is going to be a mess.”

Yeah… No kidding… Killer doesn’t mind it though, how can he when Dust’s warm form is curved perfectly against him.

Killer must admit it is very hard to try and focus. He doesn’t want to do anything to ruin this peace and the not so small bitty is asleep. Even if he can feel the other breath and feel the magic of the other soul so so close to his own.

Killer, Nightmare and Cross are still exploring their sexual relationship and well, apparently Killer also really wants to explore the sexual side of the possible relationship he has with the bitties.

Wait does that mean they are technically already dating in bitty relationship norms? Why did neither of them tell them?!

For now Killer tries to not let his hands wander too far over the smooth and bare bones of Dust. Killer is happy to notice that Cross seems to be having a similar crisis as he looks straight up at the ceiling and doesn’t even try to breath with Dust’s skull right by his neck.

Fuck.

Killer needs to talk with Sci about making more of that growth elixir.

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

Last Chapter [Here]

[changingplumbob]

As storytellers, there are so many pieces of our craft and I'm curious how you would rank each step of the process. Rank each of the following on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 lowest, 5 highest): Setting up the scene (building sets, decorating, etc), Posing the sims (creating / find poses, and setting up the sims), Styling the sims (cc hunting, time spent in cas), Writing the dialogue/story, Editing the photos.

I was sent the tag by @mariapaulaaah, @simscici and @deardiaryts4! Thank you friends 🫂

First of all my brain panicked for the simple reason that it doesn't explicitly say what we're ranking them by? Like what the scale is. Yes it's 1-5 but is it putting them in order or ranking each step as 1-5 on its own merit? Is it by enjoyment or difficulty or time allocated?

I decided to do by how much time I spend on each.

Editing the photos: 1

This would be zero if possible because it is RARE that I will actually edit my photos. I will move what is in the screenshot folder to SBL or DD and crop (or in the case of Dating Deanna I have decided to add borders to try and make the posts flow more like if you were watching them). I have chronic fatigue and figuring out some kind or gshade or reshade seems like a waste of energy when I already enjoy what my screenshots look like.

If I "edit" my photos it is turning them black and white, or mucking with the hue, light, saturation etc if it is that awful in game time where sims are outside and it is too dark because the sun has set but the outside lights are not illuminating properly yet.

Styling the Sims: 2

So what I do is I give my sims makeovers at key life stages then I just leave those outfit options for them to change in to. For example Byron has 3 everyday, 2 athletic, 2 sleepwear, 1 formal, 2 party, 1 swimwear, and 3 each for hot and cold weather. I don't put much thought in to telling him what to wear on a certain day, what he gets in after his shower is what he stays in.

Exceptions to this are specific events that require a different outfit. For example the pictures at the cooking school. I went through everyone I wanted in the scene and simply selected from the apron options already in my game. Normal age up makeovers take around an hour for me.

Setting up the Scene: 3

I think you probably don't have to have been following me for long to know that I am very much still learning how to build. I like the look of clutter but not at the expense of functionality. My sims need to be able to exist in the environment living their normal life without a bunch of routing fail messages. I will build if I need a new house or a specific set but even then it's sporadic. I try to have characters interact in existing environments as much as possible to avoid new places.

That said sometimes I need novel sets (like a coffee shop) so I look on the gallery first and make small edits. Sometimes all I need is a room so I will furnish the inside of a box. The cooking school set for example is one big box put on top of RCCC in a photography save so you still get city outside the windows. Each short side of the room is basically the same, just minor clutter changes. Each set of benches has the same decor sitting on top. Doing this build along with Byron's therapists office took 2 hours.

Posing the sims: 4

This takes me longer than building because omg trying to search through my poses is hard. Thank goodness for searchable pose player, how did we live without it? If I want to get say a family picture it can take me anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to find what I'm wanting and get everyone in place with the light right.

Also I've had to get in to using poses with accessories more with Byron's gen as they play instruments that we don't have in game. I was talking with Zen earlier about how it takes me forever! I can never remember which microphone accessory a pose uses but I have four so I needed to set Kerry up with four different outfits, each using a different microphone, that I could click through once she's posed. Also Rachel's lashes conflict with her bass guitar to I need to change those but you know my faceblind self doesn't always catch it in CAS.

Writing the dialogue/story: 5

Hands down I will spend the most time writing! I love writing. But see all that other stuff I talked about earlier, that might take me several hours in game to set up and follow through but I will spend probably double that amount of time writing.

This is pretty much my view when I'm writing. I'll have a folder open with the pictures I have cropped/saved as well as my writing document. The numbers help me keep track of what post it is I'm working on and how I want the pictures to appear. Then the big boxes are where I just write away. Each post goes through several edits as I upload and check on it in the queue before it posts.

I would tag/pass it on but the anxiety over not knowing what we're actually ranking them as/by makes me reluctant... ummm, I'm not sure who has done it so ignore if you have/don't want to but @matchalovertrait, @eljeebee, @simmerbeans, @ethicaltreatmentofcowplants

[dhruvkumaar]

Does reading nonfiction help fiction writers?

It’s the question that’s been worrying me for some time. I mean, we all know reading other author’s fiction helps you a lot in writing your own story. But, if you write fiction, does reading nonfiction help too?

I recently began university around a year ago. And firstly, I just checked my grades and I’m not doing well. Secondly, I’ve been reading a lot because of it. Y’know, those political science, history, philosophy, cultural studies stuff. A lot of nonfiction. And, because of that, I’ve been reading less and less of fiction too.

Now, as an author myself, that kinda worried me. I’m not worried anymore because the semester’s over and I’m back to reading fiction again, lol, but it led to a question: they say writers should read a lot. They never mentioned what they should read. So, does all this random nonfiction that I’m reading counts? Or it doesn't? Why does it not count?

And so, guys, welcome to another one of my yapping sessions.

***

#01. Elements of Theme and Style

First, let me reiterate the main elements of storytelling here. Because, obviously, nonfiction can't help you with every part of storytelling, but still, there’s some stuff I feel it can actually help you more than fiction ever does.

Anyway, these are the main elements: theme, plotline, character, setting, and style. That’s it. That’s all. That’s everything your story is made up of.

Now, plotline, character, and setting are obviously unique to fiction. Actually, if you study nonfiction and style a little deeper, you’d understand that everything in language is plotline and character, but let’s not get into all those details, because it means we’re severely disrupting the sense of what these words conventionally mean to us right now.

So, what’s left with us are theme and style. Now, you might ask: what’s theme and style?

Theme is the underlying foundation of your story. It’s the issues your story is trying to tackle, or even the message it’s conveying. Honesty is the best policy, betrayal, good wins against evil, racial injustice—all that stuff. For example, Metamorphosis is absurdist, and stands on the themes of alienation, family dynamics, and stuff like that. Mainly alienation, though. Kafka is trying to give out a message too: you’re just as good as you’re earning and providing something to somebody. All relationships—at least in Gregor Samsa’s case—are transactional. Once you can't give that anymore, you turn into an insect.

Damn, that’s such a good reading of the novel, I realized. I’m so damn smart—y’know, I just thought of it! Lol, sorry.

Let’s come to the other element: style. It’s the way you write. As simple as that. Style includes your vocabulary, tone, but also some common habits, such as how detailed your scene-descriptions are. Style is basically how you tell the story. How you design those words on paper, y’know.

For example, look at this blog itself. I use the word lol a lot. Also, I use a lot of commas, em-dashes, colons, and a lot of unnecessary phrases in the middle. I joke around, but I still sound a little informative. That’s my style.

Every writer pens the same story differently, and that’s what makes it their own. After all, Shakespeare never wrote his own plotlines. Romeo and Juilet was inspired by earlier Italian tales, Hamlet is a retelling of the legend of Amleth—and I can see a lot more on Google right now, but I won’t list them all here because that’d be boring. But yeah, Shakespeare never came up with a story of his own.

Yet, he’s often regarded as the greatest author of the English language.

Why do you think people love him so much? His plotlines? No. It’s his style. His poetic grasp on the plays left his audiences baffled. His words were strong enough to hold people’s attention—and make them feel emotions. Simply through words.

Yeah, he was white. And he probably never existed. But let’s ignore all that, lol. Lemme make my point.

What I’m trying to say is: style is important for your story. Damn, I wrote a hundred-plus words just to explain this?!

***

#02. Nonfiction is storytelling

Most of nonfiction is storytelling too, in a way. You’d often find that in essays and articles, the authors often tell a little story connected to the message they’re giving. But even if there’s no apparent story as we know it, there’re still characters and a plotline—of events, of ideas, or simply of contexts.

I told you I won’t go deeper, but I think I need to. Look at this blog. There’s no story, except when I told you I’m failing university. (which is true, by the way—my GPA is three. three-point-zero. and im NOT happy…)

Anyway, look at this blog. It has characters. Both theme and style are characters of the sentence. All sentences need characters. In fact, in the last sentence, the word sentence acted as a character too, with the verb need being, well, the action that the character sentence does. Yeah, language is a lot complex than we initially think it is.

Anyway, we don't give a damn about that characters. As fiction authors, we talk about a living being when we talk of characters. And nonfiction might not have that all the time, but most nonfiction does.

Nonfiction is a form of storytelling—it just tells a different story. And in a different manner. So, the style is gonna be different, and, let’s say, less novel-like. But there are stories.

Language itself is storytelling. Like I said, all sentences need characters—the subject—and actions—the verb. And when a character acts, that’s plotline. Without it, there’s no language. There’s no thought, even.

Yeah, even political ideologies are characters. Every object is a character. Lol, everything is character.

Now I kinda sound like a mad scientist who’s going on a random monologue before the climax hits.

***

#03. Climax: The part where I console myself for reading less

So yeah, nonfiction has theme. And style. It shares both the elements with fiction.

Also, these elements appear the same in both forms. Like I told you about how the character changes with form, theme and style apparently doesn't.

In a nonfiction, look at how they use their words. Nonfiction evokes emotions too—notice how they do that. Notice how they appear interesting and keep you hooked. Observe their style.

Also, observe how they subtly try to tell you something—that’s theme. Understand theme. Understand characters and plotline, because even though the story is being told to you in a different manner that doesn't include action and thoughts, it’s still there. You might need this skill a little bit in fiction, too.

Prose is prose, guys. If somebody has written it, there’s definitely something you can learn from it—even if it’s bad enough to learn what not to do.

***

Conclusion

Stories are all around us these days, man. Everybody online is hyper-fixated on storytelling and how to use it to gain social-media traction, sell something, or simply just, y’know, entertain you. The corporate world has accepted it so much for a reason. Hate those corporate guys, though—I don't know why. I just hate a corporate lifestyle, but that’s just me, I guess.Anyway, just learn to notice the stories around you—in the events, newspapers, reels, YT videos, ads, essays, or anything else that you consume. And see how they make it work—or how they fail at it. That latter one helps too!

[nadas-dirthalen]

✨You asked for it: a delineation of my process! Chaotically!✨

(cut for length!)

So! How do I write 20k in a 5-day weekend?

Well, let's start with a couple clarifiers. The first of these are:

It's a weekend for me, and I have no other plans. Virtually no household duties (as I took care of those earlier in the week). I prepared to take this time to write, and do nothing but write.

I am privileged to have a support network of not only my partner, but also multiple friends who provide me encouragement, cheer me on, and help remind me to take breaks.

I am also privileged to have this long weekend in the first place, and to be physically in a position where writing for several hours per day is possible for me (despite chronic illnesses).

I am also, however, chronically ill and auDHD. I'm privileged in many ways, but struggle in some others. So with that: how do I make writing this much work for me?

Let's look at my next CasCal piece so I can show you all the steps!

1. I Plan.

To accomplish this many words, I try to make things easier on myself by building the bones of what I want to write first. For some people, this looks like brainstorming with friends in Discord (I love this too!). For others, it looks like writing stream-of-consciousness ideas in their journals/notes apps/wherever.

For me, while I do a lot of things, the one thing I almost always have to do before fully writing a story is mind map it.

You're gonna have to forgive me: I don't have my CasCal Magnae mind maps on me (I'm posting from a cafe, lol). But to give you an idea of what this part of this process looks like, here's two mind maps from the last two chapters of At Fanfare's End.

You can actually read both of these clockwise! I always start plotting in the top right, then move. You can also see that a lot of the events are numbered inside little circles.

In both cases, I overestimated how much I could fit in each chapter. You can also see cut content, and where it was meant to go. For instance, all of AFE Chapter 8 was supposed to be a Heinrix POV tacked onto the end of AFE Chapter 7.

2. I Fight My Perfectionism By Writing It Badly - On Purpose.

After I mind map, I move on to a zero-draft. This, I DO have for CasCal at present. The tl;dr here is that I write it in a stream-of-consciousness-ish fashion, not bothering to make any sentences pretty. I'm just describing a cutscene to myself, essentially.

This takes the pressure off, versus if I'd tried to plan the choreography and nail the prose/theme at the same time. Thanks to this, I get rid of most of the overwhelm that'd otherwise slow me down.

SOMETIMES I skip this step, but only if I've got a really solid image in my head and feel called to just write it right away.

3. I Draft. For Real.

Once I'm done zero-drafting (or otherwise just ready to begin) I work on the actual draft itself. For that CasCal zero-draft snippet above, here's the (so far) first drafted version.

You can see, right away, that it's longer.

He enters the foray from the back, on the side of the rabble, as he is wont to do. It puts fuel on the fire of his own myth: that he, misbegotten Winterscale scion, clawed his way up to excellency from the bowels of Footfall. There was once a time where he’d have to do some pantomime of that everywhere he went: shoving his way through the underbellies of the world, only his own heft to advocate for him. So much better, to cut the crowd without ever having to lift a finger, the force of his own legend enough to carve out a wide berth. Thanks to both the muscle and face at his sides, even the people who don’t know the story know to fear the man behind it. He is noble; he is unassailable; he has every right to be here, every right to march past, every right to strike down any who’d challenge his presence here. They don’t know—not even his Archmilitant, or his Seneschal—that he has not done this before. He has conquered, he has blustered, he has ruled… but never has the indescribable Winterscale fit himself into the workings of a Magnae Accessio. The ones of the houses beneath him were firmly beneath the value of his time. Asking his attendance would’ve been hubris on their part—and Calligos attending the Magnae of any of those lesser houses would’ve been a show of favour that implied some kind of obligation. He has no need for vassals, after all, and no want to bother with them. That, and it would’ve been poor form to attend Incendia Chorda’s crowning, probably. That war’s best left cold, as long as it can be left at all. The trio pass through the crowd without a whiff of dissatisfaction. Next, separating the lowborn from the elite, stands a row of tanks, polished to a bright sheen in the harsh light of almost-dusk. A clear show of strength: one that might’ve been more to Theodora’s taste than anyone else’s, and recreated in her image. As much an obituary for one Rogue Trader as the crowning of another. A smirk twists Calligos’ mouth. Centuries from now, will they drape xenobeast pelts across the mantle of his heir, neglecting the fact they were carved to fit his shoulders? “Look at the gold raining down,” Aerdrig remarks, wistful as some preening noble boy. The kind that he is, Cal supposes—or was, before he took the post on the Emperor’s Vow. A show of good faith to a governor, where the rest of his retinue was cut the same way as Calligos himself: rough-hewn on stations with barely enough room to spread one’s elbows without a fight. “Hard to believe that ten days past, this place lie half in ruin.”

But because I sketched out how it should look before I started writing it, it's okay that it did take more space. That's usually the way with my process: once I add detail, it grows!

4. I Edit.

Usually, I give my work a few hours or a day at the very least between when it's finished and when it goes up on AO3. This is because I edit it (and read it aloud to myself) before I post it anywhere! The CasCal Magnae chapter isn't at that stage yet (YET, give it 2 days lmao) but usually this will look like me polishing while I'm reading aloud to myself, tweaking sentences here and there or fully removing chunks that I don't feel add meaningfully to the story.

----

THERE YOU HAVE IT. I write a LOT of extra words a lot of the time, but I wouldn't trade my process for anything. I might be writing a lot of excess, but this also allows me to write more - and better, and more confidently - than I would be otherwise.

I hope that proved informative somehow! And if you have questions/comments, I welcome them! (Even if those comments are ".... Lore WTF why are you so wildly inefficient" because... yeah I deserve that one LMAO.)

would anyone be interested in hearing about my process as i do this massive 20k long weekend writing marathon?? is that a thing people would like?

[loonstar256]

I love Shadowbringers. I think it is some top storytelling. I love the characters, the story, and I truly believe it to be one of the best video games I've ever played. I've watched many of the cutscenes over and over. To the Edge is my top played song on Spotify. I only started playing FFXIV because I watched my friend play large parts of Shadowbringers and I wanted to experience the story for myself.

So why is it that I keep gravitating to Endwalker? Why is it that Endwalker has such a hold on me that I get extremely emotional when I hear Close in the Distance (any version. Including when I'm just listening to it while I'm driving) or think about the scene post Endsinger fight? What is it about that expansion that means so much to me? There are flaws in the story, the pacing is extremely strange (I love you Loporrits, but twice you grind the narrative to a stop), and frankly I hate how Venat/Hydaelyn's actions were basically justified with a short monologue from Y'shtola. And yet, I have so many memories of playing through it, good and bad, that I wouldn't change for the world. Endwalker has some spectacular highs and instances of characterization I truly love (the gazebo scene with Krile, G'raha and Alisaie, truly one of my favs, and getting brunch drunk with the older scions), and In From the Cold has caused me to still get chills at that specific facial expression. I was in awe (and still am!) of how amazingly they translated Yoshitaka Amano's art of Hydaelyn into 3D. The soundscape changes in Ultima Thule as your progress the story were incredible. Endwalker isn't perfect, but clearly, I love it, flaws and all.

I have so many things I could say about FFXIV (check out my post on Metieon and the Endsinger as an example), maybe one day I'll get them all written down... For now I'll leave you with one of my favorite lyrics from Close in the Distance:

"Tales of loss and fire and faith Every word on our hearts engraved In the dark, you will not stray Forge ahead till the end, we pray"

[strawberryseeded]

i wish we had gotten more of kugisaki nobara. i just watched dis vid and all my contained RAGE abt dis topic suddenly HIT ME LIKE A TRAIN GOD IM UPSET

ive talked like 32893882 times already (and its still NOT ENOUGH) abt how upset i was abt nobara's death cos she was such a good character, with so much potential!! i really REALLY liked her. she was funny, strong, confident and kind!!!! i loved her char design!! her cursed technique and weapon were cool as hell!!!!!!

and her (recently SOMEWHAT(?) confirmed(?)) death sucked so fucking much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

she was just. fucking fridged. as much as it pains me to admit it. from a narrative standpoint, she died so yuuji would get upset and further develop his character & then move the plot along. even mahito admits that he wants her to die to make yuuji suffer. like yeah he also recognizes her a strong opponent (ofc. cos she is) but at the end of the day he wanted to kill her just to wreck yuuji. and he succeded.

nobara has no say on the way she dies. she's just.. slapped, kinda. its so sudden. its so... weird. not that she's accepting of it (we already know that she knows she can die at any moment and she's ready for it (cos she's a freak like the rest of the sorcerers lol)), but its weird bc its like its not a personal moment for her. yeah we get a flashback & her speech about how, even tho she always was a person who refused to let other people affect the way she is and decides to live, there still are people who, by being accepting of her, managed to gain a place in her heart... and she's happy for that. its rly beautiful.

but its the impact her death has on yuuji what the story really cares about here.

and like. thats fine! im not even saying killing nobara is a bad choice or that its bad if her death also developed yuuji's character. but the way it was done, its like her death only had that purpose. its a way too transparent device, that's what i dislike abt it. i dont mind being upset bc a character i love dies? i like feeling strong emotions when i engage emotionally with art/stories.

but i think she was killed off too soon. we didn't get to properly say goodbye to her. both her character arc and her death were rushed.

she could have been developed so much more! it feels like she was taken away way too soon in the story. i wanted her to fight sukuna along the others. i wanted her to use her cool technique to help yuuji nail sukuna's soul. i wanted to see just how much stronger she could get. i wanted her to finally meet saori. I WANTED HER TO HAVE A COOL EYE PATCH!!!!!!!!!!!

why is she barely mentioned after she dies??? she was one of the 3 main, dude, are u kidding me? yuuji's the only one who mentions her but he's almost afraid of talking about her. its like the whole world forgot about her!!!!! and what about maki?????? werent they girlfriends?

what is nobara's LEGACY? why did gege not make her death matter in the narrative? even if she (for whatever reason) came back(??) at the end, id still be rly mad & sad abt it cos i wanted to see her DO STUFF!! i wanted to see her kick some ass!!!! i wanted to see her grow!!!!! to open up with others!!!!! I WANTED TO SEE MORE OF HER. IM SO UPSET I WANT OUT

[pall0r-mortis]

"A mouse," Sid mumbled in reply, because James is not supposed to be part of that trip but once the situation had changed it required that exchange of information. Given how deeply unaware James seemed to be of most magic-related things, so far as Sid knew after having to practically tell him of his own status as a sorcerer, it wasn't likely he was going to think anything strange about the creature. "An abomination, I'm an abomination sorcerer," he lied easily, when a cover story was what kept a person alive it took no effort to make the lies convincing, "I have no idea where he is in the car right now but I don't want you freaking out and smashing him when he does pop up somewhere."

And he didn't want Cy biting James in retaliation because then he would have a hallucinating idiot to deal with inside the car and that hassle was not one he wanted.

That road felt so much longer all of a sudden.

"Have you ever been there? London?" Sid ventured, his thoughts were mostly elsewhere but he realized James might prove to be useful, actually, if he knew the area. Or knew anything about it at all, because Sid did not and he still found some things about the mainland bizarre. It was almost easy to forget at times normality didn't have a sort of ghastly undertone there. That sort of thing was usually considered eccentric by mainlanders.

He had a feeling James wasn't going to be too enthusiastic about their destination for exactly that reason.

In town dreams Sid had seen more of the world but who actually knew if the dream version was anything like the reality? Or just some strange idealistic mask the way most of those dreams felt like to him: something that only existed after the fact as a sore point to be missed. Or in the case of the confines of that car an awkward one that kept threatening to twist around in the back of his brain and mock him. The sort of wound he didn't know how to stitch back together because it was too new. Maybe after he'd been in that town longer he'd have the same easy dismissal of those dreams that so many other people seem to but there was something in that possibility that was equally miserable.

It seemed like even on his birthday Sid had a certain flare for finding ways to torment himself. But the question had been something of a peace offering, or is near as he could reach for one when he wasn't very good at doing that. In fact, he felt the overwhelming urge to tack on some snide retort with the words but came up empty, had to resort to irritation at himself for failing to do so.

"I guess if the answer is no we're just going to have to try not to get lost or murdered," he managed, feeling the comment was too bland really.

@captainjamesjoneshook

Technically Not Kidnapping. Probably || Shook

[silverskye13]

Trying to analyze the tropes in my own fics to see if I think they're successful as component pieces and getting so confused I give myself psychic damage send help

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

danny talking about how resentful she became when nobody who she self-sacrificed for cared when she died and then leaving kirsch with laura and carmilla bc "if he stays with me i might lose control again and kill him" kinda confirms my thoughts abt both newly-turnedness and anger making vampires more vampiry

but also makes me think that in more usual circumstances, when the dean turned vampires like carmilla and mattie, that shes really nice at the start to temper any of that unruly anger

[thedrotter]

sweet sweet re:kinder community... I would like to ask y'all how you came upon the game and your experiences with it because i wanna know. im genuinely so curious to hear about other people's experiences and little opinions about this game because of how wild the game is (/pos) I'd love to hear it. do ramble to me about it

[takendruid-rambles]

If you're willing to read my reply if I edited it, can't you read my reply even if it's serparate? Also I put it into a separate reply for the sake of coming at it with a fresh head.

Your criticism makes absolutely no sense because the reply was already there in your notifs when you replied to my original reply. It had been tehre for several hours. I even linked to it in that second reply just above just so it was easy to access. But, as well, complaining by telling me I could have to edited my original reply makes no sense when 1) by the time you replied, I had already sent it hours beforehand, and 2) I did edit my original reply to tell you "please look at my other reply instead of this one". You even replied to the edited version (and if you know anything about tumblr, an edit won't appear on a reblogged if it was edited after the reblog).

Plus,,, telling me to edit my original reply to add the second reply implies you would be willing to read it if I had added it to my original reply. But it would have already been sitting in your notifs box for hours above the original reply. So you wouldn't have been waiting for me to reply with my second reply. Because it was already there. Which is why I said it was convenient that you ignored it.

Also dude you don't have to "sit around, waiting". I've only been assed to reply to this now (idk when you sent it) because I couldn't be bothered opening Tumblr until now. And you stating/assuming (because you said you were asusming) I don't have treatments to attend to because I replied to your messages, and hoped you would do the same is not wrong? But also I am unable to work due to disability. Which is why I have the free time to do this. I mean I hope you're doing okay, and that your treatments go well. I'm serious btw, I don't mean that as a backhanded thing. Idk what it's for and I don't need to know, but I don't wish anything ill or worse on you because of this... You're just kinda being a dickhead in some places when I think you really didn't need to be. I know I've probably also been rude, I'm just frustrated by the shit you're saying. I'm frustrated by the Bleach stuff, yeah, but I'm mainly just really frustrated by you assuming shit about me that isn't true, and then just acting/saying shit based purely on those assumptions.

(Edit: in context to my other stuff, I don't jsut edit stuff and reply with a separate reply because it just ensures you'll get the message as a separate thing. It's so you know for certain I've replied, which I feel is just more effective than you going onto the original message to check if I've edited, right...?)

I can't be assed replying to a good part your reply above because clearly you don't like the anime, so there is absolutely no point arguing, and I've already addressed the "Kisuke Manipulates Ichigo" in the second reply. I like the anime, but I have also read the manga but it was years ago so I'm short on the details of the early parts. I can tell the difference between canon and filler, the Gin stuff (amongst other stuff) was done purely for censorship it's not that deep, and I agree that the TYBW is a better story adaptation than the original (I say story adaptation because I'm personally not a fan of the art style and animation change. Just wanted to clear that up in case you were confused about why I said story adaptation instead of just adaptation).

That said, I will admit that I was wrong about the Rukia stuff. You're right that it was my own personal biases (mainly in me trying to defend myself because I felt wrongly called out... you were right to call it out, but the way you did it was just rude and unnecessary) instead of me objectively looking at it, and completely forgetting (because I read it when I was like,, 8?? maybe also 10?) that her age was emphasized in the manga. But I should note that I personally, and it's from my own observations and opinions, don't think it was necessarily because the director "manipulated the viewers" or so you claim. I believe the reason that small stuff like that was changed or removed is because Bleach, at that time, was done with cels instead of being digital, and was strictly being made into a 22 minute format. This means that some stuff would have been annoying to include, or seen as not necessary for the story. I.e: emphasis on Rukia being much older than everyone else. Also censorship.

Not saying the director didn't do anything wrong, I just kind of feel like there is some villainisation going on when it just feels like the reason stuff was changed is actually much more simpler than the Director was a dickhead. I mean I haven't looked into the Director or anything, I've just been enjoying my silly autism show that makes me laugh, and brings me incredible amounts of happiness, so I don't care to.

But I also want to point out that I mentioned that I grew up watching Bleach as a child and teenager, and have only recently started to consume it again as an adult. I didn't just mention it for shits and giggles. The reason I mentioned it is because I wanted to let you understand that this stuff is just a perspective thing. Is Rukia an adult? Yes. Do I think she's a young person? No. Do I know that she is a grown adult who is much older than Ichigo, and has lived longer? Yes. However. Given that I have been a minor almost the entire time I was actively consuming Bleach and haven't consumed it the whole time I've been an adult until now, my brain relatively defaults to Rukia being around the same level (not age? idk how to describe it, I'm not great with words) as Ichigo, Orihime, Uryu, Chad, and even myself. It's not an intentional or conscious thing, especially because I feel incredibly weirded/grossed out by Ichiruki and Ulquihime now that I'm an adult myself, but loved them when I was a kid, 9-14 give or take. It's just a default I accidentally slip into when talking about it because of my personal experience of being a minor for 11/13 years I have been a Bleach fan.

But also it's not that deep, and you just assumed someone was mischaracterising/infantilising a fictional character because they slipped up on a word in their excitement to talk about their most favourite thing in the whole world with someone they thought shared their understanding of that thing :/

And let me make that clear for you. I am autistic. Bleach is not just a normal thing I enjoy, and it isn't just any special interest. It is my number one special interest. It is genuinely the most important thing to me in the entire world outside of my friends and family. Bleach is an incredibly deep and personal thing to me, which is partially why I am so incredibly pissed off by this statement you made about me when I called Rukia "a girl". (sorry about the quality, idk why my pc does that)

I am sorry about what I said in defence of myself; trying to claim that it was me talking about it from Ichigo's perspective. I was wrong there, I admit that. But I am so incredibly serious, and I genuinely mean it when I say that the word meant NOTHING. It was a single word. A SINGLE WORD. Yet you felt it necessary to state I was infantilising her and proceeded to double down on it in the tags by implying that I was assassinating Rukia's character; referenced my statement in a way that was actually incorrect (because I didn't say Rukia was "just a girl", I said and I quote "to save a girl he knew"), and then said it reeks of a lolicon fantasy. WHAT. How did you get that from a word that had absolutely zero emphasis put onto it, and was clearly put in there just to mention Rukia's gender and not her age? Hell. Nothing about that statement even implied her maturity, age, or even how I see her as far as I am aware.

I am not as annoyed over the Ichigo manipulation thing than I am pissed about the Rukia "girl" thing because while I can argue against the Ichigo thing with facts and logic (and you also approached it in a way that was only talking about the story), the Rukia girl thing? What in god's green earth possessed you to write that? Say that about me? Assume shit about me that wasn't true, and said it like it was a fact. Stated it as though those were genuinely my intentions. Who does that? And who hurt you to result in that being the way you engage with another person when they slip up? Mind you, not stating an incorrect fact about a character, but a minor slip up in the middle of their sentence?

You could have genuinely approached it in a different way. I am so fucking serious. You could have phrased it differently but still got the point across that my phrasing was implying something to you that I didn't mean. An example: "Calling Rukia "a girl" feels like you're infantilising her, which is character assassination as it removes and ignores an important fact about her character and story. I don't know if that was your intention, but the way you've talked about her reads to me like you don't see her as the adult woman she is." And I would have responded, "oh shit, I am so sorry. That wasn't my intention, it was a complete accident. I was just excited. I hope you understand, I didn't mean for it to be read that way." No argument, no stress. A mature way to address your concerns. But you didn't do that, and now we're here. I'm not trying to control what you do, and I'm not even attempting to force you to do anything. But what I am doing is saying that there was absolutely no need for the way you approached it previously, and it's only hurt me in the process. And no one appreciates being hurt over a simple mistake, do they?

I could have just said "you're being a dickhead, fuck off" but, unfortunately, I'm not that kind of person. I wish I was, it would save me a lot of stress if I'm being perfectly honest. Nah, I prefer communication and explanation thanks to good old childhood trauma and experiences (I'm taking the piss out of myself before you say anything).

Anyway I need to let my dog out so I'll leave this off here. Hope you had fun reading it

Could never understand the people who say Ichigo is a bad protagonist/isn't relatable. HES LITERALLY MY SON WHAT DO YOU MEAN

He just wanted to help people :( he has a good heart, and is hated by people because he didn't have any grand plans. Also he is relatable, he just isn't relatable to YOU (you being the people who say he isn't relatable)

Also I need more of pre-soul reaper Ichigo/season 1 Ichigo because he was so fucking funny.

[gwydionae]

I get using no specific iteration of the TMNT in a crossover and just making yet another new version. After all, the franchise has had many, many different versions at this point, so it's easy to accept that this is simply one more to add to the pile.

But Naruto has... one. Just the one. So when all of a sudden characters are written/shown to have expertise that they shouldn't have at the age they're being depicted, it just ends up feeling weird.

I get that fitting things into the Naruto timeline can be a chore. Do it too early, and Sakura is kinda useless. Do it too late, and Sasuke's off murdering people. And if you try to set it after the series, the power levels are seriously gonna be out of whack.

But breaking the only canon that has ever existed for these characters makes them feel like... not the same characters. I might be the only one who cares about this, but it really took me out of the story, to the point where I couldn't help but focus on it. I don't want to be distracted from page one of a silly ninja crossover comic.

[princekirijo]

Istg I actually need to sit down and write a proper bio for Riku because even I get confused af as to what his personality is sometimes.

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Break 🤝 Ebisu - waiting for years to die and then realizing when the time comes that they want to live...

anon i don't know who you are or what prompted you to send this, but....... yes, I suppose? but also Ow why did you have to make me think of this