#oof writing is hard y'all

[nepentheisms]

Trimax Volume 8 has one of my favorite Vash quotes in it.

"Only the victims of violence can truly describe its essence."

Really, this whole exchange with Knives that happens in the first chapter of this volume sounds very Buddhist in its language. I'll do my best to parse out some of the concepts I think are at play here, but I should make it clear that I do not have as extensive a personal history with Buddhism as I do with Christianity. I was raised Christian growing up, but my experience as a Chinese-American kid with immigrant parents meant a lot of early childhood exposure to works of fiction with Buddhist themes (think Journey to the West). Also, because we lived in an area with a sizeable population of east and southeast asian immigrants, I developed a surface level familiarity with Buddhist iconography and terminology thanks to friends who were raised Buddhist and regular encounters with Buddhist artwork in local businesses. The rest of my knowledge comes from informal self-study. If anyone out there has more relevant experience in this field, feel free to correct me if I get anything wrong.

Here we go: LONG POST AHEAD

What first caught my attention was Knives' word choice - "I was enlightened." I'm curious what word in the Japanese text was translated as "enlightened" here. A lot of foundational Buddhist literature was written in Sanskrit, and the Sanskrit word that is often translated into English as "enlightenment" is bodhi. This word carries connotations of waking up and coming into awareness and knowledge. In Japanese, the words I've seen for this concept are satori and kenshō.

According to Thomas Cleary, who translated many pieces of Zen Buddhist literature throughout his career, kenshō is the "Zen insight into the essence of one's own being," and satori is "complete kenshō" (1) . Kenshō is written using the Chinese characters 見 (jiàn) which means "see" and 性 (xìng) which means "nature" or "character." This is of particular interest for the above panels, because Knives is saying his pain "revealed [his] true self," and he wants humans to likewise look within to confront the reality of what they are.

Now, at this point in the story, it's pretty clear that Knives' ideas about both who he is and the nature of humanity as a whole are flawed. He's insisting that he has attained enlightenment - some transcendent insight into reality - but from a Buddhist perspective, he's very far off the mark because his mindset was skewed from the start. In fact, Vash gives a keen diagnosis of how Knives is going wrong when he says "We've suffered, but you bottled it up, keeping yourself from feeling the pain and never finding the true source of it." Vash's point is that after obtaining the knowledge of humanity's capacity for evil, Knives only sought to avoid further pain at all cost instead of seeking a deeper understanding of how he's been hurt. The conclusion Knives drew was "the fundamental nature of humans is that they are a threat to me, and they are my inferiors. If they cause pain to me, it is because of their inherent evil, and the only way I can eliminate the potential for suffering is by killing them all." But contrary to Knives' perspective, the path out of suffering in the enlightened Buddhist perspective isn't through forcibly imposing your will on the rest of world until you've destroyed everything that could hurt you.

Instead, Buddhism considers dukkha (suffering) the first of the Four Noble Truths and emphasizes that we should accept the reality that as finite beings in a world constantly in flux, unpleasant emotions and experiences will always find us. There always will be elements outside of our control, but we don't have to allow the hurt they cause to create persistent negative states of being. What we need to do is to not run away from suffering but to understand the cause of it (find "the true source of it" as Vash says) and develop an awareness of how it arises within us - this is the second Noble Truth, called samudhaya. In Buddhism, the origin of suffering is linked to desire and attachment, and Buddhist philosophy posits that by following the fourth Noble Truth, known as the Noble Eightfold Path, the practitioner can experience the third Noble Truth, nirodha (cessation of the desires giving rise to suffering).

With the way Knives currently is, this cessation is something that'll be out of reach for him even if he succeeds in his goals, because he hasn't reckoned with the fear and need for control that is motivating him. He can't complete the path to enlightenment, because his view of the path is obscured by self-delusion. Knives constantly acts as though his goals and feelings are the only ones that matter, but suppose he does realize his vision and kill every human being on the planet. What then? Isn't he effectively alone since there is no one else around that he considers his equal? And where does all the hate that he has purposely cultivated for over a century go? It's doubtful that he'd be able to let go of his attachment to such emotions so easily.

(1): The Thomas Cleary book I'm referencing is Kensho: The Heart of Zen

[tetrilys]

I see you thought to tag me - please allow me to mention that I'll love you forever (in a doofy golden retriever way)

*rubs hands together* brace yourselves, lads - we're in for a journey and it's a long one!

Nothing's Ever Built to Last (You're In Ruins)

The Boy and The Prince

Spider-Man: Returning Home

Rise Up

I Need a Hero

Holding Out For a Hero

Mechanical Bats

Give Me Patience, Give Me Peace

The List

Year One

The Lion

X-Men: X-Termination

Biohazard

After the Night

Blind Witness

Self-Preservation Aux

Status Report

A Curse So Dark & Lonely

HTTYD

Daylily

RDR2 Title Placeholder

Espionage

Solace

On The High Seas

Wanderstruck

Here's a reference key so you'll know what fandom each story belongs to:

Batman, Spider-Man, Red Dead Redemption II, Detroit: Become Human, The Murderbot Diaries, Marvel's Daredevil. (Daylily is LOTR, X-Men & HTTYD is self explanatory, & A Curse So Dark & Lonely is the name of the fandom itself. Everything else is original work - okay byeeee ~ <3)

@comebackolivia @lulurhythm @theeclecticenquirer @lurkinglurkerwholurks @fernandidilly-yo @cyrwrites @batbirdies @wrencatte @writerlovestropes @a-canceled-stamp @envysparkler @autumnhobbit @evienyx @silk-scarlet-ribbons @iowriteswords @verytiredtrashcan @lemonadegarden @muffinlance @sohotthateveryonedied @ceterisparibus116

@bluelotuswrites did this fun writing ask game, and I thought it'd be fun to do as well!

RULES: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

• Jason Gets Arrested

• With Silence, a working title

• Supernatural au, but story

• Lazarus pit angst thing

• Died Revived Thrived the rewrite

• A Valentine's to Remember

All but the last one are Jason centric, the Supernatural au is a Marvel/DC crossover

@lulurhythm @ghost-bxrd @redactedcrow @huntressundone @tetrilys @wrdn-tabris and anyone else who wants to join

[lululawrence]

Annual Writing Self-Evaluation 2024

I was tagged for a few different versions of these, so I'm going to basically merge them together into this one. Hope no one minds lol So thank you for tagging me @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed and @haztobegood!! I love you both very much a lot.

*All answers should be about fics posted in 2023

Number of works posted to AO3: 14! I got over 200 fics on AO3 y'all!

Word count posted for the year: 169,170

Fandoms I wrote for: One Direction (Band) Actor RPF (for Oscar Isaac, Pedro Pascal, and Diego Luna) BBC R1 RPF (for Jordan North mostly but kinda also Greg James and Nick Grimshaw)

Pairings: omg uhhhhh... so let's just list these as well because I don't even know lmao apparently i wrote six different pairings lolll Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson (8) Jordan North/Louis Tomlinson (1) Oscar Isaac/Pedro Pascal/Louis Tomlinson (1) Diego Luna/Louis Tomlinson (2) Oscar Isaac/Louis Tomilnson (1) Pedro Pascal/Louis Tomlinson (1)

Story with the most... Kudos: You Just Be Yourself Bookmarks: You Just Be Yourself Comments: You Should Be Here With Me

Work I'm most proud of (and why): oof uh... I'm actually really proud of myself for a lot of the fics I posted this year because I stretched myself in ways I never expected to with most everything I wrote this year. I think I probably have to say I'm most proud of the fic I wrote for @onedirectionbigbang though. I'm Praying (that you don't burn out or fade away) had been an idea rolling around in my head for ages, and going into writing it, I only had the most vague idea of how the fic would come together and evolve. Because of that, writing it was much slower than it usually would have been, but even as I wrote some things I had no idea how it would come into fruition at the end. How would it all come together? It somehow did, though, and I'm just incredibly proud of the emotion and the journey the characters took in it. Also, did you SEE the incredible art @moon-sun-thyme created for the fic?? I mean GORGEOUS. It's never going to be my most popular fic, but I'm gonna be proud of it for a long time, I think. more below the cut...

OKAY FOR REAL HOW DO YOU PUT A CUT IN AND NOT HAVE THE QUESTIONS START BACK AT ONE???

Work I'm least proud of (and why): I had to go back and look at the fics I wrote this year again, and usually I feel like I cop out on this question, but this year I would probably have to say Harry's Halloween Husband Haul lololol I feel like I'm gonna get haters for that answer, but I just spent next to no time on that one, and it was silly and cute, but most of the words weren't even mine since I took most of the dialogue from the video it was based on and I just changed it so it suited my characters, basically. It's silly and cute and Halloweeny, but not the work I'm most proud of lol

Share or describe a favorite review you received: Legit every single one. No, you guys, I don't think you understand lol I am someone who currently is taking a LOT of joy in writing rare pairs, and not just rare pairs but like SUPER DUPER RARE PAIRS like I can count on one hand the number of fics these pairings have posted for them on AO3, and in some cases I am the ONLY one who has posted for the pairing. So the fact there are people out there who see that I've posted some fic out of nowhere about Diego Luna and Louis Tomlinson helping usher ducks across the street in some tiny town in England and think, yeah... that's something I wanna read! and then COMMENT ON IT??? like. That's fucking GOLD, you know? It just makes me appreciate every comment I get a lot more because I'm posting fics that are NOT guaranteed to get comments at all hahaha so yeah. All of you.

A time when writing was really, really hard: This year has been hard in a lot of ways, but usually even when I'm tired I still at least have energy to write. That wasn't really the case this year. There were so many times I didn't even had energy to write. It was a new kind of low I've not been familiar with, after years and years of writing being what got me THROUGH the hard times, and I didn't really know what to do with myself when I was so tired I couldn't even bring myself to put words to the page. The times when I was able to and the words came quickly and easily were joyous, but that wasn't often the case this year. So... I'd say there pockets throughout that made it impossible to write, actually.

A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: lmaoooo all the scenes with Pedro Pascal. hahahaha Pedro seems like the kind of guy who is just.. an absolute peach, to be honest, but also just TOTAL chaos wrapped up in an almost 50 year old man haha and his characters in my fics I think embodied that pretty well and it was always surprising to see where that took us haha

A favorite excerpt of your writing: Every year I RUE this question being asked. I am lucky I remember the general idea of the fics I wrote this year, there is not a single scene that stands out to me ever and I'm not gonna find one and slap it down this year. I just don't have the energy for that right now lol sorry not sorry

How did you grow as a writer this year: Did I grow as a writer this year? No fucking clue. I guess I grew... to have even FEWER fucks about what people think about the fics I post this year. So that's growth? I guess? hahaha

How do you hope to grow next year: I genuinely have NO idea.

Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc): I... good question. There's always so many people, but this year there's three that stand out for me. @moon-sun-thyme because she basically defined the first half of the year writing wise through our collaboration for the big bang and then just continuing to share things with her as I wrote. @londonfoginacup because I always aspire to have more of her energy in my writing. and @seekforwarmth because I do not speak Spanish. Like at all. My minor was in German and I barely remember that anymore. So writing a LOT of latino/Louis pairings required a LOT of help, and she was SO excited about all of it! So thorough and helpful and just... absolutely lovely. so yeah, I'd have to say those three this year.

Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: lmaooo always. ALWAYS. maybe not in every fic, but most of them have at least a hint of it. yeah.

Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: I wish I had new insight for things, but mostly I just feel like a disaster trying to make it through the day, so sorry! Just keep writing for you, I think lol

Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: YES! I'm writing a longer Diego Luna/Louis Tomlinson fic for the big bang this year and my collaboration is with @lemelous who ALSO loves Diego and Louis like meeeee so I'm super excited to get to jump into that project and collaborate with them! It's going to be so much fun creating the world I accidentally dreamt up one random September day hahaha

Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read: I wanna read everyone's answers! but I also have no idea who has done this already...so I'll tag @londonfoginacup @tommokat and @becomeawendybird because why not! haha but if you see this and wanna do it, then say I tagged you pls haha

Past Years: 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 and 2020 | 2022(ish) | 2023

[symeona]

💀Ok not to engage in music discourse about Ghost of all freakin things

But eh it's still about art, I have 2 cents. Here's the deal, gatekeeping what good and bad art is, to me, is way more cringeworthy and unnecessary than whatever "ipad kid who listens to ghost and thinks it's REAL metal". Like y'all smell bad, if this is what comes out of your mouth on the regular. Respectfully.

I have listened to 5 Ghost songs so maybe I'm not an expert but their music is literally a vibe. Psychedelic metal fucks so severely what is wrong with y'all. I don't dictate what is or isn't metal, but I'm a huge fan of power metal, as people call it. That said I still enjoy Amaranthe, who is more pop-metal. I don't believe their music is bad just because it's pop. And I don't feel the need to stick to the "good genres" instead of the "bad" ones. I like what I like, particularly songs that have a story in them. Ghost has at least 5 of these lil guys.

If that story is told "badly" or not is irrelevant to me. I can enjoy a "bad" drawing just as much as a "good" one. Cause to me, it's not about that. Yes, there is something to be said about all the work one has to put in, in order to make art "good". For sure. I've put in gallons of sweat, blood and tears, I get it's hard. But similar to my art, I'm sure Ghost's members individually put a lot of effort into their art pieces. Yes, the music itself is still not something I listen to everyday but I can appreciate it from time to time.

Because I find it's more valuable to find something to enjoy about all manner of art, ipad kid metal included. You can be a hater. That's fine. But for the rest, I'd like to ask for a minute where you consider why it's socially acceptable to call art "bad" instead of just owning that you're a hater. Why not say "oof I hate this", why does it have to be BAD before you hate it?

Tldr: I don't think any type of art can ever truly be BAD, but you're allowed to not like it. Just please take ownership of your feelings and be honest, you don't need a reason to not like something. Just like, you don't need a reason to like something.

But if it's about art, I suggest working hard to get on the artist's level before you judge them so severely, like damn. I for one will judge Picasso's fuckshit awful art, his classical pieces are literal dogshit. He did not surpass Raphael, I think he was too busy preying on minors for those alleged 4 years, and I wish I could shove the The School of Athens up his mold infested asshole. And I'm confident I can grab any Raphael-apparently-level art piece of his and paint it better. I'm such a hater, I hope my hate for his art is on my tombstone in writing one day. And I don't have to separate the art from the artist if I hate both✨

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

Can I ask, if you have top favorite romantic couples (can be canon or non canon) of all time from any media? Why love them? Thx :D

... now this, took a minute to answer in some ways. There a lot of ships I like, so this was really easy and hard to answer at the same time. Some ships it was an immediate yep yep and others I had to go '... but is it a fav of all time, though?" But I think I got it narrowed down.

So here we go, fav ships of all time from any media, no particular order. I didn't get any specific no. to do so I'll just list a handful until I can't think of any others. (Anyone who comes across this that sees a ship on here you don't like and feels the need to say something about it, stay in your lane this ain't about your opinions it's about mine.)

The main FMA ships

Arakawa Hiromu, nigga, you cooked. Imma just put the FMA ships as one and leave it there because if I do it separately, we'll be here all day. But if you wanna see me diving into why I like these ships in a manic ramble, here's a post I made on that here. The romance in FMA is literally a category and a discussion all on its own that I can go about on for hours. FMA has the best romances in shounen so anyone who has consumed FMA will know what I'm talking about. Like, whenever anyone tries to use a manga being 'shounen' to justify shitty romantic writing, I point at FMA's brilliant riding. An animanga's demographic is not an excuse for terrible executions in romance. EdWin, RoyAi, LingFan, AlMei and all the side ships drank and left no molecules.

NaruSaku

Toxic shippers, again, stay in your lane, I don't feel like dealing with y'all any day. I have been shipping this shit for years, always have, always will. Ignore the fact I ship Sakura with literally everyone from the Akatsuki to Hinata to Sai to Shikamaru. (Y'all I used to look up Kisame/Sakura fics, unironically TAT). (Same for Naruto honestly, I've shipped him with Sasuke, Ino, Temari, Tenten, the list goes on and on.) The way Sakura goes from finding Naruto annoying to almost dying multiple times to keep him safe, I will never EVER be over that. Naruto's love going from puppy to something as passionately red as the thread of fate itself. The MinaKushi parallels. I have a lot (and I mean a lot) of ships in Naruto pertaining to these two, but NaruSaku is my absolute favorite. Like it was literally confirmed that Sakura got over Sasuke and then it got retconned for some bullshit. Saying it with my whole chest, argue with a wall, it should have been them. I won't dog any other ships, but yeah, it should have been them. 699 chapters of Naruto being in love with one woman, I sing the praises everyday.

SakuHina

Hinata's prince charming is literally Sakura. I have a whole ass fic I am slowly, painstakingly writing about what Naruto would have been like if Hinata had a crush on Sakura the whole time. I just think they're really cute together, have amazing chemistry and balance each other out. I didn't expect to like SakuHina as much as I did but here we are.

Kyoru

I mentioned it before in another answered ask but Fruits Basket was my first manga (if you're curious what my first anime was, it was Yu Yu Hakusho) and Kyoru was probably my first OTP. There are two characters I think upon so many rewatches and rereads that were prime game for who Kyo and Tohru could have ended up with had things been different (which, I do really ship as well. Multishipper here guys) but I'm not mad about the endgames that we got. From start to finish, Kyo and Tohru's relationship is beautiful and you can feel how strongly they feel for one another. It's like, wow, Takaya really gave us one of the best ships in shoujo and didn't even apologize for it.

Klance

Red + Blue = True. They had chemistry, supplemented for what the other lacked and we really don't need to have me diving into the bs that was VLD. That show wasn't even out long, my god, it was a mess.

NeuviFuri

Should I explain to you the romanticism of Hydro x Hydro? Oof how I love them. A Genshin ship after my own heart, truly. But if anyone is trying to against MiHoyoverse (I was here from the Mihoyo days, leave me alone) in terms of seeing who ships NeuviFuri more, we all lose. They literally paid people to do an ice dancing program in NeuviFuri cosplay, paid a guy to make a companion piece to Furina's song from Neuvillette's perspective and several other animations concerning their relationship in some way. But the Mihoyoverse shenanigans aside, it's the build up of 400+ years of working together, the care they still have for one another and yes the complementary abilities and color palettes. Not enough time in the day to talk about them, I don't think.

AriDante

Almost thought I wouldn't have a gif for them, then I remembered THEY GOT A MOVIE. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is one of my favorite books in the world. I have reread it once a year religiously since 2017 when I first discovered it. This is such a beautiful novel and relationship and if you haven't had the pleasure of reading it or the sequel, please do yourself a favor and buy it or rent it from your local library. It's just, the way Ari has been in love with Dante for so long and didn't even realize it but it's so, so clear to the reader because of just how he talks and describes him? I don't even want to go to deep into this one just in case there's someone here that hasn't read this book because it deserves to be read and experienced blind. Just, just please y'all read it.

[mysteryanimator]

Watch it here :D

(heads up for any odd grammar, Grammarly cannot save me from my dyslexia)

I was originally not going to do a breakdown of this because a lot of my breakdowns and thought processes were getting really repetitive (also i was getting embarrassed by them HAHSDASHBDS). BUT boy oh boy this time around I can actually go "wait i can yap without being repetitive here, maybe, idk, we never know until i write it out."

STORYBOARD/ANIMATIC:

It was really fun to adapt AquliaofArkham's fic into a visual format! This is the specific section I had set out to visualize!

(Yes I only did thumbs for that section and freeballed the rest whoops, y'all do not follow by example, i didn't think i was getting this far tbh)

When translating this from written to visual, there were some key points I wanted down:

They are really really close to each other and the barrier between each other is SO thin, but the air is still super thick

visual eye breathing room compressed???

Is having stillness a way to convey that ???

We are following Mizrak's POV, ergo focus on what Mizrak is focusing on, where is his mind going

hold shots for longer???

limited movement due to Mizrak's hyperfocus???

Make shots intentionally heavily detailed ???

Zoom into details???

As much as I am passionate about storyboards, I do tend to get ahead of myself and end up locking myself into lots of close ups HAHAH. I like having each shot matter to me a lottttt so i end up reverting to reusing a lot of super common shot archetypes due to their attached meanings (I'd love to attend/watch some workshops on this, but uni ;-; i'll be free soon dwdw).

By the way, you will notice the animation is longer then the timed storyboard/animatic. This is because I retimed to placeholder dialogue (which y'all will NOT HEAR THATS EMBARRASSING, i dont need ppl to hear me yell clatter lol). Fun fact I originally had it in the first storyboard to help me with timing and then removed it half way through? Not sure why I did that, but regardless I came back around and retimed it so that the length of each shot feels believable enough to hold dialogue and has enough time to be visually digested by you guys.

ANIMATION:

This was a doozy, not because I found the animation hard, this time I actually was satisfied-ish with most of the end result and started implementing different approaches to the animation from all kinds of media; which was my issue LOL. My understanding of animation changed midway through. I can super distinctly see two different approaches, probably because I slipped into that naturally while having animated shows/movies while doing this and I can probably pin point to you which shots was influenced by what show.

First all dialogue and walking forward: rewatched TLOVM b4 season 3 dropped, which by this point is already out, (uh also Nocturne. again HAHAH)

WHICH, you'll see here, two different set ups were taken LOL (also oof you're seeing my setup). Personally, I like keeping my animation folders to the utmost minimum (so like the right! Olrox's folder is a whole character, separate moving bits like lips or even earrings will be in that one folder) because scrolling through can get a tad overwhelming and daunting, BUT, Olrox walking forward had so many small moving pieces with different timings that multiple animation folders was the best way to handle itttttt.

I feel like I only really care abt this BUT FILE MANAGEMENT IS IMPORTANT AAA. You should've seen my file management this time last year, actually horrific, but I'm so glad I figured out how to be cleaner, in turn speeding up my process. (which honestly was just thanks to being thrown into a studio environment and going "Oh my god so that's what I should be doing" and picking up things I noticed from other animators, which genuinely my learning comes from picking me up and throwing me into the deep end)

Secondly, Olrox arm and a scrapped walking scene: I was watching Prince of Egypt (literally that whole week, planning to rewatch again lmao), Sinbad, Road to El Dorado, and then work from Modernday James, Toniko Pantoja, Edward Kurchevsky

Fun fact, the very first walking was intended to be animated, and i redid it about four times before scrapping it completely. The first three iterations i didn't save because they were sooo clunky . It made me realize I gotta revisit my principles again I'm rusty (and i do LOLOLOL). I scrapped the anim because it did not flow into the next shot nicely but, It was good practice regardless HAHA

While mentally I feel like none of the shots match each other, they still do have some cohesion to one another

COMPOSITING:

The new thing, finally manually did the edge shadows in CSP HAHAH.

I will say this too, I got really nervous atp about the overall "quality" of the anim + the backgrounds. I was getting super hung up over it because I was alr worried abt the animation due to the safer choices I made (but also, I don't have to reinvent the wheel LMAO). SO, when I got to comping it was like "oh actually its actually fine LOL".

i stayed pretty sketchy with these since i was getting way too worried about it and wanted this to stay as a fun side project, also these are without comping- they become way more purple with compositing LOL

I feel like here too I ended up doing less then what I normally do, which I think mighttt be on part to finding more efficient ways to go about compositing things together (and faster too).

Also, I definitely got pushed into trying to lower the layer amount when I saw a tweet about layer efficiency/layer stacks and them mentioning applying Mattes and CC Composite. Actually a godsend, I didn't realize I could combine my effects like that to lower the amount.

Also, I swear no amount of precomping can save me from this. There's probably a better way to go abt this um LOL, everyone is getting a peep at my file management.

Also, I'm realizing I could've done a tad more with the actual composition itself, like the placement and movement of Olrox in the scene where he's walking forward. For now I have to leave it, because also, the intent for this one was to have fun rather then making every anim an exercise or else I'd burn out so fast LOL

Side tangent but, I've been digging my heels into the animation school club workshops on youtube rn due to having a moment with the scrapped Olrox side walk. Which holy shit, things have clicked for me, so I'm going to try and do more rough exercises b4 i do another finished anim again. It turned a light bulb in my head LMAO, and it pushed me to do the recent maria anim and mizrak and olrox kiss which has a massively greater understanding of timing and confidence LMAO

Ok now this is To Love a God finished! Another animation done :DDDDDD I'm super happy to be adapting a fanwork, it's always really fun and super exciting to bring other people's stuff to life, which what made this more enjoyable then anything else.

Will I do another polished anim before next year/before s2? Time will tell but for now i rest and speed to finish another semester of uni (there is a high chance for another anim because of a joke tweet i did not expect to get traction lol)

Thank youuu if you stayed this far, this was really lengthy and i think i went into different unrelated tangents, so i hope you enjoyed me pulling you into different directions HAHAHA

p.s i uploaded this to youtube and theres an age restriction BECAUSE OF THE FEET. Not because Olrox tells Mizrak he would fuck him, no it's his FEET. I've tried to appeal it but cant do much LOLOLOL

[ms-moonlight-inn]

Weekly Tag Wednesday

(actually on a Wednesday)

Tagged by @jrooc @mybrainismelted @blue-disco-lights @blue-disco-lights @samantitheos @energievie @guinguin1984 Wednesday's tag-a-licious taggy tag.

name and ao3 handle: Cyn, moonlight_inn

current location: living room, on a beanbag

favorite picrew (don’t have one? you can skip this or do this one)? I'm copying @lingy910y's answer with twisha’s gallavich picrew. (didn't realize Doshi had one, now I must do that one, too)

what’s one thing you want in a picrew? different ages, more options for us with stick-straight hair, there is more that one shade of light-skinned!

favourite thing you’ve created (or seen created) for the fandom?

Oof, they're all my babies, but LMAH will always hold a special place in my heart.

why is it your favorite?

I poured so much of my creative energies into it. The writing is dense & descriptive. I researched the holy crap outta it.

did it come easily or was it hard to create?

This fucking thing almost killed me. All the world building, all the mythology. Ugh... never again. lol

last ao3 fic you commented on? 

This A/B/O fic by @mybrainismelted Battlefield Chicago. It's a dystopian, post-apocalyptic fic. And it's got some serious post-colonial vibes. I am in lit geek heaven, y'all.

biggest wip heartache you’ve ever experienced?

It's not heartache, per se, but I'd love to see another chapter of either "The Experience" or "Ian Gallagher & All His Mistakes."

favorite trope or head cannon you like included in a fanfic? 

hurt/comfort is my jam

i also like accidental baby acquisition bc it's funny as fuck to watch the universe baby distribution system drop babies into the laps of the wholeheartedly unprepared

also, family dynamics/family drama (bring the chaos!)

least favorite?

um, honestly not sure. tropes are not usually an issue. i do have a few tags I avoid

secret or surprising kink or trope? 

i don't think any of my kinks are secret, but the one I feel badly about reading is whump. sorry, Mickey, sorry, Ian. one of you is about to get bloody. 🫣

describe how you feel after you’ve created something new? 

accomplished for exactly 5 minutes, and then that feeling washes off & i'm already looking for the next hill to climb

top hype man you have that always helps you get across the finish line: @notherenewjersey

it’s been a bad day, you turn to the fandom and you___?

write my feelings, or read some super depressing fic

***

No pressure tags: @transmurderbug @thirstyvampyr @tv-obssessions @sandrashaine @chicanomick @nozenfordaddy @spookygingerr @gallapiech @sgtmickeyslaughter @guinguin1984 @spacerockwriting @crimson-bebop @vintagelacerosette @notherenewjersey @francesrose3

[karlachismylife]

Okay I am a little bit overwhelmed with stuff (I don't know why, but I feel slower last few days), so I'll just post a Queen of the Clan chapter rn and a few responds I already prepared, and then I'll go back on a little hiatus, cuz I just. Can't concentrate enough to reply to asks, but I see them all and I am really really excited to answer! The tree spirits au one gave me one idea I wanna expand on, the mythical creatures, the cerebrus, several poly 141 thingies, they're all in my mind, but oof sitting and writing them down is hard for some reason.

I hope you don't feel neglected :( I love love love your ideas and asks and I just don't wanna half-ass them when I see how much potential they have. Man, my brain is doing it's own thing rn (I think it's the hormonal fluctuations + eepy rainy weather, so there's hope once my hormones go back)

LOVE YOUUUUU Y'ALL ARE THE BEST WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP hyena chapter going up in like 15 minutes or so

[roguemonsterfucker]

I was gonna reblog a post that had some really good points about these recent hbomb videos but then they went and used ableist language so I guess I gotta make my own post.

Please y'all, as fun as it is to make jokes about Tommy Tallarico and James Somerton and the other folks Hbomb has "taken down," we need to remember that taking these people down was NOT the point of his videos.

The Oof video was originally conceived as a simple video concept about how easy it is for our history to be lost and forgotten "through the lens of a video game sound that had been reused without credit for a decade." Hbomb fell into a black hole when he stumbled across all of Tallarico's lies and used the information he found to further emphasize his point. Credit in video games wasn't and sometimes still isn't taken seriously. The people that actually create the games (and other content) we love are often forgotten while the biggest names involved are put on a pedestal and given all the credit. That is the point of the video.

And the Plagiarism video also holds deeper meaning than just James Somerton. Plagiarism is a serious issue and there are multiple people profiting off of it. With things like ChatGPT, it's easier than ever to write something quickly that is based off of the hard work of others. When I think of "content mill" I usually think of videos like Five Minute Crafts (which also steal content and ideas from people btw!), not video essayists. So Hbomb's plagiarism video is a wake up call to all of us to be aware of the content we consume. Not only is plagiarism harmful to the original creators but it can also accidentally spread misinformation. Potentially extremely harmful misinformation.

Hbomb's videos always have a deeper meaning than "fuck this guy in particular." His Vaccine's video wasn't even purely about Andrew Wakefield, it was about how to combat misinformation.

Also, as someone who is very anti harassment, I beg of you, PLEASE do not go harassing people because of hbomb's videos. I don't care what they did, they don't deserve death threats, suicide baiting, or any cruelty directed at them. It's one thing to make funny posts about what they did here on tumblr but I beg you, do NOT go messaging them or tagging them or interacting with them in any way. Unless you have an actual legal dispute with them (such as if you paid money to them you would like refunded or if they plagiarized you) just don't talk to them.

In addition to harassment just being bad in general, we've seen in hbomb's video that James Somerton will weaponize that harassment. Someone very politely interacted with him and he claimed they sent him death threats. So let's not actually send him death threats please and thank you.

[ragecndybars]

AO3 tag game :3

thanks so much for the tag @mvshortcut !!!!! much appreciated, this was a blast to fill out :D

How many works do you have on AO3?

86! Damn, that's more than I remember 🙀 I have been writing pretty fervently since I was pretty young, though, and I transferred all my old fics from fanfiction dot net to AO3, so it's a long stretch of time. All my old wattpad fics are still rotting somewhere though lmaooo I can't even access them anymore bc I forgot my password and I can't reset it bc I used a school email 😔

What's your total AO3 word count?

443,734! When I get to half a million I'm gonna have to throw myself a party. With boba and everything

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

Oof, okay, here we go. A lot of the fandoms I have tagged on AO3 don't really "count" because they're just aggregate tags for the same fandom, so even though AO3 says the number is 48, I'm gonna count the TRUE number as 17. (It got cut down so much because of how many video game series have different games with different fandom tags on AO3, lmao)

Here's the breakdown of the list:

Persona (Mostly Persona 3)

Fire Emblem (Mostly Shadow Dragon and Blazing Sword)

Legend of Zelda

Pokemon

Professor Layton

RWBY

Kid Icarus: Uprising

Earthbound/MOTHER

Red vs. Blue

Voltron Legendary Defender

Naruto

Final Fantasy XV

Harvest Moon

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Avengers

Animal Crossing

Care Bears (despite having never actually consumed any Care Bears media to my knowledge)

The worst part is that this stupid list would be much, much, MUCH longer if I finished even a quarter of my WIPs 😭 Hell, even just my "Video Games" subfolder in my "Fanfiction" subfolder has more than 17 subfolders in it...

Y'all don't understand how many random fics my ADHD spares you from ever seeing I have no focus

Top five fics by kudos:

Ash and Emotion (Zelda) - Not surprising, I knew this was my most popular fic. It was for a ZeLink zine full of beautiful work :)

Resemblance (Naruto) - bro I always forget people really liked this one. Literally an unedited drabble I did in an hour for a "pride month drabble challenge" which I immediately abandoned. Trans rights I guess

Always Wanna Play (But You Never Wanna Lose) (Persona 3) - This one isn't surprising either, and I'm very proud of this fic so I'm quite chuffed to see it get so much attention... thanks everyone :')

The Beat of Your Heart (Zelda) - Now this one surprised me a lot. This was just a little piece for ZeLink week... Another unedited one, I literally was writing it on the toilet in church so I could get it out in time 😭

Comfort (Zelda) - Another ZeLink week piece, but I knew this one was popular. Also unedited, lmao. I was writing it on the day of my AP Calc finals and I rushed through the exam so I could have more time to work on the fic 😭 I made some Choices that year

Do you respond to comments?

I try to! But I get very anxious about it and tend to work myself into a tizzy, so I often put it off for later and then forget, haha. Then I'll go and respond to all my comments from the last few months and feel even weirder about it... T_T

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

Oof. That's... a hard one, haha. I've written a couple of fics without happy endings, though I typically don't. At least three fics which end on a canonical character death, for instance. But I'd say the ending which made me the most emo writing was Butter, a Mother 3 fic. It ends with Lucas, who's like 9, recently lost his mother, then lost his twin brother (and thinks it's his fault), and is now being neglected by his father, crawling into bed and crying. So yeah, pretty bleak, lmao... but at least he doesn't die I guess?

Do you write crossovers?

I do, but I haven't posted many yet. I'm not always huge on writing them, but I do think about them a lot. I was working on this one Persona 3 x Fire Emblem Awakening crossover but I lost steam on it, and now there's a really lovely crossover on AO3 with a similar premise that I was SO delighted to come across!!! Hope y'all don't mind me taking a break from linking my own work to shill for this one, hehe

Have you ever gotten hate on a fic?

Unfortunately, yes, about six times, I'd say. Even more unfortunately, most of those times happened earlier on in my fanfic writing career, and I was pretty sensitive to hate back then, so I deleted many of the relevant fics, and some of them I don't even have access to myself anymore.

Not gonna talk about the ones that are still upsetting, but I will talk about the funny examples: on a (since deleted) RWBY fic, I said in the author's note that I "wrote them as platonic, but the fic can be read as WhiteRose", and then I got a glowing comment gushing about how good the story was which ended with "but then you had to ruin it by shitting all over WhiteRose, how about you [long suicide bait]". Third most baffling comment I've ever received.

The two most baffling were on different fics, but both were making the same weird accusation??? One was on a ZeLink fic (actually, on Comfort, my fifth most kudos'ed fic of all time now), and y'know I think I'm just gonna show you the comment in question:

The other one was on a long-since deleted fic which focused on both a romantic ship, as well as a fatherly relationship between one member of the ship and the other member's father. I guess having a fatherly relationship with your father-in-law makes your boyfriend actually your brother (and therefore you can't date him anymore). IDK man people are crazy. (tbf the commenter in question thought I was setting it up so that he'd get adopted by his boyfriend's parents, which would give them more of a case, but like... that didn't happen in the fic and wasn't going to. they just guessed at a future plot development and got angry about their guess)

Do you write smut?

I do, but I've never posted any. I've posted one fic that was very suggestive, I'd even call it "NSFW" in a sense, but never anything explicit. Maybe I will in the future? We'll see if I can ever finish anything smutty, lmao.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yep, I had Ultimatum, my longest chapter-fic (and by far my most popular fic in the ff.n days) stolen and posted on another site by somebody. I reported it but never checked back up to see if it got taken down.

I also feel that I've had my work plagiarized pretty damn blatantly in another fandom (I was browsing a certain AU tag and read one which contained all the exact events and sometimes word-for-word dialogue from a fic of mine, just very very slightly rewritten) but the poster had no other works and their writing was definitely extremely juvenile, so... I figured they were a dumb kid and just decided not to raise a fuss. Checked back later and they deleted it, hopefully because they realized they shouldn't do that, so I figure there's no need to start shit over it. Honestly, if that person used that experience as a jumping-off point to write their own fics, then I'm glad it happened, imitation being the highest form of flattery and all.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, though I had someone reach out to me on fanfiction dot net a long time ago and ask permission to translate An Unheard Goodbye, which was super exciting! I agreed, but I don't believe they ever got around to it, or if they did, they never posted it. Still very flattering, and I think about that a lot, hehe.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

HOW COULD I POSSIBLY ANSWER THIS. UM. UM UH. UHHH UM UH I. UM.

I'm.... gonna say Zelda/Link? I haven't written it in FOREVER but it was such a huge part of me coming into my own as a fanfic author, so I have to give it credit for that.

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

.......all of them 😭 god I have so many of these damn things. But for the prime example, I'd point to Ultimatum, an old Pokemon fic that I started in middle school. I got all the way to the climax and I feel bad leaving my readers hanging, but... at this point, if I did continue it, I would honestly have to rewrite the whole fic first just to be in line with my current understanding of the characters.

What are your writing strengths?

Y'know, I think I get character voices down extremely well in a way which elevates my dialogue and narration. That's probably the thing I'm most proud of in my own writing, at least.

What are your writing weaknesses?

BREVITY. Or the utter, glaring lack of it. I have also been known to muddy up my writing with an overabundance of A) adverbs, B) unneeded clauses tacked onto perfectly good sentences, and C) em-dashes 😭

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fics?

I think it's dope as fuck, but I currently can't really accomplish it because I'm monolingual (NOT FOR LONG IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT, I'M COMING FOR YOU, JAPANESE FLUENCY!!!!). I will also say that I don't like when authors will write characters having a story-important conversation in another language, then put the translations in the end notes or something, requiring you to either read the chapter confused or else keep scrolling back down and back up.... I think even that's totally fine to do if what's being said isn't plot-relevant, though.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Naruto. I hadn't read or watched Naruto btw, I had only read other Naruto fanfics. I have spoken on this topic many times, but it remains hilarious to me. Also, so many of my old Naruto fics are lost to the Wattpad times, but I will take this opportunity to once again share a quote which I recently managed to unearth from my long-lost unsung magnum opus:

Never ever will I intentionally attain the level of comedy gold that I managed while writing completely dead serious Naruto fanfiction on Wattpad in 2012.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written so far?

See above. How could I ever top that fic.

In all seriousness, this question always makes me sweat, but I think I'm gonna say Oil, a slightly older fic from my EliHec days which I absolutely obsessed over for months before finally managing to finish. And, unlike most of the fics that I obsess over, I think the obsession actually made it come out better rather than worse, haha.

thanks again for the tag!!!! as for me, I'll tag uhh, hm, @wizard-finix @dreamedge @misty-wisp @flyfish1999 and any other AO3 writers who see this!!! (idk how many of you use AO3 and most of the MBS authors I know have probably already been tagged hehe but anybody who wants to should absolutely feel free!!!!!!!)

[unfriendlyamazon]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

i love this ask because a) i was just looking at your catalog of work and b) i reread my stuff all the time because i'm a genius

picking 5 was hard but here they are

The Final Countdown, originally written for JouKai week 2022, is a recent one and feels like a fully baked version of how I see KaiJou's relationship. Funnily enough I originally intended this as a chapter in one of the first (now deleted) fics I posted and kept it in my head for a long time. I think KaiJou kissing in front of fireworks with the whole world watching is peak, and I'm glad I found a way to put it onto paper.

Bite Hard isn't perfect, and I think if I'd intended it as a longer form story I'd probably slow burn it a little, but I love it enough that I started to retool it into original fiction (though the main characters are inescapably Buddies). This is vampire Joey in one of my favorite forms: a shitty little boy just turned who has to keep his worst instincts under control. Maybe I'll return to it some day.

The Folly of Reason is the original creation of my Star Trek AU that one day, maybe, I'll get back to, because I have such plans (don't you want to see Kaiba pon farr???). I reread it while scrolling through my work to see what five I love the most, and this is definitely one of them. It has such a vibe, and I get to play in a universe I love.

Ballroom Blitz is such peak teen comedy, a genre I really love, with an ot3 I'm only mildly obsessed with. I definitely enjoy writing polyamory in fiction (such interesting dynamics), and I think it's funny that Duke and Joey kind of hate each other. I definitely want to write these three more, they deserve it.

oof, it was so hard to pick the last one, because I had two more I really loved, but I have to give it to

Double Date, which I think is one of the funniest things I've written. Another story idea I've had since that original fic I've since deleted, compounded with a joke about Pegasus/Keith being mirror universe KaiJou. I'm obsessed with Pegasus attempting to be paternal at Kaiba, and it shows an established relationship I enjoy. I feel like I sparked a little Pegasus/Keith surge with this one too, so I hope y'all out there enjoy it.

[tklyhcs]

alright uhhh i saw some people requesting this on other blogs so i'm stealing those actually, taking those thanks (using this an excuse)!! this isn't the fandom i necessarily wanted to start with but the other ones i wanna write have insane amounts of characters so boy band men first i guess

(IF YOU SAW ME ACCIDENTALLY PUBLISH THIS TOO SOON, NO YOU DIDN'T)

heartsteel hcs here we gooo

kayn 💜

ok fr he's so fun to write for, didn't expect this one to be so cute. easy ler and lee! he likes to be a little bully and use his dirty little grabbers, mostly at ez let's be real. he isn't confident he's gonna win any other matchup so ez is easy picking. and thanks to the blooper reel k'sante is another target because kayn is a scrapper and crawls all over him like a monkey. mostly spiders his fingers all over and laughs evilly like he's won a hard fought battle. he's slinky and quick so he mostly has his target begging for someone else's help, and when they do get said assistance he cries and whines that it's not fair. don't be fooled he enjoys the extra attention!

he just plays to win all the time so when someone else tags in he's sure make everyone know that HE WOULD HAVE WON!!!! HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR EVERYONE ELSE CHEATING!!!! and man that stupid leash why does he even wear it if someones gonna tie his wrists in a knot. and like a true lee he wears that crop top so when he's all tangled go for the abs! he laughs so much it becomes obvious how he got so cut, by laughing his lungs out apparently. when he laughs his fangs show too it's cute.

he's also painfully obvious about not minding since he neeeever calls mercy, never surrenders. he just deals with it! not something someone who DOESN'T enjoy it would do. he could easily call mercy and call it quits but hmmmm he doesn't seem to want to, odd.

for spots i wanna say the waist is really really bad. top of the ribs under the armpits, his abs, his sides, all have him kicking his legs with a shout. he also scream laughs, explodes into laughter at first touch. but his voice also cracks at the first yelp, sounds like a cute lil boy shriek. partial to being "attacked", as he calls it, on the couch. he likes getting to be able to flop down and pass out after, sorta like a little kid it's so fucking cute bro he tuckers himself out laughing and wriggling on his back. dude is exhausted n happy (he swears he is NOT happy abt this) he's just tired for no reason okay. now it's his post giggle episode nap!

k'sante 💛

hear me out ok when i saw his shirt being a turtleneck i was IMMEDIATELY LIKE 🫵 his spot is the neck. it's so the neck. suddenly for him there's more than a few perks of being like.. 6'7" and it's not just being able to get things from high shelves. kayn and ez are menaces to this man it's gotta be 2 on 1. and in the official art pieces, ez getting carried on his back? oof k'sante y'all shouldn't have done that. cause now there's legs locked around his chest and ez is like SURRENDER OR DIEEE and getting all up into that shirt collar. he SCREECHES and spins around trying to shake him off he's stuck on him now. hopping around doing a lil giggly dance with ez on his back. kayn jokes and teases about how instead of focusing on singing, he should work on his dancing instead!

thanks to the blooper reel i can die on the hill that k'sante is a whiny boy and calls yone for help all the time. yoneee helpppp they're bullying me m gonna tell yoneee aaaa. kayn saying OH YOU BIG BABY stop complaining!! no one to help you now! ez is this guy's worst nightmare his cold little fingers are like knives on his neck. k'sante tends to run hot so they're just so nicely sticking a cold can of soda to his nape to help obviously. yone will help sometimes but mainly just because he's trying to keep the team on track (he will also torture k'sante with cold soda cans).

necks are a good tickle bite's worst enemy. chomp. and when someone is up in there biting, he just has to laugh and wait til it's over ☺ and with both of his elbows bent up so he can use his hands to cover his neck. gasp.. who's to protect his armpits! 🤭 noooo one! his neck is his worst spot so he'll make sure to keep it covered! but that does mean he'll get some armpit tickles instead! pick your poison k'sante. they team up on him like this often and ngl he likes it when they're close on em! sweethearts. but he doesn't wanna LOSE so he brings his puppy eyes to yone he's like 👉👈 yone.. help.. what a cop out! but it's not that great of a cute beg it's more like k'sante scream laughing and attempting puppy eyes but yelling HELP AAAA YONE HELP awkwardly waggling his arms. i love making big men be tickly and look foolish. sorry i love embarrassing them uwu

ezreal 💚

wow what a lee he's textbook lee i bet he has a secret tumblr account for all his private tk blogging activities. there's a lot to say about him: MOST IMPORTANTLY though his cute smile alright look at his teeth they're so fucking cute i'm obsessed. probably his only weapon as a ler are his sharp teeth. pointed and dull at the very bottom makes for very ticklish bites, so beware if you're too confident in winning! he will wiggle his head between your head and shoulder and bite! exaggerated fake growls and all. he'll be a little too proud of winning, so don't let him.

he has a reaaaally cute snort laugh too. i think his fans would document it thoroughly and embarrass him by posting clips of it nonstop. he has a more controlled laugh for outings because he's serious about his fandom image, but sometimes he laughs at something and chokes on his breath a bit there. i think it would be a shame of someone (kayn) decided to squeeze his side and make him giggle and snort while he's doing some filmed social media trend. that would soooo bad amiright 🫶 lol he would scream, cover his mouth, and tell his followers that he's BUSY and MUST LEAVE immediately. he basically RUNS to his room to scream into his pillow. like how dare u embarrass him in front of his online friends.

the clip hits all platforms in record time and he maaaay read a few comments because it's people saying it's cute of him and he secretly fawns over those. like "omg you think i'm cute heehee" he's ridiculous. but phel and kain playfully tease him sending pig emojis 🐖🐖🐖 ez is like "DON'T SEND THOSE TO ME DON'T- HEY DON'T POST THAT ON SOCIAL NOOO DON'T COMMENT MY FANS WILL SEE" and they all affectionately change his name in their phones to 🐖 just to tease him.

for spots, he'd be ticklish up sides to his ribs, spidering fingers have him slumped into the couch, laughing hard and snorting, of course. his feet and knees are quite ticklish! only known because he tends to put his feet up and yone continuously tells him to knock it off. but he found that suddenly tickling his socked foot does the trick.

aphelios 💙

he's a difficult one, since he's not much of a talker! but not like he's spared from anyone's wrath. his laugh is what you'd expect and it's fantastic; breathy, wheezy, and full of obvious mirth.

he's prone to pranking the others and while he can be nonchalant and aloof, sometimes the sight of one of the others falling or making utter fools of themselves has him in stitches (and being forced to laugh via tickling is no different). and when he wears his mask it's especially endearing to see his eyes screwed shut as well as him holding his stomach and hunching over, shoulders shaking.

he can't help acting like a little troublemaker and they always pounce on him after he gets someone good with those pranks he pulls. seems like he's more playful than he looks. if anyone stretches, he's the first to poke. if someone gets stuck doing something, phel is there making sure he doesn't waste the opportunity, what a jerk! so do everyone a favor and give him a taste of his own medicine. he's his own worst enemy though, because once he starts wheezing in laughter you pounce on him with tickles and it's downhill from there. he's already laughing so he has no chance of fending off an attack.

and a secret: he's very weak to teasing too! he doesn't talk back he just hides his face in shyness. they fall for a trap he's so deviously placed and now he's under them, mumbling out giggles when they poke him all over saying "what's so funny huh??" he waves his hands at them and pushes em by the shoulders trying to curl up the best he can. pokes drive him nuts and then when you speed up it's even worse, him trying to catch the offending hands. "no timeouts allowed because you started it!"

but it seems like he just doesn't stop pranking the others, so he must like it more than he lets on. he's surprisingly a goofy lil boy. he laughs himself silly, voice hitching and gasping all the way. he laughs himself DIZZY it's cute. he's like kayn he needs a break after. and usually even after whoever is done bullying him, he spends his time giggling quietly his skin still feels electric. he sure is brave for someone who takes so much time to recover.

yone ❤

he's a fun one, the stoic characters always are. most likely to screw his mouth shut and try to deal with pesky fingers at his ribs until he can't any longer. prone to overworking so breaking his concentration is absolutely a necessary activity. and also breaking his concentration playing video games is also crucial, because according to sett he plays too well so he must suffer and be prodded at during playtime too. -i mean what sett would never stoop so low he says.

anyways- yone's usually the mediator but he can get caught up in the mess when someone points out that he's been getting off the hook when it comes to roughhousing. he typically prefers 1 on 1, so he won't lose kayn says. and maybe that's true no one knows. he's really REALLY good at pretending he isn't at all sensitive and keeps it together for, i dunno, 5 seconds. it doesn't seem like a lot BUT it deters most. not these motherfuckers they're in it to win it.

yone will hold back then the giggles bubble up in his throat and you can hear him hum a moment, then they spill out from his lips. he mumbles and whispers out giggles for a moment then it becomes very apparent he won't win this fight and he covers his mouth. that's when it's over. he really starts to laugh and realizes the sensations just won't stop and he's lost. he's most likely to swear actually lol he's like i can handle this. i can handle this..... Fuck.

once he's attempted to cover his mouth he has already lost. he has a very nice, boisterous laugh and his smile is also a 10/10. it's nice to not see his eyebrows furrowed so much. he's lucky he's good at catching people's offending wiggly fingers or else he'd fall apart way more often. so when they trail fingers up his back where he can't reach them or fend them off? it drives him nuts. index finger from the nape and down the spine has him arching and twisting away with a loud yelp.

and that leaves the stomach vulnerable and that's next. tickling at his stomach and he jumps back and grabs whoever's wrist and says to CUT THAT OUT. okay mr. grumpy, jeez. it works as a good attitude adjustment because if he's mad at one of em for fooling around, this can easily divert his attention. k'sante usually has the job of doing so but when he does, he doesn't get yone's support the next time he's on defense. in fact, yone might lead the charge.

sett 🧡

hahaaaa oh man last but not least. most ticklish easily what a mess. being 6 foot 10 is not gonna help him here. sure he can rough somebody up but this is way more difficult for him. the one to be on the floor first begging "pleeheheaasee-" and kicking his leg like a puppy.

he's OBVIOUSLY most sensitive in the midsection he's a tummy boy okay just trust me. and this man may lift, box, it doesn't matter because if you knead his midsection his strength goes right out the window. you can feel him paw at your prodding hands with the weakest grip you've ever seen. his worst enemy is when you do the claw hand on his belly he's in hysterics i'm telling you. wiggling on his back saying "i give! i give!" and flopping onto his side when he's released from their tickly clutches. now, make that two pairs of hands, or ten, he doesn't have a chaaaaance.

he's definitely a good tickle monster to the others but once they elect k'sante to hold him down (he can bench sett apparently so he's gotta be the bad guy on this one) he's like "NOO DON'T DO IT GUYS I'M SORRYEHHEEHE" he preemptivey starts laughing when he sees wiggling fingers creeping closer and closer to him, begging wildly for mercy before anything happens. he calls out to each one of them, praying that they'll help! he's not the one to take what he dishes out.

and also the ears! don't forget about those! they are oh so ticklish and they twitch when you touch them. roll the delicate ear between two of your fingers and it has him in a fit of giggles. any fighting techniques he might know mean nothing in the face of a laughing fit.

first to help someone relieve stress via giving attention and being a stress toy himself. though, he's prone to going after someone first even if he always loses. we appreciate his effort. he'll probably have someone fighting on his side simply because he's a lost cause. has a good relationship with physical affection! his favorite to give: ticklish kisses n raspberries, in combo with a hug of course. try not to get caught in his clutches. if those are his tactics.. maybe he does deserve to get got. he's not as embarrassed as his track record would suggest! takes his inevitable loss in stride.

haaa this long as fuck 👍 i don't think i've written anything at all since 2018 or smth really i tried to keep these diverse so lmk how i did! also like always i do not reread and check anything so. this is it

[intothegreat-wide-open]

Hey, saw the writers’ asks meme and thought id send a few~ Absolutely no pressure to answer any of these ofc! - 4; 8; 14; 16; 22; 23; 29; 30<3

hey hi thank you for the ask and sorry for the late reply!!

4. a story idea you haven't written it

vermont is for lovers. the scandal au. president morgan and his fixer/mistress mr. ackles. i have been rotating this in my mind for forever but it seems like a lot of work and most of y'all haven't even seen scandal so i guess this one will have to wait.

8. if you had to write a sequel for a fic, you'd write one for...

lmao all i am writing is sequels at the moment, tbh. currently working on part two for on my own terms, part three of the wild side, part three of can't buy me love, part two of wisteria lane and part idek for french verse

14. where do you get your inspiration?

hell if i know. some ideas just appear to me fully formed, others develop over time. sometimes it's triggered by something i've read or by a song or by a completely irrelevant mini-scene on a tv show... like I am not actively doing something to be inspired it just happens to me lol

16. favorite place to write

i don't really have one? i do a lot of writing on my phone actually bc that's the one thing that's always around if i get the sudden urge to write.

22. do you ever worry about public reaction to what you're writing? how do you get past that?

OOF. yeah, all the time. i know i mostly create niche things that even within that niche are pretty niche so i have struggled a lot with lack of feedback and/or people being unnecessarily mean about it not matching their preferred vibes and tbh I still don't know how to get past that. I have gotten better at reminding myself that i'm writing the stories *I* wanna tell and that it's not for them but for *me* but yeah I'd say a big part of my writer's block and time spent not creating is due to me not having found the right crowd yet.

23. pick three keywords that describe your writing

feelsy. soft. but sometimes also creepy-dark.

29. how easy is it for you to come up with titles.

very easy or very hard, there is no in-between. like, the scandal au already has a title although I haven't written a word, other wips, I'm 6k into and I don't have a clue or I'm ready to post and being taunted by the blinking cursor in the AO3 title field.

30. share a fic you are especially proud of.

so here's the thing. the fic I am actually proudest of is still a wip and it's the only one I haven't shared with anybody yet past the summary.

so I'm just gonna go with published stuff

*insert obligatory my name engraved on your heart here* (which is probs the answer everyone expects)

i really like how there are worse things i could do turned though, it took me a long time to finish that one and i really think it turned out great.

[mrstsung]

Me looking down on nrs and writing a young shang way better than them in canon.

"PATHETIC"

Yeah I'm petty,salty,and a bitch. Deal with it.

My shang doesn't have fugly needle gloves.

My shang is from earthrealm,once a champion of mortal kombat,perviously chosen by the god raiden but betrayed his realm due to miscomunication and hurt. Coerced into serving the emperor shao kahn in his court. Suffering from a tyrant. FOR CENTURIES!

A young courtly shang tsung would be less tactful,more arrogant(not by much as not much changes over time but his approaches),more bold and cocky. And a bit inexperienced in his magics and just a fresh new master of soul magic and the dark arts. So yeah his magic man prime days.

Again not much would change from courtly days to tournament master shang tsung we see in the 95 movie or mk9 and mk11. Cept he's a bit wiser and has more knowledge. And has gained more power and influence over time.

So that being said. A young courtly shang like in mk12/mk1. Would be just a bit more feral.

Maybe even tho he dresses nice,fancy,has nice things. But they are hand outs from shao kahn due to his "winning streaks" or "good servitude" oof. Like he's going around in outworld,in the markets of edenia. Very much a foreign country/realm. And having all this nice shit but he's still a fucking hobo. And only after earning the shokans favor. Does shao kahn give him a place to dwell. Aka his island fortress. Or even a place in shao kahns fortress. Either way he gets some places to properly work. No he isn't a fucking snake oil salesmen. Yes he is an alchemist. But he works for the court. Not for the people. Also it's against his will. As he's basically shao kahns mage bitch boy. Which he despises immensely. And he hates shao Kahn more so then the gods,and he reeeeealy hates the gods. (Titans dont exist to me never have,and is absolutely redundant af to have them. When we already have elder gods. so dont come at me with that shit.)

Like bruh. I could do him so much better. Without making him reduced to plot convenient villain.

Wtf. How is this hard for people to do?! Im not getting it.

You dont have to go 100% like the lore but ffs people. Make him actually feel like a person.

I dunno y'all.

Young shang can get it but only the one in my head. Hc courtly young shang tsung only y'all.

Sass master tsung will be better again. Trust me on that. I will write him better so help me elder gods!

[threebooksoneplot]

Hey, do you want an even wilder fun fact about the original structure/ending of new moon? Apparently the Volturi weren't originally in it at all!!!!

No word about what happened instead, but smeyer said in her 2009 Oprah interview that in the very first draft it was "all in bella's head," but when she talked to her mom about it, she recommended more action at the end, so she put the Volturi in. (Talk about no tension or ticking clock.)

sources: here's a youtube video of it, this question's at 3:11, and an article summarizing the interview

also, love the podcast so much, so glad you continued into a second season!! (i still haven't recovered from the homophobia section of dark noon, lol)

omgggg more SMEYER WRITING PROCESS LORE!! I (G) love getting glimpses into her twisted mind, especially when they come with receipts. I think I've abandoned all pretense of not being a "put her under a microscope" stephenie meyer scholar at this point. thank you thank youuu

and oof, just imagining us trying to find things to enjoy about NM without even a hint of volturi present...we'd be sitting in a chair having our own months-long Possibility.mp3 moment.

for anyone else curious, the article link above doesn't appear to be working, but I tracked down what I think is the same one!

also I'd forgotten smeyer's mom's name is "candy" thank you for reminding me of that crucial detail 💀

(didn't she put that name in The Host? I swear she did)

—G

listen you have no idea how hard it is to keep from nearly pissing my pants every time I read g's dark noon excerpts. this is literally me:

no but seriously thanks for dropping these incredible receipts on us. in the tiktok age where people constantly share things like "did you KNOW that twilight isnt even a ROMANCE 😱" and it's just a regurgitated headcanon with like 35493 likes, it's so fun to see you stroll up and be like "okay get a load of THiS actual twilight fun fact" with your works cited and everything. bravo friend, i'm delighted rn

but real talk its kind of wild to see how hard it is to track down fandom info from even 15 years ago, so to have y'all keeping tabs and spreading the tea like this isn't just delightful for us (and everyone else who gets to read this now) but you're doing PHENOMENAL fandom archiving my friend!!!! thank you!!!

—shannon

[theyhaveacavetroll]

3, 5 and 14 for the fic asks 😁

Thanks for the ask!

3. What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

Oof. Starting off with the hard hitting questions. Let's go with a more comprehensive answer this time, which is to say one answer per fandom that I've written more than one fic for.

Black Sails: Reclamation. It's got themes and I'm really proud of the way that it manages to let the characters not be perfect people.

James Bond: I think my favorite in this one has to be Classified Action. It's a feel-good with a nice little crossover from one James Bond series to another.

Fate the Winx Saga: It's Dance Night. I know it got less than a hundred hits, I know it's not popular, but I really actually love this one.

October Daye: Many a Good Hanging. I know I haven't finished it, I know it's sitting there languishing, but you guys. Y'all. you don't get it I know what the end of this one is and the mental image makes me gasp in pain still even though it ends happily for just about everyone. I love the potential of this one if I can ever get my brain to write more of it.

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?

You know, I considered this for hours and legit could not come up with anything because usually if I have a fic idea, I just go ahead and write the silly thing, even if in the end it turns out to go nowhere.

14. If you could see one of your fics adapted into a visual medium, such as comic or film, which fan fic would you pick?

Any of them. I've been told in the past that my fics feel like films, so probably any of them would do well that way. I'm not so sure about comics but if anyone wants to try it as fanart, please feel free!