#originally was going to be one of these ships

[end-otw-racism]

An Ongoing Movement

The End OTW Racism movement was originally founded with a singular goal and narrow scope: Hold the OTW accountable to its promise to review and revise their TOS to enable the Policy & Abuse team to better address racist harassment. The organization has since revised their policies to enable greater flexibility and power in addressing TOS violations which fulfills the original intent of the Fandom Against Racism team. 

That said, confronting and overcoming racism within fandom spaces is not a one-and-done deal that can be completely solved  by a TOS change. With the fulfillment of our original goal we have considered the ways we can continue to confront racism within fandom on a more ongoing basis. 

We have determined that the best use of our platform is to maintain a fairly narrow scope on fandom institutions engaging in racist behaviors or policies. Going forward we will endeavor to highlight these instances as they arise and provide people with actions they can take to counter or speak out against these policies. 

While this is a shift in how our team has operated thus far, we feel it is in line with the spirit in which we began. We will maintain our focus on institutions and institutional missteps, not fan or ship wars or individual incidents of interpersonal racism. We will continue to work against racist policies that harm our fellow fans to make fandom a better space for all of us.

-The Fandom Against Racism Team

[escha-ashengrotto]

His Small But Intimate Gestures

Azul Ashengrotto x GN!Reader

Summary: Azul and his subtle, physical affections for you.

Notes: Established relationship. Azul calls you "sweetheart".

A/N: I wrote this in second person POV but this was actually originally written with Eszul dynamic in mind. I was thinking of my ship when I wrote this a few months back for inspiration. I saw this in my drafts once more and decided to finally upload it :)

Azul brushing your hair out of your face.

You were busy writing on your notebook, comparing the details of your notes to the information on the book in front of you. You were so focused with studying that you didn't pay attention to the stray strands of hair falling to your face. Except for that silver-haired person sitting beside you. His gloved hand reached out to you, brushing the strands of hair away from your face.

"Your hair is getting in the way," Azul said gently as he tucked the stray hairs behind your ear before smiling at you. "There. Now I get to see your beautiful face again."

Azul blowing something out of your eye.

"Ah! Zul. Zul, help!!" You cried out to him. You were walking together with Azul when a strong wind passed by and something got caught in your eye.

"What happened? Why are you crying?!" He asked worriedly at the sudden change in your mood.

"There's something in my eye. It hurts!!"

Azul immediately stepped closer to you, placing his thumb and index finger around your eye. "I'm going to blow on it, okay? One. Two.."

His fingers opened your eye as he blew on it to get the irritant out. "Is it gone??"

You sniffled but felt that the foreign object was gone. "I think so? It doesn't hurt as much anymore. Thank you."

Blinking and gaining more awareness of your surroundings, you realized Azul's face was very close to yours. You felt yourself blushing from the close proximity while Azul took notice of your reaction and smiled teasingly at you.

"I think there's still something in your eye. Let me try again," he said as he inched even closer to you, taking delight in your cute, flustered expression.

Azul leaning his forehead against yours.

You were just relaxing in bed when you suddenly felt Azul's arms wrapped around you from behind.

"Y/N~" He called out to you.

"Zul?" You turned around to face him. "What's wrong?"

He leaned his face closer to yours until your foreheads were touching. You heard a soft sigh escape his lips as he closed his eyes in a relaxed state.

"Azul?"

"Nothing sweetheart. I just.. wanted to be close to you."

Azul stroking your cheek.

You were sharing a story with Azul, talking quite animatedly with the way your hands moved around and your face being so expressive. Azul was completely enamoured by you and couldn't help raising his hand to caress your face. His bare hand made contact with your skin, gliding his fingers gently across your cheek. The moment he did though, he noticed you stopped. A faint blush dusted your cheeks.

"Hm? Why'd you stop?" He asked curiously.

"You know why," you pouted.

"Does it bother you?"

"..no."

"Then keep going, my sweetheart. As you were saying?"

His fingers continued to stroke your cheek affectionately as you resumed your tale. He noticed the brighter shade of pink adorning your cheeks caused by his touch and Azul felt pleased with himself at how you looked so adorable like that all because of him.

Azul whispering into your ear.

"Can I tell you something?" Azul asked.

You darted your eyes to his and saw there was some mischief hidden in those ocean blue irises.

"Hmm.. you're planning something."

"Oh, it's nothing bad I can assure you. I simply wish to tell you something. Won't you indulge me in my request?"

There was something about the way he talked and the way his lips curved into a smile. A devious smile. Still you took the bait, curious on what he was going to say.

"Alright! So what is it?"

He leaned forward to have his mouth close to your ear before whispering, "I love you," and planting a kiss to the outer shell of your ear.

Your entire face felt hot as you blushed deeply. Your hands immediately went to your face and though your eyes were covered, you knew for sure that Azul had that handsome smirk on his face.

Masterlist here!

If you enjoyed this: likes, comments, and reblogs are much appreciated. Thank you for reading!

[kanansdume]

You started these tags with "oof" and I went back to re-read the second part of this post and... yeah, oof is about how I feel, too. Oh how hopeful I was for something good to come out of that show, BOTH shows actually since I was looking at Mandalorian season 3 as well it seems.

This post is already a little long, so I'll put the rest under a cut, but tl;dr is that I think you're giving the people writing in the Mandoverse SO MUCH more credit than they deserve and they'll likely never do anything good or creative with these characters again.

I don't think that making Sabine a Jedi had anything to do with Sabine at all. A lot of people have pointed out that Sabine is acting like a bratty teenager despite being literally 30 years old and that she feels a lot like an ANAKIN stand-in so that Ahsoka can figure out her feelings about Anakin through her relationship to Sabine. We know that the Rebels Search for Ezra storyline got combined with Ahsoka's show and that they weren't originally intended to be the same story. So it makes sense that Ahsoka likely HAD a padawan-figure originally who was probably a new character and that they just replaced that character with Sabine when things got combined, regardless of what that would mean for Sabine's character.

Sabine doesn't even grow or learn anything by the end of the show. I've see people try to argue that when she left Ezra behind in order to save Ahsoka that it showed she'd grown from when she abandoned everything to save Ezra, except... she's literally just making the same choice for a different person. Thrawn is LEAVING and the whole point of jumping onto his ship is to try to STOP HIM or something, and instead of doing that and helping Ezra, she runs back because one person's life is at stake and now Ezra is alone on that ship and Sabine never has to face the consequences of her own actions. Personally, that doesn't feel like any actual growth to me or like she's learned from the mistake she made by going to get Ezra. The narrative itself doesn't even seem to think that it WAS a mistake she needs to learn from, which leaves her character with literally nowhere to go.

If they were going to bring her back to Mandalore as a leader, they probaby would've been EMPHASIZING her connection to Mandalore rather than basically erasing it. It would've made more sense to leave her family ALIVE, even just ONE of them, to give her more of a connection to that cause. But no, aside from her wearing the armor, there's absolutely no indication she gives a flying shit about Mandalore or its people anymore.

So even if they DID start pushing Sabine in the direction of being a leader again, I wouldn't like it. THIS Sabine should never lead anybody ever. THIS Sabine is a selfish piece of shit who is willing to unleash Thrawn upon the galaxy just to get what she wants. REBELS era Sabine was awesome, and had the makings of a great ruler. REBELS era Sabine had learned mercy and patience and selflessness by the end of the show, while THIS fucking Sabine is impatient, impetuous, irresponsible, and selfish. Nobody should EVER allow the Ahsoka show version of Sabine anywhere NEAR a leadership position, and if they try to do it, it'll just be unbelievably bad writing. Perhaps hilariously bad writing, it could be amusing to see them attempt to make that claim, but it'd still be bad.

And, as you mentioned, they've already put Bo-Katan in as the leader of Mandalore for the THIRD TIME and, ostensibly, destroyed the Dark Saber. There doesn't seem to be any real planning around who gets put in as the leader of Mandalore, to be honest, it just kind-of flip flops and goes to whoever they deem most convenient in the moment. Sabine was being set up for it for a minute until they decided it would be problematic with what they wanted to do with her later in Rebels, so they threw it at Bo-Katan with no good reason. Then they took it away from Bo-Katan in The Mandalorian so that they could set Din up to take on leadership of Mandalore except that then they decided they didn't really like that so they abandoned all of that set-up and tossed it back at Bo-Katan because, hell, she's already there isn't she, might as well just give it back to her because THAT'S satisfying to see! So, sure, MAYBE they'll give it back to Sabine and take it away from Bo-Katan AGAIN later on, maybe Bo-Katan will die fighting Thrawn and so Sabine gets put back in as an option, but I don't have a single ounce of belief that it'll make any sense or feel in any way satisfying.

For all that the Mandoverse is focused on Mandalorians in the extreme, I don't feel like they're writing them all that well or care all that much about giving these characters good strong narratives. Sabine is just the latest in a string of terrible writing choices for their Mando characters.

Sabine Wren is not just the true wielder of the Darksaber, but the only one who should’ve been chosen to rule Mandalore and I will die on that hill.

The entire point of Sabine’s whole arc through the show is that she is learning JEDI VALUES, that she’s learning that the Mandalorian way has its place, but it also has so many flaws and that it’s what has led Mandalore to fight itself into dust. She’s impatient and distrustful and learns to listen with Hera about Fulcrum. She’s more inclined to kill someone out of anger until she learns the value of mercy and second chances from Kanan with Fenn Rau. She tries to pretend her problems don’t exist and won’t truly face them until she learns to wield the Darksaber with Kanan and then goes to make amends with her family. The entire episode with her familiy shows how Sabine brings together everything she’s learned: she waits and listens to her family’s grievances, understanding exactly how her actions impacted them, and then she shows mercy to Gar Saxon rather than killing him after her win like a true Mandalorian would.

Having Bo-Katan claim that the Mandalorian way is a way of MERCY, when we’re intentionally told and shown that Sabine’s willingness to show mercy explicitly goes against her Mandalorian upbringing and teachings and was something she learned from Hera, and from Kanan and his Jedi teachings, is really insulting. The Mandalorian way, as shown through Rebels, is NOT one of mercy, that’s the entire point. Sabine recognizes that, recognizes that that’s what’s caused them so much misery, caused them to turn on each other so much that their planet hasn’t ever had the chance to heal and regrow.

Bo-Katan even says IN THIS EPISODE that Sabine represents the best of what they have been in the past as well as the best of what they could someday become. That Sabine is a true leader.

To have Sabine turn around and say that the Darksaber came to her, after she EARNED IT, for the FIRST time since Tarre Viszla she truly EARNED the Darksaber, just so she could pass it on to Bo-Katan, someone who once gleefully helped set a village on fire after the people she was helping subjugate tried to resist?

I’m sorry, but no.

Sabine Wren is Tarre Viszla’s true successor. Not just as the wielder of the Darksaber, but as Mandalore’s uniter, as its truest ruler. Sabine Wren has the patience and mercy and wisdom of a Jedi with the passion and mettle of a Mandalorian warrior. She has learned to listen as well as she fights, and she has learned how to appreciate different points of view and how to bring them together to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

The Darksaber came to her because Sabine Wren always had the capacity to use it to fulfill Tarre Viszla’s vision, to unite Mandalore, to save it from itself, to make it more than it is. The Darksaber came to her specifically because Sabine has the greatest ability to lead Mandalore into a peaceful future.

[animentality]

I know x reader fans have always existed, and I don't generally mind them.

however I feel like the way they've overtaken fandom analysis/ shipping culture is an indication of the general decline of fandom communities.

they are normies, guys. I'm sorry.

it's not a slur, it's just a fact.

normies infiltrated fandom spaces because of covid.

they come in and just want to thirst after a particular character... and that's like. fine. of course it's fine it's always happened.

but they don't seem to actually care about the character being in character. nor does it really require any analysis of that character's motivations or story, or their relationship with others.

I know not everything HAS to relate to canon. like duh, we are here to make our own canon.

but come the fuck on. I go into a tag and it has a character tagged being some dommy daddy when that character is nothing like that in canon... and there's this line between making a character act a certain way bc that's your fetish, and completely ignoring who that character is entirely to the point where you could just replace their name with anyone else in any other show, and it wouldn't make a difference?

like that's... normie shit. it's people who do not think deeply or passionately about that media, it's just them having this surface level grasp of the physical attractiveness of the character.

and again. I'm not saying these people are stupid or whatever, just that the overabundance of this watered down ass content is an indicator of how much fandom has changed.

fans are not the socially awkward introverted queer voyeurs anymore, who enjoy fantasies and daydreaming about being someone else because of this disconnect with the self, or this fear of others that leads you to seek human connection in fiction.

they're the people who do just fine with other people ... and I'm not gatekeeping fandom from people who aren't socially awkward or anything.

but they come here, and they do shit like say you can't like this ship bc it's morally wrong .. you're not allowed to thirst after an 18 year old that makes you a pedophile... I'm 15 and I'm allowed to lust for Gojo but you a 25 year old woman, aren't allowed to write itafushi fanfiction.

go back to taxes and your job!!!

like that drives me fucking insane. these people want to insist they're not normies but they then go around insisting that being over 20 means you need to Work and Be a Normal Adult... bitch.

adults make fandoms. not you fucking children. you don't know how to build communities, you barely know how to make friends.

attacking people who like the same thing you do? is that what you think community building is?

oh this poor generation. anyway.

they come here and are disgusted by weird fetishes and obsessions. and by people sharing sexual headcanons or ideas about sexuality that make them uncomfortable because they've never ever been counter culture, they've never felt the need to go against the status quo.

they're cis straight girls/women mostly, whose mothers basically fuel the ya spicy romance booktok industry.

they're just younger and think it's trendier to be "in a fandom" than a fucking book club.

they're modern day bodice ripper fans... which again

would be so fucking fine, if they weren't doing the youth version of karening the fuck out.

and flooding the fandom with both hyper criticism of how you conduct your business AND an aggressive market for just imagining yourself with a character.

like fandom was originally just hyper passionate freaks.

they discussed movies and TV shows like life and death. they were fucking nuts but in the way where they needed to seek one another out, to share in this joyous sensation of being a freak obsessed with something beyond the point of reason.

now?

now it's like ... oh.

Sally from Bio thinks your love of Gaara is super creepy when you're 19. like what, are you a pedophile? why are you imagining him getting married to Naruto? are you a fucking pedophile who gets off to teens making out? they need to check your hard drive!!

like ok Sally.

ok.

I just think x reader is such a strong indicator of what kind of fan you are.

and if a fandom is mostly x reader... then it can't be that popular. it can't be a proper community.

how can it be?

it's as watered down and generic and bland as a marvel movie. it's stripped down of anything unique. it is pruned of controversy and humanity.

you are literally stripping yourself down into a non character.

you're not truly projecting yourself into a character, because the you that you read about is nothing. a placeholder. you are a passive observing robot who exists only in the form of a faceless and personality less entity.

and I don't get it.

what's the point then?

isn't fiction about realizing something about yourself or others

if your only manner of engaging is stripping yourself of personality... is it engagement at all?

or is it just more mindless consumption?

just watch law and order, man.

watch the good doctor or some shit on lifetime.

there's shows with passionate fanbases who theory craft and endlessly obsess with relationships and world building, and then there's shows with x reader only content and you know exactly why now.

[marronje]

If you're reading this and you ship togachako

Go read Carmilla

You can watch the movie of course, but don't waste your time on Carmilla (2019), it doesn't even start to cover the original plot

You can try the Terror in the Crypt (1964), it's kinda old, but the story is close to the og one

But if you have the time to read the 1872 novel you better go read it (it's only 16 short chapters)

[muchtodoonterror]

#i don’t think people understand just how fucking horrible his situation was #he was a marine. he was on that ship for the sole purpose of PROTECTING THE CREW #he watched his fellow sergeant and captain die in front of him #his friend and fellow marine was rendered comatose under his watch #his entire reason for being on that ship was to prevent things like this from happening #like. can you even imagine the guilt #not to mention the entire setting #they were stuck in uninhabitable conditions being hunted by an incomprehensible beast #if the beast didn’t kill them then the cold or the scurvy or the lead poisoning would #so of course he went with hickey#of course he did the one thing that gave him some amount of control in an uncontrollable situation #he clung onto the situation that gave him the ability to do his job again. to command and protect. #he wasn’t in control aboard terror. he had failed over and over on that ship. #hickey’s mutiny was an opportunity to be successful again #to be in control again#he would’ve died for hickey simply because he needed someone to die for #and by the end when he realized just how far gone hickey was #and how little control he really had in that situation #he went back to crozier #he knew he was going to die at that point #so he went out marching. doing the one thing he’d been trying to do the entire time. protect #he never had bad intentions #he was dying and afraid and grieving and trying to find some sense of control in the worst possible situation #i WISH we got to have the great death scene they planned for him that got cut due to the budget #i feel like people would empathize with him more if there was more emphasis put on his redemption-through-death ending #although i don’t entirely think he needed ‘redemption’#he was never evil or anything. just misguided and scared #anyways sorry lol i love him sm #solomon tozer #reblog

officially approved tags by @fivetrench you get it!!! (bolding mine)

I particularly want to pull out "he would’ve died for hickey simply because he needed someone to die for" because I think it gets to the heart of so much. He had let so many people die on his watch that the opportunity to die for someone else probably seemed like only way to redeem his past failures.

I think my original post oversimplified but I stand by that painting Tozer as dumb or unintelligent is classist and takes away his agency and culpability for his choices. Many of those choices were objectively bad and excusing them as just being drawn in to Hickey's charisma, not being smart enough to clock what was happening, is the least interesting way to look at it to me. He saw what was happening and chose not just to follow but to abet. The thing that makes him such a fascinating (and, I would argue, sympathetic) character is why he makes those decisions. He draws conclusions that are heavily impacted by his anger and his grief, but he does draw them for himself. He was obviously very proud of being a Royal Marine and wouldn't have thrown that lightly aside for someone who, at the beginning, he didn't even respect.

I do not understand and am slightly offended by the fanon I come across depicting Solomon Tozer as dumb or stupid. He just isn't.

There are different kinds of intelligence. Just because he hasn't studied like a midshipmen or officer, that only makes him uneducated at worst. He clearly has interpersonal and emotional intelligence which are not to be sniffed at when you have that many men trapped together in harrowing circumstances.

As he is tending to Heather, he very specifically is describing one of the ongoing scientific experiments. That indicates not just that he's paying attention but that he finds it interesting and noteworthy. He could very easily have been talking about anything, about shipboard gossip or relating old adventures, but he's relating what he‘s picked up of the ship's science.

I'm sure one of the reasons he's depicted thusly is his poor choice in joining up with Hickey and subsequent doubling down on that choice. That is a topic for another essay but my point here is: grief empirically affects one's ability to process and make decisions. Tozer is arguably one of the most grief stricken men on board. They've all suffered losses, but being widowed (if we're taking the real Tozer's biography into account), with witnessing the deaths of Bryant and Sir John, with Heather, with Fairholme's party, with Morfin - he is not just grieving these losses but often feeling a direct responsibility for them. One of these alone is enough to impact his ability to make rational decisions, and as they pile up? And that's not even factoring in the effects of scurvy.

In conclusion, leave my boy alone; he's not dumb, he's just grief-stricken and doing his best.

[ashlynniis-bracketeers]

E.G.OBLAST 5: E.G.OBUSTERS! {Darebuster - Blindbuster - Judgebuster - Nightbuster - Beakbuster - Screwbuster - Capobuster - Capotebuster}

So... This is a lot. A lot of E.G.OBLAST! >8}

I decided to go ahead and draw all of them out first before posting them all together. All of the Bossbusters, each with a LobCorp/Ruina E.G.O and Limbus E.G.O. In order: Life For a Daredevil Brawlbuster, Blind Obsession Brawlbuster, Justitia Tallbuster, Christmas Nightmare Tallbuster, Beak Smallbuster, Screwloose Wallop Smallbuster, Da Capo Maulbuster, and Capote Maulbuster.

If you want to read more about them, either go into the DA links or look under the cut. This post is already getting hugenormous with just the images alone rofl.

I hope you like it!

Brawlbuster

For his LobCorp/Ruina E.G.O, I gave him Life For a Daredevil (Crumbling Armor).

I originally wanted to give him Heaven (Burrowing Heaven) for his LobCorp/Ruina E.G.O because of his whole "all eyes on me" Pride thing, but somebody on Reddit suggested Life For a Daredevil and that makes more sense. I also learned that, yet again, I HATE DRAWING ARMOR >8{. The flames (and eye colors) are meant to resemble the flame colors of the Crumbling Armor's E.G.O gift, Courage (Inspired Bravery is blue, Reckless Foolishness 2 is orange, and Reckless Foolishness 3 is red).

So, E.G.O quotes (yes, the Awakening is a Red vs Blue reference >83) :

Awakening - Swish-swish-stab... Shing!

Corrosion - ...

For his Limbus E.G.O, I gave him Blind Obsession (Dream-Devouring Siltcurrent).

It was kind of a hard pick. My main two choices were either Blind Obsession or Fell Bullet due to both sharing big damage and Pride affinity (as Brawlbuster's Sin is listed as Pride), but he doesn't really fit for Der Fluchschütze's themes, so Blind Obsession it is. He's punching with fluorescent lamps, wearing his captain coat tied around his waist, and I turned his little weather vane hat into a pirate's tricorn, meant to resemble a classic pirate ship's bow with a figurehead of his own smiling face (because he Pride for a reason).

E.G.O quotes:

Awakening - Wassa' matter? Wanna go back to the kiddie pool?

Corrosion - GET. ON. MY. LEVEEEEELLLL!

Tallbuster

For his LobCorp/Ruina E.G.O, I chose Justitia (Judgement Bird).

They're both long, lanky motherfuckers lmao. And looking at the Judgement Bird's story where, after somebody brings up the possibility of its scales ever not tipping to one side or the other, it deliberately loads its scales to always tip to one side as to avoid that, brings to mind "Sloth". Not wanting to think/make hard choices feels rather "Slothful" to me (as Tallbuster's sin is listed as Sloth).

The outfit is technically me trying to "work backwards" from the design used in the Floor Realization of the Floor of Philosophy. The outfit/weapons used there, a messy mix of all of the Birds' E.G.Os, are all technically Twilight/Though the Dark Twilight, associated with Apocalypse Bird. So I had to decipher which parts of the Floor Realization outfit belonged to which bird lmao.

E.G.O quotes:

Awakening - Always the same... Heh, you already know how this'll go, right?

Corrosion - You're all sinners, aren't you?

For his Limbus E.G.O, I gave him Christmas Nightmare (Cozy Bed).

Not much to say about this particular pairing choice. Both are associated with the Sloth sin, and the Abno is the "monster under the bed" while Tallbuster can literally fall asleep if you idle at the start of the fight for long enough (which you can get an achievement for). Sleepy guy gets the bed... and turns into the bed (in this case, a sleeping bag) in the Corrosion's case.

Ishmael gets tentacles, Gregor gets "misc. bug parts", so I gave Tallbuster bomb fuses. Lit bomb fuses. Because his thing is throwing bombs at you, and he's bound to have a short fuse if you keep waking him up lmao.

E.G.O quotes:

Awakening - Quit with all that racket! Scarin' away a monster? What monster? You'll see a real monster if you won't. LET. ME. SLEEP!

Corrosion - Such inconsideration! How rude! Look at what you've done! Light, on-or-off, fire, cacophony, won't ever save you!

Smallbuster

I felt that Beak (Punishing Bird) would fit for her LobCorp/Ruina E.G.O.

Tiny creature capable of big fuckhuge violence. PB's LobCorp E.G.O weapon is also a gun. It was a given. Honestly also fits with Small's Envy Sin affinity, as it is often associated with retaliation (and in the case of the Middle, incredible overkill). Tiny creature, BIG damage.

Similarly to Justitia Tallbuster, I had to kind of "work backwards" from the Philosophy Floor Realization outfit. That outfit is primarily Justitia, so I kind of flew by the seat of my pants. And the big fucking meat-blood gun is entirely original lmao. Fires... think "Brimstone" from the Binding of Isaac, "blood laser barrage". The claws in the gun are based off of the Punishing Bird's hidden maw. I also gave the Corrosion's maw a mechanical tinge to fit with Small's technological lean.

E.G.O quotes:

Awakening - How about you pick on somebody your own size?

Corrosion - EVIL! PURE EVIL! PUNISHMENT FOR YOU! PUN-ISH-MENT!!!

Screwloose Wallop (Have You Become Strong) felt like a given for her Limbus E.G.O.

Both are associated with the Envy sin and compensating for perceived (physical) flaws with technology. Made her version a little mini walker mech with a spring-loaded (and key-wound) fist.

E.G.O quotes:

Awakening - Hmmm... Winding up... a big one! UUOOOOOAAAH!

Corrosion - Hah... Haaah... Don't wind me up too much, I'll pop your head clean off!

Maulbuster

I picked Da Capo (The Silent Orchestra) for her LobCorp/Ruina E.G.O.

Another given. They're both performers that attack you with their performances. The Silent Orchestra attacks with its sound and orchestration, while Maulbuster attacks you with her performers and swearing at you lmao. I wanted to keep her hat and horns, so I made them resemble a beamed pair of eighth notes making a visor.

E.G.O quotes (yes, the Awakening quote is a reference to... a specific Limbus Canto 7 song 83) :

Awakening - Follow my lead... One, two... One, two, three, four!

Corrosion - Come one, come all! WELCOME TO THE SYMPHONY OF THE END OF THE WORLD!

Finishing it off with her Limbus E.G.O, Capote (Brazen Bull).

It was a bit difficult to figure out what Limbus Abno to pair with her, trying to figure out something to work with her performance theming and Wrath sin, before I recalled the outfits used for the Capote E.G.O. The outfits are based off of matadores, the premiere performers of bullfighting, which is based around dealing with an enraged bull. The E.G.O is also Wrath-affinity. So, it fits.

I designed the Corrosion to align much more with the Brazen Bull itself compared to the Corrosions into it we've seen so far. To an extent, during her fight, she's playing the role of the bull to Anton's matador, deliberately trying to enrage her until she messes up and you can finally get a hit off on her. I also wanted to play around with the idea of "who is the audience really here for" as a bullfighting thing. Are they here for the matador or the bull itself?

E.G.O quotes:

Awakening - Look right here. Come on, right at me! Right here!

Corrosion - No! NO! I'M THE MAIN ATTRACTION, I'M THE REASON YOU'RE ALL HERE. NOT... NOT... AAAGGHHH!

[colorlessjay]

I don't know if you've mentioned this before, BUT what was the inspiration to your BTTFau?

I'M GLAD YOU FUCKING ASKED

OKAY SO

I used to be in the My Hero Academia Fandom and shipped Deku and Bakugo, so obviously I would be reading fics of them. ONE FIC, IN PARTICULAR, HAD A CHOKEHOLD ON ME

it was Bonnie & Klein by surveycorpsjean. And it's basically Deku and Bakugo being thrown into the future where they find out they're a married hero duo

And that's the main inspiration for the STORY (and interactions)

the actual original drawings were just me finding pictures on Pinterest and going "Man... I want long-haired Dean to wreck early-season Castiel"

But I couldn't stop that. It would be unfair. So I referenced that one Endverse screenshot we all know and love and slapped these two together into a half-hazard story (Not story) made from pure CRACK

and okay, maybe, JUST MAYBE, I thought we needed more future Dean interacting with past Cas. We already have a lot of future Cas going back in time, and I just thought it would be cool to throw my wrench into the ring

I know someone probably already had this idea before me (Pls tag me, I would love to read it) but the AU is fun

[gravedwe11er]

Here's the second part of my Mecha AU coswave! First part is here, third and final chapter coming soon. Inspired by @cosmique-oddity and the Mecha AU by @keferon

On Earth, a bitter war against the quintesson invaders rages on. Alone on a slap-dash little shoebox of a space station, Cosmos keeps watch from above. As it turns out, he's not the only one.

“You haven’t actually told me why you’re here yet,” Cosmos asks the next morning between quick bites of his breakfast, excitement thrumming in his veins. Chicken sandwich today- one of the nicer options available here. He generally tries to save them for special occasions, but he’d say he deserves to treat himself, considering the hectic events of the day prior.

After he’d shaken off the worst of his shock, he’d only had time to ask a few things- what the mech/satellite was (a sapient, living machine), whether he was an alien (yes) and what his affiliation to the quints was (their kinds were enemies, at war, just like humanity was) before his alert systems started screeching again, this time not stopping for hours.

As it turned out, a whole quintesson force had managed to hide itself on the Moon somehow, choosing that moment to reveal itself and heading straight for Earth. Which- yeah, that was kind of a disaster, seeing as it gave them basically no advance warning. Cosmos spent the next eight hours hurriedly relaying enemy positions and watching with bated breath as the combat began down on the surface. Eventually, their mecha had managed to kill most of the invaders, but the casualty counts had been higher than usual.

Needless to say, Cosmos hadn’t had much energy to keep questioning his new acquaintance after that. The last thing he did before falling asleep was look up the ‘satellite’ Soundwave was, ah, impersonating? He’d quickly found out that yes, Soundwave was indeed a perfect replica of a Galileo satellite, even logged in the systems as a functional member of the constellation, which- that was incredible, actually. Definitely explained why nobody noticed him.

Cosmos had wanted to ask how he’d managed that, and, for that matter, what happened to the real satellite which used to be there, but sleep had taken him before he could unstrap himself from his bed and ask.

And if his curiosity led him to postpone his morning exercise regime and go interrogate an alien robot instead? Well, it’s not like anyone’s here to tell on him.

[Primary purpose: information gathering. Secondary purpose: curiosity.] Appears in the corner of one screen, shaking Cosmos out of his thoughts.

“Gathering information? On what, humans? Earth?”

[Affirmative.]

Cosmos huffs, amused, crumpling up the wrapper from his breakfast and floating over to the garbage disposal with it. “Could you please elaborate on that?” he asks, tossing the packaging in before turning back. When he returns to his workstation, and answer is already waiting for him there.

[Motives: multiple. Soundwave: became aware of quintesson attacks led on another planet, tracked communications to approximate location. Cybertronian ship Lost Light: recovered organic-piloted mech, claiming Earth origin. Soundwave: noted-]

Wait. “Wait a moment,” Cosmos says hurriedly, thoughts racing. “Organic piloted mech from Earth? Do you know their name?” Because if it’s who he thinks it is, then-

[Human designation: Jazz]

-it would be answering some very big questions.

Anybody who keeps up with the news around the pilot program knows that name. People on Earth have been bashing their collective heads against the wall, trying to figure out how a whole mech could just disappear like that, only for Cosmos to find out that, what? The poor man just- ended up in deep space somehow? It’s wonderful to hear he’s alive, but- wow.

[Cosmos: knows Jazz?]

“Know of him, more like. I’ve only spoken to him once, when he was leaving low orbit on his test flight. Most people know of him, though,” Cosmos answers, running a hand through his red curls. “The whole thing’s been a big mystery, ended up in the news and all. Actually, I should probably inform mission control about this. I’m sure they’d want to-”

A new message flashes on the screen immediately, in bigger letters than usual. [Request: refrain from sharing information with other humans.]

Cosmos freezes, his hands halfway to the keyboard, a frisson of unease sneaking up his spine. “Why not?”

[Soundwave: wishes humans to remain unaware of Soundwave’s presence.]

Which, alright, he supposes that makes sense. Soundwave was quite obviously planning to remain undetected, seeing as he spent an entire month pretending to be an ordinary satellite. Still, though- “Again, why? I don’t want to pry, but what’s the main issue here? A lot of people have been worrying about Jazz, and I think they’d appreciate knowing he’s alive.”

There’s a significant pause, just enough for Cosmos to start getting anxious, before the next message appears. [Humans: fearful, unpredictable, dangerous. Soundwave: alone, vulnerable. Request: refrain from sharing information with other humans temporarily.]

Right. That’s- fair, actually. Cosmos supposes Soundwave is probably not wrong, in this regard. Humans already do some… morally dubious things to their own people, so it’s not too far-fetched to worry that they’d try to, what?  Dissect the alien mech, perhaps? Or something equally as cruel. And even though Soundwave is a very capable fighter, most likely strong enough to keep himself out of their hands, they’d definitely be able to make his stay here difficult. Maybe even enough to leave.

And- Cosmos is surprised to realize how much he doesn’t want that. He’s only just met the mech, and there’s so much more he’d like to ask. For god’s sake, he’s an actual, real alien! How amazing is that? Not to mention, Soundwave is inherently fascinating, not only as an otherworldly being but as a person too, and Cosmos feels like he’d regret it for the rest of his life if he drove him away.

However, he does have a duty to his superiors, and humanity itself. He’s obligated to report on any anomalies, which this most certainly falls under, but- would it really be so bad if, just this once, he didn’t? If he kept this one thing to himself, at least for a little bit longer?

“…You said temporarily?” Cosmos asks eventually, the slight change in the mech’s wording finally catching up to him and bringing him out of his warring thoughts.

The screen remains blank for almost half a minute, and the silence feels weighty. Important, somehow.

Cosmos waits. Then, a new row of text finally begins unfurling in front of his eyes.

[Additional information: Lost Light en-route to Earth, intending peaceful alliance with humans. Jazz: on board. Soundwave: transmitted location of Earth three earth weeks prior.]

[Strong request: refrain from sharing information with other humans until arrival.]

Cosmos exhales, trying to process it all. It’s obvious from his hesitation that Soundwave hasn’t really planned on telling him any of this, and he recognizes the gesture for what it is- a show of trust. And all he’s asking in return is that Cosmos do the same.

If Soundwave isn’t lying, then this ship of theirs is coming to Earth, bringing Jazz back home. Along with an unknown number of very combat-capable alien robots.  And sure, Soundwave hasn’t seemed hostile so far, towards him or humans as a whole, but- Cosmos has known him for a day. He could be wrong about the mech, and soon enough, an alien attack force would be coming along to finish off what the quints started.

Or, Soundwave might be telling the truth. Jazz really could be alive and well on the- Lost Light, was it? The incoming aliens might turn out to be much-needed allies, a crucial step to humanity finally gaining the upper hand over the quints.

Either way, he has no way to know. Which leads him back to the matter of trust.

Is this a gamble he’s willing to make?

“…Alright. I- I’ll keep it to myself, for now. But please tell me once they’re almost here, alright?”

There.

He’s not sure why, but he does trust Soundwave. Or, at least trusts him enough to believe he means no harm. Stupid? Maybe. But his decision is made, and his intuition is telling him to go with it.

The screen in front of his face lights up with another message. [Terms: accepted.]

Well, and that’s that.

-

Despite having just met an entirely new species of alien, the following two weeks are surprisingly uneventful for Cosmos.

Aside from periodically questioning Soundwave about anything and everything he could think of, his usual routine remans pretty much the same. Exercise, stare at his screens, force down a few tasteless meals, repeat. The mecha teams on earth mopped up the last of the quints’ latest attack within two days, leaving him with not much to do aside from stewing in his own thoughts.

His thoughts haven’t been very kind to him lately.

In the absence of work, his mind never fails to remind him of just how alone he is. His fingers prickle with a chill no sweaters or blankets can chase away and a persistent, aching itch makes itself at home beneath his skin. No amount of calls with his ma or texts from his colleagues can banish it entirely, only lessening the feeling for a few scant moments before it’s back with a vengeance.

Not even his conversations with Soundwave help as much as he hoped- the cybertronian is so fascinating, not to mention an absolute delight to talk to once you get past his odd speech pattern, but the topics they discuss usually aren’t anything close to intimate. Cosmos would very much like to change that, learn more about the mech as a person but, well. He’s never quite sure how to broach the subject.

So he stays silent, keeping their talks to professional curiosity, while the chill in his soul grows day by day.

Sighing for the fifth time in as many minutes, Cosmos finally gives up on the book he was trying (and failing) to read, putting the tablet aside. He’d picked some highly reviewed romance novel, hoping it would help him feel- if not better, then feel something, at least. But to no avail. It’s not that the story is bad, or the characters boring, but watching the main leads hold each other close and whisper sweet nothings into their lover’s ear only succeeds in making him more miserable.

Today marks his third complete month on this mission, with three more still to go. Three months since he’s felt the warmth of another living being, since he’s seen another person face to face. It’s making his mind stray to some unfortunate places.

More and more, he finds himself reminiscing on his mum’s hugs, his old college roommate who’d huddle next to him on their tiny couch while they studied, and even the one crappy ex he’d had years ago. Horrible; yes, he knows, but sue him, he’s lonely. The man might have turned out pretty awful in the end, but he had been the perfect size for cuddles. Cosmos catches himself imagining the weight of him in his arms, dad’s arm around his shoulder or giant metal hands, holding him ever so gently in their palms- wait.

No, wait, what?

Cosmos blinks, rapidly shaking his head with a grimace because seriously, what even? That is- well, preposterous, really. Soundwave is a perfectly nice…alien, sure, but still, come on! Although, now that he thinks about it, he does imagine the mech would be quite warm, despite the metal of his plating, and- gah.

He really must be going mad up here.

Rubbing his hands over his face, he tries to force the beginnings of a flush away from his cheeks, only to flinch when the chime of an incoming message startles him from his embarrassing thoughts. And speak of the devil, here Soundwave is, and Cosmos wishes he was on Earth just so the ground could swallow him whole.

[Query: Cosmos status report?]

“Are you- asking about my data, or how I’m doing?” he says into the headset, puzzled. This is the first time Soundwave has contacted him unprompted, and he’s pretty sure he’d have no reason to be asking after Cosmos’ information. As far as he’s aware from their conversations, the mech is something of a master spy amongst their people, so why-

[Clarification: requesting report on Cosmos’ wellbeing.]

“Me? Oh, uh, I’m alright?” he says, still somewhat confused but also…a little pleased, perhaps. “Why do you ask?”

[Cosmos: displaying unusual behavior, showing signs of unease. Query: status report]

“Showing signs of- wait, you can see me?”

[Affirmative. Statement: camera present in monitor room accessible to Soundwave.]

…Today really isn’t his day, huh.

On one hand, it makes sense. Soundwave seems to have his eyes and ears everywhere, so why not on him as well? And it’s not a bad feeling, to know he cared enough to ask after his wellbeing.

On the other, if death from sheer mortification is at all possible, then Cosmos is a goner.

He knows the camera’s there, of course. Usually, he doesn’t even mind it; the knowledge that either some random worker, or more likely just an automated monitoring system, is keeping an eye on him doesn’t bother him at all. But knowing that Soundwave is watching? That Soundwave saw him, what? Moping for days on end, getting misty-eyed about cat videos and sci-fi novels, and blushing over the thought of getting the giant robot version of a hug?

God, somebody come put him out of his misery.

The console pings again, somehow louder than before, and Cosmos pulls his hands off of his tomato-red face to look. Another request for a status report stares back at him.

Shaking his embarrassment off to the best of his ability, Cosmos takes some time to consider his answer. He’s not sure just how much of his inner turmoil he wants to share with the mech. Then again, isn’t this what he’s been waiting for? A chance to get closer? And here Soundwave is, reaching out of his own volition, serving him this opportunity up on a silver platter.

“I- When you’re away from your people like this, is there someone you miss? Someone who’s waiting for you back home?”

 A momentary pause. Then, [Query: reason for question?]

Cosmos sighs. “It’s just- right, so. Humans, we’re a very social species, yes? We form very close relationships, both platonic and romantic.”

[Soundwave: aware.]

“Alright, good. The thing is, we don’t do very well when we’re alone,” which, understatement of the century, especially in his case. “Back in the day, an astronaut being sent to space alone would have been unimaginable. It would be against all sorts of protocol. However, we don’t really have any resources to spare nowadays, so here I am. And I’ve been… struggling a bit.”

No response is forthcoming, and the silence only drives Cosmos to ramble even faster. “it’s just- and it’s not even just me being alone up here. I can still interact with other people, but who can I really talk to? I mean. I haven’t kept in contact with old friends much, god forbid I ever speak to my ex again and the other watchmen… they’re alright, I guess? But we haven’t really clicked,” he says miserably, running both hands through his hair.

“Which just leaves my parents, really. And they’re wonderful, don’t get me wrong, they’ve always been supportive of me, but-“ he chuckles a little, “they have a corn farm, in Iowa. They love me, and I love them, but they don’t really get it. So…yeah. I guess you could say I’m feeling a little lonely.”

Still no response. Just when Cosmos is starting to regret ever opening his stupid mouth, an odd, metallic voice crackles through his headset.

“Their designations: Rumble and Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak - Symbionts. Megatron - oldest friend.”

Cosmos stares, eyes wide. Soundwave talks? Because- well, he honestly thought that maybe their kind, the Cybertronians, just, didn’t.  Or couldn’t. Guess he was wrong there. But, also-

“Symbionts?” he asks. He knows what the word means, of course, at least in an Earth context, but has no idea what to imagine when it comes to giant shapeshifting mecha.

“True meaning; difficult to describe in English. Closest approximation: dependents. Family.”

Family. Alien robots have family.

“And are they- alright?”

“Affirmative. Megatron- powerful, capable. Symbionts: on assignment, alive, in relative safety. However, they are-“ here, his headphones crackle slightly. It makes Cosmos think of a sigh. “-missed.”

And Cosmos’ heart melts. Because even in that somewhat flat, mechanical voice, he can hear the longing. The same longing which haunts him on lonely nights, turning his skin to ice. Soundwave understands.

Soundwave is alone out here too. Just like Cosmos.

“That’s,” he stumbles on his words, swallowing, “it’s good they’re alright. But… it still aches being away from them, doesn’t it?” he chuckles awkwardly. “At least, it does for me.”

Another crackly sigh. “Cosmos: correct. Cybertronians; Highly social species. Isolation…unpleasant.”

Cosmos sighs too, because- what else is there to add? For a few moments, they sit there in silence, some sort of solidarity stretching between them. Two lone souls, connected only by a mutual understanding and a microns-thin radio frequency. Then, Soundwave speaks.

“Cosmos: good conversation partner.” He says, before his voice suddenly changes. “Your company is appreciated.”

And oh, that sounded different. With most of the stiffness now gone out of the sound entirely, Soundwave’s voice is a smooth, deep baritone, only a faint metallic echo still audible when he speaks. That means something, right? It leaves Cosmos a little choked up, even as a small smile grows on his face.

“I’m glad,” he says softly, looking up at where he knows the camera is. “And, for what it’s worth- I enjoy our talks as well. I- well, it helps me too. A lot. So, thanks.”

“No thanks necessary,” comes from his headphones, still in that new voice. Soundwave’s real voice, he thinks. And- though he still misses his family, misses touch and people like an amputated limb, his heart feels warm for the first time in days.

[takendruid]

Okok so, requesting some help from StephCass shippers, and maybe also TimSteph shippers/people who know decent amount of information about TimSteph’s relationship

Can you guys, StephCass shippers, explain to me the reasons why you ship them?

I don’t know nearly enough about Steph or Cass, or their relationship to each other, to make a proper judgement of the ship.

It always kind of felt weird to me, because it just felt like Batcest even though Steph isn’t actually Bruce’s kid. And then I actually started to think about why the ship makes me uncomfortable in a batcest way, before having the realisation that I simply don’t know enough about either girl or the relationship they have with each other (nor Steph’s relationship with Tim) to justify feeling that way.

I’m relatively new to the Batman fandom, so I’m still learning a lot. And this is something I feel like I need to be educated on before I can actually make a judgement of the ship.

Because I only found out today that the reason Tim and Steph broke up was apparently because Tim is bisexual?? I already knew he’s bi, I didn’t)t know that apparently that was the reason they broke up (but don’t quote me on that, and feel free to correct me).

I have started to read the comics, but there are so many comics that I just… need that shit explained to me. Tim and Steph’s relationship kind of also made me uncomfortable because Batcest, but to a bit of a lesser degree, before I had the same realisation about TimSteph that I did with StephCass; that I know basically fuck all about their relationship to each other because I’m a newbie, and very uneducated.

The way I have always perceived Steph and Cass has just been as sisters, and Steph and Tim as exes who are still close and have a very sibling-like relationship. Before realising, obviously, that I just know fuck all.

This post, and request for an explanation comes from a place of genuine confusion and curiosity, not any hate. I do just need the StephCass ship explaining to me because I genuinely don’t know very much about either girl, or their relationship to each other.

Sorry I keep repeating myself ✌️ (under the cut isn’t anything really relevant to what I’ve talked about here, it’s just an explanation of what I have seen comics-wise)

Idk if anyone is going to ask, but when it comes to the comics, I have started actively reading some currently releasing ones like Batman & Robin: Year One, and Absolute Batman. I have also bought Absolute Superman and Absolute Wonder Woman, but haven’t gotten around to reading them yet. I’m perfectly aware that the Absolute comics are basically AUs/is an AU (idk if they carry into one another), and that B&R:Y1 is of a retelling of Dick’s origins as Robin???

I have actively read the two issues of Red Hood Gotham War, and the surrounding issues in Batman and Catwoman that take place at the same time (Bruce… what the fuck… writers, what kind of mischaract-). I wouldn’t say I have “read” either RHATO, but I have skimmed through the one with Artemis and Bizarro; from when Jason is kind of… disowned-ish by Batman as a Bat, up to about when the group of kids were introduced (because I wasn’t reading it properly, I got super confused and just stopped looking). But I have read more closely the Prince of Gotham issues when looking at it a second time for a quick moment. I have also skimmed through the early issues of both RHATO comics. Jason is my favourite character, so I have kind of tended to look at official stuff more aimed around him. That is why I know pretty much fuck all about Steph and Cass.

I briefly know their backstories, I know that Steph became Robin for like 2 weeks after Tim was fired, I know that Tim and Steph were dating. But I haven’t actually read anything official with them in besides RHGW, which includes like a panel or so of Steph as Spoiler.

And yes, I have read most of WFA (I need to catch up) but I’m perfectly aware of the context it existsin; it’s not official, it’s slice of life, it’s a webtoon, and it does not properly represent the characters… even though (some of the) said characters have been so disgracefully mischaracterised by the official comics that WFA doesn’t deserve the amount of shit it gets for doing the same thing, or so I have heard.

I’m not claiming to know my shit, I think that’s pretty obvious. I trust the people on Tumblr to not treat me like shit because the community here is lovely. But I know there are going to be the odd people that might pull me up if I don’t clarify what comics I have actually read and seen. Or maybe not pull me up? More just be curious to actually know my level of knowledge from the official sources, instead of people on the internet talking about it.

[alittleannihilati0n]

Okay holdup

Who was the black rose mage in the thorns that Mel was able to see thru?

Where was that flying ship with the white sails at the end going and who was on it?

What was the significance of what Caitlyn was looking at in the diagrams and the ln the Jinx monkey?

Was the rune bracelet thing the rune to end the glorious evolution, or did it just serve to show Viktor that future him wanted past him to stop, like what exactly was the situation there? Ughhh it was very emotional but I don't likeeeee timetravel-ey stuff, my mind gets too caught on the chicken-egg paradoxes and shit

How was Ekko able to do what he did with the time singularity without the consequences like in the AU episode happening?

Also how did Ekko have that few-second rewind thing in season one? Was the origin of it explained? Did it have anything to do with the thing Heimerdinger and he made?

And like not a question but... I wanna know moreeeeeeee like what's Ekko doing now, what are Cait and Vi doing now, what is Mel doing now, what does Piltover/Zaun look like now, aughhhhhhhhhhhhh

[letteredlettered]

thank you so much for the tags, @wholahoop and @its-the-allure!!!!

how many works do you have on ao3? 132

what's your total ao3 word count? 2,386,471

your top 5 stories by kudos? Away Childish Things, The Boy Who Only Lived Twice, The Pure and Simple Truth, He Who Must Not Be Normal, Another Mask Behind You

do you respond to comments? I try very hard to respond to every single comment while posting a fic, or if it's a one-shot, every comment within the first three days. Beyond that, I really struggle.

what's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? The Eighth Tale. I end most things either open or happy, but this is a time travel story, and the point is that there are infinite endings. But the ending we do get is pretty sad.

what's the fic you've written with the happiest ending? The End Resting Only On Air. This is actually the ending of a series. There is neither rejoicing nor throwing bouquets in the air, but I think it might be the only time I've written a ship getting married and having a long established relationship. I'm really proud of this fic, because they are really, really, really happy, but there isn't an ounce of it that feels sappy to me. (It's a complete AU, so readable if you don't know the fandom, and it can also stand alone within the series.)

do you write crossovers? I wrote one 100-word drabble that was Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doctor Who

have you ever received hate on a fic? all the time

do you write smut? all the time

have you ever had a fic stolen? all the time

have you ever had a fic translated? all the time

have you ever co-written a fic before? never

what's your all-time favorite ship? Kirk/Spock

what's a wip that you want to finish but don't think you ever will? Right now I have two big ones. One is for CQL/MDZS and is LWJ/WWX arranged marriage secret identity. The other is for The Original Series of Star Trek and also the Alternate Original Series, and has Kirk/Spock undertones but is probably gen, in which AOS!Spock switches places with TOS!Spock and TOS!Kirk has to deal with him. I have 40K written of each.

what are your writing strengths? dialogue, a tight closed third person POV, and I don't know how else to say this, but intensity

what are your writing weaknesses? maintaining interest long enough to write an ending, repetition/concision, syntactic variation, description

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I think that if you're going to write a story about language, multilingualism, the experience of being multilingual or how being multilingual shapes one's life, it's a great idea to use those languages in the text. I doubt I'd write those stories, though I'm deeply interested in languages. Since I write such a tight POV, if the POV character doesn't understand the language they will not be able to clearly hear/differentiate every word, so I wouldn't write the othr language, and if the POV character does understand the language, I would write it as translated into the POV character's language so that we the reader can understand precisely what the POV character understands.

what's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to? I'm interested in Mo Ran/Chu Wanning, but I need to get a complete translation of canon first.

what's your favorite fic you've ever written? Probably still Responsible Science.

[carebooks]

was going to leave a comment but decided to make a post when it was getting long

as someone who in the past (1-2) years I think, has slowly made the move from Wattpad toward AO3, I think I have perspective to lend. (and i still have and use Wattpad, just not as often.) One particular difference between both sites is that Wattpad tends to favor fanfiction that is dominantly led by oc characters serving as love interests, most searches lead to those, or original stories (which are uh— something) (like 1 out of 50 will actually be good but then others are picked up that did not need to be picked up… and should’ve been heavily edited). Meanwhile, AO3 has a much more rich diversity of stories to be told and it’s faster to find those with the filtered search. Fanfictions on AO3 are often found with different ship pairings, AU’s, crossovers with other shows, and it’s also just as accepted to have a short story or a 4 chapter fic that was only meant to to portray specific scenes or moments. There’s a lot less holding you back there while in Wattpad it’s difficult to really find something worthwhile ever since all the changes.

Why is almost no one posting on Wattpad anymore or even here, like I want something to read after a hard day but most people have shifted to AO3 that has a problem almost every week.

[isfjmel-phleg]

January 2025 Books

Work by Louisa May Alcott

The first part of the book, which explores the protagonist's efforts to get by in various lines of work, caught my interest. But I was less invested in the second half, which was mostly a lot of pining and hero-worship. Alcott has interesting things to say, but the ending with its emphasis on the sisterhood/partnership of many different women doesn't feel as earned as it could be after chapters and chapters of swooning over Mr. Totally Not Thoreau.

Wormwood Abbey and Drake Hall by Christina Baehr

The premise of these is striking and I feel there's a middle-grade adventure novel in here about the protagonist's brother and younger cousins that is just dying to emerge.

A Clearer Sky by Krystal Bailey

A sequel to The Secret Garden ostensibly about the effects of WWI on the now grown-up Mary, Dickon, and Colin, but mostly concerned with a love triangle between them. It seems to be more influenced by the 1993 film than the original book; multiple features specific to the film come up, and the narrative contradicts the book multiple times and ignores or misinterprets important characters and relationships.

(For instance: Colin's obnoxiousness is exaggerated and made defining in order to emphasize Dickon's preferability as a romantic prospect, and the boys are not friends but openly hostile romantic rivals until Colin is safely interested in a woman who isn't Mary. Mrs. Sowerby is just an obstacle to Mary and Dickon's romance rather than a beloved mother figure, and she dies off-screen in passing, barely mourned. Martha and Dickon are the only Sowerby siblings. Dr. Craven is never mentioned and seems not to exist, since the long-tenured local doctor whom Mary goes to work for is an OC. Mrs. Medlock retires to spend time with her grandchildren, although it's implicit in the book that she is not a mother. Mary brushes off her parents' neglect by acknowledging to herself that it must be hard to have to deal with a child, especially one as "introspective" [???] as she was. Etc.)

There was potential in subplots like Mary's working for the local clinic and eventually going to London to work as a postal carrier, but ultimately the book's point is all the romance. I did not care for how this was portrayed--yes, I am very picky about this sort of thing, but I felt that the relationships between Mary / Dickon and Colin / Female OC were shallow, increasingly so as the book ended.

This was made more difficult because, despite the presence of an editor, this text badly needed editing for wordiness, excessive and poorly-used dialogue tags, injudicious overuse of adverbs, "off" word choices, preoccupation with facial tics, etc. Lack of historical research also stood out; although the author states in her note that she did research certain aspects of WWI but did not want this story to be a work of academic research, attention to basic details of daily life and social customs in England at this time would have better grounded the narrative in the setting it was attempting to portray without getting too "academic" about it.

For a novel that presented itself as a homage to the original story, it showed a lot less interest in interacting with and drawing from the story than it did in how soon the ship will kiss. And as someone who loves The Secret Garden for its friendships and themes and who has never particularly cared whom any of these kids got together with, I was disappointed.

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

A few interesting characters, but so much digression into social issues and satire and so. much. pining. for an incredibly mediocre man. The friendship between Caroline and Shirley felt more real, probably because Shirley apparently was inspired by Emily Bronte, who passed away before this book was completed.

Cousin Phillis and Other Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell

These are uneven for me. Some of them I liked well enough, others dragged, and others puzzled me more than anything. Whatever the case, though, Gaskell is always fantastic at characterization.

The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Once again, I don't get why any of these people are romantically interested in the people they're interested in (which is a major part of everyone's motivations here). I see what Hawthorne is doing thematically, I think, and I respect it, but this isn't one I'll pick up again in a hurry. I'm still interested in trying some of his other works, though.

Here in the Real World by Sara Pennypacker (reread)

There's a whole middle-grade subgenre about young people finding some kind of healing or personal growth through engaging with a private place in nature, and maybe someday I'll hunt more down. This story was still good on the second read, although I wanted very badly to step in and help the kids with the religious misconceptions that follow them throughout the narrative. (They're planting a garden in the ruins of a demolished church. One of the kids knows practically nothing about Christianity; the other knows just enough to completely misunderstand it, and they never get to a point of deeper understanding but are left to arrive at their own disjointed conclusions.)

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (reread)

Still enjoying the reread of this series.

The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis

I expected to like this one, but not as much as I actually did! It reads like a screwball comedy crossed with scifi, westerns, and road trip comedies. It's so much fun. I never expected to find an alien that resembles a tumbleweed to be so ultimately endearing, the adventure and plot twists kept things interesting, and I actually liked this romance because it wasn't all-consuming, the characters developed an actual relationship over the course of the story, and it made sense for the genre(s). Definitely the best story I could have started the year off with.

Comics

Space Boy by Stephen McCranie (reread)

I need to reread this sometimes. This month was one of those times.

JSA Omnibus Vol. 1-2

Like a lot of team books, JSA 1999 tends to be more about action than character development, and a lot of the storylines didn't do much for me. But some of them did, like the time travel arc in which various JSA legacies have to go back in time to convince their predecessors not to give up on heroics. And Albert's rather heart-breaking descent into darkness and desire for redemption. And Rick's storyline about the one last hour he gets to spend with his dad and how that resolves. I need to finish the last twenty or so issues for completeness.

DC Finest: Events: Zero Hour Part One

Nice to have some context for this event that's so pivotal to the era of comics that I tend to read from! Not all of these issues made sense to me, since I'm not familiar with all these characters, but the ones that I have enough background for were interesting. I will definitely be getting Part Two when it's released (in part because it collects some issues featuring some of my particular people).

[elrielffs]

Putting this here for posterity and I've said it before.

The next book, Elriel, will wrap up the Koschei plot.

Novella will either be Mor or Lucien or a nice epilogue with all the characters as a wrap up for the present story.

The last book will either be a prequel in the past (with Miriam, Drakon, Jurian or Theia, Silene etc) or in the far future (Nyx and future kids?) Which she has expressed interest in.

Math with me.

After the original trilogy ended SJM said she had 3 books and a novella.

She said this was Nesta and Cassian

2. She knew which one this one was. At this point and to this day, Elain is the only character confirmed a book.

3. She had 5 different couples she was tossing around for this one.

Novella = Up in air. Likely candidates for a character centric novella to either be Mor or Lucien or a nice epilogue with all the characters as a wrap up for the present story.

If she was going to do Nessian, Gwynriel, Elucien she would have said she knew what all 3 books were about. She didn't. The fact that she's tossing around FIVE couples means she has ships she thinks about but none she's actually concretely writing for.

Idk, to me this just speaks that it's not Elucien or Gwynriel. We know Elain is getting a book and we know that Azriel is going to have a major role to play in a book as she's been hyping him up in interviews and in the book narrative.

It just doesn't make sense to have an Elain book and then have a book with different options on the table when Azriel is obviously a solid...ergo it's an Elriel book.

And I think the presence of so many options available for her in the last book mean it's characters we likely haven't been introduced to yet as I think she would of had a more solid idea if she were working with the characters she already has.

[sunflowerandstrawberryspice]

What up y'all! I return bearing what was originally gonna be survival!shipping fluff (I sketch the face first and drew young Garmadon instead of his full Oni version) but morphed into this because my ass was listening to Ethel Cain and Flower Face while drawing. Honestly I took it and wound up playing rendering/color and quite frankly I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out!

Translations: Vertical word- Destruction, bottom text- "You are no man, men don't have claws they can't cut."

Garmadon is my favorite character to use for these more painterly metaphorical art studies because:

A) He's my babygirl and favorite character, this is very well established lol

B) He's a fundamentally tragic character. He's doomed by the narrative in every sense of the word, he was a child when he was bit and after that he was left to deal with the fact that there was this evil snake in his head and his father as well as his brother (seemingly the only people he interacted with as a child) were now somewhat afraid of him. By his young adulthood his relationship with his family begins to strain due to their belief he's "turning evil" especially when going on the quest for tea leaves in Spinjitzu Brothers which shows he actually feels rather upset/angry that his brother and father believe he's turning evil simply because he experiences negative emotions (you know like a normal person) but then after he see's himself in the mirror in book three he goes on a downward spiral believing he's doomed to turn evil and be alone. We don't really know what happens after book four since the fifth and final book never came out but it's easy to assume that the tea didn't work and Garmadon is left all the worse for it coming out of the trip with his mental health in the gutter. We don't know to much about what happens in-between then and when he goes to Chen's Island but we do know that he doesn't seem to have gotten better since in Shatterspin he's still pretty self sacrificing and other people have begun to notice his less than stellar mental state.

Then we know what happens after the war, his mind is consumed and he is left to be less than himself. Even then when he comes back from the underworld we see that he still cares about his son, he kills the Great Devourer, he still wants to be a person. At the end of season two he gets what he wants, he cured, and for the time that he is fully himself for the first time in years he begins to apologize and try to make up for all that he did (even if it lowkey wasn't 100% his fault seeing he was being controlled by an evil snake), but even that didn't last. He dies, or moreover sacrifices himself to save Ninjago from Chen's Anacondrai army, but he dies a good person, he gets a memorial and family that mourns the truest version of himself. And then he was brought back again, ripped from the afterlife but only as half of himself, only the evil side, the side he spent thousands of years repressing until he couldn't anymore and regretted the second he was himself again. Despite that despite the fact it is supposedly only his evil side left he is still trying to be good, with the Garmadon comics showing his desire for redemption and his care for his son even in what he had thought to be his dying moments.

I think this is what makes one of the beginning lines from the Garmadon comics all the more tragic "Who knows what life he may have lived had he not been corrupted by the Great Devourer and cast into the underworld." He might have gotten to live a different life, he may have gotten to be happy and not fear what he might become, he might not have had to die multiple times over, but we'll never know because that's not what happened instead his fate was twisted by something completely and utterly out of his control.

So yeah he's a little fucked up and that's why he's my favorite! Hope y'all enjoyed my long winded rant, I have so many opinions on this man and don't even get me started on how much I hate crystalized for how it fucked up his development from the comics, but uhhh I think that's it!

If you want to you can check out my fic What Doesn't Kill You it's mostly me putting him in a jar and putting him under a microscope lol, other than that I hope yall have a great day/night and I'll see you when I appear from the mist again! PEACE OUT!