#others need not participate! and certainly not on my post!

[cripplecharacters]

Does Your Scarred Character Have to Hate Themself?

[large text: Does Your Scarred Character Have to Hate Themself?]

(TLDR: No.)

A frequent topic that shows up around facial differences is the self-hatred, self-disgust, self-insert-negative-emotion that we must surely experience. I want to ask* writers without FDs - why? Why do you feel about us in such a way that that's the most common way of depicting us?

*- rhetorical question. I promise I know the answer, but I'm not sure if writers do.

It's frankly worrying to me. Is it really that common to assume that disabled people have this internal, never-ending hatred for themselves? The overwhelming majority of us don't. We hate inaccessibility, when people stare, or some symptoms when they get in the way, or how expensive being disabled is, but I find the concept of us being so completely disturbed by our own disabilities extremely strange. It’s “tragedy porn” intersecting “most basic ableism”.

“But trauma!”

[large text: “But trauma!”]

Trauma of what! People with facial differences don't have some sort of default trauma that we come with like it’s a factory setting. We are a group of people with tens of thousands of stories and experiences.

“Trauma of experiencing ableism/disfiguremisia” - that's better, at least this means something. If you're writing a story about this, please get a sensitivity reader with a facial difference. You can assume how we feel all you want, but in my experience these assumptions are often bizarre and unrealistic. Or just end up writing the same “disability so sad” sob story that everyone has seen a billion times. If you want to write about disfiguremisia, you need to understand the nuance and have more than just the basic level knowledge (which 99% of people don’t have either). If you can’t do that, don’t write about it. Simple as that.

“Trauma of the accident” - thankfully, the accident is an event and a facial difference is a disability. If you want to connect these two like they're one and the same, you're almost surely going to demonize disability. People with traumatic spinal cord injuries, acquired amputees, people with TBI, people with acquired facial differences - we participate in our communities, we have hobbies, we date, we play with our dogs. Disability isn't a death sentence. Media who make it feel like it is certainly don't help people who do suddenly become disabled, don't you think?

Here's a post by @blindbeta about blind characters becoming blind through trauma that’s better made than anything I could hope to write here. I heavily recommend giving it a read.

And, I can't stress this enough - most of us didn't have “the accident”, most of us are born like this. "Traumatic scars" isn't the only facial difference that exists, far from it, it's only one of thousands. It's 99% of our representation and "representation". If you want to make a character with FD - please consider that we aren't a monolith. Just like not all physical disabilities are "wheelchair user with paralysis and somehow no other symptoms", not all facial differences are "traumatic scar with somehow no nerve damage".

The overrepresentation of it is incredibly telling, and sometimes - or very frequently - feels like the writer doesn’t actually even want to deal with us. They want to use our disability as a way to cheap drama, moral metaphors, tragic backstories. Not to represent us as living people who are much more similar to you than you apparently think.

Now, I do have enough awareness to know that that's a big part of the appeal. “Horrific Thing #2456 happens” and boom, instant drama. Of course, it's a reasonable response that they would hide their disability for years, avoid talking about it in any way, and magically change their personality to be mean and reclusive, or at least be constantly soooo sad about how much it sucks to be disabled, right?

Do I really need to say that having your character becoming disabled be the worst thing ever is ableism 101? We have been talking about this for so long at this point. Writing about the process of adapting to a specific disability is better left to people who have actual experience in it.

To give an example that will hopefully resonate more with Tumblr users, I will use the fact that I'm also gay. It's not perfect by any means but probably much more familiar territory.

Imagine, let's say, a character. He's gay. The story he's in is supposedly progressive, certainly not trying to be homophobic. The character has experienced an incident, maybe an act of aggression or a hate crime, that happened because he’s gay, which was traumatic. Happens IRL, sure. So of course the character starts hating being gay. He talks about how gross and disgusting it is, he never lets anyone know that he could be “one of them”, certainly not take a stance against homophobia. You can't mention him without mentioning the accident, they're seemingly fused together. No gay love, joy, even basic happiness, he would actually choose to be straight in a heartbeat if given the option to and complains that he can't. This is shown as a neutral, obvious thing that a gay man would do, no one comments on it. He stays like this the whole time, unless there’s a plot twist in the last 10 pages where the world is now magically perfect ("we fixed discrimination, yay!"). This is the only LGBT character in the story.

Keep in mind that there are people similar to this in real life, living with extreme internalized homophobia.

Reading comprehension quiz time: Is this, in your opinion, realistic and thoughtful representation? How does it feel when written by a cishet writer, versus a gay writer who is recalling his experiences? Do you think that it's reasonable for the majority of media representation to be like this, or very close to it? How would it affect younger gay people who might already be uncomfortable with being queer? Are gay men the target audience, or are they not even considered as a group of people who read books? Is this helping or damaging the general public's idea of how it is to be gay? Why or why not?

The Masterpiece

[large text: The Masterpiece]

From 13 to 19 of May, we are celebrating Face Equality week (what a coincidence!). It’s important to me in general - and I wish it was more important to abled people, but I digress - especially its theme for this year.

“My Face is a Masterpiece”

Great statement, it represents the community well, I do enjoy how bold it is. Very cool stuff, I love the work our advocates are doing.

But why do I bring this up?

Well, to very non-subtly show that we aren’t a self-hating group of people. We are a community, a community saying “our faces are beautiful, look!”, we are saying “treat us equally, and do it now!”. Our activism isn’t about self-disgust. It’s about fighting your-disgust. 

Why can’t writers keep up? Why are you still stuck decades behind?

Is this the only reason I bring it up?

The Call to Celebration

[large text: The Call to Celebration]

FEI, the org behind organizing it, asks a very simple question (emphasis mine):

“Why do we so often see stories about facial difference as a ‘tragedy’, when they should be about triumph?” “Calling all artists, allies, creatives, galleries.  You can rewrite the story to bring about #FaceEquality and celebrate the unique artistry found in every face. Your participation this #FaceEqualityWeek will help to tell the real story, that there is a masterpiece in every face.”

Here. We are calling for you to stop. Directly from the biggest international advocacy alliance group that's out there. If you create, this is for you.

The last argument to not have your character with a facial difference hate themselves? Because we don’t want this. We are tired and frustrated. For me personally, I’m also offended by this kind of assumption. We aren’t tragedies or cheap entertainment for abled people to pity or be horrified by. We are people, and if you can’t internalize that, you have no reason to write about us.

For once, celebrate us. Happy Face Equality Week!

mod Sasza

[softlypaintedseafoam]

kind of blue

synopsis. blue is supposed to evoke feelings of calm and serenity when you look at it.

pairing. sabo x f!reader

word count. 1.2k | masterlist

content warning. post-marineford (but still pre-timeskip), established relationship, revolutionary!reader, fluff with light angst

reblogs & interactions appreciated.

happy birthday, sabo! this is a completely unplanned piece, especially when i'm working on a different wip... but it's sabo's special day in my country and i wanted to write something for it. title comes from the miles davis album of the same name; it suits the flame emperor methinks. also the new bday art is 10/10

Blue is supposed to evoke feelings of calm and serenity when you look at it. Right now, the blue makes you sad.

It's quiet in the Revolutionary base and Sabo has been unable to participate in the day's activities. On yours and Koala's insistence, actually. A three day coma is more than enough reason to bench Sabo for the rest of the day now that he is awake. Rest is all he needs and you've sat at his bedside dutifully to make sure he complies with your commands.

It still pulls at your heartstrings to see him so stagnant, like an ocean with no tide.

"You don't have to keep babysitting me," Sabo insists, smiling lightly as he notices your mood. "I'll stay put."

"No," you shake your head, readjusting your hands resting on your lap. "If I don't do this much, you'll just get up and train. You've always been stubborn like that, that's why we're always scolding you." He's been the recipient of more than enough scoldings, you're sure nearly every revolutionary has scolded Sabo about something at least once. No, no, at least thrice.

Even at the risk of scoldings, Sabo only ever listens to Sabo.

Mostly.

He tends to listen to you ー and you suppose he'll listen to Dragon too. You feel a surge of affection for Sabo and his soft blond curls and his deep blue eyes. You smile something saccharine, "besides, Iva'll be bringing us dinner soon. So I'm staying right here."

"There's no winning with you," Sabo relents with a light sigh.

You grin widely, eyes sparkling and crinkling at the corners, "no there isn't."

The sound pulls light chuckles from your partner much to your relief.

He hasn't not been smiling since he's awoken. No, he certainly has been smiling. The smiles never reach his eyes, however. You are more than aware that Sabo is trying his best for you, for everyone who cares for him, to be his strong self. Your hands clench into tight fists. He's trying so hard and yet…

You picture Monkey D. Luffy, straw hat pressed against his chest and a 3D2Y written down his arm.

You picture Portgas D. Ace's corpse plastered across the World Economic Journal for all to see, like a deer being mounted on a wall. (Try as you might to push it away, you still hear Sabo's wailing; his long forgotten memories swarming his brain and the realization one of his brothers has been lost forever.)

What do you do when you remember you have brothers when you are forced to see the body of one in the newspaper? What do you do if the other is still alive but you have no idea where he could be in this large world?

You aren't sure where to begin even trying to comfort him when you know when no one else is looking, Sabo is. Searching for any broadcasts of the Summit War of Marineford, searching for any glimpse he has of his brothers. Watching the events that transpired when it all went wrong.

(You had to pretend you didn't hear choked sobs and hiccups from the other side of the door when you came to bring him breakfast.)

You cup Sabo's hand in both of yours, "what are your brothers like?" You finally bring yourself to ask. It had been hard to when the wound on Sabo's mind and heart were still fresh. Remember all the good about them. Remember them when they were both alive and you were all together. You'll be here to wipe the tears if they come again.

The corner of his lips quirk into a smiles. "Luffy is a huge crybaby," the blond pauses for a moment. "Well, he was. And he'd follow us everywhere even if he wasn't the best fighting, running… there was a lot of things he sucked at. But he always kept following us," Sabo's blue eyes are warm and miles away from Baltigo, lost in his memories. "And Ace…" a look of pain flashes over him, brows knit and eyes darkening. You squeeze a tanned hand and Sabo squeezes back, gently, thumb caressing the back of your hand. He smiles appreciatively. "Ace was a hot-head, it makes sense he ate the Flame Flame Fruit."

"Hack always told Iva that he was sure you were a naughty child," you tease. It was a constant snip he had; swearing the boy made his hair turn white. Never mind the fact his blue hair had already been graying by the time Sabo was placed with the other children raised by the Revolutionaries. "That boy is going to make me die from worry and frustration before he turns 18!"

"I'd say Ace was the naughtiest but," Sabo chuckles, shoulders moving along with the sweet sound. "Hack was right about that," he concedes when the laughter passes. "We were definitely bad; it stressed Dadan to no end. She was the one who took care of us," Sabo quickly explains, painting a picture of a tall black woman with coily orange hair nearly as long. "It's a wonder she never kicked us out as much as grief as we gave her," he laments with a sigh but his lips are still curled into a smile. "You know Ace and I used to rob thugs in the slums? We wanted to gather pirate savings."

You snort and Sabo laughs in unison at your reaction, "pirate savings?"

"Pirates and savings don't belong in the same sentence, I've come to find out," your partner snickers at the ridiculous notion of children too young to know any better. "I wonder if they ever ended up using it."

He tells you story after story about his brothers.

Happy and fun stories, there was seldom a time he ever felt sad with his brothers by his side. It was a family made with patchwork that didn't match but it was the family Sabo chose and it was his. Headstrong Ace with a sharp tongue who led the charge, sweet Luffy who followed them anywhere, Dadan whose bark was worse than her bite and a plethora of bandits. Even the Hero of the Marines had a few honorable mentions, very strict and determined to make the boys marines.

A strange but tightknit family that worked despite its oddities.

Quiet sweeps over you both and Sabo looks out the window at the setting sky. It's beautiful if not a tad sad, your heart clenches. It blazes vibrant shades of vermilion and indigo, sweeping gold lining the clouds. Despite how it resists, soon the shroud of the night will come and blue will reign supreme. Beautiful, quiet blue, just as melancholic.

"Luffy's alright," Sabo suddenly affirms, squeezing your hand once more. It never ceases to awe you how gently Sabo touches you when you know the full extent of his strength. "He's alright," he says once more, never taking his gaze from the window. "You'll like him when you get to meet him. And Luffy, well, he likes everybody. You have nothing to worry about. I don't know the kind of person he's become but I know that much hasn't changed. That kid can befriend anybody."

Gingerly you press a kiss against the junction between his jaw and neck, "I know we'll get along just fine," you nod in agreement, pressing your forehead against his cheek. "He's your little brother, after all."

"Yeah," Sabo murmurs, leaning against the crown of your head. "He's my little brother."

[stellar-solar-flare]

I am seeing a lot of posts that have to do with 'I want to read things other than smut'. This is definitely not a call-out post because the sentiment is something I certainly understand (as someone whose #1 fic preference - if I had to read only one thing for the rest of my days - is long, plot-heavy multi-parter fics with romance and slow burn, and eventual smut).

But I wanted to point out two things:

1: Smut gets notes, both because people seek it, and because smut writers stick together and interact with each other's fics. If you want to see more non-smut, interact with fics that contain the elements you like. If you want silly, whimsical fics, read, comment, share, and write those. If you want tooth-rotting fluff, seek it out and interact with them and make your own!

2: Even as I will always hold that a writer should always first write for themselves because the story brings them joy, it can get very lonely if you're writing a longfic and it's crickets out there until it is finished. If you want there to be long, multi-parter fics, you need to read and interact with WIPs. It takes time to do setup and establish characterization in a long fic, and it is also hard work (I am by no means implying that writing smut isn't hard work). It is the constant fear that the next chapter will make everyone dislike the fic, or that I'm not doing a good enough job with pacing/character/and so on. So there needs to be some sort of incentive to share the story in a finalized form and accept that vulnerability that maybe no one cares, or worse, maybe I actively drive away the people who do care because their expectations weren't met.

It is so important to remember that YOU (and us all) have the power to be the change you want to see in fandom and create your own lovely corner of exactly what you want. You do this by participating via comments and sharing fics, so the author knows someone wants to read this, and creating your own fics. In the end, fandom is a community. Fandom is us.

[theterrorfebruaryflash]

Happening now: The Terror February Flash 2025!

The Terror February Flash is an annual fest celebrating our cold boys via fic, art, vids, and other forms of fannish expression.

Why February? Because Something Something Valentine's Day. Why Flash? Because this is a low-pressure, almost-anything-goes prompt meme with a short creation period.

This is mostly a P!atC Server Event, where we will rejoice and squee about each work coming in during February, but anyone with an AO3 account can participate. We'll also post a masterlist to Tumblr at the end of the event.

Schedule for 2025:

Sign-ups and prompt posts: Jan 28 - Feb 6 Prompt claims and creation period: Feb 6 - Feb 28 Works can be posted to the collection any time during the creation period.

Prompts and fills can be posted anonymously if desired.

FAQ

Is this a fic exchange?

No. February Flash is a prompt meme, that means participants will not get matched one-on-one and assigned to a gift recipient as is the case in exchanges. So no one is guaranteed a "gift", but there's also much less pressure on participants. Members sign up and post prompts until the defined deadline (see the schedule). Prompts can be claimed by anyone who has an account on the AO3, and the resulting fanworks need to be posted to the collection any time during the creation phase according to schedule. If you need more detailed information on how a prompt meme works (e.g. how to edit your prompts, where to find your claimed prompts etc), please see this section in the AO3 FAQ.

Do I need to be signed up to claim & fill a prompt? What if I missed the sign-up phase?

Admittedly, the term "sign-up" is a tiny bit misleading. The "sign-up" form is for submitting your prompts; if you would like to claim & fill prompts without submitting a prompt yourself, then you do not need to go through the "sign-up" form. Just browse the list of prompts other fans submitted and use the "claim" button to pick whatever tickles your muse. When you claim a prompt it shows up under "My claims" on the collection profile and under "Claims" on your own dashboard. Use the "fulfil" button to post your work, please.

Is this an anonymous event? Will there be author reveals at any point?

Prompt submission happens anonymously by default; you can override this if you want. By default all works submitted to the collection will be anonymous. There won't be a big creator reveal at the end of the fest, but creators can choose individually whether they want a specific work to stay anonymous or not by letting the mod know.

Can I crosspost my fic/art/vid/etc. to Tumblr/Bluesky/Twitter?

Certainly, if you don't mind deanoning yourself! You can crosspost anywhere you want to (use the tag #theterrorfebruaryflash or ping @theterrorfebruaryflash on Tumblr), but in order for the work to be part of the collection, you need to also post it on the AO3 via the claim/fill button. Don't just link to your art, please, but embed it in the work page.

Rules

1. February Flash is an event for adults as some prompts or fanworks might be mature or explicit. By taking part you confirm that you are 18 or older.

2. The focus of your work must be on the show The Terror, season 1. AUs, RPF, and crossovers with other fandoms are allowed.

3. All ratings are welcome in this fest. Don't shy away from explicit stuff; prompt memes have a history of PWP works. However, when you fill a prompt please stick to the preferred rating of the prompter (if stated in the prompt).

4. All genres welcome, including darker subjects if the prompter asks for them (as long as DNWs are respected). Use the AO3 warnings if applicable.

5. All categories (slash, gen, femslash, multi, QPR etc.) and pairings welcome!

6. Prompts can be filled by more than one person. You can even fill the same prompt multiple times – the "fulfil" button will show up on the prompt you claimed even if you have already used it for posting a work before.

7. Participants can fill as many prompts as they want to. You can even fill your own prompt.

8. Please list your DNWs (Do-Not-Wants) in the prompt if you want to avoid certain types of content, e.g. rape or permanent character death or specific tropes. When you submit several prompts, please state your DNWs for each. We kindly ask you to not abuse the DNW system: keep it short and simple, and don't box in your creator. You cannot DNW a type of fanwork (e.g. art, podfic etc.) unless there is an honest reason for this (e.g. if vids make you dizzy or you cannot enjoy visual art due to medical restrictions, then it is of course important to mention this). When you fill a prompt, please respect the DNWs listed in the request.

9. All types of fanworks are welcome in this fest: fic, poetry, filks, art, vids, podfic, 3D-crafts, textile art etc. Embed your image/video/audio on the work page. Made a giant cake in the shape of the tuunbaq? Post the photos. Even if a prompt is phrased for fic, it can still be used as inspiration for all kinds of fanworks. The spirit of this fest is: pretty much anything goes as long as you respect the prompter's maximum rating, the chosen pairing(s) (if any), and the DNWs. A prompt is not a commission – artistic license is very welcome here, and our creators are encouraged to use the details given in the prompts as inspiration, not as a list of requirements.

10. Minimum word count for written fanworks is 100 words, with the exception of poetry (no minimum word count for poems). There is no maximum word count. Minimum for art: a doodle or clean sketch (on unlined paper, if you use traditional media); manips are permitted. No banner or icon art, please, unless it accompanies a work of fiction. Absolutely no AI-generated art or fic or vids allowed!!

11. Fanworks in languages other than English are allowed. As this is not a one-on-one gift exchange, but a prompt fest, fanworks in languages other than English are absolutely permitted and welcome! Each prompt can inspire a wide variety of fanworks, and as long as you respect the DNWs and the maximum rating of the chosen prompt, it’s all fine!

12. Works posted to the collection must be new (created for this fest and unpublished) and complete. No WIPs or placeholder uploads! If you post a work with more than one chapter, it must be completed before the end of March 2025. Podfics of older and published works are allowed, as the podfic itself counts as new work.

13. Last but not least: Be courteous to the other participants, act in good faith and assume good faith. For all questions, please contact the mod (here via Ask, or see the email address on the AO3 collection profile). We are happy to help!

[luvzxr]

Little Pougie

Hi! I'm back from a long break. I've been working on this book that originally is posted on wattpad and it's ongoing currently. I wanted to branch out from my previous posts from video games to shows as well.

This story also is originally using my OC's name and I'm not very good with coming up with alternatives to make the story for people who want to use their OC's or their own names. I will do my best though because I also don't like using the (Y/N) stuff but we shall see. anyways, onto chapter one.

Next chapter

01. Kegger

I wish I had stayed at home, curled up on the couch with my hair up in a messy bun and some stupid microwaveable meal on the coffee table in front of me. I wish I never let my older brother, John B, rip me away from the comfort of our own home to come to a kegger, or in other words- a party that I most certainly did not want to attend.

"John B," I tugged the hem of his loosely worn shirt. I've been so uneasy the entire night I've completely forgotten what it means to be content, "when are we leaving?"

"Just a little longer, Poguie. I promise," He gave a soft but playful nudge with his elbow.

'Just a little longer' means we'll be here till daybreak or until I pester him enough to drive me home himself. Time meant nothing to him when a Pouge party was happening.

I was more than eager to go back home and I grew more and more impatient the longer I stood there in hopes John B would change his mind and offer me a ride home of his own free will but that would only happen if hell froze over.

Pouges had no reason to throw parties, they just would and at this point being the sister of one and considered one myself by our peers and friends you would think I'd have no problem with participating but the word parties always left a bitter taste on the tip of my tongue. In what way does a night filled with hammered teenagers and raging migraines the next morning sound appealing?

The time we spent there grew longer and once it hit ten o'clock I couldn't take it anymore and made the utter decision to leave my older brother's side and push past the sweaty bodies and blotched faces.

I was sure that John B would grow increasingly tense once he'd start to realize my absence and after having practically the whole town on a wild goose chase- only to find me safely at home and also find time to lecture me about how I need to stay with him at all times. Yet I couldn't find even just an ounce in me to care about the repercussions of leaving on my own.

Luckily, none of John B's friends were around to stop me from reaching the main road, as everyone I left behind were either trying to find any way possible of getting a free hook up or a free buzz.

All I could keep my mind set on was crashing on the couch and tuning out to either The Vampire Diaries or jamming out to a random playlist of mine on the stereo. To some that might be one of the most boring activities you could be doing on a Friday night but to me it sounded like absolute bliss.

I wanted to die, After what felt like hours of heaving and gasping for air, I had finally reached the house where I could kick off my Chuck Taylor's and crash on the couch with my original plan. But first, I needed a snack because my stomach was probably on the verge of kicking my own butt if I didn't prioritize the next five seconds of finding something to satisfy the hunger.

I make my way to our kitchen, flicking on the light, and began scanning through the different varieties of food held within the cabinets and fridge. I quickly settled with a chocolate pudding cup stashed in the very back of our cabinet that seemed my brother tried to hide so desperately.

"Little Pouge?"

"Jesus!" I shrieked, practically throwing my enclosed pudding cup as a poor excuse for self-defense. If there was an actual intruder he'd probably have already made off with what we had left that was considered valuable.

I relax my nerves upon seeing a much more familiar blonde boy standing in the doorway and not an intruder ready to high-tail out of here with whatever he could.

"Sorry." a sheepish grin creeping on his face, "didn't mean to startle you, Little one."

JJ Maybank is my big brother's best friend since the third grade and he's also one of the very few people I didn't mind stopping by whenever he felt like it and lounge around the house as if he lived here himself. He's been in my life for as long as I could even remember because John B was never without him and ever since our father went missing it was always me, John B, and JJ so that surely helped our bond develop over time.

'Little Pouge' however was a nickname given to me by my brother and his friends. It was something the Pouges wanted to have special for me considering to them that 'y/n/n' was too bland to call me. I don't know a single one of them who doesn't call me Little Pouge or Pougie. That nickname has been with me for so long that even Kooks seem to be catching onto the idea of being referred to as those rather than my birth name.

Many Kooks have tried calling me the nickname's just to get under John B's skin or even JJ's but a lot of the time that ended in the boys beating a Kook to a pulp and the rest of their night spent in a six by eight foot holding cell and the horrible back pains that came with it in the morning when I'd bail them out.

I feel my face grow hot from embarrassment, "What are you doing here JJ?"

"John B couldn't find you so he sent me out looking for ya," he says, giving a curt nod towards the direction behind him, indicating my brother sent him out to hunt me down.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. John B acts as if I can't spend even just a little bit of time by myself anywhere and that I constantly need someone to watch over me like a little kid- I'm not a little kid, I'm a year younger than him, and perfectly capable of taking care of myself.

I let out a groan, "I'm not a little kid, JJ. When is he going to understand that."

He made his way over to me, leaning forward so that he could rest his elbow on the countertop and his chin in the palm of his hand.

"He's just worried about you (y/n). You're the only family he's got left other than our little group as far as he knows." JJ states. "Plus, with all the Kooks at the party too he was worried that maybe one of 'em kidnapped ya."

"Hm."

"Ah Princess, don't be like that. He's looking out for you." He ruffles my hair.

He gave a soft grin before making his way over to the couch, swinging himself over the top and landing perfectly in a comfortable seated position.

Why does he never just walk around the side like a normal person?

Not long after JJ made himself comfortable on the couch is when I decided to do the same thing.

I take a good look at him, at his side profile, the way he clenches his jaw ever so slightly out of pure justification. His father had beat on him so many times he'd probably never have the same jaw alignment as he once had and a part of me wished that I was closer to him than just his best bud's little sister because he didn't open up to anyone, he doesn't allow anyone to get too close to him and in a way I understand.

Being as close to JJ as I was now I could smell the severe alcohol on his breath. It was no secret that Pouges drank, it was more common than you'd actually think but I could only imagine how his liver must have felt and practically beg him to take a break. On top of that, I also knew JJ was into a lot of different kinds of substances. He used those as an escape route, a way to completely make the pain go away for a temporary amount of time before he had to rejoin the rest of us in reality.

He tended to do his best to stay away from pain, choosing to ignore anything and everything that even remotely had the chance to trigger the emotion. He tried to bottle all of it up and throw it out the window as if it had never existed in the first place but like every human being, there comes a time when that glass bottle fills to the brim and then it explodes.

"JJ."

"Hm?" He raised an eyebrow, turning his head towards me to give his full attention.

I paused. He wasn't going to like the question I had in store for him so was I really ready to potentially ruin the small, yet sweet relationship I had with him? Over being a little too nosey for my own good.

I decided against it and just shook my head, "How was the party?"

He tilted his head to the side, his tongue slid between both sets of his teeth and his mouth making the ever so slightest oval like he usually does- He was confused, and rightfully so. This man has been around since before my childbirth and every step after that, it was hard to keep anything from him. That is if he's sober.

Fortunately enough for me, he was not and wasn't the sharpest when it came to being intoxicated. JayJ and his love for alcohol for once actually saved us a conversation that I don't think either of us were fully ready to have. Nonetheless, the question still raked through my mind and I was only hoping that the curiosity wouldn't power through.

Why does he resort to things that destroy him? Does he seriously think that low of himself?

[raichett]

joel commits a hit and run

During the Watchers' debriefing after the end of Wild Life, Grian gets himself an unexpected - though certainly not unwelcome - ride home.

Content warnings: intentional vehicular violence against non-human entities who are not hurt by said violence, vaguely referenced character death, memory alteration, and being non-consensually trapped and made to play death games. This is unrepentantly crack.

AO3 version.

-

JOEL COMMITS A HIT AND RUN

The empty space between is desolate, as always. The others aren’t here, thankfully, too busy being other people in kinder places than this, even if they do remember. Only their own victory, of course, their one game, unlike Grian who is unfortunate enough to remember them all, and unfortunate enough to be held here and made to participate beyond the role of a player.

It’s possible he deserves this misfortune, of course. They have such power, see, and he is only one Watcher trying to stem the tide of many, all of whom are so eager to take delight in their newest game series. If he can’t stop them then maybe he can help lessen the damage, have a voice in the planning process, take part as recompense. Harm reduction, that’s what it’s called.

They’re talking, and he’s waiting, only half-listening to the post-mortem, the debriefing, as they chatter about likes and dislikes, review the experimental factors, reflect upon the latest game like they’ve just walked out of the cinema or the theatre, buzzing with glee. It’s offensive, this almost innocence, this lack of comprehension of the pain they’re causing, too caught up in the storyline, and the character arcs, and the symbolism. Sun, stars, moon, all the rest. Fuck them, absolutely fuck them.

Grian doesn’t speak. He’s just – too tired. He nearly won again, but not quite, and he doesn’t really begrudge Joel the win, his friend had worked too hard for it – but he had hoped that if there started to be double wins, then maybe they would start getting bored, their attention drifting away. A game is only a game if people agree to play, otherwise it’s just tugging people about and laughing when they stumble, when they fall, when they collide into the arbitrary rules and get tangled there, strung up to be laughed at.

There’s a sound, then, like cave noise, and for a moment Grian thinks it’s just a glitch, some piece of the Universe snagging and then setting itself to rights, but the Watchers’ chattering stumbles, grinds to a halt, and –

It’s low, rumbling, but getting louder. Getting closer. It’s not cave noise.

There are no doors in this place, but there is a type of barrier, some invisible division between the Void outside and this little space carved here. Grian watches, frozen, heart rabbiting in his chest, as – as a car smashes through it. He knows that stupid fucking car.

The car vrooms, revving its engine as it smashes into the meeting circle and runs over one Watcher, two Watchers, swinging around to shove to the nebulous ground a third and a fourth as it screeches to a stop right next to Grian. Watchers are damn hardy, they’ll be fine, but it puts Grian in mind of bowling pins and that’s just – it’s – it’s so insane, it’s ludicrous, and a laugh bubbles up in Grian’s chest just at the absurdity of it, the incongruity that makes everyone too stunned to react.

The window rolls down. “Hey, Grian,” says Joel, grinning.

“Joel!” Grian replies, loud and shocked, but somehow not surprised – who else’s car would it be? – which feels like the only thing he can say.

“Heard you needed a ride home,” Joel says, bright and vicious, his eyes still red. “Come on, this place is cramping my style. We gotta get back to Hermitcraft.” He turns his words now to the surrounding Watchers. “Sorry, folks! Me and Grian got things to do, places to see, honey shops to buy and sell at, all that good stuff. Later, losers, hah!”

The passenger door opens on the back, behind the driver’s seat, and Grian scrambles for it, diving in and slamming it shut behind him, barely getting his feet out of the way in time. There’ll be repercussions later, he’s sure, but right now? Right now, they drive out – nearly running over two more Watchers, but they get out of the way in time – and Grian hasn’t got a seatbelt on, doesn’t know how Joel got here, or why he knew to come, where to go, but that doesn’t matter: it feels good to do something to get one over on the Watchers, and Grian understands the power and importance of small victories.

“I can’t believe you ran them over,” Grian says, and at his own words he starts to laugh.

“They’re so cringe, Grian,” Joel answers, also barking out a laugh, as the car rockets into the Void like a comet. “What losers. Stupid idiots. Now come on, us winners gotta stick together.”

“Even Scott?” Grian prods, though his heart feels like someone just dunked it into a warm bath, liquid comfort melting in his chest. Us. Joel recognises an us.

“Ughh!” Joel bemoans. “Maybe not Scott. He can sleep on the sofa, maybe, or whatever. Dunno if there’s a winner’s sofa, but – yeah, something like that. Something like that.”

“You’re so generous,” Grian says, his smile irrepressible.

“I am a king of humbleness,” Joel assures him. “You have never met anyone as humble and generous and handsome as me.”

The laughter that punches out of both of them echoes inside the car like music. Outside the windscreen, a trail of stars leads the way back home.

[lunastrophe]

Hey! I'm writing a Minthara thingy about her past; since you're the drow expert of experts, do you have a timeline of her life or a theory of who her mother is maybe? Thank you!

Heh, I am really humbled by your words, I certainly do not consider myself the drow expert of experts 😳Thank you!

I am working on a detailed post about Minthara's past and her family, with (estimated) dates and other such details. I hope that I will find some time to finish it and publish sometime during the weekend. It is already half-baked, but... ugh, I really need more time for writing 😩

In the meantime, here are some fragments:

🕷️ Age - Minthara is over 200 years old, since she remembers Viconia DeVir disgracing her house and escaping the city ("I was young enough that it left an impression on me").

She was born in Menzoberranzan, probably at least a decade before 1292 DR, and she lived in House Baenre compound on Qu'ellarz'orl plateau.

Minthara recalls that she survived her first assassination attempt while she still suckled at her mother's breast. Her mother saved her life by covering her body with her own.

🕷️️Career - like other noble drow females from Menzoberranzan, Minthara most likely enrolled into Arach-Tinilith when she was 25 (she could be also older, since around 13th century DR, females started their education at the age of 40).

She finished her eduaction after 50 years, being between 75 and 90 years old, and most likely participated in the (in)famous drow graduation ceremony.

Minthara mentions that her mother tried to kill her when she came of age, making it a test of sorts. But aside from that, Minthara surely participated also in the Blooding - a drow coming-of-age ritual, usually completed during a surface raid (a young drow must kill an intelligent or dangerous surface creature, preferably an elf). It probably took place shortly after graduation.

🕷️️Oath - unlike the majority of noble females, Minthara was trained to be not a "pure" cleric, but a soldier in the service of Lolth. At some point, probably still at the early stage of her career, she took the oath of "bloody vengeance against any who defied Lolth".

She was fulfilling her oath, hunting heretics and apostates. She was also performing interrogations. At some point, she was entrusted with leadership - she was commanding drow warriors and probably also organizing and leading night raids to the surface.

🕷️️Relationships - Minthara mentions that being a noble (and Baenre), she lived in luxury.

Her first lover, most likely met during her years in the Academy, was a high priestess of House Vandree: "Beautiful, elegant, ruthless. I adored her, and had been sharing her bed for some time when the order came that she must die. I stayed with her while the poison did its work, and whispered words of comfort as she slipped away."

Minthara says that she had "a thousand suitors" and many lovers - they mostly wanted only her status or her body, though. The more they pursued her, the less she desired them, ultimately becoming tired of them all.

Unsurprisingly, she does not have high opinion on men in general - based on her experience with Menzoberranzan males: "half the men of Menzoberranzan are pleasure-servants. Weaklings, whose beauty is their only redeeming quality."

🕷️ Mother - Minthara's mother was a noble from House Baenre. We also know that she was visiting surface cities during her "grand tours of the surface world" and at some point, she visited also Baldur's Gate. She told Minthara about it.

She was certainly a female of high station, but considering the already existing drow lore, she was probably not one of the most famous daughters of Matron Yvonnel Baenre mentioned in the novels.

My guess: Minthara's mother could be some less known daughter of Yvonnel Baenre. Matron Yvonnel Baenre had fifteen daughters or so, and all of them were high priestesses (and alive around 1297 DR) - Minthara's mother could be one of them.

That would make Minthara a niece of Quenthel Baenre and other famous children of Matron Yvonnel Baenre (Gromph, Jarlaxle, Triel, Sos'Umptu etc.).

Hope you will find this information helpful 😊

[artbyblastweave]

Would you mind talking at all about steampunk as a genre? I strongly feel like for it to properly become a genre, more than an aesthetic, it needs to shed the historical milieu of being in 18th-19th century, but the most that people ever do with it is place it in China or something, which is great, but I'm convinced, falls short of its potential.

My apocryphal understanding of the origins of Steampunk (and understand that this isn't my wheelhouse, so I'm going to be talking at least a little out my ass for the rest of this post) is that a lot of it can be traced to William Gibson's 1990 novel The Difference Engine- where the point-slash-gag was to transfer well-understood cyberpunk tropes into a historical milieu, to demonstrate that Scramble-for-Africa participants and the Dutch East India company would not be significantly better behaved than 1980s-flavored megacorps if they were in possession of anachronistically powerful computing technology. That Cyberpunk was about hegemony and how advanced technology can be used to reinforce or subvert that hegemony, and that if you were hung up on the surface level aesthetics of leather jackets and cyberspace, or little details like "does this technology actually remotely make sense," you were missing the point by a mile.

If you strip out the specificity of the time period, there frankly isn't a lot left- you're back to cyberpunk, or dieselpunk, or atompunk, or any of the other decade-linked sub-breeds. There are a lot of steampunk works that run with the original idea that giving 19th-century great powers the keys to a mech would be politically catastrophic - often in conversation with turn of the century seminal science fiction like Wells or Verne- and there are also a lot that reproduce the original criticism of cyberpunk by leaning into the aesthetics of airships and brassy robotics without giving as much thought to the political dimensions. If you're just gluing gears onto a tophat, you aren't necessarily doing it wrong but you're certainly doing it superficially. What are those gears doing

[whitefoxfiction]

RoZuruPalooza 2025

A Birthday Celebration for Rose & Izuru! Event Dates: March 16th – March 29th

Tag Your Entries: #RoZuruPalooza2025

Join us in celebrating the birthdays of our beloved 3rd Division leadership! This event runs from March 16th to March 29th, but late submissions are welcome until April 16th (because, well... I posted this late!).

How to Participate

REBLOG THIS POST! 🤩

And create and share anything Rose and/or Izuru related - birthday themes preferred but not required!

Ideas include:

Fanart

Fanfiction (headcanons, imagines, one-shots)

Character analyses

Edits & AMVs

Memes

Other creative projects (crafts, cosplay, etc.)

Reblogs of older content are allowed as long as it’s your own work.

Rules & Guidelines

Tag all entries with #RoZuruPalooza2025 so I can find and share them!

If your submission contains NSFW content (sex, violence, or substance use), please tag it appropriately.

Do NOT repost or reblog fan-created content that isn’t yours. This includes edits and memes.

AI-generated content is NOT allowed.

Official manga, anime, and licensed Bleach game images/videos are okay (but it’s polite to cite the source!).

This is not a Rose x Izuru ship event, but RoZuru ship content is certainly welcome!

I will not accept or post NSFW content from ageless blogs. For those that don't want to list an age, please follow at @white-deer-fiction, my SFW blog that I am building to see the SFW event content!

Need Inspiration?

(any item can be submitted on any day)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROSE!!! (16th - 18th) Rose HC's, Rose x Reader, Rose SFW / NSFW Alphabet

Birthday Gift HCs / Canon Divergence or Continuation Day (19th)

The OCs of Squad 3 / Rare Pair day! (20th)

Rose x Izuru Weekend! (21st - 23rd)

Birthday Date HCs/ Despair Day (give us your angsty stuff!) (24th)

Squad 3 Threesome / AU day (25th)

HAPPY BIRTHY, IZURU!! (26th - 28th) Izuru HCs, Izuru x Reader, Izuru SFW/NSFW alphabet

Many Happy Returns Day (send your fluffiest submisisons!) (29th)

Want to help? Please REBLOG and share prompt ideas in the comments! I will update this post with selected prompts and reblog sometime on the 19th! Thanks!

[pia-writes-things]

Here is my entry for the @creatingblackcharacters' Black History Month Challenge.

I wanted to write about Jen from Agatha All Along for a long time now, because I love her to pieces and she deserves the world <3, so this was the perfect opportunity to show her all the love !

For this piece, I decided to focus on two things : her skills at potions, and her joy doing it. We've only seen her making potions under life or death threats from the Road in the series, and I wanted to explore a bit what it meant for her to practice her craft just chilling and enjoying herself. I also wanted to highlight how witchcraft is transmitted through friends and family, how much of a community effort it is, so I decided to explore her teaching side as well, with Billy, and to have her reflect on who taught her and how it shows in her practice. Also, music is important in the show, and to me, so I wanted to incorporate what it would look like if music was an integral part of her craft, especially because working AND singing at the same time is the most joyful thing in life imo. Finally, because I'm me and I always end up writing about found-family somehow, I tried to also incorporate that with her musings about the coven.

With this piece, I also want to say to my Black followers that you deserve this joy and this sense of community. You deserve to feel like your skills are a valuable part of our world, that they are valued and worthy to be transmitted, and that you deserve to be loved and love ❤️ Your joy, your skills and who you are should always be celebrated and I hope I succeeded in conveying that through Jen 😊

Before I post the piece (under a read more because it's 1400 words ^^), I tag @hemerae-ramblings, @saecookie, @sapphictea, @blatterpussbunnyfromhell, @bwayfan25 and @everybodyknows-everybodydies and anyone else who'd like to participate !

(rules here and guidelines here)

Jen side-eyes Teen – sorry, Billy – and catches him quickly looking back toward the history homework laid out on the living-room table. He asked her to help him with it, but she’s busy. She shakes her hand to get rid of the excess water, making her bracelets ring quietly.

With her dried hand, she reaches for sage on the shelf and tears a leaf that she drops in the simmering pot in front of her. The liquid bubbles and sprays a little, tiny droplets flying up and staining the countertop. Luckily for her, she wears her trusty apron, and it saves her white blouse. The sound makes Teen – Billy – look up again, and he observes her for a few seconds before he notices she’s looking at him. He darts down again.

She sighs, a bit amused. He’s so curious and yet so frightened. She knows he still feels bad about the whole Road thing. To be honest, things are still a bit awkward between them, and she’s not sure they will ever not be. He did kill (inadvertently) three of his coven members. Her friends. And he still hangs out with Agatha. It’s a lot.

She starts stirring the pot, making sure to infuse it with her magic regularly. He’s cute, though, she muses. She knows he’s just a lost kid, like she could very well have been, had her parents been less fortunate. Lots of girls from her coven, or just girl like her, had found themselves orphan, back in the day. Not only because they were witches, though it certainly didn’t help.

But, anyway, she knows Te – Billy needs guidance, and she can provide just that. Like her grandma did for her, she thinks, her mind lost in the bubbles of the potion. For no reason, she thinks of Lilia, too. They might not have known each other for long, but she guided her as well. Like her mother, like her aunt, like her cousin. She owes so much to so many women, and Billy needs that kind of advice, kindness and patience. Especially with his powers.

Also, she’d be damned to let Agatha be his sole mentor. He needs more than a sociopath to help him on the road (no pun intended) to proper witchcraft.

“Are you done?” she asks.

“Uh?” His perplexed face would almost be endearing if it wasn’t also annoying. She knows he’s done. He hasn’t been focused on his practice papers for half an hour – at least.

“Your homework,” she repeats, “Are you done?”

“Oh,” he exhales, trying to sound surprised and failing. “Yeah, I’m done!”

“Good, come over here,” she motions, her tone no nonsense.

He scrambles to get next to her so fast she worries he might fall. He’s all dangly limbs and no coordination, like any teenager his age. She’s surprised he didn’t injure himself more on the Road, to be honest.

“What are you doing?” he asks, eager. His whole body is angled towards the pot, his elbow brushing hers as she keeps stirring.

“A potion,” she can’t help deadpanning.

He huffs and she smirks.

“To be more specific, this is a calming potion, to soothes nerves and anxiety. I thought you might need it,” she adds.

He looks sideways at her, and she smiles a little before she adds teasingly: “I’d rather not have you control people’s mind again when you lose control of your emotions. It wasn’t fun.”

He laughs a little. Her smile grows bigger. They’re making progress! A few weeks ago, he would have tried to apologise again.

The potion is also making progress: she can see the colour shifting slowly from water-transparent to a calming pastel blue. She keeps infusing it with magic as Billy watches intently.

Silence falls on them and she starts tapping a repetitive rhythm on the counter with her nails. It’s something her grandma always used to do to teach her the craft when she was little. Jen learned a lot of potion recipes this way, by singing along to whatever absent-minded tune the older woman was creating. It’s something her entire coven used to do, now that she thinks of it.

Billy opens his mouth, interrupting her.

“How do you do it?” She raises her brow, encouraging him to be more specific. “What are the steps to the potion?” he asks again.

She nods. “Some parts I can’t tell you. They're reserved to root-worker, and women. Others, I can explain.”

She starts to play with her nails again, soon humming a lively tune.

“Counterclockwise you must stir,” she sings, handing him the ladle, “To ward away the monster.”

He smiles, his tongue sticking out as he focuses.

“Sing with me,” she urges.

“Counterclockwise you must stir, to ward away the monster.”

“Sage you must add, so that never again you be sad.”

“Sage you mast add, so that never again you be sad.”

She adds her other hand to liven up the rhythm, thinking about Alice playing and singing her heart out on the piano. She tears up, but she smiles too.

“Water you throw in, and let the joy begin!”

Billy is fully laughing by this point, his stirring more hectic. “Water you throw in, and let the joy begin!” he exclaims.

“Do not forget the magic, lest your potion be toxic,” she sings along.

This time, Billy doesn’t repeat and blurts out a panicked “What?”, the ladle stopping dead in the middle of the pot

She chuckles.

“Don’t worry, I’m doing it. Can’t you see the pink? Keep stirring,” she orders. “I’m not feeding you poison; I’m feeding you potion,” she adds, quite proud of her wordplay.

He rolls his eyes but obediently starts stirring again. “Do you always sing when making potions?”

“Not always, but it helps to remember the steps.”

“Do you still need it?”

She scoffs and adds a little bit more sage to the pot as the potion is starting to turn more green than blue. “Of course not. It’s for you. Someone needs to teach you how to heal yourself.”

His eyes travel briefly towards his stomach and then he focuses back on the potion. It’s turning completely blue now. She takes one of her powder pouch and hands it to him.

“You can stop stirring,” she explains. “Now, this powder I can’t tell you about, so don’t ask. Just add a pinch of it, and then, blast you full power to make it boil. It must boil with magic, not naturally, it’s very important.”

His eyes are a bit scared when he looks at her.

“You can do it, Billy.”

He nods, takes a pinch of powder, throws it in and inhale. Then, the pot explodes, and they find themselves soaked in potion.

Billy is frozen in place. Jen just laughs harder than she’s laughed in a long time.

“Ok, note for future lessons: not your full power,” she wheezes. She swipes the potion off her face and thanks the Universe again that she is wearing an apron.

“I’m sorry, Jen.”

“It’s alright. You must make mistakes to learn. That’s what my mother always used to say.”

He smiles wetly. Quite literally. She sighs.

“I think that’s enough for today, don’t you?” He nods. “Go change and go home. We’ll take this up another day.”

She smiles as he climbs the stairs towards the bathroom, his socks leaving wet prints on the carpet.

“He’s really cute, even if he’s a disaster, isn’t he?”

Jen jumps as Lilia appears next to her. She puts a hand on her heart to try and calm it down. She may be drenched in it, but the potion apparently doesn’t work for ghost-induced jump scares.

“Lilia!” she cries indignantly, “How many times?”

“What’s the fun in being a ghost if I can’t haunt you, baby doll?” Lilia laughs as she hovers halfway through the counter.

Jen scrunches up her nose. “I’m not a doll.”

“No, you aren’t. But you’re a baby,” Lilia smirks.

“Hey,” Jen exclaims, regretting the fact she can’t gently slap her friend on the arm, “I’m almost 150.”

“I’m 450, and dead,” the older witch deadpans. “My point stands.”

Jen feigns offense, raised brows and open mouth, but she can’t help the smile that blooms on her lips. It’s not the same, Lilia being a ghost, but she’s so grateful to have her in her life still.

“Do you want to keep me company while I fix his mess and actually finish the potion?” she asks.

“Sure. It’s not like I’m in a rush or something.”

And so, the divination witch and potion witch spend the next few hours happily chatting, reminiscing and singing. At some point, Alice joins them. Rock rhythms mix with traditional root-workers melodies and Sicilian arpeggios. It’s warm and it’s safe and it’s everything Jen has ever wanted in a coven.

[anbaisai]

Finally had time to sit down and write, but honestly there’s not much to be said other than thank you to everyone who wrote a message on my tree! I really enjoyed reading every single message and screenshotting to save them into a folder for when I need a lil boost ww (including one from Mr. Viper himself above that got a laugh out of me, thanks Jamil really appreciate you thinking I’m cool)

Some sappiness under the cut:

I never expected to receive this much support for my silly yume/oc ship content when I began posting, and I really don’t have the words to express how grateful I am. I’ve met many wonderful people through this fandom, and also just had lots of fun in general making art. I mean it when I say I genuinely never had this much motivation and inspiration to create for any fandom (or original content) in the past. There was a long, long period in my life during which trying to find even a crumb of motivation to draw felt impossible. There was always some reason that I couldn’t - be it school/life being too busy, feeling too tired, having other stuff to do first, etc. I thought I’d never rediscover my love and passion for art, until I finally pushed myself to design my Yuu for real (instead of just thinking about it) and then everything just snowballed from there. (For context, I began playing TWST in 2020 and, despite being very much in love with it, only began drawing anything for it this year.)

I have such a massive list of ideas that I still want to draw (plus several asks that I want to answer that I just haven’t had the time to yet), so I’m certainly going to be kept busy for a while. After previously making every excuse possible for not drawing, I’ve learned that yeah, once you really love something you will squeeze time out for it no matter how hard things get, because it kills you not to. All those times when I wondered when I’d ever be able to draw as much as my favourite artists now feel like a distant relic of the past, and I have Twisted Wonderland (especially Jamil) and this community to thank for it. If anyone reading this is going through something similar, I promise it gets better - you will need to put in the effort to make it start, but you will get there.

There’s also my past experiences of being in fandoms that, well, did not welcome yume/self-shipping type content. If I so much as thought of creating any, the fear of being ridiculed would make me back away from the idea immediately. I’m glad to see that sentiment seems to be no longer the norm, but also the TWST fandom has been one of the most supportive of yume content I’ve ever seen. To everyone wanting to participate but has been hesitating, you absolutely should! My only regret is not starting sooner, seriously. In a sense I feel like I'm fulfilling a childhood dream of mine, and all of my past hesitation and anxiety just dissipated once... as cringe as it sounds - once love took over. So go pour your love and passion into that character you adore, they deserve it.

Anyways, wishing everyone a happy holidays and happy new year! Here’s to another year of enjoying TWST and creating for the things we love ❤

[nanowrimo]

When Is a Small Press a Good Fit?

When it comes to publishing, many writers will think about big publishers first. However, there are a lot of different publishing options out there to explore. NaNo participant and author, Clara Ward, talks about their experience publishing with a small press and gives you questions to consider while you think through your publishing options!

NaNoWriMo inspired me to write. Signing with a small press gave me the support I needed to publish a book I love. 

I’d published books before—starting with NaNoWriMo sponsor deals in the early days of online publishing—but I never had the right skill set to promote those books. As a result, they never truly found their audience. 

In November of 2020, I poured my heart into a genre-blurring near-future tale of sailing across the Pacific and building a neurodiverse, queer, and possibly magical chosen family. In 2021, I titled it Be the Sea and asked myself: What am I going to do with that?

1. Are you looking for fame or family?

Small presses are as varied as the people who form them. If you read widely, you may already have a treasured book on your shelf from your publisher-to-be. Try asking NaNoWriMo friends who share your interests if they’ve discovered any surprising or emerging sources for great reads. (At the very least, you may find books you’ll love in unexpected places!)

Admittedly, a small press doesn’t have a fortune to spend on paving your path to fame. But I have never felt as seen as when my soon-to-be publisher, E.D.E. Bell at Atthis Arts, wrote back, “I’m really in love with what you are doing and would like to talk about it.” 

2. Do you have the bandwidth for working with others?

Even with the most supportive small press, you may have to push outside your comfort zone. I know authors who love the absolute control and freedom of self-publishing. For a time, I felt very comfortable just posting my NaNoWriMo fanfiction novels on Archive of Our Own. At most, I had one or two beta readers to offer feedback on those works. Whereas E.D.E. told me in one of our earliest conversations that in addition to our three rounds of editing we’d need “a good number of betas” to cover the range of topics we were working on together.

I was delighted! I knew what I’d written was ambitious, and I welcomed all the feedback I could get. But it turns out, each extra person in a process adds new challenges and delays. I had to stretch my empathy as well as my publishing timeline because, to quote E.D.E. again: “It’s a lot of emotion (as well as brain cycles) to go through...” Outside perspectives will only improve your writing if you are willing to work with them, to truly listen and learn.

3. Can you handle the two-way commitment?

No form of publishing is easy. The myth that authors write while others handle business and promotion is not true at the top, and certainly not with small presses. In my experience, working with Atthis Arts was like joining a team or chosen family. Beyond certain paid tasks, such as editing and sensitivity reading, I discovered a community of authors who freely offered coaching before my first public reading, social media boosting, tips for author webpages, and an extra pair of eyes on letters requesting bookshop readings or other events. While not all small presses work the same way, this supportive culture proved to be an excellent fit for me. Naturally, I wanted to give back whenever possible.

Small presses can only succeed with community. This month, as I promote the launch of Be the Sea at bookshops in Mountain View, Davis, and Sacramento, I will be introducing many Californians to my Michigan-based small publisher, Atthis Arts. When I stand up as a panelist at Norwescon in Washington state or at various science, library, or Pride events later in the year, I’ll be promoting more than Be the Sea by Clara Ward. I’ll give back by sharing my appreciation for small presses, the supportive and inclusive practices they can normalize, and the opportunities they open up for future writers and readers. 

Clara Ward lives in Silicon Valley on the border between reality and speculative fiction. Their latest novel, Be the Sea, features a near-future ocean voyage, chosen family, and sea creature perspectives, while delving into our oceans, our selves, and how all futures intertwine. Their short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Decoded Pride, Small Wonders, and as a postcard from Thinking Ink Press. When not using words to teach or tell stories, Clara uses wood, fiber, and glass to make practical or completely impractical objects. More of their words along with crafted creations can be found at: https://clarawardauthor.wordpress.com

Photo by Hümâ H. Yardım on Unsplash

[cssns]

The FINAL YEAR of the Captain Swan Supernatural Summer is behind us, so it's time for the CSSNS24 Event Roundup!!!

Does anyone else need a min? I know I do...

Before we get to the roundup itself, I have to give the LOUDEST OF SHOUT OUTS and GROUP HUG to the team of mods - @winterbaby89 @jrob64 @stahlop and @ultraluckycatnd - who helped me EVERY STEP OF THE WAY!!! This event absolutely wouldn't have happened without them and I'm sooooo grateful that they stepped up to the plate to make this final event a success!!! Thank you all soooo much, ladies!!!!

Also as part of this final roundup, I want to share all the links to all the other event roundups that have been reblogged the last few weeks. This has been an PHENOMENAL ride over all these years and I'm so grateful for all the love and support y'all have given it!! And now, all of the fics and art from all of the years will be in one place!!

CSSNS18

CSSNS19

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Thank you all again for EVERYTHING all these years!!! Its been an honor and privilege to man the helm for most of these years, but it certainly wouldn't have lasted as long as it has without the contributions of all the participants and the enthusiasm of the audience!!!! So thank you all from the bottom of my heart!!!

And now, on to the roundup!!!! Under the cut, unless Tumblr ate it.

I opened us up this year on July 2 with the first of two contributions I prepared for this final event. The Arena was a short and - kinda, maybe, not so much overall, but def by the end - sweet werewolf oneshot with breathtaking artwork by @motherkatereloyshipper !!!

On Tumblr

On ao3

On July 5, @exhaustedpirate posted a not-so-short and extra sexy werewolf fic, In Your Moonlit Eyes, with wonderful artwork by @thejollyroger-writer.

On Tumblr

On ao3

On July 7, @whatevenisthisbloganymore posted the first chapter of a fae fic, Where Idle Feet Wander. Princess Emma of the EF finds herself in the Fae lands and needs help to return home. The first ch was fantastic and I can't wait to see where the journey takes us!

On ao3

On July 9, @jrob64 posted the first chapter of her ghost hunter Killian fic, Ghosted, with artwork provided by yours truly, manips of Neal and Liam courtesy of @motherkatereloyshipper! Now complete with five chapters, Joni took us on QUITE a spooky ride!! Don't read before going to bed at night!!!

Ch1 on Tumblr

On ao3

On July 13, @grimmswan updated both of her fics from last year, Dracula in Storybrooke and Love Bites (But So Do I). Both of these fics are SO MUCH FUN and we are getting very close to their conclusions!!

Dracula in Storybrooke on Tumblr on ao3

Love Bites on Tumblr on ao3

On July 14 @anmylica posted an update to last years fic, Fly With the Black Swan, her alternate telling of the Dark Swan arc. Now three chs in, this is an absolutely beautiful tale so far and I can't wait for more of it!!! Artwork by @zaharadessert

On ao3

On July 15, @theartofdreaming1 posted original artwork for the event featuring mermaid Emma!!! Absolutely beautiful work brought me to tears!!

On July 17, @mie779 posted an alternative take on episode 3x17 The Jolly Roger featuring merman Killian!! Don't Kiss and Tail, a fantastic and utterly delightful what if fic!!! Lovely banner by @iamstartraveller776.

On Tumblr

On ao3

On July 17, @goforlaunchcee updated last year's fic, Smoke and Mirrors, with absolutely perfect artwork by @piinfeathers!! A ghost/witch story, it's an absolute HOOT and I'm always so happy when she updates!! Now up to ch7.

On Tumblr

On ao3

On July 19, @snowbellewells posted the first of her two offerings for this year's event, On Wings of Storm, with magnificent artwork by @motherkatereloyshipper !!! A beautiful one shot that left me in tears of joy!!

On Tumblr

On ao3

On July 25, @laianely posted the first chapter of her crime mystery No Rest for the Immortals with artwork by @captainswan-kellie (x) and herself (x). A murder mystery featuring vampire Killian, I am BESIDE myself every time she updates. Now on ch7.

On Tumblr

On ao3

On July 27, @xarandomdreamx posted the first chapter of her fic, The Kiss of Life with beautiful artwork provided by @motherkatereloyshipper!! Ohhh, she killed me sharing snippets on discord and the whole chapter did not disappoint!!!! Cannot wait for more of this!!!

On Tumblr

On ao3

On Aug 4, I posted my second fic for the event, Return to Me, again with stunning artwork by @motherkatereloyshipper !! Since the whole purpose of this event was to bump up the number of werewolf and vampire CS fics, and I'd already posted a werewolf fic this year, I came up with a fic that I thought the original Dracula was kinda about. Turns out that I was very wrong. But anyway, it was a lot of fun to write.

On Tumblr

On ao3

On Aug 6, @belovedcreation posted the first chapter of an epic werewolf fic, Can I Be Your Werewolf? featuring lovely artwork from @mie779!! 33 chapters that she just finished posting TODAY, it was an awesome ride from start to finish!!!

On Tumblr

On ao3

On Aug 8, @everything-person shared with us a smorgasbord of ideas that she came up with, but real life intervened and she wasn't able to write full fics for them. HOWEVER, she did make art for them all and shared a snippet of where she wanted to go with each one. Each one was absolutely fantastic and I hope there will come a day when she is able to write the fics and share them with us!!

On Tumblr

On Aug 10, @jonesfandomfanatic posted the first two chs of her fic, Into the Parallel. Now on ch6 of 7, this is an incredible time travel/realm jumper fic that I am absolutely in love with!!!

On Tumblr

On ao3

On Aug 16, @exhaustedpirate posted her second fic of the event, Haunted By the Ghost of You, again with beautiful artwork by @thejollyroger-writer. The first chapter was lovely and heartbreaking in equal measure and I cannot wait to see the happy ending she has promised me will happen. Someday...

On Tumblr

On ao3

On Aug 21, @snowbellewells submitted her second fic of the event, For All Life and For All Time, this fic actually inspired by Dracula. The first of three chs is currently up and I cannot wait to see more of it!!!

On Tumblr

On ao3

On Aug 22, @hollyethecurious posted the first chapter of Once Upon a Grimm, her incredible fic using the lore and some storylines of the TV series Grimm featuring Once characters. @eastwesthomeisbest provided the gorgeous artwork!! We are now two chs in and I can already tell, we are in for a really fun ride!!!

On Tumblr

On ao3

On Aug 24, @wyntereyez posted a second fic to her series Bats In the Belfry. This year's fic, Wool of Bat and Tongue of Dog is a MC and a fantastic follow-up to A Little Batty from last year!!! Artwork by @jrob64 .

On Tumblr

On ao3

On Aug 25, @cocohook38 posted her artwork for last years fic by @iamstartraveller776 To Cleave Destiny. We only have the first ch of the fic posted, but it's amazing already and Jules artwork just gives me chills!!!

Artwork post on Tumblr

Fic on ao3

On Aug 26, @eastwesthomeisbest posted a series of manips of Emma Dressed in Blood. Literally took my breath away!!! Gorgeously creepy!!!

On Tumblr

On Aug 29, @zaharadessert posted the Prologue of her fic, Forget Me Not, with a lovely moodboard made by @exhaustedpirate . This first chapter sets up quite a mystery and I can't wait to see where she goes with this!!!

On Tumblr

On ao3

On Aug 30, @deckerstarblanche posted the final chapter of last year's fic, An Offer She Can't Refuse, with artwork by @undercaffinatednightmare. A super sexy Omegaverse fic, I was soooo thrilled she came back to give CS the happy ending they deserve!!!

On Tumblr

On ao3

Our last fic of the event, Scattered Earth (Mortua Terra), posted just yesterday. Real life intruded and kept @dykelilypage from finishing her fic until last week, but I told her that if she could get it in before I posted the roundup, I'd still include it, and boy did she deliver!!! The fic was absolutely incredible!!! Supernatural investigative reporters Emma Swan and Killian Jones team up to solve a mystery. Utterly perfect artwork done by @eastwesthomeisbest

On Tumblr

On ao3

Well, that's it, y'all!! Our FINAL CSSNS has come to an end!!

Everyone take a moment, take a deep breath, and join me in expressing your appreciation to all the participants this year and over the last six for giving us such PHENOMENAL, INCREDIBLE, FANTASTIC supernatural stories!!! There are still many fics from past years that the authors are still active in fandom and plan on continuing whenever they get a chance. And to that end, this blog is not going anywhere. Whenever an update to a fic posts, I'll be right here to read, flail, and reblog.

Until then, y'all!!!

[lesmisshippingshowdown]

Introducing: POLL STEALING

Woah! The Les Mis Shipping Showdown, introducing a whole new gameplay mechanic when the tournament's already started? Say it ain't so!

Well. It's so.

Inspired by @hbowartournament (idk if they originated this idea, but it's certainly where I saw it), starting with the Round of 16 you will have the opportunity to earn back percentage points on any given poll by creating fanworks - fic, art, gifsets, fanvids, etc - for your ship of choice and letting us know about it. A full breakdown of how this works is under the Read More at the bottom of this post, and we'll also make a separate explainer post to link in each new poll.

To give you all a head start on your creations, we will be slightly delaying the Round of 16 poll drop to the evening (GMT/UTC) of Monday 10th March. Be there or be square!

This does, of course, also mean that we will be completely ignoring the entirely democratic results of our earlier poll and keeping each poll's running time at a week to give you the most time possible to get your fanworks finished and submitted.

Q: Why? Simple! I realised while searching for visual aids for the ships in the Round of 32 that this bracket contains a lot of surprisingly niche pairs for whom there's not actually a whole lot of content. 47% of the pairings that made the bracket have fewer than 150 works on AO3! So actually, this tournament could be a great opportunity to highlight & spur on a new outpouring of love for some of those rarer pairings, some of which haven't really been in their heyday since like, 2014. I kind of was operating along these lines already when begging you guys for fanart submissions every other day, but then I figured adding the competition element makes it more fun and gives you guys more of an incentive to participate!

Q: But my ship's just been eliminated from the round of 32 :( Now I don't get to play :( Fear not. Because I have a solution.

Q: Can I submit a fanwork I've already created? Ideally, new fanwork is the dream here, but we get everyone has time constraints and we're announcing this all pretty last minute. If you want to subtly rework the WIP you've had lurking in your Google Docs for the past 6 years, or tweak an artwork you already posted on here in 2013, we'll turn a blind eye. However, in the interest of both fun and fairness, we ask that you prioritise new, or at least newly updated, work (new chapters of existing multichapter fics count!) and do not just spam the tag with your entire back catalogue of 172,000 words of [insert ship here] fanfic. You can still post your back catalogue as propaganda, but it won't count towards the steal.

(PS. We're aware that some sections of this fandom have just had big creative output fests e.g. Valvert Week, and may therefore be all out of fresh ideas for this tournament. In the interest of not overworking you guys, if you'd like to repurpose any work - for any ship - published since February 1st, 2025 as a Steal Work, you are absolutely welcome to do so. Just be sure to send us a link and let us know that this is your intention.)

Q: Is there anything I can't submit?

Once again, we politely request no AI generated art or fiction.

NSFW is absolutely fine, but please ensure it is suitably tagged so anybody who wants/needs to avoid it is able to do so.

We know that with the presence of certain ships in this bracket (*cough* turnchetta) it's completely impossible to avoid parody/troll/shitpost content, and banning it would be antithetical to the point of some of these noble ships. Plus, some of the greatest creative works in Les Mis fandom history (*cough* the Enjonine rap) have been works in this vein. So you're welcome to goof around, but please be aware that at the mods' discretion we may discount anything we deem to be especially low effort or in particularly poor taste.

Q: You said the new round of polls doesn't start until March 10th - can I start posting Steal Works before then? Be our guest! If you've got things ready to go then you can post them as soon as they're done. Just make sure they're tagged appropriately (see under the cut) so that we know they're meant for this purpose.

Q: So how does all this work? I'm glad you asked! Please see below the cut:

(once again, all scoring & rules lifted absolutely wholesale from the hbowartournament. they changed the game with this and i'm not even kidding)

Writers:

Post a fic (or new chapter) of at least 100 words to AO3. The pairing of your choice must be the primary relationship tag (and remember this poll is for romantic relationships only)

Link your fic here, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link to the post via asks/submissions. If your piece is part of a larger, previously established fic, please include in your message the word count of the new chapter.

Earn 0.1% for every 100 words, rounded to the nearest hundred

Artists:

Post your fanart to tumblr, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link via asks/submissions.

Earn 0.1% for a sketch, 0.3% for linework, and 0.5% for a full colour piece.

Fanvid Editors:

Post your video to tumblr, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link via asks/submissions.

Earn 0.3% per 10 seconds for an AMV/fanvid using existing footage, and 0.5% per 10 seconds for an animatic.

Photo/Gifset Editors:

Post your photoset/gifset to tumblr, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link via asks/submissions.

Earn 0.1% per edited photo and 0.5% per gif/collage.

Playlist Curators:

Post your fanmix - consisting of at least 8 tracks (iykyk) - to Spotify (or create a YouTube playlist if you do not have a Spotify account).

Link your playlist here, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link via asks/submissions.

Earn 0.1% per 8 songs on the playlist, rounded to the nearest 8

Earn 0.1% per 200 words of liner notes expanding on the selected songs

If you're struck by creative urges not listed above, just drop us an ask and we can figure out what category it falls into and/or approximate percentage conversion rates if it's something totally new.

No matter what you're posting though, the same applies - make sure to tag it #lmss steal so that we know it's part of this tournament, and send us a link to your post so that we don't miss it!

[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

2025 Megaman Secret Valentine Event Signups *Closed*

^*Art drawn by Soul Rokkuman

While I wait for the last couple Secret Santa gifts to arrive, going to move on to opening the next yearly event. Even though last year I went back to Valentine's Day being in contest format, I feel like it's worth swapping back to a gift art event this year, to mix it up again. Truth be told, just hard to brainstorm much new for categories right now. And my contest prize plans are better off for summer, when more people are able to participate. (I do have a few nice prizes I plan to give away for that ;D ). So rather than rushing those plans, just going to keep this event more relaxed once more. For those who didn't participate 2 years ago, the Secret Valentine Event works much like Robot Rumpus/Megaman Secret Santa. Sign up with the intent to draw, by providing a list of your favorite characters and couples, that you would like as a Valentine gift. After signups close you will receive a target, with the goal of drawing something from their list for them, to send them as a Valentine.

Sign Up Instructions: 1.) When you are ready, either post a reply in this thread or send me a DM via tumblr or Bluesky or sign up through my Discord server: (https://discord.gg/EjHZJ7D3Xm), stating that you intend to sign up to draw for someone. 2.) In your reply/message, please include a wish list with a minimum of 3 prompts, either individual fave characters or couples from the Megaman franchise, that you would be happy to have drawn for you as Valentine’s gift art. Megaman-related OCs are OK, but please include at least one canon character. 3.) Let me know if you can be a backup artist or not, if someone has to drop out/can't complete their gift

Artwork does not necessarily have to be romance themed, but it is preferred to fit with the holiday. But some singles are happy by themselves on the day of love, so you can certainly find a way to make single characters feel appreciated/loved in your art, too.

Any kind of artstyle and medium are welcome, with the exception of AI slop. Has to be your own work only.

Signups will run from today until Tuesday, Jan. 14th, 2025.

That gives you one week to sign up.

On Wed. the 15th, Cupid Wily and I will message everyone back with their assignment, and their assignment’s wish list. Then you will have one month to create your gift art for your Secret Valentine. 

Secret Valentine’s art will be due Friday Feb. 14th, 2025, by the global end of the day. 

But I'll work in a week or so grace period if people need an extension. It would be nice if gifts were given on Valentine's Day, but since this won't be a competition, I'll be a little flexible if people need a little more time than a month to draw. While the gift should go to your recipient first and foremost, please also either send them my way when you are finished or tag me in a public post so that I can save the art. I will then compile all the art into a homemade Valentine’s Day shoebox gallery/thread like I usually do for contests. That way everyone can view them together in one place just as easily.

Please do not post your art before Feb. 14th!

Ideally, send your secret valentine their gift at any point on Valentine's Day itself. Either through DM or publicly tagging them in a post on your social media of choice. Posts can also be made in the valentine's day channel in the Fanart Contests and Events section of my Discord.

Any other questions, or something you felt I forgot to address? Feel free to ask. 

I’ll edit a confirmed participant list in this thread as I receive them.  (Just like I need to edit the year to 2025, because I really screwed that up initially! LOL)

*Confirmed participant list* (W/backup status)

Lunna Cupcake N LadyStormtail1985 N SunnyJustice Y RockmanGurl Y @axlthemaverickhunter Y Jay Sky Y @digitallyfanged Y @burntbeebs Y Elle Y Dr. Fresh Y SkipperdeesArt Y @sparkpop N @drewblossom Y @dahlia-the-nurd N @zeibei Y

1/15 *All assignments have been sent out! Check your DMs for your target. Thanks, everyone!

[thecountesstribe]

HOTD Ep 2x7 Spoilers and review.

So this was one of my favorite episodes this season and also one of the coolest imo.

Seasmoke being protective of Addam and looking proud he terrorized Addam into being his rider was too funny. I love that dragon 😂. Come through Addam the Loyal, all Rhaenyra had to say was she's queen and he immediately acknowledged her and bent the knee, I loved that. He's really about to become my other favorite boy.

Corlys being shook and acting like he doesn't know Addam, like sir if you don't tell the truth already. He's never gonna beat the deadbeat allegations. Although when he told him “Well done” I did whoop a little. I would've kicked his ass had I been Addam though.

Oscar Tully! That's it. That's the fuckin post. He gagged Daemon and stood on business. I love to see young kids bullying arrogant adults, he reminded me of the OG lil boss Lyanna Mormont. That's my lil nephew now.

Daemon didn't take the crown. We saw him hallucinating again, this time with the sick version of Viserys and Viserys holding the crown which he didn't take. I mean anybody with a brain could summarize that he never wanted the crown, we didn't need to spend so much time in his delusions in Harrenhal to tell us that. We certainly didn't need a scene of him feasting on his mom to tell us that, yuck. For all his faults he really was about his family. He went about it the wrong way but that's Daemon for you. His stupid self destructive ass.

We had an unnecessary scene of Alicent running about the woods after leaving King's Landing. Chile anyways. Larys is totally protecting Aegon now and he's essentially crippled atp. I fear for Baela's storyline.

Rhaena is looking for Sheepstealer. Her and Jeyne are still tussling but they waited until the final 2 episodes to give her something, Baela had no lines besides looking pretty and staring at Jace. I fuckin hate it here. Could we bully HBO AND THE WRITERS SOME MORE. WTF!!

Vermithor and SilverWing looked so cool. What did that old bum feed Vermithor though? He's big asf. SilverWing just might be the coolest looking dragon. I can't rank them anymore cause I like them all 😭. Literally my favorite thing about the episode. Like the directors cooked. The dragons are funny asf 😂😭😭😭. There were a lot of parentage reveals, I don't believe for a second Saera sired that ugly man but anyways. RhaeRhae led those people to their deaths. Rhaenyra deadass gave this big ass pep talk, she reminded me of Erwin before he led the scouts out on what would be their suicide mission except she didn't stay to see the outcome or participate in it. Vermithor saw an opportunity for a buffet and took it, Hugh claimed him. Fuckin cinema. Still gonna hate his bitchass but I can't lie that was badass. SilverWing was bullying Ulf. Why do people I hate always win sometimes?! Ulf literally failed upwards. Can't be mad at it. I mean if I was a dragon I would've done the same shit. How dare mediocre specimens come before me who is essentially the next best thing after the Gods!

We got Rhaenyra speaking High Valyrian. She had her dragon squad quit on her though and gave her a warning (foreshadowing). Her also being able to calm Vermithor, that's the Dragon Queen of her era y'all. We saw a little movement with her and her protective spoiled cat Syrax too 😍.

Not people hating on Jace now. Listen that argument has been brewing since season 1. He just finally let it out of his brooding body. I don't think many people understand the implications that argument meant. He sounded classist and maybe he was, highly doubt he is but he's being realistic and in the future he was proven right (unless they scrap the book canon). Rhaenyra paralleled Viserys in that entire scene. She really is her father's child in some ways. She did to Jace what Viserys essentially did to her. The one thing that could've upheld his ascension to the throne was him having a dragon and she essentially gave a free pass to anybody to do the same, the same thing was done to Rhaenyra when Viserys decided to marry Alicent and sire more children when he knew damn well that if he had a son, her claim to the throne would've been compromised. Jace knows he's a “bastard”, a legitimate one but a “bastard” ntl (I'm not calling him a bastard in a derogatory sense either, he isn't. Laenor claimed them as his sons and that's the end of it to me) , it shouldn't matter considering the throne is not passing from his father's side but his mother's. Sure his last name would've changed the minute he was named heir and ascended as stated by Viserys but what weight does that hold now? They briefly touched on it when he spoke to Baela about his fathers but he had always been insecure about his parentage. No he didn't call his mother a whore, he's been fighting that battle all his life, she just made it worse. In the dire situation they're in, the sacrifice had to be made but I could understand why he's angry and hurt over it again. She literally just made him illegitimate in the eyes of the realm. His anger is valid. Was his tone harsh yes, try dealing with the whispers and the jeers and everything else for the past 16 years of your entire life and seeing the same proof of what everybody else sees everyday and tell me that you wouldn't hold some kind of resentment towards it. I liked how Rhaenyra was patient with him though, just wished it wasn't as rushed as the scene felt.

The last shot of the episode was fuckin brilliant. Aemond turning his bitchass around knowing he can't handle that kinda pressure. Also Vhagar and Aemond's bond may not be as strong as it should be. She clearly does not listen to him sometimes. He's still responsible for Lucerys death IDC what y'all got to say. The episode got a 4/5 stars from me just for the dragons. I'm here for Jace, Baela, Addam and the Dragons!

Until next week guys for the finale. We're going to see Tessarion and Sheepstealer next week. I'm so excited.