#part of me wants to refine them into actual shorts too

[anneangel]

Tolkien said that one of the things he didn't like about LotR was that the book was too short.

In a way I agree with him, because I found the ending so rushed [others always say "that evil" is destroyed in the middle of the book and everything after is just an long epilogue] and yet I found it rushed. And I wanted a lot of the appendices to be narrated chapters, it was interesting to see what the lives of each member of the Fellowship were like in the appendices, but I wanted chapters about.

And I would also like to have seen, narrated chapters, of the Battle of Dale, with Brand (Son of Bain, son of Bard) and Dáin fighting three days against enemy armies and dying. I wish had read a narrative of Thranduill and Celeborn uniting in Mirkwood and destroying Dul Guldur once and for all, and then dividing the region between them. When LotR informs that the others would not come to battle because they already had war at their gates, I wanted the plot to split to show this in other parts.

A better development of the romance between some characters would also be interesting, the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen already makes me cry every time I read it, but I feel like it would be more interesting as a narrative than an appendix. If their marriage went on for another 100 pages I wouldn't mind. And I would like Arwen and Elrond's conversations not to be just subtext.

Faramir and Éowyn, I really love them as a couple, but I think more pages dedicated to their romance would also be interesting. Sam and Rose? I would have liked it more if we had more mentions of the girl throughout the journey, if Sam mentioned her more often throughout the plot, so maybe the end wouldn't seem so sudden. When I say that don't like the development of the "love pairings" in LotR, it's not that I don't like the characters or the ships, but that the narrative wasn't enough for me. Don't get me wrong, I love LotR. But I wanted there to be more to be "narrated" than "told" or "implied" or "pointed out in the appendices."

Yes, I also thought the book was too short. There is a lot between the lines that could come to light more. It could have been another thousand pages. And perhaps it still wasn't enough. How could anyone think that LotR is a very long book?

Maybe that's the problem with Tolkien creating such a complex Universe with such interesting characters: no matter how long the book was, it would never be enough. Because as a fan, I would always want more and more of it. More immersion at all points. Is it always like this with authors who create universes that seem so incredible to read? And when it's gone, it's not enough to fill the void.

And all the posthumous books, like The Silmarillion, or Unfinished Tales (and others), with the tone of "organized drafts" and "told" instead of narrated most of the time, weren't enough for me. I still wanted so much more. And I never will have it. Don't get me wrong, I liked the posthumous books, I think Christopher Tolkien did a good work. But still, when reading, I always asked myself "if this had been published by Tolkien during his lifetime, would it have been like this? What would he have changed yet? What would he have more refined?".

Because, as much as other fans like to see posthumous books as a "canonical" part of the work, like complements. I can only see as unfinished drafts, which it truly are. No matter how well organized are, even The Silmarillion is just a draft organized in the best way, Christopher T says this.

The letters don't count for me either, because Tolkien changed his mind about several things, just like in the drafts.

So I feel that, although the Tolkien Universe is vast, there are a lot of drafts and letters, and little work is actually completed. I liked the posthumous books and the fact that they expanded the universe even further and provided more information. But it becomes a “vicious cycle”, as the information contained there also brings more desire for it be narrated by Tolkien himself in an book he finished (but will never be! Unfortunately).

And that saddens me. Because I wanted so much more. And Tolkien didn't live long enough to give it. In the end, it's a mix of happiness for what Tolkien gave, and sadness for what he still could have given.

[kimbureh]

idk man, online fandom is just not the place for me.

"reblog my art/writing!!!11" "I'll block people who only like my stuff but don't reblog"

this is so intense. I have zero interest in talking to people who are trying to bully me into promoting them. It's as if people are saying:

"If you don't comment on people's fanwork, fandom will die because of you, specifically"

I get it, attention is nice. I'm a creator too. And it's true that current social media isn't conducive of creating and maintaining communities. But you don't build a community with aggression against your own audience.

I don't wanna hang out with people who yell at me about how they don't get enough attention. You're blaming the audience when the real problem goes way, way deeper, and this behavior of prioritizing content promotion over actual human connection is actually part of the issue. Urging people to reblog your stuff may grant you exposure, but it sure doesn't make you any friendships, at least not mine.

-

A few years back, I wanted to refine my comedic writing and started a whacky Fallout 4 blog long after the fandom had seen its peak. I knew there wouldn't be a large audience, but I wanted to see what would happen. Long story short, I regularly invited my followers to send asks I would answer in-character, and honestly had so much fun. I never bullied my audience for only liking and not reblogging. To the contrary; I respect my audience and their prerogative to decide for themselves what they do want to share on their blogs and what they don't. It's *their* blogs. I cannot grasp the audacity of some creators to demand space on people's personal blogs. I really can't.

I only had the Fallout blog for like 8 months and got more audience attention than I could deal with at times. I had such a blast, getting asks, replying to them, building in-jokes with my followers. I ended the blog with a small event and was met with a flood of lovely comments and good-byes. Today, four years later, I post on that blog maybe one or two times a year. And even though most of my followers unfollowed me when I ended the blog, I still get the occasional lovely comment. After four years, people still remember the great time we had.

Good thing I didn't block all those wonderful people who mainly liked but didn't reblog. Word got around nonetheless. I found the audience I was looking for. Dunno if I would have had the same relaxed experience with a crowd who was bullied into the interaction.

-

idk, man. What is online fandom?

I don't like how we treat each other. Fandom is not a marketplace. I am not selling myself or my creations, I want to treat you better than a simple customer. At its heart, fandom is a gift economy. You don't owe me a thing. If you don't want to give freely, I won't take it with force. I respect you and myself too much for that.

I think we can still find our people in fandom, without exploiting our audience as market-criers.

[magistralucis]

what happens in the sanctum stays in the sanctum... maybe 😳 [Trazyn/Orikan snippet]

(Excerpt from the second chapter of Viridian. Simple and straightforward, two lovers getting down to business after thousands of words of foreplay. Chapter is mostly done; I've not been very well recently so progress is slow, but we're getting there.

Literally nothing about this snippet is SFW. Please be mindful reading 😆)

-----------

In hindsight, the Way had not been his finest choice in life as an oracle; when Orikan broke his vow he suffered little as a result, but he truly hadn't sworn it with the intent of breaking it. He had looked out for himself, he had tried to be indifferent. But fast-forward two decades and Orikan was regularly making love to an overlord, guiding his hot flesh inside his body until the lord was begging to spend, so suffice to say that part of his life plan had been nixed for good. Oh, the soul's ironies, the curious twists of fate.

"Trazyn…"

As soon as the archivist was made comfortable Orikan fell upon him again with kisses, his lips roaming from throat to lip to forehead. Trazyn's hair was most exquisitely mussed about the temples and he kissed that too, nigh clutching the lord's head to his chest. By this point Orikan's inner robes were barely hanging on from his shoulders, and he laughed breathlessly as Trazyn rifled and sucked his bare bosoms, leaving the tips glistening when he finally pulled away. "The lord archivist asks me to take a seat." He said, panting slightly as he felt how firm and keen Trazyn was beneath his hand. "Shall I take you now, then? Should I lead on?"

"Yes, do." Trazyn's eyes were fair glazed with lust. His index traced the metagold glyphs on Orikan's chest, toying with the hardened tip of one nipple. "You can do anything you like with me, dear one."

A smile quirked the astromancer's lips. "A dangerous thing to say to a cryptek, my lord, you'd risk anything?"

Trazyn nodded, too short of breath to speak. Orikan bent down to kiss him again, linking the fingers of both their hands and gently pinning Trazyn in place. He was just raising his hips to get into position when he spotted a slip of cloth trailing from his pocket - Trazyn's blindfold, quite forgotten since they'd stepped foot into the sanctum - and a refined desire bloomed in his heart. "Allow me."

He gently guided the overlord's wrists above his head. "Now what's this?" Trazyn laughed muzzily, glancing upwards as Orikan began to bind his wrists with the cloth. The posture made him arch his back further, his robes sliding from his chest and accentuating the hollow of his sternum. "Keep my hands to myself, I see. Have I been too eager, little one, is this a punishment?"

"You made a promise and I hold you to it." Orikan deadpanned, though his eyes glittered with mischief: the knot was so loose that Trazyn could escape it with a tug, they both knew it was just play. His fingers paced slowly down the dip of Trazyn's chest. "No, it's not. You've been very good, actually, I didn't think you'd hold out for so long."

Trazyn puffed out a laugh. Oh, ye of little faith. He held back the faintest moan as Orikan's hand slid down past his belly, stopping just short of his quivering arousal. "There's one thing in this sanctum more precious than anything else inside it, and he already belongs to me. Why would I stray to anything else?"

Orikan felt a great tenderness overtake him. "Trazyn."

There was no reason to delay any longer. The Diviner moored a knee beside each of Trazyn's thighs to straddle him, then sat back to show off his sex, parted like a seashell and glistening. Primal heat radiated from it, his small opening clenching and unclenching with anticipation. Trazyn blushed and struggled weakly against his bonds, wanting to caress the taut muscles of Orikan's thighs. They were his only Immortals' inheritance, but how lovely and powerful they were, how well he wrestled with them indeed. "Orikan, sweet Orikan. Pray have mercy on an old man."

"Not that old." Orikan coaxed as he slid himself slowly over the erection, his juices slicking it in slow hot drips. (They had a slew of other lubricating products - scented oils, warming balms, salves to tighten or loosen as desired - but they never actually remembered to use them, so easy they were to arouse.) The nether lips brushed against the leaking tip in a kiss, paused to let their fluids mingle; Orikan then grasped the arousal and guided it to his entrance, and embraced it with a steady plunge, savouring the lord's heated moan as they were finally united. "Oh, oh."

Trazyn normally liked to take his time with this part, nudging the tip of his member again and again between Orikan's lips and smiling leisurely at the other's frustration. Oh, how the tables were turned, and how sweetly did the overlord sigh, breathless and languorous and luxuriant. "Darling."

They had missed this so terribly.

[veintrry]

TAINT THIS PAPER WITH LOVE

writer!kunikuzushi x gn!reader, fluff, romance, love letter, nervous kuni bcs feelings.

part one (wink wink)

an: RAHHHHHHHH

Writing was something that had come so easily to Kuni, till he had to write a letter that would appeal to you. When did this pen feel so awkward in-between his fingers? And just when did these string of words he wrote sound so foreign to him... Love isn't easy to express.

Kunikuzushi doesn't think he has ever felt so uncomfortable at his desk, staring at a blank paper, blinking in hopes it would write itself with heart melting words that would make you grin. Yet, that never happens.

He lets out an exasperated sigh. This was far worse than some writers block. The words- Well, the feelings were so easy to sense, but to put them down on paper? It seemed like an impossible task. Folding over, he groans into his hand as his elbow stays rested on the dark wood of the desk, it's polish still refined.

Why did he have to give himself such a short time period too? A day, just a day. No, not even 24 hours, way less. He picks up the pen again, his thumb on the top as he repeatedly pushes it down letting the sound fill the room as he thinks. Just let your mind wander...

And it does. Like it always does, his thoughts trail back to you. Not actual words or things that may describe you but visual images of you or at least the vague image of you. He didn't care before but much to his dislike his ability to visualise things isn't as potent as he'd like. Yet, he still can see fragments, the lines of your smile, the depth of your eyes and the way you move. There were smaller details he took note of, the shape of your ear, the style of your hair and the state of your nails.

He wishes he could just translate this onto paper.

There was a gentleness he felt with you when he wasn't freaking out about these emotions. There was a calm that he absorbs but he fears at the same time, worrying there was a storm arriving and he'd be the cause of it. But, asking you to come again tomorrow, that was a ray of light from the gloomy clouds, it sprouted hope. Maybe. Just maybe. There is no storm.

He lets his head fall back, staring at the ceiling pointlessly before sighing. He's being doing that a lot lately.

...Technically, this wouldn't be his first time addressing a letter towards you, though the past times he's done it he was unaware of the fact you'd be receiving it. Maybe, he could try to do the same? Just harbour the same emotions, Kuni. Don't think, just write.

If you were in front of me, what would I want to say?

_

Familiar bells jingle, declaring the entrance of someone new and each time he hears the sound his eyes shoot up. He can't tell if he's anticipating your arrival in excitement or fear. Whichever one it is, he knows that one thing for sure is that he feels nervous. Insanely so, that he barely can keep himself occupied writing others letters.

He thought actually finishing the letter was bad, but waiting to give it to you is even worse. So. Much. Worse.

He's beginning to think his chest is going to explode from the anxiety. Though, there is some joy to it, as if he is looking forward to your expression.

Biting his bottom lip, he rests his chin on the palm of his hand, almost daydreaming about it. Surely, your reaction will be positive? Your past letters were from him on purpose so you'll like this. What if it's a lukewarm reception? What if he doesn't make you understand how he feels and the words he had repeated a multitude of times and the phrases he's crafted a thousand times don't work? There's a million thoughts in his minds and none of them are reassuring. He can feel his stomach being stirred like a cauldron of the worse concoctions and it's making him sick.

Till the bell rings.

Would you think it's weird if he ever told you that he began to recognise your footsteps? He'll keep that to himself. A hand is placed gently on the envelope holding his feelings, though the fingers that wrap around the folds are almost possessive, unsure if they should allow this letter to be given away. Unsure if he should offer his emotions just to get shot down. Yeah, maybe this is a bad idea and he should just-

Two knocks resound from beside him, he turns to you, your hand above his desk as your finger taps the wood.

"I'm here."

You're smiling.

Curse this world.

"You took your time." My tone comes out dry, almost scolding in a way. You give me a sheepish smile. "I didn't want to seem too eager." So in turn he was the one made to do so when he had been waiting for you impatiently.

He simply gives you a hum of acknowledgment, then sits there for a while. You don't move, awaiting to be given your letter but he doesn't seem to budge. A hesitant voice comes out, "Uhm, Kuni?" Archons, how he cherished the sound of his name rolling off your tongue. Indigo eyes spare you a glance, encouraging you to continue. "The letter...?" Would it be stupid to say he hoped you forgot.

"The letter. Right, right..."

Despite his words he seems to hesitate before finally letting out a deep breath as his hand reaches to the storage below the desk and pulls out a perfectly folded envelope. He turns his head away, just slightly, handing it to you wordlessly and without a glance spared towards you.

On the other hand, you were left admiring the envelope. It was nothing special, yet the contents of it were.

You take it excitedly, the pads of your thumb and index rppessed against the smooth texture of it. Your hand moves and your fingers begin to open it. This catches his attention. He quickly turns to you with an expression of disbelief and a hint of redness on his ears. "You're going to open it here?! At least open it outside of the store..."

You tilt your head slightly, "Why?" You continue speaking, conveying your reason, "It's better if I do it in front of you, right? That way you can get my honest reaction." The tone you speak in is somewhat teasing as though to say that this is a way of seeing just how well he did.

He opens his mouth, attempting to rebuttal, though all that comes out are incoherent noises, earning a chuckle from you. A defeated sigh leaves his mouth and he turns away once more, his other hand waving you off as in to quickly open it already and you oblige with ease.

The next few minutes are silent. Sure, there was the slight rustling of papers when the wind of the turning fan met them and the sounds of breathing, but it almost blended into the background as you read his letter...

"Dear moron,

I love you.

I wanted to get that out of the way, just to make this clear. Writing this or at least, trying to, has been a hindrance. I keep trying to form words I think you'd like. I keep trying to make this appealing to you, but just what do you like? I know you have a rather odd way of thinking, I know your taste in books and I know that you're dense. Immensely so. Maybe I am too. I also know you like me. If I'm right, which I don't doubt I am considering your little trick with those letters... I'm free after this.

Yours truly,

Kuni. (ps. turn the paper around, loser.)"

And you do so, you do just that and turn the letter around to where you find more writing, this time lengthier and clearly written with a different intent. Your words glaze over each word, intaking the tone and you swear you can almost hear it. You peek over the letter gazing at the violet-haired man but hiss face is turned away yet, the corner of your lips quirk up seeing the red of his ears.

It feels like you're taking a century to read what he wrote, he had stolen a few glances but the moment you turn the letter he fully committed to averting his gaze, a hand to his mouth as he muttered curses, his mind flooded with what the hell you could be thinking right now.

Two knocks sound out, you've tapped his desk again. As he is about to turn around there's a warm blow of air at his ears and he feels his ears rumble at just the proximity of your breath. "You're really forward." He couldn't tell if you were being sarcastic or not but that was the last thing on his mind as he finally faces you, seeing so close to him. He doesn't think you've ever worn such an expression before. If anyone else was looking they'd think you were up to no good and he'd have to agree, though, he can tell there's some glee in your eyes. "I could say the same for you... Then, is that a yes?"

"No." He swears he feels his heart sink.

"It's a definite yes."

Kuni begins to regret ever giving you that letter, "You jest too much." You let out a sound of agreement, "Yeah, but you don't seem to dislike it." Taunting. How fitting of you.

Though, he can't help but focus on the fact that you actually agreed to this... especially when you're donning such a prideful appearance too. Even if you're teasing him more than you ought to, he doesn't mind, in fact, he thinks he likes it. It just means he's closer to you now. "I don't. It means you really like me. Don't you?" There's a moments hesitation from you as you observe the change on his demeanour, a playful smirk on his lips as his eyes glimmer with a certain amusement. Earning a gentle nod from you, you reaffirm his words.

"I do."

back contents of the letter;

"Sometimes I believe you're killing me just by merely being around me. It feels as though you're making me go through torture each time you let me catch a glimpse of you. I begin to think that you must be driving me insane because there's no other way I can explain this. But, you're divine. To me, you are everything and more. I don't think I could ever put into words the way I honour you, that smile of yours, your voice that puts my thoughts to a halt and has me anticipating the next time I'll get to hear you.

I wish I was closer to you, as close as I can be. I wish to express my love easier, to tell you it how it is without worrying about you'll take it. Tell me, is the only way to explain how I feel sappy words and deep analogies? You like me, right. You have letters from me. But they're different from this. This is truly from me. My words aren't sophisticated or smart, they don't pierce your heart at my ability to deduce what you want to hear. This is a mess, uncollected and disorganised. Yet, I don't want to sell you a fantasy. My love for you is a frenzy, much like the one you set my heart on, so I won't pretend to be tame. I want you, I love you. That's how it is, and I intend to devote myself to proving that to you it I must, because when I tell you that I like you it's not just an overused phrase but the closest way I can tell you how I feel even if it only shows an inkling of it.

Maybe I'm not right for you. But I want to be."

[e-s-willswriting]

So, You've Seen a Bad Play: An Essay

Yesterday I went to see a show.

It was a student production my friend was involved in. I’ve seen student productions in the past and overall, I have been very impressed with them. They’re a showcase for budding talent and intriguing ideas, even if aspects need to be refined. I can’t say any of the shows I’ve seen are bad (all that comes to mind was a production of Measure for Measure, but it was simply that I hadn’t studied the text itself. The production was great and had intriguing fight choreography).

Part of me felt I would do an actual review of the thing, but for the sake of privacy for those involved, I felt I’d rather not. But I still wanted to discuss it, nonetheless.

It was a small-scale production by someone who was not from an Arts and Humanities background, but a medical sciences background. I really respect when artists incorporate their studies and careers, even those unrelated to creative fields, into their work. In my student workshops I’d read one text about a pilot written by someone who was a trainee pilot, and another time I’d read a book that, even if I didn’t like the text, I loved the details that came from the writer being an archivist and imbuing that into the text. It adds a real richness to those aspects that can only be gained from hands on experience, and I love that. I feared that the work I was going to see might be too technical, that aspects may go over my head, but I hoped to go in and appreciate it even if I didn’t fully get it.

I didn’t get it.

But not for those reasons.

Let me set the scene. I’m sat in the back row on pretty standard fold-up chairs with limited visibility due to those in the front two rows, sipping a complimentary cider that came with the ticket I paid for (much needed). Tiny studio room. The writer gets up, only gives an epilepsy warning and promptly sits back down. I make a mental note of how unceremonious of a welcome that is, if you could call it one, but pass it off. Play begins.

In short, the next hour was an incredibly poorly written production. Character arcs were non-existent, things would be introduced then promptly dropped, they wanted to deal with too many environmental and political messages for an hour runtime and all of them fell flat, scenes were poorly established, and the messaging felt non-existent.

But it’s not like I can’t praise aspects of the show. The actors hard carried the production despite the abysmal script they had to work with. If I saw them in another production, I’m sure they could absolutely kill it. And there were interesting things that could have worked if fully incorporated. There was a musical accompaniment for one (1) scene that was very well done and pleasant to listen to and then she just sat in the corner quietly for the rest of the show not to be used again (like multiple aspects of the script, established and ditched). There was a cool little red beep under one of the characters’ tops to act as their heart. They really tried to do things with what little they had.

As a creative, it feels weird to be a critic. Especially one to a student production. I'm always having to clarify that I understand that making stuff is hard because I do it too. Perhaps I'm only harsh because I'm affirming to myself what I want to see out of my own works. I see a thing, I think ‘this could have been better’. and I think about how I'd apply those lessons to my works. It only comes from a deep love for the medium that my critiques are harsh. I’ll always look for good, even in things I don’t like (even if it’s just ‘I think the concept is cool’) because there’s very few things that are wholly bad. Hell, some terrible things can at least be entertaining, which I don’t deny this production was (if not for the reasons it intended). I am a firm believer that one of the worst things a story can be is boring.

I’m particularly harsh on this production because I sincerely believe it was AI-generated.

What doesn’t help is the show all but confirmed it, with an almost 5 minute long in-universe advert for a hospital. Multiple AI voices (man 1 to woman 2) saying effectively the same thing. All it served was to establish setting.

Here’s roughly how I would have done it, in about 30 seconds:

A man walks out in a white coat. He puts on blue gloves and a face mask, and hurriedly walks off stage as CHARACTER A walks on, nervously pacing the hall of the hospital.

There. Done.

Could my friend have told me it was AI-generated?  Sure. Thing is, they didn’t know for certain, only that they were paid to work in it (thank God) but thus under contractual obligation to finish the production for pay (they’re a uni student, any money’s good!) And by the time they’d told us to get tickets, they’d come to realize just how bad it would be, and it was too late at that point (student productions can be under tight time constraints).

Thing is, I believe one of the core issues of AI is consent, or lack thereof. I believe that as a consumer, I should have had the right to know what content was involved in this production, and it was up to the production itself to disclose that. Just as people deserve to know any potential content warnings and epilepsy warnings for a show and to make the educated choice to engage with that material as a consumer, I think they also deserve to know if a production uses (or is entirely made with) AI.

Sure it's not going to harm them if they're seeing it, but don't they deserve to know? Because what if next door, there's a small self-produced play written by humans that could change their lives and speak to their souls? Don't they deserve to know that it was made by a person, honestly produced by them?

Little on the webpage communicated that it was AI generated, and the text only appears as such now after I’ve seen the play. If I had known the play used AI, and seemingly was entirely written in it, I would have not paid to see this show. Simple as. I want to support shows written by people.

But now I must grapple with the fact that I paid money to see something made with a tool I have extreme ethical complaints against as an artist and consumer. I have seen one 15-minute play (Caryl Churchill’s What If If Only, a quarter of the runtime) and a free production by Mamoru Iriguchi (What You See/What You Don’t See) and I would much rather have paid the ticket price for those shows which I absolutely loved, than to have seen this seemingly AI production once.

And I think that’s why I wanted to write this blogpost. To remind people that as consumers, we deserve to know if a production uses AI machine learning software. We deserve informed choices. AI probably won't leave anytime soon and might significantly help certain sectors, but right now it’s a wild west and often not used for these purposes to sincerely help people and provide accurate information. And there are those that assume that it democratizes the writing process. On the surface, yes. My mum could put in a prompt and get a script. But the love of labour? No. Not now, not ever. AI devalues artistic processes, and it's insulting to a medium that's withstood all of human history to effectively be told that a robot can recreate it.

But no, it can't replicate heart. It can't replicate real human experience.

In a strange way, seeing this production is somewhat affirming. I struggle with writing. Sometimes it’s just the act of getting up to write after a long day or a late night. Other days it’s harder stages (editing for example). At some points it’s having the ideas and having little way to communicate them. At times it’s just the isolation of it all and the compulsion to just scroll through my phone- I’ve written best when I’m working with others at times, even if those people aren’t writers!

Writing for me has been a struggle, and it’s a struggle I’m still overcoming. I’m still discovering who I am as a writer, what works for me, what stuff I want to produce. And there’s those times when I manage a good session, or an idea burns in me like fuel, or I make people’s eyes light up with the stuff I’m producing. That’s when I know the reasons I struggle. It’s because I can’t suppress the urge to make stuff, and I don’t want to live a life I’d regret in not at least trying to make cool things.

I’ll probably make bad things. First drafts and such that aren’t good. I’ve made bad things in the past, absolutely!

But I chose that struggle.

And if this play can exist and be produced, then the only thing really holding me back is myself. Seeing things like this galvanizes me to push on and make the things I care about.

And I will them with my own hands.

[sleeplesssmoll]

Thank you for replying so fast! It’s really interesting that Vertin really did make such a gamble. Speaking of which, what is with the two moons? Is that the Storm Syndrome of the era? How is it related to the pop art thing we see happen?

Full disclosure before this: I adore Vernetto and I’m very much writing from the perspective of Vernetto Real, haha. So: I feel like Vertin and Sonetto’s relationship changes quite a bit throughout the story. In chapter 3, Vertin is the one who pursues Sonetto, but the dynamic is reversed (ha) later on. I often feel like Vertin has trouble identifying her own emotions regarding other people, and it makes me wonder if maybe she had a crush on Sonetto without realizing it when they were kids, giving her all sorts of things in an attempt to bond with her. It didn’t really work because Sonetto was so scared of anything from the outside, despite her natural curiosity. Then the breakaway happened, there was no chance for things to progress, and Vertin “moved on”.

I feel like it breaks Vertin’s heart to see Sonetto shut down her natural curiosity and interest in the outside world due to the Foundation’s indoctrination, but at the same time, Vertin doesn’t want to force her to change her views. Instead I think she is incredibly supportive and proud of Sonetto whenever she makes strides in the direction of independence. And of course she’s always happy to enable Sonetto when she wants to try things (I really cannot imagine a world where Vertin turned down Sonetto’s cheek kissing practice or bridge invitation!).

Also, do we know if the prologue is the first time Vertin and Sonetto have met each other since the breakaway, or if they’ve seen each other in between? Things like Sonetto’s birthday letter would maybe imply that it’s not the first time, right?

I want to know the last bit as much as you 😂 I'm assuming they stayed in touch but there isn't much to go off of. I really want to know what happened between the break away event and the intro.

Sonetto, how did you get from "damn it Vertin" to this puppy? Also, despite Sonetto scolding Vertin, she will still accept the gifts and never outright ignores her. If Vertin calls, she'll answer and I think that says something about her too.

Vertin once mentioned to Madam Z she knew she could depend on her because on that night long ago, she saw that madam z was not part of Constantine's game by the look in her eyes. She also doesn't force people to make choices they really don't want. For example, she gives Regulus options in the Suitcase after everything as proof of this. Like if Regulus wanted, she could have joined the Foundation which would make sense considering the whole experiment thing but they really are alike so that didn't happen. She stayed.

Going off of this, I think Vertin has high emotional intelligence but doesn't necessarily know the correct action to take. Especially since they were kids back then. Maybe she saw that curious spark Sonetto displays now and wanted to fuel it, hoping to bond over shared interests? Her perception is highlighted throughout the story. Perhaps she knew Sonetto doesn't actually hate her despite her frustrations? Gremlin energy. You love and you hate them.

As for the Storm Syndrome, yes I think the moons were a side effect of the Storm but I couldn't tell you exactly what it represented 🤔

From a shipping perspective, I l'm happy with any content with Vertin in it lol. As for the analysis of shipping dynamics, I like comparing opposite dynamics since it helps me refine the point I'm trying to make. On this case, it'd be Schneider.

While seeing Schneider's effect on Vertin is straightforward, Sonetto's true influence stood out to me when I backtracked.

From the moment they met, Schneider is described with a sort of romantic or pretty language. From her face to her scent, she's directly described in a delicate but deadly light. It really feels like she made a shift in Vertin's world in the short time they knew each other.

The context she thinks about Sonetto isn't highlighted with the same romanticism she applies to Schneieder, but she constantly appears in Vertin's thoughts. In Sonetto's case it's the small things that Vertin's always noticed but never forgets. Sonetto lives in her head rent free from her dreams (artificial somnambulism) to memories from their days as children.

From all the way back in the intro, Vertin makes references to their school days when she meets Sonetto. Like the way Sonetto looks up at the sky and takes a deep breath before combat or the determined expression is the same kind she makes before an exam. While Schneider made a huge impact in a moment, Sonetto's presence quietly persisted in her mind for a long time.

In simpler terms:

Schneider was the one who shook her world.

Sonetto is her Roman Empire.

I might have more dynamics to work with in the future and this is subject to change as the character develop but I hope this is useful for your story! Good luck! 👍

[flamerunn3r]

Ok making this as a new post bc I adjusted a couple of minor things on these. In the order I drew them in, heres the great p5u au design post finalized after working on these on and off for like 5 months

This is my own personal interpretations but is also somewhat speculative in nature. I'm mostly trying to use already established characterizations and arena epilogue set ups as a branching off point but there might be stuff I've missed or forgotten (i also haven't played dancing yet sorry if there's something in there I hadn't accounted for). This is kind of like if I took the creative reigns on the story where I'd continue with it. Only the investigation team for now but maybe I'll do the shadow ops at some point.

Yu Narukami

He's currently either attending school as a journalism student in the city or just starting out as one. Enthusiastic about his field but still tries to find the time to keep up with his friends and visit Inaba when he's free. I felt journalism made alot of sense for him with the themes of persona 4. I liked the sport jacket and turtleneck but wanted something different so the scarf was chosen to keep the same kind of silhouette. I made the collar on the winter coat large and I feel like Narukami's large uniform collar is a key part of his design. and I wanted to call back to that in his casual outfit. The summer outfit I kept close to his summer outfit from p4. I mostly wanted to keep his outfits smart and simple. For his meta verse outfit I really wanted to go all out with the bancho (kingpin) stuff and other delinquent tropes. I lengthened the uniform coat a little because I wanted it to look like a tokko-fuku. Alot of smaller detail inspiration was taken from Izanagi. The lenses in the mask are supposed to mimic glasses. I'd imagine he'd take off the mask the same way he throws off his glasses at the end of P4.

Teddie

I can't imagine him leaving Inaba and the TV world behind. Still staying in Inaba and working largely the same job. He's got his own place now albeit small (still a step up from the closet though). At some point the IT asked Mitsuru to pull some strings so he actually has a legal personhood now. The animal hoodie is something that came to me spontaneously but I knew I needed to include it. I really that his normal outfit in 4 keeps the white and red of the bear costume in the outfit so I tried to keep the colour scheme here too. Most of his later outfits are less flashy and more casual so I tried to continue that trend. I didn't want to lose the rose from the corsage completely so I included a rose pattern in the second shirt. Alot of his outfits feature light blue so I wanted to feature that. (I considered making the hoodie light blue initially) I don't think he'd have a metaverse outfit he'd just use the bear costume.

Naoto Shirogane

I'm under the assumption Naoto is still presenting masculinely to the general public as of p5 but I may be mistaken. (If I'm wrong I'd still probably largely keep the outfits largely similar to this.) Naoto's still working as a detective and I don't think that's ever really going to change. One thing that a hypothetical p5u would have to address is what Naoto and the shadow ops would have been doing during the events of persona 5 but I haven't worked that out yet

I feel alot of the appeal of Naoto's design is the kind of boy detective fashion. I went at this design with the intention of kind of refining that into something a little more adult while still keeping in a similar vein. I did have to ditch the pageboy hat unfortunately as I felt it made them look too young. These outfits were kind of designed as pseudo work clothes which is why I tried to make them a bit more formal. Something I consider notable about Naoto's design that I deliberately avoided here was the rolled up pant legs. It's very obvious in 4 it's done because Naoto is short but I feel like Naoto would start getting that either custom made or tailored to fit. I was initially going to forgo the blazer on the summer outfit but the design felt empty without it. Naoto having a noir detective themed metaverse outfit is an idea I'd had for years but I tried to incorporate design elements that were princely. I alot of the inspiration was from Sam Spade specifically. Deliberately made similarities to Akechi's white crow design. The band around the hat is supposed to invoke the similar one on the old page boy hat.

Yukiko Amagi

Still working at her families in but is taking online schooling during the less busy seasons. She's mostly happy where she is but is keeping her options open. Occasionally makes visits to other ryokans out of town for ideas for her families own inn, as well as an opportunity to for her to sight-see.

The headband was included in her design in p4 as a like retro design thing but I find it too important of a marker of her design to remove it. I understand the why they went with the hairstyle they did for her golden epilogue but I feel it just ends up making her look way older then she is. I thought her having her hair up would be a nice change since she does it so rarely and settled on a ponytail. Tried changing the bangs but the ones she already had just felt right. I wanted her clothes to carry this kind of air of sophistication so I tried to keep them relatively simple and sleek. She's wearing pants in the winter outfit but I chose the longer coat to keep a similar skirt silhouette. The choker was largely inspired by the scarf she has in her winter outfit. Despite being a different colour the cardigan was also chosen to tie back somewhat to the sweater she wears with her school uniform.

In some side material it's mentioned that Yukiko has an interest in western fashion and aesthetics (part of what made the castle manifest the way it did) and I wanted to lean on that in some way for her metaverse design. I ended up going with a masquerade ball theme. I tried to keep the dress to something simple and easy to move in. The gloves and boots take inspiration from her persona in terms of design and size. I wanted to incorporate elements from her work kimono as well hence the ribbon around the torso and flower patterning. Probably the most unsure of this one of the metaverse designs so far. Especially the colours (considered making the reds pinks initially). Might revisit this one.

Rise Kujikawa

Canonically still making music as an idol as of p5. She thankfully has a little more time to herself now then she did at the height of her popularity but shes still enjoying herself and her career.

I really liked her epilogue design having her hair down because it feels alot more relaxed. I feel she probably stop wearing the pigtails as regularly outside of work as time goes on. I went for a more casual relaxed style for her in for her general casual wear, but I still wanted a kind of cute vibe.

Wanted her to have two metaverse outfits mostly because I wanted her to have this little magical girl transformation thing when she fights. But I also think it kind of emphasizes her thing in arena with Himiko about having different sides of herself. Tried to keep them visually similar. General coloursheme of these were inspired by the album cover she has in p5 bc I really liked the kind of more mature vibe to it then weve been shown with her previous idol stuff.

Himiko kind of has this like emphasis on a lack of mobility with the mermaid dress so I ended up using this with Rise as well bc I thought it would be fitting for a navigator. I based the battle outfit mostly on her idol oufits from the anime and DaN. I was really unsure the direction to go with for the mask but I wanted it to be two-toned to emphasize the multiple faces thing again and I like what I ended up with.

Yosuke Hanamura

Studying in the city and struggling to juggle college and a part time job. I'm unsure on what he'd major in but he's paying his own way through college. He's working at either a Junes branch or a Triple Seven or something. I think he's rooming with someone in a rented apartment currently (either Narukami or someone outside the IT. Leaning towards the latter)

I'm trying to go for outfits that are like flashy but still pretty casual and I think I did an alright job. Darker colour pallete in his outfits here then the p4 ones but I think it works. The headphones being wireless was an immediate obvious design choice I thought of as a way to show the difference in time period (sounds weird to talk about it like that since its like 5 years difference but it is what it is/)

I went for this kind of tropey ninja/super hero thing with his metaverse outfit. The primarily black colour was something I also chose for this reason. The tools on the belt are also kind of typical in this regard. The headphones were something I felt was integral to his design so I had to include them. Charge suggested the googles as a mask idea and I think it works really well.

Kanji Tatsumi

Continuing the family business as well as expanding to sell his work online. Generally doing fairly well for himself, rightfully confident in his work. I feel like he's probably tried out a few things when it comes to his personal style before settling where he is now. Has gone back and forth quite a few times on his hair but eventually decided on keeping in black.

Going to be honest I sketched this out after Naoto's but ended up psyching myself out of working on it for a while. Anyway I went at this with this kind of idea of trying to like soften the though guy aspect of Kanji's appearance without losing them. I did try out a couple of other hairstyles but I couldn't come up with something else that felt right.

The Metaverse Design was initially going to have more samurai inspiration but it ended up only coming through with the mask in the end. Deliberately harkening back to his initial design with this but I feel like it's warrented because Kanji's fashion in 4 is as much a facade to keep people away as it is just his own personal taste.

Chie Satonaka

Still pursuing police work around the Yasoinaba area. I think all the IT are signed on with the Shadow Operatives in case of emergency but Chie is more actively involved with the Operatives then the rest of the IT as she actively asks and tries to be. Still talks to Akihiko fairly regularly as well (mostly exchanging texts).

Generally with her everyday outfits I mostly wanted to keep it sporty but relaxed. Deliberately made these a little less overtly feminine then her p4 outfits because I feel like she'd grow more confident in herself not being as feminine as her peers. Tried to keep an article of clothing the same between the two of these outfits to call back to the jersey she was wearing in 4. I considered having her not continue to dye her hair but I didn't feel like Chie once I changed her hair colour so it gets to stay the same.

Her metaverse outfit takes inspiration from kung fu uniforms, particularly the pants. The chest plate is styled after a hotoke dou albeit shortened. Charge also came up with the mask for this one; a blindfold to invoke the idea of a uber competent blinded martial artist, the fabric here is sheer though. The shoes on this design are not necessarily finalized as they are not technically part of the outfit. They are her weapons and would change as such like in the rpg.

Ok that's all for now. Glad to finally have this done

[phyriaxi]

Another ask separate from my rq, are there any artists or other influences that have inspired your art that you'd like to share?

ohh boy, this is definitely a question I can ramble about (apologies in advance for the long text!!)

Short Answer (a list of lasting artistic influences):

Movies/animanga: How to Train Your Dragon, Avatar (not ATLA, sorry) , Evangelion, Pinch Point (by VLANCAT), Land of the Lustrous, Tower of God, CSM, Tokyo Ghoul, 86 EIGHTY-SIX

Games: Arknights, Cytus II (rip art team..), Honkai Impact 3rd, Destiny 2

artists/illustrators/animators: Shilin, Ishida Sui, yasutatsu, WOOMA, par0llel, suzumesakiii, Dino_illus, liduke, ligton1225, Curie Lu, 96yottea, many many others... I could write nearly every Arknights illustrator as well and still not be satisfied ..

Music: classical music, Ado, KIVA, Eve (the MVs..!), i think i need to stop listing things now because it'll never end

Long Answer (rambling):

when it comes to art, i am definitely inspired by other visual artists, but i am also very inspired by the world around me as well as creators of other types of media. i'm extremely lucky to have grown up in a lively, diverse city with a wonderfully creative family, so the art and music of my family and environment plays a large part in my artistic preferences!! Something I have really wanted to integrate more deeply into my art is the contrast between new and old, grungy and refined... it reflects a lot of the conflicts that make up what I consider to be "me." Also, I just really like the vibe of chaotic industrial zones and rusty metal combined with a shining city in the distance, lol.

Regarding particularly influential media: pretty much anyone who's taken a glance at my blog will know immediately that Arknights is one of my biggest influences. it's basically all i draw nowadays... whenever I'm not thinking about Responsibilities and Adult Life i'm usually thinking about either Arknights or Ado (<3).

before Arknights, I spent a long time drawing fanart and fan-characters inspired by How to Train Your Dragon. Both the visual and musical aspects of that series still have a very dear place in my heart, even if I don't engage much with the community anymore. I actually only really started drawing not-dragons about 3 or 4 years ago at this point. Something I have been thinking about a lot recently is how I can go back to drawing more creatures alongside my humanoid subjects, since it's not something I've done very much recently.

Gradually I began to find more friends in the art community, and I think I'm very influenced by those people as well! It isn't a competition, of course, but being around people who are also pushing to improve is a big motivator when I am feeling low on passion. "I want to stand together with them at the top of world one day", is how I often feel. I really want to work on a collaborative project with other artists someday as well. Trying to build my skill is partially because I want to better express my ideas, but also because I want to inspire and be inspired by other creators. :D I think my art has been evolving at a pretty good pace recently because of these motivators.. the friends and regulars (including you, burstfoot!!) that visit my blog regularly here really motivate me too!!

and lastly, I'm at a point in my life where I feel that if I can't get this art thing off the ground, I will probably have to give up on pursuing it properly soon... so it's partially desperation that is inspiring me to change and try new ways of expression as well :,]

[ thank you for the ask!! ]

[lilac-udon]

Alien stage thoughts

I saw many hate round 7, the plot is logically this result is understandable and very valid, however it’s not a good aftertaste for the audience . I guess I give some critique? I did make a post about the story, logically I think till should die. the story always seems interesting to me because I feel it’s not standard, not taking usual paths. for me I think it’s cool too see creative goes to places ppl never goes before and explore more unusual none traditional plots , which I think that’s why round 6 is big, usually no one will write it like that. ( ivan a side character being this devoted and etc) However I also did consider if this is a writer flaw . story wise round 7 is confusing and depressing . how I see my love for ivan because he is the most in depth character, simple straight forward of lover boy angst over his love. he’s story is full, refined, understandable. I said this also led characters unbalanced of sua, , till and mizi who especially is the mc is out of focus, and results many cheering for till who ivan put his effort on that the audience can attach their feelings to . What I was expecting was more story of till however we doesn’t get it( and logically we shouldn’t bc he isn’t the mc), it make till felt hollow. They really put too much insight for ivan where luka till mizi etc all just glanced through their activities. Another problem of alst , they always add more explanation and info out of the video which sua and ivan is actually quite different from only viewing the mvs. Paid content and post to explain the motive that you completely can not get from videos, however ivan gets a lot in his videos time. Was too hype for till to be a complex character but he met his end before anything. I can only see them all alive in some ways to save this part for the explanation.

so I was looking at others criticism and I do agree about some, mostly about the ship, like it’s logical what had happened , but viewing ppl opinions I do agree, the series was heavily depending on selling their official ship, and their mismatch pairing of the final give viewers bad taste ,confusion and mostly sadness, the lack of mizi internal really made till became the main character everyone voting for … the ambiguity of timeline. So yeah the video is short and you can’t put all the information you want to say. I do see this happening however it just sad, my worries is they make them all alive but that really hurts the writing a little, viv always like to be sad, is my joy to read and see people idea after round 6, now everyone is dead ah , also joke on u I love my ship dead :) I’m just concerned about the story continuity

half way in the story??? And half of them is dead????????

Oh there’s one thing I dislike about… the art book gives us what the author explained of what is what… ugh

Add I’m gonna add here so no one see at first sight, it a joke I love them: till has such a miserable life, abuse, and harass two time before death

But the overall video is hype I love it but the story just a bit sad, but for till that pretty nice too I guess, he can finally leave this horrible world

[milflewis]

for the fic writer asks - 4, 26, 28, 49!

4. What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of?

i can’t believe i’m mentioning this fic but i got to rep The Agenda 💪.

this bit: “Vettel. God, he’s been inside of you, Mark, get over yourself. Mark’s deliberate ignorance of the fact that everyone and their mother knows Sebastian fucked Mark, and not just metaphorically, gets rather tedious sometimes.” is smth i will Always Always stand by. like the thought of seb in his redbull i eat shenanigans for snacks inbetween my gremlin sex shithousery being the top and the one to fuck The Mark Webber is so delicious to me and should be talked about more imo

or mb the bit in my valewis fic where valtteri had chocolates in his pocket to give to lewis that lewis finds. a little callback to when lewis said he used to carry around sweets and not let himself eat them bc of self discipline and control and all that jazz

26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue?

ohhh v interesting question! i think i’d be better and find it easier to write a fic with no dialogue with all the set up and the surroundings and actions that ppl do to talk about so i’m going to go with only dialogue bc i love a challenge!

28. Does anyone read your fics before you post them? If so, who?

if they’re for here, then generally not. bc i just write and post pretty much in the same go. pump and dump bby. but anything that’s any longer then most of the time yeah. it’s often @effervescentdragon or @lewishamil10n. or @tinytauris if it’s yukierre. @vettelgp has read a good few of mine too! i’ve had a few other ppl proof read things or just let me talk at them so they could poke holes at what i’m trying to say to fix it up and refine it who have done it bc of that Specific Ship or Story. i’m a bit of a slut for ppl who’ll read my fic i won’t lie. the little boosts of validation help sustain me and keep pushing while i’m in the middle of Slogging Thru The Writing Part

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

i’ve been trying to get back into writing my pacific rim au recently. life and all it’s complications, esp my recurring inability to sit down and actually write, has been making this difficult but i’ve been pecking away at it. i’ve started a short spin off fic ft. prosenna so i’m playing in the sandbox and trying to relearn the feel of it but without the pressure of the monster og fic if that makes sense? (tumblr recently ate most of this side fic but nevertheless we persevere 🫡)

“Maybe — maybe I’ll start a garden.”

“A garden.”

“Yes. Somewhere — somewhere quiet. Go back to Europe. The edges of a city. I think I would like a cat.”

Aryton’s breathing is quiet until: “I’ve always wanted a dog.”

Alain laughs. Something settles hot and heavy in the bottom of his gut when Aryton continues. “They can get on. Sometimes.”

“Sometimes,” he replies, softly. “That’s true.”

[jichanxo]

actually am intrigued by your writing process! writing ficlets just for the exploration and all that. can you tell me more about how this works for you/how have you come up with this/all that? and do you plan on publishing the senseific ficlets somewhere in one place?

wrote a description of the entirety of how I’ve been working on sensei fic and it’s very very long, so. under the cut. (excuse my self indulgence, i absolutely could have answered this more succinctly, but i thought it would be fun (to me) to talk about my process with senseific as a whole)

I mentioned it before, but I am not a planner when it comes to writing, so I just do whatever the hell I want. and this works great since almost all my writing is short one-shots! just start on something as vague as a feeling or as detailed as a fleshed out idea and just start rolling. see how it goes. and then I go over and edit, add and cut or refine. nice and easy.

unfortunately, sensei fic doc (or rather, “yagamikuwana school au.docx” as my literal document naming goes) currently looks like this:

this includes me writing down ideas and some half formed snippets/exchanges that i’m not sure will make the cut, so it’s not an entirely accurate word count, but the point stands. it’s hardly the longest fic in the world by a long shot obviously, but for me this is uncharted territory. I just… don’t write… anything this long. ever. so sensei fic has been kind of odd because I am still very much a “just do whatever you feel like” writer, except that process has been stretched over months and months. I jump around doing different things without necessarily a coherent order, deciding depending both on what I feel like and what needs to be done

I’ll try to outline the progress behind senseific as best I remember it: well I first had the idea during my first stint with kuwagami after LJ in 2023… I can’t say I remember much from then. I started as I always do. with an idea and a dream. I wanted mundane romance kuwagami. I one day thought about if he’d somehow stay as kitakata and still met yagami. I pushed together as many pieces together as necessary to make it work (and tried to use what was already there because it would be too difficult to make stuff up on my own) – reuse seiryo high, put it in tokyo (it would be difficult to justify having yagami regularly go to the mrc if it was in another city and he didn’t have the main case of LJ to keep him around ijincho). amasawa and the club are a natural addition and an easy way to keep kitakata and yagami around each other despite an initial distaste for each other. I had a few ideas as to some of the exchanges I wanted them to have… some ideas as to fleshing out the new setting… and I did what I usually do and just riffed.

now here’s the main part of the process that I’m sure is already obvious by my saying I’m not a planner: I try to think through the internal logic of the au setting or come up with a fun idea I want to include -> I make a note of it or start writing it immediately (regardless of its spot in the fic) -> I see where it takes me -> review, add, cut, refine, consider it in the context of the wider fic. see if anything else comes up. use my best judgment and do whatever.

some of the earliest things I remember writing for this fic is the intro, a scene with kitakata being an annoying flirt (kitakata taking yagami's cigarette was an image that stuck in my head hard), and one of the first scenes with the mrc. since I wrote quite a bit out of order, eventually I ended up focusing on bridging, following the natural logic between the scenes I wanted to write, trying to connect things. the scene after the intro. whatever makes sense after that. go over everything, edit some more, make sure everything feels as cohesive as I can make it. (I think somewhere in the middle of this I dropped off until I got my second wind on kuwagami, where I picked it up again)

I have something like: intro (setting up the au and making it all clear to the reader as quickly as possible. probably inelegantly but it was a start), which naturally progressed to elaboration on kitakata and yagami’s relationship, a school club scene, me trying to think of another way to get kitakata and yagami in a room together, kaito and kitakata meeting, whatever progressed naturally as a result from that, etc. go back over, adding more things as I thought of them, fleshing stuff out (hello sawa sensei!) and all that. Though I’m working out of order, eventually a sequence starts to form. The beginning is the most fully formed rn, since I have the clearest idea as to how things should be when they start, and what should logically follow. I also like starting my editing from the top unless I have a specific scene in mind to look at, so I’ve read over the beginning the most times of anything else.

obviously I always had vague ideas as to progression, but now that I was starting to fill in more gaps, I had to think about it more seriously to ensure consistency between older scenes and new scenes. I rewrite a bunch of things for senseific not just as editing, but to add new context that wasn’t there previously, and in some cases totally overhaul them to better fit the tone, to adjust the overall progression. one of the scenes in the middle, which I mentally call “are you seeing anyone", is one I really enjoy, so I worked hard to adjust that to better suit the new context so I didn’t have to scrap it outright. on the other hand, kitakata’s phonecall scene is one that got the total overhaul treatment, because the tone no longer matched – kitakata was originally more… hm… disagreeable there, and it wouldn’t have worked with the way the yagami-kitakata relationship development was panning out, so I kept the bones but wrote it in a different direction. since nothing is really planned, most of this fic is in a state of perpetual flux. everything is subject to tinkering if need be.

it’s probably pointless for me to refer to specific scenes since they’re not posted publicly but. well. I guess it’ll make sense later if/when I post senseific. at least I know what I mean for now.

anyway, since a lot of my initial writing in the “do whatever you want” phase was about kuwagami and the development of their relationship, my first attempts at planning and organising are also about that (though I did try to keep the school stories plot in mind at the same time). I had to try and take what I already had and marry them together, make some kind of logical order.

around this time I was already on tumblr and posting some other kuwagamis and just generally feeling great about writing. I ended up showing four-white-trees (excuse my favouritism) some of my starting scenes on sensei fic since it had mostly settled down by then, and it was certainly by this point that I was feeling More Serious about making sensei fic not only Real (and genuinely trying to make it complete), but hopefully good, LMAO. not just some “if it happens it happens" venture. But yeah I was thinking more seriously about my details and getting some feedback on it for the first time and just. Man. Shit got real for me. I want to finish sensei fic even though I started it not knowing if I could commit.

ANYWAY. I was trying to lock in a sequence of events for the kuwagami relationship progression, ended up making a spreadsheet for my fic so I had a more digestible timeline to look at and understand what beats happen where, how I can smooth out any inconsistencies, where my gaps were. I’ll probably be coming back to that sheet to sort out school stories plot… but yeah. not just pure improvisation anymore.

more details started to creep out of the woodworks. I originally wrote something incredibly stupid that I ended up trying to twist into something serious lmao, and that is the um. Maturity/immaturity throughline.

Fuck. God this is embarrassing. But. I once, half asleep, wrote Yagami comparing Kitakata’s insensitive/rude flirting with him as being like a kid picking on his crush. and um. I read back over that later and. My god. You can’t just mention bullying with Kitakata around and not have it mean something. So, well, I tried to talk myself through it and arrived at something with meaning. Kitakata has to learn to not be an asshole with his flirting. To be mature about it and be a little sincere and honest and maybe not mock Yagami to his face. Yagami also learns that he’s being immature towards Kitakata in some ways and has to grow past that. They both have to grow up and talk like some fucking adults, and that’s how they can move on from the conflict that defines their early relationship. Yeah. And of course the school setting and bringing in Sawa and the students as other comparison points will help develop the theme some more. anyhow, it's not something I’ve fully sorted out, but my point is that I stumbled on this totally by accident. unplanned. I hope I can tease it out in an interesting way because it’s not quite there yet, but it’s funny how it went from a thoughtless line to something that I think is… surprisingly defining… just gotta stick the landing...

but yeah, the big picture kitakata-yagami relationship stuff was coming together. right now I’m at the stage where that plotting is as planned out as it can be without the school stories side being completed. the next big step is getting my notes so I can figure out a proper school story progression that I can line up with my kitakata-yagami plot, see how they fit together.

with regards to exploration writing – while writing/thinking about the main plot, a bunch of details have come up in passing. and while I can be vague and try to write around it, it feels so fake? It feels so obvious to me when I’m writing around something because I haven’t thought hard enough about it.

I was writing a scene where… hm… how much do I say here… Yagami has to come to understand that it’s personally important to Kitakata to make sure his students are okay, and with that is Sawa alluding to what happened with Mitsuru. and to be clear, she’s not so tactless to say it outright, but I knew, deep in my heart, that I was writing some non-committal bullshit. I was writing about her talking about what happened without enough knowledge myself as to how I think it changed Kitakata. So I forced myself to understand how Mitsuru changed Kitakata by writing about what happened between them. That’s the ficlet. And then I could look over what I wrote with Sawa with full perspective and decide if it really did sound the way I thought it should sound. I really enjoyed writing that as a personal piece of art, but it was very much a tool for my own understanding.

It’s something similar for Itokura and Kitakata now. Because my focus is shifting towards the school story plot, it raises an obvious question: If Kitakata was changed by the Mitsuru incident, then shouldn’t he have tried to do something about what happened to Itokura? (I am once again thanking four-white-trees for poking me) I can’t write about the relationship between these two in the main plot without a proper understanding of this. And I prefer to write than to plan, hence the sunday six wip. I start with a vague idea and write and see where it gets me. when I do that I’ll have a better understanding of how I want these two to operate, in a way that’s more detailed that my initial vague ideas.

That’s basically it. It doesn’t need to go in main fic but I have to write it so I feel I can make the right judgment calls. I’ll probably do this as much as I feel necessary, and yeah, I don’t see any reason not to post them since, unlike the main sensei fic which always has things changing around, these explorations should be locked in. I did make sensei fic stuff into a series on ao3, so I’ll keep putting them there as they come up.

[vegalustirra]

Hearing that you play OPTC... What's your favorite Sabo unit in there?

You know that I can't pick only one favorite Sabo unit now (& I'm not saying that because I'm indecisive). 🤭

I'm honestly going to do it like this:

2 Favorite Non Sugo units

2 Favorite Sugo Units

There's a few that I'm not counting, as listed in this post here. I wanted to include honorable mentions (1 non Sugo & 1 Sugo) as well. But I can't fit more pics or animations & I don't have much to say about those two. So I'm going to put them in a different post as well.

Anyway, here are my favorites that I have & like. They're not in any order by the way!

First Favorite Non Sugo Unit:

Bitter Refinement/Sweet Dignity

These two are one of the very first Treasure Map event units we ever got in the game, & it's honestly an endearing unit. I remember having this in my team along with the Christmas Cavendish unit that I also got from Treasure Map. I personally loved the theme & aesthetic. The outfit is lovely, especially the addition of the little dragon on the tie.

I was surprised to know that they gave this unit additional abilities later on if you raised his level limit. He was actually one of the very first units to be given additional abilities. Raising it to the max basically had given his special ability the additional effect to heal the team with 15,000 HP.

Speaking of his special, the animation is really cute despite being on the shorter side. Just look at that smile!

Currently, I use him whenever he is a boosted unit for an event or whenever Valentine's Day comes around. Personally, I wish they made a figure of this specific unit holding the plate of sweets he has in the art because I just love it so much!

Second Favorite Non Sugo Unit:

An Unlikely Alliance/Back to Back Fire Fists

I have to admit, the more I look at Stampede Sabo in general, the more fond I am of the outfit he's wearing. But yeah, this is the one Stampede Sabo unit we have in this game & I just love using him whenever I can.

He basically boosts the attack of three character types, & he's yet to get any additional abilities for his level limit as of now. Still, I do enjoy using him on teams I make up for fun & when he's a boosted character in events.

His special animation is pretty short compared to others, but it does look very nice overall.

A part of me kind of wished he was a Sugo Unit. I just think him being voiced would've been nice. But I'm more than fine with him being a Clash Unit (even though I struggled a bit to get him several times to raise his level limit).

Alright, now for the Sugo Units.

First Favorite Sugo Unit:

Brotherly Bond/Fiery Bond/Declaring Battle Against the Gods

Yes, all three of these are technically the same unit, but they're separated in the character log. This is because the first two came out first. We got the super evolution of the unit later on (last year actually). The fact that it also changes the typing of the unit is amusing. It's actually one of several super evolutions to do that.

But if you were to ask me which one of these three is my favorite, it would actually have to be the super evolution.

I absolutely adore this unit so much, even though he's not considered good in the current meta. A lot of people on my friends list there like to use him as friend captain & that makes me happy to see. Pretty sure it either has to do with the fact that their teams are the types he boosts or they like his super type special.

Also, seeing him all angry in the art & the animation just gets my heart feeling a certain way. I just love a man who will do anything for those who are close to him, okay?

Though I will admit that his optional effect isn't too drastic though (I'll post it later).

Second Favorite Sugo Unit:

Reunion with His Little Brother/Flame to Protect His Little Brother

This unit is one of the Anniversary Units. Still a pretty recent unit in the game too as he's only been around for about 8 months or so.

It's safe to say that I have a lot of love for this unit in particular. Though I'll be honest, there's another unit that's tied with this one. But I'll talk about that unit in the next post I do.

Not only is it referencing a moment that honestly makes me cry, it's also a really wonderful unit that I enjoy using as Captain. This especially goes considering that I like using the units he boosts.

He has quite a wonderful animation too! Compared to other animations, this one had a bit more work put into it (& I don't just mean length wise either).

The fact that it's just that sequence of him dealing with the Marines is so funny. It makes me so freaking happy because of how much I loved that moment. It's another reason as to why I like having this unit in my current main team.

By the way, this isn't the only animation this unit has. They also gave him a special animation for when you complete a super tandem with him & a few specific characters!

The thing is that, again, he's an anniversary unit. So he only comes around whenever they have an anniversary or half anniversary banner. But I'm not exactly in a rush to raise his level limit. He's good as is with what I was able to do in terms of boosting his stats up. Just need to raise his potential abilities.

Overall, I love all the Sabo units I have on the game & I can't wait for any future ones they give us!

Also, if you guys want the animations alone in the posts along with the unit's pics, then I'll gladly do that when I can!

[beardedmrbean]

Hey Nunya can you explain the difference differences between Yiddish and Hebrew? Is Hebrew is to Yiddish what Italian is to Latin?

Sorry, ugh why we know so little about Jewish history? It’s like it just went from ancient history to the holocaust like in one paragraph

Wait, probably because the left don’t want to admit that the Nazis had a “Eat the Rich” mindset towards the Jews. And have you notice a lot of European countries pretend they didn’t have centuries of antisemitism leading up to the holocaust?

Given the current situation with Israel and Palestine…yeah.

Yiddish is a weird combo language it's going to be indigenous to Ashkenazi Jews came to being in central Europe as a mix of Hebrew, German, some Polish, and other local languages at some point 1000 or so years ago and has refined itself over the centuries before almost being wiped out along with Jewish population of Europe in the 1940's with the Holocaust. Makin a come back though which is good.

There's a lot of high quality snarky insults in there too, there's a good wikipedia article that's going to be way more detailed and informative than I could be on the subject, not just the insults either.

I gave it a skim to make sure I wasn't giving bad info. Says it's High Germanic which that's a lot of languages in the family tree

As for their history, there's a lot they don't know either, starting with the northern kingdom of Samaria being scattered by the Babylonians, 10 lost tribes and all, there were still Samaritans after that whole thing obviously, kingdom of Judea not big fans of them as you may remember from some stories in the Jesus part of the bible. There's still a few there too, dwindling population of them in Israel.

They've been looking and trying to bring people home if they'd like to come home and their current home country will allow it too, one group that tickles me every time I think about them is the Kaifeng Jews random community in China that popped up in the records here and there, couple others in China as well. Ethiopian royal family which is not really around anymore claims descent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, there are Ethiopian Jews living in Israel some racism accusations that may carry water there I haven't dug.

A lot of their history for the ones that landed in Europe is fairly parallel to everyone else's history there other than the whole Pope thing, and the various pogroms where the local Christian community to our eternal shame tried to go in and wipe them out for a multitude of reasons mostly false and related to superstition and or ignorance. Check out the places that got hit by the plague the least and you'll see why ritual washing is a good thing.

Then there was that whole inquisition thing and England actually banned them from living there completely for a while, that mildly recent in the grand scheme of history.

Short short short version of Jewish history can be summed up with the traditional toast "they tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat" which is both sad and hilarious all at the same time.

The history is there though, it's just not something you're going to pick up a lot of in primary (k-12) school, same reason as a lot of things that get a glossed over treatment, there's a whole lot of it.

People are lucky the internet is a thing now, not only can you find a whole bunch of pictures of raccoons wearing different hats and outfits, the whole world of information is at our fingertips and anything we're interested in, provided it's not a national security threat, is there to be learned about.

[deanstudies101]

4x13, After School Special

Critical theory: Familial roles and projected personalities. Parallel traumas.

Discussion point/question(s): Dean is four years older than Sam… is that what we see here? 

Key quotes: 1x02, Dean, "Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts."

Discussion: 

Kai was very happy to see his wife (Caroline Vampire Diaries). She is perfect. She is basically the same character here. She put Dean in his place. She always goes after the bad boys huh? And she’s right. 

A lot to say, a lot was very on the nose. The parallel cool kid/loser, and how this switches between them by the end. Sam becomes the cool kid, Dean is the loser. Sam fits in with normal people, and can do that very easily, he’s a normie. To fit in in this setting, in high school in media, you dominate the bigger guy and everyone finds you cool. Sam shows his true self—we know he has anger issues, and he was trying to repress them, but when it comes out, people find him cool. Dean was trying so, so hard to fit it, to be cool, and it just… doesn’t work. The mask wasn’t refined. He’s trying to do this hypermasculine, aloof kind of persona. Not even a mask, it’s armour. His “three of the cheerleaders are legal” is this persona—he would not actually go for something like that—but he’s back in a school where he was reduced down to nothing, so he’s relying again on that armour. Sam giving in to his urges to hurt and then fitting in with these bullies can maybe be seen in him giving into his urges and getting closer to the demons that we’re seeing now. It hurts—what is evil? Bullies are bullies because they’re hurt people… does this not apply to demons? They’ve been tortured until they stop being human. They are the most hurt people to exist, so they are evil. 

[Sam kinda pivots here on his quote from literally two episodes ago “I’m sure her life was hell, Dean. It doesn’t mean she gets a free pass for murder.”] And the kids’ lives in that were surely infinitely worse! He struggles with the nuance here. If he can see himself in someone, he sees their struggles, but if he can’t relate to them, he struggles to see them as human. Sam has been a bully in the show (think Ronald). His sense of empathy is there, but he struggles to extend it very far. 

Do feel bad for Sam, his upbringing was horrible. He didn’t want to be a part of it—but neither did Dean! Dean had to lean into it, to protect Sam. Kai, “Their personalities are different coping mechanisms for dealing with trauma.” 

Sam is more hopeful than Dean. Sam believed (believes?) that there can be another life for him. Dean doesn’t believe that. There should be more communication between them, Dean doesn’t see Sam’s perspective on their childhood because he’s repressing it so much himself. And, Dean wasn’t Sam’s brother, he was his parent. They couldn’t connect then because of this, and they can’t connect now. They have such different perspectives on their upbringing, and they still do. They still can’t see the other side, they still need to sit down and talk this through to really understand it. Iga, “All Sam can feel is his own misery, and all Dean can feel is hopelessness.” 

[This episode I genuinely feel so bad for both of them. Equally from both sides just in different ways. It’s rare for an episode to hit both of them.] Iga, “It’s because the kid can act.” [Colin Ford]. Also he really does look like a young Jared. 

Re: age difference. Iga thinks it works, maybe Sam is a late bloomer. Kai agrees, often really tall people have a late growth spurt. [I think Dean looks a bit too old for it to make perfect sense, but I accept it.] Also he doesn’t really look like Jensen? The younger actor in S2 does, but not so much here. 

Notes: Kai would like me to reiterate that Caroline is his wife and they love her. 

[thepodcasthoard]

The Ultimate Guide to Starting A Podcast [Checklist]

Part 1 l Part 2 l Part 3 l Part 4 l Part 5 l Part 6 l Part 7 l Part 8 l Part 9 l Part 10

The eleventh article Sydney gave me is an actionable list. The writer- Lestraundra Alfred- said she started a podcast in ten days by following it.

Determine your niche.

I know. Some of you who have been reading all the posts in this series are probably groaning right now at the repetition. I admit, as I was reading through them I was starting to almost be able to say the words in my head before I read them, like how I can quote movies I've seen a bunch of times.

But this is important- I mentioned before that it's better to be in the top ten of a smaller niche than top twenty of a broader one. But it's more than that- sites like spotify and apple podcasts use the niches you provide to categorize your show, and that categorization brings your podcast to those who are actually looking for similar things.

The article lists popular categories- comedy, news, TV shows and movies, and sports among them- so you can find inspiration in them and narrow your focus.

2. Identify your ideal listener

The article talks about going super specific with your listener avatar- age, job, education, income, other interests, hobbies, and where they live. This will let you think about what your perfect listener will think about your ideas and help you refine them.

3. Name your podcast and make a launch date

For the name, make sure you look it up a few times with variations so you don't accidentally use the same name as some other brand.

For the launch date, make sure to give yourself some time to do your preparations and recording, but not too much time that it's just procrastinating.

4. Format and schedule

There's a variety of formats, each with their own pros and cons. Interviews, co-hosts, and solo shows are just three.

The most common frequencies of publishing according to this article are weekly, bi-weekly (which I assume in this case means once every two weeks, not twice a week), and monthly. But the article also says consistency is key- don't do weekly for three weeks, and then not upload for two months.

5. Podcast host

Again, this is necessary because of internet jargon. An RSS feed is needed to upload to the actual directories where people can listen. The article lists a few via links which- as you all can probably guess by now- I won't add because I want to preserve their commissions. Plus, you'll probably want to read the article in its entirety to get all the details because I'm glossing over them to keep the big picture in sight.

6. Artwork

This article is linked, and it has a more in-depth guide on how to make artwork with examples. But this article recommends just browsing through your podcast listening site of choice and just looking at artwork, thinking about how yours will fit in.

7. Equipment

This article goes into the topic more in-depth, with specifics about what they personally recommend, but really a microphone, a computer, headphones, and recording and editing software are all you really need.

8. Create a trailer

Ah, finally, I can hear some of you think. A new step.

A trailer gives a new listener a chance to find out what your podcast is all about. So be sure to make it engaging and interesting.

9. Submit to directories

You'll be able to do this through your hosting site.

10. Start with three episodes

Another new step, yay! Not only does this give more content for listeners to really see if your podcast is a good fit for them, but it'll let your podcast get listens and other statistics more quickly. That means that the directory will read that and go 'oh! People really like this show. Let me move it to the front so more people can like it.' Your trailer shouldn't count in those three episodes.

11. Show notes

Yet another new step! Hooray! Show notes are basically really short blog posts that are under each episode and tailored to that specific episode. They're a good place for SEO (search engine optimization), and a way for avid listeners to follow the podcast on different sites, like your social media.

12. Get social media handles

Speaking of social media, you'll want these before you launch. This way you have them and can actually use them to promote yourself and the podcast. Domain names are included in this step.

13. Upload and schedule your three episodes

Once everything is edited and done, it's time to stick to your launch date you chose in step three and schedule through your hosting site to launch.

14. Market and celebrate

Now it's time to get the word out. You've worked so hard on this project, congratulations! An aside from me is to actually take time to celebrate. Don't rush right into more work, take the time to soak in your accomplishment, because it is an accomplishment.

[snipp-snapp-snute]

hi!! wishing you a good day c:

i wanted to ask: what is your oc’s name (the one on the last art)? she looks so cool!! would you be willing to share a little about her story?

Hello, thank you so much for your ask, i hope you have a good day too!!

I always get so happy when people are curious about my OCs,, it's mindblowing to me someone actually wants to know more about them ahhhh

I only hope my answer isn't disappointing as I am still very much early into figuring out this story/universe. In general it's loosely inspired by Slavic folklore, but I don't claim to be an expert on any of it,,

The character you're asking about is Ignes or Iga for short, she is my baby and I love her dearly and I actually have an alright grasp on her backstory so far :3 In short she is a fire witch. In my universe I've made sun/fire powers synonymous, like two sides of the same coin. There exist a few family lines of which the women wield these powers and Iga is one of them. I've called the witches Południanki derived from the Polish word for noon (not to be confused with south, which is sadly the same word xhsnxhjd). By fire powers I don't mean fire bending, it's more like the wielder is a flame herself, and can control flames to *an extent*. I probably still need to refine how this works hehe

The latest drawing actually relates to her backstory too, I depicted her in a wedding dress (again not claiming to be historically accurate, just taking loose inspiration), as part of her story is an - to put it mildly - unhappy marriage.

I used super warm tones for the piece since it makes sense with her story too :33

Ngl I am obsessed with drawing her, I'm happy she piqued your interest!!