#rambled way too much about recommendations but. i need people to enjoy the same things i do

[the-voldsoy]

2, 3, 12 (for the podcast ask game)

lets go !

2 - what’s a podcast you’ve cried over?

Any of them tbh I get very emotional about endings kjdfkjdsf

But most recently (and probably the hardest) was The Silt Verses. Good lord that ending !!

3 - Favorite podcast pet?

Not sure if it counts as a pet, but Specimen 34 from Wolf-359 (rip). Or Madeline the Funeral House Mouse from Wooden Overcoats<3

12 - what’s a podcast you wish more people listened to?

Oh god there's a few (basing "lesser known" off of how active their fanbase is, so not entirely accurate).

Wooden Overcoats -- Funn Funerals used to be the only funeral parlor on the island. It isn't anymore. (Sitcom, heartwarming tragedy, the main characters are the most miserable wet cats you ever did see)

Hello From The Hallowoods -- The black rains started years ago, and Things started to grow. Join us in the Black Pines to learn about the creatures living there! (Horror, huuuge webs of stories with intricate worldbuilding, even the trees are queer, made me cry, i love it so much)

Wolf-359 -- The crew of the U.S.S. Hephaestus space station are orbiting the dwarf star Wolf-359. (There's Something In Space)

Camlann -- Ever wished that you were apart of Welsh folklore or Arthurian legends? Or perhaps some of the last people left on Earth? No? Ah well, you'll pick it up soon enough. (Three idiots and a dog in Wales, fighting for their lives)

Camp Here & There -- Good morning campers! The time is 7:63AM and Camp Magpie Moth has spontaneously combusted! Whichever one of you little woodworms can put it out first can come get a puffy sticker from me in the Nurses Cabin!

Woe.Begone -- Some say it's about time-travel, some say it's about keeping yourself and those close to you alive, some say it's about online safety. All can agree on one point: What the fuck why are there cowboys now

[lordsukunas]

best! friend sukuna headcanons

yall, ngl, he's just a red flag. he has his 'nice' moments but he's still an asshole! uh this is bound to be at least a little ooc bc lets bffr being his bff is unrealistic. anyway, pls enjoy! :3

best friend! sukuna who kicks the backs of your legs when you're standing, and then snicker when you crumple to the ground.

best friend! sukuna who skips the line and drags you along with him. he ignores the pathetic bitching and whining from the people who were in front of him. if they wanted their spot so bad, they should've got back in front of him.

best friend! sukuna who takes your phone off of the charger to charge his. and once his is on a hundred, he won't put yours back. you don't need your phone when you're with him anyway.

best friend! sukuna who insists on walking with you to the convenience store. it could be late at night or he could be in the middle of ripping someone's throat out for not giving him his damn money, and he'll still go.

best friend! sukuna who always makes sure you eat. post-sleepover and you're hungry? he's up, getting you something luxurious to eat at ten in the morning, and back at his apartment in a flash. he may have violated several traffic laws to do it, but at least you aren't starving.

best friend! sukuna who, ironically, cannot cook for shit. he always uses too much seasoning or disregards the given temperature from the recipe or doesn't bother with a crucial ingredient because he finds it nasty.

best friend! sukuna who enjoys poetry. it's something calming, peaceful, a stark contrast to all the blood he sheds daily. if you ask him for recommendations, he'll have an entire list engraved in his mind, tailored just to suit your tastes.

best friend! sukuna who eats up all of your snacks. oh, you have a bag of hot chips? he's eating them. the second he hears the rustling of a wrapper from your direction, he's holding his hand out. he knows you'll share. you always do.

best friend! sukuna who claims he only went to college because he was bored. while that does have some truth to it, isn't it convenient he's attending the same college as you? especially when he's never mentioned going or even caring about it, and the waitlist was so long.

best friend! sukuna who only cares for the things that directly interest and benefit him. he lives for him and him alone. you're lucky you've entertained for him as long as you have with that pretty smile, that annoyingly joyous, pure laugh and those endless rambles about the shows you've rewatched more times than he can count on one hand.

best friend! sukuna who hates how his breath catches when you show off a new outfit, how heat creeps up the back of his neck and warms his cheeks when you genuinely thank him, how he wants to cup your face in his massive, rough hands and press a kiss to your forehead.

best friend! sukuna who has never cared to love or be loved, not until he met you.

note: at some point i'll quit changing the way i format these posts... maybe idk. ALSOO i wanna write sumn abt yuuta to combat this post bc hes just a corny romantic n i love him ><

if u saw this w/o the cut... no u didn't.

[wormlette]

We are not a pet play expert but we ARE someone who spends entirely too much time working with kink psychology. The good pet play on AO3 is sadly very thin on the ground and we tend to make it harder for ourself by going exclusively for fandoms who have like five authors maximum so we can't offer recommendations but to be quite honest Laios feels like the kind of guy who'd really enjoy a day collar or something similar in that it would give him, like, a physical reminder of being, in some way, wanted, and a tactile sense of connection. Any sort of distinct accessory that serves as a subtle "mark of ownership" during day-to-day works here, but "day collar" is easier to say.

He would probably want to have something that can be tugged on and used as a handle or similar, honestly. He might find use in anything that Chilchuck can use to more easily catch his attention or, like, offer a physical "guide" to move him around by - Chilchuck may not be physically strong enough to actually move him on his own, but a bit of extra leverage can probably get a setup where it's a Noticeable Physical Sensation and Laios can follow through on his own. It would be INSANELY impractical in the dungeon, though, which would definitely put a stopper to it - the handle that you have put in so that your halfling pick-lock can have a shot at moving you around at will can also be utilized by enemies who were capable of moving you around previously and probably don't need the extra handle.

We feel like Chilchuck might not 100% Get the full "belonging" aspect of a day collar, at least initially but he could definitely get some mileage out of adding a built-in handle to get Laios's attention. The issue would, of course, be in getting them to this point - we feel like it wouldn't come up super easily? Most likely, we think it'd be the sort of thing where Chilchuck makes an offhand comment without it meant to be taken Seriously and Laios jumps on it as "hey we could actually do that".

Chilchuck feels like the sort of guy where it simply wouldn't have passed his mind that a day collar could be a Thing and the idea of someone Wanting that would be a bit out of his sphere of... interest? Knowledge? He wouldn't think of it until the idea of it'd be brought up, and he honestly might take a bit of convincing to come around to it. Laios feels like the kind of guy where he thinks about "what if I wore a harness like an actual beast of burden" and then he thinks about that continually for the next five years.

We can probably give advice on tracking down resources on IRL pet play, but we can't help very much with fiction? Our #1 thing that we feel we Need to have in any fic regardless of content is good characterization, and this tends to significantly narrow the margin of Things We Can Recommend because something can be a stunningly beautiful depiction of how to write pet play but we still won't like it if it's OOC and we are unfortunately prone to having the disease where we exclusively get into stuff that has maybe three other people in the same area.

Hopefully this coheres for you we're sort of rambling with hopes that this'll vaguely get at what we're aiming for - we are heavily impacted by our own personal desires to add MORE spec. bio to everything we're into, ever, so we're unclear if our halfling agriculture & domestication thoughts would fully apply?

We definitely agree that dogs would be uncommon or rare - a poorly-trained dog can probably be a very real danger to even an adult halfling, and the larger breeds of dog can get to be bigger than them, which'll be a HUGE risk especially for an environment when they can't be 100% sure of the breed content of any given dog. You can easily run into Issues training dogs as a normal-sized human - it's going to be a whole lot harder and more risky to get something that's BIGGER than you and can seriously injure or kill you to LISTEN, especially when your stakes are "either you do this right or you are at significant risk of injury from a dog that hasn't quite been trained to be considerate around halflings".

If the dog doesn't know precisely how gentle to go with its pack, then even with good intentions, it can hurt someone very badly - you've definitely got to know EXACTLY what you're doing, or otherwise have a very good trainer. Of course, that might be able to add to fun metaphors later, so... depends on how you handle it. Or handle them, as it may be.

We think that the most familiar form of animal agriculture to them would probably involve raising things like silkworms, mealworms, crickets, and other bugs, both for general materials and because they're small enough that "raising bugs for meat" almost definitely gives more bang for their buck than it would for larger races. We feel like larger domestic animals would be significantly rarer, just because trying to tame just about anything long enough to domesticate when you're only 100cm tall is going to be DIFFICULT. Easier to just make domestic lineages of things like "animal where you can put it somewhere dark and damp with some corn meal and potato slices and get ten times the yield after leaving it for a few weeks". Of course, they'd probably have other domestic animals beyond bugs, but we can't really think of what exactly - ferrets, maybe? Humans domesticated them for hunting, but halflings might be able to make more use of them.

Hopefully some of this at least sparks a bit of inspiration for you - we're simply having fun typing Words. Good luck with your writing!

Ok this is so fucking good I need to stop hoarding it. Everytime I go to publish I start rereading and get distracted 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 Laios seems like the kind of guy where he thinks about “what if I wear a harness like an actual beast of burden” and then is thinking about it for the next 5 years… HELP… YEAG…..

I FEEL YOU I’m becoming a pet play enjoyer but so far nothing scratches the itch like it does with these two. I must do more research and yet…… I just keep coming back to Them. Laios spontaneously inventing the most avant-garde kinks in the dunmesh world… Chilchuck being like what the fuck. Well. What the fuck. I can’t not get him that. And it has to be made out of good materials. He’d fuck it up if he tried doing this himself. TWIST MY ARM. Sigh.

And god yeah the actual animals that half-foots would have … Chil’s upbringing vs Laios’ (with all his animals) would be so different. Brewing many scenes from this.

DREAMY SIGH. THANK U.

[autisticempathydaemon]

Greetings, I was referred to try these matchups by a friend of mine who had roped the rest of our house into their shenanigans so here I am: 1. Currently, it's Whose Honey Are You by Fats Waller, particularly:

"Please tell me, Have you really made your mind up Who it's gonna be? Don't you think, before we wind up, We're terrific, you and me!" it reminds me of an old club I met my spouse in and it's been coming back to my mind recently. 2. My enneagram type is Type Eight, the challenger. 3. Not truly, I enjoy documentaries but those kinds of videos ain't my cup of tea. I'm more inclined towards music. 4. I did not have an imaginary childhood friend, not that one I can remember anyways, it's been some time since I was a child. 5. Typically I don't sleep as much but I do like to do so after reading for a bit. 6. I would change it to Leopold. I don't have much of reason, I just like the name 7. I happen to like Aaron's "Your Tsundere Boss Boyfriend wants to talk" audio, it feels real in a sense and shows a lot of maturity in handling a relationship that I appreciate seeing. 8. I don't seem to get the appeal behind David Shaw, he just seems too much like a tough head and needs to get his ass beat 9. Despite their quality, I do like the Hallmark drama movies, not because I enjoy them but they're just fun to mock as I watch them. One that I know is "Til Death Do Us Part: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery" on account of how much a friend of mine watched it while I was around. 10. I do like Aaron, he's has a good head on his shoulders, I can see myself having a good talking with him over dinner. 11. I usually talk about history when I ramble, I've learned enough where I can speak on it and if I'm caught in a mood then I would be caught rambling for too long 12. I don't much indulge in that kinda food, I'm more inclined to a home-cooked meal. Something like Jambalaya would do well for me. 13. My favorite playlist would have to be one my spouse set up for me with my favorite Jazz musicians in there, I listen to it here and there. 14. I suppose the answer to this would be the same to number eight, which is hallmark movies. 15. Something else that I feel could help you to know about me is that...I like having people in my life, I don't act like it much but I do appreciate them all. I also play the Cello and I run my own shop for charms and occult items.

Hmmm… actually, let’s be real. That “hmmm…” is not real, because it’s so obvious who your match would be. How could I pair you with anyone but Camelopardalis?

Like, you like to talk about history? Awesome, Cam was there for the history (because I will believe he’s old as hell until god tells me otherwise.) You like maturity, honesty, and transparency in your relationships? Cam’s literally a therapist; I would hope he’s got all those on lock. I think your personalities and your lifestyles would be instantly compatible, and you two would connect queerplatonically or romantically with ease.

Oh, and what an easy, lovely life it would be, Cam being a perfect fit in your household. He’d get along so well with your spouse, as he strikes me as an amicable person to get along with. He loves jazz and the sound of your cello; perhaps you two even play together. (I could see Camelopardalis having picked up the piano in all of his years.) He’s an avid reader with a huge collection, so he frequently shares with you, giving you good recommendations for things to read before bed. He loves to loiter around the shop and watch you work, maybe watching the till while you’re in the back or knitting behind the counter on slower days. (Really, the only point of disagreement I could think of is that he genuinely, unironically loves Hallmark movies.)

Song:

Like a song of love that clings to me/ How the thought of you does things to me/ Never before has someone been more/ Unforgettable/ In every way/ And forevermore/ That's how you'll stay

One, it’s a jazz love song classic- the jazz love song classic, if you will. It’s also sweet, singable, and a little somber, perfect for slow dancing in the shop while the rain keeps the customers and bad things away. Two. I couldn’t resist, given Cam’s job in memory modification; it was too punny.

Runner-ups:

Hmm, so James was a pretty compelling option for you. I like his vibes as a match, but he strikes me as more of a platonic, social companion than a romantic one. Vega is a runner-up, because imagining him in your occult shop is really funny and charming. Like, that’s a sitcom right there.

note: @mr-laveau come get yo juice

Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌

[misc-obeyme]

CC I'M SO EXCITED, I FINALLY GOT ENOUGH CONFIDENCE TO COMMISSION THINGS FROM PEOPLE (it's like three different people AJDJWJF)

but the prices are good, two of the people needed it for emergency money so it was a good push to bite the bullet and message them. I'm so happy, I'm gonna have art of me and Mammon (and one is gonna be a sketch page of me, mammon, and a friend who also likes obey me). Also i lost my drawing streak, but I just drew a bunch of random poses today for fun, so it makes up lmaoo.

anyway I am here to ramble about the job my mc/I would have in the Devildom! definitely got roped into working at the bunny cafe for one (1) shift with Mammon (the daily chat is what gave me this idea).

Not sure how the cafe works, but in the anime, Beel is working the bar lolol. So I always imagined it as a bar with some food, and you could request certain servers by paying extra, and obviously give them carrots or tips. Like a mix between a maid cafe and a club I suppose is what I'm thinking?? (...Hooters? I've never been)

anyway I totally got coerced bullied into working a shift (I am always caving when it comes to Mammon </3). And my anxiety is terrible, I CANNOT talk to people (it's a wonder how I'm a manager), so I'd definitely stick to bussing tables and helping run super big orders with one of the guys. Maybe even have Beel teach me to make some drinks, because that seems really fun. Basically completely avoiding any kind of one on one service.

And I think there's been chats or devilgrams about mc gaining popularity and having a fan club, so imagine all these patrons requesting me, and the owner has to be like "unfortunately - no." And then someone is like, "I'll pay an extra $100 just to have her" and that's when the owner decides to ask if I'd be willing. Because it doesn't hurt to ask, right?

And I'm like, "Ha! I'd do it for $250", and like, I say it as a joke, but imagine Mammon overhears everything. He'd drag me to the table and say my price, and to everyone's surprise, the demon agrees to pay. Now everyone is like 👁️👁️ interesting.

and now I'm suddenly serving a random demon, and I'm nervous as hell (HA), and I'd honestly spill their drink or something on them. The bill comes, come to find they tipped way over 20%, and wrote a note about hoping to have me again. Now I've singlehandedly paid back a big chunk of Mammon's debt.

now THAT would change my mind real quick. I would do anything for money, I'm so easily convinced 💀 like imagine how much cash I could make in one shift. Anxiety who ??

It ends up becoming a part time gig, and I become the owner's favorite. I learn the bar for fun, and can be requested as a server for a big fee. I'd like to imagine Mammon works extra hard to earn the owner's favor and begs to work the same shifts as me (little does he know I request to work with him bc he makes me feel safe, especially if people get way too drunk)

I've literally brainstormed about this so much, and I've still got more ideas rattling in my brain, SORRY IT GOT SO LONG AAA

- ✨ anon

WOOO!! Congrats, ✨ anon! You are braver than I lol! I've been trying to work up the courage for months, but I keep talking myself out of it. Mostly because I want to commission art of my OCs and I feel absolutely ridiculous asking someone to please spend hours drawing this silly guy from my head lol. It's a me problem, I'll get over it one day. Anyway, I'm sure your commissions will turn out amazing! I hope you enjoy them!

OMG what but I love this idea!! Listen, I have the social anxiety, too (it's so bad wow), so I get it. But I looove that you've got things that help you work this job despite that! Mammon and Beel to count on when you need support and of course the motivation of just... making money!

And it's so sweet that you're making the money to help cover Mammon's debts. And I love that both of you are like... requesting to work together and the other person is unaware of it. That's adorable!

I'm always going to recommend writing your ideas down! It doesn't have to be story-style, sometimes just getting them out of your head in some form really makes a big difference! Especially if it's something you've never told anyone or written down before. Forcing yourself to articulate ideas in a way that would make sense to someone else (even if no one else ever sees it) really helps to make ideas more solid. Then you can expound on them even more! It's a never ending cycle for me lol.

Anyway, I love all of this, I think it's fantastic.

For my part, I'd absolutely be bunny-ing it up at the bar with Beel. I like the idea of him making Devildom drinks and MC making human world ones. The demons that are willing to pay top dollar for MC to wait on them are also willing to pay top dollar for MC's authentic human world drinks! Now you're really rolling in the Grimm!

[naranjapetrificada]

Ooooh thank you for playing with me! I enjoyed your answers!

You write both Ed and Stede beautifully, but I totally get what you mean about getting into Ed's hornet's nest!

Funny, I don't really listen to music as I write because I get too distracted, but I love linking songs to scenes. Weird.

Awww... I'm freakishly proud that my words could make you cry. You'll never know how much your comments and support mean to me.

I made myself cry when I finished AWoTT because I hate the last few chapters. They did a real disservice to the story because I rushed and tried to write something readers would like instead of what I'd done for most of it. On top of that, I ruined the Buttons/Jeanne d'arc ending because I worried that it would seem like I was ripping off the show. They were both supposed to turn into birds. I can't face trying to fix it. (If you haven't read the end, don't waste your time, and if you did and were disappointed we are on the same page.)

Eeek! Sorry for the ramble... xoxoxo

Before I get to the actual reply to this ask: if y'all haven't been treated to A World of Tempestuous Things, one of the top-five best fics in the fandom, I'm gonna need you to drop everything and read it the way I did whenever I got a notification that a new chapter had been posted.

Re: the ask itself:

I'm sorry you're dissatisfied with how it turned out but if it's any consolation it felt like a fitting end to me! The first time I tried to read the final chapter I literally couldn't for all the tears in my eyes because I knew it was ending. I no longer have a neutral relationship with any of the songs you used for the section titles, especially "Don't Dream It's Over" because god if that didn't just get at the root of everything I felt about the fact that your fic existed. I miss your versions of Ed and Stede terribly and it's gonna be a tall order for anyone but David Jenkins to make them half so indelible to me. I felt like I was watching actual people I loved sail away forever.

I started reading it around when it was halfway through I think? It shouldn't have immediately worked for me when I first started. I was burning out a bit on reunion fics and I thought of myself as someone who didn't love when fics had too many OCs and those OCs got a lot of time in the story, not to mention my strict no-WIP rule, but whatever made me read it must have been fate or something. That and the reflectiveness of the characters and the times the prose knocked me off my feet and the usually gutting historical interstitials (I still think about/am haunted by the Chopin one at least once a week) and the lines I took screenshots of to send to my therapist. It's so much greater than the sum of its parts, and fiction like that can change things about a person's preconceived notions and personal tastes forever.

If I tried to list the things about it that are going to stay with me well, it would literally be easier for everyone if I just c/p the entire fic into this reply. It felt like such a journey that readers got to go on with both the characters and with the story on a like, metatextual level? It completely changed my relationship with high-quality WIPs. Now that I'm writing my first longfics I'm thinking about character and framing devices and POV voice in entirely new ways because I was fortunate enough to get the chance to read it. It's criminal that it's not in the top 5 most read fics in the fandom and I will not stop recommending it until that happens.

Even if you're not happy with the ending I think your readers are. This reader certainly is. And if you did want to go back and change it someday I have zero doubts that I'll be happy with that too. The fandom is richer for having your work in it.

[sunnyupsidedown]

Thoughts On: The Last Binding Series

by Freya Marske [goodreads]

Basic Summary of Book 1: Un-magical Robin Blyth takes on a civil servant job that suddenly throws him into the middle of a magical conspiracy. With the help of his coworker Edwin Courcey, they begin to unravel and hopefully attempt to prevent a plot that will change magic as the world knows it.

Books in the Series:

A Marvellous Light

A Restless Truth

A Power Unbound

Book Recommendation For Those Who Like:

Historical Fantasy

Found Family

Mysteries

Rating: M for the nsfw scenes.

Unorganized thoughts and many spoilers below

This might just turn into a ramble on how much I like Jack Alston.

Anyway. I love the way Marske writes romance and interpersonal relationships in general. The characters feel real. Like, things get emotional and they hurt each other, but they come back together. Apologize when needed. Talk. It's an emotional maturity between lovers, between friends, between family, that I enjoy reading. Those hard conversations are on the page and not glossed over and magically fixed. (thinking about Maud and Violet where Maud didn't accept Violet running away. Thinking about Jack apologizing to Edwin. Thinking about Jack and his mom.)

I particularly like the complexity of the relationship between Edwin and Jack. Like. From the first book, you just have the sense that Jack was a bully, which he was from that side of things, but it's more complicated than that. But you don't know that then. The second book you get that Jack just doesn't care. He's mean to everyone so it's not like Edwin was particularly special. And in the third, you can see the growth from Jack, seeing that not everyone he has in good regards speak the same language of insults as he does. And from Edwin, you can see the strength he's gained from learning to love and to be loved. Seeing them interact kept reminding me that they were, in a loose sense, lovers once but they were childhood friends before that.

Seeing the the characters from different POVs was fun! I wish there was more Edwin and Robin from Maud and Violet's POV in the second book, but seeing them from Jack and Alan was nice. I didn't notice in the first book just how much of a nerd Edwin is. Makes my jock instincts want to shove him into a locker (affectionate). It's so cute how much Robin loves him and to see the ways different people notice.

So that's enough about all the other things. Time to gush about Jack lol

First book, didn't even register him as important. Second book, loved him instantly. HE'S SO MEAN!! But he helps out anyway out of some sense of responsibility!! And because Maud reminds him of his dead sister!! And they just won't leave him alone.

Watching Jack slowly finding a reason to live again was so cathartic. My chest hurts just thinking about it. To be hurt and to heal. To push on the wound and realize that at some point it has scarred over.

I genuinely really like characters who have gone through something awful, are a little unpleasant, and at some point learn to heal. I LOVE angst so much!!

Also the romance between Jack and Alan was interesting. I did like it a lot, but I also kept thinking "Give me something tender!!". Which was there between the lines of their play and the respect they showed each other. And then the last bit of the book, but at the same time, I wanted to see more of it.

Another thing that was pretty meh was that I wish Alan and Alan's nullification did more. Yes he did a lot to move the plot along as needed, but at the same time, a lot of sections in his POV, he was just a spectator watching everyone else do things. This kind of happened with Jack a little too.

Other little bits of thought

Love that it was brought up how Jack has slept with half the friend group. I was thinking it but was shocked when he was thinking it too lol

Wish we could see more with Addy and her dynamics with Robin and Edwin

It's so funny how the roman tracks became more important to the plot with each book

Took me waaay too long to realize the great threat is WW1

Wish there was more with Lady Dufey and the fae. I think it would be fun to explore and to hear more about her long life and also what happened after the contract was broken

The first chapter of the third book was so hard to read. Kept having to put it down in case I burst into tears. Haven't had such a strong reaction to a first chapter since The Song of Achilles.

I like Marske's prose. Like her word choices and sentence structure. It's both playful and devastating and I look forward to reading everything she writes.

Okay that's it. Those are my thoughts!

[trangenderstan]

any questions are open, I see? well. shermie pines; thoughts, opinions, theories? i really like that guy, and I need to find more shermie truthers. (and hello! :] )

Hi!! Thank you so much for asking oh boy i love sharing my thoughts prepare for a damn essay

I really love the concept of Sherman as Ford and Stan's brother mainly. That's the lense i've always looked at him through, "What would be an interesting addition to an already insane dynamic of the Stan twins?". First of all, i am firmly on the side of him being an older brother to Ford and Stan, mostly because it makes his dynamics with them more interesting (and less because you'd have to completely break the timeline even more than it already is for him to be younger). Does he blame himself for Stan's "death"? Does he escape an abusive household early on and that's why we don't see him in the flashbacks? Just the fact that he would have the time to get to know the twins this way brings us so many new things to discuss and think about!

To me, Sherman is a family man through and through. He has a loving wife, a child and he's more than content with it. He works a boring 9 to 5 with an occasional coworker event, and he's content with it. He's an antithesis of Stan and Ford in his normality. Kind of like Tad Strange, that's exactly what makes him weird in the first place. The Pines kids aren't supposed to be normal, they're supposed to be causing the end of the world and fulfilling ancient prophecies. But not this guy

That's not to say he's boring. He just has normal, conventional interests, but he still has a rough childhood to deal with as well as his brothers being... Whatever they are

The reason Stan gets the kids for the summer is because Sherman recommended him, i think. No way their parents are sending their children to a reclusive "scientist" that barely ever interacted with them and always finds a way to dip out of family events unless an older brother of said scientist practically begs them to give poor lonely Stanford a chance

The reason Sherman never suspects the identity switch despite knowing Ford and Stan for years, is the same reason their parents never did. Why would you suspect that? How would you accuse a grieving man losing his own twin of somethow being "Different"? Of course he's different. He went through a loss very few people understand and Sherman thinks he'd be an awful fucking human if, instead of offering help, he went in there and accused him of such an irrational thing as identity theft of your own twin

Why did Sherman not help Stan during his homeless years? I imagine he tried, but Stan didn't accept it. And then it was too late to do anything because he constantly moved from place to place, never disclosing his location and disappearing from Caryn and Sherman's radars for months at a time. It's hard to track down a man like Stanley Pines when he's being a stubborn, self-destructive asshole who can't get a grip. And eventually everyone would stop trying. Sherm is only human, after all.

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings about this guy! Thanks so much for the opportunity!

[salaapaoo]

PECULIAR QUESTION

Have you ever read any soulmate fics that have their deepest, darkest thoughts about themselves written on their soulmate's body? And when they finally begin to think differently the writing turns gold?

What do you think Cale's soulmate would have?(I know my boi is traumatized as f u c k-)

Maybe you could make it found family somehow where the thoughts are split up between people and they haven't figured out which set of writing belongs to Cale-

but I really want to know what everyone else would think- like, there would probably be some horrifying crap there.

(would a majority of the writing on Cale be golden already-? [Like obviously not ALL of it but still-])

Sorry, I rambled a bit there 😅

I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS SO HARD !!! I DIDN'T FORGET THIS!!

my brain is kinda fried after finishing my finals, but!! I feel like Cale's would end up being smth kinda vague like "it should have been me." Orrrr smth about not deserving everything ??

Like yes... It's p straight forward, but imagine how they'd feel after learning about his past?? IF he opens up??

But also... Imagine the soulmate thing kinda doubles as healing..? If that makes sense? Just think about it... If one person believes something about themselves, but their soulmate is the only person who is able to help them heal themselves??

Nono!!! Keep going !!! I honestly haven't thought too much about the word soulmate aus 🤔 I had a moment where I was obsessed w like found family, and each person unlocking a colour for him (each person bringing a new colour into his world) or red string of fate (I had smth abt ws X Cale but tragedy??)

So ... I am , THIBKING SO HARD!!!

just ?? Imagine the kids?? Them having something seemingly simple like "I'm too weak" or smth about being "unwanted freaks" and then comes Cale...

Who gives them as much love as they need, patiently listening to them and letting them be kids.. ugh!!! Just?? They feel so safe with him and he helps quiet these negative thoughts so easily?

To others it might be obvious, but to them these "small" problems are massive boulders in their way... And the way Cale reassures them... It's so natural. No hesitation. Ugh I love them .

Just imagine if they appear w a searing pain? Or maybe for Cale, it feels the same as papercuts... Imagine the guilt he feels when his thoughts show up on the people he cares about... And it's just a cycle of self loathing.. where he thinks they would have been better off without him and then it shows up-

Uughgh... Just picturing him hating himself for the pain he brought to the kids because of his thoughts ...

NGL I read this wrong the first time BC I am, usually sleep deprived but like I thought it was like a lie. Like imagine someone having "living is best" show up on them but it's because Cale repeated it so much it became like a curse? He lived by those words because if he didn't then he wouldn't be able to keep going maybe?

Idk if I'm making sense anymore fjdkkfdkg

"I should have died" seems .. very likely for my brain

But if it's smth where it turns gold when they stop believing it... Imagine them all telling him he was meant to live and he just smiles and nods .. and it stays??

-

As for recommendations 🤔🤔 there was this one fic that was ogchch, soul mark au, forced cohabitation and I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! I think I'm gonna go back and read it again

Come back anon 🥺🥺🥺 open Ur brain up n feed me Ur thoughts 🙏💖 I hope you enjoy this a bit 👉👈

[optiwashere]

I just found you on ao3 and i wish i had earlier all the recommendations were fine but your writing is the perfect mix for me. All the high kudos fics in f/f don't hit the same.

No question just appreciation for my new favorite author!

Hey anon, this is all incredibly sweet of you to say! Thank you 💜 Hope you continue to enjoy the fics.

I would just say that I'm very happy with having anyone that reads my stuff. I love hearing from anyone and everyone that comments on my fics or leaves an ask here. And holy shit, some of y'all have been coming out in force lately. The reaction to Nightsongs alone is super inspiring, and very sweet! I try to ignore my stats altogether, but that's incredibly kind of all y'all.

That said, I'm also not a doofus and I've been around fandoms for a while. So I know "the game."

I rambled a lot about pointless shit, so it's all under a break. It wound up being more directed at other fic writers than about your original sentiment, anon. Just another day on this strange planet for me.

Please don't think about this stuff too hard or too much. It will never make you happy. If you're a "big name fan" it will just be awful for you for different reasons. I wasn't a BNF, but I was very recognizable in a previous fandom. It wasn't pretty for me then either lol.

But if you're curious, it's all down to how people sort, read, and how momentum in fandoms works.

You need either a big social circle or to write for the biggest ship/trope to fit into those sorts of rec lists, or have an external social media find you. Not that those rec lists are totally irrelevant to quality! Far from it sometimes. But they are a specific type of popularity that you as the reader have to be aware of. Even you mentioned that you used rec lists, but from my understanding most people sort by word count, hits, kudos, or bookmarks.

It's the reason I tend to just sort by new and go with the flow.

That does mean that sometimes you have to wade into unknowns as the reader. Sorting by those sorts of metrics tends to perpetuate momentum rather than indicate... really, anything.

Not to say anything negative about the quality of the high kudosed femslash for BG3! I just don't read a ton of fic these days, and I have very specific things I look for (usually it's characters that aren't cis). Plus, there's one ship that's the very clear fan favorite, and there's a few tropes that are the obvious favorites. So you have to orient your perspective around those realities as a writer if you plan on keeping stats visible.

So the way I see it? I don't write a popular pairing, I write trans fics which in the smut might feature things that some readers do not want, and I don't write the biggest OC trope for Shadowheart/Tav works. Therefore, I tend not to be found by a certain subset of readers. Additionally, I write one-shots linked together by a series rather than singular longfics, so I don't "gather" additional metrics to make discoverability easier on the usual fronts listed above.

All that to say: I'm really happy that a lot of people read and comment on my fics :) Love my li'l gaggle of readers so much!

And additionally, most importantly maybe, I don't want to see in my inbox the sorts of talk I've been seeing in the fandom places I've been poking my toes in lately. That is, I don't want to see others being put down to prop anyone else up. Fandom is meant to be fun, it's meant to be a hobby.

Am I annoyed by some things in the fandom? Absolutely. Without question. But I try to avoid that stuff at all costs to save my sanity and focus on the things I do enjoy instead.

My motto is love what you love. Read what you enjoy. Fuck the rest, ignore it.

[may-bell-flower]

Hello tumblr. I've decided I want to use this blog to ramble about things that interest me and random brain thoughts. Prepare yourself.

'DEEP' vrs 'SHALLOW' media.

So, the way Im going to define 'deep' in this context is....rather literal? As in, for a piece of media to be 'deep' it needs to have multiple layers, or levels, of understanding. You can enjoy the piece as a fun entertaining time, but if you start 'digging in' to it, you reveal something more meaningful- usually some sort of commentary on the nature of existance or the human experience. See the above silly puppets for example.

(Another deep favourite of mine - Princess Tutu. That shit goes hard for a magical girl anime about having ballet powers. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but just know that it's one of those shows that touched my actual soul. Seriously. Watch it.)

Something I haven't seen a lot of people mention is that if a piece of media is *obviously* about some important, meaningful thing...then it's not deep. That's not to say it's bad! But if it doesn't require any digging, it's not deep. ...right?

Now, it makes sense to say that the opposite of 'deep' is 'shallow'. That word has a lot of negative implications, so its not quite right, but bare with me. Some media for sure is 'shallow' in the sense that it really doesn't offer anything but entertainment (which is not a bad thing). But there are stories out there that are plenty meaningful, but aren't necessarily 'deep'. They're... to- the- point, upfront. They have something to say and they're not hiding it. I think that can be really good, as it's less likely the message of the piece will be lost. On the other hand, these stories can come across as on-the-nose or preachy. It's all a matter of balance.

I had media to put here in this category, but for some reason it's left my brain. I want to say the newer blade runner movie? I think it was pretty obvious going in what the messages would be and it delivered on that promise. I loved it, but it was in essence, a very typical distopian sci-fi that explored the things distapioan sci-fi is good at exploring. Compare that to the fist, which lead you to believe it might be a standered noir thriller with sci-fi flavour (and can be enjoyed as much) but also speaks to the wonder and horror of science and human innovation, the definition of humanity and intelligence, who gets to have rights, who is considered human, and a bunch more fun stuff. But I'm winging this part right now so I might be way off the mark. What do you guys think?

I also just realised while writing this... a lot of 'deep' stories are ones that are set up to look like they belong to a certain genre, then deliberately go against or go beyond the tropes and story beats expected of that genre. Fun stuff, I love it.

Basically I like to over think and overanalyse and I recently realised...maybe some of y'all do too. And if I get media recommendations at the same time, well, that's a bonus. Let me know some of your fave deep/ not deep / shallow media please 🙏😊

[llitchilitchi]

Oh god this is gonna be a ramble I'm so sorry but I need to talk about how much I love your vampire au especially the parts you've shown from twitter. Vampire aus are some of my absolute top favs and that hint about forgive me if I misremember but the bit about Dream deciding to give up and simply fade away instead of like becoming immortal awakened my old fav trope. Its really rare since MCD is often not popular but in vamp stories the fanfiction market is often oversaturated with the "and the magic vamp blood healed them saving them from death during the pivotal scene" or "we must greatly angst before we turn you into a vampire and condemn you to the same sin we bear" which dont get me wrong I love greatly and will read 50 stories just like that but the sheer rarity of "I am mortal and I made peace with that. My time will come and I will pass away be it natural or no but that is the cycle of life" often brings out new emotions. Like the vamps either hurting so bad that their loved one refuses to be turned or just blatantly ignoring the fact that they are mortal and will die one day and just continueing to live in fantasy land until the time comes and then they panic. But your idea was even cooler and rarer than even that! You as far as I understood wanted Dream to choose to actively die in his loved ones arms by leting them consume him not by accident but by choice. That's so unique! Just Dream being a tiny but such an important part of their eternal lives but them still having to live on after Dream's death and what are the consequences of that. Do they regret it? Do they listen to Dream and consume him? Do they not listen to Dream and forcibly turn him? So many questions and possible answers. Like what is the general outlook on Dream's situation? A short fling? The love of their lives? A tragedy? Any path can be good if enough passion is put into it and this idea and the twitter snippets are eating me alive its so good

oh gosh anonnie<3<3<3

I saw this ask in the morning but I wasn't entirely sure how to reply

for anyone curious, the tweets in question are [this] and [this] - I would recommend reading through all the replies, though don't take any of it as definite canon but more of brainstorming

this is definitely a path that I am considering and would love to explore but there is so many ways things could go, and as much as I love the thought of Dream willingly letting himself pass away from bloodloss as George and Sapnap feed on him, the idea that it happens because of a triggered bloodlust (similar to the comics I drew) could be fun, too, especially if Dream voiced before that he Doesn't want to be turned, but his partners panicked and turned him and now have to live with the consequences of forcing him to exist like this.

on the other hand, there is something very special about writing grief and heartbreak

none of this is set in stone. I mentioned it before, these are ideas but I don't know where I want to take the au just yet. but I'm glad people enjoy this possibility as much as I do

besides, there is always the chance for me to come up with several routes the au can go, and people can choose which they prefer as canon :)

[hiranospiercing]

Hey friend! So i saw your shounen ai recommendation list a couple weeks ago and thought I'd give them a try since there were a couple titles there i haven't read yet. To preface, I've been reading shounen ai and yaoi for close to 13 years now and over the years I've had a fair share of my gripes with how some smut handle their intimate scenes which led me to kind of veer away from smut altogether. Not to say that i didn't enjoy them, but i just outgrew them. So I have some reservations when I realised Blue Sky Complex has smut scenes as opposed to just being a shounen ai manga but the story so far seemed well written so I figured why not. And then once we got to said smut, I'm blown away!!? It's so good! Amazingly so! Like, it was so sweet and cute how they're both so eager in their own ways, and how chika actually researched how to do it, and kept on looking up at the refs while they're doing it bc it's his first time. And how surprised natsuki was with the whole thing which made him feel scared but still excited. And through it all, they communicated best they could, and they kept checking in with each other every step of the way, even with how awkward and bumbling their communication seemed to be. And their college years just seemed so fresh too, like you can see how comfortable they are with one another at that point, and they're so caring and considerate of each other's wants and needs. Just, it's a very wholesome manga is what I'm saying. So thank you so much for the rec! Hope you have a great day!!

aw this just made my day, okay iam afraid iam going to ramble a little bit but the reason why i primarily made those two recommendation lists was simply because i wanted to share the joy i felt after reading stories that were actually about romance shared between queer people, the stories that weren't a hyper sexualized stereotypical and toxic representation of them from a feminine perspective just for the female audience, it's harder to find good stories that actually try to write characters that feel substantial but yeah i will keep finding those out so atleast some of yall can have the same joyful experiences i had while experiencing such good literature, i love you anon💌 this made my day

[qrupafjzvm1]

birthday!

a neatly-folded letter is placed under a bottle of vanilla extract.

pretty sure it's been there for more than a day. you have a feeling that you were late.

hello hi if you're reading this i'm probably going in pmd to become an eevee WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

if i'm not please return this where you found it thank you very much

anyway what the heck is this letter about.

i have a tradition that started on another site where i'd talk about what I've done for the year and my resolutions for the next.

it's a gaming site, sooooooooooooo not much fanfare is possible in those posts. only about the game and the community.

so i decided, since i'm using like 5 different sites now, why not make 3 recaps?

so yeah this is one of 3 you can find, honestly would rather you don't find any of the other ones but who knows :shrug:

this one's gonna go very in-depth about fandom stuff! well, as much as i can, anyway. i didn't do much this year.

ANYWAY! first 6 months had absolutely nothing. i was locked into irl stuff and honestly had no time to think about anything else. ended in complete failure btw.

so yeah life was miserable

and then vocaloid happen.

whoo boy, fun fact: i didn't understand why people liked music they can't understand the lyrics of. like I'm a lyrics kid, i need lyrics to sing them songs, how can you enjoy a song without singing it

yeah turns out you can and WHOOOOOO what a turnaround now i'm rolling all around for a trillion years and a night while getting mesmerized and ok i'll stop

vocaloid would later bring me to other Japanese songs which i also love (yorushika anyone? pls recommend some more too)

anyway then ES happened and yup i can dream again that's great

yeah 2 years of depression and half a year of failure really takes a toll out of you, but then ES and PMD came from heaven and rescued me from the grasping hands of hell (no depictions available)

the fandom (and pokemon as a whole) probably brought me back to life in many ways i thought only techno's vids could do sooooooooooo yeah i love 'em

got an eevee plush recently actually can anyone recommend me a small pouch to go with so eve can be an explorer

oh and also ssrpg but that's honestly old news and you guys probably don't know 'em too so we'll just pass that

and splatoon, and doraemon (you didn't expect that did you), inside out had a page for a while, i was joining a dozen fandoms lmao

anyway so big problem. i can dream again. i have like, a full a4 page of fic ideas, in 11px times new roman. i can't write any of 'em.

no, i'm not saying that like i can't can't, it's more like i put myself down to write and 10 million things happen in my brain and now i'm playing the same boring games and can't write for naught

truly a curse (i'd call it adhd but i cannot get to a therapist so yeah that ain't happening)

the plan is for eve to be my hyperfixation so i can focus better? i mean i hope it works

anyway resolution!!!

i mean when it coms to fandoms my only resolution is to write more fics. i'ma be honest it's only that. you really shouldn't expect much more.

actually you can expect much more i'll try to pick up drawing at some point if i have time

so yeah that's the end of this random rambling, honestly i wanted to write more but the page's ending and so is my time, the gate to pmd's closing in like 15 minutes eek

sayonara (i'll be back with a fic i swear)

=================================================

there's something on the back of the page. "why did you expect me to use the back of a page. i am disappointed in you."

[tetskuro]

hi!!! your matchups look so cool so i'd like to request one please! for the emoji i'll go with 🍓 if it's available :)

- pronouns are she/her - romantic matchup - male pairing

- my mbti is infp, i'm pretty shy and i take a while to open up, but once i do i talk a lot, i'm sensitive and i cry easily, people say i'm very considerate of others, i usually put others first, i don't really like to show my feelings, i can be pretty stubborn sometimes.

- i like drawing, writing, listening to music, watching movies and tv shows, i like manga and anime and i loooove dc comics!

- i look for a partner that's sweet, who'd listen to my rambling about my interests, someone who wouldn't mind my shyness and that i could have fun with, someone that would talk about random topics with me in the middle of the night.

- an ideal first date for me would be going to the movies and then having some coffee after so we could just chat and comment about the movie or any topic really.

thank you so much!! i hope ur doing great <3

your matchup is...

yamaguchi tadashi

⭑ yamaguchi is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet—to those that he likes at least because we know he teams up with tsukishima to be a menace sometimes

⭑ he wouldn't mind your shyness since he can be pretty timid too, so he understands

⭑ he might be a bit awkward and jittery at first when the two of you meet but as time goes on, he opens up more and gets closer to you

⭑ yamaguchi would love hearing you ramble about your interests and would start liking the same things that you do

⭑ you'll catch him listening to your favorite artist or watching your favorite show just so he can have more to talk to you about

⭑ he also finds himself genuinely enjoying the media you tell him about and recommend to him

⭑ definitely watches a lot of anime with you

⭑ i feel like his favorite genres would be slice of life and romance, maybe a bit of fantasy and action too

⭑ he would be so honored if you ever shared your artwork or writing with him because he thinks it's the coolest thing ever

⭑ yamaguchi thinks your considerate nature is very admirable but he'd also remind you that it's okay to put yourself first

⭑ if you're ever upset or in a bad mood, he would help you in any way you need whether that be giving you space or a comforting hug

⭑ yamaguchi would love to go to the movies especially since i feel like he'd be very nervous on a first date and watching a movie is more casual and gives him a chance to ease his nerves

⭑ the two of you would have random late night conversations about anything and everything

⭑ as long as you're having fun, he's having fun as well

your matchup runner-up is azumane asahi

[sheepisreading]

Books I finished in Febuary 2023

The first three I grabbed at the same time at the boostore because I was bored and needed cheering up!

Naked, David Sedaris, 1997

This is an essay collection! I’d previously read Calypso by the same author and loved it. It’s a fun read, not hard to read or get into and doesn’t require too much concentration to read while still being very entertaining. I chose it as my next book for that reason, because I’ve been pretty fucking stressed recently and thought I could read it without spiralling. It worked! I loved it, it was funny and earnest, recounting amusing anecdotes and real learning moments. I love these kinds of essay collections heartfelt but self aware and comedic.

(Also, because I’ll probably never review it since I read it like six years ago: in the same vein I can only recommend Watsky’s essay collection “How to ruin everything”, probably even more than Naked! It’s I think less emotional or about emotions but I honestly loved it, it made me very happy, Watsky is awesome.)

Assembly, Natasha Brown, 2020

Fully picked this one up in the bookshop because the cover is pretty but after reading the blurb I immediately bought it. It’s fiction but clearly inspired by the authors life. The main character muses on her life so far and the decisions she’s made. It says clearly some shit that’s obvious but for some reason still an issue! The author clearly writes about the differences in class and upbringing between rich old money white people (her colleages) and hardworking new money black people (her). It’s about stuff we take for granted and casual racism. Very good ! It packs a punch in only a hundred pages.

Bluets, Maggie Nelson, 2009

Maggie Nelson writes “propositions” meaning short prose-poetry rambling-things about blue. I’m very into blue and gave a school presentation two years ago on the history of blue in art inspired by the vsauce video about it (which is amazing by the way, I rewatch it often), so I’ve been wanting to read it for a while. It’s good! Maggie Nelson writes beautifully about artists who have used the colour in the past (which is good inspiration) and her own relationship with blue, as well as with two people she cares about at the moment of writing. Her writing is absolutely beautiful! There is a lot of mention of romantic and physical longing which I cannot relate to, but that’s an issue I run into often and her way of discussing it remains interesting. It’s a beautiful book and its atmosphere stays with you.

The Nice House on the Lake vol. 1, James Tynion IV, 2021

Okay apparently the author is well known but I’ve never heard of him as I don’t really read comics and read like one graphic novel a year. As I understand it what I read (volume 1) spans the first six issues of the comic (out of 12). I grabbed it while browsing and loved the colours and was intrigued by the premise (having watched and thoroughly enjoyed Glass Onion not long before, I kinda thought it was a hardcore version of that, turns out: way more sci-fi shit in Nice House). I got home after my first day of internship, spent an hour doing jack shit and then picked this book up and read the whole thing straight. It’s amazing, there are fleshed out characters (some of them are queer yay), suspense, tension, emotion, it’s just really good! I will warn for like apocalypse, discussions of suicide and body horror though if that’s a thing you can’t go near! But if you can and are into weird sci-fi horror I recommend it! (I actually kind of like Walter I have to say, he just loves his friends !)

Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse, 1927

!!! My mum is a big Hermann Hesse fan and always advocated for me reading one of his books. I happened upon this one at the used book market and immediately bought it because I noticed someone had anotated parts of it which. Yeah. Anyways, a bit of a slow start with the introduction written from an outside perspective from the narrator of the remainder of the book but absolutely hang in there! It's absolutely amazing; reflections on selfhood and the way we choose to live or not live our lives, connections with others, finding joy and excitement. It really did exceed my expectations. I thought there would be too much romance talk for my taste but it's so beautifully written that it's not an issue at all. It left a mark on me, that's for sure, it's a really powerful book.