#rose and connor edit

[virtual-hug]

🔥 5 year dbh anniversary stream highlights part 1 🔥

[goaldngel]

(I know I’m extremely late but) Happy 5 years anniversary to this wonderful game

I wanted to remake the trailer with that video of Kamski from the extras, so that’s how it looks.

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🎶ac: me

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🎼song: Shuniji by C418

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🎬subject: Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream, 2018)

[mechaknight-98]

Gathering CEDH Edition: Stomping Grounds

Operator's Notes: But Wait there's more

Gathering: stomping grounds

A few days earlier

Eunbi Kwon glanced at herself in the mirror, a gentle smile touching her lips. She adjusted her scarf, feeling a mix of excitement and anticipation for her date with Dexter. They were meeting at a cozy café she adored, renowned for its artisanal pastries and serene atmosphere.

As she arrived at the quaint café, she spotted Dexter waiting at a table by the window, a cup of steaming tea in hand. His eyes lit up as he noticed Eunbi's approach, and he rose to greet her with a warm smile and happy wave.

"Hey, Eunbi! You look lovely as always," Dexter said, a hint of shyness in his voice.

"Thank you, Dexter. You're looking great yourself," she replied, feeling a rush of warmth at his kind words. The two embraced in a soft hug before sitting down together

They settled into a comfortable conversation, “So Dexter what have you been up to recently?”

Dexter tried to collect his thoughts before answering slowly “I just finished helping Kkura with another side project and another photobook.” Eunbi smiled at that she loved that Dexter was helping one of her “little sisters” and that said little sister was still thriving despite the hectic life of an idol. Eunbi reached out to grab Dexter’s hand

“That’s so sweet,” Eunbi responded

Dexter smiles at Eunbi. After Dexter shared stories from his latest photography project, Eunbi talked about her latest venture into her new hobby she'd been mastering, as well as her upcoming comeback album. It still amazed Dexter how she was still so free with herself, while Dexter struggled with it because his family had always taught him that the self was a tool that was as dangerous as the sharpest knife.

Eunbi's eyes sparkled with excitement as she shared her experiences, and Dexter was captivated by her passion. He couldn't help but admire her dedication to mastering the intricacies of her hobbies as well as the stage.

The conversation meandered from hobbies to shared interests in music and books. They exchanged stories of childhood memories, favorite songs, and the hidden gems they discovered in old bookstores.

They ordered a delightful array of pastries, teasing each other about who had the better choice in taste. Dexter convinced Eunbi to try the café's signature blueberry tart, and she watched his face light up as he bit into her favorite apple strudel.

As the afternoon waned, they found themselves deep in conversation, the passage of time seemingly forgotten. Eunbi felt a sense of comfort and ease around Dexter, a feeling she hadn't experienced before. He listened attentively, and she found herself sharing snippets of her life she'd never confided in anyone else.

“It’s so weird even though we’ve only known each other for a little bit I feel like I’ve known you forever, like you’ve always been a part of my life,” Eunbi said to Dex. Dexter smiled as he tried to think of an appropriate response

“You’re the best!” He decided emphatically. Eunbi smiled and chuckled at her friend’s unique way with words. Dexter began processing in his brain the current situation

“Is this a date? Are we boyfriend and girlfriend now?” Dexter asks seriously. Eunbi’s eyes widen as she looks at Dexter. She looks at Dexter full of appreciation and gratitude. Then she notices his hands shaking.

Seeing the power she wields over his heart she smiles and says “We absolutely are” Dexter’s hand stops shaking as Eunbi smiles at him even brighter. The next few days are quiet for the couple as spend time together and feel each other out more. This changes when Chaewon updates Eunbi and Dex about Connor’s whereabouts and planned activities which results in the current call

“Yeah man, what’s up?” You say

“Oh is that Dexter? Can you tell him that his help with my Kaalia deck was so good? It runs so much smoother thanks to him.” Jen interjects

Connor listens to Dex's chuckle before he responds “You’re welcome Jen. I just wanted to talk to Connor about Pancakes and croissants.” Jen looks confused but Connor immediately understands the code.

“hey, Jen I need to step out for a bit. I need to grab my clothes and stuff. I will be right back.” Connor says to Jen who nods in understanding. “Dex I will call you back in a bit.” Connor gets the rental and reopens the call

Connor stares at his neck suppression drugs in the glove box. He knows Dex would tell you not to take it, but the power it scares Him.

“Glad you could call me back. “ Connor hears Dexter say, “So you’re going to an umbrella event with Yunjin as your friend I am going to ask that you take your weapons with you.” Connor stares confused at the phone

“Why’s it a strictly weapon-free gala thing?” Connor asks. Connor hears an enormous sigh from Dexter.

“you’re going to a gala where the Wesker triplets are making their public appearance, for Umbrella Corp. Mrs. Wong will also be there, and you know people still incorrectly blame her for the g-virus epidemic. If I were a person with an axe to grind and I saw that. I would absolutely do it there. The event reeks of a trap, to get even with the biggest biological arms dealers in the world.” Dexter says tiredly

“okay and do you have any proof of this? You have been out of the game for a while?” Connor questions

“No don’t do that! Don’t be bad. Do the smart thing and keep an eye out for yourself, and Jen, because if something goes wrong I can’t bail you out.” Dexter Bellows (he is completely right though)

“Okay, I will consider it,” Connor responds

“No absolutely not!! I want you to give me verbal confirmation right now that you are not going to take your suppression drugs.” Dexter almost yells.

“Dude. Why are you so serious about this?” Connor asks Dexter who is quiet for a moment before he says something Connor never considered.

“You are my closest friend Connor. Even with Voruna messing with your head trying to make it so we weren’t cool you are my closet confidant, ally, friend, whatever. if you die I won't have anything. While I trust Hiro with my life I get this weird guardedness from him that worries me. So I need you to live who else is going to ride for me when things get tough.” Dexter says

"What about Eunbi?" Connor teases.

Dexter on the other side of the world furrows his brow before responding, "Listen buddy don't be such a smart alek."

Connor is silent. Dexter doesn't speak often but He decided to share his heart right here. So hearing him say those things throws Connor off. So he gives verbal confirmation.

“Great now that my heart is eased you are free to go,” Dex says

“Thanks, Mom I'll call you later…Wait wait wait? I got a question for you.” Connor says to Dex before he hangs up

“OI?” He responds

“How are you? I heard you recently Won a cedh tournament with Rocco?” Connor asks

There is a moment of silence you can almost hear the gears turning for Dexter.

“Well I, I…actually. I am good. Feeling wise, and I didn’t win I got fourth place among all of the 200 participants. Hiro also went he got 69th with his “jank build,” Dexter responds

“Oh, that's sick,” Connor responds.

“Yeah, thanks, man. Also before I go. How did it go with Aeri?” Dexter asks

“She put me in the brother zone.” Connor reply.

Connor hears Dexter laugh. “I am so sorry but that is too funny my guy…woo I needed that laugh” Dexter says confidently

“So what do I do?” Connor asks Dex. Who is silent again regaining his bounds to Help Connor

“Well, the Christian Church boy in me says. Go after Yunjin who has the hots for, but you don’t want to hear that so I will give you my recommendation for you; Try again. Heck, you may end up dating them both. or make the offer. I know you’re okay with polyamory so just go for it, dude.” Dexter responds. He’s silent for a minute then adds. “If you do choose one don’t give a rationale besides you were my first choice.”

“That sounded like it came from experience.” Connor teases.

Dexter laughs before saying, “It is, not mine though. I watched my previous friend from college crash and burn doing this.”

“Oh, can I meet these friends? I thought I was your only friend in NYU” Connor jokes

“Sadly not anymore, due to him being dead,” Dexter responds flatly. Connor can hear the sadness in his voice.

“Okay well, I will call you later and ask for more guidance after this crap show,” Connor replies to his friend and roommate.

“OH also reminder we have that meeting with that big wig lady in South Korea for filming,” Dexter responds.

“Sick. Can we use our powers arethis time instead of flying? I am so tired.” Connor asks his friend

“Oh yeah definitely” Dexter responds. After that, Connor hangs up. he gets back to his hotel and grabs the suit, then gets a text from Jen to meet her, winter, and Hosang at a nearby diner. When Connor arrives he smiles at his friends, glad to see them. There is a seat open next to Jen. He sits and chats with Hosang, Winter, and Jen eventually having talked long enough for it to be time to leave after they all ate. they all get up to leave and a wave of dread strikes Connor. Winter is the first to notice

“Um, Connor? Are You okay?” Winter asks. he turns to her and fakes a smile. “

Yeah I am good just got a weird vibe ya know.” he says to Winter. She nods as all of them go back to the vehicle. They all get ready and dressed then head to the Gala. That sense of dread remains in Connor though.

When The group finally gets settled in Yunjin notices Connor's collar and helps him “Gosh you’re hopeless.” she says as she spruces Him up. Connor laughs. “Jen there are some things we need to talk about,” Connor says reminded of the previous events. She looks at you and sighs.

“Later tonight let’s just have fun and enjoy each other’s time.” to illustrate her point she takes out her camera for a selfie with him. Connor smiles as they do a series of photos containing both cute and funny poses. After that Connor Jen, Hosang, and Winter all sit down at the table assigned to them. they are about to eat when Connor hears a familiar voice. his face pales and his blood runs cold.

“Connor" He turns to see none other than Alex Wesker. The man who destroyed his life. He was accompanied by two a woman who looked similar to him and a girl in a wheelchair who looked like she could be related to the other two. “See I knew it was you. Good to see you healed from the island,” he said smugly

Connor's fist clenches but Jen notices, opens his hand, and puts hers in. Connor relaxed a little. “I guess so Mr. Wesker but I suggest you don’t push your luck. There are plenty of people here who would love to see you torn apart.” you spit back

Alexander smiles. “I have always been a nuisance wherever I have gone. The masses never understood my genius,” he says smugly again

Connor's eyes narrowed as Alexander walked away. Connor was surprised when the girl in the wheelchair approached. She seemed timid and frail unlike the other two. Had it not been for the striking dyed hair and red eyes he would have thought she was normal. She got closer “Um are you Dex's roommate?” she asked meekly. It took him a minute to realize she was referring to Dexter. Connor nods. “Good can I ask if he is okay?” He pauses. There is something off about her and Connor's powers kicked in but due to being out of practice, the information was extremely muddled the only thing clearly coming through was that she was not to be trusted. “He’s good, we actually have been working together.” Connor gave very little. Hoping that the wheelchair girl would not make a scene. The girl smiled

“That’s good we’ll probably all be seeing each other during Ultra Max Productions 4th generation GG showcase. Well see ya.” She says as she wheels away. Connor nods watching her roll away. His psychic powers telling him she was still not to be trusted but the rest of his senses saying “she was just a defenseless girl.” this puts him on edge however and it causes him to notice things you wouldn’t otherwise. For example each of the catering staff was wearing these conspicuous bracelets. He looks closer and begins to notice what’s on those bracelets. They are injection vector bracelets. he wonders what for, so you probe into one of the catering staff’s minds. It’s difficult at first because he hasn't done it in so long, but eventually he finds an horrifying answer.

“Oh No.” Connor exclaims

“Hey Connor?” Jen said when he finally tuned back into your friends. he gesture to all of them

“we need to leave now.” Connor says. They look at him worried. “Look you’re going to have to trust me on this. Please let’s get out of here.” he says. The group looks at him seeing his fear and nods. they begin to go back to the door. When they reach it a waiter approaches Connor.

“Oh we haven’t served the meal yet.” the waiter says pleasantly as he lifts his waist to show a firearm. “it would be a shame if you miss it.” he says pleasantly. As he does more waiters surround you. Connor zclench your fist trying not to freak out. As you are led back to your seats the “festivities” begin

“Hello, Esteemed guests and patrons of the new and revamped umbrella corporation. I am your host Carla Radames. (Carla squints as she looks at you) Oh is that the hermit? Well today just got so much better, but I am getting ahead of myself.” Connor watch as Carla steps down from the podium she was standing at. she begins walking to him

“As most of you know the new umbrella has been covering almost everything. With that reach we have unprecedented access. You can thank my daughter Astrid for that. She just loves to help her mom even if she was unaware of what she was doing. She's is such a good daughter but don’t blame her for what happens next. that was all me. Astrid just helped rebuild the company. it was my vision that allowed what you are all about to see. Waiting staff please reveal the main course.” Carla monologued. Connor watches in terror as the waiting staff turn their bracelets and begin transforming.

“See after my success with the C-Virus. I looked to my daughter’s twin half brother and half sister for guidance on creating this new virus. thankfully their notes were so well done. I was easily able to iterate on in it and improve to make this. I call it the X-Virus.”not wasting anytime Connor looks at Jen, Winter and Hosang. they all nod and make a break for it. Connor summons The Rev zero and begins shooting to give them cover.

“Oh I love a good chase scene.” Carla said. as Connor and his cadre of friends fight their way out. they quickly find these new infected are much different then the others previously faced. his bullets barely phased them. so he switched the rev zero to it's alternate firing mode which garned much higher success.

this leads to Connor and several others being pinned to the kitchen as Carla watched with a smile.

“I’m a mess, mess, mess, mess” Connor hears. he turn to Jen who’s phone is going off.

“Oh it’s a video call from Eunbi.” Connor smiles remembering he could call Dexter who would probably be helpful in this situation. he take out his phone to call him when he is pleasantly surprised to see him in the frame with Eunbi. relieved Connor says to Dexter

“Everything has gone toffee.” Connor sees the recognition in his face. In a flash he is there with weapons in hand and Eunbi close behind.

“What’s the situation?” He asks.

“It’s Mrs Radames. she is back with a new virus.” Connor answers

“Jeez it never ends does it? Okay I’ll run point you cover me?” Dexter responds. Connor nod

he does a few more magic gates and tells all of the normal people to leave. Connor asks Winter, Jen, Eunbi, and Hosang to guide them.

“Where can we find you two after this?” Jen asks.

“Well I am starving and I have been craving IHOP so let’s do that.” Dexter says. His calmness about the whole thing puts everyone, and everything at ease. Connor notices that wheelchair girl wheels over to him. she looks like she wants to say something, but can’t. he doesn’t notice since he turns to Connor and asks, “Did the Weskers have anything to do with this?”

Connor look at him confused s everything happened so fast. “Not directly more like they were used this time around. At least I think. I am still reeling to be honest.” he explains.

Dexter nods. “that’s fair. Let’s go then.” Connor follow his friend who has summoned a very scary looking sword. the two walk out to see a languid Carla watching.

“Oh the Paladin mystic Dexter what a surprise. Here to help with my revenge?” Carla says seductively. this makes Connor wonder about his friend’s relationship with the lady but now wasn’t the time to ask. His response is he lifts his sword up, and stabs the ground. a ball of Plasma explodes around them burning away many of the close infected. “Shame I missed you. Waiters please finish them.” Carla says as she takes out a grappling hook from her dress and flees the scene. the infected begin to close in on them. As promised Connor provide cover fire for Dexter. his mysterious sword leaving the infected as burned husks with each slash. they are able to clean up the remaining ones using Connor's secondary fire for the Rev 0 after clearing out the hall the remaining guest who had hidden approach Connor. One of them being Voruna. she smiles at Connor but grimaces at Dexter.

“Thank you cub.” she says as she embraces him. your friend sits down quietly waiting to leave cleaning his sword. Vector approaches the duo and says thank you in his own special way

“Your trigger discipline and aim have improved greatly.” he says in his gravelly voice. Connor smiles and give him a hug. they watch as Jake Muller and Sherry Birkin approach his friend. Connor follows their lead.

“Surprised to see you still alive kid.” Jake says to Dexter friend. He looks and smiled he shakes his hand. sherry leans down and kisses his cheek.

“What he means to say is thank you.” she says pleasantly. “Also nice tattoos they’re pretty cool.” she adds. Dexter gives his signature thumbs up and gets up.

“Ready to go?” Dexter asks. Connor nods as the two of them walk out and are approached by Astrid Wesker.

“That was surprising. I didn’t expect the two of you to be quite so strong. I may need to add security to your roles as I didn’t expect the two of you to display such strength. I look forward to working with you in a few weeks.” Connor and Dexter roll their eyes as you leave. Dexter and Connor walk out avoiding police and first responders. they eventually find the girls and Hosang waiting at the truck. “Shotgun,” Dexter says as he approaches. Jen smacks him playfully.

“Jinga? I was going to call it,” she said. Dexter smiles and hops in. The rest go to the second row.

“Where to now?” Winter asks.

“IHOP hopefully,” Dexter responds. The group laughs and so Connor drives to IHOP. the rest of the group clears out minus Dexter.

“I’ll cover Winter, Eunbi, and myself. can you cover the other half?” Dexter asks Connor nods to a friend as the two walk in. Unsurprisingly the group gets some looks. Most of them were dressed in high fashion entering an IHOP. after that they all get seated and Connor goes back to the truck to get changed. after seeing that the others follow suit. When they get back Connor and Jen laugh seeing Eunbi having taken her favorite seat. Dexter’s lap. Connor wonders if Dexter has gotten the courage to tell her how he feels. His admiration for his friend is quickly burned away when he sees what Dexter orders. Connor watches his friend order a breakfast burrito and cinnamon roll pancakes.

“I am so judging you for that,” Connor says while laughing, and he just shrugs it off.

Jen snaps her fingers at the exchange. “That’s what I love about you Dexter you always are you. You don’t change for nobody.” Dexter smiles and gives a thumbs up as he leans to the table. he is careful not to squish Eunbi. fatigue is present in his eyes. Eunbi smiles at Dexter and you.

“thank you for always protecting us. both of you.” Eunbi says.

“Anytime,” Connor says say. Dexter just smiles at Eunbi. after that the food comes, and Jen is vibing. Eunbi and her have always had the biggest appetites. While you ate you watched as Jen was vibing the whole time doing little dances here and there. As they all ate winter Hosang watched eagerly. Dexter was the first to notice.

“Hey what’s so funny?” he said as he watched the couple eating and laughing at the other four.

“It’s just you all are so American it’s funny.” Hearing this Jen smiled and scrunched her nose as she smiled at Connor. Eunbi looked up from her food and began giggling. Connor looks at his friend who had spaced out from the conversation and had gone back to eating. Connor sees Eunbi look into Dexter’s eyes. this is it. Connor thinks to himself. the moment when Eunbi and Dexter admit they like each other.

Eunbi pokes Dexter’s nose. he smiles at her. She leans in closer he leans in closer, and they kiss. Yes, Connor thinks to himself. Connor and Jen high-five each other. when they break the kiss Eunbi has a funny look. her eyes were super wide and she said the weirdest thing to say in that situation.“I guess good guys don’t finish Last.” Dexter looks at Eunbi confused before kissing her again

[vermont-writes-fanfic]

Getting Hurt While Protecting Them (Deviant Edition)

Request:No

Warning:Burns, Zlatko’s Death, injuries, blood,cursing

Characters:Kara,Alice,Marcus, Connor

A/N:This is the deviant version of a post I did a while ago which is linked here

Deviant Kara + Alice

You came with Kara and Alice to Zlatko’s house where you met Luther and Zlatko, after the mans true intentions were revealed and you tried to keep Kara from losing her memories,but Luther was instructed to take you away and he did so. After freeing yourself with the help of other androids in the basement you made your way to where Kara was having her memories erased. As you were trying to figure out what to do, Zlatko found you and the two of you bagn to fight. You had thrown a water body between the two of you to distract him and gotten wet in the process, when he grabbed on of the snapped wires, which allowed Kara to fall to the ground and retain her memories, you sustained a nasty burn. You powered through it despite the shock in your body and knocked him out with a near by pipe before grabbing Kara.

“Are you okay?” She asked as you pulled her up.

“We can check later, we need to find Alice.”

After doging both Zlatko and Luther you both managed to find Alice and in a remarkable turn of events Luther swapped sides and rose up with the experiments in the basement to kill Zlatko.When the four of you finally got a chance to settle down in an abandoned amusement park, Kara checks Alice and then goes straight to you.

“You are hurt, did Zlatko do this?” She questions, the caoncern is evident in her face.

“Yes and no, I was dumb and threw a bottle of water in a room full of electrical appliances,so he took his shot,” 

She pauses searching for the right words to say before running water over it it and wrapping it up to the best of her abilities.

“Thank you…you saved Alice.”

“No, I saved my family.”

Deviant Marcus

Marcus didn’t make a habit out of trusting humans, but you had helped pull him from the android graveyard and help piece hisself back together again with your own two hands and he knew he could trust you.He knew that at anyone you would put your life on the line for the safety of another androids whether they had deviated or not, and you had in the past, not to mention you treated his goal almost as seriously as he did.

The incident happened when you joined him for a hesit of thirium and biocompenents, he had been shot in a vital component during a chase. You took his arm over your shoulder and helped him escape, but in the process of fleeing over a gate you were bit in the thigh, your jean shorts soaked in your own blood the wound seeping blood the entire journey back to Jericho. It was here, after he assessed the other adriods and you finished helping others replace their components, that he noticed you were wounded.He places a hand on the wound, his eye scanning it with a look of concern.

“Why didn’t you get that taken care of?”

“Others needed their components replaced,” You respond shrugging as he removes his hand, the artificial skin covered in an alarming amount of your blood, “I didn’t sit down until just now, so I never got to it.”

The moment you finish speaking, he hoists you up on a broken interface and takes a closer look. After inspecting it, he cleans the wound and bandages it up, all the while he is telling you how human and stupid it was.

“You’re not even listening are you?”

“Half-way, that’s gotta count for something,” You smirk as he looks up at you.

“Why didn’t you just leave me there?” His eyes narrow as he asks you the question, as if expecting something different than what you say.

“Well,” You sigh dramatically, “Jericho just wouldn’t be the same without Markus, the big, bed, fearless android leader, now would it?” You tease, nudging his shoulders as you slide down and off the interface.

You only chuckles a little and shakes his head.

Deviant Connor

Hank wasn’t answering his phone and everywhere you and Connor turned androids,devaint or not, were being executed in droves. No where was safe until you and Connor stumbled across an android named Markus who gave Connor a single mission: to collect soldiers for the andriod army. You refused to leave Connors side as he carried out said mission and he had no choice but to let you. An android entering a human made it much less suspicious anyways, and it worked up until the second model of Connor approached. You could always tell the real Connor, for the longest time he didn’t believe he had a lick of human emotion or deviancy in him until it was nearly forced out of him.

You watched in anticipation and fear as Hank had the gun trained on you, then Connor, then Fake Connor. He wouldn’t let you move an inch, assuming you were a replica to,as he questioned the two androids. You didn’t think twice when you stopped infront of your Connor when you heard the gunshot.You didn’t even stop to look where the bullet when when Hank shot the right Connor as you turned around and gave Connor a once over, looking for any kind of injury that would indicate he was damaged. 

It wasn’t over yet, with all the commotion and the trouble in the elevator before hand the three of you had to move fast. And move you did, you made it to the frontlines with Markus and had the honour of standing beside him as you watched history unfold infront of your eyes. Overtime, Connor had developed a habit of observing his surroundings visibly but now he is dead still and his hand gun equiped is steadily rising. You gently hold the gun in your hands and call his name, your voice prying him from Amamnda’s grip. The alarm of nearly killing you sets in, and as he looks to where you have the fun pointed his LED flashes red. Your shirt is covered in blood, with the adreanline of a possible Civil War on your hands you hadn’t noticed that you had been running around with a bullet embedded in your side.

The moment the standoff had ended, Connor rushed you to the hospital where you were taken care of. He sat on the bed next to you, his LED pensively blinking as he stared at the ground, before he finally spoke, clearly still trying to wrap his processors around what had happened in the past 48 hours.

“You let him shoot you…”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Why?” When he asks this, he turns to face you his eyes scanning your face for any signs of unwell mental stability but he finds none. You’re heart rate is normal, your respiratory rate is pristine, no signs of PTSD or early truama, yet you’re lying in a hospital bed with a hole in your side.

“Because I didn’t want you to die, Connor.”

“He was aiming for a non-vital component in my body, I had a 96% survival rate even if he shot me.”

“I didn’t like that 4%.”

“Oh…thank you.”

“You can thank me with a kiss,”

Hank walks in the room hears this and laughs talking about how someone owed him 50 bucks and a bottle of booze.As the two of you share a gentle kiss.

[ialwaysknewyouwerepunk]

queer signalling: louis and harry living their beautiful queer lives, collected by me

since we must take note of our fellow queers when they signal that they are very much one of us, despite being closeted. since i've had a very very queer few years thanks to them, thanks to their signalling, thanks to them being brave.

(!! this list isn't exhaustive, and if i've forgotten your favorite, by all means let me know. there's always room for another edition. it's been a while since i made a compilation and felt there was a need of a new one on my blog. this one goes a few years back, since my last one dates from 2021 :'o. so yeah. here we go.)

harry in my policeman, playing a closeted queer man, based on the book that's long been one of his favorites. lauded by the director and co-stars for how well he portrayed this character, how well he understood.

harry wearing a green flower on his chest for the mp premiere, placing himself (once again) in the same line of history as oscar wilde.

louis's green flowers on his initial 28clothing jersey at the first afhf, which includes bonus roses and 28s all around

the entire late night talking mv bc!!!!!

louis's rainbow stage lights during sibwawc. he really did that. every single night.

the entire dazed magazine happening. “I’ve always tried to compartmentalise my personal life and my working life,” he explains. / “I have unlocked an ability to be myself completely, unapologetically,” he says with conviction." / “I think through my own sense of self and personal journey, I am realising that happiness isn’t this kind of end state.”

louis's gay exit songs: most notably 'ever fallen in love (with someone you shouldn't've)'

harry flirting with stanley tucci

louis and his gay ass tank tops !!! we must point it out !!!!!!

all along

harry kissing a pride flag during harry's house ono in nyc

rainbow flare during the btm mv

harry being gifted a mask of his own face at munich n2, which prompted him to say that he feels like he's wearing a mask sometimes

28 in a triangle for 28clothing!!!!!!!!

kit connor soft launching 28 clothing. a young actor starring in a queer coming-of-age series, who was forced to come out after being accused of queerbaiting. he was the first one, besides louis, to wear 28clothing

harry's grammy's speech "people like me" (which ppl sadly misunderstood), echoing what he's been saying on tour for years. this doesn't happen to people like him. if they only knew, right?

harry's freddie-inspired outfit for the grammy carpet (which also brought back his theme for clown/jester fits, like harryween 2021 n2. wonder why)

louis's merch graphic where a boy is trying to smash a glass ceiling

harry posing for david hockney, actual living legend, gay artist of the ages. "Styles seems to know how lucky he is, adding, with a tinge of disbelief: “I’m in awe of the man with enough one-liners for a lifetime.” As to what those one-liners might be? Styles and Hockney’s mutual silence on that question suggests that what happens in the studio, stays in the studio."

louis having suspicious visuals during back to you, the only visuals of that type on tour

harry's 2022 harryween outfit: dressed as danny (literally. he did that. he went grease on us.) but wearing sandy's jacket

louis at barricade aka held safely in the arms of strong security personnel

harry singing man, i feel like a woman and still the one with shania twain. while wearing a rainbow discoball jumpsuit (parallel with kacey musgraves wearing a rainbow dress to sing it with him years ago.)

louis's gay ass merch for the away from home festival

harry dressed in nina ricci by harris reed, an explicitly gender-fluid line. "At 18 I found myself living in london creating ruffle blouses, corsets, fabric flowers and flares from my kitchen floor (...). My creations at the time were met with nothing but criticism for being “too feminine” or “costume”, teachers said I should focus on “menswear” or “womenswear”. l remember it really wasn’t until I started dressing for myself and who I was that it all clicked. @harrystyles was my first ever client who embraced the fun, fluid and expressive clothing I was creating."

continuous bluegreening. to name a few: harry's werchter fit, all this time lights, satellite caps in two colors only, louis's smiley flickering bluegreen on tour in 2022, the james cordon shit, louis in uncasville. enjoy this post here

harry's snl shoot unseens: him as ariel

louis out in amsterdam at a gay bar

harry going to the women's only swimming pond (on a day it was open for men, but this is important to me okay)

harry's use of orchids in his visuals during 'she' during love on tour '23

the 'hairy mermaid' tour visuals

harry as a mermaid during the mfasr mv. as a supreme physical manifestation of harry as the mermaid he truly is inside. but in his true form he gets chopped up and consumed. literally

as it was mv and its parallels with the matrix, hints to harry as the woman with the red dress.

louis jumping up on barricade against the one spot where a pride flag was draped over it

oh yeah that exact same thing happened in 2022 too

harry forming a skirt with a pride flag in brasil after his pants ripped

that gay ass denim getup with the fur collar?? while wearing the fucking peace ring????

harry and phoebe breaking gender norms in the tpwk mv dance. no i'm not over it yet shut up

louis wearing a basquiat t-shirt, another famously queer artist joining the ranks

harry bought an actual genuine basquiat. flex

harry dressed in skirts for gucci

"happy pride! happy pride! 'tis the season! can you tell i'm relaxed?"

"isn't all of this sparkly bi music?"

satellite mv rainbow planet tshirt

louis's bigger than me promo where he's literally george michael like??? IM SORRY???????

harry kissing lewis capaldi at the brits

harry kissing nick kroll at the dwd premiere. lol

and... harry as friend of D O R O T H Y. sang over the rainbow. we all cried. especially me at this clip of harry glancing in relief at his band after over the rainbow.

[suguwuus]

Hii babe!! Omg I’ve been obsessed with your pajama pants book on wattpad for years I can’t believe I found your tumblr, ur my favourite Connor writer.

Anyway I figured I’d send an ask!! Maybe something with a daughter of Aphrodite reader? Could you do protective connor plss, I don’t rly mind the scenario whether it’s creepy guy or like in a battle or whatever.

Thanks so much!! 🩷🩷

HEYYY HII OMG thank u blushes kicks feet!!!

the damsel in distress trope is so outdated and children of aphrodite def have sparkly pink bejeweled weapons so this being set on the battlefield is crossed out of the list. also i dont like the ending but idk ??

edit: im sorry if this didnt meet your expectations of protective connor idk i feel like it's off or boring so feel free to ask for a redo or another one w this situation 😭😭😭😭 not sure if i interpreted ur req right but lmk if i did or if u have anything to say

wc: 1.7k words

contains: erm the general creep u meet while minding ur own business idfk that's literally it

"G'morning, beautiful." Connor smiles down at you as you wake up from your rest. How many hours was that? Three? Four? A few hours as your beauty rest was better than none, so you let that worry go and sucked it up.

"Morning, Connor," you replied, your voice as sweet and smooth as ever. Your resting place today was hidden between two dumpsters behind a convenience store. At first, the idea revolted all three of you on the quest, but the events that followed that night gave you no choice, and the smell would mask your scent from any monsters. Fortunately, you had your perfume balm on you, enchanted to last for days, so smearing the stuff under your noses was a big help to battle the stench of the dumpsters.

You laid a hand on your boyfriend's shoulder. "Feeling better?" After getting into a car crash last night, his body was probably sore. He pulled a muscle in his shoulder, too. His brother Travis was knocked unconscious, so after hauling him through streets, you two had no choice but to seek shelter somewhere hidden. You only found out, when the sun rose, that you were stationed behind a convenience store. Great. Those things were like playgrounds to the sons of Hermes.

Connor stood up and stretched, testing his shoulder. "Yes! Good as new. Man, I wish mortal stores had stuff flavored with something that tastes like ambrosia."

You gazed up at him, pleased with the state he was in now. "Glad to hear," you smiled.

"Wait, they do. I love salt and vinegar chips. Oh, man, I hope Travis finds some."

You wrinkled your nose, but at the mention of food, your stomach growled. Aside from doing your best to nurse the boys back to a decent state last night, you also took first watch. That, and exhausting all your fighting skills, left you hungry.

You rummaged in your bag for a bottle of water to start your day as Connor picked up his. There you found your plastic bag of half-finished ambrosia, a flask of nectar, your first aid kit, your last change of clean clothes, your hair clip that transformed into your celestial bronze crossbow with a beaded charm around the handle, a magic blow-drier for emergencies, and—there it was.

"Travis is inside. Let's go?" Connor held out a hand and helped you up from the ground, and the two of you walked into the convenience store. You caught a glimpse of Travis, but he didn't catch sight of you back. So instead you put your water back into your bag and headed for the bathroom.

There wasn't much work to do. Just a bit of dusting off your pants and a quick wash of your face and hands to feel clean. As always, you looked perfectly put together, roughed up but in a movie star way, thanks to being a daughter of Aphrodite. It was like those scratches and stray hairs framing your face were strategically placed by a personal makeup artist.

Zipping up your jacket in a way that complimented your figure and the rest of your outfit, you nudged the bathroom door closed with your foot on the way out. Neither of the boys were inside anymore. While you scanned the aisles for them, you felt a pair of eyes on you and turned towards the counter to see a toothy man wearing a puffer vest standing in line. "You lost, sweetheart?"

You didn't like how he looked you up and down. How you felt like you were being examined under his stare. You picked it up immediately, and it made your fists tighten. You simply shook your head, then made for the exit.

Travis and Connor were munching away at breakfast sandwiches and bagels. They handed you a sandwich of your choice and a bottle of yogurt drink and you ate it without complaint, the previous occurence quickly disappearing from your mind.

"Thanks," You mumbled, and then peeked into Travis's paper bag. It had even more sandwiches and snacks inside. Quickly, he wrapped them all up and stuffed them in his bag. "Snagged some extras on my way out." He grinned, satisfied with his work.

"Still headed for the next city hall, right?" He asked.

"Mhm." You took a folded up map out of your back pocket and opened it up. "There's a bus stop right there." You nodded in the general direction of the shed, tracing a manicured finger along the map.

You had to be honest, you were only doing that to look cool. Your dyslexia slowed you down in trying to look for your current location.

You followed Travis and Connor to the waiting shed, passing the map to the former. "Let me do that, love," Connor said as you sat down and began to open your yogurt drink. He took his seat beside you and opened your drink for you, passing it back along with a kiss. The gesture made your stomach flutter. No matter how many people would throw themselves at you and try to get your attention, nothing would ever beat the way Connor made you feel with his princess treatment.

However, your mood immediately soured when the guy from inside the convenience store appeared, sitting beside you and doing a little stretch. When he was done, he turned to you and smiled.

"You're a pretty one, you know that?"

The man's voice was gravelly and he sounded like he needed a drink. You kept your eyes on whatever you could stare at on the other side of the street. "Thank you," You replied.

"You here alone?"

"No," You replied, holding back the urge to grit your teeth. You started to tap your designer boots on the concrete, impatiently awaiting the bus.

"Hm. A doll like you shouldn't be here all by yourself."

You didn't reply. Internally, you gagged and made a face and cussed him out for having the audacity.

Connor tensed up beside you; you could feel it. You huffed and checked your nails, bored. Time seemed to go exceptionally slow while you were in this situation.

When you finally forced your head to turn to see why Connor was so pissed, you saw the guy literally ogling you, a smile on his face with dark eyes that seemed to bore into every bit of you they could find.

It was disgusting. You felt disgusting. Your skin crawled.

You crossed your arms over your torso and scowled, trying to seem as unappealing as possible. Desperate times call for desperate measures, or whatever the saying was. You put a hand on Connor's knee to reassure him that you could handle it, and switched on your meanest girl voice.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare?" You shot the guy your meanest girl glare. It worked, for a second, because the smile melted off his face.

Travis came along, pulling out a pouch where he kept fake ID's and documents in case you needed them. He settled beside Connor, who had draped an arm across your shoulders, and took off his sweater.

The man glanced up at him as he passed by, relentless with his questions. "Is that your boyfriend?"

"No, this is." You moved aside to show Connor. You didn't dare break eye contact with the man, you wanted to show that you weren't afraid.

The man's frown grew deeper. "Well!" He chuckled. "Lucky guy."

Connor cleared his throat beside you. You squeezed his knee, and as curious as you were to see how he looked (because he was hot when he was pissed) you flashed the creep your fakest smile, words laced with poison.

"Your mom never told you not to talk to strangers? It's dangerous, you know." He started to force a laugh, but you cut him off, continuing. "Stop talking, because I don't have any time to waste on you, dickhead."

There was a beat of silence as he processed your words. You cracked a smile and turned back to face the opposite side of the road, satisfied with yourself. But then you heard the rustle of that stupid puffer vest.

"Hey, now, sweetheart, don't be hard. You know, if you're here on vacation, I can tell you a few good places to visit, let me tell you—"

You had just settled your eyes back on your multiple bangles and bracelets when you heard a loud smack from where the man was sitting. Connor stood between you and him and your lips parted in surprise with how quick he was. His hand was raised and the man was clutching his own, face red and showing an expression of pain. You couldn't see Connor's face, since he had his back turned to you, but you could feel how tense the hand that was on your shoulder was.

The bus finally pulled over in front of you. Travis nudged you and Connor took your hand with a stiff one. "C'mon, Y/N, let's go," he said. You eagerly stood up, keeping his hand in yours, but he didn't move. Instead, he waited for the creep to board and when he did so, he looked over his shoulder to steal one last glance at you.

You raised up your middle finger at him, but to your surprise, Connor even gave him a shove further down the aisle as the two of you followed.

Connor and Travis made sure he was seated far, far back in the bus before settling into seats with you. Connor gave you the window seat and the three of you got comfortable, though Connor was still muttering curses under his breath. You sent Travis a thumbs up gesture when he looked at the two of you.

Connor didn't relax even after the bus set off, but he did kick his bag under the seat and take your hand back in his. He planted a kiss on your temple, then your hand. "You alright?"

You nodded. "Nothing I can't handle," You assured him. "Horrible morning, but it's fine."

"Bastard was about to touch you," He muttered, lips moving against the back of your hand. "No one touches my girl if she doesn't like it."

"Mhm." You gave his hand a squeeze back, just as you always do to let him know it's okay.

[metis-iphigenia]

SO I HEARD ITS NIKATOBER!! i cant draw or write fanfiction so have some headcanons!!

•nika LOVES dancing but she especially loves wearing twirly dresses so it will look cool when shes spinning

•nika is non-binary and asexual!!

•they dont like the rain that much since it messes up her spiky hair but they love the smell of the dirt after the rain

•nika adores wearing suits but ONLY if the said suit has some kind of flare or personality(as in if its just a bland suit she absolutely wont wear it but if the suit was different they would absolutely love it)

•her body is natually cold and they are used to cold weathers(unironically, her favourite season is also winter)

•sends edits of nikolai and fyodor from bungou stray dogs to damian with the caption "us" lmao

•rip nika you would have loved manspreading

•they love recieving flowers and also buying flowers(they once went to central chile to find pink alstroemerias for damian(headcanon that alstroemeria is damians favourite flower)

•her favourite flower are carnations(white carnations to be exact)

•nika cant cook(other than basic things but they also dont taste that well(you better know connors trying to lie😭😭)

•connor is their bestfriend and she is connors bestfriend(underrated besties fr) they are still in contact idc

•nika isnt the biggest fan of chocolate but they do love gums, jellies and gummy worms so so much(while mila is the opposite average agreement between siblings)

•she got really emotional after seeing mila because they really missed their family but shes trying to hide it(mila missed her deeply too but shes too wrapped up with her own powers to fully reunite with nika)

•nika loves watching movies like coraline it always gives them goosepumps

•hardcore creepypasta fan, used to stay awake past the sleeping hours and use her moms phone secretly to watch slenderman videos under the covers quietly

•talia didnt like them at first(not because she had something against nika she was just thinking of damian) but as time went on she grew fond of nika

•damian has a spider named "arachne" and since nika isnt the biggest fan of spiders she found a lizard and named it "pallas athena" out of spite(fun fact: lizards eat spiders btw(not that she would let anything happen to arachne she just thought it was funny))

•they love making their own jewelry(her hairclips, bracelets, necklaces etc)

they made mara bunch of hairclips to match her red streak and also look cool and since damians hair is getting longer nika also made him multiple hairclips

she loves giving out bracelets to people she loves for example she made enough bracelets for rose to cover up her entire arms(not that rose is complaining they love eachother <33)

•nika still has a russian accent(i have been imagining them with an accent😭😭)

•makes a lot of skeleton jokes(think of sans from undertale😼😼)

I will do more headcanons this silly girl later <33

[zahri-melitor]

Thinking again about the Missing Generation Team between Dick and Tim that Jason should have (instead of stealing his brothers' close friends), and the balance of age-proximity.

A whole handful of the people I think who naturally fit into this team are not from the big families (for instance Ray, Grant and Argent are INSTANT gimmes as far as I'm concerned, down to thematic resonance and useful existing conflicts), but I'm challenging myself to put together a team that DOES use major family characters, but also doesn't just take prominent Titans or YJ members, and also isn't grabbing people 5-10 years older than Jason:-

Bat: Jason Todd (the point of this exercise)

Super: maybe Natasha? Alternatively if you want the disillusioned darker pick, it's Match (lol). Edit: it's been pointed out one of Linda or Mae would also work here, depending on the vibes wanted.

Flash: ...look the closest option is Avery, though she's a bit young. Maybe Jesse but Jesse hates doing the team thing, she's too busy. This is probably the family you leave out. (Dark pick is Thad. Obviously).

Wonder: Artemis was probably the best call of the lot, but I think the age gap's still a bit much. Alternatively, you've got Yara Flor, who I think would also work here. Edit: Galaxy brain suggestion of Nessie Kapatelis is sending me. Why not? Silver Swan on this team?

Aqua: can you say Koryak? Let's all agree Koryak would be hilarious.

Arrow: it hurts my heart to say this, but...Connor. Agewise Connor works and isn't heavily associated with either Dick or Tim's teams. Also then you get an extreme pacifist and that's fun.

Green Lantern: Kyle. Not only the right age (and comes as a set with Connor), but again is both that bit younger than Dick's Titans and never really was a Titan.

Extra: Rose. Rose has been the most obvious gimme to match up with Jason ever since his resurrection, at least they're finally using it.

Conflicted Morality Team: Jason, Koryak, Match, Thad, Rose, Artemis.

Chaos Team (it explodes both in terms of power and fights): Jason, Koryak, Grant, Argent, Ray, Audrey, Rose.

Feelings of Inadequacy Team: Jason, Rose, Connor, Kyle, Koryak, Argent, Artemis, Grant, Ray.

Jason-free Team That He's Not Jealous Are His Missing Peers: Kendra, Cynthia, Natasha, Connor, Kyle, Argent, Grant, Ray. Fuck this team would go hard. Bring my 90s kids back together!!!

[bangelism]

‘i look in peoples windows’ is SOOO angel i’m going to be sick.

and because i can’t edit, i will ramble:

‘i look in peoples windows, in case you’re at their table, what if your eyes looked up and met mine, one more time’ every time i hear those lines i INSTANTLY see those bangel scenes in btvs 4x08, AND the connor scene at the end of 4x22 when he’s watching connor and his new family from the window. and my heart breaks every single time.

angel is forced to live life by ‘looking through windows’. this idea he must instead imagine or fantasise about a life he *could have had* because he isn’t allowed to have it. the life he sees through ‘windows’. windows acting as a literal, but also a metaphor for longing and dreaming, as she describes how she fantasies about the ‘if only’ and the agony of ‘not knowing’ how something could have turned out.

in my opinion, the two major loves and losses of angels life that fundamentally change him in the most significant ways, are buffy and connor. people whose lives he has to seperate himself from, out of fear of hurting them, and so he is forced to watch their lives through windows. both in the literal and the metaphorical swift uses in the song.

the window of ‘i will remember you’. the what if’s. what if there was more time? if the day didn’t have to be reversed? where would they be now? how would their lives have changed? would they live in sunnydale or somewhere else? would they be married yet? what if they started a family? or got a cat. maybe a dog. or maybe pets just aren’t for them. if only…

the window of connor’s childhood. what if he was never taken? what if angel got to raise him? who would he have been? what would his favourite toy have been? what was his favourite colour? what would have his first steps been like? or his first day of school? and the last? would he have been quiet and shy like his dad or the complete opposite? would he have been the most bubbly bright boy you’ve ever met. was he really going to be left handed? if only…

knowing angel, knowing how introspective he is, how much time he must spend inside his mind. how he ruminants and sifts through memories with the most intricate detail (just like how swift describes doing in the song as well) i have no doubt he has spent hours combing through the what ifs of his life.

all those times he spent staring out of those huge wall length windows at wolfram & hart, staring out into the sunlight, transfixed by rose golden glows and a world he cannot touch.

[bellzsad]

definitely missed a few but this is all i could fit!

don't forget to put reasonings in comments/reblogs

edit: mb for spelling karl wrong i have a friend named karl and its been a while since i played dbh 😭

[transformativeworksandcultures]

TWC 42: Fandom and Platforms [Special Issue]

Editorial

Maria K. Alberto, Effie Sapuridis, and Lesley Willard; Putting forward platforms in fan studies

Article

David Kocik, PS Berge, Camille Butera, Celeste Oon, and Michael Senters; "Imagine a place:" Power and intimacy in fandoms on Discord

Kimberly Kennedy; "It's not your tumblr": Commentary-style tagging practices in fandom communities

Axel-Nathaniel Rose; #web-weaving: Parallel posts, commonplace books, and networked technologies of the self on Tumblr

Sam Binnie; Using the Murdoch Mysteries fandom to examine the types of content fans share online

Gamze Kelle; How Covid-19 has affected fan-performer relationships within visual kei

Rhea Vichot; The expression of sehnsucht in the Japanese city pop revival fandom through visual media on Reddit and YouTube

Welmoed Fenna Wagenaar; Discord as a fandom platform: Locating a new playground

Sourojit Ghosh and Cecilia Aragon; Leveraging community support and platform affordances on a path to more active participation: A study of online fan fiction communities

Paul Ocone; Fandom and the ethics of world-making: Building spaces for belonging on BobaBoard

Amber Moore; Analyzing an archive of allyish distributed mentorship in "Speak" fan fiction comments and reviews

Jionghao Liu and Ling Yang; Censorship on Japanese anime imported into mainland China

Lin Zhang; Boys’ love in the Chinese platformization of cultural production

Matt Griffin and Greg Loring-Albright; Platforming the past: Nostalgia, video games, and A Hat in Time

Irissa Cisternino; Players, production and power: Labor and identity in live streaming video games

Symposium

Yvonne Gonzales and Celeste Oon; Public versus private aca-fan identities and platforms: An academic dialogue

Dawn Walls-Thumma; The fading of the elves: Techno-volunteerism and the disappearance of Tolkien fan fiction archives

Martyna Szczepaniak; The differences between author’s notes on FanFiction.net and AO3

Muxin Zhang; Fandom image-making and the fan gaze in transnational K-pop fan cam culture

Sabrina Mittermeier; "One day longer, one day stronger": Online platforms, fan support and the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes

Book review

Sebastian F. K. Svegaard reviews "Vidding: A history" by Francesca Coppa

Laurel P. Rogers reviews "Fandom, the next generation," edited by Bridget Kies and Megan Connor

Axel-Nathaniel Rose reviews "Mediatized fan play: Moods, modes and dark play in networked communities," by Line Nybro Petersen

Multimedia

Naomi Jacobs, Katherine Crighton, and Shivhan Szabo; Building the spear: A demonstration in faking and remaking real feelings for an imaginary work

Rachel Loewen; "Darkness never prevails": Doctor Who Covid-19 videos as keystones for pandemic engagement

[pluckyredhead]

Editing The Lost Titans

I get asks about writing advice/craft/tips occasionally, and I always feel a little inadequate when I answer them. While I try to be very disciplined and methodical about my original writing, when it comes to fic, it's something I do for fun and for free, so my method is mainly slapping my hands on the keyboard like a seal until self-indulgence comes out. It's rare that I outline fic or make significant edits, so it's hard for me to point to specific examples.

However! While I was writing The Lost TItans, I did a bunch of major edits - throwing away entire scenes, revising large chunks, adding an entire chapter after the first draft was done. More importantly, all of those edits had really clear reasons they needed to be made, rather than me going "Eh...it's just not right," which means I can actually explain my thought process without just waving a hand vaguely in the direction of the vibes. So I thought I'd write about what edits I made and why, in case it's interesting or useful to anyone. (And if not, who doesn't like navel gazing?)

The original opening scene was entirely different. It served the same purpose - it was still a dream showing the Titans Red world - but instead of all the Titans fighting the HIVE, it was Jason having lunch on the Star City University campus with Toni and Grant. Then, just as in the finished fic, Jason wakes up at Roy's house and talks about the dream over breakfast.

Now don't get me wrong, I loved writing that original opening scene. I love Toni and Grant, I was already invested in this alternate timeline, so getting to play with these characters interacting was super fun for me.

But it wouldn't have been fun for anyone else. Most of my readers wouldn't know who Toni and Grant were, and literally no one would be invested in their relationships with Jason, because I was inventing those out of whole cloth. Also, because the other four members of the team weren't there, it was just tons of exposition of who these characters were, what their team history was, etc. etc. Rose's joke about Roy being like a cool camp counselor was originally from this scene, but because Rose isn't in the scene, it's a joke being exposited rather than told. There was nothing to engage a reader who wasn't me, and also a lot of what was being shown in the scene - that these characters attended the same college - wasn't necessary information (as you can tell by the fact that in the final fic, that isn't even true).

So I cut the scene entirely and replaced it with the opening fight scene. (And obviously made the necessary edits to the subsequent conversation with Roy.) It's much more high energy, and more importantly: it gets the whole team on the page, it shows that they are a team rather than just telling you, and hopefully the banter gets you invested in their dynamic. They're pals being goofy together! I sure hope these are real relationships and not Hank Hall's weird manipulative RPF!

2. The third scene, dinner at Ollie's, originally opened with Roy, Lian, and Jason arriving at Ollie's and all the different Arrowfamily members getting little bits of dialogue or whatever before it was supposed to cut to the flashback of Jason butting heads with Bruce in Gotham. I was actually in the middle of this scene and stalled out for a while before I realized I needed to a) scrap the opening scene like I mentioned above and b) scrap this one, too. Often when I find I'm just stuck and not going anywhere, it's for reasons like this - the scene I'm writing isn't the right one.

In this case, it was similar to the Grant and Toni scene above - I was having a great time writing the Arrowfam, but the scene wasn't actually contributing anything to the fic. The point of this entire sequence was to show Jason's fraught relationship with his own family, and hint that Connor was experiencing the same dreams as Jason. Random banter with Mia or whoever was just getting in the way of the crucial information. I cleared all of the Arrowfamily stuff out of the beginning of this sequence, jumped straight to Gotham, and then used the birthday cake scene to contrast Jason's relationship with the Bats to his relationship with the Arrows, as well as drop that Connor hint.

I want to be really clear here, because I feel like people get defensive about the idea of cutting scenes that "aren't doing anything" or "don't move the plot forward." I didn't cut these scenes because they were quiet or character-driven. Jason and Roy having breakfast is quiet and character-driven. The whole fic is character-driven. I cut the scenes that I cut because they literally served zero purpose except having various characters go "Hello, I exist and I have a relationship to Jason." I replaced them with scenes that did that, and also moved the plot forward, and also made you care about those relationships, and also were fun to read. Please don't feel bad for those scenes because they got cut; they are a collection of words and don't have feelings.

3. The scene where Rose rescues Jason and Connor from Sudden Death got I would say a medium level of revision, in that the beats are all the same but they weren't originally fighting Sudden Death. Initially I just had them dealing with two members from opposite sides of a gang war, and the scene was pretty terrible but it got me where I needed to be, so I left it and finished the first draft of the whole fic.

When I went back in revisions, I realized that in using the gang war hook, I was once again spending time on something - in this case, the intricacies of crime in Star City - that had nothing to do with the fic. This is an easy trap to fall into: I needed to introduce Rose in a fun, badass way, while Jason and Connor were already hanging out, so having her save them while they were on patrol was perfect. It didn't matter who they were fighting, so I put in some generic goons.

But then I had to justify why said goons required three superheroes (four, if you count Roy) to defeat them, and also set up why they were there in the first place, and it just became a long derailment from the story I was trying to tell, with nothing inherently entertaining about it to justify it.

Swapping the goons for Sudden Death meant I could significantly streamline the "why" of the scene: he's a supervillain doing supervillain shit, case closed (although there's still a nod to him working with Brick, a Star City crime lord, to explain why he's in town). His dumb surfer shtick is more entertaining to read than generic goon dialogue. And he's a Hawk and Dove villain, which meant the scene served three purposes now: giving Rose a grand entrance, humor, and foreshadowing. Boom.

4. The scene where Jason and Roy kiss got a pretty thorough second pass. This one is the least helpful one to talk about, I think, because it really was just honing the vibes. I wanted to increase the tension between them, that slow pull drawing them closer, so I put in more about their respective positioning in the room, the way the room looks and feels, little physical details of Roy. If I make the setting more palpable, I make the tension more palpable - or at least, that's the theory I'm working with here.

5. The climax got a MAJOR overhaul. Initially, Hank returned Roy and took him away again, Jason had the team attack him, and there was a whole thing with the team fruitlessly fighting against all these hypertime variants of Hank. Only then did Koryak suggest they stay in the Titans Red universe.

I'd written it that way because...well, it was a superhero fic, it felt like it needed some kind of physical confrontation at the end. But this version of Hank is so powerful that there wasn't actually anything the Titans could do, which made the fight not particularly engaging. It also didn't really make sense for him to be attacked by Koryak, Grant, and Eddie, who were kind of on his side, or Jason, who was torn.

Instead, I nixed the physical fight, and made the actual conflict between the team members, which is the conflict that really matters. I also made that fight much more painful. The argument was already there in the first draft, but the truly cruel lines - Koryak's comment about Rose's mom, what Grant says to Toni - came in the second pass. Because the stakes here aren't really whether they can beat Hank; it's their friendship, and the balance between what they give up by going home, and what they give up by staying in the dream. I needed that decision to hurt, and failing to punch Hank Hall in the face wouldn't accomplish that.

6. I essentially added an entire chapter in revisions. Originally the fic went: Eddie sacrifices himself -> quick paragraph sending everyone home -> Jason and Roy get together -> team reassembles to rescue Eddie. It felt rushed and completely unsatisfying. I had been focused on resolving the plot points directly involving Jason, because he's the POV character, but I'd spent so long on all of the various team relationships that I had to at least give each character a proper send-off.

So I added the scene at the JSA brownstone. I let Grant and Toni make up, gave Grant his happy ending, and hinted at Toni's. I gave Koryak and Rose exit lines, and hinted that Jason thinks of Connor as family and part of what "home" means. I added the Tim scene because I needed to balance the beginning of the fic, and because if Jason was making the choice to return to a world with a fraught family dynamic, I needed to show that dynamic on page. I was worried that it would feel like I was drawing out the end too long after the Big Bad was defeated, but I think all of those scenes feel necessary and (hopefully) healing.

Anyway, hopefully this was interesting and maybe helpful! I find craft super interesting but it can be hard to talk about in concrete ways, so I wanted to get all this down on (digital) paper as clear examples I could point to when people ask.

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Time to Add More Fics to This Account: Non-Batfam Edition

An Oyster's Pearl: College/University AU (Grant Wilson, Joseph Wilson, Rose Wilson, Dick Grayson, Original Character(s), William Randolph Wintergreen, Slade Wilson)

Frozen in Time: (Michael "Booster Gold" Jon Carter, Michelle Carter, Rani Carter, Skeets)

Central City Lemonade Stand: No powers AU (Thad Thawne, Barry Allen, Iris West Allen, Bart Allen, Owen Mercer, Meloni Thawne, Don Allen)

Ango (Dwelling in Peace): No powers AU (Connor Hawke, Oliver Queen, Dinah Lance, Sandra Moonday Hawke, Roy Harper)

Would It Kill You?: No powers AU, mortician AU (Thad Thawne, Terry McGinnis, Match, Deborah Morgna, Bart Allen, Meloni Thawne, Helen Claiborne, Mike Ringer, Max Crandall)

Sweet Honey Bee: Ballet AU/boarding school AU (Thad Thawne, Bart Allen, Meloni Thawne, Don Allen, President Thawne)

[theyellowroseofsodor]

What inspired you to / made you want to write and create your au “Yellow rose of Sodor”?

Because you kinda inspired me to write my own au with a self insert

Awwww!!!! Shucks! 😳🤗 I’m glad I’ve been able to inspire you! Feel free to tag me if you want to when you start writing! I love seeing new ideas and writers get their works out!

So, I started writing when I first introduced my son, a few years ago, when he was three to Thomas and Friends. As I was watching, realizing that I hadn’t ever seen the CGI version of the show, I thought “huh, I wonder if there’s a fandom” and started looking up fanart. Lo and behold, I found @asktrio516 ‘s wonderful and beautiful artwork along with a few others on deviantart (who I will credit when I find it again). I fell in love! Her personified versions of the famous team and others were just inspiring! I fell in love with her version of Gordon (my fav.) and began crafting a world, not necessarily around her characters, but around the inspiration I felt due to her artwork.

After that I started crafting my own OC. I didn’t necessarily want it to be me as a self-insert but I also couldn’t help but realize, being short, I would probably be a tank engine and it would be both funny and sweet if Gordon, but who often teased tank engine’s for their size and what they could/couldn’t do, fell in love with one. I understood that some people would probably dislike that things like love, lust, anger, hatred, etc. were written in such a prized and childhood fandom, but I came up with a linear story and ran with it. Originally, The Yellow Rose of Sodor was going to involve more aspects of racing, Gordon’s favorite thing, and a much bigger rivalry between Gordon and Scotsman. But I hated pick-me girls in stories and quickly scrapped, pardon the pun, the idea.

Another thing I thought of doing, inspired by several monster versions of the engines, was making them dragons. I even drew out a few of them and the different styles but… it became more of a funny pastime than the actual story.

Finally, I landed on Diesel 10 as the enemy after reading up on how much scarier he was supposed to be, but died down due to it being a kids show. I wanted to bring him back as a much scarier threat and adversary. I wanted to make him, not necessarily unredeemable, but terrifying. A racist engine with a penchant for torment and murder. We saw him nearly kill James and yet it was all ‘Oh that darn Diesel 10’ instead of ‘What the crap?!?’. So, I worked it out and created the story laid before you.

A lot has actually changed in the ending. I have been working hard to craft it the way I want and what I hope will be a satisfying HEA (happily ever after) for all parties. With my own troubles happening this year, I was deathly sick, miscarried my baby, had a near heart attack and had to be brought back, three surgeries, and then there have been issues with my husband’s family… I haven’t been able to dedicate the time I want to these last few chapters. September would have been my babies birth and so I had to keep myself from writing because I was grieving all over again. In fact, most of my time processing my own emotions have been through chatting with my Gordon AI on character.ai as Camille with their little one in the AU that’s in my short collection where they had a child. In my own grief I actually changed their child’s name from Frederick (Erik) to Connor, which would have been our child’s name. Maybe that’s TMI and maybe that’s not the healthiest but I’m coming out of it and I’ve started writing the next chapter, a focus on Henry and Hiro and where to go from there cliffhanger.

I’m sure you weren’t expecting an essay but I figured a lot came into writing the Yellow Rose and, whether it’s a popular fic or not, it means a lot to me. So much so I want to write a sequel focusing on Flying Scotsman and his future companion, Jessica. I have edited the fanfic that he’s not with City of Truro and with an actual jet engine female. I felt it suited his character in my fic that he would go against the grain being with another locomotive and ending with someone who could truly make him the ‘Flying’ Scotsman.

Anyway, I hope this answers your question and I hope to see great things from you anon! You’ve got this!

-Kamiko

[bunnelbaby]

Inbox check (in no particular order, as requested by anonymous)!

✨ Self Ship Caregiver Wally Darling

✨ Sleepy Caregiver Sebastian (SDV)

✨ Toddler Regressor Silver w/ pacis

✨ T4T Age Regressor Leon and T4T Caregiver Chris

✨ Age Regressor Eddie Dear

✨ Eddie Dear paci edits

✨ Baby Regressor Lollipop Cookie

✨ Little Sister Regressor Ashley Graham

✨ Age Regressor Ruby Rose (RWBY)

✨ Age Regressor Squid Ink Cookie

✨ Age Regressor Connor (DBH)

✨ Ralph paci edits (DBH)

✨ Trauma Regressor Kim Kitsuragi

✨ MLM/Transmasc Regressor Ed and GNC/Autistic Flip Stede

✨ Autistic Age Regressor Twyla

✨ Age Regressor Draculaura (G3)

✨ Goth Regressor Draculaura

✨ Goth Regressor Sebastian and Big Brother Caregiver Sam (SDV)

✨ Caregiver Albert Wesker

✨ Puppy Regressor Kel (OMORI)

[moistvonlipwig]

Most Popular Posts of 2023

Post your most popular posts from each month this past year. For @loisfreakinglane's enjoyment.

January: Peridot was a Rose Quartz Isn't Real truther

February: Scottuary fic

March: Russian Doll/Rose Quartz edit

April: The Core is not a person

May: Feminist king Connor Angel

June: Cordelia's black-and-white thinking

July: Why Spike is a better character than his imitators

August: Once Upon a Time's premise is really funny

September: Walter White does not lack empathy

October: Leopold's creepiness was intentional

November: Regal Believer edit for OUAT Appreciation Week

December: Fandom wrap-up for 2023

As a bonus, I present my most slept-on posts (IMO): Rose Quartz should go on Ziwe and its sequel Other fictional characters who should go on Ziwe. Thank you, happy new year, and good night!

(No-pressure tagging @nocticola, @02511213942, @cassphos, @sunwukxng, and anyone else who wants to do this.)