#seriously check out those writers I mentioned if you haven't

[war-on-mars]

40 Questions: 4, 28, and 7!

#4: How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

Too many. My ballpark answer is 15-ish ideas that I've at least started writing and more that are vague in my head. Most of my focus recently has been on a multi-chapter amberpricefield fic in which all three girls have powers. It's an idea that I've done a lot of word-vomiting about but haven't done much coherent writing about it yet!

#28: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

This is such a hard question omg. My list of favorites is always changing, so it was so hard to narrow it down. @calchexxis was the first to come to mind; everything I've read by them has been phenomenal. Even if you don't have too much interest in league of legends, I'd check them out. Their lightcannon series Flashbangs & Frag Grenades is genuinely one of the best things I've ever read.

@bluejayboiokay also came to mind pretty quickly, I've been reading their stuff for a little over a year now and it's all just so wonderful. Their writing is truly the epitome of transmasc joy. They explore gender in such beautiful ways and their writing is amazing. They write a ton of Arcane and Wynonna Earp and if you're even the slightest bit interested in either of those, I would recommend this author.

I also have to mention @kayleen756894 who absolutely blows my mind with everything she writes. She personally bumped amberfield up to one of my favorite ships with Stay, and Used to this is just magnificent. Reading her fics is part of what made me start writing for the fandom in the first place. She amplified my brain rot tenfold.

#7: Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Rachel’s eyes dart between the two sets of stars as she sits with the question. She loves Chloe, terrifyingly so. That’s part of the reason she fucked up so badly—in fear of growing too comfortable in Arcadia Bay. In fear of finding a reason to stay. 

She knows Chloe’s better off without her, knows she’s better off with Max. And Rachel’s tired, so very tired. She wants it to be over. She never wants to look at Nathan or Mark again. Her behavior is what got her here and she wants nothing more than to be buried with her sins.

Rachel wants to rest, but that damn butterfly asked if she thinks she’s deserving of an ending and the answer is no. 

This entire fic might be one of the most emotive things I've written recently. I'm proud of this section specifically because I think I really got into Rachel's head here. She my favorite life is strange character and I like to think I explored her well in this snippet!

[terapsina]

Now that the writers and actors strike is about to begin being felt (and as we wait for those greedy billion dollar companies who are refusing to negotiate fair pay and conditions to give up) here's 10 of my favorite (all around best) fully finished older series you should definitely check out if you haven't watched.

I mean it, these are the shows with continuously great writing and a satisfying endings that manage to actually deliver on their promises.

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1. Leverage - (containing 5 seasons, or 77 episodes) - trailer here.

Hitter, Hacker, Grifter, Thief and Mastermind. Heists and cons. Stealing from the rich and giving to their victims. They provide... leverage.

Meant for anyone who enjoys bad guys being the best good guys, who will burn down the lives of evil CEOs and then gloat in the background. Very satisfying.

Hands down the best example of a found family trope I've ever seen on screen. Barring none.

2. Killjoys - (containing 5 seasons, or 50 episodes) - trailer here.

Space Bounty Hunters. Another case of found family trope. Bisexual space princess assassin. Quippy sentient ship. Green alien goo. Evil lesbians (but like... in a good way). The warrant is all.

More seriously though, it's a story about three killjoys and the bounties they go after. Initially. And then they have to save the entire Quad from some very terrifying... stuff.

Contains one of the best friendships I've ever seen on television.

3. Orphan Black - (containing 5 seasons, or 50 episodes) - trailer here.

Found family trope but with clones.

Low level grifter sees a woman who looks exactly like her kill herself and plans to take over her identity long enough to cash out. Except then there's two other women who also look exactly like her. And apparently they're all clones and someone's killing them.

Enter a global conspiracy. Human experimentation. Lots of clone shenanigans. Some serial killings. And a few murders 💖.

4. Person of Interest - (containing 5 seasons, or 103 episodes) - trailer here.

Okay I'm beginning to see how I might have a found family trope issue.

Former CIA agent gets recruited by a reclusive billionaire computer programmer who developed a... machine that can predict acts of terror before they happen. But it also predicts 'irrelevant' acts of violence that will result in someone's death.

Unless someone interferes.

I'd really like to spoil some stuff to get you all to watch this one. But I'm going to maintain self control and just mention that early on they get a dog named Bear. Bear is a very good boy. Watch it for Bear.

Also for excellent commentary on rights of privacy, government surveillance and what does 'greater good' even mean? But mostly Bear.

5. 12 Monkeys - (containing 4 seasons, or 47 episodes) - trailer here.

The very best time travel show out there. What starts out as a confusing mess of causality basically exploding, by the end of the series all makes complete and total sense.

(when that final timey-whimey loop slid into place and revealed the entire pattern it was like a choir of angels started singing in the back of my head. It was freaking glorious).

Anyway, a man from a post apocalyptic future travels into the past to stop a plague from decimating nearly the entire world population.

He has the name of the man who released the virus and it's supposed to be a single trip. One trip. One bullet. Simple. Done.

Except then things keep escalating, and escalating until time begins eating its own tail and it might start looking like the end of the world might be a better ending than erasing all of time and space from reality.

Because when our guys screw it up, they screw it up GOOD.

And oh yeah... found family.

6. The Good Place - (containing 4 seasons, or 53 episodes) - trailer here.

A self-proclaimed Arizona dirtbag opens her eyes and finds out that she's dead and got accepted in the Good Place. Except that as soon as she arrives the Good Place starts glitching, and she really, REALLY needs to become a better person before she can be found out and kicked out to the Bad Place.

Luckily her assigned soulmate was a professor of ethics and moral philosophy.

One of the funniest, most thoughtful and clever comedies I've ever watched. Ever. The characters are delightful and by the time the final minute rolled around I had sobbed my heart out multiple times (which, as we all know, is a sign of the very best comedies out there).

As for the question of whether or not this too contains Found Fami- Yes! Obviously, yes.

7. Avatar: the Last Airbender - (containing 3 seasons, or 61 episodes) - intro here (couldn't locate the trailer but it's basically the same thing in this case).

The four nations lived in harmony. Until the Fire Nation attacked.

It's been a hundred years since the beginning of the war when two kids from the Southern Water Tribe find a boy frozen in ice and wake him up. A boy who's able to bend all four elements... though not very well.

Enter multi-nation flying road trip (thank you Appa, we love you most of all) as they try to find teachers for the Avatar and save the world.

Includes found family (shut up), amazing fight scenes, the most heartfelt and vivid characters ever, and the best example of a redemption arc actually done well.

8. Love Between Fairy and Devil - (containing 1 season, or 36 episodes) - trailer here.

This one gutted me. I'm saying this as a compliment. But it had to be said. Completely destroyed me. I just haven't been the same.

A love story between an Orchid Fairy and the leader of the Moon Tribe that starts out with her accidentally releasing him from millennia long imprisonment and then takes you through the caleidoscope of all possible human emotions (it's a body-swap comedy through the first part, then a romcom, then a dramatic romantic tale, and finally a tragic love story).

But it's such a satisfying slow burn.

And it carries this... humanity through the whole thing that makes it so visceral.

If you're a romantic who's very tired of instalove and characters dropping all their morals because 'ooh, attractive person' then you've got to watch this. Because this story does NOT take the easy road there.

(my more extensive rec for this series can be found here)

9. Star Wars: The Clone Wars - (containing 7 seasons, or 133 episodes) - fanmade trailer here (it was better than any of the official ones).

This series did so much. Introduced Ahsoka Tano, and made us love her. Gave names and faces and souls to the Clone Troopers (okay, it's the same face but you know what I mean), to a point where their endings during Order 66 destroyed me just as much as the ending of the Jedi Order. And somehow made me both love Anakin AND be a million times more angry with him.

There are some arcs in this series that might be a bit weaker. But there were some... god, there's a reason I love Clone Wars more than any other series or trilogy in this universe. And I'm not even a little ashamed to say it.

Must watch for Disaster Lineage shenanigans; for the vod'e; AND for the Jedi (who did their best okay? They always did their best 😭💔).

(and on the subject of found family... do I even need to comment)

10. Nikita - (containing 4 seasons, or 73 episodes) - trailer here.

A rogue assassin that escaped Division - covert government agency that takes recruits out of prison, fakes their deaths and then forces them to become spies and assassins - has come back to take it down. Brick by brick if she has to. With guns and explosives too when that works better.

Contains soooo many cool fight scenes. Is full of incredible characters you'll fall in love with (and hate with) very quickly. And most of all has an incredibly complex relationship of mentorship and friendship between two women that holds both great admiration and betrayal, real care and love as well as rage and hatred, forgiveness, mutual respect and an unbreakable kind of bond that so very rarely involves even one female character on TV, let alone two.

(as usual, found family tropes up the wazzoo).

-----

In conclusion. We all know there's going to be a large space between seasons of our favorite shows now (and some shows that aren't going to survive it). Let's fill that space with some excellent TV we haven't had a chance to see yet.

And direct the blame for the wait towards the right place (i.e. the studios).

[wisteriagoesvroom]

📚 10 f1 fics i've loved lately 🏎️

been thinking a lot about how to organise fic recs into some sort of sensible post, 'cus there are so many (great!) pairings and (delicious!) driver combinations, not to mention so many varying styles of fic and SUPER TALENTED WRITERS!!111!!

just gonna list a bunch in no particular order, with accompanying pics, so you can get a sense of the vibes.

'cus what is f1 rpf but all about the ✨ vibes?! 🏁

p.s. people are in this community making amazing stuff for freeee!! if you liked these please leave a kudos or a comment, it makes a writer's day 🫡 

let's gooooo--

objects in the mirror by linearity (@drivestraight) charles/max. 87k words (series), rated t then e

listen. LISTEN! charles to rbr is one of the best premises ever and i will read it in like a thousand iterations. but this fic. this fic series in particular cleared my skin, made me want to cut my hair into a bob out of sheer emotion. i would be remiss not to start with this one because its impact on my f1 rpf trajectory should be studied by science. you know when a story just jumps off the page and it's so real that it becomes your canon. a kind of meteoric inevitability. plus, i almost never cry at fics. but by the time the third act of this one hit, i just went -- damn, am i rly about to tear up at a f1 rpf fanfiction rn? (yes.)

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sawtooth by nottonyharrison (@nottonyharrison) charles/max. 40k words, rated e

max as a f1 engineer? for CARLOS at FERRARI? sign me the fuckkk up. first off, awesome premise. there's always going to be something so heartwrenching about "what ifs", especially in any universe where max isn't a racer. despite the change of circumstances, just... the sheer poetry of two characters who just inexplicably find their way to each other in any universe... 🤧 also this story nails racing scenes in a way that's so visceral, i feel like a fly on the damn halo with them. and, aside from the gourmet lestappen, carlos's whole thing in this fic is joyous! spicy! he's so unapologetic and vaguely annoying! hilarious! + the swimming pool scene lives rent-free in my head.

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salt skin by peachbellini (@strawberry-daiquiris) oscar/lando. 12k words, rated e

this fic is magic. literally and figuratively. (MERMAID LANDO???? MERMAID LANDO.) the kind of story that makes you gasp and melt a little bit. and made me want to throw my phone at the writer, 'cause it's really that good. the yearning, the metaphor for all that's monstrous, a boy who is lost (and the boy who he finds, is equally so). this is just beautifully written and a little quirky and so well executed. i think i put it in my bookmarks as "what if lando was a mermaid and it was filmed by a24" or something. pearl of a story.

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hockey!! shrimp colors :) by leafmeal0ne (@ocontraire) oscar/lando. 13k words, rated t

leaf meal one. i have only known you a week but if anything were to happen to you i would wreck everyone in the room including myself. in all seriousness, anything that leaf writes is brilliant. they're one of these writers who could do a throwaway line on the label of a ketchup bottle and i will probably scream about it. the precision, the way they switch up sentence structures, the freaking darcy-level regency yearning transposed onto a contemporary sports setting. i'd rec all of leaf's sports AUs and i'll probably talk about more in a future fic rec post. BUT. the hockeyyy one my GOD. the barely restrained violence, their mutual desire, the theme of finding your place... *wails uncontrollably*

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you almost unearthly thing by anonymous max/daniel, 3.7k words, rated g

max is a governess(govern..lad?) and daniel is the mystery man at the manor. this was a response to a request i made in the kinkmeme! (if you haven't read those fics go check 'em out, there are so many great ones, and not necessarily all rated e). this is a criminally underrated little story that has my favourite repressed feelings + people dancing around each other + gothic vibes + "what the hell is wrong with y'all in this tale" combo that i really adore. it's really well written and captures the atmosphere so well.

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the so-called narrative by antimonyandthyme (@antimonyandthyme) oscar/carlos, 10k words, rated e

i'm once again asking why there are only 7 carlos/oscar works in the tag. I'M ONCE AGAIN ASKING-- *is sedated*. *jolts awake* okay but for real this is a great story. hot, fake-friendship-to-situationship which so happens is one of my favourite places to be. also hello miscommunication/they're so weird about it/they both want each other but can't express themselves for shit/insane racer boys energy.

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and silver, and samarium by pink_mink (@on-softs) george/toto, 5.2k words, rated e

i profess i am not usually the biggest fan of A/B/O (altho!! this fandom has made me go BUT ACTUALLY HM at least a few times). and this fic freaking nails it, along with the twisted power dynamics between TPs and drivers, as seen through the lens of omegaverse. this story rattles around my head like a stubborn ghoul just from the style and prose and sheer audacity alone. george kneeling at toto's knees while he's working..... ohhhhhhhhh i was this close to calling my lawyers.

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algorithm by anney (@badboy-george) charles/max, 16k words, rated e

i LOVE, LOOOOVE a sci fi concept alright. love that shit, will inhale it like moon dust with zero regrets. and what a fantastic one this one is!! the premise is that the FIA can now statistically show the compatibility of drivers on the grid and it's very pacific rim-y drift compatible, mixed with the surreal vibes of eternal sunshine or HER or some such. it should be outrageous, but it really works. that's the beauty of a great fic right there.

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trajectory of trojan asteroids by redpaint (@redpaint) nico/lewis, 3.3k words, rated g

also one of the fics i first read when i hopped on board the f1 rpf train. the pain and poignancy just gets worse the more i learn about brocedes. you know when you're like "there's no way this was reallll" and then you're like "fuck, it was so real". then you get a fic like this that just encapsulates all that rage and loss and grief and upset, set against the starry vista of endless space. *clutches tablecloth* god.

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p.s please bear in mind that these recs are entirely subjective! i enjoy loads of f1 stories but these are the ones that have especially stuck with me for some inexplicable reason.

p.p.s if your fic is on here and you want it taken off for whatever reason, i'm happy to, no questions asked 💛

BYE for now / until part 2. (i also love talking to ppl about fics so pls feel free to send an ask or hit me up in DMs or whatever.)

xoxo, -- wizz

[leafofkudzu]

Hello and happy endless January! Despite how long this month may have seemed, it is almost over - and that means it's soon time for another art party hosted by my guild, Verdant Shield [VS]! We're taking a little tour of the cozy size of the jungle this time, over at Mabon Market in Caledon!

For those who aren’t familiar with art parties, they’re a concept carried over from Final Fantasy XIV - in-game get-togethers for artists/writers/creatives of all types to hang out, chat, and create together! Get your favorite character/look together, head to the location, find someone that catches your eye, and create! Afterwards, everyone posts their creations in a shared tag (ours is #VSArtParty) so others can see, interact, and share! Tl;dr: the ‘goal’ of an art party isn’t to be drawn, but to draw others, and share with the community!

Time and /squadjoin information is under the cut, but will also be posted again via reblogs as the squads go up on the day of the party!

Location Information:

Caledon Forest is a nice easily-accessible map for everyone, and Mabon Market even has its own dedicated waypoint (that is, Mabon Waypoint)! I imagine we'll kind of scatter out across the market and beach, so don't take my exact location in this screenshot too seriously!

Time & Squad Details:

As we always do, we'll be having two parties - one on EU servers and one on NA ones - with an hour break in between. People tend to arrive early and/or jump between accounts as soon as the break comes up, so don't be surprised to see tags and announcements going up ahead of schedule!

The first party will be on EU servers and begin at 9pm Central European Time (aka 3pm Eastern Standard Time or 4 hours before in-game reset). I’ll be hosting on my EU alt account, so to join either /squadjoin or whisper Aemryn of Dusk for an invite.

The second party will be on NA servers and begin at 7pm Eastern Standard Time (aka 1am Central European Time or at in-game reset). I’ll be hosting this one on my main account, so to join either /squadjoin or whisper Kirslyn for an invite.

Closing Words:

A few days ago some nasty info came to the surface about various GW2 sources being scraped for AI purposes, with tumblr tags specifically being mentioned. Though I certainly wouldn't blame anyone for being discouraged and not wanting to draw at all (even this post was delayed because of it), I think at the end of the day, even if you don't post anything publicly, you still shouldn't deny yourself the company and community of your fellow creatives! If you'd like to make this art party have more of a focus on screenshots, or even just hang out and not draw at all, please feel free - your presence is what makes these parties...well, parties, after all!

If you are still interested in posting your artwork though, please check out Glaze and Nightshade as potential ways to protect yourself (and hurt AI datasets) if you haven't already! And even if you don't do that, make sure to slap signatures/watermarks/etc wherever you can. This may be a disheartening time for us, but it doesn't mean we have to stop doing what we love.

So, whether you're coming to create or just to hang out, I look forward to seeing you all this Saturday. Take care, stay safe, and see you soon! ♥

[h0ney-mochi]

Aight hear me out, first time interacting this way, hi💞. But Soft Dom Scara coming home from a 2 month long mission and is welcomed by the sight of his lover humping the hell out of his side of the bed. Desperation got the better of them you could say.

Scaramouche x fem!reader ;; reader's pronouns not mentioned

NSFW/SMUT CONTENT (soft dom!scaramouche, fem!reader/afab!reader, bit ooc ig, reader humping a pillow, bit of praise, fingering, riding, reader gets called good girl)

Summary: Scaramouche finally is back from a long mission and you're nowhere to be found. Until he hears your moans through your shared bedroom. You were really that desperate, huh?

A/n: soft dom scaramouche... SOFT DOM SCARAMOUCHE.... smh how can you not get desperate when your lover boy is gone for too long? / hi to you as well :) thanks for the ask! <3

Minor writer, dni if uncomfortable!

A noise of a door unlocking, then footsteps. Scaramouche walks inside your shared home, sighing and closing the door. Taking off his shoes, he looks around. The silence is.. too loud.

Where are you?

For a moment he feels dread. You didn't.. you didn't leave, right? Yeah you're aware that he gets busy and can get long missions — he just returned from one. But maybe you had enough of his absence?

Scara shakes his head, you wouldn't do that. He shouldn't think of you like that. Instead he walks around, checking each place, hoping to see you. You're waiting for him, no? It's not too late either — you wouldn't be sleeping.

After getting some water in the kitchen, he goes to your shared room, maybe you are there. He wants to see you again, this one was too long. When Scaramouche approaches the door, about to touch the handle when he hears a noise.

Wait, no. A moan.

He freezes. Was that you? He furrows his brows and waits, maybe he'll hear something else. And he does. A higher pitch of moans and his name. Yeah, that's definitely you. Scara's face heats up, slowly opening the door. First he peeks in, swallowing. He had to know first before going in, you know.. Make sure he's hearing correctly.

He stares at a moving figure on the bed. Your figure. You're on his side of the bed, grinding against a pillow, hand clinging onto it. Your head is fallen back, moans loud and clear. Wait, is that— Are you wearing his shirt? Seriously?

A smirk grows on his lips as he walks in, slowly closing the door. You still haven't noticed his presence, good for him.

Scaramouche stands there for a while, listening to you, watching you. Oh, he remembers those moans well. Those same two months ago.

Quietly making his way to the bed, he waits more. Your hand is gripping the pillow harder, you're trying to chase that one feeling, huh? It's amusing.

"Did desperation get the better of you?"

You immediately stop, jumping from the sudden voice, turning to look around. Your eyes widen as you see Scara. You blink few times before quickly getting off the pillow. "You-! You're back!" A smile goes onto your lips, despite getting surprised by him.

"Yeah, I'm back from that mission, I did say it'll be long," he speaks, then gestures to you, "Although this is a surprise."

Your face gets hot as you look away, trying to think of something to say. Scara can't help, but laugh, "What, you're gonna stop now? Too embarrassed now that I'm looking?"

You actually didn't know what to do. It's good that he's back, but how the hell did you not hear him? A quiet 'sorry' slips past your lips as you glance at him. Scara blinks, confused now.

"What are you sorry for, darling?" He asks, sitting down on the bed, facing you, "You shouldn't be." "You were gone for- you were gone for a long time, Scara," you respond, "I missed you. Too much."

"I can see it well. Come here," he says, a smile tugging on his lips. You quickly do, immediately pressing your lips against his. Scaramouche puts his hands on your cheeks, pulling you closer.

Your arms wrap around him while he pushed his tongue in your mouth, you sighing in the kiss. One of his hands leave your cheek, trailing down to your waist, sort of moving you onto his lap. You could already feel him getting hard, seems like you weren't the only one missing someone.

Slowly that make-out was getting hotter, Scara moving your underwear down your thighs, just a little, so he could touch you. Pushing two fingers inside, you grip his hair. He's slow with it, pumping his fingers in and out.

You pull away, suddenly moaning. Scaramouche grins at your noises, speeding up his fingers. "Missed me this bad?" He speaks, "You're so wet, it's amusing." You wanted to mutter an apology, but he didn't let you, pushing his thumb against your core, breaking another moan out your mouth.

Your hands went to his shoulders, holding onto him. His eyes just stared into yours, watching every movement in your expression, your lips parting for another loud moan.

Then he slows his fingers down, making you whine. "Wanted to cum?" He takes his fingers out, bringing them to his lips, "My bad." You shook your head, "Please- I want you. You're finally back, please." He chuckles and tells you to get off.

Scara quickly undoes his shorts before pulling you back on his lap. Spitting in his hand, jerking himself for a moment. Yet his eyes never left yours.

"Show me how much you've missed me," his hands are back on your waist, guiding you on top of him, "Take me like a good girl, okay?" You nod quickly, watching him bite back a groan, yet he failed. His grip on your waist tightens when you're finally sat on his lap.

"Fuck," Scara sighs, pulling you close to his face breathing on your lips, "I missed this." "Can't say I'm the only one would missed something," you mutter, smiling at him again.

He just presses his lips against yours for another sweet kiss. You started to move slowly, moans getting muffled a little. One of his hands went to hold yours, interwining fingers.

You pull away, moans spilling out of you, all the while Scaramouche watched you with lidded eyes. "Is- fuck, is that it?" He tries to speak low, but the feeling of you breaks it, "Show me how much you missed me."

And so you squeezed his hand, moving yourself up and down his dick, getting moans in return. His other hand wandered up your shirt, down your back, anywhere. Enjoying the view of you he hadn't seen so long.

"That's right," He speaks, sighing, "Just like that, pretty." You tried to be quicker, that desperation kicking in. His nails dug into your hips, holding you tight. Scara groans, blinking at you, "So good.. just for me?"

Thank you for the ask and thank you for waiting for my response !

© h0ney-mochi 2023 / Please don't copy or repost my work and writings! <3

[ofallthingsnasty]

Do you know any other yandere/dark conent like yourself?

fyi you sent this twice and i've had someone in my inbox in the last weeks with the same 'problem' - your app/connection might be fucky, just so you know haha

Sure I do!! I don't know what fandoms you're looking for, so I'll just throw a whole bunch of people at you I adore. In general, check my fic recs tag!! I don't read much but I've reblogged a thing or two in my day, haha

@after-witch I love Theo - I've been following her for three years now and her writing is divine. She writes very delicately - if you like psychological horror/dark fic, bleak fates and that sinking feeling in your stomach, her blog is just the place! Theo has written and writes for a lot of fandoms (from JJK, HxH, BNHA etc to original content), I'm sure you'll find something you'll like. @391780 You HAVE to check out Early's stuff. Fat reader fics galore. They write everything from romance to soft dark to dark fic, all CoD. I know nothing about CoD but by some strike of fate her fics landed on my dash and I've been in love ever since. You don't need to know anything about that fandom, trust me, you can go in blind and you'll fall in love just as much. If you like dark dark stuff, her Nikto masterlist is perfect - and the Nobody series is my ultimate fave of theirs. So delicious, you'll want to curl up and cry afterwards (out of joy).

@darkficsyouneveraskedfor Roo is THE darkfic writer to me. She writes MCU/DC and again, I haven't watched a Marvel movie since 2015 - but you don't need those to read her fics. She crafts AUs you've never even thought about - and masterfully so. Seriously, I especially love her historical stuff and the way she puts you into these worlds is something else. Roo's writing is very direct and raw and hopeless. She doesn't write happy ends and it's amazing. One of my favorite series of hers is Tapestry , a medieval AU featuring Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. If you want something even darker, Splintered is another masterpiece of hers that I've been screaming about on here for literal years 😭💕

@stupid-sloot-headcanons is another fixture on the 'dark fic side' of tumblr to me. Sloot has ... everything. Seriously. Pluck in a random fandom of yours and 9/10 times, she's written about it. Her thought/characterization posts never miss, she just gets characters through some form of magical mental connection, I swear.

@thus-spoke-lo Pain Management. You will read this. Now. No discussions. Adshjshfj but seriously, Lo has written SO much. So many different tropes, so many different levels of romance. I'm on a One Piece kick right now and her whole OP masterlist got me through the first 300 chapters of my re-read... The twists, the turns, the love (or not) - experience it for yourself (╹ڡ╹ ) And of course, I have to mention @girlwithsharpt33th and @tang3r1n - they're both still 'fresh' but give them a scroll... Things are brewing and they're perfect and disgusting and abhorrent 💕

and a rest in peace goes out to kyneslust (mae) and captainmcslashypaws... you two are missed. so much. 😭💕

[violetsiren90]

All I Haven't Said | Namjoon/Reader

Table of Contents: Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3 (part 1), Chapter 3 (part 2)

Pairing: idol!Namjoon/f!Reader

Genre: Soulmate AU; idol AU; chapter fic; strangers to lovers; a bit of idiots to lovers, tbh; slow burn; eventual romance; eventual smut; angst (life is messy & hearts are complex); OT7 featured

Summary: You found your soulmate - or rather, he found you. Turns out he's an idol of much acclaim who needs you for very real and unglamorous reasons. What could become of two hearts so used to giving of themselves when they are confronted with needing each other?

Warnings: 18+ (minors, dni), realistic depictions of cancer and cancer treatment; mention of unfeatured character death (previous to plot); emotional health growth and development; eventual smut; feelings and dealing with feelings (no, but seriously, so many feelings)

Author's Note: First and foremost - Blame Me chapter 1 will still be tentatively dropping by the end of the week. However, this just literally wrote itself last night after a couple of drinks and several streams of Lonely 💔. It was the thing that just poured out of me and could not be stopped. It's been simmering in the back of my brain for a while, and so, now that it's out here, I'm going to be posting it in tandem with Blame Me, probably on alternate weeks (if I can manage it, 😅). I want to give credit to those whose works I have read which have come to set the stage for my concept of the soulmate au, and who are far my betters in creative artistry: Matchy, author of balls-to-the-walls masterpiece Trip No Further, Fallencairns, author of lovely work of art Turbulence, and @teenagebountyhunter , to whom I dedicate this work 💜 the author of the ineffably beautiful Namjoon soulmate fic Bloom (RUN to read this immediately) - the inspiration for what is to humbly follow below. If you're checking this out, thanks a million for reading, and please don't be shy in offering feedback should you be so inclined! (Baby fic writer here, constructive criticism always welcome!)

Without further ado, chapter one is under the cut.

P.S. Tag list is open. If you want in, let me know. 😊

P.P.S. In case no one has told you today, you're loved and worthy of love. 🧜💜

“When your hands leap towards mine, love, what do they bring me in flight? Why did they stop at my lips, so suddenly, why do I know them, as if once before, I have touched them, as if, before being, they traveled my forehead, my waist?”

~ Pablo Neruda

Chapter 1: The Cure

Diana dipped another three fries in ketchup and popped them into her mouth.

"So, what do you need to talk about that has you desperate enough to buy me lunch?" She smiled smugly and sipped and her milkshake.

You hadn't touched the burger in front of you, even if you probably should be absolutely relishing in it, considering your future prospects. You picked up a sweet potato fry and stared at it absently.

"I found my soulmate," you stated flatly.

Diana's jaw dropped mid-chew, unpleasantly framing the masticated remains of a mouthful of turkey club.

"Wait, are you serious?" she pressed, round hazel eyes wide and unblinking.

You dipped the fry down into the little cup of ranch and swirled it around slowly.

"Actually, he found me. Well, his people found me," you continued. 

"Huh? So is he some kind of a big deal - wait...they found you? What does that even mean? Wait, no - you have a soulmate?!"

You smiled ruefully. It was kind of nice to see someone else freaking out about it for a change. You had known your little sister would react strongly, which is why you had waited until now give her the news.

"Y/n, ANSWERS," Diana demanded leaning forward to flick your forehead. 

"Ow!" you protested, rubbing the throbbing spot on your brow. "Keep your pants on, geez!"

You sighed. After having relayed this story to your mom, your doctor, a specialist, legal advisory, your best friend, your brother and his wife, and your very disappointed boss, you had gotten pretty good telling it. Yet, somehow, each time the burden of it's truth felt a little heavier. You ate the fry. It was pretty good. You wished it had sucked so it wouldn't be one more edible thing you missed the prospect of.

"So apparently, a couple of years ago a university in Switzerland found a way to match soulmates using DNA testing. Don't ask me about the exact science of it - I do not understand it. What I do know is that it's illegal to use this technology to locate your soulmate in the US."

"Why?" Diana had abandoned her food and was listening with rapt attention.

"Something about privacy rights. Though they've dealt with that issue in Switzerland - people interested in finding their soulmates join a biological registry. I'm sure our government is just waiting to find a way that big pharma can exploit it before they facilitate the process. Anyway, somehow, I ended up in a foreign registry. I guess there is a black market for soulmate data..."

"Oh my god, could I be on the black market?" Diana gasped, slapping her hands over her mouth.

"I guess anyone could, provided they've ever been treated at a hospital, or given blood, or anything of the sort...but calm down! It doesn't even matter unless you have a match, which is rare."

"So he found you on the black market?! That's so fucking sketchy, Y/n."

"It was his company, actually. I got a visit from representatives of an organization called Hybe. They are some kind of South Korean entertainment conglomerate. One of their employees, a musician, is dying of cancer. Seeing if he had a soulmate was a last-ditch effort to save his life. Now everything is banking on me and my cooperation."

You flicked your eyes up to your sister. Her expression had morphed into something far more somber.

"Heavy..." she whispered.

You nodded.

"What are you gonna do?"

You took a bite of your burger. She wasn't going to like your answer. Diana's face changed again, this time registering alarm and indignation.

"No," she murmured, "No, Y/n. You're just gonna do it, aren't you? You're gonna go be the fucking hero! You're going to traipse off to Korea and save his sketchy, ungrateful ass!"

She stood up, her chair screeching back over the concrete and drawing the attention of other diners on the patio. You glanced around apologetically.

"Diana, sit down! And how do you know if he's grateful or not?!" you hissed.

"No!" she countered defiantly, yanking her hand away from where you had reached for it. "You always do this! You never, ever think of yourself. And now you'll be gone forever...is this even safe?"

Tears had started to well up in her eyes, and the glances around you had turned into stares and whispers. You stood up and pulled her into a hug.

"Hey, hey, it's okay! Lets get out of here and I can answer all of your questions, alright?"

She sniffled.

"Okay. But you're not leaving me."

You smiled and huffed out a laugh pulling her toward the parking lot.

You had anticipated that Diana would disapprove of your decision, and it being as difficult a situation as it was, you had decided to make all the arrangements and choices necessary before telling her. She loved you so fiercely, she would have watched the world burn before letting you break a nail, if she could help it.

After your father's death nearly twenty years ago, you had become protector and provider to Diana and your younger brother Henry, three years her senior, in ways your sensitive and unworldly mother seemed unequipped to shoulder. If they had both not been so established and secure in the trajectory of their adult lives, you would have made it clear to Hybe that you regrettably had nonnegotiable responsibilities right where you were. But Henry was settled into a suburb with a lovely wife and year-old daughter, Diana was set to finish undergrad and head off to nursing school, and the deal with Hybe had actually allowed you to leverage for your Mom's retirement, so you were boarding a flight to Korea next week to take on a new set of cares and concerns.

You tossed your keys on the table on your way into your apartment and collapsed onto your comfy red couch. While Diana rooted around your fridge and loudly complained about the lack of hard seltzer, you sorted through the mail and made a mental note to add a forwarding address on a few of your accounts and subscriptions, including the one supplying you with Nightwing comics. You set the mail aside and took a moment to look around you.

You loved your little apartment. The kitchen was small, but the big window with the spider plant hanging in it made it one of your favorite rooms - the herb garden on the counter and the fully stocked bar above the fridge did nothing to make you like it any less. The earthy brown walls of the living space were littered with shelves full of candles and living plants and quirky curios, and in and amongst them hung framed watercolors of flowers and herbs that you had painted yourself. The record player sat at the ready in the corner by the wall dedicated almost exclusively to books and vinyl. There was a small tv over the stone-lined fireplace. Over your shoulder your soft, queen sized bed with sheer canopy cozily called your named from the single bedroom. 

The whole place smelled like citrus and cinnamon. In every corner, there was you. It was going to be hard to leave the hobbit hole you had so lovingly curated for yourself over the last half-a-decade...especially since you wouldn't be going "there and back again", but just...there.

Diana plopped down next to you,  breaking your reverie.

"So, you're NOT going, but tell me about the huge mistake you ALMOST made," Diana prompted as she side-eyed you, taking a sip of the wine she had poured herself.

You set the comic book you had been thumbing through aside and drew your knees up to your chest as you swiveled to face her impatient stare.

"Last week, these three people showed up at my door, two men and a woman, and they said they were from a company called Hybe based in South Korea. One of their employees, a singer named Kim Namjoon, has stage 4 liver cancer. I guess they caught it pretty late in the game, so even the most aggressive treatments aren't doing much good. Back in April the doctor gave him two months to live."

"Damn," Diana interjected softly.

"Yeah, that's why all of this is happening so fast. He needs me as soon as I can get there."

"We need you, too," she whispered, reaching out to loop her finger into the top of your sock. You smiled affectionately.

"I know, Di, but you're a grown woman now and you can take care of yourself. You're going to have to and I know you can. Life really won't be that different - you'll be off to school in San Diego anyway! Most of our hangouts were going to be over Facetime...now you'll just have an excuse for a little international travel."

She heaved a stuttering sigh.

"Speaking of travel...Johnny broke up with me," she mumbled.

Your mouth hung open in shock.

"Oh my god, Di, I'm so sorry! Why didn't you tell me?"

She downed her remaining wine and stared into the empty glass, twirling it between her fingers.

"I was gonna, but when I told mom last week she said to wait to talk to you about it because you were dealing with something stressful. Now I know what she meant."

You shook your head.

"Ugh, Mom..."

Your sweet, nonconfrontational mother, while you loved her deeply, was a horrible communicator. Whenever she got involved things like this always ended up worse. You looked at your sister twiddling with her wine glass. She looked so small. And Diana, while she exuded many things, very rarely seemed diminutive. You grabbed her and pulled her to you, and she instantly snuggled into your chest.

"I'm sorry you've had to hold that in all this time," You said softly, stroking her hair, "You really could have told me. How are you doing? Was it bad?"

She shook her head against you.

"Nah, it wasn't so bad. He's going to travel before starting grad school and wants to 'sow some wild oats'," she answered, flashing air quotes.

You couldn't see her face, but the acerbic nature of her tone told you just exactly what she thought of that concept. You snickered. Atta' girl. You'd never liked that guy much, anyway.

"What an asshole," you remarked.

"Yeah, he better not hit me up in a couple of months when he's done fucking his way through Europe."

"Fuuuuuck that," you commiserated. 

"Yeah, so I thought this summer would be our last hurrah. You know, no guys, just you and me...like old times" Diana mumbled in a voice that was all sulking and bottom lip. 

"Ahhh," you said with a smile, "So that's why you are so disappointed. Well, we still have a few days - we can make the most of them!"

Diana lifted her head from your chest and glared up at you.

"Boys ruin everything!" She whined.

You smirked softly.

"Usually I would agree with you, but the one I'm leaving for seems kind of decent, actually."

Diana frowned.

"How do you know? Did he call you or something? Wait, you never finished telling me your story!"

You hummed in assent.

"I mean, there's not much more to tell. I agreed to move out there to bond with him and begin treatment. I signed a really basic contract that will be revised when he is well enough to think about the future - or in a year, whichever comes first. They were pretty quick to meet my terms, I guess they didn't really have much choice since I was the one holding the all the cards."

"What does any of that have to do with him being a good guy?"

"Oh," you blinked, "It doesn't. You see, when they met with me they talked a lot about him. It was almost like a job interview or something. They talked about his accomplishments, his net worth, the importance of his work, and his worthiness as a person. One of the guys was actually one of his bandmates, and he had come specifically as a character reference. They had initially wanted me to sign the contract right there and then - and let me tell you, that kid they brought with them almost convinced me with his giant puppy eyes alone - but in the end I had asked for forty-eight hours to consult legal advisory and think it over. The first thing I did when they left was look him up. You actually probably already know who he is - I think I might have been the only person in the world who didn't. Have you ever heard of BTS?"

Diana jumped back like she'd been stung, clutching her chest.

"Are you about to tell me that your soulmate is a member of the biggest band in the world?" she whispered, her eyes impossibly wide.

You smirked. 

"Not just a member, Di...their leader." Diana shrieked, leaping up off the couch.

"RM??? Your soulmate is RM???" 

Your sister stared at you, agape, while you threw your hands up in indignation.

"I was the only person!"

"Oh my god..." Diana staggered back, demeanor having deviated sharply from disapproval to elation, "My roommate is obsessed with them! She has all these posters - but her favorite, I'm sorry, her bias, is Suga...holy shit, I can't WAIT to tell her she's gonna-"

"Diana," you interrupted her firmly, and her eyes shot up to you.

"Yeah?"

"You can't tell anyone."

Her face fell as she leaned back against the wall beside the fireplace. Clearly this was going to be even more of an emotional roller-coaster for her than it was for you, you thought in amusement. Typical.

"Everyone who I tell has to sign a gag order. You included."

Diana slid down the wall into a slump and knocked her head back.

"This situation keeps harshing my vibes, dude," she whined.

"Well, I'm exceedingly sorry about your vibes, but I'm sure they'll recover," you rejoined sardonically.

"But woah, Y/n, your boyfriend is hot. And rich. And super famous. Your wedding is going to be fucking LIT..." 

"Woah, Nellie!" You cut her off, waving your hands as if you usher her train of thought into the landing strip of sanity.  "Slow. Down. Wedding?? What happened to 'sketchy, ungrateful ass'?! He is NOT my boyfriend. He's supposedly my soulmate. According to some Swiss pseudoscience. We haven't even bonded yet. And if we do in fact bond, that doesn't mean we're a couple."

Diana popped her head up and fixed you with the most incredulous of stares.

"Um, excuse me...soulmates have to touch each other to survive. And I heard that the soulmate connection is better than sex. You're telling me you have the opportunity, nay, the duty, to be up in the business of one of the sexiest men alive, and you're just gonna platonically kick it for the next seventy years?"

You rolled your eyes.

"I mean, if that's what he wants - if that's what I want. Soulmates doesn't automatically equate lovers. I've been reading about people's experiences and there are some soulmates who bond platonically. Some people are already with romantic partners when they meet. Some don't share a sexual orientation that makes them compatible as lovers..."

"Oh my god, Y/n, could you please not kill the sexy by going all nerd on this?" She asked you in exasperation as her finger swiped at her phone screen.

Suddenly she shoved the phone out toward you, while tapping frantically with a neon yellow acrylic nail on the image she had summoned. She was saying something humorous and complaintive but you weren't listening. You were looking at the man in the photo.

You hadn't seen this one in your superficial search-engine dives. It was a headshot. His hair was a light brown, full at the top and styled away from his face. His skin was darker than in many of the other images you had seen, emanating a beautiful golden glow. He was smiling just enough for his right dimple to softly grace his cheek. His features were strong, masculine, and incredibly handsome. All of that was already striking, but his eyes, oh, his eyes - they were staring directly at the camera, irises only half visible under his lidded gaze, warm and sincere, so incredibly intense.

The hair stood up on the back of your neck and your breath caught in your chest in spite of you. You closed your eyes and sucked in a breath. You needed to calm down. He was just a person. Good looking? Yes. Charismatic? Obviously. But you had a job to do, and no time to screw around with schoolgirl daydreams. He probably had a girlfriend. No, definitely, he definitely had one. And hey, he was just a person, like you. No need to be star struck.

Diana had been continuing her rant, completely unaware of being ignored, when she had let out a high pitched squeal of laughter.

"Oh my god...oh my god!" She shrieked.

"What?" You snapped, your hormone-wrestling train of thought cut off abruptly.

She stared at you, lips pressed together as if she was trying to contain more loud giggles.

"What??" You demanded impatiently, your limit for her antics very swiftly approaching.

"RM. K-pop superstar, probably one of the coolest people ever born, gets YOUR dorky ass as a soulmate, HAH!"

"Hey!" you deflated, unimpressed with what she considered to be so vastly comical.

"Oh that poor man!" she pushed dramatically, "That poor, poor man. You're the least graceful, geekiest person in the western hemisphere. What will you even talk about? Good thing you don't speak Korean, you'd probably bore him to death! Shit, at least you're pretty..."

You folded your arms over your chest defensively.

"Hilarious. But actually, he's fluent in English. And I read somewhere that he likes art..."

"Y/n, he's rich," she interrupted condescendingly, "All rich people like art. It's a huge flex to own an original. If I was a billionaire I'd 'like art' too. Oh my god, I just can't believe this is happening. Like he's crazy famous..."

"And very, very sick," you reminded her softly.

Her expression fell into something contrite.

"Oh, shit, I forgot," she murmured.

"I'm glad you're excited for me, Di. It really made me feel a lot better about the whole situation seeing you get some kind of joy out of it. But I can't stress enough that this isn't a fairytale. Who knows how he feels about resorting to this. I guarantee you this is as hard for him as it is for me."

Diana crossed over to the couch and skooched in next to you.

"All jokes aside, he's lucky to have you, Y/n. You love at a thousand percent. Even if you guys just end up being soul-buddies, or whatever, he hit the jackpot," she smiled at you, that sweet smile that made you rethink everything for one split second.

Now it was your turn to try to hold back tears.

"I'm gonna miss you," she murmured, "But I respect what you're doing."

"Now that he's famous?" You prodded with a teasing smile.

"Yeah, now that he's famous," she conceded. 

You pulled her into a hug. The silence that hung around you was pregnant but comfortable. Diana finally broke it with a soft question.

"So you're really going to give your whole life away for a total stranger next week?" she whispered.

"Mmhm," you hummed somberly into her hair.

"Why you always gotta be like Dad?"

A familiar lump began to form in your throat, but you swallowed it back. You always did. And Diana fell asleep in your lap one last time. You stroked her hair as you thought back, rather emotionally exhausted, over your conversation. It seemed like people thought of the soulmate connection as some kind of miracle. You didn't believe in those. People made choices, and those choices governed reality. You had just made the biggest choice of your life, and if it was like any of the other roads you had taken, it would require much of you. 

The following day was your last at work. Your coworkers had greeted you with pizza, cake, flowers, and hugs. It was touching to realize how much you would be missed. Your boss, Shauna, hovered as you gathered you belongings from your desk. 

"Damn it to hell, I'm gonna miss you!" She mourned for the umpteenth time.

You smiled as you tucked your little philodendron into the box, placing it next to the canvas speckled with daisies that read "You Matter" in curly green letters. 

"You have an amazing team here, you guys will do great," you insisted, patting her hand where she leaned on your desk.

"Um, a great team of people you trained!" she said, consoling herself with a swipe of frosting from what had once been a beautiful red velvet cake with white buttercream.

You leaned beside her on the desk, joining her in sadly picking at the dessert remains.

After you had graduated with your degree in social work, you had landed an internship in a program which Shauna was running. The two of you quickly discovered you had similar passions and community goals, and the following year had left the program to start Magnolia Village, a one-stop shop for women's services sadly unprecedented in your area. While the startup had been rough, your passionate duo had believed in the need and refused to say die, and from your mutual blood, sweat, and tears had blossomed a cornerstone of the local community. Over the years it had grown and extended its reach to thousands in need of support. Many of the staff were women who had first come through the door seeking services, and were now your partners in providing the aid they had found empowering in their hour of need.

You were immensely proud of what the two of you had built, but leaving the Village was bittersweet, as you were more confident than ever that it had grown into a well-oiled machine powered by lovely, capable people who could keep it going at full tilt without you.

"This place basically built itself, we just propped up the scaffolding," you remarked, glancing around the building fondly - what had once been a residential fixer-upper was now a cozy space of offices, a nurse's station, six emergency beds, sanitation services, and a food pantry

"Bitch, you know very well that I am the bulldozer and you are the heart and soul of this place. We are going to feel it when you leave. You better come back and visit us. Mirabell is going to do a good job filling your shoes, though. Watching her step up to the plate has been something else." 

"It has," you nodded, "She's going to kick ass. You might just forget I was ever here by the end of next week."

Shauna turned uncharacteristically tearful eyes toward you.

"I will never forget you," she choked.

Then suddenly you were being crushed in a bear hug. You returned her embrace until you thought you might actually pass out from lack of oxygen.

"Okay, I love you, but I'm about to asphyxiate!" you wheezed, slapping her on the shoulder.

She let you go, but grabbed your arm and looked at you seriously.

"I want you to promise me one thing," she said, holding your gaze.

You cocked your head to the side. Shauna released your arm to clasp both your hands in hers.

"I want you to promise me that when you get to Korea, you find something that you're gonna do for yourself."

You started to respond but she stopped you.

"Something for yourself. It doesn't matter what it is, but it can't be for your soulmate, or your family, or anyone else however deserving...just you, okay?"

You looked at her quizzically.

"I do stuff for me..." 

"Don't get swallowed up, baby girl. Find someone to ground you, to remind you that you're worth more than what you have to offer."

You scoffed.

"I'd like to see someone try and swallow me..."

"Y/n,"

"What?"

"Promise me."

"Okay," you nodded, "I promise."

Shauna squeezed your hands, then went back to chipping away at the mass of red crumbs and buttercream.

A little twinge of worry twisted in the pit of your stomach. You were strong. Resilient. No one could bounce back like you, could survive like you. People knew this - they had been telling you so since you were ten years old. So why was everyone acting like you were being cast out to sea without a life preserver? 

You had spent the weekend with your family. Henry and Mercedes had even driven down, Elena in tow, to have one last Sunday dinner and see you off to the airport. Hugs and tears and small parting gifts had made leaving even harder than you had imagined.

When you finally boarded the plane your eyes were red and your head was throbbing. After the plane had gained enough altitude to allow you to unfasten your seat-belt, you had slipped into the restroom to rinse your face. You returned, plopping down next to the man who would accompany you during your first few days of transition.

"I'm getting booze when they wheel it by, Matt, so don't try to stop me," you huffed, gesticulating in mild threat with the book you had extracted from your carry-on at the suited figure sitting in the window seat.

The handsome older gentleman smiled, not lifting his eyes from the copy of the Korean Herald in his hands.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he responded, flipping a large, thin page.

Matt Anders had been many things to you in life. Before you were born, he had been your father's best friend. He had been the best man at your parent's wedding. He and his wife, Rebecca, had cared for you and your siblings during your mother's sanitarium stay. He had tutored you for the SAT score that had earned you a full ride to the university that had saddled you with a BS in social work and minor in English literature. Today, he was your attorney. Matt, who had an IQ of 146, had learned basic Korean so that he could translate for you and make sure that your interests were looked after as you settled in. Having him there made you feel one hundred percent more secure about the process. He, for instance, had been the one in negotiations to ask for the very cush business-class fight accommodations you were new settling into.

"Whatever you would do for him, you'll do for her. I want an equality of treatment clause added with no addendums."

You smiled to yourself as you remembered his exchange with the Hybe's representation. He had asked for things you would have never asked for yourself, and you felt better having access to them knowing that he felt you were deserving.

The flight attendant sweetly asked if you would require any refreshments. You asked for two whiskey and cokes, and handed one over to the man beside you. You took a long, refreshing sip.

"Damn it, I wish I had appreciated food more," you sighed, looking ruefully at your glass.

"What are you going to miss the most?" Matt asked before sampling his own beverage.

"Cheese. I can't believe I'm saying that, but in the end I just love cheese. And there are so many kinds I haven't tried. Do you know there's this Italian cheese that comes in the shape of a pear? It's super expensive because of the breed of cow the milk is sourced from. It's supposedly suuuuper creamy. But, hey, now I'll never know if it's as rich and complex as they say..."

You took another sip of your drink.

"Caciocavallo Podolico," Matt remarked casually, returning to his newspaper.

"Excuse me?"

"The cheese you described, it's called Caciocavallo Podolico," he reiterated.

"You know, I should be used to it now, but I'm not. Don't think I'll ever be. How on earth do you know this stuff?" you insisted incredulously.

"Read it once," he shrugged, "And it's actually pretty famous as far as cheeses go."

"Catch-a-vayo Picadillo..." you murmured.

"No," Matt interjected succinctly. "Anything you want to go over again? We have the time, Lord knows."

You sighed.

"Can't think of anything right now. What did you think of the list of questions I sent you?" 

"Very good," he nodded, "I'll be adding a few of my own, that I think should come from me, if you don't mind."

You swirled the ice in your plastic cup.

"Of course not. Thanks again for coming with me, I'd be pretty lost without you."

Matt smiled at you again, reaching over to squeeze your arm.

"You'd do just fine. But you would be flying coach."

You smirked and cracked open your book. As you flipped to your marked page, a colorful, sturdy rectangle of paper fluttered to the ground at Matt's feet. He reached down and picked it up, regarding it with a curious eye before you could snatch it quickly away and tuck it back between the pages of My Antonia.

"New bookmark?" he queried.

"Something like that," you murmured.

You thought he might press you further about the Hangul characters he had surely noted on the back, but just then the captain's voice crackled over the intercom reiterating the weather conditions in Seoul and you took the opportunity to bury your nose back between the pages. You glanced clandestinely over at Matt, who had settled back into the Korean Herald, before pulling the little watercolor card from between the pages where it had been hurriedly concealed. Your eyes traced over the purple clematis trailing elegantly across the illustration as you wondered if 12 hours was, in fact, a millisecond or an eternity.

-End Ch. 1-

[hide-in-imagination]

What do u think abt simbar ( ik that u LOVE simbar but i wanna know ur opinion)

Hm. This is a very interesting question. I take it from your clarification that you're expecting a more in-depth opinion than me just loving them.

Alright, everyone, go grab a glass of your favorite beverage and some biscuits— This is gonna get long.

What do I think about Simbar? I think many things, some from an 'inside the show world' perspective and some from 'outside the show' perspective.

From an 'outside the show' perspective, I feel like the way the writers first approached it was very... basic. Like, they weren't very imaginative in how to bring them together. If you check their scenes in season 2, most of them are almost copy-paste.

Ámbar: *Feels bad* | Simón: *comforts her* | Ámbar: I feel so alone. | Simón: You're not alone.

Like...seriously, couldn't the writers come up with different dialogues? It's a little cringe to watch. I wonder if the actors didn't question why their lines were always the same in every script.

Now, there are three instances in which I think they did it right. The first one was when Ámbar first approaches him and asks him to help her rehearse her song. This works because 1- We, the audience, know she's actually just plotting to eventually use him against Luna. 2- Music is Simón's domain, an intrinsic part of him that Ámbar has witnessed but never really seen up close, she's never really talked to him about it or wondered how he sees music, how he feels it. This scene works because we get to see Ámbar coming in with one clear objective (scheme and manipulate) and walk out with a different view of Simón (someone who cares about putting their heart into every performance, feeling the lyrics and conveying real emotion). All meanwhile Simón 1- has no idea he was ever part of some plan, and 2- doesn't see he has done anything out of the ordinary: he's just being himself.

Which brings us to the second scene which I think works: when he convinced her to sing with that strong eye-shadow make-up Jazmín put on her. This scene works because they're both being themselves: Ámbar worried about her image/how she's perceived, Simón being like "?? First of all, that doesn't matter, what matters is the music you make, and second of all, you look great ?? It's literally impossible for you to look bad in anything ??"

Which, coming from anyone else would be obvious flirting, but Simón is just being Simón. He's sincere and optimistic and has different priorities than caring about image all the time, the main one of those being music, and he's a good person, a genuinely good person of the sort Ámbar has, unfortunately, not met many before. If it had been any other guy just flirting, Ámbar would've just shrugged it off because she's used to that, she's used to compliments that expect something from her, but Simón is just being honest and supporting her going after her dreams for her sake, not because he's interested in getting anything from her, and I think that rattles Ámbar, in a good, unexpected way.

The third moment that worked was when Simón went looking for her during the Vidia competition and then they sang together. Now, the reasons for this are pretty much the same stipulated above, it's kinda self-explanatory, but I will add that I think this was the moment Simón fell in love with Ámbar, when he sang with her. I think I've mentioned this before, and I know I've written it in chapters you guys haven't gotten to see yet. In fact, I think I'll just copy and paste what I've written and put it here. Consider this a snippet from the future.

****She had taken all of her feelings and turned them into song, poured them through her voice, through her eyes that shined with contained tears. She had smiled at him as she sang them, and he had thought— How can someone look so fragile and so strong at the same time? How could someone express so much with just her voice? How could someone smile like that?

How can she be so beautiful?*****

Basically, he just absolutely admires her strength. Her vulnerability, her bravery, her ability to smile through adversity and sound more beautiful than ever. Of course he would lose his heart through music. Of course the moment Ámbar followed his advice and sang from her heart he would fall irrevocably in love with her.

(THE ADVICE HE GAVE HER IN THE FIRST SCENE I MENTIONED. SEE? IT ALL COMES TOGETHER)

*cough* Okay, setting that fangirling aside, let's continue.

From an 'inside the show' perspective, or maybe a mix of inside and outside, I think if you really start analyzing the dynamic, it can be a little... problematic.

I'll get to the main issue later, but first, it all starts with the question... Why did they fall for each other?

And here's why the shameless copy-paste the writers did in season 2 is so annoying, because they drilled us so much with the whole 'I'm alone/you're not alone' that the answer to why they fell for each other seems to be "Simón was nice to Ámbar, and Simón liked her because... he felt special???"

Like, it truly seems like Ámbar just started liking him because he consoled her when she was sad, and Simón started liking her because... he's got a hero complex?? He gets off on feeling like the savior?? And this is problematic because, then, would anyone else that had comforted Ámbar have worked just the same?? If Nico had approached her every time she felt sad and comforted her, would Ámbar have fallen for him instead?? And Simón's sudden infatuation with her after seeing her cry just seems like a weird mix of pity/sympathy and 'he just likes her because she's pretty.' Is Simón just attracted to damsels in distress he can help and feel useful? If Jazmín had been depressed and he had consoled her over and over, would he have fallen for her as well or was Ámbar's beauty just a very decisive factor?

And, of course, we are directed to believe that it was deeper than that (and I, as a Simbar shipper, of course think so). The writers want us to believe that they fell for who they truly are, that they saw each other in a deep way and were captivated by the view, that they connected and got to see things differently.

But again, because of how the writers wrote them, it's all just so very tilted to one side. Ámbar's love makes sense because she's never been treated this kindly and she's never been taught to see the world in the optimistic, supportive, not-competitive-perfection-seeking way that Simón does, so she's got a lot to gain from having him in her life, but what does Simón get out of this?

I once read in a 'writing tips' post about how to write good romance that it's not about what they like about each other but 'how them being together makes each other better?'

And this is where the real problematic aspect of Simbar comes in. When you think about it, their dynamic and the entirety of Season 3 falls into the trope 'Good Girl falls for Bad Boy and saves him' just reversed. "Simón likes Ámbar but Ámbar's bad but she's not really bad, she actually has a heart of gold, but she's going to be very mean about it for most of the story until eventually the good boy's influence brings her to the light and they live happily ever after."

It's disgusting to see it this way, but let's be honest here.

I'm not going to delve further into why the trope is problematic (it's not the good girl's responsibility to save him, she's not her therapist, blah blah blah, we've all seen these deconstructions before), I'm just gonna go straight to the question: what does Simón get from being with Ámbar? How is this whole love affair in any way beneficial for him? (Other than the obvious 'get the object of his affections' bit).

Well, my friends, as the simbar shipper that I am, and as the person that I think has written more words for this ship than anyone else, the conclusion that I've reached is that Ámbar makes Simón more selfish in a good way. And this is even explicitly stated in one of their conversations. Simón thinks too much about others for his own good; Ámbar encourages him to focus more on himself. But that transcends to many things. In general, I think Ámbar, with her world-view and upbringing and her qualities, complements Simón in a way that pushes him to be better. She's ambitious, she's cunning, smart, she knows how mean people can be, she's seen how cruel the world can be. Those are very good things to have considering Simón is kinda head-on-the-clouds, dream big, believes in the goodness of humankind or whatever. Not to say that Simón is not smart in his own way or that he's not ambitious, but he doesn't see goals like Ámbar sees goals, he doesn't see the importance of putting himself first like Ámbar has done all her life, and at the same time, he regulates those sides of Ámbar so that she's a bit more selfless, a bit more optimistic, a bit more relaxed about things. Ámbar brings reality checks to the table and puts him first more than he does himself, while Simón brings the love and support she should've but never had and helps her enjoy and appreciate the little things in life, the ones you can't buy and that have nothing to do with image.

But the writers' execution is atrocious. Simón sounds so preachy most of the time, and Ámbar looks for all the world like she just changes her ways to get the D and not because she truly saw the error of her ways. The first part I think it's fine because Simón needs flaws anyway and I've kinda gotten used to calling him a self-righteous bitch (affectionately), but Ámbar's redemption arc could've been handled better and I think we all agree on that.

Overall, in spite of all that I said, their dynamic is not terrible— If it were, I wouldn't ship them. They did lean into a toxic trope a lot though. But fortunately both have too much personality to completely fall into it: Simón is not just 'the good, virginal girl'; he stands up for himself and stands up for injustices, he saw right through Ámbar at the beginning of season 3 and told her to her face he wouldn't go along with her games, he's got too much of an idea of right and wrong to let the 'bad boy' trample all over him, and he's got aspirations of his own that don't revolve around the romantic interest (regardless of the Roller Band not getting the recognition THEY DESERVED). Ámbar, on her part, is not just 'uwu my parents traumatized me so I'll justify being a little shit to everyone around me, sniff sniff'. Do I even have to explain the complexity of her character? I think there are too many posts already about that. I'll save myself the essay.

So. What's my opinion on Simbar, anon? I think it's a very great ship, but more because of the characters themselves than the delivery (aka, the writers' flawed work). Which is precisely why it is so much fun to write fanfiction about them, because you can do better, and it's sooo satisfying.

Now, I'll finish this with a little defense of the writers because I feel like I've been shitting on them for fifteen pages front and back. They were writing a soap opera. For kids. Literally for small children from ages 7 to above. Did they have to make things complicated? No. In fact, the simpler probably the better. And they also had to write a fuck ton of scripts in record time, many of them on the run while the show was being filmed (at least that's my experience from the inside of a telenovela's writers room). So, I think it's understandable if they did copy-paste. And I think it's also understandable if their plots were not fault-proof because they were not meant to be in-depth analyzed by grown-ass adults.

That was my Ted Talk for today. It's currently 2:03 am here and I can't believe I've been writing this answer for three hours. Actually? Scratch that, I can totally believe that, it sounds like me.

Thanks (I guess?) for the question, anon. I hope my answer satisfied you.

[whateverthedragonswant]

Note to Elwood:

This is not how you talk about someone when they're not present when you have "feelings" for them:

What about that scene above is him being a gentleman?

And more importantly...

Beau has feelings for Jenny?

Girl, WHERE?

We've only ever seen Jenny's side of things.

Full disclosure, I haven't seen season 2, but Jenny is funny and very charismatic? That's what she and Beau have in common besides their confidence? I don't remember Jenny cracking any jokes in season 1 or season 3 thus far.

"But he doesn’t let Jenny in emotionally because he doesn’t want to be vulnerable to her." - what??? So him telling her in 2x18 that he followed his daughter and ex-wife to Montana wasn't him letting her in. Or him telling her and Cassie how he felt about missing out on Emily's life in 3x01 wasn't letting her in? Or even when he talks to her alone in 3x09 again about Emily?

LOL!!! Jenny isn't jealous of Cassie and Beau's friendship in a romantic way? Seriously? Then why the whole consistent teasing of Beau about Cassie, asking if he's jealous? Even in 3x09 when they're having their supposed big emotionally intimate convo without Cassie being there or having anything to do with it? Elwood, you lie like a rug.

"Beau’s been very, very guarded around Jenny about any emotional stuff in his life regarding his marriage." - yet again, I ask, how has he been guarded when in the very first episode he meets her, he talks about it? He may not have told her the reason why the marriage failed but he had no problem basically admitting that he was still in love with Carla in that first car ride. Not to mention Jenny is the first one to meet Carla and witness what happened there.

"When Jenny got to interview Carla, that was a real chess match, and what was being discussed was trying to figure out what makes Beau tick and what kind of woman would be with this guy Avery, who Jenny and Beau know is up to some dirt." - so you ADMIT that Jenny was doing that in this scene when just an episode later you have Jenny telling Cassie that she's going to respect his boundaries, give him some space, and let him tell her when he's ready? When she said the very same thing in 3x01 when Cassie tells her she can ask Beau? So she goes behind his back and gets the scoop from his ex-wife instead? Not a true romance does this make.

"Those are the cards we’ve been playing with in this relationship. I think it all goes towards earning those looks, earning any kind of physicality that may occur in the back half of the season, really earning it," - you may want to stick to playing checkers instead because your chess matches and card playing aren't working out; they're horrific. Because Beau suddenly doing a 180 in the mid-season finale doesn't feel earned, it feels extremely out of character, abrupt, and not making sense.

"and making the audience want to be there for it." - AH, his true goal, gotta get those numbers up and keep viewers for the ratings. My bad, I thought Elwood was a story teller, not a salesman.

So basically, he knows he fucked up, the show doesn't actually show this supposed build-up of a true romance of Beau and Jenny, so that's why we get:

A whole sales pitch in combination with a full explanation because it wasn't apparent how Beau felt during the entire season so far, and the interviewer even had to check that Jenny knew she was interested. Imagine, that had to be asked.

And once again, he's not doing this because it's right for the story or either character (it's not), he's doing it to give "the audience what they want". Fanservice, that's all it is. And while a lot of shows tend to swing this way in order to keep viewers (since streaming/COVID changed the game irrevocably), the writers do their best to try to make it make some sense in the story. We've seen both good and bad examples of both. This is definitely the latter.

Had they done some organic build-up between Beau and Jenny, and not had Jenny acting so out of character and being full on cocky to boot (I mean, "Jenny always gets her man"? Really?), then maybe I could see this making sense as far as the fanservice goes. But Jensen and Katheryn don't have romantic chemistry. This is what genuine chemistry looks like:

He has way more chemistry with Angelique, Kylie, and Dedee. And for Beau to get into a romantic relationship with either Carla or Cassie makes way more sense for his story as well as theirs. With Denise not so much, but again, chemistry and it's cute.

So for this sudden Beau-has-been-returning-Jenny's-feelings-the-whole-time-he's-just-been-guarded-around-her to come out of nowhere is just beyond bad writing. Especially considering that Jenny already dealt with this issue (guy who isn't truly over his ex and she has to deal with it in the relationship) last season. With Travis, the very same guy Beau helped her to deal with in the very same episode she met him and says goodbye to her boyfriend, and lets him go to find his ex. The very SAME episode. That's. BAD. WRITING. And not good at all for Jenny's character development, because there is NO development. Here she is again, dealing with this same bullshit. And to top it all off, she's been acting like a teenager in some weird one-sided high school romance, being jealous (yes, Elwood, that's right, ROMANTICALLY jealous) of her best friend, trying to call dibs on a man that has shown NO interest in her whatsoever, to the point where even his ex-wife is noticing, and basically waiting him out because she's so confident she's going to get her man. (Yes, you wrote that, Elwood. YOU) Something the Jenny from Season 1 (and the few flashes I've seen of season 2) Jenny wouldn't have done, especially after having gone through this SAME thing last season.

So you have both female leads (and one hell of a strong female side character aka Carla) being reduced to devices to tell the romance story for fanservice, all revolving around a man...great job, Elwood. Great job.

And here's the thing, Jensen is doing his best to make the story work. And that's not speaking through an AA-haze, that's just speaking truth. It's most apparent in that 3x10 scene. While that moment came out of nowhere and felt extremely awkward, especially with Jenny's reaction, it only worked slightly because of him. He and Katheryn don't have romantic chemistry, not in these roles and in this story. So I think it's hilarious that fanboy Elwood who is clinging to Jensen and Reba like a crab with its claws, texts Jensen from the editing room (by Jensen's own admission from this most recent con), asking Jensen if he meant to play a take a certain way, then telling him it's brilliant and they're going to use it, and yet we still get:

This scene (and ANOTHER Cassie mention) & this scene (where Beau is NOT jealous nor does he give a shit that Jenny is being hit on)

Where Beau very clearly isn't into Jenny or thinking of anything romantic happening between them. NO. ORGANIC. BUILD-UP.

Elwood had the opportunity to use different takes (for example, look at the 3x09 movie night scene again - Katheryn's coverage has Jensen looking at her; Jensen's coverage has him barely looking at her) to tell this story between them seamlessly and do a genuine build-up to have this payoff in 3x10. He didn't because his ego is telling him that he doesn't need to. And why? Because he believes his own hype and his goal isn't to tell a great story but to maintain ratings. That's it. So it's beyond hilarious to me that fanboy Elwood even texts Jensen from the editing room. Like dude, you have no excuse. This isn't on the editors or the writers or the actors; this is on you. Just you.

And the only time we get some genuine possibly romantic chemistry with Jensen and Katheryn? This scene - and why? Because they're not playing their roles. (which is a testament to their acting abilities btw)

Congratulations, Elwood. You sacrificed Cassie and Jenny, your two female leads, for ratings for this shit. Are you proud of yourself? (most likely you are but you shouldn't be)

I've seen some shitty showrunners in my time but wow, Elwood, you take the cake. I can see why there's talk about this season being this show's last. This is truly terrible writing. You may want to go back to just being on a writing team or to short novels, buddy. I feel like that's where your strength is, and leave the showrunning to the pros.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Consequences

Also, on a less cheerful note... Chickens are coming home to roost in this country in some of the scariest ways.

For one thing, there's this Rwanda thing. As anyone with half a brain could have predicted, and several news outlets did predict, the refugees who were tangled in the NIMBY mess that is our asylum system at the moment heard about the intent to round up all the refugees in preparatio for sending them to Rwanda, and they ran. They went into hiding. Because they don't really want to be grabbed by shock troops when attending their mandatory appointments with the asylum office and incarcerated (because yes, that was the term used, and they're making sure they've got the space to do so) and then stuffed in a plane and sent to Kigali. They have been building lives here against all odds, and they don't want those lives torn from them. So they're hiding. And of course, the Tories are getting all hard-line about "We will find them, and we will incarcerate them, and anyone who is found hiding them will face repercussions".

Does this sound familiar to anyone else?!?

So, yeah. Just ... yeah.

And then there's the other thing that's biting us in the arse - Brexit. See, another round of checks between the UK and the EU have been put into practice, and that's looking at adding an awful lot to our food bills, because obviously the grocery stores aren't going to want to give up a single penny of their ever-increasing profits and the small local business can't afford to do anything else if they want to stay in business (most of them having already been hit so hard by Brexit already, and by the Covid lockdowns).

"So just buy British!", I hear some of these yahoos say. Weeeeeeell ... that's gonna be a problem this year. Apparently we had some unprecedented rainfall this winter, and it's fucked up the spring planting badly. Some people's crops are failing. Some failed entirely. Others can't plant their spring crops at all because the soil's too wet. Potatoes have been hit pretty hard, but harder still are wheat, oats, rye, and barley. Which they mostly talk about how that'll seriously raise the prices of bread, beer, and biscuits (cookies to you North Americans; this apparently lends better to alliteration, which is what headline writers want), I notice they haven't mentioned how many cheap tinned foods - the kinds of foods that keep the average family going in this cost of living crisis - are thickened with wheat flour, and thus are also going to have their prices skyrocket.

And you'd think, wouldn't you, that I should be cool about this because I don't do wheat anyway. Except ... I'm reminded of the first lockdown, when everyone was panic-buying and the shelves were empty. When they ran out of wheat pasta, they denuded the gluten-free pasta aisle. Same with the bread (with the added advantage that some gluten-free breads actually don't go stale as fast as wheat breads). So if the price of wheat products starts skyrocketing, what's going to stop them taking the gluten-free stuff instead? Which I normally would not care about, except for how they don't stock gluten-free foods in any real quantity, so they run out real fast, and it'll probably take awhile for the grocery stores to react to any increased demand. Which means I'll miss out anyway.

That or the grocery stores will just jack up the prices on the gluten-free stuff as well; use the excuse to boost their profit margins a bit more. I'm fucked either way.

I am so very, very depressed right now. I cling to my small victories, but it's hard going, and it gets harder and harder every time I turn around, it seems. Gods, I hate this fucking country.

[imthepunchlord]

Ya know what I just realized? Alya claims to be a journalist, but she posts so many stuff that could be used against LB (like Feast, trying to find her identity) or not fact checking (Lila, Pharaoh and Chloé being circunstancial or available because of Stone Heart) that I genuinely wonder if anyone takes her seriously. Like she's 13-14, it's obvious is more of a hobby than an actual career. While it's shocking why nobody cares that LB is 13-14, people taking Alya seriouly is too.

It could be more along the lines of this world's "logic" as they do things that just aren't logical.

Like, Lila "falling" down the stairs, as that can be incredibly lethal, first priority should've been getting her to the hospital which would have had that lie expose.

So Alya and the Ladyblog, yeah it doesn't really work when you think about it.

Alya sets herself up as a big superhero fan and hero 101 is secrecy. If she alone just wanted answers and to unravel the mystery of miraculouses, that'd be one thing; the big issue though is her making it a public affair. She does bring risk and damage to Ladybug, it makes her out seeking attention and fame more than really getting into the heroism and trying to solve how these heroes and villain work.

You also really got to question Marinette's stance as it's out of character for her to be tolerating of it. Marinette stands that secrecy is security, for herself, her role, and her loved ones. And the last thing she wants is people in danger. So for her to tolerate and even humor Alya trying to expose miraculous secrets and putting herself in danger; it's odd. She should be wary of Alya as a person or if you stick to them being friends, do what she can to discourage Alya or redirect her.

Another big issue is that the Ladyblog is really kinda forgotten about post her dating Nino, though pops up when the writers remember it (though it seems more like a tabloid). So those issues of Alya exposing secrets and risking Ladybug's security, they're just never addressed. At least, I haven't heard anything mentioned post Alya learning Marinette's Ladybug. And I hear as full time Rena, Alya doesn't learn her lesson and makes her self all about publicity; which 4 seasons in, knowing how critical things are right now for Marinette, it's just really OOC and it just leaves your viewers unhappy about Alya knowing.

Which honestly, in itself, this is not bad for Alya if this was going to be a means of growth, but nothing is going to come about it.

Then there's also Gabriel himself. He has someone out there in this city trying to expose Ladybug. Why isn't he jumping at this opportunity? Doing what he can to fund and assist Alya? Same goes for Adrien who does use it to try and get clues on Ladybug. Why doesn't Adrien join Alya, especially as this gives him a chance to encounter Ladybug as a civilian and get closer with her. And as this would be in Gabriel's own interests, he would encourage and allow Adrien to join Alya, which Adrien would be happy and excited about as his father is encouraging something Adrien is interested in. And then we can all feel Adrien's pain when he realizes his dad was using him and his interests for his own gain.

So Ladyblog is really a missed opportunity. For calling out Alya and leading to growth with her issues, and could've been something for Adrien to get into and think his father is connecting with him. But these are good ideas and this show doesn't work off good ideas.

Honestly, you also got to wonder what's the point of the Ladyblog as, after s1, it's hardly present anymore, only showing up here and there. It could even be that it's something that could've been cut as its more of a tabloid present day.

[caffeineforbucky]

I'm Thinking Of You All The While

Synopsis: Two weeks have gone by since you last saw Frank and you weren't expecting your next encounter to be in a hospital.

Pairing: Frank Castle x Reader

Warnings: angst, swearing, fluff, mentions of violence...lemme know if I missed any

1.8k words

A/N: I know this was long-awaited and you guys have been so patient with my slow ass. I had a bit of a writer's block but, I'm back and better than ever...sorta. I hope to god ya'll like this part cuz it was a puzzle. Feedback and reblogs are implored, thank you for taking the time to read. ILY!!!

Read Part one

Running.

You're running—the soles of your sneakers pounding against the grain of cement while you raced to the hospital. You couldn't care to even dress in work attire. Once you caught wind of Frank's hospitalization, jeans and a hoodie were the way to go.

You shouldn't have been the one I left behind.

Those words lingered like bad perfume—holding you in their vice through the absence of his being. It was only five minutes ago that Foggy had called you to get your ass down to the hospital.

"We've got a big case right now, and we need you."

"It's my day off, Fogs." You managed to say through a bite of a bagel. "What's more important than my Saturday being interrupted?"

"We're representing Frank Castle."

The bagel came back up. Your eyes suddenly water as you spit up your breakfast. "Be there in ten." You choked out, tossing the remains into the bin before making haste to change quickly.

The double doors slid open before you stepped through, eyes wandering until you found the receptionist's desk. "Hi, I'm looking for F-"

"There you are!" Foggy exclaimed loudly, making you look over your shoulder, tearing your eyes away from the woman who was about to help you. "Come on," He beckons you with a wave of his hand, his brows pinched together in worry. "I'll brief you in the elevator."

Thanking the receptionist, you followed Foggy into the elevator—heart palpitating faster than you were used to. It's been a couple of weeks since Frank showed up at your job—only calling to check in once every two days. And he never stayed on the call longer than twenty seconds. Fear for what was gonna happen to him was palpable. You cared about him, and you couldn't believe the things he'd been accused of.

"You still with me, Y/N?" Foggy calls out, noticing your lack of communication. The way your gaze misted over with something unreadable. Perhaps it was fear. He thought. You'd all heard of The Punisher and what he was famous for. Maybe you were scared to finally come face to face with the man. But, Foggy couldn't be further from the truth. "Hey," He tries again, frowning as he adjusted the strap of his briefcase.

His firm tone brought you back to the elevator, your eyes finding his gray gaze. "What?"

Foggy shuts his eyes, sighing deeply. He hoped to god that you had been listening to the case. He wasn't about to go over it again. "Seriously?"

You rubbed the fatigue from your eyes, dragging your fingers over your warm cheeks. "Ah, I'm sorry, Foggy," You groaned, taking a breath as well. "I guess I haven't been sleeping well. I'll let you and Matt do the talking." Right on queue, the bell dings above you—the doors separating to let you on your floor. Sharing a look with Foggy, you both stepped out, walking side by side until you turned the corner—Karen and Matt coming into view.

"What took you so long?" Matt pipes up, the red of his lenses glinting with the fluorescence of the lights above as he turns to face you, both hands resting atop of his white cane.

"Relax, Murdock," You grumble, folding your arms over your chest. "I'm here. Never mind that it was my day off. I wasn't expecting the call, is all."

"Right, well, let's get-"

"What the hell are you four doing here?!" Brett Mahoney's voice echoes in the narrow hallway of the fifth floor.

"Brett!" Foggy exclaims, his eyes brightening with a smile—Mahoney slowly approaching. "You're wearing a tie, and it's not a clip-on-"

"This ain't a good time, Foggy," Brett deadpans, looking between the four of you.

"How'd you get babysitting duty, Sergeant?" You quip, lifting your chin to address him.

"A detective Sergeant now." He corrects you.

"A promotion, huh?"

"Uh, just lucky." Mahoney shrugs nonchalantly. "Top dogs like the press of a good collar."

"Yeah," Foggy adds, the corner of his mouth curving into a smile. "And the cops that get 'em. Congratulations, detective."

Dismissing Foggy's compliment, Mahoney sighs heavily. "Look, I'm sorry but, this area is restricted beyond this point. You can't be here-"

"What if we have business with Frank Castle?" Matt interrupts, stepping a few inches forward. You look between them, each defending the law in their own way.

"Bussiness?" Brett scoffs, almost laughing at Matthew's proposal. "Guy's barely conscious."

"Our firm wants to represent him," Matt replies cooly.

"Man's already got a lawyer."

"Yeah, we met that benchwarmer." Foggy shares a knowing look with Karen, regarding their encounter with the man a few days earlier. "Not the freshest the city could've drummed up, but he's in the running."

"Brett," Matt starts, "We feel Nelson and Murdock are better equipped to represent Mr. Castle's best interests. Certainly over that of his current legal counsel."

Mahoney sighs once again. "Look, I don't ask questions, but every firm in the city's passed this one by. Must be a reason. You're chasing the wrong ambulance, DA wants the death penalty."

Your heart dropped to your stomach, the sound of the death penalty making your arms drop—fear glazing your tired eyes. "The...the public defender is all but ready to roll over and help."

Matthew could pick up on your increased heart, frowning softly in curiosity. He'd have to ask you about that later. "They'll even extradite Castle out of New York if that's what it takes."

"So, we thought he'd respond to our strategy of, you know, keeping him alive?" Foggy quips.

"None of this is my business," Detective Mahoney steps closer, lowering his voice enough for the four of you to hear. "But all I know is, you go up against the DA and lose?" He shakes his head in disapproval. "The only funeral to attend will be your firm's. You're takin' career suicide."

"If we walk away we're letting him die," You huff in frustration, a knot at the base of your throat. You couldn't—wouldn't—let your best friend die, not like this. Not when there was so much you wanted to tell him.

Mahoney took a step back, absorbing your words for a bit before he looked to the ceiling, muttering something under his breath. That was a hell of an argument. One that he fully agreed with. Whether or not Frank was a criminal, he didn't believe in killing him.

They searched all of you before letting you step foot inside the room, making it crystal clear to stay behind the tape line.

"Oh my god," You whisper, heart, tightening like a fist. There he was. There was your best friend lying bruised and scarred—handcuffed to a hospital bed like he was some kind of animal.

"Frank Castle," Matthew regards, starting firmly—voice clear. Frank's eyes opened immediately, recognizing the voice right off the bat. He turns his head towards Matt. "My name is Matthew Murdock. These," He gestures behind. "-are my associates, Franklin Nelson, Karen Page, and Y/N."

Frank's eyes found you in a heartbeat, and they never left. "I know who you are. You protect shitbags."

"We came here today to make you an offer. We don't want money for our services, we're not interested in fame or free advertising. Weren't even assigned to your case. We don't have to be here but, if you take a second to look around, we're the only ones that are. As you may well know, your list-"

"Y/N," Frank cuts in, your head snapping in his direction as Matt halts in his statement.

"What?" Matt asks, not sure if he heard right. Foggy and Karen's heads turn to look at you and you'd never felt smaller.

"I want to talk to Y/N before I listen to any more of your legal bullshit. Alone."

Foggy was the first to protest, followed by Karen then Matt, spewing on about the dangers of the man across from you and how he wouldn't hesitate to kill you but, you knew Frank. And he'd jump in front of a bullet before he ever a lay finger on you.

"I'll do it." You mumble, loud enough for the chatter to die out, all eyes on you. "I'll be fine, promise. He needs us, and if all that takes is a simple conversation, then so be it."

You were surprised how your little speech managed to convince all three out of the room. Maybe because neither one of them wanted to be in the same room as The Punisher but, he was just Frankie to you.

You locked the door on their way out, resting your head against the wood while you took a deep breath. Stay calm, stay calm. You push off the door, slowly turning to the man in the bed. The back of your eyes burned with tears, taking in all the bruising around his eyes and how they made his irises seem darker. "You look like shit."

Frank chuckled heartily, the rumbles in his chest aching but, his smiles were for you and only you. "Is that how we're greeting each other now, darlin'?" He quips, shaking his head as you step over the tape to make your way over to him.

You lean over, touching your forehead to his—your tear falling onto his cheek. "I don't want them to kill you," You croak, gliding your hands up to cup either side of his jaw.

"Hey, hey," He coos, drawing back a smidge. "Look at me, darlin'," Your eyes meet his, fresh tears rolling down your warm cheeks. He wanted to hold just as you were holding him, but the handcuff keep him restrained—wanting nothing more than to hold you in his arms. All the torture he'd undergone wouldn't compare to the torture of not being able to touch you. "Nothing's gonna happen to me, okay? I'm not gonna let them take me. Just like I won't let a damn soul keep you away from me." He leans in again, softly kissing your forehead—the gentlest touch you've ever known.

"There's a shoot-to-kill order on your head, Frank," You whisper, eyes fluttered shut at the feel of him so close to you. You couldn't bear the thought of actually losing him again. You feared you wouldn't be able to handle his death twice in a row. "I...I can't lose you," You whisper, shaking your head. "I can't fucking lose you." And without even thinking about it, simply because you couldn't do anything else—you kissed him.

You kissed him with everything you had, every emotion spilling out onto his lips from your own. You loved him like you never loved anyone else, and you'd pick him of your job any day.

Frank half expected the kiss since that's all he could think about as well. Never mind the reason he was in this predicament in the first place. He didn't want to think about Maria or the kids. All he wanted—needed—was you. And if you happened to stick around through the rest of his mission and hardships, he wouldn't mind.

He was gonna fight, and for the first time in two years, he felt home in your lips once again.

It's done. I hope ya'll are satisfied cuz I'm not writing a third part. Will there be future frank castle one-shots or fics? yes, yes there will be. But this two-parter is complete. I want to say thanks to the people who enjoyed this, you guys are the shit. I love ya. Reblogs and comments are appreciated deeply. I know I say this a lot.

This one's for @sketch-and-write-lover for asking to be tagged.

Lemme know if you ever want to be tagged in any future fics! Read Part One here!

[sabugabr]

Netflix's"The Witcher" and how costuming matters (1/2)

OR: The Witcher must have the most confusing worldbuilding I've ever seen and they could have easily helped that by doing good costuming — but then they didn't.

Hello again! You see, I'm a little late to the party since season 2 literally already debuted and all, but I've been wanting to write about Netflix's The Witcher since I watched the first season back in 2019, and originally I intended to discuss the narrative structuring errors the series makes when adapting the original material from Sapkowski's books (which took me a while to read, hence why took me so long to write this), but then I realized that first, there were already several articles and posts on this topic, written much more deeply and in detail than I ever could, and second, I noticed a lack of discussions about what really bothered me the most in this series: the clothes.

Look at this lovely swordfight between a medieval lady and a guy in a tweed blazer

SO, I think one of the things we can all to some extent agree on is that The Witcher is a flawed adaptation. You may like it, you may not like it, you may think it is good or bad on different levels of your personal opinion, but in terms of visual translation of a written narrative, and structural and narrative fidelity, The Witcher simply fails on several crucial points in its first season, which directly adapts the events of the first (in its fictional chronology; published second in original Polish) of the two collections of short stories preceding the main Witcher Saga written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski, "The Last Wish". As I mentioned before, I won't get into it specifically, but if you like you can check this great video by "The Closer Look" to see what I'm talking about. And one of the major critics regarding the series's first season is how confusing it is.

Look, I know this confusioness is, by some extent, purposeful. The story is told out of chronological order, the series moves back and forth in time, "present" events mix with flashbacks, everything is revealed at the end, etc etc. Which would be completely ok. However, the impression I had is that even what was not meant to be confusing got confusing, due to both:

textually cutting out the necessary contextualization to understand some situations; and

not correctly constructing the peoples and political relations between the kingdoms presented in the series.

And here I'm gonna adress the latter.

* DISCLAIMER * : in this post I'll only cover season one, first because I haven't watched season two yet, and second because interestingly Netflix has hired another costume designer for season two. Maybe after watching I can write about it separately. We'll see

So, without further ado...

1.1 VISUAL NARRATIVE AND CLOTHES AS STORYTELLING

To convey my arguments, I'm going to literally quote myself in some explanations from my Clone Wars post due to lazyness practical porpuses, so bear with me.

First, I'll cover the more technical aspects of visual representation in fantasy worlds. What I'm going to talk about now is not an established rule of thumb or anything like that, but simply something that's commonly done in visual media, especially when you have different cultures and peoples, or different kingdoms, which is to make the characterization of these peoples and cultures and kingdoms as characteristic as possible.

This serves not only to create a richer world, with more beautiful and creative possibilities for the use of colors and shapes and fabrics, but also to help those watching to follow what is happening on the screen, especially if you want to address social and political relations.

Seriously, I can't stress enough how things like the use of color can help in the assimilation and understanding of a story, and how this can be a life savior when it comes to crunching extensive content in a short time for an audience in the most effective and simple way possible.

In a conflit, for example, it’s easier for the audience to distinguish one "side" from the other if the people are visually characterized very differently, or to highlight a specific character in a crowded setting.

Take HBO's Game of Thrones for example. If you pay attention, at the beggining of the series every house and “region” had very distinct fashion tendencies that went way beyond the house’s coat of arms: the gowns were all cutted very differently, the colours and embroidery were unmistakable and the hair styles also differed a lot. You could determine the origin or political alignment of a character purely by fashion silhouette.

You can very clearly point out who is from which place, in addition to creating unity between certain groups. This can also be used either to show a character's personal evolution (like Daenery's costumes) or to visually express political innuendos, as for example in the case of Sansa, who always wears the same hairstyle as the woman she seeks to please at the moment. Or Cersei and Margaery, whose dresses are always (and I repeat, ALWAYS) a political statement.

Note that even though Daenerys' clothes clearly show an arc of evolution, there is a unity both in shapes (the constant use of oval and V cuts — symbolizing eggs and claws) and silhouette of the dresses (her clothes often have the strong, pointy shoulders that are Targaryen characteristics) and in the colors (white and aegean blue) and textures (always evocative of dragon scales) that consolidates her personality and makes her unique from the other characterizations.

And in the case of Cersei and Margaery, as I mentioned before, note how it is possible to make a clear distinction between when Cersei wears King's Landing's court fashion and when she wears her personal style (which can be easily identified), and how Margaery (whose personal style was previously determined by light and sensual clothing, in shades of light and baby blue with rocaille pattern embroidery) when appearing in the golden gown following Cersei's style, uses this as a soft power to not only insult Cersei but also firmly establish her position as the new Queen — and therefore toss Cersei aside. On the other hand, you can point out how clearly Margaery's gown and posture (the hands!!!) are a copy, and how better is the original, so we have all these layers going on here.

I could spend PAGES only going on and on about how great were the costumes for each caracther in Game of Thrones (thanks to Michele Clapton’s work), but I'm deviating from the topic here and you can find truly great meta about it all over the internet and particularly in this blog, if you like!

So, going back on track here, clothing can be used to visually depict narrative and time progression or even to secretly throw hints at the audience (like for example if you have side "Blue" versus side "Red", and a previously "Blue" character starts using reddish clothes, that can be an indicative that they've switched sides, even before this is actually confirmed by text).

When talking about personal characterization, one of the most important things about character design is that a character's costume essentially reflects who that character is, much more than their lines or actions. Just by looking at a character's costume (if it's a good costume) you can basically know everything the movie or series or play wants you to know. And especially if you're telling a story where a character goes through internal changes, the exterior (ie, their costume) should reflect that as well.

So, how are all those concepts applied in The Witcher?

Poorly

1.2 CHOICES WERE MADE — AND THEY WERE ALL GENERIC

So, for the first season of The Witcher, the costume designer in charge was the brittish Tim Aslam. And I want to make it very clear now that I am in no way personally attacking Tim Aslam here. In fact, I'm a fan of a lot of the projects he's worked on (I recently found out that he was a costume assistant on Phantom Thread, you gotta respect that curriculum). And you also have to take into account the influence that producers and all sorts of things have when you're making costumes for movies and series. And all that.

That being said,

This is bad costuming

They all look just SO OFF??? It took me SO LONG while watching to really get that Calanthe and those guards in the first picture and those guys in white in the last picture were all from Cintra. Because there's just no unity at all. Not in shape, not in colors, not anywhere. The only unit I can point to is the similarly shaped helmet of Calanthe's armor and that of the guards in the first picture. But in reality, the guard's armor looks a lot more like Eist's (the guy to her left), who is not Cintran (he was the ruler of the Skellige archipelago — still the Northern Kingdoms, but still somewhere else). And I still haven't figured out how Calanthe's armor was silver in this scene but golden in the banquet scene (it looks way better in gold tho)

And you know what, that's ok that's fine you can definitely make the ruler's armor different from the guard's armor (this is even a good move, since theoretically the ruler's armor has to be better than the guard's, right? ) but still, firstly, I personally found the guards' armor to be richer and more ornate than the QUEEN's, and secondly, if a helmet is all you can keep in style, you're clearly lost.

And then we get to the poor soldiers in the last picture.

And being fair, there are differences between the two armys — you have white armor vs black armor, the white Cintran armor here is very classic 1400s full plate armor with that round breastplate, while the Nilfgaardian armor is...? Some kind of studded leather, kinda? Anyway, I'll get to the Nilfgaardian armor later, don't worry. But even so, they are absurdly generic.

The helmets (the helmets) are basically the same, and so are the shoulder pads. And I may be speaking purely my own opinion here, but for me this scene was so confusing and the lighting was so dark that even the contrast of the black and white colors was lost to me sometimes. And because their armor was so different from the other Cintran armor that had appeared, I had to Google Cintra's coat of arms to confirm that it was really a battle between Cintra and Nilfgaard, just to make sure. And if Cintra's colors are golden and olive blue, why they were suddenly all in plain silver? I have so many questions.

AND YOU KNOW WHAT OK, FINE, armor is tricky, we have bad costuming in armors all around fantasy media, ok. But I found similar issues within every other costumes in this series.

So let's play a game

Look at the following images:

If you didn't know these characters, would you be able to tell me which kingdom each of these people is from? Look closely at the council scene or the ball scene, can you look me in the eye and say you know who's who? Point out for me who at the ball is from, idk, Aedirn or Temeria. You know what, you don't even have to go that far, just separate the people in groups you think belong together. Can you?

Me neither!!!!

Those guys in white at the ball, are they from the same country? I really can't say for sure!!!!

And I don't even find these specific clothes ugly, on the contrary, I find them individually very nice. But they do seem to be all inferior derivatives of a single model. Because, in reality, that's what they are.

See how Tim Aslam describes the costuming design:

“I started with in-depth discussions with showrunner Lauren Hissrich about the kind of look and feel she wanted for the show. I came up with a concept which was a mix of contemporary high fashion with Gothic influences from all the periods where Gothic researched in fashion history – notably, the 1890s and 1930s. Plus a lot of ethnic world costume”. “The Witcher is set, after all, in a kind of parallel fantasy world, where anything is possible. I have always particularly loved 1930s fashion. So it was ideal to be able to bring in the ‘30s Gothic feel, along with a little film noir feel, to some of the characters’ costumes.” (source)

Great, lovely, perfect. However, in my point of view, this was only truly applied on Cintra, and the character that best represents it (and the one that for me has the best characterization, and the greatest cohesion in clothes) is Calanthe herself.

You really get to see the Gothic and european 1930s inspirations (I didn't put references here because of the tumblr 10-image limitation, but google "1930s velvet gown" and see what I'm talking about), and the whole wardrobe looks just marvelous. I LOVED the blend of cool tones with gold, the consistency in the boat necklines and the overall embroidery and fabrics used, the application of the "surface cording" technique in both her and Ciri's gowns' necklines and sleves, the coherent hairstyles, everything.

So, for Calanthe and Cintra, this concepts works at it's best, and was is just Cintra, it would have been perfectly fine, showstopping, 10/10. But he applied it to the whole costuming, and what we got is that he used a single concept to develop an entire world. This is very problematic because not only it makes it harder for us to identify the people on screen, but also because it deeply undermines the richness of the source material.

For example, I really find Mousesack's houpelande charming. It's pretty simple, but I didn't dislike the copper aspect it has in the scenes. But it looks way too similar to Stregobor's, and does it give any indication that he, like Eist, is from Skellige? The archipelago which, from the description of the books, can be directly associated with Danish cultures, and whose people are often associated by readers (myself included) with Vikings? Even ignoring the Viking thing, can you say, only by looking at them, that they both come from the same country?

I even named them there to make your life simpler

The two pretty much wear only goldish clothes, but then, King Foltest of Temeria also uses gold, and by the way Calanthe does too.

Perhaps you could argue that gold is associated with nobility, and we just accept that all nobles wear gold. It's a logic, yes, but I personally find it so disappointing when it comes to a series that spends so much time in political intrigues of different courts and kingdoms. In fact, it seems to me more like there is no concept at all between the courts, and that all characters buy their clothes at the same department store. So, besides everything I've said on narrative issues, this kind of approach "cheapens" the entire production.

Look at the sorceress:

They all seem to come from the same base model, using the same fabric, but at the same time they're not similar enough to argue that it's an intentional unit. Far from that. In these pictures alone you can see Triss wearing 4 dresses in not only different colors but also different cuts, one of them actually being the boat neckline that I once thought was characteristic of Cintra but apparently I was wrong — Triss comes from Temeria. You can vaguely identify the concept of "Goth 1930's evening gown meets contemporary high fashion", but here it just seems, once again... generic?

Unlike Calanthe's case, it doesn't seem like the concept was made with her in mind, for her. Some of the gowns don't even seem to have been very thought out. It just seems like they picked clothes that would look good and vaguely medieval-ish, and they went with it.

Tissaia on the other hand always wears clothes with VERY characteristic cuts, but this seems to be more of a personal style than any indication of a connection with Aretuza (the magic academy Yennefer goes to)

ac I couldn't tell if Tissaia is wearing the same dress in the first two images and they just look different colors because of lighting and editing. I hope that's not the case, because otherwise I would be even more disappointed with the lack of care for the costumes in this series. But moving on

I even thought the connection could be defined by the color blue/turquoise (as all apprentices use that shade of greenish blue too), but if thats the case it really bothers me,

firstly because they decided to use blue as the primary color in Ciri's characterization throughout most of the season, and I think it's flawed to have two different elements identified by the same color, and

secondly because if turquoise really represents a connection with Aretuza, it's NEVER used narratively in any way that I could identify, not even with Tissaia, which is simply a waste of narrative tool. It seems she only wears blue at the academy and her relationship with the color comes down to only that. As for the others, they use bluish tones but this is the only connection that I could make.

Again, it's as if each has their own unique style, but they all go shopping at the same store — except, in some scenes, Yennefer.

But since tumblr CENSORS more than 10 images, I'll have to slip this into part 2, so

PART 2: LET'S TALK ABOUT YENNEFER ->

[beevean]

Does the netflix Castlevania show get better? I loved the first season but I checked out pretty hard after season 2. Season 1 being three episodes felt perfect, but season 2 felt like they were stretching out 3 episodes worth of material across 8 episodes. Like 70% of the season is just Dracula moping in his castle with a bunch of filler vampires who never amount to anything, and three minor characters who are only there so they'll be established for later seasons game adaptions. When I saw season 3 was 10 episodes I didn't even bother.

Do they get better or is it just more swearing and gore?

I haven't watched it. I don't think I'd like it. If I dislike IDW Sonic, which was written by an alleged fan, how did Castlevania fare, which was written by someone who gleefully admitted that he didn't care for the source material and by the end of his short-lived collaboration with IGA he wanted to beat him up?

I am familiar with the general reception though. Season 2 was apparently the peak of the show, especially the last episode (I've watched Dracula's death, and yeah it got me in the feels), then Season 3 was darkness galore and mostly focused on the council of 4 vampire OCs that replaced Dracula as the villain, and at the end Alucard and Hector got raped and betrayed... out of spite for another writer who liked those characters. Yeah. And Season 4 tried so hard to undo the darkness of Season 3 that Dracula is now back and living with Lisa as if the dude did nothing wrong, Alucard forgot his trauma in the first episode, and Hector fell in love with his rapist. Not that the fans care, because the rapist in question is a pretty girl :)

(seriously, the biggest backlash I've seen about this point was not "woman rapes and enslaves man and their story is treated as romantic", it was "white woman rapes and enslaves a man of color", and... really?)

(this is what you consider "of color"? This is a Mediterranean man during summer! I'll give you "ambiguously brown" if you want to, but c'mon, admit that it's a sexism issue for once)

I'm also disappointed that they took Hector and Isaac from Curse of Darkness, which I've grown attached to, and turned them into different characters. Hector became much dumber and naive, a far cry from the badass he's in the game, but Isaac in particular, it's so sleazy: I get it, you don't want BDSM Central in your show because he's a gay stereotype, but what's the point in creating a completely different OC, with a completely different background, personality, race and religion, and then slap Isaac's name onto it? Just to say that you "fixed" him? You ain't fixed nothing, you cheated! Give me my BDSM disaster back, it's not like this show is for prudes! Or at least be honest and do with him what you did with Grant Danasty: ignore him because you don't like him! Now I can't find any kind of fanart and fanfic with those two because their Netflixvania versions replaced them!

Oh wait, you mentioned swears? Let me introduce you to Death :)

"but it's ORIGINAL, a spirit as old as time wouldn't care about sounding politeeeee" shut up it's so tryhard my soul is cringing

So yeah. If I'm gonna watch it, I'll do it ironically. If I can stand the amount of cringy dialogue. Alucard's prettiness might be my only source of motivation :\

[thelaughingstag]

The Laughing Stag Masterpost

Hello writers, readers, and everything in-between. Welcome to the Laughing Stag! I have created this virtual tavern for writers to share their work (WIP, published work, fanfic, anything!), get feedback, and to connect with others in the writeblr community. Below, I will talk a little bit about myself, what I envision for this blog, and how it might work. I haven't done anything like this before so if you have any feedback do kindly let me know. The information and guidelines below are subject to change as necessary for the sustained enjoyment of everyone in this writeblr community.

Continued below the cut

The Purpose of this Space

I see this as a space for not only writers to share pieces they are proud of but to also allow readers to connect with writers they might be interested in. On top of that I would love for this to be a hub for writing advice as well as friendly discussions between lovers of the wordly arts.

The Inspiration for this Blog

I came up with the idea of the Laughing Stag through several posts where I saw my fellow writeblrs quietly mention they wished they had more notes on their writing posts. I was having the exact same feelings. What I also saw were a lot of people asking writeblrs to interact with a post so they could follow more active blogs. Well why not have a one stop shop for all of that! And thus, the Laughing Stag was born. The name for this blog comes from the longest running D&D campaign I play in. It is the home base for many of our characters as well as a place for us to meet others. I thought it fit perfectly.

How to Share Your Content

There are three ways to make sure your content gets to be featured at the Stag.

Open invitation: add @thelaughingstag to your taglist! Seriously! Do it! I will add tagged posts to the queue.

Submit an excerpt to my submission box. See the submission rules below.

Use the custom tag #tagthestag on posts you’d like to see featured here. I will check the tag periodically and add those posts to the queue.

Finally, I will make an effort to find active writeblrs, go through their wips, and reblog them myself but please do not rely on this. I have school and other obligations, I can’t keep the Stag going solely through digging all by myself. Please help me out by shamelessly sharing your work. It’s fantastic and deserves to be shared! Or boost a friend’s work, tag the stag, get my attention and I will add it to the queue. This blog is a community, let’s all work together for some good ole writeblr support!

Guidelines

I don't plan to restrict any content here, I only ask that posts be tagged and cuts added appropriately. I do reserve the right to alter this if anything becomes a problem but I don't forsee that because everyone in this community is awesome <3

Submission Rules

-- I will provide a list of tags to choose from for your submission. Mostly these will be genres and content warnings. If there are general tags that you would like to see added, please ask.

-- Please include the tag(s) unique to your work that you wish for me to add at the end of your submission.

-- If your post contains mature content, please add where you would like me to put a cut or I will choose a place for you. This goes for longer pieces as well, please choose a place for me to place a cut, or I will choose it for you.

-- If you wish for feedback on your post, please use the tag looking for feedback and also include specifics on what feedback you are looking for within your post. This could include things like feedback on descriptions, excessive pronoun usage, or other things you tried but aren't sure if they worked. Someone can only give good feedback if they have structure for what they are supposed to be looking for.

-- Last but absolutely not least, if you want me to reblog an original post, please tag @thelaughingstag on your post (meaning you can take this as free invitation to add this blog to your taglist!) and I will reblog and add your post to the queue!

A Bit More About Feedback

Please only give constructive feedback on posts that have the tag looking for feedback and stay within the scope of what the writer is looking for.

Otherwise, I still encourage replies, reblogs, and general excitement but I ask that it stays within the realm of supporting the writer. General praise is always lovely and if you want to give a bit more (not feedback/criticism) I encourage comments with something you noticed about the piece or what, specifically, you liked about it. But keysmashes and emojis are wonderful too!

As some parting words, I simply ask that if you follow this blog, always consider reblogging a writer's work. It makes writers feel tingly and the reason people want to share their writing is in the hope that someone will like it. Maybe that's not you, but maybe it's someone who follows you. Keep that in mind and maybe hit the reblog along with the heart when you see something you like <3

Finally, About me

I figured since I'll be your barkeep, perhaps you should know a little about me. My main blog is HellishHin and you're welcome to call me Hin or whatever nickname you think fits (as long as it's kind). I'm 26, use she/her pronouns, and live in the United States. Currently, I work in a medical laboratory profession in the Pacific time zone after receiving my masters degree. I have picked up writing again and want to be a part of the community. I have dogs that I play agility with and I play D&D once a week. I love ren faires and have learned how to sword fight in historical Italian style. After being out of school I’m picking my hobbies back up again!

Note: I will not have the mental capacity to read everyone's submission all the way through before I post it (as much as I wish I could, but I know my limitations). Each writer is responsible for their own content and each reader is responsible for what content they consume. Please tag appropriately.

I feel super weird about adding this so it's quietly going down here. Zero pressure. https://ko-fi.com/adminhin

[ziamhaze]

i haven't read your new fic ZAYN yet but I just read through the description and your notes and : I love you. like, I think you're my absolute favourite ziam writer right now no joke.. the stories you've written so far are absolutely amazing. 100% on par with our ship legends and maybe even better !! anyway I'll definitely be binge reading it when I should be sleeping later but thank you for what I can already tell was a lot of hard work and love and dedication and your BEAUTIFUL mind.

I’ve been sitting on this ask for about a day now because I’m just so touched by it, that I don’t know how to respond properly.

As I mentioned in Z.A.Y.N.’s endnotes, I’ve been reading ziam fanfic for YEARS; they’ve been one of my main sources of entertainment. Sitting down with a great 50k superhero fic and going at it for about 8 hours has been a lot of my Saturday nights since I started reading fics back in 2013.

I didn’t really know what to expect - out of myself, and out of today’s ziam readers - when I started writing. I’ve been so overwhelmingly surprised at the reception of my fics, that I’ve been the sources of people’s entertainment for 8 hours or more. I’ve been even more grateful at the amount of positive comments on how my fics have impacted people.

When I get messages like this, I always find it really difficult to express to you (and anyone else who feels the same way) just how appreciative I am of the kind words. I have a few ziam writers that I think are absolute legends, and to be compared to them is insane. Genuinely, thank you so so so much.

Fic writing has been really transformative for me, personally - specifically to my mental health. That said, to the thousands of you who have read my work, it means the world to me that you chose to click read.

I do work on my fics (planning/research/writing) about 8 hours a day. I treat it seriously because I want to put out the best creative product possible, and because I’d love nothing more than to make this a full time thing.

If anyone can give to my Patreon to make that a reality, just the cost of that cinema ticket that you didn’t need to go out and buy in order to be entertained for a night, I would be eternally grateful.

And for those who didn’t see, my newest fic Z.A.Y.N. debuted Sunday. Go check it out!