#so good even without the context of canon and just as short stories

[the-rat-eatery]

Rereading carry on and I forgot how much good fanfic there is for this book

[faeriekit]

What it's been like to try to get into comics thus far:

Someone tells you to try reading comics online. It's free! Cool. You'll try it. You make a mental note to try an online search when you get home, and go about your day.

You try to find a site that has old comics. You click around. The scroll bar is huge. You recognize none of the names. There are some sets of series that seem to have the same name. You pick one at random. You don't understand what you're looking at. You close the tab. You'll try again tomorrow.

"Try reading _____ series! It's so good!" You look for the series name online. Turns out it's just a nickname. You can't be sure which version of the series it is. The wiki is no help. You'll try again tomorrow.

You watch a show based on the comics characters. It's fun; not groundbreaking, but fun. You look it up online later. Everyone complains about how it's not like the comics' characterizations. The writers did them dirty. You should read the comics instead. You close the forum tab.

"Why don't these idiots just get into comics? All these people are just cluttering up the fandom with their horrible takes on the characters. They clearly have no idea what the actual character/plot/series is like!" Okay. You do want to know, so it's probably worth another try. You'll try again tomorrow.

They didn't include a link. You have no idea what you're looking for without context. You keep looking stuff up and getting different names of series and characters and location. You have no idea where you are, and every beginning seems like the middle of the story. There are four different wikis in your results tab and you're not sure which one is actually the think you're looking for. You'll try again tomorrow.

You read the graphic novels. You like them a lot. You know that's not what they're talking about.

You watch a movie. It has the comic characters in it. You like it. You check it out online to see if other people like it too, and all you see is more complaints about how it differs from the comics. You're doing it wrong.

"People who can't get into comics are just weak. Just pick a random spot and start!" Okay. You go back to that endless scroll bar. You try to start reading something at random. It relies on concepts you haven't been introduced to and character relationships that already have an unseen depth to them. You don't have the context for any of it. You don't understand. Why is it moving so fast? Are you just too tired to understand what's on the page? You'll try again tomorrow, just in case.

You pick an omnibus off the shelf at the library. It starts in the middle of someone else's story and ends up with a cast in the low twenties. You try to keep up. You know who most of the people are, but the focus is so large and the story is so overwhelming that you don't think you really absorbed, like...any of it?? You put it back on the shelf. You'll try it again tomorrow.

You've seen more versions of every character than most fans ever will. You think longingly of what it must be like to be a filthy casual. You bet they're not wondering if they're bad at this hobby late at night. People probably vagueblog about them, too, but they don't even notice. Must be nice.

You watch another movie. It's nice. You end up with an omnibus of a short-run of something, so it's easier to digest. That's nice too. You're just reading to read. It's pleasant.

People argue online about what the BEST characterization of this person is and who's an awful writer and the runs no one should read and the stuff that WAS canon but now it ISN'T and there's the RIGHT stuff to read and the WRONG stuff to read, and some of it is truly terrible. You try to remember what the RIGHT stuff is, or else everyone will know that you're doing this wrong. You have to remember that this is just a hobby. You're having fun. You're supposed to be having fun.

"Fans of THIS adaptation are so annoying; they clog up the real works of appreciators of the original comics run and ruin the characters!" You look at the adaptation. It's officially licensed. Neat. The rest of the stuff you've tried has been official too. It hasn't stopped the vitriol.

You think that some of the fans hold the preciousness of the comics closer to their chest than the actual publisher. You're not sure what to do with that thought. You're so tired. You read another comics-based graphic novel, since it's on the shelf at B&N, and it's good. It's really, really good. You know in your heart it doesn't count as liking comics, and you wish it would get the same appreciation as the famous comics in your fangroups. You know it won't.

A fanauthor you like vagueposts about the idiots who can't even read the fucking comics once every other week. You've almost unfollowed them maybe half a dozen times. If you do, you won't get to see their works when they post. They hate you and they haven't met you, and they have no idea you exist. Okay. Maybe you'll do it tomorrow.

You like the characters. You like your fellow fans' interpretations of them. You like their stories and you love their art and you love sharing ideas with them and you're having fun. You're having fun and you're doing it wrong. No one wants you here and you don't understand what makes a good adaptation as opposed to a bad one if they're both well written and well liked and no one is willing to have a full on conversation without condescending down to you for being a fan without knowing anything. It's been a year. It's been a year and everyone else has been reading since they were knee high and you're behind because it's only been a year and there's cultural history you're only just learning and how dare you be ignorant of it. Don't you know how much you're missing? Don't you know how stupid you are??

You see officially licensed merchandise in the store. It makes you feel weird. You're having fun. You have to be having fun, or else what's the point?

People will do anything with beginner or prospective fans except give them a link to a recommendation. You can like a character, but you can't have a different interpretation of them— that's exclusive to officially licensed adaptations, and even then people will complain. You're on your own. No one will help you.

You're on your own. No one will help you.

You check out a couple of comics-based picture books and a graphic novel that looks interesting. You put a DVD of an adaptation on hold. You're on your own, and no one will help you, but maybe you have a right to have fun by yourself.

You watch. You read. You have fun. It's not enough, but you're...happy. You're pretty sure that's what this is.

Close enough.

[queerfables]

Alright GO fans, let's talk Sodom and Gomorrah. This biblical story comes up a few times in Good Omens canon, a kind of offhand mention each time, and the most interesting part to me is the implication that Aziraphale was there.

If you only know the cliff-notes version, you've probably heard it as the story of God condemning homosexuality to the point of wiping out several cities over it. Maybe you've heard this too, but - that's not exactly what happened. Look, I'm an atheist, I have no dog in this race. If I thought it was about smiting people for homosexuality, I'd be happy to call God a wanker and move on. But I've read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (You can too! It's very short!) and I've read other parts of the Bible that reference it, and I think a much more straightforward interpretation is that it's about offering hospitality and protection to strangers. It's also about the consequences of wanton cruelty, and God laying waste to those deemed beyond salvation.

In Good Omens, the book, Aziraphale and Crowley discuss Sodom and Gomorrah this way:

"Come off it. Your lot get ineffable mercy," said Crowley sourly.

"Yes? Did you ever visit Gomorrah?"

"Sure," said the demon. "There was this great little tavern where you could get these terrific fermented date-palm cocktails with nutmeg and crushed lemongrass-"

"I meant afterwards."

"Oh."

According to the book, then, Aziraphale at least saw the city after it was destroyed. Maybe Crowley saw the aftermath too or maybe he just heard about it. They both understand it as horrific.

The show is more direct, and suggests that Aziraphale was there during the actual destruction. Gabriel asks if Aziraphale remembers Sandalphon. Aziraphale does.

"Sodom and Gomorrah. You were doing a lot of smiting and turning people into salt. Hard to forget."

Aziraphale regards Sandalphon warily during the conversation. I believe we're supposed to interpret this scene based on the popular understanding of Sodom and Gomorrah as cities that God wiped out because of the inhabitants' sins. The obvious implication, then, is that Sandalphon is the heavy, the one called in to deal with disobedience. He's trigger-happy, relishes violence, and Aziraphale has seen what he's capable of. From the careful way Aziraphale discusses their prior acquaintance, I think he feels the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was a tragedy and believes Heaven's actions were disproportionate and unjust.

I'm confident this is how we're supposed to read the scene. In the context of the story, we're supposed to understand that Aziraphale doesn't approve of the smiting, and that he feels threatened by Gabriel and Sandalphon coming into his bookshop and pressing him about Armageddon. But I'm fascinated by what it would mean if Aziraphale and Sandalphon's history really tracks onto the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Because if Good Omens' version of Sodom and Gomorrah is at all biblically accurate, and if Aziraphale was there... it's kind of mind-blowing, actually, that he still feels so much compassion for the people who died and still thinks Sandalphon was wrong.

I'm going to explain why, but fair warning, it gets ugly. I promise nobody is actually raped, and I think that promise in itself says plenty.

According to the Bible, Sodom and its surrounding cities are accused of being overrun with sin. God sends two angels to Sodom to verify this, intending to destroy everything if they find it to be true. In the world of Good Omens, I think one of these angels must be Aziraphale. The other one is likely Sandalphon, but in the Bible it's God rather than either of the angels who rains down burning sulfur on the cities so it's possible it's someone else, and Sandalphon is only on smiting duty. Without anything else to go on, though, let's assume it's Sandalphon.

So our two angels arrive at Sodom in the evening, and at the gate to the city, they meet Lot. Lot is an immigrant who has made his home in Sodom, and I think the implication is that this is why he's not completely steeped in sin like everyone else. In any case, he immediately offers to put the angels up for the night, and although they'd planned to stay in the square, Lot is really insistent. He is a good host! Also, he knows the city is dangerous. So the angels go to his house and he makes dinner for them, and then before they can go to bed, a mob shows up at the door.

See, the men of Sodom have heard about the strangers staying with Lot. They surround his house and demand he hand them over. The New King James Version puts it this way: And they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally." Several other translations say that the men wanted to "have sex with them". But I mean. It's a fucking mob. They've surrounded the house. We all get what this is, right?

So Lot goes out to meet the men, and he says "Don't do this terrible thing." Off to a good start! Then he says, "Tell you what, I have two virgin daughters. Do what you like to them and we'll say no more about it." Oh boy. Dad of the year award, right there. But still, he insists, "The angels are under my roof and my protection."

The men outside Lot's house are pissed. They say, "You're an outsider, who are you to judge us?" They threaten to do worse to him than to the angels. They swarm him and almost break the door down, but the angels pull him back inside.

The angels then strike the mob with blindness to stop them getting into the house. They say to Lot, "Look, you gotta take your family and get out of here. God sent us to see how bad things were and, uh, long story short, we're burning it all to the ground. You get it, right?"

Maybe you know the rest. Lot's son-in-laws don't believe him and won't leave the city. Lot's wife looks back and turns into a pillar of salt. Lot and his daughters take shelter in a small town called Zoar, and from there flee to the mountains. Everything else is destroyed.

It is a tragedy. The plains are leveled down to ash, until there's nothing left that can even grow. Was there really no one innocent in those cities? No children or animals? (You can't kill kids). Still, I think about that awful night under Lot's roof and I don't think I could blame anyone for giving up on all of it.

So what if that's the story? There were two angels in Sodom before it fell. What if it really was Aziraphale and Sandalphon, trapped through the night in a stranger's house, surrounded by men who want to rape them. Whatever their power as angels, that has to be terrifying.

If it was Sandalphon there with Aziraphale that night in Sodom, I have to wonder what he was like. There isn't any kinship or understanding from Aziraphale. Despite knowing the circumstances better than anyone, he still sees Sandalphon as a threat. Given that, I think Sandalphon must have taken a truly disturbing kind of joy in raining down vengeful fire and brimstone, beyond what you might expect from someone who was afraid or angry. Maybe he was never afraid; maybe instead he revelled in the violence building through the night as the reason he needed to tear everything down. Maybe he was afraid in the terrible way that exposes the depths someone will sink to to protect themselves (maybe offering his daughters was never Lot's idea). Or maybe Aziraphale just tried to reach out to him afterwards, to offer understanding and ask for some in return, and Sandalphon shot him down so coldly and viciously that Aziraphale knew immediately this wasn't something he was allowed to have feelings about. Whatever happened that night, it left Aziraphale feeling more of an outsider from Heaven than ever.

But if it happened that way, it happened this way too: Aziraphale survives a night like that, and when he looks out into the breaking dawn, he thinks, these cities don't deserve to burn. He sees the good in a place that's just shown him its absolute worst. I think that says everything about him as a character, actually. Of course he won't give up on Heaven. Of course he'll fight tooth and nail for his home on Earth. Whatever the worst is, there are still things worth saving. There are still, always, people worth protecting.

On that note, before I wrap this up, I want to go back to Lot's words to the men of Sodom, and draw a parallel that makes me feel some kind of way. Because when Lot declares the angels under his protection, what he says is essentially, "Do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the shadow of my roof for protection." And all I can think about, reading these lines, is Aziraphale standing in his bookshop as it's surrounded by hostile demons, and telling the angel under the shadow of his roof, "You came to me. I said I would protect you. And I will."

[earthnashes]

Hello there! If I may ask about your oc Sakura, how did you go about conceptualizing her? Was there any characters or media that inspired her design? How did her character change to what it is now? Apologies for this many questions, feel free to choose just one when you have time; love your work!

Hello! You may indeed ask about my baby! 🥹

So for context, Feathers and Flowers' birthing concept was about a girl summoning a demon because she was lonely but too shy to make her own friends, so she concludes summoning a demon would somehow be easier. In that iteration of the story, Sakura was meant to be a side character; a friend to the main characters that acted as the ultimate foil to basically everyone around her. She combated Kaela's crippling anxiety by being confident and overwhelmingly outgoing, contrasted Evangeline's bossy, bitchy attitude with being kind and friendly, and be the opposite of Mal's stoic, silent character with being expressive and chatty. I also needed a character that could conveniently know enough about niche media to reasonably be able to help Kaela summon her demon in the first place, so I ended up making her a huge geek: she loved anime, video games, and had knowledge on obscure things... including occult summonings xD

So I worked off that idea to form her appearance. Again her core direction was to be a foil to all of the main cast: Kaela was short and soft. Evangeline was tall and thin. Mal was tal and hard. I wanted Sakura to be the biggest character, so she originally started started out compact and wide. Her face was what I started with: I wanted her to look somewhat like an anime character, and her inspiration was based off of the older episodes of Dragonball, Pokemon, Tenchi Muyo, Ranma, Inuyasha. I basically wanted her to have Goku vibes (his wide dark eyes, his big smile, his open and easy personality) but with Inuyasha's hairstyle (she originally had long hair).

But then the story changed; it wasn't about a demon being summoned in a silly slice-of-life story but a Spirit getting lost in a magical modern era, still very much slice of life.

That ultimately shifted Sakura's design into something more athletic; football specifically. I wanted her to keep her dorky traits but pair it with the popular star athlete trope, so she became leaner, taller, and more "top heavy". She also became more oblivious; she remained sweet and friendly and outgoing, but in turn she didn't understand when someone liked her. In fact she was later canonized to be asexual originally didn't have romance planned for her character.

Fastforward to now: the story of F&F has changed again. While the core remains mostly the same (found family), it ironically shifted into something much closer to one of the earlier concepts of the story; something more serious and not slice of life, something that focuses more on the good and bad of a world instead of being predominantly lighthearted. So with that change the characters had to get a tune-up to their characterizations. Sakura received the biggest change, I think.

Her core remains true: she's relentlessly kind, expressive, a dork. But I decided to make that her biggest strength and her biggest flaw, as well as making her loving personality be conflicted by how the world views her by changing her appearance. That's how we get current Sakura: she's kind, she's loving, she wants to help others. But people think she's a threat, a ticking timebomb, because of what she is. So her once open smile is now more manufactured, a wall to protect herself, a farce to try and make herself look less like a threat. She's now a pushover; she can't establish her boundaries without it being misinterpreted as being aggressive, so her coping mechanism is to grin and bear it. She can't get visiblt upset or angry, so she has to fight for calm to have even the smallest chance of being listened to. She's "nice" because it's all she's allowed to be.

Hence her appearance change! She is now the largest character in the main roster, the physically strongest. Her smile is now "tainted" by sabre teeth she can't hide, her size contradicts her gentle nature.

It's late for me so I'm sure I forgot a few things but that's what I got for now! If you're interested I could show older concept work of Sakura to illustrate how she looked then vs how she looks now too. But ye! Thank you so much for asking about my character! 🥹🙏

[toastedcinnamonflakes]

Guide on How to Improve Your Reading Level

So. You want to improve your reading level. You currently read only “easy” stories – for example Colleen Hoover. But you want to challenge yourself. You want to read more.

Well, let me help you. I am compiling a guide for you here to help you get more advanced with your reading. I have sorted literature into different levels, and will give you suggestions for each level. This is not an all-encompassing guide, more like a guideline – obviously I don’t know every single author. I will try to stick to authors that are all also available in English, but if one or two sneak in that are not available in English, or your main language, I apologise. I encourage you to seek suggestions outside of this, too. A good place to get good recommendations and not just the same five #BookTok books over and over again are actually newspapers and magazines with a Feuilleton! You can also message me for some tips, or find other book blogs on tumblr. I am sure most are glad to help.

I am not sorting these books by categories like “Children’s books”, “Young adult” or similar, because I find that within those loose categories, books can vary wildly. Instead, I am focusing on complexity, length, necessary existing knowledge and other factors. Without further ado, let me begin!

Level 1: Books that are short, to the point, without complex vocabulary. There usually are no metaphors there, and if there are, you do not necessarily HAVE to dive into them, the story makes sense nonetheless. You do not need to have any pre-existing knowledge to understand them, either. They are also either stand-alones or can be read as stand-alones, so you do not have to commit to a long series.

Such books are:

Most books by Dyanna Wynne Jones, especially her Fantasy novels

Books by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Most books by Leigh Bardugo (although is STRONGLY discourage you from reading the Shadow and Bone trilogy, those books are messy, unimaginative and kinda sexist. She found her literary footing after that.)

Books by Michael Ende

Most books by Erich Kästner (his few excursions into adult literature are more complex and require some previous knowledge about the Weimar Republic)

Books by Alexander Kielland Krag

Books by Walter Moers

Most books by V.E. Schwab

Books by Axie Oh

Books by Naomi Novik

Books by Casey McQuiston

Books by Kai Meyer

Books by Marissa Meyer

Books by T.J. Klune

Level 2: Now we are coming onto books that, while mostly still short, use a bit more complex vocabulary and/or metaphor. So, you might be required to not take everything literally and do a bit of interpretation. Occasionally, you might need to do a quick Wikipedia read to get context for the book. The characters are becoming a bit more complex, too, but often the text itself explains character’s motivations/thoughts directly.

Books that fit that description are for example:

"Convenience Store Woman" by Sayaka Murata

“Swimming in the Dark” by Tomasz Jędrowski

“Kim Jiyoung, born 1982” by Cho Nam-Joo

Books by Phillip Pullman, in particular his “Golden Compass” Trilogy

“Iron Widow” by Xiran Jay Zhao

“Fire and Hemlock” by Dyanna Wynne Jones

Books by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Books by Celeste Ng

“The last Unicorn” by Peter S. Beagle

Level 3: Now we are reaching books that use complex vocabulary, maybe you even need to look up a word or two (but this is how you expand your own vocabulary). The sentences are more complex, the stories are constructed in a more complex way (but still usually follow one narrative string), the characters are most of the time nuanced. You will need to pay attention to the subtext and do some interpreting of your own. Some of these books have the labels “classic” attached to them, but don’t let that scare you – in fact, for most classics, you will be able to look up information/interpretations online if you are struggling. We also have some books now that are either parts of a longer series or parts of a bigger canon (not all of them, some are still stand-alones).

Such books are for example:

Books by Agatha Christie

Books by Selma Lagerlöf (although I have to say, she very often uses metaphors, dream-sequences and similar narrative devices)

Books by Terry Pratchett

Andrzej Sapkowski’s “Witcher”Saga

“The Shadow land” by Elizabeth Kostova

Books by Joan Lindsay

“A hero of our time” by Michail Lermontow

“Sauhund” by Lion Christ

Most books/short stories by Nikolai Gogol

Some of Stanislaw Lem’s books, like “The Star Diaries”, “Tales of Pirx the Pilot”

Books by Hanne Ørstavik, particularly the books before “Love”

Books by Gerd Brantenberg

“Revolutionary Road” by Richard Yates

“Carmilla” by Sheridan Le Fanu

The “Sherlock Holmes” Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle

Level 4: On this level, the vocabulary is advanced and the sentence structure is complex. The characters are multi-dimensional, complicated and explored on a psychological level.

The books want to say something, and often say it through the use of metaphors. You need to be attentive while reading, maybe even take some notes, if you really want to get to the bottom with your interpretation. Still, the books follow a (mostly) clear plotline and while there are occasionally some “non-realistic” elements in them like Dreams, they are still somewhat grounded in a fictional reality that mostly mirrors our own. Many of these novels are also long.

Jane Austen’s books

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s books

“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier

“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte

“Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte

“Agnes Grey” and “The Tennant of Wildfell Hall” by Anne Bronte

Plays by Friedrich Schiller

Plays by Henrik Ibsen

Most books by the Strugatzki brothers

“War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina” by Lew Tolstoi

“Dracula” by Bram Stoker

“Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley

books by Jeannette Winterson

books by Charles Dickens

Short stories by Anton Tschechow

Books by Michail Bulgakow

Level 5: Now we have reached the territory of the truly advanced reader. These books are not simple by any stretch of the word. These novels are not always more complex than the ones on level four vocabularly-wise, but they require you to have pre-existing knowledge of other works of literature (they often make references). You need to pay close attention while reading, perhaps re-read passages multiple times. The structure of these novels is often non-linear and/or experimental. They are mostly not “realistic”, rely heavily on metaphors, symbols and signs within the text. They can be confusing at times. Often, they play with the language and experiment. The meaning of these novels is multi-layered, and interpretations can differ wildly.

Such books are:

“If on a winter’s night a traveler” by Italo Calvino

“The experiment” by the brothers Strugatzki

Almost everything by Karen Blixen (“Out of Africa” is a bit easier, though still very complex and there are many symbols in that novel, too)

Books by Jon Fosse

“The Key” by Junichiro Tanizaki

Books by Osamu Dazai

“Catherine House” by Elisabeth Thomas (okay, I was conflicted where to put this – the vocab is not that difficult, but the structure is very unclear and dream-like and it puts a lot of emphasis on symbols. Maybe it would be good to start your journey to Level 5 novels with this one, if you are not very confident in your reading abilities)

Books by Han Kang

“The futurological congress” by Stanislaw Lem

Books by Günter Grass

“The Man Outside” by Wolfgang Borchert

Books by Slavenka Draculic (specifically her novels, her essays have a different style, obviously)

Books by Sjon

Short stories by Edgar Allan Poe

Books by Vladimir Sorokin

Books by Angela Carter

“Kult” by Ljubko Deresch

Most books by Vladimir Nabokov

Tales by E.T.A. Hoffman

The differing factor between these last two levels often is the STRUCTURE of the novels. I am making this distinction because I have seen that quite a few people struggle with experimentalist/surrealist/non-linear structure.

Others of these stories have a more linear structure, yes, but require you to dig deep beneath the surface to find out the meaning of various symbols in order to interpret the story.

Also, pay attention to the language! Many of these authors, like Nabokov, play around with double-meanings, similar sounding words (homophones) and even more than one language.

I hope this guide helps. Obviously, it is not perfect, but it should give you an idea where to start and where to progress. It is important to have fun while reading, and there is no shame in jumping between the levels. But, you should challenge yourself: You are smart! You can understand difficult things! Yes, it might be hard at first, but precisely because of that you should keep trying. If you never challenge yourself, you will never get better.

I wish you all the best on your reading journey <3

[carlyraejepsans]

I really respect your dedication to these characters and the fine nuances in writing them with pinpoint accuracy but lord it must be really really hard to find any amount of fanfics by people who feel the same and don't unintentionally do something kinda ooc once that makes you stop reading a story. With short comics and art and whatever you have to go out of your way to mischaracterize characters since there's not a ton of internal substance, they're just kissing or telling a line of dialogue, but with fic it's so descriptive and so much more thought on how a character's inner workings carry on, and I feel a lot of people have fun writing fanfiction in a way that does not result in 100% accurate characterizations because that would take so much continual, constant effort and very thorough character analysis skills and applications to get right pretty much all of the time. I'm not sure what I'm trying to say beyond it must be tough for you specifically to find stories that don't annoy you- or perhaps that is not accurate! I don't read much fic so I don't know, it just seems like it'd be exhausting from an outside perspective

BAHAHAHA the eternal struggle of the Hater. I'm kind of obsessed with how you described it here. You're mostly correct! And kind of missing a crucial detail at the same time.

It's true, it is extremely difficult to find fanfiction that agrees with me--especially for a fandom like Undertale with 1) a very young audience and 2) a very heavily character-centric form of storytelling, which inevitably results in nuanced personalities that are hard to grasp without full context (which means analyzing the canon... a lot!)

There's two very important things you should note though!! Undertale is a HUGE fandom. As hard as finding really accurate fics might be, they ARE out there, and when i find them I'm so invested in their accuracy and analysis that I enjoy them 10000 times more than someone who just... doesn't think about this stuff. It's about quality over quantity.

The other thing is: being this ""picky"" and analysis focused doesn't actually stop me from reading fanfiction. Just lately I've been going through the entire fandom tag on ao3 in reverse alphabetical order and trying out anything that doesn't immediately put me off via tags/summary. Is there a lot of stuff that reads ooc or that I just plain don't like? like, a LOT of it? absolutely. But at the end of the day, that ALSO becomes an exercise in analysis. Why did this portrayal come off as ooc? Was the character voice accurate to canon? If not, what made them differ? Was it the way the character acted, rather? Is this the author's bias or exaggeration? Why do I feel like it would be at odds with the person they are in canon? Would they ever be driven to behave like this? What would push them? Was that accurately justified in this fic? and so on.

it's true that engaging with fandom on the regular can heavily skew your perception of the original, but i feel that engaging with fanon and habitually returning to the canon as a point of reference, as contrast, as fact checking, is one of the best ways to truly understand both the characters and the fan communities that they gathered around them. overall, it's good fun!! well worth the occasional cursed content, and even then it gives me something to inflict psychic damage on my friends with.

[blakeandaffairs]

The Big Bad Lore Discussion: JESUS

Justttt gonna step over the landmine that is the current situation of this tag, as today I'd like to discuss an important lore point in the game:

JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF.

I made a short little post asking about it, but the more I really thought about it, the more I realize how deep the rabbit hole goes. Jesus' existence itself is already an enigma, but it's even moreso in whb???

Let's discuss, and for context, was forced to take Salvation History and Creed in college, hold on tight, this is gonna be a yap session

The Plotholes

Several issues immediately arise because of the fact that...well, God disappeared shortly after Solomon.

Why is this a problem? Because Solomon is approximately 900 years before Christ, now I know the timeline is all screwed up as well in whb, but if I'm assuming the bible canon, then, none of the things past Solomon had happened, including the birth of Jesus.

This conflicts with the fact that Minhyeok briefly mentions his neighbor, who is a Christian, and the fact that Christmas exists. Meaning some form of Jesus DOES exist, but just in the written scripture.

Why is that?? Well I have several theories:

1. Jesus already exists

Not LITERALLY. Without God there then how was the miraculous conception was supposed to happen, but since Jesus is considered the Word of God, and the Word of God has existed ever since the creation of the world ("On the First day, God SAID let there be light"), and with those first words uttered, Jesus was made manifest in it. He just isn't able to manifest physically due to a lack of God.

2. Jesus is some form of copesona or propaganda of the angels

We know that, at least according to Ppyong, that the scriptures are apparently propaganda made by the angels to make devils look bad, if that's so, to what extent? I'll assume it's somewhat minimal, they just want to make the devils look bad, because in general, Solomon is painted in a pretty good light, which is uncharacteristic of them. But how do they come up with someone like Jesus? It seems strange of them

The answer: Gabriel

Since Gabriel is the one that announces the birth of Jesus, it's likely he knows that Jesus already existed, and was expected to be born, but with God's disappearance, Gabriel, the unhinged, likely more unhinged, probably started making up stories about the Son of God that was never to be.

3. Jesus the person, existed, but he was just an ordinary mortal

We already believe the Jesus Christ, or more specifically, Yehosua Messiah (original Hebrew name) existed historically, it's likely this is the case as well. He was probably mythologized with the inception of the new testament, it's not the first time this has happened (Gilgamesh the king became the legend he is with the Epic of Gilgamesh)

Why Jesus likely doesn't exist

1. Usually, people are normally referred to as Son/Daughters of God, but in Lucifer's selfie story, he doesn't call us that (calls us Son of Adam/Daughter of Eve), meaning the original sin that those two committed have not been cleansed. (Jesus' death would have cleansed everyone of it)

2. In the Gamigin Event, Lucifer is said to be second only to God, which is odd, that's Jesus' spot. ("he is seated at the Right Hand of the Father, he will come again to judge the living and the dead")

3. It's a bit iffy, but the Christmas Event was also termed 'X-mas', which usually excludes the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

4. Since Jesus is the Son of God, he would have inherited the throne of God as well, and it's likely he would stop the ongoing genocide of the devils

IN CONCLUSION:

It's likely that Jesus was something meant to exist, but with the disappearance of God, that never truly happened.

But these are my thoughts. If y'all managed to make it this far, then I thank you for listening. If this gets enough views, I'll probably make more (such as the Solomon and Lilith conundrum)

[burr-ell]

On the Matter of Trinket

So I had a lot of good things to say about Vox Machina: Kith & Kin, and I stand by them, but I do have one sticking point—the story of how Vex got Trinket. Since this extends beyond Kith & Kin and to canon as a whole, I thought it should be its own post.

So here's what happened, per stream canon in 1x65:

VAX: What's the dagger [that Saundor was referring to]? VEX: Oh, that. Yeah, I killed a couple people and I saved Trinket, that's all. VAX: When? You'll have to be more specific than that. VEX: Do you remember when I brought Trinket back to camp? VAX: Originally? VEX: Yeah! All those years ago? VAX: Yes! I thought it was a terrible idea. I was dead wrong. VEX: Well…turns out, I found him in a camp where I'd been taken. VAX: What? VEX: Yes, and there was some really dark people there, and they had harvested Trinket's mother. [...] I did what I had to do, and I killed them. VAX: The people that took you. VEX: Yes. I did. VAX: The people that took you from me? VEX: Yes. And I saved Trinket that night, and that's what Saundor saw. More than anything I just… I don't know how he saw it. VAX: Are you just creeped out because he knew or because of what happened? Why are you upset? VEX: I'm not. VAX: Well, listen. I wasn't there. I don't know what happened, but… you came back to me, so whatever happened can't be wrong.

This incident is recounted in full by Laura Bailey in a short story she wrote from Vex's first-person perspective explaining to Matt why she was so protective of Trinket, which can be found here. Even if you lack that context, though, it's clear from this conversation that Vax very explicitly did not know what happened. This is not easily missable, either; there isn't leeway to insert him into that backstory without directly contradicting what's happening in this scene.

In Kith & Kin, however, Vex tells the story of when she got Trinket to a little girl she meets, and says that Vax was actually there and helped fight off the poachers who kidnapped her—not really anything of note that she didn't do herself in the original, but he was there. This could be taken as simply her softening or embellishing the story to make it more exciting for a child, but the narration otherwise notes where Vex has left details out and does not imply that Vax's presence is an alteration. Additionally, later on in the denouement, Vex thinks about everything that's happened and reflects on "two young half-elven twins fighting monsters in a horrible poachers' camp", again suggesting that Vax was indeed there. This is further supported by The Legend of Vox Machina's change to the story, which also added Vax and had him be the one to break Vex out (originally she did it herself), and those two combined together suggests that this is going to be considered the canon narrative going forward.

Now, I'm not inclined to think any of this was done in bad faith, so don't misread me here, but I am disappointed by the change.

The conversation between Vex and Vax in episode 65 is very important for what it says about Vex and their relationship. (It furthermore serves as a parallel to a scene in episode 42, where Vax tells Vex about the circumstances of his joining the Clasp, the secrecy of which is maintained in Kith & Kin). Vex was so traumatized by this incident that it was brought up to emotionally torment and manipulate her years after it happened, and the fact that she never told Vax about it until he asked speaks to how important it was to her to avoid talking about it. Vex is a character who struggles with letting down her walls and taking off her masks, and not only could she not bring herself to explain it even to Vax at any point in the intervening years, but when she finally does, his words of support and reassurance don't even work—she still ruminates on Saundor's words at night following this conversation. That matters for the full context of where she is, and where the twins are, at this time in the narrative.

Now you can make the argument that this change only highlights a different facet of their respective stories: Vex is hurt by this incident in a way Vax is not. The problem with this is that we already have an element of their story that serves this narrative function—Syngorn, where Vex took the elves' racism and their father's abuse much more personally than Vax did. As an adult, she tries to wear a mask of untouchability and contempt for the place, but she did everything she could to measure up and meet their standards in the hopes of one day pleasing them and finding acceptance, while Vax pushed back against it at every turn and openly rebelled and caused trouble. Vax's disdain for Syngorn is straightforward; Vex's is much more complicated, and it feels redundant for the Trinket incident to repeat this pattern. It also robs the characters of the much more interesting story from the stream, where Vex keeps this to herself and doesn't seem to feel better even after Vax tries to comfort her.

As I've said, I do really enjoy Kith & Kin and TLOVM, and there are changes made in the animated adaptation that I really enjoy or even think are better than stream canon, but necessary changes to adapt a story to a different medium are different from an important character moment being undercut in canon supplementary material. Not only does Vax's insertion into this incident fail to substantively add anything to it, but it actively detracts from both his and Vex's stories as a whole. And as someone with a lot of love for Campaign 1, the willingness to do that kind of retcon unsettles me.

[kerubimcrepin]

Liveblog - Dofus, livre 1 : Julith [PART 18]

Me whenever Khan ogles Bakara: boooring.

Me 5 seconds later ogling Atcham the same exact way: oguhuhhggghuhhq

They only just met, and are already a perfect team. :)

I like to think that Joris has always wanted to hear the other side of the story, be it from Atcham, Lou, or Indie. This isn't the best time to ask, but he might not get another chance...

I also guess that Atcham's deep hatred for Kerubim bewitches Joris as much as Joris's love for Kerubim bewitches Atcham.

Out of all the possible answers, — from the implied bullying, to being abandoned and called a psychopath by Kerubim, — the answer that Atcham gives is so fascinating.

Because he's pretty much acknowledging, that he hates him because he feels inferior. He's always been mistreated because he's the opposite of Kerubim. He's not handsome, or lucky, or good with people, so he's suffered, — and Kerubim is everything he wishes he could be. Even if it's not Kerubim's fault that he suffered, he hates Kerubim the very most because he's a walking-talking reminder of how life could have been.

Joris is even a bit taken aback by this. I bet he expected something deeper.

And it is deep, don't get me wrong. But it's not "when we were kids, he never helped me, when others did me harm." or "he had always looked down at me."

It's literally just "other people dislike me, and not him, even though he had the exact same shitty life as me. The only reason he lives better than me is that he is prettier and luckier. I want to punish him for that. Because it's easier, than hating a god, or the kids from the temple, or anyone else. It's easier because he's nearby, and I know him the best out of all of them."

They are two sides of the same coin. Both of them are orphans. Both of them hate their own bodies. And both of them could probably talk for hours upon hours on what Kerubim makes them feel.

Except Joris feels lucky to have had Kerubim, indebted even, — while Atcham is the opposite, feeling like Kerubim, simply by existing, took everything from him.

Joris appeals to their solidarity in his attempts to defend Kerubim's Honour: while it sure sucks, Atcham's struggle with being hated and degraded by people is neither special nor unique.

Note: I understand it might be somewhat controversial to say this, but I do think that both Joris and Atcham are disabled, or at least discriminated against.

Atcham is referred to as disabled in one of the canonical sources, even if it is a joke. Logically speaking, even without any canon sources, within the universe's context his lack of fur is undoubtedly a disability.

Joris, in the context of the real world, would definitely be a person with dwarfism, which, just like Atcham's lack of fur, canonically impacts his social life, with the way he is often not taken seriously by other people.

So, their solidarity is very cute to me.

Besides that, he appeals for Atcham to understand that his negative experiences with Kerubim aren't universal.

Or maybe, he appeals to whatever positive memories Atcham still he has of him.

And I am pretty sure Atcham knows what Joris is doing. And it's working.

Joris really dislikes how shallow Atcham's dislike for Kerubim is, when Kerubim has done nothing but support and love him, because of how different he is from others.

But for Joris to feel so passionately defensive, — like Kerubim has done him a service by treating him well, — we can understand that Kerubim's "I want my son to love himself as he is" parenting didn't work that well.

You can't really parent your way out of your son noticing he's short, bald, and weird compared to other people. And at some point, saying "you're special" probably just feels insulting, or, more likely in Joris's case, like Joris has failed at feeling special, and that Kerubim would be sad, if he knew how Joris really felt about his body.

If Atcham didn't love Kerubim, — if he didn't feel nostalgia for the times they were still close, — none of what Joris said here would ever work, y'know?

While the show had 52 episodes and then some to sell me on Kerubim and Joris's dynamic, the movie only has three scenes to develop what goes on between Joris and Atcham, and we've already seen two of them.

And let me tell you, by god, does it succeed.

Yes, Atcham and Joris are foils to one another, because of their orphanhood, body issues, and relationship with Kerubim.

But Atcham and Bakara are also foils: because of their feeling of inadequacy, compared to their brothers.

Bakara can't acknowledge what she feels: hatred. Towards herself, for not being good enough. Towards Julith, for seemingly taking her brother away. Towards Joris, for being the product of the woman who ruined her life. Towards Kerubim, maybe for taking Joris and giving him a good life, devoid of having to face or know any of these terrible things, or maybe for not dying instead of Jahash.

And she hates Jahash too. For leaving her alone. And for leaving such a huge void where he once stood — one she can never hope to fill.

Atcham is quite the opposite, really. He needs so badly to hate Kerubim to feel better, that he can barely face the fact that he loves his brother too.

Honestly, is it even hatred, when all you do is sing him praises? "You're the coolest, the hairiest, the luckiest—" doesn't suddenly stop being a compliment, if it's followed "instead of you, it should be ME." (yes, I am taking this moment quote one of the most Atcham-core songs ever created at you. hi.)

There's a very thin line between hatred and love, and I think, that in that line there lies jealousy and obsession.

Atcham's purr is so cute....... kbitty.

This confirms that under the fur, Kerubim and Atcham look pretty similar (we been knew). If you shaved Keke, you'd see a mini-Atcham, and vice versa. The main difference is the ear size, and the fact that the sides of Atcham's face point downwards, instead of upwards, like with Kerubim

However, I have some qualms with this design: sphynx cats have spots in the same exact places that they would have if they had fur. if Atcham had fur it'd be more like this:

And man. It makes him look even MORE like Kerubim. jhgsjkfgsdfg

[blueflyingturtleontheway]

Slipping

Fandom: Elena of Avalor

Characters: Elena Castillo Flores, Mateo de Alva, Naomi Turner, Gabriel Nuñez, El Guapo

Word count: 1881

Other: Post canon, AU, violence, blood and injury, possession

I am drunk with the people's approval.

So since I was so delightfully cheered on, here it is, the other Gabe possession fic. This one was written for an AU proudly called Guapoverse. While the whole story is quite convoluted, the important context for this scene fic is that it takes place post canon, in a reality where Gabe made a deal with the spirit of El Guapo - now they're both sharing Gabe's body, each in hopes to achieve his own goals.

Elena blocked another attack and twisted the sword out of her opponent's hand. Right as he fell to the ground, another one stroke her from the side. She managed to dodge. Another block and they were stuck for a moment, trying to push the other away. It's a good thing her scepter was indestructible now, it crossed Elena's mind, because the old, golden hilt would've broken long ago. She would try blazing her enemy but at such a close distance she'd only end up knocking herself over and if anything caught fire...

She had to jump back. The attacker's sword swung dangerously close to her face but at least she dodged a knife to her side. Without a moment's break she charged with her scepter and hit her opponent in the arm holding the sword. The crunch when the crystal hit the bone made her sick.

The man fell to his back with a scream cut short when he hit the ground. Clutching his limp arm he crawled away, climbed to his feet and ran away in panic. Elena didn't chase him.

She swiftly turned around and rised her scepter. There was no one behind her. She let out a relieved sigh. Panting quickly, she tried to catch her breath, while frantically looking around.

They were surrounded. How could they fall for such an obvious trap? The exit of the gorge have been blocked by an avalanche they didn't know about and when they turned around, their path had already been blocked by bandits. There were more than five for each of them. Twenty? Thirty? For just the four of them?

Elena's eyes widened. Her friends. She tried to find them among the swarm of attackers. A bright flash of orange light clearly showed her where Mateo was.

Three men where pushed away by a magical wave and the ground around Mateo was frozen. He had a magical shield in front of him and it was constantly pounded by crossbow arrows. There was still a chance he'll get attacked from behind but he'll manage, Elena was sure of that.

Her eyes went back to the crowd and her heart stopped for a moment. Naomi was going against two bandits with swords, desperately trying to block their attacks with her crossbow. Only a few hours ago they were talking about how she needs to learn to use a close range weapon - or at least make her lasso un-cut-able - but they obviously planned to start training only once they're back home. Turns out it wasn't so certain anymore.

Elena put her scepter back in its scabbard, picked up one of the swords laying on the ground and ran towards Naomi. She almost reached her when a piercing scream, followed by a loud thud made her stop dead in her tracks. She immediately turned in its direction.

"Gabe!" The shout ripped her throat and her heart.

Gabriel's limp body slid down a wall of the gorge. He was bleeding. Three bandits advanced at him, with their swords barren.

"No..." Did she even say it out loud?

"Elena!" Naomi's scream brought her back to reality.

Mateo's shield fell when he heart the scream. He knew it wasn't any of the bandits before he even turned around, but when he did, the crossbows still aimed at his back completely left his mind. Gabe was laying on the ground and looked as if...

That's right, Naomi was right there and she needed her help too. Forcing herself to look away, Elena swung at one of the bandits.

In one moment he was already almost by him, knocking away all the people on his way with the strongest boqatos he ever casted. He fell on his knees and carefully lifted Gabe's head.

He was breathing. His hair was wet and clumped with blood but he was alive. Mateo let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. But his short relief immediately made way for more fear.

They need to get out of here, they need to get out of here immediately and no matter what, Gabe was unconscious and bleeding, they were surrounded and outnumbered and Gabe desperately needed help, they can't wait any moment more, if they stay here...

Suddenly Gabriel's eyes shot open.

Mateo gasped and would've definitely jumped back if he wasn't still holding him.

"Gabe!" His voice broke with emotion.

Gabriel frowned and a shiver ran up Mateo's spine. His pain must've really been terrible. And then he tried to sit up.

"Don't move!" Mateo tried to push him back on the ground. "You're in shock but you're badly injured, just- just stay here, we'll get you out of here, I promise, just..."

Gabriel was still struggling in his arms. Mateo couldn't contain his worry, his face was twisted in a terrible grimace and his eyes were weirdly absent. He was no medic but he was sure he shouldn't move in this state.

"Gabe!"

"Hands off me, wizard!" Gabriel barked, pushing Mateo away. Slowly he rised to his feet and took a few staggering steps forward. He closed his eyes and rised one hand to his forehead. Mumbling something under his breath and struggling to keep balance, he looked more like he was drunk than mortally wounded.

Mateo stayed frozen on the ground. It wasn't Gabe's voice.

"No..." He whispered.

As if in an answer, Gabriel started to chuckle, his shoulders shaking, but instead of laughter it looked as if he was moved by feverish convulsions. A wide, almost too wide, grin stretched on his face.

The screaming started at the far end of the gorge but neither Elena nor Naomi could pay any attention to it, too engaged in the fight for their lives. Naomi swung Elena's scepter like a club and knocked her opponent out. She immediately had to block a sword at her right. That was too much for her leg, already injured before the battle even began, and she fell to the ground.

"Finally," he said in that unnatural voice, and he sounded almost happy.

She braced herself for the attack but instead she heard a clung above her and in a swirl of white Elena shielded her and pushed the opponent back. She gave him a kick to the stomach and turned back to the other one.

Naomi couldn't get back up. Her heart was pounding and air burned her throat like fire. Her leg was numb and hurt like hell at the same time. The constant clinking of steel above her head became almost unnoticeable to her. But now there was screaming, she realized, more screaming than before.

Gathering all the strength she had left, she propped herself on her arm and raised her head.

Mateo has escaped his opponents. He was now moving towards them, casting freezing and pushing spells one after another. The bandits that haven't yet been struck started to run away. But not just from Mateo.

There was something else, zooming through the battlefield. At first Naomi thought it was another spell - something ran straight into a group of bandits and in a few moments they were all knocked out on the ground. But then that something laughed.

A smear of blue and red. Glint of steel and unmistakable sound of clashing swords. It had to be Gabe but... Naomi felt her head spin. Why did Mateo go in Gabe's way? How did Gabe move do fast?

Naomi heard a groan above her. She pushed herself up to her feet and tried to look up, but she realized she was falling again. Luckily Elena caught her.

She put her arm over her and Elena grabbed her in the waist. They both now looked at the battlefield before them.

It was nearly empty. The sound of a tamborita echoed through the gorge as Mateo cast one last solaza. The bandit froze with his sword raised and Mateo bent with his hands on his knees and panted loudly.

"Mateo!" Naomi with Elena's help limped to him and threw herself at his arm. "Are you alright?"

They parted and Mateo nodded, still breathing too heavily to speak. Elena closed them both in a hug, but despite how shaken they all were, she immediately let go.

"Where's..." She started and they all looked around.

Only a few meters away Gabriel was fighting with a bandit, the last conscious still left in the gorge. Their swords clashed and threw sparks around but it was clear the bandit was loosing. With each hit he was taking a step back and finally, after a very strong thrust on Gabriel's part, lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Gabriel barked out a sound too terrible to be laughter and kicked away his sword.

"Gabe!" Elena called out to him, seeing how the fight was over.

But he didn't even look at her. He took another step towards the bandit, who was crawling away on his back, sputtering intangible prayers with his eyes stuck at his opponent. Gabriel made another heavy step towards him and his face moved into something resembling a smile.

"Gabe, stop!" Naomi shouted, her voice breaking. Ignoring her leg she tried to run to him and Mateo and Elena immediately followed her.

Gabriel raised his sword.

"General!" Elena's voice broke through the sudden silence in the gorge.

Gabriel stopped. Everyone froze. He slowly turned towards them and looked straight at Elena.

The bandit noticed his opportunity and tried to get up, but Gabriel pushed him back down with a kick to the chest and stepped on his hand. Mateo inhaled sharply but Gabriel didn't even seem to notice the crunch under his boot and the bandit's scream.

"Let him go." Elena's voice trembled bit it was confident.

Gabriel frowned.

"He tried to kill you all," he sneered. "He's a regular ruffian, one less will only be better for everyone."

Elena slowly made a few more steps, until she was so close she could poke him in the chest.

"I said, let him go."

For a moment Gabriel looked surprised, and such a look combined with the way his face was already contorted, was even more grotesque. But then he slipped back into his mocking grin.

"Oh, you mean him?" He chuckled. "What, you think I'm doing this against his will? You know I can't."

"You've heard what she said, Guapo! Leave him!" Naomi's voice was choked but her fists were clenched and her blood in boil. Mateo raised his tamborita.

Guapo sighed.

"And this is what I get for making deals with you," he chuckled this terrible laugh of his. "You know I don't have to? He let me do this." He looked on each of them and whatever he saw on their faces must've pleased him as he shrugged and smiled.

"But," he slowly wiped his sword on the bandit's clothes and finally put it in the scabbard. He lifted the foot from the bandit's hand. "When the queen orders, the soldier listens."

For a moment Gabriel's eyes went blank and his face limp. He staggered on his feet. Finally he looked up.

"Gabe?" Elena asked carefully.

Gabriel looked between them, at the bandit running away and back at his friends.

"I'm... Sorry."

He closed his eyes and fell.

[iniziare]

Every time I go into Seele's tag to find artwork, the salt in my veins increases tenfold. It's so disheartening (and annoying) to see how she's reduced to nothing more than a half of a lesbian ship in which she's also noted to have been 'so mean to Bronya', and if not kept in that context, then she's just disliked for being 'rude', and all of it's entirely missing the mark in terms of what makes her who she is. Salt incoming, and super incoherent salt at that.

First off, I need to not-so-blindly defend the character and say (and this'll sound harsh, I know): if you love Seele, but also praise Hoyo for how Bronseele was written in HSR, I'd like to have a word with you. Because here's my issue: Seele's issue with the Overworld is so immense and it's a view that's so thoroughly and deeply rooted, that hearing that little miss Overworld princess to actually have come from the orphanage in the Underworld wouldn't have made a single difference. Bronya still had a life that not a single child down below could even dream of, Bronya still represents 'the Overworld' in all its glory, no matter if she has a kinder heart that is shown only later on in the story. Seele is rude, and mean because she has a right to be. She once, when quite young, canonically fought a man (and he ran off) for the last little bit of water that was left in a bucket outside of the orphanage for the homeless, only to see him at death's door through the window not long after (and since, has ensured there's always water left for others). Seele, when young and little enough to fit into a supply bag, has seen people in the Overworld throw away food as if food is a luxury and comment on how cruel it is, and how she never wants to come back up to the Overworld ever again. Seele has immense dismay (bordering on loathing) for the Overworld for such good reasons. The Underworld suffers already in basic human necessities, while the Overworld has them in abundance. Of course Seele will detest everything that Bronya represents, and letting all of that go simply because 'Bronya also came from the orphanage' is, in my opinion and I don't resort to saying this lightly, bad writing on Hoyo's part, and I can only write it off as fan-servicing to the HI3 fans. I do not take 'expies' into account when it comes to ships. If Hoyo, or the fandom, wants me to see and acknowledge a 'heavily insinuated ship', then write it well, and where it makes sense for both characters, without sacrificing their values and the core of their characters. Respect them, and I'll respect the dynamic, and/or the ship. Until then, no. So when I go into a tag and all I see is Seele tied to Bronya, especially in the ship. I absolutely hate it. And I hate it even more when I read people hating on people who don't ship it. Guess what, maybe it doesn't always have to do with people being 'anti-lesbians' or 'anti-women', maybe sometimes, like in cases such as my own, it has everything to do with... hey, maybe actually respect the women in question through actions, rather than claiming that you do with some easy peasy words. And then when it comes down to it: you fall short.

And though I touched on it in the last paragraph, I just want to reiterate it: Seele's story isn't about Bronya, it's not about love of one woman to another. And thinking that it is, or relegating it to that, is incredibly saddening, because you're overlooking everything that she stands for— actually no, it's throwing away everything that she stands for. Do you know how Seele in HSR got her name? 'Seele' was given to her by Oleg, and it means 'soul'. And do you realize what the soul is representative of? It's the... immortal element of an individual. The very foundation and 'core' of a human being, touching on the conscience, individuality, and... emotion. That which makes us human, and gee, I wonder why she was given that name as of an early age. And gee, I wonder why she's noted to be the actual backbone of Wildfire, the organization that arose to protect the Underworld, when the Overworld retreated entirely.

I'm not saying that Bronya and Seele don't have an interesting dynamic, I'm just saying that I wish people didn't take away from the latter's character to make it happen simply 'because it seems to be an obvious thing in HI3!' Well guess what, I'm not playing HI3, I'm playing HSR.

[kyurilin]

Fic Writer Interview

I have been tagged to do this by @plusultraetc and obviously I love talking about my fanfics so here will be more than you ever wanted to know!

How many works do you have on AO3?

At the moment 16! 11 MHA, 4 Cars, and 1 FNAF but y'know. We know which ones matter

What's your total AO3 word count?

218,641. That's a really big fucking number right there Jesus Christ. And with some of the chunky fics I have on there that number is only gonna get even stupider.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Present Mic's Totally Bullshit Life

2. Crumbled Rooftops

3. How To (Hopefully Not Fail) At Telling Your Bestie You Love Him

4. Stray

5. Our Little Horror Story

Actually quite a surprise to me that my erasercloud fic takes 3rd, and 5th is my single FNAF fic. Not at all surprised by 1st and 2nd though lmaooo

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

ALL THE TIME!!! I love responding to comments even if it's just with emojis, but I also like to ramble in responses to stuff. I wouldn't be able to live without responding to them I love talking to people about my fics and I get some really good in depth ones anytime someone braves 54k erasermic one shot and crumbled rooftops especially.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Honestly I feel it has to go to After, my post-Oboro death story featuring Nemuri and Shouta. The whole thing is sad and at the ending the closest thing to happiness the characters get is that at least they have each other, but Oboro's still gone.

Technically the super short This Isn't How The Story Goes where I killed Shouta in place of Oboro could take this too but we all know I'm not actually doing anything else with that (and trust me it would have gotten angstier but other people have done the concept better than I made an attempt at in 2021)

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

Present Mic's Totally Bullshit Life, for fucking sure! Look, it's pre-canon erasermic figuring their shit out and getting together for 54k and it ends on them getting married. We know in canon that things are absolutely going to shit down the road but in the context of that story which starts with Hizashi thinking of himself as Mic and being a little too used to faking smiles ENDING ON him being genuinely happy at his own wedding is a fucking phenomenally happy ending. I'm incredibly proud of that ending. It's such a great ending on that story.

Do you write crossovers?

I USED TO, not so much anymore but back in the day I used to write Cars and Transformers crossovers lmaoooo

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Someone got real pissy on one of my old Kirby fanfics at one point, whining about how it was illogical that the Kirby villains would help Kirby fight a bigger bad guy. Hope that reviewer in particular felt stupid when Kirby Star Allies released and all the DLC was previous Kirby helpers and villains coming to help fight the big bad.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have written some but it is lurking on my Google drive because I'm not ready to have smut out there on the internet that people can look at. That's about what I can say on that front 😭

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

GOD I hope not

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! People out here just want the Kyuri experience in English it seems which is fine, but if someone did want to translate my fics I think I'd ascend

What's your all-time favorite ship?

Honestly if it's a ship that involves Nemuri, Oboro, Hizashi, and Shouta in any combination, it's my favorite. Erasermic is the go to just because it's so damn easy to find but I'm also a sucker for Cloudnight, or Erasercloud, or Cloudmic and so on for the rest of them. Hell, Poly Rooftop Gang is something I really want to write at some point cause I have so many thoughts about their dynamic as a whole. There's really none within that group that I like less than others and if you name me a ship from it I have Thoughts And Feelings locked and loaded

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Technically going back to it, the extended This Isn't How The Story Goes idea where Shouta died instead of Oboro. I have PLANS. They exist!!! They're out there in my brain and pieces are on Google docs but it's been so long since I put anything together that it's just kind of dead in the water. The only reason I don't orphan that one on AO3 is that I like the way I wrote it.

What are your writing strengths?

I think characters. I've had a lot of compliments about the way I write characters in my fics and I really do feel like that's my strong point.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Whenever I have to get more than two characters to talk I feel like it comes across more stilted. I like having dialogue flow without having to use dialogue tags for stuff, but sometimes I have to use them for bigger conversations and I'm just dying on the inside thinking it sucks the whole time.

Also Big Info Dumps. I never know how this kind of thing comes across (example- the talk with Kurogiri from Crumbled Rooftops chapter 7 or the last segment of Stray chapter 2). I don't WANT to know how it comes across. I feel like sometimes I should reiterate that I'm autistic/ADHD and my mind is like 'you must infodump here'.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

If I could speak another language i'd love to occasionally use that as a skill just for fun but the only time I've ever done this was using Google translate for an original novel based on an idea for a Kirby story I wrote and then the whole notebook got lost. So now the cringe lives in my head

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

It was either Star Wars or Monsters Inc, and I truly don't remember which it was because I posted two separate things the same day on ff.net and don't remember which went up first.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

I never think ahead fandomwise, but again. I WANT to write Poly Rooftop Gang SO BAD. I want to write for that dynamic so my thoughts can be out of my brain! This is a topic that has come up between me and @shabby-blog OFTEN! One day I will write the four of them together and the world will be made whole again 😌

What's your favorite fic you've written?

this is always such a hard question because I have three very large stories that are all beloved in their own right but today's answer is Stray

We're coming up on four years since I started writing it and I'm SLOWLY working on the last chapter, and it's got a very small but very dedicated group of readers and I just love that story so much. I went a crazy direction with it in terms of how I wrote it and the fact that people love it means a lot. I'm bound and determined to finish it even if it takes me a lot longer to finish it than I was hoping 😅

WELP that's all the questions I am free now and all the people I would have tagged have been tagged so HOPE EVERYONE ENJOYED THIS

[tinypinkmouse]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Five is way too few and the fic far too many to choose from. At least I've been reminded how much I enjoy the majority of my fic, and that's a good thing. So this isn't some kind of top five really. On another day I'd probably pick five entirely different fics. But these are some of my favourites.

Rust in My Mouth, Guardian, Mature (for injuries/violence), Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan. This is a pre-canon story where Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan meet earlier (I love the basic premise of earlier first meeting and have written many different variations on that idea). This involves quite a bit of worldbuilding for Shen Wei and Dixing to give Shen Wei a hobby of underground fights. I felt like I was missing stories that focus on Shen Wei's fighting abilities. We don't really even mention him training or anything all that often, surely he must sometimes? This fic was mostly me trying to work out the worldbuilding of Dixing having some kind of fighting tradition, and then throwing in a first meeting on top. In retrospect I ended up liking the mood of it a lot and then wrote a sequel to it as well (I think there's another sequel lingering in my WIPs). The worldbuilding is not the most original, but I like it well enough. And I'm very happy with how I wrote the bits where actual fighting happens (I'm generally not very confident in writing that sort of action).

Like It's the Very First Time, Guardian, Explicit, Shen Wei/Ye Zun/Zhao Yunlan. (CW: incest) This is an AU where the twins are living together when Zhao Yunlan meets them. Also there's a few gender changes here, both Zhao Yunlan and Ye Zun are women. Shen Wei is a man, though his feelings on that could change. The twins come with shapechanging powers where they can change their body to fit their gender if they choose to. Honestly, other than including some of my ambiguous feelings on gender (a lot of it in my head, because it's from Zhao Yunlan's POV and she is not aware of what's going on with the twins and gender) I love this purely because of the complete bisexual disaster that Zhao Yunlan manages to be (I'm very proud of that).

Spiders Crawling, Guardian, Explicit, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan. This is a monster AU, because I love all of my various monster AUs and I have to include at least one. And I love spiders!Shen Wei to bits, so spiders!Shen Wei it is. He is made of lots and lots of tiny spiders, except for when he comes together and looks like Shen Wei. I don't even know what else to say about this, other than spiders!Shen Wei! Oh, yes, Zhao Yunlan will fuck that, because that's Zhao Yunlan and he can be horny about a bunch of spiders, thank you (it's a bit of an adjustment even for Zhao Yunlan). Writing the sex was interesting, and took me a bit of figuring out (how do you make a hoard of tiny spiders sexy) and yes I am extremely proud of it.

Be Who You Are, Embrace Again/The Fraud Love Group, Explicit, Yang Xiuxian/Ye Ziyang. I wanted to include so many weilan derivatives (I think I've written some of my very best stuff there) I love my weilan derivative fics to a ridiculous degree. In the end I went with this one because it might just be one of the best things I've ever written (at least in my opinion). Sure I'm extrapolating characters from a trailer (that's all that was out for Embrace Again at the time) and the about seven minutes where Yang Xiuxian appears in his movie, but hey, that's the fun of it all, right?

As Always, Just You, Beast Wars/Machines, G, gen. This is a very short post-canon thing where Cheetor is having feelings and contemplating his life as he grows closer to death. Quite an old thing to include and not exactly a huge fandom either (and definitely makes no sense without the context of canon), but it still makes me all emotional, even if it could have been written better.

[lloydfrontera]

The only reason people say Lloyd was maltreated is because OG Lloyd suffers from “Draco in Leather Pants”, where a character with major negative flaws has those flaws massively downplayed. Along with any evil actions or rude behaviour they committed ignored or retroactively justified as them being the actions of a “victim” who is lashing out, despite all evidence to the contrary. This mostly done so that the fandom can have a new “Woobie”, a character who makes you feel extremely sorry for them, to write angst about

On the other hand, Arcos suffers from “Ron the Death Eater” syndrome. Where fandom decides to take a good character who committed a few mistakes in the past, exaggerating that characters’s small negative flaws or mistakes to massive proportions. Or even assigning evil acts to the character that the character never committed. This way people can have convenient antagonist who hurt the “Woobie” in the past or continues to do so, thus making the “Woobie” the victim in the scenario.

These are all symptoms of people wanting to make more “Whump” fanfic. Whump fanfic is fanfic where a character undergoes various different forms physical and mental suffering. These insubstantial takes on the characters in order to create “Whump” completely ignore other avenues rife with potential “Whump”, ones that are even supported by the source material.

Such as Kim Suho constant struggles with the fact that even though he now has the life he always wanted, being free from debt, in a safe financial positions, and being surrounded by a loving family, he has to contend with the fact they aren’t’t his. He has to handle the guilt he feels when interacting with Arcos and Marbella due to the belief that they don’t know that he not there son. That he effectively stolen another person’s life, though through no fault of his own, and has now undeservedly gained that person’s parents.

Then there is Julian, who suffered plenty of abuse from his brother over the years growing up, both vocal and physical. As evidenced by the scar on his forehead that was caused by glass from a beer bottle his brother threw at him. There is also the physical and vocal abuse he suffered from other nobles at the academy before Kim Suho showed up and set everyone straight. Yet not nearly as many people seem to be interested in delving to how being on the receiving end of that kind of abuse for years would affect him

In short,

Reader: “I want Whump”

Actual Story: “We have Whump at home”

love the use of tropes in this ask, you're speaking my language now

and yeah, you're right, i just,,, i find it confusing. ofc everyone is allowed to do whatever they want, canon is a suggestion and all of that but like,, i don't know. i find it weird.

it almost feels like they're trying to justify og lloyd's abuse of julian by accusing arcos of bad parenting. but 1) they do it by exaggerating some genuine mistakes he made, 2) ignoring the context surrounding the situation and 3) just fucking lying about it????

not to mention, that even if arcos had been a genuinely bad father (which he was not), that would still not justify what og lloyd did to julian! negligence doesn't justify abuse! even if the fronteras hadn't given lloyd enough positive attention (which there isn't any evidence to assume this), that would still not justify og lloyd lashing out and constantly hurting the people around him, including his younger brother.

if people want whump, just like you said, there's plenty in canon already. lloyd, julian, and javier all have their own trauma to work through, some of it caused by og lloyd himself. heck if you want that very specific 'negligent and distant father' flavor of whump, sheherazade is right there. bk moon does a great job at giving us plenty of character with a lot of baggage and trauma, there's enough to pick and choose without needing to resort to headcanons that go directly against canon lmao

but again, i'm not fond of the whole 'you're only allowed to like a character while acknowledging every bad thing they've ever done' thing, because it's bullshit and also i love me some war criminals here and there, so do whatever you want forever i'm no one to say you can't do something lol

[bisexual-scorpion]

A rant about my mixed feelings about Harumi in this timeline.

Mk1 story and endings spoilers, brief mention of possible leaks

On one hand, I am really glad that they are giving her depth rather than being the murdered wife of Hanzo. To give her the opportunity to be a character rather than a plot device. But it gets thrown out the window the moment they insta married her to Kuai because he's Scorpion now.

Yes, it's true we probably get to know more about her in mk1. That she was running a clan in Japan before Kuai got there. She is an effective fighter as well. She is just as passionate and angry if the roles were versed and she lost Hanzo and Satoshi. These sound like good things and they are.

So, what's the problem? Well, her relationship with Kuai and the lack of context. To me, it seems like all NRS sees her as "SCORPION WIFE." and her destiny is always to be wed to one even if Scorpion is a man to whom she has never interacted with in previous canon. A relationship that hasn't been shown to us but rather told to us repeatedly in intros and endings. We are TOLD that her and Kuai were childhood friends. We are told that Kuai goes there after that Mk1 and basically crashes her clan and rebuilds and names her after. We were told that they plan to wed after a short time of reuniting.

The only thing they are going to show allegedly (according to story2 leaks) is their wedding. We won't ever get to see them bond? Why did they decide to marry? What do they even like in each other? We are told they are marrying before we can actually see Harumi as a character. I feel like if you are gonna pair Harumi up with Kuai, add context or develop it? At the very least? Don't just tell us and think everyone will accept it? So many fans would have loved to see Hanzo and Harumi fall in love. To see why they were passionate about each other to begin with? Why they would go down a path of revenge and anger when the other and their son dies To see them work together without Harumi instantly dying? After like 30 somewhat years of only seeing small snips before tragedy hits them.

Everything would have made sense if it was Hanzo in Kuai's place in the story. It would be more easily believable to be told these things because we do not have to extend our imaginations to figure out how that worked? We know in every other timeline, Hanzo and Harumi are married and in love. We can conclude they will do without it seeing random and swallow. Then all NRS had to do was focus on her character because we already know they can love each other. Instead, they're going to make an unsatisfied romance between two characters that have no chemistry or context to be together. Other than the fact, Kuai is Scorpion so therefore Harumi should marry him.

Like you're telling me we have an invasion ending where Harumi is shown that if she was in Hanzo's shoes, she would make similar decisions to him? Only for her to never interact with Hanzo outside invasions? It feels like a money paw, we finally get to see Harumi do something other than die but we don't get to see her and Hanzo be together? That we won't ever actually get to see what they were like before they were married? Like NRS could simply have written that her and Hanzo were both Kuai's childhood friends? Or that her and Kuai remained friends and worked together on the Shirai-Ryu? Give her a timeline where she doesn't have to wed "Scorpion"?

[sadlittleratboy]

I once said Tomura vaguely had she/they vibes to me on tiktok, back when I had one, and people ate me alive bc I listed his hair as a reason (and also bc I continued forward with using he/him pronouns throughout the video and I'm like...but that's the canon and I'm talking about something theoretical that I don't necessarily have a hard hc of, they/them Dabi is a different story lol) and people were like "thinking femininity is tied to long hair is transphobic and misogynist and blah blah" and it's like no you completely missed my point.

Firstly, I know that, because back when I was a girl and embracing my femininity in ways that I won't now that I identify as more masculine, I had short hair. I always had short hair. Androgynous girls with short hair lead me to the conclusion of being nonbinary.

Secondly it's not about the hair length, it's about the hair STYLE. Every transfem I've ever met started with that style or similar when it grew out. It's cute, it's fun, they're playing with long hair for the first time or even just in a new context.

It's also just about the general vibe. I listed elegance as a reason too, just the way he moves, but nobody considered how he's also so NOT elegant sometimes. It's the type of elegance he has, because there are so many different types. It's also int he way his so expressive. He shows so much on his face, which men tend to do in manga but it just feels different with Shigaraki. Again, I'm going on vibes.

Also being a nonbinary girl suits him because he'd be a total girlfailure, a loser girl, and I love that. Every transfem I knew was also a massive nerd. Most importantly I don't see him performing femininity in a traditional way. He is performing femininity by identifying as feminine and performing. He wouldn't change how he dresses or talks, he would simply realize that his identity isn't quite what he thought and run with it, because that's the kind of person he is. All those masculine codes brash actions like putting his feet up on overhaul's table to show dominance, and using ore, none of those things NEED to change because gender is so complex and that's FUN.

Again. This is mostly off vibes. I know a lot of people that think it/it's or other neopronouns suit him, and I can see that, especially with the way he dehumanizes himself (and with his stinky rat behavior, something a lot of nonbinary people, myself included, identify with), but that element actually makes me personally stray from that hc. Shigaraki dehumanizes himself in a negative way, and I think that's not good for him. Of course an argument can be made for that being the call all trans people have to be vaguely inhuman and monstrous in ways that only we really understand, so I don't think it's a bad hc at all.

I mean honestly he reads trans masc just as much. A lot of the league reads kind of trans because we tend to see ourselves in weird little outcasts. It's just a vibe a get from him. A lot of the she/theys I've met just also kind of have this "fuck gender and expectations, I'm doing my own thing over here".

Also there is of course the constant of Shigaraki chosing how he identifies himself and defying the expectations other people have placed on those identities. He's Shigaraki because he is, not because of AFO. That's his villain name because he connects to it. Despite all that he constantly gets deadnamed too. It's just...the vibes, the ability for anyone to read into anything what they want because their own experiences and it will fit because fiction is flexible (and even when it doesn't, does it matter?).

Anyway, his vibes, his masculine features and mannerisms along with the feminine ones and the feeling of being feminine even without having to conform to it (much like Magne did, and lots of people read her design as transphobic but tiger was literally there performing as a full transitioned man still comfortable with his feminine side, and it's like...all the trans women I know don't bother to shave and wear masculine clothes either occasionally or always even after starting hrt). It's finding a home within yourself as you slot the missing pieces into place and realize you find joy in different pronouns because they better describe you. Every trans person has their own wild ass journey and uses different ways to describe themselves with different things that bother them or don't and I think trans hc are fun for that very reason.