#so i wanna try writing media reviews or something like that

[cibome]

hmmm

[mokeonn]

My friend sent me the Lily Orchard Dungeon Meshi final rating (I am a big dungeon meshi fan (the rating was an F+ (no idea what she was on about)))

And genuinely?? I wish I had the power to banish this woman off the internet forever. Like I wish she had a no-internet aura so every time she got on a computer it's internet was off. She needs to share her opinions among like-minded friends or keep them to herself and she needs to go outside.

[floorpancakes]

asking the ppl of tumblr for their wisdom what clamp series should i read/watch next dont say tsubasa (i dropped it and would at least like to experience a lot more multiverse content first so when i undrop it ill enjoy it more)

[raedshadowlegends]

Why Lore Olympus and Miraculous Ladybug are the Same Thing but in Different Fonts

Good evening, good day, hello and howdy. I am INCREDIBLY bored and I'm here to go on a nonsensical tangent about two pieces of media that I hate and have dedicated a vast amount of my free time to. This is all in good fun and all of my rudeness is intended to be satirical and/or comical unless indicated otherwise.

Now just to preface, if you know me then you know how much I dislike Miraculous Ladybug. Folks in my circle got to watch as I descended into madness writing a 64k word review on season 5. So I've spent an uncomfortable amount of time dissecting this show.

I have also spent an uncomfortable amount of time engaging with the shitshow that is Lore Olympus. And now my ass is gonna try and compare the two because there's a lot of shit going on here.

None of this is going to matter and it's all in good fun. Like I said, I am bored. And sometimes it's fun to compare stuff you hate.

Now let the insanity ensue. FP spoilers and MLB s5 spoilers below the cut btw.

To get a major difference out of the way, Miraculous Ladybug is a tv show. Lore Olympus is a webcomic.

But mediums aside, these two things still have a lot in common. So for the first comparison, I'd like to talk about the insecurity in both properties.

Insecurity

What I define as insecurity in this context is a piece of media that is too afraid to commit or adhere to a certain tone, story, style, etc. In short-- they don't know what they want to be.

Insecurity in Lore Olympus is a bit more obvious than with Miraculous so I'm gonna rant about that first.

Lore Olympus just straight up does not have a story to tell.

There are too many random ass plots being added and discarded on a whim for it to be a coherent story. A good way to explain it is kinda like this-- In this episode of LO, something cool new and interesting is set up and you have to keep reading to see what happens! And then nothing ever happens. Or it happens because the audience won't let the author forget so there's a half-assed attempt to wrap up that plot point.

LO is so insecure about what it is, it feels the need to add more and more to make it actually something. But what it is is a hollow story that lacks substance. So all of these new random plot points are kinda like bandaid solutions if that makes sense.

There are so many unfinished/under-utilized plot points that if you were to count out each and every one, you'd probably keel over dead before you finished. There's that many.

It's too insecure to commit to any one of them in the grand scheme of things.

I don't know how coherent all of that was so here's a shitty tl;dr

LO doesn't know what it wants to say anymore so it's just adding more shit to keep the reader "invested."

Yeah ok I think that makes more sense. As for Miraculous...

God. I fucking hate Miraculous.

It's insecure as hell and you can smell that shit from ten miles away. It's insecure with it's premise, I think.

If it just kept to the simple "monster-of-the-week" formula, I do not think I would have written so many words on it's fifth season.

Miraculous (apparently) had a grander story to tell beyond the "monster-of-the-week revert back to the status quo each episode."

But we don't see any of that in full swing till season 3, really. Which is a long ass time to get the ball rolling imo.

It's a little jarring to see the show go from the stupid kid status quo adventures to a heavy and emotional story??? And I say heavy and emotional with the most sarcastic tone possible because the only emotion I feel watching this shit is rage.

Despite wanting to make that shift to a serialized type of show, Miraculous was too scared to stray from the successful status quo format.

To explain a bit more I wanna talk about my review of the season.

While it is mostly filled with rude jokes and incomprehensible jargon, I bring up a lot of points in it regarding the state of things.

One of those things being the show's hesitancy to move the story along.

The fifth season was supposed to be a grand final battle and a conclusion to this story arc. But it was too scared to commit to that so there's way more episodes that are nothing but shipping fodder.

There are many episodes that season that just... feel the same. Just with different coats of paint. "Marinette is trying to date Adrien but she's awkward and clumsy and oh no! shenanigans ensue!" We've been doing this for 8 years.

If they want to tell a serialized story then they need to grow some balls and cut the shit we've seen a million times before.

Their insistence to stick to the status quo makes the writing exceptionally weak downright painful to sift through. It was too scared, too insecure, to stray from its formula.

That's a part of the reason why I think the season is paced so bad. There's so little time spent on the interesting parts of the story because they had to cram in as much shipping shit as possible. So by proxy, there was less time to tell a good story.

Both of these stupid ass properties don't know what they want to be. There are too many things being added and not enough balls to commit to any of them.

Now with both LO and MLB, we can all agree that the writing is pretty shit. Nothing new there. But shitty writing often bleeds into the characters and making them shitty by exposure. Almost like a spill of toxic waste, infecting anything near it and turning into a rotten pile of sludge and chemicals.

So yeah, the characters are ass as well. But I only wanna complain about the female leads for both of these things.

But just to mention Adrien and Hades, they are pretty similar. I won't go into detail but the short of it is, "Character with deep seated issues that could have been interesting, has a lot of potential, but is just kinda garbage in the end."

At least Adrien Agreste isn't monetizing death and has a bunch of shades in his basement doing his work.

Persephone and Marinette

So I always say that I don't like using the term 'Mary Sue' to describe a character. But as it turns out, I use that term a lot. So I'm not gonna lie about that anymore.

These two characters are Mary Sues.

Persephone first

Oh my god I hate Persephone a lot. She just ticks every box on my list of 'THINGS I HATE IN A CHARACTER.'

Which is funny because her character had a lot of promise and heart in the beginning.

I related to her a LOT when I picked up this comic before my frontal cortex developed. I related with her character and her struggles. Especially after the Apollo incident. That really stuck out to me. It was so powerful.

But all of those tiny things I liked about her character were stripped away. Her ambition to study in school? Poof, gone. Her charm? Not charming anymore. That kindness everyone in the story gushes about? I don't even think it was there in the first place.

Truth be told, I do need to reread this comic because the beginning is fuzzy as fuck in my walnut-sized brain. But I can tell you for certain that the way she was in the beginning is not who she is now.

And this isn't the case of a character going through an arc and developing and changing. She's just getting worse and the narrative treats it as a GOOD THING.

"Oh yeah, Persephone trashed Leuce's apartment instead of talking to her husband like an adult. She threatened to kill this nymph but you're supposed to find that endearing." Like, what??? I will not have a story try and get me to believe this is a good thing.

If this were a good story, Persephone's actions in that episode WOULDN'T BE REWARDED. But she's rewarded with sex for being a fucking psychopath towards a random nymph. Wow.

And that leads into my next point-- she can never be in the wrong ever.

AOW? Retconned, not her fault. It wasn't her fault she killed all those people. It's actually Eris' fault because she gave her wrath.

Trashing Leuce's apartment? She was in the right for that, apparently.

Killing people in a famine during the 10 year banishment? That's never explored, we just know she killed people, burned a library or something, and probably shot the president too. But it's fine, she's the good guy.

And most recently (and potentially the most frustrating);

Persephone causes winter.

Not her mother, Demeter, no fuck the myths. Persephone is the one who caused winter actually. AND SHE DID IT ON ACCIDENT SO TECHNICALLY IT IS NOT HER FAULT CAUSE SHE DIDNT MEAN TOOOO UWU She also probably killed a million flower nymphs in that snap freeze but its ok it doesn't matter.

WHAT?

WHAT THE FUCK? CMON NOW.

She's not going to receive any consequences for anything because she is just too perfect.

She's smarter than Athena, prettier than Aphrodite, better than her mother in every way, all the boys want her, she has a perfect body, she's pink, her eyes go red when she's angy, she has the most power of everyone in the world, she's a super rare fertility goddess, she has all the gifts, all the blessings, and none of the development.

It almost feels like a wattpad fanfic.

"My mom doesn't like me so she sold me to one direction and then I became queen of the underworld."

Yeah, I don't like her.

And the same can be applied to Marinette!

A character who is so blatantly perfect, the narrative fucking BENDS TO HER WILL.

She's a creepy ass stalker and has done some weird ass things to get close to this random famous white boy and it's all excused.

It's literally excused.

There is a rule about character backstories. They are supposed to provide an explanation for a character's behavior, not an excuse for it.

In season 5, episode 14 - Derision, we see a bit of Marinette backstory. Some stupid bullshit happens and Marinette essentially says she isn't going to say 'I love you' to anyone unless she knows literally everything about them.

She says a lot in that stupid ass scene but it's basically just saying that all of her stalking and creepy behavior is justified. Which it is not.

Marinette can do no wrong. The narrative won't allow it.

She's perfect in every way. And even when SHE is in the wrong, characters somehow find a way to apologize to her. Either that or she turns a situation about someone else into one about her self.

She's just the perfect character who ends up saving the world.

Fuck having Chat Noir face against his dad in the finale, Marinette has to girlboss all over the place and save the day but then actually lose because the "plot" demands it.

Oh yeah and she's probably never going to tell Adrien that his abusive dad was the villain they had been fighting for months. Do you think that's a good choice? I'll give you a hint; it is not.

It makes Marinette look like a HORRIBLE character but it's painted in a way that makes the viewer believe this is the right decision.

I don't think I need to get into specifics as to why that is wrong and disgusting.

If I had to make a prediction for this show going forward, she isn't going to tell him. It's going to be forgotten and she's going to be painted as the hero.

No flaws, no accountability, nothing.

Garbage character. Fucking hate it.

Both of these characters will never see consequences for their actions. Their bad actions are either excused or retconned out of existence. And that's not how you write a character btw. If you want them to be real, give them consequences. The world should not revolve around them. They should have flaws and issues that should be explored. But apparently that's too much work.

It's funny how both of these properties claim to be about feminism and somehow completely miss what feminism is

Miraculous thinks that feminism means "Girl power! Girls are better than guys in every way!" And Lore Olympus makes no attempt to be feminist at all. Women hate other women, and they don't get a lot of opportunities to explore and express themselves.

I could get into the whole purity culture shtick but that's a shitty rant for another day.

I've been ranting about this for a while and I got the big ones out of the way, methinks. I do want to get into the creators of both of these things but that is also a rant for another day.

Cause if I got into that now, we'd be here a while.

So let me just make a final comparison and wrap things up here. I don't think any of this makes a lot of sense but I hate both things and I'm passionate about it so I'm gonna keep rambling.

Miraculous Ladybug and Lore Olympus never attempt to grow as stories. They are both scared to try new things and to stick with it. Most of the time this results in rushed writing and horribly done characters.

It's so clear that both of these things are desperate to be something great but they just can't put in the work to get there.

Honestly, they both feel like the product of a team of yes-men. Bad decisions and errors slip by WAY too often and it's kind of embarrassing.

These are popular pieces of media and they have the resources to be great but they just aren't.

They're both too insecure to make something of themselves.

It's honestly really sad and I don't want this for either of these things. I want LO to be stunning and retell the myth of Persephone with the respect it deserves. I want MLB to be a serialized show with focus on the lore. Sure it can start as episodic but it can ease us into a deeper story and intrigue the viewer. But I want it to flesh out the world and be an entertaining experience.

It's sad but it's the way it is.

Who knows, maybe MLB season 6 will be good. And maybe LO will have a 4th season and it'll fix all the problems it has.

I dunno.

Thanks for reading this incoherent nonsense.

[iamjellyfish]

The idol soldier. | part 2

Part 1

A/n: I f*cking cringe reading my first fics, I deeply apologize to anyone having to deal with the part one. Anyways, I’m not out of hiatus yet, I finished writing my oneshot to be review but I barely want to draw so I might as well as writing something else for a change.

So-, let's try our best to finish this series so I can write smut for y’all.

Second note: this fic take place after the manga and uh, everyone lived! (Idc Shinomiya Isao is my father figure HAHAHA)

Warning: angst, hurt/no comfort- yet, multiple angst trope, the angst demon got me again rahhh. Prob OOC (I’m practicing writing Hoshina’s accent like how other writer do).

Summary: Soshiro proves to you that the life-fighting kaiju isn’t stable enough for love, so the idol soldier second-guesses her decision. She was urged by her manager to return to being an idol, pressure from fans and companies takes a toll on y/n. Would you leave? Or despite all of it, would you stay?

“Guess Jelly really only belongs on stage.”

You mutter into your knees as you hug it and sigh tiringly. The dim light of the phone still reflects into your eyes even if you don’t want to see it. It was the chat between you and Soshiro, your current boyfriend, the one that melted your idol heart and flew you to the moon, but he was a busy man – he is a vice-captain after all. You don’t want to be selfish, you really do, but you also don’t want to be second-priority to him.

17:01 Y/n: Soshiro <3 Do you wanna go get some street food near the base?

17:23 Soshiro: Sorry darling, works.

17:24 Y/n: Oh- okay.

18:00 Soshiro: I will make up for ya alright? How about yer’ treat yourself something nicely?

Soshiro sent you some cash.

18:01 Y/n: You don’t have to! Really.

18:59 Soshiro: Nah, bae. Treat urself, yer’ my princess. ILY alright? Gtg.

19:00 Y/n: Oh, okay. I will come over as usual alright?

Soshiro left you on seen and heart your message.

You know to the man, work is his first priority, work is his life. Soshiro even told you his past one time and you will forever remember every word of his because that is when you realize, you, y/n, and Jelly is his second priority. Blades and works will be his first priority for a long time, heck, you even think the time you retire as an idol or release your 100th album, Soshiro will still have blades and work as his first priority. And Soshiro knows this too, he tries to make up for you by gifting expensive gifts, giving you cash, and letting you sleep over at his place on the base.

Now is 11 pm, and you already prepared everything to wait for Soshiro to come back. The bed? You wash the sheet at 5 in the morning, and by the afternoon, it is soft and clean (Soshiro is a clean man, you just like to help him with cleaning so he can rest after a work day). You decorate it a little with your stuffed animals, and you make sure everything is perfect for Soshiro when he comes back. So laying on the bed, finger-swiping on social media on a secret account of yours, you wait for Soshiro, your man to return home.

Yours e/c eyes scan through the posts, fingers clicking on the “save pictures” button on posts where they have Soshiro’s picture, fan cam, or edits. After a while, a viral post popped up, it was about you.

“The mysterious disappearance of Jelly, the successful idol” was the post’s title. The context of it is just theories on why you disappear for a good long while, even if songs are still released but your appearance was kept at a minimum. You admit you do it on purpose to chase being a JAKDF and of course, being with Soshiro. But you still shoot the music video, still pump out goods, you made sure even if you lower your appearance as Jelly, it would be covered up with excuses like “health issue” “problem with the company” etc…

But seems like it still isn’t enough. The post only covers theories like “Jelly secretly quitting” or “Jelly might have serious health problems”, the worst one is probably “Jelly is secretly got bullied and done dirty by the company”. Not a problem, just let the post die down and everything will be fine-

“JELLY MIGHT QUIT BEING AN IDOL FOR HER SECRET LOVER”.

Fuck fuck fuck. Someone definitely leaking this one out. You’re in deep trouble. In fact, you doubt the post could die down because the post is growing too fast and those damn news channels already covering this. The proof is just blurry images of you and Soshiro, even with just 3 burry images, the fans are already in rage (You are kinda a bit sad and graceful at the same time that Soshiro are too busy to even go on a date with you). But now, you’re afraid of what could happen, what if they doxx Soshiro? What if they found out? Nope, too dangerous.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

You pick up the phone only to be get yell at by the manager.

“Great! Look at our Jelly! Have fun being a Disney princess chasing after some guy? Because we are having a meltdown because of you! If only you weren’t the fan favorite, we would have let you go- “

You want to cry so much; you want to counter ‘But it's Soshiro!’ but you know damn well your manager doesn’t give a shit. And now with everything going down, you know full well that you going to be too dangerous for anyone involved, even for Soshiro. You don’t want to bring him any distress, and you don’t even think you could handle the fan’s rage and Soshiro giving you the second-place treatment at the same time, your poor heart with crack into a million pieces. After a good while of yelling and berating, your manager finally spoke up.

“Alright, Y/n. Here is what gonna do, I have forced to quit you from the JAKDF. Tomorrow morning, you leave. Am I clear? I will send the details later but finish your fairy tale love story because this is the last time you see him.”

“Yes ma’am.”

You said as she cut the call. Your eyes teary as her words finally hit you and it hurts. Never seeing Soshiro again? That’s your worst nightmare! But you know you can’t easily quit being an idol, contracts, and lawsuits, you can’t risk it. As you finally fix yourself up, it is already past midnight and Soshiro finally returns, he fumbles on his words as he realizes how late it is.

“Oh- my, sorry princess, I got carried away when training.”

He smiles, trying to hide his guilt as he walks to the bed and lies down beside you. You just nodded, you couldn’t even be angry right now, not at him, not when you knew you might never see him again. You let it pass, just like every time. Tonight, you will cherish every second, every touch of his… as long as possible. So you pull him into a kiss and cuddle him, Soshiro doesn’t think much but accepts your affections like normal. 

3 in the morning. You packed your stuff, Soshiro is still asleep but you couldn’t even sleep. You spend a good long while staring into his face, trying to remember every single detail, every feature of his. You wish to never forget it, to never forget him. You left him a note simply saying “Let’s break up. Goodbye.”, you couldn’t bring yourself to tell him the truth, you just hoped that he would think you’re a brat that don’t understand his priority so you left.

And with that, you left. Without a trace.

Mina of course know this, but she was asked to keep a secret about the details. She couldn’t tell Soshiro why you left anyway, she knows how broken he could get if he knew the truth. So she kept it a secret.

The sun was warm today, this is the first time Soshiro would find himself waking up and you’re nowhere to be found. He didn’t think much, normally he would wake up before you, give you a little peck on the cheek, and go on with his day. Before he left, he suddenly recognized there was a note on the table, and his hand reached out to open it, “Let’s break up. Goodbye.”, you were broken up with him? No, is it because you felt left out again? Is it because he didn’t take his time to go out with you again? Or is it because he messed up somehow?

That didn’t matter now, he needed to talk with you. As he pulls out his phone, he realizes you sent him a huge cash with a message “Here is everything you gave me, I will return it to you. The gifts will be sent back to you a few days later”. Soshiro was shocked, he wanted to call you, to text you but you blocked him. He texted Mina and Okonogi for answers but they both can’t really answer much.

Soshiro literally begged in his head that somehow you would unblock him and let him have chance to explain. But his past came back haunting him, how could he not realize how secretly hurt you are? How could he not realize all the hints? You were hurt and now his princess is leaving him forever. Right now, he has no way to contact you, so with a heavy heart, he has to surrender for now.

A few months later, shortly after you broke up with Soshiro, you returned to be an idol and have been thriving since. You did have to make an apology saying you were suffering from health problems, and that you didn’t want to make fans worry so you had to limit your appearance and surprisingly everyone was buying it. The scandal died down after that, thankfully.  

Jelly has been releasing new albums and you have to prepare for concerts so you have to practice extra hard for those. As you said goodbye to your group members, you quickly returned to check your phone before returning to your dorm.

“Hm... nothing much.”

You said as you read through the posts. You did have to block Soshiro everywhere and even stuff about him on the internet or else you gonna brawl your eyes out crying. But then, something caught your eye, it was a post about you, basically just dating rumors with another male famous idol. You recognize him as an idol you met only a few times, exchanged small talks, and got interviews with, but nothing much. But seems like it was enough for fans to start rumors, you chuckle to yourself. In this field, some idol even plays the couple of games for extra clout from rumors but it usually ends up dying down or overlapping with other trends.  You could never do that though, but you could sense that your manager might want that.

And you were right. 

In the next few interviews, you were asked to drop hints that further make the rumors about your dating more ‘real’. You didn’t think much of it but oh boy, Soshiro was deeply hurt. He goes on a spiral, and when he finds out about the rumors, the man already thinks about it “What if he treats her better so she left me to be with him?” “Did she really think dating an idol is better for her?” “Did he treat her right?”. But you double down and make it worse by dropping little innocent hints here and there, making everything worse. The tea was hot and you made it extra boiling.

“Oh, I think (idol-name) is really cool, he is really kind.”

“My type is probably someone that can understand how hard it like being an idol.”

Your eyes would exchange a little innocent look to his eyes and Soshiro already knows he hate it. He misses you deeply, and sometimes he even thinks about being an idol so he can be with you. He even went and begged Mina to somehow contact you and beg you to return, Soshiro thought that he might actually be dead this time. The moment the viral video of you and the idol helping each other for a gameshow, Soshiro wants to bury himself 6 feet under.

You’re really cruel to him, at least right now. But even if you were the cruel poison, he will still drink it down, because it’s you. When Soshiro thinks about it, he realizes how important you are to him, he can’t afford to lose you, and he can’t get over you. He will do anything just to see you again, even if it’s something he might regret. So when the ticket to meet you after the concert lottery was announced, Soshiro thought he have used all his life luck to pull the ticket. He was happy is the simplest answer.

So when the time comes, you walk on stage, singing and dancing. Soshiro was nostalgic back to the day when he first listens to your song, first going to your concert and you winked at him while on stage. Did you know it then? That you would fall for him? Loved him but only to be treated like second-choice? The thought haunts him but right now, he is the closest to you ever since that day you left. Soshiro will risk everything he has to get you back.

If wanted him to buy you a new dress, he would gift you an entire wardrobe. If you wanted a house, he would buy a mansion. If you want him to change his haircut, he will. Anything just for you, his princess.

a/n: I wanna give a special thanks to myself for having a Soshiro brainrot at 12 in the morning and writing this ‘till 2:21 and start hallucinating.

[athemarina]

writeblr comeback!! (for real this time!!)

hello (again), marina here! i am back from another long break, and this time i am determined to rejoin the writeblr community properly, because i really truly missed it here!

it's been a couple months since i've been here, and there have been a couple of changes in my life and to the way i want to run this blog, so i thought i'd give an update to anyone who might still remember me and maybe get to know some new writers! <3

who am i?

i am marina/mina, 27, from austria. i've been on writeblr for quite some time now, but had to take a break due to work and uni being really demanding, and also my personal life kinda falling apart lol. but i've realised once more that writing is one of the things that give my life meaning and stability, and i want and need to reconnect with it.

i work full-time and am still finishing up my degree, so i'm quite a busy bee. nevertheless, with uni summer break just around the corner, i want to spend more time writing and finding inspiration here!

some random interests of mine: philosophy, linguistics, the beauty of greece, musicals, folk songs and folklore, horses, and formula 1. what a list.

what do i write?

i have put all of my previous wip on hold because i had no time to work on them at all the last few months. right now i am in the worldbuilding phase of a new fantasy story (it takes some elements from children of the king but will go in quite a different direction! there's robots in it now!!) i want to take working on this new wip really really slow though. i've spent the last couple months feeling horribly burnt out and don't want to push myself around so much anymore. so while a proper intro post will have to wait for a bit, i'll still share some of the stuff that's floating around in my head and can't wait to get to know other people's wips again!!

i want to try my hand at writing poetry and flash fiction! it's not something i've dabbled with a lot in the past, but i really want to expand my horizons!

i have read quite a lot this year and would like to share some reviews / media analysis as well!

things i love to write and read....

all kinds of fantasy, anything that includes vampires, grief and healing and not-healing from it, characters who make all the wrong choices, questions of identity, queerness, and love.

if any of that vibes with you, let's be friends pls!!

i'd love to be part of the community again, and i love talking about reading / writing / just about anything so pls never hesitate to send me a message if you wanna chat <3 i also love to do tag and ask games, but it might take me a while to get to it!

thank you for reading, and thank you all for being such a lovely community here! i'm back babyyyy

[envyq00]

Hoooo it’s been some time, hasn’t it? 👀👀👀 My semester ended a couple weeks ago but holidays kept me busy for a while. But now they’re over so I’m actually back for now. Did y’all miss me? 👀👀

There’s so much I’d like to say but I just don’t really have the time or energy to read get into it all right now. Basically for now, all I can say is that I have a lot of plans I’m hoping to see to fruition this year but I’m also not exactly pressuring myself to try and get them ALL done. Especially cuz the time I do have to myself isn’t actually a whole lot. But we’ll see. One of said mini projects/plans I have is this Phantom of the Opera Kinsona art that I’ve been wanting to make. Just cuz I absolutely adore the story and it’s very dear to me and my younger self. Overall, it’s just been a therapeutic experience/exercise to indulge in. So this piece is part of that and I hope to deliver some more for it!

I’m also hoping to get back into my Stanley Parable stuff and finally deliver on that as well! I’ve taken a lengthy break from thinking about TSP and started thinking about other stuff like my fandomless OCs as well as my Ghost OC/fan stuff with that so I hope y’all can stick around for that. Same with Fnaf as well eheheheh.

I’m also hoping to write here more, like fun nerdy fandom things. Headcanon lists, media reviews, character analysis rambles, etc. I tend to use my Instagram story for those things but the more I do it, the more I recognize that stories REALLY aren’t built for something like this so I wanna start posting stuff like that here instead. And maybe in the future, I’ll make the leap to YouTube and actually present them in video format or smth 👀👀 We’ll see how things pan out. Anyway, nice to be back and on here again! Thank you guys for all your support!

[nekoannie-chan]

Secrets chapter 4: The Beginning or the End of Everything? Part III

Pairing: Steve Rogers X OFC, Brock Rumlow X OFC.

Word count: 1052 words.

Summary: Sometimes keeping secrets can be dangerous or a heavy burden, which is what Kathleen has been doing for years. She will also be in charge of guiding Steve Rogers into this century; meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be looking for a way to kick-start the Avengers Initiative by integrating her as one of the superheroes, but that won't be the only danger they face.

Warnings: None

A/N: After long time working on this longfic, I finally post it. If you wanna be added to the taglist, let me know.

My native language is Spanish so I wanna improve my writing skills in English if you notice any mistakes, please let me know and I will correct them.

I don’t give any kind of permission that my fics to be posted on other platforms or languages (I translate myself my work) or the use of my graphics (my dividers are included in this), I did them exclusively for my fics, please respect my work and don't steal it. There are some people here who make dividers that anyone can use, mine is not this type, please look for the other's people. The only exception is the ones I gifted 'cuz now belong to someone else. If you find any of my works on a different platform and are not one of my accounts, please let me know. Reblogs and comments are always welcome.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Marvel's characters (unfortunately), except for the original characters and the story.

Add yourself to my taglist here.

My other media where I publish:  Ao3, Wattpad, ffnet, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter. 

If you like it, please vote, comment, and give me feedback to improve my skills and reblog.

You can read it on Wattpad and Ao3 too. Secrets masterlist. Previous chapter. Next chapter.

𝟸 𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓉𝒽𝓈 𝓁𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓇

 It had already been two years since she joined S.H.I.E.L.D., and her missions so far have been successful. At the moment she was in her office reviewing the proposal for the Insight Project, the board of Directors had rejected it. She didn’t understand the reasons. Everything seemed in order. She sincerely preferred to do that over the other missions. He knew she helped people by stopping those criminals, but that didn't mean she liked being on some missions. She preferred to do office work or go on some missions with Brock.

Despite everything, she was still checking everything related to the project. According to the manuals and protocols, everything was in order; therefore, it didn't make sense that it had been rejected... Unless it was for monetary reasons.

Fury entered the office with a folder, and without saying a single word, she turned to see it. She knew that it could only be something too important, so much so that the rest of the missions would be postponed until further notice and the personnel would participate more. She took it and began to leaf through the content, but she didn’t understand well what it meant. In truth, she began to believe that it was a joke by Nick, although she was no longer a little girl to laugh at the jokes that Nick used to make.

"An hour ago, some Russian tankers sent us these photos; I need you to analyze them; you have less than two hours; it's urgent, as it can't fall into the wrong hands," Nick ordered her.

Kathleen nodded and got to work. She also called Cameron; she would need some help. Together they managed to get the results in less time than she required, but she could not believe it. He was most likely dead; no one would resist even those conditions and probably not even the magnitude of the impact; it was the ship, but she was not so sure if he would be in there. The best thing to do was to send someone to check and, if possible, get what was left and try to recover it because if any of the enemies did it before them, they could try again to replicate the serum or use it for some experiment, and that meant more problems.

Now more questions popped into her head. How would they break the news to the world? What would happen now? Would they examine the discovery? Should she worry?

Probably, there would be a memorial or some ceremony to thank him for his service or something, she didn't even know why she was worrying about the situation, she just had to do her job.

It was three in the morning when Nick Fury's phone rang, and he immediately answered to receive the news that Captain America had been found, or at least his frozen body. Under those conditions, they could not be sure if he was alive or not, so he gave precise instructions: they had to get him out of there and take him to the S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities in New York so that the doctors could take care of him and he would be submitted to some tests before telling anyone else since he didn’t want rumors to spread to the population.

He knew who was the perfect person for what was coming, plus it would be easier to know what was really going on, although he was sure she would not give any statements to the media, so they could prepare whatever was necessary.

A few minutes later, he spoke to Kathleen to assign her to the mission, which was simple: to be present while they took the Captain out of the ice to try to read his mind and thus be able to corroborate if he was alive, as well as to be by his side during the transfer and the doctor's examination, and in case he was alive, she would have to help him adapt to the present time.

Kath's mobile phone rang, she mumbled something unintelligible, and she wanted to continue sleeping, but if Nick was talking directly to her on his personal mobile phone instead of his work one, it was really something exaggeratedly important. She moved Brock so she could answer; she had lost count of the times they had been together.

Although they weren't in a romantic relationship as they had agreed, they had repeated that night of the mission several times, sometimes at her place, sometimes at his apartment. Although neither of their feelings had changed.

Even Brock was thinking of trying to have a relationship after a while, to convince her, although first, he had to find a way to keep her safe.

She got up and dressed as quickly as possible to arrive on time as soon as she heard the news. She left a note with a vague explanation for Brock to see when he woke up; she still had to go through some documents with Fury so they wouldn't have any problems since it was something secret and no one could find out that they had found it to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.

She opened a portal to get to the place where they found him as quickly as possible. She gave the documents to the Lieutenant, they had already taken him out of the ship and were preparing everything to take him to the S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities, although Kath didn't know which ones, so she had to hurry, otherwise, she would have to give explanations to Fury.

Someone tried to stop her, but she practically threw the document Nick had given her and went up to the ship with them. She couldn't perceive much, not counting the noise of the others' minds; she had to concentrate. She couldn't have Cerebro with her; she didn't want anyone to know she had him, so she had to think of something different to see if she could catch any thoughts.

She reached over and put a hand in Steve's hair; it still had some ice in it; however, she had no idea how they had gotten it out of there, and since it wasn't completely thawed, she started to pick up some slow and vague thoughts that meant he was alive.

Ꭲꭺꮐꮮꮖꮪꭲ:

@saiyanprincessswanie  @sinceimetyou @unnuevosoltransformalarealidad

@navybrat817 @angrythingstarlight @shield-agent78 @charmed-asylum @pandaxnienke  @real-fbi @smokeandnailz @white-wolf1940  @tenaciousperfectionunknown  @xoxonotme @bluemusickid @leyannrae  @harrysthiccthighss @marvelatthisone @caplanbuckybarnes  @sapphire-rogers​ @lizzieolseniskinda @notyourtypicalrose​ @hallecarey1​  @nana1000night​ @talia-rumlow​ @mylifeispainandiloveit​  @writingshae​ @alexxavicry​ @azulatodoryuga​ @daemonslittlebitch​  @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​ @jtargaryen18​  @chaoticcollectivenightmare​ @endlesstwanted​

[sapphire-weapon]

hello there, how's your day going :)

i know you've talked about this before, i've seen your answer myself but i just have to say this one to let out some frustration in me lol

i've been scrolling down on tiktok for some eagleone content and whenever i see a video slightly about them there's like "siblings fr" / "brother-sister" captions and it's making me almost fume LMFAOO

what the HELL are these people talking about seriously.

and the comments are even worse, saying "so glad everyone is thinking of them as siblings" kinda shit

i have this urge....urge to puke bc whAT 🗣️🗣️❗❗

like, say something normal like "good friends" or "platonic" at least if you can't see them as a ship, since NOTHING in RE4make between Leon and Ashley are sibling-like to me and im sure many people who know smt little about body language can tell that

i just think this is some kinda propaganda to stop ppl shipping eagleone at this point lol some new ppl could indeed feel bad about shipping them if the majority of the ppl they see on social media see them as... siblings *pukes*

however it makes me wanna write some juicy, intense smut with the ship just to rile these ppl up haha

(thanks for reading this nonsense babbling)

.....

I know it's frustrating, anon. It's easy to ignore one person being dumb and wrong, because your brain can more easily go "ha ha look at what the jackass said" and move on. But to see people being stupid and wrong en masse over and over and over again is a little soul-crushing.

I'm personally going through this with the goddamn mafia background shit. I've kind of reached a point where I'd rather be trapped in a room with the entirety of Aeon fandom than have to bear witness to even just one more motherfucker who actually thinks that Leon is actually legitimately meant to be seen as Italian by Capcom -- ESPECIALLY after seeing what he looks like in Remake -- because apparently half of the people in RE fandom have never actually seen an Italian person in their fucking life. And, as someone from New Jersey, I take that shit personally. My stepdad's last name is Renzulli. Don't fucking tell me that Leon Scott fucking Kennedy is meant to be the son of Italian immigrants.

But I think what's important to bear in mind is that nothing that dumbasses say in this fandom -- no matter how many they are or how many times they say their stupid bullshit -- changes what the canon actually is or says. Twitter/Tumblr/TikTok dumbasses especially have no power over RE canon. When game devs look for fan response, they look for actual fan response to their official tweets and blog posts, as well as some forums (hello ResetEra), prominent content creators on Twitch and Youtube and what their audiences are saying, and game reviews (as well as comments posted on game reivews). No one at Capcom gives a singular flying fuck what the deeper fandom side of fandom is doing or saying, because they know that most of us are certifiable.

So, as rage-inducing as it is, we gotta just let some things go, man.

Leon/Ashley is a canonical romance, intended to be viewed as romantic by Capcom, and that's not going to change no matter how many thinly-veiled misogynists try to bad-faith morality police their way around fandom otherwise.

Leon Kennedy has no official backstory per canon and has never, in any way, shape, or form, been modeled or portrayed in a way that's meant to be viewed as Italian or in a way that makes sense with the idea he has mafia ties in his family or background.

Anyone who ever tries to tell you otherwise is selling something.

Remember: if it's not in the games, it's not canon. And what is in the games is a romance. Full stop.

So, if you can channel that rage into something productive like smut, please, for the love of god, do. It's a way better response than getting yourself all riled up. And this ship needs more creators putting stuff in the tag, besides.

[vesperlionheart]

Hello｡◕‿◕｡

I have had an idea in my head for a long time. But it is large, so I wanted to ask a few things.

How do you juggle all the characters? Do you write the setting first, and then create a backstory for each character? What is the most convenient way to prescribe all this? And how not to be afraid that no one needs my idea, and I'm wasting my time on unnecessary things? If my goal is to create my own fanfic and get feedback.

I like the idea that my story will end and people will still be writing reviews 5 years from now. How do you feel when you receive feedback? When did you decide it was time to write your first story and see it through?

large world building projects are so much fun, it always feels like snuggling into a comfort blanket or sweater you can really immerse yourself in, at least for me it does.

Juggling a lot of characters can be a struggle since I'm personally a world driven type of author as opposed to the character driven and plot driven types of authors you might run across. What I mean by that is for me the world usually appears first in my mind and I have to build it out before I know exactly who lives in it or what's happening. I think the most convenient way to prescribe all the steps you want to take starts with knowing who you are as a writer and what your personal style is cause we're all made a little different. I got to know myself better as a write after reading The Curiosities, a collection of short stories by three different authors who all are a different type or have a different approach to writing. (I loved their notes to each other reviewing their stories and its a great read.) Knowing what works for you is what's most vital, and a lot of trial and error shouldn't be feared in order to better understand yourself. You'll never waste time trying to grow and improve yourself, even if you don't achieve the fame or money in the end.

For me, when I come up with a story idea, I am usually provoked by some other media I see and feel the urge to make something more suited to my tastes. I read about vampires or werewolves and wanna do my own spin on an urban high school for monsters, I get a fraction of information about some obscure mobile video game and want to run with it in a new direction that gives it lore and meaning beyond the pretty visuals. What do you enjoy reading or playing or watching? Chances are those are topics you might enjoy creating with. For me writing is like 'play' and I enjoy playing with some things more than others as my tastes change and mature with time. On the more technical side of things, in order to build a functioning story I try to make sure I have a problem in my story and I try to ensure my protagonists are characters with needs or desires that push them along through the narrative. These can change depending on the setting they're in.

When I first started writing I was like 12/13 and I just wanted to write for the fun of it and didn't know what I was doing when I posted my first fic online. I appreciated the validation of others who read my work and commented/reviewed, and I think later on that motivated me to switch up my style and try new things for the thrill of it. (No regrets, 10/10 would do again.) You asked about "how not to be afraid that no one needs my idea, and I'm wasting my time on unnecessary things?" Believe me when I say people need stories. I'm not sure about a lot of things in life but I know stories have existed as long as people have lived and there's a reason for that. We need stories as a species. Maybe you do create a story that gets 0 comments or only a few likes and clicks. It happens to most of us when we start out. We think we're making crap and never realize our fields need that fertilizer for a better harvest in the future. You'll make some bad poems and stories and mess up plays or scripts in your life and that's good as long as you don't let it stop you. Keep trying and figure out what works for you. Keep digging until you strike gold. Your brain and your soul deserve the nourishment creating gives them. Make art any way you want and don't look back.

It's fucking amazing to know someone loved what I wrote, even 5-10+ years later. It's humbling and haunting at the same time. I'll never stop being in awe of how great it is to know someone, somewhere in the world of endless possibilities, found some joy in my story. I'm forever in awe of how cool that is. But the older I get the more I realize this writing thing I do, this expression of creativity I gravitate towards, is a gift unto me for my own sake. I need to create stories. I want to live a little in these dream worlds of mine before the daylight burns it all way and makes me go back to work. Writing is a means of self preservation at this point, even though it's a lot of hard work I still mess up on. I find so much joy in the ideas I try to flesh out, so I hope you can discover for yourself the unique joy of creating too. Don't let fear hold you back. Write your story.

[charmac]

helllooooo i am absolutely obsessed with your macden sugar daddy fic. i’m not kidding when i say it has become a household name for me (in the dms with my poor, dear friend who does not even watch sunny. i have, and will continue to, bombard her with messages such as: “the macdennis fic i’ve been creaming over hasn’t been updated i’m in shambles” and thankfully you did update after that).

i went through your tumblr for a bit and saw in one of your responses you mentioned feeling a lack of encouragement to write when it feels like no one is actively requesting so i suppose this is my formal request. i am quite literally so emotionally invested in this fic. this is my high class literature (as a lit major). this is my magnum opus and i’m talking about the experience of READING it, not trying to imply this work is in any way mine.

i have sooo much i’d like to say about it but i get so scatterbrained when i think about it. i read the entire thing in one sitting and was in agony when i finished. then you updated on christmas and i read the entire thing AGAIN and i keep going back to that most recent chapter where (spoilers ig!) mac calls dennis daddy because it simply /felt right/. because he felt /safe/? oh i’m on the floor and begging for mercy. you’re brilliant. this story is brilliant. i’m a mess.

if you ever feel like people might not be interested: listen to me when i say your writing has permanently altered the chemistry of my dna and has conditioned me to check ao3 every single day with bated breath HOPING there’s an update. i love it. that’s an understatement. i LOVE IT.

i would also like to clarify that if you ever run into issues with writer’s block or even simply losing the excitement over this specific story, pls don’t feel obligated to write something you don’t want to. it’s your life!! i saw your 2023 update post and it seems like a fucking fantastic one at that, so live it to the fullest and do what you want!!

i think you’re neat. i think your writing is what leads good men to ruin (like me. i’m supposed to be reading jane eyre rn and all i can think of is your fic) /pos. truly my favorite source of sunny content across all your sunny social media.

question that i do apologize for asking if you’ve answered: the title is a fall out boy reference, right? big fan of that band. if it is, can i ask for details on the inspo?

thank u for your service solider o7

p.s. this was so needlessly long so sorry for bothering lmfaoooo but i had to say this somewhere and i think my friend is tired of hearing about the fanfic on a ship for a show she doesn’t even watch

First off, thank you so much for this, and second off don’t apologise for writing too much to me after you’ve seen the word count I spew out at random. I really appreciate your words, and I’ll tell you I’ve been in so many similar positions where I’ve been obsessed with a fic and had no one in it to relate to and have just ended up spamming a close friend instead, so to hear that’s done about my fic is really, really cool.

About prior asks, etc. I think I get down on myself a little, when I say I don’t get why people are reading or what they like and it’s hard to find motivation, it’s really just kinda my own internal struggle with all of that. (Also, I keep answering those when I'm drunk, my bad.) I get what I’m doing and what I’m writing, but I wanna make sure the audience does too. But you’re reading my words, so you must, even if you can’t (or just, don’t want to) sit down and go line-by-line of a 23k word chapter and tell me what’s going on.

Cause, I couldn’t sit down and write a full detailed list of every new episode of Sunny like that. Like, I just straight up couldn’t when they dropped. My reviews were like ‘5 stars, keysmash’ So I think there is something to be said about people really liking something, really wanting more, but maybe not having the words to vocalise or not having the time to vocalise why that is.

About wait times, updates, etc.. It is mainly about motivation, and like you’ve said I would never put out something just to put it out if it’s not reflective of what I want it to be (and know it can be). I mean, I’m not on a real deadline and I’m not getting paid, I'm writing this first and foremost for myself, so why would I rush it? Sometimes I can write thousands of words in a day, if the spark hits, but sometimes it can take months to fully form when it’s just me in my head and I still have to do shit in my daily life. And maybe I could do something to speed up that process, but I think my best work forms this way. But it does make updates painfully slow for you guys, and I apologise, cos I get that sucks.

Though, it is also spurred by external motivation: people pointing specific things out, telling me why they like something or what they see under the surface here, that stuff actually gets the gears in my head turning, back in focus. The ‘waiting for an update’ ‘pls write more’ isn’t motivation, it’s demand. (And understanding there is demand is definitely a motivator, don’t get me wrong, but that’s not a spark, it’s a push.) So the balance there is sometimes hard to match, I understand there is demand (though after Ch 7 or 8 whatever it was I genuinely thought maybe there wasn’t), and I appreciate being told that, but it can only go insofar as I have the motivation to bounce off of it. Sometimes, that’s literally just my own issue and no one can help me. You (not you, specifically, anon) just gotta trust an update will come... and if you fall out of care for Sunny in the meantime, oh well. Know I won't, lmfao.

About the Title, well, no one actually has asked me... I don't think (maybe 'cause it seems obvious?). I guess the answer is.. kind of? It is a lyric pulled from the Fall Out Boy song, but, well, a meme says it best:

The inspo is kinda what's written on the tin, wanted a title that makes it clear what it is. Don't read too much into the baseball metaphor though, it might hurt you a little in the spoilers department, if you think we're just purely having fun here...

Thanks for the ask, really really appreciate it, and knowing people like you are reading and enjoying my fic is awesome :)

[ihopesocomic]

[Wall of possible spelling errors, my pride related]

I think the reason why people include homophonia, biphobia, acephobia etc. in content that's supposed to be about LGBT characters is to convey a form of empowerment.

Like "despite their homophobic parents X was finally able to come out and get with Z, and they've found friends that accept them" in that example it's showing preserverance it's creating a sense of hope for LGBT people still in the closet.

But then there's cases with TOO much homophobia in LGBT content, yes there are ofc sad stories that aren't supposed to end well and people watch them at their own risk. BUT this isn't the case for our lovely example MY PRIDE (I know it's referencing a lion pride but something's telling me it meant LGBTQ pride too)

I know the wlw romance isn't the 'main story' per say of My Pride, but it's the part most people talk about/ got advertised and it still takes up a large chunck of the plot.

But you see the problem is most of that plot chunk is taken up by everyone crapping on our LGBT characters. I cannot find a single supportive moment in this show where it's like "hey nothing it's okay to find other lionesses hot". The characters that are supposed to representing us get nothing but crap after crap, so any sense of empowerment they were trying to convey is killed because there's no satisfying end.

But that's just my take on it.

You are absolutely right, it was never a point of conflict for either of the characters. Like. Ever. The only time homophobia was ever a "problem" was when Proudmane said something all the way in episode 7, and even then there was no consequences for it. I will however argue against Hover or Nothing being treated badly for being gay in any capacity tho. Nothing was always ridiculed for being physically disabled. And Hover was sort of antagonized for being prideless, but that was never a personal conflict for her. And the way the two of them got together told me their love was only forbidden because Hover wasn't in the pride, not because they were the same sex. There was no context clues for homophobia being a thing and I presented plenty of times they could've included it in our review. Hell even Powerstrike was like "We don't kill our gays anymore" like what was the point then? Oh there wasn't one. You just happened to be taken over by the one Pride Law fanatic on the entire continent. Because "drama" I guess.

Just to point out to others tho, no one here argued against the existence of queerphobia in media. It has its purposes, like people recounting their own experiences, and making meaningful social commentary on it, but in most cases I've seen its about telling cishet people to not be queerphobic. Which. Sure one could argue that's a good use for it. I don't feel that way about it tho. More often than not, queerphobia exists in media that doesn't actually give a fuck about it and is just used because it's "expected" to be there, regardless of context, tone, messaging, etc.

Or my favorite argument in the case of My Pride is "it's irresponsible to not include it". Like that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. MP can't even take responsibility of its own trigger warnings, and they want to be judgmental about media that chooses to not include queerphobia? What, are people gonna /forget/ that queerphobia exists? Should people be told "Fuck you, that's reality, bitch" when they don't really wanna see it everywhere they look, cuz they already do? Give me a break. Maybe deconstruct why you think the existence of a queer person justifies the inclusion of discrimination. You can ask this same question about anyone tbh.

People just quite frankly don't know what to do with homophobia in fantasy, they just think it makes for decent plot elements, and to that I say "you're boring" and "Maybe take a creative writing course." It's especially egregious in MP because the homophobia in MP is as shoehorned in as the queer romance. (And Moonstrike's existence just creates a whole mess of questions the show has no intensions of ever answering.)

Like maybe the show didn't include any previous mention of homophobia within prides because it was never intended to be there in the first place. That would be MY guess. It would make sense since Nothing and Hover's failed Romeo and Juliet plotline is abandoned about as quickly as they get together, and served about as much purpose as genderbending the mouse in live-action Cinderella.

We've said this before, MP was stronger with the initial plotline, and including homophobia just made it unnecessarily complicated and stupid, especially since there was quite literally no consequences for it. Call me old fashioned, but discrimination in writing should have a point. - Cat

[justjstuff]

Babes. I really appreciate all the asks about Daughter of Fire! It makes me happy to see that people love it as much as I do, I just gotta ask something of y’all. Please leave a review before sending an ask here! I noticed a lot of you don’t do that (not to mention the anon asks that I can’t possibly know if they did comment or not) and I just wanna explain a bit why it matters. I don’t know if u guys have been around here for as long as I have but the fandom culture changed a lot over the years, not all of it for the better. Five, ten years ago, it used to be the norm to comment on almost every single fic you read, in every chapter. There used to be discussions in the comment section, readers answering readers and sparking conversation… just genuinely a lot more interaction than nowadays. I’ve mentioned this before but I felt like writing another post about it.

Please notice that I’m not saying “don’t ever send me an ask about DoF again” or “you should be giving me comments NOW!!!”. I’ve just been scrolling through my endless unanswered asks and noticed that there were a lot like those I mentioned.

Now, I know sometimes it’s hard to send a review. I, myself, sometimes get so anxious just by the thought of writing a comment that I just don’t even read the fic/chapter. But notice how this is aimed towards the people who already took the time off their day to sit down on Tumblr and send me an ask. It would take the same amount of time to drop a review! And you can even do it anonymously too!

Anyways, this isn’t a complaint, I’m just always a bit sad to see that this is the way we led fandom culture? I know it might seem a bit disingenuous to be saying that when DoF has the reach it has but keep in mind that I also write other fics and most of them only get a little bit of engagement. It’s honestly disheartening because while I don’t write fanfiction for the comments, I do share it for them. I could just write them and satisfy that need and keep it to myself, never putting myself out there so others might judge me but I do because I love the fanfiction community and I love interacting with it.

I also noticed that authors who don’t have their social media linked tend to have more engagement in the comment section and that’s kinda what this post is about. Although we don’t comment as much as we did back in the days, it’s still the way some people choose to give fics their time of day, they see if there’s a lot of hits/kudos/comments before even giving it a try. So it does matter in a way that the engagement gets through other media only like some of the asks here! I’m not saying stop interacting with me here and keep only to the comment section, even because I chose to link all my social media because I love interacting w y’all in a deeper level here and on twt and other platforms but like. If you do choose to reach out to me, don’t forget to leave a review!

As I’m writing this I’m already regretting it lmao I don’t want to seem ungrateful and nitpicky but in the end I’m forcing myself to post this because it might spark some conversation and I do know a lot of authors feel like I do. We’re seeing how much writing isn’t being valued in our society and that’s kind of the same in fandom culture imo and I dunno. What do y’all think?

Love u to bits and I’ll see you soon 🖤

Oh, btw! Regarding the next DoF update!!! I can’t, and really it’s more like I don’t want to, give you guys a precise date. I struggled for quite some time with feeling like DoF was a chore, a job I had to keep up otherwise I would let everyone down and that (and some other stuff) led me to the biggest writer’s block I’ve ever had in my life. I’m just now trying to reconnect with that part of me that loves writing and finds actual enjoyment in tackling this huge and complex fic (and any and all writing tbh), so I don’t want to slip back into that same pattern I had before. I don’t like the term hiatus for fanfiction because it gives me this notion that the author is obligated to go back to the fic when in fact they’re not (unless the fic has a set update schedule and the author is letting u know when they’ll be back). No one is getting paid for this and most of us study and work full time jobs before coming and sharing something that can be really personal with strangers on the internet. If an author wants to drop their fic and never come back to fandom life than that’s their prerogative. We as fanfic readers kinda sign that unwritten contract that when we start reading an unfinished fic we might never get to see the end of it. However, I like the term hiatus because it illustrates my point with this which is: I’m not done with Daughter of Fire. I just don’t know when I’ll update next. Rest assured that if I ever decided to let it go, I would let everyone know. I would release all the chapters I have written, I would give y’all all of my notes and unfinished drafts and lone scenes, I would give you the document where I tell you step by step what would happen until the very end of the fic (and the sequel I have planed for it 👀). And I would also leave it open to anyone who wants to continue it to pick it up and give it a try. As it stands, I’m nowhere near done with Daughter of Fire 🖤

[goodluckclove]

you still answering asks with virtue and goodness in your heart? if so i have a writing question. i wanna get more into writing short horror/psychological/surrealist/ whatever the hell. MODERN GOTHIC that's what i mean. i love doing it and thinking of monsters or situations and i love messing about with descriptions and levels of detail and limiting the narrator's perspective etc etc. but you've seen a ton of horror media - do you have any tips ? or fun little tricks/tropes you love to see ??

Okay this is where I am no longer your punk Aunt and I am now reverting to a troubled older brother who smells like cigarettes even though I never smoked nicotine. I get a majority of my writing inspiration from movies, especially for visual and tonal elements, and while I don't really know gothic horror I do know surrealism and psychological intensity.

So I'm going to make a list of all the movies I've personally seen that fall into that category, some horror, some not. Please, please read into these films before you watch them. I'll try to warn about what I remember but like. Holy shit take care of yourself.

I do feel very weird suggesting these movies to young people but I was between 12-18 when I saw these, and I can't pretend like you don't have easy access to this stuff online already.

Here's something for your next movie night if you're looking to make people uncomfortable in new and creative ways through writing and art. Enjoy!

Uzumaki (2000) - based on the Junji Ito manga, released before the manga finished so it has a different ending. Pretty wild effects.

Requiem for a Dream - deeply uncomfortable, deals with addiction in every form, beautifully shot and immersive, didn't breath or blink much near the end. Immediately read the book. Fucking wild and I refuse to watch it again.

Eraserhead - slow but worth it. Really unnerving. A classic take on the fears of parenthood. People still don't know how he made the baby prop and that's pretty cool.

Videodrome - cronenberg is a classic. This movie is deeply fleshy and not in the way you think. There's probably some boobs but honestly a man's hand gets melded into a flesh gun and it's fucking awesome. Definitely look up more content stuff because cronenberg is...an odd one.

Donnie Darko - it occurs to me that a young person might not realize this movie kicks ass

Vivarium - genuinely cool. Looked rad. Not all of these are freaky.

Berberian Sound Studio - mentioned sexual assault, but other than that go in blind because it fucking kicks ass and the soundtrack is so cool and it's such a fucking vibe

Skinamirink - genuinely had to walk out of this one because it is both Nothing and Too Scary For Me

Infinity Pool - I think this is Cronenberg's kid and he does his dad right. This movie was fucking wild. Triggers for things I - don't know how to put into words out of context? Look this one up first.

The V/H/S series is really interesting as a chronology film and each one has at least one good short and a few cool concepts.

I personally love analog and digital horror (walten files especially) for it's unique tone but they're also usually too scary for me so I watch other people review them instead

Stopmotion (2023) - after I left the theater I looked at my friend and said that I was going to go home to my wife.

I have other, more niche/extreme suggestions, but I think this is a good baseline for weird/surreal/psychological horror. You also have to tell me if you watch any of these because I'd love to talk about weird fleshy nonsense with someone else.

[mermaidsirennikita]

What is the difference between a traditional historical romance and a bodice ripper if there is any? And do you have bodice ripper recs if you've read them?

I think, tbh, that any difference is kind of something retroactively defined by younger genre readers. And I don't consider myself part of the old guard, lmao; but I grew up hearing the term "bodice ripper" to pretty much universally refer to all mass market paperback historical romances with the standard pretty covers (and sometimes stepbacks). If they had sex on the page--and those books pretty much universally did, even if they varied in terms of how explicit they were--those historical romances were bodice rippers. Done.

Today, I think part of the reason why some readers (and perhaps writers, though I see less resistance on that front) try to create a specific category for bodice rippers is that they feel it's derogatory. As someone who loves historical romances and wants to write them (I'm trying lmao), I don't find it derogatory, personally. Any more than I would find calling certain horror movies "slashers" derogatory. It's of course used by some in a dismissive way, and that's definitely rooted in misogyny--but I kind of feel it's better to reclaim it.

The thing I think of specifically is people saying "well, THESE are historical romances--those books with noncon and dubcon are bodice rippers". And... that kind of implies, if we go with what I was saying before in that all of those historicals were called "bodice rippers", that all of them had noncon and dubcon. They didn't lol. A lot of them were pretty tame. Some older books are more in a gray area in which they treated consent in a way that a lot of media did back in the day--there wasn't an intent to write a sexual assault scene, but in later years we'd see it as that. Some deliberately wrote noncon or dubcon in a sexualized way (which I personally don't take issue with as long as readers can be forewarned, ideally, and I think you should approach EVERY historical romance that's like... 15+ years old with the idea that it COULD be there; and you can often find out whether or not it is by reading reviews). Some just DID NOT HAVE IT.

The reality is that the people who used bodice rippers to demean these books weren't really thinking of that, and they weren't checking these books to see if they had consent issues. They were referring to this idea that there was a sexualized historical romance in which a bodice was ripped, often but not always with a "I DON'T WANT TO WANT IT BUT I DO" vibe.

And some people will always see every historical romance that doesn't have cartoony looking people on the cover as a bodice ripper. Sarah MacLean's A Rogue by Any Other Name doesn't have any consent issues and I don't think bodices were ripped, but to some readers because there's a stepback with a shirtless guy, it's a bodice ripper. Sure! Whatever! Just read the book it's super good!

To me, if I had to separate bodice rippers out from different historicals, I would say that it's less about consent (which so many readers, again, seem to coalesce around) and more about a general tone and content type that was MUCH more common in 80s and 90s, maybe early 2000s books than it is now. And that is to say--there is VERY passionate romance with VERY big feelings, a sense of adventure and high stakes (often literally life or death), a propensity towards hotheadedness and angst, alpha heroes and tempestuous heroines, and what we'd probably call camp.

Like, I'd call the Gaelen Foley books I've been reading, The Pirate Prince and Princess, bodice rippers. They're very adventurous, they literally take a lot of time going everywhere in the world (well, not EVERYWHERE), the stakes are astronomically high, and there's this focus on clashing between the hero and heroine, but in a very fun, "they wanna rip each other's clothes off" kind of way. The Pirate Princes does have some dicey consent at points (mostly just the hero threatening tbh), but so far Princess is pretty fucking solid on that front between the hero and heroine. If anything, she's coming at him.

I'd also say that these books touch on some pretty heavy emotional trauma stuff at points. They're fun, they're campy, but they're far from dumb or shallow.

Johanna Lindsey's books are largely under the bodice ripper Classic label. Everything from her westerns (Angel) to her viking books (Fires of Winter). They're all over the place in terms of consent, they're very campy and operate on melodrama, they go HARD on every! Beat!

The other J's wrote a lot of them as well. Jude Deveraux's Highland series comes to mind, plus her medieval Montgomery books; Julie Garwood's medievals like The Bride; Judith McNaught's Whitney, My Love is a Regency example, whereas her A Kingdom of Dreams in a medieval example.

I mean... Lisa Kleypas has definitely gone there, more so with her older books; I think Dreaming of You reads pretty bodice ripper-y at points, if we're going with the idea I laid out above.

I'll go out on a limb and say that Beverly Jenkins's Indigo has some bodice ripper elements--yes, Hester is a very sensible heroine and Galen is a rake but never, from what I remember, disrespectful of her consent or lack there of. But there is some high stakes adventuring, one famous villain in the novel is HIGH CAMP. Like, the book doesn't often get this label because I think people approach Bev's books and go "she did a lot of research, this book is about The Underground Railroad, it's not supposed to be Fun or Campy" BUT THEY ARE. THEY ARE FUN. THEY CAN BE CAMPY. They can be smart and soulful and insightful and romantic and FUN AND CAMPY. Because she's that good. These writers are that good! They can do it all!

So yeah. I'd say these books are what I'd think of, among others.

[bloomingdead]

“I was kidding about being a ship hater but I also want to blast Ereloy fans with my eye beams and insult their favorite character character by calling him ugly.” Whatever, dude. If you want to remain toxic and bitter, that’s on you.

bruh took everything i said out of context and harped on my ugly erend joke (he is). i do wanna blast u diehards w my eye beams!!! gtfo of here! erend is still one of my favorite characters, and he's obviously the closest friend aloy has at this point (maybe other than her sister but imo they're still working on bringing closeness to their relationship).

people really seem to think that because i find shipping him with aloy inappropriate, and you guys greasy for doing it, that i must hate him. i don't. he's charming, with a way about him that's hard to ignore (himbo energy). he tries his best to be there for the people he cares about and loves super hard. he's great at public speaking and rallying people to his cause, whatever that may be in the moment. he's incredibly loyal to his job even if that means bending avad's requests to fit what he deems most important in the moment. plus avad respects him so much that he doesn't care!! and his underlings on the vanguard will NOT let go of the crush he had in hzd, to his humiliation as we see the confrontation with aloy followed by his drunkenness at barren light. he has good taste in music, the soul of a metalhead, and a heart of gold. he lost his sister as aloy came into his life, and there's every context clue to show that this crush fizzled out as he came to respect aloy more as an equal. he said something along the lines of "i thought i was a bigshot talking to a pretty girl from a tiny tribe... now i see i was lucky just to get a minute of your time" and the ereloys takes this as some proclamation of love when to me and many others it comes off as a transition within their relationship towards mutual respect and appreciation.

let's be real about who's truly bitter. you old bitches who keep trying to ship aloy with a man at least 10 years her senior, or those of us who just want to enjoy the game for what it is without diehard shippers telling us what was literally written into the story by its creators is wrong. just because he's age appropriate for you doesn't mean it's okay that you project so much onto aloy that you can't remember she's at most 20yo. or the contrary, you're so fuckin young that you can't see how inappropriate it is because they all seem like old ass adults to you. it just gives "you're really mature for your age" vibes. ew. not to mention, as one of my lovely anons did, that this spike in hetero ship content for aloy happened AFTER seyka was introduced. >inb4 "a BiSeXuAl WoMaN iN a ReLaTiOnShIp WiTh A sTr8 mAn Is sTiLl QuEeR" bffr, as a (now out&proud lesbian, i must add) woman who's dated hetero men in the past, does that man know he's in a queer relationship or consider it to be one because his girl is? in the case of erend and the nuances in his character which are intended to relate to a type of man we all know, (that you guys bulldoze with your hc's,) fuck the fuck no. most cishet men don't.

this is the kind of discourse we get when fanon becomes more important to people than what's literally written into the story. i love erend! yeah i am a little irritated that people started popping their horussies out for their favorite (hetero) ship after we got a canon (GAY) romance in the game. if you guys had any critical thinking skills/media literacy, you'd have gotten the point by now that even if aloy isn't a lesbian, she's never going to end up with your favorite male character. you'd also understand why the gayshippers are irritated with you guys doing this in the wake of homophobic review bombing. because now we know aloy is capable of romantic feelings and no one but seyka has brought that side out of her so far. you can call it bad writing all you want, it's my opinion vs yours. doesn't change the direction the series is going in terms of aloy's romantic future.