#so many good quotes hard to choose tbh

[kxllakxm]

IT (2017)

This isn't real enough for you, Billy? I'm not real enough for you? It was real enough for Georgie!

[azsazz]

SJM Ask Game

Thank you for the tag @daydreaming-nerd !! 💙💙 (I do want to hear those redacted answers for where you put tharion lol) I feel like it's been so long since I've been on tumblr or even done one of these but I'm excited💙

1) What’s your favourite SJM book?

Hmmmm I'm gonna say ACOMAF because that's when I was first introduced to Azzy and the obsession began 💙😈

2) Which is your favourite series (tog, acotar or cc)

If you don't know me, CC is one of the worst books I've ever read. It's hard to choose between ACOTAR and TOG tho because they were both really good....

3) Who is your favourite character? (And why?)

Hehehehehehehehe. Az obviously 🥰

4) Do you have a favourite quote from one of the books?

Hmmmm...tbh not really...the ones that stay stuck in my head are the cringey ones...BUT, let's go with "Cassian shot him a glare. 'I don't see you spouting poetry, brother.' Azriel crossed his arms, still smiling faintly, 'I don't need to resort to it.'" THAT'S GODDAMN RIGHT BBY YOU DONT 💙💙 legs spread for mah boi

5) Favourite ship?

Azris frfr

6) Elriel or Gwynriel? Or neither?

Azris frfr

7) Who’s the most underrated SJM character?

Oooof there's so many. Fenrys. I've never gotten enough of him.

8) Which character do you wish to learn more about?

Azris frfr. I want both of their backstories rn

9) Are there any characters you don’t like?

Bryce Quinlan and Danika Fendyr

10) Favourite bat boy?

My king azriel 💙💙

11) Favourite court?/ Which one would you most like to live in?

Honestly I'd probably either live in Autumn or Night tbh.

12) Favourite SJM villain?

Does Tamlin count? lol.

13) If you could change one thing in any of the books what would it be?

That CC never happened

14) Favourite SJM theory?

Azris frfr

15) Favourite Archeron sister?

Prob Ness

16) A character you feel is over-hated/ underrated:

over-rated: bryce quinlan

under-rated: chaol 💙

17) Aelin, Bryce, or Feyre?

Aelin!!

18) What’s your favourite character from each series?

Fenrys, Azriel, Ruhn

19) If you wrote an acotar book what would you call it?

A Court of Smoke and Cinders? (azris frfr)

20) Who is your favourite acotar blogger?

nah there's literally too many to choose from

21)What fics would you recommend to people who love the series?

The Serpent and the Wings of Night

Questions for writers

22) Easiest character to write for?

Azzy because i built him brick by brick

23) Hardest character to write for?

LUCIEN. IDK WHY

24) What’s a character you’d like to write for but haven’t yet?

lol who haven't i written for? hmmmm...maybe fenrys, aedion, or hunt?

25) What’s a court you’d like to write about more?

Dawn!

26) What’s a character you won’t write for and why?

hmmm...idk I'd like to say that I'd try anything once...

27) If you could only write for one character ever again, who would you pick?

azzy. nobody compares to him

28) Whats your favourite trope to write about when it comes to Azriel?

right now i think modern aus...in any sort. or anything that involves angst i love putting everyone thru some shit

29) What do you think is the best/favourite acotar fic you’ve written?

hmmmm...i feel like this is impossible to choose

30) Who are your favourite friendships to write about?

eris x anyone because this man needs a friend

31) For first time readers to your blog, which three fics would you recommend they read?

LMAO ummm...I'll list at least one for. every character

Az: Cupid's Chokehold or Midnight Muse

Cass: In Storm or Dial Drunk or Better Men Have Hit Their Knees and Bigger Men Have Died

Eris: You Know I Always Liked Playing with Fire or Hide

Rhys: Clandestine Love or Dioxazine

Lucien: The Other Woman or My Happy Ending

or literally any poly can't go wrong with those tbh

No pressure tags: @writingsbychlo @acourtofwhatthefuck @i-am-a-lost-girl16 @azrielhours @a-frog-with-a-laptop or anyone else who wants to participate!

[not-poignant]

9, 13 & 25 for Gwyn, please. Any universe you like.

Picking Gwyn from The Nascent Diplomat!

9. Do you have a specific lyric or quote which you associate with your OC?

I don't. I think because of the way my brain works, I don't really associate quotes (or specific lyrics) with characters most of the time. Though Gwyn does have a playlist and I definitely associate all of these songs with him!

13. If you met your OC, would the two of you get along?

Tbh I think we both wouldn't want to have much to do with each other and in that sense we'd get along great, lmao. We're both intense introverts who have a trauma history and aren't looking to make a ton of friends, or if we are, it has to be people who are okay not seeing us all the time, or hearing from us often. And since I feel like we'd both be fine with that re: each other, we'd get along okay, probably better if we hardly ever saw each other.

25. What is your favorite thing about your OC?

For this version of Gwyn, it's his stubborn guardedness and how hard he protects himself and his vulnerability. A lot of The Nascent Diplomat purely rests and turns on the moments Gwyn is either forced to be open, chooses openness or refuses it. It would be a very different story if Gwyn, from the beginning, was open to diplomacy with the vench.

I enjoyed writing him so much because he had this like... hmm... he was resistant to his own healing, which is very typical of many victims of CSA. He had been raised within one world, any other world was truly threatening to him, not just the world of the vench, but a world where he might admit that he wants a good relationship with the Raven Prince, or where he admits that he wants hope.

And it's weird to be like 'that's my favourite thing about him' but honestly that aspect of him is relatable in a personal way, and I just really enjoyed sharing an experience that is sadly very common for quite a few of us, that rarely gets written about to this degree because it has to be resolved by the end of an 80k novel. Whereas Gwyn gave me plenty of time to spend with him and this quality, and I appreciate that.

~

From the edgy OC meme!

[vintagelacerosette]

Weekly tag game & procrastinate tag game

Thanks yall for the tag 🥰 Sorry I'm late😅

Macy @heymacy Evie @energievie Kaka @stocious

Deanna @deedala Alice @spookygingerr Lyds @ardent-fox

Lyle @kiinard Julia @blue-disco-lights Vey @look-i-love-u Jade @jademickian

Name: Myn

Age: 27

Your time zone: AEST

What do you do for work? Gov customer service with ppls licences, registrations & stuff

Do you have any pets? Doggy named Roxy

What first drew you to this fandom? I wanted a YouTube compilation

Are you a morning person or a night owl? Bit of both when I get my sleep schedule right lol. I can be a morning person lol but usually a night owl 😆

What are your hobbies? Drawing, painting, singing karaoke, reading fanfic

How tall are you? 151cm or 4'11

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? Iceland or Finland give me a meadow side by the beach

Favourite colour? Pink 🌸🎀🩷

Favourite book? Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Favourite movie? Ahhh so hard to choose but I'll go with The Old Guard

Favourite fic?

Oh my goodness too many to choose from!! The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Ian Gallagher: An iconic fic favourite of all time tbh

Let the bodies do the talking: EMT Ian & emotionally repressed, but Soft Mickey. Slow burn & smut glore!

The cauldron born series: A magical Ian & Mickey falling in love

Favourite musical artist: Currently Sabrina Carpenter

What is your average screen time so far this week? Omg 12hours & 28 minutes??? 😅

What's the first app you open in the morning? Tumblr for y'all 🥰

How long have you been on tumblr? On a technicality, it's 13 bc I made my account in 2012, but spirituality it's 10 bc I wasn't active until 2014 lol

Finally (and i know this one is hard) tell me a fun fact about yourself: I was apart of a Filipino music concert as a kid Called Twinkle Twinkle Music Star. We sanf many songs like We will Rock You, Part of your world in DIY costumes. I had a duet Solo with a guy singing Somewhere Out There & I have the DVD of it haha.

rules: first celebrity, outfit, quote, and aesthetic pic on pinterest is your vibe

Omg it took so long to find a damn quote jeez

Not tagging anyone bc I'm late 😜

[womaninwinter]

Fanfic Writer Emoji Ask

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

🌞 Do you have a preferred time of day to write?

💖 What made you start writing?

🎉 What leads you to consider a fic a success?

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

🤯 What's a genre you struggle with as a writer (ex. romance, action, etc.)?

(whoops I forgot about this for a hot second) thank you friend!!

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

hm, there are soooo many fics from old fandoms that I am mortified that I wrote. Fortunately, they are all deleted. For L&Co, I am pretty proud of most of it, although I now see that some of my earlier fics are not as good as I thought they were at the time. And I'm not sure that I would reeeeally choose to write Cutting Room Floor again. But it had quite a big impact, so from that perspective, I'm glad I did.

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

I love the moment between Lockwood and Quill in the last chapter of Gutted:

“What are you doing here?” His voice came out in its usual hospital rasp. Kipps put the heels of his stupid pointy boots on the edge of Lockwood’s bed. “You know how they say that there are things you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy?” Lockwood blinked at him. “I’ve heard of the concept.” “Well.” Kipps gestured at him with what appeared to be a disposable coffee cup. “Here we are.” Doped up as he was, it took Lockwood a second to parse this. Then he raised an eyebrow. “I’m your worst enemy?” “Don’t get a swelled head about it.” “I’m sixteen, Kipps. You’re nearly thirty. That’s kind of sad.” “I am not nearly —” Kipps broke off, apparently realising he was being baited. “That smack on the head didn’t make you any funnier.”

Just... really proud of this one.

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

Wildest ride for the reader or the writer?? For the reader, probably the Intruder, lol. That one starts crazy and stays crazy. For me as a writer, probably one I haven't actually published, because I started it and deleted it so many times. That was when I was having myself a lil freakout about fandom in general last summer. I am over that now, obvs.

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

babe, you know the answer to this one, hahahaha. It's Sleep Token. Eveeeerything is Sleep Token right now. Particularly Jaws/Blood Sport. I also listened to this a lot while writing the St Anthony fic.

🌞 Do you have a preferred time of day to write?

literally any time, I just want some freaking time to WRITE ugh!!! I generally manage to carve out half an hour in the evening, right before bed.

💖 What made you start writing?

turned 30 and almost immediately had a crisis, complete with brand new hyperfixation and 100k+ of fic.

🎉 What leads you to consider a fic a success?

Sometimes, when you write something well, you just know you've done good work and that's a kind of personal satisfaction no amount of gushing comments can give you. That said, I do also crave comments because I am a normal human being and I love attention.

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

Descriptions of food. Scripture quotes (okay, that one's on purpose). Advice my dad has given me. Characters struggling with self-loathing (I am FINE, fic is just cheaper than therapy and much more fun tbh)

🤯 What's a genre you struggle with as a writer (ex. romance, action, etc.)?

Action is definitely hard to do and I will tend to keep action scenes as short as humanly possible.

[taylortruther]

Rae I was just having thoughts about You're Losing Me a while ago, and it really is just such an enigmatic song yk. I can never explain the way it made me feel the first time I heard it.

Just sumn about hearing all those wonderful, romantic, idyllic love songs about Joe for five whole albums and then just. YLM hits you like a truck because till then we still hadn't processed it all. Joe had been painted as this perfect, calm supportive partner who can do no wrong and Taylor is happy and it will always stay that way...and then April 9th happened.

Public perception is a crazy thing, and it's even crazier how nobody even DARED to speak the words that thy could've broken up before they did...but the red flags were there all along. It reminds me of the line in sotb "I don't speak, afraid to jinx it" and now that song is in the denial playlist. Truly everyone was in denial for like a month after the news dropped and we weren't even IN the relationship, I can't imagine how bad it was for Taylor herself.

Someone on Twitter quoted the breakup announcement with "Isn't this the guy she wrote Lover for? Yeah, we're all screwed". Amazing how much her own songs made everyone believe everything was okay till the very last moments.

I think especially what YLM strikes me as is a song centered around not wanting to throw away a "good thing" i.e. the Do I throw out everything we built or keep it?

YLM is so horribly bleak imo, because it's not hopeful AT ALL. The last line is very literally her "making the decision" that unless he chooses her, she's done. And to think this was written in 2021?? Had she already accepted the truth back then? Did the denial stage start even BEFORE that? Was she sitting in the dark room for an year and a half?

The thing that hurts the most about a song like this with all the lyric parallels, is watching something you thought was gonna last forever turn out to be so disapointing in the end. Not WANTING to lose something you've built with so much love, even when you realise that the love has disappeared. The shattering of a mirage. All the We survived the great war imagery on Midnights to My heart won't start anymore for you. Her paralleling her own past songs will always break me. The silence that only comes when two people understand each other to You say 'I don't understand' and I say 'I know you don't'.

Of course the fandom believed at a point that they were endgame, but SO DID SHE. That is what makes the song harder to digest because it really feels like a personal letter to her fans, released ONLY for us months before it was made available to the public. I stand behind the theory that Midnights was the Denial album, and YLM (the bridge between Midnights and TTPD) is her waking up.

i know this isn't the point of your ask, but bear with me! i would argue that many fans realized some songs were describing dark or heavy moments - but, call it parasocial if you like, the fandom just wanted to believe they were working through those issues, not that the relationship was unhealthy or bad. (and no one wants to be labeled as a hater, which, maybe we can work on as a fandom now lol.) for example, i thought hoax and renegade were troubling, the line "your integrity makes me seem small" rubbed many of us the wrong way, we all clocked "maybe it was her"... meanwhile, unfortunately there were lots of theories about how it was "all in her head," which fortunately i think we can all put in perspective now. OK BUT MY POINT IS, it also makes it easy to imagine (as you said), that when you're IN the relationship itself, the good parts might overshadow the bad. you could cling to something that is beyond saving because there's still comfort or hope, and denial is extremely strong. denial can feel like hope tbh.

i think ylm really shows that she was trying so so hard, for so so long, that she was running out of steam in late 2021. and he wasn't make it easier for her, because he wasn't making his needs or true desires clear.

ANYWAY good thoughts, i enjoyed this ask!

[magpiefngrl]

Fic author self-rec

Rules: 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. Let’s spread the self-love 💙

Thank you for the tag @tenthousandyearsx a few weeks ago! I wanted to wait and get a couple of my WIPs ready and posted before doing it, but I'm now back to full time work so it's unlikely I'll finish those WIPs any time soon. 😢 So, here's 5 old fics of mine that I'm fond of. It's hard to choose a favourite, so I chose rather randomly, whatever popped in my head first tbh.

They're all drarry.

The Unquiet Grave (E, 21,5k, gothic vibes)

Quote: ‘What will happen is this. You’ll drag me to a poncy restaurant one evening soon, and I’ll complain about the number of forks and the size of the portions. Then I’ll drag you to my local and you’ll complain about the wine list and the clientele. This will be a recurring theme. But every time, every single time, we’ll end up in my bed — or yours — and I’ll make you forget your own name.’

My thoughts: I reread this yesterday after years, and I ended up really enjoying it. I particularly liked the dialogue in this read. I'm pretty happy with how this fic turned out. It's got a gothic mood and fits an autumnal mood; I often rec it for Halloween.

Sometimes a man needs (E, 5.5k, Flower Shop)

Quote: Harry knew what a huge mistake the whole thing was, but he’d already fallen for Malfoy, so what harm would a few more nights do? What harm would it do to kiss Malfoy some more and inhale his intoxicating smell? What harm was it that Malfoy spent almost every evening with Harry and whispered things in the dark that he never alluded to in the day? Harry was in love and in pain, but he might as well get what he could while he could.

My thoughts: I love the magical flower shop I created here, the types of flowers I came up with, and, craft-wise, I love Harry's voice. I remember I'd struggled with this fic, starting and deleting, starting and deleting, until I got a handle on Harry's voice and then it flowed in a morning.

The Gift (E, 29,5k, Captive Prince references)

Quote:  Draco’s desires — at least where Potter is concerned — are a tangle, messed up like he is. A war of contradictions: Draco wants to please Potter, and he wants to hurt him. He wants to see Potter in ecstasy, but he can’t allow himself to be the one to do it. So, he’s chosen another way, a way that gives and takes at the same time. ‘You’ve been such a good boy so far,’ Draco tells Potter and watches with pleasure his instant reaction, the blood colouring his face. ‘I think you deserve a treat for being so good. So… obedient. Which is why Adam here will give you a… gift.’

My thoughts: Used to have complicated feelings about this one. I'd hidden it for years and only revealed it a couple of months ago. Draco is a writer here and channels many of my doubts and insecurities. It's not a fic that has a wide appeal, not cute or fluffy at all, but I love my prose here and I had fun with inserting CaPri nods and writing excerpts of a magical CaPri story.

The Boy Who Died (E, 26.8k, Voldemort Wins AU)

Quote: At times he thought he noticed his own lust mirrored in Malfoy’s gaze, like when he cooked and Harry sat on the kitchen table, mouth and fingers sticky with treacle syrup or brown sugar, or when Harry left the shower in his pyjama bottoms, his hair soft like a waterfall down his bare shoulders. Harry had taken to sleeping topless; he couldn’t get used to Malfoy’s fancy pyjamas, and although Malfoy had looked extremely put out the first time, he didn’t object.

My thoughts: I'm just so fond of this one! I thought of the reincarnation plot because of wangxian and I peppered some wangxian Easter eggs in this fic, but I didn't expect to fall in love with this dystopian, Voldemort Wins 'verse. It's a bleak world but somehow this fic has become one of my comfort reads and I've reread it often since posting it.

Through the Looking Glass and What Draco Found There (E, 17.4k, Mirror of Erised alternate dimension)

Quote: Getting to know Harry was to love him: hearing him laugh at Weasley’s jokes, watching him sleep, witnessing his passionate devotion to what was right and the ardor with which he supported his friends. He had butterflies in his stomach just at the sight of him; a sentiment he attempted to hide under a mask of cool detachment, because if anyone found out, Draco would be kicked out of Slytherin for incurable soppiness.

My thoughts: I love the Mirror universe I came up with, and am proud of the treatment of the Shrieking Shack in this fic, which I haven't seen elsewhere. It's one of my works I'm most proud of. I didn't expect it'd be emotional, but I've received a bunch of comments, some of them very recently, saying it made readers cry. oops?

I'm guessing many of you have done the latest round of this author game. So, tagging everyone who hasn't done it and wants to! Would love to see the fics you rec and why xx

[sam-loves-seb]

new year's ask game for fic writers:

thanks for the tags @mybrainismelted and @rayrayor !

1) What fic did you have the most fun writing this year and why? Or, if you can’t decide, what was most fun about writing this year for you?

i had the most fun writing what we stay alive for this past year, it was really a passion project of mine that turned into this wonderful labor of love

2) What’s a scene/story that you finished and felt “wow, I really accomplished that, that actually went so well”?

probably loving you with no conditions, i've always really wanted to write a fic with that premise but i put it off for a long time because i was worried i wouldn't do it justice. but in the end, i think people really liked it, and it's one of the fics i'm most proud of tbh

3) What helped provide the most inspiration for stories, if anything? Was it poetry? A song on repeat? A gorgeous gifset? A walk outside? A book you read that made you want to change everything? Whatever it was! Tell all.

unfortunately the thing that inspires me most continues to be running/exercise. i cannot even begin to tell you how many plot bunnies/outlines i wrote in my head during runs last summer when i was training for a race. idk what it is, but when i'm locked in with my headphones on, my mind starts to wander and it gives me some really good ideas (and some wild ones, but those are fun too from a creative standpoint)

4) What is something you want to share about what you’ve written this year? A particular line, a comment that made you feel really good, a scene that was difficult to write — you get to choose! What do you wish someone would ask you about when it comes to what you’ve written?

god, i don't know. i've gotten a lot of really wonderful comments this year, too many to pick just one.

a scene that was difficult to write would probably be all of chapter four of orange juice, that fic overall is hard to write (but i still want to finish it someday)

but i write more fluff than anything so i also wanted to add a scene that was really fun to write, and that was writing mickey high as fuck in i need you (like cake on my birthday)

and to start off 2024…

1) Do you have any writing/creation goals for the year? What are they?

my goal for the year is to write two (2) complete multi-chapter fics. i mostly exist in the oneshot world in the shameless fandom, but i miss plotting big long fics and i really want to try and stick with at least two this year.

2) Is there a fic or idea that you’re really excited to be able to continue to work on in the new year (shout out to my fellow fic writing folks who take forever to finish wips, sometimes it’s nice to be able to continue working on something even if you wish you’d gotten it done! Now you get even MORE time with it!)

i think rock star mickey au is the idea that i most want to see come to life in 2024. i've been plotting it in my head since like july and one day i want to be confident enough to actually write the vision that plays on a loop in my subconscious.

3) What’s something new in your writing you want to try/are going to try? A different writing style? Different fandom? Darker works? Fluffier? Longer or shorter?

god, i mean, i guess i want to try writing more smut? i don't write a lot of it rarely any ever but i want to put a little bit in my big bang fic, and maybe some in some other fic ideas i have too. so yeah. maybe i'll try more of that in 2024 idk don't quote me on it.

4) What’s something you love about your own writing that you will continue to appreciate in the new year?

honestly i really like the way i write dialogue. it sounds very natural to me, idk if anyone else agrees, but when i re-read some of my fics i'm just like yeah exactly he would say that

(and maybe it's bad or wildly out of character but idk. i like it.)

tagging anyone who wants to play <3 happy 2024 my friends!

[loserchildhotpants]

those are great photos! You look happy <3 question for journaling what is a favorite quote? (and why if you want). also unrelated question, for the journaling, you can write about anything, subject doesn't matter? (if you wanna share ofc)

; u ; thank you!

despite being Severely Mentally Ill i am generally a p happy person - that's why the Severe Mental Illness sucks so much. by my v nature im a p happy, giggly person, but then the Big Sad comes and puts my brain on a train straight to Dissociation Station where i become stranded. but Nathan's gotten good at capturing candid moments of me actively being happy and honestly that's helped a lot (not just w my self-esteem issues bc it IS helping that, but also in like... reminding me that i AM a happy person? hard to explain)

skldjhf i don't know if i can choose a favorite quote omg skdjhf uhhhhh HH HHHHHH there's way too many. i keep a Google Doc w my favorites, but they span so many centuries and topics i'd have no way of narrowing it down. i WILL say that a famous quote i use a lot, probably more than any other, is 'comparison is the thief of joy.'

That's not to say it's my 'favorite' per se, just that it's the one i use most frequently.

and idk! im supposed to be journaling how im feeling but tbh that's the issue w dissociation - im NOT feeling stuff. i sit and stare at pages and go 'idk what she wants me to put down here. numbness? a vague sense of dread? or does she want me to mention the gasping, crippling anxiety from last night that came on w no trigger and rolled from one attack into another? am i happy? im not actively miserable, so does that mean im fine? is anything even actually wrong w me?'

i don't think i know how to write like, for the sake of myself. idk how to choose a topic to journal abt. examining myself feels like peeling my flesh off and if i can overcome that, i wind up being like 'why am i journaling my feelings? what's so important abt me that it needs documentation? im literally Just Some Guy, my problems aren't that big, im not important enough to warrant documentation' and i can HEAR how that's self-esteem issues talking but i genuinely struggle w it.

but that's why it's nice to get asks like this bc i can actually talk it out and i can USE this. is it journaling in the most conventional sense? no, but it's working at getting me to write stuff down that has to do w me. something something im able to write abt myself and my experiences if it's at the request of someone else something something i cannot seem to accomplish these tasks if it's me doing it for my own sake bc i don't consider myself worth this effort something something

anyway ilu thank u for sending me this <3

[professoraurabolt]

Hi my very dear and lovely friend @cherubimeyes asked me to answer every single question to the Layton meme, yes all 40 of them, so umm, basically, I die. (yes i'm tagging you because look look look look look l-) Putting under a read more because, you know.

Oh and uh, obvious spoilers for like, every game

1) Who is your favourite character?

Luke, it's Luke, always has been always will be, he's just a boy and I love him so so so so so so so much. He's just so silly he makes me so happy anytime I see him, he’s literally just a 13 year old boy and he’s my son :')

2) What’s your favourite game?

Hate this question, hate it because there's things about every PL game that are my favourite and I genuinely love every entry in the series. Though if you made me pick, it'd say either Lost Future or Spectre's Call, I can't choose between those two at all so you have to take that as my answer hehe.

3) What’s your favourite soundtrack?

Lost future hands DOOOWN, they went so hard on the OST for this one like it's insane, like so many of the songs on that soundtrack are so memorable and they stand out so well I jUST AAAA. 

Plus the main theme makes me cry every time I hear it is so good. I love all the Layton main themes tbh they always fuck so hard lol but Lost Futures one is just the best to me its so all over the place but in such a good way.

4) What’s your favourite puzzle?

Ummmmmm I can't remember tbh, even more of an excuse to go play every layton game again lol. I do like sliding/jigsaw puzzles so anything along those lines would be one of my favourites!

The Alchemist Lab from MM’s and AL’s daily puzzles are a big favourite of mine! 

5) What’s your favourite setting? (Misthallery, Monte d’Or, etc…)

I really fucking love Misthallery, like just the vibe for it is so good to me, mainly because it really does come off like a weird English town that's you'd just stumbled upon while exploring. Plus it's so….Misty..

6) What outfit of Luke’s is your favourite?

Gonna go with the OG trilogy on this one, sorry I just think his jumper is cute, I do love his other outfits though they're such a look. So hyped to see what his new outfit is going to be but I already love it!!!

7) What’s your favourite cutscene?

Maaaaaaaan there’s so many that stand out it’s hard for me to pick one!!! Any scene with Claire, all the fight scenes, the ferris wheel scene, the one where Luke gets fucking kidnapped and just screams for like a whole minute, any scene with Randal, the little cutscene where Arouras getting her new outfits (why was she Irish btw?), the ending to PL vs AA. They’re all so good to me and I love them all so much, insane. 

8 ) What’s your favourite end credits song?

Azran Legacy's, I know AL isn't everyone's favourite because of how the story is but come oONNN THE END CREDIT SONG IS SUCH A GUT PUNCH, especially with the original Japanese lyrics to it!!! Genuinely sad they never dubbed over the end credit songs with lyrics because holy shit all the songs hit different with vocals added, I love you saxophone but you will never be a vocalist.

9) What’s your favourite minigame?

The tea mini game, I love giving those two the most rancid tea possible and watching them cry over it. I am really just a 5 year old making "potions" for people to consume and get sick from. Over favourite is the hotel mini game, I always feel super bad if i can’t get them both a bed before their first night at St Mystere but I love hearing them bitch and complain about their room layouts so much, Luke gets two beds just as a treat. :)

10) What’s your favourite animal/pet? (The bunny from MM, the parrot from UF, etc, etc.)

I love the bunny minigame but honestly the parrot, for the sole reason that you can name it My Dick and have Clive say "just sit back, and watch My Dick work its magic", like that is never not funny and if you say otherwise you're lying.

11) Do you have a favourite quote? If yes, what is it?

“Isn’t that odd, I find that odd! Doland, do you find that odd?” - Professor Layton

It is, in fact, odd.

12) If you could have a spinoff game about one character, who would you choose and what would the game be about?

Still holding out for that Luke solo American game, or just any Luke solo game, I know there was a mini one for Pandora's Box but I want a full game, send him out into the world to solve mysteries please he’ll love it.

I’ll also take an Flora, Emmy, or even Randal solo game, though I have no fuckin idea what kind of game. You think I could get a Randal farming simulator game??? Please???

13) If you could meet any character’s voice actor and have them say something to you as their character, who would you choose and what would you have them say?

I really wanna meet Luke's UK voice actor and ask her to say "Professor, have you heard of the hit new game Among us? Pretty Sus innit", I don't care how much money I have to pay for it, no price is high enough.

14) If you could punch one character in the face, who would it be?

Bill Hawks, I hate the government and I still want that bitch dead.

15) Would you change how any of the games are executed? If yes,what would you change?

The only one I'd change would be Azran Legacy, all I’d really do is just make the story more fixed/linier instead of giving the choice to the player, I just found it made the game feel a lot shorter than it is.

16) Did you enjoy PL-vs-PW?

YES YES YES I FUCKING DID SO MUCH, Mainly because this game gave me Darklaw and I don't talk about her nearly as much as I should, she takes up so much space in my brain. 

I do suck at court cases so the ace Attorney parts were a bit challenging but other than that, it's a good game and I love it a lot teehee

17) Do you have any headcanons? If yes, what?

I do not, aside from like small things that I really can’t think of off the top of my head I got nothing, I’m sure if you sat me down and asked me to think hard enough i’d come up with one but my mind goes blank when i’m put on the spot lol

18) Did you cry at any games? If yes, what ones)

Yes, all of them, every single one, there is no exception. PL games just hit me in the emotions too much and make me so and cry and throw up everywhere.

19) Do you prefer the 2D art or the 3D art?

Gotta say 2D, no hate to the 3D style because I do actually like it, but not everyone translates well over to 3D, especially with how most of the Layton characters look.

That being said, hopefully they’ve improved a lot for the new game, but man I do think the push to make every game 3D is… not a good one lol.

20) How many times have you played your favourite game?

Ohhhhhh man idk, I replay the whole series like every year or so but it's been a while so I don't remember. Definitely more than once, I think I replayed Lost Future as soon as I completed it the first time because there’s something wrong with me.

21) Do you cosplay any characters? If yes, who? If no, would you like to? Who would you choose?

I used to cosplay as Luke a lot back when I was younger, haven't done it since because you know, I got other things to cosplay, but I could probably pull off his look a lot better now than I did then, my hairs actually short now. I would need to but everything again because despite not growing since I was 10, I have outgrown his old costume, still got the hat somewhere though hah!

22) Do you have any merchandise? If yes, what? If no, would you like any? What would you get?

I don’t have a lot but that’s just from me not going out to get it! I have the Eternal Diva Luke plush who’s one of my oldest plushes and I love him so much!!! Other than that, I have the Fangamer Curious Village t-shit which I wear whenever it’s clean, and I have a bunch of fan merch too! I just try and pick up PL stuff whenever I can but I definitely want to get into collecting more of it!

23) Has the series had an impact on your life?

Um??? Yes??? You think playing a video game at the age of 11 wouldn't??? This game has impacted me in ways I can't describe and helped spark my love for art and storytelling and creativity, so without it I wouldn't be nearly half the person I am today, it's hard for me to articulate exactly how, but trust me it has and I am so grateful for it.

24) When did you first discover the series?

I got Lost Future advertised to me in 2010, I don’t think i’d heard of the game series before, I wasn’t as chronically online as I am now so back then TV ads really did work on me lmao

25) How old were you when you first discovered the series?

I was about 11 or so, you know, a crucial age to have media influence your entire life.

26) How did you discover the series?

Again, it got advertised to me, so I asked to get Lost Future for christmas and my life has been a downward spiral ever since lmao

27) Will you play Layton 7?

Oh man you can tell this meme is old lmao

I can't even remember what Layton 7 was originally going to be??? Like I know it ended up being Kat's game but I know it was planned to be something before that, but I seriously can't remember what it was. But umm yes I will play layton 7, I'm one of those annoying fans that will play anything in a series regardless of its quality.

28) Do you have any ideas that could easily be future games?

I can’t think, they’re literally making a new one and I have no idea what it could be at this point, so they can throw whatever they want at me at this point and i’ll take it.

29) Did you enjoy Mystery Room?

Honestly, I never played it. I know I should and I probably will at one point, but I didn't have a smartphone when it was released so I kinda missed out on the hype for it unfortunately, again I might play it now but yea we’ll see, Alfred is a whole mood dhdjbwhd

30) If you could tell one character something, who would it be and what would you say?

I’d say to Clive that he had the right idea but a giant mobile fortress wasn’t the brightest idea, if he had the money to build a giant robot toy, he could’ve just exploded parliament instead. Think smarter Clive, also have fun rotting in prison, hope you stay there.

31) Did you enjoy Eternal Diva?

I LOVE ETERNAL DIVA SO MUCH!!! It’s such a Layton movie, like it's the perfect video game movie to me!!! it's just, so Layton. Everyone I've ever met has been subjected to this movie at some point in their life, it’s like important research in order to understand what’s up with me. If I'm friends with someone who hasn’t seen it yet, don’t worry, you soon will.

32) What was the saddest moment/s in the games for you?

Literally all the endings??? That’s why I keep crying like a bitch over all of them.

Though Luke leaving to go to America will never not make me cry, like just the whole set up for it as well as the end cutscene just, god that sucks so much wAA. Also any mention from Luke about his family makes me sad too, like both in Specters Call and PL vs AA, I don’t know why I just find it sad, boy deserves so much better than what happened to him in Specters Call like come OOON, Weird kids deserve so much love.

Oh also, the reunion scene in PL vs AA wasn’t sad but it still made me cry, so mad it never got turned into a cutscene.

33) Have you met people as a result of playing the games?

YES! MANY! A good chunk of my early online friends were from our shared interest in Layton! Even today I will happily bond with someone over this game and I am always happy to introduce people to it, it’s just such an amazing series that I really can’t praise enough. Hey you, dear mutual, if you’re reading this and you’re a Layton fan and you’ve never talked to me, you’re already my friend now because you have amazing taste in video games. 

34) Do you want more games or do you think the series has run its course and is fine as it is?

OK SO, I ANSWERED THIS QUESTION A WHILE AGO AND ORIGINALLY I SAID NO, BUT THAT WAS BEFORE FEBRUARY 8TH 2023. I am bouncing off the walls and eating the furniture and kicking and screaming for a new layton game. I am so interested as to how this new one will play out but I am so HYPED for it and I’m so glad it doesn’t look to be going in the direction I was fearing it would go in if they made a new Layton game!!!

35) What Layton meme did you enjoy the most? (Clive and the snails? Desmond’s bread hair?)

Regret to inform you that I’ve been a Layton fan since 2010/11, so umm… I’m 42 years old, and uhh… baseball, if you even care. No attatchment to the source material it’s lost on me now, those quotes are just burned into my head from being 12 years old.

But I do 100% love Clive and snails, he’s so wrong by the way and I would put snails on him in a heartbeat. 

36) Has a moment in the games ever scared you?

I used to be really scared at the fact that everyone in St Mystere were robots, like that just unnerved me so much, but that was 100% from me being scared of robots at the time I first played it, I’m better now but it still weirds me out a bit lol

Other than that, can’t really think of anything, anytime they all get 

37) What’s the wackiest NPC you have ever seen?

All of them, LEVEL-5 just knows how to make insane looking characters that will kill you, I know a good chunk of them haven’t aged well but you know, not much I can do about that.

As for the wackiest, literally all the kids in Mistalery, there;s something so up with all of them I don't wanna go there ever.

38) Do you ship any characters? If yes, what are your ships?

Outside of any canon/canon implied ships, not really??? I never got into PL shipping it was just never for me, though I will admit that Ranlay is very fucking good and I appreciate it a lot. But yea I’m kinda more interested in all the found family stuff that goes on in PL games more than anything else!

39) Are you going to buy this art book when it comes out in November?

The original post for this meme is deleted so I can’t even check when this meme was posted. But umm, no I guess, if they do a new artbook for the new game then yes I will get it, no questions asked

40) Can you play any of the soundtracks on a musical instrument? If yes, what instrument and what soundtrack(s)? If no, would you like to learn? What ones would you like to be able to play?

I cannot play an instrument because I spent all my time learning how to sing instead, and I can’t even sing any of the layton songs because they’re all in Japanese and I don’t KNOW Japanese. Maybe if I ever learn one day then yea i’ll learn to play the ending credits.

[sainz100]

do you like Liam Lawson?

hello!!! ahh I can't say I know Liam all that well!! Admittedly, it's hard for me to get hella invested & unravel my feelings on Liam because of my sadness of Daniel not having that spot anymore 😔 I know F1 is so incredibly competitive with just those 20 spots. A ruthless game of multimillion musical chairs people fight their whole careers to achieve and keep, and Liam has probs been so super eager to get off the sidelines and get a turn I'm sure. I get it!!

but I have become so deeply and immensely endeared with Daniel 💞🍯🦡☀️ that I just wish he was allowed to stay in that spot rn...or at least have the actual proper send-off he deserves if he leaves the sport (or, in my perfect world, the dream is he'd have the RB seat!!! Ahhhhh I would love to be a fan while Max and Daniel are teammates again 🥺❤️💙 though tbh......it seems like maybe Daniel dodged a bullet in some ways? by choosing to step back from the reserve spot & ambassador role for now? I'll echo what other folks have said that he may have made the best call in the long run, given how RBR is seeming to suffer from a lot of conflict and turnover and awful leaders and internal issues atm 😯💦 [at least, it seems like it from my limited newbie fan vantage point! ☝️🙂‍↕️] ahhh so conflicting! I want Daniel to race if he wants to, but maybe it is best in time for his sake to not be in RBR rn [also especially if they won't appreciate and respect him at the team? The recent quotes from some of the top leadership at RBR have made me so proper irate (also it is v odd Liam said he knew two weeks before about the seat swap, and Daniel only found out Sunday after the GP? 😶‍🌫️ makes me question what's up there for sure) but yeah, the last few weeks have been handled so astoundingly poorly from a management and PR perspective imo 🫠 but I still have hope ✨something✨ good is on the horizon, just waiting to be revealed maybe! 🌄💕 {how deep in bracket inception can I go hehe [[woahhhh I'm using many brackets]] anyways this is getting silly}])

tl:dr idk!! I can't say I'll be keeping up super closely or posting too much Liam content here at least (and I always tag drivers!!) I wish Liam the best as I do everyone, but obvi from all my yapping I'm just more keen on Daniel and my other fave drivers hehe ❤️🙏🙂‍↕️ I try to keep my blog a pretty positive space and reserve my more negative feels for myself. I truly wish every driver a happy and safe and successful career in F1!! I'll just be yapping and gif'ing and insta diving for my beloved blorbos and dreaming of DR3's return the most hehe 💖☝️😎

[rarepairnation]

for the ao3 wrapped!! 1, 6, 28! (also you are not alone in believing you can finish one more thing. i am also doing that :P)

happy (newly i guess, for u!) new year anna!!! waving at u NOT from the google doc! we did it! we finished the one more thing! [ao3 wrapped]

1. How many words have you written this year?

nearly 14k (13,924 to be exact) published and at least 6-7k more of wips! tragically my least prolific year since uhhhhhhhh a long time. 2017? but thats ok it was a hard year all that matters is that i survived<3 im proud of myself for what i did bc im in that kinda moment where im relearning how to write and reengaging the creative part of my brain. and next year will be better!! i have a lot of plans and a wip list as long as a cvs receipt<33

6. Favorite title you used

this one is actually your body drowning in gravity! i havent reread it in a long long while (aside: wow i was a totally different person when i wrote that (i published it jan 3)) bc my brain has temporarily been caught by other things. but it was an idea that i'd been turning over in my head for over a year at the time when i wrote it and i think i saw the richard siken poem that the title is from (it's "the dislocated room" btw) on my dash in the middle of the writing process and it was like. Perfect. like i choose all my titles very carefully but this one really knocks it out of the park. when the fic is literally about tanner thinking mallory is the one that's fallen from the top of the cns building at the end of spectre and not knowing until the body hits the ground.

28. Favorite work you wrote this year?

OUGHHH this is hard. Ough. ok i DO think it's just so long as this thing's loaded. im chronically an "i wrote this for me but you can read it if you want" guy bc i have rarepair disease. if i want to read it i have to be the one to write it. but this fic was really an exercise in like. getting weird with it. remembering that u cannot judge ur creation by any possible bad faith interpretation of it. letting myself write the kind of wildly unhinged horny possessive devotion that eats the inside of my brain but ive never been able to put on the page bc of the Fear of like ohhh that would be sooo bad in real life. dude theyre. not real. idk im not good at that sort of thing the panopticon inside my mind is sometimes kind of crazy. but like yeah actually they do think the power dynamic is hot. yeah nick made jasper fake betraying him obviously here is this situation where jasper comes back to nick after his faked death and both of them are pretending not to know the betrayal wasn't real. its just roleplay 2 them. sorry to quote a line in this already extremely long answer but like "The only thing he wants to keep is right here at his side and hasn’t that been the point of all of this, the knife to his throat and the blood in his kiss and the slow simmer of barely leashed desire. Jasper has come to him like this, the traitor slinking his guilty way home, to show Nick the lengths to which he would go for him. To which he has always gone for him, giving up everything to play Nick’s triple agent, just what the Director ordered." is literally the thesis statement of the whole thing. Anyway

also its the kind of fic where every line is trying to be The Line which...is a quirk of my writing style that comes out every now and then that im usually (for good reason tbh) always trying to cut back on. but this...Needed It. sometimes the prose DOES need to be purple. and i had fun. it was really fun dude lol i had a great time

[mayonakano-archive]

Hehe ask gameee

Your favorite time of day? And why?

Are there any quotes that never fail to make you feel better/motivate you?

Favorite animal?

:)

oooh :0 my favorite time of day is either like, sunrise/sunset or midnight!!! i love watching the sun rise and set because it's just soooo pretty. i love the colors the sky becomes <3 and the late night is just. ough. i love watching the stars and looking at the moon :)

it might be a bit cliche but i tend to hum Famous Last Words by MCR at times, specifically "I am not afraid to keep on living"! bc i am a coward who is afraid of everything <3

beasts...... that's so hard to choose. um. domestic beasts are cats and guinea pigs and hamsters! wild (land) beasts are magpies, mourning doves, pigeons, arctic foxes, and snow leopards!! favorite sea beasts are crabs, sea slugs, and sharks :) overall fave are magpies and cats tho probably <3

[ask game]

[cherih3]

Dick grayson for the question thingy?🥺

he is sooo. i wish i could be an essay andy for him but i cant

favorite thing about them - ALL of his flaws they make the man but i love how in spite of all of that he manages to be someone everyone trusts and will really go the extra mile for what he believes in

least favorite thing about them - the heinous shit hes said to his friends when he's agitated my god 😭 roy, donna and babs i am so sorry favorite line - there's so many to choose from... this quote hit hard though i love when hes being mean: "you stupid little jerk. god, i can't believe how idiotic you are! I thought it was just because you were a kid-- but you're really just plain dumb!"

another one is: "i'm alive, bruce. i'm alive!"

brOTP - him and donna. my god. dickbabs also works better as just friends tbh 🤷

OTP - dickkory, dickroy, dickjoey, ricbea was soo cute, i liked him w/ tiger and helena too

nOTP - dont think i need to say it out loud :/ whatever bruce timm did to him i hope he doesnt see the pearly gates too

random headcanon - everything i draw is my headcanon about him <3 also im like 90% sure he's had an emo phase

unpopular opinion - ok hear me out but ric was good. he had the potential to be great even. they fumbled the execution horribly but the idea in theory is so interesting

song i associate with them - The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die - cover of "In Circles" by Sunny Day Real Estate

but if we're talking about what he would listen to... anything by Donna Summer

favorite picture of them - lbr i love him even when he gets drawn ugly but this genre of grayson always rocks

[sylenth-l]

I hope it’s ok to ask, if no, just ignore it. Do you have a fav lore piece/flavor/quote about/with each of the hunter gang: Andal, Cayde, Shiro and Tevis? If so, which one? I know we all digged “The Man they called Cayde”, but maybe there’s a specific line or piece that you remembered the most?

MAN. SO MANY.

Of course my favorite one about The Gang is from "The Man they called Cayde", because it's like... the only lore book where they all are mentioned together... oh well.

Andal and I used to run with one heck of a crew. This was before he got himself roped into fireteaming up with the top brass. Oh, we were legendary.

The warmth and longing for the good ol' days with which Cayde always spoke about them gets me to the verge of tears every time.

But if we'll exlude that book, let's see...

For Cayde it's hard to choose, since there're A LOT. But I think I'll pick the one I quote all the time especially when our fireteam tries some GMs/dungeons/raids for the 1st time, his line from the Arms Dealer strike:

Plan-shman. Take the radioactive thing and put in explody place. There... there's your plan.

Sums up Cayde and his way of doing things pretty nicely in a couple of sentences, I think 😂

For Andal it's probably this quote from the Tall Tale ship lore:

I said, "Warned you? I was dead, then I floated here. All I've ever done in my entire life is barf into the Pacific Ocean."

It gave me a good laugh back when I read this entry in the game for the 1st time, not even knowing who the hell is Andal. I really like how its overall goofiness and light-heartedness adds up to what other people usually say about Andal and what a cool pro Hunter mentor he was.

For Shiro it's of course this quote from the Holdfast Mask. It got me so emotional I even drew an illustration for it.

There's a stone cairn outside the city; been there since Six Fronts. No one visits it, but once a year, I put a fresh lily on top. I hope it brings them peace.

It's not often we're allowed to see softer and more vulnerable side of Shiro, so moments like these always melt my heart. Also, tbh, I didn't expect something like that from him, but it was a nice surprise. Probably that's why I remembered it so well.

For Tevis it's also easy, this part of his monologue from the Graviton Forfeit helmet sends me each time I read it:

You know what I'd call "dark," in the sense of "grim," in the sense of "cosmically upsetting"? A universe full of weaponized puppets, enacting a genocidal war against the servants of a rival god.

Is this making you uncomfortable? I'm sorry. I'll be more evil. Boo. Grrr.

It's like the quintessence of Tevis, you can really tell what kind of the man he is reading just this one small piece imo.

AND in the end I'll add a bonus one for candal. Sure, everybody knows this absolutely heart-wrenching quote from "The Man they called Cayde" (which made me ship them almost single-handedly):

We both laughed.

Wow. I wish I could hear him laugh again.

Just once.

Funny how all the cool kids leave the party too soon.

BUT HOW ABOUT THIS PARALLEL

But Andal…? Playing nice was his forte.

Cayde was thinking about him on his deathbed, thanks Bungie, it's not like I haven't cried enough about them already, nuh-uh.

[veliseraptor]

What’re your favorite tropes, for the ask meme?

ah, this question! my nemesis, only because it is so hard to choose because there are so many, in varying levels of specificity, so whenever I answer this ask (and I have, a couple times) it's less about all time favorites and more about "what occurs to me at that moment in time as I'm answering the ask."

so given that here are some of my favorites that occur to me at this moment in time as I'm answering this ask:

1. Broken idealism. I’ve said before that I’m not a huge fan of corruption arcs, but that’s not quite true - I just don’t think of the thing I like as that. But I am a sucker for stories about people who start out with big dreams and noble ideals and then...break. That breaking can take a lot of forms, though one of my favorites is definitely the “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” one, where a character is taking what seem like necessary steps to a positive end, and then suddenly look up and it becomes apparent that this is all costing a lot more than they bargained for. And they’re not necessarily the one paying.

Varying levels of awareness are good for this one - someone who knows they’re straying into bad waters in the service of something they believed or believe in, or someone who hasn’t realized yet and doesn’t until it’s too late, or someone who realizes early and decides to really lean into it because it’s too late to turn back now. Or even someone who knows starting out that they’re going to have to make hard choices, but not having fully absorbed how hard - or maybe how personal - those choices might be.

Good shit.

2. Sibling problems. If you hadn’t noticed!!! Look I make no pretensions at not looking at dysfunctional, deeply felt sibling relationships and going “oh look it’s my life” but also it’s just a dynamic that has so much potential, so much juicy crunch in it that can be built in. And there’s something about the way people write sibling relationships (or show them) that’s so...tangled, in exactly the way I love my fictional relationships.

Like...I think there is something unique about the way that people write sibling relationships with a simultaneity of emotions - where there’s dozens of contradictory things happening all at once. It’s not hate-to-love (or doesn’t need to be), it’s not rivalry-to-friends, it’s...you love them, you hate them, you envy them, you want to be them, you want to be better than them, you want to be their favorite person, you never want to see them again, best friend-worst enemy kind of mixture that is just catnip to me. And I feel like I just don’t quite get that - at least not in the same way or degree, most of the time - from other kinds of fictional relationships.

But also it’s just kinda personal and I own that.

3. Enduring beyond any reasonable standard. You know that thing where you can’t believe someone is still standing, they’ve gone through a meat grinder of an experience and somehow are still on their feet, the thing where a character is suffering and somehow still mouthing off, that thing? Yeah, I eat that shit up with a spoon. But the form I like it best in, tbh, is when it is understated and unnoticed - it’s the whump trope of someone collapsing seemingly out of nowhere only to find that they’ve been nursing a stab wound for hours. That thing! I’m very into it. Both the endurance itself and the eventual collapse.

4. Performative villainy/villain-by-choice. Have I written about this enough on my blog yet? Yes? Too bad guess I’m writing about it again.

Basically, you know that quote that’s like “every villain is a hero in their own mind?” yeah okay I get what it’s saying but also I love it when actually the villain is very aware that they are the villain and have decided to just fucking go for it. The Captain Flint quote from Black Sails is an example of what I’m talking about, but what’s actually best as far as I’m concerned is a character where the mask almost never slips. Oh, it does, sometimes, and will, eventually, but I want to meet a character when they are putting on a show.

It’s about someone taking a hard look at the world around them, and themselves, and going “okay, fine, I see where this is going” and taking a swan dive into full-blown villainy.

Look, I wrote a fucking essay about this, okay? It’s...somewhere. I thought I’d posted it on the other blog but maybe I just put it on my largely inactive Patreon. anyway if you want me to give you the basic thesis it’s

Performative villainy is about expectations, and living down to them. It’s about looking at yourself, and the stories you know, and saying so be it. When hope of redemption is gone - when there is no faith in the ability to turn back - evil, be thou my Good.

Play the role. At least if you choose it, no one else chooses for you.

5. Twenty pounds of competence containing fifty pounds of emotional disaster. They’re great at what they do. They can do almost anything. They are smart, a capable fighter, whatever - and meanwhile internally their emotional monologue is a whole lot of repressed “AAAAAHHHHH.” I mean, Lymond is a perfect example of this trope, but there’s a few of them - there’s just something very pleasing to me (probably related to 3, above) about a character who looks for all intents and purposes like they have everything together and meanwhile underneath they’re coming apart emotionally at the seams.

And it’s very important that the two are not contradictory! They are, in fact, very good at what they do. Actually these two things are mutually dependent, maybe. The ability to be as fabulously competent is the thin skin preventing them from dissolving into a puddle of emotions! So then you crack that competence like an egg one way or another and see what happens. :D

6. People entangled in a mutual destruction death spiral, or what I described at one point as the trope of “we are all trapped in this cycle of destruction and no one is escaping alive.” I have a weak spot for futility narratives and this is kind of that, but also I just love a good self-destructive/everyone-else-destructive toxic relationship where everything is kinda terrible and doomed.

I mean! Yi City Arc! for all I write fix-its and will continue to do so, the reason I’m so obsessed with it is because of how it turns out in canon.

But just in general mutual destruction death spirals are also a good place for other adjacent favorite tropes like “betrayal” and “obsession.”

7. Villain domestication. I do love a good redemption arc, don’t get me wrong, but I am also possibly even weaker for when there’s not so much a redemption arc as a gradual domestication - I’m not even talking about Villain Decay (as in, there’s worse now), I’m just sort of talking about someone who almost inadvertently trips into being better than they were. They weren’t trying to redeem themselves, and there’s not really one grand gesture or crowning moment of singular redemption, it’s just the day by day alteration of behavior until one day they blink and go HEY WAIT A MINUTE

If you hadn’t noticed me writing several versions of this perhaps now you will. I almost never, I don’t think, write actual “redemption arcs” per se. I’m much more likely to do this. I think it has to do with the fact that I prefer “redemption” as an ongoing process (teshuva!!!) rather than something that occurs in a moment or series of moments, which is sort of typical for a “redemption arc” as popularly conceived.

This is why the original project just fuckin hops over the Redemption Equals Death bit and moves right along to the “now what” bit of surviving your attempted grand gesture of redemption.

8. People coping with trauma poorly. This one...I don’t actually know that it counts as a trope but it definitely keeps popping up for me and I’m going to put it down here because I can - give me characters who are traumatized, have gone through awful things, have suffered a whole lot, and came out of it worse.

Like, that sounds sort of like a joke but I mean it completely seriously? I’m just...like, okay, there’s something about the ugliness of it that just...I deeply connect with. It’s like the opposite of suffering being redemptive or causing growth or ~what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger~ or whatever. It’s about bad coping mechanisms.

This is one of my favorite things about Felix Harrowgate tbh, but...yeah. if people have been like “stop using their trauma to excuse their behavior” about a character then I probably love them, because sometimes that is the point.

Not to get personal again but like. Maybe people who are kinda awful are still deserving of love actually and their suffering isn’t a moral imperative that makes anything better?

9. Resurrection, but bad. Give me characters who die and come back and it sucks. Comes Back Wrong is probably the thing people do with this generally, but I actually am more invested in it as a source specifically of trauma - the worse the death was, the better. The unhappier they are about being alive again, the better.

I don’t know why but I’m very into it, hits me in an emotional sweet spot.

10. Enemies to lovers and/or enemies to enemies-with-benefits. They can go from hatefucking to regular fucking, they can continue the hatefucking indefinitely, they don’t have to fuck at all, but lord give me antagonist/protagonist relationships where there is spice. I want them to try to kill each other. I want them to be obsessed with each other. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. So close you can kiss them.

It’s funny because I’m actually like -10 interested in rivalry-to-lovers things, which, well, seen some takes calling that enemies-to-lovers but the okay version and no, it’s not, that’s a different thing, but when you up the ante and add some attempted murder, I’m there. 

As I’ve said before: if your OTP doesn’t try to kill each other at least once then what’s even the point.

let's stop there since 10 is a nice round number. but I could keep going. this isn't even getting into the really, really specific ones that pop up sometimes, that I can't necessarily call to mind on command but they surface and I'm like "oh hey, very specific trope that I love, there you are again."