#sometimes when i find fanart of one of them and they’re not in their normal clothes i gotta squint at their eye color to see which one it i

[kay-selfships]

my two guys with blonde mullets <33

[im-the-king-of-the-ocean]

So I saw this really cute NND fanart by @etincelleart, which inspired me to write this fic where Ruby and Penny go for boba in Vacuo.

honestly it's the closest I've engaged with canon in my writing in a long while and it was really fun

don't ask where the atla joke reference came from bc I'm still not entirely sure how it found its way in

.

Taste Buds

Since her transformation Penny’s life has been full of new experiences. Most of them, good (hugs, the warmth of the sun on her skin, meeting and petting that stray cat, hugs), but she still has just a little bit of apprehension about trying new things. Flipping too quickly through the pages of a book she couldn’t automatically download into her mind (due to her excitement over that being an experience she can have now) leading to her First Ever Paper Cut had taught her that it was perhaps best to take some things slowly.

There’s still no one else quite like her. Ambrosius hadn’t made her a new body. They’d been very careful with their wording there. She just sort of has one now? The person she’d always been manifested as she envisioned herself? Penny is most definitely real, so it checks out. It’s just…the part of her that still finds comfort in hard data and scientific fact struggles with the whole thing, sometimes, when it’s quiet, and she has nothing else really to focus on.

Food has been a particularly exciting (if also a little worrying) topic. Hunger is not something Penny enjoys. Being able to taste definitely is. Even if she hasn’t had the chance to try out too many flavors yet, Penny loves all of them, especially sweets. Though that may be due to it being Ruby (and Ruby’s own giant sweet tooth) that introduced her to many of the foods she’s tried so far, leading to something of a bias in the data sample.

The worrying part about food is the eating. According to the medical doctor she’d gone to with Ruby, Penny is a perfectly healthy, normal girl. The doctor had also reassured Penny her lack of medical records was okay, expected even, it was a common situation amongst a lot of the Atlesian refugees. Informing her that Penny’s organic body was a relatively new development had led to a bit of awkwardness, but they’d moved passed it.

The point being, all the necessary parts for a digestive system (and also every other functionality a person has) are there. How exactly they got there may be a mystery Penny will live with for the rest of her life, but they’re still there, and they all do their jobs properly.

Penny had been nervous at first, to eat. Before, she’d always had to be incredibly careful because a crumb or droplet of liquid in the wrong place could lead to system-wide errors and glitching for days. But, eating was part of her life now. Normal now. Expected even.

And honestly, once she got past that initial, momentary hesitation, the excitement had taken over. It’s a whole new—

“Eep!”

Ruby tugs Penny into a flurry of rose petals. Penny reflexively relaxes into the sensation. They land, breathlessly, on the opposite side of the street from the (cabbage? Penny is fairly sure those are cabbages, but, without instant access to databases, she’s still learning to differentiate vegetables on her own, and all the green ones are particularly difficult) vendor, whose cart Ruby almost knocked over.

The probably-cabbage vendor shakes his fist at them, but doesn’t chase them across the street. He picks up the handles of his cart and, grumbling, goes on his way.

Ruby looks to Penny. Penny looks back. Ruby’s laugh fills her cheeks before bursting out of her. Penny can’t help but join in.

It takes a few minutes for their giggles to subside.

“Okay, okay.” Ruby takes a breath to settle herself. “Come on, we’re almost there.”

They continue weaving their way through the streets of Vacuo, though not going quite as fast as the almost jog Ruby had led Penny on to begin with. Soon they reach the shop with the large sign reading, Bubba Bubba Boba, above it.

The boba shop is slowly becoming something of a favorite of their group. It is, first and foremost, Ruby and Yang’s spot, a cherished reminder of their pre-Beacon life. One they’re slowly sharing with everyone. There’d been talk of visiting as a whole group, but differing assignment schedules made that difficult. So far, to Penny’s knowledge, only Yang has taken Blake there, at the end of their first Official Date As A Couple, where they’d meandered through the shopping district together.

Until, that is, less than an hour ago, when Ruby rushed into Penny and her father’s small quarters and declared Penny absolutely has to go there with her.

Penny isn’t exactly sure of the timeline between Yang surprising Ruby with boba to Yang and Blake’s date ending with them getting boba to now, but she is a little concerned about Weiss’s absence from the series of events. Wouldn’t it have made sense for Team RWBY to go together first?

(Unbeknownst to her, there had been an intermediary moment where Ruby, after hearing about Yang and Blake’s date, got her idea to take Penny for boba, and talked to Weiss about it. Weiss had encouraged (to put it in the most mild terms possible) Ruby to just ask Penny out already, which Ruby had, of course, interpreted as ‘taking my friend Penny, who is my friend and totally not anything else, out for boba’.

(Semi-relatedly, there is an entire chapter of the memoir living rent free in Weiss’s head titled; My Teammates And Their Obliviousness To Their Own Romances: How To Deal With The Unending Frustration.)

Penny and Ruby walk into the boba shop. It’s sparsely decorated, most of what’s there an eclectic assortment of basic furniture easily found. Packing up, leaving in a hurry, and restarting a business in a new kingdom hadn’t been easy for the shop owners, but they seem to be doing their best.

Penny trails after Ruby to the counter. She looks up at the colorful options cheerfully displayed on the menu. There’s a lot of them. Some flavors she recognizes, like strawberry or mango. Others she doesn’t. Staring at the words ‘matcha’ and ‘taro’ doesn’t suddenly reveal anything about what they are to Penny.

“Hey, Penny?” Ruby is looking back at her, mild concern written across her face. “You good?”

“Yes, I…” Penny bites her lower lip. “I don’t know what to choose.” Any of the options could be good. They probably all are. But this will be her first boba. Her first boba with Ruby.

It suddenly feels just a bit daunting.

“Well, let’s see.” Ruby comes to stand beside her. She automatically reaches for Penny’s hand, and Penny doesn’t hesitate in allowing her to take hold of it. With her other, free hand, Ruby taps her finger against her lips. “You’ve had a bunch of types of fruit before, right? Maybe we could go with one of those flavors, since they’re already kind of familiar?”

“I suppose.” Penny glances again at the flavors on the menu she doesn’t know. It would probably be most logical to not travel too far away from the known on her first taste, no matter how much her curiosity is telling her otherwise.

Ruby catches sight of Penny’s expression. She frowns. Then her eyes light up with an idea. “Or, we could get one of each, something you’re familiar with and something you’re not, and share!”

Penny can’t help but grin. “I like that idea much better.”

At the counter, Ruby orders one strawberry and one matcha. Then, with drinks in hand, she leads Penny to one of the shop’s outdoor tables. They sit.

“Here.” Ruby passes the strawberry over to Penny first. Their fingers accidentally brush against each other.

Penny’s heart skips a beat. She tells it, not for the first time, it really must stop doing that when these sorts of minor accidents happen when she’s around Ruby. They’re very comfortable with physical contact with each other. Why should the unintended ones be any different?

“Try it! Try it!” Seemingly unaware of where Penny’s mind is at, Ruby eagerly gestures at the boba cup in front of Penny.

Putting such thoughts aside for later, Penny picks up the strawberry one, and guides the straw to her lips. Then nearly jumps as the first boba makes it to her mouth. She was not expecting that specific texture! Penny rolls the boba around with her tongue, adjusting to how it feels, and tastes.

“Soooo?” Ruby leans forward over the table. “How is it?”

Penny doesn’t have to think about her answer.

“Perfectly sensational!”

“Yay!” Ruby swings back in her chair. Too far. It leans back. Its front two legs leave the ground. The chair tips and unceremoniously drops Ruby. She instinctively calls upon her semblance to catch herself, but flies too far, going into the street.

A second later Ruby finds herself in an amongst the fallen cabbages of the cart she crashed into.

The vendor, the same one from earlier, has his hands on his head.

“MY CABBAGES!”

Over his shoulder, Ruby meets Penny’s gaze. Penny grabs their bobas. They go running.

(Later, they’ll go back and make things right with the cabbage vendor.)

For now, Ruby and Penny hide out in an alley and swap boba flavors.

[clairethecutepup]

Don't Worry about YOUR "Place" in a Fandom...

Okay, I’m still not checking messages nor posting currently, that shall resume on Friday. I just popped in again to share this message because it may be something someone needs to hear ASAP.

—-----

Fandoms: the perfect opportunity to engage with other fans of something, and share your work or see theirs. Heck, they’re even the perfect place to make some new friends and get feedback on improving your abilities, should you be a content creator. However, they can also be the perfect place for discouragement or even, in the more toxic ones, harassment. It’s, unfortunately, the proverbial “double edged sword” that comes with a community of fans for something: you can either find yourself a well-renowned or at least welcomed individual, or you can find yourself overlooked or full-on attacked as one of the “black sheep.”

Sometimes, it can be more of an issue with the fandom itself. Billie Bust Up’s has an issue with policing fan-produced content– to the point where actual kids/minors will get mobbed –and I’ve seen them go as far as accusing “pedophilia” or “homophobia,” on the claims of fighting “proshipping” or “erasure.” Then, we have the infamous Steven Universe incident of a minor feeling inclined to take her own life, as the fanbase decided her “fatphobic” over a fanart piece that drew Rose Quartz “skinnier than she’s supposed to be.” I don’t think I need to say anything else they’ve done to emphasize “issues with the fandom itself,” but be assured that the suicide attempt failed and that user is still alive.

Other times of the “double edged sword,” and I hate to say it, but the “issue” is actually you: it not being a “toxic” fanbase of unreasonable members in these specific cases, but you and your actions being why you find yourself in a disfavorable position. You may behave in a way that no one finds “attractive” nor “appealing,” like if you have a tendency to act out or constantly “sympathy-reel” for attention– yourself or what you make. Believe me, it’ll often be more your behavior than your actual work that’ll earn the ire of more reasonable fandom members: the only time the more reasonable will hate you over pictures or writing, is when you’re actually using your talents to attack others (ex: “hate art”) or if you’re using everyone’s favorite characters for… sinister purposes (ex: actual grooming material).

Even if you don’t make such content, but normal content meant to be enjoyed by fellow fans, you can still feel some manner of grief within your community from it. Sometimes, it can be more direct: the bullies of the fandom finding your work/style “offensive” enough to attack, or the rabid fans of some bigger fandom member claiming “idea stealing” and otherwise. Clearly, they don’t fall under the “reasonable members” umbrella…

Other times, your content can result in your misery more indirectly: the realization that there’s nothing “special” about what you make or offer, especially easier in a smaller fandom of less “competition” (for lack of a better word). Before you start crying that I’m being mean, recall that “special” doesn’t specifically mean “good” nor “enjoyable”: it’s a term referring to uniquity, something that would really grab others’ interest and attention– something they couldn’t come across anywhere else. I mean, why focus on all these gray rocks on the road, when I can look at this shiny, rainbow-painted one? So yeah, your offered content just might not be “special” enough to earn a majority of attention, sorry to say. 

What’s that: “Why bother anymore then, if no one else likes me or what I make…?” Umm… Did you forget why you joined a fandom and made content of that franchise in the first place?? It’s because you loved the series it’s based on, right? Why should others determine whether you continue making content or continue consuming whatever the official people behind it make? What’s that: “What’s the point of sharing, if the target audience wouldn’t want anything to do with it or me?”

Look, even if an entire fandom somehow turned against you, blocked you, whatever, you can still post things! No matter how small, you’re bound to still have some fellow fans who would love what you make. What about the people who aren’t part of the fandom? Heck, even people who generally don’t like the franchise in question may like what you, specifically, have done with it! Don’t get a swollen head, now, even if they may like your take on a character in fanfiction better or prefer your artstyle to the actual show’s/game’s/etc’s.

Just… You are in an age where people can finally share whatever they want to make, why are you letting yourself waste the opportunity because people are unreasonably cruel or you’re not some “big name”? Stop worrying about whatever “place” you may have in your fandom, and just create and share! Don’t hold yourself back from making great things, because of something that’s really just superficial in the long run… 

[okmissgirl]

Absolutely Normal Nonsense

Lil' brainless ficlets about Chrissy and her himbo Edward

Next Nonsense ->

🛼 Skating 🛼

Chrissy’s ass looks like a fucking dream when she’s wearing rollerskates. 

At least, that’s half the reason Eddie bothers to take her and Red to the skatepark on the weekends. Sometimes they convince him to skate with them, but he usually maintains that he's better off watching to make sure they don’t break themselves while rolling around. Max even likes to bring Hopper's kid with her sometimes (more like sneak actually, the girl pops out of fucking thin air) and that just adds to Eddie’s anxiety, frankly. The Chief would fry his ass if he found out his daughter got injured and he didn’t do jack shit to stop it, so there’s clearly a need for Eddie to stay the lookout. Inevitably one of those girls will fall, and Eddie’s in charge of having the first aid kit on hand. 

Chrissy is a lot better at cleaning cuts and putting bandages than he is though. She even gets the cute character prints that Max will grumble about wearing until El points out that the unicorn one on her elbow looks cool. Max will kinda smile, in that way where she wishes she wasn’t, and Eddie will watch her glare down at the band-aid box as she takes a few more home with her. And then she’ll glare at him because she’s probably required to do it or something. 

All of these skating trips they take eventually get out to those idiot sheep of his, and soon Will’s tagging along with his sister, then Lucas and Erica get wind of it from Max. Mike gets pissed that he wasn’t invited and then Dustin tags along to annoy the shit out of Eddie by picking apart the next campaign. Chrissy manages to sneak her little brother Curtis out of the house one day and then bam! Lo’ and behold, these little skate trips are now a bimonthly thing that they coordinate over walkie talkies, and because Eddie can only fit so many children in his child-unfriendly van, Harrington begrudgingly picks up the slack. With Harrington comes the rest of the breakfast club, (a term Eddie resents wholeheartedly) but he’s honestly grateful for the company, if only to keep track of all the gremlins running around. 

One scorching July day, Robin brings one of those big packs of double popsicles to the park with her. Everyone’s just lazing around under some trees or sitting on the benches, licking away when Robin nods at Chrissy. 

“You know, I never said it before but your roller skates are killer, babe.” 

Nancy nods. “Yeah those are absolutely adorable, Chrissy. Where’d you buy them?”

Chrissy lights up and scrambles to stand, rolling around while licking her orange popsicle.

“They’re nice right?! I got them on a discount and they fit perfectly. They’re also really functional too because some of the other skates don’t have good stopping mechanisms so it's a lot easier to… “ 

Robin smiles and nods while Nancy asks more questions. Chrissy continues to skate around happily, doing a couple twirls to demonstrate her agility.  Robin knocks Eddie out of his trance with a nudge of her leg. 

“I bet you love those little skates even more than she does, Munson.” 

Eddie tries to shove the girl off the bench but she’s laughing at him the whole time. 

Because he can’t exactly say no, can he? 

⭐️⭐️⭐️

(going crazy trying to find the fanart with Chrissy and her lil skates. Saw it once and never again 🥲someone help)

[stevensavage]

Steve's Book Roundup!

I write a lot and have quite a few books.  So now and then I post a roundup of them for interested parties!

The Way With Worlds Series

This is what I do a lot of – writing on worldbuilding!.  You can find all of my books at www.WayWithWorlds.com! 

The core books of the series will help you get going:

Way With Worlds Book 1 – Discusses my philosophy of worldbuilding and world creation essentials.

Way With Worlds Book 2 – Looks at common subjects of worldbuilding like conflicts in your setting, skills for being a good worldbuilder, and more!

When you need to focus on specifics of worldbuilding, I have an ever-growing series of deep dive minibooks.  Each provides fifty questions with additional exercises and ideas to help you focus on one subject important to you!

The current subjects are:

Sex and Reproduction

Magic and Technology

Food and Culture

Religion

Worldbuilding Checkups

Characters

Superheroes

Organizations

Cities

Fashion

News

Gods and Deities

Conspiracies

Calendars and Holidays

History and Records

Natural Disasters

Man-Made Disasters

Misinformation, Disinformation, Propaganda

Disaster Response

Fiction

Take a typical fantasy world – and then let it evolve into the information age.  Welcome to the solar system of Avenoth, where gods use email, demons were banished to a distant planet, and science and sorcery fling people across worlds . . .

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet – Two future teachers of Techno-Magical safety find trying to earn their credentials hunting odd artifacts backfires when they’re hired to put some back . . . on a planet where gods go to die!

A School of Many Futures - The crew is back, and finding having secrets and keeping them isn't the same thing! Unfortunately they also find "very normal" is a cover for "anything but" . . .

Creativity

I’m the kind of person that studies how creativity works, and I’ve distilled my findings and advice into some helpful books!

The Power Of Creative Paths – Explores my theories of the Five Types of Creativity, how you can find yours, and how to expand your creative skills to use more Types of Creativity.

Agile Creativity – I take the Agile Manifesto, a guide to adaptable project development, and show how it can help creatives improve their work – and stay organized without being overwhelmed.

The Art of The Brainstorm Book – A quick guide to using a simple notebook to improve brainstorming, reduce the stress around having new ideas, and prioritize your latest inspirations.

Chance’s Muse – I take everything I learned at Seventh Sanctum and my love of random tables and charts and detail how randomness can produce inspiration!

Think Agile, Write Better – Use Agile techniques to write better, faster, and with less stress!  Using a series of small, specific tips you can find what works for you so you can get back to writing – with a whole new mindset!

Careers

Being a “Professional Geek” is what I do – I turned my interests into a career and have been doing my best to turn that into advice.  The following books are my ways of helping out!

Fan To Pro – My “flagship” book on using hobbies and interests in your career – and not always in ways you’d think!

Skill Portability – A quick guide to how to move skills from one job to another, or even from hobbies into your job.  Try out my “DARE” system and asses your abilities!

Resume Plus – A guide to jazzing up a resume, sometimes to extreme measures.

Epic Resume Go! – Make a resume a creative act so it’s both better and more enjoyable to make!

Quest For Employment – Where I distill down my job search experiences and ways to take the search further.

Cosplay, Costuming, and Careers – An interview-driven book about ways to leverage cosplay interests to help your career!

Fanart, Fanartists, and Careers – My second interview-driven book about ways to leverage fanart to help your career!

Convention Career Connection – A system for coming up with good career panels for conventions!

Culture

Her Eternal Moonlight – My co-author Bonnie and I analyze the impact Sailor Moon had on women’s lives when it first came to North America.  Based on a series of interviews, there’s a lot to analyze here, and surprisingly consistent themes . . .

My Sites

www.StevenSavage.com – My personal website, with my blog and latest updates.

www.InformoTron.com – My press site, with the links to my books and some extra goodies!

www.SeventhSanctum.com – My random inspiration website, with generators for all sorts of stories, characters, and more!

[astaroth1357]

Ok but like, what if MC's fandom starts to make ships with MC and the guys. Just think about the ship wars, the fancams, the fanarts, the absolute CHAOS when the brothers find out. It would be even worse if they start shipping MC with the undatables, one day everything is normal and the next day there are ship wars fighting over MC x Barbatos vs MC x Solomon (who are both very smug about it)

The MC's Fanclub are… Shippers?!

Perhaps… The italics blurb has been fulfilling its greater purpose all along…? Perhaps in its state of existential angst, it has in fact developed a plot of its own… An arc of introspection and self-discovery in which its own longing for purpose has forged a meaningful identity… It now has… a story…

Lucifer

As if they couldn't get any MORE frustrating…

He's not an otaku. He's not a part of ship culture. He's not even sure why anyone would care about who dates who around this school, but apparently it's a big deal to some people...

He only became aware of their interest in him and the MC's relationship through some very… subtle clues…

Like the groups that would follow them around in the hallways with their phones out.

Or the multitude of fan rumors about their relationship that Satan spams him with from time to time just to irritate him.

"MC refused hug from Luci in halls today!! Are they bout breakup??? 🥺"

"Tots got pic of kiss today!! Relationship upgrade??"

"IS ARE MC+LUCIFER SECET LVRS?!? PLEASE RESPOND"

It only got worse after he found out the MC gets shipped out a loooooot….

If he had to pick his least favorite ship, it'd be MC x Mammon. He can kind of see it with any of his other brothers (admittedly, Levi is also a little mystifying) but the idea of them ending up with Mammon makes his skin crawl...

He once found a drawing of the MC and Mammon in an… explicit position in one of the classrooms and he was so disgusted that he wouldn’t even touch it. He just set fire to the paper outright. Disgusting...

Mammon

Shipping, eh…? More money making opportunities!

Has some passing idea of what shipping is from Levi and, from what he knows of it, shippers eat cutesy couples stuff right up!! If all he's got to do to make bank is to look all couple-y around the MC then sounds like a win-win to him!

He'll happily pose for a photo or two (paid in advance) of him throwing his arm around the MC or something. Want him to hold their hand? Sure thing!

But since this is still Mammon we're talking about, the second MC actually starts getting into any of it he'll still turn into a blushy, stuttery mess...

For WEEKS the headline picture on so many of their fans' blogs was an image of him turning beet red while the MC kissed him on the cheek. (A fan really got their money's worth there... 😏)

Though he doesn’t exactly like the MC getting shipped with other people, he'll still totally sell pictures of any of them together. He almost paid off an entire credit card with the money he got from the t-shirt sales of the MC and Satan!

If he had to point to one ship he doesn't like it's either MC x Asmo or MC x Levi. His opinion, but Asmo won't treat them right and they could do waaay better than a shut-in. Like him. Ship the MC with just the Great Mammon, got it?

Leviathan

… Lowkey super active in the MC shipping community but is a self-shipper to the extreme.

Like, he never uses his real name on anything (and would probably die from embarrassment if anyone ever found out) but a lot of their fans probably know a couple of his aliases.

He does everything from mod forums, runs a couple blogs, even anonymously posts his own work of him and MC that are totally not his secret fantasy dates or AU versions of themselves, shaddup.

It’s a lot easier for him to keep his involvement secret because he’s hardly at RAD, but the few times he does show up he tries to keep an eye out for anybody prowling for pictures so he can get in a good pose and save the image later.

Mind you, his version of a “good pose” rarely gets more spicy than linking pinkies, but even then he’s still lit up a Christmas Tree throughout.

Naturally, he’s also not a big fan of any ships that aren’t just him and MC and he can find a reason to be jealous at almost anything. But he keeps a special corner of hate for MC x Mammon and MC x Diavolo. Like, the first one doesn’t even need an explanation but MC x Diavolo?? Really??? Do those two even talk?? (please, please, please make sure they never actually talk because a guy like him versus literal royalty? He’d lose MC for sure….!! 😫)

Satan

He hates to actually agree with Lucifer on something, but their fans are starting to get out of hand...

Knows what shipping is in concept, he may have done it once or twice to characters in his books, but he was kind of surprised how it could evolve into such a… group activity?

He was pretty quick to pick up that the MC’s fans had a bit more interest in them together than they did when they both were apart…

I mean, those hideous shirts that Mammon was pedaling were kind of a dead giveaway…

Considering he finds their fanclub all rather annoying, even without their bizarre interest in his love life, when they started actively meddling with him and the MC he was ready to smash some heads.

No. He will not stop for pictures. No. What things they do together is none of your business. No. He has zero interest in seeing your explicit fanart and if you don’t start running that will be the last question you ever ask.

He DOES, however, appreciate the cringy “annoy Lucifer” ammo. They could keep that up for a lifetime... 😏

He doesn’t have a least favorite ship because he doesn’t care about any of this, leave him alone. (That’s a lie, it’s MC x Lucifer. He pokes fun at Lucifer, but he can’t stand it either. Big shock, I know 🙄).

Asmodeus 

Oh he is shamelessly a part of the community, are you kidding?? 

He could practically call “Shipping the MC” one of his favorite pastimes. He’ll openly gossip with their fanclub about who they’ve been with, who they’re seeing, who’s got a chance, etc… He lives for this shit!

He’s the only person who knows that Levi is also in the community and what his aliases are (not because he told him, but because Levi’s not as subtle as he thinks he is… Who else would call themselves “SupremeRuri666” and speak mostly in outdated chat lingo?) but he doesn’t out him because he thinks his very obvious crush is kind of cute. 

Plus, Levi needs the outlet waaaay more than him…

Doesn’t stop him from constantly trolling him and getting into arguments over who the MC would be better with though (the two are “virtual nemeses” as far as Levi is concerned).

Appreciates all forms of expression that comes out of the community (especially the saucy kind 😏) and will happily feed into his own shippers without a care in the world.

Truthfully, Asmo will say that there isn’t a ship he doesn’t like but if someone mentions one that he thinks is kind of “eh,” he’ll just add himself into the mix. “Oh, you like MC x Barbatos? Well how about Asmo x MC x Barbatos? That sounds loads more interesting doesn’t it??”

Beelzebub 

Oh, Beel… Sweet, sweet Beel… Beel doesn’t even know what their club is doing…

Because Beel has a reputation of being pretty protective of MC - and against the fanclub in general - the club keeps a healthy distance… but that doesn’t mean they’re not going to sneak in some picture or make a SHITLOAD of fanwork about them.

Between classes and practice Beel is a busy guy, so sometimes he just doesn’t notice that there’s people hiding behind trees when he’s out with MC. 

Honestly, his complete ignorance of it all makes it even cuter because when he acts sweet, it’s not just for the camera. That’s the real deal.

Mammon was the one who eventually let it slip that there was even shipping happening and Beel was… kind of creeped out because isn’t this stalking? But also kind of weirdly happy(?) that MC x Beel was so popular… Very conflicted boy here.

He never actually acknowledges the community, though, and just keeps on being Beel (which still gave the fans more than enough material so all’s well that ends well?)

Beel genuinely doesn’t have a least favorite ship (because he believes the best ship is whoever makes the MC happy) but his second favorite under himself is probably MC x Belphie. They look very cute together...  😊

Belphegor 

Ride or die, Beel x MC x Belphie. 

Just kidding (kind of), Belphie isn’t into the shipping but if asked he’d be pretty okay with that one.

His campaign against the MC’s fanclub and their attention stealing ways means that he found out about their shipping thing only slightly ahead of Beel when Mammon was trying to get pictures of them napping together…

Honestly, he couldn’t care less if a bunch of weirdos were weirdly invested in their relationship, but he’s not about to let Mammon just make a quick Grimm off of it. Belphie makes sure that he gives him NOTHING to work with. 

Since Mammon is the main dealer, the shippers in both the MC fanclub and Belphie fanclub aren’t nearly as well fed and pretty desperate for anything... You best believe he plays that to his advantage (because it’s okay if he does. He’s not Mammon).

Really helps that MC x Belphie is legitimately a very cute looking couple, carried by Belphie’s cuteness alone if nothing else. Add an adorable MC and you reach levels so cute it could actually melt people into puddles of goo... They could be a registered weapon.

Least favorite MC ships are any that don’t involve him or Beel. Any others may as well just not exist, he won’t even acknowledge them. MC x Who? Yeah, that’s what he thought.

[unfoundhoney]

being a member of the dream team ↠

↠ platonic!dream team x fem!reader ; fluff

↠ masterlist

you ↠

social media ↠

reputation ↠

you

my dear reader

are the internet’s sweetheart

everyone adores “that girl from the dream team” even if they don’t know much about you

your screen name is “okayy/n”

& you are an absolute ray of sunshine

you’re known for being a sunny presence & just being completely adorable

you’re kind & friendly & just such a great person ☺️

and you have three gremlins for best friends

everyone who meets you literally (not really but yeah kind of) falls in love with you

,,,,

there are many youtube videos

you’re anonymous & all your social media icons are fanart of your minecraft skin

you’re about a year younger than sapnap & the youngest of the dream team

(the other 3 didn’t know how old you were for a while after meeting you & when they found out they made a big scene then went back to normal like nothing happened lol)

you’ve been active online as a streamer since about mid-2019 & have been in dream’s youtube videos for about as long

you also post your own youtube videos but you’re more active on twitch

jokes ↠

i felt this was an important section to include

the biggest joke that came from you isn’t even one that you make

it’s other people who will be talking to you & just add “okay, y/n?” to the end

sometimes it doesn’t even make sense to say it but it’s for the lols

your designated minecraft item that you are obsessed with is watermelon

doesn’t even matter if you don’t like watermelon

your older username on everything was “okaymelon” for whatever reason & you pay homage by always having a much larger than necessary melon farm

thirdly: everyone says they’re dating you

this started bc there was this channel on youtube making videos trying to prove you were dating dream

(which would have been illegal at the time as you were only 17)

so then on one of your streams the boys

dream, george, & sapnap will henceforth be known as “the boys”

you were in a vc with the boys on a stream & they just all admitted to dating you

(dream) yeah, y/n & i are actually dating

(you, beginning to panic) NO we’re not, guys he’s joking-

(sapnap) oh yeah i’m dating y/n too

(dream) woah, that’s crazy dude

(george) guys, you’re not going to believe this, but i’m dating y/n as well!

(sapnap) no way!

(dream) what a coincidence!

now anytime you interact w/ anyone they say they’re dating you

also you’re an eret stan

you stan eret & you’re made fun of for it but you will not apologize

relationships w/ the boysᵗᵐ ↠

dream ↠

dream is like the obnoxious older brother you never wanted

i’m kidding

kind of

he is very annoying & makes fun of you for anything he can but it’s how he shows affection ok

you’re patient w/ him & his teasing because you know he cares about you

he just won’t admit it

he shuts down anyone who tries to flirt with you

during schlatt’s presidency, he joined a stream of yours for like three seconds to tell schlatt he’ll ban him again if he doesn’t stop hitting on you then left

annoying ✓

teasing ✓

protective ✓

fans: they’re siblings your honor

you are always there to defend dream when fans get dumb about trying to cancel him

captain of the dream defense squad, y/n l/n o7

as much as dream teases you, you two have e/o’s backs, no doubt

george ↠

sighs

look

if dream is the stereotypical mean older brother, george is the reliable older brother

your relationship is still very joking & friendly

but for serious things that you need advice on & the other two would probably make fun of you for, you can go to george

he’s not as protective as dream, but he will always be there for you

i mean, all three of them are protective of you because they know how men on the internet can be but like speaking generally y’know?

are you a george simp?

yes, duh, who isn’t?

you are unashamed to compliment him on whatever

if fans want to ship you that’s fine because you’re gonna hype up one of your best finds ok ٩(๑`^´๑)۶

he gets updates on the other two through you after you moved in together

you moved in w/ sap & dream @ the beginning of 2021 btw

you make double triple sure to always include george bc he can’t live w/ you 3 right now & you feel bad

he always reassures you it’s fine but still ಠ╭╮ಠ

you make him send you pictures of his pets

you will get pouty if he doesn’t

sapnap ↠

alright so these 3 idiots are your best friends

but it’s kind of pyramid type deal

like

dream & george are the foundation of the bff pyramid

& sapnap is the top

he’s just a little higher

bc even if he is mean to you for no reason all the time, you two are like best best friends

you’re closest in age to him & you talk all the time & have just gotten to be super close over the years you’ve known e/o

it’s all fun & games & he “bullies” or whatever

but if you (or he) ever really needed someone to talk to, he’d drop the act & you two could really just let it all out

it’s kind of weird how close you two got before he ever saw your face

like mans really hadn’t seen you at all prior to moving in together

speaking of faces!

you hype the hell out of sap whenever he uses a face cam

“look at you!”

“shut up.”

“you should use a face cam all the time!”

“shut. up.”

“you’re so handsome ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡”

“oh my god...”

he tried to act unaffected but he was red like (๑꒪̇⌄꒪̇๑) (๑꒪̇⌄꒪̇๑) (๑꒪̇⌄꒪̇๑)

overall ↠

you’re a gift to the mcyt community!

you’re an amazing person & everyone loves you

esp your three bffies!

even if they won’t own up to it o(╥﹏╥)o

more ↠

first meeting

on your period

[fission-mailure]

I think from now on when Antis are being weird, I’m just going to ask after why they’re so obsessed with kids and sex, and whether they’ve spoken to a professional about their preoccupation with this.

Because, I mean. I’ve never run into fic in which minors are having sex, because those aren’t the fics I’m interested in. I find it weird, it squicks me out, I don’t particularly want to see it. Someone did a running tally once and found that those fics, including non-explicit ones, make up about 1.5% of fics on AO3, and I don’t even have to exert effort to avoid them, all I do is just not exert effort to find them. Sometimes on tumblr, especially in anime fandoms, running into explicit fanart of fictional minors by creepy dudes can be a problem, but it’s usually fixed by just blocking a few spammers.

I don’t think a whole lot about what terrible effects it may have if a kid browsing the web unsupervised ignores all the warnings and looks at fic like that for the same reason that I don’t drive myself into a frenzy worrying about what will happen if a kid sneaks into the local sex toy shop -- because it’s their parents’ job to make sure those things don’t happen, and I’m just ... not interested in the psychosexual development of children. I don’t constantly find myself thinking about what kids’ attitudes towards sex are because that would be incredibly fucking weird.

So, when Antis talk about how sites like AO3 are infested with fics about kids fucking that they can’t avoid, and often go so far as to share them among themselves to ‘warn people,’ and seem to have their entire lives revolve around worrying the world is full of secret paedophiles, and fantasising about kids finding explicit fic -- it feels very telling. 

I’m not going to go so far as to call them paedophiles, although the thought has crossed my mind more than once (you have to admit, it all has an air of ‘I get off to this and I don’t like that,’ -- TERFs, with their obsession with transfem bodies, often give off the same vibe), but it certainly isn’t normal or healthy to be this obsessed with kids and their bodies, to the point where you’re constantly screaming at people about it. 

[slightlyrebelliouswriter23]

Writing smut without cringing the whole time? How do you do it.

Writing Smut 101: Overcoming Smut Shame

CONTENT WARNING: NSFW RELATED CONTENT BELOW.

The short answer, nonnie, is: you don’t. 

That is to say, writing smut is always kind of cringe—especially if you’re new to it, or simply “not in the mood” to write. 

But rest assured, feeling embarrassed is completely natural. The trick is learning how to overcome the cringe when it does happen, instead of letting it deter you.

I’m going to break this up into a few sections: 1) Why you might be feeling this way, 2) How I, personally, combat the issue, and 3) Some more tips that might help you get the ball rolling.

1. Why You “Cringe”

It’s important to find the root cause of any form of writer’s block so you can pull the weed out instead of just trimming it back. Smut writer’s block is its own special brand, and generally, the main issue writers have when it comes to smut is stigma.

Speaking openly and honestly about sex, in Western society, is still very much a taboo.

No matter how “progressive” we like to think we are, the inherent shame surrounding pleasure-seeking experiences, and the detailing/consumption of them, has been ground into us since we learned how to understand the concept of gratification.

And I’m not just talking about sexual gratification. This applies to everyday things, as well. Eating, shopping, relaxing (or doing virtually anything in capitalist society that does not directly contribute to capitalism).

So it makes sense that you would feel any amount of embarrassment, awkwardness, or “cringe” when writing smut. It’s something our society teaches us is wrong to want. Unfortunately, that shame translates to writer’s block when we sit down in front of the computer.

A lot of this blockage might stem from not giving ourselves permission to write the thing.

We’re staring at the blank document, knowing we want to write smut, and suddenly the thoughts start streaming in: This feels wrong, is this wrong? What if someone comes in and looks over my shoulder while I’m writing? Am I describing this right? Is this too unrealistic? I have NO idea what I’m doing, and everyone is going to know it.

These are all perfectly normal thoughts, and definitely ones I still have from time to time. But they’re also probably the direct cause of why you feel so blocked. Luckily, I have some bits of advice to give you on how to unblock yourself.

2. How I Combat Smut Block

✦ First, when the intrusive thoughts occur, instead of ruminating on them, think of each one as an impermanent object. You can use any metaphor, but I like to use the imagery of leaves:

Each negative thought is a leaf floating down the river of your mind. If you focus only on the leaf, you’ll exert a lot of energy running to try and keep up with it, consequently miss everything else around you. But if you acknowledge that leaf as a temporary part of the scenery, and let is pass, you can process and appreciate the beauty of your surroundings a whole lot better.

Remember: you are separate from your thoughts. You are not defined by them. The things you think sound stupid might be incredibly exciting to someone else. 

If you can string a sentence together, you can write smut. This is all part of giving yourself permission to write the thing that makes you feel uncomfortable.

✦ Second, I’d suggest giving good thought to how you personally experience embarrassment, how you experience excitement (of the sexual variety), and how those two might sometimes commingle or feel similar.

For me, they are very comparable, like different shades of the same emotion—but there are differences which are important to note. 

If I’m making myself blush from excitement, this is a very good thing for writing smut. It means that what I’m writing feels real enough to evoke something in the reader, even if the reader, like me, knows what’s going to happen.

If I’m making myself cringe, however, it may be time to take a step back and readjust my perspective.

✦ Third, ease yourself into it! Don’t jump straight in the deep end and expect to know how to keep your head above water if you’ve never swum before.

The way I eased myself into smut was first by writing “Steam”—a category of fic I made up because the current vocabulary lacked an efficient term for fics that straddled emotional romance and explicit content. 

Essentially, steam is smut-adjacent but not explicit, and here’s a step-by-step example of how I transitioned myself smoothly from one genre to the next:

I first wrote my fics Wicked Game and You Are (both of which feature either a heavy make out session or teasing + lots of sexual tension) with this “steam” concept in mind.

I wrote the first chapter of Fine Line, which has brief but explicit descriptions of fantasies, framed by a very sexually charged scene.

I released my fic Crashing, which is probably more of a bridge between Steam and Smut, and features soft-focus fingering. Nothing in it is explicit—it focuses more on the emotions than explicit detail—but it’s very clear what is happening.

After I wrote those, I felt just confident enough to make that final stride over the threshold into smut. I wrote my fics Holy, King, and the second chapter of Fine Line all within weeks of each other.

And trust me when I say, once you get the momentum going and receive that validation from people who’ve read your work, it becomes SO much easier to sit down and start writing. 

You just have to finish that first piece.

✦ Finally (and I know I’m going to sound cliche when I say this), just like any other skill, the more you practice the more confident you will feel and the better you will get. 

So practice, practice, practice! 

If you’re nervous about posting smut for the first time, have a trusted friend/mutual Beta read it for you. It’s the online equivalent to someone holding your hand before jumping off the cliff, and works wonders for the nerves.

3. Keep The Smut Rolling

Now that you have some tools to help get you past the blockage of writing smut, here’s how to keep the inspiration flowing.

✦ Start by incorporating smutty fanfiction/erotic fiction into your regular reading rotation- 

Of course AO3 is a fantastic resource for smutty fanfiction. 

If you’re a fan of TFOTA or ACOTAR and want some of my personal fic recs, visit my fic rec masterlist.

In terms of erotic fiction, my personal favourites are anything Anais Nin (specifically Henry & June and Delta of Venus), The Thornchapel series by Sierra Simone, The Godwicks series by Tiffany Reisz, and The Original Sinners series by Tiffany Reisz.

There are also sites like Literotica and sexstories.com, which play host to explicit short fiction (not fandom based).

✦ Next, I’d recommend having a designated digital space for smutspiration- 

This can be a list of “smutty” words/phrases kept on a separate document on your computer, for those days when you just can’t think of the right way to describe something. 

Or you can create a private side-blog or Pinterest board for your favourite smutty fanart or other kinds of visual smutspiration.

✦ For that matter, try following some smutty/18+ blogs (ONLY IF YOU’RE 18+) here on Tumblr-

Many of them have a plethora of what I like to call “lemony snippets”, a.k.a. short text posts that describe (usually in conversational language) explicit scenarios. 

This is useful because it will normalise the concept of sexual fantasies in your brain, making it less weird for you when you try to come up with ones of your own to write into smut. 

Not to mention, your dash will be rife with inspiration.

✦ I would also suggest checking out 18+ ASMR on YouTube (AGAIN, ONLY IF YOU’RE 18+). 

My favourite account is Professor Cal Official, but Auralescent also has some good content. 

Headphones are highly advisable for this, as their stuff is very dangerous for work.

So, nonnie, I hope this has provided you with at least one helpful tip. Whether you took anything away from this or not, just know that the feelings of embarrassment when it comes to writing smut are entirely normal. And the best way to keep those feelings at bay is to confront them head on. 

-Em 🖤🗡

Writing Advice Masterlist

Writing Masterlist

2K Celebration!

[ramblingsekai]

Guys I’m hollering. SO MUCH AN STUFF IS GOING TO COME OUT SOON. Like did you see the next event??!! AN MODELING ! She’s in a wedding dress! I saw a fanart of Ken crying seeing An in a wedding dress and I feel you Ken.

Here’s the picture of a translation of the event description.

I guess An is like a poster child of Vivid Street and it’s so heartwarming seeing how much An loves her hometown. Plus plus, Shizuku and An interaction?! Let’s get our YYJ interaction a reality!

AND AN’S SONG IS COMING OUT SOON TOO!

I’m also still waiting for the Power of Unity event translations somewhere.

So much VBS stuff coming out and I’m so happy for them. Good for them. I think the new song that came out is alright. I think I like other VBS original songs more, but I still like this one too.

I’m here to call for more An appreciation, bc I feel like An isn’t appreciated enough by people. Like with VBS, I feel like I normally see ppl talk about Toya or Akito, which is fair. They’re both interesting characters, but An also has a pretty interesting  backstory too.

The daughter of a local retired musical legend who wants to create an event that will surpass her dad’s peak event. She greatly admires her father, her uncle Taiga, and Nagi (is Nagi like an aunt, a mentor?, we don’t know yet). She wants to help revive her hometown’s music culture by surpassing Rad Weekend, but she needs a partner. She’s lonely though. She doesn’t see her old childhood friend Haruka much ever since she became an idol, and even after she retired from being an idol, Haruka goes to another school. Her friend Mizuki also doesn’t show up to school often. She is acquaintances with Akito and his partner Toya. She knows they have the same dream as her, but even then, she’s not that close to them. Still, she doesn’t give up and keeps singing. She helps out with her dad’s cafe and maintains a friendly relationship with the locals. On the outside, An is a social butterfly who always has a smile on her face and is positive. She doesn’t mind helping out others (she did join the discipline committee bc her friend asked her), but she also wants to be doted on too (she has a thing for older sister types so I mean).

But then one day, she finds her partner. A cute, meek girl walks into her dad’s cafe lost. She runs out, but then she comes back and how could An forget someone like her (who sticks out so much compared to the usual patrons). She hears Kohane sing and knows that she’s the one, the one who can help her surpass Rad Weekend. It’s then a typical shounen story, but you get the idea. An has more depth to her than what most people originally think. It just gets buried sometimes or the fans pay more attention to the other member’s stories. Bc An’s journey keeps evolving as her partnership with Kohane grows. She realizes that Kohane is amazingly talented and goes from someone who had to guide Kohane to someone who might be left behind by Kohane. And that terrifies her. She doesn’t want to be alone again. Like she talks about it with Kohane, but her doubts are never completely cleared up, so we still have more to see in regards to her relationship with Kohane, Akito, and Toya.

So I guess when people pass up on An, I get kinda sad bc An is actually pretty interesting. I sorta HC that An is actually just burying all of her angst deep inside of herself so she can maintain her upbeat, peppy persona around people. But with Kohane, she sometimes can’t just avert her eyes from her doubts, bc Kohane’s growth only strengthens her fear of abandonment. Akito and Toya also see Kohane’s absurd growth, but are also motivated by it. So I hope that those two can help encourage her more in the future. I’d also like to see Bad Dogs struggle against Kohane’s growth too. Bc Akito would probably get intimidated by Kohane’s talent compared to his own and we know that Toya is insecure about his own life experience in comparison to the others. I’d also wonder how conflict between Akito and An as well as between Toya and An would look like. Would it be in the form of family (Akito and/or Toya being jealous of An’s supportive father), experience (An has been exposed to street music much longer than Akito and Toya), or something else we have yet to see. Bc I always kinda felt like they made it seem like ‘oh Akito has so many connections’ and ‘oh Toya is such a musical expert’ that I feel like they end up forgetting that An probably has a lot of connections too as well as music experience. Bc An knows the Weekend Garage patrons/Vivid Street folks really well (they all probably watched her grow up) as well as being a fan of her dad’s music (sure RW inspired her dream, but she still probably listened to her dad and his group practice/perform).

So yeah, TLDR, I really adore An and feel like a proud parent seeing all the stuff coming out for her lately. So let’s give her some more love too. (i’m still crying over not getting her in the SBD event).

[the-lone-witch-and-secret-room]

The Blight twins, codependency and fatal communication failure

Recently I talked about “the Blight children and toxic behaviors”, specifically about the tough love fallacy and how their parents get them to target each other rather than backing each other up.

In that post I mentioned wanting to make one specifically on the relationship of the Blight twins, and, well, here we are.

When we think of The Owl House and unhealthy/toxic platonic relationships, we think of the one Amity has with the twins in the earlier episodes, or Eda and Lilith, or the one the Blight kids have with their parents. I’m pretty sure very few people would look at these words and think of Edric and Emira… but it’s true nonetheless. The twins are raised in a very toxic environment that teaches them a lot of unhealthy mechanisms. The heavily codependent relationship the two siblings share is incredibly unhealthy for both of them.

Let’s get into why.

More under cut because hell this got long.

Who am I without you?

The Blight Twins always show up as a unit. They’re a set of two, who share the same track and are involved in the same shenanigans.

We never see them separate from each other in the show. Not a single time.

Their mother picks their matching outfits, according to Dana, because she likes her kids to be “color-coordinated.” They’re supposed to always look similar.

To Amity, they’re a united front—we don’t get to see her relationship to them separate from each other, we only get her relationship with “the twins.”

As far as I’m aware we’ve never gotten art from Dana featuring just one of them. They’re also often treated as a pair by the fandom (outside of their respective ships, that is), showing up together and showcasing very similar behaviors in fics, showing up together in fanart, etc.

We don’t have much content of just one of them with Amity (or anyone else that’s not their romantic partner).

You also don’t generally see them disagreeing a lot in fan content, which is interesting. Despite being two separate characters, they don’t get to actually be separate from each other a ton.

The main difference you see in their portrayal is in Emira being treated as the more responsible older sister, while Edric gets treated as more goofy (and a bit of an idiot), both in the show and fanon content. But that’s essentially it.

The twins are the twins. There’s no “just Edric” or “just Emira”. They don’t seem to exist without each other.

Their united front is both their greatest strength and their weakest link. They likely experienced a similar abuse as the one Amity went through, but they always had each other to lean on instead of enduring it alone. And while it definitely helps them a ton that they have each other, it also results in an unhealthy amount of codependency. Edric and Emira ONLY ever had each other. Their relationship with Amity is pretty bad and outside of that almost nonexistent up until Lost In Language, mostly used to hurt each other. Edric is always with Emira and Emira is always with Edric and there is no one else they can fall back on. Their most important relationship, the one with each other, is simultaneously the only one they have, one that they desperately clung to for a very long time. They don’t have any friends that we’re aware of.

Both Emira’s and Edric’s worst fear is born out of this. Despite being completely opposite fears, they stem from the same basic issue. In Enchanting Grom Fright, when they talk about their worst fears, Edric says “Being alone forever.” while Emira says “Being stuck with you forever.”

There is so much characterization in those two little sentences.

Edric has a fear of being alone because he’s always around Emira. He doesn’t know what it’s like to be alone, and he doesn’t want to find out. He doesn’t know who he is without Emira. This is somewhat subtle in the show, but she’s shown to be the more responsible of the two, preventing her brother from eating snow and being bitten by a bat. Edric looks to Emira for guidance, and his fear of being alone might stem from him not thinking himself capable of taking care of himself. Emira is smart and knows what she’s doing, and so Edric always runs after her. Even just entertaining the thought of being without her, without anyone to guide him, scares him so much that he proclaims it his worst fear. He likely leans on Emira a ton.

His desire to to lean on other people because he thinks himself incapable of handling issues himself comes with the possibility of him opening up easier, to the extent of oversharing, doing it so much that it becomes overbearing for Emira. But even if he can open up about some of the fears he has related to not meeting their parents expectations, he can’t really communicate the issues he has that involve Emira, because open communication about their issues is something they generally struggle with (see the point about lack of communication further below). Edric is under the impression that he needs someone else because he’s never been without Emira and doesn’t know what it’s like to exist without her. And as long as he has someone to lean on, he never has to find out if he’s truly as incapable as he thinks himself to be. His refusal to let go of her fuels his fear further—the tighter he holds on, the scarier the thought of letting go becomes.

Emira doesn’t know who she is without Edric either, and that’s exactly the reason she wants to break out of that dynamic so desperately. She doesn’t want to be nothing but someone’s twin for the rest of her life. She wants to just be herself, not have all her interests linked to her brother, for people to stop mentioning her only in the same sentence as Edric. She’s had enough of the matching. What Emira really wants is independence—from her brother, and, to a larger extent, her parents and their control.

Edric leaning on her as much as he does makes Emira feel responsible for him, and she struggles to let go of that because she doesn’t want to hurt him—but the tighter he holds on because he believes he needs her, the more overwhelmed Emira feels by her brother and the responsibility she holds for both of them.

Emira loves Edric, but she’s his sister, and can’t provide him with emotional support 24/7. Spending all day handling someone else’s issues can be pretty draining, especially when you struggle to share the ones you yourself have.

With Emira’s longing for independence comes a refusal to lean on anyone, especially on Edric, because she can’t at the same time let herself be vulnerable and need his support while also wanting to break out of their current dynamic. So Emira doesn’t talk about her issues, she doesn’t cry, she doesn’t lean on anyone. Emira is independent and strong and she doesn’t need anyone, especially not Edric.

It likely started out as them leaning on each other, but where Edric started to become too dependent on Emira always being there, Emira started growing increasingly overwhelmed and pulling back, catching them in a vicious circle of him trying to hold on tighter in order not to lose her, which causes her to draw back further.

To be clear:

a) Emira is not a terrible person for wanting to be away from Edric. What she said hurt him and came across as callous, but what he said harmed her too, even if the “why” that I just explained isn’t as blatantly obvious in the show. Edric isn’t a terrible person for relying on Emira so much, either. Neither of them are inherently malicious in any way, even if they do hurt each other. That they have to deal with these issues in the first place is rooted in the abuse they experienced, specifically in their parents treating them as a two-part set rather than two separate people their whole life.

b) I think it should be clear now why Edric’s behavior is toxic, but I want to address that Emira’s behavior is also an issue. While her desire for independence in itself is normal and healthy, she’s striving for a toxic kind of independence where she doesn’t need anyone anymore, which wouldn’t be good for her either.

Everyone needs to rely on other people sometimes, and if she doesn’t allow herself to, it’s going to cause some serious damaged in the long run. The most reliable relationship she had, the only support system she has, falls victim to her desire to be away from Edric… and only after she is she’s going to realize just how much she needed him, needed anyone to be there, too.

I think it’s very interesting that Edric’s and Emira’s issues are essentially inverted—they have the same root, but their problems are the exact opposite.

Edric is Emira’s mirror image.

This is also shown visually. With the matching clothes and identical dominant features (eye and hair color), they look extremely similar. Their beauty marks are what makes them into a mirror image rather than just looking identical, because they’re on opposite sides of their face. Emira’s is on her right cheek, Edric’s on his left. If they face each other, the marks mirror each other perfectly.

They had the same thing in the concept art I’ve seen of them too, but it was with identical earrings on opposite sides rather than beauty marks.

Caged Freedom

I couldn’t find a way to somehow smoothly fit this into the overlaying topic, but it’s an important part of the reason for their communication issues I go into below, and also just something that I wanted to go into, so take it or leave it.

The twins appear extremely confident, seem like they always get what they want (Amity even resents them for “getting away with everything”), but they really, really doesn’t. Sneaking out of school is the only way they can have the slightest bit of normalcy and freedom and control over their life, and Edric and Emira cannot be caught or it will come back to bite them—the reason they wanted to punish Amity in the first place is that she told on them for skipping, getting them in trouble.

Even within their “rebellion” against their parents, there’s a set system Emira and Edric have to operate within—matching clothes, perfect scores, not doing anything that could get back to their parents or harm the family reputation. Despite skipping school, they both maintain excellent grades. It’s said in Adventures in the Elements, Amity is even trying to beat their best score on an exam.

It’s a careful, calculated kind of resistance, not one that includes them openly opposing their parents. They do things their parents wouldn’t like, they tread lines, but they’re being smart about it, in hopes it will never get back to their parents. Even their limited freedom is caged in that way.

Despite seeming as confident as they do, they’re too scared to talk back to their parents. They cause exactly the kind of trouble that they know is possible to get away with without putting themselves in harm’s way. Going further, openly calling their parents out for how they’re being treated, would be dangerous, and so they don’t. They operate within the system and follow it as much as they have to in order to be able to push the boundaries even slightly.

Their endless confidence, their apparent fearlessness, is just another illusion of theirs.

They wouldn’t need to get back at Amity for telling on them if their behavior was just a huge “fuck you” to their parents. But they do, because their parents aren’t supposed to know. They’re scared, even if they’d never admit that.

Emira and Edric target Amity as a way to cope with the treatment they receive from their parents, which they to an extent blame on Amity (I’ve gone over this more in-depth in the toxic behaviors post I linked above).

Hurting Amity in hopes she won’t tell on them again seems safe in a way that actively calling out their parents behavior could never be.

Lack of Communication

Edric and Emira both have trouble communicating their feelings in a healthy way, and instead of open communication and talking things through they revert to backhand comments and punishment.

They grown up believing that severe punishments are necessary, “tough love” used to help someone improve as shown (and literally quoted) in Lost In Language in regards to Amity. That’s also something I go into my other Blight sibs post.

Regarding the backhand comments, let’s look at their worst fears in Enchanting Grom Fright again. As explained above, Emira’s “being stuck with you forever”-fear is a shitty attempt at trying to get across that she’s unhappy with never getting to be apart from Edric to just be herself. Edric’s “being alone forever” brings up a huge fear of his, especially of being abandoned by Em, which, regarding her worst fear, is justified.

Both of these fears are extremely understandable, and they don’t necessarily have to be at odds with each other—Emira just wants to not feel overwhelmed by Edric, and figure out who she is, and she doesn’t have to completely abandon him to achieve that, even if it’s something she might think she wants now. Edric has to find a way to be able to rely on himself more because Emira can’t always be around him, but he can still maintain a close, positive relationship with her, and would absolutely be able to make other friends that could support him.

What them voicing these fears is, for both of them, is a desperate cry for help, for change. Edric wouldn’t be bringing this up if there wasn’t a part of him that desperately wants to talk to Emira about this, and in the same way Emira wouldn’t have said her fear if she wouldn’t want it too. But the issue is that the twins don’t actually communicate. They put these huge things out there, validating the other’s worst fear with what they say. And then they don’t talk it out. These sentences just hang in the air between them, and then they move on like nothing happened, both anxious and hurt.

And this is because the Blight family in general doesn’t communicate. As mentioned before, the twins don’t dare to talk back to their parents, they do things behind their backs and hope they won’t get caught. They don’t communicate with Amity, and despite Edric and Emira being the closest person the other has, they don’t really communicate the issues in their relationship with each other either, because they don’t know how. This is not a skill they were ever taught, because talking things through like that requires them to be extremely vulnerable. To acknowledge what their worst fears are and why, that they might have gone too far or might have been wrong about some of the things they said, and therefore admit to not being perfect.

But Blights are required to be perfect, and Blights aren’t wrong—if others don’t see things your way, you make them. If others don’t act the way you want them to, you punish them. Tough love to help them grow and “encourage” them to make the “right” decision.

There’s no room for open communication in an environment that sees vulnerability as a shortcoming, and admitting mistakes as a weakness. If neither party is willing to take the first step, communication withers and dies, and the issues go ignored as they grow. Admitting there’s an issue in the first place, and that it might partially be your fault, is considered backing down. And Blights don’t back down. They can’t.

If you back down in business, let others convince you into a bad contact, you’ll never be successful. Worst case: it might be the end. And so you don’t back down. You never do. Blights don’t lose an argument. The other person has to break and back down first.

But that can’t work when both people involved were raised with that mindset. So Emira doesn’t make the first step, and neither does Edric, and aside from their backhand comments that never lead anywhere, they just suffer silently as their relationship disintegrates without as much as their acknowledgement of it.

For Edric, there’s also the issue that bringing up his fear might possibly drive Emira further away, knowing her fear. He doesn’t want to make her angry, and doesn’t want to fight with her, because it might lead to him losing her, which is exactly what he so desperately wants to prevent.

I can’t remember which post brought it up, but one post I read a while back also addresses how despite admitting that her behavior was wrong, we never hear Amity say “sorry” to Willow. Because if there’s one thing the Blight family does even less than admitting mistakes in the first place, it’s apologizing for them. Open communication is weak. Apologizing is weaker.

In summary: There needs to be a balance between depending on yourself and still being able to ask others for support when you need it, and Emira and Edric are currently sitting on opposite ends of the same issue. Both of them need to move more towards the middle. What one of them so desperately wants is what the other needs to recognize.

Emira realizes that she needs space from Edric, and because Edric doesn’t recognize it, he’s the one that needs space from Emira more. He desperately needs to realize that clinging to each other the way they currently are isn’t healthy.

Edric realizes that he needs support from other people, and that’s something Emira denies for herself that she really needs to realize.

They both have half of the solution to their shared problem, but their difficulties communicating the issues within their relationship properly prevent them from finding a healthy solution together.

For everyone that’s incredibly sad now (myself included): I cover these topics in several of my fics.

Most prominently, Locked Out, where I’m currently beginning to explore the Blight twins and their different mindsets further.

Most recently, Sleight of Hand, a collab fic I did with my friend @lexa-alycia, where, among other things, the twins have a long overdue conversation regarding the things said in Enchanting Grom Fright.

But also 6/8 of my currently posted Owl House fics (not counting another additional two that also do and are done but haven’t been posted yet) give focus to at least one of the Blight twins if not both, so yeah I have plenty of twins content on my profile for anyone that wants XD

Next up, probably (because I just do not want to be done with this apparently): a post regarding Vinem and Jerbric and why these relationships would work and be extremely beneficial for everyone involved.

[aangsglider]

Kataang for the ask game thing h

When I started shipping them:

As hard as I do now it wasn’t until the end of 2020. When I first watched atla in the summer of 2020, I didn’t even really know what shipping was but still knew I liked kataang (I cried so hard when they kissed, when katara ran to him in the awakening, the desert scene). Then once I got into the fandom, I started finding loads of kataang pages and reading into kataang meta (my hobby) and realising even more what an amazing ship they were. So then came the edits, fanart, fics, watching their scenes over and over again every day and every thing in between until I was (and still am) completely hooked on them.

My thoughts:

A1, perfection, amazing, lovely, fantastic, my heart is kataang shaped, I’d die for them

What makes me happy about them:

Everything but the thing that makes me love them so much is how much they love each other. I can’t believe how much they love each other sometimes and that makes me so happy and so happy for them, because they’re both the sweetest best characters I’ve ever come across and they deserve one another:)

What makes me sad about them:

AANG DYING AT 66 AND KATARA IS STILL HEARTBROKEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE AND I CAN’T COPE

Things done in fanfic that annoy me:

Just when they’re reallyyyy ooc. If their characters need to be changed up in the slightest for an au or for a certain scene, I can deal with that, but otherwise not really. I don’t like heartbreak fics either, I haven’t really come across many but if either of them get too hurt in it then I don’t like it. Or if they’re not making an effort to make up/understand one another.

Things I look for in fanfic:

It depends but usually anything like angst and fluff. They need to be in character in it too, and I love when they’re doing their own thing and travelling a lot- having deep conversations and being affectionate and playful with one another. I also love when authors make them fight (not a lot, and not where it’s toxic) if they disagree on something because it’s normal and realistic and plus it wouldn’t be for long, and then making up is the best part. I love au’s too, my favorite is probably where they don’t get together like they do in the end of the show (I wouldn’t change that for the world but for angst purposes you know) and years pass and when they see each other again it’s the tension, the pining, the jealousy, the barriers, the almost kisses, the doubts and hopes- HAND THAT OVER

My wishlist:

For more kataang content from faith Erin hicks tyvm, I’d love some young adult kataang and also to see them being first time parents

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

Honestly nobody, I ship kataang so hard it’s not that I don’t want to imagine them with someone else, it’s that I can’t. But if I had to choose; mai & aang when they’re older and yue & katara.

My happily ever after for them:

that katara realises jinora can guide her into the spirit world, and she asks jinora to help. After some time, jinora is able to lead her into the spirit world where she is able to reunite with aang (just imagine that reunion…sobbing) and be with him for some time before she has to leave again. She doesn’t want to leave and doesn’t realise she can’t stay in the spirit world, but he reminds her of all the people who love her and are waiting for her in the physical world. Before she goes he tells her he is always with her, because he really is (like in the winter solstice: part 1)

[netheritenugget]

How To Fandom

Okay I’ve been really really wanting to write a masterpost about how to stay sane on this website for a while now, and I think it’s time.

So You Joined The Dream SMP Fandom/Basically Any Fandom.  You Feel Like You Are In Hell.  How Do You Keep Sane?

The block button is your friend.  Unless the person who has been blocked tries messaging you or interacting with your posts, then they’ll never find out they’ve been blocked.  You can also do something called “softblocking,” which is blocking and then unblocking them to make them unfollow you.  Chances are they might not even notice you’re no longer on their feed.  Block people who annoy you.  Block people who give you bad vibes.  Block everyone and anyone who makes you uncomfy.  It’s worth it.

Tag filter tag filter tag filter.  Tumblr has its own tag filtering option.  If you block the word “gore” it won’t block “gore tw” but it’s good to use because it will synch all your filtered tags between mobile and desktop.

If you use Chrome, you should install the New Xkit extension.  It has lots of different filtering options, like the option to block individual posts and all variations of them, blacklist words, hide advertisements, and more.  There’s also additional accessibility options.  Seriously I cannot reccomend being able to block posts enough, it’s extremely helpful for clearing your feed of the same annoying rants that keep popping up over and over again.

Turn off anon unless you’re comfortable with having it on.  Anon is a nice way for friendly shy people to message you, yes, but it’s not worth it if there’s people flooding your inbox with hate.  You are not a coward for wanting to see the faces of the people who felt the need to take the time out of their day to bait and harass you.  Anons harassing you this way want you to post their answers for others to see, because if it was just about making you feel bad, they’d PM you directly to tell you how much they hate you.  No, it’s about the fact that they can do it with zero repercussions.  Don’t let them get the chance.

Take breaks.  Log out of the app and have some food and water.

If you see a post that makes you angry, ask yourself if seeing the same topic in a week will make you just as angry.  Ask yourself if it’s worth it to spread that anger to others.  Is the information in the post verifiable?  Does it need repeating?  If the answer to any of these questions is “no” I suggest not spreading it.

If you’re about to argue with someone over their stupid opinions, ask yourself...  “Will this argument die out after five minutes?  Am I prepared if it goes on longer than that?  Is this person probably too stupid to comprehend that they’re a moron?” and if the answer is “yes” then just take the moral high ground and leave.

If you have a post you’re not sure about (maybe it’s controversial, or maybe you’re just feeling extra anxious today), save it to your drafts and come back to it later.  It may also help you find typos.

Posts that have already been made can be changed to “private” which will allow you to see them, but nobody else.

Alright Those Are Cool Tips!  How Do You Make Tumblr Better For Others?

Be respectful of other’s boundaries.  Unless you’re friends with a blog, do not assume they’re comfortable talking about absolutely everything with you.  The big blogs on this site don’t have social media managers, they’re not therapists, they’re just normal people who didn’t need to wake up to requests for feet pics.  Please be nice to them.

Don’t put unrelated character tags on your posts, it’s especially rude when I’m scrolling through the Eret tag and see unrelated fanart of different characters entirely.

Leave the “#m*neblr” and “#m*necraft” tags alone.  It’s not for us.  Use “#mcyt.”

When you trigger tag things like seizure warnings make sure you’re actually using the correct tag for such things.  For example if you’re tagging gifs for epilepsy warnings, “#epilepsy warning” is better than “#epilepsy” since the first tag is a warning, and the second tag is just the name of the medical condition itself. (Don’t have epilepsy, it’s just a good example)

I love it when people leave nice things on my posts!!  I love it so much!!!!! Putting things in the tags is nice if you think your comment might be cluttering, but you want others to see it don’t be shy about slapping it into the reblogs :)

Remember that there is a myriad of reasons someone might not have answered an ask you sent!  Tumblr really does eat asks sometimes for unknown reasons, the contents might not have made the recipient comfy, or they might have cleaned the inbox out, or they just might not have wanted to answer it.  The recipient might not be comfortable with you sending an ask about where the first one went, but if they are, please be polite and know they don’t have to answer you if they don’t want to!!

Sometimes fandom drama can get out of hand.  You know the author of the Dream Apologist Manifesto?  They got death threats.  Don’t contribute to harassment, no matter how much you think it’s deserved.  Don’t be that guy.

If anyone else has anything useful to add, feel free!

[lovebecomeshim]

hello! your zutara posting today has finally motivated me to ask this question because I came to atla very late(last year, to be specific) and I Love It Very Much but am 1000% out of the loop as far as why what remains of fandom (at least that I've seen among my friends) is so very strongly zutara. I'm not opposed to it per se I just don't really know what has driven it to apparently be such a popular ship? can you help me understand and maybe convert me a little bit?

Hey!! Your ICON! :D I can try but I’m not sure how coherent I’ll be; however I AM sure someone a lot more competent will be willing to add to this. Either way, I’m glad you asked because my plan was to drag down as many people as possible with me.

*smacks the hood of zutara* this baby can fit so much mutual love and support!

This got so long, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how to put it under a cut on mobile and it already got deleted once so I’m scared to mess with it lol. Moving on.

I’m gonna start this with a disclaimer that im on mobile so formatting is tricky and I’m also really new to atla in that I only completed my first watch through in like 2019??? So some of my info is all just based on what I’ve picked up from Discourse 👀 so anyway the sparknotes version: zutara was wildly popular from the beginning. To the point where the atla crew internally disagreed on which ship should be endgame. (Ex. Bryke [showrunners] asked the writers to rewrite The Southern Raiders to make Zuko seem less ideal for Katara than Aang [which failed, depending on who you ask]; the animation team purposefully created a visual parrallel between Oma and Shu in the Cave of Two Lovers and Zuko and Katara in the catacombs under Ba Sing Se in the Crossroads of Destiny; etc.)

The ship was popular enough that Bryke actually chose to display zk fanart at a con for the sole purpose of mocking the fans, but that’s neither here nor there. The entire episode Ember Island Players, while a love letter to/parody of the whole show, was an opportunity to address zutara’s viability as a canon pairing (while, again, mocking zutaras for romanticizing that catacombs scene). Point is! It’s always been popular but with it not being endgame, there’s got to be something that’s given it staying power.

And that’s honestly got to do with three things: their dynamic, thematic cohesion, and potential.

(You know what... you know what, it’s four things. The fourth is they’re so aesthetically pleasing together and individually. Like, they’re just good looking people [specifically when they’re grown but they’re also cute kids] and that absolutely doesn’t hurt) (but it’s not the Point, it’s just nice to point out sometimes)

The dynamic is hard to get into without also looking at the canon pairings, but I think I can do that without unnecessary bashing. It’s just that part of the magic of zutara is really highlighted by what they give to each other that their other relationships don’t.

First off, it’s classic enemies to (would be) lovers. The absolute truest form of it. It’s not too different from how CS started out: a rogue antagonist with a job to do—but no personal vendetta against the future love interest—who is deeply and emotionally invested in his personal storyline (revenge/redemption) with little regard for how it effects other people after his entire life and genuine good nature are marred by suffering, and a fierce warrior girl with a strong moral compass and her own personal investment in stopping him (protect her family and save the world doing it). Obviously frustration and animosity grew between them by the nature of them being on opposing sides, but that just lends itself to the sweetness of their later reconciliation.

The thing is that while they’re wildly different on the surface (he’s a hot-headed prince of a fascist regime who is trying to capture the Avatar to please his father; she’s a nurturing daughter of the chief who is trying to protect and train the Avatar in order to topple his father’s throne) they find out that they have so much more in common both in their experiences and their personalities.

(What follows is an excessive use of the word “both” and I’m sorry about that)(I can edit it. I can do that. That IS an option............)

They both have an innate sense of justice that they are determined to see done (zuko, at the war meeting, sticking up for the Earth Kingdom kid when the guards torment his family, choosing not to steal from the pregnant couple despite his circumstances, abiding by his word to leave the SWT should Aang come willingly, etc.; katara, literally.... at any point). They both have pretty one-track minds at accomplishing certain goals once they’ve put their mind to it, regardless of a lack of support in that endeavor (it goes without saying I guess, but zuko’s entire hunt; katara’s determination to get the earth benders to fight back, her determination to absolutely destroy Pakku until he agrees to teach her, etc.). They both lost their mothers at young ages. Their worlds are war-torn and traumatizing to them both, if in different ways, but that ultimately forces them to grow up too quickly to be wholly independent individuals. They both have issues with their fathers (for WILDLY different reasons, but). They both hold extreme prejudices that they need to learn to overcome (which ties into thematic cohesion)(bit like Lizzie and Darcy in that way but magnified by a million). They’re both extremely emotional and empathetic—which can and often does result in loud outbursts. Katara’s a bit better adjusted and can temper her anger for longer than S1 Zuko can, but they both feel that anger deeply and have no compunctions expressing it (Katara is, usually, more justified, particularly in S1. Again, S1 Zuko is severely maladjusted but at the point when they could’ve feasibly become a couple, he’s so much better off with the way he carries himself). They both struggle with feelings of inferiority in their bending abilities when confronted with prodigal benders like Aang and Azula, but have the work ethic required to double down and become two of the most powerful benders in the three remaining nations. This is a little more minor but it is a parrallel that appeals to some shippers that they both have these alter egos in the Painted Lady (notably fire nation coded) and the Blue Spirit (water tribe coded) that are pretty different from who they are day-to-day and are useful in accomplishing a purpose that they as themselves cannot.

(I’m.... I just realized that this could potentially get very long. Should I have made a slide show with bullet points??????)

Anyway, similar. I know there’s more but there’s literally so much to love about zutara that I’ll drive myself a little crazy trying to compile all the ways they’re similar. (Just gonna say that at this exact moment I went back to add more similarities.... so okay then)

Once they’ve reconciled, we see how all of these things only lend themselves to a deeper intimacy together than they share with literally anyone else. There’s a steady partnership that positions them as the mom/dad of the gaang, while also providing the support necessary to allow the other to not have to carry so much responsibility. A lot of zutaras will point out how zuko is actually depicted doing the more domestic chores that are normally relegated to Katara once he joins the gaang, since the others in the group are two 12-year-olds and sokka. The one that sticks out the most is how he makes tea for the group and then serves them, while Katara is able to just relax with her friends around the fire. Fanon expands upon this a lot to Zuko helping with the laundry or the cooking or whatever else needs doing since he, as a once-refugee, is used to doing his own domestic tasks. Before Zuko joined, Katara was the one mothering everyone, sewing for them, cooking for them, etc. She’s always tending to the needs of the group, and that includes emotionally. She does the emotional labor for the gaang 99% of the time, but when she’s the one falling apart, she’s usually doing it alone and without the comfort that she normally provides for others. Until Zuko. And that’s before they’re even friends.

Which is WHY people romanticize the catacombs of Ba Sing Se so much. Katara is verbally attacking Zuko out of her own righteous anger but also her own prejudice when Zuko, surprisingly, chooses to be vulnerable with her. He’s been on a journey that’s opened his eyes a bit, but he’s never actively chosen to expose the rawest parts of his past to anyone. But for some reason he chooses to do that with Katara of all people. While she’s yelling at him. He sees her humanity, and for once can look past his prejudice and empathize with her. And this time, when she breaks down, she gets to be comforted. Katara normally talks about her mother when she’s trying to explain to someone else that she sees and understands they’re pain, as a form of comfort to them. Here, Zuko uses the exact same tactic. He sees her and he understands. And for zuko? He’s not being shut down. He’s allowed to articulate his pain regarding his mother without being ignored and made to internalize it, and he’s allowed to process how he feels about his scar out loud without being told that he deserved it. And then he lets her touch his scar, something we’ve seen him actively avoid before. He’s completely open to her and she’s completely open to him and all it took was one five minute conversation. She was about to use the little bit of Spirit water that she had, that she was saving for something Important, to heal the scar that still daily causes him pain just because they had, somehow, connected.

Plus there’s the whole parallel to the star-crossed lovers forbidden from one another, a war divides their people—

And then zuko messes up, he regresses, he gets what he wants and he HATES it. And the sense of justice he had as a child has been restored to him against his will and he can’t think of anything he wants to do more than the Right Thing, so he joins team avatar. Before he does that though, we get to see his relationship with Mai, which is where comparison really comes in. And what we see is Zuko, fresh off of his encounter with Katara in the catacombs, trying to be emotionally honest with Mai... and getting shut down and dismissed. Which is just how Mai is and it’s fine, but not for Zuko. Still, he keeps trying, and he keeps getting ignored or scoffed at or yelled at. Which is really a larger symbol for how he doesn’t fit in his old life anymore, but again that’s about thematic cohesion. He tries to articulate his anxieties about returning home, he tries to make romantic gestures, he tries to explain how morally conflicted he’s feeling—and Mai diverts to some kind of physical affection to shut him up and a parting comment that is pretty much always, in essence, “I don’t wanna talk about this.” So they don’t. On the other hand, once zuko and Katara are friends, we see him again emotionally distraught and caught up in his anxieties about facing Iroh, and it’s Katara who comes to him and listens to him and comforts and encourages him.

Similarly, we have Aang clamming up and getting uncomfortable whenever Katara shows any negative emotion, usually resulting in him making excuses or running away. Or, in the case of the Southern Raiders, lecturing her on how she needs to just let go of her anger about her mother’s murder. People have talked this episode to death and usually better than I ever could, so imma... keep it brief. There’s a serious disconnect between Aang and Katara in his ability to empathize with Katara and her needs that has her tamping down her vulnerability and amping up her anger. He tells her that he was able to forgive his people’s genocide and appa’s kidnapping (petnapping? Theft??), which is blatantly not true but also not an entirely equal parrallel to Katara’s situation, and continues making these little remarks throughout the episode. But it’s Zuko that Katara opens up to. It’s with him that she’s able to talk about the most traumatic day of her life, and it’s with him that she’s able to get the closure she needs, cementing their bond as friends and partners. This disagreement between Aang and Katara is then... never resolved. They just never bring it up and hear what the other is saying.

There’s a fic called The Portraits of Ember Island that has a line that so completely sums up the heart of the matter for why people love their dynamic. For context, zuko has woken up early to help Katara with the cooking and they spend the whole time just letting one another talk, and zuko stops to ask why she always just lets him talk. And so she stops to ask why he’s always helping, and it goes as follows:

There’s just... so much mutual support! Trust! Intimacy!! And it just continues like that from the Southern Raiders on, listening to each other, advising each other, watching each other’s backs! And then! Literally saving each other’s lives!! I will never be over the last Agni kai. Not ever. Zuko may have been willing to jump in front of lightning for anyone, but he actually did it for Katara. And in a show, that’s the thing that really matters. It’s a fulfilled trope usually exclusively applied to romantic pairings, and it ended up applying to Zuko and Katara. And then she ran out into the middle of a fight with tunnel vision just to get to him.

Also!! Also Zuko pushing Katara out of the way of the falling rocks at the Western Air Temple!! And Katara catching him as he fell from the war balloon that he fought Azula on!! Before they’re even getting along, they’re the ones reaching for each other. They come to this place of equal ground, as partners, who watch each other’s backs, call each other out but still listen attentively and understand, and provide the support that the other has been sorely lacking up until they knew each other (whether that be from lack of effort or lack of understanding from others, or an unwillingness to accept it for themselves).

Then, trailing along under the surface of this, we see the themes of the show totally embodied by Zuko and Katara as individuals and in their relationship to one another. There’s a YouTuber, sneezyreviews, who has a, like, 2-hour explanation on why she not only loves zutara but also believes that their endgame would’ve actually elevated the writing of atla to new levels particularly because of thematic cohesion and resolved character arcs. It’s the zutara dissertation I never knew I needed, and it’s funny and eloquent and effective, so I’m just going to sum up her section on thematic cohesion to the best of my abilities and then link it for whenever you have the time. And I HIGHLY recommend it, especially if you want a full understanding of what makes zutara so great and gives it such longevity.

Guru pathik has a line that goes something like this: separation is an illusion; things that seem different are just two parts of the same whole. Iroh also tells Zuko something similar: balance and strength are achieved when the different nations come together and influence one another and celebrate what makes them each unique. And this lesson is a massive central arc that both Zuko and Katara go through, moving past a black-and-white, good guys-vs-bad guys, us-vs-them mentality and into a greyer, more nuanced view of the world. Zuko sees the fire nation from an entirely new perspective and while he still loves and hopes for his nations future, he surrenders his blind loyalty to them in exchange for an unflinching loyalty to peace and love. Katara too had to come to terms with the fact that cruel people exist in the earth kingdom and water tribes, while some fire nation citizens are just regular, kind people who also need and deserve to have someone speak on their behalf. And this is honed in directly on how they view each other. They grow in their individual journeys to be open to the humanity in the other and then, once they’ve found that, they’re able to grow more in compassion for others in a beautiful feedback loop. And this is all matched in the symbolism repeatedly and intentionally associated with them in canon: sun and moon, fire and water, yin and yang, Oma and Shu who found love despite their warring nations. Their individual arcs are completed in each other and complement the themes of atla beautifully.

The canon pairs... just don’t. Which, again, is fine. But the very things that give atla longevity and popularity are anchored in zutara. Kat@ang doesn’t accomplish this. They’re... nice. Sweet. Especially when you erase a good portion of their interactions in S3. It could’ve been just a sweet love story. (Personally, the dynamic between toph and aang accomplish the same thing that zutara does, with complementary personalities that fulfill the theme of opposites blending in harmony) M@iko, on the other hand, is less sweet but I think wasn’t even supposed to last. Zuko’s relationship with Mai seems to represent his relationship with his old life as a whole. He can’t be emotionally vulnerable, he’s goaded into abusing his privileges, his agency and opinions aren’t respected. They just don’t have common ground with which to discuss anything that matters, so they don’t. As far as themes, the relationship doesn’t fit with atla. It’s zuko returning to and sticking with what is (on the surface) like him, what’s expected. Fire nation with fire nation. Fluid water bender with the flexible air bender. Like with like, separated from what is different and challenging and complementary.

And all of these things combined of course lead to the potential for the ship. I don’t know how familiar you are with the post-atla canon but... well, miss “I will never turn my back on people who need me”, miss “I don’t want to heal! I want to fight!” ends up living quietly in the SWT as a designated healer who turns a blind eye to the water tribe civil war happening right outside her front door. Which can be fine! People change! Some people just wanna stay inside. I just wanna stay inside! But the potential future for zutara is so much more satisfying, with Katara becoming the most unconventional Fire Lady the uppity old cads who are stuck on the old ways have ever seen. Fanon has her serving as a voice for the other nations within a kingdom at the point of its biggest political upheaval, as a confidante to Zuko who can actually help him while he’s trying to figure out how to move forward and make reparations. They have the opportunity, together, to accomplish what they both have set on their hearts to fight for: positive change that lends itself to harmony and balance. And the steambabies! A popular headcanon is that their firstborn daughter, the crown princess, is actually a waterbender, which causes such an uproar among the people who are adamantly clinging to the old ways. It’s just a future full of potential to be forces for good together, full of trust, intimacy, joy. The exact era of peace and love and balance that zuko announces that he intends to ring in with the start of his reign as Fire Lord is, again, magnified by the very personal zutara relationship. And we love to see it.

tl;dr zutara isn’t for everyone. Some people just don’t vibe with it. Some are nostalgic. Some love the canon they grew up with. Some have been disappointed for years. Some just see themselves in other characters and want their happiness instead. Whatever the reason, that’s fine. But for me, I love the way these two, from the moment they give each other a fair chance, are able to lower their walls and prejudices to see the other for the kindred spirits they are. They see each other’s humanity, and their response is to pour out love and support and compassion. I love that they’re a power couple in battle. I love the symbolism and, honestly, soulmatism that colors their every interaction. I love that they embody the whole storyline of atla in their relationship and how it develops, which is notably why their seasonal arcs always culminate in each finale with how they relate to one another. I love that zuko adopting a waterbending move is what actually saves his life and then katara’s. I love the chemistry! And I love the future they could’ve had, instead of the ones they were given.

So, in conclusion: I just think they’re neat and I hope you do too, at least a little bit. Even if it’s just respectfully from a disinterested distance cause you do you. And now here is the video I mentioned. I’m sorry this post got so long and then I gave you an even longer homework assignment, but I can’t recommend it enough. She says it all better than I can.

[stevensavage]

Steve's Book Roundup 3/7/2023

I write a lot and have quite a few books.  So now and then I post a roundup of them for interested parties!  However, I think as I'm taking 2023 easy and doing a few less blog posts, I'll make this quarterly or whenever I add a new book.

The Way With Worlds Series

This is what I do a lot of – writing on worldbuilding!.  You can find all of my books at www.WayWithWorlds.com! 

The core books of the series will help you get going:

Way With Worlds Book 1 – Discusses my philosophy of worldbuilding and world creation essentials.

Way With Worlds Book 2 – Looks at common subjects of worldbuilding like conflicts in your setting, skills for being a good worldbuilder, and more!

When you need to focus on specifics of worldbuilding, I have an ever-growing series of deep dive minibooks.  Each provides fifty questions with additional exercises and ideas to help you focus on one subject important to you!

The current subjects are:

Sex and Reproduction

Magic and Technology

Food and Culture

Religion

Worldbuilding Checkups

Characters

Superheroes

Organizations

Cities

Fashion

News

Gods and Deities

Conspiracies

Calendars and Holidays

History and Records

Natural Disasters

Man-Made Disasters

Misinformation, Disinformation, Propaganda

Disaster Response

Fiction

Take a typical fantasy world – and then let it evolve into the information age.  Welcome to the solar system of Avenoth, where gods use email, demons were banished to a distant planet, and science and sorcery fling people across worlds . . .

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet – Two future teachers of Techno-Magical safety find trying to earn their credentials hunting odd artifacts backfires when they’re hired to put some back . . . on a planet where gods go to die!

A School of Many Futures - The crew is back, and finding having secrets and keeping them isn't the same thing! Unfortunately they also find "very normal" is a cover for "anything but" . . .

Creativity

I’m the kind of person that studies how creativity works, and I’ve distilled my findings and advice into some helpful books!

The Power Of Creative Paths – Explores my theories of the Five Types of Creativity, how you can find yours, and how to expand your creative skills to use more Types of Creativity.

Agile Creativity – I take the Agile Manifesto, a guide to adaptable project development, and show how it can help creatives improve their work – and stay organized without being overwhelmed.

The Art of The Brainstorm Book – A quick guide to using a simple notebook to improve brainstorming, reduce the stress around having new ideas, and prioritize your latest inspirations.

Chance’s Muse – I take everything I learned at Seventh Sanctum and my love of random tables and charts and detail how randomness can produce inspiration!

Careers

Being a “Professional Geek” is what I do – I turned my interests into a career and have been doing my best to turn that into advice.  The following books are my ways of helping out!

Fan To Pro – My “flagship” book on using hobbies and interests in your career – and not always in ways you’d think!

Skill Portability – A quick guide to how to move skills from one job to another, or even from hobbies into your job.  Try out my “DARE” system and asses your abilities!

Resume Plus – A guide to jazzing up a resume, sometimes to extreme measures.

Epic Resume Go! – Make a resume a creative act so it’s both better and more enjoyable to make!

Quest For Employment – Where I distill down my job search experiences and ways to take the search further.

Cosplay, Costuming, and Careers – An interview-driven book about ways to leverage cosplay interests to help your career!

Fanart, Fanartists, and Careers – My second interview-driven book about ways to leverage fanart to help your career!

Convention Career Connection – A system for coming up with good career panels for conventions!

Culture

Her Eternal Moonlight – My co-author Bonnie and I analyze the impact Sailor Moon had on women’s lives when it first came to North America.  Based on a series of interviews, there’s a lot to analyze here, and surprisingly consistent themes . . .

My Sites

www.StevenSavage.com – My personal website, with my blog and latest updates.

www.InformoTron.com – My press site, with the links to my books and some extra goodies!

www.SeventhSanctum.com – My random inspiration website, with generators for all sorts of stories, characters, and more!

[orionshounds]

I’ve been knee deep in dsmp lore streams and I just want to ramble about it

Dream smp lore is so good, it’s so good!!! Not only is the story itself just fascinating, but how it’s presented so uniquely through the medium of minecraft of all things is just so cool. One of my favorite parts of the lore is seeing how everyone on the smp has their own “style” they present it in, and watching them find the way they find the most enjoyment in is so cool. Literally no two streamer’s lore stream quite like each others and it’s just incredible! It just speaks to the flexibility of roleplay as an artistic medium and really shows everyone’s individual personalities. 

Wilbur was dramatic as hell and wrote eloquent speeches. He started a drug operation under the guise as a country, and it lead to a revolution in which he was able to explore the spiral of a man who loses control of everything he had built. And after his arc and he wanted a break from the server? He created ghostbur, an amnesic comic relief with just enough touch of tragedy that he is still able to make heartbreaking monologues when he wants to.

Tommy is able to run around with his friends and cause as much chaos to his heart’s extent, but there is so much more than meets the eye. He is incredibly social and isn’t afraid to start conflict with a lot of people, bringing them into the roleplay. He doesn’t back down from storytelling either. His character goes through terrible situations and he fully explores the trauma that comes from those experiences. His character goes against the “stereotypical” trauma I see alot in media; instead of being shy or scared he’s reactionary, he’s angry, he’s violent, he’s depressed. I’m actually really impressed with the heavy subject matter this 17 year old teen has managed to portray (I’ve connected with it quite personally at certain points), while still being able to keep the light hearted fun that’s so intrinsic to his personality. 

Tubbo isn’t really interested in serious lore as much. Even in dire moments he tells jokes and just has fun. So, in his recent lore, he just streams as normal while putting mysterious writing on screen that he doesn’t acknowledge or have to explain, which I think is just a genius work around for him to participate in lore. He still has his dedicated lore streams sometimes, and when he is in the acting zone he has some of the most powerful moments out of everyone on the server.

Ranboo, while having stake in the greater smp lore, is much more character focused. He presents his lore through long monologues and fucking heart-wrenching voice acting. He loves working in themes of horror and causing a specific feeling in the viewer. So he chooses specific music as a themes for events/characters and creates visual queues in his overlays to draw out that desired reaction. He also values improve a LOT, if something unexpected comes up he just runs with it and he has made huge changes to his lore as early as 30 min before a stream.

Technoblade, while arguably one of the most powerful people on the server, prefers a more light-hearted yet dramatic approach to lore. When Dream was at his house looking for Tommy, Techno had no problem joking around and making fun of him for being homeless. He tore down an entire nation on the server and had so much fun doing it! He’s more of an antagonist than a true villain in my opinion. And lets not forget how dedicated he is to the game, he’s cracked at the craft. He spends hours grinding and creating farms on the smp, for amazing pay offs (his several vault reveals, the withers, etc), most of which weren’t even on stream!

Karl Jacobs is extremely social, so he created Tales from the smp as a way to involve TONS of people in lore while exploring the past and future of the server (it was also a way for viewers who weren’t that well versed in dsmp lore to join and not have to worry about it!). And through this premise, he took the opportunity to develop his own character on the smp; making an incredibly tragic story of a time traveler trying to save his home while slowly loosing his memories. Not to mention the beautifully shot cutscenes of the Inbetween and the Other Side. He includes so many people behind the scenes as well, collabing with other members on lore, hiring building teams and people to make intros and credit scenes, and promoting fanart and fansongs from the community!

Quackity explores his lore through heavily scripted events and amazingly shot cut scenes. While the way he expresses his lore comes at the cost of improv, the payoff of the visuals and story is well worth it! The shots he makes of the smp is downright gorgeous, no to mention he’s the first person to include irl footage in his lore (not counting facecams)! He’s not afraid of thoroughly examining his own character, being one of the only people I can think of that shows us “past events” leading up to something that has already happened.

Badboyhalo, Antfrost, Ponk, Skeppy, Captain Puffy, Punz, Awesamdude, Hannahxxrose all work together on shared lore and the payoff is amazing! By introducing the Egg, a constant antagonistic force that constantly pulls on character’s relationships with each other, everyone is able to stream together to battle for or against the egg! There’s also plenty of room for people to do individual lore that's more intimate to their respective character. They spend hours changing vines, putting up posters, slowly shaping the smp in a way that makes it exciting to watch streams to see just what has changed everyday. Because there’s so many people necessary to tell the egg’s story, it does comes at the cost of time (the egg has been around FOREVER). However, they all work together super hard and I just admire their commitment to the story they’re trying to tell!

And Sam! He has several different “Modes” his character is in (and an entirely separate character, Sam Nook) that he gets to explore lore with. He’s a terrifying warden, he’s a money motivated businessman, he’s a conflicted lover, he’s a traumatized victim of the egg, and just so much more. Through having so many different “roles” in the rp he gets to explore relationships and plotlines with a whole array of people. Not to mention he’s absolutely cracked at redstone and has some of the most impressive builds on the server.

And Puffy! So much of her lore is calling into question the morality of the server and really makes you step back and think critically about the characters. Her character also has, in my opinion, one of the most interesting relationships with Dream, the main antagonist of the entire server, which is just fascinating to watch unfold. Not to mention she’s one of the first people to start exploring the backstory of her character!

George doesn’t exactly do lore. In fact he’s slept through so much of it it’s become a meme. And you know what? That mad man took that and ran with it. He explains his absence in the story by having his character literally being asleep through it, creating mystery where there used to just be an absence. He’s able to goof off with his friends and have borderline nonsensical streams, then at the end sucker punch the audience emotionally by “waking up” and have the viewers question just what was real and what wasn’t?

The smp has the freedom for people who want more independent lore to be able to explore their character’s that way as well!

Hbomb, Connereatspants, and Purpled don’t have a lot of lore on the smp, generally only coming on to have fun with everyone, but when they do have their moments it unfolds in very interesting ways!

Sapnap, Eret, and Schlatt maybe aren’t as active as some other people, but when they are on they actively participate in lore and have lasting impacts on the story (Ex: Eret’s betrayal, Sapnap’s visit to dream in the prison, Schlatt becoming president).

Philza mostly does his own thing, improving the server or making some bomb ass builds. He has incredibly devastating roles in lore (killing wilbur, blowing up L’manberg for the final time, starting the syndicate with Techno), but he also has quieter moments that speak to the depth his character has, such as fishing with fundy or reminiscing about his dead son and how it went so wrong. Like Techno, he doesn’t like to take lore completely seriously, often laughing no matter what’s happening or teasing chat after something big goes down, but his character is solid with a lot of potential for future lore.

Foolish has only started on his character and its already super interesting. The hints at his dark past as a “god of death” and his current conflict with the egg are intriguing as fuck. Not to mention the MASSIVE builds he does for everyone, helping to progress their lore as well.

Fundy has a lot of freedom with his character to participate however much he wants in lore. While generally he’s a trickster who loves to prank people he has enough tragedy build into his backstory he’s able to break the viewer’s heart with a flip of a switch. Not to mention his recent, almost surreal, stream that explored his character’s disturbing dreams that may or may not predict the future.

Niki is very character driven, exploring her character's grief of losing her best friend and her anger of being ignored in the very country she helped create. She has incredibly emotional moments, and even though she’s on her own building an underground city she still participates in other lore via teaming with jack manifold or the syndicate.

Jack Manifold’s lore is VERY character focused, and while he’s described his story as a “B plot that occasionally intersects with the main plot”, the story he tells is still fascinating. Being pushed aside not taken seriously his whole life, his character develops into a fun cartoony-esque villain who begs to be taken seriously, that has the depth of a truly conflicted person who is torn between wanting revenge on everyone who’s done him wrong and just wanting a friend.

Last but not least, the man himself, Dream. The most fascinating thing about his lore is that absolutely none of it is from his pov. All we know about his character is only from what we see from everyone else’s povs, and in his case it leads to a very intimidating villain! Not to mention, mans owns the damn server and yet has made himself the main antagonist! He is the only character I consider a “true villain” on the smp. His voice acting and writing is downright sinister. I could write a fucking essay on how his character’s obsession with power has led him to the point he thinks himself an unstoppable god

Everyone on this server is stunning and I love all of them!!!!!