#the amount of chaotic and good vibe in the fandom is amazing

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  AidaRonan! @aidaronan has 29 fics posted to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and 27 of them are in the Steddie Fandom.

@dame-zoom-a-lot recommends the following works by AidaRonan:

Cassiopeia, Orion, Bootes

The Prettiest Boy in Hawkins, Indiana

Blood, Sweat, Ambrosia

Rip Me to Pieces and Make Me Whole

Life or Something Like It

"She writes incredible monsterfucking fics with such creative designs. At least, that's how I first got into her works. But it's really the amount of love all her characters feel for each other that's kept me in a vice grip. All her characters are beautifully fleshed out, sometimes so accurately and deeply that it's hard to re-read. It's that intense." -- @dame-zoom-a-lot

Below the cut, AidaRonan answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

That’s a great question. As with a lot of things I watch or read, some of it was just that lightbulb moment of “Huh. These two want to kiss.” I know the “don't ya, Big Boy?” moment was big for a lot of us including me. Another huge thing was just Eddie. I’d always enjoyed Steve when I was a more casual watcher of the show, but Eddie. I’m in the wrong generation to have been an 80s metalhead, but I was an 00s Scene Kid (with undiagnosed ADHD), and a lot of who Eddie is and how he interacts with the world around him are translatable and relatable to me. So when he died on the show, it felt kind of personal. I actually wrote Orta Recens Quam Pura Nites thinking I’d do just one fix-it for his death, and then that would be it and I’d go back to writing in other fandoms. Then I got the idea for Anywhere, Anytime in the middle of working on that, and I really started to dial into who these two were to me and how they might slot together. I also just had so much fun writing their banter that I knew I was a goner.  At the risk of getting too vulnerable, I have a tendency to latch onto characters who allow me to explore something about myself. With these two, I got two characters with attributes I feel deeply connected with. I’m now running experiments on them in the lab to learn more about me while also just generally exploring who they are in different Situations. And I’m giving them a thousand happy endings to remind myself that I deserve happiness too.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I do love a good enemies-to-lovers or rivals-to-lovers. Which is probably also why these two appeal. There’s nothing like a slow, simmering burn either.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Probably angst with a happy ending or angst with a hopeful ending. I love breaking things and then mending them. Porn with plot is also clearly up there for me since I seem to struggle writing it without.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

It’s more pre-Steddie but @greatunironic has this amazing fic called all the missing girls are hanging out with us. Of course Grey is one of the steddie greats, and nearly everyone at least knows most remarkable thing exists even if they haven’t read it. But all the missing girls is a love letter to the “gone too soon” women of the show, and the vibes are impeccable. 

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I don’t think I’ve done a second chance romance yet for Steddie, and I do think there’s some juicy potential for them with that one.

What is your writing process like?

Sometimes it feels like I don’t really have one because it’s kind of chaotic, but uh… For starters, I use Scrivener and keep pretty much any WIP I have open in the same project file in the hopes I don’t forget things. I fiddle with different ideas until they either become full-fledged fics or they don’t. Sometimes I toggle between WIPs to let things marinate.  As for the process on each individual fic. I write them. I edit a little as I go. Then when I’m finished, everything gets at least two passes of editing. First pass of editing is to make sure everything makes sense, to try (TRY) to cut some extraneous shit, to catch any spots that I don’t really like how they sound, etc. I’m usually a “no beta, we die like…” on fanfic because I hate asking anyone for anything ever and should really get better at doing that. But if it’s a bang fic or something special, it might get passed to a beta after this.  For my final edit, I also have text-to-speech read my work back to me so I can hear how it sounds. Having it read back also increases the chances I’ll catch things like omitted/double words. 

Do you have any writing quirks?

Oh God, probably. I mean my complete inability to write PWP most of the time stands out. Style quirks are harder for me to notice in my own writing. Maybe that I love a good simile. Or that I love an interrupted moment in dialogue or to have a character trailing off when they speak. 

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

I usually yeet things into the void the moment I think they’re done. If I have somehow managed to write a whole chaptered fic in advance, I will do a posting schedule for that.

Which fic are you most proud of?

For Steddie so far, Cut and Changed and Rearranged hands down. I put a lot of me into that one, and I have a lot of feelings about it. I’m also really proud of my Buckingham fic Where the Sunflowers Grow. 

How did you get the idea for Life or Something Like It?

I think we all have favorite stories in this world, ones that we pretty much always imagine into an AU every time we’re into a new ship. San Junipero is one of those for me. I remember crying my eyes out the first time I saw it, and I’ve seen it many times since. So it was less a spontaneous idea and more a culmination of how I might translate Steve and Eddie through a lens I often look through.

When writing Rip Me to Pieces and Make Me Whole, what was something you didn’t expect?

I think I always try to write PWP, and I always end up doing too much. Which is to say that I didn’t expect this fic to also explore Eddie trying to learn to communicate his needs within a relationship. And, hey! succeeding! But I think it might very likely be true that this is Eddie’s first real relationship. And we have a solid reason to believe this would only be Steve’s second. So while I am a hopeless romantic and a certified happy ending enjoyer 999/1000 times, I do think they’re going to have to learn a lot from each other and be willing to put in some work.  So yeah, sitting down to write this and realizing as it went that it was going to involve that communication aspect was interesting.

What inspired Blood, Sweat, Ambrosia?

I have slept many times since I wrote that one, but it was sort of that concept of “came back different.” And then the inherent eroticism of “could kill me but wants to fuck me instead.” 

What was your favorite part to write from The Prettiest Boy in Hawkins, Indiana?

It has to be when Eddie and Steve first see each other again and Eddie is fully being the most dramatically horny vampire to ever visit Indiana. Just “this creature was a theatre kid in another life” amped and vamped. Truly a “what if that guy who made speeches on the cafeteria table had even less impulse control?” moment.

How do/did you feel writing The Prettiest Boy in Hawkins, Indiana?

A level of unhinged joy for which “giddy” is not a strong enough word. 

What was the most difficult part of writing Cassiopeia, Orion, Bootes?

New Orleans is a really special city. I’ve only been there twice, but there’s something about it that stays with you. If you let it, it will romance you and make you feel like you’re being courted by something old and unknown. There’s a reason I came off my 2nd visit there and wrote two different fics in that setting. Then there’s bayous as an environment. If you’ve never been to a bayou at night or even at dusk, there’s a vibe there like all sorts of things might be lurking just beneath the murky surface.  So basically trying to translate all of that even for people who have maybe never been to either, to imbue the fic with those atmospheric feelings. I think they were really important to get right to make this fic hit, to have that eerie-meets-Something-More feeling coming through especially in the beginning. Otherwise you’ve just got Steve fucking Gator!Eddie, which like, good for them! But it wouldn’t be as impactful.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

Steve having a full romance novel moment going to Eddie in the rain in Cut and Changed and Rearranged.  And of course, from The Prettiest Boy in Hawkins, Indiana: “Me? I’m the town freak, Steve Harrington. Was then, most definitely am now.” Eddie’s eyes go wide and wild. “Because me? Eddie Munson? Well, I’m a certified bloodsucking, cocksucking creature of the night.”

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I’ve resumed work on my postponed Steddie Big Bang fic from last year with Ori (@oriarts / @stevespookington) and welcome cheerleading. This one is deeply personal and features Steve and Eddie in their early 40s meeting while attempting to hike the Appalachian Trail. Slow burn, lots of hiker/trail lore, and Ori has some really cool stuff cooking for the art. 

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

I see a lot of people talk about being afraid to create the things they want to create because they’re worried that they’re too weird. I just want to say that I had those same fears for a long time, and then I finally got past them for the most part, and now I feel like I’m having more fun than ever. I’ve also learned that I’m a lot less weird than I thought I was. Life is short and can be so much shorter than we expect. Give yourself over to unbridled creativity. Create fearlessly. And go ahead and be a little freak about it while you’re at it. xoxo

Thank you to our author, @aidaronan, and our nominator, @dame-zoom-a-lot! See more of AidaRonan's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[but-aint-this-texas]

[obviously you brought pie, you probably have so much left over T>T]

I am thankful for love. All that encompasses the term, all which i cannot even dare name. I brought you all some tzimmes! (It tastes super good y'all would love it!!)

Gosh, I came here only a few months ago, and I never expected to get anywhere. I've always been the straggler in a group, the least wanted, the little sister that alsways tags along, you know? At least I've felt that way. But now, I actually feel like somebody. You are all so kind and lovely and there are no exceptions to what I'm saying. Every person I've met on here is lovey, and so so amazing you're beautiful people. I'm not saying this just because, I'm not lying, and I'm not exaggerating. I love you. Every one of you. I've been blessed to see your headcanons, discussions, art, fics, poetry, photography, rambles. Your games and questions and conversations. I love witnessing your lives, and I would be devastated if anything happened to you. Once again, there are no exceptions. Don't think "oh this doesn't apply to me, I'm not loved to this degree, I'm just mediocre, I'm not noticed enough, its a lie" no. This is for you. I see you and I am thinking of you and I am not lying I pinky promise. You all have been such amazing friends and just great people in general. Please realize it. You're excellent and if there is only one person who loves you, it is me. If there are none, I am dead. Thank you all for being here. Thank you for living and loving and talking and sharing and listening and laughing and being you, even when life sucks. Thank you for being here. (Also for putting up with me)

@four-leafed-queer-gal we don't talk and you're so above my level but you have such a great presence and you're so encouraging. I love your passion and knowledge and everything!!

@unstableunicornsofasgard we also don't talk xP and people keep getting your url wrong so you don't see half the posts you're tagged in. Anyway, you have such a great style and energy, you are so creative and you just make everyone's day! <3

@star-dust-shark you are an excellent person, honestly sometimes you're like a role model. You're patient and I love each rare time we actually talk. You are super kind and funny too, and I love to see you pop up!! Your pjo posts are all wonderful, and you're just amazing.

@blizzardtheartisticfox you're so kind!! I love your everything! !!!! Waht! You're incredible and so cool, you've been a wonder to talk to and you're just excellent.

@yourlocalbadgerscales I love your ideas, your fandom posts, your incredible energy, and even though you're way out of my league I still feel like you'd be so incredibly helpful of I needed it! Your attitude is wonderful and ily.

@sparky4577 now you're actually a role model xP you have such a great style, you're so uplifting and you honestly seem like the type to encourage everybody you meet, and you're super funny and just amazing! You're like an older cousin in a way, I don't know.

@ablndfsh even though we barely know eachother, I feel like we're super close? I'm not sure I just get that vibe from you. You're so friendly and nice, I love being able to notice you and see everything you have to say

@th3-r4t-48 you're so incredibly chaotic and you're also an amazing photographer, you bring an amazing vibe and addition to everything I see. You seem like someone one could go to for advice, you're incredible. The amount of times I've been stressed and just up and stalked your blog to decompress? You're excellent and I'd love to know you more.

@tealeafstew I love you? You're just so intensely incredible and serene and like. An escape. You are just amazing, there is so much I can't put a name on but know it's there and it's amazing. You have been a supporter of so much and it's great, you are awesome.

@folklur13 you're so imaginative, and I feel like you'd be a super calm refuge if I knew you in real life. I appreciate every time I see you around, and just. You're great.

@myl0l0v3scl0uds you have just been so amazing, I can't believe you actually exist. You're like a younger cousin that is just so much better? I don't know, there's so much about you I can't name xP you're so.. I dont know. It's awesome though, you're awesome.

@s1l4s-w0rsh1ps-t0m4t03s you're an incredible artist, you have this warm energy and I can't believe how supportive you are of everybody. You have affects you don't even realize, and you're just incredibly lovely.

@rxccoonboo I don't know why but apparently you've. Perceived me? You're just great and I so want to know you more. I don't have too much to say because I don't know you too well but you have cheered me up and just your existence without doing anything is enough to make my day.

@theshelteredbrat I love talking to you! You're super fun and incredibly supportive, and I wish we spoke more! You've been around for so long, I feel like I've known you forever.

@porsiesdemadrugada I love seeing everything you share, and you're just so far above me I'm afraid to talk to you xP but you being around has never once failed to make me happy, thank you for being here

@tiny-gay-satan little brother core. Your energy and all the emotions you show are some of the first things I notice about you, and your ability to just. Love. Is something I can't begin to tell you. I love it and I love ya

@mintbecrazy you're like a chill weird stepdad? I don't know but it's a good thing!! You're so great jn ways I can't put into words, just know you make everyone so happy. Whenever i see you around my day gets better <3

@devilkingmik whenever I get an ask from you, it always cheers me up. I love learning about you and what you have to say. For somereason you give me dad vibes, in the best way possible.

@evry1h8s-me !!! I straight up do not know how to describe all that you've been. You're. !!! I'm just as confused as you are I am getting no words but. Yes. Please just know that even though I can't find any words they're all good and you're epic!!

@seldom-equivocate whenever I see you in my notifs I get so happy that you found something from me you like! And I always see you around and you're just great fhsbkdbdsisjheowdh I'm sorry that's all I can give u I promise I am feeling all the awesome things you promote I'm just running out of words

@f1shxx I love your music recommendations and your posts and commentary and just! Every time I go to your blog you are! Amazing! You're so cool??? ??? <3??? I am Running Out of Words. But just know that every time you see me in your notifs I am so glad you're here.

@just-another-starry-dreamer I know I reblogged this from you but! I am mentioning you! I don't care! I love talking to you and legit you in general make me so happy? You're like a best friend I've had for years?? Gwkvrskrb????? I am literally. Shaking I love you I'm sorry I can't verbalize it YIU KNOW WHAT I MEAN YIURE EPIC JUST KNOW LLEASE

@finnslay you're so cool? I can't believe you manage to find everybody and talk to us peasants /lh. You're so social? I guess that's the closest word, either that or supportive. Whatever the word is, it's positive. You are just incredible!!! You make everybody i know happy!

@asp3n4ever you're like a little brother i never had? Everything I see from you is incredible and I love talking to you!! I am not going to lie to you I am very much running out of words there are so many. I'm sorry you're one of the last ones mentioned but please know you're incredible. You're absolutely! Yes! Ragh! !!!

@s4ge-s4ge-s4ge you're like a little sister to me? I don't even. Know why? You're super funny and I'm probably gonna dump a heck ton of asks in your inbox because You ate Cool. And I Cannot talk To People. But I'd Love To. !! You have a great vibe too, !!

@xxbl33d1ngb0yxx you are so awesome, whenever I see you around your presence never fails to just. Be awesome! You!! Are like. Amazing. I'm so glad I know you. I'm sorry I can't talk anymore I'm failing but PLEASE KNOW YOURE SUPER COOL!!!

@mrblazeflappybird @capn-atlas @thatbivthbcj (I don't know how we found each other But We Did and now you're stuck) @pocketsizedking @whyshouldilistentoyou

@demonkeeperdark @quackity1999 @thebitterbeanjuice all of you PLEASE DM ME AND REMIND ME ON A DAY OR TWO TO TELL YOU THE THINGS. I CANNOT BRAIN RIGHT NOW I AM SUPER SORRY BUT YOU DESERVE TO HEAR ALL THE GOOD THINGS IMBTHINGKING SO PLEASE. TELL ME TO DO THIS I LOVE YOU BYEEE

Happy Mootsgiving, everyone!

So, technically, I know Thanksgiving is an American holiday… history… yadda yadda. However, this is not Thanksgiving.

This is Mootsgiving, and what I say goes ‘cause this is my holiday. Anyway! Mootsgiving is all the basic ideas of Thankgiving but better because I’m great like that.

I just wanted to show everyone how grateful I am, since gratefulness is a key principle of Thanksgiving.

I want all my moots from different countries to be able to have the picture-perfect movie-esque Thanksgiving of being surrounded by friends and family with all the care and love and gratefulness that can be poured into a single human. And, as the ever-dramatic Runar, what better way to do that than to organize a huge event?

So! Rules!

State what food you brought

State one thing you’re thankful for

My name is Runar, I brought the eggnog, and I’m grateful for each and every one of you 💗🫶

Really sappy and really long paragraph/speech under the cut!!

Soooo… to start off my big long speech… *clinks my fancy wine glass that’s filled with a mysterious substance* (It’s eggnog)

When I first started this blog, it was off a whim. I wanted to do something, something that involved putting my work out there, as I was just starting out. I wanted to mean something. In any sort of way, I wanted to leave a sort of mark. Not just any mark, though, no. I wanted to add a bit of joy, a spark of life that comes from creativity, and adding words and love into the space we occupy on this floating rock in space.

I wanted to write because it made me happy, and I wanted there to be a possibility of someone who was who got joy from reading to maybe stumble upon it, and get joy from me. Get joy from something I was able to provide for them.

I was also incredibly lonely. I had no friends, I had nothing, pretty much. I didn’t talk much. I was reclusive. I was okay, but I was empty. I didn’t have a purpose. And while I wasn’t expecting much, nothing at all really, I was overjoyed at the prospect that maybe just one person would stumble upon something I wrote and for a moment of their day, maybe they got peace from it.

Maybe they felt a little less lonely. I would have been at peace with just knowing the possibility of it was out there. And then… it did. And I got more than I bargained for, even, I got a friend. My first friend.

From there, everything… clicked. Slowly, but ever so surely, things were falling into place. I was gaining something that had not even crossed my mind. A family.

So, my silly dream born from a whim became friends, connections, and family, it became life-altering. It had ups, it had downs, it had in-betweens. It was beautiful and messy and happy and sad and fucked up and so wonderfully… human?

Yeah, this is online, this is a silly mootsgiving idea I thought up three hours ago because I wanted people to know I love them.

But to someone who had nothing, this is everything. You are everything.

Even if we’ve only talked one time, you have a special place in my heart. The character growth has been… one hell of a ride. I’ve gone through many eras, and made new friends in each and every one of them. So, with the end of the year closing soon, I suppose in a way this is not just a silly mootsgiving.

My bigger end goal, really, was to make sure as we get to the end of this ear, you know how genuinely important this whole year has been to me. How important you have been. I got an anon ask,

What does it feel like to be wanted?

It was beautiful poetry. I replied, said I wouldn’t know what it feels like to be wanted. But really? I think maybe I do. I think it feels like having enough people that you love to organize and invite everyone to a huge event online, to write out this heartfelt paragraph and trust that at least one person will care enough to read it.

My beginning goal has changed so much, and not at all. My biggest purpose in life has been, and I think will always be, to add something into this world.

Creativity, joy, happiness, compassion, I want to ensure that no matter what, as long as you know me, you know you have one person on this earth who loves and cares about you with as much feeling that can physically be felt by one person without exploding into a bunch of tiny little runar pieces.

But moreso, I think maybe my goal has changed from wanting to put stories out there, to putting myself out there. I don’t want to write stories that are just fiction, just crafted ideas meshed together to create a blob of fiction.

I want to write pieces of myself into everything, which i think might genuinely be impossible to not do. I want my heart to pour out of my fingers into the things i type out for you, and i want to not only feel things, but to maybe make you feel something too. Something warm and fuzzy, something good, as good as you deserve.

Aaaaannnd…. to end this….

I love you guys, thanks for being here <3

@marauding-almond @percyweasleyapologist @yesiamprocrastinating @dieatthealtar-deactivated @caramel-covered-apples @thatoneslytherinnerd @thatoneslytherinnerd2

@hedgehog-troops@circe-butbetter @stars-on-my-bedroom-ceiling @l1ve-l4ugh-lov3craft @aidens-ocean-galaxy@rainystarsx@liggy-not-potter @goformoony@i-still-got-love-for-you @definitionoffuckup@mairon-goth-minion

@weewooooweew @residentdisaster @matty-os-blog @starkissed-mars @printershorts @the1970sdeadgaywizard-regulus @lesbian-disaster-tm @star-dust-shark @enbysiriusblack @sadnappo @kawaiibarty @hershey-not-the-chocolate-maybe

@jamespotterbbg @scrumblewonk @seekmemystar @rins-batcave @utterqueerdisasterthesimp @gasolinehornet @asters-tempo @here-am-i-sitting-in-a-tin-can @permetutotheworld @theprongspotter @sotiredimbored @yourlocalbadgerscales @raeprise @burgundykicks @whydousernamesevenexist @jaydove-writes @the-stars-drowning @inara-tries-to-survive @saturnsconstellation @royallygray

[i-am-chaos-no-one-can-stop-me]

That's how I see us guys:

Goofing around self deprived -is this weed???? Ah no it's crayon- chaotic gremlin

And @bamsara @spaciebabie @paper-lilypie @oobbbear @shandzii @madame-mongoose @maudiemoods @daunsun and all the other creator that sorry I couldn't or forget to add/name are chilling in the middle making stuff

Tag yourself x) I'm in the top left corner... litteraly- with my friend @torygama

And we are all here like:

(Sorry for the tagging x) and if this hurt anyone please feel free to tell me and I'll delete it 🥺 I just thought it was funny but I understand if it's not)

[existentialterror]

I regret to inform my followers that I've fallen headlong into Dream SMP lately, and it’s one of the wildest media experiences I’ve ever had. Some of it reminds me very much of the SCP Foundation experience.

It previously existed in my consciousness as "that fandom that shows up on my dash as either a very weird textpost, or fanart that's 50/50 about Dream SMP or Homestuck." The actual media delivers on inexplicability. I think of it as the Untitled Goose of fiction, because every aspect of it radiates chaos and it causes problems everywhere it goes.

In brief: The Dream SMP is a private multiplayer Minecraft server. A bunch of Twitch/Youtube streamers roleplay on it regularly. It grew a “plot” based on improv which later became somewhat scripted in advance. There are arcs, seasons, worldbuilding, factions…

Some meta reasons I love it and compare it to the SCP wiki:

Non-linear.

If you want to get into it, your best bet is starting with a list of youtube videos on a carrd. Or watch 20 million hours of livestream vods. Or summary videos / “movie” edits made by hardworking fans. Either way, you will miss some stuff.

Everyone is literally the protagonist of their own streams.

The in-character/out-of-character line is blurred.

It didn’t actually become a roleplay until a while into the first “season”. Only a few events are scripted, and I get the impression the “script” is pretty freeform.

Obviously this sometimes becomes kind of a problem for, like, inappropriate fan interactions, which is tough and which I don’t want to trivialize.

Anyhow the line is very blurred within the universe too.

E.g. Technoblade canonically hears his Youtube livestream chat as voices in his head. Nobody else does, except for when they do.

Decentralized ownership and storytelling.

Canon is a spectrum – some things are clearly comedic “bits” and some things are well-established worldbuilding – but there is so much leeway in there.

E.g. At one point, there’s a marriage. The streamers in the marriage now disagree on whether the marriage was canonical or not. But it's not a big deal.

This is real SCP wiki "there is no canon" energy.

You can watch the same event from various character's perspectives and get totally different takes on the same event. (short non-spoiler example)

Unusual delivery format.

You don’t expect emotional depth or great creativity or horror or etc out of a Let’s Play… but my god, you will get them here.

Fun exercise: Grab your boomer parents and try to explain your latest interest to them.

Amateur storytellers.

I mean, they’re making a living from it, so they’re professionals now. But the average server age is 22 and it grew out of a casual hobby, and you can tell.

Every single stream, including the very dark introspective ones, have a bunch of chaotic banter and dick jokes.

There are these really serious bits except that the characters are named things like “Quackity” and “BadBoyHalo”.

This is the polar opposite of a polished narrative.

Many of them – and I say this with great, great love – are not amazing actors. It still works. The vibe is more “a bunch of friends fucking around” then, like, "watching a professional TV show.”

Mechanics are integrated in interesting ways.

Sometimes for plot:

Ability to gather resources – skill, the amount of time they spend digging for material, cool builds and contraptions, etc – do influence how much power they have.

But also sometimes for storytelling or expression - this is Minecraft, you know, the Blocks Game - the actors don’t really have access to normal body language. But it turns out you can fit a lot of meaning into crouches, gentle hits, jumping, looking around, what item you’re holding, what you’re wearing.

Sometimes this is hilariously dissonant:

E.g. Someone saying “look at me” to make emphasis, and the streamer has to look at… the expressionless minecraft head of the person? It’s such a vibe.

Sometimes it’s delightfully innovative and format-specific.

E.g. There are no chairs in minecraft, but there are a lot of occasions in real life where people sit, so people will use staircase blocks as dining chairs, couches, etc, and then either crouch or stand on the block to "sit". In a recent stream, during a conversation, one character went to a crafting table, made a staircase block, put it on the floor (of the other character’s house), said “you’re going to want to be sitting down for this one,” and then refused to proceed until the other character was standing on the staircase block.

A lot of these players are really good at the game, among the best in the world. Some aren’t, or at least aren’t on that tier, which is also endearing.

So if you know Minecraft, then there’s a lot of competence porn, but it's interspersed with a lot of very familiar gameplay.

They also do some non-Vanilla-Minecraft elements. They’re not common, but they keep you on your toes.

And most of them are subtle but also, like… for characters living in a minecraft world, if you’re familiar with the game, the phrase “canonical access to Creative Mode” will and should strike fear into your heart.

[retvenkos]

for the fandom ask: playchoices, for old times' sake? (or just blades if that's too vast)

lol, i’m going to to all of playchoices for the spice™

The first character I first fell in love with: i think one of the first li’s i ever truly loved unconditionally was prince hamid. i can’t remember 100% if i read desire and decorum or the elementalists first, but i’m pretty sure it was desire and decorum, and prince hamid came for my heart. imagine being that good looking, that sweet, that funny, and just overall amazing? i for one, cannot. prince hamid was like.... you’re not quite sure if you love sir luke, huh? well bet because i’m stealing your heart. wow. what a man.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: this goes out to my beloved diego soto-ortiz because i originally read endless summer and was amazed, but then i replayed it with diamonds and !!!!!! wow. that’s probably one of the few books where diamonds are a must. anyway, while reading it i grew extra attached to diego for no reason other than the fact that he’s amazing.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: for a moment i was going to put jake mckenzie from endless summer but he’s alright. i’m actually putting dr. ethan ramsey because i PLAYED open heart for a diamond mine and my GOD, i couldn’t escape him. they really tried to make him the main li but i was in love with rafael? and dr. ethan ramsey was just there. making ‘rookie’ jokes that only nik ryder can get away with, and confusing my mc’s thoughts. 

The character I love that everyone else hates: i actually stick with the popular opinion a lot, lol, but i love literally everyone from endless summer and yes, unfortunately that includes aleister rourke. he’s bland and surly but at least they didn’t make him an li and shove him down our throats (dr. ramsey, i’m looking at you).

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: uhhh... i want to say damien nazario? i used to like him a decent amount, but i haven’t played perfect match in a long time, and i keep seeing memes about him and his ~damien-ness~ so i have to say i’m not longer super charmed. maybe a replay would fix that.

The character I would totally smooch: griffin langley? andy kang? mal volari?

The character I’d want to be like: lol, i so badly want to be the mc from blades and the mc from endless summer. they were truly a gift to humanity. the mc from desire and decorum was amazing, too. imagine pumping out these mcs and then making witness and the nanny affair.....

The character I’d slap: i never finished my two first loves but mason (the best friend) deserves a good slap for some of his earlier behavior. i’d also love to slap tyril for no other reason than i want to see the look on his face. 

A pairing that I love: the mc from high school story: class act and ajay bhandari deserve the whole world, i print no retractions. also, the mc from the heist: monaco and rye? deserving of SO many rights. also.... rye and eris from the same book are the perfect chaotic friendship. we stan. also, in desire and decorum, literally anyone you hook briar up with is sweet. i love both of the options.

A pairing that I despise: i don’t ~despise~ any pairings (except for dr. ramsey and literally anyone) but i one time saw a really beautiful edit of mal and nia from blades and while i admire the skill of the artist..... i simply do not ship it. i just get younger sister vibes with mal and nia. that is all.

--

SEND ME A FANDOM

[questionablecuttlefish]

I absolutely dread "Arcane is the new canon". I love Arcane. It's the reason I'm in this fandom. But it belongs where it is - as the big budget prestige "what if?" vision of the universe and its story.

I realize this is hypocrisy of the highest order on my part since my fanfics are exactly an attempt to bridge Arcane and League Lore into coherent worldbuilding just to see if it can be done.

But I'm a fanfic author. I'm not getting people fired. "Arcane is the new canon" and you fire the people who built the world Arcane is based on is like if Marvel had reacted to the initial success of the MCU by declaring it the new canon, killing all non-MCU based comics and firing all the people responsible for them. How well would that have gone for them?

That seems hyperbolic, but it's not. League of Legends isn't a film and television franchise, it's a video game, the same way the MCU was designed to be a film franchise and the Marvel comics are not that. Sure, making more Arcane related content to lead Arcane viewers to Riot's games, 👌 good idea. Bridging the old and new lore? ❤️ can be done I've done it.

But throwing out the baby with the bathwater was never going to work. Arcane is tonally different from the experience of playing League of Legends. The amount of work required to make playing League match the feel and vibe of Arcane without rebuilding an entirely new game is something I can barely comprehend, and I doubt they'll even try it. "It's in its own canon" works to dispel that dissonance in a way that forcing Arcane's mature mood and gripping storytelling into a game that has neither can't.

And if you must try, how about working with the creatives who built the original world of Runeterra? What about all those skinlines and their stories? With so many creatives gone, how are they going to even have the teams 😳 to do the reworks and updates and ambitious things they promised and that players have come to expect? Their excuse for not modernising more League champs and fixing their janky ass 2000s looking game is always that the creative teams are too busy elsewhere. Well, how about now, Riot??

All talk of economics aside whenever something like this happens i can't help but look at the raw talent being cut and think - not being able to find a viable use for these people and their time and skill isn't an economics problem. it's a failure of vision, leadership, and management.

The people responsible for that failure should be the ones falling on their swords, not the creatives whose talents and time are being wasted by the company that has failed to find a place for them.

Ultimately Riot Games becomes a smaller, sadder, less vibrant place because they're gone. But their work will outlast them. And we won't forget the amazing, messy, chaotic, beautiful Runeterra they built.

And hopefully we'll be following them into new projects and new worlds soon.

So, considering what's going on with Riot right now, do you think Arcane Season 2 got caught up in all of this restructuring?

Yes and no. Arcane season 2 is part of the reason for the restructuring.

As I understand it, internally at Riot, after Arcane was a huge (and more importantly: prestigious!) success, the decision was made to basically hand the entirety of the game's lore and story over to the Entertainment division within Riot. These are the people in large part responsible for projects like Arcane, K/DA, Heartsteel, that animated series China got, all that sort of thing.

The writers at Riot were basically told to flat out stop producing new content and lore for the game - that's why there's BEEN no new story content for League for over a year - because everything was going to be consolidated under the Entertainment division from now on. This is why Riot started talking about "One Runeterra" and "Arcane is going to be canon" and so on.

The success of Arcane convinced executives that what League of Legends needs is a singular cohesive brand with its most successful public property leading the charge, Arcane is going to be the gateway drug, the hook on the end of the line that brings new players and new paying customers into the exciting world of the League of Legends multimedia IP universe!

Nevermind that Arcane's story and worldbuilding is fundamentally incompatible with >checks notes< the overwhelming majority of Runeterra as it exists and enormous compromises would have to be made to either the world of Runeterra or Arcane itself to make it work. Arcane is the big shiny prestigious mainstream Emmy-award winning project that every executive wants to put their name next to, and like companies Pivoting To Video in 2015 because Facebook showed them inflated viewership stats, Riot Games is Pivoting To Arcane. It's better than them pivoting to crypto and NFTs, at least, although I know for a fact that high ranking people at Riot tried to make that happen too.

Now, the primary cause for all of these games industry layoffs is that interest rates aren't zero anymore. Borrowing money isn't free, the curve of constant growth has ever so slightly slowed, taking on debt is becoming a little tiny bit more risky than it was previously, and corporations are responding to this with massive rounds of layoffs and constriction to show "financial responsibility" and prove to shareholders that they are prioritizing core growth strategies and blah blah blah etc. They're also trying to kneecap the growing labor movement in the games industry and exert downwards pressure on wages, but the interest rates seem to have been the main thing.

In Riot's particular case, a secondary reason is they want to pivot the focus of the company to support their One Runeterra pipe dream, so a lot of the people who got fired at Riot are writers, artists, creative leads and sometimes extremely senior and successful staff who are now surplus to requirements. This is also why Riot shut down Riot Forge in the same round of layoffs - can't have a bunch of talented indie devs going off making video games that don't adhere to the new One Runeterra policy. What if someone played Mageseeker and got confused how there can be mages all over Demacia but somehow there are no mages in Arcane's Piltover and Zaun. That's a plot hole! People write snarky articles about that sort of thing. It turns off new consumers! What if Cinema Sins makes a video making fun of it?!?

So yeah. A bunch of cocaine-addled fame hungry executive vultures at Riot are absolutely gagging on their own d*cks to put their name next to Arcane related projects, and since they were going to be screwing hundreds of people out of their careers, healthcare, and in some cases their fucking visa status anyway, it seems to have presented a nice opportunity to clear the board for their latest Visionary Scheme for the company IP.

That is as I understand the situation, anyway. I'm a bitter old man and most of what I hear is second hand and anonymous gossip through my social networks, take what I say with a grain of salt, but I've followed this company for (oh god) twelve years now and I have developed a tragically keen understanding of how its executive class operates.

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Another list! Of stuff I liked about Supergirl ep. 6x03, “Phantom Menaces”! AKA:

Spoilers!

WOW HEY WOW I LOVED THIS EPISODE.

BECAUSE EVERYONE IS HAVING FEELINGS.

(This is gonna be all over the place I can tell, apologies in advance for poor organization)

Okay, so! Right off the bat (‘ha ha’ but like, in a sad way) we learn that poor Silas has been Phantom’d. :C

We then get even MORE Phantom action back in the actual Phantom Zone--Kara’s plan to literally grab a ride doesn’t go over so well WHICH LEADS TO!

Kara making a Phantom Zone Friend! Yay! :D  

Pretty much immediately on board with Nixly’s (I refuse to try and spell out her full name) chaotic energy. Brilliant. Amazing. 10/10, hope she’s not secretly evil.

Kara’s physical vulnerability bringin’ in those “Human for a Day” vibes, yes, good, yes.

Then we’re BACK AT THE TOWER and things aren’t looking great for Silas! J’onn is blocking out his emotions! Brainy is neck deep in his! 

AND SPEAKING OF FEELINGS.

ALEX.

WITH THE CRYSTAL.

OOOOooOOooOOH NooOOOOOOOOOO

Side note: Love that Kara’s last will and testament is like, ‘Four for you, Eliza and Alex Danvers!’

‘Aaaaaand none for Jeremiah, okay bye.’

Puttin’ a pin in the Luthor stuff. We’ll get to it.

Back to the Tower! Alright, first and foremost, probably a silly thing but I’m glad the Super Friends are just...dressed casually.

I was concerned at the outset of this season that we’d see them all in their Super Suits™ most of the time because everyone’s a vigilante now, but fortunately that is not the case!

Appreciate that the Phantoms are actually a particular type of alien. As far as I know, ‘Zulian Maletarians’ are original to the show--no reference to preexisting DC stuff.

Something I noticed upon a re-watch--my suspension of disbelief allows for the physical phantom transformation...but they also all sprout matching dark robes???

Sure, Jan. 

Anyways. Then WEAPONS GRADE ANGST, as Alex has like, combo PTSD/guilt trip reaction to Phantom’d Silas. 

Just like. The frozen, helpless look? 

NOW I’M HAVING FEELINGS, HOW DARE.

And the hits keep comin’, cause we’ve got a balcony talk between J’onn and Alex but it’s tense and sad and gosh I love it.

Back in Kara’s Phantom Zone Adventure, love her Wizard of Oz-esque gathering of companions on her way to see the Wizard find an escape.

This week it felt like there was a better handle on the close-ups? Like, they were pretty apparent in 6x02. Here, they’re a little less obvious. (Or maybe I’m just getting used to them IDK. XD)

Az-Rel is a deep Detective Comics Comics cut--a Kryptonian prisoner in the Phantom Zone who has pyrokinesis! 

(tHEy DoNT ReSpECT tHe cOMicS!!! Except that they do, and y’all don’t even NOTICE.) 

Glad that both Kelly and M’gann had plot stuff to do this week, instead of just offering emotional support to everyone else.

I forgot to mention it last week so I’ll just quickly mention that I like the glow-y purple lights in the Tower. Very nice touch, J’onn.

(But how is he affording this?)

(And for that matter...are Kara and Nia now the only members of the Super Friends with jobs?)

I’ll dispense with the linear approach because the back-and-forth between plotlines is getting to be a bit much, SO!

On the Kelly and M’gann note: Again, really liked that they’re not simply there to be cheerleaders for the other characters. M’gann still feels a little like she’s at the mercy of plot whims, but. Progress!

And then Kelly! I mentioned this last season--I like that they’ve built up her character such that her inclusion in like. Bad-guy fights makes sense, even though she’s maybe not as directly connected to the action as other members of the Super Friends, being more ‘team CatCo/Obsidian’ than ‘Tower’

(Spoiler-y info suggests that will change as the season progresses so we’ll see how that goes!)

I liked this Final Phantom Fight more than the one in 6x02--the direction/blocking felt a little less ‘everyone stand on your marks in a line and shoot up at the CGI stuff’. 

I mean it was still essentially that, but. Just worked a bit better here, IMO.

And Alex can quick-change now! Love that it has the red glow of Martian shapeshifting.

Oliver Queen out there somewhere in the afterlife, seething with jealousy.

(Jumping back, just think it’s funny that, presumably, emergency services got a call about the Phantoms like, ‘911, what’s your emergency?’ ‘We’ve got hostile ghosts!’)

Alright, circling back to the Luthors!

Brainy and Lena are feeling their feelings, folks.

Loved all Brainy’s stuff. Particularly, his enraged, “I hate him! I hate him!” and then his quieter, broken, “I miss her.”

Just. So good.

(But man he is...2 for 3 on busted tech. Keyboard, tablet...fortunately the TV was spared but it was close!)

And Lena had some growth! 

I’m just at the point where I’m never gonna like. Enjoy the character--too many years of fandom baggage unfortunately. But credit where it is due: NO MORE LITTLE BOXES, THANK GOODNESS.

She’s gone from Bowler Hat Guy to Elsa. Good for her.

The amount of Lex this week was about as much as I can handle anymore. Simmering in the background, antagonizing Lena...that’s where he belongs.

(But he can leave now, thanks.)

Okay so BACK TO KARA, b/c you know. I’m biased.

Her time in the Phantom Zone is a little less introspective than I expected, thus far. However! Still the good Kara content I crave.

Kara making friends and influencing others with her sheer determination and compassion? 

Almost like...her real power lies in her ability to inspire others. 

Gasp! A theme!

Also the mention of fractured memories...intriguing! 

And will no-doubt dovetail into the upcoming time-travel/flashback episodes.

I am excited.

An aside: Kara’s gonna be so distressed that she missed out on all these big emotional milestones.

“J’onn and M’gann soul-bonded? Alex and Kelly moved in together? Lena and Brainy engaged in healthy coping mechanisms???”

She’s gonna have so many Hallmark cards to buy.

*Card with a cute smiley face on it* *opens it up* ‘Congrats on not murdering your brother!’

I’m sure there’s a bunch of other great stuff I’m missing but that’s all I can remember at the moment, so!

TL;DR - SO MANY FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELINGS! From everyone! It was great.

NEXT WEEK: Phantom Friends Fight to Find a Feasible Flight from the Frigid Fathomage of the Former Fort Rozz!

[g-perla]

The ACOTAR Series is a Romantic/Gothic Horror Stage and Only Nesta Got the Memo

Not even SJM knows what’s going on.

Ok, this is going to seem off the rails but bear with me.

So I'm a big fan of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (top 5 books and all that jazz) and I was thinking about it because it deals with themes of the Other and the supernatural, Nature as Character, the overlap of the animalistic and human, blurring of established binaries...fun, Romantic shit like that. Interestingly, this overlaps with how SJM illustrates her world and characters a lot of the time, hence why I was considering it while working on my Nesta project. I’ve mentioned before that Nesta really gives me Byronic heroine vibes and that’s a character construct of precisely this literary tradition.

I started thinking about Heathcliff and Cathy and how they're ridiculously extra and just feel the most intense emotions towards each other but also towards literally everything (nothing half-assed ever, this is a Romantic novel after all). I then remembered how so many people ship them, but like in earnest, in a totally aspirational way. It's not a #cursed ship to them at all. It's...romantic to them not Romantic. I even read often that people quote it at their weddings, specifically the infamous "two souls" quote.

Then I had an epiphany. I was like "wait, what if SJM is one of those people?? What if she has the energy of a Cathy/Heathcliff earnest shipper and that's why all her ships are messy??" Because if that is the case, my friends, oh boy oh boy would it explain so much. I will post some sections from Wuthering Heights:

Doesn’t the acotar series seem like a 1/50 dilution of that energy?? And that is barely a taste of all the spiciness this book has to offer. To illustrate further: SJM gave us the F/eysand suicide pact and the near-death battlefield Nessian scene. One is certainly more outlandish than the other, but both are the result of intense emotions. To that Emily Brontë raises the following: Heathcliff asking the sexton to dig up Cathy’s grave to see what’s up because her ghost has been haunting him since he personally dug up her grave 18 years prior and she has been haunting him ever since. He later demands to be buried in the same exact grave when he dies so they can decompose together. They both married other people though which only adds to the mess. (I am not lying to you the Romantic tradition really gave us these gems lmao. As an aside, Mary Shelley was also a writer of the Romantic tradition and she confessed her love to husband Percy Bysshe Shelley on her mother’s grave. Her mother was liberal feminist icon Mary Wollstonecraft by the way which only makes this even more amazing. Additionally, biographers believe that the Shelleys also had sex there. Talk about Romantic 😉.)

Then I had ANOTHER thought! (Dangerous)

If we read the series from the point of view of just another YA high fantasy things might get a bit boring because the world-building is honestly lazy and the magic system is pretty soft, which isn’t a pre-requisite in high fantasy (The Lord of the Rings has a soft magic system) but it's not the norm and it doesn't pay off in this series. Not to mention that the plot is pretty lackluster and derivative. To add to that the romantic and sexual relationships are questionable in their healthiness and consequently are the source of much argument in the fandom.��

But, dear reader, if we think about the ACOTAR series as being a sort of thematic and ideological 21st century YA homage to the Romantic tradition of the 19th century (within which Gothic Horror also lives), things get REALLY, REALLY SPICY.

No longer do we just have a romance fantasy with messy, hyper-emotional, animalistic characters who constantly partake in morally grey situations rife with dubious dynamics. No longer does plot really matter. No longer do we require quasi-scientific descriptions of the world and the magical system. No! All that matters now are the characters and the mood. Now we have potential! Add a lot of Nature ambiance: expanses of dark woods, great mountains, the unknowable and sublime energy of the ocean, a violent rainstorm/hurricane/tsunami, an impending snowstorm whose intensity reflects the growing emotional intensity of the characters as the story goes along (I’m looking at you impending snowstorm in acofas that curiously matches the growing complexity of Nesta’s emotional state). Blur the lines between any imaginable category: life and death, human and animal, known and unknown, Self and Other, beautiful and monstrous, good and evil, masculine and feminine, the list goes on. Most importantly make your readers uncomfortable by frustrating their desires to sort things into easy binary categories and don’t apologise for making them question their assumptions about the world, morality, gender, and any other kind of previously constructed Order. 

Basically write the story with Dionysus-in-a-Greek-tragedy energy and bring to us mere mortals artful Chaos.

Once that is done we can have a literal Romantic/Gothic Horror story.  The Acotar series could have been this unapologetically, with the added element of being told through the eyes of the "Cathy" character instead of through the lens of a third person getting second-hand accounts about what went on. This whole series is honestly enough of a chaotic mess of Byronic-like heroes and heroines and cursed familial relationships that it could have been that. That alone is peak entertainment. The problem, however, and the main reason why I can’t really say that this series truly delivered this wackiness is that SJM committed the act of not fully committing to the bit (very un-Romantic of her, I know). Now, I am not saying that SJM actually intended this. I’m just saying it really could have accidentally been this genius with some tweaks. Unfortunately, she made the crucial mistake of trying to justify too much, trying to make things too neat, too tidy, too sensical (in other words: the reason we really can’t have nice things). 

I could end this here, lamenting the potential of what SJM had set-up for us were it not for one element, one gift:

Nesta 

OHOHOHO DO THINGS GET GOOD HERE SO BUCKLE UP

Most of the characters refuse to fully commit to the bit in their desire to satisfy modern sensibilities, by which I of course mean they want ridiculous things like political power, to conquer lands, to be a Girl Boss, to get married, have kids, celebrate holidays, converse about mundane things, be relatable, etc. You know, pretty pedestrian stuff that only requires a bit of genetic luck, a sprinkle of energy, and the right circumstances within the world of Acotar. I would like to reiterate the beginning of this paragraph: most of the characters. 

Let’s say you’re stubborn and you decide to still read the series through the lens of the Romantic/Gothic tradition, what happens then? 

The most hilarious thing (for the Nesta stans that is. The antis would probably hate this)

Nesta, based on what we know about her through Feyre and the limited amount of other scenes, is the only character who really takes the performance seriously. She's the only one that SJM hasn't managed to confine through justification. Nesta just shows up and simply refuses to make sense (her POWER what a queen 👑). She is endlessly fascinating because she just exists in her world on her terms, established categories be damned, and in this manner she frustrates not only the sensibilities of the characters in the stories but those of the reader as well. This double duty is, I suggest, the result of the other characters not fully inhabiting the nebulous world of Romantic characters and thus being a little too plausible and understandable even if they are not justifiable. 

Ok, you may say, but I relate so much to Nesta. I do understand her. I don’t justify all of her actions, but I understand where she is coming from. (You’re not alone, friend. I like to think these things too. Alas, we are but plebs).

To that I reply; Nesta does things, certainly, and we can spend hours trying to explain through extrapolation, educated guesses, and personal experience why she did those things, but the fact is we really don't know why. We are never explicitly told. Our insight into who she is and her motivations comes predominantly from the understanding of her youngest sister and from our own interpretation of the actions she takes. I must make clear that our own interpretations are rooted in pre-established assumptions about what is sensical and orderly in our own world and in our own lives. We cannot interpret with the tools available to us that which may be, by definition, unfathomable. It is simply paradoxical. Nesta, as we currently know her, is a construct derived from a limited number of scenes and our interpretations and projections of these scenes. Even the scenes where we get third person narration don’t explicitly tell us her motivations and her logic. For all we know there really is no comprehensible reason for her actions and that is endlessly amusing to me in how utterly Romantic it is. Acosf may and likely will change this of course, but as it stands, Nesta is a whole Romantic character. Her divisiveness in fandom and in the narrative could be due in part to her refusal to fit the discrete categories available in her world and ours. 

Isn’t that wonderful?

To illustrate this a bit more I will share some details SJM gives us about her/ elements she sets up that fit in with the characteristics of the Romantic tradition (these are not exhaustive by any means):

The absolute pettiness (and extra-ness) of being so angry at her father’s inaction that she is willing to starve to death to see if he does something.

How in Acowae she is described as shifting between emotions as if she were changing clothes and feeling everything too strongly (probably to the point of destruction)

She is constantly being compared to animals, even when she is still human. Granted, SJM compares everyone to animals, but that strengthens the blurring of lines between usually discrete categories. It is still most powerful when used as a comparison when she is human because it dehumanises Nesta.

Often, SJM describes her characters as forces. Forces of nature, for example. Acofas is full of details like this in relation to Nesta. There is a storm brewing leading up to the solstice party and it is in full swing when she arrives at the townhouse. The language used there suggests that Nesta herself may be the storm (against the onslaught of Nesta). It really adds to the Maleficent energy tbh.

She is often associated with death post her transformation

She is Other even to Others. She was Made like Elain, Feyre, and Amren in a sense, but the process of her specific transformation differentiates her greatly from the others. As it is, she doesn’t fit in anywhere

Her intense attachment to her femininity and its expression are at odds with the ideas and assumptions about the performance of womanhood and a woman’s role in her world and even in ours. She is unapologetically feminine in her physical presentation, but her character, her thoughts, and possibly even desires transgress the unwritten rules of acceptable femininity (unfortunately there still are abject expressions of femininity in our ‘”progressive” mileux

She displays in many of her actions a disrespect towards authority and to the status quo. This is particularly notable when her intensely polarised sense of right and wrong is aggravated.

Her self-destructiveness. This is referred to most strongly in Acofas, but I would say she was remarkably blasé about self-preservation in Acowar as well

She is described as intelligent, cunning, ruthless, attractive, and prone to debilitating extremes of emotionality. All of these are characteristics of Byronic heroes, a subtype of the Romantic hero

Here are a bunch of quotes that touch on many of the elements that I have discussed above:

“I looked at my sister, really looked at her, at this woman who couldn’t stomach the sycophants who now surrounded her, who had never spent a day in the forest but had gone into wolf territory...Who had shrouded the loss of our Mother, then our downfall, because the anger had been a lifeline, the cruelty a release. But she had cared--beneath it she had cared, and perhaps loved more fiercely than I could comprehend, more deeply and loyally.” 

--Acotar, emphasis mine, note the strong emotions. This is a recurring element for Nesta.

“Cassian’s face went almost feral. A wolf who had been circling a doe...Only to find a mountain cat wearing its hide instead.” 

--Acomaf, animal comparison

“Nesta is different from most people,” I explained. “She comes across as rigid and vicious, but I think it’s a wall. A shield--like the ones Rhys has in his mind.” “Against what?” “Feeling. I think Nesta feels everything--sees too much; sees and feels it all. And she burns with it. Keeping that wall up helps from being overwhelmed, from caring too greatly.”

--Acomaf, emphasis mine

“I knew that she was different [...] Nesta was different [...] as if the Cauldron in making her...had been forced to give more than it wanted. As if Nesta had fought after she went under, and had decided that if she was to be dragged into hell, she was taking the Cauldron with her.”

--Acomaf, Nesta had her own plans for the Cauldron what a queen

“Something great and terrible.”

--Acowar, referring to her eyes. Oooh, spooky Nesta 👻

“The day she was changed, she...I felt something different with her [...] like looking at a house cat and suddenly finding a panther standing there instead.”

--Acowar, a two in one here: difference + animal comparison. Boy does SJM really go heavy when establishing Nesta as Other.

“‘Not in flesh, not in the thing that prowls beneath our skin and bones...’ Amren’s remarkable eyes narrowed. ‘But...I see the kernel, girl.’ Amren nodded, more to herself than anyone. ‘You did not fit--the mold that they shoved you into. The path you were born upon and forced to walk. You tried, and yet you did not, could not fit. And then the path changed.’ A little nod. ‘I know--what it is to be that way. I remember it, long ago as it was.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’“

--Acowar, show don’t tell gets thrown out the window here, but it is useful for the present purposes

“What if I tell you that the rock and darkness and sea beyond whispered to me, Lord of Bloodshed? How they shuddered in fear, on that island across the sea. How they trembled when she emerged. She took something--something precious. She ripped it out with her teeth. What did you wake that day in Hybern, Prince of Bastards?

What came out was not what went in [...] How lovely she is, new as a fawn and yet ancient as the sea. How she calls to you. A queen as my sister once was. Terrible and proud; beautiful as a winter’s sunrise.”

--Acowar, who knew rocks, darkness, and the sea were such gossips, but look how many connections to nature! To be compared to the sea, a significant example of the sublime, is peak Romanticism. If any of you have read Moby Dick, think about what the ocean and the white whale might have represented there and how that might relate to Nesta.

“I think the power is death--death made flesh.”

--Acowar, Feyre referring to the possible nature of Nesta’s power. Alluding to her powers possibly being related to death is quite significant because that is something most of us cannot comprehend, nor can most of the characters. For Nesta, a “reborn” but very much living character to have death associated with her is a strong blurring of the lines. The case of her being labelled a witch is similarly significant as it solidifies the elements of the supernatural while simultaneously comparing her to pretty much the only exclusively female-coded monster in western pop culture. I will touch more on this when I do my study of Nesta through the framework of Barbara Creed’s Monstrous Feminine.

“I am not like the others.”

--Acowar, we love a self-aware queen.

“Nesta took in his broken body, the pain in Cassian’s eyes, and angled her head.

The movement was not human.

Not fae.

Purely animal.

Purely predator.”

--Acowar

There are a lot more details and quotes that support this interpretation, but I didn’t write them all down in my archived notes. This post is obscenely long, however, so even though there is more to be said, I’ll leave it for another day. If you made it this far you really are an MVP and probably love Nesta to a concerning degree like me. Please rest your eyes if you’re actually reading this 😂

I’d love to read about any other takes and thoughts that might have come to your minds after reading this monstrosity,

G

[starburstfloat]

BTS as Six of Crows characters

aka me indulging in a crossover of my favorite fandoms because why not

Kaz - Suga

C'mon think about it, the scheming face would fit perfectly with our agust d. the sheer amount of idgaf attitude. the gloves. the fucking CANE. boss barrel should basically be a title track on the next mixtape at this point

Inej - Jungkook

Pretty sure Inej would be called a golden maknae if that was a word in her world lmao so it just makes sense that the all rounder JK would take her role. just like Inej, he's athletic, he's strategic, he's super dedicated to the ones he loves. and i bet he could learn to tightrope walk and fling a dagger in like less than 10 min like let's be real. tell me a better match....i'll wait

Jesper - V

The chaotic fashion, color coordination, the spring in his step, the flirty comments and down for mischief attitude just screams V. Being the only Crow who attended university, I must say V fits the academic vibe. Plus we all know he'd be a damn good sharpshooter

Wylan - Jimin

Jimin is such a Wylan omgggg the small bean who is amazing at his job but is secretly so insecure about his shortcomings, I mean??? The accuracy. Jimin also seems to get jealous so easily haha and is just as intuitive as Wylan is. Also this may or may not be a biased list cause Wylan is perhaps my absolute fave...

Nina - J-Hope

Waffle queen. need I say more? Hobi is just such a Heartrender, the shameless flirting and witty lines come naturally. He's curious too. Chaotic energy paired with a massive heart. If they ever met they'd be great friends and you know it

Matthias - RM

Tbh the only reason I paired RM with Matthias is because Matthias is a planner, someone smart who acts tough but has a soft shell, kind of like how RM was originally a hardcore rapper trying to establish himself in his world and is now much softer. Other than that I don't see any member really fitting with Matthias?? You can fight me tho

Kuwei (yes, he's a Crow)- Jin

The dude is peak Jin behavior, I mean, the diva magic energy, making terrible doodles of j-hope and getting jimin all riled up. he'd totally do the whole disguise fake kiss scene like kuwei too. I can practically hear Jin say "you're a pretty good kisser" with kuwei's devilish smirk

Ok that was too fun. What are your pairings?

[n-ugg]

I didn't expect to get tagged but here we are. As you all will be able to tell in a bit, I am a massive Quackity fan

Thank you for tagging me @skeetlehands!

who is your favourite member on the smp?

Look, I love them all but these have a special place in my heart.

Quackity, Slimecicle (I am fully aware he just joined but I still love him), Schlatt, Tubbo, Eret, AweSamdude, and Ponk.

They're just great in and out of character and just have comforting vibes.

when did you first start watching the smp and what made you get into it?

I gotten in during the Pogtopia era since it took me a while to get access to the streams.

I mainly gotten in with the Sad-ist War animatics along with me trying to catch up on Quackity's VODS. Just someone that I was already familiar with being an easier shift into story and learning others through him

what is your favourite part about watching the smp?

Just watching everyone interact with other and just seeing the plot progress in real time. Its literally just dnd but with extra steps but I enjoy it so much

The improv that they all do is amazing and how everyone have different approaches to their characters makes my writer's side so happy with dissecting everything.

What piece of cursed lore is your favourite

That Wilbur canonically fucked a fish and Philza canonically fucked a Samasung fridge and just seeing the fanbase try to change into something that will at least make a bit more sense.

Im included in this, I basically joined the side that has Sally being a mermaid shapeshifting pirate. Mainly because of pirate Fundy

Who is your favorite duo on the smp

Slimecicle and Ranboo: They're the same person but in different fonts, you can convince me otherwise

Schlatt and Quackity: They managed to be super funny together with all of the jokes and balanced with making a very realistic abusive relationship work. It was always fun seeing them flirt with each other for a joke then get hit with whiplash when canon comes in to remind me that this isnt healthy

Tubbo and Tommy: They're two dumbasses who share the same braincell but then they constantly lose it and Tubbo mainly has custody of it

Wilbur and Schlatt: I just enjoy seeing Schlatt messing with Wilbur and occasionally flirts with him to get Wilbur more pissed off

Who are your comfort streamers

Quackity and Slimecicle are comfort streamers

Eret, Fundy, and AweSamdude are my comfort people (meaning I dont watch them as much but I find comfort in their presence. And the other two are also under this category)

Who is your favorite character

Quackity due to how complex his character is and yet how it looks so simple

Schlatt because is just a villian who knows how to play the game without getting caught

Tubbo, watching him trying to be hopeful with everything destroy around him and he just slowly become used to everything going wrong

AweSamdude because he is just trying his best to be a father figure others and I just got family issues

Who do you think the best actor(s) on the smp

Imma skip over the ones that we all already said and get into the ones that dont get enough praise

Quackity: Just how he managed to make his character seem so basic but in reality its really complex. And just seeing the shift from him being a chaotic force of nature to being a serious character that is trying his best to reach something that has been hanging over his head is just *chefs kiss* and he always delivers amazing lines on the spot.

BadBoyHalo: He is doing great right now, even though he is a bit rusty with starting he still manages to get into character and stay in character the entire time. When slowly easing in, you can tell its a bit forced but once he finds his footing, he knows how to deliver his lines.

AweSamdude: His entire bit where he was getting rescued from the egg fucking hurt. How he sounded weak from the entire thing and tired to where he just wanted to rest was so well. And I know he can act more energetic when he was accidentally dragged into playing a cop during Quackity's and Bad's date

Fundy: You guys need to give him more praise for his acting because he is fucking amazing at it. The little touches to how he voice when speaks is so good along with his body language in game. He knows what he's fucking doing and I love him for that. And when he snapped, it made complete sense if you payed attention to his character

I didnt add Ranboo because he's automatically at the top section due to him being a dnd player. Same goes to Slimecicle even though he hasnt acted yet. I dont make the rules. You play dnd, you know how to act

What are your favorite quotes

I dont have favorite quotes, just dialog heavy scenes.

Before Doomsday, Quackity going to take his horse far away from L'Manberg, it being the one thing he cares about. It was just so good

The entire Schlatt and Quackity argument in front of the white house

The meeting between Schlatt and Quackity with Schlatt yelling out to him in a taunting way to where Tommy and Quackity are trying to figure out what happened to the tnt. I constantly rewatch it to feel the adrinaline pumping to feel something

Wilbur's slow descend into insanity and talking to Tommy. Just showing his paranoia and fears consuming him, him projecting his fears into Tommy as an attempt of manipulation, and his hero complex shift into villian one

Schlatt's winning speech of him projecting it as something that was bound to happen no matter what. The amount of charisma and confidence that was in his voice as I was watching Tommy hiding underground in fear was just a perfect scene

Tommy's argument with Dream when everyone is protecting Tommy. Its the small details of Tommy taunting Dream to kill him, knowing he wont no matter what. Him telling everyone to protect Tubbo and everyone listening without hesitation.

The debate that Quackity and Dream had for like 11 or 14 minutes. All of that was completely unprompted unscripted, it was just so satisfying seeing someone stand up against Dream for the first time and actually beating him. Sure it was in a verble conflict but it still counts as a defeat

Be honest, who do you simp for? (Ayo if anyone says Tommy or Tubbo I will🗡)

Schlatt, Quackity, and Slimecicle

Its pretty obvious, I dont really try to hide it

Whats your favorite stream

Uhhhh I dont exactly have one so none I guess

Whats your least favorite streams

Im sorry, but all of the Jackbox stream. You need a specific group of people to play together in order to actually make it funny and keeping the energy throughout the entire thing.

After a bit later, everyone has a tendency of pandering to the audience and repeat jokes. They managed to beat jokes to the ground faster than Tiktok AND Twitter.

Dont get me started with DreamTeam being in there. They're funny in thier own rights but the shipping jokes get so unfunny so quick and they dont know how bounce off of others well. The only exception to this is when Quackity, Velvet, and Ant were playing with Sapnap and Dream. And thats because they decided to mess with the straight white guys into accidently saying offensive shit and seeing those two suffer with trying tiptoe around was so amusing

Whats something about the smp fandom thay makes you sad

This doesnt get me sad, just frustrated and its mostly towards dsmptok and dsmptwt but sometimes this fandom doesnt fucking know how to analyze characters. Like when everyone jumped on Tubbo on being the bad guy when he was a kid trying to use old tatics that knows that worked before and stand up for himself

How when one person decides to do something that they believe is right, everyone just throws the term villian arc around

When one person does one good thing the suddenly everyone accepts into them being good and not ever looking into it.

For fucks sakes, I saw people keep saying that Quackity was turning into Dream or Wilbur and I just sat there being confused on how they conntected those dots that were in different books.

Its so frustrating to read through. But here on dsmpblr, you guys actually understand character analysis, are able to critique them and able to love whoever you enjoy.

Another thing is how this fanbase really puts everyone on a pedestal or objectify them. Just completely forgetting that they're human and treat the streamer as a character. Like, yeah they're playing up a persona whenever they're making content but theres a difference and you shouldn't hold them up like that.

You cant use the argument of "They're young, they dont know any better", when I first entered my first fandom (I was like 11/12), I fully understood that theres a boundary between me and the creator. What they are on screen is a persona but they're still human and I should treat them as such. Its just something that bugs me and its unnerving to see whenever people start getting wierd about it

Final bit is just how the twitch chat acts. They all force the streamer to follow the 'main' plot of it being Tommy or Techno or whoever the fandom chooses to have a favorite, completely ignoring the fact that they are their own character. No one wants to meta game because where is the fun in that but the fucking chat gets so annoying when the streamer goes against fanfavorite of the week. It drains the fun of it being multiple pov's and different characters.

When Slimecicle was barely starting stream I saw so many people spam "Go with Ranboo" and not let him even get into lore first. I hated that I knew it was coming but it was still so fucking frustrating seeing them try to boss him around. Please just let people live outside of the 'main' plot, not everything revolves around your favorites. Now shut the fuck up and let them play

What about the smp fandom that makes you happy?

The people that create art, animatics, theories, playlist, or write oneshots

All of you creators are great and deserve so much more respect then what the fandom gives you because jesus fucking christ they're all so fucking rude. You guys are the ones that are carrying this fandom on your backs and I fucking respect yall for that

________________

Time for da spead: @nixavia @dambette404 and @mocha-is-lost yall dont need to join.....unless😳😳😳

[jewel-s-blog]

about me + bias list

 hi there, I’m jewel :)

she/her/hers ・ 20 ・ kpop (writing) blog

Yes, Jewel is my real name although my parents admit I was supposed to be named elizabeth but changed their minds last minute after I was born how cute and I’m currently in university. I study political science and japanese for those wondering (because yes, I am japanese and it’s helpful when you live in hawaii to have that degree yk?). If any of this stuff is even mildly interesting and you have any curiosities, pls feel free to ask me!

I try to write some things when I can, so feel free to take a look at my masterlist. I also read A LOT of fics on this site, so also peep my recs if you feel like it. Warning: its mostly fluff and angst and almost always includes smut but there’s some really good stuff worth reading still! 

Feel free to talk to me :) i don’t have any kpop friends irl :( all my friends are locals smh 

I try my hardest to be active as much as possible but it’s taken me over a year to finally get used to tumblr lol marklee and i both struggle with complex technology i guess Of course, there are times when I get busy with college and will probably seem to drop off the face of the planet exam season kills but now that I’ve been in quarantine for a month, I figured now is the best time to start building an active tumblr routine. 

That’s all for now! Keep reading below for my bias list :)

xoxo, jewel <3

Bias List 

Before I begin, I will warn that this is basically a giant NCT shxtpost. With LOTS of hyperlinks for educational purposes and absolute crackhead-ery. I’ll eventually make a separate list for other groups I stan, but this blog is mainly NCT and this is already so long so I’ll leave it as this. Enjoy!

Biases are bolded in the beginning of each unit, so you can skip everything after if you don’t wanna see my ramblings following it.

A/N: After biasing nearly every member in NCT/WayV I’ve settled for now on my biases for each unit. This will most likely rotate fairly regularly as I literally fall in love with a different member every day cited here. solo stan? I don’t know her.

ULT

Jaehyun  *ahem excuse me i mean* 

Johnny Suh, it’s official. Don’t know how to explain, but I love everything about him. In the end, it’s always him. damn i sound like y/n thoughts but istg it’s true From SM Rookies to NCT Life to MV behinds, he’s the one. But I’ve also come to realize that I find myself most relatable to him as a person and I think that’s why no one else can trump him wow narcissist much jewel It’s kind of just my gut feeling. It also helps that hes the fluffiest tall, muscular tight booty hottie on the planet. See this black on black dance practice for further scientific explanation even in this jaehyun trying to wreck me so badddddd

Not gonna lie, I HAD IT BAD FOR MARK LEE still do and yet Johnny overcame that. If mark lee were my first love, johnny is my soulmate.

UPDATE! 

Lee Jeno has officially been added to the ult list. *See the entirety of my april activity on my sns accounts if you would like to see how this happened haha :)

NCT U  

im in love with him bc he literally reminds me of my boyfriend -- i like chill guys ok

Taeil is my little teddy bear who looks great in red hair and has a voice form heaven. Evidence? Here you go. He didn’t stand out to me much in the beginning because I was either deaf or blind but after Chain, the game was OVER. +moon taeil in shorts?? serve them thighs honey. Love you bebe tomato <3

BUT Doyoung is the #1 bias wrecker here because have you seen his cover of beautiful on masked singer?? have you?? if not, let me educate you. Also his collab with Sejeong?? Literally the cutest MV ever, perfect for Christmas, listened to it every year since it’s release.

Listen to Coming Home - NCT U for further scientific evidence that NCT has top vocals in the kpop industry.

NCT 127

THE Jung Jaehyun. For reasons that need no explanation. but ill give it anyway smh

After watching the performance of herin and jaehyun singing a whole new world I knew that was it for me. (I still watch it once a month for my jaehyun-related health and to honor SM’s biggest loss, seo herin and ji hansol but thats for another conversation) back to jaehyun His vocals are unique in NCT and bring a nice color to their songs, the man looks good in literally anything, and I’ll probably say this about every member, but I love his dance style--body rolls for days sis. Definitely my ideal type, which my boyfriend is 100% aware of; no secrets in my relationship ofc which explains the wreckage. Pretty sure 81% of the fandom gets wrecked by him daily, so I think I’ll stop here. 

NCT Dream 

Renjun.  why? i just think he’s neat but no really, it was this performance (ok actually this got me ALL SORTS OF WRECKED) and this fancam that had me falling in love with him but were gonna ignore the fact that I get bias wrecked DAILY by all the other members  GOd-tier vocals, personality for daysssssss, variety KING HUANG RENJUN. Safe to claim that I go into renjun feels about 3x a week. Check my twitter for proof. +dnyl renjun was a blessing and I sometimes cant believe that it actually happened. How do I explain?? He’s literally the best boy, but when he gets all worked up....let’s stop there before I have to go to confession again.

But for fun, lets list why I have biased every dream member at some point shall we? (in no particular order) Dream might just be my ult group, songs always bop, members at star quality 

mark- yes i am including mark bc he was the reason i even started stanning dream dreamies leader since mmc days, mentor, A1 rap skills, ad libs go crazy, unparalleled dancing style, hardest worker, cutest watermelon advocate ever, all around amazing person can you tell he used to be my ult? + he’s a good christian boy and my catholic *ss has to confess my sins for being a simp for him 24/7

chenle- vocal GOD, most steady live vocals in kpop, laugh to die for

jeno- i cannot resist his eye smile i wanna cuddle and onstage charisma-2:54 “let’s goooooo” and i alskfdfjlkdldkfa. 

jaemin- “other than my members, i don’t have any friends” and yet he’s literally the most caring and wonderful little puff in existence fight me pls dont im a pacifist 

heachan- idk why but donghyukie feels like he could be my best friend and also cant stop staring at him in their dance practices his body proportions are unreal and his vocal ad libs?? don’t even get me STARTED on heachans vocals

jisung- he is my son, but also my son’s vocals?? MWAH that voice got me second guessing if he’s really my son 

WayV 

Ten Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul another member where it kinda just....happened? In the end I was like “damn, when did you sneaky bugger get in my heart?” He’s got a similar vibe as Johnny AND DO NOT COME FOR MY THROAT FOR SAYING THAT THATS MY OPINION Like Johnny, I see myself in Ten. There are so many reasons why I love Ten, so I’ll make it simple and provide them to you. 

Reason 1 - Performance/dance  he just hit different, he’s THAT good. Reason 2 - vocals the amount his vocals has improved?? UNMATCHED. Reason 3 - INTELLECTUAL (still trying to find the clip of him talking about different kinds of love) Reason 4 - multi-lingual KING ok so this vid is him struggling in mandarin, but imagine, you speak thai and english and learn korean to debut and all of a sudden your agency says “ok learn chinese now.” MANDARIN IS ONE OF THE HARDEST LANGUAGES TO LEARN. Reason 5 - bad b*tch he just radiates bad bitxh energy in everything he does, and I appreciate a bad bitxh

BUT I love wayv’s chaotic energy and chemistry so much that I literally love them all dreamies watch out 

+special shoutout to xiaojuns vocals in Love Talk

+kun being a dimpled zaddy (jaehyun&kun type CONFIRMED)

+lucas holding binoculars like THAT @ 1:10

+yangx2 doing THIS (prepare to be blown away)

+hendery being a the best teacher 

+winwin BEING WINWIN THE DANCE GOD 

+winwin AGAIN and with Ten here i don’t even think i have to say that i tweeted about this everyday for a month and im still not over it. This specific dance really allowed winwin to shine even though ten is my bias. It really allowed others to see the fruit of his classical training even in modern dance which he never trained in. Not gonna be repetitive and SCREAM  say that he’s underrated, because we all know that already. Just show winwin some love, ok? thank you.

And so finally, we’ve reached the end. Phew, this took me almost 5 hours to put together because I definitely got carried away. For those who made it all the way to the end, thank you, I love you. It’s so messy and I don’t have the mental capacity to do anymore editing but I hope you got something from this massive post <3 Feel free to let me know what you think! xoxo, jewel