#the job description they posted really does have a LOT in common with my job as a VA

[blackbearmagic]

applying for a job as a medical scribe at an eye care place my friend works at, my cover letter basically amounts to "I've never done people medicine before, but I've done puppy and kitty medicine, also I love people and I'm very friendly!"

[lunarnekomancer]

Okay, so. I've recently been really, really, really into Dandy's World (yanno, the Roblox game). There's many toony, intriguing characters, but the one that has caught my eye from the very start and has been holding it captive since August, when I started playing (what the hell dude give it back) is...

Astro! After all, I can't help being a sucker for moon-themed characters. They speak to me on a level unavailable to mere words.

Wanting to know how people characterize Astro, I scoured the internet for headcanons and theories, just to gain the slightest insight into how people perceived my darling moon man. It was not a very, ah, fruitful search.

You know what they say: if you want a job properly done, do it yourself. Thus this post. yayayayayaya (feat. projecting. like. a *lot* of projecting. And also me desperately trying to explain how badly I relate to this gloomy, tired waning cresent. If I am getting awfully verbose, please bear with me. I'm just excited.)

- First of all, it's quite strange that I don't see that much headcanons for autistic Astro. Some traits of his really resonate with my own autistic traits. (I also headcanon him as predominantly inattentive ADHD but this is more projecting than 'I have a point actually' but it's not entirely projecting either? I don't know man I'll try elaborating later). I also headcanon Astro to have problems with anxiety (probably canon) and depression (might be canon-ish, if you read his Twisted description).This will all hopefully be elaborated on later in the post.

- Aroace! His relationships are actually QPRs :3

- He's fairly sensitive to others raising their voice. Not only is Loud and Uncomfortable, it also gives him the gut feeling of 'oh shit are they mad?? are they mad at me oh shit oh shit' and it's fight or flight from there.

- He's not the best with his own (and to some extent, others') emotions. He can get random, inexplicably strong emotions out of seemingly nowhere, eg. guilt, sorrow, anxiety, etc. However, people consider him quite an understanding Toon as he's fairly good at listening to others.

- His blanket is weighted.

- His circadian rhythm is beyond salvageable (well, if Toons have circadian rhythms). This is due to staying up all night to ensure the Toons have good dreams, and a lot of long day naps. A lot.

- Intense sensory input tires him out. This includes bright lights, highly saturated colours, crowds of people moving & stamping around and talking at the same time. Which is why the Astro's Room map exists. It serves as a place of refuge for him when all the snap and noise and colour of the rest of Gardenview get to him. If he can't go back to his room when things get too much for him, he will sometimes curl into a ball mid-air as to ensure he doesn't touch anything, even the ground. The toon handler photo actually relates to this. I headcanon that Astro was supposed to take the photo in a more isolated area, without flashlights and the public surrounding him. But the Gardenview higher ups just. Didn't give a shit and made him take the photo at a large publicity event, intense sensory input and all. This is why Astro's handler looks pissed, as he was angry for Astro's needs being unaccommodated despite being a main. It took quite a long time for Astro to unwind and destress from the event, with help from his handler and some other toons (mostly the mains).

- Speaking of Astro getting mistreated by Gardenview, young Astro was a massive crybaby and got so much flack for it from the Gardenview executives. The photography headcanon mentioned above was caused by said executives think that 'he had to toughen up somehow'. He has not grown out of being prone to tears but he's growing accustomed to holding it in until he's alone until he starts breaking down sobbing.

- His stims include fidgeting with his nightcap and blanket, hand flapping (he often does this without knowing), rocking himself and pacing. Pacing is by far his favourite + most common. He also has one that involves him doing a small jump in the air and slowly floating back down (similar to his ability animation).

- He can definitely sleep while standing up.

- It's pretty much canon that he has psychic powers, but I headcanon that the specific powers he has include telekinesis, some degree of precognition and levitation, not to mention his power over sleep and dreams. The precognition thing is a large reason for the guilt that consumes the mind of his Twisted version and Toon version (albeit the latter being on a more minor scale).

(TW for self harm in the next point)

- Sometimes he overexerts himself with his powers on purpose. This leads to symptoms like vertigo, nausea/vomiting and extreme lethargy and depression. His Twisted form is permanently stuck in this state.

Now, time for some lighter headcanons!

- He's really intelligent and can be quite logical and strategic. Hell, he'd have figured out what Dandy was doing with the Ichor even without his powers. (HE'S ALSO A NERD. THIS IS COMING AFFECTIONATELY FROM SOMEONE WHO IS ALSO A NERD. HE'S MOST LIKELY A SPACE NERD THOUGH BUT I ACCEPT NERDINESS OF ALL SORTS)

- He has plenty of catlike mannerisms. I will not elaborate.

- The blanket he carries around has been with him since his conception. It used to be way too big for him so you'd just see a baby Astro towing around a cape of a blanket. (He'd trip on it sometimes, but he usually stands back up unscathed).

- There's probably numerous forums out there made by grown up fans of the show discussing 'what the fuck is Astro'. Some might just consider him an anthropomorphic moon, but others disagree and continue debating because 'what kind of moon has SIX LIMBS' (side note: if i were Astro, I'd only ever show my hands when I'm flipping someone off. Rest assured that I will use all four of them)

- Assuming that Moonflower was canon at some point + resulted in marriage/engagement, Dandy probably proposed with an armillary sphere ring. However, I headcanon their current relationship to be highly strained or even borderline abusive (pov: manipulative ahh abuser Dandicus) due to the Ichor situation. Despite Dandy's efforts to hide the degradation of their bond, other toons have already noticed it. Vee was the first to know and is slowly persuading Astro to let go. (okay if anyone jumps at me for mischaracterizing Dandy, I wanna clarify that I see him as kinda... morally grey? Grey-ish? Like he might have had good intentions but stuff happens and he ends up hurting and manipulating others)

- If the Toons knew about Pokémon, there'd be a running gag that Astro was one. Specifically Lunala.

- Has read the DSM at some point. I don't know, I think he'd read it out of sheer curiosity, just as a 'mmm interesting 👁️👁️'

- Given the right topics, you find him becoming Shelly in terms of enthusiasm and knowledge.

- Sweet food connoisseur.

Okay. I promised you a part on AuDHD Astro. Nobody asked, yet you receive nonetheless. My verbosity does not improve here so you can guess what's coming. Spoiler alert: I go off topic. Very, very off topic. (This isn't me trying to diagnose Astro or anything, it's more or less relating my own relationship with my disabilities with a silly fictional character that speaks to me.)

- The first thing I saw in Astro was the... melancholy? Hanging over him like it was his default state. (also fun fact this was also the reason that lead to me buying Razzle and Dazzle for my first purchased Toon) I also saw the physical obscurity, the way he hid his body behind a tightly-wound blanket, the way part of his face was always in shadow. I've always been somewhat reluctant to be fully perceived. Maybe that why I enjoyed the Moon, something that erratically switches between 'i will gladly be dissected to bits and put on display' to 'for the love of God, don't acknowledge me'. The desperate feathered want for understanding clashes with the deep-rooted fear of the pain that comes with rejection and once again being seen as too 'weird', too 'off', too 'difficult', too 'sensitive', too 'anxious', too 'logical', too much yet too little of everything, paradoxes and all. It was ridiculous, but Astro seemed like he'd know, what it was like to never get a hold of the middle ground that others seem to navigate with ease. I laid my eyes on him, and I decided that I would buy him one day. One day.

- Once I had taken an interest to Astro, I consulted the Dandy's World Fandom wiki to scrape out any information I could get out of the site. I learned that he was shy, that he was stealthy, from his dialogues and the way he shies away from the camera, hiding behind his handler. He was tired often, and would sometimes doze off during excursions. He did not like loud spaces, and has the tendency to talk with many pauses, perhaps to think out what to say next. He enjoyed reading, and in his conversations, he is confronted by another toon, to which he responds by backtracking and apologizing. Yet he does not seem to be entirely without backbone. All these traits coagulate into a foreign yet oh-so familiar persona, while my mind pokes and prods at me, saying 'look, that's you'. His traits, my traits, my traits that came as a package deal or a cause-and-effect with my own disabilities (the dislike of noise and light and the attention it tends to entail, the exhaustion, the apologies that I have gotten many an amused 'you haven't done anything wrong' for, the withdrawal of the needs and wants of the self, see Vee's comment of 'You need to start worrying about yourself more' the being told that you made to be great but still act like a wallflower, maybe out of fear or other incomprehensible reasons). I can never put it all into words, how Astro, a cartoonish character from a Roblox game, has this much significance to me. It's ridiculous, yes, but it's still true.

In short: *blasts Astro with the self-projection + 'he just like me fr' beam*

(Also, if you managed to get through all of this, wow. I'd never expect someone that's willing to wade through my projectile-word-vomit, but here you are. Thank you for reading it all; it means worlds to me :D)

[blueper-saiyan]

alright I have a fandom hot take to get off my chest. It rubs me the wrong way a bit when I see people refer to Vegeta as Bulma’s (or occasionally Goku’s) pet. Honestly I’ve made the joke myself and I usually don’t mind it, but I feel a bit guilty/weird about it, and it’s taken me months to work out why. I think first there’s an in-universe reason. Vegeta’s actual backstory is that he was functionally Freeza’s pet for about three decades. And I don’t really want to compare his relationship with Bulma or Goku to his relationship with Freeza in a way that makes it sound like he just changed ownership. I’m pretty sure part of the reason the joke is so common is that Vegeta does call his own redemption(ish) arc “being domesticated.” (At least in English, I’m not worrying about the Japanese original today) It’s absolutely funny that he thinks of it that way, but I also think that Vegeta’s opinion can’t be trusted on anything, especially himself. It’s one of the more interesting parts of the character to me that he doesn’t quite think of himself as a person (a topic worth its own meta). He’s also got the aforementioned history of being dehumanized. Combining that with his internalized idea that the only valuable trait is strength and being kind or merciful or caring is just weakness, it makes sense that he might decide to label his character development as “domestication,” even though that’s not really a good description of learning to find contentment in peace and care for others. So part of why that line is funny is the irony, even if there is some truth to it. Taking it at face value and using it as a joke on its own without the irony sort of feels like it misses the point for me.

Then there’s the half that I feel sort of guilty posting because I know it’s not the intent behind the jokes and it feels like I’m getting upset over something trivial and saying this feels accusatory, but I’m getting my hot take out of my system once and for all regardless. I feel like I see people say Vegeta is a pet either because he doesn’t have a job and he’s just living off Bulma’s money, or because he’s really weird sometimes. And I really don’t like the implications of either of those. Again, I am aware it’s a joke, I know that I’m not supposed to be taking it literally, but. Not working a job sure as hell doesn’t make someone less than human. Being financially supported by someone else does not make someone a pet, that’s spectacularly fucked up. And behaving strangely, even in an animalistic way, also does not make someone less than human or someone else’s pet. (and for the record I can’t actually think of much Vegeta has done that’s animalistic in canon, the closest to that has been eating the bug person, and he did that in a pretty human way. He cooked that bug person first and everything lol. Vegeta being cruel is not animalistic, it’s just a negative character trait. Most animals aren’t even aware enough to be cruel, so it’s a pretty human negative trait at that. I know it’s popular fanon to make him more animalistic but it is fanon. That’s probably a really hot take too but whatever.) Actually this goes for jokes about Goku too, who is the one who actually has some “animalistic” traits in canon. I hate the implication that the way either of them acts would make them the “pet” of a more “normal” human character. It feels really gross. Especially because they read far more as neurodivergent and/or having trauma then they do as true aliens. Part of that is an inherent side product of writing aliens as a human, because you can only really use things that humans are familiar with. But there’s also a whole history of which human traits get used to make an alien seem “inhuman.” I’m only personally familiar with the autism part of that history, but I know there’s lot more than that. Regardless, it certainly has an effect if you have those “inhuman” traits that people say are what makes an alien or robot or whatever into something less than human. So uh, “Vegeta is Bulma’s pet because he’s blunt, aggressive, often confused by other people’s intentions, and doesn’t always understand Earth” does not feel great as a joke. I know it’s not that serious and I know that’s not the underlying intention and I know that caring about this character in particular really does not help my case. But I guess I just can’t quite escape my feelings about it anyway.

[jichanxo]

re:titles> and i'm surprised how people name their projects after they are done! for me, it's easier to centre a story around one or several words, and harder to fit a whole-ass completed story into a really short description. how does it work for you then? (and good luck with senseific's title, i know you can do it)

this got long. uh.

that makes sense in a way, having it picked out early is just picking out your point of focus so that whatever you write matches what you’re trying to convey (at least that’s how I’m understanding you?) I suppose the inverse, deciding late, is more like going with the flow and seeing what surfaces as the most important theme/imagery/whatever… though I can definitely understand it being difficult to pick out what’s the most important part when you’ve written a lot. I guess in the end it’s about decisiveness? or at the very least picking something that Does The Job. Not all of them can be winners after all.

in cases where the fic title is the same as phrasing within the text (3:21am, Passing Grade, Memorisation Game), it feels more natural to see what words come naturally through writing as opposed to deciding beforehand. It’s certainly a bit literal but it captures what I think are the defining features of those fics.

“3:21am” is from the setting, which is incidental really, but it sets the scene well enough.

“Passing Grade” refers to the Kitakata sensei au (so school themed) and is also a direct quote from Yagami’s flirting in that fic.

“Memorisation Game” is a reference to the emotional core of that fic – Yagami missing Kuwana, rationalising his attempt to call his number as a game so not to feel so pathetic about it.

For reference, my document titles for these fics are: “yagami late 3am.docx” (referring to the pov and the setting), “kuwagami sensei eating.docx” (referring to the au and the main thing I use to get them to interact for that fic), and “kuwagami card fic.docx” (the initial idea being about yagami keeping kuwana’s business card). It’s a little funny how blunt they are, but it makes it easy to understand at a glance what everything is.

I guess the commonality here is that you can see what my starting idea is from the document titles, but by looking at the title of the posted fics, you can see where my writing ended up in terms of emotions or themes. “card fic” is the idea I started with, the instrument to get the ball rolling, but by the end of the writing, the final, most clear idea within that fic was memorisation game. I had some idea it was going to end in that direction, but I didn’t have those exact words until I wrote them out.

It’s probably a similar process for my other titles, and not just the literal ones, now that I think about it.

“kuwagami deep wound.docx” refers to the imagery I was trying to use in that fic which became → Wound Pried Open, which is… similar, but the “pried open” part I think calls attention to the idea of Kuwana doing it, of it being on purpose, not just the wound itself but the process of agitating it intentionally, which is… more important than just a reference to the wound on its own. I started that fic thinking “man the kuwagami stuff I make is so clean, I should write something more grimy” and ended it with… well… wounds as a vehicle to explore this idea of painful intimacy.

So I suppose what I’m saying is that deciding later leaves room for me to find the core of the story naturally after starting from my initial idea.

[inventors-fair]

Getting the Bant Back Together: Alara Contest Winners ~

Congratulations to @bread-into-toast, @izzet-always-r-versus-u, and @spooky-bard for winning this week's contest!

@bread-into-toast — Bant Paragon

Bant and Enlist are a match made in heaven, or wherever the angels of Bant live. The name is perfectly reasonable, not too much, perfectly descriptive enough, and surprising that it hasn't been used already. Triple enlist is absolutely a wakening slap, I'll say that much. What I love about this card is that you can enlist the butts off your creatures if you want to smack someone, but a single multicolored creature can get the job done. This is a uniquely decisive design that offers so much more than it seems at first glance. You'll have to invest a little in white, but perhaps the environment is more of a flavorful allowance than a precise measure of everyone-gets-mana-fixing.

Curiosity does drive me here, as does a little bit of nostalgia. Alara certainly had its pips, and it had some weird pips at that. Committing to double colors felt like a bit of a risky miracle. You absolutely could—triple pips if you so chose! But for a three-color environment? Risky, risky, risky. Double here ain't so bad, but you're still encouraged to branch out. So hybrid maybe? Who knows! Or the power here is simply asking for enlistment, white with a splash, a centering. The notion of this knight finding their allies while retaining their central strength is still powerful in its own emotional right, with the single attacker calling back to exalted naturally as well. Thoroughly enjoyable and thoughtful choices were made here. Love this card as a limited tempo beater and a potential mono-white/hybrid aggro constructed card.

@izzet-always-r-versus-u — Tidehollow Salvage

I mean, hell, c'mon, it's pretty wonderful. I'll talk about the mechanics afterwards, but the flavor? I'll admit: I don't like the Phyrexians invading all the worlds at once. I didn't like the MOM story as much as I could've, I was a huge fan of the ONE world but not as much the invasion aspect, and having my poor baby plane of Alara infected with these guys wasn't my idea of a good time. Here, you've infused that nostalgic factor with a post-conflict eeriness and a grotesque emotional reality on top of a neat draw spell. Yeah, the perfection of Esper is steeped in inequality! Tezzeret was sympathetic for a while! He got really messed up! Etherium is scarce! It still kind of sucks underground here! I didn't know a lot about the Alara storyline when I started playing, but the feeling for the shards was always there. Bant's casts felt uncomfortable for their societal enforcement, but Esper's commodity-based world was uncomfortable in a different, desperate way. Man. This is cool.

Plus, putting the surveil on a separate paragraph? You gotta love it. I know it's a small detail, and it's just a design necessity, but it's the attention to that detail that I love about this card. I can imagine it as part of a cycle of alternate spells, like with a red creature that forces discard on ETB if black was spent to cast it, or a blue return spell that exiles something instead if white was spent to cast it, etc. We got possible multicolor but good draws otherwise, we have the cost of metal-scrapping, and... I mean, what else is there to say? This card's chops speak for themselves.

When I talk in my contests about elegant common design, this is exactly what I'm looking for. As a player, big splashy complex cards will slot in my decks. As a designer and storyteller, tightness is key.

@spooky-bard — Sigiled Construction

See what I mean? I'm only mildly irked that this doesn't have a quote from, like, a Vedalken designer who's learning how to venerate the designs of the angels, or a Bant paladin who for the first time is accepting the use of etherium as a means of fabricated glory. I can imagine both of those scenarios, but argh! At least this card's a pain in the ass. ... Hold on, I'm sounding more negative than I intend. What I mean is that someone's going to get three of these in their sealed pool, play UWX, slam a Thopter, and every turn thereafter is going to have a massive exalted attacker clock. Is it too powerful? Depends on the environment. Is it really cool from a lot of perspectives? Yes, absolutely, and I wanna talk about it.

In short, this card is one of THOSE commons—you know, first-pickable-over-rares sometimes kind of commons—and the chances of it doing nothing if something bigger comes along is also totally there. And that's okay! It's not oppressive, it's not unbalanced, it's not literally better than the mythics that would be appearing in this set. Just a plain old good card. And I do like the implication of how these shards would be coming together. I like how all three winning cards this week highlighted different possible aspects of Alaran unification. The first was a knight finding their way through a harrowing world, the second an emphasis on the underlying Alaran conflict, and this one is the coming-together of two strengths in a positive light. Whatever's happening here, I can still feel the wonder even while I'm whining for flavor text. Dangit, I can only whine so far... Heh. I'd love to play and see this card played.

Runners and more soon! @abelzumi

[orchideous-nox]

18, 25, 27, 28, 36, 38, 49, 55, 68, 72, 74 and 79 for the fan fiction writing asks < 3

Ooooh boy okay this is gonna be a long one!

18 - Do you enjoy research? Which fic of yours required the most research?

I think it depends on the topic, I enjoyed research for the Wolfstar cowboy fic like looking at difference places in the States to find a setting and getting to know American equestrian terms as a Brit. It was very different for the pirate Wolfstar fic though because that was a lot of research about ships at the time and names for different sails and the layout and jobs on a ship and laws at the rough time its set.

25 - What’s your favorite part of the writing process (worldbuilding, brainstorming/outlining, writing, editing, etc)?

Right away, definitely not editing. Hate it with a burning passion. I love writing but I can find it a bit stressful at times but I love coming up with the initial concept. I'm not much of a planner though so anything more than a paragraph gets boring for me.

27 - What area of writing do you feel strongest in?

So fun fact, I'm terrible as assessing my own strengths. Editing is not my strong point though I can tell you that, I notoriously have one typo left in every fic/chapter somehow when I post it. Writing description can be a bit boring but I love writing dialogue. I will sometimes write just the dialogue like a script and then hate myself because I have to go fill in the descriptive bits between it which feels like a chore.

28 - What area of writing do you want to improve in?

I'd love to improve at varying my writing style, I don't know how it comes across to the readers but I sometimes feel I write with a very similar style across all of my fics. I experimented a bit with gothic for one fic and it was relatively well received so I'd love to be able to expand a bit and play about more with genre and style.

36 - What fic are you proudest of?

This is a tough question, I'm going to pick two for the sake of my own sanity. First is think i need someone older because it was my first multi-part fic and it has done better than I could have dreamed of considering I thought of the idea when I was falling asleep after reading Wolfstar smut until 2am. The other is it's never just coffee because I really struggled with parts of writing it but I was so proud after it was done. It was entirely an indulgence in my love for Rosekiller and the comments I got on it were so wonderful!

38 - What is your most self-indulgent posted story?

I'd have to say looking at you got me thinking christmas because I just wanted to write about Remus dressed as Santa (the birth of Moony Claus, who I'm sure will return later in 2024) fucking Sirius and I had so much fun writing it.

49 - What fic of yours would you say is the best introduction to you as a writer?

Right off the bat, I have to say think i need someone older because it just feels like the fic I always go back to in my head trying to find whatever magic I managed to put in there. I had so much fun writing Wolfstar as cowboys and diving deeper into the characters. I also want to say once the thrill expired though because it was the first one-shot that I wrote where I had a genuine investment in trying to convey emotions inspired by a song, which has just expanded for me as a concept and is now how most of my fics come about.

55 - Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

This is a really fucking good question. I seem to be a sucker for writing some hurt/comfort second chances but I can't particularly think of any words or expressions I use a lot but if anyone does know any and fancies making me regrettably self-aware then do let me know. As for settings, I love to keep it as vague as possible in terms of city or region (except its usually England) unless the setting is important like with the band au, cowboy au and pirate au where setting mattered. I would say because I write a lot of smut a common setting is "bed" but that's just not even true, I've made these idiots fuck in bathrooms, against walls, trucks, on sofas, in a barn.

68 - Are there any fics that influenced you to write the way you do?

So I've mentioned in a post waaaay back but my idea to write a cowboy Woflstar fic came after reading a few cowboy wolfstar fics but primarily Boot Scootin' Baby by cancerravenclaw. Other than this, I try and keep the way I write as authentic to me as possible and avoid fics too similar to my concepts so like I've never read another band au (the closest I've come is The Cadence of Part-Time Poets like the last chunk) and I've never read a pirate au to my knowledge. There are writers who inspire me though, I love greenvlvetcouch, damagecontrol and the absolute loml who asked this massive list of questions futurequibblerjournalist/heartnipnops/Alex who is a bit of a saint when it comes to me and my writing. We bounce ideas off each other and I send him bits of my fics to test if they're shit and apparently they never are so idk if I should trust his judgement. He's also going to be like "Katie urgh wtf" for saying he inspires me but it's true < 3

72 - What’s your favorite writing compliment you’ve gotten?

Because I'm mean, I love when people cry. At my fics, not in general....usually. I have a folder of screenshots on my phone of my favourite comments for a little ego boost (it's a lot of Alex crying and typing essays in my comments ngl). I get complimented on my smut a lot which is honestly so...idk, I don't quite have the words which is ironic really. Receiving compliments on my writing has been quite the journey for me, I used to cry whenever someone said something nice and I still struggle to accept people genuinely like my fics.

74 - Do you have a fic you wish got a bit more love?

I'm assuming this means my fics? Trying to word this with without sounding ungrateful for the love this fic got but yes absolutely it's never just coffee but that's just how writing Rosekiller seems to go. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE writing Wolfstar and the occasional Jegulus but I wish Rosekiller got the same love from the fandom. I spent about a month straight working on it's never just coffee and I'm so grateful for the love it has received but I feel it's just better written than some of the pwp one-shots I post.

79 - Do you have any writing advice you want to share?

This is going to sound so hypocritical after that answer but honestly, just write what you love to write and not just what people want you to write. Write what you want, when you want, as often as you want. Once you start writing for others you lose the passion you start out with. Fic writing is a hobby and not a job, if you stop loving it then it becomes a chore with no gratification. Even if it means you write something you think no-one will read, write it anyway if its something you love. Oh, and consider therapy.

Well, I just rewrote War and Peace so thank you for those all though provoking questions < 3

[vanesa]

Books I've Read So Far This Year (July 2024)

1. Heir to the Empire (Timothy Zahn) 2. Dark Force Rising (Timothy Zahn) 3. The Last Command (Timothy Zahn)

These are my Star Wars friends' favourite books and I was a pretty big fan of the Original Trilogy, so I wanted to dip my toes in the Star Wars Legends universe.

These books are incredibly fun. Zahn writes books as if they were movies. There is a lot of action and dialogue. He captures the original Star Wars characters perfectly and his original characters are interesting and incredibly memorable.

Aside from having difficulty following the specific sci-fi descriptions of the fighting, these are relatively easy to read. Even then, you only need a small amount of understanding because characters will deconstruct certain brilliant maneuvers right afterward for you.

4. How Not to Be Wrong (Jordan Ellenberg)

I love books that explain mathematical concepts and why they apply in the 'real world'. I really dislike it when people act as if math is useless. I think anyone can find an appreciation for math, even if they're not 'good' at it.

Ellenberg does a great job of explaining math and how brilliant it is and how extending math into higher level concepts still applies to the real world, as well as acknowledging that there are higher-level mathematics that are harder to grasp or have little use in the real world. He attempts to find the interesting but doesn't require a PhD in math intersection for his book.

However, the political references, of which this book has plenty, really dates this book.

I posted here some quotes I liked from How Not To Be Wrong.

5. Math on Trial: How Numbers Get Used and Abused in the Courtroom (Leila Schneps & Coralie Colmez)

Math on Trial was referenced in How Not to Be Wrong and it was an intersection of two of my favourite fields: mathematics and forensic science.

The concepts are well-explained and you don't have to be a mathematician to understand them. The math is meant to be used to apply to the common juror, after all.

A lot of the math is related to improperly applying probabilities and statistics.

I posted here about Math on Trial.

6. Amusing Ourselves to Death (Neil Postman)

While this book was originally written about television, I think it also applies to the video format to deliver information as a whole.

Postman does an incredible job of developing his thesis that the video format is inherently entertaining and conveying information via an entertaining medium allows for irrelevant information to be included in your intake of information, and that books are the superior form of information medium.

He says we don't live in the world of 1984, our dystopia is closer to Brave New World. (Brave New World is one of my favourite books.)

He articulates the problem well but he offers a few solutions and admits that it's difficult to implement them.

I think this book was incredibly relevant back in 1985 when it was first published and is still relevant today. Many references are obviously dated but I can see why this is a cornerstone of every media literary analysis class.

7. Death Note: Side Story: The Loss Angeles BB Murder Cases

If you love Naomi from Death Note, I highly recommend reading this.

As serious and graphic as this is, there are a lot of moments that made me laugh out loud. The spirit of Death Note is here, including the humorous moments.

I think the localization is a little bit awkward, but that tends to be any translation of Japanese novels like this.

I also recommend the Death Note: Short Stories collection if you love Death Note.

8. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (Caroline Criado Perez)

This book was an incredible conversation starter and has so many points to jump on to do more research on. It's basically a must-read for any feminist.

It is more difficult to read this book on a physical medium since many of the sources are online.

I like how grim and yet hopeful the author stays. The author describes many successful projects in which incorporating women not only improved it for women, but for everyone as a whole.

I was very angry reading this book, and I had to read it very, very slowly. I took a year and a half to get through it, with breaks.

Because it is a book about incomplete research, there are many gaps in knowledge, which all the author can do is point out and guess based on gaps we have attempted to fill. But we will inherently be missing more gaps, because we don't know what we don't know. It is inherently frustrating.

9. You Are Now Less Dumb: How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself (David McRaney)

I was a huge fan of You Are Not So Smart the blog and then the book, so I made sure to take out its sequel, too.

It is inherently a self-help book. Psychological biases are described with examples and the research behind it, and then suggestions are given to help you.

It is also very hopeful. It makes a point of repeating that a lot of these biases don't make you dumb, they are evolutionary mechanisms that were used to protect you and help you thrive, and a little bit of self-delusion is necessary. It never admonishes you for your brain - it tells you exactly what your brain tends to do and how to overcome it.

As far as pop psychology books go, I think this is one of the better ones.

10. Outbound Flight (Timothy Zahn)

As a huge fan of Thrawn and Timothy Zahn's writing, I had to read this book, and it doesn't disappoint.

Zahn does an incredible job with characters, including Obi-wan and Anakin.

If you love Thrawn, you need to read this book. It's very important and shows how his unconventional thinking (even for a Chiss) and good intentions push him further on a more ruthless path.

11. Dune (Frank Herbert)

I had several friends pressuring me for years to read Dune and I finally caved in.

I am a huge fan of Herbert's worldbuilding the most. I was enthralled with all of the ecology of Arrakis. I love the terraforming aspects. I love reading about all the adaptations of the Fremen. Herbert researched 6 years for this book, or so I've heard, and it shows.

However, you really do need the glossary and appendices. I wrote down relationship maps and my own glossary to help me follow along.

I liked how the quotes by Princess Irulan at the start of each chapter gives you the same experience of Paul's prescient vision - knowing what is going to happen while watching things happen.

There is so much to like about the books that others have said already. It's good. It's just really good sci-fi with great political themes. Read it.

12. We (Yevgeny Zamyatin)

I am a huge fan of satire dystopian novels and this is one of the grandfathers of them. Zamyatin was also inspired a lot by H.G. Wells, which I love.

I love the math metaphors and the translation is incredibly beautiful. The imagery is so poignant.

D-503's whimsical writing is funny and adds a huge contrast to the otherwise deeply unsettling society.

This feels like required reading for anyone who's a fan of dystopian novels.

[sunriseverse]

For the ask meme: 9, 10, 12, 17, 28, 33, 40

thanks for the ask!

9. How do you find new fic to read?

honestly i just open whatever tag i want to read and backread from whatever's the newest. i do filter out certain things (length, completion, some archive warnings), but other than that, i don't do much else, just go from there. this is, as you can imagine, harder in smaller fandoms, and sometimes i feel a bit like a rat searching for crumbs.

10. How do you decide what to write?

usually what i write is either 1. prompted (rarer these days now that i'm not Known as a prompt writer), or 2. based on ideas i toss around with my friends. talking concepts through with people helps solidify my thoughts and portrayals—i'm not very good at forming cohesive narratives on my own, without anyone to bounce them off of.

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

hmmm, i can think of a lot i used to be neutral towards, but now i hate or dislike strongly, but not much the other way around...................maybe non-linear narratives? i used to find them annoying, but since i started writing them for sunrise and realised how useful they are, they've grown on me.

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

pacific rim or his dark materials fusions always get me. i think these are a bit more common, though (pacrim has its own fusion tag, even), so i guess my most obscure and highly-specific au would be a dmbj-zmyx fusion/crossover—dmbj could definitely work as a door world, but both fandoms have a really small english fanbase, so i'm not sure the overlap between them, and likely, i would be the only one who wanted to read it.

28. Does anyone read your fics before you post them? If so, who?

i don't tend to let people read the entire completed fic before it's posted, but i do send my friends excerpts! poor @lungache has to listen to me both ramble about my concepts and toss my horrid little sneak peeks at them, and @lucientelrunya gets the same treatment, and i greatly appreciate both of them for it.

33. If you write chaptered fics, what’s your ideal chapter length to write? Is it different from your ideal chapter length to read?

the ideal chapter length is whatever gets the job done, but if i'm writing a multichapter fic, then whatever length the first chapter is is the bare minimum for all following ones. i've written fics that had 1k chapters, and i've written fics that have 5k chapters—it really just depends on how much i'm covering per chapter. (also, my chapters these days tend to be longer just because i love description and emotion, and refuse to be concise.) for preferred reading length, usually anything 1k+ is good for me, and i'm not too picky—i'm willing to read 2k chapters, or 30k chapters.

40. Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

depends entirely on what i'm feeling. i haven't reread most of my bookmarks, but if i'm in desperate straits (have been through a tag and read everything i'm willing to already), i'll go back and reread things.

[tangleweave]

"Have you evah been in--"

She looks down, away. The final word is acid in her throat or salt on her tongue in an unpleasant way that holds nothing of her Mother's magick in it.

"Love?"

She trusts Phil not to be dismayed by the way she hesitates on the word. For asking a question she doesn't really have a right to ask. Or in the way she almost recoils from herself the instant it speaks it into being.

A few seconds creep by before she catches the corner of her lip between her teeth, savouring the stinging where chapped skin had been pulled away. "I'm…sorry. S'none of my business, yeah?"

[ Who We Want / Accepting ]

For as much as the question guides Beth's face and gaze downward and to the side, it draws Phil's front and center, and for a moment he stops chewing his latest bite of cherry pie. He doesn't quite stare; he has a specific face for doing that. But his expression is nonetheless inscrutable, up to and through the moment she puts forth her quiet acknowledgment that she was out of her depth in asking.

And for Beth, being out of her depth is indeed a feat.

It's normally not the kind of question he would consider answering in any way other than vague or coy. A spymaster holds secrets for reasons -- principally because it's in the job description, and because he's the soul of discretion. But he has to take into consideration how Beth had followed him into SHIELD on virtually nothing but a hope and a prayer, an invitation extended from a stranger who managed to convince her to disclose a wide array of superhuman abilities on nothing more than an open approach, a polite greeting, and a flash of the badge.

Months later, she's out of the Academy, working diligently in her bio lab, and conducting post-op field analyses as a member of his team, and she still doesn't know just how much she tipped her hand to him when they'd first met -- and he has no reason to change that dynamic. But he's given her precious little about his personal life in return.

It's not personal. He doesn't share that sort of information with anybody.

...except Ms. Potts. And, by extension, Tony Stark.

"Just saying. I'll fly you out to Oregon. Give love a chance."

He turns back down to his plate and swallows his bite. Perhaps along with it, a morsel of his pride.

"Once." He sets down his fork and laces his fingers atop the edge of the table. "Audrey. She plays cello with the Portland Symphony. She got put on SHIELD's radar when she was being stalked... turned out by a metahuman. We put him where he couldn't hurt or frighten anyone anymore, but... Audrey and I became fast friends. She'd call ahead if she was coming to New York. Whenever I was in Portland, I'd get a ticket to the symphony. She got a gig in D.C. for a while. Somehow she had a sense of when I was within a hundred miles. She always seemed to make my phone ring at just the right times. We spent a lot more time together."

The faintest flicker of a smile drifts across his features, as ephemeral as a puff of smoke and just as transitory. "She laughed at my jokes, too, which has never been all that common."

He glances down to his plate and takes his fork back up, maybe as a subconscious attempt to ward away the ache that he senses welling up from the pit of his stomach. He'll finish the pie, but he's not as appetized as he was on the first bite. "The gig wrapped two weeks before the Battle of New York, and she flew home to Portland. I couldn't see her off. I was at the Tesseract Research Facility at the time. And then, well..."

He does a gentle brushing motion of the fingers on his free hand, as if dismissing a sprite from the edge of his plate -- or the sobering thought that more might have come from that relationship. The echo of Tony Stark's voice is replaced with an echo of Raina's.

"She did love you."

He presses the side of his fork through the crust. "Since then... haven't really counted on the idea that I would have room for it in my life. Every minute I have is borrowed time, now."

He lifts his gaze to her face, and his expression returns her inquiry to her... but he knows better than to ask it aloud.

[beazt]

hmm. something I’ve kinda noticed but never really brought into the processing part of my brain for any significant amount of time is this: (long post about education ahead)

as a tutor, and a first generation college student who generally interacts with a lot of other students… a Lot of students, maybe not the majority but Many, get really really hung up on things with preconceived notions that aren’t explained away

it’s impossible to explain this without some specific examples. the most frequent one I see is that of the “thesis statement” in written assignments. if you’re at all familiar with writing college-level essays, you probably know the thesis sentence is… not really a beast. it can have its challenges, and of course everyone is different. but if you know the topics addressed in your paper, you can create a sufficient thesis statement following some pretty simple formulas.

note that im using “sufficient” here because 1) for a lot of the students who this applies to, sufficient (or even just “completed”) is the end goal of the paper as a whole, not perfection; and 2) a sufficient thesis statement can be revised as needed, into a higher quality one

but… I have seen so many students hung up on thesis statements because of the name. Mainly first generation college students (my people!). I work with a lot of other tutors who are Not first gen graduates, and sometimes struggle to pick up on this: when the only time you’ve ever heard the word “thesis” is in reference to a large, many-month or years-long project, yeah, a “thesis” statement sounds incredibly daunting.

this mental block takes careful explanation and patience to overcome because the level of daunting it is triggers different responses, but common ones include fear, self-doubt, and a pre-emptive sense of defeat/failure— I have seen all of these multiple times and in different combinations.

and I watch as other tutors say things like “no no the thesis statement isn’t so bad! you just gotta believe me and work with me on this!” and it tugs at my heart a bit, because I know that a 5 minute conversation is usually enough to resolve the fear of thesis statements— and sometimes this “follow my lead” approach I see used leads to a mindset in the student of “I don’t understand what I just did, I still don’t know what a thesis statement really is, and I needed so much help to do it, I’ll never be able to do it on my own” (not always to this extreme but do you see where im going?)

and of course, many students struggle with it and never even interact with a tutor.

a simple solution would be in those lowest level college writing courses, having a segment on what thesis statements are, not just showing examples of them (and some instructors don’t even really do that) but also explaining why they’re called thesis statements. I had an amazing writing prof and she included this, but since everyone saw her as a harsh grader, people avoided her for the last few years before she retired.

I’m coming at this from a frame of reference dealing mainly with community colleges, but that’s where a lot of first gen students go, too. I feel that part is important to mention before I say the next controversial part:

this is often tied to the schism between arts and sciences, in my opinion. when people become fully dedicated to one and don’t strengthen the other, it leads to scientists without ethics or communication skills and scholars (in the sense of academics focused in humanities etc) who don’t value rigid, fundamental explanations of why things are the way they are.

MAJOR CAVEAT that this does not apply to Everyone in either field by any means, I wouldn’t even promise you that it applies to the majority. and this is not as much of a problem (though still present) in big universities because a lot of the faculty in them are involved in some form of research or data processing as part of their job description, which is inherently rather interdisciplinary

this is an unrevised rambling of this so give me some grace if I worded things a bit poorly. Honestly if I was given the time, energy, and resources, I would prepare a 3 hour training or workshop or Ted talk about the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to nearly any subject

[sw1mmingfoolz]

A SLIGHTLY DISJOINTED LIST OF WRITING TIPS

hey peeps 😌 a whole zero people asked or showed interest and true to my style I'm posting anyway lmao :) this is a collection of writing tips I remind myself of all the time! some are from online (mostly reddit), some are from writing workshops and classes i've taken, some are just commonly traded around by famous writers and some come from my own experience! i've been writing for 15 years, since i was a literal child, and i think it's safe to say i've learned a lot since i wrote 15 pages of what i was absolutely sure would be my debut novel "The Ratticator" when i was, like, 6. so i think ik what i'm talking about 😎 without further ado, here is the list!! it isn't very organised, for which i do apologize :')

If you have writer’s block, change your document font to Comic Sans. No idea why this works, but it’s a known tip and it really does!

DO NOT edit as you go. If you just can’t seem to stop yourself, set your document to Wingdings. This is especially helpful in your first draft. I personally call my first draft document WORST VERSION JUST PURE GARBAGE or some variation to take the pressure off.

Treat all writing as practice. It’s better to write pages and pages of pure garbage than to be too paralysed by fear of failure and not write at all as a result. At least with garbage you can edit it, see what issues you have with your writing, etc.

If you struggle with editing, try writing everything longhand on paper or printing out a particularly hard chapter (double spaced so you can annotate it) and rewrite it. Also, run your work through text-to-speech to catch typos or little errors you might otherwise overlook!

Google “filter words and how to avoid them”, especially if you write in first person. Focus on showing and not telling, and be wary of using too many adverbs (I’m so guilty of this) and verbs after dialogue. Also avoid epithets! By all means necessary! For example; “the short haired man”, “the brunette”, “the [job title]”. These are common in fanfiction but do not sound good or flow well. They’re often used by novice writers. (I’m guilty of this too! Again, these kinds of things take practice).

If you’re struggling to plot, it can help to write “draft zero”, in which you write out chapters in the least words possible without needing it to sound good. This can give you a skeleton to fill out. You also don’t have to write chronologically; write the fun scenes first or whatever scenes you already have in your head out and build around those!

Speak your dialogue out loud. If it doesn’t flow well, it doesn’t read well either.

Similarly, come back to a chapter / work after a minimum of a day has passed. Looking at it with fresh eyes after a break away can help immensely with weeding out awkward parts, errors or parts you’d like to change.

“Said” is not a bad word; don’t go to insane lengths to avoid it!

Not every piece of dialogue needs a tag; trying to add one to everything without having dialogue by itself makes writing clunky.

For both dialogue and inner monologue, have your characters miss the mark just slightly on what they're trying to say. In reality none of us express ourselves perfectly off the cuff, and you can even communicate a lot about a person through what they omit or avert or misread. (from u/frozenfountain on Reddit)

Usually when people talk, they’re not just talking. What facial expressions are they making? What are they doing with their bodies? Are they just ‘saying’ something or are they stuttering, shouting, or whispering (don’t go overboard with this kinda description, though). You also don’t always have to specify who is speaking; you can establish the people initially and, especially if they speak in distinct ways, it should be clear. Also, learn correct grammar for dialogue. A new speaker should be on a new line.

Vary sentence structure. This is probably the main cause of people feeling that their writing feels "off." A lot of people try to solve repetitive sentence structure with epithets or with unnecessary synonyms, but it only masks the problem, it doesn't solve it.

For example:

"What's going on?" said Bob.

"I don't know. Jill just stormed out of here," said Abigail.

"That's weird. She seemed fine this morning," said Bob.

"I think the stress is finally starting to get to her," said Abigail.

It's boring, right? How NOT to improve it:

"What's going on?" said Bob.

"I don't know. Jill just stormed out of here," said the blue-eyed woman.

"That's weird. She seemed fine this morning," pondered the older man.

"I think the stress is finally starting to get to her," surmised the greenette.

Instead maybe something like:

Bob looked around at the confused faces in the room. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," said Abigail, fidgeting with her necklace. "Jill just stormed out of here."

"That's weird. She seemed fine this morning."

Abigail shrugged. "I think the stress is finally getting to her."

The other problem I see: unless you understand what third person omniscient is and are using it intentionally, it's probably best to pick just one point of view per scene and stick to it. (u/DemyxDancer on Reddit)

Don’t focus on stuff your character wouldn’t just to fill a word count.

Try not to use the same word twice in a paragraph unless they’re connecting words or names/pronouns. At the same time, try not to overuse the thesaurus and use a million synonyms for something - find different ways to describe things. 

Write as though there is no formatting available to you. Adding bold or caps or images or footnotes is cool, but the story should be understood exactly the same without them. This is also an accessibility consideration, since screen readers will miss this extra context if it’s purely visible.

Localised spell check! I use British spell check on Google Docs because I am British but sometimes accidentally use the American versions of words. This can also be immensely helpful if you’re writing dialects / a different form of English than what you’re used to. 

Let go of perfectionism before it kills writing for you. Coraline took Neil Gaiman over a decade to write. Ursula K Le Guin banged out three Earthsea books in 4 years before taking a 12 year break between the third and fourth books in which she took a big interest in feminism and entirely changed the way she wrote female characters. Nothing is going to be perfect initially, and expecting it to be so dooms you before you can start.

Paragraphs!! Punctuation!! So many times I have clicked on a promising looking fanfiction but backed out because I couldn’t read it properly - commas, semicolons and hyphens (and em dashes!) are your friends :)

If possible, shut out everything else during a designated time period and just write. I know this isn’t possible for everyone but should you be able to set a window and have a schedule you’ll find writer’s block to hit you less!

Starting with a lot of exposition can be boring. Short, snappy first lines and/or coming right into the action at the beginning can help hook the reader better. Or alternatively, have a prologue if there’s important exposition that needs to be established at the start!

Writing is inherently hard, even for well established writers. Accepting that will help you more than you’d expect.

Read as much as you write, if not more! Reading makes writing a lot easier. A lot of writing is being inspired by other writers. NOT copying, or plagiarising, but drawing inspiration from them. For example (as we spoke about a couple of days ago), my lovely mutual Livvie @greenlivvie has a colder, more direct and more formal writing style as a lot of what she reads is nonfiction, whereas I read so many gooey romance webtoons and poetry anthologies that my style is extremely warm, probably too descriptive, and rather poetic.

Find the joy in writing! I know engagement is extremely important, especially in fanfiction, but if it’s your only drive you’re destined to burn out. You should write first and foremost for the love of writing. That’s not to say you shouldn’t want engagement, however, and that readers should not give it (PLEASE readers, learn that likes on Tumblr are absolutely useless compared to on other platforms and start reblogging, tagging, and commenting! Here are some relaged posts with creators expressing their frustrations (x) (x) (x) so you can understand WHY it matters so much to us. On AO3, comments mean the world!)

Bad writers tend to think they are amazing and infallible, while good writers tend to think they are terrible. It’s about not letting that self doubt stop you from creating entirely! Also, if possible, find someone to beta your work and give their concrit, especially if you find yourself hating your work but not knowing why.

“Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day. It helps.” - John Steinbeck

Write through the eyes of the character, not the lens of a camera (for third person).

“No matter how worried you are about that chapter, no matter how badly you think you botched something, do not tell your readers this, and if you can't help it, put your notes/concerns at the end of the chapter. If you tell a reader at the beginning of a chapter "this chapter is not my best", they will read it in a different light than if you had said nothing at all. If you're looking for feedback on the chapter, put your notes at the end. Let the reader read the chapter "fresh". They'll form their own thoughts and opinions, and then only after that, they'll read your comments/concerns/questions and are more likely to respond to them candidly, rather than having the chapter flavoured by worry or doubt. Your work is good, don't tell people otherwise.” (from u/Panoramic_Vacuum on Reddit)

Don't write your scenes/chapters differently than you originally wanted just for the sake of ''censorship'' to be able to maybe target a larger/different audience! Always write stuff exactly the way you always imagine(d), no matter how dark, bloody, sexual, whatever it might be. A story that is deliberately ''pruned'' will never have the same significance an ''uncensored'' one has. And for characters, always remember the one tenet:

''It doesn't matter how small or unimportant a character might seem at first, they always should be interesting and compelling in their own right, not just be means for the purpose of another character.'' (from u/JokeyZockey on Reddit)

Always remember the five senses as you write

Note down ideas or lines you think of when you think of them. You will probably forget them otherwise. I am totally not talking from experience 😭

In writing fanfiction, you’re writing for free! No apologising for slow updates, no apologising for hiatuses, again Coraline took OVER A DECADE to be finished and published yet you feel bad for not pumping out work every day? Readers do not get to be entitled, they are consuming free content from you and that in itself is a privilege. Readers, please be mindful that we are regular ass people with school and work and other commitments, and also be mindful that if you do not interact with our work that’s only going to serve to motivate us even LESS.

Reward yourself! Wrote a chapter, or hit a word count goal, or finished a plot? Watch a film you like, or buy your favourite snack, or have a long ass bath with a bunch of shit from Lush that makes your house smell like a perfume shop for years afterwards. Rewarding ourselves pleases our primal little monkey brains and makes it a lot easier to get past writer’s block, knowing there’s something in it for us at the end. 

AND FINALLY! Ignore everyone as much as you want to. You should be writing for fun, for yourself - hell if you wanna ignore these points that’s entirely your prerogative. People will tell you not to write certain tropes, or leave unnecessary criticism, or be demanding when they could totally just go write the fics themselves if they care that much. Write because you like to, and you will find your audience :)

i hope you could find even one tip in this list helpful! reblogging with your own tips is encouraged actually :) much love to my fellow writers, it's thankless sometimes and difficult basically all of the time but it's fun and i meet absolutely lovely people on here doing so 💞

[mademoisellehypergamy]

✨ CREATING A PERSONA FOR HYPERGAMY & SOCIAL CLIMBING  ✨

The votes are in and “Persona” won! Ladies, get the notebooks out. Class is in session. And this is gonna be a long one.

Be honest with me: Are you currently your ideal woman? The majority of you will probably answer honestly and say no. And there’s nothing wrong with admitting that. The harsh reality is most women on their hypergamous journey aren’t even close to being the ideal woman they aspire to be. Hell, the average woman (hypergamous or not) will probably live her life never being able to become that woman, if we’re being completely honest here.

I believe every hypergamous woman should create and adopt a persona. You are who you believe to be. When I was younger, my teachers and parents told me I was academically gifted. So guess what? I believed the same! That pushed me to work even harder in school. Same concept applies here. You are who you believe to be. A persona isn’t a “fake” version of you. It is you. Your ideal person. It is malleable, so it can change at anytime. Just like you changed throughout your life.

STEP 0 - WHY YOU SHOULD ADOPT A PERSONA

✨Not Everyone Will Win the Birth Lottery. But that doesn’t mean you can’t rewrite your past, and repave your future path. Let’s face it: some of you were born into bad circumstances; abusive families, poverty, toxic relationships, obstacles and barriers, etc. And some of you are living lives currently that you aren’t satisfied with: stressful job, health issues, bad environment, *insert sob story here*, blah, blah, blah, woe is me!  But should your current and past conditions get in the way of your hypergamous journey? No! Absolutely not. 

✨You Can’t Be the Same Basic B*tch Forever. Okay b*tch, when you were being “true to yourself” in the past, look where it got you. Probably in a less than favorable situation. Congratulations for being an authentic basic b*tch! 🥳😊

Ladies, change is necessary. When you started your hypergamous journey, you underwent a change. Are you saying your hypergamous self is fake? Of course it isn’t! It’s still you, just an “elevated you”. One that is more aware and knows what she wants. 

✨ Most People Don’t Even Know Who TF They Are. It’s sad, but true. Most people are lost and suppressing their true desires and personality. I’m here encouraging you ladies to create your ideal persona and to become this woman. Because this woman is who you are deep inside, who you want to be. Stop hiding her! Create her, and become her! As long as this person isn’t harming anyone, there is no reason you shouldn’t chase your dream self.

STEP 1 - CHOOSE & CREATE YOUR PERSONA

This is the fun part ladies! Time to choose and create your new persona!

✨ What Kind of Woman Do You Aspire to Be?  Have fun with this ladies! What kind of woman have you always dreamt of becoming? Is she wildly intelligent and beautiful? Or perhaps she has a heart of gold and is adored by all?  Nothing is off limits. This is you.

For those of you who are truly struggling, below I have included a few examples of common personas. If you don’t know where to begin, choose one as the “foundation” and build on it. Make it your own!

*Disclaimer: Anyone that I mentioned/included below is simply for inspiration. Not all of these women are hypergamous. This is just for inspiration*

1. The Socialite/ The “It” Girl: This is the girl that everyone knows. She’s always at a party with a glass of champagne, wearing the latest styles, and living the BEST life. She’s glamorously unattainable and few have access to her, but somehow she’s a part of every social circle.

Inspiration: Jamie Chua (https://www.instagram.com/ec24m/)

2. The Traveler: This is the girl that travels constantly. Whether it’s across the globe or to a different state/town, she’s always on the go! No one seems to know how she funds her lifestyle because she always appears to be traveling and never working. Her pictures are always on point and high quality, with a combination of bikini pictures, relaxing scenery, exotic foods, and endless hotels.

Inspiration: Jennifer Tuffen (https://www.instagram.com/izkiz/)

3. The Influencer: Think of the ultimate Instagram Baddie; perfect body (usually because of surgery), full lips, carefully applied makeup, nails always done, hair on point. She is sponsored by all the clothes brands, and lives lavishly. She’s always out at a restaurant and traveling. Typically dresses in more revealing clothes/lots of bikinis.  What differentiates her from the Socialite? The degree of elegance and class. While the Socialite gives you an “heiress” vibe, the Influencer is more on the “flashy celebrity” side.

Inspiration: Kaylar Will (https://www.instagram.com/kaylarwill/)

4. Femme Fatale: She rarely posts on social media, but when she does, it only makes you question her existence more. This girl is beautifully sensual, and her social media only reveals bits and pieces of her life. She is an entire mystery, no one knows about her private life. One day she’ll be flying from London, the next she’ll be visiting an art gallery  She’ll sometimes post images of gifted roses with poetry captions. She oozes seduction and dark mystery. 

Inspiration: Dita Von Teese (https://www.instagram.com/ditavonteese) Now I thought long and hard about who to choose for this one, and if you take a moment to look at Dita’s IG account, you will understand why. You will notice that the ONLY thing she posts about is her clothes/lingerie brand or things relating to business. She reveals nothing about her personal life. Every post is promotion about her business. In fact, the last time she posted something about her “life” was on October 8th when she posted her CAT modeling another designer’s scarf. She’s a very discreet woman, and it works in her favor.

5. Girl Next Door: You know that basic b*tch that’s SUPER popular for no reason? This is her. From her Starbucks to her Tiktoks, she’s just your average girl living her life. In a way, she isn’t a threat because she seems approachable, relatable, and friendly enough through social media. Something about her aspires others that they can achieve a similar lifestyle. She’s terribly basic, but somehow, it works. 

Inspiration: Loren Gray (https://www.instagram.com/loren/)

6. Exotica: *This persona is best suited for women of color* She is exotically beautiful and unique. She is a trendsetter, not a follower. She has an air of heightened sexuality, with a touch of grounded-spirituality. Something about her is wild and untamed, and she oozes excitement and adventure. 

Inspiration: Monica Leon, or “Danger”. Now if you’re in my generation, you may remember the reality show “For the Love of Ray J” (which was ghetto btw💀). To this day, one girl that I will NEVER forget on that show, was “Danger”, the girl with the tiger tattoo on her face and that NO ONE liked, but Ray J was obsessed with. Although she no longer is on Instagram (and has since legally changed her name), I still believe she naturally embodied that exotic and mysterious woman persona. I recommend watching the show for free on Youtube just to observe her (and only her because the other women were pickme’s  💀)

7. The Luxurious Diamond: This woman is the epitome of class and elegance. She exudes femininity and grace, and holds an air of mystery by only showing us bits and pieces of her life. What we see is soft luxuries, wineries, beautiful clothes/scenery, and a life of comfort. She balances a mature, elegant, ladylike presence, with subtle girly-youthfulness. 

Inspiration: Г-жа Анисимова   https://www.instagram.com/creme_de.la_femme/

✨How Does She Look Like? From her hair to how she wears her makeup, be able to create a vivid description of her appearance. Being able to do this will show you where to work on with your current appearance.

✨Personality We all have traits about ourselves that we don’t like. This is your chance to identify your traits that you love and maximize them, while also working on the aspects of your personality that are a bit more problematic.

It’s important to recognize that some “negative” traits are not really negative. Society just shames us for them. For example, “The Socialite” persona may be polite, but that doesn’t mean she’s super open and friendly with everyone. Not everyone is her friend, and she is naturally unattainable. So why would she be super friendly to everyone? Some may call her “standoffish”, but I call it “selective”.

✨Past Self? Not a Problem.  So let’s say you had a less than perfect childhood and endured a lot of trauma. Not a problem, just reinvent your past! Now I’m not saying to straight up lie and make up a crazy story about how you grew up with billionaire parents and traveled the globe. I’m saying adopt a realistic story that’ll help you on your journey. 

For example, if your date were to ask about your past, instead of telling him how tragic your childhood was and how you were homeless and abused by your parents, and no longer have a relationship with them, you can say: “I moved around a lot as a child (“homelessness”), so I really enjoyed being able to interact with a lot of different people (make the negative seem positive). My parents still move around a lot, so it’s hard for us to meet (explains why you aren’t in contact with your parents). 

Reword and reframe, ladies. Not everyone needs to know everything.

STEP 2 - BRING HER TO LIFE

✨Remove. You cannot embrace your new persona, your new IDENTITY, if you are still stuck in the past. And that includes past connections that do not serve you. Some of your old friends (college friends, childhood friends, etc.) are not meant to accompany you on this journey. And that’s OKAY. Same with other toxic relationships in your life, family included. You will have to decide who to keep, and who to distance yourself from.

✨ Social Media! I’ve mentioned this in an earlier post, but social media is the easiest way for you to push your new persona. You control the content that goes on your social media, so even if you haven’t fully embodied your new persona, you can sure as hell fake it on social media. 

- Unless your persona is a socialite/influencer type, avoid posting too often. - Be consistent; if you retouch your images, make sure its consistent with all your photos. - Be mindful of what people tag you in/post about you. You know that “friend” who always posts the ugliest pictures of you? Yeah. They’re not your friend, hun. 

✨Dress. The. Part. Okay, sis. You can have the personality down perfectly, but if the look doesn’t match, no one will buy it. Your look is the first thing people notice, so invest in it. It doesn’t cost a lot, especially with fast fashion sites like Shein that sells clothes for $5. Just be able to keep up the appearance.

✨ Immerse Yourself in the Environment.  Looking the part and having the right personality is not enough, ladies! It wouldn’t make sense for you to be a “Socialite” sharing pictures of you eating at Red Lobster and Olive Garden every night. It wouldn’t make sense for the “Traveler” persona to share only bathroom selfies in her apartment. You have to live like the woman you aspire to be, and that includes placing yourself in those environments.

If you are not in the place financially to do so, learn to project the image without spending money. Ex: If you can’t afford to go to Hawaii, go to your local beach and take bomb ass pictures. Don’t tag the location. People will automatically see a beach in your picture and assume you are on vacation traveling. Get creative, ladies. 

✨You Owe Them Nothing. Ladies! Remember you don’t owe anyone anything. Not an explanation, not your time, nothing. So if you are living this new persona and people are asking questions you don’t want to answer: don’t. This is your life. 

STEP 3 - YOUR PERSONA WHILE DATING HYPERGAMOUSLY & SOCIAL CLIMBING

So now that you have created your ideal persona, and taken the steps to incorporate it into your life, how can you use your newfound persona to aid you on your hypergamous journey and while social climbing?

✨Infiltrate New Circles. Your persona should be someone exciting and enticing. People love befriending people who are happy and adventurous. Use your persona to befriend others and enter new social circles. You can do this through: - Social media; follow similar accounts to yours and interact with them. - Activities related to your persona; Let’s say you adopted the “The Luxurious Diamond” persona and started visiting wineries. You may notice when you go that there are regulars; identify the regulars and use your common interest of wine to strike a conversation. -Interest groups; join clubs/groups that help you reach your goals. For example, “The Traveler” may have always wanted to travel to Bali, but didn’t want to go alone. She joins a travel group to meet other likeminded inviduals and meets a travel buddy. This person ends up introducing her to others who also enjoy traveling.

✨ Be a Chameleon. You should  never be set on just one persona. Like I said earlier, your persona should always be malleable. You should be able to change yourself to your benefit, and always be open to expansion. When it comes to dating, a man may “want” a certain type of woman, but the secret is that most men just want a woman who is open to possibilities.  I remember a man who used to be on my roster who loved music. This man was always insisting on taking me to operas and symphonies. And he too was a musician (I really don’t like dating musicians, but that’s a topic for another day), so whenever he was performing he would have me sitting in the box so I’d have an “undisturbed” experience.  Now ladies, I’m not into music AT ALL.  But I was open and willing, and guess what? The man adored it, and he adored me even more! He spoiled me like crazy and would serenade me with music he wrote about me because I was his “muse”. Although I ended up ghosting him, I definitely appreciate a good opera now! 

✨Be Larger than Life to Entice. The attractive part about these personas is the fact that it feels almost fake. The image that is portrayed is almost mythical, like something out of a fantasy. You can’t believe this girl is traveling so much, or you can’t believe this girl still has a social life in the middle of a pandemic! It’s unbelievable, but that’s what makes us so intrigued. Men especially love fantasy. That’s why many men have a “dream girl”, a woman that embodies their physical and emotional fantasies. They love the impossible. It’s also important to remember that you are always being watched. People see you, whether in person or on social media, and when they see someone or something more interesting than their mundane life, curiosity will get the best of them. They’ll be drawn to you and want to know you.

✨ The Persona Advantage. Creating a persona is supposed to help your journey. The purpose is to reinvent yourself into someone who will help you better navigate your hypergamous life.  For example, if you are trying to get into more exclusive, affluent circles, creating a persona who is skilled in social and dining etiquette would be more beneficial than a persona that’s an Instagram Influencer. Being an Instagram Baddie that wears Fashion Nova won’t help you at a Charity Gala. So be sure to think of what you desire in life to shape yourself into that. Don’t just become someone who won’t get you to where you want to be. 

This post will definitely have a Part 2 in the future, but in conclusion: You can be whoever you want to be as long as you play the role. Be an actress in your own life, and live the life you desire.

Well ladies, I’ll be away for Valentine’s day weekend. Wishing you all a wonderful and safe weekend ❤️ Lots of love.

Follow my IG for more: @mademoisellehypergamy

[kikikiwi27498]

Katie's Fic Rec Master List

I wanted to make a master list of all my favorite fics in the hopes of introducing others to the fics I love and showing my appreciation for all the work authors do. I’ve also done like four fic rec lists in the past (you can find them here), and it’s time I organized everything into one list that I can update as I go. I will also make this a page on my blog so you don't have to scroll through this massive post.

UPDATE 1/25/2024: Hello! So it turns out Tumblr has link and character limits on posts now, which means I can't make this rec list as long as I'd like, and I don't want to make multiple lists. So I took a page out of Lou (@impossibleknots)'s book and made a spreadsheet! You can find it here, and I'll be updating that rather than this list.

I aimed for a mix of what I call “classic” fics and some lesser-known fics to give something for everyone. I have a lot of fandoms and I’ve been reading fics for a long time, so this is a pretty extensive list.

Updated: November 29, 2022 (minor edits made 11/22/2023)

Avatar: The Last Airbender/Legend of Korra

God Bless the Child by slacktension (T, 9,391 words, complete)  Missing scenes from Legend of Korra 01x08: Mako, Bolin, and Asami are stuck in jail after the raid on the Dragon Flats District. I really liked how this fic touched on Mako and Bolin’s childhood working for the Triple Threat Triad.  Warnings: references to past violence, swearing  Ships: Mako/Asami 

Keraunopathy by celluloid (@miikkasakari) (NR, 15,000+ words, incomplete)  Mako’s relationship with lightning has changed a lot. He first learns of lighting bending when he reads a book of Iroh quotes. After a fire bender kills his parents, Mako’s relationship with lightning changes, even after he learns to generates it himself. I really liked how Ari made lighting bending a big deal again—in ATLA it was a huge deal, then in LOK it became much more common and less dangerous. Mako and others being able to lightning bend with ease is glossed over, and I enjoyed Ari’s take on Mako learning to generate lightning.  Warnings: mentions of abuse and violence, character death  Ships: None 

No Church in the Wild by slacktension (M, 4,000+ words, incomplete) Mako and Bolin’s childhood, from before their parents die to living on the streets to meeting Korra. I really liked how slacktension explores how Mako and Bolin’s relationship changes once their parents are killed and they are forced to live on the street. Slacktension really dives into how Mako became Bolin’s caretaker and parent, doing his best to keep himself and his brother alive on the streets and with the Triad.  Warnings: graphic descriptions of abuse, descriptions of violence, character death, discussions of death, drug and alcohol use, smoking, swearing  Ships: None

Big Time Rush 

Where I’ll Be Found by kasuchi (@kasuchi) (T, 6,104 words, complete) After Jo leaves for New Zealand, Kendall has a hard time coping and starts to crash and burn. Luckily he has his family and ‘90s music to help him. I loved how kasuchi used '90s song titles for each section (I forgot about Kendall's long-lost '90s music addiction!) and tried to stick with artists that would probably exist in the BTR universe. I liked how they dealt with his breakup with Jo in the show, but I liked how kasuchi took it an extra step and really made Kendall crash and burn. The best part of BTR is the friendship/family element—the boys and Katie and Mrs. Knight (and even Kelly and Gustavo) are really a family, and kasuchi did a great job of showing that. I also liked how kasuchi did the "turn real things into fake things" that Nick always does.  Warnings: underage drinking, swearing  Ships: Kendall/Jo, Kendall/OFC 

Chronicles of Narnia

A Call Rattling in Her Bones by dirgewithoutmusic (@ink-splotch) (G, 3,145 words, complete) Susan Pevensie returns from Narnia changed. She is a woman pretending to be a child, a queen without her kingdom. She has lived and lost and loved in ways her classmates will never know or understand. In England, the trees are only trees, the water only water and nothing more. So she adapts: she joins the newspaper, throws herself into her studies, and makes a new life for herself. Then her own horn calls her back to Narnia and a Lion tells her she can never return. So Susan decides to live, to build herself a new life in England. Her life will no longer be anything but her own. I feel like a lot of people hate on Susan for choosing to live and move on rather than dwelling on Narnia, and it’s nice to see a take on post-Narnia Susan that doesn't do that. Susan is a fascinating character, and as usual Inky really does her justice here. Warnings: major character death  Ships: None

A Power in Every Breath by PanBoleyn (G, 3,288 words, complete)  After the lies of Shift the Ape, religion in Narnia starts to change. The Great Lion hasn’t been seen in generations, so Narnians begin to turn to new gods: the Seven Friends of Narnia. I really loved this exploration of a Narnian world that didn’t end in The Last Battle but instead got to grow and change. I loved the exploration of the religion and mythology of Narnia, and especially how each of the Friends of Narnia came to be associated with specific animals, virtues, and symbols. Religion isn’t always one-size-fits-all, and I loved how this story dives into that.  Warnings: None Ships: None

A Sea of Golden Sand by Andi Horton (K+, 121,897 words, complete) The Horse and His Boy from the Pevensies’ point of view. Prince Rabadash comes to Cair Paravel to ask for Susan’s hand in marriage. All seems well, and Susan decides to make a visit to Calormen. Upon arriving in Calormen, however, it becomes clear that things are not as they seem and Rabadash is not the charming prince he claims to be. Andi Horton captures C.S. Lewis’s writing style perfectly, this reads almost exactly like one of the Chronicles of Narnia books.  Warnings: references to violence   Ships: None

Counted Among the Traitors by WillowDryad (T, 73,916 words, complete) Ten years into the Golden Age, evil forces are at work in Narnia, causing High King Peter to lose faith and trust in his brother. Edmund must work to clear his name and save his brother before it’s too late. This was one of the very first fics I read and fell in love with way back in 2012. Each chapter had me enthralled and waiting for more. WillowDryad does a great job of developing the Pevensies and writing them as adults who have reigned for ten years. I have been endlessly inspired by WillowDryad, and I highly suggest checking out the rest of their work.  Warnings: graphicdescriptions of violence, illness, discussions of death   Ships: None

Into the West by elecktrum (T, 89,879 words, complete)  A year after The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, a curse Jadis put on Edmund is awoken. Peter and Philip must adventure to the Garden in the West to retrieve the only means of saving Edmund's life and breaking the curse. If you like tales of adventures and family and heroes saving the day, this is the fic for you. This is the fic for me and I have reread it a bunch of times. Every character, from the Pevensies to Aslan to the smallest OC, has a unique personality and brings something to the story. The Pevensies have such a wonderful dynamic with each other and the other residents of Cair Paravel (especially Peter and Edmund and Oreius), and I just want to jump into this world and live in it.  Warnings: graphic descriptions of violence, discussions of death  Ships: None

Nighttime Demons by Sentimental-Star (T, 45,000+ words, incomplete) After Colin Pevensie returns from the war, he notices that his children are not as he left them: Peter is more grown-up, Edmund is no longer beastly, and Susan and Lucy are no longer the little girls he remembers. Told from the point of view of Colin, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, this is a wonderful story exploring the effect Narnia had on the four Pevensie children and how Aslan can affect even those who have never met Him. I like how Sentimental-Star touches on why Susan decides to stop believing in Narnia and examines the relationships between each of the Pevensies and their parents.  Warnings: descriptions of violence, discussions of death, panic attacks    Ships: None

No Greater Love by WickedForGood13 (K+, 14,311 words, complete)  The aftermath of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Peter and Edmund have a lot to talk about following their return from Narnia, and hopefully they can heal some of the rift between them in the process. I love a fic that explores the impact Narnia and returning to England had on the Pevensies, and WickedForGood13 does a great job at it. This fic focuses on Peter and Edmund, but Susan and Lucy also make appearances.   Warnings: references to past violence, dissuasions of death   Ships: None

Only Children by Thalion King’s Daughter (K, 74,110 words, complete) A Golden Age tale following the adventures of Jaer and Jaerin Peridanson, sons of Lord Peridan, as they come to live at Cair Paravel with their family. What they hope will be a peaceful move takes a turn when Peter is captured by Ettin Giants. This story follows Thole and A Blessing of Rain by elecktrum as Jaer and the others race to rescue Peter from the Ettin Giants. I love Jaer and Jaerin, they have such a lovely dynamic with each other and the Pevensies. Jaer, Jaerin, and their family fit perfectly into the world of Cair Paravel, and I love how Thalion King’s Daughter gives Lord Peridan a backstory and more depth than he got in The Horse and His Boy.  Warnings: implied/referenced violence, discussions of death   Ships: None

Return and Pushback by summer_days (@squirrel-princess)(T, 13,000+ words, incomplete) A year after they left, the four Pevensies return to Narnia and start to push back against what they find there. This Narnia is wild and dangerous, but she cares for her people and will do anything to protect them. I am obsessed with sentient Narnia and I adore the Pevensies with subtle Great Cat traits. A Narnia that is sentient and takes care of her people brings so much more depth and heartbreak to the Telmarines’ invasion and the Pevensies’ return to Narnia. I loved how Summer explores the Pevenies’ connection to Narnia, especially Peter’s, and delves into the magical aspects of Narnia.  Warnings: descriptions of violence  Ships: Past Peter/OFC

The Lion and the Fox by Rayven49 (T, 125,579 words, complete) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as told by Peter and Edmund. Here is the story of how Edmund changes from a bratty little boy to Just King and repairs his relationship with his brother. I love how Rayven49 explores Peter and Edmund’s relationship and how it grows and changes throughout LWW. There’s angst and heartbreak but there’s also joy and heartwarming moments. I really loved reading Edmund’s transformation—he becomes a full, three-dimensional character and gets to fully grow and change. The lion and fox metaphor is frequently used in the fandom, but I think Rayven49 uses it in a way that's not forced or cliché.  Warnings: descriptions of violence  Ships: None

To the Radiant Southern Sun by Wordsintothevoid (T, 6,000+ words, incomplete)  “An exploration of love, grief, and finding faith again.” After the train accident, Susan is left alone to mourn her family. Eventually, she resolves to forget about Narnia, not let her grief consume her, and live her life the way she wants to. I loved Wordsintothevoid’s characterization of Susan, she really did Susan justice here. This whole story broke my heart, especially the scenes of Susan packing away her siblings’ belongings and writing down her stories of Narnia. Susan gets to be angry at the injustice of being left alone, and she’s given space and time to feel everything and process all her emotions. I loved how Wordsintothevoid played into Susan's supposed love for nylons and lipstick as a sort of coping mechanism, both for being essentially banished from Narnia and for her family's deaths. Warnings: major character death, graphic descriptions of violence, suicidal thoughts, grief Ships: None

Descendants 

Beautiful Scars on Critical Veins by aletterinthenameofsanity (M, 3,398 words, complete)  Auradon trapped the VKs on the Isle for twenty years, leaving them to rot and starve and die. Mal knows the pain of starvation, the pain of death and abuse and doing anything and everything to protect your gang, your family. Nothing changes once she gets to Auradon, except now her magic is free. Mal is Fae and she is a Dragon, and Auradon will learn that Mal and the others are not the villains of this story—they are the heroes. My favorite kind of Descendants story is one that isn’t Disney-fied and truly shows the horrors of the Isle. I love the concept of using Mal’s full potential for fae magic, and aletterinthenameofsanity delivers. Mal is protective and ruthless and badass, and this story showcases that perfectly. Warnings: graphic descriptions of violence, character death, mentions of abuse and violence, swearing  Ships: Mal/Evie

I Don’t Know if You’re Looking for Romance by hara_leah (@thesunoneyelashes) (T, 2,372 words, complete) Everyone has a mark: the place where they first touch their soulmate, black until they make contact with their soulmate. Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos aren’t all soulmates, but you can choose your soulmate, right? I love a soulmate AU, and I especially love Harley’s take on it. It’s not dark like many other soulmate AUs, and I think it’s a very interesting take on the differences between Auradon and the Isle.  Warnings: descriptions of violence, descriptions of abuse, swearing Ships: Evie/Jay/Mal/Carlos, Jay/Carlos, Jay/Mal 

In Loco Parentis by RottenKidNextDoor (Portal of Worlds) (@unapologeticallyjaylos) (M, 81,699 words, complete) Jay and Mal are two runaways with a knack for illegal activities and adventures. They are perfectly happy with just the two of them—they might be broke and struggling, but at least they have each other and the grand adventure of being runaways. But when a car crash unexpectedly brings Carlos and Evie into their lives, Mal and Jay’s little family gets a little bigger—and a little more complicated. I really liked the Core Four’s dynamic in this one: a reluctant family, but a family nonetheless. They have a lot of demons to face, but they face them together. I really liked how Mal especially is given the space to face and then move on from her all-encompassing need for revenge and do what’s best for her and her friends. This is a very heavy story, please be careful and heed the warnings and tags.  Warnings: graphic descriptions of abuse (including sexual abuse), discussions of rape, references to child pornography, abusive relationship, brief nudity, graphic descriptions of panic attacks, crime, violence, alcohol use, homophobia, swearing  Ships: Jay/Carlos, Mal/Evie 

Mistaken for a Miracle by RottenKidNextDoor (Portal of Worlds) (T, 112,000+ words, incomplete) What does love mean to two boys from the Isle who have never experienced it before? Do they even deserve love after everything they’ve been through? These are the questions Carlos must wrestle with as he finds himself falling for Jay. I really liked how RottenKidNextDoor (Portal of Worlds) showed Carlos and Jay’s growth and gave them room to process their traumas and didn’t rush them into a relationship. This is tagged underage, but that’s only because Carlos and Jay are 16-17.   Warnings: descriptions of violence, descriptions of abuse, implied/referenced sexual content, graphic descriptions of panic attacks, swearing  Ships: Jay/Carlos

This is Not for Us to Ponder (This Was Preordained) by ElixirBB (E, 15,427 words, complete) Ben decides to let Isle kids come to Auradon Prep, but his kind action has unexpected consequences. Aurardon learns the hard way to never underestimate kids who have revenge on their minds and nothing to lose but each other. I don’t normally go for Jay/Mal fics, and I generally don’t recommend E-rated fics, but this one is so good: the romance (for lack of a better word, this is certainly not a romance story) doesn’t overshadow the other relationships, and the more explicit scenes are tasteful and add a lot to the story. I really enjoyed ElixirBB’s exploration of the relationships between the VKs and the people of Auradon. This is not the Disney version of Descendants and has some very dark themes—please heed the warnings and tags.  Warnings: graphic descriptions of violence and torture, graphic descriptions of abuse, explicit sexual content, character death, underage drinking, imprisonment, swearing Ships: Jay/Mal, background Mal/Evie, background Jay/Carlos, background Mal/Evie/Jay/Carlos 

WAR by hara_leah (@thesunoneyelashes) (T, 1,951 words, complete) Soulmates feel each other’s pain, carry each other's cuts and bruises and scars. In Auradon, soulmates are celebrated, and discovering yours is akin to marriage. On the Isle, soulmates are a sign of weakness, a burden to never speak about. When Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos learn that they are soulmates, they are determined to love freely. So the Isle kids band together to take Auradon and stand up to the adults that banished them. I love Harley’s soulmate AUs because she uses soulmates to showcase the differences between Auradon and the Isle while not being too dark.  Warnings: graphic descriptions of violence, graphic descriptions of abuse, major character death, mentions of past prostitution, swearing    Ships: Evie/Jay/Mal/Carlos, Audrey/Ben, Gil/Harry/Uma  

We Gotta Be Free by siriuslyrose (@siriuslyrose) (G, 14,139 words, complete) Opening the barrier was supposed to make the VKs safe from their parents and from the Isle. It was supposed to give every Isle kid a chance at a better life. It was supposed to make everything better. So why didn’t it? Delving into the logistics and emotions of the barrier coming down, this fic explores the friendships between the Isle kids and the Auradon kids. I really liked how Mel made the Descendants 3 ending make sense and really showed how opening the barrier would impact the Isle kids. Warnings: references to abuse, references to violence, swearing Ships: Ben/Mal

We Talk Just Like Lions (But We Sacrifice Like Lambs) by Chill_with_Penguins (T, 9,951 words, complete) After the events of Descendants 2, Mal tries to put the Isle out of her mind but realizes she can’t. After all, you can’t bleach and princess away sixteen years of pain. A queen has to look out for her people, no matter what the cost. So Mal and the Isle kids come together to finally take back what’s theirs. I have read a lot of Descendants fix-its because canon stinks sometimes, and this is one of my favorites. What I liked most about this story was how, instead of bringing the Isle kids to Auradon, the VKs return to the Isle and make it better. This is the Descendants 3 movie I wanted to see. Chill_with_Penguins’s version of Mal is everything: badass, powerful, ruthless, and magical, but still wanting to do right by her people. This fic hurt, but in the best way. Warnings: descriptions of violence, references to abuse, PTSD, swearing Ships: Ben/Mal, Mal/Evie  

Glee

Promises Broken by GleekMom (M, 93,061 words, complete)  Blaine is removed from his home after CPS finds out that his parents have been abusing him. Blaine goes into foster care and then to Sydney House, a group home for LGBTQ+ youth. While he’s there, he learns that sometimes family can be found in unexpected places. I really liked how Kurt and Blaine’s relationship and Blaine’s relationship with New Directions is portrayed in this: they struggle and make mistakes because they’re teenagers dealing with very serious matters, but they right their wrongs and make it through in the end. I also really liked how Chess the musical was integrated into the story. This story deals with some very heavy topics; please heed the warnings and please be careful.  Warnings: graphic descriptions of abuse and domestic violence, discussions of past underage prostitution, implied sexual content, graphic descriptions of panic attacks, drug and alcohol use, homophobia, divorce Ships: Kurt/Blaine, Burt/Carole, background Finchel 

Straight Campby foraworldundeserving (T, 138,520 words, complete) Nick and Jeff (the Warblers) and Blaine are sent to Wildwood Springs Health Camp for the summer. Will they make it out, or will this experience destroy them forever? Sarah does an amazing job of fleshing out Nick and Jeff, developing their relationship, and balancing very heavy angst with friendship and even some romance. I also really love the OCs Scott and James, they are some of the best-developed OCs I’ve read. This is an incredibly sad story, though it does have a happy ending. This story is set at a conversion therapy camp and deals with very heavy themes, so please be careful. Warnings: graphic descriptions of abuse and domestic violence, graphic descriptions of self-harm, graphic descriptions of attempted suicide, graphic descriptions of panic attacks, descriptions of drug addiction and past underage drug use, homophobia, bullying, conversion therapy Ships: Nick/Jeff, OMC / OMC

We’ve Got Tonight by katjandante (T, 23,895 words, complete) “Kurt tries to measure Finn’s life in love, but it’s so much harder than he remembers it being.” Kurt, Blaine, New Directions, and the Hudmels come together to remember Finn and mourn his death. I know there are a lot of fics about Finn’s death out there, but for me this one was different. It gave me closure in a way that many other fics didn’t, and it was so easy to connect with the characters’ struggles. This fic is emotional and raw and it feels very real. I shed many tears while reading this.  Warnings: major character death, sexual content, underage drinking, homophobia Ships: Kurt/Blaine, Burt/Carole 

Harry Potter 

He Will Have Powers the Dark Lord Knows Not by dirgewithoutmusic (@ink-splotch) (NR, 11,809 words, complete) What if Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, had been born a Squib? Harry Potter cannot do magic, but you don’t need magic or powers to teach or play Quidditch or make friends. In this world, Harry is still friends with Ron and Hermione, and he still plays Quidditch and sneaks around school under an Invisibility Cloak and saves the day year after year. There are many things in this magical world that don’t require magic at all. But Harry also befriends Anthony Goldstein, whose big sister is a Squib, and instead of using magic he uses theory and books. Harry learns you don’t have to have magic or powers to be a hero, even if you are the Chosen One. I love Inky’s exploration of the nature of magic and how it can be both inherent and earned through hard work and studying. I especially love how Harry’s relationships with Filch and Mrs. Figg change when they and Harry have more in common.  Warnings: canon-typical violence, mentions of abuse, bullying   Ships: Ron/Hermione  

Look Beyond What You See by hachoo (K+, 59,561 words, complete) Deathly Hallows from the point of view of Fred and George. After the Battle of Little Whinging, it becomes clear that there is more to George’s ear injury than meets the eye. Fred and George have to learn how to cope with the side effects of George’s missing ear and the realities of war. I love how hachoo portrays Fred and George’s relationship and keeps their sense of humor without forgetting that they’re nineteen-year-olds who voluntarily join a war. Fred and George are given a lot of depth that I think they were missing in the books, and it was really nice to read them as well-rounded characters. I cry every time I read this, even though I know exactly what’s going to happen.  Warnings: major character death, canon-typical violence, descriptions of blood and injuries Ships: None  

Stay Ahead and Stay Alive by aletterinthenameofsanity (T, 16,737 words, complete)  Ron Weasley, a sixth son of a seventh son, grows up in his brothers’ shadows: Bill is a curse breaker; Charlie a Quidditch star and dragon tamer; Percy Prefect and Head Boy and Ministry official; Fred and George are businessmen and inventors. No matter how hard he tries, Ron always falls short of living up to his brothers. When he comes to Hogwarts, he finally has the chance to change his fate and do something for himself: Ron Weasley becomes the first Weasley in three generations to be Sorted into anything but Gryffindor. This is a fantastic take on Slytherin Ron: he gets to exist and find himself outside of his family and Harry and the war, and I feel like he truly lives up to his potential instead of being side-lined. Aletterinthenameofsanity writes Slytherins so well, giving them personalities and traditions and development beyond being evil blood-supremacists.  Warnings: None  Ships: Ron/Viktor Krum, Ron/Blaise Zabini, background Draco/Harry, background Percy/Marcus Flint, background Tracey Davis/OFC

The Heir of Something or Other by dirgewithoutmusic (NR,  14,305words, complete) When Harry Potter is under the Sorting Hat, he doesn’t whisper “Not, Slytherin, not Slytherin.” Instead of Gryffindor, the Boy Who Lived is Sorted into Slytherin. Harry’s path is not easy, and at times he considers running back to Privet Drive. This world is much like the one where Harry Potter wears red and gold on his robes: Snape still hates him, and Draco Malfoy is still a bully, and Harry still saves the day year after year. However, when Harry overhears that there’s a girl crying in the bathroom when there’s a troll on the loose, he isn’t the only one who hesitates: Millicent Bullstrode hesitates, too. In this world, Slytherins fight side-by-side with Ravenclaws, Gryffindors, and Hufflepuffs, and old grudges are finally put aside. I really love this take on Slytherin Harry, and I really like the parallels between Dumbledore’s relationship with Tom Riddle and Dumbledore’s relationship with Harry. Harry as a Slytherin gives more depth to his relationship with Tom Riddle and Dumbledore, and it feels like Dumbledore is seeing Harry as Tom Riddle and thus makes the same mistakes.  Warnings: major character death, mentions of abuse, bullying   Ships: None

The Life and Times by Jewels5 (M, 613,762 words, complete) The tale of James and Lily’s sixth and seventh years at Hogwarts, how they joined the Order of the Phoenix, and how they went from enemies to friends to lovers. I really liked how Jewels wrote James and Lily and the Marauders’ dynamic: true to the little we know about them from the books, but fleshed out into full characters. Jewels gives all the characters personalities and backstories, even more minor characters like Lily’s parents. Jewels’s OCs are also extremely well-written and developed into full characters with their own plots and personalities (I especially loved Donna Shacklebolt).  Warnings: canon-typical violence, graphic descriptions of attempted suicide, implied sexual content, minor character death Ships: James/Lily, Frank/Alice, James/OFC, Lily/OMC 

The Marauders Get Sorted by byebyebluejay (G, 4,356 words, complete) Remus Lupin has never had a friend before, and he’s the first werewolf to ever attend Hogwarts. Needless to say, he’s pretty anxious. After a terrible train ride, Remus is Sorted into Gryffindor, the House for the brave at heart, and meets Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter. I loved this glimpse into the origin of the Marauders.  Warnings: descriptions of panic attacks  Ships: pre-Remus/Sirius

How to Get Away With Murder 

The Art of Holding On by IronicAppreciation (NR, 5,143 words, complete)  Somehow, between the murders and the law school competition and her father’s drama, Laurel found something she didn’t expect: a family. She’s not sure when Micaela, Oliver, Connor, and Asher became more than classmates and coworkers, but here they are, sitting in their decrepit house at four in the morning, falling asleep on the couch because they can’t be bothered to go upstairs. The found-family dynamic we all deserved from season 5.  Warnings: mentions of past violence, swearing  Ships: Connor/Oliver, Laurel/Frank, past Laurel/Wes 

Safety Net by a_good_soldier (T, 1,281 words, complete) After Murder Night 2.0 at the Hapstall mansion, Connor and Michaela show up at Connor and Oliver’s apartment, scared out of their minds and barely holding it together. Even though he has no idea what’s going on, Oliver tries his best to take care of Connor and Michaela. I liked how Frank filled in some of the missing scenes from 02x09 and dove into the effects Annalise and Sinclair’s murder had on Connor and Michaela.  Warnings: canon-typical violence, panic attacks, ableist language (crazy, insane, etc)  Ships: Connor/Oliver  

Julie and the Phantoms 

Are You for Me or Against Me (Hold Yourself Against Me) by siriuslyrose (@siriuslyrose) (G, 14,094 words, complete) Modern everybody lives/nobody dies AU in which Caleb adopted Willie. Five times Alex thought Caleb hated him, and one time he was proven wrong. I love Mel’s writing, and this does not disappoint. Mel does a great job of integrating Carrie and Bobby into the group and creating the character of good dad Caleb. Also I love Willie’s dog. Warnings: descriptions of panic attacks, homophobia, swearing  Ships: Alex/Willie, Flynn/Carrie, Bobby/Reggie, Julie/Luke

Far Away From Hurt Is Where Healing Occurs by chickwiththepurpleguitar (@chickwiththepurpleguitar) (G, 12,299 words, complete) After the Orpheum, Julie has to explain to Ray that there are three sort-of-ghosts living in their studio. Luckily, Ray is the best dad ever, but when caring for the boys means forgiving Bobby/Trevor Wilson, Ray finds it a little harder than he expected. Sometimes time really does heal all wounds. I love how Lilly explores the relationship between Bobby/Trevor, Ray, and Rose, as well as the relationships between Luke, Alex, and Reggie and their parents. Warnings: homophobia  Ships: Julie/Luke, Alex/Willie 

First Things First by Irratia (@on-irratia) (NR, 8,670 words, complete) Modern everybody lives/nobody dies AU. Three firsts in Alex and Willie’s relationship: meeting the parents, sharing clothes, and sharing a bed. This is a lot of fluff and it’s so sweet. I love supportive Molinas/found family, and this fic delivers. Warnings: panic attacks, homophobia  Ships: Alex/Willie

Gave Me No Compasses, Gave Me No Signs by weneedglitter (@weneedglitter) (G, 5,611 words, complete) After the Orpheum, Julie discovers her powers go beyond magic hugs, and the bond she has with Alex, Reggie, and Luke is stronger than she thought. This is pretty similar to Know That It’s Probably Magic by thessalonike (starblessed) (it was inspired by that fic), but the premise is just different enough to make it special. I really loved Morgan’s take on the Orpheum and how Julie was able to pull the boys to her. Warnings: None Ships: pre-Julie/Luke, pre-Alex/Willie 

Give Me Something to Hold On To by sunsetcurbed (@sunsetcurbed) (T, 47,148 words, complete) Modern everybody lives/nobody dies AU. As Kay puts it, “Alex and Willie meet young, fall in love young, and fall apart young. But some things have a way of making sure they’re meant to be in the end.” I was hesitant on this one at first, because I don’t usually go for breakup stories, but Kay’s writing won me over. This story is so well thought-out and beautifully written, and Kay captures the emotions of a breakup perfectly. As you might expect, this is a sad story, but I promise the end is happy. Warnings: alcohol use  Ships: Alex/Willie, Julie/Luke, Wille/OMC

Heaven Has Got Nothing On Us by spiral_the_pretzel (T, 5,072 words, complete) After he dies, Willie realizes he can’t see color. For five years his world is black and white: until he meets Caleb Covington. Willie joins the Hollywood Ghost Club with the promise of getting color back, but soon realizes it’s not at all what he thought it would be. Rainy gives a very interesting take on how and why Willie joined the Hollywood Ghost Club. This is a fascinating take on the relationship between Willie and Caleb Covington. Warnings: character death, discussions of death Ships: Alex/Willie

How Long Till My Soul Gets It Right by partyghost (Arokel) (G, 1,351 words, complete) Willie spends his life looking at the stars, knowing he’s destined to uncover the secrets of the universe and maybe even get a constellation named after him. But he dies before he ever gets the chance. This is probably my very favorite Willie fic ever. This story gave me Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe vibes (that’s a compliment, I love that book). Warnings: character death, car accident  Ships: Alex/Willie

I’d Fall Anywhere With You by novaquill (NR, 59,297 words, complete) Everyone has a soulmate, except for Alex…or at least that’s what he thinks. The boys of Sunset Curve learn that soulmates can be found in unexpected places, and sometimes the soulmates that really matter are the ones you choose yourself. It’s not until after he dies that Alex realizes a mark has finally appeared on his skin. I love a good soulmate AU, and this did not disappoint. I loved this fic because it explores the boys of Sunset Curve’s friendship and how best friends can be your soulmates. Warnings: major character death, discussions of death, implied/referenced abuse, homophobia  Ships: Julie/Luke, Alex/Willie 

Know That It’s Probably Magic by thessalonike (starblessed) (@julies-butterflies) (T, 4,652 words, complete) “A study in grief, loneliness, and the nature of haunting.” Julie thought Alex, Luke, and Reggie were haunting her house, but Flynn might be onto something when she says the boys are haunting Julie. This realization brings Julie’s world crashing down. They can’t be haunting her, right? This fic is beautiful and deep and perfectly written to be emotional without being over the top. There are amazing Double Trouble moments, and Flynn especially is very well-written. Warnings: discussions of death  Ships: None

Lie a Little Better by @willexxmercer (NR, SMAU on Tumblr, complete) Modern everybody lives/nobody dies AU. Alex needs a getaway from the hectic Hollywood life, so he goes to a resort in Canada. While there, he falls for Willie Covington, nephew of Caleb Covington and the one person Julie and the Phantoms swore to stay away from. When Caleb finds out about Alex and Willie, well, you can imagine what happens. I love this SMAU because it’s sweet but also suspenseful and keeps you wanting more. Kit is masterful at the cliffhanger and makes you really, really hate Caleb Covington. Warnings: manipulation  Ships: Alex/Willie

My Safest Place to Hide by @willexxmercer (NR, SMAU on Tumblr, complete) A Willex modern everybody lives/nobody dies AU. When Alex gets sick on their honeymoon, Willie must put his worries about Caleb and the gossip columns aside to take care of him. With Caleb threatening to make Willie’s life worse, Willie learns to lean on his husband and friends and accept their help for once. Kit does a great job of world-building using only texts and social media, and each chapter leaves you wanting more. Lots of sweet Willex moments and hating Caleb Covington moments. I also love Kit’s OCs. Warnings: implied/referenced abuse   Ships: Alex/Willie, Julie/Luke, Bobby/Reggie, Flynn/Carrie/OFC

Raw Nerves Can’t Kill Me (But God Do They Want To) by HearJessRoar (@hearjessroar) (G, 1,083 words, complete) Julie has a bad day, and it’s up to Flynn and the boys to cheer her up. I love Jess’s portrayal of the friendship between Julie and Flynn and the boys, it’s so sweet and the boys just want to help. Warnings: None Ships: pre-Julie/Luke

Spider, Beetle, Bee by by WhatsYourNameMan (@wr0temyway0ut) (T, 8,970 words, complete) Alex and Bobby—though they aren’t Alex and Bobby yet—meet for the first time on the playground in kindergarten. From there, they become each other’s best friend and favorite person. They’re inseparable, and not even death can tear them apart. I saw Jamie (@bright-patterson)’s art on Tumblr and knew this would hurt going in, and yet I still cried the entire time I read it. I really love Rio’s handling of Bobby/Trevor: acknowledging what he did (and giving a reason that’s not “he’s a terrible person”), allowing the boys to forgive him, and making him a part of the family again. Bobby is depicted as just as valued and important to Sunset Curve as Alex, Luke, and Reggie. I promise it’s not all sad: there are so many moments of joy and friendship to balance the heartbreak. It’s Not Sunset Cis Either is essentially canon in my mind and Netflix can’t tell me otherwise. (You will need an A03 account to read this) Warnings: major character death, implied/referenced abuse, transphobia, homophobia, dysphoria, some misgendering and dead naming, drug and alcohol use, grief, swearing  Ships: Alex/Luke, Alex/Willie 

The Spotlight’s Your Hiding Place by WhatsYourNameMan (NR, SMAU on Tumblr, complete) Enemies-to-lovers modern AU. Nick, Willie, and Bobby are in Julie and the Phantoms’ rival band. After discovering that Caleb Covington has been abusing Nick, Willie, and Bobby, JATP comes together to help their rivals escape Caleb’s control. Full of drama and angst, but also the fluffy moments Rio does so well. Each chapter left me on the edge of my seat and wanting more.  Warnings: descriptions of abuse  Ships: Alex/Willie, Bobby/Reggie, Flynn/Carrie, Julie/Luke

Lab Rats/Lab Rats: Elite Force (Disney XD)

Because Family Matters by scribbler123 (T, 150,514 words, complete) A series of one-shots exploring Chase’s relationship with his wacky, wonderful, loud, bionic family. I really liked how scribbler123 looks at the relationship between Chase and Spike and makes Spike his own character rather than just a glitch in Chase’s bionics.  Warnings: canon-typical violence, bullying  Ships: None 

Cacophony by Duck_Life (T, 26,209 words, complete)  During “Taken,” Bree is captured by Krane and turned into one of his bionic  soldiers. Nine months later, Krane is defeated and the Triton App is disabled. Bree must reconnect with her family while reconstructing the past nine months and making peace with what she did. I really like how Bree’s character is written and how Duck_Life explores the relationships between Bree and the rest of the Davenport-Dooley family. Bree’s struggles aren’t watered-down, she faces real problems and has to confront and process the trauma of the nine months she was under Krane’s control. Warnings: canon-typical violence, character death, PTSD  Ships: pre-Leo/Taylor

‘Cause It Feels so Frightening (Hits Me Like a Bolt of Lightning) by aletterinthenameofsanity (M, 5,407 words, complete) They’re heroes, they’re saviors of the President and princes and the world itself. They’re the best humanity—and Caldera—has to offer. But they’re also survivors, lovers, children, and they’ll do what it takes to protect those they love. When Chase and Kaz are captured by shapeshifters and a death rattles the Elite Force, the world learns what its heroes are truly capable of. I love Tasha's protectiveness and how this fic touches on the Lab Rats' relationship with Donald. Honestly he's not the best father, and I liked how this fic acknowledges that and the darker side of the show. Sometimes the show and the fandom forget that a lot of the characters are essentially child soldiers, especially the Academy students who were never given a choice but to be Krane's soldiers or Donald's heroes. Arguably, Adam, Bree, and Chase were never given a choice either—they could have (and did) walk away, but they're guilted into coming back. I love Chase and Kaz's relationship and Bree and S-1’s relationship—neither are ships I was ever really into, but I am now sold on them. I suggest reading part two of the Dares to Claim the Sky series first. (You will need an AO3 account to read this)  Warnings: major character death, graphic descriptions of violence, graphic descriptions of abuse, descriptions of torture, implied sexual content Ships: Bree/S-1, Chase/Kaz, past Chase/Sebastian, past Kaz/OMC,

Rat in a Cage by Duck_Life (T, 5,016 words, complete) Adam, Bree, and Chase are taken by the government in “You Posted What.” Bree tries to stay hopeful that the government agents will see that they’re on the same team, but it’s hard to believe when every day brings new struggles and horrors. Meanwhile, with the Lab Rats in a detention facility and Donald in jail, it’s up to Leo to convince the public that his family should be let go. I really like this take on the Lab Rats being taken by the government. Discovery was the biggest threat on the show before Krane, but if the Lab Rats had been taken it would have been “Disney-fied.” I like how Duck_Life’s take is realistic without going over the top or being gory.  Warnings: descriptions of torture, imprisonment Ships: None

Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus/Trials of Apollo

A Flashback and a Film Reel by ybeecharmer (@yrbeecharmer) (M, 62,000+ words, incomplete)  Ten years after the Second Giant War and seven years after Nico broke Will’s heart, Nico goes on a mission to the Ancient Lands with Percy. Only to turn up, injured and fading, on Will’s doorstep. Will and Nico learned long ago to expect the unexpected, but this was not part of either of their plans. Apparently the Fates or the gods or someone had other ideas. I liked how Will and Nico get to process both their relationship and break-up as well as all their trauma from life as demigods. Katherine gave a really good, in-character reason for Nico breaking up with Will, and I also liked their reasons for having Will be where he is in his life as well (no spoilers!).  Warnings: graphic descriptions of self-harm, alcohol and drug use, implied/referenced sexual content, PTSD, depression, swearing  Ships: Nico/Will, past Will/OFC, past Will/OMC, past Will/Connor Stoll, past Nico/OMC

Altri Cinque Minuti (Five More Minutes) by AthenaFire (T, 17,646 words, complete)  Mortal/real world AU. Will, Nico, and the others attend Chase-Dare University together. Each winter, they make a trip to Rachel’s house in New York. They call the trip Saturnalia, after their old camp director Mr. Brunner’s obsession with Greek mythology. This is mostly fluff and friendship, but there is some angst too. I really liked the friendship and Solangelo moments in this (also Nico with Estelle is the cutest thing). Warnings: discussions of death, swearing Ships: Percy/Annabeth, Nico/Will, Frank/Hazel, Leo/Calypso, Sally/Paul    

As the Ichor Flows by Phrophetsam (@phrophetsam) (T, 32,000+ words, incomplete)  After they return from Tartarus and win the Second Giant War, Percy and Annabeth are not the same. They are angrier, darker, and more powerful than ever. Told by friends and enemies and family, this is how two of Olympus’s greatest heroes destroy the very beings they were meant to protect. I love dark Percabeth, and boy does Phrophetsam deliver. I am 100% of the opinion that if Percy really wanted to, he could bring the gods down by himself (and if Luke had managed to sway him the Titans would have won the war, but I digress). Percy only becomes more deadly when he’s fighting with or for Annabeth. I especially liked Phrophetsam’s interpretation of the Olympians and their views on Percabeth turning against them. Warnings: major character death, graphic descriptions of violence,  implied sexual content Ships: Percy/Annabeth, Nico/Will, Frank/Hazel  

Bloodlines by peachsocks (@peachhsocks) (T, 61,512 words, complete)  After the Second Giant War, Percy returns to Camp Half-Blood after avoiding his friends (and everything demigod) for a year. Exhausted and traumatized from the past six years, Percy thought this month at Camp would be a time to reconnect and take a break from quests. Joke’s on him for thinking the gods would ever change. When he, Nico, and Thalia have the same dream about a group of young demigods, Percy is forced to deal with everything he’s been through and stop pushing his family away. I love how peachsocks gives Percy (and the others, especially Annabeth and Nico) a more realistic reaction to everything that happened during Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus. Warnings: canon-typical violence, graphic descriptions of panic attacks, minor character death Ships: Percy/Annabeth, Nico/Will, pre-Piper/Thalia

Gods at the Dawning of the World by FractalBeliefs (M, 34,587 words, complete)  A Solangelo AU based on The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. After the Second Giant War, the demigods of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter find themselves at war with each other. Nico tries to stop the war, but can he keep history from repeating himself? After all, war is what demigods seem to do best. I’d read The Iliad and The Song of Achilles before I read this. I knew exactly what was going to happen. I still cried for half of this story. The parallels between the stories of Achilles and Patroclus and Nico and Will are very well done: subtle but not so subtle that they go right over the reader's head, but also not forced or obvious.  Warnings: major character death, graphic descriptions of violence, implied sexual content, discussions of anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, and Nazis Ships: Percy/Annabeth, Nico/Will

How Icarus Fell From the Sun by fictionbyanyothernamewouldsmellassweet (T, 57,942 words, complete)  “Nico felt like Icarus. Fly too close to the sun, and your wings will melt. Fly too close to the sea, your wings will grow heavy.” Nico swore he wouldn’t let anyone in—the last time he had done that was with Bianca, and she had joined the Hunters and died and left him alone with a broken heart. He tried to let Percy in, only to fly too close to the sea and drown. Then he met Will, and, against his better judgment, Nico decided to fly too close to the sun. I loved how fictionbyanyothernamewouldsmellassweet gave Nico and Will's relationship a realistic (and very in-character) progression and depth that the books kind of skipped over. I also really enjoyed how they incorporated Icarus and Plato's soulmates into Nico's story. I feel like Nico's trauma and everything he went through went unaddressed and under-appreciated in the books for the most part, and it was nice to see it acknowledged and how it has impacted every facet of Nico's life and character. Warnings: canon-typical violence, homophobia, outing of a gay character, character death Ships: Nico/Will 

Of Gods and Men by plottingalong (@plottingalong) (T, 39,687 words, complete)  The old order is changing: the rules are different, old gods are awakening. Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, must come to terms with his own mortality…or lack of it. Plottingalong does an amazing job of showing how Percy’s relationships with his family, his friends, the Olympians, and even Camp Half-Blood itself change as he does. This is the best take on Percy becoming a god I have ever read. Plottingalong explores the nature of immortality within the PJO universe and really brings a different view of Percy’s godhood. Percy the god is different from—but still, in so many ways, the same as—Percy the hero, and I love how Plottingalong explores that. The story is grounded in the mythology of the PJO universe, but also ties up some loose ends in the universe really well. Warnings: major character death, canon-typical violence, discussions of death Ships: Percy/Annabeth, background Nico/Will, background Frank/Hazel, background Sally/Paul 

Percy Jackson, Son of Aphrodite by wysteriaxx (NR, 34,000+ words, incomplete) “A half-blood of the eldest gods/Shall reach 16 against all odds/And see the world in endless sleep/The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap/A single choice shall end his days/Olympus to preserve or raze.” Everyone knows this prophecy. Everyone assumes it means a child of the Big Three—but there is one Olympian who is just as old: Aphrodite. I really liked this different take both on the Great Prophecy and on children of Aphrodite. Aside from Piper (and maybe Selina and Drew), Aphrodite’s children are generally pretty shallow in the Percy Jackson universe. This fic goes beyond cabin stereotypes and allows the children of Aphrodite to be more than just gossipers.  Warnings: canon-typical violence Ships: Percy/Annabeth, Nico/Will, Jason/Piper, Selina/Beckendorf, Sally Jackson/Poseidon  

Slowly Dying by Valkyrie_Kain (NR, 66,000+ words, incomplete)  Pain and suffering have always been Nico’s best teachers. After the Giant War and his stay in the infirmary, Nico takes what little parts of him still remain and waits for his inevitable death. Unfortunately for him, Will Solace, Clarisse La Rue, and Salem, daughter of Dionysus, are more stubborn than he thought. Though not even all of Will and Salem’s magic can fix everything. My favorite thing about this fic is that Nico is given the chance to process his trauma on his own and with support—a lot of fics I’ve read kind of rush his healing process or make Will the cure-all for Nico’s trauma. Nico comes to want to work though his trauma rather than have it forced upon him. I also loved how Clarisse gets to shine: the books paint her as a bully and little else, and I liked seeing a different side of her. The two main OFCs, a daughter of Dionysus and a daughter of Aphrodite, are amazing. Aphrodite’s children are often one-dimensional and shallow, and Dionysus’s kids get barely a footnote. I especially liked Valkyrie_Kain's exploration of the “madness” aspect of Dionysus.  Warnings: graphic descriptions of violence, graphic descriptions of self-harm, graphic descriptions of panic attacks, PTSD, eating disorders, discussions of death, underage drinking, discussions of sex  Ships: Nico/Will, OFC / OFC

The Great Techno-Pop Debate of 2011 by cali-chant (girls_are_weird) (@girls-are-weird) (T, 5,500 words, complete)  When Will, Kayla, and Austin learn that Nico’s favorite genre of music is techno-pop, to say they’re shocked is an understatement. Who would have guessed that Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades who dresses exclusively in black, doesn’t have eau du MCR running through his veins? So they take it upon themselves to introduce Nico to emo music. There’s a little bit of angst, but this is pure fluff for the most part. I liked Cali’s use of Austin’s POV and the way they had Nico explain how he relates to “Welcome to the Black Parade” but doesn’t really like emo music.  Warnings: discussions of death, mentions of fascism  Ships: Nico/Will 

The Logistics of Falling in Love by Fl_utterby (T, 72,000 words, complete)  College/mortal AU. If asked, Nico would say he isn’t a romantic. Will would say the same about himself (except they both totally are). If asked again, Nico would say Will is definitely not in love with him, no way. Will would say the same about Nico (except they’re both very wrong). This is the story of how they fell in love, told through books, music, and steady employment. I really liked Nico’s progression from someone who is kind of a jerk and won’t let people in to someone who is proud of himself and working to let people in again. The character and relationship development Nico and Will go through is so well-done. Warnings: None  Ships: Nico/Will, Percy/Annabeth, Frank/Hazel, Jason/Piper, Piper/OFC 

Too Much Too Soon (And Now You’re Coming Unglued) by buoyanysaturn (@buoyantsaturn) (T, 22,342 words, complete)  College/mortal AU. When Will meets Nico freshman year, he thinks Nico is the love of his life. Then things go bad and Will can’t be around Nico without crying or fighting with him, and Will has to change his entire life. Three years later, it’s Will and Nico’s final semester of college and Will is finally forced to take that dreaded math class—only Nico’s in the class too, and worse the two end up being project partners. Feelings get in the way, and before they know it Will and Nico are secretly dating again. I love CJ’s writing so much, and they do a really good job of showing Will’s more overbearing side and demonstrating how that impacts his relationship with Nico. Will and Nico’s relationship is far from perfect, and I like how CJ gives them time apart to come to terms with what happened and grow as people.  Warnings: implied/referenced sexual content, mentions of internalized homophobia, mentions of outing of a gay character Ships: Nico/Will 

What if Percy Did Become a God? by The Secret Life of a Fangirl (K+, 1,322 words, complete) More character study than plot, this explores what might have happened if Percy had taken Zeus up on his offer at the end of TheLast Olympian.  Warnings: None  Ships: Percy/Annabeth 

Would You Wait for Me as I Long for You by buoyanysaturn (T, 48,938 words, complete)  After the events of The Tower of Nero, Hades gives Nico a task—and an ultimatum—that takes him away from Camp Half-Blood for three years. Now that Nico has returned to camp, he needs to face what he’s done and the rest of Camp Half-Blood—not to mention a very angry and hurt Will Solace. I really like how CJ writes Nico: the same person we all know and love, but beaten down by everything he’s been through and just wanting to do right by the people he loves. I also really like Drew in this fic: she’s more than the bully Lost Hero makes her out to be, and she really helps Nico. CJ has officially started my obsession with the “Nico disappears for a long time and comes back miraculously out of the blue” trope. Warnings: graphic descriptions of self-harm, graphic descriptions of panic attacks, character death, canon-typical violence  Ships: Nico/Will 

Supernatural 

Ex Nunc by orphan_account (NR, 10,038 words, complete)  Death is the beginning and the end. Neutrality. He’s been around as long as God, though neither of them can remember who was created first. Death is lonely, doomed to carry the weight of all the souls he takes. The other Horsemen can take some of the burden, but sometimes even they aren’t enough. Or Team Free Will (and Crowley) as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I really like how this fic incorporates canon relationships into the AU (I especially like how Dean and Benny’s relationship is portrayed).  Warnings: canon-typical violence, character death, grief   Ships: Dean/Castiel, Sam/Jess, Dean/Benny

Free Falling by malagenabolakaful (T, 5,731 words, complete) Episodes 15x18-15x20 from Sam’s point of view. First Sam lost Cas, then Jack, and now Dean. His entire family gone, Sam spirals out of control—and never stops. He tries to live a normal life like Dean wanted, but it’s harder than it was when he left for Stanford or even that year with Amy. This is the best finale fic I’ve read and captures my feelings about episodes 15x18-15x20 perfectly. Malagenabolakaful gives Sam his voice back and explains why he chose a wife and kid and “normal” while still keeping in line with canon. This is a very, very sad story. Not a fix-it or AU.  Warnings: major character death, canon-typical violence, graphic descriptions of panic attacks Ships: Sam/Eileen, mentions of Dean/Castiel, Sam/Mystery Wife 

Frostbite by abcdefuk-off (@abcedfuk-off) (T, 111,000+ words, incomplete)  When Sam was fourteen, he got severe frostbite that resulted in permanent nerve damage in his hands. This makes hunting difficult and sends Dean’s protective instincts into overdrive. Set in season one with pre-series flashbacks, this story is full of brotherly bonding and action as Sam and Dean work a case. I love all of Sam’s works, especially their episode tags.  Warnings: canon-typical violence Ships: None

Hello My Old Heart by AndSoIWrite (T, 42,000+ words, incomplete)  The story of how Bobby met Sam and Dean, and how they wormed their way into the old hunter’s heart. I love how Bobby is pretty clueless when it comes to kids (Sam’s five and Dean’s nine in this story), but he really tries his best to do right by Sam and Dean. Warnings: references to abuse and neglect Ships: None

Measure My Life in Coffee Cups by KCS (T, 27,195 words, complete)  Ten significant cups of coffee in Sam’s life, from hunting with John and Dean to leaving for Stanford to reuniting with his brother and everything that comes after. KCS takes a creative approach to showing Sam and Dean over the years—the coffee theme ties everything together so well, and the snapshots are extremely well-written. The final deleted scene (post-series end) is so good and arguably better than the ending we got (this fic was written after S10 aired, for context).  Warnings: major character death, canon-typical violence Ships: Sam/Jessica

The Winchester Three by insearchofcheez (T, 166,934 words, complete) Six months after Sam leaves Stanford, Sam and Dean get a call: their sister Laney is in trouble. They race off to help her, only to find things aren’t exactly as they left them. Turns out Laney has abilities of her own—abilities which might get her killed. I love Laney as a character, and I love how she and the boys interact. Insearchofcheez does a great job of incorporating Laney’s story and abilities into canon. Warnings: major character death, implied/referenced rape, canon-typical violence, underage drug use, hospitals Ships: None

Trialculosis Sam by fogsrollingin (@fogsrollingin) (T, 115,000+ words, incomplete) The long, drawn-out, AU version of Sam taking on the Trials. Set after the second Trial, this story follows Sam and Dean (and later Kevin) as they struggle to come to terms with Sam’s impending death and try to alleviate the effects of the Trials. I enjoyed this different take on the Trials and how Alexandria upped the stakes. I also liked how Alexandria changed the third Trial to make it more exciting and dangerous.  Warnings: canon-typical violence, illness Ships: None

The Maze Runner

Tommy by Marcellebell (@marcellebell) (T, 39,000+ words, incomplete)  Twelve-year-old Thomas must face the realities of the Glade while dealing with the fact that someone—or many someones—wants him dead. I love how the relationship between Thomas and Newt and Minho is portrayed in this fic. I also really liked how Marcie changed the story so Thomas and Teresa are brother and sister instead of love interests.  Warnings: major character death, canon-typical violence, descriptions of abuse, descriptions of panic attacks, mentions of suicide Ships: None 

The Mortal Instruments/Shadowhunters (TV) 

A Shared Life (The Male Drabble Alphabet) by RadientWings (@radientwings) (T, 35,798 words, complete) Getting together hadn’t been easy, so why would it be any different once their relationship is out in the open? Well, turns out staying in a relationship is both harder—and more enjoyable—than getting in one. An A to Z series of snapshots about Magnus and Alec’s relationship and life together. I love Magnus and Alec’s relationship so much, and RadientWings does a great job of bringing them to life.  Warnings: canon-typical violence, implied/referenced sexual content Ships: Alec/Magnus, background Clary/Jace

Forever and Always by ninwrites (@ninwrites) (G, 10,048 words, complete) Alec loves Magnus and wants to spend the rest of his life with him. Of course, in true Alec fashion, he doubts whether Magnus wants that too. Luckily, Alec has Jace and Izzy to talk him out of thinking Magnus wants anything less than to spend the rest of Alec’s life with him. I love a good proposal story, and I love Malec and everything they stand for. I love supportive parabatai, and Nin writes Jace and Alec’s dynamic so well. This story is so sweet and I smiled the entire time I read it.  Warnings: None  Ships: Alec/Magnus, mentioned Isabell/Simon, mentioned Clary/Jace 

I Was Born to Tell You I Love You by Ayanfe (@lacascabel) (T, 2,611 words, complete)  “Isabelle has just turned sixteen when she asks Alec a question that breaks his heart. Isabelle is nineteen when Alec tells her something she didn't know she needed to hear.” Alec never thought of Izzy as insecure: she wore makeup like armor and she always had control and confidence. Turns out, she’s more insecure than he thought. Good thing Alec, Jace, and Clary are there to remind her she’s loved. I really liked how Ayanfe writes Alec and Izzy’s dynamic and gives Izzy some more depth as a character. She’s always portrayed as very confident and self- assured (and she is), and I liked seeing this different side of her.  Warnings: None  Ships: Isabell/Simon

The Umbrella Academy (TV)

I’ll Never Ask for More by lunalou (@lunal0u) (G, 7,142 words, complete) Klaus has been gone for three days, supposedly doing “extra training” with Dad. None of them have ever gone on extra training this long, and Diego and the others start to worry. Diego never does find out exactly what happened to Klaus, but maybe he and Ben can keep Klaus from falling apart when he returns. I really liked the exploration of the relationship between Diego, Klaus, and Ben—they’re kind of the odd ones out (Allison and Luther have each other, as a child Viktor supposedly has no powers, and Five thinks he doesn’t need anyone), and the three of them have a unique relationship because of that.  Warnings: underage drug use, character death, mentions of abuse, Ships: None 

No Rest for the Wicked by InvitingNonsenseWorld (T, 30,054 words, complete)  After stopping the apocalypse, Klaus is totally fine. Being sober doesn’t suck, he’ll get to talk to Dave again, and he can handle the nightmares. No need to get the others involved, not when they have Viktor to focus on. Klaus is getting by fine on his own…until he isn’t. I really like how InvitingNonsenseWorld showcases the relationships between Klaus and the rest of the Hargreeves and gives them the time and space to confront their problems.  Warnings: implied/referenced abuse, alcohol and drug use, smoking, blood and injuries, discussions of death, Ships: Klaus/Dave

Say It One More Time (That the Universe Was Made for My Eyes) by CursedWonders (@cursedwonders) (T, 3,038 words, complete)  Before Ben died, he taught Klaus the constellations from the Academy rooftop. They would listen to music and gaze at the stars and pretend the ghosts that always followed Klaus didn’t exist. Then Ben dies and Klaus doesn’t know how to cope. Good thing he’s really good at pretending. Klaus and Ben have such a unique relationship, and I liked how this fic explores that. I love the song “Saturn” by Sleeping at Last (which is where the title comes from), it’s such a beautiful song and it fits this fic so well. Warnings: major character death, underage drug use Ships: None

Tell My Father (This is My Life) by aletterinthenameofsanity (M, 38,682 words, complete)  Ben pushes Klaus to convince Luther to let Viktor out of the cage in the basement. This changes everything: the apocalypse doesn’t happen, Klaus stays sober, and the Hargreeves siblings can finally begin to heal. I really loved how aletterinthenameofsanity explores each of the Hargreeves’ pasts and their powers, especially Allison and Five, whose sections were my favorites. Allison’s in particular gave the character so much depth and made her more relatable—her powers allow her to alter reality, and it was interesting to see how that would impact her throughout her life. I loved reading these characters exist and live and thrive without an apocalypse. Note: this was written before S3 came out, so Viktor is still Vanya.  Warnings: major character death, graphic descriptions of violence, implied/referenced child abuse, self harm, body horror Ships: Klaus/Dave, Diego/Patch, Viktor/OFC, Five/Delores

The Dead Aren’t Good Company by PosyPages (@thesevenumbrellas) (G, 14,763 words, complete)  They’d stopped the apocalypse and Five successfully transported them back in time to the Academy. Less than a month later, Reginald locks Klaus in the mausoleum again. This time, however, Klaus’s siblings are determined to do the right thing. This is the season 2 I wanted (though I loved the one we got).  Warnings: implied/referenced abuse,PTSD, discussions of death, drug use, descriptions of blood and gore Ships: None

The 100 (TV)

I’m Not What I Have Done (I’m What I’ve Overcome) by OsleyKomWonKru (T, 4,293 words, complete) What if Octavia took the Test instead of Clarke? How would the Last War end? I love Octavia, and I wish she had gotten redemption sooner in the series. I’m glad she got it, but I wish Spacekru and Clarke had tried to better understand what she went through in the bunker. This fic felt like a redemption and closure for her as a character, especially with Bellamy’s death.  Warnings: discussions of grief and death Ships: Octavia/Lincoln 

Young Royals 

And That’s How You Make History, Baby by waybeforeyourtime (T, 60,000+ words, incomplete) The story of Wilhelm and Simon: how they met young, fell in love young, and fell apart young, only to learn that some things were always meant to be and love is the most important thing. This is a story in three parts: Wilhelm, Simon, and Wilhelm and Simon. This is not one of those stories where they are apart for 99% of the story and then get together at the very end—them being together is part of the story, but it takes a while to get there. I loved this fic because Wille and Simon are given the time and space to grow and figure themselves out after the video and everything that came after. I also really loved Wille’s friendship with Maddison and Felice.  Warnings: implied sexual content, mentions of suicide, panic attacks, drug and alcohol use, mentions of racism Ships: Wilhelm/Simon, Wilhelm/OMC, Simon/OMC

Screwed by fandom_commitment_issues (@zee-has-commitment-issues) (T, 173,813 words, complete)  Erik lives, but the video of Wille and Simon still goes viral, August is still August, and everything is still a mess. Zee developed Simon and Wille’s relationship so well, and I loved how Wille has a real support system beyond just Simon and Felice. Erik is also developed into a real character with an excellent side-plot rather than just a plot device. Zee balances angst, humor, fluff, and romance so well throughout this fic. I laughed and cried but also yelled “f*ck August/Kristina” at my phone several times. I think it can be easy to forget that Wille and Simon are teenage boys caught in an impossible situation, but Zee captures that perfectly. Warnings: implied sexual content, implied/referenced alcoholism, implied/referenced abuse, descriptions of panic attacks, outing of a queer character, alcohol and drug use, mentions of restrictive eating Ships: Wilhelm/Simon, Erik/OFC 

Crossover:

Chronicles of Narnia x Harry Potter 

Noble Heart Such as Yoursby aletterinthenameofsanity (NR, 21,398 words, incomplete)  Harry Potter and Dean Thomas meet as kids, well before Hogwarts, and become best friends. One of Dean’s moms, Susan Pevensie, tells the boys stories about Narnia. Susan warns the boys not to put their faith and trust in gods and old men who claim to be good and wise. In this world, Harry has green on his robes instead of red and a family that loves him (and one that doesn’t). The kids have adults they can rely on, and cunning and ambition are celebrated instead of scorned. I never read crossovers or Drarry, but I gave this a shot because I love aletterinthenameofsanity’s writing. It did not disappoint. They meshed the worlds of Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia perfectly (and the mention of Hufflepuff Peter Pevensie!). I especially loved how they handled Susan Pevensie. She has a very special place in my heart, and I love to read stories where she gets to live and love and thrive post-Narnia. Comparing Harry and Edmund was brilliant (Slytherin Harry is my favorite Harry, and don’t even get me started on Edmund). The Slytherins get to grow and change and prove they aren’t their parents, and I applaud that. The main story is complete, the additional chapters are companion pieces. Warnings: major character death, canon-typical violence, references to abuse, mentions of racism, use of racist slurs, discussions of death Ships: Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione, Seamus/Dean, Susan Pevensie/OMC/ OFC, Tonks/OFC

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

@thesquireinvictus I will admit that I don't know a lot about the NATO situation in the 1990's, so I cannot really answer those points. However, whatever the past, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has encouraged Finland and Sweden to apply. So the very thing that Putin claimed he was preventing has now happened; the length of Russia's border with NATO will double.

I have to object a little to your description of the West's "vulture capitalism". This is an area that I know a bit more about, and I must add here that Russian oligarchs are almost entirely responsible for the campaign of violent theft of Russia's national industries during the 90's. Given that numerous Western nations, including Britain, helped these thieves to launder their money within the Western financial system, I'll accept that the West is complicit. But that's not the full story.

Loans for Shares was Boris Yeltsin's work. The scandalous way in which public assets were divvied up without any semblance of a legal process, without a fair tender process, without proper vetting of the buyers, without honest valuations, was entirely the responsibility of Boris Yeltsin and the Russian government. And that criminality could not have happened without Russia's lengthy history of tyranny preceding the fall of the Soviet Union. Lying, cheating, falsifying official records-- all of these were hallmarks of the Soviet system and therefore enabled Russia's calamitous economic collapse.

Bear in mind that there were Western venture capitalists who sought to impose financial transparency on Russian businesses and their owners. Some of these were persecuted and hounded out of jobs (though a number of these foolishly continued pandering to the Russian thieves and the Mafia-style government).

I am far from an apologist for Western politicians, many of whom I believe are self-absorbed mediocrities whose Messianic interventions abroad have caused more harm than good.

At the same time, I believe the narrative of Russian victimhood is almost entirely false. I will again admit that I am not fully educated on the NATO situation, but I would encourage you to read EuroMaidan's piece on the 1995 Budapest Memorandum. This may not necessarily contradict what you're saying about NATO, but it does show that America was not as hostile to Russia during the 1990's as your post suggests. I also understand from Garry Kasparov that numerous Western nations provided Russia with generous grants in order to help its fledgling economy.

But my real issue is this: hostility towards the modern Russian state (not every single Russian, of course) is more than justified. This is not just a geopolitical issue: it's a moral issue.

Russia today is a failed kleptocracy and a terrorist state that is hellbent on attacking and reversing Western values of liberty, limited state power, accountability of elected officials, financial transparency, respect for the individual, and respect for human rights. Even if the West has been wrong in the past, Russia is fully responsible for its own outsized share of wrongdoing, and the self-inflicted consequences of said wrongdoing. Russia cannot expect goodwill without showing some reciprocity.

If and when Russia acquires a law-abiding president who genuinely wants good relations with the West, then I would consider further hostility as unwise. But Vladimir Putin does not meet these qualifications, nor does he have any intention of doing so. His rise to power was entirely predicated on criminality, in particular, exonerating the criminality of his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin.

A common objection at this point is that other nations have despotic leaders, or that Western leaders themselves are full of fault. The second objection is easily dealt with. Western nations, through wisdom and superior values, have largely accepted that there must be limits to state power. In doing so, it is extremely difficult for any Western leader to seize the amount of power that Putin has seized, and therefore, extremely difficult to act with impunity.

Since we're both British (are we? Correct me if wrong), I need only cite our justified decision to curtail the authority of the sovereign in 1215 with Magna Carta, and the subsequent reforms since then.

Can you name any such reform that has taken place in Russia? Year by year, Putin seizes more and more power, and thus his criminality expands and expands. There is no check on him; every single institution is under his thumb, and we have seen how opponents are systematically destroyed.

The first objection, that other nations have despotic leaders, is harder to overcome. I consider China to be far more dangerous than Russia, a nation whose historic crimes are truly egregious (up to 36 million dead during the "Great Leap Forward"!), and whose current human rights abuses are extensive (incarceration and abuse of Uyghur Muslim minority). Yet nobody is discussing a boycott of China for financial and geopolitical reasons.

This is a difficult point to argue against. It may well support your own argument, although for what it's worth, I resent China's malign influence and impunity, and wish we would seize back control of our own industries so as to stop enslaving ourselves to the CCP.

Be that as it may, one cannot deal with all the criminal states in one go. I am a big believer that making an example of one criminal sends a message to other criminals. Standing up to Russia's aggression and delusions of impunity will hurt China, Iran, and other tyrannies that threaten the West and oppress the innocent.

If Russia shows a change in behaviour, then I will change my mind. But after years of watching the Russian state terrorise and murder domestic opponents, steal billions, and attack neighbours, I see no reason to abandon hostility, which is far less harmful than the multiple crimes Putin and his government have committed.

Just my two cents on the issue.

Why did America reject friendship with Russia in the 90s?

@deborahdeshoftim5779

@ thesquireinvictus: I am not sure whether this is true. Can you give some more information? Because in the 1990's, Ukraine's president Leonid Kravchuk complained to the leader of Georgia that the US was failing to provide Ukraine with adequate security guarantees in favour of dealing with Russia?

Howdy. I was thinking of 1) America's duplicity and aggression towards Russia regarding NATO expansion, 2) the West's "vulture capitalism" inflicted on Russia after the USSR's fall (this I'm only passingly familiar with), 3) the fact that Russia informally inquired as to joining NATO and was unilaterally rejected out of hand, apparently by President Clinton and his Cabinet, and the reason was understood to be simply that NATO Is "quintessentially the anti-Russia club" - which very much remains the case.

If any of this is incorrect, I'm happy to be corrected. I'm only interested in learning what people know or think about the subject.

Europe's "northern shelf" can be thought of geopolitically as a string of "great states" Britain on one end, Russia on the other, bridged by France, Germany, Poland, and lately Ukraine etc. There is a long (long) history of these countries playing power games with one another, allying now here and now there, trying to strike a balance so that nobody can outright conquer anybody else. Germany and Russia are often seen as natural allies, and so they have at times been pitted against one another by the contrivance of treaties. I wonder if that has something to do with it. Anyway, I think going forward (long-term, big picture), hostility towards Russia is unwise on the West's part.

[mimzy-writing-online]

Writing Toph Beifong, Advice from a Blind Writer

I’m Mimzy, an actual visually impaired writer and blogger who talks a lot about writing blind characters accurately and sensitively. A while back someone sent me an anon asking how to write Toph more accurately and sensitively.

Anonymous asked: Hi there! Your blog has been super-helpful already - I thought I knew a bit about writing with blind characters, but it turns out there was a lot to learn - but this is more specific. I'm writing a The Last Airbender fanfiction, and one of the characters is Toph. I think the fandom has done a fairly good job of respecting her blindness, but what are some things you'd like to see when people write her? I want to represent the character as best as possible; thanks in advance!

It’s taken a while for me to answer because I have a lot of thoughts about it as both a blind writer and someone who has read a lot of atla fanfiction. So here we go:

Before we get started, I want to mention some things: 

One: I have an entire series for writing blind characters that continues to grow with time and the most up-to-date version can be found pinned as the top post on my blog. There will be a time-stamp for when the post was last edited and a long series of links to all relevant posts on the subject.

Here’s a quick link to that post, but again, all you have to do is click my blog url and you’ll find it immediately.

Two: I’ve noticed something amazing about the atla fandom and I would like to thank you for it. I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers have taken to writing image descriptions for both the fanart and memes you post in the fandom, whether it’s OP including the description or another blogger adding it themselves. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a fandom so consistently doing this and that’s incredible. Realizing how many different blogs were picking up this habit has warmed my heart.

I’d like to see writers use her other senses. There’s soooo so much more to her O&M (Orientation and Mobility) than earth sense. 

Beyond sight and earth bending, there’s hearing, touch, smell, taste, sense of direction, hot vs cold, sense of pain, sense of where your body parts are in relation to the rest of you, sense of internal well-being, etc. Before Toph had mastery of her earth bending, she had to have mastery of those too.

Toph also must have very strong opinions about certain smells, sounds, tastes, and textures. Toph is opinionated about everything, and when so much of your understanding of the world depends on senses that most people are ignoring in favor of some other sense you don’t have, it gets frustrating. I’m sure that tree looks pretty but the smell is terrible. Who cares if this fabric looks pretty, it’s scratchy, do. not. like. at. all.

But also in positive ways too. Oh, that flower arrangement looks bland and monochromatic? Who cares, it smells sweet and honey-like. Weird dark cavern with high ceiling and no light? The harmonics are awesome.

Every character probably has a certain sight or image they’re particularly fond of: Katara watching snow fall, or Aang enjoying how small the world looks from up on Appa, or Zuko enjoying the sunrise every morning during meditation. In that line, Toph must have some things personal to her that she enjoys.

I imagine she likes the taste of foods familiar to her childhood, the smell of whatever flowers grew around her home, and the texture of certain kinds of dirt Example: loose dirt probably isn’t the best for seeing, but I think she would enjoy how it feels to run her fingers through it or maybe enjoy the way it softens her perception of the world the same way sighted people like to see colorful, bright lights reflecting off puddles in the middle of rain.

If you struggle with this, that’s okay. I recommend taking some time to think about it for yourself, to find what tastes and smells and textures and sounds you enjoy the most, what makes you feel safe and at home, what brings you comfort, and relate that back to Toph.

In a Modern AU, I want to see Toph have a cane. Even in a Modern AU with bending included in the world building, I think Toph would benefit from having a cane.

The cane has a lot more function than bumping into things. A big part is that it signals to others that you are very obviously blind. Which is a big deal because sighted people are really, really bad at spotting the blind person.

(psst, please stop saying ‘the blank look in her eyes’ because I swear to god it’s been killing me inside for years.)

Also, even in an AU with bending, I think Toph would like the advantage of tapping her cane to create a stronger, more distinct vibration than a small shifting of her weight on her feet. It would have more control.

You could give Toph a guide animal, buuuuuuut, um, Toph is not a guide dog person. Like, there are some people who definitely prefer a guide dog, and some people who definitely prefer a cane, and some who definitely prefer no mobility device at all. Toph does not have the vibes of someone who wants to be both responsible and reliant on an animal when she’s so insistent that she can take care of herself on her own. Toph likes animals, but not that much.

Although, yeah, only 10% of the blind community use mobility devices, so cane and guide dog users are the minority of the blind community, but I stand by the vibe that Toph would love the independence of a cane. Also, it’s almost never ever done. Modern AUs never seem to touch much on Toph’s O&M skills with canes or guide dogs.

I wrote a whole post on everything you need to know about canes, what orientation and mobility is, how you learn O&M, what kind of canes exist, how to use them, how to describe the sensory input a cane gives you, and everything I know about guide dogs from past research.

Honestly, you could give Toph (or any blind character) a cane in any AU, because I fully stand by the theory that canes are a piece of technology that has been invented, lost, and reinvented again and again.

I wrote “I found a piece of lost blindness history” a few months ago after a visit to see my grandparents. My grandmother told me how her blind aunt found a way to write letters by hand to send to my grandmother when she was a child. I speculated on how the long cane has probably been invented and then lost and then reinvented over and over again in history, as well as giving a little history on the growing popularity of guide dogs in the 20th century following World War 1.

About the “blank look in her eyes,” I have a theory to the exact cause and nature of Toph’s blindness.

I know it’s common to think that the milky green color of her eyes is why she’s blind, though I’m not sure how many realize that milky green color is caused by severe cataracts. At least, cataracts is what I assume to be the reason for the color of her eyes. However, people with cataracts still have some remaining sense of light and shadow perception.

Only 9% of the blind community is completely blind, seeing absolutely nothing. The rest have some remaining vision, even if that’s only light and shadow perception or the perception of vague movement.

The percentage of people born completely blind is even smaller.

Toph says that she’s never been able to see, which would lead me to guess that the initial cause of her blindness was a defect with the visual processing part of her brain. I also theorize that the cataracts developed slowly over her very formative years and that she likely wasn’t born with them. For that reason, I think it would have taken a few weeks or months for her parents to realize there was something wrong with her eyes.

Here is a post about the developmental years of blind children and how their life would differ from both sighted children and from someone who went blind as an adult.

What is it like to see nothing?

It’s a concept that sighted people struggle with and I completely understand. I myself didn’t understand the concept of “nothing” until someone explained it as this:

“Imagine trying to see out the back of your head.”

Which, genuinely, imagine that. Try that. Because here’s what I found. There’s no part of my body that can help perceive that. I don’t have eyes there, nor do I have a part of my brain that can process that. Because of this, there is no sense of light or dark, no shape or shadow or movement or depth that I can perceive. There is nothing.

And honestly, it gives me a headache trying to think too much about it.

Toph doesn’t see black, doesn’t have a mental image of it. When people talk about light and dark, Toph has nothing to base the concept on. The closest relation she has to that is silence versus sound, or her earth sense when she’s in the air on Appa versus when she’s on solid ground. But it’s not the same.

I would like to examine the way the show tried to describe Toph’s earth sense, that black void with ripples of white stretching from her feet and outwards. Television is a visual medium so of course their explanation of Toph’s earth sense would be visual, but that’s not what it’s actually like in her head. More accurately, it’s like touching the back of your head to something and feeling what’s solid behind it and what has more give. A wall versus a pillow for example. Slamming your hand on a flimsy table and feeling it rattle under your palm. And for someone so adept at using that sense, she feels not just the table surface under her palm, but the individual rattles down the four legs, how uneven those rattles are because the legs are carved decoratively instead of solid planks, and how the foot of each leg bumps against the ground, and how the floor vibrates in response to the impact, which she feels in both her feet and hand. 

About Toph’s Relationship with Her Parents

It’s not something I see touched on much. There’s been a lot of focus on Zuko and Azula’s relationship with their parents and the abuse, as well as exploration of Sokka and Katara’s trauma with losing their mother, and Sokka looking up to his warrior father while Katara struggles with her abandonment issues.

Please don’t take this as a critique, because there are a few valid reasons for this and I would like to give you some insight on how to explore Toph’s relationship with her parents.

For starters, the show had a lot more reason to focus on Zuko and Azula’s parents, with Fire Lord Ozai being the primary villain and Zuko’s greatest abuser, and Azula’s dependent worship of her father in response to Ursa’s neglect and favoritism of Zuko, which was likely Ursa’s response to Ozai’s favoritism of Azula. Their parents are huge driving motivators for why Zuko and Azula make the decisions and mistakes they do, why they are at one point in the show the villains themselves. (And why I think Azula should get a redemption arc and some healing.)

Katara’s trauma of losing her mother and blaming herself is a huge factor in both her response to the war, her relationship with her bending, and her motherly nature with her friends. The show has to explore that. Just as it has to explore Sokka’s problems with toxic masculinity in response to being the man of his village, and his desire to be a great warrior and leader like the father he idolizes. 

The show needs to explore that to make the plot move forward, and it benefits from these being two sibling sets with different responses to their upbringing and different sibling dynamics, setting them up as foils for each other.

The show also wouldn’t benefit by giving Lao and Poppy Beifong more screen time. Their established character were two nobles who kept as far out of the war as possible and prospered monetarily for it. Poppy was polite and demure and Lao liked to lead the conversation. Unless the gAang decided to return to Toph’s home, those characters had no reason to pop up anywhere in the show. And if they did, they would be a hinder to Toph and her part in the plot as both Aang’s earth bending teacher and as the greatest earth bender in the world, tossing Fire Nation soldiers eight ways to Sunday. 

So truly, I understand that there’s not a whole lot of canon material (comparatively) to go off of when developing this, but I will offer some insight on what is there in canon.

Toph’s relationship with her parents is explored in that it maps out why Toph doesn’t want to be mothered by Katara, why she wants to prove how independent she is, but there’s very little on screen interaction between Toph and her parents.

Toph deeply loves her parents. I think that plays into why she doesn’t want Katara mothering her, because she has a wonderful mother at home who she loves and wants to better understand her, but she had no friends growing up and no older sister, which are the roles she needs and wants Katara to fill. If Toph wanted a mother figure, she would have latched onto Katara. Look at how Zuko never sought out another mother figure but did find a father figure in Iroh as he began to heal from his childhood trauma and separate his self image from his father’s acceptance.

Toph is in a complicated situation, she loves her parents but the way they’re raising her is hurting her in the long run. But Toph can see that their actions are because of their immense love for her. She can see how they would do anything for her. While she never had any examples of how other noble children were treated by their parents, who might have been distant or disinterested or always away for their social and work lives, she was remarkably loved by her parents. Her father put careful thought into her tutors and checked in on her progress. Her mother feared for Toph’s emotional state when she was kidnapped (even if she was incorrect about how Toph would respond), showing genuine empathy for her daughter.

I think their over protective nature became the love language Toph best understood them by, and part of her reasoning for not revealing how capable she was, was because she wanted to keep experiencing that love and care for as long as she could. But it’s not a love language she would put up with from anyone else.

I would like to point out Toph’s genuine excitement to see her mom again in the season finale of Book Two, how badly Toph wants her mom to understand and accept her for who she is.

My thoughts on what Toph can’t do: read, swim, see in the sand, fight things mid-air.

For how incredibly powerful the show makes Toph with her earth bending and the O&M she taught herself through it, they do touch on some of her weaknesses when they come up and find a useful way to showcase them.

The Serpent’s Pass was an excellent example of Toph’s vulnerability in water. From her fear of not being able to see on Katara’s ice bridge to not being able to swim and needing Suki to save her, Toph’s weaknesses putting her in danger added to the excitement and “sitting on the edge of your seat” feeling while watching the episode without turning her into someone who was helpless. She was just in a position where her normal defenses were useless.

Just like the earth benders in the metal prison in the ocean, or Katara having little water in the middle of a desert where her friends needed that water to survive more than she needed it to fight, making her vulnerable later in the show when the insect-wasp things attacked. Just like fire benders being weaker at night, or powerless during a solar eclipse, or a sighted person being lost in the dark. Those were just situations in which the tools you were accustomed to relying on could no longer help you or were taken away.

The show was clever in that it didn’t make her inability to read a direct threat to her safety, but rather as a clever plot device for her to be alone when the sand banders attacked and have to choose between fighting them to save Appa, or holding back an entire fricking building by the tiniest spire on its very top from falling into a void leading to the spirit world. It also showed her weakness to not being able to see or fight as well in sand. Which the show later made an effort to show how she’d improved on that problem in Book Three when she was surrounded by nothing but sand at Ember Island.

Like improving her ability to see in the sand, I would like to see a character teach Toph to swim, or at least float, so that she never feels helpless again. If she took the initiative to improve her sand bending so much, I’m sure she would have learn to swim eventually.

And on the note of reading, I’ve seen some speculation on how Toph could learn to read, whether it’s through using ink that has some percentage of earth mixed in, or developing the sensitivity to feel out the different weight, consistency, and texture of ink on paper. 

I would like to bring your attention to Louis Braille, the blind Frenchman who invented Braille while studying at  the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles, the world’s very first school for the blind in Paris France (established 1785). Previously Louis was learning to read through a method in which each letter was pressed into the paper to leave an imprint that someone could feel out with just their fingers.

Louis Braille concluded that raised lettering was impractical because-

1.       It is difficult to read, the letters had to be printed in huge font to be fully felt out and printed on thick paper.

2.       Thick paper means higher quality, more expensive. Larger font means more paper is needed for a single text.

3.       This made it inaccessible due to expense and the sheer volume of a text.

4.       If today’s Braille books are hard to access and giant compared to traditional books, I can’t imagine how inaccessible those raised letter books really were.

The subject of Braille, the start and controversial near downfall to  Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles were discussed in a post about writing a blind character during the Victorian Era.

I’ve heard others complain in the past about fantasy universes in which a sighted person invents a solution to allow the blind to read, when the most effective and longest lived method was invented by a blindman over two hundred years ago and is the standard taught in schools today.

And while I couldn’t easily explain it or how it works because I can neither read Braille nor speak Chinese, I can tell you that Chinese Braille exists and works only slightly differently from the Braille western languages use. So, again, modern AUs especially would benefit from enabling Toph to read Braille and use a computer and phone with screen reader.

But just as easily you could choose not to have her learn to read but rather have sighted people read things aloud to her. Whether it’s in a professional setting as an adult having an assistant who reads and writes for her, or as a cute, fluffy little moment between Toph and another character. Both are just as genuine to the blindness experience.

Blind Jokes

If you ever get around to reading my post about blind jokes, I’d like you to remember that it’s primarily written for people writing original characters and that Toph canonically makes blind jokes, so to take away from that would not be true to her character.

Does Toph’s Earth Sense Negate her Blindness?

It’s a question I’ve seen raised before and discussed by both abled, disabled, and blind people. There are multiple perspectives on it, but my own take on it is that Toph’s earth bending does not negate her blindness, but rather functions very much like the process of learning to use a cane.

She had a tool, a teacher, and she learned to use that tool. Instead of a cane, it was seismic perception and her teacher were blind badger-moles. She spent years learning to earth bend as they do and then continued to take it to new heights as she explored fighting with it on her terms against sighted fighters.

Come to think about it, I would love to see Toph teach another visually impaired or blind earth bender who to see and bend as she does.

Is Toph Good Blindness Representation?

This question was posed to me in the comments of my master post, and my answer was something like this: “Toph is good representation, but she can't be the only type of representation we get. She's the best we had 15 years ago, but there are a million ways to nuance the blindness experiences. Toph's experience being born blind, having very over protective parents, being a small girl in a patriarical and wealth influenced society, having no friends growing up. Those are all great aspects of blindness to show, but there is so much more to explore. As for her blindness and whether or not that's negated, that's also nuanced. She has limits, she's not all-powerful, but she is the best earth bender hands down. More or less, I love Toph, she's a great character, give me like a million more blind characters who are completely different from her.”

I want to see accurate and well-written blind characters become much more common in modern media, and that’s why I started this blog. So if you decide you want to write your own blind character from scratch, feel free to come back and look at some of my other stuff.

End Notes:

I want to thank the anon who sent the original question because it never occurred to me how much the atla fandom would benefit from a post like this. 

You should follow my blog. Along with advice about writing blind characters, I write general writing advice and answer questions about writing, college, plot development, character analysis, and living with blindness. I curate writing advice from fellow writeblrs, write my own image descriptions for writing memes, post about mental health and working/living with ADHD, disabilities outside of blindness, and LGBTQA+ topics. 

[cowboyjen68]

I'm starting to see lesbianism as more of a community or culture than some inherent trait. Of course it can be all of that at once, and I wouldn't call myself a lesbian if I didn't have an innate love for/attraction to women.

But on tumblr I've seen quite a lot of people trying to define lesbianism in a very strict and scientific way, and it just doesn't sit right with me. I'm not a lesbian just because I love women. I feel like I'm a lesbian because of the communities I participate in, not because I have some biological urge to hook up with a woman. It's about bonding with other WLW and it's about art and protests and barn raising.

This isn't really a question, sorry. I just needed to get it off my chest, and your blog feels like a safe place to talk about this. You and your posts are appreciated :)

Hey.. this is absolutely a good space to talk through things and get out ideas and dialogue worthy thoughts "on paper".

SO please do not pile on anon. Disagreeing can be done with tact.

I have to disagree with you to some extent. The definition of Lesbian is pretty clear, that is why it is called a "definition". Words can have meanings that are not subject to gray areas, movement of boundaries or modern context. Sometimes they are just a word used to communicate a particular idea, experience or fact. I would never want my sexuality to be vague. I want others in my life and in my world to know exactly how I love and so I use lesbian and no other word for my sexuality because it is precisely what I am. 

However, I think I see what you are getting at. Lesbian is my (our) sexual orientation and while that does not define our personality, limit our friends or social life or control our interests, much of what many of us LOVE about being a lesbian is the community which comes with that word, that sexuality. What you are describing is that community. One that we are privy to because we are lesbians.

Lesbians absolutely can have a  particular culture and friendship circle. We, without a doubt, have the ability to share a rich history and common experiences that bring us together.  Lesbian community has been amazing for me and I can count on my lesbian friends to help me with everything from hugs, to jobs, to help on my house when I can’t do a task alone. I have seen them take in virtual strangers to keep them safe. I have seen them fix cars (mine included). and help on construction projects (my basement, another friends failing roof).  Many lesbians I know offer the support of lifting other lesbians up and encouraging them to keep going when it get rough.

Intergenerational lesbian friendship and mentorship is the most amazing movement I have every encountered. The back and forth of listening and sharing stories and respecting our different experiences based on time and context is gift to all lesbians who are willing to participate. 

I could see how you feel that the word lesbian, the definition, stretches beyond the description of your sexual orientation to encompass the way in which you chose to engage with others who share the same. 

For me, while I am a lesbian and that brings me unending joy in the way i love and live my life, I am a lesbian even in a vacuum. If I was suddenly on an island, alone, forever, I would still be a lesbian. My innate sexual orientation, sexual and emotional attraction/bonding ability to other women would always and forever be there. I could not act on it or participate in any community, lesbian or otherwise and yet, still a lesbian., Something so innate is always there no matter my past actions or present situation. 

Many women in other cultures, hell, even in some parts of America, go all their lives, or the bulk of them never expressing their true innate sexual orientation or acting on it. They might even act in opposition to it. They might be isolated, or kept isolated. They might be in a dangerous societal or family situation. Or could be just never given the opportunity to really meet other lesbians due to socio economic or ability limitations or location. IF they were born being a lesbian no lack of lesbian community will change that.

What it can affect is their feeling of self worth, their ability to see themselves as complete and normal. Without lesbian community, many lesbians never find the joy in their sexual and emotional attraction to women. That is I think where you are going with your thoughts. And that is not wrong. Lesbian is life long and static. Lesbian community is important but is not a requirement to be a lesbian.