#the problem with so many enemies-to-lovers stories is that you don't see ANY reason these people care about each other half the time

[novelconcepts]

We're not talking enough about one of the greatest romantic set-ups of all time: meeting two people who are deeply in love, even married, absolutely entranced by one another

and then going into a flashback where you find out they fucking could not stand each other at the jump.

Like fuck enemies to lovers, forget the long-haul of "maybe eventually they'll respect each other". Start me at the finish. Show me the adoration, the mutual respect, the unguarded affection, and then show me how she thought her wife was the biggest pain in the ass when first they met. I eat that shit up every time. Truly hilarious. Dad-with-unasked-for-cat energy up in this bitch.

[tamsinswriting]

Free Fanfiction Idea to Good Home

Howzit All

As anyone who knows me knows that I have a ton of fanfiction and other writing ideas and that I try to work on as many as I possibly can (currently sitting at 18--3 gifts, 1 Coco fanfic, 4 Star Wars fanfics, 2 TMNT 2003 fanfics, 4 Good Omens fanfics, 4 Original stories)

The problem?

I've had 7 more Good Omens fanfiction ideas that I'm forcing myself not to work on, but they're taking up too much headspace.

So, I thought that I'd share them here, in case anyone feels like taking a crack at writing them. That's not to say I won't pick them up later when some of these are off my plate, but it won't be for a while.

If any of these appeal to you, please let me know (and tag me if you write them!)

Perfume AU. (Either human or as angels and demons)

One of the Ineffables is convinced that the ordinary perfume they made is actually a love potion so they believe that all the romance coming from the other one is fake or a compulsion. (It's real, they're just being daft)

2. A Wedding Date AU

Inspired by the movie with Deborah Messing in 2005, Aziraphale is heading home to England for his brother, Gabriel's, wedding. He decides that, rather than face his family alone, he'll hire Crowley, the escourt, to be his boyfriend. (I saw similarities between Gabriel and Kat's sister in the movie, which is why Aziraphale is Kat and Crowley is Nick, though I probably would change the plot so there's no "win back the ex"

3. Marry Me AU

I heard about a movie with J-Lo, where she is a famous singer who plans to get married on stage in front of the world. But, before she says her vows, she finds out that her fiancé is cheating on her. So, she sees Owen Wilson's character in the crowd holding a "marry me" sign (he's not a fan, his friend forced him to go to the concert) and says "yes" so they get married. This sounds like an Ineffables human AU to me . . .

4. Fae Au

One of the Ineffables does a ritual where they end up married to a Fae (they had no idea that's what the ritual was supposed to do). The Fae Ineffable is, however, bound to the Fae court and has to either get the human's true name to enslave them or make them fall in love and break their heart to amuse their ruler. They end up falling for the human.

5. Arranged Marriage AU.

One of the Ineffables is fed up with dating and being alone, so they hire an matchmaker to facilitate an arranged marriage (which are done for many reasons by the company, from hiding your sexuality to getting tax benefits). They end up married to the other Ineffable. Could be Strangers to Lovers or Enemies to lovers. Lot's of pining, though.

6. Reverse Female Omens.

Aziraphale is a female demon posted on Earth while Crowley is a female Archangel. Crowley tried to reach out when the whole "Flood" thing was happening, but the demon wasn't interested (Aziraphale wanted to be friends, but Hell commended her for trying to get an Archangel to Fall and so she rejected Crowley's friendship in case it happened) But now Armageddon is approaching and the two might have to work together to avoid it.

7. Blood and Chocolate AU

Loosely inspired by the movie (I didn't really like the book). Aziraphale is a werewolf and his pack (led by Gabriel (yes, the movie character had the same name)) is pressurising him to take a female mate, despite knowing he is gay, as they believe his bloodline is powerful. He's trying to avoid the problem as much as possible. Crowley is a monster hunter who had ended up in Aziraphale's city looking for werewolves. They meet, but don't realise that the one is a monster and the other is a monster hunter.

There they are: the ideas that are brewing in my head. As I mentioned, if anyone wants to write them,. please feel free. Just tag me so I can read them (and, if you don't want to write, please reblog so these ideas can find someone to write them.)

[scrapyardboyfriends]

"it's just one coincidence too many"

You don't say Aaron. Haha.

Sigh...they're writing Plotdale for me again.

So I went back and watched all of the surrounding Aaron scenes from yesterday with Mack and Vic and then watched today's stuff.

I really quite like seeing Aaron have friends for the sake of this plot. So like...that's a positive. I've always thought Danny and Lawerence worked well together and had good friend chemistry. If they could actually stick with the friendship outside of plot specific needs, that would still be really good for both of their characters long term.

Because Mack teasing him about the whole John thing is exactly what the Ben nonsense needed back in 2020/2021. I mean it would not have saved that utterly abysmal attempt at a story but it would have made it slightly more palatable.

And I do like seeing Aaron and Vic having scenes together again.

I also very much liked seeing the garage be a functional set again. I feel like maybe it has been more lately from what I've seen in the spoilers but for so long it really wasn't and so that was also nice.

As for John...I mean...I do feel like he was sort of okay when interacting with everyone else. But he and Aaron just have no chemistry. And I don't really understand what they're trying to do with them. Like I guess...it's supposed to be an enemies to lovers thing maybe??? But there really was just zero reason for him to drive off with Aaron's keys and wallet yesterday. So their hostility towards each other over it just feels empty now.

I mean..what even was that whole little punch/shove thing they had at the end? And I feel like they had them linger close to each other in a threatening manner like it was supposed to be turning them on in the same way the Robron wall slam worked but like...it did not. It was not the same at all. It was just dumb.

And John just feels like another one of those characters that's got a tragic backstory that will come out in one, two months time and be a big deal for two episodes and then somehow that will solve all his problems and then he and Aaron will just magically get together after that and he'll move into the village and none of it will feel earned in any way. That's just the vibe I get. Probably because that's the only kind of story they tell these days and they're all bad.

Because right now he's just unnecessarily hostile to everyone but they can't have him open up and say why yet cause we have to wait for some kind of stupid pointless reveal.

Sigh.

The only time I felt anything in terms of romantic tension was when Aaron learned John was Robert's half brother and she mentioned that Aaron used to be married to Robert. I swear any time Danny gets to be Aaron talking about or thinking about Robert, all of a sudden his acting performance improves. Ryan doesn't even have to be there to elevate his performance. Actually, Danny probably doesn't even have to act. He's probably just like "Wow man I miss Ryan too".

So...yeah...love Aaron having friends. Love seeing the garage be functional. Aaron has way more chemistry with Mack than he does with John, even if it is more friend chemistry than romantic.

Day two...not much improvement on John/Aaron scenes together.

Oh also...just the fact that it took that many coincidences and contrivances to even get Vic to that funeral and place her in John's path...like dear god. Why is this their only way to tell a story???

[a-world-with0ut-dr34ms]

Ghost x City Girl Reader

No pair of people hated each other more than you and Ghost. To him, you were just another loud-mouthed, obnoxious, and immature little princess needing to be humbled. To you, he was just a boring, broody asshole hellbent on not liking you. Things between you two couldn't be any worse. After pushing one too many of his buttons tonight, you and Ghost going off to have a quick smoke turns into something else entirely.

NSFW 18+, Explicit Content, Graphic, Romance, Drama, Porn with Plot, Hatemance, Enemies to Lovers, Toxic Relationships (That Grow), Eventual Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Eventual Fluff

Author's Note: This started out as a fun little two-parter, but I ended up really enjoying this dynamic I created, and I really want to use it as a chance to explore topics I don't see much in the fandom. And by that, I mean in a sense where I always see the Toxic Relationship Trope, but I want to see the "After" that comes from those kinds of relationships. Thus, that will be the central theme of this story.

I wanted to write about two self-destructive people who are too prideful and stubborn in their own ways to settle their easily solvable problems. In reality, they're too afraid to love each other because of who they are as people and their upbringings. However, I don't want this story to have a bad ending. Maybe it's escapism, but I want to write this where they find a way to overcome their problems, in a way that feels like they can grow from it. But as always, there's still gonna be messy drama too. ꒰ · ◡ · ꒱

Can Also be Read on AO3

Chapters with smut have this "🌶"!

Chapter summaries also included; a light spoiler warning if you skim ahead.

1 ~ Part One

No pair of people hated each other more than you and Ghost. To him, you were just another loud-mouthed, obnoxious, and immature little princess needing to be humbled. To you, he was just a boring, broody asshole hellbent on not liking you. Things between you two couldn't be any worse. And then, tonight happens…

2 ~ Part Two 🌶

You and Ghost going off to have a quick smoke turns into something else entirely, after pushing one too many of his buttons tonight.

*Kinktober Spinoff ~ A Game For the Dark 🌶

3 ~ Part Three 🌶

During a friendly game of Capture-the-Flag, you and Ghost take things to extreme, after a bet turns into something not so suitable for work...

Ghost isn't too happy about hearing that you've been seeing other men, as he sees fit to remind you why your eyes shouldn't wander.

4 ~ Part Four

You and Ghost were trying to keep your little fling a secret from the team. Low-key. Private. For a while, that was working.

5 ~ Part Five 🌶

After your car breaks down on you unexpectedly in the middle of the night, you're left with no choice but to call the only number left available to you... Ghost.

6 ~ Part Six

You expected Ghost to leave you before the morning; he usually does. However, you're surprised to see him rush to your aid after being woken up by violent night terrors. A sweet and unexpected moment between you, that only ends as quickly as it began.

7 ~ Part Seven // COMING SOON!!

I gathered the tracks I placed with each chapter, in case you wanted them for any reason (uwu)

( ˘▽˘)っ♨

[blade-liger-4ever]

The Problem with Mara Jade, and Why She Doesn't Work

A Mara Jade dissection? From me?

More likely than you think!

Now make no mistake, I know exactly what kind of fanatic waters I'm treading. After all, it's no secret that the Star Wars fandom simply adores anything that Mara does, and people have been clamoring for her "long awaited" return to the Star Wars Canon since she was cast off along with the rest of the crew when the Mouse took over Lucasfilm. However, I have had many thoughts in direct opposition to Mara's worshiping fans, and now that I've finally had enough of both Mara's escape from her actions and attitude, as well as having snapped after suffering the ignorance of those who praise her to the heavens, I'm at long last going to tear down this character and explain in detail not only why she makes no sense in universe, but why she should have never been introduced the way Zahn introduced her in his trilogy featuring Thrawn.

Buckle up, 'cause I am not holding back on the fandom's darling girl.

Problem One: She never suffers in her upbringing

It's explained by everyone in Legends and the fandom that Mara Jade was taken in from a young age to be the infamous "Emperor's Hand" and raised to kill his enemies without remorse and blindly follow his orders. They all say the training is rigorous, and that she was spared no shortage of training in combat, espionage, and whatnot, and I will admit, her skills prove it. But you know what the flaw with this logic is?

Mara is not once shown to have any trauma, pain, or even physical scars from the training.

Don't believe me? Just look at her trading cards which, for added benefit, had a professional "head-turning beauty" model pose for her. She's a shiny, pristine woman in those pictures with no sign of the abuse she logically would have suffered during her training.

"Blade, why are you harping on logic? This is Star Wars, where there are space wizards and jetpacks and intergalatic travel. Logic doesn't have a place here."

I keep "harping" on logic because for the suspension of disbelief to properly work, there needs to be logic for things to work in a story. Take Galen Marek, a fellow Legends character, for example. He was raised by Darth Vader to be a relentless, unstoppable assassin - and his body is covered with scars, and most importantly, it takes Galen two thirds of the game to break free of his loyalty to Vader and see that he's been nothing but a means to an end to his master. By contrast, Mara doesn't suffer nearly as much, nor does she even, truly, break out of Palpatine's hold, even in the globally praised Thrawn Trilogy.

Which brings me to Mara's next problem.

Problem two: She never truly rejects the Dark Side, or her role as the Emperor's Hand

Now before you jump on me, let me say this: I recall her killing Luke's clone and "freeing" herself of the final command Palpatine lodged into her brain. However, if given the option, I still believe Mara would have killed Luke simply because she had no real reason to not kill him.

Oh yes, she kept finding "convenient excuses" to keep him alive, but those are points of plot armor. Anyone else in her place - like fellow Emperor's Hand Shira Brie - wouldn't have hesitated to shoot Luke's head off, or stabbed him through the heart with a lightsaber. The only reasons she didn't were because Zahn wanted Luke to have an enemies-to-lovers dynamic, and the writing world has never recovered since he glamorized that trope. Furthermore, despite the fact that Mara has a conniption over being lied to and manipulated into thinking she was the only Emperor's Hand by Palpatine, she does not do so with a realization that she was doing the wrong things for the Emperor. No, she only sees that she was used as a means to an end, and her fury is not all that different from Maul's rage when we see the former Sith Apprentice again in The Clone Wars - which, logically, points to the fact that Mara had a thirst for power, something that Legends actually confirms.

Don't believe me? Pull up her Wookieepedia file. It explicitly states in her bio that in her early career, she pratically dreamed of killing Vader and taking his place as Palpatine's apprentice. It's even said she revels in the Dark Side and her mission as Palpatine's Hand. Furthermore, she does not even express remorse for her actions, or even attempts to make amends by sharing her knowledge of Imperial Intelligence with Republic Intelligence. Compare her to Black Widow: when Natasha Romanov switched her allegiances, not only did she reject her past and even her nationality, she joined SHIELD to atone for her actions.

What does Mara do? Get Anakin's lightsaber handed to her by his own son after she tried to kill him repeatedly, and simply departs to "find her own path."

No honey, you don't get a consolation prize for choosing practicality in that moment with Luke's clone, and you certainly don't get to traipse around the galaxy free of consequences of your actions without at least giving vital information to the Republic.

"Oh, but she'll suffer from the memory of what she's done, Blade!"

Really? There is no reason for that woman to have a conscience, and the fact that everyone tries to hammer that into me points me to the next issue.

Problem three: Mara Jade is given a conscience with no substantial basis for it

Allow me to bring to light the history of a former assassin I love dearly for what she suffered to explain Mara's struggle here: X23/Laura Kinney of Marvel fame.

Literally born into a branch of the Weapon X project, Laura's life revolved around nothing but training, emotional distance, cold-blooded torture, and killing on orders from the highest bidder - and she made her first targeted kill at age nine. Because of that, she emotionally shut herself down.

Why do I have no issue with Laura's response to her first kill? Because she had two people who went against the Facility's status quo and fed her scraps of kindness, warmth, and love.

And for that, Laura was mind-controlled into killing them both as "poetic justice".

The first one she had killed via a "trigger scent" that was engineered to send her into a blind rage was used on her teacher, Tanaka. When she awoke from it, she was horrified to find her "sensei" lying dead in a pool of blood, her own claws coated in his blood. After this, she was given Kimura as a trainer/handler, and the woman took every opportunity to abuse and torture her - all in the name of "making her strong". This, coupled with her mother having to back off on showing her love, made Laura suppress her emotions, and deal with them by cutting herself with her own claws. Her mother, Sarah Kinney, didn't realize until later that the scars (I cannot recall if they healed or not) were Laura's own doing and not Kimura's.

Laura was used by many to kill hundreds, and Sarah eventually gave up hope that there was a little girl left in the assassin.

That changed, however, when Laura found a young boy listed as a target on her assignment. She knew that if she left him alive, she'd be faced with more punishments, torture, and abuse. She knew that, and she must have been terrified for her life.

But Laura, having been shown compassion and love at different points, was able to see a bit of that same fear in the boy.

And despite knowing full well what was in store for her, Laura let. Him. Live.

Sarah orchestrated her and Laura's escape after this, and had Laura undertake one last mission to kill the personnel at the Facility and the new clones of Laura that were being grown. However, Laura's main abuser had a last laugh by getting some of the trigger scent on Sarah, and even though they were both free, Sarah paid with her life at Laura's hands.

To this day in the comics, Laura waking to see her dying mother and her claws sticky with her blood, is one of her most traumatic and devastating memories.

I bring this up, patient readers, to point out the severe flaw in Mara's creation. She was taken in at three years old to be raised in the heart of evil, and yet she's somehow the only Emperor's Hand to have a conscience. Three years old is not the proper age to have a total recall of what morality is, especially when you're being trained to kill with abandon and to not care about taking a life. More to the point, Laura had two people who gave her morals and humanity. Mara, by contrast, had no one: no nanny or diaper-changing droid was mentioned in order to credit where she got her moral compass from, which flies directly against Galen's turn from the Dark Side. Because even Galen had PROXY to thank for being remotely approachable at the beginning of The Force Unleashed. If you don't believe me, check out his Wookieepedia file; the droid is expressly stated to be the reason he has any compassion at all.

Mara has no reason for having a moral compass, and anyone who tells me otherwise should go dunk their head in a frigid cold lake.

Problem four: Mara has too much autonomy for a born and bred assassin

Remember what I was going on about with Laura? Beyond the surface of what I scratched, she never got a break or any rewards for a job well done. That is because no one viewed her as anything more than a tool to get things done. Among the underworld, she was a favorite weapon, but because of that favoritism, Laura was worked to the bone by people around her. When you're a tool, favorite or otherwise, you don't get breaks.

But according to the almighty Timothy Zahn and countless others in Star Wars, Mara got to take vacations because the Emperor favored her so much. And furthermore, she had such an advanced favoritism with him, and was such a spectacularly good agent, she could choose who to kill and who to hide from the Emperor without him being the wiser. Mara even had the nerve to think of and enjoy herself as a "law unto herself" while still being under Palpatine's thumb.

Bullcrap.

Fellow assassin Galen never had breaks, child assassin Laura Kinney never had breaks, international spy Natasha Romanov never had breaks. They never had breaks because they were TOOLS. Tools, in the eyes of their masters, are nothing but instruments to be used or thrown away as seen fit, regardless if said "tool" is a handheld object or an entire company of soldiers. Assassins have this even worse because they are people exclusively used for your personal gain. Giving Mara Jade breaks from her work is inane and breaks the logic of having an assassin turn over a new leaf. And the reason for that is because all the other examples I named worked their fannies off in order to make amends and actively choose to become better. Even though we got little with Galen atoning for his actions, he still tried his best.

Mara doesn't do anything to atone, apologize, or even make up for the things she did. She lived and died in Legends continuity as a selfish brat who got away with literal murder and never had anyone question why they had her there on their side when there was never a guarantee beyond Luke's out-of-character defense of her by saying she "no longer serves the Dark Side/the Emperor".

Luke, my guy, my childhood hero second only to Optimus Prime. You know better than this. Yes, you see the good in everyone, but there was never anything she did right for purely right reasons to have garnered that level of loyalty and devotion from you. She tried to kill you, wanted to take your father's place in Palpatine's grand scheme, and was frightfully close to killing you in the third movie of the Original Trilogy while laughing as you fell into the sarlacc pit. The fact that this all goes on, and no one in or out of universe makes her pay for her actions tells me she was just everyone's darling OC insert girlfriend for Luke, who they could do anything with, and people would and did accept it because they wanted Luke to have a "hot bad girl wife".

Luke is the pinnacle of goodness in Star Wars. A pinnacle of goodness deserves someone who is just as good for almost the exact same reasons as the pinnacle, but able to back him up in his saving endeavors while being a shoulder for him when there was one lost soul he couldn't save.

Mara Jade has none of that, and she never showed anyone that level of care and attention. And if she did, it did not make sense with all the crap she got away with.

Conclusion

Well, there's not much I suppose to conclude this. I expressed why Mara doesn't work in excruciating detail, and why she didn't work in the end. I will go out on a limb and say that my distaste for her is clear, as well as my opinion that she should not have won Luke's hand when he had many other love interests (look it up. Trust me, he had many girls eyeing him, and had many dates in Legends.)

I will, however, say this much: In my Star Wars Canon, Luke marries Alex Winger, the only girl in Star Wars who I feel matches his personality and needs well. Ben Skywalker will not exist in it, unless I make him the oldest or youngest of Luke and Alex's kids, which is entirely possible now that I consider that option. And it may surprise you, but I do intend to bring Mara into my stories - as a true villain, though she may get a redemption before dying in my own take.

Regarding any hate I receive for both my tear down of Mara and my changed plans for my own Star Wars Canon, I will tell you this: I am one person with these thoughts and feelings, so far as I can see, whereas the much adored Mara Jade has hundreds of appearances in old Star Wars media and various fanfictions. If you can't tolerate my dislike for Mara, then go suck your thumb while reading Legends books involving her. It's not worth either of our time to fight over that blasted female, and I've got too much on my table to bother wasting my free time arguing over her.

Good day, and may the Force be with you.

[cookie-run-confessions]

i'm sorry for milking this theme again, but i hate that some people who love to romantize and sexualize disgusting stuff like abuse/any form of harassment etc. made shipping ancient x beast look awful overall. for some reason now these ships are being compared to proships which is just WRONG (proshipping is awful, DO NOT do that)

i think there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with shipping ancient x beast as long as you don't fetishize toxicity and harassment, but instead find interesting interactions between characters, explore the complexity between them, understand the weight of their actions, think about their past, build up their relationship and how would it work.

for example i genuinely do not see what is wrong with a long ass bittersweet enemies-to-friends-to-lovers slowburn redemption trope with a deep character development which ends with two characters being healed and happy??? with that you can even exclude all the shipping stuff and make them besties with fun dynamics :D

especially when we know that beasts ARE capable of being kind and loving like they were before and all of them are broken which opens so many possibilities, not only in shipping, but mostly story-wise. (i'm a sucker for failed ruler bringing back the glory to their fallen kingdom plot lmao)

changing the topic a little bit because i thought it would've been fun to share, i've seen a person ship a REFORMED beast with an ancient (burningcheese to be exact) and an other person replying to their comment with a death threat for doing so, i checked their profile just to find out that they ship billford and tomtord with romantizing the toxicity and abuse which was so awfully hypocritical istg it's surreal😭😭

also all of this just kinda reminds me of the hollytaya and espresseliene problem back in the days where people were complaining about them being toxic and now they are two of the most popular ships in the fandom and one of them is canon lol (character development saves lifes trust me)

——

[galvanizedfriend]

2023 WIP List

I saw a writer I really love doing this here and decided to respectfully borrow the idea.

I'm feeling really bummed about writing lately, can't seem to find the least bit of motivation and have jumped from story to story without adding anything of substance over the last month or so. Nothing seems to spark joy. And yet I have thousands of words in half-written stories I'm not sure what to do with. Ideally, I'd like to finish them, but at this point, who knows 🤷‍ So this is a way for me to take stock, do some soul-searching, try to find where my heart is writing-wise at the moment and see if I can manifest some inspo.✨

These are not even all my WIPs, just the ones I have opened at least once in the last year.

▪ Speed Dating 3/3 Klaroline, friends/roommates-to-lovers

Started in June 2022

The final part to my Speed Dating sequel, which is much longer than the original story because I have no self-respect. Klaus and Caroline are roommates and idiots. The OG one-shot had them going on a round of speed dating and failing to connect the dots and realizing that what they really should be doing is sucking face with each other. The sequel is kind of an expanded universe situation, where I wanted to show a little more of their roommie chemistry and push them into situations where they are finally confronted with the reality of their feelings. But that only happens once they start seeing other people because of course.

I have maybe 60% of the final part written but for some reason, after word-vomiting non-stop for a while, I got stuck on a kind of major point in the story. I've tried to start it soooo many times and it just won't go. 🙃 I think I'm looking at a good 6 to 8k words more before it's finished.

▪ Random Fic (not the real title) Klaroline (duh), sorta exes-to-enemies-to-lovers I guess

Started in May 2020

The start of my romantic comedy phase. This predates even my coffee shop AU. It's Caroline and Klaus having a fling that ends very, very badly, but then having to come together again a year later to marry their common friend (and Caroline's ex), Tyler. I wanted it to be quick, witty and light-hearted and then at some point it got some very emotional bits in the middle and turned into something else completely. I guess it's still mostly light-hearted, but it has some ~~substance, whatever that means. I think it's an okay fic, and it's 55k words, which is not too bad, but then does anyone still read 55k all at once these days? lol

The fic is finished. I think I wrapped it up in April last year, so a year ago. But I haven't been able to go back and read it again. I've tried, and I've started it so many times, but then I always stop and never pick it back up. But like. 55k words of finished fic here. 🤷‍

▪ Pendulum Klaroline, soulmates!AU but make it sad

Originally in January 2019, started rewriting in July 2020 (lol)

I have issues with this story. It's the saddest damn thing I've ever written, but it's also my favorite storyline I've ever come up with. It got some hate at the time, I don't know why, but also some of the most heartfelt comments/responses I've ever received on any story (and I still keep them all!), so I think this is one where you either love it or hate it. But because I feel so protective of it, I have problems (of the personal brand) leaving it out in the open, and I don't want to repost it until I'm absolutely sure it's ok. As you can see, it was one of my first ever fics, so the writing wasn't the best. But I still love it, I don't care. I keep wanting to make the writing match how much I love the idea, and I don't know if that's possible. 🙃

It's the rare AU I write entirely from Klaus' POV, which is something else. I'm not sure I'm that good with Klaus. It's also an AH, but it has a little magic twist. Every time Klaus dies, his life just restarts from the exact same point. He's born on the same year, at the same place, to the same parents. Except he remembers his previous lives, and so he accumulates the knowledge of hundreds and hundreds of previously lived years each time he's reborn. And then shit happens.

First time I posted this, it was 57k words long. I have successfully finished rewriting the first of three parts, which is around 14k words, but as you can see, I have been in this process since 2020 (!!!), so I need to go back and tinker with that as well. May God have mercy on my soul.

▪ Mystic Tours (not the real title) Klaroline, friends-to-lovers but also fake dating

Started in January 2023

This was inspired by Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison, except it's not a Christmas story, and it doesn't actually have any farms. It has Klaroline fake dating to try and win a contest that can potentially save Caroline's failing business, and also loads of side-characters Sound of Settling style (including a horde of Mikaelsons and Bonnie and Enzo as Caroline's co-workers). I really like writing stories where I can fit a bunch of side characters and make the whole thing sorta absurd. But I also wanted to try to make something quicker, more dialogue-oriented and with shorter scenes. AND YET. I just can't seem to make it work, the writing kinda sucks.

I have some 6k words of this, but can't tell you how much of that is actually usable. And it's maybe 10% of the story. 🙃

▪ Friends that Ruin Your Life (may or may not be the title, undecided) Klaroline, Klefan (!!), affairs, fucked up people, angst

Started in March 2023

The five minutes during which I decided I wanted to go back to my origins and write something angsty and filled with complicated situations, a bit like Gasoline. It features Klaus and Stefan as a couple, and Caroline getting sucked into their messy marriage. So yes, Klaus is having an affair. In his defense, so is Stefan. Caroline's moral compass gets all out of sorts and she realizes the world is a lot less black-and-white than she'd previously assumed and sometimes you do get judged by your one-offs, even if your heart is in the right place.

I got super excited about this one and churned out the entire plan for the whole story, with all the scenes and most of the dialogues and the document alone is like 60k words long. I wrote that in like three days. 🥲 I don't think I could make it a one-shot, and I think that left me bummed because I didn't want it to be a multi-chapter. And then I'm not sure the writing was coming along fine enough, it wasn't flowing, and I started to question whether it was actually good or if I was totally tripping when I had this idea and this was actually insanely shitty. lol Leaning more towards the second right now.

▪ King Arthur AU (not the actual title) Klaroline, magic, fantasy, King Arthur

Started in March 2021

This is very high fantasy, and very intricate. It would be a multi-chapter, but I have no idea how long. I think I was leaning towards 10 chapters. I have four written. And the writing is fairly decent, if I may say so myself. But as it usually happens with me, I get to a point where I start wondering why am I even writing this, and then I stop. 🥲🥲 I also think I was having some doubts about how to wrap it up. It had maybe more plots than I wanted to work with. King Arthur was actually Elijah, and Klaus was Mordred, and Caroline was Guinevere-ish, a witch undercover in "Orleans" (I'm so creative!!).

Only reason this is even on the list is because I recently read the four chapters I have and thought they were pretty decent, but I haven't written anything in almost two years, so maybe I've swiped up on this one already.

▪ The Wolf III and IV 🤡

Started in October 2020 (!! when I tell you guys I've had this written for years lol)

I have technically written The Wolf 3. It's in my "headcanons" format, which is honestly a joke, because clearly I don't know how to write headcanons. 🤡 But as you can see by the starting date, it's very, very old, and it requires full rewriting and lots of editing. Chapters are 15 to 20k words long (some are longer). TW4 is a different story. I never actually wrote it down, all I have is a full, detailed plan of all the scenes and shit. My idea was to not split the two stories into two different fics, but rather continue on with TW4 in the same AO3 "document" (???) as TW3 and make it 34 chapters long instead of 21. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but also I don't have it in me to start another separate story.

But here we are, stuck on S03E17. 🤡 Gonna be honest with you, my dudes, it's been rough to find the motivation to open that document. I think I have half of 17, maybe, but I haven't touched that in over a month. Laely, I have been often sent into thinky thoughts that you really shouldn't have when you're writing fic just for the hell of it, you know. Like, this is in no way meant to be a great piece of writing, I shouldn't be worried about that. It's the fan service of the fan service. But I start to think about the real quality of it and whether it even makes sense to be writing it, I realize I wrote one fic that was good, a second one which I personally think was even better, and then I made the classic mistake of having one too many sequels. This is Jurassic Park III. It's not as crappy as Jurassic World, you have Sam Neill, but should it exist? I just want Klaus and Caroline to be together for a change, and I love adding random final scenes in every chapter where it's just the two of them being married, but - should this be written? Or rather, should this have been posted in the first place? Do we really wanna see them being domestic? Doesn't that kind of kill the vibe? I don't know, man. I don't know. Chapter one was a blast, people seemed so into it and I wrote five chapters at once and got maybe a little over-excited, and then which each update I feel like there's less and less readers and it really gets me thinking. These thoughts are sabotaging my will to write. I need to get back on my fuck it horse.

It will come to me at some point, though. I'm sure it will.

Anyway, these are all my current WIPs! Comments, ideas and positive energies are all welcome! ✨ Let's return to this in december and weep at how little progress I've made 🥲

[pendulum-sonata]

It never ceases to amaze me how uninspired some people are with their opinions on the enemies to lovers (and viceversa) dynamic - which half of the time people didn't even ask them lol - and how invariably shows that they think nothing is possible about this beyond some sort shallow and lite version of it, that's not even actually enemies to lovers, or they just think it's nothing but a trashy or crack trope that romanticizes toxic or abusive relationships. And even if some portrayals are like that, that's not the problem and those are more valid than the shallow ones tbh.

This isn't even me trying to talk about antis, this is about people who are generally nice and civil about almost any sort of shipping, but when you mention this particular trope, they just can't seem to visualize anything than the above mentioned examples, and don't understand why anyone could ever like the more "extreme" examples.

And this is just my opinion, of course, but I feel like at least part of the problem comes that they conceptualize the idea of characters being enemies, as nothing but wanting to kill or otherwise hurt each other for no other reason than personal grudges, misunderstanding or just plain toxicity, and don't see the full-blown version, they miss on the whole scenario beyond that dynamic, because in fact, a huge part of the tension comes precisely because the personal desires of the characters, which end going against their goals, their duty, or a promise they can't abandon, and really if there isn't at least a level of opposing goals or ideologies, then I don't count it as enemies to lovers, period.

On the other group that thinks this is all about indulging in toxicity and unhealthy relationships, something that even if it was all there was to enemies to lovers, it still wouldn't be a problem, because yeah, the yearning turned into obsession, the curiosity turned into attraction, the hatred that easily slips into passion, but it's only one of the stages of it, usually the early ones, then it evolves into a relationship that's more stable and reciprocal, but the conflict remains, AND this is where my first point becomes important, because the relationship evolves, but the board in which the story develops, the conflict that makes this, an enemies to lovers scenario is still there, they can't be together, because of that. And when a well-developed enemies to lovers story does this well and reaches this point, the so-called "toxicity" that some people love to denounce, takes in a new form, which form you ask? Well, that's the fun part, there are many possibilities on how this ends up resolved, and I have some examples that I'll summarize here, that, by the way, are ALL original media, I clarify this because I rather not spoil anyone from anything they may be working their way through, and because, there are also people who believe this plot-line only works in fanworks:

"Why can't you abandon them and stay with me?" "Are you willing to abandon the promise to your people for me?" Said by the main couple, on opposing sides of an upcoming war, after laying the cards on their situation, not hatred but also no concession, neither can give up on their respective sides.

"I do not wish to survive when my home is collapsed." Said by one character after the other tries to save only them from a disaster they're helping to bring, also, no hatred or even animosity, just a constant tip-toeing game of 'I know you know what I know' until the unavoidable happens.

"Didn't you say before today that you trusted me? That you liked me?" "Because I'm naive, I like you, but now I've seen through you, and even if I still like you I don't believe you anymore, and thus, I'll slowly, little by little, not like you anymore..." exchange after an important reveal from the love interest's real goals, this one is interesting because the former wants to hate the other, but they can't, not yet, and the other is still in a weird denial of having their cake and eating it too.

"I don't care if you did or not, I just care that you enjoyed it." "And why shouldn't I delight to see you squirm? You tricked me, played me for a fool," Exchange while dancing and humiliating the other but also in the middle of having to figure out how not to get one of them killed.

"You're the one I love, but how do you feel?" "We're married of cou-" "I'm not talking about marital duty, but I understand, love doesn't come easy, I'll wait" Very sweet exchange right? Except that the loved one thinks to themselves, that this is the only thing they can't grant and one day they'll be able to tell the truth, but for now they have to lie, why? Because they'll have to kill the other one day.

[entamewitchlulu]

reading a book for work reasons (long story short we're reading stuff from different genres to like. study the genre deeply for better reader's advisory) and it's a romance and i'm just. I always think "oh i like romance! Romance is nice! I write all kinds of romance and think about it all the time!"

But then you put a mainstream romance book in front of me and i'm just like

ranting under the cut because i need to get it out of me and my enjoyment is not the point so i have to go back to reading this with an eye for genre rather than reading as a reader anyway

the man is an asshole. why are so many men in romance stories assholes. is this like, sexy? am i too lesbian for this?

like this book is what people think you mean in the mainstream when you say 'enemies-to-lovers' but to me enemies-to-lovers should mean that both individuals have their own causes that threaten each other and have some massive stakes involved and someone may or may not be attempted murdered by the other. this story, on the other hand, is just two catty adults who never progressed past middle school snarking at each other because of a miscommunication that someone has lasted THREE YEARS already. i'm a chapter and a half in and i'm exhausted. how do you spend that much time around each other and let a miscommunication go on that long before you finally figure something out.

but generally i just don't. i don't like mean love interests. maybe it's just me. i physically cannot wrap my head around the idea of continually feeling any attraction to someone you hate so viscerally. Like sure, aesthetically you can still understand they look nice but to constantly be mooning over the eyelashes of a guy who's guts you hate, who actively makes you feel as though you are being put down constantly (even if you're misinterpreting him?)? I don't understand how attraction could begin there. it doesn't compute to me.

again this is most likely a me problem. i was the kind of person who was obsessed with Masago in Tokyo Mew Mew after all, maybe it's just a preference for soft guys, but i feel like i don't see many soft guys in mainstream romance. maybe i'm not looking hard enough.

the circumstances are just so......stupid. i'm not going to get into the details i don't want to name and shame the book because i KNOW this is a ME problem and that plenty of people love this stuff and more power to them!! but i think the way the two characters end up stuck together for long enough to ""fall in love"" is so stupid and convoluted and no one would ever act this way in real life.

also there's a gay cousin who is like, a walking stereotype of the gay best friend and i cringed the second he walked into the scene. made me feel somewhat insulted and i'm not even a gay man.

anyway. i'm just. tired. i don't wanna read this book but i gotta.

[cheerfulmelancholies]

Now that I'm recovering from my surgery, I started going through my wips again and found this old snippet from The Set Up. It's from the very early stages when I was making it a sort of enemies-to-lovers where Felix and Maya both knew each other back in middle school. This scene in particular is shortly after they "reunite" in college and Felix finds his curiosity at her high school disappearance getting the better of him. Sadly, I've already decided I'm not keeping the story in this format, but I figured I'd post this anyway because it was fun enough to work on.

For some context: Maya is very, very guarded due to past trauma and it's always driven Felix up the wall because he can't seem to break through her armor. No one would know unless she told them, but Felix is about the only person she lets get close to her in any way. Not that one can tell.

Felix is a typical punkass rich kid, only he's got a bit of justification in his actions due to his own past. One thing he's not justified in, however, is how he loves feeling superior to others. The reason why Maya gets under his skin the way she does is because he can't achieve that I'm-better-than-you attitude due to her cold and distant exterior. He was always trying to get a rise out of her when they were kids, but to no avail. Now that he's older, his need to break through her armor stems from genuine curiosity and maybe some very slight concern.

But you didn't hear that from him.

Felix wasn't one to dig into people's personal problems. Unless it served something useful to him in the long run, he often avoided getting to know much of anything about anyone. The secret behind Maya's mysterious disappearance in high school was too big a scandal to ignore, however. He had to find out, if only to quell the itch of needing to know. It had been so sudden, the way she dropped off the face of the earth two weeks before school was scheduled to start. While he hadn't been one of them, he knew that several people had made attempts to reach out to her--some out of genuine concern but many out of nosiness--to no avail. And so, Maya had been all but forgotten about once the realities of high school set in. Until their recent reaquaintance, Felix had forgotten about her himself.

There was something about present-day Maya that didn't quite line up with her past self, however, and Felix had a good feeling it was related to her mysterious disappearance...

"So, why did you disappear before high school?" Felix found himself keeping pace with her as she took measured strides through the campus.

Maya glanced at him from the corner of her eye but otherwise said nothing as she kept walking.

He huffed. "Keeping secrets as usual, I see," he said to the silence. "That's fine. I don't mind guessing."

"That would imply I'd tell you when you got it right."

It wasn't until they passed the parking lot that he began wondering where she was going.

"Do you... Are you fucking walking home? Don't you board here?"

"No," was all she said as she kept her stride.

"Don't you drive?"

"No."

Felix's grip on her shoulder settled her in place.

"I'm not letting you walk home like a loser." He gave her a light tug. "C'mon, I'll drive you." He told himself it was only so he could attempt to learn more about her and not because of any sort of concern.

Maya shrugged.

The ride was quiet, the only noise being the faint music from the speakers. Maya hadn't been in the mood for music but Felix liked the background noise.

'His car, his radio,' he'd said.

"So," he began, giving her a prodding glance.

"If you think I'm gonna talk to you about anything personal, you're wrong."

"I didn't have to give you a ride y'know," he said to her icy tone.

"I didn't ask," she fired back. "But you still did. And of your own accord, no less."

Felix grumbled and settled further into the seat as he brought the car to a stop before the light. This was already feeling like a mistake.

[ghiblihearts]

anime review: dahlia in bloom (up to ep8 SPOILERS)

It should be no surprise to anyone, but this had a slow start before. But that's to be expected with this category of anime - a cozy isekai with very low, if any, stakes. This usually means that there are very few sources of conflict, so if you're looking for something to sink your teeth into, this probably isn't the anime you're looking for.

Dahlia spent her past life working herself to death (literally spending her last moments at her desk), so she promised herself that she would enjoy the one she finds herself in, where she is the daughter of a magical artificer. In this world, magical artificers invent everyday objects that infuse minor magic to better the lives of people (ep1 spoiler: for example, Dahlia wants to invent the magical equivalent of a hairdryer using a fire crystal). Her father encourages her natural curiosity and talents, and she grows up to have a knack for inventing things that could genuinely help a lot of people. Creating magical artifacts is the joy in her life, and she wants to help as many people as possible.

Diving into spoiler territory now, but I had initial issues with the animation for the first 2 episodes. I've never been a fan of pretty obvious cgi in anime, and where you can point out the places where the animators might be trying to cut costs a little. Some of the scenery really took me out of the immersion of the world, but I told myself I'd try to overlook it if the story interested me. But unfortunately, it didn't grip me during that time either. I liked seeing the established rules and limitations of the world (what artificers could do, their role in this fantasy world, etc.), but for some reason I just didn't like Dahlia's dad. I just didn't gel with him, was a bit suspicious of him from the start. I also didn't like the impromptu engagement thrust upon Dahlia, and hoped above all hopes that she didn't actually start falling for this guy. His red flags popped up the second they were locked into that engagement, and I honestly didn't want a 'redemption' arc for him if he was the main lead.

So I took a break from it for a few weeks, and returned to it when I had a few episodes to binge at once (my preferred style). And I don't regret my decision for a lot of reasons:

A lot happened, and I noticed that the time skips seem to be quite substantial - like learning that between the 2nd and 3rd episode, 2 whole years have passed since Dahlia and her fiancé have been engaged, and I genuinely choked a little on my drink. But I appreciated this jump, because it saved us from seeing more of what could have been a painful and annoying(ly forced) love triangle between Dahlia, her fiancé and his lover (who is clearly more scheming than she appears to be, but that might be revealed more in the next 4 episodes).

Dahlia is surrounded by a cast of people who all care about her and support her. Aside from her ex's girlfriend, she doesn't seem to have encountered any potential enemies for herself, and her potential is seemingly endless! Her intelligence is allowing her to create artefacts that are being mass produced and in great demand (no doubt because of her memories of her past life helping her to find 'modern' solutions problems in this fantasy world). So far she has not only invented a handful of greatly successful products, but become the CEO of her own company with the help of her friends and allies. To some this might seem boring, and I get that - but to me the lack of obstacles is what makes these kinds of stories all the more cozy! You're not worrying about how she will suffer - you're watching in comfort knowing she will succeed.

We learn more about Dahlia's father through her interactions with other people, and these flashes of her father's hidden character are bittersweet. But it's quite refreshing to see Dahlia being exposed to a side of her father she didn't know existed - it makes every new reveal, every anecdote about him feel like a little 'pang' of sadness, I suppose, realising that there's yet another part of him that she didn't get to see. She only saw the happy-go-lucky, drunken side of him, meanwhile he was building supports for her in secret. But I personally think that's as far as the show will go into exploring her grief. This is a cozy anime, after all!

The love story.. we're getting little more than crumbs so far, in my opinion, but I am a SUCKER for friends-to-lovers!! I think it's being done quite nicely, but Wolf is down BAD already and I love it! Honestly, I think he fell for the person he met in the first, regardless of the fact that as far as he knew it was a man who was helping him (Dahlia in disguise). As friends, they encourage the parts of each other that society has taught them to repress for appearances' sake, and they find comfort in being able to be their true selves' around each other. Their friendship would be such a lovely foundation for their future relationship, in my opinion. Although Wolf seems to be much more aware of his feelings and is holding back out of respect for Dahlia's comfort and feelings, Dahlia is still very much in the oblivious phase.. but it's only a matter of time! Though, yet again, I don't feel like there is any risk of any romantic drama because, yet again, this is a cozy anime - no high stakes!

The highest stakes that seem to be the concern at the moment is the pressures of Dahlia's new business venture. Starting a new company will likely stress her out (though she'll tough it out like a champ, no doubt) because things are moving at lightning speed, and I'm not sure if she'll be able to keep up with the stresses of meeting orders and deadlines, while still managing to love every part of the process as an artisan. Perhaps that will be the final 'conflict' in this series - her finding balance between being a business woman and an artist at the same time (a lesson I'm sure a lot of artists find themselves trying to learn in real life, so it would be interesting to see how the story tackles such a lesson, if they do!).

Either way, I'm enjoying this show a lot more than I thought I would, and I'm really glad I picked it up again! Looking forward to seeing how the series wraps up..

(I only recently discovered that Dahlia in Bloom is made by the same animation studio that made Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion! I really enjoyed that series so the fact that I'm enjoying this one makes sense!)

[tatakaeeren]

thank you for being so kind >-< i never like rambling problems bc i am very apathetic when it comes to well, anything dealing with anyone else's problems so i never meant to ramble out to you I'm still so sorry ;-; it won't get less stressful per se, I'm graduating in December and getting my PhD (or at least want to) so i have applications for that and scholarship and grant writing for more research projects <///33 I'm too much of an overachiever for my own good <//333 BUT ENUFF on that i refuse to be sad and wallow in an unproductive state so i will instead talk about something else.

What are some of your least favorite romance/shoujo tropes in anime and in manga? Whether it be bl stories, yuri, webtoons, mangas, anything! I shall go first~ (of course i will ask you what are your faves are in the next ask~)

My least favorites

Tsunderes.

i KNOW it's so common to have it and kuudere and tsunderes are very similar but GAH I HATE TSUNDERES SO MUCH because it's usually used as a he or she is a total bitch but don't worry guys it's bc they are shy <3 LIKE WHOT. yes yes they get "warmer over time" but this is why i had to stop watching kaguya-sama love is war because i can't stand that show i couldn't 😭

Needless pining, the "chase"

see kaguya-sama love is war (sorry to flame this show but it's also a perfect example). I know people say the development gets started in the second season and i know it's like critical acclaim and popularity is deserved blah blah but idk man, the first season just turned me off SO MUCH that i haven't been able to pick it back up ESPECIALLY THE END ARC AT LIKE THE FESTIVAL idk i just pining and missed chances and mind games i can only do for like 2 episodes but after that i NEED TO SEE SOME PROGRESSION otherwise i get so annoyed

Starts off a bitch, gets better

could be put in the same category as a tsundere but this gets its own category because bl mangas fucking love this trope and i hate it like i know everyone loves BJ Alex, and are probably fawning over Jinx right now but GOSH i could never read either because i just like I DONT GET IT IF ASSHOLE WHY HE GET LOVE???? i do nawt care if he had some traumatic life experience YOU DONT GET TO BE A ASSHOLEEEEEEEEE. And this doesn't count as enemies to lovers because usually in that one they're both dicking each other over and it's mutual versus like nice guy simp gets trampled on.

Okie now your turn <33333 (if you dont' have any i will look like such a bitch asfdasdfasdf)

-lavender anonie~

You're welcome 💖 I'm always here to help everyone who needs to be listened and understood ✨. OOHHH nice!!! congratsss so you have to give your everything until December... and then apply to a PhD? (I'm sorry I don't quite get the educational system over there) and how many more years is that?

Hahahahah Such an interesting topic! haha least fav first and then our faves 🤣 ok.. let's see: "Tsunderes"... it depends if they are annoying because sometimes there are Tsunderes that are charming and adorable with a spicy feisty side... those I enjoy, but the ones that only scream and act rude or mean for no reason... I pass. The "pinning", I enjoy it when there is real tension and life actually, either pulls them apart or together (not the random unrealistic "coincidences", I like it if it is believable or one of the characters needs to fully develop before confessing (I need to see them accepting themselves before accepting the love of others) if pinning is well done the ending is well deserved in the long run. The "starts off as a bicth" Yeah I don't like it, I DO enjoy good enemies to lovers because both have very distinct goals or morals but then understand the other's point of view. But if the character is just a bitch for being one without further character development... I don't like that.

In my case I don't have "least fav tropes" but I see these types of content/story/character... I'm closing the page right then and there: Power abuse, gaslighting, mental health being treated as an "accessory" (not depicted as seriously and delicately as it should be dealt), I don't hate it but it is not my fav the "love at first sight" ... I need to see and feel the foundation of a relationship before realizing it is love. and my biggest turn of is if the characters are super annoying or super ..what I call "empty pretty and annoying" Im sorry they could be the prettiest in the universe but if they don't have a personality and are annoying... is a big NO.

[ndn-craft]

ramble under cut

imma preface this by saying that I don't have anything against empires FH shippers, it's just not for me and this is my personal opinion

3rd life FH is iconic for so many reasons and deservedly so

I love it cause of the romance inside a tragedy, I know they won't last, I know they won't survive. But the moments they did have was amazing and funny.

from the poppy and the puffish of peace, to Jimmy's death and Scott's afterlife

oh god Scott's afterlife in 3rd life, it's so bittersweet. The implication that Jimmy was waiting for Scott, yeah they died but they're home now. It was a short but sweet run

-

now onto Empires FH

I've always been a Jimmy main, but I've seen some parts of Scott's perspective, but tbh it really doesn't change my view

Imma just say it, it's an unrequited love story on Scott's end

Basically, from Jimmy's perspective, he didn't love Scott in a romantic sense

From Scott's perspective, it was all there from him, he loved Jimmy but was only able to be with him in his afterlife

there were somethings that were dropped during their "date" (I put date in quotations only because Jimmy didn't think of it as a date, but as a new alliance)

but, from Jimmy's perspective, it didn't go anywhere, they both were dealing with their own problems at the time as well. Jimmy just cared about other stuff more

I think at that point Jimmy already had his priorities in check in regards of, what he wants and needs, who's his closest friends were and who he didn't like, and Scott just didn't fit into any of that.

Scott killing Jimmy for the crown probably didn't help. (to note: I know Scott was going through something with Xornoth's crystal, but Jimmy didn't)

I don't like empires FH because they barely did anything together, at least from Jimmy's end. I do like it as an unrequited love story from Scott's end tho.

-

HOWEVER, this is where I plug in my s1 Jausage propaganda and I promise it does feed into why I don't like empires FH

These are two enemies to lovers

from the very beginning, these two were at each others throats. With Jimmy stealing from Sausage and Sausage taking Jimmy's disc, that whole conflict shaped up the Cod Alliance and the Wither Rose Alliance.

even after it was resolved, they would remain enemies due to fWhip stealing the Codfather Head

However, during Sausage's corruption, something changed, I legit can't really put my finger on it.

A moment that lives in my head rent free is Jimmy encountering Corrupted Sausage and said, "I don't like this Sausage, I want the old one back," the corrupted Sausage replying "you'll never see him again," and Jimmy replied "Yes I will"

I think they really grew to respect each other at some point.

I can't remember if Jimmy saying I won't help you after the corruption is done with you (paraphrasing) is something he said, or i'm misremembering another moment.

However, after Sausage was healed is when it really all changed.

Sausage went to apologize to Jimmy for the stuff he did and Jimmy didn't need to accept, heck, I kind of excepted him to not accept it cause Jimmy is a very stubborn guy and can hold a grudge like it's no one's business. But Jimmy did accept his apology, hell, he even apologized for his past actions as well.

They put in the effort to show each other they are sorry, they opened their walls and built a bridge between them. They even turned the empty, dead, chasm between their empires into a flourishing, lush, garden.

They also canonically kissed and, if you count the streams, kissed multiple times

Jimmy and Sausage has chemistry and development their stories are intertwined and important to each other, that's what's lacking from Empires FH

feeling cute, might ramble about why I don't like empires FH but love 3rd life FH

[fridayiminlcve]

what is your problem with tiktok or booktok and colleen hoover lmao its not that bad surely

the fact that it actively promotes overconsumerism, the way it sells books to you by just playing into already heavily milked out tropes with very specific character niches that are seen in every book nowadays and how the reading is just seen as something aesthetic or a part of the "it girl routine" maybe? if those are enough reasons for you?

does the fact that these books are the first things you see when you walk into a bookstore not bother you? when you ask someone for a book recommendation they'll follow it up with "its a romance slow burn enemies to lovers". it's always about the aesthetic of the book, how many lines can you take out of context and post as a compilation of your super cute romantic annotations page on instagram. no analyzing the book, no theories, no symbolism or meaningfulness at all. how people stand reading those kind of books and still feel any kind of emotions over these flat as hell books with no world or character building is genuinely baffling to me

no one seems to know about actual literature anymore, which not to sound like a boomer but i think its definitely true. there's always been trend cycles, i agree such as the harry potter craze from the 1990s to the 2000s and the dystopia hunger games/maze runner/divergent blast in the early 2010s but tiktok has just.. shortened these cycles so much. as a result, people like our darling colleen hoover whose written around 46 books since 2015 (according to google) try come up with as much fresh content as they can as quickly as possible for the readers (see overconsumption). the fact that this lady outsold the bible is not outstanding to me, its fucking concerning.

and after all that, the result is badly written books with characters who're about as dimensional as a piece of paper, overuse of tropes, read like they've been written by a toddler, toxic-ass relationships being romanticised, very unnecessary sex scenes and countless other things. seriously if i wanted to read about the kind of stories hoover tells i would just open a wattpad account.

not clowning on those who made the choice to read it. i'm trying to highlight some of the flaws i find in authors like colleen hoover, sjm, ali hazelwood, casey mcquinston. some of them might be good, i wouldn't know because i actively try and avoid them at all costs. also i am BEGGING u all who will have an objection to this post to reach out of your comfort zone and read something different like non-fiction or fantasy or one of the classics for once if you only read booktok like seriously it might be hard but just do it for the love of god!! if you're annoying on this i will block you by the way i don't care

[wren-of-the-woods]

i beg your pardon, dear lady, but i was wondering if you might recommend any poly! yen x geralt x jask fics? <3 love your blog!

Hello, dear anon!! Thank you for such a kind message!

As I'm reasonably new to the Geraskefer pairing, I don't have too many fics bookmarked. That being said, I have found some really excellent stories!

independent people by @peaktotheocean 36k, rated T Modern AU. Jaskier accidentally starts casually dating Geralt and Yennefer (who are divorced) at the same time. It takes a very long time for anyone to realize this.

champagne problems by @yoursummerfrost Rated T, 11k Modern AU. When Jaskier finds out that his ex-boyfriend is getting married, he convinces Yennefer to help him stage a fake proposal so he can ruin the wedding. There's just one problem: it turns out they both know the caterer.

Petty Bards and Witty Witches (Will be the death of us all) by Rlybro Rated T, 4k Canonverse, set around and after season 2. Soft moments between Jaskier and Yennefer where they contemplate about what they'd do if they ever see Geralt again vs What Actually Happened.

hold me together and give me a reason by @witchersgoldenbard Rated M, 3k Canonverse, post-season 2. After losing nearly everything, Jaskier falls apart alone in a room in Kaer Morhen. It takes a sorceress and a witcher both to put him back together again.

Private Performance by fabrega Rated G, 2k Canonverse, post-season 2. Yennefer asks Jaskier to play Burn Butcher Burn for Geralt.

Since I didn't have very many suggestions of my own, I also asked the wonderful Geraskefer shipper @yellow-feathered-faerie for her recs! I haven't read all of them yet, but they look absolutely amazing and I'm absolutely going to be going through them in the next few days. The descriptions are hers, with minor edits!

Rumor Has It by @cardamomdaydream Rated T, 2k A modern AU where the teacher's as Ciri's school are trying to work out exactly who her parents are (and fail to see that all three of the very hot people seen dropping her off are, in fact, counted).

even in jest, or as an afterthought by @andfollowthesun Rated T, 10k Another modern AU where Yenn, Jask and Geralt went to Uni together but eventually fell apart and how they get back together. It's been a while since I read this one but I remember it being very good.

for she had done mischief by @whatkindofnameisvolta Rated T, 43k An AU where Jaskier ends up with a demigod child and Yenn and Geralt end up in Lettenhove with Ciri and they are all forcibly adopted into Jaskier's family (and they attempt to set him up with both Yenn and Geralt).

Stuck In The Middle With You by @j-pankratz Rated M, 16k Another modern AU (I have a bit of a thing for them) which is also a bit of a canon rewritten into this au - I recall this one being quite a nice light read.

The First Annual Family of Promise Roadtrip by corasangloria and @icannotreadcursive Rated T, 16k This is (yet another) modern AU with established Geraskefer (romantic and platonic and a bit jumbled) meeting Ciri for the first time and going on holiday - I remember this one as being quite funny in places and handling emotions and stuff really well.

A Good Few Verses by reena_jenkins and sospes Rated E, 74k A bit more Yennskier than Geraskefer but there's honestly enough Geralt mentioned that I think it should count - and I loved it too much not to recommend. There was lots of pining and enemies to friends to lovers and I read it pretty much in one sitting (I went to bed quite late).

I'm also going to take this opportunity to showcase this wonderful reclist by @imsupposedtobewriting! It has so many good fics including some Geraskefer (that's how I found independant people) and I highly reccomend it.

Also, I have a Geraskefer fic of my own drafted that should be posted on the 11th! There may also be more on its way, depending on how much the plot bunnies fight me, so watch this space ;)

That's all I have for you! I hope you enjoy these, darling anon <3

[fandom-space-princess]

ooohhh would you mind sharing the reasons you don't like booktok? i have some reasons of my own but im really interested in the opinion who actually has to deal with the consequences of it all more directly. only if you want of course!

Oh goodness, grab your beach towel anon. Usually you'd have to go to the sea for this much salt.

(Prefacing this with the fact that this is just my opinion, not meant to be emblematic of like... booksellers as a whole, or my employer, or anything. It's also anecdata; nothing here is backed up by anything more than personal observation. I'm just a guy with a keyboard and an attitude. This also isn't meant to be a dig at anybody's taste in books/stories. I'm a supernatural blog, I have no legs to stand on in that regard.)

The things I most dislike about booktok, in no particular order:

1). The tendency toward quick consumption of stories without deeper or more lasting investment is an issue I have with a lot of media (see: Netflix dropping an entire series of something that everyone has watched, and then moved on from, in a week), but I think the problems inherent to that model of engagement become acute when the media in question is books. Novels are long-form storytelling by design; you're meant to sit with them for a while. Books in a series can take years, even decades, between publication. It's hard to convince people to engage with stories on that kind of timescale when we're constantly having our attention spans whittled away under a neverending barrage of buy-the-next-thing consumerism.

2). Tiktok is not only a principal motivator for this kind of behavior, it literally could not exist without it. Booktok doesn't encourage people to sit with books for a long time. It encourages you to *constantly* be consuming something new, *constantly* be pushing your friends to do the same, *constantly* be gaming the algorithm if you want to have any kind of significant presence. The environment does not encourage deep-dives; it leaves no time for contemplation. If you're participating in the culture as designed, you move through books very quickly.

From a business perspective (i.e. the capitalistic one), this is great. From the perspective of an indie bookseller, this is a pain in the ass on so many levels. Have you ever worked a retail Christmas rush? Where something you'd normally sell maybe three of in a year is suddenly The Hot Item, and the public demands you have 9000 of them in stock overnight?

It's unpleasant, is what I'm saying.

2b). The other thing this encourages? Stories that do not challenge people. Again, this is not to slander anyone's personal tastes. But ask yourself: what plays well to the greatest audience? What is most likely to draw customers, gain views, boost engagement? It isn't nuance. It isn't subtlety, isn't grappling with complex morality. All of those are things which I personally find intensely valuable about the experience of reading, and which I find pretty uniformly lacking in booktok's thing-of-the-week. This has an interesting overlap with the resurgence of censorship and purity culture that I think is worth examining, and maybe I'll rant about that some other time. As it stands, I find the trend toward Marvel-ification of fiction (simpler! louder! less nuance! more buzzwords!) to be obnoxious.

3). Speaking of buzzwords, the trend toward marketing new fiction using only a half-assed combination of tropes and comps drives me up a wall. I can't tell you how many ARCs I've seen in the last few months with bare-bones summaries and blurbs to the effect of "for fans of enemies-to-lovers and Game of Thrones, an endearing story of found family and the power of love!" Ok?? Fine in moderation, I guess, but even if I liked all of those things, what is in this book? Did the publisher not bother... asking the writer? Did they not leave them time to write a proper summary? Did they just not care, and hope replace a genuine marketing strategy with SEO?

Idk, maybe there's a benefit to this I can't see. Drives me absolutely bonkers, though.

4). The tags for my original post mentioned Colleen Hoover, who is the target of my ire at the moment because I've been pulling books for her fans all week, per point (2). No offense intended to Ms. Hoover, who I know nothing about but I'm sure is a perfectly normal author looking to get paid for her work, or even to her books, which are not my kind of thing but clearly are somebody's. FULL offense to Hachette for those books, though. They are everything I hate in paperback form: boring, ugly cover after boring, ugly cover. Really REALLY cheaply printed; about 1 in 3 arrive with some kind of damage, because they're so badly made that they don't hold up to even light jarring during shipping. The binding is... sad. Like. Even very bad books deserve better than this. But does the publisher care? Are they motivated to craft a higher quality product? Like hell they are! Because every booktok-er will buy them anyway. They're not interested in a product that will last; they're not looking for an object to cherish for life, a book to pick up and read over and over and over and over again until the spine cracks and the pages start falling out. That'll happen to these goddamn things by the second reread, but how many of them will get that reread is debatable, because by then I'll be selling that crowd The Next New Big Thing.

Anyway. I'll stop there. Thank you, anon, for your ask, and giving me a chance to vent a little bit. Wishing you a hot tea and a good, well-crafted story to liven up your day <3