#the thing about bleach is that it's not just big tragedies it's a million little tragedies like this too. just tragedies all the way down

[recurring-polynya]

i'm never entirely sure if the term "captain-class" includes lieutenants (personally, I think it's people who have or are close to having bankai, which would obviously include Ikkaku so whatever), but assuming he was allowed to pick lieutenants, imagine being Renji and being told to pick the three people you'd most want to have with you to go to another world and wait for a war to crack open

(alternatively, imagine an au where the advance team was abarai & kuchiki & hinamori & kira & hisagi, the shining stars of shin'ou class of 2066 + their favorite sempai)

[andreyahalms]

Fic Writer Review

Tagged by @mira--mira. Thank you for the tag! 😄 That WIP thing you tagged me months ago still haunts me and I promise I will get to it some day.

1. How many fics on AO3?

19

2. Total AO3 wordcount?

91,058

....when did this happen. 😂

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Naruto (10)

Harry Potter (5)

Hetalia (4)

+Bleach and Detective Conan on ff.net.

HP & Hetalia are from, like, 7-8 years back and earlier though.

4. Top Five by Kudos?

c'mon and get your kicks - SNS superhero AU ft. Sasuke's socially inept flirting and one of my favourite tropes - identity porn. Hand-written, typed and edited in a 10-hour daze.

Chameleon White - HSMD canon-divergent, time-travel fixit (sort of). Not sure why so many people read it, but I'm glad that it brought the readers some joy.

Of Monsters and Sleep - DenNor, Hetalia, written in 2013. Can only vaguely recollect the contents.

Simmer Down and Pucker Up - SNS spy AU ft. explosions, nipples, zombies and accidental honeypots. Marked my return to fanfic writing after a 7-year break.

For My Dreams (and a Pocketful of Gold) - Wolfstar superhero AU, written for R/S Small Gifts.

5. Do you respond to comments, why/why not?

I do if it's criticism, or if people have questions that won't be answered later on in the fic.

Otherwise, I don't. As much as I like praise and appreciation, it embarrasses me - both online and offline - and I never know how to react like a normal person since I wasn't socialised properly as a kid. I prefer to blush furiously in the safety of my room.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

There's a Naruto (SasuHina) fic I'd written back in high school. The angst is exactly as melodramatic and cringy as you'd expect coming from a 15 y.o. who's learning how to process their emotions. Otherwise, Chameleon White I guess? Not angsty per se, just a little sad.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Nope. Can't go through the mental gymnastics of making characters from different universes react, haha. But I like fics where the cast of series A lives in and follows the same rules as the universe of series B.

There's an SNS JJBA AU I fiddle with sometimes, titled Sasuke's Bizarre Adventure. It's basically a retelling of Stardust Crusaders, with Hashimada playing the role of Joseph (the weird and dramatic grandfathers), Orochimaru as Dio (thirsty for that Uchiha blood) and Itachi (parallel to Jonathan's body that Dio...commandeered) who Sasuke and co. set out to rescue.

8. Have you received hate on a fic?

Not on anything after I picked up writing again. People here are really kind! I did receive some hate on a Bleach fic on ff.net that I'd written in 2011/12, but I came across that comment 8 years after it was posted, so it was kinda funny. They were viciously sore about how the 2 characters did not end up together. Which is not really my problem because I never hinted at a romance??? Idk man, it confused me.

9. Do you write smut?

Writing smut is embarrassing, sorry. It's like eating food I made myself, as opposed to consuming food that someone else has made for you with quality ingredients, impeccable hygiene and passion.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope.

11. Ever had a fic translated?

Haha, nope.

12. Ever co-written a fic before?

*looks at my million WIPs* I have commitment issues.

13. All time favorite ship?

Well, wolfstar (Remus/Sirius from HP) is a ship that's endured for literal years. I'm a big fan of the best-friends-to-tragedies (with a healthy dose of betrayal) trope. Really goes through the full emotion spectrum. Which is why I like Hashimada and SNS too.

14. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will?

Ahiṃsā, an Itachi & Sasuke-centric fic where after the massacre, Itachi runs away with Sasuke instead of running away to Akatsuki. It was going to based on some of the virtues of Hinduism & some other religions which developed in the same part of the world. Edo-tensei Madara would have made an appearance, and it would have been a fic about peace and brotherhood and family and the ties to your birthplace...but yeah. 😅

15. What are your writing strengths?

Conciseness (I say on the longest post I've ever made on this website).

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Also conciseness. I would love for my writing to be more descriptive, where I set up the ambience and emotions but it's really hard for me. If I try it, I end up hating it.

Also prepositions. Is it sitting in a chair or on a chair. Stuff like this just fucks me up.

17. What are your thoughts of writing dialogue in other languages?

Not a fan. Some commonly used terms are fine - like common jutsu names etc, but otherwise, it breaks the flow. I get that if you're reading a fic from a character's POV, the general practice is to write in another language if that character is as clueless as you, but I don't like it. I'd prefer if people wrote "kommaut alle woo" (pardon my French) instead of "comment allez-vous" so that I read it in the same way the character hears it, but that's just me haha. Writing stuff in different languages/scripts is fine if the character is reading text they don't understand.

18. First fandom you wrote for?

Bleach or Detective Conan. I'm too scared to go to my ff.net and find out.

19. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

I have a very hands-off approach with my fics. Once it's written, it's gone. I love the comments and kudos and bookmarks and feedback, but otherwise, it's not my problem. The author is dead, time to play with the next one. But the SNS spy AU kept me occupied the longest and gave me the freedom to write some really random shit, so. :')

......

I think most people I know here who write have already been tagged, but @libby-failedsage if you're up for it and haven't done it already - and anyone else who wants to!

[misas-biggest-fan]

i was tagged by @trans-l-lawliet, @erencollins, and ;alskdjflsk i think someone else too im so so sorry and then forgot to do it and then sevan helped me find it again bc theyre an actual angel so THANK YOU SO MUCH im sorry im such a hot mess a;lksdj 

ANYWAY !!!!!!

1. nicknames: i still have not chosen a name for myself bc im trans AND a loser, so no names for me LOL BUT that being said, people on here call me my url, misa, and mbf, which i think is super cute and makes me happy when people refer to me LOL also matt chose the nickname ‘ole worm’ for me once and i work everyday to live worthy of that title

2. eye color: green!!

3. hair color: light brown but i have it bleached rn

4. fact abt me: hmmmm i get cold SUPEr super easy im only comfortable if its like a million degrees. also ive faithfully kept a diary for like, nearly my whole life

5. fav color: green!!!! but i also love stuff like metallics. shiny dark gold is incredible. also anything that glitters. and neon. a;lksdj;alskdj i like flashy things

6. fav place: LA!!!!!! and anywhere where my friends are <333

7. fav celebrity: oh hmm well i used to rly rly dig sebastian stan, not that i dont anymore, i do, i just haven’t hyped as much for him lately. chris evans. you know, marvel people. ik scarlett johansson is like not a great person but ive always been floored by how beautiful she is. kenichi matsuyama is probably my longest celebrity “”crush””. kento yamazaki. neil gaiman is one of my fav writers. gerard way.

8. fav animal: @theamazingpeterparkerr‘s beautiful kind little dog, Lilly. id take a bullet for that dog no joke, she’s so kind and sweet and small as;ldkfaj;sdlkj

9. fav song: ok so spotify tells me that my most listened to track is ‘it’s alright’ by mother mother, which sounds about right LOL after that is ‘greek tragedy’ by the wombats and then the orchestral version of ‘tear up this town’ by keane (you guys these rly slap like big time you should hear them im begging you)

10. fav book: i have 2 favorites lists on goodreads bc one is old and one is more recent. a few of the books of my new-favorites list are radio silence by alice oseman, fight club by chuck palahnuik, american gods by neil gaiman, and the great gatsby!!

<3333333

@theamazingpeterparkerr @antifacowboy @thatoneweirddude21 @mcj-universe @thatonekawaiigirl13 @kiranatrix @grelleswife @kaelvas @spiderwebb93 @lawliet-imagines @snufasin @se34r5 @sentinelai @thatshadowboy @luckycharge @side-ho-ryuuzaki @lollipop-lawliet @kayathedragon @simplynothuman @the-anon-artist 

[littleforestfairy]

Every aesthetic ask :3c

God damn it Shay

flower crown: when did you last sing to yourself?

Yesterday when I was singing a Seventeen song stuck in my head

fairy lights: if a crystal ball could tell you the truth about anything, what would you want to know?

Will I ever meet all of my friends in person???

daisies: what is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

Uuuhhh I’m not really sure?? I can’t really think of any big accomplishments I’ve made yet

1975: what is the first happy memory that comes to mind, recent or otherwise?

Laughing so freaking hard at a ridiculous clip from a Seventeen concert

matte: if you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living?

I guess I would work harder to finish things, put something amazing out into the world to be remembered by

black nail polish: do you have a bucket list? if so, what are the top three things?

1. Become a well known author

2. Meet all my friends in person

3. Go to Japan

pantone: describe a person close to your life in detail.

I’ll do my sister cus I was just talking to her:

She’s incredibly talented at things like knitting and sewing and playing the piano, but it’s sad how much she underestimates her talents because she’s so impatient and wants to already be at a certain level and convinces herself she should be there already with how long she’s been doing it. Her natural personality is pure sarcasm and sass, teasing and poking fun and pointing out dumb questions with sarcastic answers, she has almost no filter, saying what’s on her mind even if it’s probably not the best time to say it, and sometimes she doesn’t even realize she’s doing it because it’s like her default setting. She’s got a hot head sometimes and has a tendency to get easily angered over small things, building up on top of other small things until it’s a big thing she can’t take anymore. She’s also very caring. She’s the oldest and, even though I don’t want her to do it, she has always put others before herself, ensuring that my brother and I were always comforted and taken care of first even when she felt like breaking down. With that she bottles up her emotions too much, convinces herself that her well-being doesn’t need to come first when it comes to my safety. Though I know she’s trying hard to snap out of that mentality, it’s just hard. She can get very excited over the things she loves, not exactly outwardly jumpy or bubbly, but more excited and frustrated rambling for an hour after she’s binged an entire show in 2 days.

I’m gonna stop there cus it’s so long already

moodboard: do you feel you had a happy childhood?

Yeah, I did!! I have loving parents who always did what they could to ensure we were happy, and siblings close in age (well, one being a twin), so we were able to grow up together and never any distance cus of age or anything

stars: when did you last cry in front of another person?

Like last week

plants: pick a person to stargaze with you and explain why you picked them.

Hmmm I pick my lovely friend Mark because I know he loves space and stars and I think he’d really enjoy just hanging out and stargazing

converse: would you ever have a deep conversation with a stranger and open up to them?

Nooooo, I could never ever do that

lace: when was your last 3am conversation with someone, and who were they to you?

A few days ago with Yams!! We were talking about kpop !!

handwriting: if you were about to die, and you could only say one more sentence to one person, what would you say and to whom?

Uuuuhhhhh I have no idea honestly, that’s too much pressure

cactus: what is your opinion on brown eyes?

They’re very nice! And very underappreciated! My sister and dad have very dark brown eyes that they look almost black and they’re super cool

sunrise: pick a quote and describe what it means to you personally.

"When someone leaves your life, those exits are not made equal. Some are beautiful and poetic and satisfying. Others are abrupt and unfair. But most are just unremarkable, unintentional, clumsy." - Griffin McElroy

It was in the last episode of The Stolen Century and it just really resonates with me personally because it is very very true

oil paints: what would you title the autobiography of your life so far?

“I Never Get Anything Done and It’s a Surprise This Got Done”

overalls: what would you do with one billion dollars?

buy a huge house, buy my parents and my sister their dream cars, go meet up with all my friends, go on a huge vacation with my family to Japan or Germany, or both

combat boots: are you a very forgiving person? do you like being this way?

I try to be, I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I do like trying to see good in people and find out if they really meant something hurtful. I don’t forgive people who refuse to be sorry though or really hurt me, that’s just too much to ask

winged eyeliner: write a hundred word letter to your twelve year old self.

In a year, you're gonna go through the worst tragedy of your whole life, it's gonna make everything feel like the world is falling apart, but I promise you'll be okay in time, it gets easier and you'll have your family to be beside you. And in a few years, you're gonna meet the bestest friends you've ever had who will become like a second family, and that entire summer when you meet them will be the best summer of your whole life, because you'll spend every day and every night laughing with them and it'll be so freaking amazing.

pastel: would you describe yourself as more punk or pastel?

Definitely pastel!

tattoos: how do you feel about tattoos and piercings? explain.

They’re super cool and while I personally don’t want any tattoos and I have no idea when I’ll even pierce my ears, people should be allowed to do whatever they want to their own bodies, they’re great ways of expressing yourself and showing to the world who you are and what’s important to you and what you love.

piercings: do you wear a lot of makeup? why/why not?

Nope, just not really my thing.

bands: talk about a song/band/lyric that has affected your life in some way.

iiiii dunno, nothing really comes to my mind at the moment

messy bun: the world is listening. pick one sentence you would tell them.

“Why are you listening to me, that’s creepy”

cry baby: list the concerts you have been to and talk about how they make you feel.

I’ve been to no concerts!! Except Cheetah Girls when I was like 9 or 10 or something!

grunge: who in the world would you most like to receive a letter from and what would you want it to say?

I dunno honestly

space: do you have a desk/workspace and how is it organised/not organised?

I do have a desk but I don’t use it rn cus I don’t have a chair. It’s an art desk so my paint and stuff is mostly organized, though there is a bit of a mess that I’ll move whenever I get a chair

white bed sheets: what is your night time routine?

Brush my teeth, get a bottle of water, watch videos until I get sleepy

old books: what’s one thing you don’t want your parents to know?

Uuuhhhhh that I read smut fanfics a LOT 

beaches: if you had to dye your hair how would you dye/style it and why?

I would dye it cotton candy pink because it’s a freaking super cute color, but it would require bleaching for my hair and I don’t want that

eyes: pick five people to go on an excursion with you. who would you pick and where would you go/what would you do?

I don’t wanna pick just five I wanna pick all my friends and we’ll all go on a road trip and hit all the touristy spots

11:11: name three wishes and why you wish for them.

I actually do make wishes when it’s 11:11, but tbh I don’t wanna say anything I do or would wish for, cus you’re not supposed to say wishes or they won’t come true ! 

painting: what is the best halloween costume you have ever put together? if none, make one up.

I didn’t put it together, but my grandma did, and it was a green, white, and pink fairy dress with sheer fabric over it and little flowers on the sheer and it was big on me but it was super cute

lightning: what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done while drunk or high?

I’ve never been drunk or high !

thunder: what’s one thing you would never do for one million dollars?

Kill someone

storms: you on only listen to one song for the rest of your life, or only see one person for the rest of your life. which and why?

Only listen to one song. Because I’ve got too many people important to me and I don’t wanna see just ONE of them for the rest of my life

love: have you ever fallen in love? describe what it feels like to realise you’re in love.

Noooope

clouds: if you’re a boy, would you ever rock black nail polish? if you’re a girl, would you ever rock really really short hair?

I’ve had short hair before and I didn’t like it, I much much prefer long hair

coffee: what’s your starbucks order, and who would you trust to order for you, if anyone?

Usually it’s just strawberries and creme frappucino, which is. just a menu item so I would trust anyone to order it. But when we have the money, I get a banana chocolate chip frappucino and it’s not really that complicated, so I’m sure anyone could order it

marble: what is the most important thing to you in your life right now?

My friends and family !!

[sustainhealthmagazine]

We get to talk with Prodigy Founder, Sameer Vaswani

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Prodigy, with the slogan ‘eat no evil’, is a reinvented classic chocolate bar brand using natural ingredients. Prodigy was established in 2017 by Sameer Vaswani who aims to bring chocolate and biscuit products to the mainstream market which are made from clean, natural ingredients with nutritional benefits, packaged in sustainable materials.

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Prodigy has been two years in the making and endeavours to be a company which creates goodness for its consumers and the planet, so we wanted to get a clearer insight into founder Sameer Vaswani’s vision behind the product.

Reinforcing the company’s ethos of being good for consumers, the planet and humanity, Prodigy Snacks proudly donates 5% of all profits to support the following organisations: The Blue Marine Foundation, Akshaya Patra, Friends of the Earth and Hope for Justice.

Facts and figures about refined and unrefined sugar.

Refined sugar is extracted from the sugar cane and processed, studies show that having too much sugar can cause multiple health implications. Sugar is being added to almost everything processed that we eat; fruit juices, smoothies, sauces. Refined sugar has no nutritional value and is ultimately empty calories. Unrefined sugar is natural sugar and hold many natural nutrients. Unrefined sugars include; honey, maple syrup, agave nectar. Lots of brands still market themselves as better alternatives by using gimmicks like “single origin” or “organic” or “Carb Killa” – but still using refined sugars, glucose syrup, or highly processed proteins. The worst is “sugar free” - Replacing white sugar with artificial, highly processed sweeteners, or polyols and sugar alcohols is hardly the answer!

The harmful practices and personal stories from having worked in the confectionary industry for over 16 years.

I witnessed first hand the negative environmental impact of industrial food production. In a bid to make packaged foods as cheap as possible and accessible to the masses, companies have to source “ingredients” from all over the world without much consideration for their carbon footprint. International shipping and logistics, whilst beneficial for economies, is terrible for the planet. Again with the motivation of producing cheap snacks, the “ingredients” being sourced are nothing but chemicals, and highly processed materials that are toxic for the body and have very little nutritional benefit. In order to produce affordable convenience foods, you need large scale factories to “process” and produce the foods, I don’t have a problem with that, it’s the highly processed ingredients being used that are the problem.

Sameer’s entrepreneur story.

I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My grandfather left India by boat in the 1920’s and started his own business in Hong Kong. My father did something similar in Africa in the 60’s. I started my first business in London, at the age of 23, as a Chef. My second business began from scratch in 2002 – Confectionery & Sweet Snacks. I built that food business over 14 years and managed to sell it to a Multinational in 2015. With the proceeds, I became an investor and began investing in “better for you” F&B businesses – 5 in total now. I have now started again with my 3rd business in life – Prodigy Snacks. 

The most detrimental issues with the production of confectionery products and how Prodigy has avoided these practices.

Refined sugar is diabolical, the method of production in many sugar refineries was jaw dropping for me. Sugar starts out as a plant, then becomes black gooey molasses, then ends up as white powder. As if refined white sugar wasn’t cheap and toxic enough, big confectionery brands went one step further and used even more toxic and cheaper “sweetening” ingredients like High Fructose Corn Syrup and Glucose Syrup – totally synthetic. Chocolate should be made with Cacao Butter as the fat of choice. Again, to drive costs down, big brands substitute cacao butter and use palm oil instead. To make a cheap “buttery” shortbread biscuit, no butter is used, but synthetic artificial butter flavours! To make a gummy bear, industrial emulsifiers are used and artificial dyes / colours as well to make them look pretty! What’s wrong with beetroot juice to make something red ? Or Carrot juice to make something orange? 

Top trends surfacing in the confectionery world

In confectionery, as well as in packaged foods / snacks in general, the top trend is a return to natural ingredients with all the inherent nutritional benefit retained in the product. Even for confectionery / sweet snacks – why not ? It’s more expensive, but just like anything else, the more people consume of it, the lower the costs. Refined sugar is now finally recognised by many western governments as a health hazard – but we all love sweet things! I consider Coconut Sugar as the best alternative. Plant based products are clearly an explosive trend as more and more consumers become conscious about the impact on the planet from consuming animal products. The “Planetary Diet” is another welcome trend where we consume food & drink that has a low negative impact on the planet. Plastic or carbon fuel based packaging materials is one of the biggest crises in convenience foods, and I am just so glad that new technology is now available to offer an alternative. 

The status of sugar consumption in the UK

An unrefined sugar is a naturally occurring sugar that has been delivered by mother nature! Not bleached and having undergone multiple processes before it can be consumed. Honey from bees is the best example. Maple Syrup from trees, Coconut sugar comes from the sap of a coconut / palm tree. Fructose from fruit. Agave from plants. Just like in many developed countries, sugar consumption in the UK is just way too high. The amount of parents allowing their kids to put sugary cereals as the first bit of nutrition into their bodies to start the day is simply a tragedy. Obesity and diabetes is of course a huge problem, but it's also about polluting the body, and fuelling sugar addiction. 

The future for plastic-free packaging  

As I said earlier, the plastic free packaging movement has already begun. We started out with biodegradable / compostable materials which are considered “renewable” because they are plant based, and then decompose / biodegrade back into the earth to then grow again. However, the one issue with these materials is the lack of infrastructure to A) Collect the disposed of packaging materials, and B) industrially “compost” them. In the UK for example, the system of waste collection is determined by each council. There is no uniform policy for the whole country. Richmond Council distributes compostable rubbish bags. I don’t know of any others. Compostable materials need to be collected separately to recyclable waste – eg along with garden or food waste. Thankfully, a new solution has just come into the market – Paper based packaging which is fully recyclable. It’s still not a perfect solution, as we need to chop down trees to produce paper, but being recyclable is a HUGE positive and a massive improvement to plastic. Likewise, compostable packaging is not perfect, but a huge step in the right direction. 

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Sameer’s motivation for making an impact on the world and the food we eat

My whole career has been in food. Nutrition and a healthy diet with freshly prepared food was a cornerstone of my upbringing – hence why I became a Chef! I didn’t grow up on packaged foods that you shove in the microwave. So I was fortunate to have that core value instilled in me. Then having built my own food factories and experienced industrial food production, when I became a father to my two beautiful girls, I just couldn’t allow them to put these pollutants into their body. We all live in the developed world, and fast paced lives need convenience foods. Not everyone has the time to cook fresh food. Convenience food certainly does not need to be bad for you and as I said, with natural nutritional ingredients, the way food should be, there is absolutely no reason why we can’t have packaged snacks that are good for you. 

Prodigy’s ingredients and the benefits

Prodigy Snacks is a range of chocolates and biscuits that do you no harm and actually have a nutritional benefit. I am a chocoholic, I cannot live without chocolate. Cacao is the original “food of the gods” not only because it delivers so much sensory pleasure, but also because the natural cacao fruit is packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The key here is retaining all that nutrition and not killing it by highly processing cacao and heating it at extremely hot temperatures. So our cacao ingredients are “raw” and thus retains its nutrients. We boost the nutritional value by adding superfoods like Baobab, Lucuma, Green tea, and added fibre which benefits the gut. We also only use plant based “milks” and no dairy which is better for the planet and also (believe it or not) makes for a richer tasting chocolate. We are reinventing Chocolate for the mainstream, not just for a premium niche market. It’s a rebirth of how chocolate should have been made – we are taking all the classics we all grew up with and making them better for you, better for the planet. 

Prodigy’s charity partnerships and why this is so important to Sameer

We want to protect the planet, and do what we can to reverse climate change. We understand the importance of nutrition and that every human should have access to nutritional food. We also believe in freedom, for people to be who they need to be and fulfil their potential. Hence we support Friends of the Earth to help save the planet, Hope for Justice to protect against Human trafficking and maintain Human freedoms, and Akshaya Patra who ensure millions of Asian children have access to nutritional meals. We also wish to support a charity / organisation to protect the Oceans and are working on that. 

The future for Prodigy

Short term, we want to deliver the same pleasure from sweet treats that we all love and enjoy but without the negative impact on both the body and the planet. The big brands have got away with hoodwinking us for far too long. The American food industrialisation of the 50’s got us here – teaching us to eat convenience / packaged foods that were cheap and accessible because we demanded it with our lifestyles. However, we DESERVE to be provided with food / snacks that are not void of nutrition. Long term, Prodigy seeks to take on the big companies and show them that reaching the mainstream with affordable and natural convenience food is very possible and need not adversely affect our amazing planet. 

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