#there’s a weird feeling of failure if i give up reading it though.. which is so silly because you can’t fail at reading..

[jasonisaacs]

should you try to force yourself to finish a book you really aren’t enjoying or is it better to just abandon it and move on to a different book? i’m curious to know people’s thoughts on this..

[brown-little-robin]

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[megalobsterface]

No One Else Is Saying It So I'm Going To: Elden Ring DLC Is Transphobic As Fuck

The entire character of Count Ymir feels like Fromsoft was upset people weren't as disgusted by Gwyndolin as they were supposed to be, so they turned the transmisogyny up to 11 and made it absolutely unmissable how much hatred they have towards trans people. And most people on the internet are still fucking missing it somehow, so let's break it down, I guess.

Count Ymir is an NPC in the Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, and is the main character of his own questline in the DLC. He's an old man who sits on a throne and is only ever referred to with he/him pronouns, and he wears a 'priest's outfit' that involves a habit-like crown and a long, purple robe.

One of the first things you learn about Count Ymir is that he's somehow attached to a deceased child named Yuri, to the point where he starts calling tiny fingercreepers by his name. You can find Ymir at night sobbing over the gravestone, while during the day he cradles a tiny, dead hand and calls it Yuri. While giving him an obsession with an underaged boy who may or may not have even been his son is definitely sus, it's literally the least weird part of this quest. It's mostly there to set up unease and distrust with Ymir, because they player doesn't know how Yuri died, and suddenly this old man is treating creepy monsters as children and calling them by this dead child's name. Again, nothing incriminating on its own, but that's just the set-up.

Ymir gives you a "bell," which is a long, cylindrical object with a bunch of holes in it, one of those holes on the elongated tip, that the player takes to places called 'Finger Ruins' to unlock treasure. Finger ruins are large, grey deserts with giant stone fingers jutting out of the sand. These ruins are inhabited by fingercreepers, enemies from the base game that are spider-like severed hands, and these new enemies that are long, lamprey-like finger men that can grab the player and suck on their face. To use the bell Ymir gave you, you go up to a giant version of the bell and blow into it, the hole on the tip the size of the player's entire face.

As you go on these treasure hunts, you meet Jolan, Ymir's bodyguard, a woman who is protective of the old man for some reason. Ymir mentions that Jolan has a sister named Anna, and both of them are purehearted. Here's the thing, though. During the 2nd treasure hunt, you can find a secret room in a tower nearby Ymir's church, and in that room is Anna's corpse, turned into a puppet somehow. Puppet summons in the base game are heavily, heavily implied to be victims of sexual violence, as the man who makes them, Seluvis, exclusively makes puppets out of women and naked men, keeping some of them in his bedroom behind a magic door, and getting very personal with you the instant you find out about this. These are dead bodies that are meant to be read as the objects of sexual gratification to the one who made them that way.

Anna's puppet is in a secret room near Ymir's church. It is explicitly stated later that Anna is Ymir's "doll," further cementing the implications from the base game. Before even getting to the end of the questline, we have confirmation Ymir is a sexual predator who has murdered at least one adult woman, which puts his obsession with a deceased young boy further into question.

After the 2nd treasure hunt, you return to find Ymir crying at Yuri's grave. He tells you that Marika, the queen of the lands between, final boss of the main game, and mother of DLC antagonist Miquella, is a failure because she is a bad mother, and that Miquella is doomed because of a "rotten root." This brings up his other obsession, that of motherhood, and how Yuri would still be alive if he'd had a better mother. You can probably see where this is going.

Ymir gives you a third map, which tells you the church is already in a finger ruin desert, which is obviously untrue, as you can see it's not. So you look around and find a secret tunnel underneath Ymir's throne while he's at Yuri's grave. Underneath the church is a hidden finger ruin, with fingers jutting out of the sky and one more giant bell at the end.

Anna invades you here, though it's clear from before that she's been long dead and this is her reanimated corpse being used for Ymir's bidding. After defeating Anna, you get to the last bell, and instead of treasure, you're teleported to a sea of fingers and fight Metyr, Mother of Fingers. This is a fromsoft game, so you can use your imagination on what a boss who is themed around maternity and has a body made up solely of long, plump fingers looks like. Hint: phallic and unpleasant.

After beating Metyr, Jolan tries to kill you for ruining Ymir's plan, somehow? You just followed his maps and did what he asked, and this ruined his plan. He told you where to go, gave you the key item you needed to use, and asked you to do it for him. He drew you a MAP. But this ruined his plans? None of this quest was thought through beyond the cruelty it applies to real world groups, the writing makes literally no sense. Hate crime aside, the writing is just bad.

After fighting Jolan is when the other shoe drops and Ymir is summoned as the final boss of this sidequest. His title is Count Ymir, Mother of Fingers, and his purple priestess robe is now bursting at the seems with wriggling fingers. He says he will be "A true mother. The only mother." He fights by literally giving birth to fingercreepers, spewing them out of his robes as a projectile. Let me remind you of the phallic nature of this enemy, and of Gwyndolin, the other transfem-coded hate crime character Fromsoft made, who had snakes wriggling out from under her dress. This is a repeated theme in these games, of transfem-coded characters having dangerous, cylindrical objects under their clothes.

To be blunt, because I know not everyone is seeing this, having Ymir call himself a mother and then immediately be shown to be covered in penis-like fingers that were hidden under his robe this whole time, is an anti-tranny joke the devs are making. They made it with Gwyndolin, who we actually liked, so they went more explicit and made it again with an old man who kills women and children, sexually assaults them, and then tries to take sole ownership of the word "mother" because of his hatred towards women. The key item he gives you is designed to make the player feel violated. The entire quest is choked in phallic imagery, with Fromsoft practically screaming at the top of their lungs "PENIS ITS PENISES, HE HAS PENISES HE CAN'T BE A MOM BECAUSE OF THE PENIS!!! ISN'T HE GROSS, ISN'T HE SCARY??? PENIS!!!!"

It's fucking disgusting. It's detestable that they went through all of this trouble to show us how un-fucking-welcome we are in this game's community. This is some of the worst transphobia I've seen from a mainstream title in decades. This is Silence of the Lambs, Sleepaway Camp type shit. I would not be surprised if JK Rowling had a writing credit for this DLC. This isn't even getting into all the poorly thought-out incest they added into the main questline, either.

Fuck Fromsoft. I hope all the people who wrote this quest choke on air. It's fucking pathetic, I'm mad as hell, and any trans person who plays Elden Ring, or any other Fromsoft game, should be mad as hell, too.

[imaginethebeautifulworld]

So I was reading Phantom of the Opera and some of Erik's descriptions made me think so much of Gil! I remembered how amazing your Hades and Persephone fic was, and I was hoping you could do something with the Phantom too? Thanks so much!!!!

Hello, Anon! I absolutely adored Erik in the book, and now that I read your ask, I can easily see the similarities, too~ I grew up on a weird blend of the book, musical, and both the 2004 and Lon Chaney films; I tried to honor that blend in this a bit, but a majority was pulled from memories of the book. I hope you enjoy, and thank you for your patience~

The theatre was filled to bursting, the audience awed, riveted, mesmerized, your voice weaving an enchantment over hundreds of unsuspecting admirers.

He was proud of you.

Your voice reached him even in the highest and most of isolated rafters, a platform forgotten- abandoned- by the stagehands stationed several stories below. Your voice was full, carrying all of the strength and conviction and passion as the character you were playing.

Gone was the timid spirit he had stumbled upon all those years ago, broken and shattered from loss, left with only the protections of a then-aloof guardian and a firm, dispassionate teacher.

He was drawn to you from that first day, a twist of compassion, of understanding; in spite of your upbringing and (even then) impressive talent, you were still an outsider, your peers and the other students keeping their distance, leery of your background, and some envious even then.

Yes, the companionship and camaraderie would come in time, but in those first few months, he saw the same loneliness and sadness in you he'd once carried so heavily himself, and his heart ached to comfort you.

The first time he spoke to you was purely accidental, a slip of a whisper he prayed you would dismiss as a ghost, or mere imagination. He had grown too comfortable in answering you when you were alone, his voice always near silent as you spoke to your mother, your father, and sometimes the angels themselves.

It was the latter with which you had caught him, crying out with a broken heart after discovering another student had sabotaged your satin slippers, intent on seeing your failure, your embarrassment, and (as likely was the case with that particular little shrew) your dismissal from the school.

But you persevered, successfully completed your performance, never once showing your distress until you were away from the others. It was only then, hidden away in a forgotten practice room that you showed your anger, your sadness, your hopelessness. The mask had fallen, and he was once again struck by the beauty of the fractured soul he admired so deeply.

"Please," you whispered, and it broke his heart to hear it, "I feel so alone."

It ached, being unable to comfort you, seeing your progress and healing of the past few months tested so needlessly. He ached for you; he was angry for you.

"You are not alone."

It was a fleeting, foolish slip, his temper and his longing both getting the better of him. Your sudden silence choked his own breath, his entire body freezing in terror.

For a moment, for an eternity, there was naught but silence.

He didn't dare move, fearful of how even the slightest shift of fabric could give him away, could startle you, could-

"I was half-afraid I had gone mad, speaking with shadows and expecting them to finally reply."

You were... teasing him, only a little, though at the time he was still petrified that you would demand he reveal himself. You had moved closer to the false panel, studying it closely, seeking out any faults that might give away its secrets. For a moment, your eyes were perfectly level with his own, and he feared you could hear his heart racing in his chest.

But soon enough you had drawn away, crestfallen. "Perhaps I have gone mad," you murmured, sighing in defeat. "Perhaps the rumors are true, and you are nothing but a ghost."

Memories of his time spent serving in the court of a distant empire flickered to memory, a rueful sound resembling laughter slipped past his defenses. "Of the many things they may wish and claim me to be, dead is not yet among them."

Your focus once more returned to the panel, and he instinctively took a step back. "Please-" he began, quickly cutting himself off.

Where others would have pressed forward, you paused, then took several steps away from the wall, granting him his distance, a warm sense of appreciation, and another he couldn't name at the time, sparkling to the surface at the warm breath of relieved laughter you released soon after. "You- You're really there."

That moment, one he could still so clearly remember as the peripeteia, the decided, unexpected change to a familiar script, one which would set the trajectory of both of your lives for the next ten years. It would lead to many late nights spent in practice, in conversation, in debates about the literary characters you loved so dearly. "I am always here."

Your aria had drawn to a close, the spell broken by the deafening roar of the audience's applause, and Gilbert was pulled from his memories, unable to conceal his smile.

Brava, Schatz. Bravissima.

He stood to his full height and began to make his way towards the nearby ladder.

For your role, another scene yet remained- a joyful reunion between your character and the valiant hero following the defeat of the jealous villain, a happy end to a romance so riddled with tragedy.

Gilbert needn't see the ending; it was a tale as old as time.

His footsteps were silent and certain, following a path he could traverse in his sleep; he had already paced it many times in his dreams.

Of all the false doors he had constructed in his opera house, there was one he had yet to pass through, one which now loomed before him. The room beyond was bathed in the ethereal golden glow of candlelight, a world outside of the darkness, fueling even more of the torment already plaguing his mind.

He was haunted by his doubts, by his need to... His need to properly introduce himself.

You had risen so high, could fly even higher, could rise above anything the fools in this theatre could ever hope to imagine. With your voice, your grace, your elegance, and your perspicacity, he had no doubts you could soar to a realm where only angels once dare tread. Perhaps it was wrong to want to burden you, to-

Movement on the other side of the glass brought his thoughts once more to a standstill. You were laughing, carefree, glowing with happiness and a brilliant light which followed everyone through the corridors after a triumphant performance. His heart fluttered to see you so beautifully framed, a living portrait he yearned to touch.

He frowned at the thought.

These feelings...

He had cared for you when you first arrived, a deep friendship slowly growing, even as he never allowed you to glance upon him. Slowly, then almost in an erupting whirlwind, those feelings had adapted, deepened, solidified. He was left hoping, wishing...

You were an Angel, in the most benevolent, compassionate of ways, but even an Angel would surely shun a Devil's Child.

For that was what his eyes and his appearance had always been: that of a devil. And surely-

Another figure was entering the room, and you were quick to abandon the comfort of your velvet settee, rushing to embrace-

No.

You were laughing, falling into conversation with an ease that only came-

You were familiar with this... this boy.

Perhaps even intimate, his traitorous thoughts interfered, the herald to the invasive darkness which followed.

It was a cold, bitter thing, rising from the depths, twisting and corrupting his every breath.

He had been careless, allowing you your freedom, allowing you to slip away to the gilded sanctuary of your guardian's maison de ville.

This boy dared to presume he could even look upon you, let alone embrace you, speak with you so candidly, even addressing you by your given name-

Gilbert felt his rage, his envy, grow stronger, even as that bedamned Raoul finally departed for the evening, leaving your bright smile in his wake.

You often called Gilbert your "Angel of Music," a bringer of light to your once dreary and dark days. You used it affectionately, a term of endearment for one you saw as a companion, a compatriot in curiosity.

But much like his namesake, Gilbert was Fallen, cursed, a creature of shadows and Night.

It took so little to pull him back into the Darkness, and now, with the sting of envy plaguing his every thought, Avarice and Doubt whispering in his ear, his ambitions had changed.

You were his.

He would ensure no one else could dare claim you, would have the slightest chance at your heart.

With skill honed from years of practice, Gilbert silently slid open the trap door, his voice carrying over to you in a tone he himself barely recognized. "Insolent boy. The impertinence of him, sharing in our triumph."

You startled at his voice, turning to him instinctively, your eyes widening in disbelief, before you graced him with your brightest smile yet.

Your joy glittered with more radiance than any star in the heavens, but its glimmer eclipsed your awareness, obscuring the darkness in the figure stealing ever closer.

"Hello, Engel."

Thanks for reading!

Special shout-out to @the-scribe-and-her-scribbles for unwittingly inspiring me today to finally sit down and write. She's an amazing writer, and if you haven't checked it out already, I highly recommend her ongoing series It Will Come Back.

[waitineedaname]

Um. do you think about how mr & mrs kageyama are undoubtedly on the Good-er side of the Parents scale but also are probably viewed differently by ritsu and shigeo. like i think about how ritsu probably had to be the easy one (the one that doesn't need you to care about them and comfort them) since shigeo has probably come home beaten up and bloodied enough times for the both of them?? also i feel like they might've said something like "well shigeo you don't HAVE to do [thing that will make any parent happy/proud] right ritsu :)" at some point. like idkkk i feel like that is definitely part of why ritsu feels so pressured to be twice as good at whatever he does (to make up for whatever mob lacks) but also if anyone said that to me i'd kill myself on the spot because it puts Zero trust in mob's abilities? like i feel it doesn't give him a chance to try because well ritsu will do it anyways why do i need to :/ (but then body improvement club happened. W)

anyways i just thing his parents (unintentionally) put sooo much pressure on ritsu. like the bar for being Good is drastically different for ritsu and shigeo*. and pre-claw ritsu thought that half of this pressure would probably disappear if mob did what he was ""supposed"" to do as the Older Sibling which might be one of the many many reasons ritsu thought he hated him?

*marathon arc is the first instance that comes to mind cuz...idk..before it happens they're like Hm. we should go wait in the middway of the path for shigeo (who waited for ritsu at the finish line?🤨). and after it they're like hehe ritsu got 9th place and shigeo did his best :) (this just sounds. damn. the bar's that low/high?). and both of these are normal! considering how shigeo and ritsu are! but i also feel like they're only normal because that's what you'd expect from shigeo and ritsu respectively which kind of. fucked up my worldview.

okayyy this got long. Sowwy. 😆

the kageyama parents make me NUTS when I think about them too hard bc they're probably the best parents in the series and definitely the most normal, but with being normal comes very normal flaws and parenting fuck ups, like comparing their sons. like comparing kids against each other is a very normal and common thing for parents to do, but it fucking sucks, and it's only made worse with the specific baggage the brother have

they absolutely put so much pressure on ritsu, which is one of the components of him snapping in the cleanup arc. he's like,, the ideal that they compare shigeo too, like they're always like "shigeo, why don't you get better grades, like ritsu. shigeo, why don't you stop doing weird things, like ritsu." I feel like the best example of this is these two pages from the cleanup arc (chapter 23, if you're curious)

literally every day I think about "ritsu is way smarter than I am. he doesn't do anything weird" [panel of ritsu looking so fucking haunted]

I'm going to put the rest of this under a read more because I had a Lot To Say

anyway, this sets up the expectations for the two of them. shigeo is the one who struggles at school, who messes up, whose psychic powers do weird things. ritsu is the star student, the perfect son, the Normal One. neither of these expectations are fair to them at all, especially since shigeo works really fucking hard when he sets his mind to something, and ritsu has to wear the mask of normalcy and perfection even if it doesn't feel right. it puts too much pressure on ritsu and sets mob up with the expectations of failure! goddammit!!

I don't necessarily blame the kageyama parents, I mean like I said, this is a very normal thing for parents to do, especially with kids so close in age. I've been compared to my stepsister, I've seen this happen to friends who are close in age to their siblings. it sucks ass, but it's a very normal flaw for a family to have. but also, even though the series really emphasizes that psychic powers are just a normal thing, I don't think the kageyama parents were equipped to deal with the specific issues their kids have bc of psychic powers. I can't help but wonder how much they know about that part of their sons' lives... the more I think about it, the more I think that ritsu definitely didn't tell them the truth about the first ???% incident, he definitely lied to protect his brother because I feel like they would treat shigeo differently if they knew he almost killed his brother and several teenagers at age ten. and it's unclear how much, if anything, they know about the major arcs of the show. do they know ritsu was kidnapped? do they know shigeo was trapped in a mental hellscape for six months? I'm pretty sure ritsu actively hid the events of the world domination arc from them. we see their mom watching the news report in the confession arc -- did she see her son on the screen?

idk, I just get the impression that the brothers don't really let their parents into that part of their lives, which means they still get treated normally but also means their parents don't really understand them. I think that's part of why reigen was so important to mob's development as a kid, because he gave him a person he could go to about things he couldn't talk about with his parents. it also means ritsu was especially isolated because he didn't have that kind of person, at least not until he and shou became friends

also what you said about ritsu being the "easy one", that fits directly into the way I think about both of the kageyama brothers being autistic. I think mob was much more visibly autistic, probably needed more support, and because ritsu didn't need the same support, everyone assumed ritsu must be allistic. I think he knew he was the "easy one" between the two of them and I think that got wrapped up in him masking a LOT to make things easier on his parents so they could focus on shigeo. this kid is so damn undiagnosed that I don't think he even realizes he might also be autistic until his teenage years at least

something something psychic powers as a metaphor for autism something something ritsu desperately trying to seem normal because he doesn't have powers, but also desperately wanting to get powers and stop having to act normal. this kid is so fucking sick of masking.

[dayseternal-blog]

Hello DAYS8!

If you didn't know this will be the 4th question/rec I will have for you!

I only noticed this on NightOwl's story but I do wonder if you ever made a Naruhina recs centering around stories where it's narrated on Naruto's Perspective?

Now, now don't look at me like that okay? I do love when the story is in Hinata's perspective most of the time but reading fics where Naruto's the one feeling it and seeing the story unfold is a one of a kind thing and I know there's only a few stories or fics you will think of about this one. But I do hope you can find some fics though, I'm kind of craving for such fics these days.

I'm rooting for you to find a LOT hehe! Thank you DAYS8 and....

Please pray for me to finish my naruhina one shot! TT~~~TT Lol!

I hope you finished your one shot! Especially since it's been over a year since you sent this 😅

I don't know what face you're expecting from me? I love writing Naruto's perspective. A lot of other people do, too...

I think you're referring to

"Weird Hinata" by @nightowl27-writer - Rated E, Canon-Divergent AU, One-shot. Naruto thought Team 8 was out on a mission, so why is Hinata here in the middle of the night? And what is up with her new mission gear? How did she get a key to his place? Is she getting naked!?!? Who is this weird Hinata!?

I love that one! If you haven't read these yet, I think you'll love them, too, because they have that "Naruto feeling it" aspect you mentioned:

"Casual Touches" by @lunawrayth - Rated M, Canon-Divergent AU, Multi-chapter, Complete. It's the casual touches that do it.

“Misfired Attempts of an Uzumaki” by Transient Joy - Rated T, Canon-Divergent AU, One-shot. Happy Birthday Hinata! In an attempt to celebrate Hinata’s birthday, Naruto causes havoc along the way. At age 5 he pushes her down a hill, at age 9 he almost poisons Hinata and gifts her weeds, and age 13 was a failure. Can Naruto make it right this time? Or will everything crash and burn in it’s wake?

Chapter 32 from “Between the Trees” by @utsus - Rated T, Canon-Divergent AU, One-shot. NaruHina Prompt: (because it was hot as heck here today) how about NaruHina and bathing suits.<3

“Call Her Mine” by @peppercornpress - Rated G, Canon-Divergent, One-shot. Post-war NaruHina one-shot. Naruto is NOT oblivious in this.

“The Red Scarf” by peppercornpress - Rated T, Canon-Divergent, Multi-chapter, Complete. Just two people who realize how they feel for each other. That’s it.

and not to be conceited, but I think you'd like the ones I wrote if you haven't read them yet:

“Nightdreams” - Rated E, Canon-Divergent, Multi-chapter, Complete. Naruto and Hinata find comfort in each other after the war.

“Tell Me of Forevers” - Rated T, High School AU, Two-shot. Delinquent Naruto is trying to change himself for the better.

Mostly/Only Naruto's POV

“Heart-Shaped Sticky Notes” by the point - Rated T, Canon-Divergent AU, One-shot. Naruto’s life had always been spontaneous, always going and doing something. It’s good, then, that Hinata’s able to give him some stability in the little notes she leaves for him. But one day, there is no note. Suddenly, Naruto’s life doesn’t make sense.

Untitled for NHMonth 2015 Day 5  by @flowerslut - Rated G, Canon-Compliant (?), Short one-shot. Prompt: Laughter.

Untitled for one-wayward-girl by flowerslut - Rated G, Canon-Compliant, Short one-shot. Prompt: Naruto seeks out Hinata after the fight with Pein.

“Flipped” by @cajuncherrybee - Rated G, Canon-Divergent AU, One-shot. In which Naruto is the blushing mess and Hinata is the oblivious one.

“Common Side Effects” by katarinahime - Rated E for a lot of things, Crime/Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete. Naruto and Hinata, in a struggling relationship, must confront the pain inside before they can love each other.

“Music” from “Naruhina Week 2017” by @hinatamyqueen - Rated T for language, Modern AU, One-shot. It’s Sakura’s birthday, so as per tradition, she gets to force Naruto and Sasuke to do whatever she wants to do.

Untitled by @jadeandonyx - Rated T, Modern AU, One-shot. Prompt: 4. teacher/single parent au + 5. one night stand and falling pregnant au

“The Forever Girl: Naruto’s Story” by @cherryjutsu​ - Rated G, Soulmate AU, Two-shot. The feeling of watching everyone around you grow old and die, while you stay young, is something that can never be forgotten, that is, until love finds you.

“The Ramen Booth” by @chloelapomme - Rated E, College AU, Multi-chapter, Ongoing. Years have passed since her unanswered confession in intermediate school, since his humiliating hazing incident in high school, since blossoming popularity drew their attentions away from each other. Yet time has only sharpened friendship into painful longing, even as their time runs out with the approach of the university fundraiser. Can 7 Minutes in Heaven at a crazy flat party be enough time to clear the air between old best friends?

"In-laws" from "Some Type of Love" by chloelapomme - Rated E, Modern AU, One-shot. "Boy, I'm tryna meet your mama on a Sunday Then make a lotta love on a Monday"

"Thunderstorm" from "With You in the Future" by chloelapomme - Rated E, Canon-Compliant, One-shot. Naruto fought against the odds for most of his life. However, today, he goes where the wind decided to lead him; Hinata’s arms. and "Dirty Little Secret" and "Promises" from WYITF

"August - Cultures/Around the World" from "Still Falling For You" by chloelapomme - Rated T, Modern AU, One-shot. "Diversity is not about how we differ. It is about embracing one another's uniqueness" - Ola Joseph

“Powerless” by bunny-hoodlum - Rated E for a lot of things, like depictions of violence and character death. Multi-chapter, Incomplete. His family’s past can’t be taken at face-value, and it comes clawing back to hurt him in ways that are out of his control.  DELETED FIC.

A good deal of "Postscripts" by WaterRolls is in Naruto's POV - Rated T, Canon-Divergent / Various AU, Series of unrelated one-shots. Mostly humor but will have occasional drama. Slice of life, romantic fluff, family bonding, what-ifs, AUs, angst.

"Permission to Engage" by WaterRolls - Rated T, Canon-Compliant, One-shot. Our romantic leading man tries to propose, but things just don't go the way he plans.

"Resolution" by WaterRolls - Rated T, Canon-Compliant, One-shot. On a mission with Sai and Rock Lee, Naruto reflects upon his relationship with Hinata, then a brush with death and an encounter with a stranger leads him to make a decision.

WaterRolls writes a lot in limited 3rd Naruto's POV, so go through her profile.

"Lessons" by utsus - Rated T, College AU, One-shot. Prompt: Class president Hinata and delinquent Naruto.

“Chapter 5″ from “Between the Trees” by utsus - Rated T, Canon-Divergent, One-shot. Prompt: Can u do an angst prompt where hinata gets rlly hurt and naruto gets rlly mad and ends up crying in front of the kids? maybe an old enemy please?

“Chapter 6″ from “Between the Trees” by utsus - Rated T, Canon-Divergent, One-shot. Prompt: Can you do one where they are in battle can be sometime before they have kids or after but hinata is close to dying (still survives) and naruto freaks out and tries to help her u know what I mean??

Several one-shots of Between the Trees by Utsu is in Naruto's perspective.

“Day 22: Technology” from “A Love Story Like Never Before” by @journalsofagoddess - Rated T, Canon-Divergent, One-shot. It was the same feeling he always got when she left on missions. He felt useless that he wouldn’t be able to be by her side to protect her from everything and anything. But he was here now and he wouldn’t let anything hurt her. He promised.

"Drunk in Love" by @wickermayne - Rated E, Canon-Compliant, One-shot. Naruto and Hinata's wedding night.

"Fill" by wickermayne - Rated E, Canon-Compliant, One-shot. “I was thinking, Naruto-kun, now that I’m fully settled in, living with you…I was thinking that we should try.”

VulgarAssassin/Wickermayne writes a lot with mostly Naruto's pov, so if you don't already read his stuff, you should! Mostly smut.

“Tainted and Possessed” by cafrye017 - Rated E, Demons/Angels AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete. Naruto, enslaved by the Sanctified for his Forsaken blood all his life, learns that he holds a power great enough to one day change the system, but he’s not on this journey alone.

“101 Ways to Make Hinata Hyuuga Faint” by Keidra369 - Rated T, Canon-Divergent AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete. Naruto finds out early on in the academy that he has an amazing talent. He can make Hinata faint! Now he is determined to find all the ways to make her faint. Starts in academy years and ends sometime in their married life.

“Picture Frames” by Forever_in_Your_Heart - Rated T, Canon-Divergent, One-shot. They say it’s healthier to give up, but he is Uzumaki Naruto and he never gives up. (Can’t. He can’t, not this time)

Untitled by @jadeandonyx - Rated T, Modern AU, One-shot. Prompt: 4. teacher/single parent au + 5. one night stand and falling pregnant au

“If You Said You Loved Me” by destiny’s sweet melody - Rated T, Canon-Divergent, One-shot.  Naruto begins to realize he took her feelings for granted and now he’s too late.

“Ravenous” from “NaruHina Month December 2022” by @sessakag - Rated E, Modern AU, One-shot. “Hinataaaa,” Naruto pouted, leaning inside the open bathroom door, “you ready yet? I’m starving!” and "Can You Read My Pain?" and "Turning Point" and "A Drunk Mind Speaks a Sober Heart" and a bunch of others in NHM2022.

Sessakag also writes a lot in Naruto's pov. If I go through linking every one-shot, I'd be here all night.

“Down the Rabbit Hole” by @vegebulsoup - Rated E, Modern AU, One-shot. Despite his protests, Jiraiya takes Naruto out to a hostess club for his birthday and it’s not quite what he expected.

That's a lot and there's way more, but I'm kind of tired now 😅 in any case, if you've read the people who are active here on Tumblr, including my own stuff, you'd find a lot of NaruHina fanfics with limited 3rd Naruto's perspective.

Happy reading!

[broodwolf221]

cole—spirit or human? 

this, like all my meta, is just my personal feelings or interpretation: I am not trying to claim any kind of objective correctness, or to dismiss those who feel otherwise. I remember conversations about cole being somewhat strained so I'm hoping ppl aren't going to be super weird on this post. 

so—cole. I've played both routes and I actually enjoy both of them, but I'm strongly inclined towards making him more of a spirit, and my reasoning comes down to three primary aspects: 1) respecting cole’s autonomy and his choices up to this point, 2) acceptance of an “other” way of being as equally valid to a “human” way of being, and 3) making him more human feels weirdly to me like asking him to replace the real cole in full rather than be himself

1—respecting his autonomy.

cole states early on that he became more of who he was and less human, and that it lets him help. that's a choice he made. on a personal level, even though he's just pixels, I find it deeply uncomfortable to unmake the choice he made about his nature. I understand that he's shown as happy and fulfilled regardless of which path you choose, which is part of why I like both, but this is why I prefer the spirit path: making him more human feels, to me, like the inky is making him more… palatable. or like the game is giving a “comfortable to the player” option. I felt this way when I first played dai when it was new, and I continue to feel this way now

he is happy in both and that's nice, and i like that there's no strong delineation of a right v. wrong choice. at the same time, i've always gotten the sense that cole wants to be more spirit—maybe not because it brings him joy or satisfies him, it could well be that he just believes he will be more useful/functional as a spirit, but even making "bad" decisions (which i don't think this one is, but for the sake of argument) is an individual's right and part of their autonomy

2—acceptance of an “other” way of being as equally valid to a “human” one

in a watsonian, in-text view (which does tend to be my approach), I think it's very important to accept the personhood of spirits, even when they're so fundamentally different. spirit!cole forgets things, can erase negative experiences, etc.—there's a lack of what we'd see as typical growth and maturity going on there, but I'd argue that we can't really effectively apply human (or “mortal” ig, bc elves, dwarves, qunari…) norms to a spirit. 

cole as a spirit of compassion is the way a spirit is supposed to be. the way a spirit is supposed to be is not the way a mortal is supposed to be. and to me, it does feel like his preference throughout the game is to act as a spirit. he stays "pure" and "clean," and that allows him to help without becoming corrupted or changed. it's tempting—and not wrong—to view this through a human lens and to find it unhealthy for him, but i tend to defer to solas' explanations of how spirits are in this case. they can easily be corrupted because they are a Single Thing. that is their nature. wisdom is wisdom; changed by perception, expectation, memory, or pain, it becomes something fundamentally different. spirits are malleable in a way mortals are not

3—replacing the “real” cole 

tbf, this one isn't really supported by anything in game, just a personal discomfort. but he “became” cole after the young man's death. honestly, I find that a little uncomfortable, but I can understand it: the textual “simplicity”/purity of spirits makes sense of that kind of reaction to compassion’s “failure,” its inability to help the real cole (according to its own standards where help=fix: it did help the real cole by being there) 

so, to me, it reads a little like you're confirming that direction when you have cole become more human. ik it's not presented that way, but yeah, personally just makes me uncomfortable bc it feels like I'm encouraging cole to view himself as a replacement of the real cole 

spirits can come back, but they are the sentiment that gave rise to it in the first place, not the individual being itself. compassion taking on cole's name in the first place feels like that to me, but becoming more human feels like it's taking it a step too far. bc then cole becomes a young man who's taken on the face and name of a dead man and it's… it's a lot. for him to grapple with down the line, for the people around him, for everyone. but as a spirit, that kind of behavior feels more like a way of recognizing and respecting the being that came before 

and of course, cole isn't 100% either—he's more human or more spirit. so it's fair to say that it'd still be a sign of respect and acknowledgement of the real cole even if he becomes more human, it doesn't turn automatically into a Bad Thing, and the complexity can honestly be fascinating to explore, bc i imagine as more-human he will develop some complex feelings about all of it

[norcumii]

I read the Twilight books once – I think it was some time after the third one came out, and a very nice lady who shared a bus stop with me had nothing else to talk about except her new favorite books. She even gave me a copy, and I was willing to read ‘em. It was a nice gesture, and I was pretty deep into the realms of depression and such where anything that might be a distraction was welcome.

I honestly don’t recall much of the stalking and other classic bits people reference as horrible – I’m sure that’s a direct result of said depression. The thing I remember most is the part that enraged me, the one thing that often made me toss my kindle aside and pace about in utter frustration.

Y’see, at that time I had also JUST been learning how to drive stick. Something like within two years at most, I had gone from a what was only technically a driver to having to know how to drive a manual – with training, at least. (Though mainly in Pittsburgh. That was more the trial by fire.) And the thing you need to understand is that I do remember Stephanie Myer went into excessive detail about cars.

And apparently the sparkly vampires liked their fellow antiques old cars. Or fancy speedy bullshit, where manual gearing is considered classy, more precise and more high brow (I also used to have a friend who was really into cars who told me these things). Bella *checks notes to make sure that’s the right name* goes into MASSIVE detail about how her dad got her HER VERY OWN VEHICLE and it was suuuuuuch a let down because it was an old clunker of a truck.

Me? I was ecstatic. I was going to see a character learning to drive stick! Or at least a nod would have to be made towards “Good thing I learned to drive that tractor that one summer!” or some such excuse and that would make me feel awesome about how yes, this is a relatable element of Growing Up and Adulting!

N O T H I N G.

Not.

ONE.

Single.

Word.

I was baffled. Then I was furious. It wasn’t even that I felt cheated, it was that this was such a basic thing that nevermind sparkly vampires or werewolves, an utter lack of mentioning the challenges of driving stick for a new driver, even in the slightest passing, was utterly world breaking to me. No immersion for me, it was just GONE.

Oh, I read all of the first two books (though the second one was more because I had Theories about the weird maybe telepathy and shit that was really just depressive hallucinations or something bizarrely lame like that?). Or, more accurately, I speed-read through those bastards, desperate to get to the next part where cars were described in excessive detail BUT THE ACTUAL EXPERIENCE OF DRIVING STICK – OR NOT, SINCE SHE’D BE USED TO A MANUAL DUE TO HER SUPPOSED SHITTY PICKUP – WAS NEVER EVER ONCE MENTIONED.

I didn’t bother reading the third book, because it was clear by then that it just wasn’t gonna happen.

Anyway. Give this somewhat irrational obsession pet peeve of mine, I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that I just ragequit a book where a bunch of superheroes were on a runaway train without sufficient e-brakes only ELECTRONICALLY CONTROLLED from a mere three points across a WHOLE DAMN COMMUTER TRAIN which is your most significant form of travel in the Near Future.

I DON’T CARE HOW FAR IN THE POST-APOCALYPTIC FUTURE YOU ARE, THERE’S STILL GONNA BE SOME KIND OF NTSB EQUIVALENT ESPECIALLY IF YOU STILL HAVE ENOUGH OF A MURICA TO HAVE A CIVIL WAR FOR GODS’ SAKE AND THEY’RE STILL GONNA HAVE REGULATIONS SO THIS SORT OF SHIT DON’T HAPPEN! That’s not how vehicles should fail! Yes I checked wikipedia to make sure this wasn’t somehow a horrific failure in current design I didn’t want to imagine! And for crying out loud, I understand that the characters are teenagers and panicking, but teenagers are vicious (affectionate), and if your friend has an adaptive mutation that evolves depending on the danger of a situation then you learn to step up and shove your friend off the speeding train.

[allwormdiet]

Insinuation 2.2

Time for another day of learning and adventure at Winslow High

That does have to be weird, though, right? Like "I fought a big badass villain last night and survived, my whole world has been changed by this encounter, I stared death in the face, what do you mean I still have to go to class and act like nothing changed?" Massive whiplash, I'd imagine.

Mrs. Knott gives the impression of being... better, at least, than Gladly. She's putting the effort in if nothing else, even if she has to leave the better-performing students alone in order to handle the rest of them, but that feels more like a matter of understaffing than any personal failure on her part.

God it's still messed up that Taylor has such little respite from bullying. This poor girl.

...I think this is the first time I've ever seen anything about Taylor knowing basic computer programming. Wonder if that ever comes back around.

And yeah Taylor, of course you have a geeky reputation, you're a fucking geek. Even setting aside the stuff with the bullying, like c'mon.

I saw a shitpost about how the single reason that Earth Bet is a dystopia is that Reddit is the number one news source in the world and there's something really funny about that idea.

Okay real quick the screenshot would be too small for me to add alt text, but “This article is a stub. Be a hero and help us expand it.” is an objectively hilarious line

And here we get the most information on any given Undersider, and it's immediately clear that Rachel has had a hard fucking life, like hell. Living on the streets as a teenage parahuman must be rough as hell, it's like living on the streets as a normal teenager except people want to recruit or imprison you while wearing stupid costumes instead of just police uniforms

(I would follow a Bitch fansite though, for real)

That's not how gangs work but whatever

So the ABB has a dragon man with dragon tattoos who uses the Chinese word for dragon as his cape name while being from Japan, a suicide bomber who dresses like a ninja, and a bomb Tinker. I don't know enough about Bakuda to really say but Lung and Oni Lee's gimmicks feel... mm. Lazy isn't the right word. Let's just stick with "racist" and move on so it stops bugging me

This is cute actually. She did a good job and she wants to like, celebrate that... and the only problem is that there's nobody she can celebrate with. I just made myself sad thinking about that.

And now she's basically Googling herself, which is also somehow cute.

There's something really funny about the idea that like. Taylor gets in touch with the Undersiders through a fucking Missed Connections post on a superhero message board. Like it's almost certainly the safest and most reliable way to get that message out, but that doesn't make it less comical.

And it looks like that's where we're leaving things.

Current Thoughts

Hit some highs and lows with this chapter honestly. Learning a little bit more about Taylor (swear to god I've never heard the programming thing come up before) and getting more of a breakdown on the Undersiders is all well and good, plus developments from the events of the night before, but again the whole Deal of the ABB grates pretty harshly. Like you don't need goddamn Edward Said to tell you that's all crap, it's just crap, and I don't think it reflects well on the author for putting that crap out there instead of thinking about it for maybe another thirty minutes first.

I gotta run some errands, 2.3 after that, God willing I don't have to read about the ABB for a while longer

[prima-materia-ttrpg]

Shooting for gold and falling flat on your face or How I failed miserably at writing ranged combat.

Not every mechanic is a winner, and designing a ttrpg is hard. First drafts, playtesting, modification, second draft, playtesting, modification. So far all of the systems I've written, while they absolutely needed extensive work, had solid cores. Sometimes, though, like when I wrote Ranged Combat last week, the base it's built upon is faulty and the whole thing needs to be gutted and scrapped for anything salvageable.

After playtesting and modifying melee combat, its core seemed solid and I decided to move on to ranged combat. One of the core principles involves not missing, or missing being rare. This is why when someone comes at you with a melee weapon, you can dodge or block to mitigate some or all of the damage. Armor, while not yet written, will also play an important roll in damage mitigation.

Ranged combat as I wrote it does allow missing, but missing is rare (or so I thought) particularly at close ranges. It didn't make sense to me to be able to dodge projectiles or block them with a weapon, and I haven't written a cover system or put in shields which would be able to block projectiles, so the only real thing that mitigates getting hit by a ranged weapon is armor. This was a mistake.

Before we get into all of that though, let me get into the core of how I wrote the mechanic and how that was bad. I decided that because ranged damage was hard to mitigate, it should have a chance to miss, which means an attack roll to see if you hit. For some reason, I decided that the player should roll a d100 so the Hit Chance (the number you try to roll at or under when rolling the d100) would align with a percentage. In theory, this works, especially since I tied it to the Dexterity attribute on the character sheet. In practice, the very first playtest I ran with these mechanics saw characters with long guns and an 80% chance to hit miss most of the time, and a single Xente character (large amoeba thing - it will get its own species highlight later) nailed two player characters one after the other on one turn with a roughly 18% chance to hit with its revolver due to the distance. My players have dubbed this particular Xente Big Boss after the metal gear character, and it will be making a re-appearance.

The clear issue here, of course, is that rolling a d100 gives you as much a chance to roll a 1 as it does a 100, and even if you play with percentages like I did, weird stuff is going to happen at some point. Perhaps even often within the span of a session. There were other issues with this ranged system as well, one of my players said it felt like it came from a completely different game compared to how melee combat feels. Another player astutely pointed out that a class of weapons that can one-tap most characters with little effort and no real choice for the player to be able to get out of the way or otherwise mechanically try to save themselves, feels bad.

I got some good feedback, and I'm still trying to figure out how to move forward with the ranged mechanics. I have some ideas that will bring it more in-line with melee mechanics but I have to see how it hashes out, and then playtest that. All-in-all, this is a good experience. Not every mechanic is a winner, but failure is incredibly important.

If you read all this, thanks! I appreciate it very much. I'm trying to figure out what to do for the next blog post, it's a toss-up between another species highlight (humans - I promise it will be interesting) or how alchemy (magic) works in detail. This would be the history of alchemy as a field of study, animals that have evolved to use it, and what players will be able to do with it.

[veliseraptor]

I can't stop thinking about the Vegas and Kinn Body Swap AU. How well do you think Vegas and Kinn would be able to act as each other? I think Porsche and Pete would not be fooled for long, but would others notice? What do you think would be Vegas' biggest realization about Kinn's life and vice versa? I very much agree that this trope would make a very juicy fic because god these two are not normal about each other

they are so abnormal about each other and it's what I love so much about their dynamic. incapable of being at all rational when it comes to each other. they're pretty smart boys but 90% of it goes out the window when they have to deal with each other. it's so much fun and also awful.

I think that it would take at the very least some time to figure out how to act like each other, because despite the fact that they spend a lot of time observing each other, Vegas and Kinn's perspectives on each other are so skewed and filtered through their respective feelings about each other that I think they both perceive the other's behavior a little to the left of what it is in reality. specifically, I think they'd both be inclined to amp up the negative traits they see in the other person, basically performing the worst selves that they do kind of become around each other.

that being said, if this is pre-canon/during canon, which is when I personally would want to see this set, I don't know that anyone would identify their behavior as, like, suspiciously Vegas-like or suspiciously Kinn-like (respectively). I think it would just read as weird/like them having really bad days. depending on where in Porsche and Kinn's relationship we are, Porsche might feel betrayed/hurt by what feels like backsliding, but I don't think he'd necessarily immediately think not Kinn.

honestly part of their mutual problem is that they have a lot in common. if they were a little less alike they might get on better. probably not because the family dynamics prohibit it, but at least it wouldn't be quite as much an immediate personality clash.

as far as biggest realizations...for Kinn it would definitely be less about things he doesn't know so much as...experiencing them in a more personal way. like, I figure the fact that Gun is physically abusive is not a secret secret (I think Korn knows, at the very least, though based on Pete's reaction definitely not general knowledge). I think Kinn has probably at least heard rumors. that's still different from experiencing a parent who is both physically and emotionally abusive on a personal level, directed at you, with all the accompanying rhetoric about it being about how he (Vegas) is such a failure compared to...himself (Kinn). and then also things like Vegas's relationship with Macau (which is very different from Kinn's relationship to his own brothers in ways that are interesting to me), and in general what it feels like to be in a position that's simultaneously familiar privilege and also...not that. it's perspective, at the very least. though I don't think Kinn enjoys it. and the shit about Vegas's dad is particularly hard to reckon with and know what to do with.

I can imagine Kinn actually going to his dad about it (as Vegas), thinking he's being helpful, and Korn giving absolutely useless "advice," pretending to be sympathetic but Kinn can tell it's not real, and that makes him feel kind of crazy, and then it makes him wonder if Vegas ever actually did look for help from anyone and what happened, and he doesn't like this at all. >:(

for Vegas...I don't think it would be as clean as "Kinn's life is harder than I thought it would be"; I think for him it would be about Kinn's relationship with Korn and recognizing that Korn is manipulating Kinn. I think Vegas has always perceived that relationship as the opposite of his with his dad (Kinn is trusted, Kinn's failures are tolerated, Kinn is loved without having to do anything to earn it), but because of his, shall we say, intimate experience with more blatant bad faith dad actors, he's more keyed to recognize Korn's bullshit for the bullshit it is. and that's...weird to realize, and also makes him wonder if Kinn knows, and maybe he doesn't, and Vegas is edging dangerously close to "the younger generation is being fucked up by the older generation collectively, it's not just an axis of major v. minor, maybe there is room for solidarity here" though I don't think he's getting there very fast.

[indelicateink]

@limonmelon you made a really great post about vampires and creativity, and it really struck a cord with me, because i have passionate feelings on the topic. and I started typing up this response, and then it because a gd entire ted talk/half plea to the writers that got off the topic of your post, and i thought: christ, what an asshole i'd be to maybe post this on someone else's post, lol??? (and I didn't want to make it ttly independent, bc then it felt like vagueing, which is weird.) but after typing it all up i feel committed to the time/brain investment and am just posting it on my own blog lol.

anyway: read limonmelon's post bc it's very insightful.

i'm very curious about how they will handle lestat's music in the show, and do I hope they let him be a good artist. because although I totally agree about their unchanging, magically unnatural bodies, i feel like they are emotionally allowed to learn/grow/change? (this isn't meant to be a rebuttal--more my differing pov on something I see come up on this topic a lot.) so...personally, likewise i'm not sure their relationship to art is necessarily stagnant.

to my mind--and it could ttly be projection--i felt like louis's abandonment of his photography was more about fear of failure and frustration. and personally, as an artist, I fight the deeply entrenched societal idea that some people are Naturally Gifted and everyone is consigned to mediocrity: innate talent can exist, but hand to god it is the time you put into your craft that matters so much more than the beloved fairytale of divine skill. (when people look at my art and say the dreaded That's So Great I Could Never Do That, it's pain.) I think louis knows what he likes and has hit the barrier of not being able to YET create what his mind's eye wants, and it's too frustrating to continue being Not Good Enough (Yet) because he knows good art. and that is so incredibly human. I don't think vampirism has cast his sensitivity/self-expression in amber--i think he cut himself off at the knees, and we'll maybe never know if he could've excelled. instead he nurtures his eye for others' art (which i feel is just a different way to channel his sensitivity).

i feel like our go-to example of vampiric artistic mediocrity is marius. iirc in the books it's implied that marius's art was never special enough to be immortalized like some of his peers were. which is also just...life. and objectively hilarious because he was so goddamn pompous about it (and kind of an asshole lol). that was so human to me--not a vampiric curse, though i suppose they're not mutually exclusive. but even with forever, he's just not going to make the kind of art that will land him the (highly subjective) recognition of a museum, though his pursuit of art may please him personally, even if the results don't. THAT'S ART, BABY (i'm directing this at marius, lol).

I love that amc/AR gives us of examples of vampires who don't always make "good art" or they stagnate--maybe the TdV, maybe Marius, etc. It's a great statement that even with their supernatural abilities and, ostensibly, all the time in the world (caveat: you have to practice; caveat: i posit that vampires have fewer active hours in our 24 hours than we do, and usually have to spend a chunk of that time hunting & eating instead of making a sandwich), they still aren't also given the ability to knock it out of the park every time when it comes to making art. they gotta earn it like everyone else.

i agree they are trapped in those unchanging bodies, and i do feel like that could add some angst to their lives that might make making art harder, given it's possibly an emotional burden sucking up all their bandwidth? that seems to me like a case-by-case thing, though.

but I don't think vampires' immortality inherently necessarily translates to, say, soulless art. that one can't imbue one's art with relatable emotion or expertly express feelings and emotions just because death isn't looming. I do think they face different obstacles in relating to existence--they're operating on a whole different way of existing, becoming daily killers, eating people to survive, never seeing the sun, hiding who they are from the world, being forever in good physical health, living on a different scale of time--but these are generally passionate beings, and I don't feel like their differences would hinder making engaging art? (though, interestingly, it could be more alien to us, and harder to relate to.)

so I really hope they don't take the tack that lestat's music sucks just because he's a vampire. lestat came to vampirism already highly skilled in and passionate about performance, and the magical abilities of vampirism helped him pick up the ability to play all the musical instruments he could want. and i think it would be inconsistent for amc to decide he--they--can't make "good art" despite their skills, that they can't express themselves in a human way, because they can't grow and change?

because I think it's shown they can change.

in temperament/action, in the show at least, it's implied that lestat grows from a short-tempered insecure mercurial partner/father (granted, this is a bitter louis relaying this characterization lol) who learns a "very hectic lesson" and, is hinted, grows to someone who will one day possibly engage in a more functional relationship with louis in the 21st C.

amc louis, likewise, is someone with depression, anger, and a lot of compounding angst--and then with daniel's revelation, pivots, it's implied, into a new way of existing.

i feel like we're given the hint these characters will continue to evolve. i'm guessing they will remain fundamentally who they are (lestat--impetuous, passionate, violent, sensitive; louis--thoughtful, astute, ambitious, slower to show the intense feelings he keeps beneath the surface), but the potential for growth is there.

idk, I'm just passionate about these beings having the ability to sucessfully express themselves artistically in a way that resonates. i get it could go either way. and i mean, if amc decides it's just a supernatural curse that they can't make "good art" than there's nothing I can say to that, it's arbitrary lol. but it doesn't feel right to me, given the givens? and what a shame to randomly go little mermaid with this, and take away their voice in exchange for the ability to walk on the land. amc, let passionate vampires make good art if they can manage it, just like everybody else lol. I want to see what they make.

[heathtrash]

When you're working on TWW fanfic, how do you get like new inspiration or even just the motivation to keep going?

(p.s. thank you for keeping the fandom alive!!)

inspiration/ideas are something i almost never have a problem with. i come up with new scenarios for these gays almost constantly and it's everything in me to not just constantly begin new wips and crossovers and aus that have never been explored! and there's so much media to draw from with tww with all eight books, the shows, the movie, the spinoffs - idk but even like vanilla 2017 or 1998 stuff is always giving me life, maybe because i'm an insatiable multishipper with no chill and an adoration of rarepairs.

i also make sure i "read around" tww. i watch things or listen to audiobooks with a related genre or vibe, especially if i'm exploring au or want to go for a specific tone. keeping your brain active and making connections like this helps so much with inspiration and plot. it's like going on a silly little mental health walk, but instead of nature or whatever, you're opening your brain up to new possibilities. even something completely unrelated can spark something! it makes the worlds you write feel a bit richer as you're writing them.

motivation is something different, because i struggle with a lot of self-confidence in my own writing (lol, cptsd. i'm in therapy). comments on my works do really help with that. but these days people seem to feel weird about leaving comments on works that aren't like a week old??? bruh people still talk about books that are decades or centuries old. and we have some lovely people still in the fandom who are willing to read some of my work, and that is amazing to me!!

but of course, there are fics i've started that i am not sure will ever see the light of day because i feel like they're not good enough, or works that i've put up that very few people were interested in (rip to pippa university years my beloved. never escaped single digits on the kudos for 10k of fic). those embarrassments and failures hold me back so much because they confirm my own negative thoughts about my writing and make me not want to put my energy into this. i have a full plan of chapter 13 of a clock with no hands, but i keep giving myself imposter syndrome over my ability to write it well enough. idk. rationally, i know that the types of story i write are sometimes not what people want to read. i think it's important to talk about (please i am NOT fishing) because i'm sure there are many people who feel the same way. some people even look up to me as a writer?? but i cannot emphasise enough that it's a miracle that anything goes online with my mental health being how it is.

anyway, enough about me! mostly i try to think primarily of the fandom and what's best for us right now. that's why i'm running the drabble exchange, which i think will be a really fun way to get little sparks of inspiration going for everyone, as well as hopefully providing a chance for new writers to dip their toe into whatever ship they like! please sign up to join in - this is the last weekend before i close sign-ups!

i'm certainly not solely responsible for keeping the fandom alive though!!! there are some incredible artists who are doing a much better job of that than me with the recent influx of art - as well as all those who are writing new fics that are providing after the slump we had with the conclusion of the 2017 series. it was really hard to recover the fandom after s3, and i know i've had a small part to play in that with the twitter group chat evolving into reviving the discord. but i couldn't have done any of that if no one else was around to join in!

(also side note - general invitation extended to anyone who wants to join the discord!)

[weissaddams]

Date With Death

Chapter 6

Her conversation with Ajax was as short as she’d predicted, but more reassuring that she thought it would be.

Enid would have her happy ending. With or without.

An unwelcome heaviness fills her body when she realizes that the remaining hours of her life will be her last hours with Enid Sinclair. She can only hope she does nothing to anger the blonde in those last hours. Though seeing her canines come out would certainly be a treat.

Wednesday was proud of her Addams heritage. It was both revered and feared. Loved and hated. Envied and yearned for.

The only price for being an Addams was the curse placed upon one at birth.

It seemed the curse took someone from each generation. Once someone born into the Addams family fails to win over the affections of their one and only love, the curse would set in. What constituted as failure and the timing of the curse seemed to vary, but not materially.

Most were taken the moment a legal and binding document meant they had lost the fight to win the affections of the one they loved. Essentially, once the marriage contract is signed, defeat was official. Sadly, the curse which had been placed on their family centuries ago had no knowledge of proceedings such as divorces which could technically give them a way to nullify a contract. 

She could die the moment Enid said I do or the moment Enid and Ajax sign their marriage contract or any moment in between. It varied, due to different marriage customs any Addams found themselves in, but it seemed that one could fight off the curse's effects for a short period of time out of sheer will.  

A myocardial infraction would take them instantly or within the span of a few minutes. Just enough time to call for an ambulance? Hardly. There was no point in trying. Defibrillation would not beat a century-old curse.

It should, however, be just enough time for Wednesday to walk herself back to the family hearse. She’d rather not be a burden that had to be carried around even after her demise.

Now, as she exited the boys’ suite and made her way back to the girls, her last adventure would be to make Enid happy. Devote all her remaining hours to the love of her short-lived but begrudgingly colorful life.

She read that it was almost tradition, if not expected, for the groom to cry the moment he first sees his bride walk down the aisle. Dressed in white.

Wednesday was no groom, but the tear she felt run down her cheek the moment Enid smiled and waved her over certainly made her wonder if this was how she would feel had they been the ones to get married today.

“Willa? Are you okay?” The werewolf bunched up her dress and walked hurriedly over to a wide-eyed Wednesday Addams, hands hovering close enough to wipe off the tear but not daring to. Was it her color allergy again? Did they have too many colorful items in the room?

Wednesday takes a breath and lets herself be selfish. Just one more time. She will allow herself the greed of wanting Enid. She was essentially dying, after all. 

“Tu es magnifique, mon loup.” Wednesday took Enid’s hand as she bowed her head slightly and placed a light kiss on the werewolf’s knuckles. 

The blush on the Enid’s cheeks was delicious as Wednesday finally stood up straight to look at her, a slight smirk replacing the awe on her face. She could hear the other girls sniggering and squealing behind her but she could not care less. She was enjoying this moment with Enid. She was breathtaking.

“Translation please?” Enid asked with a nervous laugh, not taking away her hand because she would never dare to deny Wednesday touch when she initiated it herself.. She wasn't sure if she should be worried that Wednesday was acting a bit weird today, but she was Wednesday and Wednesday Addams never did anything normally.

The raven sighed amusedly before finally, finally smiling at Enid. Her heart clenched at the respect the werewolf continuously gave her. She could have easily learned French. Morticia and Gomez were more than willing to teach her but she’d opted not to in order to give Wednesday her space. Her space in the form of language in case there were things she had to process out loud without Enid understanding.

Not unlike how Wednesday chose not to learn Greek for the sake of giving Enid her own space to process things Wednesday didn’t need to know right away.

What a pair they would have made. Alas, the glint of the engagement ring on the hand she had not kissed reminded her of a certain impossibility.

“Words could not express how magnificent you are, Enid.”

Could magnificent encompass all the awe that was trying to burst out of Wednesday’s 5′2″ body? It could try, but it would surely fail.

From the off shoulder design to the intricately weaved patters of her white dress. From the tiara that sat atop the blonde’s head to the strands of blonde hair perfectly framing her face while the rest were braided in a crown.

From the pink of her lips to the blue skies in her eyes.

How could a singular word ever encompass the ethereal being that was Enid Sinclair?

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Date With Death master post

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I was in the mood to write so here you go.  Another short chapter, though.

Can you tell that I’m winging the flow of the story? Lol. 

If anyone has any idea how I can get this fic out to more readers, please let me know. :)

[biscaanii]

I wanted to start off by saying, I love your work. I finished Achilles Come Down months ago and can’t stop re-reading.

I know this is probably a silly question to ask but how did you learn how to write so well? You’re writing so beautiful and I would love any tips. ( If you would like to share of course)

Thank you

Hi! Aw, thank you. Im glad you like it :)

Short answer: write and read a lot. Like a loooot.

Long answer: I grew up reading as a kid to the point my mom would unscrew the lightbulb in my closet because she'd catch me reading late at night in it. It was my main hobby, so I learned a lot of literary basics really young just by the principle of seeing them in action a lot. I discovered fanon spaces around 6th grade, which was when I started to write actual stories, so what you're looking at is pretty much the process of 11 years of experience.

The best advice I can give you is just write. Put down any idea you want to see regardless of if it's long or short. I learned because I did, you know? The main reason I was able to finish Achilles when I was 18 was because the year prior during lockdown, I'd tried writing a 100k long fic for the first time that to this day is still a fucking mess. It was a forever failure, yeah, but it also taught me all the skills I needed to actually finish my next long fic- Achilles. (And Redemption).

In my opinion, getting really good at writing is really just getting good at understanding your specific quirks. Off the top of my head example, but I write in present tense pretty much exclusively, because it's the same as my natural flow of thought. Trying to write in past participle or past present is difficult for me to do in large or quick quantities because it misaligns to how I'm thinking in the moment. Figure out what kind of language you like to use- prose? Quick and to the point? Some weird in between? Do you like to over-use dialogue tags? Under-use them? What do you like to write about? Who do you like to write about? Are you exploring a character's emotional arc, a physical arc, something else? These types of question are what will guide your story because they're the foundation of why and how your story is happening, and through what means it will happen. Are you writing a romance or a thriller? What will give the reader a better picture, the internal thoughts of a character or the external imagery of their enviornment/actions? What's most important to the story's resolution? To the character's resolution? What will make this story satisfying? How can you tie all your plotlines together to reach a consistent and sensible conclusion?

And most importantly, what do you specifically want to get out of your writing? If you're only writing so others can validate your work, it'll be more difficult to continue writing if you've got low engagement. Also, cringe is dead. It's stupid to feel self-concious about anything you're writing, because that feeling will hold you back. Write whatever ideas you want because you want to see them, not necessarily because others will read it and judge you. It's not like you ever have to show it to anyone.

I write what I want, when I want, and how I want it. It's 100% self-indulgent and because of that, I'm writing mainly to read it back to myself, which makes it fun because I'm getting exactly what I want to see out of the story both as it forms and then once it's put to paper. I'm also a total anomaly though because my only hobby is writing, so my weekends are pretty much spent sat on google docs from like, morning until midnight. The fact that I've churned out three long fics so quickly is an outlier and should not be counted because im a gremlin with nothing else to do.

[soundlessdragon]

I rip out hair on my arms, sometimes the corners of my eyelashes, and pick at ingrown hairs on my face and arms… and I’ve realized that when I’m feeling really out of control/stressed/anxious or depressed, that I do it more. I saw your reblog and I was too embarrassed to reblog and give my true answer but, I’m relieved to know I’m not the only one. I wish I could stop though, but the more I try to stop the more I do it. I just feel these hairs on my face and I have to get rid of them😫 like it’s an overwhelming urge. I blame the ‘scars’ on acne from the mask days but I think everyone knows it’s not from that anymore😔 When people ask I never know what to say… I just get embarrassed and shut down.

I don’t know why I have such a hard time surrendering my need to control to the Lord😔

No worries! It definitely feels vulnerable to talk about at first. I've read that hair pulling is under the umbrella category of "Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors" (BFRB) which are actually more common than people think. The most well-known one is nail-biting, but it also includes skin-picking, lip-biting, etc. I started pulling my eyelashes at 7 and haven't been able to shake it since. I haven't been able to keep a full set of eyelashes and eyebrows since I was around 12, and pulled a few patches on my scalp during high school but thankfully have been able to mostly avoid my scalp since.

I also have experienced that the more i pay attention and try to stop, the worse it gets. The best thing for me is to focus on something else and just try to keep my hands busy, but also not be too hard on myself for failures. A lot of times though, I will get obsessed with one spot and if one particular hair feels weird I will tweezer it, otherwise if I just worry at it with my fingers usually a larger area will start to get affected and then most of the time I eventually end up pulling out the whole area. Like you said, it is indeed overwhelming, and many psychological classifications actually link it with OCD-disorders due to the obsessive-compulsive nature of the urges.

I'm sorry people ask you 😬 It's already hard enough just to worry that people are noticing. The few people that have asked me I chose to just tell the truth, mostly because I believe that the more people who learn and can be understanding, the better, and I also like explaining things and teaching people.

I have grown to be at peace with it (it helped to find out people don't think I'm an ugly monster for it and my husband even prefers my face without my eyeliner/browliner disguise), and it doesn't impact my daily life in a significant negative way right now. If it does one day progress back to my scalp, I may seek professional help for it, but so far I am doing okay. I'll pray you find a place of peace with it too, or even better that you find success in shaking the behavior altogether 😊. I have heard of many people being able to stop eventually, if they find a system that works for them.