#they're pretty fun to write their perspectives of how the first generation of their family turns upside down

[adm-starblitzsteel-4305]

How I see every Godzilla x Mothra ships but in their respective eras?

MY GENERATION AU.

Showa Godzilla and Showa Mothra = ENEMIES (Okay, they're enemies and they both wished to stay each other's asses and their family to ensure the safety and secure of their family clan; still they dislike each other frequently whenever they passed by their homes or just...comment snidely to one another)

Heisei Godzilla and Heisei Mothra = Neutral (Heisei Mothra is married to Heisei Battra and they both raised a son named Leo. )

GMK Godzilla and GMK Mothra = Yeah partners-in-crime (both have family issues and ran away, eventually the two meet each other and become roommates shared in one rented apartment; I supposed they might be enemies but, here's the fact: they both dated each other secretly without getting caught)

Millenium Godzilla and Millenium Mothra = Friends obviously (Millenium Mothra still raising her twin children alone)

MV Godzilla and MV Mothra = MARRIED COUPLE!!! (Childhood friends; both lived in their family clan; inseparable until they were married and moved on to their new home; start raising your future kids would you?!)

[syndrossi]

resonant ch25 dvd commentary

Inspired by @cloud-harasser's ask, some dvd commentary of the latest chapter. No idea how I'm gonna be structuring these, so we'll just meander aimlessly until I settle on a format!

Favorite line: "The crown he had so coveted, she mused, had come to wear him." (Rhaenys)

Mostly because there's so much behind it. Obviously there's Rhaenys's own bitterness over the Great Council and her belief that Viserys's rule has weakened their family. But also how it has, in many ways, weakened Viserys himself. His health, his happiness, his relationship with his family. The crown consumes, if you are not strong enough--and perhaps even if you are.

In general Viserys + the weight of his crown is a subtle (or perhaps not!) theme in the chapter:

"He gladly forgot his crown when it did not suit him, only to brandish it like a sword when it did..."

"Viserys looked from Daemon to her, and then back, closing both hands around his cane, as though it were a scepter."

"His hand found his hair, as though to push back the weight of his crown, his sigh loud in the sudden quiet of the room."

"If Viserys decided to take his supper with only his crown for company, that was his own choice."

The crown constantly isolates and wearies Viserys, which is why he's constantly trying to put it down, and be just Viserys: a brother, a cousin, an uncle, a father. But to Rhaenys's point, he only puts it down and picks it back up when it suits him.

(I always worry that people think I dislike Viserys or am going out of my way to make him unlikeable, but honestly I find his struggle to be a very compelling one.)

Favorite moment: A toss-up between Rhaenys reaching for the wine to deal with this bullshit and Daemon comforting Jon by the hearth.

Favorite dynamic: Rhaenys and her cousins. Rhaenys's viewpoint of them is somewhat frozen in time (moreso Daemon than Viserys), but it's still pretty accurate. Since this story is very Daemon+Jon+Rhaegar-focused, we usually see Daemon in a very positive light, OR we see him as the ultimate villain from Alicent and Otto's POVs. Rhaenys is a fun middle ground. She is able to call attention to / muse upon his faults while still remaining fond of him.

"Quick" hitters:

This was one of the more frustrating/difficult chapters for me to write, because it took me a while to settle into Rhaenys's voice. Her POV is one of the most heavily edited scenes I've done.

I went back and forth between two versions of the boys' disappearance. There's a natural pause in the Viserys-Rhaenys-Daemon conversation (when they're talking about the Princesguard and also the Stepstones) where you could slip a scene break in. I wrote it originally from Rhaenys's POV, which is what we ultimately got, but I also partially wrote it from Jon's before deciding it was stronger to have Rhaenys's perspective. We'll save the secret passage spelunking for another time!

I originally had Jon bestow the name of his hatchling in this chapter when he introduced him to Rhaenys, but this wasn't really the appropriate place for Daemon + Rhaegar to react to it, so it got moved to 26, which is all about dragons! (The chapter is literally called "Dragonkeeping"!)

It's subtle, but Rhaegar latches on to Rhaenys hard as the first Targaryen woman he's encountered. Hugging her almost choked him up, and he was upset when she announced she'd be leaving soon.

Cut partial Jon POV scene in the secret passages (standard disclaimer that this is raw/unedited lol:

“Are we lost?” What Rhaegar had assured him was a five minute walk through tunnels beneath the holdfast to emerge in a small crypt on the edge of the garden—one of many for Queen Rhaenys, whose body had never been returned to her homeland—had become fifteen minutes of navigating tunnels that ended abruptly or in doors locked behind chains, or switches that did not work. “Much has changed,” Rhaegar said, fixing the latest dead end with a betrayed glare. “Or changed after, I suppose. Some of the tunnels must have been extended later, and chains removed.” He frowned in thought. “During the Dance, perhaps? It is not known how Aegon escaped the Red Keep.” Their plan to sneak to the king’s chamber in support of their father, exchanged in hushed whispers in Princess Rhaenyra’s chambers, was beginning to look doomed to failure. Jon followed Rhaegar back to their current tunnel, where his brother exhaled in frustration. Their hatchlings, who were entertaining themselves by zipping along the dark corridors, did not seem to mind. In fact, they seemed to rather enjoy the cave-like interior of the rougher-hewn spaces. Rhaegar held his torch up, their only source of light, turning to peer down each side of the tunnel. “There is a small passage near the tunnel to Flea Bottom that leads to the Queen’s Ballroom within Maegor’s Holdfast. I did not want to use it, because we will have to cross most of the holdfast to reach the king’s chamber. We will be spotted before we reach it.” “How far?” Jon asked. “Another ten minutes. We are on the opposite side of the Red Keep right now, nearer to the Tower of the Hand.” Jon grimaced. By the time they reached it, Laenor would almost certainly have raised an alarm, but the same was true of returning to the passage leading to Rhaenyra’s chamber. Then he remembered Rhaegar’s story from before. “Aren’t we near where the dragonglass mosaic is? Beneath the Tower of the Hand?” Rhaegar turned to him in surprise. “You wish to see it now?”

[divergent-paths]

I just want to ask how you came up with the characters and their personalities for the comic. I love them all, but I have a special fondness for Alex. I've never really liked an asshole character before, but I really enjoy Alex. What was your inspiration? Did you base the characters on the game, or did you create them to fit well within the story of the game?

I really appreciate the small details you added in the rewrite that make it feel unique and not just a copy of the game story. For example, the congratulatory photos for Alex and the league card for Max are designed in a way that reflects their characters, making them feel more unique.

it's great to hear that you're finding alex enjoyable, despite the fact he's a bit of a jerk right now~! i suspect the reason you're enjoying it despite the clash in taste is because he's really not a bad kid at heart, just one with some issues going on, and i think that's something most of us can relate to. :') i've also ended up with quite a lengthy answer to the rest of your ask here, so it's all below the cut~

as far as inspiration goes, i started to jot down my ideas and notes for the boys and overall story around the time scarlet and violet were first announced - when it was shown there was a school theme, i knew i wanted to write about the existing young pkmn oc's i had, and the split between max and alex came about when the husbando decided to finally play/start sword for the first time. i opted to age up the boys from their last appearances (they were 12 and 10 in their last non-cameo appearances), giving me some leeway to work in story elements to be discovered over the course of the story.

by the time scarvi dropped, i pretty much had my general ideas/progression set up, and it was mostly just a matter of playing through the games to see what plot stuff i needed to change, and i was very surprised to see how well alex fit into the situation in paldea. so most of what comes out in alex's story was more or less all laid out before the game came out, and although my posting speed certainly leaves much to be desired, the slowness does at least allow me to add details from other media for some extra fun.

as for max, i've long since played through shield so the story there wasn't new to me, but seeing as it's new to husbando, i'm able to incorporate some of his fresh perspectives, as well as look more deeply into galar's story to try and tell it in a more cohesive way. imo, the story *is* good, but it's executed poorly, and has several loose ends that never got tied up. while i'm not able to account for all of the plot holes, i hope to tell swish in a way that helps others see it in a more thought-provoking light.

ultimately, alex's journey is intended as an introspective one, while max's is meant to be extrospective, thus the name of the story/blog. their paths may mirror one another at times, but their journeys are their own to complete.

as for the boys in general terms, if they feel like they could be real people, that's great! i try to write characters to have more than just one-note to them, and that's extending out to main characters such as nemona and hop - charas that many in the fandom have unfairly ragged on bc the games heavily emphasised one trait over anything else. alex, max, and their family carry many irl traits from myself and the husbando, as they're all more or less offshoots from self-insert oc's that we no longer write/draw/use. while carrying traits that make them interesting to write, they still differ greatly from us, so we've had plenty of convos going over 'what-ifs' and debating how they'd react to specific plot points, dialogue, or if other factors would change a normal response into an out of character one. through the course of writing and story talks like that, i've come to enjoy writing these teen dorks way more than any of my adult ocs. alex and max haven't lost that youthful spark, and have way more openings to goof off and have fun unlike the adult ocs.

and whoof, that's a lot of writing, so thank you for reading all the way to the end! i defo could go on for days about all the minutiae of my art/writing/oc choices, but i think it'll be far more interesting to just see it happen as the story comes out piece by piece~

thank you for the ask, and i hope you continue to enjoy the story~!

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

apologies for being callous in asking this, but seeing as so many aegon-centric (or those who had tagged him) blogs, no matter how good their dissertion and dissection of aegon is, gets called/is assumed to be a rapist defender/apologist, have you ever received an ask/comment calling you that? if so, i hope it never bothered you at all. apologies for bringing it up but i feel like getting called that would probably stopped those from actually enjoying/talking about him and his other qualities (such as his alcoholism, his bond with his dragon, his actions during the dance, his desperate survival.) because it actually stopped me from enjoying his character (because i initially felt so bad liking a character like that), going through his tag as well as looking for fics because of the vitriol. well that was until i stumbled upon your AKAB and OFCiR, which gave me so much perspective on aegon. and your opinion on the dyanna scene (which is oh boy, such a hot topic) was so beautiful.

No worries anon! So actually, I've never received an ask or comment with the rape defender/rape apologist accusations (and now that I've said this, I'm sure I'm sure someone will want to break that streak lol). I've participated in discussions in general in which those sorts of attacks were tossed around, but I've never had them aimed at me directly.

I'm honestly pretty surprised it hasn't happened, but I sort of chalk it up to two things. 1) I block prodigiously and pre-emptively and 2) I tag my discourse posts judiciously and try not to antagonize other fans by posting critical things in the main tags. And although I know opinions vary on this, using anti tags and team tags is also another way of making sure that people who have certain tags blocked will not see my posts, so I do use those when I feel it's appropriate. Beyond those two things, I think I also have a habit of writing pretty detailed responses and providing evidence to back up my assertions, which probably discourages people who are just looking to get a rise out of someone and don't want to read a five paragraph essay about why they're wrong.

I'm really sorry that those sorts of accusations have stopped you from enjoying Aegon's character in the past, and I'm glad my fics helped you to enjoy him again. Obviously I think he's an interesting guy with a compelling, tragic story! I will say this: I've been in the greater asoiaf fandom for well over a decade now, and characters who are far more morally dubious than Aegon have always had fans. Ramsay has fans. Euron Greyjoy has fans. I don't know if you were watching GoT when the show first aired, but so many show only people hated Jaime at first, not knowing his arc, and by the end he was one of the more beloved characters on the show. And by the end of the Dance, no one's hands are clean. Rhaenyra herself allows Dalton Greyjoy to reave along the coast of the Westerlands, which results in hundreds of women being taken as salt wives (and we know what that entails!). If we can only enjoy the most morally correct characters, our choices for the Dance era are pretty slim, and mostly limited to literal children.

I doubt most people throwing out those accusations could even spot actual rape apologia in a fandom context, considering all of the other types of apologia I see flying around unchecked. Rape apologia is not the existence of rapist characters, enjoying those characters, or even analyzing why those characters did what they did. Rape apologia is not questioning why the show decided to make Aegon a rapist, or hoping he might get more character development in the future. Rape apologia is making excuses for rape, or outright denying that it happened. So, saying "Dyana was probably lying" or "Dyana was probably into it" or "Dyana was scamming the royal family," or even what Aegon himself said in the scene, "it was just a bit of harmless fun," that's clear cut rape apologia. And here's the thing, when something is wrong, it's usually because it causes harm, and unlike simply enjoying a character, actual rape apologia does cause harm. Making excuses for or denying even fictional rapes perpetuates rape culture in ways that make it harder for women to speak up against assault, and harder for rapists to be prosecuted effectively. But again, I have never seen actual rape apologia among the team green fans I know.

Finally, I'll just say that while fandom in general can be a fun, positive thing that helps people connect with each other based on shared interests, that drives people to think and to create and to do, on the other hand, fandom can also feed some pretty shitty modern impulses. It creates cliques, empowers bullies, and worst of all, it encourages a kind of brand driven consumption that in turn perpetuates this idea of fandom as activism. Activism is getting involved in your community, volunteering, fundraising, protesting, labor organizing, boycotting, etc. Activism is not scolding people online for enjoying media the wrong way. People who think this way need to reconnect with the outside world, and anon, I hope you continue to enjoy whichever characters fascinate you, including Aegon.

[maleficore]

I really don't think I'll ever get to actually writing it this decade because I have just That Many other wips and this story is Long, but my god I keep rolling that RDR2 Modern AU of mine in my head like a pretty pebble and I have Many Thoughts. Looong ramble under the cut.

The general gist of it that it's supposed to be a "happy ending" to a true crime story, but it isn't. Not for a long while, at least. Like imagine watching a 45 minute documentary on a missing person's case, the credits roll and you're like "Wow so happy that they turned up in the end" but on the other side of the country that person has been having the worst fucking time for the past year and would've probably been better off missing.

Let me explain.

Up until May 1999 the story plays out like your run of the mill Modern AU that is kept as close to canon as I can make it. Of course some things are different in the way that comes from throwing everything a 100 years into the future like how Eliza and Isaac died in a car accident, not a home robbery. People have jobs that are different, some backstories needed to be adjusted. Arthur's last name is Matthews and not Morgan, having been adopted by Hosea and Bessie when he was around 8 or so. Him and Mary have actually been married, but it still didn't work out. Small divergences, seemingly inconsequential.

Then on May 18th Arthur Matthews goes missing. Leaves no clues as to what might've caused him to leave and where, had showed no signs anything could be wrong before he disappeared. A proper mystery. Of course it's a big thing for a while, Hosea being a pretty well known crook defence lawyer makes it interesting for the news, but after 6 months of nothing even the nastiest vultures get bored and everyone pretty much assumes Arthur to have died. Especially since he's well known to be a recovering alcoholic with multiple relapses under his belt. Probably fell off the wagon again, tripped into a ditch, hit his head. Dead.

That's when Arthur Morgan shows up.

It's up to the reader to decide if this is some universe warping time travel shenanigans or if he's the same person that went missing, just having an episode of some sorts. To everyone in the story Arthur "I'm telling you, I jumped off a sinking boat in 1899 and then showed up here" Morgan comes off as Mentally Unwell, so it doesn't really matter since it is not told from his perspective anyway and there's no way of really knowing.

(It's John's POV by the way. Forgot to mention that, whoopsie.)

And the entire story is basically a whumpy hate letter to all time travel AUs where Arthur gets yeeted into our times and pretty much shrugs it off with minor discomfort (/lh I don't actually hate those, they're silly fun, but they're not realistic?? And I am a realism nerd). Here, he gets majorly fucked up by it. Because how could he not be? First off, Hosea, who he just watched die maybe days prior, is alive and well. So is Sean and so is Lenny. He may be happy, but all that only makes everything feel even less real, pushes him further into believing that the reality he's in is some sort of a mirage or a dream. People talk about all these things that have not happened to him, there are pictures of a stranger with his face in places he's never been to. It's distressing and Arthur might be a guy that handles pressure well, but I doubt there's a single person on earth that wouldn't break under the weight of that. He's no different.

He keeps getting really distressed whenever that kind of stuff gets brought up too often. Starts having regular panic attacks, gets put on medication, sent to therapy. The "gang" are there to help him through it, but the situation takes a lot out John in particular once he realises that whatever has happened to Arthur seems unlikely to be reversed. Just as much as the person in every single family picture is a stranger to Arthur, this Arthur is a stranger to John. It's like he really died in a way. So the plot is just as much Arthur learning to cope and maybe eventually accepting that all of this is real and he's just "crazy", as John watching him go through it while simultaneously grieving the person he no longer is.

Basically an essay pondering the question "What makes us who we are, our memories or personality?" disguised as a fanfic because I like getting philosophical sometimes lol And I genuinely love it. This AU is my baby and really want to work on it, but it would have to straight up be a novel-length story. I don't have that in me 😭😭

[loopy777]

I just read two of your older fics. Death of a thousand cuts and Mai's ramblings. They were pretty funny and a surprisingly good read (by surprising I just mean there aren't many good avatar fics out there). Reading them both though, and I've also seen this throughout the fandom that has the notion that Mai is a very jelous possesive person towards Zuko but I always thought it was kind if the other way around. Also she's described as being ugly to herself, and I don't know if that's her own self image or how people in her universe see her, but I always thought her, Ty Lee and Azula were considered to be pretty girls. It's also kind of a problem in the show as well and that I picked up on in 'death of a thousand cuts' that Zuko seems... really disinterested? In Mai. However I think he's just kind of disinterested in romance as a whole. Like with that Jin girl who he seemed very into in the fic. It almost seemed like Mai was just a second off 'oh well' option when Jin wasn't interested. Anyways I love both fics and they are definitely re reads, I just thought it was interesting how people interpret stuff differently.

Well, something to keep in mind is that Mai's Ramblings isn't actually narrated by Mai-the-character-in-AtLA. It's narrated by a sardonic personification of spite too enmeshed in fandom nonsense to enjoy AtLA properly but still has enough insanity to troll her enemies for fun rather than get into actual fights with them- who has had experiences similar to Mai-the-character-in-AtLA.

Basically, I was riffing on the fandom perception of the character more than the textual version, and I'll admit that I started writing those ramblings before I began paying attention to Mai. I only picked her because she seemed the type to speak exclusively in sardonic insults and I wanted an in-universe narrator to separate things from my opinions, and it was later when the fic became popular and people told me that I single-handedly made them like Mai that I decided I needed to figure out what this character was about and start trying to inject some accuracy into things. So when Mai calls herself ugly, it's because I had been in a discussion thread the week before where someone said her face was too long and ugly, and so Mai was responding to that by sarcastically accepting the insult- it had nothing to do with what the girl in the cartoon might think of herself.

(For the record, I don't think Mai believes in beauty except as a checklist which can be accomplished through artificial means given enough wealth. Just pick a form of beauty which matches your body type, put the effort and resources into it, and then act like you're beautiful or hang out with friends who act like they're beautiful. Society will accomplish the rest.)

As for Zuko and his lack of romantic inclinations, I'm sticking with my prior explanations that (in-universe) Zuko is too inside his own head at that point and (out-of-universe) the writers weren't really prioritizing that subplot.

In terms of my writing, I'm surprised you took that from the story, as Zuko only encounters Jin once (ch22) and my intention was that his eagerness to convince her he's not a monster is really more about wanting to be seen as a good guy by people in general, like when he tried to stop the riot in the previous chapter by promising to look into the abuses of the citizenry before being called out as isolated and obsessed with himself. Even after Jin kicks him in the Royal Fire Family Legacy, his first action when he recovers is to check if Mai could hate him that much, which given how tenacious he is about things that really matter to him, I would say indicates a lack of investment in Jin's perspective.

And literally the only acknowledgement she gets in the story after that is Zuko saying to Mai, "You're pretty- but… it's not just that you're pretty. Jin is pretty. And Ty Lee. Lots of girls are pretty. But I had no idea how to talk to Jin, and turns out that she murders people when she gets mad. Do you murder people when you get mad?" And goes on to explain he really likes spending time with Mai, more than anyone he's ever met before.

So I kind of thought I treated Jin poorly in that story, but at least I left her in a place where she could live her life as a leader in her community with no melodramatic primary characters to worry about. Not all of use had such luck in our teenager years.

So yeah, definitely interesting how we interpret things differently.

[a-rum-of-ones-own]

Thank you for the recommendations! I’m excited to check out The Rib Joint and of course, A Skirt Full of Thorns. I’m all caught up on the Luna/Ginny fic, too, and excitedly waiting for an update ✨

Particularly intrigued by this line you wrote: “It's not just something you are, it is, to a certain extent, something you DO - a way of interacting with yourself and the world.” If you feel comfortable, can you share how being queer has affected your worldview and psyche like you mentioned?

Have fun checking all of them out, and yes, of course I can elaborate! Just a warning, it might get long, lol.

I'm probably going to phrase this weirdly, but in a way, I've always sort of disagreed a bit with our contemporary view of sexuality as this purely intrinsic thing within yourself you just 'discover' one day. Like, we've got this societal view that your sexual orientation just springs up on you, fully formed, one day when you're fourteen years old and get your First Big CrushTM. And of course that narrative is true for many queer people/women- they grow up, and one day in 9th grade, they realise they're in love with their best friend, and boom, queerness discovered. It's viewed as this intrinsic thing you are, rather than something you do, it's something you discover about yourself, not something you shape and that shapes you in turn.

And, obviously, that's correct to a certain degree- queerness is intrinsic, you can't choose to be gay any more than you can choose to be straight. But I do think there's an additional element to it. I've always experienced my queerness as sort of happening on two layers: the 'to be'-layer of 'I am attracted to women, that's an intrinsic fact', and a 'to do'-layer of 'I actively and consciously chose to follow up on that and discover what it means to me through... actually doing the thing and dating women'. And at least for me, that 'to do' layer feels more important to my own identity? In a way, I vibe a lot with the Greek/classical interpretation of sexuality as a behaviour. Like, I was never totally repulsed by men the way some lesbians are - I found dating them very 'meh', both physically and emotionally, but it wasn't mind-bendingly horrible. There was no huge intrinsic push away from them beyond a feeling of 'this is dissatisfying and would probably be better with a woman'. I still find men totally fascinating from a sort of artistic perspective (I mean, I have no issues writing straight romance, for Pete's sakes - I find it a really interesting way of exploring the world through a different lens).

I've now been exclusively dating women for pretty much all of my twenties, and feel absolutely no desire to change that. It's shaped me in a lot of ways - compared to my straight peers, I realise I have a different perspective on things like family, career choices, big moral values. 'Family' means something different to you when a lot of your friends and partners experienced family rejection (though I was very lucky in that regard). 'Career' means something different when it's both a means of safety and independence and something that occasionally pushes you into very heteronormative environments (I'm in law, and that's...not a very progressive world). Not dating men also frees you up from so many societal expectations, and after a while, you realise that that truly impacts everything from how you dress to how you speak and move and interact with the world. My general perspective on life became very female-centric after a while, not in the sense of being a misandrist - I just interact with women a lot more than with men. Their perspectives interest me more, I enjoy hearing about them more, they 'click' more with me. I think it shows in my writing sometimes: even stories I write from a male perspective eventually end up being about the women in them, about their histories and relationships to one another.

I personally feel like I 'discovered' queerness within myself as this sort of seed, and only once I actually watered the plant and watched it grow did I fully realise how big and important this tree I was growing was going to be to me and my life. I was always queer, but I became a queer person through years of actually doing queerness. 16-year-old me was absolutely also attracted to women, but she was this little germinating seed who still hadn't shed a thousand tiny forms of heteronormativity (and I'm sure I'll look back on myself at my current age the same way in 10, 20, 50 years!), right down to not yet being able to admit to herself that she was exclusively attracted to women, because that felt too scary and impactful for her yet. The attraction thing is almost incidental, I feel. What really shapes you is the bravery of actually standing up and saying 'this is who I am, and by God, I will live it'. The attraction just is. That bravery is a choice, and that shapes your character.

This is SO long, I'm so sorry XD I hope it helps, though. Have fun exploring!

[corishadowfang]

Dandelion Seeds: If you were to write another chapter, or a short story based on Dandelion Seeds, who/what would it be about? 

Fallen Stars: How is Skuld’s Chirithy handling… everything? (Also, does Skuld ever walk around with her Chirithy and get weird looks?)

Bonus question: Do you have any “older” fics you still love? Do you remember your first one?

For Dandelion Seeds: Haha, oh man, I have...a ton of ideas that I didn't end up using for Dandelion Seeds that I kind of wish I'd been able to. A fun one I kind of wish I'd ended up doing was like...Skuld and Lauriam having very different perspectives on being an older sibling to Ven, and that leading to some (comical) clashing. It'd probably be a mostly light-hearted thing, haha!

But also, in general, there were a few relationships between the Union Leaders that I didn't feel like I explored well enough in Dandelion Seeds? Ephemer and Brain and Skuld and Ven, in particular. Especially Skuld and Ven, actually, because canonically...Skuld was kind of the person that Ven seemed closest to? So I would've liked to do at least something more with their relationship.

Something I would like to actually write at some point is the crew all meeting up again in the future. Like--maybe they can't stay together, maybe they've all changed, but just...something to give them time together again.

For Fallen Stars: They're coping! It's definitely a bit of an adjustment, and they're pretty worried about Skuld (and Brain), but they're trying to make do. (There's a part of them that's grieving Daybreak Town, too--and the fact that they don't know if any other Chirithy are left--but they haven't let themself think too much about it.)

Haha, I love the idea of Skuld just carrying Chirithy around and getting double-takes, but she probably wouldn't carry them around Scala just yet. Around the rest of the crew, though? Yes, definitely.

For the bonus: Guardian Twin and Before the Beginning are both very old fics that have very special places in my heart. Guardian Twin was actually the first fic that I published online, and it was kind of like...the first story that really proved that, "Hey, maybe people outside of my friends/family would also like my stuff." And with Before the Beginning, I just...had a ton of fun writing it. The MC's character arc and the ending turned out exactly how I wanted them to, which was just...a very good feeling. I'm sure if I went back and reread them now, I'd probably cringe at a lot of stuff, haha, but it's still kind of cool to like...have those fond memories, you know?

(I guess I kind of answered the second question already, haha; Guardian Twin was the first fanfic I officially published. I think it's also the first one I finished? I had snippets of other things before that, but I don't think I'd ever really completed a fanfic before. ...Although I guess maybe the stuff I wrote for contests on Neopets counts, since those were kind of like...'officially sanctioned' fanfiction, haha.)

[faebriel]

Ooo sbi!witch au? Tell me more? <-genuinely curious/interested

yayyy hi mye :D

okay so it's a bit of a fantasy setting first of all. that's your context. everyone has some connection to one of six* sources of power, whether that connection is strong or limited - there are phantom witches (connection to death), freshwater witches, saltwater witches, spark witches (connection to fire, lightning, etc), glamour witches, and blood witches (i.e. shapeshifters). all these are varying degrees of popular but blood witches are veryyy unpopular as shapeshifting is generally viewed as desecration of the body, esp from a religious perspective - the body is a vessel for magic, stop fucking with it. not a universal opinion but one that holds water in a lot of cities.

tommy is a spark witch! tubbo is a blood witch. the two of them generally run around stealing shit causing trouble burning things down having fun from town to town. tommy is still mildly rabid for lady prime but more rabid for his best friend. tubbo generally keeps his type of magic secret - not an easy feat as it's one of the first things someone will ask or notice about another witch - so they usually hang out until someone finds out about him, and then they skip town. they also have made their souls into friendship bracelets so they have a general sense of where the other is and their state of safety at all times. when one of them is injured or exhausted, they share the pain.

unfortunately tommy makes a few friends in bad places and gets snatched off the street in some revenge plot. tubbo uses his shapeshifting to break in and get him out of there - so now those guys know about the herefore underestimated tubbo element, and tommy is pretty badly injured. they disappear into the woods and try to avoid getting eaten by the trees. it does happen.

they think they find a beacon. nice! it's actually a coven, in some kitschy little house. bummer! tommy is not doing well and they're about to be find out by whichever freaks live here and tubbo is pretty skeptical of these random woods folks' opinions on the complex political situation of blood witchery so in a stroke of genius /doubtful tommy encourages tubbo to shapeshift to hide himself as an animal, a Classic Ruse. so he does! here's tommy, a random young witch, and his familiar. this is 100% normal and no one has any reason to question it.

living in the house is small weird family (?) of guys wilbur (phantom witch), techno (???), and phil (freshwater witch, but it gets worse). they offer tommy and his familiar somewhere to stay while he gets better and, with few other options, tommy (and tubbo lol) says yeah sure. found family ensues

here is some info that is important but this post is getting too long to write out in paragraphs

wilbur is a phantom witch, but after a suicide attempt, being so close to death constantly is kind of triggering. instead, these days, he focuses on brewing potions (without a license) to sell at town markets. he's kind of still in the recovery phase and has a bit of a rough relationship with phil and techno but he and tommy, who is drawn to potionmaking almost immediately (and relates to powers he can't control - he's been called destructive for his unchecked fire magic before), get on like a house on fire

and he has a familiar called mr president!!! this is very important. firstly bc kitty but secondly because familiars flock to each other like seeing an old friend from school at the supermarket.....but tommy's familiar wants very little to do with mr president, who just seems vaguely confused by him............how strange!

*phil was a freshwater witch, but after stealing a dragons egg, was gifted with void witchdom. void is like a really powerful add-on to original witch magic, and also gives him some extra perks like wings and voidsight (peeking into other timelines to guess what is going to happen). phil does a bit of cheeky voidsighting when they find tommy, just in case this is some kind of ruse that peering into another universe might reveal, but all seems fine. he's just rowdy. tends to keep more company in other universes but maybe that's just a coincidence (it's not). goddess wife also

voiddom is something that is gifted, and because of that, it can be taken away.

okay i struggled hard with figuring out what techno's deal is but i think i'd go for the classic. yeah sure techno is also a blood witch. he doesn't really shapeshift either - thinking he used it to fight his way out of some rough background, and now prefers to keep his own form and do other stuff (kind of like wilbur) - and, much like tommy and tubbo, SBI are kind of cautious re: mouthing off pro-shapeshifting around these random strangers. twisted web we weave and all that

theres a lot of bonding over not letting your magic or perceptions of your magic define you :> but yeah

oh and then tommy gets tracked down and snatched back

and tubbo, at the end of his tether, is stuck with a not great choice. let tommy die or burn down literally everything they've built here to put tubbo in his place instead. so naturally he 1. reveals himself as not a familiar (which, they were starting to guess there was something weird about him tbh), 2. reveals himself as a blood witch (distressing and confusing, but hey, let's talk about this) and 3. sets a trap to steal phil's voiddom and use those powerups to find and rescue tommy (aaaand nobody is happy about that one)

theres a whole thing with plot resolution also but this post is long enough and i can't put in a readmore on mobile so. woooo 🎇😺🧪🗻🐺

[genuflectx]

A Marvellous Light ("Terato" Book Review)

You can thank my fiancé for me reading this one, because this really isn't my usual cup of tea when it comes to literature! It's not "terato," not even exactly "exophilia" either, however I think its general themes might appeal to some people of those communities- even I was a bit shocked and impressed by it.

The first half has vague spoilers, such as descriptions of sex and if there was a happy end or not. Under the cut you’ll find a longer review with detailed spoilers.

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske has a simple plot at its core. Robert "Robin" Blyth is a typical well-to-do Edwardian jock who, due to a clerical error, is introduced to the secret world of magic. He meets Edwin Courcey, an icy and bookish magician with subdued powers- something Edwin's family looks down on him and teases him for. When Robin is attacked and cursed because of his accidental introduction to the magical world, Edwin feels responsible for him and does everything he can to find out how to remove that curse, with plans to remove Robin's memories after. Along the way a terrible magic conspiracy is revealed that the two become slowly more involved in. While also becoming quite "involved" with each other.

Pros and cons time! But.. I don't particularly have a lot of cons.

PROS ★ ★ ★ 

If I wanted to describe it in fanfiction tropes or tags, I would say: slow burn, magic kink, jock/nerd. Fun combinations.

Marske is really well spoken with her prose, and pacing seems to be a strong suit. Despite being her first published book, she really has mastered the craft of storytelling!

Highly romantic. Sexual content itself is built upon a strong foundation of slow built romance.

Multiple gay sex scenes, with some veeery interesting usage of magic as a kink. Something I've never seen before (but I've never been in any fandoms with magic, so maybe it's common in those?).

Because Robin is non-magical and Edwin is, it can sorta feel like that human/non-human gay relationship you might be craving. However, since they are both still technically humans, it doesn't really count as terato or exophilia explicitly.

A very rich magical world intertwined with the Edwardian period. It feels really unique, and the magic itself has rules and limitations, meaning magic isn't the end-all-be-all when it comes to power. Which... plays right into the underlying plot.

Themes of the rich (and rich men) being idiots and ignoring the importance of domestic magic and the magic of women. Marske is writing a period piece- and I appreciate her desire for accuracy while also clearly trying to find ways around it.

Ends on a happy note with potential for the next book and the main characters do not die.

CONS ★ ★ ★ 

The biggest turn off for some readers might be the prose. Yes, it's well written and well paced for what it wants to accomplish, but it is an Edwardian period piece that can still be pretty wordy. I don't think it's overly flowery, but someone else might find it harder to read if they don't really want to know what happens next.

While probably realistic for a bunch of rich white English gentlemen of that period, a large part of the book tends to feel like they're just piddling about reading books, chatting, and eating breakfast. That might be boring for some readers.

Somehow, the main villain should have both been obvious and was too obvious at the same time. I don't know if that is genius or lame. I guess it depends on what perspective you take.

This is a very "relationship" based plot; character relationships take the forefront over plot or action, as you'd expect with slowburn. If you go into it more interested in the romance and sex you might have a better time than if you go into it wanting to devour something plot heavy- it truly is just not plot heavy, unless you consider their romance the actual main plot.

★  ★ ★  WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO TERATO FANS?

Yeah! If you like magic stories! If you don't care for magic- or don't care for Edwardian period pieces- then maybe not for you. But if you do, then this is a darn good read. Marske is extremely competent in her craft, the romance builds slowly and the sex scenes feel both loving and exotically satisfying.

Just because magic stories aren't exactly my thing I might personally not read book 2, but I absolutely know my fiancé will because they adore this book and could not put it down. In their words, they believe it is one of the most romantic books they've ever read.

★  ★  ★  FINAL RATINGS:

Monsterousness: 0/10 Eroticism: 10/10 Story: 7/10 Characters: 10/10

MY FINAL SCORE: 9/10 (Not my favorite genre, but really good!!)

Heavier spoiler time!

I initially wasn't sure how I felt about the characters, I think ultimately the beginning is the story's weakest part. I feel that these are characters you grow to love more over the story's length, and when you are first learning who they are and getting that early exposition on magic it's sorta "eh" compared to the meat of the book... i.e. the rest of their relationship. Because yes, it's really their relationship that carries it. And that's not a bad thing! I actually prefer character-driven stories. But I think that's just something to keep in mind about this book (and probably the series), that relationships heavily take the forefront and the underlying plot is second to that. In this book, Edwin's past relationships and icy personality melting for Robin are more important than actually doing footwork to discover what happened to Reggie, the missing person, for example.

About 40% through the book however, I did have the realization that nothing was really happening or moving forward. It was a lot of playing little games, chatting over breakfast, and reading books. Sure, all this leisure is likely pretty realistic for their social status, but it does not necessarily make it an engaging read. Luckily, I think watching Robin and Edwin slowly fall for reach other to have encouraged me enough to keep reading to see them get even closer, but I do think that this might be a detriment to others.

It's not completely explicit, but rather something the reader needs to make a conscious effort to notice, that women and domesticity play a large part of this book's universe. By that I mean no one is going to beat you over the head to say "PAY ATTENTION TO THE SERVENTS AND LADIES" but they do play very important roles, in spite of accurate world views from the men that the women are too dumb to be taught. It is a domestic spell which allows Edwin to remove the curse from Robin's arm. It is a group of women- ignored by their misogynistic male magician counterparts- who discover the Last Contract and realize its potential for misuse. It is a pair of intelligent sisters who aid Robin and Edwin when the two are lacking friends. If you are a shallow reader you might take characters' opinions (including main characters) on women at face value, but their opinions compared to the actual actions and personalities of the women and servants is meant to show how wrong these spoiled Edwardian men are.

I really don't have much else to say! I thought the slowburn romance was great and using magic as a kink unique, especially the kind of magic they used. Overall it was a good book.

[thrustin-timberlake]

thoughts on epic the musical?

i hadn't heard of it before your ask! i looked up a bit about it/listened to a few songs and i'm conflicted, i think

concept-wise, i'm really into it. i think that's really fun, and I think musical theatre as an art form is a really cool medium for mythology/epics. in general i want to see more of that, and not just "oh! we remade disney's hercules!" (also, not complaining about stage version of hercules itself. its beautifully done, and its my favorite disney movie in general, i'm more complaining about just adapting a pre-existing movie for the theatre and calling it a day. i think its lazy and a waste of the medium) no, i ACTUALLY wanna see an adaptation, and it seems like this show does that? so i think that's really fucking cool! i also really like the instrumentals and i think vocally it seems to have some pretty strong singers? i'm definitely intrigued by it.

that said, i also have my own personal biases. i listened to Just A Man, and i'm conflicted because i really want to like it. tonally, however, i don't think it fits with the odyssey. i'm not sure if it's the performance itself, because in line with my own biases, i think that singer is trying too hard to be pretty, and because of that it loses the emotion that a song like that should have, yanno? this is a traumatized man who is desperate to return to his family, but it comes across as a sort of like an...ingenue song, if that makes sense. for me there was no emotional beat, which was strange to listen to because listening to it, you can tell there's SUPPOSED to be one. it just fell flat for me. again, this may very well be my personal bias because i don't think the vocalist's style fits with what odysseus' character is supposed to be. incredibly pretty voice, but it's a range that i don't think makes sense in this context. i would prefer a lower and rougher voice, i think its much better suited for the mental state they're setting up/odysseus consistently has in both the iliad and the odyssey.

also listened to Open Arms. in general did not care for it. it was another tone issue for me.

that said!! THAT SAID!! i think Polyphemus is fucking cool. i love the effect for his voice, i also really like that he's kind of playful with odysseus and the men. i can also imagine that song being performed on a stage and being REALLY unique, which i think is important for any musical.

overall, i'm...interested. i'm interested to see where it goes. when i looked it up (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Theatre/EpicTheMusical <- this is the first site that came up!), it mentioned starting on tiktok? and i worry i may be unconsciously holding that against it. but with that in mind, i think lyrically, it's very simple. the songs i listened to felt like they were holding your hand too much for my liking, i feel like it didn't give a lot of wiggle room to use your own imagination. which, i think there are pros and cons to that. a pro is that for someone unfamiliar with the story, i could see how someone holding your hand through it might be helpful, and i don't want to knock it if this is how someone gets interested in classics. but also, as someone who loves classics and IS familiar with the story, it felt kind of...juvenile? if that makes sense? the hand holding from that perspective comes off as thinking your audience is dumb, and i think maybe even for someone unfamiliar with the story, it might come off the same way as well. i think when you're writing you need to trust your audience. especially with classics, so much hinges on the audience interpreting things for themselves and using their imagination because that's how the stories grow and spread. narration is fine! it's expected with epics! if these songs did proper narration, it would be one thing, but instead it reads as "my audience can't see what i'm looking at so let me make sure there's no ambiguity" and like, you don't need to do that! it comes off as really unnatural, in my opinion!

i think another thing to keep in mind with that criticism is that this IS a concept album, and i'm not sure what exactly that means in the broader context of like, musical theatre, but i'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and hope that the things like excessive hand holding and vocalist preferences are more of a "hey, we're still working out the kinks!" type of issues. i may be completely wrong, but i really doubt that what's available is near the final product? so i'm not gonna put any nails in any coffins. i worry a bit about the tone and emotion, but, again. no nails.

i feel like this read like me being a huge hater. and i mean, i am by trade. but not about this. i think it's really cool! the stuff i liked i really liked, and i'm definitely interested in seeing where it goes from here. its clearly a really special project with really talented people working on it! i also love the idea of bringing epics to musical theatre/encouraging original works. i think i'm deffo gonna properly listen through the available tracks eventually because i can see this becoming something that i get into, depending on how it grows!

[whenastrofell]

I cannot even remember where I learned most fandom vocab it's just part of me now-

I knoww I need to watch more and I need to make my family watch them with me- I've seen Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki's Delivery Service thus far- which are your favorites so I have some to check out first? :3

I care so much about the Jotakak egg comic actually like. It would have been my shit when I was a few years younger tbh. I think it was pretty cool of CLAMP to publish fan doujinshi too. The art is also really good (almost unfairly so). (And it's also really fucking funny lol.) Like man I can only dream of making something that iconic-

I read like. All of the CCS manga and then Clow Card (which I did not read) also ties in with XXXholic (my beloved, I need to reread that I loved it so much but after a while I couldn't find the books).

I can honestly see the appeal of any ship (again, spin a random wheel). It takes so little for people to sell me on things tbh- Jonadio isn't really my thing either but I think it's Interesting especially from a one-sided perspective on Dio's end? Also fanart of Jonathan and Dio as Giorno (sometimes divorced) dads is very funny to me- Again it's really not my thing either I just Understand The Appeal (Ig I'm lowkey just a chill guy like that. Or something. Idfk brainrot I feel like an old man). There's this one comic about one-sided Jonawagon that made me tear up and that's like. Most of my exposure to the ship and I just. I think about it sometimes.

I think my thing is like. I ship bruabba but I don't find it interesting in the same why I find other ships interesting. Like there's not a lot of their dynamic that I'm interested in exploring like I am other ships. What can I say I like to get my cork board and red yarn out sdlfjk;a- Like Futrish is a fun way to explore getting out of the mafia, guilt, etc. Giomis is a fun way to explore power dynamics and trauma. Giotrish is about... divorce for some reason. ...I could talk about Fumis for hours they mean everything to me. So for me Bruabba are just... there (Not that they're not interesting in general I'm just not interested by them).

Shackled together by the fate the universe chose for them caused me psychic damage and I think I ship Fugonara more now (A live example of how I'm very easy to sell on things asljdkf)

(You can't kill me till I finish my million multi chapter fic projects and visual novel nooo... 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️💨)

Yea!! It's also like... how different varieties of relationship could impact their relationship as well. Like somewhere along the lines my brain decided that if Giorno and Trish got together it would Not End Well but I think they'd get along as friends no questions asked. Fumis QPR is also very near and dear to my heart and it's Different than romantic Fumis to me (but also every relationship I write probably reads like a QPR because I don't understand romance B)). I just like thinking about characters and their relationships w/ each other only add onto that. (I think it also helps me be more tolerant of ships I have a bad gut reaction to if I think of why someone would like it too cause I think people are too quick to say awful things because of ships they don't like)

I can't dance either but I will learn the torture dance specifically for them. Forcing my friends who know dance to do it with me so it just looks like Fugo got dragged in late and hasn't learned it all yet-

Like I want to know what's going on the mind of whoever decided it should be that they're related. "We can't have these gay freaks, disgusting. They're siblings now." And then now it's just... gay incest- Like I get they cut scenes and stuff also but still-

I can talk for so long that my partner who doesn't talk much will get a sore throat after conversations with me 😭

You should totally ramble to me about ships you like :3 However many you like I’m just curious uwu

(I didn’t answer this as soon as I got it bc I was thinking about what to say lolz 😭)

tbh I like most ships as long as it’s not problematic or I find them weird/that they don’t have much chemistry. I also don’t mind poly or platonic ships (duh). I’d be sitting here all day yapping ab the ships I like/am okay w bc frankly it doesn’t have to strictly be character A X character B, I think it could also be character A X character C, etc. as long as it’s not any wrong. I won’t be going apeshit(/neg) over ships that I don’t like as much or have like a 2 year age gap. I mean, I think it starts to get weird when there’s 4 years of difference. I think people do too much when they hate on less popular ships smh if it’s nothing weird then let ppl have fun w their little kitty witties smh 😞

Huge yapping starts here vvv

Some ships I like tho r a lot of Ghibli movie couples in general bc they’re just super cute and I love the writing Ghibli does for its characters (I want what they have.). I also like Yukito/Yue X Touya and Syaoran X Sakura from CCS but that doesn’t mean I don’t also like Tomoko X Sakura (pretty sure Tomoko implied to like her anyway). I also like some other side ships from CCS but I barely remember their names bc it’s been so long since I’ve watched it and Netflix took it down 💔. CCS ships r cute in general I think, I’ve never seen any problematic ship (except that one girl X her fucking teacher. Pookie. You’re like 13. Don’t date ur teacher. And she was so pretty too bro why did they make her a questionable character 😭). And now. Getting to jjba my beloved. Since I unfortunately focus so so so much on p5 those are the only ships I’ll yap ab 😢. Huge honorable mention to Jonathan X Erina (jonaeri) tho they’re super cute together even if a lot of ppl said they barely have screen time and stuff :3. Anyway. Part 5. I honestly don’t care much about ships in la squadra as long as they had some form of interaction y’know (I don’t pay too much attention to La squadra anyway 💔). Usually ppl get really divided when it comes to Bucci gang ships tho. Honestly I’d rather see them all as a friend group that see each other as siblings to avoid all that shipping, but I admit I really like some pairings, like fugonara, bruabba, giotrish, futrish, naratrish, etc. I really don’t mind it that much (I don’t rlly ship mista w anyone bc I just don’t think there’s anybody matching his freak 😭). I mainly ship fugonara as you can see just bc to me it makes a lot of sense even if I also see them under platonic light. If there’s fugo, there’s narancia, and if there’s narancia, there’s fugo. I just find that rlly cute :3. I also like their backstories and how they tie together and the narancia death scene ripped my heart out in the anime so (IM CRYING AGAIN JUST FROM THINKING AB IT STOP 💔). Again that doesn’t mean I dislike the other ships, I just don’t pay much attention to them or think they had as much chemistry or time together. I love seeing my fave characters tho, so it’s not like I won’t like the content if there’s like gionara or something. Honestly I like seeing ppl have fun w their cutie patooties as long as it’s not too controversial, once again. It’s rlly a shame that ppl can jump at each others throat bc they disagree on a mere ship. It’s literally not gonna alter your life. Also, bc I say a ship some bucci gang characters doesn’t mean I don’t also ship them platonically. (I’ll type it like it’s ao3 tags lolz. Pretty sure & instead of / is for platonic, right?) I rlly like Narancia&Mista&Fugo (torture dance trio is literally the best friendship ever to me bc wdym you did a coordinated dance w ur homies to torture someone that’s so cool). There are also a few others, but they don’t come to mind rn (and there’s a f,y in my room annoying me.) You know what I think I gave jjba way too much attention. I also like Mimi X Sheshe (my fav lesbians fr 😍) from mermaid melody pichi pichi pitch. They tried censoring them by making them “sisters”, but they were blatantly and very obviously lesbians. Like vro. They are touching each other so homoerotically and have complimenting colours. And I think that’s most of it…

I don’t wanna make this any longer than it is so um. Yeah. This was a ramble. I didn’t realize it was so long lolz. But yeah it’s basically that :3

[rainydaydream-gal18]

Hello there, thanks for granting my two requests about writing some bad batch headcannons. Could I possibly trouble you for another request of you writing another headcannons post. This time can you write about how clones (both bad batch and regs) would react when their children start dating.

(Regs + Bad Batch) How He Reacts to His Kid(s) Dating:

"Regs"

   Rex: He's such a dad. He'd come across as slightly stern up front when meeting his kid's significant other, but of course shake their hand and be generally polite. He'd for sure be the one staying up late waiting for them to walk through the front door, whether it was his son or daughter. However, he's a littttle more protective when it comes to a daughter dating. He'd clap the boyfriend on his shoulder and make a subtly intimidating joke about being trained in combat so the dude knows never to hurt her. He might feel like he relates more to his son coming from a male perspective. Still gives corny dating advice either way though.

   Cody: He's pretty laid-back when it comes to his children dating. He knows how to get along with people, so there wouldn't be issues there.. Although, his good opinion will falter if the significant other hurts his son or daughter in any way. He is also pretty great about listening to their troubles and giving decent advice.

   Fives: He loooves teasing his offspring from the time he finds out they have a crush all the way into the time they get married (probably even after, too). He can't help it. No matter how old they are, he finds them adorable. He's easy-going and will get along with significant others, but still has his set of rules that he expects them to follow when they're dating and his kid is living under his roof.

   Wolffe: He tries to put off them dating if he can get them to wait because he wants them to be mature (and also because he's not sure how to handle it). Short-circuits a bit when his son or daughter does bring a someone home to meet him. He knew the day was coming, but it still felt like it came so fast. He's gruff at first, but if it's someone his kid really really likes, he does try his best to adjust to the change and be nice. Depending on the person his kid chooses, he may find himself getting attached and even considering them part of the family over time.

Bad Batch

   Hunter: Skeptical at first. He wants to be sure that this person has good intentions. So, he'll spend the first few weeks and even months being quietly watchful, taking mental notes. At some point he'll reach a conclusion that either this person isn't so bad, or that they're trouble. Hunter wants his kid to make their own decisions, but he offers whatever warnings or encouragement he has because he really wants what’s best for them.

   Wrecker:  He has so much fun intimidating his daughter’s suitors.  One of his favorite things is to see the stunned look on their face upon meeting him and seeing how tall and strong he is.  Still, he is very friendly to any significant other his kid introduces him to, and there’s usually playful teasing involved on some level.  Most of all, he wants his kid to be safe and happy, so he is good to the significant other as long as he knows they have good intentions.

   Tech: He handles it very well.  He is generally casual and pleasant, the least likely to embarrass his kid about these things because in his mind it’s totally natural to want to date, and he accepted the fact long before.  He is much less inclined to like the significant other if they hurt his kid in any way.  Tech is open to giving dating advice, but on occasion he finds himself shaking his head if his kid does the exact opposite.  Nonetheless, he understands how “young love” can be, so he doesn’t take it to heart.

   Echo:  Dating?  What?  They’re too young for that...even if they’re an adult.  It might take him by surprise- not because he’s out of touch or not paying attention, but because he was just a littttle in denial for a bit.  It’s definitely a change, and it takes him a while to adjust.  It will take time, but eventually, he will finally reach the point where he sees the significant other as family.  Poor Echo has a hard time giving dating advice, but it’s easier for him to relate if it’s a son.  He gets all flustered if his daughter goes to him for advice, but he really wants them to be happy, so he’ll do his very best.

   Crosshair: This man’s life mission is to scare suitors away from his daughter.  Any guy who dates his daughter is automatically guilty until proven innocent.  He’s less aggressive when it comes to his son’s significant other, but he still comes across as rather cold.  It takes a long time for him to come to terms with his kid dating either way.  He’s very protective of his family.  He likes his little unit the way it is and isn’t so keen on letting anyone new in.  Over time, he will adjust if he sees over and over that the significant other has good intentions and is in it for the long-haul.  Once they’ve earned his respect, it’s there for good.  He considers them as one of his own.

[uni-seahorse-572]

Ok, sokeefitz week.

The first thought i had was to revisit my princess's bride royalty au where my sokeefitz and universe are already pretty well established I'm not sure what I'd do with them, but i feel like i could make it work if i actually thought about it for a second

And then i was watching too much youtube and had a separate thought. This'll probably be in-canon but vaguely in the future somewhere idrc. I could use this to learn how to write little snippets of chapters and not several k behemoths so it'd be 3 parts. 1 would be keefe trying to teach sophie and fitz how to art inspired by me trying to make my friends teach me back in like 4th grade (it didn't work very well) in fitz's pov.

Then part 2 is fitz and sophie baking (from sophie pov) something for keefe i have yet to decide, it might be a kotlc recipe it might not be idk. I've already done this with fedex though but it might be interesting to see how these two interact. They're gonna use their limited drawing skills learned in part 1 to decorate the thing.

Then part 3 is a game of magic the gathering like i've had fedex do...i think only one has been posted but i'm not entirely sure. Anyway, it's keefe's id and its trying to ignore this fact but being the nice partners fitz and sophie are, the baked good from part 2 is like an elvin birthday cake. Also i'll have to drag dex in because i don't want to learn how to play multiplayer mtg so they can make teams of 2. I'm thinking red/green for the sophie/keefe team and either mono blue white/blue or blue/black for the fedex team. (I picked those teams because the colors make sense for those characters not because i'm trying to further my fedex aegenda). I could also replace dex with tam and they'd be playing blue/black then. Keefe pov. I could also play sophie against fitz and just have keefe as an omniscient narrator who gets to see all their cards.

...that's actually way more thought out than i realized. Sorry about the massive ask, but do you have any thoughts?

I read back through the princess's bride royalty au and delving more into the sokeefitz side of that could definitely work! You could tell it from an in-universe perspective rather than a storytelling one, as that way it might be easier to do something new with it. One interesting angle might be approaching the time period the fic mentioned wherein Fitz, Sophie, and Keefe are all living with the ruins or how it was for them to run away - found family and Grady are both great in general, and if you want to try to make sure your pre-prompt ideas can fit within one it could work for things like domesticity, found family, hurt/comfort, au, royalty, etc. which are all pretty common ship week prompts in my experience

That tri-fic idea would definitely be cool!! I think some common prompts such as future and during canon would fit it too. Also, one way to lay it out could be presenting it as a peaceful recovery from the war and trauma they've endured through doing something simple and fun with their partners. A fun way to frame it might be all of them trying to teach each other something new, so for MTG you could have Sophie introduce it to them with the idea that she's showing them something she used to do as a human? If you do throw Tam or Dex into the mix, personally I'd recommend just considering how both of them affect the sokeefitz dynamic. What conversational situations can their unique personalities create, and how can they help reveal more about the relationships involved in the fic through how others react and interact with them? If you don't think that either character would do much for you narrative-wise besides providing another mtg player, I'd probably just end up leaving them out, but of course that's your choice!!

Also don't worry about ask length, you're all good! I always have thoughts. hope this helped!! and if you need to talk through anything more my asks are open <3

[allsassnoclass]

9 for the 1d at the cabin fic, 10 from the cashton orpheus songfic, 14, 18, 20, 22 hazel i feel like i always pick such weirdly deep cuts of your fics because i haven't read the Big Name fics of yours even though i'm pretty sure the main Big Fic of yours that i somehow still haven't read is puzzle pieces (SORRY) but i honestly just love your small stuff so much. anyway. love you xoxo

honestly babe i'd say my big fics are off-screen, too close to see, puzzle pieces, maybe vampire mashton, and then the mashton college au (which is actually a series of five fics and you've read one of them) so you're not missing much lol although i appreciate the deep cuts those are fun to talk about <3

9. If you had to assign a theme song to here's a hand my trusted friends, which would you assign? The Straight No Chaser version of "Auld Lang Syne" is what it's named after! I love that version of the song, it's the only version I've found that feels joyful? And I feel like it captures a hope for the future and a love of those around you that I wanted that fic to have. Otherwise, I would say "It's Been A Year" by Tom Rosenthal, which feels cheap because it's what I named the roylum fic after, but it's the song that always defines the end of the year for me and I think it fits this fic well.

10. What is the line you’re proudest of from find me here amidst the chaos? ooooo i'm actually quite proud of this fic as a whole but the stand out line is this one

He might not know how to give stitches, but he can keep applying band-aids until the wound scars over.

that's a great metaphor right there. I feel like it really captures how Calum is feeling, and I think it's important that he knows that he can't fix this for Ashton, but he's still going to try to do what he can

14. How do you feel about your older work? i feel like i peaked with my first three 5sos fics In general I feel pretty positive! all fics have little lines here and there that I would change and while I feel like my execution of fics has improved a little, I feel like my older ideas are my better ones tbh. idk they're just charming. It's actually really strange to me when people who know my writing don't know off-screen, too close to see, or puzzle pieces since for a long time i had it in my head that those were the only fics of mine that people liked, forgetting that the passage of time and me releasing new content naturally means that sometimes people know my newer stuff instead lol

18. Do you prefer editing as you write, or waiting until it’s finished? I actually really don't edit that much. For the most part I do it when it's finished, but sometimes I'll make little adjustments as I go if I'm re-skimming something I wrote so I remember what was happening/can get myself in the right mindset

20. What feedback makes you the happiest to hear? oooo this is difficult because i like all sorts of comments and positive feedback. right now I like hearing that my stuff elicited emotion in people because i've been feeling insecure about the emotional quality of my works lol but genuinely i'm happy with all sorts of stuff

22. Do you enjoy making OCs for your fanfics, or prefer sticking to canon characters? ooooooooOOOOOOOOO it sure depends!!!! I like incorporating existing people in the background because it feels really satisfying to me when I figure out how they best translate from the real world to the fic world in aus specifically, but I do love my OCs too! which i'm sure is apparent given that my first 5sos fic was from an oc's perspective. i feel like there are some roles that are best suited to OCs and some that are best suited to canon characters. for example: children are normally best as OCs. often for extended family members i use OCs because stalking their real families to figure out their sister in law or cousin or aunt is Bad. but if i needed to give my characters a neutral/positive roommate, I would use someone associated with 5sos (such as one of their actual roommates like matt, roy, or the girlfriends (platonic mode)). If i was giving them a roommate they hate it would be an oc because i'm not going to do a real person dirty like that.

that was a really long way to say that it depends on the fic but i find them both to be enjoyable!

ask me some fanfic writer questions

[loopy777]

/Well, something to keep in mind is that Mai's Ramblings isn't actually narrated by Mai-the-character-in-AtLA. It's narrated by a sardonic personification of spite too enmeshed in fandom nonsense to enjoy AtLA properly but still has enough insanity to troll her enemies for fun rather than get into actual fights with them- who has had experiences similar to Mai-the-character-in-AtLA.Basically, I was riffing on the fandom perception of the character more than the textual version, and I'll admit that I started writing those ramblings before I began paying attention to Mai. I only picked her because she seemed the type to speak exclusively in sardonic insults and I wanted an in-universe narrator to separate things from my opinions, and it was later when the fic became popular and people told me that I single-handedly made them like Mai that I decided I needed to figure out what this character was about and start trying to inject some accuracy into things. So when Mai calls herself ugly, it's because I had been in a discussion thread the week before where someone said her face was too long and ugly, and so Mai was responding to that by sarcastically accepting the insult- it had nothing to do with what the girl in the cartoon might think of herself.(For the record, I don't think Mai believes in beauty except as a checklist which can be accomplished through artificial means given enough wealth. Just pick a form of beauty which matches your body type, put the effort and resources into it, and then act like you're beautiful or hang out with friends who act like they're beautiful. Society will accomplish the rest.)As for Zuko and his lack of romantic inclinations, I'm sticking with my prior explanations that (in-universe) Zuko is too inside his own head at that point and (out-of-universe) the writers weren't really prioritizing that subplot.In terms of my writing, I'm surprised you took that from the story, as Zuko only encounters Jin once (ch22) and my intention was that his eagerness to convince her he's not a monster is really more about wanting to be seen as a good guy by people in general, like when he tried to stop the riot in the previous chapter by promising to look into the abuses of the citizenry before being called out as isolated and obsessed with himself. Even after Jin kicks him in the Royal Fire Family Legacy, his first action when he recovers is to check if Mai could hate him that much, which given how tenacious he is about things that really matter to him, I would say indicates a lack of investment in Jin's perspective.And literally the only acknowledgement she gets in the story after that is Zuko saying to Mai, "You're pretty- but… it's not just that you're pretty. Jin is pretty. And Ty Lee. Lots of girls are pretty. But I had no idea how to talk to Jin, and turns out that she murders people when she gets mad. Do you murder people when you get mad?" And goes on to explain he really likes spending time with Mai, more than anyone he's ever met before.So I kind of thought I treated Jin poorly in that story, but at least I left her in a place where she could live her life as a leader in her community with no melodramatic primary characters to worry about. Not all of use had such luck in our teenager years. So yeah, definitely interesting how we interpret things differently./

Ohh that would make a lot more sense. I'm sorry if this came off passive aggressive in any way. Mais ramblings being a kind of meta makes much more sense, I was taking it too literally, and we never do get Zukos perspective so it makes sense that his feelings aren't obvious. Jins role in the story was very fun I loved the idea that she was an assassin, we don't really know much about her in the show. I was just under the impression that she was way more important to Zuko because Azula uses her as leverage and Zuko mentions her a couple of times in a cute crush kinda way. But now that I think about it Azula doesn't really understand Zukos feelings and Jin doesn't come up very often so that's just on me having terrible comprehension skills.

Or it's on me for having terrible communication skills. Stortyelling is a partnership between the reader and the writer, and it's impossible for us to always be on the same page.

Eh?

Eh?

Ahem. Anyway, thanks for sharing your reaction and feedback!