#this is the first web i've done in a while where i've put it in my notebook first and then done it on the screen and. i think its better

[gyuwoncheol]

Vantage Point | Meet the Characters & Series Masterlist

Status: Begins tomorrow (January 20)!

Pair: Mingyu × f.reader

Summary: Pulling off the "No Strings Attached" arrangement with his best-friend-turned-best-friend-with-benefits was easy, but when a new condition is added onto the mix, Mingyu didn't realise just how much he held onto you when you finally let go.

Genre: College au. BFFs to FWB trope. Fluff, Humor, Angst, Smut [chapters with smut will be indicated and will contain the necessary warnings]

Author’s Note: Please take time to read this before starting the series ☺️

Hello, my darlings! Finally getting round to posting this after missing the commited date last time due to covid. But welcome!!! 🥳 This is the first story to my Snap Shoot universe! Before you get into it, let me just point a few things. This is the first time I'm ever creating a universe with interwoven stories, and while I've done SMAUs before, this is the first one I've done for SVT and the first time I'm also this adventurous about it. It's definitely very different from what I post on here but I'm having lots of fun putting it together. I know it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, this is very much a work of fiction. This is an AU. While Korea may be the assumed setting for this series, it is not explicitly defined. I'm also trying to avoid using lots of Korean cultural references (maybe except for food) such as use of honorifics like "hyung". While many of my other works refrain from over-describing oc's physical features, you may find that in this series (and universe), oc's features will inevitably be defined. You'll find that the visuals of the characters and the aesthetic of the photos/social media posts will be Korean/ Asian. It's a SMAU, so i'll have to place photos and these photos must maintain consistent. I absolutely do not mean any ill intention of being non-inclusive (I don't even fit the same aesthetic as oc).

Again, it's a work of fiction, while I want you to relate to oc, kindly also allow me breathing space to build the character. If you feel uncomfortable at any point in the series, you are very much welcome to stop/unfollow. As mentioned, this is a SMAU, but it contains several chapters which are purely written narrations. All edits (texts, social media posts, etc.) were done by me, however some photos (esp those of Y/N) are from the web, if they are yours, please let me know so that I may credit you or remove the photo. The texts are all done on light mode. Deal with it. This follows a FWB trope, expect lots of smut and suggestive content— specific smut warnings will be available in chapters where they are present, along with other necessary warnings. This series will have lots of fluff and lots of crackhead nonsense humor. I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Biggest shoutout to my dearest friend @wongyuseokie who has been nothing but supportive through all of this and through all my dramatic Mingy-induced meltdowns. I love you more than you’ll ever know ♥️

Meet the Characters

Mingyu: Sophomore, studying Film & Photography, yn/Camie's best friend since childhood

Yn: Sophomore, studying Film & Photography with Mingyu, Mingyu's best friend since childhood. Nicknamed "Camie" by her group of friends for her highly concerning camera collection/obsession.

Seokmin: Sophomore, studying Film & Photography, same friend group as mingyu and yn, Mingyu & Wonwoo's housemate

Soonyoung: technically a year older than the 3, but currently a Sophomore with Gyu, Cam and Seokmin after shifting into their major

Wonwoo: Junior, studying Film & Photography as well, Mingyu's guy best friend and housemate in The Man Cave, a brotherly figure to OC, Soonyoung's former classmate in highschool

The Man Cave: shared house near their university where Mingyu, Wonwoo and Seokmin live, and Soonyoung often crashes.

✨Other characters/members will come as the series progresses.

Series Masterlist

To be populated as each chapter is posted. There is no posting schedule. Chapters will just get uploaded as they come.

Teaser

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five 🔞

Chapter Six 🔞

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Tag List!

@strawberryya @idyllic-ghost @septemberskies @ladyblablabla

If you want to be tagged as each chapter comes out, do send me an ask or reply to this post so I could include you in the tag list 😊

[starboundpix]

day three ✧ beachcombing

inspired by the mermay prompt list @/muzzlemouths made!

"Come here," hisses the mer, midnight blue tail thrashing, tossing up a splash of seawater that never makes it anywhere close to you.

You don't spare Moon a glance, eyes focused on the sand and seaweed beneath your feet as you search for hidden treasures. "No, thank you, today is a stay dry day for me," you tell him, crouching down as something glints under the early morning sunlight. Lifting up a tangle of seaweed, you pick up a piece of light yellow sea glass, edges rounded out by the beating of waves and sand over time. As you hold it up to the light to admire how the sun makes it seem to glow from within, you say, "You don't have to stay and watch me, y'know? I'm just looking for pretty shells and glass. Besides, isn't it past your bedtime? Go to sleep, old man."

There's another splash, louder than the waves, and the accompanying snarled, "Brat," tugs your lips into a smile.

The next hour or so passes relatively peacefully as you continue across the beach, finding sea glass and intact shells, gently adding them to the growing collection forming in your bag. You can feel Moon's gaze on you all the while, red eyes squinting against the sun but still observing you from his location further in the ocean.

When the sun starts to get unbearably hot, you decide that you've done enough beachcombing for the day and move toward the end of the beach where the sand meets the rockier part of shore and the cliffs looming above provide some shade. You settle on the rocks, cooling your feet in the ocean, and pull out your water bottle.

As you drink, a splash of water signifies the emergence of Moon. He pulls himself out of the water enough for his upper body to rest on the rocks, propping his head up on his hands. He flicks his tail, sprinkling droplets of water onto your legs.

"Hey!" you protest, but there's no real heat in your voice.

Moon snickers and does it again. "Slowpoke."

Rolling your eyes, you start to dig through your bag to pull out the things you had collected from the beach in a mini show-and-tell that you always do, starting with the yellow sea glass you found first. "I like this one a lot," you tell Moon, placing it onto his palm, "because it glows when you put it up to the sun. It's also a very nice shade of yellow."

"Like Sunny," he says as he holds the sea glass up to the sky between two clawed fingers, squinting when it catches the light.

You squirm. "Well, yes, like Sun, I suppose." You hadn't thought about it when you first found the glass, but its particular shade matches that of a certain yellow mer's tail.

"Anyway," you say, quickly placing the next item—this one a small clamshell—onto Moon's hand. You explain what you like about it and why you decided to keep it, and he studies both you and the shell. He's a patient listener as you ramble about your findings for the day. By the time you reach the last item in your collection, his hands are full of your little shells and glass and pretty rocks. He cradles them carefully, the webbing between his fingers helping to make sure he does not drop a single one of your newfound treasures.

"This last one is another piece of sea glass, but look at how round it is!" You hold it up so Moon can see, rolling the near-perfect sphere between your fingers. "I don't think I've ever found such a nicely rounded one before. And look at its color, it's such a nice shade of blue. These dark blue ones aren't as common as the light blue ones."

Moon looks at the sea glass, takes in the deep blue color, and a wide grin stretches across his face. He tilts his head to the side, red eyes fixated on your face, and says, "You like dark blue, hm?" His tail lifts out of the water, sunlight showing the iridescent sheen on his scales, midnight blue fins flicking a bit more water on your lap before settling back into the ocean.

You stare. Your mouth opens, then shuts. Your face is hot, cheeks burning, but surely that is from the heat, surely.

It takes a few more seconds for your brain to properly function again and you pull your arm back toward yourself, stuffing the sea glass back into your bag. "I'll have you know that blue is my favorite color. I've always liked blue things and– don't let any of this get to your head!"

He laughs, a sound that warms you from the inside out. Moon carefully tilts his hands, spreading your trinkets onto the empty space beside you. "Stay," he demands, then pushes backward off the rocks in a beautiful arch and disappears into the ocean.

You're left speechless again, only able to stare at where the mer had just been.

Eventually, you start to pick up your little treasures and return them to your bag. Knowing that Moon probably would not tell you to stay if he would be gone for too long, you drink some more of your water and pull out a snack you had prepared for your beach activities today.

Soon enough, the blue mer reappears, pulling himself back onto the rocks with ease.

"Welcome back," you say. "Do you want to share why you disappeared after– after being so rude to me like this?"

Moon snickers. "Not rude. But I share this." He brings one of his hands up toward you, waiting for you to open your hand before he places whatever he was holding onto your palm. His claws scrape the slightest bit over your skin as he finally pulls back, sending a tingle up your arm.

Your eyes widen as you take in the shell that rests in your hand. “Moon, this is such a large shell!” It nearly covers your entire hand. The surface of it is rather rough, a mix of greys and browns with hints of green. Seven indents curve close to the outer edge of the shell.

You look up from the shell at the mer who gave it to you. “I’ve never seen something like this before! Thanks, Moon.”

The discontent on Moon’s face surprises you.

“No thanks, yet. Look at this.” He flips the shell over, so the curved inside is revealed to you.

“Oh,” you whisper. Although the inside of the shell is dark, deep blues shimmer under the light of the sun. Layers of lighter purples and silver thread through the ever changing blues. The colors are lovely and deep, reminding you of Moon himself. “It’s just like your tail. It’s gorgeous, I love these colors. Thank you for showing me this.” You look at the mer who has been intently studying your face the entire time. Stretching out your hand, you offer the shell back to him.

Moon shakes his head, an expression on his face that you can’t quite place, yet it makes you give him a sweet smile. His hand curls over your own, closing your fingers around the shell. “Keep. It’s yours.”

Your smile grows. “Really? Thank you, Moon! It’s my favorite shell now. I’ll take good care of it.”

“Good.”

A moment passes where his gaze holds your own.

Then a wave crashes into the rocks and water drenches your legs and shorts, startling you with the coldness of it.

You scramble to your feet, hand clenched around the gift from Moon. “I can’t believe it,” you whine, “Today was supposed to be a stay dry day.”

“Come swim,” Moon suggests, with a grin of sharp teeth.

Rolling your eyes, you pick up your bag, carefully adding your newest shell to your collection. “Nice try, Moon. I should head home to put this new beautiful shell I got on display. And you’re probably tired, old man.”

“Not old, brat!”

With a laugh, you hurry away from the edge of the rocks to avoid the incoming splash from Moon. “I’ll see you soon!” you shout, throwing a wave over your shoulder as you leave the mer.

Moon watches you go until you disappear, before diving under the waves. He can’t wait to see the look on Sun's face when he hears about you accepting Moon's shell.

note: the shell Moon gave Reader is actually a blackfoot paua shell! they are sooo gorgeous, i definitely recommend looking them up c:

mermay 2024 masterlist

[periprose]

Angsty/Sad imagine idea for insomniac!peter parker

Reader dies in his arms or he visits her grave for the first time and he says something like "we weren't supposed to end like this" and its just sad....

😭 this ask made me sad but also excited to write! Thanks for requesting it.

/

"How is Spider-Man supposed to reach us in time?" The woman tied up next to you quivered in fear. "Those assholes having been taunting their guns for the last twenty minutes... oh God..."

You never worried if Peter would show up to rescue you in time. Ever since Fisk had gotten jailed, multiple up-and-coming criminals had taken this as their chance to shine.

Unfortunately for you, that meant being kidnapped or harassed, and often you'd get out of those situations thanks to the police- but being Spider-Man's girlfriend sometimes had it's privileges, namely that you could text him discreetly for help and he'd be on his way.

You always felt bad about it. You knew there were worse, harsher things happening out there. But Peter always insisted that you ask for help.

Usually it would end in a quick brawl, and you'd be safely thwipped into his arms, no harm done as you'd swing back to your apartment in safety.

This time, though? It's a lot more serious. These thugs want to "directly send a message to Spider-Man", and it's by poor luck that they've discovered your connection to him.

Every once in a while, they taunt you, but you're sure Peter will rescue you. You've sent him a text and he's read it- he must be frantically swinging right now.

"He's coming, don't worry." You try to comfort the woman beside you, but to no avail- she mutters that Spider-Man doesn't deserve a girlfriend if this is what happens to her, and that you need higher standards.

"This one's getting too confident, boss." One of the thugs kicks your side after hearing your remark, and you wince. "Being pretty won't save you now, bitch."

The woman next to you shrieks in fear- but she suddenly gasps in relief, and you see him, red-and-blue Spider-Man saviour swinging directly to the intersection you're currently kneeling at.

"I've got you, stay down!" Spider-Man shouts at you and the other hostages. He doesn't have a hint of his usual, tension-breaking humour, and it fills you with dread.

The pavement hurts your knees, but you stay down, not wanting to draw attention now as Spider-Man attacks and webs up your kidnappers. He's putting a lot more emphasis into his punches- it seems like they've really ruffled his feathers this time.

Of course, Peter's actually furious- he doesn't know how they figured out your connection to him, and he's desperate to take you away and hide you somewhere safe.

He wonders if he can convince you to move to New Jersey.

After a blur of punches, Peter sees that there's just one more guy to defeat- he swings forward, the guy shoots his gun, a flurry of bullets ricocheting everywhere, and Peter doesn't care about the sudden searing pain in his side- he takes him down.

He turns- hoping that you're still okay to go home now- but the woman next to you is crying hysterically, pointing to your slumped over body.

Oh no. Oh no. No, no, no.

Peter starts running, not with the confident poise of Spider-Man, but with the fear of a young man about to lose the one person he truly, truly cared about.

He scrambles over the pavement, where you're lying in a pool of your own blood, gunshot wounds scattered across your body- it just seems unnecessarily unfair, so needlessly cruel that the universe decided that you would take all those bullets. They should've hit him- he would've gladly taken every single shot.

"No, no. Please-" Peter squeezes your hand, as you look up at him, tears falling out of your eyes. Your face is ghostly pale, you're shuddering- but you still have enough time to say something.

"Keep... going..." You try, because you don't want Peter to blame himself for your own stupidity.

"No. Please, somebody help her!" Peter shouts, gritting his teeth, and there's nobody left here but him and you. Everyone else has ran off- and Peter's too shaken to call an ambulance at this moment. "I don't know what to do, don't- don't-"

You know what he means, and you're trying. You're using all your might to not die here, to let yourself be rescued and healed. But you can't let Peter stay agonized like this, not when he means so much to people, not when he protects so much more than just you, so you use your last reserve of energy to speak, even though he tries to shush you.

"New York... needs... you."

"I need you!" Peter yells, and you can tell he's crying under the mask. "It should've been me, I could've taken it- please don't-"

But Peter's luck always runs out, and it seems like the universe wants him to lose even more than he ever has. Your grip loosens from his hand, your eyes glaze over, and even though he sobs, clings on to you even more tightly- you just aren't there to hug him back this time.

/

It's been a month since Peter lost you so unceremoniously.

He stares at your gravestone in disbelief. None of this feels real- he was sure that if anyone in this world had to die from random criminals, it should've been him.

All the time, he feels like he's waiting for a phone call from you. He still swings by your apartment- your things have been removed, he can see that through the window.

Even though he saw your body being taken away into the ambulance, where you were immediately proclaimed dead, and he was at your funeral. It's like the reality of the situation is refusing to sink in his mind.

Even worse, he's taken out his rage on every petty criminal that comes his way now, as Spider-Man. J. Jonah Jameson loves it, calls him even more of a vengeance on the city, and that he should be behind bars.

Peter would be behind bars gladly if it meant you would've been safe. Maybe being Spider-Man was a mistake.

But he can't forget your last words. The last thing Peter would ever do is disappoint you, and he knows what you wanted. That he would keep protecting the city, that he would keep going despite it all.

Damn it, he hates you sometimes. Hates that you still know how to inspire hope in him, that you're such a significant presence in his heart that you're permanently etched there now. He hates how much he loves you, and how he's going to forever listen to you.

He just wishes you were here to see it through.

"We weren't supposed to end like this. It was supposed to be me and you, together, living a full life." He whispers. "It... it was supposed to be us, and our kids, our grandkids, hell even great grandkids, and then, only then, would I accept it. That we would be allowed to-"

He still can't bring himself to say die. So he lets himself swallow the agony, the sobs that always threaten to ebb out of his throat, and rests another bouquet of flowers at your grave.

[prettypinkporkchop]

It’s kinktober soo hear me out but if you aren’t comfortable with writing this that’s okay!

Paul x reader where he loves making her squirt during sex and when he’s in patrol he lets the memory slip and all the guys are like woahhh and it kinda gets awkward but like also jealous

Me reading this request:

This is absolutely crazy but you know what... IMMA DO IT! Please be patient with me because I don't write smut often and when I do, I don't go into deep detail but but but this is going to be my first try! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ love ya keep requesting!

Mental Images

Warnings: dirty, nasty, language, sexual, sex, I'm scared

"Y/n! Help!" Kim calls out on the ladder in front of the tree.

You drop the skeletons on the porch and run over to Kim. She's wobbling on the ladder, and she drops the fake spider webs. You catch the ladder just in time, holding it up for her.

"Phew! Thank you." She breathes out.

"Maybe we should get the guys to put these in the trees." You suggest as ahs climbs down.

"Yeah, I'm thinking that, too. Where's Emily?" She asks before getting to the ground.

"She just went inside to check on the pumpkin pie." You reply.

"Alright. I'll help you decorate the porch."

You two decorate and listen to music together. After a while, you two finish and sit inside with Emily while she continues baking for the get-together that's tomorrow.

"They're here.." Emily sings softly and then walks to the door.

The pack walks inside, and Paul sits next to you. He seems grumpy. You squeeze his hand as he leans back in the chair and taking deep breathes.

"Baby, you good?" You ask softly.

"Just annoyed. I'm done for the day. Want to go home?" He looks at you.

You nod your head in reply, and you guys step out. You notice Emily telling Quil what to do with the spider webs.

"Wolves can't climb." Quil jokes.

"Shut up, kid." Sam snorts.

You get inside Paul's truck, and he instantly starts driving. He's quiet and tense. "Hey, what happened?" You ask.

"Just a bad training day. I looked away from the leech, and I had Sam help me. Definitely shattered my ego." He chuckles at the end.

You gently touch his arm. "I can help you boost that ego." You kiss his shoulder.

He looks down at you with a smirk. "You always know how to fix my problems."

----

His fingers are attacking your sex. Two of them going in and out of you with speed. Your wet sounds fill the room along with your moans.

"Shhh, baby. Come on. You're doing so good for me." He cooes. He lowers his mouth on your clit.

You grip the sheets and lift your hips. He uses his free hand to push your hips down.

"Still, baby." He mumbles on your clit.

You feel the tingles hit your stomach. You start to tighten around Paul's fingers, and he knows.

"Cum for me." He curls his fingers up.

That motion instantly set you off. You started shaking and clenching and convulsing. You release what you thought was a regular orgasm UNTIL the sheets beneath you went damp and warm.

You started coming down, breathing heavy, and you look down at Paul, who's looking up at you from between your legs. He's smiling and biting his lip.

"My baby girl, you did so good. You squirted for me."

You sit up and look down. You see a wet spot on the bed. You blush deeply and then start laughing. "Shit.. I've never done that before."

He always makes you finish, but now... you're squirting.

He gets up, and you look over his body. His muscles are making you want to go again. He catches you staring and smirks down at you. He grabs your waist, pulling you closer to his abdomen. "You're gonna squirt for me again." He demands.

You nod your head, looking up at him with doe eyes. He grabs your wrists and pins you down. He hovers his lips over yours and looks over your face. "You're so fucking beautiful." Not even a second, he pushes inside of you.

The sudden stretch makes you gasp and moan. You can move your hands due to them being restrained. He leaves sloppy kisses on your neck, biting all over. You curl up your feet and then leg lock him. He growls and picks up his face. He let's go of your wrists and lowers a hand rubbing your clit. Your eyes roll back, and you scream his name, "Paul!"

He moans and keeps going. You already feel your second high coming. You grip the back of his hair and pull. Suddenly, he pulls out, and you whine. He chuckles and lays down on his back. He pulls you up and places him on his hips. "Ride me." He says.

You nod your head and line yourself up with him and sink down. You rock your hips slowly, and he moans. You moan as well and place your fingers on your clit. He grabs your hand, pushing it away. "No." He says and then starts doing it himself. His other hand grabs your waist and moves you quicker.

"Oh, shit." You hiss and move quicker. The high comes back, and you can't control it. This time, it came without a huge warning like before. You squirt again, soaking his lower body.

He chuckles and then moves your hair off of your sweaty face and holds your cheek. You lazily keep riding him, and he understands you're tired, so he lets you move sloppy. He is still moaning. It does feel good to him because you've tightened up on him. Finally, he twitches, his throat grumbles with a low moan, and you feel him fill you up.

-----

You walk around the table at Emily's going to Paul's seat and then sit on his lap. He smiles, wrapping an arm around you and grabbing your thigh.

You're lost in thought from what has been happening the past few nights. Paul has managed to find ways to make you squirt. You're zoned out in your mind, staring off.

"Y/n." Embry says.

You look over. "Hmm?"

He raises an eyebrow. "I asked you a question."

"What?"

"The Halloween party. What are you dressing up as?" Embry asks.

You look around and see everyone looking at you, waiting for an answer.

"I'm thinking I could be a dead bride."

Paul squeezes your thigh.

"Hey! That's cute." Kim says.

"Sorry guys, I totally zoned out. What're you all dressing up as?"

The group began to talk about their costumes. You actually listen this go around.

----

Paul keeps his wolf ears turned on as he listens for any suspicious sounds in the woods.

"Dude, I can't see anything." Quil from a few miles out tells them.

"Damn, pizza don't sound too bad." Jared says.

"Shut up." Sam says.

"Fine.. dad." Jared replies.

Paul has to really avoid thinking of what he's been doing to you. It's hard. Very hard (;. Jared has slipped up so many times, giving small mental images that make Sam bite him. It makes Paul want to scream. But for the past week, he has made you squirt every freaking night. Patrol makes him slightly nervous now because he will be PISSED if any of them saw you like that or heard your moans.

But right now, Paul is focused on finding this vampire. Paul moves his feet, going slightly forward. He finally does here something. He's quick to move in that direction. Oh, twas a deer. It broke a stick. The deer ran away. But Paul saw a waterfall....

Image:

His thoughts go...

You are taking it from the back. Your cheek is against the sheets. You're red and sweaty, and your hair sticks to your face. You're screaming Paul's name. He's moving fast and hard. Your ass shakes against him. He moves his hand to push your abdomen and his other hand to rub you. You begin to cry and rock against him. He looks down, and you're making a mess against him.

He quickly jumps out of his thoughts and notices everything is silent. He stands there a few awkward moments.

"That was hot." Embry says.

This sets Paul off. He runs, growling and roaring. He runs in Embrys direction.

"Shit!" Embry yells, and he sees Paul coming, but he bolts it too.

"Paul, nasty. But good job." Quil says.

Paul eventually just stops in his tracks and huffs, falling on his stomach. "Fuck.."

"Yup." Embry replies.

"Guys, just ignore it." Sam says.

"If I ever hear one of you guys thinking of this, you're all fucking dead." Paul spits.

----

"Paul! You're home!" You wrap your arms around his neck.

"I am so angry with myself." He holds onto you.

"What, baby?" You keep a hold of him.

"I thought of.. a certain night. They saw it." He sighs.

You can't help but giggle. "At least they know you do a good job."

"Yeah, yeah. Get to the bed." He squeezes your ass before slapping it.

[realdirtfacts]

Selling your merch and shipping from home with Fourthwall

I've been selling @shiftythrifting Junk Boxes - our curated secondhand mystery boxes - since 2017 using different platforms with different levels of success. I moved to Fourthwall in 2022 and my teeny tiny business has only grown since then! FW is free to use and you get ALL the money from your home sales save for the credit card processing fees. I don't miss the fee structure from our previous hosts, so I thought I'd write up a little guide on how easy it is to get started.

Things you need to start shipping from home:

A scale, and it doesn't need to be an expensive or large one! Even a kitchen scale works for small stuff.

Packaging and packing materials for the product(s) you're selling.

Access to a post office and/or a printer.

Funds set aside for postage. You'll get this money back with your Fourthwall payout when the month rolls over.

(Optional but handy) A ShipStation account.

Make yourself a store if you haven't already. You can sell print on demand, digital stuff, and your own inventory in one place but today we're talking about selling from home, so add a product and pick the middle option.

You can customize everything about your product on this page, from adding size and color variations, the materials used to make it, size charts, inventory, and more. Get an accurate weight of what you're selling in its packaging and add that here. Hit save and you have your first listing. Gonna be selling a variety of products? You can duplicate the listing with the meatball menu! Change the name, photos, and anything else that needs changing and have your second listing up in a couple minutes.

Didi protip: I like to put people's reviews right in the listing. Lots of photos help sell your product, but there's nothing like a positive review from fans!

Fourthwall's Collections feature lets me put my Junk Boxes in their own little section where I can set them to hidden or mark them sold out if I get sick or am on vacation. This lets me easily turn the self-fulfilled part of my store off while folks can still purchase print on demand and digital stuff and sign up for memberships.

Didi protip: If you are in the US, the US postal service will pick up your outgoing packages free of charge on any regular mail day. Just set up a pickup on USPS.com!

When you've made your first sale, you can either make the label yourself or connect directly to ShipStation through Fourthwall's app integration. That's brand new and I love it so far. My labels pop up in ShipStation about 24 hours after a purchase, giving people a little window of time to adjust their order or make changes before I ship it.

At that point, all that's left is handing it off to the postal carrier of your choice! Boom, you're done!

A final note from me, I moved ShopShifty to Fourthwall so I could have one address for ALL my merch instead of splitting it between Patreon, a print-on-demand store, and the Junk Box store. It's proven to be the best choice I've made in years and has saved me a ton of money in marketplace fees, Paypal's cut, and web hosting charges. This has genuinely been the easiest way to sell my merch!

[writingquestionsanswered]

Scared to Commit to Dream Project

xuliaxuxu asked: I'm an aspiring author who has been writing for a long time but never actually committed to my dream project because it scares me. I've read a lot about structure, good character development and arcs, and how it all works, but I'm still scared of not being able to write a story I'm proud of. Do you have any tips on how to get through the outlining process and first draft without feeling so much pressure on your shoulders? And are the first steps in writing a novel where you have so many ideas but don’t know how to organise them? It’s been a lonely process since I have no writer friends to talk about these specific struggles. Thank you for your lovely work here on tumblr it has been inspiring me a whole lot!

[Ask edited for length]

If it's any reassurance, the fact that you've been teaching yourself about structure and character development puts you ahead of a lot of writers when they first start out. But it's also a bit of a double-edged sword, because that knowledge raises the bar for what you expect to be able to accomplish. And unfortunately, having the knowledge doesn't mean you can instantly apply it perfectly. You still need to practice applying that knowledge before you can get really good at it. It's sort of like this: if you wanted to get really good at hand lettering, you could watch hours and hours of videos about how to do it... you could learn about the different techniques and the lingo, etc., but that doesn't mean you'll be able to do flawless hand lettering the first time you pick up a brush marker. You'll still have to actually practice those techniques for a while to get really good at it. Writing is the exact same way. And that can be frustrating because you know what you want to accomplish, and you have the knowledge to get yourself there, you just don't have the actual skills to actually get there yet.

So, here's what I recommend... keep the dream project on the back-burner for now. You can still work on the pre-planning (because even that qualifies as practice), but in the meantime work on other projects to get the practice in. There's a little bit of sacrifice here because you should find ideas you're excited about, but you have to write them knowing they're not going to be your best work. And that's fine, because writing them doesn't mean you have to share them or publish them. You can write them and keep them on the shelf as a reminder of the work you've done along the way. You can also revisit favorite projects later to revamp them with a more practiced skill set.

Working on something you're excited about and love--but which has the leeway to be not your best work--is the absolute best way to take the pressure off yourself when outlining and getting through the first draft. Once you've done this a few times and you know you're getting the hang of it, you can revisit your dream project, and just the fact that you know what you're doing will take a ton of that pressure off. Another thing that will help once you get to that point is remembering that your outline and first draft don't have to be perfect--and they won't be. Part of the writing process is having the flexibility to change things as you go, to tweak and improve, even into the later drafts. Developmental editing wouldn't exist if your outline and first draft had to be structurally perfect. :)

As far as organizing a lot of ideas, you might find it helpful to find a story planner of some kind. These exist as web sites (Novlr), apps (Fabula), programs (Scrivener), workbooks (Outlining Your Novel Workbook by K.M. Weiland), and you can even find time for download on Etsy. You can probably also find free ones to download if you can't spend any money. If nothing else, get yourself a multi-subject notebook and divide it into sections like plot, characters, world, brainstorm and get all those ideas out into their individual sections. Even that can make a big difference.

Happy writing!

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[rythmicjea]

Jeronica Endgame Analysis

I wrote this on Reddit and have been meaning to bring it over here. But commenting on @elizacinnamon's tumblr is what convinced me to do it. Buckle up because it's a long one!

Okay so, looking at all of the easter eggs in the episode, to me, it's heavily coded that Betty and Archie do end up together and that Jughead and Veronica end up together. The first thing that should be acknowledge is that everything in this episode is done with a purpose. They couldn't definitively say who Archie ended up with because Archie comics is predicated on the unanswered question of "Betty or Veronica?" so they had to make things "ambiguous" so people could come to their own conclusions.

When we hear of Veronica's life, Jughead says that she was known for her "impeccable taste" and "produced some of the most iconic movies of our time". So, right there, that's huge. That's a lot of heavy lifting. While he is complimentary and sensitive to everyone else's ending, the way he describes Veronica's life is just more. Take Fangs, he doesn't describe "Pixie Girl" as a "timeless" or "iconic" song. He just says that Midge and their daughter were taken care of and that his gold record will hang as long as there is a Riverdale High. He doesn't mention if Kevin or Clay won any awards for their work, but he says that Veronica won two Oscars. He goes out of his way to note the importance of Veronica's achievements.

The scene at The Babylonium is where I've found the most clues to their shared future. Jughead says "I always loved this theater". He doesn't say that about any of the other places they visit. Throughout the show, they regularly used characters to represent overarching themes. For example, Archie = Riverdale. I take Jughead's declaration to be a euphemism for Veronica. It's not that farfetched to believe that they fell in love while in high school. They were together for a year and a half before graduation. So, in the scene, he says "I always loved this theater. But it had a good run." At this time, in reality, both Veronica and Jughead have passed. Their run ended. He then lifts the seat and HIS CROWN is drawn under it! Why? This is a quick visual cue that he and Veronica are connected. If the Babylonium is a physical representation of Veronica (which is what the episode frames it as) then she essentially has a Jughead tattoo on her (a bit of a dramatic way of putting it lol). But, also this is not the first time something like that is in the show. In season 1 and 2, Betty wears a sweater with a yellow three pronged crown. It's universally recognized as Jughead's crown (she wears it on his birthday and in the Heather's musical episode). So, he makes his statement and BAM Veronica appears. Every time we see a character that isn't in the "relived day", it is a clip of them in the future. Veronica is the only character to essentially be an apparition. They didn't have to include her, but they did. And seeing as it's Narrator!Jughead (the real/angel Jughead is in the Pop's in the Sweet Hereafter, and the show literally ends with typewriter sounds) telling Betty all of this, Veronica's appearance can be taken as a clue that she is ever present in his mind/life.

When we see her in her office, she has four "The Comet" posters behind her. Hanging posters of the movies you made is very common. What isn't common is that one franchise has such a place of honor, so that means it's incredibly significant to her. Her clothing is in the style of the early 80s (the creators had an idea to bring everyone through time with each episode but it wasn't feasible so this is kind of a nod to that. Cheryl is seen in the late 60s, Betty in the 70s, and Veronica is the early 80s). We know that Jughead adapted The Comet into a comic book, and he was the one that introduced her to WEB DuBois' people. The artwork of the posters is the same as the comic he created. Making movies at that time was very time-consuming. Also, franchises like that were not common. The whole "Saga", "Trilogy", and "Universe" collections of today were not done to the same extent back then. So, not only was "The Comet" incredibly popular (because it got four movies) but it spanned over a large time frame (again, she still has the posters up decades after graduation via her clothing style), meaning that there was a consistent dialogue between Jughead and Veronica.

Outside of the Babylonium is a poster for "The Big Sleep" (It's also on the Marquis). This is a direct reference to the episode "The Red Dahlia" (3x14) where Veronica enlists Jughead's help. It is one of the main "Jeronica" episodes of the series. In that episode he says that he'll be her "Philip Marlowe". In The Big Sleep, Philip Marlowe is the main character played by Humphrey Bogart. In the same episode he says "Nice hat... Bacall." Lauren Bacall is the female lead of The Big Sleep. Bogart and Bacall were a huge draw for audiences. They were a power couple of their day (and they were also married... hint hint lol). They were the Bennifer and Brangelina first.

Now, moving onto Jughead. He doesn't talk much about himself. Everything that Betty says can literally be read on screen in his obituary. There are two main takeaways from this scene. The first is he barely talks about himself. When he does, he focuses on talking about his career and there's no mention of his personal life. This is a parallel to Veronica's description. He only describes her career and not her personal life. What is also a parallel is that in his summary of Veronica's life he says that she was known for "taking risks on young, raw talent" ie Jughead. Jughead tells Betty that he "put all of his eggs in one basket". That turn of phrase is to mean that you did the riskiest thing possible. When Betty asks if he ever regrets not getting circled he says 'sometimes'. It's a very ambiguous statement. BH shippers will say that he is talking about Betty. But his relationship with Betty ended in high school (both times) and were never rekindled later in life. It doesn't have to be that regrets not marrying Veronica, but it can be taken that way.

The second is on the artist easel in the Madhouse offices. There is a picture of Veronica. It is not a photograph it is the canonical comic book portrait of Veronica (Pep Comics IS Archie Comics). And it is smack dab in the middle of the easel. This is another parallel to Veronica's future. She has "The Comet" posters and he has her portrait. Remember, his first comic book line that he created was "Veronica: The Teenage Witch". So this is a clue that he has used Veronica's likeness IN his magazine for most, if not all of, the run. There's no picture of Betty or Archie. Why still have Veronica's portrait and use her likeness if they weren't still connected in real life?

Now we come to the final scene. So, throughout all of Riverdale (with a few exceptions) the milkshakes that the core four drink all correspond to their hair color. Betty = Vanilla, Archie = Strawberry, Jughead and Veronica = Chocolate (double chocolate to be specific - which can be extrapolated to represent them. It's a stretch but it can be made). In the final moments, we see that this formula has been flipped. When Betty sits in the booth, Archie is drinking a Vanilla milkshake and he hands Betty a strawberry one noting it's "her favorite". What are Jughead and Veronica drinking? Double chocolate milkshakes. If in the Barchie Endgame theory Strawberry being Betty's "favorite" is to mean "Archie" then we can apply that same logic to Jughead and Veronica. Then there is their seating arrangement. The girls on one side and the boys on the other. Betty is sitting directly in front of Archie and Veronica is sitting directly in front of Jughead. Again, because they had to keep the "Who will Archie choose?" answer ambiguous they use this blocking technique to show the pairings without the pair sitting right next to each other. (Couples either sit next to each other or across from one another.)

That is my analysis of the finale using clues to prove that Jughead and Veronica were "endgame". I hope you liked it! If you have any corroborating theories let me know!

[princesspuresarahk]

Meg Fanfic

Chapter: 7 Cleveland's Resolution and Hidden secrets in the attic?

In the Griffins attic Chris shines a flashlight around the room, looking at all of the boxes.

"I think Mom mentioned that our birth certificates and family history photos are somewhere up here. Maybe in the back, I think?" He questioned as Meg joined him inside Chris needed help with a big homework assignment on their family for a family history tree his class is doing for November and Chris wanted to get ahead and asked his sister to help him look which Meg happily agreed to help him.

They know some of their family history of being mostly Irish descent on their father's side with some African from their great ancestor Nathaniel and their mother's family were Holocaust survivors of either Ukrainian or possibly Russian and that was pretty much it. "I'm sure it's up here somewhere with all this stuff up here it might take a while," she replied while blowing some dust away from a case. That was a bit of a mistake with dust that got everywhere causing it to go up her nose making Meg have a bit of a sneezing fit "Oh my ahh ahh-Chhhoo! Achoo! Achoo! Oh so much dusty achoo!" She winced moving away from the dusty area despite dust and cobwebs being everywhere!

"It's definitely been a while since this place has been cleaned," looking around Meg found a duster to clear off some of the webs and dust showing off a few harmless spiders until it was clear from a section looking to Chris pointed him in a group of boxes "let's start in this section and then work our way to the back I'm sure the stuff is here somewhere," before putting the duster back where she found it as the two siblings set to work to look for.

Once again at The Clam Cleveland was ready yet nervous about confronting his friend as he sat at the usual booth he and his friends usually sat slowly taking a few sips of his beer to calm his nerves a bit knowing he had to stay sober for "you can do this Cleveland you have to for your God baby's sake and Donna's it has to be done," whispering to himself as he noticed Quagmire and Joe come in heading to their spot give me a calm smile he greeted them "hey guys what's up Hey where's Peter he should be here by now?" Wondering where their friend is as he's usually the first one to come here.

“Heard he got some trouble with Lois and a bit upset,” Quagmire replied.

"so I've heard, is he still sleeping at that Motel?" He asked trying to keep neutral but seem to be worry looking for his friend "Lois must be still pretty mad at him huh,"

Joe nodded. “A lot. This could be the longest time she was angry.”

"have mercy," he mumbled as Jerome came by with their usual drinks and gave Cleveland an encouraging nod to talk about what he and Cleveland discussed he wanted to talk about with his friends taking a deep breath he let the words out "Hey fellas," he asked a bit out loud who turned his attention "what is it's Cleveland?" Quagmire asked first noticing something was on Cleveland's mind "Yeah what's up buddy something on your mind," Joe asked the same taking a sip of his beer.

Taking another deep breath Cleveland put it out in the truth"Have you guys ever wondered in truth be honest ever questioned why we are friends with Peter sometimes?"

This question seemed to have caught Quagmire and Joe by surprise! “What do you mean, Cleveland?” Joe asked him.

(Courage Cleveland keeps going so they can understand) "What I mean is well been on my mind for a while I know Peter can be a good friend but there are times I've been thinking has he ever been a truly good friend or person especially with us or to his family,"

Back at the Griffin house Meg and Chris were still searching for those family pictures and journals but no such luck. Looking through box after box Meg turned to Chris if he found anything yet "Found anything Chris?" So far nothing as Chris shrugged "Nothing yet, but I found my birth certificate," holding his said paper in a frame. Well, that's one thing to find Meg walked to the darker side of the attic " They gotta be here in the back it'd make sense. Turning on her phone flashlight looking around.

Meg starts to look at anything that could be new to her.

Looking around she came across an old trunk that had the Pewterschmidt initial on it Meg's memory came into her mind remembering back when she was 8 or 7 seeing some albums and other stuff in this trunk that their grandparents brought for their mother to see they must have forgotten it and Mom decided to put in the Attic "hey Chris I think I found what we're looking for," walking over to it she tried lifting it but with no access. Dang, it was a bit heavy "Hey Chris come over and help me with this this thing weighs more than Dad," she half-joked giggling a bit Chris laughed at the joke it was a bit mean but it doesn't hurt when he's not around. Walking over to help Meg they both each got one side of the case "Okay on three..1..2..3..LEFT!" Taking a breath they lifted the heavy trunk carefully to the open space of the attic well doing so next foot sounded like caught on to something costing her nearly trip and almost losing her grip on the trunk "Whoa that was close," she gasped looking behind her she noticed one of the old floorboards loose.

She gets closer, seeing that there is something deeper inside. Looking down at the open piece of floorboard Meg noticed something peeking out there was something in there (but what?) "Um Meg the trunk is getting heavy can we set it down now," Chris called interrupting her thoughts "Oh sorry Chris here we go let's settle this down here, yes there we go," she apologized helping resettle the trunk onto the open space so they can open the trunk in the meantime as Chris opens it back a bit Meg brushed the dust and old webs from her hands fully turning back towards the open correct floorboard.

She looks to see an album book. "Huh?"

Carefully lifting the 'surprisingly' loose board to get a better look It was an album book! It was pale pink and small, small enough to hide in a hidden area looking closer she realized it wasn't the only object in there. Was that an old jewelry box like one of those she'd seen at their grandparents? Lifting it she slowly opened it but quickly closed it when a little tune started playing.

"What was that?" Chris heard the sound coming from where Meg was sitting.

"It's a music box. It's so... nice." She replied.

"Where'd you find it?" Now curious Chris walked to where Meg was sitting putting the box down and lifting the small pink album.

"It was under the floorboards for some reason," looking down at the music box again she noticed there were initials on it. Looking closely she realized they were her mother's mother's initials L.P.P Lois Patrice Pewterschmidt "But why would Mom hide this for some reason?" She questioned before going back to the album flipping it open she noticed a few pictures of her mom in it along with a piece of hair taped on the side looking closely she looked at me being hugged by someone with only their arms and chest in view based on the angle of the camera but she realized must have come from a Polaroid camera and whoever was hugging her she could see it definitely wasn't Peter. She also noticed a date written on it looking closer she realized it was taken months after her parents married what?

"what the heck..?"

This didn't make any sense when she heard Chris behind her asking the same thing "Hey is that Mom when she was younger and who's that hugging behind her?"

Back at The Calm

Peter walks into the bar, seeing that his friends are already there. “Hey! You’re all here!” He exclaimed with excitement.

The guys quietly greeted him after their long difficult conversation about their 'friend' as Peter settled down with them the three stayed hushed about the topic until Cleveland was ready to speak with Quagmire being the first to speak up "So Peter how are you and Lois doing have you two made up yet, we've heard on the grapevine she was pretty mad at you,"

"She's still mad but I'm sure she will get over it," Peter replied.

"And if she doesn't then what Peter I think you should find a way to make it up to her," Joe added.

"Joe's right Pete, if my Donna was that ever angry with me I would definitely want to make up and think about my actions and how it affects her," Cleveland chimed in getting ready to confront his friend about Meg.

At the Griffin's Attic

"Who is this guy Meg?" Chris repeated breaking Meg from her sudden daze she realized she was looking at the photo trying to figure out the question herself.

"Oh yeah sorry Chris..I..I don't know Chris..this just doesn't make sense to me," flipping through the album that shows her Mother in different poses smiling shyly as she's looking at someone lovingly.

(It must be that guy who was hugging her but again who is he?) She thought her curiosity was at its peak when she noticed some other pictures at a later time showing her mother with a small baby bump! Looking closely she noticed the date written on it, a strange uneasiness in her mind as judging by the numbers this would have been the time her Mother was pregnant with her.

Chris seemed to notice her uneasiness Meg? You ok,"

"Y-yes, Chris." Meg still felt concerned.

A sense of dread was creeping up on her as she continued to look through the pages seeing hints and bits of the guy her mom was hanging about. Given her mom's history with men she had a deep feeling there was more to this guy than she realized and her point was about to be proven when she noticed near the end of the page some folded paper sticking out.

With shaky fingers, she slowly pulled it out and opened it her violet-blue eyes now widened with every emotion running through her veins as she saw what it was a birth certificate! Meg felt her body begin to shake in a slight panic. "Chris, are you seeing what I'm seeing? This..this can't be real can it?" She'd seen her birth certificate before reading both her parents' names but this said something completely different.

Chris could definitely see what it said looking at the birth certificate said for the mother Lois P. Griffin, but the Father, Stan Thompson.

This was something concerning especially with Meg as Chris noticed how quiet Meg had become.

Many emotions could be seen in her eyes confusion, anger and betrayal.

"Why would Mom hide this?" She whispered rereading the certificate and looking it over, again and again, it should be proof of her mother's handwriting with her baby footprint and the 'other man's written in a style similar to her own as it clicked in her head!

The hidden pictures, the cut piece of hair, the photos and the hidden birth certificate the reasons why she probably wanted to keep this hidden.

Meg was starting to feel numb as tears peaked in her eyes with the emotions shown on her face "So this was the reason," a part of the reason why she was treated the way she was? With the emotional and physical pain, the treatment of putting her down so much and being seen as an outcast.

"what is it Meg, what's.. what's wrong?" Chris was now concerned about his sister seeing the tears begin to fall from her face slightly showing red from holding back the tears and trying to keep her emotions in control but it was too late her eyes couldn't help it as her face flushed in rising anger and wanting answers from their Mother Lois!

Donna was hanging out with the kids finishing up some paperwork when she heard her husband come in "Hey baby, how'd it go with the guys did you talk with Pe.." she stopped mid-sentence when she noticed his saddened face with slight anger in his eyes that told her what had happened with his talk with Peter she turned to the kids "kids I need you three to go upstairs for awhile Cleveland and I to talk privately ok," Roberta and Junior nodded in understanding when Rallo asked why Jr. Pulled him aside just in time.

"Don't worry about it Rallo come on let's go upstairs I wanna show you the map I drew out in detail for all the good candy spots this year!" That got Rallo's attention as the three went ahead minus Roberta who stopped just out of sight to listen when Cleveland Jr. noticed he called out to what she was doing before she gave a "hush" motion putting a finger to her lips wanting to listen. Her, stepbrother nodded understanding as he and Rallo went to his room, Roberta leaned against the top of the stairwell carefully listening in on her parents as Donna gave a concern look towards her husband "It went that bad didn't it huh?" Cleveland gave a nod as he took off his jacket "It did Donna it truly did," giving a sigh and rubbing his temples as the anger left his eyes and were now full of melancholy "Peter Griffin and I are no longer friends," another headache was coming as Donna gave him a gentle hug in "you knew what to be done Cleveland," whispering soothing words Cleveland gave another tired sigh "I need a water and a aspirin," they walked to the kitchen as Donna filled him up a quick glass of water and headache medicine and back to the living room. Donna asked some more questions "What about Joe and Quagmire did they take your side?" Remembering his other friends were going to be there.

Donna sighed at his response. She shouldn't be too surprised that there is a mixed reaction.

"But if it will keep my goddaughter safe it's a friendship I'm willing to end," he reassured proudly he said determined with a small smile.

Donna responded with a kiss happy and proud of her hubby for helping Meg.

Speaking of his goddaughter "By the way where is Meg?"

Suddenly Donna and Cleveland heard a loud commotion from the open widow coming from the Griffin House.

Very loud yelling came from the open front door showing Lois had recently gotten home and it seemed she and Meg were arguing about something serious, judging by how angry Meg sounded. This concerned Donna as she and Cleveland walked out towards the Griffin's walking cautiousness as she caught a few words being yelled "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!" She sounded (Oh dear Lord,) "YOU LIED TO ME!" Donna was growing more worried "SO IT All Makes Sense I am not that that SOB's daughter and YOU Kept It From Me MOM Cause OF YoU MY Life Was HELL!"

A sound of a 'SLAP!' echoed from the house causing Donna and Cleveland to freeze in shock at what they just heard!?

Their shock instantly ended with the thunder in the dark clouds as the rain began falling drizzling down before heavily falling hard on the ground they saw Meg running out of the door her hand cradling her right cheek as hot tears fell from her face as run holding her backpack close tightly against her chest not hearing the call of her Auntie Donna "Wait, Meg what's wrong!?" Blinded by the clapping thunderstorm with the emotions of anger, confusion, heartbreak and betrayal all one swirling like a tornado her mind and aching heart with the only instinct in her was to run! Runaway from that awful house and that awful family of hers!

"Meg! Meg! Honey wait please come back!"

Donna cried but it was too late Meg ran so far off in panic that Donna couldn't keep up in the incoming rain Donna almost tripped on the sidewalk if it wasn't for Cleveland catching up to keep her steady "Woah careful Donna are ya alright," he asked as Donna steadied herself "Yeah baby, I'm good but we gotta find Meg," they footsteps turning to see Roberta behind them with umbrellas

" what happened we heard yelling outside and when we looked Meg ran out of the Giffins what the hell happened?" Roberta asked handing the other umbrella to her folks and looking around for Meg wondering where she ran off to.

Donna looked over to the direction Meg had run off now worried to the bone. She shouldn't be out there especially with the weather getting colder, especially at night and dangerous. A frown fell on Donna's brow as she angrily looked back at the Griffin's house her inner Auntie Mama Bear showing "Yes, Roberta something did happen and I'm gonna find out now! In the meantime go get the car warmed up and some flashlights, Cleveland can you go get Joe we might need his help," she calmly ordered as Roberta gave a nod jogging back to the house to do that. As did Cleveland who gave her a look of worry handing her the umbrella to head to Joe's he asked Donna "What are you going to do baby," who was marching towards the Griffins with determination and anger in every step.

"To demand answers from Lois and what the hell she is hiding!"

Cleveland knows that he needs to think of something quick before things get worse even further.

Chapter: 8 Alone in the dark. as Meg cries out the pain in her heart in the rain and dark. A furious Donna confronts Lois on her daughter's treatment and a distraught with guilt Lois finally reveals the truth!

credit to the beautiful Taffy aka www.tumblr.com/queenofcandynso… for being part of this fanfic : )

If ya'll are wondering how Cleveland's confrontation went with Peter and how Meg's confrontation went with her Mother? Feel free to write in reply in what you think happens in those scenes. : )

[s10127470]

Shipping Ideas: Bart Simpson

I'm pretty sure most of you are familiar with crack-ships.

The act of taking two characters from completely different sources of media (and in some cases, from the same piece of media) and putting them in a romantic relationship.

And while this is largely seen as kind of a joke by most of the Internet, there is a strange beauty to it.

Not only seeing completely different characters being put together, but seeing it done in a way that still stays true to their respective characterizations.

And in some cases, the characters as they're presented in the crack-ship are actually better than where they originated from.

One of, if not, the best case of crack-ships I've seen is from an artist by the name of Flower Cannibal (Iris Lamour).

For the past year, she's been doing a web-comic series titled The BriBob Multiverse.

Set in a weird mish-mashed world where just about every fictional character you can think of co-exists, this series primarily focuses on various same-sex crack-ships pairings.

But the main one is the titular BriBob, which is a ship between Brian Griffin from Family Guy and SpongeBob SquarePants.

This already sounds like an insane and disastrous ship given how drastically different these two are.

But believe or not, it’s actually really engaging.

For starters, there’s the characterization of the two.

SpongeBob is what you would usually expect from him, but Brian is essentially back to his characterization from the earlier seasons, when he wasn’t a egotistical douchebag.

As for how they got together.

We see this happen in the very first part of the comic, where Brian is attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting being held by Steven Universe.

SpongeBob is the last to arrive to the meeting, where he finds himself sitting next to Brian.

The two immediately hit it off, as Brian finds himself drawn to SpongeBob’s bright demeanor.

Though you may be wonder why the hell SpongeBob of all characters is at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Well, this where gets take a real shark turn.

So basically, sometime before the events of the comic, Mr. Krabs DIED and as a result, The Krusty Krab got shutdown.

This led SpongeBob to spiral into a deep depression, and he decided to join AA as he didn’t want his depression to reach to the point where he does become an alcoholic.

Yeah, despite this comic being crossover insanity, it’s also shockingly deep as well.

The reason why these two ended up together is that they’re both aimless souls.

We already know Brian is one (and I appreciate how it’s treated in a way that makes us sympathize with him and instead of trying to make him look like a loser) and SpongeBob now since he’s lost his job (which he loved).

And throughout the comic, we see these two really bringing the best out of each other.

SpongeBob helping Brian keep his spirits up and being his motivation for him to buckle down, and Brian amazing SpongeBob with his intellect and showing nothing but love for his unique quirks.

If you want to check this series out, here are the links to Flower Cannibal's TikTok and Instagram.

But anyway, the reason I'm sharing all of this is because I've gotten into the whole concept of crack-ships.

And in honor of Pride Month, I've decided to start a series where I take a fictional character and choose 4 other characters (2 male and 2 female) that I think they would be really good matches with.

And to start this series off, our very first guest will be the pranking master of Springfield Elementary, the eldest child of the Simpsons family, and the creator of The Bartman: Bart Simpson!

So without further ado, let's get started!

Partner #1: Chuckie Finister (All Grown Up!)

I had to put these two together just because of the fact that they shared the same voice actress: Nancy Cartwright.

Basically, Nancy would be in a relationship with herself!

Talk about self-love!

But apart from that, there is another reason why I think these two would really be a good couple.

AGU Chuckie, although still neurotic and cautious like when he was baby, is shown to be somewhat more courageous and a bit of risk taker, since he doesn't want to be seen as a coward anymore.

And Bart, someone who is courageous and a massive risk talker, would definitely cater to that.

These two would basically be partners-in-crime in a way while also complimenting each other really well.

Bart helps Chuckie become more courageous and stand up for himself, and Chuckie makes sure to reel Bart in so he doesn't take things too far and get them in trouble.

Also, I could totally see this maybe even leading to a potential friendship between Skinner and Pangborn.

They would definitely be the primary targets of this couple's pranks and totally bond over their shared exasperation and frustration towards them.

Partner #2: Sakura Haruno (Naruto)

Now this is a classic!

I'm sure any of you that grew up in the 1990s and 2000s probably remember Nickelodeon Magazine.

Well during the late 2000s, they had this issue that was essentially a parody of the celebrity magazines of the time known as Toon Weekly, which focused on the lives of fictional characters (mainly cartoon, anime and comic book ones) as if they were celebrities.

And in that issue, one of the main articles was that of Bart and Sakura, who are shown to have a surprisingly close friendship in this universe.

And the article possibly hints that they may be more than just friends.

But in all honesty, I could actually see them canonically being a thing.

Although Sakura is primarily compassionate, determined and courageous, she's also incredibly short-tempered and aggressive.

I could actually see Bart being attracted to that.

He definitely strikes me as a guy who, in the words of Spike Spiegel....

As for why Sakura would be into Bart.....

Well, Bart is, in all honesty, is a really kind and caring person.

While yes, he does prank and mess with people a lot.

He is by no means a malicious person and he does know when to stop before things get taken too far.

And he's willing to stand up for others.

Not to mention he's pretty confident, something Sakura exactly wasn't at the beginning.

And since Sakura is an honor roll student, this relationship honestly writes itself!

Sakura would help Bart buckle down and help him think about his future and become the best student he can be instead of coasting on a D- GPA for the rest of his life

And Bart would help Sakura become more confident and far less narcissistic, making her realize that she's already pretty and shouldn't have to worry about what others think. Along with that, Bart would definitely encourage Sakura to hone her ninja skills, which he would find totally cool.

Also, two things to note before we move on.

Bart would definitely have a good future with Sakura. Since let's be real, I think we're all sick of having every potential future for Bart being him ending up as a total loser.

Bart would be a FAR better lover to Sakura than Sasuke ever was. I mean, my God, it isn't that hard of a feat to accomplish.

Partner #3: Cricket Green (Big City Greens)

Now this one literally writes itself.

Cricket is incredibly mischievous and fun-loving, which would jive really well with Bart.

As you expect, the two would definitely be partners-in-crime when it comes to their pranks and antics.

In addition to that, Cricket would just find Bart really cool to hang around and smart due to him being more knowledgeable about the outside world than him, while Bart would find Cricket really endearing and kinda cute because of his optimism.

Also, I just feel the multiple aneurysms coming for Homer and Bill.

Not because they would be against their sons being a couple.

(Well, maybe expect for Homer...)

But because of the absolute mayhem and chaos they would be causing together.

Partner #4: Reggie Rocket (Rocket Power)

We all know Bart is a EPIC SKATER!

So why not give him a love interest whose also an EPIC SKATER as well?

Apart from that, I can just see these two having really strong chemistry.

I’d imagine that Bart would probably gain an interest in the much greater world of extreme sports thanks to Reggie.

Reggie would definitely make sure that Bart doesn’t do something stupid, which she would be a master of thanks to Otto.

I’d could actually see a moment between these two taking place after Reggie saved Bart’s ass from something he caused.

Reggie would be furious and Bart would apologize and try to calm her down.

And I’d imagine it would accumulate with Reggie finally calming down and saying…

“You’re lucky that your cute….”

Also, how do you think Raymundo gonna feel about Bart and Reggie dating?

After dealing with Otto all the time, I’d imagine his tolerance for antics are really fucking low.

Well that’s all I have for now!

Let me know what you guys think about this little series I’ve decided to start and the characters I chose for Bart.

Also if you could, send me some ideas for who you want me to talk about next time!

But until then….

[dennydraws]

Long time no type!

Hello, hello... it's been a hot minute since I've done an update! :D First of all... I'm alive and well... for which I'm very thankful because last week I had one hell of a health scare and a week of tests and scanners and what not but long story short... I did a scanner for a kidney issue and said scanner showed something completely different and very scary. Fast forward of several days of stressful blood tests, scanners and what not and it turned out I have very, and I mean very low vitamin D which will hopefully be fixed soon enough. Said lack of Vitamin D manifested in a way that looked like something very scary.

I'm still kind of mentally recovering from the scare. It put me in a very ... bad mental place of, yeah life is kinda short and I barely lived anything of it for myself, I don't know where I am going with my creative projects that seem to be forever in "Some day" phase ^^;; It is a little hard to put it into words even. My mind is still kind of scattered and processing many thoughts on mortality, mental heath, physical health, why can't we eat the rich and solve all our problems... ahem...

But yes! I'm still here, hopefully will be here for a while longer.

I'm still working on my "The Snake, The Firebrand and The King of All" comic and next chapter was almost line arted, soon to shade it. I did also move it to a separate web page that needs a bit of tweaking before I link it here. So the comic will have a proper home once it's finished here :D;; I do still plan to post and update it here of course!

I've also been playing Eiyuden which helped me greatly through the scary health related week. And I have ... a lot to say though I'm still only about 35-ish hours in and I did run around a lot so I consider myself a slow player. xD;; But this feels like it will need a separate blog post. I am still playing though! No spoilers please!! But do poke my askbox if you like to talk about it with me!! So far, I greatly enjoyed Seign's character progress and his group has been most entertaining. I almost wish they were the protagonists :D;;;

And that's about it... I have things I want to muse about and type over but my brain is still so very much tired from the whirlwind of scares.

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the little things in life when you can. I hope your day is good and tomorrow will be better.

Thank you for stopping by, dear web traveller!

[pearlsofthec]

While not as celebratory as October (MY B-DAY MONTH!) and not yet as festive as December, November is a month that’s always full of promises to me. It’s the month when I usually swear to myself I'll get everything done, so I can try to relax when it's Christmas time. While my productivity levels aren't as consistent as I'd like them to be, my will to be productive certainly is. I'm definitely a list kind of girl, loving making them just as much as I enjoy reading them in magazines and on archive blogs from the 2010s (classygirlswearpearls and rookie magazine, I’m looking at you guys). So what better way to start the month and try to get myself together than by writing a big ole' list? My November Guideline:

To be inspired

On TV: Spencer Hastings, Blair Waldorf, Tanner Hall

I may have only watched a season and a half of Pretty Little Liars, but that absolutely doesn't stop me from loving and pinning essentially every single outfit ever worn by Spencer Hastings on television, EVER. I love the way it's simultaneously classic and dated. I've never been one to fear a dated style or outfits that might one day make me sigh and go, "Oh my God, that was so ten years ago for me." I guess that's my way of contributing to history and experimenting with the millions of inspirations I'm constantly bombarded with via social media. I specifically love this aspect of her style, how she wears what she wants, what she loves, but always communicates a deep appreciation for a more traditional way of dressing. 

A lot of the same things can be said about Blair. Again, a character from a TV series I haven't watched all the way through (I can't make it past the first few episodes of season 3, sorry!), who was a pillar of preppiness back in the day, and is still wildly beloved, despite having committed a few fashion faux pas in my opinion. The craziness of it all and even the grandma-ness of it all actually fascinate me about Blair's wardrobe. How she constantly projects a vision of who she needs to be. Spencer does the same, obviously, but with Blair, it's almost like she viewed every day of her life, every problem she needed to face, as a new plotline of an old movie that needed to unravel. For each plotline, she reacted as a different heroine would, and each heroine, naturally, expressed herself differently through fashion. I just love these characters she creates for herself, and I feel like I often have the same instinct to curate an outfit like that when getting ready.

Tanner Hall, directed by Diane von Fürstenberg's daughter, Tatiana, is in the same aesthetic line as the previous mentions. The movie is set in a quintessential New England boarding school, where beiges, browns, and muted greens seem to be the only existent colors. The whole wardrobe is gorgeous, designed by DVF, and the holy grail for all those who are obsessed with an old-time preppiness. While the movie's plot may be flawed, its attempt to portray the delicious whimsy and melancholy of a girlhood that tries to expand inside the claustrophobic gates of the school is genuine and comes from what, to me, is a mixture of personal history and folklorized memories. I really like the softness of it all; you can almost smell the crisp apple scent through the screen.

On the web: 2010s Emma Watson, Silly Lettuce, Eva Meloche 

I can't really explain my current fixation on Emma Watson, but I have the feeling it has something to do with the fact I've been looping her Burberry campaigns practically every day. The songs are so reminiscent of a carefree city life, going on long taxi drives in the rain and putting your hands over the steam of your coffee on a cold day in the park with your friend, wet fall leaves on the cement sidewalk. I used to admire Emma Watson a lot when I was younger, and it's nice to rediscover this fondness for her. And let's be honest, she is definitely one of the founders of the gamine community; all I have, I owe to her!

Now, my current admiration for @silly_lettuce on Instagram is totally aesthetic, and I'm not afraid to say it. Gorgeous girl, gorgeous outfits, what's not to love. I could go on and on about her style in general, the silhouettes she wears, the boots, the knee-high socks, but instead, I'll just urge you to check out her page! So timeless, yet so young, fun, fresh, and COOL!!!! 

Eva Meloche is a YouTuber I've been watching for as long as I can remember, and not only do I adore the calm energy all of her videos exude, but I also really love her travel stories and spot recommendations in general, which always come in handy. Oh, and, of course, she has impeccable taste. Even though her style is different from mine, I guess I use her content as a way to explore.

To wear 

I think it's totally healthy to have an everlasting lust for new clothes and new products. Maybe it's because the holiday energy is already lingering in the air, or maybe it's because I'm fresh out of a father and daughter trip to Paris, but recently, I've been loving to revisit my old favorites. And by old, I mean back-when-I-was-twelve old, which includes:

Red Valentino patterned A-line dresses

Ok, I know they may be a bit too young, but if you get it, you get it, I guess. With some ballerinas or Mary Jane pumps, a cute overcoat, and a nice pair of sunglasses, you'll look positively '60s. Honestly, any A-line dress works, but RED V makes me remember my trips with my grandparents and going shopping with them.

The Cardi-blazer 

So basic, I know, but I cannot stop thinking about the Ba&Sh Gaspard cardigan and Guspard blazer. I just love how it elevates a basic outfit. With a pair of jeans and a trench coat over it, it has infinite potential. I can definitely see myself wearing it to a lunch with friends, for some afternoon shopping, or just for a coffee run. I love the Ba&Sh cardi-blazers, specifically because of how cool they look without ever being an "in-your-face" type of item. The buttons are nice and discreet, and the style is put together but not excessively frumpy.

Flap Brogue

Maybe it's the Miu Miu enthusiast in me, but ever since they released the new collection of shoes with Church's (my dad's fave), I've been loving all outfits that include a pair of brogues. I already had a pair of light brown oxfords (which are my one true love), but I really wanted something in black and thought that a pair of flap brogues would be a nice addition. They're perfect to wear with sheer hosiery, a mini jean skirt, and a cozy black sweater to tie it all together.

Statement sweater

Talking about sweaters... I just have so many cool statement ones living in my brain recently; it's a bit concerning. What's better than wearing a huge sweater that screams "look at me" when going out with friends or having a nice dinner party? I've been specifically lusting over two models: the Kritzia glittery, oversized turtlenecks with animal motifs and the Zadig and Voltaire Alma "rock and roll" red one.

Statement everyday shoes 

It's so 2016 to talk about Golden Gooses, but... I just love them. I happened to buy them after quite a bit of time resisting after I found myself with soaked ballerinas after a violent rainstorm, soon-to-be late to my lunch reservation. The Golden Goose store was my knight in shining armor, literally, offering me shelter and shoes. And maybe it was the desperation, maybe it was the pink sparkly star, but all I know was that I left that store in a glittery haze, enamored by the sneakers I'd just impulsively bought. No regrets!

To Discover

Maison millais (The Eloise perfume specifically… i need it)

Armocromia

Isak Zenou

Brai (pyjamas)

Louvini

Sekiguchi dolls

[sinspark4]

Roddy's Ghost Adventures

The Rake: This is the first video Rewind stumbled across after finding something called "The Dark Web" when searching for media for his crew mates. The video is distorted, corrupted, everything inside it is hard to make out or understand. All Rewind can gather from the feed is the panicked screaming of a human and glowing, yellow eyes. He does his best to clean up some of the feed but there are strange viruses lurking in the coding Rewind doesn't want to get anywhere near. He thinks he sees a forest, a house in the background, and a sign reading "Warren Park Trail, Montana." Then the video just ends. Abruptly. He took a moment to contemplate the recording before reading the caption.

Locals spoke of a creature known as "The Rake," a nightmarish being with sunken eyes, elongated limbs, and razor-sharp claws.

Legend had it that "The Rake" was once human, transformed by dark experiments or supernatural forces. Its first recorded appearance was in the late 1800s when it stared hauntingly at a family before vanishing into the night.

As years passed, more encounters were reported, each describing the creature's ability to appear and disappear, leaving behind an aura of dread. Witnesses spoke of its featureless face and guttural noises, claiming that even a brief encounter could plunge a person into madness.

Rewind snickered. This was ridiculous. They'd been on and off earth enough times they would have known if there were any humanoids outside of humanity by now. Some sparkling humans must have just gotten bored.

He ignores the twinge of discomfort ringing in the back of his processor and shuts his vocalizer off just in time to stifle the high-pitched yelp clawing up his intake when a bright yellow hand lands on his shoulder.

"Hey Rewind, whatcha got there?" Rewind turns his helm to stare up at his captain. Slowly, a smile spreads his lips behind his facemark. Oh this.....this will be good.

Log 1

Bots along for the ride: Rewind, Rodimus, Drift

Location: Warren Park Trail, Montana

Subject of interest: Urban Legend - The Rake

Notable Mentions: The air here seems....heavier. Shadows seem to somewhat defy sources of light. Rodimus has taken it upon himself to "Flame up" so everyone can see where they place their pedes. Drift's headlights help but they don't seem to penetrate the strange blanket of darkness. Walking around tonight in search of this legend has proven fruitless. Perhaps this is the first he can strike off the list? He will have to wait till they were back on ship and he had a moment to himself before he can review the feed. He's going to have to do a lot of tweaking before the video is comprehensible.

Here is the rendered photo without the drawn on Video Cam.

This is the first installment of my new mini-series. I am so excited to finally post this, I've had the rendered photo done for a while now and was just waiting on myself to finish up the companion comics.

This literally was entirely inspired from solely two things.

1.) As I was sketching Roddy for practice, the song "Dumb Ways to Die" came up on my for you playlist on Spotify. This kinda put in a little seed of sorts.

2.) My brother is starting to get into art and we often go to the cafe together to practice. It's great being able to have a critique buddy right there as you're working together. On the day after scenario 1, him and I went to the cafe and I had been practicing landscapes. My intent had been to make a fairytale like environment. I showed him, we looked at each other, and both stated. "Yeah that's haunted." It's like a light bulb went off in my head. A very very insistent light bulb.

And thus, "Roddy's Ghost Adventures" has been born! Stay tuned for future installments~

[solradguy]

Hey Sol! I remember quite a while ago, someone asked you about how to get into archiving stuff and you answered with a little guide of sorts of useful programs/websites/etc.

Do you still have that guide up? Is there somewhere I can learn more in-depth about how to begin archiving too?

Tumblr search is failing me and I can't find that post now... So! I'll type it again. Lately I've been thinking about writing some kind of "archivist's manifesto" type thing for my Neocities in an effort to hype people up about archiving and to guide them on how to do it. When I write that up I'll post it here too.

Here's a big post I wrote on how to scan books and where to upload them (this is also linked in the big GG masterpost that's in my pinned): https://solradguy.tumblr.com/post/722512206034501632/sol-radguy-scanning-guide

That guide also has some tips on photo editing that may be useful for non-book scanning stuff, like some free program alternatives.

I've tried finding professional guides on how to archive media but most of them are written for people looking to archive family photos/things and not web media or physical books. None of them have been very helpful, honestly. One thing they recommend doing that I think IS helpful though is the rule of 3: Keep 3 copies of an archive somewhere. A physical hard drive, cloud storage, a second hard drive stored separately from the first (in case of accidents/hardware failure), uploaded to separate file hosts, and printing new physical copies are some. Doing any 3 of those is highly recommended. I do the two hard drives and cloud storage/file hosts ones. My hosts are generally Archive.org, Neocities, and Google Drive.

Be very careful about trusting image hosting sites with valuable scan data because they come and go like the wind. Photobucket, Tinypic, Imageshack... They're either dead or require a premium to host files now, which doesn't help hobby archivists at all. Imgur's demise is on the horizon. It's just the way it goes with these due to how expensive and space-consuming image hosting is.

Absolutely 1000% do not ever use just Discord for archiving/hosting things. Nothing on that platform can be backed up easily or with automation, and the guys that run it have already made weird choices the community didn't want while also putting more and more things behind the Nitro paywall. I suspect they're going to kneecap image and file hosting some day soon, too.

For archiving someone else's files, something that helps greatly (if it can be done) is either including the source of the file in the file's name or writing a separate document with the sources and whatever other additional information there is.

Here's a basic example of some Sol images from my Sol folder:

The first two are from the Counterside collab event and then the second two are official art but the file names are descriptive and it saves time sourcing them for things later. For archiving fan art/fiction, the filename is a good place to put the artist credit. Something like [Artwork Title]-[Artist Name]-[Original File Creation Date].format ("Sol Badguy Missing Link - Daisuke Ishiwatari - May 14 1998.jpg," or however you wanna organize the folder) works good.

Windows 11 didn't like working with Japanese text in file names for some of the Vastedge stuff I archived and I had to translate/romanize them. If you can't read Japanese/source's language, just do your best (number them instead?) and include the native language text in a .TXT file if possible.

A more complex example from the Vastedge .TXT doc:

The Vastedge materials archive is pretty dense and had a lot of contributors so the first half of the .TXT document's just credits for who did what. This is useful for if something gets lost because we'll know who to go bother about it. Among other things.

The next section is a long stack of details about the files themselves. I won't paste the whole thing here, it's pretty long. It covers how the archive came to be, issues with some of the files, how the files were obtained, and some other stuff:

The last half of the .TXT doc is a listing of the folder contents. I included this for quick reference and because sometimes archives get fractured by people only reuploading certain parts of it. Future archivists or anyone else going through this archive now have a list of what should be in there and will know if something is missing.

Archive.org/Wayback Machine has a browser extension for quickly archiving webpages. I have that and WebP / Avif Image Converter by Nullbrains (Chrome, might be on Firefox?) installed to quickly archive pages and convert image files as I save them.

In summary:

Upload/store things in multiple places

Include credits wherever you can, however is easiest for you

Try to keep files in the most widely compatible formats (jpg, gif, bmp, png, tiff, mp3, mp4, txt, pdf, flac, etc). Google's .DOC, Clip Studio Paint's .CLIP, and similar file formats meant for a specific piece of software may not be supported in the future.

A bad/incomplete archive is better than no archive at all. Consider how exciting Sappho poetry fragments are compared to what it would be like if we didn't have anything. Don't worry about making it "perfect."

Hope that helps some!! I'll try to write the manifesto for my NC soon

[spaceorphan18]

Okay guys! I have watched all of Hearstopper -- as picked by you!

And here are my thoughts!

I'm going to put it under a cut -- Idk if people are worried about spoilers? Idk.

My overall, quick thoughts are that I liked it! It's a well done show, and I'm glad that there's a celebratory LGBT+ youth show that isn't reliant on trauma porn in the way that Euphoria is. (I haven't seen Euphoria - but based on what I do know, it'd be too much for me.)

I think, though, I have some complicated feelings about the show, though, more so concerning my place in life and less about the show itself. But I guess some reflecting is at hand.

I liked the first season more than the second. Part of it, admittedly, might be because I spent the whole day binging it. And sometimes that's a hard thing in general. I had a nice day -- and as afternoon slipped into the evening, it kind of felt like one of those relaxing days where you curl up with hot cocoa on a snowy, winter day. It's comforting. I enjoyed my day - but it was probably too much by the end of it. I was getting antsy about moving on, so that's on me, and my issues of not being able to parcel things out.

I think the other part of it is the realization as the second season was playing that I've spent the last thirty years watching some kind of variation of the stories being told. And while I think it's great that Gen Z has this, and that the LGBTQ+ community has this, I feel like I've seen it all before. This isn't a criticism of the show -- it's more so that I don't think I'm invested in these kinds of stories anymore. It's kind of interesting, in a way, that it doesn't matter sexuality or gender or what age you're growing up in, there are some themes that are universal.

Alright - so some more specific thoughts:

I do like the Nick and Charlie pairing. They're very sweet together, and I think the show does a good job of exploring it as a growing, awkward teenage relationship.

I also like the way they've handled Charlie's eating disorder. I usually hate eating disorder story lines in media -- and this one was handled in a really nuanced way, and I think that's really cool.

I think one reason I didn't like the second season as much as the first, though, is that the first is a real exploration of Nick and Charlie -- with everyone else as a supporting cast. And the second season kind of falls into the pitfall of being a little too bloated as they try to expand on everyone. As well as -- making it about everyone coupling off and less about the friendship. Don't get me wrong, they make sure to show everyone as a supportive group, and that's great, but friendship dynamics just didn't factor as much, and I hate when shows get so caught up in romantic dynamics that that's all it focuses on. Plus, Nick and Charlie almost got pushed to the background of their own story.

I have never read the graphic novels or the web comic so I have no frame of reference -- but Charlie's sister is straight out of a comic strip. I don't know if that works as much on screen, but man you could tell. (I felt that way about early Tao, too.)

The family dynamic stuff of the second season was... fine. But, I really do love Olivia Coleman as Nick's mom. She does a lot with a little.

I like Tao and Elle as characters (and really like that being bi-racial and trans is part of her identity but not her whole character), and while their romance was telegraphed early on, I can't say that I'm all that interested in it. And I feel like across all media, the cliche of one person wanting to choose their career and their romantic partner has to deal with that just feels... tired.

(Honestly - I think there's a story here about how you think you are in love with someone - and you try to date them only to find out you're better friends, is a more interesting angle, but I knew it wasn't going to go that way.)

I do love Tao's mom though. She is a delight and I love her.

Okay, here comes probably my most controversial opinion. I really wasn't a fan of the f/f story. The problem is, unlike Nick and Charlie who get to be nuanced, real characters. The girls identities and story are completely tied to the fact that they are lesbians. They really aren't developed outside of their lesbianism and I find that really unfortunate. I'm glad there is a lesbian couple on the show - I feel like they're underserved in media as a whole, but I really just don't like this story line or these characters very much.

That said - I'm really glad that there's so much f/f friendship on the show, and that there are a lot of instances of females supporting each other.

And then there's Isaac. I really love him as a character, and I absolutely LOVE that they put asexuality on the show -- seriously, as someone who is borderline asexual, it's so, so refreshing to see a teen going through a lot of what I went through as a teen. My one problem is that as the show erases a lot of the friendship dynamics for romantic ones, Isaac gets a little lost. Isaac is on his own? Oh that's fine -- he has his books. Geez, c'mon show. Let him have one conversation with one of his friends about how he feels -- and less of his melancholy, balcony brooding. (Again - there were definitely group scenes where they made sure he was included - but let's face it, Isaac is still a third tier character.)

Okay, and then there's another big issue I had overall, which, again, is less to do with this show, and more to do how certain things are portrayed in teen media. I really kind of hate the notion that your troubles will be your troubles until you find a magic partner who makes all those troubles go away. The world... just doesn't work like that, and you will have so many people in your life who will love and support you, and I wish these shows didn't zero in on romantic relationships to save or fix you. I know the narrative wasn't trying to do this -- but sometimes I roll my eyes when it feels presented that you aren't worthy of being you until someone romantically interested validates you.

The kind of background love story of the two teachers I found amusing. They're both great minor characters -- I would totally watch a show about them. The rugby coach, too, is a fantastic character. I'm glad the adults in this show aren't complete buffoons.

Overall, the show, on a technical level, looks really good. I did love the little added animations that popped up -- in a way to show the graphic novel origins.

So yeah. Look. This sounds like I hated the show when I really didn't. It is very sweet, and I am looking forward to a third season. But I'm being nitpicky of things I've seen over and over in teen media for the past thirty years that, honestly, did detract my viewing pleasure. That said -- I do think stand by what I said earlier in that it's something great for people who are of the correct age, and who are experiencing these stories for the first time. There are so many worse alternatives that I enjoy the fairy tale-esqueness of this one.

[mxrobotlegs]

My Journey

hey! in celebration of Pride Month, I'm going to finally write about my Gender Journey™ (because the word "transition" doesn't quite describe it) throughout the past 5 years and my life as a whole. I hope that this will allow someone else to get something out of my experiences, now that I've decided to record all this down. to be honest, I hadn't done this yet as I only just now figured myself out to a level where I'm comfortable discussing all this publicly, and this is where I decided I'd put it!

Childhood

let's start out with the beginning. I was assigned male at birth and raised in a conservative area of northern Florida (yuck, I know). throughout my childhood, I always felt like being a "boy" wasn't right for me. I had to deliberately act masculine to fit in, and even then, it all felt like I was just performing for them and that I wasn't really part of the group. this wasn't the only experience I had back then that was like that, either.

privately, I had a desire to wear feminine clothing and makeup. I even did so secretly by using my mom's collection while she was away from the house. I enjoyed this and it made me happy, but I also felt guilty because "boys" being feminine didn’t go without ridicule at the time and I was doing it behind her back. I told my mom what I was doing due to the guilt. despite her having conservative values, she was surprisingly supportive at the time, even offering to help me try on other clothes of hers. however, I had too much anxiety about accepting her offer and what would happen to me if I did so I ended up dropping it.

all my curiosity at the time in gender expression also led to me looking up "boy to girl" transformation videos and other stuff like that on YouTube and other websites, but I didn’t learn about queer people in a positive way from any of that. this was all happening around 2008 or 2009, so the web wasn't super accessible back then and I was an 8- or 9-year-old newbie. school didn't help, either, since I was being home-schooled with a Christian curriculum, which of course would not mention such topics. the only real expression of any sort of femininity that I had was occasionally having older girls tie up my hair in a ponytail just to "tease" me (I totally didn't enjoy it with an ulterior motive). this was also around the time that the show "I Am Jazz" was popular, but I didn't feel that I was like her, either, nor did I think it was possible for me to be like her since I viewed my gender as immutable. as a result, I dismissed my feelings, and I wouldn't think about them for years to come.

Adolescence

fast forward 8 years to when I'm 15 or 16. after years of toxic masculinity, I started thinking about my identity again. however, this time, I’d been exposed to transgender communities online such as "r/egg_irl," and I was confused by them as I thought that anyone would press that button. you know, the one which would instantly turn them into the opposite gender (of course they would!). I asked my friends, all guys, this same question and every single one said "no." this was my first wake-up call that maybe I'm not as cisgender as I thought I was, and that maybe I should consider HRT. I also thought about working inside my assigned gender and wearing stuff like utility kilts (don't say a word) just so that I could wear clothes closer to what I could wear if I was a different gender than a "guy." needless to say, I did not go through with the kilt idea as my friends and other people thought it was strange and most of my anxiety at the time came from other people's thoughts about me, unfortunately.

in 2015/16, U.S. discourse about queer people wasn’t great as anti-SJW movements were at their peak back then and gay people were often the butt of their jokes, making coming out of the closet seem like social suicide at the time. this terrified me as I started to realize that I needed to do something about my feelings despite all the negativity, so I researched the topic further. it only solidified my desires. at the time, I was also planning to go to the U.S. Naval Academy in a year, having been in NJROTC since the start of high school. this made my anxiety that much worse as it would be rough for someone in the middle of HRT.

I decided to tell my mom how I felt a couple of months later, and she said what I feared most: that I had to choose between living my life as the true me and the Naval Academy, my dream. by then, I had already went through much of the admissions process and been accepted (a huge pain), and this threw me back into the closet for years to come as I didn't want to give up on my ambitions. funny enough, a year later in June of 2017, I started my time at the Academy with their version of first-year indoctrination, and I decided the whole military thing wasn't for me and dropped out (painful, I know).

Early-Adulthood

despite the Naval Academy situation, I was able to get into Florida State University at the last moment in July 2017 and move out of my parents' to live off-campus in a small studio apartment. the next six months were the most miserable, lonely period I’ve ever experienced. I holed up in that apartment until I got my first girlfriend (and she was straight) in December of that year. let's call her "Stinky." she and I went on a break a couple months later in early 2018 after an argument, so I went to visit my parents back in my hometown to escape from her. during the visit, the feelings that I was experiencing before I went to the Academy resurfaced. this led to me telling my mom how I felt again, but I stuck to my guns this time, insisting that this was what was right for me. I also told her that I didn't want her to tell my dad yet as I was worried about how he would react (he was my role model and a Vietnam War veteran). she agreed, and she said she would need some time to think about all this. I drove back to university.

their reaction wasn't great, to say the least. my mom called me later and said she was upset about the news. I decided to go back home the next weekend to talk with her about it in person as I was concerned. during our discussion, she went on to dismiss my feelings and make it seem like I was making a mistake, implying heavily that I will be some sort of freak at the end and that the process would be long and difficult. strangely, my dad was distant the entire time. while I was on a drive with him, I confronted him about his behavior, and he then told me to not act on my desires until "after he was dead." I guess that she had told him despite my wishes. this whole situation threw me back into the closet, again, because I naturally valued my parents and didn't want to lose them. I told them to forget about it and that it was just due to me being sexually frustrated.

however, I couldn't fend off my feelings for long after that. I was back to dating Stinky. I tried to keep the act up for my parents as well as her, but it took less than half a year this time for it to fall apart. it was May 2018, and I started to feel that I needed to do something or I would have to deal with gender misery forever. I thought, "well, if nobody is going to support me, I'll just have to do it myself without any of them knowing and deal with the consequences later." Stinky and I had planned a vacation to Miami to visit her family later in the year during August, and I figured out a way to get HRT, using the trip as an opportunity.

the plan was that at the end, I would fly back to Tallahassee while she spent some more time with her family down South. in May, I had secretly scheduled an appointment with Planned Parenthood (using informed consent) that would take place during that brief time we were apart. this was so that I wouldn't have to go to a psychologist as I was still an 18-year-old and it would cost too much. I drove 4 hours to Orlando (the nearest location to Tallahassee that offered HRT), completed the appointment, and drove 4 hours back.

my prescription for spironolactone and estradiol was filled the day that Stinky came back. I decided that I should tell her what I was doing and that I needed this. she became distraught and made me feel guilty, but I stood my ground and took my first dose that same day. 1 week later, I went to a cryogenic storage appointment before the medication started taking effect in earnest so that I would have the option in the future of having biological kids (no matter how unlikely that seemed at the time). I also started laser hair removal for my facial hair shortly after. the next couple of months were rough, with her frequently telling me how terrible I made her feel due to my changing body, but also that she still didn't want to break up with me. she was disgusted by the effects of HRT. this didn't help my state of mind as I still wanted to continue dating her, too, even though this relationship was obviously not healthy for either of us.

in October 2018, just a couple of months later, I deluded myself into thinking I could repress my feelings for her and stopped taking the medication, even watching anti-trans media to attempt to reinforce that effort. this didn't work as less than a month later on November 16th, I realized that living a lie for someone else was a terrible idea and I started taking the medication again (I haven't stopped since). we continued "dating," but it was dysfunctional, with her eventually losing attraction to me. we broke up in the second half of 2019. she was still my roommate for months afterwards (which was terribly painful and filled with drama).

during that mess of a relationship, however, I also had to plan for my parents' reaction. I wouldn't be able to hide this from them forever. expecting a similar outcome to what happened in 2018, I did everything I could to become independent just in case they disowned me or wanted to have leverage in a confrontation. whether it was financial (I took my money out of their bank account and put it into my own), or alternative transportation in the case that they took my car (I bought a motorcycle), or even health insurance (I obtained new insurance through my university), I got it done. in February of 2019, I was completely independent, even leveraging my status as a veteran from my time at the Naval Academy to obtain educational grants that would otherwise be unobtainable due to my parents' income (they weren't even paying for my education to begin with!).

this turned out to be a wise decision as during a visit to my parents in May, I would be forced to come out to them after almost 6 months of continuous HRT. my parents noticed subtle changes like a feminine bracelet I wore around them, that I was shaving my legs, and that my face looked softer, but I think that I still went largely under the radar. I explained the changes as being normal "guy" stuff (for example, shaving your legs helps with swimming, of course). one day, my parents and I went out shopping. my mom and I walked into a shopping center while my dad waited in the car. as she and I were chatting on the way in, she patted my back and felt the bralette that I was wearing to conceal the effects of HRT. she said, "what is that?" and glared at me. I cursed my negligence and told her what she didn't want to hear. she was silent as we walked into the store and said that I was "mutilating my body" as we walked out. we got back into the car and drove home with my dad. the drive felt terrifyingly slow, and I didn't know what awaited me when it was over.

this time, however, I decided that I wasn't going to let this narrative be controlled by my parents. as soon as we got home, I told them that I wanted to have a conversation with them. I explained to them that I had been taking feminizing hormones for over six months and that this was the right decision for my happiness. I endured verbal abuse from my mom and silence from my dad. she said things such as "you're confused," "nobody will love you," "you'll get beat up," "you'll be ugly," and even "you're mutilating your body" again. to this day, I still do not forgive her for what she said that night, and how could I? after she was done with her assault, I explained very plainly: "you will either have a daughter or you will have no child at all." that seemed to resonate. they said that were so resistant to all this out of "love" for me. I told them my experiences and why I was doing this. I also explained that my gender expression is separate from my sexuality, which isn't changing. they didn't know or care about any of that until then. they had to listen to me, and they had to accept me. and if they didn't accept me, they would lose me, either by me never talking to them again, or by suicide if I had to continue performing the gender they wanted.

today, they are strong advocates for queer rights after ultimately deciding to stand behind my choices. they even supported my desire to get multiple gender-affirming surgeries in late 2020. but I don't know how it would have turned out if they had had leverage over me back then, and I didn’t want to find out.

Adulthood

a couple of months after Stinky and I’s breakup, to cope with it (I felt like it was my fault even though it wasn't) and the discomfort about my changing body, I escaped into virtual reality. for the next couple years, my social life was almost entirely on the internet as I didn't have to deal with anxiety and could present myself exactly the way I chose. this immersive world helped me discover the new me and how I wanted to act. I experimented with the way I talked, the way I acted, my disposition, and many other things, until I found a persona, my persona. I even experimented with my sexuality and determined that yes, I’m still not attracted to masculine people and no, I’m not entirely opposed to polyamory.

some more time passes - 2021, two years ago - despite “finding myself” through years of socialization and personal introspection, I still put myself inside the gender binary (I blame my upbringing). I thought that I had to be either a man or a woman, and that anything else outside of that box wasn't a real option for me. for whatever reason, I also had this misconception that being non-binary wasn't being, well, non-binary, but instead still having to fit somewhere on the binary spectrum despite its name, just not necessarily at either end.

at this point, in all ways, whether by government ID or by gender presentation, I was a woman. my friends and family all knew me as a woman, I identified as a lesbian, and I thought this was the end. after 3 years, nothing could change.

but despite everything, I still never truly felt like a "woman" or even a "girl" despite my “transition” being as complete as it could be. I would subconsciously refer to myself as a "person" or in the case of my parents, their "child," or relating to my S.O., her "partner." anything else didn't feel right when others said it or even when I said it to myself. this feeling wasn't something new to me, either. previously, I had chalked it up to dysphoria making me think that I didn't yet deserve to be a "woman" and that's why I didn't feel comfortable yet. but, realistically, it had to be something else. it should make me happy to be gendered "correctly." which it did, initially, as I was struggling to pass in public during the start of my transition (I viewed it as an accomplishment). but now that I was passing as a “woman” nearly all the time, however, it made my stomach turn when a person referred to me with gendered terms. that feeling wasn't present when someone referred to me as “she” or even “they,” and I couldn't figure out why.

outside of the very start, my gender presentation has never been very feminine. I mostly wear androgynous clothing. I tried wearing makeup, and to my surprise, I determined that I liked myself without makeup more. my interests don't really consist of traditionally feminine things, and I stopped shaving my legs (my parents complained about that one). I've played with the possibility of being non-binary, but it still never really resonated with me and I felt like it just wasn't the right fit.

I've now been on this journey for almost 5 years. last Friday, while I was at the dentist, I noticed that my hygienist was confused by my gender presentation due to how she stumbled between she and he pronouns every other sentence when referring to me. I was amused because generally someone would decide what they thought I was, stick to one set of pronouns, and I would correct them if needed. the situation felt comical, almost unreal, and it made me think about how glad I was to not have to be in her shoes. she then brought me to the front desk after she was done with the cleaning and I corrected her with a simple “she” when she started to talk about me again (my initial amusement had worn off). the hygienist became flustered and I smiled. this made me think, “why do I enjoy someone else’s confusion about my gender?” I’d experienced this feeling a couple of times in the past but I’d never given it much thought.

now, thanks to way too much self-analysis (and my partner’s love and support, of course), I have found the reason for these feelings and why labels never fit me. it’s because I simply do not think of myself in gendered terms. I’m just “me.” I was also never comfortable referring to myself as transgender, now knowing that it was because it implied that I went from being one gender to being another (which never felt accurate). being a “woman” also started to feel like it was holding me back, making me realize that the explanation is that I just…

don't have a gender.

agender it is. let's say that I have transcended the concept of gender entirely. fuck having a gender. who needs one? I sure don't. I never have.

happy Pride!

[toast-of-eden]

I've got beef: I wanted more nuance in Trigun Stampede.

Obligatory: I loved this first season of Trigun Stampede. This is constructive criticism around the storytelling, not the incredible work that was done and published. Frankly, I think it was a work of art, and my beef could be resolved next season.

Remember this line from the finale?

I don't know about you, but this scene bothered me. So. Much.

It seemed like there was something that was supposed to click for us right here, but nothing new really happened — it was a battle where Nai and Vash realize they can never see eye to eye.

Was that supposed to be the aha moment?

I couldn't put my finger on why it felt so shallow. It was like there was a missing piece.

But I think I figured it out.

Do you remember this scene with the spider and the butterfly from the first run of Trigun?

[if the video widget breaks click here]

In Summary:

Vash, Knives, and Rem are in Ship 5's greenhouse thing.

Vash sees a butterfly caught in a spider's web, and the spider is closing in on it. He's incredibly anxious at the prospect and holds out his hands, seemingly unsure of which one to rescue.

Knives, observing this, grabs the spider and crushes it.

Vash: What the fuck? Knives: Either the butterfly goes free or the spider starves, dipshit. You wanted the butterfly to live, right? Rem: Yeah but you can't just make that choice for them. Knives: So like... we sit back and just let the spider kill all the butterflies while you fuck around and think about it? Vash: [punch punch punch] I wanted them both to live!

It's the brother vs. brother, life vs. death thing we just watched happen in the finale of the first season of Trigun Stampede, right?

Kind of.

This scene, along with the original run, is a little campy by our standards today. I don't know if I'd want the same scene beat for beat in the new run of the show.

But what it manages to do in a minute and a half does what the first season didn't manage to do.

This scene gave us nuance.

The butterfly/spider conundrum is a direct, clear metaphor for "the human problem."

There's a villain and a victim, right?

Knives sees that the butterfly is about to be eaten and that the spider needs to eat. Indecision will only mean that the spiders will eat all of the butterflies — so if there's one to save, it should be the one that you want to save.

Vash sees that the spider needs to eat, but the butterfly needs to survive, and is unsure of who to take out — the whole situation is horrible. He raises both of his hands but can't decide what to do.

Rem raises the question of what holds the nuance: what gives you the right to decide which lives and which one dies?

Neither Knives nor Vash understand this concept at the time. Knives just wants to save one, and Vash wants to save both.

As of this scene, the twins are 1 year old, and actually likely even younger. So in theory, this is the simplest form of their points of view.

By the time they meet again, they're 100-150 or whatever the thus-far mushy timeline in Stampede is telling us. (If y'all know, please tell me.)

So it's been 100 years and Knives has been working with mad scientists that literally use plants as slaves, working them to death while Vash has been playing plant doctor and getting pats on the head.

Knives has seen first hand that humans are working the plants to death in spite of their sentience. They mutilated the twins' sister, who, reminder, was also an independent and was kept (possibly still alive) in a bunch of jars right under their feet.

Vash may have been ignorant at first, but humans had locked in a tiny room for months, perhaps even years, and then let him out and acted all "oh we're home" with him after he proved that he was "safe," (aka "useful") by keeping the plants alive and happy. And then, he saw where Nai was living, and how his species was being enslaved and slaughtered. So Vash also knew humans had enslaved his species.

Put this in the context of the spider and the butterfly again, mirrored in the season finale.

Both twins are watching a spider close in on a butterfly, but have reached different conclusions. Knives sees good and evil, and Vash thinks everyone can live.

When you look at how humans have enslaved the plants, Knives' premise that the plants should be liberated is right, and Vash is being incredibly naive.

Knives tries to explain this to Vash to the point that he'd even destroy his own identity and his own brother to save his species.

But in response to this, Vash says: I'M VASH THE STAMPEDE.

...Yeah, Toast. We know that Knives is right, but evil, and Vash is naive, but good.

DO YOU? From the way this prequel season has gone, I don't.

There's an implication that Vash is going to "wise up" in the next season and be less naive. Cool.

But for "good vs. evil" vs. "shades of grey" to be the main moral problem is just... not doing it for me. After all the representation of trauma, class struggle, and the terror of living on a lawless frontier, that feels cheap.

The nuance was left out.

What I think this season was missing was the third response to the spider/butterfly moral problem from Rem: why do you get to decide who lives and who dies?

In the finale, Knives made a choice, and Vash also made a choice. But it wasn't about who's good vs. who's evil — it's about whether they get to choose who lives and who dies.

Knives says yes, and Vash says no.

Doesn't that mean Vash took on Rem's point of view?

Wouldn't it have been cool if we got that foreshadowing in the prequel, to imply that when Vash moves forward, it's not with Rem as a concept that represents humanity, but a concept that represents the strength it takes to let things be?

Vash and Knives wouldn't just be the God and Satan of this new world, which is the premise that this season of Stampede is currently working with.

Instead, Vash might be a Jesus Christ figure, who believes that everyone deserves a chance — even at the cost of his own suffering.

[Also, so fascinating that they had Knives reading the bible before he explained to Vash that humans are a blight. But I digress.]

Again — this could be solved in the next season or the season after that. But as it stands, like I said before, "I'M VASH THE STAMPEDE" just... felt shallow.

Rem has been reduced from a fleshed out character to a concept that lives in Vash's mind from when he was a relative baby plant, and right now she's a foil. Humans = bad, but Rem = good, and if Rem = Human, then Human = good.

So we might not get the nuance she gave us from her character or from somewhere else (unless we're rewarded with more flashbacks).

But it's something I'd love to see, and if it's going to be woven into the writing later, I wish we'd gotten the foreshadowing earlier.

ANYWAY, that's my rant of the day.