#this kind of story is a fandom staple

[tragedylure]

Ah, delicious. I love when a thing about canon makes you want to turn into it more and really put weight into what that means for the everyday function of it.

Also immediately, I like how hushed the setting is. It’s very, intimate mooding, turned down, like a scene cut from film. Whoo that movie magic aspect!!

For her, dreaming abt dying, too real.

For Beatrice, to be concerned after Ava and for that thought kind of being inexplicable to Ava. The way that your blindness to kindness can shield you. Me, reading super deeply into something hahahaha. Anyway she’s so gone, finds it cute mhm.

Ohdamn I love the desperation of that panic reflected in the absolute thirst of the phrasing, “her skin can taste the dust”. GET WREKT, GET WREKT GET WREKT. Shaking off bits of sleep from her mouth lol, cute way to say girl’s barely cognizant and mumbling.

How discomforting the way you describe a lodged halo, how visceral one can feel the phantom echo of it in between blades too. Pulling tight. YUM. Metallic, bare teeth gritting against the tension whoo!

Wooow the deflection. What a strong voice denoting her kind of character. Can’t forget the longing either, that’s integral.

“The same feeling in her chest constricting her lungs, the same soft gaze of Beatrice.” The pairing of these two winding around each other is so sexy tbh.

When you live in a space of being loved and cherished but you can’t believe it. YEAH I WONDER IF YOU KNOW WHAT THAT’S LIKE KAISO. I WONDER INDEED. Also the worn away stones of Bea smoothing away edges before she gives them to Ava. Beautifully worded.

Yo this is a perfect bit of softness to hold to yourself lmao. It’s a perfect rendition of hurt and comfort, and the ways that you distract yourself from the pain and embrace the love around you, and I love that, “she’s suddenly closer” because we can’t not help to touch.

I hope you come back to it because the ppl deserve!!

(Based off of the reality of having a metal ring in your back as a constant reminder of your fate and how that affects you as a person set in the Switzerland arc)

“Does it hurt?” 

Ava’s pressed face down into the pillow sleep curling around her limbs. She hums, she can’t remember what she says, she’s exhausted. Her arms are tangled beneath her pillow. She holds her fingers tightly between each other, her bones ache from the pressure but her hands no longer shake. Ava hasn’t experienced this before, a fear that haunts her at night. (She finds she cannot stop dreaming about dying. It’s stifling in the cover of night trying to figure out where she is.) 

She slowly opens her eyes and squints in the darkness. Beatrice is facing her a furrow in her brow that Ava knows she’s doing unconsciously. Ava’s lip quirks a smidgen, Beatrice looks funny. It’s a bit silly to her, Beatrice no doubt working out a solution to an unknown problem that Ava has yet to see in the middle of the night. In her sleepy state she wants to laugh at the imaginary cogs churning in Beatrice’s head. 

Beatrice scooches closer and Ava panics, her skin can taste the dust of Bea’s forearm. She hoists herself up on her elbows, turning to face Beatrice. “Wha?” Ava’s shaking off bits of sleep from her mouth when Beatrice repeats herself. 

“Does the Halo hurt?” 

She doesn’t know if she wants to answer that. Ava peers over Beatrice squinting at the harsh light of the digital clock on Beatrice’s side. Ava loves it, it reminds her of the early 2000’s and the aesthetic of waking up to an alarm to go somewhere. The clock blinks an innocent 1:43 Am, and Ava debates on letting her head thump back down. 

She turns her body on her side, she can feel the halo shifting in her back and it makes her want to throw up. The sides of the halo press against her shoulder blades and Ava resists the urge to yank it out. She grits her teeth and settles ignoring the skin of her back pulling tight to accommodate for the ring. Beatrice is still expecting an answer and Ava can’t lie to her, she pulls the covers of the sheet up to her chest hoping to bide more time for an answer. 

"Everything hurts Bea," Ava smiles, "getting my ass handed to me is hard work."

Beatrice frowns displeased but looks at her through her lashes, it's unguarded, the stress and worries of the world stay out of their room in the dead of night. Her lashes are so pretty and Ava wants to curse the soft glow of the moon. There’s just enough moonlight to illuminate her eyes but overshadow her freckles. Ava swallows down the taste of defeat, she can’t win, she thinks. 

Her gaze is soft, Beatrice is looking at her and it’s different yet the same. The same feeling in her chest constricting her lungs, the same soft gaze of Beatrice. Beatrice who likes what she sees in Ava when Ava can barely see where she begins. She doesn’t like to dwell on it, the truth of the matter being what belongs to Ava.

If she closes her eyes she can pretend just a little longer. She can give herself the hope of the future and what comes after all this. She can put down the fighting and the artifact and live. Ava doesn't want to think about it anymore, at least not tonight when Beatrice is here with her. 

Beatrice is soft. She knows it from hours and hours of training. She's felt it when Beatrice corrects her form, in the way she talks. She speaks from a place of care like she has turned the harsh words in her brain over and over to soften the syllables spoken to Ava. And Ava doesn't linger on it, the meaning behind it, (Ava didn't think she'd make it this far, finding a person who cares quite like Bea does.)

And Ava's got it bad, she knows she's fucked because Beatrice doesn’t say anything about her language and Ava can't not tell her the truth. She looks down, her hand fiddling with the bed sheet underneath them. 

"It doesn't hurt," if she thinks about it she can feel the fibers of the cotton between the pads of her fingers. "But it's very uncomfortable." She doesn't want to find the response in Beatrice's eyes, content to hear it from her voice. The soft British lilting accent that holds her just as soft as a touch. 

She waits, she can picture Bea’s mannerisms with her eyes closed but maybe she should check just to be sure. Ava peers up at Beatrice and she’s suddenly closer. Her eyes really are pretty, there’s a depth to them that Ava wants to spend an ungodly amount of time studying.

“Can I help?”

[sp0o0kylights]

Give meee: an Eddie who went into a small little bookshop on an Indie trip and stumbled across an in person fandom meeting. 

It's mostly Star Trek, and also mostly women, but the stories they have are nothing like Eddie's ever read. 

He's barely a teenager, and already protective of himself and his real identity--but everything he's ever wanted is written down, right here, on a little zine with Kirk and Spock doodled on the cover. 

They’re not--it’s not obvious, that they’re what he is, but the story itself is blatant and Eddie ends up being so obviously close to tears, he accidentally outs himself without ever saying a word. 

(He also ends up on the mailing list, then being sent home with several hand printed copies of all kinds of zines.) 

Eddie would remain on this list well past his third senior year in high school. 

Past bats, and Vecna and Steve fucking Harrington. 

Flash forward to his first apartment.The tiny one he shares with Steve when they followed Nancy and Robin to college. 

Steve knows Eddie’s gay. 

Or rather, Steve has been told, but Eddie's still pretty clammed up about it. He's not yet where Robin is, ready to bemoan her loveless existence while draped over their crappy, thrifted couch.

He makes jokes and he flirts and he absolutely says things he shouldn't, but none of it is real. 

It's flash. Showmanship. 

It's the persona that yes, is him, but Eddie consciously built it. There’s nothing soft or gooey there, nothing anyone can use to hurt him. 

So when he comes home and sees that plain, padded envelope with the neatly printed label on the counter, torn wide open and flat without its contents?

 Eddie panics. 

His heart thunders in his chest, vision tunneling as adrenaline kicks through him. 

He wants to bolt-- should bolt--except ever since he almost died his brain no longer obeys him. 

Not when it comes to running, anyway. 

Instead it fights him to a standstill, freezing his feet right to the living room floor. 

The urge is still there. 

To run, and save face the cowards way. 

Vanish before Steve could get at a part of him that had once kept Eddie out of Wayne’s trailer for two days, until the old man had hunted him down and made him come home, huffing about how he’d love Eddie no matter what but he better never disappear like that again. 

(Which Eddie did anyway, and of everything that happened with Vecna, it’s that he regrets the most. The stories he heard of Wayne putting up posters. Squaring off with angry, too-righteous townies, and--)

A sniffle jerks him out of his thoughts. 

Eddie gasps, entirely unsure of when he stopped breathing. Stumbles back and turns, right in time for Steve to come out of his room and amble down their hallway. 

One hand rubs at his eyes, and the other is--the other has…

Eddie identifies the cheaply printed, stapled zine immediately. It's one he's wanted to read for a while now, solely because it features a story about Kirk and Spock being stuck in a cave together on a planet that has  bat-like, vicious animals on it. 

Kirk gets bitten after something goes wrong with the transporter and, look, it’s carthiatic okay!? Sue a guy for wanting to read a romance about a situation he identifies with! 

Steve looks up from the zine and startles. 

For a second his eyes go dark and flat, the same way Eddies and Robins and Nancy's and everyone's does when caught off guard. 

It's gone in a flash though, Steve visibly relaxing when he clocks that it's just Eddie. 

He keeps the zine pressed to his sweater clad chest,  and huffs out a laugh that's half forced and half pure relief.

“Fuck Eds, you scared me! I didn’t know you could be quiet.” 

“Uh huh.” Eddie manages, voice sounding totally and absolutely normal and not at all ten octaves higher than it usually is. 

They stare at each other for a second. Long enough that Steve's eyebrows crinkle in the middle, which is the first hint that he’s beginning to worry, and Eddie really cannot handle Steve being worried right now.  

“What's--” Eddie’s voice cracks and he coughs to recover. “what's that?” 

Steve frowns at him for a moment, until Eddie gestures at the zine in his hands. 

“Oh!”

Steve holds it up, as if to show it off. 

“It's a little book Robin got in the mail. It has a bunch of stories in it. They're normally boring as fuck but this one's from Star Trek.” 

Hearing the words ‘Star Trek’ out of Steve’s mouth shouldn’t be weird, not anymore, when Eddie and Dustin have been on a two man mission to nerdify Harrington as much as possible, but it still kicks like a mule to hear him say such things without any prompting. 

“You know what Star Trek is?”

“Eddie,” Steve tuts, tongue clicking in his mouth. “everyone knows what Star Trek is. It’s nerd shit, but like, old nerd shit. My grandparents used to watch it when I stayed over. This?” 

 He shakes the zine, so hard Eddie wants to snatch it away from him.

 “This isn't nerd shit. This is excellent.”

Steve gives the zine an appreciative glance and hell, maybe Eddie accidentally walked into another dimension. 

He’s been trying to get Steve to read more, rediscover the joys of books the public school system does its best to destroy, but until now Steve hasn’t really taken to it. 

Enjoys when Eddie reads aloud sometimes, and has started to bug Robin to do it for him too, but otherwise?

Eddie’s nerve seen him with anything that had the written word on it that wasn’t a cooking or car related magazine. 

“Honestly,” Steve’s saying, “I think Robs fucked up, this isn't her style at all. She’s gonna be pissed.” 

He eyes the thing appreciatively, like the gift it is. 

“I'm stealing it the second she figures that out.” He adds decisively. 

“You like it?” Eddie asks. 

“Mmm.” 

“Even though it's--it's got…Kirk…” 

Steve's frowning at him again. “What?” 

“It's queer man. It's really queer.” 

Steve peers at him, the crinkle back in his eyebrows. 

“I know. Wait, how do you--” 

And well. It’s now or never. 

“It's mine.” Eddie says in a rush.

“No it's not.” Steve scoffs, and okay, maybe this is a dream. Eddie pinched himself twice already, but perhaps a third time would wake him up?

(It does not.)

“it was even addressed to Robin. Well,” Steve has one hand on a hip now, his default position when arguing, “Robbie, but she goes by that sometimes.” 

Which Robin does, but not in the fucking mail.

Without a word, Eddie turns and goes for the envelope the zine came in. 

Steve follows, invading Eddie’s space to peer over his shoulder (and that’s Eddie’s fault too, that closeness, but he didn’t think it would be turned on him in a moment like this--) 

There's a sticker on the envelope’s label.

 It’s barely hanging on, half of it curled into the air.  Round and yellow, with little black lines, it becomes immediately obvious that one of Robin's smiley face stickers has migrated again. 

They're all over the apartment. Remnants of a phase she went through after she stole a roll of them from her and Steve’s job at a local toy store.

This one had clearly jumped ship from its original spot (likely on the ceiling somewhere), and was now firmly over the E in Eddie's name. 

‘Ddie’ still isn't exactly ‘Obbie’  but--

Steve leans around, snatching the envelope up and bringing it close to his face. 

Far too close, like he can't read it, eyes squinting as he examines the label--and suddenly Eddie knows exactly what happened. 

He laughs, an explosion of noise that's half hysterical and half disbelief. 

Steve looks at him. 

“What?” 

“Oh my God,” Eddie says, one finger jabbing in the air in the vague direction of Steve’s nose. “I told you you needed glasses!” 

“I do not!” Steve protests immediately, but his eyes are darting around the envelope. 

He’s scrambling to figure out what Eddie’s seeing, trying desperately to find a hole that can prove himself right. 

Eddie decides to help him, by plucking the smiley sticker off the envelope. 

“See?” He jeers, and shit okay, maybe his life isn’t over just yet. “It says Eddie, not Robbie!” 

“You guys have got to start using your government names for this shit.” Steve bitches, but it’s weak.

Eddie feels a grin coming on, and lets it overtake his face. 

“So...Kirk and Spock huh?” 

“They’re cute.” Steve defends instantly, before sighing his defeat and tossing the envelope on the table. 

The zine he keeps in his hands. 

Eddie crosses his arms and leans against their rickety table. “Even though they’re both guys?” 

“I thought we were past this!” Steve whines. “I went to a gay bar with Robin last weekend!” 

Which is news to Eddie. 

“You didn’t invite me?” He gasps, feigning hurt by putting a hand over his heart. 

Truthfully he still hasn’t fully recovered--is play acting himself, almost, but is rapidly coming around to the idea of Steve appreciating queer fanfiction. 

“We did!” Steve rolls his eyes so dramatically his whole head moves. “We absolutely did, You said,” 

Here Steve’s voice pitches into a mockery of Eddie’s  that he will not give him points for, even if it is a little hilarious, “Me? At some loser bar? Fuck no, I’ve got a campaign to write. Starbuck, don’t you have homework?” 

“I didn’t know that was a gay bar!” 

“You did! Robin told you!” 

“Okay well, I wasn’t listening!”  

“Clearly. I keep telling you we need a fucking--system or, I don’t know, a code word or something!”  

“Yeah well, when you wanna make us a safe word for conversations, big boy, you let me know.” 

They’re both laughing a little now, this argument veering into familiar territory, with Eddie not really listening and Steve mocking him for it later. (As well as vice versa, with startling regularity.) 

“You really like it though?”  Eddie says after the laughter winds down, gesturing to the zine still clutched in Steve’s hand. 

“Yeah.” Steve confirms, easy as he’s said anything else. Like this isn’t embarrassing, or almost worse than the time Wayne found Eddie’s porno mags and alphabetized them as a joke. 

“It's part of a mail tree. I’m supposed to send it on to the next person when I’m done with it. I make copies though,” Eddie rushes to add, because Steve is now clutching the little booklet to his chest in horror, as if Eddie was about to rip it out of his hands. “If you like I’ll show you my other ones?” 

Steve eases his grip, giving Eddie the little smile he makes that makes his stomach flip. 

“That’d be cool.” 

(Later, Steve pokes at Eddie’s thigh from where they’re both sprawled on Eddie’s bed, Steve having switched the new zine out for one of Eddie’s copies. “Are you going to laugh at me if I ask you to read some of these aloud?” 

“Only if you don’t laugh when I ask you to take me to that gay bar.” 

“Deal, but on the grounds you’re barred from making fun of my flirting attempts. Robin doing it was bad enough.” 

“Well you deserve it if you’re hitting on women at a gay bar, Stevie.” 

“I wasn't hitting on women you asshole.” Steve says and oh.

Oh.

Eddie feels the floor drop out from under him for the second time that day. 

At least this time it’s not fear that thunders through him, but possibility.) 

[au-roulette]

AU Roulette Challenge 2024

What is AU Roulette? A casual fic-writing challenge encouraging authors to play around with different types of alternate universe stories, which will be randomly assigned to each participant regardless of the fandom they sign up with. The goal of the challenge is to encourage creativity and get authors to write fics with premises they might not otherwise have considered, with varying difficulty levels of participation for writers of all experience levels.

How does it work? Writers will be able to sign up from now through June with a fandom of their choice. At the start of July, each participant will be assigned three AUs from a masterlist using a random number generator. Each author will then have the choice of completing the challenge one, two, or all three of the AUs. Any fic exceeding a 500-word minimum will be considered a completion, so long as it employs the AU premise. The fic-writing period of the challenge will run for a month. Fics can be posted at any point during this time, and authors will have the option of having them added to an Ao3 collection for the challenge if they desire. They can also be posted to tumblr using the tag #AU Roulette 2024

What kind of AUs will be included in the challenge? The AU Roulette challenge will focus largely on popular, staple AU types with broad applicability to any fandom or relationship type. For example, a possible result might be something like a Time Travel AU (encompassing all the possible subsets, such as fix-it time travel, time loops, or other tropes under the same umbrella), but more restrictive AU types like a Soulmate AU that make assumptions about the author’s interpretation of character relationships in canon have been intentionally kept off the AU masterlist. The official list of AUs will be kept under wraps until assignments are given, but will have over 30 different prompts to ensure authors receive a good variety of options, and if you have suggestions or concerns about what AUs are being included, feel free to reach out.

What if I get an AU type that doesn’t work for the canon I chose? Limited re-rolls will be allowed on a case-by-case basis. You are also encouraged to be as creative as you want with your interpretation of your assigned AUs, which may help with making them fit. The goal of this challenge is to encourage weird, creative fanfic, not to have every author who rolls the same result write cookie-cutter versions of the same types of stories. If you were to get a Coffee Shop AU, for example, there is no requirement that the coffee shop in question be a real-world 21st-century Earth Starbucks. In fact, deviating from the mold is highly encouraged. So long as you can make a case that you filled the loose premise of your AU type, you will get credit for having completed it.

Can I participate if I am not a writer? AU Roulette is a fanfic writing challenge, so official sign-ups are for those interested in writing (regardless of skill level or experience writing AUs). However, if you are interested in the challenge but not in writing fic for it, consider having a look at the #AU Roulette 2024 tag or the official AU Roulette 2024 collection on Ao3 once authors have begun posting their stories. If one of them really speaks to you, it might be a nice gesture to draw a piece of art, make a playlist, or create some other fanwork inspired by the fic and share it – in which case you would also be more than welcome to use the official tag!

(Authors are of course also welcome to do this for their or other participants’ stories, too.)

How do I sign up? Fill out this form with your email and fandom of choice.

Looking forward to seeing the AUs everyone creates this year!

[zvezdacito]

Tbh I think a lot of people downplay the stakes Malleus is in that makes him overblot as just surface level loneliness by itself and that's why they think his overblot is unwarranted/annoying compared to the other six. It makes sense he jumps to such drastic measures to avoid facing whatever comes next because whatever it is will last not just a few years but literally a millennium + either way because of multiple systemic reasons he knows he's not just gonna be able to connect with a bunch of new people/explore a bunch of new experiences to make up for it.

Compared to other overblotters, it seems no matter what course of action Malleus will end up in a bad ending since he's a species seemingly among the few left of his kind while also being biologically predisposed to outliving everyone. It's as if he can never have a happy ending as long as he's himself, or that as a king (and symbolic "lord of all villains") his happiness will only come at the cost of others'.

I feel like a lot of people also give him the entire blame of his failures to connect properly with his peers. When even before they knew about his impulsivity or lack of cognitive empathy people were already jumping to conclusions about him. (Said mindsets came about from internalizing the depersonalization he was raised with, he's the sole heir of a country battered by colonization who place very high expectations on him to be a symbol of hope for them again after all)

Assuming the worse because of his powers, the reputation that came from it, and because of (the once again systemic issue) humans and people outside the Briar Valley barely knowing anything about/only having stereotypical rumors to go off the nocturnal fae who closed themselves off to try and stop humans from invading them more💀

So yeah givevn all of this Malleus was a ticking time bomb and even then he was about to just stand down and put his own feelings aside until he became accidentally convinced there was a way that didn't have to exclude him. It's an unfortunate clash of circumstances between different people and that's what TWST is all about. So yeah idk just kinda baffling some people are unironically out there saying things like "Malleus should've just held himself together for one night that's so selfish" when it's kinda made extremely clear by the story there's way more leading to the characters' making choices than that

From an outside point of view as the audience of course there are obvious steps Malleus could take to make the most out of what he has and to not inadvertently be a prick to others, but it pretty obvious why in his shoes it's not really feasible rn lol. Other than these things I could think of at the top of my head, a lot of the things people single him out as especially selfish or unreasonable for are things the other overblotters and characters in general also do lol.

> Like the class dynamics at play? NRC is literally rich boy central many characters express some kind of class privelege

> Not receiving consequences for his actions? This is a staple twst writing flaw for all its stories in general, most overblotters have gotten a slap on the wrist/their actions relatively covered up by the end. And Fellow legit just walks away from an undisclosed time of human trafficking like it was no big deal😭

Ironically Malleus will probably be the first overblotter to not have his actions hidden to only a select circle of people and receive severe repercussions for it because someone like him "should've been above that".

But yeah sometimes I feel like the extent of how some factors in Malleus's background, upbringing and environment determine his way of thinking and why he thinks he needs to do certain things is underestimated by the fandom and only the surface level of what he's doing is focused on which results in some people talking about his character and his flaws in a very dismissive way idk

[aro-ace-from-outer-space22]

Hehehehehe

i will never complain about a book seeming like a fanfic with the serial numbers filed off because that means the author had the invaluable ability to tell when their au had diverged enough that these were just straight-up different characters now

[thesixthruin]

i don't fandom post here but. currently obsessed with welcome to night vale again and can't stop thinking about episode 221 (glow cloud, explained). keep thinking about dr. janet lubelle "explaining away" things as acts of both a disruption of collective faith and a killing of creativity.

we (as the audience) have witnessed cosmic horror as the everyday in that town for a whole decade. we, just like the citizens of night vale, take it as normal, or as adaptive to be normal. and then lubelle comes in and disrupts it to the point of death. she rendered a god useless. she killed a sentient river rock. even when cecil tries to chant all hail, all hail the glow cloud, the magic is gone. the faith is gone. it's been explained, unravelled, revealed to whatever kind of truth "science" has applied to it.

also, it serves as an allegory for how, when you try to explain your work to an audience, it kind of kills it? especially any writing that is absurdist or surrealist. explaining why the glow cloud even exists, or trying to pick it apart, renders it and the magic of night vale (both story and podcast) useless. the glow cloud is fun because it is a glow cloud that drops dead animals! we found out it was a god too! it has a child! isn't that whimsical and horrifying and brilliant? does it need explaining? no! and it's heartbreaking when it is! it's such a staple of the series and it's smart of joseph/jeffrey to play around with this after 10 years of creating and writing for this beloved show.

(also, if you decide to engage with this post, please do not share spoilers for future episodes, i am still playing catch up).

[mysteryshoptls]

Hello!! Thank you so much for your work translating twst content for the past years you have! This blog has been a staple of mine to check for new translated content for so long now and I'm very happy that you continue to update it actively. I wanted to know if you knew any other translators still translating main story/event content? The fan translators have been dwindling a lot recently so if you're aware of any that are still active, please let me know!! Thank you!

Hello! Thank you! And I appreciate you! Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a hermit, so I'm not around much in the fandom except for here on my tumblr page and discord. (I did try twitter for a while, but it was too much for me to juggle). I think there are still a few who upload to youtube, or put up summaries on twitter, but I'm not exactly sure who. Whenever I receive an ask like this, I have to rely on the kindness of those who may come across this post to give suggestions. If anyone knows someone who is still active, please don't hesitate to leave a message on this post. Thank you!

[emeryleewho]

I saw a video talking about a choice author (who I will not name, don't ask) saying that they're popular because their books have no depth and are easily consumable by everyone. And look, I'm not gonna say that's *not* at all true in regards to that author's books, however, I don't think that is what "makes books popular", and to illustrate this, I'm going to use The Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games is one of the bestselling YA series of all time, and most people *do* miss the nuance and depth to it, but trying to argue that it doesn't *have* nuance and depth would be a lie. What makes it marketable is not *lacking deep themes*, it's telling a *good surface story*. Even if you don't have the bandwidth, the literacy, or the interest to care about the deeper themes, you can still enjoy the story because it's fast-paced and entertaining with interesting characters and a kind of common sense surface morality that are relatively easy to follow. This makes it *highly* commercially marketable.

However, the depth of the story, the complex characters, etc. etc. do not *hinder* it's popularity because people who don't have the appreciation for them just don't even notice they're there. Meanwhile, those things contribute to its longevity by making it a cultural staple of a book that is deeply analyzed and used in educational settings.

Commercial marketability may often mean things like "being accessible to the lowest common denominator reader" or even "being full of tropes and repetition that make it easy to skim read and still follow", but that doesn't mean these books inherently lack depth or nuance. It just means that there are two stories baked into one book--the story for people who just want to have a good time and the story for people who want to have a good think. I would argue that the difference between a book, like say, Twilight that has now come under wide-sweeping public disdain vs one like The Hunger Games that stood the test of time is that. What exists *underneath* the commercial hook? For some popular books, it's nothing, but for others, it's A LOT. If your story really is only good on a surface level, people will ultimately realize that. And in the case of Twilight, notice how the author is a one hit wonder? The fandom may continue to buy those specific books, but she's not the type of author who can continuously bring in new readers or even convince the nostalgia junkies to follow her elsewhere because most people *know her books aren't actually good*.

Anyway, it's easy to dismiss a commercial book as lacking all depth and nuance and easy to dismiss popularity as proof that something lacks all substance, but before you do that, I think it's worth remembering that books can do both, and that can very much show a higher level of skill than a deep introspective story with flowery prose where, on the surface, nothing interesting happens because taking your deep think and repackaging it in a way that is accessible and compelling to large numbers of people is *it's own skill*.

[astriiformes]

AU Roulette Challenge

What is AU Roulette? A casual fic-writing challenge encouraging authors to play around with different types of alternate universe stories, which will be randomly assigned to each participant regardless of the fandom they sign up with. The goal of the challenge is to encourage creativity and get authors to write fics with premises they might not otherwise have considered, with varying difficulty levels of participation for writers of all experience levels.

How does it work? Writers will be able to sign up with their fandom of choice starting Monday, July 31st. Sign-ups will run for one week, at the end of which each participant will be assigned three AUs from a masterlist using a random number generator. Each author will then have the choice of completing the challenge on easy (writing one of the AUs), medium (writing two of the AUs) or hard mode (writing all three AUs). Any fic exceeding a 500-word minimum will be considered a completion, so long as it employs the AU premise. The fic-writing period of the challenge will run for a month. Fics can be posted at any point during this time, and authors will have the option of having them added to an Ao3 collection for the challenge if they desire. They can also be posted to tumblr using the tag #AUroulette2023.

What kind of AUs will be included in the challenge? The AU Roulette challenge will focus largely on popular, staple AU types with broad applicability to any fandom or relationship type. For example, a possible result might be something like a Time Travel AU (encompassing all the possible subsets, such as fix-it time travel, time loops, or other tropes under the same umbrella), but more restrictive AU types like a Soulmate AU that make assumptions about the author's interpretation of character relationships in canon have been intentionally kept off the AU masterlist. The official list of AUs will be kept under wraps until assignments are given, but will have over 30 different prompts to ensure authors receive a good variety of options, and if you have suggestions or concerns about what AUs are being included, feel free to reach out.

What if I get an AU type that doesn't work for the canon I chose? Limited re-rolls will be allowed on a case-by-case basis. For example, if you signed up to write fic for His Dark Materials and ended up getting a Daemon AU, your result would automatically be re-rolled. Similarly, if you were writing for a different fandom entirely but were unfamiliar with what a Daemon AU entailed and wanted to write something you didn't have to research the premise of, I would likely approve a re-roll (However, you would be free to give it a try! My goal is for this challenge to be accessible to people with all levels of familiarity with fic tropes, so you are also welcome to reach out and ask about your assignment).

You are also encouraged to be as creative as you want with your interpretation of your assigned AUs, which may help with making them fit. The goal of this challenge is to encourage weird, creative fanfic, not to have every author who rolls the same result write cookie-cutter versions of the same types of stories. If you were to get a Coffee Shop AU, for example, there is no requirement that the coffee shop in question be a real-world 21st-century Earth Starbucks. In fact, deviating from the mold is highly encouraged. So long as you can make a case that you filled the loose premise of your AU type, you will get credit for having completed it.

Can I participate if I am not a writer? AU Roulette is a fanfic writing challenge, so official sign-ups are for those interested in writing (regardless of skill level or experience writing AUs). However, if you are interested in the challenge but not in writing fic for it, consider having a look at the #AUroulette2023 tag or the official AU Roulette 2023 collection on Ao3 once authors have begun posting their stories. If one of them really speaks to you, it might be a nice gesture to draw a piece of art, make a playlist, or create some other fanwork inspired by the fic and share it -- in which case you would also be more than welcome to use the official tag!

(Authors are of course also welcome to do this for their or other participants' stories, too.)

How do I sign up? I will be reblogging this same post with a link to a Google form for sign-ups on Monday, July 31st! Watch this space and feel free to send me any questions you have about the challenge!

Looking forward to seeing the AUs everyone creates!

[secriden]

an introduction to daouoffroad: a record (mostly for me)

so, the lovely @luthienmpl was very kind and gave me a daouoffroad starter pack so i'm gonna learn about them!

i adore finding out about something this way because it's like someone shared their love of The Thing with me! how lovely! how lucky to catch a glimpse of how much joy The Thing gives someone else!!

this is literally just random stream of consciousness thoughts as i watch the videos so i'll spare anyone who isn't interested and put it under a cut.

oh my god they met as contestants on a survival boyband show wtf!? what kind of fanfic kdrama au start is this already!?

ok damn but daou's runs tho :O <3

nooooooo offroad is crying and thanking daou for his support how dARE YOU TOY WITH MY HEART LIKE THIS!? ;A;

ohmygosh is that the actress who plays P'Joy in LITA??? <3

fuck, the pressing the face into the tummy of the one standing thing. why is that so cute. ugh D:<

waitwaitWAIT is that a thing? do directors just... write stories/shows for couples who have good chemistry whatttt?? is this like a thai ent industry staple? (oh i guess mame kind of did that with fortpeat/mutrak) that's so funny omg. xDDD

laz1 is so kpop styled :O and i must add Last Kiss to my playlist imMEDIATELY its such a pretty song?? <3333

thiS BRIDGE i AM FEELING IT!?!?! DAOU WHAT IS THAT RIFF!?!??! HOLY SHIT THAT WAS SUCH A SMOOTH TRANSITION UP TO THE HIGH NOTE!? *O* <3

(was daou already an established singer before or something?? boy has pIPES!)

*faintly* d-did he try to... bite... the cat's... paw??

/SCREAMS nO THE HARMONIES yeah ok i'm a fan weLP THA TWAS QUICK

(i'm such a sucker for vocal line groups ugh dammit TwT)

wait, enlistment?? huh i did not know thailand also did that... is it the same as skorea?

oh-- oh my god he sent flowers? through his sister?? *whispers* that's so sweet ;u;

goodness, offroad literally running and jumping into daou's arms while daou is still in military fatigues-- guys this is either zero attempt at being subtle or the best cp marketing i've seen in my life wow

awww did offroad bring his graduation gown to the event just so he could get pics with daou?? that's so cute! ;A;

okAY SIR?? SIR NO the sleeping right pressed up to offroad as he pretends to snore but like daou is just paSSED OUT HALF ON TOP OF HIm NO SIR NO I CANNOT HANDLE THIS NOPE BYE

(the cut right as daou reaches up to shut offroad up had me cracking up tho, they've got a wicked sense of humour i really like them)

ahahahah the members playing along is really cute!! poor daou has to be relegated to the "jealous bf" -- this is SO interesting to watch coming out of old kpop fandom and kpop skinship to this xD like... i am enLIGHTEND *O*

*cries* what is this... poolside actual love confession proposal with rings and pLANNING to commemorate their.. working.. relationship!?!? i'm??? they are so LOUD wtf-- i'm not... used to this... !?! *incoherent noises*

sidebar: i'm struggling to get a handle on their honorifics... are they phi/nong? but sometimes dauo sounds like he's using mueng/guu when he addresses offroad directly?

ljsdfjsLfj THE FACE. IN THE TUMMY. ITS BACK <3

OH FUCK OFFROAD WITH THE ASH HAIR. *O* YEAH YEAH OKOKOK i'M NORMAL ABOUT THIS!!!!

oh oh NO did daou just push offroad to the inside of the road so he's on the outside like that's--t hat's so boyfriend coded wtf

bahahaHAHAH is offroad going on about the bracelet because now daou *has* to buy one for him? xD what a smart cookie. xDDD

wAIT DID IT WORK!? PAHAHA--

other thoughts:

pentor looks SO FAMILIAR and i can't figure out why??? ;A; is he in something else?? i'm so confused but i think i love him already WHAT AN ADORABLE DIMPLED BOI *O*

i know you included the Whats The Matter? MV but I'm sorry I'm going to live in Last Kiss for like the next 5 days especially thAT BRIDGE WTF <3

the acoustic/live version is so PRETTY omg ;A; that 3 part harmony in the first chorus *chefs kiss*

sOMEONE is doing like a really high harmony in the pre-chorus and its so thin and wispy and pRETTY ahhh <3

although also ngl i think daou needs maybe some more vocal training he sounds quite strained sometimes... and he's got a lot of tension in his throat but good GOD his range!! he's SO talented wtf; ALSO their youngest member has SUCH a nice tone UGH <33333

their 2 shows:

ok love in translation actually sounds like exactly my cup of tea hahahah it looks so cute <3 and potentially heartbreaking but like not TOO heartbreaking

century of love... yeah ok i'm gonna put that on my list of things to get to when i'm in the right headspace for that kind of angst but what an interesting concept!! its like comphet, the series. xD

wait both their shows are comphet the series? xDDDD they just swapped who was suffering from it.

hoboy they are SO LOUD already from the beginning wtf

(sidenote but I would KILL for fortpeat to go on something like this cAN YOU IMAGINE the sHINANIGANS!! peat being so happy at all the food. fort's teasing. ugh. where can i start a petition ya'll)

the heIGHT DIFFERENCE am i'm feeling some type of way about it, yes yes i am

bAHAHAH the mandatory piggyback ride that they actually just SAY is boyfriend material i'm-- i'm not use do this lack of wink wink nudge nudge skinship approach in my boyband duos like?? *confused noises pt 2*

oh oh my gosh they have auntie fans too??? how adorableeeee!!!?! damn offroad sounds so soft in southern dialect idk whats going on my ears are blessed *u* <3

I don't know why but daou's "Try traditional snack!" made me crack up xDDDD

i have just realised what a mistake it was to start this on an empty stomach T___T that all looks SO GOOD wtf

lol that poor lady with the corgi's just wanted to go on her way and she got way-landed by these insane boys xDD

wft the nUZZING INTO THE NECK THING. IT S STILL. SO MUCH. IHAVE FEELIGNS ABOUT THIS MOMENT Tu T <3

guYS-- GUYS you said you both paid half... so you don't... you don't still need to do the cheek kisse-- oh nevermind you did them already ok then

i mean ok but for real tho the amount of times offroad just cracks up at somethign random daou does is genuinely really sweet?? like they seem to really have this wavelength that is just their own *u*

[desultory-novice]

What do you think about Dyna Blade and her chicks?

I adore them!

Dyna Blade in general is really under represented in this fandom!! I kind of wonder if the majority of the fandom folks having gotten their intro via the more accessible anime and the fact that anime Dyna Blade was some cursed levels of bad/stiff animation has something to do with that? Though I guess I can't blame people as I remember not being super fond of Dyna Mama in the SNES Super Star because I (lol) always hated when characters in video games did that weird "layered sprite" thing using spheres to connect two parts together and of course Dyna Blade was one of those bosses.

Super Star's graphics were also a bit muddy (sorry! I still love the game!) and I think she looks better in general in Super Star Ultra! In fact, I would say Dyna Blade looks quite beautiful! I'm very fond of her design. The fact that in Japanese, she's known as (or at least, her game mode is known as) "White-Winged Dyna Blade"...!!

:insert Dess making sounds of fangirlish glee at that name:

...Too bad the Dyna Babies look worse in the remake?! The over-rendering does them no favors.

They look cuter in either version once their coats (?!) come in.

That is maybe the coolest thing about Dyna Blade, imo. The fact that she's a species of bird that just... is naturally armor plated with steel wings?! I'm not as much of a bird fan as, say, Starstruck is, but I can absolutely get behind a lady bird that's just this cool!

(I think that the steel/razor wings are probably the origin of the "white-winged" nickname. She's got white steel feathers! Ahhhhhhhhh that's so cool~!)

That said, I can see why she's mostly made only cameo appearances since then. Her story is kind of locked to a specific span of time and we actually see the Dyna Babies grow up enough to fly on their own by the end of the story. One could presume their species ages slowly, but we ought to expect if the family makes another appearance, the babies would be at least be in their young adult forms!

...Which would be SICK to see, imo. Three junior Dyna Birdlings coming in to rescue their temporary foster-mama Kirby in a pinch?! It's obviously HAL Labs hasn't forgotten her (though a Dress-Up Mask would have been cool) so I feel that she or maybe the kids really could another appearance...if/when the time is right!

(...It would be funny if that one chick was still adorably bad at flying)

Speaking of reappearances though! Dess is a less knowledgeable Kirby fan than I thought because I did not know that Dyna Blade makes a brief cameo appearance in Star Allies if you linger around Castle Dedede for long enough!

S-See that smudge in the bg? That's her ^^; It's...more obvious in motion...

Anyway, Dyna Blade is good stuff. Her story game, despite not being as challenging as the others, still has a kickass and memorable opening (literally slicing through the hills) and she's a totally under-appreciated Kirby ally (having helped him during MK's coup) and she's a strong, cool mama raising three kids on her own...!!

I wanted to draw her super early on when I started my blog but I had no confidence in my abilities too. Now that I've been practicing more, I should try again. There is a dirth of DB love in the world...!

...Since I've already flooded this post with pictures, Dyna Blade also happens to look really good in Kirby's Air Ride, albeit, the translators that time around called her a guy ^^;

(it's still the same Dyna Blade though. Speaking of, as much as I've been critical of the novels, I do think it's kinda neat they had a species of similar but less rare, less special bird appear one time. Points to Takase-sensei for introducing some interesting world building along with the staple one-off character.)

[artyandink]

𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐱𝐲𝐳 | 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰

SUMMARY: You’re the first female president of the USA, having won the 2014 elections against Amara Shurley by a landslide. Now that you were a symbol of feminism, reform and a better country, it meant that there were a lot more assassination attempts bound to be on your head. For that, you needed a personal bodyguard, so you had to pick right. And you picked right in convicted ex-hitman Dean Winchester. Right?

“Oh, honey,” Bella interrupted, waving her hand dramatically. “He totally did. That man looked at you like you were the last piece of chocolate cake at a birthday party. And don’t even get me started on how he stood. You know, all broody and protective, like some kind of…” She trailed off, searching for the right words.

��Alpha wolf guarding his mate,” Steph supplied helpfully.

“Exactly!” Bella snapped her fingers. “Thank you, Steph. That’s exactly the vibe.”

You groaned again, resisting the urge to bang your head against the nearest wall. “You two need help.”

“What we need,” Steph said, grinning wickedly, “is for you to admit that you’ve at least thought about it. Because if you haven’t, you’re lying.”

“I haven’t!” you protested, a little too quickly.

Bella’s eyes lit up like she’d just won the lottery. “Oh my God, you totally have! Look at you—your ears are turning red.”

“Leave me alone,” you muttered, glaring at the floor.

But they weren’t about to let you off the hook.

“Okay, okay,” Steph said, holding up a hand as if to calm the chaos. “Let’s be serious for a second. He’s obviously gorgeous, and clearly there’s some…tension. But what’s the story? Like, how did you even end up with him as your bodyguard? I feel like there’s a Netflix series waiting to happen here.”

You hesitated, weighing how much to tell them. “It’s…complicated. He was recommended through some very high-level channels. Apparently, he’s the best at what he does.”

“And what he does is kill people,” Bella said, her voice dripping with mock solemnity.

You shot her a look. “Not anymore. He’s reformed. He went through a rigorous vetting process before he was even considered for the position.”

Steph tilted her head, her curiosity piqued. “So, he’s done bad things, but now he’s protecting the President of the United States. That’s a redemption arc if I’ve ever heard one.”

Bella sighed wistfully. “And he’s doing it all while looking like a Calvin Klein model who got lost on his way to the shoot.”

“Can we not turn this into a thirst-fest?” you pleaded, though you knew it was a losing battle.

TAGLIST: @goldngguk @sweetpeachbombshell @slut-for-stiles @staple-your-mouth @daddyscrimsstuff

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@bollzinurmouth

©️ 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐤 / 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨

𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐝/𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝

[prismaticpichu]

as someone who has only played part 1 of the 7 remake, can u briefly explain why sephiroth is considered "good" by the fandom? im curious!!

Oh no… you’ve awakened the beast within! 😂❤️

Just kidding!! I’d be honored to answer, my friendo! 💕

~

In short, Sephiroth was technically always good once upon a time, even back in the og game. A huge staple of this man’s origins (as found out through a flashback) is the fact that he wasn’t born evil, wasn’t raised evil, but was rather a revered war hero who descended into madness—all of which is captured in a tragedy dubbed “The Nibelheim Incident.” (Aka a fiery massacre Sephiroth commits upon learning about his half-alien anatomy and 7 days of sleep deprivation). It’s made pretty clear (at least imo) that these circumstances turned Seph into a monster, and that the real Sephiroth was someone who died amid those 7 days. This is also corroborated by a very famous line by Zack (Cloud’s bff) that goes “You’re not the Sephiroth I used to know!” (Because the Sephiroth he used to know, the hero, is not the person standing at the end of his blade.)

So… there is that! But while OG FF7 does give us this foundation, and people absolutely enjoyed the little bits of sane!Seph that were fed to us through this flashback, it wasn’t until another game—a prequel—called “Crisis Core” that really took Sephiroth’s “pre-Nibelheim” self (the “war hero” part) and ran with it. Explored it, more like, and stretched it out to an incredible degree. It was in this game that we were really introduced to a Sephiroth who wasn’t evil; a Sephiroth who had two best friends; a Sephiroth who cared about his comrades and really wanted nothing more than to protect them. And it’s here that fans (myself included lmaoooo) absolutely love to HOARD these kind!Seph moments like precious gems.

A few noteworthy acts that contribute to Seph’s good heart:

• Saving Zack from a blast of fire

• Training Zack when his mentor deserts

• Offering to donate his blood upon accidentally injuring his best friend, Genesis

• Refusing to kill his best friends when they turn against the company he’s loyal to

• Goes out of his way to check in on Zack and allows him to return to Aerith (his gf) when her home is threatened.

• Overall just has a caring and patient aura about him.

I’d say this is where a majority of the “good” Seph fandom love comes from <333 Again, it’s always been a part of Seph’s origins that he was once a good fellow, but it was this game in particular that really expanded it—really fleshed out the human side of his DNA, really made him more empathetic than he ever was. And boy did it make his downfall hurt all the more in Crisis Core’s version of Nibelheim.

(Also worthy to note that, in regard to his fiery rampage, there is a lot of evidence pointing towards him being possessed. Nothing is confirmed, but it does cushion some of the initial fall. Absolutely not a justification—not an excuse—but it really just goes to show how this man was not himself when he crossed that threshold into villainy. He wasn’t the Sephiroth people knew.)

There is also Ever Crisis wherein teenage Seph is seen guiding some SOLDIERs around before the events of Crisis Core (the likes of whom he wants desperately to protect). But i’ma refrain from saying too much about that one bc we don’t have the full story of that one yet! ;3 💕

[cozyhatchling]

Carer Neuvillette Headcanons!

I love this boy so much~ I was super lucky to pull him during his debut banner. uwu

Neuvillette is a very balanced carer! He's very gentle and kind, but also doesn't fall for puppy dog eyes or pleading

He always wants to do what's best for his baby, even if they're grumpy about it!

He's not completely immune to his baby being cute though, and it doesn't take too much to wheedle onto his lap when he's working~

He's all about organization and responsibility; he likes making sticker charts and rewards for doing chores or self care things

Unsurprisingly, he's a very protective carer, always making sure his baby is safe and is being treated well by everyone around them. Bullying anyone under Neuvi's care would be a Very bad idea!

He loves sharing his love of water with his baby; trips to the pool, beach, or lakes are his favorite, and waterside picnics are a staple for weekends!

Bathtime is also a blast when Neuvi is around~ He has tons of fun bath toys and bubble soaps and is always willing to put away his work to help his baby get clean

He also really loves bedtime, especially reading bedtime stories. It's a calm and cozy moment where he can put aside his work and enjoy time with his baby

He tries not to, but he's often very tired by the end of the day and will fall asleep right after finishing a story. He's a surprisingly good cuddler~

Neuvi is such a safe character... ; -;

I take headcanon requests! Genshin isn't currently on the list because I'm not very far in it, but I'm open to requests for characters in the first Archon questline! Check here for info and other fandoms!

Thanks for reading!

[alittledizzy]

there's a lot about dream as a person that still just kind of floats around in my head and my opinion on how i read his personality and his dynamic with people is prone to changing more frequently than the others. i think there are a lot of facets to him and the fact that he is a very charismatic person who forms connections easily but struggles to keep contact with them and seems to move on, be it intentionally or otherwise, without the other person having an indication that is happening, is something that causes him a lot of trouble.

but it also makes the connection to george really stand out. obviously there's also the sapnap connection. they're childhood best friends, they'rebrothers, but they're also people who seem to be living somewhat separate lives right now. we know from previous anecdotes back in november/december that even living in the same house dream knew more about what george was doing more than he did sapnap. (not knowing sapnap was in an arm brace/hurt his wrist, etc.) but george was also exactly the kind of person it would have been easier to grow distanced from back in the 2019/2020 era when this career didn't have the roots it does yet.

and instead of losing george dream pulled him closer and closer. he went to george wanting to grow their lives in a very entwined direction. the professional level is one thing; the decision to have george move there was different. it wasn't a spur of the moment 'my life is in shambles, can you get in the car and be here in two days' like it was with sapnap. with sapnap it was opportunity and convenience and the lack of anything else to stop them. i'm not saying this to minimize dream and sapnap; that they are best friends and in it for life is not really in question to me.

but with george it was planning. it was planning and waiting and researching. it was emotional upheaval and legitimate depression over the idea that there might be something in the way. it was waiting actual years and never wavering from the two of them living in the same house being The Plan. when obstacles arose instead of finding a new path they just seemed to pull in tighter to the one they were on. they streamed together less but they were on days long phone calls that included sleep and showering. going through do not disturb and 'sometimes dream needs my help' and dream sending sapnap across an ocean to george and all the other staple tropes insular to this fandom. the recent stories from george's stream this week are obviously just small cute anecdotes but they're just like a new layer of texture on a painting i already loved to look at. i think that dream is a person who loves deeply and feels deeply but can flash hot and then cool off completely. but that was never george. i don't think that ever could be george.

so sometimes i see people speculating on dream and george being less close now and it really just makes me want to roll my eyes. because there's a lot about dream and how he interacts with people and who stays in his life vs who doesn't. i think some people are convenient to a fixation of the moment and those people might have this idea that they'll stay as important to dream but they don't. george, though... i don't care if they're on opposite sides of the country or opposite sides of the world or just opposite sides of the sofa, i very geninely think that george has a space in dream's life reserved only for him and that will not change.

[skymagpie]

I cannot deal with the grief over the Khadgar thing, so what kind of AU can I use to at least patch this up? I can't rewrite the whole thing, but what if AU Shazi and Khadgar come to MU from a collapsing timeline? I will def do modern AU and actors AU, as it's staple for fandoms, but I mean for the canonical story? Warcraft (2016) AU? I need something to work here because there is no point in just sitting and doing nothing 😭