#to be honest usually this comes up in a sort of crossover context.

[amplexadversary]

More fanfiction I’m never going to get around to actually writing:

Someone comes to Pearl from Steven Universe for advice. They stumbled upon an unactivated pearl and in a brilliant moment of quick thinking asked her to call them “Mom/Dad.” This makes our Pearl incredibly uncomfortable for obvious reasons.

Mainly, I’m not sure how the protagonist would have enough background knowledge of gems to realize that that would probably be one of the least weird ways (for them) to deal with the whole gem programming dynamic thing until the nascent pearl could be brought up to speed with How to Deal With Being Around Humans.

Pearl is torn between the fact that the person clearly doesn’t want someone else taking advantage of the younger pearl (which she appreciates), the fact that they see her as an authority on how to handle the situation (which she likes), and the fact that she really, really Does Not Want to Make That Comparison (and probably resolves it, ultimately, by deciding that the fact that this person being human makes it different enough that she can just compartmentalize the issue away)

Maybe for bonus awkwardness have it be Mystery Girl who found the nascent pearl?

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 12 - Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation Vol. 1 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

So, like everyone on tumblr, I was at least peripherally aware of The Untamed, if only as ‘the C-drama with the impossibly pretty men everyone loves shipping about necromancy or something.’ (Also the one crossover porn fanfic with so many tags that it broke AO3.) So I wasn’t quite coming into this blind, but I think I came pretty close. It sure as hell wasn’t anywhere close to my vague expectations.

Anyway, this was fun! Also absolutely let me cross off reading something from an entirely unfamiliar literary subculture off my metaphorical bingo card for the year. Just reams of assumed context I absolutely did not possess. Kind of loved it (but the occasional clarifying footnotes were very much necessary and appreciated.)

Which is to say – there was so much more slapstick and physical comedy than I expected from the vague intimations of feudal politics and magical warfare I got? Not usually my sort of humour but it got a laugh out of me once or twice. My favourite character is Wei Wuxian’s donkey.

The conceit of the first story – reviled and abused failson destroys his own soul and offers up his body as a host to the spirit of a legendary evil wizard to wreak bloody vengeance for him, but fucks up the bit of the ritual that tells the spirit who to take revenge on. Also the whole ‘legendary evil wizard’ reputation was at least partially and vaguely due to a propaganda campaign by his enemies and he’s not particular enthusiastic about the ‘murder a whole family’ thing – is also just incredible. I kind of wish it had been more drawn out, before the whole ‘gotta collect them [chunks of a specific super cursed corpse] all!’ plot became the main justifying connective tissue.

Not that the overarching plot is really the story’s strong point – it’s basically just the excuse to keep Wei Wuxian and Wang Lanji together and having adventures. The actual selling points are the backstories and character interactions and to a lesser extent the monster of the week stuff. All of which are pretty well done!

Though as far as monster of the week stuff goes – I’m vaguely aware that cultivation fantasy is a whole, like, genre, with about as many weirdly specific shared assumptions as ‘generic’ western fantasy written by people swimming in a sea of Tolkien/Conan-as-interpreted-by-Warcraft-and-D&D, but I’ve really got zero clue whatsoever to what degree the worldbuilding of this is typical of the genre? Not that it particularly matters, beyond some of the reveals making much more sense if they’re building off an assumed awareness of how the world’s expected to work, all more or less new (though more or less intuitive) to me either way. Fun to see so much magic based around music.

Anyways – obviously I’m going in with a biased perspective but my god can you see how this ended up with a massive shipping fandom. The entire story is nothing but impossibly beautiful men flirting/pranking/sexually harassing each other while being utterly and entirely capable to even understand let along communicate their feelings. The two lead’s entire relationship in this volume is like a dated mid-2000s comedy sketch about two ostensibly straight guys playing gay chicken and both being so competitive that they just end up fucking. Author really knew what they were doing with the fanfic bait.

(Though honestly I’m legitimately unsure if it’s just a matter of narrative choice to not dwell on motivations or Wei Wuxian really is the single most unselfaware asshole in the entire universe. He legitimately seems incapable of understanding his own motivations most of the time.)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the art, which really is very lovely. Though I will be entirely honest that there’s only so many handsome black-haired men in flowing robes I can keep apart in my head.

But yeah, fun read overall. Don’t exactly feel compelled to go seek out the next volume, but don’t regret having read this one, damn sight better than some other things I’ve read this year.

[tfisathoughtfulnickelbakeryfire]

Ooh, ok, this'll be fun.

My AO3 user is: Anonymous_Orphan

1. How many works do you have on A03?

Just one for now, but I have so many ideas and plans, so hopefully that will change soon.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

47,065

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The only fandom I've published for is Harry Potter, but I write for literally anything. So far it's mostly Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and assorted other fandoms that surround real people, but I'm likely never going to publish those, at least not unless they're anonymous, just because I'd feel a bit weird doing it. I'm also unhealthily obsessed with my OCs, but that doesn't count as a fandom if it's just me.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

I haven't even gotten up to five fics yet, but kudos are rare as is. I've gotten 18 so far and I'm not gonna lie, I cherish all of them.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to always respond because I truly do love it when I get comments, but I'm gonna be honest, sometimes my mind blanks and I don't know what to say.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I generally go for overall happy endings, but the ending I wrote for Mary MacDonald is pretty sad I think, even without the rest of my fic present for context. I haven't published it because it's the epilogue, the 47th chapter, but it was one of the first things I wrote for my Harry Potter rewrite.

Also, a couple versions of my OCs have gone through some angsty as fuck endings. Like, I genuinely made myself cry a few times because their stories ended in the way that they did.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of them have happy endings planned honestly, but I haven't gotten far enough in most of them to actually write the endings, so we'll see how happy they turn out.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't yet, but we'll see.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I totally would, but I haven't actually written any yet. I've written some borderline sexy stuff, but only a couple of times. I still get a bit embarrassed to actually put my depraved thoughts down on paper for the world to potentially see, but a little blushing won't stop me from actually writing if I want to put it into a story.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't physically written any down yet, but I would write crossovers, I think. I'm partial to the MCU and Percy Jackson universes being put together. I also like putting my OCs in every situation ever, so I've come up with ways to work them into character's lives or stories.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not yet, but what a nuisance and an honor that would be.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I've been realizing that I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to things that are personal to me, and for me writing is so deeply personal that I don't know if I'd be capable of co-writing anything. I'd definitely give it a try though.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I can't choose, okay, I have so many that I love.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

All of them...

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm pretty good at dialogue and humor, and I've also been told I have a good vocabulary.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Consistency I think, because I tend to go on tangents without realizing it and then have to reformulate whole paragraphs, and I obsess over the littlest details and drive myself crazy.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I usually try to describe that they're switching languages and then write the words in italics or something. If it's a nickname or a word that has no equivalent in English, I'll transliterate it and either incorporate an explanation into the flow of the story or write a footnote or something.

Actually, I sort of created a language for my Chronicles of Narnia fic and my strategy there is to write out the words phonetically and them write the translation in italics. It adds to the vibes, I think.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

If this question means public fics then it was Harry Potter.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Absolutely not, how dare you make me choose. These are my children. I don't play favorites.

...

I don't know who to tag, but if anyone wants to do this, go right ahead.

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag @tracingpatternswrites . I haven't done it yet and am happy to do that :)

Username: Shadowmun

1. How many works do you have on A03?

Pi - no really 314 over all fandoms. :)

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

1,841,241

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Harry Potter, some witcher, Old guard, altered carbon, and whenever I feel like it a multitude of other (nerdy) fandoms. For open challenges I specifically seek out small fandoms. It's fun to explore them. :)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Opposites attract (Harry/Regulus)

I died but I got better (Old guard Nicki/Joe)

The Spin (Harry/Theo)

Half a Soul (James/Tom Riddle)

Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen (Sirry)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Always and as soon as possible. I am so hyped about every single one. If you are chatty, I will get chatty too :)

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Guilt and Shame. It didn't get the tag "Shakespearean Tragedy" by accident.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Oh, that's a hard one, as I don't really do "happy endings". I go for The bat, the dog and the dancer, because it ends with a lost family found again.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have. I have dared to do some unforgivable things. Writing grey characters. Writing characters with flaws. Writing fandom favourites differently. Surprisingly though the hatred I received on my Trans fic, wasn't about the Trans character being trans but about their decisions that are kept closest to canon.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I absolutely write smut. I have written M/M, F/M, F/F, moresomes. The connecting factor is, that I want to tell a story, so it's never JUST smut. There is always something extra.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't yet. But I consider Harry Potter meets The full monty. I have to rewatch the film though.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Kind of. There are unauthorized translations of two of my fics out there, one on Wattpatt, one on a Russian fansite.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, I have. A very nice other user asked for permission to translate Window of Opportunity into Spanish

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I haven't. I have at several points have had very helpful alpha readers and plot helpers, but a full cowrite is still in the future.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

If I had one OTP, it would be Snack (Sirius/Severus), because they are the ultimate Enemies to lovers and have so much in common. But I have always been a fan of rare pairs and love to try myself out, so very nearly any pairing will tickle me, if the time is right

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There are three. One is my soulmate-Snack that I can't seem to make work entirely, although the basic arc is done start to finish. Then there is my Amnesia AU, and I fight with the last bits nail and tooth. And then there is my original, which is also just.... almost done.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. Emotion. Short descriptions that invoke pictures without going into detail. All three are remnant of being a GM for RPG for a LOOOONG time :)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Humor is hard, and so are fighting scenes. I also struggle to figure out endings. They hate me.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I have done it in several ways. Translation, just description and lately, because it was so fun: footnotes. I absolutely love my fic with Russian in it, and seemingly many people love those little footnotes. Surprisingly.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Uhm... it depends what counts. On Ao3? Definitely the Old Guard. If writing summaries of RPG sessions count... Star wars... and hopefully those remain forever buried.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

You monster! Making me choose???? From all my babies????

No really, it's hard. It depends on my day to day mood and what I am looking for. I have written so many different things. Today it feels like a day for Bad things , a piece I wrote as a longfic and then foolishly released in one go, because @metalomagnetic liked the snippets. Not so foolish after all, I think, because it brought us closer, and I appreciate the companionship greatly. :)

Speaking off... I no pressure tag @metalomagnetic , @squintclover and @tfisathoughtfulnickelbakeryfire. and of course everyone else who feels like it. Open tag, people :)

[captain-krow-drozdov]

So, since you've been enjoying the newest version of TMNT, I have to ask:

1) Have you seen the older Turtles Forever movie, a Turtles version of spiderverse.

2) Did you know there was a live action show of TMNT and they had a 2 episode crossover on an older Power Rangers show.

3) Also on that live action show they introduced a controversial female turtle. Which reminds me, I saw on YouTube that in a recent run of TMNT comics they brought back the 5th turtle as a possible clone/Frankenstein creation and in this comic, one of the Turtles loses their shell and had to get it replaced.

4) A thought that crossed my mind, how do you think the Turtles & April from "Rise" would react to a female turtle popping up?

Ooo~ Mkay So I'm A Hella Newbie To The Turtle Brain Rot So Forgive Me/Have Mercy On Any Lacking Knowledge

Answer 1: No But I Caught A Few Out Of Context Clips Of Previous Cartoon Iterations And Mortal Kombat Cutscenes (Mainly 2012 And 2003) Via Both YouTube And My Uncle Being The OG Turtles Fan In My Family. I Also Watched The First Bay-verse Film Cause I Was Into The Transformers Movies At The Time And Was Curious.

Answer 2: No I Didn't But Honestly It Tracks Considering All The Things TMNT Has Officially Crossed Over With (Wonder If I Can Find Any Clips Of That It Sounds Chaotic)

Answer 3: Every Time I Learn Something New About The Comics I Get A Little More Confused, Not In A Bad Way, But Like In A "Do I Have The Funds And Bookshelf Space To Support A New Comic Book Obsession?" Kinda Way

Answer 4: As For How The Rise Bois And April Would React To A New Chica Turtle Really Depends Considering The Whole ✨Hidden City✨ Situation Ya Know?

Option A: She's A Turtle Yokai And She Could Be Chill Or She Could Be Workin With Big Mama Who Knows Endless Possibilities!

If She's On Chill Terms With The Bois (And Let's Say She's Got The Badass Ninja Mojo Too) I Feel Like Her And The Hamato Siblings Would Have A "Friends That's Slowly Turning Into Cool/Weird Cousins Status" Type Relationship. Cause I Can't Really See Any Of The Bois Going The Romantic Route, Puppy Love? Maybe But I Don't See It Going Anywhere (But I'm Also Bad At Writing Romance Stuffs So... *Shrugs*)

Now If She's Working With Big Mama On The Other Hand... Leo Immediately Gives Her Draxum Treatment, No Doubt. Donnie Will Prolly Follow Leo On This One And April Will Usually Join The Twins On Stuff Like This, She's Keeping An Open Mind But Thin Ice Man Thin Ice. Dr. Feelings Senses A Possibly Redeemable Person And immediately Becomes Her Worst Nightmare, No One Escapes The Doctor... Raph Is On The Fence About Her But Family Comes First, So First Sign His Family Will Be Hurt By Her And He's Throwing Hands.

Option B: She's A Turtle Mutant! Which Is Fun Because It Can Also Go Many Ways! Was She Human First Or Turtle First? Is She A Hamato (Turtle Mutated By Splinters/Any Other Hamato Members DNA)? Was She Just A Turtle That Ate An Ooze-Squito? A Human With A Pet Turtle/Works With Turtles And Got Biten By An Ooze-Squito? Did Donnie Fuck Around And Find Out Via Cloning??? Who Knows! Either Way My Brain Says Chaos And Feels! + If She Was A Turtle First Then The Bois Get A Mutant Person Who Understands What It Was Like To Not Originally Be Human, Which Can Go All Sorts Of Angsty Ways.

Oh Dear This Has Gotten Long... Welp This Prolly Isn't Exactly What Ya Wanted On The Whole Reaction To A Female Turtle Mutant Front, Cause I'll Be Honest I'm Not Great With Keeping Characters In Character So It Turned Into A Bit Of A Rambling Fic Prompt Instead... My Bad.

[collecting-stories]

I Feel it all Over - t. 04 - JJ Maybank

Summary: Kiara surprises you at church and you spend the day with her, JJ, and Pope.

A/N: If you haven't ever listened to them...can I just highly recommended listening to The Maine (whose album You Are Ok this is based on)? They’re music is amazing...You Are Ok, American Candy, and Pioneer are probably my favorite albums of theirs. Plus they did an incredible cover of Watermelon Sugar...if you’re a fan of Harry Styles. 

You Are Ok Masterlist | Outer Banks Masterlist

✞ I swear to every god I feel everything tonight with you ✞

New patrons to the church were usually whole families that came to services, whose fathers or mothers agreed your father’s lesson and felt drawn to the “community” of the Baptist denomination. They responded to the clickbait phrases and did feel lost in their everyday life. It was very rare that any new member, or anyone testing the church out for the first time, would be a single person, a teenager far removed from the beliefs and traditions of the church. But there was Kiara, walking up the few steps into the vestibule. She wasn’t here because of any lost feelings; she was here because she wanted to get to know you more. What JJ had told her, and what she had seen for herself on Friday, was someone that she definitely wanted to be friends with.  

She had no bet to dictate how or when she became friends with you. She slipped into the line of people entering the church, catching sight of you standing by the door handing out pamphlets for that morning’s service. Making sure she was at the end of the line, she waved as she approached, happy to see you.  

“What are you doing here?” You asked, glancing into the church before giving her a quick hug. If your parents or any other family saw they would ask how you knew this complete stranger and why you seemed so friendly with someone who had never been to the church before.  

“JJ stole you on Friday,” she shrugged, “thought maybe we could hang out after church?”  

“Yeah,” you nodded, a story already formulating in your head to tell your parents. Your mother always said that a lie was the devil on your tongue and the first time she’d said it you were convinced that the devil had taken out real estate because you lied constantly, and with ease. Sometimes just to see if you could get away with it. “That would be amazing.”

As far as friends went, you had very few. Your main source of companionship had come from your brothers and sisters, other friends were just acquaintances from youth group or church retreats that you never really felt any deeper connection with. The further away from the fold you felt, the less you found a community for yourself. You had been doubting for so long now that anything within the church felt like a show you were putting on for other people’s amusement, the emotions weren’t real and niether were you.  

JJ wasn’t the first boy you had ever let yourself like but he was the first person you had ever felt comfortable being yourself around. There was no fear of judgement or rejection with him, nothing you said was turned into a weapon to make you feel guilty or unworthy, you didn’t have to pretend to be someone you weren’t. You had been nervous to meet his friends, feeling so different from them, but Kiara and Pope had been nice, welcoming, and all you felt was ease. Even now, seeing Kiara had put a more genuine smile on your face than seeing your family visiting for church.

“I wore my best ‘church’ outfit,” Kiara said, gesturing to the maxi dress and sweater she was wearing. The dress was backless and strappy but it was the only thing she owned that wasn’t short. She’d thrown a sweater overtop, hoping she could play off the dress better.

“You blend right in,” you laughed, “I’m relegated to sit up front...I don’t know if you wanna sit with me up there?”

“Lead the way.”

The “peace be with you’s” weren’t too bad and you lied to your mom when she asked how you knew Kiara, telling her that you had met at Heyward's and invited Kiara to church because she was interested in the tract you had. Your mother’s love for testimony and her conviction that people really did want to be approached on the street and harassed about their faith were enough to convince her that your story was solid. It was enough, even, to give you permission to go to lunch with Kiara after service was over.  

Kiara hadn’t been to church since she was thirteen and her mom decided that she was old enough to choose whether or not she actually wanted to be there. That sort of power and responsibility had been all Kiara needed to ditch Sunday service altogether and spend her mornings out on the waves with the pogues, worshipping a different sort of force. She was a lot less religious and a lot more spiritual now though she listened intently to your father preaching. The opinions were hogwash, nothing to bat an eye at, but the actual teachings were interesting. You seemed relatively invested in those parts too, your notes, Kiara realized, looked a lot more like a theology lesson than a preacher’s condemnation of society.  

“You know a lot about the bible,” Kiara mentioned once you were out of church and back at her house, changing into jeans and a shirt of hers.  

“I like studying religion, theology,” you clarified, “my grandfather knew a lot about the texts. Not like my dad, he’s just...got his own ideas. My grandfather knew the Greek and Hebrew translations and spent years studying other religions as well. It was so cool to talk to him about it. I like that part, the history, the context, more than the ‘fundamentalist/evangelical crap’ my dad touts.”

“Is that something you’d study?” She asked, pulling a tank top on over her bathing suit, “like in college?”

“My parents won’t let me go to college.” You replied.  

“That’s so crazy, my parents would kill me if I didn’t go.”

You spent the drive to Kiara’s dad’s restaurant explaining your parents future plan for your life, including telling her about the boy that your parents wanted you to marry. When she asked if JJ knew you admitted that he did and that you weren’t really sure what was going to happen when you turned eighteen. You knew what your parents wanted, for you to get engaged and then quickly married, but that wasn’t what you wanted at all.  

“If I say that though...there’s a good chance I’d be ex-communicated. Not just from the church but from my family. One of my cousins defected and no one speaks to her anymore.” You said, “it’s like a massive stain on her family’s reputation.”

“Yeah but if she’s happy, does it matter?”

“It’s...it’s not just that I haven’t worn jeans or drank a soda,” you said, following Kiara out onto the back deck to eat, “it’s that I don’t have anyone outside my family. It’s not just being sheltered, it’s being isolated. And I know that, and I hate it but...it’s all I know.”  

“None of your siblings have done it differently?”  

“No.” You shook your head, “I think I would’ve been fine coasting too...I was pretty much set that this was it ya know? But then...JJ asked me out.” You admitted.

Kiara frowned, “yeah but you don’t know what’s gonna happen with JJ in the future.”

You shrugged, “it’s not just about him...it’s me, feeling happier and more confident.”  

“Talking about me?” JJ’s voice came from behind you and you turned around, watching him and Pope walk up to the railing of the deck. He put his hands on the railing, pulling himself up so he could lean over and kiss your cheek.

“I should’ve known you guys would crash.” Kiara said, rolling her eyes as JJ climbed the rest of the way up, hopping over the railing onto the deck.  

“What’re you guys up to?” Pope asked, staying on the other side.

“Kie mentioned taking the ferry to Chapel Hill.” You replied, “I have to be back before dark though.”

“So what’re we waiting for?” JJ said, grabbing your soda and taking a sip.  

-

The four of you rode the ferry over to Chapel Hill, standing on the back deck the whole time talking. Kiara suggested shopping the moment you got off the ferry, telling you that all she wanted was to see you pick out an actual outfit.  

“Nothing hand-me-down or borrowed, just like a real, honest outfit that you pick out.” Kiara said, taking your hand in hers as she pushed open the door to one of the small stores along the main road.  

JJ followed you to the back of the store where the sale racks were, skimming through clothes, holding up different things that were still a little too far out of your comfort zone. You shook your head at a spaghetti strapped mini dress, pulling a crossover out to show him, “I like this one.”

“Try it on.” He shrugged.  

“Where’s the changing area?” You asked, looking around the small area.  

JJ grabbed your hand, “over here.” He led you to the curtained off stalls, pulling you into one of them and hanging the dress up.  

“I have a very strong feeling that if anyone caught us we would be in massive trouble.” You whispered, biting your lip to stop from laughing as JJ moved so that you were looking in the mirror and he was behind you, hands on your hips. He rested his head on your shoulder, nudging his face into the space between your shirt and your neck, kissing the exposed skin.  

“Yeah but you’ve never been shopping so what do you know?” JJ replied, as if it was obvious and he wasn’t just bullshitting you to stay in the changing room.  

You turned in his arms, putting your hands over his, “I’m not changing with you in here.”

“Fine,” he groaned, “If I leave will you try on something for me?”

“Fine.” You mimicked. You kissed him, initiating it for yourself this time, before pushing him into the curtain. He gave another exasperated sigh as he swept the curtain out of the way and left you to change.

Alone in the dressing room, you changed out of your clothes and tried on the floral wrap dress. It tied off at the waist, cutting a deep V and a slit up to your thigh. It was a dress but not like any you had ever worn before. You pushed the curtain enough that you could peek out to see JJ. He was slouched in the chair, texting, while he waited for you.

“I thought you were picking something out?” You said, looking over at him.

He shrugged, “I’d rather see what you like then pick something out for you.”  

“Thanks,” you nodded.  

JJ watched you as you pushed the curtain back and stepped out of the changing room. “Holy shit,” he mouthed. “Wait, don’t move!”

“What? Why?” You asked as he lifted his phone in front of his face.  

“I wanna picture of this.” He replied. Sure, he had seen you in a dress before but he had never seen you in a dress like this, one that actually fit you well, that wasn’t trying to hide your figure but accentuate it. One that you looked so incredibly happy in.  

“So I take it I don’t look half bad?” You joked, stepping further out when he had stashed his phone and stood up.  

“Half bad? You look...incredible.” JJ replied. Deciding it was worth mentioning, he added, “you look really happy.”

“I really like this dress. I’ve never really...liked anything I’ve worn before. Like, it’s just always felt like, clothes. This is different.” You admitted.

Your clothes were just whatever hand-me-downs fit you. From siblings, relatives, church members, it was never your stuff, you never chose it, never got to say what you liked or disliked.  

“Oh my god!” Kiara exclaimed, coming over and interrupting your moment with JJ, “you look so pretty.”  

“Thanks.” You nodded, smiling at her, “I think I’m gonna get it.”  

“Let me.” JJ piped up and you looked over at him.  

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to.” He insisted.  

There was little further discussion to be had about it, JJ purchasing the dress for you and the four of you wandering around the rest of Chapel Hill, heading in and out of a few different shops. Pope talked to you about his future college plans and you listened intently. Being with JJ was amazing but being able to be friends with a guy, just sitting with Pope and not having to consider anything other that friendship, was so underrated in your life. You had never been friends with a boy either.  

-

Kiara drove you back to your house after you changed, just getting inside as your sister Praise was setting the table. “Hi! I’m so sorry I’m late!” You apologized, “Kie and I were just chatting and I lost track of time.”

“That’s okay Ace, mom was just telling us about Timothy’s visit. Are you excited?” Praise asked, wrapping her arms around you in a hug.  

You hugged her back, “I’m very excited.” You lied.  

Robert gave you a hug as you walked further into the house, handing off a baby and soon you were outside, supervising kids while your other siblings sat and chatted with your parents around the table. You were only two years younger than Robert but he was married with a kid and another on the way and that automatically made you still a kid. Though you felt less and less like a kid every day.  

Your parents talked about Timothy’s visit and their own upcoming trip, ignoring anything that actually had to do with you or your interests. Even Praise, in talking about your upcoming nuptials, mentioned that her dress was still in good condition if you needed one.  

“Oh, wouldn’t that be amazing Ace? You could wear Praise’s dress?” Your mother mentioned from across the table, smiling at you as if all her dreams were being realized right there at the table.

“Amazing.”  

-

The sound of tapping at your window startled you as you sat on the bed, reading before sleep. You walked over, lifting the blinds to see JJ standing there. He waved as you opened the window for him.  

“What are you doing here?”

“I missed you, I wanted to see you.” He replied, leaning into the window space.  

“You just saw me earlier.” You pointed out.  

“I also wanted to know if you wanted to go for a ‘midnight swim’ with me, Kie, and Pope?” JJ said, “we’re taking the HMS out. John B and Sarah don’t feel like going out and I figured you might.”

“I’m lucky no one caught me last time JJ,” you replied, “I don’t know if I can risk it.”

“That’s fine,” he said, “you don’t have to.”

You bit your bottom lip, glancing back over at your door. Your parents were asleep for the night and the thought of getting to spend more time with JJ was just too tempting for you to say no too. You were sure your dad had some bible verse to offer for you as proof that this was an evil infatuation but you could care less, agreeing to go and grabbing the swimsuit that JJ had given you. “Just let me change.”

“Can do.” JJ turned around, back to the window, and you almost laughed.  

You changed quickly before climbing out the window, “I better not get in trouble for this.”

JJ led you through the woods to John B’s house, just like the night of the kegger, taking you down to the jetty. Kiara waved when she saw you and Pope helped you onto the HMS.  

“I can’t believe you let him sneak you out.” Pope joked as JJ boarded the boat.  

He drove you out on the marsh, parking in an open area where they couldn’t be seen by lights at the edge of anyone’s yard. The HMS didn’t have lights itself and they banked on that to keep themselves mostly out of trouble. Kiara lit a lantern in the middle of the boat but otherwise it was dark as they jumped in, JJ hanging back with you.  

The two of you sat on the bench together, in your own little world seemingly. “Can I try a sip?” You asked, holding your hand out for the beer he was drinking.  

“You sure?” He asked.

“Yeah, positive.”  

He passed the beer over, laughing when you took a big gulp and then practically spit in out. “Oh my god, that’s horrible!” You cried, sticking your tongue out.  

“I warned you.” He laughed.

“Not enough,” you replied, “that’s really gross.”  

“Sorry babe,” he wrapped his arm around you, pulling you against him and kissing your cheeks and then your lips. “We’ll stick to soda for now.”  

“Yes please.” You replied, kissing him back.

“Quit macking on each other and get in the water!” Pope shouted, grabbing on to the side of the boat and pushing himself up so that the HMS would rock slightly.  

You grabbed onto JJ more, laughing as the boat swayed.  

“What the fuck Pope, we’re coming.” He grumbled. “I’m trying to spend time with my girlfriend.”

-

taglist: @heavenlymama @vindictive-hearts @alexa-playafricabytoto @dontjinx-it @randomficsandshit @niamhobrien @strangerthanfanfiction713 @tovvaa @freckled-and-daydreaming @harleylynn @bibliophilewednesday @dpaccione @bolaurel @poguestyleskye @beautyandthebleh @under-a-canyon-moon @stevie-buck @bijleegiregi  @vitaminekabc @minigranger @teamnick @just-smile-darling @obxsummer @damonsalvawhore27 @isqbella @tomzfrog @fangirlvoice @phantompogues @98starkeys @ilovejjmaybank @lemur46 @khiaraaa-in-spacee @babygal-babygal @niya-savage @divvrx @princess-of-the-fandoms @thecaptainsgingersnap @jenjie @yourprincess-maybe @outrbanks @mendesmaybank @thehomeiknow @minnie-bby @katiaw2 @2kayla64 

[hello-im-not-a-possum]

(Here, have a hells studio fic idea: Sammy's reaction and frustration to getting sweetvoice thanks to Benrey)

For the record I’m calling this crossover: Hell’s Life Studio, VR but the AI are causing supernatural bullshit.

Honestly, Sammy Lawrence could rationalize why Joey would hire a security guard.

In fact, if he did hire Benry, the music director might consider it one of Joey’s more logical and reasonable ideas, he even wondered why the animator didn’t do it much sooner.

In addition to the normal reasons why an animation studio or other work place in general would hire security guards, due to the magical nature of the studio and some of it’s inhabitants, if any average Joe walked off the street into the building, everything would turn to chaos.

Newspaper reporters would come at the studio like vultures to a fresh kill, Joey would be demonized as some sort of Satan worshiping lunatic who'd happily sacrifice his employees' humanity for the sake of his success, the toons would get captured by the government and probably get dissected... And heaven forbid what would happen if by accident, someone who wasn't that familiar with the studio and it's magical ink got caught in the ‘splash zone’.

So when Mr. BENRY BENRY BENRY BENRY BENRY BENRY BENRY BENRY BENRY BENRY BENR... came up to him and his coworkers asking to see their passports, Sammy was mildly annoyed by this new guard's rude demeanor, but didn't think much of him other than 'Oh fuck, I guess I'll have to carry my passport to work now, I guess'.

Except, there was one problem; Joey didn’t hire Benry at all. He was just some random guy in a guard uniform (that didn't even have the studio's logo on it at all) who showed up one day and the studio was so weird that people just either didn't care much for another weird thing going on or had came to the same logic-based conclusion that Sammy did.

Scratch that, there were two problems: Benry wasn't exactly human and while he looked like he was, any normal person off the street who wasn't unfazed by the supernatural could automatically tell that he wasn't. As the guard wasn't particularly interested at hiding his otherworldly nature.

Now, in a place like the studio where people experience magical shenanigans almost weekly and have an honest to god living cartoon character as a boss, a dimension-hopping, skeleton summoning, security guard who shits in urinals and may or may not be an eldritch horror god is completely... well, not exactly normal per say, but it's not like the employees would scream and clutch their pearls at the slightest signs of abnormality in their line of work.

The studio had a tendency to dismiss pretty much anything in their workplace that they knew for a fact was not a normal thing as the Ink's fault.

New security guard is phasing through the walls? Must've gotten caught in an ink shower. He hasn't talked to Joey about it? Well, phasing through the walls at will could be useful for his job, nobody's really planning on nagging him about making Joey 'change him back'.

Said guard is hovering in the middle of the break room with his legs and arms rimrod straight and the latter outstretched (in a pose the man had described as 'T-posing' later.)? Must've walked into a ritual by accident and is having fun with it. Some people are just better sports about the weirdness of the studio than others are.

Benry's ...singing? And multicolored orbs are flying out of his mouth? And the blue orbs have the ability to calm people down when they hit them? Again, weird, nobody's really sure why or how the ink did THAT to him. But then again nobody also knew why or how the ink could turn people into cartoon animals and brought inanimate objects to life other than "it's magic".

"Hey, you're not supposed to be in here."

The monotone voice of the security guard droned as Sammy opened the door to his own office.

"Son of a-" The musician took in a sharp inhale and turned to face Benry. "Good morning Benry, are you here to check my passport again for the forty-eighth time in a row or just to cause problems?"

"Wha? I'm not causing any problems. Are you trying to cause problems? Because I'll have to escort you off the premises if you do."

"I WORK here Benry, you saw me conducting the band five minutes ago."

"Yeah... that kinda sounds like bullshit bro. I'm gonna need to check your passport just to make sure."

"Ugh, fine.."

Sammy rifled through his pockets as the ceiling above the pair creaked ominously, making Sammy rifle through his pockets faster as he knew what that meant.

"Not gonna lie, you're looking kinda... you're looking kinda suspicious rn. You got something to hide? What are you trying to hide?"

"BENRY! CAN'T YOU SEE THAT THE CEILING IS ABOUT TO-"

Before Sammy could finish what he was saying, the ceiling crashed down on both of them.

"Ugh... Shit..." Benry emerged from the rubble and fished out the limp music director out of it as well. "You ok there bro?"

As Sammy was unconscious, he didn't respond.

"Fuck, you don't look ok at all... Looks like you need some CPR there, good thing I'm trained by professionals, hang tight."

Benry laid the musician flat on a piece of the floor that wasn't obscured by rubble and opened Sammy's mouth while firing a teal-green heal beam into it with the Black Mesa Sweet Voice. What? He knew better than to cheat on Feetman by smooching a married man, especially while he was in the dark ages where PS4s don't exist and being gay is illegal and pretty much punishable by death.

Sammy lurched back to life coughing his lungs out as the inside of his throat felt like it was oiled, set on fire, and extinguished with sand. Luckily for him, he otherwise felt perfectly fine albeit shaken up by almost being crushed to death.

"Oh cool, you're not dead. So, about that passport..."

"Benry, what the FuuuAAAAAAaAAAaAAAaaaAAaAAaaAaaaaaaaAAAAAaaaAAAAAAAAaAAAaaAAAA!"

Both men jumped back in surprise as a beam of brightly colored orbs flew out of Sammy's mouth starting of in teal (usually means 'need meal' but here Benry was certain that in this context it meant surprise), teal-to-white (I'm struck with fright), white-to-red (filled with dread.), and red-to-dark blue (I FUCKING HATE YOU!).

"Uh.. Wow, rude." Benry smacked his lips. "I just, I just saved your life back there, there's no need to talk to me like that."

Sammy's eye twitched as he stared at him dead in the eyes and chucked his passport in Benry's face before heading up to Joey's office to ask him where he found this guy and why the fuck did he hire this guy.

[dotsayers]

20 Questions: Writer’s Edition

tagged by the beloved @myrmidryad 

this is a LONG one so here’s a cut to avoid do you love the colour of the sky syndrome

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

101 after a recent purge... no one may know about my Past

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

329004! used to be about 350k but again... purge

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

on ao3 i’ve written for (chronologically) doctor who, skyfall, discworld, les mis, star trek, lord peter wimsey, marvel (various), in the flesh, red vs blue, roosterteeth rpf, check please, hockey rpf, star wars, daredevil, rivers of london, dishonored, emmerdale, dirk gently, holby city, hot fuzz, kj charles, guardian, the covert captain, taskmaster rpf, good omens, ghosts, roswell new mexico, leverage, schitt’s creek, the magicians, 9-1-1, it chapter two, the magnus archives, the old guard, the mandalorian, the ritual, the locked tomb

way back on the pit of voles i wrote for twilight, harry potter, hetalia and xmen first class. and on the newsround chatrooms i wrote exclusively harry potter fic about my oc neville and luna’s daughter

as you can tell i am not prone to staying in one fandom writing wise, i tend to end up with one complete fic and seven abandoned wips concealed deep in my google drive

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

finally see what it means to be living (captain marvel, carol/maria, i really hit the zeitgeist with this one i think i was something like the fifth fic in the ship tag)

do whatever you think (the magnus archives, this series is actually #2-7, then #8 #9 and #11 for me so i’m going to cheat a bit)

standing in a world of my own (daredevil, matt/foggy/karen, another zeitgeist hit! really miss writing for daredevil actually... it’s a perennial fave)

a winding road that stretches towards the truth (iron man, tony/rhodey, i STILL don’t know when this got so many kudos. i swear i looked away when it was at 100 and suddenly it ended up here)

where the long shadows grow (star trek aos, kirk prime/spock prime, thank god some people are checking the prime kirkspock tag is all i’m saying!)

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

i don’t really Do angsty endings... possibly a blanket of stars just because i ended it on something of a cliffhanger and then completely zoned out of rnm for long enough that i forgot where i was going with it. there was definitely the intention of fixing things but then i just... did not do that. and now the show is on s3 and i’m over a season behind! life comes at you fast

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

where the long shadows grow, because it reunited kirk prime and spock prime and they DESERVE TO BE HAPPYYYY. i’m a complete sucker for presumed dead/back from the dead stories, actually, so on a similar theme i have two (TWO) daredevil fics which follow the trope, one about ray coming back post-s2 (might never be normal again) and one about foggy and matt reuniting post-endgame (in the corner, taking up space). this is the only time i will ever acknowledge endgame ever again

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

i do write crossovers! in fact i am often roundly mocked by my friends for the increasingly esoteric nature of my crossovers. way back in secondary i wrote a twilight/labyrinth crossover where angela was sarah and jareth’s daughter  because i had a massive crush on a girl who liked both twilight and labyrinth. however, since that has been comprehensively scrubbed from the internet, i think my craziest crossover is probably part three of ‘traced upon the skies’, already an esoteric crossover of rivers of london and hot fuzz, when i added in a crossover with the horror movie ‘the ritual’ just because i wanted rafe spall’s character to be happy 

8. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

EXTREMELY rarely and only with extreme embarrassment. i will not be any more specific than that

9. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

i used to really struggle with doing this, to the point that i had over 300 comments just. lingering in my inbox unanswered. so i decided to give those up and just commit to answering them from then on, which has been working fairly well for about a year and a half now. i love getting comments but i get overwhelmed really easily and struggle with replying in a way which feels meaningful without getting in my head about it! 

10. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

yes lmao it was for a harry potter fic on ff.net where harry got sorted into hufflepuff instead of gryffindor. it wasn’t a very good fic but i think the fact it was clearly written by an 11 year old should have scared off at least some of the less flattering comments.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i don’t... think so? i don’t know how i’d find out to be honest, my vanity googling is rarely very effective

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! as bronze may be much beautified (skyfall, mallory/bond) got translated into chinese, i was extremely pleased. i think it’s mandarin but the ao3 page for the translation doesn’t say and my mandarin is.................. extremely poor

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

also yes! me and jess little-smartass have written a lot together, although only our star trek/les mis series has been published, more’s the pity. we spent a lot of les mis fandom time workshopping aus and we were always extremely correct about all of it, imo

14. What’s your all time favourite ship to write for?

oh god. i think probably kirk/spock, although there’s some recency bias to that since i reread space manhattans recently and was reminded of my love for them. i really like writing jon/martin but i’ve mostly done that from outsider pov which is a bit different to writing shipfic, i think. joe/nicky from tog was also something i really liked writing but i struggle with plotting longer fic with them

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

i recently went through my abandoned fic folder so i actually have a few options for this. the obvious choice would be ‘any of the hockey ones’ but i did delete most of those just for my sanity. more recently i started writing a vaguely smutty pre-the thing mac/fuchs fic for alex @milkdrinker5000 which i really WANT to finish but am struggling with. most obscure answer (even beyond the thing) and most likely to remain unfinished is the insanely in depth post-tog booker/copley fic i had planned out back in about october. i wrote a good 6-7k of that one and then i realised it was going to be, like, difficult, and decided if i was going to put that much work into something it may as well be the novel im meant to be writing

16. What are your writing strengths?

once a friend told me i had an excellent facility for dialogue and ive thought about it every time i write ever since. i love writing dialogue and i think i’m good at knowing what sounds ic and what is right out. 

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

one of the things i struggled with for a really long time, and honestly still have trouble with, is depicting action in words. once i wrote a hockey fic which featured multiple hockey games and i spent probably four times as much effort editing those to make sense and be interesting that i’ve ever done on a talkier scene.

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i’ve done it but only when i knew more or less what i was talking about - i did italian at school so i felt confident using it for nicky in something particular and real. i try not to italicise when i drop in words from other languages, which is what i usually do when i’m using a language i haven’t studied in depth (for example, joe’s use of arabic in some of my fic), and to only use words which i’ve heard used by native speakers in that context. i think if you don’t feel confident using another language, generally speaking, you shouldn’t do it. and for god’s sake don’t use google translate for a full sentence

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

harry potter on the newsround chatboards. ariana lovegood-longbottom my sweet child

20. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

this used to be an easy question because hands down the fic i was proudest of on posting it was i’ll be seeing you. i spent a year and a half on research and writing! but these days i do cringe a little at my hockey fic, and i think i’m prouder of some of my shorter works. let’s do a curveball and say layer on layer, down on down, which is my favourite of my rnm fics and the one i like most from a narrative voice perspective. getting michael right was stressful and i’m still proud i got it down for a TIME LOOP FIC, my absolute favourite trope

tagging @little-smartass and @leescoresbies just in case they want to try this

[streets-in-paradise]

Regardless of the Dangers

Supernatural reader insert drabble

Word Count: 834

Pairing: Sam Winchester x female reader 

Genre: Comfort - Fluff

Warnings: Hints of crossover elements with American Horror Story Hotel.

Summary: The reader goes on a hunt with the Winchesters and gets triggered by the comments of a demon. She does her best to hide it but Sam is aware of it and he comforts her once they are back in the bunker.

Disclaimers: This is a small drabble inserted in the context of a series of oneshots for a crossover with AHS Hotel i have been writing but haven't posted yet. The character i had in mind for the reader is a witch who grew up in the Hotel Cortez as an adopted child of the Countess and James March. She left the place because she refused to follow the path of her family, that happened years before she meet the Winchesters. In the moment this drabble takes place she is in a relationship with Sam and sometimes she joins him and Dean on hunting trips, to help them with the work and because of her own personal motivation making her thankfull for every chance she has to save someone.There is a small mention to that backstory here so i wanted to explain it before to provide a bit of context. Also, the hotel is rumoured to be a gate of Hell. I share that common headcanon and used it in this concept.

Tags: @yerevasunclair I wrote this today, i was bored and i got a rush of sudden inspiration. I’m posting it because your encouragement made me brave enough to do it. I hope you will enjoy it. 

Things were not right and Sam knew it. They solved the case, things were supposed to get better but his girl was not acting like her usual self. During the trip back to the bunker she participated in Dean's jokes or general conversation, but she seemed to do it out of commitment, because she had to. At first, he thought  she was just worried for the wellbeing of the people and too focused on the work, but after seeing how the good outcome they got didn't improve her humour he started to worry.

Wasting no more time, he confronted her about it once they got some time and space for privacy after their arrival.

" I'm tired. That's all." was the simple reply he got.

" Love, I get that sort of excuses from Dean everytime he is not doing ok, I know how to recognize bullshit when i hear it. It's not just the car ride, you have been acting weird long before that. I know something is wrong and I want to help. "

She didn't know what to do. She hated lies, since the moment when she told him everything about who she was she promised herself to never lie to him again. Being true to herself, she decided to tell him. " I can't get the words of that demon out of my head. Why did he say I am expendable like every person in your life apart from your brother??"

" Demons lie to get what they want, to get the worst of you out."

" I was raised by two paranormal psychopaths who used to lie to me all the time. I was a toy in dispute in the middle of their already broken marriage. I know when someone lies to me. That's the problem, this didn't feel like a manipulative lie. It sounded like an honest warning. '' she tried to explain herself. " Look, I understand the special bond you have with Dean and it doesn't bother me at all. You know I even have grown to  like him and I consider him a good friend. I would die for you or for him if i had to, but choosing to do it is one thing. Having someone else saying that you would let me die without hesitation to save him because i'm just an expendable company you keep for now is hurtful. You know i'm not asking to be placed above your brother, i would never do that. It's just that i can't help to feel a bit hurt when i remember those words. Maybe that demon knows better than me and, in the big scheme of things, i don't matter. I could be perfectly replaceable and maybe i haven't noticed it yet because i love you too much to see it. " Her voice was fading a bit, it was a deep concern of hers that she was addressing openly for the first time. She wasn't even aware of it until that demon made it come out to the surface.

" How can you think such things? You know how much you matter to me. Meeting you was the best thing that happened to me in years." Sam replied equally shocked and worried.

" Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me, at least since I left my family in their hell portal. I tried so hard not to fall for you but you made it impossible." she teased him. " i feel so foolish because i don't want to cling to you but the doubt drives me crazy. "

" One thing I think we have learned together is that sometimes it's good to cling a bit to what makes us feel good. " he added as he holded her in his arms. " You make me feel good, that's why I was selfish enough to keep you with me. Do you really think i don't worry for you? When I realized I was in love with you I was terrified because I didn't want to ruin your life. I didn't want you to get hurted because of me. You chose me anyways, regardless of the dangers. You were absolutely aware of the risks but you stayed. Since then I have never regretted the choice I made when I faced my feelings for you instead of running away from them. You are not just a good company, or some possible collateral damage I contemplate and dismiss. I love you, don't you ever dare to doubt that again. You don' t have to feel insignificant, since you are here with us you became part of this. Whatever this thing is, we will remain together. Dean knows there is no way in heaven or hell for me to let you go. " he reassured her, his calm voice felt full of love.

For an instant, nothing else mattered. She felt the intensity of his feelings on his words and in the careful hold of his embrace. He managed to calm her down somehow, they always found ways to bring some comfort to each other and Sam didn't make an exception that time . Overwhelmed by her own feelings, she kissed him sweetly and no more words were needed

[simon-pl600-501-743-923]

General RP style and preferences

Repost, don’t reblog. Bold what applies. Strikethrough what does not. Elaborate on any points you’d like with a *

Please be honest, we all want to find the people who work best with how we RP. ____

Types of RP / How I do threads

| I don’t I just do whatever is on my dash when I’m online | Mainly asks | I do little short things mostly | I do my threads on discord | Long running threads that slowly build upon the muses |

Plotting Preferences

| Wing it | Get a general idea ooc and then run with it & plot further if need be | Long expansive thought out story arcs* |

Type of threads I do / Prefer

| Oneliners only* | Whatever dash shenanigans I’m online for | Para or Mulit para | Literal Novels |

Reply Speed for Threads & Consistency & Keeping threads

| I lose threads all the time & don’t usually get back to them | I tend to lose threads but please tell me if I have and I’ll reply!* | I drop threads pretty easily | I’m really slow but I WILL get back to you | I reply on a schedule/queue (specify if you’d like) | I usually reply within a week | I reply every day* | I reply almost instantly* |

Romantic or sexual ships

| I don’t do these ships (specify reason if you would like) | I’m not against them happening but it is not the main point of my blog | All ships will have to be super slow burn & discussed a lot OOC, super chemistry based (ok, not all ships but I do like some sort of build up rather than instant romance unless it’s a pre-established relationship) | I love doing ships, HMU I probably already ship it just ask! | I ship really quickly* | I autoship or ship within a few interactions* | I mainly RP for the cute ship fluff or smut* |

Smut

| I do NOT do smut at all (specify reason if you’d like) | I’m very selective about it | I only do it on a separate (blog/discord/specify here) | I mainly only do asks relating to nsfw headcanons on Sundays* | I write it a medium amount* | I write it all the time and love to |

Active hours [PST]

| Mornings 8-10 | Midday 11-1 | Afternoon 2-5 | Evenings 6-8 | Night 9-12 | Ungodly hours of the day 1-onwards* |

Activity Schedule

| SUPER slow and sporadic, like once a month or so | Slow and sporadic week long gaps between activity | Bi-weeklyish activity | Weekly activity (specify if there’s a certain time you have school/work/etc. off that you are most active) | Daily activity | I’m online nearly all the time* |

Starters

| I don’t do starter calls | I want to do starter calls but often don’t have time | I do selective calls (if we’ve discussed something or we have an idea we wanna run with) | I don’t do calls, but always fee free to ask me for one! | I do starter calls rarely/regularly/often* |

AUs

| I don’t do AUs | My blog is an AU but outside of that I don’t do them | I sometimes do them but only with a lot of plotting | I have a couple of AUs already feel free to request them! | I have AUs coming out of my ears please interact with them! | I love making AUs HMU to plot if you think of one! | There are some AUs I won’t do (At least not without some convincing. I would list them but honestly it would be easier for me just to let you know if it’s a yes or no for me when you ask me about it directly.) |

Crossovers

| I don’t do crossovers (specify if you want) | I’m selective with crossovers (I can be convinced if I know and like the fandom crossing over, but it would have to be discussed first. My brain wants things to make sense and it has to be plausible in my head, as well as something I am already familiar with before I’ll even consider it.) | I love crossovers! |

Elaboration Points

* - I can do intensive plotting, but I prefer to remain flexible, so any plotting done, be it in depth or just quick overview, is never set in stone. My characters have minds of their own and sometimes they don’t stick to the plan. I find that the quality of my writing is better when I just go with the flow of things and don’t get too invested in making things work just perfectly. It’s also more fun for me when there is some spontaneity in role playing. I am a pantser (write things by the seat of my pants) at heart and that has always worked best for me and been where I thrive. That doesn’t mean I’m against plotting, just know that I consider plotting to be bouncing around potential ideas, not planning out every perfect detail. 

* - One liners are harder for me because I tend to get wordy and like to elaborate. I still have fun with them sometimes if it’s just a quick little fun thing, but for more serious threads, I need more meat to the writing. 

* - I have a thread tracker but sometimes things still get lost. It doesn’t happen often, but I can’t keep it from happening every now and then. I will never drop a thread without telling you, so if it’s been a hot minute since I’ve replied, just remind me (maybe send a link if I need it) and I will get to it. 

* - I try to do at least some replies every day. It doesn’t always happen, but I do try.

* - Sometimes I can get to a reply pretty quickly if I’m on a roll, not always tho. This is luck of the draw. 

* - Just because I see the chemistry right away doesn’t mean I like the characters to see it just as fast. I like some build up to make it realistic and find that falling in love instantly tends to just be puppy love or crushes, it’s not actual romance and it’s a bit childish in my opinion, to be perfectly honest. Give me at least a little bit of time for my muse(s) to get comfortable with yours.

* - That being said, sometimes the chemistry is just really strong and happens fast. If circumstances are right, I might just go for it head first if it happens naturally. This is entirely dependent on how our muses get along tho.

* - I love cute ship fluff and smutt and will definitely RP a lot of it, but that’s not the whole point and it’s not my only focus. I also really love other sorts of relationship dynamics, including friends, family, and even enemies. 

* - Sinday asks are open to anyone, but writing out actual smut in threads is something I have to be comfortable with both my writing partner and the ship. It’s difficult for me to just throw my muse(s) into porn without plot. I like a pre-established relationship first and some context.

* - Smut is actually something I am very new to writing. I’ve been told I’m fairly decent at it, but I’m still learning my style with writing sexually explicit content. I’ve been trying to write more of it lately just to help me with developing those skills, but again, it is not the main focus of my RP blogs. I’m not against it, but it is by no means a requirement. 

* - Honestly, there is no schedule. I just write whenever I have the time and motivation for it. Often times I end up replying to threads when it’s super late at night or early in the morning before dawn, but really, who knows when I’ll be around.

* - A lot of the time I only lurk. I try to get on tumblr every day, but sometimes my activity is just liking things other people have posted. My mental health doesn’t always allow me to do more than that in a day, but I do try my best to post at least something every day, even if it’s small and useless.

* - Still getting the hang of open starters and don’t have time to make very many. But I’m always open for RP meme starters, both sending and receiving. And I am slowly working on getting more open starters written.

Tagged by: @detective-with-one-arm via the dash

Tagging: everyone

[killmebutneverinsultme2]

Rules for mobile (Pinned Post)

The Code

Success. I’ve sufficiently pestered the wench to make me a blog, much to the cost of a certain behorned mischief god whose presence I must share. Follow the rules below, and there’ll be smooth sailin’, savvy?

This be an exceptionally selective blog. I was me mun’s first ever muse yonks back and I’ve pestered her into writing me again, BUT, she’s horribly pressed for time. Partners will likely be very few, else ones doubling up with Loki’s. Anyone is welcome to approach and enquire, but she and I will be leaning toward those either from me own universe or crossovers with which she’s highly familiar and characters in whom she’s especially interested. Ye have been warned.

Replies are like to be slow, up to a few weeks at most.

Partners must be 18+. Various themes of an adult nature may be found here. Sexual things will be tagged ‘#filthy pirate’ with whatever level/variety of sin I deem them. More details below.

Behave. There shall be no rudeness, no passive aggression, no hate, no censorship or generally being a twit. Do I make meself clear?

The Code - Extended (below the cut)

Hi, guys. I’m Pirate (oddly known as this long before I made Jack a tumblr). Here are my more detailed rules and guidelines for writing with me on this blog, though the absolute basics are at the top as, honestly, it’s never easy to remember everyone’s requirements.

Jack is a sideblog. If you’re being followed by a benevolentgodloki that means I’m following you back. I don’t need us to be mutuals (both following each other) for us to write together, but there is a greater chance of us having a partnership if we’re letting each other know we’re interested.

How I Roll

I note myself as ‘highly selective’. This isn’t to be an elitist bugger, it’s because we all only have a limited amount of time we can put in. I want to write what I enjoy with people I enjoy. I am married with two attention-seeking cats, two jobs, a slow-brewing intended writing career and a video game addiction.

Asks/Memes - I will usually answer these no matter who they are from but I may or may not turn them into a thread I intend to keep. Some memes are very much designed to be something that continues so context can be key. If you would like to know in advance whether I intend to answer and/or keep something, please do pop me a message and I will be kind and honest.

My Threads - While Jack’s blog is still exciting and new, I’m being a bit all over the place with who and what I reply to depending on which way Jack’s.. compass.. is pointing. I do have a rolling turn order that I adhere to (to the point that I can genuinely tell you who is next at any given moment) but it’s all piled in with Loki’s threads, meaning I can take a few weeks to get round everything. Every partner gets one of their threads answered within that ‘round’ and then I go round again. However, when I’m really into something/finding something easy to pop back, I treat myself to spamming certain threads or partners at my whim. I use rpthreadtracker.com to maintain what I have. 

I will remind partners of threads that have not been replied to for more than three months. If I do not do this, I have either forgotten/lost it myself, I’m not too fussed about keeping it at that stage, or you were absent for a long period of time. 

My Style - I will write in both past or present tense depending on partner preference. My default is past but I like either. Please kick me if I screw up and write the wrong one. I prefer using regular size font but I will make mine small on replies to people who use the smaller so that it looks neat. I will often match partners’ lengths and some formatting details e.g. bolding dialogue, but I struggle with doing novella-length posts for reasons below.

I have a bugbear to admit about role-play. What we call splicing. A good half of my partners write this way so I’m not about to tell everyone to stop but if you’re someone who does this, you will occasionally run into some frustrations when writing with me. ‘Splicing’ is when you retrospectively write dialogue or actions as having previously happened during your partner’s last post. These things are fine when they’re passive i.e. your character muttered them, thought them or you were writing what your character was doing at the time because that’s pretty much essential. The trouble comes usually when my characters talk a lot/ask rhetorical questions and partners choose to answer every single one despite the fact my character carried on talking. I know it’s an ass that I have talkative muses and you really want to respond to every point/get a word in, but putting words and actions into the past effectively godmods my muse into accepting they happened. If you feel your muse would have full-on interjected midway through their ramble, please ask me to edit my post/stop it at that point. Otherwise if you do prefer to splice, my muse will only respond to whatever it is your character did or said last in their post. This is one of the reasons I can’t write novella, because often there is only so much you can write before you’re stepping into the territory of changing what went before and not allowing your partner to do anything about it.

TL;DR don’t ever worry about your post being too short for me. If it’s one sentence long but it’s because something fast-paced is happening, I won’t be miffed.

Shipping! - no not that kind of ship, Jack. I love shipping. Ships all around. Let’s face it, romance can be one of the most exciting reasons we bother writing. I am open to a lot of ships for Jack, practically all of them. Yes, even that one. I will do downright nasty, toxic, horrible stuff, savvy? It’s fiction and Jack is a great indulgence for bad things happening to him as much as good. That said, of course don’t force something on him without prior agreement between us. Well, I mean, your muse can try and accost him and see what he does, just don’t expect him to definitely reciprocate. Jack and I are bi/pansexual. We’re open to everything. I will admit a heavy lean toward m/m but, that said, Jack is extremely fond of the ladies, more so than Loki. I am very into Sparrington especially.

Not Safe For Ye Olde Work

Sliding down from the above topic, I enjoy the occasional smutting. It is not a requirement from my partners. In fact, I’m warming very much to fading to black depending on the context/mood/if things feel a bit repetitive. I do feel a touch more comfortable with partners who don’t need that boundary but as I’ve recently figured ‘if it needs a cut, then it’s smut’ I know when to skip on.

Saucy material will go under cuts/Read More’s and be tagged as mentioned above with ‘filthy pirate’. Additional tags will be based on the citrus scale: ‘lime’ for general grabbing, ‘lemon’ for full on sexual content and ‘grapefruit’ if things get extra kinky. I will tag things such as ‘rape tw’ or ‘noncon tw’ or ‘dubcon tw’ where necessary. Please blacklist any or all of these at your leisure, or search them if you fancy :U I do NOT tag these as ‘ns.fw’ because tumblr just completely hides them from being searchable which is useless for my partners.

OC’s - Due to my time constraints I am extremely picky when it comes to OC’s. This is a good fandom for well-thought-out muses and I know firsthand how hard it is to make headway as an OC in the RP world. However, I also understand that for people like me, I want to dip in on this site to mostly play with the characters and worlds I’m really absorbed in and ship my weaselly black guts out. Some people have more time than others to really give your OCs the time and love they deserve. Unless I’ve played with you a long time and I really like the cut of your and your muse’s jib, it’s very unlikely I’ll bite. Apologies! The same goes for crossover muses from fandoms I’m unfamiliar with, but I will let you know if that’s the case.

Limits

Threads - I don’t have a strict limit on how many to have per person but please bear in mind that the more of these you have with me the longer it will take me to get to a particular one (unless I’m spamming it back and forth). This is more a mun/muse context how many I accept.

Exclusives/mains - I don’t do these although I may consider having a maximum of 3 or 4 of one muse depending on activity levels and to ensure plots don’t get mixed up or attention feel unfairly balanced.

Triggers/squicks - I don’t like body horror e.g. graphic detail of squishy bits having bad things happen to them. I’m writing a pirate so there’s absolutely allowed to be elements of torture/violence, just don’t stab him in the eye or chop bits off him. One torture-related thing sends me into a complete freakout which I’ll discuss with partners if we’re doing a thread of that ilk as needed. Kink-wise I’m not into mpreg, A/B/O or infantilism or toilet things. Just ask me/Jack if you’re after something XD

Who I Am/What I Need From You

Being yourself is the most important thing and I promise I am not a scary person (usually). We’re only human and it’s natural that we’ll get along better with some rather than others. This is more to give you a gist of the sort of person I am and who I gel with best.

So I’m a shy hermit at the best of times. I’m trying to be better at engaging and enthusing with partners over our threads because I realise more than ever this does keep things alive and make for a more enjoyable experience. I’m not always great at it. I work best with people who are patient and don’t worry too much on what I think of them and their writing, with people who are happy to keep threads going for the longhaul rather than keep dropping everything before I’ve had the time to get to the next post, and most especially people who accept that fiction =/= reality. I do need a certain level of quality, which doesn’t always mean perfect grammar, but it must be coherent, fun and creative. I like a relaxed approach, sharing mutual enjoyment in silly fantasy world sandboxes as escapism from (and exploration of) this complicated world we live in.

If you managed to read all of this, have a drink (even if it’s water). You’re a diamond. 

Pirate xxx

[imbellarosa]

1989 things that keep me up at night

Or, that one Taylor Swift album that I ADORE while it confuses the fuck out of me. I’m doing the thing that I listen to the album as I write this, because I have so much to say and want to get it all right. This isn’t a cold read, I’ve heard it before, and I love it, but I did want to do a deeper analysis. If you want to read the last one that I did, it’s here. It’s about an accidental love song and it was tons of fun to do. The rest of this analysis is under the cut, because it might be the longest one yet. I’m a big fan of hers. 

As always, I’m going to go back to posting more political content in the morning, but I am very happy that all four officers in the murder of George Floyd have been charged with murder, and that Derek Chauvin in particular is being charged with second degree murder. If you’re looking for next steps: consider participating in activism on Breonna Taylor’s birthday (June 5th) or donating to Tony McDade’s memorial fund. 

So, on to the album! There are a few stand out songs, for me, in the album, including “I Wish You Would”, “Clean”, “This Love”, “Out of the Woods”, and “You Are In Love”. I don’t know if any of these were singles - the album is older at this point and I could go check but, eh. I don’t really think it matters anymore? I think if I stretch my memory to 2014, it was “Bad Blood”, “Blank Space”, “Style”, “Out of the Woods”, and “Shake it Off” that were singles. I don’t know if there were more, but I do remember those. Something that I find interesting is that the only crossover between the singles (that I remember) and my favorites is “Out of the Woods”, but that’s a phenomenal song. 

I think the first question I have to address is why this album confuses me. And the more I think of it, the more I realize that this album more sounds like two albums, telling two stories. The first story is that of a whirlwind romance in the public eye, filled with late night hook ups, seeing other people (publicly), and a superficial connection that will invariably go down in flames. This story features dramatic fall outs with contemporary artists, wild parties, and whispering voices. The second story is about a harder love, and a deeper one: it’s a story of fighting and fixing things, and letting go and coming together. It’s sweet, and beautiful, and tragic, and worth it. And these stories are fundamentally incompatible, at first glance. Your relationship is not simultaneously ephemeral and ethereal, and if you think it is, it’s time to reevaluate how honest you are being with yourself and what you want in your partner. (Spoiler alert: the song “Style” isn’t it. And neither is “Wildest Dreams”. No offense to either song or the people they were written about.)

The more I thought about it, the more this bugged me - until I dug deeper into her discography, and I noticed something interesting: Taylor Swift is a storyteller. She primarily tells her own stories, especially in Lover and Reputation, but that wasn’t always the case: “Mary’s Song” is sung in first person, and is about her neighbors’ love story. “Starlight” was written about someone in the Kennedy family's relationship with her husband Bobby (Bobby’s name is in the song). It is also sung in first person. “Ronan” is a song she wrote for charity, about a little boy who lost his battle to cancer, from the perspective of his mother. I always cry when I hear it, but it is, also, written in first person. I think those are enough for now, but I definitely can keep going.

Anyways, my point is this - I realized very quickly there were two ways I could read the album. The first is completely autobiographically: she is publicly one person and privately another. Her public persona is (at the time of 1989′s release) someone who parties, dates many people on and off, and fights with artists loudly. The private story she is offering is of someone who is deeply in love with one person, who wants to be successful, who wants to be themselves and safe with themselves and their partner, and is afraid of showing this side of themselves to the industry and the world. “Out of the Woods” highlights that anxiety well, as does “I Know Places”, and so does the line “you two are in a snow globe spinning round and round” (in “You Are In Love”), but that’s because I always imagine a snow globe like a sort of transparent show that is being obscured by the flurries, you know? Like everyone is watching, but if you move, the truth gets harder to see. 

The second way to read this - and I think the way I’m leaning - is that these are two different stories. The first one is still about that media image, and she’s playing off of her media image - one that has been proven to be demonstrably false at this point, and that she has admitted was almost forced on her at a really young age (and we’re gonna have a whole ass conversation about how the media treats children one of these days, you just watch). And the second story is still a love story: it’s just not hers. To me, this makes the most sense because of her switch between first and second person pronouns in these softer, gentler songs, as she gently steps in and out of the role of narrator. The other thing is that I don’t know a whole lot of her dating history? I never really cared. But I don’t remember her being in a really serious long term relationship at this point. I remember a lot of stories of short relationships with famous people, but nothing concrete or long lasting, in the way the song “I Wish You Would” or “This Love” or “You’re In Love” suggests. 

This perspective is fortified by “I Know Places”, in which she is literally talking about a secret relationship. She’s describing something that is hiding in plain sight, but can’t be honest, because “something happens when everybody finds out/ love’s a fragile little flame/it can burn out...”. So they (the people involved) go hide in these secret places (look, let’s be real. every celebrity has a secret place). What I think is interesting is that this isn’t the first time in the album that she talks about sneaking around and hiding. The first time this comes up is in “Style”, where she mentions that the dude comes searching for her with “no headlights”. She is clearly referencing herself in that song, as she describes her “red lips” and her “good girl thing/in a tight little skirt”. But the context is super different. She describes “Style” as a song that calls out trends - how people never get tired of listening about this kind of relationship. It’s always in style, so to speak. When she talks about “I Know Places”, she says its “about...everybody’s like trying to get in to it and ruin a love or whatever and it’s like...whatever. You know....” and then she goes on to keep talking about what she wants it to sound like. I got this from her voice memo in the preliminary conversation with her producer. 

She also describes I know places as “dark”, and she wanted that to carry over into the bridge, and it definitely does. However, I can definitively tell you that this story (and relationship) is different than the one in “Style”, because of the end. By the end of the song, she says: “They take their shots, but we're bulletproof (I know places)/And you know for me, it's always you (I know places)/In the dead of night, your eyes so green (I know places)/And I know for you, it's always me (I know places)”.  (Look I usually remove the hyperlinks for the lyrics but I really need y’all to click that because it freaked me out when I saw it. Very uncomfy). In Style, her bridge says “Take me home”, or some variation of that, and she doesn’t have an outro for the song, she repeats her chorus again, which reads: “Oh, you got that James Dean daydream look in your eye/And I got that red lip classic thing that you like/And when we go crashing down (And when we go)/We come back every time/'Cause we never go out of style, we never go out of style”. So rather than being something private, this is something that everyone will be talking about for a while. 

SIDE NOTE: If you like “Style”, I think you’d really like the song “Sun Queen” by Gerry Cinnamon . It’s also about the expectation of the industry and how the art affects the artist. The difference in this song is that the relationship is the real part of his life, and his art is what he feels is fake. 

ANYWAYS. I think she did a really clever thing by playing on her image. She kind of “became” the person they wanted her to be, while making it very clear that there was something else she wanted: the kind of love - the kind of life - she’s singing about. My favorite song on the album is “I Wish You Would”, which is about “remembering what we’re fighting for” in a relationship, and it’s also a song which she mentions is written about “two people”, and not herself (voice memo, delux album). I think that’s probably true. I think it is probably the case that she was not in the middle of a Great Love Story at this point in her life, and so she was borrowing material. The same thing happens in “You are in Love” - there, she can’t be any clearer - that it’s about someone that is not her. (It’s actually about her co-producer and writer Jack Antonoff’s relationship. Btw, he is a brilliant lyricist in his own right and his music is *chef’s kiss*).

The song that I think happens to be the crossover song between the real story and the carefully presented narrative is “Out Of The Woods”. She’s said that this song was about a relationship she had where the primary feeling was anxiety, and it makes sense (at least with the lyrics)! But at the end of the song, the relationship is stronger than ever: “...I walked out, I said, ‘I’m setting you free’/ But the monsters turned out to be just trees/ And when the sun came up/ You were looking at me”. And then she repeats her chorus again, where she seems to be relieved to finally be “out of the woods”. 

So here’s where I get stuck: I stand by my theory that her gentle love songs on this album aren’t about her own romances. But I don’t think she’s lying. I think this song is about something that was anxiety inducing to her. However, I don’t think that this means that she is the narrator of the song. And I know that the question then is: what is her role in the situation? I don’t know. A close friendship with someone who’s going through it, maybe? That can be really rough, and I know that I’ve gotten sucked into people’s drama. But I think that it’s someone else’s perspective, especially because this fits into the “hard, worth fighting for, intense and long term” category, rather than something like “Blank Space”, in which she literally does not know who she is talking about ( “I’ve got a blank space/ And I’ll write your name”). 

And there is SO MUCH MORE I can say, but that was really my main point: I think she’s telling two different stories, and that it creates an environment that you don’t really know what’s going on or where to turn to understand the story. I listened to the full album a bunch of times before I came up with this read of it. Do I know who the other people I think she’s talking about are? Nope. And I don’t super think it matters. The songs and words are hers, and they’re gorgeous. Do I know what people think this album is about? Yup. Does it change my read of it? Not at all. I think my analysis stands, even - and especially - in context. 

So I still love this album. And I’m beyond thrilled that she has the kind of love she’s always been singing about. And I really hope that the other people she was hanging out with/dating/writing about are all doing amazing as well, particularly the human(s) in “I Know Places” and “I Wish You Would”.  I hope that they are still fighting for each other, and that they still feel like it’s “Always You” (/Always me but that sounds more narcissistic haha). If they are different relationships (like, if rather than her just focusing on one couple, she’s talking about many), I hope that they are all happy, successful, and in love. I hope that they don’t hang out in “Wonderland” anymore (although I think that song’s about a fake relationship, I’m just saying). I hope that they have long nights with fairy lights and soft songs. I hope she does, too. 

[pynkhues]

Do you think either Beth or Rio is in love? Or is Beth still confused about her feelings. Towards rio? And is Rio just toying with her ?

Funnily enough, I’ve had a few asks along these lines over the last couple of weeks and the only reason I hadn’t gotten around to answering any of them yet is that I was so sure that I’d answered it already! It’s even a part of the reason I was sorting through my tags, but while I’ve sort of answered it in the context of other asks, I don’t think I’ve ever outright answered it, so hey! Let’s do that. :-) 

No, I don’t think either Beth or Rio are in love with each other yet. I don’t think they’re in love because honestly I don’t think either of them know each other well enough to really be in love with one another. That said, I do think that they have very real feelings for each other, and a deep running connection that neither of them quite understands or knows how to deal with yet, and that those things paired with a wild attraction to one another leaves them teetering on the edge of deeper emotions like love. 

It’s interesting to think about how Beth and Rio look at their feelings, because we know how much Beth compartmentalises, and we know how close she holds her cards to her chest and how reluctant she is to share any of her deeper feelings with even those closest to her i.e. Annie and Ruby. I think in a lot of ways Beth is somebody who is so used to putting her own needs and desires second, to being overlooked, to being a leg for other people to stand up on, that she doesn’t really know what to do when she has or wants somebody’s attention, like we know she wants Rio’s. I also think she’s probably been conditioned through her childhood and through Dean’s treatment of her to undermine her own feelings, if that makes sense? 

Like, despite the fact that Rio was broadcasting an interest in her really from the end of 1.02, I’m not sure if she thought it was anything more than a way to mess with her before probably 1.07/1.08. 

That said, I do think Beth was attracted to him before that - I think the infamous ‘tell ‘em I was hittin’ it’ line in 1.05 and Beth’s subsequent reaction more or less proves that she was attracted to him by that point (and also mortified at the thought of being made fun of for it, but that feels like a whole other post, haha). The couple of episodes around that though, we were already seeing that she respected him and yearned for him to respect her too - from parroting his words back to him in the Cloud 9 deal, to upping the drops to really wanting to learn from him across 1.06 and 1.07.

But then, I don’t think Beth really realised that she had feelings feelings for Rio beyond that until he fired her in 1.09 after the incident with the van. Everything about that was personal, and everything about it was a break up, and it’s interesting, y’know, because I think that getting Rio arrested was, more than anything else, about ensuring he couldn’t disregard her or forget about her. She couldn’t handle him leaving her behind, not professionally, sure, but not personally either. She could’ve gone weeping to Turner about it and spun a story, but she didn’t want that - she wanted to best Rio, and she wanted him to know it. 

And across S2, I think we only see that more and more - Beth wants his respect and his approval, but I think we also see this tug of a deeper want with him that she doesn’t really understand. We see it in her confronting him on the road at the end of 2.02, and we see it in their bathroom break in 2.04, in all of their loaded looks in 2.05, her ache and humiliation over Dylan and subsequent need to dominate him professionally in 2.06, the ease in 2.08, and the sheer need, longing and heartbreak across both 2.09 and 2.10. She can barely stand to have him out of her life for days, but hell, he’s not all that much better.

Rio is somebody who I think is fairly honest with himselt, at least to an extent. I think Beth isn’t his usual type at all, but that he realised he was attracted to her really early on (again, I’d say from 1.02) and he totally rolled with that, haha. I don’t think it bothers him that she’s outside of his wheelhouse, and I think he probably enjoyed exploring the thought of fucking her, but I think he was probably a little less honest with himself when it came to the depth of his feelings for her. 

I think they were growing over S1 too, and I think we saw that by the end of 1.07 when she wouldn’t tell him the name of her rotten egg, and then we saw it amplified in 1.08 during their cafe dates where, despite himself, he sympathised with her and tried to console her in his own way (paid for breakfast! Touched her shoulder! You could pretty much parallel it directly to their first bar scene in 2.09 where he put her on his bar tab and squeezed her arm as he left. Clearly his way of comforting someone is to pay for them to eat or drink, get a little tactile and ghost them, haha), and then he was furious by the break-up in 1.09 too, and then even angrier in 1.10, but then - - he gave Beth exactly what she wanted. 

He gave her the attention. He took the cord she’d tightened between them by making sure he knew she was the one who got him arrested, and he yanked it even tighter, first by handing her the gun, then by shooting her husband, and then by revealing his son to her.

I think he was probably to-and-froing on feelings to her and his own acknowledgement of those feelings (all while holding that cord as tight as he could), but we saw those feelings practically explode out of him at the end of 2.04. Everything about strong-arming that partnership in the way that he did it, about desperately wanting Dean to know, about smashing up the corvette aka Dean’s metaphorical ego was about staking a claim on Beth, and Rio doesn’t actually strike me as the sort of guy to do that lightly. (I talked about it more in this post, but in a lot of ways I think Rio’s possessive streak when it comes to Beth is borne out of the crossover she has into many different facets of his life, but I also do think a bit of it has to do with the fact that Rio’s not used to playing second fiddle too). We only saw that behaviour escalate over the season too, particularly with 2.11, but putting possessiveness and claims aside for a minute, when it comes to Rio’s feelings, I think the turning point was 2.07 - The Dubby. 

I know, I know, I come back to the episode a lot, but it really feels like such a pivotal episode in terms of both of their feelings. In particular, I think it was a real ‘oh shit’ moment for RIo. Not only was he furious at Beth in that alley, but he knew Jane wasn’t at that house and he went anyway. And then when he was there, he didn’t just turn around and leave, he didn’t even swan in and grab everything that belonged to them - if he had, he would’ve gotten their phones and wallets too. He got the thing that Beth said - crying in an alley - that she cared about. There is no other explanation to Rio giving her back the dubby than Rio wanting to give her that, and the only reason he could possibly want to give her that is because he cared for her in a pretty deep way.  

I’d also say that Beth’s defense of Rio to Dean in that episode was pretty reflective of deeper feelings too. After all, we know Beth. Beth generally doesn’t get angry, Beth disassociates and then she either compartmentalises or she schemes. I think the only other times we’ve seen her that emotional was in the finale, and in 2.10 as she destroys the baking she’d made for Jane’s class. 

Beth was white-hot with fury when Dean said Rio was the one who took Jane, and I think the fact that she immediately went to Rio afterwards for help too shows not only how ludicrous she found Dean’s accusation, but how much she implicitly trusts Rio. I think we see those feelings backed up in her in 2.09, and then in the look of sheer longing on her face at seeing him again in 2.10, and then again in her lingering touches over his things in 2.11. 

Basically, I think that they both have real feelings - deep feelings - that neither of them are used to, and neither of them really know what the hell to do with, so they both fixate on the competitive, possessive, playful side of their relationship because it’s the part of it that they understand - and it’s also the part that keeps the other’s attention pretty much always on them. 

[hootpoop12]

Theory time

Alright, so we all know through the context of this being written in a fanfiction/a03 format that this is all a play about canon VS fanon. What is a little hard to decipher is what are the things that are plays off fanon and which qualities are the true aspects of the characters(canon)? ANYWAY here are just a few of the things I am ASSUMING are plays off fanon based on my years in the fandom and sheer obsession of consuming this shit (trigger warning for everything taken place in the epilogue FYI):

-Dave: I think some of the main aspects of fanon influencing his epilogue version is intertwined with “woobifying”, “Slow burn”, and even possibly even “sexuality”. 

        -Woobifying is a fandom concept of reducing a character to “a cinnamon roll too pure for this world” someone you wanna baby (often applied to trans guy characters whether canon or headcanoned). This one is a bit of reach I’ll admit because it DOES makes sense that after years of living with Karkat the dude would soften up but there were times in the epilogue even Dave admits he’s gotten softer and the dude just plain out was very passive. In my time I’ve seen tons of depictions of Dave as a lot more emotional than shown in the comic or a lot more woobified in fics (like in meteor fics where he often has very dramatic emotional outbursts) By the way this is NOT me shitting on you if you like viewing Dave in that way because a lot people with trauma relate to him and use him for “cathartic release”(me fucking too lol). It’s more a guess/observation of maybe why he’s developed in this way due to the comic now being a strange sponge absorbing all fanon, good and bad, into it weird ass grasp.

        -Slow burn is likely the trope that plays into why the hell it took so fucking long for him AND Karkat to admit their feelings. If you have literally ever consumed Davekat content I’m sorry but 99% of it is slow burn lmao every meteor fic is pining, every coffee shop AU is the budding of a lifelong partnership, and every Harry potter furry inflation pwp crossover WHATEVER fic is 10k words building of sexual tension like......To bring their other relationships in canon into this we can see that Dave was able to flirt with Jade and Terezi and entered a relationship with them at a pretty normal rate WHICH can totally be attributed to the fact he views them as girls and himself as heterosexual so was much more comfortable making a move- sure. Looking at Karkat, however, and you see the dude is a little shy about romance sure but he was still able to flirt with Terezi and make awkward moves on John so like......I can’t help but to feel like something outside (us?) was influencing them?

        -Sexuality is another sort of reach but I think it’s something to consider. In terms of the comic....when exactly DID canon end? You could argue at the end of act 7.......or the moment John used his retcon powers to create a new timeline. Fandom Dave (on the tumblr side at least) was usually consider queer and a lot people shipped Dave with another dude. Perhaps John going back and rewriting canon helped bring our influence over Dave’s sexuality into the comic? I remember finding out Davekat was canon and confirming my “Dave is bisexual” headcanon and just thinking in wonder how it felt like Hussie was plucking my desires straight from my head and incorporating them. Which made me HAPPY by the way. If this is anywhere even near truth it’s not like he didn’t do a fantastical and natural job of incorporating it into the comic which shows how “incorporated fanon” is not a totally horrendous thing. The comics always done it with fandom memes and such. 

-Rose Lalonde. Not too sure what fanon influenes were brought onto her to be honest? In candy she was almost like a creepy stepford wife which is. Bizarre to me. Rose is the most contrary and rebellious character so seeing her settle down like that (OR FUCKING DOING SOME GUYS LAUNDRY) is a little strange. In meat she insists that she is an individual despite being married but that could have EASILY been Dirk’s influence? Also her biggest fandom stereotypes off the top of my head is Know-it-all smug meddler, alcoholic, and elegant. Really none of that was applied so still need to consider her more. The most damning thing however is where is all the piss?? If you look at the amount of piss kink rose fanfiction one has to wonder......and I can’t even continue this joke.

-Jade Harley: Gonna keep it real with ya’ll. I feel like this epilogue gave Jade Harley way more character. She wasn’t given much in canon except for lonely silly girl so it makes sense to me why she’d grow up desperate for physical bonds and inserting herself into relationships. I liked her telling John that she wasn’t some princess in a tower anymore cause it shows she KNOWS how everyone has always viewed her and that’s a little sad. As for tropes around her character.....yep people pleaser, silly girl, hippie, shoved aside for literally any other character......Need to think about her more, too. 

-Jake fucking English. What even is there to say? He more than anyone was influenced by fanon and it doesn’t take too much thought to see how. In a lot of fandom jokes and in fanfiction he is basically treated as a stupid piece of meat. I genuinely don’t read much fanfiction about him except from a trust few fans who I know care about him and will write him in a full rounded way. In any case we see a single moment in which Jake has this oppressive narrative taken away from him and it was when he was talking to Dave and Karkat during their election conversation. If that wasn’t already hard enough to read we can look back at the implied rape that took place with him in the beginning of Jane’s relationship with him or over the course of it. John, the one person supposedly not influenced by fanon as he’s still tied to the comic via retcon powers, is even the one to tell people that Jake is basically being raped. So yeah. Good times. I’ll get to Dirk in terms of Jake in a moment L M A O. Imagine that being the saddest lmao you ever just read.

-Jane Crocker: Welp hope you weren't a Jane fan lmao. What can I say except it FEELS like all the subliminal messaging really got to her and she’s like......warped by the condesce? I think if in the comic they showed more of her political takes then maybe this wouldn’t have come as such a shock. Like, I flat out am disgusted by her character now? She’s a facist, abusive, rapist(that was hint, unfortunately)? WOW good take homestuck writting staff?? I mean I know one of you used to write like incest pedo rape porn but aight??????????? Anyways in fanon Jane is treated as the girl who gets in the way of dirkjake so kinda that early 2000s bitchy yaoi girl brand, boring person in the background, or the hottie. They obviously kept saying she was “easy on the eyes” so there’s the hottie trope but that’s about it.

-Roxy Lalonde: Out of ALL the Alphas they fucking escaped with their goddamn dignity PFFT. So in terms of tropes: trans Roxy, alcoholic, and flirty “boy obsessed”. 

        -So with trans Roxy this is like Dave’s sexuality thing I discussed where a widely celebrated headcanon influenced canon and that not necessarily a BAD thing. Like I said, this theory is that canon is just absorbing fanon for better and for worse. I saw people were bummed they weren’t a trans girl but I am actually down with this for two reasons. 1) being all those memes “what’s your gender?” “the void” and 2) a part being friends with someone who’s trans is.....not being used to seeing them as the gender they actually are but taking the time to learn these new unfamiliar pronouns- and get the fuck over it. It’s their choice and you just gotta accept it despite your feelings. 

        -alcoholic Roxy was not at all incorporated which is the biggest fanon about her (not as much in recent years thankfully) so honestly? Kinda diminishes my argument. It’s not like the writers were worried that tossing out their progress as person was bad writing lol look at Dirk.

        -Flirty Rox. In candy they were SUPER fast moving in their relationship with John and despite towards the end they said that Dirk dying made them wanna do something with their life I just....don’t buy it? Mainly because john who is uninfluenced by the fanon tropes even noticed how fast they were moving and how stepford agreeable wife she’d become. 

-Dirk Strider. Aight. So. Here we go. fandom tropes are controlling puppet master, abusive, and cold/uncaring.

        -Dirk is a naturally controlling man, yes. Every version of himself struggles with this, yes. Even if we work on issues does not mean old flaws will never leak out, yes. However, after in the comic itself we see conversations with some of his closest companions and the effort he was making and ready to continue making was completely obliterated. Dirk is someone who takes his projects a little too seriously so why would he toss out this one- the most important one in his life? ANYWAY........Dirk in canon is shown that he’s also not great at multi-tasking or really anything that he really makes himself out to be AMAZING at. Don’t get me wrong I actually view Dirk as a complement dude cause he did get all the alphas into the session in a smoothish fashion (yes hal is him so it still counts) but, like, even when Dirk sounds like an AWESOME engineer to Jake he even admits that he basically had the future’s technology to help and it wasn’t that impressive. So now he’s claiming he’s the BEST? Wack.

        -Abusive Dirk......The sheer amount of people in the fandom who still misconstrue his character as heartless and the sheer amount of fanfiction of sociopathic Dirk might’ve done something. If he is truly becoming his “ultimate self” and he is heart aspect.....all these fanfiction splinters are getting applied to him as well, ya’ll. INCLUDING one of the epilogues writers who literally used to write fanfiction depicting Dirk as a brutally abusive and manipulative version of himself. With the similarities between their big fic and the homestuck epilogue I can’t help but to wonder if they’re subtly trying to incorporate that? After all Alt Calliope goes into detail about how the writer/narrator is IMPORTANT and when one is someone who enjoys viewing dirk as such....well who’s to say pfft Everything about how Dirk treated Jake was some of the most shocking to me. How did you get the guy taking most of the blame for a relationship gone wrong to a man who in a very rapey way makes someone obsessed with him, stupid, and unable to ever receive respect? Horrifying stuff to read, lads. It makes much more sense to me if you look at this fandom’s perceptions on DirkJake. My god there are some bad takes and there’s a whole section of the fandom who was hellbent on making the ship out to be the most problematic ship to ever occur. So whereas in the comic you have Dave pointing out that both sides had issues and everyone was willing to talk things out you had half the fandom insist that it was all Dirk’s fault and he just COMPLETLY forced himself on an unwanting Jake. Yep, sound familiar?

        -cold uncaring. yep tons of depictions of Dirk being cruel to his friends and family and sorry but go reread Homestuck I don’t even know what to tell you if you actually believe that. There’s literally nothing here I could write to help you. As if the whole thing about his character isn’t about how the people around him helped prevent him becoming like that and he hasn’t said in a dozen different ways how much he loves them and wants to treat them better. Get out of here with that shit lmao 

I guess all can be said about Dirk at this point is either 1) the absorption of the vast amount of terrible Dirk depictions from ascending to his ult self has warped him 2) he’s playing a villain just because Homestuck being over means not existing which TERRIFIES him and existing is a higher priority than treating the people around him right or 3) caliborn influence

        1) For the ascending I’m pretty sure this is the theory that’s gonna be right

        2) playing the villain is probably not what it is because on twitter all of the writers are saying the transphobia is literally just him and they’re boosting a lot of theories say “this is a story about friends you love disappointing you and you moving on” So. Yeah. Take that depressing nugget of information. (I literally will be fucking dead inside if that really is where this story is taken. No joke I will probably quit this fandom lol don’t know if any of you really know how big that is for me to say

        3) Caliborn? eh maybe who the fuck knows after typing that last bullet point out I’m too bummed to continue this hah

[binkywinky]

hi! Comics rec anon here! to answer your question, I'm not entirely new to comics, have read a few but not enough to say I have a specific type. The first series I read was all the jessica jones comics which I really liked, also the miles morales series which i enjoyed and the spidergwen series which was cute but the art was kinda annoying lol. i also like a couple of dc ones like mister miracle. so i think i prefer a general rec from you since the comics world is so big. thanks in advance!

Got it. Hmm… let’s see. It’s probably easiest to break it down by publisher then. I’ll try to give a mix of ongoing, finished, and “classic” stories. 

Fair warning, I read a lot of comics (probably about 60 per month, and that’s not including manga), so even though this may feel like a long list, it’s short for me.

Marvel

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man - Relatively new series, and it’s been fantastic so far. Great art, and a bit more grounded than the Amazing Spider-Man run (which is also great). Stellar art, too.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man - A little YA-ish at times, but overall enjoyable. You get to see a lot more of Miles’ personality in this one, which is always fun.

Superior Spider-Man - Because nothing is more fun than seeing a semi-reformed Otto Octavius try to be a hero.

Captain Marvel - Kelly Thompson does a phenomenal job with this series. She has a great hold of Carol’s voice. Would highly recommend Kelly Sue Deconnick and Margaret Stohl’s previous runs to give context (Captain Marvel 2012-2017, Mighty Captain Marvel, and The Life of Captain Marvel).

Jessica Jones - Not sure if you’ve read Kelly Thompson’s recent run or just Bendis’, but hers is definitely worth a read.

Avengers (2019) - actually a solid run. I would check this out if you’re more into crossover, large-scale storytelling. They’re in the middle of War of the Realms, though… so maybe wait until like August or September?

Immortal Hulk, Daredevil, and X-23 - also good. I read them off and on (not really my fave characters to read on their own, I enjoy them in ensembles), but the stories are solid.

Rogue & Gambit - mini series that I absolutely love by Kelly Thompson (she does great character work) that came out last year. Mr. & Mrs. X is a follow-up to it and also tons of fun (nearing its end as well). 

Runaways - I fell off of this when Brian K. Vaughn left, but I can say up through his run ended is well worth the read.

As far as classic stories, Infinity Gauntlet, The Dark Phoenix Saga, X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, Secret Invasion, and Secret Wars would be my first recommendations.

I would’ve recommended Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider, but maybe wait on that. It’s about to end soon and transition to just Ghost Spider (where she leaves Earth-65 and comes to Earth-616 where Peter and Miles are). Same for X-Men. I’m currently reading Uncanny, but X-Men is about to be overhauled soon. So probably hold on that front.

DC/Vertigo

Honestly, not the biggest DC fan (I lean more towards Vertigo actually), but there are a few that I enjoy.

Action Comics (starting at #1000) - I am not a Superman fan, but I enjoy this series, which says a lot. I enjoy what Bendis is doing with him in this run.

Naomi - a new series, also by Bendis, following the story of a young Black girl who is investigating the circumstances around her adoption. Don’t want to give too much away, but probably my fave DC run at the moment. And Jamal Campbell’s art is fucking gorgeous.

Dial H for Hero - it’s fun. It’s weird. Not for everyone, but maybe give it a shot.

The Flash and Batman, New 52 runs - New 52 gets shit from fans a lot, but I thought these runs were awesome. Very good story-telling.

Dark Nights: Metal event - Probably one of the best things DC did in a long time. It’s a massive event that pretty much reworked the DC universe and all the characters. Enjoyed it immensely.

Heroes in Crisis - this miniseries ended very recently. It’s a story focused on a major event that happens at Sanctuary, a rehab for superheroes suffering from mental health issues (e.g. PTSD after doing something that nearly killed them). Not your usual superhero story, which I liked.

American Carnage - very gritty story focused on a white-passing Black man who infiltrates a white supremacist organization. It’s really fucking good.

High Level - I picked this book up randomly because the cover looked cool. I’ve been reading it ever since. I would say it’s weird sci-fi/fantasy/cyberpunk adventure. A little strong on the language, but very interesting story and great artwork.

Birds of Prey - awesome series with the DC women. A little shaky sometimes, but Gail Simone does really good character work. Her run is probably the only one I’d bother reading.

Deathbed - miniseries by Vertigo that ended maybe a year ago. It’s so bizarre and hilarious and out there. I loved it.

Batwoman (J.H. Williams run) and Batwoman: Rebirth - Kate Kane, my favorite lesbian superhero. Williams did a great job in his run (and the art is to die for). Don’t read the back half, they change writers and it’s a goddamn mess. But then Marguerite Bennett (a queer woman) picked it up in Rebirth, and it got awesome again. Also, shout-out to Greg Rucka for officially making her queerness canon in 52.

Wonder Woman - Wonder Woman’s my fave of DC main characters (along with Martian Manhunter and Wally West I & II), and my favorite run for her is Greg Rucka’s. He does a surprisingly good job of writing women. The run is over at the moment, but I’d check it out. Good stuff there.

For classic stories, Kingdom Come, Watchmen, Flashpoint (precursor to New 52), and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman are some of my faves.

Image

Image is probably what I read the most. Definitely has the most diverse pool of comics to choose from.

Saga - My favorite comic series of all-time. I’ve gotten so many people to read this and they love it. It’s weird - really weird, actually - but the storytelling is phenomenal. And it’s on hiatus right now, so plenty of time to get caught up.

Ice Cream Man - This series is so fucking weird, but I love it. It’s sorta like… Tales from the Crypt? Different stories (mostly horror) that all feature this demon ice cream man.

The Weatherman - This series is such a goddamn delight. I don’t want to ruin the plot but just… yeah. Read the first issue and it just goes crazy from there.

Man-Eaters - Sort of a niche story. Basically, this takes place in a society where when women get their cycle, they turn into giant cats and maul men, so they’ve given them pills to keep them from menstruating. Sounds weird? Wait until you read it. Probably a highlight series of the year for me. 

Black Science - You might not like the art in this one, but maybe give it a shot? These scientists are trying to solve the problem of limited resources on Earth by hopping across dimensions for new ones (infinite dimensions, infinite resources). Only problem is, their machine got damaged so now they hop uncontrollably to whatever dimension it chooses for however long it decides. It’s a wild ride.

Middlewest - An interesting take on parent/child relationships and how the consequences of abuse, anger, and depression can manifest in dangerous ways. Sounds more bleak than it is - the story actually has quite a bit of humor.

Excellence - Very new series, but with a PoC lead, about PoCs, with mostly PoC creators. A story about a secret society of Black magicians and a son whose next in line to take on the mantle, and it’s pretty fucking cool. Issue 2 comes out this week - check it out!

The Walking Dead - I don’t think I have to explain this one, do I? Zombies.

Lazarus and Lazarus: Risen - Sci-fi story set in a dystopian society where the world is ruled by like 15 or so families, and they each have a Lazarus to fight for them. This is told from the perspective of the Carlyle family’s Lazarus, Forever. 

Die - If Dungeons & Dragons and Jumanji had a baby, it would be this book. Sounds weird, but once you read it, you’ll find the description to be accurate.

Anything from Brian K. Vaughn - I have yet to read something from Brian K. Vaughn that I don’t like. Saga, Paper Girls, Y: The Last Man, Runaways, Barrier… his shit’s always good.

Independents / Not Marvel, DC, or Image

Some of these are nostalgia-based, so fair warning.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BOOM Studios) - very new series that’s out. Great art. If you were a fan of the show, I think you’ll like it. It’s a re-imagining of sorts. There’s also an Angel series that just started.

Nancy Drew (Dynamite) - Listen… I could not stand Nancy Drew as a kid. Never got into it and thought it was boring as hell. But I really loved this miniseries (another Kelly Thompson run). It’s maybe 5 issues?

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and Go Go Power Rangers (BOOM Studios) - Honest to God, if you had told me 3 years ago one of my fave comics would be a Power Rangers one, I would have laughed in your face. Both of these series are really good and provide the continuity, nuance, and characterization the show lacked. Fan of the show or not, I’d say it’s worth checking out if you enjoy the teenage superhero genre. Also, just some really amazing art and world-building.

Anything from Jinxworld - This is Bendis’ own publishing company. He’s put out Cover, Pearl, Scarlet, and United States vs. Murder, Inc. All of them are really good.

Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse) - This is the series the Netflix show is based off of. Right now, they’re doing Hotel Oblivion in the comics, but start with Apocalypse Suite and Dallas.

So, there you go anon. There are FAR more I would recommend, but I tried to give a good range of books for you to choose from without (hopefully) overwhelming you. And if you have any questions, I’m more than happy to talk about any of them.

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen (Properly) Rambles About RWBY

Okay, so the original RWBY Rambling I did was... lacking, to put it nicely. Quite a bit, at least compared to the Puyo Puyo one. I forgot a lot of things that are usually staples of my Ramblings, explaining about the goddamn synopsis of all things being one of them, and I just flat out didn’t go too in depth with my opinion on the series. I’ll be honest, I was in a rush to finish that Rambling since I wanted to try and finish it in under 2 hours, as most of my Ramblings usually take 5-8 hours to write.

Yeah, I’m never going to try that stunt again. 

So, if you guys don’t mind, let me just... start over from the beginning and pretend that last Rambling didn’t exist. Well, I deleted it, so it really doesn’t, but that aside...

Hello RWBY fandom, or FNDM as you like to be called. I am Allen X, I write fanfics, occasionally work on fan lyrics for video game BGMs, draw ocs, and do opinion pieces like this one every so often when the mood hits me.

As I’m sure you all know, Blazblue Cross Tag Battle is less than two months away. I don’t know about you guys, but I am pumped for it. I recently checked out some of Yang’s gameplay for it, and it looks fantasy. She hits hard and fast like in the show, a lot of her moveset is based off the Yellow Trailer, her Super Saiyan fire powers are an actual mechanic, and I’m going to main the hell out of her and Blake once I get this game in my grubby little hands. If you aren’t a fighting game fan and are only getting into BBTAG just to play as Team RWBY you are in for a treat. Arc System Works are masters of creating 2D fighting games, and I hope this game gets you all into fighting games more as not just a genre, but as a form as expression as Blazblue has done for me. A crossover fighting game like this was something that we fighting game fans have only dreamed about. To see it coming together is just... majesty. The moment those special edition pre-orders come in I’m getting one. I need that art book.

But my fanaticism aside, all the hype around this game has gotten me to look over these franchises again. Going back to play a bit of Blazblue was fun, Persona 4 Ultimax is surprisingly still solid after all this time, and Under Night In-Birth, while it’s probably my least favorite to play, still grips me on its aesthetics. I even went back to watch some of the old RWBY trailers and checked out some of season 1 again, and... well... doing all that kind of made me want to talk about these series again, just get my opinion of them out there and talk about how I feel on each series. Originally, I was going to talk about Blazblue first, but... I have a near ten-year history with Blazblue and to talk about that first would just eat up my month. 

No, I’ll have to break that discussion up into at least three Ramblings.

So for the sake of my sanity I’ll talk about all the other series and franchises that Blazblue Cross Tag Battle is using first. And I think it’s only fair to start out with the newest franchise to the fighting game genre first, RWBY. 

But first, that synopsis, as I forgot to add that last time. 

RWBY, pronounced as “Ruby”, is about the world of Remnant, a type of urban-fantasy world infested by bestial creatures drawn to negative emotions known as “Grimm”. To fend off these creatures of Grimm, humans learned to harvest a material called Dust and utilize the abilities of Aura and Semblance to defend themselves, later forming fighters called Huntsmen to fend off the Grimm. The story of RWBY specifically focuses on a girl called Ruby Rose and her adventures, trials, and successes as a budding Huntsman living in this world of Remnant. She forms a team under her, team RWBY, they go to an academy for Huntsmen, and the story takes off from there. 

To me, the plot is more a way to get invested into the world more than the characters going by the premise, but a lot of the characters are likable.

So with the plot out of the way, I can now properly go onto...

My History

You know... this might be the first in a long while where fandom discourse isn’t the main cause that got me into a series. That’s a big shock to me now that I’m writing this, as I got into Fire Emblem, Fate, Dangan Ronpa, Tokyo Ghoul, and handful of other media by how much the fanbase was screeching about something. This... probably says more about me than the media or fanbase, but moving on. 

I got into RWBY because I knew the animator that made Dead Fantasy, Monty Oum, was heading this project. That’s... really it. I honestly only knew Monty Oum as “that guy that did Dead Fantasy”. I was amazed at all the dynamic action that series had back when it was first coming out, and was constantly on the edge of my seat when a new part for it came out. When I learned that guy was heading this RWBY thing I just had to see what he was planning, and after watching the Red Trailer I was pleased, but... ultimately decided to take a step back and just keep it in the back of my mind. I had some other things going on at the time and other fanbases I was in. That, I and wasn’t too keen following something that was a work-in-progress, or at least not being vocal about my following of it. Though, once the White Trailer came out  I was all in after at. I skipped the Black and Yellow Trailers until about a week until the first episode came out since I wanted to be able to just binge as much RWBY as I could before the big premiere. And boy, while I winced a little at the voice acting I ultimately decided to check it out weekly once the episodes started coming out on Crunchyroll. From there I was hooked. 

I’ll admit that the first volume was shaky. A lot of the animations looked cheap if it wasn’t an action sequence, the voice acting wasn’t bad, but it was definitely not great, and a lot of the script and dialogue felt... juvenile, to put it nicely, though I’ll talk about the specifics later on in the Rambling.

So with my history out of the way, I’ll talk about...

The Appeal

RWBY’s appeal, at least what I find appealing about it, is pretty simple. It’s got cute girls, and it’s got action. 

...

...

...

Nope, that’s really it folks. I’m a simple guy to please. As I’ve said before on my blog:

“...[I]f there’s anything I love more than watching shows about cute anime girls, it’s that I love watching shows about cute anime girls BEATING THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF PEOPLE IN ONE-ON-ONE HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT.” 

Needless to say Yang is one of my favorites in the show, but moving on. If you’ve been following me for awhile now you’ll know that if its got action and cute girls in it I’ll at least give it a shot, and RWBY was definitely worth sticking with. I mean... just look at this trailer. 

If this trailer doesn’t get you hyped up to watch this series just a little, then I don’t know what to tell you, friend... I really don’t know.

But it’s more than just the action that I like in RWBY it’s also the character designs and some of the smaller things.

Take Ruby’s current design for example. While I’m a personal fan fighting game designs, there’s a lot I like about Ruby’s outfit here. How the black dress helps highlight her cape and hood, the red highlights in her hair, the overall gothic and adventurous tones. I just the love the how Ruby looks in terms of design an- 

... 

...

... 

I’m... going to ignore the boob window before I start ranting and raving about that concept like I did in one of my RP Ramblings, but I’ll just say that most of her design is fantastic in my opinion, to the point where I think Ruby has my favorite visual designs out of all the main cast, with Blake being a close second. Though if we’re talking about side characters? Oh Lord, where do I begin? I think I’ll just give you a handful of screenshots from the wiki of my favorite designs.

And these are just the cute girls...

Though... with all that said, there’s a reason I give these two points as the main selling point of RWBY...

The Writing

Like I said, the action is what I think the show’s main draw is, and that’s because the writing... well, it’s not bad, but it’s obviously not the main draw nor focus of the series. From what I understand this series started as a passion project that just happened to be marketable after a few volumes. I think that should be obvious from the trailers, as the first two were glorified action sequences, and the last two only had faintest hints of a story or plot. Credit to the Black and Yellow trailers for giving more context to the action, but the series overall doesn’t really hold up as solidly in the writing department.

But I’m starting sound vague now, so let me give some example I’ll try to be light on the spoilers for some of my followers that might be interested in the story.

I think the clearest sign of less-than-stellar writing in RWBY is Volume 4. In that Volume, Team RWBY had split up due events that had happened in Volume 3 and were countries apart as a result. So, too keep each main girl in the spotlight the show had to cover what each girl was doing while separated, and the volume felt really disjointed as a result of constantly switching perspectives. 

The main focus of the volume overall was, obviously, Ruby and her journeying through the country of Mistral. Again, being light on spoilers, but Ruby’s journey involved her heading to the Huntsmen academy of Mistral along with her non-RWBY friends. During this journey Ruby meets up her uncle who... basically gives a bunch of exposition around episode 8. Now, before episode 8 Ruby and her friend were attack by a henchman of the Big Bad of the series, a person that we knew little about and still know little about in terms of their goals. Ideally, this exposition explain what exactly the overall plot of this series was and why the Big Bad needed to be stopped. However... we didn’t get that, what we got was an explanation for the creatures of Grimm and... that was really it in terms of what was relevant. And since the exposition didn’t tell us anything that we, or at least I, really cared to know at that moment, it just... killed the pacing of Ruby’s current adventure for the sake of world-building that was only arguably relevant to Ruby’s current situation, with the world-building itself being about as vague as the previous paragraph I gave about the writing.

Okay... I reread that paragraph, and it was still pretty vague.

Alright, here’s a better example. Ruby has silver eyes, a rare trait not only biologically, but also seems to give her an enhanced ability to fight the Grimm to some supernatural level that isn’t related or on the scale of Dust, Aura, or Semblances. This was noted in episode one of Volume 1 and the main reason Ruby was allowed to attend Beacon Academy two years early, along with her skill with her scythe. This point doesn’t become important again until the end of Volume 3 where... spoiler events happen and Ruby is able to save the day... well, to a point anyway. However, after that scene in Volume 3 Ruby’s silver eyes and how they specifically work are still a mystery. We don’t know exactly how they help in combating Grimm, or how she can activate, and Ruby herself seems to have no interest in learning how to use her eyes to her advantage either, which is very aggravating as a viewer. And I’ll admit I find the silver eyes as a concept unpleasant, mostly due to my annoyance of main characters having vague uber-special powers in shounen manga and anime, but I find Ruby’s a little more aggravating for the previously mentioned reasons. As of Volume 5, we still don’t know what those silver eyes specifically do. Ruby has never questioned her ability or tested what it can do, nor does she seem interested in training with that power. Now in Ruby’s defense she’s likely being stubborn and would rather win her fights with her own skills rather than some special power, but the fact that she herself hasn’t said this combined with the fact that we don’t know the specifics of her powers just means she can become a Deus Ex Machina at any moment... and I really don’t like the idea of her having an anti-Grimm screen nuke in a series that’s main appeal is the action. 

Though for all my complaints, I do think there is some good writing here, namely with the characters and their development. One of the side character, Jaune Arc, probably has the best arcs and character development in the series, going from an incompetent coward to competent leader and tactician. The character development Weiss has made during the series has been great to watch, seeing a haughty and arrogant heiress slowly turn into a nicer person that cares about her friends. The tender moments between Blake and her family in Volume 4 and 5 were honestly heartwarming. All of these things are great points in the writing to me. I think the character writing is solid, it’s just the overall plot that’s a bit of a mess. And honestly, for all the flack the World of Remnant series gets, on its own it’s pretty interesting world-building with good presentation. I wish it was more of a post-series thing, something uploaded weekly before or after an actual volume ended to keep us invest in... well, the world of Remnant, but as pure supplementary material, it’s good.

I could go on with nitpicks and critiques, but you guys get the point. 

But... I think I’d be a fool to not mention...

The Elephant in the Room

Okay... so... while it’s no secret in the RWBY community, I think it’s worth saying for my followers that don’t know, the original creator and lead animator of RWBY, Monty Oum, passed away in 2015, leaving RWBY in the hands its staff and writers. Now I’m not going to start spreading drama about that point, but I do think its worth noting that Volume 3 and onward does feel like it’s missing a certain touch to it, especially in its action scenes. 

People more educated in terms of animation have explained why, but when people like me can sense something is missing... it says something. That being said I think things have gotten better overtime, but... it’s a slow improvement, and there still feels like someone on staff is just... missing.

Also, you might have noticed that I barely critiqued or harped on Volume 1-3. There’s a reason for that. Like I said, this was a passion project at first, and despite the flaws of Volumes 1-3, as just a personal project that happened to garner a fanbase, I’d feel a little too mean to nitpick those Volumes. However, once the show continued into Volume 4, past the point of the creator’s death, this went from being a passion project to a franchise, and I will judge as such starting from there. Volumes 1-3 are far from perfect and are just as, if not more, flawed as the recent Volumes, but... again, I don’t feel like harping on what was an expression of love from a creator that has now passed away, that’s a little too cruel. My only real issues of the first 3 Volumes worth saying being that some scenes followed the rule of cool a little too much and nearly breaking my immersion for the sake of spectacle, along with some more... juvenile moments in the writing, but that’s really it.

Now originally this is where I gave my conclusion in the last Rambling, but I completely forgot to mention one key appeal of RWBY as a whole, something that I honestly think got better as the series continued past Volume 3...

The Music

I’m surprised I wasn’t called out for not mentioning the godly OST that is the RWBY soundtrack. Red Like Rose, I Burn, Caffeine, Neon, these vocal tracks are just the hypest thing, I listen to these tune when I do my laps so often I’m surprised I didn’t mention this soundtrack. I can’t wait to hear the Rooster Teeth’s rendition of BBCTB’s opening theme, Crossing Fate. If there is anything of RWBY I can recommend to even someone not interested in watching the series, it’s to at least buy the soundtracks, as this is just good music in general.

Alright... I think that’s everything, and everything done properly. So without further ado...

Conclusion

With all I’ve said, I hope that anyone with even a slight interest in RWBY, even if it’s just for Cross Tag Battle to check out the first 3 Volumes. They have their flaws, but if you can get past that first volume then you’re in for the a treat for the next two volumes after. As far as Volume 4 onward... I’d honestly say to wait until Volume 6 is at least being simulcasted. Like I said, this series became an official franchise once Volume 4 came out, and I honestly can’t say if its worth your time or money after that happened, at least not outside the soundtracks. Things are getting better though, the writing is slowly improving, the plot is getting more interesting, the characters are still developing and developing well. It’s a slow process, but it’s happening. I said in one of my Anime Update that I think Volume 5 fixes and cleans up a lot issues in Volume 4, but not everything. I’d honestly wait and binge Volumes 4-6 when 6 comes out if you’re on the fence after Volume 3.

Overall, I’m glad to be a fan of RWBY, even if I’m a more casual fan of it. This series has it’s problems, but it honestly has less issues than some of the other series I like. God knows I’ll be making a damn thesis on my issues with Blazblue next month.

...

...

...

God, I’m gonna’ hate next month...

[singingwordwright]

Annual Writing Self-Evaluation

*All answers should be about works published in 2017.

1. List of works published this year:

NON-SHADOWHUNTERS

Celestial Bodies (Yuri!!! on Ice, a WIP from Yurio’s POV trying to illustrate a headcanon I had about Yurio, ended up on indefinite hold because the new SH season began and ate my brain.) 

SHADOWHUNTERS (TV)

Episode-based speculations, missing scenes, codas, and fix-its:

Of Laughter and Lima Beams, 2x07 missing scene attempt #1

No Half Measures, 2x08 coda

Breathing Room, 2x09 extra scene

Life Support, 2x10 missing scene/coda

Things We Think We Know, 2x07 missing scene attempt #2 and possibly the point at which I truly accepted I couldn’t smut anymore

No Stay of Execution, 2x12 what-if/coda that went to an unhappy place

One Memory, pre-2x15 what-if/speculation

In the Glow of a New Day, pre-2x18 speculation on Magnus’s greatest fear (or his unwillingness to go there) based on the sneak peek.

Midnight Oil, 2x18 coda

AUs

Alicante Hall, college AU written for the Malec Secret Santa exchange

Magic and Mass Effect, just what it says on the tin, Mass Effect 3 crossover on indefinite hold because the One Easy Answer universe ate my brain

One Easy Answer, marriage-of-convenience AU. Canon-divergent beginning at 1x12, offering a look at what season 2a might have been if Magnus hadn’t interrupted Alec’s wedding (but Alec called it off on his own) and thus the events of season 2a weren’t influenced by Alec and Magnus’s developing relationship. When they come together post 2x10/2x13 they enter into their politically motivated marriage to try to prevent war between the Downworld and the Clave.

A Separate Peace, sequel to One Easy Answer that got way more canon-divergent, focusing on giving the characters far more agency and filling a lot of plot holes. Covers the events of season 2b from the premise that Alec and Magnus have gotten married and are trying to unite the Shadow World, but pressure on multiple sides may destroy what they’re trying to build.

2. Work you are most proud of (and why): Definitely A Separate Peace. First because it’s the first actual novel I’ve written in, like, three years, and also because it’s the most tightly-plotted piece of work I’ve ever done, and that includes my professional published novels. It just came together so well and while it might not be the greatest craft-wise because I’m out of practice (so. many. dialogue. tags) it was really a truly excellent piece of storytelling, IMO.

3. Work you are least proud of (and why): Probably one or both of my 2x07 missing scene fics. I’ve been an erotic romance author in both fandom and professionally for 20 years, so the discovery that I just can’t (and don’t want to) write smut anymore is a really hard pill to swallow.

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

“Yeah, but he wasn’t entirely lying,” Jace said with a shrug. “Clary and I do share the same blood, in a way. And those first few weeks, it’s like we needed to be close to each other, to, I don’t know, figure out the abilities the angel blood gave us. And once we’d done the work we had to do, we didn’t need to be with each other like that anymore. So maybe that’s why we felt that pull toward each other, and we just didn’t know what other context to put it in, you know?”

“I really don’t,” Alec said, shaking his head.

“Look, I love Clary. I do. I’m gonna love her the rest of my life. I just apparently don’t want to…be with her like that.” Jace shuddered. “To be honest, after the first few weeks, it sort of started making my skin crawl. And she says she feels the same.”

“Wait. Wait.” Despite his best efforts, the first snicker slipped through Alec’s nose. He covered his mouth to try to hold back a bark of laughter, but it wouldn’t be contained. The rest followed, pouring out of him in a torrent of amusement while Jace looked on in disgust.

“What the hell? Are you drunk?”

Alec flapped a hand at him. “No! Wait wait wait!” Alec gasped, clutching at his sides as he slid down the wall, fighting for breath. “Are you—are you—telling me—”

He couldn’t even manage the words. His ass hit the hard, dirty concrete of the sidewalk and he pressed his face to his knees, shoulders jerking convulsively.

“—After all you two have been through—” He snorted and that just made him laugh harder, his head spinning with oxygen deprivation. Finally, he managed to wheeze, “—That it’s like kissing your sister?”

That set him off again, the peals of his laughter echoing off the walls of the nearby alley. If a demon came along now, he was a dead man, because he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak. His stomach was starting to hurt and he still couldn’t stop.

Jace gave him a withering glare. “I hate you,” he muttered, and stalked away with Alec’s howling laughter chasing him.

A Separate Peace, Chapter 8

(Okay, look, I’ve ALWAYS struggled with writing comedy, so this was a major achievement for me. Also Jace/Maia is way more awesome than Clace so I was pleased to have found a way to walk Clace back and make way for different ships for Clary and Jace.)

5. Share or describe a favorite comment you received: I love all the people who leave me feedback, especially the ones who leave feedback with each and every chapter, but I really have to say, @lyannastarkweather was my MVP for A Separate Peace. Every single chapter she just left these beautiful, long, thoughtful comments and they were such a joy to read.

6. A time when writing was really, really hard: Did I mention the fact that I can’t smut anymore? So pretty much any sex scene or almost sex scene in my fics was like pulling teeth. I ended up fading to black a lot.

(Also, pretty much everything that happens from Chapter 13 to the end of A Separate Peace made me cry. A LOT.)

7. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: Maryse Lightwood. I haven’t written much from her POV, only Midnight Oil, but her development in A Separate Peace was a joy to delve into.

8. How did you grow as a writer this year: I wrote both heavily plot-driven stuff and comedy, which are two things I’ve very much struggled with. Usually my books and fics have been more about character exploration, so that was really an accomplishment for me.

9. How do you hope to grow next year: I hope to keep improving on those fronts, and also to find more of a balance between character exploration and plot movement, because I feel like I went a little too far in the plot direction in A Separate Peace.

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc): @roseglass was a champ for beta’ing basically a novel and a half worth of fic that I sort of volunteered her for. The conversation went something like this:

Me: I’m thinking of writing a marriage-of-convenience AU Her: I think that’s a fine idea Me: Okay, I’m doing it and it’s all your fault for encouraging me therefore you have to beta it

I’m lucky she didn’t tell me to take a flying leap, tbh. Of course, after 30 years of friendship “a flying leap” would probably involve a lot more f-words and more anatomical specificity.

@faejilly @janoda @actuallyredorchid @ladymatt @blj2007 and @lyannastarkweather  @nancyloumm @s-erendipitiness @champagnemagnus @nanf1c @ketzwrites @beatperfume @nanichick5 @247malec @sharona1x2 @rayofsunshinemaiaroberts @lecrit @irina-something @blav527 @uniqxfuera @a-rosewood-by-any-other-name @michellemisfit @rutherinahobbit @djchika @immortal-husbands @bane-of-brooklyn @accal1a @ohfreckle

were all tremendously friendly, supportive, responsive, inspirational, are people i want to get to know better, and/or are just positive people at a time when I needed positivity in my life. (forgive me if I’ve overlooked anyone; i know there are others I’ve had meaningful interractions with this year, I’m just not remembering everyone.)

11. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: well, Mouse in One Easy Answer/A Separate Peace looks like my cat (who also looks like Alberto’s cat Stella.)

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: it’s okay to step back, take some time, and come at it again later when you need to.

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: I really cannot wait to delve into the sequel to A Separate Peace. There’s something gonna happen in there that’s gonna make a lot of people happy.

Tag writers whose answers you’d like to read. If I’ve already tagged you, consider yourself tagged here. Hell, if I didn’t already tag you, consider yourself tagged here.