#too many characters so i'll just tag the most relevant

[goldenshrikecomic]

FAQ

Please read these before sending asks! It's also good to check the tags listed on the pinned post to see if it's already answered. Where can I read GS? On Comicfury or DeviantArt. Two pages ahead on both Patreon and Ko-fi.

Who works on this comic? Only me, ratt/doeprince. You can call me either, I usually refer to myself as doeprince when it's more official, otherwise ratt or some secret third thing. I'm an amateur artist and I draw these comics for fun without much ambition to gain greatness. I want to make enough money to be able to keep working on more comics, and buy trinkets.

How can I support what you do? Why thank you for asking! All my income comes from making comics, so the support on either Patreon or Ko-fi is literally making my comic endeavours possible.

Do you have other projects? I work on some secondary comics. Jet and Harley and Honey are currently updating, Corpse is finished. You can find my other art on doe-prince.

How long will Golden Shrike be? I don't know how many pages. I hope it's less than 1000.

What programs do you use? SAI for lineart, CSP for coloring and bubbles, PS for text and backgrounds. Hoooow do you draw the antlers from different perspectives? I've made 3D models for each recurring antlered character.

Is GS going to have physical merch? Will it be printed? Consider this a no, but I won't say never.

Does GS have a map, official wiki or dub or something like that? No. There's a fan wiki out there full of inaccurate information so take everything in there with tons of grains of salt. There's no map. The dub on YT is separate from me, I've had no hand in it.

Can I make a fan character? Can they interact with yours? You can absolutely make a fan character! I just ask you not to make them interact with mine, at least not in any kind of heavy way. It's a slippery slope and I've seen people treat my characters very rudely to make them suit their needs.

Can I make fanart/writing? Yes! All sfw and well-meaning works are welcome. Just tag me so I can see them! Why are the borders black and sometimes white? White borders means it's a flashback.

Deer don't do that!!!!! Or birds!! Or plants! The moon shouldn't be that shape right now. Everything in GS is fictional for this very reason. I shall not be shackled by the chains of realism when there's entire new worlds in my fingertips. I aim to make things believeable in its context, not realistic. Are other animals sentient, can they talk? Sure they are and can, but not outside their own species. A frog can't hold a conversation with a deer, but a deer and antelope could possibly make it work. There's exceptions though.

How old are main characters? They're fawns right? No they are not, they'd all be in their early 20s if they were humans.

What does sire mean? It keeps popping up in different contexts. You can liken this term to 'father', as in your dad but also something like a priest. The priest isn't your dad but "father forgive me for I've sinned". So sire is a) respected stag, b) very formal way to address your father. Dame is the female counterpart. Why are the does so small compared to stags.... are you a freak... do you just hate women..... Listen when I started GS I had been dwelling in a place where monster deer characters had insane size differences and it became some kind of norm to me and of course it found its way into my comic. Now I just have to keep drawing those tiny women to keep up the consistency. I've created bigger ladies nowadays because I too think it's a little silly now.

Please please will this character ever get a mate? Will this pairing be canon? Will you please make this pairing canon? I won't spoil any pairings, I think it'd be the most boring thing to do to my own work! I'll only confirm the ones already established in the comic.

Is this a speck of ember? Is it snow? What is that floating thing, is it relevant to the plot? IT'S JUST MY DUST BRUSH LEAVE ME ALONE.

[cupcakeslushie]

Okay. I've been tip-toeing around this AU for a while now, but I just got caught up, and now I think I have a (decent) grasp on what's going on. So I wanna go over everything I know so far to see if I'm right or wrong on anything. Don't know if you'd be willing to correct me or not. Either way, I hope my mistakes can help you understand what to clarify to other fans like me. But, I also have some questions. You probably won't be able to answer most of them, but it's at least worth a shot.

First, where's Venus? Like, why is she not in your comics that are (sort of) separate frome the canon now story. The ones that skip to the future way after all the turtles reunite. Did she die? Did she escape? Is it because she wasn't introduced yet when you made those comics?

Two, why do you keep on making references to the future timeline? I know you're planning on possibly making your own stuff leading up to the events of the movie. It just gives me a jumpscare when I see certain...imagery in those comics. I guess you're hinting at what your version of the future apocalypse would look like, but it just hurts to see. Specifically in the comic explaining both the events and aftermath of the movie and the bad future timeline. It's starting to really confuse my brain as to where this story is headed. What's meant to be the main focus? The Hamto's reuniting? The aftermath? Or the future?

Third, did you make all those min-comics before you started the actual AU? Or did you do them during?

Fourth, are any of those mini-comics relevant to the actual story now? Or have you changed your mind on a few things? It's just that everything is so all over the place, I don't really know whether to trust if they're accurate. I know most of them are just there for funzies, but the longer ones concern me. I guess I'm just not used to the storyteller doing sequel, start, prequel, start, sequel, prequel, prequel, sequel, and then end. Or maybe it's just me, and I'm sleep deprived.

My little observation speech is gonna take a while for me to get out in your asks because when I get theoretical, my speech gets long, and my proper English goes down the drain. So I'll be back. I appreciate your work very much. Despite the pain it causes me, it's still amazing.

I’ll try my best to clear up what confusion I can!

1. As far as Venus. The answer is kind of a mix of, I was still figuring out her design and backstory while coming out with some of those early comics, and then, once I had that down, I wanted the boys to grow strong bonds as a main cast. That’s why a lot of the side characters are only making small appearances in the Sep!AU Life stories, as those are mainly for the boys reconnecting. (Usagi shows up the most because I love him and am totally biased towards him).

This maybe hasn’t been stated outright, but I wasn’t really expecting so many ppl to like Vee as much as they do, and now im trying not to spoil too much of her story. It’ll unfortunately just take us a while to get to the meat of it. Since the boys reconnecting takes up a lot of the early s1s2 story, Im trying to follow the familiar Rise blueprint of Draxum, Shredder, Krang, and then in s3 we’ll have crazy fun new stories with the extra characters.

Ive also decided to take this little nugget from one of the Q&As, and use it for Venus instead of Jennika. It was a much needed bit of inspiration to explain why Venus sorta disappears for a while and will go through some major physical changes (not yet revealed) before the family can figure out a way to reach her.

2. I’m not sure if you mean jump scared in a bad/triggering or neutral way, but if you need me to tag anything on those posts please let me know!

The glimpses of the future timeline, are being scattered throughout wherever they parallel the present story in little ways, but that’s only for now. As we get closer to the movie plot, bigger chunks of the future will be revealed, because the future versions of the boys will have a larger role to play in the present timeline. So we will need more backstory than what the canon got. And also I just enjoy drawing my future versions so sometimes I don’t think too hard on a reason. I just like throwing them at ppl with no warning or reason.

When s2 ends, I plan on collecting all the future related stuff that’s been released, and recapping it for easier reading. Right now, it’s just little sprinkles of foreshadowing to give ppl an idea that, ‘oh crap. The doomed timeline is a bummer’. In my mind, I guess i thought it’d be kinda like a fun scavenger hunt for clues, but maybe ppl don’t like that 😅

3. All of the side-stories were written as the main comic was/is being released. A lot of them resulted from asks that just spawned the need to expand on certain ideas, or a desire to give all the turtles their time to shine.

For instance, when I was doing Donnie’s section of the main comic, it was a good few months where we hardly saw anyone but him and Venus. I wanted to just mix it up, and give Raph some love with his ‘Raph Time’ short. When Leo was front and center in the main, we hardly saw the others, so Mikey and Donnie got their little ‘Secrets’ short (and it was also I fun thank you for EW making it so far in the tmnt sep competition).

4. Anything that has been reworked/revised or just plain dropped should have an ‘Edit’ note because yes—I have gone back and changed some things, but more so from the asks i got in the early days, and some movie idea drafts.

All the short comics done in the last year, especially the ones that are listed in my pinned post, are canon and fall somewhere in the timeline. They’re like supplemental reading though—extra meat to give the world and the characters more personality. They do have particular backstory plot and important info in them, but nothing that shouldn’t eventually be re-visited/repeated in the main story.

um I hope that cleared up some things! I know it’s kind of a crazy amount of lore. I’ve tried my best to organize it in the pinned post, huge timeline, and search bar tags, but I know it’s getting harder and harder for newer ppl to jump in as it just get bigger. Thanks for reading regardless!

[amethystina]

Pops out from the box I was sorting through. Oh, hello! Anonymous raccoon popping back in to check in. I see that tag …. very funny lol. I’m also very honored! Never thought I’d build myself a whole ask series with raccoon but I’m not complaining. They’re adorable funky fellas anyways too.

Now on to my response. I do really want to say first of all, please please do not feel pressured to respond or reveal personal information that may make you feel uncomfortable! Of course if this is a chance for you to vent/work through things etc, then disregard my words haha, and please continue! I just wanted to make that clear. Because I’m a firm believer that nobody owes anyone an explanation for anything especially for why you’re not updating! I’m not here to nudge and prod in a ‘why aren’t you updating way.’ I’m here to check in, offer support in any I can, and just be a raccoon offering empathy or holding spaces for thoughts. Any thoughts lol.

(Intermission - Is there a character ask limit? I might break it if so, so if necessary this will turn into a multi-post. Sorry! Haha.)

I’m really sorry to hear that so many aspects have been just a shitshow one after another. I’m really glad to hear your wife is doing better — and also hopefully your aunt? even if it’s no news type deal — because god health issues are genuinely horrible. So I’m really glad there’s improvement on that front even if things aren’t perfect, but I’m sending you optimism as well. It seems that both of you are doing for sure what is best for you and downsizing truly can do wonders sometimes for making sure energy remains with you and not on taking care of a big house when you already got no energy. I can only imagine that it might work in y’all’s favor too with having that chance to have more energy to dedicate to spending time together! I’m sorry though because I know that leaving a place you love is always rough. Fingers crossed for comfy apartments in the future!

Alas, the therapist situation resolved itself as you expected. I saw the comment previously on your post about most therapists being CBT adjacent and my god, yeah. I know that it’s actually common that CBT is just not the right method for folks. Therapy methods are so individual specific. It’s good to hear that your therapist at least wasn’t awful but sigh yeah, unfortunate. I’ll still hold out hope that maybe further down the line you find someone who can actually offer more help. But for now — im glad he was at least able to offer you a chance to briefly at least just rant. Screaming into the void is very healthy-

I WILL continue to hold out hope that you can take things easy — but since I can see that you unfortunately most likely won’t be able to — I’m instead going to hold out hope that things improve and that this barreling train of things piling up one after another has a stop soon so you can breathe at least even briefly.

(Intermission 2.0- there’s no limit?? I survived making this one answer??)

Take care of yourself as always and treat yourself if you have to chance to <3

Cherish is, Anonymous Raccoon 😉

Don't worry, I don't talk about my problems until I'm actually ready to do so, at least not publically. Which is why it took me over six months to mention the fact that my wife has been sick and that we'll be selling our house. That was something I needed to keep to myself and only discuss with my closest circle until I had processed and dealt with it as best as possible. I've had lots of practice in figuring out when I can talk to people and in what forums. And there are definitely things I would never mention here in such a public place, mainly because I've learned the hard way to keep my more vulnerable rants in more private spaces. But, when I feel ready, I'll share what I think might be relevant.

And while I know I don't owe people an explanation, it's still beneficial to at least say something. When people ask me why I'm not updating, it's a lot easier to link people to a Tumblr post that details the situation instead of vaguely trying to explain that I'm just not able to post right now. I have a tendency to become more curt and evasive when I feel like I can't explain why I behave the way I do, and so I probably come across as a lot more rude than I intend to. And, again, while I don't owe people anything, I don't like the thought of being rude to them, either.

So yeah. Don't worry about that! It's pretty difficult to make me do something I don't want to do 😆 And thank you for wanting to check in 💜

My aunt is doing better, yes! She'll be celebrating her 60th birthday real soon! So, under the circumstances, I'd say things worked out well 😊

Yeah, I'm going to miss the house, but it's definitely the right choice for us. I do prefer living in a house over an apartment, but this house is just too big. And it's not like I won't have a house later anyway, since I'm set to inherit the old family home on my dad's side. It's located on the island where my family has lived since the late 1800's and I love it so, so much. The house itself is from 1870.

That's taken from the church tower (yes, we have a church in our backyard — just roll with it) at 11 PM. Because the midnight sun doesn't fuck around where I live 😆

(Fun fact for my Who Holds the Devil readers: Whenever I write about Ga On's feelings on being in Yo Han's house — the calm, comfort, and longing — it's this house I'm describing. I'm drawing from my own experiences of what it feels like to have found the one place on earth that will always feel like home)

Anyhow! For now, I'll settle for buying an apartment — one that's closer to my office. Since I've noticed that one of the things that drains my energy is the commute. There's actually an apartment I'd love to buy but I can't yet because the bank won't give me the required loan until we've sold the house. So right now I'm just hoping that no one else will want it and that it'll remain on the market until I can place a bid on it. We'll see!

I'd also like to find a therapist that works for me, but it's somewhat complicated by the fact that not even I know what kind of therapist I need 😂 But yeah. This one did help during the few appointments we had, so that's something? And I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now? I'm still exhausted, sure, but it's easier to stay afloat when I know that better things are ahead, you know? And I'm looking forward to getting there, even if it won't be a painless journey.

So yeah. I don't think the barreling train is stopping quite yet, but I think it will sometime in the future? And that's what I'm clinging to right now. That and The Sentinel fanfics 😆

Congratulations on not breaking the character limit! 😉

And thank you again for checking in. I'm very humbled by the knowledge that people care this much about me.

You take care too 💜

[cinnamonic-thoughts]

@ crane wives and marauders fans:

The parallel between Tongues and Teeth

and Never Love An Anchor

feels so significant when applied to the Black brothers' situation. Both Sirius and Regulus came out of their ancestral home with the feeling that everything they touched would rot just because of the exposure to their darkness, approaching relationships the same way. That's the same mindset that the singers of both Tongues And Teeth and Never Love An Anchor possess.

The singer of Tongues And Teeth goes into detail about what they think will happen with their potential lover with them from the start, warning them of the danger of just Existing near them. The song is from the present tense of the situation, as they're in the middle of making the decision to give in to indulgence. They jump into things, impulsively and headfirst. They can't hold back, even though they know the consequences. If it's okay with their new lover, it's okay with them.

Meanwhile, in Never Love An Anchor, the singer talks about the situation from far in the future, if they had instead decided to stay away. If the singer had never given in to the temptation, and had let their "rotting" mindset keep them on that track. It talks about the grief you feel over the knowledge that loving you only brings awful things, and that staying away is the kindest thing to do even though it hurts so much. The situation is long over, and the singer is left wondering if they're hated, or even remembered.

Tongues and Teeth is written about the same kind of experience that Sirius has in every goddamn Wolfstar fic, and there are so many unrequited and avoiding love Regulus Black fics that Never Love An Anchor feels like an obvious fit, especially with Jegulus. Tongues and Teeth represents Sirius in that he lives his Life like this song. He can't hold back how much he wants and feels, so he talks back to his parents, gets sorted into the house his parents absolutely Hated, he constantly verbalizes his hatred for his family and all of the darkness they represent, I could go on and on. At the same time, he feels that he is stained by that same darkness and that he can't ever escape its presence in the lives of those he loves. He just doesn't want to have to hold everything back, so, just like the song, "if you're fine with that, can be mine like that," he'd want to have it like That. Him and Remus are so often characterized in fanon as being so magnetic to each other, causing them to clash just as often as they come together. They think they'll ruin each other because of the darkness they possess, but Sirius especially tends to put Remus on a pedestal of goodness, like the singer does to their potential lover.

Regulus Black's name is somewhat synonymous with tragedy in fanon. Whether it's the "no beta we die like regulus black in the cave" tags for shock value, the black brothers angst in everything from major fics to tiny headcanons, or the unrequited love for either James or Barty that permeates most Regulus Black media, he's a character that doesn't ever really get a break. Never Love An Anchor and the grief it represents feels relevant to him when the subject is Sirius or James, but I'll stick to James (keeping it romantic with the Wolfstar/Tongues and Teeth comparison). I'm a Choices coward (couldn't make myself finish it, I got too sad), but the "person on the dark side can't leave it but can't stop loving someone they have to protect from it" trope is still pretty common amongst Jegulus fics. Whether or not the love is requited, it doesn't change the mentality that Regulus always uses to approach it. "I am selfish, I am broken, I am cruel." His darkness is the reason he never lets himself get close. In the cases where he does get close, he cuts it off to avoid inevitably hurting the one he loves, the epitome of Light and happiness that he thinks he doesn't deserve, James Potter. Honestly, thinking about the two of them while listening to the last bit in the lyrics (scroll back up to read) is a painful experience but it just fits so well.

I think both songs apply to their respective Black brothers very well individually, but it's also such a good comparison to see how their upbringing affected them. Sirius was always the impulsive, headstrong one so Regulus wouldn't have to be, and this is a direct result. They have the same beliefs about themselves but it manifests so differently because of how their environment shaped them.

I've been having brainrot about these two songs and how they relate to the Black Brothers for over a month at this point, so I hope somebody else appreciates how much I've thought about this thank you <333

[decaflondonfog]

writerly ephemera

a few years back my darling friend @the-starryknight started a tag game inspired by a chat we had in a writing server regarding all the little personal details we add to our art. humans hold so many things close to their hearts without even realising, memories, artefacts, places, turns of phrase... lots of precious little bits and bobs i adore! recently i had a chat with the lovely @billdenbrough about the familiar fear of putting a little too much of yourself into a character — when do you cross the self-insert line? but also, aren’t these the things that make our characters human? which got me thinking about starry's tag game. so i've decided to bring it back! here's how we're doing it:

✨ share some bits little bits of you, easter eggs, memories, etc. you have left scattered in your fics or art. if you fancy it, tag a pal. ✨

i apologise in advance for the ridiculous amount of yapping you’re about to read aaaand here are some silly little mari-isms i’ve let bleed into my writing:

🏡 "The house is a ridiculous thing that could easily sleep a whole Exy team, but when Kevin questions it, all Andrew does is shrug and say, “This wasn’t exactly planned, it’s the best I could find with the time I had.”"

geometric equilibrium has a few mari-isms in it. abby's house is based on my friend emma's house too but this feels the most relevant: the house in Asheville is based on a place i stayed in a couple of years ago! the real life one isn't in Asheville, though it is in NC. i spent a really happy week there with friends and it just popped into my head when i was writing this fic. the setup of the rooms (kevin's and andreil's being across the landing from each other) was useful for what i want to write (as well as the bathroom placement!) so i just ran with it.

🪩 “…the faded band t-shirt two sizes too big that the redhead has tucked into a leather mini skirt. Instead of the usual pair of boots, Neil’s wearing a pair of platform sneakers in black and white.”

ahhhhh kaleidoscope :’) the fic where i genderbent all the monsters and then turned neil into my wee dress up doll! all of neil’s outfits were based on stuff i own and this particular one was a fave during my clubbing days. the only thing i didn’t own when i wrote this fic were the black and white trainers which i now own hahaha

🛁 “Bitty cuts himself a generous slice of pie and eats it in the bath.”

i haven’t lived in a house with a bath for three years and i miss it dearly. i used to have pudding and booze in the bath on hard days and it was super therapeutic — honestly i was just living vicariously through bitty in growing pains

🌸 “There, in the corner, not covered by the laundry that Kevin didn’t put away, is a vintage armchair (…) It’s pink, with old, spoiled velvet, and half of the fringes at the bottom of the chair missing.”

approximately eight years ago i walked past an antique shop and fell in love with a pink velvet toad chair with a wee fringe at the bottom. i didn’t think i could afford it but told my partner i was going to try and convince the shop to let me rent it for a photoshoot. i got home after work one day and my partner had bought it for me 🥹 that chair has now been with us in four houses across three countries and used to be one of my late dog’s favourite nap spots. (the fact that i let kandrew desecrate the chair completely in do not disturb the cats was… a choice lmaooooo)

🪡 “Jean comes back to California after five weeks with the Foxes with his hair slightly too long and falling into his eyes, a smattering of fresh freckles over the bridge of his nose, and a new hobby.”

oh this might just be my favourite! when i saw @alcego’s prompt for t&n last year i kneeeeew it had to be mine. giving my Sad Wet Cat blorbo all of my craft hobbies? what a delight! the best part is that out of all the crafts i made him try in transferable skills, book binding (arguably the main one) is the one i never tried

does anyone want to share? i'll pass this along to the folks tagged above and also @vykio @rwnjun @storiesnstardust @greenautumnleaves @djhedy @thetrojeans @seasy33 @nanatsuyu and @sillyunicorn ❣️

[gremlintooth]

AHHHGH DUDE, IVE FINALLY FOUND YOU ON HERE, YESSSS BRO, YOUR WRITING IS PHENOMENAL, (I'd say I'm the biggest lagwafis enthusiast on the internet, as soon as i read lagwafis, I bought the CD, the collectors edition pill pack white shirt, I have so so so many quotes on my Craig Tucker Shrine from the fic, and if you wanted to know, I've currently managed to read lagwafis 388 times, people believe I know it by heart, get it? "I know you by heart, Tweek" and the agonizing fact I quote lagwafis every day whenever I see a brink of reference infront of me, like let's say yesterday, I was in a store- and I saw a tub of chai latte and I was so close to screaming lagwafis reference inside of the store, I'm also cooking up some fan art (specifically from coming home) so I'll totally tag you when it's out) AHHH I'M GONNA WRITE SO MUCH ON HERE IT MIGHT GO TO THE LIMIT, okay so first, let's talk about the fanfic itself, there are SO many tiny details in this fic that have either made me laugh or cry in agony, which is a good thing, also, the characterization is TOP TIER, a lot of fanfictions tend to fall slightly short on the background characters outside of the pairing that tends to be the main focus. This was a great change, especially in Craig's group and Stan especially, everyone felt so real and totally had obvious quirks from the fandom itself that I LOVED SO MUCH, your writing evokes so much emotion that I somehow managed to feel exactly how everyone felt in a chapter relevant to them.

Let's talk about the character description choices, the way you described Tweek in almost every chapter made my heart ache in the best way possible, you made him sound like a fallen angel, the definition of ethereal, also the fact you decided on giving him that mouth scar with backstory to it is TOP TIER, I have a similar scar on my lip and whenever I see it in the mirror I think of Tweek from this fanfic, let's move on to Craig, the way you wrote his internal monologue and the way his emotions played out made me absolutely soul crushed, this entire fic left a deep pit in my heart, especially how Craig was described, Craig was written so realistically that it actually felt like he was real. He purposely blocked off his emotions to prevent himself from being seen as vulnerable, he struggled with keeping his “I don’t give a shit” personality until it all just exploded and the part that he was so vulnerable with was exposed to the entire school.

Also I see that the lagwafis anniversary is coming up soon!! I usually celebrate it every year when I get the chance to, by doing lagwafis related things and shit, this fanfic deserves way more than just kudos and comments and hits, this fic deserves the damn world and beyond, I even had literal dreams of this fic being one day announced to be an animated movie, and if it ever did I would cry and vomit in the best way ever possible, my life would be so complete if we became moots on here, also, I'm not sure if you have TikTok, but that's where I'm most known to being the lagwafis enthusiast on there, i make a lot of lagwafis related videos, my username is spacecadetcraigz, if you ever see this at some point, just know im so grateful you took your time to read through this.

I literally wish you the best life for now on

Yours truly,

Spacecadetcraig

388 times????? That’s true dedication my friend, you must read it like twice a week? Incredible, I’m so glad you enjoy something I wrote this much. I’m also so glad you love the album by Spiritualised too, it’s such a special album and there’s something so perfect about the title track that I’ve never been able to shake.

I didn’t even realise the anniversary was coming up, thanks for reminding me! It’s so weird to think I started writing that story six years ago. At that time I’d been catching up with South Park and when I first saw the Tweek X Craig episode it was my new favourite thing from the first minute in.

An animated movie would be amazing, Matt and Trey give us the rights pls, free of charge if possible (they’d so try for another billion dollar deal ahahahah)

I’m going to check you out on tiktok and if you do make fanart please tag me! I’d love to see!

[my-castles-crumbling]

hi cas, it's flour anon!! it's getting worse, because our moot groups are slowly intertwining, but if worst comes to worst, I'll block her.

for this part, you gotta remember: I'm only thirteen, and i have less of a scope of just how big anti-islam and anti-asian the world is compared to adults.

unfortunately, cultural appropriation is a massive underlying issue in this fandom, and globally. I'm used to it now, but if I can change things here, at least I've changed something, right?

the main thing that you should do is reference a wider part of being indian; don't stop at the colour of our skin. it may not seem offensive, but when that's all im reduced to, a desperate chance to be more inclusive, it's hurtful and invalidating. researching is a massive yes, and you'll learn plenty on the way, too!

the problem lies within people like flour, not you. those who are ignorant will just never bother to learn, especially if they're not part of a minority. what often bugs me is this need to feel oppressed; it's fine if you only feel comfortable sharing your correct pronouns online, but pretending to have mental disorders because you want to fit in is where it would draw the line. there are other ways to go about making friends.

honestly, cas? I mostly see james' representation in your jegulus fics, (which is totally fine!!) but i don't like jegulus content as much because of canon regulus (again, not an issue that you do!) but in clandestine, which i did read, there wasn't much mention to either james' culture OR skin, so you could argue he was white in it i guess!! if you specifically want to make him brown, talk about the things he may do that only resonate with that region, or hardships that he may face to the very real and ongoing racism that is present today.

if you have any questions, feel free to ask! i love answering them, and knowing it will help you with your writing is just one of the many bonuses xx

Okay I hoping it's okay if I'm very honest here? Not in a bad way just in a....I sometimes get so nervous to talk about these things, because I genuinely want to learn and NOT offend. So please tell me if I say anything off-base.

As far as your friend is concerned...yeah, it sounds like maybe starting by blocking her could be good. I feel like it's hard because depending on where you live, saying something could be unsafe. But also I think you should know that you're well within your rights to say something and question her choices. I'm sure you know that. But yeah

And you're right, it's almost sad that someone feels they need to pretend about ANYTHING in their life in order to feel accepted. It makes me wonder, when people pretend like that, what they're missing in their life to feel the need to pretend like that. Like I'm sad for them. But I also am able to look at it from a much more privleged POV

As far as James (and other characters) I think my personal struggle comes with the fact that I headcanon him (as well as dorcas and many others) as not white. But like...I go back and forth about how to write that. Because in some ways, I wonder: do I even mention it? How much does it matter to the particular story I'm writing? Because while I know that race can affect so many aspects of a person's life, if it's not central to the plot, how much do I go into it? I don't speak in detail about a white character's race, after all. So I tend to stick to words like "pale" "tan" etc. Like in Clandestine, I pictured both James and Dorcas specifically as not white, but I didn't mention specifics, because like...that was Regulus's story.

Not to equate the history or experiences of the two in any sense, but to me it feels like Regulus's transness. In most of the things I write, I see him as trans, but I only mention it or tag it if it's relevant to the story.

I also struggle because I know that even with all of the research in the word, I fear that I can't accurately portray what it is like to be a POC because I am not. I don't want to somehow trivialize the feelings associated with that, I guess.

But I don't know if I'm going the right way about it. And I'm not asking you to give me definite answers to those thoughts and questions.

I really am thankful you shared all of this with me, though, because i am cooking up another idea that would involve a more in-depth look at James, so I definitely want to include some of his culture :D If you're open to it, would you be willing to DM me? I don't want to make you do all the work by answering all my questions for me, but if I'm confused it would be great to have someone to check the facts with!

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

Get to Know the Writer Questionnaire

Taking the open tags from @the-golden-comet here and @illarian-rambling here!

Rules: answer the questions!

Basics

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr? A fast and loose estimate is fine!

I think it was November of 2022.

What led you to create it?

Twitter was going down so I moved elsewhere.

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community?

The engagement and overall positivity! I was surprised how welcoming everyone was, and how touched I was when people gave compliments and how excited I was when people expressed interest!

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

Well I'm always open to chat about whatever though I do have mild social anxiety. I'm always hyper analyzing whether I did something wrong or whatever. So if I come across as awkward I'm trying my best but I am always being genuine!

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

Hm. This is a hard one. I guess I just wish I saw more interaction and engagement in people's work? Idk, it's always there, and I love seeing it, but having full conversations about each other's OCs and WIPs aren't as common. So idk more of that!

WIPs

Which WIPs or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

Mainly I'm working on TSP but occasionally I'll dip my toes into SOTL again. Whenever I get an idea for a side project I barely have anything for, I'll write it down and get obsessed with it for a while.

And I also have a side project where I write reviews and analyses of TV shows or movies but I haven't gone back to it in a while despite having live notes of several movies and TV episodes in drafts.

How long have you been working on them?

TSP - spring of 2013, technically

SOTL - first came into my brain I think 2014-2015 but the first draft was 2015-2016

The first media analyses I wrote were in 2019 I think.

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

TSP - I liked fairies as a kid due to the Rainbow Magic series, but thought I was too old for fairies so when I was assigned to write a fictional story I wrote about kids with powers

SOTL - I loved different takes on fairy tales due to The Land of Stories and wanted to write my own

Analyses - getting Disney+ because I unironically had always wanted to review every single Disney movie so I did. It extended after I watched two seasons of DC's Titans (the live action one) and I hated it so much I shat out 10k+ words in a single fever driven day

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

Pretty often, I'd think, unless I'm deep in a hyperfixation stage of an existing show.

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

"Fantasy mostly."

Name any characters you created.  Side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like!

For TSP the characters I've put any effort into characterizing include: Lexi Morgan, Maddie Morgan, Ash Hathaway, Gwen Amante, Noelle Bishop, Rose Hernandez, Kelsey Newman, Robbie Stafford, Akash Singh, Jedi Moon, Carmen Asghar, Carla Baxter, George Baxter, Liam Beaumont, Ewan Traeger, Jazlyn Nyambura, Wade Attwood, Parker Cassidy, Tyler Nakashima, Gabriel Medina, Niri Shyaka, Sam Stafford, Hye-Jin Song, Alex Vaughn, Issa Johansen, CJ Reynolds, Wendy Amante, Anathi Makeba, Teo Nguyen, Xitlali Zepahua, Atsila McLain, and Raissa Kamanzi. Everyone else is insignificant.

For SOTL, I have so many OCs I have no idea who the relevant ones will be. So far, the most are Jack McDonald, Tierney Wayne, Úrsula Lobo, Beau Bellerose, and Bai Xue. Again, so far. I have so many characters for this it's not even funny.

And then there's the others from my other works but I'll stop there.

Who’s the most unhinged?

I'm not entirely sure who's the most. Parker is the most chaotic but Carmen is just the character, y'know? Jack I give whoever I want and Zainab of SOTL is pretty insane.

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

Probably Robbie, honestly. The way his brain works and goes on random tangents is very similar to me. He's like if I was extraverted sometimes.

Do you ever cringe at them?

All the time.

How much control do you feel you have over your characters?  AKA, do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? To what degree? Are some less cooperative than others?

I only have minimum control. I decide what to do with them but then they say "how about this instead?" And I listen to them all the time. Ash is the most uncooperative one, though. But Noelle has been given me trouble recently. She's told me I need to change her role in Part One. It's frustrating. But awesome.

Interaction

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? And do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? For example, as Asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on AO3, etc.

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES I love questions about my characters!! And no I don't have a preference, although AO3 would be hard because I don't have an account. Any way of interacting with me that you can, I love to hear the comments!

What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account? Do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? Do you follow based on WIPs, or vibes? What makes you decide against following?

I do check the bio and scroll through their blog to see if there's anything I don't like or stands out as stuff. Sometimes it's a writeblr in the bio but I don't see any WIP posting so I don't follow.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

Yep! Constantly. Sometimes I forget people aren't mutuals.

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

Honestly @illarian-rambling's characters are amazing and I finished her manuscript of Mortal God for beta reading and it was awesome.

Tagging @elsie-writes @mk-writes-stuff @leahnardo-da-veggie @mysticstarlightduck @drchenquill

+ ANYONE ELSE

Blanks under cut

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr? A fast and loose estimate is fine! What led you to create it? What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community? What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you? Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash? Which Works-in-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately? How long have you been working on them? Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started? How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them? When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say? Name any characters you created.  Side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like! Who’s the most unhinged? Who comes the most naturally for you to write? Do you ever cringe at them? How much control do you feel you have over your characters?  AKA, do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? To what degree? Are some less cooperative than others? Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? And do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? For example, as Asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on AO3, etc. What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account? Do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? Do you follow based on WIPs, or vibes? What makes you decide against following? Do you interact with non-mutuals often? Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

[tvntheatre]

CUE INTRO POST!!!

Took you long enough, TV.

💣The name's Collector or Cocoa, feel free to call me TV however.

This is an assorted blog, unfiltered for my own sanity, reblogs galore, art in debatable quantities and unwarranted things — like posted or reblogged drawings with untagged fews and all.

My art is tagged under #My Arto. What a surprise./s

Kindly don't follow if you won't stick around for my many fandom arcs. I am a multi-fandom blog and there WILL be different interests floating around in this noggin. Which means, yes, my OCs could be randomly tossed in between fandom posts. Timezone PH🇵🇭

Oh, yes, and I'm a sailor mouth. I have no obligations to anything on this app yet and so this will lead to my unfortunate habit of keeping a colorful vocabulary unchecked.

More shit to be placed under cut.

Obligatory Q&A

Can we make drawing requests?

Yes, and I have the volition not to answer.

Can we ask about your characters?

By all means, yes. I love talking about my characters.

Can we ask the characters themselves?

Absolutely. It's fun to write them at all, I'll take any excuse to yap about design. And story. I love writing!!!!

Can I make fanart/get inspired by your designs?

Of course, just have the decency to credit me if inspiration is taken and please ping me when you make fanart! I rarely get any, I'd enjoy my little guys getting attention.

Can I repost your art?

No. <3

If you must, credit me, but I'd prefer you didn't. I have a blog to be redirected to for a reason.

Who's your profile? You haven't changed it in decades, is he relevant?

Nobody asked this but I'll yap anyway. That's an old drawing of Robin, one of my main four Fallen London based Original Characters! If you ever want to know about my OC stuff, please, ask. I have a novel's worth of thoughts on them and a lack of motivation to post a story on them. I'd be ready enthused to know if other people outside my friend circle are interested. I'm on my knees with my head bowed to the floor I LOVE MY OCS AND THE POPULATION OF THEIR FANDOM IS IN THE SINGLE DIGITS</3

Alternative accounts?

@stmwrks014, an Axis RP/Askblog account. It's gonna be filled with headcanons and lore deviations, especially from the fact that this starts off with Chujin alive first and foremost. There's plans to have arcs by the way.

My other alt accs are rather irrelevant otherwise.

INTERESTS/LIKES!

Only the ones I can name off the top of my head, in no particular order

Current = colored / Pls don't spoil = italics / Retired interest = strikethrough

Fallen London (Mostly for my OCs)

Undertale/Deltarune

Undertale Yellow

Lethal Company

Dredge

Iron Lung

Poppy Playtime

TAWOG

Regular Show

Steven Universe

Wreck-It-Ralph <3

Faith, the Unholy Trinity

Mario/Sonic Franchises

(And the EXEs :(/silly)

Madness Combat

Welcome Home (at some point?)

Dayshift at Freddy's

Dialtown

FNaF

HLVRAI

Bendy and the Ink Machine/Dark Revival

Henry Stickmin

Untitled Goose Game

Epic the Musical

Carrion (the spooky meat video game)

Gravity Falls

Adventure Time

Milo Murphy's Law (at some point)

Pokemon (to an extent)

Pokepastas (what is wrong with m—)

Will Wood (queer I am)

Chikn Nuggit

AvA/M

Minecraft (I don't have ppl to play with but the stuff ppl make is fun :]]])

Roblox (I don't know what games I could play but again, the creatures.....)

Sparkbird

Fish in a Birdcage

Jhariah

The Stupendium

I'd say I like Spongebob but most people who have a TV do too.

FNF (I'd like to get back in this fandom out of curiosity but I'm scared of it.)

And uh. A retired interest is basically just ones I'm not all that interested in anymore but wouldn't mind seeing around. Or basically just a fleeting interest.

Do I have a DNI? Nope! I block as I please. A persona, mascot or self-insert? Not yet! At least, not an official one. I'll figure it out.

Fuck it, out of the closet I go. I'm also a self-shipper! Nothing serious though, I do it to cope. ✨ I won't claim to be the most [blank] of an F/O, I quite enjoy seeing certain other self-ships with a character. With who do I self-ship? Well, I'm unbothered to type.

Where the fuck did i get these gifs from, good question.

[shenzaibird-art]

Updates on the status of things and fun stuff I guess!

I've been barely existing on the internet lately so I felt like making one of the usual "I'm alive actually, here's what I've been up to" sort of posts! I'll try to be brief (ohh I totally failed at being brief)

COMMISSIONS

The oldest commissions in my queue right now are from February, which is somehow already 2 months ago... but I'm catching up quickly! The February ones are currently all in lineart stage. Hoping I'll be finishing them soon and then start the March+April ones! I do hate having so many late commissions...

UPCOMING OC STUFF

(under the cut because it's longgg)

So once the actually important stuff is at least a bit more under control, I plan to get back to the huge pile of things that I really wanna do. I can't really talk about all the stuff because aaaa I have so many things planned that it's actually kinda overwhelming, but I'd like to mention some things that I'm considering a priority:

• A minor re-write of Verloren's main story. I actually wrote that kind of in a rush originally, and I feel like I could write it better now so I'm doing it.

• A story that was supposed to go with this picture, but got too long so it needs to be its own thing (with pictures in it and webpage decorations, in proper Shenzai fashion heh). Getting a little ambitious, which is dangerous, but hopefully I'll manage.

• A kind of not very important mini-comic about Verloren when he was a kid that I started for no reason, have already sketched 4 pages and it's not even half of it, and for some reason... I'm managing to come up with "extended lore" to add as comment on every single one of the pages. So this should be um... interesting I guess. Probably kinda boring actually. Scary also, because I am not good at actually finishing comics.

• VYKREST LORE. You know, Verloren's people, the dog folk with long ears who growl and bite that I've mentioned at times. This... well it got wayyy out of hand. They were supposed to be just a cool little background info for Verloren. But no, they're my whole life right now. This has made it very difficult to write the lore because there's just SO MUCH I don't even know where to begin anymore. Obviously, I should pick only the most important things, especially since this is such a niche kind of lore that I know only I would care about it, but at this point I can't tell what's important and what I just really wanna talk about for no reason lol. These weird dog people have turned out to be INCREDIBLY fun to play with... you'll see the extent of the "damage" when I finish this thing...

• More character profiles on my site! Because I'm getting actually so tired of trying to check what I put in a character's likes or whatever and then I go see and... their profile doesn't actually exist yet. So I'm planning to go through all these character profiles that are missing and fill them in... and ESPECIALLY reveal some characters that I've been holding back for years for no reason. I'm planning to use June as a character reveal month, in which (in theory) I'll post new OC things daily. I estimate that if I actually post one unreleased art thing a day... I would actually have more than a month worth of posts. But I'll probably change my mind about posting some of those, and I'll probably give up finishing some of the unfinished ones, heh. I think this will be fun! For me at least, because I'll get to ramble to the void about my little guys a lot heh

OH YEAH, TUMBLR UPDATES

Might mention this here as well. I changed my profile pics! And my tumblr themes! Of course, tumblr themes don't matter that much but I wanted to customize mine a tiny bit, so that when I link to posts or tags, it actually looks cooler. And that is relevant because I have made a "Tag Index" page here on tumblr so that all my tags for different settings and characters are easy to find! You can see it here: [link] This is also listed in my pinned post now! There's... not a lot of posts for most of those chars but the tags exist so I put them there lol

THAT'S ALL (YES SHUT UP ALREADY)

Now I guess I'll go and catch up with everywhere else online that I've been barely interacting with, and then try to finish a lot of work! (and then I should probably post all unposted commissions too heh)

[bcbdrums]

Given the fact that we were talking about our perceptions of certain kinds of ships in regards to Stein and how they suit or do not suit his character, how do you feel about smut/the relationship dynamics within Stein x character smut fics?

All righty then...! Here comes a very long rambling of my headcanons about Stein, his two primary relationships, and his relationship with those deeper intimacies. This takes some turns before it gets to the main point but well, I love talking about this man. Extremely long post under the cut.

Also - there are two blogs I tag at the very end of this post - you two feel free to ignore all my ramblings, just know I praise you both at the end and I still re-read your Soul Eater stories VERY regularly.

I'm truthfully still trying to reorganize my thoughts on this specific topic because 1) I have listened to many a headcanon from others on the subject and I always try to give validity to their thoughts even when they differ from mine, and 2) I've also read tons of smut fic with Stein out of sheer desperation for...well, Stein fic. (Come on Stein fandom where you at? Write me some gen fic too, lol)

I have not read too many fics of him with Marie cuz those always contain manga spoilers so I'm skipping those for now until I finish reading (exactly halfway through!). So what I've read is mostly Stein/Spirit smuts and just a couple with Marie, and I want to say….almost zero?? I think zero of those fics (and boy I've read plenty) have "hit the spot" in terms of what I would want for a Stein smut. They're good stories, in some cases great stories, well-written and thoughtfully conceived, but they're not fitting my headcanons and interpretations of who I see onscreen (and who I see in the manga so far).

All that said now… Some of my own relevant headcanons for him, and then I'll get more into fic of others.

I go back and forth toying with the idea that Stein experimented with intimacy just a little as a teen. He's not immune to puberty and hormones; he's human whether he likes it or not, which isn't to say mind over matter doesn't work for him. (Clearly it does, in staving off madness among other things.) But he's a scientist. He's curious. And I can see him justifying an experiment or two in his teen years. But they would in fact be just that, experiments. It's still a big maybe. I can't say for certain he would, it's the sort of thing like…if all the dots line up just right, he'd attempt it. If not, he wouldn't. And it would only be with those two people: Marie and/or Spirit. He doesn't trust anyone else enough. (Yes, I'm on board with the popular fanon that Marie was one of his other weapon partners after Spirit.)

Another teen headcanon... I can also easily see a sort of angsty distraction possibility for him. When he loses Spirit to Kami, I can see him getting into a "romantic" relationship with Marie as sheer distraction, and even misguided retaliation. Spirit "cheated" on him with another meister and abandoned him, so why shouldn't he do the same with another weapon? Which sucks for Marie but well she's not healthy about relationships any more than Stein or Spirit are. But this is just another sort of maybe-thought; another situation where all the dots would have to line up just right for him to go for it. But I can see it, no question, just like the prior thought.

As for Stein as an adult, at the point we see him in the show… While I think relationally he and Spirit have the most interesting dynamic to explore, the one he shows more openness toward is Marie. It's clear that he cares for her. And he doesn't fully understand that either. Now I don't think he wants to get into bed with her, or marry her, or anything traditional to a romance. But I also don't think Marie is going anywhere. Thinking post-anime now…. Unless he gives her a sign that there is nothing between them, I think she's staying put. But sadly for her, I think there is something between them... Sadly because, Stein doesn't know what it is, and it's not "love" the way that Marie wants it. It's just something he's unfamiliar with. Meanwhile she's devoted to him, poor woman.

Now, end of the anime… Let's talk about this…. Marie helps him back to sanity with her healing wavelength. But…then he's just "okay"? No he isn't. Look at that man. His dark circles are darker, his eyes are more haunted. That man has been living off madness and cigarettes for weeks. When is the last time he ate anything? Showered? Legitimately got any sleep?? How he's even standing up let alone fighting Medusa is beyond me, and then he performs freaking major surgery and then waltzes into the death room afterward like he's fine. Because...that's who Stein is.

Stein will fight until he is incapable of fighting anymore, to serve those he loves. Yes I said loves. And it is agonizing how much he strives to show his love for others, and it's something he doesn't even realize he has within him. He thinks he can't understand love? It's because he feels it so deeply and passionately it's beyond definition. Part of this however I'm also certain is motivated from his deep desire for purpose as an adult. The manga shows that aspect of his character even more-so than the anime (in what I've read so far). That man is desperate for purpose and to belong somewhere, with someone. He can't escape his human nature even if he doesn't understand it, can't define it, and even though it drives him crazy all on its own…

So bringing this back to Marie… End of the anime. I don't think Marie is leaving. She's gonna stay, help nurse Stein back to health and sanity despite his pretending he's fine (or perhaps even sheer ignorance of his condition), and Stein…is gonna be confused the whole dang time about his feelings for Marie. He knows he feels something but he has no idea what it is or how to process it. But "love" in the romantic sense he doesn't possibly consider, because well...his conceptions of that sort of thing aren't based in anything healthy (see: Spirit's relationships).

So yeah… She's not leaving. He won't reject her attentions because he does care about her, just not in a way he understands and also not in the way she wants. And as she starts to realize that he has some kind of feeling for her, I think she'd turn up the romance and she'd make a move on him. OR…she'd play the extremely...long...patient game, and wait for him to make a move on her, when it's within his comfort zone. And let me be clear… This man still does not know what love is in this traditional sense, does not understand love. He knows what physical attraction and hormones are and darn him he can't shake those either, but as an adult he wouldn't act impulsively on them nor would he confuse them with love. Stein is the ultimate master of mind over matter. If he were to sleep with her, it would be a choice; a decision he makes consciously and deliberately. I see this within the realms of possibility. But if he chooses it himself, if he's the one who makes that decision simply out of his wanting to…it would be a long, long time that that woman is waiting for him. But I do think it possible. The question is simply, how long will she wait. And she's also the type to try to stir things up (see: her behavior toward Joe in the manga). So who knows when they may end up in bed together... These dots are more complicated to align than those of his teenage years. And if Marie made the move first...I think he'd accept it. Because, see again, his wanting to belong with someone, and he knows he feels something different with Marie.

As for Spirit, well... Stein sees that Spirit likes women. And Stein sees that Spirit can't commit. I think Stein "loves" Spirit more than he loves Marie. First love, young love... Spirit is the relationship of his life, even though that's yet another thing he cannot possibly understand. I think that while part of him, the mad obsessive part, and the curious part, does want to be close to Spirit in the intimate way…it's not out of a healthy desire or even typical motivations. It would come from a desire to possess, from his deeply human but inexplicable yearning to be closer to the one he loves even though it's not the right type of love for that type of intimacy. Not really sure Spirit would be all-in if Stein were to make the move... I think Spirit would take persuading. It's another circumstance where all the dots have to line up just right, and in this case probably more while caught up in madness than in sanity. Because as previously mentioned… In his right mind, Stein knows that Spirit likes women and more importantly that Spirit cannot commit. And he's ironically smart enough to know not to attempt a traditional human romance with someone who cannot commit. I don't think Stein would himself attempt intimacy with Spirit in his right mind at all, unless something happened to make him utterly desperate not to lose the man... Another instance of, all those dots have to connect.

But ugh, the angst. Spirit abandoned him after five years... Stein is not going to willingly subject himself to possible heartbreak again. Plus, he does not think Spirit has forgiven him for the "experiments." I think he thinks Spirit only hangs around him now as an adult as his handler, despite desperately wanting his friendship again. But I think he figures it's a lost cause so he just takes what is offered and never pursues more.

Okay but before I digress further into my endless thoughts about Stein's and Spirit's relationship (I'll do another post for that maybe), back to the point of your question.

I am really not one for labels, partially because I don't understand them but also because I think the spectrum is just so deep and too much defies definition. But if I were to label him, I guess I'd go with...gray ace with demi leanings…?

The man is driven only by curiosity, about anything and everything. But the level of intimacy we're talking about is more than he ever wants to trust anyone with. It's always gotta be on his terms, and more often than not…his terms would be unhealthy.

So let's talk about what shows up in fanfic, since that was what the original question was about. And once again, I like to lend validity to everyone's interpretation. Just because it isn't mine doesn't mean it's wrong or shouldn't exist. But you did ask about MY thoughts, so that's what I'm sharing here.

Once again, I've barely touched Stein/Marie fic because I'm avoiding manga spoilers. In the one or two I've seen, he comes across as not connecting emotionally in the typical way, but knowing that there is indeed something different about being with her. He knows she cares about him, and he cares in return. But it doesn't come across as anything intimate on his side of it. This isn't a characterization I particularly like, because Stein as an adult... As I said, I think he'd choose that intimacy if and when he wants it. In the stories, it comes across more as him just doing her a favor, just going along. It doesn't sit right. But like I said, that's only two stories. For other Stein/Marie, I reserve opinion for later.

Stein/Spirit... Okay. I've noticed a great many commonalities in the fics I've read. And this isn't a taste or preference thing; like I said I have devoured almost every smut fic just in desperation for any fanfic of them. Would prefer more gen fic less smut personally, but anyway.

Most fics have Stein in the dominant role, Spirit in the submissive role. I understand that interpretation but it's not how I see them. I see them as equals if they were to get into that type of intimacy. There is often a lot of bloodplay, frequently madness on Stein's part, major instances of non-con, pet play, BDSM, sometimes light cannibalism... It all suggests an impersonal and unhealthy relationship most of the time, which again...is not at all how I see them if they were to become a couple. Could such things come about? Unhealthily, possibly. But darn me and my desire for happy endings.

These two men are so broken, that if they were to become a healthy couple...I feel like it would be slow, cautious...extremely hesitant. There is extreme distrust on both sides, and also misconceptions about how the other feels. Which...I will save that analysis for later. Focusing back on smut fic.

I have seen only a few that touch on the give and take in a trusting relationship (all by the same author) that come closest to what I feel is accurate to the characters onscreen as I see them, but still the emphasis is too much on lust. It still isn't hitting the spot for me due to a lack of that relational development... Make no mistake, the stories are great, but I personally am hoping for something much deeper.

In my view, Stein just does not seek out physical intimacy in that way. I don't think he can fully escape the innate human need for touch, but in terms of a drive to get into bed with anyone... I think the occasional human desire for it crops up, and he easily ignores it/packs it away because it's not useful to him. It doesn't bother him. He doesn't think about it.

So this is where that...gray-ace, demi vibe comes into play for my view of him. Talking about Stein here as an adult and in control of himself, not consumed by madness... This is I supposed a bit of a summation of my thoughts.

If he did get into a relationship with anyone (and again I think his only choices are Spirit and Marie), it would not be based on the physical at all. I also don't think he would rush into any relationship. It would be a long process before he trusted the person enough to consider them a romantic partner. And really, we could get away from the word romance entirely... Life-partner is a better word, in Stein's case. If the person wanted physical intimacies, I think he would be responsive to that. The other person would be in the lead, but in no way dominating. It would have to be an equal trust thing or else Stein would nope out hard. Stein would gradually learn what it is he likes physically, and how to give his partner what they want. He can come to enjoy it because this is his life-partner, the one he belongs with, the one who needs him and is part of his purpose. But again...the physical is not something that drives him at all. Not in how I see him portrayed onscreen or in the manga.

So, overall, in my point of view nearly all smut fics miss the mark. Now...the stories I've seen where I think the physical intimacy is nailed don't even get to smut. Those are the stories by @asymmetryestablished (AO3 NothingSoDivine) and their characterizations of Stein and Spirit defy description in any words I have. The other author who nails it is @wispforever (same on AO3) and the closest to physical intimacy they get is dancing, but my gosh still the characterizations are utter perfection. I will be re-reading y'all's Stein/Spirit stories forever.

I hope I did in fact answer your question, but overall, I was delighted to just spill out so many of my thoughts about Stein even if in summary form. Yes this was a summary... Okay. I'm done. Thanks.

[object-obsession]

The Brave Little Toaster franchise > MOST CHARACTERS

Inanimate Object Characters List | Entry: 2

Following up, is the franchise of The Brave Little Toaster! The franchise's first movie along with the first Cars movie (and later on the second) made my childhood! I will forever love this movie with all my heart and soul. Those dear memories are sure worth cherishing.

It feels weird that I have written longer texts on media that meant way less too me, but if I start typing, I'll end up with an essay. Or maybe a book. So I'll just restrict myself almost completely. Also, I do have a seperate post dedicated for my Top 5 most favourite media.

Once again, I do not intend to list and put picture of all those (to the "sentient object" characteristic qualified) characters, because that would be too many. And I neither will I do that for upcoming media on this list whenever they get to obtain the "many/most/all" tag.

On to the subject of matter, this franchise consists of three movies:

Movie: The Brave Little Toaster (1987)

Movie: The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue (1997)

Movie: The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1998)

--

PS: this post excludes the tag "things", because there were too many other - more relevant - tags I had to include. Additionally, "animal characters" should have been included for the second installment of the film series, but I skipped it, too. The same thing counts for "uprising" and "rebellion" for the third installment of the film series.

[thecactifindahome]

Tbh, I kind of can imagine that? Maybe bevause I watched the show first and shortly after finishing it I went to the books... But I get what you're saying and I'm ready for him to fight back and even snap if he wants to. Have you reas New Tales of the Vampires and Mayfair Witches too? Do you like them? I've decided to read all of them at least once, just to understand more of this universe as a whole and then re-read the ones that are relevant to the show and/or I enjoyed the most. I finished Pandora yesterday and now I'm around 80 pages into Blood and Gold. I loved the former, B&G is too early to tell, but I admit Marius is not my favorite, so who knows... But I'm excited to see Pandora and Bianca again, including any appearance of Armand, even if it's brief. I struggled with Memnoch, but the chapter he was in was 100% chef's kiss 0 notes from me. 😍 Anyway, why do you feel that way about Rolin? Has he said anything frustrating? I haven't seen many interviews yet, and the few I have, it's mostly with the actors. I see people's interpretations of his interviews on the tag all the time, but I've seen so much distortion and stuff taken out of context on other fandoms before that I want to fact-check first. And I will eventually, it's just that right now I'm prioritizing the books because I'm sick of seeing different opinions all the time and not being able to join book discourse. 😅 But I believe it would be creative suicide to waste the potential of such compelling characters, specially someone as rich in terms of baggage and development as Armand. His arc is so eventful and touching that he could have his own show with 10 seasons and 200 episodes tbh. And don't worry about Tumblr being weird and the late reply, I just enjoy chatting, whenever that happens. I can take long to reply too, so I get it. For me getting a proper answer is better than a fast one. It's all good. 💗

I'm going to be wailing and tearing my hair if we don't see him having fun while committing some terrible harm next season 🥺 Getting ready to hunt Malik isn't enough, I need him to tear somebody's scalp off for no real reason except that he likes their hair.

I've read Pandora and Vittorio, although I have to admit Vittorio left no impression on me whatsoever and I couldn't tell you anything about it except that there were no returning characters in it, lol. But Pandora is great! It's kind of revelatory to see who she was before the catatonic despair, she's so fiery and alive, and funny and rude. The only downside is that it makes seeing her so dead inside later on sad ): I read The Witching Hour a thousand years ago, too, but it didn't really grab me. I didn't dislike it as such, I just didn't click with it. It might have just been bias due to hating the witch/vampire crossovers so much, though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Blood and Gold is compelling to me, even if there are some things that make me grind my teeth pretty hard (Bianca got such a raw fucking deal, and oh my god the theater era, I'll basically accept not trying to get him out of the cult due to fear/shame/Akasha but there’s no reason not to send him a letter like 'Hey Amadeo, I'm alive, glad you made it out'). But he's got a lot of depth to his character, and he makes it pretty clear that he knows why he keeps ending up alone. And as a Roman history enjoyer*, Marius' idealization of Rome is exactly what you'd expect from an Augustan era wannabe-patrician (his half-Gaulish ass was definitionally a plebeian). Is it distasteful to the modern reader? Absolutely! But that was a highly typical perspective then.

Rolin Jones, well, I'll say two things: his fixation on everything having to serve loustat is starting to warp the basic sense and structure of the show, and reading the s2e8 script made me realize that he does too much cocaine. I don't think he has a clear vision of the show beyond romance and badass moments, I think the other writers are the ones trying to do something more. And like...how many times does he have to say that Daniel’s turning was spiteful and will never be shown before people believe him? Why would he keep downplaying and trying to manage expectations for D/M, a highly popular and acclaimed aspect of the books, if he actually intends to spend much time on it? Why would he try to unhype his own show? I'm at work so it's hard to dredge up citations, but his choices themselves are indicative imo.

Oh, I know what you mean, some people are incredibly dishonest, or maybe just delusional, about the book content. Or maybe I'm being ungenerous and they make these grand declarations because they sincerely don't understand what they just read, who knows? But people will tell you nonsense like that Lestat never loved Armand, which is simply a stupid thing to say, because they're pathologically insecure about their otp and try to establish themself as such an authority that nobody feels the need to see for themselves. Mad respect to you for going to the books 😊

*Not that kind of Roman history enjoyer, of course, it was a dumpster fire that is a far better cautionary tale than anything to admire and only a lunatic would try to emulate ancient Rome. But god damn, it's fascinating.

[sambambucky]

writing pattern tag!

Rules: Share the opening of your last ten published works or as many as you are able and see if there are any patterns!

😇 'ello and thank you for tagging me @crepuscularqueens !!! idk who is still doing these, bt i'll never be annoyed over getting tagged

to be good for you (would be the end of me)

Three superheroes, a dozen Shield agents, a deacon, and a self-proclaimed witch all leave the conference room while Steve stays in his chair, stewing.

too many white lies (and white lines)

Sam’s kissed a lot of people, but Bucky’s tongue in his mouth is a revelation. It’s been forever since he’s wanted to kiss someone like this, aimless and idle. Exploring for the hell of it, pressing into all the little places that make him gasp and moan, just because he wants to, because he can. 

a fair day's work

Sam zones out as Walker talks, trying to identify the smudges on the plexiglass between them. There’s a greasy quality to them, but the shape and position don’t make any sense if they’re just fingerprints.

sorta weird, kinda nice

This mission is a weird one.

the sum of every moment

For most of Sam’s life, it seemed like the only person to ever leave Delacroix was his brother, Gideon. And like the rest of his family, Sam couldn’t understand why anyone would want to abandon everyone to go somewhere and be lonely. Why would anyone leave the state and everything they knew just for something as boring as a job?

the impossible weight of maybe

“Settle a bet for me, will ya big guy?”

what're you gonna do, put me in time out?

Bucky tracks Peter’s loop around the crowded gymnasium, and decides to leave him his space for now. The six-year-old is running around in a broad figure eight, an elaborate paper airplane held proud and high above his head. Bucky can’t help the grin that settles onto his face, but he can keep his arms crossed and one foot propped up against the wall he’s been leaning against.

i'm only trying to get you home

Sam’s birthday party starts in a handful of hours and Bucky’s completely failed at getting him a present — hasn’t even picked up a card. He’s been stressing for over a week, and now he’s absolutely run out of time to do anything special.

we won't look too closely

Sam finally catches his breath from laughing. When his breath settles into something manageable, he shares a winded smile with Bucky on the other side of the jacuzzi.

patterns of recognition

The Asset is assigned a new mission. The files outline all relevant details and compulsory results.

okok... patterns....... i'm seeing commas, so many commas, i love you commas,,, also idk i love just dropping in. theres that old post about how fan fic is so fun because you dont have to do as much worldbuilding or character explaining and i think about that all the time and i think that shows in these openings

tagggginggggg........ @writerkenna, @questinwitchface, who else... is... if you want to be tagged babey youre tagged!

[starlitangels]

Why I'm 'The' Avior Fan

for @plaqying's little Awards event!

I have quite a few reasons

The first is that he's been my favorite character since I first heard his playlist and made myself obnoxious on this blog about that fact

Basically, the brainrot took hold and I was one of the ones who was constantly thinking about his story and proposing potential theories for where his plotline was going

I listened to his playlist so many times, trying to pick out any tiny little obscure details for lore and hints and clues, and I made a lot of posts about it

Another big reason I could be considered "the" Avior fan is that I have had people tag me in Avior fan art that others had done with captions like "Star, I think you'll want to see this" (I did). My reputation for being That One Person who was Unbelievably Down Bad/Obsessed had spread enough that people would see Avior and one of their thoughts when they reblogged it was to tag me because they knew I'd go wild over it (I did)

Does crying my eyes out for the entire 45 minute Truth audio count as a reason? Because my investment was so deep and my heartbreak was so much that I literally couldn't stop? Thank the heavens I was home alone at the time my husband would have been so confused lol

I don't know if I've written the most Avior fanfiction out there but I definitely wrote a lot and quite a few of them got a lot of response about being pretty good, so I'll take that

I also wrote some heartbreakingly angsty Avior headcanons that got me (affectionately) yelled at iirc

Also, I started learning how to draw again after a... multi-year hiatus because I specifically wanted to draw pieces of Avior and Starlight's story #Dedication

My profile picture has almost always been some variation of my version of Starlight

You could literally ask anyone who are regulars in my notes "Which Redacted voiced character do you associate with Star" and I guarantee most of them would say Avior maybe Elliott if they found me during that one specific era last spring but that's beside the point

A very kind soul on my birthday one year drew a doodle of Avior giving me a cupcake. Said kind soul didn't even have to ask who would make me the happiest to receive a cupcake from

I am, literally, like, The Avior Person to a lot of people around here and you can ask around and they would probably tell you that immediately

Lastly, my energy for keeping up with Redacted kinda faded in this last little while it will be back, I guarantee you but even when I was starting to feel myself pulling away a little, I will still drop everything and run to grab my headphones when Avior gets his rare uploads

Oh did I say lastly? Too bad I'm still going I literally have done more fan art for Avior than any other character in the history of me learning how to draw. I also consistently tag posts about him with "Sarcastic Demon my beloved" because, again, he is my beloved XD

This one specific character just kinda grabbed me and refused to let go and there were many days of washing dishes filled with me relistening to Sovereign State over and over and over again

Also Erik dropped Other Side by Anberlin as "a song with Avior vibes" and it immediately got added to like three playlists of mine because it slapped and also broke my heart but that was right before the Truth audio and it still breaks my heart but this is slightly less relevant

[yes0another0outsiders0blog]

Finally rereading The Outsiders like I said I would. I think I'll probably be doing a chapter a day, even though it's short enough that I could probably bust it out in one or two sittings. I'm really prone to burnout and I am trying to write a bit each day and I have a job to work and adult tasks to do and such, so a chapter sounds like a good goal with that considered.

Also, I'm sick as a fucking dog while reading this first chapter. Not relevant, just a little fun fact.

Anyway, have my thoughts while I read it!!

The Outsiders Reread : Chapter One Notes

less than a page in and I'm already tired of Ponyboy being Not Like The Other Girls

he's 14, that's positive, I should not be able to stomach a well-written 14 year old on account of them acting very 14, but also shut the fuck up

"yeah, I read books, unlike EVERYONE ELSE" go to hell

not to intentionally misread and water down a character, but Ponyboy saying "but sometimes I just don't use my head" is literally all you need to fucking know. that's it, that's the book

we get it, Pony, you come from a very hot family, yall are all conventionally attractive. paragraphs, ffs

also, I love that Soda doesn't drink. that he has a drunk on life attitude. could absolutely never be me, love that for him, unfortunately I fw Two-Bit's vibes with alcohol a bit more--

and the fact that Soda is the only one that can tease Darry.

there isn't a single positive thing said about Dallas besides "I didn't like him, but he was smart and you had to respect him." but frfr he's so great.

but if I met any of these fuckers irl Soda is the only one that I'd have a chance in hell at not hating. and that's only because he seems like he'd be enough of an emotionally/socially intelligent people-pleaser to actively try to get someone to like him, lol.

kinda salty about Johnny being called the gangs pet, wtf Ponyboy. not like he's one person's main reason to live, is SUCH fucking ride or die, later kills a man for Pony. but yeah, he's a pet. he tags along. what the fuck ever, man. if anything, Ponyboy (you know, the person that's mainly part of the gang bc he tags along with his older brothers, the BABY of the group, the quiet & sensitive one that doesn't have a single braincell outside of pure booksmarts) is the pet. like, sure, Johnny has trauma and is really quiet, but let's be so fr right now.

despite what is said in the book (bc it's Ponyboy's pov so we only get his perspective, obviously) I'm sure Darry gets after Soda too.

also, oldest children that become parental figures in some degree are allowed to be mean to their baby siblings. it's our right. as a 20-something year old with a young teen baby brother with common sense in the negatives, I am very biased in saying that Darry is always objectively 100% correct in every situation ever (heavily exaggerating, I just relate a lot).

forever mad that we don't get more Sylvia!!! my most random fav!!! so much love to her!!! she's basically an oc with how little we get of her and how many headcanons I have, I don't even really like the main fanon version of her either, but GOD she's my girl fr

NO BECAUSE WHEN I WAS 14 IF SOMEONE PULLED THEIR OWN KNIFE TO DO A DISSECTION THE WAY MY TONGUE WOULD BE DOWN THEIR THROAT. Ponyboy, babygirl, you did NOT deserve for that girl to hate on you like that. RUDE.

"Dallas deserves everything he gets, and should get worse, if you want the truth." agreed, that's my though process as I'm making the nastiest headcanons for him. my life's goal is to make this man suffer or make him into a loser, and all my hcs do both

breaks my heart so much how Ponyboy talks about Darry, leave my boy ALONE, dude!!!

my headcanons for Darry are usually the exact opposite of my hcs for Dally, I just want this guy to have the very best ong. I'll get so unrealistic with it too, bitch, YES I'll give you an absolutely stunning sugar mommy, babe!! just stop being stressed and stop having bad things happen for a few minutes!!! I almost struggle making in character, good headcanons for him because I just want to give him fluff and filler only and nothing else--