#we might make some fanart of our ocs so they get attention

[allforfemeclipse]

"He was an expert at hiding.

He wasn't supposed to be found."

The feeling when you fail at something you're good at:

The line above isn't official. Official as a part of what, you ask? Who knows... only the future can tell.

[mprosperossprite]

This post contains discussion of racism, misogyny, and intersection of these ideas in the TOG fandom.

Though the conversation around the racist tropes sometimes employed in depicting Joe is valuable and important, I do not have anything productive to add to that particular conversation. Instead, this post aims to examine the ways in which Nile has largely been overlooked by fan created content for The Old Guard and suggest ways in which each of us as individuals might make this fandom a more inclusive place.

One last preamble: I’m an white woman. I am speaking here from a place of ally-ship. And I am still learning how to best be an anti-racist ally in all elements of my life. This post is coming from the best of my knowledge at the moment, hoping that maybe it’ll make a difference to somebody.

Alright.

I want to begin with a story: a couple of weeks ago in the Book of Nile group chat one of our members noticed that the stories and AU’s and ideas we were constructing for each other the previous week had focused on Booker, had given Booker the extensive backstories, had articulated Booker’s complexity more thoroughly. She posted that she had noticed this along with a note along the lines of “we can’t do better if we don’t recognize the patterns.”

So here’s a pattern that I’ve noticed that is particularly disheartening to me: Nile Freeman, a black woman and the main character of The Old Guard, has the least amount of fanworks created about her.

On AO3 she has the fewest tagged fics. On tumblr, there is much less fan art created for her. In discord servers, Nile is rarely mentioned.

This fandom has become dominated by Joe and Nicky.

I do not mean to discount Joe and Nicky. Their depiction in an action movie is groundbreaking queer representation. They are fascinating individuals and fascinating in how they make their work partnership, romantic and sexual relationship flourish for an unimaginable length of time. Their story touches on themes that have long excited storytellers: the power of love above all, fate’s matches and soulmates.

Nevertheless, the way this fandom has diminished and ignored Nile Freeman is a collective act of misogynoir. All of us are complicit.

Racism is structural. Misogyny is structural. It is no one person’s fault. It is no individual’s moral failing. None of us can single-handedly fix it.

Nile’s erasure from the TOG fandom is nobody’s fault. As the opening anecdote illustrates, even those of us who actively seek out fan communities focused on her are guilty of backburnering Nile to a white man.

But, my experience working in one of the most racist systems in the US has helped me learn that though I can’t individually end racism and misogyny (and other structural inequalities), I can be aware of how my actions might reinforce these structures, and I can make deliberate choices to make my own actions as anti-racist and as feminist as possible.

So, TOG fans who are reading this, I ask you to pay attention to the content you’re creating and consuming in this fandom.

How many stories have you read or written recently that have included Nile as a full, complex character in her own right (and not a catalyst or ancillary support for Joe or Nicky or Booker)?

How much fan-art with Nile has crossed your dash recently? What percentage of it is just Nile reacting to Joe and Nicky?

How many conversations have you had in group chats and discord servers that examine Nile’s backstory, her journey in the film, her future with a fragmented and hurting Old Guard?

How many headcanons have you crafted about Nile’s role in the guard’s little family, about the way her principles and desires might reinforce the others’ views or change them?

Furthermore, I hope that as you do this, you’ll notice the reasons that you haven’t seen or engaged with content about the film’s main character. I urge you to push beyond superficial explanations.

I just like the romance aspect of Joe and Nicky. Okay, but who’s to say Nile can’t have romance too? Booker, Andy, Quynh, heck, even reincarnated Lykon or OC’s or characters from other franchises, are all available to appreciate and love on Nile Freeman.

I usually just have one ship in a fandom. Okay, but what about fic celebrating the joys of an intercultural found family or fic delving into Nile being a badass millennial warrior? Those and others are all stories that are interesting and exciting too!

I just love that Joe and Nicky are canonically queer. Absolutely! Me too! But this isn’t a reason to shun or ignore a character whose heart and intelligence and courage drives the plot of a movie we all claim to love.

And then, once you’ve paid attention, I urge you to make a change, to work against the misogynoir in our fandom. Even small things make a difference.

Reblog just one piece of content where Nile is the focus each time you log into tumblr

Read a fic once a week in which Joe and Nicky aren’t the primary characters

Write a subplot in your current fic which explores an element of Nile’s character

When I said we can all do better, I meant it. I’m not excluded from responsibility. In case you're curious how I’m taking my own advice, here’s my plan:

I’ve been bad about reblogging anything lately, considering reblogs are the lifeblood of tumblr. I’m going to seek out some of the Nile fanart I’ve skimmed over recently and queue it up. This blog is gonna have more Nile than it even did before.

I’m going to keep writing Book of Nile and Joe/Nicky, but I also want to consider Nile’s relationship with Andy and Quynh if it was sexual and romantic and fabulously queer and polyamorous. Gotta finish my current long-fic first, but then there are some fic ideas percolating I hope to get down on paper this summer.

I’m going to seek out Andy/Nile and Andy/Quynh fic on AO3. I haven’t read very much of either of these ships and I want to see more of what these authors have to offer. (If y’all have recs, hit me up!)

So to conclude, we can’t do better if we don’t recognize the patterns. I hope you’ll join me in consciously thinking about whose narratives with the TOG universe are being prioritized and whose narratives are being ignored. I hope you’ll join me in taking action, as small as they might be, to lift up those narratives that have been overlooked due to racism and misogyny that, again, is nobody’s fault but is everyone’s responsibility.

Finally, if you’ve made it to this point, thank you for your time and attention. What we pay attention to matters, and I’m grateful that you decided to pay attention to this.

[alpacaparkaseok]

Mine

5. Draw me like one of your French girls

Genre: Min Yoongi x oc

Warnings: none

Word Count: 3.3k

At this point, I’m seriously considering commissioning my own fanart.

It all started the next morning at our first press release. Somebody had the bright idea to show me some fanart that’s been rolling in the past few weeks of a certain k-pop rapper and I. Not gonna lie...we look good together.

Too good.

Then again, everything about Min Yoongi has seemed pretty good since I woke up to a couple more texts from him this morning. I passed out after his late-night/early morning apology, but he sent another text not long after.

4:32 MYG: So does this mean I’m forgiven? Bong-cha made it sound like you enjoy holding grudges.

9:02 MYG: Morning. I hope everything goes well with you today...is it alright if I keep texting you?

9:02 MYG: Just so I can keep tabs on everything. I don’t want this to get too out of hand for you.

Obviously the poor man is just as worried about all of this as I am. I couldn’t help but give a sleepy chuckle when I woke up to his messages.

So far, I’ve done a wonderful job of ignoring how nice it felt to wake up to a good morning text.

I’ve also done a great job at keeping calm and breezing past any weird questions from the current press conference I’m in. That is, until a Korean reporter (I have a hunch they’re from Dispatch) pipes up not only with a question, but with visual aids!

“Cara, do you mind if I ask you a question? Would you like a translator?”

Reminding myself to be gracious and kind, I shake my head. “Go ahead. I should be alright without a translator, thank you.”

The reporter nods, shuffling forward until they pull a paper out of their file in hand. She gives me a sickly smile, passing the paper up to our security guard who does me the honor of bringing it right to my outstretched palm.

“This is one of the newest renderings, I was just wondering how you have been feeling about this entire situation?”

I already guessed what this was going to be about, but the picture in my hand confirms it.

It’s fanart.

To be honest, it’s very well done. It’s a watercolor, the artist placed us walking along a rainy sidewalk. Hand in hand, Yoongi’s gummy smile on full display while I look down at my toes.

Sebastian whistles beside me, clearly as in awe of the artwork as I am. Before me the reporter still wears her smile, waiting for a response. I pass the paper down the line, allowing Rhea to get a chance to admire the fanart.

Maybe it’s the boost of confidence I received upon reading Yoongi’s text this morning that has me grinning back at the reporter with a saccharine smile.

“Did you draw this? It’s very well done.”

Not everyone can understand Korean in this press conference, but the few that do start chuckling. The reporter blanches for a moment, smile faltering.

“N-no, but if you could answer the question-”

I’m sure I look very disappointed as I look down at her. She definitely works for dispatch; she practically reeks of it. Maybe that’s what gives me the boldness I need as I realize that I’m not even her direct target; Yoongi is.

Yoongi’s nice. I don’t think she is.

“Oh, everything is going fine. Honestly, I should get in touch with this artist. They’re very talented.”

The reporter’s eyebrows flick up, sensing a new method of attack. “Were you thinking of commissioning your own?”

“Honestly, I might consider it. Maybe it’ll make my aunts quit hounding me every Thanksgiving about my love life.”

With that, the paper is handed back to the security guard, but the reporter motions for him to keep it. Confused, he hands it back to me. I turn it over so I don’t get caught staring at it during the conference. That’s the last thing Yoongi or I need right now.

As the reporter takes her seat again, I can’t help but feel a little triumphant. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

🌙

12:22 ME: I never said you were forgiven, did I?

As soon as we get out of the press conference we are ushered into a van which takes us to another interview. I figure that now is as good a time as any to text Yoongi back, seeing that this morning I woke up late and was too flustered to come up with a response.

“Who are you texting?” Sebastian asks. “Is it your friend that always calls you?”

I consider lying to him for a moment, but realize that it might actually be nice for him to know. He can keep me from being unrealistic when I start to fangirl.

He may also help me to keep that promise I silently made a while ago: to not go so easy on Yoongi. Right now, it’s proving harder than expected to dislike him.

“Nosy.”

Sebastian rolls his eyes. “You’re grinning at your phone like an idiot, that only happens when you get texts from me.”

“Ha! Right. It’s a secret...kind of. Don’t tell anyone.”

“I’ll try my best not to.”

Taking an unnecessarily big breath, I spill my secret that I’ve kept for approximately 12 hours.

“It’s Yoongi.” When there’s no immediate reaction from him, I backpedal. “Also known as Suga?”

Before Sebastian can respond the ping of my phone pulls my attention away.

12:26 MYG: Oh good, you responded. I was getting worried you were actually mad. So is it alright if I keep texting you? I don’t want to mess with your schedule.

“You’re smiling again.”

I look up to see an annoyed Sebastian Stan. He’s not very good at sharing attention, and it would appear that Yoongi is no exception.

“How strange, I didn’t realize.”

12:27 ME: That’s fine.

12:27 ME: But I am mad!!

12:28 MYG: Hahaha sure

“Cara, we’re here.” Sebastian says as he clambers out of the car. I follow after him, pocketing my phone.

There’s a few cameras outside waiting for us, but we’re able to make it inside the building without too much fuss. Once we make it into the room where we’re supposed to have one of our interviews, Sebastian pulls a paper out of his back pocket.

“What’s that?”

He smirks at me, unfolding the paper. It’s the fanart from earlier. I didn’t even realize that he’d pocketed it.

“Tell Suga I say hi, at least.” He poses with the papers just below his chin, giving the best puppy dog eyes he can muster up. It’s rather convincing, if I’m being honest.

“You weirdo,” I mumble as I snap a photo. I’m quick to send it off to Yoongi, captioning it.

12:37 ME: Sebastian says hello.

Our interviewer is just about to come into the room when I receive a response. Not having the self-restraint to put my phone away, I quickly take a look. Sebastian peers over my shoulder, curious as well.

12:40 MYG: Winter Soldier!!!

12:41 MYG: Hi. Did he draw that?

I cackle, quickly translating the message. Sebastian looks appalled. “I have better things to do than draw fanart!”

“Yeah, like write fanfiction, right?”

He grins at me. “Obviously.”

12:42 ME: No, but he says he’s writing fanfiction.

12:42 ME: We’re about to start an interview rn but I’ll tell him to send you his rough draft later. 😏

Interviews pass, and it isn’t until I’m finishing up dinner that my phone pings with another message from Yoongi. I nearly impale Sebastian with my fork as I lunge for my charging phone; he’d come into my hotel room to eat dinner with me.

“Watch it!” Sebastian grunts, shoveling food into his mouth at an alarming rate. We were promised lunch by Rhea earlier but it ended up just being a small snack as she was whisked away by a long-lost friend. The two of us managed to control our hunger for as long as possible, but Sebastian wasted no time calling up some food for us before we even got back to the hotel.

We barely beat the delivery boy here. He wasn’t all that surprised that we were American. Sebastian had tried out some very choppy Cantonese. What did end up surprising him was that he was delivering a meal to the Winter Soldier. I was able to sneak into my room undetected while the boy’s eyes were bugging out as Sebastian signed his hat.

“Sorry,” I mumble around my food.

9:12 MYG: I’m still waiting for the rough draft.

I translate the message to Sebastian, who cackles and promises to get started on it as soon as possible.

9:14 ME: Sorry, Sebastian said he’s still trying to write it. I’ll let you know when it’s ready!

9:15 MYG: That’s alright. I’ll be patient.

9:15 MYG: I saw a clip from your press conference today.

My stomach lurches as I realize what clip it was that he probably saw. Does he think I’m some crazy fangirl now? I mean, I might be. But he doesn’t need to know that.

9:18 ME: I didn’t get you in trouble, did I?

Sebastian notices my change in expression and shoots me a worried look. “Everything alright?” I shrug.

“Yeah...I just hope I didn’t get him in trouble with what I said at the press conference today. I think that reporter was trying to go against him somehow.”

“He’s a big boy. Did he say anything about it?”

I look back down at the messages even though I already know what he said. My stomach lurches again as I see the three little dots at the bottom of the screen.

“No, not really. He just said he saw a clip or something. He’s typing right now, though.”

9:20 MYG: I thought I was the worrier. No, you didn’t. How was the rest of your day?

“What’d he say?” Sebastian grabs our cartons of food, tossing them into the wastebasket.

“He’s just…”

“Are you blushing?!” My friend stares at me from across the room, eyes wide. “No way! You like him!”

“No! No I don’t!”

“Yes you do, don’t lie to me! You’re so into him!” Sebastians hurries back over grinning wide. “Wow, he must be a good texter.”

That really is helping my blush. “Nooo, he’s not. He’s just nice. That’s it. It’s just fun having someone nice to talk to, you know? He feels really bad about everything and - Sebastian quit it - and it’s just sweet of him to care. That’s it.”

Sebastian stops looking at me with his puppy dog eyes and leans back in his chair, a contemplative look overtaking his features. “I thought I was nice to talk to.”

I pause for a second, breath getting caught in my throat. “Y-you are. I didn’t mean it like that.”

He shakes his head, giving me an award-winning smile. “No, I know. Aren’t you going to respond?”

“Oh! Yeah!” I focus on my phone again. There’s an uneasy feeling rising in me at Sebastian’s comment, but I brush it off for now. He’s always been bad at sharing his friends. He’s the same with Anthony Mackey, I’ve seen it up close.

9:25 ME: True, I’ll let you worry. My day was good, just finished up dinner. How was yours?

“There, I-” I look up proudly only to find Sebastian’s chair empty and the door clicking shut. “...I did it.”

MYG: It was great. Got lots of work done.

MYG: Have you decided if you’re going to come to the festival or not? Also, Bong-cha says hi.

ME: Wow, she can’t even tell me herself. No respect. No, I honestly didn’t even think about it today...but I’m pretty sure we’re all going either way.

MYG: Haha she’s not happy with your comment.

MYG: She’s reading over my shoulder, I promise I’m not reading our conversation out loud. Is your director making you go?

I just miss the chance to respond as my phone lights up with an incoming call.

“Bong-cha, quit reading my conversations you little weirdo.”

“Hey, how’s it going with you? I’m great, thanks for asking.”

“Are you still in the room with everyone?”

“No, just left. You should see Yoongi right now, though.”

“Why?”

“He looks like a kid in a candy store every time he gets a text from you. It’s adorable.”

“Yah!”

My friend’s cackle soars through the phone, and I swat at the air as though I could somehow get her to stop.

“Please tell me you guys are coming to the festival.” Bong-cha’s sudden change in tone has me pausing, chewing on my lip.

“We are. Why?”

“Come stay with me!” Bong-cha shouts. I jump up, a grin already working its way onto my face. “It’ll be just like old times. And, I was looking at the schedule you sent me...there’s a couple of nights where you’re done relatively early. We could go do something fun!”

I sigh, rubbing my temples. My phone is buzzing with incoming texts, but I ignore them for now. “Yeah, that’ll be fun. I’m not sure if I can come stay with you-”

“C’mon,” Bong-cha whines. “I never get to see you anymore. We’ll make it work! Oh, I’ve gotta go, Tae brought Yeontan. But let me know!”

With that, Bong-cha cuts the line and leaves me on the other side caught between excitement at seeing my friend and dread at having to come face to face with Yoongi. Texting is one thing; but actually spending time with him?

“Just be his friend,” I mumble to myself. Settling down, I attack my food once more. The space where Sebastian sat before makes me furrow my brows.

What’s going on with him? I mean sure, we’re really good friends. But we still see each other constantly, why would he be so possessive?

It’s probably all just in my head. My phone light up with the texts I received a couple of minutes ago while I was still on the phone, and this time I physically cannot restrain the smile that comes through as I realize Yoongi is still texting me.

MYG: Really no pressure about the festival. I know Bong-cha really wants to see you, but please don’t feel like you have to come and hang out with us.

MYG: We’re not even that cool, anyways.

MYG: Are you just hanging out with Sebastian tonight??

I stare down at my phone for a moment, the smile being wiped from my face. Plopping down heavily on my bed, I close my eyes and power off my phone.

Yoongi is nice. So nice, apparently, that I can’t even tell now if he’s trying to get me to stay away. The fact is simple: he’s a nice man who has a reputation to uphold and is trying to keep everyone happy. That includes me.

He’s nice for texting me and trying to make sure I’m doing alright. Any decent human being would do that. But there’s also the fact that I’m new to this game in the spotlight and I know that I’m not going to be able to keep my feelings out of this.

I take a moment to breathe, forcing myself to push away the impending panic that sets in. This is no way to live, and I know that I’m only setting myself up for heartbreak when someday I don’t wake up to a good morning text from Yoongi.

It’s only been one day of communicating and I can already feel myself getting too attached.

Powering on my phone again, I flinch at the new texts.

9:17 MYG: Bong-cha just told me her evil plan. 😩 Did she tell you about it on the phone?

9:31 MYG: Sorry if you’re busy! Just text me back when you can. Let me know about your plans for the festival, too.

Even though I’m itching to text him back and waste away the rest of the night talking to him, there’s another more pressing matter I have to face. Quickly getting up and leaving my phone there in order to fight the temptation, I grab my room key and head a few rooms down. A quiet knock and a few seconds later and Sebastian is opening up his door.

He looks down at me warily, and I feel almost like we had a fight because of the way he’s looking at me. Emitting a loud sigh, he shakes it off and grins down at me in a way that makes me question if I even saw the previous expression at all.

“Hey,” I mumble out weakly. Moving past him into his room, he follows silently behind me.

“Hey…?”

Without another word I land face first onto his bed, the action pulling a laugh from him. Good. His laugh reminds me that this is real. This friendship is real, and Sebastian for all his annoying teasing, is a true friend.

Bong-cha is miles away and busy. She’s also biased. So Sebastian is the next best thing.

“I’m freaking out,” the pillow muffles my words but I know he hears me loud and clear. The mattress dips on one side as Sebastian settles onto it, and a moment later a hesitant hand begins kneading the flesh at my shoulders. I let out a satisfied sigh.

“What’s going on?” His tone is gentle, and the sound of it nearly tugs some tears out of my eyes.

“I’m pathetic, Sebastian.” I clutch his pillow and bury my face farther into it. “I’m so pathetic! I’ve literally never met the man before in my life, and I’ve spent the last 24 hours sending a few texts back and forth and I already feel like I’d jump off a cliff for him!”

Sebstian’s hands pause in their kneading for a fraction of a second before continuing on. “I told you you liked him.”

I turn to look at him, and again I catch that wary gaze before he drops it. “Really? ‘I told you so’? Rude. I need help, Sebastian. It’s never going to happen, he’s just being nice, and I just need to be cordial and get through this. Right?”

He nods, contemplating a bit. “Sure. He seems like a great guy. But at the end of the day, the two of you are just caught up in a weird media frenzy and that’s it. Is that what you want me to say?”

“I guess.” I huff, flipping onto my back as I stare up at the ceiling. “Why do I like him though? Am I just desperate?”

Sebastian stands up and laughs. “No way. If you were desperate you would be falling for me, not some inconvenient, crazy famous kpop star.”

Somehow his words make me laugh, the feeling easing the panic a bit. “You’re right, I guess.”

🌙

I end up passing out in Sebastian’s room only to wake up at 3 am and find myself a little too close for comfort to my co-star. Gently untangling myself from his mess of arms and legs, I sneak out of his room and back to my own.

Half-asleep and looking the part, I groan at my reflection in the mirror as I try to brush my teeth. Pointing at my reflection with my toothbrush, I give myself a pep talk.

“You are not pathetic,” pause to spit, “you’re not desperate,” rinse out the brush, “you’re just friendly. You’re practicing making new friends, and Yoongi as well as all of BTS are a part of that. That’s it.”

So when I finally settle down into my cold and very empty bed, I don’t feel very guilty sending Yoongi a late-night text. He never texted me again after the last one I saw, and I easily brush off the feeling of disappointment and replace it with relief.

3:13 ME: Yeah, we’re going. No, I have no idea what the evil plan is. Do we need to come up with a counter-plan? And sorry I never responded...I was busy annoying Sebastian and left my phone in my room. Good morning! This is payback for your late texts last night!

I fall asleep easily after that, double checking that my phone is on silent before snuggling deep down into my pillows.

Honestly, what do I even have to worry about? Everything is going great with promotions, the movie is finished and should be well received, and in a couple of days I’ll get to go see Bong-cha and make new friends!

Into the silence, I can’t help but laugh. I’m not dumb enough to believe that everything will go as planned.

Especially not as my dreams take over and the only thing I can dream of is a man in a black suit, turning around to greet me over and over again. I can never quite see his face, but somehow I know him.

Even in my unconscious state, I lie to myself and say that it’s not Min Yoongi.

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[insfiringyou]

BTS - Most likely to date an ‘Idol’ (Most to Least)

Our opinions only. You can find out about the professions/careers of our headcanon OC girlfriends here (only Jimin’s girlfriend is an Idol).

Our full masterlist can be found here for many more scenarios, original art, quizzes, preferences and much more!

Please like and subscribe if you enjoy our content! Reblogs are much appreciated. 

Content below the cut

1. Jimin

We see Jimin as being someone who would want to date someone with similar interests to him, and not have specialist knowledge that was too far out of his comfort zone. With an Idol, he would be able to relate to her on a more personal level; being able to sympathise with her experiences and lean on her for support. He would love being able to join her in dance practice and in singing duets together, even if they were just at home together. A part of him would also get a kick out of fans ‘shipping’ them together, finding the fanart made about them both super cute. If he was with someone who had debuted more recently (such as within our headcanon fics - where his girlfriend Ara becomes an Idol part-way through their relationship), he would find great comfort in being able to offer her advice, such as how to relax her muscles after a long day of dancing, or how to sooth her throat to improve her vocals. He also would not mind the fame aspect of being with someone famous, though he may get occasionally jealous of the attention she is getting from other men. He would feel comfortable showing her off at events such as red carpet premieres and confirming their relationship through their agencies.

2. Jungkook

As someone who has mostly grown up among other groups, we think it would be natural for Jungkook for fall for another Idol. He is incredibly passionate about singing, and the thought of being able to collaborate with his girlfriend (either formally, or just in the shower at home) would give him serious butterflies. We also think being with another Idol would give him more confidence to work on solo projects, such as writing more lyrics and producing his own songs. He’d love the support and feedback that she gave throughout the process and also want to help her with her own music. Although the hectic schedule they both had would mean he missed her so much when they were both busy, he’d love being able to steal little moments backstage together during award shows and events. His pride when she won an award would be next to nothing; he would be unable to contain his happiness.

3. RM

Namjoon is someone who is known to have quite a good knowledge of the members of girl groups. While we do not think he would seek out a relationship with another Idol particularly, if he met someone who he liked who happened to be an Idol, he would not let that get in the way of his happiness. He would understand and be prepared for the challenges which would come with dating someone famous; especially how little time they would get to have together. However, he would take a mature approach in their relationship and would find the time to make sure they still got to spend quality time with each other, either in person or far apart, using technology to help them keep in touch. As the leader of his group, he would have a good insight into the pressures of the industry, and would want to support his girlfriend with any struggles she might face. Although he would be likely to keep the relationship private at first, as it became more serious, he would enjoy being able to sit with her at events. To the outside world, they would seem like a very stable and classy couple. 

4. V

While we do not think Taehyung is someone who follows girl groups or Idols incredibly closely, usually feeling more drawn to actresses, we think he would find dating an Idol more convenient in a way, though our instincts tell us he would be more likely to go for someone in a less famous group, who does not have as much media attention. He would love the cutesy aesthetic of typical Kpop, and is also someone who would absolutely love singing duets in private, often in the shower or just around the house. Dating someone who is almost as busy as him would relieve some of the pressure of being a ‘good boyfriend’, as he would know she would understand that he cannot be with her all the time. Likewise, he would get a thrill out of initially keeping the relationship a secret and hiding from the press when going on dates. 

5. Suga

Although we think Yoongi is someone who would crave a more normal relationship and would be quite unlikely in the long run to date someone famous, we realised that if it suddenly came out he was secretly dating an Idol, we would not be surprised. He would definitely not ‘look for’ someone famous to date, but if he met someone who was just as passionate about music as he was, especially if they wrote and produced their own songs, either publicly or privately, he would not let the fact she was an Idol stop him from being with her. He would enjoy seeing her during events such as award shows, even if they did not sit together or get to spend a lot of time together; just seeing her from across the room would be enough to give him butterflies. Likewise, he would be quietly proud of her achievements, probably not showing his emotions on camera, but waiting until they were in private to show the extent of his love for her. He is someone who values a woman’s personality above all else and we see him as loving someone with a similar sense of humour to him. If an Idol had these things, he would fall for her regardless of her profession, though we do see him as suited to someone less famous or a music producer more than an Idol. 

6. J-Hope

We don’t really think Hoseok would have strong opinions either way about dating an Idol, but it would not occur to him to pursue someone with the same career as him. Instead, we think he would be naturally drawn towards girls who have slightly different interests to him who he could learn from. He’d also enjoy dating someone with a more ‘stable’ career, so he always knows she will be there for him when he returns home. However, if he did date an Idol he would love dancing with her; teaching her new moves and enjoying the adrenaline rush which would come with the vigorous exercise. It would be something he’d love doing as a couple, and he’d find it hard not to join in if she wanted to show off her choreography. 

7. Jin

Although he would not be against dating an Idol if he met someone he really liked, we feel Jin would prefer a more traditional relationship where he can rely on his girlfriend to be there for him when he comes home. The pressure of dating someone famous might be too much for him, with it being harder to find quality time together to go on dates or do things together such as cooking and creating a home. He is someone we feel craves a family of his own, and we think he would find this difficult to do if the other person had a hectic career. Once he has a family, we feel he would settle down and semi-retire from music. This would be more stressful if he also had to ask his girlfriend to give up her dreams to be with him. 

***

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[fyeahaudiodrama]

Man, this is definitely something I've thought a lot about in passing over the years of both creating and being a fan of audio fiction, and I think you've already hit on some of the big items I've thought about regarding:

A. Audience size - the percentage of people who actively participate in fan culture out of the total audience is always going to be very small, so if you have a show that's only getting a few hundred/thousand downloads per ep, the number of active fan creators is going to be probably less than you can count on one hand - which is also probably going to discourage them from making a ton a fan content too. Fan creators often need positive attention to keep creating as well, so if there's only a small sphere cheering them on (especially in terms of fanfiction, which the creators might not even allow themselves to read) they might not keep up with those projects.

(This also ties into a bit of an A.1, which is audience growth and how much can your audience grow and engage new members based on your existing materials. I feel like non-visual mediums already start two steps behind visual ones in this respect. We don't have gifable moments to grab peoples, or comic panels to share, and we have to be extremely good about clips we share if we want potential audiences to spend the time of day to even turn the audio on. Gifs and fanarts can actually be a huge attractor into new fandoms - I know I've started multiple shows or movies just because I saw a really great gifset and I wanted to know "what's going on with that" - and we just have less to inspire that kind of creation in the first place)

B. Audience distance - it can definitely feel weird to be creating fan content for the works of someone you know personally; knowing the original creator could actually look at your interpretation of their work and be weirded out or say "hm, not really what i was going for." Because weirdly enough, fanworks can wind up feeling even more personal than original works sometimes. They really are like "hm, i have seen your work as a whole and started fixating on this one particular character or ship or theme and will now create my own hyper-concentrated monument to this fixation. Yes I am posting it publicly but if you judge me I will weep." I know there are some people who are way too gung-ho about going straight to creators for their approval or recognition of fanworks and interpretations, but for many more, I can imagine not having that reliable distance between creators and themselves would be a deterrent.

And to me, the big one C. We're getting what we need, combined with the D. of We need more room to play - the most engaged fandoms out there are almost always going to be the ones that feel like they're always just on the cusp of getting what they want out of character relationships and plots. That's where fanworks come from, after all - rarely 1-to-1 recreations or continuations of canon, but the what-ifs and the wouldn't it be greats AUs and the "author's dead, my canon now." And outside of that, it's also creators inserting themself into the narrative in some way - OCs and self-inserts and MCxY/N. So yes, it's partly the "we're getting what we need," because these are shows made largely within our creative control and already meant to fulfill our desires, not something picked apart by a studio until its the barest bones of itself, stringing audiences along with questionable creative decisions meant to keep them frustrated. But I think it's also that, given the nature of audio fiction - both in how relatively small in scope some of them can be out of production necessity and in how personal they can feel, given their proximity to original creator - some fan creators can just wind up feeling like "well, this is clearly already its own thing and I don't have a place in this"

(And there's also the framing device aspect of audio fiction that many of them still adhere to in some sense - it's just harder to imagine the wider world of this show when you mostly hear of it through a few perspectives from a very limited setting)

Where are all the Audio Fiction Fandoms?

To be clear, this isn't me complaining, and I know, there are plenty of fandoms for audio fiction podcasts and the like.

But I have always found it weird how few shows get the big, self-sustaining kinds of fandoms, the ones where there's always at least a little trickle of fanfic and fanart. So weird, in fact, that I've been thinking about it on and off for the last 5-6 years, and I have a few theories I'd like to share with y'all as to why, and to see if I can't get some feedback from the audio fiction fans on Tumblr.

Theory 1: Audience Size

The first theory is mostly about demographics - fundamentally, a fandom has to be large enough to sustain itself, and only a certain number of audience members are going to become the kind of fans who make fan works, so ultimately, an audio fiction show needs to get popular enough before fan works start appearing.

There's plenty of support for this theory, of course - Welcome to Night Vale, Wolf 359, The Adventure Zone and The Magnus Archives are titans in the fiction podcast space, and indeed they have big fandoms. But, with that said, there's plenty of other podcasts that are just as big that don't have fandoms, so this can't explain it all.

Theory 2: Audience Distance

This one is similar to the first, but subtly different. A few creators in the space I've talked to have noted that they'd never make fan works of their friend's shows - that feels weird, like deliberately treading on their friend's work. They don't have this feeling when playing in big fandoms, or fandoms where they don't know the creator. This implies to me that fans need a certain level of distance from creators in order to feel comfortable playing with that fictional space. While this is less the case now with the fall of Twitter, a lot of shows, for better or worse, used social media as the primary pillar of their marketing, as well as using Patreons with special access as part of their monetization strategies.

In short, it's never been easier to get close to the creators of your favourite shows, and for smaller shows, the most exuberant fans - the kinds who might make fan works - are also the kinds of fans who will take those opportunities to get closer to the creators. In short, there just might not enough social distance for fans to be comfortable creating works, not at least until the audience grows sufficiently that a creator simply cannot be that close with their entire audience.

This theory I'm not so sure about these days - this one is probably a lot more dependent on the generation of fandom you belong to. Older generations of fandom are more likely to have this queasiness around creator closeness, because they were creating in a time where fandom was a shadow realm, desperately hidden from The Powers That Be, and "No Copyright Infringement Intended" was carved into fan works as an eldritch attempt at legal protection.

Theory 3: Audience Age

To be clear - there are fans of all ages out there. But it is clear to me that fandom trends young, and part of that is just the time needed to participate in fan culture - creating and consuming takes a lot of time, time that tends gets scarcer and scarcer as you get older (there are obvious exceptions of course - stay-at-home mothers have consistently been a major force in fandoms!). It's possible that audio fiction fans just tend to trend older, and thus don't have the time available to create and consume fan works.

Honestly, I'm not sure how relevant this one is - Audio fiction is becoming more popular with younger audiences and slowly shedding the "old fuddy-duddyness" that surrounded it when I was first getting into the space. And, ya know, there are audio fiction fandoms out there, so obviously either the youth aspect of fandom isn't a thing, or it is, but audio fiction audiences are still trending young anyway.

Theory 4: We're getting what we need!

A lot of academic discourse often focuses on the idea that fandoms create for a reason - and that reason is often to focus on parts of a fiction that the original text, for whatever reason, doesn't. The most obvious form of this is the many, many, many examples of ships and erotic fanfiction. You, as a fan, watch a show, see something between two characters, and get frustrated that the show isn't giving you more of that, won't make what is clearly obvious to you, explicit. So, you consume and/or create fan works that help relieve that tension instead.

Or, in shows where the focus is primarily on plot advancement or action, you feel a desire to get to know the characters better - you see the stirrings of these characters, you want to know them better, but the show just isn't the type of show to give you that slow, character-heavy scene/episode that you know would give you exactly what you need, so, again, you go consume and/or create fan works to fix that.

It's very possible that a lot of audio fiction is already built to give these sorts of fan audiences what they want. There's already romantic relationships, characters are openly queer, the nature of the audio medium means that character-heavy scenes are something that the medium directs creators towards, so there's already a lot of character engagement. So, for many fandoms, there just isn't much need to create fan works - there's no tension between what the show is and what it could be.

Theory 5: We can make our own at home!

One interesting theory is that one reason that people make fandom is because, fundamentally, the creators understand that they're not going to be making a film, or a TV show, or a book. They have creative urges, and they're not in a situation in life where they're likely to overcome the enormous barriers to entry in mainstream media, so, in combination with the stuff in theory 3, they play in other people's worlds instead. They know that there's already an audience who will consume their work (they're part of that fan community, after all!), so they can get that validation of creation without needing to create their own TV show or film or book, etc.

Podcasts, however, are different. Now, it's not true to say that podcasts have low barriers to entry - to create a podcast, there's a lot of skills you either need to learn yourself, or find collaborators with those skills. But, those barriers to entry are much lower than visual media. At the very least, audio production is significantly cheaper and less complicated for an equivalent runtime.

Better, podcasts have absurdly low barriers to publication - There are no gatekeepers to satisfy, no distributors you have to convince. Once your thing is made, pretty much no one can stop you from distributing that work. You don't even really need to pay for a podcast host - there's a few free podcast hosts now. So, once you've done the work, pretty much nothing stops you from publishing said work.

So... If you're a creative fan, who loved a show but thinks you can do better? Well, you can! You don't need to play in other people's spaces, you can be inspired by the podcasts you listen to to create your own original work, in the same medium and genre.

What do y'all think? Which of these feel right, which of these feel obviously wrong? Are you part of a audio fiction fandom? What does your fandom feel like to you on the inside? As a audio fiction creator, it's kinda hard for me to get into the inside of fandom culture, so insider perspectives would be super neat for me, so please reblog this to anyone you feel might have an interesting perspective on the whole thing!

[erin-epica]

Woop-de-doo, it's Lord Scarlet stuff part 2

This was a post I planned on making WAY sooner, but I accidentally lost the original draft so I didn't even bother to try doing it gain until recently. And just now something happened that changed everything; and I mean what both DID and DIDN'T automatically give me the right to post this. I almost deleted my first post at that, and here's why:

In the first post, I mentioned that when I initially found out Vic was lying to me, I was quiet about it and just stopped talking to her out of fear, and then when I asked for help on what to do I was told to leave without a word. I don't think that was entirely the right thing to do in the long run, because it may have been the easiest way out but I'm better off with proper closure.

And the thoughts she left me scarred with never left my head. Time and time again, I'd find myself crying myself to sleep again at the thought of Brock forced to hide romantic feelings for Master Frown and not know who he was anymore while Frown was left unaware and in love with someone else, even if it wasn't Lord Scarlet.

And the pain sometimes came with a want to confront Vic one last time and open up to her about how I wasn't blind anymore, and how much she really hurt me. But I, again, wass scared she wouldn't care and would cut me off.

So when the pain got worse, I did what any coward would do: tell everyone else about my pain.

Now I DID tell friends of mine other than the Unikitty Amino staff about what happened, and they were all sympathetic and understanding about it. But then I told almost everyone, and then made my vent post on here (as well as Wattpad). As much as I wouldn't want to call them call out posts, they might as well have been. I didn't want people to harass Vic and make her mad...but at the same time I kinda did. I was too scared to face her that I was hoping that someone would do it for me. I even tagged accounts of Vic's. Not cool of me at all.

Now the Tumblr and Wattpad posts got me pretty much more of the same: sympathy, and acceptance that I had moved on. No one came after Vic but we could still agree that none of her actions were justified (I even got @careeningle's attention...sorry about the aneurysm)

Now comes the next important thing that happened, because I mentioned @friffinx kinda being responsible for me getting back to the Lord Scarlet Amino to write the message that I did. In it, I said that after I sent the message I did I would leave the Amino again & for good.

Well...I lied. I still checked in every day for the same reason I started venting: I kinda wanted Vic to see my message. Even if she'd ban me, I wanted to see if she'd ever notice my message. And that would've been the end of it if it wasn't for Brook.

I briefly mentioned Brook in the last post. She was another OC of Vic's, and was exactly to Brock what Lord Scarlet was to Master Frown; a carbon copy love interest. Except Lord Scarlet was far more developed and drawn & written about more. Brook didn't even really have a distinct personality, she was a girl Brock and that was it. But with reptilian overlord eyes. (To be fair, Vic drew Brock like that sometimes too)

(I didn't include Vic's art unless it was in chat bgs or whatever in the last post, but for the sake of referencing/proving a point, this is what Brook looks like)

No one really paid attention to her for the longest time. She was there in the fanfics because according to Vic, "Scarlet needed a friend." And like I said in the first post, Brook wasn't said to be canon so I never found a reason to really care for her. Plus I can only recall someone giving Vic fanart with her, and it was with Scarlet (@plastic-papercuts made it, go follow her she's gr8).

But then one day, for some reason, something in me clicked. I actually thought of a story idea for her. Somehow this bland cutout of a character had potential in my eyes, and I weirdly started liking her because of it. She suddenly felt...more real. I got pretty invested in my idea and newfound interpretation of Brook, and describing it would make this post way longer than it is so if anyone asks about it, I'll probably make a whole other post about it.

Anyway, I came up with a little plan: draw out this idea in the form of a comic and post it to the Lord Scarlet Amino. And see if Vic gets suspicious and checks out my profile and then maybe bans me. It felt a bit better than total silence and she'd probably see that someone gave a crap about Brook after all.

So I started a new chat called "It's Brook" to share my progress with the other members of the Amino, which there weren't too many of but we had fun in it. It was basically me, @friffinx , @soapycocacola, @plastic-papercuts, and a few others who aren't on Tumblr (or at least don't think are) chatting about how awful Vic was and calling out her lazy art tactics like tracing and using assets/clips right from the show. And of course me sharing the comic progress I was making. Again, this doesn't make anything we did right but it felt good getting everything off our chests. We were like a secret rebellion against an absentee dictator. One time Vic came online as we were chatting and even viewed my profile, but nothing happened. And it stayed that way until I opened Amino up one morning. For those of you who don't have it, the menu shows all the communities you're in when you open the app, and all of mine were there except for the Lord Scarlet Amino. I assumed I must've been banned overnight. But I wasn't banned from Vic's other Amino so I commented on her wall on that one. For Vic's sake, I won't show how the conversation went (and I'll explain why at the end) but here's how it went:

Me: Did you ban me from the LS Amino?

Her: There was drama in one of the chat rooms and I'm not having it. I didn't want to do it and it's not a big deal It's just an amino and you're still on this one AM I RIGHT?

Me: Yes, but I assume you read my updated bio. As I hoped you would.

Her: Nope.

Me: Oh. But you know what? Ban me from here too for all I care, I feel like you deserve to know why I left and came back: *insert me finally telling her how I know she lied, that she hurt me, and what I did was wrong here*

Her: Lol ok be that person but keep in mind that I'm one of those people that doesn't gibe a fuck lol

And then she banned me from that Amino too before I could type and submit a fitting farewell reply.

At least I finally got all the built-up emotional pain out of me, but it did help me realize something important: we never really were friends. I wanted more of her content despite all her red flags as a person so I tried enduring them, thinking it'd be worth it, and she only kinda cared about me when I was being a yes man. She never kept any promises and didn't respect me the same way I did her. So I could at least feel confident knowing she most likely didn't care at all when I first left.

@friffinx and the others didn't get banned, though, and Friff even started another chat on the LS Amino called "It's Brook 2" where they talked more about Vic being a terrible person. And it didn't take long for her to shut that chat down too and ban everyone from it that time. Friff sent me screenshots of what happened next (which again, I'm not gonna show), where Vic basically had a meltdown. She changed her username to "Little Miss Guillotine", and made a post about her being "finished with the bushit". In it, she announced that she didn't even like Unikitty! anymore but was still gonna keep/use Lord Scarlet because she wanted to. The part that made my blood almost boil wasn't her views on the show, she's free to have her opinion and I couldn't care less about it. What DID was that she acknowledged that she lied the whole time because "she didn't care anymore" and said that it was "our faults for believing it in the first place" and that "we needed to grow up"/"stop brining it up"

Ooooh boy, victim blaming, my favortie...

Since then she changed the Lord Scarlet Amino's theme to make it about The Penguins of Madagacar (again, fine with me). Either way she was still a narcissist and I thought she'd, sadly, likely never change. And my friends and I all thought that was the end of it.

Until a few hours ago...

I was browsing the Unikitty Amino and saw a new member named BlueCat. Didn't think anything else of it until the user PMed me. And this is what happened:

I didn't know what to think other than "I thought this day would never come", I was that shaken. This was so left field-ish that what else could I do but believe her? It didn't even seem suspicious or like she was trying to be a suck up, that wasn't Vic at all.

But the one thing I knew I had to do was ban her because even if she meant well and did it for the right(?) reasons, but I still asked if I should in the staff chat. @girly-glorious (also amazing so pls check her out :D) told me that yes, it was ban evasion so since I'm a leader too now I could to it on my own. But I knew I had to message Vic first and Girly told me to be careful, so this is what I sent:

And then I banned her, the end (not really)

Now I don't understand how or why this sudden behavior change happened but I don't know if I should question it in case it's personal. But again, I at least want to believe that she's really being genuine and had a change of heart because never in a million years could I imagine her being this mature. Again, she didn't demand that I forgive me or probably even expect me to. But the message still does leave me feeling sorry for her.

Now I thought that was the real end of it until I see the Penguins of Madagascar/old Lord Scarlet Amino on my sideboard.

She unbanned me.

Now I don't know where we'll go from here, if anywhere. I'm not too sure if I can really let my guard down around someone who hurt me so badly just in case she does it again. So I may not talk to her again, but if she really asks something from me, I might try and build up courage to ask her more about how she came to apologizing to me. Plus she followed me on Wattpad too.

But this is why I didn't show our conversation right before my ban or her "f.u." posts. Because I don't want people seeing more of Vic's past behavior and possibly embarrassing her about it if she ever sees this. But that's kinda why I felt like it was 100% necessary to finally make a sequel post in the end; I'm hoping people at least acknowledge Vic has changed and don't keep thinking about based on what I shared out of attempts to gain sympathy like a crybaby.

So before I go: PLEASE, DON'T GO AFTER OR HARASS VIC. I KNOW YOU PROBABLY WON'T, BUT THIS IS SERIOUS. ALL THE PROBLEMATIC LORD SCARLET DRAMA IS STUFF OF THE PAST AND NEITHER OF US WANT TO KEEP LOOKING BACK ON IT.

I hope this helps whoever's reading as much as it did me.

[felikatze]

(hands in my bad scan with the colors all messed up)

Hello, my name’s Feli and I’m excited to be participating in @khoc-week!

Here you have my two OCs for this week, Hibiki and Ai!

They’re two kids living on Destiny Islands, and the reason they first spawned into existence is my adoration for the Outside PoV. But for that, I needed PoV characters! And with support from @rayjay-ice-cream (who also pretty much finalized their designs through fanart) I got overly attached and developed them into the characters you see now.

There are several things here I want to elaborate on in the coming week, like Hibiki’s “conspiracy theories” or Ai’s part-time job, so I’m excited!

Under the cut you can actually find the scene they were first named in, Chapter 9 of Two Introverts and a Really Weird Cat, which is about Vanitas, in the form of a Flood, causing havoc along with Namine and Repliku on Destiny Islands. Here poking fun at Hibiki, specifically, after previously accidentally ambushing him in the library.

History lessons are boring. Destiny Islands doesn’t even have that much history, Hibiki thinks. Just that stuff about the first settlers fleeing some war. He’d read about that already.

“Though the original hierachy of the Dandelions remains unknown, from this brief letter to a friend we can glean that they were seperated into five factions…,” the teacher drones on and on.

He leans backward in his seat. Why did that matter anyways? Whoever found the islands did so because whatever group they came from sucked. That one book he finished today shed way more light on that. Something about betrayal and distrust which made some people leave across the ocean, and tada! They settled here. That’s it.

With nothing else better to do, his gaze drifts across the classroom. Those two new kids light up over every new fact, delighted to learn everything. That’d be over in a week. Or maybe they’re actually studious. Ignoring the hair, they look identical to Sora and Riku though. Cousins, yeah right. Hibiki won’t press it now, despite that. He’s been in trouble enough.

Speaking of trouble, Repliku stares out the window, as he usually does, with his chin resting on his hand. The other mysterious sibling of local celebrities, Naminé, doodles in her sketchbook, same as usual.

Ai next to him has her face buried in the crook of her arm. She’s not even pretending to be awake. Typical. She’ll ask for his notes later, and he’ll score some pastries from her part-time job in return. Having a friend working at a bakery is awesome, even if she only gets to take the stale pastries home.

Back to looking anywhere but the blackboard, he spots something red on the lattice underneath Naminé’s desk. Or rather, something red spots him.

The thing from the library winks at him, oh geez. Naminé’s in danger. First though, “Hey, Ai, wake up. The thing’s back.”

She rises like the dead. Might as well be nocturnal, that girl, and mumbles “The cat?”

“’s not a cat, screw off. Look, underneath Naminé’s desk.”

Just as Ai finally musters enough energy to turn her head around, the thing closes its ruby-red eyes, therefore rendering it practically invisible.

“I don’t see anything. Maybe you should get more sleep.” Oh, like she’s one to talk. “I’m gonna get more shut-eye.” And she does, head dropping right back to her desk. For a moment, Hibiki considers snitching, a propped up book isn’t exactly inconspicuous cover, but then he won’t get any pastries in exchange for notes. He knows she’s got work today, and they’ve got those scones on Wednesday...

Back to the thing, it’s back. And winking at him again. It knows what it’s doing and he hates it. Shadow creatures are real, this on hates him, specifically. Speaking of, this has to do with Sora’s family for sure. One more mystery to the pile, like where that Ventus guy disappears to after he visits.

“Ven’s favourites are the choco scones, by the way,” says Ai, adding only to the conversation whenever it furthers his misery.

“You’re the only one making your life miserable.” And he said all that out loud. Great.

The thing, creature, whatever’s eyes narrow at the name. This weird creature under Naminé’s desk also hates Ventus specifically, wherever he may be. Doesn’t seem like it’ll eat anyone’s face at the moment, so hopefully it’s safe. If anyone’s dead tomorrow, he’ll know why.

More importantly, “You’re on nickname basis with that guy? How’d you even meet?”

She twirls her hair around her finger. Hibiki has known her long enough to know this is the universal signal that she thinks someone’s being stupid. “Did you seriously forget I work for Sora’s mom. How���d you think I know so much about that family?”

“I kinda assumed you’re omnipotent.” Out of the corner of his eye, the creature waves at him. Whenever Ai deigns to glance at it, it disappears. Life is nothing but suffering.

“Listen, you can’t have met Ventus and not be on nickname basis with him. I swear his name’s not Ventus it’s ‘I’m Ventus! Call me Ven!’” She pitches up her voice as she speaks, and the creature delights at her mockery. There is a backstory here, among the five million others no one ever tells him.

“Okay, whatever. That’s not the weirdest thing. Do you know where he keeps vanishing off to?”

“If you wanna stalk him go do it yourself.”

Stalk? Oh, he would never, it’s just the islands aren’t that big and there really aren’t other settlements, so obviously Hibiki is just concerned-

“Yeah, yeah. Stop sputtering. He’s not homeless at any rate.”

“What about his brother then?” That other blonde one, Ro- something, visited far more often. And his skateboard is really cool.

“Didn’t I tell you he’s dead or something?”

“Roxas’s dead?”

“Roxas? No way. Ven and Roxas aren’t siblings, I said that already.”

“I don’t believe you.” They’re identical.

“I dunno how’d he be twins with someone our age. Ven’s twenty-seven.”

“I’m sorry, Ven’s what?!”

Somebody clears their throat. A second to late, Hibiki realizes that someone is the teacher.

“Hibiki, Ai, would you like to share with the class?”

“No, sir, sorry.”

“Good, now pay attention. This is important history! Many have theorized on the true nature of Lux, but the most widely accepted theory came from a man named….”

And the rest of the class passes without incident, except for that infuriating dark face that’ll likely taunt him in his dreams.

[coldwordsburningheart]

RULES

AGE: I won’t roleplay with ANYONE younger than fourteen. I have nothing against younger roleplayers but I am not going to plot anything with someone who shouldn’t even have a phone or social media at least. (Yes, I am not an oldie, gen z here but this won’t change anything.)

NSFW: Mun is over 18. That means this is a free NSFW blog and I am open to roleplay anything. I have a few triggers that you'll find if you read all of my rules. I don't need to say that I won’t roleplay anything sexual with minors. I’ll have to ask your age if we do something like this. BOTH mun and muses need to be over eighteen. If your mun is not in proper age we can stick to the soft stuff only (hugging etc.) ATTENTION. I do NOT age up Shoto for the reason of smut. If you are not able to understand this, stay away from this blog.

SHIPPING: By the way I portray Shoto, he is biromantic. That means that I will ship him with both males and females but I prefer to stick to male characters. As long as the female character is well written, there’s always a chance to ship him with her. I have to admit I’m picky with female OCs because in my experience their portrayal is too shallow. Shoto is not just romantic. He needs to share a deeper bond with his partner.

TAGGING: I will write smut stuff under the READ MORE tool and I will use the tag: #smut. When it comes to triggers, I will try and tag some heavy matters under the tag: #tw: yourwarninggoeshere. I’ll use a space after ‘tw:’. You can tell me your triggers by sending me a message or an ask. Right now I tag anything that is written in my TRIGGERS PAGE (You can find it on navigation). I tag anything my mutuals have on their rules/about page. I am a human being so I might forget to tag something, so remind me if I haven’t.

FOLLOWING: I will follow most of my roleplay partners or those I want to roleplay with but if we don’t interact for a long time (a few months) or have stopped roleplaying for various reasons, I will unfollow you. I don’t mind not being followed back. This blog will include graphic images of pain and horror or NSFW content so I understand if someone doesn’t want to have my posts on their dash. For me following you, consider that I've already read your own rules and about pages.

POST LENGTH: My writing style is advanced literate. That means I need more than a paragraph to roleplay with. One paragraph is fine still, but as long as there’s something interesting to reply. I don’t mind how long your replies are. Just take notice that I will probably mirror you and my reply will be the same length.

WARNING: I have written this again but I want to make sure that it’s clear enough. I will probably roleplay some heavy matters like mental illness, suicide, torture, etc. There are matters I will roleplay that might make some people sick. So either tell me your trigger warning to tag those, either don’t follow me. That doesn’t mean that if you request me to roleplay something soft or something canon I won’t.

SELECTIVE: I am selective when it comes to writing. Like I said, I need a paragraph or more to reply. I need to roleplay in third person and I don’t roleplay on DM.

MULTIPLE THREADS: I don’t mind having multiple threads with the same person especially if I enjoy their writing.

MAINS: I have blogs/threads which I prioritize over others. This isn't personal. I just feel more motivated to reply to those. I don't have exclusives.

TRACKING:  I usually track my threads with an app but it takes a lot of my time. I try to use a tagging system even if it doesn’t work as well as I want it to. Don’t be scared to remind me to reply to something I might have forgotten. I could possibly forget to add it to my tracker.

REMINDERS: Constant reminders make me lose my interest in the roleplay (if there’s any). I understand and appreciate for someone to tell me I have forgotten something. Myself, I will remind someone of our thread after a month or even more.

REPLIES: I want to study as a med student and have to work at the same time. That means that I can be really slow when it comes to replies. I wish you understand and don’t feel offended or lose your interest if I take some time to answer our thread. I believe in quality over quantity. Some days I might reply to specific people. That has nothing to do with you or your writing. I just might need to roleplay a specific matter or thread or enjoy someone’s writing too much and need to focus on that for some time.

ASKS: I will reply to any asks. Sending me memes or starters makes me really happy, but I am someone who thinks of those as a chance to start something which has a well-built plot. Short time threads are not my thing.

GAMES: Tag me to any games and stuff. I love those and there’s a chance to show more aspects of my muse.

ICONS: I roleplay with icons that I have made myself. I don’t expect you to do so. Please, do not steal my icons. Some of them are edited manga screens which I might have spent a lot of time on. Especially my villain Shoto one’s.

CUTTING POSTS: I have finally found out how to cut posts. Still, I don’t expect you to do so.

STARTERS: My open starters are actually open to everyone. Then I'll reply to another post and tag you. If I offer to make a starter and you accept and you don't reply after a month, and if I have messaged you and you haven't responded but you are actually active, sorry but no matter how specifically we have plotted our thread, I'll assume you are not interested anymore and turn it to an open starter. I put some time on those and I don't want it to be to waste.

ENGLISH: English is not my mother language. I have learnt English completely alone and it’s something that had been hard for me. I understand telling me if I have made any mistakes or ask me if you didn’t understand anything but I won’t take any criticism.

TRIGGERS: My triggers are pretty funny. So please, I'd love if you could tag anything that is related to aliens. Mostly images because I can easily freak out about those. That's something I have since I was a kid and I can't get rid of it. Also, cockroaches. Please, please do not use them in metaphors in our threads, tag if you have memes about those and all that kind of stuff. I'd appreciate that A LOT. Another trigger that is about smut (jump to the next rule if you are a minor) is age-play. I've read some sick stuff on Ao3 so do not even discuss roleplaying something in that sort of thing.

TIME-SKIP: Well, I’m someone who can enjoy something that is slow. I am pleased with anything as long as there’s some really good and inspiring writing (how many times have I said this?). I can keep a thread for years (and I have) and not be bored of it. If you start getting bored we can time-skip but I’d want to discuss this first.

MEMES/FANART: This is something I had recently started to be annoyed with. Please, do not use me as meme or fanart source. This goes for roleplay partners or not. Please, reblog memes AND fanart from the source.

SPOILERS: This blog is not spoiler free. I am caught up to the manga. I will tag spoilers from the latest chapters ONLY as: #|bnhaspoilers|. You have been warned. 

THANK YOU FOR READING MY RUMBLING BEFORE MESSAGING ME FIRST. PLEASE CHECK MY INTRO AND MY ABOUT PAGE. ALSO YOU CAN CHECK MY VERSES AND OPEN STARTERS. LINKS ARE ON MY DESCRIPTION FOR BOTH COMPUTER OR MOBILE USERS. YOU CAN MESSAGE ME AND PLOT ANY TIME. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME. JUST FYI I AM A LOT LIKE SHOTO SO I MIGHT NOT BE TALKATIVE. THIS IS NOT PERSONAL AND DOESN’T MEAN I AM NOT INTERESTED FOR OUR MUSES TO INTERACT.

[kae-karo]

Since you mentioned being in the mood for asks: I think I like my best friend. She knows I'm not straight. But has never actually said she's not straight but has discussed possibility of her sexuality being fluid? She doesn't open up to anyone. And so it's really hard to understand her feelings and I am always afraid of crossing the line by asking her too many questions? So I just avoid asking a question twice. I know our friendship will be ruined if I let her know about my feelings ( 1/2 )

But idk what to do with all these pent up feelings :( she gets close to me but then seems to be very distant after a while. Back and forth. Idk what to do. Especially with all this time in my hand during quarantine all I do is overthink about everything in my life including her. Oh no I'm ranting. Sorry have a great day !!! Love you Katie !!! 🖤🖤🖤 :) ( 2/2 )

hello dear!! 💜💜💜 okay first and foremost never never feel like you have to apologize for sending long/multi-part asks/rambling/etc i adore getting asks and it is never something you should feel bad about!!

now, onto advice here...there are a lot of different options ofc for what you could do, and i won’t say that there’s one right answer or one thing that’s better than another. i am and always will be an advocate for communication and honesty in relationships/friendships/etc, but i think the first thing that needs to happen is you need to decide what route you want to go

the kind of key directions would ofc be to 1. explain your feelings and see if she feels the same 2. decide that you do Not want your current friendship with her to change and that you would rather move on from being interested in her without mentioning that you have feelings or 3. keep on the same path you’re currently on and sort of just...wait it out

uhhh i will say that option 3 is usually...one to avoid, if you can. specifically bc this will probably leave you feeling Bad and that’d be something that’s uhhh not good lmao

so say you want to try telling her how you feel, naturally this comes with the risk (as you mentioned) that she might not feel the same/that you might ruin the friendship by saying something about it, but unfortunately...there’s not really much of a way around that risk. that said, and keeping in mind that idk her or how she tends to act/react to certain situations, there are probably ways to go about this that mitigate some of the risks

if i were in your shoes and decided i wanted to go this route, i might genuinely try to keep it as lowkey and casual as possible, and try to avoid making it some Big Thing™. i’d probs just say smth like ‘hey y’know i think i might have feelings for u beyond just friendship, i wanted to just let you know in case you felt the same, but if not, no worries! it doesn’t change that i still want to be friends with you, and i obviously am not gonna act any differently toward you if you don’t feel the same.’ like. i would try to make it clear that 1. i wouldn’t want anything to change if she didn’t feel the same and 2. that i have no expectations of her

especially since it sounds like she’s still figuring out who she might be into, i might also add something like ‘i totally understand you’re still figuring stuff out, i don’t want you to feel any added pressure, just wanted to be open and honest with you’ (sometimes being open can help others open up too!)

now, that said, it sounds like you might be erring more on the side of wanting to move on and get over your feelings for her - which is totally valid! or, ofc, if you tell her and she’s like ‘yeah man sorry i’m just not into you!’ then u would naturally want to move on without making things uncomfy. in that event, i have one very major recommendation: distractions

i get it! it’s hard with quarantine to keep your mind occupied with other things/people/etc, but unfortunately, moving on isn’t something that can just be done, it requires practice and patience and time

one thing you can try is choosing something you already enjoy and finding an aspect of that to dive deeper into. for example, fan of a show/book? go search for fanart or fanfic if you’re into that! come up with an oc just for fun in whatever universe that piece of media is in, even if u never show it to anyone. pick a few blogs you’ve seen who post a lot and check them out, maybe follow if they seem cool! write fic or draw art, whether it be of an oc or existing characters or even just scenes or something! especially try this out even if you’ve never done either of those things before - and don’t get discouraged if those things aren’t perfect, just give them a shot and you might find something you really enjoy! grab a character or ship you usually don’t give much attention to/haven’t seen before and go check out their tag!

along this route, i speak a lot about fandom/fictional media bc that is what i personally use as an escape, but the same goes for activism/politics/languages/animals/other subjects/literally anything that is of interest to you! there is almost always an unexplored aspect of something that you can dive into. but! in the event that you can’t or don’t find anything interesting...

another thing is to find something new! a show you’ve heard about but never watched (or a show you’ve literally never heard of before but like just keeps popping up on ur netflix page), a book you’ve been putting off reading, a youtuber that seems p cool, a skill or language or craft or really, literally anything you haven’t done, and trying it. invest a bit of time and energy and just see where it takes you, let yourself think about this new thing and follow your line of curiosity. some of the best (and worst/dumbest/most cursed) ideas i’ve ever had came from just. randomly following the line of curiosity in my head and seeing where it takes me. hell, that’s what led to me writing fic in the first place!

and be forgiving of yourself too, don’t associate thoughts about this person with any kind of ‘oh shit i’m not supposed to be thinking about her’ kind of reactions, just gently redirect your thoughts to that one episode you just watched, or the question you have about the universe it exists in, or what crocheting pattern you want to try out first, etc etc etc. again, this kind of thing takes time and patience and won’t happen overnight, but you absolutely can get there!

the last ‘distraction’ i tend to go for is revisiting old interests! that fic or book you read a long time ago but still have/still have bookmarked as a fave? pick it back up and give it a reread - the cool thing about stories is that, over time, our perspectives change, and the way we experience the story and the emotions we feel over it change as well. same goes for old shows, esp if it’s been a minute! you can even do this in tandem with the first distraction type and dig back into fandoms you haven’t seen in a while!

it can be hard to remember sometimes - esp while we’re in quarantine! - that worlds exist outside our current interests and spheres of influence. whatever you decide to do, dear, just remember that things will be okay in the end (even if they’re not okay at first) so long as you try to do what’s right for you and be thoughtful and caring along the way. i hope this helped at least a little!

[wbbbrothers]

Dear We Bare Bears,

Hello! I am Sugs. Within the next month, I will be in the start of my college experience as an Illustration major. That fact is completely wild to think about considering when I first started watching this show (on this day four years ago) I was entering High School as a freshman student and I was, in fact, a completely different person. Therefore, I decided that because I am stepping into a whole new chapter of my life and this show has been with me the entire way... this Anniversary I wanted to write about how this show has impacted me over the past four years.

 Apologies for this being a long post, I have a lot to say.

I created this blog right at the end of the premiere week of this show. I had watched every new episode airing during that Bearbomb that week. One of the  last episodes of the week was Primal. So, while it was still airing and I decided in the middle of it that I was hooked! And I knew I needed to make an ask blog to enjoy these silly bear brother characters and fuel the love I had already already found for the show somehow. Wbbbrothers was that ask blog.

I didn’t know at the time but that was possibly one of the best decisions I could have ever made for myself at that point in my life and do mean that very sincerely. Growing up, having intense interest in media that took over my entire creative output was always a very common thing (and obviously still is). These large phases were able to keep my full attention about 1-2 years tops until my brain latched onto something new. But, out of all of those I have to say that We Bare Bears and Bears in general truly are very special to me. I have never been able to create such a variety of stories, embrace so many flawed and imperfect yet still loved characters and feel so deeply about them and the stories I was telling through them. Especially for this long of a time. We Bare Bears as a show holds a great deal of heartfelt comfort for me.

To me: We Bare Bears is a unique show in the fact that (most of the time) it has a very casual, down to earth and calming atmosphere about it. That being said, it is never afraid to experiment or step foot into other genres thanks to its open ended and episodic nature. It is not perfect by any means, like any cartoon written by human beings with flaws. But I admire the love that gets put into it with its personalized watercolored backgrounds, muted palette aesthetics, little visual humor and amazing colorists in general. It can be hit or miss sometimes but it is episodes like Chicken & Waffles, Chloe & Ice Bear, Occupy Bears, Yuri & The Bear, Hibernation, Hurricane Hal and more that remind me why I fell in love with the show in the first place. It loves the quiet moments just as much as I do. It does not have to be constantly shoving stimulation down your throat and in your face in order to tell a fun or compelling story. I have always respected its ability to take things at a slower pace sometimes, especially when a lot of current cartoons tend to lean towards Snappiness (snappy humor, snappy action, bright colors and fast pacing)

 We Bare Bears feels like warmth. When I re-watch my favorite character driven episodes I cannot remove the fond smile from my face and when I re-watch my favorite adventure filled episodes it always sends me bouncing in my seat.

My method with interacting with my interests was always to create my own fan-content or Alternate Universes with the characters that I loved.  It was my way of putting a piece of me into the characters whether it be through my other interests in media or my own experiences and feelings. The AUs I make are a genuine form of self-expression to me. 

Obviously, the Character Driven and Open Ended Slice of Life nature of We Bare Bears as a series really opened up the flood gates in terms of my creativity and ideas for AUs.  I never felt happier than when I was creating new jokes or dialogue or just silly scenarios. Alternate Universes were a combination of all the parts I loved about creating for me and they started to act as my own free-roam stories to explore these favorite characters of mine in all sorts of different ways. Since I have started, my work has only improved the more love and passion I put into it. 

Superhero AU and Bad Bears are my main two fan stories/AUs of mine that have been around since I was 14-15 and are two of the most developed AUs I have ever had. They taught me a lot about, developing fictional worlds, characters and plotlines and I am STILL developing and enjoying them even now! They’ve also inspired me to make so many other OCs and stories so much as influencing future projects that I am currently in the middle of developing.

It baffles me to think of a world where I never watched We Bare Bears and never was able to be influenced by its fans, its art, writing and its characters.

If you’ve been on this blog long enough you might recall that my first Wbb AU was your average run of the mill Zombie AU (this was while wbbbrothers was still primarily an ask blog) not to be confused with my Zombie 2 AU which is a completely different premise entirely aside from the zombie apocalypse part. Long story short, I had a Fuckload of AUs back then and I mean A Lot. Enough to get condescending messages over, even some curse outs. (Not everyone I met over the four years was the greatest...) I was scared away from publicly speaking about most of them the way that I used to. While my technical skill was lacking for that age and I could not write a solid scene to save my life, despite the negativity, the intense passion and enjoyment I felt from making content kept me enthralled with the show. I kept making my AUs in private and developing them, posting more general fanart and occasionally art for my Superhero AU publicly. I even started to get pretty good at drawing Bears! And managed to make some friends who shared interests with me, something I never got to have offline.

It was not all great of course, the past four years have been extremely hard for me and extremely hard for everybody else, I’m sure. Bears was my default thought when surviving High School; my go-to pick me up. I seriously would say that it has saved me more than once whether it be through talking to my friends I met because of it or just offering a distraction/creative outlet from whatever was going on in my life.

Prior to becoming a fan I never would have thought I would have been able to  make so many stories, projects, art, writing and comics  and talk to so many amazing creators and people all thanks to this one show about Socially Awkward Bears living in San Fransisco.  

But here we are.

And you know what, even when I inevitably move onto newer projects or interests, I think Bears will always be an important influencer to me. The wonderful people I have met throughout these four years have given me so much support and love and friendship like none I have ever been allowed to experience before. I have learned so much about my identity through my friendships and my stories. And even the awful people I have met taught me what NOT to do and what to avoid when moving forward in my life.

 I am just. So, so grateful for everything and being able to pursue what I love and have it be received by others to make them feel things too. There is a Lot more I could say I am sure but since this is long enough as is I will send it off here.

 So from the bottom of my heart I can only say Thank you. Thank you to my friends who still talk to me to this day, I love you guys. Thank you to those I used to speak to but don’t anymore, our friendship of the past  still stays with me. Thank you to anyone who enjoys my work, my stories and follows me despite my wild ramblings such as this!! (If you’re still reading this wow, points to you)

And Thank you We Bare Bears for helping me grow so much as an artist and giving me a sense of direction and purpose with my work as a hurting teenager who was very, very lost in 2015.

Sincerely yours,

Wbbbrothers <3

[thechekhov]

how would you recommend an artist make themselves better known on tumblr and in general? ive been drawing and painting almost my whole life but its hard to get people to notice me, any advice? thank you, you're my fave artist

Thank you so much! That makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside…

As for your questions… hmm… it’s for sure a good one. 

I’m going to get a bit… strategical on that one. Hope you don’t mind this approach. 

Tumblr and real life are definitely alike in a lot of aspects, while in others they’re polar opposites. For the sake of keeping things neatly shelved, I’m going to focus on tumblr in this post.

＊*☆HOW TO GET ART NOTICED ON TUMBLR☆*＊

by chekhov

1. We have to understand how the tumblr sharing system works. 

I know this sounds a bit too obvious. I mean, we all know HOW. It’s by reblogging! 

I know that there’s a BIG opinion on tumblr that we should share and reblog art as much as possible to help artists get noticed. And that’s TRUE. It’s absolutely correct.

One thing I don’t agree with on that front is the guilt-tripping factor of it all. Like somehow people are responsible for the downfall of less popular artists because they didn’t reblog stuff enough. People are really quick to point at their followers and say “I GOT 100 OF Y’ALL HERE AND ONLY 3 ARE REBLOGGING ANYTHING”. 

I get it. It’s frustrating!

But the fact of the matter is, you can’t force people to reblog stuff. 

Instead, I recommend we harvest the power of the sharing we already have. We have to be smart about this. What I’m going to go into is a bit less concrete. We have to think about the PEOPLE who are doing the reblogging. 

Artists aren’t the ONLY ones with motivations for getting their stuff seen. And because they create media they are, for lack of a better word… a vendor! The buck STARTS with them, but it doesn’t stop with them. 

They have to also think about what the people are going to do with their product once it’s reblogged. Once someone buys from the vendor, they don’t just keep it forever. They distribute it to the others. And sometimes, those others distribute it again. We have to think about the bigger picture, and think about how FAR your art has the potential to go!

So, to get started we need to know… WHO are the ones buying from the vendor… and why?

What kind of rebloggers ARE there? 

I’m going to give my own opinion here, and feel free to disagree. But the 3 biggest rebloggers most important to the artist are these:

1. The Pleaser

Sounds sexy, right? In fact, the pleaser comes in many different forms. But essentially their goal is the same - they reblog stuff like aesthetic posts, and other pleasing things. They themselves tend to like a lot of stuff and reblog mostly beautiful photos, nice designs, and lots of fanart of whatever they’re into at the time. Comics and story-like posts are good here (although if they’re too long, people tend to lose interest.)

How to get reblogged by a Pleaser?

Appeal to their fandom, their interest, and make something that moves them. Pleasers are most active around the time when the new episode of their favorite show comes out, or when their favorite holiday comes around. Drawing fanart during its peak popularity will usually catch a Pleasers’ attention, as will drawing aesthetic Halloween posts around, well, Halloween. 

2. The Teaser

The Teaser is the class clown and the shitposter, and they reblog memes and jokes voraciously. In the Teaser’s audience are other teasers - and they also tend to be very generous rebloggers. The fact of the matter is - memes sell reblogs faster than any aesthetic art will. We’re social creatures and getting a laugh out of our followers is worth a LOT of fake internet points.

How do I get reblogged by the Teaser?

Memes. I mean, you knew this was coming, right? During the height of some new tumblr joke, people usually welcome any unusual spin, or any funny variation of an old joke. 

My meme redraws have consistently been popular and have ‘boomed’ very quickly. For example, this redraw of sapphire from Steven Universe doing ‘the scroll of truth’ jumped to 5k almost within a day. 

Many people peek at my page ‘for the lols’ but end up staying for the art, or because there’s another thing I post they’re interested in. Either way, memes are a gateway drug… to your blog. 

3. The Librarian

The Librarian is a bit more rare, but they’re still important, because they tend to reblog a lot. They’re a bit unusual in the sense that they do this for themselves, instead of for an audience. The blog of the librarian is mostly just a replacement for bookmarking interesting stuff. These people tend to reblog tutorials, reference posts, and things they want to read later on. 

How to get reblogged by a Librarian?

Make things that people want to keep around. Charts, references, tutorials. Chances are, the librarian will snag it up eventually. 

Of course, these 3 aren’t the ONLY type of tumblr blogger. In fact, many of them are a mix of these 3. But the main point is…

2. What do most of these (and other) people on tumblr have in common?

Just like you, many people (although not all) want to get their stuff SEEN. You might be creating the original product, but they choose whether or not to distribute it to their audience. 

Everyone is playing the same game, no matter which part of the chain they’re on.

You, as an artist, have the biggest responsibility to think about this long-term. Not only 1 reblog down the line. 

For example, let’s return to one of my meme-posts that I did about wrist pain (carpal tunnel). When I made this, I had a vague idea of who would consume it. Obviously… other artists. But the reason that this got so popular? Is not only because fellow artists follow me. It’s because the artists that follow me also have followers who are also, conveniently, artists. That’s why despite the fact that many people reblogged the post directly from me - even MORE of them reblogged it from @sergle​ (shoutout to sergle! u rock) who is also a popular artist and also has an audience who were prone to want to reblog the post.

See that orange dot? That’s me. See that bigger blue dot? That’s sergle. 

In a way, this is a game of chance. Will something you reblog be seen by someone with a large enough audience to keep it going? The thing is, we don’t know until it happens. And oftentime, the only way to achieve this is to keep trying. Stubbornly. 

But you can’t just headbutt the wall in the same place and hope it eventually crumbles. You have to look for a door. 

3. So what’s the door? 

Take a look at your art. Is it consumable BEYOND the surface level of your followers? 

Sometimes people get discouraged because their fanart is way more popular than their original art. Although I share their frustration, there’s a good reason for this, and your followers aren’t to blame.  

The thing is, fanart is consumable at deep reblog levels. If you post fanart, there’s a good chance that even 3-4 reblogs down the line, there’s going to be a person who sees it and thinks ‘hey, I know Steven Universe. My followers know Steven Universe. I’ll reblog this!’ Fandoms are efficient because they already have a lot of context for the consumption of the art. They have a story (humans love stories), they’re invested in it, they’re interested in it, and there’s a good chance that sharing more stuff about it will get them more interaction with their mutuals, even if they’re not consciously thinking about all this as they reblog. 

Unfortunately, that’s just not true for your original art. Many of us have beautiful, wonderful stories - but they’re not available to a wide audience. They’re not easily consumed, they’re not easily accessed (in comparison to being on netflix, for example). If you post a picture of your OC - maybe your immediate pool of followers who know that OC will reblog it. But their own followers who aren’t directly following you will not have any connection, emotional or otherwise, to that character. They simply don’t have a reason to care, and they don’t have any means to. Even if they visit your blog - will it be easy to find similar content? Have you got your links available on desktop AND mobile? Is it easy to find the beginning of your story? Is it free of mistakes and easy to read? 

Large companies that make shows or comics funnel tons of money into making their media consumable. There’s a LOT of effort that goes into advertising, too. You, as an independent artist, simply don’t have that kind of manpower. That’s not your fault - but it’s also not your followers’ fault. Why are they supposed to reblog things that their own followers will never understand and connect with? 

4. Back to square one: how do I get noticed? 

I’m gonna keep this short and sweet because I feel like I already took up a lot of your time. After everything I’ve said, hopefully this will make sense:

Make content that has a connection to your audience somehow. Make it relatable to their life. Make it relatable to what’s currently going on. Make it worth their while to look at it. 

Make content that’s easy to understand. Super detailed drawings, with nothing to focus on are difficult to digest. Simpler, sharper drawings that someone can understand within 3 seconds of looking at it are the most digestible of all. This isn’t a museum.

If you’re creating content that goes with a story, MAKE THE STORY. I know it’s tempting to create just a whole bunch of character sketch sheets and leave it at that, but you can’t complain about not getting an audience when your audience doesn’t have anything to consume in the first place. 

Make the story AVAILABLE. Organize your tags. Make sure those tags are easily accessible. People will never like 100% of your art, so many it easy for them to find what they WILL like. 

Don’t be afraid of fanart. Fanart gets you connected with people who like stories and content similar to yours. 

Don’t be afraid to follow and reblog people that you want to connect with. Don’t be afraid to make them stuff and @ them. 

Post your stuff to a LOT of places! Your audience is somewhere out there - probably not only on tumblr. You have to spread yourself thin sometimes, but make sure the account can all lead back to your main hub. 

And last but not least…

Critically re-evaluate your art at least once a year. (I’m personally working on this.) Just because you’ve been drawing for years, and just because your art might be incredible doesn’t mean it’s appealing to people. Sounds weird, right? But think about it - there’s TONS of people who are not that amazing at anatomy, or coloring… but they still have a huge audience, and people connect with their art. A lot of times, it’s because their art is straightforward and easy to read/understand. 

Ask a friend to critique your art. Ask them if they understand your work, or if it’s difficult to make out. Ask them what your work inspires in them. Ask them what they DO like about your work - and exaggerate that!

There’s a LOT that goes into art… no matter it’s a whole industry! Doing it all on your own is HARD and it’s a bit unthinkable how much artists have to do to compete with industries. But it’s not impossible, and it’s definitely worth it. :)

Hope I didn’t bore any of y’all who made it down this far. 

Thanks!

[a-baleful-howl]

I’m about to go full-on petty mode. So if you don’t care about my personal gloating and back-patting, scroll on by lol

This post contains spoilers for episode 1 of season 8, and also spoilers for my fic The Lone Wolf Dies.

I recognize this post is really only for me. I’m a salty bitch.

This is fanart the wonderful and lovely @cathcacen drew for me when I was at my lowest and receiving the most hate I’ve ever gotten for a fic. 

I ranted about it for a bit, deleted the worst of the flames I could off of FFN, and I haven’t actually been back to FFN since this all happened. Don't think I havent noticed the love and support I got from the JonsaFam, either. I very much appreciated it, and I know many people enjoyed my fic (and are begging me to finish it...).

Here’s some highlights of the comments I received on FFN accusing me of being “unrealistic” or of committing “character assassination” (sad thing is, these aren’t even the worst reviews I got):

“Arya would never let Sansa or the Northern Lords do that to Jon[...]This story is making Jon a bit of a wimp and Arya willing to betray him even though she loves him more than Sansa.” [saphirablue25 on chapter 1]

“Another story about Jonsa, and Anti-Dany, and pro-norte and pro-stark? these crap stories are becoming common since season 7.[...]and this kind of stories, without any artistic or literary value, just deserve to be vilified. is just another excuse to be myopic and criticize character without reason, especially when it is already something practically canon that Jon / Daenerys will be in the books too, as one producer of the HBO series said, who was told George Martin. waste of time.” [flayjunior15 on chapter 1]

“this story is rubbish, more crap without sense…” [guest on chapter 1]

“This is character assassination. Arya Stark would never betray Jon Snow; no matter what;[...]Of course now it’s a Jon and Sansa pairing ignoring everything that happened in season 7 b/c why not?[...] The leaps you Jonsa writers take to mischaracterize daenerys just b/c you’re not getting the ending you want in the show or the books is a little ridiculous. You can’t write a story that’s based on show-canon and then ignore all obstacles presented in said canon just to put your two favorite characters together. That’s not how good storytelling works.” [FanofLogic (lol) on chapter 1]

“I don't think Arya would ever betray Jon, it's just not plausible.[...]There are gaping plot holes, that need to be seriously addressed, the writing and the punctuation are fine, it’s well spaced and makes sense in a linear sense, but in terms of plot and story, it crumbles to dust before you even finish reading the chapter in its entirety.[...]I don’t want to stop you from writing, that’s not my intention, you just need to sit back and ask yourself, if it really makes sense.” [carpenoctem20 on chapter 1]

“Well, I read your story. It is sad really because your writing style is good and enjoyable but the stupidity of your character's actions[...]Too bad, your writing is promising but the story lacks logic…[...]Also, thank you for butchering Arya’s character - she is my favourite and you completely ruined her.” [malb901 on chapter 1]

“I realize that this story is an AU because our characters are written not how they are portray in television or books…” [GUEST VIII on chapter 1]

“If your goal was to write Arya completely out of character and Sansa as a short sighted idiot with the northern lords as her peanut gallery...then good job. Otherwise your characterization needs a lot of work.” [guest on chapter 1]

“Arya...well how she is written is so absurdly offbase from canon you would have been better off write my that part as an of to avoid having preconceived about the character.” [guest on chapter 1]

“What a load of complete garbage. So much character assassination across the board is an injustice to GRRM’s work!” [guest on chapter 1]

“Another junk Jonsa story, I see that many of these losers, are very salty, because their crackship (because that’s the Jonsa, a crack) shipwrecked last season.[...]The author of this story is another salty loser with no sense, just like all the Jonsa fans of this crack ship.[...] even Arya has a stronger relationship with Jon than with any member of her family, she would care less about the North, even threatening to kill the Northern Lord, if they hurt Jon. Only two idiots of Jonsa, defend this story.” [JonsaSucks on chapter 1]

“Highly questionable characterization and plot holes big enough to fly a dragon through...pass” [guest on chapter 2]

“With Arya, she's so OC in this that it would have made more sense to make her a new character. She would never choose Sansa over Jon.” [saphirablue25 on chapter 2]

“So disappointing! This story is a complete disservice to anyone who is not a blind Sansa worshiper.[...]The plot holes don't do you any favors either.” [Zmrzlina763 on chapter 3]

“Poorly written, plot holes, unrealistic” [guest on chapter 3]

“What a pile of crap. So many plot holes and character assassination. You should be ashamed to publish such garbage.” [guest on chapter 4]

“I hated this story...thought it was really ridiculous.” [guest on chapter 4]

“I would highly recommend rereading GRRM’s work as it’s obvious you are basing your characterizations on contrived reimaginings with no basis in the work you claim to be a fan of. Please do us all a favor and quit polluting the fandom with this nonsense.” [guest on chapter 4]

And finally, for the piece de resistance!

“Oh boy that story became retarded real quick” [guest on chapter 1]

Now, I might be biased but my brain kept pointing out similarities to the first episode of season 8 and my fic - which I never claimed to be writing what I thought was really going to happen, but that this what I wished in a best case scenario would, my interpretation of all the info we got from Season 7, and it was always only ever supposed to be a Jonsa one-shot but it kept growing.

Now, one of the biggest complaints I got was “character assassination” - saying that the characters would never behave the way I wrote them to. This is mainly what I want to focus on as clearly the fic is not exactly the same as the episode - and I never expected it to be. Fanfic is fanfic for a reason. For one, Sansa and the North refuse Jon and Dany, and that's kind of the catalyst to everything else that happens in the fic. Thats a big change - so I’m not saying “My fic was exactly like the show!!” I just wanted to point out all the moments while watching the show I was like “See! I didn’t assassinate anyone’s character!” since that’s apparently a crime I was committing against all of fandom.

If you haven’t read the fic, I highly suggest you do since many of these quotes are small snippets taken from a bigger context.

All the text is from my fic, the pictures are the moments I thought were similar from the show.

Daenerys had chosen to forgo her dragons to mount a horse instead, as a show of equality and peace to the Northern people.

The Hound, Sandor Clegane, rode beside them, seemingly reluctant to be there, in his own way.

“Greetings,” she announced. “How gracious for you to meet us.” Though her words were not sweet - they never were - and she measured the air between the two parties cautiously.

“You’ve traveled very far,” Sansa responded, her horse shifting impatiently under her. Her voice did not waver, and it carried loud and clear across the void. “It would be rude of me to not turn you away personally.”

Daenerys remained silent.

“We know no King, but the King in the North whose name is Stark.” Lyanna Mormont bellowed from her own steed. Her eyes were glowering, stern and furious. Not little Lyanna…

“First the Wildlings, and now a foreign whore,” Lord Glover spat, his horse just as wide as he was. “You’re not a Northerner. You’re anything but.”

He looked to Sansa for an answer. Surely Sansa would not leave him to the wolves. Yet she avoided his eye.

“I missed you too, Jon…” she called back, and his heart knew that she meant it. “But Starks stick together. I know that now. What would Father think?” His heart broke. If only they knew…

Jon had warned her. He knew before heading to Dragonstone that the Northerners were not likely to kneel to a foreign ruler. Sansa had said so herself many times. He resisted the urge to gloat, to remind the Dragon Queen of his words.

“Sam?” he whispered. Surely he must be imagining it. Sam was here? In Winterfell? The round man came stumbling towards him, his arms waving madly by his sides to catch Jon's attention.[...] The two clasped each other in a strong embrace for a moment before Jon pulled back. [...] “Gilly?” Jon asked absently. “And the baby?” “They're fine!” Sam answered, finally with a dim smile. “They’re here.”

Arya . Oh, Arya! She’s safe. He frantically grabbed her, sweeping his hands over her hair and face, feverishly kissing the top of her head, thanking the old gods that she was here. Thank the gods his little sister was alive. She had wrapped her arms so tightly around him he could barely breathe.

“You leave him alone!” Arya barked, running swiftly down the hall towards them.

“Don’t you understand what this means, Jon?” Sam insisted. “You’re the heir to the Iron Throne.”

Jon didn’t care about that. Not now. Suddenly everything he thought he knew was a lie. His father- no, his uncle... had lied to him his whole life. This meant that Daenerys was his aunt by blood. And Sansa was his…

He suddenly felt very ill.

[...]Everything tasted bitter to him now. Everything he had ever known was a lie, but oddly, it made sense. Eddard had gone south to save his sister and had returned with a child. It made sense. How - how - had he not seen it before?

[...]People die and stay dead. That was a fact. Unless he had believed more lies than the one his uncle had told him his whole life.

He had traveled on horseback many times, but never alone. [...] When he drew nearer to Winterfell, the snow and winds were so strong he was forced to cover every inch of skin but his eyes.

“You look like you’ve seen the seven hells.”

“You don’t look any better,” Sandor replied. Jaime tried to ignore the slight. It was true he was unshaven, unwashed and frozen to the bone.

“It’s too late,” Bran interrupted. Jon’s blood ran cold at the words.

“What do you mean it’s too late?”

“The Wall is gone. Eastwatch is gone. There is a dragon that breathes blue fire.”

Now, I’m not trying to say “I’m Nostradamus and I guessed the entire first episode.” No. That is absolutely not what I’m saying. I thought I made an informed guess into how the characters might react to the events in season 7 and amongst each other, and used my own opinions on the characterizations to write a story based around one thing: Jon realizing he loved Sansa because she died. Everything else was secondary to me. 

It’s only because I got such immediate and hostile push back to something I saw as obvious foreshadowing that made me feel so vindicated when the first episode had so many similarities to what I wrote. Anyone could have come up with these same lines as I did - because the evidence was there and the Jonsa fam was pointing it out the whole time. 

I just reallllly hate how fanfiction, especially in ASOIAF and on FFN, has the default accusation of “character assassination” to use when you just hate a story, when all fandom characterizations are just opinions. Only the author of the original source material can decry character assassination. Fanfiction is everyone’s personal choices when it comes to things like this, and it appears that a whole shitload of Dany Stans descended on my story, and instead of saying “I hate Jonsa and Dany can do no wrong” they personally attacked me for horrible writing - when in fact I was the one more on point than they were. I never expected Sansa and the North to literally turn Dany and Jon away at the gates - but thats why I wrote a fanfic about it. Because that was the only way I was going to see it told.

I was so upset by this (can’t you tell? lol) that seeing this episode really made me feel good and feel more proud in what I wrote. 

okay. rant over.

[sadwizardjessi]

A warriors oc fanfic I promised @cozmo-the-mighty-chinchilla I'd write. Note: I've never read a single sentence from warriors. I only know what Cozmo has told me and what I've interoperate from random amvs she's shown me and the fanart she draws

It was a normal day for Spot Leaf. The sky was bright blue with a hint of leaf, the wheat was shining and soft to walk through as it always was. The stream near his nest or whatever wild cats stay in was crisper than ever. All was perfect on this fine afternoon.

At least until a spark of brown caught his golden cat eye because i believe it was disproven that cats only see in shades of gray.

Performing the cat equivalent of running, Spot Leaf made his way quickly to the offending brown, only to discover it was another cat! But oh no, not just any cat. It was his ultimate rival. SPOTTED LEAF. Because apparently when i chose the dumbest name I could think of for a warriors oc it ended up already being an established character.

“Halt!” Shouted Spot Leaf, in a loud meow because i'm assuming cats still converse through meows and body language in this series.

“Spotted Leaf, I forbid you to step any closer! For this is my clan’s territory.”

Spotted leaf tensed up, head tilting in confusion. “Who are you? And what clan? There are no clan’s out here.”

Spot Leaf hissed in anger because thats a cat thing right? “What clan- Are you kid- THIS IS MY CLAN. THE WHEAT CLAN.”

“The wheat cla- what even-”

Before the intruding Spotted Leaf could continue to insult the legendary clan, a loud meow pierced the air between them. A grey cat with green blue rainbow eyes stepped forward. Spot Leaf admired the wing design she had colored on her side because thats a thing he’s seen on many fanarts of her.

“Spotted Leaf, stop antagonizing Spot Leaf. You're a Leaf rank now, you should act like it.”

Spot Leaf sat down with his back straight. He grinned over at Spotted Leaf smugly. However he was quickly distracted by a stalk of wheat and began trying to bite at it without moving too much.

Spotted Leaf rolled his eyes but nodded, “Yes of course, Dove wing. I wasn’t thinking. Star clan have mercy on this great sin I’ve committed. If only Raven paw were here. He could give me the advice I need on how to be a good cat person thing.”

A larger calico(?) cat came bumbling out just then, sad but looking interested in the conversation. “Raven paw? I believe i'm the cat that was the boyfriend of raven paw. Why is he being discussed?”

Spot Leaf snapped back to attention at the new character. “Barley old buddy old pal! I’m not quite sure why you only have one name unlike the rest of the cats but heya how are you doing!”

Barley laughs a full cat laugh and replies, “Oh you see if you read book 42 out of 125 you’d know that I live on a farm so therefore, I am exempt from being forced to join a cat cult.”

Nodding aggressively, Spot Leaf responds, “ah, yes of course. What a fool I was to have forgotten. Would you like some wheat?”

Spotted Leaf peeks forward, looking as eager as a cat can. “I would-”

“I WASN’T OFFERING ANY TO YOU!”

He snapped backwards, ears back. “Oh okay.”

Dove Wing cleared her throat, shooting a pointed glare at Spot Leaf because she’s a mom or some shit?? And moms can do mom glares. Spot Leaf nods reluctantly and hands over some of his very precious wheat.

Before the continue the conversation much further however, a rolling sound is coming from the left. The odd group looks towards the sound only to discover Bramble Stripe rolling through the wheat to get to them.

Dove wing’s cat eyes light up in excitement, as I’m pretty sure they’re friends. Before she can greet her friend however, Bramble Stripe bleps and rolls away, a long ‘meeeooooowwww’ being heard as she disappears amongst the wheat.

With a cat sigh, Dove wing turns to Spot Leaf and smiles in the only way a cat can smile. Mischievously.

“So sorry to bother you today, Spot Leaf. We should be taking our leave and returning to our clans and farm house or whatever.”

Barley and Spotted Leaf nod behind her, meowing in agreement.

Knowing of course that this will be the last time he’ll ever see them, Spot Leaf wishes them safe travels and offers some wheat. The three decline, solidifying Spot Leaf’s decision to not tell them about the Tigers.

Days pass without incident. Spot Leaf thinks he might finally be free of his catty neighbors.

But as his life goes, that thought was shattered as two other cats are quickly found messing around in his wheat. Oh It’s Mothwing and Bumble bee? Bumble Leaf? Bumble Star? It’s one of those. He gallops over, as he is on his way to ascending from his mortal cat form. But that’s another story.

“Bumble Bitch and Mothwing! Greetings! Can I help you on this fine summer day?”

They both look up, not hearing the spaztic cat make his way over. Bumble whatever looks over at him in a creepy cat way. “I was looking for somewhere to lure dove wing- i uh i mean. To invite Dove wing to have a romantic mouse chase with me.” Mothwing rolls her eyes and sprouts moth wings, as her name says, and flies out of the conversation, as i realised i only know her name.

Spot Leaf laughs a hearty cat laugh and stares down the bumble bitch of a cat, eyes glowing with star power.

“Foolish cat mortal! You dare step into my realm of wheat!? May the tigers have mercy on your soul!”

“What?” he asks like the dumb bitch he is.

“YOU HEARD ME. SCRAM PEASANT.”

And true to the insult, Bumble cat thing takes off into the day, screeching like a cat does when wounded. Spot Leaf sighs in relief. He’s protected the pure one once more. Dove Wing. A pure and good cat.

He was about to return to his very busy day when he noticed something. He felt…. Tingly. Was he- He gasped, as cats can do that in this series, I’m sure.

He was evolving! He was- He WAS.

HE WAS SPOT STAR NOW. TIGER HEART WOULD BE SO PROUD OF HIM.

Now that he had star powers he could do anything! He could Make everyone a part of wheat clan! He could make everyone Pool status or whatever was the lower equivalent of that. He could Do conceivably anything.

He look directly at the sun until the world with that weird bright white/yellow color it does when you stare at the sun for too long. He knew what he needed to do.

Licking himself clean first, Spot Star Stood up straight and Meowed as loudly as he could, so every cat across the land could hear.

“Tis I, Spot Star. I soon will be joining Star clan in the heavens as i think that's cat heaven. As I leave, I have only one request. That all the Warrior cats become friends and stop fighting over dumb shit like wheather lavender is beter than wheat. Of course it isn’t don’t be stupid. That is all. Yeet.”

Suddenly, just as his voice disappeared, a pile of Wheat appeared at the little cat bean toes of every Warrior cat that listened. He closed his eyes, feeling himself fade from this realm. Apparently that was relevant to this story.

He wasn’t sure if his wish would be heard, but he knew, somewhere out there, there was at least one cat who found him mildly entertaining, so that was good enough for him. Raven paw was waiting for him at the cat tower. He wondered if they’d have any wheat flavored cat nip waiting for him.

THE END

[jhaernyl]

So, I stopped reading perhaps two posts ago, by the time I finish writing this maybe five posts ago, because I need to get this shit off my chest.

(Because Alas Going To Work does not mean someone actually stops the shit posting. It's really just a convenient "Mic Dropped, I Am Out Bitches" ending to a shitty fucking post that shits all over the people who have been in the corner and you have been mistreating, while setting you up to be the victim of those bad people who will not stay around for you to shit on them after you already used them, got your back patted by and then ignored in favor of bemoaning how alone and victimized you are).

@poplitealqueen (because when you talk about someone you should do them the favor to @ them rather than just drop their names thus calling them out without immediately alerting them you called them out personally) how about you stop with this fucking woe-is-me bullshit?

Woe is not fucking you.

You are a decently known author. You are not deadcat-famous but you did not spend more ten years writing a fic through huge life changes, sticking by it and determinedly trudging on without unleashing a constant stream of Witness My Self-Victiminization posts. You are known enough in the circles of the people who like the kind of fics you write that people answer to your posts and send you asks, ask you thing and show you support, as well as reading and kudo-ing your fics. Maybe less than they once did, but fandom is fickle, always has been fickle and always will be.

People have their own lives and they move on and then sometimes they come back and sometimes they do not. Some fandoms get their heyday and then the more dedicated people stay on and then the show goes off the air, the comic stops publishing, the canon is completely erased in favor of a new one and people get interested in things that offer new content. That's life and it might suck but hey, darling sweet little girl, IT SUCKS THE SAME FOR EVERYBODY.

You know how it feels to sit down with someone, give them complete support and try your damn all to make them see the good sides of things and comfort them by saying that people will be there for them, only to log on and look at their account and find them answering asks and having long convos with people and getting funny posts that get 7k notes (the Luke-in-the-tlj-trailer one) while your posts are big when they get over 80 notes in a few weeks of activity (and only when boosted by other people with more popularity than the OP) and when you publish memes no one gives a fuck about asking about your OCs?

No.

Because you are the person moaning and bitching while having it better and I am the person who gave you support while being fully aware of my much less active and noticed blog. I am the person who sent you asks and reblogged your memes (you know, the ones I later on see you say SEND SOMETHING IF YOU REBLOG about but you never answer when it's me blogging them?). You are the person who does not see reality as it is because it's not convenient to them.

Yes, I said convenient.

Why?

Because you are the kind of person who likes to, as we say in Italy, bask in their own broth.

By which I mean: you are milking being the Depressed Artist Who Nobody Likes shtick for all it's worth, hooking people up on your drama and using them (like you used my Lee, before you dropped her like hot coals once Senpai FlameThrower Noticed You) only to later on shit on them (like the bullshit you said about me not having reached out for you in weeks, which I can disproves with fucking screencaps of our chat, darling, so do not try to pull the "I Am Bad But She Abandoned Me [So Clearly I Am The Victim But You Are Supposed To Get That From Contest So I Can Be The Victim When The Other Party Gets Angry]" move).

I am pretty sure you are not aware of it and people have trouble either telling it to you (it is a brutal thing to say, made even more brutal by the fact that it's true) or realizing what is going on, but you *are* doing it. Oh boy are you ever doing it.

It does not matter what other people do.

It does not matter that I was inspired for a few days straight to work on fanarts for you.

It does not matter how many people send you asks and support and take time out of their own lives to hold your hand and put their arm around your shoulders and support you.

You are still constantly posting that nobody likes you, nobody cares about you, nobody gives you notes on the posts you like, people do not answer to your posts.

Except that when I get around to seeing things (after I sleep, do my fucking job babysitting two kids I cannot take my eyes off of lest they kill themselves or each other and actually spend time with my mom and fiancee) I do but I get no answer back from you, I suppose because I am somewhat contractually obliged to do it with you but the opposite does not apply to you when you can spend your time posting depressing Mood Things rather than engaging into further interaction.

Except that when I get around to checking your blogs (after the same things as above), I like all the stuff I can look at without being spoiled for things I want to see.

Except that I kept reaching out in the chat and being met with silence for days on your end.

And, again, all of that does not matter at all, not to you, because being Mood Depressed Unloved Artist is more important than actually getting off your ass and making the changes you need to make.

You say "I have resolved to be positive" and then it's day after day after day of depressing Mood Posts and NOBODY LOVES ME.

People love you, you just make it hard for some of that love to prosper, given how you do not nurture it, you do not work with the other person, you prefer to shitpost about being unloved.

You know why people unfollow you?

Because you are a negative fucking person to be around and because even after they have given you time, attention, support, the notes you wants, the kudos you want, you still make shitty call out posts that allow you to play the victim and react to them cutting your negativity out of your life with the classic Fandom Shit Move of "Way To Abandon The Person Having a Breakdown."

Darling, I know you told me you have maybe one breakdown per month but I need you to sit down and listen to this.

You have a breakdown per week, sometimes twice per week.

Many of these breakdowns lead you to shit even more than your usual on the people who are there for you.

Having any kind of mental illness does not excuse the behavior you have been exhibiting or making your actions acceptable.

I am also not contractually obliged to let you spew bullshit about me and still stick by you. I signed no piece of paper or clicked ok on any internet document that said "I have to put up with you whining about notes and Patreon not expanding fast enough and people not giving your due for the work you do, when my Patreon never went past three people and 15 dollars and you get a little bit more than 100 dollars per month".

I am not trying for sainthood here, I am not going to just stand by and smile and nod and pat your back while you spew things that hurt me in public rather than reach out to me and talk about it.

Like I said we could and should do? Like I encouraged you to do? Like I told you that you could do at any point and we would talk things out and resolve them? You remember that chat or has it been conveniently removed from your memories so you can justify your behavior to yourself? In that case, please dear, do scroll up our chat and check it for yourself. It's a conversation we actually did have.

You are 21, not 11 and the kind of call post you did today was uncalled for and very primary school of you. Shitting over people on public while setting you up as Poor Victim Miss Pops unless people haste to run at your side and declare their friendship to you is not how friendships get mended, it's petty emotional manipulation meant to make other people feel guilty and force them to come to you in a way that puts you in a position of power and (fake) superior moral ground.

You do not have the superior moral ground and I am not giving you that power.

You can either get your head out of your ass, stop being someone who is constantly negative and reach out to me on your own, ready to meet on equal ground to mend what could have been the beginning or an actual friendship or you can play the victim further, keep down the road you are on and enjoy basking in your broth.

I will not unfollow you, I will keep reading your posts and liking the ones I like, I will keep enjoying your writing, I will keep being happy when new fic from you shows up in my inbox, I will keep giving you kudos and I will keep supporting you as an artist on Patreon and both my email and my chat on tumbrl will always be open to you (with the understanding that I will answer you when I get around to have the time for it depending on the day I am having). If inspiration strikes again, I will make more fanarts.

Have a good work day.

[onevoltageousghoul]

MUTUAL, FOLLOWING, UNFOLLOWING

Sideblog Friendly! Just let me know it’s you.

I am one of those people that becomes chummy with the people I write with!

We don’t have to be mutual to RP with me, however, I encourage mutuals to interact!

We can still RP, even if I unfollow. (unless stated otherwise)

What will make me Unfollow:

If you are “Mutuals Only” and you haven’t followed me back in the first week or so.

If you post a LOT of OOC-related things or tend to spam the dashboard.

If your blog is for an OC that doesn’t include info on their blog.

Lack of activity on your blog

Lack of interactions with my blog or me

I will not RP or I’ll Discontinue RP if:

I find your character to be OP

I feel that our writing styles clash

I feel forced or badgered to reply

My partner is inconsistent with the story/ plot/ character

I will BLOCK:

Personal Blogs (unless your RP blog is a sideblog. Let me know!)

If you are disrespecting my rules ( I given many warnings beforehand.)

Abuse or forcefulness toward me or my character.

Reblogging/liking a lot of my content without interaction.

Bots or full-on porn blogs

NSFW

NSFW is a thing might happen on this blog, but not likely given Frankie’s nature.

All ships must be with partners over 18. 

NSFW or Questionable will also be tagged as such

I keep this content to a minimum.

I will not post NSFW images here at all.

SCHEDULE

I am a mother of two, a full-time employee, and a wife first! Please keep that in mind. 

If I feel a strong muse, I will post rapidly. If I don’t, I might post later or none at all.

THREAD TRACKING AND DROPPED THREADS

I will keep my tracker as updated as I can.

I will post or message before dropping a thread

You and I both have the right to drop a thread at any time.

As mentioned, there will be times where I (or the muse) no longer engaged in the thread. It will be dropped if the posting frequency is too spaced out, or we feel it’s a good place to stop. It does not mean I am bored with you or your muse. Please don’t take it personally.

VERSES

All threads will be separate from one another

If multiple muses want to be included into a verse, we can discuss it!

I love well-planned and growing verses!

SHIPPING

This is a multi-ship-friendly blog (For now).

I do not ship characters to anyone automatically.

Just because I like the idea of certain pairings doesn’t mean shipping with your interpretation of that character will happen.

CHEMISTRY AND BUILD-UP is my jam!

Shipping with OC’s is welcome, but will take a lot of building.

OCS/CROSS-OVER

WARNING: I am a bit of a canon snob and will have lots of questions regarding where your character and the RP fits into the canon. This is not to pick on you or your OC.

I have a tendency to offer advice without it being asked for. Sorry in advance.

OC’s and characters made from existing canon (i.e. The books, reboot) are welcome!

Cross-over is okay as long as there is a good explanation for it and I’m familiar with the canon they come from.

OC’s from both canon and other fandoms must be well fleshed out and can easily be explained.

[Furthermore, all OC’s will be responsible for plotting and starters. I know little to nothing about your character while you know everything about mine. I feel that is the only fair trade-off. Lack of interaction will cause me to unfollow.]

[NOTE:]

Please have full profile for your OC on your page.

No pre-existing relationships without plotting with me first.

I won’t RP with OC’s that are insanely overpowered, seem to be good at everything they touch, or siblings of the main canon characters… period.

TRIGGERS

I will tag triggers where requested

Most will start with tw: —–  and fill in the trigger.

I may miss triggers because I am human. Sorry in advance.

It is a kids show, but being monsters might cover heavy material that exist in that genre. This blog is no different.

If you don’t like STITCHES, these might pop up from time to time. Please ask me to tag them.

DISCORD RPS & IM’s

I RP and talk on Discord, too. You’re more likely to get my attention quicker than a tag.

ARTWORK, GRAPHICS, ICONS

Only the artwork that is tagged 💻 Mun Art is mine. I try to look for tagged works or reblog from the original artist. I try not to use fanart for icons. If I mistakenly use some, this is not a means of disrespect. If you are the artist, please let me know! I will remove it immediately! 

Please don’t use my icons, banners, or promos without asking. 

ADDITIONAL NOTES

Character-specific subjects can be found on the about page. This will go into the detail about her and my interpretation of her. Thank you!

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ABOUT THE MUN

Name:: Vexxica

Age:: Over 25

Timezone:: Eastern (USA)

Relationship:: Married

Gender:: Cis Female

[the-harvester]

An Open Letter:: A Shift in Perception

Hello, everyone. This is VT. No, not Astire, aka both VT and CZ at once. Just VT.

Before you worry, yes this is a serious post, but no, this isn’t about some end-to-The-Harvester news or anything. I just need to have a serious heart-to-heart with you all.

My reason for writing TH started to shift. And, it’s time I shift it back. [More under the cut. Long post, but please take a moment to read.]

I’ll cut straight to the point, and the reason why I’m writing this. As of late, I have had little drive to write The Harvester with my partner, @chillachompers, aka CZ. I assumed it was because we were both busy, myself especially, but that wasn’t the root of it. Truncated version; I’d stopped writing for the enjoyment of it, and started writing with readers in mind first and foremost. I wrote to please everyone and to make a good, presentable story for people to enjoy. And you may be thinking, yeah VT, that’s the whole point! It’s a long-running fanfiction that you’re posting, of course that should be your priorit-

The Harvester was never created with the intention to share it.

Sharing it was... my idea. I got excited that CZ and I had something really good going, and that someone else should be able to see it, and might find enjoyment in it. Back then, the story was simple arcs 1-4, and then a few little other things. Maybe a 5th arc. That was it. Now it’s, quite amazingly, turned into a multi-series thing. And, the problem is... somewhere along the line, I became so focused on the story being as solid and well-executed as it possibly could be, to the point of no longer really enjoying the writing like I originally did. It became a mild chore instead of a break from work. And. I hate that. I hate my hobbies turning into chores.

Now, here’s the thing. A lot of this is on me. Most of it, in fact. CZ, for one, has no fault in this. I’ve always been the one to push things the extra step too far in the pursuit of ‘perfection’. It’s cost me dozens of hours of sleep with editing, actually caused me to stress out about writing a chapter that should be a light comedy romp, and to just... have negative feelings towards TH. I started writing to please fans and keep people happy with as little mistakes as possible instead of to enjoy myself.

Some may have the mentality that if we’re sharing this on the internet... that opens it up for critique. Even harsh critique. To some, that’s just the nature of posting things online. And I get it, I can’t stop you from seeing TH as something crafted for you and your enjoyment. But, I do really need to get something off my chest before it ever even has a chance to become a problem, because my anxiety loves to say the worst of my fears will happen.

The bottom line, is... The Harvester isn’t a Fanfiction written for readers. It isn’t a novel series. It’s a long-running, Steven Universe-inspired Roleplay between two friends with an extensive story and lots of OC’s. But it’s deeper than that. More personal. The Harvester is, at its core, a very therapeutic hobby. It’s very. Very hard to admit that out loud, it really is, because posting TH already feels vulnerable enough as it is, much less without people knowing what it is. This story branched off from a joke. A joke between friends about Yellow Diamond being drunkenly fused with my old Gemsona, Hematite. Then it somehow turned into what it is today. From the very start, it was just... a way for CZ and I to bond, to grow closer, to, though we didn’t know it at the time of starting, fight some really serious inner demons. It may seem silly to some people, but it’s very real to us, and the effect it’s had on our lives is undeniable, even if the effects have been behind closed doors.

The Harvester was never meant for other eyes. We didn’t have a ‘proper editor,’ we didn’t care that much about punctuation and grammar being correct, and we didn’t analyze everything for possible plot holes or contrivances. I didn’t do those things. But somewhere down the line... I started caring more about those things than the story and characters themselves. I was so focused on certain scenes going a certain way that I would actually pull them along forcefully, limiting what characters could do or say in response to a situation. And that’s... not what it was supposed to be. TH was always a wing-it sort of story with general guidelines and then loose chapter concepts. That had to be chipped away as things got more complex, but... the focus was lost, for me. MY focus was lost. I started nitpicking so much on stripping bad bark from trees that I didn’t pay attention to the forest.

So that brings me to the point of this letter.

The Harvester is a roleplay story written for fun by two dear friends, whom decided to share their story with the internet. We, of course, don’t want to just cut everyone off from this. I know CZ doesn’t want it, and I certainly don’t want it, either. I know people like this story and would be sad to see it go.

But I can’t keep writing this with the mindset that I’m making a product for the scrutiny of online readers, for fans, 95% of which I don’t even know personally. And that’s what brings me to this:

The Harvester won’t always be perfect. Far from it. That’s just how it is. It’s written by two stressed-out, busy, nerdy young adult artists who like big gems and drama. It’ll have typos, it’ll have all sorts of grammatical errors, it’ll have off moments, it’ll have plot holes, contrivances, characters acting a bit out of character now and then, it’ll have moments that go too far, moments that don’t go far enough, just like any piece of created media. It shouldn’t have to have a ‘quality meter.’ I shouldn’t be measuring a hobby with a close friend of mine by some self-created standard. I shouldn’t be sacrificing nights of sleep over editing every error out of a chapter. I shouldn’t stress out over writing about my own characters with one of my best friends, whose characters I love dearly. I shouldn’t be striving to perfect something so integrally personal as a story like this. One day when I start making my own fictions, sure, I’ll have that high standard.

But for now? Well... There’s nothing for you, as a reader, to take from this other than this: We do like hearing from you. We enjoy hearing your theories and thoughts. We like seeing your fanart. The fact that our hobby could bring a smile to anyone is mind boggling to us, in a good way.

But just know, right now, that TH is flawed. It always will be, because nothing is perfect. We’re two stressed-out, sometimes absent-minded people just trying to write something that makes us happy. We’re going to sometimes write some cliche, predictable, badly paced stuff, but we’ll also write some really good, heart-wrenching stuff. It’s just the nature of things. All I’m saying is, please don’t see this as something made for viewers. It isn’t... It’s just. Something we choose to share. And, this isn’t to say that we’re trying to avoid criticism, people will be critical of something they like. Just keep in mind what TH is at its core. It’s inherently extremely personal and close to our hearts, and every character has a piece of us in them. We’re not trying to write it to impress anyone or be the next JK Rowlings or Rebecca Sugars. We’re just writing it to have fun, to cope with some serious issues in our day-to-day lives. CZ’s always kept sight of that.

It’s time I do the same.

Everyone take care, and we will see you soon enough with the start of arc 6. We’re unsure when, but we’re aiming for before the end of June. We aren’t going to rush ourselves, though. It will be worth the wait.

It may seem selfish, but I have to go back to writing this for me. For CZ. For us. And I hope you’ll understand that ‘selfishness’ comes from a place of passion and a desire to keep a flame burning for TH. We’re not going to take TH in some drastic direction... but I am going to try and stop caring so much whether the story is perfectly crafted.

It just has to be fun.